//------------------------------//
// Chapter 23:  Curbstomp 
// Story: The Boy Who Disappeared 
// by computerneek 
//------------------------------//

“Good afternoon,” Flurry greeted the Changeling leaders, which had just been ushered in- with their honor guard- to the Congress room.
The Changeling leaders, which she was told were called ‘Broodmothers’, bowed to her.  “Good afternoon, Princess,” Broodmother Nyadra greeted.  She had apparently been Chrysalis’ second-in-command.
“As I’m sure you know by now, Queen Chrysalis was attacked and sent to another world during her meeting with the Princesses of Equestria.  I was there.”  She sighed, closing her eyes.  “I am the only one left.”  She looked back up again.  “In any case, before we were attacked, Queen Chrysalis told us…”
She hated to recall that terrible event, but it was important to this meeting- and besides, not only had it been etched into her memory, but she had written a detailed account of it in her diary.  Then of course, she and Raven Inkwell had used her diary as a reference for their planning of this meeting.
As she spoke her opening script, she briefly recalled the planning session she’d had with Gleaming Shield, in anticipation that a similar attack would occur.  There were guards scattered throughout the public viewing areas, and every guardhouse in the entire building was occupied.  Not only that, but there were large numbers of guards patrolling about- and checking in very regularly with the unicorn Guard just behind Gleaming Shield, who was seated next to Flurry.
Finally, she finished reciting the information Chrysalis had covered- mostly, she was sure, for the nobles’ benefit, but she didn’t know if the other changelings knew it already or not.  “Princess Celestia did not seem opposed to it, and told us she did not see why we couldn’t come to an agreement, before the attack took place.  This is-!”  She broke off, looking over to Gleaming Shield.  Her Unicorn guard had stepped forward to mutter quietly to her.
“Echo Seven is not responding,” he informed Gleaming.
Gleaming scowled.
Then the unicorn blinked.  “Echo Six confirmed, Seven is down.”
Gleaming glanced up at Flurry.  “They’re here.”
Flurry sighed, then looked up at the rest of the room- across which scattered murmurs had started.  The murmurs died off almost instantly.  “And it would seem somepony is attempting a similar attack as we speak.  The Guards are fighting them right now.”
Broodmother Nyadra looked at the other broodmother she’d brought with her, then they turned towards the door.  The congressional seats formed a U shape, such that Flurry was right at the base, where the two sides met, and the door was at the opposite end- something that Gleaming Shield had, rather affectionately Flurry had noticed, referred to as a ‘kill box’.
The changelings had been at the normal position for diplomats, about two thirds of the way across the floor towards Flurry.  They changed that quickly, though, drones and broodmothers bolting together towards the door.  They stopped at right about the midpoint of the room, then carved chunks out of the floor- Flurry could almost hear some of the nobles wincing- to start erecting a massive barricade out of stone and changeling goo.
Massive, unidirectional magical barriers went up all along the front edge of the seating, separating the nobles- including Flurry and the spectators- from the floor with a barrier that they could shoot out through, but could not be shot at through.
And then, there was a feeling of magic humming in the air, as unicorns throughout the room, from Guards to nobles to even Flurry herself, charged their magic for the coming attack.
Right on schedule, as soon as everypony was ready, the door exploded inwards.  Spellbolts lanced inwards.  More than half of them were stopped by the changelings’ wall, and all of the rest were stopped by the unicorn shields.
Then, everypony fired.
It was a cacophony.  Fire, ice, lightning, and pure magical force all blasted in at the same point, creating explosions, slashes, crashes, flares, splashes of the soap that the floor by the door had just been turned into, and in the changelings’ case, pods.
When the smoke cleared almost a full minute later, the massive, fire-breathing stone golems that had sprung out of the floor could be seen marching across the cratered soap, searching for targets.  There was even a soap golem.
Gleaming Shield raised an eyebrow at the scene.
Flurry nodded, trying to visually estimate how many hundreds of feet of stone her blast had gone through after it had erased a large chunk of the attacking army.  It was, by far, the deepest crater.
Then Discord floated up out of the hole left by the soap golem.  “...  Well, that was interesting,” he mused.  Then he shrugged.  “I guess I didn’t need to have the stone basilisks waiting to chew on incoming spells, did I?”
“All in favor of Changeling integration?” Prince Blueblood called, as loud as it was sudden.
The nobles about the room shook themselves out- then hooves raised all throughout the room.  Several cries of “Aye!” were also heard.
Even Discord raised a paw.
Flurry smiled- it was a distinct majority, roughly ninety percent.  “Then all that remains is to decide how we are going to do it,” she announced, as the ruined entryway magically repaired itself to the beat of Discord’s tailsnaps.





“Raven?” Flurry asked, interrupting Raven Inkwell’s description of the next day’s schedule.
The mare looked up.  “Yes, Princess?”
“I think I just had a…  vision, of some sort, from the other side.”
“The…?  You mean where the Princesses are?”
She nodded.  “Yeah, I think.  Bunch of those people standing in a field, all holding wooden sticks of some kind, for a second.  I think…  Yes, I think it was from Ronald’s perspective, he was grumbling about something.  Do you think Blueblood was successful?”
Raven scowled.  “Pretty sure he’s having dinner right now, but…  possible, I suppose.  Shall we check on his progress tonight?”
Flurry made a quick decision.  “Yes, I think I’d like to.  Only a quick check, though- and definitely make sure he knows what happened.  Speaking of which, what time is it?”





Raven was seconds away from resuming her list when Flurry let out a small gasp.  “It’s happening again!” she announced, closing her eyes.  “Someone…  Can’t be Ronald, pretty sure it’s a girl.  She keeps looking down at her black robes.  She has brown hair, and…”  She scowled.  “She must be crying silently- her eyes are full of tears, but I can only hear her footsteps.  She’s…  following another person.  Another girl, I think- significantly taller, and…”  She let out a second gasp.  “I think she’s a child!  Anyways, this taller girl…  I can only see her back, but she still looks…  severe, almost.
“There’s a door, she’s opening it…”  She paused for a moment, then spoke oddly, like she was imitating something.  “Excuse me, Professor Flitwick, could I borrow wood for a moment?”  She scowled.  “That’s what she said, but…  Is she going to beat her?  Or maybe…  No, ‘wood’ is apparently a person.  Also bigger than…  uh, my perspective, and muscular, but I think it’s a boy, and he looks confused.  Um…  The bigger girl told them to follow her, and continued leading.  The boy- Wood- is looking curiously at, er, me, I’ll call her, for now.”
Raven waited for a couple of seconds of silence before speaking.  “Where are they?”
“Oh,” Flurry blinked.  “They’re walking down stone corridors.  Torchlit, all wearing black robes, with pointed black hats, I think.  What-!  The pictures are moving!”
“Any windows?”
Flurry shook her head.  “Haven’t seen any.  They’re going into another room…  Looks like a classroom.  There’s a boy floating in the air, writing…  ugh, why is he writing that on the blackboard?  Anyways, the woman said ‘Out, Peeves’, so he discarded his chalk and left.  She’s slammed the door behind him.  And…”  She trailed off for a second.
“She’s introducing them to each other.  I’m ‘Granger’, and the boy is Oliver Wood.  She told Wood she found him a seeker…  he seems excited?  Apparently, Granger is a natural…”  She giggled softly.  “Wait, no-!”  She reached out a hoof for a second, then let out a sigh.  “It’s gone.”  She took a deep breath, opening her eyes.  “And I want to say ‘Granger’ was her name in the same way that Weasley was Ronald’s name, rather than the way Ronald was his name.”
“...  Interesting,” Raven muttered.  “Was there any suggestion of the Princesses?”
She shook her head.  “No.  Unless me seeing from Granger’s perspective is a clue…”
Raven scowled.  “Suggests that she might be one of them,” she stated.  “Specifically might, though.”





“Princess?” Blueblood asked, his head snapping up in surprise, when Flurry opened the door.  His room was now gilded in drawings and diagrams more than it was in gold and jewels, and his eyes were bloodshot, a quill held in his magic, poised over another piece of parchment.
Flurry looked around.  “You know, you don’t have to work yourself into the ground,” she informed him.  “I doubt even I am working this hard.”  She gestured around the room.  Then she looked at him again.  “Anyways, I had a couple of visions from the other side earlier- thought you might like to know about them.  And…”  She looked around again.  “I’m curious if you’ve made any solid progress on the matter.”
“...  Ah,” he muttered, glancing down at his page and putting the quill down.  “I have managed to unravel the outer layer of the spell, but all it really does is keep it on target and penetrate the target’s defenses.  Quite a bit of useful stuff in it, though- not much can penetrate the natural wards of an Alicorn, and this thing makes it look easy.”  He sighed.  “I’m nowhere near figuring out what exactly it did, why it bounced off of you the second time instead of repeating the experience…  and especially nowhere near figuring out how to get them back.”  He sounded apologetic.
“Hey,” Flurry muttered softly.  “That’s no problem.  If it takes a dozen years, that works for me.  So long as they come back, risk free.  Which means you need to not be making any fatigue-induced mistakes- so make sure you get your sleep!”