Shadow rolled into the room like a wrecking ball going loose, ready to protect her Mistress from whatever danger she was in… but she saw inside made her pause.
Mistress wasn’t in danger, at least not in immediate. She was, in fact, more than alright if her senses did not fool her.
Shadow did not know how to react and simply stared. Nightmare Moon was visibly embraced holding her slender hoof out to another changeling sitting across her desk, holding it with a look of total bliss on his face. Nightmare Moon’s eyes immediately darted to her but it took her guest a few more moments to realise that her focus has shifted and trace her look. As soon as he found her, his eyes shot so wide they were threatening to roll out.
Gena?!“ he struggled. At this moment Shadow shamefully covered her face, finding no courage to look at her Mistress.
She knew General Pharynx, he was a celebrity before she set out on her mission, but she still hoped that he wouldn’t remember her. ...Or that he wouldn’t come looking. This was rapidly shaping into a massive embarrassment.
“Mistress, I am terribly, terribly, sorry for the General!” finally she mustered the courage to speak to her Mistress, trotting closer so that she wouldn’t have speak to her across the room disgracefully.
“Please, forgive me for you having to get involved, if you would let me, I’ll bring the General out and deal with this issue myself,” she spoke not daring to raise her eyesight.
“Gena, is that really you?” Pharynx rapidly recovered but Shadow didn’t even look at him. “Gena, we thought you died!”
Desperate to hear the order, Shadow elected to take the initiative. Grabbing the General by the shoulder she dragged him off the chair and roughly pushed him towards the door.
“Gena, wait! This isn’t-”
“That is not my name and stop calling me that,” Shadow coldly spoke to him. Pharynx stared back at her in confusion but at least that kept him silent as she pushed him back outside.
The sound coming from the staircase alerted them both to the approaching Guards, Thorax took long enough to get anyone to come.
“There they are!” shouted the first one coming up the stairs. “Arrest the intruders!”
Shadow didn't even think of resisting, but she was glad the Guards on the inside weren’t issued any weapons.
“They murdered a Princess!” one of the Guards cried. Soon enough they were quickly surrounded by a mob of soldiers, giving them both menacing looks.
“Wait! The Princess is alright, she is just asleep!” Thorax cried from somewhere behind them. “Please don’t hurt my brother!”
One soldier peeked into Her Majesty’s room but instantly recoiled back as their grandiose ruler stepped out into the hallway to her subjects. Her prior exasperation replaced with exhaustion.
She eyed unconscious Cadance, no doubt completely aware of what did she do,
“Take her to a spare bedroom and leave her to rest for a while, I don’t want to see her,” Nightmare Moon ordered. Mistress always knew.
“And the changelings, Ma’am?” one of the soldiers asked, not quite sure how to make sense of the situation. Nightmare Moon gave the same tired look to all three of them.
“Yes, I suppose it is high time,” she slowly spoke. “This is Shadow,” she softly touched her changeling. “She is a warrior, just like you, my soldiers. She is my confidant and your comrade.”
The uneasy grumble ran across the soldiers,
“A changeling, Lady?” one asked.
“A changeling, yes,” Nightmare Moon confirmed. “A changeling that saved me tonight from a manipulation by one of my Princesses.” Nightmare Moon gestured at the pink alicorn. Pharynx suddenly sulked.
“But do forgive her, for she has a very good reason to do so. Cadance only tries to protect her family, see. Sometimes we can do the wrong things for good reasons, my soldiers, it would not be just to punish her harshly. Leave her to rest, I shall speak to her later.”
The sonorous silence ensued none of the soldiers sure what to make of this sudden, uncharacteristic, openness of their monarch.
“Do you have orders for us too, Mistress?” Shadow wasn’t quite content simply waiting at this time.
“Yes, My Shadow. I believe you and General Pharynx have something you need to amend to. The rest of you, you may go.” Nightmare Moon then stepped back inside her room, stopping for the brief moment to cast a spell. The lock, that Shadow broke moments before, effortlessly became whole again and re-entered the doorframe.
“Whoa,” Thorax gasped.
Soldiers were still confused, but they needed not the second order. Four of them picked the sleeping Princess and departed down the stairs with the rest of them orderly following behind.
Meanwhile, Nightmare Moon not having a proper table for all of them to sit around, simply summoned one from elsewhere in the palace, bewildering Thorax further. Four chairs then appeared to accompany the table.
“My Lady!” Pharynx finally woke up. “There is no need to-”
“General, please, cease before you embarrass both of us even more.” Nightmare Moon sat down on her own chair, “Now, all of you, sit down,” she continued more calmly. “I believe this warrants an explanation.”
“Your Majesty, why would Princess...” Thorax lost his patience, both other changelings simultaneously turned and slapped Thorax on both of his cheeks. He should not speak when the Empress speaks.
“To answer your question, Thorax, Princess Cadance wished to influence me enough to permit her to take Princess Twilight and my sister to the Crystal Empire with her. She believes they are in danger when out of her reach.”
“But… they are not!” Thorax shook his head to emphasize.
“That depends, Thorax. Cadance may be far away, but she keenly watches both me and her family.”
“But your sister is not family to the Princess, Your Majesty,” Thorax quickly poked a hole.
“Indeed she is not, my most curious, Thorax,” Nightmare Moon graciously smiled at him. “But that is for another time, I fear. Now we have an urgent matter to discuss. Your brother, sadly, was charmed by Princess Cadance and used as a tool,” she slowly gestured at the large changeling.
“My Lady!” Pharynx jumped up, “I assure you, I was most genuine.”
“Dearest General, while your attention is flattering, I must insist. Princess Cadance exercises a form of mind control, influencing emotions. General, I fear your feelings are influenced.” Shadow would not dare to question Mistress… but she sensed in the back of her head that Mistress did not quite like saying that, even if she was stating facts. It seems, Princess was at least partially successful. Mistress’ current smell was familiar to any changeling. The smell was making Shadow remember that it was a few days the last she dined, but Shadow would not insult her Mistress so much as to show her predatory nature. Though Thorax beside her lacked the training and would have to be closely watched. Her half-brother was already blowing air through his nose to clear it off the scent.
“My Shadow,” Nightmare Moon then addressed her directly. “I would like you to now explain how does the General know you.”
General wanted to stand up again but a single glare was enough to stop him.
“Mistress, must we speak before others?” Shadow avoided the question, causing Nightmare Moon’s eyes to slightly widen. “I do not understand this sudden neglect for secrecy, Mistress,” Shadow added.
Nightmare Moon sat quietly for some time but honored her Shadow's question in the end,
“My Shadow, I tire of playing these endless charades,” Nightmare Moon admitted with a sigh. “If my followers would not follow me even if they knew more of me I have no need for them. I saw that your counsel was wise, My Shadow. It could be better if my subjects knew more of me.”
Shadow uneasily fidgeted on her seat,
“I bow to your wisdom.”
“Now, shall you answer my question?” Shadow nervously glanced over to her brothers. Thorax expressed his support with a tiny nod and a small smile. Pharynx was entirely consumed with Mistress herself, not paying her any attention, probably it was better this way.
“We are acquainted,” Shadow began, carefully choosing her words. “I was assigned to review General Pharynx in context of his actions during the Queen’s attempted infiltration of Canterlot royalty. General Pharynx is the closest kin to the known deserter and dissenter Thorax, prisoner number 8876, sentenced to execution by a firing squad for attempting to incite a mutiny,” Shadow spoke emotionlessly as if reading a file. “I questioned General Pharynx on the subject of his brother and discovered him manipulating the prisoner transfer to let the subject escape.”
“Like so?” Nightmare Moon glanced over to the General.
“The General is known for his bluntness in private conversations, Mistress.”
“A respectable quality. Continue.”
“The General… was persuasive enough for me to keep the knowledge private, I told the Queen the General was not guilty.”
“So this is how Pharynx knew...” Thorax quietly mumbled.
“Quite-quite. My Shadow is lying to her Queen,” Nightmare Moon almost purred, delighting in Shadow sharing her secret. “What was the General's argument?”
Shadow covered her face in embarrassment once again,
“Mistress… could we please not go there?” she timidly asked.
“Is it so hard for you, My Shadow?” Nightmare Moon leaned a little forward.
“It is in the past, Mistress. I do not wish to remember. My act was shameful. I am no longer that changeling, Mistress. She was someone else.”
Upon hearing that Pharynx suddenly snapped out of his obsession and looked at Shadow across the table in disbelief,
“So this is how it is now? You know, they’ve been asking about you. I told them you’ve died heroically, upholding your duty, how all of us should.” Pharynx loudly snorted, “Now though I don’t know what I am going to tell them. Should I tell them that you turned your back on them? That you see them as ‘shameful’ now?” Shadow again covered her face refusing to show her eyes to anyone.
“Pharynx, what are you even talking about? Who are ‘they’? Shadow’s broodmates?” Thorax asked, sparing Nightmare Moon.
“Her drones, you big grub, that’s who!” Pharynx exploded. “I told her that I would expose her in turn if she exposed me! That’s why she covered for me!” Pharynx blasted out entirely forgetting where he was.
“When she came asking, I started digging through the files I could find on her. Most of them were confidential, but I pulled a few favors and got copies. Didn’t find anything, so I started digging in nursery records instead and there I struck gold. Turns out that about at a time when this oh-so-loyal two-face was growing up, there were a number of underdeveloped hatchlings alongside her, all female. Sounds like a weird coincidence doesn’t it? I went to check consumption records and what do ya know, turns out there weren’t any extra hatchlings to feed noted in the records from the time, but a small part of shipments was disappearing without a trace while this two-face was going through infiltration training! I saw the graduation papers, top of her class. I think I know where her drive to be the best came from! But that’s not a definite proof yet so detective Pharynx wasn’t done either!
“I looked up the names of those hatchlings and where they landed. Turns out good genes are infectious, all the girls did well for themselves. One was an officer in the Queen’s guard, another was a logistics expert; one was an operative, like her mother; and another one was a tank commander. Bet if drones could produce males, her sons would be Queen’s bed warmers," Pharynx spitefully remarked.
“I went around to meet all of them to see if it really was a coincidence, the special op didn’t budge, but her sister told me everything with a little pressure and a few names. She admitted that Gena was the one caring for them. Then I simply waited for Gena to be done with her investigation and offered her a fair deal. I even promised to look after them should anything happen to her, didn’t want an enemy like her. And I did as I promised when she didn’t come back.
“I dug out where she was sent to and I figured Chrysalis finally caught up on her favorite drone breaking the law. Girls stayed strong, wanted to make their mother proud. Turns out Gena was a coward in the end, unworthy of her own hatchlings,” Pharynx morbidly finished.
By the time Pharynx was done Thorax was covering his mouth in horror at what he just unleashed with a single poorly placed question and even more so how hard it hit Shadow next to him. The changeling mare has sunk in her seat as if trying to compress into a dot and disappear. Her forelegs still firmly pressed to her face, too ashamed of herself to look at anyone at all, let alone the beloved Mistress.
“My dear Shadow, forgive me!” Nightmare Moon was the first one to break the silence with her plea. “I should not have pushed.”
“Oh dear…” Thorax regained his speech next. “Shadow, why didn’t you say anything? Her Majesty would have… oh...”
“Shadow, do you wish to be alone?” Nightmare Moon leaned closer, slightly lifting herself off the chair.
“No, Mistress,” Shadow said quietly but determinedly. “I would never want to be away from you,” she lifted her eyes off the floor and finally looked up again. “Mistress, I am sorry you had to hear this. I shamed myself and dishonored you.”
“Damn right you did,” Pharynx grumbled.
“Silence!” Nightmare sharply snarled. “My Shadow, do not say so. You did no such thing. I would never scold you for caring for your children, no one can.”
“Hmph!” Pharynx humped, evidently the charm has almost entirely dissipated.
“Queen knew, Mistress,” Shadow admitted. “She didn’t want any competition. She said she’d let them be if I volunteered for the assassination attempt. Mistress, I am so-rry!” Shadow’s voice cracked.
Nightmare Moon was amazed. If Shadow could cry, she would be doing so right now. Her dear-dear Shadow, always unwavering no matter what comes to her, was nearly broken by mentioning of her hatchlings alone. Poor-dear Shadow.
“Pharynx, what happened to them?” Nightmare Moon asked swiftly. She did not want to subject Shadow to more pain, but she needed to know.
“Well… Reidyi never went close to the frontline, she did some logistics organizing in the 6th Armored Division. After the war ended, I took her with me to help with rebuilding the central hive a bit. She is impressively cheerful, all things considered.” Shadow visibly relaxed, relieved to hear the good news.
“Grossa is harder. She always kept to herself, being trained to be more independent and all that. She didn’t take us losing very well. Doesn’t talk to me, thinking me betraying them by not letting them all die. We all know the type. Still has a lot of fight in her, that one,” Pharynx went silent.
“And Ornata and Laeta? How are they?!” Shadow asked Pharynx directly.
“Uhm...” Pharynx frowned. “Ornata served with the Queen’s guard. Was at the hive’s fall. She fought to the bitter end, died with honor buying the Queen more time. We found her in the tunnels together with the rest of her platoon, all having lethal burns. Magical lightning, my guess,” Pharynx huffed with his nose, remembering the smell. Nightmare Moon had to hold onto her composure, this wasn’t going in a good direction.
Shadow sat silently for a full minute until finally slowly nodding. Accepting the loss with dignity.
“Laeta… uhh...” Pharynx stopped, searching for words.
“Say it,” Shadow ordered firmly.
“Laeta was in one of the tanks dug into the trenches outside the hive, they made a makeshift pillbox out of her vehicle.” Pharynx tried to stop again but Shadow’s unblinking gaze made him sure that he would have to speak or else… “Her tank got hit by some kind of a heat spell. The hull melted into liquid… then the ammunition exploded from the heat… there was nothing to bury.”
Shadow sank again without saying a word, her eyes rolling closed. Nightmare Moon circled around the table and gently put her hooves on the changeling’s shoulders as a sign of support. Loyal Shadow would not dare to blame her, of course, although she had no doubt that Shadow knew exactly who cast the spells. Nightmare Moon was not particularly proud of her destructive ability. Most of it came from her many years of gathering exotic spells rather than her raw skill, but it was more than enough to lay waste to a fortified line. The modern armaments help the commoners to come closer to the power of a mage but merely coming close to wielding the forces of nature was often not quite enough. Not to mention more esoteric disciplines, like space manipulation. There was no material in the entire world that could withstand being caught between closing portals.
Changeling magic was very limited in comparison, sadly. Illusions and shapeshifting were their only innate abilities, few gifted ones could also master telekinetic spells as well but not more than that. Perhaps this was why Chrysalis despised ponykind so much?
Nightmare Moon found one more regret.
“My Shadow, do you wish them to be brought before you?” Nightmare quietly whispered so to disturb her dearest Shadow too much. Shadow would not blame her, of course not. She would always say that she did what a good monarch had to do, and Nightmare Moon tried to think so too, but the truth was not escapable - she killed two of Shadow’s dear daughters with her own hooves.
She could remember them trying to stop her, the sound of shrapnel and bullets hitting enchanted plates of her armor, and harmlessly bouncing off. The sound of battle, the song of war. There was little glory, they never stood any chance.
“No, Mistress,” Shadow quietly answered.
“You make a poor attempt at deception, dear Shadow,” Nightmare Moon attempted to smile. “You do not have to sever yourself from your past for me, My Shadow, I will not hold you lower. It is wrong to separate yourself from your family, My Shadow, do not maim yourself for nothing.”
“You are right, of course you are right, Mistress,” Shadow nodded, even if without her usual eagerness.
“Pharynx!” Nightmare Moon sharply called. “Depart this instant and bring both of My Shadow’s daughters to her. You will not linger.”
“Hey, I… Eh… Yes, Ma’am,” Pharynx changed his mind mid-sentence. Correctly judging the Empress' patience being much to thin at the moment.
“Thorax, go to Cadance. Make sure she does not lash out when she is awake. Tell her that I will see her,” Nightmare Moon spoke much more softly to the more cordial brother.
“Yes, Ma’am!” Thorax repeated after Pharynx. “...Is she in trouble?” he asked after a moment of hesitation.
“No, Thorax,” Nightmare Moon shot a glance to Pharynx, waiting by the door. The soldier grunted in irritation but obeyed and cleared out of the room, swinging the door closed, “This may be hard to understand, but the Princess tried to help me more than get what she wanted from me,” she explained.
“Uhh… How?” Thorax tilted his head to the side. “Your Majesty, I don’t understand any of this! It is not like her to charm someone like this.”
“Thorax, this is not something one like you would understand. Only ponies have this, you see,” Nightmare Moon tried gently, although there was no nice way to say a thing like this truly.
“Oh...” Thorax visibly sank. “Alright… I’ll go see the Princess then.” Thorax then obediently followed his brother away.
“Your friend is such a darling, my dear,” Nightmare spoke gently to the last changeling in the room. “I am so glad you could find him to be to your liking. Even you need to have friends.”
“Princess Twilight's example is inspiring, Mistress. And Thorax is… simple enough to not cause any harm,” Shadow found the word.
“That he is, My Shadow,” Nightmare Moon slowly nodded in agreement. "Thorax is loyal to you, hold on to him now. Him and your daughters."