//------------------------------// // Rune-escape // Story: The Changeling of the Guard // by vdrake77 //------------------------------// I found myself… complete in a way I could not truly put into words. I was comfortable, and what minor troubles and hungers I might have had melted away in the light of my suddenly relaxing body. I settled down, head resting on my hooves as I watched with warm bemusement as Luna flitted about on the other side of this wondrous ring of runes. It was perhaps a full minute before I realized she was talking to me, and another more before I belatedly realized I should respond before panic set in, which would have been at least ten seconds prior. I had been rude, but oh well- Oh well? Oh well?! That alone snapped me out of my reverie and I jolted to my hooves to see that Luna had been in process of bringing down a large stone on the edge of the ring. “Your Highness, hold-” To my vast relief, she did just barely manage to twist her actions away from chipping away at the runes to do… Order knows what, but she still managed to just miss the carefully scribed stonework. “Thou art among us again, then? I confess, we are not used to you smiling like a drunken fool and ignoring our questions. Sarcasm we can much appreciate, but insouciance is so unlike you that we deemed drastic measures appropriate. We could feel the magic in the air changing, and it worried us still further. Art thou well?” “Better than I have been,” I admitted, getting to my hooves again. “In fact, I feel unusually vigorous.” “Shall I fetch thy personal entomologician?” “It is ‘entomologist’ and Topaz is not a trained physician in any case. Besides-” “Thou art still hiding from her, we are aware. Thou ain’t slick,” she grinned at me, but noted my wince. “The mixing of old and new vernacular is a bridge too far?” “I feel for the Nymph. Cersus. I have done that in lesser fashion, but… regardless. My uncertainties in that regard are…” I shook my head, trying to chase away various fears, dreads and longings, then gave my princess a pleading look. “I need time, and we have other matters to attend.” “I suppose you do, though I will advise that time does not stop while you worry or attend other matters. Assuredly, she will seek her own resolutions should you delay too long. Now then, to convenient distraction,” she agreed cheerfully. ‘There was clear feeling of something being drawn towards the runes with you at center. How did it feel? Details, stallion, details!” She pulled a tiny notebook heavily decorated with moon and stars, licking the side of a hoof before flipping through it with surprising speed. “Here we are, explain away!” Not… so convenient. “What should I explain? I feel energized. Whole, almost.” I looked down at the runes, which were still faintly glowing but no longer nearly so charged. “...Less than I did, but still…” I focused on myself, trying to determine what was different. “...I feel… as though I had a slow leak that is now plugged?” “And I felt something tug at me as soon as you set it off. Can you step out?” I did so at her request, and the sensation of wellness left me almost immediately, and the change was so sudden that it stole my breath. To my vast concern, I felt the ‘leak’ again, and now it seemed painfully obvious that it was simply the ‘normal’ state of changeling being. Tolerable, but now I was aware of it, and I imagined it would bother me for the foreseeable future. “And how do you feel now?” “The leak is back, but I do still feel vastly improved. Is the ‘pull’ gone?” The runes did seem slightly dimmer, but not much more. Perhaps I had overcharged them initially, or they were simply running low, but the still seemed much more robust than the previous. “It has not,” Luna frowned, rubbing her chin and levitating her notepad in and out of the circle. “Well, this tells us little.” And with a small hop, that I tried desperately to prevent, Princess Luna was within the circle. “Your Highness-” The lunar princess only pulled a sour face. “Peace, friend Idol. Bide a moment. Eugh-” Her face scrunched into several expression of distaste. “This felt good to you? Tis nauseatingly… still.” She took a deep breath and blew it out, as if trying to see something in her breath. There was… something off, but I could not put my hoof on it. More to the point, I felt the Princess should immediately remove herself from the circle. “Luna, please, I must beg you to exit the ring-” “Ease yourself, Idol. Tis likely where Cadance was trapped, for several days, and she was no worse for wear. Mostly.” Luna’s horn flickered, then lit. “Intriguing. I feel pressure instead of pull. Tis dense with power, but… harder to use.” Her notepad drifted semi-aggressively at me, and I tilted my head to dodge in consternation. “See? That should have struck you upon the nose. Instead, it merely floats. Tis heavier than it should be,” the princess decided, with a firm nod as she tried to step out… and found herself bound, with the runes appearing to brighten ever so slightly the longer she stayed within. “...Now, this is precisely what I feared-” And then Luna decided she was not bound, by forcing her way through whatever barrier had formed hard enough that the runes beneath her cracked, fading out entirely. “Hmm. Not stable enough to be a true barrier. Likely the crystal was to be the true means of keeping our niece contained. That felt more… unintentional, if effective over time. A side effect, as it were, to the true goal.” “Which was…?” “I haven’t the faintest, friend Idol. It draws ambient magic, which no alicorn needs assistance with, but in a way that floods the pony within. It is uncomfortable for an alicorn, yet apparently beneficial to changelings. As a prison, it makes little sense, unless the intent was for a changeling to be within to feed upon Cadance as she weakened, but… tis a most inefficient method. Cutting off a unicorn from usable magic whilst empowering changelings would seem beneficial, and yet… cut off I was not. Hmm. No, I am unfortunately at a loss. We had thought that young Cadance was not the entire intent of the invasion, seeing that she could have been spirited away before we even knew she was missing, but this all feels…” Luna wave a hoof at the cavern. “Entirely intentional?” I offered. “She did bring Twilight the Younger down here, did she not? Perhaps the intention was to get them to drain themselves enough to let the… Order magic suppress them?” “Indeed, that could be so, but to what end? Our sister was instead trapped in a cocoon and hung in the very throne room,” she sighed with a shake of her head. “Nay, Idol, I fear your Queen had many irons in multiple fires. I believed her wholly thwarted, but now perhaps less thoroughly than I had hoped. I cannot hazard a guess as to what her intentions were, nor am I certain which goal she sought foremost. What we have here is an incomplete and destroyed chain of rings meant to automate… something to do with changeling magic, apparently. More than that will require much research and study.” “Perhaps Twilight the Younger would relish such studies?” “Ah… no. I would not like to come to Twilight as a pauper in this. This may be important, but it is thoroughly derailed now, and my sister’s student has other important tasks to deal with. I would hate to waste her time on something that may prove frivolous until I have more pertinent information.” “Ah yes. Surely only that, and nothing an emotion-eating bug pony would immediately and suddenly recognize.” Luna sniffed. “Thou art a cheat and a sneakthief, and we have no idea what you speak of.” “And a cad,” I reminded her, cheerfully. “Aye, a cad as well. But possibly our favorite.” “I shall wear the badge with honor, then.” One thing that can be said for Luna is that she is an oddly comforting presence. Whilst Celestia is regal and motherly, Luna is regal and… not. There is a certain amount of freedom expected from and by her, and for the most part, she simply wishes those around her to be happy. She was right in that I could not forever avoid conversation with Topaz and full discussion of our… indiscretions. Order, I was being a colt about this. Changelings did not have such pony views of relations, and I was assuredly changeling. But then, I am not a very good changeling. Perhaps it was only natural that I delay. I knew what had to be done, but had not yet built the courage to see it through. Rejoiced in my own acceptance of cowardice, I moved on to other more immediately pressing concerns. Princess Celestia had kept my still-disguised charge entertained well enough, though I disapproved of the method on several levels. “...Your Highness, is this not a trifle excessive?” “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” came the royal denial, fork twirling as it delivered maple and pancake in roughly equal measure. “Your breakfast appears to be trying out for the Equestria games,” I sighed, eyeing first her enormous plate of syrup and then my troublesome charge around her own multicolored mountain of fluff. “Cersus, whipped cream and chocolate are acceptable on pancakes, but only in small quantities, as well you know. This is a clear excess.” “She said I was allowed! There’s caramel, too. And these are waffles, she says the rules are different!” The Solar Diarch had the grace to look abashed, even as she delicately treated herself to another sugary bite that made my own stomach protest in purest jealousy. “It’s only one time, Idol. What can it hurt?” “I would claim to send you the future bill from her dentist, but we are changelings,” I admitted ruefully. “The point remains that you are presuming much of her Highness, Cersus. Perhaps it is time for you to head home.” “Okay… I do feel better. Thank you Miss Celestia. Princess. Ma’am.” She all but slammed her face down to shove the remains of the more-dessert-than-breakfast treat in her mouth, then made a show of wiping herself with a napkin, surreptitiously using her long tongue to get as much of the remaining confection as possible. Celestia gave me a little wink, and I simply shook my head. Foals would be foals, whatever the species. “...Are you gonna come with?” “Do not speak with your mouth full. And… no, not yet.” Celestia’s look was withering. “Idol…” “Yes, your Highness, I know. But I have duties to uphold and I have put them off enough already. Cersus, I want you to pack your things.” The little changeling drooped. “Oh. Do I have to move my stuff? Cause… cause I got found out?” “This is no fault of your own, no. But I have been reassigned. I cannot in good conscience leave you in Equestria without me.” “...Wha?” Celestia’s withering look turned to panic, and I was again certain that she had grown attached far too quickly for her own good. “Prince Shining Armor has need of me in the Crystal Empire. I will be leaving immediately.” I hesitated, then looked out the window. The day was still early, but… “-on the next sunrise,” I amended. “B…but-!” My not-quite-adopted non-offspring protested, and I could see trouble growing on her face and within her heart. “This is the cost of duty, Cersus. I cannot leave you here, and I cannot stay.” “Idol, that isn’t completely set in stone-” “Forgive me, Your Highness, but it is, and well you know it. I can no more disobey Shining than I could my Queen.” “I could countermand those orders.” It was neither statement nor offer, yet somehow a combination of both. I met her eyes, feeling a hint of sadness. Luna’s friendship was more… open, but Celestia had cultivated a certain comfortable relationship. She knew her place, as did I, but such lines were never as neat and orderly as all that. “You could. But we both know it is best that you did not.” Celestia looked away, more forlorn than I had expected. She looked upon Cersus, and the motherliness returned. “You are welcome to come to the castle anytime you wish. I’ll ensure Blueblood has some way of letting you in. I’ll see to it there’s a room for you. Maybe a little hidden one.” The nymph could no longer meet either of our eyes. Her desire to protest was clear, even in the face of secret castle rooms, but at the end of the day she was changeling, as surely as I was.. “...Thank you, Your Highness.” She gave a small curtsy, and I confess my own pride nearly brought me to bursting. “Do not be so disheartened. We go to the Crystal Empire. Tis a new adventure, a city unseen in a thousand years. I cannot imagine you will have any difficulty discovering new sources of trouble.” “...That does sound pretty cool…” came the murmur of approval. “And you’ll be able to tell your friends all about it, I’m sure. Your own little adventure journals. Perhaps they can make the trip sometime and you can all explore together.” “Yeah…?” The idea was warming, though tentatively. “...yeah, okay…!” Celestia chewed her lip a moment, then gave a weak smile. “Perhaps not my place to argue the point… but do you not think it might be wise to inform Shining before you bring a heretofore unknown changeling foal into his new kingdom…?” “And we’ll get Topaz to come, too!” Drat. And double drat.