It was a long journey, finally they would find the Prince Deceiver and get him in their gran plan, he and his army was going to be very useful.
The three of them stared at the entrance of a big cave, they could see many pathways that lead to different places. No wonder why the combined forces of equestria, the hippogriffs and even tempest shadow were unable to find him in spite of all the effort.
They entered the cave slowly, making sure they don’t cause too much noise. They knew that a single bad step would get them caught.
It was a little tedious, especially for Lord Tirek and Cozy Glow, especially because they couldn’t complain under the risk of causing noise. .. For Chrysalis this was a nostalgic trip.
After some time they could hear steps, they took cover behind a rook and finally got their confirmation. They saw an imposing figure, it was clearly a soldier of the storm king. It had his armor modified but there wasn’t no confusion. They were in the cave that housed the base of the Prince Deceiver.
They kept completely quiet, no words exchanged and stood behind the rook until the guard leave.
Chrysalis made signals with her head, pointing at a specific wall. It was like she knew something…
When they got to the wall the former queen touched a couple of rooks and a piece of the wall moved. It was a secret entrance! They immidearly got inside.
Chrysalis whispered to her two companions ¨I told you I know this place, we will surprise that griffon soon enough¨
They continue moving until the end of the small tunnel, from there they could see that the cave was even bigger that they imagine.
The sight was something they didn’t expected. An enormous fortress with 5 airships anchored and a tower with a commanding view.
Chrysalis left out a small giggle ¨the worst part is, I know another tunnel that will let us right over that tower¨
The trio continued sneaking until they got to another wall. Chrysalis again moved the correct stones and opened the hidden door, they entered and were ready to give a surprise to that warlord.
They eventually got to the other side of the small tunnel, Chrysalis and Cozy Glow helped Tirek to jump without doing too much noise. they were finally at the roof of the tower.
It wasn’t long until they found an open window and managed to sneak in.
Once inside they moved quickly and silently, considering the commanding view of the tower it was rather obvious that the throne or office of the Prince Deceiver would have the biggest and decorated room of the entire tower… and they were right.
They managed to see a beautiful door, it was open and they could see a griffon… the Prince Deceiver berating one of his soldiers.
¨you are supposed to be better trained than those featherheads from equestrian, did really a ancient fortress scares you?¨ The prince certainly was angry about something.
The soldier tried to defend himself ¨sorry lord, the defenses almost destroyed the ship and we had to retreat, I take full responsibility!¨
The Prince grab the soldier by the neck with his claws and told him ¨find a way to get inside that temple or the next mission you will be assigned will be a suicide mission at the dragon lands. Dismissed¨ after that he released the soldier and the cowardly soldier ran way, meanwhile the prince simply close the door.
Tirek whispered to her companion’s ¨At least we now know that the Storm King picked strong lieutenants, for now I like him¨ both of them nodded in agreement.
They decided to now waste time and walked straight into the door and… proceeded to nock
¨Unless you found a way to enter that temple I don’t care¨ and that was the only response.
The trio look at each other, none of them knew how to proceed now… but suddenly both centaur and changeling started to stare at little filly, she was going the one to speak through the door
Cozy Glow sigh and decided to speak to the prince ¨well, we managed to sneak up here. So a temple doesn’t mean much to us¨
A bunch of sounds, both of somecreature falling over and growls could be heard from behind the door.
Tirek commented ¨we certainly left an impression¨ and his companions nodded.
After a few seconds the door finally opened and they could see the mysterious Prince Deceiver face to face.
¨how exactly did you got in here?¨ The Prince asked, totally surprised about the intrusion… and that they look like they wanted to speak with him.
The former queen of the changelings answered ¨we heard that you have a conflict with equestria leaders, soon the princess of friendship will be crowned ad rules of equestria. We will help you get your vengeance, in exchange that you attack at her coronation¨
The griffon stared at the trio for a few seconds, then he started to smile as he saw a possibility with his new allies.
And unsurprisingly he recognized all them ¨oh I heard of you, the former queen of the changelings, the centaur that almost devoured all magic in equestria and… I don’t know who are you¨ …Almost all of them
The filly got offended ¨I’m Cozy Glow, I almost erased all magic in equestria and took over Twilight friendship school¨
¨so that was you, I always assumed that Tirek escape tartarus again, then again. Maybe I wasn’t that wrong either¨ The prince smiled… with a smile that look far too familiar to the filly.
Chrysalis then decided to cut short the presentations ¨enough of introductions, do you want an alliance or do you want to keep collecting moss and spiders here?¨
The griffon nodded and guided his three new allies inside his throne room.
The four of them walked through the throne room until they got close to an ancient painting the Prince Deceiver proceeded to explain his dilemma ¨you know… I was in the process of finding an artifact that would help me take down the princesses. The problem is that is divided in 3 pieces¨
Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy Glow stared at the painting, it was a painting that represented a box over a estrange table.
The Prince Deceiver explained the painting ¨This is the illustration of an ancient powerful relic that can serve as a powerful weapon, it will be more than enough to take over equestria and take down any fool who oppose us¨
Tirek noticed something that bothered him ¨you said that you need three pieces, but I only see a table and a box¨ he pointed at the painting and he was right.
The Prince Deceiver let out a small chuckle and explained himself ¨you are talking about the core? Yeah, that thing isn’t in the painting. But you will recognize once you see it¨
Chrysalis approached the Prince ¨then, we have a deal?¨ the Prince nodded in response
Then he walked to another side of the room, there it was a big map that included different nations. There he pointed at a mountain located between the Crystal Empire and Yakyakistan ¨I’m trying to get the first piece that is located at a temple right here¨
Then he pointed to a secluded part of equestria, it was a forest that was far away from civilization ¨we are going to meet here at 13 pm, if you fail to get these our deal is off¨
The three of them frowned, Crysalis pretty much shared the feeling the three of them had about the prince hevarior ¨you aren’t in a position to bark orders at us¨
The Prince simply walked straight in front of chrysalis and got in front of her face ¨I’m not in a position to risk my troops to get captured¨
The prince made his point… a good point. All of them had a lot to lose and the trio started to understand the difficulties of the Prince Deceiver…
Cozy Glow flew close to the griffon face and told him ¨we can say the same, you fail to get there and the deal is off, no resentment. Neither of us like latecomers¨
The prince nodded. ¨I see you in 2 days, for now try to find a way to sneak out of here. The guards still don’t know you are on my side¨
And like that the three of them exited the room and managed to sneak out of the cave. Now they had a new ally… and exactly what they wanted.
¨so, now we know of an artifact that could serve us as the plan b we always wanted. Do we help him or get the pieces on our own?¨ Cozy Glow asked
Chrysalis shook her head ¨I propose that we should keep him as an ally, once we get the three pieces we take them for our own¨
Tirek and Cozy Glow nodded. Now they knew what they were going to do the next couple of days.
¨are we there yet?¨ asked Cozy Glow to her companions… and no answer came from them.
They continued walking, the heat was exhausting but things would het even worse once the night comes and the terrible cold begins.
They continued walking for hours, not a word between them… until Lord Tirek decided to start one with chrysalis
¨you know Chrysalis, maybe we should let that Prince into our plan. He probably hates the princesses as much as us¨
Chrysalis responded ¨true, but he also could betray us. That or became arrogant and fail to use wherever potential that artifact has¨
Tirek nodded in agreement ¨yeah, maybe you should see what you can find about an artifact that looks like a box. Doesn’t seem to be that secretive considering that he knows about it¨
¨that’s right, I will use that day to get information on that artifact. Maybe we get lucky and we wouldn’t need-¨ their little chat was interrupted by the sound of something… somepony falling.
They turn around to see Cozy Glow unconscious, totally dehydrated.
Tirek commented ¨you know, in spite of all the times we call her dumb little brat… we sometimes forget she is still a small filly¨ he carefully moved the filly in a position where she could breathe, he then moved his body in a way to cover her from the sun.
¨true, you still have some water right? Mine ran out¨ Said chrysalis while using her wings to create a small gust of wind.
She quickly realized than she didn’t produced enough wind. So she took the form of a pegasus and moved her wings faster to produce more wind. Meanwhile Tirek took a small bottle of water and pour it all over the filly face.
The filly woke up finally. ¨thanks, I really needed that¨ she was trying her best to breathe and not fall unconscious again.
Tirek gave the filly the bottle and let her drink the water that remained… and then gave another.
Chrysalis look at her surroundings and managed to see the city they spotted before ¨maybe we should go our separate ways, you go to that city and take care of the little one while she gets better. Once she does we either reunite at the lair or the place that we agree to meet with that prince¨
Tirek nodded, put the defenseless filly on his back. He didn’t walk long before finding a piece of skull to let the filly cover from the sun.
Chrysalis was now out of that desert, she had plenty of time to get at the lair of grogar… and plenty of time to settle other business.
The flew straight to ponyville, she knew how to be stealthy so there wasn’t any possibility that anypony saw her.
In fact she managed to spot several travelers and eventually she a couple of ponies traveling with a wagon… that’s when she smelled the sense of… love.
She got as close to the couple as she could, they were either married and working together or were a boss and its employee falling in love. It was still difficult to figure out at her distance, at least she could overheard them.
The mare said to the stallion ¨You know, that crazy witch told that around here grow mushrooms that helps with some poisons¨
The stallion had a small chuckle ¨maybe she pays us well for some of them¨
¨I think she said they grown on the fallen threes, maybe I should go while you watch the wagon¨
The stallion nodded and saw the mare walking into the forest… then he noticed something.
¨WAIT!¨ the stallion yelled. Chrysalis got nervous, She thought that just got spotted… for her relief it wasn’t that, the mare turn down and faced the Stallion.
The stallion said to the fame ¨you don’t need to hide anymore, you know?¨
The mare simply nodded ¨I know, but I got so used to be in this form that sometimes I forget about it¨
The stallion gave the mare a little hug ¨you know no longer have to fear being caught. And even if still things were like before… nopony is here to see you.¨ the mare nodded and turn back to the forest.
That’s when Chrysalis saw it… right before the mare disappeared in the forest, she transformed into a changeling, one of the ones altered by the ideals of love spouted by Starlight and thorax… that enough would be disgusting, but she didn’t forget the scent…
A pony and a changeling… not only traveling together like they were friends but… in love.
Chrysalis was using all of her effort to not simply jump and attack them, specially the changeling. For Chrysalis that changeling is committing the biggest form of treason possible, one without words to describe it and unthinkable when she was ruler of the hive.
She started thinking on ways to harm them, from simply attacking them in their sleep to seducing one of them to destroy the relationship… she opted for simply remember their faces, after Starlight had gotten her punishment these 2 would get their sentence before even thorax.
… Thou she decided to take some advantage of the situation for now.
Chrysalis took the form of a random pony and sneak up the stallion.
¨nice merchandise you have there, are you selling some of it?¨ asked chrysalis.
The stallion nodded ¨of course, you might find something useful¨ he moved to the back of the wagon and opened one of the boxes… it was trash, at least for Chrysalis.
¨thank you, but I’m not interested in your junk¨ said Chrysalis before knocking out the poor stallion. She quickly threw away the different boxes, just keeping the one with the money of course and ran away with the wagon.
Chrysalis tried and failed to contain her laughter.
¨HAHAHAHA. Now I will get way more than a few bottles¨ said the former queen, she still remember that pony who sell that delicacy she loves so much.
Tirek and Cozy Glow finally got back at the lair of Grogar, Tirek left the filly in her bed and watched over her.
¨you don’t have to watch over me like a foal¨ Said the small filly
Tirek, totally unamused answered ¨you are a foal, maybe we should have taken that into consideration before letting you traveling with us through the desert¨
Cozy Glow only got more frustrated ¨I survived on my own before meeting you, even before getting into that dumb school¨
Tirek stood up and responded to the filly ¨you survived before, but not in a desert. If you want to survive this you better get some rest instead of continuing arguing with me¨
After a short time of keeping quiet, Cozy Glow proceeded to speak again, but not to Tirek. It was more to herself ¨I am not weak I am strong, i am not weak I am strong, I am not weak I am strong¨
Tirek sigh, he never saw the filly in such pitiful state before. Even in tartatus she was able to keep her cool.
Then he heard a sound, first of something heavy hitting the floor… and the sound of insect wings.
It was Chrysalis, she quickly entered the room ¨I see that you two got here first. I bought some medicine for the filly¨
¨Did she really need that much medicine?¨ Tirek asked surprised.
Chrysalis shook her head ¨oh, the barrel? That’s unrelated. Just give the brat these pills and water and she will be fine soon¨ she then gave Tirek the aforementioned items and left the room.
¨so this is supposed to the modern medicine I heard so much about¨ Tirek commented before trying to give it to the sick filly.
The centaur attempted to give her the medicine, but she continued to move or make expressions of disgust. Cozy Glow was unwilling to take the medicine.
¨just take the medicine already!¨ The centaur yelled
Cozy Glow attempted… and failed to stood up and said ¨I’m not a defenseless little filly that need caring and protection¨
Tirek saw Cozy Glow at the eyes ¨yes you are, and you will remain that way unless you take this. Do you really want to be an useless little filly that needs care or want to take this already?¨
¨Fine! Fine! Just give me the medicine already¨ Said the filly, finally relenting
Tirek gave her the medicine. She quickly took the pill and then drank the water. After that she threw the glass of water to the ground ¨we will never talk about this again¨ those were her final words before finally falling to sleep.
¨I guess that’s what she needed, I will never understand modern medicine, oh well. Sleep well little abomination¨ Tirek then left the room, now all that the filly needed was to sleep.
None can say this wasn’t a productive day.