Chrysalis
‘I cannot trust them,’ I watched as changelings ran around, leaving the throne room trying to fulfil my demands.
I should have shaken myself out of the stupor I was in for the last month and a half but it’s still not too late to fix the mistakes. The hate crystals have been placed all over the castle and I doubted anyling knew what they are until a small rabble started destroying them. That is what got me to snap back to reality. Plan C is shaky, but there are more letters in the alphabet.
Spine has diligently performed his duty, even after Carrion’s death but he is my prime suspect for how this ‘resistance’ has been so successful. But I cannot dispose of him just yet, too many lings see him as indispensable to just remove him.
I watched from my throne as he talked to my newly appointed advisor, Keratin. A young, bright, and optimistic ling that all but started kissing my hooves when I elevated him to this position. He is so eager to serve that I am looking forward to planting him within Spine’s inner circle. He and Spine were sitting close to the throne whispering to each other.
Suddenly one of the side walls opened and a ling ran in full gallop.
“My Queen!” Spectrum, my chief infiltrator ran into the throne room, panting heavily. “I have news.” He stopped not far from me in a deep bow. His lithe frame made his shell look too big for him, but his ability to shapeshift is second to none among my lings. The olive-green elytra on his back opened and he reached for a scroll presenting it to me in his magic.
“Good,” I took the scroll from him in my own magic and brought it to me. I cannot let Spine read through the scrolls anymore, I need to pretend I still trust him. “And this news better be more palatable than the last. Your inability to acquire one pony is making me question your ability to command.”
Unfurling the scroll and running my eyes over the report I could feel a grin starting to form on my lips.
‘They found their love stockpile. Well-guarded of course but I’m certain we could reach it,’ I read through the rest of the report. ‘He also found the lings helping the ponies, good.’
Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Spine leave the room, on the dot, in order to do his latest ‘patrols’. He has been doing them regularly at the exact times with an excuse of weeding out the resistance from the castle. I couldn’t restrain a small giggle that left me at how the situation played out, now he won’t be here to hear my latest orders.
‘He will think I will fill him in afterwards,’ I shook my head and waved my hoof at Spectrum inviting him closer.
“I am pleased, Spectrum. I thought spending a month looking into this ascended ling would only continue bringing in failures but this is good,” I could see him puff his chest at the praise. “Your latest orders will be as follows: use whatever means necessary in order to take control over the love stockpile,” he nodded his head, “secondly, I want you to find and capture the lings that are assisting our enemies,” he frowned at that but nodded his head nonetheless, “and lastly, I want you to expand the capture attempts to the family circle of the ponies closest to this, Patchwork,” again a nod without a single spoken word. “Come to me in an hour Spectrum, we will look over the details.”
“My queen,” Keratin spoke up and I looked at him with a raised eyebrow, causing him to give a hasty bow before speaking further, “Given our current situation wouldn’t a joint effort with Spine’s warriors provide better results?”
‘Keratin is still unaware of the games being played under his nose, I’ll keep it that way for now,’ I shook my head while quickly writing some extra orders on a piece of parchment giving it to still waiting Spectrum. He took the scroll, looked over it and stuffed it in his elytra.
“A good idea that I would usually endorse, but right now with the current unrests and now this resistance had spread Spine’s warriors a bit thin,” I turned to Spectrum dismissing him, “we will have to make do with what we have. Do not worry about Spine, he has too much on his plate as it is, there is no need to stress him further.”
“Of course, my Queen,” Keratin nodded his head and I watched as Spectrum left.
When the wall closed Keratin got up and stretched, “My Queen, if you do not mind, I would like to sort out the office I was given.”
“Go, I will summon you if you are needed,” I waved at him dismissively while rereading the scroll Spectrum brought.
Putting the scroll down I followed Keratin with my eyes as he left, I couldn’t trust him either.
‘She’ has been quiet as well for the last few days and a quick check ensured that she hasn’t tried anything. I should never have let her become so bold as she has been for almost a month, I’m fairly certain that ‘she’ was the one responsible for the few hatred crystals that have been destroyed.
I could feel my horn crackle with power as my anger started slowly bubbling.
The resistance, the unrest amongst the citizens, letting my own fears get the better of me, ‘her’ boldness… too many things have slipped my grasp. I needed to focus, I have ruled this place for centuries and I doubt I would lose my grip over it so easily.
‘There are still avenues and plans I could use and implement. I still haven’t lost,” Taking a clean, fresh sheet of parchment I started writing down what I could do to reinforce my rule and what I needed for Spectrum to succeed. ‘I need to get someling near the princess, and soon.’
Shield Strike
I watched as Celestia held her head in her hooves muttering and swearing for the past ten minutes. She was sitting at her desk with Parchment sitting next to her cleaning his monocle. I was in front of the desk chuckling all the while.
I took this time to go over the latest reports regarding changelings and write up new orders hoofing them over to the pegasus messenger. After a salute, he ran out of the room closing the door behind him with a slam.
“Ya know, hun, this could ‘ave been all avoided if yer just did somethings sooner,” The glare I received only made my already present grin widen.
“Love stores raided,” She jumped to her hooves with a growl and started pacing, “changelings missing, and now several of my officers have been replaced,” I could hear the sizzle of the carpet with every step she took but I didn’t have to worry. This whole room has been enchanted against fire to the point of imperviousness.
“Don’t forget the now regular attempts at Patchwork and…”
“This is no laughing matter Shield!” With wings spread wide Celestia whirled around looking at me with a glare and all I could do was laugh. She nearly knocked the monocle out of Parchment’s magic but he recovered without missing a beat.
“What do ya want me to do? Huh?” I met her glare with my own, my grin was still present, “I told ya we need to increase security, but you said the nobles would have raised a stink over it. I asked to add anti-ling detectors but you told me that that would send the wrong message to the populace. I told you that all this planning in the last month would blow up in your face and it did,” Her façade was slowly relaxing but she still had a frown.
“I just wanted to give Patch a fighting chance.”
“I know ya did,” I sat down giving myself a quick scratch behind the ear, “but now you are, what, on plan J? I’ve been telling ya fer years love that your need to protect everypony would bounce off that pretty ‘ead of yers, and now it did.”
That got her to start pacing again and I could see the gears turn in her head.
Patchwork has certainly grown stronger over the last month, staggeringly so. I did not know if he would be able to beat Chrysalis but just like him, I wanted something to happen. I’m not happy about the current state of things, but I will take what I can get.
“I thought that I would have more time,” Celestia mumbled, now sitting behind her desk again and scribbling furiously. Soon enough there were three scrolls levitating above her and a fourth one being written on.
“Parchment?”
“Yes madam,” He put his monocle on, now shining brilliantly.
“Please deliver this to Patchwork, as soon as possible,” the fourth scroll changed magics now being held in Parchments. “Tell him to read it, and not mention a word of it to anypony. Ask him how soon he could come so we can talk.”
“Absolutely, your Highness,” Stuffing the scroll in his vest he left closing the door quietly behind him.
“Shield, this is what I would like you to do for me, honey; give this one to Shadow Step and tell her to start preparing,” One of the scrolls was placed in front of me. “This one is for either Mantis or Dicty, whoever you spot first. If I recall, miss Dicty should be here today with a report on the changeling groups in the cave system near Macintosh Hills,” The second scroll was placed next to the first one.
“What about the other one?” I pointed a hoof at the last scroll still levitating next to her.
“This one is for me, a small list of things I will need,” She got up, stuffing the scroll in her peytral. “You were right, my Shield, I should have acted sooner.”
“Time for attack?” I got up and picked up the scrolls.
“Yes, time for the offensive.”
Patchwork
I wasn’t comfortable with leaving Vel alone after everything that’s been happening. But she was at home, and there were several ponies keeping an eye on all of them so I had to be content.
Looking through the window inside of the carriage I could see various ponies point their hooves at it, but I was sure it was not because of me; I was in the form of a different pony that didn’t even exist on this world anymore, Sunset. Being a female always felt strange though, like I was wearing a coat that wasn’t mine.
The snow was cleared a few days ago by unicorns and springtime officially started bringing the warm weather back. I did not enjoy the cold as much as I usually did. Different body and all that.
Parchment was quiet while looking through a stack of papers and giving short and to-the-point answers every time I tried to start a conversation.
Soon enough we arrived at the castle and I was ushered to Celestia’s private rooms. I had a quick chat with Shield Strike but she was busy and we couldn’t talk for long.
Entering the private office, I had to move to the side to let Mantis through who gave me a quick ‘hi’ before telling me he would wait for me outside.
The door closed with a golden glow and I looked around for Celestia.
“One moment, Patchwork, I’ll be right there,” I spotted the door to her bedroom open.
Nodding my head, I made my way to the empty fireplace out of habit and lay down on a blue cushion waiting for her.
It didn’t take her long to arrive and with a burst of her horn a tea set was placed in front of my cushion and she lay down on a pink pillow opposite of me.
“Now,” she shifted a bit making herself more comfortable, “you have read the scroll I sent you?”
“Yeah, I told you we should move against her sooner,” I watched her pick up the teapot in her magic pouring a steaming bright red tea into both of our cups.
“I know you did,” she sighed, “as has Shield. But you need to understand that I needed to prepare you for the confrontation ahead. You were not ready for Chrysalis before.”
“You think I am ready now?” I picked up my cup with magic lifting it to my lips and blowing on the scalding liquid gently.
“Honestly, no I do not, but at this point, we don’t have a choice,” Celestia took a sip of her own tea, flinching and blowing rapidly at the liquid.
“So, if things didn’t start happening now, how long would you have waited?” It stung, her saying that I wasn’t ready.
“I was now planning on collaborating with the changelings resistance,” that got me to raise an eyebrow but I didn’t ask any questions, “in order to move things forward faster but…” she took a sip of her tea, “I was reminded and it has dawned on me that we may be running out of time.”
“And what now?” I put the empty teacup down fluttering quietly with my wings.
“Now we make our move, against my better judgement,” Celestia stood up and walked over to her desk picking up a small and ornate box.
Opening the box, she pulled out two trinkets, a golden ring that looked surprisingly plain, and a black, cracked-looking bracelet that vibrated (or was it the air around it).
“The bracelet,” she picked it up with her magic and moved it to me, “used to belong to my sister. She threw it away during our… confrontation, but it will serve its purpose once more.”
I plucked it out of her magic rolling it around in my claws.
“Do not be fooled by its brittle looks, the enchantment on is well worth it,” she lied back on her pillow and placed the ring next to her on the floor with her hoof. The box was levitated out of my sight.
“If I’m sensing this correctly… it’s a shield spell?” I pulled the bracelet closer to my eyes inspecting the detail. What I thought were cracks was strange, see-through crystalline filling that made the whole thing look well worn.
“A very powerful shield enchantment not a spell. Luna was always a bit, paranoid, but it served her well for a long time,” Picking the bracelet with her magic she brought it over to herself; “It can absorb any magic around it and form a personal shield skin using it,” With a flash of her horn a golden, flickering field surrounded her coat only to disappear a moment later. The bracelet was placed back into my claws.
“There’s got to be more to it,” it took some wiggling but I managed to get it on my left arm.
“There is. The shield is as powerful as the magic it absorbs, but it has two fatal flaws: one, you need to combat somepony that can saturate the field around them with magic, like a unicorn or…”
“A changeling!”
“Yes, which is why we are using it now. The other flaw makes the bracelet finicky: the ring will overheat swiftly once you start using it, so not only can it not be used often, but it cannot be used for long,” Celestia crossed her hooves in front of her.
“That doesn’t make it very useful… I also probably won’t be able to use it once I shapeshift.”
“I believe you misunderstood me then, I said the bracelet will overheat once you start using it. It means you can charge it as much as you can to create a nearly impervious shield that will shrug off quite a bit of damage for a short time.”
I nodded my head at that thinking of the new possibilities I could use the bracelet for. Shaking myself out of my thoughts I looked over the ring next to Celestia and pointed a claw at it.
“What about the ring?”
“Ah, that,” She picked up the ring with her hooves rather than her magic, “this darling little thing is made specifically for alicorns,” She extended the hoof to me and I took the ring in my claws. “The ring took years to make and it should, theoretically, seal away an alicorn’s magic similarly to a normal a-m ring. I never tested it out of fear for what it would do to my connection to the sun, but every other test we did was fully successful.”
Rolling it around in my hooves I was surprised that such a small thing could do something like that, but I also wondered how it would fit Celestia’s larger frame. The ring was noticeably smaller than her horn.
Deciding to test it out, I lifted the ring and slowly started placing it around my own horn. I was shocked to find the ring slowly expanding to fit, and when I got it firmly around the base of the horn my jaw dropped.
“Powerful, isn’t it?” I started ripping at the ring getting the ring off as quickly as possible, “It completely cuts off any magic flow to the horn, and it seems to work even better on changelings,” I took a few deep breaths getting myself under control.
The blasted thing completely cut off every sense I had as a changeling along with my magic. I don’t think I would have been able to even shapeshift with it on.
Placing the ring on the floor, as far away from myself as possible, I shook my head and looked at Celestia.
“Anything else you could give me? A weapon? Some armour? Not that I’m not grateful for this, but… you know…”
Celestia sighed, “I wish I could give you more, but the armour wouldn’t fit, and you never trained how to use the weapons I have. Most of it wouldn’t even be useful to you as you rely heavily on your shapeshifting.”
Nodding my head I spared a quick glance at the ring, poking at it with my claw.
“So, what now?”
“Now I will explain to you what you need to do, and what I hope will happen. Then you will join Mantis for your mission. I hope you are ready Patch; you will be on your own for this.”
Celestia looked like she would do anything else than send me away like this, and her emotions were justifiably conflicted. It did not deter me though, we needed to make our move.
“Okay, lay it on me.”