//------------------------------// // Plans in Progress - Chapter 3 // Story: The Queen Inside Of Me // by K.J. Cragon //------------------------------// Spike's day had been a weird one so far. He had first woken up to an evil being snoring on the wooden oak floor of both his and Twilight's bedroom, and almost accidentally burped the monstrosity to Celestia. He couldn't find Twilight anywhere, even in the secret lab, which worried him almost as much as the fact that a sleeping changeling was asleep in his room. Thankfully, it had not awoken when he had screamed his lungs out at it, in turn causing his gag reflex to breathe fire. Thankfully, Twilight had been smart enough to think of a fire protection spell in case he lost control. He just couldn't fathom the fact that the creature had not gone anywhere during the fire blast, and was not burned in the slightest afterwards. After whipping up some courage so he could go back into the oom, he stormed in and secured the still sleeping beast with chains that he had found in the basement of the library. Then he had called the Elements of Harmony to help alert the Princesses and bring it to Canterlot where they had put her in the rarely used castle dungeons. He noted to himself to never go back down there again, less it was something important, as the smell of still rotting flesh of old Equeastrian enemies and threats smelled absolutely horrid[\i] to him. Especially so because dragons have a greater sense of smell than ponies do. Plus it was scary, maybe even scarier that the changeling in the room was, but not quite. The weirdest part of the day so far, though, was when the changeling, who Spike soon learned was the hive queen Chrysalis, woke up claiming to be the pony she clearly was not. After a little while of conversation, the lying problem was fixed when he threw Twilight's old bottle of Truth potion at the menace making her tell the truth that she indeed was the queen. He was glad that the other Elements were there in the shadows in case she had tried to attack him, though she wouldn't have been able too with the titanium cell that she was in, and, adding to the effect, a magical ring that absorbed a unicorn's magic, making them almost powerless. The almost was the mair reasons the rest of the elements were hiding there, being the true friends that they always were to him. Twilight's friends had always been there for her as well as him. They always made him feel safe and even a bit warm and fuzzy inside when they were near him, especially Rarity. He even thought he might have caught a glimpse of her staring at him, even if it might have been his imagination doing the work, though he really hoped not. Leaving Applejack there with the beast was probably better than leaving Rainbow Dash there. AJ would be better to control herself than the Element of Loyalty, who would have probably ripped Chrysalis apart piece by piece if she didn't tell her where she had hidden Twilight. Twilight. There it was again, that little flutter in his heart that he just could not describe. Sadness? Bitterness? No, this was a feeling he had never felt before, not once in his life. It was the feeling of revenge. He needed it, he now realized. He needed it, craved it even. He thought up a plan in his head, one of the most elaborate ones he had made sice he had tried to ask Rarity out the very first time that he had seen her at her shop. That one had miserably failed, ending up with Rarity, the cutie mark crusaders and himself covered from head to tail in mud. Lots and lots of mud. Rarity had run away crying and the cmc ended up just playing around and splashing in the mud, but he had moped around the library for days. It definetly was not the best day for him, and most likely one of his worst plans ever. He shook his head as he walked, trying to clear his head of his faliures and ocus on the new task at hand. He had been heading in the general direction of the dining hall before but now he had a different agenda. One that left no time for lounging or any sort of 'hanging out' for that matter if it were to be carried out. He had something to do, something important. Step one of his plan in mind, he began to run as fast as his little dragon legs would carry him up to his suite and got out a piece of parchment and a quill. While he started jotting down words and numbers, he unknowingly smiled maliciously. This was going to be a very good afternoon. ________________________________________ Twilight took a step back in her cell, surprised. "Wait, what?" She said. "Applejack, what... Wait, you know it's me?" She raised her eyebrows. How could she have known? She was an Element, so why did she believe that she really was Twilight, when all of the other Elements didn't believe a word she had said? That wasn’t even accounting for when Spike had doused her with the truth potion. Did it have anything to do that she was the Element of Honesty? Maybe she could sense that the potion had failed because what she actually said was a lie? Who knew? She would just have to listen and hear what AJ had to say. "Why Twilight, how could ah not know that this... this thing was you? It's kinda obvious, hon. It’s just you, y'know? Your personality, your facial expressions all of it: You!" She responded with a smile on her freckled face. Reaching up with her front hoof, she tilted her trademark Stetson upwards and then put a serious look on. "Now," she said, "Let's work on gettin' y'all out of this place, it stinks, dunnit? Twilight nodded in agreement. Ever since she had woken up the smell of what she assumed to be dead bodies due to her confinement being in a dungeon had been burning in both her mouth and eyes. She would have done anything to get a toothbrush and brush her teeth. "So, what do we do first, AJ?" She asked. "Get some saws to cut the bars? That way we wouldn't have to go through the probable pain in the ass to get my cell's keys, right?" "Nah, that wouldn't work. It has to be-" Applejack started but was soon cut off as the pair heard hoof beats coming towards the door. AJ's eyes shot open as she stood there for a moment before suddenly doing a swift turn and bucked the iron bars with a loud clanging sound which echoed around the dark room. "Why you little! I'm gonna kill you when Ah finally get my hooves of ya! Nopony, and ah mean NOPONY talks to me about my family that way!" Twilight was only in surprise for a brief second before catching on to what the earth pony was up to. "Yeah, whatever," She said. "Your family should still die in a fiery hole of... uh... Hate!" She mentally face hoofed herself for screwing up but the ponies coming inside didn't seem to notice one bit. "It's alright, Applejack," The pure white earth stallion said with confidence. A pink mare with a golden tiara on her head spoke up also, finishing her husband's sentence for him. "We'll take it from here," She said. ________________________________________ Far, far away in the Changeling Hive stood a tall black figure with dark green hair and large, see through wings. She was standing in front of a desk made entirely of a substance that was forbidden knowledge in Equestria and thus very valuable, at least for her and her Hive: Souls. Souls that had been taken directly from ponies, griffins, and dragons alike had been used in its construction. The only creatures whose souls were not present were Changeling souls. Changeling souls did not exist at least not in a logical sense anyway. All changelings were soulless husks of their formal selves quite literally. The Queen, Chrysalis, was getting a report from the last remaining general of their army about how many of their kin had been lost in the battle that had taken place just days earlier. At the end she had the General bow in respect and then leave. She scowled at the number written on a dry erase board the one object she had trusted to keep around the hive. They had lost about nine-hundred and fifty soldiers, drones, and others of their own kind. She sighed and then banged her head on the table stirring up movement. She sat back up, mane in her face, and frowned even more. About to brush it aside with one hoof her eves widened. She grinned for her plan was now fully in effect. A husk of purple mane with pink highlights was now on the edge of her once fully dark green hair.