//------------------------------// // Chapter 16: Tricks // Story: Equestria’s Changeling Princesses and the Kinsbane // by vren55 //------------------------------// Thera and Sarar grimaced as the black cloud of what could only be Ragnar’s changelings rose over the forest canopy. The white queen had brought two hundred changelings herself, and with Chamelia’s changelings, they totaled three thousand two hundred. About a thousand of those changelings were dispersed in the hive to guard those that couldn’t fight. Facing them from the looks of it, were the anticipated one thousand changelings, most clad in armour, some chain mail, some chitin, and some wore a combination of plate and mail. And Ragnar was hovering in the centre of this horde. She didn’t wield any weapons, but then again, the queen seemed to prefer casting spells as opposed to swinging a weapon. Sarar hefted her flanged mace. “Thera… are you sure you can fight this battle?” “I can coordinate the troops.” She gestured with a hoof to the three squads of white-carapaced-pink-eyed changelings, “And I have guards.” “Well then…” Sarar pointed her mace at Ragnar. “Queen Ragnar, this is your last warning. Surrender now and we will-” “Oh spare me the pleasantries, sister,” bellowed Ragnar. Thera’s eyes shot to Sarar, who looked as if she got bit by a bugbear.  “What.” “Oh, you don’t see the family resemblance, Sarar? I mean I’m not sure how you ended up with purple hair, perhaps it was your unfortunate father. No matter. Mom’s dead by the way.” Sarar was shaking, the mace long slowly dropping to the floor of the walkway. “You… you killed her?” “Yes I did, and I made sure she suffered,” said Ragnar. “Oh. That’s good—” Sarar froze, lips flared in disgust and she turned to Thera, shame and horror clear on her face.  “I will consider that a thank you. Or… might you do your sister a favor for taking revenge on our terrible mother?” Ragnar smiled. It looked almost sincere, but her wide eyes and the flared edge of her lips gave it a wild… unhinged look. “Just… stay out of the battle. I won’t ask you to turn on Queen Thera, and Chamelia, but you owe me.” Ragnar sneered, just to emphasize the point. Yet, Queen Thera merely smiled, and at that, the blue-maned queen felt worry worm into her heart. The reason why became very quickly evident as Sarar spat over the rampart. “I owe you? I owe you nothing! I owe Chamelia and Thera everything! I nearly killed her and she… she… she…” Sarar shook. Sarar had ambushed Chamelia, who had been en route to some secret meeting near the Castle of the Two Pony Sisters. She had thought - no, then she had been certain she was going to die. But it was either die killing Chamelia, or go back to her mother, Ranfeng. Over the fourteen years of her life, her mother had given her little food or love, whose only reward was disdainful words, who punished her with days locked in a solitary, unlit cell, who would almost definitely send her out against another impossible mission, like clearing an area of manticores, or fighting a dragon. Chamelia had immediately been wounded by Sarar's thrown spear, and she had charged at the queen, trying to overwhelm her, but despite the injury, it was hopeless. Sarar had been slammed into a tree, her leg broken, magic spent. Zagara’s eldest daughter had towered over her, ready to deliver the killing blow, only pausing to ask who sent her. Sarar… having nothing to lose, had confessed to her mother’s plan, and shut her eyes in despair. And Chamelia had hugged her. She’d hugged her. The first changeling to ever touch her any kindness and it was the one she had been sent to kill. The memory of that, the advice and the care Chamelia had given to her, for nothing but her friendship and support, those memory blazed bright in Sarar’s purple eyes as she raised her mace, which was another gift from her mentor. “She saved me and if I have to fight you to protect her children… I will.” Ragnar rolled her eyes. “Oh, it was worth a try, but you are going to die sc-- ” A beam of pink magic made the queen yelp and dive to dodge it. “You were saying?” Thera asked.  Seeing that the white queen wasn’t even looking at her, but actually inspecting her hoof, Ragnar hissed with fury. She didn’t care that Thera was trying to provoke her.  “That’s it! Special company, fire!” Five year old Alternia looked up at her daughter with a frown, a bright blue cloak in her hooves. “Why do we have to wear these cloaks, Mirage?” “Trust me. They’ll protect you,” said Mirage smiling.  Alternia still looked unsure, which was when Facere trotted up and brushed her mane with a hoof, whilst he used his magic to fasten the cloak around her shoulders. “There, look how nicely they fit you!” “Thank you, dad,” said Alternia. She nuzzled Facere. “It does suit me rather well,” said Chrysalis, giving a twirl in her bright green cloak. Kyria trotted up behind them, carrying the quietly sleeping Simulacris and Belladonna, swaddled in red and purple cloth. Two guards out of the twenty they’d been assigned ushered Alternia and Chrysalis away to the back of the nursery, while Facere glared at his granddaughters. “For the record, I like this plan of yours as much as your grandmother does. That means I absolutely detest it.” Neither changeling princess reacted, other than to meet Facere’s glare with stoic determination.  “Do you have a better idea that protects the girls?” Kyria asked, not mockingly, but with an inquiring tone. “No, and that annoys me greatly,” said Facere. “Your input was still very helpful in ironing the details out, g-Facere,” said Mirage, catching herself. He nodded. “Well, let’s activate those traps.” Mirage and Kyria nodded and turned to the nursery entrance. Their horns glowed and a magic circle surrounded the door. They knew two more traps lined the hallways, one magical, the other physical - which had already been activated. They’d only had so much time to set up three in secrecy, along with their other preparations. “And now we wait,” muttered Mirage as Kyria trotted to the back to join the children, who stood beside her, eyes wide. She also took the two babies in her magic. Changelings formed up in two lines of ten in front of Kyria, but she was tall enough that she stood over them. Facere was right next to Kyria, grimly holding up a shortsword and dagger. Mirage took a deep breath and hefted her shield. THUNK - KRAKOOM! The changelings jumped, eyes wide, on the shut door, but there was no scream and in the silence after, they could hear trotting. “We dropped a bunch of boulders on top of her and she survived that?” whispered Facere. “We did expect that she would survive that, but that’s… did she blow the boulders apart?” wondered Kyria. Mirage braced herself behind her shield. “No matter, ready your weapons.” “Fire at will!” yelled Thera, not willing to give Ragnar and whatever her “Special Company” was the chance to use their weapons. Arrows and magic spat upward, whilst Ragnar’s changelings ducked behind shields magical and physical. Most were fine, but Thera and Sarar’s spells managed to smash several out of the sky. But from the flanks, spherical beige objects were rolling, falling from the sky. Someone had launched them from the cover of the forest. Sarar managed to shoot a beam at one, which smashed it open. White mist emerged and spread through the air. Others hit the fort and smashed open, leading to more gas to spread. Thera didn’t need to give an order, the changelings dodged away from the gas, but many got caught in it. Their eyes immediately started to tear up, hissing as the gas stung their carapaces.  “Companies one through fifteen charge them! Sarar you take companies sixteen to eighteen and find those who threw those gas bombs!” ordered Thera. Sarar hesitated for just a second, but the queen’s tone brooked no argument. So she jumped into the air, flying towards the uncleared area of the forest. Three hundred changelings followed her.  Meanwhile, white and coal-black changelings leapt into the air and charged up towards the blue-eyed changelings. Thera, more sedately, but with no less focus, hefted her warhammer, which had a metal spike on one end of the head, a armor-punching flat on the other and a spike in its handle, and buzzed her wings, eyes on Ragnar, who dived down at her. The second trap that Mirage and Kyria had prepared, with Facere’s help, was a complicated piece of arcane magic. Twilight and Starlight had taught them how to cast a Blast Rune. It was an expensive magic spell that used powdered diamonds (which they had kept in their peytrals) to create a near-invisible rune, but only needed minimal magic. It did however contain an incredibly powerful explosive spell. In theory, after activation, the Rune would explode if anybody neared it, unleashing an explosive spell that should smash the queen. It was far away enough from the nursery that they should be fine, and with the hive mostly empty, they weren’t worrying about a cave collapse. But they didn’t hear an explosion. Instead, all the waiting changelings heard was a fizzling hiss. “Damn, she must have disarmed it,” muttered Kyria.  She must have rolled a good investigation check. Said Mirage through the mental link, nervous laughter in that thought. Despite the situation, that made Kyria chuckle. We should really play a game when we get back home, with dad planning and running the campaign. Should we invite Discord, Big Mac, and Spike along? Mirage asked. Yes! And aunt Chrysalis and Luna as well! “Girls, I know you’re nervous, but please focus,” called out Facere. Mirage nodded and took a deep breath, whilst Kyria blinked. “How do you-” “Chamelia does it with Thera all the time,” said Facere grimly. “Dad… are we going to be alright?” asked Chrysalis. Facere nodded, smiling bravely, and Kyria did her best to mimic her grandfather. “There’s nothing to worry about, Chryssy,” she said, smiling. The door swung open, and all the changeling tensed. Horns glowed as shields raised over them. The infiltrator, it could be nobody else, stood in the doorway, still disguised as one of the Everfree hive’s changelings. She was giving a flat, unamused stare at the group. “Look, hand over the young queens and I won’t kill you horribly,” she said. Mirage wondered how one could look so… bored, and yet, so menacing. It had to be the sheer… contempt that was flowing off of the disguised queen. Hatred didn’t even accurately describe how it felt, to meet this changeling’s eye and to realize that all she saw in front of her, were worthless obstacles to her goal. “Go to Tartarus,” said Mirage.  The final trap activated and Mirage and Kyria’s purple and blue magic flames rose in a fire around the queen. Even as the trap activated, every changeling in the room dropped their shields and fired spells at the queen.  The trap spell wasn’t complicated. It was actually rather simple. It held whatever stepped in it down, freezing it. It was this trap that gave everybody in the room an opening to just blast the queen with everything they had. Several javelins were even added to the mix. But to no avail. A blood-pink barrier, shaped like an archaic circular shield, appeared in front of the queen and met the assault. The magic splashed against the shield, which held, though, the shield itself was pushed back toward the grimacing infiltrator. “We’re changing to the second plan!” yelled Mirage. Drawing on her love reserves, now rapidly dwindling due to all the combat she’d been involved in, she summoned several magical lances and threw them at the queen. Meanwhile, Kyria pulled a smoke bomb from her peytral and threw it over the guards. It hit the ground in front of her sister and the cave slowly started to fill with grey smoke. “Alternia, Chrysalis, come with me!” yelled the young princess. Quickly, before the smoke completely obscured her vision, she galloped to the side of the nursery, towards one of the walls. Mirage also followed her, whilst the changelings continued to fire at the queen. Kyria reached the wall first, and pushed the hidden door open. She threw Alternia and Chrysalis’s forms, who yelped, onto Mirage’s back. Holding onto Belladonna and Simulacris’s swaddling, she tore down the hallway, whilst her sister shut the door. “No!” The queen snarled and her horn burned a furious pink. A sphere of magic expanded, blowing out the blue and purple flames that surrounded her. The wave blasted the changelings off their hooves. “STOP THEM!” yelled Facere.   Try as they might to scramble onto their feet, the guards were too late, as the “changeling” ran through the smoke, blasted the door open and raced after them. In the tunnel that was sloping towards the surface, Mirage glanced back. “She’s following us!” Shit! I hate this plan! Thought Kyria, not looking back as she pushed the hatch they had just built into the nursery and sprang into sunlight. Mirage blinked at her sister swearing, even if it was in her mind. This was YOUR idea sister! She thought back as she made sure Alternia and Chrysalis were still on her back and slammed the hatch shut, casting a reinforcing spell on the hatch. The pair then shot into the air, buzzing through the skies as fast as they could. I KNOW! Why didn’t you talk me out of this! CRUNCH! The hatch was blasted open and the infiltrator burst out from it, her eyes narrowed on the fleeing sisters. Hissing, she charged after them, wings buzzing furiously. Because it was a damn good idea! Facere peaked under Chrysalis’s bed to find his second daughter’s wide blue eyes looking back at him. Alternia stammered, “Father? What happened, did we win? Where’s Mirage and Kyria-” “They’ll be fine,” lied Facere, he gave Alternia a hoof and pulled her out from under the bed. One of his fellows pulled out the sleeping Belladonna and Simulacris, swaddled in plain white cloths. Chrysalis followed, frowning. “Dad, why-” Chrysalis froze, a horrified look of realization spreading across her features. “Wait, the cloaks. They took our cloaks because-” Facere nuzzled Chrysalis, unable to hide his worry. “We need to get moving, Chryssy. Please, help me with your sisters.”