“Oh my goodness, he’s just so precious,” Fluttershy said with tears in her eyes.
Our room was full of eevees as the entire gang, minus Leo and Conner (who was recovering from evolving into a sylveon), plus Fluttershy, crowded in to see my son.
<“So, what’s wrong with Leo?”> I asked Yomega. <“She seemed... really depressed. I was hoping that showing her my son would cheer her up. Give her hope for her eggs.”>
Yomega sighed. <“It’s... not my place to say. Let’s just say she did something during the fighting and feels very guilty about it.”>
<“Oh... Yeah,”> I said. <“I... kinda know how that feels.”>
<“Oh? What happened?”> he asked.
I hesitated for a while. <“What do you know about Lucario’s mega evolution?”>
<“Mega Lucario has greatly increased attack, special attack”> he could see it in my face that that wasn’t what I was asking about. <“And has a fighting style that’s described as ‘heartless’... You mega evolved.”>
I nodded. <“Yeah.”>
<“Did you hurt anyone?”>
I took a seat, sighing. <“Thankfully, no... but it wasn’t because of any desire to protect. ‘Heartless’ is right. I felt nothing. No anger or hatred toward the enemy, and no love or care for the ponies I was supposed to protect. They were all just... part of my objectives.”>
<“I guess I never thought about how that would feel from the lucario’s perspective,”> Yomega said. <“Can I see your lucarionite? Maybe we can figure something out if we study it.”>
I stared at him for a moment, trying to figure out what he meant before remembering they mentioned something about a stone. <“I don’t have anything like that.”>
Yomega looked at me in confusion. <“You had to, though. You need a mega stone to mega evolve.”>
I pondered on that for a little longer. Then, it clicked. <“The blessing.”> at his curious expression, I explained. <“When Ember and I first met the old empress, she gave us both a blessing. Mine increases my strength, power, resilience, and agility the longer a fight goes on. Maybe when it reaches a certain threshold it triggers a mega evolution.”>
Yomega thought about it for a bit before replying, <“Perhaps. I don’t really know enough about this blessing of yours or how magic affects pokemon to say. However, you might want to search the place you evolved for anything that might be lucarionite, just to be sure.”>
I nodded. <“Yeah, I’ll do that.”>
I was really hoping I would find something.
After an hour, the only one left was Fluttershy, and I was pretty sure the only way I was getting her to leave was to either let her adopt Ju-Long or pry her off with a crowbar.
At least we knew we had a babysitter if we needed one.
I was pondering what material the crowbar would need to be made from when a knock came from the door.
“Enter,” I said.
The door opened for a guard who trotted in. “Her Highness, Princess Celestia requests the assistance of Emperor Luke for a rather delicate matter.”
“What kind of delicate matter?” Fluttershy asked, a slight touch of worry coming from her.
“Nothing to be concerned with, ma’am,” the guard said. “However it is of a sensitive nature, so the princess would like to keep it quiet for the time being. You and the other bearers will be notified of any developments.”
That certainly got my attention. “Alright. Let me say goodbye to my son.”
“Yes, I had heard your egg hatched. Congratulations,” the guard said with a genuine smile.
I could tell from his aura that he was a father, himself. “How old are yours?”
He looked surprised for a moment before smiling. “Six and eight, both fillies.”
“I’m sure they would love to see the world's cutest baby dragon,” I said with a grin.
The guard laughed. “You just want to show him off, huh?”
“Damn right.”
We didn't speak again until we entered a part of the castle I had never seen. It was lined with rooms that looked comfortable, but had heavy doors with locks on the outside.
“This is our ‘noble’s dungeon’,” the guard explained. “It’s where we keep those who are in need of protection or those who may be dangerous while we investigate.”
“And why are we here?” I asked.
“A few hours ago a pony approached one of the border checkpoints,” he began. “They quickly revealed themselves as a changeling. They immediately surrendered and claimed they were with the changeling Occelus.”
That certainly got my attention.
“As we took them into custody, they requested to speak with you, claiming that you are able to sense them when you are close enough.”
“That’s right. The only one that knew that other than Ember, Smolder and myself was Occelus,” I said.
“Well, that is certainly a point in their favor,” the guard said.
We approached the only closed door I had seen. The guard approached the guard at the door and said, “How has your day been?”
“A beautiful day of bluebirds and cherry pie,” the other guard responded.
“And two scoops of vanilla ice cream,” my guard added, obviously a code.
The door guard turned and cast some spell on the lock to unlock and open the door.
As we walked in, we were greeted by a changeling looking up from their book and giving us a warm smile. “Oh, Sergeant Trotter, I wasn’t expecting you to succeed so quickly.”
“Yes, well, the princess wants whatever this is figured out quickly,” the guard said as he took post inside the room. “Your majesty, You can go ahead.”
I took a seat on a cushion in front of the changeling and reached out a paw. The changeling placed his hoof in my paw, allowing me to better feel his aura.
“So, who are you?” I asked.
“My name is Deep Cavern, excavator of the Badlands hive,” he said before growing an interesting mix of remorseful and proud. “And, I guess traitor to the crown, now. Heh... It’s funny. We would talk about how the rest of the hive was being tricked by the queen while we were following an even worse tyrant.”
“So, you followed Occelus, then?” I inquired.
He nodded. “Yeah. When I learned what that bastard was doing, I actually cried. I couldn’t believe I had actually been a part of that.” I felt a spike of fury as he growled. “I hope that bastard is a smear somewhere... don’t tell Occelus I said that.”
“Where is she? Is she okay?” I asked.
“Yeah, it’s strange,” he said, confusion coloring his aura. “We saw so many lings flung so far, but those of us that followed Occelus were set down gently just outside Canterlot. Every ling that followed Occelus and none that didn’t.”
I heard about the ‘love bomb’ from the guys. Apparently Shining Armor and Cadence joined their magic and ‘their hearts’ - Zann’s words, not mine - to save the city. It was also what overloaded my aura sense and forced me to hard reboot. It was a spell reinforced by aura.
The question, though, was why would it have been more gentle with Occelus’ lings? I would have to speak with Shining Armor and Twilight Sparkle about that one.
“So, what’s the verdict?” the guard said. “Is he telling the truth?”
“Yeah, he is,” I replied. “He’s with Occelus.”
The guard nodded, turned to the door, and opened it a crack. He spoke quietly and shut the door, returning to his position beside it.
I gave him a curious expression, but he just smiled and said nothing. Before I could ask anything, the door opened and Celestia walked in.
Deep gave a bow. “Your highness.”
Celestia stood tall and proud. “You may rise.”
Behind Celestia, a maid walked in with a tea cart. Deep looked surprised at that. “Your highness?”
Celestia smiled, warmly as she found a cushion by the coffee table. “Forgive the... harsh welcome. We needed to be sure you were who you said you were. Now, come. Sit.”
As Deep and I took a seat, Celestia poured three cups of tea.
“You will have to forgive me, but I’m afraid I am much too busy for pleasantries,” Celestia said without a hint of the weariness I felt from her.
“Then let us cut straight to the heart of the matter,” Deep Cavern suggested. “I would like to request that those of us that followed Occelus be pardoned for whatever crimes committed by our queen and those who followed her, as well as request asylum for the same.”
I felt a wave of satisfaction come from Celestia. “I suspected as much. For the first, that would be... tedious, but considering the assistance rendered by your group, I will see it done. As for the second,” she sighed, “I’m afraid that would be difficult. Your people were almost completely unknown to us, and the first interaction was a full scale attack on our capital. I'm afraid, even if I were to grant you and yours asylum, my ponies would hate and revile you.”
“How about safe passage?” I asked. Based on Celestia’s feelings of triumph, that was exactly what she was hoping I would say. “The dragons have no quarrel with changelings. We could offer asylum. Let the queen try to come after them in the dragon lands.”
Celestia smiled. “Well, would that be an acceptable arrangement?”
Deep sat in thought for a moment. “Would we be able to get enough food? Dragons aren’t exactly known for their loving attitudes. Sure, there are exceptions, but I’m not sure we could survive from dragons, alone.”
I had to think about that for a while. It was a valid point, their unique dietary needs. Thankfully, Celestia already had a few questions ready.
“Does your ‘feeding’ always require you leave your... ‘source’ in a state like Shining Armor?” the princess asked.
“Absolutely not,” Deep said, struggling to hold back a growl. “That kind of feeding is forbidden. Not only can it leave the victim unable to produce love for a long time, but it’s way too conspicuous. Normally, feeding involves gathering the love that just gathers in the air around loving ponies, or is directed at whomever we’re impersonating.”
Celestia took a sip of tea as she thought. “I will see if I can arrange something. When word of your deeds spreads, there will likely be some ponies that will be willing to help. I cannot condone impersonating a pony without their and their loved ones’ knowledge.”
I took a sip of my own tea as I said, “You could always open a brothel.”
So much for Celestia being unflappable.
Pain.
All his world was pain.
He couldn’t even scream or cry out in agony, though, with how broken his body was. All he could do was stare down from where he hung, impaled by a tree branch.
Was that his leg on the forest floor or just a gnarled piece of wood? He couldn’t think straight enough to decide. He gave up trying to figure it out hours ago.
The little, big eyed, sharp toothed rat thing snapping it up and devouring it answered that question, anyway.
Apparently, though, that wasn’t enough, as the creature looked up and hissed at him. Finally, the pain would end.
“Now now,” came a raspy, squeaky voice. “I’m not done with that.”
A black scaled claw shot from a shadow and grabbed the creature by the throat. It scratched and clawed at its attacker, but soon the strength left it as it seemed to age in moments. In only a few seconds it went from young and strong, to old and feeble, to dead and mummified.
“Ah... delicious.” From the shadow stepped a small dragon hatchling. Or, something one could be forgiven for thinking it was a dragon. It looked more like a dragon hatchling skeleton had wrapped itself in tar soaked leather.
The tiny monster looked up at the dying changeling. “Are you trying to break our contract? That won’t do at all.” Shadows reached down and lifted the monster so he was looking the changeling in the eye. “What, did you think that just because you failed to achieve your goal means you don’t have to live up to your end? I gave you everything you could have possibly needed to succeed. Your failure is on you.”
The ‘hatchling’ looked at him, appraisingly. “Well, you aren’t really in any shape to fulfill your end... but that’s okay. I’ll fix that.”
The creature’s face split into a fang filled grin as shadows wove around his new toy.