“Nephew!? Since when!?” I shouted, stepping back.
“Be quiet, use your wings to talk.” Cicada calmly demanded.
“My wings? I can't-” I was cut off by the soft sound of my wings, they were flapping without any input from me.
“I see, he doesn't know about know about ultrasonic speech. He's more detached than you let on, sister.” she said teasingly, obviously getting some satisfaction from my ignorance.
“What do you want from me?” I silently spoke, inching back ever so slightly.
“Come here, let me get a good look at you.” She said as she wrapped me in an orange aura of magic, and pulled me to her face. She straightened my hind legs, “Strange... No holes, but spikes? Could it have anything to do with your impurity?”
“My what?”
“Hush, child.” She straightened my head, “Your neck muscles are weak, it would be easy to strangle you” she bent my head down, “Your horn is sharp, at least. Though your mane could use some work. It's too much like your mother's.” she turned me around, “Your wings seem to be healthy” she finally let me down.
“LU-” My screams for help were cut off, no doubt by Chrysalis. Every time I tried to scream for help, nothing would come out.
“So you are the fabled Variance, the one who can absorb magic. The perfect heir Chrysalis loved to brag about.”
“She bragged about me?” I said with curiosity, somewhat flattered.
“Yes, it's one of the reasons we killed her.” she gave a light chuckle.
“Killed her? She-”
“Yep, died. Here, let me show you how, nephew.” Her voice filled with sadistic joy, as her magic began holding me in the air once more. She aimed her horn at me, and slowly put it to my neck, “You might want to brace yourself, I hear being impaled hurts.”
I cringed and shut my eyes as tight as I could, I couldn't believe I was going to die so young into my new life. “That's enough Cicada, he's already regretting his life.” Chrysalis said. I looked around and no matter where I looked, I couldn't find her, “Why are you here?” the voice spoke once more, but this time I saw the source. My mouth, Chrysalis was somehow using my mouth to speak.
“I just came to see how my nephew was doing. You never let us see him while you were alive, so I thought this was a good opportunity.”
“Are the others aware of his whereabouts?”
“No. I'm the only one, though they are itching to find out.”
“I see... Cicada, I'll need you to protect him. His powers have not fully developed, he'll be nothing more than fodder for the girls.”
“You seem to forget, you're dead. I don't take orders from you anymore. And even when you were alive, I held just as much power as you did, or did you forget the damage I did to your horn? Why should I listen to you?”
“You're scared of what the others would do if they came to power.”
“Ah, that's true. The thought of seeing any one of them in the throne...ugh, it sends chills down my spine.”
“If that's the case, then it stands to reason that you should do whatever is in your power to protect my son.”
“It does, doesn't it? Fine, I’ll do it, but don't take this the wrong way sister, I want to see how this ability to absorb magic works. Nothing more, once I've seen it, I may just abandon him.”
“Well then, I'll let you two get back to bonding. It also seems you have some company, take care of them will you? But don't kill them, we don't want you leaving a trail they can follow.” Chrysalis said, finally letting me control my mouth.
“You aren't much fun.” Cicada pouted as she walked around me, her horn shining with magic. Two guards, a white pegasus and a brown earth pony turned the corner. As soon as they caught sight of her, they began to panic. She then used her magic to suck the air from their area, and placed a shield around them, so they couldn't get out. The guards fainted and Cicada undid her spells. She turned to me and said, “Well, my king, I am wondering what you plan to do now.”
“About what?” I tried to move away, but my legs were frozen in place.
“About your hive. Without a leader, the hive you command will grow more and more lost, hungry, and scared.”
“I'm sorry, does it look like I care? The changeling world has nothing to do with me, or did you miss the part where I live in a family, with two loving mothers, an entire castle filled with ponies who treat me with respect and protect me? I have everything I need right here. The hive, and all the changelings in it, can burn for all I care! ” I challenged.
“Oh... Now I see why you don't have any holes. Ha-ha, child, you really believe they have accepted you? Do you really think they care? Don't be a fool! You're a changeling, and should the need arise, they'll denounce you. You can't escape being treated like a changeling.” She said as her horn began to glow again, causing smog to arise and blind me. When it cleared, she was gone.
“Treated like a changeling? Whatever...” I said to myself, rejecting her words with all my heart. I saw the guards she knocked out and ran to them. I saw they were cuddling one another, and the brown one was nibbling on the white ones ear. I just sat there, staring... they began to hold onto each other tightly, the white guard moaning as the brown one caressed him. Their intimate passion beginning to show...
I walked back to my room, and jumped in my bed. Luna took a look at me and said,“Shifting, it sounded as though someone were with ye. Did anything happen?”
“Go see for yourself.” I responded, watching her walk out of the room and down the hall.
“OH MY GOODNESS!! SHIFTING, FORGET WHAT YE SAW!!”
“But I-”
“FORGET!!”
“Shifting Sands? Shifting Sands! 'Tis time to retrieve our baked delicacy” Luna shouted, walking through the halls of Canterlot Castle.
“Little did she know, just beyond her view, the orange shadow hid on the ceiling and waited for the moment to strike. The shadow knew not the meaning of the word mercy, he would take down his target without question. He also was incredibly handsome and had the body of a Greek god. The orange saw an opening, and knew it was time to destroy the mare!”
She turned her head skyward and saw me just as I jumped at her screaming, “Requiescat in pace!” she reacted fast enough to avoid me, ducking out of the way. I smacked into the ground and let out a muffled, “DATTEBAYO!” before pulling my face from another new indent.
“Shifting, what on earth hast thou been planning?” Luna gave an awkward stare.
I stood on my hind legs and struck a pose. “I'm a ninja! An assassin of the night!”
“Mhm, and what hath brought upon this sudden profession?”
I gave her a blank stare, thinking about last night. “Yes.”
“...'Twas not even the right response...”
“Exactly!”
“...Ye live in a land of fairy tales, doth thou?”
“No, I live in a land of rainbows and unicorns.” I paused for a moment, thinking about what I said, how sad it was that my words actually made sense. I then began to stare at Luna once more, and she stared back... there was a long pause between us. “NINJAAAAAA!” I screamed, doing a backflip out of a panned glass window behind me, escaping the tension.
“I never should've given back your transformation ability, all you do is abuse it.” Chrysalis shouted at me.
“Sorry, what's that? I couldn't hear you! The sheer wind force is too loud!”
“Why did you jump out an thirty storey window anyway?”
“Well, I want to enjoy whatever individuality I have now. You're dead, so your restrictions on me are null and void! I have to catch up on the freedom you stole from me. So you know what they say, YOLO!”
“Yolo?”
“You only live once.”
“This is your second life. Besides, why not just say Carpe Diem?”
“Because I'm modern. Besides, shut up.” I realized how close to the ground I was getting, so I decided it was best to start flying. However, my wings wouldn't move. I tried again, and nothing. Once more, and nothing. The ground was coming ever closer, the image of myself splattering into the ground become more and more vivid. “Why the hell won't my wings work?!”
“I'm holding them still.” Chrysalis said, monotonously.
“Why would you do something that stupid!?”
“Yolo.”
“I hate you. I hate you so much.” As I peered towards my undeniable fate, I started to scream uncontrollably. For a fraction of a second, I saw blackness, and within said blackness stood a skeleton pony. Next thing I knew, I was sitting on Luna's back, at the castle gate. Although at the time, I didn't notice, so I continued screaming.
“Shifting...” Luna calmly said, giving a warm smile.
“AHHHHH!” I screamed in ignorant shock.
“Shifting...” She said a bit more seriously.
“AHHHHHH!”
“SHIFTING SAAANNNDSS!!” She said, using the dreaded CanterLock.
“AHHHH!”
“STOP THY SHRIEKS! 'TIS NO REASON TO BE FRIGHTENED!”
“I'm not screaming because I'm scared, I'm screaming because you blew out my eardrums!”
“Oh...Sorry...” She cleared her throat, and began walking towards a chariot with two guards in-front. The same guards from the previous night, they avoided eye contact with one another. “Now, enough tom foolery. Let us go get our delicious baked goods.”
“Right...right...” A wave of green and blue fire traveled over my body, transforming me back to normal.
“Pray, for what reason did ye begin wailing?”
“My wings stopped working...didn't you see me falling?”
“Nay, verily, I gazed upon ye dancing on the breath of the wind, howling like a wild animal.”
“Now you're just showing off...”
“Ye were flying in circles, screaming like an idiot.”
“...Well, yeah! I knew that.”
“Then why did ye-”
“Barrel roll!”
“'Tis going to be one of those days, I see...”
Luna paused for a moment, wondering if I was alright. I looked away to avoid suspicion, but I think that only made me look more suspicious. After what seemed like an eternity of awkward staring, she made it onto the chariot and we left the castle grounds. We traveled down a curving dirt road, and traveled, and traveled...and traveled some more...the guards seemed to be deliberately going slow. I think I fell asleep around the thirty minute mark, only to be woken up by a bump in the road.
I looked around to see where we were, and we were still on a dirt road. I knocked on Luna's horn and asked, “This is taking too long, I've been out the castle before, it's never been such a wait. Are we taking the long way or something?”
Luna looked back at me with a curved brow and replied, “It's only been eight minutes, Shifting Sands.”
I scratched the back of my head, thinking of an excuse to give. I couldn't, so I just shrugged. “Luna, why didn't we just teleport to the bakery?”
“Sifting, the point of this errand is to bridge the gap between-”
“Shifting.” I interrupted.
“Huh?” Luna replied.
“Shifting. My name is Shifting Sands. You called me 'Sifting'.”
“I doth think ye heard me right, I said thy name correctly.”
“No, I heard you fine. You called me 'Sifting' and that's not my name.”
“Shifting, I know the words of which I speak.”
“And I know the words of which I hear.”
“No,” her voice began to sound of mild irritation, “Thy hearing is improper. I know how to say thy name, and would never make such an error.”
“I heard you say 'Sifting'!”
“Did not!”
“Did too!”
“Did not!”
“Whatever! Just keep your eyes on the road!”
“Hmph!” She responded, refocusing her gaze back on the road ahead of us. The only noise to be heard were the sounds of the wheels turning and hooves trotting on the dirt road. Birds chirping as they flew overhead. And the city of Canterlot came into full view. “I still know what I said”
“Drop it, Luna!” I shouted as we entered the city. The tall buildings, white as snow, usually with a roof that reminded me of the circus big-top. They normally had spirals of light purple and violet, occasionally there would be signs representing what the store was selling. The streets filled with the most pompous of ponies. Their heads were so far into the air, I assumed someone must be shoving a thirty foot rod up their flanks.
Ponies started giving me looks. They glared and whispered, snarled and pouted. “Looks like it's time for me to get dressed...” I sighed.
“Shifting, stay the way ye are.”
“You sure? Remember the first time ponies saw me?”
“Yes, the rumors of my sister and I.”
“The- The rumors!? They formed a mob outside the castle, demanding to ban me from Equestria!”
“Shifting, ye can't always be another pony.”
“Watch me.”
“We must all face our demons, Shifting Sands. Ye can't just hide thyself and pray ponies forget thine existence.”
“Again, watch me.” I said as I transformed, giving myself brown eyes and fur, with a darker brown and mane and tail, and an hour glass cutie mark. I left my size unchanged.
“Why doth this new form look familiar?”
“Who knows?” I said, looking away. We traveled along a dirt path, and turned left at the crossroads, and continued down for a few minutes. We stopped outside a small white building. It had a shade above the door, green and dark green. There was a sign at the top that said, “Grand Icing.”
Luna stepped out of the chariot, with me on her head, and walked into the store. The ponies standing in line quickly moved to the side, bowing in her presence. Luna walked through the row of bowing ponies and up to the glass counter. The counter showcased cakes of all sizes and colors. One was blue with a rainbow top frosting, another was white on the sides, but brown through the center, another had the picture of a foal. It was made of frosting and underneath it, the word, “Congratulations!”
Behind the counter stood a golden brown pony, his mane and tail were a light red. His right eye was a shade of lavender, his left eye was gray, it was clear he was blind in it. It didn't really effect me, I was focused on the food in-front of me. “Which one are we getting? Which one?!” I asked as I began to drool.
“We're getting a special one, calm down.” Luna replied, closing the broken dam that was my mouth.
“Hey, Luna, whose the little scamp?” The golden brown pony asked.
“Ah, yes, neither of ye have met. Joe, this is-” Luna tried to reply as I cut her off.
“Whooves! Jimmy two whooves...”
“Whooves, huh? Ay, you related to Derpy?” Joe asked.
I sat with blank expression on my face. “Yes...”
Luna sighed and said, “Joe, me and...Whooves, were asked to retrieve a special Cake.”
“So you don't want the weekly triple fudge, icream filled, caramel covered cake with extra chocolate?”
“Nay, this time we want...” Luna gave a small pause, and looked at me.
“What?” I responded.
Luna's eyes drifted towards Joe.
“Oh, I see! It's dat kinda order!” Joe exclaimed, understandingly.
“What kind of order?” I asked, scratching my head.
I gave small notice to the odd smell that suddenly began wafting. It was somewhat familiar, but at the same time different, I focused more on Joe saying, “Don't worry about it, me and da princess got it all covered for ya. Why don't ya go out and play little-” The scent irritated my nose, and I sneezed, accidentally transforming back to normal. “Changeling!?”
The ponies behind Luna began getting angry, they focused their stares on me and began to close in. A loud clank disrupted their advance. “Ay, don't none of ya put ya hooves on him. If any of yous got a problem, take it out of my store!” Joe demanded, with a crowbar in his hoof. The ponies looked disappointed that they couldn't shred me to bits, thank goodness Joe was there.
Oddly enough, Luna didn't react, and she was supposed to be the more protective one. “Luna, why didn't you do anything? They were going to-”
“Do nothing. Joe would never allow such an act to take place within his domain, least of all against a child.” Luna assured. Joe nodded in agreement.
“Thanks Joe.” I smiled, before the shaking realization hit me. I had to use the bathroom. “Joe, wheres the...”
“To the right, down the hall, first door on your left.”
“Thank you!” I said as I jumped off of Luna's head and followed Joe's directions. The bathroom was fairly clean, though it looked like your average multi-stall bathroom. After I took care of business, I exited the stall to find a white unicorn standing over me. His mane was green and tattered, his eyes were a shade of magenta, he didn't look well. “Hello...?”
“Hello there, you little terrorist.” He said to me.
“I'm sorry, what?”
“It's time to pay for your crimes.” His horn began to glow dark blue.
“LUNA-!” I screamed, only to be cut off by the unicorn and his teleportation spell. In a flash of white light, he and I vanished from the area. When we reappeared, I was in a dinning hall. A relaxed, dim yellow glow filled the room, tables strewn about with white clothes on them. On the ceiling hung crystal chandeliers. At the front of the room, a stage. On it's floor instruments of all sorts laying on the wooden floor boards. However, the center of the stage caught my eye. A steel chair, leather straps and faded splotches of red.
I stepped back in fear, and turned to run, but I ran into the white unicorn's leg. I slowly looked up to him, my eyes widening in terror. He looked at me and smiled. “Don't worry, you'll get your spot in the limelight.” He said. He then took his hoof and smashed it into my face. I fell to the ground, unconscious.
I opened my eyes to see the blurred world around me. My face aching like a thousand hammers had smashed into it, it had to be the second worst pain my face has ever felt. I shook my head to get a grasp on my bearings, but no good, it only aggravated an already searing headache. I leaned to my side, and I could feel the cold sensation of metal. It was somehow soothing to the headache, but my face still hurt.“Oh man...what...what happened...?” I groaned.
“Oh, finally awake are you?” The familiar voice called out.
“Wha..?” I blinked and rubbed my eyes, focusing as hard as I could. “Who said that?”
“We talked like twenty minutes ago, how are you this stupid?”
My vision finally came into clear focus, it was the white unicorn. His image sent a jolt of fright through my body, causing me to jump back into the metal ceiling. I looked around to see that I was in a cage. “W-What the-”
“Don't worry, I'm not here to harm you...yet. You see, it's tradition that we tell the trash why they're here and what's going to happen to them. This way they die knowing full well what they've done, we don't want you feigning ignorance in the afterlife, do we?”
“What we've done? I haven't done anything!”
“So you say. But then again, you are a leech. Can't trust your kind, you know.”
“Look, I know the siege on Canterlot was a big deal but-”
“HA! Oh, I'm sorry, that, that was funny. You really think this is about Canterlot? Please! We've been bringing your kind to justice for centuries. And now in tradition, I must ask your name.”
“S-Shifting Sands.”
“Well then, Shifting Sands. It is my honor to tell you, I, Balance Justice will be your judge, jury and if necessary, executioner. By the power given to me by the Shielded Heart, I bring you up on your charges!”
“Charges?! What?! Since when was I in a court system!?!”
“Shifting Sands, you are held under suspicion of feeding on love, pretending to be somepony else, ruining family bonds and friendships, murder, cruelty to the pony race, and disrupting the peace of Canterlot. How do you plea?”
“I haven't done...all of those things! Come on, you can't fault me for being a changeling, or that I feed off love, or that I pretend to be-”
“Silence! By the power of The Shield, I sentence you to death! Since you are young I am also willing to go light on your punishment.”
“You just sentenced me to death! How can you possibly go light on me!?”
“We won't torture you. We'll give you a quick death. Now, just wait your turn like a good leech. Oh and one more thing I should mention, you're wearing a special collar, it absorbs magic. The more you try to use, the more it drains. Enjoy!” He said, exiting through the door on the right.
“Well, I have no clue what just happened. But all in all, I think I just made a friend.” I took in a deep breath to sigh, but ended up coughing instead. The room smelled horrible. I looked around the room to see the floor was covered with some strange, brown substance. Looking to the center I saw a cooking station, knives, pots, pans etc. were all stacked in the center of it, some were even growing mold. Apparently no one had ever cleaned this place.
“Hey! Hey, you! New guy!” I heard a weak, female voice whisper. I started looking around the room to find whoever had called out to me. “Over here! In front of you!”
I looked straight ahead to see a dark gray changeling, skinny, with soft blue eyes. “What? What do you want?”
“You, you're related to the queen, right?” she wheezed out.
“Yeah, how did you know?” I scratched my head.
“You have the royal mane.”
“Oh, ok? Uhm, who are you?”
“My name is Anna, third rank, tactical invasion.” she coughed. “At your service.”
“Of course you are. So, Anna, why did you want to know if I'm related to Chrysalis?”
“I've been telling these guys, that our queen would send back up for us.” she began to cry. “And now we can finally be free! I told you guys! Our queen would never abandon us!”
“Even now, my changelings still have faith in me. Seeing them like this...it's heart breaking.” Chrysalis echoed in the back of my mind.
In reply, I thought to her, “You don't have a heart.” then refocused my attention to Anna. “Sorry to tell you this, but I've no intention of saving any one of you.”
“W-what?” tears of a new kind began to fall. “But-”
“I have no business with the hive. And it has no business with me. My only concern is how I am going to get out of this place.”
“How could you be so cruel? So selfish!?” she cried out in agony.
Her voice began to annoy me. “It runs in the family.”
“The queen is nothing like you! She's kind, she's caring, she's selfless and most of all she'd die for us!”
“Funny, I've been her son all this life, I've never seen any of those traits.”
“Her son? You're Prince Variance?!”
“I've been told, unfortunately.”
“How can you be like this? The queen, your mother, put her blood, sweat and tears into fighting for this hive. Making sure that we were fed and sheltered. Making sure we survived!”
“The most she's ever done for me is tell me she loved me and-”
“Wait! She-she said she loved you?”
“Yes...”
“Wow... she said she loves you...” she and the surrounding changelings began muttering.
“The queen said that?”
“She really said those words...?”
“To think the queen would say such a thing...”
I sat in my cage confused. “What? It's not that big of a deal...”
“What?!” Anna gasped. “For a changeling to use those words on anyone but themselves...it's just unbelievable.”
“Why? It's just a couple of words.”
“A couple of words?! Do you hear yourself? Changelings have rarely ever used that phrase on anyone but themselves. It's the highest form of affection we know.”
“Oh...I didn't know...” I started rubbing the back of my back of my neck. “I thought she was just saying that...”
“Variance, just because I don't coddle you at every turn, it doesn't mean I don't care.” Chrysalis said, benignly.
“To think the queen would waste such powerful words on you! I can't even begin to believe it!” Anna outraged.
“Argh! Fine! I get it, I'll find a way out for all of us!” I screamed
“Thank you, Variance.” Chrysalis whispered.
“Shut up, don't remind me I'm doing you a favor.” I grabbed onto the bars of the cage, and tried as hard as I could to bend them, but no such luck. I tried bucking them instead, but still, no such luck. I even tried biting them, I think I chipped a fang somewhere, but nothing to show the bars were even remotely damaged. I only had one option left, and it was the most dangerous. I stood tall on my hind legs, and said, “OPEN SESAME!”
“Did you really just say that?” Anna deadpanned. The bars and collar were suddenly surrounded by an aura of black, starry magic, falling off the hinges. The collar cracked, and broke, falling to the cage floor. Anna stared, her jaw hanging. “H-How did you do that?!”
“Uhm, I'm the boss?” I had no clue how these occurrences came to pass, but they did, and I wasn't willing to look a gift pony in the mouth. I flew out of my cage, and over to Anna, where I began trying to pull her cage doors off
“Why don't you just do that thing again?”
“Because-”
“Hey, you! What do you think you're doing!?” A brown earth pony with a gray mane, questioned.
I smiled and looked to Anna. “Will you hold on for a moment?” I looked back to the brown pony. I aimed myself towards him, and began transferring magic through my wings, boosting me into him and through multiple walls. When it was over, I hovered over him, the world spinning around me. “I'm on the phone!” I held my head. It had been a while since I'd done that, I forgot how much magic it eats away. I tried to fly back to Anna, but was quickly caught in a white, magical barrier.
“Looks like the guest of honor has arrived early! Fillies and Gentlecolts! I present to you, Shifting Sands, the Canterlot changeling!” The voice of Justice rang out, I looked around and realized I was in the ballroom again. The barrier pulled me to the stage, where Justice made sure to strap me down tight. “You know, we weren't going to torture you, but since you made this pathetic escape attempt, and hurt my brother over there. I think we'll change that. Besides, these ponies want a good show, so make sure to scream nice and loud.” He moved to the side.
As I looked into the crowed, I saw nothing but shadowed figures. Their only source of light was a small candle on the table, the only thing making them visible. “I only have one dying request.” I said, looking to Justice.
“And what's that?”
“That you go buck yourself.”
“Oh I will, young colt. I will!”
“Ew...”
He looked towards the silhouette ponies. “Unfortunately, since he arrived early, I do not have my equipment. Does anypony mind me using a knife of theirs?”
“As if anypony is going to give you-” I was cut off by a flurry of sharp objects, knives, swords, axes and other assorted cutting tools piercing the stage around me. Including an active chainsaw. “Your metal detector sucks.”
“Haha, you never change.” he said as levitated the chainsaw to my right shoulder. “This is goodbye!” I closed my eyes.
I opened my eyes to see the blurred world around me. My face aching like a thousand hammers had smashed into it, it had to be the second worst pain my face has ever felt. I shook my head to get a grasp on my bearings, but no good, it only aggravated an already searing headache. I learned to my side, and I could feel the cold sensation of metal. It was somehow soothing to the headache, but my face still hurt.“Oh man...what...what happened...?” I groaned.
“Oh, finally awake are you?” The familiar voice called out.
“Wha..?” I blinked and rubbed my eyes, focusing as hard as I could. “Who said that?”
“We talked like twenty minutes ago, how are you this stupid?”
My vision finally came into clear focus, it was the white unicorn. His image sent a jolt of fright through my body, causing me to jump back into the metal ceiling. I looked around to see that I was in a cage. “W-What the-”
“Don't worry, I'm not here to harm you...yet. You see, it's tradition that we tell the trash why they're here and what's going to happen to them. This way they die knowing full well what they've done, we don't want you feigning ignorance in the afterlife, do we?”
“Wait a second...”
“Now in tradition, I must ask your name.”
“It's Shifting Sands.”
“Well then, Shifting Sands. It is my honor to tell you, I, Balance Justice will be your judge, jury and if necessary, executioner. By the power given to me by the Shielded Heart, I bring you up on your charges!”
“This seems all too familiar...” I whispered to myself.
“Shifting Sands, you are held under suspicion of feeding on love, pretending to be somepony else, ruining family bonds and friendships, murder, cruelty to the pony race, and disrupting the peace of Canterlot. How do you plea?”
“Hmm... Guilty as charged.”
“Well then, I sentence you to death! Since you are young I am also willing to go light on your punishment.”
“How so?”
“We won't torture you. We'll give you a quick death. Now, just wait your turn like a good leech. Oh and one more thing I should mention, you're wearing a special collar, it absorbs magic. The more you try to use, the more it drains. Enjoy!” He said, exiting through the door on the right.
“Well, I have no clue what just happened...again.”
“Hey! Hey, you! New guy!” I heard Anna whisper. I looked into the cage across the room from mine. “You're related to the queen right?”
“Yes...yes I am...Uhh, don't worry, Anna, I'm going to get you all out.” I replied, as the bars of the cage and my collar broke off once more.
“You've noticed it too, haven't you Variance?” Chrysalis whispered.
“Yeah, I did, I feel fully charged, even better than before and everything is repeating itself. I don't get it, but I don't care. It's a chance to get out, and we better take it.” I flew out of my cage and over to Anna's. “Wait just one moment!” I turned to the doorway, grabbed a pan, and flew onto it's overhead.
The brown earth pony walked past and ran in, looking at my open cage “Hey, where'd he go?!” He said. I flew down and hit him over the head with the pan. He fell to the nasty floor unconscious.
After which, the rest of the cage doors fell off, and the changelings inside came out looking good as new, not a single collar to be found. “Oh come on, if the cage doors were just gonna fall off-! And the collars-! AH! You mean I almost got sliced and diced for nothing!?”
“What are you talking about?” Anna raised a brow.
“Nothing, nothing at all...so how are we gonna get out of here?”
“You just said you'd free us, and you don't even have an escape route?!”
“That's pretty much the gist of it. Any ideas?”
Anna began rubbing her temples. “Hold on a minute, I'm still having trouble dealing with the large amount of stupid in the room.”
“Yeah, I could feel the stupid coming off of him when I knocked him out.” I looked at the brown pony on the ground.
“Please stop talking.”
“I've been trying for the past eight minutes, I don't think it's gonna happen.”
“I still can't believe you...”
“Anna, calm down. I think the stupid is affecting you.”
“You have no idea... Wait a minute, that's the second time you've called me by name. Which part of the royal branch are you from?”
“We'll talk about this later, right now we need to get out of here. You need to learn your priorities.”
“Excuse me?! You're the one who busted in here without a plan, and unless you guys plan on blasting through the roof, we're gonna need one!” They blasted through the roof, we didn't need one. We looked around to see where we were, and around us, nothing but forest and mountains. “Do you hear that?” Anna gasped, the surrounding changelings began muttering among themselves.
“Hear what?”
“It's Cicada!” She growled.
“Good, we finally have help.”
“I would never take help from her hive! None of us would!”
“That's too bad, we need help, she's the only one around, we're meeting her as soon as we can. Which way is she coming from?”
She spat at the ground far below us and said, “Follow me...” Then flew off. I followed her as close as I could, and soon enough we met up with Cicada. Just thinking about talking to her, it filled my throat with knives. It seemed as if I was being a traitor to myself. I could see why Anna didn't want to join her, now.
“Variance, your 'parents' are on their way over here, and fast.” Cicada calmly announced, paying no attention to the other changelings. “Mind telling me how you managed to get over half way across Equestria?”
“Some crazy unicorn kidnapped me.
“Well isn't that nice? Because of this unicorn I now have a stain on my perfect record.” She pointed behind her. “Canterlot is that way. Variance, I'll need you to tell me more about this unicorn.”
“Why?”
“I like to know about the ponies I kill.”
“What a lovely personality you have. But what are they supposed to do?” I shifted my attention to my changelings.
“I have a list of recently deceased ponies.”
“How recent?”
“Recent enough. Not a single pony knows they're dead.”
“And how exactly did they die?”
“We ate them.”
My eyes widened. “OK! That's interest-OH LOOK AT THE TIME! I better be on my way! BYE!” I shot off like a rocket in the direction Cicada pointed.
“Variance! You didn't tell me anything about the unicorn!”
“You also didn't tell me you were the prince!” Anna shouted.
It didn't take long before I accidentally slammed into Celestia and Luna. “Shifting Sands! You're alright! It took us hours to get here, we weren't sure we would make it before anything would happen.” Celestia cried out, holding me.
“Hours? I was only gone for, like, thirty minutes.”
“Nay, Shifting, ye vanished for ten hours.”
“It doesn't matter, you're safe! Let's just go home...” Celestia began to smother me in her hug. I fainted. When I woke up, I was in my bed, Luna sitting over me. She said she was sorry for letting it happen, over and over again. It took a while before I could convince her, it wasn't her fault. Although, I'm not sure if I made it through. Her face still showed doubt.
The next morning, the police came to the castle, and asked to speak with me alone. The conversation didn't go well...“WHATTDYA MEAN YOU DON'T HAVE INFORMATION ON THE SHIELDED HEARTS!?” I screamed in anger. “DIDN'T YOU CAPTURE ANYPONY WITH A LEAD?!”
“Yes, we captured tons of ponies, most of which were in near death condition. So we have to wait until they heal, those we could interrogate, didn't know anything about it. We used the strongest truth spells we could, we got nothing.” The gray police-pony statuesquely said.
“What about the white unicorn? You know, Justice?”
“The suspects didn't know anything about him either. We checked the records in Equestria, and there's no trace of evidence showing he even existed.”
“So he's still out there...”
“Don't worry, you'll be the first to know if there's any updates.” He said, leaving my room. I didn't want to worry, and I try not to make it a habit to. But there was a feeling about that pony. Something I couldn't shake, something about him didn't feel right, even for a psychopath. I told myself that I he'd never get the drop on me again, that I'd expect it. I told myself if I saw him again, I would be ready, and willing to fight back. I lied...