Star Trail advances on Three. He looks a lot different now. His mane is grey and withered, and his coat, while lighter in color, is grey and dusty as well. However, the fanatical fire of hatred in his eyes hasn’t changed in the slightest over the seven years. That’s all Three can see, because everything else is covered by a well-fitting paladin armor, and because Three’s eyes are fixated mostly on the sword hovering next to the unicorn.
“You will tell me where the others are, eventually. Spare me the effort of persuading you, and I might make your death quick,” he growls.
“I don’t know where they are,” Three inches by the wall away from him, “Boss told us to spread out specifically so that we didn’t know. And boss is on the big meeting with the princesses and everyone important.”
“Boss, boss!” he tries to call out mentally, but there’s no answer. Having the suppressor on without the presence of others is limiting his hive link communication too much.
“Let’s see if you keep spouting that without one or two legs!”
“Yaah!” Three jumps under Star Trail’s slashing sword, and manages to reach the other corner of the cell. Unfortunately, while Star Trail left the door open, he’s still somewhat between Three and freedom, “Why are you doing this?!” he squeaks, “The princesses don’t want us in prison anymore. Well, this was a misunderstanding, but changelings can live in Equestria now. Even bad mom isn’t an enemy anymore.”
“You may have pulled wool over everyone’s eyes, but I know what you parasites are after. You can’t be allowed into real society. If your head bug bitch calls, you will rip the throat of anyone nearby open.”
Three stands up, puffs his chest, glares into Star Trail’s eyes, and forces a wide smile for a moment.
“Most of us can’t even do that, see? Maybe nibble, but not rip anything. We don’t have the teeth for that,” Three frowns, a sight that would instantly obliterate any heart with any capacity for compassion, “And boss isn’t a bitch! Not like you, attacking a defenseless me! You’re not even a real paladin anymore. I’ve met three of those, and they were all nice! Besides, you don’t really want to kill me… again.”
“I do, you and all you insects. Why wouldn’t I want to?”
“Well, I mean, last time when you killed me, I got this sweet glowy body, and you got sent to jail and went all grey. Who knows what might happen the second time-”
Star Trail’s eye twitches, and he roars as his sword lights up with fire. Three’s legs start shaking, but he doesn’t stop staring straight into Star Trail’s eyes. Despite all hope for some final spark of compassion, the ex-paladin swings straight down, releasing a wave of fire that incinerates everything in front of him and scores a black scar into the wall in front of which Three used to be.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” used to be, because as soon as Star Trail’s sword moved, Three darted towards the door, and now disappears into the hall, yelling, “Someone help meeeeeeeeeeee!”
Star Trail grunts when he concludes that the small dusting of ashes isn’t Three, and bolts outside. Unfortunately for Three, the corridor is long and straight, giving Star Trail already gathering energy for a massive ball of fire a clear shot.
The burning projectile is completely unavoidable for the changeling. However, it moves only few pony lengths before exploding into a shower of sparks against a cell door freshly kicked open from the inside.
“What?” Star Trail narrows his eyes. Three, hearing the explosion, quickly looks backwards, and stops when he sees the figure almost tall enough to reach the ceiling, “Mister Astray?” he yelps.
“Get into the cell, Three. The main gate is locked anyway,” Astray quickly points to the cell he came out of. Three looks deeper into the hallway, then at Astray, and in the end opts to obey the order.
“Who and what are you?” hisses Star Trail. He blinks as he realizes the resemblance Astay’s armor bears to his own, “Did my princess initiate something like you to the paladin order?”
Astray looks at his bracer, and wraps his fingers around the unusually longer handle of his short sword.
“Nope, Silver Sun. And you’re under arrest for an attack on a diplomatic envoy. Are you coming quietly, or-”
Sparks fly as Star Trail’s sword with all his telekinetic might behind it clashes with Astray’s held in both hands, the satyr clearly ready for the attack. With a grunt, he directs the blade to the right, and spins around while reaching for a pistol on his belt. Star Trail’s sword hits the floor, and Astray fires three quick shots.
Golden barrier surrounds the ex-paladin’s body, but all three bullets go through, harmlessly bouncing off his chestplate with a clank clank clank. Astray uses the moment of surprise to stomp on the hovering longsword.
Star Trail’s horn glows with gathered magic for another ball of fire, but a quick shot from Astray makes the magic fail even though it only passes by the ex-paladin’s head.
“What is this?” he hisses, “Last warning. Get out of my way, hybrid, or suffer the fate of all changelings and their sympathizers.”
“I don’t know who you’re supposed to be, but you’re not touching Three-” three smaller fireballs materialize in front of Star Trail, hurtling towards Astray who shoots two down, but then his pistol only goes click, “Ah, miscounted.”
Astray blocks the last one with his gauntlet, hisses, and shakes his hand. Seeing his magic fail again, Star Trail charges at the satyr who backs off. That allows the unicorn to levitate his weapon up again, and swing wildly at Astray over and over.
Several successful blocks later, Astray is clear on the fact that Star Trail’s telekinesis is only a little stronger than he is. However, as unharmed as he is, he needs to reload to keep disrupting Star Trail’s magic. Fortunately, Star Trail has used his charge to regain his sword, and the following clash to back off again.
With the distance being in the ex-paladin’s favor, Astray quickly sheathes the sword in order to reload at least one bullet.
Star Trail’s horn lights up again, and the glow gradually envelops his whole body. Astray has no idea what the paladin is trying to do, so he just keeps reloading. Each successful bullet is one chance to deal with magic, so he needs all the options he can get.
The unicorn disappears with a flash. Astray instantly drops his pistol, and slams his back against the wall. A ray of gold light blasts past him, revealing that Star Trail hadn’t teleported, only charged at blinding speed directly at the satyr, horn reinforced with magic aimed straight ahead. The spell clearly allows the user to stop, because the following shockwave makes Astray brace while Star Trail comfortably turns around.
Telekinetic grip twists Astray’s leg backwards, making him drop on one knee and all fours. Not enough to make him panic as he grips his sword again, though.
“You...” growls Star Trail, walking towards Astray, slightly out of breath due to the intensity of the quick duel.
The satyr grins, and blindly slashes upwards. The edge of the sword nicks Star Trail’s horn, shortening it by a third. The unicorn instinctively stops, his eyes following the separated tip of his horn bouncing off of a wall. Astray doesn’t need more than two seconds to grab his sawed-off shotgun from his back.
Star Trail looks down into the barrel.
The echoing blast makes Three whimper inside the cell and crawl under the plank screwed into the wall serving as the bed.
Quicksilver projectiles aren’t the best at causing damage to non-magical targets. Their main advantage and purpose is to dispel magic and harm magical beings. However, at this range, shotgun is a shotgun.
Half of Star Trail’s head is missing, flesh sheared off and skull openly visible. His horn is slashed off at an unnatural angle. And yet, his remaining eye focuses on Astray, and the unicorn hisses:
“I will save my country from all you monsters if it’s the last thing I do.”
Crackling light gathers around his crippled horn, he grunts, and disappears with a bright golden flash, leaving the dungeons silent with the exception of Astray’s heavy breathing.
“Huh, didn’t think he’s be able to do that with half of his horn missing,” Astray croaks, and quickly locates and scoops the tip severed tip of the horn as evidence.
Smacking his forehead, he rushes back into the cell to check up on Three in case whoever the clearly undead unicorn was just teleported to finish the changeling off. He breathes a sigh of relief at Three being alive and shaking under the bed, the purple lights on his legs turning the cell into a disco.
The changeling is clearly beside himself with fear, quietly whimpering and stuck in his little world. Astray takes his gauntlets off so that the first thing Three feels isn’t steel, and reaches under the bed to pat the drone’s head.
Three’s jaws snap at his hand, and bite down.
“Ouch,” Astray pulls his hand back.
That makes Three realize what he did, and he whimpers, eyes wide:
“Sorry, sorry, sorry...”
“Come out,” Astray gives Three a reassuring smile, “The unicorn is gone.”
Three remains down there. Astray sighs, and pulls him out, this time without getting bitten. Three’s legs are shaking so hard he can’t even stand, so Astray just scoops him up into one hand, which Three uses to prop himself on the satyr’s shoulder.
“He almost killed me… again...” Three whimpers, “We did nothing bad. Why can’t we all just be friends…?”
“Again?” Astray raises an eyebrow, carrying Three to the exit from the dungeons. There’s no way he’d leave the drone in his cell again. Whatever is happening needs someone more experienced than he is, “Do you know who that unicorn was?”
Three just mumbles something he can’t make out, so he decides not to push it for now. After quickly explaining the situation to the dungeon guards outside, Astray heads up through the castle with Three pressed against his chest and forelegs wrapped around his neck.
Cromach looks up from a report he’s writing regarding the situation when the door to his office opens, and Astray walks in with that glowing drone quickly glancing his way and immediately trying to hide his muzzle into Astray’s armpit.
“Sir, we’ve got a problem,” Astray salutes with his free hand, “An undead unicorn just tried to kill Three here down in the dungeons.”
Cromach blinks several times, and the corner of his beak curls up.
“Come again?” contrary to the gravity of the statement, Cromach almost seems to be excited to hear that.
“I was hiding in the cell next to his like you told me to after the others escaped, and I heard commotion. It turned out that an undead unicorn in paladin armor was trying to kill him. I stepped in, cut part of the unicorn’s horn during a fight and shot half of his face off with a shotgun. Afterwards, he teleported away,” Astray pulls out the tip of the horn from a pouch, and puts it on Cromach’s desk, “I didn’t dare let Three down there alone anymore.”
“Did the guards let the paladin inside?” asks Cromach.
“No, sir. According to them, no one went in or out.”
“Hmmm… Novo gets attacked, changelings get blamed. Changelings get attacked in pony custody, ponies get blamed. All sides are confused and or angry,” Cromach frames the situation in a little different light, “Third party attempt at making sure the summit fails?”
“Nu uh...” mumbles Three.
“Did your armpit just contradict me?” Cromach smirks.
“What do you mean, Three?” Astray nudges the drone.
“It was the bad guy who killed me and miss Comfort years ago - Star Trail. Miss Gem said he got sent to prison for that.”
“Killed you?” Astray tilts his head.
“Mhm,” Three nods, “But both miss Comfort and I got better,” Three gasps, “We need to tell boss! He might be in danger.”
“If it’s about diplomatic chaos, having Beard dead would be contradictory,” muses Cromach.
“No!” Three shakes his head, “This guy wants us dead, he wants all changelings dead. Trust me, I know! Boss tried to make friends with him before, and I got steel poisoning.”
“Steel poisoning?”
“Knife through my skull,” Three shudders and taps his eye.
“Beard is currently attending the summit,” says Cromach, “He’s about as safe there as anyone can be. However, it can’t hurt to inform him. Astray, will you? He’ll obviously want to see Three, so take him here.”
“Sir, aren’t you bothered by Three here supposedly coming back from the dead?” Astray crosses his hands on his chest, feeling slightly irked at his boss’ approach.
“Only once?” Cromach shrugs, “I’m pretty sure Blaze had a season pass to Tartarus and back. Being dead isn’t as big a deal as most creatures think. Now shoo, you have a ruler to talk to. Leave Three here, I’ve got few things to ask.”
“One last thing, sir,” Astray doesn’t press the issue, “Does this mean king Beard is off the hook for the attack?”
“He never was on the hook in my head, but Celestia couldn’t be sure, and used him to placate the other guests. And no, this doesn’t mean anything for them. If anything happens, it’ll be the old - ‘changeling scheming blah blah blah, all part of their plan’. Plus, this doesn’t do anything against Novo’s testimony,” the griffon rolls his eyes.
“Alright, sir,” with a salute, Astray leaves.
Three, sitting on the carpet, looks up at the big griffon who according to Bubbles is called Cromach and is her boss.
“So, I take it that you know the pony who attacked you.”
“Yeah,” Three nods, “His name is, umm, Star Trail, and he used to be a paladin but went in jail for killing me and miss Comfort, ruining our home in Las Pegasus, and being overall not a nice pony. Princess Luna knows everything. She was in the old castle when it all happened, and helped us get away.”
Cromach pushes a button on his desk. Nothing happens for a while, and then a mare in a maid unicorn peeks inside after a knock.
“You called, sir?”
“Yes,” Cromach nods, “Ask princess Luna to come here, please. Yes, yes, I know she’s sleeping,” he raises a foreleg as the mare opens her mouth to object, “This is important.”
“Yes, sir,” the mare leaves, and Cromach drums his talons on his desk.
“Ummm...” Three raises a foreleg after some thought.
“Yes?”
“Who are you, mister?” he asks.
“My name is Cromach,” answers the griffon.
“I know that, Bubbles told me,” Three shakes his head, “I mean… you know the princesses by name, you know Bubbles, the servants know you, you were invited to the big meeting downstairs, you sent mister Astray to guard me, and you can just call for princess Luna to come. You’re special. I don’t know how, but you’re special.”
Three’s conspiratory tone and accusatory pointing hoof make Cromach snicker.
“Far from that, Three. I’ve just been through a lot in a rather short time.”
“Hmmm...” Three narrows his eyes, and pouts, not believing him in the slightest.
A loud pop interrupts him thinking about a different approach to the questions, and princess Luna appears in all her dark blue, starry glory, her tail completely covering Three.
“Sparkly!” the drone digs himself out of the hairy nebula, and beams at confused Luna staring at him, “Hello, princess.”
He’s not prepared at all for Luna to smile back and scoop him into a hug.
“You must be Three. Gem told me all about you and what happened to you,” Luna nuzzles him, and grabs his hoof, “Huh, and in Scream’s artificial body, just like she said.”
“Ahem, princess?” Cromach clears his throat to interrupt the princess’ poking, “I’ll give you Three to play with later, but you need to know that someone by the name Star Trail just tried to kill Three down in the dungeons.”
“WHAT?!” Luna bares her teeth at Cromach, and the window rattles at her voice, “Come with me!” with a flash of her horn and short falling feeling, their surroundings change to the dungeons. Three shuffles backwards to Cromach, and bumps into his foreleg. The griffon shoves him between his front legs.
The cell door opens at her touch, which makes her scowl.
“Yes, Star Trail is indeed gone,” she sighs, “That doesn’t bode well for… anything really. Alright, let’s head back,” in another flash, they reappear inside Cromach’s office.
“Can someone enlighten me about this?” Cromach sits down back behind his desk, “I’ve tried to gather as much information about Beard and his changelings since I arrived, but I must have missed this.”
“It was like this-” Three speaks up.
“With all due respect, Three, your storytelling is a bit too… chaotic for me. I’d like princess Luna to tell me the overall story, and then you can fill in the important details afterwards, okay?”
“Okay!” Three beams.
Luna takes a long breath, and starts talking:
“Beard’s hive is a group of changelings, some of who survived the invasion of Canterlot, and some who weren’t there in the first place,” Three waves his foreleg as Luna speaks, “They managed to infiltrate Canterlot after the invasion, seeking to figure out what happened to other changelings, and they eventually rescued some of the changelings held captive in the castle dungeons. Their actions didn’t remain unnoticed, and in the wake of the invasion, paladins were sent to deal with them.”
“I doubt that ‘deal’ means ‘to cut a deal’, right?” asks Cromach.
“Exactly. However, the changelings managed to escape Canterlot with the rescued prisoners, and they dropped a part of the mount Canterlot mining complex on the pursuers. From what I know, they escaped to the Castle of Two Sisters in the Everfree Forest, and began operations in Ponyville. After talking to the targets, the feeding operations were benign or in some cases even helpful.”
“Boss always said that if we wanted love, we should make ponies like us, not hate us. Makes sense, really,” adds Three.
“However, these operations were enough for the paladins to find the changeling base, and launch an attack, which ended with several paladins dead, the rest captured, and Star Trail, one of the paladins, killing Three here. On complete accident, Celestia, I, Twilight, Cadance, and Shining Armor visited the old castle on a… stress management exercise, which escalated in a big battle in which I got partially mind-controlled by one of the changelings.”
“Wait, these changelings fought three alicorns, and survived to tell the tale?”
“I didn’t,” Three reminds the griffon who pats his head.
“We had most of our power sealed for the exercise at the start, but we were forced to remove the seals and fight almost seriously, until I got surprised. Anyway, with me captive, the changelings escaped to Ponyville, and during the trip I got a good glimpse of what was really happening. They weren’t some Chrysalis’ operators, but a group caught in the crossfire. They let me go after boarding a train in Ponyville, trying to make me forget what happened, but that’s difficult to do to somepony whose mind is in the dream realm half of the time. Later, the paladins asked me what I remembered from captivity, and I sent them to Manehattan, hoping that they would cool down while I persuade my sister about what happened. Unfortunately, after being ‘taken over’ by changelings, I wasn’t exactly the best witness, and the paladins must have assumed I lied to them.In the meantime, the changelings made quite the spectacle in Las Pegasus, and the paladins found them again. Star Trail got a permission to use the alicorn amulet, citing the deaths of many paladins and my own defeat to persuade my sister. In the end, he, Bright Star, and one more now deceased paladin by the name Resolute attacked the changeling base in Las Pegasus. Bright Star came with the testimony of what really happened, sacrificing his paladin status in the process. Star Trail got jailed for murders and attack against what’s basically different kingdom, details aside, and for five years, all we had was Gem, Ten, and Bright Star here in Canterlot. However, soon after he was put in jail, Star Trail went… insane for some reason. He just kept screaming, locked into reliving a nightmare of his squire getting killed by a guard controlled by changelings. I couldn’t stop it. It wasn’t a spell or an illusion, it was some physical change of his brain.”
“So that was the screaming in the dungeons!” Three’s mouth forms an O of realization, “But it stopped before miss One and others ran away through the drains-” Three clamps his hoof over his mouth, giving Luna a guilty look.
“We know how they escaped,” Cromach rubs Three’s shoulder to calm him down.
“And you’re saying Star Trail got out of his cell, got cured from a condition neither I nor Celestia were able to fix, and attacked you?” Luna tilts her head.
“If by got cured you mean killed and reanimated, then yes,” Cromach narrows his eyes, seemingly deep in thought, “AND he somewhere got hold of full paladin gear AND he teleported out of the dungeons with half of his horn missing.”
“That’s impossible,” Luna shakes her head.
“Yep. Someone else is behind this, because if Star Trail was able to do this on his own, the changelings would be dead already,” says Cromach with absolute certainty.
“But why would somepony do this?”
“No idea. I suspect it’s connected to the attack on Novo, but we simply don’t have enough information at the moment. We’ll know more once Connie and others return with the escaped changelings. Hopefully, they won’t resist much, and arrive back here only slightly smooshed.”
“Hey, miss One is a great fighter!” Three looks up at Cromach’s chin, “Miss Cryo is super big and strong too, Eleven is quick, and Two is hella smart. Your guys should be worried about them, not the other way around, if they even find them.”
Cromach sighs.
“That’s what I’m scared of, Three. If it was only Bubbles and Anvil, it would probably be okay, but if they force Connie to go all out… well, did you see the chunk of Canterlot mountain missing near the top? She did that last year when she still couldn’t control her power.”
“I might be able to help,” Luna taps her hoof against the floor, “If any of the groups go to sleep, I could possibly contact them and tell them what’s going on. Well, probably not the changelings, but your group should be easier despite the magical protection on their equipment.”
“Give it a shot, please,” Cromach nods, “I’ll try to explain this to king Beard without too much yelling. Three’s going to help, right?” he pats Three’s head, who nods.
“Boss is smart. He’ll figure something out, he always does.”
“One can only hope,” smiles Cromach.
***
“Got anything?” asks Contradiction.
Anvil, holding a flashlight, examines her book of maps which now includes the blueprints of upper and lower Canterlot sewer system.
“Bubbles?“ she looks at the demonette with her nose pressed to the floor, and a disgusted expression etched on her face.
“I… think the minty trail I caught under the dungeons and in the mines is still around, but it’s drowned out by the nasty stuff everywhere. I can’t go faster, sorry,” she sounds genuinely remorseful, not sarcastic in the slightest, “I’m having real trouble not throwing up.”
“Take your time,” Anvil nods, “I doubt they’ll run far while their king is still in the castle, and I also doubt they’ll stay in the sewers, because they must know that we know how they escaped. Unless, of course-”
“Unless it’s the old we know that they know that we know that they know situation,” Connie nods, “The most important thing is whether or not we’re really following something related to the changelings or not.”
Bubbles shrugs.
“The huuuge changeling lady smelled super minty for some reason, and I think she doesn’t like sausages.”
Neither Anvil nor Connie have anything to say to that insightful comment, so they only exchange glances, and keep following the smaller equine.
***
Gem is furiously scribbling some notes while prince Rutherford of Yakyakistan is talking about wood shavings and splinters, which are for some reason a relevant export of his country. I guess they like breaking wood rather than building from it.
A rather tall figure which I can identify from Three’s memories as Astray silently approaches… me for some reason.
“Your Majesty,” he leans to my ear and whispers, “May I ask you to accompany me for a while? It’s important.”
“Gem, stay connected.”
“Sure thing, dad.”
“I assume they finally realized our guys escaped, and want to question me about it. This guy is one of the special forces called for this summit.”
“Stay safe. Our experiences with ‘special’ agents were never good.”
I follow Astray out of the ballroom, accompanied by hushed whispers of several delegates noticing that something is going on. He leads me to the third floor, and then to a spacious office with a white griffon sitting in an armchair behind a desk, and a-
“BOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSSS!”
-purple-glowing, black cannonball hits me, and clamps his forelegs around my neck.
“Three?” I stand there, stumped as the sobbing little drone is hanging on me, wiping snot on my chest, “Three, what’s wrong?”
“Astray here stopped an assassination attempt on Three,” says the griffon. Cromach, was it?
“WHAT?!” I snarl at him, unable to control myself. First all that nonsense with being accused of an attack myself, and now someone wanted to kill Three of all changelings?
“Someone by the name Star Trail broke into his cell, and tried to kill him. Astray was keeping an eye on the situation after the rest of your guys escaped, and stopped him.”
Aaaand now I see red.
“...what did you just fucking say…?” I hiss, tone suddenly cold as ice. Astray reaches for the sword on his belt, but Cromach just raises his foreleg and almost unnoticeably shakes his head, “A murderous nutjob in your custody got out, my family is on the run from you AND him now, and I’m still the one suspected to have attacked a foreign royal, are you kidding me?!” slowly breathing out, I pry Three off of me, and take his suppressor off. Too much information at once to deal with this nonsense.
Cromach makes a pyramid from his talons atop his desk, and nods.
“Yep, I think that sums it up pretty well.”
“Is that all you’re going to say?” my eye twitches, “This is your fault!”
“One - Star Trail’s escape certainly has nothing to do with me, because few days ago I had no clue who you were, and that there even was a different hive of changelings. Heck, fifteen minutes ago I had no idea who Star Trail was. Two - yes, that’s pretty much all I’m going to say until you calm down,” he raises an eyebrow, clearly waiting for my next move.
“Were you born this annoying, or did you study?” I take a deep breath, and start patting Three’s head, mostly to help reassure me that he’s still there and that Star Trail didn’t kill him again, which is the only scenario my freaking out head can process right now.
To my surprise, the question only makes Cromach smirk.
“How diplomatic of you! Now, I wanted to ask you if you could contact the escaped changelings, and tell them to stay out of the castle, but somewhere within reach.”
“I can’t,” I shake my head, “They’re too far, and I specifically instructed them not to tell me where they would meet and what they would do, so that no one could use me to get to them.”
“Noble, but inconvenient to say the least. You see, my agents are currently trying to find them, and by find I mean ‘bring them here and not take no for an answer’.”
“Your agents are in for a surprise then,” I snicker.
“With all due respect, your Majesty-” Astray speaks up, but Cromach clears his throat and interrupts him.
“Is there any chance they will go quietly?” asks the griffon, “Or any way to get to them?”
“I already told you...” I shake my head. I mean, we could probably contact them after scouring Canterlot and possibly sensing a hive link, but I’m not telling that to whoever this guy is. For all I know, this could be just an elaborate trap, although Three isn’t faking or overreacting in the slightest, I know him well enough for that, “And why am I being grilled here? Would you go quietly if you knew that someone framed you, and the other side fell for it hook, line, and sinker? What would you do if you got wrongfully imprisoned, managed to escape, had your leader held hostage by a side that already previously tried to kill you?”
Cromach sighs, and rubs his temples.
“Yeeeeah, that’s what I was afraid of. I would pray that someone only gets beaten up, but I know the gods… and they don’t listen, or when they do, it makes you wish they didn’t.”
“So what now?” I ask, “I’m not letting Three get jailed again, not even to placate whatever diplomat from whatever damn part of the world.”
“Astray will protect him. he’s already dealt with Star Trail once. I’ll tell Celestia what happened. Telling her she screwed everything up is one of the few pleasures I have left,” he brightens up considerably, “Thankfully, it happens often enough to make an occasion out of it.”
“You’re not a fan of royalty, are you?” I tilt my head. The griffon does feel a lot more natural than all the stuffy diplomats and bigwigs.
“Luna’s alright. Twilight...” he shrugs, “she would be okay if she wasn’t such a kiss-ass of Sunbutt, but Celestia...” his expression darkens as he lowers his eyes for a moment, “I’ve been through living nightmares, and lost way too much because of her,” when he looks back at me again, his face looks thirty years older than the rest of him, “Look, I know you don’t trust me, it doesn’t take a genius.”
“Can you blame me?” I give him a flat stare.
“Not really,” he chuckles, “Anyway, the underlying point is that someone attacked and drained a divine being here inside the castle, and if it wasn’t for you scaring them off, things could have been way worse,” he covers his beak when he sees my ‘THAT IS WHAT I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO SAY ALL THIS TIME!’ expression, “What’s worse, they also used a large scale suspended animation spell, and got out without triggering any alarm. That shouldn’t be possible.”
“The same thing happened to princess Cadance when we were leaving Crystal Empire,” I pull out my trump card, and grin in victory as I finally manage to see the griffon’s genuinely surprised face. Gotta take pleasure from what you can in a situation like this, “I suggest you ask her about it. We stopped it as well.”
“Someone is targeting bearers of alicorn levels of divine power then. Unusual, but hardly unique,” he taps his talon on his desk, “Anyway, return to the summit. If possible, please tell your guys to come back peacefully. As I said, Astray will protect Three, and we’ll see how things play out. We don’t have enough information to make a move yet.”
“Three, is that Astray guy trustworthy?”
“Oh yeah, he’s really nice. I think even mister Cromach means well.”
To be honest, was I expecting any other answer from Three?
“Okay, stay with him, but contact me if you think anything even remotely weird is going on.”
“Sure thing, boss! What do we do about the others, though? I mean, I saw Eleven play with Bubbles, and I don’t want any of them getting hurt.”
“We can’t do much, really. Let’s hope Cromach won’t be too mad when his agents come back to him a bit… chewed up.”
“Awww… poor Bubbly.”
***
The second day is over, and I’m sitting alone in my room, pondering things. I haven’t received any information regarding my guys being caught, nor did Three report to me anyone informing Astray or Cromach about the fate of his agents, so I’m assuming nothing has happened yet. Gem is gone, off to deal with her own business. I can vaguely sense her presence, so I’m assuming she’s somewhere in upper Canterlot, but I’m not about to intrude on her personal life unless completely necessary.
Thankfully, Star Trail hasn’t tried anything again after disappearing who knows where, but I’m not about to lie to myself that he’s gone for good. The thing is… can he be connected to the attacks on royalty? I doubt that. If there is something I know about him, it’s that he’s fanatically loyal to Equestria and Celestia. Could his involvement in things just be a coincidence?
I walk over to the bed, lie down on my back, and rub my temples.
Yes and no…
Damn, I should have asked when Star Trail escaped, but let’s take it from the top one more time. Royal get attacked, we get blamed and imprisoned. Our cells get mysteriously unlocked, and we escape, although in a different way. Hmmm… did we play right into someone’s hooves anyway? Maybe. So, everyone is busy keeping an eye on changelings, while the real attacker can move around the castle as they please. The thing is… Gem said there were active wards around the castle preventing outsiders from using complex magic or teleporting. Which means that whoever the attacker was, they can either bypass those wards, or…
...or they are from within the castle.
Star Trail would know about all that - sleep magic, wards, but why would he drain queen Novo and, the obvious hole in the theory, princess Cadance in the Crystal Empire?
Aaaaah! I just don’t know enough, and I don’t even know where to start looking for more information.
A resolute knock on the door makes me turn my head. It’s not one of my changelings.
“It’s open!” I call out. In the next moment, I sit up in surprise, “Princess Luna?”
“Good evening, king ‘Beard’,” the blue alicorn chuckles, entering and closing the door behind her, “Gem explained that little naming mishap to me.”
“What brings you here, your Highness?” I ask. While we haven’t really talked yet, everyone who met Luna considers her my ally, so if there’s someone I’m willing to trust right now, it’s her.
“Sadly, not a simple effort to get acquainted,” she frowns, “I have to ask you directly, did you attack queen Novo?”
“Come on, you can’t believe it-” I roll my eyes in frustration. How many times do I have to repeat it. Is Cromach the only creature here who knows this is complete bullshit?
“Answer, please,” she looks directly at me, “There is a reason for me asking like this.”
“No, I didn’t attack queen Novo,” I cross my forelegs on my chest.
“Where did your changelings escape to?”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you intend to do now?”
“Either to figure out who framed me, or survive the summit and leave. To be completely honest, this isn’t my fight. Really.”
Luna nods, seemingly pleased with the answers.
“My connection to the dream realm allows me to sense when somepony is lying to me. It’s much less reliable with changelings, but I believe you.”
I see, so that’s why the direct questions.
“Alright, I won’t take it personally then.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” she paces back and forth, thinking, “Now, how do we solve this?”
“Uhh, what?”
“You’re wrong about this not being your fight. The attack, or moreso the subsequent blaming of you, is putting pressure on the already fragile relationship between changelings and everyone else.”
“Look, I don’t know if you heard about it, but Star Trail is back and tried to kill Three again. My guys are being hunted by Cromach’s agents, whoever they are, and the only thing I really want right now is to be back at home, as far away from this damn place as possible. Seriously, I’m starting to think Canterlot is cursed.”
“Being the seat of alicorns and rulers of Equestria, it is like having a huge bullseye on our backs, yes,” she nods, “Heh, to be honest, I was hoping you all were lying to Cromach when you said you had no connection to the others.”
“You know about that?”
“Yes, he consulted me before Astray informed you. It seems that Star Trail escaped very recently, we checked his cell. He also asked me to contact his agents at night, if possible, and tell them to try and persuade your changelings to come quietly and cooperate. Unfortunately, dreamwalking doesn’t work well with everyone fully awake.”
“Huh, so he’s really on my side?” I tilt my head.
“He’s… difficult to assess right now, even for me. He’s been hurt so much that he cares about very little at this point, but I believe he’s still a force for good. To be completely accurate, he has zero reason or desire to harm you or your changelings if you really are innocent. Is that enough?”
“I suppose that’s the best I can hope for,” I sigh, “Oh, one last thing I don’t know if you know - princess Cadance was attacked before queen Novo in the same way, sleeping spell and everything. Watch your back, I’d hate to see you get hurt. Friends aren’t easy to come by, it seems.”
Luna furrows her brows.
“Hmmm… good to know. Thank you for that, although I must say that this means I have to cut our conversation short. I have ponies to talk to.”
“Good night, princess.”
“Stars protect you, king ‘Beard’.”
As she leaves, I lie back down.
“Boss, boss, boss, boss, boss!” I hear inside my head after few minutes. To my absolute shock, it’s not Three, but Eleven.
Please don’t tell me everything went wrong already.
“Eleven, where are you? What’s going on?”
“I’m in an alley, and there are ponies everywhere.”
Kill me now…
“I’m gonna need more info than that.”
“You said not to tell you any details.”
“You can tell me now. Things have changed a bit. Where are the others?”
“I dunno, boss. We split inside the big mountain,” he shows me the mental map of the mines with several spots marked, “That’s where miss One, Cryo, and Two planned to get out of Canterlot for a while. They’ll be back once they’re sure they aren’t being followed.”
Ah damn it!
“They ARE being followed, and I need them to come back without killing whoever is after them. Are you in range to contact them?”
“No, I’m not, boss.”
“Damn it, why are you in range of me then?”
“I figured out that I can’t keep up with them, so I decided to stay in the city in case you needed me. Don’t worry, I’m invisible. Oh, and the alley I’m in is near the castle quarter,” he shows his location on the Canterlot map, “ Well, do you need anything, boss?”
“Stay safe, and stay in touch. I’ll try to think of something.”
“IHATETHISSSSSS!” a different voice arrives inside my head, “Brakes! BRAAAAKEEESS!”
“Comfort?!”
“In the flesh-URK!”
I can feel an impact through the hive mind, and a quick look from her eyes shows her currently bouncing off of a white wall. The following dazed drop reveals that she hit the outer wall of upper Canterlot and is now hurtling towards the ground.
Flapping her wings, she eventually stabilizes herself.
“Okay, I really need to find someone who knows how to get out of Tartarus without summoning circles. Where is Scream when you need her…?”
“Comfort, I need help.”
“The best infiltrator in history, at your service, boss bug!” she salutes while flying back up towards upper Canterlot, “Unless I get called again, but I think I usually get at least few minutes between summonings. Seriously, it wasn’t this bad before Scream disappeared.”
I explain what happened.
For about five minutes, there’s a succubus hanging in the air at upper Canterlot wall height, gradually scowling more and more at nothing while at first her eye starts twitching, then she begins punching the air, tail whipping follows, and it all ends in grinding of teeth possibly audible all the way to Manehattan.
“You know… I’m starting to think that Chrysalis should have succeeded in the old invasion, BECAUSE THESE PONIES ARE TERMINALLY STUPID!”
“I tend to agree at this point, but right now I need you to find One, Cryo, and Two. If there’s someone who can do it then it’s you. Grab Eleven too. He’ll keep going if you get summoned. Three and I can’t leave the castle, but no one knows about Eleven.”
“Any idea where I should start?”
I share with her the marked sewer exits.
“They’ll either be in Canterlot or around. Tell them to get back immediately, and don’t kill anyone.”
“Hey, pile of hugs and bugs,” she mentally pokes Eleven, and marks an alley a short way away from the castle quarter, “Meet me there. I’ll be there in a minute.”
“Yes, miss One!” he answers, and before his link weakens, I hear a quiet, “Yay, my own mission!”
Heh, almost.
***
It indeed doesn’t take long, and Comfort, disguised as a changeling, lands in the target alley. In the gloom of the late, summer evening, she looks around as she hears hoofsteps.
A figure is slowly approaching her, wearing a trench coat, a fedora, and a pair of sunglasses. It’s gliding forward like a ghost, without actually moving its legs. Comfort facehoofs when it stops its eerie progress in front of her, and then smacks the side of its head.
The fedora, the sunglasses, and the hat drop on the ground, followed by top Eleven losing its balance and dragging the trench coat with him. The now uncovered remaining ten look up at Comfort. One of the ‘legs’ waves at her.
The head Eleven untangles himself from the coat, pouting at unimpressed Comfort.
“Trench coat and sunglasses in the middle of summer at night,” she shakes her head, “Where did you even get that?”
“I-”
“You know what? Ignorance is bliss,” she returns to her succubus form for broader back and bigger wings, “Hop on, all of you. Leave the clothes here for some lucky hobo.”
“They had a swimsuit too...” mumbles Eleven.
“Did whoever ‘they’ are have a burlap sack? Because if you don’t start getting on, I’m getting one and stuffing you all in it.”
“They did, actually,” head Eleven sticks his tongue out at Comfort. One Eleven grabs onto each Comfort’s leg, six manage to stuff themselves on her back, and the head one hops on her, well, head.
“Succubus airlines taking off,” with utmost care to get used to the new weight, Comfort flies into the air, lazily flapping her wings, “Now, where do we start? One of the guys should still be around upper Canterlot, so keep your link open.”
Over the next hour and a half, they circle around upper and lower Canterlot, finding nothing at first, but eventually catching a faint trace of Cryo’s link.
“It seems that they decided to meet somewhere in the forest instead of the city. I’d assume they know they’re being followed,” muses Comfort, “I think that if we circle around the base of the mountain, we’ll find them. Hold on, I’ll show you how non-changelings really fly.”
“Okay!” head Eleven grabs her horn tighter, “But can we at least go lower? I don’t think I like this...”
Comfort realizes that all the little legs are tightly clamped onto her, and sighs.
“Alright, we’ll hurry up... but slowly. And when I have time, we’ll work on your shapeshifting. Can’t have a non-flying changeling who dresses like a filly molester around.”
Suddenly, she feels a familiar pull grasping her whole being, and freezes for a second, which isn’t lost on Eleven.
“Aaaaaah!” his synchronized scream of all mouths cuts the night air.
“Crap crap crap crap, not now!” with a growl, Comfort heads straight down while she can still control herself, “I really need to find someone, anyone who knows how to resist these!”
Fire envelops her whole body, lighting up the darkness of the night and the trees around as she finally reaches near ground level.
“JUUUMP!” she yells at Eleven.
The short rain of changelings is cut short by fire finally devouring Comfort, leaving only dazed black buggy balls rolling on the ground and hitting trees in several unlucky cases.
Few minutes of uncoordinated walking around and few loud calls of ‘here!’, Elevens find each other despite the darkness and knowing nothing about the area. Eventually, the gathered herd of changelings scratch their heads as one, pondering their next move.
Based on the escape routes, One, Cryo, and Two could be anywhere around the base of the mountain at this point, but their eventual goal will be lower Canterlot no matter what. With that in mind, Eleven chooses not to go around the mountain the way Comfort already carried him partway, and instead he opts to go counter-clockwise to cover the rest.
An hour later, he hasn’t caught the faintest notion of any hive link, and he still hasn’t left the forest, making him finally realize the real sheer size of the area he needs to scout out.
This is going to take a while.
***
While Eleven’s run through the wood is quite the ordeal, it’s mini-Cryo who is having real trouble finding her way to the designated meeting spot. It’s not that she’s tired or threatened, having already beaten two very optimistic badgers and one boar unconscious. The problem is that everything is taking so needlessly long with her new size.
On the other hole, as she’s skittering along, she has enough time to think, completely unaware of the silent, rusty menace with huge teeth following her.
The beard, the beard was the key.
He researched black rocks in order to make a weapon of sorts, rocks that didn’t originate in this world, but appeared along with shadows eating everything - love, heat, light. Shadows easy to crush underhoof, and yet… scary even to her.
More rocks, more shadows to destroy in the north. Too many for changelings, too many for the tinies rebuilding after the war with the cursed… no, bad Cryo. Little beard is trying to make your thinking box work properly again. War with the… Twisted.
Big ones had to help, fearless even when faced with the swarms of shadows. Eventually, the shadows disappeared. Why? There were some weird ponies around. One had a big shovel, strong pony like Cryo.
And then… then…
The big shadow appeared, and no one knew what to do with it. They couldn’t destroy it, because it wasn’t of this world, and didn’t obey its rules. Not even the shovel worked. They could only lock it away.
In the end, beard disappeared without a trace along with the others.
Not much later, her hive found the machines, and with them their doom. Or was it…? The order of events from so long ago is too hard to remember at this point.
“Huh?” Cryo’s fragmented glimpses of memories scatter into the void when she bumps into a tree, and scrunches her muzzle, “What was I thinking about? Oh right, turning back into proper size!”
Awash with green fire, Cryo finds herself finally looking at the grass from her usual point of view high up, and casually kicks the tree which so rudely impeded her progress. It breaks and falls on her head, splintering one more time over it.
“Heh, boop this,” with a victorious smile, the unharmed queen resumes trotting towards the meeting spot at manyfold faster pace.
In a bush behind her, Bubbles stunned by the impact of the falling tree canopy tries to untangle herself from the twisted branches, and only watches with sadness as Cryo stomps away into the distance, leaving behind a corridor of crushed foliage.
“Hnnngh!” Bubbles manages to squeeze between two branches of her prison, sighs, and starts biting branch after branch while spitting out pieces of wood. When she’s done, Cryo is way gone. She sticks her tongue out in disgust, “Bleh,” looking at the devastated nature, she scratches her head, and starts quickly trotting along, “Well, at least she’s easier to track now.”
***
North, far far north, inside a tunnel of the temporarily not growing changeling hive glows a makeshift reverse summoning circle with a group of equine figures around, and a huge one barely fitting into the tunnel in the back. Five is wearing a fake beard for some reason. Why is the Silversmith war mech Stompy there is anyone’s guess. Anyone but Five’s.
“Drones, you know your shift schedule Six drafted, keep working to pay off the digger,” orders Five, standing in front of heavily chewed up Seven, “Infiltrators, you’re attending the council meetings as a group,” she says, looking at the skinny and tall duo among the gathered lings, “Warriors, one of you patrols the hive, the other hunts for love at all times.”
“Ahem,” Seven cautiously raises his foreleg and winces when putting the weight on his reattached one, “Five, the project?”
“Right!” rather energized Five taps her hoof against the floor, “One infiltrator on the meeting, one working on my plan then. When it’s ready, find a dwarf to give it a test ride. Granite might help you with that. Anything else?”
“No, Five,” a warrior in front shakes its head.
“Then leave before Seven screws this up too, and blows us all to pieces on accident.”
Everyone scampers away, leaving only Five, Seven, and Stompy around the summoning, resummoning, unsummoning or whateversummoning circle.
“It is going to work,” Seven sighs, “By the way, why did you want to make the circle right by the bedrock wall we failed to dig through?”
“Because judging by your track record, this can literally explode in our faces, and if it does, it might break the wall, and the drones will have easier time digging later. See? I intend to use all possible outcomes.”
“It won’t blow up, Five.”
“Let me remind you that last time you did something like this, it was to summon a helpful demon into this reality, and one of us ended in theirs. Now that we want to end in theirs, I’m still working with a fifty percent possibility of us ending in some happy realm filled with fairies and Threes, and fifty percent of kaboom.”
“And the result where we do end in Tartarus?”
“I suppose that can happen too,” Five shrugs, “And that’s why I have this,” she taps her long and full beard previously owned by Three, “Also to remind you that you need to learn how to enchant a bag instead of a beard of holding!”
“I didn’t exactly have much time to work with, and Three’s beard was highly magically malleable for some reason.”
“Well, as long as it doesn’t stop working halfway during the trip...” from her fake beard, Five pulls out a shotgun, One’s unbreakable sword, her own gatling laser turret, and in the end the Big Friendship Gun one by one.
Thankfully, with the help of Stompy, the dwarves managed to unbind the weapon from Three since its last use, and now it is her trump card.
Five shoves her foreleg deeper into the beard, and pulls out a rocket launcher.
“Huh, was wondering if that one got lost...”
Seven rolls his eyes.
“We don’t know if any of those will work on demons anyway. Divine or demonic beings are naturally heavily resistant to mundane attacks.”
“Then you’d better figure out an enchantment for bullets, rockets, flamethrower fuel, and a BFG plasma cell fast, or I’m throwing you at whatever tries to disembowel us.”
“If something eats me, no one else can get you, Stompy, and Six back home,” Seven backs away.
“I’m taking my chances of shooting my way out.”
“Look, I can see you’re still mad-”
“No, I’m still furious!” Five cuts him off, “Now start the ritual before… before...” she looks at the floor, and goes quiet for a heavy, desperate moment, “...before it’s too late, you idiot...” she breathes out.
“Alright, alright,” Seven closes his eyes, and his horn starts glowing, “Any last ideas, something we may have forgotten to take with us?”
“Not as far as I know,” Five pats her beard.
“All weapon systems fully operational,” Stompy agrees.
“Okay then, let’s go!” raising his voice, Seven sends a bolt of energy to the circle which lights up, and in a flash all three of them are gone.
Darkness lit only by the still smoldering and sputtering summoning circle burned into the stones goes quiet.
It doesn’t last long, however, as a strange, metallic, dragging noise disrupts the silence, getting closer and closer to the circle. Something big and heavy is approaching, one step, drag, or shove at a time. Only the faintest glow of a dying flashlight dims the darkness enough to reveal a figure larger than any of the changelings slowly making its way to the circle.
It stops when it gets to the center, and waits. Contrary to all logical thought, when nothing happens, it begins punching the ground with a metallic noise that makes sparks fly into the air.
After three sledgehammer-like hits, the circle lights up again, revealing a strange mesh of metal and charred feathers for only a fraction of a second before flames swallow it just like they did to the trio before.
***
Luna finds herself alone, surrounded by blackness of space lit only by the distant twinkling of bright stars. She’s standing on a plane made of concentric blue circles spreading into infinity. This place, no matter how wrong the term is for her current state of mind, is her personal hub of the dream realm, her meditative spot from where she can reach into the minds of the asleep.
Unfortunately, she hasn’t been able to reach any of the escaped changelings nor the Hoof of Fate members, which has to mean either that the chase is still on, or the mental protections of each of the targets are way too powerful to break through without possibly causing more harm than good.
Well, there is always the rest of the night. She just has to keep her mind open for any sign of them.
That kind of full awareness is what saves her.
The alicorn amulet around Star Trail’s neck glows blood red as he materializes behind the princess, and his flying sword leaving behind a red trail slashes straight at her neck. What the weapon hits, though, is an ornate, silver-decorated halberd appearing out of nowhere and expertly blocking the blow. He suddenly finds himself staring into the burning white eyes of the alicorn of the Night clad in full plate armor on which all the Nightguard armors are based.
When did she-?
Star Trail jumps backwards, but misjudges Luna’s speed and the reach of her extended weapon as the blade of her halberd slashes at his own neck. He has to block, and groans once again at Luna’s unexpected strength when the strike makes his sword fly away.
The princess advances at him, drawing magic all around into herself.
“An undead paladin who has stolen the alicorn amulet,” she growls, “Again. I know who you are, Star Trail.”
“Your deceit ends here, usurper!” Star Trail hisses back, his sword materializing again by his side, “Equestria is the land of the sun and ponies. You, Nightmare Moon, conspiring with bugs and griffons, will finally pay for your sins.”
“You are clearly insane,” Luna gives him a flat stare punctuated with a wide swing of her halberd which Star Trail blocks successfully this time, the crimson glow of the alicorn amulet enveloping him explaining why, “My sister has forgiven me my transgression, and we are working to bring the world together. Besides, if you think only I am a traitor and a murderer, you clearly don’t know my sister’s less recent history,” she taunts him. Granted, while Luna’s big sin stemmed from her own hurt ego and Nightmare’s possession, the pain Celestia caused over eons was more from her overprotectiveness and impulsiveness, but there was no way Star Trail would know that. To him and to most ponies, really, Celestia was this perfect motherly figure always keeping them safe.
“Shut your filthy mouth!” Star Trail lunges at her, his sword covering his movement with a barrage of blows. It’s only a distraction, though, as magic gathers in his horn, and lightning surges from it towards Luna. It hits her chestplate, and harmlessly arcs into the mostly invisible ground.
“I can’t blame your ignorance, fanatic,” she spins her halberd in the air, the butt hitting Star Trail’s chin so hard it makes him fly off backwards with a spin. Any normal pony’s spine would have snapped at the crushing hit, and so does Star Trail’s, but it doesn’t seem to bother him too much, as he jumps back on all fours, ready to defend himself again, “I, however, can’t tolerate my own lack of knowledge. How did you get into my dream realm?”
“As if I would tell you!” Star Trail’s sword flashes, and releases a crescent wave of red energy at Luna. She teleports- no, he has to correct himself as he reflexively turns around with his sword raised. She simply dashed behind him much faster than he could see, and only his battle-honed instincts save him from her brutal downwards hack which would have split him in half, paladin armor or not. His sword strengthened by the magic of the alicorn amulet cracks.
Star Trail might have been through dozens of combat missions, survived hundreds of ambushes, but there’s something ponies always forget about alicorns - no, not that they are stronger, faster, and unbelievably tougher, but that most of the living ones survived tens of thousands of pony lifetimes from way less civilized ages.
When Star Trail’s sword shatters with Luna’s next strike, and the feedback of released magic sends rending lightning through his horn and skull, he realizes he might have bitten off more than he can chew.
A beam of dark energy barely visible in the inky realm of the night sky hits Luna from behind. However, the expectation clearly was to strike her unaware, not to hit her raised wing shielding her completely from the blast.
“There you are!” a bloodthirsty grin grows on Luna’s face, “Cromach was right. There was someone else behind this rambling weakling.”
She turns around to face the newcomer, and casually kicks back with her hind leg at Star Trail, her hoof piercing his chest and leaving a burning gash nearly decapitating him behind. The ex-paladin collapses, forelegs clutched against the wound as the dark magic of the alicorn amulet weakens with each passing second.
The new equine figure is wearing a black robe with hood covering its head, only a long horn protruding from it. It’s about as tall as Luna, but skinny beyond belief, and with no obvious weapons, not that it means anything. Come to think about it, he is about the size of a certain someone as well.
“I don’t suppose your name is ‘Beard’, is it?” she flourishes her halberd in the air.
The figure remains silent.
Rolling her eyes, Luna jabs her halberd behind her, this time stabbing a hole through risen Star Trail’s skull. He falls over again, hooves held over his fresh extra-large third nostril.
Oh well, time to end this.
Luna charges at the new figure, not repeating her attack from behind, but simply slashing at it while passing by to avoid any area of effect spells at close range. The enemy clearly is a necromancer with knowledge of advanced mental magic, and likely the ability to drain divinity, so wasting time would be unwise.
A glowing purple barrier stops Luna’s strike for a fraction of a second before shattering and letting the blade through. The figure gets hacked in half as well, revealing only bleached bones under the robe. A moment later, both Star Trail and the other one disappear.
Two undead.
Luna knows that this is her chance. Death within the dream realm would likely have severe consequences on the living, and even though the two attackers were both undead, they should be hampered in some way. On top of that, they can’t be far away from her. That means she has the chance to end this immediately.
She simply closes her eyes, and when she opens them again, she finds herself on the balcony of the tallest Canterlot castle tower, standing next to a golden telescope aimed at the night sky. While she can still feel that isn’t the real world, it’s a step closer. She extends her consciousness through the unknown pocket dimension, and senses the intruders immediately. Looking down from the balcony, she gets a clear look on the intruders, and dives to the ground.
I’m not locked in here with you. You’re locked in here with ME!
Her impact makes a crater on the castle grounds, and the vengeful demigoddess rises from the wreckage accompanied by thunder and lighting tearing the night sky apart. Her armor and the halberd reappear just as Star Trail attacks her. Of course, all wounds he sustained in the dream realm are gone, but he is slower. He can’t feel physical pain from wounds as an undead, but there must be some temporary damage to his nerves still in play, and the same should be true for the robed skeletal unicorn in the back on some level, although obviously not the physical one since, you know, all bones.
She goes straight for the offense, knocking Star Trail’s sword away with the butt of her spinning halberd, and charging at him. He jumps to the side to avoid Luna’s magically reinforced horn, the vastly advanced version of the spell he tried to stab Astray with before. That, however, doesn’t allow him to keep track of her halberd which bites directly into his chest through his armor, knocking him on the ground.
A jet of flames bursts from the skeleton’s horn, and is once again deflected by Luna’s wing. There is a serious amount of power behind the spell, but nothing that could even remotely scratch an alicorn archmage like her. Flying up into the air, she spreads her wing and freezes. In the next instant, the white moonlight from the sky above crystallizes into a beam that hits the skeletal mage head on, disintegrating it completely.
Earth shakes as Luna lands again, hair cracks spread through the night sky, and with the effect of a shattering snow globe, the pocket dimension crumbles, finally revealing the real Canterlot castle, Star Trail on the lawn struggling to get up, and the reappeared skeleton stumbling from the feedback of the broken spell.
So it’s not just a reanimated skeleton, but a real lich. I can’t destroy it completely unless I get rid of its phylactery. It can’t be far, though, and it can get the idea that attacking me is fruitless.
“NIGHTGUARDS!” Luna calls out in the royal Canterlot voice, “YOUR PRINCESS IS UNDER ATTACK! COME TO ME!”
The lich turns its hooded head around as the night sky fill with batpony blurs converging towards them. However, Luna can’t keep an eye on him, because contrary to all expectations, Star Trail attacks her again.
“Give it a rest!” she slashes his real sword in half this time, and the glow of the alicorn amulet fades completely. Star Trail collapses on his knees, and can only look at Luna with pure hatred in his eyes, “You will not haunt anypony anymore, revenant! May the peace of real death cure your insanity.”
Her halberd now enchanted with holy magic goes down like a guillotine…
...and buries itself into the ground as feeling of freezing claws ripping her from the inside makes her drop it and scream. All strength leaves her as she keels over in front of Star Trail, only able to turn her head enough to see the red glow of the lich’s spell sapping her divine power away.
The lich was trying to have her underestimate him all the time, and succeeded.
However, the first Nightguards finally arrive, swooping down like hunting hawks and interrupting the mage’s draining magic. A shockwave knocks the first few away, but as the lich looks upwards to see more and more coming, it flicks its horn, and with a flash of light both he and Star Trail disappear.
Luna, feeling colder with each passing second, whispers-
“...Magnus...”
-and passes out.
***
Celestia lands by Luna’s side just as two batponies arrive with a stretcher and load her on.
“What happened?”
The nearest Nightguard salutes.
“Princess Luna was attacked, your Highness. There were two of them, a unicorn stallion wearing a paladin armor, and one taller and skinny creature wearing a long robe. Judging by the size, we assume it was a unicorn stallion as well. It was his spell which hit princess Luna.”
“How is she?” Celestia gives a worried look to the duo carrying Luna now entering the castle.
“We didn’t find any physical wounds on her, your Highness. My best guess is that whoever attacked queen Novo did the same to her. The spell looked like a red and black beam, which is what queen Novo reported as well. I apologize that I can’t tell you more, but I’m not a unicorn,” he shakes his head.
“Hmmm...” Celestia frowns, “Two attackers, you said?”
“Yes, your Highness. They both teleported away at once,” he taps his helmet, “Oh, and one final thing - we can’t be one hundred percent sure, but before she passed out, princess Luna said ‘Magnus’.”
Celestia freezes.
“I don’t suppose… there are any clues that might mean that changelings are involved in any capacity?” she asks slowly, her mind somewhere completely else.
The batpony shrugs.
“Not as far as we can tell. I mean, anything is possible with changelings, but we won’t find anything. Send us an experienced unicorn to examine the combat scene, and we might come up with something, but right now changelings are a big no.”
Nodding, Celestia flaps her wings, and takes off straight towards the second floor of the castle, teleporting inside as soon as she’s near the wall. She finds a particular guest room, and enters without bothering to knock.
The white griffon inside is already sitting on the bed, and giving her an annoyed glare.
“Can’t a griffon get a good night’s sleep around here?!” groans Cromach, “Seriously, even the darkest threats to ponykind and the world at large have the decency to be evil during business hours...”
“This isn’t a joking matter, Cromach,” Celestia heads straight towards the bed, “Luna has just been attacked.”
“Aaaand how did king Beard do it this time?” he snickers with a raised eyebrow.
Celestia ignores the verbal jab, and explains:
“Two attackers, one tall and robed and one wearing a paladin armor, managed to drain my sister. Once again, they were interrupted before they could finish the job, this time by Nightguards. They supposedly teleported away when faced with the guards.”
“Star Trail and the guy who killed him, reanimated him, and then pulled him out of the dungeons before Astray could finish him off,” Cromach’s smug grin makes Celestia’s eye twitch.
“What?!” she hisses at him, “How have I not heard about any of this?”
“Considering your track record with decisions when you are informed, you can’t blame me for trying to avoid you fucking everything up again, can you?”
Celestia takes a long and slow breath.
“You should realize where you are, Cromach,” she says in a low voice.
“And you should realize that I really don’t give a shit about anything coming from you after your blatant idiocy killed my lover. Now, I don’t think we need to go through this every time we’re forced to be in the same room, so what was that about Luna getting attacked by king Beard and possibly the tooth fairy?”
“First, you’re going to tell me about Star Trail so that I can make a clear judgement about this.”
Cromach repeats everything he knows about Star Trail, his chat with king Beard and Three, Astray’s testimony of the attack, and Luna telling him the known history of Beard’s hive.
“Alright,” Celestia paces back and forth, thinking, ”I’m not saying Beard is off the hook, because it could still be some elaborate scheme combined with using Star Trail for revenge against me-”
Cromach facetalons.
“-Look, I have to keep my mind open. I’ve lived for way longer than you can even imagine, Cromach, and compared to some coup attempts I’ve gone through, this would still be foal’s play. I’m not saying it’s likely, I’m saying it’s possible.”
“It’s your kingdom pissing the changelings off, not me,” he just shrugs, “Now can we finally get to why you woke me up after Luna got attacked?”
“Before Luna passed out, she said ‘Magnus’.”
“Like the primal alicorn of Magic?”
“You know about him?”
“I saw him at Zeph’s years ago,” explains Cromach, “White, no wings, scared of mares. Do you really think he can be behind this? I mean, isn’t he supposed to be some sort of crazy magic researcher recluse?”
“Normally, I wouldn’t, but Luna named him. He’s also the only alicorn without any divine power, since Twilight is the inheritor of his divinity, and he’s still immortal. No one knows how he does it without necromancy or blood sacrifices.”
“Am I right in assuming that you think he’s trying to regain divinity for some reason?” Cromach tilts his head.
“No, I’m not, but it’s the only explanation I can think of at the moment. I can’t leave the summit, so I need you to go find the location of Magnus’ research tower, and talk to him.”
Cromach snorts in suppressed laughter.
“Wait, you want me to go punch the snot out of a primal alicorn, literally the most dangerous being alive other than the three gods?”
“Look, there is no one else with your kind of experience around, and it’s only a matter of time before somepony else is attacked.”
“Oh I’m not refusing,” Cromach waves his forelegs defensively, “I’m just trying to summarize it for myself. I saw Blaze punch Void once and he walked away alive. I mean, worst case scenario, I get turned into a frog and squashed. Big boo hoo,” he shrugs.
“I could give you a lecture about having a death wish, but I’m afraid you wouldn’t listen,” Celestia’s tone softens a little.
“Not listening to reason, eh? We’d finally have something in common,” he raises both his forelegs as Celestia opens her mouth to scold him again, “Alright, I got it out of my system for a while. Now, your Highness, hiring me will cost you. We’re not on terms where you can just ask me to do this anymore.”
Celestia sighs.
“What do you want?”
“Forgive the rest of the Silver Sun debt to the crown. We’ve paid most of it already, so this wouldn’t be a blow to you anyway.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“I’ll think about going.”
They glare at each other.
“Fine, deal,” Celestia gives in first. It’s difficult negotiating with someone who holds all the cards.
“Good. Any idea where I should start?”
“I can teleport you to Zeph’s, that’s pretty much it. I don’t know where Magnus’ tower is, but Zephyr or someone there might.”
“Do I have to go alone?”
“I can provide few guards if you need, but-”
“No, no… I think I have an idea,” he grins, “Can you prepare me a scroll that can take me and my company there? I don’t know when my guys might be back, but if they don’t come soon, I’ll have to take Astray or someone, and I don’t want to bother you in the middle of the summit meeting or whenever I decide to go.”
“I can make you a one-use scroll, yes. I’ll have it delivered to you within an hour.”
“Alright,” he stretches, “I guess I’ll go have a cup of coffee or something.”
When Celestia leaves, Cromach chuckles to himself.
“Too bad I won’t be here to see her face when she figures it out. Gotta tell Astray to snap me a photo.”
***
Shortly after one of the servants arrives in Cromach’s guest room with the requested scroll, the griffons has already procured two backpacks out of somewhere, and harrassed some castle staff to fill them with a bottle of water and some lasting food each just in case. Now, accompanied by Astray, he knocks on king Beard’s guest room.
“Why are we waking up the king of the changelings this later at night?” asks the satyr, still dizzy from having been roused from sleep only few minutes before.
“You didn’t think I needed you to come with me, did you?” Cromach smirks, “There’s someone else who wants to figure this case out more than all of us put together, and- ah, good morning, your Majesty!” he bows before me, the smug ass that he is.
“Don’t tell me there was another attack...” I ask in joke, but Astray’s serious expression makes me breathe out, “Who?”
“Luna,” the griffon puts one of the two large backpacks on his back on the floor.
“Look, I was asleep until you knocked-” I immediately wave my forelegs in front of my chest.
“You wanna go figure out who is behind this?” the griffon interrupts me, and nods to the bag, “Luna named a name, and Celestia scribed me a teleport scroll to where I should start looking.”
“Wait, Celestia wants us to go sort this out?” I still have trouble grasping the situation. Thankfully, two more brains join me as Three and Gem walk up to my side.
“Not exactly us, per se,” Cromach can’t hide his grin, “I asked her to have the scroll work on me and my company. I didn’t exactly tell her who I intend to take with me. I assume she expected Astray or one of my guys when they come back. Let’s not go and correct her, shall we?”
I, well, I mean…
It’s not a terrible idea. I’m pretty sure that I will get blamed for this on some level anyway, and this way I might be able to help clear our name.
“Gem?”
“Not a fan, boss. How much do you trust that guy?”
“There are two things that could happen. One, he genuinely wants to help and we’ll do what we can to find the real attacker. Or two, he’s somehow evil and I will be in danger instead of you.”
“I really don’t want you to go alone. No, I really don’t want to be the one to explain to mom where you went in case this goes south.”
“Eleven is looking for One and the others, and hopefully he can find them in time. I would take you with us, but I need you here. You are good with all this diplomatic stuff, and certainly better than me at haggling. You or Two would be the best lings for this job, and with how things are, guess who this falls to.”
“You DON’T have to go.”
“I want to. Since the first night, I’ve had this irresistible itch to punch someone, and I might finally get a chance.”
“Hey, you two,” I nod to Cromach and Astray, “What exactly is the mission?”
“Right now, simply find the location of a certain stallion, and then ask him several questions regarding this situation. It might turn out he’s not involved at all, in which case we just come back here and start from square one. If he is involved, then we ask why, and maybe get a little shouty.”
“Aaaand that’s what the axe on your back is for?” Gem tilts her head.
“Exactly,” Cromach nods.
“If boss is going, I’m going,” says Three firmly, “I don’t care if I’m food or a pillow, but I’m not leaving boss alone in this! We started this together, and we won’t have ponies be unfriendly with us.”
“Umm, Three,” I look down at the drone, “Astray here can protect you in case Star Trail comes back.”
“Nope!” he crosses his forelegs on his chest, “I’m coming and that’s final. Boss, I’m not scared for myself- well, no… I’m really scared, but I’m more scared of you being in danger and without any of us around. Even if you tell me no, I’ll just follow you.”
Be a good king and order him to stay safe, or take him with me not to hurt his feelings? I mean, he’s right in a way. If I need energy and a second set of eyes, he’ll be invaluable. But then, can I keep him out of harm’s way?
No, wrong question.
What I’ve wanted for a long time was to give my changelings a choice about what they want to do with their lives. There is no arguing with my main principle.
“Alright, Three. You’re coming with us.”
“Yesssss...” he punches the air.
“Gem, deal with the summit business, and inform the others if they either come back or are brought back.”
“I’ll tell Connie and others about the plan if needed,” Astray speaks up.
“And keep an eye on the lovely lady Gem here,” adds Cromach.
“Umm, what?” I ask.
“She’s the only changeling of yours left inside the castle, and Star Trail can come unannounced,” says Cromach, “Don’t worry, Astray won’t perv on you too much. His harem is already full.”
“Sir!” Astray looks away, blushing immediately.
To my amusement, Gem takes it in a much calmer fashion, walks up, and offers Astray her hoof.
“I don’t mind having a bodyguard keeping an eye on me. It wouldn’t be the first time.”
Oh right, the changeling trials. I completely forgot about that.
Astray clears his throat, and shakes her hoof.
“I’ll make sure no harm comes to you, lady Gem.”
“Perfect!” Cromach claps his talons, “Three, your Majesty, stand over here if you will, and put that backpack on...” nods to a spot next to him and the bag on the floor. Three flies onto my back, and as we step out into the dark castle hall, Cromach wraps a wing around my back while pulling out a scroll.
“So, where are we goi-”
There’s a bright flash of light, and…
...Gem and Astray look at each other, suddenly alone.