//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: A Tempestuous, Pharyngeal Engagement // by Raugos //------------------------------// The long, forlorn note of a war horn echoed throughout the valley leading up to the Storm King’s fortress, shaking dust from the crags and jagged spires on either side. A dark horde of storm creatures had formed a defensive line up ahead in the valley, the remnants of his empire in service of whoever had seen fit to take control in the power vacuum resulting from his defeat. Twilight watched from atop a rocky tor in the middle of the valley, which rose from the dry riverbed of gravel and sparse grass like the bow of a sunken ship at a gentle incline, granting her a near-panoramic view of the soon-to-be battlefield. The clouds hung thick and heavy over the shadowy fortress itself, but the skies remained clear all around it, and the sun shone with almost cheerful intensity and warmth. Changelings, yaks and ponies of every tribe garbed in azure plate barding of the Crystal Empire marched to the lively beat of drums, flowing around Twilight’s rocky perch like an army of ants. Suddenly, the drums ceased, and the imperial legion came to a halt with the crunch of gravel, forming a line that seemed to stretch from one side of the valley to the other. Their crystal armour and the tips of their spears gleamed in the sun whilst their banners waved in the gentle breeze. Not one of the soldiers said a word. “Glorious, isn’t it?” said Cadance. Twilight turned to her right with an incredulous question forming on the tip of her tongue, but she snapped her mouth shut when she saw that it wasn’t Cadance. The mare in question was nearly as tall as Twilight, though a bit slimmer at the hips. Her light pink coat had the shine of lavish care, and her purple and blue curls almost reached her shoulders, faintly sparkling and waving with innate magic. She wore an intricate tiara of shimmering crystal, and she carried herself with all the noble poise of a princess surveying all that she owned before her. Then, Twilight looked into her opal eyes and instantly recognised her niece. “Flurry Heart? You’re all grown up! What’s going on here?” Flurry Heart ignored her. She didn’t even show any sign of having heard her. “It is indeed glorious, Your Highness,” said a smooth, oily voice from behind Twilight. Twilight spun around and leapt out of the way just in time to avoid bumping muzzles with the changeling trotting up to her. He was tall and lanky, with black, holey chitin, a long, jagged horn and diaphanous wings of dark violet hues. The rest of him drastically deviated from typical changeling traits; he had long, magenta hair which he’d tied up into a slick ponytail, his teal eyes had actual pupils – though of the slit variety, and he wore a variant of Crystal Empire armour which had ornate runes etched into the plating, minus the helmet. He also had a sheathed sword attached to his barding. Another changeling came after him and stood by Flurry’s other side. She was about the same height as Twilight, and she had a colour scheme that was identical to the male changeling’s, in addition to wearing similar armour. Unlike him, however, she had her mane done up as a spiky pixie-cut and kept her tail cropped short. She also had piercings – all the piercings. Twilight never would’ve dreamed of seeing a changeling who wanted to add more holes to their body, but there she was, staring at an arsenal of studs and rings inserted into practically every available stretch of soft tissue in the changeling’s ears, brows, lips and even the base of her wings. Twilight frowned. These couldn’t be their offspring, could they? Flurry regarded the newcomers with a smile. “Exsanguinatus, Asphyxia. My most trusted captains. Is everyone in position for the final assault?” Twilight rolled her eyes. Yup. Definitely their kids… “Everything is in order, Your Highness. Just say the word, and we’ll flatten the lot of them,” said Asphyxia with a bloodthirsty grin. Her scratchy voice sounded like she ate razor blades for breakfast. “As she said,” Exsanguinatus affirmed with a slow nod. “I look forward to savouring our victory in the fabled halls of the Storm King’s palace. I also hope his personal library is better stocked than the one in the previous fort we captured…” “Ooh, this is so exciting. I can’t wait!” cried Flurry Heart as she pulled the two of them close for a group hug. They glowed and almost seemed to visibly swell with power in her embrace, and upon releasing them, Flurry rubbed her hooves together and grinned menacingly at the Storm King’s army as she cried, “Go forth, and show them what we’re made of! Soon, the last of these barbarians will fall to the might and harmony of the Crystal Empire, and all will kneel before us as besties!” Asphyxia drew her sword with blue magic, pointed it forward and bellowed, “March, sons and daughters of the Crystal Empire! For the Empress!” Exsanguinatus then took his war horn and blew out a long, booming note that reverberated across the valley. In spite of herself, Twilight felt her heart swell with restless courage and determination as the soldiers marched forward with brisk and heavy steps, filling the air with the thunderous staccato of hooves and clanking armour. She even had to swallow the furious battle cry working its way up her throat and force herself to refrain from joining the assault as the twins brandished their weapons and flitted away to lead the charge from the air. Meanwhile, Flurry Heart, Empress of the Crystal Empire watched from her vantage point with a smirk on her muzzle and murmured, “That’ll teach you barbarians to petrify Mom and Auntie Celestia and Luna…” Twilight opened her mouth to protest the disproportionate retaliation, but her vision swam and clouded up before she could utter a word. Shadows darkened the world, and the sounds of clashing steel and magic dulled to a distant murmur. She took one last look at the blurry silhouette of her niece, and then gasped like a drowning mare as the darkness swallowed her whole. * * * “Flurry Heart!” Twilight sat bolt-upright in bed with her wings flared out. Her niece was gone. She flung her blanket off and scrambled to the edge of her bed as she frantically parsed the lingering images in her mind. She had to find Cadance and Shining, to let them know that Flurry Heart was in danger all the way south in the Storm King’s lands. She— Wait a minute… Twilight froze in mid-stride towards the door and frowned as she swept her gaze across the room. A shaft of pale moonlight shone in through the half-open window, reflecting from the marble floor and onto the smooth walls. The clock hanging on the wall ticked away steadily, and its hands glowed with soft, green light against the deep indigo dimness of the room. Three in the morning. She was in one of the guest rooms of the palace. “S’mthing th’matter, Twi?” Spike murmured as he stirred in his cot. Maybe? Twilight trotted over to the window and gazed out as if she might find the answer staring back at her from the streets of Canterlot, far below. “It... I think it was just a dream,” she said as she hesitantly crawled back into bed. “Oh, all right.” Spike yawned and blinked owlishly at her. “You feeling okay?” “Yeah. I think so.” “Right. I’ma go back to sleep, ’kay?” Twilight nodded, but she couldn’t stop gazing out the window even as she tucked herself back under the covers. Logically speaking, it really couldn’t have been anything other than a dream. Flurry Heart wasn’t even old enough to go to school yet, let alone sit on the throne! But the image of her niece and the twin changelings was practically seared into her mind, and she could recall them with stunning clarity, right down to the intricate patterns on their armour and their speeches word for word. None of her dreams had ever possessed that degree of detail… Unless it was a vision of sorts. She vaguely recalled Celestia and Luna mentioning that they’d witnessed Tirek’s escape from Tartarus through their dreams. But that’d been about something that was happening in the present, not the far future… Twilight bit her lip as she forced her eyes shut and willed herself to stillness. She flattened her ears when Spike snored softly. Worse still, her brain decided there and then to conduct a review of events leading up to her feverish dream. Two days. Two days had passed since Tempest’s and Pharynx’s altercation in the training yard. Twilight herself had been discharged with little fuss after the first night, but she’d found little to do in any official capacity in Canterlot, what with the parade being postponed on account of their injuries and the loss of nearly three quarters of their stockpile of fireworks. That’d left her with marking assignments – conveniently teleported all the way from Ponyville – and delegating duties to Starlight and the others to compensate for her delayed return to the school. Apart from a brief farewell and get-well-soon after getting discharged, she hadn’t really taken the time to see how they were doing. She peeped at the clock and suppressed a groan when she found that only four minutes had passed since her rude awakening. The pile of unmarked papers on the dresser taunted her with unresolved academic and grammatical errors, perfectly in tandem with the niggling unease of what she’d seen in her dream. And despite her silent pleas, the gears of her brain kept ramping up in speed, and it soon got uncomfortably warm and humid beneath the blanket. Oh, fine! Twilight yanked the covers off and tottered a little in the dark before she found the mental balance necessary to teleport. She did so, taking care to use a slightly more intricate spell matrix to minimise sound and residue as the world collapsed around her. She popped back into physical space with barely a puff of smoke in the infirmary, right outside the observation window and— Oh. Twilight was at the observation window, all right. Just not on the correct side of it. The regular ceiling lights had been switched off to let the patients sleep, but somepony had placed a nightlight crystal on the table between Tempest’s and Pharynx’s beds. It filled the room with a cool, dim, bluish-white light that gave the room a near-dreamlike atmosphere. Whatever the hypothesis for her slightly miscalculated interspatial triangulation, it instantly blew away into the deepest recesses of her mind when she realised that only one of the two beds was occupied. Neither of the patients was missing, though. Tempest and Pharynx had shed most of their bandages, braces and resinous casts, sporting only a smattering of bruises, scabs and discoloured patches of burnt coat. Which was good. Astounding, even, considering the severity of their initial injuries. But one particular detail commanded the majority of Twilight’s attention. Tempest and Pharynx were spooning. And Tempest was the small spoon. The battle-scarred unicorn looked uncharacteristically peaceful in her sleep, with the barest hints of a genuine smile on her muzzle instead of a brooding scowl or disdainful sneer. The imposing pegasus stallion at her back had wrapped his forelegs around her barrel and rested his muzzle on the back of her neck. His wings also covered her midsection like a fluffy blanket. Then, Twilight could’ve sworn she heard glass shatter when she saw the horn poking out of his dark blue, streaked forelock. The stallion was an alicorn. A purple alicorn. With a starburst cutie mark exactly like hers. What the hay? Pharynx. It had to be Pharynx in disguise. But… why? Her eye twitched as she appraised him from horn to hoof. He had apparently transformed into an amalgamation of Shining Armour’s physique, Tempest’s stature and Twilight’s colours and manestyle, resulting in a male Twilight – Guylight Sparkle? – that made her heart flutter and her stomach churn at the same time. She didn’t know how long she spent standing there stumped like a procrastinator in an exam hall, desperately trying to keep her stiffening wings from flaring out. “Never took you for a creeper, boss,” Tempest murmured. Twilight squeaked and flattened her wings to her sides. “Sorry!” Seconds passed. Five, ten, maybe more whilst she fidgeted on the spot with a stiff grin plastered to her face, acutely aware of every bead of sweat forming under her coat. The temperature of her cheeks and ears was rapidly climbing, too. Without getting up or even opening her eyes, Tempest growled, “If you aren’t going to join in or tell us to stop, please get out.” “Oh, right!” Twilight clumsily spun around and tottered towards the door. “Sorry, didn’t mean to butt in like this. Guess I’m not fully awake yet. But it was so… unexpected! I mean, how could I ever expect to walk in on my own guard snuggling with stallion-me? Ha-ha! Crazy, right?” She stopped halfway to the door and squinted at Pharynx. “It is stallion-me, right? I mean, I don’t want to jump to conclusions, but I’m starting to get a teensy little bit suspicious that you might have a thing for me, which is getting a little weird. Actually, it’s very weird, because I don’t think I’ve ever known anypony who’d had a thing for me. Ever.” She then shook her head and marched stiffly towards the exit. “Oh gosh, I don’t-know-how-to-feel-about-this-so-I’ll-just-stop-talking-now-and—” “I think we broke her,” Pharynx whispered. “Should we do something about it?” Yikes, he even sounds like Shining Armour… “Nope! Don’t want to be a friendship problem!” she cried as she plodded away. “Leaving now!” Tempest sighed. “I’ve changed my mind, boss. Please stay.” Twilight froze with a hoof pressed on the door handle. Slowly, she turned whilst hearing the bed creak under their combined weight and movement, until she saw Pharynx clambering back onto his own bed whilst Tempest sat on her haunches and gestured with a hoof towards the visitor’s chair. The room’s proper lights then flickered on, temporarily stinging her eyes whilst she obediently trotted over to take a seat. She shifted uneasily on her rump and stroked her tail, feeling very much like that time she’d had to face her teacher after getting an abysmal B-minus in a test. Tempest had an awful case of bed-mane, but apart from that, she only looked mildly irritated instead of furious as one might expect from her intrusion. Pharynx, on the other hoof, was looking at Tempest the same way Shining or Spike did at the last pancake on the table, and he at least had the grace to act very interested in a spot of dirt on the sheets when he realised Twilight was watching him. “You both look good—Well!—I mean, you look well.” She gave them a sheepish grin and gestured vaguely with a hoof. “You know, considering what happened…” Tempest gingerly massaged her belly and grimaced. “With all the healing potions they’ve been pumping into us, I certainly hope so.” “All that love helps, too,” Pharynx added. Twilight stared at him, involuntarily cataloguing the differences between them whilst her self-consciousness nagged about how she could stand to improve in a few areas that he seemed to excel at. He certainly could pull off a smug, bad-colt attitude that she couldn’t ever picture on herself, certainly not without that chiselled physique and slightly unkempt mane. He looked like the kind of stallion who’d go out with several mares at once after having been expressly forbidden to do so by the parents of all parties involved… “Pharynx, quit it,” Tempest intoned with narrowed eyes. “Okay, okay, I got it. No more messing the princess.” Guylight Sparkle sniggered and transformed into Pharynx with a whoosh of green fire. “Was tasty while it lasted, though.” “Yup, I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that.” Twilight shook her head and then swept her gaze back and forth between them on their respective beds. Thankfully, Pharynx was no longer quite so distracting in his normal form, which allowed her mind to get back onto some semblance of a normal track. “So… what was that all about?” Tempest shrugged. “It’s exactly what it looks like.” “No, I get that. But why, you know…” Twilight pointed a feather at Pharynx and swept it from horn to hoof. “That? Of all the forms he could’ve taken, why a stallion version of me?” She didn’t get an answer immediately. The silence between them stretched as Tempest appraised her, almost like a parent trying to decide whether it was time to talk about the birds and the bees. Which was more than a little patronising, if that was the case. Twilight was pretty sure she knew far more about courtship and reproduction that the average pony; she’d even memorised all the statistics, charts and diagrams! “You mares thirsty?” Pharynx suddenly asked. He then hopped off his bed and trotted towards a large table at the far end of the room, which had an assortment of pots and jugs on top of it. “I’ll get something to warm us up.” Tempest watched him go, then turned to her and asked, “Permission to speak freely, Princess Twilight?” “You’re my friend. You don’t need my permission to be honest.” “Wrong. You’re also my superior, but that’s beside the point.” Tempest averted her eyes and worked her jaw as if she had something of questionable taste in her mouth. She then rubbed the back of her neck and added, “The point is that… I like you. Some of you.” When Pharynx coughed loudly from the other side of the room, Tempest shot him an annoyed look and cleared her throat. “Okay, a lot of you. Unfortunately, you’re missing some essential equipment that would seal the deal for me.” Stars above, what the hay? “I… I didn’t know. It never occurred to me.” Twilight felt her temperature rapidly rising and fluttered her wings to offload excess heat. “You, you actually like, like me? In that special somepony kind of way?” Tempest shook her head. “Let me make this absolutely clear, boss. I like your body. Most of it, anyway.” “Oh.” Twilight felt her ears droop, though she had no idea whether to feel relieved or mildly affronted. She could just imagine Rarity getting red and huffy on her behalf, all the same. “Yes, I’m shallow like that. There’s nothing wrong with you, Twilight. It’s just that, personality-wise, you’re just not my type.” Tempest then tilted her head towards Pharynx. “On the other hoof, since he and I find each other very tolerable company, stuck in here with next to nothing to do, and with him needing a top-up and me wanting to explore a fantasy…” When Twilight glanced at Pharynx, he grinned over his shoulder and said, “She’s got good taste.” “I’m sorry you had to see that. You have my word that we’ll never do that agai—” “No, no, it’s okay!” Twilight waved her forelegs and chuckled nervously. “You’re both consenting adults and what you do in private is none of my business. After all, even Princess Celestia says that there’s no wrong way to fantasize!” Tempest blinked. “Huh. She actually said that?” “Among other things…” Twilight mumbled. “So, why exactly did you drop by?” Tempest’s brow suddenly creased into that severe, militant expression that promised a very thorough dressing down if one gave the wrong answer. “There any reason it had to be in the middle of the night? And by teleporting, no less.” “Umm…” Twilight bit her lip as she weighed the pros and cons of telling her about that dream. The more she thought about it, the sillier it seemed. Surely it couldn’t have been more than a feverish dream brought on by the stress of recent events, right? Before she could answer, Pharynx bought her a little more time by trotting back with a tray fully loaded with steaming mugs of – she discreetly sniffed – hot chocolate. A small part of her felt disappointed that it wasn’t coffee, but she reminded herself not to complain about gifts. After cooling down her mug with a quick spell, she took one long pull and practically swooned when the creamy, chocolatey sweetness flowed smoothly over her tongue and down her parched throat, before finally soothing her belly with its warmth. Ooh, yeah. That’s the stuff! “Oh wow, this is really good!” she said as she stuck her muzzle into the mug and inhaled deeply through her nostrils. “Where’d you learn to—” “You can thank Thorax for that, so don’t mention it,” Pharynx huffed with a dismissive wave of his hoof. “Seriously, don’t mention it. Ever. I swear, you spend even a little time around him and you’d pick up the most frivolous pony skills…” Twilight then caught Tempest’s pointed look over the rim of her mug. She cleared her throat and said, “Right. Visits. The reason I came to visit is because… well, this is going to sound a little silly, but I had a very vivid dream about you and Pharynx having children.” Tempest raised an eyebrow. “You dreamed about our… foals?” “Are foals the right term for pony-changeling hybrids?” Twilight tapped her chin and frowned. “Maybe nymphs would be more accurate, but if they’re already adults when I saw them, then I guess it doesn’t matter what we call the—” “Focus, boss.” “Right!” Twilight filed the taxonomic question away for later and nodded. “Anyway, I didn’t just dream about you and Pharynx having hybrid children; they also kind of went around conquering our neighbouring lands on behalf of the Crystal Empire. And they were best friends with Empress Flurry Heart. Weird, huh?” Tempest and Pharynx shared a look. Then, Tempest carefully set her mug down on the bedside table and asked him, “Is that even possible?” “Nah. Ponies and changelings cannot crossbreed.” He shook of his head. “The only exception is that male ponies might sometimes fertilise a queen’s eggs, but that always results in pure changeling grubs. There’s no mixing of genes, ever.” “Also, it can’t have been your first time having weirdly specific dreams, right? You’re stressed out, and it’s our fault that the joint exercise got postponed in such a spectacular way right in your lap. I’d be surprised if you didn’t dream about us.” “Yeah, but—wait a minute.” Twilight slowly turned to frown at Pharynx. “Your history claims that changelings and ponies cannot crossbreed. But you guys have never tested it with a reformed changeling, have you?” Pharynx opened his mouth, paused for several seconds, then lowered his gaze and muttered, “That’s actually a good point. I don’t know if we’ve changed that much, but… yeah, it’s possible. A little. Maybe. I have no idea.” “I don’t see how this should be a concern, anyway,” Tempest said. “Well, if I hadn’t intruded, would you two have…” – Twilight bumped her hooves together and grinned sheepishly – “you know… escalated things?” “What, you mean fertilising eggs?” Pharynx cocked an eye ridge, then tilted his head towards Tempest. “With her?” Twilight nodded timidly, feeling her cheeks burn. “First off, getting a little personal there, don’t you think?” Tempest said with a wry grin. She then jabbed a hoof at Pharynx. “Secondly, this bug, though he’s admittedly very easy on the eyes, still has a long way to go before he gets close to ploughing my field. We’re barely at the point of forming a relationship, but since you’re so concerned, I’ll have to inform you that it’s… on the table. You have my word that I’ll put an end to it the moment it starts conflicting with my duties, though.” “No, no!” Twilight hastily waved a hoof. “Please, I don’t want to get in the way of your friendship, even less so if you both want to take this further and make it something special.” Tempest sat up straighter and shook her head. “Duty comes first. Always.” “Twilight, you’re her leader. Just command her to keep both,” Pharynx growled. “I don’t see why you ponies like to compromise so much when you can have it all. Changelings are way smarter about this. Even Chrysalis would agree.” “But—” “Butt is right! If you need to get her to obey, just wiggle yours at her and stretch those wings a bit.” Pharynx waggled his eye ridges and gave a toothy grin. “I have it on reliable intelligence that it makes her very compliant.” “I, umm…” Twilight glanced at Tempest and shrank back a little. “Ha-ha, good one!” Tempest wore a thin smile tightly stretched over a stiff jaw as she leered at Pharynx and said, “Better watch what you say, for you are crunchy and I know where your chitin is thinnest.” “That’s why I’ll always be extra fluffy for you.” Pharynx vanished with a burst of green fire, and a grinning male Twilight sat in his place with his wings outstretched. He then puffed up and stroked down the luxuriant tuft of fuzz on his chest whilst his tongue hung out as if he was licking an invisible cone of ice cream. Tempest’s cheeks instantly shifted a couple of shades closer towards the red spectrum, but to her credit, she remained silent and unmoving whilst she glowered at him. Twilight, on the other hoof, nearly choked down an extra-large bolus of air along with her hot chocolate. Whilst she sputtered and coughed to clear her pipes, Pharynx leaned close to deliver a conspiratorial whisper, “See? It totally works. You should try that sometime!” By then, Tempest had sufficiently recovered that her smile carried a hint of iciness when she said, “You know, the disciplinary issues in your hive don’t look all that surprising anymore. Also, that’s enough of you exploiting my boss’ personal image and self-esteem. Stand down, or I’ll break something the moment she leaves us.” “So long as I get to squeeze you first, it’ll be totally worth it.” He reverted to his changeling form, but his grin didn’t falter. “I… I think I should be going,” Twilight murmured as she set her empty mug onto the table and rose from her seat to take a couple of hesitant steps backwards. “Lovely hot chocolate, Pharynx, thank you. And forget about my dream; it’s probably nothing to worry about – just me getting way too worked up over something that has a really, really low probability of happening. I need to get back to bed, anyway.” “Do you need an escort back to your room?” Tempest asked as she swung her hind legs over the edge of the bed. “I can get somepony to—” “It’s fine. I’m awake enough to teleport properly now, and I know this palace like the underside of my hoof,” Twilight said with a dismissive wave of her wing. Then inspiration struck, and she drew herself up to full height, stiffening her posture and lifting her chin to mimic Princess Luna when she was feeling particularly imperious and continued, “At ease, Tempest. Focus on resting so that you’re ready for duty when they discharge you. Also, you have my blessing as the Princess of Friendship to pursue a relationship with Pharynx. We’ll work out the details if any difficulties pop up from that, and I expect you to at least try to make it work before rejecting it for duty’s sake.” Tempest had watched throughout that delivery with eyebrows raised and her head tilted slightly, as if seeing her in a new light. A couple of seconds after that, she sighed, leaned back against her pillows and saluted Twilight with a resigned smile. “Yes, ma’am. Duly noted.” Pharynx chuckled and buzzed his wings agreeably. “Hey, not bad. Wish I could get Thorax to be like that a little more often…” Twilight waved at them with a wing as her horn flared to life, filling the room with purple light. She then smiled and said, “Goodnight. I’ll see you two in the morning.” In a flash, she popped back into her bedroom and promptly collapsed into bed. Even with all her thoughts swirling around in her head, it didn’t take very long for sleep to come with its siren call, and she freely surrendered to it with a sigh. And when the first rays of the morning sun drew her out of slumber, she had a rather hazy recollection of cuddling with a very rugged, warm and fuzzy stallion. Said stallion had a dark purple coat and a broken horn. She’d called him Typhoon Shade or something similar and asked him to be her special somepony. Her heart fluttered and her stomach twisted at the notion, because she had no idea whether it was simply a male version of Tempest or Pharynx disguised as such. Twilight buried her head in her pillow and groaned. I swear, Cadance, you’d better not have put Luna up to this, or I’m really going to develop a complex by the end of the week!