Ch.1 "This day is staying Perfect!"

Chrysalis Wins

Ch.1 “This day is staying perfect!”

“You won’t get away with this, Twilight and her friends will-"

Cadance’s defiant words were interrupted as the main doors burst open. The six mares who failed to obtain the Elements of Harmony were dragged into the grand hall, which was being redecorated into a slimy organic den. The six ponies were closely escorted by just as many changelings.

With a snide smile, Chrysalis turned towards Cadance in a tone that reveled with smugness as gooey as melted caramel.

“You were saying…”

The frazzled alicorn's eyes widened in dismay. Her shoulders slumped, and tail tucked further between legs as her friends walked further into captivity. The element bearers were still on edge, they battled between discouragement and defiance in their expressions.

The queen struck a dramatic pose as she faced her newest prisoners. Chrysalis stared down at Twilight Sparkle specifically.

“You do realize the reception has been canceled don’t you!”

The 'changeling of the hour' then turned to her smaller subjects, who hovered anxiously in the air. They growled and hissed in anticipation for the expected order.

“Go! Fee-, wait no,no,no, I’m forgetting something aren’t I.”

With a bright flash of green magic, a roll of old parchment appeared in front of Chrysalis, as well as a small pair of reading glasses. It unraveled as she put on the glasses, and peered through the list on the paper. She thoughtfully rubbed a fetlock under her chin while she scanned through it.

“#34 yes, #35 yes, #36 yes, #37... business before pleasure. I can’t let every changeling go free form until the plan is sealed. Wrap up the Element Bearers. The would-be bride and her husband need to be completely out of commision as well. Subjects! Cocoon them all.”

When she gestured towards the prisoners the large holes in her hoof made a quiet whistle. The queen’s entourage quickly obeyed. With a mixture of magic and ghastly coughs, mounds of slime were produced and used to encase the prisoners in fresh cocoons.

Fearful yelps and wails of despair escaped the ponies as they stared at their goo-bound future. Chrysalis chuckled at the particularly furious glare Twilight gave at her.

“You can’t, you won't ge-"

Twilight’s words were silenced with a glob of insect gack, which was delivered via rough smack to the muzzle. Chrysalis carried on in a lackadaisical manner, now that her largest targets were handled.

“As much as I’d like to entertain your pathetic little struggle, I have grander things planned.”

One grapple of magic later, and the pest that almost ruined her plans was locked away. This was followed by each of her silly friends, as they were methodically handled. They were preemptively gagged with slime to prevent any last retorts of defiance or annoying cries of despair.

The new ruler of Canterlot turned to the not-so-happily-ever-after couple at the podium, and took her time to walk up to them until she was just a step away. Chrysalis stared down at defeated peachy princess. The grin on her fanged face was unbreakable at this point.

“Thank you for the disguise. Have sweet dreams on how things might have been.”

“You EVIL WI-"

-gag-

“Tsk, Tsk. How rude, especially after I bid you such a nice farewell, so unfitting for a princess... or any new subject of mine. From here on out there will be consequences for defiance. I think you’ll be one of my prime examples...”

Seized in magic, the smaller alicorn was violently torn from her goo cemented position, and unceremoniously encapsulated like the rest. The queen then turned to Shining Armor, delicately running a hoof along his masculine jaw.

“You’ve served me well, but now your fountain has run dry, rest well Shining. I'll be sure to visit once you've ripened up again.”

The once proud captain of the guard walked himself over to an open cocoon. Mechanically he proceeded to crawl in and use his last bit of energy to seal himself off. Now enclosed, Shining closed his eyes and wore a stupid smile, ever ignorant of the one that controlled him. This caused a sadistic chuckle from Chrysalis.

“Now time to double check if there is anything else I’ve forgotten. Are there any particularly stubborn pockets of resistance, Shade?”

A changeling with a distinct dotted pattern about his neck and cheeks stepped towards his victorious ruler, and bowed low. His purple eyes were sharper than his peers and distinguished him as the head of the vanguard division.

“The princess of the night is holed up in her tower. We found her asleep, but when we tried to enter her chambers some manner of alarm went off. Once awake she proved too difficult and wily to subdue. However, I made sure that every angle of escape has been cut off. I contacted Colony, and she's made sure the underground is flooded with drones. I've also arranged my vanguard to channel a field of magical static, to disrupt any attempts to teleport. We might not be able to fully restrain her without your assistance, but she's not going anywhere fast either.”

“Of course, Celestia’s unstable younger sister, bring the rest of the vanguard and some sentinels. It's better to have over kill than risk my perfect day.”

Chrysalis then turned to her freshly minted prisoners. Her hoof thoughtfully tapped at her chin as she mulled over a few additional options. It didn't take long for her to come to a decision, this one was very tempting after all.

The Queen's long legs brought her over to where the Element Bears and two princess lay captured. Chrysalis's opened her maw hungrily, ready to glut on the mountain of energy before her. If Shining Armor's love alone was enough to throw Celestia off her game, then adding Cadances's, the Element's, and Celestia's own positive emotions should be more than enough to subdue Luna. In fact, it should be more than any opponent would require from Chrysalis, at least any that she knew of.

As the Queen swelled with power, Shade carried out her command and cast a practiced spell. The vanguard’s eyes glowed a fiery purple as a wave of transparent energy blew out from his horn.

“The message has been sent my queen.”

“Excellent, Vivisect call in the sentinels, no pony will free my prisoners. Once my city is secured we can arrange for all changelings to feed at their leisure.”

Vivisect was a massive specimen of a changeling, easily 8-10 times the mass of the drones that skittered about, or 4-5 times that of the more elegant vanguard. She was covered in a thick fortress of carrot-colored chitinous armor, and radiated an authority that didn't need words to be imposing. Her hoof-falls heavily clacked on the tile floor as she acknowledged her queen's command. Without speaking, Vivisect charged a telepathic spell and let it burst forth from her saber-shaped horn. All other sentinels now knew of the summons to the grand hall. Once the message was sent the burly changeling rose and uttered in scratchy voice

“The sentinels will be here shortly my queen.”

“Good, now I will personally put the last princess down."

Chrysalis licked her lips for emphasis, reveling in the hype of energy she enjoyed. It was difficult to describe what this feeling even was. This was somewhere between being dizzily drunk and manically hyperactive. She could feel energy leaking out her ears with the way it thrummed through her body, wracking it with more nutrients than she ever had exposure to in her entire life.

Truly there was nothing like this. Never before did she have access to such ponies with so much potential. She had to consciously keep herself from trembling, for she felt that with this much power she was on the edge of exploding... hmm, but exploding could wait, she wasn't done with business yet. She turned to her head vanguard, trying to keep her composure somewhat regal, but couldn't keep back all the twitching and fidgeting she was compelled to do.

"Sh-Shade, come.”

The room tittered and buzzed with excitement as the changelings and their Queen flew out of the wedding hall. Thankfully the buzz of the crowd was good cover for the compulsive fidgeting of the queen. A broad grin couldn't keep itself off of Chrysalis's muzzle. The sky was flooded with black chitin and transparent wings, a sign of her dominance of the current situation.

The swarm of the queen and vanguard flew across the city toward the Lunar Tower. As they passed a screech of cheers came from the chitinous legions of drones flooding the streets below. Their disturbingly synchronized sound sent a shiver down the pony population’s collective spine. The scene of victory filled Chrysalis with joy and giddiness. She had planned this day, even though so many fears had plagued her in her preparations. However, the scene below made her throw out any doubts as to whether these plans had been worth it. She won the jackpot.

Chrysalis began to laugh, an utterly manic laugh. As her eyes roamed over city street to city street as her compulsive heaving escalated. Each scene was a validation of her superiority, her magnificence, her brilliance, and whatever other word that could feed her vanity. Eventually her rambunctious laughter started to interrupt her flying to the point she felt light headed. Her diaphragm could only take so much punishment. After a particularly wide and unruly swerve, her head vanguard raised his voice in concern.

“My queen, are you well?”

Shade asked, offering a hoof for support. She gently brushed the offered hoof aside as the booms of her laughter died to more manageable levels. Though she did clutch to her sides in an attempt to massage the burn from them.

“No Shade I’m am quite fine. My enthusiasm just got ahead of me.”

“The Lunar Tower is just ahead.”

“So it is.”

The queen and her elite band hovered in front of the structure. The tower's head was completely engulfed in impenetrable darkness. Tendrils of ominous shadow guarded the fearsome abyssal structure.

Dozens of vanguard changelings already surrounded the tower. Each of them contributed to a semi-transparent static energy field, miniature cracks of green lighting ruined the spatial stability of the area. Such a technique had developed during their time in the wilds dealing with various magical beasts. Particularly the snap dragons, named for the sound they made when magically phasing in and out.

These tiny cousins of the great dragons were particularly animalistic and savage and nearly destroyed her swarm with their ruthless hit-and-vanish attacks. In a fit of desperation Chrysalis managed to come up with a technique that scalped from the prench pony's arcane knowledge, griffon thaumaturgy, and splicing changeling portal magic. The result caused the caster to remain immobile, and constantly drain from their magical supply, but she finally had an answer to the devilish snap dragons. This was quickly taught to the most magically capable members of her swarm, the vanguard.

What was once a defensive technique to stave off an aggressor had now turned into an extremely powerful offensive tool, especially when working in concert with other elements of her swarm. If a unicorn tried to teleport now, despite the intense disruption of the spatial field, they'd likely split themselves to pieces. Chrysalis made sure her vanguard were fed enough to at least be a match for unicorns one for one. If Luna wanted to try and simply vanish, she would have to contend with the influence of Chrysalis, plus 700 vanguard.

At this point the queen felt extremely comfortable in her own hooves. She softly nudged her councilor to get his attention.

“Hmm, Shade go fly into the darkness and see what it does.”

The head vanguard flinched at the idea, there were many rumors of ex-Nightmare Moon, or Luna rather. Those rumors gave sufficient cause to fear the Princess of the Night. Yet his Queen had commanded so the head vanguard steeled himself. As reckless as the order may be, he started to fly forward anyway.

Shade’s advance was stopped as a large hoof held him back, he looked up to see Chrysalis stop him from obeying her own order, his muzzle scrunched in confusion. She laughed at his confusion from her teasing.

“I was joking, there’s no need to risk your chitin while I'm here. Get the other vanguards to reinforce my position and prepare to cast some offensive spells.”

The Queen gave her smaller subject a pat on the head and ruffled his neck fin a bit. Shade sighed in relief, Chrysalis's sense of humor was a quite temperamental, even after years he'd never really gotten use to it. He relayed the order and spread out with the rest of a sub-group of vanguard, around two dozen. Shade's optimal position was near the Queen, so he and his detachment could add their magical reserves to hers if required.

Hundreds more vanguard stayed a good distance away, doing the important job of maintaining the disruption field. They would insure that the princess would not simply blink away. Chrysalis turned towards the tower, casting a spell to amplify her already reverberant voice, she resonated with the thunder of a mocking crowd.

“Come out, come out Luna. This transition doesn't have to be painful if you surrender quietly.”

The cacophonous words blew away the air around the tower and tendrils of shadow whipped about like the branches of a tree. Chrysalis patiently waited for a response, when none came forth she graced Canterlot with more rancor.

“I’d rather not damage this beautiful tower, but I will, if you don’t come out, NOW!!!”

Chrysalis’s jagged horn began to glow with baleful energy, as she readied to blast the top of the tower away. Before any energetic green carnage was released, the shadows that surrounded the tower started to coalesce. The darkness condensed around a figure, who stood on the balcony of the tower. It never solidified enough to reveal the mysterious figure who stood there however. Chrysalis’s horn stayed charged as she addressed the new predicament.

“Very good Luna, now there’s a room calling your name up at the wedding halls. I'd like you to quietly check-in.”

The vanguards that surrounded the queen snickered and jeered along with their leader's taunts. Among the darkness a small glow appeared in the center, turquoise eyes with slit pupils gazed out of the abyssal wave.

“Do not address me as Luna fiend! If thou desirest a fight, you will face the Nightmare! ”

The shadows solidified into a tall armored black alicorn. Nightmare Moon reared onto her hind legs then stomped down with her front, shattering the front of the balcony. Pitch black clouds spewed from the top of the tower, and darkened the sky. Lightning cascaded across the clouds, and spooked away large swathes of vanguard too terrified to maintain their positions. The very real fear that they could be collateral in this titanic struggle was all too real now.

Despite the shock to morale, most of the vanguard remained steady. Honestly Chrysalis was a bit spooked as well, but then she shook her head. Things were different now, things were very different now. She had just beaten CELESTIA! The scales were tipped in her favor, she had to remember that. Years of feeling inferior to these demi-god sky ponies was difficult to simply discard. When she collected herself she tried to show her confidence with a good coating of smugness.

“The elements took your edge away Luna, you can stop pretending you’re that fearsome.”

The alicorn's dark persona fizzled as she blinked in surprise and took a step backward, but as a princess to her people Luna wouldn’t let the queen call her out so easily.

“Then taste our power curr!”

Pale blue energy exploded from the majestic spiral horn of the alicorn. Prepared for the aggression, Chrysalis answered with her own emerald ray of power. The two cataclysmic surges collided with violent impact, and a powerful shockwave reverberated across several of the city blocks. Nearby windows shattered under the intensity.

Chrysalis suddenly became afraid of what she was capable of. The magical onslaught pouring from her felt terrifying in how unwieldy it was. Much like a foal trying to play with a stick far too large for them. The queen grunted from trying to restrain herself, and avoid blowing away the city she just claimed. Unconfident in her ability to manage this new power with precision, she called out to the vanguard around her.

“Flank her!”

Shade and his detachment obeyed immediately, and began to pepper the alicorn with their own admixture of paralytic and disruption spells. Luna had struggled to maintain the energy wrestle from the start, the glutted changeling was her first real opponent since she returned from the moon. Once the vanguard launched volleys of spells into her sides it became a critical distraction and she folded quickly.

Luna's magic collapsed as she was overcome and thrown bodily back into the tower chamber. Chrysalis didn’t wait a moment to follow up as she ended the energy attack and dashed in after the princess. She landed with a stomp inside the freshly blasted area. Her vanguard intuitively followed after her.

The circular room reflected the night sky, and stars slowly moved across the walls and ceiling under some magically aesthetic force. Unfortunately it was all smeared with ash and large portions of the walls were scratched away. The details near the center ceiling remained mostly intact, such as the large moon centered at the apex of the dome shaped ceiling.

The changeling queen took only a moment to glance at the details, she could look into fixing the beautiful room later, or simply redecorate it. She was glad it still looked structurally sound. Chrysalis snorted to herself, the battle was still presumably going on in the city and here she was worrying about real-estate damage while standing over a smoking princess. Speaking of which...

Luna lay in a mess on the floor, sizzling. She had smashed through a few book shelves and splashed their contents all over the floor. The blue princess smelled something awful as bits of fur were still glowing with small embers, and feathers lay bout haphazardly. Worst of the injuries was definitely the horn, which had darkened scorch marks all the way to the base, it was painful just to look at, Chrysalis thought she could almost see it throbbing.

Her earlier duel with Celestia had caused the sun princess a nasty burn, but poor Luna looked much worse here. Chrysalis found herself grateful that she managed to hold back as much as she did. It would have been horribly wasteful to have toasted the alicorn beyond salvaging.

Chrysalis stepped with self-assured confidence next to the fallen night princess, and proceeded to place her large hoof on Luna’s raw and hyper-sensitive horn. The defeated alicorn reacted instinctively and convulsed from the rough touch, which also caused her eyes into the back of her head. It was rather grisly, but Chrysalis wouldn't put up with such defiance, not when she had already offered a peaceful alternative.

“I told you a quiet surrender would skip the pain, but you had to spite me.”

Chrysalis leaned into her hoof, increasing pressure and causing a hair-line crack in the alicorn's horn. Luna’s eyes shot open and she gasped in shock. Eventually the queen lifted her hoof off the horn, before it could break. Then she made a lethargic gesture at her Head Vanguard, indicating to the fallen princess.

“You know what to do Shade.”

“Yes my queen.”

“Also send for Colony, I need to establish some ground rules about our open feeding season. Since things have turned out different than the original plan we have to hammer out new details. Tell her to meet me in the throne room.”

“It will be done.”

Shade turned to a fellow soldier and clicked a few times. The subordinate nodded before it flew out of the Lunar Tower.

A long yawn escaped from Chrysalis’s fanged mouth, she raised a hoof to politely cover it. The beat down on Celestia and Luna had been tiring, not necessarily from the magic expenditure, as her reserves were still flooded. Rather the mental stress of it all resulted in substantial anxiety fatigue.

Thinking it over, her fight with Luna made her think back to the defining moment of this invasion. Upon reflection Chrysalis realized Celestia was likely holding back a great deal. They were in a confined area full of ponies, and one stray shot from a careless alicorn could easily kill dozens. Celestia was definitely not a ruler that would carelessly vaporize half a convention room full of her subjects. No, Chrysalis couldn't deny in her own mind that Celestia had held back in their fight, so why had she still come out on top?

Perhaps It was something like what she just experienced with Luna, to have so much power that she was more terrified of loosing control than not having enough power, even if it was over something as petty as not wanting to damage her new property. Chrysalis muttered to herself.

"So she just had a problem dialing it back?"

Come to think of it, when was the last time Celestia had to exercise her full might? There were old stories about centaurs and dark kings, but all of those tales were over a thousand years ago... So she got rusty under extended peace? When push came to shove and she had to fight an invader amongst civilians she'd lost her ability to fine tune and under dialed to the point of eating a magical backlash. Had she fought Celestia the politician, rather than Celestia the warrior? Whatever the real cause, she might be able to peer into the cocooned alicorn's dreams later for clarification.

The point was Chrysalis had been given the opportunity, and now it was her job to keep the advantage. At least now if she had to fight Celestia again, even at full power, Chrysalis felt confident she would likely come on top again. The most loved ponies in all of Equestria were the fuel of her arsenal now.

Finished with her musings, Chrysalis spotted Luna's bed, which was a monstrous thing that could easily fit 10+ normal ponies on it. With a slow trot she looked for a spot that didn't have burnt books or wood splinters all over it. When she found something acceptable she flopped down on it, and enjoyed the first real taste of luxury from her conquest. The spongey material conformed to her body and held her with surreal gentleness.

“oOOo, how exquisite. I think I’m going to like it here Shade. It feels good to finally be in my own skin in civilized society. I think my chitin will finally get the treatment it deserves.”

Shade awkwardly worked to place Luna in a cocoon. Out of habit he was trying to shove her in with his hooves. Since changelings weren't supposed to expend magic like telekinesis for mundane tasks, rations for food had always been so minimal. Luna's stature and extra appendages messed with his conventional methods of pulling her one way or the other. Chrysalis noticed her councilors plight and waved a hoof lazily in his direction.

"Go ahead and use magic to lift her around."

"Oh, I suppose we can afford to do things like that now, ha."

Slightly embarrassed he did as his queen advised, and sealed up the night princess with little difficulty after that. With the task done he addressed Chrysalis's earlier comment.

“From my experience, even the worst pony establishments are paradise compared to the peril of the Badlands.”

“Indeed, that also gives me an idea, I don’t remember the last time I had a real bath.”

Chrysalis tilted her head and stopped feeling the pillow. She looked down at the fuzzy head rest and could see she had already smeared some of her accumulated filth onto it. At first she frowned, then an idea came to her and a wicked grin crossed her features.

“Hmm, I’ll have to see what Celestia used to clean her royal hinny”

Her mirth echoed across the Lunar Chamber. With some regret she hoisted herself from her comfortable position on the night themed luxury. She needed to talk with her Head Drone and see that her prisoners were securely put away. Then she could indulge in some of the comforts these ponies pampered themselves with.

With a buzz of her wings she exited the Lunar Tower, closely followed by the remainder of the vanguard and their newest prisoner of value.

Ch.2 "Perfect Day" part 2

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch. 2 “Perfect day” part 2

With a loud thud, Chrysalis landed back in the throne room. Several vanguard changelings flew in behind her, three of which carried the cocooned Luna. As the queen’s eyes peered around the room she noticed the imprisoned element bearers, and the sun princess. All of them were now hung from the ceiling. Her head sentinel, Vivisect, stood nearby and kept things orderly. This earned a nod of approval from the changeling queen.

Dozens of the largest sentinel changelings stood attentively in the Royal Hall. Their chitin was particularly thick, and gave the appearance of natural rugged armor. The horns of the sentinels were sharp like scimitars, which complemented their proportionally larger fangs.

Vivisect bowed deeply when she saw the queen arrive, the rest of the sentinels on duty followed suit. Chrysalis strode forward with slow deliberate steps.

“Rise my changelings. Now that the elements and princesses are secured, the guard and citizens are utterly leaderless. You may feed, but keep in mind I would heavily prefer your feasting to be exclusively on military targets. Hurting the non-combatants could lead to unnecessary issues. I will only permit to do so if they're being aggressive themselves. I will have additional instructions once I finish counseling with Colony.”

The room filled with chattered approval, many of the common drones immediately departed to run amok in the city. Several sentinels up and left, along with a good deal of the vanguard. Two of her underlings stepped forward. Both Shade and Vivisect bowed as they motioned towards the prisoners.

“My queen we wish to keep the prisoners secure while our brothers and sisters feed.”

Vivisect’s scratchy voice addressed their monarch.

“That’s why you are captain of the sentinels my little zealot. Though, I’m surprised you that you wish to guard as well, Shade?”

“I will have plenty of time to feed later, I wish nothing to spoil your victory my queen.”

“Very well, but I insist, that you at least feed from the element bearers while you guard, they were so full of positive emotions there is plenty left over. Now, where is Colony?”

“Here my queen!”

A changeling much shorter than either Shade or Vivisect stepped through the pair of grand doors. This shorter changeling bore the humble features of the drone class. Short wings, simple horn, and small frill for a mane. Colony made her way to the queen, and looked up to her leader, who stood twice as tall as the drone.

“What do you wish to tell the drones of the hive?”

“Our original plan was far more subtle than this, but as it is we must adapt. Though it would be much fun to vent our personal frustration at this pampered populace, we need to enact new long term plans. In other words let's maintain our discipline even though we're no longer hiding our true selves. We will not waste our new orchard with gluttony.”

“So you plan to limit the frivolity? I know we should plan to eventually keep the ponies in a stable state, but-”

Chrysalis interrupted Colony's almost pleading inquiry.

“All three of you know how rambunctious the swarm can be. There's too much potential for damage if we don't keep this carefully regulated. We need the ponies to continually generate love, and soon, since we're virtually guaranteed have more conflicts coming in the new future. As much as I'd like to let the swarm loose, it doesn’t mean we have an endless buffet, even for one day. I’d rather we not cause any permanent damage because of victorious indulgence and frivolity. Otherwise there would be no reason to move out of the Badlands.”

Every changeling that could hear that final statement visibly flinched. No changeling wanted to go back to the Badlands.

“Your caution is wise my queen. We'll cocoon only active combatants, as you mentioned, then work on getting the rest of the citizens calmed. I suppose excessive terror does taint the taste of raw love...”

Colony’s lips smacked at the thought. The queen’s hoof then pointed to Shade, and beckoned him over to the conversation.

“Shade you've been a long term infiltrator and socialite with these ponies, I know we didn't have time to wrinkle out the details before, what with the daily distractions we had in the Badlands. Now however, we have ample time. So, how well do you think the average ponies will adapt to our presence..”

The vanguard changeling cleared his throat and spoke his words carefully.

“Since we have taken all of their military power, they'll probably feel threatened for a while. If we show them that they'll be treated fairly, then ,with time, they will continue to generate relationships and love on their own. If we introduce a system to make our feeding seem normal, I don’t see why the transition shouldn’t be relatively smooth.”

Colony snorted with incredulity at his conclusion.

“Make our feeding seem normal to them? We still have to fight to gain ground in other cities. We do plan for the rest of Equestria after all. Not just Canterlot. These ponies are stubborn, and capturing their princesses won’t stop most of Equestria from trying to fight back!”

Shade turned to his fellow changeling with a smirk.

“The greatest challenge is over, the rest of Equestria will willingly cave soon. With their military down they'd struggle to organize themselves for battle, much less get themselves properly equipped. Take a moment to think Colony, the average pony doesn't think like the average changeling. The ponies would call our healthy paranoia of danger 'severely jaded and dysfunctional'. They would cry evening thinking about what the average changeling has had to endure. In other words, most of their populace word resort to almost anything other than fighting. The average pony doesn't want to die over a piece of dirt."

Shade walked over to the pods as he spoke of their new subjected population and gently rested a hoof on a pod, observing the pony inside. The vanguard's features creased with empathy, his behavior expressing familiarity.

"In a few years I think we could convince the ponies to be proud to have changeling rulers. Though shocking, we have proven to be more cunning and powerful than their princesses, and the only place we can go from here is up. Everypony wants strong leadership, even if they don’t say so. They will come to see you as a better protector than Celestia my queen. They will come to love you.”

That brought a sharp, toothy smile to Chrysalis’s countenance as she mused over the idea. Being feared and respected was good, and as much as she had hoped for from a pony populace. The confidence displayed by her vanguard's demeanor inspired greater ambitions. To be loved would be even better, especially for a changeling. Celestia’s strength would become a forgotten shadow in the wake of Chrysalis, once she was empowered by the nation’s love. She would have to be the champion of both the ponies and changelings for that to work though.

“I know we discussed the general contingencies should our original plan deviate. Now however, we need to address the specifics of the new situation. What feeding system should we implement that would not inspire fear and resentment from the ponies?”

Colony still seemed unsure and shifted uncomfortably on her holed hooves. Vivisect was utterly silent and unmoving. Shade simply shrugged when his fellow councilors struggled for an answer, and spoke up.

“Make it a regularly scheduled thing, at a common location. A designated ‘Changeling feeding center’ if you will. We don’t have to drain them to the point of discomfort. Also we can explain to them it will be their way of contributing to their changeling overseers, more or less like their taxes to their old princesses."

Shade tapped his chin in thought, before raising his hoof excitedly at a budding idea.

"Except ours is a love tax… hmm, actually I think we could give them a powerful incentive to do so. How about we offer to cut 'normal' taxes' by half for willing donors. You'd probably struggle to manage the volume of volunteers at that point. It's also something that would immediately win you some popularity points with the common folk, and loyalty incentives from the nobility.”

Chrysalis nodded appreciatively at Shade's suggestions, while balancing the agenda she had in mind.

“So my changelings would feed at a scheduled time and place. Hmm, cutting taxes on bits would help the ponies not feel cheated, if I am to gain their devotion. Besides, the raw power is as good as bits or better. My changelings won’t be allowed to feed outside of schedule if that is to work. Other than on prisoners, who will remain free game, I still believe the ponies should have examples of what happens when they don't control their hostility.”

The queen snapped her eyes towards the open windows, and saw hundreds of her soldiers as they merrily flew about. They caused some property damage and chased terrified victims. It seemed some of them already struggled to follow her 'suggestion' from earlier. She would have to lay down a new command. If this new plan was to have any credibility behind it, it would have to start now.

The queen’s jagged horn glowed with lime light, and her eyes gleamed with a white pulse. A wave of transparent power encompassed the city of Canterlot, and every changeling ceased what they were doing. Chrysalis’s telepathic words rang across the city, and entered the mind of all of her subjects with distinct clarity.

Cease feeding, but be sure to keep every pony inside the city. I will announce the intentions and basic ground rules of the new regime this evening.

Nervous chatter erupted all over Canterlot. What could this mean? The queen had told them to stop their chaotic feeding? It was undoubtedly her, only she could reach every mind that way. With resentment, the changeling army formed a perimeter around the city as they chattered among themselves.

Some ponies still ran around screamed, others paused at the sudden withdrawal, and wondered what caused their tormentors to suddenly stop.

Back in the Royal Throne Room, Chrysalis turned to Colony

“Spread the message to the drones, and make sure every pony in Canterlot hears this as well. There will be a mandatory meeting tonight at eight o'clock sharp, in the Gala Hall. All that can, will attend, without exception.”

“Is there anything else you desire my queen.”

Colony’s voice was rather high and chipper.

“Yes actually, send two drones up to Celestia’s chambers, specifically the bathing area. I’m going to make myself presentable for this meeting.”

“Right away my queen.”

The small drone bowed out and left the royal halls, and swiftly trotted down the regal red carpets.

---

Chrysalis strode down the halls, she knew where the sun princess’s personal chambers were. Celestia had personally invited her there while she was guised as Cadance. Navigation of the castle was easy and faster in her natural form. Strides with her own legs were roughly double that of her pink disguise.

Once she entered Celestia's chambers she heard a nervous rustle come from the closet. The muffled noise went deadly silent when the sound of Chrysalis’s hooves clopped in. The queen had already noticed however.

She smirked, and walked up to the closet to open it with her magic. On the other side of the door was a tan earth pony mare with dark brown mane, dressed in the attire of a cleaning maid. Her wide hazel eyes met the queen's. With a squeak of terror the staff pony ducked to the floor and covered her face with her hooves.

“Please don’t hurt me!”

The words were barely decipherable while the mare’s teeth chattered.

“I won't unless you give me a reason to. Anyway, you’re a cleaning pony are you not?”

Chrysalis giggled at the servant's nervous state.

“Y-y-yes.”

“Then get up, and help me get cleaned. Your new queen requires a good scrubbing.”

“Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh----“

The inane mumbles were interrupted as Chrysalis brought a hoof under the mare’s jaw and closed it shut.

“It’s not that hard to show me to the bath is it?”

The trembling earth pony slowly got to her hooves and started an agitated trot to the side rooms. She looked away from the changeling queen, and tried to ignore the fear inducing features.

“R-r-right t-this way.”

“Good, now, what is your name, cleaning pony.”

“P-Plain Thatch y-your majesty?”

“Well Ms. Thatch, I have two of my drones coming, they will assist you in cleaning me.”

“EeeEEEeeEEEE!”

“Stop your cowering, I wish to relax and that squealing does not help. You can put your fears to rest until the meeting tonight.”

“M-meeting?”

“Yes, and if you serve me well now, I’ll let you be one of my personal assistants. It’ll be helpful to have a pony that knows her way around.”

“T-the bath is right here.”

Plain Thatch gestured over to a giant golden bowl, which dominated the center of the bathroom. Several faucets surrounded the gloriously metallic basin, even the drain at the bottom was polished like it was ready for display.

“Do you like your water room temperature or hot?”

The stutter in Plain’s voice had come under control. The steadied earth pony slowly shifted over to the shelves, which lined the walls. Many ointment bottles were so overly elegant they reminded Chrysalis of Saddle Arabian hookah. Plain Thatch picked up a long blue vase and placed it at the edge of the tub.

“Make it extra hot, there’s some really old gunk in these holes that needs to be loosened.”

Plain’s eyes roamed over Chrysalis’s swiss cheese legs, and her muzzle scrunched in disgust. The tan pony pulled on the short levers of three faucets, and steamy water immediate began to fill the tub. The platinum stopper was shut, and Plain poured the contents of the blue vase over and into the water. There were a few minutes until the tub would be sufficiently full. So the brown maned mare tried to make some small talk.

“If you don’t mind me asking your majesty, how did you get holes in your legs?”

Chrysalis wore a devious smirk.

“I don’t mind at all.”

In partial answer to the question the queen extended one very long leg towards the curious pony. Plain’s hazel eyes looked straight into one of the larger holes. The inner lining of the holes appeared to be very waxy, and were coated with a thick layer of build up. Otherwise Chrysalis’s hairless skin held a dull luster on it’s surface, and appeared to be both tough and flexible.

“This is what happens when you live in the primitive conditions of the Badlands for too long. There are several parasites that love to eat away at chitin and flesh.”

“Parasites!”

Plain jumped back and shivered in fright again. Chrysalis continued as if she didn't notice.

“Yes, only newborns have wholesome hooves for a few days, before they’re plagued with them as well.”

“Oh, oh my.”

The tan pony’s mouth dropped into a full grimace. She generally avoided anything remotely creepy and crawly. Yet here she was presented with a job to delve right into that. The queen noticed the reaction and made a knowing smile. She generously decided to keep it clinical, instead of teasing obviously mortified pony.

“It won’t be an issue after a few weeks of sanitary living. Once I get these cleaned out I should heal up soon.”

The queen’s words shook Plain back to her senses, and she cringed as she looked back at the changeling’s appendages with a newfound horror.

“I’m just wondering how you’re standing, if I had holes like that in my legs I’d be in agony.”

“The parasites release a toxin that deadens the nerves. The damage would be permanent if not for our changeling constitution; we can regenerate lost limbs and such.”

“Huh, oh um the tub is full.”

The room was now quite steamy, so Plain Thatch moved over to the window and opened it to let in a mild breeze. Before another moment passed, Chrysalis hopped into giant tub. The deep part of the tub brought the water up to her jawline. It was definitely made for an equine of Celestia's stature, which the royal changeling so happened to be.

The water swirled as oily rainbows danced on it’s surface, and the queen let out a much relieved sigh. A warm sensation sizzled and surged over her mostly submerged form. She slowly twirled her hooves around through the hot steamy liquid, and could feel some of the waxy substance loosen already.

“When you’re done soaking your majesty, I'll help scrub, but I may need you to come a little closer to the shallow end.”

Plain went to rifle through the cabinetry and started to pull out brushes of various sizes. Just as Plain pulled out a rod brush she was startled by the appearance to two changeling drones. She dropped the brush and meeped. The two drones hissed and chuckled.

The queen grumbled out an order at the new arrivals, as the lids of her eyes drooped sleepily. Wallow as she did in the warm comfort of the bath.

“You two, pick up a brush and help. If this pony asks anything of you do it.”

“Absolutely anything?”

“Yes.”

One of the drones picked up a devious smile and licked its lips. Plain Thatch grimaced and picked up a bundle of brushes to try and hide her unnerved expression. She placed the arrangement of cleaning instruments on a tiled counter attached to the edge of the tub. She turned to her two new assistants and pointed a hoof at the arrangement.

“This one is used for cleaning out the deep gunk and mud, you can use this one.”

“Is that a back scratcher?”

The drone’s eyes widened in surprise when he was handed a large hook-like bristled spoon.

“Close enough, and you can use this one, It’s for polishing, go over everywhere with it and the skin should shine.”

The other drone accepted the tool and grabbed it in a green magical aura. Plain finished her instructions and picked up a brush with bristles so thick they resembled the teeth of a comb.

“And I’ll go through your mane and tail your majesty.”

Chrysalis shuffled over to a shallow shelf in the tub, so she was within easy reach of her attendants. The drones immediately went to work, her dark smooth skin was polished and the waxy holes were thoroughly scrubbed. Plain Thatch paused before she ran her brush through Chrysalis’s mane.

“Do the parasites eat at you mane too?”

“Unfortunately. As you will notice nearly all changelings are bald except for their neck fin. I’ve burnt more magic than I care to say in preserving what I have, but a queen must distinguish herself.”

“Of course, of course, hmm.”

The bristly brush was seized between Plain’s front hooves and methodically run through the queen’s chewed on and greasy mane. As the tan pony continued to brush she noticed a large fin, which ran down the back of Chrysalis’s neck, but it was folded down and well concealed within the mess of teal hair. She tilted her head in mild interest, but decided not to question her new monarch, and why she kept it concealed.

The scrub and brush work took nearly an hour alone. There were several pauses as Plain Thatch ordered the two drone assistants to fetch various bottles of soap and oil. Just as one crusted layer of filth broke free, another was revealed.

The pony sweated heavily, and the changelings panted from steamy condition they labored in. Thankfully progress made itself visible. The insides of Chrysalis’s hoof holes had turned a fleshy blue, her chitinous skin went from the dark black to a lighter grey, and her mane had it’s patchy spots smoothed over.

“There I think we’re ready to dry you off, if you would step onto the mat.”

The changeling queen opened one eye lazily, as they had closed throughout the pampering. She groaned in regret as she started to shift. A bath like this was an unaffordable luxury in the Badlands, only the idea that she could return to this again gave her the necessary motivation to move.

As Chrysalis stepped out of the tub she carefully shook each leg, to make sure water didn’t pool within her leg cavities. Several white towels we’re prepared before hoof, and the three servants wasted no time as they rubbed their giant leader down.

Once she was dry, Chrysalis whipped her long neck about experimentally. She felt her thoroughly washed mane flow through the air, and took a moment to caress her locks, which were finally free of matting.

“By the way your skin feels and reacts to the cleaning agents, I think we could finish you off with a good coating of hoof polish, your majesty.”

One last ointment was fished from the drawer. Plain held a bottle full of glossy clear liquid. After she and the two assistants applied it generously up and down Chrysalis’s body, the queen reflected light almost like a mirror.

“Whew, that was quite different from any of my previous work. I’ll take care of the tub your majesty, and you can go back to uh, whatever it is you have planned.”

“Ah yes, planning tonight’s gathering. I should get on that.”

“Speaking of night, I um noticed the sun hasn’t really moved since mid-day. And evening should already be here.”

Plain indicated towards a radial sun-shaped clock that hung on the far side of the bath chamber. The queen’s large eyes widened with worry when she heard the news. She would have to take care of that responsibility now wouldn’t she, or maybe arrange for another group to take care of it for her. A band of unicorns had raised the sun and moon before Celestia and Luna were around after all.

“You two, assist this Ms. Thatch with her cleaning, I have a sun to lower.”

The two drones bowed respectfully and turned to their new manager. The Changeling queen exited Celestia’s living space feeling refreshed, and weary at the same time. Today had expended much of her energy and she still wasn’t done, but she couldn’t be more satisfied with how it had gone.

---

She soon found herself at the observational balcony of the solar tower. She had witnessed Celestia lower the sun from this very position, she supposed she may as well use the same spot. It was right then that she realized she didn’t have a clue about how to do it.

Experimental tendrils of magic reached out towards a noon day sun, which hadn’t moved in nearly seven hours, and attempted to grab it. A grimace crossed her features as she found that she couldn’t grab the large flaming orb in a telekinetic spell, and simply shove it around. She fired a bolt of energy at it, and that didn’t do anything either.

She snapped her fang filled jaws in frustration, and growled at the defiantly bright sphere. A strange thought occurred to her, she almost disregarded it immediately as implausible, but none of the other methods had worked.

Her eyes stared directly into the sun’s hot rays, and her eye’s began to glow white, her horn glowed in it’s green aura and her mind reached out towards the heavenly body in an attempt to manipulate it.

The experience felt surreal to her as her consciousness wandered up into the void between the planet and the orb of radiant life. The sky disappeared from her vision and everything became only darkness and light.

This light apparently had a will of it’s own, and it resisted Chrysalis’s approach. Her mental suggestion to “get moving” seemed to offend it and it didn’t budge. The Changeling queen suddenly became aware of a physical condition on her body, but she couldn’t specify what it was.

She tried again, more politely. “Most powerful light of the sky, please rest, so that your subjects will appreciate you more by tomorrow.” The compliment seemed to work. The glorious light started to recede, and shifted its position to another path in the void. Once it started to roll, there wasn’t much else Chrysalis had to do, so her consciousness retreated back to her body.

“wooooOOOAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! IT BURNS!!!! CELESTIA!!! WHAT IN TARTARUS IS THIS!”

The proud changeling promptly collapsed to the floor and put her hooves on her agonized eyes. She rubbed at them furiously, but the friction only made it worse. Chrysalis cried out in pain and frustration. That’s when she noticed her horn felt off too. Severely blood shot eyes opened to look at the problem.

Her horn was on fire.

“bwAHHH!”

A quick attempt to smother the flames was made by her anxious and fidgety hooves. It stung like no other, but she managed to kill the flames. Her horn felt incredibly sensitive, as if it were freshly peeled of it's chitin. A soft breeze passed by and made her freeze up, she gasped at the sharp pulsating pain.

She was going to pay Celestia's pod a visit, maybe give her a few nightmares for good measure. Then ask why it hurt like lemons in the eyes to move that petulant lightbulb!

With haste she retreated inside, she was glad to note the sunlight had died down. With a sigh of exhaustion she grumbled, and felt discouraged from this hiccup.

“Tonight doesn’t need a moon, and if it’s anything like the sun I’ll wait to find out…”

Her voice echoed resentfully to the heavens. Stars started to appear, but no moon was found in the sky. Chrysalis moaned as she thought back to the meeting she had declared. It was within the hour, and she was in no condition to conduct any long seminars. This announcement would need to be brief.

“My queen what has happened? I couldn’t help but hear some distress from this location.”

It was Colony’s high pitched voice. The lead drone hovered just outside of balcony.

“Has news of the meeting spread?”

Chrysalis muttered with closed eyes, she didn’t bother to lift her head from the floor.

“To every ear in Canterlot my queen.”

“Good, I will be in the gala hall shortly. Tell Vivisect to keep things orderly, I’m in no mood to deal with any kind of rioting.”

“Right away my queen.”

Colony flew towards the royal throne room, and left Chrysalis to recompose herself in the Solar Tower.

Ch. 3 "Perfect Day" part 3

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.3 “Perfect Day” part 3

With a groan of displeasure, Chrysalis finally managed to get off the floor and head toward the stairs of the Solar Tower. Her horn still wafted steam, and the queen had to work hard to ignore the intense ache.

Even though the meeting was in a few minutes, the burnt monarch wanted to ask Plain Thatch one more question. After a quick shamble she arrived back in Celestia’s living quarters, and heard busy sounds of activity from the bath chamber, so peeked around the corner.

The two assistant changelings scrubbed away at the sludge that lined the partially drained tub, one vigorously pushed up and down on the drain with a large plunger. The gloppy motion was occasionally rewarded as the drain did its best to gargle down more filth.

Plain Thatch hoofed over a bucket to one of the assistants when she heard the clop of the queen’s hooves. She turned to greet her new ruler, but gasped when she saw the state of Chrysalis’s appearance.

“Oh my Cel-, what happened?”

“The sun is going down…”

All the polish on Chrysalis’s horn was burnt and blackened, and her eyes, oh her eyes. An oddly optimistic thought popped in Plain's head, green and red are complimentary colors at least? Other than that most of Chrysalis's body was still in a good clean condition.

“I want to know if you have anything to treat burns, or relieve irritation.”

“Um yes, I’ll get some eye drops and icy cream.”

The maid ran quickly to a cabinet with the desired items, they were found in a small kit. The eye drops were obtained from the vanity. Plain grabbed the eye dropper with her mouth and mumbled to the queen out the side of her mouth

“I’ll need you bend down your majesty, and keep your eyes wide open.”

The giant changeling rested her body on the floor and kept her eyelids peeled back. Plain quickly put a few drops in each eye, with Chrysalis flinching from the uncomfortable sensation. After a moment to roll her eyes around in their sockets and a few blinks for good measure, they felt pleasantly numbed.

Plain followed up with an uncapped,round container, labeled “Icy cream” and dabbed a hoof in the white substance. Gently, she placed some on the queen’s long horn, this triggered a loud gasp, quickly followed by a relieved sigh.

“This is far more pleasant than putting a burn in mud.”

Chrysalis cooed with her eyes closed as the tan earth mare applied the cooling balm. Plain gave a weak grin as her brow furrowed in concern, at least her service was working to satisfaction. That and she was eaten yet, or thrown in a cage, or offered as a sacrifice to some strange pagan deity. Nope, all she had to do was work with these terrifying, but oddly reasonable monsters and maybe she could go deal with her panic quietly. Plain Thatch just wanted a normal day, but alas

“Anything else you desire your majesty?”

“No, when you finish cleaning come to the Gala Hall, I am making important announcements that concerns everypony and changeling.”

Determined not to waste another moment the queen set her wings a flitter. The heavy buzz echoed through the living chamber and quickly shifted through the hallway. The Chrysalis’s expression hardened, she would first have to show these ponies they would not be allowed to disrespect her, then they could come to love her in whatever time frame that took. Though she had her doubts, if such a thing could happen. Shade’s idea still seemed a little too optimistic to her, even if she did fancy the thought.

Canterlot castle was abuzz with activity. Throngs of ponies were being escorted and guided by numerous drones toward the Gala Hall. The night had finally come and the stars shone weakly in the heavens. Many of the ponies sweated as the evening air hadn’t cooled from its over exposure to the late sun.

The gloss on Chrysalis’s horn refracted light as she called her lead changelings to her side. Magical resonance came from Shade, Vivisect, and Colony to let her know her call was being answered.

Chrysalis turned the final corner to the Gala Hall, where she was greeted by her councilors, who hovered in the air patiently. The head of the sentinels, vanguard, and drones wore pleased expressions on their fanged muzzles.

“Let us get this over with, I am weary all the exertions this day required.”

“Yes my Queen”

All three changeling leaders chimed in chorus. The queen was flanked by her smaller councilors as they flew into the Grand Gala Ballroom. The loud clamor of a crowd, who murmured among themselves, hit Chrysalis like a wave, overrunning her sense of hearing.

The room could only fit several hundred ponies, compared to the thousands that had shown up, who now trailed in lines out of all the entrances. Hundreds more lined the gardens, and many peered in through the large windows that decorated the ballroom.

Thankfully, Colony had arranged for a makeshift pedestal in a centralized location, in front of the largest central window. The queen hovered down to the position obviously meant for her, and struck a commanding pose in front of the pedestal.

The three councilors took their positions next to the queen and surveyed the body of Canterlot before them. Chrysalis gave a short nod to the leaders of the three changeling divisions, each one in turn cast their respective spells to gain the attention of all changelings. Vivisect’s eyes glowed orange, Shade’s went purple, and Colony’s eyes gleamed bright blue.

All Changelings went silent. The sudden eerie quiet from the changeling swarm caused the gossip of the ponies to lower their voices to faint whispers. Chrysalis’s horn flashed briefly as she cast an amplification spell, and flinched slightly from the sensitive state of her horn, she curtailed her expression of pain before proceeding to speak with a powerful voice.

“As my drones have undoubtedly informed you, I have a few important announcements to make. This will not be an open question session. After I talk with the leftovers of your pony leadership, you may submit any additional queries to them. Am I understood?”

To emphasize the point, Chrysalis made a loud thump on the surface of the pedestal, with her large hoof. The sharp concussive noise silenced the whispers among the ponies, and there was a general acknowledgement through a series of silent nods.

“Good, now my first announcement is that you ponies have nothing to fear.”

This was met with several incredulous guffaws, snorts, and angry mutters. Chrysalis responded with an even louder voice as her wings buzzed in irritation.

“You are now MY subjects! That means I am responsible for keeping you alive and healthy. Your lives will continue as they have for the most part, with a few minor changes. We will live among you, and our changeling discipline will not falter simply because we’ve secured power. Expect to work alongside changelings around your homes and places of business.”

There were several ponies that shivered at the announced prospects, a few others quietly grumbled.

“My swarm will feed on your excess emotions, at specified intervals and locations. Everypony will be expected to contribute, and before any pony complains, it does not hurt for a changeling to feed on you. In fact most of you probably won’t notice any sensation when it happens.”

There was a large wave of doubt and apprehension that came from the crowd, any changeling could easily smell it, but this didn’t deter Chrysalis. It would only be a matter of time.

“No pony needs to worry about becoming an emotionless husk either; I will personally see to it that my changelings do not abuse our position, lest they face dire consequences. In fact, I want all ponies with family and relatives outside of Canterlot to write them, and tell them you are safe and sound. Equestria will not fall apart, but will develop under a new Queen who will oversee you to a glorious and powerful future.”

Chrysalis paused, the crowd of ponies seemed to be in quiet contemplation, which brought a confident smirk to her mouth.

“That is all for tonight. You are all dismissed.”

She tapped the pedestal twice with a concussive ring, and she turned to the changeling councilors seated behind her. Her attention now addressed them.

“Colony, find out what is left of the pony leadership, community leaders, or anypony with a public face. And gather them for a meeting tomorrow morning. All the specifics will be ironed out then.”

“It will be done my queen.”

“Vivisect, make sure nopony disturbs the royal throne room, or my chambers this night.”

“With certainty my queen.”

“Shade, quietly inform the swarm they can feed tonight, they deserve it, but make sure they do it subtly. If a changeling over drains anypony, report it directly to me. The ponies need to perceive they are being respected.”

“Nopony will know they have been fed on this night my queen.”

“Good, good, now shoo!”

Her commanders quickly jumped to their hooves and went about their orders. The crowd of ponies started to leave, and slowly shuffled past one another, most of them still carried uncomfortable and concerned expressions. A small group bore angry scowls, but didn’t dare say anything about it to their new overseers.

Devoid of the need to address her subjects further Chrysalis relaxed her posture, and slightly slumped her shoulders, letting out a long tired sigh she’d been holding in. Between the battle with the two princesses, the incident with the sun and the long preparation process, the Queen was all but completely drained and wanted nothing more than to sleep. However, there was still one last matter to attend to, thus begrudgingly, she started to fly slowly through the air, making her way towards the throne room

---

The grand doors of the throne room were casually thrown wide open. There was a very specific cocoon Chrysalis had in mind, her fanged muzzle bent into a grimace as she thought about her burnt horn. She was going to get the answers she wanted.

With limited grace Chrysalis’s hooves left the floor, and she hovered from pod to pod. Each of the ponies was asleep within their slimy prison, and it was Celestia’s cocoon that Chrysalis rested her eyes upon. Green light softly emanated from her horn and she placed it in contact with the pod’s transparent surface.

---

Celestia sat peacefully in the midst of the Canterlot gardens. A large white canvas mounted on an easel stood in front of her. She calmly moved a brush between a palette of paint and the canvas. The grand white Alicorn was half way through the painting of a delicious looking multi-level cake.

She brought her eyes down to the palette and started to mix red and white to create a pink highlight for the cake painting. When her eyes returned to her canvas she did a double take.

In place of the painting of a cake, Chrysalis’s face now occupied the white canvas. The Changeling’s expression was not amused. The white Alicorn kept her reaction reserved. She simply observed the rather sudden appearance. The painting moved about as if Chrysalis was simply on the other side of a mirror. Before the Changeling Queen could speak, Celestia smeared pink paint over the canvas with a large brush. A comical set of glasses and mustache was added to the angry face that stared up at her.

“Hey! You will respect my royal countenance!”

“Is that so?”

Celestia giggled as she painted large pair of off center pupils over Chrysalis’s eyes. This caused the queen to bare her fangs and growl, so Celestia added a large floppy tongue.

“If you care about the ponies you once ruled over you will hear me!”

The Alicorn’s smile suddenly hardened under the accusation.

“And why would you care what happens to my little ponies?”

“I am not some mindless monster. I care for my subjects like you cared for yours.”

“Why do you need my help? You already proved yourself more powerful than I.”

The dream Celestia narrowed her eyes and maintained a stern, disgusted tone. Chrysalis continued despite the glare.

“The Sun”

“Yes…”

“How did you go about raising and lowering it? That infernal thing nearly singed my horn off.”

Celestia suddenly snorted at the notion of it. She chuckled, and picked up the paint brush set on the palette and started to paint little flames over Chrysalis’s horn. The large bug smacked her own face with a hoof, then slowly dragged it down.

“I know you and the unicorns before you did it without such a backlash, TELL ME HOW!”

Chrysalis’s voice had risen substantially, and the command she shouted blew back Celestia’s mane. The white alicorn was not pleased with the abrasive changeling’s manners, and she let it show with scowl. She responded with a stern suggestion.

“Quiet yourself, this garden was quite peaceful before your presence interrupted it.”

“Grrrruh, Fine, If you would be so kind.”

“My cutie mark isn’t the symbol of the sun for nothing. Besides if you try to move the sun without the proper spell, consequences like that are not uncommon.”

“Could you tell me of this spell?”

“You could just release me, and I would go back to raising and lowering the sun.”

“That’s not an option.”

The stare off between the two tall equines was fierce. Celestia with her cold, hard, magenta eyes, and Chrysalis with her painted on glasses, derpy pupils, long curly mustache, large lolling tongue, and flaming horn… The alicorn broke first.

“I will tell you only because I don’t want my ponies to suffer from you irresponsible blundering. Tell me Chrysalis, how much of the world would you let burn or freeze before you would let me free?”

For a moment Chrysalis seriously contemplated that, and she fought hard to hide any tells her face might give away. She would certainly suffer along with the rest of equinity if the sun were seriously mishandled. However, she couldn’t let that alicorn know any of that would concern her seriously. As long as she was perceived as dangerous, and maybe a little off kilter, perhaps she could continue to extort useful information. Celestia did have such a soft spot for “her little ponies” after all.

“Hmm, I suppose as long as there are enough remnants left to build something from the ashes, I could suffer the losses. Me and my subjects have already been doing that for years. But that isn’t pertinent, what matters more is if you can answer the same question. How much of the world would you let burn or freeze before making this concession?”

The white Alicorn sneered distastefully. To lose thousands of her citizens in a grudge match was not worth it to her. As long as Chrysalis sought her for advice, she could still influence the kingdom that was no longer in her direct control. Celestia’s prestigiously long horn touched the surface of the canvas, and flashed gold for a moment. The knowledge of the spell required to move the sun properly was transferred to Chrysalis’s mind.

“Before you try again, gather some help. It will be less risky with several of you to share the burden.”

“My thanks, Celestia.”

Celestia simply frowned, she was not happy that an equine willing to be so cold, now sat on her throne. There was nothing else she could do, the cocoon kept her in a permanent dream state. This was the only way she could offer her little ponies some means of comfort. Even if it was only to make sure this fool of a changeling didn’t destroy them by misusing the heavens.

“Come again if you find your leadership, insufficient…”

This triggered a scowl from Chrysalis

“I can assure you that will not be often, sweet dreams Celestia.”

With that Chrysalis’s obnoxiously painted face disappeared from the canvas. The art work previously done by the white alicorn reappeared right where she left off. A long drawn out sigh was exhaled from the imprisoned princess. She finished the last highlights she wanted on the cake painting, then put a hoof up to the canvas.

Celestia was able to pull the cake right out of the canvas, which made a seamless transition from two dimensional painting, to three dimensional pastry. She took a bite.

The sweet taste did little to soothe her stress rattled mind. At least this wasn’t the worst way to be imprisoned.

---

The perfect day had finally come to a close, and Chrysalis lazily crashed into Celestia’s massive bed, it was twice the size of Luna’s, and that was already large. A miniature mountain of pillows and other squish-able comforts were piled high around the head board.

As she crawled like a lizard, the Changeling queen buried herself underneath the mound of feathery delights, until only her horn poked out of the amongst the pastel colored pillows. A deep groan of released pressures reverberated across the royal bedchamber.

“Definitely better than my old pile of moss…”

Ch.4 "Orientation for the Queen"

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.4 “Orientation for the Queen”

Tap, tap, tap. Chrysalis’s head emerged from the pile of pillows like a snake from its den, very slowly. Venomous green eyes peered around to see who would dare tap on her horn, and more importantly disturb the most pleasant sleep she’d had in years. The faint buzz in the air gave her the clue to look up.

The small stature of Colony hovered patiently nearby. She looked down on the queen with a somewhat nervous expression, that grew with Queen’s own face of annoyance.

“Forgive me for disturbing you my queen, but the ponies say this is the scheduled time to raise the sun.”

Chrysalis let out another groan, as she raised her head out of the pillow pile, shaking off some of the sorneness from the previous day.“Go get Shade and Vivisect, meet me at the Solar Tower observatory once you have gathered them.”

When Colony buzzed out of the room Chrysalis let out a long noisy yawn, and fully exposed the neat rows of sharp teeth that filled her mouth. When she stood up she found her hooves sunk deep into the mattresses foamy body. She liked the new texture, and smiled deeply since she knew it was now hers.

She leapt off the bedding and began a brisk trot towards the Solar Tower. On the way she spotted Plain Thatch in the hallway, who abruptly stopped and bowed once she noticed her presence. The queen decided to stop and humor the cleaning pony.

“Up early aren’t we?”

“J-just going about my usual schedule your highness. I’m used to getting up before sunrise, fixing Celestia’s sheets and all, though they’re your sheets now I suppose.”

The queen couldn’t help but grin at the validation, reminding her again of her success. “Yes, they are. Go on Ms. Thatch.”

Chrysalis moved on from the short exchange and moved on, though it took a few more moments to reach the tower. Rather than walk up the staircase, Chrysalis flew up to the balcony. Shade, Vivisect and Colony were already there. Chrysalis ignited her horn as she walked towards her councilors, to get their full attention.

“All of you are going to help me raise the sun. I tried moving it on my own yesterday, and let’s just say it was an unpleasant experience I’d prefer not to revisit. Thankfully, I gained a spell from Celestia to aid us in moving it. Now come forward and learn.”

Each of her councilors ignited their horns and walked forward. One by one the queen touched horns with each of the changelings, and imparted the necessary knowledge. Once that was completed, they moved in a unified trot to the balcony, and cast their collective gaze at the horizon.

The group of changelings shared a dull white glow in their eyes as the spell was conjured. It was not the same out of body experience Chrysalis had experienced earlier thankfully. There was no burn, just a warm tingle that cascaded down from her horn over her head. If anything, it felt like they were simply using a higher form of telekinetic magic.

Moments later light broke across horizon, and the sun peeked over the edge. All four of the changelings powered down their respective spells, and let the sun flow its natural course. Chrysalis inhaled deeply, and felt just fine after she moved the sun in this manner. When she turned to the others she found that they panted heavily.

“How do my councilors fair?”

Shade and Vivisect straightened their postures and stood erect. The sentinel and vanguard stared at each other, and dared the other to complain first. Colony answered first.

“I feel sunburned my queen. It stings, everywhere.”

The head drone hung her head low, her legs spread in a wide stable stance, and one eye twitched quite fiercely.

“Hmm, I don’t think it will be as bad once you gain more power from feeding. If necessary,we could get a group of unicorns to do this instead of us, but until we can organize that you me here for sunrise and sunset.”

“Yes *cough* my queen”

The three councilors voiced all together, each of them sounded scratchier than they did before their mutual activity.

“Now give me your reports, you first Colony, then Shade and Vivisect can divulge.”

Colony laid her body on the balcony floor, and lifted her head up to face the queen.

“My drones were able to identify nearly two dozen ponies that would be considered of significant importance. They were instructed to be at the Gala Hall by sunrise. I don’t believe you instructed a specific location last night, so I hope the Gala Hall is satisfactory?”

“Yes quite, head there now, let these “important” ponies know I’ll be there shortly.”

A short bow was given as Colony raised herself from the floor and left, though flinched as she moved, still reeling from the previous task. Chrysalis looked expectantly at Shade. Her primary vanguard shifted nervously on his hooves.

“I detained two changelings for over feeding last night, I kept note of the ponies they fed on as well.”

The giant queen growled in displeasure. She stomped over to the head vanguard and lowered her head down to his eye level.

“Bring the two changelings, and their victims to the Gala Hall. They will join my meeting.”

“I want to apologize my queen, it was my resp-“

“You can’t keep eyes on every changeling Shade. Now leave.”

Shade lowered his head and scampered off the balcony like a whipped dog. Since the sentinel was last, she stepped forward and bowed to her queen.

“There was only one disturbance last night. Two unicorns approached the throne room searching for Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armor. They identified themselves as Night Light and Twilight Velvet, their parents. I told them nopony was allowed in the throne room on your personal orders. After they protested for a short while, we managed to persuade them to leave.”

“The parents of Twilight and Shining? –sigh- Oh family… the spawning ground for plots of vengeance and rebellion. Vivisect, if any other ponies approach the throne room and identify themselves as family to the prisoners, imprison them as well.”

“Yes my queen.”

Vivisect stood stall and saluted Chrysalis. The large sentinel was only slightly shorter than her queen. Both of them started to rapidly beat their insect-like wings, and head to their respective destinations.

---

The low drum of the queen’s wings echoed through the Gala Hall and into the ballroom. Many seating cushions surrounded the central pedestal, with various ponies already settled on them. Several drones stood attentively by the doorway, they made a hissing cheer as their queen passed them, while the ponies kept quiet

A loud crash and thud occurred as the queen landed heavily on the pedestal, which slowed all conversation within the ball room. Large green eyes roamed over the dubbed “Important” ponies of Canterlot. Eventually all conversation died as the ponies looked at the silent queen. One additional moment of silence later Chrysalis opened her mouth to speak.

“I only have a few objectives for this gathering. Since this could go on for hours, pouring over the minutia of your old government, I will designate one of you as my liaison for such details. By the time this meeting is complete I want a schedule for my changelings to feed. You will also be using your positions of influence to unite Equestria under Changeling rule. Any questions?”

“What if we don’t agree to do this…”

An old grey unicorn stallion with short white mane and tail stood from his red velvet cushion, and gave the queen a challenging stare. His monocle and top hat looked scuffed and dirty, and there were some tears on his suit coat. The mark of crossed swords was on his flanks.

With a loud cough and flash of magic a large empty cocoon appeared near the queen, and hovered in the air, with the open end pointed towards the old unicorn like a hungry maw. Several members of the gathering gasped and flinched, fearful of what might happen.

“I’m afraid I can’t afford dissenters at this stage of development. If you are not here to help stabilize the situation, you can join the rest of the prisoners. That goes for the rest of you!”

She leered at the crowd, and dared any of them to give her a defiant look again. The old stallion straightened his monocle before he reclined back into his cushion, gaze averted from the queen. Chrysalis lowered the empty cocoon to the side of the pedestal, and kept the open end pointed at the group.

“Now, each of you will take turns introducing yourselves. State your name, and why you are significant enough to be here.”

The queen brought up one holed hoof and pointed at the nearest pony, a middle age mare wearing crescent spectacles and a short professional dress. When the large black hoof pointed at her the maroon mare, she quickly stood up and bowed.

“I am Golden Trust your highness, and I was… Am, Minister of The Royal Treasury. The current budg-“

“Money pony, I get it, next!”

Thus began the circle of introductions. Various ministers and heads of noble houses were present, and accounted for the majority of the bureaucracy and wealthy families. When one Pegasus designated herself as a Wonderbolt the queen snapped forward with deadly focus.

“Wonderbolt? Wasn’t that a specialized branch of Celestia’s guard?! Why, pray tell are you not imprisoned at this moment?”

“I surrendered your majesty! I joined them because I liked the uniform and competitions! I never really wanted to fight… I, I, I could show other ponies that even a Wonderbolt is willing to work with you, uh, for you, um, under you?”

Chrysalis had walked down from the pedestal with quick aggressive steps, her horn glowed with green magic. She stood tall over the cowed blue and white Pegasus, who covered her eyes with her hooves and braced for some kind of impact.

“Fleetoot was it?”

“Uh-uh, ya your, um, majesty?”

“Did you see the Wonderbolts loyal to Celestia imprisoned?”

“Y-yes, I saw Captain Spitfire and Soarin st-stuffed in one of those things.”

Fleetfoot had opened one eye and nervously pointed to the empty cocoon with a hoof. The queen’s demeanor relaxed a little and she sat down, and still towered over the Wonderbolt, who cringed under her gaze. A large hoof stroked her chin as Chrysalis put on her best muse face. Fleetfoot cleared her throat before she tried to appease the queen and explain further.

“I escaped capture by taking off my uniform and hiding. When I saw they weren’t stuffing ponies into cocoons anymore I came out. Then, uh, when your drones came looking for important ponies, another pair of pegasi recognized me and pointed the drones in my direction. I didn’t let them know I was a Wonderbolt, I guess your changelings just assumed I was important cuz’ other ponies recognized me.”

She ran out of words after that, and looked up at Chrysalis with a small amount of hope that she wouldn’t be stuffed in a cocoon. A hum reverberated from the queen’s chest and she extended a hoof to the drooped Pegasus. Hesitantly, Fleetfoot accepted it, and was lifted to stand in position.

“How much did you enjoy flying in shows and competitions Fleetfoot?”

“Uh, I kinda, well, I loved it, flyin’ has been my passion since I was a filly.”

“Can you teach others your skills?”

“I guess so.”

“Then congratulations, you’re now captain of Wonderbolts. Recruit others with a love for flying, and continue your shows and competitions. Though, keep in mind, you will no longer have any military affiliation.”

A tenaciously held breath escaped from the shaken pegasus. Who promptly dived to the ground and seized one of Chrysalis’s hooves with both of her blue ones, and nuzzled her muzzle against the queen appreciatively.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you! For not putting me in a cocoon…”

Fleetfoot quietly muttered the last part. The queen responded with a little shove to keep Fleetfoot at hoof’s length, and kept a reserved expression. She turned tail to slowly trot back up to her pedestal.

“Of course, my subject. Who knows, some of my changelings may even express interest in your organization. Next!”

There was only one pony left. A white unicorn with fashionably groomed blue mane, dressed in a neat suit, purple bow-tie, and golden monocle, stood up from his blue and gold trimmed pillow.

“Fancy Pants your majesty, premiere socialite and lobbyist.”

The tall unicorn gave a courteous nod, and wore a charming smile. A surprise was his posture seemed very relaxed, while he maintained a dignified air.

“So most of these ponies trust you and your opinions?”

“Indeed, I also have a well founded reputation with influential ponies throughout Equestria. For starters, the Mayor of Manehattan is a good friend of mine, I believe I could persuade her to accept that you are respectable, and there would be no need claim that city with force.”

“That’s the most useful thing I’ve heard today. You Fancy Pants will be my Liaison for Pony Affairs.”

Surprised gossip commenced among the small crowd at this announcement. Fancy Pants tactfully kept his surprise in check, though some practical concerns still pushed themselves forward.

“By Liaison am I to understand you want me to relate all affairs of government to you?”

Chrysalis sniffed the air, but she didn’t need to taste Fancy’s emotions to see he was feeling a little overwhelmed.

“I want you to look over things generally in my place. Anything these ponies would have petitioned Celestia with, will now go to you. I only want to be notified of severely threatening issues. I won’t be bothered by petty property disputes, only warn me if blood is about to fall.”

The queen ignited her horn her horn and sent a mental message to several nearby drones. In buzzed from half a dozen changelings that neared the small conference, and they landed next to the tall white unicorn.

“These drones will be your personal assistants. Order them to do whatever you want, your word will carry the same weight as mine to them.”

Immediately after that announcement the sound of hoof falls sounded from the entrance to the Gala Ballroom. Shade entered along with half a dozen other vanguard changelings. In tow were three ponies, a stallion, mare, and foal. As well as two more changelings, who had their wings shackled in slime, and their horns restrained in goo. Chrysalis narrowed her eyes and her muzzle drooped into a slight frown, she knew how she wanted to handle this.

“I have brought the guilty and their victims my queen.”

Shade announced loudly

“Keep to the side, I will use them shortly.”

The queen suddenly put on a disconcerting smile, She swept a hoof in a wide gesture.

“Now that we are done with introductions, my important ponies, we will address the subject of feeding my swarm. Fancy Pants, care to join me for a little demonstration?”

Her gestured hoof was brought low and gently patted an empty space on the pedestal. The sharply dressed unicorn held a talent for controlled nervousness too, and he rose from his cushion to walk over to the pedestal. Confident suave was displayed in his trot. The soft smile on his face never faltered.

“Certainly your majesty.”

When Fancy took his seat next to the queen, she inhaled softly. A barely visible shimmer in the air passed between them, like a small heat wave. The unicorn cocked an eyebrow, but remained quiet.

“How do you feel?”

“Should I feel any different, your majesty?”

“I just fed from you.”

Most of the crowd blinked in surprised silence, there were one or two gasps, but most just waited in suspense. Many had imagined the changeling feeding process as something horrible, but here nothing had happened. Several members found themselves in disbelief.

Fancy Pant looked himself up and down, and put a hoof to his chest, then his head. When he found nothing wrong he turned back to the queen.

“I can’t say I feel any different.”

“Good, what I took was a proper sized meal. Four or Five more changelings could take the same, and you would only feel a momentary tingle. If I don’t use magic, this feeding would last me a week before I would feel hungry again.”

A slight murmur passed through the gathering, it was considerably less nervous than previous mutters had been. Chrysalis smirked knowingly at several of the doubtful ponies.

“What did I say, you have nothing to fear. By the way, your love tastes like champagne Fancy Pants.”

The proper white unicorn opened his eyes wide. He discretely put a hoof to his face and tried to smell his own breath.

“I don’t smell of it do I? I haven’t had a drink in days.”

One or two ponies dared to chuckle, the rest silently thought about what this new information could reveal. The queen lowered her face close to Fancy’s and took two very obvious sniffs.

“No, you don’t smell of drinks. You may return to your seat.”

The unicorn processed the information while he left, Fancy Pants felt relieved of at least one thing.

“Now that all of you have seen what a proper feeding is, I will show you the results of misuse, and how I plan to deal with that. Shade! Bring them over.”

Shade and the other vanguard escorted the two detained changelings and three ponies next to the pedestal. This gave all gathered in the meeting a clear view.

With a studious gaze Chrysalis observed her examples. The two guilty changelings were drone class. Each of the three ponies had their natural colors faded, bags were under their eyes and they looked utterly exhausted, particularly the foal, who looked ready to collapse

The observant peer of the queen broke and she stomped down the steps of her pedestal, and arrived next to the bound drones.

“I expected better discipline from changelings who are part of MY swarm!”

Both of the drones were surrounded in the green aura of the queen’s magic and lifted into the air. Muffled squeals escaped from the changelings as they were both stuffed into the empty cocoon next to the pedestal.

“Put them with the other prisoners, they are not to be released until they’ve molted from hunger.”

She grabbed the cocoon in her magic, and levitated it over to Shade, it was sealed shut as it hovered through the air. Her head vanguard grabbed the prisoners with his magic as they were passed to him. With a quick nod he and the other vanguard left towards the throne room.

She relinquished her attention from that problem, Chrysalis then turned to the three pony victims, all of them were unicorns. She approached the stallion first, he recoiled, but she pressed forward anyway. Her horn glowed and she lowered it to cross with the shorter stallion’s, she exhaled as she did so, which caused a transparent shimmer in the air.

The paled green coat on the stallion became saturated with it’s darker natural hue, the bags under his eyes disappeared, and his posture straightened out.

“Wha-, what happened?!”Came his surprised exclamation. The queen moved over and did the same for the mare and foal before she answered.

“Stolen love energy can be given back. You three will be exempt from the obligation to feed my swarm. I’ve left a mark, so other changelings will know not to feed from of you. Go back to your homes.”

Sure enough, there was a green ring at the base of each of the three unicorn’s horns. The mare and stallion muttered some thanks before they scurried out of the ballroom, with the foal between them.

The reaction from the members of the meeting was mixed. To see the queen imprison some of her own changelings, and then help some random ponies caused a stir of confusion. Chrysalis returned to her pedestal once more and sat in a relaxed position.

“At this time I would like to hear any proposals you ponies have for integrating changeling feeding into your schedules.”

“Like opening a restaurant for changelings or something?”

The scratchy voice came from Fleetfoot.

“Love donation center might sound, less intimidating.”

Grumbled an old grey unicorn in a top hat. In the introduction he had introduced himself as Sharpen Bold, a successful statesman.

“It could be a Love bank. Ponies could obtain accounts and records, to keep track of regular deposits. Your changelings could also have their feeding tracked. Just give everypony identification." Golden Trust voiced helpfully.

Chrysalis didn’t need to hear anymore to decide she liked the maroon mare’s method of approach. She held up a hoof, which stopped any more proposals.

“You Golden Trust may organize this. You have until tomorrow to flesh out the idea, once you have it complete report it to Fancy Pants, and he will report it to me. Just keep in mind, I have 10,000 changelings to feed. My demonstration with Fancy Pants should give you an idea for dividing up your ponies time.”

The royal treasurer nodded to the queen’s request. The giant changeling stood up, and felt business was about done.

“My liaison is chosen, and a feeding schedule in the works. For the rest of you, I want you to send petitions to the other cities in Equestria, ask them to join us peacefully. Report your results to Fancy Pants within a week. This meeting is now adjourned.”

One loud tap echoed off the pedestal, and several of Canterlot’s elite roused themselves to their hooves. The queen sat and watched them as they left, she thought of one more thing she wanted to add.

“Golden Trust.”

“Yes your majesty?”

“I am going to send one of my counselors to work with you, her name is Colony. She is the head of my drones, and she will answer any additional questions you may have about changeling needs.”

“I will make the appropriate accommodations.”

The treasury pony left with her final notification, leaving the Queen all but alone She stepped forward and buzzed her wings to depart when she noticed one more pony had stayed behind, he faced the queen expectantly. The broad white unicorn flashed a bright smile. She recognized him easily from the introductions.

“If you want something Blueblood bring it to Fancy Pants first.”

“I’m afraid it’s something Fancy Pants won’t be able to speak on your behalf for.”

“What is it then?”

“Do changelings practice marriage?”

When she heard Blueblood’s question she snorted. Then broke into a laugh.

“Hahaha, do tell me why you would be interested in that. The only love I smell off of you is for yourself.”

“I am Archduke of the House of Royals, and a prince under Celestia’s rule. A union between us would be a sure way to gain approval from the noble houses; I could guide them to endorse your rule.”

“You’re not dissuaded by my looks either?”

Chrysalis snapped her jaws into a wicked grin, and put her sharp fangs on display. She buzzed her wings and riled up her patchy mane. The prince gulped,

“Well, you can take the guise of a pony, can’t you?”

Mystical green fire erupted around the queen’s form, which caused Blueblood to lift a hoof and shield his eyes. When the light dimmed he ventured to look over his hoof. A perfect copy of himself stood there. Chrysalis lifted a hoof and brushed it through the blonde mane her new form supported.

“Down to the last detail.”

Blueblood saw his copy make kissy faces at him. It was strange, he was somewhere between disgusted and intrigued. He licked his dry lips, and remembered he had actually made many of those faces to himself before, in his own mirror, to himself.

“But you’re forgetting one thing Blueblood.”

“Prince Blueblood.” He attempted to correct.

“I OWN YOU!”

The force of the queen’s voice blew against the pompous pony like a wind tunnel. He was promptly knocked backwards onto his flank.

“I DEFEATED CELESTIA! All of the royal guards have been defeated by MY SWARM. You may have money and resources, but you have nothing to defend them with. Don’t presume I need your, or the other nobles approval. You know what fate awaits you should any of the noble houses oppose me.”

The guise had stripped away during her tirade, and Blueblood cowered under her overbearing presence. Her eyes flashed with magically charged aura as she glared.

“To answer your initial question, it is yes and no. Many of my vanguard infiltrators have adopted disguises that are married off to somepony. And no, I don’t marry off changelings when they find a reproductive partner. We have never bothered in our natural forms and see no reason to do so now Now, unless you have something of use to contribute, get out of my sight.”

It didn’t take a moment for the thoroughly intimidated Blueblood to gallop out of the Gala ballroom.

---

The doors to the throne room were pushed open, morning sunlight and a queen entered through them. She hummed a merry tune to herself as she passed several sentinels standing post.

“Time for breakfast!”

Chrysalis sang in simple melody. She hovered up to the imprisoned ponies, and jovially drummed on each pod with her front hooves as she passed them.

“Which one, which one, aw who am I kidding, I’m going to have all of you.”

She slowly sniffed each pod, she had only to decide which one she wanted first. Each pony had a distinct taste, dependent on the personality of their emotions. The fluid in each pod absorbed emotional energy from its occupant, as a sort of pre-digestive method. This made it very easy for any changeling to feed from a pony stuffed in a cocoon.

Eventually she decided to feed from the yellow Pegasus first. She hovered underneath the pod, and inhaled the waft of emotional energy that pooled at the base. It tasted mild, and rather buttery. So she moved to the next pod, which contained the rainbow maned, cyan Pegasus. After she inhaled a large portion of the pooled emotions she coughed.

“Ooo, you’re a spicy one. ‘cough’ with an aftertaste of insecurity.”

Chrysalis’s eyes had started to water, and she lifted a hoof to wipe the excess liquid away. With the other hoof she fanned her heated face. Anxiously she looked around for another pod, she needed another flavor personality to cool this one off.

She spotted a familiar princess, Chrysalis smiled.

“Let’s see if your love tastes as good as Shining’s… ehehehe.”

Eagerly, the queen gulped at the energy emitted from the cocoon, which contained a pretty pink princess. The large Changeling hummed in delight with what she tasted.

“MMMmm, fruit and cream, I should have suspected.”

It counteracted the residual heat of Rainbow’s flavor, and left Chrysalis feeling quite satisfied.

“I suppose I’ll try the rest of you later. I do have a swarm to manage.”

Ch.5 "Orientation includes angry subjects"

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.5 “Orientation includes angry subjects”

After ‘breakfast’ was eaten, Chrysalis spent most of the day exploring the various facilities of the castle. One of her first stops, was the kitchens, where she gleefully decided to partake in some of Celestia’s fancy dishes.

Hey, even changelings like to eat physical food every once and awhile, even though they don’t need it. Besides, that’s how changelings know how to compare what love tastes like. At least this was the explanation given to some dumbfounded chefs.

Then she took a walk through Celestia’s fabulous gardens. After that she admired the jewelry in Celestia’s royal treasury, and she looked through the books of the former ruler’s personal library. Chrysalis’s favorite thing to explore was the vault of ancient and powerful artifacts, which Celestia kept restricted to all but a select few, the sign merely made the queen smirk.

Periodically Chrysalis had returned to the royal throne room, for ‘lunch’ and ‘dinner’. She sampled the love of other princesses and Elements of Harmony. The collective passion between those groups of ponies fueled her sense of power even more. The queen was now confident she was even stronger than when she had defeated Celestia.

Otherwise things didn’t really get interesting until that night.

---

Two changeling sentinels stood guard outside of Chrysalis’s recently acquired bedroom. Neither of them noticed a shadow, which jumped from one dark corner to the next. The form was flat against the walls and floors it traveled along.

One sentinel sneezed, a distraction which the ethereal figure took advantage of. Within the blink of an eye the shadow entity passed between the sliver of space between the doors and the floor, and entered the royal bedchamber.

Chrysalis was buried under her usual pile of plush comforts, her horn poked out, and was the only indication she was there. Other than the soft snores, that emanated from the pillow mound.

Slowly, the shadow on the floor coalesced. A tall dark Pegasus with bat wings, and slit pupils, emerged from the dark spot. A long shafted spear was gripped in his hoof. The lunar guard stalked forward, the large purple and blue plated armor he wore was deceptively quiet. A grimace soured his face and his eyes furrowed furiously.

The lunar pegasus grit his teeth, and raised his spear, ready to plunge it down on this usurper and down it came.

The silver spear tip disappeared into the mound of pillows with a swish and thud as it impacted something solid beneath them. A yelp of pain came from the pillows, and the lunar guard cursed under his breath, he didn't hit anything vital enough to silence her immediately.

In the next moment the mound of pillows exploded in a wave of green magic. Soft things suddenly flew of deadly speeds. One of the pillows struck the bat pony with all the force a nearly sonic pillow could strike with, right in the face…

Chrysalis stood and snarled in the midst of her wind blasted bed. The spear had punctured right through the base of one wing, which left a large unsightly gash. Clear fluid dripped from the injured appendage.

She seized the spear with her magic and pulled it out, this caused the gash to widen and tear the injury, to which the Queen cringed in searing pain but thankfully it was out. The queen glanced about the room to look for the perpetrator; against the opposite wall was a stunned Lunar pegasus. In one long bound, Chrysalis leapt from the bed and landed noisily in front of her assailant.

“What fool dares to attack me!”

Her large front hoof came down and stomped on the bat ponies front leg, making a sickening pop. The armored guard gasped at the new and unpleasant sensation of having his leg dislocated. At this point the changeling sentinels had opened the doors to the bed chamber and rushed inside.

“My queen, what has-”

Both sentinels saw their queen standing over a fallen Lunar Guard. They immediately activated their combat magic. Each had a long, green, ghostly blade form around their horns, and their front hooves reshaped themselves into lethal claws.

Before the sentinels pounced on the intruder the queen held up her hoof to stop them. She growled at her would be murderer.

“Tell me why you even thought you could succeed, you pathetic excuse of a soldier. I am more powerful than any alicorn who ever ruled these lands!”

The cornered Lunar pegasus grunted as he shook his head. After his vision cleared he looked up at the queen with gaze that conveyed utter loathing.

“You can still bleed, you monster!”

The giant changeling knocked the defiant bat pony on his back, then pressed a heavy hoof down on his chest. The air was forced out of his lungs and he gasped for breath. Chrysalis lowered her head close to the bat pony, and sniffed for emotions. What she found surprised her.

“You had no hope for succeeding, just a misguided sense of loyalty. ‘sniff’ and a passionate vengeance for loss. ‘sniff’ loss for a very specific pony.”

She released the pressure of her hoof on the lunar pegasus’s chest, and let him gulp in some air. He panted several times before he angrily wheezed at her.

“Y-you, imprisoned Luna. She is why I joined the Nightwatch, she was… my inspiration, a beacon to all Bat Ponies ! And you just stuffed her in one of those disgusting prisons!”

“Would you like to see her?”

Chrysalis’s angry snarl had transformed into a malevolent grin. The bat pony blinked unsure of what to make of it, but fear started to creep down his spine. A green aura surrounded the armored assassin, and he was pulled across the floor.

The queen exited her bed chamber, and dragged the bat pony behind her in her magic. He flailed about like a rag doll. Her two sentinels trailed behind her; they had since deactivated their fighting magic. One sentinel nervously piped up a question.

“Are we not going to execute this scum, my queen?”

“Why would I do that? He obviously has great love for his ex leaders and country. He will be most nutritious as a prisoner.”

The group traveled their way up to the throne room. Chrysalis had taken to bouncing the bat pony up and down like a ball. Each time he collided with the floor his armor made a loud clang and clatter, which was followed up by a groan of discomfort.

To the new prisoner’s relief the queen stopped when they entered the throne room. She knew where she wanted to go, and she lifted the guard high in the air to face a specific cocoon. There was the princess of the night, sleeping peacefully, suspended in her organic prison.

The sight caused a well of emotions for the lunar guard. He bit his lower lip and his eyes started to water. There was nothing he could do; his only attempt at some justice had failed, miserably. Chrysalis caught the look.

“Don’t worry, little bat. You will get to join her, and live out any fantasy you have in your twisted little dreams.”

The lunar guard gritted his teeth, and his voice turned bitter.

“Nopony will love you like the princesses, you vile insect. Who could love somepony as cruel as you.”

“Coming from the one who tried to impale me with a spear… Tsk, tsk, I don’t need you or anypony to love me. I just need them to respect their queen!”

A fresh cocoon was conjured up, and the failed assassin was unceremoniously shoved in it. The two sentinels, who had followed the queen, took the time to attach the newest prisoner to the ceiling.

Chrysalis let out a long weary sigh, and put a hoof to her temple, she began to rub it slowly in circles. Once the two large changelings finished their task, they waited patiently for their queen’s next order. She was simply content to sit in silence for a short while, her mind had settled from its excited rush and was going foggy, thanks to the lack of sleep and pain she was still experiencing.

Her horn ignited as she mentally called for her lead vanguard. While she waited, Chrysalis set her body down on the floor and crossed her front hooves. The two sentinels at her side busied themselves with scanning the area; they didn't want any more surprise shadow attacks.

Shade entered the throne, and immediately hovered over to his queen. Once he landed he lowered himself into a low bow. The vanguard appeared fully alert, and apprehensive.

“What is it you require my queen?”

“I need you to search out the pony population. Look for any with violent tendencies, and imprison them. One of them got uncomfortably close this night. I’m certain there are more straggling guards and rebels somewhere.”

Chrysalis pointed to the bat pony, who was being sedated in his new slimy container. Shade’s eyes flicked up to lunar guard, and noticed they didn't even bother with taking his armor off before imprisoning him. That was going to rust nastily.

“Then Colony will monitor the swarm while I investigate the ponies?”

“No, she is busy planning with a pony official. I’ll assign Vivisect to it.”

The vanguard grumbled quietly at his queen’s decision, Vivisect wasn't exactly subtle enough to catch sneaky, disobedient changelings. Before Shade could formulate plans for filtering the pony populace his eyes flashed a bright purple.

Lucid images flashed into his field of view. One of his vanguards stationed far north was sending him a message. Short phrases, and brief experiences could be communicated through this method. It was the primary way vanguard kept in contact with each other while exploring new regions.

What Shade saw brought a wave of surprise. Through this northern vanguard he could see a massive city. Despite the snow blanketing the lands, the city appeared to be in the middle of spring, complete with green fields of grass. A massive opaque tower resided at its center, and all the structures branching out where of some kind of shiny stone.

“A Crystal city just appeared, we don’t know what this means.”

The toneless voice echoed in Shade's head, and the borrowed sight ended. The head of the vanguard turned to the queen.

“There is a surprising development in the north, my queen.”

“Oh?”

“A large crystalline city has just appeared. Some kind of magic is keeping it in a state of spring despite the land around it being covered in ice.”

“What? There is no large city in Equestria in that region. Is your vanguard delusional?”

Shade put a hoof to his head, and his eyes flashed purple again.

“No, I’m seeing it clearly. The city is inhabited as well, and it’s even larger than Canterlot! I have no idea what this means.”

Chrysalis growled in frustration at this new revelation.

“Celestia! What secrets are you hiding?”

The queen’s horn burned with green energy as she attempted to fly up to Celestia’s cocoon. She stopped before she even left the ground, as her injured wing refused to function.

“Gah, stupid bat pony!”

With heavy irritation Chrysalis burned a large amount of love energy to rapidly fix the injured base of her wing. There was a slight zipping noise as the gash sealed over in seconds. She tested a few experimental flaps, and found her wing usable. Though it still hurt to use it, the flesh ached deeply for being mended so fast.

This time Chrysalis successfully climbed up to the sun princess’s prison.

Ch.6 "Of Chrysalis and Crystals"

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.6 “Of Chrysalis and Crystals”

Celestia was in a large tennis court, dressed with in a neat sports vest, and her mane was pulled back in a tight bun. On the other side of the court was Luna. Both of them held up rackets in their magic.

“Your serve Luna.”

Thus began a rapid paced volley. The bright yellow ball zipped back and forth into a seemingly endless barrage. Neither sister was close to giving up, even after the exchange lasted dozens of hits. Stamina was a non-issue because… Dreamland.

At some point during the extended volley Celestia started to hear a funny noise. It was very high pitch ‘eeeeeeeeee’ and it increased and decreased in strength frequently. Her focus started to weaken as she quickly looked for the source of the noise in between hits. Eventually she realized the noise came and went with the ball.

When she looked closely she saw the ball was no longer a yellow-green blur, but something transparent. Celestia dropped the racket she held, and the ball hit the ground on her side of the court.

“Huzzah! That places us at 40 to thy 15”

Luna cheered enthusiastically on her side of the net; she fluttered up and made a hoof pump. Her enthusiasm died a little when she noticed Celestia’s attention wasn’t on her that moment. Instead the sun princess held up a small transparent orb, which was the same size as their tennis ball.

With curiosity, the Night Princess trotted over to her sister, and got a better look at what she was focused on. Inside of the small transparent orb was a teeny tiny Chrysalis, who appeared very dizzy. Luna cocked an eyebrow at the sight

“What an odd addition to your dream, sister.”

“Oh this? This is actually Chrysalis, apparently changelings can practice some limited form of dream walking.”

“Really, shall I banish this monster then?”

“As much as I’d like to volley her back and forth on the court again, she may actually have something important to say. Last time she needed to learn how to move the heavens properly, because the sun burned her horn, can you believe it?”

Celestia snickered the last part. Still unsure, Luna waited patiently for where her sister decided to take this. The thought of Chrysalis burning her horn brought a small smile to Luna’s muzzle. Then the tiny queen tried to communicate. Celestia held the small orb up to her face.

“eeeeneneeeeneneeenenneenne!”

“What?”

“eneneeeneenee!”

“This is harder to understand than a Breezie… Perhaps I can imagine up a better container.”

Celestia closed her eyes, and when she opened them again the orb containing chrysalis became the size of a hamster ball. Complete with hamster-size Chrysalis, though the miniaturized changeling was not as happy as a hamster.

“This is why few changelings care to dream stalk… much too volatile.”

Though better, the queen’s voice was still very high pitched, which brought another chuckle from both monarchs, but was thankfully, decipherable.

“Speak what you came here for, curr.”

Luna sat her haunches down next to Celestia and glared at the rodent-sized changeling. Chrysalis’s eyes went wide, as she realized the night princess was there, something she had not considered. The two of them maintained an uncomfortable eye contact for several moments before the queen turned to Celestia.

“Do cities just randomly pop up in your kingdom?”

“What do you mean?”

Celestia’s eyes narrow suspiciously.

“I mean that one of my infiltrators in the north noticed a giant crystal city appear out of nowhere.”

Both princesses snapped their eyes wide open.

“The Crystal Empire has returned…”

Luna said under muttered breath. The solar and lunar diarch exchanged troubled looks. Equestria’s most powerful weapons were subdued by the queen, and now the return of an evil tyrant could only spell more potential disaster. Chrysalis noticed the agitated shift in posture between the two alicorns, and it caused her to get slightly nervous. What could possibly have those two worried?

“Well, what does that mean?”

The queen demanded impatiently. In turn, Celestia lowered the hamster ball to the ground and put a hoof to her chin.

“Something that may actually be worse than you.”

“What?”

Chrysalis dead panned.

“King Sombra…”

Instead of sharing anymore words, the very dreamscape itself started to change. The tennis court faded away, and they were suddenly surrounded by a thrall of crystalline buildings. The massive terrace went on for miles, and eventually developed into pleasant countryside. Overshadowing it all was the massive crystal palace, standing as the largest beacon the queen had ever seen. It made Canterlot castle seem humble in its choice of building material.

“My sister and I dealt with the empire over a thousand years ago. It is the home of the crystal ponies, and the center of a very powerful magic.”

The two sisters, and miniaturized changeling, began to fly over the landscape. It was a dream, so they didn’t even need to flap their wings. Below them were hundreds of crystal ponies, prancing about joyfully, just as Celestia had remembered them.

“But then King Sombra, a unicorn whose heart was black as night, came and took over the empire.”

“Do you really have to use black as night, to describe him Celly…”

“Oh, I’m sorry Lulu, it’s just a popular metaphor that’s been used for years.”

“Indeed, carry on… confound these modern phrases.”

Suddenly the prancing, happy, crystal, shiny, colorful, joyful, optimistic, pleasant, positive, ponies stopped what they were doing, and appeared in chains. Everything darkened, and sharp pillars of black crystal appeared everywhere.

A smiling giant of a unicorn stood on the balcony of the crystal palace, which had also changed into a black tower of despair. Purple and green flames burned ominously all over the place, but they were most ominous from the tyrant’s own eyes. Complete with green sclera, red irises, and purple exhaust wafting like ghost tails from the edges. Fanged teeth added to the aggressive look portrayed by his battle armor and spiky crown.

“He was ultimately overthrown, turned to shadow, and banished to the ice of the arctic north”

The silhouette of Celestia and Luna appeared in the sky radiating a bright light. Chrysalis did a double take, looking at the dream princesses next to her, then back to the memory versions. She shook her heard before listening again.

A focused beam of mixed magic was shot from the two memory princesses. This blasted away at King Sombra, and seemed to strip the very magic away from him, leaving only a literal shadow with his face remaining. The tyrant’s angry and disembodied face was sent hurtling down an icy fissure, before being sealed away.

“However,he placed a powerful a curse on the Crystal Empire, a curse that caused it to vanish into thin air.”

The dreamscape suddenly shifted, and all three of them stood in the middle of a snowy field. As they stood there quietly small drifts of snow billowed about, giving Chrysalis a moment to ponder the things she just saw.

Celestia concentrated again, and conjured up a miniaturized version of the crystal empire for them to look at once more.

“If the empire is filled with hope and love, these things are reflected across all of Equestria.”

The small empire radiated long bands of aurora light, which made a harmonized glow surrounding the area. Celestia smiled briefly, remembering the effect the happy empire had in it’s days of yore.

“If fear and hatred take hold.”

The expression gracing her muzzle quickly turned to a grimace. She stomped a hoof and black crystals erupted over the empire like cancerous vines. It’s rainbow hues of light darkened into an inky well of oppression. The changeling queen cringed at the indications, until Celestia banished the image infront of them.

“So, Chrysalis, this is what you have taken upon yourself to handle.”

The Sun Princess turned toward the little queen with a hard gaze, trying to read any clues to the queen’s reaction. The little changeling huffed, and puffed, and spoke in her high pitched voice.

“There appears to be great benefit for controlling this empire, for good or ill. Increasing the love across all of Equestria would be quite the bounty for my subjects. Your ponies already posses more love than any of the nations I’ve visited… and to have access to even more?”

“Are you going to simply disregard Sombra?”

Luna seethed with contempt, she didn’t like the insectile equine they were explaining this to, but she cared for the shadow tyrant even less.

“You two managed to put him down easily enough, and my constant feeding has made me even stronger than when I first beat your sister.”

The queen’s dismissive approach caused a long disappointed sigh from the Solar Princess.

“It’s not a simple matter of magical strength Chrysalis. Sombra will seek to indirectly deconstruct you. I know we didn’t show you, but we had to distract Sombra with an army, before we could cast our spell, and hit him before he could react. Even then, it was only a temporary banishment. You imprisoning us seemed to have weakened the binding we placed on him.”

“Then I will go up there with my love charged army and defeat him myself. I’ll just have to end him more permanently…”

Tiny black hooves rubbed together as the hamster-sized queen laughed with a comically high and maniacal voice.

“Muwahahahahaa! Surely the ponies will be grateful that my changelings and I saved them from this fear mongering tyrant.”

Luna dead-panned and face hoofed, and decided to point out the obvious, “Thou art a fear mongering tyrant…”

“I am what I have to be to establish order first! My ultimate goal is to have a kingdom full of loving ponies. Unlike this Sombra.”

“Just keep in mind, brashness will cost you dearly on this venture Chrysalis. Sombra likely has many other traps laid about the empire, and he would love for you to stumble all over them.”

Celestia’s warning tone silenced any potentially snide thoughts. For a few moments the three simply looked at the ground, deep in thought. The changeling broke the stupor first.

“Well, is there any other advice you’d like to give me, before I go conquer this emotional magnifier of a city?”

The large white alicorn hummed, thinking about how to answer. The dreamscape shifted and all three of them were once again on the tennis court. A drink stand appeared at the corner of the court, and Celestia walked over to it. Luna followed, and Chrysalis rolled in her hamster ball.

Fruity drinks filled the counter on the stand in clear glasses. A pink glass with half a lemon slice stuck on it was grabbed in Celestia’s golden aura, and levitated to her muzzle for a sip. Luna grabbed a dark red drink in her blue aura and sampled it. The hamster ball stopped rolling, and the little changeling inside started tapping a hoof impatiently. Celestia glanced down and found some words to say.

“Back then, my sister and I were attuned to the Elements of Harmony. Sombra knew he couldn’t match that power, so he placed those curses. You know which ponies you’d have to release if you wanted the undeniable power of the elements.”

“What would keep them from using that power on me!?”

“That is a hard question for you to answer.”

“I can’t even consider it. Not unless Luna goes to their dreams and manages to convince them to work with me. Even then…”

Luna spat out her drink, and spewed its contents all over the hamster ball. The small changeling inside shrieked with displeasure as red sticky liquid dripped through the breathing slits of her plastic container.

“Us?! Persuade the elements to, to… aid this monster?!”

“Oh, what would you rather have rule Equestria Luna? A monster, or a devil?”

Chrysalis sneered at the blue alicorn, while red fruit drink dripped off her soaked mane. The Night Princess narrowed her eyes at the little cretin contained in a pet’s play thing.

“Of all the sardonic, slime souled, and dastardly villains seeking control of Equestria, I would rather have Discord in power than you. At least his attempts at tyranny were meant to be amusing, and laughter was my element at one point.”

“Luna…”

The calm voice of Celestia hushed the two bickering equines.

“It will clearly take time before we can come to a decision.”

“Time I likely don’t have. How soon will this Sombra be free?”

The queen asked impatiently.

“I am unsure, but I would think he would be free soon. The empire’s curse was tied to his imprisonment. The reappearance of one should herald the arrival of the other.”

“Then I will have to act immediately. I appreciate the cooperation you’ve given me Celestia.”

The tiny changeling waved a hoof dismissively towards the two sisters looking down on her. A little green aura ignited around Chrysalis’s horn as she prepared to leave Celestia’s dream state.

Before the rodent sized queen could disappear a blue aura engulfed the hamster ball, and caused the changeling’s magic to fizzle. Confusion spread across Chrysalis’s stunned face. She tried igniting her magic again, with extra ‘oomf’.

The two flows of energy grappled with one another, reaching a stalemate in between where the blue and green mixed. Luna grunted at the effort of restraining Chrysalis, but she smiled at the effect.

“We still haven’t finished our game sister, and we need a ball.”

Celestia cocked an eyebrow towards the lunar princess.

“How long can you restrain her here?”

“Long enough, she may have a great deal more magical might than me, but she is an utter novice at dream manipulation. I could feel her mediocrity when she first appeared.”

Celestia made a curious smirk.

“You cannot contain me!”

The little Chrysalis screamed with all the ferocity of a mouse, and attempted to force more magic into her escape. Luna simply changed technique, and made the little queen redirect her energy uselessly.

“Gaaaawwwww!”

“Shall we finish then?”

The blue alicorn smiled towards her bigger sister.

“Just one moment.”

One momentary bit of concentration later, and two tennis rackets appeared. Chrysalis’s container had shrunk back down to the size of a tennis ball, and was now made of bouncy rubber. Each sister grabbed a racket in magic, and moved to opposite sides of the tennis court.

“I’ll serve.”

Celestia wore a mischievous grin, as she threw the small ball containing Chrysalis into the air, and smacked it. The little bug-pony queen was suddenly pressed against the back of the ball, her concentration on escaping utterly broken. From her mashed face came one audible sound.

“eeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!”

Ch.7 "The Queen and the King"

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.7 “The Queen and the King”

Shade walked nervously back and forth in the throne room. When he looked up to his queen the sight displeased him. Chrysalis grunted and huffed with her eyes tightly shut, and the glowing magic around her horn intensified dangerously. A sudden episode of vomiting came from the queen, and many of the partially digested treats eaten in the royal kitchens earlier that day found their way to the floor.

It wasn’t hard for the head of the vanguard to see the dream stalking caused his queen’s duress. He wanted to help, but tearing a dream stalking changeling away from their target was tricky business.

A high pitched screech tore at all the ears in the throne room, followed by a gnarly explosion. The queen was thrown back from Celestia’s pod with a violent rag tag flail. She stopped once she hit the opposing wall, and sank to the floor.

Several of the prisoner pods swung back and forth, some of which smacked each other,causing many goopy sloshes and slurps. One of the prisoner pods was knocked so bad it’s sinewy suspension snapped. The free cocoon sailed to the ground, and split open. Green viscous soup spilled all over the throne room floor, in the midst of the mess was Applejack.

The orange earth pony coughed up a bunch of liquid from her lungs. She shook her head back and forth to get the slime out of her face. Her vision was bleary as her eyes cracked open; it appeared to be night time.

“The hay…?”

A dark figure approached her, and she still couldn’t make out who, or what it was.

“One of the cocoons broke. I will remedy the situation.”

The voice was distinctly male, and had a slight click to it, but the meaning of the words bothered the earth mare substantially. Her eyes blinked rapidly and gained clarity with each snap.

A tall vanguard changeling approached her, there was a purple lining to the edge of his eyes, and several grey freckles ran down his face and neck. His horn was ignited and a fresh cocoon floated beside him. With the speed of a second place rodeo pony, Applejack jumped to her hooves, and promptly bucked the changeling in the face.

Shade found his head suddenly knocked backward, and the rest of his body soon followed. The pod fell to the floor as the vanguard skidded over the tile of the throne room.. He growled at the pain in his snout, and turned to look for the orange pony with dizzy unfocused eyes, but she was already gone.

Applejack’s sopping wet mane and tail flapped about noisily as she dashed for the exit. Two sentinels stood guard at the throne room doors, when they saw the rapidly approaching earth pony they cast their fighting magic. Long sword-like blades of energy protruded from their horns, and their front hooves shifted to claws.

The element of honesty, dropped to her haunches and skidded to a stop. If she continued to run forward those fierce looking’ door guards would probably tear her a new---

Applejack was suddenly knocked on her back. A large black hoof pinned her to the floor. Her green eyes looked up into the face of another changeling. This new specimen was larger than Big Mac, and had an orange tint around it’s otherwise blue eyes. The thick chitin that grew on this changeling formed neat segments of armor. It hissed in a female voice.

“Going somewhere, pony?”

The large and extra scary changeling lowered her face close to Applejack and bore her fangs.

“Get up, and go to your new pod.”

With little dignity the orange earth pony was lifted and placed on her hooves. Just moments before Applejack had been dreaming, living on her farm like normal without a care. Then this harsh reminder of the real situation had to be thrust on her. She looked up, and saw the rest of her friends, and beloved princesses contained in those green resin prisons. She didn’t want to give up yet, no way, no how.

One step forward was taken, before Applejack put weight on her front hooves, and reared her back hooves up high and bucked. The blow landed squarely on the large changeling’s chest, and did nothing.

The brute of a changeling laughed, and tapped it’s chest with one of its hooves, this caused a slight rattle.

“Think you can hit harder than a manticore do you? Maybe I can convince the queen to let you stay out a little longer, and spar with the sentinels.”

She lifted a black holed hoof and smacked Applejack on the flank. The blow was so hard it threw the earth pony off of her hooves, and left a nasty welt. There was a painful grunt as the Element of Honesty tried to rub her stinging back side.

The soft clop of hooves approached the small scuffle, and Applejack turned to see who. It was the changeling she had bucked in the face earlier. A little blue blood dribbled from one of his nostrils, but he otherwise seemed passive.

“Come on Vivisect, just be practical…”

“I was trying to be, before she tried to fight with me.”

Their conversation was cut off when a loud angry roar burst from the far side of the room. Chrysalis had sprung up from the ground and burned with magical energy. Glowing, enraged green eyes focused on one pod hanging from the ceiling and seized it in magic.

“Let’s see how you like it!”

The queen had grabbed Luna’s cocoon in magic and tore it free from the ceiling. She began to spin the freed pod around in circles in the middle of the air. It turned about faster and faster until it became a blur. Even after a minute, the rate of the spin only sped up.

Without warning Chrysalis brought the pod to an abrupt stop. Though the cocoon had halted its spin, the lunar occupant hadn’t, and she swirled violently within the viscous green fluid. When Luna finally stopped spinning, the unconscious diarch started to heave and puke within her prison.

“Dream on that!”

The queen spat at the pod, before slamming it back up against the ceiling and reattaching it with new sinews.

“Practical…”

The lead sentinel turned to the vanguard with a smirk.

“Shut it, Vivisect.”

“What in Tartarus was that about?”

Applejack was just stunned at the whole scene.

“Apparently your night Princess disturbed my queen’s communication with Celestia.”

Shade answered.

“Why’s Chrysalis tryin’ to talk to Princess Celestia? She’s already taken Canterlot, what else does she want, to gloat?”

“Information, taking over isn’t exactly an easy process. Learning to move the sun proved to be… an unusual ordeal. Now something else has come up, something troubling.”

The apple pony’s expression turned snide.

“Ya don’t say... And now she’s figurin’ she needs help, cause she ain’t as smart as she thought.”

A loud smack came in contact with the back of Applejack’s head.

“You will respect the queen. All of you were fooled except for Twilight Sparkle, even your princesses. You ponies are easily manipulated by your emotions.”

Vivisect growled.

“What, and you have no emotions to deal with? Two bits say you’re full of it. I saw plenty in what your queen just did there.”

“Get her in the pod already Shade!”

“Go back to you post then, no changeling said you had to lose an argument with a pony.”

It was Shade’s turn to smirk at Vivisect. The large armored changeling sneered at the vanguard and earth mare, before she turned and left. Applejack blew out some air with a snort towards the exiting sentinel. The earth pony turned suspiciously to the vanguard.

“I suppose I should thank ya for getting’ that varmint off my case.”

“Eh, Vivisect’s pride gets ahead of her at times.”

“So you changelings have names? Besides your queen I mean.”

“Only after we earn it. Many of us have lived and died nameless.”

“Well, do ya have one?”

“Shade.”

“And, how’d ya get that?”

“I became head of the queen’s vanguard of infiltrators.”

“Huh?”

Shade had to fight to urge to hoof smack his head at the mare’s ignorance,

“My particular division was responsible for keeping the swarm alive. We would live among you ponies and forge a new alias, or borrow one. The love we gained here or in other places was used to feed the swarm. It was my positive reports that inspired the queen to come here of all countries.”

Applejack’s face was bemused “So technically I could blame ya for this whole predicament.”

“Technically you could. The queen was going to invade whether I recommended it or not. The swarm was desperate to move out of the Badlands, it’s just, just that…”

“Just what?”

Shades eyes became downcast, his lids drooped low, ears folded back, and his muzzled grimaced into a frown.

“I should probably get you hung up again before the queen suspects I’m wasting time.”

“Really, ya can’t just let one little earth pony go? What am I gonna do?”

“Letting Applejack, the Element of Honesty up to her own volitions? I don’t think I can let that fly.”

“Ya know my name?”

“Of course, what pony hasn’t heard of the legendary tales of the Elements of Harmony?”

“I suppose you’re right…”

“Come here, those welts will stop hurting once you’re back in the pod.”

With a sad frown Shade picked up the new cocoon and Applejack in his magic, and put them together. He managed to tie her up to the ceiling by himself. Once the orange pony was back in her place the vanguard looked up at her for a moment.

The earth mare looked at him for a little while, until the sedative effect of the goo set in, and her eyes were closed once more.

A loud crash next to Shade caused him to be startled. Chrysalis grabbed her lead vanguard around the neck, and pulled him close. Their eyes were nearly mashed together, and he could smell vomit on her breath. The queen leaned quite heavily on the smaller vanguard for support, and her eyes seemed to shake within her head.

“I need half the swarm ready to move Shade. Tonight!”

The queen pulled back and stood on her own hooves. She wiped a small bit of dribble away from her chin, and stumbled over to the throne itself. Once there, she sat her haunches down on it, and put both of her fore hooves to her head, as she tried to stop the spinning sensation in her skull.

“What are we to prepare for my queen?”

“We are taking that city your scout saw. Get half of the drones, vanguard, and sentinels ready. Tell them to drain every last ounce of love from all prisoners. Then gather them to Gala Hall, we move from there. The other half will remain here to keep watch.”

The vanguard bowed, and moved to obey the order without further questions. Chrysalis shook her head, and the dizziness finally wore off. She hadn’t planned on what she was about to do next, but she wouldn’t risk losing Equestria’s control.

She flew up to the podded prisoners. Some of the most loving ponies in all of Equestria lay strung up there. Before Shining Armor, she had never had an entire pony's love to herself.

Everything had always been divided, and divided again. There were only a few hundred vanguards able to actually collect love, and thousands of changelings would share it amongst themselves, thus they had to ration it. Even despite having a significantly larger portion to herself due to her position, it was never more than a fraction of what even one pony could give.

Now she had access to many. The feedings she had taken earlier that day were modest, and not enough to disturb any of the slumbering prisoners. Though it was still enough she wouldn’t have to feed again for months. Now she was going to take more, substantially more. The flight over to Celestia’s pod was brief, and the queen readied to feed.

“Forgive me-, wait no, this will make us even. You think you can just get away with disrespecting me in your dreams. I will show you otherwise.”

Fangs grabbed onto the bottom of the cocoon, and Chrysalis inhaled deeply. The pod glowed dully as it’s energies were being drained at an accelerated rate. The green liquid became cloudy, and Celestia trembled with in her pod. The Solar Princess’s face contorted in discomfort.

The green cocoon was almost grey, and the unconscious alicorn was kicking about in her pod in the midst of a nightmare. It was harsh pay back for the mistreatment in the dream, but Chrysalis rationalized she needed the extra power. It would be days before Celestia produced anything emotionally edible again. The queen didn’t feel quite as bad for the next victim she moved to.

“They once called you Nightmare Moon, but tell me, was does a nightmare have nightmares about?”

The giant changeling proceeded to drain everything from the other princesses, and Elements of Harmony. Once she was done, she was full of enough love that she wouldn’t need to feed again for a century. It was actually enough to feed the whole swarm several times over, for weeks!

The potential energy hummed within her, and her body glowed. The holes in her hooves healed over, leaving them whole. Her patchy mane smoothed over neatly, and her wings grew out even longer, any holes in them were fixed as well. Chrysalis laughed with a girly giggle.

“Ooo hoohooohoo, I’m not sure I’m sorry at all. This… is amazing.”

She remembered the reason why she did it though, and left the throne room and headed to the Gala Ballroom.

---

Once the queen left, Shade poked his head back in through a window. Every sentinel stationed there faced towards the door or balcony. The head vanguard was able to sneak in silently, and used the special grip changeling hooves had to walk on the walls and ceilings. Like a spider Shade approached the pod of one pony.

His horn ignited and some of his personal love reserve was put into the grey cocoon. It's murky liquid cleared, and revealed an orange earth pony. She was in the middle of kicking around in her pod, but quickly calmed down once the murkiness was gone. Shade poured a little more love back into the cocoon for good measure, and Applejack actually cracked a smile. It was rather funny to Shade, giving a pony love was hardly different from feeding a changeling.

The vanguard was torn. He had come to understand ponies very well in all the years he had as an infiltrator, and empathized with them. But helping other changelings escape the conditions of the Badlands is what earned his loyalty to the queen. The atrocities they had to go through just to survive out there, these ponies wouldn't understand. Changelings like Vivisect simply didn't understand the ponies, they only knew the harshness they had been raised in.

"I'm sorry it has to be this way."

He wore a sad look on his face and gently placed a hoof on Applejack's cocoon. Helping the changelings help themselves had come at a high cost for Equestria. The vanguard's frown intensified as he looked at the other grey cocoons. He flinched when he thought of the other places Chrysalis had yet to conquer.

Hopefully Fancy Pants really could help make it a peaceful transition with Manehattan. That was where Shade had done most of his infiltration work. Where he had many friends he gained over years of work. If the queen let him scout out the populace before hand he could at least warn them.

The sound of the sentinels rotating positions snapped Shade to attention. He quickly left to go about his assigned orders.

---

Within an hour, a few thousands changelings had drained all the positive emotional energy they could get from one thousand royal guards, and dozens of other assorted prisoners. If the changeling swarm was strong enough to defeat canterlot’s guard before, it was now ready to do it ten times over.

The army flew to the Gala Halls, and occupied the Royal Gardens. Rampant hisses and chatters echoed around the castle. It was still the middle of the night, and the sudden disturbance caused many ponies to awake and promptly become fearful.

Chrysalis stood on her pedestal, and faced her three most trusted councilors.

“Shade and Vivisect will come with me. Colony you are in charge of the remaining sentinels, vanguard, and drones. See that things remain peaceable, I don’t plan on being gone for more than a few days at most.”

“I will see to it my queen.”

“And don’t stop counseling with Golden Trust, I still expect those plans to be complete when I get back.”

“Of course my queen.”

“Very well, Shade, Vivisect, with me.”

The queen took to the air, followed closely by her two more militant advisers. The rest of the changelings within the ballroom came behind. High in the air above the gardens, Chrysalis’s enacted swarm wide mental communication.

“All chosen for this venture come, and enter the portal.”

A great distance directly above Canterlot castle Chrysalis tore the fabric of space. It was massive, capable of letting dozens of changelings pass through it at once. Green flames licked about it’s borders and at its center was a dark abyss. Changeling portals were more efficient for moving large numbers of bodies than the burst of magic teleportation required. Thanks to the massive boost she had just received, the queen could easily spare the cost of maintaining it to move a few thousand of soldiers.

Shade’s link to the scout in the north let the queen know exactly where to place the exit side of the portal. The buzzing swarm advanced forward, diving into the rift created by the queen. Within minutes the entire host was gone and the queen entered last, before the portal was sealed shut behind her.

---

A lone, nameless, changeling vanguard shivered in the freezing winds of the arctic north. He stood on a hill, and surveyed the crystal city that glowed before him. The thought had crossed his mind, but he wouldn’t try to infiltrate it yet. There were still too many unknown factors. A a series of high pitched wails and groans came from behind the vanguard. It sent shivers down his chitin, and he turned around about.

Low guttural growls heralded the approach of a malevolent darkness. A massive sea of shadows flowed over the ground and stopped once it noticed the small being in front of it. The inky cloud warped, and it rose high and reared like some gigantic beast. Green eyes with red irises appeared, then glared down at the creature before them.

The vanguard nearly wet himself at the sight. However, you know hardened infiltrators don’t wet themselves… So instead he settled for the next best thing. Namely he ran away and screamed like a little grub.

His insectile wings were too frigid to fly, and he didn’t have enough magic left to keep them warm either. The one or two ponies he had found earlier were depressed recluses, with hardly anything to feed from.

One of the vanguard’s hooves faltered on an uneven dip in the snow and he tripped head over hooves. He pulled his head out of the snow and shivered violently, more from fear than the cold. There was no way he could outrun the advancing shadow monster now.

“Oh molt flakes…”

The fallen vanguard raised a hoof to block his vision of oncoming doom, when the sound of burning flames erupted in the air. Flames? That wasn’t the kind of noise the dark entity made earlier. The changeling shrugged and accepted his fate all the same.

The sound of buzzing is what really grabbed his attention though, that sounded like…

Changelings, hundreds and hundreds of changelings. Pretty soon a few thousand of them filled the air. And the lone, nameless, vanguard looked up at his saving grace. The shadowy giant stopped it’s pursuit in favor of observing the newcomers.

“Crystal Slaves?”

Had something gone wrong with his curse during the thousand years? Did he unwittingly turn all the crystal ponies into bugs? The devilish red eyes blinked several times in confusion.

The enormous fiery portal eventually came to a close, and the largest changeling of them all made her appearance. The queen’s presence was easily discernible in the midst of her swarm. For her magical aura glowed like the moon next to stars, magnitudes above the rest.

It was only a moment before the two most powerful beings locked eyes.

“King Sombra…”

“A bug?”

The monstrous shadow had solidified into the rough shape of a giant unicorns head, and expressed a strange mixture of surprise, and disappointment.

“That is Queen Chrysalis to you specter. Queen of Equestria, and soon to be this city.”

“A bug?”

“Is that all you can say?”

“Crystals…”

Sombra’s ethereal mouth hissed. The ghostly king’s voiced echoed past the changeling army and beyond. His gaze left the queen, and turned to the unprotected empire, greed filled his eyes, and he hungrily licked his chops.

Chrysalis and her army were ignored as Sombra’s giant cloud advanced towards the empire. His deep base voice chuckled madly as he did so.

“You inane… Grrrr, every changeling blast him!”

Immediately hundreds of bursts of green magic launched at the enormous shadow. The spectral king stopped his advance, and sensed he was under attack. When the bolts of energy approached, Sombra silently dodged them, his form twisted and parted to avoid every shot.

“Ha-ha-ha…HA!”

Came the laugh of the king, at the ineffective attacks. When Chrysalis saw the energy was being wasted in a futile effort she shouted a mental command to ‘stop’. Sombra noticed they stopped attacking, and turned back to his advance on the empire.

“Cryssssstalsssss!”

“You may be nimble, but you’re not getting past me!”

The queen snarled, and her horn erupted with a vault of flaming green energy. A wall of emerald fire intercepted the advance of the black clouds. The king’s giant unicorn head butted into the burning barrier and bounced back. Part of the shadowy makeup of his face dissolved. He roared loudly as part of his essence was severed in his spectral state, though it quickly grew back when he turned to face the perpetrator, letting out a roar that shook the landscape.

Chrysalis landed heavily on the snow, and started to slowly trot towards the living shadow.

“Celestia and Luna were able to put you away. I will put you down!”

Sombra’s eyes flashed in recognition when he heard the names of the royal sisters. His fiendish eyes roamed the skies, as if he expected them to be there.

“Celestia?”

“No, Sombra, It’s Chrysalis.”

Playing with this shadow wasn’t as much fun as she’d thought it would be. With a sigh she conjured more burning barriers, and made them close around Sombra’s cloudy being. The flaming walls vaporized any part of the shadow they touched. The two stared at each other like rival predators.

“Grrrraw, you will not keep me from Cryssstalsss!”

“Ha, I’m impressed. So you can say more than two words.”

Before Chrysalis’s fire could completely encompass Sombra he leapt out of his clouds. The Large shadowy face emerged from the midst, with a trail of smoke that snaked behind. He launched forward and crashed down into the ground, and disappeared amongst the solid matter. Though a visible shadow could be seen where he landed. His dissolved form wormed it’s way back into the wilderness. A trail of crystal spires was left in his wake.

Chrysalis followed the trail, and blew apart the crystal structures along the way. The path of dark magic suddenly ended, and the queen could hear a faint chuckle. She looked here, there, and everywhere, but could see no sign of the spectral king, so she growled. Her army gathered around her, and landed in the snow. Vivisect approached.

“Is he dead my queen?”

“I do not believe so. He’s merely retreated, for now. Have the swarm form a protective watch around the empire. Tell them to use barrier magic if a shadow approaches, it seems to be the most effective.”

The head sentinel clicked, and started to cast a message spell to various parts of the swarm. Shade approached the queen next.

“Is there anything else my queen?”

“I’m going to introduce these crystal ponies to their new sovereign, the vanguard can come with me into the city.”

The army started to disperse, and surround the borders of the empire. It was a strange sensation to step past the boundary and into the crystal realm. For on one side were the freezing temperatures of the frozen north, but on the other was a pleasantly balmy spring. The temperature shift was distinct and immediate.

The queen’s entourage flew straight towards the center of the city, and passed over many of the crystal homes. Several surprised ponies looked up when they heard a buzz. The crystal ponies themselves were sullen and faded, but their eyes immediately snapped wide open when they saw what flew by.

One pony shouted.

“Sombra has returned! As a mare!”

Chrysalis face hoofed.

“This may take longer than I thought.”

---

Deep, deep underground, Sombra’s essence slithered straight through stone and earth. Eventually his shadow dropped down into a tunnel. His eyes glowed with magical luminescence and illuminated the dark space he came to rest in. When he looked about he saw a small metal rail, and an old cart rested on the track.

“Cryssstal minesssss.”

The sight of some chains on the ground brought up old memories, and they made him grin.

“Cryssstal hrrr. Herrr. Heart. Crystal heart! The Crystal heart, isss mine. Foolisssh bug!”

His menacing voice echoed down the tunnel. It had been so long since he had talked, so very long. The imprisonment in the ice had his mind addled. It was so much solitude that he had forgotten many things in the oppressive oblivion. There were a few things however, he could, neh, WOULD NEVER forget.

“Crystal heart, is mine!”

Howls reverberated through the very walls, and Sombra navigated his way through the bowels of the empire. His eyes burned with dark magic

“The Crystal Empire Is….MINE!”

Ch.8 "Love vs. Hate"

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Chrysalis wins

Ch.8 Love vs. Hate

Crystal Ponies scurried this way and that, deathly afraid of the dark insectile equines that flew above them. This caused the queen of the changelings to roll her eyes. Little ponies scared of something new, some things never change no matter what nation you’re in it seems.

When she found town square she decided to land there. It was central and had the space for many bodies to gather. Three dozen vanguard changelings escorted their queen to this location, Shade being the closest to Chrysalis.

After her hooves made contact with the crystallized ground her horn glowed. A brief voice amplification spell was cast, and the giant changeling let her voice ring through the empire.

“Fear not crystal ponies, for I am here to aid, not enslave. If you would all gather round, I’ll inform you of the situation.”

Many of the dull colored crystal ponies milled about how unsure they were. Yet, slowly some of the more bold ponies came forward to get a good look at the new comers. The courage of some of their fellows created more confidence for others to follow. Soon there was a good number of the crystal residence gathered in the city square.

“What are you?”

A ruby colored mare stepped forward, her head was cocked to the side and she gave the group of changelings a curious glance.

“We are changelings.”

“Changelings?”

The crowd murmured nervously, were changelings good?

“We are naturally gifted shape shifters, who grow powerful from being around love.”

Chrysalis tactfully edited the word ‘feed’ out of her explanation. For some reason she thought that would made the skittish group even more doubtful. They already looked like a sad enough bunch, and changelings couldn’t feed off of sadness.

The crowd still seemed wary of her explanation, so she thought she might demonstrate.

With a flash of green fire the queen changed into a griffon with bright red and yellow plumage. This caused an immediate and audible gasp from the crowd. Chrysalis smiled at their stunned expressions, before giving her wings a few experimental flaps.

She took to the air and began to circle over the ponies. She continued her lecture to the crystal equines, while she lazily sailed through the air. Chrysalis’s form shifted again, and she was a small white dragon with blue highlights.

“Traditionally, changelings have taken on various forms in our quest to find love.”

Chrysalis changed into a purple pegasus with a brilliant golden mane.

“Though we have been a shy species in the past.”

The next form the queen took was an oversized breezie, she was a spot of green amongst the over sized wings.

“Conditions have recently changed however, and we are no longer as shy as we once were.”

A flash of green flames burned away her disguise and Chrysalis was once more in her own skin.

“I am the Queen of Equestria, and I have come to save this empire from Sombra.”

The giant changeling landed down next to her vanguard. She gave a mental command to Shade.

“Change into Sombra”

She completed the message with a well defined image of the tyrant unicorn, as observed in Celestia’s memory. The vanguard changeling obligated quickly, and turned into a tall dark unicorn, complete with battle armor and cape.

The very image of the crystal slaver sent a shiver of panic through the crowd. They did not break into hysterics immediately, but remained in awed silence as the changeling queen pushed him over. Shade submissively played along, and lay on his side as Chrysalis put a triumphant hoof on top of him.

The sight of the nightmarish tyrant put under the hoof of another equine disconcerted many. They didn’t know what to think of it. Even though a collective amnesia affected the ponies, many suddenly remembered the cruel tyrant would suffer no such indignity. Here standing before them all, was an image none of them thought they would ever see.

Chrysalis saw the crystal ponies began to formulate thoughts, perhaps she could add a catalyst in the right direction… She reached out to Shade with another mental command.

“Emphasize the point, do something, theatrical!”

Her transformed vanguard picked up the cue quickly, and he let loose a very un-stallion-like shriek. He screamed his next words in a thoroughly squealy manner.

“Oh please! Mercy! D-don’t hurt me! I’ll do anything you want!”

One pony started a nervous laugh. Slowly it caught on, and a meandering of chuckles infected the crowd. The atmosphere soon became quite mirthful. Chrysalis smiled at that, the plan to make a positive impression was well under way, such gullible ponies. Little did they know they were just food, lovely food.

“Indeed my crystal ponies, even as Sombra fueled his magic with fear and hate; mine is powered by love, and all ranges of positive emotions. It is with this message that I come, and hope to be well received by you.”

The queen of the changelings lifted the hoof she didn’t use to pin the mock Sombra, and waved it in a regal gesture to the crowd. One stallion ventured to shout loudly.

“Hail the to the Queen of Equestria!”

The vanguard changeling escort bowed low to their queen, which encouraged many crystal ponies to follow suit. A general echo of cheers bounced around the city square.

“Anything to stop Sombra from returning. Hail to The Queen!”

Was the general consensus as it rumbled through the crowd. It actually became a test of wills for Chrysalis not to break into maniacal laughter, at just how easy this was. If only the rest of Equestria would so eagerly bow down this way. Though the queen knew even Canterlot wasn’t a done deal yet, as there were undoubtedly ponies that still cajoled and conspired against her there. Still she could deal with them later. For now, she had these ponies willing to help, even if they were ignorant to her real motivations.

---

“Crsssstalssss, minesssss, ssslavesss.”

Sombra’s disembodied eyes floated down the dark tunnels underneath the crystal empire. He tried to remember even simple things. He remembered hate, so much hate, utterly despicable, and destructive loathing, but for what?

The memories of the shadowy King felt clouded, and not because he was essentially a cloud at the moment.

“Celestia?!”

That bug had mentioned Celestia. It struck a chord within his jaded mental faculties. That name, that name, that name. It brought with it feelings of fear, and loss. Loss, that name, it was responsible for his loss, and he couldn’t even remember why, or how.

Everything had been dark for so long, with only a faint flicker of light now and then. When his icy cage had finally broken, and Sombra was released again to the world, it had taken him hours to figure out he did in fact exist.

Being in his shadow form had no physical sensation. There was no sense of touch, and no hot or cold, not even a sense of hunger. There was definitely emotion. It was so raw, it ate up the attention of the shambled pieces of his mind.

There occasionally came comforts in the midst of his personal confusion. The sights and sounds of the tunnels brought back tid bits of memory. He could remember slaves down here in chains. He could remember their moans of despair, and how it caused him grim satisfaction. They deserved it, they deserved it so badly. But why? He couldn’t remember why.

Shadow form Sombra growled angrily, his anger had built steadily since that bug had burned him with her barrier magic. The crystals embedded in the walls of the mine, darkened with corruption as he passed.

“Cryssstal Hearrrt, is mine.”

One memory held place in his mind clearly. That he wanted that heart shaped rock, if he had it, he could hate all he wanted, and he was full of desire to hate.

The tunnel Sombra’s ethereal body floated down eventually opened into an immense cavern. When he looked up the ceiling kept going for what seemed like miles. More bits of memory flashed through his mind. He remembered the cavern, how he stood in the middle of it, and drove his slaves to dig even deeper. That he wanted something down here, that he had more of a point than merely to dig, but that memory again escaped him.

The fickleness of the memories caused him to roar in frustration. His mighty ghostly tones shook the stale air in the long forgotten mines. If any equine had been close to the noise they would have likely jumped out of their skin, then have to crawl uncomfortably back into it, and try to forget what the experience was like.

“THE CRYSTALS ARE MINE!”

---

A faint ghostly roar rumbled through the ground of the Crystal Empire, though it was so faint most occupants didn’t hear it or disregarded. Shade was still under Chrysalis’s hoof, and he noticed it more acutely, since his ear was pressed to the ground.

“Did you hear anything?”

Shade grumbled at one of the nearby vanguard. It blinked it’s blue eyes, then shrugged. Shade still felt uneasy about the experience, but decided to let his queen finish eating up all the praise she got from the introduction

---

Sombra ascended straight up the empty space of the cavern, when a large grey hexagonal crystal captured his attention. It seemed very familiar, and he had an urge to throw magic at it.

The curved red horn on the king’s ghost face radiated purple and black energies, he directed it in a beam to this hexagonal crystal, which blackened and distorted the air around it. A portal opened just above the abyssal stone, and revealed a daunting set of stairs. This brought a small flood of memories as well.

“Sssstairssss, yesssss!”

Stairs were good, stairs were important. Stairs deterred the weak, and separated them from the strong. Make enough stairs and you could defeat any determined foes. Place enough stairs and spirits would break from the mere sight of it. If there were enough stairs, minds would melt in the tedious circular madness. To be banished to stairs was worse than Tartarus. Stairs could end life if you fell on them, and you would fall after you climbed so many of them. Nothing could beat the unbeatable stairs.

Sombra continued to gaze at the stairs.

Why in Tartarus did he remember so much about stairs? The dark clouds around Sombra’s face formed shoulders, so he could shrug them. Without the fanfare of any more stair related memories he ascended them. The limbless body of ethereal shadow climbed steadily, and relentlessly.

As he climbed the high chamber that contained the stairs it grew brighter. With the patience that only an eon of nothingness could have given him, Sombra kept going. The light illuminating the space became bright as day, and the shadow king kept ascending.

One small eternity later, the king arrived at the top.

He entered the circular room where the stairs ended, and as he did so the shadows around his face whipped away. The overly large shadow head dissolved to a more natural size.

Sombra stood at the top at the highest room of the tallest building in the Crystal Empire, in his physical form. The king’s pitch black mane waved in it’s own ethereal wind, and his heavily armored body clanked as he took steps forward. The memory of walking came quickly and naturally, and he didn’t even stumble in his strides.

A loud, almost magnetic pulse came from the center of the room, and crystal tyrant’s eyes were drawn to it.

“Crystal Heart! I am back!”

His voice had gained distinct clarity, and none of the feral hissing was present.

An explosion of memories came in torrent through Sombra’s mind. All the information surging back into his mind almost overwhelmed him, and he had to brace himself to stay on his hooves. It was done in a moment, and an onlooker wouldn’t have noticed anything but a temporary shift in his posture.

A wicked, evil, sardonic smile stretched wide over the fanged unicorn's mouth. He walked up to the crystalline heart, and gave it a kiss. The ancient relic pulsed even faster than it had initially. Sombra laughed, and walked over to one of the pane-less windows. He saw a large gathering of ponies, and bug things below.

“So this Queen Chrysalis seeks to take my empire, HA! She doesn’t know what she’s gotten in the way of.”

His gaze turned to a window on the tower overlooking the empire and with a mere glance, he spotted the ones who aimed to take his empire. He sneered at their presence.

“The Crystal Empire is mine and with the Crystal Heart at my command, I will crush ANYONE, who dares to defy me.”

Ch. 9 "Hope vs. Fear"

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.9 “Hope vs. Fear”

Dark lightning cracked against the sky, which threw the cheerful crowd of crystal ponies into a flabbergasted state. All eyes turned to the direction of the tower, and horror slowly crept through the souls of the onlookers.

Black clouds spewed from the top of the crystal palace, and a laugh that boomed louder than a cannon blew through the Crystal Empire. Ponies assembled around the changelings visitors started to scream, and break into hysterics.

Chrysalis’s reaction to all of this was to fly into the air, and shout with her own mighty magical amplification.

“Ponies! This is why I am here! Calm yourselves!”

The panicked stampede stopped moving, but the terror in the crystal ponies’ eyes was far from gone. She was about to address the crowd with more words, but another voice, a deep base voice, beat her to the punch.

“The crystal scum are mine! They will do as I wish!”

From the top of the crystal palace sprouted a broad ramp of pitch black crystal lattice. The organic stone surged forward and none other than King Sombra slid down it. The growth of the crystal kept a steady pace ahead of his sliding hooves.

Eventually the river of stone crashed into the city square, and the crystal ponies scattered. All of their hope was lost upon the sight of their old tyrant, fully reestablished. Ebony crystal towers erupted all over the place, and the vanguard near the queen found themselves buffeted back.

Screams that were delicious to the king’s ears circled through the rapidly degenerated meeting. He chuckled as he slowly strode forward, it was good to be feared again.

“You are neither Celestia nor Luna. Who are you to challenge my rule? An overgrown insect, heheahahahaha! I am not even going to start with how I’ll crush you under hoof, bug. Maybe I should ask one of my slaves if they lost their pet cockroach. Oops, I started anyway didn’t I. HA! You and your pathetic little army will be splattered like the pests you are. Maybe I’ll let you kiss my hoof, and allow you to be my slaves if you surrender right now.”

Chrysalis stood tall to face the king. As Sombra went further and further into his taunts, her eyes got narrower and narrower, and her frown got deeper and deeper. She had heard enough, and ignited her horn.

A baleful lance of energy rocketed forth, wide as a city street, aimed directly at the smug king. The impact of the attack shattered the base of the black crystal ramp, and for good measure Chrysalis pointed her horn further up, which shattered the ramp all the way back up to the top of the crystal palace. A massive hole was blown clean through the midst of the black clouds that swirled over the empire, and blue sky was exposed through the funnel. Gigantic shards of the ebony stone ramp dissolved before they hit the city, and created no collateral harm.

The effort caused the changeling queen to be slightly winded, that blast had been at least a year’s worth of love to feed one changeling. She recovered quickly though and looked with approval at the effect. Her satisfaction was short lived.

“Would you like to try that again, or is it my turn?”

The voice came from behind, that dreadful deep base voice. The queen’s next move was to generate a spherical wall of green flames. It had stopped Sombra despite his shadow form before, so why not now.

She wasn’t a moment too late. A large crystal spire had been summoned right under her, and knocked the shielded queen high in the air. Sombra grunted at the queen’s quick reaction, and proceeded to knock her from place to place. A large burst of flames exploded from the shield every time Sombra tried to impale her with a new pillar of dark spikes.

Sombra wrinkled his snout, slightly bored. He could keep this up all day; this was merely to wear out her defenses. The king’s next crystal attack missed completely, as Chrysalis flew straight up into the air. Her fiery shield was gone, and she appeared to flee straight up into the clouds. The shadow tyrant smiled at the apparent cowardice.

“Are you beginning to realize your efforts are futile?!”

He shouted to mock the retreated queen. Each spire he had used to attack the queen bore scorch marks, but still stood as a monument to how he forced her back.

The dark clouds that billowed above were suddenly blown away. In the midst of the cleared sky was the queen, her horn was wreathed in a blinding aura of changeling magic. She began to dive forward, and the fiery green light formed a cone of scorching energy around her. This was a much exaggerated version of the spell her soldiers had used to dive upon Canterlot.

The shadow king let out a sigh. Another bulldoze attack, how creative… didn’t she learn? One thing changed the equation this time though. As Sombra prepared to meld into shadow to simply dodge the attack he felt a burning sensation about his hooves. When he looked down the ground was flushed with green flames. Even as he tried to turn to shadow, the emerald magical heat worked to dissolve his substance.

So instead of dissolving into a floor of creeping dark cloud, he summoned a crystal pillar to stand upon. It raised him to a safe level above the flames, though he still felt their arcane heat. He growled in surprise, how could the queen cast two powerful spells at once?

That was when he noticed the swarm of changelings. Hundreds of the diminutive buggers had him surrounded. They used their combined magical energy to form flaming barriers similar to the queen’s version. A scratchy female voice shouted at the rest of the insectile soldiers.

“Cut him off on all sides! We’ll make an easy target for the queen.”

Vivisect’s eyes glowed with an orange energy, and her fangs were on full display. The rest of the sentinel class changelings had arrived and added their love boosted magic to the barrier spells. Green fire burned around Sombra on all sides, and he roared at the infuriating soldiers.

“I WILL TEACH YOU TO DEFY ME, YOU PATHETIC INSECTS!”

A large crystal pillar vaulted straight for Vivisect, but she nimbly dodged the slow attack as she flew through the air. The tyrant grit his teeth and redoubled his efforts. He managed to trick the head sentinel by summoning two pillars at once, one that she anticipated, and one that she did not.

The large spiky black rock knocked her out of the air. She was protected from impalement thanks to her extra thick chitin, but the blunt force still made her careen off into a nearby building.

Sombra turned about on his pillar, he was surrounded by walls of green fire, and unable to escape with his shadow form. He glared at the army of changelings that kept him pinned with their collective magical effort. He was about to summon dozens of pillars to swat many down at once, when a high pitched screech reminded him of something else.

Chrysalis was just about on top of him. Her cone of fiery green magic had evolved into a giant emerald meteor over the course of her dive. The king’s mouth hung open, as he realized he was caught between the anvil of her army, and the hammer of the queen herself.

His mobility had been severely limited and there was one last thing he could think to do, given the situation. This queen claimed her magic was powered by love, and positive nonsense. So he charged his curved red horn, and aimed it at the dive bombing Chrysalis.

He Growled angrily as his eyes began to pulse with dark magic, “Don’t think you are the only one with power you whelp. I will show you the true power of King Sombra.”

A mixture of black, purple, and green bubbled cancerously around him, and the purple flames coming his red-green eyes flared more intensely. This type of magical attack drained him more significantly, and drew strongly from his personal feelings of contempt and loathing. This was why he usually preferred to manipulate the plentiful crystals instead, but with the force the queen was coming down, a crystal pillar wasn’t likely to stop her. Sombra poured everything he had into it.

Right before Chrysalis made impact he shot his beam of purple black magic at her.

“FALL AND SCATTER TO THE WINDS, LIKE THE BUG YOU TRULY ARE!”

An enormous shockwave blew through the empire upon the collision of the two forces. It physically distorted the air as it passed by all the crystal structures, and surged across the land.

Crystal ponies still outside were knocked off their hooves and tumbled over the ground. Many of the changelings near the impact were blown dozens of feet backward. As they flailed through the air some managed to catch themselves before falling, yet others were not as fortunate.

When the dust settled two tall equines were left standing. The king and the queen were only a few hoof lengths apart from each other, as they stood in the midst of a crater. Several nearby homes had shattered, and the street it occurred in was a mess. Sombra sweated and panted heavily, and Chrysalis heaved heavily herself. The king cocked up his head to snarl at his rival.

“Gods curse you for the inconvenience you’ve given me cockroach. Now taste the power of true Dark Magic and drown in terror as your kind should!”,

The tyrant’s eyes flashed green, and the queen’s gaze locked with his. Her irises turned red, and the sclera went green. Purple mist wafted from Chrysalis’s eyes as they twitched.

---

The arid air of the Badlands whipped about her face, and her nostrils went painfully dry as she sucked in the hot air. She blinked, how did she get here?

Many clicks and hisses erupted all around her. The changeling swarm hobbled about the dirty and miserable conditions. Thorny weeds which contained devilish parasites tripped up what was left of the swarm as it limped about.

“Your invasion failed Chrysalis, and we have paid for it!”

The high voice of colony screeched at the queen. Her head drone hobbled towards her, with only three legs, and half torn wings. One of the drone’s eyes had a large disgusting gash in it.

“I am your queen, you will address me properly!”

She brought up a large hoof to push back the aggressive and injured drone.

“What little love we had was burned up in that useless fight! We needed that!”

The angry roar of Vivisect startled Chrysalis and she turned to her head sentinel. The proud warrior changeling had her horn and tail sheared off, half of her muzzle was crushed in and missing teeth. Her once proud armor was cracked, exposing part of her insides. The queen’s face contorted in disgust and she recoiled from the sentinel's advance.

“You are a complete fool Chrysalis. I told you this would happen, and you refused listen. No queen in the swarm has ever sunk to such idiotic levels. The ponies will know how to find us now, and it will be your fault when we all die. You just had to ruin everything. I think we should just call you Chrysalis, the genocidal moron. ”

Poisonous words spewed from Shade, who jumped right in front of her and bore his teeth. The vanguard infiltrator’s body was torn in every location,large patches of his chitinous skin were missing and one of his eyes had been gouged out.

“Cease this ridiculousness at once! I am your queen! You'll do what I say!”

She was being forced back by her councilors, and her words held no air of confidence. They were instead full of panic.

“No Chrysalis, you have failed the swarm, and now the swarm will claim you!”

All three of the nightmarish changelings spoke in union. They all opened their mouths and prepared to feed. Other equally disfigured changelings advanced on the queen, and every mouth was open hungrily.

“You don’t deserve the love we’ve given to sustain your worthless hide! We’re going to claim it back, even if we have to rip out your shriveled heart to get it!”

She was completely surrounded, and she found she couldn’t fly, there was no escape. All the changelings started to inhale. Their intent was to drain her to death.

“No, no! Stop! I’ll do something! I can still do something for the swarm! Just nooooooo!”

Chrysalis screamed at her apparent doom. She lifted her hooves to her eyes and started to sob. Her tall elegant body folded down and she curled into a pathetic little ball.

---

“Queen! My Queen! Snap out of this!”

The giant changeling suddenly found her head rapidly shaken back and forth. A pair of hooves was around her skull and moved it side to side. She wrenched out of the hold to see who did it. Vivisect hovered close to her, and a relieved expression crossed the sentinel’s face when the queen regained her senses.

“Where is Sombra!?”

“Over there my queen.”

Vivisect indicated a few body lengths away, where half a dozen sentinels were beating the living crap out of something.

“Oomf! You-, gaw! Will- grrr, Unhoo- AAAARRRRrrrr…”

The voice of Sombra attempted to escape a mound of black chitin that pummeled the poor mashed tyrant.

“You manipulated my mind!”

The queen came to a realization and snarled furiously. She stomped forward with her horn a glow, she was going to return the favor, and mentally rip him to shreds. When she reached the little mob that viciously stomped on his body she pushed them aside.

The shadow king uncovered his head and looked up. Black and blue bruises dominated his grey coat. Most of his battle armor had been stripped off, and his crown was dented in. He smiled up at the queen, one of his prominent canines was missing.

“It’s been a while since I’ve had a physical body – spits out another tooth – I almost forgot what it felt like.”

Sombra stumbled to his hooves, and proudly turned to face the queen. The changeling soldiers had only gotten the upper hoof on him because the fear spell required so much focus. He could already feel his dark energies as they returned, and in a moments he would resume the fight.

Horns were crossed and Chrysalis lashed out with a mind domination spell. The mental attack came against an iron wall. The queen blinked, surprised at the mountain of resistance she faced. The shadowy tyrant laughed.

“Hahaha! You wish to fence with my mind?! I’ve invaded and terrorized every pony in this empire for decades! Even the Princesses COMBINED could never breach my mind, what hope could you have?”

Both of the equines pressed their heads harder against each other, and grunted with great strain. Their eyes radiated with magic, hers were pure green, while his were purple and black.

To an ignorant onlooker, it would seem two tall horse creatures had installed light bulbs behind their eyes, and were in the midst of a very intense ‘whose more constipated’ match.

The mental fight soon ended, and both royal figures fell back on their royal haunches. Both panted hard at the failed effort. Chrysalis beat her front hooves on the ground in a slight tantrum. None of it had worked, no amount of converting love into magical energy seemed to work. The crystal tyrant kept wearing that stupid grin on his face, with that ‘I’m better than you’ look. An idea crossed her mind, maybe she should stop converting the love into aggressive battle magic.

Chrysalis looked at Sombra with half lidded eyes and cocked an eyebrow. A slight smile crept up her muzzle.

“You're full of hate aren’t you?”

The crystal slaver gave an ‘oh really…’ face.

“I would assume you know something about me, since you showed up at almost the same time as i was released. But now I questi---”

Sombra didn’t finish his last sentence because Chrysalis kissed him full on the mouth.

The king of shadows, fear, hate, and all things crystaly, opened his eyes wide in surprised shock. He tried to back away, but the changeling queen locked her fangs over his, and he couldn’t escape.

Chrysalis exhaled deeply, and dumped vast reserves of the collected love right into the fidgety crystal tyrant. Love energy could be given back to ponies, and that was exactly what she practiced now. The effect was rather immediate, and something troubled the unicorn who’s heart was black as night.

The queen of the changelings managed to exhale a few more absurdly large doses of love before the contact between their mouths broke apart. Most of the love she had binged on from three alicorn princesses, and six friends attuned to elements of harmony, had been emptied into the hateful tyrant.

Not a moment after the contact broke Sombra had stumbled backward, and made horrible gagging noises. He flopped onto his belly and heaved.

“W-w-what have y-you done to m-me!!!”

The purple and green around Sombra’s eyes had started to fizzle. The physical abuse he had sustained from the mob healed up, and his self-waving mane fell flat. He trembled and looked frightened.

“No, what is, no, this, what is this!”

The tall unicorn got up and stamped all four of his hooves. He started to beat his head with a hoof repeatedly, as if he could knock out the strange sensation. Both of his hooves suddenly shot to his chest, and terror crossed over his eyes. A violent shake had taken hold of his body, and he looked down to his chest, as if he expected it to burst apart at any moment.

Chrysalis wearily wiped her mouth with a hoof.

“Your mouth tastes like muddy iron… but your fangs aren't half bad.”

Ch. 10 "Crystalis"

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch. 10 “Crystalis”

“Did they just kiss?”

“I saw some of the changelings knock his teeth out earlier!”

“Why’s he writhing on the ground? Did she make him sick?!”

“So does this make him our King again?”

Crystal ponies had poked their heads out of their homes after the large shock wave had passed, and watched a curious scene as it unfolded before them.

The changeling queen leaned back, and promptly collapsed. She felt incredibly weak after she donated that vast quantity of love into her opponent. As she lay there on her side, she could hear the crystal king ramble.

“I… I… I…”

Sombra had not exploded. He was still breathing heavily, but he was otherwise alive. Whatever that queen had done to him, it hadn’t been lethal. If anything his body felt good, great in fact. His hooves released their hold upon his chest, and one of them moved to his skull.

“I…I…I…”

The contents of his mind swirled like a mess, and his heart burned with conflicted emotions. It felt as if something alien was inside him, and scrambled his innards. The king looked at the queen, who laid on the ground a few steps away, and tried to scowl at her, but he couldn’t. He tried to growl angrily at her, but he couldn’t. He tried to lift a hoof to strike her, but he didn’t have the will to. This new feeling infected him, and his perceptions felt altered. In a way, it was like he opened a new set of eyes.

“I… I… I kind of… like it!”

The crimson eyes of the king went starry. He put both front hooves to his cheeks and gasped. His mind was still well aware of the hate he had, and the memories that fueled them, but he could no longer bring himself to care. This new feeling, he just couldn’t describe. All meaning escaped him as the new sensation washed through him. The large gray unicorn had his eyes locked on the queen’s form.

“Why is he ogling at the queen?”

One of the sentinels turned to Vivisect and asked.

“Didn’t you sense the queen transfer all of that food? I don’t know what she was thinking.”

“The queen gave all that love… to him?! What would that even do to a pony?”

The soldier that stood next to Vivisect dropped his jaw.

“I don’t know, but we will keep him contained until the queen comes to a final decision.”

The head of the sentinels walked forward with a cautious approach. When she was close enough to do what she planned, a loud gargle noise came from her throat. A glob of disabling slime was shot at Sombra’s curved red horn.

Without looking, he lifted a hoof and caught the slime. Slowly, the mysteriously quiet king turned to face Vivisect. A red magical aura wiped the slime off of his hoof, and he strode towards the very alert sentinel. His face was unreadable.

Ready for anything, Vivisect activated her battle magic, large claws sprouted from her front hooves, and her horn became sheathed in a sharp ethereal blade. Before she could lash out, Sombra caught her in a tight embrace.

Vivisect’s clawed legs were pinned to her sides, so she tried to bite at his neck. The large metal neck brace kept her from doing any damage to him. She found herself lifted off of the ground, and twirled in a circle, while her hind legs dangled in the air. This was not something another equine had ever done to her, and she didn’t know how to react. She felt completely powerless in the giant unicorn’s unyielding grip.

Eventually Sombra stopped whirling in circles with the confused sentinel, who still struggled to get out of his tight hug. He nuzzled his snout into her neck, and she fidgeted.

“Get off of me!”

“Oh, I like you too.”

“Let me go!”

“That’s a beautiful shade of orange in your eyes.”

“Release me now!”

“But you smell so nice. Such a strong, bold scent.”

“Get your wretched hooves off me!”

“Quiet dear, don’t spoil the moment. Did I mention how lonely I’ve been after a thousand years locked away in ice?”

“You insane pony!”

“Don’t be a stranger to a little affection, hehehe, you seem as uncomfortable with the idea as I was a few moments ago.”

“Some changeling, get over here and hel---”

Vivisect was cut off by a big ol’ smooch. She pursed her lips tightly and screamed with her mouth shut. The sentinel attempted to kick his shins with her hind legs, but they were armored as well.

Shade had watched the whole time from the sidelines, and the vanguard rolled on the ground as he laughed his guts out. The last time he saw a scene like that was at a bar in Manehattan. This time was funnier because it was Vivisect. Something freaky had definitely changed about the king.

“Sombra.”

Chrysalis had called out, and the dark unicorn parted his face from Vivisect’s. He dropped the large sentinel, who was momentarily in complete shock, from his tyrannical grasp, and looked at the queen.

The traumatized changeling soldier buzzed her wings as soon as they were free and flew away. Even as Vivisect disappeared into the distance she hollered a myriad of vulgar curses. Chrysalis smiled with a seditious grin, her unconventional method had worked.

“I still hate you, but for some reason I can no longer bring myself to care… What did you do to me?”

Sombra gave the queen an unsure look, and his posture became tall and straight.

“Oh, you are conscious of your hate still? Hehehe, All I did was put some love in that dark soul of yours.”

She would have added -love I stole from ponies more powerful than you-, but she noticed several of the crystal ponies watched them at this point. She still needed them to believe she was perfectly benevolent, if she were to get any use out of them.

“A simple kiss would not disrupt my emotions so badly.”

“No it wouldn’t, I transferred the love I had previously collected from my other subjects in Canterlot into you. Apparently it has given you a change of heart?”

“No, it has just given me confusion.”

“Very well, you can sort your thoughts in the solitude of a dungeon.”

Sombra’s mind knew what he wanted to do, but his emotions ran rampantly unchecked. His mind wanted to take advantage of the situation; the queen had just severely weakened herself, and he was perfectly capable of defeating her now. But a crippling surge of overwhelmingly positive emotions kept him from enacting what his mind wanted to do. The pressure in his chest and throat bottled him up.

The king attempted to scowl, but ended up with a bright smile. It was a cheerful look that portrayed a very confused state of barely contained giddiness. Sombra tried his hardest not to grin in delight, but he couldn’t stop that either.

“As if a dungeon could contain me… I will find my own solitude, thank you.”

Before Chrysalis’s minions could restrain him, he teleported away. The lead sentinel had just flown off, and the queen was dead tired, so there was no real effort in the pursuit.

That didn’t stop the queen from muttering out a single phrase.

“Celestia, Damnit.”

---

Crystal ponies once more flooded the streets. Curious as to how things resolved. The primary street the fight had taken place on was badly damaged, but other than that the city was still in one piece. The monstrous crystal pillars placed throughout the city started to dissolve, while the light of the sun had broken apart the black clouds.

Chrysalis walked towards the palace, intending to find a place to rest. It had been a long night, and morning, and she was about ready to collapse. Shade flew down to stride alongside her.

“The ponies of the empire approach my queen, are you going to address them?”

“No, I’m going to find a bed.”

“Do you have any orders I should prepare for?”

“Just get the changelings ready to leave. I want a few vanguards to stay here, and help these ponies adapt to living in our time. I want them to be good and harvestable. They are the only ponies that don’t feel usurped by us at the moment, let’s keep it that way.”

“It will be done my queen. Oh, and what of Sombra?”

“He’s not a problem, for now… The vanguard remaining here will also be our warning system.”

The changeling infiltrator backed out and prepared to communicate the orders. The gentle buzz of his wings soon disappeared.

Chrysalis looked up at the crystal palace, the dead center of the empire. It was another territory she could claim, and another territory she would have to defend… Sombra’s emotional instability would most likely be a temporary condition, and she would have to deal with him again later.

For now that was good enough. Chrysalis had claimed her crystals.

Secondary Author's note.
At this time I'm looking retroactively at what has happened, and just for those questioning why things are happening the way they are.
When season 6 revealed Thorax's transformation because he "gave love", I was already on Ch.67 of this Story. I'd already been using that mechanic, but in a very different way from how show eventually showed it. Just thought I'd give a little heads up for those that may wonder.

Ch.11 "Changeling Empire"

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.11 “Changeling Empire”

“By the old gods! Stairs! Why did it have to be stairs!”

To get to the living floor of the crystal palace required ascension up a large winding staircase. Chrysalis had given more love energy than she realized, and didn’t have the energy to buzz her wings, much less fly. So she had started a long, slow, and painful climb up the stairs.

---

Meanwhile somewhere at an unknown, location, Sombra suddenly burst out laughing for a moment before stopping, a confused look on his face. “Huh, that was odd, and yet felt strangely cathartic.” With a shrug he continued.

---

By the time she realized she may not even have the energy to hoof it all the way up, the look back down was just as discouraging. Either way she felt like an equine that treaded into deep water.

The whole palace stood upon 4 large arches, each with a doorway, and a set of spiral stairs. It hadn’t looked that bad when she first walked in, but now…

“Curse you Sombra! Or whoever designed this horrid piece of architecture!”

She stopped her climb and laid across several steps, and panted. The queen double checked her thoughts, she really should have just stayed in one of the local houses. The crystal ponies wouldn’t deny her after, she was their savior. Atleast that’s what she would have them think. No, it was her own insistence that got her stuck here; she wanted a royal bed to sleep on. After she took Celestia’s bed, something common wouldn’t do... Confounded pride.

“gguuuuhhh!”

The queen moaned as she tried to summon the will to rise to her hooves again. The only thing remotely dignified about this situation was that no changeling or pony was here to see her.

The clop of hooves heralded another pony or changeling, that was about to see her.

Her eyes shot wide open, and the struggle to get to her hooves quickened, lest she be caught in such an undignified state. She barely managed to stand by the time the newcomer rounded up the next set of steps. It was Vivisect.

“My queen, we started looking for you. I had Sentinels ascend the other staircases and living quarters, but they had not found you.”

“I was just admiring what’s mine, Vivisect.”

To emphasize her point she ran a hoof over the transparent crystal wall. It took massive effort not to let her fatigue overwhelm her. The head sentinel blinked, and nodded slowly.

“There are a few sentinels stationed outside the resting quarters. Do you require any additional service my queen.”

Chrysalis brought the hoof that traced along the wall up to her chin, and she rested her head on it. She decided to concede, a little.

“Yes, give me some of your love reserves. What I saw Sombra give you should be enough to live on for weeks. I did just deplete myself after all.”

“I didn’t feed on any of that!”

Vivisect’s gaze shot to the ground, and she stomped a hoof violently. The large sentinel had flinched at the queen’s mere mention of Sombra. Chrysalis raised herself to her full imposing height, that fact she was a few steps up added to the effect. She glared down at her lead sentinel after the outburst.

“Don’t give me insolence Vivisect! Give me what I asked for and be off.”

“Of course…”

The order was promptly followed. The sentinel exhaled, releasing a wave of transparent distortion which the queen was quick to inhale. Once it was complete Vivisect took a swift turn down the stairs, and was out of sight in a moment.

Chrysalis flexed her legs, and they felt considerably better, though far from 100%. She turned once more to ascend the stairs, but before she did so she looked back to where her sentinel had been. The queen’s head tilted, while she thought in hindsight. Vivisect never snapped around her before, the unflinching sentinel had flinched. Did Sombra really bother her that much? Chrysalis just chuckled.

It was not strange for vanguard infiltrators to get accustomed to the mannerism of ponies. The queen had dabbled in the work of infiltration herself a few times before the royal wedding, but she still was lacking in a variety of skills. For a warrior like Vivisect, who never had to bother with much outside of combat and guarding, ponies and their affections were something alien to her.

Large insect wings fluttered, with the queen didn’t bother to walk the rest of the way up the staircase, having had more than enough of the accursed things.When she entered the massive main hall she found a few sentinels posted at the entrance stood . Strangely there were also a few crystal ponies that were moving about, most of them just looked confused.

When the crystal equines saw Chrysalis enter the grand hall their eyes brightened. Most of them trotted forward and lowered themselves into a bow.

“Hail the queen who has saved us! We saw your victory from the balcony!”

“Yes, yes, now where is the bedchamber? Beating your old king and his crystal slobber was most exhausting. I assume you are all palace servants?”

Each of the ponies exchanged confused looks. One or two of them had cleaning supplies, and another was dressed like a butler, with a big moustache. Yet more dressed like maids, chefs, etc.

The butler stepped forward in an apologetic posture. His head lowered and one hoof was raised bottom up.

“I’m afraid none of us remember what we were doing here exactly. Most of us can only recall flashes of the cruelty Sombra inflicted upon us, which we would rather not remember.”

Chrysalis groaned and rubbed a hoof in circles on the side of her head.

“You look like a butler. Go stand by the door and tell anypony that comes by I am resting.”

“I suppose that would make sense. I will go do that, your highness.”

“Good, now for you other ponies, you two look like chefs, go find the kitchens and cook something, I don’t care what it is.”

The two chef looking ponies hesitated for a second, before they got up from their bow and trotted around the palace.

“You look like a maid, go clean something.”

The maid went and cleaned something.

“I can’t tell what you’re supposed to be, go find something productive to do.”

It was an old pale gray mare, with pale lavender mane and tail tied up in buns with short rope. She had a piece of parchment for a cutie mark.

“I don’t know what there is to do around here?!”

The older mare had a hint of panic in her voice, the assignment for the others seemed so easy. However, she couldn’t remember a thing, and she was old! Maybe it was because she was old, no all the other ponies had the same problem.

“Is there a library in this empire?”

The queen had a dry dull tone.

“Library? Hmm, library! Yes, atleast, I think there is.”

“Go there and read then, all this amnesia is bothersome, you can help the ponies remember themselves. Mark anything particularly useful that you find, and report it to one of the vanguard.”

“Um, vanguard your majesty?”

The giant changeling had to keep from smashing her still throbbing skull against the crystal walls Yes it was great to be in charge, but at the same time it was very annoying, especially when so many of her subjects had amnesia. The queen’s horn ignited and she shot out a brief mental command.

“I need one drone, one vanguard, and one sentinel.”

The command was heralded and within a minute three changelings buzzed into the hall. Each landed close by the queen and stood alert. Chrysalis pointed at the largest of the three, who had an extra large frill, and bulked up chitin.

“That one is a sentinel.”

Next she indicated a tall changeling, it was slightly taller than the average pony, and sported lots of a grey freckles. It's frill and wing décor were moderate, not quite as intimidating as the sentinel’s.

“That one is a vanguard.”

The last one she pointed at was the shortest, and slightly shorter than the average pony. It’s chitin was thin, and it’s frill and wings were small.

“And that is a drone.”

With the three specimens before her the old mare straightened her glasses. She looked at each of them with interest, the visual indicators made them distinguishable enough. The queen continued her instruction.

“Now all three of you, escort this mare… what was your name?”

“Amethyst Maresbury, if I remember correctly.”

“Very well, make sure Amethyst doesn’t hurt herself. Fetch things for her. And you, vanguard, have you learned to read?”

“Yes my queen.”

“Then help her scour books for information. Am I clearly understood by all of you?”

“Yes.”

“Then depart.”

Chrysalis turned tail and went off in search of the rooms. Since none of the supposed servants knew their way around here anymore she would have to find it herself. She was tired of both being asked, and asking questions. Despite the love Vivisect had given her, she was still physically exhausted.

The first door she came across, which looked interesting enough to open, turned out to be a dining hall, resulting in a groan from the queen. Crystal table, crystal chairs, crystal plates, crystal-silver ware, little crystal chandeliers, crystal floor, ceiling, walls, windows, even the tablecloth was some kind of woven crystal! It actually hurt to look at so much reflective stone. She mentally noted to visit this empire rarely, unless she felt like shrinking the pupils of her eyes into oblivion.

The next somewhat interesting door was large and made out of black iron. It was the first non crystaly thing she had seen in the palace, besides members of her own swarm,so she couldn’t resist opening it. It may have been a better idea to keep it closed...

The door had 5 sets of locks, that were all on the outside, facing the hall, for some reason… She quickly undid the locks, and made a loud clang with each. Once the last one was done the door swung inward. It was dark on the other side of the door, and she narrowed her eyes to peer into the gloom.

Many sets of yellow eyes with red pupils peered back at her, there were loud barks and yips that came from the darkness, and whatever the multitude of eyes were attached to surged forward.

Cerberus puppies!!!

“What the… Gaw! Oomf!”

Half a dozen three-headed black bulldog monsters the size of bears bounded out of their cage with oversized floppy paws.The little horde quickly overwhelmed the surprised queen, and bowled her over. Chrysalis couldn’t distinguish what was going on as she was assaulted by 18 wet noses, and got licked by 18 slimy tongues. To stop the madness of puppy play the queen lit up the hall with green magic.

Each of the over sized canines was suspended in the air by Chrysalis’s telekinetic grip. Every inch of her shiny chitinous skin was covered in excessive amounts of puppy drool, as well as her mane, which was now drenched.. It was so bad, she had to move the sticky hair in her face to the side. The eyes behind the slimy mane were not amused.

“Grr… What does a shadow king have to do with such dogs!”

Some of the puppies whined as they were levitated back into their cage, room, thing, whatever. The giant changeling made sure to reattach the locks back quickly. The only consolation for that event was she now had a deplorable position to assign some changeling, or pony. Her saliva covered face managed to crack a grin at the thought of forcing somepony to be their caretaker. They could have fun being suffocated by that mess for all she cared. Maybe that’s what Sombra did with them… or maybe he planned to make somepony their chew toy when they were grown.

More tired than ever, Chrysalis wasn’t willing to check more than the next door.

“This room better have a bed in it!”

Behind the next crystal door was a bathroom. Not even a royal sized one.

“Whatever…”

She just wasn’t willing to fight anymore. So Chrysalis pulled the towels off their racks and threw them on the floor. She curled up on the carpet, with her makeshift towel comforters, and was about to pass out.

“MY QUEEN, URGENT, CANTERLOT!”

The mental signature of Colony basically screamed at her. The sudden mental flash caused Chrysalis to jump. Her rapid motion caused her to impale one of the cabinet doors with her horn. It was wooden, for some reason, and her chitinous horn dug right through it. It locked over one of her jagged curves.

She tried to yank it out with some frustration, but after two failed attempts she took the sensible approach, and blew it up. The bathroom was now covered in wooden chips and splinters.

“WHAT IS IT?!”

She had the mental courtesy to shout back.

“Rebels! Prisoners!”

Colony couldn’t get much more specific as the distance greatly weakened the details this kind of swarm communication could give. Chrysalis couldn’t physically respond now, even if she wanted to, her exhaustion was too great. The fight with Sombra had consumed almost every bit of energy she brought with her.

“Maintain control I’ll respond back soon…”

Was the final exchange between the two changelings. Colony would have to deal with whatever was going on in Canterlot, for at least a day. Then she could grace that city with her leadership, again.

Ch.12 "Family Ties"

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.12 “Family Ties”

Amongst the bundle of towels on the floor the queen stirred. It was close to evening of the same day, and she would need to make sure the sun was pushed the rest of the way below the horizon.

It was difficult to force her eyelids open, but force them she would have to. They were her eyelids, and they would obey her, even if the rest of her body was screaming to keep sleeping! But the eyelids felt rebellious and put up a fight. After she struggled for a few moments with that particular piece of anatomy, she won. The defeated sheaths of skin retreated towards her forehead, and stayed where they were told. Hopefully this wouldn’t be a precedent for the rest of the day, or evening technically.

She hadn’t blinked more than once or twice when-

“QUEEEN, QUEEN, QUEEEEEN, QUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN!”

It was Colony, her mental message sounded more desperate than alert. The mood started to strike the queen with severe annoyance, and she growled. There were going to be a lot more ponies put in cocoons if it was as bad as Colony was making it out, though that was assuming she’d had the strength to actually put them in cocoons.

“Coming…”

Chrysalis replied, and she hoped that would stop the mental barrage. It wasn’t that she didn’t plan on returning as a soon as possible, she just needed to collect a little energy first. Changeling relations were established with the crystal ponies, and some vanguard would be here to collect any useful information.

“My queen, I believe something important has been discovered.”

Shade had popped his head in through the doorway, which Chrysalis had never bothered to close before she slept.

“So has Colony… What is it you’ve found Shade?”

The vanguard infiltrator wrinkled his snout, what could Colony have found? He decided to push forward his matter of business, the queen appeared to be in a sour mood.

“It’s the Crystal ponies, many of them have been, changing…”

“Changing?”

“Yes, they started to change after interacting with some parts of the empire. Things like, crystal berries, tiny ewes, and sets of jousting equipment among other things. Once the ponies interacted with these things they changed. It is quite a literal shift from their sullen, dull colors to bright and cheery ones. The smell of their happiness is littering the streets and has frankly become almost intoxicating, I’ve had my hoofs full trying to keep the swarm from feeding on them.”

“Well, that’s good. Tell the swarm that they can feed, so long as they do it lightly. Seems like this empire is full of strange magic indeed.”

The queen managed to raise herself to her hooves. This was the first good bit of news in a while, even helping shake some of her fatigue, maybe this empire would recover faster than she planned.

“Their happiness isn’t the only thing that has returned. Most of them started to remember things as well. Several have noted an important relic was missing, a Crystal Heart. Apparently Sombra hid it.”

“Well that’s all good and dandy, but we need to mobilize to Canterlot. We can chase lost relics later. Just leave a dozen vanguard here, tell the rest of the swarm to feed lightly and meet me in the central square. You have one hour.”

“Right away my queen.”

After a quick nod Shade left to carry out the order. Chrysalis moved out of the messy bathroom, and as she moved she noticed the puppy drool had dried out, which left an unpleasant residue. Her mane was stiff as a board, and her chitin had become dull and waxy. All she managed was to grunt at the inconvenience, Plain Thatch could prepare her another bath. As long as the royal chamber maid wasn’t among the reasons for Colony’s distress.

Chrysalis fed lightly from the crystal ponies that she passed in the hall. Not enough to warrant anything but a few strange looks. If they gave her a particularly uncomfortable glance, she would just say ‘Deep breathing helps me relax’. The ponies would nod their heads in understanding and go back about their business, one of the benefits of naivety

One familiar old mare with giant round glasses approached the queen, and was flanked by a drone, vanguard, and sentinel.

“Your highness, I believe I may have found something useful.”

Chrysalis had become a little more alert at this point, and addressed the older mare with the same unenthused tone she had the others.

“Yes, Ms. Maresbury?”

“This book has a general history of the Crystal Empire. Even as I read it, I started to remember many things. The Crystal Fair in particular, I remember those, and the Crystal Heart. Those were crucial parts to the nature of our empire’s magic. It’s what helped renew the Spirit of Love and unity among us, and protect us from harm.”

The changeling queen forced a smile towards the happy pony, and struggled to not roll her eyes. She was still perceived as their “savior”, and she would keep that image for as long as she could. She struggled not to be snappy as she replied to Amythest.

“One of my vanguard reported something similar, it appears you ponies just need to get familiar with this place again in order to regain your memories. Sadly I can’t help you much more on this matter, as I have important business in the south. However, your escorts will continue to help you as needed, thus feel free to ask them anything.”

“You’re not going to stay your highness?”

The disappointment that flooded from the pony blew past the changelings nearby like a foul breeze. The vanguard, sentinel, and drone wrinkled their snouts in dislike. Chrysalis answered the sad question hurriedly, as she wished the distasteful air to disappear.

“My business is urgent. I’ll return again when I have the time. Just enjoy your lives without Sombra. Go, make happiness, joy, friends, love, and all those good things. Like I said, the changelings are stronger the more positive you ponies are. Just look at us as a surrogate Crystal Heart, until you find the real one.”

“That is fair news, I’ll see what I can do.”

“Farewell Ms. Maresbury.”

“Your highness.”

Amethyst Maresbury left with her assistants, and the large history book was placed on the drone’s back. The drone was already carrying saddle bags full of text, and gave a strained grunt as last bit of weight was added on. It gave a stink eye to both the vanguard and sentinel, but the other two had insisted it was the drone’s job. They were too busy reading or keeping an eye out for danger. The drone rolled it’s eyes, though it was almost impossible to tell, with drone eyes being so blue and featureless.

Chrysalis went to the palace balcony, and readied her wings. No stairs this time, just a simple glide down to the square, where she could patiently wait for the rest of the swarm to gather. She had acquired a decent breakfast from the palace attendants, but not a real power boost. In order to make a portal back, all of the changelings would need to add a little energy to it, rather than just rely on the queen’s magic.

As the queen looked around she saw the evidence of Shade’s and Amethyst’s reports. Several of the crystal ponies had gained a significant amount of color. There were a few food stands, and small sheep running around. Other various pleasantries and cheer making items had been discovered and shared. One good sniff revealed a great deal of change within them.

The crystal ponies witnessed the terror of their old king’s return, only to see him flee, and many had found courage and hope. The queen grinned in approval, this may be a profitable venture yet.

---

Meanwhile, a littler earlier in Canterlot…

If a changeling could sweat through their chitin, Colony would. Instead she merely hyperventilated. Her blue eyes flashed frequently as she gave sporadic mental commands to the drones in the city. Almost all of the sentinels and vanguard had left with the queen, which left Colony with a force that consisted mostly of drones to keep things orderly.

Almost immediately after the queen left with the militant section of the swarm, a number of ponies acted suspiciously. Colony cursed under her breath now.

“Festering cod flies, why did the queen have to be so public with her exit!”

The head of the drones stood in front of the palace gates, along with a few vanguards, and a large bundle of drones, which flew about. On the other side of the occupied street was a large crowd of ponies. All of the furry equines had scowls of anger written deep on their faces. A number of them stomped their hooves brashly.

“We want Applejack back!”

Cried the cantankerous voice of Granny Smith, the rest of the apple family riled up in agreement. Along with Apple Bloom and Big Mac, most of the extended family had come, including the Oranges. All of them were, understandably fired up, given that one of their own had been unjustly imprisoned. Apples stick together, no matter the weather.

“You also took one of the Pies, and we want her back”

Pie family and relatives had also shown up in large numbers. Unicorns from Twilight’s and Rarity's families approached the gates and all voiced their discontent. An older rainbow maned stallion pegasus hovered in the air and threateningly beat his hooves together, actually creating small sparks of electricity between them.

Many more ponies voiced that a member of their family was a part of the guard, and they wanted to see them.

Dozens of upset family members slowly advanced, closer and closer to the gates. Colony gulped, she was a task manager, not a changeling that dealt with riots and other potentially violent situations. That’s what the vanguard and sentinels were for.

The ponies were only a few strides away now, and Colony could almost feel the heat of their breath. She had to do something to get them to back off, after drawing several blanks; she went with the first idea that popped in her head.

Colony flew behind the wall, so she would be obscured from the angry mob’s line of sight.

Green fire swirled around the head drone and her form grew in height. Her transparent insect wings gained feathers, a long flowing mane and tail replaced the fin-like appendages. On the other side of the wall stood a great white alicorn, and mock Celestia wore a stern face.

She rounded the wall, and opened the gates. Her eyes flashed blue towards the other changelings before she addressed the crowd. It felt quite different, to look at equines at this height. Colony almost felt powerful, despite the bluff.

“Order! My little ponies!”

When Celestia’s form had opened the gates there was a ragged gasp through the crowd. Some of the ponies immediately stopped their protest and dove into a bow, many followed suit. Others were caught off guard, but stared suspiciously. A few were not buying it at all.

“Be calm ponies, and do not worry. The new queen is organizing things as I speak. Your family members are in no danger.”

Mock Celestia’s voice had sounded flawless, just like the real thing, but a few other details were lacking. First off she didn’t have any of the royal regalia on, no crown or hoof shoes. The hair was right, but Colony had forgotten one obvious detail while conjuring the form, the cutie mark…

“Celestia’s not a blank flank! It’s a changeling in disguise!”

“Oh molt flakes…”

The crowd boiled over, and rushed forward. Colony and the changelings in front of the gates soon found themselves trampled upon. The flood of angry equines bowled over the insectile guards with their sheer mass, and ran through the open gates.

The light purple pegasus stallion with rainbow mane dashed through the air, and outmaneuvered the drones that tried to block him. He easily nailed a few of them with a good quick hoof here and there, which dropped them from the sky.

A mob of angry ponies successfully entered the castle grounds, where many more drones appeared to oppose them. But the crowd wouldn’t be stopped.

Mock Celestia lay on the ground and groaned. Dirty hoof prints left impressions up and down the tall body. Several feathers lay in a scattered mess around the not-so-regal form. Green fire melted the disguise away and the smaller Colony struggled to get up.

“Queen, queen, queeeeen, queeeeeeeeeeeeen!”

She shot the mental message to the queen. Things had really gotten out of hoof. Before the drone in charge could fully raise her head from the ground, a small set of hooves shoved her face back into the dust and cobble stone.

“That’s for mah sister!”

Apple Bloom yipped, and she jumped off of Colony’s head. The drone growled and lifted her head again, only for it to be shoved down again.

“That’s for my sister!”

Squeaked Sweetie Belle, and she jumped off Colony’s head. The drone hesitated to lift her head, and wondered whether it would be worth it. Maybe she should just stay down, but these were fillies, she could handle fillies. Colony strained her neck for the third time to-

“Cutie Mark Crusader Rebel Rousers YAY!”

Scootaloo repeatedly jumped up and down on Colony’s head. The task manager, turned riot manager found her snout buried deeply between two cobble stones.

“Rainbow Dash isn’t technically my sister, but she’s close enough….Also I want to feel included so, EAT DIRT CHANGELING!”

She did not attempt to get up again…

Ch.13 "On Edge"

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch. 13 “On Edge”

Chrysalis waited in the light of the setting sun, underneath the massive crystal structure of the royal palace. Hundreds of the changelings she brought with her had already gathered. Vivisect stood by neat rows of sentinels, all of whom wore flat expressions. Drones gathered near the queen, and the vanguard stood in their own section.

The hour that Shade was given drew to a close, and the rest of the swarm in the Crystal Empire gathered. The queen made a motion with a hoof to draw her two councilors close. Both the vanguard and sentinel did as they were prompted.

“Help me lower the sun the rest of the way.”

The three commanding changelings faced the red-orange orb, and activated the magic required to lower it below the horizon. They were a little more used to the technique, so it didn’t sting as much as the first time they had done it together. Once that was accomplished the queen took on a business like tone.

“Shade I want you and the vanguard to go ahead first, scout a good position for us to enter from If everything is truly anarchy when we get back, I’d like to appear where I’m most needed.”

The head vanguard nodded at the instruction given and crossed horns with the queen. Chrysalis imparted a mental signature spell that would help her track Shade more easily, even at a great distance. Shade’s eyes flashed purple, and there was a small ripple of energy going through the vanguard.

“Meanwhile, you Vivisect have one priority; make sure the throne room is secure. Hold it with everything at your disposal, we can’t allow the prisoners to escape under any circumstances, or everything we’ve worked for will be for nothing.”

“It will be done my queen.”

The large sentinel’s wings fluttered and her chitin rattled, her large eyes flashed with orange, and the rest of the sentinels bristled with anticipation. A general stomping of changeling hooves filled the grand and spacious city square, reminiscent of a call to battle

The noise reverberated off the crystal like glass, this drew several crystal ponies to look outside of their homes in curiosity. The sight of the swarm in this state of organized eagerness was, intimidating, to say the least. Thus the ponies were glad that these changelings were friends to the empire, otherwise it would look like a grim occupation. If only they knew.

Chrysalis silenced the clamor with one mental message, felt throughout the entire swarm.

“Quiet my subjects, let us be about our tasks.”

With that the vanguards were the first to leave. A few hundred miniature green portals flared to life over a fraction of the swarm. Each individual infiltrator had to summon their own means of transport, while the sentinels had to buddy up with the vanguard as their magic was weaker in that area.

The queen watched quietly as the best fighters in her swarm departed, and left her with the bulk of the drones. She expected to leave soon.

---

In Canterlot-

The sun had just set, and a large mob of angry ponies approached the castle doors, as the twilight gleamed off their coats. Only one thing kept them from bursting open the doors. Six sentinels stood ready with their battle magic activated. Threateningly lethal claws were brandished and large ethereal blades five times the length of their natural horns flared menacingly.

If the mob of riotous family members continued their charge forward they would be impaled on a plethora of sharp and grisly objects. So they halted, but only for a moment.

A single large stone was hurled high into the air. It’s arc went so high that the sentinels that guarded the door didn’t regard it. It was too late by the time they heard a whistle in the air, and decided to look up.

The grey boulder impacted right behind the sentinels, and in front of the door. From impact the grey stone evolved into a miniature mushroom cloud with a concussive force that blew back the changelings around it. In fact the reactive force was so strong it blew open the castle doors, shattered a good number of windows, and knocked back a good portion of the angry mob.

Everypony, and the drones that flew towards the castle to reinforce it, stopped what they were doing and gaped in awe.

The crowd cleared to leave space for one mare standing in the center. She was grey with a light lavender mane and plain frock, she wore a flat expression. She started to walked forward, and disregarded the amazed stares she received. In a dull monotone voice she said.

“I’m not really into ‘fighting’. I just want to my sister back.”

This caused more disbelieving jaws to drop.

“Dear, what did they teach you at that geology school?”

Mrs. Pie looked shocked at her own daughter. Even as a filly Maud was strong, she could out work most of the family. But Old Mother Pie hadn’t see her daughter put on a show like that before.

“They taught me about rocks.”

Maud’s tone was still flat. Most of the crowd was now getting over what they had just seen, and when they noticed the castle doors were open, they trotted forward.

Her father tried his best to shake of his own shock, “We’ll address with that matter later.”

The sentinels that stood there previously were now slumped in random places over the courtyard, behind the mob of family members. Those still conscious groaned in disoriented stupor.

Colony had also witnessed the scene unfold, and her mind raced to process it. A single pony just disabled half a dozen warrior changelings and broke the castle open, with a rock!

She waited for the mob to move into the castle in it’s entirety, and when the last pony entered she gave a command to hundreds of waiting drones. They were builders, not fighters, and Colony thought she might actually apply that skill set.

“Drones, cover every last inch of the castle in slime…”

The mental message was clear as nearly two thousand drones flew to obey it. The air became a cacophonous roar with the buzz of countless wings coupled with the hacks and coughs of drones vomiting magical slime.

Doors, windows, and any form of escape was sealed off, as the castle became buried in the green sticky stuff. Even the walls and roof was coated in a thick layer of it.

The castle was now one giant changeling loogie.

Only magic could dissolve the slime, so the head drone was confident of its integrity. Whatever the unicorns in that mob could manage to dissolve, hundreds of waiting drones could replace in a moment. The thought of ponies getting their hooves stuck in the slime only to struggle helplessly, brought a smile to Colony’s muzzle.

“I don’t care what kind of punch you carry pony, you’re not getting out of this.”

The drone’s expression was smug; maybe she wouldn’t even need the queen’s help to stabilize the situation, she just managed to trap that emotionally charged mob in a large castle cage.

In the air next to the head drone a green portal burst into existence, and out came Shade with Vivisect. Colony rounded in surprise, but she quickly gave a relieved sigh, things looked even better now.

“It’s about time. What took so long in the first place?”

“The Queen’s encounter with the northern enemy demanded excessive energy.”

Vivisect grunted with nonchalance.

“More importantly, what requires the queen’s attention here so urgently?”

“A large mob of the prisoner's’ family members decided to show up and threatened us with violence. They’ve invaded the castle, but as you can see, I have them trapped there now. I believe things are under control.”

Colony hummed with satisfaction, and made a grand gesture to indicate the drones work. Shade viewed it skeptically with analytical eyes.

“Uh huh, did you have the underneath of the castle sealed off as well?”

Colony’s smug expression, promptly dropped like a piece of lead, “The underneath?”

“Yes, so they can’t simply dig underneath your slime barrier.”

“Oh, that… well, also the prisoners are still in there. So…”

To Colony’s chagrin that was an obvious flaw, but if she hadn’t noticed it, hopefully the ponies wouldn’t, for a little while at least.

“That is what I am here to secure.”

Vivisect asserted briskly, the head sentinel’s eyes glowed orange, and the plethora of other sentinels in the air rattled in acknowledgement. The largest changelings of the swarm advanced towards the castle and hovered over one of the higher points. Drones parted their scurried paths to make way.

Once she reached where she wanted, Vivisect activated her battle magic, claws and magical sword horn sprouted up. With ease she cut through the barricade of slime and reached the roof, which she then tore apart with her claws. Swiftly she burrowed down, and broke into the throne room. Dozens of sentinels followed down the hole their leader had made.

“I’ll move inside to disable them as quietly as I can. Just make sure they don’t escape from where you can see, Colony.”

Shade voiced with a little irritation.

“I was already on that. Don’t presume to give me orders.”

The indignant drone huffed.

“It was a suggestion, disappointing the queen would reflect poorly on us all.”

“Speaking of the queen, where is she?”

“She’s waiting to be summoned. I believe she would want to see the prisoners face to face, when I make sure the situation is civil, I’ll call her.”

“Very well.”

The two changelings parted ways, Colony still hovered around the outside of the castle, along with her two thousand drones. Shade advanced to the broken castle doors, and was followed by his group of more experienced vanguard. They dissolved some of the slime so they could gain entry, once they were in they sealed it shut again.

---

The inside of the castle was huge. Many of the ponies who rushed in had never been there before, and worried that they would get lost. One sensible pony decided to voice their concern.

“Where are monsters even keeping them?”

The crowd hushed as an answer was pondered. A light grey unicorn mare with white-purple striped mane and a triple star cutie mark called out to the crowd.

“Night Light and I stopped by the throne room before, we heard rumors, and when we tried to enter it earlier they turned us away. They must be hiding something there, I’m certain of it!”

“It’s true, follow us this way.”

A blue unicorn with blue mane confirmed what the mare said. Both of them took the lead as the crowd advanced through the castle. Loud splatter sounds echoed around from all sides, muffled by the castle walls. It became darker, and light from the windows was blotted out.

One or two ponies screamed in fright.

“They’re going to bury the castle!”

The mob suddenly trembled at the possible indications.

“I ain’t turnin’ back, not til’ I get mah sister!”

A loud bellow came from the largest red stallion in the room. He stomped forward, and put a hoof up to the two leading unicorns. Both Twilight Velvet, and Night Light had paused when a few ponies started to scream. With a prod from the big earth pony stallion the two snapped to their senses.

“I don’t know ‘bout you, but mah family means everything’ to me. I don’t care what kind of mischief these changeling’s are cookin’ up. I’m gettin’ Applejack back, even if I have to fight them all myself.”

“Of course, they have our daughter and son too.”

The Sparkles’ and the Apples’ nodded to one another before the advance resumed, despite the bothersome noise that occurred outside. It didn’t take long before they were able to reach the entrance hall to the throne room.

There, waiting for them was a group of Sentinels, each of them sprouted their magical weapons when the mob of family members came into view. There was an intense stare down. Vivisect growled out to the group of ponies with menace.

“Not one hoof further. Not unless you want to see your own blood.”

For a few moments the suspense in the air became thick enough to cut with a butter knife. The mob wasn’t willing to back down, and neither were the sentinels. No amount of stares did any good to intimidate either group into submission. The locked eyes glared into each other and tried to evaluate what kind of mettle was there. They were disappointed to find that the convictions were equally unyielding. For changelings, it was survival for the swarm. For ponies, it was family.

The pregnant silence broke with the sound of grinding stone.

Maud Pie casually pulled a block of stone out of one of the walls, easily able to break away the cement in between. Her flat expressionless eyes turned toward the sentinels as she lifted the square stone, and threw it right at Vivisect. The head sentinel only had a moment to throw up a fiery barrier

Upon impact the reaction created a violent explosion of dust that blotted vision within the hall way. The very walls shook as a gust of turbulent air blasted through the hall. When the dust cleared only a few figures stood.

One sentinel stayed on her hooves, while the rest had fallen down, pot marked with dents from fragmented stone and cracks that lined their chitin. The pony mob itself was rather stunned, while they didn’t suffer from bits of stone hitting them, the concussive wave had thrown many a good distance off their hooves.

Big Mac and Maud managed to stay on their hooves. The red stallion cocked an eyebrow at the grey mare.

“In here?”

“Sorry.”

Needless to say the exchange between the two was quite short.

Several on the ponies on the ground grumbled of headaches and sore parts, but started to get up. The sentinels on the other side of the hall didn’t fare as well, since they were close to the epicenter of what was basically an artillery blast. They only survived due to their leader’s shield and their hearty constitutions.

The lead sentinel glared in defiant reproach. Was that pony possessed by some ungodly spirit of strength? The head sentinel had faced many monsters in her time. It was her responsibility before the invasion to make sure changelings safely passed through the likes of the Everfree forest, and Hayseed swamps. No meager challenge, yet despite all the monsters she battled, and crazy swamp witches she dealt with. This pony… this pony had a strike like an adult dragon and even she wasn’t crazy enough to take on a dragon

Vivisect smiled, it was time to prove why she was head sentinel.

Big Mac stepped forward and tilted his head. It was impressive that this one changeling still stood, despite the incapacitation of her fellows. However, most of the ponies were back on their hooves again, and the unicorns of the mob lit their horns up with magic. A few pegasi hovered up, and the rest of the ponies stomped their hooves.

Dozens of ponies faced the singular changeling. The large red earth stallion trotted forward, to look straight at the defiant creature’s face. She was an impressive specimen, and even Big Mac had to look up a little to meet her eyes. Her battle magic was down, apparently holding that barrier took a lot out of her.

“Now ah do believe you’re out numbered. If you would kindly step aside.”

He uttered in soft spoken words. The large sentinel smiled and she looked upwards.

“What makes you think I’m out numbered…”

Big Mac turned his head about and looked up. There, crawling silently on the ceiling like spiders, were dozens of vanguard changelings. They were barely visible in the dark, but the unicorns lighting the way reflected off them slightly. Unfortunately glowing unicorn horns also make great targets in dark places.

A short cough was all the warning the crowd of ponies got before a barrage of disabling slime rained down on them. The green stuff hit wings, legs, horns, and bound all kinds of important things down. Half the crowd was effectively disabled in that initial wave.

Before Big Mac turned around to face Vivisect properly, she had already jumped forward and close-lined him in the jaw with one of her large hooves. It was enough to make the strong stallion stumble backwards in surprise. The head sentinel wasted no time and followed up with several precise strikes.

Big Mac felt heavy hoof falls land about his neck, chest, and joints with uncanny authority. His nerves were attacked in suppressive ways, and the large Apple stallion’s front legs buckled, and he fell forward on his face. Vivisect lowered her fanged mouth and snarled close to Macintosh’s ear.

“What do you expect fruit pony! Fight a warrior only if you want your flank hoofed to you!”

She raised her hoof to finish off the paralyzed farm pony when a pair of light purple hooves connected with her head. The sentinel’s thickly armored skull was thrown backward and her body followed. A blur of rainbow colored wind landed next to Big Mac. It was a middle aged pegasus, and he extended a hoof to the earth pony as he struggled to get up.

“Rainbow Blaze, don’t believe we’ve met before.”

“Macintosh.”

“Right well, I still need to find my daughter. I heard you still have a sister to grab?”

“Eeyup, tell the others to get who they can. This is gonna go south if we stay much longer.”

Rainbow Blaze nodded solemnly. They may very well end up having more ponies captured than freed at this rate. More slime rained down from the ceiling mounted vanguard, and the free ponies had a hard time avoiding all of it.

“Come on, let’s get what we can everypony!”

The light purple pegasus jumped into the air and indicated the others to follow. Those that could still move and were willing ran into the throne room. Most of the pies and a good number of Apples surged forward, Twilight Velvet was still among the mobile.

Several vanguards leapt down from the ceiling to make sure their immobile targets were secure, before they too went into the throne room.

Orange eyes opened up in the midst of other fallen sentinels, with an angry roar Vivisect got back on her hooves. When she looked around Big Mac was no longer there, and she caught a glimpse of a few ponies that ran into the throne room.

“Oh no you don’t you snots!”

Her wings hummed and she shot into the prisoner’s keep.

---

The array of cocoons on the ceiling made many a pony flinch in disgust. The green viscous containers held their dear relatives, and they wouldn’t stop at this point. Rainbow blaze was the first was the first to spot what he wanted.

“Dash! Just hold on a moment! I got ya!”

He grabbed the cocoon holding the rainbow maned mare, and pulled with everything he had. The green sinews of slime holding the pod in place were unyielding. After Blaze managed to stretch them several feet they snapped back into place, he flew backward under his own moment and sailed into the opposite wall. Blaze recovered quickly and grit his teeth.

“I can’t pull her down! That’s stuff won’t break!”

Twilight Velvet tried a little blast of magic, and the sinews holding up Rainbow Dash’s pod were cut. Pleased with the success she moved to the next, which was Pinkie Pie. Once Rarity was down Velvet looked about for another unicorn.

“Night Light? Are you here?”

No response came to the middle aged unicorn mare and she was hit with a fresh wave of panic. She bit her lower lip and turned back to releasing prisoners, things were going horribly wrong, but they needed to salvage something. Apparently the rest of the unicorns were taken down back in that hallway.

Twilight Velvet grew more desperate with each new released prisoner. There were several guards, but they hadn’t found either of her children yet. When she was about to lose hope, the next cocoon revealed Twilight Sparkle.

“Just a moment deary, Mom is here.”

Her horned charged to prepare another magical cut, but was interrupted by a gob of green slime. She flinched at the sudden blockage and an unpleasant sensation as it seeped down her head.

“Sorry.”

Was the single word uttered by vanguard changeling that approached Velvet. His bluish eyes flashed purple and the room filled with the buzz of many more vanguards. Now without her magic, the middle aged mare backed away from the tall changeling’s approach.

“I wouldn’t have it this way, but I’m not the one who makes orders.”

One hack of slime later and Twilight Velvet found one of her hooves stuck to the floor. Her eyes filled with fear and she trembled, though the sight of her daughter reminded her why she was there.

“What do you monsters even want?”

“Love, to put it most simply.”

This baffled the light grey unicorn. She heard the brief explanation about changeling’s feeding on emotions or the like, but if it involved keeping her daughter strung up like that… She couldn’t agree with it.

“There must be another way to go about this!”

She adopted a begging tone in her powerless predicament. The vanguards eye’s betrayed some compassion. He closed his eyes and sighed.

“We’ll have to see what the queen says.”

---

The rest of the vanguard had filled the room and worked to disable the rest of the mob of relatives. Rainbow Blaze tried to crash through a window to make an opening, but found himself stuck on a giant wall of slime. He disconcertingly resembled a fly stuck on a web. He warned the others to stay away.

“It’s no good, this stuff is stickier than glue!”

Several ponies cried out in dismay, it appeared they were trapped. The cries died to the sound of a loud jack-hammer like pounds. Right in the middle of the royal throne room Maud had decided to start digging. Bits of stone were flung this way and that, as the stone grey mare burrowed through the polished marble faster than power equipment could hope to.

“Follow her, and take the others with you!”

Twilight Velvet shouted for her last effort. The remaining ponies quickly obeyed, and the released cocoons were shoved down the hole Maud Pie had made, the other ponies quickly followed down the exit.

The vanguards moved to cut off the band of relatives from their retreat, but were body blocked by Big Macintosh. One changeling was foolish enough to try and get past him. That one got bucked straight through a nearby wall.. Though he tried to ignore it, Macintosh’s front legs were still shaky from the paralytic hits.

This bought enough time for the mobile ponies to escape, along with Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, and a few of the imprisoned guards.

A large sentinel changeling pushed aside the vanguard in her way as she moved to the center of the action. Two more vanguard tried to get past the large red earth stallion, and had their snouts kicked to inversion.

“Back off, he’s mine!”

Vivisect growled and advanced on the farm pony. She fainted a jump forward to bait a kick from Macintosh. As the red earth pony flung his hind legs at her she dodged, and returned the action by with a smack to his ankles.

It hurt, but Macintosh was still standing. The sentinel tried to bait out another attack, which Big Mac didn’t take, so he could avoid getting his ankles hit again. As punishment for the inaction, Vivisect slammed a hoof at the base of his tail, and broke it.

He yelped at the sharp pain, and lashed out with another kick. One of his hooves caught her in the under belly, which was her least armored spot. This knocked the air out of Vivisect and she stumbled back, and protectively moved a hoof over her gut. After she regained her breath, the large changeling muttered a few words.

“You could make a fine warrior pony; you have more than enough strength. Pity your pleasant little life never taught you to wield it properly.”

Vivisect flapped her wings to gain a little height, she motioned to jump on the stallion one more time. Bic Mac kicked out one more time, and for one more time, she dodged and kicked his ankle. There was a light crack, and when Macintosh’s hooves returned to the ground, the abused joint gave out. His front legs trembled uncontrollably, and with one good leg left, the stallion simply couldn’t stand.

With a loud obnoxious cough, that leg was pinned to the floor with slime, and Vivisect turned to see how many they had lost, and captured.

---

Shade saw that the main action was over. The hole that Maud had made was blocked in to deter pursuit. Some of the ponies had escaped, but a good deal of them were stuck back in the hall, and right here in the throne room. The vanguard glanced over to where Twilight Velvet was stuck.

The trapped unicorn mare had a hoof over her mouth, which covered part of her shocked expression. To witness the big red stallion get beaten down was hardly a pleasant sight.

Shade shook his head; this event would do little to solidify the changeling relations with the ponies. Hopefully the queen could pull off something salvageable towards peace keeping. Otherwise this kind of thing would only become more common.

Worst of all however, is that they lost several of the element bearers and guards, meaning the other parts of Equestria would have parties to rally behind, should they decide to rebel. This did not bode well.

Light shown softly from Shade’s horn as he sent a message to the queen, they were ready for her to come.

A fiery green portal erupted in the throne room and the queen of the changelings stepped out. Her tall figure was a head or more above all in the room. The green double iris eyes peered around at the mess.

“I must confess, this puts me rather on edge.”

Ch.14 "Establishment"

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.14 “Establishment”

“Relocate them, all of them.”

The ring of Chrysalis’s displeased voice echoed in the room. She was not amused by this, but it was not entirely unexpected. It was difficult for ponies to remain submissive if they felt a family member was threatened, this was part of what made their love so strong. The voracious amounts of passion it could stir were exquisite, but like with all good things came with a price.

The queen was so very tempted to simply bag them all. It would be easy, and the raw emotions that boiled within the room would be delicious, but her next choice would have crucial consequences on the ponies’ perceptions of her. Appearances had been a primary tool of the changelings for countless centuries after all and one single misstep would shatter the image she’s so carefully crafted up to this point..

With a faint glow of her horn, the queen sent a message to Colony. The head of the drones made her way into the castle throne room. Chrysalis stood there, reflection etched deep into her eyes as they gazed off into nothing. The small drone approached her superior, with obvious apprehension etched across her face

“What is it you need my queen?”

“Get the drones, and dig into the mountain. We are going to construct a new holding for the prisoners. I can’t afford to have ponies know their exact location anymore, and this throne room can go back to its original purpose.”

“Dig into the mountain… do you have any particular accommodations you desire?”

“Make it deep, make the pathways misleading, and make sure you know how to navigate it. Also each prisoner is going to have their own chamber. No point in making it easy to get all of them at once.”

“Shall I get the drones started this night?”

“Yes, now be off.”

Colony’s eyes glowed bright blue as she called the drones to her location. Soon the raw mountainside would be covered with changeling builders.

The queen shifted her attention to some of the ponies that weakly struggled against their slime trapped hooves. One middle aged unicorn mare caught her attention; this particular pony bore a resemblance to another_, particularly nosy pony.

Chrysalis’s slow hoof falls advanced to the stuck equine, who soon noticed the approach. The light grey mare widened her eyes and gulped. She had seen the queen on two occasions before, once when she saw the impersonator erupt from Cadance’s form, and the other was that public meeting she had called, telling them 'not to fear'. Pity then that fear was exactly what the middle age unicorn was feeling.

Harlequin eyes looked directly above the pony trapped to the floor, and spotted a cocoon that housed Twilight Sparkle. When the queen’s eyes roamed back down to the fearful mare before her, she smiled.

“Tell me your name pony.”

The queen’s slightly resonant voice sent a shiver down the unicorn’s spine. She noticed the glance the giant changeling made to her daughter, and she couldn’t think of a reason to lie at the moment.

“Twilight Velvet.”

“Twilight… that’s a name for clever ponies, yet you’re both stuck here.”

The buzz of Chrysalis’s wings echoed around the throne room as the queen ascended up to one of the cocoons. When she reached the green viscous container that held Twilight Sparkle, she seized it in her front hooves. The queen looked over her own legs for a moment, and appreciated the fact they no longer had holes in them. They had disappeared after her binge meal on the princesses and elements.

One quick zap of magic later, and the Cocoon that held Twilight Sparkle to the ceiling was free. It didn’t crash to the ground since the queen held it firmly. Both Chrysalis and her captive slowly descended through the air, until they landed in front of Velvet. The queen kept her smile as she turned back to the middle aged mare.

“Would you like to talk to her again?”

It didn’t take a moment for Velvet to say,

“Yes!”

“Would you like things to go back to the way they were?”

“Of course!”

“What would you be willing to give for her freedom?”

“I’ll take her place, just please, she’s a good mare, and she doesn’t deserve this, please...”

The queen laughed at the petty tone in the unicorn’s voice. She tapped the cocoon that held Twilight Sparkle with a hoof.

“An exchange is an amusing proposal. What makes you think you would be worth exchanging an Element of Harmony for? Granted the elements are useless unless all together, thus hold just one of them would be sufficient. However,your daughter is quite the dangerous pony. Along with being one of the strongest magic users in Equestria, she’s also helped organize the downfall of two god like beings. Truly I’d be a fool to simply let her go, especially in exchange for one whose magical capabilities are, hardly impressive.”?”

Velvet’s gaze went down cast, as tears started to trickle from the corners of her eyes. She had no hope of swaying the queen, as the ruler made gleefully clear, she had nothing of value to barter.. Her whole family could look forward to life imprisonment,. Both of her children, and her husband, who was likely stuck somewhere back in the hall, were now at the mercy of this emotional vampire. Before the middle age unicorn could break into full blown sobs a hoof lifted up her chin, and she was forced to look up into those double iris eyes.

“As much fun as it is to get back at you pampered little brats, I can’t feed on this. Neither can my subjects.”

Chrysalis broke the eye contact between them and glanced over the cocoons that hung in the room. Her smile lowered to a contemplative line.

“Cocoons need to be changed out every other month or so to keep the prisoners healthy. You will able to talk to your daughter then.”

“W-w-what?”

Velvet’s eyes blinked rapidly to clear out excess liquid, and her muzzle sniffled. She couldn’t quite believe what she heard.

“I said, you will be able to visit occasionally. The cocoons provide nutrients for only so long before they need to be changed out. Though, obviously there will have to be conditions,. However, I am still weary so I will figure the details later.”

The queen got up and motioned her to leave. Prisoner cocoons were in the process of being detached by the vanguard throughout the room. Several drones also buzzed in to offer aid. Before Chrysalis took more than a few steps, Velvet called out to her.

“W-wait, what are you going to do with us? Those of us that came tonight?”

Chrysalis tilted her head to the sideways, her body still faced away from the trapped unicorn.

“What do you think I should do with you?”

The queen cocked an eyebrow. Twilight Velvet lowered her gaze to the floor, she supposed she shouldn’t have asked the question. The giant changeling closed her eyes and sighed.

“I will not bag all of you tonight… I need to make an example of this.”

The trapped unicorn cringed, she didn’t like the possible implications. Thankfully, the queen saw fit to add a few more words.

“I would image some of you are more reasonable than others. You will help the other ponies see there is a new establishment. I will be respected, and I will have order, but because I am a benevolent ruler, I may see fit to grace you with certain mercies, despite your foolhardy actions. However, do not expect to roam completely free.”

The queen flicked her tail and turned to exit the throne room, which was almost cleared out by now. Various changelings had dragged the pods out, and they were pulled towards the mountain which Canterlot rested on.

The caught members of the family mob were still there, glued down in their initial place of capture. Shade approached the queen as she neared the exit.

“What do you want to do with the new prisoners?”

“If they sustained injuries put them in a cocoon. I believe I saw a large red pony that looked particularly uncomfortable, some time in a cocoon would do him good. Otherwise find out which ones are more cooperative, have them guarded until tomorrow morning. Provide for their needs, and make sure they remain disabled.”

“Is there anything else?”

“No, but tell them to have sweet dreams hehehe...”

“Very well my queen.”

The head vanguard called to a number of his fellows and went about the task.

Chrysalis wandered the castle halls, and eventually found her way to Celestia’s bedroom. Two sentinels already stood guard; their horns glowed with detection magic so there wouldn’t be another night-time surprise. At least Vivisect had been thoughtful. The bed had been nicely made too, thanks to Plain Thatch.

This would be much better than hard tiles, and towels.

Ch.15 "Nightmares"

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.15 “Nightmares”

The light of pre-dawn started to infect the room Chrysalis slept in. This reminded her of the daily chore, and she grunted in annoyance, honestly wondering how Celestia was able to keep up with such a task. Though she kept her manner calm the previous night, she burned angrily inside. These ponies apparently hadn’t got the message she was in control. They didn’t fear her enough to respect her rule.

Plain Thatch arrived promptly outside of the royal bedroom, where the sentinels that stood guard let her through. When she saw that the queen’s horn stuck out amongst the pillows she decided to wait near the door. She was here for the royalty’s convenience, not the other way around.

The queen’s voiced carried out from the pile of plush objects.

“Ms. Thatch, do you have any family?”

A little disconcerted that the queen knew she was there, Plain Thatch shook off her surprise and responded.

“Only my husband your majesty. I was orphaned when I was young, and I never stuck with any potential family for very long.”

“Where does your husband work?”

“The gardens, his name is Cut Brushes”

“Good. I want you to accompany me this morning, after your cleaning of course.”

“Um, yes your majesty. May I ask why?”

“You’ll will find out.”

The queen emerged from the mound of pillows like a monster from its bog. With a flick of her hair, she whipped about her long blue green mane. The quick shower she took before collapsing into bed had given her some bedmane this morning. But she’d rather no have slept in the dog slobber she acquired the other day.

Plain went about her duties to make the room tidy, while Chrysalis sent out a mental call to her councilors. She would get the sun raised and then deal with the problem that started yesterday.

Colony, Vivisect, and Shade all met her at the Solar Observatory for the morning ritual. After the sun poked it’s face over the horizon, Chrysalis addressed her councilors.

“Gather everypony to the castle courtyards by noon.”

The queen didn’t look at any of them, causing some of the councilors to blink in surprise. Each hesitated for a moment before they took off, as if they expected more of an explanation, but one never came. As the head of the vanguard was about to leave the queen spoke again.

“Shade, what were you able to observe from the prisoners who were not imprisoned?”

“Their emotions were a mess. Some were full of despair , while others still had the will to fight. Some did seem to be cooperative, but I could easily tell they had ulterior motives. I made sure they were all secured, none escaped. Well, except for those who got away before you arrived.”

“I want the prisoners brought to the courtyards for the gathering. When that is done, hunt down those who escaped yesterday.”

“I’ve sent my best trackers in pursuit since last night, if those ponies try to hide among the populace they will be found quickly.”

“Thank you Shade, bring the prisoners and I will meet you in the courtyard.”

Chrysalis’s gaze hadn’t left the horizon and when her last councilor left she frowned. Her gaze was stern as she looked out over the whole of Equestria. The vantage point was impressive, and the view from the Solar Tower reached faraway lands. Chrysalis could almost see the Badlands from here. All of this would be her domain, but most of it still needed to be… tamed.

---

The royal bedroom had it’s last touches finished when the queen re-entered them. Plain Thatch put away a feather duster and bowed to Chrysalis.

“Is your majesty pleased with the tidiness?”

“Yes, yes, now come with me.”

When the changeling queen turned and left, the earth pony attendant followed, albeit nervously. The queen’s intentions were still unclear, and Plain privately hoped she hadn’t done something to offend the queen. She had seen one of those cocoons, and had no desire to be in one.

The journey of Chrysalis and the tan mare lasted a good distance, until they arrived in the courtyard. The service mare wanted to ask why she was there again, but she ultimately decided against it . To her surprise, when they entered the courtyard it brimmed to capacity with ponies. Over a thousand were able to occupy the ground within the castle gates.

A large podium was erected for the queen to stand on, to which she buzzed her wings briefly to land upon. Plain hesitated and stood off to the side, this large crowd made her nervous, and why did the queen want here there?

Chrysalis turned about and patted a cushion that was placed next to the podium, the indication was unmistakable, so with shaky hooves Plain ascended to sit next to the queen. The other head changelings sat on the other side of the queen, and looked out to the skies. The hundreds of changelings buzzes about, and made seats for themselves out of the statues, and hedges. Dozens completely covered the courtyard walls.

One loud tap got the attention of all in the audience. The queen’s hoof hit the surface of the podium, which had been modified to magnify the sound. Her impressive strength made the noise something that was quite impossible to ignore. Even the old and deaf felt the sound shake their bones. Plain’s hooves had snapped to her ears, so they could survive the audible assault.

“I am not going to waste any pony’s time. So I hope all of you will return the favor and pay attention. I’ve shown your remaining leaders I am willing to discipline changelings that misbehave. To say what some ponies did last night irritates me, would be a gross understatement.”

Unlike the queen’s earlier addresses, where she had shouted quite loudly, and voiced her anger, this approach was different. Her voice was calm, and carried a deadly undertone.

“I am going to give all of you two options. The preferable of which, is to obey me willingly. Doing so ensures that you can go about your lives as if nothing has changed. Take Plain Thatch here, she has gone about her duty of cleaning the castle, and served me faithfully in that station. I have never tasted a trace of treacherous intent on her, and believe me when I say I know what such vile intent tastes like. It has a particularly bitter flavor.”

Several ponies in the crowd sweated, though not because it was a warm day.

“For being a good example, you may take the rest of the day off Ms., well I suppose Mrs. Thatch, enjoy it with your husband, and tell him to take the day off too.”

Chrysalis waved a hoof to dismiss her, the servant eagerly rose from her seat and gave a quick bow, muttering a quick, “Thank you your majesty” before she climbed off the podium. The tan earth pony could hardly believe that was it, what had she been so nervous about again? She let out a few chuckles in hindsight, as she went towards the castle gardens. It wasn’t often she got a day off.

“As for the second option, you can fight and rebel, but I warn you that I will enforce consequences you don’t even want to comprehend.”

The queen clapped her two front hooves together, and a group of vanguard responded to the noise. Some fifty ponies were dragged in front of the podium; all of them were thoroughly bound by slime. A few cocoons with ponies in them also found their way in front of the queen’s stand.

“I don’t care what your sentiments are, should you raise a hoof against me the result will be the same.”

Her eyes flashed green, and dozens of conjured cocoons appeared and hovered over the podium. With a silent mental command to ‘grab them’ , all of the bound ponies found themselves lifted in a telekinetic grip. Several of the vanguard and her councilors helped her place the guilty mob into the conjured containers.

Many members of the observant crowd gasped to see these ponies packed away in such a manner. Not very many had seen the process, which weren’t already part of it. When the last one was sealed up, Chrysalis leapt from her podium to make a thunderous stomp on the ground below. She ended up in the midst of the green organic capsules.

The ponies put into the cocoons had terrified expressions for a few moments, before the sedation of the liquid caused them to close their eyes.

“It would be quite simple to kill them, but that would be too kind for the irritation they’ve caused me, and I wouldn’t get any further use from dead bodies. No, they will be strictly food. Rather than having the dignity of their own free will, these ponies will exist in the twilight of their dreams.”

Most of the crowd was deathly quiet, only a few dared to show emotion as they cried softly.

“Those that are merely stupid enough to resist my rule will be left to dream unmolested.”

Chrysalis took casual sips of emotional energy from the pods she passed. It was enough to get a good taste, but not enough to cause a disturbance

The queen paused in front of one cocoon as she casually stepped about. It contained a large red earth pony, the one that had his legs particularly abused. Chrysalis’s expression turned hungry and her fanged maw opened wide.

“Those of you that prove vexing will get to waste away in your own nightmares!”

Her voice had finally picked up some volume, and expressed her inner ire. The queen’s long fangs pierced the cocoon that contained the red stallion, and she fed deeply. The green pod quickly soured to grey. She didn’t stop however, and the grey turned an inky black.

Big Mac’s eyes moved rapidly under his closed lids, as the liquid in the container darkened he started to kick about. The flailed limbs of the emotionally ravaged pony stirred the liquid of his container uselessly, and occasionally bumped an edge. When there was nothing good left to drain Chrysalis withdrew her fangs. After a wipe to her muzzle, she turned back to a disturbed crowd.

She kicked the dark cocoon so that it rolled up to the nearest members of the audience. Blueblood was the first pony the pod bumped into, and the prince recoiled at its touch. One glance revealed the clearly terrified subconscious pony as he thrashed about in the cocoon, and Blueblood let out a high squeal as he jumped away. The tall white unicorn turned tail and ran, as did a number of the ponies in the front row.

“I will bury anypony who crosses me so deep in the earth that even the demons of Tartarus will never find you!”

The whole crowd was now in a state that you could reasonably call, morbidly uncomfortable. Chrysalis smiled a predatory smile. She voiced the last thing on her mind, before she turned around and walked back to the podium.

“There are a few ponies that stole something from me. If it’s discovered any of you are helping these criminals, you will join their fate.”

The crowd erupted into a bustle of loud concerns, a few ponies had screamed at the sight of the blackened cocoon and the queen’s words. Many more couldn’t remain in their seats and prepared to bolt. Chrysalis boomed her voice across the crowd, to silence them.

“You may depart, and weigh your options…”

It was a stampede to get out of the castle courtyard. Disheveled ponies bumped into and over each other as they tried to be the first one out of there. A few were trampled in the chaos and crawled along weakly.

Shade watched and kept his personal feelings in check. The queen had just terrified the crowd, and smiled about it. The vanguard’s anxiety spiked higher as he brooded over the implications.

Clearly the queen was angrier than she had let on the previous night, and was choosing to vent it in this manner. The ponies would now be more terrified of her than anything. It took great restraint from the vanguard not to sigh. A great deal of his life’s work was to get to know ponies and their culture. He felt what little hope there was for the ponies to develop admiration for her was now dashed to pieces, at least for a few generations…

---

By the time night had fallen, a large amount of progress had been made on the new tunnel system which burrowed into the Canterlot Mountains. Both the old and new prisoners were hauled up the slopes and carried into a temporary holding chamber.

The queen walked with Colony by her side, and surveyed the work that was done. Sentinels stood post at the entrance to the fresh burrow, and made sure that non-changelings didn’t enter. Drones scurried about as they removed dirt and stone. As a unique feature to their division of the hive, drones had the ability to dig faster and longer than the other classes. Their hooves were tough and reacted as effective shovels or hammers where needed.

Chrysalis and Colony hovered in the air, as the new system was designed with many pitfalls to deter intruders that didn’t posses the ability to fly. The head drone led the queen past a few false turns, eventually ending up in a large chamber. All of the cocooned prisoners lined the floor of freshly upturned dirt.

“This complex will reach the roots of the mountain within another two days or so. There should also be enough individual chambers to house all of the current prisoners, and many times more when we reach that point. The pods will soon spread out from here.”

“Very good Colony, what I’ve seen has been acceptable. Oh and how did planning with Golden Trust go?”

“Before it was interrupted?”

“Hmm, I’ll need you to finish up with that as well. Just delegate a drone you trust to oversee the digging. I want strength of the swarm evaluated; it will be time to expand our territory soon.”

“Of course my queen, I will see to it.”

The head drone bowed out as she went to obey the new order. The queen yawned as she looked over the collective set of cocoons. As she did so, a momentary flash of movement caught the corner of her eye. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously, and she turned to leave.

---

Shade muttered to himself in exasperation.

“Why am I doing this again, stupid me...”

The head vanguard slipped into the chamber of prisoners as stealthily as he could. He had disguised himself as a drone, since vanguard really had no business being in the midst of a dig site.

Shade felt compelled to act though, the queen may have felt as if pony kind was some kind of spoiled child, but to drain that one stallion to such a point of darkness had been needlessly cruel. These ponies didn’t know what it was like to survive in the Badlands, but that wasn’t there fault. Ultimately he now found himself greatly conflicted. He didn’t want to judge the actions of either side, because he could understand them both. All he felt he could do was empathize.

It was not difficult to spot a severely darkened pod, and the disguised vanguard approached it. The large pony stallion inside trembled with uncontrollable jitters, and no longer possessed the strength to flail like he did initially.

A mild glow emanated from Shade’s horn and he lowered it to the inky pod. After he put a large amount of love back into the pod, it barely changed to dark grey. The effort caused the changeling to pant, and he went to the other cocoons to recuperate a little.

He went to many pods and fed a little from each. Once he felt his strength renewed, he returned to the afflicted stallion’s pod, and gave more emotional energy. The color change in the pod was very gradual, and it took several more gatherings to make a significant change.

On one of the back and forth trips Shade noticed a pony he recognized, an orange mare with blonde mane. The sight gave him pause, and some dots connected in his mind. A deep frown crossed his snout, he decided he wanted to return to this prisoner in a moment.

With one last batch of love imparted to Macintosh’s pod, Shade sat down to appreciate his work. The inky cocoon was now a dull green, not back to bright and cheery, but not the abyssal nightmare the poor stallion had surely been in.

A slow trot brought the drone disguised vanguard to Applejack’s pod, his horn glowed and was lowered to the surface of the transparent cocoon.

---

The musical chords of a banjo strummed through the evening air. AJ sat on a log near a campfire, with a half empty mug of cider sitting beside her. Stars had already appeared in the sky as a sparkly blanket of light, while the moon started its slow journey across the dark expanse.

Crickets chirped in the background, adding their melody to the piece Applejack was playing. She had her eyes closed, losing herself to the feeling of the music and the relaxed atmosphere. This wasn’t quite what she imagined being ‘imprisoned’ would be like, but she supposed changelings had their strange ways.

It did get a bit lonely, even if she could bring any place to life with her imagination. The only way to hear another pony’s voice was through her memories, which she could watch like a specter any time she wanted, but that was hardly a substitute for actually interacting with another pony.

Her banjo playing faltered, and eventually stopped. With a sigh she lowered the instrument and opened her eyes. Two stars fell in a streak across the sky, and caught her attention for a moment. Two falling stars… That was another thing that had branded itself to the inside of her mind.

A voice snapped her out of her perpetual contemplation.

“Hey uh, Applejack?”

The orange pony blinked her eyes a few times and looked over the campsite, she didn’t see anypony else. She took a quick look at the mug of cider she’d been drinking

“Either somepony is messing with me, or this here cider is a lot more potent than I remember it being.”

“Down here Applejack.”

The voiced sounded almost right in front of her, and her eyes peered over the mug, down into the fire. There in the fireplace was the image of a changeling. Slowly, she looked down to the cider she drank from, then back up at the fire, then back to her mug again.

“Okay, did I accidently get my cider mixed up with the ones from Granny’s secret stash, cause one experience of that was enough for me.”

The changeling only shook his head, “While I can’t speak for the cider...or your experience with alcohol, I can promise I’m not a hallucination.”

She lowered the mug and carefully placed it on the log besides her. The earth pony’s green eyes were, unsettled,

“Shouldn’t ya be, well, burnin’ up?”

Shade cocked an eyebrow

“Well, this is a dream. You can imagine me not on fire if you want to.”

“Right… forgot where I was for a moment.”

Her face scrunched as she concentrated, and a moment later, the changeling’s form popped out of the flames. He stood next to the fire in his natural dark grey form.

“It was Shade, right?”

“That’s right!”

“Well, would ya care to explain why you’re in my dream? Not that I don’t mind some company in this place.”

“Something has happened recently, and I felt I should let you know.”

Applejack’s lips pursed, what did this changeling feel was important enough to barge into her dream for? Why did it matter to him to tell her anything at all? The tall changeling bit his lip and struggled to get out words.

“Ya can just spit it out sugar cube; I can already imagine plenty of things have ‘happened’.”

“It’s your family.”

This made her heart stop dead in her chest. Her next words brimmed with barely contained hostility.

“What about my family…”

“They tried to rescue you.”

“And…”

“Your brother’s here.”

“…”

She slumped back on her log, and gritted her teeth. She should have figured, but it didn’t hurt any less to hear about it.

“Is he alright?”

Shade paused for a moment, not wanting to reveal her brother’s prior predicament, but managed to get out a half truth, “He’s in the same condition as you.”

“What about Apple Bloom and Granny Smith?”

“Several families showed up, and there were a lot of escapees, some of your friends made it out. I don’t know about those two though.”

“My friends? Who made it out?”

“Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity.”

Atleast that news elated her mood a little, of course the situation still looked pretty grim.

“So why did ya come to tell me all this, aren’t we supposed to be enemies or somethin’?”

The tall vanguard shuffled nervously on his hooves, and started to slowly draw circles in the dirt.

“A pony’s a pony no matter what side they’re on.”

“But you’re a changeling.”

“Ha ya, kinda kills the saying doesn’t it.”

“I get what ya mean, but I still have trouble understanding. What’s the reason for being all decent all of a sudden?”

Shade let out a sigh, a conflicted look stretching across his face, “I’ve spent most of my life living among ponies; it just feels like the right thing to do.”

“Ha, hahaha, right thing huh? What about your queen then? Was takin’ over the right thing? Was impersonating’ Princess Cadance the right thing? She wasn’t exactly treatin’ any of us half decent either.”

Shade recoiled, and wondered whether it would’ve been better not to come. His position suddenly felt difficult to explain. At least, not without a long winded lecture.

“Oh, it definitely was the right thing to do.”

Both Shade and Applejack jumped. A chilling voice echoed through the dreamscape and both of them looked about nervously. The vanguard’s heart started to fill with dread.

“Right up here little darlings.”

The pony and changeling looked up, there in the face of the moon was the queen. Her green eyes overcast the naturally white glow of the heavenly object. She wore a wicked grin on her muzzle.

“I… my queen, I can explain!”

“Oh there’s no need Shade, I saw all I needed. I knew your head must have been getting cloudy with all the infiltration work you’ve had to do. After all, while I was never particularly talented at it, I was still good enough.”

The vanguard’s jaw hung loose, and no response left his mouth. The orange pony looked nervously between the two changelings. The queen’s smile kept getting wider and wider, and Shade’s jaw dropped lower and lower. Applejack grabbed her mug of cider and brought it to her lips. She watched nervously over the edge of the drink.

“I think you need a reminder Shade. Also we can bring the orange pony along, why bother telling her why you do what you do, when you can simply show her.”

“My queen-”

“Nonono, you lost the right to speak for now. I think it’ll be especially fun to take the pony along.”

The fabric of the dream space started to tear. It started with the moon, and advance everywhere else, like a large piece of parchment being torn to shreds.

---

The vanguard changeling plopped backwards and landed on his haunches. He felt dizzy and disoriented from the sudden ejection from the dream. He looked up to see the queen cut open the cocoon that held Applejack. Once it was open the earth pony was unceremoniously thrown into the dirt. Where she coughed and hacked violently to get the liquid out of her lungs.

“Hmm, I think I want to bring one more guest for this venture.”

The queen cackled merrily and she hopped over to another pod. Neither Shade nor Applejack moved while in their disoriented states, and Chrysalis hopped back over to them, while she held another pony in the air beside them.

“I think it’ll be fun to shove nosy pony’s nose into this as well. Isn’t that right little Sparkle.”

A purple unicorn hovered in the air, held by Chrysalis’s magic, she had her horn covered in a disabling slime. The disoriented purple equine looked thoroughly confused. Her eyelids were only half open, and green goop drooled out of her mouth. The queen was displeased with the inattentiveness and shook the little unicorn like a rag doll.

Wet goop was flung every which way. Twilight Sparkle suddenly found her sense of alertness.

“W-w-wha? The Golden Oaks Library, all those rare books- … You! You monster! It was all a…”

“Dream, yes it was. But now, I’m going to take you to a place where monsters are raised. I need to reinforce some lessons that apparently aren’t solid enough.”

The queen threw a spiteful glare towards her head vanguard, and the tall changeling groveled in the dirt.

“Forg-”

“I said you’re not allowed to speak!”

A fiery green portal erupted in the middle of the chamber. Chrysalis tossed all three of the equines through it with her magical aura. She hovered over to it and entered it last.

“To the Badlands…”

Ch.16 "The Bad-lands"

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.16 “The Bad-lands”

Plop, plop, plop, three equine creatures landed in dry, dusty, dirt. After the last had landed, the Queen of the Changelings gracefully fluttered out of the fiery green portal. Both Applejack and Twilight were wet from being taken out of their goopy cocoons, causing it to mix with the dry dirt that got in their fur, resulting in them being covered in matted mud. Neither pony was amused at the predicament. The orange earth mare was cautious, and didn’t say anything. The purple unicorn however, felt much more vocal.

“What? Why are we here, where are we? Why’d you take me out of my cage? What nefarious plan do you have now! You already beat us, you sadistic witch!”

Chrysalis shoved Twilight’s face in the dirt to shut her up. The purple equine grumbled, but didn’t say anymore. The queen leaned down next to Twilight’s ear and cooed.

“Sadistic… hehehe, that is not inaccurate. It is fun to see you suffer; it is fun to see ponies take a turn. Your kind is usually too blissful and mediocre to feel otherwise.”

“Did ya just bring us here to taunt and torture us? Queen…”

Applejack sighed, a defeated sigh.

“That may be a pleasurable thing on the side, but I do have a lesson to share.”

The queen glanced at Shade when she mentioned lesson, and the vanguard looked at the ground and cringed. Chrysalis shoved Twilight’s face a little deeper into the dirt before she removed her hoof, and started to walk forward.

They were in the midst of a very large valley. Far off in the horizon, snow-capped mountains could be seen; everywhere in between was nothing but rugged stony desert. Dirt blew about in the mild howls of the wind, though other howls not made by the wind were also be heard.

“Where are we?”

Twilight managed a calmer voice.

“Shade can tell you, he is allowed to speak now.”

The purple unicorn turned to the only individual she didn’t know in the group, with an expectant stare. Her muddy and matted body complimented the sour expression etched into her face. The vanguard found his voice and clearly pronounced.

“The Badlands.”

“The Badlands? As in Southern Equestria? Why are we all the way out here?”

“This is where Changelings lived, until recently.”

“Well, what point do you have in taking us out here Chrysalis, I hardly imagine this trip is just for sentiment.”

Twilight turned from the vanguard and glared back at the queen, who had climbed up a small nearby hill. Chrysalis faced away from the small group and surveyed something on the other side of the hill. Without a look back the queen answered Ms. Sparkle.

“Shouldn’t a seeker of knowledge such as yourself be eager to learn history never exposed to pony kind before? After all your kind knows virtually nothing about Changelings.”

That got the purple unicorn to perk up her ears.

“Why would you be willing to share? Let alone to me?”

“Granted, this trip is mostly for Shade, but I’d like to give you something to fuel your nightmares, before I put you back into your cocoon.”

“Oh ha ha ha…”

It was a very sarcastic ha-ha-ha made by a very pouty pony. The queen smirked at the little purple equine, especially when she saw the Twilight’s eyes twitched irritably.

“For example, you see my hooves and legs?”

“Yes, what about them… wait, didn’t they have holes? The other changeling still have holes…”

“Yes, those holes weren’t a fashion choice, the only reason mine are gone is because I’d just recently healed thanks to the energy I absorbed. The Badlands parasites here eat away at flesh, chitin, hair, and eventually bone if it gets bad enough. Both of you ponies probably have a few crawling on you right now.”

Applejack’s and Twilight’s eyes grew very wide, and shot down over their legs. The purple unicorn let out a feminine ‘eeeeek!’, while the orange earth mare sprang to her hooves and started to scrub her fur vigorously. Both of the ponies pranced about in a panicked manner. The changeling queen laughed at the display of dismay.

“It’s a simple matter to wash them off, you can when we get back, if the queen permits.”

“SHADE! Why did you let them know, I wanted them to imagine turning to cheese in their cocoons!”

“I apologize my queen, but I felt it was worth mentioning.”

“Well, it’s not like I’ll run short on material. Get up here, all of you, we have our first sight to see.”

Chrysalis turned back to what she looked at previously. The vanguard changeling hung his head low, and had his ears flattened as he obediently trotted up the hill. The two ponies nervously followed Shade.

Once they reached the top of the hill, the little party found themselves at the edge of a deep gorge. The giant scar in the earth, that stretched for miles and was hundreds of body lengths deep. Wind constantly whistled as it passed through the deep channel.

“Welcome to the last miserable hole my swarm lived in.”

Chrysalis took a few steps back, as the ponies took a few steps forward. Shade remained at a neutral distance, and stared as if his mind were somewhere else. The queen was quiet for a moment, content to simply let the Applejack and Twilight look down into the gorge.

The drop from the hill was a sheer cliff, and as one’s eyes followed down the steep drop, evidence of work was there. Tunnels, both large and small, were honeycombed through much of the crevasse. A gigantic quarryquarray eel slithered ominously between dark holes within the desert stone.

“Would you like a closer view?”

The queen whispered behind the two shorter equines, causing them both to shiver

“Uh, I can see all I want just fine from up here.”

Applejack had a bead of sweat run down her temple, she didn’t like the hint in Chrysalis’s voice. Twilight didn’t even get to voice a response before both of the ponies were kicked over the edge of the cliff.

“AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!”

The orange and purple ponies screamed in terror, as they plummeted into the gorge. Chrysalis cackled madly, while Shade shook his head. She really was having too much fun with this.

“Are you going to wait for them to go splat?”

The vanguard kept his voice level, he rarely questioned his queen, but sometimes he just wasn’t sure what occurred in her mid.

“What, and end this venture so quickly? Of course not, there is soooo much more to do.”

Chrysalis jumped over the edge and flapped her wings, Shade followed suit and dove into the gorge. Before either of the terrified ponies hit the ground, a green aura grabbed them, thereby preventing a grisly end. Twilight still screamed for a while, but eventually was able to calm herself. Applejack had figured what happened a little faster, and was able to recuperate in silence, though she still held a hoof to her chest in an attempt to slow her rapid heartbeat.

“GAAAWWW!”

Twilight was too furious at Chrysalis to form sensible words. Her horn sparked and fizzled uselessly, as the slime stuck to it prevented any magic. So the purple unicorn gave a glare that could burn souls. It probably would have worked, if the target was a pony soul.

“Oh don’t be too mad, I did bring you down here to show you something. Your apple friend has already taken notice, and it’s something Shade needs to take a good, long, hard look at as well.”

It was more than difficult for Twilight to break her enflamed glare at the queen, and look towards her earth pony friend. The look on Applejack’s face threw the unicorn for a loop. A mixture of shock, horror, and disturbance played around with her wide eyes and loosely held jaw. Intrigued by what could bother the Element of Honesty so much she let her gaze roam, and immediately wished she hadn’t

Right beneath them, and all around, were changeling husks. Bodies of hundreds littered the base of the gorge. Most were bone, with broken bits of sun-bleached chitin scattered here or there. Disturbingly, many were still fresh, and looked gnawed on. Buzzards had already flocked over and picked away at edible bits.

The ground rumbled and a massive quarryquarray eel slithered up to the graveyard. It lunged forward and snapped at the buzzards, actually catching a few of the lazy avians. After it hungrily gulped them down, it inspected what the buzzards had come for.

At this point Twilight and Applejack felt highly uncomfortable with the contents of their stomachs. Neither of them had actually eaten in days, since they had been contained in cocoons. So they just wretched and heaved.

The sound of gagging ponies caught the eel’s attention, and it started to slither towards the group. Both of the equines covered their mouths, and flailed in panic, but Chrysalis kept them suspended in the air with her magic.

The massive creature approached with wide and eager jaws, fresh equines were better than mostly eaten changelings. Before the quarryquarray eel got too close Chrysalis’s eyes flashed green. The beast’s pupils also flashed, and it’s movement ceased. Another moment later, the eel wandered off to a different section of the gorge.

It was the second time the ponies panicked for their lives within minutes. Shade turned a concerned eye towards the queen. Both the ponies were almost comatose in fear, due to their abused adrenaline systems.

“Maybe you should spread out the shock and awe, if you want them to be conscious for it…”

“I suppose you’re right. Just be sure to take a good look around yourself Shade, remember what we’ve left behind, and why we never want to turn back.”

“I can’t forget my queen. I don’t think I will ever be able to.”

“Then why were you so quick to go and help ponies? Ponies that defied me no less!”

Shade bowed his head, and sighed. He looked up to the queen from his submissive posture.

“I just don’t like suffering… the world already has so much of it.”

“You do know it’s necessary, don’t you?”

“The invasion? Issuing punishments? Yes I understand those are necessary. The swarm couldn’t continue as it had out here. It hasn’t made it any easier to watch. I want to apologize again, I had no intention to defy you. I just…”

“Just don’t let it happen again Shade. I don’t care how you ‘feel’ about pony suffering, I expect you to let my decisions run their course. If the ponies are rebellious and need to be cowed, I will not coddle them. You are my head vanguard Shade, and fortunately, you are hard to replace. Don’t set a poor example; make your loyalty unquestionably clear.”

“Of course my queen.”

“Good, now I can go back to having fun.”

The two changelings trotted towards the entrance of an old tunnel they both knew. Both of the ponies were still suspended by Chrysalis’s magic, and were tugged along. Right before they entered the dark space the queen stopped, and drew in a long breath through her nostrils.

“It hasn’t even been a month since we left for the invasion, and the place still smells foul as ever.”

“Indeed, coming here between trips to urban Equestria has been a perpetual reminder. No changeling should have to live in these conditions.”

“Shade, take your apple pet, and show her why you keep her in a cage.”

The queen’s double iris eyes glinted with a hint of sardonic glee. The orange earth mare was levitated in front of the vanguard, and promptly dropped. Muddy and matted Applejack let out an ‘oomf’, as she hit the ground. The pony eventually righted herself, and nothing appeared to be sprained or damaged, just her dignity.

“I’ll take this Sparkle, and see if she is as bright as her name’s sake. Don’t wander too far off, you know what happens if you do.”

“Yes my queen.”

They entered the tunnel, the queen still dragged Twilight through the air and Shade got Applejack to follow him.

---

After the queen and Twilight broke ahead a little way, AJ managed to find some words.

“What was all that, back there?”

“A bunch of dead changelings, I figured that was obvious.”

“Well, why? All of you just get torn up and eaten out here? Why did y’all live out here of all places?”

“In a way, all those beasts are less dangerous to deal with than you ponies. They’re not as smart or as coordinated.”

“Why try so hard to avoid us? If ya needed something’, and approached reasonably, I’m sure we coulda done somethin’ to help ya out.”

“That sounds like a nice rationale, but there are a few problems.”

Shade flashed green and the tall vanguard’s form disappeared, to be replaced by Big Macintosh’s large body. The mock form of her brother jolted AJ’s senses. In Big Mac’s voice Shade carried on, he even nailed the accent perfectly.

“Hey sis, I gotta lil’ secret to share with ya. It’s somethin’ that I’m not sure you're gonna like. Ya see, I’m not actually a pony, and I’ve been feedin’ off your emotions since I’ve known ya. This is what I actually look like.”

A flash of green and Shade was back to his normal form. He smiled wide, and exposed his sharp teeth. His wings also gave a complimentary buzz. AJ shook her head and blinked a few times.

“I just gotta know, my brother isn’t actually one of you changelings, is he?”

“No, your brother was always a pony.”

“Good, some things can just make ya question.”

“Don’t worry, it’s very easy for changelings to sniff each other out. I was near your brother when he was caught. He is most definitely a pony.”

Applejack stopped her trot forward and sat down. Her countenance fell, and she drug a fore-hoof slowly through the dirt. She didn’t look toward the vanguard anymore. The posture of the orange pony slumped.

“Well, why is it ya have to keep us caged?”

This drew out a long sigh from the vanguard, he didn’t like the queen’s diminutive words repeated out of this pony. Who he thought should just be living her life as normal. A look back to the graveyard of his own kind gave him the courage to move forward.

“I suppose it goes back out there. To say things were bad here is a terrible understatement. Most changelings lasted only four or five years. It’s been going on like that decades before I can remember.”

“What? Four or five years? That’s not even long enough to replace yourselves… is it?”

“Oh, I guess I should explain a little more about how we work then. I forgot you ponies take a long time to grow up. Your kind take until your teen years to reach adult size.”

In a quick burst of flames Shade’s form shrank. Little baby grub Shade hopped up to where AJ sat. He put a tiny hoof on hers to grab her attention. She looked at his childish features and cracked a smile, it was kind of cute, in the same way baby crocodiles and lions are…

The infant Shade wiggled his short tail and twitched his ears. His little legs had no holes in them. When he spoke, it was a squeaky childish voice.

“Conception to birth is two or three weeks. Then is takes around a year for us to hit full size.”

The little changeling that was Shade altered his form in rapid succession. He stopped at the various stages of growth for a few moments each, until he was his mature size again. Applejack’s expression had turned quizzical.

“Wait, so if ya grow up so fast, are ya dying of old age at four or five? Y’all sound like rabbits.”

“No, we can live as long as ponies, or longer. Most of us have just starved, or have been killed before we live up to our potential. The more love a changeling has access to, the longer we can live.”

“So how old are you? Are ya younger than mah sister?”

“I’m twenty eight, however, that compares to your sister. It’s rather ancient by most changeling standards. The vanguards tend to live longer, since we get to carry love collected for the swarm and spend the most time outside the Badlands.”

“Huh, well, you didn’t seem like a five year old anyway.”

“Not sure if that’s a compliment, but thanks all the same.”

Up ahead the glow of the queen’s magic had gotten fainter, so Shade gave Applejack a soft nudge
.
“We better stay close to the queen; her presence deters some of the more malignant creatures around here.”

“Alright”

The two of them continued their trot down the tunnel. As they got deeper the walls transitioned from earth and stone to some green resin material. Much like the changeling slime, but it was dry to the touch, and not sticky.

---

Chrysalis had kept Twilight in her magic the whole time. The fear induced coma had worn off, and the purple equine realized who she was still near to.

She pouted and crossed her hooves while she was dragged through the air. If she gave the queen a lively response to announce her alertness, she may very well be subjected to another cruel joke. She was probably going to be subjected to another one anyway, but no need to provoke extra attention.

Soon the tunnel widened and opened up into a massive cavern. Green resin material lined all the surfaces, and gave an eerie feel to the place. It reflected light well, and kept the place lit, even though it was deep underground. A small hole was open in the central part of the ceiling, and let additional light bleed through.

The giant changeling seemed to pay the purple unicorn no mind, as she walked along a routine path. The center of the cavern was a large mound, with scattered material all around it. Chips of dark brown material littered the top, and a crude make-shift throne sat at it’s center. It was a throne carved out of patchy drift-wood. The unicorn was harshly dumped on it.

The hard surface did not feel comfortable on Twilight’s stiff and sore flank. She grumbled inaudible words in complaint. The queen looked down on the lavender equine, and a lethal smile crept up her muzzle.

“Would you like to own a kingdom Twilight Sparkle?”

“W-what? No I-”

“But Queen Twilight has such a nice ring to it. Oh, but you’re a pony, so it would have to be Princess Twilight right? I never understood why Celestia insisted on calling herself that, maybe to make herself feel younger. Still Princess Twilight Sparkle, HA! The notion, isn’t it funny…”

Twilight’s mouth turned plum sour as she rolled her eyes. She did not enjoy the queen’s antics. The giant Changeling started to circle around the throne at a slow pace. Every time she passed by the unicorn, she whipped her in the face with her blue-green tail.

“No, only a changeling can be queen, though I own an empire now... I should go by Empress Chrysalis! Hmmm, though any subjects with a lisp would not be allowed to say that. Empwessss Cwisssahlysssss, can you imagine, no, they would just have to call me queen.

“WHAT’S YOUR POINT CHRYSALIS!”

After one particularly unpleasant smack to her muzzle, Twilight lost her temper a little and sprung up from her seated position. Magic fizzled and failed to escape from her slimed horn again. The purple equine was in danger of cracking a tooth, because her jaws ground together so tightly.

Amusement flooded over the queen’s face and she ignited her horn, the unicorn was lifted off of the throne and somersaulted slowly through the air. Twilight never hit the ground, but soon became dizzy from the circular motion.

“What, you want to hear something with real substance to it? I suppose I can take you to the well of memories. There is a particular changeling I would like you to meet there.”

Chrysalis’s lethal grin devolved into snide smile. As the purple unicorn somersaulted in tow, the queen walked to the entrance of another chamber.

---

Shade and Aj entered the throne cavern, and sat to a far edge. They saw Chrysalis as she walked around with Twilight, who spun the unicorn endlessly through the air. The farm pony disliked her friend’s treatment, but was not in a position to challenge it. AJ felt fond of her stable equilibrium at the moment, and decided to simply ask more questions while she was here.

“So I remember something about you changelings earnin’ names. Is that right?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“So how’d your queen earn hers? Or does a queen have to earn a name?”

“She is the one who invented the chrysalis-cocoons. The pods that keep ponies trapped, and store their emotional energies. Combine that with the vanguard’s efforts to collect love for the swarm, and a lot more food was available under her rule.”

“So she made a new way to foal-nap…”

“Targets were chosen as discretely as possible. We couldn’t have any ponies go missing that would cause suspicion and investigations. Ponies on ‘dangerous’ expeditions and orphans were generally preferred.”

“That’s horrible.”

Shade cringed as he thought back on some personal experiences, not all of which were bad.

“I would call it a mercy in some instances. Some of those expedition ponies would have died anyway. Several orphans in Manehattan would also be left in unfavorable situations. Instead, they helped keep the swarm alive and in exchange get to stay in a blissful dream world.”

“So what happens to all of those innocent ponies now?”

There were a few moments of silence as the two thought about their exchange. The queen had moved on to another tunnel, and her faint green magical light grew dimmer. Both the earth mare and vanguard got up to follow. Shade gave his honest opinion.

“I don’t know. There are a few things the queen could do with them. It would be convenient to just place them with the rest of the prisoners in Canterlot. That’s probably where they are right now. It is generally preferred to gather love from free ponies though. We’ll just have to see what the queen decides.”

---

Eventually Twilight went from somersaults through the air, to somersaults on the ground. The poor unicorn was flipped over and over. After one roll, the unicorn’s horn was pressed into the ground, where it stuck fast.

Chrysalis left her in that undignified position, and trotted forward into a smaller chamber. The glow in this room was blue, and the reflections of liquid played along the ceiling.

The lavender equine placed all four hooves on the ground, and yanked backward. She successfully removed her horn from the ground on the fifth tug. A loud ‘pop’ echoed in the small room as Twilight fell back to her haunches. Twilight’s eyes spun around in her head for several moments, the disorientation almost made her sick. After a period of time, she eventually stabilized, and her purple eyes roamed the room, but she couldn’t spot the queen.

Her brow furrowed in concern, did the queen just leave her here? Deep underground, without her magic, in the badlands full of flesh eating parasites, and other monsters that would eat her even faster!

“Chrysalis?”

Strange enough, the purple unicorn felt worried that the queen wasn’t there.

A blood curdling shriek split the air, and a large object pushed over Twilight where she sat. She also screamed and flailed around her front hooves in fright, she was on her back and something was on top of her. Twilight’s eyes found what was on her, and her hooves pushed it back slightly.

Visual processed in 3…2…1…

“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!”

A changeling skeleton held together by a few green sinews was draped over the little librarian pony. It was a very large, around Chrysalis’s size.

The empty sockets of the eyes stared back into Twilight’s terrified fleshy ones. In a desperate scramble, the lavender unicorn managed to get out from under the dried white bones. She turned around and started to gallop towards the throne cavern, but was stopped when she was grabbed by a green aura.

“That’s not how you greet royalty Twilight! Now, give queen Shellish the respect she deserves. eheheh HAHAHA”

The voice of Chrysalis cackled edgily at the end. Ms. purple equine was in danger of shattered teeth again, as her clenched jaws nearly reached critical pressure.

“Stop! Just stop with all these stupid scares. I am done with them!”

“Yet you keep falling for all of them. I mean, there is nothing remotely threatening about old bones, yet you still squeal.”

“Uuuugggggg, you said you actually had something of substance to say here, so say it already. Then you can put me back in the dream land and I’ll be done with you.”

The queen of the changelings let out a sigh and floated the skeleton back to it’s position by the wall. It sat next to several other equally tall and regaled skeletons. Chrysalis turned to a small pedestal in the middle of the room. It was the source of light which reflected off of the ceiling. She waved a hoof over it slowly, and caused the light to dance around her shadow.

“This is the single most important thing the changelings have inherited over the centuries. It has been passed down from one royal to another, long before Celestia and Luna came to rule.”

This caught the purple unicorns attention, Chrysalis’s tone had actually calmed down to something relatively serious. The time for taunts and jeers had ceased for the moment.

A muffled sigh of disappointment escaped from Twilight, as she realized she had nothing to take notes with. If Chrysalis was really going to talk about history that far back it would be shame not to have it noted somewhere. Not that she would be allowed to keep it, another sigh escaped her lips, she would be back in another green capsule soon.

“Come here little Sparkle, and take a look.”

Seeing no reason to argue, Twilight went and took a look.

The pedestal was low enough for the unicorn to put her face above it and look down. What she saw surprised her. In the middle of the pedestal was a deep hole, which was filled with a bluish, crystal liquid, and appeared to go down forever and ever. A slight mist wafted from the surface, and light danced like fire from it’s core.

“Lean back for a moment.”

The unicorn did as instructed, and dodged the liquid as it was raised out of it’s container. Chrysalis’s eyes glowed with emerald radiance as the liquid kept pouring upwards out of the pedestal, as if gravity had no hold on it. The crystal blue liquid snaked it’s way around the ceiling until it surrounded the whole surface. The pedestal never seemed to empty, and eventually the walls were obscured by the semi-transparent substance as well.

---

The giant changeling and unicorn were in the midst of a near spherical wall of blue radiant liquid. The substance became still as glass, and faint images danced in the opaque material.

“This is the well of memories Twilight. It contains selected experiences from royal changelings who decided to contribute to it over time. I go through it at the rare times I need advice, and I’ve made some contributions of my own.”

“Why are you showing me this? This seems rather personal.”

“I don’t have another royal to currently share it with, and besides, you’ve earned the smallest amounts of my respect. Even Celestia and your own brother were utterly fooled by my guise, but you, you were the only one that could look past the facade of simple wedding jitters. Laughable really, but still, you didn’t let your friends cloud your judgment, not when it came to something of actual importance. So for that, I’ll let you see this.”

---

The queen reached out and tapped the placid liquid, which caused a ripple throughout the entire bubble. It’s bluish opaque surfaces swirled and the colors changed. When it settled it felt almost as if they shifted locations. It was a bright sunny day, and they were in the middle of a field of green grass.

Twilight looked down to make sure they actually hadn’t moved, the floor under her hooves was still the same dull resin, until she looked up to the illusion around her. The pedestal and Chrysalis were right next to her as well.

In another swirl of colors the scene shifted and they were now on top of a hill. The green fields seemed to extend to the horizon, and a nearby mountain range. It was relatively peaceful, Twilight could even experience the gentle spring breeze of the atmosphere. A small town was nearby and the bustle of a little activity showed that it was occupied.

The quiet observation of the scene was interrupted by the sound of a small creature as it sprung through the grass. Twilight’s eyes caught a small dark shape pass right by them, and it stopped once it was near another, larger shape.

“Queen, are we going to eat, I’m hungry!”

A high pitched chitter came from the smaller form. Twilight focused her eyes on it and saw it was a short changeling. What appeared was in fact, a filly sized Chrysalis. Her mane was short, and still it’s blue-green color. The little changeling looked hungrily at the small town, and smacked her lips.

“I’m afraid not little royal, that village is full of suspicious ponies. It would not be safe.”

The taller form that spoke was a giant of a changeling, as large as adult Chrysalis. However, this changeling had a purple mane, with orange highlights.

“But Shellish! Couldn’t we just go down there and take it? We have hundreds of changelings, and they’re only a few ponies.”

“That’s not how we do things little royal.”

“But I’m hungry!”

“You should be more fearful of the ponies, If we took that village more ponies would come, and right now we are too weak. You don’t want to fight with the ponies little royal, you will lose.”

“How do you know? We could just hide, we could beat the new ponies.”

“I won’t risk that little royal.”

“But I’m hungry!”

“Then go see if a vanguard has come back, I’m sure there’s one.”

Filly Chrysalis turned away and slowly walked down the hill kicking loose pebbles as she went. A glum pout had come over the young, royal changeling, and when she was out of earshot she muttered.

“I already checked before I asked you… stupid queen.”

---

A sudden gasp escaped from Twilight when she heard the small Chrysalis say that. She had almost forgotten they were in the midst of a scene from memory. The adult Chrysalis stood there with a frown on her face, and shook her head. The unicorn turned on the living queen with a scold in her tone.

“Was that your own mother you were calling stupid?”

“Shellish my mother, HA! No, I was born from a common drone and sentinel pairing.”

“Huh? How does that even… work?”

Chrysalis smirked while she put a hoof out to wipe the current scene away. They were now in the midst of a forest. A swarm of changelings lounged among the trees, and sat in lazy reclined postures. A few buzzed through the densely packed trees, and landed in a small clearing.

The moment the flying changelings landed they were swamped by a large number of bodies. The queen indicated the tall spotted changelings that just landed.

“There are a few types of changelings, just as you have a few types of ponies. Those are vanguard, and they have been the lifeblood of the swarm for eons.”

Twilight noticed the tall spotted figures, who opened their mouths to the crowd that surrounded them. A transparent shimmer passed between them and the dozens of changelings that swamped them. There was a pleased chatter among the recipients, and a clamor for more. The vanguard changelings shook their heads and backed away.

“If it weren’t for their quick ability to adapt to nearly any social structure, we would have starved, or be driven by hunger into some suicidal war.”

This brought a grimace to Twilight’s face, and she uneasily scraped the floor with a hoof. Chrysalis wiped at the scene again, and the swirl of colors heralded yet another change in scenery.

---

“The sentinels insure that swarm operates safely. Our secluded hiding places have been chronically dangerous.”

As the spotted changeling vanguard flew through the forest, large heavily scaled changelings advanced next to them. The group was attacked by a pair of flying manticores, and the large sentinel changelings moved to intercept.

The vanguard made it away safely, while the sentinels kept the beasts distracted. Twilight looked away when one of the manticores started to chew away on a changeling’s neck.

Chrysalis changed the scene several more times. It was the sentinels that kept hydras, chimeras, cragodiles, ursas, dragons, and other monstrosities distracted.

---

“The drones have also made invaluable contributions. It was their hooves and resin that built our shelters in these hostile places.”

The whirl of shifted images placed them underground, where hundreds of drones excavated the earth, and lined the tunnels and chambers with tough resinous material. The army of worker changelings sealed off entrances and blocked possible intrusions into the swarm’s place of rest.

The purple unicorn turned the giant changeling who watched the activity with her.

“Then what is a royal changeling for? And you said your parents were a drone and sentinel?”

“It’s good to see you’re paying attention little Sparkle. Royals lead the swarm, there have only been a few of us at any one time, as we are a rare result from interbreeding within classes. It is our responsibility to keep the swarm level headed and healthy, as the changelings types don’t naturally get along. Vanguard could easily be selfish and hide among other species. Sentinels often try to rule with brute force, while drones could use their numbers and shelter skills to levy advantages. It is the royals that make them work as a unit.”

“How do you manage that?”

“Changelings exercise a mental magic with each other, similar to a hive mind. Typically changelings can only communicate with others of the same type this way. Drones with drones, sentinels with sentinels, and the vanguard with themselves. Royals transcend that barrier, and communicate with the whole swarm. My mental presence wrinkles out dissenters, and reminds every changeling of our interdependent existence.”

“Has every royal changeling been good at their role? You didn’t seem to think so back there, with Shellish.”

“HA! At least you catch on. No, not every royal has done well by the swarm. Shellish is the reason we ended up here in this dung heap.”

“What happened?”

Chrysalis’s pursued her lips, and she wiped the scene yet again.

---

They were in the throne cavern, and Shellish was on the wooden throne. Angry hisses bounced about the chamber, and dozens of changelings snapped their fang filled jaws aggressively. A young adolescent version of Chrysalis was off to the side, partially obscured by the swarm of frustrated changelings.

---

“It was more than just that town, Shellish wasn’t willing to risk a hoof over.”

Chrysalis’s next words were made in a mock tone.

“We have to withdraw our infiltrators from the griffin kingdoms, they were at war, and it was deemed too risky. Oh, and we can’t get anything from the minotaurs either, I believe they’re working on something g which might possibly lead to our discovery… then again their love wasn’t very good anyway. Saddle Arabians? No! Prench ponies? No! Western Isle of draconequi? Forget it!”

“There’s a western isle of draconequi?”

“Tanget, little Sparkle.”

Chrysalis booped Twilight on the snout.

“As I was saying, everything was too risky for Shellish. She kept withdrawing and retreating from potential food sources. In the pursuit of saving changelings, she ended up causing more deaths. Her passiveness led to great starvation within the swarm.”

---

The angry swarm started to chant, it’s collective voice rose over and over. ‘New queen’, ‘New queen!’ ‘New queen!’ and they advanced towards the throne. Shellish recoiled where she sat, her double iris green eyes became terror struck.

One large changeling buzzed it’s wings and flew up to the purple-maned royal changeling. It pointed a hole riddled hoof that bridled with accusation. It was clearly a sentinel that made the forward movement.

“You have failed the swarm Shellish! And the swarm is finished with you!”

“I’ve only kept the best interest of the swarm in mind!”

The accused queen stood on her hooves and flashed her eyes green. The angry sentinel flinched, but glared back at the queen with even more fury. Shellish now had shock written all over her features, and she cowered back a little.

“Your hold is so weak you can’t even command me anymore. We shall have a new queen!”

“Evisect stop this, I can still lead the swarm.”

“You have failed! Now you will pay the price!”

The large sentinel landed near the queen, and opened his maw. The rest of the swarm in the room advanced with open mouths. A general inhale echoed around the room. All had advanced, except for the young and watchful Chrysalis, her face was contemplative.

“NO!”

Shellish screamed at the hungry horde, but she could in no way dissuade them. She had lost her power over them, and could only watch in horror. With a sudden buzz of activity, the entire swarm within the room jumped at the throne. Drones, vanguard, and sentinels all filled the air, and it became a disoriented mess.

A few moments later it all calmed down, and the bustle of changelings spread out to leave room around the throne. There lay Shellish, all color drained from her, and eyes left wide open. She no longer breathed. The swarm was now very quiet, their angry fervor had been spent.

The sound of hoof falls bounced off the resonant walls, and the young Chrysalis stepped up to the throne. Her eyes flashed green, and a pair of drones buzzed up next to her. In silent communication she nodded to the body of the former queen. The drones picked up the lifeless and discolored giant, and hauled her from the wooden seat.

A green aura gripped at the crude little crown that had fallen off of Shellish’s head. It was raised and placed in Chrysalis’s blue-green mane. She turned about to face the swarm and reclined into the throne, that was now hers.

“New Queen!”

The chant began again, but this time it was with a different kind of eagerness. There was anticipation, with many changelings stomping on their hooves, and buzzed their wings. The young queen soaked in the energy emitted by the enthusiastic swarm.

“Tonight! We feed!”

Harlequin iris eyes flashed from the new leader, and wave of magical energy erupted forth. Every changeling had a clear picture in their mind, and the throne cavern began to empty. They had new commands, new orders, and hopefully, a new future.

----

A tear threatened to fall from Twilight’s eye, but for what reason she couldn’t tell. Whether it was the horrible scene she just witnessed, or the suffering that played before her, it was too much to comprehend at the moment.

The swirl of light from the well of memories started to recede. Chrysalis guided it back into it’s place within the pedestal. The liquid was silent with it’s movement, and the unicorn hardly noticed when it was gone.

The queen changeling walked over to a small dug-out cupboard, and rolled out a large, hollow, resin sphere,. With a small flash of magic, a hole was made, and Chrysalis started to siphon the liquid from the pedestal into the sphere. It took some time, and the queen looked over to unicorn. She noticed the conflicted face, and that brought a smirk to her fanged muzzle.

“Rather entertaining wasn’t it, ehehehe”

“I pity you…”

“What...”

“I feel sorry tha-”

“DON’T PITY ME!”

The outburst from the queen nearly shattered her focus, and she almost dropped the memory liquid. Twilight flinched and shielded her face with a hoof. After she snorted indignantly a few times, Chrysalis regained her composure, and seethed.

“I will not be pitied by food. In fact what is there to be sorry about? I’ve led the swarm to greater success than any royal before me!”

“I’m sure if you just asked Celest-”

“Would you ask your salad to determine your future for you? Would you even consider submitting to something you should be feasting on? No! I will determine the changeling’s future! There is only one thing you should understand by the end of this venture. You are food… I may give my new pony kingdom the fertilizer of leniency and some liberties, but I also need to weed out bad crops.”

The purple unicorn became crestfallen. Nothing she could say would make a difference here, so she chose to remain silent, a tear escaped from her eye.

A few moments of silence later and the resin orb was filled. The memory liquid sloshed quietly within its new container, and Chrysalis sealed it off. The orb was rolled forward, and the queen kept up behind it. When she neared the little unicorn, she gave her a harsh shove.

“I’m not carrying you everywhere, get on your hooves.”

The melancholy unicorn obeyed slowly, and trotted after the queen, who trotted after the orb.

---

Shade and AJ waited patiently outside of the chamber the queen and Twilight had retreated to. Both of them had stopped their talk a while ago, and simply enjoyed the silence.

The sound of a large object being rolled along alerted the two equines. They both stood up and looked down the short tunnel. An orb as tall as a pony rounded the corner first, and was quickly followed the queen and a sad unicorn.

“I hope you had fun talking to your apple pet Shade, it is time to go. I’ve picked up the other important item of business; there is no reason for us to return here again.”

“Yes my queen.”

A fiery green portal was opened there in the throne cavern. The ponies were allowed to walk through it this time, followed by Shade, the orb, and lastly the queen.

Once the equines departed silence echoed with an overbearing presence in the throne cavern. Light faded and it became pitch as black.

Ch.17 "A Bump in the Night"

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch. 17 “A Bump in the Night”

Flames of fiery green twirled in a hellish tornado of various hues, from which an abyssal shadow of torn space formed in its center. From this tear in dimensional realty emerged a multi-hued purple mini horse creature.

Plop.

Twilight tripped while she exited the portal, causing Applejack to trip over her. When Shade came out, the normally nimble vanguard didn’t have the space to react before he too, tripped over the tangled equines. As the queen made her exit from the ethereal ring of fire she also stumbled over the expanded pile of jumbled bodies.

“Hey! Oof-”

The lavender pony at the bottom of the pile was about to complain about the klutziness of those that followed her, even though she was the first one to trip. However, when the royal changeling landed on them, she found the air squeezed out of her lungs.

“Get a hold of yourselves runts!”

Chrysalis angrily shoved the other three out from under her, and stomped on the ground in annoyance. The vanguard and two ponies quickly got to their hooves, and dusted themselves off. AJ and Twilight were still caked with mud, jealously glaring at Shade for how easily he cleaned off his smooth chitinous skin. He shrugged, then remembered something else.

“My queen. Should the ponies be bathed before they’re put in new cocoons? They likely picked up parasites.”

“Yes, let’s have them bathed. In fact, most changelings still carry the Badland’s filth.”

The queen cracked a mischievous smile and moved close to Shade. She put a hoof under his chin, lifting his face to look directly in hers. The head vanguard managed to keep his expression neutral, but a slight grimace edged on his muzzle anyway.

“Taking you to the Badlands wasn’t a real punishment; more or less it was something you should have already remembered. As consequence for giving relief to prisoners who I punished, you will take better care of your own kind. You will personally scrub down every vanguard in Canterlot, until their chitin shines. Present them to me at the end of the week.”

Shade blinked his eyes, comprehension hadn’t quite dawned yet. The queen chuckled and gave her councilor and pat on the back.

“Helping them take a bath? How many changelings is that?”

Applejack ventured a question, it seemed curious to make cleanup a punishment. The conversation didn’t appear too private either, so she might as well join.

“That would be seven hundred and forty-six vanguards stationed here in Canterlot. Almost all of us came here for the invasion…”

“Oh… well, have fun sugar cube…”

The orange earth pony mare gave an awkward smile. Cleaning up half a dozen hogs was quite a bit of work, let along seven hundred. Shade actually had to restrain himself from giving the earth pony a look of betrayal at her almost mockery of his pain.

As she thought back, Applejack could remember she picked up quite a bit of dirt and grease from the contact she had with the changelings in their initial scuffle. ‘Ya, good luck gettin’ that done in a week by yourself Shade.’

With a glint of green light in her eyes, Chrysalis called in a few sentinels with a mental message. Three large scaled changelings answered the call, and entered the temporary prisoner chamber. They landed next to the queen and remained silent. The royal changeling turned to her head vanguard once more.

“You can start your job by getting these two ponies clean, and then put them in fresh cocoons. After that I suggest you get on with your real assignment. You sentinels will follow Shade and make sure these instructions are followed exactly.”

“Yes my queen.”

Both Shade and the sentinels iterated.

“Good, now go.”

The queen remained on her haunches while the sentinels picked up the ponies, and followed Shade out of the prisoner chamber. The ponies would need to be carried over the deadly pitfalls so artfully dug by Colony’s drones.

Once her underlings had been gone for some time, the queen set her own wings to work, and carried herself out of the underground mountain maze. It was late into the night when she made it outside. The stars dotted the heavens, yet no moon was present.

There had been no moon present for several days, she never bothered to ask the night princess about that particular procedure. In consideration of how Chrysalis fed on the imprisoned princesses and elements before she went to the Crystal Empire, she doubted Luna would be in a mood to share.

Down to the castle grounds she went, past the shadowed halls, and finally into the royal bedchamber. It was neatly cleaned, as it had been since she took over. It didn’t take more than a moment for the queen to dive into the plush arrangement of pillows and sink into blissful unconsciousness.

---

However, the unconsciousness was blissful until it wasn’t…

Chrysalis lay on her back on a large sunbathing chair, next to a grandiose pool. She wore a large pair of sunglasses and lazily looked over the scene.

The large container of aqua marine liquid was a new addition to some private castle grounds she had just commissioned, with various attendants and guests lounging about the rather tropical setting. Exotic plants, and birds added some nice accents to the myriad of pleasant pleasantries surrounding the pool area.

A cherry colored earth pony, with cherry cutie mark, walked over to the queen, while she held a tray full of cherry flavored drinks.

“My dear Empress Chrysalis! Would you care for a drink?”

This pony beamed brightly at the relaxed royal changeling, admiration and adoration sparkled in her cherry colored eyes. The pony almost vibrated with the giddiness she contained. With a causal look over, Chrysalis smiled at the pony that was cherry flavored in every way.

“Of course Cherry Changer, I would love to sample both.”

A drink levitated over to her fanged muzzle and she sipped on the refreshing sweet substance. After a satisfying draft was taken it, she placed the glass on a short table stand. Then the cherry pony intuitively moved closer to the queen, and smiled as she lowered her head.

The next draft was a good portion of the lovely emotions contained in Cherry Changer. While physical food and drink tasted good, they were shallow comparisons to the taste of raw emotions. The pony seemed to have no end of delicious and affectionate feelings to give, and Chrysalis fed as long as she wanted to.

“Now why can’t all ponies be like this?”

“Like what most gracious empress?”

“Just never run out of emotions, some of you are barely worth a snack.”

“They just don’t know how wonderful you are empress.”

“Of course, they’re all too busy with their petty concerns. They don’t have the time to appreciate some changeling who does all their most important work for them.”

“I will always appreciate you empress. My cup will never run empty.”

“Thank you Cherry…”

Cherry Changer bowed deeply and humbly before her. The queen reached over and lifted her to stand. With a smile and a gentle wave of her hoof, she proffered the very cherry pony to move on. Chrysalis leaned back and felt satisfied in so many ways. She closed her eyes, and felt the sun’s pleasant rays warm over her body.

“I should not be surprised your dreams surround you with sycophants.”

Chrysalis’s brow furrowed, and she didn’t open her eyes, yet. She knew that voice, that very antagonistic voice. She pulled off the sunglasses and raised herself to sit upright. When her eyes did open a dark blue alicorn stood over her recliner and glared down at the queen. The giant changeling’s muzzle scrunched in disgust.

“Did sycophants not flock to you and your sister daily? I spent not but a few days as your guest in disguise and I could see that was plain as day.”

The queen’s multi-hued eyes were now raised above Luna’s teal ones, and the glare between the two traded in elevations. The fact that her pleasant dream was invaded greatly disturbed the queen, but she wasn’t going to express that. The change in the changeling’s posture did nothing to deter Luna from her objective.

“I take it that Sombra did not succeed in retaking the empire, given that you are not currently experiencing something more… fearful.”

“He is not a problem for now.”

“And what of the crystal ponies?”

“They believe they’ve inherited a powerful new queen that will protect them, which isn’t too far from the truth I suppose. Unlike the rest of your difficult populace, I won’t have to strong hoof them into accepting me.”

A smile cracked through the hard expression worn on Chrysalis’s muzzle. The dark blue alicorn’s stance remained unchanged. The hardness in her teal eyes gained another, more dangerous edge.

“What my sister, several ponies, and I experienced within the last few days could at minimum, be described as most unpleasant.”

“Did the Princess of Dreams have a few little nightmares? I can’t imagine what she and her sister did to earn that…”

“Do not treat the matter of harming my ponies lightly Chrysalis, you are in my realm now and you have no power here.”

A threatening edge had crossed into Luna’s tone. Her pupils narrowed ever so slightly, and her countenance darkened. The daylight within the dream dimmed, and the sun’s warm rays lost their comfort. The display was noted by the queen, and ignored. The slight smile on her lips creased downward.

“Then you and your sister better think twice before you attempt to make a mockery of me. What I did was necessary anyway, Sombra was no easy foe and I needed power.”

With a dismissive gesture, Chrysalis leaned back into her recliner and put her sunglasses back on. She stared at the sky, and willed the sun’s rays to become pleasant again. When the warmth failed to return she clamped her jaws tightly together and growled in frustration.

A contemplative look came over Luna. Instead of any warmth, the sky continued to dim. The sun light was eclipsed and a cold draft of air blew through the dream space. Snowflakes started to blister through the air and the breeze developed into wind that howled.

The wind got bad enough to wipe the shades right off of Chrysalis’s snout, and the frozen air caused her to shiver. The cherry drink on the stand spilled over. Her harlequin eyes glared furiously at Luna, mixed with an expression of befuddlement.

“Did I not just say to not play games with me!”

“You speak of using a strong hoof against ponies loyal to me and my sister. Do you not realize I can do the same with you? While you sleep I can twist your dreams into the unrest of nightmares. I could do the same for your changeling army. You would be driven mad without your sleep, and it wouldn’t stop until you release us.”

The entire scene darkened, and the pleasant pool side landscape was no longer there. Chrysalis was no longer in a nice comfortable recliner, but hoof deep in frozen snow. The queen was not amused. Bright pairs of eyes glowed in a poorly illuminated scene. Fierce growls, howls, and roars erupted around from every side. A veritable army of feral noises threatened to overwhelm all of the changeling’s senses.

“I may have no sway over you in the real world, but as long as you are in the dream relam, I AM THE ONLY QUEEN!”

One pair of shining eyes Chrysalis was able to recognize, they were teal eyes. A wicked grin crossed over her face, and she tilted her head to the side.

“I dare you to Luna, go ahead and do it. See what happens if you do.”

The threat in her words held no obscurity, and neither specificity. The feral noises died down, but remained present. The teal eyes that gazed over the queen took on an unsure look. The hesitation caused Chrysalis’s devious grin to develop in a fang bared smile.

“You have power in dreams, and only dreams. Do you want me to take that away from you as well? Should you act out, it will have repercussions you will sorely regret.”

The darkness started to lift, and the shadows started to recede. The monstrous noises faded to a whisper, and the army of hungry eyes began to close. The silhouette of the Night Princess was now visible, and the agitated posture of the alicorn reflected her indecision.

The anger in her teal eyes only grew, but the grit in her teeth expressed her restraint. Her large feathery wings were spread aggressively, and one hoof pawed at the ground. Should she go ahead and terrorize the queen and her changelings in the night? What would Chrysalis do once she woke up? Luna didn’t trust a conscious and highly irritated changeling queen to play nice. Let alone for this plan to work, it would take more than one night to drive the changelings into desperate insomnia.

The thought that the other ponies may suffer because of her bitterness and resentment towards the queen caused her the most pause. Her envy had already caused a great deal of pain in the past. Would her attempt to strong hoof Chrysalis work or just be another source of agony for the ponies she cared about?

“Since you clearly need some time to make up your mind, I suggest you leave.”

The blue alicorn jumped in surprise, she hadn’t realized Chrysalis had walked right up to her. The queen fully used her imposing stature to loom over the shorter equine. Luna didn’t utter any words, but threw a resentful glare in the queen’s direction.

“I suggest you not be so arrogant Changeling, sooner or later you will fall. And I will make sure I’m there to witness it.”

The darkness disappeared, and the pleasant rays of noon-day sun returned. The pool and all of it’s fine accents were back, along with a plethora of ponies and changelings that gave the queen looks of adoration. A strand of frazzled hair hung in front of one of Chrysalis’s eyes, and she blew it away with a puff of air.

“Oh, your drink spilled your majesty, I’ll replace it.”

Cherry Changer hurried over the short table stand that held the queen’s tipped over glass. Chrysalis ignored the faithful attendant as her eyes roamed over the scene, there was no sign of Luna anywhere.

“Would you like another flavor empress?”

The royal’s eyes never looked down on the cherry pony mare, but her voice addressed the dream entity

“No, I think I’m done imagining flavors for now.”

---

In the darkness of the royal chamber two very large, very green eyes snapped out. It was almost dawn, and the sun would need to be raised within an hour or so. Before this day would begin she had some business she would address, now.

A flash of magical energy from her horn and eyes sent out a very speedy message. It called the most powerful sentinel in her army to attention.

It only took Vivisect a few minutes to reach the royal chamber, the sentinel had buzzed through the air at a furious pace in order to answer the call. The deep hum of the changeling warrior’s wings entered the bedroom and ceased once her hooves contacted the ground.

The tall head of the sentinels stood at attention, and looked towards Chrysalis, who lazed back on the over-sized solar bed.

“You needed something urgently my queen?”

“Yes, somepony stupidly showed their self to be a potential threat, despite their current imprisonment.”

“What needs to be done?”

“Princess Luna, we can’t keep her in a cocoon. Even though she didn’t act this night, her ability to be disruptive with dreams is something I can’t ignore. She could be a severe hindrance, and we already have another hundred issues to be concerned with.”

“Do you wish to have her executed?”

The queen brought a hoof up to her chin, and rubbed it thoughtfully. While it was amusing, and practical, she had managed to establish her rule with minimal bloodshed so far. Hers was a conquest for resources after all.

“No, she could still be useful as an emotional snack. We’ll just have to do something a little more… traditional. Take her out of her cocoon, disable her magic, and keep her wings bound. Have Colony build a special cell for her.”

“I will see to it personally.”

“Good, make sure this cell has a pleasant view of Canterlot and the sky. If she is to remain conscious, I don’t want her forgetting the things she loves being obscured by some blank expressionless walls. She would be useless should her emotions to grow stale.”

“Colony will receive your word.”

“Then be off, I have other matters that need attending.”

Vivisect bowed out respectfully before she turned towards the Canterlot mountains.

Chrysalis stood up on the bed before stretching out her long body. She dipped her front half low, and looked as if she were a cat about to pounce. Then she lowered her back half as she stretched out her hind legs. A loud yawn exposed the sharp teeth in her maw. With one or two smacks of her lips, and a few blinks of her eyes, along with a brief flutter of her wings, she was ready to hop off the mattress.

It was time to catch up with Fancy Pants, and Golden Trust. Hopefully those two had kept themselves productive.

Ch.18 "Fancy That"

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.18 “Fancy That”

The changeling queen walked slowly through the halls of Canterlot Castle. It was still before sunrise and she had a few things she wanted to discuss before the day started g. She sent a few drones to fetch the ponies she had decided were important, and planned to council with them in the Gala Ballroom. Since most of her important discussions were held there anyway.

The doors to the Grand Ball Room were thrown wide open as Chrysalis pressed them with her magic. The ring of cushions left from the previous ‘important ponies’ meeting hadn’t been moved, and had since collected some dust.

The pedestal was still erected near the central grand window, but the queen didn’t feel the urge to sit on its hard elevated surface. So she gathered up five of the cushions to the center of the ring of colorful seats.

After she arranged the cushions in a manner that suited her, she sat on them and yawned, though she attempted to politely cover it . While she waited her eyelids were drooping in the morning haze. A light fog was easily visible out the windows, and obscured the view of details further out into Canterlot and the countryside.

Chrysalis still gazed out the window when the sound of hoof clops broke into the Gala Ballroom. Fancy Pants entered, and was dressed in a casual vest, rather than his formal suit. His mane was still nicely combed, and a monocle still ornamented one eye. Behind him was Golden Trust, who was wearing a professional frock, which did little to detract from her obvious bed mane, and slightly skewed spectacles.

A third pony had come in as well; it was tall white unicorn mare, with a lavish pink mane. This elegant unicorn mare closely tailed Fancy, and groomed small flaws in his appearance. Chrysalis raised an eye at the unexpected guest, but didn’t care so long as she didn’t interrupt. This meeting was merely to update all parties on the plans for the integration of changelings. Fancy bowed his head and offered an apologetic hoof.

“I apologize for my appearance, but it was the best I could do given the short notice, and hour.”

The queen acknowledged the offered hoof with a slight raise of her eye lids.

“You don’t need to apologize for your appearance, rather, you would only need to apologize if you have been idle in my absence.”

“I assure you, it has been quite a flurry of activity in the last several days.”

“Very well, but I will hear what Golden Trust has to say first. I am eager to hear how we plan on my changelings feedings.”

A slight nod from Fancy indicated his respect for the queen’s wishes and all eyes in the small group turned to the Minister of the Treasury. Suddenly in the spotlight, Golden coughed, and lifted a hoof to straighten her skewed spectacles. She took a seat on one of the cushions and cleared her throat.

“In collaboration with your head drone Colony, I have finished a plan to work changeling feeding in with our own schedules.”

Chrysalis nodded and waited for Golden to continue.

“As you demonstrated, changelings can feed without disrupting ponies lives, in quite a sustainable way. The resources available compared to your changelings needs leaves a large margin. Colony informed me your swarm consists of ten thousand changelings or so, and there are around that number of ponies who live here in Canterlot. Each pony can comfortably feed five changelings, who would only need to feed once a week. So in essence, there is five times the food your changelings need available, give or take a few factors.”

After the long string of words the mare took one quick breath and hurried on to the point.

“My proposal is as such. Every pony will be required to feed at least one changeling, once a week. I have already planned and designated several structures here in Canterlot to serve as record offices. My secretaries and assistants are already preparing documents to identify every pony and changeling.”

Golden took a longer breath this time, and shifted, so as not to remain uncomfortably still.

“I also prepared a plan to incentivize extra feedings, should some ponies feel so inclined to give, and some changelings be in greater need than others. A small exchange of bits could be handed out and recorded. We already practice something similar with those that render service to the community, who traditionally received some compensation from our treasury. It would be a simple matter to redirect that budget.”

With a loud huff Golden finished her ‘proposal’. The entire thing had been uttered in two or so breaths, and the maroon mare’s face had darkened considerably as she tried to cover all the details. The queen had listened carefully, and ignored the mare’s slightly eccentric manner, then broke into a pleased grin.

“I am glad you have prepared this so carefully Ms. Trust. Of course one other detail to be aware of is the treatment of prisoners, who are completely at my discretion. My changelings will feed on them as much as they like.”

The maroon pony gulped, and worked to straighten her already straight spectacles. She spoke up through her nervous state.

“I understand your majesty; if that is the case, then there will be even less pressure on the free citizens of Canterlot.”

She tried to offer a weak smile, and Chrysalis reciprocated the gesture with a casual wave from her hoof.

“Very well Ms. Trust, go ahead and gather the resources you need to enact this plan. Fancy Pants here will ensure the rest of your government complies, lest I need to announce another general reminder that it is better to work with me, than to try and subvert me. You may go Ms. Trust.”

Golden nervously pulled at her frock, before she stood and turned to leave. Her trot gained confidence the closer she got to the exit. Once the minister of the royal treasury had left, Chrysalis turned to Fancy Pants and the white unicorn mare.

The pink maned mare still worked to straighten small kinks in Fancy’s mane and tail, while she intermittently brushed at her own mane with a hoof. A familiar scent wafted towards the queen, a scent which ponies could not detect, causing Chrysalis to eye the mare more curiously. As the queen continued to gaze at this un-named mare, she noticed the unicorn avoided eye contact. Fancy noticed the look the queen gave the mare next to him.

“Oh yes, forgive me for this as well. I hope you don’t mind she came with me. This is my wife, Fleur Dis Lee. She always insists that I look my best. I had a few scuffs to wrinkle out on my way here, and she kindly helps me with that.”

After another subtle sniff, the queen turned to Fancy and wore a mischievous smile.

“It’s not a problem at all. Now what do you have to report on account of the last several days?”

As the unicorn stallion started to prattle about the various frustrations of his work, the queen flashed her horn briefly. A simple message was sent in a mental wave across the entire swarm.

‘Multiply…’

Chrysalis already knew there was more love available here than the other places she had explored before. Now that she had a better idea of her available resources, it was time for the swarm to grow. Grow and expand, until changelings numbered on equal grounds with the rest of Equestria.

The flash of magic had two different results on the unicorns in her immediate vicinity. Fancy Pants blinked in confusion at the sudden interruption, and Fleur Dis Lee shivered nervously. For the first time since she arrived, the pink maned unicorn looked into the eyes of the queen. Behind the light lavender irises lay a certain apprehension, even as they locked with the green eyes across from them. Fleur crossed her legs uncomfortably, and Fancy interrupted the stare contest.

“Excuse me, did I miss something?”

“No, please continue, I was just going through an exercise, pay it no mind.”

The eye contact between Chrysalis and Fleur broke apart, and Fancy carefully looked at both of them before he continued.

“Wellas I was saying, I sent appeals to every pony I know outside of Canterlot, but the only one to respond so far has been my friend, the Mayor of Manehatten.”

“And what did she have to say?”

“She would welcome new leadership with open hooves.”

“Really?”

The queen’s large predatory eyes narrowed with suspicion. The pony who oversaw the largest city in Equestria would welcome a foreign power with open hooves… She played enough games of deception to notice this offer seemed a little too sugar coated. The queen’s incredulous stare brought out a more thorough explanation.

“Well, yes, she would. Mayor More has had an unsightly scene of criminal activity plague her city over the last decade. Through various exploits within the legal system many of these criminals have been able to avoid the sentences they deserve. A new royal figurehead such as yourself, wouldn’t have a problem circumventing some of our laws to keep things more orderly. This is still a period of ‘conquest’ as I may put it, and some changes would in fact be welcomed.”

“Why didn’t Celestia simply bring down a harder hoof on some of these ‘alleged’ criminals?”

“She was honor bound to uphold the established order, lest she lose support of her advisors and officers of government. You on the other hoof hold no such obligation, and are free to disregard statutes as you see fit. Since you already proved you won’t let our laws get in your way.”

“Very well, I will send a few changelings there to represent me, and inspect the sincerity of her claim. Do not mistake my intention to rule for lawlessness, I will do what’s necessary to maintain stability.”

“Mayor More already awaits your response with eagerness your majesty.”

“Then send one or two of your assistants, and report back to me. I also expect to hear from your other associates soon. I can’t imagine all of them will be so… welcoming.”

On gut instinct Chrysalis still didn’t trust this Mayor More. Even if the mayor’s intentions were to welcome her, this pony expected the queen to come in and clean up a mess. The giant changeling couldn’t help but put a hoof up to her temple and slowly rub it in circles.

“I’m afraid that’s the most news I have for you at the moment, unless you’re interested in some of the more minor complaints that flood my office.”

“No! I mean no, you have given me plenty to think about.”

“Then am I dismissed your majesty?”

“Yes you may go.”

With that the two unicorns got up on their hooves and turned to leave. They almost made it to the door, when the queen cracked another mischievous smile and called out to the couple.

“Actually there was one other thing I wanted to ask…”

Both of the unicorns stopped their trot, Fancy turned his head and cocked an eyebrow curiously. Meanwhile Fleur bit her lower lip with great intensity, her eyes were frozen towards the exit. The stance of the white unicorn mare tensed, and she was ready to break into a gallop.

“What would that be your majesty?”

The refined accent of Fancy addressed the queen. Chrysalis sat there with a quiet smile for a few moments longer, and stared at the back of Fleur’s head. A bead of sweat started to trickle down the model mare’s brow.

“How long have you two been together?”

“Excuse me your majesty?”

“You and Fleur, how long have you been married?”

“Oh, I do believe our eleventh anniversary is coming up soon. Isn’t that right dear?”

“Hahaha, yes that’s right dear, ELEVEN YEARS!”

The lovely unicorn had adopted a painfully wide smile, beads of sweat flowed freely down the sides of her face. She attempted to clean up her pink mane, which seemed to get more frazzled by an invisible force as moments passed.

The queen chuckled with some mirth, mixed with some un-regal snorts. She brought a hoof over her mouth as her chuckles started to develop into full blown laughs. This made Fancy furrow his brow in confusion, he turned to whisper to Fleur quietly.

“Do you have any idea what is so funny? My mind may be playing tricks on me, but have you two encountered each other before?”

It seemed impossible that unicorn such as Fleur could sweat as much as she did that moment. Her fur had become soaked, and her mane flattened as if she had gone through a waterfall. There was puddle of disturbing size under her hooves, and it only grew as she stood there.

“uh…uh…UH!UH!”

She could only stutter as anxiety seized up all the sensible parts of her mind, and her knees began to shake. The poor unicorn mare turned to the queen with a terrified plea in her eyes.

Chrysalis coughed violently to rid herself from the bad case of riotous laughs. She wiped away a mirth born tear and turned to the unicorns with a fang filled smile. She lowered her head to be on their level. Her eyes flashed a bright green, and a mental message was directed to one particularly nervous individual.

‘You can obey your duty to multiply, by following through with him. You may also leave now.’

With that opening Fleur didn’t waste another moment, she put a hoof on Fancy’s backside and started to forcefully shove him out of the gala ballroom.

“Fancy dear, did I ever tell you, I think it’s about time we have a foal!”

“Fleur? I thought… but your modeling career? We’re also right in front of the queen, shouldn’t we save this for a little later?”

The elegant and sweaty mare continued on as if her husband hadn’t spoke. She carried on even after they passed into the hallway.

“I’ve enjoyed years of modeling, we can’t wait forever if we want to start a proper family now.”

“Yes but-”

“We can discuss the rest at home dear!”

‘Be sure to discuss all of it…carefully.’

Was the last mental quip Chrysalis sent to the soaked and desperate unicorn. With a casual stride, the queen rose from her small pile of cushions and approached the grand central window of the ball room.

Changelings could breed with just about any species, given that they maintained their form the whole time. Offspring born this way would simply be the same species as the disguise. It was actually quite a popular tactic of the vanguard to start families. Children have a way of loyally loving their parents.

Light emanated from her horn as she cast the spell which helped the sun go above the horizon. Another day was officially born, and it had already been interesting. Before she could mull over and digest her thoughts a mental message entered her mind, the distinct tone of Colony rung through it.

‘Queen, you are needed here in the mountain; Vivisect has… you need to see it.’

The message trailed off, and Chrysalis’s mind started to jump to conclusions.

“What now?”

---

Earlier that hour…

Harsh hoof falls accompanied the irritable stride of the head sentinel. She was flanked by half a dozen other sentinels as they approached the temporary prisoner chamber. When they entered, it was mostly empty. Only a few of the cocoons remained, presumably the rest were moved to other prepared parts within Colony’s mountain complex.

Vivisect’s orange lined eyes scanned over the prisoners that remained and found her assigned target. The dark blue alicorn floated within a pale green cocoon. The color drained from it a few days previous had almost returned to normal. With a silent gesture the head sentinel signaled two of her group to move forward and begin the transfer.

They grabbed the cocoon, and started to fly through the air, the buzz of their wings hummed much deeper than most changelings. The sentinels were given a wide berth by the drones that roamed through the cavernous tunnels.

Colony had already shown Vivisect the particular spot where Luna’s prison would be, and she led her sentinels that carried the night princess in that direction. The trip lasted several minutes as the passageways weaved up, down, and sideways. It was a thoroughly disorienting trip for those who didn’t know their way.

At last they arrived outside the designated chamber. The entry was surrounded in a thick tarp of solid sticky slime, Vivisect activated the magical blade of her horn and cut it open. The head sentinel took a brief look inside to see the progress that had been made.

All of the walls of this special chamber were lined with the dull green of constructive resin. A small pile of sand had been placed for comfort/rest spot. Food and water were stocked, with a narrow slit was in the far wall that revealed this chamber to be near the mountain’s surface. The outside opening was surrounded by the same sticky slime that guarded the door.

Colony had picked a subtle location that would not be easily spotted by the residents of Canterlot, yet gave a good view of the city from its position on the mountain. This brought a slight nod of approval from the warrior changeling, feeling quite satisfied with the arrangement.

Now it was time for the last step, get the alicorn out her cocoon, disable all of her magic and seal her in the chamber.

The cocoon was cut open and the dark blue alicorn spilled out in a slosh of gooey liquid. Even as the Night Princess started to cough out the unpleasant substance from her lungs several of the large sentinels advanced.

Their horns glowed with a magical pulse before a dark green substance shot out of their mouths. The slime they used to render magic ineffective was it’s own special concoction. It was unlike the slime the drones used to build sticky traps or the slime which hardened into the resinous walls. The cocoons themselves, which were Chrysalis’s signature creation, that had their own design and purpose. While they could sedate ponies as well as store their emotional energies, it permitted some magical influence from dreams. The collected emotions were much more poignant if the ponies could experience vivid dreams.

This double edged kink in the otherwise well-designed and functional pods was why Vivisect had to do this job. This one particular pony had the knack to manipulate dreams apparently. At least it should be over momentarily.

A nasty splatter echoed several times as several gobbets of dark slime coated Luna’s large and regal horn. Feeling fairly safe, several sentinels moved to seize the wet princess who still coughed harshly.

Teal eyes shot open and glared around the small hallway. To the warrior changelings’ surprise she jumped to her hooves with sudden alertness. Their approach now turned cautious, they didn’t want to blunder into any more surprises.

More magical light emanated from several of the sentinels’ horns, and they started to hack in preparation to spit more slime, thereby rendering the alicorn immobile. Even though the alicorn shouldn’t have been so alert so quickly, they weren’t going to stop their job.

When several more gobbets of slime were launched in Luna’s direction she nimbly dodged most of them. A few spots on a leg were hit, but nothing that actually impaired movement. Several of the sentinels started to hiss angrily, frustrated that they hadn’t hit something more important.

Luna was surrounded and had her back to the wall, her wings were ever so slightly spread, ready to take off when she saw an opening. While the sentinels calculated their next move, and the Night Princess prepared her next step, Vivisect stalked around the outside.

The chamber that was to be Luna’s new prison connected to the tunnel system in a very limited way. There was really only one way out, back through the main complex. Vivisect passed the circle of sentinels to block off the exit, should things go that far.

“Why don’t you face me like real warriors you cowards!”

She tried to wield magic through her horn, but it fizzled and died. The dark slime stopped any spell before it started. A snarl crept over her muzzled and she growled indignantly at the changelings.

“Would you call it a warrior’s honor to have six against one pony with no magic!”

At that jeer Vivisect turned towards the princess, the rest of the sentinels simply snarled. Each of the large changelings activated their combat magic, sprouting their long claws and ethereal blades from their horns. The head sentinel answered the princess’s query with a methodical tone.

“You assume wrong if you assume we would fight fair…”

Vivisect hadn’t activated her own combat magic yet, but motioned for the rest of her sentinels to advance. It would have been a very simple situation if the queen were here. A simple telekinetic spell would have the alicorn pinned, and the rest would be easy. Sentinels however weren’t very strong with telekinetic magic, or portal magic, heck they weren’t even very good with disguises. Their specialty lay in the resistance and cancellation of magical influences, along with fighting through augmentation of their already impressive physiques. Simply put they were combat specialists, not magicians.

However, the queen had trusted Vivisect to get this done, so she would. That would not stop her from calling for more back up. You could never be too sure of a fight's outcome. She sent a mental message to one of the other sentinels.

‘Go fetch some more vanguards and drones. I want no chance of the princess’s escape’

Some vanguards proficient in magical versatility, along with a volume of drones with slime magic would make this far more secure. Vivisect still didn’t know how proficient Luna was in combat, but she figured it would be dangerous to underestimate the potential of such an experienced individual.

The sentinel that was instructed left, and flew down the tunnel. Now there were five sentinels that advanced on Luna. Another barrage of slime was prepared, and spat. Nothing hit the princess this time, and more frustrated hisses erupted from the frightening group of changelings.

“Does your kind even practice aiming? Or are you too busy setting up a situation that you think is in your favor!”

The taunt of the night princess broke the nerve of one the sentinels and he lunged forward. Rather than just watch their comrade, the rest joined the jump forward, claws raised. The head sentinel shouted a message to the group mentally.

‘Maim her, but don’t kill her. The queen wants her alive…’

Vivisect growled, and rolled her eyes. Why didn’t the queen just kill a few ponies? It would be so much simpler, confounded orders.

As several sets of claws aimed for tendons and joints, Luna flared her wings. In one smooth flap the princess jumped into air, and avoided the deadly weapons that closed on her. Two of the Sentinels managed to impale their claws into the wall, the rest simply missed.

The closest sentinel to the Night Princess was unfortunate to be the first to experience a wrathful strike. Both of her hind hooves struck one sentinel in the chest, which launched him backward, barreling into one of his comrades. Both of the sentinels sailed over into the opposite wall where they crumpled in a heap.

The sentinel that was struck put both of his front hooves to his chest and gasped for air. The other sentinel shoved her winded comrade off and struggled to get back onto her hooves.

Only one sentinel stood at the ready, and he nervously glanced between the two that had their claws stuck in the wall, and the other two which were disoriented on the opposite wall. He steeled his nerves, he would need to outmaneuver a foe this strong. Out maneuver… that’s just what the alicorn had done to them.

‘Faint an attack, I need her distracted.’

The mental voice of Vivisect reached the one ready sentinel. He acted immediately, and feigned a lunge at the princess. Luna dodged the feint in a similar way she had dodged the initial charge, with a flap of her wings and a jump into the air.

The feint still left the sentinel vulnerable, and he closed his eyes in preparation. The princess undoubtedly prepared a rebuttal. He was about to get bucked.

CRACK!

The obedient sentinel cracked open one eye. Either he had been hit so hard he couldn’t tell, or something else had happened. His faintly opened eye could see the outline of the alicorn. She was on the ground, and something limp hung on her side.

Vivisect had jumped forward the moment princess had dodged the other sentinel, and arrived from Luna’s blindside. As she had predicted, the blue alicorn jumped to avoid the feint attack, and spread her wings.

The head sentinel aimed a carefully placed blow, right at the base joint of Luna’s wing. A sickening snap announced the blow’s success, and Luna was dropped from the air. She let out a yelp as her right wing was painfully rendered useless.

A furious alicorn glared at Vivisect, who kept her expression cold and calculated.

“Thou curr! Rely on cheap tricks will you!”

Luna’s language slipped a little, and the old Canterlot accent mixed with her more modern methods of speech. The princess was now on edge, and done with a defensively strategy. She launched towards the sentinel who had made the feint attack.

This particular sentinel was still surprised he had not been bucked. Now he was bucked for real.

In a quick motion Luna jumped and readied both of her hind legs. She came down and kicked at both of the sentinel’s front legs. The changeling’s large strong limbs cracked under the fury of the alicorn’s might. With a loud and unpleasant slam, the sentinel’s face connected with the ground. The fallen changeling groaned and trembled. His front limbs now bent in ways they shouldn’t have.

With a crazy and wild look in her eyes, Luna turned towards the one who had injured her wing. One eye twitched and she bore her fearsome pony teeth… Vivisect looked back into those teal eyes with her orange ones. The cool in her expression never broke, she had fought many monsters over her life, and many other unsavory beings. She had managed to survive so far, and she didn’t plan to allow one weakened, magic-less, flight-less alicorn to get the best of her.

The Night Princess now wore a scary smile, madness apparently held a greater sway than her rationality.

“What was that about fair fights you vermin! This is as fair as you’re getting fiend. Come hither, or do you prefer me to go there and teach you how to duel. As it would be, my sister never cared for a good fight as much as I have. I was always better at sparring than her.”

The hard nerves Vivisect had spent her lifetime building felt slightly loosened.

“Too many words pony, try and escape already!”

Luna’s vicious snarl turned into gleeful crazy grin as she bounded forward. The head sentinel buzzed her wings in preparation to maneuver. The Night Princess charged and let loose a flurry of berserk blows.

The alicorn was almost as fast as Vivisect, and definitely stronger. The enraged and emotionally driven swings were slightly unfocused, giving the changeling a small amount of breathing room to dodge. If it came to a simple trade of blows Vivisect would quickly lose, so she had to bide as much time as she could, every motion had to be deliberate and calculated.

After she dodged one attack the head sentinel struck the princess in the face. It quickly developed into a nasty black eye, but this only drove Luna to fight harder, and faster.

Luna managed to clip Vivisect on the shoulder, which threw off the changeling’s entire stance. The moment of instability was all the alicorn needed to charge into the sentinel and knock her off her hooves. Now that Vivisect was on her back the princess followed up with several devastating blows alone the changeling’s ribs, chest, and neck.

CRACK! SNAP! POP!

Vivisect’s chitin was now broken in several places, with some green blood seeping from the cracks.

Before she was completely overwhelmed the sentinel bucked both of her hind hooves into Luna’s chest, and managed to knock the alicorn back. Where the princess stumbled and fell to her haunches.

Both of the equines panted from the exertion. The fight with the lesser sentinels, and the exertion it took to keep pace with Vivisect, had taxed Luna heavily. The lead changeling on the other hoof only sustained a few blows from the alicorn, but felt pulverized by each one.

In a desperate gambit to stay faithful to her orders, Vivisect ignited her horn and focused sharply. It was a similar technique the queen had used the night the bat pony attacked her.

Green energies wrapped around the sentinels pounded body. Wisps of emerald fire crossed wounds, sinews and muscle. They became functional and stabilized. It didn’t remove the sting and pain, but the sentinel could make her body obey her will. It burned through large amounts of her love reserves, but that was something she could gain back after this was done.

While Luna still rested in her sitting position, Vivisect got back on her hooves. This surprised the alicorn greatly, that changeling should have been crippled. The sentinel snarled with gritted fangs, things had gotten desperate and her cool exterior lost its composure.

“You’re going back to your cage, PONY!”

With an ear splitting screech Vivisect leapt at the night princess, who was still in the middle of recovery from their last bout.

The effect was to catch the alicorn with her guard down, and the head sentinel pounded away on Luna with every technique she knew. That regenerative spell burnt most of her energy, and she needed to disable the princess before she had nothing left.

‘That one cursed sentinel should be back by now!’

The changeling screamed in her mind, but what came out verbally was something along the lines of-

“GGGGRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHRRRRRRRRGGGGGG!”

Hoof blow after hoof blow repeatedly struck joints and nerves. To Vivisect’s infinite ire, the alicorn would not fall! It was as if the pony was made of iron… no something else, because the sentinel would’ve broken an iron statue by now. Green fiery energies surrounded the sentinel’s hooves as she poured the last of her magical love reserves into the blows, to amplify their strength.

One blow connected with Luna’s jaw, and caused her head to whip back. The Night Princess still stood, and slowly brought her face forward. She rolled her neck around and caused a few relieved cracks.

Up and down Luna looked pretty terrible. Bruises littered her body all over the place, and her joints were swollen up along with several other pressure points, but she still stood. Instead, much to the shock of the changeling, the princess simply turned her head, before spitting out a tooth and giving her jaw a few good rotations. She then locked onto Vivisect with an iron clad stare, that made her confidence shatter and made her want to run.

“Are you done?”

The head sentinel just stared in disbelief.

“How?”

Luna didn’t grace Vivisect with a verbal answer. Instead the alicorn reared up and struck a blow to the sentinel’s head. The strike dropped Vivisect instantly and she collapsed on the floor. The blue alicorn pursed her lips, before she spat out another tooth.

She gave the downed changeling one last look, “Huzzah.”

One or two staggered steps later, and Luna had barely made progress on her escape. In fact, once she neared the corner of the tunnel she found some changelings that waited for her.

Dozens of drones and vanguard were present, and one lone sentinel. Luna sighed in utter exhaustion, and was pinned in place with the magical grip of many vanguards; this was followed up by a shower of sticky slime from the drones.

The beaten princess was rendered immobile, and left with only the freedom to turn her neck around. She fished around in her mouth with her tongue, and pushed out another loose tooth.

---

Chrysalis had advanced into the mountain right after colony’s call. What could have gone wrong? It was simple assignment to take the weakened alicorn and place her in a new cage, without the ability to manipulate dreams. How could this be too much work for a few sentinels? Surely they could have rendered her helpless before she could make that much trouble.

The queen swung around the corners of the complex vehemently, she was ready to chastise Vivisect for the apparent incompetence of the whole situation. This was when Colony had intercepted the queen’s journey.

“My queen! I’m afraid there is ill news this way…”

“Quiet Colony, I’m sure Vivisect can tell me herself.”

“But Vivi-”

“Not another word.”

The giant changeling and the small changeling advanced in a direction that Colony indicated. It was only a few more corners before Chrysalis came upon a scene that was rather ghastly.

Several injured sentinels were crowded to a corner. Various drones had gone over to minister to the warriors injuries. Several drones surrounded one body that lay prone on the floor, and obscured the identity of said changeling.

The queen moved forward and shoved several of the drones out of the way. There was Vivisect, still on the ground with her mouth hung open, a little drool had pooled around her face, and the sentinel’s breaths were extremely shallow. The orange eyes of her head sentinel stared off into empty space and comprehended nothing.

“What happened!”

She turned about on Colony, and seethed with dangerous intent. The small changeling quivered under her leaders horrific glare.

“Apparently the Princess Luna was able to recover faster than expected when they took her out of her cocoon. Vivisect and several of the sentinels kept her contained while they waited for reinforcements.”

“I see the other sentinels are still conscious, what is wrong with Vivisect, is she just knocked out?”

Chrysalis’s tone grew with mixed emotions. Her best warrior lay there and drooled like an imbecile.

“I’m afraid that… She… uh, I inspected the injuries thoroughly myself.”

“AND!”

“She’s sustained a head injury that put her in a coma.”

“So she’ll wake up, and then I can call her an idiot!”

“That’s the other part… we can revive her, probably soon, but her mind will most likely be damaged.”

“How damaged?”

“We won’t know until she wakes up. My drones stopped the bleeding when they came to the scene, but even a short exposure to that kind of hemorrhage…”

The queen was silent, and Colony didn’t try to explain any further. The background noise of busy drones and vanguard echoed around them. Chrysalis continued to silently stare at the fallen Vivisect, who still had several drones tending to her, their horns glowed faintly as they worked to aid the natural healing process.

Chrysalis’s eyes became cold, and her tone was level.

“Where is Luna?”

Ch.19 "A not so Fancy Discussion"

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.19 “A not so Fancy Discussion”

Stomp! Stomp! STOMP!

Giant hooves thundered their way down the tunnel, each one disheveled the earth as it was placed. A door of slime was blasted away with a violent explosion. Green sticky material was launched every which way as it was vaporized.

In the middle of the entry way stood the queen. Her cacophonous entrance was followed by a low level tone.

“You took something from me Luna…”

Across from the entryway of the petite and secluded cell was a dark blue equine, plastered to the wall in midst of semi-transparent muck. The princess’s condition was pretty abysmal, and she struggled to lift her head up to look Chrysalis in eye. When the two met gazes there was an invisible fire between them.

Luna’s head was the only thing able to move, the drones had otherwise thoroughly sealed her against the wall. Her night-time complexion was pot-marked with black bruises, as if she went a fifteen round hoof-boxing match with a mountain bull.

For a moment the queen’s hot anger was tempered, the sight of Luna with one eye basically swollen shut, several missing teeth, and various other painful looking bulges over her head, brought Chrysalis some satisfaction. At least Vivisect had left a mark before she was dropped.

The alicorn stared at Chrysalis with her good eye and snarled, which only put her missing teeth on better display. Luna winced at the effort, her muzzle felt cracked in some places, and her lips were swollen and puffy.

The next several steps from Chrysalis landed softly on the ground, as she carefully stalked towards her prisoner. Luna spat out another tooth.

“What, are you really upset over some broken body guards? Boo hoo. What you’ve taken from me doesn’t even compare.”

SMACK!

Chrysalis struck the princess across the muzzle. The hit shocked Luna with it’s force, and caused a yelp of pain, it was much harder than the magically enhanced blows Vivisect was able to deliver.

SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!

Several more vicious blows knocked Luna’s head back and forth, and when it stopped, Chrysalis’s face was very near her prisoner’s. Her massive double iris eyes glared at the teal ones, and dared them to make another defiant remark. The alicorn kept her gaze averted and tried to hold back some whimpers. Some of the bruises and cuts were reopened, and trickled over fresh scabs.

Satisfied that the princess was sufficiently cowed, Chrysalis turned around and walked to the pile of sand that was in the room. She sat down and scuffled with the loose material until she was comfortable. She wiped some of the blood her hooves had picked up, off on the floor.

“As I was saying Luna, you took something valuable from me. One ‘bodyguard’ as you put it, that has served me faithfully almost the entire time I’ve been queen. Now that you’ve taken her from me, what should I take from you?”

The corner of Chrysalis’s mouth twitched, and her eyes stared daggers. They roamed over the alicorn with a contemplative and surgical process. Luna still kept her eyes averted and didn’t try to provoke anything else from the queen. The Night Princess really could care less about any physical abuse, but if the threats carried over to other ponies…

“I could take your horn, and leave you without magic… I could take your wings and leave you without flight. Or… I could take your legs, and make you roll around like the miserable worm you are!”

The queen was too agitated to sit, and sprung up from the sand. She strode over to the pinned alicorn and put a giant hoof on the slime, right over where Luna’s chest should be. Chrysalis started to press her against the wall, the princess gasped as the breath was crushed out of her.

“The only thing I ask myself now is why I didn’t follow my sentinel’s advice, and end you earlier.”

The blue alicorn struggled against the organic binding of the slime, but she was far too exhausted to put up anymore fight, and only struggled in vain against the lethal pressure. Luna’s facial complexion turned a darker shade of blue.

Normally Chrysalis would enjoy something like this, it often took a lot of work to get to the point where she could just toy with her enemies. This time though, there was a sense of loss behind it all. What it had cost to bring this prisoner in line was high, and personal.

As Luna’s eyes started to roll back into her head, the queen removed her hoof from the alicorn’s chest. The sudden release of pressure caused a loud painful gasp from the princess, and air struggled to fill her crushed lungs again. She coughed hoarsely several times. Chrysalis, however didn’t lower her hoof all the way quite yet, and it hung half way, as if it might return.

A small sparkle of fear twinged in the alicorn’s good eye, and her fallen gaze briefly glanced up at the queen. Chrysalis held a disgusted expression, and raised a hoof up high.

Stomp!

Luna had closed her eyes, and scrunched what she could of her bloody and beaten face. The impact she prepared for never came, and when she opened her eyes the queen had embedded her hoof in the wall next to Luna’s head. Chrysalis shoved her face right up into the princess’s for a very close look into each other’s eyes.

“Feel fortunate I have my reasons for keeping you alive.”

Chrysalis hissed. The changeling pulled her head back a small distance and opened her maw wide. She began to inhale deeply, and drain the emotional energies out of the alicorn.

Luna already looked terrible, but now on top of being injured, she became severely exhausted on a deeper level. Her dark blue features started to pale, which made the contrast of her bruises stand out even more. The shimmering flow of magic in her mane died down, causing the starry lights to start to fade.

When the princess could no longer hold her head up Chrysalis stopped, and the air between them stabilized. The alicorn now wheezed for breath, and held an empty stare. The queen licked her lips, the taste was good. Barely bridled passion lay behind the alicorn, and it made for a sumptuous meal.

Chrysalis stepped back from the stupefied and drained Luna, and called a drone to enter the room. It did not take long for one of the tunnel workers to arrive. Once the smaller figure entered the room, the queen turned towards the entry way.

“You called queen?”

“Yes, I have a few instructions.”

“I am more than willing.”

“Gather a few other drones, and make sure a vanguard is stationed here. This prisoner is to be fed and given water. Force her if she refuses, also keep her drained. She proved dangerous even without her magic, I don’t want her to have energy for anything. Is that understood?”

“Yes queen.”

“Good, now come here.”

He approached as the queen had commanded. Chrysalis made her horn glow, and her eyes flashed, the two of them touched foreheads. A magical impression was given to the drone, powerful enough to brand the instructions into his mind. He would be unable to forget until the order was carried to completion.

“I’ll be back tomorrow to make sure things are arranged properly.”

“Y-y-y-y-y-yes, q-q-q-queen.”

The drone stuttered and his eyes twitched, they blinked rapidly and light flashed several times. The spasm shivered throughout the small changeling’s body, and his ears sizzled slightly. After a loud cough, the drone shook his head back and forth several times to straighten his vision. The drone’s eyes now had a green ring to their otherwise blue color. He stood overly straight and stomped a hoof in salute, all of his limbs became stiff after that.

“Understood, I will have everything arranged by tomorrow!”

Chrysalis raised a hoof to pat on the drones head a few times, and ruffled his short fin-mane.

“Don’t worry, it’ll wear off. But I won’t risk this being done sloppily.”

The drone bolted off in an adrenaline hyped dash. In a moment he was out of sight, and Chrysalis turned head about to look at the princess one last time. Luna’s head hung low, and she still wheezed, a bit off drool escaped from her open mouth.

Chrysalis walked over to the pathetic situation of an alicorn. One large hoof pressed up under the princess’s jaw and lifted her pale face up. Luna wasn’t capable of a focused gaze at the moment, but that didn’t deter the queen.

“If you had gone here quietly you would be freely moving within your little cage. I would be much less annoyed, and…”

A bit of drool got on Chrysalis’s hoof, and she let Luna’s head drop, with a disgusted grimace and she stepped back. The queen wiped her hoof off in the princess’s mane.

“There’s another pony I need to talk to.”

This pony was the reason Luna wasn’t dead at the moment, this pony was the reason she hadn’t mutilated the blue alicorn right away, this pony was why Chrysalis ground her fangs together right now…

---

It was beautiful on the sandy beaches of Las Pegasus. Celestia sat in a reclining chair, which was mounted on top of an enormous sand castle. This sand castle happened to be in the shape of a large multi story cake, complete with fancy icing stylized into it.

The white alicorn sipped a fruity concoction from a half-coconut cup. A gentle breeze of salty sea air blew by, waving through Celestia’s already wavy mane. She inhaled the smell of the ocean and eventually exhaled. The various pleasant sensations of this atmosphere were quite enjoyable.

It had been a long time since Celestia had actually taken a vacation, she chuckled slightly as she mulled over her thoughts. Too bad this vacation had only come because she was overthrown… and it wasn’t technically vacation either… No in fact she still constantly worried over her little ponies, there was just less she could do now.

A drip of water landed on her muzzle, and she flinched in surprise. That drop was followed by another, and another. The white alicorn looked up for the source of the disturbance.

“Hmm, I should have figured a little rain cloud may come on my sunny day.”

There indeed was a little rain cloud in the middle of an otherwise bright and clear day, only it had Chrysalis’s face poking out of it. The cloud was small, and the queen’s features had shrunken to its proportions, mostly. Her little hooves dangled out of the bottom, and drifted through the air. It honestly would have been adorable to look at, had the circumstances been different.

A strong breeze came by and blew the changeling cloud off course, which caused Chrysalis to spin in circles. She growled, higher pitched than normal, and started to doggy-paddle through the air back to the white alicorn.

“Is there not a way to knock on the door, so to speak?”

The Changeling Queen is not who Celestia wanted to see. As it was, she had actually been expecting Luna to return soon.

“Been plotting against me with your sister have you Celestia? I can assure you that was a poor move.”

The little raincloud barked, and the white alicorn furrowed her brow.

“What are you talking about?”

“Don’t feign ignorant with me, your sister thought she could intimidate me with nightmares.”

“Where is Luna now?”

“Incapable of giving any creature nightmares…”

“CHRYSALIS!”

“She’s not dead, though it was very difficult to decide against that.”

“Fiend…”

“Listen Celestia!”

The little raincloud blackened, and miniature lightning bolts started to jump out of the fluffy blob. One of these struck the white alicorn on the snoot. It didn’t do much more than a little static shock could, but it caught the princess’s attention.

Fluffy cloud Chrysalis doggy-paddled through the air to Celestia’s chair. The queen’s face contorted and her little hooves withdrew into the cloud, rather like a turtle. She didn’t enjoy what she was going to say next.

“Your advice with the Crystal Empire was… valuable.”

“Is that all? What have you done with my sister Chrysalis?”

“She has no permanent damage, I figured you would not be willing to talk again should I do something of that nature.”

“You assumed correctly.”

“Her little tantrum cost me the functionality of a long time associate. I’ve also come here with a condition if it wasn’t already clear. If I suspect either of you of trying to overthrow me again, I don’t care what knowledge you may have, it can disappear with you.”

“So you lost a friend did you? They must have done something unfortunate to provoke my sister.”

“Now is not the time to try my patience Celestia. Just don’t expect your sister to come by anymore.”

“How can I trust your claim of her well being then?”

The daylight in the dream started to get brighter, and the sun became a hot blur, which lost it’s shape within the overly bright sky. A gnarly scowl had crossed Celestia’s countenance. Fluffy Chrysalis brought up a shrunken hoof to shield her eyes, her tone was undeterred.

“I can arrange evidence later. Next time, when I feel you have something valuable to say, we can all meet in a little circle of joy…”

Chrysalis ended with a very sarcastic note.

Without any form of farewell the little cloud exploded with a POOF! And the queen was gone. The sunlight dimmed back down to it’s natural state, but the white alicorn hadn’t relaxed her posture. The scowl remained fixed on her usually regal face, and Celestia closed her eyes. A tear threatened to roll down her cheek, and she eventually gave up her tense stance. She collapsed onto her chair, and sighed.

The cheery atmosphere of the Las Pegasus beach couldn’t combat Celestia’s depressed mood. After a little while longer the mood soured even more, and frustration at everything started to boil over. So much for being an ancient wise being, ironically she could be just as stuck as a foal in a crib.

In a small fit she picked up her coconut drink and tossed it angrily. She didn’t look where it landed, but it apparently it made contact with something that resulted in a loud bop!

“Ow!”

Was that a voice? The alicorn lifted up her head to look around, when she looked down on the beach she could easily find where the coconut cup had landed, and there! Something shifted in the sand. Her mind wasn’t playing tricks on her.

She spread her wings and jumped from the top of the cake sand castle in pursuit. She wasn’t able to distinguish whatever it was, but she could guess where it was, as the sand shifted close to where the cup landed. In eager fervor she dug around in the sand to find the source of this strange voice.

It was a futile effort, and she couldn’t find it anywhere. She turned half the beach inside out with her magic, and still didn’t find it. This drew out a frustrated sigh.

Who else could Dream Walk? And who would want to be in her dreams? And why did they hide?

Ch.20 "For the Love of-"

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.20 “For the Love of-”

The queen went to the Castle Gardens, having made sure to send several sentinels to make sure it was unoccupied. As she strode around the lively plant décor she found a bench to sit down at, and relax by herself.

Too much had happened in a single morning, and now she didn’t feel like doing anything else for the rest of the day. After her discussion with Celestia, she made sure to feed heartily on the alicorn as well. She was better fed than she had been her whole life. Her body now radiated with model health for a changeling.

When she looked around at some of the other changelings, their physical signs already showed improvement. Many had been able to clean themselves up, and the abundant love energy in Canterlot left no changeling hungry.

Holes had gotten smaller in their legs, and chewed on wings had started to round out. Many of them were even starting to grow their manes back in, though it was only in the form of a fuzzy line next to their neck fins, still progress.

Morning slowly developed into mid-day, then late afternoon. It was nearly evening when Colony approached the queen on her garden bench. It had been hours, and Chrysalis hadn’t moved the whole time, the mood of earlier events kept her stationary.

“My queen, I have news to report, if you want to hear it.”

“Tell it to me Colony.”

Chrysalis never lifted her eyes from where she gazed off. There were some interesting statues in the garden, one in particular caught her attention. It was a tall beast of mixed and matched parts, something about it was familiar. Oh, yes, her vanguards had reported a day of strange occurrences a while ago. That must be the draconequus, who was blasted by the elements almost a year ago. He wore such a terrified expression on his face.

That was the weapon Celestia planned to use on her, made her wonder how would that have ended? The results seemed so random, and grave… Would it they have tossed her into the sun? the moon? Turn her into stone and let the birds roost on her for centuries?

Being trapped in a free dream cocoon started to seem soft by comparison

“My Queen… my queen… QUEEN!”

The small drone had moved over to the royal changeling and started to shove one of her hooves. Chrysalis shook her head and blinked away her distracted thoughts.

“What was it Colony? I’m listening now.”

“Very well, I just wanted to say Vivisect is awake now, and able to walk. I can bring her to you if you want to inspect her condition yourself.”

The queen clenched her jaw, time in the garden is what she used to forget about the morning events. Though she did in fact want to see her sentinel.

“Bring her here. Was there anything else you’ve been able to conclude about her condition?”

“It was as I’ve feared. She suffered some brain damage, though the tissue will repair with some additional care. New brains are blank, I’m not sure how much of her old-self she has retained.”

“Then bring her here and I will find out.”

“I will return shortly.”

The small drone bowed out and left, and Chrysalis went back to uninterrupted contemplation. Her eyes roamed back over to the statue. That one statue bothered her, maybe she would have it moved. Though it also gave her another thought, the elements could not be allowed to remain where they were. She would need to hide them somewhere else. It would be foolish to leave them in the same spot, should Celestia ever managed to escape, somehow...

With a flash of mental magic she called out for Shade. It took a little while for the vanguard to appear, and when he showed up he dripped with water, and was covered in soapy suds. The Changeling panted slightly as he looked up to his queen, he flew over as fast as he could.

“You need –huff- something, my queen –huff-.”

“Yes Shade, you have temporary leave from your punishment.”

“What?”

“You know of the Elements of Harmony?”

“Yes my queen, but why?”

“I need them, I’m changing their location. ”

“Where were they again?”

“In Canterlot Tower, bring them to me. Once you've completed that you can go back to your punishment.”

“Of course, it will be done.”

With a nod Chrysalis dismissed him. It wasn’t more than a moment or two after Shade had left that two of her other councilors arrived. Colony buzzed through the air, and was followed by another changeling that walked slowly along the ground.

The head drone landed near the queen and made a respectful bow, the other changeling just stood there and stared. Vivisect was indeed able to stand and move, though the look in her eye was completely lost.

“Vivisect?”

There was no response from the tall sentinel changeling, and she continued to stare off into the gardens.

“Vivisect!”

Chrysalis got off her bench and walked over to the innocuous equine. When hoof falls approached the sentinel, it drew her eyes toward the figure. The queen held a grimace and frustration echoed in her words.

“I called your name.”

She tapped a hoof onto Vivisect’s chest, the tall changeling looked down to where she was touched, then back up at the queen.

“I have a name?”

The sentinel’s head tilted to the side, as if she heard a particularly complex enigma. Her voice, devoid of the confidence and strength it held, it was now simply hollow. This reaction caused as sharp inhalation on the queen’s part, this was bad…

“I suppose you wouldn’t remember me either.”

Chrysalis turned about and walked back towards her bench, there was a slight drag to her step. Vivisect’s eyes followed the giant changeling’s methodical movement, but there was not a flicker of memory there. The queen sat down on the bench again, and motioned for the sentinel to come closer.

The warrior just stood there, and looked at the motion Chrysalis’s hoof made, then back up to the queen. She didn’t comprehend the meaning.

“Come closer.”

The queen sighed. The verbal instruction was understood and Vivisect walked over to the bench, and stood there.

“Do you remember how to do any of your old magic?”

“I can do magic?”

“Yes, like this.”

As a royal changeling Chrysalis could practice magic otherwise unique to each changeling class. One fore-hoof became wrapped in green flames and the limb shifted its shape. In place of a hoof there were three long claws, and Chrysalis wriggled the digits.

Vivisect’s reaction was to flinch and take a step back, disgusted fascination crept over the sentinel’s features, like a moth staring at an open flame. The scaly changeling looked down at her own hooves and shuddered. This sunk Chrysalis to new levels of disappointment, her own head sentinel, was skittish of magic she was very proficient with? Well, that answered that question. The queen’s forelimb twisted under green fire once more and became a hoof again.

“Colony take Vivisect back to the other sentinels, she needs to… relearn a few things.”

“Yes my queen.”

The drone obedient hovered over to the damaged warrior and tapped her with a hoof. Vivisect looked over to her small escort and watched.

“Come on, we need to go this way.”

The two of them started to leave the garden, it was slow, as Vivisect didn’t want to fly anywhere yet. She wasn’t able to remember that either. The queen scowled, the damage was severe, she would undoubtedly have to find a new head for her sentinels, if Vivisect couldn’t remember anything.

The queen’s gaze became downcast, in this harsh world, one more familiar thing had been taken from her. Death had been common in the Badlands, and replacements happened all too often. Except for Vivisect.

Evisect had been the head of sentinels when Chrysalis was initially crowned queen, but he died within a year. A dragon had tried to pick them out of their den like ants, and Evisect proved to be an invaluable distraction.

After that Vivisect had taken the spot, and survived many situations she shouldn’t have. Chrysalis ground her fangs and cursed herself, she shouldn’t be attached to any of them, any changeling could be gone at a moment’s notice… or was that what she had been working to change?

A bright flash of red light interrupted the mull of her thoughts.

There, but a few strides away, stood a figure the queen did not expect, though in hindsight she should have. A tall grey unicorn, with red horn and black mane that flowed of it’s own accord, smiled at her with his fanged mouth.

“You!”

Sombra’s smile didn’t falter at Chrysalis’s long winded accusation, and he daintily rubbed a hoof over his chest with gusto. The queen leapt from her bench and ignited her horn.

“Come for another round?”

“On the contrary my dear queen of the horse flies, I only came to help some ponies.”

“Spit it out what you mean.”

“Tsk tsk, those manners aren’t going to charm anyone, and isn’t that what you should be doing. You love love don’t you?”

Chrysalis diffused her horn stared at Sombra with a deadpan expression. Her eyelids dropped half way and a slight frown conveyed her bemused expression.

“Have you only come here for snide jokes?”

“Loving love is snide? Please, that should be a compliment….Though I’d be lying if making a few jokes at your expense wasn’t intended. Besides, since we last met I’ve had a lot of time to think. Though I must say, I still haven’t sorted out everything, but I have found a few workable parameters.”

Chrysalis ignited her horn again, if this king had only returned to waste her time then she was going to have none of it.

“Be patient for just a moment, I’ll leave, but I was just going to give you a nice little warning.”

“Warn me? Why would you care to help me in any form?”

“You see, I still have this wellspring of feelings to sort out. I know what I wanted to do, but you’ve taken the will from me to do it. I just can’t lift a hoof to hurt anypony now, atleast for the time being.”

“Cry more gaseous tears why don’t you.”

“I haven’t been able to do that either.”

A genuine frown etched itself over the Crystal King, and he looked sad. The next moment though his mood flipped and the frown became grin, there was even a hint of mischievousness to it.

“All you’ve really done is given me a different set of cards to play, my shiny changeling queen. If I can’t harm any pony, that certainly doesn’t stop me from helping anypony. In fact this fountain of feelings rewards me greatly as I extend the effort.”

“You have ten seconds until I don’t care what you have to say Sombra.”

“I do love the irony Chrysalis, for a being so dependent on love, you should be more approachable. Hehehe, but alas, my warning. Because I am here to help everypony, that includes you, I’ll point you towards those mountains.”

The giant grey unicorn lifted a hoof, and pointed directly at the prisoner complex. Chrysalis’s eyes went wide, and she looked back at the tall king, whose grin widened to eccentric levels.

“Some of your house guests may have taken leave. I really must thank you, I wouldn’t have done such a thing if kindness didn’t overflow from my heart. Isn’t irony, just a wonderful thing?”

With another bright red flash Sombra vanished, laughing uproariously as he did, and the queen’s eyes returned to the mountain. He did not just indicate what she thought he indicated, did he?

Hundreds of mental messages started to echo towards her. Changeling after changeling iterated a variant of the same message.

They’re gone, they’re all gone.

Ch.21 "One Hoof at a Time"

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch. 21 “One hoof at a time”

A green comet soared through the air, leaving a smoky emerald trail in it’s wake. The Queen of the changelings flew as fast as she could towards the mountain. Even as she approached, hundreds of changelings were already crawling all over its rocky surface, pouring out of the entrance of the complex.

Chrysalis’s magically empowered flight ceased, slowing to a more manageable speed when she came near. The chatter and buzz of hundreds of drones, vanguards, and sentinels was an indistinguishable cacophony. In a fit of frustration she lashed a mental wave across the agitated swarm before her.

“SILENCE!”

The effect was immediate, with many of the changelings cringing at the force with which the queen shouted in their minds. The mountainside became eerily quiet, and the royal changeling hovered to the entrance of the recently dug mountain complex. The sea of dark grey chitin parted to make space for her to land.

Once her hooves touched the ground she turned to the nearest changeling and pointed a hoof. Her lime rimmed eyes were a source of stern stability for the otherwise agitated and nervous crowd.

“You, tell me what happened.”

The indicated sentinel gulped and stepped forward, bowing low as he answered.

“The prisoners my queen, they’re gone, all gone, ort least at the section I personally guarded. There was a flash of red light, and when I turned to inspect it the cocoon I was guarding, it was gone. I heard some kind of laughter as I searched in vain, and the others here have similar stories.”

Chrysalis heaved up and down, her composure threatened to fall apart. Sombra… Surely he wouldn’t, as addled as his brain might be, would not be so idiotic as to release Celestia and Luna. Those two would just fight him, even if he claimed he was there to help.

The Queen quickly rushed into the tunnels, she would need to see this for herself. Her wings buzzed at a furious pace, and she passed through the myriad of twists and turns of the tunnels. She would see if Celestia was there first, Luna was in a poor enough condition, so she wouldn’t be an immediate threat.

Close to the bottom of the complex, Chrysalis rounded the corner and entered the chamber that was supposed to contain the Solar Princess. Her fears were confirmed when she saw no cocoon in the earthy cavern.

“SOMBRA!”

Her voice shook the base of the mountain and echoed throughout the tunnels. That shady buffoon had taken them… Chrysalis slumped down onto her haunches, and stared blankly into the empty space. Her mind ran blank instead of going through the possible scenarios. Celestia on the loose would be terrible, the princess could plot some scheme to blindside her off the throne, all while in hidden.

Then an even more terrifying thought crossed her mind, “I beat and drained Luna to the point of near death and Celestia knows this….And she’s free now.” Having seen her anger first hand in the dream realm, an image of the Sun Alicorn pulsing with magic, with the searing sun mere feet away burned it’s way into her mind.

As her mind went numb, a drone buzzed in and landed next to her, who at a quick glance was shown to be Colony. She looked up to the queen, who seemed locked away in her own mind at the moment. So the head drone looked down into the empty chamber.

Something small was folded neatly in the center of the room, which Colony was quick to try and identify. The queen didn’t respond to the drone’s movement at all, so she took that as permission. When she was close enough, she picked up the small object with her magic.

“My Queen, there is some kind of note left behind.”

“What? Let me see!”

Chrysalis quickly jumped out of her murky mill of thoughts and grabbed the note from Colony’s magical grasp. It was a folded piece of parchment, a small line labeled who it was addressed to.

- To the “Queen of the Horse Flies”

The writing was very neat and stylized, the queen was actually impressed despite her frustration. The crystal king’s calligraphy wasn’t bad, in fact it was very good, but she was not fond of the title he gave her. She unfolded the parchment and started to scan through it’s contents.

My dear love spitter,

It appears you were keeping some ponies I actually know, when did your take over happen? Given our last little scuffle, I am surprised you were able to accomplish what you did, so you have my compliments. You need not worry about Celestia, I will keep her good and safe…

I know the danger she would pose to me as much as you. Though the rest of these sealed up ponies will probably have nice things to say about you. I can only imagine they would have nice things to say. Only nice things….Yes just because I’m full of love doesn’t mean I can’t be sarcastic, which I also love very much, so thanks for that.

Sincerely your dearest King,
Sombra

The letter ignited in a burst of green flames and Chrysalis snarled as she tossed it to the side. Colony lifting an eyebrow as the queen growled.

“What is going on?”

“That Crystal King I handled a few days ago is going out of his way to prove I didn’t handle him well enough.”

“Crystal King?”

“He goes by Sombra, a nuisance of a unicorn.”

The drone blinked several times, unsure what to make of the new information. It was a slightly disturbing matter that a single unicorn could empty the complex in a single day and do so so effortlessly.

Another drone entered the chamber, interrupting the conversation between the queen and her Head Drone. It was that same drone Chrysalis had put that mind brand on.

“My Queen! I found a note in Princess Luna’s empty chambers!”

The drone jumped up and down, his eyes blinked rapidly and independently of each other. Another piece of parchment floated in his magical grip, and the queen quickly grabbed it.

She also removed the mind brand from the drone. It would be impossible for him to follow through the order she had placed. The drone would only go insane if she left it there. Once it was removed the spastic drone collapsed on the ground and panted, letting out a relieved sigh. The energy behind his eyes disappeared and his body was finally able to relax.

The next piece of parchment was unfolded and read.

My dear Chryssasiss,

My, my, my, poor little Night Princess, what did she do to deserve this? That is a tale I would so enjoy hearing. Also why did you not keep her in one of those goo cages? You made this task only slightly more difficult, though only slightly.

She is still in a wasted state, which I suppose will give me time to plan something appropriate. Did you plan on Celestia getting royally mad at you or do you secretly enjoy torturing yourself? The fact I am tending some other ponies wounds right now would make me royally mad, except that every time I want to feel mad I can’t. More thanks I owe to you…Again just loving sarcasm, isn’t it wonderful.

Your gleeful Overlord,
Sombra

Chrysalis chuckled at the last part, before she again igniting the letter and tossing aside the ashes. At least she wasn’t the only equine feeling severely annoyed, and from the sounds of it, Sombra kept enough of his rational thought to not to let Celestia and Luna go free.

Though that was only a partial relief, he could still be either stupid or ignorant enough to let the other Element Bearers free. Family relations be cursed, it was a double edge blade that was hurtful as much as it was helpful. Families were often emotional feasts, but they were also abominably stubborn and irrationally dangerous at times.

Another changeling entered the chamber, it was a tall sentinel. He had a red rim to his blue eyes and looked at the queen with a dedicated interest. There was a piece of parchment in his mouth, and after he stepped over the prone drone, he spat the paper at the queen’s feet.

“A letter for the queen, the cheeky fellow apparently likes to leave a calling card.”

Chrysalis didn’t give the sentinel a second look as she picked up the next piece of parchment. How many of these snarky letters did Sombra have time to leave behind, honestly if circumstances were different she’d be impressed with how efficient he was? In between all of the transports he had to do. There were over a thousand ponies in this complex, and now they were all gone. She shook her head in exasperation started to read.

Dear Queen Horsefly,

What kind of prisoners are you keeping here? Another alicorn? What kind of trickery is this? Why does she have a crystal heart on her flanks? A CRYSTAL HEART! Is this some kind of joke?

Does she make love and you eat it? Are you some kind of opposite cousins? I actually need more information out of you on this one. So don’t burn this letter up like you did the others.

Chrysalis blinked twice as she read through the last line. Just as she went to read it again, she noticed more letters started to appear on the parchment.

Yes I actually want you to reply to me, write something down please.

The Changeling queen blinked, this was certainly an interesting magic, though she was bothered he somehow knew she burned the other letters. One of her hooves became wreathed in green magical energy, causing it to transform into its clawed variation. She put the tip of one of the claws in her mouth, and fiddled with it. With a twinkle of some magic, and a slow lick, she coated the tip of the claw in an inky substance. She started to scratch down a response onto the parchment.

That pink princess is Cadance and she has very dangerous potential. If you don’t want to worry about the alicorns then just give them back.

There was still a lot of room on the parchment, it was quite a long piece of paper, and the queen waited for a response. It came within moments, and more words appeared slightly lower than where she had written.

Warning you of my coming was as much help as I feel inclined to give you. Also, you want the alicorns, so no, I’m keeping them. Now, are there any other ponies with particularly concerning attributes I may have taken?

Chrysalis grit her teeth, she wanted them back! They were a powerful source of food, and she needed them in her control to insure things didn’t get out of hand. She didn’t want to trust Sombra with anything, especially something like alicorn imprisonment, even if he didn’t plan on releasing them, for now atleast.

She also didn’t feel inclined to help this troublesome king anymore than she would have to, only as long as her own benefit was kept in mind. She scratched down another reply

She has a fiancé, who is also dangerous with his magic. He is a white unicorn with blue mane and a sparkly shield cutie mark. He goes by Shining Armor and luckily he’s an idiot. Even if you were dumb enough to release him already.

There are also a few ponies that are part of the Elements of Harmony. Orange and pink earth pony mares, and a purple unicorn mare. They are keys to a weapon that has imprisoned gods, and are more dangerous than any of the alicorns, if they are allowed to act together.

The response Sombra gave after that was quick and short

Oops…

Chrysalis face hoofed. After a drawn out sigh she thought about it some more. That was salvageable at least. Those ponies weren’t a true threat if they didn’t have access to the elements, which she had just tasked her head vanguard to grab for her. She could hide them, and then it would only be six ponies to handle, six ponies she had already captured once

She might as well let Sombra think he made a mistake. If the Crystal King recaptured them for her, then she had less to worry about. She folded the parchment back up and started to walk out of the chamber. The changelings that brought her the messages followed her out.

Before they made it that far, the red eyed sentinel voiced his matter with the queen.

“I have seen the condition of Vivisect my queen, you are need of a new head sentinel are you not?”

The queen rolled her eyes, she knew this was something she needed to acknowledge and work with. It wasn’t that this sentinel was apparently ambitious, but that Vivisect needed to be replaced at all. Inconvenience was the bane of a smooth rule.

“You know the process. Prove your worth if you desire to be the new head.”

“I do my queen, and I plan on seeing you more frequently.”

“What is your name, aspirant…”

“Carve.”

A few minutes later they exited the now empty prisoner complex, and when Chrysalis set hoof on the surface of the mountain again, a large chunk of the swarm was still there. Nervous chatter and clicks ceased once the royal changeling was spotted. She surveyed the quiet body of dark chitin, and flashed her eyes with a mental command.

“News of this goes nowhere; I want a pair of sentinels to stand guard here anyway.”

If Sombra had just released most of those thousand ponies, news would get around regardless, but she wouldn’t help it spread any faster. A familiar voice mentally touched hers.

“I have them my queen.”

Shade buzzed through the air, and held something small beside him in his magic. It was a brown box decorated in fine gold styling. The head of the vanguard landed close to the queen and gently set the box down in front of her.

“Very good Shade, you may go back to your other duties.”

Chrysalis’s audible voice was used, and other vanguards within ear shot snickered at the last part. News of their divisional leader’s punishment had gotten around fairly quickly, and many found it amusing. As Shade left several vanguards picked up the gall to fly right after him.

“Hey Shade, scrub me down next, hahaha!”

The head vanguard just shook his head and sighed, it was going to be a long couple of days before he lived down that indignity

A large green portal was opened on the mountain side, and the queen stepped through the dimensional rift she just created.

---

A grand dark cavern was illuminated by a wreath of green fire. The regal changeling stepped out of the thin abyssal conjuration, and next to her was the small box that levitated in magic. Once her last leg was out, the portal faded away.

This was the throne cavern in the Badlands, and her large double iris eyes roamed the room for a familiar passage way. She approached the smaller tunnel and passed through, her hooves made noisy clops as she advanced.

A smaller chamber was intruded upon by the queen, a chamber she had been in not so long ago. Her eyes scanned the wall, and found an old form. The giant changeling smirked, and pulled a skeleton off the wall.

“You always wanted to play things defensively…”

As the skeleton floated forward, so did the box which contained the elements, in a smooth gesture the box slid up into the rib cage of the old cadaver. With a hack and some spit, the box was sealed up in it’s calcium container.

Chrysalis put the skeleton back onto the wall, and chuckled.

“So now, you can protect this Shellish and actually be of some worth for once.”

Another flash of green flames and ebony distortion heralded the living queen’s departure. With a few steps and a swish of her blue green tale, she vanished into the portal.

After Chrysalis was gone, there was a glint of light within the small room. A slight twinkle flashed amongst the old bones. Then darkness returned the place to pitch black.

---

When she exited the fiery magical doorway she stepped out into one of the castle courtyards. The sun was near the edge of the horizon, and Chrysalis flashed her eyes and activated her horn to cast a spell to finish the day.

Stars dotted the sky’s indigo hue, and were bright enough to cast shadows. The queen walked towards the castle, almost ready to retire. She pulled out the note she used to communicate with Sombra, to see if that facetious king had written anything else. There wasn’t only the last line, “oops”.

Even though it was evening Chrysalis didn’t feel like she wanted to retire quite yet, though she also didn’t want to deal with anything official either. Enough serious matters had gone askew for one day, it was time to take a walk.

The queen turned away from the castle proper, and walked towards the gates. As she walked she took on a fresh disguise, which caused her body to become wreathed in emerald light.

The new form the queen walked in was a very tall unicorn mare. She didn’t bother to shrink into something with a less conspicuous physique because it was convenient. The larger the difference in size between the changeling and their disguise, the more difficult it was to maintain. When she had taken the shorter form of Cadance, it had become quite uncomfortable after several days, and she was greatly relieved to be able to cast it aside.

This new unicorn mare had a dark brown coat, and a dirty blonde mane. She turned her head about to look at the mark-less flanks. She gave a critical stare, and mulled over how creative she felt.

POP!

The new mark was… a question mark. She grunted, at least she could think of a few ways to deflect unwanted queries. When she neared the gates two Sentinels jumped at her approach, surprised at this unfamiliar pony that approached from the castle side.

“Stop there pony!”

“How did you get over here?”

Chrysalis simply flashed her eyes green at them. Both of the sentinels instantly recognized the gesture and backed down. Even more than the simple flash, the presence they felt let them know who it was. Both of them lowered their stances into a bow, and remained silent.

The giant brown unicorn tapped the cobble stone with a hoof. The light clop brought both of the sentinels’ eyes up. The disguised queen wore a bored expression, her drooping eyelids conveyed a sense of impatience.

“Would the two tall changeling guards be so kind as to let one pony through?”

It wasn’t so much a question as a command, and the two thickly scaled changelings hopped to the gates and opened them. The massive metal bars slid on silent hinges, it was quite an impressive design to function so seamlessly,or perhaps was it magic?

Another moment passed before Chrysalis had exited into the city proper. It took a while to pass the ritzy mansions which housed the nobles, as each property stretched wide with spacious yards and gardens. A few prim and proper ponies dressed in fine wares trotted their way around, some were followed by attendants, and all wore snooty expressions.

The giant brown mare chuckled at how serious they took themselves, she could easily throw any of their lives upside down at a whim. Why should they bicker and be petty, when they couldn’t possibly win a contest of superiority with real power.

As she thought this a dragonfly buzzed past her head, and snatched a smaller fly out of the air. The larger insect landed on a nearby bush, while it kept the smaller bug in its grasp. Colorful mandibles bit down and started to chew hungrily. The disguised changeling’s sensitive ears perked forward, and she swore she could hear a few noises.

“Help me! Help m-”

“Omnomnomnom.”

Chrysalis blinked once, then laughed. “Of course… it doesn’t matter if you’re the most superior, so long as you’re better than something else.” A suave baritone voice approached her from the side.

“Excuse me, but I don’t believe I’ve seen you around before.”

Chrysalis turned her head, and instantly frowned when she saw who it was. Her current form easily looked down on the alabaster unicorn. The self assured noble was slightly taken aback by the rather sour expression shot his way. His own faint smile turned into a displeased purse of the lips.

“Believe me, I don’t simply go around greeting ponies, but I noticed you walked right out of the castle gates. Even nobles don’t venture into the castle willy nilly now, so I assume you have some level of importance. I haven’t seen changelings respectfully bow to a pony yet…”

The giant earth toned unicorn rolled her eyes, why did it have to be this pony that wanted to come talk to her? She mulled over her response, and tried to think of a way to make this a little more interesting. She glanced back at the mark on her leg, then returned her gaze to Blueblood.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

She smirked when Blueblood narrowed his eyes indignantly. The white stallion responded with no humor in his voice.

“Yes I would, I don’t recall ever seeing a pony taller than a saddle arabian, besides Aunt Celestia.”

“Oh, want to make fun of my size do you?”

She lifted one of her very large hooves to tap the white unicorn on the chest. She pressed hard enough that it made him take a step backwards. The austere noble looked down to his chest and grimaced, her hoof had left a dusty mark. As he brushed it off he looked back up into the tall mare’s eyes, her light brown eyes.

“Don’t deflect my question with pretended indignity. I would have no issue reporting a pony like you to the new changeling queen, and you don’t want that. I’ve seen what she’s willing to do to ponies up close.”

Chrysalis shot a hoof over her mouth to muffle an outburst of laughter. It was too delightfully ironic, though it also showed Bluebood knew his place in the food chain. The sudden quieted laughter made Blueblood cock an eyebrow at her. Was that threat not taken seriously? With a few loud coughs, the disguised queen decided it was time to practice some kind of back story.

“I am Enigma Maze, and you wouldn’t have heard of me. Though I’m on a private errand for the queen, so I suggest you keep any threats to yourself. I think she would take my word over yours.”

At that Blueblood huffed, puffed, and blew out an unintelligible garble of words. The disguised changeling took up a smug smile at the stallion’s flustered response. She waited as he turned to leave and took several steps away. He only made a small distance before he stopped and turned around.

“Then why didn’t I see you at the important ponies meeting. I thought the queen was just getting to know ponies…”

This caused a slight pause in Chrysalis’s smugness, but she recovered quickly.

“She didn’t meet every pony with useful talents there, and most ponies’ that went to that meeting weren’t useful either. Beg your pardon, but why haven’t I seen you around the castle? If you’re so important?”

A slick slimy emphasis made that “important” a most distasteful word to Blueblood’s offended ears. The stallion huffed, and puffed, and blew a raspberry before he walked away. The undignified manner with which Blueblood left made the giant brown unicorn smile widely.

She turned to continue her walk deeper into the city. Lights had come on all over the place, with street lamps keeping things very well lit. Eventually the mansions gave way to smaller housing, along with various shops.

When she entered an open square in the city block she heard music. The peaceful notes of a small band of classical instruments graced the ears of many ponies within the small area.

There was a central podium the musicians performed on, and it was slightly elevated. The individual members looked intensely focused on their craft. Many of the Canterlot ponies watched quietly and appreciatively, while others continued on with their evening business.

The giant brown mare saw a bench with an empty space and decided to take a seat. Once she rested comfortably on it, she resolved to listen to the rest of the piece the small band played. It was a pleasant enough atmosphere, one would almost think the city hadn’t been invaded just a week ago.

The disguised queen nodded with approval, the ponies appeared to enjoy themselves, and seemed to otherwise function as normal. Such at sight seemed like a warehouse of ripened food to her changeling eyes.

A few drones and sentinels buzzed over heard, and the sight didn’t cause any panic, maybe a few uncomfortable looks, but nothing disorderly. It made Chrysalis smile, changelings could roam free amongst ponies, and not worry about open hostility. Here at least, though she still had the rest of Equestria to subdue.

In a dramatic climb to the climax, the band finished their piece with passionate crescendo. One mare in particular played her cello with a particularly impressive flourish that caught they queen’s attention. She looked closer and noticed it was a grey earth pony, who wore a neat pink bowtie. Chrysalis mentally noted that she would like a performance from this band in her castle sometime. She looked at the other members and noted their appearance.

When they finished there was a moment of quiet then a polite stomping of hooves. The Canterlot method was to tap one fore hoof softly over the cobble stones, rather than the common applause, which simply involved the stomp of all four hooves freely.

Chrysalis got up from the bench and continued her stroll through the streets. The band had started another piece, but she was in the mood to move on.

A sweet smell in the air grabbed her attention after she had traveled a few more blocks. The aroma of fresh dough caked with sugar tickled her nose; she peered around for the source. A store titled “Donut Joe’s” was nearby, and was the undeniable source of the savory scents.

When she walked up to the door, she had to duck her head slightly; the long horn on her head would otherwise tap the frame. As she entered the shop a little bell tingle heralded her arrival. A few eyes glanced in her direction, and went wider as they noticed her peculiar size.

She ignored them as she walked closer to the bar. A cream colored stallion with light brown mane tended it, and was dressed in slightly dirty baking attire. He looked up at the giant new mare that approached his bar. The stallion spoke up in a gruff voice.

“Hi there, welcome to Donut Joe’s, is there something I can get you?”

The giant chocolate colored mare put a hoof to her chin thoughtfully, and scanned through the contents that lined the walls behind the bar. A rainbow of dazzling treats filled every glass container, and each one appealed to her as much as the last. Then she remembered something.

“I left my bits at home, but do you offer any samples I can taste for now?”

“Samples? Sure, I have a tray of prepared samples right over there.”

He pointed towards a tray that sat on a lower counter, so she nodded and walked over to it. She lowered her face to the tray, and sniffed the array of choices. A little card-sized sign said “Please limit yourself to three per visit.”

The samples themselves were little slices of different donut flavors. She picked up three that looked particularly delectable in her magic and levitated them to her mouth. As she chewed them over she rolled her tongue critically. They were fantastic, why wasn’t this pony one of the castle chefs? She would need to correct that.

There was a soft click as the door behind the counter opened, and a small purple dragon walked out, he held a tray of more sample size donut slices. When he reached the low counter which held the main tray of samples he started to replace the missing flavors. The dragon had taken no apparent notice of the giant mare, which stared at him with scrutinized eyes. She had stopped mid chew.

He paused in the midst of his little restocking job, as he didn’t need to turn around to feel the eyes that bored into the back of his head.

“Um, is there something you need miss, because Joe is right over there?”

The little purple dragon turned around, and had to crank his neck back to look up at the giant unicorn. She had narrowed eyes and a slight frown; this made the scaly little creatures nervous. It wasn’t the common, “oh a dragon, that’s interesting” kind of look. He ventured to speak.

“Do I know you?”

“No…”

This was followed by painfully awkward silence, and the lavender dragon with greens spines found himself closer to the counter, he inched towards it slowly as the giant mare stared him down.

“Well, it was nice meeting you, see you around!”

His tail bumped into the counter door, which caused him to spin around and disappear behind it. Disguised Chrysalis resumed her chewing, and turned to leave the store. A fun little idea had popped into her head, and she would enact it in just a moment.

There were a few changelings off in a corner of the shop, as well as a few other ponies. The corner occupied by the chitinous creatures was a little noisy, and their chatter was pretty loud. A big box of donuts was scattered around in the midst of their table. Several drinks also decked the surface, one of them had been spilled and wasn’t cleaned up yet.

A few of the changelings in that group noticed the giant mare that walked towards the exit, several picked up mischievous grins. One of them, a vanguard, called out to her.

“Hey, long legs! Wanna join our table?”

Her casual stride stopped, and her head slowly turned to the table of lively changelings. They all looked at her with stupid grins. Her eyes narrowed and flashed a shade of emerald, this was accompanied with a sharp mental message.

“You want the queen to join your table?”

The small group had equally shocked, but different reactions. One had been eating a donut, and let it fall from his mouth as his jaw dropped. Another spit out his drink which he was in the middle of slurping. Yet another hiccupped, and with a blur of green magic turned into a giant black donut, with purple frosting and light blue sprinkles.

The one that had called her out simply gasped, and threw his head and front hooves down on the table in a make-shift bow.

“Forgive me! I-I didn’t know!”

Chrysalis sent out another annoyed mental message.

“Compose yourselves!”

Verbally she said,

“You are in Canterlot little changelings, it would be polite to learn some manners.”

The group of rambunctious equines straightened out their postures and appeared much more sober. Except for the one that turned into a donut, he stayed a donut.

Several of the other ponies in the shop gave curious glances, which included Joe and a little purple dragon, but they went back to their own business quickly. The giant mare appeared to be a pony one shouldn’t mess with, not if she could instill fear in a group of changelings with a look.

In another few steps she was outside, and continued her walk until she was in the alley between buildings. A ripple of magical green flames peeled over her form. The giant mare shrank down, until she was average size, her chocolate coat became lavender, her brown eyes became purple, and her mane and tail went from blonde to dark violet with a pink stripe. The question mark on her flank shifted into a star, surrounded by five smaller stars. The straight line of her expression morphed into a grin.

The form of Twilight Sparkle emerged from the alleyway, she picked up a brown cloak some pony had conveniently left in the alley, and used it to obscure her form.

A ring of the bell signaled her return to the donut shop, though none of the ponies in the store would be the wiser. She tried to stealthily sneak towards the counter the little dragon hid behind. When she neared the sample tray, she picked up three more samples, different flavors of course… “what? it said three flavors per visit.” She mentally argued with the sign, besides she was queen, rules were hers. Even in a donut shop.

“Psst.”

A little dragon perked his green ears, but didn’t turn around.

“Psst.”

He perked his ears and turned around, and he saw some pony who covered her face in a hood.

“Psst, come here.”

There was something familiar about that voice, he knew that voice, but it couldn’t be…

“TWI-”

His shout of surprise and excitement was cut off as a purple hoof was shoved over his mouth. The hood had shuffled about enough for the little dragon to get a good look at her face. It definitely appeared to be who he thought it was. She nodded her head slightly towards the table of changelings. He pushed hoof away from his snout and bashfully kicked at the ground.

“Hehe, sorry, I’m just glad to see you. I thought you were captured.”

“I’ll explain in a bit, but first we need to get out of here.”

“Sure just a sec, I’ll tell Joe that I’m leaving.”

“No, we’ve got to go now Spike.”

The urgency in her voice made the little dragon nervous.

“Ok…”

When fake Twilight turned to go, Spike shuffled out behind her. Donut Joe was in an enthusiastic discussion with some particularly flamboyant customer at the moment, and didn’t notice them make their exit.

Once they were outside, Spike climbed onto her back, and she started to gallop through the streets. She would occasionally be dodgy and weave through buildings when it would help her go faster. Soon they were by the noble mansions, and approached the castle gates.

Spike had gotten more and more nervous the closer they got to the castle.

“Twi! Where are we going? How did you escape in the first place? Why are we going towards the castle? That changeling queen is in there!”

“Don’t worry Spike, some other friends helped me and others escape. We have a place we’re hiding at under the castle, and we’re coming up with a plan.”

They approached the castle gates and two sentinels which stood guard. The little dragon tugged on her mane to try and get her to stop, fear took hold despite her words. Though as they approached Fake Twilight flashed her eyes and horn briefly, and the changeling sentinels moved to the side, and opened up the gates.

“What the…”

“I learned a spell that makes illusions to changelings, we’ll be able to make it past the guards.”

She casually said to the little dragon on her back. He scratched the top of his head with a claw, he supposed that made sense. That smug smile she wore was familiar, it was the look she had when she beat a particularly difficult question.

The gates closed behind them, and fake Twilight’s gallop slowed to a trot. There was a stretch of silence as they took their time to approach the castle proper. More changelings stood guard at the castle doors, but another flash of magic from the purple unicorn mare, and they were let through. It was still difficult for Spike to take this all in stride, and he cringed as they passed by the large aggressive looking sentinels.

Once the castle doors closed behind them, fake Twilight eased Spike off her back. She turned to look at him, and the small dragon held an agitated, but hopeful look up to her. She smiled at him, and started to chuckle. He chuckled too, but nervously and had no idea why he joined her in a moment that wasn’t really funny.

“What’s going on?”

He couldn’t help but ask, something felt terribly off.

“Oh, nothing you need to worry about.”

Twilight’s voice was a little too happy.

“No, I think I do need to worry about what’s going on. Why aren’t we moving anymore?”

“Because we don’t need to.”

The purple unicorn disappeared in a flash of green that stunned the little dragon, and when the bright light dimmed the queen of the changelings sat there.

“NOOOOO!”

Spike jumped away in horror and tried to scurry for the castle doors, Chrysalis laughed as she picked up the terrified creature in her magic. He still flailed in the air, as his little claws desperately reached out to grab onto something, anything!

The queen began a slow walk through the castle, tiny dragon held in tow. When Spike had finished his fearful fits, and resigned to float helplessly through the air, the royal changeling saw fit to speak again.

“I’m surprised you’ve stayed hidden for so long, and in plain sight. I suppose I didn’t stress the importance of finding you all that much. Only one baby dragon after all, and you seemed to enjoy your time there in the donut shop.”

The sad purple dragon didn’t say anything, he just kept silent as he floated along in the green aura. The queen listened for a moment more, and when there was no response she continued.

“You happen to know six very important ponies quite well though, and I would like some advice about them. Aside from the obvious ones, like where you think they would hide, if they somehow got away from me...”

“Fat chance.”

Spike crossed his arms and looked away.

“Is that so?”

Chrysalis stopped her walk and lifted a hoof to jab the scaly creature in his pudgy little belly. She did this repeatedly and the lavender dragon helplessly kicked about in the air.

“H-hey, stop that! It tickles!”

The queen kept doing it, and looked about lazily on the walls, she saw some ornate decoration that involved a lot of feathers, she plucked one with magic. This was used to replace her hoof, and the feather kept tickling his scaly belly.

“Please, stop! That tickles so much!”

With the dragon and feather in her magical grip she continued her walk through the halls. The walk and relentless tickling lasted several minutes. She sent out a mental message for Shade, her casual strides led her to the base of the solar tower.

At this point Spike heaved his breaths in and out in between weak laughs, tears poured out the corners of his eyes, and his words begged for mercy.

“Please… it hurts, I can’t laugh –heave- anymore!”

She kept going.

When her head vanguard showed up, covered in soapy suds and looking utterly exhausted, the queen stopped the torturous tickles. The small dragon clutched his sides and groaned, and Shade looked at the situation with a cocked eyebrow.

“You need something my queen?”

“Yes, take care of this creature, I will interrogate him later. If he misbehaves use this.”

Chrysalis had the feather halfway held out for Shade to grab, but green fire burst in between them, and disintegrated the torture device. Spike growled at them, while he clutched his sore and tender sides.

“NO!”

“Do you want a muzzle little beast?”

“No.”

“Then be a good creature, and do what Shade tells you to. Shade, find another feather. Now be off.”

She passed over the dragon to her vanguard who in turn, grabbed him with his magic. When the two of them disappeared off into another hall, Chrysalis let out a loud yawn. It had been dark for some time and the weariness of the day finally got to her. Before she went back to the bedchamber she wanted to see one last thing.

She buzzed up to the Solar Tower’s balcony, and looked out over Equestria once more. The land was a beautiful thing in the night time. Faint starlight highlighted some of the details of the country side, and gave the distant clouds a silver lining.

When her eyes roamed down over to the nearest settlement, Ponyville if she recalled correctly, as curious sight graced her eyes.

What appeared to be a giant upside down fishbowl was over the town. Chrysalis blinked once, twice… and it was still there. What in the world?

A loud drawn out sigh exited her large maw of sharp teeth, she would deal with this tomorrow, there were only so many things she was willing to do in a day…

Ch.22 "Tricks up My Sleeve

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.22 “Tricks up my Sleeve”

Morning came too soon. The sun teased the edge of the horizon with it’s predawn light, which let the queen know it was time to get up.

Buried in her usual cluster of pillows, Chrysalis made an irritated and grumbly scene as she rose from the bed. She kicked off a number of the plush pillows, and stretched out. He long wings buzzed, they were now round, as they had healed from their torn and gnawed appearance. Clean living space, and access to all the love she needed did a fine job of shaping her form.

She fluttered off the bed and through the castle, until she reached her usual spot at the Solar Tower. She cast a spell which she was now used to, and the blaze of the sun broke the horizon to begin another day.

Harlequin eyes roamed over the Equestrian landscape, and the same sight that bothered her last night was still there this morning. What appeared to be a large upside down fishbowl sat over the little town of Ponyville. The royal changeling cocked one of her eyebrows, she could have sworn she had a vanguard or two stationed there, and she wondered why no changeling had notified her yet.

She had vanguard stationed in nearly every city throughout Equestria, and other places beyond. Information was typically filtered through Shade first, as he was the head of that division of the swarm. Then important matters could be passed along to herself.

A hoof was brought to her temple, and she slowly rubbed it. Was Shade too busy to pay attention because of his punishment? There was a long annoyed exhale from her large lungs, and a mental message flashed out towards Shade.

“Any news I should be aware of this morning?”

The message didn’t have to go that far, and she could feel it reach the intended recipient. The response that came back was sluggish, and showed a poor level of alertness.

“Huh? hu… um… clean, all clean, but more clea… -SNORE-”

Her skull rattled slightly from the end of the response. Chrysalis could almost feel the snore from the vanguard, and it made her snout itch. The hoof that rubbed her temple went to her muzzle, and rubbed that instead. Sometimes sensations could be passed along with the mental messages, and this was something the queen did not care for at the moment.

“WAKE UP!”

The force she sent that message with should shock him to a better sense of alertness, in fact it was probably forceful enough that nearby changelings would have noticed it.

There was a loud shout of surprise somewhere in Canterlot. Though it was distant from the castle, and barely enough for Chrysalis to notice it, but notice it she did. The reaction brought a slight smile to the queen’s otherwise foggy morning expression, and she lowered her hoof from her muzzle back to the balcony floor.

“Yes! My queen, you have need of something? I’m sorry, but what was it you said earlier?”

Shade’s tone had shifted back to his alert and focused manner, though Chrysalis could tell he was under a great deal of stress to maintain wakefulness.

“You have permission to sleep Shade, though if you can’t clean every vanguard here within a week, I will give you an extension. I need my head vanguard to be alert, and able to maintain his station…”

“Forgive me, I should have asked.”

“Now, my earlier inquiry was if any vanguard had something of interest to report, particularly the vanguard stationed in Ponyville.”

There was quiet in the mental sphere of things for a moment, as Shade busily reached out to other vanguards for information. Even though Chrysalis could mentally communicate with the swarm, as a royal changeling, it was more efficient to use her divisional leaders, who could reach further with more clarity.

Chrysalis crossed her front hooves over the edge of the railing, as she leaned forward and gazed out over Equestria. She could see the distant and miraculous city of Cloudsdale, as it floated in it’s heavenly glory, with rainbows that poured off of it in falls. There were also ranges of green pastures and fields, many of which were tilled for the farms that fed Equestria. The Whitetail Woods and Everfree Forest spread out like a dark green sea of vegetation into the horizon.

The royal changeling inhaled a deep breath of the crisp mountain air. This certainly was a beautiful land to conquer. Naturally more lush than the dry Zebra Lands to the south, and definitely more peaceful than the rancorous nations on the eastern continents.

Of course the ponies wouldn’t make the job easy, settling any territory for open changeling habitation hadn’t been done before with any extended success, especially on this scale. The scope of the challenge in front of the queen was massive, and it only invigorated her.

She had accomplished a few things she already thought she couldn’t do. To defeat the immortal Princess Celestia… something that changelings of the past wouldn’t have thought possible, the princess was somepony leaders of other nations hadn’t dared to challenge. Her mull of thoughts stopped when Shade finally answered her with something sensible.

“Three of our vanguards are trapped in Ponyville my queen. There was quite a scene they witnessed.”

“Well, what has happened.”

“Apparently some crazy show unicorn has appeared in town. Her magic has proved much stronger than anypony can handle. Just the other day she threw out… Twilight Sparkle? Wait a moment queen, I need to confirm something.”

Twilight! So that’s where Sombra released them… But why so close? Surely he knows I can just capture them again. This matter was of slight befuddlement to Chrysalis, what did the Crystal King have planned? If he planned to discredit her to other ponies, then she could see an opportunity here. Perhaps she could save the town from this “crazy show pony” and earn their favor like she had the Crystal Empire.

Her fanged mouth cracked into a grin, no pony would prove as difficult to defeat as Celestia or Sombra. Whoever this “show pony” was would just be another road bump.

“My queen, all of the element bearers are in Ponyville. It was indeed Twilight Sparkle that was thrown out towards the Everfree Forest yesterday, the other element bearers are trapped inside that magical barrier.”

Chrysalis hummed over how to approach the situation. She could of course just show up with her army, and blast that shield apart. It appeared to be smaller and weaker than the shield Shining armor had conjured. This would likely terrify the ponies within Ponyville though, and she had a few options, she could try something more subtle.

“What do you want to do my queen?”

Shade’s request interrupted the plans that developed in her mind. She shook her head slightly so she could refocus.

“You Shade, will find a place to sleep. I will handle this, but send a few of your vanguards over to me first.”

“Right away my queen.”

With that Chrysalis jumped over the edge of the balcony and took flight over the city. She left a slight trail of green magic in the air, and her horn glowed. The double iris eyes on her face flashed green, and sent out a signal to nearby changelings.

Within moments the buzz of changeling wings approached the queen. Dozens of drones and sentinels climbed the sky in her direction. As the royal changeling waited, several vanguards eventually joined the group, and there were over a hundred of them that hovered in the misty morning fog.

Chrysalis looked over the small part of the swarm that had gathered there. A few rubbed their eyes and yawned, but most were alert, and waited for her next orders with a degree of anticipation. Another flash of magic addressed them mentally.

“Today, we take over Ponyville. All of you know to follow my orders strictly, I want to treat this matter with some delicacy. We will land near the Everfree Forest, and continue from there.”

There was a general hiss of acknowledgement that went through the crowd, and the queen turned to leave. She was well fed at the moment, almost as good as when she first fought Sombra. All the changelings that now followed her were better fed than any group than any she had led before. She could feel the strength that permeated from them.

Holes had almost closed in their legs, and many had developed short manes along their neck fins. The sentinels’ manes varied from yellow, orange, and red colors, while the vanguard varied between purple and green. The drones had various shades of blue amongst their short sprouts of hair. Such were the effects of being in a city with more resources than they ever had access to.

The queen opened a fiery green portal directly above the gathering, and she indicated towards it with a hoof. A noisy buzz of wings approached the portal, and things got quieter as changelings disappeared into it’s abyssal center.

Chrysalis looked down towards the Everfree Forest, she already had a spot in mind that she wanted to exit at. It would be well out of the sight of any ponies that roamed in Ponyville, and would be more discrete than just flying over there.

Once the last changeling of the group entered the portal, she turned towards it herself, and entered. The fiery rift closed as she also disappeared.

---

A lone timber wolf pawed at the entrance of a rabbit den. It had just chased the small furry creature in there, and now clawed at the entrance with great frustration. The prey’s small size was the very reason the large dominant predator had lost its quarry.

When the timber wolf realized it wouldn’t get through the den anytime soon, it decided to sit there and wait patiently. The magical wooden creature could outlast the rabbit, and when it’s prey was desperate for food or water, the wolf would catch the rabbit then.

At least that was the predator’s plan until a burst of fiery green energy erupted in the middle of the forest. Nearby birds scattered and flew away. A myriad of rodents, and other critters ran in every direction, as they fled from the frightful flash.

The lone wolf also sprang up in surprise, but didn’t flee immediately, it instead growled at the interruption to its hunt. The anger the wolf displayed was quickly forgotten as dozens of changelings poured out from the portal.

As the swarm flew out and filled the immediate area, the wolf knew it didn’t want to be around anymore, numbers were clearly not in it’s favor. Even as the wooden predator turned to run a Sentinel crashed into it, which caused the wolf to promptly explode into hundreds of pieces.

The sentinel stood tall over the remains, and peered around the rest of the forest with his red-rimmed eyes. Once he was satisfied that the immediate area was clear, he signaled that it was so with a click of his tongue.

A confident smile crossed his muzzle, perhaps he could impress the queen on this particular venture, and secure the position of head sentinel for himself. Carve glanced back at the dimensional rift.

When the queen came through, the portal closed, and most of the changelings turned to face her, while the sentinels of the group attentively watched the forest for any signs of danger.

Chrysalis fluttered her wings and spoke to the group mentally. She looked towards Ponyville at the same time, and could see it faintly through the space in between the trees.

“Drones you will burrow underneath the town and wait to emerge at my signal, Sentinels you will follow them, and so will the vanguard. I will approach the town in disguise and discern the situation.”

Green fire circled about Chrysalis’s form, and she shifted into a giant chocolate colored unicorn with blonde mane. The guise of Enigma Maze stood amongst the hundred or so changelings. With a stomp of her hoof the orders were immediately followed.

The drones flashed green magic about their hooves, which prepared them to burrow rapidly through the earth. Dirt started to fly every direction as tunnels were quickly made. Sentinels and vanguard hopped in once the tunnels were deep enough.

The forest grove was now empty, except for Chrysalis. She walked out of the forest and towards the small town. The enormous magical barrier covered the town proper, but left most of the countryside free. With another smaller portal she covered the ground between the edge of the forest and the barrier outside of town in a moment.

Now directly outside of the barrier she looked up through its transparent surface. There were dark storm clouds that swirled ominously, and stayed contained within the magical barrier. She put a hoof down near the edge, and started to swipe away the dirt. In a few moments she created a small hole that went underneath the enormous fishbowl and lifted her hoof on the other side.

She pulled it back and laughed. The surface of the giant dome was reflective like glass, and she shook her head. What a sloppy method of containment… It would be fun to put this unicorn in her place. Even as she brought herself to an upright position she could sense her changelings as they burrowed underneath the town, this barrier would give them no resistance when it was time to emerge.

The disguised queen stood to her full height, and rolled her neck about to crack it a few times. She stretched out her legs, and then lazily tapped on the clear wall in front of her.

There was a ripple of transparent energy as her hoof tapped the surface, and the waves expanded until she could see them no more. Chrysalis hummed to herself, this was interesting. It appeared all one needed to do was tap the barrier to set off some kind of alarm.

Chrysalis blinked the hazel eyes of her disguise, and waited patiently for a reaction. If this barrier did have an alarm she should see who guarded this place shortly…

As it would be, the response came, but not quickly. By the time a wheel-less chariot ground it’s way towards the barrier, the queen already tapped one hoof impatiently. She raised an eyebrow at the sight that now greeted her on the other side of the barrier.

A blue unicorn mare sat on a finely sculpted chariot of wood, which had no wheels… It was dragged by two smaller unicorn colts, who suffered from great strain as they pulled the terribly inefficient contraption. A red magical aura lifted a whip and cracked it viciously over the heads of the two servant ponies, and the block of wood was dragged slightly faster.

The disguised changeling raised a hoof to her mouth, and snorted. It was quite an amusing sight, and she may have indulged in a good bout of laughter, but she had business to do here. In the battle between the irritation of being dragged down here, and amusement at the pitiable scene, irritation won.

She lowered her hoof, and stared at this blue unicorn with a contemptuous frown. Even though the malevolent blue unicorn sat on the elevated surface of a chariot, the disguise of Enigma Maze could still look down on her.

The purple eyes of the chariot master widened a little when she saw who it was that tapped on the barrier. This mysterious newcomer had a green question mark for a cutie mark… That was not nearly as surprising as her size though. The show unicorn had never seen a pony of that size before, except for Celestia, maybe...

With a glaze of red magic, the whip was set on a holster in the chariot and the sky colored unicorn jumped off the obnoxiously built contraption. Her purple eyes flared red and so did the dark amulet she wore about her neck, a mask of irritation decorated her face.

“You dare to set off The Great and Powerful Trixie’s alarm! Such actions are worthy of punishment. Tell Trixie your name trespasser.”

A loud snort came from the disguised changeling queen, the absurdity off this unicorn was almost too much. She referred to herself in third pony? Did she think she was royalty?

“You have attracted the attention of the crown… Trixie. What makes you think you can simply take ownership of this town?”

“The crown? You are not the princess! Trixie will do what pleases here, and making these ponies pay for their previous disrespect pleases her. Making you pay for your disturbance will please Trixie as well. You still haven’t told Trixie your name, you tall gangly pony. She will know so she can mock you properly, before Trixie turns you into something more unsightly than you already are.”

“Enigma Maze, I am a personal assistant to the queen, which you are foolishly disregarding. Now will you lift your barrier, or are you going to make me break it.”

“Break it? HA! Trixie also knows there is no queen in Equestria, she will enjoy your punishment most thoroughly.”

With that the gigantic fishbowl popped, and disappeared like soapy bubble. The chocolate colored unicorn ignited her horn in a wreath of green energies, and she stomped forward. Trixie’s eyes and horn flashed crimson and she stepped forward to meet the challenger halfway.

A hungry smirk danced on Trixie’s lips, while Enigma had a superior and condescending frown.

The two young unicorn colts attached to Trixie’s chariot looked at each other, then at the two bristled unicorn mares. The tall yellow gangly one spoke in a dorky voice, and raised both eyebrows in fear.

“This isn’t going to end pretty Snips.”

The short grey one commented with the voice of a dweeb, and his four knees shook nervously

“Snails we need to get out of here.”

Ch.23 "Duel.. or is it?"

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.23 “Duel… or is it?”

A tall grey pony stallion inconspicuously strode along the streets of Ponyville. The oversized top hat, shades, and heavy black trench coat were prime signals of just how common he was. The fact he was head and shoulders taller than the ponies he strode next to didn’t catch any gazes, neither did the fangs that hung slightly out of his mouth draw any attention. Yes, this stallion was totally normal and no pony needed to pay him any mind.

“Hey auntie, what’s with that weirdo?”

The red eyes behind the large shades shot towards the direction of the little voice. A purple unicorn filly with blonde mane pointed at him, while she tugged on the wing of a grey pegasus, who also had a blonde mane. The pegasus mare turned to the little filly, and booped her snoot with a wing.

“Dinky that’s rude, we don’t call other ponies weirdo.”

After she scolded the young unicorn, the pegasus turned to the one dubbed “weirdo”. Even though she had a lazy eye, the pegasus could immediately tell something was off, all she saw was a black wall. Then she looked up, and gasped.

“Oh…”

The black wall was a trench coat, attached to a much, much larger pony, who had fangs! Worse, he looked down her, well, she couldn’t really tell, not with those huge shades, but his snout was pointed at her.

“Is something the matter dear?”

A brown earth pony stallion with hourglass cutie mark trotted over to grey pegasus mare with curiosity in his eyes, he saw she looked up at something, and he followed her line of sight. His eyes went wide, and he took a step back.

“Oh…”

The inconspicuousness didn’t work with this group apparently, and this brought a frown to the giant stallion’s fanged muzzle. His next move was to put on a charming smile and speak to the small group, who all stared at him with some kind of gross fascination.

“Don’t mind me, just passing by.”

His bass voice must have thrown them off as well, because it didn’t deflect the stares. The unicorn filly tugged on her auntie’s wing, and pointed towards the “disguised” stallion again, while she giggled.

“Hehehe, make him say something else auntie, I haven’t heard a pony talk that low before.”

The giant grey stallion backed off and walked in the opposite direction. He didn’t want to talk to other ponies, and his appearance still attracted their attention. He would normally growl angry curses at this point, but instead found himself simply muttering.

“How unfortunate…”

To his relief, the small group of ponies didn’t follow him as he retreated towards an alleyway, despite the whines of the little unicorn. He could still hear a few of their words before he rounded a corner.

“No Dinky, we don’t follow around weirdos.”

SMACK!

“Hey, what was that for?”

The earth pony stallion now rubbed the back of his head with a hoof. The mare with uneven eyes glared at him angrily.

“Hooves! I just got through telling her not to call other ponies weirdo.”

“There’s a time and place for certain words, and I think it applies here.”

“Not in front of Dinky, we need to talk later…”

“But-”

“No, not if you want me to cook tonight.”

The argument died there, and the giant pony got to a place that was more obscured. Now that he was out of sight from the main streets he settled down into the alley he occupied. A red glow illuminated the inside of the ridiculous top hat, and the silhouette of a curved horn could be seen.

As the glow continued, red crystal started to sprout from the ground, breaking the earth slightly. The grey stallion made sweeping gestures with his hooves as the crystal grew, and the transparent stone widened into a thin broad surface.

When the crystal’s growth finished, it was half the height of the large disguised pony. He sat on his haunches and looked at it with some approval. It was a beautifully sculpted piece of transparent and geometric art. Now he would turn the art into a tool.

Red magic lit up his silly top hat again, and now, rather than growing the crystal above ground, it grew downward, and spread out like the roots of a tree. The stallion’s red eyes closed as he focused entirely on his little project.

The roots grew out as he guided them, he could feel the earth as if it were water, and the crystal growth acted as an extension of himself, as he swam through the solid material. Though his eyes were closed, he was acutely aware of most things attached to the ground.

The crystal roots divided in a hundred directions and poked up in a hundred different places. Tiny smidgens of crystal appeared along the ground, and were small enough that ponies near them wouldn’t notice anything, except maybe a little glint of light here and there. The little eyes of crystal were no larger than needle points.

Satisfied with a job completed, the stallion opened his eyes, and looked at the wide crystal pane right in front of him. With a small zap of red energy, the transparent surface came to life with a dance of colors.

Several images appeared over the crystal surface, and he looked at them with an analytical eye. The images were clear, as if he could see the location with his own eyes. There were three images on the crimson pane, and he raised a hoof to wipe it across the crystal surface. This caused the images to switch, and he could see a different part of Ponyville.

“What are you doing?”

A small, but arrogant voice came from the side of the alley. The giant stallion jumped in surprise, which caused his large obnoxious shades to go askew, and his top hat fell off. He turned to glare, no, glance with slight annoyance at the intruder. When he noticed it was little pink earth filly his face contorted.

Normally his instinct would have been to shout something like

-Scatter brat!-

But the misfortune of his emotionally altered state made it come out more like…

“Why little filly, did you lose your parents? Do you need help finding them?”

“I can see them right over there, but I also saw you sneaking away from the Hooves family. What do you have to hide, and why are you wearing such ridiculously conspicuous clothes?”

This caused the giant stallion to frown; he lifted his top hat off the ground with magic, then dusted it off with a hoof before he put it back on. He also took a moment to straighten the shades on his snout.

“A little filly should mind her own business, it’s rude to intrude on strangers…”

“It’s also a bad idea to go around looking as obvious as Groucho Pony. If you actually wanted to hide something.”

The little filly leveled her blue eyes, and flipped her purple-white mane slightly. Her little eyes gazed up at this giant with a challenging stare, a slight smirk etched the corners of her mouth.

“Tell me what you’re up to.”

At this point the grey stallion almost summoned the energy to growl, but the effort died and he instead took on a disconcertingly wide smile.

“I will politely ask you to leave.”

“If you don’t tell me I’ll scream, and then you’ll really have every pony on your case.”

His red eyes twitched while he kept that disconcerting smile, he would be furious, if he could be furious. It took a lot of energy to set up a crystal network; relocation would be a major inconvenience at the moment.

After a few deep breaths, and a tense eye contact that lasted for a short while, he found some words. The smile on his snout became less disconcerting and more mischievous.

“Alright little filly you win, would you like to know a secret.”

“It’s Diamond Tiara, and yes, spill the beans.”

“Then come and see.”

He patted the ground right next to himself with a hoof, and the little filly scooted over. She dusted the ground off, and circled it a few times before she found it satisfactory, and took a seat. They both faced the large crystal pane, which had the shifting images on it.

“What the hay is this?”

The filly lifted a little pink hoof up to the crystal surface, when she touched it one of the images shifted, and suddenly she could see the perspective of the main street. Where the Hooves family busily chatted away as they walked along.

She tapped it again and the image shifted, now she could spy inside of Sugarcube corner, where the Cakes chased around their two young foals. She tapped again and she saw Sweet Apple Acres.

Tap, and Carousel Boutique was in view.

Tap, the Ponyville Spa.

Tap, Town Hall

Tap ---

A large grey hoof pulled the small pink one away from the crystal surface. He looked down on her with a critical eye before he shook his head. He explained in level tone.

“It’s called Crystal Scrying. This pane is attached to crystal roots that have spread throughout this town. With them, I can see where roots have sprung up. The roots themselves are like fine hairs, so small you most likely wouldn’t notice them, even if you looked directly at them.”

“So you’re like, some kind of spy?”

“The subtle manner of my crystal roots, and how they infiltrate places certainly helps me spy on things I want to.”

“So why are you so bad at dressing up?”

“You know, you appear to have a talent for being a royal nuisance, is that what the little crown is for? Besides, the merchant I bought these from said they were very modern, and I liked the colors… I’ll have to visit him again.”

He poked the little filly in the chest, but she brushed it off, because he didn’t push all that forcefully. She glared up the stallion with another sassy stare.

“You got yourself into this buster, what were you trying to spy on?”

Suddenly there was an explosion in the distance, and wave of mixed green and red energy illuminated the sky. The stormy clouds that hovered over Ponyville were partially blown back, and a mild gust blew through the alley. It knocked off the stallion’s top hat, and Diamond Tiara’s tiara.

The little filly squeaked in fright and jumped over to grab on the giant grey pony’s hoof. When the gust finished, red magic grabbed the fallen accessories and placed them back on their respective owners heads.

“Something like that comes to mind.”

The giant pony lifted up a fore leg, and realized a little filly was attached to it. He gave a few shakes to try and get her off, but the little earth pony had a strong grip. He sighed and ignored it, that explosion of energy is what he wanted a closer look at. The large grey hoof, which had a pink filly clinging to it, reached over to the crystal pane to shift images again.

When he found the perspective he wanted, he put both fore hooves to the crystal pane and gestured in an expanding motion. This caused the image to occupy the entirety of the surface.

The giant stallion and little filly sat back and watched what played out on red stone pane. Diamond Tiara had calmed down enough to let go the grey pony’s enormous hoof, and watched what he watched.

There in the middle of the image was a giant brown unicorn mare, which had a dirty blonde mane. Her long horned burned with baleful green magic, opposite her was a shorter blue unicorn, who wore an amulet that glowed with red energies and illuminated her eyes.

“What’s going on?”

Fear had crept into the filly’s otherwise sassy demeanor. The giant grey pony laughed with his giant bass voice, and leaned his giant back against the alley wall. The wall groaned against the giant burden, and a giant hoof tipped the giant shades on his giant face downward, so he could get an unobstructed look at the giant show before him.

“A chess game my dear filly, I placed some pieces and now they are moving.”

He chuckled mirthfully and activated a bit more magic, which caused some yellow crystals to grow from the ground. When they were a ripe size, he plucked them with his red aura, and lifted several pieces to his mouth. His fangs crunched down on them noisily, which made Diamond cover her ears with her hooves.

The grey pony stopped the grind of his chewing and looked down at the little filly. Some of the yellow crystals hovered down in front of her little snout. She looked at them with confusion, and the bass voice addressed her amiably.

“Want some Crystal Corn?”

Ch.24 "The Great and Powerful" part 1

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.24 “The Great and Powerful” part 1

“That was a warning… Give up now, and I promise I’ll go easy on you.”

A short distance outside of Ponyville, at the boundary where Trixie’s barrier had been, was a large crater. This crater still smoked with fresh scorch marks and simmered with green residue. The blue unicorn, who was not but a few yards away from it, had her mane blasted sideways in an unkempt and comical manner. She also was splattered with bits of earth, which dirtied her coat. Her face was obscured by the mess of her white and muddy mane.

Red light glowed from underneath the mess of her white mane, at the same time the amulet about her neck glowed as well. A small wave of red aura brushed away the dirt that messed up her fur and mane, and some effort went to make sure she straightened out the dirtied white locks. The result still left her rather scuffled in appearance.

“You wish to intimidate the Great and Powerful Trixie? Your punishment will be worse for this.”

With purple eyes that turned red, she glared at the taller unicorn. The sinister and confident smirk was no longer on her blue muzzle, replaced instead with a darker purse of the lips, and distinguished narrow eyes.

As fast as a quick draw, Trixie shot a beam of red energy directly at her tall brown opponent. It would have easily blasted a fully loaded cart far away, and the blue unicorn expected this to knock down the overly tall equine.

Even as the blast of crimson energy hurled forward a wall of green fire erupted through the air. As the two forces collided there was a great deal of smoke and sparkles of magical shards. This lit up the local area with a shower of red-green sprinkles that would have been perfect for a Hearth’s Warming Eve pageant.

When the smoke and bright lights settled, the wall of green flames had held it’s ground, and waved about merrily. The ground immediately around the giant equine was wind whipped, while the grass had been burnt off the surface, but nothing otherwise too dramatic…

Trixie saw her opponent was unphased by the attack, so she made an irritated ‘humph’ noise as she grunted indignantly. Enigma walked forward, a rather bored expression stretched over her wide mouth.

“Please, who would call you Great and Powerful besides yourself? Is that cheap trinket what makes you think you’re worth anything?”

This made the sky colored mare widen her eyes furiously, her pursed lips devolved into a snarl and she growled. Her hooves angrily stamped on the ground, and she appeared ready to charge. That reaction in turn brought a smile to Enigma’s face, as she continued to stalk towards her smaller prey.

“You think you’re clever don’t you, but Trixie hasn’t even shown you what she is really capable of. She will make you beg before this is over.”

As the white maned mare spoke several giant saw blades were conjured and floated in the air. Each of these giant pieces of metal was more than twice the height of the chocolate unicorn. One of them landed in between the two equines and buried itself deep in the ground. This stopped Enigma in the middle of her forward stalk, and she cocked an eyebrow. Did this little blue brat want things to get lethal?

The rest of the giant blades also impaled the ground, and ended up in a wide circle. The brown giant cast another wall of green flames around herself, and waited for the next inevitable attack. She sighed, and kept an eye on the amulet possessed unicorn.

Trixie’s red cast eyes gazed at the saw blades, and with a flash, they started to move up and down, and around. A neat circle was cut around Enigma, who looked at the activity with confusion, and when the blades finished their job they disappeared.

“Are you trying to garden? Dolt?”

Enigma still had her defensive wall of fire up, and Trixie wore an angry smile. Red magic flashed and a large shovel appeared, it speared the loose ground underneath the giant brown unicorn. One neat flip later, and the immediate area around the magically shielded unicorn was flipped upside down.

A mound of earth buried Enigma, and her wall of fire was smothered. Now that Trixie’s opponent had disappeared underneath a large upturned mound of earth she lifted a hoof to brush herself off. Some dirt still clung to her chest which the magic hadn’t removed. She spoke with a snarky snide tone.

“Oh, what was that? Trixie can’t hear you under all that dirt. Maybe if she hears your cries of defeat, Trixie can plant you somewhere else…”

Trixie tapped the ground with a hoof, as if she knocked at a door. Then she brought her head close to the ground, one ear perked up, and she waited to hear some kind of telltale moan. What she heard instead was some kind of rumble. This was not what she wanted to hear, and she frowned, the rumble got closer and louder.

“Give up already, Trixie commands you!”

The ground burst apart right next to the blue unicorn, and two giant hooves wreathed in green energy braced on the edges of the newly formed hole. The azure mare had shielded her face from the explosion of dirt with a hoof, but she lowered it quickly and looked down into this fresh tunnel. Two lurid green eyes glared up at her from the darkness.

This was when Trixie discovered how far Enigma’s freakishly long limbs could reach. One enormous hoof caught her over the side of her barrel, and dragged her down into the dark mysterious pit. A loud shriek of surprise came from the smaller unicorn, as the incident of the explosion of dirt, and her being grabbed, occurred all in one moment.

Two young unicorn colts stood off to the side, jaws hung loose in shock and awe. The taller yellowish one shook himself to his senses, and prodded the shorter grey one. As dorky as a panicked dorky voice could be, he addressed his shorter companion.

“We gotta go Snips, I don’t wanna be this close for the next explosion!”

“But it’s so… cool! I mean, I wanna see who comes out of that hole first!”

“But Snips!”

“C’mon Snails, just a little longer.”

“But Snips!”

The ground rumbled intensely, and the short, squat, grey unicorn felt his hooves bounce slightly away from the ground. A bead of sweat ran down the side of his head, but it was an awesome bead of sweat, as in the kind of sweat he felt when in possible mortal peril. He also had the excited tingle in his spine that said he was about to witness something spectacular if he stayed.

“Okay… maybe one or two steps back, but I still need to see this.”

The two of them popped off their chariot harnesses and walked away backwards, so they could keep an eye towards the tunnel. They only made it a few steps, before the spectacular thing happened.

With a screech and whistle that echoed throughout Ponyville and beyond, a bundle of rockets shot out of the tunnel. Behind the primary rockets was a trail of lesser fireworks that spun off in random directions and created a myriad of sparkly colors and lights.

Firecrackers, Fireworks, FireSsnakes, fire cakes, fire flowers, fire powers, fire flies, fire ties, fire beads, fire seeds, fire bands, fire sands, fire bears, fire mares and fiery fire fired out in an unending stream from the tunnel.

The overwhelming array of colors that flashed about nearly sent Snips into a seizure, as his eyes could barely process the sight of mythic proportions in front of him, and he drooled slightly. Snails blinked and missed it.

Though the screech of the primary rockets diverted both of their attention, both of the young unicorns snapped their necks towards it, and they could have sworn some other pony was strapped to the bundle of large fireworks. As they saw some legs flail off of the sides. It continued to sail off, directly over the top of Ponyville, and kept going upward.

A noisy cough came from the side, which diverted Snips and Snails attention away from the sky, back towards the tunnel, which had calmed down, and was no longer a source of optical amazement.

No, rather, an unsightly azure unicorn crawled out of the tunnel, and dragged herself forward with her two front hooves. She was splayed out on her belly as her two hind legs dragged limply behind her. Her coat and mane were a total muddy mess.

She also had a large black eye, or more accurately, a black half of her face that was bruised over. Enigma’s hoof was much larger than just Trixie’s eye. She spat out a tooth.

“Wretched, filthy, foul mongrel, Trixie has shown you!”

One of her hooves was raised and angrily trashed in the direction of the sky bound rockets and their strapped on victim. Despite her roughed up face, she made a sadistic smile.

“Ow…”

Smiling hurt.

Both Snips and Snails rushed over to their fallen overlord, danger was apparently gone at the moment, and the sight of Trixie in such a state was rather pitiable.

“Trixie are you okay?”

“Back off numbskulls! Trixie is more than ok!"

The azure mare strained as she lifted herself to all four hooves. It took a moment to stabilize, but she managed. She saw the tooth on the ground and grabbed it with her magic. It was roughly shoved back up into her gums where it had snapped off. She growled at the pain, but continued to seal it back in there.

After that she conjured a large ice pack, and pressed it against her face and groaned. One eye looked up to the sky, the rockets should blow at any second now.

“Try to mug Trixie in a dark hole will you… Enjoy being part of the show, Enigma…”

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

A blinding flash of light crossed the air, and every pony in Ponyville shielded their eyes. This was followed by an enormous concussive wave of noise, which rattled every pony to their bones, and many hearts skipped a beat as it passed.

In a dazzling display beyond measure, light works danced over the sky in a way that would put auroras to shame. This caused the Great and Powerful Trixie to nod with approval. She thought back in retrospect, she should have come across this amulet earlier, her shows would have been without compare.

A half smile crossed over the uninjured side of her face. Too bad it took this big brown unicorn to bring it out of her. The amulet continued to glow, and burned her irises over with red malevolence.

The spark of dark ambitions started to crawl over her mind, the Great and Powerful Trixie deserved to be respected in more than just the little town of Ponyville… yes… She should be respected over all of Equestria. She started to cackle evilly.

“Trixie will beat any pony that challenges her, and all will fear her great and powerful name, muwahahahahaha!”

---

A few moments earlier -

Enigma struggled against the ropes that bound her to the cacophonous rockets. Every time she struggled the ropes only got tighter, like some kind of constrictive snake. They were strong as cords of iron, and worked against her impressive strength.

She roared in frustration, the trail of heat from the rocket’s tail singed the hair on her own tail, and was an unpleasant reminder she had little time to act before the whole bundle went off.

She thought about simply burning the ropes, but that might prematurely set off the rockets, and she would rather not deal with that. Then another idea popped into her head, a laughably simple one...

Green magic flashed and her form quickly shrank. Chrysalis resumed her normal form, but at one third of the size, and now the rope’s durability didn’t matter, she simply slipped out of the bindings. Immediately she plummeted down a good ways before her wings buzzed to life and kept her from a free fall all the way down. There was she still a great deal of turbulence, and her descent was far from graceful.

This was somewhat of an inconvenience. She wanted to keep that disguise to lull the inhabitants into some kind of workable trust. Maybe if they saw her disguise as the liberator of their town, she could work them into a favorable opinion of the queen. Also she could get a surprise jump on the Elements of Harmony, if they were still here. Now she would just have to appear as the stern queen again… She sighed.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Chrysalis hadn’t moved from where she had caught herself in the air, and was swept away in the explosion of the mega fireworks.

---

Shortly after the explosion in Ponyville, outside the Golden Oaks Library -

Applejack had stumbled backwards in surprise from the sudden shock wave of noise. Next to her and equally surprised were the rest of her friends. Once the wave had past and the fiery colors dimmed down, a shower of sparks hailed over most of Ponyville.

The little pieces of light bounced off this and that, and while they burned brightly, they contained little heat. Only one nearby home had it’s thatch roof catch on fire. It was kind of impressive, considering the volume of sparks that showered the town. Still, some pony shouted.

“My house!”

The orange earth pony blinked a few times after the sparks had stopped, and lowered a hoof she had used to shield her face. Her hat wasn’t present, and she hadn’t been able to replace it since she had gotten free. Everything had been crazy and disorienting the moment she was plopped back here, and she hadn’t been able to get her hooves under her, so to speak.

“Ya’ll right girls?”

She turned to the other four mares present. None of which looked particularly bothered by the sparks, and each of them gave their acknowledgement.

“MmmmHmmmm”

Pinkie still hadn’t gotten her muzzle back yet from Trixie’s earlier removal spell. Her eyes drooped and were heavy with tiredness. She had danced for Trixie’s entertainment for hours the other day, and she hadn’t been able to eat anything since then, evident by her stomach growling. Now that the pink mare thought about it, she hadn’t been able to eat anything since the invasion at Canterlot. Though she had been able to eat as much as she wanted in her dream stasis, dream food wasn’t real food.

“I’m fine darling.”

Rarity confirmed.

“I’m o-okay.”

Mumbled Fluttershy.

“The hay is going on? Why’s the barrier gone? What’s with the huge fireworks? I thought Trixie was making us her entertainment… Oh, and hey! And what about our plan to tell Twilight about that amulet?”

Rainbow Dash jumped into the air, did a few back flips, and then spread her front hooves wide in a gesture to encompass everything in front of her. Her cyan hooves indicated towards the remnants of the drifting smoke in the air, and the barrier free status of Ponyville.

“Do you think you can go spy out what’s going on Dash?”

Applejack walked up to her cyan friend and tapped her hind leg with a hoof.

“Ya, gimme a sec, I’ll be right back.”

In a dash, Rainbow was gone, she had grabbed a cloud so she could advance in cover. With that in progress AJ turned to the pink, yellow, and white mares.

“I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m done bein’ a prisoner. Don’t care whether it’s changelings or some unicorn who’s lost her marbles. We might be able to make a break for it if Trixie’s sufficiently distracted.”

“I agree, but we’ll need to find Twilight too dear, she could be lost or pursued out there.”

“We’ll make a move when Dash comes back. Then we can look for Twi’.”

There were some soft sniffles over to the side, and Applejack looked for source. It was Fluttershy, who sat on her haunches with her head hung low, her mane obscured her face, and AJ thought she could see a tear drop or two. A slight sympathetic frown came across the orange mare’s face, and she moved over to sit down next to distressed friend.

“There, there Fluttershy, what’s the matter?”

The sniffles paused for a moment, the yellow pegasus raised a wing to part her mane enough to let one eye see through. Her voice quivered and conveyed just how upset she was.

“W-what’s not the matter Applejack? W-we don’t get five minutes back with you before Trixie shows up and banishes Twilight. Rainbow, Rarity and I got away from the changelings, not even two days ago. And, and, the poor princesses, and every pony is just plain terrified, and, and-“

“Sshhhh, it’ll be ok Shy, we just need to be calm right now, and be ready to move. I’m sure we can figure something out, but we need to get somewhere more secure first.”

The earth pony gave the pegasus a pat on the back, and ran a hoof over her shoulders in a friendly manner to sooth her. Rarity and Pinkie also moved to sit down next to Fluttershy, and they all joined in an embrace of consolation. Just as Fluttershy’s sniffles started to successfully die down, a loud impact interrupted the otherwise peaceful occasion.

THUD!

A black smoke wreathed mass crashed at the entrance of the Golden Oaks Library, and cracked the ground with it’s forceful landing. Dirt blew up from the ground and wailed past the circle of friends, who crouched defensively against the surprise attack of noise and dust.

They all coughed a bit, and the dust settled rather quickly. Fluttershy curled up into a ball and shivered uncontrollably, and AJ jumped to her hooves, ready to inspect whatever had nearly hit them.

At the point of impact there was an infuriated growl and hiss, a slight shuffle of movement gave indication something alive was there. Each of the colorful mares started to back away from this mysterious new creature, which had survived a fall from the sky.

“Gahh! I’m going hang you with that amulet Trixie!”

Chrysalis arose from the midst of the little crater, and her tall form loomed out of the shallow surface. Her blue green mane and tail were singed all about, and blackened at the tips, and she had lost her crown somewhere in the tumble. The rest of her chitinous hide hissed as slight embers were shaken off her flame licked body.

Her eyes had reddened around her green irises, and her muzzle was pulled up in a fearsome snarl, sharp fangs fully exposed. Her posture was that of a predator on the hunt, with her head slightly lowered, and legs curled and ready to pounce.

It didn’t take long for her to notice the ponies that trembled next to her, and who stared with wide terrified eyes.

“You…”

Four of the ponies connected to the Elements of Harmony were right there in front of her. None of them had budged yet, and appeared to wait for a sign. Chrysalis hadn’t immediately jumped on them, and seemed rather surprised they were right there.

“Grr, I’ll deal with all of you later, I need more eyes.”

With a flash of white magic from her eyes and horn, the queen blared out a mental message to the changelings that waited under the surface of Ponyville.

“It’s time to show up!”

Dozens of locations across Ponyville were disturbed by sudden eruptions of the earth. The process occurred the same in many locations. First a drone would break through, and expand the exit with their ability to dig rapidly, then behind the drone would follow a sentinel and vanguard.

The appearance of a hundred changelings all over Ponyville was another source off panic in of itself. Many of the citizens fearfully backed away, and those that tried to fight were quickly subdued by the sentinel and vanguard cohorts.

One set of changelings appeared particularly close to the queen’s location. As had been with every other set, there was a drone, vanguard, and sentinel. The Sentinel of this group had notably red rimmed eyes, and wore a smug smile on his fanged muzzle. Carve approached Chrysalis and noticed the four ponies she stared at.

“My queen, your orders?”

Her large double iris eyes briefly looked away from the element ponies to the sentinel who addressed her, but her gaze ventured back to the ponies before she answered him.

“Keep these ponies secured, they are high priority prisoners. Otherwise, we are not imprisoning this town, nor are we free range feeding.”

“This sentinel will make it happen my queen.”

Carve’s arrogant tone made Chrysalis cock an eyebrow at him. She was rather used to Vivisect’s dutiful, professional tone and manners. This new approach threw her off slightly, and she grunted with disapproval.

“Vanguards, spread out and keep a careful eye. I don’t want that horrid unicorn to simply vanish from here, I want to personally deal with her. Otherwise the rest of the sentinels and drones come with me.”

She barked her order at the three changelings in front of her, and they in turn relayed the messages to the other local members of the swarm. When that was complete the queen buzzed her wings, and readied to take off. The hot headed sentinel spoke up again, and laid the pandering talk on even more zealously.

“I’ll have them put in new cocoons right away my Queen”.

He turned towards the nearby drone with a pompous air, and shoved the smaller changeling, then indicated towards the other four pony mares. The drone hissed angrily for being shoved, and irritably started to work the magic and slime to form new cocoons.

A loud stomp stopped the actions even as they went forward. Chrysalis’s loud voice carried through the air.

“No, I don’t want them wrapped up yet. After I deal with the rogue unicorn I want to question them personally, just keep them here, and use a careful eye.”

Carve deflated a little that his initiative was interrupted, but he turned quickly on the ponies and leveled his red rimmed eyes at them. He started to circle them like some ferocious guard dog.

“None of you are going to move from this spot.”

Chrysalis rolled her eyes at the overly ambitious changeling, his pride would get in the way of his job, and she could easily see it. She mentally sent a message to a few other nearby sentinels, so they would gather at this spot, she didn’t trust Carve to handle this all by himself.

Hopefully there were other sentinels that would be a better candidate to be the new head. It had been a while since she had done a rigorous review of that division’s members. Vivisect had typically kept the sentinels in top shape as a group… Vivisect… Every time she thought back to her damaged councilor she ground her teeth in frustration.

“Come here, and go about my previous orders.”

The queen pointed at the drone and vanguard and reminded them of what she wanted. The vanguard buzzed off towards the boundary of Ponyville, and formed part of a massive circle with the other vanguards. No pony would escape without being spotted by the numerous sets of eyes.

The local drone otherwise buzzed into the air, to follow wherever the queen would go. A loud buzz signaled that Chrysalis was ready to fly again, and take to the air she did. A mix of over fifty drones and sentinels approached her as she soared over Ponyville, and towards the direction she had last scuffled with Trixie.

Bringing all the assistance along was overkill, but she wanted to be prepared in case something else caught her off guard. Even though the power the azure unicorn mare had displayed was impressive, Chrysalis picked up the feeling that she wasn’t even as strong as Celestia. At the moment, Chrysalis was still much stronger than when she had initially defeated the Solar Princess.

The scuffle up until this point was a mild test, as a changeling never fought as well when they were in disguise. It was a distraction to both maintain a guise and cast other spells, or fight properly. Now she would pummel her opponent into submission with focused precision. Maybe she could do a few extra pummels for good measure…

Ch.25 "The Great and Powerful" part 2

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.24 “The Great and Powerful” part 2

In a humble alleyway –

Sombra worked to fix his top hat, as he had to recover from the initial gust the giant firework display had brought. The whiplash of air caused all loose articles of clothing to be blown about, which had caused his curved horn to poke a large hole in his hat.

After he pulled the hat off and frowned at the damage it had taken, he put it back on with a slight pout. The small pink filly was still clutching onto his leg, and he ignored it the same as last time. His crimson eyes had gone back to the crystal scrying pane to figure out what happened exactly.

He had watched the fight progress to the point where Trixie had been pulled underground. When the tunnel burst with too much light to comfortably witness he almost canceled the magic in the scry crystal. Fortunately it dimmed before that became necessary.

Trixie had crawled out of the hole with no Enigma in sight. Sombra narrowed his eyes and patiently waited for some other sign. His hooves quickly swiped the crystal surface so he could observe different locations. Every which way there was no sign of the disguised changeling queen.

“Come on Queen Horsefly, I need you to do more than that…”

“Queen Horsefly? Didn’t Trixie call that tall pony Enigma? Where’d she go?”

Diamond Tiara had gained enough courage to peak away from her secured position on Sombra’s foreleg. Sombra just booped her snoot with a hoof to quiet her, his focus was intent on the scry crystal, and he didn’t want to miss anything important.

CLANK!

“OW!”

A small metal object whizzed through the air at high velocity, and collided with Sombra’s head. It made another nasty large hole in his tasteless top hat, and gave a good thump on his skull. He was going to shout something along the lines of…

-Demons from Tartarus will impale your flanks with a thousand rusty pitchforks!-

But it came out more like…

“My unfortunate head, it was impolite of whoever it was to throw that.”

He looked around for the offending item, and realized something weighty was in his top hat that wasn’t there before. He removed the hat, and shook it like a can to empty it, to which , a small crown fell out.

“Hey, a little tiara!”

Diamond Tiara reached out for it, but Sombra grabbed it first.

“It hit my head, I will exact gentle chastisement on it first!”

He tapped the object softly in petty revenge, then hoofed it to the filly, who eagerly grabbed for it. The stallion was about to ignore it after that, but something was familiar about that small object, and he turned to look at it more closely.

It was a dull dark metal, and had four points tipped with small blue orbs. A little crown, that was last seen on the head of…

“Oh.”

His large crimson eyes were drawn to the sky and the smoky remains of the firework display. Then his gaze went down to the crown, and back up to the sky. He started to laugh heartily, so that’s where she went.

“To fry a bug, why didn’t I try that earlier…”

“Huh, why would you want to fry bugs?”

Little Diamond Tiara, no longer clasped to Sombra’s fore-leg, her front hooves were now preoccupied with the small crown she held. She didn’t bother to look up as she asked the question. Her blue eyes were fascinated as she inspected the details of the simple, yet unusual object. It was quite heavy for it’s size.

“It was one particular bug really. A bug that wore that crown you’re holding.”

The small filly stopped in the middle of her fiddle with the metal object, her eyes were drawn level, as she slowly turned to look up at the giant grey stallion. Her tone was skeptical.

“A bug wore this?”

“A very large bug, she was around my size. But now I think she is cooked… Maybe, if we’re lucky a leg or two will drop by, it would go well with the crystal corn.”

The dark stallion flashed the fangs in his mouth and smiled at the thought, he even licked his lips a little. Diamond’s mouth hung open slightly and one eye began to twitch. She looked down to the crown in her hooves, before she noticed how she trembled as she held the object. The little crown was dropped with a soft thud, and the filly thought very seriously about leaving this mysterious spy stallion to his mysterious spying.

Sombra noticed the filly’s rather shocked expression. He chuckled and gave her a pat on the back, which caused her to squeak loudly and jump.

“What… have you never heard the phrase ‘to feast on your enemies’?”

“No, ew!”

“Well, that’s fine, you are young, you probably don’t do anything more than drink the tears of other fillies and colts unfortunate enough to cross your path. When you mature some, come talk to me again.”

Diamond Tiara kept her mouth slightly ajar, but narrowed her eyes and shook her head critically. Meanwhile, a giant grey hoof went over to the scry crystal and began to shift the images once more. A little more crystal corn found it’s way to Sombra’s fanged mouth, and he crunched it absent mindedly.

“I suppose there are some other places I should check on. Too bad, I really expected more out of Chryssi-chryss. I just had to make some difficult technicality when I made that amulet, didn’t I…”

“Wait you’re the reason that crazy unicorn took over town!”

The pink filly jumped to her hooves and pointed an accusatory hoof at her giant companion. Sombra’s response was nonchalant.

“Of course, I have a little condition that keeps me from simply taking it. So I’m using other ponies to do the job. Besides, why do something when you can get other ponies to do it for you?”

“Huh, I actually agree with that last part.”

“But in any case, the amulet can’t be removed by any pony except the wearer.”

“And why do you want it back? Are you going to go all crazy too… well, crazier that you already seem to be.”

Sombra just turned to Diamond with a wide smile, which unnerved the little filly greatly.

“I just want to be back to the way I was, and I want back what is mine. Miss tall, shiny, bug mare took a number of things from me, and though I doubt she’s actually gone, if she’s out of commission I’ll have to modify my plans.”

“Wait, are you talking about that invasion that happened in Canterlot more than a week ago?”

“She only took over that recently huh?”

“Ya, there was supposed to be this big wedding, but she crashed it. Now she says she’s queen in place of Celestia, at least that’s what the news said.”

“Interesting, but she and I crossed paths at my empire, and that’s what I want back first. Once I’m back to normal, I’ll return the favor, and squat my flank on her throne for a little while.”

Red magic gripped the little crown that Diamond had dropped on the ground, it was lifted up in front of his snout and he looked at it with a reserved smile. Then he lifted his top hat and deposited the little crown inside of it.

His eyes shifted to the scry crystal again, and with a wave of a hoof, the vision altered. Now it was in front of Golden Oaks Library. There were a few of the ponies he had placed there earlier, and… there, there was Chrysalis. She stood tall over the ponies who were terrified at her appearance.

A small tingle went down Sombra’s spine, he enjoyed fear in others, and a hint of jealousy crept into his demeanor. That changeling was free to inspire fear if she so wished, while he had to deal with a destabilized mess of emotions that made him second guess his every action. It killed his willpower often, and he couldn’t even be properly frustrated about it…

“Wait… You’re royalty? Then why are you skulking around in gaudy clothes?”

Sombra face-hoofed in mild annoyance that he wished was more than mild, but he couldn’t muster up anything more than mild. He wanted to shout loudly, but he sighed and spoke softly

“Yes filly, I am a king, but I’m hiding because I’ve had many things taken from me.”

A slight flash came from the scry crystal and Sombra saw the changeling queen cast some kind of spell. The effect was immediate, and slight tremors could be felt from several directions. Outside of the alley the ground burst apart and several changelings popped out.

A scream of fright was interrupted as Sombra shoved a hoof over Diamond’s mouth. His bloody red eyes were now focused on the edge of the alley way, where several changelings walked by, and the two ponies managed to sit there unnoticed.

After they had passed Sombra lowered his hoof, and Diamond whispered loudly.

“There’s more of them here?”

An edge of panic was in the filly’s voice, and Sombra continued to stare at the edge of the alley, and ignored the filly’s inquiry. Another voice echoed nearby the alley.

“Diamond? Diamond! Where are you?”

“Mom!”

The little pinky filly shouted before Sombra could do anything to help her be quiet. The giant stallion flinched that attention was suddenly brought to his little obscured alleyway. In a moment another pony mare peaked around at the edge of alley.

This mare was pink pelted and had a white-purple striped mane. Her eyes were moderate shade of violet with bright highlights, and her cutie mark was a baseball with a screw next to it.

“Diamond! Why did you-”

Her violet eyes caught sight of the stallion her daughter sat next to, and they widened considerably. Before the mare could say anything to escalate the situation, Sombra put hoof behind Diamond and shoved her towards her mother. His tone was dismissive.

“Please take her, she’s been putting her snout into business that isn’t hers.”

“Hey!”

“Diamond! I’m sorry… Sir? I’ll take her right away.”

“But mom! He’s doing interesting spy stuff.”

“Not our business Diamond, now come here, now!”

The pink mare spoke with an authoritative voice, and the filly begrudgingly dragged her hooves out of the alley way. Once the filly was gone, Sombra readjusted his position to get comfortable, he no longer leaned against the wall, but leaned forward towards the scry crystal.

“Ahem…”

A loud cough interrupted his focus, and he noticed the adult pony hadn’t left the edge of the alley way yet. He rolled his eyes and sighed.

“What were you doing with my daughter in some obscure alley?”

“Minding my own business, she stalked me.”

“And you didn’t bring her out to look for her parents?”

“I’m a busy pony what can I say… I’m not going to let intrusive ponies get in the way of my work.”

Sombra stood up in the middle of his sentence and took a few long steps toward the pink mare. His imposing height loomed over the protective parent, and he looked down into her purple irises with his red rimmed ones. To his surprise, the mare wasn’t remotely intimidated by his display of stature. Instead the pink mare leveled him with a hard glare of her own, and her voice carried a sharp edge to it.

“For your sake, I hope your business isn’t too intrusive… My friends wouldn’t take kindly to that.”

For a brief moment the mare’s purple eyes flashed green for a moment, and Sombra did a double take.

Then suddenly diamond’s mother went blank in her gaze, as if something interrupted her focus. A moment later she shook her head, and snapped her attention in another direction. This left Sombra alone, as the mare bolted away from the alley. She scooped up her daughter and put her on her back as she started to gallop away.

Sombra could catch a few words as the mother and daughter left.

“I’m going to leave you with daddy Diamond, then I have to go somewhere else, it’s an emergency. I don’t want you to leave daddy for any reason.”

“Why?”

“I don’t have time to explain.”

After that the words were too distant to make out clearly. Sombra looked after them one time with a suspicious glare, but then turned back to his scry crystal. At least he was now left alone, the fact changelings were currently running around the surface at the moment might make for a good distraction to other potentially snoopy ponies.

When his eyes roamed over to the image that showed Golden Oaks Library he noticed that something was missing. There were several burly changelings that stood around the element mares, but there was no Chrysalis. He hummed in curiosity, where had she gone while he looked away?

The answer came in the form of a loud buzz. When his gaze turned skyward and he saw a small swarm of changelings buzz directly overhead, and move rapidly across Ponyville. In the lead was the queen.

This brought a smile to his fanged muzzle, and he tapped the scry crystal. So he could watch Trixie once more, she still had an ice pack glued to half of her face and the two unicorn colts continued to bow out of respect and fear close by.

He crossed his front hooves over one another, before he placed his chin on top of that, and watched in observant silence.

---

The thunderous buzz of changeling wings hummed over to the outskirts of Ponyville. To where an azure unicorn mare and two colts stood. As they approached Trixie removed the ice pack to get a better look, and the two foolhardy colts quivered more than they already were.

“What is this… More creatures in need of Trixie’s punishment.”

Her eyes roamed over the group that number over fifty and rapidly approached. The violet eyes that were tainted red spotted a particularly tall figure, and this is who her eyes lingered on.”

“Enigma? No… what?”

The other insectile creatures started to land on the ground a good distance away from her, while the largest one of them all remained in the air, and her horn glowed with ethereal green energy. Trixie was able to recognize the feeling of that aura, and she cocked an eyebrow.

“Trixie can see why you wore a disguise Enigma, you're even more hideous in your own skin. Trixie is surprised you survived the fire works, and she will now prop-”

Her loud voice was interrupted by a blast of emerald light and beam of powerful magic. On instinct Trixie raised a shield defensively. Even though she had no particular knack for that type of magic, the amulet she wore more than made up for any clumsiness she had. The shield was a corrupted glow of purple, as red and blue aura’s mixed and swirled.

Chrysalis growled in frustration as Trixie’s barrier held it’s ground. The power of contained within the amulet was truly impressive. To allow such a lowly unicorn to contend with her on such a level.

In a state of deep vexation Chrysalis amplified her energy even more, the green magic thickened, and the changeling queen had to brace herself against the reckless exertion. All four of her hooves dug deep into the ground as she tried to overwhelm the amulet empowered shield. Intuitively the queen could feel the situation becoming ever more dangerous. As she continued to hold up the flow of power, she could feel her reserves of energy deplete much faster than she wanted.

In response to changeling’s increase in force was an increase in the strength of the shield. Trixie focused all the power of her defensive magic directly opposed to the queen. This caused the shield to no longer cover her from all angles, but she could then brace against what Chrysalis threw at her with moderate effort. Despite the bruise over her face, Trixie cracked a mad smile that was wider than ever. Truly, the amulet made her unstoppable! Sadly she was too focused to actually shout that out loud.

For all the effort of trying to force her down, by herself, Chrysalis realized she couldn’t keep this up, and her frustration grew exponentially. She made a rage filled call across the swarms mental link.

“Don’t just stand there! Help me! Vanguard too, abandon your watch!”

The queen’s call screeched at all the other nearby changelings, and obediently, if fearfully, complied. Sentinels, drones, and vanguard swarmed over towards Trixie’s location. The gave a wide berth to avoid their queen’s line of fire, but didn’t wait to start peppering the unicorn’s more vulnerable sides. A mixed hail of energy bolts and balls

With her shield unprepared to take attacks from other angles, Trixie was caught off guard, the barrage of changeling projectiles quickly through her focus off, so she tried to wrap the shield around to block the other changelings more effectively. The multi tasking proved to undermine the strength of the shield at a particular point of pressure. The queen capitalized on the critical distraction, and pushed out a final burst of energy to compromise the unicorn’s defense.

The shield finally buckled, and broke with the sound of shattering glass. The backlash of the failed spell sent Trixie rolling back in a brutal tumble, while the changeling queen fell back on her rump, and cut off the expensive expulsion of energy.

With the contact between the two broken, the rest of the changelings pounced on the enemy of their queen, and the self-aggrandized unicorn was buried under a pile of blackened limbs and buzzing wings.

Despite the exhaustive amount of power Chrysalis had used up, she forced herself back up onto her forces, and charged forward in a rather slow sprint. The queen’s reverberant voice roared at the swarm of bodies in front of her.

“OUT OF THE WAY! SHE’S MINE!”

Her subjects quickly parted like water as they cowered away from her wrathful presence. The path was left clear, and at the end of it was the target. Trixie’s was completely pinned to the ground under a heap of slime. Only her neck and muzzle were relatively free, several bruises could be seen developing, from all the cheap shots delivered during the mobbing.

Chrysalis let out a bestial growl as she looked down on her mauled and pinned rival. Then her gaze fixated on the ornament around Trixie’s neck. That thing was why she was almost embarrassed by this run-of-the-mill pony. Hatred burned so deeply from the queen that the air around her horn began to heat up in waves, and an inner fire burned brightly from within her eyes. This amulet couldn’t be allowed in the hooves of such worthless individuals. Something that could rival her powers like this would be hers or no one's.

“You don’t deserve an artifact like this you miserable wretch.”

Her horn ignited as she seized the amulet in her magic. The green aura wrapped around the metal trinket, but failed to make it budge. Surprised by the lack of response, Chrysalis tried again, only to further feed her disappointment. Her aura did nothing to remove it from the unicron.

The queen didn’t hesitate to escalate things further. She stomped over to the trapped pony and tried to physically yank the artifact off with her hoof, but the it didn’t shift, rather Trixie as a whole was yanked about. The slime that kept the pony trapped stretched almost a leg’s length as Chrysalis tried to force the amulet off. Her leg gave out first and Trixie was whiplashed back to the ground, where she let out a cry of pain. All the abuse had broken her front, and the proud unicorn cried in earnest.

“You cheated Enigma! You and your cronies!”

Unfortunately the pony’s mouth hadn’t been covered, even if most everything else had. Chrysalis didn’t have any composure herself, and screamed at the top of her very voluminous lungs.

“YOU WILL GIVE IT TO ME!”

In her fit the queen pulled the unicorn up by her horn, much to the pony’s audible discomfort. The slime melted away from Trixie’s eyes, so Chrysalis could stare right into them. When she had full line of sight, her eyes glowed venomously. She would figure out whatever inane trick this was, and tear it out of the pony, even if it mutilated her mind. Chrysalis couldn’t accept this power being in any hooves, except her own.

When she had attacked Shining Armor’s mind before, she had been subtle, she acted to not be noticed. This time she held no restraints and dug vicious and recklessly in as she could. Only to find additional barriers in her way.

For one, it felt extremely odd. Trixie’s egotistical mind had it’s own distinct signature, but it was surrounded by the influence of an obviously foreign source. Chrysalis knew which part of the mind she needed to gain complete control of, but the channels were blocked off. If the ponies mind was a treasure… then it was on the other side of a deep moat, one the queen struggled to figure how to cross at the moment.

Another growl of frustration rippled out of the changeling, not only did this obstinate amulet prove to be physically challenge, but possessed a fearsome mental protection as well. Who had made this? It didn’t matter, when Chrysalis found out she would beat them to mulch.

She played around with the barrier for several minutes, trying to probe for any weakness she could find, but the moat remained unflinching, despite her attempts to out maneuver it. The mental gymnastics added a whole new level of exhaustion to the process. Even the tenacity that the queen gained from her seething hatred began to quiver.

“What are you trying to do to Trixie!”

Chrysalis blinked, the pony’s voice yelled out at her in the mental spectrum. The queen responded quickly and contemptuously.

“I’m going to turn your mind inside out, and get everything I want!”

“Y-you’re in Trixie’s mind! H-how dare you! Get out! Get out or I’ll make you get out!”

To both her astonishment and glee the barrier that protected Trixie’s mind began to falter. At first the moat seemed resistant, but it gave way to its owner’s desires. It appeared that Trixie would unwittingly leave the subconscious defenses the amulet gave her, and try to wrestle out Chrysalis’s influence herself…

For the first time since her encounter with the eccentric show pony, she actually laughed. She called out in Trixie’s mind as she mocked.

“Then come and get me you pathetic whelp! Make me leave!”

The queen awaited eagerly like a trapdoor spider, hungry for the prey that thought it could force her away. The bait was hardly needed, since Trixie was all too eager to get back at her challenger, and unknowingly crossed the barriers that kept her safe. Mind control was one of the queen’s favorite spells, and a well practiced one at that.

“You will leave Trixie’s mind now! Then you’ll all leave ponyville! It is Trixie’s!”

Chrysalis belted out a heinous laugh, then did her quick and deadly work. The moat had filled, and the channels were open. It was token resistance at this point. The physical might of the amulet may have blocked her, and the mental defenses of the amulet would have kept her out, but the pony’s own ego and ignorance gave her the tools to finish this.

After Trixie opened up her mind, it was seized it in a strangle hold, and one dominating thought took over. The pony’s will power evaporated in moments, and her mind quickly became an echo chamber that said one thing.

“Release the amulet…”

At first she tried to defend herself, but in this realm she was ineffectual as a blind and deaf mouse navigating the Badlands. Physically her body trembled, but after a minute or it relaxed, and the thoughts that echoed endlessly in her mind manifested in her repeating them outloud.

“Release the amulet…”

Trixie repeated several times, and became more monotone with each reiteration, her will no longer her own. The commander of the ancient artifact was effectively hijacked, it’s current bearer exercised no will of her own.

The next moment there was a click, and the alicorn engraved necklace fell away, and bounced on the raw earth. As soon as the task was done Chrysalis leaned back and away from the pony that vexed her so. Trixie made no cry of pain as she snapped back down to the ground, she only continued to apathetically mutter “Release the amulet, Release the amulet.”

Tears rolled down Chrysalis’s cheeks, so glad was she that this was done. She began a hollow laugh. Her everything hurt. However, she now had a prize to claim. With the amulet free, the queen grabbed it in her green aura, and lifted it close.

Before she could grab it with a hoof, a crimson aura clashed with her green one, and the alicorn amulet froze where it was in the air.

“That is mine, thank you.”

The queen gasped at the sudden interruption, and she looked up to see the fanged smile of a over sized grey stallion.

“Sombra!”

Ch.26 "The Great and Powerful" part 3

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.26 “The Great and Powerful” part 3

POP!

A little trash can icon appeared in the air, and some unseen force caused it’s lid to pop off. Once the cap was removed, the small metal can tipped sideways,spilling its contents all over the ground. One pink pony muzzle fell out, and quickly flew towards a target like a speeding missile.

Smack! … GASP!

The disembodied muzzle collided with it’s owner, and once reconnected, it held fast. Pinky Pie’s first reaction was to take a deep resonant breath. Both of her hooves immediately shot to her face to make sure her muzzle was indeed back. After a few sniffs, and other faculty testing motions, she was satisfied. An explosive grin stretched over her recently recovered mouth.

“IT’S BACK!, it’s back, it’s back! I feel it coming on… Time for a pa-”

“Quiet pony!”

The large figure of Carve still circled the four pony mares. Other sentinels stood close by, but they were less aggressive in their postures, and many even looked off somewhere else. The pretty green explosion in the background had grabbed their collective attention, but Carve eyed his subjects mercilessly.

“I was gonna say pastry.”

Pinky whispered to her friends, she reached a hoof into her mane, and pulled a cupcake from somewhere. She gobbled down the blue-green creamy treat as subtly as she could, which meant not really all that subtle. The pink mare couldn’t help but give a very satisfied and relieved sigh. Crumbs and frosting were appreciatively smothered over her returned muzzle.

“Oh it’s been too long. Dream cupcakes don’t hit your tummy the same way…”

“I said quiet!”

Carve all but roared to the huddled ponies when he heard one of them whisper.

“Oh bug off Carve, what are they going to do?”

Another sentinel piped up, the gruff voice had a female distinction to it, and Carve turned his zealous attention on this new voice. The other sentinel shared some similar characteristics with the rest of her kind, thick chitin, tall proud neck fin, large stature, but her distinguishing mark came in the form of yellow rimmed eyes, and the short sprout of golden hair about her neck fin. She was also slightly shorter than Carve.

“Don’t tell me how to follow the queen’s orders Gnarla, I’ll be the new head soon, and I’ll expect you to follow my orders without question.”

“Ha! If I could eat your arrogance I’d be fed for centuries. Last time I checked, you weren’t the top contender in the spar arena…”

Both of the large sentinels bristled and hissed loudly. The slightly frightening tone of the two argumentative changelings garnered the attention of those nearby. The rest of the sentinels turned away from the flash of lights in the distance to the local action. A few mutters escaped black changeling lips as the tension between Carve and Gnarla grew in their stares.

The four element mares also watched slightly nervous. They were uncomfortably close to two very large, very contentious changelings.

“The spar arena doesn’t matter now, not without Vivisect in the picture. She went a little stupid in the head didn’t she… All the talent in her blood is now wasted, and unfortunately her sibling didn’t get a share of that…”

There was a slight gasp amongst the sentinels that watched, and a violent twitch broke into one of Gnarla’s golden eyes, and her fanged muzzle curled into a snarl, but there was obvious hesitation in her movement, as if something still intimidated her. Her hoof falls stuttered a bit, despite her anger and obvious offense to the remark.

One white unicorn mare watched some of the interactive cues between the two changelings. She brushed her curly mane a little with her hoof as she put two and two together. Her mind rolled over the potential consequences a little, and a small mischievous smile curled over her muzzle. She suddenly cried out in a loud shrill voice.

“For shame! That is intolerably rude! To insults one’s family like that. Especially when they’re indisposed! The gall!”

Carve’s red rimmed eyes shot towards the purple maned pony and a snarl erupted over his own muzzle.

“I said…”

The large sentinel stomped towards the little group of mares and lifted his head high, and he took in a deep breath as he prepared to roar right in their faces.

“Come on Carve, if you’re going to insult my blood then prove it. I’ll crack your sorry chitin right here, future head.”

Venomous sarcasm dripped from Gnarla’s final words, as she seethed towards the red rimmed sentinel. The roar that Carve had prepared to blast at the element ponies died in his chest as he rolled his eyes. He turned back towards his rival and cracked his neck.

“You’re not worth my time Gnarla, I have the queen’s orders to see followed. However, if you still have the spine to challenge me, I look forward to shattering your resolve along with your pitiful hide.”

This incited a loud growl out of the golden eyed sentinel and she took an aggressive step forward, but still hesitated to do more. The tension was so thick it was like a dam ready to break.

Applejack had also watched the whole thing progress, and Rarity’s boldness inspired her to add a few words as well.

“I dunno if it’s so much about following orders. Ya insult her family and hide behind “orders”? Sounds like a cowardly excuse to me…”

Green magic flared around Carve’s front hooves and they shifted to claws, he raised one of the weaponized limbs to point at the group of mares.

“Speak again and I will cut out your wretched tongues!”

“What, can’t take being called a coward! By a pony no less! You pathetic grub!”

Gnarla had activated her own magic and brandished her newly shifted claws. The murmurs among the group of observant sentinels got louder and a slight chant started in the form of clicks and hisses. Carve dropped the claws he pointed at the element mares and turned to face Gnarla and the rest of the group.

His muzzle twitched and kept his fangs exposed, his red rimmed eyes narrowed. The large changeling pointed his aggressive stance towards his gold trimmed rival. The hesitation in Gnarla’s steps had disappeared, her wings buzzed and she flew forward.

“Spar with me, or are you too afraid!”

Carve buzzed his own wings and rose slowly into the air.

“If you want me to cut you down then go ahead.”

A hungry glint crossed his predatory crimson eyes and he raised his claws ready to strike. Before the two changelings dove at each other, one pink party pony added to the bustle with her own shout. Her own chant closely mimicked the timing of the hisses and clicks from the other watching sentinels.

“Fight, fight, fight!”

She whipped out a blue canon that rode on purple wheels from who knows where. It blasted out a very large volume of confetti and streamers. This served as a major distraction for Carve and he turned to scream at the pony for her interruption, but he was hit by a blindsided tackle from Gnarla.

“Oh, my…”

Fluttershy whispered in fright, and she covered her eyes with her hooves.

The two changelings barreled through the air until they collided with the ground in a messy tumble. The group of sentinels that watched parted in order to give the two fighters adequate room, and the crowd’s hisses and clicks intensified into a loud jeer.

The fight was obscured from mares’ view, as the rest of the sentinels started to form a closed circle. A few vicious cracks echoed from the center of brawl, followed by yelps and several angry snarls.

Applejack couldn’t particularly tell which way the fight was going, as she couldn’t see past the crowd of changelings, and she didn’t particularly care how it ended. This was a golden opportunity, and she whispered hurriedly to the rest of her friends.

“C’mon let’s go while they’re distracted.”

None of the sentinels even noticed the four mares that sneakily trotted away; their attention was wholly consumed by the conflict in front of them, and they continued their excited hisses and clicks.

After a short while the fight was over, one sentinel emerged victorious, while the other twitched in a painful mess of limbs, and gasped for breath.

“You’re not going to be fit to fight with drones when I’m done with you! Insult my sister again, and I’ll eat you!”

Gnarla stood over Carve’s prone form, and she delivered a brutal kick to his snout, which created a loud sickening crunch. He immediately curled up into a defensive ball to shield his face, and groaned in an agony.

The golden trimmed sentinel wasn’t scratch free, there were several cracks in her chitin, but her opponent had been sloppy about hitting anything vital or crippling. She was about to deliver more punishment when another sentinel intervened.

“Enough Gnarla, you’ve proven your better.”

This other sentinel held out a hoof to block anymore blows she might deliver,]d, thus Gnarla settled to simply spit on her opponent, and kick some dirt in his face for good measure

Now that the main attraction was over many of the sentinels turned about to look for their stations, one of them quickly noticed something was wrong.

“Hey, where’d the ponies go?”

---

Green and red aura’s tugged on the alicorn amulet in a mighty tussle. Changeling Queen and Crystal King wrestled their magical grips over the small object, Chrysalis was the much more desperate of the two, as she’d already depleted much of her energy. She wasn’t prepared for the sudden appearance of the possessive stallion.

“Let go! It belongs to me!”

In a particularly focused yank, Sombra lifted his head backward and crimson magic flared in a small inferno over his head. The top hat he wore blew hopelessly far into the distance, and the heavy trench coat became ripped and torn. Chrysalis’s weakened hold was broken in an instant, and she could do nothing but gasp in surprise. The king’s red eye beamed with exuberance, and he shouted in victory. His timing couldn’t be better.

“Yes!”

Two large hooves were out stretched and ready to receive the corrupted neck ornament. A vision of the future flashed before Sombra’s eyes.

A future where the sky was darkened by mystical forces, with flames of archaic and unearthly power illuminating the landscape. He would stand above all, as the king of Equestria. All would be his slaves to do according to his will and pleasure.

The world seemed to slow down, as the amulet was less than a hoof’s length away. A slow lick of the lips decorated Sombra’s hungry countenance, and for a moment his eyes almost burned with their old fervor.

SWISH!

Large grey hooves reached out and clasped onto nothing but air. Sombra’s jaw dropped in stunned surprise. What happened?

There was a light rainbow tint to the air, and his head turned to follow the trail that was left behind. Already a ways in the distance was a familiar looking cyan pegasus, colored with rainbow mane and tail. In her hooves was the…

“Wha-, Come back!”

His voice suddenly adopted a tone of panic as his greatest hope flew away with the pegasus. Fortunately for Sombra, he was still able to keep enough of his wits about him that he noticed a deadly blast of green energy that barreled towards him.

The location where the Crystal King stood exploded with concussive force, and large chunks of earth were hurled every which way. The exhausted changeling queen slowly sauntered over the wreckage. She was rather proud that she’d managed enough energy for a cheap shot like that. While she made her way her eyes roamed to the sky for a few moments.

She too noticed the pegasus that swooped by and stole the amulet, but the pony had flown too far away too fast for the changeling to simply grab her with magic. The rainbow streak had disappeared beyond reach. Chrysalis turned her attention to the ground she just destroyed. It was a deep smoky crater two ponies wide.

“Hmm, no left overs?”

“Oh there is plenty left over, in fact it’s all left over…”

The royal changeling turned about on the spot, Sombra was right behind her and he had a rather glum face. For the moment, Chrysalis couldn’t decide if she was more angry or impressed.

“Now I must confess this puts me in a sticky spot.”

Sombra waved a hoof up at the sky, then gestured towards the queen.

“It does indeed.”

Chrysalis’s eyes flashed white and she sent a mental command to the nearby drones and sentinels.

“Help me pin him down.”

Fifty or so changelings moved to obey that order. The sounds of hacks and coughs could be heard as magical restraints were prepped. Sombra just cocked an eyebrow, and when the queen’s swarm of soldiers came forward he stomped one hoof to the ground.

Even as a bunch of sticky goo was launched at the tall grey stallion, his form turned to red crystal and dissolved into the earth. Crystal veins stretched through the ground until he reappeared at another location. He was now a slight distance further from the queen.

Most of the changelings were surprised and looked to the queen in confusion. Should they continue to pursue such a dodgy opponent? He just melted through the ground!

“I, um…”

Sombra ignored the swarm of changelings that buzzed about, and pawed at the ground with a hoof, as if he had something difficult to say. Some sentinels leapt at him, and he melded into a different location again. Some drones tried to grab him with telekinetic magic, but he easily brushed them off.

Lot’s of slime was aimed and shot at him, but he was able to deftly avoid it. Chrysalis barked another mental command at her frustrated changelings.

“Back off, and get out of the way.”

Her horn flared to life with radiant energies, and she reached out with her last bits of strength to seize Sombra in magic. Since she was still a little more formidable than her minions, he changed tactics. A conjured dome of ruby colored crystal shielded the stallion where he stood, and to the queen’s frustration it proved resistant to magic. So instead she strode up to the dome, and started to lazily beat on it with her hooves. The effort was futile and the dark king rolled his eyes as he spoke through the dome with a muffled voice.

“Would you just give it a rest already. We both know this back and forth is pointless.”.”

“Why should I want to listen to anything you have to say?”

She kept hitting Sombra’s crystal dome, though her current pace would probably take 1000 years to do anything. The stallion ignored the eccentricity as he tried to find a more sensible resolution.

“Well, we could continue our little escapade… I would get away, you would try to chase… and you would fail. Then I would keep being a thorn in your side, and you in mine.”

“This does nothing to dissuade me from pursuing your destruction…”

“Aw, but I think there is a new way we could approach this, you could help me get something I want, and I could give you something you want.”

“A bargain? Do you take me for a fool?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact I do. However, that’s beside the point. I think it would be convenient for both of us to strike a deal at the moment. Unless you’d rather continue and prove my view of you is justified.”?”

Chrysalis pursed her lips, and made a particular harsh smack on the dome in petty defense to her sensibilities. She thought about simply trying to wait him out here, until she could recover some. However, there was something about his confident manner that disconcerted her though. What could he have that she would want… oh, but of course.

“You’d be willing to return the princesses to me?”

“On certain conditions.”

“Which are?”

“Help me get the Alicorn Amulet.”

At this Chrysalis simply snorted, and she looked back up to the sky where the rainbow pegasus had disappeared. When she looked back over to Sombra her snort turned into a chuckle, and she addressed him with incredulity.

“You need my help to chase down one lone pegasus?”

“Did you see how fast she was?”

“No, really…”

“Well, see, when you disrupted my shadow magic, I’m sort of… grounded. And if that pegasus decides to stay in the air…”

“Hahaha!”

“Grr, please, are you interested or not?”

The heave in Chrysalis’s barrel stopped as she calmed herself, and she raised a hoof to thoughtfully caress her chin. Sombra in turn sat down, and tilted his head expectantly.

One the one hoof, if she had the princesses back, she would have the impressive well spring of emotional resource that only immortals could provide, and on the other she would help this obstinate king get something he wanted, something he valued above ownership of the princesses.

Then again he didn’t seem happy to have to care for Luna in his letter, maybe this was simply getting rid of a burden he didn’t want to hold onto. She couldn’t know for sure.

Meanwhile Sombra impatiently tapped one hoof, and looked up at the sky. The sun had moved from it’s morning position to high noon.

“I’d rather not spend all day sitting here Chryssie-Chryss”

“How can I trust you to hoof over the princesses to me, should I help secure your amulet?”

With another tap on the ground, and the glow of some crimson magic, a long thin shard of crystal formed amongst the earth, then Sombra opened a small hole in his protective dome to throw this new crystal to the queen.

“Touch it with telekinetic magic, and it will point to the location I have the princesses stored.”

“Oh, you’re just telling me where they are now?”

She grabbed the small red crystal with magic, and in response the crystal glowed with an eerie pulse, and the narrow end pointed off in a specific direction, back towards Canterlot. She cocked an eyebrow suspiciously at the Crystal King.

“You wanted evidence that I can give them to you, and I will, but I have my own precautions. If you try to take them early I have it arranged so that I can relocate them at a moment’s notice. And believe me when I say, don’t try, I will know if you try, and our deal will be off.”

This brought a contemplative hum from the queen’s chest.

“So while I have the skies scoured, what are you going to do? You're going to sit on your flanks and wait for me to play fetch?”

“I’m not going to tell you all of my agenda! I want one thing that you can assist me with, and I in turn will give you your prize. That is all, we are not allies.”

Sombra’s expression turned somewhat malicious and his smirk turned sinister,

“Of course, if you choose to not accept my deal, I could always explore a third option. Namely letting the princesses loose and leave you to deal with them.”

That effectively not only set Chrysalis’s own blood cold, but also that of all the changelings present. Much as she hated to admit it, Chrysalis knew she got lucky with beating Celestia, it was one on one and she had been powered up. However, if Luna or Cadence had lent their power, she would have lost, and taking all three of them on, that’d be suicide.

“Are you insane, if you do that, they’ll come after you as well.”

Sombra however, merely chuckled,

“That may be true however, given I’ll be the one responsible for giving them liberty, and the means to free their ponies from your abrasive and demeaning hooves.. Well, and with the change of heart you gave me, I may very well be able turn a new leaf in their eyes, or at the very least present you as the bigger threat. After all, if you’re going to make things difficult, and make me lose, why should I let you win?”

The queen’s eyes narrowed, her mind conjuring an image of three very powerful, and angry Alicorns staring her down. . It would appear that accepting this deal with this King of Shadows was her only option as he currently held the better hand? Her horn finally dissipated the magical build up she held onto during their conversation. Many thoughts mulled over in her mind. Perhaps she could play this game, and find a new angle to dupe this troublesome king. He already proved frustratingly difficult to catch and at the moment she didn’t have any more hands to play,

“Very well Sombra, I’ll help you retrieve the Alicorn Amulet.”

“Excellent, royal company awaits your success.”

A wide smirk crossed over the stallion’s fanged muzzle, as well as the queen’s. Even as they nodded their heads respectfully to one another their minds boiled with other thoughts.

Chrysalis closed her eyes and messaged mentally to the nearby changelings.

“We are not going to give him that amulet

Sombra quietly muttered to himself within the silence of the dome.

“She’s not going to get the princesses”

Another changeling tickled at the queen’s mind, it was not one she was familiar with on a personal level, but she could tell it was from the sentinels near the Golden Oaks library.

“Um, queen, the element ponies are gone.”

“WHAT!”

She shouted the word out loud, even to her own surprise, and Sombra perked up his eyes in response.

“Something the matter?”

“Those ponies you released here… The Element Bearers they escaped.”

Some sentinel was about to have his neck wrung out… Chrysalis clenched her jaws even as she thought about it. Sombra seemed rather unimpressed and continued.

“I don’t see why common mares are a prob-”

“They’re friends with that pegasus who stole you amulet!”

“I fail to see how that’s my problem. You capture them and then return them to my custody.”

“They will be mine, I want them as part of our deal. Now you have something to do on the ground.”

“Don’t talk as if you can give me an assignment, and don’t presume you can simply alter our arrangement at your leisure.”

“I thought this was mutual interest…”

“It better be, I have no problem acting on my own threats if needed.”

Chrysalis buzzed her wings, and Sombra lowered his crystal dome, before he dissolved in a mineralized fashion to the ground. The changelings hovered in the air as a group and prepared to move.

---

A scorched blue unicorn lay stiffly on the ground and groaned painfully. She was barely conscious by any definition, but her glazed over eyes saw the changelings as they departed. She attempted to say something angrily at them, she only managed to mumbled.

“Tee.. Grreyyt, and Peerrwurrful Terxy…guhhhh….”

She lost it, and no changeling paid her any mind. No pony was nearby to pay her any mind either.

Ch.27 "Neighbors"

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.27 “Neighbors”

The flight across Ponyville was done in silence. Shadows of changelings in the sky passed by the thatch roofed homes, and any resident who noticed them quickly scurried out of sight. The queen sighed, as she mulled over the current predicament.

Four Elements of Harmony had escaped her sentinels. Sombra was still an obnoxious presence, and she still needed to forward her plans of expansion into the rest of Equestria.

She took a deep breath, she knew she was in for a challenge when she decided to do the Canterlot invasion. Stability was dependent on her, so she would need to remain composed for all of this, for the swarm. This was why she did all of this in the first place, the betterment of the swarm. She would have to be strong enough to do what was necessary, even if it was unpleasant.

The journey ended quickly, and Chrysalis brought her attention to the present as she landed in front of the Golden Oaks Library. The fifty or so changelings that followed her landed close behind, and relaxed their stances. Apparently the major task in Ponyville had been accomplished for the moment, and now the queen was going to deal with more private business.

Chrysalis’s eyes flashed and she called out to the vanguard that surrounded Ponyville.

“Leave your posts, and gather here at the library.”

She could feel a sigh of relief as the vanguard flew towards the tree house library. Now that the small division of the swarm would be regrouped shortly, she turned her attention to the sentinels she had assigned to guard the element mares.

Her emerald eyes roamed the dozen or so changelings she had left there. Even though her gaze was placid and didn’t betray any fury, the sentinels all cowered as she looked over them.

Soft whimpers came from behind them, and this caused her to cock an eyebrow. Chrysalis strode towards the sound, and the nervous group of guardians parted to let her advance. Curled up on the ground in a defensive ball was Carve. His red tuft of a mane next to his fin made it obvious.

“What is this…”

A giant hoof was pointed at the pathetic prone changeling, and her large emerald eyes shot back to the group of assigned sentinels. They all hesitated to answer, and the silence that followed was painful to bear.

The first answer came in a pain filled growl-groan weird noise.

“Nallhh.”

On the ground, Carve had uncurled slightly and revealed part of his face. The guttural heave had come from him, and it was apparent why he couldn’t talk straight. His muzzle was broken badly, leaving it bent and crooked, on top of the numerous cracks in his jawline. The chitin around one of his red rimmed eyes was effectively shattered, and the green fluid oozed amongst the splinters.

This was aside from the general damage over the rest of his body, which included a wrinkled wing and a disjointed fore-leg that hung limply.

Chrysalis lost her call demeanor, and she roared at the little group. One giant hoof was pointed threateningly at the closest changeling.

“EXPLAIN NOW!”

The sentinel she pointed at nervously shook in his chitin, he quickly dove into a bow and hurriedly spit out words.

“Carve and Gnarla fought, the rest of us watched and the ponies got away!”

Before Chrysalis could bother to speak again, another gold trimmed sentinel stepped forward and addressed the queen. She bowed before the royal changeling and answered unapologetically.

“Carve challenged my worth, so I showed him otherwise.”

Chrysalis looked towards the yellowed tufted mane, and took a deep breath. She glanced over the small group, then back to Carve, and finally returned her attention to Gnarla. The queen’s eyes turned cold, and her long legs carried her slowly to the bowed sentinel.

“And what exactly did proving your worth to Carve result in…”

This caused an obvious flinch from Gnarla, but the sentinel felt bold enough to continue with an answer.

“Him being proved wrong.”

“Sorry, I don’t think you gave me a full answer…”

“And the es-”

“Stop there, I don’t want to hear anymore.”

Chrysalis turned away from the small group of sentinels as she interrupted Gnarla’s answer. This caused a surprised cough out of the gold trimmed sentinel, and she remained quiet afterwards. Once the queen had put some distance between herself and the group she turned her head sideways.

“Your banished, all of you that were assigned to guard the element bearers.”

This caused a collective shudder from the changelings that stood nearby. Though the drones and vanguards were nervous, they were glad the attention was not directed at them. The sentinels that were not part of the library guards shifted nervously, as they heard the fate announced for their fellows. Those that the statement was directed towards stuttered in shock, as if they didn’t believe what was just said.

“W-w-what?”

Several of the sentinels in the guardian group stammered and gasped. This couldn’t be…

“None of you will be allowed to feed in Equestria, you are no longer part of my swarm.”

“But my queen! He insulted Vivisect, he… he…”

Chrysalis clenched her jaw and her horn ignited in a threatening glow, as she heard Gnarla’s voice attempt to address her again. Each of the sentinels now trembled in terror at the displeased sight of the queen.

“I don’t care what he said! Your actions clearly show your priorities are not for the swarm, but your own pride! If you’re so concerned about yourselves then take it elsewhere.”

“But, queen.”

“I AM NO LONGER YOUR QUEEN, NOW GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!”

The giant changeling enraptured her form in emerald energies and stomped the ground. A shockwave of energy blew the small group of sentinels off their hooves, and they tumbled backwards.

“Leave Equestria, and don’t return, or I’ll make you surrender all the love stored in your bodies for more competent changelings!”

The beleaguered group of sentinels quickly scurried off, none of them looking back, there was too much fire in Chrysalis’s eyes for any of them to bear it. Even the fallen form of Carve tried to scurry away, but he fell over several times on his three legs. He tried to buzz his wings futility, but the crinkled one prevented him from flying. One of the other banished sentinels had the mercy to assist him, as they retreated slowly together.

Chrysalis finished with an aggressive snort, she turned back to the rest of the changelings that watched her. The glint of fear shivered through all of them at the sight of her displeasure. With pursed lips she addressed the rest of the changelings still there.

“Should the element bearers fall in our custody again, I won’t tolerate failure in their guardianship. Every changeling is expected to fulfill their station first, not fight about one they don’t have… Am I understood?”

The answer came in the form of a resounding mental

“Yes My Queen!”

With that completed Chrysalis turned her eyes back towards Canterlot. With a deep sigh, she ignited her horn once more to conjure a portal right outside of the library. The green and black abyss was wide enough for several changelings to pass through at once, and they began to file in.

One large hoof slowly rubbed over the right temple of Chrysalis’s head, she had a slight headache that pestered her wellbeing. She kept her eyes open and moved by the changelings as they trotted forward. Most of them kept their eyes forward, but occasionally one would throw her a nervous glance. She kept her hoof to her temple in a slow rub, and didn’t bother to hide her sharp frown.

She could feel her heart sink slightly. Being harsh and stern as queen was nothing new to her, she learned the necessity very quickly after she took the crown from Shellish’s corpse. This wasn’t as fun as dealing punishment to enemies and opponents was. In the harsh life she carved out it, smothering her opponents was one of the few things she really took pleasure in, so enjoy it she did.

These were her changelings though, she looked after them, she saw their needs met, and she dealt out punishment when they were necessary, lest the swarm become unruly or lazy. She thought back on the words Shade had shared a while ago. That should she could be “Admired, respected, and even in time, loved as a ruler” or something along those lines. Perhaps that was a fantasy she shouldn’t hope for.

She chuckled in melancholy tone, which caused a few confused and fearful glances from the last few changelings who entered the portal.

How could she be any of those things… when she often had to be so cruel to keep order. Especially when even her own changelings looked at her with fear, even after all she had done for them over the years.

“Um, my queen?”

The voice of a vanguard caused her to brush away the doubtful thoughts that lingered in her mind. She looked at two of them that stood there.

“Yes?”

“We were wanted to know if you desired us to resume our stations in Ponyville?”

“Oh, yes, keep an eye on things. Both of you did a fine job at informing Shade for me, I am pleased with your work. Help the town calm down from today’s incident, if you would.”

Chrysalis’s calmer tone seemed to relax the two vanguards, who stood at attention. Both of them nodded respectfully before they walked around to the back of the Library. Once they were both obscured, there was a brief flash of green, and two ponies walked around the other side of the library.

One of the vanguards had turned into a cream colored earth mare, who sported a mane that was divided blue-pink down the middle and had large soft curls. Her eyes were teal and she had three candies for cutie mark.

The other vanguard had changed into a yellow pelted earth mare that had a long curly orange mane and tail. She had green eyes and the mark of three carrots adorned on both of her flanks.

The queen watched the two of them make their respective ways back into Ponyville, and once they were gone she faced towards the open portal. She made slow deliberate steps towards the dark swirly abyss. Her tail swished back and forth unenthusiastically, and her head wasn’t held as proud as it usually was. When she finally crossed through it the dimensional rift shrunk down into oblivion.

---

Back in Canterlot

The group of changelings had exited near the Solar Tower, where once they were through they started to divide and fly back to their previous occupations. As if the morning’s activities had just been another item on the menu for the day.

When Chrysalis flew down to the balcony of the Observation Tower, she could already see the other changelings in the distance, many of which already disappeared into the cityscape. She let out another stress induced sigh. Her mind rummaged through the number of different things she wanted to approach next.

Dropping out cold into a bed sounded like a good idea, but there were still more pressing concerns. She walked down the spiral staircase of the tower, and trotted somewhat aimlessly along the castle halls, somewhere between a zombified stupor and contemplation.

Eventually her wandering hooves brought her to the Gala Ballroom. The place she had started to organize so many of the events here, and planned to do a great many more. To her surprise there was another changeling already in the room. They were the only two to occupy this space, and when Chrysalis loud hoof steps heralded her entry, the other changeling turned about to face her.

It was Colony, and the short drone looked up with some expectancy.

“I’ve searched all over the castle and decided to wait here. I figured you had other important business you were attending to. That flash of light over Ponyville left me a little dazed, I didn’t quite expect that.”

Tired and with no desire for pleasantries, the queen bluntly asked for the point,

“You have business for me Colony?”

“Yes I do, Fancy Pants has inquired for you, and since you were preoccupied, he came to me. The matter he wants to address has nothing to do with my specialty, so I told him to wait until I found you.”

“So what is this business? Where is Fancy waiting?”

“Apparently some delegates from Saddle Arabia planned on meeting with Celestia today. As you know that will not happen, so Fancy Pants is entertaining them with a garden party until you should arrive. It’s taking place at his house; he left you a calling card to guide you there.”

Chrysalis did everything she could to suppress a groan of frustration as Colony levitated a small slip of paper towards the queen, who in turn grabbed it with her magic. This wasn’t an errand with a quick answer.

Her harlequin eyes looked over the small business card, which featured a picture of Fancy and some contact information. She flipped it around, and on the back was scribbled a personal message.

The arrow is a compass to my home, I hope to see you there soon.

There indeed was a small arrow, it was red and when she shifted the card, the arrow adjusted to point in an enchanted direction. Chrysalis looked back over to her Councilor.

“Thank you Colony, you may go about the business you had planned for today.”

“My queen, I will resume my work with Golden Trust.”

The little drone bowed respectfully before she turned and left. Chrysalis stood there awhile longer, silently debating with herself. A slightly mischievous grin crawled over her fanged mouth.

How long could she get Fancy to “entertain” these delegates? Long enough to get them to go away perhaps? She took another deep breath and sighed, the queen noticed she had been doing that alot lately, and it annoyed her.

Chrysalis turned to leave the Gala Ballroom, and shook her head as she went. This was something she shouldn’t shirk off, these Saddle Arabians were officially her neighbors now, and if they expected to meet with someone as important as Celestia, then they would expect to meet with her. She snorted, and tried to recall what she could of the desert dwelling horses.

They weren’t a very social bunch, none of the vanguard she stationed there in the past had been very excited about the prospects of food sources. Scholars and archivists were aplenty, and there were even many exotic cultural delicacies, but availability of positive emotional wellsprings? Less common... That was only of the reasons that fueled why Equestria was her first choice for invasion.

She exited the castle, walking the grounds while she kept an eye on the direction the arrow card pointed. She imagined Fancy’s house shouldn’t be too far away, he lived near the rest of the nobles didn’t he? Anyway, the sooner she could get this done, the sooner she could go rest.

---

Thankfully, It was not too long before the queen found her way near a decently sized property. The grounds were spacious, and was the place of habitation for a healthy green lawn. Several stylishly cut bushes decorated the property along with a vast arrangement of flower beds. The whole spectrum of colors appeared to be present, along with a plethora of mesmerizing patterns.

From what Chrysalis could see, this impressive arrangement of gardening was only the front of the property. The back appeared to have even more diversity, with a few tall trees teased at the possibilities of what lay beyond.

The actual house was surprisingly humble, compared to the more gaudy noble mansions further up the street. It was only a single story, and not nearly as wide as many of the neighbors, but it was as neatly kept as well as any other.

This brought a small smile to one corner of Chrysalis’s mouth, she felt assured she had made a good choice for who she picked as her liaison. Changelings held a long tradition of valuing efficiency, born out of necessity more than anything else, but generally had it ingrained in their minds nonetheless.

Not that Chrysalis didn’t like to indulge every once in awhile, these comforts were infinitely better than the hospitality of the Badlands, but she didn’t like the prissy attitudes that were so often associated with such frivolity.

Fancy’s home showed he had taste, but was not overly extravagant, compared to the waste of space that were most of these “noble” mansions. Her heavy steps approached the door and she lifted one hoof to knock.

Before she landed a hoof the tall door way was opened. On the threshold stood Fleur Dis Lee, who’s eyes widened a bit in surprise at who was at the door. Though she was not overly surprised, and there was a certain amount of expectancy in her light violet eyes.

“Welcome queen, Fancy and the rest of the company are in the back.”

For a moment Chrysalis simply stood there, and blinked her eyes slowly. When Fleur started to tilt her head in confusion, the queen shook herself to put her exhaustion at bay, and forced out some words.

“Lead the way please.”

“Of course!”

Fleur brushed through her mane quickly before she turned about with an elegant swish of her tail. Chrysalis had to point her head downward slightly to fit through the door, lest her long horn impale the door frame.

Once inside the house the queen was lead past a neatly done living room. The aesthetics were an interesting mesh of Fleur’s and Fancy’s tastes. What with things like an intricately detailed grandfather clock as a grand centerpiece on one side of the room, and on the other a wide range of photo albums on display. Most of which featured Fleur in her various shoots.

The furniture was antique, and showed a collector’s eye, much of the woodwork was just as impressive on the chair legs as it was on the body of the grandfather clock. As neat as the details were, it was more of the smell in the home that distracted Chrysalis’s attention.

Fleur’s heavy perfume was the first odor to notice, it was quite rosy. There was also the smell of old wood from many of the antiquated items along with their staining agents in the home. The smell of something from the kitchen also caught her attention, something particularly savory was being prepared.

The queen wrinkled her snout in response to the sumptuous smells, then spoke with passing interest about another subject.

“Did you have your discussion with Fancy yet?”

Fleur stopped in her tracks. She didn’t turn around to face the queen, but fidgeted slightly with one of her front hooves.

“Yes, yes I did…”

“How was it?”

Fleur’s mind hovered around the event.

---

Fancy’s and Fleur’s house the other day

In a rapid fervor, Fleur had hurried Fancy and herself back to their home as quickly as they could. She barely cooled off on the way over, and was still soaked with a fair amount of sweat. She panted heavily from the pace both of them ran out of the castle, across the grounds, and past the noble mansions.

She almost collapsed when they finally reached their doorstep. Fancy himself was not in any better condition, as he wasn’t any more athletic than she was. He managed to heave out some words though.

“Fleur, -huff- you have me concerned.”

“Let’s –pant- just go inside first.”

Fleur used her pink magical aura to open the door, and the couple stumbled in. After they moved into the living room they took a seat on the primary couch, a nice antique couch, covered smooth leather and supported by very comfortable cushioning.

Both them just relaxed there for a small amount of time, while they waited to recover from their sprint over Canterlot. Eventually they had both slowed their breath, with Fleur casting a spell to dry off her sweat, before becoming silent.

Even though her body externally showed calm, her mind was ablaze. How should she approach this?

“Fleur?”

“Yes dear?”

Fancy had spoken first, and this made her even more nervous. She never really planned to talk to Fancy about what she was, but the queen just had to make things… happen.

“Are you a changeling?”

“What!”

Fleur’s heart stopped in her chest, and her entire body went frigid. The remnants of sweat on her coat went cold and she shivered. Fancy took a deep breath when he saw her reaction, her bright lavender eyes were terror struck. He reached out with his hoof to try and reassure her, and when he made contact with her shoulder she jumped slightly, but didn’t retreat. Now she was confused.

“I… I…”

“It’s alright, you can tell me. I’ve never seen you as nervous around any pony as you were around the queen. Not even Celestia made you this panicky. The attention she gave you was also, strange.”

“I, well, you were always so perceptive dear. Pretty ironic I’m a terrible liar isn’t it…”

“Oh I would say you’re not bad, I didn’t have an inkling until today. In hindsight a number of things make sense now. Notwithstanding, I do have a few questions.”

“Yes?”

“First, can I see you face?”

It was one thing to admit it outloud, but to actually make the change? She felt a new level of uncertainty. It was a pity she almost started to relax about the whole thing. This was a part of her she never exposed to another pony before, but of all ponies, Fancy deserved it the most.

With a resigned sigh Fleur activated some green magic as curtains in the windows were closed, and emerald energies rushed over her body.

There on the couch next Fancy Pants was a tall vanguard changeling. There were no holes in her legs, and in contrast to almost all of the changelings in the city, she had a full length mane, which was stylized just like her unicorn form. Her light lavender irises were now light lavender rims to the entirety of her eyes. The color of her mane and tail were a matching tone of purple, and were very well kept.

Fancy blinked at the shift, he had seen a few other changelings do it, but this one was quite personal. He looked over the vanguard changeling that sat across from him on the couch. To his surprise it was almost as if Fleur had only adopted a changeling costume, there were still many things which were familiar about her in appearance. Apparently the pony form she chose, reflected many of her natural qualities anyway. This brought a smirk across his mustached mouth.

She noticed the slight smile and she nervously returned one of her own, only now her smile had some fangs in it. The unicorn stallion continued with another question.

“Now I would like to know, is there another Fleur or Fleurs running around?”

“No, I created Fleur Dis Lee twelve years ago. You can check all the records, there never was a foal by that name. Just migrant old me, though where I migrated from wasn’t exactly Prance.”

“Hmm, I suppose the next question is the most simple and complex. How does all of… this… work? I must say my knowledge of changelings is quite vague.”

Fancy lifted one hoof to make circular motions between Fleur and himself, and ended with an open hoof in Fleur’s direction.

“Um, where to start?”

“How about twelve years ago.”

“Alright, so when Fleur was born, so to speak. That was my first time trying to infiltrate pony society. The other times I stopped here were for observational purposes, like all other vanguard in training. By the time I was ready, I knew how I wanted to go about entering the pony world.”

“As a super model? Not that I’m complaining about your choice, but-”

“Looks first, behavior second! I already said I was a terrible liar, so I figured that would be a better way to grab attention. Admiration, desire, and appreciation for beauty were emotions I could harvest in vast quantities for the swarm. Let alone, I love the spotlight, hehe.”

“Then how about us? How do we work? Are your feelings genuine, do you have feelings, do you actually love me?”

“Of course I have feelings! I’m still that same pony who fell in love with you eleven years ago.”

She tapped Fancy on the snout with a hoof. Fancy wrinkled his nose, and chuckled slightly before he continued. That was one less thing to be concerned about.

“Then why do changelings have to feed off of pony emotions? Can you not feed off each other?”

“No we can’t. Changeling emotions are inedible for other changelings. We could technically drain it from each other, but it would be like living off of dirt and rocks, it’s just indigestible and without nutrition.”

“So there is your dependence on ponies.”

“Any other species really, griffons, minotaurs, even bunny rabbits. But ponies have been the best.”

Fancy lifted a hoof and thoughtfully twirled his moustache. He looked over his changeling wife again as he mulled over more thoughts. The idea toaster in his mind popped.

“Did you have another name you went by as a changeling?”

This brought a slight purse to Fleur’s lips and she snorted.

“Yes, but I don’t like it.”

“Oh?”

“Changelings are given names based on what they do or have done. Though the one they donned on me doesn’t reflect the way I want it too.”

“And what was that?”

“Shifty…”

“Shifty?”

“Yes, because I’m good at shifting forms.”

“That requires talent?”

“Yes, especially when assuming an original disguise. It can be quite complicated.”

“How so?”

“Any changeling can copy the form of another pony, or similar creature. Even simple minded drones and sentinels can accomplish that. However,assuming a disguise no changeling has taken before, that’s like becoming a sculptor. It takes imagination, inspiration, and spatial intelligence. Every little detail can be managed, and it is trickier beneath the skin. Taking the time to shape bone and muscle precisely isn’t a comfortable process either.”

Fleur activated green magic over her body again, and she regained the form of her unicorn self. Fancy’s gaze locked into her lavender irises, and he sighed. Fleur was herself, but not. She continued to speak, her voice sounded as if it hadn’t changed in either form. Yet another detail that surprised him.

“I have spent more time in this form than my changeling self. I would prefer to stay this way, if you don’t mind.”

“Please, stay how you prefer.”

The white unicorn brushed through her pink mane a bit, and stretched out. She scooted closer her husband, and leaned against him. Fancy accepted her advance and relaxed further into couch; he put a hoof around her shoulders and pulled her close. She looked up into his blue eyes with her lavender ones.

“Fancy?”

“Yes dear?”

“Does this change things between us?”

“Do you think it does?”

“I hope not…”

“Ha! Well, it explains who the mysterious in-laws were after all these years. It was quite a hello. It even seems I’m under the same employer as you now. Huh, should I call Chrysalis my mother in-law, I mean, how does that work?”

“No, the queen isn’t my mother, my parents were a drone and a vanguard, but they passed away a while ago.”

Fancy lifted one hoof to brush it along her cheek, and run it slowly down her neck.

“I’m sorry to hear that…”

“There’s no need to be, they lived longer than most changelings have.”

“Hmm, all of this has been quite a lot to take in, I would love to indulge more into this, but I will rest my case for now and ponder about what we’ve discussed. Though, there is one more thing I would like to say before we go our ways for the day.”

“Yes, Fancy?”

“I still love you Fleur.”

Fleur’s eye’s sparkled with happiness, and she leaned in close to her husband’s face. Fancy leaned his head forward, and brushed his snout past hers. He brought his mouth close to her ear, so he could whisper.

“Even if you take little bites of my soul.”

He nipped at her ear.

“By Celestia! What a way to spoil the moment.”

She pushed him back and crossed her front hooves, she leaned back and made a loud humph noise. Fancy chuckled a little.

“Well it’s true isn’t it?”

Fleur rolled her eyes, and blew away a string of hair that got in her face.

“It grows back…”

---

Back to the present.

Fleur put a hoof up to her lips and smiled upon reflection. She stood still short of the kitchen, and Chrysalis waited patiently. The queen’s eyes still roamed over the décor when Fleur finally responded.

“It went well.”

“Good, now lead on, I believe there are some Saddle Arabians I need to talk to.”

“Of course.”

The elegant white unicorn led her guest past the recreational room, and out to the backyard. They exited through sliding glass doors onto a marble tiled patio. At a glance, all the foliage in the back was just as impressively maintained as it was in the front. The addition of a few willow trees added a serene feel to it all, what with their comfortable drapery of leaves.

There were many tables and chairs set up, and many ponies occupied them. The chatter amongst the guests was lively until the changeling queen’s presence entered the backyard. Then things went deadly silent, almost all eyes immediately shot towards her, and the stench of fear spread quickly. She peered around with weariness, and held her mouth tightly. She didn’t have the energy to keep up a performance, not after the fiasco at ponyville. Thankfully all the nobility continued to remain quiet, hopefully the fear would keep them to themselves, all she wanted was to be in an out of this endeavor, and back to heavenly cushions in the palace.

“Now now, I said the queen may grace us this evening, so don’t act all surprised! I have a table arranged for you over here my queen.”

Fancy’s address to the crowd snapped Chrysalis’s attention back to business, and she silently cursed herself for not asserting herself more. All the fatigue had made her slack off, and the last thing she wanted to come across as was lazy.

Already seated there were two tall equines, Saddle Arabian horses. One of them was brown stallion with a bright blonde mane, the other was a pink mare with subdued shades of blue-violet in her mane. Both of them were dressed in fancy regalia that signified their delegate status.

Chrysalis hurriedly strode over to the table and took a seat, eager to get this done, she turned to the two delegates and made a special gesture. With a hoof she tapped each of her eyes once, then her snout, and finally she held an open hoof out to the heavens, and back down to the two delegates.

The brown stallion blinked in surprise and smiled warmly at the gesture, while the mare was more reserved, and even let suspicion dance openly on her face. Fancy Pants watched the interaction with interest.

“Is there an element of greeting my guests I’ve missed?”

“Oh no Fancy, you’ve treated us well, I’m just surprised your new queen knows of our formal greeting.”

The tall blonde stallion answered, his voice was smooth and clear, but accented. Chrysalis spoke with an indifferent tone.

“The greeting is something I picked up when I visited your country before, it was not too difficult to remember.”

“Really, then have we by chance met before?”

The Pink mare in turn spoke, her suspicion had only deepened, and blue eyes lingered on Chrysalis, in an attempt to read her intent.

“No, last time I was there I had no reason to speak to delegates. Now that I rule over more than a swarm of changelings, I have a reason. I am queen Chrysalis, if you have not already been told.”

“We are pleased to make your acquaintance then, queen Chrysalis, I am Crescent Iris, and this is Delta Shores.”

Crescent returned the gesture that the queen had given them earlier. Delta was more hesitant, but she followed her companion’s example.

Ch.28 "References"

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.28 “References”

“Now what was it you wanted to talk about?”

Chrysalis bluntly addressed the Saddle Arabians, she could feel her focus slipping every moment and losing her cool in front of delegates isn’t how she wanted to end her day. A day that had overall been so disappointing and vexing. Crescent was the first to answer her.

“Originally we came here to follow up on a commission for an astronomical dais, which was to be built in Canterlot. That was our plan for the meeting we scheduled with Celestia, but…”

“What Crescent Iris wants to address is a more glaring issue. For the past week the moon hasn’t left the sky on our side of the world.”

Delta Shores cut into Crescent’s line of conversation. The pink mare had a rather stern and accusatory glare. Chrysalis failed to suppress an unintelligible curse, which caused the eyebrows of the horses to raise. The changeling grimaced, she’d failed to keep a dignified manner already. She breathed in deeply, and let out a frustrated sigh.

“I’ll handle it tonight. It was just a little later on my check list.”

“It gave us cause for concern, we presumed it was that chaotic spirit again. As his last appearance disturbed the heavens, but we have since heard otherwise. We’ve recently heard many things...”

Chrysalis frowned at the judging glare from Delta, and all the implications of her last line. There was no energy left in her chitinous frame to play poker, not when every fiber of her exhausted body cried out for rest. So she ineloquently blustered against the presumptions thrown her way.

“While I don’t care for any particular details you may have heard, know this, I plan for things to continue normally for the ponies. I will extend that to their neighbors as well. The ponies’ loving lifestyle is why I am here, and did what I have done. In a way, you could say I’m even more motivated to ensure my subjects are happy than Celestia ever was.”

This brought a slight sigh of relief from Crescent at least, apparently he had held onto his breath during the pretentious exchange. The queen took enough notice of this, that she decided to redirect her attention to the easier looking target. She didn’t have the effort left in her to address anymore difficult questions, so her last words went pointedly towards the more amiable target.

“If you spread news around the international rumor mill, then share this. I, the new Queen of Equestria, plan keeping things the same. Nothing really special to it. Now, any last questions? Not to make you feel rushed, but the both of you reminded me of other things I need to attend to.”

“We wanted to know where… I suppose now if, you planned on having next Equestria Games?”

The question was rather light hearted compared to all other things considered today, and in her near delirious state, Chrysalis actually chuckled at the inquiry.

“I don’t see why not. Is that it?”

She preemptively stood up, just as much to test her stability, as much as to communicate she was ready to leave. Both the delegates read the gesture clearly, and the more affable Crescent politely bowed his head.

“We thank you for your time.”

The queen made the saddle arabian gesture of departure, and issued her last words as she turned about to leave.

“If you have any further questions, just ask Fancy. I’ll get that moon moved tonight.”

Chrysalis turned her gaze on the tall unicorn stallion who sat at the table. A few schemes bubbled in her mind, but before she would develop them any further there was a very special source she wanted to reference, one she needed to go to her mountain complex for.

“Fancy Pants?”

Fancy straightened his monocle with his magic before he answered.

“Yes My Queen?”

“I’d like to schedule another meeting with you later. Make some time later this week, I’ll be occupied for the next few days.”

“I will make accommodations, though that description sounds rather… um.”

“Ambiguous… yes, the details are unclear for now, and I’ll clarify them later. Also for that meeting in a few days, call back any pony ambassadors we may have, I want them informed of the new situation.”

“I’ll see what I can manage. Some of them were in the middle of important negotiations if I recall correctly, and would find it difficult to be here within a few days.”

“They may find the terms of their negotiations have changed. Tell them it’s their highest priority to make it back here, if they want to be ambassadors for me…”

“I’ll send letters right away then.”

Satisfied that she accomplished what she wanted to, she turned to go, and her wings twitched in readiness.

---

Her wings buzzed and lifted her straight out of the garden, and she soared over the house. Soon the noble mansions passed underneath her, and she was over in the castle grounds. Sentinels dutifully patrolled their posts below, some noticed their queen fly over them and they chattered their chitin in respectful acknowledgement.

Hundreds of drones also buzzed about Canterlot, as they all enjoyed the sun’s afternoon light. Chrysalis noticed them and hummed thoughtfully to herself. No doubt the drones got more cultural exposure here than they ever had before. Unless holes dug and monsters dodged counted as cultural exposure…

Her mind wandered back to her discussion with the Saddle Arabians. There was no doubt it had been sloppy on her part. She blinked her eyes too slowly too many times. She put a hoof to her head as an awful headache developed rapidly there. More inconvenient symptoms for dealing with the litany of fiascos her recent life had become. She didn’t even growl, she didn’t have the will to fight with all the points of annoyance.

The cursed moon was something that required more immediate attention, besides the need to set up a hunting party for the escaped element bearers, and the need to come up with a plan to smother the Shadow King more permanently.

She pulled out the crystal Sombra had given her earlier, and held it aloft in her green aura. The touch of magic caused the special mineral to vibrate and flash. It soon locked into a specific direction, and Chrysalis’s lurid eyes followed it.

It pointed straight down beneath the castle grounds, straight towards a direction she had sent a purple little unicorn and pink alicorn not so long ago. She cocked an eyebrow and frowned. Of course a Crystal King would be in the more crystallized part of the region. She mentally berated herself for not thinking of it earlier, then again she had many things that vied for her attention.

A dark portal wreathed in green flames erupted in the air and Chrysalis flew through it.

---

The Crystal Caves beneath Canterlot.

Emerald flames reflected off the mirror like walls of the long tunnel, and illuminated a large area with their eerie glow. Out of the midst of the green flames the changeling queen emerged, and with a casual flick of her horn the fire died.

She looked over the area, and recognized it as the same place she had dropped Twilight at, and imprisoned Cadance. The hoof prints of the two ponies were still left on the disturbed dust of the cave floor.

Chrysalis stepped over a shattered wall, and brushed a hoof through some of the fragments on the ground. As she ran a hoof along the fragments, she refreshed some recent memories.

“Too bad little Twilight was willing to let you talk. It would have been much far more convenient to have her finish you off thinking you were me… ”

Chrysalis blew at the strand of mane that often fell between her eyes, and scratched at the floor in a disappointed manner. That was definitely a poor judgement call on her point, and she knew she was lucky things played out the way they did, when they could have gone so very wrong, so very easily. She could have ended up imprisoned by Celestia, or worse, eaten by her own swarm for being a bad queen. Just like Shellish. An involuntary shudder escaped her lips, and shiver ran down her spine.

She hadn’t noticed her breaths had evolved into pants as she ran over her troubling thoughts, and snapped out of it when she heard it echo off the walls. She sat down and slapped herself in the face a few times, she couldn’t afford to blunder through all her problems. Or let her doubts show to her enemies. She was queen, and with that came the expectations. She focused on breathing slower.

When she calmed herself she looked back at her guide crystal, which pointed down the opposite way of the shattered wall. She sighed, and hoped this venture wouldn’t take much longer. She just needed to see if Sombra was good on his word for giving her the location of the princesses.

To her pleasant surprise it wasn’t that far at all, around the next corner really. The crystal of the caves had suddenly taken a crimson sheen to it, and a fresh chamber appeared to be neatly carved out of the wall.

There were a few neatly shaped steps that led up to the entrance, which had a large organic arch. Once she set her hoof on the last step and walked under the arch a flash of red magic burst within the chamber.

“I wondered how long it would be before I saw you here, at least you made it on the same day.”

Sombra bared his unnatural fangs in a flashy smile, and Chrysalis wrinkled her snout in annoyance.

“And what, oh so productive activities have you been up to?”

“There’s no reason to be snide Queen Horsefly. There will be plenty of time for that once I have my amulet back. Until then you can enjoy this pleasant nature you saw fit to endow me with…”

Sombra attempted a motion to gag himself, but he couldn’t find the will to, and extended a hoof in a wide welcome gesture instead, complimented by an eerie smile. Chrysalis ignored the gesture and continued her stride forward, the direction crystal was still held aloft in her magic.

“I came here to see the princesses.”

“Right this way then, which would you like to see first? Personally I would recommend Luna, she has been so very vocal, especially about you.”

“I’m not surprised… but I would like to see Celestia first.”

“Very well, I’ve kept her in that slimy green bag of yours. I’m not sure if it has an expiration date or not, but that would be interesting to know. Not that I need too, but all the same.”

“Just take me to her.”

Sombra snorted at Chrysalis’s impatience and trotted down a crimson hallway. They soon came upon another archway that opened to another chamber. Within the chamber was the prize the changeling queen sought, and she moved to get a closer look. One quick tap on the floor, and the arch way was blocked by a transparent sheet of crystal. Sombra stood a small distance away with a neutral expression.

“You see her, she’s there. Now do you need any more evidence?”

“Yes, I would like to dream walk with her.”

“Hmm, hmm, hmm, now it was in my line of thinking that you shouldn’t get full access to the merchandise until our deal is complete.”

“Well, how can I know that this isn’t some illusion that you’ve conjured up.”

“Really Queen Chameleon? I thought that was your specialty…”

Chrysalis gave the teasing King a dirty look, and sneered back at him.

“Don’t toy with me Sombra, I will only ask for this once, and then I won’t bother to check until the amulet is in your hooves.”

“Don’t push your luck either Miss Whimsy. With one tap I could make this opportunity disappear, and things could go in a much less pleasant direction.”

Chrysalis rolled her eyes and sighed, Sombra raised both eyebrows, dropped his eyelids halfway, and pursed his lips.

“Don’t be too sour, you can dream walk just this once if it means so much to you. After that I’ll hold you to your word not to come back until I see my amulet. I’ll know if you keep your word.”

Sombra flashed a little red magic and the transparent barrier to Celestia’s crystal chamber vanished. Chrysalis looked at the Crystal King once before she turned to enter. Sombra’s voice called out to her one more time before she reached the cocoon.

“Oh, and be nice please, I don’t want to mop up two injured alicorns. Speaking of which, I think it’s about time for another chat with Luna. The invitation to come and talk with her is still open once you’re done with Celestia.”

“You can keep the Night Princess all to yourself Sombra…”

“Very well, enjoy your session with the green lovesac.”

“Guuh, just go.”

“Hahaha, alright, goodbye.”

It was not too soon before the grey stallion vanished from her sight. Once she was sure he left, she turned to the pod that contained the solar princess. The queen’s horn ignited and she brought it close to the cocoon, and her eyes closed.

---

Out in a high lonely mountain range it rained. The slopes were covered in lively green foliage, but it all seemed dim under the oppressive wall of grey. The constant patter of rain and gusts of winds also kept the atmosphere from being truly relaxing.

Celestia sat alone on top a boulder, her pelt and mane were completely drenched, and she looked out into the bleary grayness. Water streamed and dripped off her tall elegant form, and her violet eyes closed. She simply let herself feel the exposure of the elements.

“Feeling spritely I see…”

The calm and passive expression on the white alicorn’s countenance suddenly went tense. Her brow furrowed and the straight line of her mouth drooped into a frown. That was a voice she didn’t look forward to hearing again. Celestia kept her eyes closed while she replied.

“What is it Chrysalis.”

The changeling queen had been short with her in the past, and the alicorn felt inclined to return the courtesy on this occasion.

“The moon, how do I move it.”

This broke Celestia’s focus slightly, and she opened her magenta eyes. It didn’t take her long to see a small changeling shaped pebble at her feet. The little figure was stone colored, but retained the green eyes of the natural Chrysalis.

“You don’t want to try and figure it out by yourself again? It might be entertaining, like the last occasion you tried to blunder through the heavens.”

Celestia scooped up the little stone changeling with a hoof and raised her to eye level. The small stone avatar growled at it’s undignified predicament.

“The Saddle Arabian’s complained that I left it in their sky for too long.”

The white alicorn cocked an eyebrow and stifled a smirk.

“And how long is too long?”

“Since I’ve taken over.”

“How long has it been, it’s hard to keep track of anything in here.”

“Little over a week. Now the spell if you wouldn’t mind.”

“One more thing, you don’t have Crescent and Delta strung up like me do you?”

The small stone queen smiled at that before she answered.

“No, I left the horses free, as I will any equine that doesn’t oppose me. Love is tastier from free beings. Now, the spell Celestia.”

Celestia relaxed just a little. Of course there was no way to verify Chrysalis’s claim from here, and the alicorn unfortunately didn’t see herself being released anytime soon. She would just have to trust that the changeling didn’t have a reason to lie this time.

“Here it is.”

The white alicorn ignited her horn with a golden aura and crossed horns with the little figure. The knowledge required to move the night sphere properly was transferred. After that was complete Celestia sullenly spoke to the little stone changeling.

“Just take good care of my little ponies…”

“They’re MY little ponies now, just do yourself a favor, and come up with something less drab in this dream. There’s no need for you to worry, pony love and happiness is crucial to me.”

Celestia narrowed her eyes at the little queen in her hoof… The arrogance of this little sprite needed some trimming. She tilted her hoof slightly, and the slickness of the rain combined the smoothness of her hoof caused the little pebble changeling to start slipping.

“H-hey!”

“Oops…”

Tiny, stone Chrysalis tried to buzz her wings as she attempted to fly, but she was made stone thus fell like a rock.

“EEEeeeEEEeeeEEE!”

The little changeling’s squeaky intonation rose and fell as she bounced down the side of the mountain, colliding and ricocheting off a number of rocks in a terrible limbo. Eventually she stopped when she fell into a shallow patch of mud with a plop. She groaned as she held her head between her hooves to try and combat the dizziness. Suddenly a large shadow passed over her and she heard the alicorn’s voice.

“Then why the hostile takeover? If you needed love so badly why not ask? We ponies might be more willing to share than you would think.”

With a terrible little grimace, Chrysalis wiped the mud away from her eyes, and coughed out a few globs of grainy earth. She looked up to great alicorn, and the expression she saw bothered her. It was pity. The changeling couldn’t hold the gaze and she looked down, and resentment boiled within her.

The tone Celestia addressed her with, while literally talking down to her, made her stony lips droop. The fact Celestia actually tried to sound helpful made her feel stupid. Here was the true ruler of the kingdom, just so willingly offering help… Chrysalis couldn’t believe this to be a genuine offer. It went against everything she’d done to survive. Shellish had always been so scared of being revealed. So much so she had died for it. It must have been the ponies fault.

Despite the utter lack of dignity in her current position, Chrysalis managed a bitter chuckle.

“You know it’s funny, your little Twilight asked something similar when I gave her a tour of the Badlands. I’ll say the same thing here. I will not grovel to my food for mercy, what I did simply put everything in it’s proper place.”

Years of experience helped Celestia easily see between the changeling’s words. Creatures secure in their position didn’t need to state the obvious. Things must be more troubling than Chrysalis would ever let on. All the alicorn saw was a little equine that had nopony to confide in.

With the flexibility of the dream realm, Celestia shrank down to Chrysalis’s size, and sat next to her in the mud puddle. She stretched out a wing and rested the tip on the changeling’s shoulder. Chrysalis jumped slightly at the contact, but remained frozen in place. The alicorn reached out with sincerity.

“Asking for help is not a weakness Chrysalis. That belief will be a detriment when you finally encounter something that is too much for you. As we all eventually do.”

Unfortunately the alicorn’s attempt at finding some connection sparked the changeling’s defensiveness. Chrysalis conjured up the courage to look Celestia in the eye again, and she brushed away the extended wing.

“Is t-that All? If I wanted advice I will go to my sources, a source much older and experienced than you.”

The white alicorn raised an eyebrow curiously at that. For all of Chrysalis’s bravado, her tone still contained more than a few cracks in her wall of confidence. What source did the queen talk about anyway?

“How old are you Chrysalis?”

“Don’t judge me by your pony standards, changelings mature much faster than you slow ponies. Also royals don’t age like the rest of the common changelings.”

“Well…”

“How do feel to be bested by an equine only fifty years of age?”

Chrysalis’s tone picked up a particularly snide edge, which was somewhat defeated by her lowly and filthy state. To the queen’s surprise Celestia just chuckled.

“I do admit that is rather funny. After standing up to an ancient spirit of Chaos, a demonic magic thieving centaur, a Shadow King, and even my own sister, among the other things I have faced over the millennia, I did not see this coming. If anything it only confirms that youth shouldn’t be underestimated. Of course, that is something you should keep in mind as well.”

The changeling queen didn’t have a response for that, so she shook her head and flashed her magic in readiness for departure. The Solar Princess took a step back, and simply observed.

“Work on that humility, you may have beaten me, but if you try to carry the world on your shoulders alone, you won’t last.”

The tiny changeling snarled as the pony’s words cut deep, and she growled when she noticed she had the shivers. How could she be so easily emotionally destabilized by princess? It downright bothered her to the core. This felt worse than being physically beaten, and she couldn’t find the words to retort, she got all choked up as she tried.

Celestia sighed as she saw the changeling get all bottled up like an emotionally overwhelmed child. The alicorn’s expression saddened, as she thought on the situation as a whole.

For a creature that profited off of proximity to love, this was a terrible waste of potential. That such power could be wrapped around a ball of insecurities. One that needed to conquer the world to prove something to herself. Perhaps she could redirect it?

“Chrysalis, all you need to do is ask.”

Celestia extended an open hoof to the changeling, a gesture that was not lost to Chrysalis. As they held eye contact, her stony lips trembled something fierce, and for a moment she entertained the idea.

Could Celestia just forgive her? Could she actually work towards something better for everypony and changeling, with the help of an alicorn no less. Could it be that simple? Could she finally be free of all these exhaustive charades, all the posturing, all the stoicism, all the damn anxiety and looking over her shoulder, then Sombra could finally be handled as well...

Chrysalis flinched when she noticed her own hoof involuntarily began to stretch out to the one offered by Celestia. The queen smacked her own hoof down, for weaseling its way towards such alluring ideas, there was no way that path was available to her. It must be a trick.

“I can’t.”

And with a flash, Chrysalis departed. Celestia let out a frustrated sigh, and the rain came to a stop.

“Such foolishness.”

---

Back in the crystal caves under Canterlot.

Chrysalis pulled her head away from the cocoon, and she noticed that the alicorn contained inside had her hoof pressed against the inner surface, as if still reaching out to her. The queen backed up too quickly and fell flat on her rump.

“T-there’s no way you could mean it! I-I’ll go learn from from my own! I can trust the well! It has no reason to lie!”

Something wet started to bothered her on her cheek, and when she put a hoof up to her face, she was horrified to discover it was tears. The giant changeling scampered to leave the red crystal chamber, and once she was outside the arch she looked down both sides of the hallway. One would lead to Sombra and Luna… The other way led to the exit, she didn’t hesitate to take the exit.

When she stepped off the last crimson steps of Sombra’s little staircase she opened another portal. One that would take her to the mountain complex behind the castle. She quickly sprinted into it and disappeared.

---

-The mountain complex

The queen exited her portal and sealed it shut, she was in a private chamber high in the complex. Changeling sentinels stood guard outside, to make sure none would disturb the important contents.

Exhausted and distraught eyes roamed over the relatively small chamber and immediately spotted what they searched for, a large clear orb that contained sapphire blue liquid. With her emerald magic aura, Chrysalis started to sculpt a deep set well in center of the chamber.

She dug this new pit a deep way into the ground, and once she was satisfied with the volume she started to cough slime into it. Soon the earthen pit was coated with a layer of liquid resistant resin.

Chrysalis then turned her attention back to the large clear orb, which she levitated over to the newly resin coated depths. She poked a hole in the bottom of the transparent sphere and let the blue liquid drain out of it. It was quite a dull hue, and it took several moments to get all of it out.

Once the orb was empty she cast it casually to the side, and stared down in the well she had created, and her eyes pierced the crystal blue substance pooled within it. Green magic touched it and brought the thing to life. Fiery energy now sparked in the core of the well and some of it sprang up like a living creature.

Soon the changeling queen was surrounded in the bright shining substance. It encapsulated her in a small world of it’s own. Now that the well of memories was active, Chrysalis brought her front hooves together and tapped them excitedly. She needed this distraction, and she was too emotionally disturbed to try and sleep at the moment. She she plowed into contents of the well.

“Where to start…”

The well of memories had been something Shellish had used extensively to teach her when she was young. It contained literal thousands of years of experience from royal changelings past.

Sadly she didn’t go through as much of it as she would have liked. When Shellish received the hammer of the swarm’s wrath, and Chrysalis took over, there wasn’t much time for it. Some new concern that required her full attention almost popped up daily. Between handle that Quarray Eel, and manage those dangerously low food rations, she didn’t have the time.

The thought she should organize a hunting party for the element mares came to her mind again. She would set Shade on that task, along with his best vanguard, but Shade was likely asleep still, and she could afford to wait until tomorrow to address that. Besides if one of those mares was foolish enough to put on the amulet they’d probably cause a scene, and make themselves all the easier to find…

With that rationalized away, Chrysalis put her full attention back to the swirl of contents all around her. Her eyes flashed white and she began to sift through the well of memories.

Ch.29 "King Avalanche" part 1

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.29 “King Avalanche”

Deep into the well Chrysalis’s mind dived, and her eyes glowed reflectively with the visions before her. She thought she might as well go to the beginning, and see what changeling started this unique heirloom of their history. Such a changeling must have valuable insights, no? Besides, Shellish never showed her anything that far back, she was always concerned with more contemporary lessons.

Eventually Chrysalis felt a break in the well, she had reached the earliest memories, and she held the well still for a moment. The queen of modern day took a deep breath as she paused for a moment. She cleared her mind of background distractions as she prepared to immerse herself in the experience. Hopefully this first recorded monarch would have something valuable to share. Chrysalis let out the breath she held onto, and activated the well’s first memories.

---

“Hello there, changelings of the future. I am Queen Crafty.”

The first sound to grace Chrysalis’s perked ears was a thickly accented voice, one she couldn’t quite place. A tall figure looked right back at her from the transparency of the well. It was another royal changeling, who was easily head and neck taller than she was, and Chrysalis had to tilt her head up to look her in the eye.

This Queen Crafty possessed the trademark two-toned eyes of royal changelings, hers were rings of silvery grey and blue. She also wore a long olive green mane, and sported some interesting patterns on her spotted chitin. Her horn was long and straight, with a small hook in the top.

The location was outdoors, in the midst of some ruined city. Charcoaled fragments of logs and broken stones lay among of partially standing structures. The exact place where Chrysalis stood was some kind of altar.

“It’s my hope that this well I’ve created will be source of wisdom for the changelings who come after my time. To be a Well of Memories so to speak, and a place of remembrance of for the great deeds that have been done by our kind.”

Crafty continued her little introduction, as Chrysalis continued to observe the surroundings. In the distance a few sentinels could be seen as they roamed over the broken city scape, as well as the other changeling types. They all kept their distance from queen Crafty though, and Chrysalis cocked an eyebrow at that. Suddenly Crafty shouted in a direction away from the altar space.

“Avall! I want you to come over here!”

“What is it?”

A deep resonant voice answered the queen’s call from the other side of a torn structure. Chrysalis just noticed the smoke that steadily rose from that particular building, and she shuddered when she heard that voice, it was piercing and carried like an earthquake. The queen of the past continued her request.

“I want you to come and speak for the records in my well, there is much that future generations can learn from you.”

“Future generations can learn their own damn lessons!”

“AVALL!”

“What?”

“If you want a pleasant evening, you’ll get your giant arse over here!”

There wasn’t so much a reply as a loud grumble after that. A deafening thump came from the smoky building, and a gust of wind radiated out from it. The smoke was blown away, as an enormous shape rose out of the non-existent roof.

The drum of giant insectile wings shook the air as the fearsome figure thundered forward. It was only a small distance from the smoky structure to the altar where the queen stood, and the giant covered it in a moment. He dropped from his lazy hover with a crash, and the stones under his hooves cracked.

Chrysalis blinked, and tried to comprehend the creature in front of her, and that it was indeed a changeling. This specimen was more than twice Chrysalis’s height, and his features added to the overall intimidating appearance. His long fangs hung proudly out of his mouth, while his mane was large, wild, and unkempt, like that of a lion. It was colored a faded shade of white, contrasting sharply with the dark grey tone of his hide. The thick chitin over his form was gnarled and pot marked with scratches. She soon looked up into his fierce gaze, finding his fiery red orange eyes burning with irritation.

A loud crunch interrupted Chrysalis’s roaming eyes and she looked again to see what he was doing. There was a rack of fatty ribs in his mouth, and he slowly took his time to munch them down, bone and all. The queen’s jaw dropped, those ribs looked about the size of full beef racks... He finished soon and spoke with that monstrously deep voice again.

“What do you want me to say? I don’t even know how your well thing works.”

“I’ll show you then.”

Queen Crafty flashed her eyes towards Chrysalis’s position, and a small portion of liquid-like substance floated out into the air between the two historic changelings. With another tingle of magic the substance spread out wide into a flat broad surface. Crafty’s green aura worked the substance over, and soon there was an image on it.

“Hello there, changelings of the future. I am Queen Crafty.”

It was an echo, both in imagery and voice of what the queen had just said earlier. The enormous male changeling looked unimpressed.

“You made a little message blob…”

“Yes, it records messages, but I can also put memories directly into it as well. It’s a very special concentration of magic. If you simply reach out your aura, and focus on a memory, it can copy it.”

As she explained, Crafty scrunched her muzzle as she focused her attention more directly on the floating liquid surface.

It swirled, flashed, shifted, and soon another scene appeared. A small shimmer of magic connected between Crafty’s horn and the well. Chrysalis snorted at the older queen’s actions, and found it amusing that she got to watch the well of memories being used, while she used the same well millennia later. The ball of liquid was much smaller back then. With that thought aside, she titled her head to watch what the two other royals watched.

---

In the midst of a secluded forest-

“Hmm, I want you…”

The enormous lion maned changeling circled around the figure of Crafty, and there was a predatory glint in his eyes. Her response was to stare back with fiery glare, and posture defensively against his prowl.

“Can I say no?”

He chuckled a deep chuckle that likely killed most of the local insects and rodents, the force of the low decibels was enough to break small sticks and stones. It certainly made Chrysalis’s heart pause as she watched and listened. Once the enormous royal finished his bout of mirth he stopped his circular trot, and raised his head high. His stature felt like that of a mountain, and his voice matched the imposing nature of his form.

“Why say no? There is no royal stronger than I, nor one that has provided so well for their swarm. You should be kissing my hooves, and begging to be mine.”

“There is more to a changeling than strength alone.”

The female royal jumped from her defensive posture and punched the mountainous changeling right in the eye.

“Gaw!”

He took one stomp of a step backward, and raised his foreleg to shield his face, though Crafty didn’t strike another blow, instead she went back to her defensive posture a few steps away. Another deep chuckle came from the lion maned equine.

He lowered the limb, and revealed one slightly puffy eye. A broad sharp smile spread over his massive mouth, and he stepped forward completely undeterred. The smaller royal backed away as he advanced.

“You are correct, my crafty royal, for you will be mine. Give me your name…”

“I have not acquired one yet.”

“What? How can a sightly royal with such poise not have a name?”

“Save the flattery, I know what you’re here for.”

“Do you?”

With a bound faster than seemed possible for a creature his size, the giant royal leapt forward and pinned Crafty to the ground. She let out a frightened squeal and tried to fire off some magic at him, but he avoided it with a surreal nimbleness.

He laid down his massive girth on her back, and put one giant hoof over her head, and pushed it to the ground. Her horn was no longer able to even point in his direction.

A low growl escaped past his dark lips and long fangs, it was a sound more of reminiscent of a dragon than an equine. His massive head lowered down close to the royal who was pinned helplessly under him, and he took a few deep sniffs.

“I want you, and that should be flattery enough. I take what I wish, and I put down any who stand in my way.”

Keen just looked up at him with a defiant eye, she couldn’t speak, because her jaw was pressed against the ground, but she snorted angrily. Her giant captor looked into her resilient expression with a smug grin.

“I will call you Crafty, for I enjoy the boldness of your insight.”

Much too Crafty’s surprise the weight on her back was lifted, and the enormous hoof was removed from her head. She quickly scurried back as she brought herself to her hooves. In a moment her horn was ignited and prepared to blast, but she saw her aggressor had already turned his back and walked away.

She shook her head and did a double take; all she managed for a short while were some deep breaths and pants. A fair bit of air had been squeezed out of her lungs when he sat on top of her, and she needed to recover.

By the time she felt relatively comfortable again she noticed the mountainous changeling had already made a good distance between them. Her expression fell into deep confusion, what was he walking away for?

Her wings buzzed and she flew forward in pursuit, easily catching up to the enormous royal, who didn’t so much as look at her anymore. She found herself flustered by the sudden lack of aggressive attention.

“Why?”

“Why what?”

He didn’t slow his stride as he answered her. She continued to hover alongside him, frustrated by the change to nonchalance.

“Weren’t you going to force yourself on me, and my swarm?”

“Ha! I could couldn’t I.”

“Then why aren’t you?”

“Why are you following me Crafty?”

He stopped his forward stride, and she held her position in the air. His large fiery eyes turned to look into her cool ones. The question caused the smaller royal to fumble in her attempt to form a response. She couldn’t come up with an answer quickly, so she remained quiet.

The enormous royal dropped his eyelids half way, and he turned his gaze towards the horizon. His reverberant voice carried his words until they echoed in the bones of those who heard.

“It is one thing to take what I want from simple minded fools. It is another matter when I find some changeling with actual spirit. Your presence is something I want following me around of it’s own accord. Not dragged around by my hoof every step of the way.”

Keen lowered herself to the ground from the air, and ceased the flutter of her wings. She looked up with at him with a thoughtful focus, and remained quiet to allow him to continue. With a slow turn of his giant head, he looked away from sunset to the observant Crafty. The smug grin was gone, and replaced with a more somber and tame smile.

“You might be surprised by the number of other royals that have groveled before me. My councilors don’t dare question any action I take. It has been that way for too long, and it’s refreshing to see some honesty, and from one that isn’t a mortal enemy.”

He took a step towards her, and she didn’t back away. His approach wasn’t as predatory as it was before, and she didn’t feel as threatened.

“Since I received wind of your innovative nature I was curious. Now that I tasted of your company, my desire for it has increased. I would have you and your swarm join me willingly.”

“And what would be my place in your swarm. There are several other royals in it already.”

“As long as you don’t wallow pathetically to me, I would have you by my side.”

“You want me as a glorified jester?”

He walked by her slowly, and gently brushed the side of his body against hers. His fiery eyes roamed over her, and she blushed slightly. He continued in candid tone.

“Oh, more than a jester. I must confess it’s also difficult to find a female company sturdy enough to handle me.”

“I can imagine…”

At her response, he laughed and sent another rumble through the forested region

---

In the city ruins, where Chrysalis watched the original memory.

Crafty changed the shimmer of magic that connected her with the small well of memories, and caused the swirl of liquid to go back to it’s place on the altar stones, a place which Chrysalis couldn’t observe. The queen of the past turned to the exceptionally giant royal next to her with a raised eyebrow.

“Interested in sharing a little more?”

“That was a nice time wasn’t it? Back when I thought I needed some changeling to question me.”

“Avall…”

“Alright, yes, it does seem interesting, but what would future generations want to know from me? All I’ve done is crack a few heads, and kept my swarm’s appetite satiated. Something any royal should be willing to do.”

“Start with how you came to lead the swarm.”

“You want me to share that story? It was simple enough, I kicked a coward off the throne.”

“Show us, I would like to see it from your eyes. You have related that tale so often with words, now we have a means to experience more.”

“Very well, now, all you said I had to do was touch it with my aura and think of the memory?”

“Yes, it’s quite simple.”

A green aura glowed around the giant’s saber shaped horn, and the small stream of liquid was levitated back into the air, and held close to the enormous royals face. Soon all Chrysalis could see was his countenance.

“Were you talking to the future generation earlier Keen?”

“Yes I was Avall, why don’t you share a word.”

“Hmm, I suppose I’ll, no, they’ll get enough of an introduction with the memory. Just know me as king Avalanche, whoever you are.”

He closed his bright eyes and a shimmer of magic connected his bladed horn and the well of memories.

Ch.30 "King Avalanche" part 2

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.30 “King Avalanche” part 2

As King Avalanche worked his magic over the well, the scene around Chrysalis blurred and changed from the grey tones of the ruined city to something more… red. Eventually the obscure details solidified, and she could identify the volcanic nature of the surroundings.

They were in the midst of some large, ash choked chamber, which was illuminated by the hellish hues of molten rock. Many changelings fluttered and trotted throughout the chamber. All of them sported some kind of ghastly injury, whether it was deep claw marks all over their chitin, and/or any combination of missing legs, wings, eyes, tails, and horns. Most of them had manes, but they were either burnt or charred unevenly. Regardless of the injury however, angry grimaces were the most common expression among them.

A short distance away Chrysalis could see the primary figures the memory was concerned with. A younger Avalanche, covered in fewer pot-marks and gashes, stood close to another group of royal changelings.

“Ah yes, that cursed pit of misery, this magic recalls the details perfectly. My compliments Crafty…”

The familiar deep voice rattled the inside of magical observation sphere. Like the other times Chrysalis had used the well, she noticed the royal who shared their past was next to her, and also observed the memory as a viewer companion.

Older Avalanche looked onto the scene of his youth with distaste. It was written all over his massive muzzle. Chrysalis looked at the light shimmer that separated them, and saw she was close enough to reach out and touch him.

She put out a hoof and brushed it along the transparent barrier, which caused a ripple and distortion to the scene around her. Her hoof was lowered, and she waited for the vision to clear up.

When it settled again she let out a long sigh. She hadn’t been able to touch another royal since Shellish was around, and even then, Chrysalis had been resentful toward her mentor. It hit her how alone she had been over the past thirty years, royally speaking anyway. She had no changeling to rely on but herself. A slight shudder passed through her, and one of her wings twitched uncomfortably.

Her eyes roamed back over to the past king, who sat silent and observant next to her, separated by the barrier of time. Before the memory could progress any further, she raised a hoof to the well and flashed her eyes with white magic, halting the event.

A moment later her gaze dropped to the floor, and she slowly traced a hoof in circles over the ground. Her ears were lowered, and her tail remained still. In her little space there were no ashes, just the moist earth of the mountain complex outside of Canterlot. Here in modern day, she was the only royal. The only one the swarm could depend on for complete unity. The only one who directed the changeling future as a whole.

As helpful as her councilors Shade, Colony, and Vivisect had been, it was always a queen to servant relationship. She had managed to greatly improved the desolate circumstances her rule had begun. Things were better now for her changelings than they ever had been in many respects. Though the position was still precarious, and could be drastically shifted if she made enough mistakes.

She thought over the interaction she had just seen earlier between Avalanche and Crafty. It took her a while to digest the events in her mind. Did she want some changeling who would honestly challenge her ideas? Before she made up her mind, she raised a hoof, flashed her eyes, and allowed the historic scene to continue.

---

The younger Avalanche stomped about angrily on the other side of the cavern. His lion-like mane was a great deal shorter, and appeared to be singed in many places.

“I won’t stand for this anymore! We haven’t been able to get enough love to even heal our injured. Why are we holed up in these dragon infested tunnels when we should be out claiming what is ours!”

“Because we are too weak to go about claiming tribes and villages, you sodden idiot.”

A gangly royal barked with a scratchy voice. This older husk of a changeling sat upon a rudimentary throne of obsidian stone. A threatening glare from his red-orange eyes was directed towards the younger Avalanche. The crude figure lifted a badly chipped hoof and pointed at the massive royal across the chamber.

“If you suggest an attack again I will cut you off from the swarm!”

A brief flash of crimson light from enthroned royal’s eyes caused several sentinels to hover close by. Each of the changeling guards that had horns, ignited them with green magic.

The other royals that sat near the throne looked between the two contentious figures, and wore a myriad of interested yet cautious expressions. None of them spoke, as if restrained by the suspense before them. Avalanche resumed his angry shout.

“I won’t suggest it anymore. A fool like you would be content with all of us being slowly devoured, whether it’s by dragons or our own hunger!”

“Silence! You are the worst thing I ever created. I should have crushed you under my hoof for being the cause of my mate’s death… Sentinels, take him out. Take him in pieces if you have to.”

Many of the nearby royals gasped at their leader’s horrid statement. They muttered disgruntledly amongst themselves, but none of them spoke out. The sentinels the enthroned royal called advanced on the younger Avalanche. All of their sharp, bladed horns were a glow with magic, ready to burn, cut, and pierce through chitin.

Young Avalanche snarled, and paid no mind to the sentinels who stalked closer, his giant fangs were bared, and his eyes burned with hatred.

“Then you should have smothered me, High King Ardor…”

The enthroned changeling’s name was spat out as if it was the vilest thing to ever leave Avalanche’s mouth. One giant stomp forward caused many of the sentinels to pause. Another giant stomp forward caused several horns to fizzle out as the will to fight died. The third step forward from the massive royal caused nearest sentinels to back away. A crimson glow emanated from Avalanche’s eyes and the changeling guard cowered away from it. None of them could muster the determination to follow through King Ardor’s command.

A deadly smile crawled over the young Avalanche’s fanged muzzle, and his wrathful gaze turned to the royal. In turn Ardor stood up from his throne, furious that his order wasn’t being followed.

“Cut him DOWN, NOW!”

Ardor eye’s flashed a brilliant red and his bladed horn ignited in a swirl green magic. The Sentinels simply trembled between the crossfire of instinctual dominance, thus no progress was made. In a rage the high king jumped off his throne fired a blast of energy at his progeny.

It hit Avalanche directly in the chest, and caused a ruckus of an explosion,stirring up the ash in the cavern. For several moments the entire place was obscured in a thick blanket of black. There was nothing but the sound of several changelings, all coughing out the ashes they inhaled.

An earsplitting roar broke the darkness of the cavern, and the ashes were blown away by the force of it. As a wind whipped through the hot chamber it was obvious that Avalanche still stood tall. His wings beat with a deep hum and forced away the rest of the particles in the air. Blood hued light still radiated from his fiery eyes, and he continued his forward stride.

A large part of the chitin that covered his chest had shattered, causing green blood to seep from the exposed wound. Parts of his large wild mane sizzled with burning embers, his wings frayed on the edges. With a grunt the massive royal lit his horn.

Green fire raced around Avalanches horn and down the rest of his body. The blood ceased to flow from the wound, but his chitin remained sizzled and broken. Avalanche roared at the high king.

“The only weakness in the swarm is you!”

Ardor snapped his jaws and readied another blast from his horn, but didn’t anticipate the speed of his challenger. The flames of magical energy still licked over Avalanche’s form, helping propel him at unexpected speed. With another flash of magic, hooves were replaced with much sharper appendages.

Before Ardor’s blast could be fired a massive set of claws swiped at his horn, cutting it clean off. The cranial appendage soared through the air, landing in a nearby pool of magma, where it fizzled away.

The High King didn’t even realize what had happened yet, and thought his opponent had simply missed. When he willed his magic to fire again he was disappointed by its unresponsiveness. Avalanche stood close by with a devilish grin.

Something wet began to trickle down Ardor’s head into his eye, causing him to he blink to try and clear it away. It was only when he attempted to wipe it off did s he notice something missing. As soon as the realization his him, agony followed.

“GAAAW!”

He fell down and fidgeted, his eyes rolled about wildly in their sockets as he was thrown into a magically disrupted seizure. An enormous set of claws pinned down the High King where he lay, and Avalanche loomed over him. He was much larger than Ardor, much larger than any changeling for that matter, prompting every other creature in the chamber to back away in fear.

As the giant royal lowered his head close to his defeated progenitor, he opened his jaws wide to inhale deeply. All the love that kept Ardor alive was drained out of him, causing the High King to pale as his bodily functions failed.

When there was nothing left to take Avalanche grabbed him about the neck, and tossed him into the nearby pool of magma, where the High King sunk and burned away like his horn the moment before.

His temper still raging, the young Avalanche thundered up to the obsidian throne. His claws changed back to hooves and he began to angrily thrash at the black stone the High King once sat upon. It shattered into hundreds of pieces under the relentless assault of the massive royal. He wrathfully kicked the pieces towards the magma pool in an effort to get rid of any trace that it was ever there.

Eventually the fire went out of his eyes, his frustration finally satisfied. He turned to the rest of the changelings present in the chamber. A barely contained levelness held his red-orange eyes in check.

“A king’s glory shouldn’t be place he rests his flanks sits on, but in the state of his swarm. I am the High King now. Do any of you wish to dispute it?”

“No!”

Came a unified chorus from the intimidated group of observant royals. The sentinel guards in the room also hissed loudly, even as they lowered their heads in respect.

“Then we move, today!”

One loud stomp of his hoof caused the rest of the changelings in the chamber to spring to action, and soon the volcanic area bustled with movement.

---

“Ha, I was sloppy about that wasn’t I… taking the hit and all, what a bull headed numbskull I was.”

Within the well of memories the older king Avalanche looked down to his chest, slowly rubbing the spot he’d been struck prior.. There was a particularly large pot mark in his chitin on the right side. Chrysalis turned to him with an amused expression.

“But you asserted your place for the swarm, I agree with what you did. Weak willed royals are the bane of their swarms.”

She spoke as if Avalanche could hear her, though it took a few moments of no acknowledgement to help her realize the situation again. Her posture deflated slightly, prompting her to return k to her observation. The older Avalanche continued to voice his thoughts.

“In case you weren’t able to pick up on it, whoever you are, that festering pustule I threw into the fire was my seed father. He blamed me for the death of my mother, Queen Siren, which was nothing new. His behavior went back as far as I could remember. It was only a slight shock to the others he did it so openly on that occasion.”

Avalanche scratched his chin as he mulled over other things to say.

“I have no memory of my mother, though one of the royals explained to me that the rampant starvation and carrying me to term was too much. It doesn’t really matter though, I prefer to ponder on circumstances that I can control…”

Despite his words however, there was no hiding the sense of wistfulness in his tone.

“Speaking of which, it was his terrible sense of judgment that led us to scrounging around in that forsaken volcano. ‘Dragons deter the ponies’ he would say. As it turned out, dragons didn’t really care for the presence of changelings either, surprise, surprise. The only reason the swarm survived as long as it did was because of my efforts. Sadly, it was probably because of my submissions to Ardor in spite of my strength that allowed him to be bold enough to settle there in the first place. Personally, I think he was hoping I would die while defending the vanguard on their collection trips. As you saw, he was disappointed.”

Another deep grumble emanated from Avalanche’s chest, rattling Chrysalis’s bones as she listened. The queen of modern day lifted a hoof to pause the scene again, she taking several deep breaths once it stopped. The rumble through her body left her feeling rather alive, and she had to calm herself in order to focus properly again.

She also wondered whether she felt the heat of the volcanic chamber, or if the well was playing some kind of strange trick.. Eventually she calmed enough, and her hoof was raised once more to let the scene resume.

Avalanche thoughtfully tapped a massive hoof on the ground a few times, as the glow around his horn initiated a scene change.

“I greatly enjoyed what happened over the next several weeks. As it was high time the High King was replaced. I just happened to be the one to complete that unfortunate necessity. Ardor so grievously underestimated our potential as changelings. Oh, and ponies, yes, ponies. I’ll show you next how I dealt with our equine cousins…”

The imagery projected by the Well of Memories changed from the dark ember flames of the volcanic chamber to a grass covered field. The night sky appeared in its brilliant glory, surrounding Chrysalis and her memory companion. The stars of the past all shifted slowly of their own accord, and nothing in the heavens was set in a still frame. The moon also moved, in a lethargic and somewhat irregular pattern.

In the distance Chrysalis could see a rural village, a few evening torches were lit, but it was otherwise a quiet scene. A pair of ponies wearily patrolled the area, and settled down near the outskirts of a thatched building.

There was a rustle nearby, and that’s when Chrysalis noticed they were in the midst of very tall grass. Grass that was tall enough to obscure even sentinels, but short enough for Chrysalis and the enormous royal next to her to easily look over it. A nostalgic grin spread over the king’s lips as he reminisced.

“This was the first stone in my avalanche.”

Ch.31 "King Avalanche" part 3

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch. 31 “King Avalanche” part 3

“Hey, what’s a little tyke like you roamin’ around at this hour for?”

An orange coated village guard noticed a blue foal waddle into the village. The small pony stumbled around, as if it wasn’t comfortable using its stubby legs.

Another guard walked over to the young pony, before lightly seizing him. A quick glance by the two earth pony guards, allowed them to see the young one was a pegasus, who promptly scoffed at the discovery.

“Sodden Earth, I think this little one fell off a cloud. Irresponsible pegasus gits, dumpin’ their foals on us.”

“What should we do with him?”

“Hmm, guess we could give em’ to the courier tomorrow. Pegasus foals really aren’t our problem. Got enough mouths to feed as is, let alone dem snobbish unicorns.”

“Right, though what about tonight. You planning on holding him till dawn ,?”

“Nah, that’ll be you job.”

“Hey!”

The blue foal was shoved roughly into the orange guards hooves, who groaned in annoyance, reluctantly pulling the small pony over.

“Alright little one, no loud noises, this was supposed to be another uneventful evening.”

The guard became unsettled when the foal looked up at him, with a devious and predatory stare.

“But what about my friends?”

“W-what?”

The guard was surprised that the foal spoke, he almost seemed too young for that. Though, what really disturbed the guard was when the little foals eye’s flashed green, and a small gust of wind blew back the hairs on his face.

The foal was gone and a wall of black had replaced it. In utter confusion the orange pelted guard shook his head a few times to make sure his vision was clear. When the black mass moved it was already too late to distinguish where it was.

A gigantic hoof connected with the unfortunate guard's head, knocking him clean off his hooves. The earth pony lay on the ground, out cold. His fellow guard started to shout, before he was also clobbered by a hoof that was wide as a tree trunk.

The massive royal changeling looked over the two downed earth ponies, then lowered his mouth close to them and began to inhale deeply. Both of the guards lost their color, and fidgeted in an agitated state. They weren’t dead, but in the midst of atrocious nightmares.

The royal flashed his red-oranges eyes towards the tall grass. Between the tall blades of foliage emerged an assortment of ragged changelings. Sentinels, drones, and vanguard, all them came out in a mixed horde.

“I’ll awaken them, herd the stragglers towards the traps…”

Avalanche spoke as quietly as his booming voice could manage, and waited for his small swarm to get into position. Soon there were changelings settled near the entrances of each of the thatched homes, with the changelings out numbering the ponies by a fair margin. Surrounding them would not be difficult.

Once the king was satisfied with the position of his subjects he reared back on his hind legs, before inhaling a particularly hearty breath. Then with a crash of thunder, his front hooves collided with the earth in front of him as he let out a roar that shook the homes throughout the village.

The reaction was almost immediate, several startled ponies opened their doors to investigate the source of the disturbance. As soon as they set hoof into the street, several changelings pounced out of their hiding places, angrily hissing with their fangs barred .

Surprise, shock and fear broke across the small populace, prompting them to flee the horrid creatures in unorganized chaos. Those that tried to re-enter their homes were blocked by three or four changelings a piece, while the few found the determination to try and force their way back in.

As the ponies that ran in chaotic fear, there was a method to their attackers’ movements. The changelings pursued and herded them away from the rural structures to a trap they had prepared earlier.

When the terrified ponies made it several strides outside of the village they found their hooves caught in a sticky substance, and rendered immobile. Before they realized the trap laid before them, the changelings had successfully corralled dozens of them into a wide patch of it.

The ring of slime completely surrounded the entirety of the small village, and caught securely the hooves of any earth pony that stepped onto it. When the group of changelings finished chasing their prey into the trap, they went back to the village to help capture the rest.

The young and elderly were pulled forcefully out of their homes, dragged to the slime that surrounded the town. Terrified cries and screams from the ponies accompanied the atmosphere of hisses and growls from the changelings.

As the last few ponies were grouped and captured, a three legged sentinel approached King Avalanche. This sentinel also had a gouged eye, burnt orange mane, and only one wing. He spoke to the royal with a guttural voice.

“It appears as easy as promised, High King.”

“Then feast Scraps.”

“Surely.”

Scraps hobbled towards the place where ponies were held captive, his guttural voice addressing the other members of the swarm, informing them it was time to eat.

Avalanche sat contentedly on the sidelines, observing his swarm reap their reward. There was about one pony per three changelings, with each of them scrambling like hogs to a trough to suck up what love they could.

Soon the once colorful array of ponies were but faded hues of their former selves, falling limply into the slimy prison. . Yet despite the debilitated state of their captives, some of the changelings still tried to drain more in a futile effort.

With a flash of white in his eyes, Avalanche bellowed out to the members of his swarm.

“Enough, this village has given us what it can. It is time to move to the next.”

A quiet swish cut through the air, followed shortly by a clang. With slight surprise Avalanche looked down to his hooves, catching site of a spear bouncing off of the ground. The metal tip was bent.

It must have just hit him, yet he didn’t feel it, his thick chitin skin proving impregnable to such a feeble weapon.

He looked up to search for the one who attacked him, finding one of the previously unconscious guards back on his hooves. . He stared at the royal changeling with a defiant grimace, despite the not even being the height of Avalanche’s knees.

“It’s gonna take more than one hit to bring me down!”

Avalanche, deciding to oblige his challenge, unleashed another strike to his helmeted head. The blow left a substantial dent, with the guard not getting back up. With a dismissive sniff Avalanche turned back to the swarm.

“Are you still hungry my changelings!”

There was a chorus of agreeable hisses in reply. Avalanche smiled broadly, dragon territory could rot for all he cared, he was on a new path, one that would be a glorious triumph for the swarm.

“Then we rest for the night. Trap any visitors that come to this village in the morning. Tomorrow, we hunt again.”

Avalanche turned to pick up the two fallen guards next to him with his magic,, quickly tossing them with the rest of the emotionally decimated ponies. He hummed contentedly as he did so, feeling his boldness growing with his appetite. This little heartwarming village was a good taste of what they could have, and he was eager for more.

---

“Oh Trottersville, how delicious you were, especially after so many years of meager regurgitated vanguard rations.”

“And you just left them there? Like that? But what about…”

Chrysalis looked up to the older Avalanche who sat next to her, cocking an eyebrow at him. The older king seemed lost in his amusement, even as the modern queen looked back to the memory that was presented.

She had to remind herself she would only get the answers that he chose to leave behind. Perhaps the consequences would be revealed shortly, thus it was best to avoid voicing questions that may or may not be answered. A series of new scenes flickered in rapid succession in front of the two royal changelings, with Avalanche musing onward.

“After Trottersville came Stotterton, then Eartham, Tailwind, and others. All earth pony towns. Given my swarms limited energy and various injuries, they were the best targets to start with. We struck at night, when they slept, using the element of surprise as much as we could. With each hunt we became more successful, moving faster than word was able to spread. Within a few short weeks we had gathered enough love to fully restore our bodies after so long .”

Indeed, as the montages of activities blurred past Chrysalis she noticed the burnt and scratched up changelings heal from their wounds. Wings grew back, as did lost limbs, eyes, and patches of gouged chitin were all recovered.

“Soon we discovered strength beyond mere basic functionality, and the prey we could hunt expanded. The pegasi in the sky were available to us, and I set about to take the love that roamed through the clouds.”

A small cloud town came to Chrysalis’s view, with her vision soon filled with the sight of changelings in pursuit of the airborne ponies. Dark forms pursued their colorful counterparts, darting around patches of cumulus in almost a hostile game of tag.

“Pegasi may have the hearts of warriors, but they don’t fly very well without their feathers… The recently acquired boost to our magical energy gave us the edge needed to capture such nimble prey.”

As Chrysalis watched, she saw the small flighty groups of pegasi being caught in the grasp of green changeling auras. They methodically plucked the ponies’ feathers and tossed them onto clouds, leaving them stranded. The now flightless pegasi were easy pickings for the changelings, who upon thoroughly draining their captives would push the clouds down close to the ground.

“Ah yes, needed to make sure the pegasi didn’t accidentally kill themselves afterwards. Can’t drain them later if they’re dead after, hehehe.” And the swarm grew, tripling in numbers within a year. Eventually we were running circles around the pony villages, on the ground or the air. I was careful to keep them sufficiently drained and weak, so that none of them would recover enough to pose a real threat, but allowed them enough energy to go about their basic functions.

Anyway, unicorns were a particularly tricky crowd to get a hoof around. Their use of magic was diverse, though more problematic was the castles they resided in. While not as numerous as earth ponies or pegasi, their castles were concentrated centers for their populaces and very defensible.

Unfortunately word of the raids had made it to unicorn ears, prompting them to construct frustratingly challenging magical barriers.. As much as I hate to find a wall I can’t break, I had to respect their gift for defense.”

A new landscape came into view. There was a castle on a hill, surrounded by a light pink magical shield. The younger Avalanche, along with his numerous horde of changelings, all stood in a nearby forest, staring at the defended city. Many of the changelings were licking their lips eagerly, eyes almost manic with hunger.. Chrysalis began to wonder what they planned to do, when the older king Avalanche continued his commentary.

“Instead of trying to smash it apart, we simply denied them one necessity, food. It would only be a matter of time before denial would make the unicorns too weak to cast magic. For starving unicorns don’t cast magical very well, much like starving changelings. Though, what made the effort so easy was the unicorns dependence on earth ponies, who were now at my mercy. The routine raids on the earth ponies made it difficult for them to farm. I would try to let them have enough energy to live, but a few food shortages may have been my fault. Oh, and, and, HAHAHAHAHAHA!”

Avalanche’s laughter boomed inside the well of memories, forcing Chrysalis to put her hooves over her ears to block out the deafening noise. Too bad there wasn’t any kind of volume control for the well.

“Probably what made this so easy, was how quick the tribes were to blame each other for their problems. Their hatred for each other was so thick, it left a bitter after taste with the positive emotions we ate. Their disunity was quite pathetic, though it was what made my swarms rise possible. Can you imagine if they had something like us royals to unite them? Not the petty unicorn royalty, but something to get their tribes to actually work together, like a earthacornisus, er something. Ha! My ghost will shake if that day ever comes…”

Chrysalis paused it right there and scoffed at the ancient king.

“Oh ho ho, so you didn’t have any alicorns in your time huh? You had it easy, guh, If only I could show you how much you jinxed the future for us all…”

She rubbed her forehead slowly before mustering the will to keep listening. With a casual wave and flash of magic, Chrysalis let Avalanche resume his talks.

“When the earth ponies wanted unicorn help, the unicorns denied them. Their numbers were already small, thus spreading outside of their castles would put them at risk for my raids. A risk they’re pompous little arses simply wouldn’t take. So that brings us back to that castle we see here. It turned out differently than I expected… and, well, I’ve made smarter decisions…”

In the distance the magical pink barrier started to fizzle, and fade. As soon as weakness was detected the swarm of changelings started to buzz their wings, heading towards the stone walls with great vigor.

The older Avalanche sped up the scene a bit, before the barrier was finally down. Younger Avalanche led swarm in the air and settled down upon the walls of the castle, so he could watch as his swarm went headlong into the city.

The unicorns within appeared extremely emaciated given the lack of food, but to changeling eyes they were still full of emotion. Ripe with snobbish pride. They greedily descended on the pony population with mouths wide open and eager.

A sudden gale whipped over the city, and a giant shadow passed by, sending many changelings spiraling out of control through the air. None of that however, was as horrifying as the colossal gout of flame that brushed over the top of the city. Many changelings fell in burnt cinders.

For the first time since Chrysalis had seen him, fear was stricken across the younger Avalanche’s red-orange eyes. His gaze bolted skyward, as his gut instinct confirmed his fear.

A pale form loomed over the city, whose breadth clouded many of the structures with its shadow. Wings that created monstrous gales beat down over the castle, and knocked down any loose particles.

Ponies were blown off their hooves, changelings blown out of the air, and the enormous pearlescent beast laughed. A laugh that made Avalanche’s voice pale in comparison. One moment later the titanic creature landed down amongst the city, casually crushing buildings in its wanton carelessness. Words of insidious nature and tone came from his long, fang filled maw.

“I missed my cricket snacks, why ever did you leave? It matters not, but I must thank you for opening the gem box of this city. I’ve had my eye on it for some time.”

With earth shattering steps the great white dragon strode forward, leaving a path of carnage behind his advance. His destination was clear, the epicenter of the city, where the unicorns kept their vast treasury of gems and other valuables. It snapped at the air whenever it came close to a fleeing changeling, sometimes even successfully snatching one.

Young Avalanche was still on the wall, at a loss of what to do. When he was in dragon territory the goal had always been to simply evade and avoid. Now one of the beasts, a larger one at that , was here to pillage HIS territory. Eventually fear turned to anger and possessiveness. He jumped from his place on the wall and flew towards the scaled monster. During the flight he changed his hooves to claws.

“ARCHWAY!”

That got the dragon to stop his stride, turning to the source that called his name. Archway narrowed his cold, grey eyes to focus on the giant changeling that approached him. The sight brought a grin across his wide maw, salivating through the rows of serrated teeth that promised death to all. .

“A cricket that’s more than a mouthful, that’s a surprise. And this one even knows my name, how flattering.”

“These ponies are mine, you infernal lizard!”

In response Archway swished his tail, with force powerful enough to completely level several of the buildings behind him. Terrified screams erupted from the ponies who hadn’t fully vacated the premise, with some were silenced under the shower of stone and timber that trailed the dragon’s tail.

“Are they?”

Avalanche didn’t reply with words, rather his red-orange eyes flashed a brilliant white as a mental command was bellowed out to his scattered swarm.

“To me changelings! We shall gouge his eyes, cut the leather of his wings, and burrow into his ears. Make this beast suffer for everything we have endured. Dragons no longer decide our fate!”

The mental shout was unmistakably clear, and the terrified changelings felt compelled to obey his order. Much of the furious indignation that emanated from Avalanche circulated in his fellow swarm members, who felt their fear being replaced by royally inspired anger.

Avalanche ignited his horn, wreathing his body with magical energy. He had much more fuel to burn that he ever had before, possessed with the determination to apply it.

Like a bolt of lightning, the giant royal dashed up to the titanic reptilian and slashed at an exposed grey eye. He only made it just past the beast when an agonized roar broke Avalanche’s focus, slowing him down.

The pause slowed him enough to be caught by one of the dragon’s flailing wings, throwing him into a downward spiral,straight into a street vendor’s stand. Many kinds of basketry and other weaved goods exploded in all directions from the impact of the collision.

The giant equine groaned in dishevelment, struggling to rise from the ruined crater of market goods. An angry shopkeeper burst out of the building the vendor was attached to.

“What in Tartarus is going on!”

It was an unusually tall lean unicorn mare, who had a white coat, and long pink mane and tail. There was no mark on her flank, but the voice and face made it unmistakable who she was. Chrysalis gawked at the scene, her jaw fell when a shorter blue unicorn followed out behind her sister, leaving no room for doubt.

“A dragon is what’s going on.”

Avalanche rose out of the ruined vendor,shaking off the wooden articles piled all over his frame. The two unicorns were surprised when the shattered store wares had apparently come alive, in the form of a changeling larger than any pony had seen no less. Neither of the sisters spoke, but backed away slightly.

“I’m going to carve his other eye right out!”

The king grumbled angrily, his forelegs in their claw morphed state, preparing for flight. The earth trembled under the pressure of a vehement stomp, with the equines barely able to keep their hooves under them. The two unicorn sisters looked out into the city, their pupils shrinking to pinpricks when they realized what the cataclysmic disturbance had come about.

The taller white unicorn turned to the enormous changeling, then the dragon, and back to the changeling. Confused, she took a tentative step out of the house.

“You’re not going to fight it… Are you?”

The furious titanic monster in the distance rounded about, and searched with lethal intent. He had one of his eyes closed tightly shut, distractedly batting away at changelings that tried to go for his vulnerable areas.

To the horror of the two unicorn mares and the displeasure of the royal changeling, a colossal grey eye looked down their street, zeroing in on his target. Miniature earthquakes heralded the dragon’s angry advance.

“Would you prefer me not to? Get to safety ponies, I’ll come for you later.”

Avalanche deftly seized the two unicorn mares between his forelegs, and with dexterity that belied his size, dropped them safely outside the city walls. Barely a moment before the dragon’s claws annihilated the home the two sisters had just been.

---

Chrysalis stopped the scene right there and turned to her viewer companion t. She seethed breaths between her fangs, futilely trying to form some words to convey her growing anger.

“Do you even… GAH!”

She wanted to shout curses, but her mind whirled in a confused mess as she tried to comprehend the scene that took place. Her hooves stomped along ground in a little tantrum.

“This brings up so MANY questions!”

Before the queen could fully start to rant about the possible ways that scenario could have played out, another voice interrupted her.

“MY QUEEN, MY QUEEN! There you are!”

It was Colony, voicing great deal of concern, almost to the edge of panic. Chrysalis groaned in frustration, even as she used her magic to put the well of memories back to it’s place of rest. She slowed her breaths and tried to recompose herself.

“What is it Colony?”

“The sun should have been lowered two hours ago, and I was worried something had happened.”

“Oh, is that all? Very well I’ll see to it, I have other things that need to be addressed anyway.”

The queen and her drone left the chamber of the mountain complex, allowing Chrysalis to set her eyes to the sky. She could resume her trip to the past tomorrow, but she would need to talk to Shade. They still needed to hunt down the element mares and Sombra’s infernal amulet.

With her two tone eyes faced towards the heavens, she prepared to cast the necessary spells. The sun was successfully lowered, and now came the time to try out the new spell Celestia had shown her earlier. The Changeling Queen was still a little apprehensive, as she wondered what new sensations the moon might introduce.

Chrysalis growled in anger, wishing she hadn’t been so quick to promise Sombra she wouldn’t show up to the cave again. She had some questions she really wanted to ask the white alicorn. With irritated reluctance, she initiated the magic to raise the moon.

Ch.32 "Shady Business"

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.32 “Shady Business”

In some fancy smancy spa in Canterlot…

Shade never bothered to learn the location’s name. All he knew when he received the order to wash over seven hundred vanguard was that he would need a bath, soap, and lot’s of brushes and sponges. A spa has those right?

The spa ponies were gracious enough, once they got over their fear and disgust, and saw fit to designate one quarantined room as the changeling disinfectant chamber. Or so it came to be called after some obnoxious vanguard blabbed about the Badland parasites.

The changelings that came to be serviced by Shade had to walk through a plastic wrapped hallway as a result, not unjustified, but it led to many face hooves and exasperated sighs. Unfortunately Badlands parasites weren’t the only thing his vanguards saw fit to discuss, while they were scrubbed.

Much to Shade’s disappointment, a number of vanguards seemed to have lost all pretense of social etiquette after their successful invasion, and were openly rude to a number of ponies. Something they never would have done before when trying to earn love.

“And, and, you should have seen the stallion’s FACE! HA! Priceless, the mare I replaced must’ve been infected with a bad case of pitty the poor welp, because putting up with all that needy nonsense was horrible. Going back and telling him how things are was delicious. I mean, his love was good enough to live on, but now, I could just tell him he’s unneeded, and I gratefully dumped the sucker like the ball and chain he was. There are such better options now, Ha!”

A particularly mirthful vanguard splashed about the water of the shallow communal bath, while she related the tale of her recent escapade. A number of the other vanguards in the bath chuckled and hissed in joviality. Shade shook his head and rolled his eyes, as he grabbed a sponge with a hoof.

“Would you pass the soap Spike?”

A bucket of soapy water was kicked over towards Shade. It teetered and threatened to spill over as it slid over the slick floor that surrounded the bath area, but it remained upright with most of it’s contents contained. The little purple dragon sat on a short stool, with arm’s crossed defensively, and a face that expressed the displeasure of a thousand rotten birthdays all experienced within the last twenty four hours... or something like that.

Shade’s purple eyes traced up from the bucket to the place where the young dragon sat and huffed. A soft, sad frown graced over his muzzle, and added to the overall dreary look of his weary face. The pliable skin under his eyes had gotten baggy, and even though the sleep he received earlier that day did him some good, and he needed more.

“Thank you.”

He spoke in as kind a tone as he could manage. The little purple creature had been a mess since Chrysalis handed him over. Between the initial tears of fear, tantrums spurts of flame, and the angry gnashes and slashes. This quiet pouty resentful attitude had been the most manageable yet, though that was of little comfort. Shade felt he could comprehend bits of the young dragon’s plight. What with all the misplaced chaos that the invasion had caused, and the majorly overhauled lifestyle some ponies now had to deal with.

When the vanguard who boasted about her earlier venture was about to continue her tale, Shade attacked her with a sponge. He managed to close her jaw shut with an uppercut of suds and pliable dead sea creature. The interruption of her exploits did little to interrupt the group’s overall mood, and another vanguard quickly piped up, and little stride was lost in the conversation between the others.

“You think putting a needy stallion in his place was good! You don’t even know the half of it! How about me crackin’ the truth on two mares and a griffon! I even brought them all in one room, so I could show em’ the three different disguises I used on em’. It was three pretty wildly entertaining reactions. One of em’ just snorted all unsurprised like, and just said ‘knew you were cheatin’ on me anyway’, hehehe, then the other mare just broke down all over the place. She’d been so desperate for some kind of relationship, wanted help raisin’ her two foals see, and when I stumbled on her and made it so easy, she just clambered all over me. When I pulled the rug it was like watching fine china shatter into a thousand pieces, just beautiful.”

“And what about the griffon?”

Another vanguard chided in. All of the other vanguards were now enraptured by this bloke’s particular tale of betrayal.

“Oh her? She didn’t say anything…”

“What!”

“Ye, she just tried to kill me instead.”

“That’s not funny, that’s dangerous!”

“Eh, I thought it was funny, she didn’t have any talons in the first place HAHAHA! Just another desperate case that was easy to pick up. HAHAHA!”

The revelation of the griffon’s condition brought out a number of riotous laughs from the group. Many hooves splashed up and down in the shallow waters and some of it sailed rudely into Shade’s face. He had narrowed his eyes and clenched his jaws. A rather appalled snarl had started to cross over his muzzle.

Spike meanwhile had turned himself towards the wall, and put his head between his knees. The young dragon sniffled quietly, and went unnoticed by the changelings in the bath. None of the other vanguards took notice of the sour reaction two particular individuals had, and another one of them continued in the merry making.

“Ha, well now, I know the queen set the precedent of usurping relations, what with princess Cadenza and all that, and both of you shared fine examples of how our majesty’s triumphant invasion has allowed us to do what we please, instead of what we were obligated to do. But I think I have both of you beaten by a good deal…”

“Haha, really, I’m surprised, this oughta be good.”

“Ya, I guess my tale was on a smaller scale… What did you do?

“C’mon, how could you do worse?”

“I bet you’re just bluffing, no way you can one up Shod’s story.”

“Oh hoho, I’m not bluffing, but settle in, this is going to be a multi-layered meal of delicious debauchery.”

“NOT ANOTHER WORD!"

Every changeling in the room froze, and they took a moment to comprehend who had just shouted. All of their purplish and green hued eyes turned over towards the changeling who stood tall in the midst of them.

Shade was on all four of his hooves, and he glared at each of the other vanguards in the bath. He’s eyes were alight with bright lavender light, and his gaze caused each of the other changelings to shudder and cower before him. The oppressive mental power of the head vanguard was able to quash any utterances they may have come up with, and all of them were forced to give him their utmost attention. With a commanding voice he seethed out his words like fire.

“Should I bag all of you in cocoons and suck you for all you’re worth, just to cast you aside like fodder? That would be morbidly entertaining no?”

A deathly silence followed Shade’s words. Even the other rooms of the spa were quiet, and Shade knew the other rooms had occupants. His tone lowered in volume, but kept it’s lethal edge.

“I don’t know where to begin with how severely disappointed I am in each of you. All of you sit here and laugh about what would have been high crimes to the swarm, naught but a week ago. Did the spirit of your training manage to stick in your heads at all?”

“The training means nothing now…”

One of the vanguard manage to cough out a few words, much to the irate Shade’s displeasure. The head vanguard stared down the one who spoke, and amplified the mental pressure he could exercise over them. One by one, each of the present vanguards collapsed into the shallow water and clutched their skulls with their hooves and whimpered.

“On the contrary, your training matters more now than ever! For you dared to expose your true selves to those who trusted you, those who depended on you, and who in turn provided something precious and valuable. Yet you pathetic mongrels decided to squander it under something as weak as the pretense of entertainment!”

“But the queen…”

The defiant one remained defiant, and had not yet succumbed to Shade’s mental bearings.

“Do you think the queen would be pleased with what you have done? Do you really think she would be overjoyed at the misery you decided to cause, and love you chose to ruin? Do you think she’s done everything out of a simple vindictive nature? I’ll remind you in case you have forgotten.”

The defiant one finally dropped from his hooves and shivered violently. Shade in turn mentally berated them with the most disturbing imagery of the Badlands he could conjure. All the faces of the emaciated, the slain, and the decimated were pressed forward in the minds of each vanguard, and they cringed. This was accompanied with all the volatile emotions those deceased changelings suffered, which in turn emotionally ravaged the vanguards that cowered under their leader.

“It’s vanguards like yourselves that drove the swarm to utter desperate weakness, meanwhile all you can think about is your petty grievances against those you took love from.”

The small purple dragon had long since turned around to watch the whole endeavor, rather surprised and shocked with how his ‘handler’ had metaphorically flipped the table. Shade paused only briefly as he leered at each of the vanguards, all of whom wriggled in terrible distress.

“The queen took what action was necessary, and she does not plan for her vanguards to go about and destroying the resources we have at our hooves, whether they’re old or new. I’m stripping all of you of infiltrator status, you will no longer serve the queen as respected and talented changelings. If any of you want to do something besides dig with drones for the rest of your lives, you’ll meet me tomorrow night at the orchestral halls to restart your training. Now, all of you get out! It’s not possible to scrub all of your filth clean with soap…”

The mental hold Shade held over them was released, and the chastised vanguards didn’t wait to scurry out of the of bath house. At the lead of the retreat was the defiant one.

With a tired sigh Shade sat down the middle of bath, and allowed his head to droop lowly on his neck. His ears tucked back, and his wings hung loosely. Eventually he was able to muster the will to call in the next set of vanguards for their turn to get scrubbed.

It took a while, even after Shade released the mental call to the line. Half a dozen hesitant new vanguards trotted cautiously into the wash room, and stood at the edge of the bath. He lifted his head to look at the next set, and they seemed shaken, as they undoubtedly heard a good deal of what was said, and certainly felt the mental pressure even as they waited outside the room.

“I don’t want to hear anything from any of you. There will be no talking for this session, I’ll get you cleaned and you’ll leave, is that understood?”

Each of the new vanguards nodded in clear comprehension, and stood silent as they awaited further instruction. Shade turned to the small purple dragon who still sat on the short stool. He barely noted how the young reptilian’s eyes were wide and apprehensive.

“If you would be so kind Spike, would you grab a full set of new brushes and the tick-killer balms.”

Without a word the young dragon scooted off of his seat and went to fetch the materials from a nearby drawer. He was easily in Shade’s sight for the whole process. That tick killer-balm had been particularly effective in the removal of the Badland parasites, and Shade had been using it liberally. With a short turnoff his head, Shade faced the silent and watchful vanguard at the edge of the bath.

“Well, get in and get yourselves wet, I’m not doing everything for you.”

The six others quickly entered the frothy warm water, and got themselves rinsed. Spike approached Shade with a number of brushes and a tall bottle.

“Here you go.”

There was a notable lack of bitter resentfulness this time. It was replaced with a quiet respect.

“Thank you, you can sit at your stool again if you wish.”

Spike decided he would do so, and clambered back onto the short piece of furniture, and idly kicked his short legs back and forth. With materials in hoof, Shade went about cleaning the wet and silent vanguards in the bath.

Most of the changelings in Canterlot already looked notably better after a week. Access to all the love they needed did wonders for their health. The holes in legs had started to fill in, and manes had started to grow back in, but there were still plenty of deep divets, and patches of scraggly chitin. Many of those that did have hair grow back in had it grow in patchy, as parasites still worked to eat away at what they could. This time however, the changelings’ ability to heal out paced the damage the parasites were able to inflict. With a good cleaning, each of the changelings should be in wholesome shape within another week.

As he ran a brush riddled with cleansing oils over another changeling’s pot-marked chitin he idly thought about the state of the rest of the swarm. The drones and sentinels would need to be cleaned too, and he wondered if the queen had already tasked Colony and Vivisect with that. He smirked lightly, they wouldn’t have to do it personally like him, and he supposed his ‘punishment’ just got something necessary done anyway.

Thinking of Vivisect, he wanted to go have a chat with her, that moment up in the Crystal Empire was too good an opportunity to tease the head sentinel about. Her and all of her serious professionalism, it was something of a mask she always wore, even when she didn’t speak with the queen.

Yes, he mused to himself in his mind, he would have to pull out all the love drunk Manehattan bar jokes after their next councillorship meeting, whenever the queen saw fit to organize another one. So far it seemed, she had just been content to let Shade do clean up since Badlands fieldtrip. Well, besides the apparent fiasco that happened in Ponyville just recently, but back to Vivisect, he would need to come up with some fitting new nick name like… seductress of the crystal tyrant…

He couldn’t help but snort to himself, and imagine her all flustered and angry. This caused a few cautious glances from the vanguard in the bath, and they looked at each other and wondered if their leader had gone daft. He was obviously exhausted, and just shouted a whole lot. Now he chuckled at apparently nothing.

“Are you alright?”

It was Spike that inquired into Shade’s curious condition. The head vanguard shook his head to reorient his attention, and turned to the dragon on the stool. He continued to scrub another changeling while he replied to purple reptilian’s question.

“Oh, I’ll make do, orders are orders, and I can’t afford to disappoint the queen, not after I already disappointed her once.”

“I suppose I can understand that.”

“What were you up to before the whole invasion anyway? The queen seemed to recognize you for some reason, and I find that strange. Stranger than a dragon raised among ponies, which I’m sure you get questioned about all the time, but who were you associated with that grabbed her attention?”

“Well, uh, Twilight Sparkle is basically my sister. She’s the one who hatched me and I’ve been around her ever since.”

“That would make sense… So where did the queen find you before she brought you to the castle?”

“Donut Joe’s.”

“Ha, really?”

“You changelings are crawling everywhere, and I didn’t really feel safe taking the train out of here, I don’t know where to go anyway, you basically imprisoned every pony else I know…”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Sure…”

“No really, I am. All the circumstances that led to the invasion in the first place were quite unfortunate.”

“Did you absolutely have to? Did you have to come in here and take over?”

“Look, Spike, I’m not going to pretend I agree with my queen’s every decision.”

“But you didn’t stop her, I’ve heard enough from several changelings all day. Most of you were hidden here anyway, but sneakily sucking away love wasn’t enough huh?”

“I will respect my queen, would you do any less if Celestia herself told you to do something?”

“Celestia would never tell me to beat up and imprison other ponies, or be needlessly cruel…”

“You know what, you’re right Spike, Celestia wouldn’t do that. All I will say is that desperation can make the most civil of ponies depreciate into unseemly behavior. And, Spike, my queen was quite desperate for some kind of relief from our lives in the Badlands.”

“Then why didn’t she just ask for help, I’m sure Celestia would have done something…”

Shade just sighed at the young dragons question, one that seemed to be common to any pony, or dragon in this case, that had some of the situation explained to them.

“Ultimately it wasn’t my decision to make. When your swarm or family I guess, decides to go ahead with something, even if you don’t agree, you try to help them through it, and make sure they don’t hurt themselves too badly. You don’t pick your family after all.”

Something of a cord seemed to be struck with the young dragon, and his fiery demeanor softened, if only slightly.

“Why would help some pony that last group of jerks, I don’t think I’ve ever met any pony as rotten as them. Even you freaked out at them.”

“Please don’t judge all changelings by them, I will admit I was a bit surprised how atrociously those vanguards conducted themselves. I don’t train them to be like that.”

“Then how are they supposed act?”

“…like ponies.”

“Huh?”

“Spike, our lives revolve around gathering love, for our sake we better be good at getting it. If we can’t get ponies to love us, whether by some face we borrowed or affection we actually earned, then we die. It’s that simple. We changelings need to be careful in maintaining and cultivating those emotions which are so necessary for us. We must act like the ponies that are deserving of love, or the health of the swarm suffers.”

“So why did those jerks crush those ponies’ lives?”

“Because some changelings are short-sighted, just like some ponies are. They foolishly believe they won’t have to earn pony affection anymore. What they fail to understand is just because we can feed more freely now, it doesn’t mean we can disrespect the source. Or we run the risk of poisoning the emotions in the land, and driving everything useful out through careless abuse.”

“Does Chrysalis understand that?”

“Yes she does, but that doesn’t mean every pony can roam free under her either, threats are still threats.”

“Is that what I am?”

“You know some ponies that are very dangerous Spike.”

“I suppose, I don’t usually think of it that way, It’s usually just Twilight and my friends, and the princesses… They’ve always done everything just to protect us; they wouldn’t mean harm to any pony that didn’t deserve it.”

“I’m afraid my queen has made it to their naughty list, so you see the dilemma? She decided we needed the love of Equestria faster than what could be politely explained and asked for, and that put us at odds. She couldn’t risk the princesses and elements being in charge while we took what we needed. Maybe I can show you what the Badlands were like one day, and help you understand why the swarm clamored to get out of there, then again, I hope you never see the Badlands. I don’t want to go back there…”

“That Badlands were that bad huh?”

“It was constant cycle of changeling lives being brutally cut short, yes it was that bad.”

“Hmm.”

“But as chaotic and messy as this invasion has turned out, I have hope that things will turn for the better overall. For one thing, this is the most civil conversation I’ve ever had with a dragon.”

“Tssh, it’s probably the only real conversation you’ve had with a dragon, the other one I’ve talked to tried to kill me...”

“Oh?”

“It was nothing, just some oversized brute I stumbled upon in the Everfree forest, glad I lost him, it was a good thing Twilight came…”

“You sound like you have seen quite a few sights for a tyke your size.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I’m impressed that’s all. Stumbling upon an older dragon in the Everfree, and coming out alive is something many changelings haven’t done.”

“Well, is there something else we can talk about? Every topic so far has just been so serious, and I’m tired.”

The little dragon gave a loud drawn out yawn. It was Infectious, and Shade found himself in the midst of a grand old yawn as well. That set a trend which caused the rest of the vanguards in the bath to also yawn. With a satisfying smack of his lips, Shade blinked his eyes a few times as well.

“Sure, we can talk about whatever you like, I think I’ll call it quits after this group.”

During the conversation, Shade had scrubbed down four of the six other changelings that occupied the bath, so he was almost done.

“So do you changelings eat anything besides love? I mean, I guess I saw lot’s of you guys in the donut shop, how does that work? Can changelings get fat?”

“oh ha-ha, funny guy aren’t you… well you see-“

Shade was interrupted as the doors to the bathing room burst open, and there, filling the door frame was a disgruntled changeling queen. She shivered violently, chattered her teeth, and one of her eyes twitched quite severely. It was a rather frightening state to see the queen in, and her ghastly scowl did little to make her approachable by way of conversation.

Her giant double iris eyes roamed over to the steamy pool of liquid in the middle of the room, and she started to move her legs. There were audible cracks every time she moved, as if something was being snapped, and bits of ice would spring off of her joints. Her mane and tail were frozen still, and didn’t sway at all as she moved.

The rest of the changelings, and dragon, remained deathly quiet as they watched Chrysalis make an awkward, stiff legged walk over to the edge of the bath. Part way there, her icy hooves made contact with the slick edge of the bath tiles, and she uncontrollably slipped forward.

None of the changelings knew how to react when they saw their queen face plant into the shallow warm water, and they simply remained still as they watched her thaw out slowly. Her rump was high in the air, and was kept high by the frozen tripod of her stiff neck and front legs. The only one that dared chuckle was the little dragon, and he did so discretely.

The process of the queen’s freedom was rather reminiscent of a dry noodle being cooked in hot water. Slowly the parts of her body that were immersed in the bath water would loosen, and allow more of her to sink into it’s shallow depths, until nothing but her horn and wings poked about the surface.

Then to the suspenseful vanguards’ nervous anticipation, their queen slowly raised her head until just her nostrils peaked above the surface of the water, an aggressive snort caused the water around her snout to ripple. A brief glint twinkled in her green irises as a mental message reached every changeling in the room.

News of this doesn’t leave the room…

Most of the vanguards just gulped, and nodded slowly. So the thawed out Chrysalis stood up from the shallow water, and shook her body like a dog. Chitin was easy to dry off, but her mane and tail required the attention of towels, which she grabbed in magic and proceeded to rub herself down.

Shade had motioned to do the action himself, but a threatening glare from the queen stopped him dead in his tracks. Once Chrysalis was satisfactorily dry, she turned to her head vanguard and spoke with decent composure.

“I have a new task for you Shade.”

“Of course my queen, you have only to say it.”

“The element mares have escaped, I need them recaptured. Prioritize this over any of the rebels we were pursuing. One in particular, the rainbow pegasus, I forget her name, she has a powerful amulet that needs to be retrieved. Your work here will be postponed until further notice, you are to divert full attention to this matter.”

Off to the side where Chrysalis wasn’t paying attention Spike did a private fist pump, and mouthed YES! Shade immediately responded to his queen’s request.

“I’ll be right on it my queen, and um, what of the dragon you put in my custody?”

“Oh, where is he?”

“Right here.”

Spike quickly hid his enthusiasm for the news he just heard, and put on a rather convincing glum face as he waved a claw to indicate his location. Too bad poker faces don’t really work on changelings… Chrysalis frowned at the little dragon, which she could smell wreaked of jubilance.

“Hmm, don’t be too excited purple pest, your friends will be back under my hoof shortly.”

She turned back to Shade.

“I’ll put him with Vivisect, as Colony is still busy, and even with her damaged faculties I think she’ll be able to manage this.”

“Damaged faculties my queen? Did something happen to her?”

“Why yes, there was a scuffle when one of the alicorns was being relocated. She isn’t the Vivisect we remember anymore. Go, deliver the pest to her and you can see for yourself, she’s staying in a room close to the guard barracks. I am going to retire for the night… Report when you’ve accomplished something useful.”

“Then I will leave right away.”

Without further inhibition the head vanguard went about to follow his new orders. The vanguards currently in the bath got out and started to dry themselves. Shade grabbed Spike in his green magical aura, and left the bath house. He sent out a mental message to the rest of the vanguards who waited in line to get clean.

The wash is canceled for now, and won’t begin again until I have accomplished a separate mission. I’ll send news when I return.

The number of vanguards that were still in line was quite substantial, and this caused number of frustrated hisses and growls, as they figured all the time they had spent in line was wasted. The large group of upset changelings caused Spike to be a little nervous as he floated past them. A quick flash of mental intimidation broke up the crowd though, and they went there ways for the night.

---

At the barracks next to the royal castle

It was an easy matter to ask the attendant Sentinels where he could locate Vivisect, and he made it to the specified door quickly. He raised a hoof to knock, but stopped with hesitation.

This wasn’t the same Vivisect he knew anymore…

An edge of fear and nervousness crept down his spine, and he chocked slightly. Briefly he considered just opening the door, throwing the dragon in, and closing it behind him without explanation, but he couldn’t bring himself to do that either.

“What are you waiting for?”

Spike stood there and helpfully tapped his foot in impatience. Shade still found himself seized up. Vivisect was the only other changeling besides the queen he knew that was over twenty, a rather unheard of thing, for sentinels especially. Despite her heavy mask of professionalism, there had been a deep sense of camaraderie there, simply for having survived so much together over the years... Shade knew twelve different head sentinels in the first two years he had been a councilor to Chrysalis, then Vivisect had taken the spot, but once she got it she stuck to it for decades. He couldn’t even recall how many head drones there had been, Colony had only taken her place last year.

“Well?”

Spike insisted, and Shade was eventually able to push himself out of his myriad of reservations. He tapped a hoof to the door, and waited.

“Yes, who’s there?”

It was definitely Vivisect’s scratchy voice, but the tone was radically different. It held none of the gruffness he was use to, or any of the curtness. Shade found himself with held breath, as he hesitated to raise his own voice. Spike took the initation since his changeling escort apparently had issues at the moment.

“Your queen decided you’re going to be my new foalsitter…”

“What?”

The door opened and a tall armored sentinel peered out with her bright orange eyes. She recognized one of the visitors as a changeling, and narrowed her eyes at the smaller creature which stood to the side.

“What is that?”

She pointed a large hoof at the short purple reptile, while she looked pointedly at the other changeling. Again, Spike beat Shade to the punch.

“This dragon is named Spike.”

The sentinel looked down to the body where the kiddish voice emanated from, and blinked her large orange eyes in confusion. So she just decided to ignore that and turned to the other changeling. Before she said anything she simply studied his face for a little bit, and recognized some of the emotions going on there.

“Did you know me before?”

“Huh, ya, we knew each other.”

“Why don’t you come in, and you can bring the… dragon?”

She had an eye brow cocked like she never heard the concept of dragon before, but she opened the door wide and offered them space to walk in. Spike obliged right away, and he yawned all the while. Shade let out a long sigh before he obliged Vivisect’s offer.

He trotted in after the large sentinel and she led them to a large wide couch. Shade noted the living quarters, and everything seemed fit for a commanding officer… Perhaps these were the quarters the belated captain Shining Armor had stayed.

A moment later Vivisect held out a hoof to offer Shade a spot on the couch, and he took the offered seat. The sentinel just looked at the little dragon with a suspicious eye before she tossed a few pillows at him.

“Is there anything I can get you, water perhaps? There’s all kinds of food that was left here as well.”

“I would appreciate a glass of water.”

“Just a moment.”

While Shade sat there he felt rather numb, and didn’t feel he could really process the situation just yet. Vivisect kindly offering him a drink? He couldn’t even grasp it. She was back shortly and levitated a clear glass over to him. He in turn grabbed it with his magic and started to take slow sips. He kept his eyes level and studied her meanwhile.

Everything was different down to the way she carried herself. No longer was there the same level of alertness, ears always perked in search of potential threats, body tense and ready to move, and eyes calculating and aware. No, she wasn’t like that at all anymore. She was far more relaxed and subdued, if only in a constantly perplexed and slightly nervous state.

“So how did we know each other?”

It was apparent this was a routine Vivisect had repeated many times recently, as she made herself comfortable, and settled down on the couch opposite of Shade. His brain lagged slightly, this calm nonchalance from the head sentinel was entirely disconcerting.

“We’ve know each other for over twenty years. More than twice as long as most changelings live. We’re both part of the queen’s council.”

“So are you Shade then?”

“Y-you know?”

“I’ve already met Colony and the queen. Colony said there was one other councilor.”

“Oh, ya that’s right. So do you know what happened, exactly?”

Vivisect crossed her hooves and sighed, she looked quite exhausted as well. The hour of the day was relatively late, and Shade found that he couldn’t really blame her for showing some weariness. Honestly he was surprised she hadn’t just growled and refused them entry, but that’s what the old Vivisect would have done…

“From what I was told I took a hit to the head by some… alicorn? Anyway, even though I’ve recovered physically, apparently my memories were lost with the healing process. Since then I can’t remember anyone I’ve met, or even what I’ve done with my life. And… I don’t really like what I’ve been hearing.”

“What do you mean?”

“The other changelings say, well, say I was some kind of great warrior, and they keep showing me how they can change their hooves into claws and keep asking me to do the same. But it, just, it bothers me. I don’t want to fight anything.”

Shade sat there in silence, if he thought he was shocked before, he found that he hit a new level of disbelief, and his jaw hung there stupidly. The expression on the head vanguard made Vivisect feel very uncomfortable, and she subtly put one of her hooves underneath Shade’s mouth, and helped his jaw to close.

Afterward she put her head down on the couch and covered her eyes with her hooves and made a depressed moan. Her wings tittered with the release of air.

“I don’t know what’s going on, I just don’t know. I’m surrounded by these expectations I don’t want to be a part of, but none of them will leave me be. Every other changeling that’s comes here comes expecting something more than just… me. I don’t know who I was, I don’t know who I am, I don’t know who’s a friend or enemy, I, I, I…”

At this point Vivisect’s voice cracked and she started to devolve into unintelligible blubbering. She withdrew further into her side of the couch, and lifted her thickly armored forelegs to shield her head. Shade’s jaw hung loose again, this was something he thought he would never see. It certainly was something he wouldn’t have seen if Vivisect was her old self.

Meanwhile Spike tapped his fingers together uncomfortably as he sat on one of the pillows the sentinel had given him earlier. He initially attempted to nap when Shade and Vivisect started their conversation, but the emotions that were now blurted into the room left that a little difficult to accomplish. Spike turned over and tried to use one of the other pillows to muffle out the situation. He had nothing to say.

Something clicked in Shade’s head, and he started to mentally kick himself in the flank. It hadn’t been that long since he had the opportunity to reach out and comfort some pony. So He reached over to the large sentinel and gently put a hoof on her shoulder. She shuddered at the touch, but didn’t recoil, so Shade started to rub back and forth slowly over the smooth patch of chitin he found, in an attempt to be soothing.

“There you go, just let it out. I’m not here to judge you. There’s no need to be afraid.”

That really opened up the water works, and Vivisect started to heave and sob uncontrollably. Shade just kept moving his hoof back and forth slowly, and he ran it up and down her neck as well as over her shoulders.

“I’m so sorry Vivi…”

It took a while before the large sentinel was able to calm herself down. She sniffled loudly, and wiped at her snout and eyes in an attempt to clean herself up a little. She was still too choked up to talk at the moment, and settled with staying still. Slowly but surely her ragged breaths started to slow down, and the intensity of her sniffles relaxed. Her eyes were still puffy around the edges, and some red had mixed in with the natural sprite orange.

Shade bit his lower lip, and struggled to hold back some of his own emotions. He could feel his throat tighten, but he needed to be here for her at the moment. She’s the one who had her world taken from her.

When her breathing returned to something normal he relinquished his hoof from her shoulders, and set it back down on his side of the couch. For a few moments there was no noise but their steady breaths.

Then to add to Shade list of surprises that day, he found himself tightly embraced by the large sentinel. She had sprung on him suddenly, and he didn’t have time to react. His legs were pinned to his sides and the breath was squeezed out of him. Vivisect buried her snout into his short stubbly mane and neck fin. He flinched at the wetness he felt, but she continued on oblivious to his squirmishness.

“T-thank you S-Shade.”

Despite the crush of her hug, the smaller vanguard managed to wheeze out a few words.

“Least I could do, for my friend.”

Vivisect loosened her hold a little, and allowed Shade to breathe easier, but she didn’t let him go yet. She still kept her snout nuzzled over the back of his neck. Even though he started to feel very awkward about his position, he just let it happen.

Thankfully the sentinel saw fit to lift her head away and loosen her hold even more. To Shade’s slight aggravation she still didn’t let go quite yet, as if she was afraid to release him. She looked into his purple eyes with her orange ones.

“Um, please drop by any time you feel like it. I think the other changelings don’t know what to do with me yet. So I’ll just be around… It’s nice to have some changeling that will listen for once.”

“Hey, after surviving past all kinds of monsters, plagues, and parasites. I’m sure this is something you’ll be able to move on from. You’re made of sterner stuff than you know Vivi.”

“You two gonna kiss already, JEEZ!”

Both of the changelings jumped when Spike shouted at them from his spot on the floor. Vivisect immediately dropped her hold over Shade, and withdrew her hooves to herself. The vanguard also rubbed his foreleg with a hoof and looked the other way. They noticed the little purple dragon who glared at them with his green eyes while he laid on his side, one ear on the floor, the other covered by a pillow.

“I suppose I should get going, the queen wouldn’t want me to delay my mission. I’ll make sure to drop by again when I can.”

He offered a weak smile to the large sentinel before he turned to the small reptile.

“And you behave yourself Spike, If Vivisect tells me you’ve been good I’ll see if can plunder the castle’s gem vault for you.”

“W-wha, really?”

Spike’s mouth already started to water at the idea. He had seen that vault once when he was young. That beautiful, forbidden vault of forbidden delicacies. Oh, how Spike now entertained some forbidden desires.

“Yes, but only if you don’t give her any trouble. Oh and Vivi, be careful, he can breathe fire.”

“What?”

“Ya, just have a bucket of water handy, unless you know any extinguishing spells, which I don’t think they teach sentinels…”

“What?

“Alright, I guess this is where I say till’ next time.”

The vanguard hopped off the couch and made his way towards the door. Vivisect stepped off the couch as well and called out to Shade before he was gone.

“Shade?”

“Yes?”

“Why do you call me Vivi?”

“Oh, that.”

“Y-yes, do you do that because… we were more than friends before?”

“Hahaha! No, honestly I do it because that’s something I wouldn’t have gotten away with before. Let’s just say I’m still wrapping my head around how ‘nice and polite’ you are now.”

“Was I that bad before?”

“Mmm, ya, about as approachable as a statue. An angry spiky statue.”

“O-oh, that would explain some things…”

“Don’t worry about it though, in a way, you can look at this as a fresh start. You may not remember who you were, but that doesn’t have to determine who you are from now on.”

“Well, again, thank you Shade.”

“Get some rest, you look tired.”

“I should say the same for you.”

“Ha, that’s too bad, cause I have too much to do. See you later.”

With that Shade left through the front door and took a few steps away from the barracks. He was distracted by a forceful yawn that made it’s way up and out of his jaws. When that rude muscle contraction completed it’s course, Shade ignited his horn and began to summon up the magic to craft a portal.

A green wreath of flames slowly wrapped around an invisible circle to form a whirly dark abyss.

“Let’s start with Ponyville and see what I can find there…”

His hoof was placed into the dimensional rift and carried the rest of his body along, and soon he was gone from Canterlot.

---

In the Royal bedroom

Chrysalis rolled around uncomfortably in her bed. Though her body was tired, her mind raced with unanswered questions.

“How can Celestia and Luna pretend they didn’t know about changelings! How could my stupid ancestors be the reason why they’re around! WHY!”

She considered just going back up to the well and searching for the answers, but she was tired, and she might miss some subtly important details.

Apparently Avalanche was completely clueless how important those two unicorns he saved would become. Also being saved from a city mashing dragon is something the two alicorns could just… forget? Chrysalis didn’t care how old they were, the well of memories recorded that experience well enough to make it scarring.

With another frustrated growl she twisted over in her bed, and carelessly flung several pillows across the room. Cursed Sombra and that dumb jovial attitude she had smitten him with. It only came across as condescending now, since he would hold on to the few things he could threaten her with. There would be no way to convince him to let her talk with Celestia again. She knew she wouldn’t give him any second chances.

An awful thought struck her, and she groaned dejectedly at the idea. There was one princess Sombra might let her talk to, if only to get a kick out of it…

Her green magical aura illuminated the dark bedroom as she opened the drawer of a large, decorative nightstand next to her bed. Out of the open drawer flew a piece of parchment that had several older notes scribbled on it.

Next she pulled over a quill in her magic and scribbled a short note onto the magical paper.

Is your offer to meet with Luna still open?

To her surprise a response came almost immediately. The writing was very jagged and messy, as if the writer couldn’t hold his implement straight.

Yes!

Author's Notes:

Bleerrrhhggggg, i was going to include like another two sections but... nah, this is already the longest chapter i've published for this story, and proof reading starts to be a real pain past 4k words. And I already spent all day on this, so guys gotta wait for another update

K hope you enjoyed, and i guess some sketches as per what i've been doing a lot. I Think i've figured why i do it so much. It's great for helping against writers block, at least for me. Some times the words come first, sometimes the illustration, and i borrow inspiration from either source. Just keeps things fresh ya know.

Shade N Spike chattin' at the Fancy Smancy Spa (I'm tempted to make that it's actual name. Heck, you got ponies with the name of "Fancy Pants" after all)

Behold! Zee Royal pratfall

Couch therapy, er something

Ch.33 "Purples"

View Online

Chrysalis Wins

Ch.33 “Purples”

In Ponyville, Carrot Top’s Basement---

A burst of distortion magic cut the air of a moderately sized basement. Out of said disturbance trotted the head of Chrysalis’s vanguard, Shade. He observed the scarcely furnished room, as only a few cushions were placed for seats. It was otherwise a large cool store room with hundreds of carrots, and a few other garden vegetables stacked along numerous shelves.

The changeling’s eye lids drooped rather low, and he struggled to keep them up and alert. At least it didn’t take too much effort to portal here, it was relatively easy for him to zero in on his vanguards, regardless of how far away they were, one of the perks of being the “head”. It also made it easy for him to monitor his scouts even in distant countries. The furthest at the moment was the Mino Mountains, but he hadn’t had reason to personally venture there for some years.

He shook his head of distracted thoughts and sent a mental message to the owner of the residence he was in, and to the other vanguard stationed nearby. He felt them acknowledge his call, and the mental retort was a brief emotional recognition.

A moment later Shade heard the clop of hooves patter down some stairs, and soon a grumpy earth pony mare reached the basement. She blinked her tired green eyes slowly as she stared at Shade. Her orange mane and tail, as well as her yellow coat were rather scuffled from being in bed, and she made indiscernible grumbles as she sulked over to one of the cushions.

“What needs attention at this hour?”

“The queen told me of the events that took place here recently, and how it they demand attention. I’m not going to put her order on hold. Now, Reaper, I would like some details about the last day or two.”

“Well, shouldn’t we wait for Sweet Fang to get here?”

“I suppose, but Sweet Fang? I thought it was Splotchy that occupied the alias of Bon Bon.”

“Some changelings are reputable enough to deserve secondary names… It’s been a while since you’ve been here, hasn’t it Shade?”

“Ponyville doesn’t sound like it’s exciting in the right kind of ways.”

“What, frequent freakish events not to your liking?”

“Hardly… But I won’t judge, love is love where you can get it, though I prefer somewhat stable situations. To your credit I’m surprised you’ve lasted as long as you have here.”

“It’s only the Bon Bon alias that changes out changelings all the time. Between the vanguards in Cloudsdale, Canterlot, and I, before the invasion, we bet Sweet Fang wouldn’t last more than two months. That’s the average any changeling has that’s taken that guise.”

“What a cynical view. How’d she pick up the name Sweet Fang anyway?”

“When she acts like the candy store she runs is more for her than foals…”

Carrot Top, or Reaper’s pony disguise, waved her hoof in a whimsy manner while she rolled her eyes. Shade just grunted, too tired to even chuckle. The head vanguard’s lack of enthusiasm made Reaper’s sour face intensify.

Both of them were interrupted from further conversation as a loud clatter emanated from the stairs.

“Ooo, Ow! Ouch!”

A pony tumbled head over hooves down the stairs, and finished with a painful crash. The cream colored earth pony was a disheveled mess amongst her blue-pink mane and tail. A confident and singular hoof was raised from the victim of the stairs.

“I’m ok, just give a moment.”

She panted heavily several times before she picked herself up and dusted off. Both Carrot and Shade watched wearily as Bon Bon waddled over to an unoccupied cushion and plopped herself down.

“So, -huff- what’s the mission?”

“Did you run here?”

“Why yes I did –huff- head vanguard!”

“Did you wake any pony up?”

“Eh, my roommate is a heavy –huff- sleeper.”

“Alright, I suppose we can get down to business then.”

“Yes Shade, I would like to know why we’re huddled in my basement in the middle of the night…”

“Please don’t be irritable with me Reaper, I want this over with as soon as you do.”

“Fine, to business then.”

“To business!”

Shade and Carrot cringed from the loud way Bon Bon shouted her agreement. So what followed was a quick rehash of what occurred over the last few days. The element mares made their appearances in two different sets. One day Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Rarity had snuck into town, Carrot had barely noticed them. Then a short while later a very disoriented Twilight, Pinkie, and Applejack were plopped into the main square with a flash of red magic.

Carrot angrily recounted how she had tried to report the incident many times, but Shade himself had been “inattentive”. In any case, the pony Trixie showed up, and proved herself a real terror to the town. She first tossed Twilight over to the edge of the Everfree before she put up the magic barrier, and kept every pony stuck in.

Thankfully the queen arrived the next day and cleaned things up, but in the process the element mares were lost. Rainbow Dash had flown off with the amulet that was the source of the problem, and four of the element mares had discretely snuck away. None of them had been seen around Ponyville since. Carrot was the one that answered most of the questions posed by Shade.

“So even Twilight never showed back up in town? Even to try and find her friends?”

“Nope, the librarian hasn’t made her way back here, unless she went for the open road, there’s only one place she would be staying right now.”

“And where’s that?”

“With a zebra, Zecora, she lives in the Everfree and would offer a helping hoof to Twilight.”

“Do we have any evidence that she went that way?”

“Oh, Oh!”

“Yes Sweet Fang?”

“Hey! It’s Splotchy.”

“Yes Splotchy…”

“I saw Twilight on the edge of the Everfree, she was walking alongside Zecora earlier today, after all the hustle happened.”

“Did they head anywhere in particular?”

“They were going to Sweet Apple Acres, but then I saw them a little later after that, and they went back to the Everfree, just Zecora and Twilight again. Didn’t see any of the others go back with them. I don’t know what they were looking for at the farm, but I don’t think they found it.”

“So do you think they would still be at Zecora’s place?”

“Quite possibly, I saw them just earlier today.”

“Then we’ll look there first. I would like both of you to come with me for now.”

Shade’s request caused an excited squeal from Bon Bon and she knocked her front hooves together enthusiastically. An exasperated sigh came from Carrot Top and she drooped her head, ears, and shoulders. The head vanguard looked about both changelings’ opposite reactions neutrally. Bon Bon bubbled over first.

“So I’m finally going to be an action spy, instead of just a nosy one!”

“Possibly, but I would prefer minimal activity Splotchy.”

“Aw…”

“And if we don’t find anything useful at the Zebra’s hut?”

“Then I won’t need any further help from you Reaper. Both of you can go back to your stations if we don’t find anything.”

“Good, I would prefer not to be nodding off at business hours.”

“Don’t be a stink Reaper. It’s not like our jobs gives up the opportunity to get much excitement.”

Carrot turned to Bon Bon with an incredulous snarl.

“Is that why you stuff yourself with candy all the time? Besides, this crazy town produces enough mayhem without our businesses requiring us to have more of it!”

“Hey! Maybe you wouldn’t be such a stiff if you actually had an active business. Perhaps you’ll have a chance now, since Applejack is a fugitive…”

“Calm down you two, let’s just go.”

Shade cut them off, but the two disguised changelings exchanged heated gazes before they both turned to their leader, and waited for further instruction. He sighed before he continued.

“You can both drop your disguises. It probably wouldn’t help to be seen alongside me, and I want you both ready for a scuffle, in case one happens.”

Carrot twitched her ears nervously.

“W-we don’t plan on actually getting in a scuffle with Twilight Sparkle do we? I mean I saw her toss out an ursa minor with my own eyes!”

Bon Bon bounced excitedly when she heard the word “scuffle” from Shade, but the hesitation that came from Carrot caused her enthusiasm to pause, and her lips slowly formed an “O”. Shade noted their unease, and was calm as he worked to assuage their sudden nervousness.

“Don’t worry, I won’t put either of you in her line of fire, though I would like your assistance in taking some precautions. If she is with that Zebra, I don’t want her to simply escape. I’ll take the lead, and I’ll give you additional instructions. Easy as getting love from a baby.”

They both reacted well to that offer, and there were no further qualms about going forward. A green glow came from Shade’s horn as he readied another portal. Both Carrot and Bon Bon dropped their disguises and assumed their natural forms, that of Reaper and Splotchy.

Reaper was a tall and slender vanguard, and had an impressively long celery-green mane and hair on her tail. It was impressive for a vanguard that made regular trips to the Badlands at least. Shade wrinkled his snout, and remembered she had actually been one of the first changelings he had given a scrub to. It was good to she recovered quickly.

On the other side was Splotchy, who was unusually plump for a chitinous equine. Changelings could build up a fatty layer if they ate lots of physical food, though it was a rare to see. What was funny was the pony disguise didn’t gain any weight, but stayed normal, while the changeling still took the consequences for excessive eating. Also the spots she sported were a little different. They were more like the large irregular splotches a cow would have.

When the portal was ready all three changelings took casual steps into it.

---

At the Edge of the Everfree Forest---

Shade, Reaper, and Splotchy emerged close to the tree line, and when they had comfortably oriented their facing the head vanguard turned to his two associates.

“Would one of you like to lead the way?”

Splotchy volunteered by going forward and leading the walk. For the most part all stayed quiet after that. Shade made it clear they would do it mentally from now on, since their approach needed to be quiet and stealthy.

Shortly before they arrived at the Zebra’s hut, Reaper felt inclined to ask for more directions.

How do you want to approach this exactly?

They all stopped when they saw the faint glow coming from the hut carved out of a dank tree. Shade looked at their destination appreciatively before he replied.

Do either of you visit Zecora somewhat regularly?

Oh, oh, I’ve stopped by her place lots! She’s found a really interesting sap in this forest, I use it all the time in one of my syrups.

Hmm, so here’s the plan, both of you stay outside the hut and form an anti-teleportation field around the house. I’ll take the Bon Bon disguise and do the approach. Whatever happens, don’t drop that field.

Got it.

Understood head vanguard!

With that the two lesser vanguard positioned themselves nearby the tree, and ignited their horns to cast the field. It was late into the night, and the faint green sheen would be almost unnoticeable.

A slow ring of magic wrapped around Shade’s form as he changed from grey and chitinous to creamy and furred. His purple ringed eyes changed to blue, and gained large defined pupils. What remained the same between his guise and his original form was an exhausted expression. Bags still hung heavy under his eyes, somewhat worse now with highly elastic pony skin.

He approached the door and gave it a knock. It was a constant battle to keep his eye lids open, and he only just held on. Thankfully he didn’t have to wait long before the door was answered.

“Oh, hello Bon Bon, why are you out so late? Soon it will be dawn dawn.”

The friendly zebra was the one at the door, and Shade snorted softly, dawn dawn? Really? Last time he checked zebras didn’t speak in such silly phrases, then again this was a zebra that lived in a dangerous forest next to a pony town. She was probably just an eccentric.

As he looked beyond Zecora and into the hut, Shade could see Twilight at a table, where she wrote notes and scanned over pieces of parchment, apparently very absorbed in what she was doing. The disguised Shade spent a little too long in his blank stare of observation, and the Zebra cocked her eye brow in concern.

“Are you alright? Perhaps you should come in and settle for the night.”

“I’m fine, I’m fine, but how are you doing Zecora, Twilight?”

The way his voice came out made both of Zecora’s eye brows shoot up. The purple unicorn who sat at the table stopped dead in her notes, ears flicked towards the unusual voice, and soon she turned to face the new visitor.

The surprised expressions from the zebra and unicorn made him raise his own eye brows in question.

“What? Oh…”

He just realized he spoke in his natural voice, his natural male changeling voice. Something that didn’t really fit the cream colored mare he was cloaked as. Curse his exhaustion, and the slip it caused! In an immediate effort to try and cover himself he started to cough violently.

“-COUGH-cough-. Excuse me, -cough- but do you have –cough- some medicine?”

“It’s ok Bon Bon, it seems like every other time we speak you have a new song song.”

“Actually Zecora, I don’t think you should let him in…”

“Him?”

Twilight was up from the table now and started to march towards the door, horn ignited. It would appear that Shade’s immediate fear was correct, and she recognized his voice from that little trip to the Badlands. In a defensively play he dropped to the ground and raised his hooves in surrender.

“Alright alright, you got me Twilight, no need to get angry.”

He gave the biggest grin his exhausted disguise could, but that did little to dissuade the agitated unicorn. She grabbed him in her purple aura and slammed him against the floor, and he grunted in discomfort. The disguise of Bon Bon was released and the natural form of Shade lay there on the ground. Twilight pushed him out of the hut, and followed till she was outside as well. Shade strained out more words.

“Please I just want to talk.”

“How many others did you bring with you?”

Twilight adopted the aggressive tone of an interrogator and pressed down hard on Shade with her magic, which pressed the breath out of him. In frustration, he gritted his teeth, and looked up into her violent eyes with his own. In reflexive reaction to his pressured predicament his horn ignited.

A bright flash of green magic and a high pitched screech left Twilight momentarily dazed. Her vision blurred and she saw large twinkling stars everywhere, even her ability to hear was blocked out by an obnoxious ring. The disorientation wore off quickly, and when she looked for the changeling she had pinned, he was no longer there.

“I said I wanted to talk.”

The voice came from behind and she whirled about to face it. Even as she did so, the head vanguard already prepared a blob of magic neutralizing slime, and slapped it onto her horn. The librarian unicorn was not as nimble, or deft as the veteran vanguard, and she didn’t manage to dodge. So the smack of goo successfully hit it’s target.

The dark green stuff drooled down a bit, and got mixed in with her mane and scalp. She scrunched her muzzle in disgust. It felt like some pony had just sneezed an over sized snot wallop on her head, except it was some changeling.

“Ew!Ew!Ew!”

She put a hoof up to her head to try and wipe it off, but that only resulted in her hoof being stuck to her head. In vain she struggled to separate the two, and managed to stretch the slime a little, but it whip-lashed against the tension, which resulted in the painful collision of Twilight’s hoof to her skull.

“OW!”

“Hehe, it’s stuck there, I suggest you calm down now.”

The purple unicorn stopped what she was doing to glare up at the head vanguard, who chuckled at her hopeless struggle. A snarl crept over her snout, and she jumped at him, and with her free front hoof, punched him in the mouth.

Ultimately Twilight tumbled and fell after the stunt, three legs were not good for balance after all, but the result caused her to smirk. Shade reeled backward, and lifted a hoof over his mouth. He emitted a muffled groan of pain.

“Gaw! Twilight, gee, Applejack wasn’t so hard to talk with!”

“There’s nothing to do but talk when you’re under Chrysalis’s sadistic hooves!”

“She’s only… a little sadistic. Ow!”

A loud crack echoed over the top of Shade’s head and he dropped to the ground. Twilight blinked in surprise, until she recognized that Zecora stood nearby, a stick of bamboo held carefully between her hooves. When the zebra saw the changeling was sufficiently stunned, she offered a hoof to help Twilight up.

“It does appear that we should get out of here.”

“I’m afraid you’re right Zecora, I couldn’t plan where to go fast enough...”

“Geronimo!”

“What?”

A large round body sailed down out of a tree, to the surprise of every pony, zebra, and changeling. It landed on Zecora, and promptly flattened her. Twilight jumped back surprised. An exasperated growl came from another nearby tree, and Shade, who was on the ground, looked up while he cradled a welt on his head.

“Got the zebra head vanguard!”

Splotchy sat triumphantly on top of the squashed zebra, who struggled against the wide girth on top of her. A shocked Twilight backed up, as a debate erupted in her expression. Should she try to run, or help her pinned friend? Well, that wasn’t really much of a question for an element mare.

She prepared to make a jump strike at the overly plump changeling, but was caught by a green magical aura, even as she jumped. Another changeling strode casually from her hidden position, a pleasant grin on her features. Her celery colored eyes reflected eerily in the dark of the night.

“I know you told us to stay on the side Shade, but there goes Sweet Fang anyway, and honestly it looks like you needed the help. Have you slacked on your spar sessions lately?”

“Just overly exhausted, now let’s get ready to go.”

“Alright, should I carry Twilight along with us?”

Shade put a hoof under his chin and turned studiously towards the unicorn, who looked rather defeated now.

“Why were you three too much for us? My friends and I fought dozens of you up in Canterlot…”

“Dozens?”

Splotchy raised an eye brow curiously, it only took one fat vanguard to body slam a zebra out of the picture. Shade answered the apparent enigma.

“You must have fought drones then, they weren’t meant for fighting at all. I bet they even tried to fight you with your form, no?”

“Wha- well, yes…”

“Uh, huh, changelings don’t fight nearly as well when they’re in pony disguises. Let alone drones. Now I have a question for you Twilight, would you like to walk with us? Or be carried the whole way?”

The purple unicorn turned away with pursed lips, and grumbled to herself.

“I’ll walk.”

“What was that?”

“I’ll walk!”

Shade blinked once at her volume, before he approached and separated her hoof from her head with a slice of magic. Twilight flexed the joints of that leg immediately afterward, happy that it was free. Shade nodded towards Reaper, who put the unicorn back on the ground.

“What do you want to do with Zecora head vanguard?”

Splotchy inquired, the zebra she sat on had turned blue in the face. Shade noticed the striped equine’s perilous predicament and shoved the heavy changeling off.

“Get off first of all, we’re not here to kill any pony.”

A loud gasp erupted out of Zecora and color slowly came back to her face, she clasped her head between her hooves and moaned. Her eyes rolled slowly around in their sockets, and she appeared to be in a total daze.

“Oh my head, am I dead?”

“No, let’s just get you back in your home, and you can stay there.”

Shade grabbed the zebra with his aura, and levitated the near asphyxiated Zecora into her house, and onto her bed. He closed the door behind her, and turned back towards the path they had come on.

“Let’s go then.”

“Can we just portal back?”

Reaper already worked the magic to make one appear, and the air started to distort with emerald radiance. Shade raised a hoof to stop her.

“No, not if Twilight is to have her magic restrained. Slime doesn’t go through the portals very well.”

“That’s inconvenient…”

“Well, there’s a new project for you Reaper.”

“Goody…”

“Now come on Twilight, we got a bit of a walk.”

The head vanguard turned to leave, and so did his two fellows. With a resigned sigh, the purple unicorn followed them with a very sulky trot. She hung her head low, folded her ears back, and had no swish in her tail. Her hooves dragged unenthusiastically over the dirt.

It wasn’t very long into the walk back to Ponyville before Shade turned over to her. Reaper and Splotchy were a small ways ahead of them, and the only noise was the ambient creepiness of the Everfree, and a weak buzz.

The sad face on Twilight made it apparent she wasn’t up for simply talking about business, and Shade couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for her. He’d spent far too long being empathetic to ponies, then again, he had spent most of his life as one.

“If it would help you feel any better, your other friends are still free. I can confirm that we don’t have them.”

That did seem to perk up her up a little, and her ears rose up again.

“Really? Does that mean you don’t know where they are either?”

“At the moment, your friend Rainbow Dash took to the skies, and we have no idea where the rest of them are.”

“They aren’t at Sweet Apple Acres, none of the apple family was. Everything was just abandoned over there, I would have thought one of them should have been there.”

“They’re smart if they won’t stay in the same place, especially after the fiasco that happened here. The queen’s attention has been brought here, and she would be happy to have any information that would lead to getting the six of you back.”

“What did happen? I only saw the ridiculous fireworks… Did Trixie fight some pony else?”

Their walk had gone outside of the Everfree forest at this point, and they made their way into the fields outside of Ponyville. There was a low ambient buzz in the background, which was low enough none of them paid much attention to it.

“Yep, the queen herself was down here. It was a short affair apparently, and the amulet that unicorn had is now in Rainbow Dash’s hooves. She snatched it when King sombra and the queen fought over it.”

“King Sombra? You changelings have a king too? And he fights with your queen?”

“No, we don’t have a king, at the moment. King Sombra was ruler of the Crystal Empire.”

“Crystal Empire?”

“It was all new to me last week too, it’s a place in the far north. Apparently it was hidden away for the last thousand years. It does something like reflect love over Equestria as long as the ponies there have it. Right now they look to my queen as a savior.”

“What! There are ponies that look at Chrysalis as a savior? Did she show them her natural face?”

“Her changeling form is what they know her by.”

“How did she convince them she’s good for any pony, did she mind control them all?”

“No, she saved them from Sombra.”

Twilight kept quiet for a while longer, as if her brain simply did not compute. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but stopped herself before any words actually came out. This action was repeated several times as the unicorn tried to formulate which question was most relevant.

Her string of thoughts was interrupted when she tripped over something. It was soft and squishy, and caused her to tumble over into the dirt. The object she tripped on groaned in pain.

“ooooo, teh gwee nnn prrwer…”

It was an incoherent and weak mumble, and the dark form on the ground struggled to move. The darkness of night made it almost impossible to decipher to Twilight. The changeling next to her had much better night vision. After Shade looked analytically at the blackened figure he was able to distinguish it as a pony, a very charcoaled one.

“Oh my.”

He carefully picked up the burnt pony in his magic, and dusted her off. The natural color of her coat was hidden by the singed marks all over everywhere. Whatever style she had kept her mane and tail was hopelessly destroyed, and much shorter than what it was before. At least she still had some hair for a mane and tail.

“T-that must be Trixie! I didn’t think she survived that blast.”

Reaper held a rather disturbed expression, and pointed a nervous hoof at the mare held in Shade’s magic.

“Trixie?”

Twilight looked at the pony in the changeling’s aura with new eyes, and she grimaced. Meanwhile the ambient buzz in the background had grown steadily louder and louder. This caught the attention of Splotchy, who looked back towards the forest. It was subtle, but she noticed hundreds of reflective eyes as they darted between the trees.

“Hey uh, Reaper, head vanguard.”

None of them gave her attention as they were still focused on the miserable condition of the pony held by Shade. The background buzz evolved into a rumble, and the reflective eyes had left the forest.

“Hey!”

The pudgy changeling shouted, and got every changeling and pony to look at her. She pointed at the army of reflective eyes that approached them. The buzz drowned out whatever could be said now anyway.

All of them opened their eyes wide as they noticed what advanced on their position. Changelings, hundreds upon hundreds of changelings. Some of them flew, many of them stampeded on their hooves. Something was off about them though. This swarm was cut into even thirds of sentinels, drones, and vanguards.

When Shade looked closely he actually recognized one of the vanguards.

“Splicer?”

Each vanguard he looked at was “Splicer”. This only served to confuse him greatly. All the drones and sentinels looked identical to each other too. Something was very off indeed.

“What the?”

“Run!”

The massive swarm was almost upon them and it didn’t slow down. Reaper shoved them all forward and they fled from the stampede of chitin and insect wings.

Ch.34 "Blues"

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.34 “Blues”

Morning time, Canterlot---

Chrysalis decided to take it a little easier this morning. Last night’s frigid experience was something she didn’t want to repeat. So rather than tend to the celestial bodies by herself, she recruited a hundred changelings to do it with her. It seemed to do the trick, she felt perfectly temperate as the moon fell and the sun rose.

When the daily duty was complete she promptly dismissed the plethora of assistants with a lazy, mental buzz. She mused at the idea that she should get the ponies to do the job again. Noble unicorns weren’t responsible for moving the sun and moon since shortly after Equestria’s founding.

Her eye twitched and the line of thought died, this was a gesture she shouldn’t be so eager to surrender. She was still new to the nation’s throne and had many impressions left to make. She shook her head and slowly strode down the halls of the castle.

There was another talk to prepare for, one she had mixed feelings about. Simultaneously, she very much wanted some answers out of Luna, while feeling repulsed at the idea of having to engage her in conversation. Worse, she might not even get the information, considering the insufferable Sombra may be just as likely to change his mind. Her walk slowed eventually to a stop. She needed something to change her mood before she even tried. Her hoof tapped the marble floor a few times before it struck her.

Just to show how much she appreciated Luna, Chrysalis took a trip to the royal kitchens. As soon as she entered the attendant staff stopped what they were doing, and gave her the fearful respect that her imposing stature commanded. They were silent,all bowing their heads in fearful reverence. The Queen eyed the smaller ponies critically for several moments, causing to squirm when nothing was said. After waiting a little longer it was clear to Chrysalis that all of them were too afraid to even inquire about her possible request . She clicked her tongue and spoke over the group.

“Is there a chef here who knows Princess Luna’s personal tastes?”

Many of the different attendants and chefs blinked in confusion, before their eyes slowly started to turn towards one pony. This particular chef started to quake harder and his knees hobbled, a shiny bead of sweat dripped down his neck, marking him as the most nervous pony in the room.

Since none of them spoke and the indications were obvious, Chrysalis went ahead and took the initiative. She raised a long leg and pointed a hoof at the agitated chef.

“You!”

“Me?”

“Yes, you, the unicorn with the green coat and blue eyes.”

“Y-yes, your majesty?”

“Come here and speak with me. There rest of you, go back to what you were doing.”

The kitchen quietly resumed it’s busy bustle again. Pots and pans were shifted over stoves, soups bubbled, greasy foods popped and sizzled, dough was mashed and beaten and all other kinds of kitchenly things went on.

It seemed louder than when she had first entered, she supposed the ponies worked earnestly distract to themselves while she stood there pensively. As the busy activity ploughed on the green pelted chef shambled over to the Queen and lowered himself in a reaffirming bow. Chrysalis never told him to get up, so he addressed her initial request while keeping his submissive posture.

“I have experience catering to the former princess’s taste your majesty. What would you require of me?”

“I want you to make her favorite meal, desserts, and any drink she’s fond of. Place it all in a basket and have it ready to go as soon as you can.”

“I’ll prepare it right away. I, um, is it too presumptuous of me to ask why?”

“It is, prepare it, and I will be back within the hour.”

With a dismissive swish of her tail she rounded, leaving the kitchen. The dumbfounded chef came to his senses when he heard the doors patter back and forth. He went about the business of preparing such a meal.

“Only an hour? By Tartarus! Grease Hoof!”

“Ya?”

“Kick up the dark marble stove ASAP, I’m going to need demon fire for this order.”

“Right away boss!”

Grease Hoof, a dark brown earth pony had been in the middle of a large buttery project. Thus, his hooves were covered in… grease. So when he tried to dash off and follow the order his green pelted superior had given him, he slipped.

The slip was rather catastrophic, as the stallion slid across the floor,corralled underneath several other chefs and attendants, and swept them off their hooves. Food, knives, spatulas, burning hot meals, and some large wedding cake were all flung all over the place. It was a mess, a complete and total mess.

The entire work place became a myriad of angry shouts and yelps. As delicate projects were ruined, many of the staff sustained bruises, burns, and cuts. One poor mare ran around with her mane on fire.

“Put me out! Put me out!”

Another mare grabbed the panicky pony and dunked her head into the ruined wedding cake, smothering the flames with a hiss. Even though she was no longer on fire, she was content to keep her head buried in the frosting out of embarrassment. The room was now filled with the scent of burnt hair and food.

The green pelted pony twitched his eyes in barely contained wrath. He was about to shout at his assistant for the chaos, but a magic alarm blinked in the corner of the ceiling. Every pony looked up to it, and that’s when the newly installed sprinklers went off.

As the water cascaded down over the kitchen the chef pony’s anger diffused. He was now full of despair, and his rump dropped down to the floor, his ears falling in a sulk.

“It’s going to be my head in that basket…”

---

Waking up from a short lazy nap Chrysalis stretched out as she made her way back to the kitchens. When she approached the two way doors she noticed it was quiet. As if the place was deserted. She pushed the double doors open with her magic and to her surprise, there was only one pony in the large room.

Only the green pelted chef from earlier remained. Otherwise the kitchen was stripped bare, and didn’t have anything going on. The changeling queen did a double take, and wondered how long she’d been napping. She had checked the time before she came down here, which only made the situation seem more off.

“I have what you requested your majesty!”

The green unicorn levitated a basket over to her, which she cautiously grabbed with her magic. Chrysalis brought it close and lifted the cover cloth, revealing a few boxes and neatly wrapped objects, some of which radiated heat, along with a fairly large bottle of some archaic drink.

“Thank you…”

“Spry Days, your majesty.”

“Yes. Also where did all the other ponies go?”

“Oh them, they uh….well, things got a little stressful and I’m letting them take a quick break.”

“Very well, you may resume your plans for the rest of the day then.”

“Thank you your majesty, I will be around should you need anything else.”

Chrysalis gave one last suspicious look to the unicorn chef before she left with her possessions. When she was in the hall she created a portal and stepped through with meal basket in tow. The silent ripple of distortion magic disappeared and she was gone.

Spry Days turned about and not a moment later every cupboard and drawer in the kitchen exploded. Ponies, wrecked food, dish utensils and instruments shot across the kitchen space. Once the rapid movement ceased there was a loud accompaniment of displeased groans. The hidden mess had returned, but this time Spry wasn’t so nervous.

“Come on chefs, we’ve had our first success with the new royalty. Get up and back to actual work.”

“guuuuh.”

Was the general consensus of the beleaguered kitchen staff.

---

Crystal Caves, deep below Canterlot---

Now that she was so close Chrysalis felt reluctant, seriously reconsidering whether the potential information was worth it. She already had the basket, and she wanted to use it. It might be worth it just to get a few more jeers in. Should she even be thinking that way though? Jeers or answers, such a tough dilemma. There was also whether would Sombra insist on staying for the conversation? It would likely not be as private as the affair with Celestia. So she would need to mind what she said too.

“Uugg.”

She grumbled, before she made the transition from the dark grey crystals of the Canterlot cavern into the crimson geometry that was Sombra’s temporary abode. When her hoof made contact with the red steps, a barely noticeable ring accompanied the touch. She waited for a moment, expecting Sombra to pop up with some annoying witticism. He didn’t, so she tapped her hoof a few more times, but there was no more ring. Perhaps he knew she was there, but was preoccupied with something else?

The Changeling Queen went ahead and walked further into the hallway until she came across the chamber that housed Celestia, still in her cocoon. The chamber was sealed by a thin transparent barrier and Chrysalis looked at it critically. It only held her interest for a moment before she remembered she didn’t really want to be down here.

As she peered ahead she recognized the hall Sombra had pointed down earlier to indicate Luna’s housing, so she meandered that way. Before she moved in front of the next chamber she heard voices. Curious as to who Sombra would be talking to, she kept her forward, walk at a stealthy creep, stopping when she arrived near the arch way.

“So what was the time on the moon like exactly? Was it like the mind numbing existence I had in ice?”

“Actually it passed in what felt like an instant, I don’t remember the time spent there at all. It was a bit of a surprise when my sister told me where I had been. My time as Nightmare Moon wasn’t altogether lucid, I just remember the poisonous feelings and flashes of this or that.”

“Bah! You’re fortunate… If only I had been able to sleep. Besides my recovery from insanity, it was disorienting enough to find out it had been over a thousand years.”

“You can say that again. I’ve been back for almost two years now, but there are still so many new curiosities, but so few familiar things.”

“Hahaha! Ancient mortal enemies being one of the few familiar things I take it? Your turn princess.”

The was a soft clink and Chrysalis blinked her eyes in confusion. She decided to risk a peep around the corner. What she saw caused her to frown and roll her eyes.

Luna and Sombra sat at a large checkered table, the Princess had just scooted a playing piece forward with her hoof. Chrysalis could practically smell the smirk that Sombra was hiding from her. The Crystal King then took his turn and moved his piece close to Luna’s. The blue alicorn cocked an eyebrow.

“Trying another dirty trick, you old shadow?”

“Must you always be so blunt Princess?”

“And you always so indirect…”

“Well, make your next move and you can find out.”

The dark stallion leaned back comfortably and activated his red magic to grab something Chrysalis couldn’t see. A wide smirk now openly worn on his chiseled snout. At the same time two crystal wine glasses formed out of the minerals on the floor. Meanwhile, Luna just stared at the table in concentration, trying to see if she missed something. Sombra talked while she thought.

“Though, there are many things that are strange and unfamiliar in this age, I do get to appreciate some of my foresight, such as taking my empire with me.”

“Oh?”

Luna was curious and her ears perked, but her eyes were still fixed on the table pieces. The two glasses were broken free from the floor, and a crystal bottle levitated into Chrysalis’s line of vision. Sombra filled the two glasses with a dark blue liquid then he studied the princess’s face as she lifted a hoof.

She bit her lower lip, then decided to pull her forward piece back. Sombra in turn raised an eyebrow in surprise, the smirk turning into a friendly smile.

“You resisted the bait? I’m impressed.”

“Well, it was obviously a trap.”

Luna huffed with self assurance, and she crossed her front hooves over her chest and tilted her snout upward. One of the wine glasses levitated close to Sombra’s face and he swirled it gently.

“Anyway, as I was saying, I was able to keep a few nice things from days past.”

The glass was pressed to his grey lips and he took a slow sip. Luna’s eyes narrowed critically and she sniffed at the glass placed before her. The pupils in her eyes dilated slightly.

“Is that… heart nectar?”

“It is indeed.”

“How did you come by this? I thought it was all destroyed ages ago?”

“A shadow can creep into the most obscure of places. The last owner managed to keep it hidden well from every pony else.”

The Night Princess just gaped at it for a little while, much to the Crystal King’s amusement. He took another sip while she licked her dry lips slowly.

“My sister should have this, it has been much longer in her conscious memory since she had the opportunity.”

“Oh come off it Luna, indulge a bit, it’s not like you’ll find me in this mood when we’re done here. Besides, I’ve got massive stores of it. It was the most important thing to keep hidden, even the Crystal Heart came second.”

“Hmm, I suppose putting you in this mood is one good thing the dread queen has done. I don’t ever remember our court meetings being so amiable.”

“Ha! Like court meetings were ever a social event. Please, I’m sure you despise nobles and ambassadorial relations as much as I do. They’re just needy little tyrants under a bigger one.”

“That is not entirely fair. There’s only one prince these days that reminds me of the old nobles.”

“Really? Since when did the nobles go soft?”

A rather unpleasant look of surprise came over his face, and he took another draft of the heart nectar. Luna snorted in barely contained mirth.

“Oh? Going soft hehehe, you should be talking. For you it took what… a kiss? AHAHA!”

Sombra spat out his drink, rapidly turning purple in the face.

“I hardly consider that fair. Lets see you have all the lovey dovey emotions of dozens ponies vomited down your throat and gauge your reaction! Besides, how did you even know that?”

“Let’s just say some changelings who saw that event have interesting dreams. I didn’t spend too long in their heads, but it was long enough to get a clear picture of what happened.”

Chrysalis leaned away from the archway, her own face burned red. She was going to need to purge some memories from her swarm… Before she grumbled anything audible Sombra cleared his throat and spoke loudly.

“Well, if you do want to go into detail, the femme fatale is right outside, though we’d love to have her join us if it gets juicy.”

The Queen’s eyes snapped open wide. So apparently that little alarm did let Sombra know she was there, but he chose to ignore it until now. She gritted her teeth and rounded the archway that led to the chamber.

The Queen wore a mask of disapproval as she strode into the room, basket of treats beside her. Luna instantly turned sour and looked away, a heavy sigh escaping her lips. Now that she was closer, Chrysalis noticed some mysterious, red crystal growths upon Luna’s horn. With a slight sneer in the Night Princess’s direction, Chrysalis pointed an accusatory hoof.

“I only came here for a few brief questions. Do you have to be here Sombra?”

“Why of course, I want to observe this friendly exchange.”

Luna gave a dirty look to the dark stallion and crossed her legs before her chest.

“You haven’t dropped your indirect methods at all you snake. You planned to use that fiend to antagonize me didn’t you!”

“Hey, the only term is that she is going to ask a few questions. I’ll make sure things don’t get out of hoof, or everypony gets separated. Now play nice, and you can still have your heart nectar. Just pretend I’m not here.”

“I don’t want your nectar anymore!”

The blue alicorn pushed away the wine glass in front of her with an angry snort. Sombra just smiled knowingly. He turned to Chrysalis with an expectant look, nodding his head in Luna’s direction. The changeling turned her hardened gaze to Luna.

“I want to know why you and your sister have lied to me.”

“Lied?”

“You lied about your knowledge of changelings. You clearly knew we existed before I revealed my kind. Or has it been so long your pitiful memory has grown faulty?”

“I have no idea what you are talking about.”

“Really?”

Chrysalis’s horn ignited, projecting a small portion of her memory in the air, revealing King Avalanche saving two unicorn mares from the devastation of a dragon’s claws. The image paused right where Avalanche dodged the dragon, pulling the two sisters safely over the city walls.

“That! Explain to me how you forgot that!”

A look of pure confusion crossed over Luna’s face for several moments. She stared at the image of Avalanche with a sense of loss.

“I remember the dragon clearly, that beast’s name was Archway. I have no memory of that other creature though.”

Luna pointed a hoof at the image of the giant royal. The alicorn turned to queen with an entirely suspicious look.

“What game are you trying to play Chrysalis…you’ve already taken everything else, now you’re trying to take my sanity?”

“I am playing no game. You and your sister are alive because of King Avalanche! Now, why are you acting like you don’t remember!”

“Because I don’t. I don’t know how you captured that memory so well, but it’s obvious you tampered with it.”

“HOW DARE YOU ACCUSE ME OF TAMPERING WITH THE WELL!”

Chrysalis’s fangs were bared and her wings tittered in her irate mood. She marched forward, baring down on Luna with her greater stature. A red flash stunned both changeling and alicorn. Both of them shook their heads, turning an angry eye at the stallion across from them.

“Hey, I said keep to things civil. I didn’t let you come here to see if your voice can shatter glass.”

Luna spoke next, while Chrysalis just gawked at Sombra with incredulity.

“A Well?”

The Queen’s predatory eyes snapped back to the Princess. She had let an important detail slip. Sombra also leaned forward, a new interest kindled in his blood red eyes.

“Yes, lady dragonfly, what is this Well?”

“Nothing, I’ve found I have nothing to learn here. If Luna wishes to play ignorant then I will take my leave.”

Chrysalis turned to go.

“Wait…”

The image Chrysalis projected hadn’t quite dissolved yet and Luna stared at it harder. As if she could draw something out of it. The royal changeling narrowed her eyes and tilted her head in anticipation.

“There is something to it…but when I try to remember, it feels blurred, as if… as if it is blocked…”

A new realization started to dawn over the alicorn’s face and she went dead quiet. The rising implication disturbed her greatly. The Queen digested Luna’s reaction, and remained quiet herself. Sombra shrugged and added his own thoughts.

“What, seems simple enough. That overgrown grasshopper wiped their minds after he got what he wanted.”

Chrysalis instantly had her doubts. Mind control and manipulation was a delicate process and quite frankly, that didn’t seem like Avalanche’s specialty. More intriguing was the fact that the memory of the event remained, but it was altered to forget a key individual? It would have been much easier to just wipe the memory altogether. To keep it almost identical, leaving the affected individual without suspicion? That took talent, more than she wanted to admit. Perhaps there was a much larger context to this whole matter she needed to explore.

Who had mind alteration powerful and precise enough to leave two immortal alicorns without suspicion for centuries?

“I need to go.”

Chrysalis turned to leave, but was stopped one more time.

“Wait, what do you have in the basket?”

It was Luna that halted her departure again. That question brought a slow smile to the Queen’s face. She slowly removed the cover cloth from the basket with an indifferent attitude, then picked one of the warm boxes to open.

From the warm box she lifted a chocolate loaf, which peeled apart in pre-made slices. There were large chunks of tender chocolate chips and syrupy caramel throughout the pastry in several long curvaceous veins. Chrysalis buzzed her wings slightly so the powerful smell wafted around the room.

The grumpy face Luna put on made the whole trip worth it to the changeling. The alicorn had quickly recognized what it was the Queen held in her magic, and it made her burn with envy. Chrysalis took a slow sensuous bite, humming as she did so.

“Mmm, I must say… my new chefs are quite talented.”

Luna turned away from the changeling and wore a lethal scowl. Her eyes spotted the wine glass she had pushed away earlier. She greedily grabbed it, taking a big swig of the heart nectar. Sombra snorted into his own wine glass and Luna shot him a wide eyed glare, in it was a silent challenge “I DARE YOU TO SAY SOMETHING.” The Crystal King just laughed and raised his hooves in an innocent shrug.

“Come again any time Teaser Queen. But only if you come to visit this fine Princess, AHAHA!”

Sombra received a glass of heart nectar to the face…

Ch.35 "King Avalanche" part 4

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch. 35 “King Avalanche” part 4

The mountain complex, just outside of Canterlot---

Agitated was a good word to describe the current state of the queen, as she rushed back towards the earthy confines. Some entity had manipulated things, and manipulated them extensively. Only a short while earlier Chrysalis thought she was the only royal to make an open and successful attack on pony kind. That this might not be the case made her shiver with uncertainty.

King Avalanche used some stealth, but he didn’t infiltrate like modern changelings. He and his swarm had been seen, by hundreds, if not thousands of ponies…

Sloppy, terribly sloppy.

She mentally chided the deceased king.

Yet none of this made it to any pony history books? He must have failed miserably and been forgotten. At least that was what she had assumed in the beginning…

Every other country Chrysalis had been to, every country her vanguards had scouted, all of them lacked knowledge of changelings. It was rare that her kind was even mentioned in myth, very rare indeed.

This was something she had personally reveled in, and despised. Reveled because it was proof of the cunning and manipulation of her species, and despised, because the only source of history she could turn to about changelings came from the well of memories. There were no other examples to be found. She would need to sift the well, and see if the answer to this disturbing debacle could be found there.

Soon she approached the chamber that housed the well. Sentinels stood there attentive as ever, and when she walked up to them she tossed the basket of food she had absentmindedly carried at them. They flinched in surprise, but one of them managed to catch it and keep the contents from spilling everywhere.

“You two can share it, just see that I’m not disturbed.”

“Of course my queen!”

Both Sentinels straightened themselves until she had passed, then they both turned to look at the contents of the basket. Something tingled their noses in a pleasant way, and they licked their lips.

Chrysalis sat down at the edge of the well, and took a moment to look over her own craftsmanship. It wasn’t as elegant as the altar constructed in the badlands. Shellish had been responsible for the creation of that. Her old mentor always had a fascination for designs. The pit before her now was a crude and practical sculpt, just a bowl that contained a substance.

The queen shook her head to remove distracting thoughts. She didn’t want to miss any other potentially crucial details that were left in the peripherals of the well’s memories. Pale light emanated around her ocular orbs as she manipulated the magical liquid before her. The swirl of the crystal-like substance enveloped her and immersed her in experiences from the distant past.

---

“Come here roach!”

The titan of flesh, scales, and fangs lunged at the flighty Avalanche. After a narrow dodge from Archway’s ominous jaws the changeling king backed away, and flew higher into the air. The dragon huffed and growled in annoyance.

“Fine, if you won’t stay still...”

A great breeze ripped through the air as massive volumes were inhaled into the beast’s expansive chest. A malevolent smile spread past saber rows of teeth, and the dragon aimed his head not towards Avalanche, but the rest of the city and the scattered bits of the changeling swarm.

The inferno that followed dealt nerve wrenching carnage. Anything that was close by the initial blast was blown away by the force of it. Buildings, stone, wood, and any creature unfortunate enough to be close when it occurred, all of that was incinerated and left a deep gouge in the cityscape. The rest of the flames continued forward, and didn’t knock down structures, but set alight everything for hundreds of body lengths.

The devastation appeared like a massive laceration, which hemorrhaged fire over the body of the pony population, as well as the changeling swarm. A thunderous and gutty laugh boomed across the panic struck city.

“Be as nimble as you want roach, this city is still mine!”

In disdainful glee the dragon simply ignored avalanche, and stomped forward through the path of ruin he had just made. His eyes set on the capitol halls, and treasury’s location.

In a desperate effort Avalanche called out to the remnants of the swarm. He tried to get them to come back, but their terror overrode his command. All save one.

“Yes high king!”

It was Scraps, the old sentinel who Avalanche counseled with before. Rage still burned in the giant royal’s eyes. Though his swarm was disheartened he was not, and the king turned to the faithful sentinel.

“I need a distraction, keep Archway still as long as you can.”

“Yes my king.”

After that Avalanche ascended into the sky as fast as his large wings could carry him. The loyal sentinel darted towards the dragon, and approached him from behind. The colossal scaled monster heard the buzz of changeling wings and lazily swatted at it with his claws.

Scraps managed to dodge the sharp protrusions that were twice the size of his entire body, but the turbulence created by the dragon’s passing limb threw him off balance. Fortunately there was enough time for him to recover before Archway tried to swat at him again.

The sentinel’s heart beat hard within his chest, he was utterly terrified, but his nerves were practiced. He had helped Avalanche protect the vanguards on runs before. He was in even better condition now; he had regrown his wings, eye, and leg because of their recent success. If his king asked, he would do, no matter the risk to his life.

When he saw his opportunity, Scraps dived at the dragon’s eye, horn first and emblazed with magic. The impact was a success and the dragon roared in pain. An immediate problem after the hit was that the dragon blinked, and the titan’s closed eyelids were strong enough to hold him fast. In a panic Scraps tried to pull out, but his head was stuck.

To the loyal sentinel’s slow horror, he watched as the dragon raised the back of his paw to his face. The changeling’s desperate struggle was futile against the iron grip of the eyelids, and the moment before it happened, Scraps closed his eyes, and resigned himself to his fate.

The changeling warrior became a green and black smear across Archway’s irate face. The angry dragon flicked his paw around to get rid of the sticky goop. The colossus had stayed still as a result of the distraction, and he was about to walk forward again, thoroughly annoyed about the punishment his eye received today, but a high pitched screech caused his ears to perk. It came from high above, but he didn’t have the time to look see what it was before something bright hurt his eyes, and he didn’t comprehend what happened next.

A green comet tore through the atmosphere with blistering speed, and the air around it was broken by the enormous friction. A trail of green energy traced around a dark form, and it was completely obscured by the distortive waves that surrounded it.

The comet sailed straight towards Archway, who had remained still long enough to be in it’s path. The alabaster beast barely shifted as he went from one distraction to another, and was caught completely off his guard. The resultant impact of the comet into dragon caused the foundations of the city to quake.

The ground rippled and cracks appeared in the foundations of dozens of distant buildings. The shockwave that followed up was strong enough to clear the air with strong gales, and blow out the flames that consumed the city.

It was not easy to tip the inertia that kept the titan where he was, but the momentum from the emerald comet overcame the colossal resistance before it. The core of the furious ball of energy buried itself deep into the dragon’s side, and there was a thunderous crunch, like the groan of some great tree being felled. Followed by a loud pop, that was more of a boom, since it was muffled by the layer of meat that surrounded it.

Shortly after the impact the blinding light burned itself out, and the form of Avalanche backed away from the crater he had created in the monster’s ribcage. The giant changeling fell down backward, utterly exhausted from the effort of what he had just done. He landed hard into a nearby building.

Mean while the dragon was still on his feet. The shock of what had just happened hadn’t traveled the distance up his inordinately long neck to his disoriented brain. When he tried to take his next breath that’s when he choked.

Albane’s eyes shot open wide in panic, he felt something he had never felt before. The terrifying titan now had terror in his own eyes as his head tilted towards his side. A deep gargled struggle developed in his throat as he tried to pull air into his collapsed lungs. Smoke plumed from his open jaws and nostrils, but the effort was entirely futile.

A terrible shake rumbled over all of the dragon’s limbs and he started to flail as he collapsed to the ground, unable to roar, unable to cry out in agony, unable to voice the terror of his failing consciousness. All the digits of his feet and paws spread out in desperation, as if he could grab onto to something, anything, that would save him from his mortal condition.

Eventually the dragon’s struggle ceased, his vital functions failed, and he flipped onto his back. His paws were clenched in a death grip towards his collapsed ribcage. Even as his form finally fell still, his eyes were left wide open.

Silence followed for a long while afterward. The fire that plagued the city had been reduced to mere embers, and sudden quite unnerved the occupants that remained. The first to investigate the change of activity were the remnants of the changeling swarm.

Their nervous and cautious approach was slowly relieved as they came closer. Some disbelieved what they saw. The dragon was dead, the unnatural shape of his chest and motionless state of his being made that obvious. After that one of them quickly spotted the king. The many of them buzzed over excitedly, still in a state of disbelief of what their eyes beheld.

“There he is, the high king!”

“He… He killed the dragon!”

The cry rang out, and caught up quickly with the rest of the swarm. Ponies began to overhear the clarion calls as well, and many of the castle’s unicorns poked their nervous heads out curiously. The changelings were obviously distracted by something, and no longer fled in terror.

News quickly spread throughout the small city, and the details of what happened made it to the ears of the local duke, Duke Polish Platinum. An entourage of moderately maintained unicorn guards was assembled, and they made their way towards the gathering of changelings.

Avalanche was barely lucid as he fumbled over the rubble around him. Drones, vanguards, and sentinels gathered around to support the high king of their swarm. Many readily donated large portions of their love reserves towards him with loud exhales of the wavy energy. Out of need, he accepted, and with the tending of several drones, the large cracks all over his chitin were in partial repair. His blood was busily wiped up, cleaned, and magically cauterized.

It was in this state which the head unicorn of the city approached the head of the changelings.

Duke Polish Platinum held a face as sour as rotten grapes over his twisted grey muzzle. His coat was white, and his mane was blonde, he wore a fancy purple cape, and a small silver circlet decorated his head.

The dozen guards on either side of him were heavily armored in bright steel, all them were unicorns as well, and they held aloft dozens of bladed weapons in their magic, all of them were pointed at the group of changelings they approached. The duke called out to the ragged swarm in an austere voice.

“Be gone vagabonds, your filthy subterfuge has brought irreparable devastation!”

A loud deep laugh caused the duke and his escorts to stop mid trot. With shift and loud thud Avalanche brought himself to his hooves, claws since morphed away, and looked down over the group of unicorns. His tall form was great enough to cast them all in his shadow.

“Pardon me, but I just stopped the rest of this city from burning to the ground. You don’t have to be grateful, but it would be a nice start.”

“Grateful? That flambasted creature would never have crossed our walls if it wasn’t for you!”

“How was I supposed to know he was waiting to pounce?”

“Because dragons love our gems you frag chumming idiot! And now you left us too weak to defend ourselves properly!”

Avalanche just growled and stomped at the ground, which caused every other equine to bounce on their hooves. All the guards around the duke readied their weapons and pointed them at the enormous royal. This in turn caused all the changelings behind the king to bristle in agitation, and they ignited their horns and hissed. Their wings buzzed in anticipation of a fight. One wrong move, and the situation was ready to erupt into a skirmish.

“Stop!”

The sudden shrill voice caught everyone’s attention, and both unicorn guards, and changelings risked a glance. A tall unicorn mare approached from another side of the city rumble. Her long pink mane was scuffled and dirty, and long with large patches of her white coat.

“Have you not had your fill of death?”

The white mare pointed a hoof towards the great smoldering scar in the middle of the city. Amongst the ruined structures and sizzled remains were the bodies of both ponies and changelings. Some were more or less charred than others, and the stink was repugnant. A shudder went through both groups, but the duke’s countenance remained hard.

“Don’t interfere Tia, all the death that’s happened is his fault!”

The duke pointed a sword at the royal changeling, and gritted his teeth. Avalanches red-orange rings flickered towards Polish Platinum, before his gaze returned to the white mare.

“I don’t want my swarm to suffer anymore than it has to. The dragon did grievous harm to the both of us.”

Avalanche’s posture relaxed a little and he folded his wings back. The gesture signaled for the rest of the changelings to stand down as well, and their magic charged horns fizzled down. In turn the unicorn guard lowered their weapons, slightly. The duke still had his sword pointed at the king, who spoke at the pony with relative calm.

“Perhaps I could offer help in the reparations of your city. I am aware of where the belated Archway kept his lair.”

This perked the interest of many of the guards, and even Polish did a double take. The legends of what elder dragons kept in their lairs were a tickle to the imagination. Many cities had been plundered over the centuries, and the dragons that took the wealth guarded it jealously in their remote volcanic lands. No pony dared ventured there, unless they had a death wish. None recovered what had been taken.

“You lie you changeling git.”

“DID I NOT JUST KILL HIM!”

The roar of the king, though nowhere near the volume of the dragon was still impressive and blew down the aggression of the duke a notch, and he lowered his sword.

“I’ll return with what we can carry. Other dragons will probably move fast to loot it, once they hear Archway no longer guards it. Though I will ask for something in exchange.”

“What?”

“Let my swarm feed.”

“Your damn hunger is what drove us into this mess!”

“Me being fed is what saved your arse!”

And both parties flared up in temper again. Changeling magic cackled, and unicorn weapons brandished. This time it seemed negotiations had tired themselves out, and blood ran hot. The anger and indignation of the head pony and changeling infected their underlings quickly. A cool toned voice broke the air before any equine leapt at the other.

“I will help feed the changelings.”

This drew everyone’s attention to the side once more. Next to the tall white unicorn mare, a slightly shorter dark blue one walked forward. She quickly continued lest she lose the strained attention she had gained. She pointed a hoof at the giant royal changeling.

“He may have weakened us, and caused our shield to fall, but I do not believe he means us malice. He saved me and my sister before the beast could crush us. Every creature has needs, and I will help them, so no equine has be driven to senseless desperation.”

“But Lulu…”

“You have always meant us well, Duke Platinum, but all of us are hurting. What good will it do to fight over scraps?”

Avalanche flinched when he heard Lulu mention ‘scraps’. He had felt it, the moment the loyal sentinel’s life was snuffed out. He had felt it when each member of his swarm had been burnt or crushed. Not their physical pains, but the mental flashes of terror, and despair. It weighed heavily on him.

“This pony is right. Too many corpses litter the ground, and it was never my intent. Would you still be interested to strike a bargain, duke?”

Polish Platinum turned his hard blue eyes towards the giant royal, a frown still etched into his graying muzzle. He looked at the two sisters, then back at the changeling. Hate and reason battle in the white stallion’s mind for a little while, and both sides stood tensely among the rubble.

“I will hear you.”

The duke finally decided. There was a very audible sigh from both parties, now that they had determined they weren’t in immediate danger.

---

The scene froze, and Chrysalis heard the voice of an older Avalanche boom from behind her.

“That was the start of an interesting turn about. My swarm and I collected the dragon’s horde and brought it back to that city. Mountains of gems, gold, and all that. We were essentially able to ‘buy’ pony love as a result. The surrounding towns and villages of earth ponies and pegasi were rather bitter at the unicorns, since a deal and bargain was struck, but not with them. I just continued to drain them as needed. Hehehe, but hey, Archway wasn’t the only sodden dragon that made himself a problem, and a few others followed, as they tried to prey on those I left exposed and vulnerable. I protected the pony villages and cloud towns too. Many of pegasi who had their feathers plucked by my earlier excursions needed the help. Also, dragon doesn’t taste half bad either.”

The older Avalanche licked his lips lightly, and pulled over another spare rib from the building Crafty had called him out of. He crunched it down and continued.

“Besides fighting a few dragons, I managed to merge my swarm with a few others. I needed the numbers, and territory. Sometimes the transition was smooth, other times it was not. Most royals were terrified of me after they heard of what I had done, and they submitted easily. So it went until I met Crafty, anyway.”

Avalanche pulled another rib over with his magic, and chewed it slowly enough so that he could talk.

“Archway’s death is what gave me my name sake. I was titled Avalanche, or at least that’s what I was called by my swarm. I’ve come up a number of techniques that I’ve taught my changelings over the years… How to change hooves to claws, how to enhance speed and strength with love reserves, even how to briefly accelerate personal healing, but apparently my most memorable lesson was what you just witnessed back there. That empowered dive bomb. Now if any who listens to this are royals themselves, you can teach that dive bomb to any of your changelings, but sentinels and other royals use it the most effectively.”

Chrysalis paused Avalanche in his words. She raised an accusatory hoof while she let out an exclamation.

“Aha! So you’re the one who came up with those things! I always wondered, Shellish never showed me back this far… It seemed like every royal just, knew.”

She unpaused the scene so the older Avalanche could continue, but another accented voice interrupted.

“Aval!”

“Yes?”

“You’ve been at it for hours.”

“So.”

“I’m tired, and I need my royal comforter.”

“You’re the one who wanted to get me on this thing…”

“Now I want you off of it.”

“Grr, make up your mind Crafty. I like to keep going once I’m started.”

“Started, was four hours and a sunset ago. You can use it again tomorrow.”

“Mmm, you need to persuade me first…”

“What?”

“I’m quite invested in telling tales at the moment. What are you going to offer to help me change my mind. Hehehe.”

The vision around Chrysalis swirled this way and that, and she no longer beheld the younger Avalanche who faced the town of unicorns, with a titanic dragon corpse nearby by. Now she saw the older Avalanche, who sported a stupid grin, while Crafty gave him a deadpan glare. The past queen rolled her eyes and turned tail. She started to walk away without a word. As the distance between them increased the king’s grin dropped. He looked between the well, and over to his queen, and back to the well, then back to his queen. He bit his lower lip in turmoil. A uncharacteristic whimper strained from his closed mouth.

“Mmm, GAH! Fine! One last word from me. If you have to choose between recording a memory, or making one… make one.”

With that the king’s horn flashed and the vision went blank. Chrysalis snorted, then progressed to a chuckle, which eventually grew to laugh, that evolved into riotous heaves.

“Oh, my sides!”

Her hooves clutched to either side of her as she rolled on the ground and laughed her head off. He hind legs kicked weakly in an effort to work the giggles out.

Not but a moment ago, she saw this mammoth of a changeling take down a dragon. With a dive bomb much greater than what she had dropped on Sombra. Who intimidated every equine around him with his stature and voice. Now she saw him whine like a dog… and be pudding in the hooves of his queen…

“Hahaha!”

Oh such control was admirable, and it wasn’t even mind control… Once she was done giving her over-worked diaphragm some time to recover, she weakly raised a hoof to progress the bank of memories. It was some time before the next memory popped up.

There was a way to tell how far apart memories were, and it surprised Chrysalis that it was several years later before the well was used again.

---

The scene before her was clearly daytime, and in the midst of a spacious glade. Tall grass filled large portions of the healthy meadow, and lazy trees slowly ruffled about in a lazy breeze. It smelled of spring time and the flowers were in bloom. Bees buzzed, birds sang, yadda yadda.

Chrysalis looked about for why the well showed her this. Soon she spotted why.

Avalanche and Crafty were there, and lay leisurely in the grass, but many smaller figures were around them as well. She quickly recognized it as a brood of royal changelings. Most of them lay down lazily and were in the midst of some very relaxed naps, a bit of drool here and there. There were over six of the young ones. One in particular was very active.

The queen looked closely at this one broodling, and noticed a few peculiar traits. It was a little female, who had many pale grey spots. Her horn in particular stood out, as it was very oddly shaped, a cork screw. Aside from that her tail was strange, and acted more like a fox’s than a pony’s.

Chrysalis’s brows raised slowly while her eyelids stayed level, and she turned to look between Keen and Avalanche, who appeared to be completely content.

“Who’s broodling is that… I don’t see the resemblance in either of you.”

The blissful barrier of time kept Chrysalis’s skeptical comment from ever reaching the ancient royals’ ears. She sighed and waited, and watched. Was anything useful going to come up? The little fox-like broodling played around a bit, and Chrysalis saw her jump off of Crafty's back, then proceed to use Avalanche’s fore-leg like a slide. She was giggly and bubbly and just a sweet precious little bundle of joy for the two parents that watched her proudly. Chrysalis sighed.

Just when she was about to raise her hoof and skip the scene, the whole thing shifted, and it was just Crafty who faced the well. It was difficult to tell what setting the ancient queen had moved to, but her face was clear.

“I know it’s been a while, me and Aval have been, busy. I just wanted to record something for my own time’s sake. I know I said I would use this mostly for you future royals, but there are some things I would like to look back on as well. This well was designed to grow, as memories were added, so there isn’t really a shortage of space. In fact, I’ll encourage you other royals to put private memories in here if you wish. It’s not like there’s really anything to be embarrassed about after you’re dead anyways. If anything, it’ll just show you we’re equines, like any other.”

The scene dissolved and Chrysalis was left there to wonder. She lifted a hoof to pause the well’s activity so she wouldn’t be interrupted in the midst of her contemplation. She rested her chin on top of her hooves and just thought.

It had never really occurred to her to put a memory in the well just because she wanted to. Shellish had always encouraged her to be efficient, and use the well like any other scarce resource. Chrysalis now wondered why her former mentor had cultivated that attitude towards the well. After another moment she supposed it was just another general attitude within the changeling swarm. The well could be a distraction, when there were more important things to deal with in the present.

For now, she was content with the way things were. Colony managed the attitudes and feedings of changelings and ponies within Canterlot. Shade was off retrieving the elements and amulet. Vivisect… oh Vivisect… She still felt muddled about what to do there.

So she simply turned back to the well, and activated magic from her horn. She was going to make a personal addition at the moment. The topic in mind was inspired by the little scene Crafty had decided to share.

---

Over in the high mountains of Prance, some forty years ago or so, at dusk

Chrysalis saw herself, her younger adolescent self. The youthful Chrysalis sat on top of a fairly large rock, and next to her on the ground was Shellish. Both of them looked out over the wide valley below them. The sun had just set, and the ambient purple-blue glow of twilight kept some details of the land visible. Fire light, and magic light kept the fairly large town below illuminated. The activity was still fairly high, and many were in the midst of their commute home for the day.

Young Chrysalis turned towards the older royal, and her turquoise mane blew slightly as she shifted.

“So why am I different from my parents. Why am I like you rather than them?”

Shellish kept her gaze out towards the valley as she replied.

“Because, little royal, it happens sometimes when different types of common changelings interbreed.”

“Huh? why? How does that work?”

“Well, over the millennia the formula has been pretty clear. A drone and a drone mated together makes drones, vanguard and vaunguard make vanguards, and a sentinel with a sentinel makes more sentinels.”

“Then two royals would make more royals… But my parents are a drone and a sentinel…”

“Yes, I see the confusion. So it works like this when there is a cross. Whatever the pair is, drone / vanguard / sentinel, the offspring will be the same type as the mother. On rare occasion, very rare, like once out of thousands of pairings, such a cross can produce a royal changeling. It’s suspected to be some sort of survival mechanism, should all of the current royals be wiped out. There is still a way for our kind to come back and keep order in the swarm, although it is certainly easier to maintain a royal population with royal pairings.”

“But what about a royal paired with a common changeling?”

“Aw, caught something I missed, you are a smart one little royal, you’ll do the swarm good when it’s your turn to rule.”

Shellish raised a hoof to playfully rub it through young Chrysalis’s mane. The youthful royal shook her head in half-hearted annoyance, and blew a strand of hair out her eye. Ever since she was old enough to talk, she had been put under Shellish’s care.

Any broodling that came from a mixed pair would be raised according to their type, by other changelings of their type. So that meant only one of the parents would get to see their broodling regularly. In Chrysalis’s case, that meant neither of them, though she did stay with them until she was old enough to be taught.

“So are you going to answer my question?”

“Oh yes, well, if a royal breeds with a common changeling, the results are rather random. There’s an equal chance that it would be any of the common types, if the royal is female, otherwise a male royal plus, whichever of the other three, will just make that, whichever of the other three.”

“So there’s no chance to produce another royal?”

“A very low one, in fact, I can’t remember the last occasion I’ve heard of it happening. It’s considered rather undignified for a royal to pair with a common changeling, and there are so few of us to try in any case. Why the sudden questions little royal?”

“No reason…”

“Are you afraid of being alone?”

Shellish let the question hang in the air, and her gaze shifted from the stars and dancing city lights to the smaller royal. The young Chrysalis dropped her gaze and rubbed her hooves together uncomfortably.

She gasped slightly when she felt a fore-leg wrap around her neck. Shellish had joined her on the rock, and pulled her into a gentle hug. The adolescent royal contemplated whether she wanted to resist or not, but eventually gave in, and nuzzled into to older queen’s orange-purple mane. There was a tangy scent to her mane, and it was comfortable to brush against.

To her surprise, she heard heavy sigh, and felt Shellish’s whole frame deflate somewhat, and something wet trickled onto her head. Young Chrysalis looked up to her mentor, and saw a few tears run from the corners of her eyes. The youthful royal’s brow furrowed, and her muzzle scrunched in confusion.

“What’s wrong?”

“Oh, nothing. You just got me thinking, I had several things I worried about by the time I led the swarm by myself. After the war between swarms not so long ago, all the other royals disappeared. I was worried that I was the only one left, and it was like that for many years.”

“But I’m here.”

“But you’re here.”

A melancholy smile crossed over Shellish’s snout, and she hugged the young Chrysalis a little tighter, almost defensively.

“As long as my shell holds, I’ll keep you and the swarm safe.”

For emphasis Shellish tapped the large flexible piece of carapace on her back. While they sat there, Chrysalis’s eyes wandered back down to the prench town. Her concerns were temporarily assuaged under Shellish’s wings.

---

Present Chrysalis cut the memory off there. The well presented things more vividly that her mind could recall on simple reflection. A few tears rolled down her cheeks, and she put the well of memories away. For a long while she just sat there, and gazed into nothing. Eventually her knees felt weak, and she curled into a ball on the ground.

The next moments dragged on in painful slowness, and she hiccupped. Eventually she buried her face among her fore-legs as if she could hide from the world. Most of the problems that troubled her were forgotten about, as a few deeper and longer held concerns were brought to the fore front of her mind. They stayed there, as if the ephemeral concepts were the only thing she could see in the physical world.

She hiccupped again.

The small spasm felt like the final crack in the dam of her bottled emotions. Her composure fell apart and she wept and wailed openly. Her breaths were cut into ragged heaves and her throat felt painfully choked up. The raw pressure in her chest was agonizing to bare and her cries were intermixed with mournful moans.

The queen of the changelings had become a royal mess, all by her lonesome in a secluded chamber in the mountains. She continued to sob relentlessly, and it bothered her to no end. Why had that memory hit her so hard, why? Why did she have to so alone? Even after the thirty years she had ruled, no other royal had been born.

It wasn’t like she hadn’t tried. She encouraged mixed relations within the swarm, and she had even participated by having a few broods of her own. Yes, she had stooped to that ‘undignified’ level and mated with a few common changelings. None of the broods she had resulted in any royals, and the broodlings were moved and raised by their respective classes like any other changelings would be.

In a sense, she had always looked at the entirety of her swarm as her “children”. But she had since become discouraged with the idea, and dropped it a while ago. The refresher from well was a poignant reminder, and opened some old wounds. The well made it seem like yesterday, even though it had been over thirty years since she last saw another living royal.

Eventually her cries and sobs got weaker, and her eyes ran out of tears. Her throat was sore and ragged, and she shivered violently. She didn’t move from the ground, and slowly she unfurled from the ball she had curled herself into.

Her gaze was dead and forlorn, and the slit pupils focused on nothing particular. Now that she was too tired for any forceful expressions of sadness she laid there, and drifted off to sleep. Her mane was dirtied by the earthy floor, as well as most of her chitinous skin, and one of her wings was quite soiled from the position she held.

No kind of composure for a queen at all…

Author's Notes:

I'm worst author , i can't pump out chapters as fast as i want to... atleast not since i picked up a new job Oh, and sorry softshell... i didn't put this chapter in the shredder, forgive me!

anyway, irl stuff isn't what you wanna hear about. That stuff get's annoying enough in other stories. Author's notes are more fun when they contain extra little tib bits of the story. So on with that.

Got a dragon problem, just dive bomb it...

everyone is just so happy! Anyway, not sure if i described Avalanche's condition enough after he made the impact. He looked somethin' like that.

Family photo! the little awake one will be particularly important... soon...

Some Shellish and young Chryssie. Chrysalis's horn looks different... that is for a particular reason, and i'll tell that tale, eventually. I have it partially penned out ok!

A bit of music for the last scene.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdLEMhMpWsk

and teaser music for the next segment! Some of ya already guessed it was coming, aaaaaaaaaannnnd you're right! Man, i like dis band , but only when i'm in the mood for it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8G7mfgCuoHA

Ch.36 "Numerical Issues"

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.36 “Numerical Issues”

In Ponyville, just before dawn-

Shade, Splotchy, Reaper, burned up Trixie, and Twilight were all in a mad dash towards Ponyville. Not far behind them was a horde of relentless changelings that surged forward under some manic motivation.

All of them panted heavily as they were a good distance outside of Ponyville, and had to exert themselves greatly to stay ahead of the swarm of identical soldiers. Vanguard are not great runners compared to drones and sentinels, neither are unicorns inherently athletic as either pegasi or earth ponies. Especially fat ones.

Splotchy quickly fell behind the others, since her weight was a large detriment to her speed. Shade noticed this and tried to encourage her to keep up.

“Come one –pant- if we can get to a building –pant- right there!”

The nearest building was a few hundred yards away, perhaps they could get behind it and survive the wave there. The heavy vanguard tried her hardest, and her strained puffy face conveyed how spent she already was, but the stampede behind them was almost on top of them.

“Keep –pant- going! –pant- don’t slow –pant- for me…”

She even tried to buzz her wings to hurry forward, but she had difficulty doing that. The air wouldn’t be a safe escape either at the moment, as many of the oncoming changelings were in the air too. Neither option really availed too much, as Splotchy tripped over a stone, and tumbled to a stop on the road.

Before Shade could even try to drag her along with his dwindled magic reserve she was swallowed up in the horde behind them. It had only taken mere moments for her to disappear into the dark swam of hooves and wings, and now she was undoubtedly being trampled over and over.

His eyes were drawn wide in shock, but all of them needed to keep going forward if they were to avoid the same fate. Shade hadn’t been so exhausted, so drained, and so despaired all in one moment for quite a long time. It was rather brutal combination he would prefer not to put himself under.

Reaper faired the best out of all of them, her more slender build lent itself better to speed, and she was many body lengths ahead of Twilight and Shade. She was the first to make it to a sturdy structure, some ponies’ house, and dive behind it. Right after she secured her own position, she poked her head back out around the wall.

The stampede was right on top of Shade’s and Twilight’s tails. Green magic flashed bright as Reaper pulled in the head vanguard and unicorn with her magic, and gave them the necessary boost to make it to the shelter, just in time.

Not a moment after her fellows got behind the wall, the place was surrounded, pelted, and passed by hundreds of changelings in a crazed rush. All of them sat there and panted for several moments as the stampede continued to pass.

“Where’s Sweet Fang?”

Reaper managed to spit out the first question.

“She… She fell.”

Shade didn’t look at her in the eye as he replied, mere words felt like they took all energy that was left in him. He dropped Trixie down in the alley, no longer able to sustain his telekinetic grip on her.

That fastest wave of changelings passed by, largely sentinels, and a few of the speediest drones, then most of the drones and some faster vanguard. Shade looked up from the ground towards to horde that flowed around them, like a river around a rock. Each vanguard he saw was Splicer, a vanguard he had seen in Canterlot not too long ago, a member of the swarm. Just what were hundreds of him doing here?

The head vanguard strained himself to and do something about this madness. An authoritative glare shown around his eyes, and he shot out a mental command.

STOP!

All of the vanguards in the swarm immediately dropped their hooves to the ground and stopped. This caused quite a commotion, and dozens of changelings suddenly found themselves tripped up. A full third of the stampede had halted, and tripped up almost another third.

“Shade! For the love of the royals, you’re here!”

One “Splicer” eagerly jumped over several bodies in a desperate effort to make his way towards the alley. He rather carelessly stomped on faces, legs, backs, bellies, whatever was exposed, and caused a number of indignant barks of complaint. This “Splicer” stopped when he was close enough to talk.

“Thank you for stopping that mess, well part of it anyway, all of them are so uncontrollably wild.”

“Splicer? What in Tartarus is going on?”

Shade thought he popped a blood vessel in his eye, the stress and effort it took to simply stay awake at this point nearly broke him, but this issue was desperate enough to call his attention anyway. Before “Splicer” could go on and try to explain any of what happened several other Splicers all jumped up and approached the head vanguard. Soon a whole chorus of them joined in.

“I am Splicer!”

“I’m Splicer!

“No I am Splicer!”

“He’s not Splicer, I am!”

“Splicer is me!”

“I’m Splicer!”

“I’m Slicer!”

“I’m Spicer!”

“I am Spartacus!”

Hundreds of vanguard approached Shade, and they all shouted, mostly, the same thing. Shade wore a gape of a frown, he didn’t know how to go about this, this total chaos. His head drooped, and his haunches slunk to the ground, his ears fell, and his strained eye lids strained.

A curious thing happened next. The “Splicer” that initially approached Shade had rage written all over his face, apparently his frustration had capped too, and he decided to let it out, violently. “Splicer’s” horn charged and cackled, and then a bolt of green energy shot out and struck another Splicer in the barrel.

“Splicer” had only intended for the shot of magical energy to knock out his closest competitor, but reaction was quite different than intended.

The hit Splicer started to inflate uncontrollably, his eyes bugged out and body expanded into a large round balloon, every other Splicer there looked at the at the process in deadly silence. Eventually the balloonified changeling reached a critical point, and popped. The closest Splicers raised their hooves to shield their faces, as they expected a shower of goop and guts, but it never came.

The rest of the Splicers that sat a little further away watched the balloon changeling pop, and after a shower of little sparkles, the body dissolved into a watery mist. The changelings below may not have been hit by goop and guts, but a they were pelted by small water droplets.

Every Splicer copy slowly looked down from the spectacle, and their uniform lavender eyes all stared at the “Splicer” who started it. The original “Splicer” looked quite shocked at the reaction as well. A smile slowly crept over his face after that however, and he eyed the horde of copies before him. Now that the field was quiet with tension, “Splicer” addressed the head vanguard once more.

“Help me get rid of them! They’re a bunch of disobedient copies of me, I shouldn’t have read the plaque next to that pool…”

“Pool? Plaque? What?”

“Just help me blast em!”

This assertive, and apparently knowledgeable “Splicer” held some answers. Shade could question it later, after this mess was done. He tried to summon what magic he had left, but his horn only managed to cackle and fizzle ineffectively, he turned to the other vanguard in the alley behind him.

“Reaper, Splicer will need your help, all these copy changelings are apparently susceptible to magic.”

“What, just blast them?”

“Yes, I need you to help because I can’t.”

“-sigh- It’s never a simple night when you show up…”

Reaper walked past Shade and ignited her horn, both she and “Splicer” turned on the wide eyed horde of identical vanguard, and they let loose.

It only took another dozen or two spectacular changeling balloon pops for the horde of copies to realize their continued existence was in peril. As soon as this realization hit them, there was mass panic, and the hundreds of Splicers that remained started to scatter every which way.

“I’m not Splicer!”

-POP-

“He’s Splicer, not me!”

-POP-

“No, I can’t be Splicer!”

-POP-

“Splicer’s over there!”

-POP-

“I said I’m Slicer!”

-POP-

“I said I’m Spicer!”

-POP-

“I am Spartacus!”

-POP-

Dozens were popped, but there were still dozens more. The excessive use of magic brought a heavy toll on both Reaper and “Splicer” and their horns steamed from the amount of energy they channeled. It was apparent that both vanguards would run out of energy before the clones could all be popped. Even Shade in his poor coherency could observe that.

Twilight peeked around the alley, and watched the scene with a sort of morbid fascination. She yelped in surprise when she felt a hoof touch her shoulder, and noticed that the hoof was connected to Shade, he looked at her in the eyes, while he bit his lower lip.

“They’re not going to be able to get rid of them all. We haven’t even started on the drones and sentinels… Twilight?”

“Yes?”

“I need your help.”

“What?”

“This place is your home, will you help defend it?”

“Ofcourse, but I can’t with this.”

She lifted a hoof to indicate the slime that covered her horn. Shade nodded, he knew at this point if he removed the slime that disabled her magic, there would be nothing he could do to prevent her escape after that. He was too exhausted to fight, or to cast most spells. Yet she, a magical prodigy, would be the best help for the situation at the moment.

“One moment, I’ll get it off. Come closer.”

“Ok.”

Twilight scooted a little closer, and Shade started to smack his lips. The purple unicorn eyed him warily.

“Can’t you just magic it off?”

“I don’t have any magic left to use, I’ll have to remove it naturally.”

“Naturally?”

“Just tilt you head down.”

“Um…”

“How many ponies do you want trampled before we continue?”

“Ug, just do it.”

Twilight closed her eyes shut and tilted her head down, so that her horn was right under Shade’s muzzle, and he went to work right away. He nibbled at the semi-hard slime that coated the unicorn’s magical appendage, and soon he had large chunks of it torn off.

Meanwhile the unicorn scrunched her face uncomfortably, and tried not to think about it, how a changeling now chewed away at her horn, with his large sharp changeling fangs. She grimaced, and closed her eyes even tighter.

Now that most of the thick stuff was gone, Shade switched techniques and lathered up his purple tongue with a good amount of saliva. The rapid licks cleaned off all the crevices of Twilight’s horn caused her to shudder. His spit did it’s job, and dissolved the rest of the dark green slime, the unicorn’s magic tool was now free.

Before Shade withdrew his head, and left Twilight to her own volitions, the last smidgen of his magic twinkled in his eyes briefly, and he coughed up a small clear dap of resin on his tongue. He applied the tiny clear dollop to the base of her horn, and then pulled himself away. He slumped backward against the alley wall, and sighed in utter exhaustion.

“There, you’re free.”

Twilight opened one eye and blinked several times, her muzzle was still severely scrunched in disgust, and slowly she raised a hoof to tap at her own horn. She felt that the lumpy texture was gone, and the surface was only slightly wet now.

She let out a sigh herself, and experimentally ignited her horn, and sure enough, her purple glow lit up the alleyway. Shade coughed out one more line.

“There, now go blast some changelings…”

That got her to smile, and she started to walk out of the alley, and she made her way closer towards the center of Ponyville, where the drones and sentinels had surged. When Shade saw her tail disappear around the corner he fell over, and his eyes started to drift into nothingness.

Before he could completely tune out the world and everything in it, he felt his body being lifted. A green aura of magic surrounded him, and he was dropped onto someling’s back. He heard Reapers voice address him.

“Where did Twilight go?”

Reaper heaved, apparently she was over exerted as well, but she had enough left in her to move him around. Shade’s legs flopped about as he rested on her back, he was limp as a rag doll, and she struggled to stay steady as she strode towards her home.

“I let her go.”

“You what?”

“It’s fine though.”

“What do you mean it’s fine? I saw what the queen did! I saw what happened because the other element mares escaped!”

“Yes, but the others didn’t have a tracer on them, did they…”

“A tracer? Oh! Oh, oh, oh. Well, yes, that would work.”

In the distance both Shade a Reaper could hear the high pitched twang of magical bolts being fired, followed by loud pops and showers of water droplets. Apparently Twilight was on top of it.

Reaper struggled with the last steps towards her door, her slender frame wasn’t built to hold up Shade’s weight very well, but she managed to get inside before both of them fell over. She panted heavily, and he wheezed uncomfortably. She was the first to get back on her hooves, and she lazily started to shove Shade along the floor, she no longer possessed the will or energy to pick him up magically or physically.

If he was going to fall asleep, he would do it in her basement. She got him to the edge of the stairs, and took the time to set up her position. She bucked, and Shade grunted as he slid down the steps, and stopped at the bottom in a heap. He could barely groan in displeasure.

Unfortunately Reaper had lost her balance when she kicked, and she fell down the stairs too. One somersault and a few bruises later, she was splayed out on the bottom of the stairs, on top of the head vanguard. He had grunted on impact, but otherwise hadn’t moved.

She was too exhausted to bother as well, and the both of them fell asleep at the bottom of the stairs, just as the sun peeked above the horizon.

Ch.37 "Reflections"

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Author's Notes:

IMPORTANT!

I changed one small, but important detail last chapter, ch.36. I'll put it here so you don't have to go back and search for it.

here's the original paragraph

The rest of the Splicers that sat a little further away watched the balloon changeling pop, and with a swirl of magic, the body was vaporized into green energy. This energy condensed into a long snake-like whisp, and then rapidly slithered through the air back into the Everfree forest.

here's the revised version

The rest of the Splicers that sat a little further away watched the balloon changeling pop, and after a shower of little sparkles, the body dissolved into a watery mist. The changelings below may not have been hit by goop and guts, but a they were pelted by small water droplets.

I changed it so it would coincide with what is explained in this chapter. Thanks for pointing out that one detail I over looked... you know who you are.

Anyway, how about the usual stuff I like to put in the authors notes.

Some music I was chillin' to while writing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=staUdptO9qc

Chrysalis Wins

Ch.37 “Reflections”

Ponyville, evening –

A sudden knock on the door startled two changelings that had fallen asleep at the foot of the stairs. Reaper’s bright green eyes shot wide open, and the jolt of consciousness caused her to kick out. Her wings buzzed in a rapid panic and she was a mess of fluttered limbs.

Shade’s wake-up call came in the form of a hoof to his gut. With a loud grunt he shifted his posture defensively, and curled into a confused ball. His eyes were still closed, and he groaned about his sleep being over. He was still exhausted, but in a better state than he had been last night.

Reaper had quickly changed into Carrot Top, and ran up the stairs to answer the door.

“I’ll be there in a moment!”

She tried to straighten her thoroughly disheveled mane. Too bad changing forms didn’t fix up hair styles, or clean you up, or heal injuries, or…

Carrot opened the door, and was surprised when two bodies were immediately pushed inside. One was large, and the other was burnt. In the door way stood an inconspicuous grey unicorn stallion. He had a white mane and brown eyes. The strange pony tilted his head to the side.

“I hear this establishment has fine carrots.”

Carrot just looked at the bodies on the floor and put a hoof over her mouth, as her eyes widened again. The charcoaled unicorn mare looked about the same, miserable, but slightly more conscious.

Next to her was Splotchy, and she still breathed, but the plump changeling showed all the evidence of being thoroughly trampled. Cracked chitin, bruises all over the softer parts, wings bent in multiple ways, eyes swollen shut.

“Not to be in any particular rush mam, but may I come in?”

The shocked Carrot shook her head to try and rid herself of the ghastly sight before her, and her emerald eyes roamed back up to the pony at her door.

“Splicer?”

In response he flashed his eyes a distinct hue of green. After that he didn’t wait for her to acknowledge anything else, and invited himself into her home. As soon as the door was closed, he used his magic to lower the curtains, and the stallion became wreathed in the light of change.

A tall vanguard surveyed the room, his eyes and stubbly mane were a very light shade of lilac. The not clone “Splicer” addressed Carrot in a brisk tone.

“I assume you wanted something from this… mare.”

“Trrrxie…”

Splicer looked over the charcoaled mare on the floor, and cocked an eye brow when he thought he heard something. He ignored that, and pointed a hoof at the trampled one.

“And I was able to recover Sweet Fang, defied her odds by surviving eh? Though I think we should move them somewhere more private don’t you?”

“Yes, ofcourse. Follow me.”

Carrot turned around and moved towards the stairs, her tail gave a nervous twitch as she rounded on her hooves. Splicer picked up the two victims of unfortunate circumstance in his magic, and followed after the yellow-orange pony.

After Splicer had taken a few steps down the stair case he was suddenly pulled to a stop. A noisy thunk behind him signaled something was off. In a grumble he turned about to see the problem. Apparently an extra girthy changeling and an extra crispy pony didn’t fit through the door frame at the same time.

He tried to rearrange them with his magic, and pull them through single file, but he had unintentionally jammed them in quite badly. In frustration he gritted his teeth and decided to pull extra hard. Eventually he was met with success, but the stress and force caused the snugly locked pony and changeling to spring out of the door frame with surprising speed.

Splotchy, Trixie, Splicer, and Carrot were all caught in a tumble before any of them made it down stairs. Then the mash up of four all corralled into a wide eyed, barely oriented Shade.

It took some time for the ball of cacophonous complaints to split apart, and there was more than one exclamation of pain as they slowly untangled. When the two limp bodies were placed to the side, and the three wakeful ones had oriented themselves, some order was called in the basement loaded with carrots. Shade started the course of conversation, and eyed the changeling with lilac sclera with a critical air.

“So Splicer, the Splicer, would you care to explain to us what happened earlier?”

“Ofcourse head vanguard!”

“Then go on. You mentioned something about a pool and plaque being associated with last night’s madness.”

“Yes, that was exactly the source of the problem. See, the drone that burrowed the tunnel has a problem with orientation apparently.”

Shade raised an eye brow, and Splicer blinked a few times in confusion. He realized he may have started in the wrong place, and he fumbled with his mouth a bit before he started to retrace his line of thought.

“When Ponyville was surrounded by that large magical barrier, and the queen went to investigate, I was pulled along to assist with the mission. She wanted to approach the mission with some discretion, and ordered all of us to enter the town by tunnel. We were grouped into drone, sentinel, vanguard sets.”

“And what a bunch of lovely dangerous pits you left behind for every pony to fall in…”

Carrot grumbled on the side, Shade gave her a look, before he turned back to Splicer and gestured for him to continue with a lazy wave of his hoof.

“Anyway, the drone, Cull and I followed must have had his senses screwed in wrong. For by the time we heard the call to emerge, we came up nowhere near town. Rather we followed the drone into a dank cave with some large pool in it. After Cull sufficiently berated the drone, I started to investigate the cave for an exit, as I no longer trusted our drone to lead us anywhere.”

“What qualified as sufficient berating?”

Carrot wore a curious smirk. Splicer answered with a curt and level manner.

“Cull saw fit to fill and empty the drone’s lungs with water several times…”

Shade just shook his head, and pursed his lips. He ventured a question amidst Splicer’s explanation.

“So I suppose this pool was the source of all the mayhem, and you mentioned a plaque?”

“Yes, while Cull continued to vent his frustrations I came across a curious stone tablet. It had quite preposterous things written on it and… One curious thing led to another.”

“What? Reading the tablet caused a plethora of copies to appear?”

“Reading a specific poem aloud caused one to appear. Then the copies started to help themselves in making other copies. I only got one or two of them to listen to me before it spiraled out of control. I regret my curiosity in that aspect.”

“Can you take me to this cave?”

“Yes head vanguard…”

A nervous twitch hit Splicer in the left eye, Shade noticed and gave his best tone of reassurance.

“I have no intention of making copies Splicer, though this artifact you stumbled on has already shown it has great potential for disruption. I wish to investigate it, and see if it should be destroyed. Perhaps the queen may have use for it, but I wish to see it for myself first.”

“Then I will take you there.”

“Hey! What about these two?”

Carrot indicated towards to the two limp, but alive figures that lay in her basement. Splicer shrugged his shoulders with indifference, and Shade gave them both a long thoughtful look.

“Would you be able to take care of them Reaper?”

“Wo-wo-wo, I’m no drone.”

“Can you find one then?”

The yellow pony sighed in irritation, and her messy mane complimented her upset and scrunched muzzle. Shade put a hoof to her shoulder and gave her and apologetic look, she responded to his soft gaze with a glare.

“Fine, though I’m just going to dump her at the hospital. Then she can be shipped to Canterlot for the trouble she caused. I’ll look after Sweet Fang…”

Carrot initially pointed at the charcoaled mare in the corner, who wheezed with an uncomfortable and dry scratched throat. Shade removed his hoof from Carrot, and released some air he had held on to in a relived manner.

“Then I thank you for all your help Reaper, I’ll be sure to inform the queen about the damage to the town, I’m sure there are several ponies displeased about last night’s rampage.”

“Ha, I can’t remember how many times this town has been wrecked by this or that, Ponyville citizens are quite a resilient bunch. I appreciate the offer, and an official word would be nice.”

“Then we’ll meet again sometime later, or the queen will send word.”

“Bye then.”

Shade and Splicer moved up the stair case, and left Carrot with the two injured equines. Once they exited the house they both beat their wings, and headed towards the Everfree forest.

---

Ponyville alley-

A cricket chirped, and there was a noisy rustle in one of the alley ways. A garbage can lid lifted open a crack, and bright lilac eyes peered out of the small crevice. The coast was clear, and the lid was flipped off where it clattered to the ground.

A changeling identical to Splicer, yet not Splicer, jumped out of his hidden location, and proceeded to brush off the sticky debris that clung to him. Once he was satisfied that the garbage on his hide was removed, he looked up to the velvety evening sky. The sun had just gone below the horizon, and splashed it’s beautiful myriad of colors over half of the sky. The other side of the heavenly campus began to reveal stars.

Alone he walked forward, and stopped when his hoof splashed in a puddle. The sensation caused dread to tingle up his spine, and his body froze. Slowly, he head tilted downward, despite the paralysis the rest of his body felt.

The puddle was large enough that this changeling could see his own reflection, and he stared into it for a long while, eventually he started to tremble. A single tear traced it’s way down his cheek, and followed the line of his jaw, once it reached the apex of his chin it stretched, and slowly, mournfully, fell down.

That one salty drip of liquid eventually fell down, and mixed the puddle. The ripple it caused distorted the changeling’s reflection beyond recognition, and he let out a pained gasp.

“My brothers…”

He felt his throat seize up, and he couldn’t utter anymore words. His whole mind was muddled with the puddle he stared into, and the ruined reflection that he couldn’t remove his stare from.

“What was that?”

A guttural voice echoed down the alley, and shook the vanguard changeling from his personal emotional reverie, when he looked up he was greeted by the ominous glare of a sentinel. This sentinel had solid orange eyes and stubbly mane, and his fin had a recognizable hook in it.

“I see one of you old molts managed to hide, well, I’ll give you a short-lived congradulations.”

“Cull…”

“That’s right, it’s impressive you’re actually coherent enough to sort some of Splicer’s memories. That must be part of why you were smart enough to hide. Too bad your smarts finally ran out.”

“I know I am not Splicer.”

“Well, that won’t save you, but good deduction.”

The sentinel ignited his sharpened horn, and produced a long saber blade of ethereal energy. Cull’s wings were a twitter, and he stalked forward, ready to pounce. A sure grin crossed over the sentinel’s muzzle, and the ghostly blade cackled with small arcs of power.

For a few moments the clone was despondent, and simply stared at his own reflection in the puddle again. Before Cull lunged, the vanguard changeling hardened his face as he looked up into hungry orange orbs.

"I. AM. SPARTACUS!"

Cull charged, horn lowered and ready to impale, but instead of his expected collision, his bladed horn pierced a tin trash can lid. He dug his hooves into the ground in order to stop his forward momentum. When the sentinel paused, he felt the trash can lid get pressed around the rest of his head, until it wrapped all the way around, and Cull found himself blinded. He growled in a mighty rage.

Meanwhile a dark silhouette streaked across the sky towards the sunset, and when Cull finally freed himself, the vanguard changeling was nowhere to be found.

---

A shallow distance into the Everfree-

It was a short trip to the pool, and Splicer’s agitation seemed to grow exponentially the closer they got. Shade tried to press a calming influence on his fellow mentally, which helped slightly. The calm that the head vanguard exuded influenced the feeling of the lesser vanguard near him.

Eventually they came across a rather wide tunnel in a patch of the forest. All the edges were messy and covered with fresh earth, it appeared as though the hole had suffered from rapid expansion recently. This was where Splicer led him down.

There were hoof marks everywhere along the entire tunnel, as if dozens of drones had burrowed through it all at once, which is essentially what happened. The tunnel ended in a large beat up cave. The natural fauna had been trampled, and the grass had turned into an earthy clumpy sodden mess. Shade’s muzzle scrunched in distaste.

“The plaque is over here.”

Splicer trotted over towards a fairly large boulder, and picked up a fair sized slab of stone. He placed it gently infront of Shade with his magic. Then his eyes roamed over to the main feature of the cave, the pool. Something was quite different about it though.

“T-the pool! It’s almost gone!”

The lesser vanguard ran over the edge of the water feature, and looked down into the bowl. The pool, which had previous been filled up to the edge, and was now low, much lower than it had been originally. In fact it was quite easy to see the bottom from here. Splicer doubted that the pool was deeper than his knees now, and he blinked his lilac eyes several times in surprise.

Shade just grunted in acknowledgement as he started to read over the plaque.

---

Behold stranger, you have found the remnant of Archaic Brackleback’s greatest work, which is the Mirror Pool. This is not Archaic that addresses you, for misfortune has befallen my mysterious mentor. I am Whispy Winds, and have both warning and wisdom for those who wish to tap into the potential of this project of my belated friend.
The brilliance of this magic is available to all, and the advice applies equally to all. I will expound upon the nature of the pool, and what it produces, to the best of my knowledge, onto the subject itself.
The magic of the pool can only be activated upon the oral recitation of these rhymes.
Where the brambles are thickest,
There you will find
A pond beyond the most twisted of vines
And into her own reflection she stared,
Yearning for one whose reflection she shared,
And solemnly sweared
not to be scared
At the prospect of being doubly mared!
It matters not whether the activator is actually a mare, it’s just the wording Archaic used when she bound the spell. Stallion, mare, colt, filly, foal, all can use this pool, even those not of pony nature, or inherent with magic. They must be able to speak however.
The result of this recitation will conceive and create a doppelganger that will emerge from the pool. The use for application comes down to the nature of the summoner. I am not here to tell you how to use this, as I am likely long gone by the time you read this, whoever you are. But don’t copy anything stupid… Or the heavens have mercy.
That being said, I’ll give my observations on the exact nature of these duplicates.
Those spawned from the pool come out the same age and appearance as the original.
They are healthy, and do not come with any diseases or curses that the original is currently afflicted by, at least initially…
They have memories of the original imprinted in their minds, though often imperfectly, it is rare indeed for one of these duplicates to be able to recall things clearly as the original.
They have a profound and lethal allergy to high concentrations of magic. Saturating a duplicate with magic will cause them to burst, and revert to the watery constitution of the pool that created them.
They apparently age normally from whatever age they were produced.
They can have personality variation, though the base is similar, and heavily influenced by the original.
They will require sustenance in the same manner as the original.
They can wield magic, if the original can, but they suffer limitations because of their allergy. One of Archaic’s duplicates caused herself to burst when she tried to cast a high energy spell. If they attempt to cast lesser spells they typically experience mild to painful swelling and / or nausea.
These were among the more important observations I’ve made of the duplicates. There may be other qualities that I have not yet had time to observe.
Continue on the back-

---

Shade flipped the stone tablet over, and found the writing continue on the back. He gave a curious look over to Splicer, and cocked an eyebrow. The other vanguard was absorbed in his study of the pool.

“Did you know there was a back to the plaque? Splicer?”

“There’s a back?”

“Guh…”

The head vanguard swayed his skull from side to side in disapproval, and continued to read.

---

Should the duplicates become a problem that needs to be removed, there is a salvageable method to go about it. A simple banishment spell.
If the proper banishment spell is not used, and the duplicates are destroyed by other methods, then the Mirror Pool will diminish, and the mass of the duplicate is forever gone from the magical waters.
This is the banishment spell, and it is mentally rehearsed before it is cast. Be sure that these words are the only words in your mind as it is cast, otherwise the banishment may result in a miscast, and you may very well banish yourself.
These are the words…
Pop you aggravating horse puckey… pop
The duplicate will then burst from magical overload, the same as their allergic reaction, but this time their essence will be returned to the Mirror Pool, and the pool will not diminish.
It is also important to note, that duplicates banished in this method still retain their entity within the pool, and should the original wish, for whatever reason, to summon back a specific duplicate, they can do so. Only if the duplicate was properly banished however.
An important warning to keep in mind… This banishment spell can be used on the original… None duplicate ponies, or any creature really, can be banished to the pool. They will dissolve into the magical waters and remained trapped.
Unfortunately I do not possess the knowledge of how to pull an original out of the Mirror Pool. If that were to occur, only a duplicate can pull the original out. If there are no duplicates left, and the original is in the pool, then they will remain trapped in the pool with no way out.
In parting, I ask those who come across this pool, please don’t destroy it. For I, Whispy Winds am still searching for a way to pull originals out. This is the misfortune that has befallen my mentor. For within that very pool, the essence of Archaic Brackleback still swirls. She had no duplicates left when she was hit with the banishment spell.
So be warned reader, whoever you are, use the pool carefully. For even if I am gone and passed away, I believe those trapped within the pool do not suffer the effects of time. And maybe some other pony wiser than me will have this figured out.
So long… Whispy Winds.

---

Shade dropped the plaque, and slowly turned towards the pool. A slight fidget of horror crossed his face. The drained pool now meant something else to him. He didn’t even know where to start with the implications of this, and he fell back on his rump. The vanguard’s gaze wandered off into the distance in minimal comprehension.

Eventually his mind went to default mode, and his eyes flashed a brilliant purple as her relayed a mental message.

My queen?

---

Chrysalis stirred from her place on the ground, and she felt overly lethargic. The hair around her face was dried and matted, and dirt was caked around her form. She sighed and groaned as she righted herself. She had felt the message, and it felt like someling had tossed a small pebble at her aching fore-head.

What is it Shade?

I have found something, something important.

One of the mares I sent you after?

Perhaps more important than that.

What?

It would be best if you inspected it yourself, I am unsure I am fit to judge this situation appropriately.

I am unfit to come at the moment, I’ll inspect it later.

With respect my queen, this could be quite disastrous if ignored.

Chrysalis blew a strand of hair out of her eye, and she frowned deeply. With great effort she righted herself and stood upon her hooves. Her right wing felt numb from being slept on, and she buzzed it to get some flow and feeling back it in.

I’ll be there within the hour.

I’ll remain until you come, then I will go back to the hunt.

The queen shook herself ragged, and flung off as much loose dirt as she could. She mentally check listed her next few steps. Go take a bath… then portal to where ever Shade is.

---

An hour later-

Chrysalis stood in the dank trodden cave with a bemused expression. She was cleaned up and bore no evidence of her recent emotional escapade. Shade was alone in the chamber now, and stood next to a shallow pool, and held a small stone slab in his magic. The queen’s reverberant voice echoed particularly effectively in the earthy chamber.

“What is so important it requires my presence Shade?”

He bowed respectfully when he heard her voice.

“This pool, it’s capabilities are wildly unpredictable, and potentially very dangerous.”

“Oh?”

“To put it simply, it can make copies of any creature that can recite a simple rhyme.”

“Copies?”

“A short while earlier a set of changelings who got themselves lost ended up here. They found the rhyme on this plaque and three changelings became over three hundred…”

“What?”

“After the rhyme is recited a duplicate of the speaker will come out of the pool. If enough duplicates are called out they become wild.”

“So why have me here, the wild duplicates were handled already I assume.”

“They were, but it’s not so much common changelings I’m afraid of coming across this pool. If Sombra were to discover this…”

Shade shivered at what he had just implied, and his wings couldn’t stay still. Chrysalis’s slit pupils dilated sharply.

“You’ve said enough, I will think upon this. You may resume your previous task.”

Before Shade moved to leave he set the small plaque infront of his queen. His head hung low and he spoke his peace.

“Before you come to a decision I would suggest you read this plaque. It contains all the details you need to know.”

The stone tablet was set down infront of her hooves, and the head vanguard turned to leave. The royal changeling let him go, and read through the contents of the slab.

---

Some hours later-

Chrysalis had set the tablet to the side, as she had finished going through it some time ago, now she was at the edge of the pool, and looked down into her own reflection.

Her mind raced in several directions, and she had simply spent most of her time feeling… torn. Between Shades advice, and what she had read, she couldn’t decide whether she wanted to simply annihilate the thing and be done with it, or feed her curiosity.

Harlequin eyes stared back up at her from the pool, and locked with hers. The gaze didn’t break, and she leaned her head closer, and so did the reflection.

“Hmm.”

Ch.38 "Crone"

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.38 “Crone”

Time immemorial seemed to pass as Chrysalis gazed into the shallow water. Her wings twitched in nervous fidget and her tail swished about uncomfortably. She readjusted her legs as she sat on the ground, but kept her neck and head level, so that her gaze would not be broken.

She was alone in this large cave, and there wasn’t even the sound of crickets to break the silence. Her voice was the first thing to break the audible barrier.

“Mmm, she would be weak… but…”

One of her hooves lifted and started to trace along the underside of her chin, and she rubbed it in slow methodical circles. The recent memories that flooded over her in Canterlot Mountain came to mind. Some of the emotions tied to it bubbled over as well. Her lips tightened, and she remained reserved in her expressions. Her breath was a mutter.

“Another royal…”

Her mind raced over the possibilities, and what she had just read from the tablet.

“Personality variation… wild… flawed memory… capable, but self destructive as a caster…”

One phrase stuck out in her mind more than the others though.

“Another royal…”

Was it really as simple as that? Say a few words, and she could pull another royal changeling out of that pool? The tablet made means of banishing them sound simple enough. If a few of her changelings could get rid of hundreds of these “duplicates” then she would be able to handle one. If anything, it would mean exercising control over a clone would be easy.

The locked gaze she held with the surface of the water finally broke, and she retracted her lowered head from the edge of the diminished pool. The stone tablet was seized in her green aura, and lifted infront of her muzzle. She looked over the verses carved into the stone, and her harlequin eyes roamed back and forth.

She didn’t look up as she read aloud.

Where the brambles are thickest,
There you will find
A pond beyond the most twisted of vines
And into her own reflection she stared,
Yearning for one whose reflection she shared,
And solemnly sweared
not to be scared
At the prospect of being doubly mared!

Her reverberant voice carried and bounced off the walls of the cave, and created many ethereal voices that echoed about in an eerie manner. After the sound of her voice died down there was a slight splash in the water, and it startled the changeling queen. She stood up on her hooves and took a few steps back.

The stone slab was dropped and Chrysalis looked back at the pool. There quickly emerged the form of another changeling, tall and elegant, and disturbingly familiar… but different. The similarities and differences were more apparent as the royal changeling emerged from the body of water, and stepped out into the world.

As Chrysalis scrutinized this newcomer she noted a number of things were quite different. She was taller, and had a deeper, richer complexion. Her hair was a stronger shade of teal, and her chitin was slightly darker. The horn that was atop her head was shaped differently, and wasn’t bent and twisted as Chrysalis’s was, but rather long and bladed, with a few notches. Oddly enough she was also dry, and her mane shifted easily with her gestures.

It was the image of Chrysalis, if she wasn’t malnourished in her growing years, and minus a certain curse…

The figure opened her eyes and surveyed the cave, they soon found the queen, and their gazes locked. For moment they just stood there and looked at each other. An altered mirror had come out of the pool. The mirror opened her mouth.

“Chrysa-”

The duplicate was interrupted as she was hit by an emerald ray of power. Her words were cut off and muffled as the once healthy royal changeling began to inflate uncontrollably, and protrude out in disturbing ways. A moment later there was a pop, and droplets of water sprayed over the banks of the pool.

A slight string of smoke trailed from Chrysalis’s horn, and she tilted her head. Her breaths had quickened and her brow furrowed, the harsh gaze she had faded, and one of her hooves went thoughtfully back to her chin.

“Manageable…”

Now that she was sure she could easily deal with any misbehavior she went back to the edge of the pool. Her hooves stepped over the moistened ground as she went, and she didn’t think twice about it. The echo of the rhyme sounded within the cave once more.

Once again the water stirred, but there was a far different energy to it this time. The movements were faster, and more agitated, and Chrysalis kept her eyes on it with careful scrutiny. As commanded a duplicate was pulled from the pool, but rather than a slow, drawn-out emergence, the new form launched out of the shallow waters and dived to the ground.

The second royal changeling to be summoned put her front hooves up high and defensively.

“Don’t blast me!”

“What? How?”

“Don’t! Please just don’t!”

“Why are you asking me that?”

“The pool saw it… and… I am you. I understand the caution.”

“The pool saw it?”

“Yes, the pool saw it. So I saw it. Atleast the part of me that was the pool.”

“Curious…”

“Yes, yes, now, how about we talk about something… interesting?”

The duplicate lowered her defensive hooves, and decided she wasn’t in immediate danger. The course of actions had changed sufficiently. This duplicate showed the same physical features as the first, primarily the healthier frame, complexion, and untwisted horn.

The nervous copy didn’t wait for Chrysalis to give any signals before she got up and continued to talk with energy.

“Now, how about the possibilities of what we can do.”

“Oh?”

“Oh yes, the possibilities. I could do quite a few things to help me, and by me, I mean we.”

The slightly taller, healthier clone jumped over to Chrysalis’s side, and wrapped a hoof over her shoulders. The sudden closeness caused the queen to back her head away from this new royal. She didn’t recall being so quick to touch strangers in such a way… but were they strangers? The mirror of Chrysalis put on smirk and narrowed her eyes confidently.

“I don’t think you’ll ever have a friend like me. Just relax and digest while I express some of our new found potential. Hehehe.”

The duplicate buzzed her wings and flew up to the center of the cave chamber, she spread her fore-legs wide in an impressive display, and looked down on her original with a wide grin. Then her smooth bladed horn ignited a brilliant shade of lime. She started to sing with a bizarre melody as magic swirled around her in the air.

Being the top all alone is quite a burden to bear
This is something you now have the fortune to share

A projection of a royal changeling that surveyed a swarm of thousands came to view, and illuminated the air of the cavern. Though the image was a green silhouette, it was detailed enough that Chrysalis could recognize the depiction of herself.

The fun is now double
And enemies half the trouble

The shiny swirls and outlines realigned and showed two royals happily trouncing on top of the cocoons of Celestia and Luna, and the captured alicorns were rolled around as both changelings stood on the cases and pushed them about like logs. They merrily walked on top like circus performers.

Then the dark shadow of Sombra appeared, and was quickly sucked into another container. The two outlined royal changelings played with the imprisoned king like a beach ball, and they bounced him back and forth over a projected net.

No need to decide between research and responsibility
You can do both without liability

One royal was depicted using the Well of Memories, and the other interacted with the divisional leaders of the swarm. One managed relations with ponies. One oversaw needs of the swarm. Both turned about and gave a hoof bump to the other.

You’ll be seen as the high queen
And all will come to respect your brilliant sheen

Representatives from other nations and the rest of Equestria all surrounded a high pedestal, upon which was the depiction of Chrysalis. Every equine and other creature all bowed down in reverence, which included the silhouette of the other royal changeling.

There is no longer a single royal
To help you claim your soil
For now there is another to help address your needs
I am capable of many deeds
The wait is over and you don’t need to worry about having seed
Your best friend is here already, indeed

Most of the outlines branched out and exploded like fireworks, but the two silhouettes of the royals remained, and posed dramatically for the finale. The projections twirled and sparkled in a shower of marvelous display.

The use of the illusionary magic was impressive, and Chrysalis nodded in approval. Once it was done the duplicate hovered down to the ground and landed gracefully.

Then promptly fell over and started to heave violently.

She puked up volumes of water and wretched painfully. The queen just watched with some surprise as her mirrored figure groaned in apparent agony. The aftershocks eventually cooled down and the duplicate raised a hoof to wipe at her wet mouth.

“I suppose I have my limits… but, don’t worry, there are many things I can still do for us.”

“Are you sure you don’t need to lie down and rest?”

“Ha, that is an offer I would make to you. No, I’m fi-”

Then copy wretched and vomited more water, but less this time.

“-pant- I suppose –gasp- I’ll have to test my boundaries.”

“Well if you are so insistent to help, then I will have to call you something.”

“Yes, but Chrysalis is the name you’ve earned, as I remember.”

“Yes it is. It is mine.”

“Then what would you have me called, high queen?”

Chrysalis shivered at being called by that title, it sent something pleasurable down her spine. She looked over her duplicate, and prone posture she held. She brushed a hoof along her neck, until she brought it to the point of her chin.

“I’ll call you Crone…”

“HA! As in a hag? Or, as in your personal Crony?”

“I was thinking because you are my clone, of me, Chrysalis, the Chrysalis clone. Though I suppose you can take it in whatever context you wish.”

“Then Crone it is. What do you wish to do first high queen?”

Another tingle ran down Chrysalis’s spine at the mention of the title.

“We’ll go back to Canterlot and decide from there. It’ll be an important test to see if you can survive going through a portal…”

Crone flinched at the prospect, and she continued to breathe raggedly. She raised a hoof in acknowledgement.

“Just give me a moment, then we can find out.”

Chrysalis ignited her jagged horn and caused a portal to tear into the air. Crone’s eyes flickered between her original and the dark abyss, and her breaths quickened. Eventually she got up from the ground and took a few tentative steps forward, she shuddered more as she got closer, the ache in her gut was still quite painful. Perhaps that magical display had been a little… excessive.

“Just a few more moments, please.”

“Alright.”

The queen… make that high queen now, casually strode around until her duplicate was between her and the portal. Chrysalis started to paw at the ground with impatience. Crone’s breaths hadn’t slowed down, and her pupils only got wider as she stared.

“We have to find out eventually…”

“I know, but the risk isn’t the same for you!”

“Well, if you end up popping it will only take a moment. Now go on.”

Chrysalis gave her a little push towards the open portal, and she took a step, and stopped. The little flames around the edges made it seem unnaturally intimidating, as if she was being prodded towards the green gates of Tartarus. The high queen gave her another prod, and Crone dropped to her haunches. Chrysalis made an exasperated sigh.

“Come on, I’m not going to keep the portal open all night.”

“eep.”

That squeak sounded pathetic for one of royal stature, especially from one that so closely shared her image and voice. She frowned at her duplicate’s terrified expression, and then gave her hard forceful shoves.

As soon as Chrysalis began to push in earnest, Crone dug her hooves into the ground. Her eyes went impossibly wide, and she refused to budge. Physically, Crone was actually stronger than Chrysalis. Her frame was built like the paragon of nutrition handled her diet, vs. the harsh and detrimental conditions that had malformed the high queen’s body.

A fierce grimace erupted over Chrysalis’s face as she realized she couldn’t physically force Crone into the portal, so she backed off a few steps.

“We will find out if you can survive a portal!”

The jagged horn atop her head ignited and Crone was seized in the grip of her emerald aura. There was a loud shriek as the duplicate was tossed into the portal, where she disappeared and her scream was silenced.

Before Chrysalis stepped into it herself she turned to look back at the pool. She grabbed the stone tablet that had the information regarding the pool, and it’s valuable rhymes. It was casually tossed into the pool itself, where it quickly sunk to the shallow bottom.

The high queen pointed her horn at the ceiling of the cave, and fired an explosive charge of green magic at it. Dirt cascaded down and buried the pool under a miniature avalanche. A calm grin spread over her fanged muzzle, and she finally turned to the portal and disappeared into it’s dark dimensions. The pool could be dug up later if needs be…

Ch.39 "Extroverted Introspection"

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.39 “Extroverted Introspection”

When Chrysalis came out of the portal, she was in her bedroom in the Canterlot castle, formerly Celestia’s Bedroom. Her eyes darted about to look for the one she had rather forcefully shoved through first. By the time she found the form of the swollen changeling on the floor, her eyebrows tensed, and she lifted a hoof to her mouth.

“Oh… oh my.”

It was a rather unpleasant sight indeed. Crone was reduced to a heavy wheeze for her breaths, and all her limbs had become puffy and swollen to dysfunctional levels. When Chrysalis saw Crone’s face, she looked away. For one, that was basically her own reflection, she couldn’t stand to see her own countenance contorted like that.

Quickly her horn ignited, and she walked over to Crone’s splayed out body, and she was about to use some magic to accelerate healing… but that was magic… her horn fizzled out. Hmm what else could she do? It would not be acceptable to have some royal lay on her floor all night in a wretched state. There was a second best option she supposed. So she lowered her head close to puffy clone, and opened her mouth to exhale.

Clear emotional energies wafted from Chrysalis down to the distorted body below her, and the results came quickly. After a few ragged breaths, Crone was able to steadily inhale more. This continued for minutes, and the swellings began to recede to manageable levels.

Eventually Crone made a few throaty coughs, then her breaths normalized, and she was also able to open her eyes. A few conflicted emotions raced through her face rapidly, and she turned away from Chrysalis so that her face wasn’t visible. The high queen leaned back and ceased the transference of emotional energies.

After Chrysalis cleared her throat and tapped on the floor once, Crone flipped around to face her again. The swish of her head was a little fast, and her mane got all over her face. She chuckled nervously, and pushed it to the side with a hoof, then struggled to get up on her hooves. She spoke, but her words were as shaky as her legs.

“M-made i-it didn’t I!”

Chrysalis placed a hoof on Crone’s shoulder, and made her sit back down.

“You’ll stay there for a while longer. You’ve put on a face well enough… But you don’t have to pretend that wasn’t miserable.”

“W-what?”

“Sit down, and stay down.”

Crone reluctantly obeyed, and she rested her belly on the floor. Her limbs still shook with nervous fidgets, and she couldn’t stop the rattled twitch her wings insistently made. Wide fearful eyes followed Chrysalis as she walked over to the bed, and ignited her horn. The small flash of light made Crone flinch, but no harm came to her.

A few pillows were lifted off the bed in magical grip, and casually tossed at the queen’s duplicate. The feather stuffed, silky bodies bounced off the target royal’s chitinous form for the most part, but one got impaled on her horn. Crone didn’t make any sudden motions, and she awkwardly let the pillow rest ontop of her head.

Several pillows floated alongside Chrysalis as she moved closer towards Crone’s spot on the floor. The extra set of feathery cushions were dropped a step away from the clone, and the high queen planted herself ontop of them. When she had made herself sufficiently comfortable, she fixed Crone with a hard stare.

“Stop shaking like a leaf… It’s unbecoming.”

“Y-yes h-high queen.”

“Stop stuttering… that is also unbecoming.”

“As you wish.”

Crone’s shaking didn’t stop, but it became reduced. Chrysalis continued to stare down her copy, and the changeling who was taller than her, dropped her gaze, and looked down at the sunny themed carpet. She was unable to keep her eye’s level with the true queen. Chrysalis breathed out another criticism.

“looking at the floor is also… unbecoming.”

That got Crone’s eyes to flicker up for a moment, and she didn’t look directly back at Chrysalis, but she didn’t stair dejectedly the floor anymore. There was a definite clench in the clone’s jaws, and the high queen smirked when she saw it. Silenced reigned for several minutes after that. The space of quiet time caused Crone to start to fidget again, and her tail swished back and forth every few seconds. Chrysalis opened her mouth again, but Crone beat her to the punch.

“And what else, pray tell, is unbecoming.”

Crone had lifted her gaze up, and she looked directly into the high queen’s pupils. The action just caused Chrysalis to close her mouth, and her smirk to turned into a smile. Silence continued on for another stretch of time. A stretch the clone found difficult to bear. The momentary confidence that Crone had gained from anger deflated. Along with the sunken confidence came sunken posture. In one movement Crone’s long neck dropped to the floor, and both of her front hooves hid her face. She shouted in exasperation.

“Just go ahead and do it then!”

Chrysalis tilted her head, and lowered one eyebrow. Her smile pursed back into a reserved flat line.

“Do what?”

“Blast me! Blast me for being useless. Just end it.”

“Blast you?”

“Well what are you waiting for? It didn’t take you long to blow away my… my, my um… the first one!”

“I was just making sure what the tablet said worked…”

“You killed her! You didn’t banish her. Why is that any more ok than blasting me away right now? Is it because you already gave me a name? Or I just happened to do the right little jig to entertain you? Or I just haven’t upset you enough yet? Well, what is it?”

Behind the shield of her forelegs, Crone’s voice started to crack, and her poor composure fell apart even more. Chrysalis just held her mouth slightly open, and she couldn’t think of a reply at the moment. As another painfully quiet moment passed between them, and the longer Chrysalis didn’t give an answer, the worse Crone’s emotional condition became.

She buried her face behind a pillow that the queen had given her earlier, and moaned into. Her voice became quiet and forlorn.

“Just do it… please.”

“No.”

Chrysalis narrowed her eyes; she had bounced back from her momentary loss for words. The short single word answer made Crone slow her wallowed cringe. A sniffle came from behind the shield of legs.

“What?”

“I said no.”

“Why?”

Anger had crept back into the clone’s voice. Only her eyes came above her hooves, but they glared furiously at the queen. The discontent directed towards Chrysalis did nothing to dissuade her, and she continued onward.

“I’d like us to share some more honest words. I'd like to talk about me, and by me, I mean we.”

After she heard the words Crone just snorted.

“Then will you blast me?”

“I would prefer not to.”

“Oh joy…”

“That is more like it.”

Chrysalis put on her comfortable smirk again, much to Crone’s antagonized displeasure. The duplicate spoke through clenched teeth.

“You know it’s a rather stupid idea to have me around in the first place. I know you too well.”

“I thought about that a little before I brought you here. It was more than a little forced when you put on a whole display about being my friend. I wouldn’t be a friend with me so quickly… So tell me Crone, how much do you know exactly?”

“Where do I even start?”

“The tablet said your memories could be patchy.”

“Well?”

“How about our last chat with Luna?”

“Hmm, Sombra was there too right?”

“Yes.”

“And you decided to just eaves drop for a while before you even joined in.”

“Uh, huh, but the primary purpose?”

“-snort- Ha! You were blushing quite hard when Luna mentioned some of the swarm’s dreams. Hmm, this is so strange.”

Crone lifted a hoof to her lips, and brushed it around lightly.

“I can even remember the sensations quite clearly, but I know I wasn’t the one to do them... He did have nice fangs…”

Chrysalis rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“Alright, alright, you’ve proved you remember details very well. That hardly seems patchy. Inaccurate tablet, psh.”

“So tell me why you want me running around again. When I have so much sensitive information up here. Such as where you so cleverly stashed the elements of harmony… Especially after you gave me this pathetic body to work with. You’re not afraid that I would have a grudge?”

Crone straightened her posture, and jabbed Chrysalis in the chest with a hoof. Then tapped her own skull for emphasis. The shorter royal grunted at having her chest poked, and gave Crone a critical eye for it. Then her tone turned softer and slightly indignant.

“It’s a nice looking body.”

That caused Crone to gawk, before she briefly scanned over herself, and appreciated the well toned features. She shook her head to get rid of the distraction.

“That may be, but you basically insured my insignificance, my lack of potential, my-”

“Crone…”

“What?”

“You are me, but you are not.”

“Cryptic words don’t help.”

“Well, I… hmm, I don’t know why I find this hard to say.”

“… I’m not 100% you, so spit it out.”

“Wait what?”

“No, go on, finish what you were going to say.”

“That can wait, what do you mean you’re not 100% me? Also I’m still confused, how could you be aware of anything before I pulled you out of that pool? How far back can you remember, when you were part of the pool?”

“Um… now that you mention it. I, I uh… huh.”

“What is it?”

“Much of it is blurry, it’s more feeling than anything concrete. Everything became much more clear and concentrated when you pulled me out. Before that though… It was, a swirl? It’s strange to describe, but it felt like I wasn’t one identity, but part of many?”

“Is there another way you can put it?”

“The pool has had many emotions added, and pulled out over time. I remember feeling them. A few times whole volumes of memory were dumped into the pool as well… Huh, for some reason…”

“What is it this time?”

“I remember a little conversation, some pony named… Whispy?”

“What?”

“All I remember from that is… she shot me!”

“She, what? Hehe huh?”

“Ya there were lot’s of other… ponies that looked the same. She blasted each of them, and… not me, but me?”

“If you’re confused, then I have no idea. Anyway, any other significant things you can remember.”

“Just a little while before you came, many bodies were pulled out of the pool, so many… wait, what happened to them? There were more changelings!”

“Shade said they were somewhere else.”

“… Chrysalis, I know that tone.”

“-sigh- they were handled, cleaned up so to speak. It all happened before I had heard a word of it.”

Crone shuddered back, as if she had been hit with heavy news. Her posture slumped, and she rested her head on the ground. This made a strange observation for Chrysalis.

“Well, that’s the first thing you didn’t remember.”

“What?”

“I talked with Shade before I drew you out, shouldn’t you have remembered that?”

“I… should.”

“But you don’t?”

“No, not with clarity.”

“How selective…”

Crone appeared bothered, by more than one issue, and she bit her lower lip. Chrysalis just shrugged. After another moment or so, the clone turned and asked her.

“What were you going to say before? What was difficult to say?”

“Oh that.”

Chrysalis shifted a little uneasily this time, and she started draw circles in the floor with one of her hooves.

“About why I brought you back here.”

“You’re lonely.”

“I, no-”

“You cried like a lost broodling, not too long before you came to the pool…”

The blunt statement caused Chrysalis to flinch, and she swallowed, to clear her throat of a non-existent block.

“I suppose there isn’t much to hide then.”

Crone gave a flat dead pan expression, before she sighed.

“You sure picked a Tartarus of a way to get some company. Have no faith in your order to multiply?”

“You should know, it’s already been tried so many times.”

“You tried several times, personally, and felt ashamed every time.”

“That’s enough Crone.”

This time, it wasn’t Crone that was uncomfortable with the silence. Despite the warning in Chrysalis’s tone, the duplicate pressed on after several long moments.

“It’s been a long time since there was a royal family around. Shellish wasn’t even our… your mother, though she acted like it.”

“Tell me something I don’t know…”

“You hoped for me to fill that gap… Though more likely as the sister you never had, rather than having a royal brood of your own.”

“Is it really so easy to say… just like that?”

“You wouldn’t have any other changeling talking to you like this, short of you subjecting yourself to a memory scan by one of your vanguards. But they wouldn’t understand the emotions quite the same, now would they…”

Crone wore a weak smile, she had some ability to get under Chrysalis’s skin, and getting under the skin of some changeling much stronger than her caused her to grin. If she could make the high queen’s skin crawl with just a look, then her chitinous hide would be a ceaseless tide of waves at the moment. With a greater measure of confidence than she had started with, Crone spoke once more.

“Also you’re a pretty shoddy queen.”

“What!”

“You don’t even look it. Where did you lose poor Shellish’s crown? I thought you kept that because you cared.”

“I… where is it!”

Chrysalis’s hooves shot to her head, and her eye’s flared wide. The crown was indeed not the there, but her hooves vainly went over her scalp again, and again. It had been such a natural part of her for years, and she had virtually never taken it off. Now that it wasn’t there, and she noticed, it felt like there was a hole in her soul.

“GAAAAAWWWW!”

Crone just chuckled.

Author's Notes:

I suppose it's not just as simple as "Let's just forget those last two chapters I had published..."

(The original chapters 39 & 40 - they are going into the fire now... Congratulations if you never read those two... they were bad.)

I also understand no one is obligated to give me a second chance. The direction I had written those two chapters was a very poor choice. All I can say is I regret putting those two online. It felt wrong in my gut, and I should've listened to my gut, I should've figured if it wasn't enjoyable to write, it probably wouldn't be enjoyable to read.

If you do choose to stick around, I hope your find the new direction better. I didn't intend for this to be a slasher fic when I started out, and I don't know what I was thinking when I put out those last two chapters ( I probably just wasn't )

Your comments are important to me, and I feel they have helped me make a change for the better. I eagerly await your feedback, and hope this is more along the lines of the fun I wanted it to be.

Sincerely, Arkolo

And now for some of the more traditional content I put into the author's notes.

In case you missed the links in the text.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqaNi0UfOoI

I can't think of the line "as you wish" without thinking of this movie, the lolz.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtaPRPCWDrE

just a fun song.

and some sketches.

outta the portal and into the... oh my.

Hooves make good face shields?

Then something I thought about fitting into this chapter, but I am lazy, and it's 3:30 in the morning where i am. So just a little hint of how the conversation actually ends.

Ch.40 "Do you want to build a Scheme-man?"

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.40 “Do You Wanna Build a Scheme-Man?”

“Calm down!”

Crone tolerated several minutes of Chrysalis freaking out, but she had had enough and shouted her disapproval. This did little to persuade the queen out of her ridiculous and hysteric state.

“But the crown! I’ve don’t even remember when I dropped it! Every changeling saw me without! Now I have nothing to distract from my deformed horn!”

“Did they even comment?”

“They wouldn’t dare! I’ve been blind and humiliated myself! And it took you to point it out…”

“I have an idea then.”

The calmer clone idly ran a hoof over head and through her mane, the feeling that a crown may have been there was a ghostly sensation. Though her head hadn’t worn a crown, and the lack of contact didn’t bother her physically. It was a pity though, she still understood the fond feelings for it, and the memories attached.

After a short space of time, Chrysalis was able to pull herself out of her panic for a moment. She realized Crone had offered something, and she seized her clone’s face between her front hooves.

“What? What is it?”

It was easy for Crone to push the queen off and away, she rubbed a cheek and rolled her jaw before she continued her idea.

“You do have a kingdom of ponies under you.”

“Yes…”

“That would include Celestia’s jewelers and smiths.”

“Yes…”

“…”

“What? Have them make a new one?”

“They could make me one too, it would be nice to have something that is… mine.”

“Ofcourse, that’s a good idea me.”

Crone narrowed her brows and picked up an irritated scowl. As Chrysalis knocked her front hooves together, and picked up a devious grin. Before the queen could go further into a strange form of self compliment, the clone voiced her complaint.

“Oh, and let’s not do that.”

“Do what?”

“Say me, when you actually mean me…”

One large hoof was pointed at Chrysalis for the first me, then returned to a self indicated gesture for the second me. The lesser royal cleared her throat noisily and continued a little further.

“If you want another royal, then treat me like another royal. No more of this I’m you, you’re me nonsense. It’s doing bad things for my self-perception… and I rather like my image. Did you not think that I may inherit some of your vanity?”

“I’m not vain…”

“Ofcourse not. Anyway, how do you even want to explain this to the swarm, or the ponies? Or are you just going to stuff me in the closet? Have enough skeletons in there already, don’t we?”

Literally… the Badland’s closet atleast…

“No, you’re right. You need to be treated as your own royal, and respectfully.”

“So, explanations?”

“Perhaps your earlier description would be accurate.”

“You want me to be your sister?”

“It seems fitting.”

“Technically you’re more like my mother by process… but.”

“Sister will do, it fits the maturity better.”

“So how do you want that back story to go over? Twins separated at birth? –snort- You’re the sister that sucked up all the magical potential in the womb? And left none for her poor sister.”

“Psh, then you’re then one who took all the physical nutrients…”

“I suppose, I guess I can accept I’m the better looking one… such a burden to bear. Wo is me.”

“Oh shut it Crone, perhaps I meant ugly hag when I came up with your name.”

“Hey! Don’t make me dig for scraps more than I already have to.”

“I’ve had to dig for literal scraps most of my life. You on the other hoof… You get to walk into kingdom of wealth and prosperity with no effort of your own. You get to walk into a life with more resources within easy grasp than I ever had. You know the top changeling very well, and have better connections than any common changeling ever will. Don’t make me start on how you are actually spoiled by this situation. The last thing I need is another big brat.”

“I… huh.”

Crone let her mouth hang open, in the middle of saying something, but her response fizzled out and died before it ever made it to the air. If Chrysalis allowed her a modicum of freedom, there were lot’s of things she could do. And she didn’t have to do any of the work Chrysalis had done to enjoy most of the privileges. She did like privileges, atleast she thought she did, another inherited quality?

The look of realization, and expression of silent comprehension of the indications that bedecked Crone’s face, caused Chrysalis to wear a smug smirk.

“Before you get ahead of yourself, there is work I want you to do as well.”

“Aw… here you just got me thinking. I could just laze about, eat everything, and get every changeling to love me, because I’ll be the cool queen that you can’t. Hehehe, I mean I don’t have to be the hard flank and dish out discipline. You’d be better at that anyway, sister… Such is the burden of holding onto the greater power, wo is you. HAHAHA!”

“I said don’t get ahead of yourself!”

Chrysalis angrily stomped the ground, and Crone put a hoof to her mouth to stifle her irreverent laughter. The high queen’s angry glare didn’t cause the giggles to slow down fast enough, and her horn ignited. The flash of magic caused Crone to gasp, and her laughter stopped immediately. The sudden agitation that came over the lesser royal caused a pleased expression to come over the true queen.

The glow of Chrysalis’s horn stayed present, and from the bed many pillows were pulled. Something like two dozen pillows were pulled up and floated in green aura, each of the fluffy objects was rotated until they pointed length-wise at Crone. Hundreds of fluffy missiles were armed and ready.

Chrysalis finally knew how many pillows Celestia had managed to pile onto the obnoxiously large bed, and it caused her to nod appreciatively. She could concede the alicorn’s taste for comfort was impressive, probably another thing built up over the centuries. Wishdom? Psh, vices were for every equine.

Meanwhile, as the arsenal of plush doom built up in the air, Crone backed away with nervous eyes. The aura around the objects made her more worried than the fact they were being aimed at her.

“If you really know me Crone, then you know that dishing out discipline is fun!”

Pomf!

A single pillow had been tossed out of the array, and smacked Crone in the face before it dropped to the floor. The clone flinched from the impact, and the object, though plush, was not tossed gently. When Crone saw she had sustained nothing noticeable, she ran a hoof through her mane to fix it, and gave Chrysalis a questionable glare.

“Really?”

Pomf!

“Ok, you’ve made your point.”

Pomf! Pomf! Pomf!

“Stop, stop it!”

Pomf, pomf, pomf, pomf, pomf, pomf!

“No! Mercy! Please!”

“Hahaha! Beg more…”

POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF

“Alright I won’t do it ever again! You’re the best! I’m the worst!”

POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF

“Sorry I didn’t hear you. I still have so much ammunition!”

POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF POMF

And something like two dozen pillows were used. Or more… Some of it might have been reused.

The end result was a massive pile of multicolored feather stuffed linen cases. Crone was no longer visible and her cries of submission had stopped about a quarter of the way into it. Chrysalis had stopped paying attention when she laughed maniacally, half way into it. And the whole room had become something reminiscent of an over-sized drying machine.

Eventually the manic laughter calmed down, and the whirlwind died.

“Crone?”

The was a stir in the mound, and a horn poked out of the sea of plush. The horn proceeded to slither back and forth, as if it were a shark fin that cut through the waves of the ocean. Chrysalis just rolled her eyes.

“Crone…”

There was a sudden explosion of pillows near Chrysalis, and a tall, vindictive royal burst out of the feathery wading pool. With one oversized pillow in hoof, Crone smacked down on the queen and laid her out flat on the floor.

“You cheat! Smothering your advantage all over my everything! GAW! Give me a victim so I can do the same thing!”

She jumped on top of Chrysalis to keep her pinned down, and repeatedly brutalized her… with a pillow. When she finished venting her frustration, she capped it off with a downward shove. The pillow was impaled on chrysalis’s jagged horn, and shoved down further so that it blocked her vision. Feathers bled out of the ruptured fabric and further compounded the messy state of the room.

The clone stepped away from her handiwork and fell back on her haunches. Several of the pillows in the room had split during Chrysalis’s mad storm, and feathers rained down like snowflakes.

“What a way to ruin the bed…”

Chrysalis tore the pillow away from her horn, and absentmindedly tossed it aside. She spit out a few feathers before she replied to Crone’s depreciative tone.

“Oh psh, Plain Thatch will clean it up.”

“You ask too much of that pony.”

“She’s a servant, it’s her job.”

That made Crone hum with troubled thought.

“So… what’s my job going to be? Since, you’ve decided you’re not going to blow me up.”

“Hmm.”

“well?”

“I have two ideas in mind, and neither of them requires a smidgen of magic.”

“What are they?”

“Well it depends what you would like to do more. Are you more interested in perusing through history? Or would you like to help me in a scheme? A scheme that has just come to mind.”

“I like schemes…”

“Then let’s get plotting.”

Ch.41 "Breakfast"

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IMPORTANT NOTE
-sorry to break format here for a moment, sometimes i really wish you could put author's notes at both the bottom and top.
But Both Ch.39 and 40 have been completely redone, and you need to go read those if you haven't read the revisions already. Otherwise you'll probably be confused. Anyway onto the story.

Chrysalis Wins

Ch.41 “Breakfast”

Everfree Forest, dawn-

Hooves moved in relative quiet over sparse grass and dirt of a relatively dangerous forest. Because the rumors of this place were full of fear and superstition, this particular set of hooves decided to trek there. The smell of aggression was invigorating and a good way to get the day going. Or so this particular equine felt, after he drew in a deep breath through his flared nostrils.

A grey pelted stallion crashed through the underbrush, and smiled that he had something to crush under-hoof. Even if it was only plant life he could crush… His merry old tromp came to stop when he saw bird nest. It rested fairly low in the branches, and with a quick flick of magic, a pedestal of crimson crystal elevated the hopeful king, so that his eyes were level with the nest.

“mMMmm.”

The nest was full of eggs, he counted five, and licked his lips. He wriggled his eyes brows at his cornered and hapless prey. They weren’t going anywhere, but where he wanted them. As he stretched out a hoof to collect the calcium coated gold, and dump them into a crystal basket he had crafted, a large black bird swooped in scooped up the nest in it’s talons, eggs and all.

Sombra’s hoof swiped at empty air, and his hemo-hued eyes glared after the raven that had thieved faster than him. He shouted a fierce bark after the brazen ebony avian.

“Those are mine!”

Instinctively he ignited his horn and fired a blast of vehement raw magic at the offending feather-brain. To his surprise, he actually blasted it right out of the air, and the raven along with the nest started to plummet towards the ground.

His focus quickly went back to his original prize, and he leapt from his pedestal of crystal in a daring dive. Hooves were outstretched and managed to catch the nest right before it impacted the ground.

“Ah ha!”

Then a fried raven plopped right next to him, it’s smoky form was freshly singed. He looked at it with a sense of wonder. Did he actually just do that? Just blast another living creature? Of his own volition? Did he actually feel angry at the thing?

“…hmm…”

This, he could play with this. A wicked smile crept up his face as surely as the sun crept past the horizon. Actually the sun was a little late this morning… Queen horsefly must have slept in. In any case, he liked what this implied. Perhaps he could use it to expand his menu this morning.

The fried bird and eggs were added to his basket, though he took one of the eggs and plopped it in his mouth. He crunched down the shell, yoke, and all, and took pleasure in the slick slimy sensation. Raw eggs could carry disease, some scolding old advice came to mind, but he was greater than disease… He’d survived being locked in ice for a thousand years, what could a little salmonella do to him?

So he started to tromp through the forest again, with new possibilities to broil in his mind. The basket floated behind him in a magical aura meanwhile, and he looked for things to add to his collection.

A squirrel skitted by, a little chitter echoed from it as it scurried along. One zap later, and one hairless squirrel was added to the basket. Hmm, he could feel apathetic towards demise. Another step in the right direction…

Then a rabbit, and a snake, also a badger, besides some quail, as well as some lizards, between a turtle, that was set next to a falcon, and… was that a breezy or butterfly? Oh well, he couldn’t tell after it had fizzled beyond useful scraps. His basket had gotten rather full anyway.

When he came across a fairly large bear he stood close by. The beast hadn’t noticed him yet, and that was fine by him. Then he attempted to charge his horn for another lethal discharge, but this time it failed, and he grunted in frustration. Why did it fail this time? It might take an extra blast or two to finish this animal, but what made it so different from the other creatures?

A hoof circled the underside of his chin in thought at the nature of his predicament. It likely wasn’t because the beast was bigger, or that much more intelligent. Another thought came into the equation. Might it be he couldn’t cast a spell that wouldn’t finish it off instantly? The bear would experience pain or fear before it met it’s demise? Could he inflict willful pain?

He tried to charge his horn and zap the critter with a stinging bolt to it’s haunches. Nothing happened… He grunted in irritation to himself. The huff he made was enough to catch the bear’s attention, and it turned around to look at the surprise visitor. The bear didn’t like surprise visitors in it’s territory.

It reared up on it’s hind legs and roared, the force of which blew back Sombra’s mane a little. Some bear spittle dripped off his kingly face, and he opened his unamused eyes, which had reactively closed at the bear’s roar.

A large clawed paw swung down to cuff at the crystal king, but he had already lit up with some defensive magic. Crystal surged over his grey pelted body, and the heavy hairy arm collided with his incased form. The bear might as well have hit a steel wall for all the good it did.

When the animal realized it hadn’t hit a horse creature, but a much harder surface it pulled it’s paw back. There was a moment for it to wait and sink in… before comprehension dawned.

“GRUAW!”

Sombra smiled behind his physical barrier. Others could hurt themselves upon him… even if he couldn’t compel them to do it. There was another tool to put in the shed of potential weapons. One flash of crimson magic, and the king with his basket of morning collections disappeared.

The bear was left there to cradled it’s painfully tender paw.

---

Sombra’s crystal chambers beneath Canterlot.

When he had taken the time to form these chambers below Canterlot he made a little kitchen for himself. During his time as king there were no royal cooks. All culinary staff had been fired… and sent to the mines. He would risk no pony to tamper with his food, besides, he had tastes that weren’t exactly the pony norm.

With his basket of woodland creatures he trounced into the kitchen, and set his collection of savory gamey samples on the counter. Hmm, how to best prepare them?

He took the eggs, and opened a drawer on the wall. There were dozens of eggs already stuffed in there, the paltry four he placed hardly seemed to add to the massive bundle. Then with a spry twist of his hooves, he rounded about towards another drawer. Everything was crystal… naturally.

So he pulled out a crystal bowl from the crystal drawer, grabbed some crystal cloths, and crystal apron that had “I’ll rule your kitchen” printed on it, along with a crystal mixing spoon. Oh, and he couldn’t forget the crystal knives, cleavers, mallets, and beaters. When everything was arranged how he liked he grabbed the bowl and mixing spoon in his hooves, then his horn ignited.

With a stunning display of choreographed grace all the kitchen instruments sprung to life as they floated and dove about in the crystal king’s crimson aura. A merry little tuned was hummed along as he proceeded to prepare breakfast.

HmmMMMm, Mmmm, mmmMMMmmm, oh little cretins, how I love little cretins

All of the creatures he had placed into the basket earlier were levitated out, and hovered towards the kitchen instruments.

When I can’t have that irritating head-of-state bedecked on my plate, it is you that will satiate

The squirrel was placed onto a cutting board, before it was diced like a tomato. Then Sombra diced a tomato, and mixed it with the diced squirrel. Both the fruit and rodent were swept into his mixing bowl. Where he mixed them in with flour and spices, then they were tossed into a pan with oil, and began to bubble in the fry.

As a surrogate you can play the part of my favorite

The snake soared through the air, where it was split down the middle like a peeled banana, by the cleaver. Then Sombra pulled some bananas out of the crystal cooler and peeled them like the snake. The flexible stretchy body of the deceased reptilian was used to wrap around the tropical fruit, and the concoction that was snake-banana sausage was pushed into the crystal oven.

With savory satisfaction you are the perfect distraction

A blast of magic cleaned out the mixing bowl, before he filled it again with more flour, and then flower, some eggs, salt, and milk. The young badger was pulled out of the basket, given a flash singe to clean off the hair, and placed on the main table. A crystal mallet with a head larger than the badger itself was levitated over, and proceeded to pound it to paste. Sombra dipped a hoof into the meaty mess, and was pleased with the texture. The badger paste was added to the dough in the bowl. Mixed till it was indistinguishable, and then put in another crystal oven. Badger bread!

Till my plans come true, it is you that will have to do

Next was the turtle, which flopped about limply, like a rag doll, and was placed into a large crystal pot full of boiling water. One of the knives Sombra had in his magical grasp started to spin, and soon it spun faster than a windmill caught in a tornado. A myriad of vegetables flew out of more crystal storage containers. Mushrooms, cauliflower, cabbages, potatoes, carrots, peas, corn, and more passed by the mad whirling blade, before they fell into the pot with the turtle.

Oh my amusement, when others get a taste of this bemusement

A pack of mice were pulled out of the basket and placed on the cutting board, before a rolling pin was set in place, and rolled forward to flatten them like pancakes. Then four dozen eggs flew out of the drawer… make that five dozen eggs, and were cracked into a buttered pan, and the pancake mice were added to it.

Hehehe, hohoho, the occasions past, if only those nobles knew what I fed them, their sound stomachs wouldn’t last

The kitchen was warm with the heat of all the cooking instruments in full swing. Crystal spoons, whisks, and rods stirred everything to make sure it wouldn’t get burnt. Crystal spatulas flipped over the egg-mouse pancakes to give them an even browning layer. Sombra peered into the transparent doors of the ovens to check on the color of the sausage and bread. Everything proceeded perfectly.

Then to finish up, he retrieved several small serving bowls, he filled them with butter, cream, syrup, raspberry, blueberry, and crystalberry jams. For drink, another bottle of heart nectar was drawn out of the cooler. He poured himself a glass and took a sip. Everything would be cooked and ready shortly.

He had to admit there was a certain convenience with miss mosquito’s prisoners, he didn’t have to feed them. Except for the one that was awake and conscious, and he found she was surprisingly ravenous. Sombra then chuckled to himself.

“Let’s see how you like badger-bread princess… hmm, what did I feed you and your sister on our last court luncheon?”

He tapped a hoof to his chin as he tried to recall what he had fixed that particular occasion. The recall was interrupted however, as a warning signal blinked over his horn. Some equine had touched his stairs… No equine would touch his stairs without him knowing about it. They were his, and whoever it was probably had dirty hooves, the gall... the disrespect… the lack of regality… the-… they were probably taking more steps as he thought this.

With a flash of blood-red magic he vanished from the kitchen.

---

An abrasive crack thundered at the entrance of Sombra’s crafted cavern, and the crystal tyrant himself appeared with a lordly suddenness.

“What is it now queen cricket? Did you come to join us for-…”

There wasn’t one queen cricket. There were two queen crickets. One was a little taller, and better kempt, but still, it was another cricket.

“Queen cricket? What a cute little pet name! Really sister you made him sound much more uncouth than that.”

The grey stallion was somewhere between dumbfounded and highly irritated. He mouth hung slightly agape, and his fangs poked out. He glared at the one who spoke, then looked over to whom he thought was the actual queen cricket.

“What is this?”

“You said I could visit Luna any time, my sister here would like to meet her, and yes… perhaps join you for whatever you were about to offer.”

“This isn’t a family and friends included deal…”

“Oh come now, you were a king were you not.”

“Am a king.”

“Then you understand I have more than one important thing to focus on. Besides why do I always find you here at a moment’s notice… shouldn’t you help find your own amulet?”

“I understand, but don’t be impudent with me. Ofcourse I have plans.”

“Well, you can listen in on anything Crone says with Luna, and I won’t mind.”

“Hmm.”

“Or if you’re going to be productive, I might have you collaborate with my vanguard in the search. You seem to be good at acquiring difficult to find information.”

“How about we decide over breakfast…”

Ch.42 "The Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything"

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.42 "The Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything”

“I’d rather you decide now, I really do have other important matters to attend to.”

Sombra made a challenging frown against Chrysalis’s assertiveness. He looked between her, and the taller, darker, more lithe version of her… Possible reasons for this appearance began to fire rapidly through his mind. If queen horsefly had a sister why hadn’t he seen her earlier? Were they not on good terms? Was there some power difference or struggle between them? Hmm, was there some kind of advantage he could pull out of the situation? Or was he even more disadvantaged now?

While the crystal king had apparently gone mute, Chrysalis turned to Crone and waved a hoof dismissively.

“Well, I’m leaving. The swarm and matters of state could do with some evaluation. Meet me at Fancy’s house when you’re done here. Until then, have fun Crone.”

The smile Chrysalis made was as dull as her tone, nothing devious about it. Sombra looked for something devious, but couldn’t find it. His frown intensified as beetle horse opened a portal and vanished within moment. Now there was only him, and this other changeling, who smiled at him, and he didn’t like the way she smiled at him. Her fangs were flawless and pearly though…

He was going to just stand there a little longer, and play some kind of observation game, but this ‘sister’ of queen horsefly had other plans. She walked up to him, gave him a cheery look, then continued right past him. Sombra quickly got over his momentary surprise and called out somewhat indignantly.

“Hey!”

“Well, you said you had breakfast this way right? I can smell something, ooo, and it might be burning.”

In reaction Sombra sniffed the air… No! not the snake-banana sausage!

He teleported back into the kitchen right away, and pulled open the oven right away. A puff of smoke greeted his face, and he waved it away with a hoof while he coughed. After he muttered a few curses about being distracted while the oven was left on high, he inspected the banana-snake. It was crusty and black, but the banana inside the snake was actually fine… snake oiled banana? Whatever, he plopped a few in his mouth and chewed.

The rest of the burnt meat fruit was levitated towards a smaller save-away container. Then his attention went to the rest of the entrees. The turtle soup was kept on simmer, The mouse-egg cakes were dished up, badger-bread pulled out, pan fried squirrel and vegetable dices put into bowls, and cooked birds pulled apart into organized pieces, then spiced and placed with some rice.

While he furiously worked both his magic and his hooves to either keep things for later, or prepare them for now, Crone stopped right outside the entrance of the and peered in. The smoke had mostly cleared, and the king of the kitchen was still distracted with his preparations. So she took a few more steps in and inspected some of the more intricate details of the room. Everything was crystal, little to her surprise, but when she looked into a basket she wrinkled her snout.

There was a burnt raven? Huh, and as she looked more directly at what Sombra did, she saw him pull a turtle shell out of the soup, and the shell was empty of turtle. The grey stallion still hadn’t noticed her yet, so she strode over to the counter. There was bread in a pan, and she lowered her head close to it and smelled the wafting aroma. It smelled… off, for bread atleast. There was also a little white protrusion she found curious, so she poked it with a hoof, it was hard, and that confused her even more. So she gripped the nub with her lips and pulled, after it popped out she let it fall to her open hoof.

It was a bone.

Combined that with the different smell, and it made her very suspicious of the ingredients. It was a suspicion that made her smirk however.

“Quite a carnivore aren’t you… especially if you have to bake it into your bread. What were you going to put between the slices?”

“Probably some salmon or chicken, though I did acquire some falcon and raven recently. Combined any of that with bacon, or tiny crystal ewe and your have yourself a…”

A few magically gripped instruments dropped to the ground, and the bowl in Sombra’s hoof was hurriedly placed on the counter. He rounded about to look at the intruder he had absentmindedly replied to. A mixture of fear and surprise was swept up under a defensive mask. Crone just wore an innocent grin. The protective tone the king picked up reached high decibels, and his hooves forcefully shoved Crone towards the exit, she didn’t really resist, and she snorted in humor. Sombra was not amused.

“Get out! No pony’s allowed in the kitchen!”

“I’m not a pony.”

“Or bugs!.. Unless I’m eating them! But you didn’t hear that! Out!”

“My, my, sensitive about our private kitchen time are we?”

“Only when others are in it!”

When he had successfully escorted the changeling, who was gifted at tallness, to the exit of the kitchen he huffed in a highly irritated state, and pursed his lips. His eyes communicated his distaste and disapproval of the changeling’s invasion.

“Just go explore your way to Luna already, she’s why you’re here is she not?”

“Yes, but I wanted to see what you had in mind for breakfast, and I must say it certainly seems to have novel ingredients. –snort- What have you been feeding Luna lately?”

“-sigh- Things I steal from your sister’s kitchens… I’d like to see her try and catch me doing it.”

“Huh, if I tell her she might take you up on that challenge. Anyway, I didn’t get to say I like your apron.”

Sombra looked down to his apron, which got a little messy in the process of cooking and other preparations, but the phrase “I’ll rule your kitchen” was still legible. When he looked back up to Crone, and he had to look up to her, which was not something he had to do with any other pony… and now that he noticed that, it really bothered him. He was eye level with Celestia and Chrysalis, the two tallest mares he had ever met, but this sister of the mosquito queen was almost a head taller than him. Despite the distraction, he was able to formulate his intended words.

“I will rule it in time.”

“You want to rule my sister’s kitchen?”

“And more besides.”

“What’s next? The living room? Dancing hall? Throne room?…bedroom?”

Sombra planted his face squarely into one hoof, and grumbled something inaudible. While the crystal king shook his head, Crone chuckled at his expense.

“It is a nice apron though.”

“Just go find Luna already, you’ve caused enough unnecessary distraction... hmm, is that how your sister sees you? Such a menial tactic to undermine me, if it’s true.”

“Ouch, what a way to return a compliment.”

“Only honest speculation.”

“Fine, I’ll take my powers of distraction to Luna’s room.”

“Thank you.”

“Psh.”

Crone twirled around on the spot to face away from Sombra, and her tail flicked about indignantly. She was about to stomp off, but an idea came to mind, and she put a hoof over her mouth. Sombra had already turned back to his work in the kitchen when she glanced back. At this moment she could proceed without his suspicion. She exhaled a thick waft of positive emotions, took a few steps forward, and began to buzz her wings furiously.

“It’s still rather smoky in there! You could do with some fresh air before you get anymore stingy.”

The high powered fan of Crone’s wings blew the waft of hazy energies into the kitchen. As the smoke was pushed out, it was replaced by a diluted volume of what the changeling blew in. He replied to her lack of departure with a shout.

“Just go already!”

“See you soon for breakfast…”

She left down the crystal hallway, she already knew the way to find Luna. Thanks to a few shared memories, and rounded two more corners to get there. On the walk she had a little more bounce in her step, and couldn’t wait for the results of what she had just planted. When she neared Luna’s chamber she changed her devious smile to a friendly one.

As she approached the chamber that imprisoned Luna, she was stopped by a large clear pane, and she tapped it with a hoof, then to her surprise, it lowered itself and gave her access. So she trotted in, and found that the princess of the night was fast asleep on her extra large crystal prison crystal cot. Crystal blanket and crystal pillow included. How is it even possible to make comfortable bedding with crystal?

Besides that, there was the game table was still present, though the pieces had been tucked away. There were a few books scattered on the floor to one side of the room. A few empty bottles of something, and a few crystal seat cushions.

Crone grabbed one of the cushions, and noted its strange texture, it was if the fabric was woven with stiff fibrous threads, and stuffed with sand for actual cushioning. She plopped it close by Luna’s cot, sat on it, shifted around till satisfied, then turned to the snoozy alicorn.

She lifted a hoof to poke at the equine challenged for consciousness, and didn’t get much of a response for it. So she gave a harder shove, one that shook the princess’s barrel, and had just as little success.

“Come on Luny, get up!”

One of Luna’s wings received a rather fierce tug from the giant changeling, which caused her to grumble and roll over so she was on her back with her wings tucked in. A shrewd expression came over Crone’s muzzle as she narrowed her brow at the blue pony. The princess started to snore in a manner that was not so regal.

Rather than progress slowly, and find a waking point gradually. Crone put one of her large hooves at one end of the cot, and flipped the entire thing over. That had better results, as the sensation of falling a short distance managed to rouse the stiff alicorn out of her slumber.

“Wha-!”

After the remedial face-plant had accomplished it’s goal, Luna’s awakening, Crone smiled with satisfaction. Luna didn’t get up from the floor, and closed her eyes again, but she was able to moan a complaint.

“Too early.”

“You have all the time to rest later, I want to talk with you, and I won’t let sleep get in the way.”

The princess scrunched her face, and perked her ears, she started to recognize the voice despite her grogginess and closed eyes. When it finally dawned on her she opened her eyes into a thin line.

“Chrysalis.”

“Nope!”

“…”

“Her sister!”

“Hmm?”

“My name is Crone.”

“Ha-ha-what?”

“Yes, I don’t think my name was chosen very cleverly either, but so it is. Anyway I wanted to ask you… about things!”

Luna rubbed her eyes with her wings, blinked a few times, and did a double take on her awareness levels. They were pretty good at the moment, and she looked up at awakener with a certain scrutiny. The face seemed almost the same, a slight difference in the coloration, but the eyes more or less looked the exact same. The shape of the horn was different though, for some reason. The night princess rubbed her head with a hoof, then brushed her mane a little. She lethargically clambered back onto her cot before she grumbled.

“What is it you wish to antagonize me about this time Chrysalis?”

“I thought we just went over that.”

“Remind me.”

“I’m not Chrysalis.”

“That is who I see infront of me.”

“We look a lot alike, we’re sisters. Do we need to be as different as night and day for you to distinguish us?”

“Well, you’re a changeling, and I don’t think a few cosmetic differences aren’t going to fool me. Though I suppose it doesn’t matter if you claim to be different, you all work for your queen…”

“I’m a queen too, just not the queen.”

“Oh, and please indulge me, how does that work?”

“Well, you share the title of princess with a few others. I don’t know why none of you have settled on having a proper queen yet, but we have a distinguished hierarchy at least. Chrysalis resides as the high queen, and I’m on her right hoof, as far as authority goes.”

“Then you should be a princess, or do you have a kingdom of your own?”

Crone put a hoof to her chin in thought. There were a few technicalities weren’t there?

“The swarm is the kingdom, and Chrysalis will have me rule over a portion of it. Such is the tradition of having multiple royals in any swarm.”

“And how many other swarms are there? I find it strange my sister and I have never met your kind before in our extended lives.”

“I suppose that’s where the other questions come in.”

“Hmm, about what you… your sister, came in here and showed me last time?”

“Yes, apparently you have met our kind before, and not in disguise.”

“I have no memory, nothing with substance. I already went over that with your queen. So I don’t really see what there is to expand on.”

“Hmm, honestly I’d have to do a little more of my own research on that as well.”

“Your sister mentioned a well last time she was here, would you care to explain that?”

“Oh, I suppose. It’s called the well of memories. Royals throughout time have added their wisdom and experiences to it. It’s truth as far as we’re concerned, and regarding changeling history, that’s something that’s nearly impossible to find from other sources.”

“Fascinating…”

“Hmm, I do have some questions about the nature of your imprisonment.”

“What about? I’m imprisoned…”

“Have you not tried to break out?”

“Ofcourse, but this…”

Luna lifted a hoof to point at her horn. Crimson crystal was wrapped around it in circular growths. The peculiar thing was how the crystal constantly glowed, with a pulse. The faint movement of light echoed up through the top of the chamber, and the entire chamber seemed to pulse. Though it was a very subtle movement, and Crone hadn’t noticed till she looked harder. Luna continued to explain.

“The first thing I noticed was that I couldn’t use magic.”

“Pity…”

“But it also constantly drains me, I have no idea where it’s being siphoned off to, but I don’t have my inherent strength either. Otherwise shattering that crystal pane over there would have been simple. I don’t think I could even fly at this point, not that there’s much room to try, but I always feel tired.”

“Fascinating…”

“Hardly, really boring is more like it. All I want to do is sleep, all the time.”

“Then let’s talk about something more interesting.”

“Mmm…”

“Do you know if Sombra can hear us, from outside the chamber?”

“Your sister listened in, next to the entrance for a while the other day.”

“I mean, does he have some kind of listening spell linked here.”

“He hasn’t shown awareness of what I mutter to myself when he’s gone, or simply doesn’t care to bring it up.”

“Then I guess I’ll try a private word before he comes in.”

“And what is that? Sister to the current usurper...”

“Oh please, you tried to usurp your sister a long time ago, and we only resolved that recently. Didn’t we?”

The night princess gritted her teeth and looked down and away from Crone. As soon as her face was concealed from the changeling she relented some, and internal pain manifested as an outward grimace. Crone didn’t need to see her face to get a strong waft of her emotions. The changeling lifted a hoof to cover her nose.

“Ug, I didn’t come here to guilt you, that’s makes a nasty smell, so get over yourself, besides, what I really wanted to know was how Sombra’s been acting as of late, he seemed a tad more rude than usual. Also I may have a few terms my sister gave me permission to discuss.”

Luna fixed Crone with a hard glare that conveyed a sense of incredulousness, and Crone only returned it with cheery smile. The princess shook her head, and rolled over on her cot, so that she faced the wall instead of the changeling.

“What terms would she discuss when I’m some other pony’s prisoner.”

“You know she wouldn’t want you as a prisoner forever right?”

“Is that so?”

“It is, you could outlive us, and cause problems for future generations, should they become careless in your containment.”

“Oh, and why would I cause problems…”

“Since we would prefer not to end any life if we can help it, we’d like to offer eventual freedom. That will only come if real trust can be developed.”

“Ha, trust, yes… Your queen has been a marvelous example of why I should trust her. Let’s see, she only started with deceiving us, and lying through her teeth all the way till she forcefully took the throne for herself. Then spew a constant stream of threats to get her way. As well as fail to adequately contain Sombra, another potentially catastrophic problem for my ponies. Yes, the only way I see our relations ending is prancing through a field of daisies…”

“Eh, only a few small hurdles.”

“Only if you subject me to mind control.”

“That makes emotions stale eventually... But in any case, we don’t have to be best of friends for freedom to occur. Just enough assurances that you won’t be hostile, or try to take the throne back. A thousand years is a long time for any pair of flanks to occupy a single throne, no? Has your sister not desired a break before?”

“Others have done it for longer.”

Before Crone could continue with their discussion they both heard hooves clip clop down the hall and towards the entrance of Luna’s chamber. So rather than just be quiet and wait for the king to enter, Crone picked up a radically different tone, and flipped onto her back, so she could assume a much more relaxed pose. Luna eyed the shift wearily with a cocked eye brow. The changeling was loud enough that any pony that approached could hear easily.

“So Luna! You’ve got to tell me what your favorite kind of stallion is! After centuries I’m sure you have lot’s of experience, and have gone through several!”

“Actually I-”

“Or tell me why your room is covered in silver and onyx, did some designer pick that for you, or did you insist on it, because the whole nightly theme?”

“I deci-”

“How about what you were up to before the invasion? Oh, from what I heard you weren’t even at the wedding ceremony? Why weren’t you at the wedding ceremony for your own niece? Adoptive niece? Are there despondent feelings there? Is that more of the reason why you didn’t show? Or were you jealous? Or do you not like weddings? Or-”

“CRONE!”

“What?”

“Stop.”

“But those were just a few things I’ve wondered about.”

“And what makes you think I’d want to answer all of that.”

“Cause it’s fun, interesting, or juicy?”

The sound of hooves on crystal reached the body of the room, and Sombra entered with several dishes held in his magic, heat wafted from some of the dishes. The king held a very reserved smile, though smile he did.

Crone laid back and looked perfectly innocent, as she rested her chin on her forelegs, Luna on the other hoof rested her head on her pillow, and stared at the changeling with a quiet suspicion.

The game table was shifted, so that it was closer to Luna’s cot and Crone’s cushion, a crystal cloth was set over it, then all the food and condiments were placed on top of it, as well as a few dishes. Sombra then pulled over a cushion for himself, and let out a long sigh as he plopped his haunches down.

“Morning princess, I suppose as you can see, a crone is joining us for breakfast.”

Sombra chuckled stupidly, and uncharacteriscally, even compared to his previously altered behavior. His muzzle trembled as he tried to restrain a smile, but he couldn’t, and his broad fanged teeth were bared.

Crone put one innocuous hoof infront of her face to stifle a large yawn, and when she exhaled, more clear and hazy energies were released. She batted them away to make them less noticeable, and by so doing spread them around the air in the room. Luna had to voice her concerns.

“What are doing?”

“Yes, what are you doing? I am much too happy at the moment… hehe-haha.”

The changeling looked at both the night princess and crystal king, she held a rather blank, but inviting expression.

“I'm yawning...”

She yawned again, and exhaled more exuberant things. Soon the air was thick with something the other equines couldn’t see, but definitely felt.

After a few breaths Luna began to feel a little different too. Her suspicious face started to irresistibly morph into something more… happy?

Ch.43 "Perceptions"

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.43 “Perceptions”

The door step to Fancy Pants’s house was illuminated by an emerald flare, and from the epicenter emerged the changeling queen. She had been awake long enough to be crisp and alert, and she didn’t waste a moment as she gathered herself to the door, and rattled it with a hoof.

Loud echoes bounced away from the point of contact. In response, there was scurried movement on the second level of the home. As Chrysalis waited she stared intently at the door, the place where she had knocked had a dent now, apparently the rattle had been too forceful.

The clop of hooves over wood reverberated behind the enclosed walls. The queen’s ears perked when she heard some rather vehement mutters.

“The blazes, what pony knocks that loud this early.”

It wasn’t too much longer before the door was opened, and a disheveled Fancy Pants was at the entrance. His normally brushed and styled mane was all amiss with evidence of bed contact. Neither did he ware his monocle, nor have his suit on, but a rather loose night shirt. His eyes were also quite bloodshot, and it became more apparent when he opened them wide in surprise.

“Oh, your majesty… Please forg-”

“I don’t care for formalities at the moment Fancy, rather, I would like some news if you have any.”

“Um, would you like to come in?”

“You have something to report?”

“I was up late last night trying to file through all the mail. The assistants you gave me earlier have proven quite helpful. There are a number of responses that have come back, and they vary quite a bit.”

“Then show me in.”

“Right this way your majesty.”

Fancy stood to the side and made a welcoming gesture with the sweep of one hoof. Then he indicated a large couch that Chrysalis could rest herself on. The large changeling made it there in a few long strides, and set herself down with a careful scrutiny. After a short mental evaluation, she decided the furniture treated her royal flank very nicely, though she gave no verbal acknowledgement of this. Rather she sighed through her nose, and waited for Fancy to set himself down.

“I’ll be back in one moment your majesty, I just wish to grab a few of the more important letters for reference.”

“Take your time my liaison.”

So Fancy trotted with a not leisurely trot up stairs. There were a few more scuffles, sounds of drawers being pulled in and out, then Chrysalis heard a second set of hooves on the upper level. Her ears swiveled on her head in curiosity, for she could hear whispered voices. One was distinctly female, and after something Fancy whispered, there was a loud-

“WHAT!”

Then more scurried movements followed. Some protested grunts, a few slams of this and that. Then there was the twinkle of magical interaction, a few painful sounding scratches, and some kind of wheezy poof noise.

The whole wild range of sounds ended abruptly, and few moments later Fancy came downstairs. His mane was now neatly combed, he was in his suit, and he wore his monocle, the bloodshot condition of his eyes had also miraculously disappeared. In his blue aura, a few papers floated along side him, as he descended the stairs back to the living room.

With quick and efficient steps, the handsomely dressed unicorn approached a chair opposite where the queen sat, and settled himself onto of the leather bound cushions. Then the stack of papers was levitated close to his monocle, a few of them were rifled through until he found what he wanted.

“So, your majesty, here are a stack of letters from the mayors and governors of our good nation.”

“I’ll trust you to summarize them.”

“Very well, I suppose I’ll start with Mayor More from Manehattan.”

“Didn’t you mention her before?”

“Yes, she had expressed interest in new leadership earlier. You had me send two of my assistants there.”

“And how have they been received?”

“They’re still being evaluated, but her interest increased when she met them in pony. I believe her positive reception will continue. She’s also expressed some interest in getting a group of your changelings organized into helping her city’s crime issues.”

“Hmm, that can wait till later. She can give me something more official when she’s made up her mind completely, and had time to articulate her thoughts. As of now I won’t afford some haphazard attempt to fix her problems. I have yet to see if other ponies will make themselves more of a nuisance. In that regard, were there any hostile responses?”

Fancy flipped through the letters again, and pulled out one with a large cloud seal stamped on it.

“The pegasi of Cloudsdale, and their governor, Marble, expressed a desire to send tornados and hurricanes our way. Though I hope you won’t mind that I took the initiative and asked them not to. There are many ponies here that would be unfortunate collaterals in an attack of that kind.”

“Ponies would be the only victims, unless you have a means for underground shelter?”

“I’m unaware if Canterlot was built to receive hurricanes and tornados...”

A wide smirk crossed over the queen’s muzzle, the stagnant action of such infuriated loyalists amused her. The pegasi apparently cared about their fellow ponies enough they hadn’t attacked yet. Such an obvious and blunt strike would be far from precise, and would likely have unintended painful consequences. Even if they forsook a weather attack and did a more traditional siege, they would siege her when she had the entire city’s citizenry under her hooves. What a lovely shield ponies made…

Fancy appeared slightly unsettled after a few moments of silence, so Chrysalis gestured lazily with a hoof, and proffered him to continue.

“Any other aggressive responses?”

“There were a few flustered responses, but they were few, and from towns too small to really have a means for pertinent action.”

“Then what was the general response?”

“Hmm, I believe this letter from Mayor Moonshine of Las Pegasus would be a good example of the most common response. I’ll read it aloud.”

Dear Pants that are Fancy,
I got a letter earlier this week, that said it was from you, but it was total non-sense. Said something about Celestia being imprisoned, and the element bearers being driven off.
Some pony has a good sense of humor, because that clearly hasn’t happened. The Sun has kept moving every day, ~~and reminds me of my hangover,~~ hehe, I mean it reminds me I’ve got board meetings to go to.
Please mail back this envelope so I know it’s you, and not some noble pulling my leg for money.
Regards, Mayor Moonshine.
p.s. I got a shipment of champagne from the draconequus isle, you wouldn’t believe what this stuff is like. Also It’s been a while since you’ve visited, perhaps I could stop by sometime? There’s a few connections in snob-town I need to talk to anyway, and I’d much prefer your company. Hope to hear from you soon.

Chrysalis cocked an eyebrow.

“So most ponies are in a state of disbelief?”

“I got almost identical responses from Baltimare, Fillydelphia, and Vanhoover. The rest of the letters from the other towns and cities were basically various alterations of the same idea.”

“Then I will have that remedied.”

The queen’s eyes pulled away from Fancy as they went into contemplation, one of her hooves was raised and slowly caressed her chin, and jaw line. The unicorn stallion waited patiently while the queen thought, he focused and made slow deep breaths. The changeling’s reverberant voice quickly broke his focus.

“I will have a meeting organized, within the next two weeks. I will require representatives from each of these towns and cities to attend. Everything will be made clear then.”

“Within two weeks? I’m not sure we could gather ponies from every town in that time.”

“Tell them it is mandatory… Or I will make a personal visit to any town that fails to have representative attend.”

“Very well, should I make the date officially two weeks from now?”

“Yes go ahead.”

“I’ll get busy with the replies.”

“Oh, one more thing. Do we happen to have any more foreign guests around?”

“Do you mean other ambassadors and dignitaries besides the Saddle Arabians?”

“Yes, I do, If other nations have any representatives here I’ll meet them while it’s convenient.”

“Well, now that you mention it, I was notified we had a large influx of visitors at Canterlot’s general embassy.”

“Large influx?”

“Apparently the news that Celestia was removed from her throne caused quite a stir, and many nations sent dignitaries to decipher the rumors.”

“Then point me to the embassy, and there will be rumors no more.”

Fancy looked to a clock on the wall and his brow narrowed.

“Right now they would be having the luncheon in the embassy dining halls.”

“So my presence will be informal, that is fine, point me there.”

Fancy pulled out a blank sheet of paper from a nearby desk. With a flash of magic a symbol was seared into the parchment, a large red indication arrow. Then it was levitated over to the queen, who grabbed it with her green aura.

“That should be simple to follow as the one that guided you to my house.”

“You have done well my liaison. You may continue with you other responsibilities.”

To signal she was done, Chrysalis stood up from the couch and made her way to the door. Fancy got up from his chair and went back towards the stairs, though before he ascended he looked towards the door, and opened it with his magic. The queen walked through the door unimpeded and closed it once she made it by.

Once outside she lowered her grey eyelids, and glowed her sclera as she reached out with mental magic. A message was sent out to a far distance, and it took a few moments before the intended recipient received it.

Shade.

Yes my queen?

I want a vanguard with plenty of experience with the affluent. Is there one here in Canterlot?

Yes there is, very close by infact, would you like me to send her your way?

I would.

Then she’ll be there momentarily.

Also, how goes the hunt Shade?

-snort- surprisingly well, I’ve found some very promising leads.

Where are you at the moment?

Manehattan.

Manehattan?

She reached out in the mental spectrum, and indeed her head vanguard was very far away. It was a great distance to cover since she had last met him. Her next thought was interrupted as the door behind her opened up. The queen twirled around on her long legs, and expected Fancy to be there with something he’d forgotten to tell her.

Instead it was an elegant white unicorn mare with pink mane. She was clearly nervous as she spoke.

“Shade says you have need of me?”

“Oh, Fleur was it? Well, drop the disguise, we’re going to a luncheon and you’re going to help me.”

“Ofcourse my queen.”

So Fleur’s white pelt shifted to grey chitin, and her pink mane transitioned to purple. She squirmed a bit, as it felt unnatural to her to be in the open and exposed like this.

“Do you have a changeling name?”

“Shifty my queen.”

“Be prepared to answer questions from a number of dignitaries, our goal is to assert ourselves with a favorable impression during this luncheon. I trust you if Shade trusts you, so let’s take care not to offend our neighbors. Atleast to their knowledge.”

“Understood my queen.”

Chrysalis held up the paper with the magic red indicator.

“Then let’s go…Shifty.”

---

The Canterlot General Embassy-

The dining hall was a magnificent and large structure, and sported much of Canterlot’s best designs in regards to architecture. The accommodations within the hall itself were wide and the furnishings were expansive. The colors were a generous theme of alabaster, lavender, and gold trimmings.

Round tables, square tables, and plenty of irregularly shaped tables supported a number of dignitaries and their meals.

Among the inhabitants of the dining hall were ponies from the nations of Germane, and Prance. Griffons from both Griffonstone, and Wunduree occupied section of the dining hall. Minotaurs from Labrynthia were present, and circled around one particular table. A few fishy equines, hippocampi, rested in a shallow pool designed for more aquatic visitors. Equines from Zebzeb had gathered in one corner, and in one spacious section were two draconic visitors.

The Saddle Arabians, Crescent Iris and Delta Shores, shared space with the griffons from Wunduree and were enraptured in an interesting discussion. In fact, the whole hall bustled with lively activity and discussion, though each of the groups kept largely to themselves. A few of them ventured here and there to talk about their relations with one another, but this was an informal setting, and most who gathered there looked forward to a social meal.

( The Germane Table )

Six ponies sat on benches around square table. Each of their pelts glittered with a metallic sheen, and they reflected various hues of copper, brass, silver, and gold. In their bowls were small shiny pellets and ingots, which many of them snacked on merrily. Their drinks were held in mugs and the contents within glittered with powdery and reflective particles.

When one of them occasionally belched it sounded like a gong was struck, and the metallic ring would hang in the air.

The ponies themselves wore metal bands and rings on their manes and tails. Facial hair was common on the stallions. None of them had cutie marks, or wings, or horns.

One who stood out oddly among this crowd of foreign ponies was a stallion armored head to hoof in chrome plate. Unlike the rest of his peers he had a horn, and it was decorated with several rings that fit snuggly into the natural segments. He didn’t function like a normal unicorn though, and couldn’t use it for traditional magical purposes.

Even though he had a bowl of pellets, and a mug of silvery drink infront of him, he kept his visor down, and didn’t join in the lively discussion the rest of the germane ponies engaged in.

Eventually the shiny brass mare that sat across from him put her mug down, and gave him a scrutinized stare. Her lime green eyes peered against the dull-red and opaque visor.

“You know Prism, this is supposed to be an informal occasion.”

“I don’t believe in informal occasions Malleable.”

“As you have clearly shown over the last week it took to get here, I’m concerned.”

“Your concern is misdirected.”

“Oh?”

“I don’t see how any of you can relax, especially while we’re in a nation that was recently taken over by some rogue. We have no idea of the true intentions here.”

“I hardly see the intentions as hostile, the city could have been locked down, but it wasn’t. Obviously this new… queen, wants to keep existing relations stable.”

“It’s a trap.”

“Prism, please.”

“If she decides to take Equestria’s throne one day, who’s to say she won’t try something to slight other nations. Why did she take Equestria first anyway? What does she want here?”

“Well, that’s what we’re here to find out.”

“To be fed lies most likely.”

“Is that not the game between most nations? But that’s besides the point, you showing up in your armor to lunch is giving everyone else a cold shoulder. We’re here to represent our nation Prism, and I think it would be better to appear a little more inviting.”

“I trust no one.”

“Prism…”

“You don’t know if this, this changeling? Could be planning to entrap or assassinate us.”

“It’s a show of good will, and this is precisely why you haven’t officially been made an ambassador.”

“I know, but I think king Torque keeps sending me to watch your backs. Someone needs to be prepared for the possibilities.”

Malleable just sighed, it wasn’t going to go anywhere. So she turned back to the main discussion at the table. One of her front hooves absentmindedly reached into the bowl in front of her, and scooped out a few silver pellets and an iron ingot. They were casually plopped into her mouth, and chewed.

Her teeth and jaws munched the metal bits into smaller flakes, and the iron ingot was chewed rather like gum. After she swallowed, a rust colored tongue poked out from between her lips and searched for any loose flakes, but none were to be found. So she scooped out another hooful of the shiny germane treats.

( One of the prench tables )

The prench ponies occupied several tables, as there were nearly three dozen of them, all of them unicorns. Most of them sported fancy clothes of some kind or other, and many of them had their manes and tails done in extravagant, or otherwise stylish manners.

The food that decorated their dishes was as artistic in appearance as it was made to taste. Refinement and etiquette defined their behavior… mostly. There was still on occasional riotous laugh, or an exaggerated sputter at some incredulous revelation.

One cream colored mare voiced her opinion of the locals.

“Can you believe these Canterlot ponies! They even think they’re stylish… And this is supposed to be their best!”

A blue prench stallion smirked at her reproachful tone before he replied to her statement.

“Well Fromage, they do follow our popular trends… about ten years after their out of date. Oh hoho.”

“I suppose it would be flattering if they merely wanted to be like us, but most of these ‘street nobles’ pretend as if they actually have any class. That is what bothers me.”

“They aren’t prench, what are you expecting you silly mare? For them to actually understand the social arts? The majority of their ponies are not even unicorns. They suffer from split focus. So much of their time is spent on what they think are necessities, but are paltry.”

Fromage scrunched her muzzle and rested her chin on a fetlock. Her eyes narrowed and she appeared to be in the midst of unpleasant mental digestion. The blue stallion chuckled at her reaction to his previously verbose statement.

“The real question is, how much more will it devolve?”

“What do you mean Salete?”

“The new queen that has come here…”

“Oh, her? They say she is hideous, as well as all the monsters she brought with her.”

“I know I know, quite barbarous, the whole thing really. Though I believe there maybe interesting opportunities yet.”

“Celestia atleast had manners and grace, what kind of demented potential are you looking for in uncouth barbarians?”

“Celestia was old, she was very set in her ways, and there was little we could do to influence her. This new queen however, even if she is cunning, I’m going to take a gambit that she is much younger. The world hasn’t heard of her kind, and she took the daring move to reveal them. She thinks because she has power, she is powerful… Even if she has spent time learning of us, it’s going to be another thing to interact with us this openly. This is where I see our opportunity for influence. She is new, and bound to be naïve in some areas.”

“And if any have creativity and revelry for new, it is us. I like where you’re going with this Salete.”

“Hohoho, yes, two can play the game of social manipulation. Hoi! I mean, did you even hear how she took over?”

“Wasn’t it something to do with a wedding?”

“Yes, she played the bride in disguise! Like some kind of opera, right under Celestia’s nose!”

“Such simplicity…”

“And hilarity.”

“Be respectful Salete, Celestia was a decent mare.”

Fromage didn’t conceal her own amusement at the idea very well, and a smile cracked through her attempt to chide the stallion for making light of such a thing.

A third pony sat near this particular table, and flipped about her mane gently. She had a light grey pelt, and a white mane with silver luster. Though she had been near Fromage and Salete, she hadn’t paid attention. Rather, what caught her attention was her own reflection in a neighbor’s metallic goblet.

“I’m so beautiful…”

Then she proceeded to caress her own cheeks slowly with a hoof. The statement caught both Fromage’s and Salete’s attention. The blue stallion shook his head in disapproval.

“Why is Mignon here?”

“Because she’s beautiful?”

( The minotaur table )

Three of them sat around a round table. Each of them held some cards, and had some playing chips infront of them. One of them held a particularly hard expression, he also had the smallest pile of chips. The fedora he wore did little to conceal his contempt either, or the way his stripped vest strained around his tense muscles. Also the hereford pattern of his body really emphasized the countenance with it’s bright highlight there.

The reddish, hat worn minotaur pulled one last card from the deck and flipped it next to a few others in a line.

“Final round, Midgy…”

He stared down at a shorter red-angus minotaur, much shorter, infact this little minotaur would be lower than even ponies in height. Despite the disparate size, he wasn’t a child. Midgy had put on his own blue suit, and combed through his own mane, thank you.

“I am more than ready, Talltoll.”

The midget minotaur held a flat even expression, one that was nearly impossible to read. Talltoll failed to hold in the grumpiness from his voice as he looked at the other two players, and announced the end of the game.

“Well, put up your hands.”

“That’d be your honor to go first Tall.”

The third minotaur was white with numerous large black spots on his body, a holstein pattern. He was completely relaxed, and let it show. His posture was leaned back, as comfortable as he could manage on a stool.

With a grunt, the fedora topped player put down his hand, face up.

“There, I got a flush.”

Then midgy broke his flat expression, straightened the collar of his suit, and twirled about the cards in his hand in a playful manner. Between the cards in his hand and on the table, he held up a full-house.

“Hand over them chips Tall.”

Talltoll grit his teeth as he pushed over a sizable stack of the chips. With a self-satisfied grin Midgy pulled in the winnings from the other player. For a few moments the short one just rubbed hands together and wriggled his eyebrows. Then he remembered there was a third player.

“You’ve been much too quiet Chipper, what do you have?”

“Oh nothing that special.”

The white minotaur had his hand behind his back, and drew out the time it took to reveal what he had. Midgy just smirked and shook his head. When Chipper finally placed his cards on the table, both the other minotaurs saw it made four-of-a-kind. Talltoll slammed one first down on the table, and caused all the chips and cards to jump.

“HA! So Midgy-taur Tycoon can be beat… I swear, I’ve always suspected you of stacking the deck, even when you aren’t dealing!”

“Please, Tall, why would I be dishonest in our recreational gatherings?”

“If you would be in business, then I hardly see why recreation is held to a different standard.”

“Now you accuse me of being a dishonest business-taur… That’s going a little too far Tall.”

“I can only say it’s suspicious you rose to prominence so quickly.”

Chipper decided to cut in before the two could get more offensive to each other.

“Well his father is Monopoly Monger, you could hardly ask for a better mentor. But shouldn’t we be mentioning local business?”

Talltoll waved a hand dismissively, he didn’t like being interrupted, but local business could do with a passing mention.

“What’s there to say? We’ll get what we want out of the new queen. We got what we want out of Celestia for decades. Who’s got more practical experience than her? Certainly not some conquering deviant…”

“I did hear she was able to deceive Celestia too, it’d be foolish to underestimate our prospects Tall.”

Midgy interlocked his fingers before he stretched them out, and cracked the knuckles. Chipper stratched the stubble under his chin, and rolled out a few more words.

“I’ve heard they eat emotions, or can read them along those lines. When it comes down to the serious business, a face isn’t going to be enough. It’ll be tricky to help them think we would really want mutual interest.”

“That’s fine Chipper, we just have to believe our deals are as good natured as we say they are. Any good dealer can fool himself.”

A sneaky smile crossed over the tiny minotaur’s snout. Tall folded his arms and rolled his eyes at the other two.

“It still surprises me that I feel more honest in the gambling business, compared to this real-estate agent, and lumber-jack…”

( The griffon resting pads )

Squawks and chatters abounded around a small group of avian-feline hybrids. They shared one communal bowl for the meal-time, and it was full of rice and dried fish.

A female griffon with a proud plumage of alabaster feathers, and the back half of a black panther, turned to the griffon that sat nearest to her, A griffon whose plumage was that of a peacock and feline side was a tiger. Her voice was soft and unassuming.

“Mitra, it’s much too cold here, have you found a place to warm yourself?”

“I have not Santi, but you could always ask one of the drakes to start a fire.”

“I hardly see our hosts taking that with good nature.”

“It wouldn’t be our fault, just the dragons.”

His peacock face made a very avian smirk around the edges of his beak.

“Bits! Bits! C’mon ye griffons, help a fellow in his plight.”

Both Santi, and Mitra flinched at the irritable squawk that came from over their heads. Another griffon with dirted white and gray plumage, straddled one of the poles that held out a banner. His weight caused the flexible post to bend, and he held out a hat to the others.

“What are you even doing here? Go back to Griffonstone, this isn’t the place for beggars.”

Mitra’s harsh tone was met with an equally bitter glare from the gray griffon.

“Don’t act like you’d be so much better if the same thing happened to Wunduree.”

“We don’t put our faith in relics, so don’t we don’t share that same fallibility. No, I don’t think the same thing would, or could happen to Wunduree. Now go.”

“I’ve as much a right to be here as any of you. Griffonstone still has an ambassador.”

“Self proclaimed? Or officially instated? I honestly don’t see your group willing to bother.”

“Why you condescending feather-duster!”

Santi sighed in frustration, the two griffon males continued to squawk at each other with increasing intensity. So she decided to intervene before talons got involved in the mess.

“Mitra, don’t antagonize him anymore, it’s not going to get him to leave any faster.”

“I’m sorry, I just find him so aggravating.”

“The feeling is mutual you pompous pecker! I’ll find better charity with the dragons!”

And with that the grey griffon fluttered off to another side of the hall. In a few more moments his grating voice could be heard again, calling for more ‘bits’.

Mitra reached into the bowl and grabbed a fish, which he proceeded to quietly nibble on. It wasn’t long before Santi decided to do the same thing.

For now they were content to eat quietly and observe the other occupants of the hall.

( The Hippocampus custom pond )

It was a small shallow bowl more or less, and just enough to get the occupants wet. They could swim about through the air if they so desired, but it was more comfortable to be in contact with their native substance.

Two hippocampi relaxed into the provided water, one of them held an ornamental staff, and word a large gold plated neck chain, which was imbedded with emeralds. Long whiskers sprouted from the top of his muzzle and fore-head.

Across from him the other dignitary displayed her fondness for pearls, with both a large pendant and bracelets. Her scaly hide was green, while his was crimson. They both held rather dulcet expressions. The female opened her muzzle and slowly expelled some thoughts.

“Do you think she’d bother to listen?”

“To what? Our desires? Why should she? Celestia apparently considered our services more of a duty than something to be compensated for. Thus our general disinterest in our relations all together.”

“I suppose, do you really think this venture is simply for passing curiosity then?”

“We could always hope it’ll be more. Things have never been the same since…”

“No hippocampus has forgotten the disappearance of our siren stones. There is nothing we can do about that now, Adagio be damned. The city that contained their prison has vanished. The sisters let us witness for ourselves.”

“Then yes, this venture is only a passing interest. I imagine there’s only a slight chance this new queen would bother to have safer seas. They already count on their pegasi to manage things from the air.”

This miffed the green hippocampus a bit, and she mulled it over. Her finned tail flipped over, and rested on the edge of the bowl. Acknowledgement from the surface races had been an ongoing issue for generations. She rubbed her hooves together and tried to stay positive.

“The draconequi have atleast been courteous to us.”

“But also stingy, I think they’re afraid to lose any regular visitors. Being trapped on that island for centuries hasn’t done them any favors.”

“We’re their only source of news, everyone else finds them too overwhelming to deal with personally.”

“They do have Lethal…”

“What, the lightning drake? He’s hardly reliable…”

“He’s something.”

“I’m afraid they’d get even worse if we decided to stop showing up.”

“And what would they do? They’re trapped. Their only means of getting off that island is sealed in stone.”

“It would just seem cruel.”

“Jade, we’ll keep going as long as they have something worth exchanging. Lord Golden Spoon has been willing and able to conjure up things for our fancy.”

“If only it didn’t take getting through his eccentric mannerism, and clinginess.”

Jade splashed the water around her lightly, and sank further into the water, she closed her eyes and made an effort to relax. Her traveling companion adjusted himself as well, and rolled his head about on his neck, after it was sufficiently wrung out, he rest his chin on his chest.

Both of them napped.

( The table of Zebzeb )

A giraffe, a hippo, and a zebra shared a table. The giraffe had a long wavy reddish-brown mane, and she happily sipped on a straw that sprouted from a coconut cup.

Next to her was the hippo, who had on a wide brimmed straw-hat, as well as a broad vest. One of his toes thoughtfully prodded his drink, but he didn’t pick it up yet.

The Zebra felt around the table with his hooves, for he couldn’t see very well. A humongous afro of a mane hung over most of his face and neck. His tail was also irredeemably bushy. When he couldn’t find his drink he threw up his hooves in frustration.

“I tell ya mon, deesa drinks needa be easier to find!”

“It’s called a mane-cut, mon…”

The hippo mumbled with exercised patience. The zebra then crossed his fore-legs defensively.

“Imma never shorten my pride N’ joy. Mumma said any zebra worth their stripes would do no such thing.”

“You could try a hair band.”

The giraffe put down her drink, which was a slightly award and cumbersome affair. Given how small the drink was, and how long her legs were. The small zebra thought he heard something.

“Could ya say that again mon?”

With one hoof, the zebra lifted part of his afro away to reveal one of his ears. The hippo sighed loudly.

“It’s even interfering with your hearing ya doo-face. I’m tempted to shear it myself right now!”

“Ya callin’ me a doo-face mon!”

“Only a doo-face would insist on bein’ so blind! Especially when we want to talk with the local boss-mon.”

“Local boss-mon isn’t my boss-mon.”

“I won’t have ya be an embaressment.”

The hippo pulled out a very large bowie knife, and grabbed the zebra by the afro. As the overly bushy mane was tugged upward, the mystery of the zebra’s eyes and ears were answered, he did infact have them. When the zebra found his eyes exposed to the light, he lifted his hooves to shield them. They were not used to such unfiltered brilliance.

“What are ya doin’ mon? let me go!”

“I’m doin’ what ya shoulda done.”

Before the hippo could chop off a large chunk of the zebra’s hair, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around, but had to look up. The giraffe had a concerned expression on her long featured face.

“I donna think that’s a good idea right now Bobway, you’re gettin’ stares.”

The broad quadruped peered around, and their conversation had indeed caught the attention of several neighbors. He put his knife away, and released his grip on the zebra’s mane. The stripped equine groaned and rubbed his eyes with his hooves.

“Oh, my eyes mon… you be the devil Bobway.”

“I’m not finished with ya. We’re gonna have a chat before anything official goes down.”

The giraffe tapped the hippo’s shoulder again, and he rounded with some fumes.

“What now?”

“I’ll have a chat with Zorro, don’t be worryin’ yourself so much. He’ll be presentable when I’m done.”

“I heard that mon! I don’t need no private chat with nobody!”

After the zebra’s defiant reply the hippo grabbed his afro again and bellowed loudly into his face.

“I swear mon! I don’t care if others be watchin’. I’ll handle ya right now! We’re here for Zebzeb, and ya better act like it!”

After the blast of foul air the zebra cowed, and started to shake.

“Ok, ok, I’ll chat with Hemra, ya happy mon?”

“I’ll be happy when ya’ve managed yourself.”

There was an uneasy quiet at the table for a few moments. So the giraffe reached over to a serving table, and grabbed some more drinks. She didn’t even get up, because her reach was enormous, and a dozen coconuts were pulled onto their table. Her voice carried with surprising weight.

“Now we’re suppose to be enjoyin’ ourselves. Brighten up you two!”

Zorro shifted away from the hippo and closer to Hemra, this time he was able to find a drink as he blindly reached out for one. Bobway just grumbled and let his eyes roam over the hall, eventually one of the drinks was seized in his grip. He pulled the straw out, and threw the coconut with drink in his mouth, where they proceeded to be crunched and slurped.

After the giraffe cycled through a few of the drinks, she proffered the group with another question.

“So what do we wanna say to the new boss lady?”

The corner of the zebra’s mouth pursed at the mention and he remained silent, Bobway just shrugged.

“Zebzeb is still open for visitors. From what I’ve heard she’s tryin’ to keep things the same. So the same we’ll keep ‘em.”

Herma’s mouth curved into a doubtful slant.

“Ya so sure about that? I mean, we might wanna keep it the same, but what about the rest of the creechas here?”

“Might as well brush up on their thinkin’ too, most of ‘em are here, aren’t they.”

“Better not approach the ones who saw ya pull out the knife. Besides Bobway, what were ya thinkin’ pullin’ that out in the lunch room for?”

“I lost my patience with a little zebra mon… I could just tell ‘em I use it for my salad.”

“Ha, ya mon, that’ll work just fine… not.”

The giraffe gave the hippo a shrewd glance.

( The dragon table )

A large square table was host to two large scaled creatures. Neither of them had wings, though they were built like dragons in every other way. One was significantly larger than the other, and glanced around the room with a bored indifference. The smaller one glared daggers at his undesired table associate. Smoke billowed out of his nostrils as he hissed.

“Give it back!”

There were two bowls at the table, filled to the brim with gems. Currently the larger gray drake possessed both of them, and blocked the other scaly beast’s access. One claw was slowly, methodically, and apathetically tapped up and down. Each tiny strike further grated the smaller blue drake’s nerves.

“I said-”

“Are you going to try something or just whine like a hatchling?”

“You.. ga… huuuuu.”

“Gibbering nonsense doesn’t bode well for the constitution of your intellect either.”

“Fine, take all the gems, you arrogant arse. If you weren’t her herald I’d gouge your eyes.”

“I doubt you’d succeed at that either. Tell me, Goff, does Raker get as easily flustered as you?”

The smaller drake snarled and bore his fangs, but didn’t make any other aggressive moves. The larger grey drake still held an uninterested stare into nothing in particular. One of his paws gave place for his chin to rest, and he continued to tap one claw on the table with his other paw. He didn’t move to eat any of the gems, they were in fact a good reminder to keep Goff in his place, and in proxy the dragon Raker.

A large gold necklace hung about the grey drakes neck, and in the center of it was a large dark obsidian stone. It would occasionally glint with an off color tint, and the mere shimmer caused unease to those who looked at it. A smaller circlet was also worn ontop of the herald drake’s head, though it wasn’t as eye catching as the necklace.

Smoke had ceased to flow from Goff’s nostrils, and he looked away from the table. The fact the gems sat there uneaten was more than bothersome. So he growled at the other drake again.

“So what is Ebony’s interest here then. I would think this change would be below her cares. I had hoped there’d be no necessity for you.”

“Why do you think I would tell you the particulars? Mere entertainment is more than enough reason. But if you insist on being so bold as to know Ebony’s intent, then I should inevitably have to return the inquiry, and know what Raker hopes to gain from this most recent squabble.”

“I’m sure it has nothing to do with Celestia’s downfall…”

“What a brilliant mind… I’m sure Raker dug through many bright candidates before he settled on you…”

The venomous sarcasm crushed Goff even further, and his reply was a sneer.

“Yet more filth spouts from the arse. Go bury it somewhere no one has to smell it. You can keep her reasons to yourself.”

Goff pushed away from the table and made to leave. Before he made it too many steps away his stomach grumbled. He grit his teeth in anger at the uncomfortable sensation of hunger. His pride was too fierce though, he wouldn’t return to that table. Not to sit with Ebony’s herald again. He wouldn’t beg, he wouldn’t plead. In fact, he should be making demands here, he was herald of the world’s greatest dragon, Raker!... but even he was still under Ebony… there was actually no dispute in that, and her herald loved to abuse it to no end.

The blue drake eyed the other tables, and wondered which one he could join. After he scanned the room, the griffons from Wunduree caught his eye, perhaps they would do.

When it was apparent the other drake wouldn’t return, Ebony’s herald finally reached out and began to plop the gems into his mouth. The precious stones were slowly chewed, and he frowned after tasting them.

He picked up one bluish gem between two claws and looked at it with judgmental cold eyes.

“I hope this new queen isn’t as mediocre as her hospitality… That would be a shame, wouldn’t it Ebony?”

The obsidian stone on the necklace swirled about with distorted dark hues in response.

( The entrance to the dining hall )

The arched doors to the large hall opened, and from between them crossed a tall royal changeling, who was trailed by a shorter, but magnificent, vanguard.

As she walked by silence spread throughout the hall like wildfire, and soon most eyes were locked on Chrysalis. She stood there and absorbed the attention for a few moments. The smells of the emotions that boiled in the room were greatly varied, and she had only to decide where she wanted to go first. While she had the rapt attention of most of the occupants, she decided to speak.

“Please, act as you were, this is a casual gathering is it not?”

Her invitation to go back to informalities was slowly heeded, but once the chatter began, it became even more boisterous than before. Shifty, who was close behind her queen, prodded a question.

“How do you wish to go about this my queen?”

“Divide and conquer, after we’re done socializing report what you hear. I’m here to get a sense of my reception. Dig out as much honesty as you can.”

“I’ll do my best my queen.”

“Then go, your pony named sounds prench so start with them. I’ll meet with the… griffons, oh, I see Crescent and Delta there.”

The two changelings separated and made their respective ways towards their target audiences. Before Chrysalis could make it half way there was a blinding flash, quickly followed by the deafening roar of thunder.

Every creature seized up with surprise as ambient static charged the air in the room. Creatures with fur had every hair stand on end, and mane styles were messed up and disheveled. Electricity arced between the metallic germane ponies, who yelped and jumped at the random shocks. The prench complained about their messed up pelts and manes. The minotaur’s deck of cards caught on fire. The griffonstone griffon dropped all the bits out of his hat. Ebony’s herald cocked an eye brow in interest, and both hippocampi writhed in their artificial pond.

Jade cried out.

“Not him!”

In the next moment a large part of the ceiling caved in, followed by an enormous form. This new giant scaly body landed right on top of Equestria’s newest queen, and she disappeared underneath his bulk.

There were screams, shouts, squawks, and other manners of complaints, but all of that was drowned out by the new figured when he spoke. He shook his head, which sported a massive five point frill, and put on a winning smile.

“Hi there ladies and gents! Sorry about the mess, but I didn’t want to miss lunch. Also, for those of you who don’t know, or met my spectacular self, I’m Lethal! Here on behalf of Lord Golden Spoon, and all of the draconequi of the isle.”

“My queen!”

Shifty screeched.

“What’s that now?”

The large electrical dragon inquired, he failed to notice the problem, but he felt something struggle underneath his back. When he turned his head he saw a pair of hooves wriggle weakly near his side.

“Oh… Is that who that is?”

Author's Notes:

Wowee, that took alot longer than I planned... Also yay, made it past my 150k mark. Ty lordsergal for introducing me to said group.

Author's notes is going to be a fat section this time! Cause I wanted to do lot's o sketches

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Some of the Sketches of the different nations tables.

Our first reps will be the Germane table

and some thematic music for them-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-Lr4hJEPSE

Then here's some personal work for Prism Shard. it was going to be posted in said chapter (That is now forgotten) but I didn't want to throw it out, so here it is. The good ol' armored pony

Some secondary themes and music for Prism / the Germane

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH_6iFYiryY

or part of the original inspiration

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdPXskJBFl4

Then our second table is the Prench

"Draw me like one of your prench mares..."- lololololol... hmm, is there a ponified titanic? probably...

Some quick google translations of french

Fromage = cheese
Salete = dirt
Mignon = cute

Any-hue, some music for them too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okJpAybjpQs&index=8&list=PLCCF632C039EE3596

Then we'll join the minotaur table

a certain few things came to mind while cooking them up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqAUSCEY4ME

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVTfszppJl8

also here's some pictures of the cow breeds so the name descriptions make sense.

hereford

Red-angus

holstein

Then the griffons on their pads

I suppose you have the two kinds of griffons. Those that herald from Wunduree, and those from Griffonstone

Theme for Wundureean griffons

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTIIMJ9tUc8

also google translation for hindi

Mitra = friend
Santi = peace

while griffonstone griffons are more like this... atleast their season 5 episode (episode 8 specifically) seemed to depict

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcTC7RkmHac

And here's the hippocampus... bowl

music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ji-XQ7SF9hI

And the diverse table of Zebzeb

music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQ1Z5QxSa8Q

Then the dragon's table

and some music to reflect Ebony's herald, and his attitude

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pItH8vPFluY

Then last, but certainly not least is our representative of the draconequus isle, sadly not a draconequus himself, but he'll have to do =P

thematic music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_khij4EV54

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K so there was one link in the text, and i'm not going to put it here for you. go find it if you missed it.

Also next chapter is going to be a Shade chapter...

Ch.44 "Apple In My Eye"

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.44 “Apple in my eye”

(Shortly after Shade left Chrysalis at the mirror pool)

Shade stood in the midst of Ponyville in the form of an unassuming pony. A grey pelt, teal mane, and blue eyes were what made a simple disguise. The last he had seen of Twilight was when she dashed off to the center of Ponyville, and that is where he hoped to pick up the scent.

The tracer he had planted on her horn was placed with magic, but wouldn’t require it for him to follow. The clear dab of resin would release pheromones that only changelings could pick up… well, and bees. Hopefully Twilight wasn’t allergic to them, Chrysalis did want her alive after all.

His grey muzzle sniffed at the air as he neared town hall. The sour scent was pungent, and very easy to follow. If he didn’t find her first, it would be fairly likely another vanguard would. With how high profile the purple unicorn was, they should notify him first.

Once he picked up a good indication of the scent’s direction, he walked into a private alley and flashed a little transformation magic. Now his unassuming pony guise had wings, and he used them to glide quickly down the road.

The trail soon led him towards the outskirts of Ponyville, and alongside a particular farm. There were plenty of fruit trees behind the white picket fence, and as he went along the scent got stronger. Eventually the fence went back further into the property and a fairly large arch held a display board. On the broad piece of wood was carved the symbol of an apple.

The changeling narrowed the eyebrows of his pony guise, he felt he should recognize something about this. In the mental spectrum, he reached out towards Reaper, his local informant.

Reaper…

Hmm, yes?

I’d like you to tell me where I am.

So he opened his eyes wide, and brief glint of magic twinkled in his vision. Now, Reaper would be able to see what he saw. It took a few moments, and Shade made sure to give a broad perspective of where he was, as his head slowly swiveled about on his neck. Reaper’s tone was quite blunt.

You’re at sweet apple acres, home of my biggest competition…

Who lives here, and what terms are you on with them?

The apple family, which would consist of Granny Smith, Big Macintosh, Applejack, and Applebloom. Last time I checked I was quite friendly with them.

With that bit of knowledge Shade made another shift, and in a moment he was a mare with a yellow pelt, and curly orange mane.

Hmm...

What is it?

Well, do you know if anyone is home?

Not the last time I checked, I told you earlier anyway. When I went there Applejack was gone, and so was Granny and Applebloom. Big Mac never came back from that little Canterlot excursion. It’s vacant. I assume Applejack got them to go with her when she ditched town.

Any idea where they would go?

They have family all over the place.

Well, did they mention any relatives more than others?

Applejack did esteem her Orange relatives fairly highly. I remember her telling me about her cutie mark story before, and how they were involved.

Wait… Oranges? She didn’t happen to mention a Mosely Orange, did she?

I don’t remember, why?

Ha! Well, we’ll see then. It’s about time I make a trip to Manehatten anyway, Mosely is probably worried sick since news of the invasion.

Alright, anything else that you need?

I’ll contact you if I do.

With that Shade took steps into Sweet Apple Acres. The gate was unlocked, and appeared to be hastily closed. When he made it further in the tracker scent became extremely clear. He rounded the barn, and came close to another fence, this one being made of brown pegs.

The smell of swine intermingled with the scent he followed, and almost overwhelmed it. It made him wrinkle his snout in distaste, it wasn’t the worst of smells, not compared to the foulness of the Badlands. Though it was an unpleasant smell none the less.

Yellow hooves set themselves on the edge of the fence, the source of his quarry was inside of this pig pen. Green guised eyes searched for where the smell came from, and once he spotted it he chuckled a bit.

“Nice try.”

Was printed in lavender letters on the side of a pig. It had a string tied around its tail, which was connected to a little resinous ball. Shade smacked a hoof down on the fence and shook his head.

“Should’ve put it under a hoof.”

Well, with that trail shaken it was time to consider more options. In review, there were three potential directions to go.

Twilight, who managed to discover and plant the tracker here, then went off to wherever she is now. She only had a large arsenal of spells to assist her…

Rainbow Dash, who possessed the amulet and may or may not have rejoined with her friends. Things could have easily gotten confused in that mess.

Then there was Applejack and the rest of them, who could be any number of places. Would they stick together? Would they split up? Hmm, they would probably be together, most tales of their adventures had them together. They were the elements, and meant to function together after all.

The only leads he had were Rainbow Dash flew off… somewhere, and Applejack thinks highly of her relatives, according to Reaper, and he might also know these “relatives” very well. Twilight was very magically skilled, but her connections here in Ponyville, and in Canterlot would be cut off. The poor mare probably didn’t know where to go herself.

In any case it was time to call in assistance, there were too many directions for him to go personally. For Rainbow Dash, he already had one vanguard in mind. Mentally he reached out towards Cloudsdale.

Lightning.

Yes Mr. head sir?

You can call me Shade, Lightning.

Just practicing being formal, Shade sir. The Wonderbolts have several open spots now, and I plan to take one.

Hmm, well I hope you succeed then, but-

You might as well congratulate me now, I mean, it’s like a sure thi-

Lightning.

Sorry sir.

Your talent for flight is precisely what I want you for.

Ofcourse sir, what is it you want done exactly?

You heard of Rainbow Dash?

What flight-minded pegasus hasn’t? She only made a big stunt out the Best Young Flyer competition. Kind of hard to miss those sonic rainbooms. Oh, and She’s an element mare, that only slightly helps her notoriety, and-

Alright, alright, bad question on my part. What I need is for you to track her down.

You what?

She took a highly volatile artifact from the queen, and escaped to the skies. She and that object need to be brought in, before more unsavory hooves can get them.

I’m an athlete…

And a vanguard, I trust you to be able to hunt her down.

Oh I’m definitely able, she claims to be the best flier, but she just needs to be shown up.

Be careful, if she ends up wearing that amulet for whatever reason, back off and wait for help.

I’ll handle it, no worries. Now do you actually have a direction to point me?

The skies, she left Ponyville already, a few pegasi have been to her home, and she wasn’t there. Neither was her pet. I did hear she grew up in Cloudsdale though, so she may have some connections there.

I’m already there, anything else Shade sir?

That’s all for now.

Alright, I’ll have her wrapped up in a care-package for the queen pronto.

Remember to be careful, especially of that amulet.

Ok, mom…

Technically it would be dad, but-

Sheesh, Whatever, I’m gone.

Lightning proceeded to cut herself off from communication. Shade sighed in his Carrot Top disguise, and started to second guess his choice. Lightning definitely had talent, and the will to use it, but the bull-headedness was a cause for concern.

Now for Twilight… He couldn’t think of any of his vanguards that could match her in magical prowess. No one vanguard would likely be enough, even with their new surplus of power, not unless they could trick her sufficiently. Also, Twilight may be wandering at this point. If that was so, he could have some vanguards watch traffic.

Still in the mare disguise, Shade started to head off the property. His eyes gazed at nothing in particular, and thoughts mulled over slowly in his mind. Perhaps it would be best to just set watchful eyes out for her at the moment, then he could plan an operation to collapse in on her.

The next message would require some concentration, and he shed the Carrot Top disguise while his eyes closed in focus.

I will need every vanguard that was assigned to an Equestrian post before the invasion, to return to that post, unless you have other prioritized orders. Twilight Sparkle needs to be found, and I need every town watched.

To finish the message he sent a mental image of the purple unicorn mare along with it. Every vanguard would know exactly what she looked like.

What Shade didn’t expect was the immediate recoil he received. Several hundred mental messages started to bombard him all at once.

Can’t do it!

Nope!

I think you forgot something!

Um, there’s complications.

Unable for the next few months.

What are you thinking!

Sorry won’t be able to.

Can you put that off for a while?

Insensitive request at such a time!

No, not now.

And more, and more, and Shade could barely hear himself inside his own head. Most of the messages had come directly from Canterlot itself. Also, most of the mental signatures were distinctly female. His rebuttal was made with a loud mental authority.

I’m sorry, but what did I forget?

As the head, his voice could drown out all other vanguard. There was momentary silence, and the rancorous bicker knew a moment of peace. Then in a rather unanimous call, a simple phrase found it’s way to his mind.

The order to multiply…

Oh…

That’s right, Chrysalis had sent that order out a short while ago, didn’t she. Now his resources would be drastically reduced, due to most of the vanguard being… preoccupied.

He stomped a hoof in frustration. Multiplication within the swarm had been a gradual assignment, limited to a smaller section of the swarm before. Now with this new en mass order the queen had issued, almost every vanguard was included, except for those with other prioritized assignments.

Males could still be recruited for most of his purposes, but even many of them would be needed to raise and train the new young.

Queen’s orders overrode his orders… Oh well, now he’d have to reevaluate what talent was actually available for the near future. Vanguard that were not part of the invasion would be excluded from the multiply order, since they had other prioritized assignments already in effect.

Very well, my order applies to those who are available. I need eyes.

He thought over Lightning again, and considered a few more possibilities. At least he assumed vanguard that were excluded from the invasion would stick to their assignments, and not be distracted by that general order… He reached out specifically to Lightning one more time.

Hey Lightning.

Yessir?

You heard my general announcement?

You need eyes? But you already gave me an assignment.

Yes, and I would like you to follow what I previously instructed you to do, but that also depends on something else.

What Shade sir?

Did you participate in that order to multiply?

… No.

…

It was difficult to get a read on other changelings in the mental spectrum. Tones and pronunciations varied widely, and were often different from personal contact. To put it bluntly, he couldn’t get a good read on Lightning. He would just have to trust her.

Very well, good luck with the hunt then.

Don’t need luck when I got the skill and will.

Shade shook his head and rolled his eyes. Atleast long range mental contact didn’t require him to have physical etiquette. If anything, Lightning’s hot head might help her understand Rainbow better, hopefully. Lightning had the best chance of keeping pace atleast.

Twilight could remain lost for now. The number of vanguards at his disposal needed reevaluation anyway. So he might as well move towards something he actually had clues on. That made Manehattan his next best stop. A smile adorned his muzzle as he thought about it. It had only been a few weeks, but it felt like forever. He would be heading to his home away from home.

With a lazy slow stride, Shade walked off of Sweet Apple Acres in his natural form. When he hit the road green flashed over his body, and the guise of a green unicorn stallion with brown mane covered his natural form.

He didn’t notice that another pony had walked by when he had so casually transformed.

“Why do you even bother anymore?”

The question took him off guard, and he looked around for the one who spoke. No pony was at eye level, but some movement caught the corner of his eye and he looked down.

There were two fillies, a pink one with white and purple mane, and a grey one with a silvery mane. The bubblegum pony rolled her eyes when he just stared at her for a moment. So she explained herself.

“It’s not like you need to hide, the surprise is gone, we know what you are.”

“Ya, we just saw you change.”

The grey one added. Both of their tones contained quite a bit of snark, and Shade raised an eyebrow at their apparently fearless approach. He was actually somewhat impressed, since most ponies seemed to generally avoid undisguised changelings, or throw them fearful glances. Yet these two were undeterred. He might as well humor them, so he dropped his pony guise.

“Oh no, looks like you caught me, Yep, I’m a changeling.”

“Heh, ya we did.”

The Silver one seemed proud of herself, which caused Shade to smirk and raise an eyebrow.

“So what are you going to do now? You found out this pony isn’t a pony?”

“Uh…”

Both of the little fillies were a little nonplused, apparently they hadn’t thought that out. So Shade shifted and copied the form of the silver one, and spoke with her voice.

“Like, it’s starting to get late in the evening gal-friend. Bit strange for two little fillies to be out this late? I mean, like gosh, where are our parents? Do they care?”

“Hey!”

The grey filly stomped with indignity, which caused her glasses to go askew. It took a moment to rearrange the ocular apparatus, and composure. Meanwhile Shade shifted to the bubblegum ponies form, and walked up close to her.

“That’s actually a fair question, why bother to change? Especially when ponies know we exist?”

He just noticed that she had on some saddle bags, and one of the bags had something protruding out of it. It was dark and had small blue orbs attached to it. The filly already wore a tiara, and it looked like she had another one in her bag. That was besides the point though, and Shade flashed his eyes purple when he next spoke.

“Because appearances will always be deceiving… As long as ponies continue to trust their eyes and ears.”

The head vanguard shifted back to his normal form, which towered over the two fillies, and he smiled, which caused an uneasy shift in the posture of the two little ponies. He threw out a question.

“Are you a princess?”

“W-what?”

“Are you a princess?”

“H-Huh? No, I’m not a princess you dork.”

“Then why are you wearing a tiara? Isn’t that what princesses do? Are you trying to convince other ponies you are a princess?”

“It’s my cutie mark genious…”

“But at a glance, it looks like you treat yourself like royalty, or your parents do, and that’s all a pony needs to start forming opinions.”

“What’s your point?”

In the next moment Shade changed back into the green unicorn, and started to walk down the road. He turned his head to the side as he left the two fillies behind.

“Unless you follow me around and tell everypony I’m a changeling, they won’t know.”

He stopped midstep, as a mischievous smile crossed his lips.

“I’ll come back sometime, and I challenge you to spot me before I reveal myself.”

His horn glowed green as he opened a portal in the middle of the road, and vanished into it. The two fillies were left alone on the road, and they shivered. Eventually they looked at each other before they nodded and moved on in silent agreement.

Partway to their destination the grey one decided to pipe up her voice.

“So Diamond, since I found the tiara…”

“Come on Silver, tiaras are my thing. If I find a spoon, then I’ll let you have it.”

“But Diamond!”

As fate would have it, a strange object careened through the air at high speed and connected with bubblegum pony’s head. The little filly instantly dropped, her world twirled in a daze. In surprise the grey filly shrieked and jumped back. Her friend flopped down with unruly eyes from apparently nothing.

Then a strange glint caught her eye, he scream calmed down. Diamond continued to struggle, so whatever it was hadn’t even knocked her out, so Silver allowed herself to be distracted by the strange glint.

It was a small long object with a golden hue, when she came close and looked carefully at the object through her glasses it was apparently… a spoon! A golden spoon!

“Yay Diamond! You found a spoon! Thanks!”

She grabbed the spoon, then bumped flanks with her still delirious friend. Diamond still wobbled on her belly on the ground, so it was an awkward, one sided flank bump.

---

Next day, Manehattan

In his green unicorn disguise, Shade strode up to a music studio he was very familiar with, and had spent many years around. The orange rimmed doors even smelled of citrus and he breathed it in before he opened them.

He had also acquired his casual jacket and glasses, everything was as it should be for the occasion. When the door opened and he proceeded through, he was surprised to see a pony already there. Immediately his eyes went to a yellowish stallion with green mane that he recognized. The gesture was returned by said stallion.

“If it isn’t good ol’ Hedge Tone, I was worried you’d been lost on vacation.”

“Heh, It was rougher than I expected Mosley.”

The two of them had advanced towards each other and gave a cordial hoof shake. A great relief was apparent in Mosley’s tone.

“I worried that you might be gone for good, and I’d have to shut the studio down, perhaps even the club and theatre. What with the terrifying news that’s coming from Canterlot and all.”

“Well, they’re letting any pony in and out as they please, so long as they’re not making a scene.”

“Hmm, you’ll have to tell me all about it! Why don’t we do that over lunch?”

“Aw, you a Mrs. Orange treat me too nice.”

“Nonsense, your business here has been a great success, it’s our pleasure, really.”

“You know I’m not one to turn you down, but I’d like a minute to check my place out, see everything in order and all.”

“Of course, oh, and one other thing. I’m having a number of guests in the neighboring studios.”

“Well, neat, I don’t mind neighbors.”

“They’re just staying here for a short time, some of them are relatives just in for a visit.”

“Hey the more the merrier, If you have family in town then you should bring them along for a concert! Do they like music?”

“Oh I’m sure they’d love to see some of your talent, but I suppose it depends on how much of a hurry their in.”

“I’m cool with anything.”

“Ha, that you are. I suppose I’ll be off then, and we’ll be expecting you shortly?”

“Yep, I’ll be right behind you after I do my check up.”

Mosley wore an amiable grin, and proceeded out of the studio. Once he was gone, and they waved each other a brief goodbye, Shade turned towards the hall attached to the grand main room. Once in the hall he walked along at a slow pace.

He mentally messaged the other two vanguards stationed in Manehattan.

Time to bring the band back together guys!

Bout’ time the Over-head came back!

How’d the queen treat’ ya Shade?

The reply he was going to give was faltered when he saw another pony stride the hall. The orange mare headed to another studio door, and hadn’t noticed him. Before she put a hoof to the handle he called out to her.

“Hey Applejack!”

Ch.45 "The avalanche ceases" part 1

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Chysalis Wins

Ch. 45 “The Avalanche Ceases” part 1

Crystal Caves, Luna’s prison chamber –

It was so incredibly difficult. Everything Sombra was before his alteration screamed at him to leave. The other simultaneous effect left him overwhelmed, and intoxicated with the sensation. He couldn’t find the will power necessary to move his hooves and escape, or concentrate and teleport out of there. The temptation to remain and inhale the emotionally charged air was too much. The taste he had back in the Crystal Empire paled in comparison to the potency he felt here.

The giant changeling nearby continued to make long drawn out yawns, and followed with particularly exuberant exhales. While she glanced between Sombra and Luna she held an innocent little smile, which was so shamelessly guilty.

At this point the crystal king couldn’t help but breathe rigorously and deeply through his nostrils, the air in the chamber was thick and hazy, and each time he drew breath a jolt of sensation shot through him, and caused his entire body to shiver, followed by an over-stimulated lull in his eyes.

One quick look at Luna revealed she was being affected by the air too. Her pupils had dilated massively, and she appeared to focus on nothing in particular now, she just stared out into the universe with eyes that could swallow galaxies in their inky abyss.

“Well, well, neither of you seem to mind my company. Oh, and Sombra, you’re starting to drool.”

Crone reached out a hoof to wipe, but she was stopped by the crystal king’s own hoof. The action surprised her a little, and when she peered at his face, she found his expression strained. Every part of his body trembled fiercely, and somehow, through force of a hidden reserve of will, Sombra managed to glare daggers at Crone.

Despite the overwhelming euphoria that polluted the air. His voice came out as a thick methodical growl, all the while his brow scrunched and un-scrunched in an almost comical manner.

“You… You…”

“I… I… what?”

She replied with high levels of snark.

Clearly her influence had taken effect, if not fully realized yet. A few more puffs of the lovey-dovey nonsense should push him over the edge.

The king quickly devolved into an unregal state as he continued to drool, a little more fiercely, and his pupils dilated to a rather disturbing degree. She backed off and left the king to his struggles.

It was too much to restrain, and Crone cracked a smile, a genuine smile that evolved into a saucy smirk. She leaned further back into the crystal cushion chair, and added a few more puffs of love to the air. A small amount of time was all that was left, and things should go her way.

As she tapped her front hooves together, and watched her emotionally manipulated victims sink further into the euphoria. The rather relaxed atmosphere was rudely interrupted by a loud cough.

It was a deep throaty cough that sounded rather painful, and the snarky smirk on Crone’s face drooped a little, she looked at the crystal king, who started to wretch.

“What, you’re not allergic to love are you? That would be absurd…”

“I think -cough- a part of me just died.”

The grey stallion’s pupils shrank to pinpricks and he placed a hoof over his chest, and fell to his knees. He continued to hack, cough and spasm. The drool that slathered out his mouth began to turn red.

Crone’s smirk dropped and her brow furrowed, one of her hooves covered her mouth as she looked on with scrutiny, and uncertainty. A deluded tone piped up from the cot.

“Heh, getting a little love sick there?”

Luna looked at the grey pony, and tried to narrow her eyes into focus… without much success. When she couldn’t concentrate on the dying king she flicked her snout towards the changeling in a lazy swing.

“Well, looks like you did him in. Who knew, HEH, blast him with magic and he comes back, but force a little love in that black heart and-”

Luna paused to make an explosive gesture with her hooves and wings, then flopped over onto her back as she stared off into the universe again, limp as a noodle. The changeling was not as relaxed however.

“I didn’t mean to kill him! That wasn’t the plan!”

Crone was on her hooves now, and nervously trotted around the chamber. She kept her attention on the grey stallion, who continued to cough out gobbets of blood, which had… chunky bits in it.

Her snout wrinkled in disgusted fascination as she watched, unprepared for this particular scenario. She couldn’t really do anything here if she wanted to. Love usually had a healing effect on most creatures, atleast it did in the memories and experiences that Crone could remember. So what was this?

After a particularly loud deathly cough, Sombra proceeded to vomit all over the crystalline floor. Dark crimson liquid blended with the ruby crystal surface and made for a rather ghastly scene. There was a notable slopping noise as something a little more solid hit the floor. Immediately afterward Sombra fell onto his side and wheezed out weak breaths. The coughs had finally stopped.

Crone’s eyes searched over the bloody mess, and found the item that made the sloppy noise, it was in the dead center of it all. It appeared to be some kind of black mass, one that looked as if it was made of oil and ink. She watched with curious horror as the sludge, which possessed many similarities to a dissolving heart, melted away. Luna’s delirious voice bubbled away in the background.

“Heh, heh, HEH, who knew… heh, his heart was black as night, heh, after all. GUESS YOU WERE RIGHT CELESTIA! YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO BE RIGHT!”

Crone ignored the princess’s shouted rambles and approached the prostrate king. The last bits of the dark organ dissolved into oblivion, and she prodded the grey stallion with a hoof. He grunted and shifted rather pathetically, and was otherwise unresponsive.

The changeling’s face turned to the mess on the floor, and her snout scrunched with disapproval. The smell of blood had filled the room and was a real kill-joy to the mood. A slight scuffle on the floor caused her ear to twitch towards the noise, but it didn’t draw her full attention. The king still lived apparently, though amount of fluid on the floor said he should be dead.

“More…”

A wraith like whisper infiltrated it’s way to Crone’s ear, and in response her head swiveled on her long neck. Before she processed just what this meant, she was bodily tackled head over hooves backward.

“What the-”

“MOAR!”

A very insane Sombra attempted to pin down the royal changeling, bloodshot didn’t even begin to describe how messy his eyes looked. Coagulated saliva still drooled out of his snarled and fang bared mouth.

Taken by surprise, Crone didn’t land an effective blow to dissuade her aggressor. She didn’t expect the follow up either, and she screeched as the crystal king snapped his jaws over her muzzle. He proceeded to suck up all the air she exhaled.

Before he could attempt to draw another breath, Crone managed to get a hoof between them and launched him across the room, where he collided with the wall and slumped. When her muzzle was free from the king’s clasp she took in a greedy breath, and growled furiously.

“You hellion! You! YOU!”

There were a few light puncture marks on the top of her nose and under her chin, and they stung.

“AHAHAHAH!”

Luna rolled on her cot and laughed riotously. Meanwhile the king mumbled a few words in his slumped state.

“Me… me, yes me.”

The giant changeling wasted no time to cross the room and pin the stallion against the wall, she raised her other hoof, ready to strike.

“You’re not dead, so by all foul graces what was that!”

The crushing pressure against Sombra’s chest managed to rouse him a little, and he wheezed.

“Me, me, yes me.”

“That’s not an answer!”

Crone picked him up and shook like a ragdoll, then gave him a slap with the back of her hoof for good measure. Both of Sombra’s fore hooves were raised defensively, and he groaned.

“Oh, why are you so cruel mistress?”

“heheheHEHAHAHAA!”

Luna continued to heave and holler her amusement. Crone let out a heavy sigh of annoyance, and turned on the blue alicorn.

“Shut it you.”

To emphasize her displeasure she tossed the crystal king at the night princess, who squawked when messy grey stallion tumbled all over the cot. The giant changeling approached the flail of bodies, and flipped the cot upside down, which caused several surprised grunts from the two tangled equines.

The cot was then tossed to the side, and Crone used her large frame to simply sit on top of them. Both of her victims squirmed, but didn’t try too hard to escape, their wriggles were half-hearted at best. The king and the princess shared the feature of absurdly large pupils at the moment.

“Why aren’t you using, heh, magic?”

Crone didn’t expect the question, but her expression hardened as she processed it. She growled back at the princess.

“Do I need to?”

“Isn’t wrestling, heh, prisoners beneath you? That’s what –heh- minions are for… If you’re, heh, anything like your sister I’d think-”

“I do what I wish! This, uh… happens to be what I wish!”

“Ok, ok, heh, calm down queeny.”

“Queen Cro-.”

“-More please.”

The changeling felt a tap on one of her legs, and she looked over to see Sombra poke her. When he had her attention he pointed to his open mouth with his other hoof. This successfully gained Crone’s vehemence.

“You’re not getting anything ‘more’ until you start to talk.”

With a disgusted scowl Crone wiped some slimy residue off of her face.

“But-”

“Tell me where the royal guard, and other prisoners are.”

“Hehehe, HAHAHA!”

“Tell me!”

“I don’t remember.”

“Don’t play games with me Sombra…”

“But this has been so much fun to play.”

“Really? Was all that hacking earlier fun? What was that shard you coughed up? I haven’t seen any creature bleed from inhaling love, so what’s wrong with you?”

The last question pricked some lucidity into the king, and he winced and contorted his face in pain, as if he had been struck again. Crone noticed this, and she drove the point.

“What’s wrong with you Sombra!”

“Stop.”

“I said what’s wrong with you!”

“STOP IT!”

Sombra roared, and in a moment, the literal sweetness in the air couldn’t fix the somber mood swing. Luna even stopped her delirious chuckles, and went stiff. Crone pressed her words as much as she pressed her weight.

“Answer the sodding question.”

The crystal king refused to look at her, and struggled fiercely to escape. His attempt to get away was so vigorous that the changeling had to put her full attention into his restraint.

“What’s the king of shadows so afraid of? What’s the master of fear avoiding? HUH! WHAT IS WRONG WITH Y-”

“EVERYTHING!”

Despite the fierceness of Crone’s and Sombra’s exchange, it was drowned out by the royal Canterlot voice. Both of them stopped their struggle and covered their ears, for the small chamber reverberated the shout to dangerous effect.

When the painful sound died down, both Crone and Sombra rounded their stunned gazes to the only other figure in the room. Princess Luna was curled in a ball with her face covered. Quiet sniffles emitted from the dark blue ball. Since the changeling and stallion could in fact, hear the sniffles, they were glad they weren’t deaf. Sombra still gave an irritated scratch to one of his ears, there was a nasty ringing sensation in it.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I’m sss-ssorr-rry…”

For a few moments Crone just stared at the mumbly Luna, and then the changeling heard a sniffle right underneath her. In a flash her eyes locked back down onto Sombra, and he glared back up at her as their gazes met. His lips pursed before he looked away. His eyes clearly said ‘you’re not getting any tears from me’. Meanwhile Luna’s sobs and broken voice continued to speak, mostly to herself.

“It was so cold, ss-so very cold Tia. I-I haven’t told you yet, but… I, I…”

Luna un-curled slightly, so one eye could peer out. That eye was puffy, and mostly shut, but it stared at Crone with an unfocused gaze. The princess shivered as her mind struggled to recall the traumatic events of the past, and she hugged herself tightly.

“N-now I finally f-feel w-warm. T-Tia, and you’re not here… why? W-why?”

The duplicate queen studied the princess carefully, and her mouth fell into a slant.

“Does little Luna not feel loved? Oh please, Celestia’s love is full of affection for you.”

“W-what?”

“It’s as if you ponies need to get slapped in the face to recongnize genuine emotions… -sigh- You are obviously blind with guilt, and refuse to recognize how much she actually cares.”

“S-she doesn’t h-hate me? B-but I, I-”

“What do you feel right now?”

“Um, l-love?”

“That’s how Celestia feels towards you. I know, I’ve tasted it.”

“She just loves everypony else…”

“You wha- grr stubborn fool. Changelings can tell who the love was for…”

Crone shifted off of Sombra and stomped over to Luna, she put her hoof under the princess’s chin, and forced eye contact.

“I don’t even know why I’m telling you this, perhaps I just can’t stand to see such idiocy. I should actually be wishing you-”

She let Luna’s face drop roughly on the floor as she turned about, and as she expected, Sombra tried to sneak off at the opportunity. Like cat and mouse, she pounced. When she had him pinned again she growled into his ear.

“You’re still going to give me answers, pony.”

“I’m not a pony!”

“Explain weasel.”

“Not wholly.”

“Better, but more.”

The grey stallion stared up at her with bloody eyes and sneered. He was substantially more lucid at this point.

“I wasn’t born.”

“These short ambiguous phrases are getting really annoying.”

“So are your hooves in my ribs.”

Crone shifted a little.

“Now-”

“I was created, you just destroyed my umbral side a moment ago…”

“Umbral?”

“That’s general knowledge, I don’t need to explain.”

“I know what an umbra is, but how can you be part one?”

“I won’t say more. Go ahead and put me in one of your green love sacs. I guarantee you won’t get back more than what’s been put in. Or you can give me more… It seems that’s what you and your sister are good at.”

He gave a rather austere smile, and Crone flared up with irritation. She put cap on it quickly as another idea bloomed.

“If that’s what you really want… I suppose we could see how much it takes to really loosen your lips. Should hurt less without an umbra in your chest huh?”

“I, what?”

With her front hooves she pried Sombra’s mouth open wide and exhaled ludicrous emotional content down his throat. He struggled, tried to hold his breath, but couldn’t stay the onslaught. After the first inhale, he took the rest without complain, and ate it up greedily. The bloodshot condition of his eyes was remedied as well as any bruises he had sustained.

After so long Crone stopped, and appraised her handiwork. Sombra twitched and remained otherwise unresponsive. His eyes had devolved into incomprehensible saucers.

Off to the side Luna still blubbered to herself, and this annoyed Crone.

“Stop blubbering.”

And Crone blasted her in the face with love too. This successfully stopped the blubbers, and Luna now cooed with a dopey smile.

With an exhausted sigh, Crone shot a quick mental message to the head drone.

Come find me.

After the message was sent she fell back on her rump and sagged her shoulders. The telepathic message gave her a headache, but she was more concerned with other matters, and she muttered her complaint aloud.

“Love from a thousand ponies, spent like this…”

As if to add to the indignation, her stomach growled loudly, and she placed hoof over her upset stomach. It panged with hunger, but she didn’t dare take from the saturated creatures around her. They were subdued at the moment, and she could feast once she returned to Canterlot’s surface. Yes, the first pony she came in contact with would be her meal. She rubbed her hooves together in anticipation.

---

It was a short amount of time before Colony and an entourage of changelings navigated their way through the old mines. They actually felt rather at home navigating the subterranean surface.

A large crimson crystal archway was the obvious indicator that they had reached their destination. They barely set their hooves on the ground when Colony saw a tall royal changeling right under the archway.

Each of Crone’s forelegs was clasped around a smaller equine, and there was a broad smile over the royal’s muzzle.

“You can tell Chrysalis our plan was a success.”

She presented Luna and Sombra between her hooves, and proffered them to the group of changelings.

“I want them restrained, but not cocooned. Chrysalis will want to speak with them later.”

“Very well my uh…”

“Queen Crone is fine.”

“Queen Crone, I will see your wishes fulfilled.”

Colony shook her head as something was stuck on her nose. Even though she had received the news last night that the queen’s ‘long lost sister’ had been found, it was all exceedingly strange. Falling on routine gave her more time to think.

After the princess and king were dropped at Colony’s hooves, Crone took off and buzzed away down the caves.

---

Blueblood lounged in the garden grounds of his own estate. He had a few fancy dishes set ontop of a stylish table, a servant colt stood attentively nearby.

His blue magical aura lifted a slice of sandwich off one of the plates and he took a dainty bite. After he chewed it with critical astuteness his pleasant disposition dropped. The nearby servant noticed and nervously inquired.

“Is it not to your liking prince?”

Blueblood brought a napkin to his face, and spit out the bite of sandwich, before he turned and answered the colt.

“You’re new here, Prim Proper is it?”

“Yes sir.”

“Then here’s something you need to understand, and something my chef has apparently forgotten. I do not like food. I love it, if I don’t love it, I don’t swallow. Now, if you would you be so kind, please inform Sophistication she has one more chance to get it right. Or I will be looking for other connoisseurs.”

“Yes sir.”

“Then off with you.”

Prim scampered off towards the mansion to follow his master’s orders. Meanwhile Blueblood picked up the news paper and opened it. When he saw the front cover, and who it was, he immediately threw it back down in frustration.

“Reject me will you… Own me do you… Threaten insolence with damnation can you… I bet you’ve never had such a flattering offer given to your natural face… you fetching barbarian…”

“Some pony sounds bitter.”

Blueblood froze in place and the hair down his neck prickled up. He didn’t dare turn around, for he recognized that voice, having been in close proximity a few occasions before. However, he didn’t have to turn around for the speaker to walk into view. She did that all by herself.

A giant changeling rounded the corner of his vision until she was infront, he looked up at her with agitation, but when he observed the small details something seemed off. So he picked up the news paper again, and tried to make a side by side comparison of what he saw.

“What are you doing? Never mind, I have something more important in mind.”

“Queen Chrysalis?”

“Crone.”

“Huh, how unsavory.”

“I’m hungry simpleton.”

“I’m sorry, but who are you then exactly.”

“I am queen Crone, sister to the queen. Now just stay put pony.”

“Sister?”

The alabaster stallion put a hoof to his chin in thought.

“Don’t ask what you’re thinking Blueblood...”

She opened her mouth close to his face and started to inhale. He shouted and raised a hoof before she really got into it.

“Wait!”

“What?”

“I’m still waiting for my lunch.”

“Guh, you know what, I have places to be, my lunch will be on the run.”

“Your lunch?”

“That’s you.”

Before he could utter another word of protest she seized him and threw him over her back, then trotted down the road towards Fancy’s house. When he tried to struggle she hissed at him.

“Don’t move or I’ll drain every wisp out of you.”

Blueblood whimpered.

Author's Notes:

So... why did this chapter takes so long? Well, it turns out I died... then some necromancer brought me back and my zombie fingers managed to squelch down on some keyboard keys. Wallah!

Well Atleast i thought that would sound better than the typical excuse of lazy, writers block, IRL stuff.

Any ways, the additional content.

blarf... somethings are just not pleasant to cough up

how to parade your enemies

the linked videos if you missed them

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvKe-QSmz-Q

and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSoHkadTAxc

This chapter is called part one because Crone will also feature largely in the next chapter. I've just had a bunch of idea's simmering in my head, and i'm not going to post it as some 20k + word chapter. So there you go.

In case you're worried, I don't plan on taking any more month long breaks

Ch.46 "The Avalanche Ceases" part 2

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.46 “The Avalanche Ceases” part 2

There was a knock at Fancy’s door, and he answered it. His cool blue eyes narrowed in confusion when he saw who was at his door. Before he could utter any words of confusion the guest spoke first.

“Is Chrysalis here?”

Her words were slightly slurred, since she had part of a pony’s ear in her mouth, which she slowly nibble. As Fancy studied the strange situation he recognized the pony on the changeling’s back.

“Blueblood?”

The princely stallion was rather grey in the face, and hung limp, other than where royal changeling tugged on his ear. She stamped in irritation at Fancy’s confused gaze. The sudden sound brought his attention back to her, and he responded with a little fluster.

“I’m sorry, but are you playing some kind of game with me, queen?”

“I am Crone, her sister, and she said I should meet her here.”

CCCCCCCCCCCRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAKBBBBBBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!

A flash of lightning and the roar of thunder caused every equine to jump. Fancy’s monocle fell off, and his fancy mane-due became frazzled. Crone jumped and clenched her jaw, which gave Blueblood a brand new ear-piercing. The prince squealed in an unorthodox manner, and scrabbled off the changeling that held him hostage.

Crone let the blonde stallion scamper off as she processed what happened. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, where did that lightning come from? Also it was much stronger than the usually scheduled weather could produce. Slowly she turned back to the disheveled Fancy.

“Where is my sister?”

“She was over… that direction.”

He indicated towards where the flash had been. A hood was brought under Crone’s chin as she thought.

“Why is she over there?”

“She wanted to meet with some foreign dignitaries over lunch.”

“Uh huh, well, if she didn’t want to wait for me, I’ll be off.”

“Um, Crone?”

“I am still a queen.”

“Queen Crone, would you like to leave a message?”

“If she comes back here, just tell her last night’s plans have proceeded as we wished.”

“Is that all?”

“She can look for me after that.”

The giant changeling didn’t wait for anymore conversation before she turned and trotted up towards the castle. As she advanced she noticed a bush wriggle, so she kicked at the offensive bush. A dirty and dismayed Blueblood popped out, and when he looked up he jumped in surprise. Crone smiled down at him.

“I wasn’t done with you.”

Blueblood put a hoof to his ear, then pulled it away. He was surprise to see his own blood was in-fact, red.

“My ear! Nopony makes me bleed my own blood, nopony!”

“Don’t start whining, I’ll take you the castle and you can put an expensive earring in that lovely new hole.”

“Not my style!”

“Or I could drain every last bit of narcissism out of you…”

“I… oh, ok…”

“Good, now get back on, lunch.”

“Blueblood.”

“Excuse me?”

“I have a name.”

“Oh, I didn’t know you wanted to be called dinner too.”

“What? No!”

“Oh fine, you can be breakfast as well.”

“Please, I, I-”

“Come now, didn’t you want association with royalty? I’m giving you an in.”

“But-”

“On we go.”

Crone scooped up the reluctant Blueblood and rested him between her wings and neck. As she trotted along she began to nibble his un-punctured ear. Silently, the white stallion prayed. By my jailed auntie, no more lightning please!

---

Vivisect slowly walked to the front door of her apartment, on her back was a baby dragon and a box of donuts. The little dragon held a few samples in his claws, and enthusiastically tried each.

“Thanks for taking me to Joe’s Vivi.”

“You’re welcome, and you don’t need to call me that, just because Shade did.”

“I like it better, makes you sound less like a surgeon.”

“What?”

“Vivisect… how did you get that name anyway? Did you do a vivisection on somepony?”

Spike stopped himself mid-bite as he cringed at the thought. Vivisect also stopped mid-stride and cringed.

“I certainly hope not. It’s not exactly our goal to kill ponies…”

After another moment or two of mental digestion the sentinel put a hoof up to the door knob and opened it. A few steps past the threshold was her favorite spot in the apartment, the couch. She stopped next to the cushy furniture and bumped Spike off her back with his box of donuts, then seated herself.

While the kid-dragon happily munched away at the contents of the box, Vivisect hung her front hooves over the edge of the furniture, and looked out the window across the room. From that vantage point she could see the castle grounds, the gardens, and the roof tops of the city. In the distance she saw the occasional changeling fly by, as well as some pegasi.

Her breaths were slow and regular, the trip to Joe’s and back had been uneventful… thankfully. It had been constant overload the last few days, she had to relearn many of the changeling she had supposedly ‘known’. For all she knew they could just be making it up, she had no idea. She drew in a particularly deep breath, and let out a prolonged sigh.

The motion caused the little drake to stop his eager munches, and he looked up at his current changeling caretaker. Her muzzle was drooped, and her eyes rather exhausted. It was familiar look, one that Twilight often had when she stayed up for days… reading, and unable to find what she was after.

“What’s wrong Vivi?”

“Huh? oh, nothing, just tired Spike.”

“Uh huh, you haven’t been sleeping, have you.”

“I, no I haven’t, observant dragon aren’t you.”

“I’ve just seen that look several times before.”

“From Twilight?”

“Ya…”

When her name was mentioned aloud Spike set down his donut, and looked downcast at the floor. The sentinel noticed his change in tone and pulled her eyes away from the window.

“I’m sorry about that.”

“Huh, really?”

“Well, maybe not old me, I have no idea. But that last few days have been a mess, I haven’t really had an anchor. I don’t remember any creature… At least you can remember who genuinely cares about you.”

“I hmm…”

Both of them stewed on the emotions and thoughts for a little while, both of them looked out the window together, and Spike took another bite of vanilla glaze, with extra sprikles.

“Shade seemed like a decent changeling, I’m sure he won’t hurt Twilight if he doesn’t have to.”

“Ya… he did seem nicer than others.”

Another bout of silence fell between the two, and neither really pushed to say anything else. The sun shone, the birds sang, and the door was knocked. THE DOOR WAS KNOCKED!

Vivisect shook her head as her serene mood was broken by another stranger that demanded attention. With an annoyed grumble she got off her seat and moved to the door. As she expected it was another unfamiliar face.

“Can I help you?”

It was another sentinel at the door. He had bits of orange mane, a touch darker than hers, along his impressive crest. The mystery changeling simply stood there and studied her. It became a little awkward for her after several moments, and her eyes started to wander off in a different direction. She started to repeat her initial greeting.

“Can I hel-”

“Mother…”

“I, what?”

He didn’t answer her back, instead he took a wide bow, like a changeling would do for the queen. Vivisect lifted a hoof in agitation, and experienced confusion a little more severe than her other encounters.

“That’s a new one.”

Spike helpfully called out from the living room. The youthful dragon’s voice caused the stranger to perk an eyebrow, before he raised himself again. He stared into Vivisect’s orange eyes with his own.

“It’s true you have no recognition then.”

“No, I don’t. What’s your name?”

Unsure of how to feel, she remained where she was, as did the other sentinel.

“Lacerate.”

He let it hang there in the air, as she shifted on her hooves. Her brow furrowed and she closed her eyes.

“Is there any other family I should know about?”

“You have a younger sister, Gnarla, but she was banished a few days ago for incompetence.”

“Hmm.”

“Your mate, Ripper, died ten years ago defending the vanguard from a hydra. You haven’t coupled since then, as far as I know.”

Vivisect pursed her lips and kept her eyes shut. She couldn’t remember any of it, and the lack of anything was the most painful part. The ghost of the unknown past came to haunt her with a vengeance. Lacerate continued while she soaked it in.

“Before Ripper died, I was born, as well as two others, a brother and sister. Neither of them achieved names before they died.”

The mention of each of these changelings was a straight prick to the heart. Changelings she should know, who were integral to who she was. But all were parts of a fleeting identity.

“There are no other kin in the swarm at this time.”

The building emotions weighed heavily on her, and she fell back onto her rump overtaken for the moment. Lacerate remained there and watched while a few tears fell down her cheeks. His otherwise stoic expression cracked, and he was a little perturbed. Vivisect’s voice remained surprisingly level while she asked.

“Why didn’t you come earlier?”

“I heard of your condition, and when I saw it for myself… I, -swallow-, gathered the other sub-heads, and we mourned your loss. You are not who you were. You need to be replaced.”

“-sigh- Ofcourse.”

She opened her eyes, but kept her lids low, and she looked up at her ‘son’. Her gaze caused him to shift uncomfortably, and he cast vision to the side. She noticed this, and inquired.

“What’s bothering you?”

“I… I haven’t seen you shed a tear before.”

This caused her to snort, as she wiped some of the wetness from her face.

“Wow, I must have been a cold-hearted monster…”

She collapsed to the floor in a pathetic heap and covered her face, and she began to cough hoarsely, more wetness was expelled from her tear ducts. Things remained deadly silent around the apartment for a while. The quiet let her experience the raw sensation of her shattered world poignantly

After some time she felt a touch on her neck, which caused her to flinch, but the contact remained.

“You weren’t a cold-hearted monster. You were strong, you didn’t break. You showed me how to continue despite all the loss.”

Vivisect dropped the hooves that covered her face and looked up to see Lacerate right next to her, he continued as he slowly stroked a hoof down her crest.

“I knew you felt things, there were signs from time to time, but you were always that unyielding bulwark. You were reliable where other changelings would give u-”

He choked and couldn’t finish, his hoof went still and began to tremble. So Vivisect put a hoof on top of his, and they remained there for a while. No doubt Lacerate had plenty of memories to run over, and she had enough to stew on without them.

The only sound to break the hitched breaths was the sound of munches in the background. Vivisect flicked an eye over in Spike’s direction, to see he had resumed his donut eating spree. His little backside was high in the air as he dug his head through the contents.

After a while longer Lacerate removed his hoof, and stepped back. He coughed a few times to clear his throat.

“I need to get going. The rest of the sub-heads and I need to prepare a candidate for the queen. Though, I don’t think she will find any as satisfactory as you were.”

With a turn about, Lacerate began to trot away. Before he had disappeared from view Vivisect roused herself to her hooves.

“Please, comeback sometime.”

The departing sentinel paused, and nodded his head in acknowledgement. When he was gone she wearily turned around and closed the door, and after a few steps she slumped back onto the couch. This caused Spike and his donut box to bounce.

“Hey a little warning next time!”

“Sorry.”

The dragon busily wiped the sprinkles and frosting that was smeared over his face. The small sight was amusing, but she was still in pretty low spirits. There was barely anytime for her to catch her breath when there was another knock on her door.

“Seriously?”

Spike licked some of the icing off his face as he shot an incredulous look at the offensive door. Vivisect mechanically got herself off the couch, and opened the door. She didn’t bother to mask her face with any kind of spritely expression.

When she opened the door she had to look up, for the newest visitor was very tall. She blinked a few times, and narrowed her glistened eyes.

“Queen?”

The “queen” stood there and looked at here, and it was reminiscent of what just occurred earlier. The giant changeling didn’t wait long before she made a follow up statement.

“Follow me.”

She turned about and walked in the direction of the mountain. Vivisect hesitated for a moment before she inquired.

“I have the small dragon under my watch what should I do with him?”

The royal changeling slowed her stride, but didn’t stop. She waved a hoof in a nonchalant manner.

“Then bring him along.”

---

They were led up into the mountain, past twists, turns, pits, and other various obstacles. Several times Spike made a nervous yelp as they flew over cavernous pitch-black crevasses. For the most part no words were shared, and they traveled in silence. Occasionally the royal changeling would look back to make sure Vivisect was able to kept the pace.

Eventually they stopped near two other sentinels, who guarded a special chamber. The royal changeling gave them a simple nod and both of the guard stepped to the side, and let her, and Vivisect pass. Once they were in the chamber Spike let out a sigh of relief.

“Whew, does that mean we’re done? This whole trip has been creepy.”

“Quiet drake.”

Spike snapped his mouth shut at the sound of the royal's voice. She was not in his “nice changelings” list, more like the “Dangerous and avoid” list.

The giant changeling sat down at the edge of a reflective pit, where bluish light danced along the edges of the earthy surface. Her voice was level when she raised it again.

“Come here Vivisect.”

The sentinel did as she was told, and stood near the queen. Spike slid off the smooth shell of Vivisect’s back and took a seat on the ground. The royal changeling stared at the pool while she continued to speak.

“You haven’t re-met me yet.”

“But, you are the queen are you not?”

“I am her sister, you reacquainted yourself with Chrysalis in the gardens a small while ago. My name is Crone, my word is only second to hers. Today we shall do some research that Chrysalis would otherwise be doing, if she had the time.”

“So you need my assistance?”

“Yes, I do. Though there is a particular reason I wanted you to accompany me.”

“What would that be?”

“Just touch the well with your magic for now, I’ll explain in a moment.”

“Um?”

“It doesn’t matter what method, just reach out with anything and it will start itself.”

So Vivisect focused a little, and to her surprise, concentrated magic flowed from her horn in a blade like manner. It was easy, reflexive even. With the slice of magical energy that sprouted from her head, she approached the well, and touched the tip into the crystal liquid.

All at once the fluid substance sprang to life and floated through the air, it shifted and swayed until it encapsulated all three of them. The sentinel made a small gasp as the light swirled around them with ghostly detail. Spike widened his eyes in awe.

“That’s gnarly.”

Crone made a grunt and shot him a look, which Spike responded to with a submissive cringe. The royal turned her attention back to Vivisect, who just looked at her surroundings with interest and confusion. Her next words were spoken slowly.

“I know you’ve had many changelings try to tell you who you were. Words were never terribly importantly to me, since many of them are lies. So, instead of telling you who you were, I will show you. Show you who you were to me, you deserve to know atleast that much.”

“I, how?”

“The well. It’s magic contains the sights, sounds, and atmosphere of memories. Chrysalis has shared a great deal of her memories with me, and what I’m going to show you will be primarily her perspective.”

“T-thank you…”

“Just maintain a little magic, and I will recall the events.”

A small tether of magic was maintained between Vivisect and activated well, while Crone moved forward and tapped the surface with her horn. She didn’t need magic to add memories to the well, so she dealt with it just fine…

---

Rancorous screeches and hisses blasted throughout a large tunnel. Fire plumed and flooded the narrow spaces the scene took place in. After the gout of flame dimmed down a large scaly paw raked and reached around, and tried to grasp at anything vulnerable.

Changelings skittered around in total panic, the buzzes and screeches were primarily from them. The cave they occupied wasn’t nearly deep enough yet, and a giant dragon scraped around for them like an anteater.

A young disheveled Chrysalis put a hoof up to the crown on her head to straighten it. It was a little large and difficult to keep in place. So she spat up some slime and glued it down to her skull. After she steadied her own composure, she screeched at the swarm.

“Sentinels!”

The call was accompanied by a mental pulse that acquired the sentinels’ attention. At the same time the young queen issued a command for the drones and vanguard to cluster as far down the tunnel as they could. The strength of her commands rendered near immediate obedience.

The head sentinel, Evisect, approached his stern ruler.

“What would you have us do queen! We’re pinned! And that beast is going to dig us out!”

“I know!”

The queen bore her fangs angrily at the unhelpful head-sentinel. Another voice piped in among the growing crowd of sentinels. She had bright orange eyes that held a steely determination.

“I don’t wish to sit idle while fire approaches us. I would rather die trying to drive the dragon back.”

“Don’t speak out of place inferior!”

Evisect growled at the uncalled for suggestion, before a brawl could begin Chrysalis stomped her hoof, which rattled the ground. The head-sentinel released the aggressive posture he had taken and looked back at the queen. The orange eyed inferior remained firm as the royal spoke.

“If you are really willing to go and try, then do it. Who else volunteers to protect that swarm?”

Her harlequin eyes roamed over the nearby sentinels that surrounded her. Many wavered under her gaze, and shrunk their postures, some even took a few steps back. But for every sentinel that cowed under her gaze, another stood fast. Most of those that held their courage were right next to the outspoken inferior.

The head sentinel watched the process and clenched his jaw in maddening frustration.

“This is suicide…”

“You don’t have to go out Evisect. You can join the drones and try to dig our way to safety.”

Chrysalis venomously spat his name before she turned to the sentinels that stood firm.

“Those of you willing to protect your swarm can follow me. I will provide an opening distraction for you. Just try to harass the dragon away, prolong it so the drones can dig deep enough for us. I will signal you when the depth is sufficient.”

With a quick nod of acknowledgement the rest of the sentinels followed the queen as she leapt to the air, and approached the outside entrance.

The dragon had pointed his snout inside the tunnel, and attempted to force his head through. He inhaled another bout of air as fire glowed behind his nose. The queen saw their imminent doom if she didn’t act, so she replied with a precise blast of magic up his left nostrils.

The magic didn’t bother dragon so much, what caused real discomfort was how the magic reacted with his fire. As he exhaled the flames the magic blocked it all inside his nose. The combustible flames and pressure built up until he choked. The massive beast reared backed his head as he hacked and coughed smoke.

The band of sentinels flew out the open entrance into the canyon, and buzzed about the dragon like angry bees. Chrysalis remained behind to guard the entrance.

“Damnit!”

One last sentinel flew past the queen, and she smirked when she realized who it was. Her head-sentinel had decided against being a coward.

From the ground, she watched her sentinels buzz about the large predator, and nimbly dodge the slow broad swings of his claws. After a short while the dragon gave up, and started to ignore the distraction. The guard-changelings hadn’t managed to find anything soft, or even seriously annoy the dragon other than crossing his vision too often. So the malign beast moved back towards the tunnel.

“No you don’t”

Evisect dove right for the dragon’s eyes, who blinked and blocked the head-sentinel’s claws. The sharp digits cracked against the scaly armored surface, and Evisect barked in pain. The momentarily stunned changeling left himself vulnerable for a few vital seconds and…

CHOMP!

The head-sentinel disappeared inside the dragon’s jaws. Chrysalis and the other sentinels flinched as they felt his mental connection snap and evaporate, which left several more sentinels stunned in the air.

SNAP!

Another changeling fell prey to hungry jaws.

CRUNCH!

And another. Soon a numbed shock climbed over Chrysalis’s features. She had only become queen a few days ago, and now her tiny swarm was being mercilessly reduced beyond her control. As she was about ready to fall down and despair when a loud hollered screech snapped her out of her numbness.

The dragon pranced about in a spastic dance and screamed his reproach.

“My brains! My brains! GAW!”

His claws shot up to his right ear, and clawed at it desperately. Soon he discovered his claws did no good to rid the problem in his ear, and he began whip his head violently back and forth violently. Fear and panic kept the dragon’s eyes wide open.

Soon a small dark figure was flung out of his ear, but it flew straight back towards the agonized orifice. The mere sound of the buzzing wings was enough to send the dragon off in a terrified scamper.

“NO! NO! GO AWAY! MY EAR! MY BRAINS!”

The dragon’s desperate escape outpaced the small figure, and soon his wings carried him off and away. When it was clear the beast was gone for good, all the sentinels that remained, gathered to their queen.

Chrysalis stared out and waited until the small dark figure returned. The changeling that had driven off the dragon landed in front of her. She was tiny, not even up to any other changeling’s knees. However a flash of green fire brought the miniaturized sentinel back up to size. It was the outspoken inferior.

“What is your name sentinel?”

“Vivisect my queen.”

“You are my new head…”

Each of the surrounding sentinels stomped a hoof in respect and bowed their heads forward. Vivisect in turn bowed to the queen. Chrysalis stood firm until her breaths relaxed, and turned to face down the tunnel.

“Let us introduce the new head-sentinel to the swarm. Also each of you proved yourselves worthy protectors of my swarm. I will see to it you receive extra rations.”

There was a somewhat excited buzz to the survivors of the group, though the recent losses still kept them in a sober mood. Vivisect kept her expression stoic, and masked the limp she had from a banged up leg.

---

The memory well paused and Crone looked over towards Vivisect. The sentinel held her hooves tightly over Spike’s eyes and had a rather shocked expression. The little dragon spoke up.

“Did I hear another dragon?”

Crone ignored his comment and spoke directly to her sentinel.

“From that day onward the swarm remained a little safer. Your technique and ingenuity for the dissuasion of predators kept the swarm alive. I never regretted making you my head-sentinel.”

“You made me head?”

“Oh, uh –cough- I mean Chrysalis never regretted it, and she expressed as much to me. That was a very turbulent time within the swarm. What with Chrysalis and I being so new to the throne.”

“So it seems.”

“To be honest, Vivisect, though I am your queen. Your fearlessness helped embolden me and others.”

“I, don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything, your merit was your word. Speaking of which, there is one other pivotal moment I wish to share with you.”

“Is it safe for Spike to watch?”

Crone noticed Vivisect still had her hooves over the drake’s eyes. The little character had his arms crossed and wore a rather grumpy frown.

“Come on Vivi, you don’t need to treat me like some foal.”

The baby dragon’s demeanor caused Crone to smirk, and she spoke before the sentinel could.

“Sure, infact he should watch. It’ll teach him to be wary of stranger’s deals.”

Reluctantly she lowered her hooves, as the royal motioned a hoof to sift through additional experiences.

---

They were now in dark murky swampland. A very dirty, youthful Chrysalis trotted along a relatively dry patch of ground, and she appeared a little lost. Her wings were soaked with clingy mud, and most of her chitinous body was equally soiled.

“Curse this fog!”

She growled at the thick wall of opaque moisture that surrounded her in every direction.

She was in this unfavorable predicament due to being spread thin. Several vanguards needed protection for their journey homeward, and she was short staffed on sentinels. So she ventured out herself to escort half a dozen invaluable vanguards from Baltimare to the Badlands. The only problem was the enormous HaySea’d swampland inbetween. During this time, she didn’t have the disposable energy to simply portal the distance, and had to wing it there, or hoof it as the situation now was.

Alone in this spooky swamp, Chrysalis was constantly on high alert. Royal though she was, she was weak, under fed, and covered in parasites. The large aggressive mosquito’s in the area didn’t do anything to improve her mood either as they constantly harried her.
Amid the darkness she noticed a faint glow, and the hum of some melody began to tickle her flea-bitten ears. A deep feminine voice accompanied the somber tune.

Loooooooooong long have I have swayed
With despair kept abai’d
Soooooooooon soon this drought will end
it’s right around the bend
Theeeeeeeeeen then will I have bliss
And my song no longer a whis’p

The young queen became somewhat enchanted with the strangeness, and her hooves carried her towards the dim yellow light she saw in the distance. Slowly it became brighter, and the song stronger.

Befoooooooooooore before I was so weak
I decided who was the meek
Revvvvvvvvvvvvvvrence reverence was mine
As I was worshiped so divine
Willlllllllllllllllll will I feel that again
I prithy thee gods, please sen’d

The light was not so faint once she drew close, and the song she could hear with great clarity.

She came to the source of the song and light. What appeared to be a large swamp reed, full of cat-tails, swayed with the music, and sat next to a fire. Slowly the royal changeling circled around the moving foliage, until she saw an enormous pair of hooves strum over a hollowed out turtle shell. The creatures face was also equine, though cracked and jagged yellow fangs were easily visible. Leeches coated her limbs, and she had a bloated segmented gut. Chrysalis hadn’t seen such a creature before.

“So child, what brings ya to this side of the HaySea’d swamps?”

The deep voice caught her off guard, and in a panic she flashed into a pony disguise. Without so much as a glance, the large creature chuckled at the reaction.

“There ain’t no need for disguises little missy.”

“I…”

“Come now, take a seat round the fire. Ya won’t do yurself no favors bein’ lost.”

With a certain hesitation Chrysalis continued around until she was on the opposite side of the fire. She kept the grey pelted pony guise she had shifted into, and looked at the large swampy equine with careful fascination. She continued to strum on her stringed turtle shell as her deep, thickly accented voice rolled out an introduction.

“The name is Boggy Bog Sog Soggin’ Flanks. Jus’ call me Boggy if ya like.”

“Que… Queen. I’m Queen.”

“Well, Queen, what drew you out so far from home?”

A loud growl gurgled from Chrysalis’s stomach, and she placed a hoof defensively over her achy belly.

“Heh, guess that answers that. If ya need a bite, I have somethin’ to share.”

Boggy kicked over another turtle shell she kept nearby, and revealed the contents inside. What surprised Chrysalis about the contents was they appeared so clean, and fresh. Neatly prepared sandwiches of various kinds were stacked inside along with some fish and some fruity tubers. The disguised changeling hesitated to reach for anything.

“Go on, I don’t have no traps in my luncheon shell.”

“Thank you.”

She sat down on the nearby log as she pulled out a lily sandwich, and munched away. Solid food wouldn’t stay her true hunger, but it was something. As she ate Boggy sniffed a few times, and smiled softly.

“Ya can go for some meat too. I can smell sparrow about your lips. There’s no need to hide your real hungers. Not here in the middle of forsaken lands.”

Chrysalis battled with herself for a moment. Apparently this creature already knew she wasn’t a pony. The amount Boggy was able to discern was already bothersome. That sparrow didn’t even taste that good… The relentless growl of her stomach decided for her though. The disguise was shed and Chrysalis snatched up several of the fish, and waffed them down greedily.

“Now I’m not one to come across strangers all that often, but I can certainly smell opportunities when they come by. Would ya be interested in hearin’ a proposal missy?”

Chrysalis acknowledged Boggy’s words with a grunt, while she continued to stuff her face. That was enough for the plant ridden equine to continue you.

“Ya strike me as some creature who enjoys a bit of regal respect. A creature who enjoys a measure of control in her life? Perhaps… Power to rise above the mediocre plagues of life?”

“Uh huh”

“Good, good… I have somthin’ that can help that. If you’re still inclined.”

Chrysalis swallowed what was in her mouth before she replied.

“What are you getting at?”

“This.”

Boggy flipped her instrument around, and caught some dark seeds in her hoof, then held them out to the inquisitive changeling.

“Seeds?”

“A means to an end.”

“Um, less riddles please?”

The girthy equine hit the ground with a loud stomp, and for a moment nothing happened. Then the pools of the swamp around them started to bubble. Soon shapes started to bob above the surface of the water. To Chrysalis’s gross fascination the shapes were transparent resin shells, and contained ponies…

She flinched at the scene, and turned on Boggy with a fearful glint in her eye. The large swampy equine kept a level, thoughtful expression.

“Now I may have noticed your kind flitter back and forth between here a few times. You creatures never carry supplies, but always look hungry. Somethin’ tells me that traditional food isn’t enough for ya. Am I right?”

“What do you want?”

“If I am right, then I would suppose our desires are similar.”

Boggy shifted from where she sat and lumbered over to one of the resin shells, she pulled it out of the water, and placed it near the campfire. As she slowly caressed the pony capsule, roots distended from the ground and tried to wrap their fingers around it.

“Now I have particular hungers as well. Hungers that can be difficult to satisfy. Hungers dependent on our pony cousins, who don’t make it easy to acquire.”

“Yes.”

“However I don’t have a means to leave the swamps all that easy. I tired of waitin’ for ponies to wander on in. This is where I’d like to make a deal if ya will.”

“I’m listening.”

“These here seeds boost your magic. Make you potent beyond belief, and I would be willing to give them to you.”

“In exchange for?”

“Ponies… Capture em’ and bring me some. I’ll even teach ya how I bag em. Then you can fulfill your hungers, whatever they are, to your guts content.”

“Why do you want the ponies?”

“Their dreams do taste so divine, and I can never seem to get enough. I keep em’ stowed, I keep em alive. But their dreams… they’re gettin’ old.”

Chrysalis remained silent while she thought over the offer and the new knowledge she acquired. Boggy patiently strummed over her instrument while the changeling took the time to ponder. After a little longer she came up with her last question.

“How do I know these seeds are not a trick, or that they will even do what you say?”

Boggy just smiled in response, and rolled around one of the seeds in a hoof before she dexterously plopped it into her mouth. Rapidly an orange-green glint came over the swamp equine's features, and every capsule nearby began to glow. When Boggy next spoke her voice carried like a tidal wave.

“I am an equine of my word missy. If I promise power, I’ll give power.”

The air suddenly became very heavy and Chrysalis found it hard to breathe. The trees in the swamp started to warp and crack, the branches flailed about like grasping limbs, the water of the bogs boiled and bubbled, the very fog swirled and howled with spectral creepiness. Voices whispered of forbidden things, and the changeling felt as if the very atmosphere was going to consume her.

“The condition is quite simple.”

The theatrics died down, and Boggy’s voice went back down to it’s conversational tone. Chrysalis was left to pant and stand on shaky hooves, as the explanation was wrapped up.

“Take these seeds, they’ll give you the power you so desire. But the condition is temporary, you’ll need to come back for more. I won’t make more unless you come back with the pony prizes I so desire.”

Chrysalis nodded, and fixed her eyes towards the seeds held by the swamp equine’s free hoof. A greedy edge started to climb over her harlequin eye’s and she couldn’t look away.

“When you come back, come back alone, or you get NUTHIN’!”

Boggy flipped her hoof over and crushed all but one of the seeds, her voice carried a deadly seriousness to it. In a slight panic Chrysalis reached out and snatched the remaining seed, to see it to safety. The large swampy creature smiled at the queen’s assertive protectiveness of the gift.

“Go ahead and take it now, then, I’ll expect to see ya again soon.”

With out further encouragement Chrysalis plopped the seed into her mouth. Almost immediately she felt different. Everyone of her limbs, from the tip of her nose, to the edge of her wings felt alive, more alive than she had ever felt before. Her eyes opened wide and she even noticed her vision alter. This was a clarity that felt terrifyingly addictive.

To experiment with the spike of energy she felt, her horn was ignited and a portal rent into the very air. As she witness the extra powerful portal manifest it’s self she gave a disbelieving laugh. She didn’t dream she’d be able to conjure something that could go the distance she projected now.

“This… is amazing!”

“Glad to here it’s treatin’ you so well child. Now go get em’.”

The changeling queen dashed into dimensional rift, and was gone.

---

Crone hit a hoof to the well to stop the train of memory, and sighed. When she looked over she saw that Vivisect held a suspicious scowl, and Spike nervously chattered his teeth. The royal went on to voice her thoughts.

“That was Chrysalis, and if you noticed, her horn was very similar to mine. Compared to the twisted state it is now, her magic has never been the same since. But that is something you will see explained in a minute.

After that deal was done, Chrysalis made good on her side of the bargain, and brought Boggy all the ponies she could want. This is where Chrysalis earned her name, Chrysalis. She modified the encapsulating technique to work with changeling slime.

Many of the ponies were brought back to the swarm’s heart, and we knew experienced a more stable supply of food than ever before. We started to expand rapidly within our own domain, and the swarm became much stronger than it had ever been under Shellish.”

“But…”

Vivisect proffered, and Crone continued.

“But things couldn’t continue like that. You, Vivisect, were suspicious from the beginning. After several months you noticed ‘symptoms’ that Chrysalis would ignore, terrible migrains and such. My sister still had power so things had to be fine. Except they weren’t…”

The royal changeling hit the well again and another train of memory began

---

An exhausted Chrysalis buzzed into a swamp clearing, heavy bags hung under her eyes, and her posture sagged when she finally landed. Her voice was hoarse as she called out.

“Boggy! I need more seeds!”

A patch of reeds slank and swam through a nearby bog. They steadily rose as they approached the bank, and lurid eyes appeared beneath the blackish green mess.

“Back so soon child? Yur last visit was jus' a few days ago…”

“I ran out of what you gave me.”

“Hehehe my my your appetite has grown and grown. Come here missy.”

The changeling trudged over towards the edge of the bank, and Boggy herself rose out of the water, which caused a slosh of drippy stinky liquid to cascade over the bank. When the two of them where fairly close, the girthy swamp equine lurched forward and knocked Chrysalis to the ground.

Her immediate response was to shriek in surprise and flail around helplessly. She tried to ignited her horn and blast Boggy away, but pain shot straight through her horn to her skull, and she gasped in shock. No spell could escape from her horn. The swamp monster chuckled under her breath.

“It’s about time… You’ve already stocked me up for years. Frankly, I’m surprised ya lasted this long. The last critter I did this trade with succumbed to the parasites much earlier.”

“Parasites?”

“Ha, there were no seeds. Just a few little symbiotes I cooked up. Now missy, you’ve enjoyed the power I’ve given to you for a good long while, but now you’re jus’ gonna be burnt out and useless. There’s no use lettin’ you rot and go to waste.”

Boggy licked her already slimy lips, and lowered her head towards Chrysalis’s neck as she bore her teeth. The pinned queen squirmed and tried in vain to cast more magic. The more she tried the more pain she experienced, and her horn bled bits of emerald light. She flinched and shuddered as audible cracks sounded right above her skull, and her horn bent itself out of shape.

“You’re mine queeny.”

Before the perilous event came to it’s conclusion a distinct buzz could be heard in the background. One of Boggy’s gremlin ears twitched at the sound, but she was focused on her target. From the corner of Chrysalis’s eye she could see a blurr fly through the air, and soar right into the swampy equine.

Suddenly the crushing pressure was released from ribs and she breathed deeply. Hisses, screeched and bellows were heard for several moments, while the weakened queen tried to drag herself away with her front hooves. After she managed to crawl a yard or so she couldn’t strain anymore, and collapsed.

The memory ended with the sound of Vivisect’s voice

“Queen! My Queen!”

---

As the memory sequence faded to blue and grey Crone surmised the rest.

“You trailed Chrysalis without her knowledge that day, and saved her from that monster. Afterward you carried her home. She recovered after a while, but not fully.”

Vivisect remained silent, and Spike shivered in place. As they remained quiet the sentinel was suddenly startled when she was brought into a tight embrace. Crone’s voice strained to maintain stability as she whispered into Vivisect's ear.

“Chrysalis would probably not say this… but, you were her, our, my best friend. No changeling has stayed by our side so fiercely loyal for so long. No other changeling have I owed so much to. No…”

Crone’s words trailed off into nothing, and they simply remained there for a while. Eventually the embrace was broken, and the royal changeling’s features contorted into a ferocious mask of anger.

“DAMNIT WHY!”

Both sentinel and dragon flinched when Crone all but roared. She thrashed and stamped at the ground, her wings buzzed angrily.

“Why’d you stay and fight? Keeping Luna wasn’t worth losing you…”

She burnt out her anger quickly enough and she fell back on her rump, defeat written all over her features and posture. Anger wouldn’t fix the real problem.

Despite the flare of aggression, Vivisect found herself determined to approach the royal. As she approached Crone gave her a hard look, but didn’t move.

Eventually the sentinel sat herself across from the queen, and looked her right back in the eye.

“I’m here. I’ve learned more in the last few minutes than I have the last few days, thank you my queen.”

Vivisect touched Crone’s hoof with her own briefly, then she got up and sat down near Spike again. The royal had to sit there and gather herself for a little while, her emotions still felt a tad raw. Meanwhile Vivisect slowly ran a hoof down Spike’s spikes, and helped the drake calm down.

With a snort and a wrinkle of her snout Crone was ready to look into other important matters. Speaking of which, she still needed to find the ‘being’ that was responsible for altering all sense of equestrian history. She would need to sift through where she left off.

The sentinels magic kept the well active, and the queen raised a hoof to command the liquid.

“Well, I need to pick up where my sister left off.”

The last message was that personal one left by Crafty, so if she tapped here, swiped there, AH HA! There it is.

---

The scene became a blur of white and grey. Overcast skies blanketed from horizon to horizon. Snow coated the ground in a sheet of white throughout the valley and over the mountains. For a while Crone observed the surroundings and looked for who’s memory this actually was. As she turned her head about a massive dark figure sat close by. The figure was also coated with snow, and shivered like a hill that suffered from an earthquake.

With another blink of her eyes she recognized the figure as Avalanche. What was he doing in the middle of this waste land? The last time she saw him was in a beautiful meadow…

The bass voice sounded hollow when he addressed the well.

“Crafty… I… well, -cough- I suppose I’ll address this for the history of the swarm first. If the any changeling or pony survives this catastrophe. There are a few hard truths that were brought before me. That any royal in the future should heed.”

Avalanche shifted his large hooves, much of his dark chitinous hide had become bleak and grey, and frost claimed large portions of his extremities. He continued with a dry tone.

“Don’t pretend you have power over ponies… Not in the open. Don’t let them know what you feed on is love, because with that knowledge, they can starve you, make you wittle away until you’re nothing. All the ponies have to do to make you powerless… is hate each other.”

---

The memory was paused right there, and a very awkward silence began. Eventually Vivisect broke it.

“Uh, didn’t the queen just do that? And, let everypony know we live on love…”

“Ya… why would you guys do that?”

When even Spike piped up Crone felt but a little flustered, and she started to get red in the face.

“Well he doesn’t know everything! Just watch.”

Crone angrily tapped at the well again, and was tempted to simply skip this scene. It hit a little too close to home, and she didn’t want some old fogie to rag on one of the most monumental mental decisions she… Chrysalis had ever made. There had to be a way around this. Changelings had apparently survived Avalanche’s blunder, so how did this follow up?

The memory was resumed.

---

“It was bad enough they could starve us. Almost all of the tribes resented our presence, more than they even resented each other. The ponies that actually appreciated our interaction were few. They are the reason we are still alive.”

The giant king looked as if he had been slapped.

“Apparently whatever cruel gods rule this world think cutting off most of our food wasn’t enough. These demons, these windigos came.”

Avalanche snarled and his lips cracked even as he bore his fangs in anger.

“They just so happen to feed opposite to us. They grow strong when there is anger and hate. Several of the ponies that figured this out even when so far as to deliberately help them, and spread as much hate as they could… Foolish ponies… Even as the windigos grew powerful from the plentiful malcontent, they began to freeze everything.”

The massive changeling lowered his head in despair.

“The fools that aided them were among the first to be stuck in ice. Ponies died as much as my changelings did, and none have turned out for the better, except the windigos.”

The angry snarl died, and a dead look killed the vibrance in the king’s eyes.

“All my off spring, but Sly, are dead…”

Avalanche scuffled one hoof about, and brought up a curious item. It was a large slab of crystal, cut to the shape of a heart. His fiery eyes looked down at the artifact for some time, before his gaze was raised, and he looked directly into the well.

“Crafty…”

His voice was more broken than ever.

“There is no way I can adequately apologize for what I brought upon us. When you find this, know I did what I’m about to do, because I love you… I know you’ll take good care of Sly and the swarm for me.”

He picked the crystal heart up with his mouth and ignited his horn, all the frost and snow exploded off of him in a wave of green fire. A deep resolution crossed over his features, and as his magic was exercised the heart glowed brighter and brighter until it was difficult to look at.

In the distance the ethereal whinny of spectral hate-demons filled the air. Hundreds of figures could be seen as they roamed the sky, each of them turned towards the center of light, and the overcast sky became a surge of storm clouds, and a blizzard threatened to close in.

The light from the heart exploded outwards…

---

Then memory ended there and the well became a blank canvas.

“What?! Wait What!”

Crone voiced angrily.

“Ya, this thing has history all off. I was in the hearths warming eve pageant. The windigos were beaten by-”

Vivisect blocked Spike’s mouth with a hoof.

“Not now Spike.”

Crone’s temper threatened to rise up again, and the little dragon’s comments wouldn’t help cool that down.

“Gaw, it definitely doesn’t end there! Give me moar well!”

The well was slapped to continue by rather indignant royal changeling.

---

The scene suddenly became a strangely familiar place… The Crystal Empire! There were crystal ponies in the streets as they casually walked by their crystal lawns, and crystal houses. There in the center of it all was the crystal castle. Before she could just gawk at the beautiful city a voice spoke directly at them.

“I don’t understand why mother kept this stowed away for so long! There’s so much that’s happened."

Crone wheeled about to see another royal changeling peer back at them through the well. This changeling had a cork-screw horn, and red mane with dark highlights. Her eyes were contrasting rings of yellow.

“The point of this bubble was for the future right? So I guess I’ll say hi, I’m princess Sly. Crafty’s my mom, at least she raised me like that. Apparently she found me on the side of some road somewhere so I don’t know who my actual parents are, but whatever, my mom and dad... were, are the best.”

“Do I hear someone monologueing?”

A female voice came from above, and the well was suddenly shaken as Sly jumped.

“Hey wait! Don’t! I’m doing something important right now!”

“Oh please, what could be more important than some fun!”

“Anything Discord…”

Two male voices sounded from above as well. Crone looked up, and there above the well were three draconequi.

The female one had a bright pink mane, blue eyes, and lightning strike horns. Her wings were that of a Fenix and dactyl. The arms were that of the amphibian and reptilian persuasion. The bottom half consisted of zebra and gazelle leg, and a long rat tail.

The more jovial male had a deer antler, goat horn, goatee, short cut black mane, eagle claw, lion paw, dragon leg, cloven hoof, and dragon’s tail.

The dull toned male had two recurved horns, ridiculously broad sideburns, a large poofy white mane, tiger and bear paws, leopard and jaguar legs, swan and raven wings, and a long finned sea serpent tail.

“Oooo what’s this?”

“Anarchy no! sto-”

The well was grabbed and lifted up to the female draconequi’s face who held it with fascinated starry eyes.

“Let’s see what were you doing? Oh ya, HELLO FUTURE! Hmm I wonder if this thing actually tastes any good.”

“DON’T YOU DARE!”

“That’s a dare Sly… hehehe.”

She proceed to give the well a good long lick, then spit back profusely.

“Yick, it taste like dirty hooves!”

A shriek erupted from behind them, and Anarchy looked back towards the action.

“Discord! Mayhem! Put me down!”

“Relax foxy, we’re just going to help you get to wherever you were going. You were going to the palace right?”

Both Discord and Mayhem had each seized a leg and began to swing Sly back and forth, like a foal that bounced between its parents.

“No, put me down!”

“Calm down Sly, you know he loves it the more worked up you get…”

“Shut it Ham!”

“To the castle and as Luna likes to say, huzzah!”

In a quick blurr of motion the three draconequi and changeling soared, tumbled, dived and otherwise performed ridiculous acrobatics through the sky. Anarchy kept a hold of the well while they crossed the empire and its glittery crystal buildings.

“So like, future people, ya gotta tell me what’s happening! Is it fun? Is it better? Is Lord Golden Spoon still in charge? Am I in charge? Do the sirens get the golden tongue award for their totally jacked singing? Does Crafty get happy? Does it rain more muffins, chocolate milk, or spaghetti? Tell me future people, TELL ME!”

A few seconds of silence.

“Psh, future people are so lame… Yall don’t even talk. You can have your silly ball back Sly!”

The well swirled in the air as it was tossed, a panic stricken Sly managed to catch it between her hind legs.

“Anarchy I swear!”

“That I’m the best? Oh thanks Sly! You so nice! I could just squish ya in a big ol’ hug.”

The female draconequus made a dive, but Discord swayed and made her miss.

“Darn it!”

“We’re here!”

With little room to breathe all four of them dove into the castle through one of the large windows. Discord and Sly skidded across the floor, the well of memories bounced all over the place, and Mayhem and Anarchy hung out around the window.

“Drama fiend…”

The voice of Tia broke into the tumble of chaos. Discord righted himself, and slithered across the floor.

“Come now, I know you love it Tia. You didn’t know what a good time was until I came around.”

As the draconequus approached, the tall alabaster unicorn stooped into an aggressive posture, and threw on challenging confidence.

“Oh, I thought you enjoyed me teaching you how to behave yourself.”

“Are you sure it’s not the other way around?”

“Quite…”

Tia tackled him over, and began a miniature riot. Meanwhile Lulu sat further to in the back next to the elegant and very tall Crafty.

“The trouble has been doubled!”

Slowly Mayhem wandered over towards Crafty, and they began a hushed covernsation. Anarchy flew through the castle windows like they were somekind of obstacle course, and the Discord-Tia tussle showed no sign of stopping.

An exasperated Sly seized the well, and shielded it’s perspective from the rest of the nonsense in the throne room.

“I’ll get back to this later.”

The well was tapped and the memory ended.

---

-present time

“What?”

The triple consensus was voiced.

Author's Notes:

Hi there! Hope you enjoyed the chapter. I've spent day and night on it for like the last two days. It felt like a rollercoaster to write, and the sketches and music were all fun to add. but yep, I think i'll be close to adding multiple chapters a week again. Or least that's what i'd like to get back on.

For those of you who are concerned, the story is going to shift in a new phase pretty soon. I'm sorry I like to dally and explore some characters more, but then again, my rule is if i'm having fun, I'll write it. The next two chapters are going to set up a pretty significant shift.

Again thanks for reading. I love your feed back!

text links if you missed em'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TD3vtejH2FQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=notKtAgfwDA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyU1nQ065n0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lowij-5Q5Xg

music N sketches

couches N donuts

mood music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAZfC0epjz4

A door side conversation anyone would like to have! (sarcasm)

Then the swamp encounters, with Boggy Bog Sog Soggin' Flanks.

moar mood music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQ5BFivMwxU

The next one even has COLORZ

Inspiration lolol.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyFVG4VfPmg

Cause I like this song too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yw0aoVpFCDw

N close them eyes Spike...

mood music for the windigos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLuVXfZoOAk

A good bye for Avalanche # I'm too sad to make a sketch for him atm... (Check back in a few days, I may update this particular chapter with one.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5JvbD2Zc9I

Then some sketches of the new introductions, mixed with a familiar face or two

then

hehehe...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PE3UH4ifehM

Some old concept art for Sly

Ch.47 "Stirrings"

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch. 47 “Stirrings”

-Far off, in the Badlands.

Kindness…

Gentleness, empathy, compassion-

Loyalty…

Devotion, protectiveness, vigilance-

Honesty…

Openness, stableness, grounded-

Generosity…

Charity, benevolence, good-will-

Laughter…

Light-heartedness, joyfulness, pleasantness-

Magic…

Magic…

Within the darkness of an old chamber the elements of harmony rested.

Stones that emitted constant emotion waited for beings that could synchronize with them, and use them for their intended purpose.

A glimmer stirred within an old ribcage.

Stones that reached and proliferated the area with their qualities. The qualities of kindness, loyalty, honesty, generosity, laughter, and magic. As they sought for those worthy to bear them. These emotions, these qualities needed the proper bearers to unlock their intended purpose.

Starlit sparkles cascaded along vertebrae, skull, and limbs.

Stones that brought the magic of harmony. A magic strong enough to quell the strongest darkness. Magic that had unrivaled achievements, but was always of limited use. They had an intended purpose.

The test, the synchronization, the search, the reach… These tools did not accomplish their intended purpose. The ambient emotions that were part of the attunement were absorbed into the nearby environment.

A blinding flash illuminated the dark chamber for a long period of time. The tunnels distantly connected to this chamber were brought to a level of brightness they had never known. The light was green, almost white.

Eventually the light began to dim. It was a gradual process and it took time yet for the chamber to return to its original state. Once the light was gone, a tall elegant figure collapsed to the ground.

A loud gasp echoed off the chamber walls, and bright green eyes reflected in the darkness. They were confused and panic stricken, and roamed all over the darkness. Her breaths with fast, and she almost worked herself into hyperventilation.

The panic carried over to her limbs, and they flailed about. Eventually they caught ground, and propelled her up and along the ground. The sensation was so alien, yet intrinsically familiar. Confusion, confusion everywhere, nothing made sense, and the darkness brought no comprehension.

The limbs carried the body forward and onward. The dim natural light within the tunnels was enough to avoid a crash into the walls, but little else. A large chamber with a rotten throne was passed by, no thought was given to it, as the limbs carried the air hungry form onwards.

After the passage of a few more tunnels, light trickled on in greater qualities. There was an exit to this blindness, to this darkness, to this lack of sense. Before long the set of hooves made their way to the edge of the outside.

She stood there, at the edge, and looked up into the sky. Her breaths had finally slowed, as she noticed the sky was stormy, and the air was thick and humid. No raindrops had fallen yet, and she found herself hesitant to take another step forward.

Soon her eyes fell from the sky to the ground, and the narrowed in confusion, when she spotted many figures littered the floor of the canyon. After a moment of examination, comprehension started to dawn. Dead changelings littered the floor of this canyon. The forms, if not the individuals, were easily recognizable. She took a step back.

As she looked up and around the canyon if felt sickeningly familiar as well. Horror struck into her mind, and she noticed the silence.

Her entire journey had been in silence aside from her own steps and breaths. Not a sound had been made that wasn’t hers. The swarm must be dead…

The limbs seemingly had a will of their own as they made the skittish body retreat into the darkness of the cave. Light had been found, but it revealed things that were agony to comprehend.

A scream echoed throughout the underground.

---

-Canterlot gardens.

Tremors… not tremors of the earth, but tremors of the mind. Thoughtful machinations that cooked and churned and planned. Minds that readied and plotted, secret things that were to create havoc and disruption. Though unseen in the open, the harmony of the land already began to fracture.

A large stone stature rested within the garden. The draconequus was frozen in a humiliated position. Fear etched in his face that he could not release.

Though he was immobile and incased, things had certainly been interesting, especially recently.

“Cut! Cut! Are you there?”

“Plain is that you?”

“Yes, where are you?”

“Over here, why don’t you come join me on the bench.”

A chocolate brown stallion put down his hedge clippers and rested on a nearby stone bench. A tan colored mare rounded a nearby hedge and spotted the pony she looked for. She had some saddle bags that contained a pitcher and a few glasses. She wandered over and sat next to her stallion.

This was a rather common sight for the statue. The stone bench the two ponies sat on was right in his line of vision. The interaction was usually eye-roll-worthy material that could be summarized as…

“How was your day honey?”

“Oh good, Like I clean bedrooms N stuff.”

“Really? Cuz I like trim hedges N stuff! Aren’t we fascinating?”

“Yes dear, there’s absolutely nothing better than to listen to some maid and her gardener husband…”

Yick…

The stature would usually just tune them out and make up his own dialogue as he watched their lips move. When he made things up it might go like this…

“Hey dear what did you do today?”

“Oh, you know, I took all the green waste I collected today to a bridge. Then I waited for some pony to walk under it so I could give them an herbal shower. Seriously I don’t know why ponies go to spas to get ‘natural’ remedies. If they wanted ‘natural’ they could just roll in the mud and run through the bushes.”

“You’re so right dear, all us ponies have to make silly orderly things for no good reason. I mean the castle is way to symmetrical, everything is so evenly pattern. I just had to go and start tilting paintings, un-straighten the carpets, turn the vases upside down, and keep a few chandeliers swinging. Otherwise seeing the same thing everyday drives me nuts.”

“Good boldness dear, the princesses should really appreciate your creativity. But I’m sure they just whined at you and insisted on making everything boring again.”

“Unfortunately true dear.”

… Then everything changed when the bug nation attacked!

After those ‘changelings’ appeared, the news was so rampant that even a garden statue was able to hear of them. Celestia and Luna down… The elements taken away… A new queen in place, who was apparently some kind of love sucker.

It all sounded delightful really, too bad he hadn’t been there to witness it personally. Celestia in a cat fight, and he, the lover of disharmony wasn’t there to see it… He was as bummed out as an immobile stature could be for a few days.

Now that news was worth listening to, the statue actually paid attention to what the pony couple had to say. Tempting as it was to put words in their mouths.

“Is that new queen still treating you right?”

“Yes cut, I’m fine. The queen has been reasonable all things considered.”

“Has there been any news in the castle? Things going to remain peaceful? Any news of Celestia?”

“Things have been rather quiet, a little strangely so. The queen wanted to be alone recently. There hasn’t been anything substantial about our princesses or the guard either. It’s been a little too quiet.”

“I suppose there isn’t much to do but continue then. So long as things stay peaceful, I suppose this can work out. Thanks for the drink love.”

The two earth ponies tipped their glasses together and enjoyed a sip of lemonade.

Peaceful… oh, hehehe HAHAHA!

The statue would laugh all over the floor right now if only he could. These ponies had no idea, absolutely no idea, what was stirred in the backgrounds.

Though he couldn’t specifically tell who, the imprisoned spirit knew the what. And the ‘what’ looked like a massive metaphorical hurricane coming from North, East, and South.

A hair-line crack stretched across the statue’s face… yes, the incoming storm was strong… perhaps strong enough to set him free.

Ch.48 "Unexpected Reception"

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.48 “Unexpected Reception”

-Embassy luncheon hall, Canterlot

“I’m sorry your ladiness!”

Lethal the lightning dragon quickly righted himself off of the floor and scooped up the changeling he had fallen on. As soon as he got up she let out a loud gasp and her eyes bulged.

With a nimble motion he seized her by the wings with one set of claws, before he took his other paw and started to dust her off. When the large scaly appendage started to pat her down, Chrysalis made a furious growl.

“Put me down! NOW!”

The dragon immediately obeyed while he smiled with embarrassment.

“Didn’t mean to come in quite like that, still finessing my bolt jumping and all. Good thing you’re a tough cookie though! Sorry again…”

Chrysalis buzzed her wings to clear some dust before she shot Lethal a lethal glare.

“I don’t want your apologies!”

She all but screeched. The fire in her voice caused a dead silence in the hall. The royal changeling felt the silence creep around her, and she started to feel a little self conscious. Her mane and tail were thoroughly disheveled and full of rubble, one of her wings had a bad kink in it, and soot dirtied her entire body. All of this right infront of more dignitaries than she had ever seen in one room before… To say she was burned up inside would put it mildly.

So, to escape the humiliation she turned tail for the exit and galloped away. When she came to the doors she blasted them off their hinges and ran on as if nothing was in her way. All the while her jaw was clenched, and she screamed muffled obscenities.

Shifty the vanguard stood there at a loss of what to do. Luckily the queen sent her a quick message.

Stay there and finish what we intended to do.

The anger was still clear in the mental message.

When the queen had presumably left ear shot hushed whispers flurried about the hall.

---

( Germane Table )

“She’s an unstable wench!”

SMACK!

“Ow! What was that for Malleable?”

“The first thing you have to say is insults! Prism, she just had a slagging dragon fall on her!”

“And she ran away screeching like a filly…”

“I’ve half a mind to ask that scaly beast to sit on you! Just do me a favor and weld that mouth shut.”

“I’ll do no such thing when we’re talking amongst ourselves. I’ll be honest as what my eyes see.”

“You’ll be tactful or I’ll drop the anvil!”

“Both of you calm down, let’s not start a brawl at the lunch table.”

Another stallion tried to interrupt the two, and for his efforts he got two mugs of silvered cider tossed in his golden face.

“Brawl it is then.”

The golden stallion flipped over the table, and tackled both Prism and Malleable. Loud ‘clang’ noises rang across the hall as metal hooves connected with iron hard bodies.

The remaining three Germane ponies looked at each other, then the brawl next to them. All three of them shrugged, and one of them muttered.

“A good ol’ fight would help me forget that awkward queen.”

“Aye!”

Two mares and a stallion knocked mugs together before they chugged down the rest of their respective drafts. As soon as each mug hit the table formalities we put aside, and the knockin’ fun began!

It was quite musical really, as each of the germane ponies beat each other senseless they rang like a symphony of brass in orchestra.

(A Prench table)

“Ooo lala. She’s even more unstable and immature than I thought weehehe. This is going to be easy!”

“My my and uglier than the contents of a month old sink. Hahaha! And conscious about it too! HA!”

Fromage and Salete put hooves over their mouths to keep from a violent bout of laughter. Meanwhile Mignon backed up and away in fear.

“Eeee! There is too much dirt in the air! My beauty can’t handle it!”

“Oh quiet Mignon, you can clean up after lunch.”

“But Ziss took hours!”

The tragically beautiful mare started to fan herself to keep from fainting. Unfortunately the condition only got worse, because the large lightning drake decided to sit down. Without a look to where his rump actually went. It happened to be right on top of Fromage’s and Salete’s table, which included Fromage and Salete as well. Mignon was barely missed, but something worse than being mushed by dragon rump happened to her.

Lethal shook himself to get the residual dirt and flexed his wings. The collective dirt and dust was launched all around. Mignon became dirtier than kitchen maid who had a bag of flower dumped on her.

“I, I, my beauty…”

She fainted, her beauty having been slain.

(Minotaur table)

“Wow…”

Tall, Chipper and Midgy watched the changeling queen as she sprinted out of the dining hall. None of them even noticed that their playing cards and chips had caught fire.

“Um…”

Talltoll made in dumbstruck observance.

“That’s slightly troubling…”

Chipper mused.

“This changes some terms…”

When each of them had a moment to think about it, each eventually noticed the pile of ashes in front of them. They looked at each other and back to the charcoaled game, and back to each other again.

“Well, how are we supposed to make deals if she gets irrationally flustered so quickly?”

Tall formulated his thoughts first.

“I can’t say my composure would maintain under such circumstances. I’ll give her a chance if we get something more formal going. In fact, building her confidence may be a tool we can use to get her to do what we want.”

Chipper rocked his head side to side as he debated with himself.

“You’ve got the right idea Chipper, some simple sweet talk and a smile will get us much further than what I planned. Oh I do love vanity, especially when it’s possessed on the other side of the table.”

The midget minotaur tapped his fingers together in a repeated and orderly fashion.

(Griffin pads)

“My bits!”

The Griffonstone ambassador scurried around in a panic to try and pick up what he had dropped.

The Wunduree griffons just sat there with wide eyes and didn’t utter a word. The saddle Arabians on the other hand began a hushed conversation. Delta first voiced her shock.

“Oh my… the poor dear.”

“I must agree, that wasn’t a fair way to market her dignity.”

Crescent narrowed his brow in pity as he reminisced of their last encounter with the queen. She had been curt, but respectable at Fancy’s luncheon. There was clearly plenty on the queen’s plate, and the last thing she needed was some oaf to trip her up infront of every party. Delta continued to voice her thoughts.

“Frankly I’m surprised she didn’t just blast him in the face for that.”

“I give her credit for not starting something. The wrong action in this room could start a war, one she really wouldn’t want right now. I don’t think she even has the rest of the country unified, let alone preparation for a serious ordeal.”

“Hmm, this certainly doesn’t project her confidence.”

(Hippocampus pond)

Jade almost immediately leapt out of the water when the queen disappeared down the hall. Her magical nature allowed her to float along in the air as she neared the lightning dragon. Her crimson companion was not far behind, and neither of them was amused.

“LETHAL!”

“I already said I was sorry, what more do you want?”

“By the kraken’s abyss why’d you have to crash in?”

“I meant to finish a few miles away from here and glide in, but something pinched me. I don’t even know what it was.”

The dragon squirmed a little where he sat, which pushed a certain prench table further into the ground. The crimson hippocampus sighed as he kept his voice level.

“Did Lord Golden Spoon even give you a gift to deliver?”

“Oh right! Thanks Chorus! Oh… but her ladiness probably won’t want to talk to me right now.”

“You think…”

“Hey, being an awesome lightning dragon is harder than it looks, ok?”

“Whatever, you should probably just leave Golden Spoon’s gift with us, we’ll see it delivered.”

“Alright, I can see I’m too much for this crowd. See ya round, Jade, Chorus.”

Lethal pulled off a satchel that was attached to one of his wings and pawed it over to the hippocampi. It was of moderate size, and easily handled by the aqueous equines. When it was secured the dragon stood up and shook himself off one more time.

A flattened Fromage and Salete flopped off his backside before he jumped up through the hole he had made in the roof. The flattened prench ponies slowly re-inflated while they were in a state of wide-eyed paralysis. Meanwhile Jade floated over to Chorus’s side.

“Well, what did Golden Spoon prepare?”

“We shouldn’t be so invasive Jade.”

“We might save the queen further embarrassment if we get some stupid gag out of the way.”

“Fair point…”

Chorus opened up the satchel and peered inside.

“Huh… that’s interesting.”

“What is it?”

( Dragon table )

Ebony’s herald observed the changeling royalty dash out in fit. His face was level until the door was blasted away, then he cracked a smile.

“This is going to be even better than I thought, Perhaps this will be worth looking forward too. Do you agree Ebony?”

The large obsidian pendant about his neck hummed and swirled.

“Hmm, I will catch her at the earliest convenience.”

The grey drake roused himself, and emptied both bowls of gems into his mouth, and swallowed without chewing. A broad smile cracked itself over his pearly fangs.

---

Goff saw the stormy pace the queen ran with, and raised an eyebrow at her aggressive exit. He shot a quick glance at Ebony’s herald, and saw that he smiled.

This made Goff frown, what could he do to get Raker ahead in this situation? Probably talk to the queen before that other fat drake could. The predatory glint in his rival’s eyes made the intention obvious.

“Shove it grey snake, she’s going hate you if I get the first word.”

Raker was strong, but if Ebony’s position was ever to be challenged he would need help.

(Zebzeb table)

“Dat be some bad juju mon.”

Bobway the hippo scratched at his muzzle as he leaned back. The giraffe at the table finished another coconut drink before she chipped in.

“She was a bit shorter than I thought she’d be.”

“Everybody be short to ya Hemra…”

“That’s not true, da dragon over there is tall. Haven’t seen one of his size indoors before.”

“Oi, and he shouldn’t be in doors, let alone crashin’ in like that. Coulda killed somebody.”

“Lethal be a bit of an odd name too.”

The hippo sighed as he brushed a little dust and rubble off his shoulder.

“Hmm, ya sure that was the boss lady though? Coulda been a smaller boss just pokin’ her face in. This only be lunch after all.”

“I think so, we didn’t see any creecha else like dat on the way in.”

“That be too bad then, bit more temperamental than I woulda liked. Guess we’ll just have to be careful on our toes.”

“I’m always careful on my toes Bobway, can’t say the same for you, or Zorro.”

“Speakin’ of Zorro, where be dat zebra?”

With a grunt the hippo righted himself and peered around for their black and white companion. Hemra made a dismissive wave.

“He was probably spooked by the noise, we’ll catch him later.”

“If ya say so…”

Bobway started to scoop up all the empty coconuts Hemra left on the table, and plop them into his mouth.

(Embassy hallway)

Once Chrysalis rounded a corner down the hallway her pace slowed down, and she looked into the adjacent rooms. She wanted to wash up before she exposed her face to the public again. Just after her eyes spotted the room she desired a Zebzeban voice called out to her.

“Wait there boss-lady!”

She instantly tensed and rounded on the individual who dared to call out to her in this state. It turned out to be that Zebra with the ridiculous afro. She gave a dismissive sneer and turned back towards the bathrooms.

“I’m not interested in talking right now.”

“If you’re interested in stayin’ alive, then ya want to be talkin’ to me…”

“What!”

Anger flared in the queen and she rounded on the smaller equine, her fangs bared and wings spread. The zebra didn’t flinch in the slightest, and continued toward her. When he got too close she knocked him down and placed a hoof over his chest.

“Are you making a threat!”

“-cough- nah boss-lady, -wheeze- a warnin’ about other parties.”

“Then spit it out…”

“I can’t trust any creecha to overhear this, ya got some where private?”

“Gaw! If this is a joke I will personally package you back to Zebzeb!”

“Ya can wrap me up all ya like if I’m wrong. But I’m not wrong lady.”

The queen scrutinized the flat and serious expression on the zebra’s face. She gave a sniff to scout out his emotions. What disturbed her was that she got absolutely nothing… Not a single emotion could be discerned. The way his lips were pursed and how he shifted uncomfortably made it look like he felt things. But in her changeling senses he was a ghost.

She looked over and saw a nearby unoccupied room, so she seized the zebra in her magic, and trotted in to the room and shut the door behind. When it was closed she turned back to her quarry.

“Well?”

“Not quite enough.”

Chrysalis became very startled when a flash of purple magic encompassed the door, and turned into incandescent flames. It spread across the room and over to the windows. Curiously the fire didn’t destroy what it touched but remained in a hazy wave.

“Now, let’s discuss some real business, shall we… Queen Chrysalis.”

The voice startled her even more than the magical fire. It was a strong baritone, and possessed none of the accent of Zebzeb.
The zebra looked up at her with his afro pulled back, two rings of light shone from his eyes, and his pupils became thin slits.

“Who are you?”

“That isn’t terribly important right now. See, what I have to ask you is… Are you suicidal?”

“What? No!”

“THEN WHAT INFERNAL PIT FIEND CONVINCED YOU THAT COMING IN THE OPEN WAS A GOOD IDEA!”

The volume and intensity of his shout took her aback. She hadn’t expected the zebra was capable of it, or the magic for that matter… but still. She shook her head before she processed what was shouted at her exactly. She still had trouble getting over the Zebra’s eyes of all things.

“What are you?”

“You can’t guess already?”

“If you are what I think you are… I would be incredibly frustrated.”

The Zebra rolled his eyes a bit and clenched his jaw, before purple flames rolled over his form, and melted away the disguise. His short limbs lengthen, his mane went from black to light lavender, and his skin greyed, and morphed into chitin.

When the change was complete he stood there with a critical frown, and he remained silent while she examined him. He was a deal taller than her, perhaps a little taller than Crone. Long spines protruded out of his mane, and followed like a pattern behind his long curved horn.

He let her ogle for a while longer, but when she reached out a hoof to touch, he backed away. With a stamp of his hoof he recaptured her attention, in a different way. When he spoke next, her eyes were brought back up to his.

“I have to question. How long have you been queen of your swarm?”

“Thirty years.”

“Only thirty?”

She didn’t like the tone he questioned her with, and her muzzle slanted. She growled back and took offence.

“Thirty is an extremely respectable time for what I’ve had to put up with!”

“No doubt, I am as fascinated as I am appalled at what you’ve done.”

“Care to explain?”

“Well, where to start… By the way you looked at me it appears you had doubts other royals existed.”

“I… did.”

“So you’re an isolation case and utterly unaware of us.”

The royal male dragged a hoof over his face, and rolled his jaw about as if there was a nasty kink in it. The queen ignored his gestures, and focused on the ‘us’.

“Well if the rest of you… wait, how many royals are there? I’ve looked all over the place for other swarms but found nothing!”

“There are atleast three other living royals I know of, you make it four.”

Chrysalis fell back on her rump, and stared at nothing in particular. She felt utterly blindsided… why hadn’t Shellish taught her more? The kingly changeling noticed the bewilderment that had over taken her.

“Sorry to press on, but there is a lot at stake here. At least a lot at stake for you…”

“What are you talking about.”

“Well, you violated some pretty big rules, rules that our kind has kept rather unanimously for millennia. I say it lightly, when I say the rest of our peers are furious.”

“W-what?”

“Frankly I’m surprised you aren’t dead yet… The only reason I think you’re still breathing is pure hesitation. You acted with such gall as to reveal yourself and our kind to the world. Planted yourself on top of one of the most affluent nations, and put your own face on the flag no less… Queen More probably thinks you have some trap laid in place for the other swarms. Your revelation would be too fool hardy otherwise.”

“Queen More?”

“Since I am here, and unmolested, I’m afraid you’re as ignorant and blind as you appeared. Set yourself up for a nice tragedy you did.”

“Grr, stop speaking around the bush, you said you have a warning for me?”

When she growled at him, he just gave her a sad look.

“You’re compromised. As soon as the other royals figure that out they will tear you and your swarm to shreds. You’ve already directed your swarm to make itself even more vulnerable on top of that… Tell them all to breed? Seriously? What other handicaps do you want to instill on yourself?”

“What makes you so sure they can take me on? I have access to all the love I want here!”

“You’ve exposed yourself… I’m only blindsiding you with information, they’re going to blindside you with everything. They don’t need to fight you themselves. There’s already an upset nation that would not be difficult to manipulate and embolden against you. Also it’s a little late to go back into disguises. They know you’re here, and they’ll be looking for you.”

Chrysalis’s eyes widened further and further as her bravado deflated. The more the other royal spoke, the more, and more vulnerable she felt.

“If it’s true that you’ve only been queen for thirty years, then your unseen rivals out scale your experience by over a thousand years. Celestia you may have bested, but she didn’t spend all of her time in the dark, did she… No infact, Celestia was right where we wanted her… until you decided to piss in the well, and expose ALL OF US! Now every nation is going to be suspicious, and work on methods to discover us. We need to wipe all of their minds and make them forget we exist! A monumental task that hasn’t been accomplish since queen Sly. Otherwise they will discover our dependence on them, and destroy us with it. But wait… You went ahead and told them we feed on love… didn’t you…”

The queen’s eye developed a ferocious twitch, and she trembled head to hoof. Her breaths became stuttered and irregular, this all added up to more than she wanted to think about. She could barely keep herself from being over taken by panic. Her voice barely whispered out.

“What should I do?”

“Why are you asking me for advice? You really shouldn’t trust me either.”

“Then why did you tell me all of this?”

“I was curious about an unaccounted for royal, and wanted an understanding of your intentions. Now that I have acquired that, I’m satisfied.”

“And?”

“What?”

“What are you going to do? If all the other royals are as willing to end me as you say, then why haven’t you?”

The kingly changeling sighed, and set himself down on a cushion. He cracked a weak smile at her question.

“Perhaps I’m just a little tired of how things have worked over the last hundred years. To share an honest word, I hoped you were as unaware as you seemed.”

“…”

“It meant I had the chance to meet another royal that wasn’t an inherent enemy.”

A sniffle escaped her muzzle after she heard that, and she defensively raised a hoof to rub an itch that developed there. Her breath came out as a melancholy shudder, then something seemed to break in her expression.

“hehahhehohAHAHAHAHA!”

“What’s so amusing?”

“HAHAhheheh, after all this time thinking I was alone, when I finally discover there are others, I’m told they want me dead…”

“It wasn’t that way 150 years ago, there were hundreds of us.”

“Hundreds!?”

“Then King Hubris started something that went out of control, but I don’t think you have time to hear it all.”

“Time…”

“If you really want to hear my opinion, then it is this. Take inventory of you most important items, and retreat somewhere secure.”

“Where is secure?”

“Well, where ever you hid for the last thirty years could be a start.”

“NO!”

“Um, alright then, somewhere you absolutely know is not infiltrated.”

“Hmm… One other thing.”

"Yes?"

"You know my name..."

"Oh, well, the other royals know me as Specter."

Ch.49 "A Thought, Chase, and a Show" part 1

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.49 “A thought, Chase, and a Show.” Part 1

Twilight Sparkle groggily cracked her eyes open when the morning light broke across the horizon. The dew that built up overnight left her a little wet, fortunately she wore a large cloak that blocked the worst of it. Eager to warm herself, she stood up and gave her body a good shake. A pair of saddle bags rested on her sides, luckily the contents had remained dry when she checked.

The ragged unicorn stepped out from the bush where she had hid, and onto the roadside. Tired bags hung under her eyes, her sleep had not been good, and her rations meager. The next town was still a day away or so by hoof, and she planned to avoid all obvious methods of travel. Which meant a lot of cross country.

Changelings could be anywhere, and everywhere. They likely rifled through her contacts, and placed eyes at the major junctions, rail ways, or roadsides with traps set up. Atleast that is what she assumed, if they were competent at their jobs.

“I hope you girls are doing better…”

She absentmindedly spoke. Ever since the Trixie shenanigans, and the split that caused, she had been thinking of where to go and how to get in contact with her friends again. The changelings had descended on Ponyville, and they could have been recaptured for all she knew. Twilight didn’t want to give up hope though… She just, couldn’t go home for now. There had to be something she could do. Who did she know outside of Ponyville and Canterlot that could help her with this?

She stamped and snorted in frustration as depressive thoughts threatened to overtake her. She wouldn’t let them though. Sure, things looked bad, but she had pulled out of things that had looked just as bad before, she and her friends that is…

She hung her head low, and slowly walked off to the side of the road, and kept her profile inconspicuous. Several hours passed by after that, and she stopped at one point to rest and eat some of what she packed in her saddle bags.

It was uneventful until she heard casual hoof falls approach her. She turned from the daisy sandwich in her purple aura, to look up at this stranger.

The unknown mare stopped close enough they could both get a good view of each other. She had a white coat, and a red mane that had streaks of grey with dark highlights about the fringes, which showed she approached middle age. Her cutie mark was a corkscrew… Twilight’s purple eyes met the other ponies golden ones.

“Can I help you?”

“That is kind to offer, but it looks like you’re the one that needs some help. Are you lost?”

“I’m fine, I’m just on my way to… Filly Delphia! Ya…”

“With no companions? That’s a long way to walk.”

“I uh, just felt like taking my time and seeing the country.”

“Really? Forgive me for noticing, but your saddle bags appear to be full of more books than country striding supplies.”

“… I like to read, besides why so many questions?”

“Seeing a wet ragged soul on the side of the road gave me concern.”

“Well there’s nothing to be concerned about here, In fact I’ll be on my way. Thanks for your worries, bye!”

Twilight stood up, and started to trot away, before she made it more than a few steps the other mare called out to her.

“Why so skittish Twilight?”

That made the purple mare stop dead in her tracks, and her left eye twitched. When she looked back the white mare returned her apprehensive stare with a raised eyebrow. Twilight kept her distance as she spoke slowly.

“I don’t think we’ve met before…”

“No we haven’t, though I looked forward to an opportunity sometime. Celestia does speak so highly of you.”

“Huh?”

“Oh yes, such a bright student, and quite accomplished for one so young. The letters are quite colorful.”

“Wha? No wait, Celestia writes you personal letters? About me?”

“Sure, my friend is quite proud of you, though my opportunities to visit have been relatively limited. Tia is often so busy, as you should know miss Sparkle. And I like to keep things slow and quiet myself.”

“Um, who are you then? I never remember the princess mentioning you before.”

“Forgive me, I’m Shy.”

“Just Shy?”

“Yes, just Shy. How about you come to my place and get cleaned up and properly fed. What on earth are you mucking about on the roadside for anyway?”

“Thanks kind of you Shy, but I’d rather not stop at anyone place too long.”

“Please, I insist. Besides I’d like you to regale me with the current happenings.”

The purple unicorn felt torn, inbetween her desire to stay anonymous and out of sight, and whether or not to trust this stranger, who claimed to know princess Celestia personally.

“Come along, it’s not far.”

With that Shy rounded on her hooves and trotted off to the nearby woods. Hesitantly Twilight decided to follow along and picked up pace behind her

---

The walk wasn’t long and they approached a cozy little homestead on a spacious property surrounded by gardens. The closest neighbors were off in the distance, which made it an overall quiet place.

Shy opened up the main door with her magic as soon as both of them hit the finely crafted porch. The alabaster wood work of the home was capped off with crystal finishing, for an unusual sparkle.

Twilight paused at the door mat, where she tried to wipe her hooves down. They had gotten a bit muddy on her venture so far and she didn’t want to rudely trudge into Shy’s home.

“Don’t worry about it, Roamer and Sail keep the place tidy. If want to clean up first, the bathroom is on the right, I’ll go make us something meanwhile.”

Shy headed off to the kitchen as Twilight took a few tentative steps in. The inside was nicely furnished and had an unusual feel about it too. The large bookshelves that lined the walls caught her attention rather quickly, but she felt embarrassed about her dirty state and decided to clean up before she peered at the titles.

---

Twilight seriously considered if Shy’s thing for crystals went a bit too far. Everything in the bathroom sparkled, and the towels on the wall were made of the strangest material. Does crystal cloth even have absorbent properties?

One shower later…

Strangely enough it seemed to, the material even felt warm for some reason. As soon as she was all squeaky clean she roamed back out to the living room, eager to take a look at some of those books.

Many of them appeared to be very old, and strangely enough, some of them had crystal book jackets and a strange sort of paper. Material noted, she started to look at some of the titles.

Starswirl, a personal journal. Her eyes opened fairly wide at that. Starswirl had his own wide wing in the Canterlot libraries, but she didn’t remember him having a personal memoir published.

Celestia, a purview before ascension. Twilight’s jaw dropped, she didn’t think her mentor had written anything about that. Let alone the book looked ancient, yet still in pristine condition. Her pupils swelled up and she threatened to have a heart attack. What was a book like that doing in Shy’s personal collection!

“I wasn’t sure what you liked so I prep- oh, found something you like on the shelves?”

Shy entered the living room with a tray of dishes, drinks, and confections. She paused when she noticed Twilight’s shocked expression. A small smile spread over her thin lips.

“I heard you were a bit of a history buff, so we might have a thing or two to talk about if you like.”

“How did you-”

“Aquire those books? Well, my friendship with Tia goes a ways back. While it may be fun to brush up on the past, I’d like you to hear what circumstances led up to you being dirty on the road side. Tia hardly described you as a vagabond.”

“Well you see…”

Ch.50 "A Thought, Chase, and a Show" part 2

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.50 “A Thought, Chase, and a Show” part 2

Lightning Dust slowly stalked around the great cloud pillars of Cloudsdale. There had been a paranoid hustle bustle throughout the city since news of the ‘invasion’ had taken place. Public displays of anger and uncouth behavior frequently broke out, accusations were flung everywhere. Those suspected of being changelings were often knocked up and thrashed until they were driven out of town or beaten unconscious. Either result seemed to satisfy said accusations.

The changeling disguised as a teal mare with blonde mane couldn’t help but chortle every time she saw some innocent pony be accused and be put through the ringer for it. As long as she didn’t pick up undue attention all would be fine.

She pulled out a slip of paper with some notes on it. The information was pretty easy to acquire, since one of the census clerks was another vanguard.

“Let’s see, cloud #124 north cumulous lane, belonging Rainbow Blaze. AHA! There we go.”

She found the pillar of cumulous lane, which was more of a tower, but every pony called it a lane. It was nearly a thousand ponies high, but she wouldn’t have to go that far up, according to the address number.

A few other vanguards confirmed they saw a rainbow maned pony go to that address recently, and they had kept an eye on it since. So she had back up if she needed it… But she never needed back up, not her, no way…

Not like any of the other vanguard could keep up with her anyway, flying prodigy that she was. Breaking the vanguard track records between Cloudsdale and the Badlands wasn’t enough for her. These ponies would need to know she was the best too, and after she became a wonderbolt, they would.

When she arrived at the proper level she landed on the cloudy walkway, and started to trace around the block. She went over the scenario of her approach briefly in her mind.

#1 Wait for the pony to show her face. She hasn’t left the building according to the watchers, so wait until opportunity.

#2 when she does exit, engage in short conversation.

- If she has the amulet on her, get her distracted then snatch it

- If she doesn’t have the amulet on her, say goodbye, then circle back and raid the house

# success, and success

“House number one-twenty two, one-twenty three, and…”

As she counted down to the target property, she was greeted by the click of a door. It was just too perfect. Smooth as silk Lightning trotted along the road even as Rainbow Dash exited her house and entered the street. With naturally unintended (totally intended) bump Lightning ‘accidently’ knocked into the other mare. Dash had a pair of saddle bags on and the collision spilled some of the contents.

“H-hey watch it!”

“Oh sorry there, didn’t see ya coming on the street. Oh, and sorry bout you things. Let me help clean up.”

“Naw, I got it.”

“C’mon, I was being blind, let me help.”

Before Dash could protest anymore Lightning stooped over and started to scoop up some of the goods. Her brow perked a little bit as she noted the contents she helped to clean. A bag of what appeared to be extra bits, some canned food. One object caught a particular glint in her eye though, it was red-and grey neck piece, and looked like…

As Lightning reached for it she was quickly intercepted by Dash’s hoof.

“I got that, thanks!”

There was an especially nervous tone in the rainbow pony’s voice, and both of Lightning’s eye brows were raised. It was pretty difficult to not to just tackle Dash right there, and wrestle for the amulet. That felt a tad riskier though, perhaps she should still go for the distract and snatch…

“Hey, you ok there? You’re staring.”

“Huh? oh sorry, I just thought I recognized you. You’re Rainbow Dash?”

“Ya, who’s asking?”

“The name’s Lightning Dust. I think I saw ya at the young fliers event earlier. Pretty rad act there!”

“Ya it was pretty rad…”

“Oh, so I gotta ask then! Are you here to check out the new spots for the Wonderbolts? A whole bunch of ‘em just opened and I plan to take one!”

“Wonderbolts have new spots huh?”

“Yep, like half the team.”

“Cause of the invasion?”

Dash’s tone took mixture of somber and angry. Lightning tried to redirect the conversation with an assuaged tone, while she threw a hoof over Dash’s shoulder.

“Oppertunities come in strange ways, I won’t complain though. So am I gonna see you at the try outs? It’d be awesome to fly next to the rainbow boomer!”

“Awesome sure, but I gotta be somewhere else right now.”

“What?! Why wouldn’t you be applying right now? I mean, you’re like totally bolt material from what I saw.”

Lightning’s hoof started to slip towards one of the saddlebags, and Dash started to shift uncomfortably.

“Little breathing room much?”

Dash started to back away, but Lightning kept up her advance. Only a little, bit, further… Smack!

“Get off me!”

“Hey, no need to hit!”

“Ya know what, bye!”

The cyan mare straightened her saddle bags and flew off down the street.

“Horseapples…”

Lightning cursed and she sped down the street after her. The space was an enclosed one, as the street lanes resided within the giant column of cloud that was cumulous lane. So there was no easy access to open sky for several levels.

Several other ponies were out and about in the streets and Dash and Lightning had a myriad of obstacles to dodge because of them. Each of them nimbly navigated it without issue. Dash made a casual glance backward, and was surprised and annoyed to see Lightning behind her.

“What’s you problem?”

“You’ve got my amulet!”

“Ponyfeathers! Not already!”

Under the realization she was being chased, Dash really put on the gas and flew even faster, Lightning matched her speed, and they flew through the streets in a whirlwind. Other ponies had their papers, drink mugs, manes, hats, scarves, and other loose articles blown out of control.

It soon came to the point where Dash couldn’t go any fast if she didn’t want to risk a collision. The corners were too tight, the by standers too many, and her pursuer was equally nimble. As the rainbow mare hesitated to crank it up, Lightning made her decision already, and had no qualms with increased risk.

In a bend, Lightning managed to grab Dash in a loose tackle. She didn’t managed a good grip, and they both crashed in a separate messy spiral. The tumble that ensued took out several street ponies with them. Both of them, and several hapless victims, had their eyes roll in their heads for a bit while they regained orientation. An idea quickly came into Lightning’s head, and she shouted before any pony righted themselves.

“That rainbow pony’s a changeling! And she took my stuff!”

As soon as the word changeling crossed public air instant agitation overtook the nearby residents.

“What? No!”

Dash was taken aback by the accusation, but snorted incredulously all the same.

“Ofcourse she’d say that! Get her!”

A few nearby pegasi rushed into the situation. Dash’s pupils shrank to pinpricks as she got up to her hooves. She flapped her wings to get in the air, but gasped out in pain instead.

The rough and tumble tackle had sprained one of her wings pretty badly. Her pupils almost disappeared in oncoming panic.

Lightning got to her hooves as well, and noticed one of her wings had a nasty kink. While all eyes were directed towards the accused dash, she worked a little magic. A subtle green spark ignited around her wing, and the limb straightened out within a moment. The teal mare smirked as she looked at her target, who was now grounded and surrounded.

“I’ve got her!”

Lightning jumped on Dash for another tackle, this time with no reservations as she dug at her quarry’s saddle bags. The amulet plopped out and she immediately dove for it.

“No you don’t!”

Cyan and teal mare tugged and wrestled over the neck piece, neither of them really managed to overpower the other, and more upset pegasi were just a wing flap away.

Desperate not to loose the dangerous artifact to an enemy, Dash decided pull hard, and lower her neck to the amulet…

A dozen pegasi dog-piled into the mess with a wild batter of hooves and wings. The cloudy street was stirred up in mist as the brawl continued for several moments. Angry snorts, growls and whinnies erupted from the ball of bodies.

Then all of them were blown back by a powerful gust of wind, and the street was cleared of by standers. A crack of lightning arced across the street, and every pony shrank in fear, then covered their ears when the thunder roared. Mist was all over the streets now and nothing was easily visible, expect for a pair of red eyes that glowed.

“No pony can have it!”

The dark silhouette of a mare hovered above the streets, the fearsome red eyes belonged to her, and her mere presence caused a freakish amount of static in the air. Without another word she flew straight towards one of the enormous cumulous walls, and broke clean through it.

Many ponies dropped their jaws when they saw it, because the walls were meant to easily protect them from hurricane level storms. No pony could break through those… except that one apparently.

A streak of rainbow colored lightning followed the dark mare’s flight path, and colorful concussive booms followed after that.
As every other pony stared, Lightning got on her hooves and brushed herself off. Surprise was as much on her face as any pony’s.

“Well, that could’ve gone better…”

Ch.51 "A Thought, Chase, and a Show" part 3

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.51 “A Thought, Chase, and a Show” part 3

“Hey Applejack!”

Disguised Shade quickly closed the distance between himself and the ‘orange’ mare. She didn’t even look at him as the name was called, which caused him to scrunch his eye brows. So when he was close enough he raised a hoof to tap her on the shoulder.

“Applejack?”

“Say what?”

The mare turned to face Shade and he quickly realized this wasn’t applejack. To be fair, she looked a lot like her… aw, the cutie mark was a peeled orange…

“Nah, I’m not Applejack, she’s just a little further down the hall. I’m her cousin though.”

“Which door?”

“That one.”

“Thanks.”

“Hey, what were you gonna say anyway? Hey! Are you Hedge Tone?”

“Yep, that’s me. Um, I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before.”

“Oh, I’m Peel Press, from the other side of town. Mosley’s my uncle too, said he might have a studio for me to use.”

“Cool, welcome if you choose to stay. I gotta get going though.”

“See ya around.”

With that Peel disappeared into the empty studio, and Shade trotted to the previously indicated door. He stopped at the door and studied it for a minute before he raised a hoof to knock. Before he made contact the door swung open very quickly, and an explosion of pink filled his vision.

“Heya! Who are you?”

“I’m a neighbor down the hall, just thought I’d come and say hi-”

“NEIGHBOR! Sweet! I’ve already got a party going on! Come on in and say hi!”

Before he realized what happened Shade was yanked into the studio, had a party hat slapped over his head, and was blinded by a barrage of confetti, balloons, and streamers. Instinctively his front hooves were raised to shield his face, and his ears pinned down.

“Every pony we got a neighbor! Say hi!”

“Hi!”

A chorus of voices sounded out, and Shade peeked an eye out from his shield of limbs. The inside of this studio was decked out like it was some filly’s birthday party, and several ponies mulled about the open space. As his free eye roamed over the room he was able to identify several of them.

The bundle of crazy that dragged him in was Pinkie Pie, the yellow pony hiding by the drinks was Fluttershy, Rarity lay across a long couch, and Applejack approached his defensive form. There were a few other ponies, but he didn’t need to identify them, he had found the primary targets.

“Sorry if the surprise spooked ya, Pinkie just kinda does that.”

“Not a problem at all.”

Applejack extended him a hoof, he took it and helped himself to his hooves. Inbetween sentences Shade shot out a mental message to Canterlot.

I need fifty able body vanguard to portal here, NOW!

His message was received and he could sense them respond to the command. They would come in discreetly and wait for further instruction. Just as they were trained to.

“Anyway, who do I have the pleasure of meetin’.”

“I’m Hedge Tone, just down the hall.”

“Well nice to meet ya Hedge Tone, I’m Appl-”

“Can I have a word in private?”

Shade cut in as he leaned forward and whispered. Applejack leaned back a little confused at the sudden interruption. Her face soon displayed a larger measure of concern, and she whispered back.

“What for?”

“It’s a message from Twilight, she wanted just you to hear it.”

“Wait, what? What did she want to share with just me for? What can’t be said to the rest of the girls?”

“I’ll tell it to you if we can go somewhere a little more secure.”

“Um, how do ya know Twilight?”

“We met shortly after you split up from Ponyville. She wanted me to give you a message, but anymore details will have to wait. Can you come with me into the hall?”

Applejack’s face tensed with indecision, this was the first news she had of her missing friends. One the one hoof, it was great Twilight wasn’t captured yet…

“Just a sec.”

The orange mare bumped Shade with a hoof, and indicated towards the door. So he turned around and moved to the exit. She moved to follow, but before she went outside herself she tapped Pinkie on the shoulder.

“Heya Applejack! What’s the neighbor leaving so soon for?”

“Oh uh, he just said he needed to talk with me outside for a minute.”

“Okay…”

“We’ll just be in the hallway, then we’ll be right back in.”

“Well don’t take too long, I’m about to bust out the cake!”

“I’m sure I’ll make it in time.”

“Okie dokie lokie.”

With that Applejack walked out the door and closed it behind her. She turned to face the strange green stallion and get some answers.

“Now what did she have to say?”

“You know, you’re not as skittish as I would expect for a pony on the run…”

Hedge Tone leaned back against the wall and drooped his mouth into a slant.

“What do you mean?”

“I’ll need you to think carefully about what you do in the next few seconds. I chose you to come out here because I think you’re the most level headed of your friends. Besides, I wanted to say hello again.”

“Hello again… wait-”

A small wave of green flame washed over Hedge Tone, then Shade was in his natural form. The orange mare opened her mouth to shout, but Shade raised a hoof in warning.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

Applejack kept her mouth open, but she hesitated long enough for the changeling to throw a few more words in.

“If you want to end things now I have fifty of my best vanguard surrounding this location. Or we can talk…”

The earth pony dropped onto her rump, and shot the changeling a nasty glare, then growled through her teeth.

“What’s there to talk about, ya got us cornered. Are ya just gonna toy with us like your queen?”

“Please, you know me better than that.”

“Fine, you were decent once or twice, but I don’t see a point in draggin’ this out.”

“If it helps you feel better, I don’t want to throw you back into a cocoon.”

“It doesn’t make me feel any better…”

Shade sighed at her straight tone, he shouldn’t have expected anything different. Applejack spoke again before he could take the opportunity.

“So what are ya plannin’ then? What’s your point in taking time?”

“Honestly, I just want you and your friends to enjoy some freedom while you have it. None of you deserve to be prisoners, but my queen won’t allow you to roam free.”

“Uh huh, and what kind of freedom is havin’ you changelings breathin’ down our necks?”

“Well, the rest of your friends don’t know that.”

“Might as well, we were runnin’ from yall. So it’s not like we didn’t expect you’d be after us.”

Shade tapped his chin with a hoof, and flicked his tail a few times. Then in a fluid flash his form changed back to that of Hedge Tone. A slight smirk broke over his muzzle.

“Well, can I atleast treat you and your friends to a concert before your freedom is forcibly taken?”

“Hu what? Ya serious?”

“I’ve been making music here for the last twenty years. I was planning on doing at least one show whether I found you here or not. Besides, your uncle Mosley is a great guy, I think he’ll be coming. I plan on talking to him over lunch anyway.”

“Hmm…”

“You can say no, but I’d really like it if you said yes.”

“What about the rest of my family, ya going to lock ‘em up too?”

“I only need you and the other element bearers. Every pony else will be left alone.”

Applejack shuffled her hooves uncomfortably and stared at the floor. Her Stetson tipped over, and she raised a hoof to correct it. Eventually her eyes lifted to gaze at the green unicorn across from her.

“Alright, let me go talk to ‘em and make some plans.”

“Show isn’t until tonight, so take all the time you need.”

Both of them stood up, and turned their respective ways.

“I will…”

The defeated tone in the mare’s voice gave Shade a rather bitter taste in his mouth.

“Sorry Applejack, If could I wouldn’t have thi-”

“That won’t change nothin’. Ya have your loyalties, and I have mine. I understand. Talk to ya later…”

She turned and went back into the studio before he could say anything else. He sighed heavily and walked towards his own studio. Might as well check his things.

The buzz of swarm activity came to his mind, and he was somewhat satisfied to know the requested vanguard had made it. They now flew around the building in pegasi disguises, and roamed the building in various other forms. The element bearers would be watched from every angle.

After the general acknowledgements an order was hashed out. To keep a close eye on the element mare’s activities..

another message from a more distant place made it to his head.

Um Shade head boss sir?

Yes Lightning?

Rainbow Dash got away, she’s wearing that amulet now.

Shade put a hoof to his head and started to rub in slow circles.

Any idea where she went?

Uh…

Good time to start looking then. Take the rest of the Cloudsdale vanguard and start a search. Don’t engage without back up. If round two proves too much, we’ll probably have to call in the queen herself.

Yes sir…

Good luck Lightning.

Yes sir…

Shade smirked a little, she wasn’t quite so talkative this time. Too bad the amulet wasn’t secured, but that wasn’t the primary goal at the moment. Other plans could proceed meanwhile.

---

Lunch with Mosely and Mrs. Orange was great. The oranges accepted the invite to the evening show, so Shade spent the rest of the afternoon setting things up for that evening’s event.

The vanguard that watched over the element bearers reported nothing suspicious. All the mares did was finish up the studio party and clean afterwards. They observed Applejack speak with the other ponies in a group, but that was about all.

Shade had a disguised vanguard knock on the door and inquire about the invitation, to see if they planned on coming to the show. Soon he was mentally messaged back that they planned on it.

The head vanguard smiled in his disguise while he sat on stage. There was a short stool underneath his rump and a microphone a short distance from his face. At the moment he and the other members of his crew just played with the lights and other stage effects they had prepared.

“It’s good to see you back Hedge. I thought you were going to be gone on ‘business’ for a lot longer than you were.”

A purple stallion with a short-cut orange mane approached him. Shade gave a friendly grin back as he fiddled and tuned his guitar.

“Honestly me too Keys, but luck strikes again every once and a while. Good leads equal good times. Sides, how are things with mayor More and the drones?”

“Oh them, dunno. Chat about that has been pretty low key. Rather surprising since all the big news the invasion made.”

“Huh, how have the ponies around here responded?”

“Crime is worse…”

“That’s no good.”

“Guess we’ll just have to work harder to get every pony in a good mood eh?”

“That’s why we do music!”

“Right, I’ll check up on Dawn and Blush, make sure things are ready.”

“Ya, get ‘em to hurry up, show time is in fifteenish minutes.”

Keys went back stage to check on the rest of the band, and get things rolling. Meanwhile Shade let out a sigh of relief, and mindlessly kicked at his guitar cord. It had been too long since he had been up here.

It was the club Mosely owned, and the most common performance site for Hedge Tone and gang. A few hundred ponies could easily fit inside the spacious area, between the dance floor, bar, café, tables and booths. The smell of some good city cooking wafted through the area as well, and it made Shade’s nose tingle with familiarity. Many good times were held at this very place.

The lights were fairly dim, and ponies had already filled the location. Chatter gave the room a constant background noise, and things felt overall quite relaxed. Shade never had stage nerves, in fact being up there was one of the things that helped him feel alive.

The door to the club flew open again, and soon a couple of mares walked right into the club. At the lead was Applejack, followed by Pinkie, Rarity, and Fluttershy. Shade noticed they were escorted by several of his disguised vanguards.

He waved at them to gain their attention, and once he had it, he pointed to an empty booth that was fairly close by. They saw the indicated location and moved towards it. The other disguised vanguards moved off to a few nearby unoccupied tables.

He unplugged his guitar and strapped it to his side before he hopped off the stage and casually trotted over to the booth of element bearers.

“Glad you gals decided to come.”

Pinkie was the first to jump up and say something. She pointed an accusatory hoof at him while she wore a silly big smile.

“Oh hey! You were at our studio earlier! You do music too? That’s super duper cool! What kind! Oh you have a guitar! Electric guitar!”

During her blur of words she started to strum her own invisible air guitar.

“Yep, just one of the things I’ll be playing tonight.”

The nervous yellow pegasus partially obscured by her pink mane mumbled nervously.

“O-oh, there’s going to be a lot of loud music?”

“Don’t worry, most of our music is pretty chill. Tonight we don’t plan on playing anything ear busting.”

“Oh good, I’m a fan of lullabies mostly.”

“Huh, then I have just the piece we can start out with.”

“What can your group play exactly?”

Rarity cut in with a tad bit of curiosity teasing her tone.

“We do everything from classic orchestra to heavy metal and many things between. We pretty much have a taste for anything you could say.”

“Fascinating…”

From the backstage Keys called out in Shade’s direction.

“Come on Hedge, we’re about to start!”

“Well ladies looks like I need to be back on stage. Feel free to order anything you like from the café, my treat.”

He grabbed a few menus in magic and placed them on their table before he scampered off to the stage. He noticed the glum look Applejack gave him, so he shot her a weak smile before he hopped up and into the lights.

There was a good round of applause as stomps echoed out from hooves. All the members of the band waved back and nodded in acknowledgement. Shade was glad to see Dawn and Blush had made it to their respective places as well. After the applause died down Shade cleared his throat and lowered his muzzle towards the mic.

“Alright my good fillies and gentle colts of manehattan, it’s good to be back!”

Another round of applause.

“Great to see every pony’s enthusiasm. So tonight, I’m gonna start with something soft, then pick up the energy as it goes. This one is for a pegasus that likes lullabies.”

The guitar that was strapped on Shade’s side was levitated off and placed back stage, then a ukulele was pulled out as he settled on his stool. Once the small instrument was secured in his hooves he started to strum a light melody, then followed with a drawn out coo into the mic.

(song)

oooooOOooooOooOOoOoOo-OoOoOooo
Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high
And the dreams that you dream of,
Once in a Lullaby
I-aye-I oh, Somewhere over the rainbow,
Beau birds fly
And o those dreams that you dream of
They really can come true
Some day I’ll wish upon a star
Wake up to find the clouds far behind me
Trouble gone away with the ground beneath
High above house and heath
Is where you’ll find me
oooooOOooooOooOOoOoOo-OoOoOooo
Somewhere over the rainbow

When he finished there was another round of applause, and Shade drank it in with his eyes closed. Many dreamy and peaceful emotions saturated the room, and all he had to do was breathe in, and he could pick up a wonderful breezy taste.

He turned to the other members of the band with a slightly embarrassed smile.

“Sorry to leave you guys out, but I’ll need you for the next one. Alright crowd, during the next piece the dance floor is open. Slow dance my pony peeps.”

A number of ponies obliged and hopped up onto the dance floor, and many of them paired off quickly. Shade levitated his guitar back over, and with a casual nod Key picked up the bass, and Blush picked up a keyboard and levitated some percussions. Dawn came forward with a mic infront of her muzzle.

They began with a slow light tap of all their instruments. After a few moments Shade and Dawn added their voices to harmonize and play off each other.

(Shade's lines are purple)
(Dawn's lines are green)
(Simultaneous is orange)

(song)

Dancin’ when the stars go blue
Dancin’ when the evenin’ fell
Dancin’ with your gentle hooves
In a evenin’ gown
Dancin’ in the high street, Dancin’ through the underground
Dancin’ like a marionette
are you happy now?
Ya
Where do you go when you’re lonely, Where do you go when you’re blue
Where do you go when you’re lonely, I’ll follow you
When the stars go blue
Bluuuuuuuu
When stars go blue
Bluuuuuuuu
When the stars go blue
Bluuuuuuuu

Then Blush broke out into a key board solo, and Shade and Dawn picked up again. Magic burst through the dimly lit club area and sparkly little stars of various shades of blue streaked across the ceiling.

Laughin’ with your pretty mouth
Laughin’ with your broken eyes
Laughin’ with you lover’s tongue
In a lullaby
Where do you go when you’re lonely, Where do you go when you’re blue
Where do you go when you’re lonely, I’ll follow you
When the stars go blue
Bluuuuuuuu
When stars go blue
Bluuuuuuuu
When the stars go blue
Bluuuuuuuu

For the finale Shade dropped the guitar back stage and whipped out a violin. As the silver tone echoed through the club as stir of whistles and cheers accompanied it. They rode out the last of the song to a rather lively reception.

Many of the couples had drawn closer together over the course of the song, and a fragrance which changelings appreciated began to fog the air. As nuzzles and cuddles were shared. The band on stage gave a pleased hum as they tasted their success.

“Course he’d do some sappy song…”

Applejack grumbled under her breath.

“What was that dear? Didn’t you like it? I thought that piece with the violin was especially lovely. It was a marvelous idea to accept that stallion’s invitation!”

Rarity hummed while she rested her chin on her fetlocks. Meanwhile Pinkie snored face down on the table top, and Fluttershy stared off into the distance dreamily. Their attention went back onstage when Shade addressed the crowd again.

“Thank you, Thank you for the applause every pony. Now, heh, If all of you would indulge me in one more slow piece we’ll get started.”

There was no objection to that, so Shade went ahead and got things rolling. The guitar was pulled in and violin put away with magic.

After a fanciful twinkling effect and a few strums, Shade sang, but his voice was very different. He lowered it an octave or two, and had a slight twang of an accent.

(song)

I can see your picture, in my mind
A vision that seems so very real
I miss you everynight in my dreams
Time and space will never keep us apart
Your love’s keepin’ me tonight
Even when we’re far away
Your love’s keepin’ me tonight
Until the mornin’ brings another day

Both of Applejack’s ears were perked with interest. Rarity giggled at the shift in performance style.

“Why he sounds just like Eleven Presshoof! In fact I think that’s one of his songs too! That’s some impressive mimicry.”

“Yea, mimicry…”

The song continued, with Applejack’s rapt attention now. Some stirred in her chest, but she couldn’t quite place the feeling.

I can feel your touch like you are here
A perfect love will cast away my fears
I can hear your voice blowin’ in the wind
Your love will turn the darkness into light
Your love’s keepin’ me tonight
Even when we’re far away
Your love’s keepin’ me tonight
Until the mornin’ brings another day
And our love will be forever
Oh yea, it will never fade away

Each of the band members did a little diddle as they did instrumental for a few moments, then Shade finished with the final chorus.

Your love’s keepin’ me tonight
Even when we’re far away
Your love’s keepin’ me tonight
Until the mornin’ brings another day

The song was finished but the group continued to play their instruments a little longer. Several of the dance floor couples were now in close embraces and several quietly made-out. Perfect…

Eventually they broke off and Shade spoke into the mic.

“K folks, my friends and I are going to take a little break, so enjoy each other’s company meanwhile.”

As Shade, Keys, Dawn, and Blush retreated backstage the chatter in the club picked up. Ponies hustled around, and there was a general stir. Food had largely been prepared and was passed around to those who ordered it.

Several dishes made their way to a group of mares in a booth. Even though none of them had placed an order yet. Several fruity drinks were placed for them as well.

Applejack kept an eye on the empty stage for a minute before she turned back to her friends. Rarity had started to repeat a question anyway.

“So how did you come across, uh, Hedge Tone, was it? He and his friends have quite the talent.”

“Oh, um, I met ‘em in Canterlot. In passin’.”

“Well he certainly is friendly! That was very kind of him to treat us to the menu.”

“Yea… kind.”

After Applejack’s words hung there, Fluttershy mumbled out her approval

“I liked the first one, but the others were good too.”

A platter of food was placed on their table. The aroma of buttery baked goodness, scented with garlic and pasta confections caused a certain pink pony to raise her head from the table.

“Yay food!”

She then began to stuff her face, and she gurgled out a few words inbetween.

“Ya –snarf- it was nice music –snarf- but like low beat and stuff –snarf- Sounded something like the Cakes sing to Pumpkin and Pound to put them to sleep. –snarf- hehehe or each other.”

So the friends continued to chat among each other, with Applejack occasionally throwing a glance in the stage’s direction.

It continued like that for a little while. Ponies shuffled around, the facilities were rather busy, and many passed by the booth.

One earth pony mare passed by the booth that contained the element mares, then did a double take as she looked back at them. This mare was slightly older, had a dark purple pelt and well kempt golden mane. A pair of fashionable spectacles rested on her snout infront of her ruby eyes. She was quite tall in stature as well, and approached the booth with a suave smile.

“Do my eyes deceive me or have I found some of the famous friendship mares!”

All the friends in the booth turned to look at the newcomer, most of them wore a mask of confusion, but the marshmellowly unicorn among them shared her recognition.

“Ooo, Mayor More? Equestria’s most fashionable Political figure!”

“Aw, you must be Rarity, such a pleasure to meet you. As well as each of you.”

The elegant purple mare extended a hoof in greeting, to which she was positively received. After the pleasantry was made the Mayor spoke in a concerned tone.

“Whatever brought all of you here? I’ve heard the most distressing news from Canterlot.”

“Distressin’ puts it lightly…”

Applejack humphed.

“Well more like a big ol’ bug pony queen came in and crashed Cadance’s wedding! She was all like ‘I’m going to your love muwahahaha!’ then she started sticking ponies in this nasty icky gicky green stuff, and sealed them up in cocoons. She did it to the princesses, and the guards, and us… Then I remember some bad nightmares, and some funny weird dreams. Then some dark grey stallion pony guy in a funny coat with glasses and silly top hat spilled us out of the goopy gloppy soppy cocoons and was like ‘muwahaha be free, be free!’ and disappeared like a weirdo that’s trying to copy cat mare-do-well or something. Then we bumped into the rest of our friends, but Trixie showed up and was like ‘EGO ISSUES!’ blah blah blah. Then the Buggy queen showed up again, but her guards were silly willy and were like ‘EGO ISSUES’ then we escaped, and ran around, made some quick goodbyes. Applejack picked up Applebloom and Granny Smith, but not Big Mac, cause we don’t know where he is, but then she said she knew some family in Manehattan. Manehattan is a big place and it’s harder to find a few ponies where there are lot’s of ponies, cause we’re still running from that meanie weenie queen, so we came here. Then some pony bumped into our party in the studio we’re staying at, then he was all like ‘I wanna talk to Applejack, just Applejack’ so he pulled her out in the hall for a private chat. They chatted for like, forever. Then she came back in and said that stallion wanted all of us to come and hear him play music. So we came here and he was nice and all and got us this big stack of hay fries, hay burgers, hay shakes, and cheesy hay whiz!”

Pinkie inhaled one mighty inhale after her face had turned blue. She spouted the entire thing in a mere moment or two after all. The mayor held a very stunned expression at the volume of information and speed of delivery. Mean while Applejack concurred while she pulled over one of the hay shakes.

“Ya pretty much…”

The magenta mayor blinked once and twice before she found her voice again.

“Well, if you’re worried about that queen finding you, I can offer you sanctuary here. I have places that she won’t be able to find any of you. It would allow you some time to recompose yourselves and make some coherent plans? It is sorrowful to see our national heroes in such a state.”

“That’s a mighty kind offer. But what do the rest of ya gals think?”

Applejack made a nervous glance back towards the stage, and she noticed that Shade and the band began to emerge from the back stage. The sounds of them testing the mics and instruments started to hush conversations.

“Oh well, we can continue our little chat after they’re done.”

More gave them a quaint little grin before she seated herself at a nearby table. Several burly security ponies shared the table with the mayor, and they in turn looked up at stage.

Several disguised vanguard changelings, which were also nearby, glanced nervously between the element bearers and the mayor. That little interaction wasn’t in accordance with their plans.

“Alright every pony, as I said earlier, we’ll do something with a little more energy. So this next piece is for our spy ponies out there! I bet there’s quite a party going on in the Equestrian Intelligence Agency right now! Hehe.”

Shade kicked a trigger that was on the stage, and several colorful lights started to roam around club and the follow up music created a vibrant atmosphere. Before they really got started Keys gave Shade a kick from behind, then pointed out to the crowd as he whispered something. The disguised green stallion looked to where his friend pointed, and his eyes widened a bit before he reached out for the mic.

“Oh, and it looks like our very own Mayor More is here tonight! Glad you could come and represent!”

A fierce stomp of applause rounded through the club, and the elegant purple mare gave a graceful wave in acknowledgement. She called out back to him.

“Oh don’t mind me, go on and let’s hear your band play!”

“Sure thing! C’mon guys!”

Again, Shade’s voice adopted quite a different tone, it was higher, and somewhat geeky. The rest of the gang picked up a lively beat as they began.

(song)

I moved out to Canter’ recently, with a plain and simple dream
Wanna infiltrate some high-class place, and topple their regime
The pon’s in black with their matchin’ suit cases,
Where every things’ a need to know basis
Agents got that swagga, every pon’ so cloak and dagga
I’m feelin’ kinda nervous, but I’m really wishin’
For an undercover mission
That’s when the green alert came on the tele-scroll
And I turned my spell piece on
Got my rockin’ shades on
And I had my weapon drawn
So I got my hoofcuffs
My dye-a-hide pills
My classified dossier
Tappin’ some minds like
Yeah
Shreddin’ the gunk like
Yeah
I memorized all the enemy spies I’ve gotta lobotomize today
Yeeeeah it’s a party in the E.I.A.
Yeeeeah it’s a party in the E.I.A.

---

I’ve done a couple of crazy things that’ve almost got me banished
Like debilitate some head of state who wasn’t even on my list
Burn that mirco-tome buddy will you
I’d tell you why but then I’d have to grill you
You need a quickie confession?
We’ll start our neural probing session
No hurry on the Ponyville dictator, I’ll dissimilate her later
That’s when she walked right in my gazer sights,
And my brilliance was on
-flash-
And my brilliance was on
-flash-flash-
And another target’s done
Yeah we got our stealth ops all over the world
From Wunduree to Germane
Payin’ the bribes like
Yeah
Pluggin’ the leaks like
Yeah
Interrogating the scum of the world
We’ll break ‘em by the break of day
Yeeeeah it’s a party in the E.I.A.
Yeeeeah it’s a party in the E.I.A.

---

Need a country to stabilize?
Look no further we’re you’re guys
We’ve got snazzy spells and sides
And a better dental plan than the S.R.I.
Better put your hooves up and get in the coach
Or else you’ll get blown away
Stagin’ a coup like
Yeah
Brainwashin’ moles like
Yeah
We only torture the folks we don’t like
You’re probably gonna be ok
Yeeeeah it’s a party in the E.I.A.
Yeeeeah it’s a party in the E.I.A.

There were a number of chuckles, but they were mostly nervous chuckles. The round of applause that followed wrinkled most of that funny jitter though, and the members of the crowd still enjoyed themselves. The song was pretty catchy…

After the rendition was done Shade relaxed his hooves from his guitar, and he peered at a clock that was across the club. It was later in the evening and he took a deep breath.

“Hey crowd, the gang and I really appreciate all the support you’ve given us, but it’s about time we wrap up. Sides, for those folks that wanna stay late I hear we got Flo-Mane coming in. Till next time my manehattanites!”

There was one more round of appreciative applause as Shade and company left the stage. Their instruments were seamlessly levitated and packed away, and they gave a few words to each other before they parted ways.

Soon as he split, Shade trotted back over the element mare’s booth. His brow raised appreciatively when he saw that there were several empty dishes and glasses on the table.

“Glad to see you gals enjoying the food. So how’d you like the music?”

“Oh dear that was marvelous!”

“I DIDN’T KNOW SPY PONIES LIKE TO PARTY! I’ve gotta make a super stealth surprise party now! In code!”

“The first song was nice…”

“How much do you actually know about the E.I.A., Sha- oh, I mean Hedge.”

Applejack’s gave Shade a suspicious look, but he returned it with a smirk.

“More than I can tell you, to be honest.”

“I’m sure… Otherwise the music was nice. Ya should talk like Eleven more often…”

The comment made the green stallion in disguise chuckle dryly. His voice dropped low and picked up an accent for his next words.

“Got a taste for his heavy drawl, do ya?”

The faintest of blushes came across the orange mare’s cheeks, and Shade’s grin deepened. Before the conversation went any further mayor More had approached and gave the disguised stallion a bump. She spoke loud enough to gain every pony’s attention.

“Yes that was quite a performance Hedge Tone, I haven’t heard such a light-hearted take and the workings of the E.I.A. before. I must say that was refreshing.”

“Aw thanks mayor, it was nothin’ too special.”

Shade kept his Eleven accent on, and out of the corner of his eye he could see Applejack blush a little deeper, and glance off in some other direction.

“On the contrary, I’d love to hear when you plan on performing again! You must tell me the next time you plan such an occasion.”

There was a strange glint in the mayor’s eyes, and she subtly walked near the booth, so that the element mares were blocked in. As More continued to take hold of the conversation a shift occurred in the club.

Slowly ponies began to exit. Not so fast that it startled any pony, but there was almost a trance like affect to it all. The body guards that came with More spread out and whispered things to the crowd. In an almost subliminal manner the club emptied itself.

More was careful to keep the attention of Shade and the element mares on her, so that they wouldn’t notice how the club had virtually emptied. The only ponies that remained were Shade’s disguised vanguards, who wore very agitated expressions. More’s body guards approached the table of squatters with stoic expressions.

“I must insist, these poor mares must come with me. Their safety is a priority if Equestria is ever to be kept in balance.”

“Mayor, I’m sure they have their own plans.”

The green stallion became uneasy at the violet mare’s boldness, and he glanced at the four ponies in the booth.

Fluttershy was intimidated by the tone of the conversation and sunk very low into her own seat. The others remained nervous and silent, and confused about where the conversation was going. Their silence didn’t help Shade’s case.

“Well, perhaps you could show them where they could go tomorrow. I mean, we kind of had a little get together planned for later tonight. Ya see I know Applejack’s uncle here pretty well, and we wanted a post show chat.”

“Nice sentiments, but safety really should come first. After all, queen Chrysalis’s spies may already be aware of their location, and planning to nab them in an unguarded moment.”

More gave Shade a knowing look and a disturbing smile. The disguised head-vanguard kept his cool, even though he sensed something immensely off about the situation. He glanced to his left and right, and to his shock. The club was empty, except for More’s bodyguards, and Shade’s vanguard. Who stared each other down at the moment. Shade looked back at the savvy smirk the mayor wore.

“I suppose we’ve reached a moment where we can drop pretense. The element mares aren’t going anywhere, and neither are you, you belligerent spy…”

Applejack attempted to speak up, she didn’t like this turn of events at all. Not that she liked the original turn of events, but she knew what Shade planned…

“Now-”

“Sorry but not a word.”

More cut off her words with a raised hoof. She stared harshly at the green stallion, who mentally rummaged quickly through his options. He mentally messaged the other vanguards.

Time to boggy!

A blast of light erupted from Shade’s horn as his disguise simultaneously melted away. Similar flashes came from the other disguised vanguard, and the mayor and her body guard took the hit by surprise.

A shriek came from the mare as she put her hooves over her scalded retinas, and her body guards also grunted and shouted in the moment of extreme discomfort and disorientation.

Shade needed to take advantage of this before they could recover, so he shouted at his vanguard.

“We’re leaving town, now!”

Several green whirling portals erupted in the air, and the changelings started to vacate the premise. In a burst of effort Shade seized the four element mares in his magic and thrust them through the portal he had just created. Before he disappeared through the portal himself a furious shout caused him to jump.

“I’m going to decorate my desk with Chrysalis’s chitin!”

He turned around to behold a shocking sight. The mayor had grown taller, and gained a pair of wings and a long horn. For a moment Shade disbelieved his eyes, it wasn’t possible…

“How dare she set us back to square one! And you… you’re going to tell me everything you know!”

Changeling queen More ignited her horn in a furious blaze of green. Shade leapt towards the portal as a searing beam of energy lanced out towards him. He vainly tried to deflect it with a magic shield, but the force was overwhelming and cut straight through.

Most of Shade managed to disappear through the portal… much to More’s chagrin.

---

“GAW! MY LEG!”

The head vanguard tumbled out of the vanished portal with a cry. The Four ponies were still disoriented as the changeling rolled along beside them.

The rest of the vanguard was nearby. Most of them looked concerned to see their leader’s left hind leg severed from the knee down, but one of them had a different opinion.

“Don’t be such a baby, it’ll grow back…”

Ch.52 "Hearth's Heart... and how to go Over-The-Top"

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.52 “Hearth’s Heart… and How to go Over-The-Top”

“What?”

Was Crone’s, Vivisect’s and Spike’s collective response. All of them just sat there and tried to make sense of what happened. After several minutes of failure to come up with a reasonable conclusion, Crone just lifted a hoof and tapped the memory well in search of answers.

---

Sly was in view once more. She appeared to be in some kind of private chamber within the crystal palace. Given that the décor was an obnoxious amount of crystal everything. A sniffle caused the observant Crone to look directly at the young royal changeling of memory, and she noticed her face was tear-stained.

“I finished reviewing the well…”

Sly’s voice came out rather raspy, and she wiped away a bit of moisture that collected around her nostrils. Her ears hung low, and her neck curved downward. The long fox-like tail behind her was limp, and showed no liveliness. There was also an absence of any twitter to her wings.

“-sniff- I… I miss dad…”

At that point she lowered her head all the way to the bed, and gazed off lost in thought. Pain echoed in the features of her face as her eyes clenched shut, and more wetness decked her cheeks.

Crone honestly expected the memory to fade out at that point, it was such sentimental drivel after all… But then came a knock at the bedroom door, and a muffled voiced called out from behind it.

“Sly? Are you in there?”

“J-just a minute.”

The mournful changeling managed to croak out. She quickly wiped her face with the blanket, and tried to make her face more presentable. Meanwhile the door clicked open and a white muzzle poked its way through the crack. A single magenta eye peered into the room, and the mare’s soft voice inquired again.

“Is it alright if I come in?”

The blanket was dropped from Sly’s face and she sighed heavily before she mumbled.

“Come in Tia.”

Softly and fluidly the tall unicorn entered the room and closed the door behind her. It didn’t take great perception to notice the changeling’s puffy eyes and inflamed nose. Tia crossed the room until she was at the bedside, then she lowered her face and gave Sly a nuzzle.

“What’s the matter Sly?”

Sad eyes glanced directly at the well before she coughed hoarsely, and her croaky voice broke the tense air.

“Did my mother explain the well of memories to you before?”

“Yes, Crafty demonstrated it to me before.”

“I just finished going through everything in it. I, well, especially the last part, with dad…”

The young royal started to tremble something fierce as she fought to keep her composure. In an attempt to soothe, Tia sat close to Sly and put a hoof around her and cooed to her tenderly.

“It’s alright, you don’t have to hide your pain.”

With the gentle coax, Sly turned and buried her face into Tia’s pink mane, where she continued to sniffle, and let out stuttered breaths. The elegant unicorn gently ran a hoof down the changeling’s ruby mane and over her back.

“Your father had a big heart... Definitely bull-headed about most things, but more caring than most any equine I’ve met.”

She continued to minister soothing contact, and it accomplished the desired effect. Sly started to relax, and breathe more regularly.

“My sister and I owe him our lives, from more than one occasion.”

“He couldn’t save all of us…”

“He did the best with what he had. Sly, I won’t ask you to forget the past. It makes up who we are, but we can move on. Build a life like he would have wanted.”

“I know, but it still hurts. The well is so… vivid.”

“Perhaps it’s best if you sort through your feelings. Take some time before you work the well again.”

“You’re probably right. There are a few gaps I’ll need to fill in. I suppose that can wait till later.”

The changeling nestled a little deeper under Tia’s neck, and the unicorn gave a soft smile.

“I’ll be here as long as you want me.”

Then the memory faded.

---

“Um, so Celestia knew about you guys? Cause I don’t think I’d forget a cuddle buddy like that easily…”

Spike spoke with bemusement. Crone just rolled her eyes and gave Spike a little knock on the head.

“It’s what I’ve been trying to figure out. Though if she knew about our kind I don’t think the invasion would have succeeded. I’m trying to figure who or what tampered with her mind.”

“What?”

“Sshhh. I’m going to keep looking.”

---

The next memory continued in the same place, though by the tint of light in the windows, it appeared to be a different hour of the day. Sly was alone and in view again, and her face was cleaned up. There was a slight swish to her tail, and her wings tittered occasionally.

“Alright, I was going to explain things last time. There were a few things my father didn’t detail very well, so I’ll share what I remember from around then till now.”

She shifted her position on the bed and brought the perspective of the well particularly close to her face, where her yellow harlequin eyes loomed precipitously.

“The well already shows where the well came from, and how my father got into power and ruled. So without repeating his words too much, his decision to expose our kind also exposed our weaknesses. Bitter ponies took advantage by manipulating their own emotions, and somewhere along the lines the windigos were attracted to the whole mess.”

The changeling shifted her position so she was on her back and rested her head against one of the pillows. Her eyes rolled around in thought.

“The windigos ethereal nature made fighting them really impractical. Physical weapons passed through them like ghosts, and most magic they could simply avoid.”

Sly pursed her lips at the recollection.

“Spitting pure love at them proved highly effective, but horribly inefficient. Love was a scarce resource, especially in those days when most ponies resented us and each other. Things got bad…”

She flinched at the end of the sentence, and knocked her hooves together uncomfortably.

“If it weren’t for ponies like Tia and Lulu, we wouldn’t be here at all. The turn in our luck came from some ingenious planning and design on my mother’s part. See, she had studied some peculiar crystals up here in the north. Crystals that possessed emotional conductivity.”

Sly rolled to her side, and appeared to study the geometric ornaments in her room.

“But by the time mom discovered an efficient way to weaponize emotions against the windigos both the ponies and my kind suffered devastating losses to our populations. That was when my brothers and sisters died…”

She rolled to her other side, and contorted her face with unpleasant recollections. Apparently the effect was powerful enough that the entire scene shifted

---

Snow and Ice wrapped its deadly grip around a once vibrant meadow. Crafty huddled near a bush and held a small figure tightly to her chest. The little royal shivered violently, despite how shielded she was. Tears were frozen to Crafty’s cheeks and the magnificent queen held an utterly mournful expression.

A short distance away Avalanche was on the ground and held several small figures between his front hooves. Four young royal changelings all remained still, and appeared to be soundly asleep, but it was a slumber from which they would never wake.

Avalanche, the mightiest king known to changeling kind, wore an utterly broken countenance. He was helpless to save what he held dear.

---

“Uh hem. To say it was a dark time would be a shallow. We had been chased from place to place as we vainly tried to out run the windigos. The ponies had similar thoughts, as they constantly wandered about and looked from warmer lands. Each time a fertile place was discovered, the windigos would soon come in and sterilize it. Things were dire, and it soon became a matter of extinction avoidance.”

Sly rolled upright and actually had a slight smile.

“This is where my mother’s discovery and craftiness came to play. She was able to forge the Crystal Heart from the conductive crystal’s she studied. The device was able to magnify love, hope, and all manner of positive emotions, and emit it in a way that proved devastating to creatures fueled on hate and darkness.”

After the hopeful and confident gleam that soared over the changeling’s face, she transitioned into neutrality, then cringed.

“Unfortunately, even with the heart, we didn’t have enough love to spare. The ponies that were our friends and helped us survive were weak, for we depended on them entirely for our sustenance. We only took what we absolutely had to in order to survive. There was nothing to spare, and the windigos had become strong, monstrously so.”

The young royal sunk even lower into her bed.

“I suppose as you saw, my father took the heart, and lured many windigos to his location. He… He used everything he had, even the love and energy that kept him alive, and used the Crystal heart to burn those windigos out of the sky.”

A long drawn out sigh escaped Sly’s dark lips, and she closed her eyes.

“It killed him, but the storm of windigos were vanquished. All that was left behind were icy shards. Shards my mother calls windigo hearts, which apparently conduct hate fueled magic as effectively as the crystal heart conducts love. We didn’t find a means of destroying them, so we sealed them away, and buried them beneath this empire.”

After a deep inhale, her lids cracked open and her golden rings were visible once more.

“That wasn’t the end of the windigos though. My father only blasted the ones that plagued us here in the north. Down in Equestria and other places the windigos still ran rampant.”

A gentle tap came from Sly’s hooves as she knocked them together absentmindedly.

“After the success we experienced in our region, my friends Tia and Lulu were eager to share the news with the ponies further down south. My mother was too distraught over the loss of my father to go on an expedition with them, so I went with them in disguise.”

In a slow deliberate manner Sly stood up and stretched. Her head rolled around on her neck, she flexed her back and fidgeted with each of her legs. Then she yawned and sat back down.

“The ponies in Equestria were quite troubled, half of them still clung to their petty hatred of each other, but a good number dropped their ill will and tried to make amends. I remember Clover the Clever in particular, he made friends with several ponies in different tribes, though none of them knew how to combat the windigos that plagued them.”

“Tia, Lulu, and I were able to explain what we understood of their weaknesses, and how we fought them. Clover already sketched theories with his mentor, Starswirl, but our supplementary knowledge gave him some key tools. He was able to design a spell used by unicorns, so that their friendship could be manifested in a form of magic. Even though many ponies still hated each other, the ponies that made friends and unified were able to overpower, and beat back the windigos in their own right. The cursed winter was finally banished from region to region, and the land began to heal.”

Sly rested her chin on her front hooves.

“The ponies that stuck with us changelings in the north, throughout the dark reign of the windigos, became the crystal ponies. We learned from each other, and built this empire together. Every building and even the roads are made with a similar conductive crystal, and at the center of it all, the crystal heart, my parent’s heart… resides and upholds us. Ponies and changelings.”

The changeling shifted and sat up right.

“I suppose that covers some of the pieces inbetween and after what my father already explained. Things stabilized and expansion with recovery was the theme for many years. Then came the draconequi…”

Sly shook her head and cracked a smile.

“They definitely don’t have the same lethal intent the windigos but… Oh well, I suppose I should just show you. I was there when they arrived."

---

Equestria, south west province (or near modern day Los Pegasus)

Three ponies trotted along a road that led to a gated city. One was a tall white unicorn with pink mane, followed by a shorter blue unicorn with lighter blue mane, and last was a pale crystal pony with ruby mane.

“Do you really feel the need to go in disguise Sly? I mean the whole windigo issue was years ago.”

The blue unicorn inquired pervasively.

“She can go however she likes Lulu”

The white unicorn chided.

“I’ll considered it when I don’t get scowled at by every other pony…”

Sly gave her mane a dismissive flick, and all three of them carried along.

It was quite a scenic location. The city, Pega, which they trotted next to, was on a mild hill. The wood work of the structures was overall exquisite. Many rare imports from distant lands came through this very location, as well as exports to distant places such as Wunduree.

The sea was also in view, and brought along a pleasant salty breeze to the nearby green fields. As Sly stared off towards the sea she noticed something peculiar at the edge of the horizon. She poked at both her friends and indicated towards what she saw.

“Tia, Lulu, do you see that?”

“What?”

“Huh?”

Slowly building up from the distance, a surge of golden clouds could be seen. Each of the friends looked at each other once more, before they gave a shrug and continued on their way. Sly felt uneasy about it, they moved unnaturally fast. Lulu casually tried to blow it off.

“It’s probably some absurd new import. Perhaps the pegasi fancy colored weather? In any case let’s move to what we came here for. I’m simply dying to try some of that, what do they call it? Pine-apple?”

They approached the main city gates were a few pegasi guards stood post. They checked on exchanges, regulations, and all that other stuff that builds up obnoxious traffic.

So being the casual travel group that they were, Tia, Lulu, and Sly all got in line. While they waited the crystal-guised changeling looked back towards the horizon, and her eyes widened.

The storm of brilliant yellow metallic clouds was moments from being on top of them. Their presence created a large over cast shadow, and sparks of lightning ignited within the glittery columns.

The lightning was odd though, rather than just flash and disappear, it lingered and started to dance in all kinds of unnatural ways. Also the thunder was utterly bizarre, it didn’t simply crack and echo, but made… music? Synthesized alien tones echoed in synchronization with the bone vibrating bass of the thunder.

After the first crack, every pony’s eyes went to the skies. A mixture of awe, confusion, and snippets of fear echoed throughout the inhabitants of the city. The guards postponed their duty at the gate to observe the grand new development. Fully half the sky was now obscured by the phenomenon. The lightning that danced effectively mesmerized those who watched it, and the foreign music caused many of them to sway.

Then out of nowhere, everything went dark. The sun vanished, and even the lightning ceased. A few muffled cries of shock and fear were heard amongst the darkness.

It didn’t last long however, as a new light appeared, and grew in intensity. As the light appeared a deep, deep, deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep trumpet sounded. The air vibrated and a strong gust blew past every pony as the singular tone reverberated through them. Most of them were quite shocked and surprised. Plus the air in that gust smelled like a delectable omelet.

A loud bestial bellow sounded after the trumpeter, and lightning began to flash and dance among the clouds once more, along with its musical counterpart. The source of light and noise resided primarily over the sea, and that is where every pony’s eyes were locked. The mysterious storm halted at the shore line, but the enigmatic atmosphere and source of the strange sensations continued forward.

Movement stirred within the sea, and in the air between the clouds and water. As the motion came closer and closer, individual figures became discernible, and the variety boggled the mind. Sea creatures of every kind from small fish to whales and everything inbetween jumped up and down merrily amongst the waves. They performed tricks and acrobatics that would put any circus to shame.

At the center and source of the light was a very large figure. Brilliant sparkles, stars, glitters, and jagged streaks of lightning echoed and highlighted the creature’s girthy frame. Said creature surfed along a wave that appeared to be underneath its own guidance and will, and where ever it surged, creatures of the sea would jump and dance out of its way.

Behind the head figure was an enormous flock of birds of many varieties. Also in the air were strange creatures never observed by pony kind before? Each of them appeared to be a mishmash of different animals all pieced into one body. The leader was no exception to this bizarreness.

Eventually the giant surfer hit the shore line and the wave of water dispersed. He was finally close enough that the details were distinguishable. Many ponies dropped their jaws as they tried to comprehend what was infront of them.

First was that he was tall, very tall, many times the height of a pony. As he took his first step onto the dry land, the limb he stretched forward was that of an elephant, the next step revealed the other leg to be that of a hippopotamus. A large orca tail swung back and forth behind the giant frame, and as they eyes roamed further up a giant manatee flipper and panda paw were attached to the torso, as well as some comically small webbed wings. The creature’s face had enormous puffy cheeky jowls, and a long whiskery mustache sprang from the muzzle. Adorned his head was a segmented ibex horn and a recurved draconic one. A gigantic poofy blonde mane floated in surreal fashion off his head and neck.

A collective of pony eyes blinked.

In the panda paw, the elegantly plump bodied creature held a large golden spoon, which he pointed at the sky. A cyclone of exotic visual stimulus exploded out of the oversized utensil, and proved to be even more mesmerizing than the strange lightning, which still danced in the distance.

Whole new dimensions and realities of endless possibilities danced before their eyes all in a few moments, and ceased. Then in a loud and cantankerously accented voiced, the creature boomed a greeting.

“Oi! How be the inhabitants of this fair city?”

Too stunned for words, no pony came forward, but continued to gawk. After several moments of no response the giant conglomeration of weirdness made a deep gutty laugh.

“Bein’ the quiet sort are we?”

He made another step towards the city and nearby ponies, each step caused the earth to rumble, and pebbles to dance. Another oddity was that each of the foot prints he left behind caused the ground beneath to become gold.

No pony moved and eventually the massive beast made it to the front gates of the city.

“How bout I get a good look at all of your faces, then we get a proper introduction.”

In one large sweep he clapped together his manatee flipper and panda paw, and in a flash, every pony in Pega appeared infront of the city gates, hundreds of them.

“Aw here we are. All of you be ponies of a good land called Equestria, yes?”

There was a nervous and collective nod of heads.

“Then I give you all the privilege of makin’ the acquaintance of myself… Lord Golden Spoon. The Spirit of disharmony and chaos.”

“Spirit of chaos?”

The first pony that dared say a word stepped forward, it was Lulu. This immediately caught Lord Golden Spoon’s attention, and his large green eyes peered down at her.

“Oi, so you can talk. I was wunderin’ if those nice singin’ ladies had directed me to city of mutes. Glad to see that isn’t the case.”

Golden nodded his head towards the sea when he referred to the “singin’ ladies”. Then he lowered his head, low enough that he was eye level with most of the ponies. His intimidating large head broke into a broad mischievous smile. His panda paw was lowered and he ruffled it around Lulu’s head and mane. She responded with an indignant snort and neigh.

“Off me, you, you thing!”

He just laughed and moved to the next pony, and continued to ruffle along every pony he could reach, and his reach was long. No targeted pony could dodge his head pats. After he messed through a good deal of manes his rumbly bark of a voice continued.

“Oi, you’re a cute little lot aren’t you. Well I’m glad to be the herald of great news. This land, this Equestria… is going to be blessed by my benevolent presence for the foreseeable future. As well as the rest of my kind.”

Other strange creatures that occupied the skies started to descend lower, and closer to the gathering of ponies. None of them were near the size of Golden, but the one thing they all shared was unique differences. The ponies had no name for these strange creatures, all of whom seemed giddy and excited as they were drawn towards primary figure of strangeness.

“You will unlearn what you have learned about this world and how it ought to be.”

Each of the conglomerate creatures began to land, and inspected the ponies their leader spoke to with fascinated interest. Many of the ponies trembled or just gawked. Several ponies whinnied complaints when they were poked or prodded without invitation.

“For a new golden age of chaos is upon you. The draconequi have come.”

Golden’s golden spoon twirled around his paw then to his flipper like graceful baton, before he stomped a great stomp. A crack broke in the earth, and from it sprang golden coins in a fountain like fashion. As the surplus of spontaneous wealth piled up and created a hill out of itself, many of the ponies boggled their eyes in wonderment. Lustful greed made itself apparent in several of their expressions, a few of them even drooled.

In advertisement several draconequi jumped into the growing hill of coins and jewels and showered themselves, and began to otherwise lasciviously adorn their bodies.

“A gift, for any who wish to partake of the kindness of my overly bloated heart.”

With the open ended invitation many of the ponies who had their eyes fixated on the ever expanding prize dashed forward and shouted with glee. Most ponies however remained hesitant. Golden carefully studied the apprehensive members of the party, and wore a fat-faced smile.

“I understand such a silly thing as ornamental riches are not to every creature’s taste. If there is a gift, then I can give it!”

A clap boomed from his upper limbs again, and suddenly all the goods every pony carried were doubled. The stock of everything overflowed. Fruits, spices, exotic substances of all kinds that were the attraction of the city became overly plentiful, such that every pony had access to whatever they could want… if they could sort through the mountain of it all.

Once every pony realized what had happened, nearly all of them were excited, some went nuts with all the new options and immediately started to indulge. Those who still held reservations were a very small minority.

“Pineapple! The giant oaf is forgiven!”

Lulu dove into a pile of the fruit she desired. Tia and Sly stood there and took it all in with a massive grain of salt. The disguised changeling idly kicked at a giant sapphire that rolled by, and Tia looked about with a skeptical gaze.

One particular draconequus noticed that some ponies weren’t joining in the fun. So he hopped over to the tall white unicorn, and poked her in the chest with his lion paw.

“Oh, and what is this pony looking so booooring for? Don’t you know how to have fun?”

He cracked a broad smile, which featured a prominent snaggle tooth. Tia looked back up into the draconequus’s golden eyes, which had peculiar red pupils.

“Forgive me if I believe this is some kind of trick.”

“It’s definitely trick, but probably not what you’re expecting.”

“Oh?”

“Hehehe, I like that way you think. What’s your name?”

“Tia…”

“Mine is Discord! Pleasure and all that jazz. I’m going to make you less boring!”

He reached out his eagle claw and gave one of Tia’s hooves a vigorous shake.

“Whatcha got their Discord?”

A female draconequus popped over Discord’s shoulder, slithered over his arm, and bumped foreheads with Tia, in a much-to-close-for-comfort stare. Their pink manes mingled a bit as the white unicorn tried to back away from the new draconequus.

“Hey! Do you understand personal space?”

Sly stepped forward and poked the female in the chest, which she immediately regretted. Because that caused the pink-maned draconequus to fixate on her, instead of Tia.

“Anarchy knows no personal space! Hahaha, oOooo, whadda we have here?”

Anarchy seized Sly by her hind leg, and lifted her bodily off of the ground. Sly shrieked in protest, and wasn’t able to dissuade the overly inquisitive thing.

“Some creature doesn’t wanna look like what they look like… I declare it a crime against natural beauty!”

The crazy female cracked the knuckles in her amphibian hand before she grabbed the link of a zipper, which suddenly appeared on top of Sly’s pony disguise, and pulled it down. After a quick whiz the changeling hung there exposed naturally. To say she was shocked was an understatement. The pink maned draconequus cackled merrily.

“Oooo, I caught a foxy butterfly in pony’s clothing!”

“Ana, put her down before she gets an aneurism or something.”

A third draconequus gracefully swooped in. Unlike nearly every other draconequus about, his expression was placid, and rather bored. His giant side burns gave him a slightly more wizened and mature look.

“Aw c’mon Ham, aren’t ya the least bit curious. I mean I just found a pony that was a nesting doll for another pony!”

“She probably had her reasons for being like that…”

The upside down changeling looked between the two draconequi, before she heartily voiced her agreement with the calmer one.

“Yes, yes I do, now put me down please… Ana?”

“Aw Ham! Ya got the pony to say my name! How cute.”

Anarchy set Sly down, right next to the unzipped pony suit, and the changeling looked at it slightly disturbed. After a moment she turned back to the two unorthodox life forms before her.

“So… what is all this about?”

She asked in some vain hope for a sensible answer. The one called “Ham” replied in sober tone.

“Chaos.”

“Chaos?”

“Chaos.”

“Cha-”

“Don’t ask a third time please…”

“Um, ok?”

“You know, I’m thirsty. How about we continue this fascinating discussion over a cup of tea.”

Ham picked up a nearby chair, which happen to be lying nearby. Then grabbed it between his tiger and bear paws, and pulled it apart. Rather than being broken, the chair became two chairs. He repeated the process until there were six.

He picked up a pineapple and mushed it around with his claws until it looked like a teapot. With a tap a flash steam began to pipe out of the spout.

While Ham created the furniture, Ana created the dishes. A few gold coins were scooped up and she blew against their tips like they were balloons or something. Eventually several of the pieces were “inflated” into perfect cups and plates. When she finished she called out to the other nearby draconequus.

“Discord! Tea Time!”

In a snap of magic Tia, Discord, Sly, Anarchy, and Mayhem all sat around the freshly furnished table. Lulu remained stealthily inside her pile of pinapples…The improvised teapot floated around and served everyone, before Mayhem cleared his throat and snapped his digits together.

“Fire away…”

---

The scene shifted back to Sly in her palace chamber, where she smirked shook her head playfully.

“Can never really get used to them, but they do have a way of making things interesting.”

She rolled her jaw around and continued.

“We became pretty good friends after that… or more like they wouldn’t leave us alone until we liked them. Anyway, not everything developed in a pleasant fashion. Lord Golden Spoon went on and on with his ‘benevolence’ over all of Equestria. At first many ponies really liked what he did. No pony wanted for anything.”

“The ponies that were the most upset were the ‘nobility’ and others whose social status primarily came from their wealth. Under Golden Spoon wealth pretty much became meaningless. Common ponies loved it, until the ‘gifts’ actually started to become a problem. Equestria basically drowned under the showers of his ‘goodness’. The land has become so buried under objects of indulgence that it’s unrecognizable. Even some of the other draconequi have started to complain.”

Sly suddenly picked up a sly grin, and rubbed her hooves together conspiratorially.

“Which is why Tia, Lulu, Discord, Anarchy, Mayhem, and I have a plan cooked up. Soon, we’re going to get that title ‘spirit of chaos’ off of Golden Spoon, and onto one of my friends.”

“Sly? Heya whatcha up to?”

Anarchy suddenly burst into view, she rode a multi colored cloud through the air like it was a derby car. Until she inevitably crashed into the wall, and the chromatic cloud started to rain muffins of many flavors.

“Aw lookin’ at that bubble of yours again? Tia said something about it makin’ you cry. What are you so into that thing for anyway?”

As the superfluous draconequus spoke she floated over the top of the changeling with the cloud. Blue berry, raspberry, chocolate, strawberry, apple, lemon, banana, daisy, etc. flavor muffins periodically dropped and pelted the young royal beneath. A few of them landed right on the spiral horn and stuck. Sly just sighed, and picked up a muffin with little pink hearts on it, and began to absentmindedly munch.

“Maybe I’ll show you sometime, if you’re able to sit still for an hour.”

“AN HOUR! You’re insane Sly!”

“Oh yes, I’m so terribly insane…”

“Oh, well thanks for agreeing with me!”

“Naw, gu, nevermind. I suppose I’ll end here.”

---

The memory faded away, and Crone, Vivisect and Spike were surrounded by ambient grayness. Before Crone started to search again a mental message pierced into her and Vivisect’s minds.

Every changeling meet at the mountain tunnels within the hour! This is an emergency!

It was unmistakably Chrysalis who made the swarm wide announcement.

Ch.53 "Moves"

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch. 53 “Moves”

-Canterlot Embassy, private side room

King Specter gave Chrysalis an unsure look, before he made his horn glow a dark purple. Lilac flames surrounded a portal that sliced into existence next to him, and he took a step to go. Before he could vanish the queen called out to him.

“Wait!”

“What?”

“Uh, how are the other royals going to come after me? Can they intercept my swarm’s telepathy? See through our disguises? What are they capable of?”

The questions came out in a desperate rush, and a slight panic was detectable in Chrysalis’s shrunken pupils and tense stance. Specter remained nearly placid.

“They won’t be able to intercept your swarm’s telepathy. Not unless they are attuned to your mind. As for the techniques of approach, they’re all different. Queen More would likely unite the nation against you. Queen Monarch likes to be more personally involved, and will likely try direct assassination. I’m unsure of King Armor, but last I checked, he was good friends with Celestia, and will likely seek to restore her to the throne. Though I don’t recommend you stick around to find out how effective they are.”

The queen’s lips pursed and one of her hooves grazed over the carpet. The portal Specter had opened still burning silently in the air. He raised an eye brow inquisitively, in case she had any last questions, which she did.

“What are you going to do then?”

“What I’ve been doing for a while now… remain a specter.”

With that the changeling king disappeared into his portal. As soon as he was gone Chrysalis realized she had held onto her breath, and she gasped. After an aggressive bout of eye blinks she shook her head to come to her senses. She needed to evaluate her priorities, now!

Every changeling meet at the mountain tunnels within the hour! This is an emergency!

First and foremost the swarm needs to be relocated. The Badlands would be unacceptable, especially with the increased need for love consumption she placed on her swarm. She slapped her own face with a hoof and slowly dragged it down afterward. The order to multiply was definitely premature.

Next she would need to know the status of Crone. She bit her lip in anticipation; her sister-clone wouldn’t appreciate direct mental communication, not with her allergy. This was important enough to warrant some discomfort however.

Crone?

Gaw, what’s going on?

We’re not alone, royally speaking…

What!

We’re not safe here in Canterlot, I want to evacuate the swarm to the Crystal Empire. I need to know how our other plan went.

Sombra and Luna have been successfully subdued, Celestia is also within our access. What in Tartarus is going on?

Chrysalis threw a mental image of Specter to Crone. Then explained a little more.

He says there are several other royals ready to kill us. Considering he was able to sneak up on me so easily, we’re not ready for this.

Heh, did you flirt with him?

What? Crone! Focus!

So you didn’t… Good, I call dibs.

The queen clenched her jaw in annoyance, where did this come from? She could almost sense her clone hold onto the image she just sent, and relish it. Was she really so flippant over seeing a living king… After never having interacted with one personally… Crone started to complain before Chrysalis could over-think it.

…I’m starting to get a headache, is there anything else you need before the emergency meeting?

Just get the well prepped for departure.

Already there.

Then I will see you soon.

What else needed inventory… Ofcourse, the elements…

Chrysalis started to tear open a green flamed portal in the middle of the room, before she took her leave there was a knock at the door. The magical rift faded with a hiss, as she angrily turned to the door. She flung it open with her magic, and was ready to be dismissive.

Through the open frame she could see two hippocampi, green and red respectively. The red one held a satchel, and they both dipped their heads in a polite bow when they saw her.

“Your majesty.”

They politely offered. She growled at them in return.

“What do you need? I’m rather busy at the moment.”

“We came to give you a gift.”

The red one offered the satchel he carried. The green one spoke next.

“We’d also like to apologize on behalf of Lethal’s idiocy. That entrance was disgraceful and disrespectful on his part.”

“Granted, but what are you trying to gift me?”

The changeling queen eyed the satchel distrustfully. So the crimson hippocampus opened it to reveal the contents. There was only one item, a golden spoon…

“A spoon… is this a joke?”

Chrysalis brought her lips back in a snarl, she couldn’t afford to have her time wasted at the moment.

“No, this is a spoon from Golden Spoon, the lord of the draconequi, something that Lethal forgot to deliver.”

At the mention of the lightning drake her horn ignited and started to spark bits of light.

“I don’t have time to waste with senseless drivel.”

The door started to close, but a green hoof blocked it. The queen’s expression flared with offense at the action, and the door blew back open. She pointed her flared horn at the offending hippocampus, which floated back a little.

“This is not a gift you should reject your majesty. If it’s an honest gift, which I believe it is, the value is immeasurable.”

The changeling’s anger was barely kept under control, but the serious tone from the green one gave her the slightest inclination that spoon actually carried some weight to it. The satchel was seized in her magic and pried from the red one’s hooves. She placed it on her back then closed the door.

Without another word she seared open a portal and leapt into it.

---

-Crystal Caverns beneath Canterlot

Sombra and Luna were plastered against the walls, opposite of each other. Changeling goop covered every bit of them, but their faces. Several drones fretted about under Colony’s direction, and made sure the restraints were properly maintained.

A dopey grin was glued to king’s face, and he barked at Luna.

“Hey princess emo.”

She blinked then struggled to focus, it was like there was a thick fog in the room or something. She heard words, but it was hard to hear over the ‘warm fuzzies’ that currently danced around in her head. So she just remained quiet. Sombra barked again louder, but still got no substantial reaction from the princess. In frustration he turned to one of the changelings.

“Hey ladybug, you, ya you.”

He managed to grab Colony’s attention, and the little blue-eyed drone gave him a reserved glance.

“What is it? Are you thirsty?”

“No, I need you to get her attention. Can you suck out a little love from her or something, she’s too delirious.”

He indicated towards the night princess with his snout. The head-drone raised a quizzical eye brow.

“Why should I listen to you? My queen wanted you restrained…”

“Because… You get a free meal out of it… and I can, uh, taunt the princess?”

Colony scrunched her eyebrows in a critical manner, and Sombra cursed under his breath, wrong reason.

“I don’t want to listen to senseless squabble…”

She hacked up a large ball of slime into one hoof and buzzed over to the restrained king. The over-sized booger like object bounced menacingly from hoof to hoof.

“Now my queen wants to speak with you, but I don’t particularly care to.”

The blob rolled carefully around the edges of her dark grey hoof.

“A gag would be easy to remove by the time she gets here. Do you really want to give me a reason to put it in?”

Sombra pursed his lips, and stared at the changeling in silence. That seemed enough to placate the drone, and she buzzed back down to the floor. That’s when Luna finally decided to pipe up.

“You say something er, Sombra?”

The grey stallion looked at the head drone and put on his charm with a fang filled smile.

“Can I reply Lady-bug?”

Colony sighed before she grumbled.

“Go ahead, just don’t turn it into a shouting match.”

“Thank you, now princess, I have a question.”

The princess squinted her eyes and hung her mouth slightly open.

“Uh huh?”

“How competent are your guards, and captain? Could they plan something effective?”

“Guards?”

“Yes, your guard.”

“Why?”

Sombra shot Colony a look, and the drone raised a quizzical eyebrow. Then he turned his attention back to Luna.

“Are they good?”

“My sister thought so…”

“Hmm, I guess that’ll have to do.”

The head-drone buzzed up to the encapsulated king, and booped his snoot with a hoof. Her expression narrowed into something quite shrewd.

“Why the questions about the guard?”

The crystal king just smiled widely, and gave an impressive dance with his eye brows.

---

-Country side, Shy’s house

“Ya, that pretty much sums it up…”

Twilight finished her explanation of the recent events, and Shy sat across from her with slack jaw. If she had any tea in her mouth, she would have spit it out.

“Hoooowat? A changeling queen! Took over Canterlot!”

Shy jumped off her seat and hopped over to Twilight, then placed her front hooves on Twilight’s shoulders and gave her a very close, deadly serious look.

“And you said Tia was where?”

Twilight gulped, it unnerved her to have such a serious pony press her face so close to her own.

“Last I saw her she was strung up in some cocoon thingy. I was too, until I was freed, and wandered this way.”

Shy stepped away from Twilight, and brought a hoof up to chin in thought. She turned to the book shelves and rummaged through a number of titles with her magic. Eventually she plucked out a slim black folder off the shelf and brought it close to her face. She sat back down and licked the side of her lip in concentration.

Twilight noticed the title on the front page of the folder, it was labeled “Royal Index”. This pony was just got stranger and stranger, and it didn’t help at all when she heard the red-maned pony mutter to herself.

“Cocoons… cocoons… No, not his style, not hers either. Possibly hizzz no. No, no, NO, NO!”

The black folder snapped shut, and it was easy to see Shy grind her teeth. Twilight, now very nervous, inquired cautiously.

“Shy? What’s wrong?”

The white pony looked up at the lavender unicorn as the dark folder floated back into place.

“No royal changeling I know would do this… Or with that method. You said this queen went by Chrysalis?”

“Y-you know royal ch-changelings?”

“Well, none of them know I’m alive, so the knowing is rather one sided. But yes, I know about each of them, except for this rogue you described.”

Twilight’s pupils shrank to pinpricks and her hooves started to tremble.

“H-how? Even Celestia didn’t…”

“Well, ofcourse she doesn’t. I made it that way.”

The purple unicorn’s eyes started to roll back into her head, but before she could hit the floor a red aura shone around her and kept her afloat. Twilight still went.

“Oh miss Sparkle, I’ve said too much haven’t I. But I’d rather not you fall unconscious, yet.”

Shy shook her head in self criticism. Then glanced over to the shelves again, a jar of ruby colored powder resided there. The glass container was lifted and shaken in her magic, before she pulled some of it out and shot it up Twilight’s nostrils. The reaction was immediate and volatile.

“WAAAHHHH!”

Her eyes opened wide as they could go, and all her legs stretched as far as they could go, and her tail trashed back and forth as fast as it could go, and her ears burned up as hot as they could go. She started to sprint in mid air, since she was still suspended by Shy’s magic.

“WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!”

“I’m helping you pay attention a little longer.”

“BUT WHY! IT BURNS!”

Shy grabbed a blue jar with her magic and shot a blue powder up Twilight’s nose. Initially the unicorn flinched violently for having her nose invaded again, but a few seconds into it and she didn’t complain about the result.

“AHHHH, ahhhh, awwww…”

She slumped in relief, and Shy gently placed her back in her chair. After a few moments to calm her breath, she looked at the pony across from her, her gaze suddenly accusatory.

“You, how can you claim to know about changelings, unless…”

“I am one.”

Shy smirked, and leaned back into her chair. Twilight glowered and slumped back into hers.

“Caught again… Horse apples!”

“On the contrary, you are not caught Twilight. If anything, you informed this old recluse she needs to stick her muzzle out the door more often.”

The lilac unicorn raised an eyebrow.

“Then who are you? How do you know these things? A-and Celestia?”

Shy sighed, and wave of red magic washed over her, which revealed a tall changeling queen. Her mane and tail looked the same, red with a few grey hairs. The unicorn horn became a long twisted corkscrew, and transparent insect wings sprouted from her back.

“My first earned name is Sly. Something I haven’t shared in ages, but that isn’t terribly important right now. I have a proposition if you’d be willing to give me an ear.”

Twilight just stared at the new changeling figure, and became somewhat mesmerized with the fox-like tail that slowly swished back and forth with a mind of its own. Sly spoke slowly.

“I’m going to Canterlot, would you like to come along?”

“To Canterlot? But there’s thousands of changelings there, and, and Chrysalis!”

“Not a problem… I’d like you to be there when Tia is freed.”

Twilight tilted her head to the side, still unsure if she was in reality at the moment.

“Does Celestia know you’re a-”

“No, she doesn’t, and I’d rather keep it that way…”

“But, why not tell her? You’re her friend aren’t you? Why show me what you are?”

Sly bit her lower lip and cast her gaze to the floor, then looked up at the purple pony, who possessed a confused disposition. The royal changeling fluttered her wings once.

“Frankly Twilight, you won’t remember any of this if I don’t want you too. However, I did reveal my true nature a few times to dear Tia over the centuries. But revealing my nature meant I had to reveal other things, things I’d rather remain covered. On each occasion I had to make her forget my revelation. Every time I looked up to the moon, I was reminded why I did what I did a thousand years ago.”

Twilight cringed at Sly’s insinuated threat, but continued to inquire.

“The moon? Wait, are you talking about Luna?”

“I’d rather not spend time on semantics from over a thousand years ago. Do you wish to be there when I free Tia or not?”

“Yes I wou-”

“Excellent, then let us be off.”

Sly got up from her seat, and shifted back into her pony disguise as she approached the door. Twilight hung her mouth open for a little before she blurted a concern.

“I don’t have a good disguise, and how are you planning to sneak through Canterlot and free Celestia?”

The disguised royal turned her head to the side, and gave the pony a sly grin.

“I have my ways…”

---

-Manehattan, the mayor’s office

“CURSE THAT WRETCHED HARPY!”

More slammed a hoof down on her desk, which caused various table trinkets to fall over, and a few pens to roll off.

The edgy queen was in her natural form, and several of her changelings in the room flinched as if they were personally struck. All of them were antsy when the More was angry like this, luckily that didn’t happen often… But now was such an occasion.

“A blinding spell, a gutter-born blinding spell!”

Golden flames licked past her teeth as she exhaled, and slumped into the lavish office chair behind the desk. She raised a hoof and straightened her disheveled blonde mane a little. Then she spoke with a measure of reassurance.

“This doesn’t matter… Now is the time to get this nation into action. Sabotage, come here please…”

The changeling designated ‘Sabotage’ stepped forward, her crimson eyes glinted with the authority of a head-vanguard. She had a rosy mane and spots along her chitin.

“Yes my queen?”

“Organize the vanguard west, south, and north, we’re going to make sure Canterlot is thoroughly boycotted. We’ll starve that fool off her throne. She’ll soon figure Equestria was not hers to take, not at the price she’ll have to pay.”

“Ofcourse my queen.”

Sabotage tore open a portal, and departed the office.

“And Riot, scan the city and purge any foreign changelings from our boundaries. Though I wouldn’t mind if you brought one or two for questioning.”

A large grey-maned sentinel nodded at the queen’s order. His eyes glowed with a silver tint as he mentally communicated with the other changelings under his jurisdiction. When his countenance dimmed he exited the office through the regal mahogany doors.

More Swiveled her large office chair around, and looked out over the breadth of Manehatten with a sullen gaze. It was her city…

“Chrysalis… gaw, you don’t know what you’ve caused. Undoubtedly the others will be planning their moves. But you…”

A little fly buzzed across her vision, and this annoyed her greatly. She seized it in her magic and slowly reeled it in, when it was in reach she pinned it between her two front hooves. Her ruby eyes fixated on the tiny insect she held, it struggled vainly to get away, but it was far too weak to escape. She released it, and the fly buzzed to what it thought was freedom.

With a mental whisper, she gained the attention the last changeling in the room, her head-drone. The sublimation she told him was obvious, but she still voiced a command anyway.

“Kill it.”

The drone didn’t hesitate to give the liberated fly a zap, and it fell dead to the floor.

“Tender, grab some heart-nectar from the stash.”

“Right away my queen.”

The drone turned tail and left the room to fetch the outrageously rare drink. While he did so More opened a nearby cabinet with her magic, and levitated an empty wine glass to her hoof. She idly swiveled it as if something were there. A slight smile came to one corner of her mouth.

“Heh, I suppose I can be grateful you kick started the inevitable Chrysalis. It was only a matter of time until Monarch made a move, and I think you’ll prove irresistible bait. hahaHAHAHAH!”

---

-Germane, King Torque’s private council chamber

The private chamber had one central table and was large enough to accommodate roughly a dozen ponies. Various metallic sheens glinted from the occupants as they shuffled uncomfortably in their seats.

At the head of the table was a large stallion, whose coat shone with steel splendor in compliment to his blue eyes. His rumbly thick accent combined the natural grit of his voice as he spoke towards the middle of the table, where a glass dome resided. He really liked to roll his R’s.

“So ya haven’t made a chat with mizz Chrrrysaw-lis yet?”

Within the glass dome was the faint image of a brass toned mare.

“Not yet your majesty.”

“Hrrrmm, what an unforrrtunate occurrrance Malleable. But, ya did say ya got a brrrief sight of herrr?”

“Only a few moments before some dragon rudely fell on her. After that she just stormed out. There wasn’t much time to make anything of it.”

“Hrrmm, well, I suppose ya can stick arrround and try to figurrre out what else ya can. I hope mizz Chrrrysaw-lis had a good rrreason for smackin’ down on my favorrrite tea-drinkerrr. Otherrrwise my mood may go sourrr.”

“Yes king Torque.”

“Oh, and is Prrrism doin’ his job?”

“To exactness your majesty…”

“Good, I don’t want ya trrreatin’ it like a party over tharrr. Hrrrmm, ya haven’t brrrawled yet have ya?”

The brass mare scrunched her muzzle and looked in another direction. One of her bruised ears laid itself flat in an attempt at concealment. Her posture overall slunk in embarrassment. Torque just barked a laugh.

“Harr harr harr! Well fine, so long as ya only smack each otherrr. Them equestrrrian sorts are too brrrittle to enjoy our horrrse play. Anyway, go back to yurrr feastin’. I’ll hear from ya laterrr.”

“Thank you your majesty.”

The mare’s faint image hazed out with her farewell. The king rubbed the scraggly steel fur on his chin, which caused a slight screech. Then turned to the rest of the ponies at his council table.

“Now Dull Glamarrr ya said somethin’ imporrrtant was found? Go ahead and spit it out, things harrrdly get morrre confidential than this rrroom.”

A stallion with a rusty iron coat cleared his throat and made his announcement.

“Some of our prospectors surveying the lands north of Equestria noticed a crystal city miraculously appear recently. When they approached it, they were stunned to find it occupied. They sent this message as fast as they could.”

“Crrrystal city? Ya mean…”

“They believe it’s the Crystal Empire of old your majesty.”

There was a shuddered gasp that went around the table, and was immediately followed by uproarious conversation.

“That can’t be!”

“Oi, I bet it can!”

More disbelieving statements circulated, but just as many hopeful arguments blustered through the air. A number of the stallions and mares got quite heated in their conversation, and some were almost ready to throw blows. Before it got out of hoof, Torque stood up and stomped on the table. The loud tone echoed from his hooves, and across the table. The room quickly quieted under the king’s fierce glare.

“Orderrr ya selves! Now! Dull, do these claims come frrrom honest ponies?”

“I’d trust them with my life your majesty.”

“Verrry well, wurr goin’ tharr immediately. Everrry pony pack up, I want us to be the firrrst ones tharr. The time has been too long since we last met ourrr ancestrrral cuzzins!”

The table of metal ponies cheered, and stood up from their seats. The was a loud clop of hooves over the table as they united in ruckus approval.

“Now what arrre ya waitin’ forrr? Go get ready!”

The councilors started to exit the room in a rush of enthusiasm, and King Torque stood there until every other pony had exited. When they were all gone he relaxed back into his seat, and let out a heavy sigh. He tapped a glass receptacle on his edge of the table, and the glass done in the center began to haze into focus.

As the council room door locked, the king’s steel-grey coat faded away in a wave of green fire. In place of fur was roughly edged chitin, and his body was thickly covered in it. His bright blue eyes remained the same. When his transformation finished the hazed image in the dome had formed coherently.

A golden stallion with a thick coat and goggles appeared in the dome’s vision.

“Ay, King Armor I suppose you got the news.”

“Aye, I got the news, but why’d I get it frrrom our pony surrveyorrrs firrrst? BY LETTERR NO LESS!”

“Forgive me my king, for there are changelings in the empire already, who are not our own. I wasn’t sure if they could intercept a mental message or not. You know Specter has been capable of such things.”

“Oi, I suppose, still this is a crrrucial bit of info though. How many changelings did ya see tharrr?”

“I counted around a hundred or so, mostly of the vanguard variety. They’re a pretty lean bodied sort, if I didn’t know better, I’d say they were starving before they came here.”

“Walkin’ in the open… This queen rrreally baffles me… Werrre ya suspected by any of them?”

“I received a few funny looks, but I don’t think they’ve caught onto our swarm’s particular scent yet.”

“Hrrmmm, well, be rrready, I plan on bringin’ everrry spare body overrr tharrr. Those crrrystal ponies arre ourr kin. We’ll have to orrrient em’ properrr. And Farrrsight.”

“Yes my king?”

“Find out what poison this queen has been feedin’ our cuzzins. I’d like to know what strategy she’s employin’. Keep an eye out for Monarrrch’s, Morrre’s, or Specterrrr’s filth. We’rre not going to let em’ claim one stone of that empirrre.”

The golden stallion saluted in his glass dome.

“My eye’s are open for you King Armor.”

“I’ll be seein’ ya soon.”

The changeling king flashed back into his other kingly disguise, and left his council room. There was an army to mobilize.

---

-Deep underneath the prench city of Mode

A changeling queen paced back and forth in an earthy chamber. She had light grey mane, and a brilliant orange neck-fin, that had many white spots, and a dark grey outline.

The only other creature to inhabit the room was a blue-maned vanguard, who stood silent, and waited for the queen to come to a decision. The royal’s voice was agitated, but mixed with a measure of tantalized excitement.

“WHAT is this… what IS this… what is THIS!”

She flung one of her hooves about wildly, and smacked a string of chitinous objects that were strung along the wall. Upon close inspection, it was easy to see what these chitinous objects were. Horns, horns of royal changelings specifically, and there were hundreds of them strung up all along the walls as trophies. The queen’s green eyes roamed over each of them, and lingered on some longer than others. Each was a memory, each was a prize.

“Heh, what’s More planning, what’s Specter planning, what’s Armor planning? They want to get back at me, I know they want to get back at me… They dressed up a puppet didn’t they. A neat little puppet that would entice me. It looks entirely too easy. It can’t be. A trap. A trap. It’s a trap!”

Her green eyes lit up furiously and she peeled her lips back to hiss. She snapped her jaws at imaginary foes, and stomped her hooves violently.

She continued her pace about the room, and started to tap the trophy horns with her own. As she tapped along the dried dead chitin, the rattle soothed her. Every little bump reminded her she was strong, she was capable, that her foes would be added to this string, and hung up as more mementos.

She paused when she came across a particular horn, she knew its feel, its curves, its length and breadth. A wicked smile cracked across her mouth.

“Allure, Allure, she was yours Armor, but now she’s mine. Hehe-haha. Seems you’re only good at protecting your own spine…”

The queen dropped the severed horn of Allure, and rifled through the other trophies that hung by the string. She found another horn that was a pertinent match, and her tongue slowly dragged around her lips, as her eye lids drooped.

“More, More, you always wanted more, but along the way you lost your king. You lost Ambition, and now Ambition is also mine. You have nowhere else to climb.”

She dropped Ambition’s horn, and playfully pranced along the other lines, and drummed a wing across the multitude of horns, as if she played the xylophone. She found the last one she sought, and intimately pressed her muzzle against it, then brushed her cheek and face along it.

“Clarity, Clarity, too bad your king was only an observer, a specter… Had he more guts you might not be dismember.”

Her face relaxed from Clarity’s horn, and she gazed over her collection as a whole. She eyed a few empty spaces on her wall with longing. A space for empty relics lay there.

“Only a few more, and then gone with be the sore. You’ll match your missing pairs, and make the picture square. Finally there will be just Monarch…”

The vanguard had remained silent and still during the queen’s mutters. After a few more moments of quiet the changeling spoke up.

“Honestly Monny, must you start rhyming and referring to yourself in third person every time we’re in this room?”

“Shush, don’t mess with my theatrics Fetish.”

Fetish sighed and rolled his eyes, while he waited for his queen to finish. She had idly plucked another horn from the line and started to nibble on it. She hummed with contentment, before she mumbled reluctantly towards her vanguard.

“Fine, tell me what you saw.”

The smaller changeling cleared his throat, and put a hoof to his chest pompously.

“I know where More is hiding, and what guise she goes by.”

“Oh?”

“I stopped by Manehattan the other day to refresh at one of their establishments. Things went funny when I felt a mental magic exercised over all the occupants. I departed with the crowd to blend in, but then I returned to one of the windows to watch.”

“Get on with it Fetish.”

“Mayor More of Manehattan is actually queen More…”

“How original…”

“She blasted off some other changeling’s leg, but failed to capture her quarry. There were a few ponies that escaped with them, I’m not sure who they were or why they were important.”

“Blasting off legs now? More doesn’t treat her own that way… Did you recognize Specter’s or Armor’s stench about the place?”

“No Monny, it was different than what I’ve smelled before.”

Monarch spit out the horn she nibbled on and smiled.

“So it is a new swarm… HA! Hmm, there could still be unseen alliances. But… One more rival has exposed their neck.”

The queen’s eyes flashed towards the empty relic space with a predatory glint. A stimulating shiver rode its way down her spine, and she started to salivate.

---

-The Badlands

Chrysalis dropped out of her portal and landed on her hooves. She targeted the same old chamber she left the elements in a small while ago, right in Shellish’s ribcage. Something was off though, the lightning in the room was all wrong. The royal changeling blinked her eyes, and noticed a heavy number of dust particles in the air.

She glared towards the exit, and daylight was easily visible… daylight, this deep into the canyon caverns? Her eyes shot back towards the bones along the chamber wall, and the place where Shellish’s bones should be. It was unoccupied.

With a gasp, Chrysalis took a step back in shock.

“Who? How?”

Her head turned back towards the light, to Shellish’s empty space, and back to the light. Curiosity pushed her forward, and she took tentative steps. It wasn’t long until she noticed the caverns had been thoroughly… remodeled.

Chrysalis’s mouth hung slightly open, and her wings spread carefully, her steps became even more measured as she soaked in the new surroundings.

The old caverns were gone. She stood on the edge of where the throne room used to be, but was now the midst of a gigantic crater. She was definitely inside the canyon still, but it appeared a large meteor had impacted the area, and made the enormous craggy gorge twice as wide as it had been.

Her jaw dropped at the spectacle before her, and she fell back on her rump and struggled to comprehend how the expanse had formed. The motion to sit down created a small scuffle of noise, which caused another nearby creature to shuffle in response.

The royal changeling hadn’t noticed how deathly quiet it was, until she heard something else ruffle around. When her eyes roamed to the source she saw the drift wood throne of all things. Somehow that old thing had survived? It was in the epicenter of the crater too, and the source of the shuffle sound.

Stealthily as Chrysalis could sneak, she approached the throne in its surreal location. On the tips of her hooves she reached the backside of the monument, and at this close proximity she could her breathing. The thought to leave crossed her mind, whoever or whatever annihilated the canyon was likely on that throne. A flash image of Shellish’s bones crossed her vision, but she quickly dismissed it. There was no way…

She gulped before she slowly peeped around the backrest. She blinked…

And seriously began to doubt if she could trust her eyes. Because it looked like Shellish was on the throne, but Shellish was dead…

The orange-maned changeling coughed a little to clear her throat, then continued to gaze out into empty space. Chrysalis froze as she continued to soak in every detail of this imposter. The curved horn looked like Shellish’s horn, the freckled spots along the cheeks and legs were Shellish’s spots. A brief sniff of her aroma revealed the same tangy scent, Shellish’s scent. Something even a changeling disguise couldn’t entirely fake.

She found no words to say, her brain struggled to come up with a rational response, but failed to. In midst of her comprehension block, she didn’t even noticed when turned to look at her. The older royal scrunched her muzzle a bit as she concentrated.

“Little royal?”

Ok… now it was time to freak out. Chrysalis’s pupils shrank to basically nothing, her wings popped out and beat furiously, her hooves flailed wildly and she screamed.

“AAAHHHHHH!”

Ch.54 "Relocation"

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.54 “Relocation”

Chrysalis did a back flip, and retreated into the air with a furious buzz of her wings. Both of her hooves shot over her mouth in shock and disbelief.

“You’re dead! I SAW YOU DIE!”

The orange-maned changeling blinked, and didn’t say anything. She just stared. The longer the opposing emerald eyes studied her, the more uncomfortable she felt. Chrysalis remained in the air and stared back. Eventually she landed back on the ground, and panted slightly, more from shock than from effort. Shellish broke the fragile silence after a while longer.

“What’s wrong with your horn little royal?”

For a moment Chrysalis went crossed eyed as she looked up to her own horn, then her skittish gaze went back to her old mentor.

“Happened after a bad deal with a bog witch… But… Shellish?”

“Yes?”

“How are you alive?”

“I’m alive?”

Another painful silence ensued where comprehension was attempted, but ultimately concluded with disappointment.

“I thought this was a new lonely realm of Tartarus… I was, somewhere else… It was pleasant, but the memories of it have already faded. There were some fleeting emotions and sensations. Then I awoke here, surrounded by death and emptiness. So, tell me little royal, have you also died?”

Chrysalis snorted at the suggestion.

“I am quite alive Shellish.”

The older royal cast her gaze of into the distance again, and shifted her posture on the throne. She rested her chin on a fetlock, and peered at the slow drift of the clouds above.

The young royal lost confidence in her previous statement, this experience felt entirely too dream-like. She needed more concrete evidence, so she took cautious steps forward. After several tense moments she sat next to the throne, and raised one of her hooves. Chrysalis hesitated before she put the hoof forward, and touched Shellish on a fore-leg. She blinked at the warmness of her old mentor, it was a peculiar warm, hot even.

“You’re burning.”

“You’re cold little royal.”

“I go by Chrysalis now.”

Shellish scrunched her face in confusion.

“Chrysalis? How did you pick up that name?”

“I figured out how to keep ponies alive in slime capsules. The swarm was able to grow because of it.”

“The swarm…”

The simple mention caused Shellish’s tone to go a little cold, and she closed her eyes. She leaned back into the throne and clenched her jaw, her wings went stiff and her ears twitched in irritation.

“So it’s not dead?”

“No, we moved out of here, I rule over ponies now too.”

“Oh? Who did you replace?”

“No one, I conquered.”

The old queen’s eyes shot open, and she stared directly back at her former pupil. The tone was deadly serious, and a little edgy.

“You what?”

Chrysalis was taken aback by the sudden weight in Shellish’s voice, and she croaked a little, but her confidence built slowly over her explanation.

“I defeated Celestia and Luna. I beat an ancient tyrant in the far north. His empire is now mine. The ponies know my face, they know my army, they know what we are. My new subjects in the north are quite fond of me.”

Shellish leaned back, sighed, and placed a hoof over her eyes. Besides the gestures, the old queen’s tone was worrisome.

“Oh my little royal…”

The younger royal perceived the tone as condescension, and one of her ears flicked irritably

“So, Shellish, when were you going to tell me about the other royals? When were you going to tell me how they want to kill each other?”

The older royal’s eyes grew wide and she lowered her hoof. When she did she beheld a very contemptuous Chrysalis who’s wings tittered, and tail flicked. With marked hesitation, Shellish slowly reached a hoof towards her former protégé.

“I’m sorry litt-”

“It’s Chrysalis! I haven’t been any changeling’s little royal for thirty years! No, I’ve been alone! I’ve been queen of the swarm, while you’ve been dead… why are you here now? WHY?”

The vehemence and anger caused Shellish to flinch away, and moisture built in the corners of her eyes. Her posture slumped, and she lowered her head. The blame, the accusation, the sense of betrayal and failure was too much for the older royal to look the younger in the eyes. Her voice choked when she tried to speak.

“I… I only trie-”

Chrysalis stomped on the ground and shattered the crusty surface under hoof.

“THE SWARM KILLED YOU! I SAW THE MEAT ROT OFF YOUR BONES!”

Old memories surfaced and caused the former queen to break. She remembered the terror, the failure… and began to sob on the ground.

Chrysalis stood nearby, and looked down on her mentor. She clenched her jaw and forcefully narrowed her eyes, but the longer she watched, the weaker her resolve and anger became. Slowly her wings stopped their fidgets, her tail didn’t swish as rapidly, and her stance lowered ever so slightly. The furious crease in her face receded.

Neither royal said anything for a while longer, Shellish was too occupied with her misery, and Chrysalis turned contemplative.

A hoof reached out and placed itself on the former queen’s shoulder, she flinched at the contact and cautiously looked up. There was no longer fire in the younger changeling’s eyes, and they shared a look of acknowledgment. After a moment Chrysalis sat herself next to her former guardian. She sighed, and spoke in a relinquished tone.

“That was thirty years ago… But here we are now, and I don’t have the time to loiter. The swarm needs me. I’m… I’m vacating ground. I do have another question, if you feel up to answering.”

Shellish stared at the ground, while she wiped her face and sniffed.

“Go ahead.”

“Did you see any brightly colored stones about?”

The older queen raised an eyebrow.

“Looking for gems?”

“No, they’re called the Elements of Harmony. I hid them here… In your old-”

Chrysalis cut herself off and her pupils shrank to pinpricks as she stared at the old queen, her ribcage to be specific.

“Elements of Harmony? Weren’t those one of Celestia’s old artifacts?”

The younger royal didn’t pay any attention to Shellish’s question as she pushed the former queen onto her back and pointed at her chest. Shellish placated the action, but gave her a strange eye. A moment later with wide eyes Chrysalis looked around the canyon that had become a crater.

“Did… Did you do this?”

She gestured wide all around them to indicate the dramatically altered landscape. Shellish looked around as if she finally noticed the environment around her for the first time.

“Oh… Um…”

“What happened, and why did I find you in the middle of this?”

“I sneezed?”

Chrysalis just snorted at that.

“What?”

“No really, everything was so disorienting, I felt very confused and stressed about it. I was in that nice place that I don’t remember anymore, then I was dragged here. After I saw what was outside I kind of lost my mind, and then… everything became brighter.”

Chrysalis just leaned back and slumped, deep in thought. She was pressed for time though, and after a few moments of indecisive glances she looked back to her mentor.

“Will you come with me Shellish? Back to the swarm?”

The former queen thought about it, then her expression turned stern, cold even.

“No, Chrysalis. I won’t go back to the swarm. As I remember, it was them who ended my life… last time.”

“All of those changelings are dead. I promise my swarm won’t lay a hoof on you.”

The older royal just gave a sad smile, and shook her head.

“I have too many things to sort out right now, and I feel unstable. I’m still not sure any of this is real, and I don’t think hopping into another mess would help.”

Shellish moved to stand up, and Chrysalis did likewise. Possibilities roamed through the younger royal’s mind, but when she saw her old mentor’s pain most of those faded away, and she felt a prick of concern.

“If you need time to sort things out, I suppose you should do that.”

She glanced around the crater once more, then turned back, and touched horns with Shellish.

“Come find me when you’re ready.”

Her jagged glowed against her old mentor’s curved one, and a familiar mental bridge was revitalized. When the link was strong she turned about, and prepared to open a portal, but before she could Shellish echoed in her mind.

I’m glad you're strong my litt-… Chrysalis.

The young queen turned back and saw an honest grin from Shellish, for some reason it hit her strongly, and she turned away. She replied in Shellish’s mind.

I hope you come soon.

With that a portal of flames erupted into the air and consumed Chrysalis where she stood. The older royal was left there alone.

---

-Canterlot (Fancy Pants’s house)

The prim and proper stallion was in his lounge room, and enjoyed a cup of tea when suddenly a changeling queen burst into his room from a ball of spontaneous fire. Fortunately the magical flame didn’t burn anything, but that didn’t leave Fancy feeling any less disheveled, or his tea less spilled.

“By my Monocle! Your majesty?”

The giant changeling lazily waved her hoof in acknowledgement.

“Yes, hello Fancy Pants. I hope you don’t mind me dropping in.”

There was a bit of bite to the queen’s voice, and Fancy chose his words carefully.

“Not at all your majesty. Though if I may inquire, what brought you in? Did the luncheon go well?”

“The embassy? That went horribly. But I have something else to tell you.”

“My sincerest condolences. What happened?”

“That’s not important. What is important are the two choices I’m going to give you.”

“Choices? What choices?”

A sense of dread crawled along the stallion’s spine, and the fur on his next stood on end.

“One, you can stay here, and I’m going to give you the throne. If you do that be prepared for a large influx of visitors. I’m not the only changeling royal around and I’ve apparently upset the others quite badly. Your wife, Fleur, will have to leave, as the other royals will be on the hunt for my changelings.”

Fancy just gulped.

“Two, you can come with me to the crystal empire, and be with your wife, though I will no longer have need of you as a liaison. It’s the safest place I know of at the moment.”

Fancy stared with wide eyes and was speechless. Chrysalis forged a new portal behind her, and began to pass through it.

“Come to the mountain side within the hour, if you don’t, I’m going to assume you’ve chosen option one.”

---

-Canterlot mountain-side

The changeling queen appeared above the tunnel mouth on the blue-grey mountain slopes. Hundreds of changelings had already gathered in and around the tunnel entrance, and hundreds more soared through the air, or otherwise portaled in.

Chrysalis kept her eyes closed as she registered her swarm in the mental spectrum. A few more needed to gather that were here in Canterlot. Others that were spread further out across Equestria made moves, but a few remained stationary. She issued orders to Colony and Shade, and got the rest of the swarm otherwise organized for the event.

Crone hovered through the air, and landed next to her sister, where she took a seat. Her voice was agitated.

“So what exactly is going on? Did he mention details?”

“Specter mentioned a few names and strategies. Apparently their names are More, Monarch, and Armor. We don’t have to worry about telepathic interception, but we need to leave here. I’ve been here long enough they all know about it. Apparently they thought I was setting up some trap for them. However, you would know that’s not the case. I think the Crystal Empire is our best bet right now. The ponies there actually like us, and the location hasn’t made big news… yet.”

“Are you just going to portal the swarm there?”

“Yes, and I’ve already ordered Colony to bring up our prisoners. Apparently Cadance was hidden in Sombra’s crystal abode as well. So we have the princesses and that thorn of a king under our hooves. Also Shade is just making it back, with four of the element mares.”

“How nice. Speaking of which, did you grab the elements?”

Chrysalis’s breath hitched in her chest, but she quickly caught herself.

“We don’t have to worry about that for now…”

“What does that mean?”

“I’ll explain later.”

Crone scrunched her muzzle in annoyance.

“Very well… But if we’re going to portal all the way to the empire then I need a prep.”

“Suck love out of who ever. We need to make this trip as soon as possible. Then barricade entry to our empire.”

The clone-royal sighed and sauntered off, while Chrysalis focused on the remnant that gathered.

Soon the hour was up, and the changelings had congregated in mass on the mountain side. There was a nervous chitter that echoed by the thousands, and the queen’s expression finally resolved. She lit her horn with an ardent blaze, and opened a large portal that filled the mouth of the tunnel.

She gave one mental command swarm wide.

Enter

With that, the mass exodus of the changelings in Canterlot began, and they began to disappear through the mystical magic in waves. As group after group merged into the dimensional rift she watched them.

Drones, Sentinels, Vanguard all passed by. Along the way she saw Colony come in. Celestia and Cadance were still in cocoons, and were levitated into the portal by an escort of drones. Sombra and Luna were still bundled in massive balls of slime and helpless. Some sentinels rolled them along like boulders until they passed through the portal.

Shade hovered in the air, and Chrysalis squinted, her head-vanguard was missing a leg. She would have to ask about that later. For now she was satisfied to watch him escort Applejack, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rarity through portal with an entourage of fifty vanguard.

Towards the end of the line she saw Fancy Pants had come, he stood next to Fleur, both of them looked extremely nervous. A small smirk graced her muzzle as they passed into the green flames. Apparently Fancy wasn’t the only pony to voluntarily come along either. She saw a few various changelings and their pony mates come along as well. The queen wouldn’t complain about extra food coming along…

As the last bits of the swarm disappeared through the portal Chrysalis felt fatigued. Using so much magic caught up to her. She was glad when Crone came by.

“That’s the last of it, come now, it’s time.”

The queens went into the portal and the rift sealed itself away.

Canterlot’s population was now ten-thousand less. The Crystal Empire was now ten-thousand more.

Ch.55 "Anticipation"

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.55 “Anticipation”

As soon as the queens exited the portal both of them fell on their rumps and panted. Chrysalis more from exhaustion, and Crone from her swollen and constricted air ways. They sat on the green grass a while, just outside the main city borders.

They watched their swarm march on into the city. The sound of welcome cheers and hollers from crystal ponies accompanied the body of changelings as they advanced into the city. As the two royals on the hill watched their army migrate further in, Crone piped up.

“Couldn’t you have brought us closer to the palace…”

Chrysalis didn’t look at her sister, while she muttered between breaths.

“Why don’t you cast it next time.”

She dropped forward on her belly, and noticed there was a slight chill to the air. As she looked around she saw the nearby mountains still had snow on them. The empire itself was still mostly green, but the cold shelf had definitely crept closer.

Both royals jumped when they heard Vivisect’s voice from behind them.

“My queens…”

Both of them turned and spoke in perfect unison.

“Yes Vivisect?”

They looked at each, then both snorted and shook their heads in almost perfect mimicry. The tall sentinel just blinked with uncertainty, then continued with her reasons. She tapped one of her temples with a hoof.

“A sentinel keeps speaking in my head. He says something about a pony and a few vanguard that want to speak with you. He says it’s very important.”

“Any names?”

Both royal changelings spoke again with disconcerting unity, and Vivisect cracked a smile.

“The pony is Amethyst Maresbury, and the vanguard are un-named.”

“Where are they waiting for us?”

“Central Square under the palace.”

Both queens sighed at the same time. Then Crone snapped out of their odd and sudden copy behavior. She spoke to Chrysalis while she rolled her eyes.

“I don’t think we should be around each other for… routine tasks.”

“I agree, I don’t like some changeling saying everything I do to the T.”

Vivisect chortled, and both queens looked at the sentinel with great confusion on their faces.

“What? It’s kind of funny.”

Crone and Chrysalis looked to each other for confirmation then addressed the other changeling with one voice again.

“I’ve never heard you laugh.”

The sentinel’s chuckles intensified.

---

-Central Square (under the palace)

The royal changelings leisurely flew towards the center of the city. Along the way they decided Crone could work with the ponies to find accommodations for the influx of changelings, and Chrysalis would go see what Amethyst and a few of the vanguard wanted.

A short stretch later, and with tempered grace, Chrysalis landed close to the center of Central Square. The grey coated mare with ostensibly large glasses bowed when she recognized the queen, and two nearby vanguards stood at attention. One of them held a crystally heart shaped object.

With a tap of the hoof, the giant changeling garnered Amethyst’s attention, and the older mare retracted from her bow. There was a wide smile on the ponies face, and she was a little giddy when she spoke.

“It’s been found your majesty! It’s been found!”

“I assume you mean that?”

Chrysalis pointed at the Crystal Heart that one of her vanguard held carefully.

“Yes your majesty, the Crystal Heart, they found it at the pinnacle of the palace while they flew about. Apparently that’s why Sombra chased off and banned pegasi from the empire… Some strange alarm went off when they approached it, but ultimately nothing happened. All of us crystal ponies were overjoyed to hear that it was found, but we waited to put it in its proper place. We believe placing the heart should be your privilege, as queen.”

As the old librarian spoke Chrysalis noticed a large congregation of crystal ponies had aggregated around Central Square. Many of them bore eager expressions of unfettered anticipation. The queen blinked, and did a double take. Did her eyes deceive her or had the population of crystal ponies substantially altered in color? They seemed brighter, and more lively. She turned to one of the vanguard and asked.

“What has happened here, besides you two finding the heart?”

“Well, my queen, the ponies basically set up stalls and partied it up. Amethyst here was particularly forward with getting their ‘crystal fair’ going since she read that history book.”

The grey mare felt chipper enough to add in of her own volition.

“Yes your majesty I have. You’ll find the population is in quite high spirits! They await your initiation.”

The changeling queen didn’t want to appear unsure, so she seized the Crystal Heart in her magic, and pointedly looked down on the librarian, who just smiled dopily at the central circle.

“Well… is there any kind of ceremony to it or do I just place it in the center?”

The changeling’s words shook the librarian out of her anticipatory daydream.

“Oh, yes, sorry, the only ceremony is that it was traditionally placed by the crystal princess. When you bring it over there two pillars will extend and keep it in place.”

“Very well, I’m weary and it seems the ponies are dying for this to happen. So let’s end the wait.”

It was only a few strides and Chrysalis close enough, when she held out the relic, a seemingly magnetic force seized it and pulled it the rest of the way. Two pillars jutted out of the floor and ceiling like magical stalactites and stalagmites. Intense light illuminated the immediate area, and the thrum of magical radiance hummed across Central Square.

She quickly noticed an additional change with all the crystal ponies. Whereas before they had merely become bright and cheery, now they looked… like crystal? Their coats had picked up a prismatic sheen, and many of their manes sprain up into lively styles. Chrysalis just gawked at the bizarreness.

Then after each of the ponies had become crystallized… they started to bow and touch their muzzles to the ground. As they did so blue light infected the floor under hoof, and radiated outwards across the empire. After the empire was filled to the edge with the blue cadence of light, it all rushed back to the center and caused the heart to rotate rapidly until it was a blur.

The next moment the air was filled with the rush of love and light fueled magic, and a blue sphere of it radiated outwards. As it blew past Chrysalis and over the rest of the occupants of the empire more strange alterations occurred.

When the queen looked at the vanguard next to her she raised both eye brows. The changeling had a stubbly grown mane before, now however, he’d sprung a full length one, and it was well groomed… His chitin and skin also glinted and shined with a refined brilliance, as if he had changed to glass.

These drastic changes encouraged Chrysalis to give herself a once over. Her chitin had also obtained a glassy appearance, her wings a prismatic quality, and her mane rested very different. She also felt a strange weight on her head, and reached a hoof up to find out what.

It was a crown… Which she quickly took off and inspected. It wasn’t the old crown she had lost, but, she could do with this for now, and she put it back on.

After the initial blue wave of radiant magic finished, a new pillar of stark white blasted straight up through the core of the palace and out the top. A rainbow beam shot into the sky then exploded at a certain elevation. Tendrils of color seeped out and reached across the sky. Something that could truly be seen across all Equestria…

Chrysalis barely noticed when Crone hovered by and landed next to her. She had undergone similar changes, but had little unique differences. Both of them glanced south before Crone spoke.

“What did you say about the Empire’s location NOT being big news?”

The queen of the jagged horn cursed and seethed.

“Molt flakes!”

---

-One week later

---

Preparation, preparation, preparation…

After the fanfare and celebration of the Crystal Heart’s placement both changeling queens threw themselves into fortifying the Crystal Empire with mad fervor. The frigid chill of the far north was pushed back with the relic’s return, and working conditions were quite favorable.

In short, the explanation Chrysalis gave the crystal ponies for her sudden return, and desire to make the empire more defensible was this… she had enemies. Enemies that sought to divide Equestria and gain power for themselves. She came to the Empire because she believed them to be the most trustworthy. The reception of this news was mixed, but her projection of confidence was enough to resolve most qualms. She had saved them from Sombra after all…

So in preparation the drones busily dug a moat, and built a slime/crystal wall around the border of the empire. Vanguard constantly projected a field to prevent any surprise teleportations. Sentinels scoured the city for any signs of foreign presence. As a result a few germane ponies were added to the collection of prisoners.

Another notable effect was the Crystal Heart itself. Its constant magical radiance projected hope and love throughout the empire. The air was thick with it, and any changeling could feed simply by breathing. The changes in the constitution of the swarm were very noticeable, and constant exposure over the course of the week had remarkable effects.

First was the lack of fatigue, most changelings didn’t even feel the need to sleep, and recovered quickly from strenuous tasks.
Next was mostly aesthetic differences, the swarm looked healthier and more vibrant than it had ever been. Most changelings sported full manes now, though many didn’t know what to do with them, and left them un-styled.

Last was the fruition of Chrysalis’s earlier order to multiply. She planned for that to take atleast another week, but she didn’t expect the Crystal Heart to do what it did. Everything progressed faster, and by the end of her first week back in the empire…

Broodlings… Broodlings everywhere, over five thousand of them of every flavor. The sheer volume was enough to overwhelm, and the queen’s labor force was cut, more than she would like. To her surprise many of the crystal ponies offered to help tend to the boom of changeling babies. Which she reluctantly accepted, the circumstances had become quite demanding after all.

When it came time to make a census of her swarm however, most of the menial concerns were brought to a screeching halt.

---

Chrysalis cantered along the stairs of the palace in a brisk trot, she was headed to the throne room to deal with the concerns of the day. Crone had taken a long shift and was ready for a break. Inventory and supplies of the empire were accounted for over the previous night.

As the queen moved along her wings tittered, she felt as if she should be tired. The last week had been almost none stop work, but every breath of the fresh love-infused air brought new invigoration. She mentally communicated with Colony as she moved along.

So has the census of the swarm been completed yet? It’s been almost a day since the new broods dropped…

Yes my queen, it is complete. I’ve also done one for the ponies, would you like to hear it categorically?

Tell me the swarm first, what did we get?

Broodling drones, 3648, Broodling vanguards, 373, broodling sentinels, 979, broodling royals, 2.

The queen’s brain stopped, and her jaw dropped, her body mindless continued forward in its brisk trot. She didn’t even noticed when she trampled over some innocent bystander. After a few more moments of mental silence Chrysalis struggled to think cohesively.

W-what was the last thing you said?

Broodlings royals, 2.

The confirmation caused the queen’s pupils to shrink to pinpricks, her trot stopped dead, and her wings and ears flared outward, before she mentally roared.

WHERE!

Colony’s response was much more timid than before.

With me, they’re both right here with me.

Chrysalis didn’t waste a moment peering through the mental spectrum to identify her head-drone’s location. It was nearby, in a lower level of the palace. When the queen pulled out of her telepathic vision, she noticed she was already in the throne room, and had garnered several stares from both changelings and ponies.

When a throat was loudly cleared from across the room most eyes shifted focus. It was Crone who croaked out the noise.

“Greetings dear sister, did you have something you wanted to announce?”

“Come with me. I’ll call Shade in to conduct your business.”

Crone furrowed her brow in confusion as she crossed the floor until she was at Chrysalis’s side. The shorter queen issued a quick mental order to her head-vanguard, then announced loudly to the throne room.

“Shade will come in and conduct business that you would otherwise have with us. We will be preoccupied until further notice.”

Most of the ponies in the room took the announcement with nonchalance. A large part of their concerns didn’t really warrant a royal edict anyway.

Without another moment to waste Chrysalis turned about, and bolted towards Colony’s location. Crone was almost left in the dust since she didn’t expect the urgent pace of the other queen. All she could do was follow in hot pursuit through the hall ways.

“What is going on?”

She tried to ask, but Chrysalis rounded the corner before she could finish the question. This caused Crone to clench her jaws and growl in frustration. She may be closely related to the true queen, but she couldn’t explain this odd behavior.

Thankfully the chase came to a close, and the queen with the jagged horn stood hesitantly on the other side of a door. It was a common crystal door to one of the common rooms lower in the palace. Tired of the strange behavior, Crone walked up to the door and pushed it open.

“Care to explain what’s going on yet?”

Chrysalis remained silent and took cautious steps into the room. With a heavy sigh, Crone followed while she rolled her eyes. As soon as things came into clear view, Crone’s jaw dropped.

In the center of the room was a bed. One the bed was Colony, and cradled up against her were two little broodlings. Actually the broodlings were quite large for newborns, but the feature that shocked them most was their eyes. The double rings of royal irises were there. One infant had blue-green, the other was blue-yellow.

Colony nervously eyed the two queens across from her, and her gaze flicked rapidly from one to the other to try and discern a response. It didn’t take long.

Chrysalis leapt forward to the bedside and let out an uncharacteristic squeal of excitement. Crone fell on to her rump, slumped her posture, ears and wings fell flat, and her jaw metaphorically fell to the floor.

The queen with the jagged horn reached forward and gushed together each of the infants’ chubby cheeks. The yellow-eyed one gurgled something babyish, and the green-eyed one chirped. Then she started to rapid fire questions to a bewildered Colony.

“When were they born? Are they yours? Where’s the father? Why didn’t you tell me immediately after they popped out? You didn’t name them already did you?”

A flux of emotions was apparent in the giddy Chrysalis’s voice, while Crone just sat back and rode out the shock. Colony opened and closed her mouth several times, but nothing came out. Before another barrage of questions could erupt, another changeling’s voice piped up.

“I’ve been Colony’s mate for the last few months, my queen. They were both born last night and she was quite tired after the ordeal. Your conversation is what woke her up this morning.”

Chrysalis turned her head around and noticed a vanguard who sat quietly in the other corner of the room. She blinked, and wondered how she hadn’t noticed him when she came in. He had light grey chitin and a dull blue mane and eyes.

“Do you have a name vanguard?”

“I’m Opaque.”

The queen then turned thoughtful, and she started to rub her chin with a fetlock, and absentmindedly tickled the yellow broodling with a hoof. It kicked and gurgled adorably. Their little pudgy bodies were quite squishy at this stage, as broodlings didn’t have hardened chitin.

Things remained quiet a while longer, Colony and Opaque waited and watched, Crone finally got over herself and approached the bedside. When she was close she lifted a hind leg on each of the royal broodlings. She hummed in reserved tones.

“A future king and queen…”

Crone snorted and took a few steps back, then she abruptly turned about to face the door. With her back to every other changeling in the room, she spoke with a small hitch.

“I…I need to excuse myself, Chrysalis.”

The taller royal made a sidelong glance, and saw her sister’s eyes glued on the broodlings. Without a look in her clone-sister’s direction, Chrysalis waved her hoof in acknowledgement. Crone’s head swung low, and she exited the room to find some place to be alone.

Eventually Colony asked the remaining queen a question.

“What do you plan on doing with them, my queen?”

The giant changeling broke her transfixed gaze from the two broodlings, and looked up to her head-drone. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

“We’ll do what was done with me. My parents were a drone and sentinel after all. So you, Colony and Opaque, will raise them until they begin to speak. Then I’ll take over mentoring them from there.”

Colony and Opaque gave each other a look before they turned back to the queen and nodded their heads. Then something started to scratch at the back of Chrysalis’s mind, a sentinel called out for her.

My queen, a foreign changeling is at our border. He says you know him.

She furrowed her brow at the news, and retracted her hooves from playing with the two broodlings. Colony tensed at the queen’s sudden shift, and a worried look came over her muzzle. With a slight tint to her eyes, she replied with barely contained irritation.

Did he give a name?

King Specter.

A fierce snort came from her nostrils, and she startled the other changelings in the room. She focused in the mental spectrum to locate the sentinel that called, once she had the direction fixed she stood up on her hooves.

“I’ll be back in a minute.”

She trotted out of the room, and looked both ways down the hall. Near the end of the crystal passage room she could see Crone slowly sulk away. Before her sister could disappear she shouted.

“CRONE!”

The taller royal perked up her ears and looked back down the hall, she simply stood there, and waited for Chrysalis to do something else. When she saw her clone-sister idle there she buzzed down the length of the hall.

“Crone, there is something that needs our attention on the south border.”

“Can it not wait?”

“It’s King Specter, apparently he wants to talk.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Last time he came with a warning, his intention might be similar this time. Would you go fly down there and see what he wants?”

Crone let out another heavy sigh and nodded her head.

“I’ll relay his message at your convenience.”

“Thank you sister.”

“It’s what I’m here for.”

The taller royal approached one of the windows and set her front hooves on the sill, in preparation to fly away. Before she hopped off and left, she felt a hoof touch her wing, it was Chrysalis.

“Do you need something else, sister.”

“Crone, the broodlings aren’t going to replace you…”

That made her chuckle with a melancholic tune.

“Ofcourse not, not yet.”

“Crone…”

“Chrysalis, don’t feign my importance. I may share your tastes and leadership skills, but I’m not a properly functional royal. Those two will be more useful than me in a few years.”

“CRONE! A few years won’t happen if we don’t make smart decisions now! We have more than enough enemies already. I don’t need my greatest ally gnawed away from a sense of self depreciation. I hate to compare, but isn’t Luna a good enough example? You know what, don’t reply to that, just shut up and go flirt with Specter.”

Then Chrysalis gave Crone a hard slap on the rump… slaps with hooves hurt… That sent her sister up and out the window with a surprised squeal. The queen with the crooked horn shook her head and bit her lower lip, before she trotted back to the room that housed Colony.

---

-At the southern border of the Crystal Empire

A rather large group of sentinels and vanguard had congregated at the anti-teleportation barrier, which was slightly further than the moat and walls constructed by drones.

Opposite the large group of changelings was a tall solitary figure, a lavender maned changeling king. His veiny purple eyes followed the approach of a changeling queen, who slowly lowered herself a short distance from him.

After a short moment of studying each other Specter raised an eyebrow.

“Chrysalis?”

“Not quite, though I will admit my sister shares a close resemblance.”

“Sister?”

The king shifted in surprised, Crone took the opportunity to take a few steps forwards, and bat her eye lids just so.

“Yes, you can tell apart because she’s a little more battered than me, but enough about her. What occasion brings your gracious presence to me?”

She gave a winning smile and swished her tail playfully as she took another step forward. Specter took a step back, and raised an eye brow.

“The occasion comes from the south and east.”

He stretched out a hoof in a wide arch and indicated the horizons, where he gazed somberly. She briefly looked where he pointed, but soon turned back to studying his face intently. He had such dark lines under his eyes.

“Are you bringing friends?”

She whispered towards his ear. The proximity startled Specter, and he flinched, to find Crone brushed up against him. He put a hoof on her chest, then pushed her a leg-length away. She giggled at that, and traced her hoof over his. He pulled back and cleared his throat before he spoke with increased sternness.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think I caught your name.”

“It’s Crone.”

“Crone? Huh… I find your current behavior an unnecessary distraction. I’d appreciate if you’d restrain yourself while I speak my peace.”

She blew a soft raspberry and rolled her eyes. She picked up an equally stern tone as her face fell into a slight pout.

“Oh please, what are you going to say that Chrysalis and I haven’t already guessed? That an army of free equestrian guards, led by an unaccounted for Shining Armor march up this way. That a rag-tag band of militia, mostly pegasi, are accompany them. That other changeling royals march, fly, and dig their way here under guise?”

“Well, you forgot the germane army marching from there.”

He pointed north-east.

“And the contingent of prench mages hiding over there.”

He pointed to a nearby forest that merged with some distant hillsides.

“Otherwise yes, your guesses are fairly accurate.”

“Then why bother coming to talk? You could easily hide off to the side and watch… Or is there some other reason?”

Crone found herself very surprised when she felt a large hoof wrap around her shoulders and pull her close. She suddenly came face to face with Specter, and their fore-heads knocked together. He gave a quick glance to the nearby sentinels and vanguards before he stared Crone straight in the eye. The king sighed as he brushed past her face and brought his muzzle close to her ear and whispered.

“I’d hate to see you and your sister destroyed… It’s not fair, more or less. The reason you and your sister grew up in ignorance is our fault, the fault of the remaining royals. Our idiotic war has divided us so, and I don’t want either of you to get the hammer because you didn’t know any better.”

The queen sneered slightly as she whispered back.

“Well, that’s very noble and all, but do you actually have any useful suggestions?”

“I could hide you, and your sister. You’d have to abandon your swarm though.”

The last part caused Crone to pull back with a great guffaw, then she gave the king a most indignant glare. Her voice was no longer a whisper when she uttered her reply.

“Are you serious?”

The look Specter gave her was deadly serious. Crone’s indignant glare intensified.

“You really think you could get us to drop everything on a whim? Leaving Canterlot was already a great concession, but what you ask is impossible.”

Both of the royal changelings had spaced themselves apart at that point, and were locked in fierce eye contact.

“Why waste your blood? Swarms can be rebuilt or assimilated, but royals are not so easily replaced. I’ve seen too much carnage over the last hundred years to simply watch the last of our kind throw away their potential. Come with me.”

“No… not unless you can find a way to hide us all.”

“DON’T BE STUPID!”

The king’s composure started to break, and his violet eyes gained a frantic wildness. The sudden edge in his stance unnerved Crone, and she became very self-conscious of her inabilities. When Specter noticed he triggered some fear in the queen he pressed further.

“Would you rather be so selfish and guarantee annihilation of your swarm? Rather than allow them a chance at peaceful assimilation? Do you really want to be a trophy in Monarch’s collection? Do you want to rule Equestria in the open, only to have them scorn you with all but their words? Do you want to remain alone?”

Each question felt like a rail road spike being driven into her heart, and she cringed deeper and deeper throughout the king’s tirade. The last question drilled the hardest, and her muzzle drooped into a deep scowl, moisture started to build around the corners of her eyes.

A flash lightning and the loud crack of thunder brought every equine’s eyes to the sky. The howl of gale winds could be heard as clouds rapidly billowed on the horizon, they were the large plumages of a storm. Upon close inspection, Pegasi could be seen among the folds, as they guided and directed the imminent hurricane.

Another noise constantly rolled besides the thunder, a constant drum, the stamp of thousands of hooves. In the distant hills thousands of figures peeped into view as they crested the peaks. A few flashes of signature unicorn teleportation placed many in forward positions. The gold tint of equestrian guard armor made itself manifest.

The dull roar of marching came not only from the south, but the north and east as well. Soon a glittering host appeared, and shone with glamour in wide variety of metallic shades. The sound of their march was much heavier and deeper, as their physical weight bore a toll upon the ground.

Crone’s eyes almost exploded out of their sockets as she witnessed multiple hosts of thousands surround her empire. In the back of her mind she could feel the nervous chitter of the swarm as those within the empire began to noticed the approaching storm.
Specter’s voice carried a chilling tone.

“I’m almost certain More, Monarch, and Armor are among them. Besides the ponies that obviously have a bone to pick with you, for the possession of their princesses and heroes. Your time is running out Crone… What say you and your sister?”

The changeling queen looked back into the intense, pleading gaze of the lavender king.

“If there is to be a joining… feel free to help defend my empire. I won’t leave my changelings… my ponies… to the hooves of others.”

Specters eyes narrowed and his hopeful expression shattered into a displeased snarl.

“Fool…”

---

-high above it all

A small solitary cloud drifted above the entire scenario. This particular cloud was an oddity, for it was pink, and possessed the consistency of cotton candy more than mist. Occasionally dark droplets of chocolate milk would drip away from it.

Slowly it drifted directly over the Empire, towards the landmark palace.

Drip… drip… drop…

Ch.56 "So Proud..."

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.56 “So Proud…”

-Center of the Equestrian detachments.

Shining Armor stopped his march at the top of a large hill. From his new viewpoint he could survey the Crystal Empire in the distance. There was a large grassy field that separated the prismatic city from the army he had gathered.

Several lower ranking officers were scattered here and there as they kept the legion as a whole organized. Over a thousand of the royal guards were mustered. Another thousand armored guard had been recruited from around Equestria. The most numerous were the legions of militia that volunteered to assist in the princesses’ retrieval.

A great hurricane cloud whirled nearby Shining’s army, and was kept in constant check by a massive congregate of pegasi. The stamp of hooves and the howl of wind kept a steady symphony of sound around the Equestrians.

When Shining Armor stopped, so did the rest of ponies in army in a long chain reaction. As he stood and studied the fields, a tall maroon colored mare strode forward and stood next to him. She wore a pair of stylish spectacles and possessed a luscious golden mane. Her voice was quite somber and serious.

“So, captain, how do you wish to plan this approach? The western militia’s nerves have steadily worsened as we neared our destination, as have some of the royal guards... I don’t wish to over step my bounds, but most of your ponies are having second thoughts.”

The white stallion kept a stony expression as he turned to the Mayor of Manehattan. Her features remained placid and observant, rather unreadable, which added to the stallion’s internal frustration.

“Again, you have my thanks mayor More. I never suspected you had the ability to organize and mobilize so many bodies. Your militia has been amazingly resolved. But this was always a volunteer motion, if any want to back out, now is the time. If their fear out matches their sense of loyalty to our princesses, then they can go back home… and accept whatever ruler comes out on top.”

More raised an eye brow to that, and gently scrapped at the ground with one hoof.

“Captain, are you sure you want to relay the message that way? Is this not the time for your ponies to find their courage?”

Captain Shining Armor ground his teeth, and barely restrained a growl at the irritatingly calm and collected mayor.

“Then how would you go about it More… I’ve addressed the troops several times over the last week. I’ve said everything about loyalty, honor, and duty that I could think of… My eyes aren’t blind, I’ve noticed the shake in many of my soldiers’ knees, the slack postures, the nervous twitches in their eyes and ears… Equestria has been peaceful for too long. The guard has taken a serious blow to their confidence. Canterlot was an utter embarrassment, we were supposed to be our nation’s best, and they wiped the floor with us…”

The captain’s muzzle fell into a deep scowl, and his gaze was thrown to the ground. The grind of his teeth became quite audible, and the rest of his fairly muscular body tensed in a threatening manner. More actually started to smirk, for she saw a deep inner fire in the captain’s dark pupils.

“Let’s be honest Captain… Loyalty, honor, duty… This is not what really motivates you in this endeavor, and that’s not what will really motivate them.”

More gestured at the captain, then out to the rest of the equestrians.

Shining’s left eye twitched something fierce, and he abruptly brought himself up to his full height. Which was slightly shorter than More, who was unusually tall for a mare, but he was still a good deal bulkier.

“And what, mayor, really motivates me?”

More smiled openly at the captain’s barely contained rage. Her tone finally picked up an excited and serious edge as she goaded the energy around her.

“Stop playing games with yourself Shining… Chrysalis, you hate her, you loathe her, and you despise her. She humiliated you personally in front of the nation! She humiliated the guard! She humiliated Celestia herself, and took all of the princesses away! She took YOUR PRINCESS! Now she squats on them in her northern hideaway like a coward!”

“I know, I KNOW! WHAT ARE YOU GETTING AT MORE!”

“USE THAT!”

The tall mayor smacked the captain’s armored chest as she shouted, and emphasized the angry smell of tension and sweat in air. Shining’s horn actually ignited with a burst of magic, he wanted to blast something so very badly. More’s voice leveled out a little, but she still talked with a powerful, almost reverberant tone.

“If those ponies are going to risk their lives, then they better feel damn sure it’s worth it. Make it personal to them, because it is. That is no lie.”

Shining struggled and failed to keep his composure level, the mayor’s words cut apart his professionalism. In a vain attempt, he tried to voice his guard training.

“I can’t risk losing discipline because of revenge.”

“You can’t risk losing moral because your soldiers lack conviction. I’d rather have one pony resolved against his foes, than a dozen uncertain warriors that lack investment in their cause.”

Despite his anger, Shining couldn’t help but crack a bemused smile.

“Pssh, where did you learn to talk like that mayor?”

More shared the smile.

“There’s a reason I’ve been re-elected every year for the last decade. But I think the troops would benefit from hearing you one more time. I’ll be close by if you need reminders.”

“I think you’re right mayor. Perhaps I’ve been holding back too much. It’s time to let the troops feel my fire.”

Shining pounded his armored chest with a hoof as he expressed his vehemence. Then he turned towards the officers under him. Several of which stood attentively closed by, each with different expressions of conviction.

“Officer Precision, rally the troops, I would have another word before we descend these hills.”

“Yes captain.”

Within an hour the body of the Equestrian military organized themselves at the base of Shining Armor’s hill. Row upon row of earth ponies, and unicorns lined up over the ground. They were neatly divided into armored divisions, and the more scant militias. Groups of pegasi that could be spared from storm maintenance hovered over the congregations. When all appeared ready the white stallion stood to attention, as did the officers, and in turn the rest of the army.

Mayor More nudged one of the unicorn officers, and indicated her throat, then to Shining. He nodded then cast a spell at the captain. When he spoke, he spoke with a voice of thunder.

“Guards, militia, volunteers, ponies. We stand on the precipice of the Crystal Empire. Past these hills and fields, lie our princesses… and the cold hearted witch the stole them! That soul-sucking demon and her minions stand between us, and freedom from her terror and tyranny!”

During the brief pause when Shining caught his breadth the eastern militia group, More’s group, erupted into uproarious agreement, and they stomped their hooves in unison.

The mayor took a step back and pushed her glasses higher up her snout. She wore a not so subtle smile, and a faint tint came to her crimson eyes. Then she locked her gaze onto the captain… and things started to get strangely contagious. Shining’s words started to get the crowd more, and more worked up.

“She stole from me! She stole my bride! She stole from all of you! She seeks to steal the love right out of you! If she has the chance she’ll take everything you hold dear and consume it for her bloody pleasure! If she had her way, all of you would be rotting away in infernal nightmares with your souls torn to shreds!”

The army really worked itself up. The eastern militia had started it, but now the rest of the forces continued to stamp, bray, and whinny at their leader’s words. The energy that leaked off the captain started to leak throughout the hills. Even unto the storm in the sky.

“She won’t keep my princesses captive anymore. She won’t be allowed to manipulate us anymore. Her schemes will stop. Her minions will be thrown down. Her power will be taken away… and when Celestia is put back on her throne, we’ll throw that witch to Tartarus, and she’ll burn!”

Off to the side Mayor More closed her eyes. The anger, the desire, it was so very passionate, so… intoxicating. The riled up state Shining worked the equestrians into neared its peak.

“This is my war! This is your war! When we set hoof onto the field of battle, the time is ours! We will make them tremble in fear, and we will teach them what happens WHEN THEY STEAL FROM US!”

The equestrian army became a thunderous cacophony. The sound of their stamps and roars was deafening. The ruckus was so great that it could be heard from a great distance off, even to the ears of the denizens of the Crystal Empire.

“Equestria! With me!”

Shining Armor called with his amplified voice to rally the ponies in front of him. Then he turned about, and began the march once more. The march from the hills and into the plains would bring them to the fringes of the empire.

Mayor More opened her eyes again, and wore a deep, devious smile. She remained at the top of the hill, and watched as an army of cantankerous angry equestrians marched towards the empire… towards a rival royal.

---

The sound of distant thunder caused Chrysalis’s ears to perk, and she set down the blue-eyed royal broodling she played with. Her sudden stiffness caused Colony to become uneasy, and the drone lowered her head.

“What was that?”

The thunder increased, and sounded like a distant chant. The queen stood up from the bedside, and with a very serious look to her head-drone, she spoke.

“No matter what happens. Keep them safe. Be ready in case I tell you to flee.”

Chrysalis gave a quick tap to her noggin, and Colony nodded in return. The drone’s breath had notably picked up however, and the queen felt torn when she turned to go. With a final glance at the broodlings she left the room, and sprinted towards a palace exit.

The anti-teleportation field set up by her vanguard would also disrupt portal conjuration, so she would need to fly there.

As soon as she reached a window she leapt out, and buzzed furiously with her wings, and bolted for where she had last told Crone to go. To close the distance even faster she burned love reserves and increased her physicality many times over. Soon she was a dark whiz in the sky.

The breadth of the Crystal Empire blurred before her in what felt like moments. She slowed once she neared the wall, and when she did so there was a great bustle to witness. The walls and ground around it scurried with activity. Spare drones, vanguard, and sentinels rushed about the fortifications with fervor.

To make sense of the mess Chrysalis opted into the mental spectrum, to try and find Crone’s signature, which she did easily enough. It was quick and easy matter to close the distance. She was just behind the wall.

The queen landed next to her sister with a thud, and quickly noticed a certain changeling king was there as well. Both of them eyed her as she made her entrance.

“The real Chrysalis I presume?”

Specter’s tone carried a fair bit of harshness to it, which instantly brought a frown to her muzzle.

“If you’re the real Specter…”

The tall king let out a sigh, and nodded his head, his tone was far more amiable the second time.

“I’ve been trying to talk your sister out of her misgui-”

“He wants us to abandon the swarm and go with him.”

Crone quickly interrupted, and caused Chrysalis’s eyes to go wide with surprise, her wings even jutted out defensively.

“What?”

Specter raised his voice, irritated at Crone’s outburst.

“To stay would mean death. The other royals have gathered against you. The equestrians, germane, and a contingent of prench have gathered against you. They figured out your retreat for what it was… A sign of vulnerability, and they plan to capitalize on it… I offer the way of least bloodshed. I know our basis for trust is thin, but your other options are far worse.”

“But you would require us to abandon our swarm?”

“I could make space for a few favored servants. But I really believe this is for your swarm’s best interest. Your enemies want you, not your underlings. They’ll give them a fair chance at re-integration. It was a common practice for widowed swarms not too long ago.”

“Widowed swarms?”

“Swarms that lost their royals. But our time is short. Your sister has refused, but will you see reason?”

The queen with the jagged horn bit her lower lip. Her mind flashed almost instantly to the two royal broodlings back in the palace. Her voice was filled with trepidation.

“What about Celestia and Luna? They will hunt us down.”

“I know places they will never find you. In a few decades, this will all blow over and they can forget about it.”

Chrysalis’s gaze flickered with uncertainty, and her tail picked up a particularly nervous twitch. Crone saw this and her brow furrowed angrily, she pulled her sister close and whispered into her ear.

“You’re not going to consider that are you? He already called me a fool… In turn that means he thinks you’re a fool too. If we go with him, he’s going to treat us like juveniles; he’s going to make us dependent on him. Can’t you see this is just a conniving ploy on his part, to get two young royals on his side? If he doesn’t care about our swarm, then he doesn’t really care about us.”

“…But the broodlings Crone.”

“What about them?”

“I’m not sure we can guarantee their safety.”

Chrysalis closed her eyes and emotion started to rile up through her throat to her face. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be… Royal broodlings had finally come, but why did it have to be right before an oncoming catastrophe?

---

-The Germane battle company

King Torque trotted along at the front of his army, which numbered in the thousands. All of them were armored head to hoof in the finest craft.

Not that the ponies of germane really needed armor to resist blades, their coats and flesh were already durable as spring steel. No, the armor they wore was composed of null-iron, a substance which proved particularly resilient against magic. It was unpopular in Equestria because contact also removed the wearer’s ability to use magic. This meant unicorns couldn’t cast spells, pegasi couldn’t fly or manipulate weather, and earth ponies would lose much of their strength if they tried to wear it. The germane, who weren’t magically inclined, didn’t find that much of a drawback.

The giant germane king tilted his head towards the south, where the equestrians could be heard making a loud ruckus. Also the thunder and lightning strikes under their conjured hurricane proved to be quite a distraction. So he bellowed out an order.

“Generrral Welding, interrrcept the equestrrrians. I don’t want them doing something they’ll rrregret.”

“Right away your majesty.”

An armored mare to the king’s side signaled a few of her subordinates. Soon a several germane runners were off, and sprinted towards the equestrian forces.

Meanwhile the rest of the battle company rounded about, and followed the runners course, albeit much slower. This was heralded by the sound of powerful war-horns to reorganize their force. When the instruments sounded, every metallic-born pony swiveled with uncanny unity.

The unified stamp of germane hooves echoed loudly, loud enough to compete with the battle chant and thunder of the equestrians. For each germane pony stomped with the weight and mass of many non-metal ponies.

Torque eyed the fields around him in another brief assessment. He was head and neck taller than any pony in his army, so they didn’t obscured much of what he saw. His vision roamed from the great spire atop the crystal palace, to the walls that were freshly built around the empire, and finally to the other advancing army.

It appeared the bulk of the equestrian force had leveled out into the plains, and fast approached the walls. The runners general Welding had sent blew their shrill high pitched horns, and successfully garnered the attention of the equestrian force.

The germane king was pleased to see the other army slow and stop. The swirl of a hurricane also ceased its advance, and now hung at the edge of the empire, as a great dark menace.

Soon the distance was closed, and Torque, at the head of his army approached the middle ground. He put on a broad comfortable smile when he saw a small bands of Equestria’s leaders come forward. Torque signaled Welding to come to his side, then the two of them advanced toward the field meeting. When they were within distinguishable distances, King Torque recognized the equestrian captain, and bellowed out with his deep reverberant voice.

“Grrreetings, captain Shining Arrrmorrr. I must say I’m surrrprised to see ya. Last I hearrrd you werrre capturrred.”

Two other officers of the royal guard stood next to Shining Armor, and the captain collected himself before he replied.

“King Torque, what are you doing here? With the rest of germane behind you no less.”

“Oi, I imagine somethin’ similar to what yourrr doin’. I’ve come forrr some rrreclamation.”

“I would gladly accept you as an ally then. I think that would embolden both of our ponies greatly.”

“Aye, that sounds nice an’ all, but tharrr be one thing I’d like ya to do firrrst.”

Shining just raised an eyebrow in response. Torque’s expression suddenly went from kindly and amiable, to harsh and threatening. He stomped a hoof, and caused a ripple in the ground that made every nearby pony jump.

“CALL OFF THAT FRRRAG BLASTED STORRRM! The crrrystal ponies are family to me and my ponies. After a thousand years we finally have the opperrrtunity to be family again. If you think about throwing that storrrm in tharrr like some senseless baffoon, queen Chrrrysaw-lis will be the least of yurrr prrroblems.”

The germane king stretched his body to its full stature, and towered over every other pony in that meeting. Despite the intimidation, Shining kept himself steeled, his tone was quite serious as well, but his voice didn’t carry with the same volume or magnitude.

“I have one priority, king Torque, and that is to retrieve my princesses. I don’t want to use the storm if I don’t have to, but I will keep my options available.”

“If yurrr so inclined to keep yurrr options open, then let’s see if we can get Chrrrysaw-lis to talk. Afterrr all the parrrrading you and I have done, she might feel inclined to come to terrrms.”

“Talk?”

The alabaster captain’s expression fell into a dark scowl.

“She’s already said everything she needs to with her previous actions.”

“Slow down Mrrr. Armorrr. Beforrre ya go barrrgin’ in, ya need to considerrr it first. She could have the prrrincesses ready to be executed if you set a hoof into herrr domain. Then ya would lose yurrr purrrpose bein’ herrre.”

“She could have done that a while ago if she wanted… horse apples, she could have done that to me if she wanted. I don’t think she will, I don’t think she’d dare.”

“An animal is most dangerrrous when it’s corrrnerrred Captain. I won’t rrrisk spilling unnecessarrry blood. Stand herrre if ya like, but I demand time to speak with this queen. If ya won’t wait, then I think we betterrr resolve our differrrences rrright now.”

A precarious, deadly edge danced in the expressions between the two stallions, and a long stretch of silence stood between them.
In the background the equestrian army was still riled up, and complaints started to build the longer they held their ground. Thunder rattled endlessly from the stalled out storm. Meanwhile the germane stood still at attention, a wall of iron clad statues ready to charge at a moment’s notice.

---

-nearby woods scattered amongst the hills.

Hidden amongst the brush and foliage was a fairly small group, a few were changelings, and a few were changelings disguised as prench ponies. Close to the back was a large changeling queen, her bright orange neck fin stood tall and proud, and her silver mane hung long and straight.

She sat on her rump, her horn aglow, and several long sharp objects were manipulated carefully with her arcane touch.

A blue maned vanguard stood silently at attention. He shifted his eyes from their natural teal state, to the golden orbs of eagle eyes. With the increased perception he spied through the slivers of vision permitted by the woods.

“So who are the targets then? Are we aiming for all of their leadership?”

The large queen gave her servant an odd look, something between a smirk and straight face.

“We’re not here to kill any ponies Fetish. We’re waiting for any one of my old friends to show themselves. When a target is confirmed, I’ll feel free to strike.”

One of the sharp objects, which appeared similar to a spear head, glowed brightly under the magical scrutiny of the queen. It shifted, and the complexion became smeared. Now, instead of reflecting light like a normal object, the dark blade appeared to absorb it, and the physical presence dimmed everything near it. Satisfied with the transformation, the giant changeling placed the piece on a flat stone table, and worked on the next sharp metal object.

The vanguard next to her shifted his eyes with a green flash, and they changed from eagle eyes back to his regular blue orbs. He iterated a few mental commands to the rest of the small group. Then turned to address his preoccupied queen.

“Very well Monny, the scouts are scrutinizing every inch of the field. If something comes up you will know immediately.”

Plink… another light consuming blade was added to the flat stone surface.

“Thank you Fetish. Hmm, even if we manage only one trophy out of this venture, I’ll come home very satisfied.”

She shuddered slightly at the end, and her eyes rolled back into her head at the thought. Fetish kept a straight face and bowed.

“For your pleasure Monny.”

---

Chrysalis and Crone continued to whisper at one another with increased agitation. Both of their wings had the same nervous flick, both of their tails had the same nervous swish. The even scrapped at the ground the same time with their hooves.

As amused as Specter might have been, his irritation took precedence. The two queens didn’t appear to slow their debate at all, and time wasn’t something he could waste.

“It’s clear both of you are having trouble deciding. Perhaps the consequences aren’t clear enough. I’m going to leave now, and let you play your silly game of defense.”

“What? Wait!”

Chrysalis suddenly asserted herself and stepped forward. But Specter held up a hoof to quiet her.

“Don’t worry, I’ll check in again soon, after the bodies start to pile up, and both of you have had time to think…”

Before either sister could utter another word, Specter faded away… quite a literal fade, as there was no fancy flash of magic, no sign of a portal, and no flash of teleportation. The king was just gone after his form evaporated.

Both sisters stood there speechless, their options had narrowed yet more, down to the razor’s edge it appeared. Chrysalis’s posture readily slumped and her face contorted in a most displeased manner. The thunder in the background became more ominous than ever, and the nearby changelings could feel their hearts beat more rapidly within their chests.

Meanwhile Crone’s face hardened, and she approached the other changelings that occupied the ramparts. Things needed to be organized for the inevitable conflict, and if her sister was too busy with her own thoughts, then she would manage it.

Alone by the wall, Chrysalis just stared idly at the ground. Being invaded was not nearly as thrilling as being the invader. Another roar of thunder rumbled particularly close by, and she flinched.

Her ears perked when she heard an unfamiliar voice speak from behind her.

“Oh, why the long face? Things are absolutely fantastic!”

She rounded about to see who it was, and she gaped in shock. A tall chimera of a creature stood there with the largest grin on his twisted face. The next noticeable detail was what he carried. Chrysalis had to blink once to understand what she looked at.

Held in his lion paw was a string, connected to that string and floating in the air like a balloons were two cocoons. In those cocoons were Celestia and Cadance. Her look of shock and disgruntlement sent the tall conglomerate of animal parts into hysterics.

“Hahaha! That look never gets old, especially when it comes from those who think themselves high and mighty.”

The changeling queen shook her head and tried to come back to her senses.

“Those two are mine! Put them down!”

“O’cmon queeny, don’t behave like Celestia here, I was very much looking forward to meeting you. I mean it’s not every day I get to see princess party-pooper plastered into submission like this. I find it a wonderful irony and vindication to see her strung up and imprisoned. I mean she did the same to me not to long ago. Though if you really feel so possessive I suppose I’ll concede one of them.”

He grabbed one of the strings in his eagle claw, and offered it to Chrysalis. She looked at him with a primal sense of apprehension, and things started to slowly click in her mind. His form, though alien, she had seen somewhere before. She reached out a grabbed the string offered to her, it was the Celestia cocoon balloon.

“Discord?”

“Yes, the very same. I’m glad my reputation hasn’t decayed altogether, I mean my time was so brief on the last occasion.”

“Weren’t you stone… in the garden?”

“Oh, I was, I was, up until the last few days. I have you to thank for my newfound freedom.”

“Me?”

Discord swung around his eagle arm down and around Chrysalis, and both of them disappeared in a white flash. The next moment they were high up in the air, perched on a solitary cloud. From this viewpoint they could easily observe the armies of ponies in the fields, and the empire behind them.

The sudden shift in placement caused the queen to fidget in surprise, and her mouth fell open. Her disorientation was over soon enough, and she could hear the draconequus laugh again. That’s when she noticed he still had his eagle arm around her.

“Hehehe HAHAHA! Oh my, too precious… But to be serious for a moment. My dear… Its not typical for me to admit any kind of feelings for another pony, but right now… I’m just filled with pride.”

The queen pushed his arm away, and he didn’t resist. He seemed in much too good a mood to complain about anything. She, however, began to feel quite irritated.

“What are you on about? What do you want to accomplish here anyway? I have a war on my doorstep, and I should get back to tending it.”

To that discord just blew a loud obnoxious raspberry, and chuckled as he continued.

“That war on your doorstep is precisely why I’m here, and why I’m so proud of you. You see, it’s been a very long time since I’ve seen any one pony cause so much chaos. A long time since I’ve seen any pony get so many individuals mad at them. I mean you’ve dragged multiple nations into this, and even now their fighting at the chance to merely get at you!”

With a snap of his fingers, Discord brought up a pair of binoculars, and put them over the queen’s eyes, then gently angled her head towards the field below.

Chrysalis could see Shining Armor and some giant germane pony stomp and bray at one another, the conversation appeared as if it could go violent at any second. The struggle below actually brought a flicker of a smile to her muzzle, but she quickly put the binoculars down.

“While that is nice to see, I’d still appreciate it if you answered my earlier question.”

Discord picked up the binoculars for himself, and giggled like he was some sneaky foal who thought he got away with something grand. He also dignified the queen with an answer.

“Do you really have to ask why I’m here? … The chaos ofcourse! You’ve made this area the largest potential for chaos central I’ve seen in ages. How could I miss this?”

The binoculars were tossed to the side, and after they fell for some distance, exploded violently.

“Plus I wanted to actually meet the one responsible for putting the equestrian royalty into comas, and the one responsible for getting the elements of harmony locked up. I mean, you did it very directly, but I find that no less admirable! I mean, not every creature can be as manipulative as yours truly.”

Chrysalis sighed, as hope drained out of her again.

“So you plan to merely sit back and watch?”

“Sit and watch? Hmm, while that certainly has some entertaining merits, I find this too good an opportunity to simply sit by and watch. Not to discredit your ingenuity or anything, but this situation appears fairly predictable.”

With another snap of his fingers the two of them, and their floating princess toys, reappeared much closer to the center of the empire. Discord not stood upright, and wore some strange military outfit, decorated with dozens of medals that made no sense to Chrysalis.

“You see out there are thousands of armed and trained warriors ready to rush in here and take what they want. You, you only have hundreds that are actually experienced in combat… but half of your population is preoccupied cradling babies. Not something most veteran generals would view as an asset.”

“I am well aware.”

“So you’re also aware this is a great stage for a massacre. Again, not to your discredit your majesty, I’m sure your soldiers are as valiant as can be, but the fact of the matter is your outnumbered, out experienced, and out maneuvered. You may put up a good fight, but everything is simply working against you. At the end of the day, if things go as planned, there are going to be a lot of dead ponies and changelings…”

The nonchalance and factualness discord intonated left her feeling worse and worse. She had already been nervous, anxiety had steadily risen within her, and her ability to stay composed was already weak. Hearing some indifferent creature that apparently ‘liked’ her, say she was royally doomed almost shattered her at this point. Her voice actually started to break.

“Y-you h-have legendary powers d-don’t you? Would you p-please… help me?”

Discord simply raised a wiry white eyebrow.

“If you know me, you know I’m not in the business of doing favors.”

Her face fell, and she slumped down on their cloud, she even let go of her Celestia cocoon balloon absentmindedly. The princess started to simply float off into space, and Discord flicked his eyes back and forth between the queen, and float away alicorn. A smile cracked over his uneven mouth.

“But there’s no need to be depressed my dear. As I said earlier, things are absolutely fantastic. I already have plans to rearrange the circumstances. As lovely and chaotic as war can be, the after affects are often most dull.”

With another snap of his claws a pony mannequin appeared in his hands, and he proceeded to twirl it around.

“See, a dead pony is no more fun than a rag doll. Sure, the slapstick of a ragdoll has its value, but it gets boring a lot faster than a pony which continues to live. A live pony can keep quarreling, complaining, fighting, and otherwise stay expressive.”

Chrysalis’s brow furrowed as she tilted her head, now she was just confused. The draconequus noticed her confusion, and burst into laughter.

“HEHAHAHEHEA! It’ll be much easier to simply show you want I mean. Get your game face on queeny, because I’m going to compose the battlefield! I promise, you’ll love it!”

Discord raised both of his paws up high and made an epic double snap! All Chrysalis knew before things flashed white, was that she didn’t trust that mad grin.

Ch.57 "The Discord Games"

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.57 “The Discord Games”

-In the fields of the crystal empire

Everything went dark. The sun left the sky, and not even the moon or stars were there to give a glimmer of light. Artificial lights and fires died, not even the glow of magic could penetrate the sudden onset of this darkness. Only sounds, smells, and touches could be perceived.

The inhabitants of the empire, and the war hosts without were all caught very off guard. Complaints and fears manifested themselves in the forms of wails and uproar. But none could make sense of why they were all plunged into darkness.

Before long there was a flash of white light, and the light stayed once it appeared. All eyes turned towards the horizon from which it was projected. Towards the horizon was a tall silhouette which resembled a great pillar of some kind. On top of the pillar was a long snake-like figure that had a myriad of inconsistent appendages attached to his form. Every pony that looked towards this strange creature could view it as if it was right infront of their muzzles. Even though many knew it was actually a great distance away.

With a graceful swing the figure raised one of his arms, which appeared to have a conductor’s baton in its grasp. Then flicked his wrist, and the baton shone brightly with glorious power. In reaction the sky changed, the very ground reacted and seemed to morph. A symphony from ethereal sources resounded in every ear.

The storm the equestrians brought with them began to mutate, and its contours bounded out of control. Soon the entire sky was overcastted by the cottony contrast. The dark swirl of grey began to bleed a different color, and every shade from bright peachy pink, to a deep ponderous heliotrope replaced the previously grim hues.

When lightning flashed it wasn’t just white, but a prismatic beam of all colors, then it turned into neon licorice, and rained down upon the ground like a hail of worms. Instead of thunder, each flash of lightning was followed by a choir of a thousand laughs, eerie sinister laughs. The populous all around began to be seriously unnerved, helpless to the changes around them.

Next moment the ground caught every creature’s attention, as it rumbled and writhed. The fields of grass, and crystal paved walk ways constantly shifted texture. From stony stiff, to cushioned carpet, to slippery soap, and back again.

The smells in the air shifted constantly with a new unnatural breeze, sometimes it was sweet, sometimes fouls, but it was always different within a few moments, and gave no pony time to adapt.

The grand conductor of this orchestra-of-absurdness swung the baton again with a swift jerk. Then the ground around his highly elevated column began to mold and jump like liquid. Earth and dirt flowed as if it was a fountain and climbed towards the heavens. It did so in a broad circular fashion, which left the conductor’s column in the dead center of it all.

After moments the energy of the ground distilled and started to solidify once more, into the shape a grand structure. Details as immaculate as sculpture covered the broad flat surfaces, though the style was no more coherent than the logic of its formation.

Once it was complete the shape of an inordinately large stadium was discernible. Rows upon rows of sculpted step-seats were carved into the inner bowl of the structure. Hundreds of thousands could easily occupy such accommodations. The center field was also gigantic and spacious. So much so that a lake could easily fit inside.

The central pillar upon which the conductor stood was easily tall enough to oversee all of this. He could see the empire and the fields around it, and beheld the populous with a dissonant comprehension.

A broad smile came across his uneven mouth, and the conductor’s baton was tossed aside. In its place two fingers brought themselves together, then released in a snap. The small action created an echo in the magical plane, and the ponies of the empire and elsewhere all began to vanish in white snaps of light, hundreds, thousands of them even.

Those who tried to resist the magical relocation instead found themselves enraptured by the elements, and otherwise compelled towards the direction of the new stadium. Earth, and air carried away many. All in the region would witness this, and there would be no questions about it.

---

The draconequus atop the pillar cackled and rubbed his paws together, the anticipation on his twisted face was tantamount to a child on the verge of holiday. When he reined his mirth under control he wriggled the digits of his paws and shaped one more structure in the middle of the stadium’s field. A large dark dome was conjured, and a neat silvery disc on top of the dome was created, which would serve effectively as a broad platform.

In a flash the orchestrator was ontop of the platform, on top of the dome. The pillar in the center of the stadium began to recede and shrink without its creator’s presence.

He put a paw to the floor of the silver surface, and pulled out a tall microphone stand out of its substance. With the new object in paw, he rattled it and blew into it a few times to determine functionality. A loud high pitched screech was the answer, which blew around the stadium, which was now filled with ponies, changelings, and every other creature that inhabited the local region. Their collective response was to cover their ears and wince in discomfort.

“Sorry about that, seems these darn things always do that. hehe.”

He coughed once loudly into his elbow, then put his muzzle back to the mic. He had successfully drawn the attention of the crowd. Whoever looked towards him, was able to discern the chimera clearly, even though the distance was great.

“Anyway, here we are. I’m sure most of you are quite confused, and that’s alright. I’m not here to give you all the answers. Rather, we’re here to let you find answers for yourselves.”

The draconequus’s voice carried across the stadium, and was met with varied responses of disgruntlement. Some outbursts were heard here and there, but most remained in place, afraid of another strange shift in events.

“Indeed, I believe most of you are aware that a bloody war was right around the corner. Yes? Speak up if you were aware.”

The general discomfort and uncertainty from the crowd resulted in a weak response. He gave a frown at the lack of enthusiasm. Then snapped his fingers.

Hundreds of duplicate draconequi appeared infront of the crowd in segmented intervals. All of them flapped their little wings and shouted at the equines infront of them with loud voices.

“You were about to be in a war? YES OR NO!”

With the sound of his voice much more up close and personal, the crowd’s response was much greater. There was a general consensus of.

“Yes.”

Then the head chimera smiled.

“Why?... now sshhh, don’t voice your answer right now. I want you to keep it to yourself. Once the demonstrations and games are over, we’ll see if your answer stays the same.”

There were a number of murmurs amongst the crowd, but no equine spoke loudly at that time. With another broad smile, the draconequus’s disposition turned cheery.

“Now could I get two volunteers? Two who would be willing to come up here and answer some questions?”

No pony raised a hoof. All the hundreds of duplicate draconequi kept sharps eyes on the crowd to see if any would. After a stretch of no pony daring to, they collectively rolled their eyes.

“Fine…”

A lion paw pointed randomly to a pony crowd, and an eagle claw pointed randomly to a changeling crowd. Two figures were incased in magic and draw out of their seats into the air, and up onto the silver platform.

The pony was a blue pelted mare with green mane, and she wore the leather outfit of a militia pony. The changeling was a common drone of Chrysalis’s swarm, and had a grey mane. Both of the equines were placed equidistant on either side of the draconequus. He extended a friendly paw towards both of them and shook their hesitant hooves.

“Alright, thank you, and thank you for being my brave volunteers. The questions I have are fairly simple, so there’s no need to fear you won’t know the answer.”

Both of the equines looked very afraid anyway, and quaked in their hooves, with their ears laid low and tails tucked between their legs.

“The lovely mare in this corner will be first. Now, for first the question, do you know this changeling over here?”

At first the shaken mare just stared, dumbfounded. The draconequus sighed, and smacked his face with his lion paw, before he slowly dragged it down. Then he picked up a far more conversational, and casual tone in an attempt to reassure the pony.

“It’s a simple question, have you seen this changeling before? Do you know him?”

He brought the mic to the mare’s muzzle, she stared at it, then up to the changeling across from her, then to the tall draconequus, then to the mic infront of her again. She mumbled a bit, but slowly found confidence.

“N-no. no. I don’t know him.”

“Very good, very good, now, over to this corner.”

The mic was brought infront of the drone’s fanged snout.

“Have you ever seen this mare before? Ever met her?”

“N-no. I haven’t.”

“Alright, so I’m correct when I say neither of you know each other.”

The pony and the changeling nodded their heads.

“Ok. On to the next question. What’s your name?”

The mic was brought to the mare again.

“Foamy Reeds, sir.”

“Oh no need to be so formal. Sorry I haven’t introduced myself by the way. I’m Discord. I’ll forgive you if you haven’t heard of me. But yes, Foamy Reeds, a very nice name indeed. And onto our other volunteer.”

The mic, held in his eagle claw, extended back towards the changeling.

“Your name?”

“Diggy.”

“Diggy, huh, nice and simplistic. Thank you for the frank answer.”

Both the changeling and the pony physically relaxed a little. The questions were not challenging, and the friendly casual manner of the draconequus helped them look past the oddness of the situation.

“So, Foamy, do you have any family?”

“I uh, have two brothers and three sisters. I’m number four. Oh, and there’s my parents.”

“Hmm, nice, now how about you Diggy?”

“Besides the rest of the swarm? My mate just had twins the other day.”

“Oh, congratulations! I’m sure you two look forward to raising them.”

The drone turned a little bashful, and scrapped one hoof along the ground.

“Yes.”

Discord gave the changeling a hearty pat on the back, and turned his attention back to the mare.

“And you, Foamy, are you on friendly terms with your family?”

“Ya, I love my family a lot. I’ve also got a dozen nieces and nephews that like me a whole lot.”

“Hmm, and I’m sure they miss their auntie, being so far away and all.”

“The little buggers can’t get enough of me, but ya.”

“I’m sure… Alright, that’s it for questions.”

Both Foamy and Diggy raised an eye brow to that.

“Really?”

“Yes, that was it. But there is one more thing before I let you two go.”

Both equines started to express apprehension in their postures again. They looked at each other for reassurance before they looked up to Discord. The slim snaky draconequus shrugged his shoulder and spoke matter of factly.

“Kill each other.”

“What?”

The equines gawked, not sure if they heard correctly.

“Kill each other… you know, fight to the death, one of you will probably survive. Go ahead, I won’t interfere…”

For a long measure of time there was silence, the silence extended all the way out to the stadium, and many thousands of eyes watched, just as nervous as the two equines held up on the pedestal. Many breaths were held, and eventually the tension became unbearable.

“N-no.”

It seemed as if every eye in the stadium shot to Diggy when he stuttered out that word. There was a wide, collective gasp, and Discord raised an eyebrow. A twinge of a smile came through his indifferent expression.

“Y-ya, me neither. I don’t want to fight him.”

Foamy seemed to have found her voice as well, and she even stamped her hoof in disapproval of the situation. The draconequus didn’t hide his smile very well at all.

“Oh, and why not? Aren’t you two on opposite sides of the fence?”

“Ya, but…”

Then the mare seemed to lose her voice just as fast. Luckily Diggy picked up for her.

“I don’t want to fight if I don’t have to. I don’t want to kill any pony…”

His courage bolstered hers, and she spoke up again.

“Ya, Diggy’s done nothing to me. Why should I fight him?”

Discord thoughtfully stroked his goatee, and spoke again with nonchalance.

“So are you two saying it would be wrong to fight each other right here, right now? That neither of you have a history with each other that deserves such a conflict.”

The pony and changeling exchanged glances again, and in turn gave a bold nod to Discord.

“It would be wrong.”

“Ya, nothing’s happened between us. There’s no reason to.”

At that point the chaotic chimera just burst into laughter. He even went so far as to fall backwards, and roll around on the pedestal, and flailed his limbs about giddily. This indulgence in humor was lost on the two equines, and they stared in confusion.

Eventually he calmed down, and crawled over to the pony and changeling. He lowered himself to their level, and wrapped an arm around each of them, so he could pull them close.

“Heh, pretty stupid huh? Just fight and kill each other for no good reason eh? Hard to think of something dumber than that ya?”

His constant chortles brought out some hollow laughter from the two.

“Ha-ha, ya. Real stupid.”

Foamy wore a very uneasy fake smile that Diggy attempted to share.

Discord suddenly stood up and dropped both of them on their rumps. His laughter was completely gone, and his expression fell to something rather dark. He snapped digits on both of his paws, and there was a white flash. Queen Chrysalis and Shining Armor appeared on the pedestal just behind the draconequus. More shocked gasps echoed across the stadium, and a few shouts and screams. Diggy and Foamy just gaped, speechless. Discord, however, had some words to seethe.

“Then why is it acceptable for you two to fight and die and when they say so?”

He might as well have breathed fire, because his new venomous tone caused Foamy and Diggy to drop to the ground, terrified. The draconequus then adopted a very sarcastic vehemence.

“Oh, but it’s justified! See, she’s all evil like, and, and he’s all aggressive like. So ya know, to settle out differences we need to throw minions at each other…”

Shining and Chrysalis were both frozen in place, neither could move a muscle, except for their eyes. Which were opened wide and wild. They both looked about with a panicked franticness. This greatly disturbed the on looking Foamy and Diggy. Meanwhile, the draconequus hovered a short distance up into the air, and pulled out two small cross planks of word. Attached to these crosses were strings. With long unnatural reach, Discord put out a paw above the mare and the changeling respectively.

In the next moment, the two ‘volunteer’ equines danced about as the chimera played with them like marionettes. Then he did a poor imitation of Chrysalis’s voice.

“Hey Diggy, we need their stuff, go get it!”

Another snap of magic put a frozen, barely lucid Cadance onto the platform. Discord puppeted Diggy over to Cadance, and the drone carried the princess over to Chrysalis’s side. Then Shining Armor was puppeted to jump about like a spastic goat. Discord’s impression of Shining was a little better.

“My bride! My bride, she took my only bride! Um, um, Hey Foamy!”

“Yes sir?”

“Go get her back for me!”

Foamy marionette marched over to the changelings. Discord’s bad imitation of Chrysalis’s voice came up again.

“The ponies are coming, go fight em’ off Diggy.”

Then Diggy and Foamy smacked each other around a bit, before they both were set on their sides. The chimera voiced Shining’s part again.

“Aw… looks like our soldiers are dead… guess that means we have to settle our differences ourselves.”

Frozen Chrysalis was made to slink in disappointment.

“Aw, llama pickles, it looks like you’re right. Ok, here we go!”

Discord made the stallion and queen do some play smacks with each other, meanwhile a copy Discord popped up next to the two fallen equines, Foamy and Diggy. He held a skull up in one paw, while he dramatically put the other on his forehead in a gesture of woe.

“Oh, to be or not to be… Should it be their decision?”

The copy discord scooped up the mare and the drone, and wept over them, dramatically.

“Oh, these leaders… These princes, princesses, queens, and kings! They feign care and importance for those below them. But when it push comes to shove, they would willingly sacrifice their own subjects for their needs! They don’t have your best interest at heart. For if they did, they wouldn’t send you to kill each other for their personal gain.”

The draconequus double released Foamy and Diggy, and their spell induced control was gone. As soon as the two were free, they skirted away till they were at the edges of the platform. Another snap of magic and only one Discord stood at the platform. He held out a paw, and gestured towards Chrysalis, Shining, and Cadance, then addressed the rest of the stadium with his voice.

“They won’t say it to you, but to them, the rest of you are disposable. You need a leader they say. We know how to make the best decisions they say. Our safety is a priority because you need us they say… Well guess what I say… You, my good equines, know what’s best for you. You know your needs. You know your concerns. You know your desires. You know all of this much better than your manipulative royalty… So who do you think should make decisions for you?...”

Magic surround the blue mare and the changeling drone, and both of them flew through the air, and were placed back into their original positions in the crowd. Shining, Cadance, and Chrysalis all disappeared in a flash.

“I’ve heard it several times, at different places, and at different eras. That this is your king’s war or this is your queen’s war… Well, now I say it’s time, it’s theirs, and I’m going to let them own it!”

With a willful clap, the silver platform that supported the draconequus broke free from the dark dome where it rested, and flew over towards the shrunken central pillar of the stadium. As he crossed the air, the darkness of the dome started to fall away, and become transparent.

Inside of the now clear dome was another large elevated platform. This one was earthy, and much wider than Discord’s personal silver disc. On the platform were eleven figures. Eleven equines that the audiences in the stadium recognized quickly.

Standing side by side, petrified into their positions, was Celestia, Luna, Cadance, Shining Armor, Sombra, Chrysalis, Crone, Specter, More, Monarch, and Torque.

Discord’s silver platform connected with the shrunken pillar. Which was still high enough to overlook the platform inside the glassy dome. In a snap, Discord jumped platforms, and hovered above the royalty that stood statuesque.

“Yes, all of these creatures, who would have much blood spilled on their behalf. Here they are, and here they can bring up their problems with each other. No pawns in the way, no knights on their behalf. No kingdom’s resources to burn for their endeavors… Just each other.”

Discord paused infront of More, and Torque, who still wore their pony guises.

“I suppose we should be honest at this point to. You’re not really Mayor More, and you’re not really King Torque.”

The disguises around the two royal changelings melted away under Discord’s presence. A shuddered gasp came from many Equestrian and Germane ponies, and the crowd almost erupted into riot at the mere sight of it. The Chimera just laughed wildly at the crowd’s response.

“Don’t get too excited yet, we haven’t even got to the good parts. I do appreciate the enthusiasm however.”

He clapped his paws together, and an overwhelming bolt of lightning blinded every pony, and a crack of thunder deafened every pony. The draconequus gave a few moments of recovery to the much subdued crowds.

“Now we are going to do a series of games. Over the course of this we will get to see your precious royalty work out their issues with each other.”

Discord turned towards each of the eleven ponies and changelings and eyed them one by one.

“I know there are plenty of aggressive feelings amongst this group. So, for the first game we’re going to do indulge in a little slapstick. Here are the conditions…”

The draconequus disappeared from the glassy dome, and reappeared on his silver disc pillar. He wore a black and white referee outfit, and pulled out a convoluted sports manual.

“Game one, battle royal…”

Suddenly the ground below the earthy platform cracked apart, and a thick red liquid began to ooze up. Soon it coated the floor, and bubbled menacingly beneath the plateau that hosted the ‘participants’.

“To win, knock all other contestants off the platform… into the river of ghost scorpion ursa trinity tartarus sauce.”

The ghost-scorpion-ursa-trinity-tartarus sauce flowed until it reached the edges of the glass dome, and then it steadily rose until the devilishly spicy sauce acquired some depth.

“No equine is allowed wings or magic. Also, there will be five minutes of pre-game banter. You’re free to form alliances, but remember, at the end there can be only one winner.”

In a final flash of magic, the eleven contestants we’re teleported equidistant away from each other, in a ring around the edges of the platform. All horns and wings disappeared from them.

“Alright, just remember, anything you say or do can and will be judged freely by me and the audience… Pregame banter go!”

With a snap of his eagle claws the equine royalty were released from their frozen state. Contained in their own cubicles, but otherwise free to move and speak.

“DISCORD!”

Ch.58 Round One, Battle Royal

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.58 “Round One, Battle Royal”

“DISCORD!”

The angry shout came from Celestia. The wingless, hornless, alicorn gave the draconequus a glare full of unbridled anger, an expression which few had ever witnessed, yet was now on full public display.

Discord kept on his referee jersey, and with a whimsical snap he summoned a lawn chair. He lazily leaned back and replied with wide smirk on his face.

“Why yes my dear Celestia?”

“What do you think you’re going to accomplish here? Yo-”

Discord interrupted her by causing the sound of her voice to go mute.

“I’ll be generous and give you a heads up Celestia. It’s not about what I’m doing here. It’s about what all of you are going to do. Now, this banter time is for contestants, between contestants. If any of you try to engage the referee with more complaints, it will inure penalties…”

His conversational tone dropped to a threatening level by the end of his explanation, and he gave one scrutinized look to the tall white mare before another snap restored the volume to her cubical. The oldest equestrian princess ground her teeth, and dropped her gaze from the chaotic composer to the playing field.

To her right was her sister Luna, and beyond her was Cadance, Shining, and Sombra. Directly to her left was Armor, More, Monarch, Specter, Crone, and on the exact opposite side of the platform, was Chrysalis.

It took a few moments for all the equines to gain their bearings, and figure out who was positioned next to them. As soon as they did, the various parties voiced things rather exuberantly.

“This isn’t fair!”

Queen More cowed against the edge of her cubical, as her eyes flicked wildly between the two changelings she was positioned between. One was the giant statured Monarch, who looked on the smaller queen with a hungry, gleeful smile, which was full of pearly fangs. One the other side was equally giant king Armor, who looked pleasantly thoughtful. His voice was half-sympathetic as he bellowed out.

“Aye, I would be inclined to agrrree this puts some of us at a distinct advantage. I darrre say most of these equines arrren’t use to brrrawlin’ with tharrr hooves.”

He possessed a restrained smile as he eyed his competition, the naturally armored king was obviously the most burly specimen on the field. His bluish eyes turned out towards the audience however, then he turned towards their chimera referee.

“Oi, Discord, ya said all the ponies n’ changelings in the stands can hearrr us, rrright?”

The draconequus absentmindedly filed his claws with a filer, and without a look up he grunted in acknowledgement.

“That is correct.”

“Then I have somethin’ to say to my ponies.”

The mismatched overseer gave an impartial shrug, and with a lazy wave of his lion paw, motioned for the changeling king to go ahead. Without another moment to waste, he spoke loudly, and his deep voice carried over the rest of the contestants, who began to speak among themselves.

“It’s trrrue, I, king Torrrque, was never a pony. Forrr the last sixty yarrrs, it has been me that’s been leadin’ ya. I know we value honesty among us, that I myself have been a vocal advocate. I know this makes me seem like a hypocrrrite now, that most of you will likely distrrrust me, or feel betrrrayed. I beg ya forrr a listenin’ ear, if ya’d give me one.”

Out in the seats of the stadium there was a particularly rambunctious crowd. The germane were easy to identify, because their section glittered and reflected with metallic sheen. There were many angry, hurt voices among them. It was too far for Armor to discern what they said, but the general tone caused his heart to sink. He took in a deep breath before he bellowed out again. When he spoke, he pointed a hoof at the other changelings in the platform circle.

“If ya want to know why I haven’t shown ya my real face, its because of them.”

Armor’s face turned glower as he eyed the other changelings, and evolved into a full blown scowl when his harsh gaze fell on Monarch.

“She, in parrrticularrr, has slaughtered most of our kind, and kept us all at each other’s thrrroats for the last hundred years…”

The giant, orange finned queen gave Armor a coy smile, and battered her eye lids rather flirtatiously.

“You don’t have to ring the ponies into our issues Armor. Don’t waste their time trying to convince them you’re a real germane or something, when all that really burns your mind is how much you miss your belated Allure.”

The mention of Allure broke something the giant king’s bright blue harlequin eyes. A vessel snapped, and a string of red bled down his cheek.

“How darrr ya… you sodden pustulaten’ witch!”

He brought a large hoof up and smashed it against the wall of his transparent cubical. The impact caused a bright refraction as the magical barrier held up under the pressure, and a slight crack was left over. He hit it again, and again. Each time a loud bang reverberated within the dome.

Queen More recoiled with every impact, and she had her hooves shield her head, and even started to cry. Her smaller frame trembled horribly under the aggressive display right next to her. Even though it wasn’t directed specifically at her, that wasn’t much comfort under the king’s bestial roar.

“Open up! OPEN IT! Imma smash herrr face in!”

Monarch just laughed…

---

-The pony corner of things.

Celestia turned to Luna, and the two shared a quick nod of solace, before they turned towards Shining and Cadance. The sister’s stern glares went soft as they eyed the couple next to them, who were still separated from each by the transparent walls of their cubicles. All three of the mares were ragged and dirty, as if they had recently been ripped out of a slimy prison or something…

Cadance and Shining both had their front hooves and muzzles placed against their barriers, as they vainly tried to reach through what separated them. Tears openly flowed from the pink princess’s eyes, and her lower lip trembled something fierce. Shining’s face couldn’t settle on one particular emotion, and danced between sorrow, happiness, anger, and consolation. Despite the wall between them, their voices carried as if there was no obstacle.

“Oh Shining… my Shining.”

She choked as she was overcome with emotions, and pressed her face that much harder against the barrier, and she slowly slid downward. Meanwhile the alabaster stallion tried his best to comfort her.

“Don’t worry honey, we’re together now, we’ll get through this.”

The confidence in his voice was shaky, despite his best to remain composed. To say his current lack of a horn bothered him was an understatement, though it didn’t bother him nearly as much as seeing his fiancé without her wings and horn. Celestia’s voice cut in.

“I’m sorry Captain Armor, and my dear niece. Life has been unusually cruel recently, but we have precious little time to plan, and I would like us to avoid any unnecessary suffering.”

The older princess’s kindly voice was able to garner their attention, and Luna followed up with what her sister had to say in a clear analytical tone.

“We should evaluate our advantages, for we do have a few. Then, we should decide who’ll stay behind, and be the winner. Should we obtain that choice between the four of us.”

Cadance’s crying softened down to sniffles, and Shining quietly nodded his head. So Luna continued.

“Well, from what I can tell, none of these other candidates share a bond like we do. The four of us can trust each other completely. Most of them seem to be independent and contentious parties. I believe if we stick together, we should be formidable enough.”

“Princess?”

“Yes captain?”

“Who’s he?”

One of Shining’s hooves pointed at the tall dark stallion to his right, who’s stature was equal to Celestia. The red-eyed pony noticed this, and gave sly smile, which showed his fangs. The equestrian captain raised his eye brows, slightly disturbed. Luna turned and answered with derision.

“That is a failed king, and Sombra is his name. He ruled over the Crystal Empire with evil. That is until Chrysalis took it from him, and hued love into his black heart. He is no friend of ours though.”

“How harsh Luna, and here I thought we made decent progress as prison mates.”

The stony colored pony sounded hurt, but the ruse was weak as he continued to smile, fangs on full display. Luna rolled her eyes and snorted.

“We did nothing more than peddle time away with mere attempts at entertainment. You would still conquer Equestria if you could. Our practical relations haven’t changed.”

Sombra ate up the cold attitude like a refreshing morning breeze. A strange sereneness overcame his lazily lidded eyes.

“O cont’rare princess nighty-night, I haven’t acted myself at all. Who’s to say we can’t engage on a united front, at least for a short time. If you haven’t noticed the roaches and beetles outnumber, and outweigh us. Besides, who set your captain and guard free… Do I not have the smallest traces of trust?”

The king did a silly attempt to look pitiable, and pushed out a pouty lower lip while he shyly crossed hooves. Shining opened his eyes wide, and mouthed ‘it was you?’ The dark blue princess just sneered, and before she could retort Celestia butted in.

“We will have no dealings with you Sombra, your honeyed tongue can suckle itself.”

With a sigh and a shrug the crystal king turned towards his other neighbors.

---

-Chrysalis’s corner

The queen with the jagged horn turned to her taller sister, a look of uncertainty filtered through her features, and she spoke in a low even voice.

“Well?”

“What is going on Chrysalis?”

“Discord apparently…”

“Yes, about that, do you know anything?”

“He said he gives us credit for this.”

“You mean he gives you credit. Is that why we’re caged like animals for a fight?”

“He didn’t explain much.”

“Fine, so how do we go about this? I see Shining giving us the evil eye… Fortunately most of them seem distracted with each other.”

Both of them glanced towards the pony side of things. It wasn’t much of a surprise to receive occasional glances filled with bitterness, resentment, and cold anger from them. Of the changelings there was only one that paid attention to them. It was the neighbor to their immediate right.

King Specter had a bewildered expression dominate his face, and his stance had widened defensively. Eventually he noticed the pair of queens positioned next to him.

“Chrysalis, Crone… you awakened the spirit of chaos…”

His manner was somewhere between horrible shock and incredibly impressed. Either one resulted in peeled eyes and a hung jaw. The two queens perked an eye brow at the same time.

“And your point?”

Specter coughed once as he tried to recompose his mind.

“The implications are too many. For now, I suppose we pay attention to this game you roped us into.”

The three of them exchanged a few looks, before they observed the platform and other contestants with apprehension. Chrysalis articulated her thoughts first. She pointed at the two largest changelings further around the ring.

“Well, we already know of the ponies. What can you tell us of those two? I figure the small coward won’t be much of an issue, the giants however...”

It was at that moment King Armor started to pound against his cubicle and roar incessantly. He did it so loudly none of the other equines could carry on a proper conversation, and several of them started to cover their ears. This included Chrysalis, Crone and Specter.

Even Discord up on his referee’s pedestal winced a little at the uptake of noise. After a moment he whipped out a remote, and pushed a few buttons to dial down Armor’s volume. The draconequus didn’t mind the display of anger at all, rather it made him chuckle. But the other contestants would still need to hear each other. After the modification was complete the enraged king’s voice no longer overpowered every other equine there. Armor didn’t seem to notice the change, and his thrashes showed no sign they would stop anytime soon.

The changeling sisters uncovered their ears, and Specter answered Chrysalis’s inquiry.

“That queen there, with the orange fin. Monarch is more or less responsible for the current relations between us royals. I won’t say Armor or More have been particularly benevolent, but neither of them have a habit of making trophies of our kind.”

“What do you mean responsible?”

Crone scrunched her muzzle in confusion, and slight apprehension.

“The war in the dark, which began a hundred and fifty years ago, she proved the most effective killer among us. A personal shrine gives hundreds of testaments to that.”

A disgusted sneer crawled over Specter’s snout, and he glanced towards the ground, his jaw was clenched tightly. Both Crone and Chrysalis felt their apprehension rise even more, and their tails flicked. The queen with the jagged horn tried to keep her demeanor straightforward.

“So… who is the greatest threat?”

Specter looked up, but kept his stance aggressive and jaw clenched. His voice became calculated.

“Without magic in the mix, it’s a tough call. I haven’t seen Monarch fight without it, she’s dominated any royal who has tried to face her in the magical regard. Armor however, he’s been King of Germane for sixty years apparently…”

The sister queens looked at each other with slight indifference, as they didn’t remember anything significant about the country.

“And?”

Specter returned the confused look, as if they missed something obvious. When they didn’t give anymore hints, he took on a concerned tone.

“To be the King of Germane he has to prove himself physically every few years… He’s worked with his hooves a lot. Plus his stature is just, gifted.”

Chrysalis shook her head and sighed with a hint of resignation.

“Figures, the king of a country filled with brawlers would be the biggest brawler of them all.”

She turned about and looked over the edge of the platform to the pool of swirly crimson sauce below. Her mind seriously contemplated how bad it would be in the sauce versus the approaching fight. Her eyes narrowed and she continued.

“If the three of us worked together do you think we could overpower him?”

Specter gave a doubtful grunt.

“We’ll see after he and Monarch slug it out. How about the ponies though. You’ve spent some private time with them recently, any surprises to worry about from them? Is Celestia secretly a martial hoof fighting expert or something? I never dug for any information like that…”

Crone snorted and Chrysalis chuckled.

“No, not from what we could tell. Luna however…”

Both queens shot the blue princess lethal glares filled with contempt. The dark alicorn reciprocated the feelings of reproach with a sneer. Specter observed the non-verbal exchange with curiosity.

“Some recent history there?”

“Yes…”

The two sisters voice ominously. Crone turned to Specter with a final question.

“So if, by some means, the three of us are left, then-”

He cut in with an even tone.

“This is a game, Crone and Chrysalis, if the three of us are the only ones left, then we continue to play.”

“Fair enough.”

They all exchanged a small smile at that. A fourth voice intruded on their little exchange however.

“Hey, wingless beetles, I don’t suppose we could-”

Crone and Chrysalis turned to their left with smirk.

“No.”

Sombra chuckled at the straight answer, and bowed his head.

“Very well…”

---

-Discord’s pedestal

The draconequus lifted his lion’s wrist infront of his long face. On the wrist was a watch that had twenty-seven arms, all of which rotated in different directions and speeds. He looked at it closely, gave it a critical tap or two, then looked out to the domed platform below him.

A whistle hung around his neck, which he seized with his eagle talon as he stood up. The noisy device was raised close to his lips, and hung there as he spoke to the stadium.

“Times up! Battle royal begins in five!”

More’s voice wailed from the dome.

“Please, no! I’ll do anything!”

“Four!”

Monarch stared down on More like she was a tantalizing horderve.

“Three!”

“Lord Discord, merciful Discord, please!”

“Two!”

“No! No! No! PLEASE! MERCY!”

“One.”

“WAAAAAHHHH!”

Tears openly ran down from More’s eyes as she pathetically hovelled to the side of her cubical, as far away from Monarch as she could get. Her hooves scrapped in a panic against her transparent cage.

“Begin!”

Discord blew his whistle and the glassy cubicles vanished in a blink. One terrified changeling queen leapt off the platform the moment it was available, and she screamed wildly as she fell. There were no wings on her back to save her as she plummeted down into the bright ruby goop.

For a moment the contestants all rushed over around the edge of the platform so they could see what the sauce did exactly. Discord’s voice commentated across the stadium.

“Oh looky here, we have our first contestant out of the picture. I guess the pressure of personal accountability was just too much.”

The draconequus’s tone was a delicious shade of mock-i-ree. Meanwhile many eyes were fixated on the changeling, who began to tread through the slow flow of the pool. More’s breaths were still fast, but the panic lessened in her eyes, and eventually her pace slowed down. She was drenched up to her neck in the stuff, but it didn’t seem to bother her too much, at the moment.

Before anyone’s attention was lost a strange thing started to happen in the pool. Different areas bubbled up, and the thick liquid began to form little figures. They were small, no bigger than a foal, and coagulated into what looked like… little bears? Scorpions? and ghost-ponies? oh my... All of which started to walk on top of the sauce as if it were open ground. Also each of the saucy critters was armed with a spoon.

More’s breaths and panic started to rise again as a small army of the sauce-demon-midgets began to surround her. They even made sinister little chuckles and laughs, then began some unintelligible chant. One by one, each of them dipped their spoons into the very sauce they walked over. Once they had a hearty serving of the ghost-scorpion-ursa-trinity-tartarus sauce they collectively raised their spoons, and launched it at the partially submerged changeling queen.

The volley struck her all over the head and face, which soaked her mane, and got all in her eyes, nose, mouth and ears. After a moment to recoup from the surprise, More started to scream again.

“oh, oh, Ah, AHHHH! IT BURNS! IT BURNS!”

Her spice induced hysterics continued to increase as she tread through the sauce, chased by cackling little sauce demons as she went. Each of which continued to pelt her with lobs of more sauce.

“Oooo, it looks like she’s not going to enjoy the rest of this match. Hmm, I wonder who will be next?”

Discord’s voice shook up everyone’s focus, and all the contestants backed away from the edge and each other as quick as they could. The ponies gathered up into their small alliance, Chrysalis gathered with Specter and Crone. Sombra tried to remain quietly by himself on the far side of the platform. Monarch and Armor turned to face each other.

A brief moment of observation and tense suspense lasted between all parties. Then it was broken as King Armor charged at the only other equine that matched his height, Monarch. When he covered the ground the giant queen laughed giddily, then promptly turned tail and ran.

“Come back herrre ya wrrretch!”

The furious king roared, and his thunderous pace increased. His quarry was faster though, if only slightly, and it taunted him all the more. Monarch’s mad sprint aimed towards the next group of changelings, Specter, Crone, and Chrysalis. None of which wanted to be the first to collide with the giant queen, so they all turned tail and ran. Sombra was next in line, and also turned tail and ran. The group of ponies saw half a dozen very large equines stampede towards them, so they all turned tail and ran.

The platform had suddenly become a racing circuit, and each group fought to catch up to the one infront of it. The scene was too much for Discord, and he promptly fell over and laughed himself to pieces… literally, all his body parts detached and bounced around independently.

The chase lasted for some time, as all of the competitors possessed unusually good stamina. Aside from More’s shrieks from the sauce pool below, none of them said anything, all of them were too focused on the task infront of them, and worried about the problem behind them. By the time Discord started to reassemble himself, fatigue had finally started to etch effects into the groups.

As fate would have it, Cadance, who was in the lead, tripped. As she tumbled head over hooves she consecutively tripped up Celestia, Luna, and Shining. All of whom ended up either tangled in the pony infront of them, or flat on their face.

Not a moment later, and before they had time to properly react, Sombra, Specter, Chrysalis and Crone all tripped up into the same mess. Shouts, whinnies, hisses, grunts, growls, brays, and all manner of unpleasant noises resulted from the crunched mess of hooves, faces, and bodies. Limbs flailed wildly as the group of ridiculous equines tried to untangle themselves from each other.

Monarch reactively leapt over the entire squabble, her giant frame and long limbs easily cleared the distance. Armor did not react so gracefully, and instead bulldozed into it all. A few of the changelings and ponies were busted free, knocked aside like bowling pins. The rest were less fortunate, as the giant king lost the stability of his hooves, and fell hard ontop of a few of them.

Among those knocked to the side was Specter, who heaved and coughed harshly, for his gut had been on the receiving end of a giant hoof. Stars blurred his vision, and he struggled to set himself upright. As soon as he managed lay himself on his belly, he was promptly knocked over again. His eyes shot upward to stare straight into Monarch’s green ones. The queen’s devilish grin widened, and she pinned the smaller king under her hoof. Despite his struggles, his strength was no match for hers.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve done it this way. Feel privileged Specter, for I’ll reunite you with Clarity…”

Her mouth opened wide, fangs fully extended, and she lunged down on his neck. When her jaws clamped down she eagerly anticipated the warm splatter of blood to wet her tongue… but that didn’t happen. No, when she bit Specter’s neck she felt the oddest sensation instead. Her fangs didn’t penetrate and sink, they gave way. In frustration she tried to bite down again, and even tried to chew, but she didn’t manage anything better than giving the equally confused king an odd pinch.

Monarch withdrew, and put a hoof up to her mouth. When she pushed against her teeth they gave way… Her teeth had become rubber! This caused her to snarl something fierce, and mutter vain curses.

A loud whistle was blown, and every equine froze in place. Discord called out from his place on the nearby pedestal.

“Foul play! The game is to throw the other contestants off the platform… Not kill them. Otherwise they won’t be able to play in future rounds you ninny. So, for dishonoring the spirit of the game, you, Monarch, have earned yourself a penalty.”

The giant changeling queen looked ready to burst a blood vessel in her eye, but the anger quickly shifted to fear as she felt her body shift and change. A few moments later she was a quarter of her original height. Her new shrunken stature meant she was only half the size of the shortest pony on the field.

“Mmm ok, let’s resume.”

One snap later and they were all free to move again. Specter immediately seized the shrunken queen and wrestled her down with a modicum of effort. She screeched and tried to snap at him, only to realize her teeth were still rubber. With her pinned down, Specter growled into her retracted ears.

“Time for you to burn Monny.”

They started to slowly scoot towards the edge of the platform, the smaller queen pressed and dragged helplessly over the dirt. She tried to roar back at him, but her voice was now a squeak.

“Pathetic, you’re just pathetic! You can’t win without everything in your favor!”

Specter paused, before he roughly pressed little Monarch’s face into the dirt. He seethed, for desired to do much more, but it was clear there were penalties for doing “more”. So he resorted to words.

“I don’t remember you having any qualms tearing others apart, regardless of their disadvantages. Can you not take what you dish out?”

They were almost to the edge now, and in a few moments he could toss her sorry hide over the edge. Even as he approached the precipice a deep voice bellowed out in challenge.

“THAT WITCH IS MINE!”

Armor had picked himself up and charged towards Specter and the miniature Monarch. The smaller king instantly dropped his quarry and dodged out of the way before he could get crushed. The little queen was only quick enough to get up, but not get out of the way. Her emerald eyes flashed wide in terror as Armor twirled about on his hooves, with both hind legs raised high. Rational thought became devoid of her mind as the shrunken queen just started to scream.

Monarch was bucked clear across the dome, her midgetized body soared through the air until she smacked against the edge of the glassy dome. Her body mushed against it so hard she stuck, like a bug smashed into a window.

---

Armor sat down, out of breath, and none of the contestants approached him. Rather, most still sorted through their senses, whether they had been knocked aside like a bowling pin, or crushed under the pony pile.

Celestia and Luna recovered the fastest; they were among those off to the side. They got on their hooves and brushed each other off, then they searched the rest of the mess. The alabaster princess gasped when she saw Cadance and Shining, for both of them had a leg bent the wrong way. One of Shining’s forelegs looked snapped, and one of Cadance’s rear ankles had swollen up dangerously.

Sombra lay over both of them in a daze. Both of the royal sisters rushed over and tossed grey king off and tended to their injured companions. Celestia’s anger flared again and she stared right up at Discord, who contentedly relaxed in his oversized lawn chair.

“Discord! Stop this right now! All you’re proving is you’re a cruel tyrant.”

The whistle blew, and this once again froze everything in place.

“Now now, what did I say about complaining to the referee. But alas, all you want to do is blame some pony else for your problems.”

Discord vanished and reappeared on the contestant’s platform. He started to walk in a slow circle around Celestia, Luna, Cadance, and Shining. He was no longer in his referee jersey, but a fancy lawyer’s outfit. The draconequus paused infront of the couple and pointed towards their injuries.

“See Celestia, this is the result when you actually have to deal with problems yourself… It comes with a personal cost. Perhaps you’ve become accustomed to using the Equestrian population as a whipping pony proxy… But all the same, it won’t change your mind. So I’ll prove you wrong right now. For I’m not willing to descend to the level of cruelty you are princess. Millenial statues and moons, psh, I’m not even close.”

With his lion paw, Discord reached behind his ear, and pulled out a long roll of medical tape. With crazy fast dexterity he wrapped up Shining’s snapped leg, and Cadance’s swollen ankle.

“There, now they won’t feel a thing.”

He gave the couple a pat on their heads, and shoved a lollipop into each of their mouths. He brought up his magical remote control and hit the un-mute button while he pointed it at Shining and Cadance. He spoke first though.

“Just one quick question, are either of you in pain?”

Shining gave the draconequus an angry look, and a short retort.

“No.”

Cadance still blubbered a bit, and her words were a little garbled.

“My soul is… sniff-sniff”

Discord twirled around his goatee with a claw thoughtfully.

“Well, not much I can do about that dear.”

The lawyer suit disappeared and was replaced by the referee jersey again. He vanished and reappeared on his lawn chair, and brought the whistle back up to his lips, but stopped himself from blowing it.

“Oh, I promised penalties for complaints didn’t I. hehe”

The chimera’s smile went mad, and he snapped the hair on the end of his tail, as if it was digits and not hair. Immediately afterward Celestia flinched… and nothing apparently happened. She didn’t change height or shape, nothing appeared to be altered.

Then the whistle was blown and things resumed.

Cadance uttered something in surprise as she put a hoof up to her face.

“I don’t feel anything. Shiny I don’t feel anything!”

Her stallion moved to get up, and tested the broken leg. Initially his tone was one of approval.

“I know my love, its great isn’t it… wait a minute.”

He didn’t feel anything either, like nothing. He put a hoof up to his face, and couldn’t detect the slightest bit of sensation. There was no sense of touch, or pain whatsoever. The couple gawked in shock. Celestia took a step forward and quickly asked.

“Are you two ok?”

But then an unexpected effect took place. When her body moved forward she felt it lift off the ground, and she lost all traction as she simply started to float away. This caused her to let out a yip of surprise. She repressed her immediate desire to shout “DISCORD”.

“Auntie! What’s happening to you?”

Cadance’s panic didn’t help Celestia as she tried to figure it out herself. Her legs flailed about as she tried to control her direction in futility. The white princess kept going up and up until she was about ten ponies high up in the air, then she began a slow descent, and drifted back to the ground like a balloon that slowly lost air. She landed on the other side of the platform with that little maneuver.

A loud bark of a laugh came from nearby, which belonged to Sombra.

“Low gravity princess? HAHA! That’s neat. Hey Celestia, would you like to play tag?”

“Don’t you even think about it!”

The tall princess nervously kept herself where she was, apprehensive to try and move again. The grey king just chuckled and galloped towards her, neck stretched. When it was apparent he wouldn’t stop she prepared to jump, and even got off the ground. Before she was out of reach Sombra managed to graze her hoof with his snout.

The touch was enough to mess up her trajectory and she slowly floated up and off into a direction she couldn’t help. A direction that would inevitably land her into the sauce pool. Sombra stood at the edge of the platform and watched Celestia start to descend with a chuckle.

“Oh, sorry princess, did I push you that way? I assure you it was an accident.”

The elder princess scowled at the sass, but she slowly turned that into smile, and chuckled to herself. The sudden alleviation of Celestia’s mood caused the king to tilt his head in confusion. He suddenly figured why when from behind.

“Fiend!”

Luna leapt at Sombra and knocked him back. The push sent him toward the edge and panic lit his eyes as he started to fall. The dark princess didn’t leave him a chance to grab onto the ledge as she lashed out with her hooves. There was one thing she left unguarded however, and Sombra bit onto it with his mouth.

The night princess let out a shriek as she felt her mane tugged on violently. The grey king had his mouth locked onto it like a shark, his grip was the only thing that kept him from falling into the sauce pool.

In a desperate struggled Luna had braced all of her hooves onto the ground, and tried to keep herself from being pulled over the edge along with Sombra. Neither of them would yield in either direction.

“Let go you abominable beast!”

“Nnnrrggg.”

“Auntie Luna!”

Cadance rushed over to help her fellow alicorn, Shining right behind her. Both of them stopped as pair of large changelings intervened. The equestrian captain’s eyes flared and he growled one word.

“You…”

Crone stood tall infront of the two ponies, almost head and neck above both of them. Meanwhile Chrysalis limped around behind, one of her hind legs was badly bruised at the joints. The queen with the jagged horn continued her slow gimpy walk toward Luna’s and Sombra’s desperate stalemate.

“Both of you have been such a terrible pain.”

Chrysalis sighed heavily, and one of her eyes twitched badly. The slow approach caused both the alicorn’s and stallion’s eyes to wide. Luna tried to shift her hooves, but every time she tried Sombra’s weight drug her closer to the edge, so she called out in frustration.

“Let go you fool, or she’ll get us both!”

The king just narrowed his eyes and didn’t relent. Even as the haggard queen closed the distance the other two ponies tried to rush to the princess’s aid. They were blocked from their efforts by Crone, who physically outmatched them both.

“Stay back you two. Luna needs to pay for what she did.”

“I’m sure whatever she did against you was perfectly justified.”

Crone’s eyes flared, and she smacked Shining with the back of her hoof. This caused him to flinch but not recoil. He didn’t feel it after all.

“Shut your self-righteous trap. You have no idea what you’re talking about, and if either of you want to stay on this piece of dirt for another minute you’ll stay where you are.”

The larger queen stamped her hooves at them, and they both backed away from her aggressive advance. Cadance was the more hesitant of the two, and she backed further than her fiancé did.

When Chrysalis was a mere two steps away from Luna the equestrian captain snapped, and he charged recklessly at the changeling that blocked him. Crone was surprised by the level of forwardness, and the sudden tackle pushed her back. After a moment of readjustment her hooves found stable ground and she was able to stop Shining’s burst of energy. Then the two of them started to exchange and flurry of blows, and both of them connected often.

“Shiny!”

Cadance couldn’t bear to watch, so she joined the fray and delivered a few solid blows to Crone’s exposed side. The queen coughed and gasped as she felt a sharp pain, and she rounded towards the new source. She raised a hoof to strike at the pink offender, but Shining took advantage of the distraction and laid his aggression even further into the queen.

She screeched in anger.

“Enough!”

Crone dialed all of her aggression at the captain, and focused her attention on the bandaged leg specifically. She hit the primary joint, over and over. Eventually she was rewarded with a loud crack! Shining’s leg bent out of joint and he crumpled down onto his face, unable to stand properly.

“No!”

Cadance cried, but she could do nothing. Specter joined the quarrel and pinned her to the ground. The changeling king’s expression was displeased, and he didn’t look anyone in the eye. He merely stayed resolved while Crone vented her spite.

“Alright you little thorn, over the edge with you.”

The queen grabbed Shining around the neck, dragged him to the edge, and unceremoniously tossed him over. This caused Cadance to sob and fall limp underneath Specter. The king wasn’t all too pleased the distress and drama he had made himself a part of.

---

“Come on Luna, just go over and take the intolerable king with you.”

Chrysalis had come into range, and took a few lazy swipes at the princess’s hind leg. Every time the blue alicorn shifted a hoof to dodge she lost a little ground, and got closer, and closer to the edge. Sombra’s incessant weight was an ominous guide.

“Come on, it’s not much farther. There’s plenty of little sauce monsters waiting for you.”

Rather than take a swipe, Chrysalis just body bumped Luna’s backside. With no way to avoid it, the princess lost critical balance, and Sombra’s weight did the rest. They both fell over and splashed into the tartarus sauce.

The queen with the jagged horn closed her eyes and sighed in relief. She could here several cries of pain or howls of discomfort now. She heard Crone’s voice from behind.

“Actually taking a moment to enjoy yourself, sister?”

Chrysalis hummed in answer.

“It is good to know I am still up here, while they are down there.”

“Then I’m sorry.”

“What?”

She felt a sudden force from behind her, and soon there was nothing under her hooves. Chrysalis’s eyes exploded open, and she twisted mid air to look at the changeling behind her. Crone called out loud enough for the falling sister to hear.

“There can be only one!”

Chrysalis was only able to angrily gesture with her hooves before she back flopped into the red goop with a spectacular splash.

Sombra, already in the sauce himself, opened his mouth to laugh, but instead received a mouthful from one of the sauce bear demons.

Crone stood near the edge sighed, and shook her head a little. When she turned to face the remainder of the platform she found a large dark object flying toward her. She blinked before it impacted and they both flew over the edge.

A few loud steps heralded Armor’s approach to the platform’s edge.

“Huh, didn’t take ya forrr a conspirrratorrr Specterrr. Sodden spy jack…”

He left the edge and the rest of the contestants to wallow bellow. It only took him a few steps to approach the last competitor.

Princess Cadance lay in a heap and continued to sob, she hardly seemed to notice when the last giant on the field approached her. She didn’t notice when she was prodded, or when he whispered to her.

“Werrre this for life and death I would have fewerrr qualms, but it’s not little dame.”

He put a hoof under her chin and lifted it up. His blue eyes met her pink irises and he gave her one stern look. She sniffled and closed her eyes, a look of utter resignation crossed her countenance, and her body drooped.

The next moment the king’s giant hoof was off her. She expected to be tossed aside at any moment. But that moment never came. Instead she heard the ring of a bell, and Discord’s voice sounded throughout the stadium.

“We have a winner!”

Ch.59 "Round Two, Hot seats"

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.59 “Hot Seats”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAItw0jQHrY

“We have a winner!”

Discord’s voice rang throughout the stadium as if he stood in a thousand places… which he in fact, did. Trumpets then blared, a shower of confetti showered the grand audience, and the king of chaos gracefully floated down from his elevated column to the competitive platform.

The inane chimera regaled himself in a large flowing toga, which draped over one shoulder, and wore a crown of olive leaves on his head. He landed right next to the hornless, wingless, pink scuffled princess.

In one simultaneous action he scooped Cadance with his lion paw, and cracked his eagle talons against one another. An over-sized golden paper ticket appeared out of thin air, and he snatched it with his free paw. Then he took the ticket and shoved it in the peachy alicorn’s mouth.

Cadance was all too bewildered to react much, and stared down with surprise at the shiny reflective object between her teeth. The pretty pink princess was a pretty good reader, because she was a closet nerd, she even made a strange habit of reading things upside down sometimes, for fun…

So despite the nonsense showered around her, she noticed the ticket had writing on it, which said “Free Pass”. Her eyes widened even further and her pupils shrank like crumpled paper. It was at this time Discord spoke in his announcer voice.

“Congratulations ponies of Equestria. One of your princesses won the first round!”

He made a large sweeping gesture towards a large portion of the audience. There were a few cheers, but many were hardly enthusiastic. In fact there were several boos… perhaps it had something to do with Luna, Celestia, and Shining Armor. All of whom still floundered in the virulent sauce, and were still chased by little saucy demons.

Discord seemed to largely ignore the mixed reaction, and continued to speak.

“As winner you, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, can use this ticket to skip one round of the Discord Games. It’s only good for one use, and only for you. So no hoofing it over to any pony else.”

He set the bamboozled pony down, then seized one of her hooves with both of his paws and shook it vigorously. His announcer voice was gone, and his next words were only heard by Cadance.

“Congratulations again, I must say, I particularly enjoyed your last little stunt there. I mean, you looked so pitiable it’s no wonder that big bad changeling threw himself over the edge… HAHAHA!”

He cackled a little and quickly ruffled through Cadance’s disaster of a mane. Then he turned towards the crowd and amped up his voice once more. Both paws were opened wide and inviting.

“Alright, time to move onto our next game. All of you in the audience just saw how you’re dignified royalty behaved in a hoof tussle. Some disappointments, some surprises. Now, for our next round, we’ll see them use their words. Not their usual political banter either, no, we’re going for something more… honest.”

With a snap from his lion paw, the entire platform shifted around. It became narrower, and several brand new objects appeared. Two catapults became center stage, each of the munitions bowls were made of a bright shiny metal. Also, a segmented bench with a few rows was added nearby, which had an excellent view of the two projectile devices.

Another snap brought the losers out of their saucy inferno, all of them were placed in different sections of the new bench, and transparent barricades kept them individually separated. Each of the ponies and changelings were in various expressions of pain, well, most of them.

More still screeched like a banshee.

Monarch was battered head to hoof, and had managed to stay plastered to the glass instead of ever falling in the sauce. She wheezed as she twisted and cracked her neck to its proper position. Her form was also returned to full size.

Celestia sat rather still, and daintily poked out her tongue to taste some of the sauce glopped onto her face. When her tongue withdrew back into her mouth, she hummed thoughtfully, then gave a mild nod of approval.

Luna on the other hoof, danced in place and spewed forth a string of curses.

Sombra bit his lower lip, and drew blood while he sat in placed and trembled something fierce. He was otherwise silent.

Shining Armor beat his head repeatedly and rhythmically against the barrier on his section of the bench.

Chrysalis stared daggers at Crone, the fire in her eyes was more determined than the burn of the sauce.

Crone huddled to one corner and breathed through her teeth, eyes clenched shut.

Specter did his best to meditate, albeit, not very well.

Armor smashed his hooves against his barriers with force that would shatter other equines. Meanwhile he grunted to himself “Fight the pain, fight the pain!”

Discord hovered above the pretentious group, armed with a fire extinguisher. The first equine to receive a blast of coolant was Moore, who now screeched for an entirely different reason, but she eventually calmed. Soon the rest of the previous round’s losers were ‘cooled off’ as well.

When the task was complete the draconequus flew up and between the catapults he had conjured. He brought a conjured mic to his face and spoke in his game host voice with a slightly different twist, and he also wore a fine suit.

“Here we go ladies and gents, I will now demonstrate how round two of our fantastical game will go.”

With a snap two more Discords appeared. One of them was dressed up in pompous royal heraldry, the other was a strange hybrid-ish thing that look like a cross between a changeling and himself. Each of the new two Discords stood in the bowl of a catapult.

The main suited Discord breathed heavily into the mic.

“I will randomly select two competitors for each mini round. The two chosen contestants will engage in a verbal battle. During the course of which, the losing side will feel their seat get hotter and hotter.”

The two contestant Discords, the royal goon, and changeling loon started to banter at each other.

“You’re ugly.”

“You’re a snob.”

A small heat wave came from the metal bowls, and both of them started to dance uncomfortably on their feet. The suited discord continued to orate.

“The better you tear apart your opponent with words the hotter their seat will get.”

The royal goon threw out a snide

“You’re weak and stupid!”

The chitinous loon leaned forward over the edge of his bowel, and said very poignantly

“No one loves you… You don’t even love yourself.”

The royal goon’s eyes flashed wide with fear. And the metal bowl grew red hot.

“How did you kno- wuuuuaaaah!”

The catapult triggered and the royal goon was flung by the catapult over the edge of the reshaped platform. The sauce below had been replaced by water, with large chunks of ice afloat in it. With a loud splash the beaten Discord goon disappeared under the surface, then quickly reemerged. He began to shiver at the frigid temperature. In a sad effort, he paddled over to a block of ice and attempted to scramble on top of it.

Announcer Discord spoke once more to gain everyone’s attention.

“After a certain threshold the catapult will release the loser into the waters below, where they can relieve the ‘burn’ their opponent gave them. Hehehe. One last thing. Since I’ll draw this randomly, if you happen to be set against a friend, you still must participate. No pity points this round. Refusing to play will result in both you and the set opponent being disqualified…”

The extra Discords disappeared, and the suited announcer drew up a card table and a very small deck of cards. He shuffled them around in a haphazard manner. While he shuffled, he turned towards Cadance, who still had the large golden “free pass” in her mouth.

“Deary, now’s the time to decide if you want to use that free pass or not. If you choose not you, you can retain it for a future round.”

Cadance looked towards the benches. Celestia, Luna, and Shining Armor all mouthed “use it”. When she looked at her fiancé tears started to well up in her eyes again, and the giant ticket fell out of her mouth. Discord watched all of it with a raised eyebrow.

“So is that a yes or no?”

The pink alicorn looked directly into her stallion’s eyes. The answer was obvious, but she struggled to say it. Her expression became downcast, and she choked out a “Yes”.

“Very well! You get to skip this round princess!”

The chimera flipped the cards over, picked a card with a little picture titled ‘Kay-dunce’ and flung it out, where it promptly exploded somewhere in the background. Then the cards were all placed face down again, and shuffled. After a minute or so of intense card swishes he picked two and flipped them over.

“Our first contestants will be… Princess Luna, and Queen Crone!”

---

Crone let out a long sigh, and rubbed her face slowly with a hoof. At the moment, she seriously considered if she’d rather be in war than involved in this. Soon her barrier dropped and she was magically dragged out and onto one of the catapults. The changeling clone initially flinched at the circumstances, fearful of the magic going on all around her, but surprisingly the magic didn’t affect her at all. No allergenic effects acted up. This only increased her uncanny feelings toward the self-proclaimed Spirit of Chaos, he couldn’t somehow be aware of her condition... could he? Or even stranger, do something about it?

Similarly Luna was taken off her spot on the benches and placed in the opposing catapult. The dark-blue pony princess sported a vicious scowl, and the faintest hints of a smirk, still mostly angry though. Luna was about to open her mouth when Discord interrupted her.

“Oh, yes I forgot I wanted to add one more feature to this game.”

Everyone raised an eye brow, and some sighed. Another whispering wispy wisp of magic whimsied some more objects whimsily towards the benched contestants. They were simple panels, and each panel had a red and green button. Discord held a panel himself, and continued to explain his newest amendment.

“Incase both contestants are equally good, I’ll allow bias to skew the matches... Aw who am I kidding, I’ll let bias affect the matches right from the beginning, hehehe. The red button will heat the seat on the right, the green button will heat the seat on the left.”

“Who’s right and left?”

Crone eyed the panels, and didn’t like this new addition at all, and her slightly panicked tone revealed that all too quickly. When her head swiveled towards the benched competitors her heart sank, she immediately knew most of them would instantly turn on her. If Chrysalis’s snide glare was anything to go by…

“Hmm, oh? Luna sits upon the red marker, and you sit on the green one Crony. Alright! 1… 2… 3… Start!”

The changeling clone immediately felt a bunch of heat under her seat, and not even a word had been spoken. A quick glance showed Celestia’s, Shining’s, Monarch’s, More’s, and Chrysalis’s hooves all pressed on the green buttons of their panels. Sombra, Specter, and Armor just sat and watched.

A haughty laugh caused Crone’s attention to snap to her opponent. Luna’s scowl had transformed into a full-blown smug smile, then she spoke first.

“Would you like to give up? Your hope seems as nonexistent as your list of friends…”

The heat grew under Crone’s seat even more, and she could feel the heat whip all the way up to her face. She began to breathe rapidly, and when Discord made a loud jeer it didn’t help her composure either.

“OH! What a nice opening line, heh, you were always willing to say blunt things Celestia wasn’t Luny.”

Luna rolled her eyes as Discord’s ‘compliment’ then turned expectantly to the baked changeling. Despite the immediate disadvantages, Crone managed to bark back.

“Friends? You would know! Murder, and Traitor!”

The surprising volume of Crone’s voice created just as surprising an effect. There was a gasp to be heard, heard as it rippled through the equestrian audience, and a few others. The changeling clone also immediately felt some of the heat lessen on her. She glanced at the benched competitors again, and saw Chrysalis no longer had her hoof on the green button. The snide glare was gone, and her face fell towards the ground.

As Crone turned back to Luna she saw hesitation in the princess that wasn’t there before. So she tried to capitalize on the small window of advantage she had opened.

“Yes, murderer. You’ve all but killed my best friend! You smashed her brain to bloody pieces! You sloppy arrogant beast! Do you know how many ponies we killed in Canterlot? Zero, nothing, we kept all of you alive, and intact. But you, you couldn’t spare the same decency, even if we are enemies…”

Luna’s smirk had disappeared, and her strong confidence had cracks. She started to actually feel heat on her seat.

“I did what I had to, don’t pretend you can be justified, you attacked first.”

“That doesn’t dismiss your brutality! Besides, who are you to talk about justice, traitor to Equestria, to your own sister.”

Luna started to evolve a nasty snarling twitch on her muzzle. She pointed an accusatory hoof at the derisive queen.

“Don’t talk about what you don’t know!”

“From what I heard, you were just as bad when you came back little over two years ago. Still a nightmare, still wanting to steal the day from every pony. Unrepentant as ever. It took their most powerful magic to force your hoof to conform. Whose to say you can be trusted again? If a thousand years didn’t change your mind what will? I bet you’ve just been playing nice…”

“Shut up! You miserable hag! You couldn’t get anywhere without disguises to further your cause. You and your kind thrive off of deception and treachery! Your nature speaks for itself.”

“HAHA! My nature… My sister over there, Chrysalis, fooled all of your prim proper Canterlot ponies, she fooled Celestia… But one thing she has never betrayed, one thing I never betrayed, was our family, our swarm. The same can’t be said for you. You’ll never be able to truly repair your broken bonds.”

Significantly more heat had built up under Luna, and she stood up, so only her hooves were in contact with the steamy metal. It was only a temporary reprieve though, and she started to sweat heavily. However, the heat bothered her less than the words being thrown her way.

“You-your lying! I remember, you told me back in the caves, my sister still loves me. I felt it, y-you told me what it was!”

Crone looked confused for a moment, but then realized what the pony talked about very quickly.

“That? You were high on the love I had collected from thousands of ponies… I said what I said to get your blubbering trap silenced. None of that love was for you. Heh, infact, most of the ponies still don’t pay you heed, I know, I’ve tasted it. Also, I won’t deny that Celestia still has love for you, but would you like me to also elaborate how much pain she still suffers because of you? How much resentment she has, but won’t say? How disappointed she is? How little she actually trusts you?”

Luna no longer look at Crone, whether it was tears or sweat running down her face, one couldn’t tell. She instead looked toward the benches, to Celestia. The white alicorn had concern and worry deeply engraved into her features, the older sister mouthed “don’t listen!” but Luna didn’t see, her eyes were already clenched shut and a trembled grimace had come across her face.

“I’m sorry Tia.”

BEEEEEEP!

The catapult under Luna was triggered and the blue alicorn was flung off the platform to the icy waters below. As soon her opponent was gone, the heat under Crone’s seat disappeared, and she sighed in relief. Discord’s voice blared in again.

“Apologies on stage equal an automatic loss! Unless they’re sarcastic, or mocking! With that, congratulations Crony on winning your first match. Good luck surviving the next one(s). Because at the end of this game, there will still be only one winner. Time to go back to your seat!”

The catapult the changeling sat on suddenly swiveled, and pointed back at the benches. Crone, had only a moment to comprehend before she was launched back into her seat amongst the contestants, face first.

While she groaned with her head stuck between planks, with her flanks raised high in the air, Discord whipped out the card table and cards again, and them shuffled about. He picked two and flipped them over.

“The next match is Celestia, and Monarch!”

---

Within moments the next two contestants were drawn out and placed on their respective platforms. Monarch was over the green trigger and Celestia the red one.

The alicorn held a fuming glare at Crone, who still worked to get upright. She only did that for a moment before she realized where her attention should be, the giant queen sitting across from her.

Now, Celestia was generally use to being taller than most equines around her, other than the occasional visit from foreigners such as the yaks, or zebzebians. This is not what bothered her when she looked at Monarch, what bothered her was the eyes. There was something dead in those ghastly green rings.

Monarch faced the eldest princess, but she didn’t look directly at her, but off into nothing at all. One corner of her mouth picked up in a lazy smile.

“Would you like to start the mud-slinging, or shall I Celestia… To be fair, I know much more about you than you know of me.”

The alicorn seemed to ignore the words, as she continued to study her opponent. It was easy to see several members of the bench had already pushed buttons on their respective panels. Her eyes opened slightly wider when she saw who.

Armor, Specter, More, Chrysalis, Crone, and Shining all had their hooves on the green button. Only Sombra stuck his hoof on the red button with a coy smile, he even gave her a complimentary eye brow roll. Otherwise Celestia could easily see a hateful glare from Armor, Specter, and More directed at Monarch, while Chrysalis and Crone actually looked a little fearful, Shining was just being loyal.

Her study lasted a little longer, Monarch reacted quite passively to the heat, she in fact increased her smile with the pressure. Discord looked about ready to lose his patience between all the exchanges of looks, so the alicorn moved on and spoke.

“I don’t need you to explain your history, it’s already written in your expressions. Your soul is dark in more ways than one.”

“Heh, I think you’re going to have to up the ante if you actually want to get insulting. The fearful benched scoundrels are more biting with their pathetic button-operated-opinions.”

“I don’t see fear so much as hate… Is that one of your talents? Do you enjoy receiving such hatred directed towards you?”

Monarch just smirked ever so slightly, and Celestia picked up on it, and continued.

“Then I have nothing but pitiable feelings for you. What a sad existence you must lead, if your primary purpose is to drive others to punish you in any way they can.”

“Please tell me Celestia, why is that sad?”

Monarch’s smile was even wider, despite her seat getting even hotter. Celestia was somewhat confused, the changeling must be feeling it, she could see heat waves for goodness sake. She didn’t let this distract her from continuing though.

“If that’s even a question for you, then you must not have experienced love for yourself. Sure, you can eat it all you like, but it would seem you have never been appreciated for who you are. Nopo- changeling has appreciated you as you deserved, so you became what you are…”

Monarch’s smile dropped on one side of her mouth, then slowly rose on the other side. The heat continued to rise.

“I’ll give you credit for perception Celestia, though it’s really only a half credit. I did enjoy a good chuckle when I heard how this all started. An amateur royal was able to get past you, and straight beat you…”

“The same mistake will not be made twice.”

Some heat left Monarch and went under the alicorn.

“That doesn’t matter, you’ve been manipulated far more than you know my dear. You don’t need to worry about it though, my-little-pony. Once business is done here and Discord has had his fun, my plans will unfold. I am the answer for pony and changeling kind.”

Celestia’s reserved expression became somewhat quizzical.

“Does your plan involve talking like a maniac?”

Monarch smiled even wider, and gestured towards Discord.

“Don’t get insulting to our wonderful host now. What you creatures call madness is simply vision beyond what you’re capable of understanding.”

The draconequus hovered fairly close by and nodded in appreciation. He even whipped out his personal panel, and started to trace a claw over the red button. But Celestia called out before he could press it.

“Don’t you dare!”

Discord hesitated at the scolding tone aimed at him.

“B-but, she said nice things about madness!”

“She doesn’t share your kind madness Discord, she wants to kill and rule. She’s probably cooking up a way to kill you even as we speak!”

“Kill me? HA! Celestia, you should know better… but I don’t doubt you’re right about what she’s thinking. Alright, I won’t push YOUR button… this time.”

Discord’s claw traced from the red one to the green one, and started to apply pressure. Monarch began to look genuinely upset, her reference to Discord was about to backfire horribly. She piped up with uncharacteristic pleasantness.

“Discord, honey, you know I would be so much more fun than this stiff. She put you in stone for over a thousand shodden years! Help me, and I’ll give a more enjoyable time than you’ve ever known.”

The chimera raised both of his eye brows high, and his ears perked, his long tail gave a vigorous swish, and his eyes seemed to give the queen a look of appraisal. When she noticed she had his attention her posture shifted drastically. She rested her chin on her fetlocks and gave him her best doe-eyes. Discord slowly floated down towards the changeling, his uneven golden eyes became half-lidden, and his voice turned sultry.

“mMMmm, you know…”

“Yes my lord?”

Monarch mirrored the sultry tone, and licked her lips. The look was slightly thrown off though, as a large drop of blood dripped from her heavily bruised face.

“The one thing I despise more than a stiff, is a suck-up.”

His claw pressed the green button down, and the changeling was launched far way into the chilly depths that awaited her. Celestia blinked in surprise before she started a faint chuckle. The draconequus turned toward the alabaster alicorn, and muttered.

“Well played.”

Then he opened up to the other contestants.

“Alright next!”

Celestia’s catapult launched her back into the benches before she could smile in triumph. After she crashed into the woodwork, which she totally shattered, a green mushroom popped up above her head, and was followed by a catchy little jingle before it disappeared. Her barriers reappeared and the remaining contestants looked nervously to the fateful card table.

Discord picked out two fresh cards.

“Our next contestants are, prince to be, and brother of nerds, Shining Armor. Then we have uh, what was your name again?”

The card with the changeling’s picture didn’t have a name on it… for some reason.

Specter waved a hoof non-chalantly.

“King Specter.”

“King Specter!”

---

As had happened in the previous two matches, the two chosen equines were taken out of their bench booths, and placed on their respective catapults. Specter was placed on the green, and Shining on the red. Not a moment after they were placed Shining shouted out first.

“You’re a coward, all of you changelings are cowards!”

Specter blinked, before he threw Shining a somewhat shrewd and calculating glance.

“You better calm you’re bluster, colt, or you’re just going to hurt yourself even more.”

Shining just growled at the diminutive retort, he was a stallion, not a colt. He made sure to lean forward aggressively as he brayed his words.

“If Discord hadn’t shown up, the equestrian guard and militias would have pasted you bugs. Your thieving and lying, and under-hoofed dealing has been brought into the light, and there will be no going back.”

Back on the benches Celestia sprouted a look of concern, she hadn’t seen this kind of wrath in her captain before. Also, unnoticed was a faint smile from More, but she made sure no one saw. Specter just sighed.

“You don’t understand the depths of your misunderstanding, Shining Armor.”

“Oh please, what is there to elaborate? Your kind stole my bride and my princesses. Your kind unjustly imprisoned and plundered us. Your ki-”

“Captain grow a brain!”

The alabaster stallion’s rant was over powered by the changeling king’s shout. A brief moment of silence followed, before Specter continued in a calmer voice.

“Chrysalis did all those things. She doesn’t represent my kind, and if you took a moment to notice, then you would see we are quite divided. All of us.”

“You were on her side just last game! You pinned down my Candy under your filthy hide!”

From the sidelines their issued a ripple of chuckles, Cadance hid her face, embarrassed. Discord bust into a laugh, and Celestia appeared quite endeared. It took Shining a moment to notice he had used a pet name… He was infinitely grateful when Specter acted as if that hadn’t happened. The changeling continued on.

“In such a silly scenario I’ll take what allies I can. On to the main point. All of you grievances can still be remedied. Chrysalis has acted as a foolish ignorant child. Thankfully there is still plenty we can salvage from this. However, your childish barking won’t help at all, captain.”

A particular changeling queen and her clone took offense to the statement “foolish ignorant child”, and responded by putting their hooves on the green button. Heat built up under the king’s tush, and he stood up to try and avoid it best he could. His gesture seemed to remind the rest of the benched contestants they had panels too, and more buttons were pushed. More, Armor, Celestia, Chrysalis, and Crone had their hooves on the green button, only Sombra had his on the red.

Discord also had one eyebrow raised.

“What do you think this is? Time for diplomacy?”

Specter grit his teeth, and pranced about his bowl. His dark rimmed eyes snapped into something more vicious.

“Fine, you want some ripping words?”

The changeling king growled with fangs bared and a loathsome glare. When he rounded on Shining, the stalwart stallion actually backed off a bit. He had no magic, and an angry predator was nearby by, it hit a primal fear in the captain. Specter’s words came out with a bit of a ghostly hiss.

“How about we start with incompetence. You, Shining Armor, are an embarrassment. You failed miserably at keeping your princess and fiancé safe. Also, you are no general, you’re a guard. Sieges have never been part of your training, idiot. What was your plan? Blindly blunder into the Crystal Empire and toss a storm at it? Throw around some magic and see what happens? Your scouts are also pathetic, because you failed asses a very crucial factor, and are unaware of how much Chrysalis’s swarm has strengthened over the last week. You would have walked thousands of ponies into a massacre.”

Specter drew in a quick breath, and didn’t give Shining a chance to retort to any of it. Let alone, the equestrian captain seemed to brave the criticism that came his way. Even as the bowl heated under his hooves. Chrysalis and Crone released their hold over their green buttons, and nodded at the compliment of their strength, then pressed the red button instead.

“Hahaha, or how about how ungrateful you really are.”

This only made Shining raise an eyebrow and scoff. Specter didn’t hesitate at the pony’s incredulousness and continued right away.

“Yes, you should be very grateful for me, and some of the other changeling royalty. I could give countless examples of how we have actually helped pony kind and many others. You haven’t a clue how many international disputes we have diffused, how many crime lord’s we have overthrown, how many malevolent demons we have purged. All in the name of keeping ponies safe and happy. It’s our need for you that drives us to work endlessly for your benefit. Then all you have to say for yourself, captain, is that we’re cowards… I’ll forgive you for lashing out at the dark, you are young and tender. Hopefully your potential isn’t as woefully limited as your current ability to perceive.”

Despite the long rant, Shining didn’t take long to respond at all.

“You don’t have any proof of your claims, all of your words are just a bunch of lies.”

“I have a few witnesses that can concur right now.”

Specter turned towards Armor and More, then point a hoof at them.

“Armor has been a revelrous leader of the germane ponies for some time. He’s cared for them as if they were members of his own swarm. He’s looked out for their best interest, and has no reason to be insincere with that pursuit. The same could be said for More over there, who’s played mayor of Manehattan recently, and has been revolutionizing that city for good ever since.”

Both Armor and More removed their hooves from the green button, and nodded in acknowledgement. After a moment of consideration, the two royals put their hooves over the red button instead. All of the heat that had largely pressured Specter in the beginning had essentially flipped sides. Only Celestia still supported Shining Armor, while ever other hoof was against him.

The heat caused the stallion to sweat viciously, and he became very distracted. It was difficult to focus as he tried to retort under the pressure. His resolve kept him just coherent enough.

“If you want to excuse Chrysalis as an ignorant child, then all of this is your fault… and their fault! If you’ve been managing us so carefully for so long, then why can’t you manage yourselves?”

Specter snarled back towards the watery depths, where Monarch floundered. He spoke out the side of his mouth.

“That fiend wallowing in the water is the reason. We were civil, we were respectful, and we actually had society among ourselves. Then Monarch and Virus threw it all into a hellish and conceited civil war. Now our kind is almost extinct. Chrysalis and her sister are isolated by products of the unaccounted, because of Monarch’s insane conflict... So sure, blame Armor, More, and I for Chrysalis’s ill-conceived and ignorant invasion. But I shall then hold you to the same standard, and demand you be responsible for the outcome all ponies…”

The heat had finally built to breaking point, and Shining was launched into the air for a few moments, then fell into a swift plunge.

Discord clapped.

“Bravo, what a show, you had me worried there at the start. Onto our next match!”

Like the others, Specter was launched back to the benches without dignity. The card table appeared, shuffles were done, and two fresh candidates were chosen.

“For our fourth match, we have the honorary Chrysalis, and King Armor… Sheesh, Armor, Shining Armor, your mothers should have come up with something more original.”

“I earrrned my name, thanks!”

Barked an annoyed changeling king, which caused Discord to simply shrug.

“Whatever, let’s get this going.”

---

Chrysalis was placed on the red side, and Armor was placed over the green. Armor’s weight caused the arm of the catapult to bend and sulk.

With several examples set before them, the two changelings wasted no time to go at it. Chrysalis and Armor shouted at each other at the same time, and the verbal assault made it difficult to understand what either party was trying to say. If things were slowed down and brought into line, it would look something like this.

“All of you were too weak to manage her? Really?”

“You must’ve been rrraised an ignorant brat! Is full-tilt invasion rrreally the best plan ya could come up with?”

“I did what I had too! Too bad no ‘educated royal’ was around to show me the loops! Meanwhile I’ve been making something of myself! All while you and the rest were stinging your time away with feuds!”

“It’s not my fault ya don’t have a strrraight head on yurrr shoulderrrs. It’s rrregrrretable yes, but ya have no idea what it’s been like fightin’ that devil Monarrrch. Yurrr so blind you can only crrredit yurrself!”

“Yes, I’ll take credit where its due. Credit for coming out on top with the small bag of tools my swarm had!”

“You conceited youngsterrr, do ya know nothin’ of yurrr own kind! We haven’t warrred with ponies in over a thousand yarrrs, yet you have the audacity to brrreak trrraditions set by yurrr betterrrs. I just have to assume you know diddley squat!”

“I know enough to get my way around. I know how to lead 10,000 and more. I know I would crush you if you tried to set hoof in my empire!”

“Yurrr empirrre! YURRR EMPIRRRE! Yurrr arrogance defies belief! Do you not have an inklin’ of that city orrr its inhabitants? I thought this was somethin’ we could perrrhaps talk out. Seein’ how you might have been rrreasonable back in Canterrrlot, but yurrr lookin’ too much like a powerrr crazin’ dolt!”

“Yes my empire! It’s only fair to call it that since the ponies there love me. I saved them from Sombra while all of you sat on your thrones in stupor.”

Armor stopped talking immediately when Chrysalis said Sombra. His mouth just hung open and he stared. Chrysalis kept up her aggressive ramble for a few moments, but eventually she realized her opponent wasn’t really engaged anymore.

“What?”

“What did ya say just a moment ago?”

“That you conniving tools would destroy me because of your own irresponsibility, heartle-”

“No, the moment before that.”

“I saved the ponies of the Crystal Empire from Sombra.”

“King Sombra is back? That can’t be… The empire was as bright as the old vision depicted. If he was back it would be shrouded in dar-”

“Uh yes, Sombra is back, he sitting right over there.”

The frazzled changeling queen pointed over to where the grey stallion sat. Suddenly all of the remaining changeling eyes were on him. There was a mixture of fear and spatial respect from Armor, Specter, and More. Even Monarch who barely managed to latch onto an ice block perked her ears, and a glint of curiosity sparked in her eyes, even as she shivered from the intense cold.

Sombra looked from face to face, and smiled at the reaction to his name.

“Huh, I had a respectable following and I didn’t even know. What a treat…”

Discord sighed and planted his face in the palm of his lion paw.

“For side tracking the point of the match, you’re disqualified Armor!”

The draconequus whipped out his panel and pressed down on the green button. Instead of a launch it was more of a lumpty-dumpty roll. The changeling king didn’t gain any air as the arm of the catapult went up, and jerked him out of the bowl.

He grunted and smacked head over hoof down the body of the device, and eventually tumbled over the edge, where he took a few nuts and bolts with him. Discord tsked at the damage his lovely projectile device sustained from its attempted launch of overly heavy ammunition.

So much work was poured into it, every angle, every detail, the sheen, the wood grain, the welding. The gears and bobs and gizmos, the physics and the planning and the … naw … all it took was a snap of magic. That is all it took to fix it too. Good as new.

“By default, our key queen Chrysalis won this match. Congratulations, next!”

Discord whipped out his cards again and shuffled them, this time no table was involved. Two seconds later he drew two cards.

“More, and Sombra will be match number five!”

---

When the pony and changeling were placed, More had a fascinated look on her face, Sombra tilted his head quizzically. The queen was placed on the green button, and the king on the red.

“The one and only King Sombra… I must say, I never thought I would have the chance to meet you.”

“Pleasure’s all mine miss?”

“More, Queen More.”

“Yes, well, being a fan is all well and good, but what qualifies you to waste my time here?”

“Hehaha! Oh, I’m having my doubts of your authenticity then. The Sombra I’ve seen in visions past wouldn’t allow himself to be so easily relegated to a den of fools like this. Your time here is hardly well spent.”

“I can assure you this was not ‘easily relegated’. I will be on my own way shortly. In fact I should thank our benevolent master of chaos over here for liberating me from that love bandit’s clutches.”

Sombra’s gesture of platitudes went towards the Chimera, and his gesture of disdain went towards Chrysalis and Crone. The chimera who floated nearby giggled at the phrase “love bandit” but otherwise let the arguments go forward. Sombra’s answer only seemed to dim the hopefulness in More’s eyes.

“Well this is sad then. You were beaten and imprisoned by the nubile queen… What the ancient said must be true then. She did indeed lobotomize you.”

“Lobotomized?”

“Have you no memory of changeling kind?”

“My dear, you can’t expect me to remember something as insignificant as a molly band of feely moochers. There are simply matters of more importance to tend to.”

“So you don’t.”

“Do I have to spell it out?”

“For one who was our antithesis at one point, it must be said… how far you have fallen. I would have expected you to do something to preserve your majesty. I am disappointed all that is left is this quibbler.”

Sombra took the prick with grace, and worked on an actual retort.

“It only means your all the More fool for underestimating me. Is that how you earned your name? More folly, More nonsense, More drivel, More mediocrity, More ignorance, More-”

“Taking a vapid turn aren’t we? Now I really can’t believe you are the one called king Sombra. You’re a pathetic shadow of who he was, and his legacy. Principles abstained; the old image was breath-taking. You, you are not he.”

“I don’t know what this ridiculous standard is that you’re talking about. Though, you’re making me look forward to the day I will make you a slave in my halls. Then we’ll see who’s pathetic, then we’ll she who will have to hide from the shadows themselves!”

“Discord! I call for a motion of disqualification.”

The draconequus landed between the two equines, dressed in the black robes of a judge, complete with a stupid-looking curly wig, and glasses. He held a gavel in one paw and lightly beat it into the other.

“That’s a pretty serious accusation you want there. On what grounds do you want your opponent disqualified, queen More?”

She pointed a hoof at her own skull then motioned towards Sombra.

“You gave me less than half an opponent to contend with. He doesn’t even remember the most crucial things about his own life. Disqualify him because he isn’t a challenge.”

More gave a disdainful and uppity glance towards the crystal king before she looked back to the lord of chaos. Discord played with his goatee for a moment thoughtfully before he droned in a arbitrary tone.

“Have you any proof of your claim?”

More turned to Sombra and asked.

“Who loved you, who did you betray, who’s throne was it that you took? What was her name?”

The dark stallion was thoroughly bemused by the question.

“If you’re talking about princess Auroria, she didn’t love me. The empire’s throne fell to me through diplomatic maneuvers. I came to power because the populous gave it to me.”

The changeling queen just shook her head, and looked to Discord while she tapped a hoof tapped to her temple.

“The true answer is here, if you would like to confirm.”

The chimera extended a lion paw and touched her fore-head, his eyes closed for a minute, and he muttered “oooOooo” then he opened them back up.

“The evidence appears sufficient. King Sombra is disqualified, for not having all his marbles.”

The judge’s gavel came down on the red button, and the stallion was launched towards the frigid waters, to join the other word-fencing losers. No time for complaint was had. More actually managed a small “yay” before she was launched back into the benches, and dealt with a gnarly wood-to-face concussion.

“Exciting, exciting! Look at that, five matches and we have had every player participate. Now that we only have five left, we’ll get see those with the sharpest tongues lash it out! Let’s give some applause to those who made it thus far!”

Several Discords popped up infront of the segregated audiences. Each one held a sign that said “Applaud!” a few of the ponies and changelings complied, and stomped their hooves and shouted encouragements.

The crystal ponies and Chrysalis’s swarm loyally cheered. More’s swarm cheered.

The equestrian crowd seemed happy that atleast Celestia was still contending, and showers of confetti burst down on their side of the stadium.

The germane crowd, however, voiced their disgruntlement with loud booing… as a result showers of spaghetti rained down on them, which created a nasty slick saucy mess. Many of the ponies slipped and tripped over each other.

When other crowds saw the punishment the germane sustained, they decided to cheer, regardless if they meant it or not.

Ch.60 "Heart of Harmony"

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch. 60 “Heart of Harmony”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJ_fkw5j-t0

The wilderness of the Badlands-

Shortly after Chrysalis’s departure Shellish moved away from her lonely wooden throne, her legs and wings carried her about as she wandered. Aimless in movement as she was in thought.

The breeze in the Badlands was mild, it had the feel and air of springtime. The bluster of whistling winds wouldn’t pass through the region until fall. A faint smile flickered across her muzzle, she loved the fall, because scents from other lands would blow through, and spice the stagnant graininess of the desert. Her mind and eyes eventually turned to the horizon, and she pondered.

Far away, across the lands, the older royal could still remotely sense her former pupil. It was greatly muted with the range however, and Chrysalis hadn’t said anything for some time now anyway. There was a great sense of preoccupation, and Shellish didn’t want to interrupt in any case.

She still had difficulty wrapping her head around the idea that she was alive again. Even though she looked down and saw her hooves take one step after another, felt the sun as it rose, and how the light and heat tickled her skin. But all of it was as a dream. Atleast she felt like she couldn’t tell anymore.

---

Days passed, and the wander never ceased, whether it was night or day. She never felt hungry, she never felt thirsty, she never felt tired, something, whatever it was, sustained her. The lack of those needs only caused her to question her reality even more.

Starvation, as if it was yesterday, plagued her mind with its memories. She remembered the gradual decline, the slow wasting of the swarm. How helpless she felt, how powerless she was, how they turned on her in frustration…

The changeling stopped walking for the first time in days, and her face contorted as she tried to focus. There was a place, there was certainly a place, full of all kinds of sensation, and powerful emotion. She had been to this place, after she had “died”. After a period of time trying to remember it, she gave up. No details came to her recollection no matter how hard she tried to focus.

Something rather subliminal began to happen though, she began to feel a tug, a tug which felt rooted in her chest. It prompted her to move in a certain direction, and even possessed a sense of urgency. In her confused state, this one gut feeling felt like the most stable thing she had experienced since her “return”.

The wings on her back buzzed, and she drifted up some distance. After a large gain in altitude she felt the tug again, it was northwards. She barreled in that direction, and steadily increased the effort she put into her flight.

As the desert passed quickly underneath her, she felt curious about her new limitations. Thinking back about what happened to canyon caves, she wondered if that really was from her. Her horn rippled and ignited as she began to experiment. She tapped some of her latent magic, and used it to augment the speed of her flight.

She caught herself off guard. An explosion of green-white magic caused her to surge forward like a comet, and large tails of brilliant light were behind her. The sudden burst frightened her badly, and Shellish immediately tried to slow down. A fiery energy shield engulfed her and she curled into a ball.

Crash after repeated crash worked to slow down the insane momentum she had built up. Each impact, whether it was a hill, or just a straight track of land, failed to stop her any better than water would slow a harpoon.

After what felt like an eternity, the corralling force lessened, and she eventually rolled into a stop. She released the shield which protected her, and took a look at where she ended up.

There were cherry trees on all sides, some of which caught on fire from being to near the shield. When she looked behind, she saw a long fissure. It was evidence of the landscape’s attempt to slow her as she plowed through it. A voice suddenly caught her attention.

“What in tarnation? My trees!”

A mare with a crazy mane-dew the color of crimson jam, and a coat the color of cream, hollered in dismay and surprise. Shellish’s eyes bolted open in fear, her instincts told her to be afraid of discovery! So before the pony could come and inspect the scene closely, Shellish flew into the air again as rapidly as she could, and continued towards the pull she felt in her chest.

As rapidly as she could meant, blowing things over in a mighty gale, her fear caused her to trigger her magic again, for another uncontrollable burst.

This time she caught on quicker though, and stopped the magical burst shortly after she realized what she did. The burst had taken her straight up, and up, and up, and up, and up… As she tried to take a breath, she felt the air was incredibly thin, almost as if it wasn’t there. Also it was cold, very cold, and frost began to engulf her figure. In a panic her wings flicked back and forth, but did little to propel her.

The sky was significantly darker at this level, and she turned to face the land, which was far beneath her. Shellish tried to slow the panic that threatened to overtake her senses, and focus on using her magic another way. Her horned glowed and a fiery portal surrounded her, and she reappeared much closer to the surface of the land. The rush of air and warmth caused her to gasp in relief. She panted for a minute, then finally calmed.

Done with magic for the moment, she continued her northward journey without its assistance.

---

The pull brought her to the edge of a forest, and a name sprouted to mind, Everfree? She continued on, the desire to follow her gut feeling stronger than any fears of the wild woods. With her wings still active she kept above the canopy of the tree tops, and cruised along. She had no desire to get lost among the labyrinth of foliage, though somehow, she felt like she wouldn’t anyway. The pull guided her constantly.

Soon a large clearing came into view. In the clearing was a large grey gorge. What caught Shellish’s attention was the steps carved into the side of this gorge. She hovered down and landed at the top of the stair case, then proceeded down them on hoof. She felt that directional sensation again. It was strong, and very close now.

There were only four dozen or so steps down the stairs, they weaved back and forth a bit, but Shellish kept her hooves deft. When she reached the bottom she looked on a little further into the fissure. There was a faint blue glow, and she approached it with some eagerness.

The feeling that guided her felt rather like a pulse now, and it confused her horribly. At first she thought her heart had started to act erratically. When she stopped and tried to analyze the situation, she noticed her own heart beat, and a secondary sensation that was separate, but still locked within her chest. When she decided to resume the forward walk, the secondary pulse became stronger still.

The blue glow was now much stronger, and she saw that it came from a cave entrance embedded in the side of the fissure. Her strides were slow and cautious. The thumping in her chest caused her to feel uneasy, but she was compelled to keep going anyway. A deep feminine voice from nearby caused her to jump.

“You seem unsure of your way missy.”

Shellish slowly turned her head to the side to see a rather large figure sit along the wall. The large bushy thing turned its head as well, and underneath a drapery of reeds, a milky white eye and orange tinted eye looked into the changeling’s green ones. The royal kept quiet, the fear of discovery about to overtake her again. Before she bolted away the bushy figure spoke again.

“I haven’t a clue why you’re afraid. Just a whiff of the power leaking off of you says you shouldn’t be fearin’ a thing in this forest… changelin’.”

The tall royal flinched, this creature, whatever it was, knew her kind already. How could this situation have happened? A moment’s thought brought what Chrysalis had said slightly earlier to mind. Changelings were apparently public knowledge now. The thought was still far from a comfort, and actually drove her anxiety up still. The rate of her breaths increased, and she found some words to respond with.

“And who might you be?”

“That depends. By the grapevine, do you know of one called Chrysalis? Formerly, I just knew her as Queen. I see strange things in the dreams of others.”

The information coming out of this stranger took her off guard, and she turned about to face the creature directly. A bit of scrupulousness over took her countenance when she questioned next.

“How do you know my little royal? Are you a changeling?”

That just caused a great belly laugh for several moments, then the mysterious creature shifted onto what sounded like hooves. It took a few steps toward Shellish, and brought it face into the clearer blue light. The features the changeling witnessed didn’t evoke pleasant feelings.

She was equine in nature, though much wider and larger most. A wide breadth of reeds and mossy foliage covered the top of the creature head to tail. The next most noticeable thing besides the off color eyes was a mouth full of jagged teeth. Then scars that predominantly covered the right side of her face, with splashes of healed old wounds scattered about.

“I’m no changeling. Let’s just say I crossed paths with her before. Your appearance however, confounds my understandin’. Are you her mother? If so, what were ya doin’ lettin’ her get lost in the swamps so many years ago? Also was the plunderin’ of pony lands your idea?”

The mossy creature walked past Shellish, and went further down the fissure, straight towards the area of blue light. The royal shook her head as she stayed in stride to keep up.

“I suppose you could say I filled that role for sometime… But I died thirty years ago. Much has happened since then apparently.”

The large swampy equine stopped mid stride, then turned towards Shellish and gave the most quizzical look she could muster. She spoke mostly to herself next rather than to the changeling.

“I must’ve lost more of my mind than I thought…”

Shellish suddenly felt a large hoof tap her side, and she backed off at the touch.

“Please, keep your hooves to yourself.”

She buzzed one of her wings to brush off the grimy feel of the swampy creature. After the contact was made the beastly creature resumed her walk towards the blue light.

“Well, perhaps I may take small comfort that you may be more insane than I. If you’ve been talkin’ this way for the last thirty years I can see why ya wouldn’t be in charge…”

“I won’t pretend to understand what’s happened, so you’re probably right.”

The changeling let out a defeated sigh. The two of them approached the mouth of a cave, and the source of the light was readily apparent. It was a tree. A strange crystal tree that had reeds of gems, pearls, and large stony pockets decorated some of the heftier branches.

The appearance wasn’t so much what caught her attention, though the aesthetics were slightly mesmerizing, no, it was the feeling of the place. There was a projection of calmness, of peace, and it did wonders to relax Shellish’s agitated state. Though at the same time, there were undertones of duress, and urgency. The secondary pulse in the changeling’s chest had now become a steady hum.

“You feel it too, don’t ya.”

The older royal turned to the boggish equine, and wondered what she spoke of for a moment, but she continued before Shellish could remain puzzled for long.

“The draw, I’ve felt the draw for sometime. It was no easy task to leave my swamps back in the Hayseeds. But there is somethin’ so compellin’ I had to journey here over the nights. It’s been a need as strong as hunger, though I have no idea why.”

Shellish no longer listened to what the swampy equine had to say, rather she walked straight up to the tree before them, and brought her face close to the trunk. When she was a mere leg-length away, she looked up into the tree’s core.

---

Her vision suddenly blurred white, and she had no recognition of her surroundings anymore. Everything had become bright, and blinding. Instinctively, the changeling raised her hooves to cover her eyes, and soon another sensation caused her to feel uneasy. There was nothing underneath her, and she floated through the empty space with overwhelmingly bright light.

This continued for what felt like an eternity, and at some point in that eternity, things started to dim. Enough that she lowered her hooves, and blinked a few times. There were endless fields of stars that stretched in all directions, and a harmonic resonance gave the place a beautiful tone. Almost as if the individual points of light sang.

With a twist and a turn Shellish veered this way and that, trying to get an orientation of where she was. The strange sensation of just floating there was still about, her hooves were on no solid ground, but she didn’t feel like she was falling.

Besides the stars she noticed great arcs of light that stretched the vast distances before her. While the stars sang, these ‘streams’ seemed to whisper. Voices old and new, foreign and familiar seemed to flow from them. The bombardment of all the senses caused Shellish to twitch and blink, as she still hadn’t made sense of what any of this was yet.

“Have I died again?”

She questioned aloud. Of all the baffling thoughts that assaulted over the last few days, this one strangely made more sense. As if somehow the bright lighting and harmonic tones of the place were somehow familiar. She was brought out of her reverie of thoughts and reflections by a rather powerful voice, though at the same time it was gentle and soft. It was similar to a dragon hummed a lullaby.

“No, you are not dead Shellish.”

The changeling’s wings flittered as she tried to reorient herself, and find the source of the voice. She quickly became disoriented as she had no way to tell which way was up or down. There was a soft chuckle from that same voice, it bore no malice and the royal changeling didn’t feel mocked.

“It is rare indeed that I have visitors, or rather, allow visitors. Don’t worry Shellish, I’m over here.”

Suddenly there was an invisible force, and it prodded along the confused and frazzled equine. Within a few moments she was right new to one of the whispering streams, and a source of light brighter than any other she had yet to witness resided there. It took another few moments for it all to adjust, and once her eyes had adapted she noticed it was in a particular form.

Before Shellish was the largest pony she had ever seen. This particular individual’s stature would dwarf just about any equine she could think of. After she absorbed the idea of the size, she noticed the other details.

The majestic creature bore a horn, and pair of feathery wings, both of which added to the already substantial frame. A long curly mane and tail flowed about her, the color of deep blue crystal, though occasionally small bursts of the color spectrum would break through. Crystal beads were intermittently woven between the locks, and glowed like the stars about. The hooves had strange root-like markings upon. Also upon the flanks was a very strange mark. A large ring with six stones equidistant from each other, and were colored orange, pink, purple, blue, green, and red. In the center of the circle was a split colored gem that was black and white.

“Shellish.”

The calling of her name brought the belated queen’s attention up to the giant pony’s face. The changeling suddenly found herself full of questions.

“How do you know my name? Who are you? What is this place?”

“I am a watcher Shellish, I’ve known of you for sometime. You are one of many that I’ve had my eyes on.”

The enormous radiant equine turned to one of the streams that whispered. She extended one of her long slender legs and dabble with the stream a little. The changeling looked at the interaction with fascination.

---

From the stream Shellish could see a reflection of herself. The old swarm buzzed busily about, and little royal was there. Soon the older queen recognized what she looked at was a memory. She even heard her own voice.

“Have the vanguard returned from Baltimare yet?”

“No, they haven’t my queen.”

A green eyed vanguard bowed before Shellish, back when she had her crown. The modern Shellish who watched herself suddenly put a hoof to her head, and felt the absence of the crown. A small touch of panic suddenly ran though her. The memory continued all the same.

“I want a round of sentinels to go out and wait at the borders of the Hayseeds. We need them to comeback safely.”

“It will be done my queen.”

The vanguard departed and past Shellish sighed. This memory already showed the signs of physical decay and being deprived of their most important nutrition. ‘Little royal’ decided to speak up when they were alone.

“Why did we leave Prance Shellish? Things were much better over there. We didn’t have to deal with these aggravating parasites!”

‘Little royal’ scratched at one of her legs with a hoof, which had developed pits in the chitin. The older queen sighed, and restrained the irritability in her voice.

“I already told you little royal, we were at a great risk of being discovered. If we’re discovered then we’re doomed. I know it’s uncomfortable here, and all sorts of beasts are giving us problems, but being discovered would be worse.”

The younger changeling just snorted and stamped her hooves in angry frustration, she appeared to want to say something, but held her tongue. The memory Shellish noticed this, and asked.

“What is it? What do you want to say my little royal?”

The memory of the young chrysalis turned and left, while she muttered “nothing you want to hear” under her breath. The past Shellish just stood there, and when the younger royal left, she slumped.

---

A few tears escaped the corners of the modern Shellish’s eyes. She remembered that situation with sharp clarity, and not because she just watched it happen again. It was the look of disappointment and frustration in her little royal’s eyes. Unfortunately that was a very common look from that day forward. The future from that moment was full of disappointments and disparaging events. All of which culminated in…

The changeling suddenly found herself brought into a tight embrace. Large fore-legs wrapped around her and she suddenly felt like a little foal brought into a mother’s grasp.

“I’m sorry your life has been rife with sorrows. One as loyal and protective as you didn’t deserve such a fate.”

Shellish choked, she couldn’t find any words, and she cried quietly while being held. For some time they just remained like that. The queen couldn’t remember the last time she had felt this emotionally vulnerable with any equine. What was so special about this giant pony? After a moment she realized her questions hadn’t really been answered yet.

“Y-you still haven’t told me who you are. Or why I’m here.”

She was released enough from the embrace so that they could look each other in the face. The giant’s voice remained gentle and calm as ever.

“You can call me Harmony. As for why you are here, that is a little more complicated.”

One giant snow-white leg reached towards the whispering stream again. A startling array of visuals coagulated into clarity, and Harmony’s voice explained from the side.

“My interaction with the temporal world has largely been with a variety of other mediums. Regardless of the manner, it has always related towards my purpose, towards keeping harmony.”

The vision of the steam flared as it gave a number of short depictions and images. One of them showed two ponies, one a bright white, the other a dark blue, both of them unicorns. They came before the very tree Shellish had walked up to. The next image showed both of the unicorns, but they had gained wings. Then a short moment later it showed them doing battle with a draconequus. They lost. Quickly they returned and this time they had stones with them, a rainbow lit up the sky and the draconequus was rendered to stone.

“Some individuals I have worked with much longer than others, but I have an appreciation for them all. I can lend tools to aid them. But true harmony only comes from the heart.”

Six ponies flashed before Shellish, all of them wore different and unique gems. She didn’t recognize any of them, but she could tell the giant pony Harmony held affection for each of them. Then suddenly the look on her majestic alabaster face became very weary.

“Unfortunately there are divers’ means and divisions. If harmony is cast aside and rent apart there is little I can do myself. Right now is such a moment. My resources are spread thin, and balance hangs upon a needles thread. My elements were hidden, and would have remained that way.”

More images flashed through the stream. Celestia, and Luna bundled away in pods, the six ponies Shellish had briefly seen earlier were all separated. One flew among the skies, with a dark aura hung about her neck. Another hid in secret places. The others were scattered among an endless crowd.

“I’ve made… some desperate decisions, Shellish, decisions that have muddle a few courses. But I saw no better alternative.”

The vision within the stream twirled and twisted and darkened, as if a violent storm had taken over. The draconequus that Shellish had seen turned to stone just moments ago, shed the gray skin the encapsulated him and laughed madly as he was set free. The changeling’s eyes widened sharply as she looked from Harmony to the cackling draconequus.

“You… set him free? Isn’t that-”

“Discord? Yes, yes it is. Though before you say another word, I want you to pay close attention to what I show you next.”

Harmony pulled both of them forward, and they dived into the whispering river. Shellish struggled for a moment then closed her eyes and held her breath when she realized she wasn’t going to escape.

---

Oddly enough she didn’t feel any wetness or any kind of a splash, when the expected didn’t come to pass she opened her eyes, and realized she felt the ground under her hooves again. Shellish did a quick look about of the area and felt she was in a foreign land.

Nearby was a large crystalline slimy wall, complete with a deep trench infront of it. Hundreds of changelings busily buzzed about it. Also nearby were vast hosts of ponies, several which bore the symbols of Equestria. While yet others glittered with metallic sheen, and wore armor forged by germane hooves. The numbers that surrounded Shellish extended everywhere, the forces caused her to fidget in nervousness, she couldn’t remember the last time she saw so many had gathered in one place… except for maybe-

“This day would have been a pivotal point the dismantlement of harmony. I am not sure I would have recovered from such a blow, but I need you to witness.”

Harmony’s voice loomed above Shellish and the changeling turned to see the giant standing close by. With a gentle proffering, they moved forward and walked along the fields. The pony of harmony was silent and content to let her smaller companion simply observe.

Along the walls stood a changeling she did recognize, and Shellish called out.

“Little royal!”

Her wings buzzed and she flew up to the ramparts, and she called out again, but Chrysalis did not respond. So Shellish reached out a hoof to touch her… and it passed right through. This caused the confused older royal to bumble and bluster at a loss. Harmony’s voice serenely explained from nearby.

“This is just a shadow of things I saw that would be. No creature here can interact with you, for this is simply a vision I had some days ago.”

This did little to refute the building worry in Shellish’s chest, and she rounded towards the giant with a bit of a shriek in her voice.

“A vision? You mean this is going to happen? This, this war!”

“…It would have, just observe.”

With a huff the changeling royal turned her attention back to the environment around her. She blinked twice when she noticed something very strange. There was another “little royal” that stood next to her “little royal”. This other one had some small differences though, such as the correct horn shape, and overall healthier features, and was a little taller.

Shellish landed next to them as them as they spoke to one another.

“Good to see you come to your senses Chrysalis, I think we’re on the verge of having a diplomatic discussion, I wouldn’t want you to miss out.”

The taller twin pointed out towards the fields where Shining Armor and the king Torque currently held a heated yelling match. Chrysalis narrowed her eyes towards the location her clone pointed, and issued a mental command to the swarm around her. Then she spoke directly to her counterpart.

“Shining is undoubtedly here for his precious-shnookums, and the sisters. We might as well bring them up as a bargaining chip. It he wants to threaten my empire then he better know who will be the first victims should any of them attempt to set hoof beyond my walls.”

Chrysalis stuck out her tongue in a distasteful manner as she said shnookums. Crone had raised eye brow.

“But what about the germane? What do you think they want?”

“You know as well I do at the moment.”

“Very well, I’ll keep things orderly on the wall, or would you rather I go down and speak with them?”

“No Crone, I’ll go down and speak with them, in case a scuffle breaks out then and there, I’ll be better prepared for it.”

That answer caused Crone to frown slightly, but she was resigned to stay where she was.

“Ofcourse…”

---

Shellish tilted her head to the side when she heard the taller, more proper looking twin called by name. Crone? Now the older royal really felt like she had missed more than a few important details. Suddenly Harmony’s voice called out from behind again.

“Now, Shellish you need to pay attention over here.”

The giant pointed towards a small patch of woods that appeared to be all the way across the plains and neatly nestled at the bottom of the crystal hills, which was a great distance away. Shellish looked, and suddenly she was there, at the very edge of the brush.

At this close proximity she noticed some movement. There were some changelings among the woods and a few ponies dressed in the décor of prench mages. Shellish let out a screech when she recognized one particular individual. An individual with a long silver mane, topped with a bright orange crest, and in possession of dead green eyes.

“No, no, no! What is she doing here!”

Shellish reeled backward and fell over herself, before she attempted to scramble away in terror. The frightened changeling royal stopped when she hit what felt like a wall. After a brief crash and reorientation she looked up to see Harmony there. The giant possessed a sorrowful look. Shellish’s voice took a crack at the accusatory.

“You have powers don’t you? Stop her! Stop her right now!”

“Worry not Shellish, I only show you this to let you know why I have done as I have done. For now, listen.”

With great hesitation the nervous royal turned back to who she perceived as the most dire of her enemies, and enemy that had been a terror before Shellish was even her own queen.

They hadn’t noticed her, so she calmed a little. Within a moment she noticed that she could actually hear what they were saying as well.

“There are two I see upon the wall, I can indeed confirm they are of royal status.”

A bluish vanguard said in a rather bored voice, his eyes had been altered to resemble that of an eagle. The tall silver queen that sat nearby finished the last blade she toyed and altered, and set it next to the others. Shellish’s curiosity led her to move into the woods next to them, so she could look at what they looked at.

“Let me see.”

Monarch stood up and walked over until she was next to her vanguard. Her eyes also altered so she could see across the distance.

“Why this is interesting. There are two of them? Perhaps one is a decoy?”

“I cannot sense a great strain coming from either one Monny. I believe they are both in their genuine forms.”

“Then who should we suppose is actually in charge? Not that it matters too much, I will have them both, but I might as well make them disorderly first.”

As they watched from their hidden place in the woods a few other events happened. Shining Armor and King Torque both trotted towards the wall with their respective escorts. The germane king called out towards the wall with a deep bellow of a voice. In response to the voice one of the queens upon the wall hovered down, and stood across from the other two leaders. This left one queen on the wall, who stood observant. Monarch smiled at this action, and her magic drew forward one of the blades she had prepared on the stone table.

“Aw, so one of them gets to play messenger, while the other remains upon the wall. I think I know who I will aim for first.”

“The messenger?”

The bluish vanguard questioned.

“No, the one that thinks herself so important, and sits on the wall. If she can get the other to do her bidding, then she is the one in command. Ready the rest of our unit Fetish. Things are about to get ugly…”

One of the pitch-black light-absorbent blades hovered close by Monarch’s head, and the point was aimed across the field towards a target. Magic surged from the silver queen’s horn and the dark blade rotated. Within in moments in was an indistinguishable blurr. The large queen’s eyes narrowed as she prepared to release.

“Over here now, Shellish.”

The building panic within the observant royal was interrupted by Harmony’s voice, and both of them shifted location so that they were right next to the wall again.

---

Chrysalis, Shining Armor, and King Torque stood across from each other in an equidistant triangle. Each of them spoke harshly towards one another with barking words. Even as Shellish was about to pay attention to what they specifically said, she saw three groups of changelings hover behind the wall, they were large burdens that had several split between each.

To her surprised and confusion she saw it was Celestia, what must have been nightmare moon? and some other pink alicorn she didn’t recognize. Each of the pods that contained them were set upon the wall, close by Crone. This was when Chrysalis said something loud enough it brought Shellish’s attention back to the diplomatic triangle.

“You will back off Shining Armor! If you ever want to see any of your princesses ever again!”

“You will surrender them Chrysalis or I’ll have you and your entire swarm crushed!”

“By the motherrr of metal, will both of ya stop talkin’ like that, these arrre not negotiatin’ words!”

Both Shining Armor and Chrysalis turned towards king Torque and shouted in unison.

“Shut up!”

This just caused the massive metallic king to turn bluish gray in the face.

“Arrre both of ya idiots out forrr blood? I would like to be able to walk home today! I want my crystal cousins safe and sound as well.”

“And they will be, if this oaf will show he is willing to come back here with real peace in mind. Not a blundering army on my doorstep.”

“You wouldn’t extend mercy if I groveled before you and begged like a worm, you loathsome witch!”

The bickering continued and showed no sign of slowing down. With Torque being the only one trying to not let a fight break out then and there.

All of the arguments were interrupted however when a darkness breached everywhere around them. The daylight disappeared for all but a moment, and there was a very high pitched swish, as if an arrow had passed by with unnatural speed.

When the light returned Chrysalis’s voice was basically a roar, and her blaming eyes fixated on the white stallion.

“What nonsense are you trying to pull Shining Armor!”

He didn’t respond, but looked up to the wall. King Torque also had wide eyes and held his tongue as his gaze was fixed up on the wall. Both Chrysalis and the observant Shellish both turned to look at what captured such attention.

Upon the wall was Crone, whose eyes bugged out and lost all focus. Right in the middle of her chest was a large gaping hole, which dripped a constant stream of fluid. A moment later she collapsed where she stood.

Shock flared for a moment Chrysalis’s face before her horn ignited and a giant defensive wall of fire erupted between her and the equines she had just been spoken with. Shining cast his own shield spell so as not be burned, and King Torque retreated, singed from the exposure.

Shellish pursued her little royal, the bright green flames did nothing to her as she soared straight through them. The look of shock and hurt Chrysalis expressed but a moment before cut the older royal to the heart.

When she landed on the edge of the wall she found her little royal huddle over the fallen form of Crone, where rather desperate efforts were made. Chrysalis poured out vast amounts of love from her mouth in a hazy mist over the wound. But it was too late, the damage was too extensive, and even as the desperate queen tried harder the fidgets from her fallen sister stopped.

Chrysalis looked into the mirror of her own face, and that mirror was dead. A moment later there was a pop, and Crone dissolved into a puddle of water. All the wasted love still lingered in the air, a vain reminder of the failed attempt to save.

It hadn’t been more than a moment or two for the changeling queen to process what had happened. Her hooves scrapped at where the other changeling had just been. She was gone, there was nothing but a wet spot on the walk of the wall…

A horrified expression was bedecked on Shellish’s face as well. She knew what caused that darkness, she knew who caused that wound… but Chrysalis didn’t. She in fact, had a very different idea of who was responsible.

Dark lips were pulled back as fangs were fully exposed, and uncontained rage ran its course. Her horn ignited even brighter and the wall of fire she had maintained exploded outward even further. When it fizzled out after its violent expansion, Chrysalis’s voice echoed with dominant reverberance.

“SMART DISTRACTION YOU DEVIL! DO YOU STILL WANT YOUR PRINCESSES SHINING?”

A short distance away, but still easily within view of the wall was Shining Armor, who looked just as thoroughly baffled as his compatriots. The next thing he noticed was the three princesses, Celestia, Luna, and his precious Cadance. He saw Chrysalis point her horn at the immobile and helpless alicorns. He couldn’t even shout the words as his mind screamed “NO!”

So stunned at the situation was he that he fumbled about, even as he tried to cast his own spell intercept what was going on. The queen proceeded much faster however, and a brilliant emerald lance of excessive energies blasted forward from Chrysalis’s skull, right at the three cocooned prisoners. For several moments everything she had was poured into that blast. When it subsided, there was nothing left, not even cinders.

Shining just gawked, unable to believe what had just happened, had happened. Even if he had been able to cast his spell, he wouldn’t have been able to repel power of that magnitude. So all he did was stand there, unsure if he could believe his eyes anymore.

Green Light began to cackle from atop the wall again, and Shining found it somewhere within himself to move. He teleported his small escort with him, and they all trotted full pace backward, towards the main company.

As the ponies retreated a strange dimness began to darken the skies. The sun somehow, wasn’t as radiant as it had been just moments before. Blue faded from above until it resembled a sort of twilight, and the sun went a bloody red.

Another blast of deadly energy arced from the top of the wall, this time aimed towards the equestrians. Shining quickly called for a shield, he and his lieutenants poured their magic into a unified spell, which barely came up before they suffered the brunt of the impact. The shield held for all but a few moments, then it shattered like glass. The flow of power from Chrysalis ceased for the moment, and she panted from her place behind the parapet. Her eyes lit up as mental commands were issued to the swarm. Hundreds of chitinous bodies rose into the air ready to battle.

Shining Armor and the other unicorns that had supported his spell had been knocked off their hooves, and all of them suffered from the strain of magical backlash. The stallion burned with anger anew. As much as the despair hung over him like the darkened sky did, so did he boil.

“Lieutenant Skyborn, toss the storm at them!”

A nearby cobalt pegasus saluted before she dashed off towards the rest of the pegasi who circled the prepared storm.

---

Meanwhile King Torque had retreated back towards the host of the germane, general Welding close on his heels. The large metal stallion complained to his subordinate with resignation.

“The flood gates of Tarrrtarrrus have opened this day, as we fearrred. Well, I suppose we’ll finish what’s been starrrted. Welding, get the equalizerrrs ready.”

“As you command your majesty.”

As they ran Welding held a horn up to her mouth and gave two short clarion calls. At the signal several teams of germane who had been rigged up to large machines hefted them forward. Once the fat barreled machines were brought to the front of the company they were loaded with large sandbags and gratuitous amounts of powder.

The barrel ends were pointed both at the changelings on the wall, and towards the equestrians and their storm. A few of the operators closed down on the different functioning ends of their devices and readied flint. They simply awaited orders.

“Tell them to fire freely Welding.”

The general obeyed her king’s order, four brief clarion calls followed, and the real chaos began. The germane “equalizers” were ignited, and thunderous explosions echoed across the fields as their payloads were launched high into the air. When the munitions reached a great altitude they exploded with a brief, but powerful flash of light.

Both changelings and equestrians looked towards the germane and what they were up to, confused about what was going on. The explosions didn’t fall among the troops… so what was the point?

After a few moments of the explosions going off over everyone’s heads, the reason became more apparent. Each explosion created a large smoky cloud which descended upon the rival hosts, and as the smoke smoldered over each a rather disastrous effect happened. The clouds were loaded with particles of null iron, and the spark of magic within either army was severely dulled.

Pegasi started to fall out of the air, earth ponies felt their strength and stamina being sapped, unicorns became dysfunctional. The changelings suffered from various conditions as well, and their natural advantages went awry.

---

As soon as mayor More realized what began to happen with the equestrians, fear kicked into her psyche, and she turned towards her own subordinates.

“We need to leave or we will be discovered for what we are… Damn Armor, he was always more tricky than I gave him credit for.”

With that, More and her congregation of eastern Militias turned tail and deserted the rest of the equestrians to their fate …

---

“Alrrright Welding, let’s get things rrreally rrrolling. Tell the legion to get dug-in.”

A single long clarion call signaled the hosts of the germane to charge forward, as of the moment both changelings and equestrians were disoriented and partially blinded by the thick clouds of null-iron powder. Without any of their magical advantages, they would be caught in an extremely vulnerable position.

When the troops finally collided in brutal melee it was a rather one sided affair. The mass and durability of the germane’s solid metal bodies proved too tough for unamplified weapons. Chrysalis’s swarm was quite crippled by the clouds of null-iron despite being as magically boosted as they were. Some stronger individuals could still manage magic, but the majority of equestrians and changelings simply couldn’t.

King Torque watched the battle progress with a disappointed sigh, his lips contorted into a displeased grimace. Welding remained close by and also watched, her expression remained reserved. She spoke matter of factly.

“If the enemy pulls no other surprises, we should own the empire within the day your majesty.”

Torque growled in irritation at his general’s analyzing.

“That’s the thing, we shouldn’t be enemies. Therrre was no rrreal need for this. What happened a moment ago was a frrrag-blasted misunderrrstanding.”

“What do you mean your majesty?”

“You mentioned surrrprrrises Welding? Well, I think we definitely have some left. I’m not surrre wherrre it came from, but that darrrkness… that’s an older enemy therrre, I’ve seen that before, but it’s been a while.”

“What do you suggest then?”

“Let’s take the perrrsonal guarrrd and rrroot out those bushes overrr yonderrr. That’s the only unaccounted forrr location.”

“You want your guard to scout over there?”

“Yes, and I’ll be leadin’ them myself. You’ll remain herrre Welding, and securrre our cousin’s land.”

“Very well… your majesty.”

Torque didn’t get to turn about and speak to his guard before a loud roar echoed across the plains. When the roar ended it was followed by a shrill laugh, and the howl of fierce winds. A severe gust blew over the plains and the wind whipped away the clouds of null-iron that plagued the fields.

“Our clouds!”

Welding actually let surprise enter her vocal tones. A moment later a gigantic dark figure arose from the wooded area that Torque just planned to visit. A heavy hum drummed from two pairs of large wings attached to its massive back. Barely anytime had passed before the mysterious creature advanced upon the germane, and leapt upon the equalizer machines. The heavy devices were smashed and tossed around until they were damaged beyond function.

The germane king’s jaw dropped when he saw the monster up close. It was a dragon in form, but that’s not what bothered him, it was the dead green eyes, and the large orange fin with white dots that crested its head and neck. Also unlike natural dragons there was a large horn the protruded forward from its head, rather reminiscent of a unicorn.

“Monarch…”

The king whispered under his breath, disbelief struck his countenance, then real frustration.

“Since when in the forgotten kiln could you do that trick!”

He shouted that last part a little too loudly, and he actually managed to capture the dragon’s attention. She rounded about with a massive grin spread across her pearly fangs, while she simultaneous dropped a warmachine from a paw.

“Thank you Armor, for making this so much simpler…”

“Retreat!”

Torque bellowed at the top of his lungs. When Welding heard the command she pulled her horn to her lips right away, and blew five quick notes in succession. The germane hosts, even those engaged in the melee, started to pull back right away.

Also with the null-iron clouds gone, the equestrians and Chrysalis’s swarm quickly began to recover. The dragon Monarch pumped her four wings up and down to close the distance between herself and Torque very quickly. Before she managed to fall upon the stallion and crush him to powder a beam of emerald energy shot right towards the dragon.

Monarch was hit squarely in the back and was knocked out of the air, just short of her target. She let out a screech of surprise and pain. That hit left a large dent in her back, so she turned her head about to find the culprit. It was Chrysalis, who hovered high in the air, and had wild bloodshot eyes.

“You, all of you are going to pay!”

Dozens of sentinels and vanguard hung close by Chrysalis, ready to guard her. Monarch just smiled.

“That was quite a wallop from someone your age… but I’m afraid you and every other royal here won’t enjoy a continued existence.”

Monarch’s eyes flashed white and the nearby woods exploded with activity, another host of changelings charged towards battle, all of them charged with a disturbing dark aura. In another short flash the dragon was gone, and Monarch the changeling queen stood alone on the ground. In the blink of an eye several dark blades were whipped out and fired forward. The same darkness returned, and for the briefest of moments, Chrysalis realized who actually murdered Crone.

When the darkness lifted she immediatly looked down to her chest, fully expecting a gaping hole to be there, but was more than grateful when there wasn’t. When she looked back up she realized a portal was right infront of her, a portal that burned with a purple fire. It vanished right after she noticed it.

There was a shrill shriek from below, and it was from Monarch. Several of the dark blades had fallen from her magical grasp, and she herself was splayed across the ground, one of her front legs severed at the knee.

“Do you still want to continue?”

Specter spoke to Chrysalis, while he hovered in the air right next to her. She charged her horn and jumped in surprise, not expecting it at all. Chrysalis turned on him with anger ripe in every expression.

“Where were you! You, you just-”

“I saved you, yes. I didn’t expect Monarch to pull off that particular stunt… I’m sorry. But we need to move. When she gets back up she’ll be in no mood to toy.”

“Her? I’ll finish her right now!”

Chrysalis looked down on the injured Monarch, who had already regrown the leg and started to get up, and fired another blast of violent energy. What happened next was all within the extremely brief period of time.

The lance of death shot right at Monarch as planned, but the devious queen opened a large portal in the path of the oncoming carnage. Chrysalis’s energy disappeared into a rift between dimensions, then an exit for that energy was opened right on top of the younger queen with a second portal, effectively redirecting Chrysalis’s blast right back at her.

Specter, who was close by, predicted the move right before it happened, and opened another set of purple ringed gateways himself, in an attempt to make the blast go back at monarch. A series of extended dimensional warping quickly evolved between the two experienced royals, as they tried to outdo to other with energy displacement.

Nearly two dozen holes in space were created before another party intervened.

“Enough nonsense!”

An explosive wave of silver energy disrupted and dissolved the myriad of rapidly constructed portal work. Ultimately Chrysalis’s blast ended up ricocheted off into the sky, where it lit up the battlefield like a strike of lightning.

Each of the royal’s heads turned to see where to silver wave came from. A short distance from them, standing next to a shocked general Welding, was king Armor, his null iron plates having been removed and littered to the side. Two horns now bedecked his head, and they sizzled a little.

“Specter…”

Armor gave a begrudged acknowledgement, which Specter respectfully returned. Then the revealed king turned towards the orange crested queen, who simply laughed at the whole interaction.

“You think I haven’t faced five or ten of you at once! I AM THE TRUE ROY-!”

“Shut it ya hag… I’ve been hidin’ forrr farrr too long. This ends today.”

Monarch just gave a sweet smile at Armor despite his interruption.

“That is one thing I can agree with, but first…”

Several changelings suddenly interrupted the affair, one jumped infront of Armor, one infront of Specter, and one infront of Chrysalis.

Each of them had a similar reaction, initially each of them ignited their horns at the sudden motion, then quickly fizzled out when they saw who it was that was infront of them.

Infront of Armor was changeling queen, one that he recognized right away, that dark blue mane, those grey eyes, the pattern of her horn and wings, and when he heard her speak his heart stopped cold. He just gaped at the figure before him.

“Armor its me, Allure.”

Specter’s hesitation was similar and his eyes widened drastically when the form of a particular changeling queen neared him, the solid green mane and radiant red eyes struck him personally. The changeling king was momentarily stunned.

“Specter, I’ve found you! It is I, Clarity!”

The changeling that stopped infront of Chrysalis appeared almost just like her, but with a few tweaks. It was definitely Crone’s body… Chrysalis rolled her eyes and blasted changeling infront of her. It screeched as it was fried. With a sardonic scowl she called out towards Monarch.

“Did you really think that would work!”

But Monarch wasn’t where Chrysalis saw her last, and that’s when something hard struck her from behind, and her world went into a dizzy spiral.

“Apparently it did.”

Monarch flexed the leg that she had just regrown, it had a terrible itch, but there were other foes that needed to be beaten into submission and collected. Both of the changeling kings got past the distractions thrown their ways, but slower. At the moment Armor was the more distracted of the two, so she tried to exploit that next. The rest of the changelings under her control could go about securing the other objectives.

Quickly the large queen descended behind and delivered several lethal and precise attacks both physical and magical. After the first hit Armor realized what had come his way and reacted appropriately. He shifted form and his chitinous body became composed of slime. This made Monarch’s blows more or less harmless, and the magical strikes and bolts were absorbed and caused the slimy substance Armor had become to glow.

A moment later a bright chrome-like Armor formed out of the slime, and he wore a smirk on his face.

“How’d ya like that one! I’ve been cookin’ a few rrrecipes up since our last encounterrr, ya soddy witch!”

“Raw, raw, I’ll remember you fondly on my wall…”

Monarch exploded with energy and shifted back into a dragon, she opened her greatly increased maw and let breathed out a gout of green fire. Armor only partially dodged it, and that’s when his chrome form reacted, quite spectacularly.

The shiny changeling king lit up like a torch, and the metal he was composed of became obscenely bright. Had the sun come down from the sky and hovered just infront of every creature’s eye, that would be an apt description of the effect. More or less, none could see a thing, the brightness blinded all.

When the brilliant flare ended changelings and ponies fumbled about, some that were closer and of common constitution found their condition far worse, and suffered burns as well. The blindness of that moment would never leave some.

Armor himself collided with the ground, the whole surface of his body burnt. A raspy wheeze escaped his lips and his neck cracked as he tried to lift it. Monarch just a short distance away howled as she clutched her over her eyes with her dragon claws.

“Damn you Armor! Curse your tricks!”

The king afforded himself a pained chuckle as he brought himself to his hooves.

“If yarrr earrrs still worrrk I’ve got one morrre forrr ya!”

Monarch hesitated, and quickly tried a telepathic communication with her swarm. All of them had been stunned or disabled by the display. Monarch herself still couldn’t see, and she clenched her jaws in anger. Her healing magic didn’t fix the disorientation as fast as she wanted. Meanwhile Armor barked taunts.

“I darrre ya to brrrreathe firrre again!”

Her ears definitely worked, and the king’s voice definitely gave away his location… She readied her maw and it glowed with heat, but she didn’t let go right away. She couldn’t be sure what other substances Armor might be able to turn himself into. So she blindly reached out with one of her paws.

Standing already taxed Armor a great deal, as he hadn’t recovered from being burnt so badly yet. His body had also changed into another metallic form, one that would have ended all fighting that day if Monarch had just released her flame one more time… but alas.

One of her large claws swiped at him, knocking him off his hooves, then quickly pinned him to the ground and started crushing the life out of him. Monarch blinked furiously, vision had slowly started to return to her.

“I’ve looked forward to having your head for over a hundred years, and now you’re finally, literally within my grasp. Oh, I just want to hear you beg, just once. Give me something to remember you by…”

Briefly she releived the pressure she used to crush his body, and allowed him to breathe. With a few gasps he did choke out some words.

“You’ll-rrregret-that.”

An explosion of energy burst around king Armor as he shifted forms one last time. Monarch’s paw was knocked off by the force of it, and she stumbled back a little. Over the course of a few moments the changeling king grew and grew. His equine form soon matched and exceeded the size of the dragon. Silver energies cackled unstably around his body, and he charged forward, head lowered and his two horns pointed at his partially blind opponent.

Without an accurate means to detect her enemy’s movements she continued to fumble, and failed to avoid to oncoming colossal king Armor. His two horns buried themselves into her side, and she screeched like banshee.

The dragon was knocked onto her back, and the huge changeling instantly began to shrink, in a few moments Armor was back to his original size, which was when promptly collapsed, every ounce of energy in his body expended.

Monarch continued to wail in pain at the grievous wound she suffered. She shrank back down to her proper size and form, and once she did, she immediately began to heal again. When she was strong enough to stand she limped over to Armor’s fallen form. He looked up her and wheezed.

“How? How werrre ya able to maintain that form and not die?”

She chuckled, and the tone surprisingly was not an arrogant. A brief flash illuminated her eyes as she called over a member of her own swarm. The disoriented changeling was Fetish, who still hadn’t recovered his sight, but relied on the more primal senses to find his master. Once close enough, Monarch’s magic pulled something out of a satchel. It was a small glowing white stone, she lowered it and held it infront of the rapidly depreciating Armor.

“This, this is the short answer. My belated husband Fire Heart had vaults of these stored away.”

Monarch popped the little white stone into her mouth and swallowed. The wounds on her side disappeared almost right away, and she appeared overall very refreshed.

“Love stored with perfect shelf life, collected and banked over the centuries from all over. This was meant to be our trump card for the empire. It's just a shame it's primary use recently has only been for our insane civil war. Now that you’re finished Armor, and your fate is sealed. Your swarm has yet to decide what it wants to be. I certainly hope most of them will join me willingly.”

The storm caused by the equestrians continued to thunder ominously in the background, the winds it generated continued to howl. It rolled over the armies stranded by their recent disorientation, many equines were tossed to and fro.

The weather born juggernaut moved towards the Crystal empire, and threatened to wreak havoc their next. Monarch pulled her eyes away from Armor, who had stopped breathing at this point anyway. The transformation into a behemoth without the proper energy had destroyed him.

Chrysalis and Specter were no where to be seen. Monarch only had a slight frown for that, her main attention turned towards the vulnerable empire that was open and defenseless. Several more of the white stones were pulled from Fetish’s satchel and consumed in quick succession.

The triumphant queen flew towards the storm, ready to dissolve, then claim…

---

The vision was pulled away and Shellish was in the star field again next to the bright whispering river, her gaze more than a little disturbed. Harmony’s voice gently chided the stunned changeling out of her stupor.

“What I just showed you did not happen. I found the consequences of that event, and the events that followed too severe for the world to maintain any semblance of balance. Shellish, do you remember Discord?”

“He was a spirit of chaos from legend? Didn’t you just say you released him?”

“I did indeed. I did so that he might interrupt events, and prevent the destruction of my agents. He doesn’t do this out of benevolence, rather his own sense of twisted entertainment.”

Harmony reached a hoof towards the river of light one last time, which caused the image of an arena to appear. Discord himself was center stage, and host over several equines on his stage. Shellish quickly recognized the individuals there.

“He has them?”

“This is where you come into play, Shellish.”

“Me?”

“Yes, the only means I have to stop him fully is when my elements and their bearers are aligned. Unfortunately none of my visions showed that course succesfully in the near future.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You don’t need to understand all the nuances Shellish. There are too many to explain, and not enough time. I cannot work with you like I can proper bearers, but I can help you help others.”

One question in particular had bothered Shellish, and she placed one hoof over her chest.

“Are… are you the one that brought me back?”

Harmony looked down on her with pained expression, and slowly nodded her head. For the first time since the two interacted, Harmony’s eyes drifted away from the changeling. Shellish just pleaded harder.

“Why? Where was I? Why did you take me away?”

Harmony took a deep breath, and made eye contact once more.

“I am sorry Shellish, I would have left you to your peace, but I needed you. Your little royal needs you, she is lost and needs to be guided, and there are few that she would listen to. You have an opportunity to be a hope, and a keystone that others simply cannot be right now. Ofcourse you still have your own choices, you do not owe me anything. But I have given you an opportunity, perhaps a chance to make right if you so desire.”

Shellish bowed her head in thought, slightly irritated with Harmony’s rather indirect way of addressing things, but at the same time processed the implications of the choices before her. She stayed in thought for sometime, and the giant pony across from her never showed any signs of impatience. Eventually Shellish opened her mouth in submissive tone.

“What opportunities did you have in mind for me exactly?”

The changeling lifted a listening ear, and Harmony smiled.

Author's Notes:

alright.... bout time i had another chapter out right? hehe... anyway, there's one depiction of how the battle could have played out without discord's intervention. In anycase, I don't think it would have turned out pretty at all. K but enough about that.

Sketches

Somebody sorta familiar is still around...

and then some other big players make their involvement known.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsDk1ocpUqY

As visions go, the dark initiator is revealed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-kUoVWEAak

crone's death

The germane equalizers

The dragon Monarch

changelings posing as changeling. Allure with Armor

Specter and Clarity

and there were so many other scenes I figured I could have drawn, but things were already getting stacked up, and I don't want you guys to wait forever for chapters. blerg, sorry my jan - feb writing rate has sucked. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter for what it was, and I look forward to doing the next one!

Ch.61 "Finish Round 2, Begin Rou- ... Technical Difficulties"

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.61 "Finish Round 2, Begin Rou- ... Technical Difficulties"

Discord had five cards face down in his lion paw, they shiftily weaved back and forth in an absentminded shuffle. The remaining participants eyed one another wearily. One complete round had sent five equines to the chilly depths below the platform.

Down amongst the freezing water and small ice bergs Armor and Monarch were trying to drown each other. Luna and Shining huddle on a block of ice they managed to clamber on, and Sombra tread water with a very disturbed glower, completely absorbed in his own thoughts.

Crone and Chrysalis shared a knowing look with each other, as they sat beside other on the bench. Specter stared at the ground, seemingly disappointed with himself. Celestia tried to look anywhere but at Discord, anger clearly fumed around her flared nostrils and narrowed eyes, but bridled with countless years of discipline and restraint. Meanwhile More was the only one that looked comfortable where she sat, a small smile danced at the corners of her mouth, and her tail had an uppity flick to it.

Eventually the tall draconequus grumbled unintelligibly to himself and pulled out two cards. The catapults in the center stage of the platform lowered and readied themselves for another bout in the tournament of venomous words.

When the spirit of chaos looked at the took cards he had chosen he let out a small chuckle.

"hehehoho. This one ought to be particularly gooood."

Then his voice boomed as he announced the next pair to occupy the pair of metallic munition bowls.

"Our next two competitors will be Queens Chrysalis and Crone!"

Crone closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh, while Chrysalis took a sharp breath and glanced nervously towards her taller copy. Of all the possible match ups, Chrysalis wanted this the least, and by Crone's sulky posture that was mutual feeling.

---

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NN9JY5fbwc

The pair of twins we're levitated out of their transparent barriers and placed on the catapults. Crone's place was over the green trigger and Chrysalis's was over the red. In mimicry both of them took a deep breath and sighed. Then remained silent, simply looking at each other. Both showed signs of struggling what to say first, as they'd take turns motioning to say something, followed by emptiness proceeding out of their mouths. What would they say to their mirror?

"Well... get on with it. This isn't a game of chess."

Discord impatiently gestured with his eagle talons, and flicked his tail irritably. Both of the changeling queens grit their teeth into a snarl and shot the draconequus a contemptuous glance. Chrysalis was the first to actually say something.

"I..."

But what she was thinking of died in her throat, and a deeply conflicted strain came over her features. Everything was tense, from the straightness in her neck and back to the dilation of her pupils.

Meanwhile Crone's ears flicked to rigid attention, she held a fierce expression. The wide eyes and deep scowl appeared almost as if she wanted Chrysalis to say something, as if her very glare was a challenge, a dare to state the obvious. It was a look as welcoming as a trap-door spider. Complete with fangs...

If anything Chrysalis's resolve became weaker, the rigidness of her posture relaxed and her gaze actually fell away from her clone. This was all too personal, all the words she had thought of a moment ago could just as easy be redirected against her. So they fell into another bout of silence, this one even longer. Discord's patience began to wear especially thin.

"If both of you are just going to remain quite, you will both lose!"

He whipped out the ejection remote and raised his lion paw threateningly over both buttons. Before he began to lower the limb with finality Crone snapped out.

"Your initial example was enough to show how this would go. Why don't we have another round of you debating with yourself Discord... it would be the same thing as making Chrysalis and I go at it."

Discord raised a white tufty eyebrow, and scratched at his chin.

"Whatever do you mean? Yes you two look alike but-"

"Fine, you wanted this to get personal right? You wanted us to spill our ugly truths infront of everypony and changeling right? You want raw emotions and easily manipulated minds... FINE!"

Crone had stood up in her bowl and turned to face Chrysalis, she raised an accusatory hoof and pointed with vehemence.

"The truth is I'm a horrible, selfish, jealous, and lonely braggart. I enjoy belittling others, because the world was always against me one way or another. I love hurting my enemies and smothering it in their faces, because they would never bother to try understand me anyway. I despise my dependence on ponies for the power that is rightfully mine in the first place. I've resorted to many pathetic and petty things, because I'm vindictive, and lonely. I've avoided responsibilities at times because I'm lazy and like to pamper myself, Shade and Colony shouldn't be doing half the things I'm having them do. I've been cruel and didn't need to be, I've been neglectful where I shouldn't have, and I think too highly of myself to actually care about any of it. Though to be fair that's probably in defense of my fragile ego and the whimpering pathetic creature I really am on the inside. Oh I may have flaunted what I thought was my besting acting when I fooled everypony at Canterlot and defeated what I perceived as the greatest hurdle at the time. But really, if I'm honest, the best acting I've done is pretending that things don't get to me. That I'm the stiff powerful queen, but when I'm by myself, I cry about how unfair it all is. I'm nervous, I'm scared, frankly I'm terrified and have been for a while. More often than not I manifest it as anger, and express it poisonously."

Crone paused to take a breath. Over the course of the shrill and sharp string of words Chrysalis had clearly become more, and more upset. These are things she would never say in public... The thoughtful and conflicted expression she wore earlier had soured.

"Crone-"

"Don't even get started! What are you even going to say? huh? I already know you're going to win this. You're already the better changeling by default. Fully functional at least... I know everything you could say already and none of it would matter, because in the end, you're the only one that can come out on top. Its the only reason I've really been allowed to live as long as I have anyway. I'm just lucky trial #2 that managed to stick around, because I could convenience you, and you knew I wouldn't be any kind of a threat... well news, I AM YOU!"

At this point Discord raised his other eyebrow in curiosity, he seated himself in a floating lawn chair to enjoy the tirade and
nonsensicalness it had become. The other competitors on the bench all looked confused as well, but they weren't deriving the same pleasure from it as the spirit of chaos was.

"Oh, and when I said I, I meant Chrysalis. I am basically her, just a useless dollish version... She made me when she felt particularly mopey, and happened to come a cross a strange gimmicky pool."

By now tears began to droll out of Crone's eyes in regular dollops, a deep scowl had embedded itself on her face and she glanced briefly at the draconequus before she turned to fix her hateful eyes on Chrysalis. Her voice began to slow its pace, and crack irregularly.

"Of all the equines here, D-Discord, you've taken the least from me. I-I c-couldn't use m-magic anyway..."

The clone finally bottled up and din't say more, her face fell and looked at the ground hopelessly. Her posture went rigid as if she expected to be hit at any moment. No harsh strike came her way though, and she didn't feel the spring of the catapult either.

The silence stewed the internal pain, and Crone eventually looked see Chrysalis and Discord just staring at her. She opened her mouth, but was too choked up to utter words. Chrysalis was finally ready to speak, and her words were strangely calm. Her intonation implied she was trying to comfort the changeling across from her.

"Sister... I... I know I have done wrong. But..."

Chrysalis still struggled for what words she wanted to say exactly. As she fumbled about with her words Crone seemed to have found her voice again, and her visage became more foul than ever.

"Don't call me Sister! Besides, I know we're terrible at apologies. Call me what I am! Your p-pathetic s-shadow! Y-You g-gave me no f-future! I'm a l-lost cause!"

In the next moment Crone flopped herself out of the catapult bowl onto the ground. Her sudden motion triggered the device and it launched with out its occupant. Tears freely flowed down the morose changelings face, as the dignity was thoroughly sapped from her crestfallen form. She moaned up towards the draconequus, who's lawn chair since disappeared, with broken words.

"J-just e-end m-me. P-please."

Discord curled a claw through his goatee and looked displeased at the display. Meanwhile Chrysalis appeared to have found her confidence again. She clutched nervously to the edge of her catapult bowl.

"Get back into your catapult Crone! The only thing that's pathetic is your attitude right now! You unappreciative welp!"

The distressed queen ignored her counterpart, and held out both of her front hooves in pleading submission toward the chaotic overlord.

"I-I don't know why I-I h-haven't p-popped already... but It's g-going to happen s-sooner or later. Just do me the favor and zap me now. Please."

With a snap, Discord silenced Chrysalis's angry bark and Crone's moans. No magic had actually been done, but both changelings flinched as if something was going to happen. The draconequus landed next to the defeated creature before him, and started to chuckle.

"I must say, that was indeed quite an unflattering display. You've definitely got me curious about what exactly happened between you two, but the point of this event is not a background check."

He put is lion paw under Crone's chin and tilted her head up so they were n direct eye contact.

"As a matter of fact, I noticed your little 'condition' when I plucked you off of that grimy wall before the games. It's really quite amusing actually, if it weren't driving you to ask for assisted suicide..."

Crone croaked out a sob at that and she closed her eyes in resignation to whatever ill fate would befall her.

"But what's more laughable is the condition is alterable!"

The changeling quickly opened her eyes in shock when she felt her mouth pried open and felt Discord's arm go down her throat. It was all momentary before he withdrew his lion paw with a glowing something held in it.

Crone put her hooves to her throat as she wretched and gagged from the surprise oral invasion. Her despair was replaced with anger as she growled, and tried to recover. Discord meanwhile examined the matter in his paw. It was ghostly, and appeared to be a miniaturized equine that constantly bubbled with uneven surface tension.

"Unstable stuff this is, it's been a very long time since I've seen it too, and you had it all throughout your blood poor dear. No wonder you felt left in the shadow of your magically capable sister!"

One snap later and Crone had her wings and horn back. She gave an involuntary twitch and her wings buzzed, the way her hair hung on her head changed two, and she lifted a hoof to feel the bony appendage return. She gave another shocked look at the draconequus, this one was full of suspicion though.

"Wha, what did you do? And what is that?"

A large chitinous hoof pointed at the watery object that pranced about on Discord's paw. The draconequus chuckled as he let the small bubbly thing jump between his lion paw and eagle talons.

"I took away the allergenic component in your body darling. Go ahead and try a bit of magic."

Crone could hardly believe what she heard, she couldn't believe it. It was too far away a hope for her to even think about it. So she sat there, inert. The chaotic chimera hadn't noticed the changeling's lack of activity and continued his explanations. Chrysalis sat in her catapult meanwhile, also stunned by this occurrence.

"I haven't seen this particular substance in use for a very long time. Mostly because intelligent creatures have plenty of ethical qualms with it. The power to give formerly inanimate matter life and soul is quite a deal you see... for some reason. The main problem however was this substance proved quite unstable, most beings created out of this would inevitably stumble across concentrated magic and go POOF! There were plenty of experiments to try and make it less volatile, but most simply gave up on the idea. I suppose they didn't like the idea of being responsible for so many deaths. Laughably, none of them had the talent to handle this substance like I do... Hey, are you going to try some magic or not Crony?"

Shaken to her senses... literaly, Discord picked her up and shook like a ragdoll, she reflexively let out a blast of magic from her horn. Jade green energy exploded like a fantastic fire work high above, and many looked upward in awe. There was some appreciative cheers from Chrysalis's changeling swarm up in the crowds.

Set back on the ground, Crone quickly put her hooves up to her face to check for any swelling. There was none... a giddy joyful laugh escaped her lips, and more tears fell from her eyes. Not tears of sadness however, but tears of happiness.

"Oh, Oh! Thank yo-"

Discord put a paw up to her lips to interrupt her, his long neck bent as he lowered his face close to hers once more.

"Don't be so hasty my dear. As I said, I don't do favors. You did an aweful lot of whining earlier, and I don't like whining, unless I'm the one that orchestrated it. So, if you actually want your allergy problem fixed, you'll have to figure it out yourself..."

In a quick flurry of movement, he opened crones mouth wide again, shoved the small watery entity down her throat, then snapped his digits to make her wings and horn go away once more. Crone screamed out as she gagged, and coughed.

"NONONONOOOOO!"

Mad cackles of mirth escaped the chimera, the changeling's hope bubble was popped, metaphorically speaking, to say the least. Chrysalis just sat and watched the whole thing, one of her eyes began to twitch quite badly.

The panel of judgement, with its bright red and green buttons, was pulled out and held high by Discord. He pointed at each of the changeling sisters in turn. With a claw directed at Chrysalis he spoke with an accusatory tone.

"Apparently this is all your fault Chryssie, and you made your poor sissy feel so sad and neglected, and made her go on an excessively long rant to describe you. You lose..."

He pushed the red button and Chrysalis was bodily flung over the edge while she screamed obscenities. Then the draconequus turned his accusatory claw towards Crone.

"And you asked me to kill you... you lose too."

He pressed the green button, but Crone wasn't on the catapult, so a random springbroad appeared underneath her, and promptly launched her over the edge as well. Her choice of words was surprisingly similar to Chrysalis's as she hurtled towards the icy water.

---

Discord held aloft three cards for the three remaining contestants. Celestia, More, and Specter.

"With only three Contestants left, I feel like doing something a little different for our last matches."

He walked slowly, upright on his hind legs infront of the last three contestants. Manically strumming his fingers together while his neck in a hunched sneaky posture. Celestia wore an angry and uncharacteristcally impatient expression as she stared at the draconequus with contempt. Specter sighed and held his head in resignation, while More was actually peaked with interest, though she kept her posture rather reserved.

"For the last two matches there is a new rule. Five words only, no more, no less. Choose carefully as it will determine if you win or lose. I will be the only judge."

Two chosen cards were held aloft in the lion paw, which bore the marks of Celestia and Specter. The usual hum drum of the set up occured, Specter was set over the red tagged catapult and Celestia the green. Discord gave one last reminder before he let them begin.

"Five words... and why don't you start us off, Celestia."

The chimera wore a smug smile as he whipped out a little tea table with magic, and served himself herbal aroma from a steaming pot. A large sumptuous cake was also conjured, and proceeded to slice itself into individual pieces. The whole set up caused Celestia to throw a dirty look Discord's way, and when her stomach made an audible gurgle it caused chimera to laugh. The alicorn hadn't eaten a thing in weeks after all.

"Better hurry up with the match. You may be able to grab some if you hurry. HAHAHA!"

With a determined strain she pulled her eyes away from the chaotic spirit and stared hard at her opponent. As she stared hard into his violet eyes, trying to get a read, she was thrown off by what she saw. The fierce, bitter, and resentful demeanors she saw in the other changeling faces weren't present here. It also didn't help that she knew nothing about him, other than his name... Specter. But the point of this little word joust was to be demeaning. She thought back to what he has said to Shining Armor, and she came up with her words.

"Self-righteous, arrogant, withdrawn, unaccountable, irresponsible."

Specter closed his eyes and he actually looked hurt at Celestia's choice of words, and for some reason, the older wizened alicorn felt a little guilt for using them, she didn't really know if that was an accurate description of his character. Within a short moment the changeling king collected himself and spoke his five words back.

"Nebow, Koba, Sunbeam, Bridger, Zorro..."

The changeling had spoken each name, for they were names, with a unique voice. Celestia's eyes grew wider as she recongnized each one. Her mouth hung open as her surprise was thoroughly unveiled.

Discord looked between both of them and grunted in annoyance.

"I feel like I'm missing something... oh wait, I missed a lot of things while I was in stone... So what? Was this changeling a secret honey bunny to you Celestia and you didn't know? HA, don't elaborate, I don't care. You're both disqualified!"

Both Celestia and Specter turned towards the chimera and uttered a loud "What?" in unison. With a mocking tone Discord held a few talons and counted them down.

"Puh - lease, Celestia, Self-righteous is definitely two words, and that put you up to six, and good ol' specter here used sun-beam, which is two words too... And I thought I was suppose to be the one that doesn't care for math at all. How can either of you be expected to be leaders if you can't even count! Sheesh!"

With a devilish flourish Discord whipped out his ejection panel and slammed both buttons down. The changeling and alicorn with thrown off the platform... which left only one contestant behind.

"By default, the winner is queen More!"

With baffled surprise the short changeling queen suddenly found herself elavated, and rested on Discord's shoulder, a large golden ticket shoved in her mouth labled "free pass". She thought about saying something, but then decided against it, she didn't want to mess with her good fortune.

The only honest cheers in the crowd came from a small swarm of changelings and a few manehattanites. There were also a loud mixture of boos though, along with some catcalls and jeers.

After he was bored with the little Celebration, which was very quickly, Discord uncermoniously dropped More on her flanks, then clapped his paws together.

---

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3jfVAV-6jc

"Our next round will emphasize teamwork believe it or not! With a very simple test, and something a little weightier on the line..."

The clap Discord made caused a ripple of magic to fill the stadium. Suddenly it was nighttime, and large glaring bleacher lights filled the area with powerful artificial light. It quite a fantastic, though obviously more disorganized, impression of a sporting field.

The frozen water was now gone, and the wet shivering royalty were dumped onto a rainbow hued turf field. Large uneven goal posts erected themselves on either side of the length, and team jerseys appeared around the various contestants bodies. The jerseys came in two varieties, blue with orange polka dots, and yellow with red x's.

A quick look at the jerseys identified the teams to be these...

Team One (blue/dots)
Cadance
Crone
Sombra
Armor
Celestia

Team Two (Yellow/x's)
Shining Armor
Chrysalis
Specter
Monarch
Luna

The draconequus hovered over the middle of the field, dressed in his referee get up again. A wide smile spread across his crooked face as he raised a ball in his eagle talons.

"Tonight's the night! We're going to have great game of hoofball! Also to ensure some proper motivation, I'm going to do something I don't usually do. I'll grant one player on the winning team a favor! I know, I know what I said earlier, but I change rules all the time if you haven't gotten my drift yet. Anyway, the favor can be anything, so long as I personally don't find it too stupid, annoying, irritating, orderly, or otherwise something I just won't due. But don't be worried, I think you'll find my overall tolerance quite expansive"

Of all the equines on the field, Crone picked up the most desperate twinkle in her eye. She stared at the ball as if it held everything she ever wanted in life. Discord laughed all the harder, and he waved the ball around tauntingly.

"Incase the idea of a magnificent reward doesn't incetivize you enough, know that the loosing team will get to spend a period of time stuck in a (singular) hamster ball, and played with for the next round."

A small pink plastic hamster ball appeared on the sidelines of the field... never had a hamster ball seemed so threatening before, atleast to equines who never feared such an object. Except for perhaps Chrysalis, who winced at the idea, as she remembered a particularly awful dream, that involved tennis and the two alicorn sisters...

"Without further adeu, I assume you all know how to play hoof ball. If you don't, then its time to learn!"

Discord dropped the ball and blew the whistle. Both teams hesitated for a moment, many mutinous thoughts sprang up as teammates looked at each other, and the opposing team.

Luna and Celestia shared a look, they both wore opposing Jerseys, as did Shining and Cadance. Both of them wore pained expressions, and regarded their teammates with general disgust.

Sombra sported a devious grin as he surveyed the field with a calculated look, his previous ponderings forgotten.

King Armor Laughed boisterously and pointed a giant hoof at the enemy team.

"Ya prench wuss! I've suspected ye meddled with the interrrnational games beforrre Monarrrch. Now's the chance to prrrove talnet prrroperrr, and hoof it!"

But the two fastest players to react were Chrysalis and Crone. The foremer dived at the ball, a phobic fear of the hamster ball driving her to reckless speeds, and latter sprinted for everything she was worth, because to her, everything she was worth was on the line.

The burst of movement brought the two teams to attention, and there was a general lumber towards the middle of the field.

Discord laughed and clapped his paws together in approval, the range of emotions playing along the field were such a delightful and incongruent variety. Disgust, hate, desperation, fear, worry, spite, offense, fury, deviousness. All played along different players faces.

Right before Crone actually managed to lay the first hoof on the ball, a tremendous explosion erupted from above. Such a concussive shock wave rippled through the air that many members of the audience were blown off their hooves. The pink clouds in the sky were blown away and a light like the sun filled the expanse of the night. The chaotic vibe in the very air was being disrupted.

Even Discord himself shielded his face, as he had not been expecting this in the slightest...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fz4MzJTeL0c

Author's Notes:

So I figure I owe you guys and explanation of why my production rate has sucked.

...

I blame it on my new job.

Basically I'm a pretty introverted person, and I got a customer serivce / sales job. I need money, and they hired me. Not much to it, but learning everything I needed to in the last 3 months made it really difficult to focus on anything else. Now that I'm over the new guy jitters I'll prolly be able to write more frequently again.

I do plan on doing a special for this story on the 14th at least. Heck, it'll be the first year anniversary of this story! Imma go cry now, hope you guys enjoyed the newest chapter.

p.s.

How do you guys like the illustrations and youtube links posted throughout the chapter instead of clumped at the end? Let me know what you think! And thanks for reading!

Ch.62 "Interference"

View Online

Chrysalis Wins

Ch.62 "Interference"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GByGJqmYBuo

After the initial shock of the sudden boom, and a slight dim to the brightness, every pony, changeling and draconequus had their eyes locked on the source of the disturbance.

An enormous sphere of fiery magic plummeted towards the center of the stadium, aimed towards the middle of the field, where the dumbfounded contestants stood.

Instinctively some of them began to retreat, for all the good it would do them. A meteor of that size would engulf them all anyway, and deprived of the magic, they had nothing better than their hooves to escape with.

Even as some of them uttered what they 'thought' would be their last words, the brilliance and size of the fiery ball shrank as it neared. With a strangely harmonic crescendo the wreath of magic burst apart to reveal a single luminous figure. A giant equine with wings the span of four albatrosses, and a horn the length of a normal pony's height, slowly glided over the populous. Initially her eyes were closed, and when they opened a brilliant ray of colors beamed from the irises. Her mane and tail were a deep crystal blue, laced with bright gems, and her body was an alabaster white.

Both Celestia's and Luna's jaws dropped and their pupils shrank to pinpricks, disbelief and recognition was written in their faces and stiffened postures.

Meanwhile Discord had suddenly become uncharacteristically nervous, the newcomer's eyes were locked on to him, and the slow glide of the enormous sky pony was in his direction. True fear didn't rise in him until he saw something familiar, something utterly dreadful.

A set of rainbows animatedly twirled from strange yet familiar alicorn, she swooped in very close to the chimera, so he had a good look at the judgement etched into her cold expression. He raised his paws in terror, as if they would actually shield him from the rainbows , the terrifying rainbows!

"nononoNONONO NOT A THIRD TIME!"

BLINK!

The draconequus was gone, and the stability of the rest of the area immedieately changed as well. The massive stadium which had stood for the duration of the "Discord Games" began to recede and shrink, like a deflated ballon. The sports field dissolved from a marked field to the grassy plains it had been before.

The departure of Discord wasn't the only significant change. As soon as the spirit of chaos left the large harmonic alicorn also shifted her features. She shrank, and her hide darkened, and changed from fur to chitin. The crystal blue mane changed to orange and violet, and the spectral eyes became jaded green.

"Shellish?"

"Shellish!"

Confused recognition spouted from Chrysalis's and Crone's mouths, and both of them bounded over to her. The elder queen held up a hoof and looked past her little royal(s) towards the equines nearby. Yet more recognition and confusion burst from the other changelings.

"Shellish? You're alive?"

Specter held a surreal expression, and blinked rapidly to make sure his vision was clear.

"Oi Shelly? HAHA grrreat trrrick therrre spookin' that annoyin' oaf. Wherrr've ya been all these yearrrs?"

Armor's grin was genuinely cordial, and he began to trot over.

"Shellish? It can't be..."

More shook her head as if something made it ache terribly. She slowly started to back away, and avoided every equines attention.

"So the little thief survives! I suppose those two brats are yours? No matter, you'll give me my well Shellish!"

Came a roar from the center, where Monarch stood tall and proud. Another side effect was also readily apparent. Every equine had their wings and horns back. Something the murderous queen quickly took advantage of.

A lethal lance of energy, wide enough to engulf Shellish, Crone, and Chrysalis, shot out from Monarch's horn. Shellish responded by conjuring up a shield. Silver magic relentlessly beat down on the shield and burned the air nearby. Chrysalis charged up her own horn, while Crone shrieked and dropped to the ground with her hooves over her head. Before any of them could interfere with the dangerous situation, a brilliant pulse came from Shellish, and her chest glowed.

The fiery green shield she conjured expanded, rapidly, but it was focused, and advanced towards Monarch like an ominous wall. The silver maned changeling's eyes went wide moments before she realized what was about to happen, there was no time to enact an appropriate response.

The shield advanced forward as Shellish did, and it collided with her opponent explosively. In a brilliant flash Monarch was launched high into the air with great velocity. She kept going, and going, and going... until she disappeared far off into the horizon. The space she was last seen twinkled briefly, before that vanished too.

For good measure, Shellish fired out an additional blast, which blinded every equine in the stadium while it was emitted. Several moments later an explosion erupted in the horizon that left giant smoke clouds, and radiative aurora-like tendrils. A mild earthquake also followed some moments later. The queen with curly orange locks snarled at the distance.

"You'll never touch them! Gaw, evil... black hearted witch!"

Both Chrysalis and Crone had dropped their jaws in bewilderment, Chrysalis had never seen, and Crone couldn't remember their mother figure ever act like that.

Everypony and changeling took a deep breath, scared to make any sudden movements. Shellish gave out a winded sigh herself, before she turned towards the group with a business-like tone.

"Discord will be back, very soon. We need to act now, before he realizes I can't actually contain him. Princess Celestia and Luna, I'd like to have a quick word."

She came close to the sisters in a few short strides. By this time they had gotten over some of their bewilderment. Luna started to snort into an angry fit, while Celestia took on a gravely serious stance. The while alicorn spoke in a very demanding tone.

"Where did you learn of that form?"

"Yea fiend, who are you to desecra-"

"Harmony sent me! I have a message from her to both of you!"

Shellish cut Luna off as she shouted out in urgency. Neither alicorn still seemed quite ready to accept what she said, but atleast Celestia tempered herself.

"Well..."

"Both of you need to go south immediately, before Discord can follow you. She said you need to find Shy."

"Why Shy?"

Celestia was confused, and Luna rolled her eyes. The night princess pointed an angry hoof at Chrysalis, who sneered at the gesture. The blue alicorn spoke as if she stated the obvious.

"Discord wouldn't be a problem if SHE gave us back the elements of harmony!"

For the first time since she arrived, Shellish actually cringed a little in embarasment. She absentmindedly rubbed her chest with a hoof as she explained.

"That's a bit, complicated. The elements aren't fully available right now... Besides, Harmony has another plan to deal with Discord. She just emphasized your need to find Shy, particularly you Celestia. Take your ponies and try to shelter them the best you can, and find Shy, before he does! I'm sorry but I have other instructions I need to follow. Goodbye princesses."

---

Before either alicorn could edge another word Shellish already bolted over towards Chrysalis and Crone. First she embraced them both in a tight hug, and whispered to their ears.

"If I'd known I wouldn't have let you out of my sight, I'm so sorry."

Then her words switched from tender to harsh in a heartbeat. The hug broke apart and she rapt a hoof down Chrysalis's nose, who flinched violently.

"And don't even think about hurting the princesses little royal! You have no idea what you could have blow out of balance!"

Chrysalis put both front hooves over her stinging snout, and replied in an angry muffled voice.

"That's not my name anymore Shellish! And that really hurt..."

"Anyway, gather up the swarm right now, and the crystal ponies. We're going to buckle down in the empire before I tell you what I've heard over the last few days."

Crone and Chrysalis just stared for a moment blankly, still in states of relative shock, before Shellish gave them an encouraging shove.

"Go on, get moving! I'll be right along with you, but I'm not attuned to the swarm anymore."

Shaken out of their momentary stupor the twin queens immediately started to throw out mental instructions. A few moments later Chrysalis's horn ignited and she opened a portal to cross through, as thousands other miniature portals erupted all over the fields.

Crystal ponies were being instructed and prompted to hop into the portals along side the changelings of Chrysalis's swarm, which many of them eagerly did. The fear of chaos had outstripped the fear of neighbors. For those who weren't comfortable enough to jump into a portal, Crone rallied a group that marched towards the empire, her wings a twitter as she shouted out instructions.

Orange and violet locks twisted and whirled in a little breeze as Shellish's wings buzzed in preperation for flight. Two voices called out to her before she could leave though.

"Shellish!"

"Shelly!"

Specter and Armor raced towards her, both of them spoke at once so it was hard for her to decipher either.

"You're alive ho-"

"Wait just a bi-"

"What pla-"

"My cousi-"

"STOP! One at a time! I need to get going!"

The two changeling kings looked at each other for a moment, Specter bowed gracefully and gestured for the other to speak.

"The crrrystal ponies arrre as good as family to me. They arrre to the gerrrmane, so they arrre to me. I came herrre to-"

"Reunite, yes, I promise they will be kept safe, but the best place for your swarm and ponies Armor would be back in Germane right now. Discord isn't really gone, besides your ponies are going to want an explanation before they'll follow you further."

"Aye, they would... I- I'll trrrust you forrr now Shelly. I'll trrrust you to keep my family safe. Unlike some parrrties of the past..."

Armor shot a foul look towards Specter, who hung his head in shame. The large armored changeling turned about and bellowed in his thick accent towards the glittering hosts.

Shellish turned her attention to the remaining individual.

"Yes I'm alive Specter, but I don't have time for stories right now."

A glint of desperation stretched over the king's luminous eyes, and the veins on his cheeks pulsated.

"Then let me accompany you, I'll help, I was already trying to help Chrysalis and Cr-"

"Then come."

Without patience for another word Shellish took off and hurried towards the empire, with a determined Specter on her heels.

Within the hour the fields around the Crystal Empire were clear.

---

- In another dimension ... a very strange dimension where the world is crayon and paper, and inhabited by sock-puppet creatures.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDX-B4bpAvM

Discord shivered in traumatic shock, the image of a twirly rainbow burned into his mind. He clutched pathetically to a large, living red sock puppet. The crimson object of entertainment wailed in surprise.

"Ey amigo! What's the problem my friend?"

The googly eyes of the sock puppet whirled crazily around in their plastic sockets as the draconequus continued to scream in terror.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

"Holy maracas calm down amigo!"

The red sock puppet bit Discord on the nose, which strangely enough calmed the chimera down. A moment later he yanked the sockpuppet off and slowed his breathing, he wriggled his muzzle, for the bite of the sock puppet was strangely ticklish.

"That tickled..."

"Huh, my chibas say that too. But hey, what's got your goat friend?"

"Oh the most horrible thing, I was about to be turned to stone aga- ... wait a minute."

"Huh?"

"I wasn't able to escape to other dimensions the previous times. I-I wasn't able to run away. But why now?"

"Dunno amigo, sounds like you've been duped!"

"Me? The spirit of chaos duped?"

"Happens to everybody sometimes friend."

This caused the draconequus to hunch over angrily, and crack his fingers, and muttered to himself. Smoke sizzled out of his nostrils and ears, and lightning struck down from the crayon colored sky. Fire burned in his eyes.

"Dupe me? DUPE ME! Thought they would trick the master of tricks did they! Just wait til I-"

"wo-wo-wo calm down amigo, its lunchtime anyway. Want to join us? My chibas made chimichangas!"

The lightning disappeared and the smoke coming from Discord disappated. He turned thougtful and stroked his goatee.

"Chimichangas you say? Very well, revenge can come after lunch..."

"Bueno!"

---

As soon as the last changeling and crystal pony crossed the threshold into the empire Shellish let out another massive burst of magic, and a radiant flame-licked shield expanded over the empire. A good portion of the green fields were included as well.

Chrysalis observed the craftship, and noticed a few slight alterations. The tongues of fire were small and not terribly imposing, and they flickered with various other colors that occasional highlighted the green. Doubt still danced across the younger queen's face, she turned to her former mentor.

"Are you sure that will keep him out?"

Shellish grunted in split attention, and she pulled her eyes away from the sky and towards her inquirer.

"It should be good for now. But It is not a solution. Do you still have that golden spoon?"

"Golden spoon?"

Chrysalis thought back in recent memory, and remembered the satchel. One focused spurt of magic later, and she pulled the golden utensil out of the satchel.

"This spoon?"

Shellish smiled.

Anniversary Special (Non-canon)

View Online

Chrysalis Wins

Anniversay special
(non-canon)

"This spoon?"

Chrysalis held aloft a golden spoon in her magic... then the world froze, and the changeling felt a strange tugging sensation over her whole body. Before she knew it, gone was the Crystal Empire, Shellish, Crone, and Specter. Everything she recognized faded away, and even her hooves no longer touched the ground. A peculiar feeling of floating through space came upon her. It was dark and she could see nothing.

"Wha- what! What's going on? Gaw I knew I shouldn't have taken that spoon! But Shellish why?"

Slowly light came into her view, stars started to sparkled above and below her. With no real ground to land her hooves on she continued to float along through the immense space around her. Frustrated by the lack of contact, she tried to take a step, but all that did was send her into a slow somersault. The stars began to look like comets in her rotisserie view.

"Shellish! SHELLISH!"

Fear had begun to etch itself into her voice, she had no idea how she got here, or how she could get out. It was rather surreal. She tried to activate her magic, and create a portal out. She successfully made the portal, but all it did was place her somewhere else in the endless starry sky... At least she stopped her somersaults. Panic started to over take her at this point, her hope started to sink faster than a stone in quicksand.

"Help! HELP!"

She started to scream. A faint chuckle came from some distance away, and some words were exchanged between two relatively deep voices.

"How much longer til she starts to cry? hehehe."

"Please, there is teasing and there is taking it too far."

"Oh fine, but it's not like we're in a rush for time."

There was a click, and a dusty old ceiling lamp lit up, and illuminated the silhouette of two previously concealed figures. Chrysalis's eyes were naturally drawn to this new source of light, and she ceased her terrified shrieks immediately. She felt a sudden backlash of embarrassment and indignation. When she saw the two figures under the light she quickly grew angry. Her voice was full off demand rather than curiosity.

"What's the meaning of this!"

"Meaning? Does there have to be meaning?"

One large figure turned to the other with an amused chortle. The second figure answered in matter of fact tone.

"Generally yes, or meaning can be made afterward."

Chrysalis didn't recognize either voice, or either figure by their silhouette. All she could distinguish was that both of them were very large, and that she didn't like being the subject of some other creatures' amusement. She had just gone through plenty of that...

"Get to your point! Who are you two! Why have you brought me here!"

The dusty old ceiling lamp disappeared, and in its place the ambient light increased. The stars were no longer contrasted by a stark blackness, but a misty cloudy blue. The details of the two figures were finally distinguishable, and caused Chrysalis's demanding persona to falter a little.

One of them was a pony she had just seen. A giant alicorn with crystal blue mane and tail, the other was a fat blonde draconequus.

"SUPRISE!"

The corpulent chimera threw his top limbs into the air, and caused the stars to explode like a cascade of fireworks. Each of the sparks then turned into giggling butterflies that swarmed around them for a while longer until they fizzled out.

"Welcome to... well, what do you call this place Harmony?"

He idly scratched at one of his jowls with a panda paw.

"It's my-"

"The Harmony Hub! Let's call it that Harmony Hub, center of all things destiny and fate. We've brought you here for a short playdate."

"Home..."

Harmony finished, though she didn't appear at all offended that she had been interrupted by the boisterous buffoon next to her. Rather she appeared use to these kinds of antics.

Chrysalis held a slightly open mouth, and her head constantly swiveled to look from one ridiculous figure to the next. She was quite bewildered, and at a total loss for words. This made the giant draconequus smile broadly, which caused his jowls to jiggle.

"I don't think she's confused enough just yet, let's show her something that will really throw her mind for a loop."

He slapped together his manatee flipper and panda paw, and rubbed them mischeviously. Harmony rolled her eyes and rustled her wings, before she sighed.

"Very well, but we're keeping it tempered. I'll start things out."

As the alicorn's horn ignited with a rainbow of magic, a sudden recognition burst into Chrysalis's eyes.

"Shellish was you! She was disguised as you and it scared off Discord!"

A river of magic flooded underneath them while they floated above. The changeling's outburst brought a smile to Harmony's lips.

"She did, didn't she. A spot on job if I may say so."

The blonde draconequus laughed at the exchange.

"Poor wittle Discord, stuck in stone for over a thousand years, the threat of it happening again seemed to spook him for some odd reason. AHHAHAHA! Oh, but let's get to the fun part with our current guest."

With a clap of magic a large golden spoon appeared in the chimera's paw, and he reached it down to the river below, where he began to stir. Strange images started to ripple out from where the utensil contacted magic.

"So Chryssie, can I call you Chryssie? What have you heard about alternate dimensions?"

Enamored with the visuals in the river, Chrysalis answered distractedly.

"Queen Chrysalis, and what do you mean alternate dimensions?"

"Other worlds, other possibilities, other timelines. All of which are like their own little bubbles, their own little universes. Some almost mirror each other exactly, but many are radically different."

The changeling let out a gasp when she saw the various images in the river come into focus. All of them appeared to be different reflections of her in one way or another.

The golden instrument was withdraw from the river and the ripples ceased so the various scenes below could be seen with crystal clarity. The draconequus shook the spoon a bit to get off the last bits of magic.

Harmony pointed towards one of the reflections, and it magnified until it was easily seen.

"For example, your battle at Canterlot turned out in many different ways in these different timelines."

Below in the river Chrysalis saw herself wear a smug grin while she lounged at a window sill. A short distance away Cadance and Shining Armor put their horns together, and cast a spell. The smug grin on the reflection's face disappeared when an explosive wave of magic blew her away.

Harmony's hoof touched the river again and that image shrank away, she tapped another one that enlarged itself accordingly.

"Some are not just alternate timelines, but completely different versions of what you could be."

The next enlarged image was of different looking Canterlot. It was a good deal more grey, and the skies were beautiful shades of violet. What caught Chrysalis's eye was another changeling down in the city. This changeling roamed around the city, all the while laughing and talking animatedly with with the ponies and changelings around her. She had luscious curly locks of teal mane, and emblems of hearts were on her wings, necklace and hoofware. All of the nearby ponies and changelings gazed at her adoringly. They all positively beamed with joy.

For a few moments Chrysalis just watched, she couldn't quite decide if she was disgusted, or perhaps, just the smallest bit jealous of this reflection. She couldn't remember the last time anypony or changeling ever gave her a look like that. A look, like they actually... unreservedly...loved her.

"C'mon Harmony, you're going way too vanilla, let's show her some of the weirder ones!"

The blonde draconequus brushed his manatee flipper against the river, and a cycle of different images popped up in rapid succession.

There was a tree, and the tree cracked open to release dozens of changelings, last of which emerged another Chrysalis, all full of holes. A little sign was posted near the tree. "1000 years ago"

The manatee flipper flipped again.

A strange ape creature with Chrysalis's colors stood on top of a podium, and was worshiped by other strange ape creatures

The manatee flipper flipped again.

A large monster that resembled a termite queen gurgled as it spit out an endless stream of eggs. A swarm of insects that barely resembled her changelings buzzed about and hissed like feral beasts.

The manatee flipper flipped again.

Baby Chrysalis', older Chrysalis', decrepit Chrysalis', beautified Chrysalis', god-like Chrysalis', ungodly Chrysalis', and an endless variety more appeared. Different choices, different designs, many of them quite unique, were all paraded infront of her.

With the blur of visions going on she had no idea what to think, other than feeling smaller, and less significant. For one moment there was a vision of unbelievable grandeur and power that took her breath away, then next was a sight so pitiable and pathetic it drew tears from her eyes.

Then everything went dark... Harmony's soothing voice could be heard.

"And then, there's you."

The river calmed and the various visions of Chrysalis ceased as it dissolved into an ethereal stream again. It was as if a storm had passed and the calm settled in once more.

Harmony slowly glided over to one side of changeling queen, and the blobbish chimera got on the other. They both pressed against her gently, and she felt like a little filly benched between two adults.

"Of all the lives to live, you have yours."

a large alabaster hoof, and a panda paw waved at the stream of magic below, and another set of scenes flowed before her.

Chrysalis, before she had a name and was just a little broodling, was fawned over by a changeling drone and sentinel. A younger Shellish lingered behind them with adoring eyes.

Chrysalis, as a little filly pranced through the grass as she was watched over, and taught things by her mentor.

Chrysalis, in the beginning of her adolescence began lessons of rule. She learned just how difficult Shellish job really was, but already started to develop her own ideas.

Chrysalis, after Shellish was gone, and the responsibility of the swarm on her back. All the pressure, the anxieties, and the desperation just to survive.

Chrysalis, and her encounter with Boggy.

Chrysalis and her search through the world for other changelings.

Chrysalis at Canterlot...

Then the whirlwind of events that followed after.

"Interesting how the future so quickly becomes the past... I wonder how you keep your head on straight sometimes Harmony. All of this is so much more complicated than simply enjoying the present for what it is."

"Don't pretend you aren't a planner Goldie."

The alicorn chided, the draconequus just shrugged.

"Fine, you have me there. I certainly am most interested how little Chryssie here will play the game."

"Queen Chrysalis..."

The changeling grunted. Something about the large fat creature really got on her nerves. The oaf blundered on anyway.

"Chryssie here has a starring role after all."

"So it has been orchestrated, Goldie. Mmm, I'm feeling a shift in the tides."

The river of magic below disappeared, and the curtain of darkness began to pass over the starry view.

"OOooo, I do too. Well, I suppose our time has come to an end. It's been fun Chryssie! Time to rewind!"

After a final pat on the head the corpulent Chimera pulled out a remote, and hit the rewind button.

A high pitched whiz followed everyone going back the way they came, through the order of events that brought them there.

---

-Crystal Empire

"This spoon?"

Chrysalis held aloft a golden spoon in her magic. She shook her head and had a very odd feeling of whiplash, but couldn't quite remember why...

Ch.63 "Golden Idea"

View Online

Chrysalis Wins

Ch. 63 "Golden Idea"

"What are you trying to pull Shellish?"

A strangely anxious tone had taken over Specter's, and his ears pinned to the sides of his head. His eyes were fixated on the golden object in Chrysalis's magic. The young queen flicked her gaze from the agitated king to her old mentor.

"What's going on? And how did you know about the spoon?"

The older queen's reply was hurried as she tried to address both of the inquiries.

"Harmony told me, and I'm not trying to pull anything Specter, I know this seems..."

"Absolutely insane! You're going to send your, um, daughter? Into that den of madness!"

One of the king's hooves' indicated haphazardly between the other two. Chrysalis sighed and gave a short answer to Specter before she turned her interrogative eyes towards Shellish.

"Born in swarm, but not by her personally. Anyway, what's the idea Shellish? Is this spoon supposed to defeat Discord?"

The golden utensil twirled about a few times, meanwhile Crone sat in quiet observation. Her mind was a meddle of mixed thoughts and her attention was split between the group in front of her and introspection. Shellish continued in her hurried tones.

"It will take you to the isle of draconequi, you'll get the answer of how to defeat Discord from there. Harmony wasn't really specific after that..."

"The isle? The isle you refused to move the swarm to?"

Chrysalis wrinkled her snout, and she remembered the years the swarm had voyaged around before they settled in the badlands. The isle of draconequi was one of the places Shellish had previously refused to consider as a place of habitation. The memory review felt like she swallowed a large pill of apprehension.

"Why now? Why would other draconequi be helpful?"

Her brow narrowed into an angry furrow. Her wings tittered and her tail began to swish very quickly from side to side. Chrysalis's voice steadily became more accusatory.

"He's clearly opposed to the idea, and what's with the change of heart now Shellish? What am I even supposed to do when I get there?"

One of Chrysalis's hooves was thrown grumpily in nervous king's direction, before it accusatorily poked Shellish's chest. The older queen pursed her lips, and placed a hoof on top of Chrysalis's. She spoke slower this time, and the rush disappeared from her voice.

"I was dead little royal... you... you saw that. Harmony is the reason I'm back, and I'm going to trust her instructions."

The younger queen sighed and bowed her head forward, so that she rested on Shellish's shoulder, the older queen wrapped her in a light embrace, and for a moment the group was quiet. Crone was the first to speak up after that.

"When I last looked into the well I believe I was about to see how Discord came to power originaly. I think The Spirit of Chaos is a title that can be transferred..."

The embrace was broken and Chrysalis turned to her twin.

"Are you saying I'm going to be looking for a candidate to replace Discord?"

For the first time since the odd discussion started, the crooked horned changeling displayed interest, and tucked away her wings. Crone's eyes narrowed, and she brought herself up to her full height, which was almost enough to match Specter's. She looked down on her shorter counterpart.

"Who's saying you're going? I could just as easily scour the island for candidates!"

"Seriously Crone! That island is probably bursting with magic, they might pop you on accident. Besides, I need a changeling I trust to stay behind and keep the swarm orderly."

A deep nerve was struck... Crone's eyes bulged wildly as her expression snapped. In the next moment Chrysalis was knocked over onto her back, and received several consecutive slaps to the face.

"YOU JUST THINK I'M USELESS!"

The golden spoon had since been dropped, as the magic that kept it aloft was interrupted. Chrysalis tried to kick back, but it was ineffective, her limbs were shorter and she was already pinned to the ground. Crone was a larger, stronger version of her after all. Both of them grunted, squealed, and hissed as they kept up their bitter brawl with kicks, smacks, and bites.

The quarrel didn't last long before there was interference, both Shellish and Specter stood there momentarily stunned by the outburst, but both moved in quickly.

Specter tackled Crone over, and held her fast. She still put up a nasty fight, and got in a few bites and kicks before he managed to fully restrain her. When she couldn't effectively move anymore she let out and ear splitting shriek.

With Crone no longer on top of her, Chrysalis could finally get up. Shellish tried to brush her off and fix her messed up hair, but fury was upon the younger smaller queen, and her horn ignited in a fit of rage. She refused to let Shellish help her as she stomped forward.

"YOU UNGRATEFUL DRIVEL! YOU SPIT ON MY TRUST!"

Crone shouted back from her position under Specter.

"GO AHEAD, DO IT, JUST LIKE YOU DID TO NUMBER ONE!"

Chrysalis's anger immediately deflated, and her horn fizzled out. She kept as stern posture and tone, however.

"I-I didn't know what I was doing. But this is all besides the point! Your ego is besides the point! I'm going to go to the isle to find this new, uh, replacement for Discord. You're going to stay here and take care of the empire, while Shellish holds up the shield. THAT'S FINAL!"

The blustered queen stomped a hoof to seal her command, and strode over to where the spoon lay and picked it up in magic again, then she gave it an awkward look. Suddenly unsure how to actually use it.

"Um."

She looked to Shellish, who in turn shrugged.

"I was only told you needed to use the spoon, not how."

This made Chrysalis deadpan a glare.

"I believe you need to tickle it."

"Tickle it?"

Chrysalis's deadpan grew more intense when she heard Specter make the suggestion. Crone had now become sullen and no longer struggled, however the king still kept her firmly pinned.

"Yes, tickle it. That's how I saw the last gift spoon activated."

"Very well..."

She tentatively ran the tip of a hoof up and down the neck of the spoon. There was no reaction, and the young queen threw an annoyed look towards Specter.

"You have to do it more like- hmm one moment. Can I trust you to be calm now, Crone?"

The king changed direction half way through his suggestion and gave the deflated queen an inquisitive prod. She just sighed in response, her breaths slowed and she grumbled out some words. They were laced with thick saucy sarcasm.

"Oh I think you'll need to stay there all day. You see, I haven't had a proper king rub his body all over me before..."

Specter blinked, unamused. After a few moments of silence Crone groaned.

"Yes, I'll be calm."

She relaxed flat against the ground, and tentatively the larger changeling got off of her. Once he was sure she was in control of herself he didn't waste another moment to approach Chrysalis.

He reached out a hoof and tickled the broad bowl side with quick short movements.

"eheheheheHAHAHAHAH! STOP! STOP IT ALRIGHT! O-OK what do you want?"

A high whiny voice emanated from the spoon. Much to every changeling's surprise except Specter's. The king bowed out, and gestured for Chrysalis to speak, who took a moment to collect her thoughts.

"This spoon is a gift from Lord Golden Spoon?"

"Why yes I am!"

...

"Can you take me to the isle of the draconequi?"

"Why yes I can! Plus one other guest!"

"Guest?"

"Or two or three if you so desire, bring a whole village if you like! The gracious Lord Golden Spoon doesn't mind unannounced company either."

"Fine, fine, how soon can you take me?"

"Right away, just put your tongue on my bowl and blow a raspberry. If you're bringing a guest, they must perform the action at the same time. If you are bringing a group and can't fit everyone around me, a.k.a. the spoon, then they can blow a raspberry into the ear of someone blowing as raspberry on me. Do you need me to repeat the instruction?"

"No, that's plenty clear."

"I insist on coming."

Specter moved closer to Chrysalis with a serious intent, she backed away a little from his forwardness, and gave him an impudent grimace.

"Why so eager to be involved now? I thought running and hiding was your forte'."

Absentmindedly he dug at the ground, then looked out towards the horizon. Pink storm clouds had already began to crowd the skies again, and rainbow neon lightning could be seen as little flashes in the distance. A bitter resolve filled Specter's speech.

"Frankly I don't think Discord is something I can hide from. Neither is unrest and unhappiness to the benifit of any changeling. Lastly, I've already been to the isle, I can at least help distract them from over focusing on you."

"What about your swarm, I assume you have one. Don't they need you?"

Specter narrowed his violet eyes.

"I've trained them to be self sufficient, that has been the case since the War in the Dark."

The last name caused Shellish to flinch, and she rubbed her hooves together uncomfortable. The king noticed the subtle movement, and turned a curious eye towards her.

"You'll have to tell of your ventures Shellish when we can sit at a table, from the odd things I've heard and seen, it would seem a most compelling tale."

"The same to you Specter."

Shellish gave a little nod. The exchange just made Chrysalis grunt in annoyance.

"I don't understand why you didn't explain about him or the others Shellish."

"I thought they were dead, or that perhaps war had changed them. I didn't want you looking for them, everything was so dangerous then..."

"That wasn't your assumption to make! Look how things ended up anyway!"

"I know, I know little royal, I've been wrong about so many things."

The older queen turned away, and moisture threatened to spill from her eyes.

"COOL IT!"

Chrysalis jumped at the sudden roar that emanated from right next to her. The changeling king wore an exasperated expression.

"EVERY CHANGELING NEEDS TO COOL OFF! This is exactly the kind of discordant interactions the Spirit of Chaos is encouraging. Chrysalis, have a little gratitude. Shellish just gave us a miracle of an opportunity, and you have to rag on her for past sins."

Shellish had already turned about, and wandered in some aimless direction toward the empire. When Chrysalis looked about she had a brief glimpse of Crone before she disappeared between the crystal structures.

Chrysalis grimaced as if she swallowed something bitter. A prod from Specter roused her regained her attention.

"I'm not looking forward to this trip, so let's just get it done."

With that he bit down on the spoon and offered the other end to her. She sneered and rolled her eyes. Mentally she prepared to throw her dignity out the window. If she had to start with blowing raspberries to get anywhere, she didn't want to think what she would have to do once she was on the isle.

The young queen leaned forward and bit down on the open portion of the spoon, which caused her snout to bump into Specter's. As soon as she made contact he immediately blew a raspberry, and she followed suite.

A flash of bright white light encompassed them, and in the next moment they vanished.

---

Crone ran through the empire at a break neck gallop, she was so distressed she didn't even think to use her wings. Tears threatened to torrent from her eyes, but she did everything she could to hold them back. Her panting breath also threatened to break into a sob, but she growled in attempt to maintain control of herself.

She was so distraught that she didn't even notice the spare changeling and crystal pony she knocked aside. Before she realized it, she was already at the base of the palace. Her bloodshot eyes roamed up to the balcony, where her wings instinctively carried her.

Over the past week, Crone and Chrysalis had found the proper royal chambers, this is where her automated rush carried her. She kicked open the large double doors of the bedroom. Hers was a smaller chamber, made for a princeling or princess, the very thouht tipped her emotions over into an unmanageable state and she broke down.

Unfortunately a maid and a drone were in the room, both of whom had been tidying the place, such as wiping off some rainbow licorice from the window sills. When the blubbery sobby queen burst into the room, they both instantly became terrified.

"My queen!"

"Your majesty!"

Both of them were appalled at her dismantled state. With unnecessary harshness she screamed at the both of them.

"OUT!"

Neither questioned the command with any hesitation, they were both deeply frightened of her deathly glare.

"OUT! AN-AND-D NO P-PONY C-COMES IN-N!"

Crone struggled to even pronounce correctly at the moment, all of which only added to her overwhelming dismay.

As soon as the servants were out she slammed the door behind them, and put her back to the door. Then everything really fell out. She sat there and bawled for hours.

By the time the sun had fallen into twilight she was exhausted, also in the period of time she had managed to crawl over to the bed, and bury her face into one of the plush pillows. Right then even Tartarus didn't seem to bad a hiding place, for she didn't want to bring her face to the public ever again.

That stage of Discord's had been in front of every pony, every changeling, and whatever else. She had been overly honest, overly truthful about herself, all while she was the center of attention. The thought of it coming back to bite her was terrifying. She had revealed her weakness... what if some pony felt mutinous?

Such was only one concern among many that plagued her mind. How long would Shellish's shield last? How could the crystal ponies trust her after she admitted about how vile she was. Colony would probably expect her to dote over the newborn royals like Chrysalis. She reproached herself for feeling jealous of newborns and screamed into her pillow.

Sometime later she ran out of energy to sob, the passion burnt out, and resigned hopelessness settled in.

She had tried to get herself killed, twice so far today. Neither atempt had worked, and she felt terribly trapped. Stuck like a fly in molases, with no escape in sight. There were responsibilities left and right to manage all over the empire. Chrysalis had left them to her, to go off adventuring... with Specter no less.

Jealousy burned like a smoldering coal in her gut. Earlier when she had told him that he'd need to stay on top of her all day, her hindsight half meant it. She entertained some more intimate fantasies for a short while...Then cursed herself for being so pathetic, and needy. Specter couldn't possibly want her, not when the truth about her condition was out. She felt low, so terribly low, lower than even a common breed changeling. For at least they could do magic proper without a severe backlash.

How would she be able to command respect at all. She would be a laughing stock, a joke. She thought back at how childish she had just been as well... brawling with Chrysalis like a school yard filly. The shame burned through her chest up to her face. There would be no way she could make a public appearance again. Her was confidence utterly dashed into a thousand pieces.

A soft knock at the door interrupted her reverie of misery. Crone turned one sore eye towards the door, but otherwise didn't react. She vainly hoped they would just go away when she didn't respond.

Another knock sounded at the door accompanied by a soft voice.

"Crone?"

It was Shellish. When there was no response again, the door was pushed open. Crone immediately closed her eyes, and tried to pretend she was asleep, tear spattered and messy as she was.

Even with her eyes closed, her ears gave an involuntary twitch when Shellish walked into the room, and gently closed the door behind her. Her breaths staggered a little as she heard quiet hoof falls approach the bed.

The next moment she felt something press across her back, and a chin rested on top of her head. Soon a hoof carefully brushed aside her messy bangs, and lazily began to stroke her cheek.

By the way Crone had initially flinched, Shellish undoubtedly knew she was awake, but the older queen didn't call her out on it. Rather, Shellish began to hum a soothing melody. Something that Chrysalis's memories hadn't heard in over thirty years. The older queen's hum eventually turned into the soft words of a lullaby.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgsUMmKbjjQ

Rest your mind little royal, for tomorrow isn't today
Rest your heart and soul, for you'll find your way

The grass is always greener around the bends
But remeber not to lose your friends
There are those who need you
But don't worry when you have needs too

Rest your mind little royal, for tomorrow isn't today
Rest your heart and soul, for you'll find your way

Things may seem grim and dark
That you've been stained with no way to clean the mark
Just remember that you're alive
You're here to do more than just survive

Rest your mind little royal, for tomorrow isn't today
Rest your heart and soul, for you'll find your way

Your Shelly loves you, never forget that
It doesn't matter where you landed at
I'm here to pick you up
For you'll always be my little buttercup

Rest your mind little royal, for tomorrow isn't today
Rest your heart and soul, for you'll find your way

Crone didn't think she had any tears left to shed, but she was wrong, and fresh tears dribbled along her cheeks. She seized the hoof Shellish had used to stroke face, and nuzzled closely into it. As if it were her only anchor in a treacherous storm. The older queen spoke quietly as Crone eagerly received the affection.

"I know we haven't really met, but it's not really a question my mind. You're mine, my little royal. You're the broodling I didn't know I lost, and posses a remarkable resemblance to your sister."

"L-let's not mention h-her right now."

The young queen managed to croak out.

"Very well, but I will mention one more thing. She loves you, more than she would ever be willing to say. She would be quite willing to flip the world upside down for you... Harmony showed me things, and I know it."

Crone scrunched her face, rather confused.

"You kept mentioning Harmony earlier, was that the alicorn you impersonated in the stadium?"

"She did give me permission to borrow her form. I think it did it's job in spooking Discord, no?"

That drew a weak smile from Crone's muzzle.

"It certainly did. mmm I wonder what he's up to..."

"Just rest your mind Crony, I think recent events have been a little too taxing. I'll leave you to get some rest."

Shellish got up to go, but found that she couldn't, because the younger changeling firmly held her hoof. She turned and found Crone looking up at here with the most woefully pitiable eyes.

"Stay... please."

The older royal couldn't find it anywhere in her heart to refuse, so she settled back down on the bed, and resumed the snuggled up position they were in just a moment ago. Night had officially fallen, and starlight twinkled through the window.

---

- The isle of draconequi

Specter and Chrysalis both let out yelps of surprise and waved their legs wildly in the air, only to crash into a bank of sand a moment later. Salty air blasted through the changelings' noses mixed with a myriad of tropical flowery scents.

Both of them righted themselves and shook off the invasive sand, before they looked about. They were on the beach, where pleasant waves serenly dissipated along the shoreline. A volcanic mountain rose high above the inland, and silvery glittering towers were erect along the slopes.

In the closer vicinity a line of trees evolved into a very wild and unkempt forest, a short distance from the beach. A few little crabs and sea turtles crawled here and there, and the strangest birds Chrysalis had ever seen fluttered between the colorful branches.

Before either of them could utter a word, a great rumble shook the ground. Both Specter and Chrysalis jumped, and the ground rumbled again. It did several times in a rythmic pattern. Then a gigantic figure burst out from the line of trees.

It was an enourmous draconequus, many times larger than Discord. He had a large fluffy silver mane, black eyes, and greyed out features. In fact, the only thing about him that wasn't achromatic was a large golden spoon, held loosely in an over sized panda paw.

He pointed the enormous golden spoon towards its smaller cousin stranded in the sand. The gesture caused the smaller spoon to propell itself like bullet towards the bigger spoon, where it collided and melded into it.

With the smaller spoon taken care of, the giant draconequus turned his attention towards the two changelings.

"Well, well, looks like we have company..."

He put a manatee flipper to his mouth, and whistled, which sounded more like a trumpet, and created a visible shock wave through the air. Even the smoke which lazily smoldered out of the volcano looked disturbed.

A few moments later wild shouts, whistles, clicks, yowls and howls echoed out of the jungles. heralded by drums, horns, and... bagpipes?

It wasn't long before hundreds of draconequi burst out of the forest, flying, crawling, and slithering in unique ways. The only thing common about them was that they all wore some kind of fierce tiki mask.

They all moved so fast Specter and Chrysalis hardly moved before dozens of draconequi seized, and dragged them back towards the jungles.

The only thing that could be heard over ruckus of nonsense, and Chrysalis's attempts at violent retaliation was a loud booming laugh. The laugh of the giant.

With an impossible swiftness for his size, he reached out with his spoon and booped it to Chrysalis's muzzle, and she immediately went dazed, as if hypnotized. He turned about to do the same to Specter, but the king reacted quick enough.

"No need! I'm good! I'm calm!"

The giant booped him anyway...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRwrNHsFSdA

Ch.64 "Assessments"

View Online

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgedWuaorD0

Chrysalis Wins

Ch.64 “Assessments”

It flashed dark, then light. Crone’s eyelids contorted as consciousness filtered in. It be became dark again, then light again. The lethargic queen crack her reluctant vision open, just as the brightness went through another cycle. She croaked out in surprise as she processed how the light was haywire.

“What the devil?”

She sat upright and looked out the window, and to her bewilderment she saw some very unorderly heavenly bodies.

The moon passed by, though something was off, and the sun was close behind, chasing it. It dimmed to darkness as both of the sources of light dipped below the horizon, only to reignite as they both came back up moments later. The sun still chasing the moon.

Crone’s eyes narrowed in on what made them seem so wrong, besides their erratic movement. Upon a few moments observance she noticed the moon was in the shape of a mouse, and the sun a cat.

The royal changeling blinked, then everything from the other day came crashing down on her again. The verge of war, Discord’s cruel games, and the split. Crone whirled about and sprang to her hooves while on the bed. Down next to her was Shellish, who groaned at being disturbed from slumber.

Crone let out her own groan as a heavy headache started to pulse in her skull. Where to even start…

Fortunately she didn’t have to comprehend for long, a knock at the door distracted her from the potential train wreck of her scattered thoughts.

“My queen! I don’t want to disturb you, but there’s a demanding crowd building outside the palace.”

“One moment.”

The queen jumped of the bed, and strode over to the door. She caught a glance at herself in the nearby vanity, and noticed her otherwise smooth mane was quite disheveled. An apt reflection of her mental state as well, but there were other matters to attend to.

The double doors were pushed open by one of her long legs. On the other side was Shade, Colony, and that certain orange pony with an apple mark... Her head vanguard and drone both wore looks of agitation, while the pony by then held a stern gaze at the floor. Crone briefly regarded her before addressing Shade first.

“What’s this about a demanding crowd?”

She pushed her way out into the hall, and began a slow stride towards the central balcony. It was a decent length walk, and she took it at a slow pace. The other changelings, and pony, quickly followed in tow. Colony raised her higher voice.

“They’ve been accumulating for the last several hours my queen, their is rank fear among the crowds. Atleast as far as the drones’ have been tasting.”

“It could also have somethin’ to do with the big ominous message painted on yall’s shield.”

The party paused as Crone recognized Applejack’s voice. The queen instantly became irritated with the matter of fact tone, and who it came from, however when the light flashed in and out again it reminded her of bigger problems.

“What message…”

Crone came across unnecessarily harsh, her fangs became more steadily exposed.

“Just go to your balcony, and take a look”

The honest pony didn’t take her eyes from the floor while she spoke. The tension in the air between the two began to quickly escalate, but Shade stepped in with another assertion.

“Also, the populous wants to hear from you.”

Crone’s leer was directed towards the vanguard, where it softened, with a hoof she gestured for him to continue.

“If you step out onto the balcony, they’re going to want answers. The vanguard out there are reporting to me even now, the agitation is only getting worse.”

“I can confirm the same from the drones”

Colony raised her voice in support of Shade’s statement. After both of her sub-leaders confirmed the message, Crone swiveled about, and took a long distant stare towards the balcony entrance.

“What could they possibly want to hear from me? How could they have any faith in me after that vile display in the stadium…”

The little group had stopped just short of the large arch-way. There was no nervousness in her expression, just cold resignation. Stone still were the wings on her back, the tail on her rump, and the ears on her head. Everything was quiet and still for several moments, and the queen’s escorts grew uneasy on their hooves, unable to come up with any answers. Meanwhile, the noise of a building crowd rustled from the distance.

“I’ll admit, I don’t like you on bit. I believe all the nasty things you said about yourself and your sister… That acknowledged, the ponies out there still want to hear from their leader.”

Crone’s head tilted, and one eye leered toward the apple pony who dared to speak. The royal changeling didn’t respond otherwise to the words, so AJ took that as a cue to continue. She even feelt bold to look up from the floor into the eye of the queen.

“You, uh, your sister? Ug, whatever, have done a lot of wrong. There’s no denyin’ that. Though from what I’ve heard, from these crystal ponies, you’ve done alright by them. You haven’t put ‘em in chains and enslaved ‘em. Albeit they’re disappointed in what you said in the stadium, but they don’t know who else to turn to for help right now.”

After AJ said her peace she hung her head low, and her gaze reverted to the floor. Only now the pony looked ready to flinch, prepared for potential punishment.

“Shade take her… somewhere else, and Colony, return to your royal charges.”

They all left without another word, which left Crone all alone. The giant changeling took a single deep breath before she took a step outside. The view was wide swept, and from the grand palace balcony she could both easily see, and be seen.

Day and night continued to play coyly along the edge of the horizon, and stayed in neither condition for more than very brief periods. One thing, however, grab even more attention the game of cat and mouse.

High above the empire, splattered in enormous gold letters that spanned Shellish’s shield was-

“Have fun! … for now.”

The clone let out and uneasy gasp as she saw the words writhe, stretch, and shift color. The noise she made was louder than she realized, and the mumurs of the crowd below intensified.

“It’s one of the queens!”

Was proclaimed and spread in variations between the crystal ponies and changelings gathered. The call of the populous drew her attention away from the sky wide notation, and after a quick cough, she raised her naturally voluminous voice.

“Yes, it is I, queen Crone. I am here to agree recent events have been… unsettling, to say the least. However, there is no need to fear. At this moment your queen Chrysalis is finding an answer on the Isle of draconequi itself. She’ll be petitioning one called lord Golden Spoon, and I will remain in constant communication with her, and I can assure you, she’s just fine.”

---

( Isle of Draconequi )

Chrysalis sweat bullets as she was carried forward by the crazy band of tiki themed draconequi and steadily advanced into the jungle. The paralysis of the spoon spell still held full sway, and she couldn’t figure a way to counter it. Specter was in no better condition, helpless and dangled as he was, as a pair of overly jubilant draconequi pulled him along.

Though it seemed to take ages, what with the whole feverish atmosphere, the time traveled was actually quite short. Around the corner of a particularly large and thorny tree was a fairly broad clearing. Chrysalis strained the only unparalyzed part of her, her eyes, to try and see what she could.

To her displeasure and foreboding a blast of hot air washed over her body, and a fiery blow permeated from the center of the clearing. Right ahead of her was a large pool of lava.

The changeling’s eyes went spasmodic and she screamed internally. Her captors carried closer towards the pool of doom. The chants increased in pace and intesity as the two changeling were brought near the edge of the bubbling boiling liquid. Several of the draconequi began to dance in erratic patterns, until ground shaking stomps echoed through the clearing.

The silver giant from the beach loomed over the two victims of his paralysis, a wide facetious smile bedecked his broad muzzle.

“Throw them in!”

He bellowed, which was followed by an all too enthusiastic cheer from the crowd of gathered chimeras. Dozens of paws immediately pulled and pushed on Chrysalis and Specter, and the both of them were flung into the lava…

For a brief moment, while they flew through the air, in what seemed like slow motion, Chrysalis thought “This is the end.” Her lively jade eyes dimmed, and swiveled to look at her fellow victim, and their eyes met before they both plunged into the molten earth.

…

...

After she submerged, Chrysalis felt her body relax. She didn’t even feel any pain, she felt confused and slightly comforted. Was she burned so quickly she didn’t even realize it? She stretched one of her legs, and the sudden realization the paralysis was gone hit her like a shower of bricks.

In a flurry of panic all of her limbs sprung into action and flailed vigorously. A moment later she broke the surface of the “lava” and coughed and sputtered something cherry-custard flavored from her mouth. Her vocal faculties had returned as well, and she used them immediately to express her great frustration. Which was a simple passionate screech of anger.

Her jagged horn burst to life with magic, ready to attack the next thing that approached her. Before that event could become realization a voice came from beside her, one she recongnized.

“Calm down! What do you think you’re doing?”

The changeling queen wiped cherry custard away from her eyes to get a better view of things. Specter was next to her, and looked nervously between her and band of draconequi around the pool.

The idea to blast all the wretched creatures entertained Chrysalis’s mind for several moments, until she finally decided against it, and the charge fizzled out. She was here for answers and allies… at least she had thought so. She turned towards Specter, as uncertainty danced in her features. The king’s gaze was drawn up to the silver giant, who still wore that same facetious expression.

The over-sized brute tapped one his thighs with a golden spoon, though shovel might be a more apt description, and stepped into the pool of cherry flavored “lava”. Within another moment the silver beast adopted a relaxed position, as if they all enjoyed a simple gathering at the community hot tub. The other chimeras followed his example, discarded the tiki gear, and hopped in. His large voice addressed the pair of changelings on the other side of the pool.

“Welcome to our humble abode my fine queen and king. What, pray tell, can I assist you with?”

The giant gesticulated in a very controlled and flourishy manner. Chrysalis wasn’t sure if she was being mocked or not, but she already felt a strong distaste towards spending anymore time here than she absolutely had too. She just started to notice how uncomfortably sticky every part of her body felt, and one of her ears flicked some excess goop off.

“Are you lord Golden Spoon?”

“That is what some still call me, though these days to the residence of this Isle I mostly go by Silver. And you, I assume, are the one called queen Chrysalis.”

There were many excited and hushed murmurs among the draconequi, many of them too excited for Chrysalis’s taste. She was confused, why was her name so popular here?

“I am.”

“Is it true you beat the ponies that beat Discord?”

The question was blurted from one of the smaller draconequi near her. This particular individual was fruity shades of white and pink, and gave off a similar vibe to princess Cadance. The changeling’s snout wrinkled in annoyance.

“Yes, it was quite simple too.”

There was a collective gasp at her reply, and the excited whispers exploded into noisy chatter, and many admirable compliments were passed about. All of their voices went quiet after Silver banged his golden spoon on a large stone. The metallic ring of the instrument silenced all conversation for a while. When there was finally peace, and with every individual’s attention, Silver spoke with slow deliberate words.

“But he’s free now… and you don’t have a proper answer, do you.”

There was another collective gasp, but unlike the previous one, this one was fearful. An unwelcome tingle felt its way up the queen’s spine as the giant’s grey eyes bore down on her. She bowed her head, at a loss for any other explanation.

“Yes, and yes…But how do you-”

“Know? Heh, I’ve been watching!”

Silver raised his spoon into the air and swirled it around in the air like he stirred something in an upside down pot. Streams of glittering magic followed his motions, and soon a wide reflective surface was above them. The new stretch of visionary magic created a portal like effect, where one appeared to look through time and space.

The recent events of the stadium, and conflicts between various royalty played out above them, highlighting the more exciting parts, especially where Discord laughed at them all. A small “oh” formed on Chrysalis’s muzzle.

“Now you’re here, and hoping that we have some kind of harness to put on him? Or did you just come to be a friendly neighbor…”

The facetious smile on Silver was more facetious than ever. Before Chrysalis could confirm or deny Specter spoke up.

“I know you have an answer. The only question is if we can find one of you courageous, or generous enough.”

The facetiousness finally dropped from the giant’s face as he focused on the changeling king. His expression turned more into an unfriendly sneer, and Chrysalis cowed a little, slightly intimidated at the bemused expression, Specter remained steadfast however.

“Hmm, generous isn’t a word associated with me… anymore.”

Silver leaned back and twirled his long stringy mustache with a paw. Specter was about to say more, but was interrupted by the crash of thunder, and flash of lightning.

“What’s going on here!”

Shrieked a shrill voice. After everyone blinked several times and cleared their vision of disorientation stars, there was a collective groan from the rest of the draconequi. Chrysalis looked over to where the shrill voice came from.

Two new greyed out figures stood tall, taller than all the other draconequi, save silver.

“What are you two doing here…”

The pink draconequus accused with vehement hostility. The tall grey female straightened the pair of glasses on her snout, and dusted the formal suit she wore. Then she clapped her paws, which caused a large washing machine to appear.

Silver magic plucked up the dovey pink chimera up, and promptly shoved her into the cleaning device. The door to the contraption shut after she entered, and locked itself. An indicator dial on top swiveled to a setting called “Extreme Prejudice.”

As the machine roared to life and was followed by desperate gurgles, the grey female spoke in a less shrill, but deadly serious voice.

“Does anyone else want to question me?”

There was dead silence among the draconequi, except for the muffled howls of the pink one trapped in the washing machine. Well, and Silver, who used his spoon like a catapult to launch a large glop of cherry custard at the two newcomers. Both of whom reacted in shock to the sudden dowse of goop.

“How are you doing Authority and Mop?”

Authority sputtered while she wiped the stuff offer her face. The one called Mop lit himself on fire, and caused the terrible stench of burnt cherry to permeate the clearing.

“What are two uninvited foreigners doing on our island!”

Her voice became high and shrill again.

“But they were invited, I mailed them a spare spoon.”

“Then why did I not receive documentation and a schedule!”

“Because I knew it would frustrate you. Heh, but if their is a draconequus on this isle that has any authority of me, it certainly isn’t you.”

Silver stood up to his full, and excessive height, then exited the pool. Just before the giant disappeared into the jungle he turned his large head and rumbled a few words.

“As far you, Chrysalis and Specter, feel free to do as you please, and -snort- good luck finding a volunteer...”

As soon as Silver was gone, Authority rounded her wrathful attention on the pair of changelings.

“You two are going to tell me all your plans for being here. After Mop makes you sanitary of course.”

Mop has since extinguished himself, and now smelled strongly of rubbing alcohol. A thick pair of goggles obscured his eyes, a breather filter covered the snout, and latex gloves were on his paws. One clap later a white suitcase came into existence, and the antiseptic smelling draconequus proceeded to pull a fierce looking vacuum out of it.

Specter and Chrysalis bolted out of the pool and into the jungle. Unfortunately, they left large cherry-stained tracks behind them. Authority growled in their general direction before she disappeared in a flash of lightning. Mop flew along upon swan and raven wings, and followed the changeling tracks.

When the grey draconequi were gone, those that remained sighed in relief. Except for the one stuck in the washing machine, which exploded shortly, and launched the pink one sky high.

---

( Crystal Empire )

Shade led Applejack down an innocuous path of the empire. Their pace was leisurely and the vanguard took his time to look around. Frequently changelings they passed would call out in greeting or other friendly gestures. Several of the friendly passer byes were crystal ponies, who acknowledged the head vanguard with respect.

One particular middle-age mare even walked up to the pair of them with a smile on her muzzle.

“Shade! It’s good to see you made it to safety.”

“It’s a relief to see you made it as well miss maresbury.”

“Is that a speech I hear coming from the palace?”

Crone’s natural voice could indeed be heard from the distant palace. The changeling glanced that way briefly before her turned back to the mare.

“It is. Queen Crone is explaining the royals’ approach to the current situation.”

“Well, I hope they find an answer soon. It feels so strange, just remembering how much I wanted to escape this place when Sombra ruled over us. Now, I can’t imagine wanting to leave this bubble, lest that chaotic demon has his way again.”

Maresbury cringed in memory of the recent debacle, and pointed a hoof to the giant shifty letters to emphasize her point. Shade grunted in grim acknowledgement, but shifted to a more curious tone.

“Speaking of the ‘chaos demon’, have you had the chance to look through the library?”

“I have, but I keep encountering the same problem. Almost all of the books in the library have large blank sections in them. As if things have been erased. I have no idea if that was Sombra trying to purge more of our culture, it wouldn’t surprise me. But no, I didn’t find anything helpful about this ‘Discord’.”

“Well, that’s a shame. I suppose you should and catch the end of the queen’s announcements. I’m probably going to be hearing plenty of the details personally, later.”

The tall changeling tilted his head towards the palace, and Miss Maresbury glanced at the faraway balcony. She shared a grateful nod with the head vanguard before she took notice of the orange mare just behind him.

“Oh? Who’s this Shade? Did you pick her up in the dispersion? She doesn’t look like a crystal pony.”

“I’m Applejack… I’m his prisoner.”

Her head hung low, a cast of resignation dowered her face. Maresbury meanwhile looked rather shocked.

“Prisoner? What do you mean? I don’t see any chains? Is this some kind of joke Shade?”

“Um, you remember in the stadium?”

“Oh, does this have something to do with those foreign princesses? What this pony do?”

The old grey mare looked at AJ with a great deal more suspicion. The farm pony returned the look with annoyance.

“The high crime of doin’ nothin’.”

Shade stepped between the two, as he smelled a rapid increase in tension.

“Applejack here is a key player, being one of the elements of harmony. The strongest weapon Equestria’s ever had. She hasn’t done anything personally, so don’t give her any scorn. We just have the unfortunate circumstance of our leaders being opposite sides of the fence. Also, I really think you need to go catch the last of the announcements Miss Maresbury.”

The grey mare didn’t drop her suspicious look, and started a trot towards the palace.

“Be safe then Shade.”

After she was gone, Applejack let out a snort. There were almost no ponies around them anymore, nearly all had gone towards the queen’s announcements.

“I say, what in tarnation is wrong with your queen. That ‘ol mare looked like she was about ready to attack me… Why did ya attack us, but save them? Hardly seems fair or consistent.”

Shade let out a sigh, and rubbed a hoof down half of his face.

“I never agreed with the attack, I believe there were better ways we could have approached the situation. But a bad combination of desperation and ambition made for some rather reckless decisions. All I can do is try for damage control, for both sides, as much as I can.”

“Uh huh. I remember well enough that crack of Tartarus you were livin’ in. It’s just… grrrr.”

She stamped a hoof in frustration, and turned away from Shade. A stiff frown stuck to her muzzle and she closed her eyes.

As much as Shade wanted to act on instinct, and reach out a comfort her with a pat on the withers, he restrained himself. She probably wouldn’t react all that well.

“I’m sorry, Applejack.”

“Ya ya, I’m sure ya are. Duty and some such… So when are ya gonna put me in another one of those awful slime balls? In fact, why haven’t ya already?”

The mare opened her eyes again, and stared at the vanguard with consternation. She noticed the odd feature of his violet eyes. They had steadily become more clear and defined, and looked less like a gradieated cloud.

“I think that isn’t necessary on this occasion.”

Applejack quirked an eyebrow, and Shade continued.

“That shield isn’t going down as long as Discord’s still a threat, and frankly, I don’t take you for much of a vandal.”

That actually got AJ to crack a thin grin.

“Oh? What makes you think I won’t go take out your queen in her sleep?”

Shade just snorted.

“You’re a more sensible pony than that.”

“Fine, fine, so where am I to be ‘kept’?”

In response to her question, Shade turned back to the walkway and continued their trot.

“There are several empty residences this way, we can go ahead and pick one you fancy. Also as far as being ‘kept’, I think I’ll extend you some trust. You can go where you like, so long as I don’t hear you’re up to trouble.”

The farm ponies eyes widened in surprise, this was a great deal more freedom than she expected. Though other thoughts broached the possibilities.

“Well, load a good that’ll do me… If the way that ol’ mare reacted is anything to go by.”

The head vanguard narrowed his eyes in concern.

“Just don’t go around with a big banner saying “GO CELESTIA” and you should be fine. In fact-”

Shade paused and flashed his eye-lights.

“You’ll definitely have no changelings giving you trouble, and they’ll make sure the crystal ponies don’t give you any.”

“Wow, just like that huh?”

Shade smiled.

“Just like that.”

---

Around the corner of a nearby building, listening with prying ears, was another vanguard. Camouflaged with specialized magic, he spied on his enemies, the mare and the head vanguard. They would pay, and their queen would pay, especially the queen.

All of them would suffer for what they did to his Monny!

Ch.65 "Processes"

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.65 “Processes”

By the end of her address Crone’s voice began to feel the effects of maintaining a raised voice. The general smell of the populous emotions had improved, if only slightly.

She waved in departure and rounded away from the body of her citizens. However, the steps she took were reluctant. For each step deeper into the castle was another step that cemented the reality of the situation. They had a month, or so Shellish thought, before the miraculous shield would give out. Time was no friend as it ticked, and ticked away. Step after step.

With Chrysalis away on the primary quest, it was just Crone. Only her magically disabled ares was left to keep things stable and running smoothly. Before she knew it, her hooves had carried her back to her bedroom, and she remained still in the doorway.

Shellish was awake, and watched the cat-sun and the mouse-moon skitter about the sky, which now used clouds as part of their game of chase. The older royal never turned her head as she spoke.

“Things have definitely escalated beyond what I could have imagined. Rather overwhelming, isn’t it?”

Crone walked over to the bedside, and watched the diurnal’s pursuit of the nocturnal, her demeanor rather stoic.

“I’m trying not to think about it all at once.”

“A fair approach.”

Both of them remained in silence for a while after that. The pair of changelings enjoyed the momentary peace of simply being present with one another. It did good for Crone’s mind as she relaxed into a near meditative state, which brought eventual clarity. With a collection of un-mired thoughts she turned to Shellish and asked.

“Will you come with me?”

The royal with the curly orange mane swiveled her head and answered quickly.

“Ofcourse.”

The young queen led the way as they walked out of the room, down the halls, and took wing to fly the shafts of the palace.

As they soared past the elegant panes of crystal, Crone glanced at the floors far below. A small epiphany struck her, of all the things to appreciate, she still had the ability to fly…

Soon they came upon Crone’s intended destination, the highest pinnacle of the palace. Dark hooves landed on the blue-opaque floor, and carried their owners towards the center of the gazebo-like structure.

There at the center, where Crystal Heart was hibben but a few weeks ago, was the Well of Memories, which floated in spherical serenity. A surprised gasp came from Shellish as she recognized the ancient artifact.

“The well! You, uh, little roya-”

“Yes, Chrysalis kept it safe, and it hasn’t been until recently that we’ve had the time to take advantage of it. After taking the full duties of queen I- hrm, Chrysalis, understands why you didn’t teach from it more.”

The corners of Shellish’s mouth drooped into a guilty frown, and her whole posture began to sag.

“I’m sorry I didn’t make it more of a priority. Most of what I looked into were monologues from Monarch and Emperor FireHeart. I assumed Monarch had died in the civil war. My primary concern after escape was food and safety.”

“I know Shellish, I know how distracted we were. Opportunities are different now. I brought you here because I need your help with this process. Can you reach out to Chrysalis?”

The older changeling put a hoof to her temple as she mentally reached out. The isle of draconequi was very, very far away. Though soon she found the familiar signature or her pupil’s mind.

Chrysalis?

The response was quick and sharp

NOT NOW! I’LL GET BACK TO YOU!

Shellish flinched from the forcefulness of the reply. She spoke aloud to Crone.

“I found her, but she’s busy.”

The clone pursed her lips, then turned to the well.

“Very well, we’ll just move on then.”

After a brief swivel on her nimble hooves, the younger changeling reached a hoof to activate the well.

“The last thing I was looking into had draconequ involved… I think it may be relevant to look into it further. We can share the helpful details with Chrysalis, when she isn’t, busy…”

Shellish perked up with interest, and she made her way over Crone, where she took a seat to watch. A dark hoof was extended, and swiped across the mirrored surface. The ancient liquid sprang to life, and visions and voices of days long gone echoed to the present day.

---

( Draconequus Isle )

Chrysalis and Specter had found a cave along the beach to hide in. For now, they were undisturbed, and began to engage in a heated whisper.

“How long were you here exactly? How are you sure there’s even an answer on this isle?”

She pointedly jabbed him in the chest with a relatively cherry-free hoof, though it was still sticky, and she peeled her hoof off with some effort. Meanwhile he barely acknowledge the gesture while leaned towards her, and took advantage of his height to look down on her.

“I spent a few years hiding here a century ago. I learned a few pertinent aspects of their history and culture. I know we’ll be able to find a replacement. The only thing to discern now is finding a trustworthy candidate.”

“Trust… TRUST! We go no more than a step or two on this isle and we get treated like ragdolls! They don’t know me, and see fit to prank me with the fear of death! Where do I even start! Trust? HA!”

The changeling’s voice broke from whispers into near-hysteric levels. Specter tried to gesture for her to quiet down, but eventually gave up pretense himself, and raised his voice.

“What alternative is there! Do you want your swarm to have a future!”

“How dare you question my love for my swarm!”

The shouting match continued for several minutes, until the sound of a vacuum roared to life, and in another moment all the stone and earth that sheltered the royal changelings was sucked away. The two of them were now completely exposed to the open sky.

This caused them to momentarily stop, and notice the grey draconequus deemed “mop”. He gave a shy wave. However, the changelings proceeded to ignore him and continue the argument they were more invested in.

Mop was content to watch them behind his unexpressive goggles and muzzle cover. It wasn’t until Authority appeared in another blast of lightning that Chrysalis and Specter actually gave serious pause.

“Unorderly, unexpected, and unfashionably inappropriate miscreants! There is a system already in place for visiting this island! But you two just took the uncouth back alley of Silver’s irreverent violation of procedure!”

The tall female leered down on both of them with the air of a disciplinarian chastising her students. Chrysalis, despite feeling disadvantaged in this particular situation, glared back defiantly.

“I wouldn’t be here if I thought there was a better option!”

“DON’T GIVE ME AN EXCUSE! If you plan taking a step off of this beach you are both going to sit here and fill out the necessary paperwork!”

With a small double clap, Authority summoned a desk and several binders. A set of finely trimmed quills and bottles of ink were next to the mountain of paperwork. The changeling's eyes narrowed and she clenched her jaw at being told about like some… some common pony. The only thing that kept her silent was the uncertainty of how powerful this ‘authoritarian’ was.

Satisfied that she received no further rebuttal, the prim suited draconequus finally calmed her tone, and adopted a more apathetic approach.

“Once you have completed the mandatory acceptance of our ground rules, come straight to my office. From there, we can discuss the terms of your solicitation. Promptness will be appreciated, deviation will not. I look forward to seeing both of you… soon. Mop, will make sure you follow procedure, and that none of our rabble disturbs the process.”

Her mouth remained flat as she spelled it out. Once she was done, and gave a brief nod to Mop, Authority vanished in a poof of smoke. Unlike all the other times where she appeared/disappeared, this was quiet. However, the silent moment lasted no longer than the instant she was gone.

“And where is this office suppose to be? And how are we supposed to complete that pile of nonsense in less than a month? Does she have no respect for guests whatsoever!”

The queen’s voice came out in an infuriated hiss, all of this quickly mounted to be too much. Consequences be damned, she’d rather-

The neat desk blew up in a spectacular burst of fire. Shards of splintered wood and ashes fell down on the beach like confetti. For an instant Chrysalis just stood there and gasped, then quickly to turned to Specter to see if he was the culprit. His surprised expression and lack of a smoking horn revealed that not to be the case. Rather, the smoke trail led to the extended claw of Mop.

Neither changeling made a move, cautious of what this creature would do next. But all that happened was a quick removal of the goggles and muzzle cover. After a few blinks, and putting the accessories away, the tall steel grey figure raised his scratchy voice.

“Sorry about all that. We’d never have a guest if any of them were expected to fill that all out. Hrm, excuse me, how about a proper introduction. I’m called Mop.”

He extended a tiger paw towards them. Chrysalis looked at it questioningly, so Specter put his hoof out first to exchange a shake.

“Specter, it’s a pleasure.”

After the exchanged shake Mop pulled out a white damp cloth, and rubbed it over his paw, while muttering something along the lines of “sorry, compulsive habit I haven’t been able to shake.” Then extended the same greeting to the queen. This time she finally had a little receptivity, now that a measure of respect was extended her way.

“Queen Chrysalis.”

“Good, now I suppose we can get to some business. My sister likes to be over complicated and wordy, so I’ll try to be straight with you two, which I think you’ll find to be a rare commodity on this island. So, what would you two like to do while you’re here? I can hazard a guess, but I think it’ll come clearer from your own mouths.”

The teal-maned changeling burst into complaint, feeling safe enough to speak without restraint to this particular individual.

“Oh, I only have a major DISCORD problem. I was buffered here in a flurry by my old mentor and this, questionable individual. Frankly one of you needs to clean up that rampant buffoon. Have you no control over you own?”

She shot an accusatory glare at Specter, then remained questioningly on Mop. The grizzled chimera took the sarcastic hostility in a cool and reserved manner.

“The whole lot of my kind is an uncoordinated mess, but about Discord… Um he’s not a figure any individual on this island would wish to challenge… Not with the way things are at least.”

It felt like a stone just dropped into Chrysalis’s gut, and her anger started to give way to something else. The retributive desire that had been fueling her fizzled, and that fleeting thing called ‘hope’ was flying away.

“What do you mean! You must explain further! That’s the entire point of us coming here!”

Specter chimed in as well, confusion broke his otherwise self-assured expression.

“I agree, I thought one of you could challenge him for his title and power.”

Mop held up both paws defensively against their demands.

“That is true, but no one has wanted to since that other brief return. You must understand, The spirit of chaos is suppose to be the apex of our kind. The passing of that title is supposed to increase the mantle bearer’s potential by a hundred, no, a thousand fold. It was something we thought unstoppable, but ponies with their ‘harmony’ magic proved that otherwise.”

A tone of obvious discouragement leaked through mop’s scratchy voice, and after a brief pause he resumed.

“There was some talk about mantle changing when Discord had his short bout of freedom a few years back, but that was so short an escape, and he ended up right back in stone. We thought the title and mantle of power was lost to us forever. The fact that Celestia wasn’t keen to let any of us to try and take it back only compounded the issue. For some reason she thinks the lot of us untrustworthy…”

A harsh bark of a laugh escaped from the grizzled chimera, which only made Chrysalis feel uncomfortable, her confidence was already on edge as is.

“Well, she won’t be you biggest problem now, and neither will the elements of harmony.”

“Which is precisely why you’ve become a popular figure as of late, queen Chrysalis. Celestia was the symbol of hopelessness over here, but then comes a changeling a changein’ things. Our expectations were blown out of the water, and even Discord has been released again! Most of us agree there’s something quite special about you.”

Though the flattery was nice, and Chrysalis found herself blushing slightly, that didn’t answer the problem at hoof.

“Well, why don’t some of you come and try to take the title back? I’m quite willing to… negotiate some kind of deal.”

The word negotiate tasted like sour milk in her mouth, but things the way they were, she’d bitten into nastier things before. Another bark of laughter from escaped Mop’s chiseled muzzle.

“Because most of us are straight terrified, and skeptical that we even could. You see, some of us have been trying to put two and two together for a while. None of our memories go further back than a few centuries, though I’m pretty sure a few of us are much older than that.”

Mop started to pace back and forth as he recounted his theory.

“I don’t think Mop is my real name, but no one else can tell me otherwise. What was most enlightening was Discord’s first escape from his stone prison. He started to turn those ponies grey as he corrupted their minds…”

Mop looked down, and gesticulated towards his own obviously achromatic figure. The point was painfully clear.

“He changed you?”

Chrysalis muttered rhetorically, while Specter put a fetlock to his chin in thought. The chimera continued.

“If you go around the isle, all of the grey draconequi have been here for centuries, or longer, none of us know specifically. All the colored ones are the younger generations, and have been a constant reminder of our more chaotic nature.”

At this point Specter finally added something to the conversation.

“Why have none of you escaped this isle? Surely the more rambunctious and younger ones would have tried.”

The tall chimera looked out towards the ocean, and the odd colored clouds that formed a large ring around the land.

“The barrier, none of us have been able to leave it. I figure it is a measure Discord took long ago to protect his power. He can’t lose it if none of us can challenge him.”

“But we came onto your island, so there are ways in and out?”

Chrysalis cut in, some hope fighting to get back into her voice. Mops voice was casual in his reply.

“Indeed, as far as I know any non-draconequus can freely enter or leave the island. The only one of us that’s been able to get off the island successfully has been Silver. He even teases us every once and awhile, by dancing on the other side of the barrier with no issue… the conceited jerk.”

That made the queen’s eyes actually light up, and before she could speak Mop interrupted her by raising a paw.

“Silver is not going to challenge Discord. There will be no convincing him, besides I don’t think he’s allowed to. The one source of old information we do have is our, ‘chaotic rock of chaotic traditions’.”

Chrysalis quirked an eyebrow, and Specter nodded as if he remembered something.

“Any draconequus that becomes the ‘Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony’ can not challenge their immediate successor. It has to change paws at least twice, before a challenge of reclamation can be made. From my educated guess, Silver was the last mantle bearer before Discord.”

“Well then, how do we get one of you out there to challenge Discord? You have been, strangely reasonable, Mop. Why don’t you try?”

The queen pressed, and the chimera looked down at her, and was slightly reminded of a pup begging for a treat. He tilted his head, and a measure of concern came over his grizzled features. He extended a bear paw and prompted the changelings to come closer. As they did so he started to walk towards the jungle and lead them along.

“My sister will be expecting you two relatively soon, and besides, there are several other draconequi that want to talk to you besides me.”

Mop pulled out his goggles and muzzle cover again as they began to brush along the plant life. Slightly frustrated, Chrysalis persisted.

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

The reply that came her way was dodgy.

“I know.”

---

(Crystal empire, a secluded building)

Applejack groaned and blinked her eyes, her head felt like it had gone through a washing machine full of bricks, and her vision was very foggy. She tried to lift a leg, but felt something rather slimy restraining it. She sighed in defeat, was she cocooned again? But this felt different, the wet wasn’t everywhere… Besides, the last thing she remembered was… Her eyes blinked rapidly to try and clear away the fog.

There was a rustle and a moan next to her, after a few more blinks her vision came into focus, and she stared at her nearby neighbor.

“Shade? What’s goin’ on?”

There were chains over his body, and a cap over his horn. Something smelled off, and rather toxic about the metal. All the vanguard managed was another grunt of intense displeasure. The earth pony gave herself a once over, and quickly recognized the changeling slime that bound her down to the floor.

“Who? What?”

The room they were in was large, and empty, except for arrays of miscellaneous boxes. AJ tried to keep herself calm, despite the rising panic in her chest.

“Anypony there? Some pony! We need help!”

“Oh, you two are the ones that are going to do the helping…”

The voice came from above, shortly before something dropped from the ceiling, and landed right in front of them. It was another changeling, a measure taller then shade, and similar in form. Definitely a vanguard, though he didn’t bear any patterns common to Chrysalis’s swarm.

Annoyed now, AJ turned a defiant glare to the newcomer.

“What’s this? Some kind of internal dispute? What do ya think you’re doin’ defyin’ your own queen’s orders?”

“NOT MY QUEEN! My queen was blasted past the horizon… You two are going to help exact a toll. A Queen, for a queen… Especially you.”

The sinister vanguard approached Shade, AJ, seeing the situation escalate quickly, tried to intervene. She struggled vainly against her slime bound restraints.

“No, don’t hurt him! I’ll tell what you want to know!”

“No doubt, but I don’t need permission.”

He kicked off the cap that covered Shade’s horn, and tapped foreheads. The chained vanguard was conscious now, and glared back up at his captor with confusion, but resilience.

A brief mental struggled occurred between the two, though Shade was well practiced with the field of mental manipulation, his opponent was on an entirely different level, and soon, he cracked. A glazed, near comatose expression came over the defeated vanguard’s face as all resistance faded away.

At this point Applejack screamed.

“HELP! SOMEPONY HELP!”

It went on for only a moment more, until the captor turned from Shade, and onto her. He slapped a gob of slime over her mouth to silence her. Then smiled as the fire of transformation lit over his body, and there stood a perfect impersonation of Chrysalis’s head vanguard. He laughed, and then stepped towards the terrified orange mare. He extended a hoof, and gave her a faux-soothing pat on the head.

“No need to worry little pony, You’re not the one I hate… and after I’m finished, you won’t have to remember any of this either.”

The imposter turned and left. Now alone, with no way to call out, AJ started to shake, a few frustrated tears began to roll down her cheeks, she couldn’t do anything to help the dilapidated changeling across from her either, just helplessly watch him drool onto the floor.

It continued like that for a little while, and eventually she laid her head down in despair. She didn’t notice when Shade started to stir again. With much effort, the chained vanguard began to lift himself up. There was enough space for him to maneuver, and actually get onto his hooves. The loud rattle of his efforts drew the mare’s attention, and a wave of relief flooded over her as she saw her friend get to his hooves. Her friend? Could she really consider Shade that? Well, he always expressed empathy, despite them being on opposite sides of the fence on a few important things. He was… Alright.

“MmmhmmmMMMM.”

She grunted behind her covered muzzle, which was enough to grab Shade’s attention. Through pain clouded eyes, he spotted her, merely a step or two away. He leaned forward, and found the limits of his chains, if she leaned out he could almost reach-

“Let’s get that off Applejack, I need you to lean forward too.”

The cap was back on his horn, and he had no access to magic, something about the property of the chains prevented him from changing as well. But if he reached forward, and she reached as well, they were just close enough to… bump snouts.

“Just a sec.”

He started to nibble slowly on the spat of slime. It took several minutes, but when he was done AJ’s mouth was free again, and she rotated her jaw to enjoy her small measure of freedom.

“What the hay was that about! I thought you were gonner, you drooled on yourself!”

“Well, getting your mind turned inside out is quite… uncomfortable, but I don’t think he got everything he wanted in that session. To process an entire mind it will take several more, but I’m afraid…”

Shade cut himself off, the realization struck him with fear. Applejack caught it and voiced her concern.

“That villain said somethin’ about a queen for a queen, ya don’t think-”

“I think he’s from that foreign queen’s swarm, Monarch I think it was. Don’t worry AJ, I’ll get us out of here. Or that idiot will get himself caught. Either way, I’ll figure something.”

“But you’re chained down without magic!”

Shade looked over his shackles with something of a resolved, but reluctant gaze. Then a half-hearted smile crept up his mouth.

“Perhaps he was counting on me having a low pain tolerance…”

“Whatcha say?”

AJ’s brow narrowed as she watched the vanguard strain with excessive force against the chain, all of his efforts were focused on his left rear ankle.

“You’re not gonna…”

She flinched and looked away with a cringe as she heard a loud CRACK! And POP! A small string of profanities blew out of Shade’s mouth as the ankle was freed… and now sported an extra joint that should not be there.

“FLAKING SCRUNGE FUNGUS! ...ow…”

“The hay are you doin’ Shade!”

The mare rounded on him angrily, equally impressed and disgusted.

“Getting out of here. Hmm, but here’s a fun tidbit, there’s a phrase some of us got accustomed to on our trips between the badlands and civilization.”

“Do I wanna know the answer?”

Aj shook her head unamused, and clenched her jaw as the vanguard broke his other ankle to slide it free. A few uncontrollable tears rolled down his chitinous cheeks, even as wore a defiant grin.

“You’re not a real changeling until you’ve regrown half your body!”

CRACK!

Ch.66 "We're off to see the... Lord of Chaos"

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.66 “Were off to see the… Lord of Chaos”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mm3ypbAbLJ8

( Crystal Empire, distant past )

The sky was a bubbly orange, and it rained. Not natural rain, but rain born of magical whimsy. Whimsy that was not entirely friendly. The kind of whimsy that slammed an enormous pancake on top of the crystal palace, which turned to elegant structure into an oversized breakfast fork.

Today though, today was a special day. One young princess was not going to be deterred by the spaghetti that flowed unchecked through the streets! She was not going to despair at the sour-patch candy brambles that grew everywhere! She wasn’t going to get lost in the canyons of miscellaneous objects of interest! No, nothing would distract her from her goal today.

Princess Sly stepped outside onto the balcony of the palace, a large steel umbrella held over head. The well of memories hovered just behind her as she gazed out across the disaster of a kingdom.

Nopony and no changeling was outside of shelter if their could avoid it. Syrup constantly fell from the sky in a soft patter, as larger objects occasionally hailed down with it, such as fruit and globs of whipped cream.

A banana whizzed down from the sky with great speed, and splattered into mush upon Sly’s umbrella. The wrecked fruit made a fairly loud DONG! upon the metal shield, and brought the crimson maned changeling into focus.

Her transparent wings buzzed to life, and she jumped over the balcony, steel umbrella overhead, and well in tow. She was ready.

“Be safe dear!”

Called out an anxious queen Crafty from behind. In response the young princess swiveled her aerial posture and shouted back, even as she continued to depart.

“Of course mom!”

Soon she was out of ear shot, and close to the edge of the utterly harassed city. In the distance she saw two figures she had been expecting. An excited smile broke across her muzzle as she landed next to the pair of unicorns. Both of the ponies also had their own steel umbrellas. The shorter blue unicorn greeted her first.

“Are you ready Sly?”

“Ofcourse! And the two of you? Lulu, Tia?”

The taller alabaster unicorn gave a wry smile.

“That question would be more pertinent for the actual contestants, but yes, I’m ready to help in whatever way I can.”

Sly’s tail wriggled in excitement, and she started to prance forward along a butter brick road. The sister unicorns pranced up and alongside the changeling with great enthusiasm. The princess begins to break into song.

“Fantastic! I can’t wait for a change! So we’re off-”

“To see a challenge!”

“The most overdue challenge of all!”

- All three of them sing in unison-

To boot the oaf of an oaf if ever an oaf there was!

if ever oh ever a oaf there was the lord of chaos is one,

Because because, because, because, because because! Because of the excessive things he does.

We’re off to see a challenge! The most overdue challenge of all!

And so they sang and pranced as the trio made their way down the butter brick road. The breakfast storm did nothing to deter their youthful glee.

---

( Crystal empire, modern day )

“BECAUSE BECAUSE BECAUSE BECAUSE BECAU-”

Crone put a hoof into Shellish’s mouth to stop her from singing along.

“Please, Shellish.”

“What? It’s catchy…”

The pouty face on the older queen made Crone roll her eyes and sigh.

“Just don’t do it too loudly, I don’t want to miss details.”

“Ok…”

A hoof tapped the well and the memory resumed.

---

( Borders of Equestria, distant past )

Eventually the equine trio came across the next member to join the party.

A tall female draconequus was off the side of the road, and busily stirred an enormous cauldron. The liquid inside bubbled all kinds of changing colors.

The chimera stopped after a moment, and dipped her paw into the unstable substance. Then, with a large glob of it stuck to a claw, she proceeded to shove it in her mouth. She suckled it for a moment, a expression of unsure contemplation upon her countenance. Then… an explosion. Pink, purple, and green flames blew out the local vicinity, and when it cleared, everything was covered in soot.

A changeling and two unicorns stood on the butter brick road, unsurprised by what occurred.

“You ready Anarchy?”

The three of them called out in unison, which the draconequus responded too quickly.

“I think I got the formula just right! I’ll scrub the throne squeaky clean of Golden’s arse!”

The aftereffects of the explosion began to change the nearby landscape. Rain went up instead of down. Nearby trees grew younger, and devolved into seeds. A bunny hopped through a hungry bear like a ghost. A sparrow began to sing with a deep bass opera voice, and rules of nature were generally violated.

Princess Sly nodded in approval, the display was as impressive as it was disconcerting.

“Well then…”

-Four of them sing in unison-

We’re off to see a challenge! The most overdue challenge of all!

To boot the oaf of an oaf if ever an oaf there was!

if ever oh ever a oaf there was the lord of chaos is one,

Because because, because, because, because because! Because of the excessive things he does.

We’re off to see a challenge! The most overdue challenge of all!

---

( Crystal Empire, modern day )

Crone eyed Shellish, who remained silent. So the clone reached out to continue the memory, but stopped halfway and rounded on Shellish again, expecting her to burst into song at any moment.

Though she never did, and it was the older queen that rolled her eyes this time.

“Why did you pause in the first place?”

“I…”

Crone awkwardly didn’t finisher her own sentence, after the brief pause, she grunted and lifted a hoof to continue.

“BECAUSE OF THE EXCESSIVE THINGS HE DOES!”

“SHELLISH!”

---

( Borders of Canterlot, distant past )

The party of four continued their relentless and enthusiastic trip down the butterbrick road. This time the resplendent city of canterlot came into view. It was a relatively small town, right at the base of a great mountain. Though for it’s time, it was known as a great center of the arts, performance, various other media.

Along the way they spotted their next companion at a crossroads. The division split the roadway in two directions. One went straight to Canterlot, the other down to Pega.

A tall male draconequus was busy in conversation with an elder, overly bearded, overly dressed unicorn stallion.

“Yes, they really are the ones who guided us here. We didn’t really know or care what their intentions were, they just promised us a raw peaceful land, one that we could come and liven up. We were awfully bored on that old island you see.”

Discord casually stroked his much more modest goatee, while he recounted the requested tale. The brusk old stallion busily wrote notes on a thick piece of parchment.

“And what did you say their names were?”

“It was Adagio, Aria, and Sonata. Of which, Adagio was definitely the lead. But you should be able to spot them all easily enough. They’re all hippocampi.”

“Hmm, yes, yes, thank you very much sir Discord.”

“Oh the pleasure is mine, though if I could ask for one thing, I’d like you to record the encounter, I anticipate it will be most entertaining.”

“Ofcourse, ofcourse. I don’t do anything without recording it.”

“Starswirl?”

Tia called out in recognition as the two groups came across each other. The old stallion’s eyes lit up upon hearing her voice.

“Aw, Tia, it’s been too long. How is the empire up north?”

“Covered in a giant pancake…”

“Oh, I see. Heh, I was recently lost in a canyon of assorted library books, but to my infinite vexation, they were all blank. Anyway, anyway. I see you’ve brought quite the group with you!”

“Yes, we’re on our way to change the state of our country. Would you like to come along? Discord and Anarchy here are going to be challengers for the throne!”

“Challengers for the throne you say? I’d be glad if this Discord fellow replaced that corpulent mass of waste, he’d leagues more polite at the very least… But I’m afraid I have to decline that offer Tia. I think I found a third party to this circus of madness, one that’s trying to take advantage of all the negative energy. One that could potentially become a bigger problem than Golden Spoon.”

The alabaster unicorn narrowed her brow in concern. And was about to inquire further when Starswirl spoke with dismissive assurance.

“Oh it’s not that way yet, I think I can handle it myself. But I wish the best of luck to all of you. The day you remove Golden spoon simply can’t come too soon.”

Starswirl dragged his overly long beard along the ground as he made his way over to a little cart, full of his belongings. Discord waved to the older stallion as he departed.

“Best of luck to you as well, in handling the girls!”

Then the draconequus turned to the rest of the party, all of whom bristled with anticipation.

“Shall we?”

They all started to skip down the road.

-Five of them sing in unison-

We’re off to see a challenge! The most overdue challenge of all!

To boot the oaf of an oaf if ever an oaf there was!

if ever oh ever a oaf there was the lord of chaos is one,

Because because, because, because, because because! Because of the excessive things he does.

We’re off to see a challenge! The most overdue challenge of all!

---

(Crystal Empire, modern day)

Crone sat there and stared at Shellish for a solid five minutes. Eventually the older queen sighed in annoyance.

“It was fun the first time or two. I’m done, let’s keep looking.”

The younger royal didn’t move, but continued to stare with narrowed eyes. So Shellish scooted over and tapped the well herself.

---

( Borders of the city of Pega, distant past )

The gang saw their last member shortly ahead. The last draconequus sat on top of a large stone, eyes closed, arms out stretched, legs crossed. A perfect model of meditation. Sly actually felt apprehensive about disturbing him, but Anarchy had no such reservations.

“Come on bro! It’s time to go, we got a show down the row!”

She jumped on his back and latched onto his horns, so she could give his head a vigorous shake. None of this broke his meditative expression, but he replied in placid tone.

“Please stop Ana…”

“C’mon, we’re about to make the biggest heist of our lives! The least you can do is show it a little enthusiasm.”

“Indeed, I feel the jitters overcoming me!”

Discord concurred with Anarchy, and his body started to write like a basket of snakes. The equines watched the draconequi with amusement, and Tia forwarded a question.

“What, do you feel you need more training Mayham?”

The focused draconequus finally cracked an eye open, and turned towards the pony as his stance dropped.

“I could never have enough. My two compatriots here simply don’t understand what it means to be weary. I believe there’s good reason Golden Spoon has been in charge for longer than our living memories.”

“Do you not believe you can win then?”

Lulu cut in.

“For once, don’t be a downer Ham! You’ll do fine, I bet the first one of you three that does the challenge will get it. Golden Spoon is too old, fat, and lazy.”

Sly stated confidently.

“Speaking of which, which one of us should go first?”

Discord paused his writhing to question the other two.

“I’ll go first!”

Anarchy shouted, and struck a power pose.

“I could careless.”

Mayham looked to Discord, who in turn shrugged.

“Very well, I’ll go last. You two can tire him out for me.”

He smirked, and stuck out his tongue. Mayham rolled his eyes at Discord’s faux strategy, and Anarchy called out in offense.

“HEY! I can totally beat him. Just you wait Dissy! You’re gonna eat those words when I become Anarchy! Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony!”

“Alright, alright! Let’s get to the main event already! We’ve only tromped across all of equestria to get here!”

Sly started to hop and skip along the road to the city proper, the two ponies quickly picked up after her, and the draconequi pursued along.

-Five Voices begin to pipe up-

“We’re off to-”

“NO! No, noooo… No singing. You’ll throw off my focus completely.”

Mayham interrupted all of them with a thunderous voice. The equines turn to the grumpy figure and collectively pouted like a basket of puppies.

“But Haaaammmm.”

“NO! You’re not actually doing the challenge Sly, Tia, Lulu! And you two, Discord! Anarchy! Get more serious! I am here to win, not go through the motions and leave everything the same miserable mess.”

Fire and smoke sizzled out of the belligerent draconequus’s nostrils. None of the rest of them challenged the fierce display, but rather, voiced a unanimous, “Ok…”

---

(Crystal Empire, modern day)

Crone made a rather girlish giggle

“I think I like this… Mayham.”

Shellish put a hoof to her face out of exasperation.

“Of all the things I didn’t get to teach you… I should have helped you develop a proper taste in males.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7HVrOkhuLw

Ch.67 "Our Guests"

View Online

Chrysalis Wins

Ch.67 “Our Guests”

( Isle of Draconequi )

Chrysalis and Specter followed Mop in relative silence for some distance. In fact, that was the strange thing. The changelings began to notice how entirely quiet the trip had become. Despite being deep in the jungle there were no peeps of birds or chatter from critters. Not even the sound of a breeze trickling through leaves. Only their soft footsteps, which began to feel deafeningly loud.

With a brief cough that signaled her intent to speak, Chrysalis voiced a concern she had been thinking for a greater part of the trip.

“Mop. Why are we walking through the jungle? Can we not fly over to where we need to be?”

“We’re almost there, and yes we’re walking, you’ll see why in a moment.”

A small smirk crept on the edges of the draconequus’s lips. Chrysalis didn’t like that smirk, and the ominous reply wasn’t particularly enjoyable either. Though she supposed there wasn’t going to be much more of explanation, not at this point.

They all passed through a particularly thick bit bramble, and under an especially dark canopy, it was nearly dim as a cave. Which funny enough, felt comforting, and somewhat nostalgic. She had spent most of her life in the dark wilderness. Though she shuddered, that was exactly what she wanted to leave behind as well.

To her surprise, a large set of double doors was right around the next tree. The doors were attached to a building that remained heavily obscured by the overgrown foliage, though it was easy to see they could fit a creature of Mop’s stature. The grey draconequus took no time to knock on the door.

A small peeking slit slid open, and a pair of mismatched eyes looked out of it. Mop leaned down and whispered something to the small exposed hole, and a moment later the slit shut, and the door swung open, revealing a pitch black room.

So black in fact that Chrysalis could discern nothing, which bothered her a great deal, because changelings posses excellent night vision. When she turned to Specter, she noticed he wore an apprehensive expression as well. Mop spoke up, with a tone of reassurance.

“There’s nothing to worry about, no prank is behind the door. Infact… (His voice shrinks to a whisper) They’ll be angry I spoiled their surprise, but there’s a welcoming party on the other side. They want to do something more cordial than Silver’s prank. (His voice resumes normal pitch) So uh ya, go right on in!”

He proffered them the door. Now, feeling far more reassured, Specter and Chrysalis both sighed in resignation, and stepped forward. She took a little extra comfort that Specter seemed to not enjoy this as much as her.

“SURPRISE!”

The lights came on and there was an explosion of confetti, streamers rolled across the revealed room, and the changelings took in the sight before them. The inside of the building was a wide cavernous hall, alight with a warm homey atmosphere. A large fireplace on the far side threw out an amber glow, along with the dozens of occupants already there, who exuded an infectious energy.

Drinks, food, and a myriad of interesting objects were all decoratively displayed on various tables. The young queen had never seen such variety in any dining hall before. Then the crowd spoke again, at the same time a banner dropped from the ceiling.

“Welcome Chrysalis and Specter!”

The banner said as much aswell.

One of the chimera stepped into the foreground, Chrysalis recognized it as the overtly pinkish-dovey one Authority had stuffed into a washing machine. Now that this specimen was close and quite visible, the queen noticed other obnoxious details.

The thing’s mane was done up to resemble a large poofy heart, the wings on it’s back and tip of the tail also sported crimson symbols of passion… It was basically the physical manifestation of what a pony would think is a perfect changeling snack. Though, the most disconcerting feature was this individual’s symmetry, which was unlike every other odd ball and eccentric in the building. Then it spoke, in a tone that was much-too-sultry.

“My name is Love, and I’ll be your host for this afternoon.”

Externally Chrysalis put on an awkward smile, and muttered an unenthusiastic reply,

“How...nice.”

Internally the queen groaned in disbelief. This must be the some kind of bad joke, then again, they could easily be serious. The only level-headed one she’d encountered so far was Mop. Speaking of which, when she turned around their guide was gone, and the large double doors shut behind them. Specter voiced what she already thought.

“Great…”

“Aw, don’t be scared.”

The one called “Love” apparently heard the discouraged reaction, and fluttered over to the changelings to present herself in a more accommodating manner. She made a sweeping majestic bow, and the rest of the draconequi followed her example. After the genial display Love righted herself. She posed a much less intimidating figure than any of the grey draconequi, and was barely taller than Chrysalis herself. When she spoke again it was much less sultry, and more affable.

“Please, settle down and relax.”

With a snap of magic somewhere, from some draconequus, large fluffy chairs appeared and were deftly scooted under the royal visitors. Though a surprise, the sensation wasn’t uncomfortable. Love gestured widely at the grandeur of the homey dining hall.

“As my compatriots proudly present, your lunch.”

All of the chimera seemed to move in one motion as the room exploded with movement.

The rectangular room bulged, and stretched into something more cylindrical. The furniture and dining equipment flew across the room in sentient fashion, the fire place became a central fire pit. The floor began to segment and divide itself into steps.

Chrysalis and Specter found themselves at the highest level of a multi-level rotisserie platform, and slowly rotated around the central fire.

Love had taken position above the flame, which accentuated her already passionate colors, and began to slowly dance. The chimera’s words began to come out in melody.

“Be...our… guest, be our guest! Put your worries to rest!”

The changeling queen’s ears flicked downward in annoyance, and a brief snort escaped her muzzle. Everything was a performance with these creatures… and all of them were too caught in the flurry of activity to notice her irritation. Love continued unfettered, and the rest of the crowd joined in for one liners and chorus bits here and there.

Sink into bliss, cherie
As we provide the zest
Pie ala mode
Or paved in rockyroad
There’s no limit in our abode
Try the pink stuff

( Some little pocket-sized draconequus does a cartwheel in front of Chrysalis )

It's delicious!

( Love leads the crowd )

Don't believe me? Don’t be suspicious!
We can sing, they can dance
After all, your majesties, this is chaos
And a no one meal here ever tastes the same
Go on, unfold your menu
Take a glance and then you'll
Be our guest
YAY, our guest
Be our guest!

( The crowd joins in as Love’s dance get’s more vigorous, and evermore entrees dance by the changelings. At this point the enthusiasm finally starts to infect the equines, and they start to sample some of the sumptuous things passing them by. )

Bar-be-que
Peas and hay
Crystal pudding with regal ray

( Love continues solo )

On the dot, we’re here and there
Nothing’s surreptitious
You're far from home
And unprepared
But our acquaintance is your grace
No one's gloomy or complaining
While the company’s entertaining
We tell jokes! I do tricks
With my fellow hipster-slicks

( The crowd breaks into it’s own lines )

And it's all at perfect pace
No qualms that we’ll deliver
Come on and lift your glass
You've won your own free pass
To be our guest

( Love solo’s again )

If you're stressed
It's fine dining we suggest
Be our guest! Be our guest! Be our guest!

( Love )

Be our guest!

( Crowd )

Be our guest!

( Another Chimera pops up, hip-checks Love out of center, and dances above the fire. This upcomer is blue, white, and wears large violet glasses )

Some guests! We’ve got guests!

We’ve got some peeps to impress
Wind up the line, so no one's bored
The beats are ready to caress
Post meal, They'll want to see
Something especially extraordinary
It won’t be hard to do
The outside world is long past due
I'll get revved, and amped up
We’ll shake some skulls like it’s hot!
Hook it up! We don’t want them to forget!

( The crowd as a whole )

We've got a lot to do!

( Love pushes the blue Chimera out of the way, and the overall tempo of the room slows down, and darkens, save for the pink-one spotlighting herself )

Life was so stale
For a socialite with no one to hail
We’re not whole without a soul to entertain
Ah, those good old days we don’t remember...
Suddenly those good old days tickle our hope
Ten years since our last
Chance to please someone besides our own cast
Needing exercise, a chance to use our skills!
Most days we just repeat the same old drivel
Foggy, flat and hazy
You walked in and now we’re crazy!

( The blue one )

Is it one bump or two?
For you, our guests!

( The crowd )

They’e our guests!

( The blue one )

They’re our guests!

( Everyone all together )

They’re our guests!
Be our guests! Be our guests! Be our guesst!
Be our guests! Be our guests!
Your desires are our quest
It's been years since we've had anybody here
And we're obsessed
With your meal, with your ease
Yes, indeed, we aim to please
While the firelight's still glowing
Let us help you, We'll keep going
Course by course, one by one
'Til you shout, "Enough! I'm done!"
Then we'll sing you off to sleep as you digest
Tonight you'll prop your feet up
But for now, let's eat up
Be our guest!
Be our guest!
Be our guest!
Please, be our guest

Specter gave a respectable clap, and Chrysalis deliberated for a moment before she joined the king in applause. It had been a while since she enjoyed something so simple as a show. The fireworks at the end were a nice accent to the overall energetic atmosphere.

After the song, and things started to quiet down into loud chatter, the double doors opened back up, and Mop made his way into the hall. Many of the smaller chimera chuckled or openly laughed at the grey one’s reappearance, and a few made chiding calls.

“Still phobic of songs eh Mop?”

“‘Course, he only like to clean up!”

The tall creature ignored the smaller ones, even as he quietly pulled out a long vacuum hose, and sucked up spilled food and confetti. While he did this he made a loud announcement to the room, where his baritone voice carried well.

“Now, I know you all would like to talk to them, but the goal is not to overwhelm. ONLY one at a time, and ONLY for the next hour… Otherwise Authority might crash the party.”

There was a general boo at the mention of the cursed Authority.

“Jeez DAD! What a downer…”

Love sulked and blew some of her performance-disheveled mane out of the way. Mop scoffed at the mock annoyance.

“You really wanna call me a downer? Please… just work with what you’ve got. I won’t interfere till the time’s up. Until then, keep yourselves polite.”

The large grey figure leaned down towards the changelings and spoke in a low voice.

“I hope you two are ok with a whole hour. You said you wanted to meet some of them, and I figured you could get a glimpse here.”

Chrysalis nodded her head, as much as she wasn’t looking forward to it, this is what she came here to do. Specter voiced a reply,

“Thank you for giving it some structure Mop, it’s much appreciated.”

“No problem, I’ll be back within the hour. You don’t need to worry that I’ll keep you waiting.”

With that he turned back towards the double doors, and pulled out some clean wipes, which he used to thoroughly scrub down the handles, then finally exited. With him gone, Chrysalis closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. When she opened her eyes again, there was already a draconequus leaning on their table. She was giggly, and battered her eyes at both of the changelings stupidly. It was that thing called Love. Once more, Specter took the initiative, and sounded relatively polite while doing it.

“You’re our ‘host’, Love, right?”

“Uh huh… hehe.”

“Um, did you have a question?”

“Uh huh… hehe.”

Specter looked to Chrysalis, his eyes communicated a desire for her to engage, and his head gave a nod of indication. The queen bit her tongue before she turned to the pinkish-dovey thing, and stated flatly.

“What’s your question.”

“I don’t want to assume… but are you two a couple?”

Chrysalis planted her face squarely on the table…

---

The hour passed relatively quickly, and none of the questions posed by the other chimera after Love were overly frustrating or difficult… Though they weren’t quite as bad as she initially thought they would be. However, she wasn’t sure any in this particular crowd would live up to what she needed them to be. Most of them were quite happy to see her, but also smelled of nervousness and apprehension. None of them carried the charismatic self-assurance to the level of Discord.

All of them were short, well, short compared to something like Authority, Mop, or Discord… not that size was a correlation for power… but it often seemed to play out that way.

True to his word, Mop returned after a full hour had passed. The double doors opened wide and revealed the light of a setting sun.

The dining hall had become quite the mess, and the grey draconequus had come expecting it apparently. As he was already strapped with goggles, fitted with gloves, and armed with a large reality bending vacuum.

“Time to clean out!”

Mop announced with reverberance, and he was quickly received with a collective groan of disappointment, voiced most loudly by Love.

“But we barely started!”

“Not according to my clock.”

“Clocks suck!”

A switch was flipped and the vacuum roared to life. The threat of the active instrument was enough to make the crowd scatter, and within moments the entire place was vacant. Except for Chrysalis and Specter, who rested patiently on their guest chairs.

Clean up was all of 60 seconds, then Mop popped off his goggles and turned to the changelings. Specter was off his chair and on his hooves, ready to move at the grey chimera’s approach. Chrysalis on the other hoof, remained lazily in her chair. Her gut had become quite bloated after an hour of consistent snacking. She groaned a bit after a gurgle emanated from her over-stuffed system.

“Gimme a minute.”

A small grin spread to the edges of Spectre’s muzzle, and he whispered so only Mop could hear.

“I think she took a little too quick to the suggestion of “Fine Dining” for “Stress”.”

“Was it that bad?”

“I thought she was handling the pestering fine, but I suppose I wasn’t paying close enough attention to notice.”

“Huh, well, I’m afraid we can’t wait much longer. Authority is expecting both of you, and I’d rather not get on her bad side.”

“WHAT ARE… you two whispering about?”

Chrysalis blurted in an inconsistent tone, her heavy food coma being a rather large influence. She shifted about uncomfortably in her chair, and threw a suspicious glare at the other two creatures. Mop answered neutrally.

“We can teleport to the base of Authorities office, if you don’t feel up to walking that is.”

“What you think I ca-”

The swollen queen leaned forward and attempted to get out of her chair. She did not accomplish her objective however, and ended up sloshing back and forth in futility, rather like a water-balloon in a bowl.

“I, I… ok, let’s teleport.”

She realized she was embarrassing herself, kind of, she didn’t have the effort in her to figure it out anyway. So with apparent permission, Mop clapped his paws, and they all vanished.

---

After landing at the base of a large modernistic tower, the sudden lurch was too much for a certain member of the party, and Chrysalis’s lunch spilled all over the shiny chrome doorstep.

Several moments of undignified heaves followed, but the queen was accompanied by a strangely cheerful Specter, who pat her on the back and muttered soft reassurances. “There, there, whenever you’re ready.” or some such generic comfort.

Chrysalis was about to wipe the spillage from her face when Mop offered her a clean wipe. With bloodshot eyes, she stared at it, somewhere between embarrassed, grateful, and mortified with herself. When Mop started to reach forward to do it for her, she made her decision and took the wipe herself.

“I’m not going with your teleportation anymore…”

Mop just shrugged, and used his vacuum to clean up the royal vomit all over his sister’s stairs. Specter removed his hoof from the queen’s back and walked towards the steel sheen of the tower doors.

“Well, that lunch was certainly more interesting than any I’ve had in recent past. Are breakfast and dinner served here as well?”

“Call it whatever you want, and you can probably have it served to you… Now, I’m going to let you two handle Authority… here’s the only paper you need to give her to be satisfactory.”

The grey draconequus whipped out two pieces of parchment, and pawed over one to each changeling. It was a simple list of terms, with a space for a signature at the bottom. Both Specter and Chrysalis seize each piece in their magic, and read them briefly before preparing to sign.

The changeling king pulled out a stencil made of exotic wood, wetted it on the side of his mouth, and signed the document. Chrysalis morphed one of her hooves into a sharp, clawed appendage, wetted on the side of her mouth, and signed.

“Best of luck to ya both, if ya need me, I’m bunkered out on the other side of the volcano, there’s a sign. Bye.”

A dull flash signaled his departure, and left the two of them alone with the large, soulless, structure in front of them.

“Let’s get this over with.”

Chrysalis pushed open the doors, and marched into the abyss, Specter followed in silent agreement. Though, to their surprise, the inside of the tower didn’t match the volume as it appeared on the outside. Inside it was a massive, cathedral-like structure, complete with colossal stained glass windows, and intricately carved stonework.

Both changelings paused, and soaked in the breadth of it. The path in front of them ended abruptly, a generously sized floating disc was all the only object between them, and a canyon that disappeared into blackness below. The stained glass on either side of them was such a span it could easily outclass the skyscrapers of manehattan. Hundreds of stories were told through imagery, detailed exquisitely on each immense opaque canvas.

Then there was a rush of sound, something that was a great howling wind, but contained within the mountainous hall. Though this wind had a melody to it, a melody blown through an impossibly large organ. It’s tone was evocative, if somewhat foreboding.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho9rZjlsyYY

Specter stepped forward after poking Chrysalis to get her attention, for the music was too loud to speak over. After brief indication, they both stepped onto the disc, which came to life at their touch. Steadily it flew forward, away from the entry doors, and down the utterly cavernous halls.

The journey took time, and followed several swerving curves, that made the limbo of the building external nature all the more inconceivable. Eventually the tones of the music shifted to something more regal to serenade them with, before it would make sudden jumps back to empowered tones.

Eventually an end to the hall began to appear, and the disc carried them upward and completed their journey at the base of another large platform. Much larger than the one they had entered on.

Flush with the wall, and up against it’s own massive stained window, was the largest organ set Chrysalis had ever seen. Down at the center, playing the titanic instrument was Authority, who either hadn’t noticed or acknowledged the changelings as of yet, enraptured as she was with her set of keys and pipes.

Specter hopped off the disc onto the platform, but didn’t go any further, content to simply stand and watch. Chrysalis followed suite, and neither of them noticed as their disc ride faded away. Fortunately, they didn’t have to wait too much longer for the draconequus to finish her work of art. Strangely the changeling queen found herself wanting more by the time it was over.

When Authority twirled around, her petite round glasses were still on her snout, but she was no longer in a professional business suite, but a more casual button up shirt. Her air of severity seemed somewhat toned down, possibly relaxed? Though Chrysalis didn’t read into it too much. The draconequus extended an expectant paw.

“Your papers?”

The changelings passed them over with magic, and the chimera gave both sheets a brief look over. Apparently satisfied, she tossed the papers towards a cupboard near the organ, labeled “Binding agreements”.

“So, this is your office?”

Specter looked around, wonderment still in his violet eyes.

“Indeed.”

Authority’s short quip didn’t set a very conversational tone, and she went back to her business air.

“Both of you happened to appear in time for a particularly important occasion, one that’s on schedule for every five years, on a particular time, at a particular location.”

“And what occasion is this.”

Chrysalis stated, not eager to play around either.

“The formal, straight-lace, grandeurs’ dance. It’s the one time every half-decade that the populous of this island mandatorily practices some civil conformity. Perfect attendance is expected… even of guests.”

The implication was clear, but Specter voiced concern for further clarification.

“So our attendance is expected, very well, anything else?”

“In two days, five o’ clock. Formal clothing, and a dance partner. The ball then breaks into less-formal form after eight, and finishes at ten. Quite frankly, it’s the one thing that keeps me from giving up on sanity and destroying the entire island. I want no hiccups, otherwise, I can’t promise what the consequences will be.”

Authority’s eyes narrowed dangerously. However, the threatening intent excited Chrysalis, excited her in such a way that she was more hopeful in her goal.

“You know of Discord’s return?”

The grey chimera’s eyes fixated on the changeling queen. There was no humor in her words.

“What about it.”

Then Chrysalis thought about this draconequus… she didn’t actually like this draconequus… Though she possessed the demeanor of power, and the will to use it, the changeling reconsidered whether aiding this draconequus would lead to a greater nightmare or not.

“Nevermind.”

Perhaps she would try later, if absolutely nothing else seemed like a better option. This “Authority” appeared to respect contracts, down to the letter. The queen would just have to think of one that could work. However, the chimera’s cold, perceptive eyes already processed her implication.

“You wish me to oust him from his position…”

The changeling cursed under her breath, she revealed too much. Too much for such an edge ridden character. But there was nothing explosive from Authority, rather she turned around, and started to slowly walk away.

“Nothing would please me more… but I’m afraid I’ve not been able to do anything about the barrier, anymore than any other draconequus… save for Silver, that conceited jerk.”

Silver... Chrysalis clenched her jaw at the idea. Everything seemed to turn back to that facetious prankster. She didn’t like where these options were going.

“Are you so su-”

“I will take your request into further consideration after the ball. Until then, I will enjoy my isolation.”

With a brief wave of departure, Authority stepped up to one of the organ pipes, opened a well concealed door, and went down the chute. When she was gone, the grand hall began to compress in on itself.

For a moment, the queen feared she was going to be crushed in some kind of deadly trap, but it came to a stop in a few seconds. The endless hall was now a small room, the giant organ, now a baby organ.

It had become a cosy library, with a soft fireplace. It was a drastic change from the magnificent grandeur, but not an unwelcome one. A final question pestered Chrysalis’s tired mind.

“Where are we going to sleep?”

Specter put a hoof to his chin in thought.

“There was an old cave I hid in a hundred years ago, I suppose I could check if it is still there.”

Her highness spotted a couch, a plush inviting couch, she didn’t have to think twice about what she would rather do. She trotted over and flopped onto it in a weary slump. It was just the right size too, for her, and only her.

Specter Looked around, and saw a large armchair near the fire. When he peered over at Chrysalis, she’d fallen to snores already.

For some time, he simply stood there, and watched the fire in contemplation, occasionally he threw a glance back at the restful queen. Developments had certainly been strange, and easily could have been far more tragic than what occurred. In several ways he was grateful, and the expression appeared in the form of relieved tension.

Eventually exhaustion caught up with him, and he eased himself into the broad furniture. His last look at Chrysalis held an air of curiosity, then he closed his own eyes, and let consciousness fade.

Ch.68 "Wrenches in Plans"

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.68 “Wrenches in Plans”

( Canterlot - shortly after the dispersion of the “Discord Games” )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSE15tLBdso

Prince Blueblood strode the palace with an air of authority, more so than he usually did. A swell smile simply couldn’t keep itself away from his immaculate and chiseled muzzle.

Servant ponies and various contractors were busily moving about the castle. Boxes of new decorative supplies, tools for repair, and other various commodities were carted about. Everypony moved with purpose, just like their prince.

A personal custodian tailed behind the alabaster stallion, she was rather unremarkable, save for her perfect professional appearance, and her frenzied note-taking. A quill and notepad were held in her magic, and had all the prince’s orders scrawled down. She was rather automatic about the whole process until her liege said something that gave her pause.

“Excuse me your majesty? Did I just hear you say-”

“Yes Scribe, you head correct. Instruct the decorators to prepare materials, but not to set anything up. When we’re inevitably taken over again, it would be such a bother to have the wrong decor, then have to change it.”

Blueblood chuckled to himself at the notion of having his own personal scribe. Such a luxury wasn’t something afforded to his previous office, but now… he was Prince with a capital P.

“You don’t plan on remaining in charge you majesty?”

“Scribe, after Shining Armor decided to play vigilante general, there’s only a few ways this can play out. Either he succeeds and brings the princesses back, ala return to the status quo. Or he loses, and our changeling overlords return, albeit in a much worse mood than they were before.”

The scribe pony cringes some at the thought, and makes sure to notate the orders. Blueblood stops his confident stride, and puts a hoof to his noble chin in thought, then mutters his contemplations aloud.

“Though I suppose there could easily be a third option. If they’re evenly matched, and the victor comes out weak, then another foreign party could easily come into play. I know our relations with Yakyakistan have been teetering on edge, Germane has lobbied for our northern lands for decades, and dragons have always been opportunistic blighters. Yes, if not the changelings, then it will be some other nation, as our lands remain unguarded and organized. Quite frankly I don’t think the populous will really care either, with the amount of rambunctious chaos that’s been pervading the nation for the last month. I think they’ll accept any measure of relative stability and security.”

Blueblood paused for breath, and continued.

“If some military is going to invade, I see no reason to give resistance, not that we’re in any position to… We might as well prepare the city for any coming change of decorum. Polish up the stone, and repair some of the structural damage inflicted by the initial invasion. Rude and deceitful as Queen Chrysalis may have been, at least she didn’t spend a bit out of the treasury…”

At some point during his musings, Blueblood had resumed his trot, and ended up in the royal throne room, scribe pony still by his side.

For a short while the stallion looked up to the throne his aunt had so frequently occupied. His hooves carried him up the elegant steps, and once he reached the top, he turned about in a slow sweeping gesture, fit for one of his royal stature.

Blueblood took his seat on the throne, and relished it for a moment. On a few occasions before, he had played around this throne, in jests of authority that his auntie often found amusing… This time it was no jest.

His auntie had gotten herself entangled in a game she wasn’t winning. The throne was left empty after the changelings rather sudden and shocking departure. The previous popular steward, Fancy Pants, had left with his changeling wife. Then, as if that wasn’t enough, when Shining Armor revealed his freedom, it was clear he wasn’t going to buckle down and help govern, but run off on a crusade.

Though there was plenty of greed and ambition among the canterlot nobles, none quite had that spark of charisma, or presence of command, or willingness to take responsibility. No, and only he was left to be the face of authority, and be liable for any further upsetting events.

The alabaster stallion always thought he wanted this. He always wanted to be the one at the helm, guiding the future of his nation. His cutie mark was a testament to his superior sense of direction after all…

Though now, his sense of direction was subject to be buffered about. The compromised state of the nation meant one possibility was as likely as the next.

The throne itself, rather than being an emblematic bastion of empowerment as he imagined it to be, felt rather heavy.

“Do you want this announced as policy my liege?”

Scribe pony managed to shake Blueblood out of his thoughts.

“May as well. I wouldn’t want there to be any unreasonable expectations from my paltry position. I do not plan on keeping it for long.”

Then a voice called out, one that Blueblood hadn’t heard for some time.

“Blue! What’s going on? Where are the changelings I’ve been hearing about?”

A white unicorn with crimson-grey mane trotted into the throneroom, followed by a violet mare the prince recognized as Celestia’s protege. He was confused by the appearance, but voiced a positive greeting.

“Auntie Shy! It’s been too long. And, well, much has certainly happened. Come, please sit.”

The chalky stallion stepped down from the throne, and called for some of the servants to bring over cushions. They were all quickly attended to, and Blueblood turned to his scribe.

“Scribe, I want you to go about publishing the memo, also make sure the servants are instructed regarding decorum. Once I’m finished here, I’ll meet you at the treasury to do some budgeting.”

“Right away your majesty.”

As the scribe departed Shy raised an eyebrow, and she turned a critical gaze towards the stallion.

“Majesty?”

“I figure the proper title will give the disgruntled ponies of this city a sense of order, anyway, where do I even start…”

“How about where all the changelings are, the ones that are supposed to be ruling?”

Shy’s tone was very business-like, and didn’t contain the warm charm the prince remembered her by. But things as they were, she deserved answers. Blueblood started by pointing a hoof at Twilight.

“Firstly, I’m surprised to see Miss Sparkle here, since you were so hotly pursued by Queen Chrysalis.”

“Where is she Blueblood.”

Twilight’s question was less of a question and more of a demand, there was no humor to her voice at all. With the two mare’s being so pressing, he decided forgo his own questions for the time being.

“Very well, they disappeared all at once, about a week ago. The queen and her whole army. Some individuals mentioned something about a crystal empire up north. Shining Armor rallied all of Equestria’s standing guard to march that way. I have no idea what the outcome is going to be, so I’ve just been preparing the city for what may come. Auntie… is something wrong?”

After the “crystal empire” was mentioned Shy had frozen in place, her pupils shrank to pinpricks, and her breath all but stopped. Blueblood’s expression of escalating concern caused Twilight to turn to the mare next to her. She reached out a hoof and prodded Shy’s withers.

“Shy?”

The touched caused a flippant reaction, and the pale mare had jumped high into the air before landing on her hooves.

“YOU SAID WHAT!”

Both Twilight and Blueblood flinched back at the volume.

“Calm down auntie, what is the matter?”

“Y-you said the crystal empire has returned?”

A desperate flicker was in her eyes, and a wild, almost maddening twitch had taken over her whole face. This also translated to a whole body tremor, and Shy shook like a pup terrified by a thunderstorm.

Twilight felt panic rise within her chest, the whole week she had been with this pony…-cough- changeling, she had never once expressed the smallest amount of nervousness. Not at the mention of the hostile imprisonment of her friends, or the defeat of Celestia. No, Shy had never expressed doubt that she could handle the situation with Chrysalis. But now, the mention of this place, this crystal empire, had clearly caused her to unravel, but why?

“Auntie, you’re scaring me. What is there to worry about?”

The shaken mare struggle to say more, and ultimately didn’t utter anything intelligible. Fear had seemed to take her completely. Both Twilight and Blueblood hurried to her side to try and calm her down.

After a few minutes of soothing contact, Shy finally managed to expel a single word, though it sounded much more for herself than any other pony.

“S-Sombra…”

“What was that?”

Blueblood and Twilight both questioned at once. However, their curiosity was put on hold when they heard thunder boom outdoors.

A great storm rolled over the top of the mountain, and expanded across the valley and fields all about. Odd objects rained from the sky, ranging from squeaky duck toys to watermelons. Strange winds that whispered riddles blew the curtains about. All the previously orderly ponies in the palace began to cower in fear. It had been such a beautiful day…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAwRsy-dInU

Brilliant white light flashed in the throne room, and a deranged cackle echoed off the walls.

“Shy, shy, I wonder why, what would they want her for, so much so they couldn’t bother to say good-bye.”

Twilight instantly recognized the voice, and she was highly perplexed by it. She stood on her hooves and called him out.

“Discord.”

Said draconequus popped into view, and hovered around the little group, his snaky body slowly swirled as he circled them. Blueblood reacted in abject fear, and shivered like a terrified colt. Twilight remained steadfast, if annoyed, and Shy finally seemed shaken out of her stupor.

“So tell me, Shy, why would Celestia be directed towards you?”

The chimera landed on his hind legs, and loomed over them with interest. Twilight throughout a demand first, as she stomped a hoof on the tile.

“How did you get out! We put you in stone only a year ago!”

A zipper appeared over the lavender unicorn's muzzle, and Discord zipped it shut.

“All things in good time Twilight, but I came here to get my questions answered first. You see, I was spooked recently… SPOOKED! Can you believe it! Some pony managed to play a trick on the master of tricks, it vexes me deeply to say the least.”

Discord summoned a large armchair into existence, which he promptly relegated himself too. Also the lighting in the throne room had changed, a cosy fireplace popped up where there wasn’t one before, and the chimera held out a book, opened it, and continue as if he were reading them a story.

“We were all having such a lovely time too, playing games and all that. But somepony decided to bust the party, one that emanated such harmonic magic I thought the elements were being brought to bear again. Fortunately that was not the case, and apparently it was only a cheap trick… Anyway, the interesting part comes when I realized I’d left one of my ears behind in the grass.”

The devious spirit pulled one of his ears off to demonstrate, and tossed it down at the hooves of the ponies. The prince recoiled in disgust, Shy ignored it, and Twilight stepped down on it.

“OW!”

Discord snapped his ear back up and reattached it to his skull, he gave Twilight an unappreciative glare… and slapped a straight-jacket on her as well as doubling up on the zipper.

“Anyway, that ear I’d left behind in my haste to escape managed to catch an interesting thing or two. -Go south before Discord can follow you- she says -Find Shy, particularly you Celestia- she says… I couldn’t help but find myself extremely curious about the whole thing. What would Celestia need from you?”

The draconequus’s mismatched pupils focused down on the chalky mare, a highly suspicious slant draped over his muzzle. The mare, for her part, looked back up at the spirit of disharmony, her calm and collected composure working itself back together. Her words came out cautiously, as if she attempted to poke a bear with a stick.

“Now Discord, I only need to see her briefly. You can go back to your jokes, but I do need to see Celestia. She needs my-”

The chimera leaned forward to put a paw to her lips to silence her, and flickers of recognition began to play in his countenance.

“I’ve seen you several times before, I remember you walking through the gardens with that alicorn. You always had such a contemptuous look for my statue. You looked like I’d done something hurtful to you before…”

A paw was lifted, and Discord began to scratch into his own ear. Disturbingly, the scratch continued, longer, and deeper. Eventually the entirety of his eagle claw was within his own head, and after one moment of struggle, the draconequus pulled out his own brain, and held it aloft in his paw.

Such a sight caused Blueblood to faint, Twilight to cringe, and Shy to look, guilty. The chimera simply looked at his own thought organ with interest.

“Oh my, this is interesting, what do we have here…”

A large corkscrew was clearly embedded deep into the right-side of Discord’s brain. Without hesistation he lifted his lion paw onto the handle. Then slow, deliberate twists began to unwind the device. Moment by moment, the chimera’s casual smile began to droop lower, and lower. When the metal instrument was completely removed a ferocious snarl had evolved over his muzzle.

“YOU… you conniving little cretin. You thought you could just play with my mind, SLY!”

He stood to his full intimidating height as he roared at them, a zap of energy spouted from from a paw at the red-maned pony, and her disguise melted away. A changeling queen now coward in her place. Her tone became begging.

“You don’t understand! I had to-”

Discord roared over her, not caring for her response now.

“Year after year! I see it clear as day now! You took advantage of my helpless state. New disguises all the time! You thought you’d make me forget about you, so I’d leave your kind alone. Oh how quickly that idea is falling apart! … I’ll have to give an extra large thank-you to Chrysalis for bringing all this to light! And I don’t do thank-yous!”

The flashes of lightning from the storm picked up tenfold, and the golden eyes of the spirit of chaos glowed with belligerence. He snapped his digits, and the whole of the palace shook.

Screams of the terrified echoed across the whole of Canterlot, and after a particularly power lurch, the city ceased to shake. For any who looked outward, their mouths fell open in shock. The mountain side city had separated from the mountain, and now floated slowly into the sky.

“Now, I know Celestia is currently headed in the wrong direction. Apparently she thought she'd find you at your little country home. So, I’m going to head her off, and remove any tacks you may have put in her mind, Sly. Let's see what she thinks!”

“No, Discord you can’t! You don’t understand! She needs me right now!”

Sly all but screeched.

“The only thing that NEEDS to be done right now is fair exchange...”

The chimera forcefully brought down his paw on Sly’s head, and his eyes started to swirl into hypnotic nonsense. The same began to happen to the changeling he was trying to change. The queen fought against it, and the struggle lasted for some time. Twilight hopped over, and tried to poke Discord in the leg with her horn, but the painful distraction wasn’t enough. When he let go, the changeling below him was grey, her mane had lost all color, and she slumped into the cushion beneath her.

Content with his work, Discord turned away and disappeared in a flash of magic. Along with his departure, Twilight was relieved of her bindings. She took in a deep breath of relief, then hurried over to her traveling companion.

“Sh-Sly? Are you ok?”

The worrying signs of color change were there, perhaps Twilight could fix it? Though probably not, she didn’t have a long list of memories to share with this changeling.To her surprise, Sly sprang to her hooves, and began to trot in circles with a giddy chuckle.

“Secrets, secrets! Time to spill the beans! Let’s hang out all the dirty laundry Twilight! For every pony to see! HEHEHHAHAHEHAHA”

Sly put her hooves on the unicorn and shook her with vigor, then she let go and ran down the hall in mad laughter.

“No! Sly wait! Come back here!”

Twilight ran after the changed-ling as fast as she could.

Blueblood was left alone in the throne room, still unconscious.

---

( Near Yakyakistan - shortly after the dispersion of the “Discord Games” )

Broken… burned… shattered. The ruined form of queen Monarch lay in the center of a crater. Her wings were shredded nearly to stumps, her horn lay split in half, and large swathes of her chitin had melted away, and left large areas of flesh exposed. Slow weak breaths caused her ribcage to rise unsteadily, and her bloodshot eyes stared forward, unseeing.

Snow began to fall after sometime. The rift in the clouds caused by the queen’s descent had since sealed over. Moderate winds seemed to play a baleful melody over the ice-capped peaks, and only added to the mood of departure. Much of the blood that oozed from Monarch after impact had already congealed, accelerated by the frozen air.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28sdV_DXSrU

A single snowflake landed on the queen’s emerald eye, and she blinked. A deep gasp echoed from her chest through her throat, followed by an intense shudder down the length of her body.

What seemed like a moment ago her entire being had been on fire, and only now did she begin to react to the unforgiving exposure of the cold.

Despite the involuntary trembles that wracked every string of muscle she had left, she felt oddly at peace.

“This is it…”

The words formed on her cracked and bloodied lips, though she spared no air to actually voice it. She made no effort to get up, she saw no purpose. If anything, an amused curl started to stretch at the corner of her mouth, though pain and numbness prevented full expression.

Monarch held no anger for her opponent, nor did she care how or why such a lowly royal managed to overwhelm and destroy her. No, such wasn’t her concern anymore. She had already died inside long ago. Celestia had perceived it all too easily in those rueful “Discord Games.” Now her body had simply caught up to the crushed state of her soul.

The once mighty queen closed her eyes as acceptance flowed through her, as readily as the frozen numbness of her environment. Her lips contorted one last time to form the words,

“My Fire…”

She couldn’t wait for death, now that it felt mere moments away.

“You’re not done Monny.”

The ruined changeling’s eyes flickered open, confusion stretched the burned features of her countenance. That voice, she hadn’t heard that voice in over a century and a half. She must be delusional, yes, simply a death spasm.

“Get up Monny, I never picked you for a quitter.”

This time the voice was accompanied by the sound of hoof steps. Monarch began to seriously question her level of lucidity, but curiosity compelled her head to turn towards the source.

There stood a changeling she hadn’t seen in over a century and a half. This startled her into a violent coughing fit, and she was shocked at how alive she still felt. As she gained control of her lungs she managed to sputter audibly.

“F-Fire! B-but you’re dead?”

“You’ve still got a job to do Monny.”

The changeling of imperial stature knelled down close to her, he was clothed in his typical cloak and regalia, just as she remembered.

“You can't give up Monny, not yet.”

Tears began to spill over onto Monarch’s charred cheeks, and she attempted to reach out to her unexplained companion. She didn’t care if this was insanity, she didn’t want this moment to end.

“I have no work left Fire, I’m expired. Just… stay with me.”

An apologetic sigh came from the regal king, and he stood up, and unlatched his cloak.

“I can’t stay with you Monny, you still have an important work to do.”

He cast his freed cloak over her, and the cold of the mountains was relieved, but the turmoil rooted in Monarch’s chest wasn’t.

“No, no you can’t! You can’t leave me Fire Heart, not again!”

“I’m sorry, so very sorry Mon-”

Fire Heart choked on her name, even as he bowed his head and walked away. The destroyed changeling called out more desperate than ever.

“NO! COME BACK! Fire please, take me with you, please don’t leave me… please.”

For the first time since the crash, she struggled to get up. She hadn’t felt the need for something so strongly for dozens of decades. Though the effort was obviously futile in her current state, she couldn’t let it go. Her burnt and broken body struggled pathetically, but was no more effective than a newborn foal. Though her breaths became staggered, she refused to break down into sobs, even as a torrent for tears continued to spill down her face like salt in a wound.

After a particularly strong heave she glanced about. Her companion was gone, only a wall of snowy haze surrounded her for company. She screamed against the apathetic weather.

“FIRE!”

All the strain caught up to her, and her vision fell into a blurry collusion. The combined effects of exhaustion and extensive injuries finally began to overwhelm her consciousness, and she blacked out.

She wasn’t sure when, but somewhere in her poorly lucid state she felt something tug at her legs. There was nothing she could do to react, all power overself was gone. Perhaps her desperate wails had attracted some predator? Whatever it was, she couldn’t stop thinking of the face she missed so dearly, even as her perceptions slipped to nothingness once more.

---

Several large bodies shifted around the fallen queen as she was wrapped in heavy furs, and placed on a stretcher.

One of these figures was much smaller than the others, and looked over the process as a conductor does an orchestra. Yellow eyes leered out from the darkness of the hood, and a grim grin stretched over a crimson mouth.

---

( Manehattan - A week after the dispersion of the “Discord Games” )

“I’m done! If the city press wants any more answers they can review the official statement!”

A very harassed mayor More all but roared at the crowd, which surrounded her office building. However, the circle of ponies were undeterred by her hostile dismissiveness.

“But mayor! What are your-”

“Mayor mayor! Why aren’t you-”

“Could you please explain-”

“There’s a lot of concern about-”

“Some ponies are saying-”

“I love you mayor!”

“Show your face dirtbag!”

The crowd’s incessant calls for this or that were simply relentless. So, the mayor/queen turned about with her security escort and left the scene. They disappeared into her administration building for respite.

Once inside the escorts locked the doors and secured the windows. Meanwhile More carried her rustled hide straight towards the elevator. She barked out a last order as the doors slid open.

“Watch every entrance, I don’t want any disturbance for the next eight hours! … gaw, I need a drink.”

She let out a long sigh, and once the elevator closed her posture slumped. Her hind legs splayed out and her back rested against the wall. Along with a jerk of movement, some elevator music began to chime in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6PHgtdxFrY

The mayor’s pony exterior melted away as her queen form continued to stare idly at the wall. Stress lines crinkled her otherwise pristine face. The last few days had been the worst PR nightmare she had ever dealt with.

Her city, her otherwise orderly and pragmatic city had almost devolved into a rioting squaller. There was nothing to do about the news of the Discord games either, there were too many witnesses to handle all at once. Even if she did try to mind wipe the city, the circulation of information would just outpace her.

The Elevator bell relieved her of her thoughts for a moment, she had reached the penthouse. Her hooves carried her with the speed of one desperate for relief. The office would be the first stop, then she could crash into bed and think about nothing.

The deep cherry wood doors burst open as the metropolitan queen bee-lined for her drinking cabinet. Only to find the bottle and glasses missing, she gawked and let out a frustrated snarl.

So far this week, her name had been thoroughly smeared with every word in the dictionary, She had become a popular scapegoat for every conceivable problem, and her reputation was less valuable than a common crumpled up newspaper, all thanks to the exposure from Discord’s oh-so-flattering games...

Most of it was simply reactionary fear, but none of it had escalated beyond words. No pony had dared attack her or invade her personal space. As long as it stayed that way, she could handle it.

However, as she stated at the violated empty cabinet… she was ready to kill.

“This city, it’s quite a marvel that you oversee.”

More’s ears flicked to the unexpected voice, her senses sprung to high alert, and her icy blue eyes fixated on the chair behind her desk.

The chair faced away from her towards the window, which gave a sweeping view of the island city. her bottle of heart-nectar was opened and on the desk. A spare glass was filled half way, presumptuously for her. The other floated next to the chair, held aloft in crimson magic. From the voice alone, More didn’t have to guess who occupied her metropolitan throne. Oddly, she found her anger disappear almost instantly.

“I assume you didn’t come here for the view, and to steal my vintage drink, Sombra.”

The magic slowly rotated the glass, and made the liquid swirl about with a mesmerizing effect. The invader relented an answer.

“Alas, were I only here for that. No, rather, I need to see a pest. About something that has pestered me, and won’t go. Something so fundamental I’ve found it difficult to focus on going forward. So, the first question that needs to be answered is, will this pest help put my frustrated queries to rest…”

The queen chuckled at the excessive expression of antic language.

“I must say, while your tonality is different from what I remember, it is certainly entertaining, in a clownish way.”

The office chair swiveled away from the window, and brought the grey stallion about to face her. His eyes narrowed slightly, deep set confusion was smothered under an expression of distaste.

“Please, take a seat. I assume you would be willing to talk further.”

“Oh, inviting me to sit down in my own office? How arrogantly assertive… maybe you haven’t lost your old flare entirely.”

Sombra’s eyes narrowed even further. His emotions hadn’t been his own for a while, but now. Things had been changing over the last week. He found his range of emotions more flexible than before, but still limited. However, that seemed the minor problem now. His voice contained no joviality when he commanded his next words.

“Stop talking like you know me! No pony else has talked to me this way. Not even the ancient princesses. I have no memory of you, and there’s no way you could have stalked me while I was sealed in ice!”

More pulled over a chair, and pulled the spare drink over.

“Calm down, you aren’t the only ancient that was altered. If anything, everything has been spiraling out of control. I suspect the deepest of buried things will be brought to light soon enough. Plenty already has.”

The stallion took a swig of his drink, and sighed.

“I usually like playing cryptic games, but if you would be so kind. I seek plain answers… What is wrong with my memory. I thought the crystal heart had relieved me of my madness, but apparently that wasn’t enough.”

The changeling took a swig of her drink, and began to rub a fetlock under her chin. She gave a cheeky smile as she answered.

“Would you like the full story, or a quick summation?”

“The full story.”

The ancient king answered without a moment’s hesitation. The queen’s smile deepened, and she stood up from her chair, and headed towards more cabinetry along the west wall. After opening a special drawer she began to cast a few incantations, and appeared to be undoing a number of defensive wards. After a minute or so of waiting, Sombra started to fiddle around. He opened up a drawer of the desk he sat at. He noticed a framed picture, and pulled it out.

Behind the little glass pane was a perfect replication of a little scene. Two royal class changelings leaned on each other closely, and prodded each other with their forelegs. One was clearly the changeling who he occupied the office with currently. This other one appeared to be male, presumably some pony close to her. They both had stunning blonde manes and lively blue eyes. Perhaps it was a brother?

“Find something you like there?”

More’s voice caused Sombra’s ears to perk, though he didn’t make any sudden movements, or even lift his eyes from the picture. Eventually he just shook his head and set the frame down.

“Just full of questions.”

“Well, that was my belated husband. It’s been more than a few years since Ambition died.”

“Heh, let me guess, it was that Monarch butterfly? Most of you insects seemed to have a bone to pick with her.”

“Your guess would be correct.”

“Hmm, and you said his name was Ambition?”

“Yes…”

“More, Ambition…”

“Your point?”

“Heh, nothing in particular.”

The queen rolled her eyes as Sombra picked up a snarky smirk. She responded with a shrewd tone.

“You would be far from the first to point that out. My old husband was quite the obsessive type, and many disregarded him as overly savant. However, I saw potential where most would turn a blind eye. He had vision, a grand vision that could become reality with some support. He only needed help navigating the politics of my now extinct society. Which is where I came in. Combine his knack for finding impossibly lost and impossibly valuable artifacts with my sauve social fluidity and we were mere steps away from having the world conform to our vision…”

“But civil war… How many of you bugs are left anyway?”

“Why? Calculating how difficult it would be to dispose of us?”

“Not quite, some of you appear more compliant and useful than others.”

“HAH! True words from a true pragmatist. Perhaps there is more of you left over than I thought.”

“There you go again, speaking like you know me.”

“Oh sorry, I suppose that’s where I bring this up.”

The changeling lifted a glowing green orb onto the desk, where she set it down to rest. The grey king studied it with mild interest, while More explained further.

“I can’t tell you what all your old thoughts were, I can only share what my kind knows of you. Though what my kind knows is quite personal…”

“Huh, so you didn’t personally stalk me. You just fangirled vicariously through some other bug that did.”

“Queen Sly to be specific, though I suppose she was only princess Sly to you. And it wasn’t so much stalking as a graphic diary.”

“Sly?”

“Do you remember the questions I asked you during Discord’s little game?”

Sombra flinched at the thought, but repeated the words he remembered.

“Who loved you, who did you betray, whose throne was it that you took? What was her name?”

“And you answered?”

“Princess Aurori- this, she was Sly? A bug?”

“It appears that’s the memory she may have constructed for you. I’m surprised she gave you anything at all. Considering what you did.”

The king’s jaw clenched in frustration. Dealing with disrupted emotional faculties was already a royal pain, but having his mental faculties tampered as well. He could almost feel anger again, almost… However, he needed the conversation to continue.

“You’ve obviously showed some fascination with me, More. Though apparently what I did to your kind was terribly heinous. Admittedly my personal charm and persuasiveness are enviable, but what is your interest in helping me.”

The queen reached for the picture frame that Sombra had set down earlier, and pulled her drink towards her as well. She took a long contemplative draft, then spoke softly.

“I’ve had to work alone for a long time. Maybe not as long as some of you ancients, but that is not the way of my kind. Royal changelings have always done better in pairs. The most important thing left to me is this shard of the well of memories. My husband’s most important discovery, and my most treasured relic. If I may be so vain, I see much of Ambition in you, Sombra.”

More sipped another thoughtful draft, and lovingly rested a hoof on top of the green orb.

“It’s all I have left of him, and it’s how I discovered you. Now, about this shard, it’s obvious Sly tried to destroy it, or at the very least bury it where she thought it would never be found. And I can see why. You, Sombra, are the traceable reason why Sly declared our doctrine of Secrecy. Why changelings evaporated from the history of all other thinking species.”

Sombra’s brow furrowed as he tried to comprehend the scope of meaning, though More didn’t slow down at all.

“It was not the sorry-sobby reason she declares in the primary well. Nightmare Moon was simply a symptom, but you, you are the root.”

“So is there a point to you bringing your little toy forward? Or are you just going to talk about it?”

“I was just giving context, I thought you wanted the full-featured story.”

“I do, but I feel I’ll learn better if you have something to actually show.”

“Very well, you impatient stallion.”

Though More spoke with some irritation, she wore an amused smile. Her hoof rotated around the spherical object, and it’s swirling gaseous form twisted and twirled, then began to solidify into a face. As the magic worked its way into a more comprehensive state, Sombra finished the last of his drink.

“How did you get a hold of heart-nectar by the way, I was under the impression it was incredibly rare. Several of my safe caches are missing it as well.”

“Oh that? Heh, just one more thing I miss about Ambition.”

“Too bad he’s dead, sounds like he was a useful bug.”

“Psh, poor more salt in the wound please.”

“Gladly, just tell me where.”

“You know, I’m really going to enjoy reviewing this. For all your degrading remarks about my kind, you really showed yourself to be quite the bug-lover. In all the glorious, explicit detail Sly so passionately recorded.”

“...”

“I thought so.”

“Stalker.”

“Says the shadow.”

“Says the voyeurist”

“Oh wow, I don’t think the papers have called me that one yet.”

“Apparently they don’t know you well enough. Besides, in my time I outlawed speech I didn’t agree with.”

More suddenly busted a lung as she laughed explosively. Her fit of humor continued for a while, with relentless vigor. Sombra himself began to chuckle slightly, if only because of the changeling queen’s reaction. By the time More was basically in tears, the stallion relented a little.

“I don’t quite get it. Do you not ban or punish slanderous reports?”

“Oh Celestia no, especially because of Celestia. Well… not publicly atleast. We changelings have other methods of controlling public favor.”

“I’m sure. But hey, it looks like your little toy is ready.”

Sure enough, the orb had expanded, and was no longer green, but showed a scene from a different time and place. The well shard was ready to use.

“Oh yes Sombra, my little toy is ready to play with. Would you like to touch it first?”

“FOR HADES SAKE! Just get on with it.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmhoLjN6yQs

Ch.69 "The Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony"

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.69 "The Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony

(Crystal Empire - Modern day - Peak of the palace )

“I would be betting on Mayham if we didn’t already know the outcome.”

“Of course, but that’s the nature of a real trickster, isn’t it. You’re not supposed to expect them to do what they do… or at least, how they did it.”

“Hopefully we just get the edge we need. Then we can send the answer to Chrysalis and get this whole thing resolved. As much as I enjoy a good challenge, I’m getting rather tired of these never ending issues.”

“Rest never comes easy for those with great responsibilities little royal.”

“Psh, I’m taller than you, besides, that’s your nickname for Chrysalis. I don’t think she appreciates being called that when she has a proper name.”

“She never appreciated my attempts to get her properly groomed either.”

“Curls just don’t work with her mane Shellish. It hangs much better naturally.”

“Since when did she start caring about her mane? She always insisted it was never that important!”

“Well, considering the other problems you had to deal with…”

“Even so, neglecting yourself is to the benefit of no one, especially when you’re in charge of everyone.”

“I think we’ve gotten a little side tracked.”

“Fine, just roll the memory.”

As Crone reached out to continue where they left off, Shellish pulled out a special pair of glasses, then used her hooves to fix them snuggly on her snout. Both lenses were dark as pitch. The younger royal raised an eyebrow.

“What’re those for?”

“Just a precaution.”

“What do you mean?”

“We’re about to see several powerful draconequi try to outdo each other. I’d rather dull my senses a little before they engage.”

To finish her point the elder queen shoved a pair of earmuffs on. Crone’s brow furrowed in a crease of concern.

“You don’t have a spare set do you?”

“Of course!”

A little portal magic and telekinesis made it so. When the changelings were properly muffled they sat back comfortably, ready to watch history unfold. Shellish even portaled some popcorn in to munch on. Meanwhile Crone felt a little suspicious of the glasses she was given, they were red and blue lenses rather than dark ones…

Illustration #1

---

(Ancient Equestria)

The butter brick road ended when the party of draconequi, ponies, and a changeling reached a great golden wall of wealth. It was little more than a horde of coins jewels and other extravagant ornamentation. Though none of it could hardly be called precious or rare. After all it rained gold and sapphires at least three times a month… no pony went outside on those days.

The gang carefully approached mountainous barrier before them, the ever shifting pile of goods was hardly a stable structure. The previous joviality they shared was more subdued, now that they had reached their destination.

Sly buzzed along behind the group, noticing Anarchy still had a carefree bounce in her movements. Doubt was nowhere to be found in the emotions that wafted from her. Mayham actually wore a smirk, emanating a palpable excitement that was very noticeable to an empath like her.

When the crystal princess tilted her head to appraise Discord’s condition her muzzle contorted in concern. He did a very good job of concealing it externally, as there were no uncomfortable fidgets or nervous smiles, but the chimera absolutely reeked of apprehension and anxiety.

Sly hovered closer and put a hoof on Discord’s shoulder.

“Hey, don’t worry about it Discy, I’m sure you’ll do just fine.”

Other than the slight jump, the draconequus managed to turn smoothly and reply in a calm collected manner. Loud enough for the rest of the group to hear.

“What do you mean Sly? Honestly, if you’re talking about the challenge there’s nothing to worry about. If anything, I’m just being nice giving Anny and Ham the chance to go first.”

He lowered his voice to a whisper and elbowed the concerned changeling at the side.

“Because we all know I have the best chance.”

He put on his winning smile, but that just caused Sly to fold her forelimbs and level a scrutinizing gaze at him. For emphasis she hovered close to his face and made an exaggerated sniff.

“Ofcourse! Your emotions and words are in TOTAL alignment.”

Discord shot a quick glance towards the other members of their group, and snatched the changeling out of the air, which caused her to squeak in surprise. After he slung her under one arm he put a digit to her snoot to quiet any potential retort. He whispered with a far more serious inflexion this time.

“Please, just… Just don’t challenge me on this. Y-you didn’t see what happened last time Golden Spoon was challenged.”

Discord finally expressed a deeply repressed shudder, and Sly dropped any further thought on the wisecrack she was going to make. With a hoof, she lowered the paw in front of her muzzle, in courtesy of his request she kept it to a whisper..

“What happened? Why haven’t you mentioned this before?”

“I-I.”

Before Discord could explain, Anarchy had taken notice of their hushed conversation.

“Awww, Discy that’s so cute! You trying to haggle a pep smooch before the big game?”

Her loud burst caused the rest of the group to break into sniggers, even Ham seemed amused, especially when Sly palmed a hoof to her face. Discord’s carefree front seamlessly took over as he played along.

“Oh you know me Anny, just can’t help myself when it comes to red-heads.”

Illustration #2

He finished as he noogied Sly and set her down. Mayham scratched two claws together idly and spoke levelly to the group.

“As much as I’d love to indulge in all of you in your antics, I actually feel eager on this occasion. You can express your reservations while you wait for your turn Discord. If it ever comes to your turn... Let us move on.”

The normally stoic draconequus led the group over the hump of the mountain wall of treasures, equines in tow. When they finally crested the peak, they were greeted with a sight that looked nothing less than glorious.

Ponies, draconequi, and a few other species laughed, played, or otherwise leisured about in their thousands. It appeared every bit as euphoric as only a spirit of corpulent indulgence could imagine. There wasn’t just a lack of want, but an excess of anything that could be wanted.

Such was the enchanted nature of this walled utopia that as soon as an object was desired it appeared. As soon as the individual was done with it, or lost fascination, it was just as quickly discarded. Undesired objects were constantly added to the wall around the city, or hurdled supernaturally across the continent.

The three equines and three draconequi leveled their steely gazes at the display. For as admittedly beautiful as the gold-leafed city below was, it was strictly a club for Golden Spoon’s sycophants. It was widely known that anyone the bloated giant found disagreeable would become part of the ‘outgroup’. Which at this point was nearly half of equestria. Consequently they also had garbage rain on them daily.

“Foul den of stuck up panderers.”

Lulu voiced bitterly, and the rest of the group nodded in agreement. Then as one, they advanced down from the precipice of the mountain wall towards their goal.

When they were close enough to be noticed, a bell quickly rang out. It was a mighty bell that echoed with gusto to alert the whole valley.

Discord, Anarchy, Mayham, Tia, Lulu, and Sly stopped at the alert, and held their ground a few steps away. A moment later the bell stopped, and was followed up by a crack of thunder and a glorious gold flash.

Golden Spoon, the giant corpulent chimera, towered over the little group of friends. A highly amused grin twisted the fat jowls of his face.

“Tired of living outside my presence? Come to redeem yourselves eh? Well, no worries. All is forgiven, let it not be said that I lack mercy, charity, or generosity!”

The intruding group displayed opposite levels of amusement, and Discord spoke up for them.

“Actually no. We’re here to officially challenge you for your title.”

At this news Golden lowered his massive head, and curled his boulder built frame until he was eye level with them.

“All of you? Even the ponies and changeling?”

Tia quickly coughed to gain attention and spoke for the equines.

“We’re here for moral support, your gluttonous-ness.”

Golden chuckled at the cheeky remark and straightened his posture until he looked down on them again. He brought up his shovel sized spoon and began to repeatedly tap the head of it into the opposite paw. He brandished it as if it was a weapon of intimidation.

“Very well. It has certainly been ages since i’ve been engaged with other draconequi so bold. In fact, good ol’ Discord here had been around long enough to remember the last occasion.”

Discord struggled to not let his knees wobble, and he succeeded, but Sly definitely noted the spike of fear her friend repressed.

“Times have changed, and they’re going to keep changing.”

The smaller chimera stared up at his much, much larger rival. Resolve etched itself deeper into his voice and posture. At this Golden let out a mirthful chuckle that caused his blubbery body to ripple in waves.

“Oh, undoubtedly. Well then, what is there to wait for. Let’s begin!”

The golden spoon in Golden Spoon’s paw was lifted and a giant bolt of lightning forked to each member of the small group.

In the next moment they all appeared on a stage, which faced an enormous amphitheatre. Thousands of ponies, draconequi, and more constituted the massive audience. When they noticed Golden and his entourage they all gave uproarious applause. They were all trained to expect something especially good when their glorious master of pleasures made announcements.

Illustration #3

“Thank you, thank you my gentle and dainty friends. I do infact have something most important and stimulating to share.”

More reckless worshipful applause filled the brief pause, then abruptly stopped when he waved them down with his manatee flipper.

“As per tradition older and more contrived than my stupendous self, these three draconequi before you-”

he gestured to the three upcomers. Some members of the crowd recognized them, and began to whisper furiously amongst themselves. The tension of the audience quickly became palpable.

“-have sought to challenge me for the title of ‘Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony’, as is perfectly within their rights. According to this old lump of stone.
Golden clapped his flipper and paw together, and summoned a large stone to the center stage. Strange scribbles covered its surface, much to the confusion of many.

“No! B-but Golden, you’re the best! You can’t leave!”

A butterball of a pony shouted, which was quickly supported vigorously by the anxious crowd.

“There’s no need to worry my good friends, in fact you should be excited! For this is to be an event of great amusement! No draconequus is guaranteed to win, and we have yet to know their actual propositions.”

“Propositions?”

The butterball questioned butterously.

“Here is a quick run down of the terms.”

Golden looked at the scribbles on the rock to translate.

“The current spirit and their challenger will engage in two trials. One decided by the current spirit, and one by the challenger. The terms of each trial must be agreed upon before they begin. Should the current spirit fail either trial, they must surrender the title, and all the accompanying powers and privileges tied to the position.”

The giant chimera stepped away from the stone and opened his arms wide to the sky, then a brilliant and wondrous light radiated from the center of his being, within a moment the light concentrated into a sphere that rippled with a liquid-like surface. The strange emanation hovered up above the stage invitingly, and all who laid eyes upon it was struck with the desire to touch it.

“There is the prize to be won. Pure concentrated powers, and privileges. I will be facing my challengers simply as myself, with no special augmentation from the ultimate chaotic amplifier.”

Golden finished with a friendly pat to his prestigious belly, then turned to his challengers with a smug grin on his face.

“Who will be first?”

The crowd sat on the edge of their seats, their eyes fixed on the three figures with undivided attention. After one blink, the pink maned draconequus remembered something, and she cheerfully raised an amphibious paw.

“Oh, oh! That would be me!”

Methodically Golden tapped the rock with his spoon, which caused it to vanish, and made a grand sweeping gesture to the audience.

“Our first contender for the title of Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony!”

Anny smiled brightly and hopefully, only to be barraged with a wave of boos immediately. Her mood instantly soured and she shouted back at the crowd.

“Shove another stick of butter in your bloated faces! You demented balloons!”

Somepony threw a tomato, and it would have landed squarely between her eyes, if it weren’t blocked by a giant spoon. Golden’s voice boomed over everyone gathered.

“Please, Leave the mockery until the event is completed. I wish this event to be fair after all.”

The crowd pacified instantly, which caused Anarchy to grimace and snort. She muttered under her breath.

“Of Course the lards listen to the king of lards… I’ll change things here real quick.”

The king of lards gave her a quick glance, apparently he noticed the comment, which only caused her to defiantly stick out her tongue. In return he gave her a most infuriating smug grin.

“Well, I suppose you already have your challenge in mind Anarchy? We’ll go ahead and do yours first. The rest of your friends can take the V.I.P. seats over there.”

Her scowl quickly morphed into a confident grin, and she leaned back while she folded her arms. Meanwhile Disord, Mayham, Tia, Lulu, and Sly all shuffled over to the front row seats Golden offered them. After that was in order Anarchy puffed up her chest as she spoke with self assurance.

“Why yes fatty Mcblob, I do have my challenge ready. So, I, Anarchy, challenge you to a race. No magic, No flying. Just your tubby legs versus my limber ones.”

She stretched to make a point, and expected him to flinch, or look disheartened. She was disappointed to see neither in her opponent.

“That sounds fine to me, now, just where do you want to do it?”

Anny’s eyes flicked about the area, and quickly locked onto a broad set of stairs, which was very long. It stretched all the way to the top of the enormous amphitheatre. Smugness oozed from her as she unfolded her arms and clasped her paws together behind her back. She pointedly looked at the stretch of stairs.

“We race from right here, to the top of those stairs and back. First one to set a limb back on the stage wins.”

It didn’t matter whether Golden put up a confident front or not, she totally had this in the bag. Her flexed posture and readiness to spring said as much. The lipidly gifted giant continued to smile extending his flipper with invitation.

“Just say whe-”

“NOW!”

She jumped off the stage and propelled her lithe body up the stairway. Her long slender frame weaved back and forth like a serpent as she quickly ascended each step. She kept up her reckless pace for a short period before she risked a look back.

Golden made a casual show of taking very long strides, his general size made it so he took one step for every ten of Anny’s. Despite her being a good distance ahead, he showed no sign of fear. This only spurred the younger, more lithe draconequus on, she was going to win, and she was going to rub it in his face. Her jaw clenched and she redoubled.

After a few minutes of the relentless sprinting, she found herself struck by a heavy bout of panting. Sweat trickled down and began to mat her mane. She could swear these stairs multiplied of their own accord. She looked back to see Golden still a good distance behind. So she licked her lips and strained her grit. She could still totally do this, no doubt. She must be at least halfway up these stairs.

By the time she figured she was within the last hundred steps, her pace had slowed to a crawl. Her little legs burned, her arms burned, the length of her snaky body BURNED! But it was worth it. Without magic, how could Golden ever hope to catch up to her?

“Ha… Ha… Hawwwww. I-I’ve so go this. T-totally in the bag.”

She heaved as she reached the final step, and collapsed into a sprawl as she struggled to catch her breath. When a voice called out to her, she went ridged and panicked.

“My, my, didn’t conserve much energy there did we?”

Golden chuckled as he finished the last few steps… at the exact same pace he had started with. Rather than respond with any words, not that she really had the effort left in her. Anarchy scampered back onto her paws and hooves, desperately trying to get back down the stairs. In her haste she tripped, then collided painfully with the metal tipped steps. She slid down a few more before her body halted and she let out a pained groan.

“That’s not how you do it Anny, let Fatty McBlob show you how to finish.”

She looked up and held a paw to her bloody snout.

“Aw, flipping limp noodle!”

She exclaimed as she witnessed Golden curl into a ball and roll down the stairs.

“WHY DID I SAY ALL THE WAY BACK TO THE STAGE!”

She curled a scally paw into a fist and repeatedly hit herself on the head.

“Stupid brain! You failed me!”

After a moment she stopped and groaned in defeat. She looked down the stairs to see Golden uncurl and land on the stage like it was all a big performance. His upper limbs stretched out in triumph, much to the pleasure of the crowd. A loud round of deafening applause roared across the audience. A severe twitch began to develop in Anarchy’s left eye. There was one more trial, but she felt she already blew her chance. It was evident in the sag of all her exhausted limbs, sweat drenched fur, and dour expression.

One flash of lightning later, she was back on stage. Now she was upright and feeling mildly rejuvenated. But the magic behind it did nothing for her discouragement. She felt a large paw pat her on the back, reactively she looked up to see Golden smile at her. It wasn’t as smug as before, but still conveyed general amusement.

“I definitely give you points for effort. But I believe according to your own terms, I am the victor.”

Anny just bowed her head, the cheer of the crowd only served to fuel her doubts. Golden lifted his paw away and spoke in a loud voice all could hear.

“Now don’t look so down Anarchy, you do have one more chance after all.”

“B-but you’re going to pick something impossible!”

The defeated chimera whined, only having just built the nerve to speak again.

“Now, now. You picked something you thought I would have no chance at, and look how that turned out. Don’t discount yourself so quickly.”

The giant gave his generously sized gut a fond pat in emphasis. Despite the tears and sniffles that threatened to build over her, the silly action elicited a slight chuckle from her. His words of reassurance gave her just a hint of hope, maybe it would be just enough.

“O-ok. What are we doing next?”

A scheming smile parted the bulbous jowls, then he gestured towards the audience around them.

“If you really want to be the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony, Anarchy, then you should be prepared for the responsibility of it all. Heh, I mean, ofcourse it would fun to stick-it to someone you perceive as a big ol’ bully. But Anny, you’ve got to think of the bigger picture my dear.”

“Bigger picture?”

“Why yes, look at all the creatures around you out there.”

He threw his panda arm around her, lifting her up while his manatee flipper waved to the crowd of ponies and draconequi. The crowd took this as another que to cheer, so the joyous sound rippled all around. Golden whispered down to her ear so that the crowd wouldn’t hear his next words.

“All this praise, all of this glory. It could be for you, and it could be genuine. But you’d have to earn it. You would have to think a step ahead to secure it.”

He sat down and placed her on a knee, then continued with the air of a mentor.

“Say Anny, even if you had just beat me. Have you thought about what you were going to do afterward? Have you thought about how the rest of the ponies and draconequi would react? Are you ready for an endless list of demands? Are you ready for countless interruptions of your personal time? Are you ready for everyone else to feel entitled to your power? Are you ready to hear every negative, condescending, inaccurate thing to be said about you? Are you ready to be blamed for everything?”

“Ok, ok, I-I get it.”

She made a nervous gulp. The line of questions caused her to become increasingly uneasy, squirming where she sat. Golden patted her on the back in a comforting manner, a warm smile spread across his broad features.

“Why don’t we go ahead and finish this then, what do you say?”

Anarchy was set back on her own hooves and was given space. She felt confused, but less afraid. Her stance was loose, and she let out a sigh.

“Alright, what are we doing?”

When he answered her, his voice turned into a boom again.

“In order test your readiness, I propose a simple evaluation… Sell yourself to the audience. Make them want you more than me.”

Her nerves spiked again, and her pupils shrank to pinpricks as she looked out at the crowd again.

“H-how?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll show you how. Then if you can get the crowd to cheer more for you, you’ll win.”

He gave her a wink, and she continued to fidget a little. Though the next move came to her as a surprise. There was a white flash of smoke, and a large bouquet of yellow tulips and daisies appeared in Golden’s paw, which he offered to her to right after.

It was a pretty bouquet, and there was something especially special about the flowers. Each little drop of dew sparkled like diamonds along the bright and cheery petals. After a brief hesitation, she reached out and accepted the gift. She mumbled out what only felt natural.

Illustration #4

“Th-thank you!”

“You’re welcome!”

The giant’s foot and his whale tail began to beat the ground in a rhythmic pattern. With a tap of his spoon, ambience permeated the air, and unseen instruments came in to compliment the large chimera’s beat. A charming chuckle reverberated from his generously sized chest, and his voice broke into melody.

It’s easy to see what’s going on here

You’re faced with something grand and its different

And you’ve began to question yourself

It’s cute!

It’s nice to see that youth is still transparent

A chuckle rippled through the crowd and Anny’s face fell, but the next moment she found her chin gently lifted up by a panda paw. Then she straightened as the large chimera corrected her posture with a few pokes and prods. He continued with a robust tap to the chest.

Take a deep breathe, and let’s begin

Yes, it’s really me, it’s Goldie, breathe it in

I know it’s a lot, the mane, the shine

When you’re staring at someone so sublime

He took as step back as he ran a paw through his mane, and struck a pose that just leaked narcissism everywhere. The changeling in the V.I.P. seats took a curious sniff… it smelled like fermented love a few eternities too old.

What can I say except you’re welcome!

For the gold, the food, the wine

Hey it’s okay, okay

You’re welcome!

I’m just a generous omnipotent guy!

With a wave of the great golden spoon food, drink and various objects of delight poured down amongst the crowd. The legendary draconequus himself began to float up and off the stage as danced around for the pleasure of the audience, who readily began to chant their appreciation in the background. Many of them stomping hooves or other appendages along with the beat.

Hey!

Who has the spoon that transformed the sky

When yall were muddling around

This guy!

When the land lost soul

Who came with the means to make you full

You’re lookin’ at em’ all

Oh, also I reigned in the weather

You’re welcome!

To brighten your days and make you comf-

Also I cured the sneeze

You’re welcome!

To calm your wails, and make you pleased

So what can I say except you’re welcome!

For the rivers of wealth at your feet

A simple thank you is plenty, what can I say

You’re welcome!

HA! I guess the pleasantry is just me being me!

You’re welcome!

Golden stopped his dance to drop back down to the stage, and leaned towards Anarchy, who clutched the bouquet very close to herself. The winds of enthusiasm had caught up to her and she tapped one of her hooves long with the catchy song. The giant proffered her to come close as if to tell her a secret.

Well, come to think of it girl

Honestly I could go on and on

I could explain every nicety and how we could get along

The sights, the spice, the sounds oh,

That was just Goldie makin’ his rounds

I get a feel

I cater your needs

You get a meal, I get credit for deeds

What’s the lesson

What’s the take-away

Things are much better when Goldie gets his way

And the litany you’ll hear from my kin

Is about the endless woes I’ve thrown in the bin

Just talk to them

I make everything happen

Look how they’re all just tippin’ and tappin’

As Golden Spoon make a great show it became true, and they tipped, tapped, and clapped along. The audience of many thousands all enthusiastically contributed with their hooves, paws or otherwise. A steady chant of you’re welcome had become quite infectious among them. Anarchy hadn’t even noticed how she had started to clap along, and even join the chant. So enraptured by the sights and sounds, it was such a happy crowd.

Just gimme an excuse to say, you’re welcome!

For the wonderful world I’ve shown

It’s okay, okay

You’re welcome!

Well, come to think of it, we’re winding up the show

Hey it’s your day to say you’re welcome!

Cause I’m gonna need that vote

Forever I’ll stay, I’ll stay

You’re welcome!

Cause Goldie does well anywhere, but alone

You’re welcome!

And thank you!

He finished with a magnificent bow, and the crowd spoke back as one. “No, thank YOU Goldie!” then everything broke into unorganized thunderous applause. For several minutes the crowd went on and on, the energy seemingly without end. After so long he was pleased with the attention, the oversized chimera swiveled on feet leaning down towards Anarchy.

“Well, it would be your turn to follow up. Are you ready?”

Anny look down to the bouquet she still held. It was such a simple gift, so seemingly innocent. She looked out at the crowd picking few individual faces, there was no hiding just how genuinely happy they looked. She felt her will power start to cave. How could she bring herself to spoil this?

“I-I can’t do it. You win Goldie.”

It was a quiet business as she shuffled off stage, making her way to the V.I.P. seats where her friends sat. The glorious blob of privilege and power remained still where it was, unmoved by the completion of the event.

All her friends looked confused, except for Sly who noticed the waft of internal dilemma. Mayham was the first to get up and speak to her.

“What happened Anny? Is he not giving you the chance to follow up?”

His paws began to curl into fists, but she quickly grabbed him to assuage that line of thought. She looked him in the eyes, then turned to the rest of the group as she voiced her concern.

“I’m not so sure I want to interrupt what’s going on here anymore. He asked me some questions up there and got me thinking...”

“What are you saying Anny?”

The question came from Tia, who looked from her to the smiling giant, her expression perplexed. The draconequus looked down, slightly ashamed.

“I gave up. Many of the ponies and draconequi here look like they really are happy. I don’t think I could do a better job than Golden Spoon.”

The equines shivered at that. As long as they’d known her, she’d never been one to self doubt. Many trying occasions over the last few years had accumulated plenty of evidence for that. This elicited a growl out of Mayham.

“Have you forgotten what’s going on outside of the city?”

“No, but, well, it wasn’t that bad was it?”

“Have you gone daft! GAW! Just-”

Mayham sighed, the scrunch of his brow had reached unusual depths, his stance became stern as he looked up to the stage.

“Take a seat Anny, I’ll do what we came here to do.”

His swan and raven wings beat to lift him away from the seats and carry him up to the stage. At this point the crowd had started to quiet down, some noticed the presence of a new draconequus and they eagerly muttered in excitement. What fun would be shown this time? Golden greeted the new arrival with his casual boisterous voice.

“We have our next challenger I see. Mayham if I do remember, ho-”

“Cut the pleasantries. I’m here to win. My challenge is sparring, first to faint loses.”

Some members of the crowed gasped at the interruption, and muttered variations of ‘how rude’. The broadly thick and thickly broad chimera didn’t seemed bothered by the abrasiveness at all. In fact he dropped his spoon off to the side, and cracked the knuckles of his paw. He took a fighting stance, an eager grin painted across his bulbous jowls.

“Begin when you wish.”

Without further invitation there was a blur, then a sonic boom exploded outward from the stage. The wave of a air was so intense it knocked ponies and draconequi out of their seats, hundreds of the creatures all tumbled over each other. The disorientation caused fear, and many started to panic. After a few of them regained their senses, they noticed Golden Spoon was nowhere to be seen, in fact the newcomer stood where the giant use to be.

“Holy bits, he killed him!”

The butterball in the crowd shouted, then there were rampant screams throughout, and there was a rush to escape from the amphitheater. A boom of a familiar voice caused them to stop where they stood however.

“CALM DOWN! I’M OKAY, I’m okay.”

From the horizon came a bloated figure, he closed the distance relatively quickly, and the tense audience held their breath, unsure of whether or not they would need to panic again. When Golden Spoon landed back on the stage every set of eyes gave him appraisal. He looked no worse for wear. Only a critical stare danced along his eyes as he addressed Mayham with a scolding tone.

“There’s no need to scare the poor audience like that. If you want to fight unrestrained I know just the place.”

Mayham titled his head, then spit on the ground.

“I was restrained.”

The fat chimera chuckled at that.

“Oh, I’m sure, I’m sure. But how about this.”

With a wave of a paw, a rift appeared in the air. Stars twinkled and grey stony plains could be seen through the gap. Golden continued in explanation.

“It’s a world in a dimension altogether separate from this one. One void of life. What do you say we spar there?”

Without a word Mayham flew up into the rift and into the new world. Golden turned to the crowd with a bow. Then he conjured up a large orb and cast it to a central location, mid air above the amphitheatre. He addressed them loudly.

“That is so you can all watch, safely.”

He smiled before he jumped up into the rift as well, which quickly sealed up after him. The great orb expanded so it was easily viewable to all.

“Beat em’ good Goldie!”

The vocal blobular pony shouted out.

“Get em’ good Ham!”

Tia, Lulu, Sly, and Discord called out adversarially. Anarchy started to nibble on the claws of her lizard hand, the uncommon expression of worry on her face.

Secure in a new location, the two draconequi stood a short distance from each other. It was a face-off blanketed in eerie tension. Mayham broke the stillness with an uncharacteristically wide smile, and spoke with a keen edge.

“I’ve waited for this for years…”

“I haven’t, but I don’t mind it popping up now. Really spices things up.”

In contrast to the serious, aggressively controlled excitement of Mayham, Golden rested easy on his two broad feet.

“You never take anyone seriously, but yourself! You won’t keep that attitude by the time I’m done with you.”

“Why should I until I’m proven otherwise. You know, for such a straight-to-business fellow, you’re being rather talkative.”

The smaller challenger clenched his jaw and hardened his stare. Why was he talking so much? That wasn’t what he was here for, and it was all the more reason he found Golden Spoon so vexing. Desperately needing to be put in place…

He took a step back, holding a very specific posture. His body partially curled, his paws clenched, and his wings spread wide, tail rigid in position.

“You said we can go unrestrained…”

“Why yes I did!”

“It was a statement! Not a question.”

“Whatever you say, go ahead and do your little power up or whatever you’re doing.”

Mayham’s eyes widened for a brief moment, did Golden already know what he was going to do? He shook his head as he decided it didn’t matter, he hadn’t been training for years just to falter now. So he started to growl as held his position and his entire body tensed.

The dust and stones nearby were blown about in an ethereal wind, and flashes of light began to rapidly emanate from his body. Soon the wind evolved into the roar of a hurricane, the previously star spattered sky was filled with spontaneous storm clouds. Lightning erupted between the plumes and columns, illuminating the violent changes to the nearby landscape.

Mayham’s growl exploded into a roar of noise that could be heard over the thunder and winds. His form became so bright, the audience back on the home world had to look away, lest they be blinded by his fury.

Then just as suddenly, the wind, the thunder, the roar, all ended. The ghostly clouds dissipated and the rocks torn from the ground fell carelessly back down. It took a little longer for the dust to settle, but when it did the two figures could still be seen standing opposite of each other, though one had radically changed.

Gone was the fur over all of Mayham’s skin, replaced instead with dark blue scaly plates. His dark brown mane lengthened and became neon pink. Pulsing blue veins erupted in the places between scales, and his eyes burned a bright yellow.

“Well looky there, is that the costume you bring to dance parti-”

Illustration #5

Optional Music - "The Ruler"

Golden didn’t finish as he was knocked at impossible speeds, and sent flying well out of the valley the two of them had stood in. Before he even began a downward descent, the dark blue figure appeared close by and struck a second time, sending the bulbous creature hurtling straight towards the ground. Mayham struck a third time, creating a crater with Golden’s body that exceed the width of the valley they just left.

To follow up all of that, his energy wracked claws pointed towards a nearby mountain, pulling it roots and all from its place of rest. Then with an exaggerated swing, he swung the mountain down like a ball and chain mace, straight into the place he had cratered Goldie into.

The collision was simply titanic, and the land was shattered for massive distances in every direction. The mountain crumbled under its own weight, fallingl into fragments larger than cities.

“Are you still feeling smug, you conceited jerk!”

He roared angrily at the mess he had made, and to the creature that was beneath all of it. For several long moments there was nothing but the sound of the land below crumbling over itself into landslides and avalanches. Mayham took several deep breaths, hesitation and anticipation crawled over his altered form.

“G-golden?”

“What a nice opener! Though I must say, you’re starting on such a small scale!”

The voice was ambient, and came from no particular direction, all that Mayham could understand was that the ground below became much brighter. With a sudden tectonic blast, the face of the world below ruptured, magma shot out into the skies to become a living tornado of Lava. On top of this hellish spectacle was the fat draconequus, who rode the endless flow of molten rock like it was another day at the beach.

“Turns out this world still has a spicy center!”

Before Mayham could even make sense of what he looked at, a large golden spoon smacked him in the middle of the chest with a resounding GONG! The hardened blue chimera ricocheted away into the heavens. Right up into the moon that glowed ominously among the stars. Shortly after the gong noise disappeared a wide crater ate up half of the face of the moon. Golden just chortled and commented for the audience watching from the other world.

“He sure likes to give a hit, but can he take one?”

Most of the audience just had their jaws dropped, some were crying, others laughing. But those in the V.I.P seats wore extremely stunned expressions. Well, at least the three equines did.

“Did you know he could do that? Is he going to be ok?”

Tia, Lulu, and Sly all turned to Anarchy, who blew some of her mane out of her face.

“Well, I knew he was up to something, all that time he insisted on not being bothered. Heh, now to think of it, I always thought he was acting repressed. And ya, I bet he’s gonna come right back.”

The ponies and changeling looked to Discord next, not even voicing the same question, it was in their eyes. The draconequus simply leaned back and shook his head, both his legs and arms crossed with disinterest.

“Why is everypony always so impressed with feats of width and breadth? Honestly, I thought Ham would have something a little more nuanced prepared. But if that’s all, then I think he’s in trouble. Golden has plenty of space to store magic in that frame of his.”

Sly, Lulu, and Tia just looked back at the placid surface above them, not wanting to potentially miss anything.

At first the movement they saw seemed like a crawl, but became more apparent in mere seconds. The moon Mayham had presumably launched into split into two pieces, like an orange cleanly cut in half, except this particular celestial orange littered space with countless millions of fragments of stone and dust.

“Ooo, where is this going?”

Golden clapped his flipper and paw together with interest. They all watched as one of the moon halves began to spin in a dizzying display. Rings of dust clouded the nothingness between the split moon and the world below, then it was launched like a missile. The scope was so large that for a while the only perspective was dark. The impact was too much to witness in one frame. Then came fire and a ghoulish glow, and the stars showed themselves once more.

The odd perspective carried them into the void beyond, where the crowd was able to see the broken remains of the planet and its moon. Trails of destruction tied the two together in an umbilical-like connection. It was fascinating as it was devastating to look at, and many members of the audience fainted as they tried to comprehend the display.

“You left us with no ground to stand on! This might get hard for the little ponies to follow!”

Golden’s voice could be heard extolling a light rebuke, whereas Mayham blustered with unforgiving harshness.

“This isn’t about them! It’s about you and me!”

Another planet could be seen in the distance, it had wide gorgeous rings orbiting its frame with heavenly elegance. That was until it was violently ripped away and used as a cosmological throwing disc.

The giant flat object sliced towards the place Golden’s voice emanated from. It continued forward and carried itself into the sun of the local system. Reactively, a long tendril-like solar flare erupted from the surface of the disturbed star. The planetary ring was consumed by its raging heat.

Rather than dissipate, the tendril of the solar flare kept on growing and lengthening. Eventually the star was tugged, then pulled from its location. The great ball of light and fire bowled over towards the ringless planet. It was consumed in a moment, along with the destuction of the solar system’s framework. Only the star remained alone. The laughter of Golden could be heard in its omnipresent form, amusement at the escalation clear in his voice.

Not to be out done, Mayham fed power into the star, and caused it to engorge uncontrollably. The coloration off its light went from yellow, to orange, to red, and it inflated with each shift in hue.

“She’s gonna blow!”

Golden’s voice echoed playfully, right before the star did just that. The crowd of ponies safe from the trauma in yonder dimension, got to see their first up close and personal supernova. However, most of them didn’t look, it was much too bright.

What members of the crowd weren’t huddling in fear, fainted, or overcome with other symptoms of overstimulation, got to bear witness to yet more absurd events.

Soon stars were being tossed around like tennis balls, as the two draconequi feuded with celestial bodies as their instruments. The perspective shifted and changed in order to accommodate the ever growing space the conflict spilled into.

Not long after they exhausted all the local stars of the region, they went further, and pulled the spiral arms of the galaxy apart, and applied them like whips, to lash and break apart the rest of the cosmological structure they occupied. Whatever the galaxy’s name was, it was no more after Golden and Mayham were done with it.

“Why don’t you yield!”

The dark draconequus broke the laws of physics and reality with his voice, as it carried the impossible distances to reach his opponent. The fat one replied with a taunting call,

“Just try harder!”

Mayham’s darkened tiger claw reached out in the universe and grabbed another galaxy, as his claws clenched into a ball, billions upon billions of stars collided and collapsed in on one another. As more stars fed into the center, it evolved into an abomination of gravity from which light could not escape. A mass that shouldn’t exist evolved under the tutelage of Mayham’s enraged magical pressures.

The relativity of time and space were meaningless as he hurled this object towards the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony, willing his tormentor to be subdued. However, Golden Spoon had also done similar with another galaxy, throwing his creation towards his opponent as well.

The resultant collision didn’t make any sense, and would be pointless to describe. Suffice it to say, that entire universe got wrecked.

Amid the all the nonsense of indescribable universal dynamics, Ham decided he was tired of using other objects as tools in this fight. They hadn’t worked, and likely none of them would. So, he resolved to use the last and greatest thing in his arsenal… He would punch Golden Spoon right in his smug face, with all the power of chaos he could muster into that single action.

Snaking between the broken fabrics of reality Mayham extended his clenched paw, he aimed with his thoughts more than his senses, then through the pure chaos of it all he felt contact. Golden’s panda paw collided with Mayham’s stretched out tiger fist.

In that touch was a moment of clarity, then the most intense experience of the challenging draconequus’s life.

Endless eternities of boundless forevers expanded, and expanded, and expanded. New universes sprang into existence, grew, developed, then died, while others lived on with no signs of stopping.

Sparks of creation with no particular purpose sprang everywhere that was anywhere, and filled all that was nowhere, and possibly somewhere. The spark of chaos that everything is, was, and could be flew through, around, in and out. Nothing was Mayham, yet everything was Mayham. No sane mind could experience this unchanged.

Suddenly the stupefied chimera plopped through a dimensional portal and face planted on the stage, back in the amphitheatre. Mayham drooled uncomprehendingly upon the ground, and gargled something nonsensical. Golden Spoon jumped out of the portal right after his opponent, and looked perfectly whole.

“You ready to keep going little Hammy boy?”

“Ggnruuuuwuueng.”

“I take that as a no.”

He prodded his opponent with his spoon, and Mayham reverted to his normal furry form. Anarchy hopped up on stage and seized her brother closely in her arms, she looked up to the corpulent giant with an accusatory scowl.

“What did you do to him!?”

“He’ll be just fine. Though he’ll probably spend the rest of the day comprehending the insanity he unleashed. Now, since we’ll have a block of time, would any other challengers like to step in?”

Golden smiled and looked pointedly at Discord, who sat nervously in his V.I.P. seat, squirming in a moment of uncomfortable silence, the pony next to him blurted in disorientation.

“What did I even see?”

Luna blinked numbly, and her observation was lamely acknowledged with weak grunts from Tia and Sly, all of whom possessed pupils shrunk so small, they didn’t even appear to be there.

Anarchy dragged Mayham off the stage with her, no further words escaped her lips as she tried to focus on relieving her brother’s malady. She quickly brushed through his messed up mane, and tried to hum soothing things into his ear, but nothing seemed to shake the madness locked in his eyes.

The sight shook Discord to the core, yet angered him at the same time. He wanted nothing else other than to bolt at the moment, but as his eyes lingered on the ponies, the changeling, his fellow draconequi… his friends.

“You do indeed, have one more challenger.”

Shakily, he rose from his seat and approached Golden. The giant leaned over so that he was on eye level with his newest challenger. The long tips of his blond mustache curled like vipers getting ready to strike. Discord’s short legs started to shake, the silence which Golden treated him to made him want to break again.

“You can do it Discy!”

The nervous chimera turned to see encouraging smiles from the ponies and changeling, he found his confidence within their eyes. Discord broke the silence with self asserted authority.

“I challenge you, Golden Spoon, for the title Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony. I have my proposition ready.”

At this point a large part of the audience had regained their senses, and peered nervously down to the stage. The last scene was quite a shock, most of them doubted they could handle another such performance. Golden, conscious of the crowds’ shaky resolve waved his flipper towards them, and created a soothing breeze.

“So, what’ll it be Discord? I expect something more thoughtful from you.”

“I have a riddle and I’ll give you one chance to answer it.”

“Oh, only once chance? You drive such a hard bargain, I have everything to lose, while you…”

Discord raised an eyebrow at that, then his tail swished with some excitement. He hadn’t quite thought of it that way before. Could the pompous giant actually have his own doubts?

“Yes one and only one. Or can the Great Golden One not out do a simple riddle?”

He splayed his arms wide in a total show of relaxation, then proceeded to strut back and forth in front of the stage. He voiced his next words loud and clear to taunt the audience as well.

“Has all the endless indulgence caused your mind to go as soft as your overgrown body?”

The brazen chimera finished his point by giving Golden’s gut a poke, and caused an unflattering ripple. Though Golden just laughed.

“T-trying to tickle me s-so I can’t answer straight? HeheHA! Well, spit it out.”

“Very well.”

Discord conjured up a stool, stepped on it with his hoof, then struck a comfortable pose leaning on his elevated knee.

I Never Was.

Am Always to Be.

No One Ever Saw Me,

Nor Ever Will.

And Yet I am The Confidence

of All Who Live and Breathe.

What am I ?

A smile spread across Golden’s bouncy jowls, then he clapped his front limbs together in respectful applause.

“You don’t disappoint me. Such a flavorful method to your madness. I’ll actually have to think about my answer.”

“Take all the time you need.”

For once, Golden wasn’t the draconequus wearing a smug grin on stage. Discord replaced the stool with a lounge couch, which he promptly flopped onto, while whipping himself up a little drink. He made sure to slurp extra loudly to mess with his opponent’s focus.

“Huh, do you know the answer to the that one Tia?”

Sly leaned over to ask her friend, in reply the white unicorn shook her head at a loss. Lulu voiced her thought in a loud jeer.
“HAHA! Discord will surely stump the oaf and break up this pompous brigade. Better days will surely follow!”

The blue unicorn stood up and stomped her hooves in enthusiasm, to which her sister and changeling friend caught on. Tia let out a loud whistle, and Sly’s wings hummed. Anarchy even looked from from cradling Mayham to smile at the thought.

“Better days to follow…”

Golden mumbled to himself as he looked over to the small crowd of support. The massive crowd was deadly quiet, so what Discord’s little fan club shouted was easily heard. As for the challenging chimera, he still appeared relaxed, and soaked up all the attention his little group gave him. He didn’t care to look over at the puzzled giant at all, secure as he was in victory now.

“Never was, always to be.”

The title defender stood up from his crouched thinking position, and continued to mutter.

“No one has seen, Nor ever will.”

The large spoon twirled between flipper and paw.

“Yet the confidence of all who live and breathe.”

The orca tail flopped up and down on the stage, knocking Discord slightly out of position, while spilling his drink a bit.

“Better days to follow.”

The rumble caused the relaxed self-assured Chimera to bolt upright, just in time to see the smugness return to Golden’s broad features.

“I must thank you, Lulu was it? This oaf here was about to be stumped, but that was brilliant stroke of inspiration.”

Discord immediate threw a look of betrayal towards Lulu, his mouth hung open and his eyes went wide as dinner plates. The blue unicorn stuffed a hoof in her mouth, and returned her friend's gaze with an apologetic one.

“I have my answer for you Discord.”

The Chimera looked up to his blond rival, and nodded apprehensively.
“The answer to your riddle is, Tomorrow.”

The lounge couch vanished, and Discord plopped his rump on the floor of the stage in defeat. His voice fluctuated wildly as he confirmed the result.

“T-that’s c-correct.”

“HOHOHAHA that was a very good, but I get the feeling things will just not work out for you buddy.”

Before the smaller draconequus could scurry away Golden scooped him up with a flipper, and noogied him with a paw.

“You know what, I’ll keep the last trial simple.”

The grandfatherly Chimera booped Discord on the snoot, while keeping him firmly pinned in the crook of his arm. Discord hated the demeaning cradling, it only got worse when the crowd began a symphony of laughter throughout the amphitheatre.

“We’ll play a simple game of tag, 10 minutes, anything goes. I win if I touch you with this spoon.”

The shiny utensil was flourished between the digits of his panda paw, then raised high for Discord to see easily.

“Got it?”

A large clock fell down in the middle of the Amphitheatre, at the same time the smaller draconequus was dropped. Golden bellowed out a deep belly laugh as he struck the clock with a metallic CLANG!

“Begin!”

Discord thought about giving up immediately, Anarchy did so when she thought she didn’t have a chance, he could do the same and save himself a torrent of humiliation… however, he looked up before resolving his decision, seeing the manifestation of power of the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony.

It had hovered there ever since Golden Spoon went over the rules. He immediately felt a tug of possessiveness for it, so at that moment he knew, he couldn’t give up this chance.

When Golden began a slow stride towards him, spoon out stretched ominously, Discord lifted his eagle claws and snapped them. A white flash blazed right before he disappeared, leaving the giant alone on the stage.

“Oh good, you decided to play. Now, for the audience so they can follow.”

Another splash of magic created a window in the middle of the air. After a moment of adjusting the dimensions and scope, Golden nodded satisfactorily then vanished with a pop.

Sly, and Tia both nibbled on the edge of their hooves in nervousness, their hopes for a win took a steep nose dive. Meanwhile Lulu bawled her eyes out and shouted in self reproach.

“IT’S ALL MY FAULT! M-ME AND M-MY LOUD M-MOUTH!”

“Hey, hey, don’t be so hard on yourself Lulu, none of us had a great chance anyway.”

Anarachy reached out and began to rub the pony’s back reassuringly. The shouting stopped, but she continued to blubber anyway. Eventually the little gang of friends looked into the window Golden left behind and watched the game of ‘tag’.

The scene had shifted to a blurry storm along a raging coast. A beaten light house blinked forlornly atop a hill. Lightning flashed threateningly between black clouds. One of the flashes revealed two draconequi flying around the curvatures of the hills, One large and rotund, the other sleek and swift, reminiscent of a whale chasing an eel.

One of the bolts of lightning came down and struck Discord on the tail, sending a sharp shock up his spine, an involuntary yelp escaped his throat. When he looked back, he saw Golden catching the arcs of light with his spoon and flinging them with gusto. The smaller chimera’s mind whirled, then he snapped his fingers and his body was instantly covered in a rubber suit. The next bolt of lightning dissipated harmlessly, causing Discord to laugh and blow a raspberry at the fat Chimera.

“HA! Who’s laughing now!”

Discord spoke too soon, as a tornado descended upon him. It was no natural tornado, for it picked him up then threw him on the ground. It repeated the process over and over.

“HAHAHA! Why I believe it’s me.”

Golden plopped down next to the tornado and waved his spoon to dissipate it. The rubber suite was stripped off of the utterly disoriented Discord, who proceeded to vomit violently on the ground. Patiently, Golden waited for his prey to balance his senses, polishing his utensil meanwhile. When Discord came to, only to see the conceited giant wait for him, he let out a howl of frustration and snapped both paws at once. Simultaneously opening another portal for him to slip into, while hurling an unpleasant surprise at his pursuer.

The next moment changed the scenery drastically, instead of raindrops and lightning strikes, the sky poured forth skunks and porcupines by the millions. Stinking screeching missiles pelted and smeared across the fat draconequus, who nodded appreciably at the rude gesture. None of this deterred him, as repulsive as it was, so the chase resumed. Only now, Golden began to chant, a chant which carried his voice across time, space, and dimensions.

I must admit,

Your parlor tricks are amusing

The two draconequus were now in a land where there was nothing but millions of peaches, peaches flying for free. Discord attempted to hide inside of a particularly large cluster that floated along, but his tail hung out treacherously. Golden loafed over to the pile and yanked on the red dragon tail attached to it. Held upside down like a ragdoll, Discord managed a sheepish smile.

Illustration #6

I bet you’ve got a fruitcake,

In your mane

The caught draconequus paused reaching behind his head, changed tactics and shrank down many sizes, so that he easily fell out of Golden’s grip. His wings beat furiously, sounding like a fly as he tried to escape.

Now here's your chance

To get the best of me,

Hope your paw is hot!

A land of endless checker board spanned to the horizon in every direction, blobs of water and fire hopped between the light and dark spaces, occasionally colliding with a hiss and whoosh of steam. Discord resumed his normal size as he weaved between the hot and cold obstacles around him, unfortunately he made a misstep and placed his lion paw right into one of the fire blobs. His yowl of pain was quickly silenced as an icy blob of water splashed into him. The drastic changes caused him to growl in frustration and snap his eagle claws.

C’mon Clown,

Let’s see what you’ve got!

The checker field, along with the fire and water blobs were replaced by a field of soap and beachballs. The ground shook as Golden fell down on his rump, his own gravity causing him to slide without end. Discord capitalized on the moment of surprise by making a hundred copies of himself, all of which grabbed a beach ball and formed a circle. Golden spoon was bounced around like a pinball between groups of Discords. The giant just laughed as he slid around in the trap.

You can try to bump me with your bounciest stuff,

But your double whammy is just a bluff.

A bunch of needles shot out in a spray, popping all the beachballs. The giant of a chimera kept sliding, then bowled through several of Discords like lane pins. Dizzy discords all fell back into their original creator, which left only the one.

I’ll set standard the straight,

You’ll never get in shape,

You’ll have a pathetic fate.

The dizzy chimera shook his head till he could see straight again. The fields of soap were gone, and now they were in the midst of a steaming jungle. A hot geyser bubbled underneath shortly before Discord was launched high in the air, through a flock of exotic birds, finally stopping in a loaded raincloud. His paws clutched at his scorched backside. Tired of being burned around every other corner, he whipped up a thicker hide for himself, turning into a nimble little dragon. He would give the burn for a change, so he dove down to where he thought Golden would be and blew out a gout of flame.

You think your lizard’s hot,

But your dragon’s lame.

A giant golden dragon erupted out the midst of the jungle, looking down on the little intruder with a hungry glare. A much more substantial gout of flame blew Discord away like a leaf in the wind. The jungle disappeared and they were amidst a grand library, where columns of books lined high as mountains. The draconequus resumed his old form, and tumbled through piles of paper and cardboard.

You’ve got a lot to learn about the chaos game,

So for your education,

I’ll reiterate,

This path will bring you a pathetic fate!

Eventually the tumble slowed and came to a stop. As Discord righted himself the books moved and scattered away from him like a swarm of mice. Everything became dark, save for a spotlight immediately around him. He looked around confused and afraid, when the darkness lightened into visible levels he saw he stood on a flipper, an oversized manatee flipper. Golden had increased his own size many times over to look down on him.

Creatures cower, at the power in my flipper,

My spoon simply rules over them all.

The flipper turned sideways as Discord was unceremoniously dumped down into a large bowl. Where he spun around and round like a ball going down a drain.

But if you’re not convinced that I’m invincible,

Put me to the test!

I’d love to put these vain hopes to rest.

A hole appeared in the center of the bowl and whistled as it sucked in the air like a hungry mouth. Discord uncurled in time to avoid falling into the abyss, then tried to scamper up the edges of the bowl as best he could. Golden chortled as he raised a giant pitcher and poured its contents down over his opponent, which caused him to slip under the torrent of liquid. Discord was flushed away.

Within a moment there was a burst of light and a soaking draconequus popped up next to Golden Spoon, a scowl was etched over his long face and a fire hose was clutched between his paws. The lever was pulled and the hose blasted the fat draconequus with a stream of undiluted chaotic magic. The bloated creatures body began to warp in all kinds of weird ways, shrinking to the size of sparrow one moment, growing as big as a whale the next, all while intermittently exploding in a shower of sparks and static shocks.

Go ahead and shock me with deception and guise!

Blow me up,

Til I'm vaporized!

I’ll make a great escape

C'mon its already getting late,

You’re digging your own pathetic fate!

Golden snapped out of the distortions and plugged Discord’s fire hose with giant cork. The smaller draconequus panicked as the trunk of the hose backed up and exploded. The world around turned into an unstable mass of undulating colors and shapes, nothing sticking to its current form for long. Amidst it all Golden continued to jeer, as he poked, bumped, and prodded Discord into every unpleasant circumstance imaginable.

You know, your imagination

Isn't tough enough

And your spontaneity

Doesn't measure up

Let me pontificate

Upon your sorry state

You’ll spin a rather tragic fate!

They were back in the amphitheatre now, and Discord could hear the roar of laughter thrown his way. He was sprawled out on the ground and looked up at all the ponies, draconequi, and other creatures that jeered and mocked his humiliated position. He started to shake and tremble. Originally Discord thought he wouldn’t mind it, be able brush it off. However, living in the moment made him realize he gravely misjudged his ability to take it.

In desperation he looked for comfort from his friends in the V.I.P seats, surely they would give him some reassuring signals, but as his eyes locked onto them he saw the last thing he wanted. THEY WERE LAUGHING TOO! And there! Anarchy just looked at him, and pointed towards him with her thumb, then all the equines started to wave. All wearing wide smiles.

In such a vulnerable moment, Discord’s beleaguered mind interpreted this as mockery. How could any of them look at him with a smile when he was in such a state! Before he could completely resolve himself to be completely defeated and crushed, Golden rounded up the last of his song.

It’s been so much fun

To discombobulate

Time to send you tracking

With all your sorry mates

You'll make a better living

Juggling fruity dates

Enjoy your joke of a fate!

The giant picked up his smaller opponent, whipped him around like a lasso, then casually tossed him over into a wheelbarrow, which dumped him dejectedly off the stage. The laughter of thousands continued relentlessly, a never ending torrent of shame and disgrace.

For a while, Golden Spoon was content to let the crowd continue in its revelry, but eventually he turned his attentions back to Discord laying in the isle. He scooted himself over to the edge of the stage and took a seat.

“Oh, why the long face Discord? Disappointed you didn’t make it?”

There was still a minute left on the clock, but the fallen draconequus didn’t have the energy or bearings to try anymore. He felt defeated on every level. He barely paid any heed to the words of the giant, but he had enough to spit out some bitter words.

“I would have made a better Spirit of Chaos than you.”

“Clearly you think so, otherwise you wouldn’t have challenged me. Neither would Anarchy or Mayham have done so."

Golden slowly scratched the underside of his neck as he added more weight to his tone.

"However, the more important thing to think about is whether they would mind you winning and lording over them? Or vice versa. Are you so sure you know they’ll never grow tired of you, or you of them? Once you’ve got that power to juggle around, how could you even deal with each other fairly? Would things really remain the same between you?”

Discord looked over to his ‘friends’ once more, and saw that they were still laughing, but only amongst each other at this point. His paws curled up as he felt hurt and betrayed. Golden deviously mumbled on.

“You know, there’s only ten seconds left on that game of tag. I’ll give you a premium chance to answer those questions right now, generous as I am feeling today. Think carefully about what you want to do, Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony…”

Discord’s eyes went wide as he looked back at the clock, the second hand counted down to the final moments.

5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

In utter disbelief he watched as the manifestation of Chaos and Disharmony shifted from its position above the stage, and shot straight down into him. Light flashed bright white before it disappeared, bedazzling the crowd and causing the laughter to come to a stop. The onlookers started to voice concerns when they didn’t hear an announcement from Golden Spoon.

“W-what’s going on?”

Then Laughter, sinister laughter came from the stage. It had none of Golden’s flair to it, no, it was very solipsistic. There was a loud snap and the draconequi littered throughout the amphitheatre started to turn grey from their heads down. All the carefree joviality disappeared, and after their individual transformations were complete they vanished.

Within moments not a draconequus was left in sight, save Anarchy, Mayham, and Golden Spoon. Anny was shocked and her eyes bugged out as she felt herself changing, right before she disappeared with pop along with her brother.

Golden Spoon turned silver and wore a smile even as his hue changed, right before he disappeared he gave an obvious wink over towards Sly, Tia, and Lulu. All of whom were extremely shocked and confused.

“DISCORD?!”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QezKufOlATM

---

(Crystal Empire - Modern day - Peak of the palace )

Crone’s multi colored glasses fell off her snout midway through Mayham's performance, she had been groaning on the ground ever since. The glasses had done nothing to dampen the absurd display, if anything they magnified it. Meanwhile Shellish held both hooves over her agape mouth.

"He didn't even ask why they were laughing! H-he just went and did that!"

"MY EYES!"

Shellish noticed Crone was rather prone from the corner of her eye, so she peeled off her muffling equipment. Immediately her eyes opened ever wider when she noticed the glasses next to the stunned changeling.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to give you the 3-D glasses!"

She immediately went over to pat the top of Crone's head, as well as reassuringly rub her back. The overly stimulated protege didn't try any sudden movements, but groaned painfully up to the older royal.

"Just send what information we got to Chrysalis, I'm going to see if I can crawl to bed before I develop a seizure."

"Can I help you with that?"

"No! And don't think about using magic to help me... Just send the message."

Before Shellish could insist on some kind of assistance, Crone began a slow army crawl towards the stairs, slinking away like a punished animal.

Thinking better of challenging Crone on her demand, Shellish bit her lower lip and opened a telepathic communion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PE3UH4ifehM

Ch.70 "Dirty Old Secrets"

View Online

Chrysalis Wins

Ch.70 “Dirty old Secrets “

Celestia and Luna landed hastily outside their destination, Shy’s country home. The older alicorn led the way, bursting through the door and calling out her friend's name.

“Shy! Shy are you here?”

Luna slowly walked about the place, carefully studying the various features, while Celestia bolted from room to room only to make a frustrated huff every time she found it empty.

“Why did you never introduce me to this Shy? Why is she so important Harmony would send us her way directly Tia?”

“There were a hundred other things to get you oriented with Lulu. Quite frankly I don’t know why Harmony would direct us here, you know how she is.”

“Yes… she can be rather cryptic.”

In less than a minute the entire house had been checked. Unfortunately there was no sign of anypony, so the sisters converged in the living room to have a think. They sat beside each other on the couch, idly eyeing the mantelpiece and all of the portraits there on. Two of them pictured Celestia and Shy together, one backdropped in Canterlot the other in Manehattan.

“Where else could she be?”

Luna questioned, taking her eyes away from the mantle and to her sister’s face. The older Alicorn placed her fore hooves together and rubbed them slowly, her gaze falling to the floor. A moment of silence held in the air before Celestia took a breath, readying to speak. However, another voice interrupted her and filled the room.

“Oh, I know exactly where she is. I also know why you should have found her.”

Celestia’s and Luna’s eyes bolted to the corner of the room where they saw an old chimera resting in an armchair. Both of them immediately tensed at the presence of their ancient rival. Celestia growled at him.

“What have you done Discord?”

“Come on Celestia, seriously, when has a scolding tone ever helped your case? You really should learn to care a little less, just go with the flow… like you used to.”

The alabaster princess ground her teeth, angered past words. She thought about doing something physical, even if it would be a fruitless effort. Moving quickly, Luna butted before her sister could escalate things.

“You’re one to talk. Triggered into madness for but a little laughter, weren’t we.”

Discord narrowed his eyes at the Night Princess, knowing exactly to what she referred. His lion claws and eagle talons started to dance off each other in a practiced rhythmic beat.

“Yes, I’m one to talk, especially when it comes from little stuck ups that preach about the importance of friendship! But why should I care, I never had any friends anyway, I only ever met some cons that made me think I did.”

He jumped up from the armchair and began to pace around the living room. Slowly he circled the ponies on the couch, while playing with his beard thoughtfully. Luna sighed as she watched the Spirit of Chaos complete several circles.

“Can you please stop being so frustratingly obstinate! We explained this several times already. We weren’t laughing at you to be mean, we wer-”

Discord shushed her by putting his paw to her mouth.

“You don’t have the full picture Luna. I recently refreshed my own perspective and it only made the picture clearer. Ironically, I actually came here to do the most friendly thing to happen between us in centuries.”

The last line caught both mares’ attention very closely, their wings reflexively started to extend in high alert. The draconequus smiled widely.

“Oh, and don’t think of this as a favor, rather I’ll just be unveiling somepony else's curtain. I much prefer thinking of it that way.”

His paw snapped, causing both Celestia and Luna’s eyes to glow a bright green. The natural structure of their irises and pupils turned into spaghetti as ancient spellwork applied over the centuries became unraveled.

Memory after memory flashed back and forth in their minds, living years within moments. The ponies fell back in their seats, convulsing uncontrollably as the magic wracked their consciousnesses.

Discord took a step back, whistling with satisfaction at his work. Within a few moments he decided to go for a stroll out of the house. As he reached the door frame he had to stoop his tall serpentine figure, leaving the two mind blasted princesses to endure their ‘refreshed perspectives’. Once outside he stretched in a long gratuitos fashion. When he looked up he saw blue skies and a shiny sun.

“My what a dreary day, I’ll need to fix that.”

Two locks of fur on his tail snapped against each other. Instantly the sky started to fill with ravioli shaped clouds, which alternated their hue randomly. Shortly after the sky was obscured it began to rain.

Seamlessly he pulled out an umbrella made of licorice, blocking out the cherry-red downpour. Curiously he held out a paw and let it soak a little, then put the wetted digit to his mouth.

“Mmm, colored like cherry yet flavored like grape. Oh, I do enjoy surprising myself.”

The draconequus began a casual stroll down the country side, just enjoying how the place changed before his eyes. Then he stopped and stood a little straighter.

“Hmm, I suppose there’s no hurt in taking some extra precaution.”

Another snap conjured hundreds of burlap sacks filled to bursting with a dark mixture. Each of the sacks was labeled -Plunder Vine Fertilizer-. Discord began to whistle again as he continued his stroll, each of the summoned bags moved around of the own volition and exploded once they gained enough distance from each other.

“Enjoy thinking dear princesses! You’ll have plenty of time.”

He called out before Shy’s home disappeared from view, then he burst into hysterical laughter.

---

In Manehattan

Sombra and More became enveloped by the memory shard, its greenish glow shifting as it reflected another period of time. The stallion took a deep breath as he observed the changes.

“I hope you’re not wasting my time, becau-”

“Oh shush, this is a refresher you desperately need. Our conversation has only convinced me more. Besides,”

More interrupted Sombra much to his disgruntlement, as well as playfully throwing him a wink. Such audacious forwardness caused him to roll his eyes, but also impressed him enough to refrain from a sour retort. The changeling wrapped up her last words just as voices echoed from history.

“I think you’ll rather enjoy it.”

---

-Long ago in the distant past-

“I met an interesting pony today.”

Sly reminisced while she lay on a bed in canterlot castle, one of her hooves absentmindedly played with a lock of her foxy mane. She bit her lower lip for a moment while she thought.

“Hmm, I suppose like most things it would be easier to show you.”

With a casual swipe Sly caused the scene to shift.

---

In the hilly wilderness of Equestria

A yellow pegasus hit the ground, freshly deprived of her cutie mark and all the magic of her tribe. She trembled in exhaustion and fear as a red-black centaur loomed over her. A harsh bark escaped his maw as he gloated with self righteous conviction.

“Such magic is wasted on whelps like you.”

He circled slowly as his stare intensified, causing the little mare to yelp and curl herself into a ball. She cried at her helplessness, but the demon cared not and continued his musing.

“What could Scorpan have seen in such pathetic mongrels.”

“He saw friends.”

A burst of light emanated from a nearby hillside, heralding the appearance of Celestia, Luna, Sly, and an entourage of royal guard made of both ponies and changelings. The centaur glared in shock and anger at their appearance, but he quickly put two and two together.

“He betrayed me! He betrayed me to pony wretches!”

The equines charged forward as one unit, prepared to overwhelm their sizable foe in a mad rush. In desperate response Tirek charged his magic and slammed the ground with his fists, causing the earth to shatter and making all the guards lose their grounding. Several spires of stone also erupted skyward and disrupted the flight path of the pegasi and changelings. The princesses just blew through the obstacles, undeterred from their goal.

All of it was only a distraction as the centaur bolted away from his aggressors, he knew he couldn’t win this fight so he tried the only thing he could, run. A nearby cave mouth provided an opportunistic path, so he veered straight for it. His anger boiled as he sprinted, causing him to bellow with rage.

“I’ll destroy him for this!”

The princesses weren’t stopped by the pillars of stone, but they were slowed, so they didn’t catch Tirek before he entered the cave mouth. Their pursuit was brought to a screeching halt as another explosion of magic caused the cave mouth to collapse, immediately bringing frustrated curses from Celestia, Luna, and Sly.

“TARTARUS CONFOUND IT!”

Luna screamed with her volumetric voice. This made the stones rumble but failed to remove them as a barrier. Without speaking Celestia began to seize great chunks of debris with her magic and toss it out of the way.

“He is not getting away, not after his crimes.”

Celestia’s voice was cold and determined, her approach to the situation methodical. Sly tried to assist as best she could, though her specialty didn’t lie in brute force.

“Don’t worry Lulu and Tia, we’ll find him. Then we’ll exact restitution for the victims.”

All of the ponies and changelings at hoof worked doggedly at the mountain of rubble, each gaining resolve from the example of their leaders.

Not long into their dig all of them felt the earth tremble again, something ground beneath them as the fallen rocks and stones shifted of their own accord. The eyes of the guard widen with surprise and fear, none of them knew what to expect.

“Back away, it could be another trick!”

Everypony and changeling obeyed the order from Celestia as they scampered a healthy distance from the rubble. It wasn’t a moment too soon as bright red crystals exploded outward from between the stones. The rumbling intensified and shortly after Tirek burst out of the cave, clearing the way of debris completely.

Blinking in comprehension, they quickly evaluated the battered state of the centaur had acquired. Dark blood stained his normally bright crimson skin and made his black fur glossy. One of his eyes had swollen painfully shut from an impact he hadn’t seen coming.

Neither the Alicorns or changeling Princess thought long about his appearance though, such a golden opportunity couldn’t be passed up. Three concussive blasts of magic knocked the already shaken centaur off his hooves.

Immediately afterward dozens of royal guards piled upon Tirek to secure him with every magic restraining device at their disposal. Germane-crafted cuffs and chains were quickly wrapped around his entire bulky frame.

Once the primary quarry was secured, each of the royal equines turned curiously towards the cave mouth, admiring the red crystals that aided them so. Before they went to explore what may have caused it, a rough looking stallion staggered out of the cave. His coat was a dark grey and his mane a jet black.

He gave them all a wide smile despite the bruising and cuts he sported.

“Bombastic fellow that one.”

The alicorns gave the stallion an incredulous look. He was eye level with Luna and only a bit shorter than Celestia herself. Such stature was unseen except among clydesdales, though this stallion didn’t have the build of one. Strangest of the features was his curved red horn and pointed teeth. With a mixture of surprise and caution Luna inquired of him first.

“Are you the one that drove Tirek out of the cave?”

“I am. He could have easily disappeared in the labyrinth of tunnels down there, but I figured he would try to escape that way. All of you did a good job of driving him right towards my trap.”

Luna just gawked, then pointed an accusatory hoof at the stranger while deliberately eyeing Celestia and Sly.

“Sly, Tia! Did either of you hire a mercenary without my knowledge?”

“No!”

Both of them quickly replied and eyed the stranger as well. The stallion made a respectful bow as he answered the question himself.

“I was not hired for this princess. I am a foreigner to these lands myself. However, I did acquire knowledge of Tirek’s ill intent and sought to aid the situation before I could notify any of you properly.”

“Foreigner? Where from?”

It was Celestia who inquired next, her tone was much softer than her sister’s. The stallion obliged her question as he stood upright.

“It is a land far south of here, those living there refer to it as the Tams.”

“The Tams? I have not heard of such a place.”

“As I said it is far from here, it probably doesn’t help that the location actually moves from time to time.”

He gesticulated with a hoof, pointing this way and that for emphasis. Luna just raised an eyebrow at this and continued with suspicion.

“So what, pray tell, brings you here? At such an opportune time no le-?”

“Lulu! There’s no need to be so pushy.”

Sly butted in before Luna could continue interrogating. The changeling strode up to the stallion and offered him her hoof.

“I’m sorry, but we should have asked this first, what’s your name daring stranger?”

Graciously he took the offered hoof, placing a gentle kiss on it before letting go.

“Sombra.”

---

Canterlot, shortly after making Sombra’s acquaintance

“He’s definitely and interesting one, I’ll have to get to know him better.”

Sly rolled around on her guest bed until she was on her back. Her fore hooves tapped together as she plotted something.

“I’ll have to invite him to here to castle. I don’t think Tia or Lulu would mind that either.”

She rolled over onto her belly and looked right into the well.

“I’ll check in after that happens”

---

Several weeks after imprisoning Tirek and making Sombra’s acquaintance, in the canterlot throne room.

“You’ll be able to ferry hundreds of ponies at a time, as well as tons of cargo for shipments. Needless to say, this will drastically change the functionality of the kingdom.”

Sombra stood over several schematics he laid over a broad meeting table. The Alicorns and Princess Sly looked at them with deep interest. Apparently Sombra had originally come to their lands with entrepreneurial endeavors, showing them this marvel of engineering called a ‘railway’.

“You say it could take hundreds across the breadth of Equestria in a single day?”

Luna leaned over the table with wide eyes, her tail wriggling excitedly. The initial suspicion she had treated him with had since melted away. Each occasion they had met only increased her intrigue. This feeling became mutual between each of the royals present.

Sly looked into Sombra’s eyes with rapt attention, her wings fluttering in excitement.

“It could even go between the Crystal Empire and Canterlot in that time?”

“Without a drop of magic.”

He smiled suavely back at them. Celestia commented with more tempered interest as she looked over the various plans.

“They teach curious methods at this ‘Tams’.”

“They definitely encourage innovation, which I enjoy taking to heart. However, the better news is that I can have it constructed to completion within a few months. Do I have you convinced?”

He looked between each of the rulers of the kingdoms, his confidence impeccable. Sly shivered a little when he locked eyes with her. She couldn’t help but smile as she answered.

“You have me convinced. The Crystal Empire would certainly be willing to invest in such a project.”

She turned to the Alicorns, who whispered among themselves before they turned and nodded in unison. Sombra smiled his charming smile as the schematics were rolled up for storage.

“I promise you won’t be disappointed.”

His eyes lingered on Sly before he turned to leave.

---

Sly’s room in the Crystal empire

“Not only is he strong with great initiative, he’s so smart and persuasive.”

Sly was on her back resting against some pillows, with one of the fluffy objects clasped tightly between her forelegs. She held a deep blush on her freckled cheeks as she continued to snuggle with herself.

“He’ll be up here in a few weeks and I just can’t stand the wait. I want to show him around, I think he’ll get along just great with mom too. I know she’ll be impressed with him.”

She looked up to the ceiling, where a fresco painting of her family resided. Her eyes lingered on the largest figure there. The water-colored Avalanche looked back at her with a perpetually fond expression.

“I know you’d like him too dad.”

Sly rolled over and looked into the well, a tired smile embedded in her countenance.

“I think I’ll have plenty to add after Sombra comes.”

She yawned, then swiped at the well.

---

Crystal Empire, balcony of the palace, shortly after the railroad’s completion.

“This is a marvelous city.”

It was late into the evening and the various crystals glowed like stars across the empire. From the homes to the streets it all mirrored the sky like a placid lake. Sombra and Sly both rested their forelegs on the railing of the balcony as they looked over it all. A small distance remained between the two. The princess sighed leisurely as she responded to his remark.

“I think so too, even after years I’ve never gotten tired of the sight.”

“Mmm, would you mind if I suggested some possible changes?”

Sly’s gaze pulled away from the vista, her golden eyes turned to the stallion beside her. Her long fox-like tail curled with poise as she replied with mock incredulity.

“You’ve only been here a week and you already want to improve it?”

Sombra mimicked her tone as he scooted closer to her.

“I thought your kind had thoroughly embraced adaptability, is there nothing in your life you’d like to change?”

The changeling dropped her mocking tone for a silly grin, she responded to the pony’s approach by scooting even closer. Their elbows knocked together as she slyly continued the conversation.

“Maybe.”

The stallion shifted and bumped the side of his body against hers.

“Possibly?”

That just got Sly to giggle as she leaned her head over to rest on his shoulder.

“I suppose I could try some change.”

Sombra rested his head on top of hers as both of them looked over the nightly spectacle once more. This time Sly could feel the words climb from the stallion’s chest to his mouth.

“So could I.”

---

Sly’s room in the Crystal empire

The burnished changeling lay on her side, her eyes closed in an expression of bliss.

“Where do I even start. So much has happened in the last few weeks.”

The warm smile on her face deepened and her hind legs kicked weakly in playful afterthought. Her eyes opened enough to reveal thin yellow lines as she looked directly into the well.

“He’s really taken a liking to the city, the crystal heart in particular seems to have captured his fascination. He couldn’t stop going on and on with ideas about it. It really hit the right note with my mom too. She’s taken a better liking to him than I expected. I suppose that sums up the last few weeks nicely, much better than I imagined they would be…”

Soft joyful laughter rang from her, even as she bashfully raised a hoof in front of her lips. She rolled around and spread her limbs into a snow angel pose. The new position had her facing the ceiling again and she pondered the figures there.

“Hmm it might be soon, but I think I’d like to introduce you all the same. At this rate it was going to happen eventually. Commemoration day will be as good as any.”

The air of whimsy left Sly as she continued to look at the painting above her, a more somber tone slowly crept over her and the angel pose wilted.

“In a few days.”

---

In the hills next to the Crystal Empire

It was rainy that day, as it was every year. The sky was shaded by clouds as the scheduled weather climbed north from Equestria. The droplets of water were a mimicry of tears as they soaked the land into a sullen mood.

Five figures sat in a private amphitheatre, just outside of a sepulcher. The tallest among them was Empress Crafty, her frame was struck with melancholy as she held closed eyes and a hoof over her heart. Celestia and Luna were to her left, both of whom were solemn as they stared at a crystal statue featured just outside of the sepulcher, it was a striking depiction of the deceased Avalanche.

To Crafty’s right sat Sly and Sombra. The changeling princess struggled to hold back tears as her eyes rested upon her father’s memorial, memories of that day refreshing themselves in her mind. The dark stallion next to her silently ran a hoof up and down her back in reassurance, while he held an umbrella to shield them from the rain.

“We shall never forget the day he saved us from Archway.”

Luna spoke loud enough for the small group to hear, her voice filled with gratitude. Celestia followed on her sister’s comment.

“Or the sacrifice he made to hinder the windigos.”

A small chuckle surprised the whole group and all eyes turned towards Crafty.

“I know just what he’d say, ‘Stop all the praise, you’re just tryin’ to make me soft’.”

The impression Crafty did of the cantankerous voice elicited a few humored snorts, then the Empress turned to the alicorns next to her.

“Thank you for your gift of weather Tia and Lulu.”

“It's always our pleasure.”

“Though maybe for next year we can do with a sunny day. I know we’ve always done rain to reflect the mood Sly and I usually feel, but I think a change in tone may be more appropriate. Avalanche wouldn’t want us to mope on his day.”

“We can certainly arrange that.”

Both pony sisters voiced in unison, which caused Crafty to smile.

Sly couldn’t hold back the tears as they began to flow freely down her cheeks, an involuntary hiccup caused her body to shake. She spoke with an unsteady voice as she was occasionally interrupted by a hiccup spasm.

“Y-you’re right mom, h-he’d just say to s-stand proud. -hic- R-remember to put the swarm first.”

The princess choked up and turned to bury her face against Sombra, who readily accepted her into an embrace with one foreleg. Sly unreservedly cried on his shoulder as he whispered quiet comforts into her ear.

Crafty looked down on the pair with endearment, her eyes briefly met with Sombra’s and she gave him a light nod of approval. The Empress turned to whisper to the alicorns and after a brief exchange they nodded and stood up. Three of the equines departed, which left the stallion and crystal Princess alone.

The rain slowly lightened and the clouds wore a little thinner, brightening the atmosphere ever so slightly. Eventually Sly’s sorrow began to even out as well, and she mumbled so only Sombra could hear.

“I-I think you’d have g-gotten along with h-him.”

“Judging from everything I’ve heard I believe so. I find the conviction he had to serve his subjects very admirable.”

“Heh, he’d never l-let you forget it.”

The two of them remained there quietly for some time, simply enjoying each other’s company. Eventually the rain stopped and the clouds started to clear, by that time the sun fell near the horizon.

Sombra gave the Princess a quick kiss on the top of her head and stood up. He beckoned her to follow him and they departed from the sepulcher.

---

- Sly’s room in the Crystal empire, many months past Avalanche’ commemoration day

Sly sat at her desk, her face was beet-red and an unshakeable smile had been forged across her lips. She slowly traced hearts over the surface of her mahogany desk as she spoke dreamily.

“Last night was… wonderful.”

Indecision briefly bounced in her eyes and she stopped tracing hearts.

“Should I share it?”

The thoughtful stupor was brief and her hoof went back to its curvy rhythm. She bit her lower lip as she looked into the well with lowered eyelids, she blinked her long eyelashes a few times flirtatiously.

“I don’t care who sees this, I want to make sure I never forget.”

---

In a private dining room within the Crystal Palace.

Candle light fluttered over a table set for two. Wine glasses containing a special blue cocktail rested near their respective owners, both were nearly used up. The stirring serenade of an orchestra could be heard faintly, a large performance for the whole empire had been organized for that night.

Though the revelry was far from the minds of two particular equines, both of whom were far more occupied with each other. No word escaped either pair of lips as they simply marveled in each other’s eyes. Though their gazes quickly roamed to other places, each soaking in the mutual display they had put on for this occasion.

Sly was encased in an elegant green gown with sprite patterns intricately woven into the features. A decorative feathered trim went about the lengths. Her crimson mane was tied into a careful braid, leaving just enough to frame her face with curled bangs. A necklace of gold and jade hung snugly around her neck.

Sombra wore a trim coat that was measured with exactness. His normally wild mane had been tamed slightly for the evening and his sideburns cut to an angle. Onyx cuff-links glistened along his wrists and a platinum collar braced his neck.

Both of them wore cologne and perfume respectively, their aromas mingling and tingling each other pleasantly. Despite their formal appearances, they were both sporting flushed faces and greatly dilated pupils. It was only a natural effect from both the drink and the company.

Slowly Sly seized her glass and stealthily took a sip, before she could finish she was struck by a spontaneous giggle. Sombra didn’t treat his glass so daintily, the rest of his drink disappeared in a quick draft and was placed down with vigor. His eyebrows did a small dance as he hummed suggestively. Sly started to laugh, even though it wasn’t terribly funny. Time and atmosphere had simply placed her in high spirits.

Her burnished brown hoof reached out to the middle of the table as she left it open invitingly. His dark grey one extended in answer and they seized each other. For a few moments the two just shared firm contact, then Sombra’s eyes roamed over to the empty floor space and his face lit up with an idea.

With a gentle tug the stallion rose from the table and led his partner out to the open space in the room. A hopeful smile danced along the changeling’s lips as she allowed herself to be directed. They soon came to a stop and Sombra turned about, bringing himself very close to the Princess, seamlessly wrapping a hoof around her slender waist. Instinctively she placed her forehooves over his shoulders and the two began a slow dance.

They circled each other for what seemed an epoch, a never ending dance between fox and shadow. Their proximity warmed both of them, incentivizing the two to lean closer over time.

Slowly their little dance came to a stop, causing Sly to look up into her stallion’s face. They were so close they shared each other’s breath, the warmth of it sent a tingle down her spine causing her to shiver. Slowly, almost agonizingly, Sombra brought his face down towards hers. The pace was reminiscent of the orbit of the sun and moon as they sailed their course, however the changeling was far too heated to take it that way.

The Princess mashed her lips into his and inhaled a deeply, both of their noses flared and he didn’t hesitate to respond in kind. Immediately both of his strong forelegs seized about her middle, embracing her fiercely. Sly’s hooves roamed up into his mane and broke apart the neat comb work as she was consumed by a feral passion.

Soon they couldn’t sustain their upright posture as their activity continued to intensify. Both of them fell to the floor, quickly losing any thought of restraint or inhibi-

--- MEMORY INTERRUPTED ---

“NO, NO AND NO!”

“Bwaahahahhahahaha!”

The Sombra of modern times, who currently occupied a particular Manehattan penthouse, slammed his hoof down on an ancient artifact. Much to the hysterical amusement of Queen More. The dark King threw her a dirty look as he shoved her over with his free hoof.

“I am not watching that with you.”

The changeling was completely undeterred by the sudden defensiveness, she spoke after bringing her laughter under control.

“Hahaha, but seriously. I watched it all before, would you like me to tell you exactly what happened?”

“I’ll explore that on my own time thank you. Come to think of it, I’m actually starting to remember...”

“Oh? Do you? You remember it all in its steamy glo-”

“Shut it you meddling pervert.”

“Really? The shadowy King obsessed with subjugating the will of whole nations is going to tell me he’s not into ‘pervy’ things…”

The pony sighed and looked back down to the artifact.

“We are skipping that memory if you want to go any further tonight.”

“Ug, very well. Let me see it here.”

Reluctantly More scooted back into place and scanned through her relic. She found the next ‘appropriate’ place to resume and let the memory shard expand again.

---

In the hills of the Crystal Empire, a sunny day in winter.

A snowball soared through air and narrowly missed its target.

“Improve your aim if you plan on tagging me.”

Sombra galloped through the snow as he threw a taunting guffaw towards his pursuer. The changeling behind him chased on hoof, while she readied several more snowy missiles.

“Grr! Why can’t you just let me get you once!”

“All is fair in love and war.”

More snowballs sailed through the air only to miss, causing the stallion to cackle playfully. The two of them ran around the slope of a hill, down its banks, and near a crevice. Around a very sharp turn Sly stopped and looked about in confusion, for Sombra had disappeared. She called out at a loss.

“Hey! Where did you go?”

She didn’t look around for more than a few moments before a dark object flew towards her. The collision carried her off her hooves and they both tumbled head over hooves down the snow covered hill. Sly could feel the tight embrace of her aggressor as they tumbled, keeping her safe from hitting anything hard.

Rather quickly the rolling came to a stop. It was no surprise who she found herself tackled by. Sombra chuckled as he blew a bit of the snow drift off of her face.

“Got ya!”

She grunted in annoyance as she shoved him off. After standing up she shook herself down to clear the rest of the snow and ice. To her mild vexation the thick winter coat she wore made it difficult. Some of the chilly substance had really lodged itself into uncomfortable places. She chided him as she cleaned the last bits out.

“Seriously though, you don’t have to try so hard to win every little game we play.”

Sombra shrugged as he lay on his back. He wore a lighter attire, since the cold didn’t bother him nearly as much as it did the changeling.

“I can’t help it Sly. If I play a game, I play to win. Did you not say that’s one of the things you liked about me?”

“I liked it before you started applying it between us.”

She stuck her tongue out at him then splashed some of the snow on the ground towards his splayed body. However she still didn’t manage to catch him, for he flashed away with his unicorn magic before the snow even hit the ground. Sly groaned and sat down on her rump.

“See, like that. There’s no give in you at all.”

Sombra came up from behind then settled himself down next to her. They both looked out over the snow covered fields, the empire in the distance shined as a beacon, unmolested by the season. Sombra spoke thoughtfully as he nuzzled into Sly’s ear.

“Perhaps not in that particular area.”

“Oh? Is that another game? Am I going to have to dig around and see what I can pry?”

“Heh, I suppose you could look at it that way. Go ahead and keep testing, I’m sure you’ll find something eventually. I do enjoy the journey, so I won’t spoil it by ‘making it easy’.”

Sly shook her head, but she wore a smile all the same. She had picked a rather indomitable bloke to invest herself in, which came along with many benefits and some inconveniences. So she contented herself with just leaning against him for now.

A flash of light startled her then a whoosh of air heralded two more visitors to the scene. A very familiar pair of alicorns swooped down to the couple resting in the snow, both of them wearing bright smiles.

“Noble Sombra and Princess Sly.”

Celestia greeted them as she landed, her long legs easily keeping her body well above the snow line. Luna landed with a little less grace and slipped on something shortly after putting her hooves down. The resultant action splashed everypony else with copious amounts of white powder. They all grunted in displeasure as they tried to wipe themselves clean, but they got a second wave when the blue alicorn popped up and shook herself like a dog. Undeterred by the crude entrance the Night Princess made a vibrant announcement.

“Huzzah! We have come in time!”

“In time for what?”

Sly questioned as she wiped the most recently layers of snow off.

“Tis the anniversary of us defeating Tirek and meeting this fine fellow!”

The realization caused the changeling to open her eyes wide in surprise. The royal sisters had shown up and she had completely forgotten. They wanted to plan something special for this day. Sombra noticed the panic quickly building up within Sly, and he came to her situational rescue.

“That’s right Tia and Lulu. Sly and I were saving these for this occasion.”

All the mares turned to him with interest as he dug around in one of his coat pockets, a moment later he pulled out two objects. It was a pair of amulets on beautiful linked necklaces. Both of the amulets share similar designs, as each depicted an elegant alicorn. One was forged out of white silver and gold, with a bright amethyst stone in the center. The other was carved out of onyx and had a large sapphire as its crowning feature.

Both Tia and Lulu’s faces lit up like stars as the ogled the jewelry. The aesthetics made it obvious which was intended for who, so the ponies reached out to receive their gifts. Sombra gladly obliged them.

“Now, both of these little items are more than just jewelry. I’ve crafted them specifically with the ability for us to communicate over long distances. So if either of you want to contact Sly, or I want to reach out to you with some more schematics, we’d be able to do it when you’re all the way back in Canterlot, the Everfree or beyond.”

The sparkles in the sisters’ eyes doubled upon hearing that news, and they studied the objects they just received with wonder.

“This is far beyond what we had prepared. We are in your debt Sombra.”

Celestia spoke with reverence.

“Think nothing of it, if anything we’ll be benefiting from this exchange just as much.”

Just as Celestia was about to insist on something Luna piped up.

“Oh yes, we’ll be sure to bother you everyday now! Now I’ll be able to hear your laugh, and you mine!”

All four of them were then engaged in a tight tug of appreciation.

“Thank you so much dear Sly and Sombra”

Celestia said as she leaned over everypony. Sly made an awkward laugh as she squeezed them back.

“No problem at all, my part was quite minimal really.”

She snuck a look at her stallion and he gave her a wink. The embrace was broken and Sombra addressed the alicorns.

“Now why don’t you two go along and surprise Crafty! I’m sure she’d love it, Sly and I will be right behind you. I just need to discuss a small matter of business with her.”

Luna made a pouty face as she was ushered.

“Aw, that is disappointing. Here I thought we’d make the day of it right now. Hmm, as long as you two are quick I suppose I’ll be able to manage.”

“Come on sister, I’m sure they would like a moment for their business.”

Celestia grunted as she pushed the smaller Alicorn along, both of them took wing and began the short flight to the Crystal Empire. When the two had departed beyond ear-shot Sombra began a slow stroll in the same direction, Sly quickly got up to maintain stride beside him. When she spoke her tone was rather low and implicating.

“Those were very thoughtful anniversary gifts…”

The changeling looked down towards her own neck, frowning at the nakedness there. Trying to contemplate how her stallion could remember to give their friends something so special, but leave her without. It took her a few moments, but she noticed that Sombra was no longer beside her. She looked forward and didn’t see him, then turned around to find him a few steps behind her. She was a little taken aback at how intensely he stared at her now.

“Come here Sly.”

He made the indication with his hoof as well. She slowly answered the call, a disappointed slump in her stride, her eyes falling towards the ground. She stopped when she was only a step away. Sombra’s hoof pressed under her chin, lifting her face to gaze into his.

“I saved the most important gift for you.”

There was a ‘click’, and Sly felt a pressure around her wrist that wasn’t there before. She look down and was struck with shock. Sombra had stealthily slipped a betrothal band around her lower fore-leg. All the changeling could do was gasp and fall back on her rump. She brought the gold ring before her face to gawk at it in utter surprise.

Sombra stood there reserved, as he waited to see how her reaction would play out. He didn’t remain still for long as he was tackled over by Sly. She was possessed by a giddy laughter, assaulting his neck and face with a hail of kisses. He found himself laughing at her enthusiasm and returned some of the affection with nuzzling.

“I’ll take that as your answer.”

---

Manehattan, modernday, Queen More’s penthouse.

“I’ll stop it here for now.”

The Dark King tapped the old artifact to freeze it in time. He then swiveled about on his office chair, so that he faced the night time view of the city. Queen More lowered her eyes to stare at the frozen image. She looked between the living stallion in front of her, then back to the one lost in history. She spoke with an air of contemplation.

“You know Sombra, even after I reviewed this batch of memories dozens of times. I’ve never been able to connect the dots to my satisfaction. How did you go from this-”

She pointed to the happy couple lying in the snow.

“To the tyrant known for his black heart.”

Optional music - "Black Heart"

Ch.71 "Power Ball"

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Chrysalis Wins

Ch.71 “Power Ball”

--- Yakyakistan

Gradually consciousness returned to Monarch, however along with consciousness came crushing pain. Every ligament and joint of her battered body cried in complaint. When she drew a deep breath her raw throat made her cough and sputter. She took several long moments to calm her breathing and once she settled down into a shallow rhythm she finally opened one eye.

The other half of her face had something covering it and she didn’t have the will to reach a hoof up to investigate. Any attempt to mildly flex her limbs was met with a sharp spike of displeasure. So she settled for leering around with her one functioning eye.

Several layers of blankets were upon her body covering her up to the neck. With a little rotation of her head she felt several straw-stuffed pillows supporting her cranium. There was a dull red-orange glow to it all, and she intuitively found her gaze being drawn to the source.

A fire illuminated the spacious wooden abode, next to the fire was a centauroid figure who was occupied tending a bubbling cauldron. Small sparkling lights caused Monarch’s eye to veer from the centaur to a nearby table. Upon the table was her ornamental necklace, which was in abysmal condition. Far more concerning however, was the small pile of white stones next to the broken regalia. Each of the small pebbles glowed with untapped power, plucked from their secure hiding place around her neck.

She held her breath as her brain tried to understand how she ended up here. Shouldn’t she have died out in the snow drift? Why was she in this warm room being covered up and tended to?

The lack of her shallow breathing caused the ears of the centaur to flick about. Without turning away from the cauldron his high voice carried across the room.

“So you’ve finally woken up? Or died, but considering your progress over the last few days I find that unlikely.”

He dipped a ladle into the cauldron and stirred it about before he raised it and emptied the contents into a smaller bowl. He repeated the action several times until satisfied with the gathered quantity.

Monarch’s eye left the table and closely followed the centaur as he turned about and approached her. She took note of his slow and feeble steps, clearly appearing to be a creature who had known far better days. When the centaur reached her bedside his pale crimson face came into view. Monarch discerned his features to have a simian similarity to far eastern centaurs she once knew.

She said nothing as the steaming bowl was set down on a stand and a spoon was pulled out from her caretaker’s thick cloak. He waved it in front of her face to grab her attention.

“For the last few days I’ve been using a straw to nourish you. Your throat is probably quite sore, so I’ve prepared a solution to soothe it and make it easier for you to speak.”

Reflexively, Monarch made a swallowing motion to confirm her throat was indeed quite sore. However that wasn’t what burned at the forefront of her mind, she inhaled deeply before trying to speak. Her first attempt didn’t even result in coherent words but came out as a strained gurgling sound. In frustration she began to struggle to get off of her back, despite the agonizing resistance from her body.

“Give that a rest! You’ll worsen your injuries if you keep doing that!”

The centaur put down the spoon and tried to push her back down into a resting position. She pressed through his attempt to make her relax and flopped onto her side. The blankets fell away to reveal the rest of her body. Covered from head to hoof in bandages, she looked nothing like her normally regal self. Her one uncovered eye glared at her apparent saviour only for it to fail as she started coughing after another vain attempt to speak. She continued to struggle to try and get some kind of word out, her body trembled after she managed to force her question out.

“Why?”

She whispered out as if she was a ghost, the air passing through her throat like sandpaper. Her tone was entirely accusatory. The centaur however, wasn’t impressed with the deadly scowl directed at him, instead seeming rather annoyed as he picked up the blankets and threw them back on the enormous changeling.

“Why what? You are clearly in a state unfit for lengthy discussion. Lie back down!”

Monarch uncooperatively tucked her legs beneath herself and rolled onto her belly, causing the blankets to fall to the floor again.

“Why am I alive!”

“Because I got some yaks to drag you out of the crater you made. Now, LAY DOWN!”

He shouted as forcefully as his withered voice could manage and pointed angrily at the pillows. She ignored him and pressed on, forcing herself into an upright sitting position. The pain of the effort nearly caused her to collapse but her resolve forced her through the brunt of it. Her broken voice growled at the little centaur infront of her.

“I was going to die, I was supposed to die.”

He gave her an incredulous look for a moment before returning to a scowl. He pointed to the door and spoke coldly.

“You will answer my questions to my satisfaction first, then you can go throw yourself off a cliff for all I care, but not a moment before.”

Monarch turned her head towards the indicated door as her breathing became more labored. Her attention became entirely fixated on her next action. One of her bandaged legs reached out until her hoof connected with the wooden floor.

Her diminutive caretaker growled at this action and tried to correct her stubborn behavior by attempting to lift her hoof back onto the bed. He couldn’t budge the massive limb, especially when she applied weight to it. Quickly, she followed up and soon she was upright with all hooves on the floor, though she trembled fiercely. The centaur continued to try and force her back down, pressing futilely against her chest.

“You will lay back down this instant! Or I’ll call the yaks and they’ll force you down!”

He howled up at her, but her eye was fixated on the door and she stumbled forward ignoring him. The small centaur jumped out of the way to avoid being trampled. Before she made it to the door he angrily grabbed one of the changeling’s hind legs to at least try and slow her down.

At this point the bandages on Monarch’s body began to turn red as her movements reopened wounds. Blood oozed and dripped through the most saturated of her coverings. The centaur trying to restrain her loudly voiced his complaint once his hands became slick.

“You idiot! You’re just making this process more difficult!”

When she reached the door she raised a hoof to push it open but the door proved resistant. The centaur dangling on her leg snorted at her effort.

“It’s locked, and no, I’m not opening it for you. I told you the conditi-”

Monarch reared back raising both of her fore hooves and bashed the door. The entire frame shook at the strike from the enormous changeling, even in this weak condition the residual might of Imperial blood still flowed in her veins.

“I will have my release!”

She roared at the obstacle and struck it a second time, successfully shattering the lock and causing the heavy door to break off its hinges. Immediately a blast of cold mountain air swept through the room, causing both Monarch and the centaur to shiver.

“You damn fool! Even if you get out of here, with your injuries you’d never make it out of the village!”

His cries fell on deaf ears and he was forced to let go of her leg when she tripped towards the open door, not that he could get a good grip on her anyway. The changeling’s body had become drenched all over with reckless bleeding. There was so much of it on the floor the centaur kept his distance so he would not slip. Monarch paid no attention to the condemnation of her action, she was going to throw herself back into the blizzard to die and nothing was going to stop her.

Then she fainted.

The uniquely large changeling collapsed into a puddle of her own blood, unconscious before she even hit the floor.

The centaur sighed dismissively as he carefully walked around his stubborn patient’s body, wiping the blood on his hands onto her mane, before casually trotting out the door to the village.

--- A few days later, Yakyakistan

Monarch returned to consciousness once more, however this time there were notable differences. She felt much weaker and could barely open her eye or shift her head. There was also a weight pressing her down. A cursory glance revealed a covering of blankets again, but there was a new addition of several ropes that wrapped around her, all tied to some bulky looking stones. She stared at it all passively, too weak to care about any of it at this point. Then she felt a sharp flick on her snout.

“I saw that eye open, I know you’re awake.”

The centaur loomed over her, scowling while she stared blankly, drooling a bit. He flicked her snout with a finger again.

“Speak, I’ve been applying the salve I prepared earlier. Your throat should be healed enough for you to speak.”

Monarch closed her eye and turned her head away, the droop of defeat falling across her features. For taking extra time she felt a pinch on one of her long ears as it was lifted to the centaur’s mouth.

“I know you’re not deaf either. Now here’s the deal, this whole thing can go over smoothly and we’ll both get what we want, or I’ll-”

“What, torture me? HA!”

The laugh caused her to wince, she wasn’t quite prepared to vocalize that forcefully. Her caretaker / interrogator merely frowned, dropping her ear as well. He rounded about and strolled over to a nearby table. Upon the table were several books, inkpots, and feathered quills. Most notable was Monarch’s damaged necklace and her pearlescent stones.

The centaur began to open and flip through the books, picking up a quill and inking it before writing on a blank page. His dark eyes flicked between another book with writing already on it and the page he was filling out. Monarch could only guess what kind of journalistic activity it was. He spoke up without looking away from his work.

“If we’re going to start this conversation, how about you tell me why you fell out of the sky. Your appearance did a good job of spooking the locals. It took a lot of coaxing and promises on my part to even get them to drag you here.”

“I was taken by surprise and lost a fight.”

The quill continually scratched at parchment while the two of them exchanged. The centaur sneered at the lackluster answer.

“I could have guessed that. I’m looking for the who, where, when and why. In short, what is going on in Equestria.”

“If all you want is the common news you can go down there yourself. Why bother keeping me alive for such trivialities?”

At this point Monarch noticed a slight yellow glint from something hanging around the centaur’s neck, though it was mostly hidden in folds of his cloak. Something about it sparked familiarity. Meanwhile the centaur smirked at her response.

“Given your entrance to these mountains, I’d say you shouldn’t be one to judge. Not all of us wish to rush unprepared into highly volatile situations.”

“You’re not wrong.”

“I rarely am.”

There was a few moments of quiet while the centaur focused a little more diligently on what he was writing. When he turned a page Monarch softly made an inquiry.

“What is it that you have hanging around your neck?”

The quill stopped.

“I am the one asking questions here, not you, changeling.”

Monarch’s brow perked, the derogatory tone with which he referred to her species implied a history, causing her curiosity to grow further.

“How about an exchange then. I’ll tell you about the stones from my regalia if you show me your ornament.”

The centaur gave her a critical look before turning his attention to the white stones on the table. He picked one up and twirled it between his fingers, examining it. He then turned about, making sure the door was closed and that they were thoroughly alone. Then he whispered to her.

“Do you still plan on killing yourself once I release you?”

“When I am able, yes.”

“Very well.”

He pulled out a golden amulet, holding it aloft briefly so that she could look. Once she had a clear look he quickly put it away.

“You’ve seen my bauble, now tell me what these stones do.”

“Of course, Lord Tirek.”

His dark eyes widened slightly as she spoke his name. He dropped the stone he was holding.

“Only a select few would even recognize the amulet! Who are you, and where do your loyalties lie?”

His small withered fists clenched and his breathing picked up pace. Monarch passively looked towards the fireplace.

“Calm yourself, I have no allies.”

“Well then, who are you?”

“I am Monarch, feel free to spread my name. If any of my enemies want to finish me off they are welcome to.”

Tirek’s posture relaxed a little and he shook his head in incredulity. He resumed his written work while speaking.

“Now that I’ve revealed far more than I wanted to, are you at least a creature of your word? What am I saying, you’re a changeling...”

Monarch snorted at the condescending remark, rather amused by it.

“My fate is sealed, I have no reason to lie. The stones you pried from my regalia are Heart-Vaults.”

“Heart Vaults?”

“They store vast amounts of transferable power.”

Tirek’s eyes widened for a different reason as his expression became intrigued.

“I’ve been trying to figure them out the whole time. I can tell they obviously have magical properties, but I’ve been unable to…”

“Devour the magic within them.”

“I take it you know of my history in Equestria.”

“My kind have kept thorough records, or rather we did.”

“Fascinating I’m sure, but tell me why I can’t access these Heart Vaults.”

He picked up one of the white stones and gave it a sniff, then tapped it down on the table several times. Monarch’s eye continued to watch the dancing flames in the fireplace as she answered.

“They are pure, condensed and petrified emotion. It only becomes usable magic once metabolized by a changeling.”

Tirek sneered at that information, though his curiosity wasn’t fully sated and asked further.

“What a convenient design for your kind. How much power can one of these give you?”

The centaur tallied up the stones on the table, counting twelve. Monarch’s eye veered away from the fire towards the table as she calculated a reply.

“Hmm, with temperate usage I could maintain the form of a dragon a hundred times my size for weeks. If I wanted to use it all in one explosive go I could demolish a mountain.”

An extremely skeptical look came across Tirek’s face, he dropped his written work and crossed his arms.

“Really? I’ve never heard of changelings possessing such power. Also, if you really had that kind of might how did you become ash-blasted fodder upon these slopes?”

“I’m not sure. An old traitor has come across some augmentation I did not anticipate.”

Tirek snorted derisively at that, uncrossing his arms and picking up the quill.

“What value can I draw from your judgement then? If you are unable to competently handle your foes and are blind to everything but your suicidal self loathing. You are unworthy of your power.”

Monarch looked directly into Tirek’s eyes. His gaze was full of judgement and disgust, and mouth slightly agape in a snarl, the quill froze in its place. The wasted changeling held unwavering eye contact as she spoke deliberately.

“You sound just like Hubris.”

“Is that an accusation or a reference to an individual? Whichever, the point stands. You’re a creature of pathetic resolve.”

“Hubris is dead.”

“Then he was obviously a failure.”

“I killed him.”

Tirek broke the eye contact first and resumed writing into the blank book. However, his sneer of disgust had transformed to a neutral line across his mouth. After another moment it crawled into a small smile.

“A master of subtle threats, aren’t you.”

“Why thank you, it was my job for centuries.”

The centaur’s smile grew a little wider, he looked up briefly to see Monarch observing the fire again.

“You know, maybe I could convince the yaks to throw you off a cliff early. If you’re unable carry yourself in the near future.”

“I’d appreciate that, quite thoughtful of you.”

At this point Tirek relaxed the tense and judgemental posture he had been holding onto and his tone became a little more genuine.

“Now tell me about this Hubris, his ideas. Obviously there’s a vengeful history between you two, but that’s not what I’m interested in.”

The changeling leaned her head back into the pillows of her bed and took a deep breath. Her one functioning eye closed as she began to recall.

“To explain his thoughts would necessitate some understanding between the different Changeling classifications.”

“Time is a cheap commodity this evening, Changeling.”

Monarch extended her snake-like tongue to lick about her dry lips whilst coughing to clear her throat. Tirek noticed the signs of discomfort and set his quill down. He went over to another smaller table and retrieved a bowl. Soon he was at her bedside prompting her muzzle with a spoon. Obediently she opened her mouth and he slathered a pudding-like substance inside. It sent a cold chill throughout her oral cavity, but did wonders to assuage the dryness.

“Thank you.”

“I didn’t do it for you, I want the information.”

“Naturally…”

The Changeling opened her good eye and saw Tirek was already back at his work table, scribbling away. Her thoughts were roughly organized, but she figured to ramble on anyway.

“Every Changeling is born into a strict natural hierarchy. By and large my kind accepts this with only a few notable exceptions. Commons are at the bottom, Royals above them, and Imperials. Imperials being the most developed specimens my kind has yet produced.”

“Royals, Imperials, Commons? What’s the difference.”

“There’s a number of visual cues, but the easiest distinction is the size. Commons being the smallest, Imperials being the largest.”

Tirek paused for a moment and scratched his chin in thought. He briefly glanced at the overgrown changeling while dipping his quill in an inkpot. The blank book was turned to a fresh page as he commented on the information.

“I’m guessing you’re royalty then, assuming my rusty memory serves me right.”

“I am the only Imperial Changeling still alive.”

“Hmm, something to do with your deceased associate I imagine.”

“Hubris was of the royal class. He was an exemplar of loyalty to our Secret Empire until he became convinced he knew better than his superiors. As only hindsight can show, my perception was inaccurate and I failed to understand how my subjects were handling their sacrifices. The burden required to maintain the empire had grown exceedingly high. It was too late when I recognized the resentment and bitterness fueling Hubris and his followers.”

“Did he know better then?”

“Around a quarter of the empire sided with his notions. Not that it did him any good in the end. There is no empire anymore. Hubris fell with his goal unfulfilled.”

“What was his goal?”

“Control.”

The scratch of quill on parchment slowed to a crawl and Tirek looked towards the fireplace as well. The tongues of flame whipped and weaved about in the unpredictable way they always did, following a course that instinct and nature had determined for them.

“What caused him to fail this objective.”

Monarch was quiet for several moments as she recalled the details of a particular night.

“I caught him secretly trying to make concessions and compromises with Changelings loyal to me. Apparently he had second thoughts after witnessing the devastating costs of the war he started.”

Tirek scoffed derisively at her answer, his writing actually picking up pace as he listened. Ink bled furiously over paper as he pronounced judgement.

“Just another pathetic mongrel afraid of the truth. Even if he beat you he wouldn’t have remained in power for long. I have no doubt he well deserves the maggots that call his corpse home.”

The bed-bound changeling raised an eyebrow at that. Monarch’s voice had gradually become smoother and less scratchy as their conversation had advanced. The centaur’s mixture had proven to be an effective remedy.

“Tell me then, Tirek. What makes you so different? Was your intent not similar when you first ventured to Equestria? What is the truth Hubris missed which you have not?”

The writing at the table stopped and the sound of a book snapping shut echoed across the room. The centaur's hooves clopped quietly across the wooden floor until he positioned himself between the fire and Monarch’s gaze. When the changeling looked up she saw his face cast in shadow, his yellow pupils contrasting sharply with the darkness around them. The light of the fire outlined his figure with a hellish hue.

“The truth… The truth is nearly every creature that flies, crawls, or slithers about on its belly doesn’t want to acknowledge it. They would rather drone on in compliant ignorance, instinctual indulgence, or tell themselves pretty lies about justice and purpose.”

Tirek crossed his arms behind his back and turned towards the door. The door which recently had its lock replaced.

“The truth is painful. The truth is offensive. The truth is indifferent to your acceptance. It is inevitable and eternal.”

The golden amulet around Tirek’s neck was drawn out of his cloak, held aloft by his dull crimson hands. Within the metallic surface was a reflection of his grim scowl. Monarch remained silent through his tirade, letting the moment of silence go undisturbed.

“This is the truth. The only thing that will ever matter is power.”’

Quietly the amulet was tucked away, its golden shine hidden from view.

“The Hubris you spoke of sounds like he was motivated more by complaint of your management, rather than following a supreme conviction. Whether through doubt, fear, or temptation it is the same. He allowed himself to become blinded to the truth. So when he exposed his weakness you reminded him of the one universal law, power.”

Monarch scrunched her muzzle in bemusement.

“There was far more nuance that went into that decision. Besides, do you really believe there is only one universal law?”

The centaur sighed as he turned back to the changeling, his arms spread wide in a placating gesture.

“What I am saying, Monarch, is that nuance doesn’t matter. Neither does it matter how many laws the universe can be divided into. It is all subsumed by the same concept. Everything comes down to force, and the will to use it. Distinguish between cruel tyrants and benevolent kings all you want, it doesn’t change their methods or their fate. They will both decay and their histories will eventually be forgotten. Everything loved or hated will be crushed by the indifference of oblivion and entropy.”

The bedridden changeling blinked her eye and tilted her head. That was the first time he addressed her by name. Her voice returned to near normality at this point.

“If all you see is nihilism what goal can possibly satisfy you?”

Tirek smiled knowingly at her question.

“Nothing less than omnipotence, when all power and my will have become same I will be satisfied. No other course of action holds any meaning to me.”

Several moments passed while they said nothing to each other. Eventually the centaur turned about and meandered over to a small bed on the other side of the room. He took a minute to rifle through his own blanket and settle himself down into a comfortable position. He flipped the hood of his cloak over his eyes, so that it blocked the firelight. The changeling leaned back until she faced the ceiling. Her voice hummed across the room in gentle ambience.

“You haven’t told this to anyone else, have you.”

For a moment Tirek didn’t respond to her statement, but eventually he growled out from under his hood.

“I haven’t told anyone anything meaningful in over a millenia, Changeling.”

Monarch raised a suspicious eyebrow.

“I’m sensing that’s not the entire reason.”

An irritated snort echoed across the room.

“You still plan on jumping off a cliff, don’t you?”

---The Isle of Draconequi

The loud blare of an operatic voice caused Chrysalis and Specter to jump from where they were sleeping. The changelings groaned as they put their hooves over their ears. As the loud and overbearing melody continued to shake the air they gradually adapted to it. Chrysalis began crawling over to the window to look for the perpetrator. One quick glance towards the sea answered that query immediately.

Riding along the waves and bellowing at the top of his lungs was Silver. The means of his mobility was holding onto several harnessed dolphins. The critters merrily jumped up and down through the water as they chittered along with his song. Chrysalis shook her head, annoyed at the endless eccentricities on this island. She turned from the window and towards the door of the cozy office. Specter was still rubbing his eyes as she passed by him. The Queen grumbled under her breath as her mind started formulating objectives for the day.

Lazy hooves guided the slumped and mentally preoccupied Chrysalis as she opened the door. This state weariness rapidly changed when she saw what was on the other side.

Nearly every draconequus on this psychedelic island appeared to have camped as close to the office as they could manage. When the door opened hundreds of eyes immediately turned to her. There was a collective blink, then thousands of mismatched limbs carried overly enthusiastic draconequi towards the changeling.

Chrysalis yelped squeakily as she rushed to close the door only for her to fail to slam it completely shut, resulting in several draconequi becoming trapped in the door frame. Shouts from the crowd thundered through the cracks.

“We love visitors!”

“Come play beach ball!”

“I made a statue out of toothpicks for you!”

“Can I dye your hair?”

“Can I touch you wings?”

Chrysalis had her back pressed to the door and her hooves dug deep into the carpet. Before she asked for help Specter was already at her side and ruthlessly shoved the various chimeric limbs back out. After half a minute of fighting with the door they managed to securely close it.

Faces immediately began to peer through the windows prompting Specter to pull the curtains down with magic. Finally having a moment of peace the two changelings sat down with relief, so Specter calmly addressed the primary issue.

“I’m afraid we will not be able to walk around casually if we want to get anywhere. Also, speaking from past experience, disguises don’t work very well at fooling even the basic draconequi.”

Chrysalis put her hooves on her temples and grit her teeth.

“We need to recruit Mop and Authority to our cause. What other chance do we have against Discord? Besides, how did you navigate around this island in the first place?”

Specter stood up then walked towards the fireplace and began tapping a hoof on the carpet as he explained.

“There’s a tunnel network near the volcano, which should allow us to access just about anywhere on the island.”

“Excellent, so do you know where Mop is located?” Since Authority made it clear she won’t talk for the next few days.”

Specter’s wings briefly fluttered uncomfortably, indicating there was something amiss.

“Unfortunately, the tunnels aren’t static and it will take some time to find the correct path. That is, once we are able to reach them, depending on how long it takes to navigate the crowd.”

Chrysalis hovered to the window and peeked through the curtains, only to immediately shut it when she was met by dozens of chimera faces pressing against it. The loud blare of Silver’s opera voice was still prevalent over the bustling crowd piled around Authority’s office. The Changeling Queen counseled with Specter.

“These creatures are highly impulsive, can we not take advantage of that?”

“Perhaps, If we could make something else the target of their impulsivity.”

A woosh came from the fire place and both changelings turned apprehensively towards it. A moment later a pink creature’s head popped down from the chimney. To both changelings’ displeasure, it was the one that led the welcome song last night and possessed an obnoxiously poofy heart-shaped mane.

“Oh, hey guys! It’s good to see you survived the night with Authority. How ya doin’!”

She slithered the rest of the way out and quickly wiped off the soot she’d accumulated on her person. Chrysalis noticed a stack of logs beside the fireplace and immediately began to throw them in the flames. They stacked up until the chimney was thoroughly blocked. Still unsure she rounded on the smaller draconequus.

“Are any others following you?”

The question came out as a mean hiss, from which the pink and purple draconequus recoiled.

“Sheesh, I was just asking how you were doing. You’re not gonna eat me are you?”

Chrysalis licked her lips.

“I’m considering it.”

To the side Specter snorted in amusement.

“Heh, Shellish raised you even more feral than I thought.”

Chrysalis stopped baring her fangs and felt oddly self conscious. Her intimidating posturing did not usually elicit humor. Then again she’d never had a Changeling King commenting on her casual behavior. She straightened her posture and retracted her wings to a less aggressive display. When the Queen subdued her immediate threat the little draconequus began to relax and spoke with only a little trembling.

“To answer your question, no, nobody is following me. I’m the only one clever and bold enough to find sneaky holes into Authority’s office.”

Chrysalis looked at her with a little more scrutiny, the image of an exploding washing machine came to mind.

“Bold… right.”

Specter lifted a hoof forward with his ears perked attentively.

“Would you know how to reach Mop?”

The pink and purple chimera sprung up excitedly.

“You betcha! I can show you how to sneak right into his lab! He freaks out really good if you pop up unannounced. Is that what you guys were planning to do?”

She rubbed her paws together deviously. Chrysalis quickly bit that attitude in the nub.

“We want his help to stop Discord. So no, we don’t want to freak him out.”

“Aw.”

Specter looked past the disappointed draconequus to the door. His expression turned thoughtful as he made an offer to her..

“Chrysalis and I could use your assi-”

“Queen Chrysalis.”

The Changeling Queen interjected in the middle of Specter’s words. He raised an eyebrow at her, his intended thoughts forgotten as he addressed the interruption. The little draconequus uncomfortably scrapped a hoof on the floor as she watched the two exchange a look.

Chrysalis’s expression changed from indignant to self conscious again. She had long been referred to by her title and corrected him out of habit. His expression showed he wasn’t amused by this act.

“We are both of Royal class, Chrysalis. We don’t need to refer to each other by title. Let alone, it doesn’t permit you to be rude to possible allies. Perhaps Shellish’s tutelage was much closer to neglect. You told me you have been a ‘Queen’ for 30 years. I see now I incorrectly assumed what that experience meant.”

There was a few moments of silence as Chrysalis struggled through various emotions in a loop. Her tone came out somewhere between frustration and sadness.

“We can go over your incorrect assumptions and my rudeness later. Despite my faults I do care for my swarm.”

She turned to the short draconequus, her focus sharpening. An idea popped into her head.

“Draconequus, if you’re inclined, we could use you.”

“The name is Love! What can I do ya for?”

Chrysalis worked hard to not roll her eyes, then again she shouldn’t be surprised such a caricature had a name like that. She raised her head as she addressed both Love and Specter.

“So you see the plan is-”

---A few minutes later

Outside Authority’s office hundreds of common draconequi lounged about, twiddling their thumbs, if they had them, or thumb wrestled a neighbor. Some of them even formed rings of audiences with onlookers making bets. The leisure was interrupted when the door to Authority’s office opened again. Love’s small frame occupied the doorway.

“They escaped that way!”

She pointed towards the part of the island furthest from the volcano. The crowd scrambled madly towards indicated direction, hooping and hollering as they went.

“I love visitors!”

“Why are they so shy?”

“Sign my tail!”

Love giggled when the beach was vacated, the trick was all too easy. Small voices whispered into her ear.

“Are they all gone?”

“Yes, but I think you two should stay hidden till we make it to the tunnels. That’ll keep you both safe from random encounters.”

Two little bugs became visible for a brief moment, holding tightly onto one of Love’s ears.

“Hold on tight, it’ll be bumpy for a minute!”

“Wait my grip!”

The pink bundled of nonsense jumped into the air and fluttered along merrily while the two shrunken Changelings squealed in the breeze.

---A few minutes later

The three of them found an entrance to the volcano tunnel system. Specter and Chrysalis had since returned to their normal size with a side effect of being thoroughly wind swept.

“Here we are!”

Love’s peppiness hadn’t subsided for even a minute. Meanwhile Chrysalis tried untangling her mess of a mane and Specter scratched furiously at his ears. When the changelings adjusted enough to proceed Love led the way in.

“I’m sure we’ll find it in a jiffy!”

Chrysalis and Specter trotted along through the entrance, which quickly winded into a vast cavern on the inside.

The Changeling Queen gasped at the display in front of her. There was a narrow pathway carved out of the rock and dirt, but otherwise every wall of the cavern was riddled with holes. Small sparks of energy crackled like lightning between them and exuded an unnatural magical presence.

Specter looked about about with a comfortable familiarity. He started tapping one hoof up and down in a rhythmic gesture, counting something. A few seconds later the entire cavern vibrated and all the holes in the walls and ceiling lit up. The auras surrounding each different tunnel glowed a unique color. Raw magic flooded between them all and nearly as quickly as it appeared, the energy dissipated. Going back to small sparks of light. Specter turned to Love.

“Now, what’s the signature to Mop’s lab?”

“It's the purest white one.”

“Thank you Love, now let’s head a little further in, I know an optimal spot to keep a lookout.”

The Changeling King led the way with Love and Chrysalis following close behind. There were a few moments of quiet while he kept his attention focused on the flashing tunnels. Chrysalis turned to the chimera walking beside her. Some questions about Authority’s event came to mind and this draconequus probably had some answers.

“So tell me, what is Authority’s ball like?”

Love looked confused until she figured Chrysalis was just asking an inoffensive question.

“What would you like to know? The dress, the food, the locale?”

The Changeling Queen glanced at the preoccupied Specter then back to the draconequus.

“As much as you’d like to share.”

“Well, it's the exact same thing every five years. Authority doesn’t really tolerate any deviations to schedule or behavior during the event. She’s really strict when it comes to organization.”

“I would agree, given what I’ve seen of her so far.”

Love nodded her head sagely.

“It begins with greeting and seating while she plays her piano. If the chatter is too loud it's punished, if someone shows up not dressed properly they are punished, if they were invited and don’t show up they’re-”

“Punished.”

“Hey, you’re getting the picture!”

“And then?”

“Oh, then there’s the first dance. That is you and the partner you came with. Then there’s a 15 minute break for snacks!”

Chrysalis eyed Specter for a moment then resumed listening to the draconequus’s chatter. Love didn’t seem to notice as she looked around at all the pretty lights.

“The second dance is the only part of the event that’s a little free form. She lets us swap partners. After the last dance is done she gives her prepared speech. Usually telling us that she’ll civilize us booger-eating-morons some day. That typically takes an hour or two or three or four or fi-”

“Sounds absolutely thrilling.”

Chrysalis spoke, her deadpan delivery laid on especially thick, as if she wanted to physically convey her dislike of the coming event.

Specter stopped and took a seat while still observing the walls around them.

“This is the long part so get comfortable.”

Chrysalis was going to remark on Specter’s suggestion when she felt a powerful tug on her mind. It was something from Shellish!

“Getting a message from home base, I’ll be busy for a while.”

The Changeling Queen mentioned before her eyes glowed from the magic of long distance telepathy.

Love shrugged her slender shoulders and scooted over to the Changeling King for company. There were small fissures to either side of the path, so when Love sat she did so at the edge of the trail and dangled her legs in empty air. She idly began to swing them.

“So, you mentioned something about being here before? When did you last swing by? Cause I don’t remember seeing you last time.”

Specter kept his eyes on the cycling tunnels because each time they did a cycle the colors swapped.

“I was here around 100 years ago and I believe I stayed for close to a decade or so.”

“Wow, that was before my time then. Why did ya come here in the first place? I know that we tend to be too much for most visitors.”

Love fidgeted a bit with her mane. Specter’s vision became slightly down cast and his ears went flat. It took effort for him to keep his voice level.

“I was hiding. I counted on your ‘eccentricities’ to be a deterrent and in the end my purpose was served.”

“Hiding? Who were ya playing hide and seek with?”

“I was dodging the after effects of a civil war. In short my kind decimated each other, those of us that remain aren’t on the friendliest of terms.”

Love covered her mouth in surprise, her eyes went wide and watery with sympathy. A moment later she reached out in consolation, both of her paws squeezed reassuringly on his hoof.

“I’m so sorry! That’s horrible, I didn’t mean to-”

Specter hushed her with his spare hoof.

“I know you didn’t mean anything by it.”

Love sniffed and wiped away a few spare tears. She looked over at Chrysalis with a new light. The Changeling Queen was deeply preoccupied with her mental magic, and appeared deaf to anything around her. As Love calmed herself she asked Specter.

“If you don’t mind me asking, how are you two involved exactly?”

The Changeling King looked at Chrysalis before his attention went back to monitoring the tunnels.

“I met her a few weeks ago. To put it roughly, I think her life has suffered a greatly from my people destroying each other. She seems to be the result of a bad case of isolation and minimal tutelage.”

Love grimaced while she put the picture together.

“So she’s not of any relation to you?”

“No, but when the number of Royal Changelings left is in the single digits... I’ll work with what I can.”

They both sat quietly and observed the magic cycling through the tunnels. Eventually one tunnel lit up a brilliant white, Love jumped up in recognition

“That’s the one!”

With no hesitation Specter dove for the tunnel, towing behind Chrysalis with his magic while Love followed with a somersault dive bomb, cheering with her usual enthusiasm.

“WEE!”

---On the other side

“OW!”

Chrysalis was rudely brought back into focus. Her surroundings had become cramped, dark and warm. In the dim light she discovered she was on Specter’s back, and after some shuffling she felt Love on top of them both. The draconequus giggled as she fumbled about in the dark.

“There should be a latch right around- HA! Got it.”

The chimera hit some kind of a lock and a crack of light illuminated the confined space. It turned out they were in a storage cabinet, cushioned amongst spray bottles, sponges and rags. All of them leaned forward to peer out the door.

Said music however, was loudly and promptly interrupted when Chrysalis, Love, and Specter fell out of their cabinet, just as Mop finished completing a row. An awkward pause ensued while the tall draconequus processed the invasion of his private space. He raised a paw to point at them.

“UNCLEAN!”

Magic flashed and the three of them were encased in clear plastic bubbles. Mop walked over to them, pulling off his goggles with a glare. After a moment of study he recognized them.

“Chrysalis? Specter? Why the unorthodox entrance?”

Then he spotted Love and his suspicion dropped.

“Oh, I see.”

He turned back to the Changelings.

“If you wanted to visit I would’ve preferred you knocked on the front door. I don’t recommend listening to my neighbors.”

He gave Love the stink eye, who responded with a sheepish grin. Meanwhile Chrysalis started to walk around in her bubble after assessing that she wasn’t the subject of Mop’s displeasure.

“Do we have to stay in these things?”

“Just one moment.”

Mop lit a match and tossed it into the cabinet they fell from, turning the whole thing into a roaring fire. Next he pulled out an extinguisher to dowse the mess. To finish up he vacuumed the remains.

Mop turned the vacuum towards the changelings, popping the bubbles and sucking every loose particle off of them.

Chrysalis shivered at the experience, feeling as though 1000 parasprites just nibbled all over her body. When she looked to the side Specter and Love looked similarly uncomfortable. Mop of course was oblivious to the discomfort as he put on a warm smile and happily asked.

“So what would you like to talk about?”

Specter found his voice first.

“We wanted to ask for you thoughts on Discord.”

Mop dropped his warm smile and veered towards the desks, his paws began to compulsively organize things for the sake of it. His chattery replay was very distracted.

“Honestly, if you’ve met him then you probably know more than me. My memory only goes back so far, then it stops…”

Specter trotted closer to Mop and continued to question, meanwhile Chrysalis and Love started to shuffle about. Specter was slightly flustered as he questioned Mop..

“But he’s the one who trapped all of you here, you don’t remember him doing it?”

“Nope.”

“Aren’t you one of the draconequi of greater influence on this island?”

“If you count being the greatest custodian on the island, then sure.”

Mop’s tone became more terse and his organizing slowed. Before Specter could press for more Mop preemptively spoke.

“I can’t help you with Discord, Specter. I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can even make myself do it if I wanted to. Despite what Authority may say, I’m guessing you gave her the same question, she won’t leave this island either. Every time either of us have tried it's not so much our magic failing, but a crippling anxiety that stops us. It's only gotten worse over the centuries too. In a way that barrier has become a symbol of our control as much as our imprisonment. Both of us have become too scared to possibly lose what little control we have. Things...things are different outside.”

Specter’s mouth was open, but he was at a loss for words. Before the silence lasted too long the sound of shattered glass pierced the air.

“Oops, did I do that?”

Mop swiveled towards the sound and was graced with the sight of Chrysalis hovering over a table of fragile instruments. The floor had a shattered test tube on it so he jumped over with his vacuum ready.

“No problem, I’ll get that.”

As he was cleaning that up, the crashing cacophony of the table being up ended screeched through the lab. Thousands of meticulously organized objects broke apart across the tile.

“Woopsy, I think I caused a little mayhem!”

The large grey draconequus looked up to see the Changeling Queen staring right at him. Her expression was anything but innocent. Something caused his eye to twitch fiercely and he growled.

“That’s an ugly, ugly word.”

“And it’s who you are.”

Mop flipped his vacuum towards the little disaster Chrysalis had made and caused it to quickly vanish.

“Making a mess is the last thing I want to do.”

“You have only forgotten your old desires. I saw you make a mess so big it was incomprehensible.”

Chrysalis had started opening nearby cabinets and flinging things randomly across the laboratory.

“Hey! Stop breaking my stuff!”

“Stop being so accommodating!”

Love and Specter watched the exchange with much confusion and interest. Love didn’t really get why Chrysalis was doing it, but that didn’t stop her from wanting to participate. So she became the second critter to stir up a little mayhem and giggled like a gremlin as she engaged.

Mop was reduced to sputtering as he tried to run around and catch everything before it hit the floor. Soon he was juggling a mountain of lab equipment. Specter stood still in hesitation, not knowing whether to scold Chrysalis or assist. Mop quickly passed his limits and started dropping things.

“Why?! Why are you doing this?”

“I need you to change back. I need you to get over Discord’s curse! You won’t be able to help yourself or us till then.”

Chrysalis broke a soap bottle under Mop’s feet and caused his next step to make him slide wildly.

Realization dawned over Specter and he moved to contribute to the efforts. His wings carried him over to a large clear tank, inside of which was a transparent gelatinous mass. He pushed it over causing the tank to shatter and the green goo to splatter over a wide area.

Specter was about to move on when he noticed the goo started to move too. It coagulated into a large lump and formed a wide mouth which it smiled with. The goo appeared to be attracted to shiny objects which it flowed over to. Each time it soaked something up it shimmered and grew larger. Specter just shrugged his shoulders and moved towards the next untouched area.

Soon the laboratory was a total wreck and Mop was losing his mind. When the floor became coated with a living green slime his eyes bulged cartoonishly.

“You let out the Smooze!”

By this point, Chrysalis and Love had taken to chanting on top of all the chaos.

“Mayhem, Mayhem, Mayhem!”

Something in the grey draconequus snapped and his paws balled into fists, making the knuckles crack. The changelings and Love became enveloped in a brown-grey aura.

“I am not Mayham!”

The three offenders were ejected out of the front door, which slammed thunderously after them.

“Rascally kids.”

The lab had essentially been turned upside down, but there was something in particular that seemed off. His eyes were drawn towards his tiger arm. There were a few streaks of something orange in it. So he pulled out a cloth to wipe away whatever it was. It didn’t come off. He scrubbed more vigorously and it still didn’t come off…

---outside

“So, now that that’s all settled, would you two like to join me and the gang for lunch?”

Love asked, chipper as ever. All three of them were shaking off sand from the sandbar they landed in.

“Thanks for your help so far Love, but I’d like to go somewhere quiet for a little while.”

Specter began a slow walk towards the volcano. An entry tunnel was nearby and he was heading right for it. Love turned to Chrysalis and made an inquisitive look, the Queen got up and trotted towards the tunnel as well.

“I share similar sentiments. Maybe later.”

“Okay, I’ll hold you to that!”

Love bounced off into the jungle as Chrysalis entered into the labyrinthine cavern. Specter was a short way ahead of her and she followed. The cavern surged through another magical cycle and the Changeling King took the opportunity to hop down a bright blue portal. Chrysalis jumped in afterward assuming Specter knew where he was going.

They emerged on the high end of a cliff. After a moment of looking about and feeling the wind blow through her mane Chrysalis saw they were on the ledge near the very top of the island’s volcano.

Suddenly the sun went down from its high noon position and the moon replaced it. The island was blanked in the darkness of midnight. It was an unsubtle reminder that Discord still controlled the heavens.

Specter strolled over to the edge of the ledge, settling down and letting his fore hooves hang over the cliff. The Queen assumed a similar position and they both laid there in silence save for the breeze and a gentle thrumm from the volcano’s core.

“That was some clever work back there.”

Chrysalis turned towards Specter’s voice to see him just looking at the moon. He continued.

“I saw a sliver of color in Mop’s grey.”

“We should just call him Mayham from now on, assuming he’ll let us near him again.”

Chrysalis let her gaze drift down to the sea and eyed the moon’s reflection upon the waves. For sometime they just sat there absorbing the atmosphere around them. Without a rabid crowd clambering nearby or an immediate objective they could simply enjoy the moment. Chrysalis could actually appreciate the intrinsic beauty of the island for once. Even the prismatic barrier of clouds surrounding them were mesmerizing.

Eventually her eyes began to tire of observing the surroundings and her gaze shifted to the company she kept. She hadn’t taken time to really study her fellow Royal’s features yet. There was always something else to focus on, but now…

The breeze picked up and tusselled through Specter’s violet mane also making his chipped ears waver. The black and white band around his neck was weathered along the edges, appearing old, but also showing signs of maintenance along the stitching. It wrapped all the way around, barely meeting with the blood red shell on his back.

The general condition of his chitin was excellent, all the markers of health and fitness were there. His overall complexion was darker than hers and much closer to Crone’s. Eventually her gaze meandered up to his face, that’s when she noticed he was looking right back at her. He said nothing.

She looked back down to the ornament on his neck. Curiosity caused the corner of her mouth to twitch and she reached out a hoof to tap the object.

“So tell me Specter. What was your part in this ‘War in the Dark’ I’ve heard mentioned since you and the other royals decided to appear?”

Specter turned away and started to rub his hooves together and his expression turned contemplative.

“I was Chief Agent, serving the Secret Empire directly under Monarch. A crude similarity might be how you employ your Head Vanguard.”

Chrysalis’s curiosity deepened as she shifted a few puzzle pieces in her mind. So it appeared even the changeling royalty branched out into specializations. With the wildly varied body types between individuals like Armor and More she supposed it made sense. She thought about where she fit in while Specter continued.

“Old Empress Monarch was quite the changeling to serve under. She was exceptionally talented and could always bring the big picture to life. It was an honor to play a critical role in her covert campaigns to secretly protect and stabilize nations around the world.”

“You speak rather highly for the one that inspired so much ire from every other royal in Discord’s arena.”

“Thus the emphasis on the ‘was’.”

“What happened?”

“The war, the war which brought our kind to the brink of extinction that it is now. The events that triggered it are still clear as day to me.”

Chrysalis remained quiet, simply soaking in the information.

“The royal-class changeling Hubris had been planning a coup for some time. I suspect it was well before he retired. I still don’t have an exact idea, even though I was the one to replace him as Chief Agent.”

Specter chewed on the inside of his cheek.

“By the time I discovered his trail and figured out how deep his treacherous plans went, he had prepared a trap for me. I was rendered ineffective and helpless to prevent the single most devastating attack to our Empire.”

Specter looked towards Chrysalis and saw he had her rapt attention.

“In case you haven’t pieced it together, Monarch is a different class of changeling than us. From the likes of Avalanche and Crafty of old their kind were eventually classified as Imperials. Most of the greatest achievements of changeling kind were accomplished under their guidance and strength.”

The moon swapped with the sun in a flash, lightning up the island and causing both changelings to squint their eyes in adjustment. Specter continued.

“When I read through Hubris’s notes he spoke with much disgust towards the Empire’s attitudes. He saw our respect and praise for the contributions and direction of the Imperials as debased idol worship. His brother, Utilitarian, died while serving in one of Monarch’s guardian campaigns. Apparently this made him reflect on all the service he had rendered. So he considered himself and all changelings under the Imperial rule to be disposable tools. Existing merely to be sacrificed for their superior’s will and pleasure.”

Specter appeared disgusted with the words as he uttered them. His wings had unfurled and buzzed irritably through parts of the oration.

“The fruition of his plans resulted in all changelings of Imperial blood being slain in one fell swoop. An ancient artifact blasted them all into incurable, icy statues. All save for Monarch, who by chance happened to be elsewhere.”

Chrysalis’s mind wandered. Thinking back to Shellish and how the common changelings took her life in their anger. That generation had since passed and none of her current subjects had shown any rebellious inclinations towards her. Did any of them plot against her? Specter continued his narrative.

“She was never the same since that day, and I mean more than just in the official capacities. You see, I… I had taken Monarch’s younger sister, Clarity, as my companion. Thus unifying our private swarms into one. To Monarch, I became ‘the little brother she never had’.”

Specter chuckled in melancholy at old memories.

“Naturally I was dragged into every family event the Imperials hosted. Initially Monarch and Clarity were compelling me to do it, but over time I grew quite fond of the Imperial family. I got to know each of them personally.”

Specter stopped when he noticed Chrysalis acting a little distracted. She crossed and uncrossed her forelegs a few times while darting her eyes about. Occasionally throwing an odd look his way, as if he had something weird on his face.

“Do you have something you’d like to say Chrysalis?”

She turned to him while getting her movement under control.

“I don’t want to derail your tale, it's just an unimportant little personal curiosity. Please continue what you were going to say.”

Specter raised an eyebrow, did this brash Queen unironically use the word ‘please’? His intrigue wouldn’t let this pass.

“It’s quite alright. Go ahead and ask, I can assure you I can have very tight lips if that concerns you.”

“No really, just forget it. What happened next?”

“You’re being a good tease.”

“Fine, I um… are you into tall mares?”

Specter blinked, his entire train of thought suddenly derailed by the rather odd question. After a moment of putting the dots together in his head he grinned.

“You mean in reference to my companion Clarity?”

“Well, if her stature is anything like Monarch’s.”

“Clarity was actually a little shorter than you. She and Monarch were half-sisters you see. Same father but different mothers. Even though Clarity was born a typical Royal she was raised with the Imperials. It was considered shameful, but Monarch grew attached to her and kept her around. By the time I became Chief Investigator I think Monarch had actually moved to playing matchmaker. She claimed she picked an assistant for me with the right amount of merit and compatibility.”

With her curiosity satisfied and some, Chrysalis wanted to put things back on track.

“So at what point did Monarch become your enemy?”

Specter coughed to clear his throat and picked up where he left off.

“I came back to the capital shortly after the Imperials were wiped out. Even though I was too late to stop Hubris’s plan I could at least tell Monarch who was responsible. I also had compiled a list of Hubris’s supporters and sympathizers. For a host of different reasons the Empire quickly split in two. There were those loyal to the traditional Imperial order with Monarch as our last figure head, and those trying to reforge changeling kind to what they considered suitable and just. Led by Hubris and his brother Nihilis.”

Chrysalis thought of the other two royals that were in Discord’s arena.

“Which side of the fence were Armor and More?”

“They were both loyal to Monarch and quite crucial to the war efforts. Armor had replaced Nihilis when he retired from the office of Chief Guardian. More was the Chief Steward of Imperial Resources, the position Utilitarian held before he died.”

“What could Monarch have done to earn the hatred of her chief supporters?”

Specter became distant in his expression, Chrysalis couldn’t pinpoint any particular feeling coming from him. His words came out slower and more deliberate.

“As the war progressed and the bodies continued to pile up Monarch became a loose cannon. The discipline she had conducted so many previous campaigns with steadily fell apart under the strain of her responsibilities and the death of her family. In her efforts to destroy the opposition she caused more than a little collateral damage…”

Specter lowered his head and rested it on top of his hooves.

“Many of her loyal followers thought she was going insane. Armor, More and I remained stoic to the accusations, we knew such thoughts were mostly spoken in fear. Also, Monarch had become far more dependent on our help than ever before and we knew we had to stay, if only out of loyalty.”

Specter let some frustration show as his jaw went stiff and his muscles tensed.

“At one point the war had even turned in our favor and victory looked weeks away. Then that night happened.”

“What night?”

“Our companions, Clarity, Allure, and Ambition all snuck out in the dark. This is also where my knowledge falls apart. Even to this day, I don’t know why they did it, Clarity never told me. All I know is that Monarch was at the scene and one way or another Hubris along with the companions of the chief officers were dead.”

There was a resolved acceptance in his voice, since he had processed the event emotionally some time ago.

“I couldn’t stick by Monarch’s side after that. I presume neither could Armor or More. We left Monarch to finish the war with Nihilis by herself. As much as I didn’t want to believe it, I think Monarch had finally snapped. So things became as they are. From what I’ve gathered Monarch eventually defeated Nihilis, but every Royal changeling on either side of the conflict ended up dead.”

Specter looked up at Chrysalis who held a reserved expression.

“I couldn’t actually confirm who had survived until you appeared, and with some help from Discord’s theatrics.”

Chrysalis looked up as the sky switched again, this time it was a warm sunset verging on twilight.

“Well, one less now. Monarch has finally met her end.”

“Actually, that’s the first thing I want to investigate after Discord is handled. I still find it difficult to believe that’s the case. Besides, where was Shellish the whole time during your invasion of Canterlot? Did Shellish go off her rocker and tell you to do it?”

Chrysalis laughed awkwardly.

“About that… Shellish was dead, as in she was a pile of bones dead. I have no idea what happened, it's been a rather ghostly experience. Everything seems to indicate it is her though. The touch of her mind is as distinct as I can remember.”

Specter shook his head in incredulity.

“That leaves me with far more questions than answers.”

Suddenly the blast of a saxophone erupted behind them and caused both changelings to jump to their hooves in surprise. Chrysalis rounded about to see Love playing away with the instrument. She was about to growl but was distracted when Specter started laughing.

“Hey guys! It’s later! So would ya like to join me for dinner? It’s a small group I promise!”

Love had lowered the saxophone and greeted them with pleading eyes. The changelings shared a brief glance. Specter nodded positively while Chrysalis looked ready to respond in the negative. Specter however, managed to beat her to the punch.

“It’d be a pleasure to join you, especially after the help you gave us earlier.”

“Yay! Come on let’s go. The food should be just about done.”

Love jumped off the cliff and started playing her saxophone again as she glided down the volcano. The changelings followed suit, one slightly more reluctant than the other.

--- In a small neck of the jungle

Love led them to a private alcove where there was a pretty little waterfall. The entire location was tightly packed among the trees. Occupying most of the small space was a table, a small fire and some other individuals.

When Chrysalis landed she counted three additional draconequi. What appeared at first glance to be a couple and their kid. She recognized the blue-white one from the ‘Welcome Night’. Said blue-white draconequus hopped up when she saw the new group arrive, she addressed Love with boisterousness.

“Wow Love, I can’t believe you actually got them to come!”

“Come on Rebel, did you really have so little faith in me?”

The draconequi shared a hug then turned to the guests proper. ‘Rebel’ pulled back her violet glasses to reveal bright green-yellow eyes and spread her arms wide in welcome.

“Hey peeps! Glad you decided to come! I’m Rebel!”

She extended a slender minotaur paw towards the changelings for a shake, which the pair obliged. Rebel then pointed to the other adult draconequus, who hung lazily in a hammock lightly snoozing.

“That’s my hubwub over there, Rouser.”

Rouser nodded towards the changelings, one of his eyes opened and he muttered something like ‘sup’ before he closed it again. Rebel looked about for the last member of the party, scanning the small area until she looked under the table. She started grabbing under there with her parrot talons and seized something. A moment later she pulled up a small creature by its tail. Said creature wriggled like a fish pulled out of water, well it had a fishtail, but the rest of it was made up of various bits of puppies, kittens and mice.

“This is our rugrat, Riot.”

Riot stopped struggling when his little eyes spotted the changelings. His expression became awed and he clapped his little paws together excitedly. Rebel smiled approvingly and set Riot on the ground. The childish chimera giggled and cooed as it slowly fumbled along on the ground towards the visitors.

“So that’s the crew, from what I hear you two have already been hanging with Love for the last while, no introductions needed there.”

“Yep yep, Now let’s get you two seated and comfortable.”

Love got behind the changelings and pushed them towards the table where a pair of lawn chairs awaited them. Chrysalis got in her chair, finding it comfortable enough and mentally preparing herself for more zany behavior. The whole of draconequus kind could be labeled with such an adjective. Though she did give Rouser a second look, as it was notably strange that he was the only chimera not to shower her or Specter with a high degree of interest and attention.
Chrysalis reflected some more while Love went over to tend something by the fire and Rebel organized the table settings.

The Changeling Queen was apparently very young for her kind, but in her short few decades she had roamed over much of what the world had to offer. From the sands of Saddle Arabia to the great gulfs of Germane and most recently the colorful vibrant Equestria. Her kind had interwoven itself through many cultures far and wide yet here, on this island exploding with magical potential, the occupants were more or less prisoners.

Chrysalis felt a tug on her foreleg. She looked down to see the childish Riot clasping onto her as if she was another tree to climb. However, he couldn’t get a solid hold on her smooth chitin, so he kept sliding back down after scaling a few inches. She was going to shake the little critter off, but out of the corner of her eye she noticed Specter watching. That irritating self consciousness popped up again and she rethought her approach to this little scenario.

The miniature draconequus was scooped up a moment later and placed on the changeling queen’s lap. Her dark hoof began to pet Riot along the head as if she was stroking a cat, well, the creature was at least one quarter cat, Riot began to purr. In her peripherals she noticed some signs of surprise from the other changeling. She kept her eyes fixated towards Rebel as she let a little smirk show. The blue-white Chimera heard the purring and looked up. She threw a big smile towards Chrysalis.

“He really likes you, wanna keep him?”

“Hehe, that is funny, but I’m afraid I have to decline. I already have a full plate when it comes to people I have to look after.”

“Shucks, I bet. Things must be pretty bad out there for you guys to want to come here.”

Chrysalis bit the inside of her cheek to keep herself from making a snarky retort along the lines of ‘Really? Want isn’t the word I would choose…’ rather she used the opportunity to feed her curiosity.

“I’ve been meaning to ask, how have you and your kind dealt with being trapped here? I can’t imagine being cooped up does the draconequus soul much good.”

Chrysalis eyed Specter out of the corner of her eye, was he deliberately messing with her head? Why had she felt the need to be more… amiable. Rebel put her paws on her hips and looked out to the barrier clouds dreamily.

“Oh, I think every draconequus on this island has desperately wanted to leave at one point or another.”

Rouser half opened one of his eyes, the line of questioning actually capturing a faint level of interest, his voice was very subdued when he followed up Rebel’s comment.

“It’s not really a matter of wanting to or not. It’s been the way its been for generations and will probably stay that way. Even if by some miracle Discord is defeated who’s to say it’ll change our predicament. Titles and status easily flow from one megalomaniac to another.”

Love threw some thoughts into the mix as well.

“Hey, Chryssie and Specs did something I’d never seen before! They got some color to pop up on Mop-er-Mayham! Like not from a can of paint or anything, like maybe that old curse can actually be undone!”

Rebel and Rouser gave surprised looks at Love then both turned to the changelings. Rebel threw both of her paws to her cheeks and gasped.

“No way! You guys are actually undoing Discord’s curse?”

Rouser opened both of his eyes and leaned up from his hammock.

“Do you even know what you’re doing? It could make things worse!”

Specter finally brought his voice into the conversation.

“Things are already getting worse. Among our narrow number of options this is the best chance we have to improve the situation.”

Chrysalis inserted some more clarification before the conversation could spiral further into confusion and arguments.

“I have witnessed what Anarchy and Mayham were like before they became Authority and Mop. They were both good friends with changelings and ponies alike. My old mentor, Shellish, showed me earlier today, er, yesterday? Whatever.”

Chrysalis played with a lock of her mane in thought. Did the rapid sky cycles mess with the schedule of Authority’s formal dance? Love had finished her preparations over by the fire and strolled over to the table with a big platter. It was loaded with fruit on shish kabob, prevalently passion fruit.

“Eat up everyone!”

Everyone obliged and grabbed a stick. For a second they all quietly nibbled on the treat. Chrysalis finished the last bit of conversation.

“More or less I don’t think Anarchy and Mayham were out to put anyone else down, intentionally at least. Plus, if I get them changed back they should have quite the bone to pick with Discord. A recipe that should work to our favor.”

Rouser gave her a skeptical look.

“I hope you’re right.”

Rebel elbowed Rouser.

“I’ll take a ray of sunshine where I can!”

Love hopped up and stood tall in her chair.

“Oh I just can’t wait to be free! Things to see, places to go, people to meet!”

A loud crashing sounded from amongst the trees in their surroundings. All of them looked in the direction the sound came from, getting ready to dart at a moments notice. The crashing stopped and a giant head popped out from between the branches, it was Silver. He smiled smugly at the lot of them.

“What an adorable little party. Here, let me add to it.”

He pulled out a giant nap sack and emptied the contents onto the group, burying them in a shower of clothing. Chrysalis quickly pulled her way out and looked at what was thrown on them. It was formal attire of many varieties. The rest of the little group had popped their heads above the mound and took a look at it. Love looked up at Silver in a confused appreciation.

“Why thank you. I was having trouble deciding what to wear to Authority’s ball!”

Silver chuckled at that.

“No need to thank me. This just looks like a good place to hide the prize of a scavenger hunt.”

He planted a large mirror on the edge of the clearing.

“I stole all of the clothes everyone else was going to wear. I give it maybe an hour til they find this spot. Tootalou.”

Silver withdrew into the mess of trees, the sound of his crashing quickly becoming distant. However, the sound of a clock ticking emanated from the planted mirror, increasing the ambient urgency of the situation with every tick. They all sprang into action.

Chrysalis rifled quickly through the pile, pulling out things she would consider wearing. After hastily picking up three items she looked over to what Specter was handling. He currently held two peachy suits and some kind of cowl-robe combo. They looked a little too tacky for her tastes. Chrysalis voiced her opinion dryly.

“We should pick something matching. Your choices so far look obnoxious.”

Specter stopped rifling through the pile and leveled a look at her.

“I’m sorry? I don’t recall us ever being arranged together, in fact…”

Specter leapt on top of the pile and slipped on a bright pink suit, while transforming into a tall chiseled draconequus.

“Hey Love.”

The short, pink chimera looked up to Specter and when she saw him dressed and poised with the air of a debonair she turned bashful. Rubbing her hooves together she responded coyly.

“Ya?”

“Have you been snatched up yet? I imagine you’ve had a number of inquirers for this coming dance.”

“Not yet. Though there is a rapturous something something nearby making me think about it.”

Chrysalis scoffed at the exchange between the two. Did he just really? Did he really just do that to her, the Queen? Her wings immediately sprang from her shell to buzz fiercely. A growl started in the base of her throat, the only other royalty on the island was going to reject her?! He was going to leave her to fend for herself with a horde of grabby maniacs!

Even if she outright rejected the situation she would be violating Authority’s terms, causing whatever sanity-forsaken consequences. All because she said his taste in attire was awful?!

Before her growl left her mouth she felt something tussel her mane. Her wings froze at the contact and she looked up. Specter was back in his changeling form and no longer wore the pink suit. When she saw he had her full attention he removed his hoof from her mane.

“Calm down Chrysalis, I am just making a point. I’m not one of your subordinates to just order around.”

“W-wait so you’re-”

“Yes, I still plan on attending the dance with you. Just keep in mind you’re working with an ally, not a minion. Maintaining a level of pleasantry will be important if you want me around.”

Chrysalis studied him for a few moments until she eventually let out a sigh and turned back to the pile of clothing. While rifling for a few more choices she replied without looking at him.

“Forgive me, I’ve not had peers to practice with.”

Specter grimaced, thinking of the conversation they had earlier. Chrysalis was never brought up in the refinements of Imperial culture. However, there was still time and opportunity for change.

“That’s something I can help you with. If you’re willing to adapt.”

Chrysalis sighed in mild exasperation.

“One thing at a time. Now, what do you think of this dress?”

She picked out a red dress with cross hatched sleeves and held it against the length of her body. Specter eyed it critically against her figure.

“You have rather bold taste.”

They went through a few more options and looked for corresponding outfits for Specter. The ticking mirror had steadily gotten very loud. More worrying were the other noises closing in from multiple sides of the jungle. The scavenger parties must be closing in.

They quickly settled on their choice and fled the scene. Waving a quick goodbye to their hosts.

“See you at the ball!”

Love shouted after them. Chrysalis and Specter nodded as they disappeared in the direction of the volcano.

--- The night of the ball

A long line of Chimera were roughly organized outside of a silver marble mansion. Authority’s place for hosting the event was near her chrome office tower, however this building was on a hilltop amidst the jungle instead of the beach.

Hidden in a patch of bushes on the estate were Chrysalis and Specter, both of whom cautiously eyed the crowd from a distance. They both wore their formal attire, a matching rose-red dress and suit respectively.

“Are you sure you don’t want to get in line now? Authori-Anarchy might scout for late comers, delaying our mission further.”

Specter’s violet eyes flashed about the different parts of the estate. Chrysalis stayed reserved.

“We could just as easily be delayed if we get mobbed by an overly excited crowd. Besides, even if a greyed Anarchy comes after us we could still get a chance to talk.”

Specter eyed the entrance of the mansion and spotted a familiar face.

“Well, it seems Mayham is the greeter at the door. He’s covered himself up quite a bit too. Do you think he has changed even more?”

Chrysalis looked towards the main doors with keen eyes. Head and shoulders above all the guests was the greeter, covered mostly head to tail in one article of clothing or another. A wide brimmed top hat covered most of his head while overly large chrome shades covered most of his face. A long scarf wrapped around his lengthy neck all the way to his jawline. A formal suit and white gloves covered his body and a long striped sock encapsulated his tail.

“Unless he’s suddenly decided to start a new fashion trend, I’d say it’s a safe bet it’s still affecting him.”

The pair watched as the light around the horizon flickered and the setting sun threatened to revert back to midday. However there was a burst of grey magic and the sun was roughly shoved below the horizon, plummeting the heavens into the early night it was supposed to be. Specter made an uneasy chuckle at the prominent display. Turning to Chrysalis he asked.

“Still feeling bold?”

Chrysalis subconsciously raised a hoof to her horn, ghostly pains from the past echoed and vivid memories flashed from fairly recent experiences. Her muzzle twisted unpleasantly.

“It doesn’t change what must be done.”

At last the crowd had fizzled down to the last few couples, so the changelings exited their hiding spot and trotted towards the door. The greeter noticed them and straightened his posture. Even though his eyes were covered by shades Chrysalis could smell a mixture of judgement and apprehension, yet he was able to greet them levelly.

“Chrysalis, Specter, so nice to see you again. This way.”

He gestured towards the large double doors, ushering them inside.

“Thank you, Ham.”

Chrysalis made sure to emphasize as she passed by, making the tall draconequus shudder as he closed the door behind them.

“Enjoy the dance and be careful.”

The warning was not delivered softly. Now inside, Chrysalis was greeted to a beautiful, spacious foyeur. Large canvas paintings with luxurious frames adorned every wall, a stunning chandelier glittered with the light of 1000 reflective glass crystals, and intricately patterned carpet lay beneath their hooves.

A smaller red carpet formed a temporary trail before them. The other guests ahead of them could be seen following it and snaking their way down into another hall. Chrysalis and Specter followed along and were led to the back of the mansion, which opened up into a giant roofless basilica. The event would be hosted under starlight and supplemented by a few lanterns which rested above the pillars of the basilica.

The gentle cords of a grand piano echoed across the air, emanating from a large central gazebo. Chrysalis spotted her primary target of the evening at the bench of the large instrument. Authority played with her eyes closed and swayed her body in a controlled rhythm, she wore the same suit Chrysalis had first seen her in. The Changeling Queen strolled straight for her, passing the tables occupied by guests and food. When she was about halfway to the gazebo a flash of grey magic snapped her up mid-trot.

Chrysalis found herself whiplashed right next to Authority’s piano bench. The draconequus didn’t miss a note as she cooly addressed the changeling. Though the tall snaky creature also swung her face right into Chrysalis’s scrunching against the bewildered changeling.

“I want to make something clear Chrysalis. Just so you know, Mop already informed me of your miscreant behavior in his laboratory. If you dare to replicate any of that hooliganism at this event you will find yourself spending the evening under the sea locked in an iron box. No loud noises, no messes, understand?”

The changeling gulped before she replied.

“I promise not to be noisy or messy, Anarchy.”

The last word made Authority flinch. She looked down directly into Chrysalis’s green eyes with her silver ones.

“That’s an ugly, ugly word.”

Her intimidating gaze cowed the changeling, whose face fell into doubt. After a moment Authority pointed an amphibious finger towards a particular table in the basilica.

“You’re assigned table #69, go seat yourself. The event begins in five minutes.”

Chrysalis didn’t need to be told twice as she walked as speedily towards the table as her dress permitted. Upon approaching the table she saw Specter already seated there, across from him was Love and a… green blob with a bowtie and tophat. The blob was also smiling.

Specter saw her approach and pulled a chair out with his magic. She quickly took the seat and let out a heavy sigh. Specter gave her a friendly grin as he said,

“It’s good to see you survived Anarchy’s little pep talk. I was going to start making bets with Love over here.”

Chrysalis’s muzzle slanted as she looked disapprovingly between the two of them.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence. But yes, plans will have to change tonight. We’ll have to come up with a different approach to trigger some sense of Anarchy out of Authority.”

Love waved down Chrysalis to beg a question,

“Hey, Chryssie, before you get deep into something all sneaky and stuff I wanna ask. Would ya mind if I call first dibs on Specs for the second dance?”

Chrysalis looked over to Specter, who shrugged his shoulders. Her eyes roamed across the basilica and she spotted Mop near the exit. An idea began to formulate in her mind and she idly replied.

“He’s all yours for the second dance.”

Love clapped her paws exclaiming a small ‘yay’ before turning to the green blob next to her.

“You wouldn’t mind that would you Smoozy?”

The blob was currently attempting to eat some of the shiny beads woven into the table cloth. Love apparently read some answer that changelings couldn’t pick up on.

“Smoozy is cool with it.”

The piano stopped playing and a single loud bell tone rang across the basilica. Authority had risen from her bench and strode over to a small podium. Her voice echoed across the gathered crowd.

“Astoundingly, all guests made it here and on time for this most proper occasion. I must say you have learned well my fellow draconequi. As per tradition we shall now start the first formal dance.”

Authority’s rat tail cracked like a whip and there was a rumble throughout the basilica and things began to dramatically shift. The marble structure ascended away from the mansion and floated along until it quickly climbed hundreds of lengths into the air and over the sea.

Eventually things plateaued when they finally reached the peak of the island’s volcano. The flying basilica then started a slow rotation around the island. At this height they could easily see over the top of the barrier of rainbow storm clouds. The roaming prismatic billows below and the blanket of stars above combined for a breathtaking sight.

As if on a silent cue the crowd of draconequi all rose from their seats and made their way to the dance floor.

Love hopped up from her seat and dragged the green blob with her. Specter and Chrysalis joined the crowd, though there was some trepidation in Chrysalis’s steps. She hadn’t given much thought to this part of the plan, it had seemed so unimportant compared to everything else. Worse still, there had been no time in her past to learn anything like ballroom dancing.

When the music from Authority’s piano started again the fear of making a fool of herself quickly rose up in her line of priorities. She also became acutely aware of how many draconequi threw glances her way, curious or judging it didn’t matter which they did, if she made a mistake they’d all see it. Chrysalis turned to Specter for assurance.

“I must confess I lack experience in this area. Do you know how to…”

“I’ve been to many dances before, just follow my lead and you’ll be fine.”

They turned towards each other, Specter held out a hoof and she took it. He then guided her other hoof over his shoulder before seizing her waist.

“It’ll be easy, just look me in the eye and ignore the others.”

Chrysalis did as instructed and tried to put all her focus onto her partner.

“Step back with your left, now right, and swing.”

He prompted her along gently and she followed a little shakily at first.

“Forward left, now right, Swing.”

They looped about in a rotisserie motion. After three or four more rotations she felt she was getting a grasp of the basic motions.

“See, you’re doing just fine.”

Specter’s warm grin did a great deal to calm her down and put her at ease. After a few more rotations she was feeling up for something more adventurous.

“So, what else can you show me?”

She threw on a bold smile and put more effort into their swings. Specter’s smile grew to match her ambitious energy. Without a word he flung her outward on their next swing, carefully keeping a hold of her wrist with his, then with a flourish he spun her about like a spinning top, finishing the action by twirling her into a close embrace. With their faces closer together he gave her an obvious wink, then spun her back into their starting position. The series of swift actions caused her heart to quicken and she let out a rather girly giggle.

“Ooo, is that all?”

“I think we’re just getting started.”

Specter surprised her next by popping out his wings and pulling her into the air. Both changelings’ wings hummed at different pitches as they continued their swing dance above the other guests in attendance. Most of the draconequi were definitely watching them now, but Chrysalis couldn’t bring herself to care about it.

The Changeling Queen was thoroughly enjoying the sky dance led by the changeling King. The spinning, whirling, and twirling made her blood tingle with a rush of excitement.

Many of the attendees nervously glanced over to Authority to see if she noticed, but by all appearances she looked far too preoccupied with the enchanting piece she was playing. A few of the bold draconequi decided to follow the example the changelings had set. So those with the ability to fly took their dance above the floor.

Time seemed to slow as Chrysalis lost herself to the moment. Whether it was the way the stars twinkled or how the torches glowed and illuminated the marvelous basilica, she couldn’t tell. For now she was carefree and that’s all that mattered, it was wonderful.

The music below reached a stirring crescendo and the entire area was bathed in the magic of whimsey and sparkles. After the song reached its peak it sharply dropped off and was over. The ring of the alarm bell brought the activity in the basilica to a halt.

Chrysalis grunted in disappointment as Specter stopped and led her back down to the floor. Authority was back at her podium announcing.

“All of you have 15 minutes to refresh yourselves and do some mild mingling. After that we shall commence with the second dance and finish with my speech of critique.”

She waved dismissively at the crowd to go about her instruction. Upon returning to her piano she began a new more subdued melody. Chrysalis turned to Specter while straightening her mane with a hoof, her blood still pumping quickly.

“That was a good time, thank you.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

“Well, I suppose I should go back to furthering our actual goal this evening. Have fun with Love.”

“Be careful and the second thing shouldn’t be a problem.”

They parted ways and Chrysalis trotted towards the far end of the basilica. As she made her way along the other draconequi politely parted for her. Many of them dropped comments and compliments as she passed by.

“That was some neat dancing!”

“I can’t believe Authority didn’t punish you two.”

“Nice dress.”

“Hey! That’s my dress!”

Chrysalis scooted along faster after the last comment. She soon reached the back and found the draconequus she was looking for.

“Hey Ham, can I have a moment?”

“Please, it’s Mop, what do you need?”

As the changeling approached and interacted with the large achromatic being all the smaller draconequi backed off, giving them a healthy amount of space.

“I would like you to be my second dance.”

She could see Mop’s eyebrows rise behind his glasses. He looked about before turning his suspicious voice on her.

“Are you trying to pull another trick? Because if you do something to offend Authority I won’t defend you from the consequences.”

“Don’t be so worried Ham, I just need a dance partner.”

His muzzle scrunched awkwardly and he looked about once more, the resolve in his voice was rather weak.

“Are you sure there’s no one else you’d rather ask?”

Chrysalis responded with her best imploring tone.

“I don’t know any of the others as well as you Ham. Would you do this for me?”

She held a hoof out, silently proffering him to take it. Mop scratched along his jawline, ruffling up his sideburns before he conceded and took her hoof with his gloved paw.

“Alright, but I’m not doing any of that dancing in the air.”

“That’s fine, thank you for helping me Mayham.”

Chrysalis couldn’t help but let a small devious smile show as they made their way back to the dance floor. The draconequus had slowly been reacting less and less adversely to the call of his original name each time she said it. Hopefully with another push or two, she’d finally make some progress. Once they arrived at the open platform they were given a wide berth by the other draconequi, all responding nervously to Mop’s presence upon the dance floor. It was almost as if they expected to be scolded over something.

Authority in particular eyed them, her lids drooping low in scrutiny. Mop saw his sister’s stern gaze and silently gestured a placation, which caused her glare to soften, but not take her eyes off of them. She stood up and announced the last dance in her usual manner, causing the crowd to gather and ready themselves for the activity.

Chrysalis turned to her partner and observed the comical difference in size and shape between them. She reared up on her hind legs and reach out a hoof towards Mop’s shoulder, yet she was still a bit too short and ended up leaning against his long midsection. He looked down on her and bent his serpentine body to try and adjust for her. They fumbled about for a bit, trying to find a comfortable position between a mismatch of limbs and bodies, which consistently proved either too small or big for the other. Eventually Chrysalis broke up the effort and made a little space between the two of them. Mop chuckled when they stopped trying.

“You asked for this, sorry its not working very smoothly.”

Chrysalis just stretched for a minute, an undeterred smile stuck on her muzzle. Her demeanor appeared unphased, in fact she moved on as if it was all planned.

“Oh it's not a problem, in fact forgive me for being so silly. I’m a changeling after all and I can make some adjustments…”

She finished up her stretching by loosening a shoulder, then she was enveloped in the green flames of transformation. A moment later she appeared much taller and serpentine. Her straight teal mane became frizzled and pink, her dark grey chitin morphed into a lime green and purple. Her tail became long an hairless like a rat. Each of her limbs also took on the form of various beasts.

Standing besides Mop was a perfect replication of the colorful Anarchy. Unfortunately the dress Chrysalis was wearing couldn’t effectively accommodate the new form, it had effectively torn in half down the middle and hung off one of her shoulders like a scraggly cape. She ignored this as she tried flexing each of the new limbs.

“This should be a more compatible form, yes?”

Mop just gawked at the display. He had never seen his sister depicted in such a way… had he? Authority’s reaction over in the gazebo was to immediately stop her piano piece with a loud crash of notes. Her eyes were wide as dinner plates and one of them began to twitch madly. Chrysalis saw the crazy look from Authority and called out sheepishly.

“I’m not making a mess or being noisy!”

She crossed her fingers behind her back and cringed, preparing to be thrown under the sea and locked in a box.

Thankfully, her plea of obedience worked, that or Authority was too stunned to think clearly, and the moment of punishment never came. Rather she felt a poke in her side. She looked over to see Mop holding out a paw. Chrysalis nervously glanced over at Authority as she accepted the paw. The crazed look was still there, but the paws at the piano had also resumed playing, albeit the melody was radically different and faster paced.

The crowd picked up warmly to the new tune and shook their bodies about energetically trying to keep up with the racing notes.

Chrysalis decided to play along with the joviality and rather than take the formal poise of the last dance, she simply locked opposite elbows with Mop and got him to start skipping in circles with her.

The pace of the piano picked up even more. So much so that smoke and light started to pour from the overtaxed instrument until it was fuming from the gazebo like a busy chimney. At this point the crowd actually slowed down and began to back to the edges of the basilica. The lights flashing from the draconequus playing the piano kept getting brighter and more frequent as the smoke flushed out with more volume while the decibels continued to increase.

Chrysalis could hear Love laughing hysterically on the other side of the dance floor, even over the fervor blasting from the gazebo. The changeling supposed she must find something particularly amusing about the way Authority was currently acting.

All joviality stopped however when the first burst of flames licked out from the gazebo. The burst of heat made the dance floor become vacant as the participants took cover behind tables or pillars. The song became an indistinguishable blurr of sound as none of the notes were individually decipherable anymore. Thankfully it stopped after a particularly loud bang!

Hundreds of eyes peeked over tables and pillars when the quiet had finally come through. Chrysalis changed back to her normal self and was among the cautiously curious individuals looking to see what had become of Authority.

A strong breeze came by and cleared most of the smoke away, revealing an ash blasted chimera with her rump on the floor. Shards of the piano lay all about the gazebo, coloring the interior black with its smoldering remains. Authority continued to sit there in a state of shock.

A number of curious draconequi meandered closer to the site of wreckage with morbid fascination. In all their years they’d never seen something that out of control from the strictest draconequus on the isle, and none of them dared to voice it. Well, except one. It was Love of course.

“That was awesome! You totally wrecked tha-”

“SILENCE!”

Authority turned around and was on her hooves in a flash. A manic rage caused her eyes to bulge, much to the terror of all the smaller draconequi. However, Chrysalis noted there was color in her left eye, a vibrant swirl of blue and green.

“ALL OF YOU ARE OFFICIALLY UNINVITED!”

Pink tinted grey magic flashed around everyone present except Mop and Authority and in the next moment they all vanished. Reappearing again on the beach a few body lengths from shore. The result being they were all dropped in the water and their fancy ballroom attire was immediately drenched.

Funny enough, the crowd didn’t seem to mind, in fact there was a roar of laughter when they all realized they were simply back at the beach. Chrysalis was still unsure of the situation and raised her voice to the crowd.

“You aren’t mad at me?”

The Changeling immediately thought she made a mistake when the attention of all the draconequi splashing in the water was suddenly drawn to her. Then she heard Love’s voice nearby, the peachy pink draconequus swam over to her with Specter treading just behind.

“Are you kidding? You just got us out of having to listen to a critique speech in first time since like, FOREVER!”

The crowd around them applauded and hollered in consensus. They all swarmed towards the changeling who made herself the highlight of the night.

“Hip hip for the Changeling Queen!”

“Gimme a hoorah and booyah!”

“Thank you! Thank you very much!”

Chrysalis squealed as she felt dozens of paws all push underneath her and lift her above the water. They gently bounced her above them in joyful play, making it one of the more unusual rides she had experienced. She continued to surf along the crowd of chimera as they carried her onto land.

The changeling Queen couldn’t help but think, even amongst this storm of praise, about how Crone was doing back in the Crystal Empire. They had not parted on the best of terms. Hopefully Shellish helped her cope with things on the other side.

And thank you for reading! Next chapter will feature Crone, then Sombra and More plus some memories.