//------------------------------//
// Chapter 12. I have an idea of how to locate your son 
// Story: Rage of a Queen, wrath of a Mother 
// by Askre 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 12

The night was falling when Queen Chrysalis arrived near a secluded cave deep inside an old forest. She had dropped the unicorn disguise some time ago and flew the rest of the way. She was unphased by the not-so-distant sound of unseen creatures roaming the woods. As far as the changeling was concerned, none of them would stand a chance against her.

This is where she told me to report, Chrysalis thought as she examined the cave entrance. It was too dark; even if the light was falling outside, it was like a veil of shadow was over it.

Chrysalis walked inside. As she had already figured, the darkness was not natural. She could no longer even spot the cave entrance, and she hadn’t gone that far in yet. Undaunted, the changeling walked a bit further before lightning up her horn to see if she could illuminate her surroundings.

A disfigured horse face was immediately in front of her. The creature was almost as tall as the changeling; the fur looked as it had once been bluish-gray and had remnants of green and white clothing on it. Black pulsating veins covered the entire body, and the eyes glowed green with a purple mist coming out of the corners.

“Halt! Who goes there?” the creature demanded in an unnatural hollow voice.

“Queen Chrysalis, of the changelings,” Chrysalis responded, only raising her brow a little when seeing the creature. It continued to stare at her before stepping aside.

“Proceed. Her Majesty awaits you,” it said without looking at her, continuing to stare forward in stone-cold silence.

Chrysalis rolled her eyes and kept walking. Her horn barely lit up the darkness, but she soon did not need it. The tunnel she was in became illuminated by orange crystal torches showing the way towards a cavern.

Entering the cavern revealed a large stone platform. Hanging from the ceiling was a large orange crystal that illuminated most of it, but the light concentrated most on the center's black crystal throne. Surrounding the platforms were more horse creatures. Some looked like soldiers, wearing armor and carrying weapons. The others had tattered remnants of regular clothes on them.

“Welcome Queen Chrysalis,” Queen Rabia greeted her, where the Dark Pony lay on the crystal throne. Next to her stood one of the horse creatures, a grayish-white unicorn, clad in the remains of what had once been blue clothing.

“Like what you have done with the place,” Chrysalis remarked and glanced at one of the soldiers that stood close by her. “The toys new?”

“Recently acquired.” Rabia nodded and glanced at the creature next to her. “You may go now.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” the creature bowed low and departed the stone platform.

“Are those Saddle-Arabians?” Chrysalis looked closer at the soldier, then stepped up on the platform. “Are they alive?”

“Yes, to the first question. As to the second...they probably wish they weren’t,” Queen Rabia chuckled darkly.

“Impressive, I’ve heard stories about your rage deformation and mind control but never seen it,” the changeling nodded and now stood right before the throne.

“The flattery is appreciated, but surely that is not the only reason you have come.” The Dark Pony dropped her smile and became more serious as she rose to sit.

“I have scoured several towns in Equestria, but not found one clue as to where they are keeping King Sombra. He’s certainly not in that pathetic little village Princess Twilight lives in. He is not in Canterlot. I couldn’t find you again, so I came here since that’s where you told me to go if I needed to speak with you,” Chrysalis explained with a snort.

“Why?” Rabia asked, her face darkening a little.

“As you told me yourself, Equestria is large, and I’m doing this on my own. If I had my army, I could do this search more effectively. I can’t do it just by myself,” the changeling growled and glared around. The cavern was darkening, and the shadows were enveloping the cursed Saddle Arabians; it was as if the glowing green eyes surrounded her.

“You have given up?” the Dark Pony inquired; there was a dangerous undertone in her voice.

“I never said that,” Chrysalis snapped and turned back to Rabia.

“Then why are you here?” Queen Rabia asked, her voice becoming hollow and deep.

“The same reason you are here. I need to throw them off the scent.” The changeling shrugged, the lightning returned to normal, the cursed ponies were now visible again. Queen Rabia looked skeptical.

“And what makes you think I’m doing that?” Queen Rabia snorted.

“Oh please, your little show here might intimidate those weaklings in Saddle Arabia and Equestria, but don’t forget who you are talking to. I’m Queen Chrysalis, Queen of the changelings. I don’t scare so easily,” Chrysalis laughed mockingly.

“Clearly you had to get those Saddle Arabians from somewhere, so surely after snatching them, you have to make sure nopony is looking for them and thus you. As for me, they have intensified their search for me, even called in…ugh Thorax’s changelings to help,” the changeling then explained.

Queen Rabia lay back down on the throne, not looking too impressed by Chrysalis’s deduction. She glanced to her side and nodded; the cursed unicorn that had been next to her before arrived, holding a tray with goblets and a flask of wine.

“Then I commend you for your security-mindedness,” Rabia said and waited for the unicorn to fill one goblet and give it to her; she took it in her magic and sipped. She eyed the changeling, who just shook her head. The Dark Pony thus nodded again to the unicorn who once more disappeared from the platform.

“So, when is your intended destruction of Saddle Arabia happening?” Chrysalis asked and took another look at one of the cursed soldiers.

“In due time,” Rabia responded and sipped from her goblet.

The changeling eyed the Dark Pony with a heavy frown, but refrained from saying anything. Though ‘like mother-like son’ did cross her mind, Chrysalis had a feeling Rabia was going to be just as stingy on the details as her son could be.

“I have an idea of how to locate your son. He was obsessed last I met him, with these descendants of your race in Equestria. Two ponies in particular,” Chrysalis mentioned, rubbing her muzzle in thought.

“Ah, yes, I recall meeting two of them when I returned from my stasis mirror. One was certainly handsome, despite all the Equestrian blood infesting him.” Rabia smiled and licked her lips. “That deep gray coat, golden mane, if not for that ridiculous mark on the flank, he may as well have been a Dark Pony, albeit a short one.”

“You know where they live? Spying on them might give us some hint as to where Sombra is. Considering his interest in them, the princesses surely have warned them where he is kept so they can stay away,” Chrysalis asked.

“Hmm, you might be on to something there. I did locate the handsome one not that long ago. His son's mother was lost in the magic drain, so he became the boy’s custodian. I think he lives in that city called Manehattan,” Rabia told the changeling.

“Hm, that’s a big city, easy to hide,” Chrysalis muttered thoughtfully.

“I believe you will find him somewhere in a place called Hoofington. His name is Barricade…” Rabia trailed off for a moment before smiling wickedly. “When you find him, bring him to a secluded location.”

Chrysalis nodded but with a scowl. She was getting a little tired of taking orders and was really craving getting her revenge. However, the changeling also knew that she would need the Dark Pony’s help, and Rabia wouldn’t help until Saddle Arabia was destroyed. Right now, all Chrysalis could do was hope that whatever the other queen had in mind, it would accelerate that process.

“I’ll head off later tonight,” Chrysalis claimed and stepped away from the platform. Rabia just nodded and sipped on her wine.



 

Twilight Sparkle landed close to the edge of the Everfree Forest. Already there were two changelings. One was aqua blue while the other was lime green. Both looked a little nervous and agitated. The princess had received a message from them not that long ago by a third changeling who had been allowed to remain at her castle.

“Alright, I got your message. What’s wrong?” she asked them. They both turned towards her.

“We saw this very strange unicorn skulking around Ponyville, we changed forms to follow her, but I think she got wise to us and started making her way here, then she disappeared into these woods,” the aqua changeling explained and pointed towards the forest.

“Ocellus told us that no pony goes into it, so we found it really strange, and now we are worried that this was Chrysalis,” the green one whispered and started to look nervously around like he feared that the former queen was watching them.

“Describe her,” Twilight requested with a heavy frown. She was scrutinizing the edge of the woods carefully, but so far saw nothing amiss.

“Uh, she was green… light green, red and orange mane, I think and uh…an insect mark on her flank,” the blue changeling hesitantly described the unicorn. She looked at her friend, who just shrugged. “Uh, sorry, you ponies come in so many shades of the same color.”

“Don’t worry about it. I think I’ve got it,” the alicorn chuckled and eased her scowl a bit. However, this gave her a pause. The changelings were not wrong; most ponies from Ponyville avoided going into the Everfree Forest. However, although big, it wasn’t that big, and her friends had already scoured it along with some assistance from Zecora. She was pretty sure neither Chrysalis nor Rabia would be hiding there.

But it is a good place to shake off pursuit, so if this was Chrysalis, she’s escaped, Twilight thought. Then again, that is where she first appeared when we captured her.

Why would she risk being in Ponyville though, the princess couldn’t but wonder. She looked at the changelings again. “What did you find so odd about her?”

“Well, she kept listening in on ponies talking, would frown like she wasn’t hearing what she wanted to hear before going elsewhere,” the blue changeling said. Her friend nodded in agreement.

Hmm, if this was her, what is she looking for? Twilight thanked the changelings and told them to head back to Ponyville for now. They took off while the princess gave the forest one final look.

“I need a map of Equestria,” she decided and flew up and headed back to her castle.


The search was not going so well, even if, thanks to Ocellus, the changeling student at her school, Thorax, had sent a few of his subjects to Equestria to assist. They kept running into dead ends, and from what Celestia had reported on the first interrogation of Sombra, the king hadn’t given them a whole lot on Rabia. The Solar Princess then told them she had a different plan to get information out of him but didn’t say what.

As she continued towards the castle, Twilight saw Rainbow Dash flying towards her. She halted her flight as the pegasus came closer, wondering if her friend had any news. Thanks to her speed, Dash was very quickly right in front of her.

“I was just coming from Baltimare. Nothing,” Dash immediately reported with an annoyed grunt. “I’m headed for Manehattan next.”

“Manehattan? Why?” Twilight wondered. They had already combed the city and there were changelings there now just in case.

“I need to talk with somepony,” Dash just said and was off in a rainbow-colored shot.

Huh, that was strange, Twilight frowned, then again Dash had been behaving a bit stand-offish ever since the news broke that Sombra had been let out of Tartarus and was staying in Fillydelphia.

Twilight glanced towards where her castle towered over the rest of the town. The princess knew she had to check Equestria's map. She needed to confirm if there were some other likely hiding places south of the Everfree Forest. However, right now, she was more concerned about her friend.

Before she could decide what to do, a whistle from the ground caught her attention. Looking down, the alicorn saw Applejack, her hat in one hoof as the earth pony waved at her to get the Princess’s attention. Twilight swooped down to ground level, not stopping until she landed right in front of the apple farmer.

“Hey Twi, just got a word from Cousin Braeburn down in Appleoosa. Nothing strange goin’ on there, but he did say some ponies further south had seen something odd,” Applejack reported as soon as Twilight was down.

“Hmm, did they say what they found odd?” Twilight asked, although her attention continued to divert in the direction Rainbow Dash had gone in.

“No details, no. I can ask Braeburn to get some more details,” Applejack offered, then she noticed how diverted the Princess’s attention was. “Somthin’ wrong, Sugarcube?”

“It’s Rainbow Dash. Have you noticed her behaving a bit more… uh gruff?” the alicorn turned back to her friend.

“Uh, come to think of it, she’s been a little testier lately, ever since learnin’ that King Sombra was in Fillydelphia instead of Tartarus. Suppose Ah can’t blame her. She was his prisoner last time we tangled with him," Applejack nodded.

“Yeah, I think the imprisonment bothered her more than she cares to admit. She said she was going to Manehattan to talk to somepony,” Twilight said and started to fly again. “I think I better go after her. Tell Braeburn to get some more info on those odd happenings.”

“Will do, Twilight. You might want to take the train, though. It’s a fair distance from here to Manehattan. Rainbow Dash flies fast, and she will be there just as fast if not faster than the next train from Ponyville to Manehattan,” Applejack advised her.

Twilight had to concede to that fact. She wasn’t the fastest flier, and just about everypony paled in comparison to Rainbow. She could teleport, but that would really tire her out, and she wanted to conserve her magic as much as possible, just in case they located Chrysalis or even Rabia.

Actually, I might swat two flies at once, she thought and went first to the castle to get a map of Equestria, intending to study it while on the train to Manehattan. The princess also left a note to Starlight Glimmer that she would need to continue watching the school while she was gone.

End chapter 12