//------------------------------// // Chapter 35 - Takeover // Story: A Changing Perspective // by Dragrace //------------------------------// “Woah! Calm down, it wasn’t like I was going to hurt you or anything. That includes the colony as a whole, you know, securing a reliable source of food like Ponyville.” Jack said, still inching away from the changeling queen. By this point he had forced himself across such a large distance on the ground that his grey coat had a brownish tint. With the changeling queen continuing to press towards him, he finally found himself trapped against a door. Slowly, he rose from the ground using the door as leverage, until the unlocked door swung open under his weight. Without grasping what had just occurred, Jack collapsed onto the wooden floor behind him, stunned from the fall alone. “Now, what use could I possibly have with a traitor?” Chrysalis asked, placing one of her black hooves under her chin. ‘You know, I never really thought about it, but changeling legs remind me of Swiss cheese…’ Jack thought, and as a result Chrysalis face hoofed. “Wait, you do have a use for me!” Jack exclaimed, jumping back to his feet just to fall back over again. After another prompt face hoof, Chrysalis replied, “And WHAT might that use be…?” “Well, I’m not from around here. I’m not from Equestria. Where I’m from, we don’t have magic.” Jack said, rubbing his forehead while regaining his composure once more. “What does a lack of magic have to do with you having a use?” Chrysalis said, rolling her eyes. “We have something called technology. OoooOOOoooOOOh!” Jack said, making wavy movements with his hooves. Chrysalis let out a sigh before encompassing him in a magical aura. Jack yelped in surprise and felt himself being dragged out of the house. “Wait! Wait! Wait!” Jack pleaded, “Technology is almost like doing things equal to magic, but without the magic! I noticed that changelings aren’t strong with magic, so wouldn’t that be a good substitute?” Chrysalis stopped in her tracks, but the magical aura surrounding Jack continued pulling him forward. Eventually, he found himself passing Chrysalis, and heading directly towards a tree. “We do have technology now, but you make it seem much more… Advanced, for lack of a better word. I will spare you, should you prove to be useful. Otherwise, well, I won’t be the only one you’ll have to deal with.” Chrysalis said, sporting an evil grin across her face. “Oh, and one last thing.” “Yes?” “WAKE UP!” >---< Jack instantly raised his head to find himself already looking outwards towards the town, instead of looking up towards the sky as he had expected. His neck hurt slightly, more than likely from sleeping in an uncomfortable position, however when he tried to rub his eyes he found his hooves tied behind his back. Blinking a few times instead, he quickly looked over himself to grasp the situation. He was tied against some sort of post, the rope was rough and uncomfortable, but when something is being tied up comfort usually isn’t a big factor. Looking down he found the pink layer to be completely gone, and his original black changeling form had returned, which was a huge relief to him. He didn’t know much about poison joke, and apparently it wasn’t permanent. After figuring out he had been tied to a post near town hall, he looked around. A few feet ahead of him was the largest of changelings, also known as queen Chrysalis. Upon looking towards the other houses around town, he saw changelings literally tearing down doors and windows in an attempt to get the inhabitants within their barricades. Strangely enough, most of the houses Jack could see were quite literally barricaded, the doors and windows may have been broken, but there were plenty of wooden planks and supports on the other side. Jack saw a few ponies being shoved out of their homes by changelings, and was nervous of what other events would transpire afterwards. The movements tended to stop around Jack’s perimeter, apparently there would be some sort of public humiliation, if it was possible for that to occur with everypony so freaked out. Chrysalis got involved on quite a few of the unicorn housing, seeing as the changelings weren’t able to break the simple spells holding them out. Each time Chrysalis would sigh before effortlessly tearing the barrier protecting the unicorn apart. Most of the time she would drag them with magic afterwards, leaving almost the entire unicorn population covered in dirt and dust. The changelings all landed in sync, which was weird, but Jack assumed it was because Chrysalis had given the command for them to halt their flying. With the air completely silent, Jack decided to speak first, since he didn’t want to hear what Chrysalis had to say. “So, uh… Hey, we’re friends and all, right? So if you could just untie me-“ “SILENCE!” Chrysalis yelled, causing a few of the surrounding ponies to flinch slightly. Some of the changelings in the audience shifted closer towards the mass of ponies, many of which looked quite hungry. The changelings had slight grins on their face, and they shifted in their positions with anticipation. Chrysalis forced them back simply by glaring at them, forcing them to cower towards the back of the group. “Now, I have an announcement to make to everypony here.” Chrysalis said, grinning. “You see, I have taken over control of this pathetic town, and I am pleased to announce this to be the new changeling feeding ground.” In reaction, the crowd let out a series of gasps, a few curses, some of which continued attempting to cower backwards just to be forced back into the mob by a changeling. “Seeing as there is nopony here who even DARES to stand up against me, I would like to introduce you to the only thing here that could have stopped me.” Chrysalis paused for a moment, before pointing to Jack and continuing. “That changeling there, Jack, I believe, is not an ordinary changeling. You see, I control my colony efficiently, and I am certain to eliminate any rogue changelings. Unfortunately… This changeling became a rogue as well. What I find even more strange, is that he can generate his own emotions. I would have crowned him myself as the heir to my throne; however crowing doesn’t actually occur in a colony. You’re either born with it or not. You see-“ “Get on with it! I’m already getting bored of your life story!” Jack growled. “And while you’re at it, why not tell them how many times I’ve manage to elude you and your changelings?” Jack felt himself torn off the wooden post, emitting a large amount of pain as the ropes snapped along his body. Seconds later, he felt himself thrown through the air by a magical aura and landed just before Chrysalis. “Awww, did the poor savior of Equestria fall down?” Chrysalis whined sarcastically. “Well, you may THINK you’re smart, but what do you have that I don’t? My power is unmatched, even by Celestia herself!” As Jack continued to trace Chrysalis’ movements, he quickly noticed that she had lowered her head to his level, and stared at him somewhat intriguingly. After a brief moment of awkward staring between the two, she turned her attention back towards her audience and spoke. “Nothing can stop me now!” She boomed, “Even the Elements of Harmony are of no use against me, thanks to one particular changeling. Slowly, she looked behind her towards Jack once more. Quietly, she whispered something to him so nothing else would be able to hear. “You see? You think your plan worked, but really, did it? You sent the Element of Magic outside of Ponyville! Never underestimate a queen; she will always be one step ahead of you.” Jack lay on the ground motionless, allowing what he had just been told to soak in. The Elements of Harmony could be used in almost any case of disharmony, so long as they were all together. Since they were always around Ponyville, getting together was never truly a problem, but now that Celestia had taken Twilight away… ‘I may have just doomed the entire town…’ >---< Twilight woke up in an unfamiliar place. This had happened plenty of times over the course of just a few days, however this environment was quite soothing compared to the others. She sat upon a puffy bed, covered with beautiful red blankets with golden lining and extremely detailed design. From what she could tell it was hoof-made with a very high quality silk and wool. The walls were a classical stone, very old yet perfectly preserved. Moments after noticing the stone, the only building of this age that had been maintained and kept so well was Canterlot castle. Resting her head against the soft pillow once more, she let out a sigh of relief, just to tense up instantly afterwards upon noticing that nopony else was around. Within seconds Twilight found herself off the warm comfort of the bed and traversing through the cold castle corridors. Twilight never resumed her unicorn form, her entire body was still throbbing in pain and fatigue, whatever Chrysalis had done to her was definitely going to impact any sort of magical abilities she would attempt to use in the near future. Upon her first encounter with a guard, she was very surprised that the guard took no action at all, almost as if he was expecting her arrival. When she pushed against the large wooden door beside him, she swore she saw the guard take a quick double take out of the corner of her eye, but ignored it seeing as the guard was willing to allow a changeling to pass. Once more Twilight found herself in the throne room of the castle. She had been here several times in the past, mostly in times where the princess required her specifically for some sort of event; usually a world-threatening catastrophe. At the end of the regal carpet she spotted both princesses conversing in front of their thrones, with a small orange pegasus filly near Celestia’s leg. After the wooden doors closed behind Twilight, each of the three ponies turned their attention to the new arrival, with Scootaloo running towards her and Celestia giving a warm smile. Luna maintained her neutral expression, and apparently that usually happened when there may have been an argument between the two princesses. After accepting an embrace from Scootaloo, Twilight continued pressing her way towards the two princesses, quickly scanning over each of the glass panes. Most of the glass panes were covered in various battles, wars, and major events of the past. There hadn’t been a war in Equestria in hundreds of years, but the few wars that had taken place were never forgotten. There was one pane that Twilight stared at far longer than the others, that being a relatively new pane that she had not seen before. There was an alicorn and a unicorn, which Twilight recognized as Cadence and Shining Armor, surrounding by a brilliant pink aura. Just outside of that aura was a mass of changelings being thrown away. Twilight also noticed that behind the image of the two ponies stood a large dark shadow quite similar in shape to Chrysalis. After admiring the entire portrait of the wedding just a couple weeks ago, Twilight turned to face in front of her once more and found herself just a few steps away from Celestia. “We are glad thou are all right, Twilight Sparkle” Luna said sympathetically, returning her attention back to Celestia before continuing. “I very much detest the option which thou have chosen, sister, however I must agree with thy solution.” “I’m sorry, but might I cut it?” Twilight said, taking another step forward. “What are you talking about? And how did you know that I was actually Twilight?” “Twilight, I have known you for years, since you were just a filly.” Celestia said softly, “If you are a changeling, if you’ve always been a changeling, or if you turned into a changeling is not what matters. There’s a reason you are the element of magic, and there’s a reason why you don’t follow Chrysalis. I was there when you saved Cadence and had Chrysalis outcast. It is no small feat for anypony, let alone a changeling do such a thing.” “You are Twilight Sparkle, you always have been and you always will be. A change in appearance means nothing, true friendship comes from within. Chrysalis may have a black heart, but every living thing has something to accomplish in their life, if it be good, evil, or purely chaos. Twilight… Never lose hope, lest we forget.” “Forget what? Is this a riddle or something? Is this a test? I didn’t study or prepare for a test! Wait, what about Ponyville? Are we going to do something about Ponyville?” Twilight said, as she began to hyperventilate. “Twilight, calm down.” Celestia said. “Take a long walk with me, to the gardens. We need to talk about a greater evil and a decision myself and Luna have come to.” Twilight silently nodded, and followed the princess as she began walking towards the large wooden doors at the other end of the room. “Is there any reason we are going to the castle gardens in particular?” Twilight asked. “Of course, you must let me explain first.” >---< Jack was still stupefied by the fact that he had been significantly outsmarted by the changeling queen. Most of the time his plans were quite simple, and didn’t require much thought, because the changelings around him mostly acted on instinct. Realizing that he was dealing with a being of such level of intelligence definitely deflated his confidence, but he didn’t really know what he could do at this point. Well, he didn’t know what he personally could do, but he did know what somepony… or somechangeling else could do. Through the mass of ponies, past the majority of the changelings, he saw a familiar face, one he didn’t expect to see at all. It had been such a long time since he had seen Biggs, and to be able to separate him from all the other changelings was a significant feat as well. Unlike most of the other changelings who stood in their position attentively, Biggs appeared to be moving towards the front of the group. Many of the changelings he forced his way through seemed as if they didn’t care, and Jack hopes Biggs knew what he was up against, or at least hoping he had some idea of what he was doing. That is, assuming that Biggs actually planned to help Jack out. ‘He saved me once, will he do it again?’ Jack thought, finally regaining a glimpse of hope. Of course, that sliver of hope was quickly crushed when he saw Chrysalis tracing the changeling’s movements through the audience. Apparently there was some sort of command that was forcing the changelings to act as they did, and somehow Biggs had freed himself from the queen’s control. While Jack was distracted with what Biggs was doing, he didn’t notice that a few members of the pony audience had stepped forward. When Jack did finally realize there were two ponies helping him off the ground, he was quite shocked that anypony had bothered to help him. Ponies had always, ALWAYS, kept their distance from changelings, even if they had any sort of well intentions (mainly Jack, not many changelings stuck around just to help out). When he finally got a good look at the changelings, he gasped quite loudly. Bon Bon and Colgate were helping him up. It was purely the fact that he never expected either mare to step forward; he had never really seen them as an active type of pony. What made his jaw drop in complete surprise was when they both went through the standard changeling transformation, revealing two perfectly normal looking changelings. Their actions, however, made it evident that they were not under the queen’s control. “Wh…What?!” Jack muttered, “I… You... You have some explaining to do!” “Not now” The Bon Bon changeling hissed in response. “We need to get out of here first.” Looking back to see what Chrysalis had done, she had literally levitated Biggs out of the audience and thrown him towards Jack. While Jack had little time to react, he dove a couple feet away while the two mare-changelings did the same, but in different directions. “This makes everything so much easier!” Chrysalis exclaimed, smiling crudely. “I don’t even have to find the rogue changelings myself!” Without thinking of a plan, seeing as the last one had failed, Jack literally leaped into the mass of changelings and began running. He didn’t see what was going on behind him, and he didn’t care. The only thing on his mind was that he needed to escape. Well, that and he was wondering what Biggs had done the entire time without him. He tripped and almost fell several times over the hooves of the other changelings, but he managed to force his way through quite a few before they finally began to react. When he saw a changeling beside him almost jump onto him, Jack took flight, heading towards the large gap in the purple shield in hopes of at least making it out of Ponyville. When he turned around to look behind him, he saw that all of the changelings, including the Queen, had stopped mid-flight, and were all staring in a state of panic towards Jack. Distracted by the sudden change in behavior, Jack ended up crashing into something, more than likely a piece of the shield, and spiraled down towards the ground. Jack heard some muffled laughing and a mumbling voice, but the vibrations the voice was making in his eardrums made it clear that whatever was making the sounds was speaking quite loudly. Dazed by the crash landing, Jack looked up to see what was talking. When he finally did look up, he almost had a heart attack of pure panic. The object he had crashed into was no shield. In fact, it was the last known living draconequus in Equestria. It was none other than Discord.