//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: Interview with the Changeling // by Fimbulvinter //------------------------------// Interview with the Changeling By: Fimbulvinter Chapter 4 It was a classic beautiful day in Equestria, the sun was shining, not to hot, but not cold either. Weather pegasi were moving around the clouds, shading the ground, and a team of 12 travellers were trotting down an open stretch of road, united in a common goal of peace and tolerance. Their cause was just, blessed by the Princesses themselves and it was in their glorious names that this quest was undertaken. Before long, this troupe crossed paths with another. This new group however was anything but united. One of the members, a white stallion of long blond mane appeared to be doing everything in his power to slow or halt the progress of the rest. The united group quickly decided that maybe Manehatten would be a better place to hawk their services and turned right back around. This troupe went on to later enjoy fantastic successes and riches beyond their wildest dreams. But sadly this is not their tale. This is the tale of the united 11 and their one belligerent companion of the flowing blond mane… ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Blueblood was hot, he was sweaty and dusty and dirty, and several other things he was sure ended in ‘ty’. The team had been walking for almost half a day now, and Blueblood was beginning to think that being black listed from Canterlot may have been the better option. “Why could we have not taken a coach or even the Canterlot express? All this walking has destroyed my hooficure” whined Blueblood. By this point, it was not the first time that he had said as much. Drone winced inwardly but decided to explain again, praying to Chrysalis that this would be the last time. “The hive is located deep underground inside an abandoned gem mine. We did not have the energy to get all the way back to our hive cluster, so we hid but when it became clear that we would never manage to leave without help Chrysalis sent me back to Canterlot to entreat the Princesses, which has lead to this”. The team cleared a small hill, almost running into a wagon travelling the other way. Pulling the slightly decrepit cart was a blue unicorn mare with a silver mane. A tattered purple cape and ragged hat rounded out her ensemble. “Out of The Great and Powerful Trixies way peons, Trixie is in no mood to deal with the likes of you”. The mares haughty attitude went quite a long way to explaining her near destitute appearance. All of the group but Blueblood moved off to the sides, not wanting to expend the energy it would take to argue with Trixie. Blueblood on the other hand simply dug his hooves in. “I am no peon you uneducated commoner, I am your prince and you will bow down to me. Apologize and kiss my royal hoof, and I may, just may forget your insult”. Trixies only response to Bluebloods offer was to unhook herself from her cart, charge her horn and blast him with a shot of raw magic. Blueblood looked in horror as a blast of amethyst magic came hurtling towards him. At the last minute a bubble of shielding appeared around him deflecting the blow. Looking around, Blueblood saw that Shining Armours horn was glowing, having cast a scaled down version of his energy shield spell. Almost unseen to the group, Drone edged away fractionally, clearly remembering the last time he had seen that spell. Flitter Wing and Stout Heart grabbed Trixie and forced her down to the ground. “Your Grace, what should be done with this witch?” Stout Heart asked Blueblood. “She has attempted to harm royalty, arrest her. I want her taken to Canterlot and thrown in the dungeons to rot”. “Release her” Shining Armour spoke up firmly from behind. Everypony, Including Trixie herself turned to look at the white Stallion. “What? Release her? She attacked me and has to be punished” Blueblood was shocked that Shining Armour appeared to be taking a commoners side over that of royalty. “Do not forget why we are out here in the first place. We have neither the time, nor the resources to detain her ourselves and cannot afford the time it would take to return her to Canterlot. Flitter, Stout, as Captain of the royal guard and the appointed commander of this expedition I order you to release her”. Flitter Wing and Stout Heart instantly got off of Trixie and stood to off to the side. Shining Armour turned to Trixie who was looking smugly back at Blueblood. “Do not think that I am letting you off this easily. My sister told me all about you, and how you almost caused her town to be destroyed. Understand when my mission is over, I will find you. As much as it sickens me to say, but you did attack royalty and must be punished. Now get out of here, I don't want to run into you again any time soon”. Trixie looked at the group, almost as if seeing its members for the first time. Comprehension of exactly who she was talking too bloomed over her face. Not even bothering to re-hitch herself to the wagon, Trixie fled over the hill and out of sight. “Good riddance to poor trash” Blueblood snorted after her. “Shut up Princy. This was your own fault. You were lucky that I could cast the shield spell fast enough. Twilight has told me of this Trixie. Her lightning magic is potent enough to cause you serious harm”. Shining Armour turned and resumed walking along the trail, the remainder of the group following him. Blueblood remained and looked back to where Trixie had vanished. “Run little witch, run. For your sake I hope that Shining Armour finds you first. I will be nowhere near as kind”. The remainder of the days travel passed without incident. Flitter Wing flew ahead to scout the coming terrain, while Drone lead the group down a small, clearly disused track, the kind that anypony would miss unless they already knew it was there. As the last rays of the sun began to fade, the group arrived at the mouth of a cave. “The Hive is located deep within this mine. However it will be another near full day of travel before we reach our destination, and there are many false trails within” Drone pulled up to a stop the entrance. “There are also many creatures that live inside, not all of them friendly”. Shining Armour called the group around. “In that case we make camp here and wait until morning to continue. Guards, Fancy, help me erect the tents. Cadance, Fleur can you prepare a dinner. Hard Hitter, Daily Scoop gather up some firewood, It will be getting cold out here very shortly. Emberflame go with them. Drone, can you keep an eye out for any of these not friendly creatures you mentioned?” Everypony and dragon went about their assigned tasks, though they all noticed that Shining had not given Blueblood a task. He simply had dumped his bags down and started grooming himself. Before long, a fine campfire was crackling away, with a small pot of carrot soup bubbling away. With everypony having finished their part in the construction of the tents or cooking, the guards moved away from the fire and began to practice, running through their weapon drills. Shining armour and Constant Vigil duelled with swords held in their magic grasps, each one blocking and parrying the others strikes with a practised ease. Flitter Wing however donned a pair or sharpened edges over the tips of his wings, and used those to cut and slash at a dead tree trunk, leaving deep gashes in the bark. Amid all of this activity, Fleur moved slowly over to where Shining and Vigil were duelling and sat down to watch. “Be careful ma’am, you could get hurt” Vigil called out, momentarily looking away from Shining’s sword to check on Fleur. Shining used this distraction to lunge in and land what would under normal circumstances have been a killing blow on Vigils armour. “Buck. Not again” Vigil called out dropping to the ground in a show of submission. “Did you enjoy the show Fleur?” Shining called out, replacing his own sword into its sheath. “Oh yes, but I was wondering, could I have a try against one of you? I’ve always wanted to do something reckless like this once in my life, and now seems as good a time as any”. Shining nodded to Vigil who passed over his sword to Fleur, the latter catching it awkwardly in her magic. Shining concentrated for a moment and the blades on each sword were replaced with padded stuffing. “So you don’t hurt yourself” he commented. Fleur nodded and slowly moved her now blunted sword into a ready guard position. “Ready then, en guard”. Shining inwardly decided to humour the graceful model for a while and let her take the first swings. From her stance, it was clear that this was the first time she had ever held a weapon. Dimly he was aware that all the other guards had stopped training and were now watching. Over at the camp, the others were also starting to edge over to take a look. Fleurs first swing was slow, poorly controlled and reeked of wasted energy. Shining dodged it with ease, bringing his own sword up with plenty of time left in order to block her second strike. Following her strikes, Shining made a big show of bringing his own sword over for an overhead strike, allowing Fleur to raise her own in defence. The two swords struck, ringing out despite their padding. Fleur stepped back and stumbled down a small hill, almost dropping her weapon. “Are you sure you want to continue? You could get hurt out here”. Fleur shook her head and raised her sword back to the ready position. Shining made a second slow strike out at her, which she again blocked, but this time her form and speed were much better. Shining noticed this but had no time to comment. Fleur picked up with her own attacks again, each one coming down with increased refinement over the last. Within a minute Shining actually found himself having to concentrate to block each strike, and he was meant to be the most experienced guard in the troop. “If I didn’t know better, I would swear I was being hustled”. The speed of the exchange increased, each swing of their swords becoming far more fluid that when they had started. Fleur was now handling her sword like a seasoned professional guard, and Shining was now finding himself hard pressed to keep up. What had started as a simple exercise in maintaining group morale was now becoming a fight to maintain his dignity and honour. Shining Armour would never live it down if he lost to this mare who wasn’t even a guard pony… “She is a model for Celestia’s sake, where did she learn to handle a blade like this?” All of a sudden and with the fluid grace that only somepony of her lithe build could manage, Fleur dodged over to the side of the camp, hopped around behind Shinning and landed a strike over the back of his neck, on a small strip of flesh between the back plate and helmet. All the collected ponies gasped as Shining Armour allowed his sword to drop in defeat to this untrained civilian. Fancy Pants who had been watching from the sidelines stared in shock, barely even noticing as his monocle fell and shattered on the stony ground. Not a pony made a sound as Fleur lowered her sword and returned it to Vigil who took it dumbfounded. Everypony looked at Fleur shocked until Cadance cried out “WHOO FLEUR, you go girl. Show those stallions whose boss”. “I say my dear, you have been holding out on me haven’t you?” Fancy Pants came back to his senses, looking around for his now shattered monocle. Fleur nodded and look back at the assembled crowd, a new shy look entering her eyes. Shining returned his sword to his sheath, pausing a moment to return the blade to both weapons. “You mind telling me what that was? You went from a greenhorn rookie to a seasoned blade-maiden in the space of 5 minutes. You have clearly been trained at some point, extensively. Who was it who trained you?” Fleur had to draw a breath, a sheen of sweat now covering her face. “You all know me as a famous fashion model and aristocrat, but there is another side to my family that I have never revealed, not even to Fancy. Do any of you know of the Sword-mistress Freize”. Stout Heart nodded “I remember that name; she was one of the greatest masters of the Neighpolionic era”. Fleur smiled at him. “She is also my direct ancestor. Every child in my family is trained in the way of the sword from an early age, as soon as we learn to control our magic. It is our way to honour her legacy. While no pressure is put on us to follow through on the training, most of us do. Have you guards never noticed the large number of recruits who hail from my family? Many of them are hoping to become as good as Freize was, to live up to the tales we were told about her”. “I followed my training until my teenage years when a magazine approached me for a modelling contract. My family supported my choice fully. I had never held a weapon since then until today. It just took a little while for it to come back”. “Well this has been interesting, but I think we should all have some food and get some sleep” Cadance pulled everybody back into the present. “We still have a long day tomorrow and I need my sleep”. “Right honey. Flitter take the first watch, I’ll relieve you at midnight”. Flitter Wing took to the sky and started a slow patrol path overhead. The remainder of the group retired to around the campfire to enjoy a hearty soup, Emberflame brought out a small packet of gems, which he offered around, though nopony took him up. Even Blueblood started to loosen up a little bit once he had something hot in him. Fleur regaled the group with tales of her ancestor Freize and all that she had supposedly accomplished. All was going well until Fancy noticed that Drone was not eating his portion. He had not dropped his disguise, and still appeared as a Unicorn. “Is something wrong with your soup?” “Nothing is wrong with the soup, I just cannot eat it as you can. Remember that eating food is one of our least effective methods for feeding” Drone replied. “Oh, right. I forgot that you don’t eat. Holding your disguise up, sometimes I forget who you really are. Is there anything else we can do for you?” Fancy asked with some concern. “I’m fine. When your marefriend went up against the captain of the guards, she was radiating exhilaration and joy. I was able to feed off of those emotions and get my fill. I will be fine until we reach the hive tomorrow”. “Well then, I think it is time to turn in don’t you”. Drone agreed. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Flitter Wing was still on patrol over the campsite when he thought he heard something coming up the path they had followed. Moving back to the campsite, he roused Shining Armour and explained the situation. “Get back up into the air. Corral it if you can, I’ll follow on foot”. Flitter Saluted and took off. Shining Armour moved slowly down the path, keeping an ear out for anything that sounded unusual. He got his wish shortly after when a shrill cry echoed out from the path. “Unhand Trixie you brutish guard” “Oh sweet Celestia, not her again” Thought Shining. What was she doing here of all places. Most likely following them, for some unknown reason. Flitter reappeared, dragging a now very dirty and angry looking Trixie behind him. A magic suppressor band had been attached to Trixies horn, preventing her from casting any spells. Shining walked over to her, looking like fury warmed up. “What are you doing here Trixie, I made it clear I didn’t want to see you again”. Trixie put up a brave front “Trixie thought you could use Trixies skills in whatever you were doi…OOOWWWW”. A magic pulse ran through the suppressor band directly into Trixies horn. “The suppressor band shocks you when you lie. Try again”. “Trixie had nowhere else to go. After you left, Trixie went back for her wagon and it had been stolen. Trixie is now wearing everything she owns in the world”. The suppressor band remained silent, indicating that Trixie had told the truth this time. Shining looked over at Flitter. “It’s too late to turn her around, and if we let her go again, she is likely just going to keep following us anyway. We may as well take her with us and keep an eye on her”. Flitter nodded and started to pull Trixie towards the campsite when a low groan cut through the night air. Shining and Flitter drew weapons at once, scanning for potential threats. The groan repeated, growing louder until it became more of a screech. Everypony back at the camp was awoken instantly by the noise. From the brush over to Flitters left a monster jumped out, attempting to take a swipe at him. At 20 feet from tip to tail, sporting 3 distinct heads of a Lion, Goat and snake, it was an intimidating sight to say the least. Flitter was fast enough to avoid the claws, but only by an inch at the most. “CHIMERA, Guards to Arms” Shining Armour called back to the camp. “Cadance, get everypony into the cave and stay there”. At the campsite, everypony was in a flurry of activity. Vigil and Stout Heart were arming themselves and preparing to head out. Cadance and Fancy were moving the others into the mouth of the cave. Fleur on the other hoof followed the guards, pausing to grab a spare sword and sheath from beside Shining Armours bedroll. “No ma’am, no civilians on the field, go with the others” Stout called back to her as he saw her approach, strapping the sword around her body. “I want to help. You will need all the bodies you can muster to take down a Chimera, either we can waste time arguing about this or we can actually do something, let’s go”. Fleur strode ahead of the two guardsmen, her longer legs carrying her swiftly over the ground. Stout and Vigil followed her, their own mobility reduced slightly by the weight of their armour and bulkier weapons. Fleur and the two guards arrived at the battle scene just in time to see Flitter dive in for an attack, the sharpened edges to his wing-blades gouging a large line across the Chimera back and rise up again for another attack. The Chimera was ready for him on the second pass however. As Flitter dove, the snake head lashed out, burying its fangs into Flitters flank, injecting venom directly into his bloodstream. Instantly it was clear that Flitter was out of this fight, he crashed to the ground and stumbled away with a lack of balance suggestive of a night of heavy drinking. Shining was still standing bodily in front of a bound blue mare, Trixie by the looks of her crescent star and wand cutie-mark. The Chimera was slowly closing in on him, the snake head biting and dripping venom from its fangs. Stout Heart bucked a tree branch directly into the Chimera, hoping to get its attention off of Shining and onto the newcomers. “You got its attention, now what do we do?” Vigil asked Stout, who didn’t seem to hear him, his eyes focused on three very angry looking heads all bearing down towards him. “Keep its attention, I have an idea” Fleur yelled and dashed off to the left side, flanking the hulking creature. “Whatever you are going to do, do it fast” Vigil yelled after her. The Chimera slowly lumbered over towards the newcomers to its fight. It had a massive weight and height advantage over the assembled combatants, and enough heads to engage all of them at once. “We can’t fight it for long, it heavily outclasses us” Stout Heart called out to Shining. “I know, we need to think of something, and soon”. “I think Fleur has a plan of some sort, but she was a bit skimpy on the details, just that we need to keep its attention” Vigil called out. "That’s not the only thing skimpy about her" he muttered to himself, remembering an old issue of playcolt, in which Fleur was pictured in some very revealing costumes. During the brief interlude, the Chimera had reached the point at which the longer snake head could lash out and bite the ponies. It coiled up, preparing to spring at whatever was closest, large globs of venom dripping from each of the obscenely large fangs. “It had been an honour to serve with you sir”. Vigil called to Shining, closing his eyes and waiting for the end. What he did not notice was a flash of movement from behind the Chimera. Fleur leapt in from behind, mirroring the move that she had used on Shining Armour, her cut slicing down at the snake head, severing it cleanly from the body. The remaining two heads roared in pain, the severed snake head wriggling on the ground, but was no longer dangerous. The Lion and Goat heads refocused on the new threat that was able to cause such harm. Fleur danced around the injured monster but was unable to get a clear chance to strike again. “Release Trixies magic” Trixie called above the din. “What, how do we know we can trust you?” Shining retorted “Trixie doesn’t want to die, Release Trixies magic”. Shining hesitated for a moment, then pulled the suppressor band off of Trixies horn. Within seconds, Trixies horn and eyes started to glow. Black storm clouds formed overhead out of the formerly clear sky. Gale winds swept through the path. With a sudden CRACK, a bolt of lightning slammed into Trixies horn, causing it to pulsate with energy. Shining watched as Trixies eyes turned fully white, something he had only heard about once, when Twilight had gone for her entrance exam at Celestias school for gifted Unicorns. He and the others backed away from Trixie, not sure which creature now represented the greater threat. Energy seared out of Trixie directly at the Chimera. The storm clouds overhead reacted with a resounding crash, bathing the entire scene in a blinding flash of light. As the flash cleared, it became clear that the Chimera was no-longer present, save for a charred crater. One moment it was rampaging out of control, the next it was simply gone, banished to some other plane of existence. As for Trixie herself, she slumped over, having knocked herself out through a magical burnout. Shining was about to go to her aid when he saw the now fallen figure of Flitter leaning against a tree. He was on the brink of consciousness, babbling incoherently. “Stout, grab Trixie and lets go, Flitter needs help now”. Stout Heart picked up the prone body of Trixie and followed Shining, Vigil and Fleur back to the camp. At the camp, Shining called Cadance and Emberflame over. “Ember, send a message to Celestia, we need a medic out here now. Flitter has been poisoned by a Chimera snake, Cadance, do what you can for him”. Ember rapidly wrote down a message and sent it on its way through the dragon flame. Drone came over, shedding his disguise as he did so. “Did you say a Chimera snake bit Flitter?” “Yes, we need a medical pony with healing magic out here ASAP or he will die”. “No pony can get here fast enough. The hive can help him if we can get there soon”. “What do you mean?” demanded Shining “Our queen secretes a great many substances for use in the hive, silks with greater tensile strength than steel, resins for construction. One of the others is an extremely powerful anti-venom that can even stop Chimera poison”. “Can you use your second stage shifting to take her form and administer the anti venom yourself?” Shining asked hopeful. Drone shook his head “I would not start to secrete the anti venom quickly enough to have any effect, plus we can only take on a royal form when the queen is linking through us. At this point, only Chrysalis can save your guard”. Shining quickly bellowed orders to the remaining group. “Fancy, Blueblood, strip one of those tents and make a travois to carry Flitter on, everypony else, grab whatever food or water you can fit in your saddlebags and lets go, if we don’t need it, leave it. We can’t wait until morning now. Ember send off another letter letting the Princess know. Let’s hustle ponies”. Within 2 minutes everything was ready to go. The group ventured into the darkened cave, relying entirely on Drone to guide them towards the only source of possible hope they had left – the very changeling hive they themselves had been coming to save. End Chapter 4 A/N Well this one was a wild ride to write, once the muse kicked in there was no getting off until it was done. I originally only had two main ideas for this chapter: that Trixie would make an appearance, and badass Fleur. Aside from that, this chapter was meant to be practice for action scenes, and I think I covered that fairly well. This story just keeps growing inside my head. The original plan was for a two chapter story, possible third. I’m now at four chapters and not yet done. Thank you to everyone who has been liking it or adding it as a favourite, you are making it worth the work to keep on writing. As one of my favourite authors, Matthew Reilly often puts in his books: To anyone who knows a writer, never underestimate the power of your encouragement.