Integration

by Raugos

Chapter 12

Two days had passed since his confrontation with Chrysalis. Although she had promised change, life in the hive remained pretty much the same. They worked, they farmed, they kept watch for intruders, and they harvested love from the sleeping ponies.

Caramel had to rein himself in several times throughout, telling himself that it was unreasonable to expect Chrysalis to tell everyone to stop feeding on them immediately. Without a guaranteed sustainable source of food, they’d be in a lot of trouble before long. But that didn’t make it any easier to stomach the notion of leeching off on them, even if the queen had ordered everyone to be gentler about it. Stealing was stealing, and he didn’t think that would sit very well with anypony they tried to make contact with. The queen was still looking into their options for diplomacy.

The other thing that kept itching at the back of his mind was Princess Luna. He still had vivid dreams, but the moon was no longer present in them, and neither was the dark alicorn. At least, not directly. Whilst wandering through the barren landscapes in his dreams, he always felt like he was being watched, and although it did not affect the restfulness of his sleep, it bothered him when he was awake. He still hadn’t told anyone else about the princess, partially because he wasn’t sure how Chrysalis was going to react to that information. And also partially because he suspected that she was going to think him incredibly stupid for thinking that finding the moon would have helped him in his cause, no matter how uncannily vivid his dreams were.

After he was done with his duties for the day in the hatchery, he made his way to the repository to meet up with Sash. It was a chance for him to watch her work and learn a little more about what was involved in looking after the pods and their occupants. It was also a chance for him keep an eye on his friends. Although he wasn’t in any position to change their situation yet, he still felt like he owed them something for getting them tangled in this mess in the first place. Making sure that nothing worse happened to them was the least he could do.

But all thoughts of his captured friends vanished when he found Sash presiding over two pods that he was pretty sure had never been in that part of the chamber before. Her warm greeting went unanswered as he cantered right up to the pods and stared at them.

Sash tapped him on the shoulder and said, “Umm, I can explain.”

I sure hope so… The two pods had resin that was a light, glossy shade of green, unlike the darker hue of the rest of them. And he did not recognise the two ponies inside.

He rounded on Sash. “These are new, aren’t they? But I thought we were going to stop kidnapping ponies!”

Sash nodded hesitantly. “Yes. But the foragers saw these guys nosing about near one of the entrances yesterday. Anther said the plan was to stay out of sight and wait for them to leave, but then they actually found the tunnel.”

“Oh, great.” Caramel groaned.

“No kidding,” Sash agreed. “The foragers jumped on them. I guess they thought it’d be better than letting them get away and risk telling somepony.”

Sighing, Caramel turned his attention to the two captives. They were both pegasus stallions, probably amongst the biggest he’d ever seen. They looked starved, though. Their ribs were showing, their feathers were crooked, and their coats bore the grime and ruggedness of hard travel. If they were in healthy condition, though, he suspected they would have almost rivalled Big Mac in weight.

The green colouration of the pod was distorting their colours, but he surmised that one stallion was probably orange or brown with a darker shade for his mane. The other might’ve been dark green or grey with reddish hair. Both had various working tools for cutie marks.

Green light in the corner of his eyes interrupted his musings, and he turned and found Sash with her horn aglow, staring intently at the pegasi.

“Hey, wait!” he exclaimed.

Sash stopped immediately and looked at him in surprise. “What’s the matter?”

“What are you doing? They don’t look like they’re in any condition to be fed on.”

“Oh, that.” Sash shrugged. “They’re sleeping; it shouldn’t affect their emotions too badly.”

Caramel frowned. “Are you sure? Would there even be anything worthwhile? Because I don’t think I’m going to be all that happy or lovey if I looked like that.” He pointed to one of the emaciated stallions in emphasis.

“That’s what Scorn wanted me to find out.” Sash gave him a reassuring smile. “Harvesting their love won’t hurt them, and I’ll leave them alone if I find they’re emotionally drained already. This is pretty much standard procedure for us.”

“Hmm, okay. If you’re sure they’ll be fine…” Caramel retreated a few steps and watched as Sash closed her eyes and sent a tendril of magic from her horn, reaching towards one of the pods.

After a minute or so, he sat on his haunches and took to observing what the rest of Hunter Caste were doing. Though the work cycle was coming to an end, there were a few others still harvesting love, along with several workers meticulously cleaning the pods and their surroundings.

Another minute passed. Then two. This was taking longer than he’d expected. Maybe Sash had found the stallion suitable for harvesting after all. But it was odd that she’d hop straight to harvesting without first checking on the other guy…

Eh, she knows what she’s doing. Caramel mentally shrugged and went back to watching others at their work.

A sudden gasp brought his attention crashing back to Sash. He leaped to his hooves when he saw that she was trembling where she stood.

“Are you okay?” He was about to put a hoof on her shoulder, but hesitated at the last second. He had no idea if it was safe to interrupt a changeling in the middle of harvesting love.

“Hey, a little help over here, please!” he yelled. Several changelings turned his way, but only one actually came rushing over.

“What is it?” she asked irritably.

“This.” He gestured towards Sash. “This doesn’t look normal. What’s happening to her?”

The changeling peered at her curiously. A second later, her expression grew worried. “I don’t know. What was she trying to do?”

“She said she was going to check on these two. She wanted to see if they can be fed on. Does it usually take this long?”

She shook her head. “It never does. Something’s wrong. Give me a moment…”

Caramel waited impatiently as the changeling focused on Sash, lit up her horn and slipped into a meditative state. Seconds later, both Sash’s and the newcomer’s breathing grew heavy and irregular.

Oh, hayseed.

Sash suddenly collapsed to the ground, whimpering. The other soon followed. Caramel rushed to her side and shook her, no longer caring about the risk. It looked like she was having a nightmare or something. When she did not wake, he leaned in closer and whispered urgently, “Come on, I know you can hear me. Wake up!”

Her eyes opened, but she didn’t seem to see him. She whimpered and curled into a shivering ball, completely deaf to his pleas. The other changeling was faring no better.

What the heck is going on? What could have—

Caramel blinked. Slowly, he looked up and stared at the two stallions floating in the pods above them. Was it possible for ponies to fight back whilst like that? He’d never heard of it before, and he was pretty sure something that important would’ve been mentioned…

Sash murmured something unintelligible, but it was unmistakably out of fear. He tried speaking to her again, but she didn’t give any sign of having heard him, not even when he shook her a little. Then she started sobbing, and he growled in frustration. He could taste her fear and desperation; they were washing over him in waves.

Glaring at the two stallions, he thought, That’s it, I’m coming in. And if you’re the ones hurting her…

His horn was still recovering after being broken and the new layer of chitin had just only begun to harden, but that was all he needed. On any other day, the thrumming sort of pain as he channelled his magic would have been too much to bear, but Sash’s whimpers of terror spurred him onward. He plunged into the stallion’s subconscious like a cannonball.

The place that he entered was quiet. It was a vast expanse of darkness with the ground only dimly visible.

This can’t be right.

Caramel didn’t consider himself an expert on dreamstalking, but he was certain that it wasn’t supposed to be so barren and expansive. And dark. His vision was limited to a patch of ground going a hundred paces in any direction, and it had about the same lighting as a deep cave. The swirling masses of ‘clouds’ that were supposed to be the emotions and memories of the dreamer were still present, but they were dispersed. Where Lucky’s had been thick and clumped together, these were long, thin and fragmented. He focused on a relatively bright patch and glimpsed a little orange colt happily running around what looked like an old-style forge.

He suppressed the urge to feed, reminding himself that there were more important things to worry about. Sash seemed to be in the grip of a terrible nightmare, one that she couldn’t wake up from, and he—

Caramel froze.

Nightmare.

Oh no…

A deep growl shattered his train of thought. He tried to pull out of the stallion’s subconscious, only to find himself back in the dark, cavernous space. Except that this time, it wasn’t quite as dark. A pair of teal, glowing eyes were watching him. They had slit pupils like a cat’s, and although he could not see what they belonged to, it was already very clear that it wasn’t a pony.

And Caramel didn’t want to find out. He whirled around to beat a hasty retreat. Or rather, he tried to. His hooves felt like they were rooted to the ground. At the same time, the creature started moving towards him. Judging by the way the ground shook, it must’ve been massive. Before it had moved, the distance had simply given him a false impression of its real size.

Move, move, move! he mentally screamed at himself. Why can’t I move?

He looked down and gasped when he saw that his hooves were rooted to the ground. Literally. Right where his fetlocks should be, the black chitin had given way to gnarly bark, and when he tugged hard, the earth gave way a little to reveal wiry roots stuck firmly in the ground.

Another growl distracted him, and when Caramel looked back up, he saw the creature step into the dim light. Lines, curves and shadows coalesced around the fierce pair of eyes, until they formed a massive, angular head with thick horns, sharp spines, long snout and smoking nostrils. Two huge forelegs with wicked claws followed. Blue scales so dark that they were almost black glinted in the light.

Dragon!

Caramel made a sound that wasn’t that far off from a squeak and ripped one hoof out of the ground, creating a fountain of dirt and snapped rootlets. He quickly did the same for the others and galloped as fast as he could.

Unfortunately, having roots for hooves made running terribly difficult. He’d gone no further than a few yards before his legs got tangled in the ropy mess, and he soon ended up on the ground ensnared and unable to get up. He cringed when he heard the pounding of the dragon’s approach and desperately flailed his legs in an attempt to break the tangled roots. There was no such luck.

Caramel cringed and curled up when the dragon was upon him, praying that maybe, just maybe, the dragon wasn’t actually after him or would just leave him alone if he pretended to be small and insignificant.

Again, no such luck. He stiffened when he felt its clawed fingers close around him, then cried out when it lifted him into the air. His legs, roots and all were pinned to his sides, and he was held before the dragon’s terrible muzzle like some celery stalk that was about to be eaten. The dragon regarded him coldly for a moment, and then it roared in his face.

The hot blast of air rippled with force, reverberating through every bone in his body. He snapped his eyes shut and whimpered as the dragon’s claws tightened around him. There were other voices screaming in the darkness, but he couldn’t hear them. They didn’t matter anymore. The world had shrunk to just the little space that he had left in the dragon’s crushing grip. He was completely helpless, and a little squeeze was all the dragon needed to pop him like a grape.

Caramel started crying.

“Please… I don’t… I don’t want to die!” he wailed between sobs.

The dragon suddenly grew silent, and its grip loosened a little.

“It’s… it’s you,” the dragon said in a feminine voice. A feminine, pony sized voice that was tinged with surprise.

What? Caramel blinked and stared at the dragon. All at once, she didn’t seem quite so scary anymore. The screaming in the background had stopped, the darkness had receded, and he actually recognised the dragon!

“Princess Luna?”

The dragon’s claws went slack, and he gasped as he plummeted to the ground, flailing wildly. The hard rock rushed up to meet his face…

“Hrk!”

Caramel was lying flat on the ground next to Sassaflash. Then he remembered what had happened when he tried dreamstalking the stallions, so he quickly sat up and patted her gently. She blinked and her eyes darted around for a moment, but they eventually focused on him, and she sighed and curled up tightly. She was still shivering, but at least she had woken up from the nightmare. He couldn’t blame her; his heart was still pounding.

He glanced around and was about to call for help when he noticed that the other changelings who had been feeding had all toppled over and were also curled up on the ground in catatonic terror. Most of them were trembling and making incoherent noises. Only a couple of them, most likely bystanders, were unaffected, and they were busy tending to the afflicted ones. None of them seemed to know what had happened.

Caramel heard a gurgling sound the same time movement above caught his eye. He looked up and froze when he saw one of the stallions looking directly at him. The other guy wasn’t but he appeared to be taking stock of his surroundings even as he floated in his pod. Those alone should have been reasons enough for Caramel to sound the alarm, but he couldn’t help wondering what the starving pegasi were going to do next. He imagined that waking up floating inside one of those horrible things would’ve been a panic-inducing experience, and yet they seemed almost… accepting. Was it because they had already resigned themselves to such a fate? They certainly looked like they were only minutes away from passing out from hunger.

Then, both stallions pressed a hoof against the side of the pod and dragged it across the inside surface. A thin line appeared in the wake of each swipe.

What are they—

The pods bulged at the lines. Caramel felt his eyes widen when the stallions repeated the move in the opposite direction. They looked like they had something sharp hammered into the underside of their hooves.

—oh, crud.

Caramel grabbed Sash and leaped back as the two pods split open, dumping their contents onto where he and she had been only seconds before. The stallions landed with heavy, wet splats, but they were on their hooves almost in an instant. Caramel watched, torn between apprehension and curiosity as the pair threw up green slime. He then winced when he heard the gurgling noises they made when they drew breath, coughing up more of the fluid they had breathed in. But the moment only lasted a few seconds, after which both stallions turned their attention to him.

He took a step back. That should not have been possible. To regular ponies, the hive might as well have been in total darkness, but these two were clearly looking at him.

“Caramel?” Sash murmured, rubbing her head. “What was tha—T’chaak!”

She scrambled up and turned away to call for help, but at the same time one of the stallions, the orange one, swore under his breath and surged forward to tackle her. He slammed into her and covered her mouth, muffling her cry of alarm.

“Hey!” Before he’d realised it, Caramel had already bared his fangs, leaped to her side and slammed a hoof into the side of the stallion’s head. The slime-covered pegasus grunted and released her, but recovered quickly and glared at him.

Caramel widened his stance, preparing to fend off an attack or intercept him if he tried to stop Sash from getting away, but something heavy slammed into his side and bowled him over. He tumbled and grappled with his assailant, realising that it was the other stallion. The green-coated guy ended up pinning him to the ground, and Caramel was startled by just how heavy he was. He managed to get one hind leg under the stallion and kicked, but the big pegasus only grunted and then whacked his head with a hoof. Stars danced before his eyes.

He heard some scuffling nearby, then saw a green blast of magic flying straight at his assailant. The stallion spread his wings and leaped into the air to avoid it, and Caramel took the opportunity to get back onto his hooves. Sash was fighting the orange-coated pegasus, alternating between taking swipes at him and blasting him with magic. The guy was able to block or avoid most of her attacks, but she did graze him a couple of times on the flank. Caramel dashed forward to tackle him, but he had apparently anticipated the attack and whirled round to deliver an uppercut with his wing.

Caramel felt his neck crick as the world flipped upside down. He landed on his back and grimaced when his wings got scraped, and whilst Sash moved close and stood over him protectively, he saw the orange pegasus turning tail to retreat to a safe distance. His companion darted over to his side soon after.

Hayseed, those guys are strong…

Sash kept her horn flared up, panting heavily.

“You okay?” Caramel asked as he got back up.

“Fine,” she replied briskly. “What now?”

It had to be some kind of trick; there was no way anypony who looked that starved could move so quickly and hit so hard. His jaw was starting to ache from the blow he’d received. He glared at the two pegasi and growled, “Who the heck are you guys?”

They blinked, incomprehension written on their faces.

Oh, right. He’d accidentally spoken in Vespid.

But before he could rephrase his words in Equestrian, he heard the rapid pounding of hooves and buzzing of wings coming from behind. The others had finally taken notice. Realising that they were outnumbered, the two pegasi whirled round and fled down one of the tunnels leading towards the fungus farms.

The pain that Caramel was feeling subsided to a mild throb when the others swarmed past him and down the tunnel, and he felt his heart rate climb steadily to a rapid drumming. He was suddenly itching for a fight, and he realised that he was under the effects of the combat pheromones. Chrysalis was coming.

“What happened?” a voice asked urgently. Caramel turned and saw Scritch land next to him.

“The two guys we brought in yesterday. They broke out,” Sash explained.

Scritch turned his gaze to the members of Hunter Caste who were still curled up on the ground and shivering. With a puzzled frown, the warrior asked, “What’s up with them?”

“Nightmares,” Caramel stated.

“What?”

“It’s—oh no.” Caramel turned to the tunnel and broke into a gallop after the two stallions. He had a suspicion that Princess Luna was up to something, but he couldn’t be sure until he spoke to those two. He had no idea how he was supposed to accomplish that without having the entirety of Warrior Caste as an audience, but he would cross that bridge when he got to it.

“Come on!” he yelled over his back. “I’ll explain later!”

The two pegasi had caused quite a stir; judging by the thunderous pounding of hooves, buzzing of wings and raucous skittering, they might have had fifty changelings hot on their tails and spoiling for a fight.

Caramel had to fight to keep his thoughts clear. The last thing he needed was to get into another scuffle with the pegasi. But even the possibility of Princess Luna’s involvement wasn’t making it easy for him; those guys had hurt him and Sassaflash, and he definitely couldn’t let them get away without dishing back something in return for their troubles. Maybe a black eye or two—

Argh, stop that. We’re not supposed to be fighting!

“Caramel… what are… what are you up to?” asked Sash as she galloped alongside him.

She was clearly trying to resist the pheromones too, and her voice was a welcome distraction from the urge to fight.

“Let me deal with them! I think… Princess Luna knows where we are.”

Sash’s eyes bulged in surprise. “You mean, she’s the reason—”

“Think so. I’ll sort it out!”

They stopped talking after that and concentrated on catching up with the escaped prisoners.

Oh wow.

They found the two stallions cornered in one of the fungus chambers, surrounded by nearly twenty changelings who were on the ground, clinging to the ceiling or hovering in the limited airspace. There was nowhere for them to go, though that didn’t seem to be bothering them.

Caramel’s jaw went slack as the stallions whirled and danced in their little space, bucking, buffeting and pounding anyone who dared to get within range. The rest of his former caste mates were flitting in and out of the frenzy, but he could see six or seven of them lying on the ground in various states of consciousness. There was an occasional flash of green when someone used magic, but because of confines of that corner of the chamber and their frenzied battle, they were more likely to hit their siblings than the pegasi. He could barely see the stallions in there.

He toyed with the idea of charging in to have a bit of fun, but he shook his head violently to get rid of the pheromone-induced thought.

“Hey, guys, I think you should stop,” he said loudly.

No one listened. His jaw dropped again when the green stallion rammed into a group and sent four warriors flying. But the big pegasus was bleeding in several places, and there was a lot of sticky resin around his hooves. It was only a matter of time before they got beaten. It was taking awfully long to reach that point, though.

“Uh, guys, quit it!”

A couple of his siblings glanced at him, but quickly went back to fighting.

Caramel growled. If they didn’t stop now, it would never end. He had not come all this way to see one skirmish ruin everything that he had fought for!

“Just stop already!” he roared.

Everyone froze and all eyes turned to him. Or, most of them, rather. He felt bad for compelling the three changelings grappling with the pegasi to let their guard down, since the two apparently had no qualms about taking advantage of their indecision. Caramel cringed when he heard the crack of their hooves on chitin and winced when his siblings crashed to the ground. But that was the last thing those stallions were getting for free.

He brushed past his siblings, motioning for them to help up those that had been knocked out by the former captives. They did as he instructed, and when he reached the middle of the half-circle the changelings had formed around the pegasi, he settled into what he hoped was a non-threatening posture. The pegasi remained poised for battle, but he could see that they’d been worn down by the others. They were bleeding from cuts and had burn marks here and there, and globs of resin clung to their grimy coats and manes.

“Relax. I don’t want to hurt you guys,” he said in Equestrian.

The orange pegasus grinned at him with bloody teeth and spat onto the ground. “Oh yes, my loose tooth can certainly attest to that.”

Caramel blinked. Of all the attitudes that the stallions could have displayed in their situation, sarcasm was the least he would’ve expected. That tone certainly wasn’t mollifying his siblings, if their low, angry buzzing was any indication.

Ignoring the snide remark, he said, “Okay, just calm down. Maybe we can—”

“Very kind of you to provide the bruises, too,” the orange guy interjected.

“Hey, you were the one who started it!” Sash snapped.

Her anger was met with a wry grin. “Need I remind you that we were simply minding our business before you louts pounced on us like wolves? Your hospitality would put a diamond dog to shame.”

Caramel felt his temper rising, and the pheromones certainly weren’t helping. The others were bristling at the stallion’s snarky attitude, but he brushed aside his growing irritation and waved his hoof repeatedly in a placating motion. “Never mind. Can we all just get along without fighting for a few minutes?”

“Oh, you mean like them?” The orange stallion gestured at the changelings they’d knocked out.

Someone hissed angrily. “You want to find out what fighting is like? Say that again, I dare you!”

More angry hisses and chitters of agreement followed.

This is getting out of hoof.

Caramel considered shouting again to get everyone back into order, but he was spared from resorting to that when Chrysalis herself came trotting into the chamber. Everyone hushed at once and made way for her.

Oh, great. This was going to complicate things.

After glancing at her incapacitated children, the queen waved impatiently at those standing closest to them and said, “You; get them out of here. I’ll deal with these troublemakers myself.” She then turned to the two stallions and gave them a nasty smile. “Interesting… you can see in the dark. And it’s been quite a while since somepony managed to get out of a pod, let alone fight off a whole squad of my warriors. The fact that you did so while starving makes it all the more impressive.”

The orange pegasus raised an eyebrow. “Who are you?”

“Don’t you know? I’m Queen of the changelings, the one who defeated your precious Princess Celestia in single combat.” Chrysalis chuckled. “Or has she been telling you ponies a different story to cover that up?”

“Ah, you mean the one where you and your army get catapulted out of Canterlot by a pair of lovestruck ponies?”

Chrysalis’ smile disappeared. “Choose your words carefully. You are in my domain now. I still have more than enough power to flatten you.”

The orange stallion leaned over to his companion and murmured, “I expected someone taller.”

The other guy shrugged.

“Perhaps the princess was exaggerating after all.”

“I’m standing right here!” Chrysalis snapped. Her horn glowed, and she bared her fangs. “Do you have a death wish, little pony?” She then turned to his partner and growled, “And what about you? Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

The green stallion, who hadn’t said a word up until then, shrugged again and said, “Don’t drag me into your quarrel. I insulted nopony.”

Mr Orange blinked at him in surprise. “But… didn’t you call her a—”

He was cut off by a quick wing-slap to the muzzle, after which Mr Green repeated, “I insulted nopony.”

Rubbing his muzzle tenderly, Orange muttered, “What a friend you are.”

“At least you have one. I’m not dying for your loose tongue.”

Caramel had been watching the exchange slack-jawed. What’s wrong with these guys? Did the green slime in the pods make ponies suicidal or something?

Chrysalis’ eye twitched. “That’s it.” Both stallions were engulfed in green auras and lifted into the air. “I did not come here to be insulted by you miserable bags of bones!” she snarled.

“If it is any consolation, you hardly needed our help to—argh!”

The queen slammed the orange stallion into the wall behind him. She then glanced at the green guy, then shrugged and did the same to him.

“I was going to just put you back to sleep, but now that you’ve annoyed me, I think that can wait,” she growled.

Caramel winced as her horn glowed more brightly, and the two stallions started squirming and groaning. He’d been on the receiving end of her crushing grip before, and it wasn’t something he would wish on anypony else.

“Umm, Your Highness, maybe you could go a little easier on them,” he began, but the rest of his words refused to come out when Chrysalis scowled at him.

“Your Highness!” A changeling came running into the chamber.

“I’m busy; it can wait.”

“But… there is a—”

“Be quiet; I’ll be done in a minute!” Chrysalis snapped. “I just need to teach these smart-mouths a lesson.”

Though the stallions were obviously in pain, their refusal to break eye contact with the queen told Caramel that they were quite unrepentant. Come on, just say you’re sorry!

After a moment of watching them squirm, Chrysalis frowned and levitated them closer. “There’s something odd about you after all. I had been wondering…” she murmured.

The green guy tried to take a swipe at her with his hoof, but Chrysalis had already learned from Caramel when he’d tried the same move two days ago. She jerked her head back to avoid the punch and slammed him on the ground for good measure. Then, she shot two streams of magic directly at them. The stallions were swallowed by green flames.

There were gasps, chitters and other sounds of surprise when the flames dissipated.

Well, that explains a lot…

They had been wearing magical disguises. Instead of starving ponies, Caramel found himself staring at two very fit, although injured, stallions in their prime. But that wasn’t the most unusual thing about them. They had bat-like wings, ashen grey coats, dark purple manes and tails, extra tufty ears and yellow eyes with slit pupils.

Princess Luna’s guards. He’d seen them during Nightmare Night, but he’d always assumed that they had just been dressing up for that event. If Chrysalis had stripped away their disguises with her magic, that would mean they really looked like that…

“I thought those were just costumes…” Sash said.

Chrysalis’ frown deepened as she peered at them. “What are you?”

The formerly orange pegasus grinned, revealing a pair of fangs that were almost as long as a changeling’s. “Single. You would not believe how many times a mare has turned away from me.”

“Your endless babbling would account for half of that alone,” his companion groused.

“At least I try. You, on the other hoo—”

“Shut up, both of you!” Chrysalis hissed. “I have never seen such…” Her words trailed off as a realisation struck her. She whirled round to the changeling that had previously attempted to give her a message, who was fidgeting where he stood. “You. What were you trying to tell me earlier?”

“Probably—aack!”

Without even bothering to look, Chrysalis had silenced the bat-pony by squeezing his throat with her magic. He gasped and flailed, but she held him tight.

“It’s the princess. She’s taking away the pods. We couldn’t stop her!”

Chrysalis’ eyes widened. “What? Celestia is here?”

“No, it’s the blue one!”

If Caramel’s brain had gears in it, they would’ve ground to a halt. She’s here? But that would mean… she’s after… but how… oh hayseed what do I do—

The queen blinked, glanced at the bat-ponies, then looked past the nervous messenger and stared up the tunnel to the captive chamber. “Oh, clever girl.” She sneered at the two stallions and blasted them with two concussive bursts of magic after the other, hard enough to smash them against the wall and leave them in crumpled heaps on the ground.

“Lock them up in the holding cell; use the chains.” Chrysalis spun round as the others descended on the stallions, and Caramel heard her murmur, “So the little sister dabbles in transfiguration...” just before she galloped up the tunnel.

Caramel lingered for a moment, but when his brain failed to come up with a plan to deal with the situation, he decided to wing it and galloped after the queen, along with Sash and those who were not tasked with restraining Princess Luna’s guards. No wonder they had been acting so strangely; they had been stalling for time!

They entered the repository just in time to see a dark blue alicorn slicing one of the pods away from the ceiling with her magic. There were nearly a dozen changelings strewn about the place, and most of them were either curled up and cowering in place or groaning in pain.

By her hooves were several pods with their occupants still asleep. Caramel counted the number of severed stalks hanging from the ceiling around the place and estimated that she had probably freed half of the captives already.

But where are the rest of them?

“I hope we’re not interrupting anything,” Chrysalis politely quipped.

The moon princess tensed when she saw them. Then her horn glowed and the air around her began to shimmer, along with the pods lying at her hooves.

Chrysalis growled, “I have captured both of your goons. Teleport out, and I will have them executed.”

The princess’ determined expression wavered, revealing uncertainty for a moment, but she did end her spell. As she gently lowered the severed pods, more changelings poured into the chamber and surrounded her, though their gingerly slow advance made it clear just how little they wanted to mess with her, seeing as she had already incapacitated a fair number of them. Everyone kept at least a dozen paces between them and the princess.

Princess Luna, on the other hoof, didn’t seem to mind being surrounded. She gave Chrysalis an appraising look, then said, “Resorting to honourless threats so soon? Perhaps my sister’s low opinion of you was correct after all.”

“Oh, look who’s talking. You’re trespassing and stealing our food. I’ll do what it takes to protect my children,” Chrysalis retorted coolly.

“They are not food,” Princess Luna growled. “And you have no right to keep them here against their will.”

“Would you throw one of my subjects in a dungeon if it meant saving the life of one of your own?”

Luna frowned, but she did not give an answer.

Chrysalis smirked. “I thought so. Now surrender and maybe I’ll consider letting you go with a warning.”

The moon princess remained silent.

“Come on, don’t take all day.” Chrysalis faked a lazy yawn. “There’s no need to feel bad about it; plans fall apart sometimes, trust me on this. You’ve already spent all your luck just finding the hive.”

Caramel had been standing in the throng of guards and warriors behind Chrysalis the whole time, but it was at that moment that Princess Luna’s eyes flicked over to him. He was sure that her eyes had fallen on him for only a fraction of a second, but Chrysalis had apparently noticed it, for she turned in surprise and swept her gaze over everyone. She too focused on him for a second, then shot a look back at the princess, who was watching intently.

“Caramel,” Chrysalis asked in a dangerously sweet voice, “did you know something about this?” She waved a hoof at Luna and the severed pods.

Could he say that he hadn’t known? Well, he hadn’t; not really. But after all those weird dreams and odd little things that he did… He remembered seeing a shadow on the moon when he climbed to the surface… Would she blame him?

He started sweating when he realised that everyone was looking at him. The smart thing to do would be to deny it first. He could get that all sorted out later. He opened his mouth, but the only thing that came out was, “Err…”

Her eyes narrowed. “We’re going to have a long, long chat after this.” She then turned back to the princess and said, “I’ve changed my mind. Surrender now and maybe I’ll keep the ransom at a reasonable amount.”

It was Princess Luna’s turn to frown. She was hesitating, torn between two decisions that she did not want to make, that much he could tell. She glanced down at one of the sleeping ponies in the pods, then back at Chrysalis, and there was a flicker of anguish on her face. Then, the princess grabbed the loose pods with her magic and quickly shifted them out of the way. At the same time, she flared her wings, took a step forward and snorted. “If you want my surrender, you will have to earn it.”

The queen lifted an eyebrow. “Really? I still have your guards. Stop this nonsense or they’re going to suffer for it.”

“Would you sacrifice two of your subjects to save more than ten times as many?” Luna pawed at the ground and rumbled, “But know this; if you harm my subjects, I will exact vengeance for their suffering. In blood, if necessary.”

“Don’t be stupid.” Chrysalis gestured towards the changelings around the princess. “You are completely surrounded and outnumbered.”

Luna was unperturbed. After surveying everyone present, she gave a mirthless chuckle. “Well, that is hardly fair. You should have brought thrice as many soldiers.”

“Umm, Your Highnesses?” Caramel raised his hoof gingerly. “Maybe we should—”

Both shot glares at him that were fit to freeze water, and his voice died off. It was over. He’d blown it. He’d lost Chrysalis’ trust, and it was obvious now that Princess Luna had other plans of her own.

“I’ll get the injured out of here,” Sash whispered. “See what you can do about getting them to stop.”

Caramel nodded as she hustled a couple of other changelings to drag Luna’s victims to safety. This was going to get ugly.

“I defeated your elder sister, little princess. Do you really think you can do better than her?”

Luna’s only response was to light up her horn with blue magic.

Chrysalis sighed. “Fine. Seize her!”

A collective hiss sounded from the changelings encircling the princess. Caramel squinted as dozens of flashes went off at once, leaving a crowd of earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns charging at the princess. He tried to call out to them to stop, but his voice was lost in the chorus of angry shouts and snarls.

Luna had more success, though.

“Stand back, you foals!” she roared.

Caramel suddenly found himself lying on his back with several other fake ponies piled on top of him. His ears were ringing and it was difficult to tell which way was up or down. The others recovered more quickly, but he wasn’t too bothered with that; he shut his eyes and waited for the bout of dizziness to end. When he finally got up, he had to duck back down almost immediately to avoid getting smacked in the face by a flying earth pony.

Princess Luna was swatting everyone like flies, using hooves, magic, and even the bodies of other changelings. He winced saw her grab an unfortunate fellow by the tail with magic and swing him around like a flail. It was a ridiculously one-sided fight.

Why isn’t Chrysalis doing anything? He glanced around, but the queen was nowhere in sight. Then, he spotted her, slinking in the shadows behind the very busy princess. A part of him wanted to call out and warn her, but at the same time, he couldn’t help thinking that Chrysalis’ trust in him was strained enough already. But if he didn’t then the princess might start regarding him as an enemy…

Oh heck, this is so messed up.

Princess Luna shrieked when a bolt of green magic struck her in the side. She reeled from the blast, disoriented, and then took another hit squarely in the chest. This time she was sent flying and crashed into a pillar, narrowly missing a couple of pods that were hanging nearby. She slumped to the ground, and he saw cracks in the pillar where she’d struck it.

Then, Caramel gaped when he saw Princess Celestia striding over to the fallen princess.

“I am very disappointed in you, Sister. Does the throne mean so much to you that you would attack our subjects just to get what you want?” ‘Celestia’ gestured at the injured ‘ponies’ nearby, shook her head gravely and added, “How could you betray them? How could you betray me?”

Princess Luna’s expression shifted to one of fear, and she tried to scramble away from the white alicorn. But it was only for a moment, and the fear quickly gave way to outrage. “You… you dare…” Words seemed to fail her.

Chrysalis kept up the act and sternly replied, “That’s enough, Luna. Come quietly.”

Changelings advanced on Luna, this time disguised as royal guards, but they had barely laid a hoof on her before she surged to all fours and whirled around, forcing them back with the ripple of air created by her outstretched wings. Before they could recover, she shot a bolt of blue lightning straight at Chrysalis, who just managed to deflect it in time with a burst of green flame.

Chrysalis shed her disguise and shouted at everyone, “Get out of the way! Move the pods elsewhere!”

The warriors retreated to watch from a safer distance whilst the others moved quickly to detach pods and haul them off. At least, those that weren’t too close to the angry alicorn.

Luna tried to stop them from moving the captives, but Chrysalis kept her distracted by repeatedly blasting her with magic. Eventually, the princess focused entirely on the queen, and they ended up facing off in the middle of the chamber with cracked stone and scorch marks everywhere.

Now that the princess had chosen to focus on dealing with the biggest threat around, her attacks were relentless. She kept shooting lightning bolts at Chrysalis, who was forced to deflect them each time and risk hitting someone. Caramel had to dodge a stray bolt twice, and soon everyone was taking cover behind something solid.

At one point Chrysalis managed to envelope Luna in her magic, but after briefly flailing, the alicorn shattered the green aura and resumed her attack. Some warriors tried to help Chrysalis, but it was soon clear from the way Luna picked them off that they could do little against her.

But after some time, Caramel noticed that Luna was slowing down, and he saw Chrysalis sporting a small grin. She was letting the princess tire herself. When the alicorn paused for breath, the queen struck back by charging and ramming into her. Luna failed utterly at blocking the attack, having apparently not been expecting a physical assault. She stumbled, and Chrysalis slung globs of resin at her wings. They clung to the feathers, and when Luna tried to shake them off, the movement only helped it spread and stick onto the rest of her coat.

Caramel sensed Luna’s disgust and distress, and Chrysalis took the opportunity to press her attack. She struck at the princess with bucks, swipes and the occasional slug of resin. With every hit Luna took, she became more ensnared and less able to fight back. She wasn’t bleeding, but her coat had many streaks and dirt marks on it where she’d been struck, and her movements were growing sluggish. A particularly vicious buck from the queen made her stumble to the ground.

All the while, Chrysalis was buzzing her wings, and Caramel realised that his glands were oozing. A quick glance around told him that the same was happening to the others. More pheromones.

“Having fun?” Chrysalis mocked, towering over the prone alicorn.

Princess Luna’s horn crackled with lightning in response, but the queen quickly swatted it with a hoof, causing the spell to fizzle out.

Chrysalis chuckled derisively and then cast a spell that he didn’t recognise, but its effects soon became obvious. He felt a weird sensation in his legs and gasped when globules of resin floated out of the holes, enveloped in little green auras of their own. He watched in morbid fascination as hundreds of similar globs of the stuff flew from everyone’s pores and smacked into Princess Luna. Before long she was covered in green gunk, but Chrysalis kept them coming until her entire head was engulfed. Luna thrashed and screamed, creating bubbles in the sticky fluid, but the queen continued to smother her in more and more of the stuff.

“Just breathe…” Chrysalis cooed softly. “That’s a good pony…”

The mass of fluid around the princess had grown until it was about the size of one of the pods, and Chrysalis was keeping all of it in place with her magic. From what he could see, the princess was practically floating in the stuff already. Her chest expanded, and Caramel saw some of the bubbles go back into her mouth. She squirmed and coughed, eyes bulging in shock and desperation.

I’m watching somepony drown. He knew that he should do something, but he couldn’t think of anything, and he was frightened by the sight.

It felt like it had taken an obscenely long time, but Luna eventually slowed in her struggling, and her eyes rolled back and closed.

“That’s right. Go to sleep, little pony,” Chrysalis murmured. A tendril of magic flowed from her horn and swirled around the mass of fluid, shaping it into a cylindrical form. When she ended the spell, the princess was encased in a freshly hardened pod, and she casually shaped a stalk from one of its ends and stuck it to the ceiling.

Caramel was at a loss for words. Now he had seen the queen defeat both of the princesses.

“Clean up this mess,” Chrysalis ordered. “I have prisoners to interrogate.” She shot a disapproving scowl at Caramel, pointed a hoof at him and added, “As for you… I’m very curious about how she knew where to find us.”

“I didn’t tell her!” he blurted.

“Is that so? She did not seem very surprised to see you like this. I’m sure that you were somehow involved, even if it’s not as much as I’m inclined to believe.”

He averted his eyes. “I’ve… been seeing her in my dreams.”

The queen narrowed her eyes. “Interesting. Did she speak to you? And what was it about?”

“Yeah. She said she was looking for me, but she couldn’t understand what I was saying. I didn’t know—”

Caramel stopped when Chrysalis turned her head sharply. As he followed her gaze, he became aware of a low hissing noise, and he stiffened when his eyes fell on Princess Luna’s pod. Smoke was coming off from its blistering, cracking surface, making it difficult for him to make out what was going on inside. But judging by the black swirls in the fluid, it wasn’t anything pleasant.

“We’ll talk later…” Chrysalis said distractedly.

The pod split open with a sickly gurgle, releasing all of its contents at once. What came out was mostly steaming, green slop and a dark figure that was curled up in a foetal position. She rose unsteadily after hitting the ground and coughed the gunk out of her lungs as the fluid on her coat evaporated into clouds of steam.

Caramel took a step backward. It was Nightmare Moon.

Then, the dark alicorn levelled a steely glare at Chrysalis, and he was forced to reconsider. Though she had the black coat and starry, purple-blue mane of the Mare in the Moon, her eyes still had the same colour and round pupils as Princess Luna. She was also wearing her normal breastplate instead of Nightmare Moon’s armour. That didn’t do much to make her look less terrifying, though. She had grown as tall as Chrysalis, and her eyes were glowing with menace.

“Okay, so maybe you can do a little better than your sister,” Chrysalis conceded.

“No more games. The fun. Ends. Here,” Luna growled.

He was struck by an urge to flee when he heard her reverberating, dragon-like voice, but he was getting rather used to that sort of thing, so he was just able to stop himself after retreating a short distance.

“Fine. Get out of my home!” Chrysalis fired a blast of magic at the dark alicorn, but she managed to counter it with a bolt of purple lightning. The two created a crackling ball of green and purple energy when they met, which promptly exploded and shook the chamber.

At the same time, Caramel heard a frightened chirp from somewhere above, and he jumped in surprise when something fell on his back. Yikes! He bucked out in panic when it clung tight, squeezing his wings. He turned to get a look, ready to zap it off with magic if necessary, and if—

Oh. Caramel blinked.

Mite blinked back, then pointed a hoof upwards and said, “It was her idea.”

Caramel looked up and felt his jaw drop when he saw another nymph clinging to the ceiling.

“Hey, it wasn’t just my idea,” Pith retorted indignantly. “Stickle said—”

“Stickle?” Caramel felt like hyperventilating. “How many of you came here?”

If either nymph gave an answer, it was drowned out by the sound of another explosion. He reeled from the blast and had to shield his eyes when he saw two thick beams of energy from the horn of the two combatants colliding in the middle of the chamber. One was a fiery green, the other was a crackling purplish-blue. The queen and princess were both standing their ground, glaring daggers as they attempted to blast the other away.

Some of the warriors, those who hadn’t already fled after hearing Luna’s voice, tried to surround her once more, but a heavy stomp that cracked the floor and a sideways glance from her made them stop in their tracks.

“Don’t,” was all Nightmare Luna said.

Chrysalis herself was starting to show signs of strain. Her ears were slightly laid back, and he could see the beginnings of a tremble going through her limbs. “Stay back, all of you,” she commanded. “I’ll take care of this brat.” Her voice didn’t sound as confident as her words might have suggested, though.

Speaking of brat… Caramel still had a nymph clinging to his back.

“Let’s get out of here. It’s not safe,” he said.

“But—”

“Shush. We’re leaving!” he snapped at Mite. Pointing a hoof at Pith, he added, “Get back to the hatchery and stay there. That’s an order, both of you!”

Mite leaped off his back just as Pith scuttled off upside down, and Caramel was left feeling annoyed that he probably should have first asked them where Stickle was. Or if there were any of the nymphs sneaking around. Honestly, they were getting almost as bad as the crazy Crusaders…

As he skirted the perimeter of the two powerful fighters, he noted that their colliding streams of magic were heating up the chamber considerably. There was even a warm draft coming off from the point of collision.

This can’t end well. The last time this sort of thing happened, his horn had exploded. And Chrysalis had probably been holding back on him. But now that she was up against one of the princesses, she was probably giving everything she got, and by the time one of them lost, the result was probably going to be spectacularly catastrophic.

There you are!

He spotted a small figure lurking in the shadows behind a cluster of stalactites. That was practically on the opposite side of the chamber. He broke into a gallop and dashed past warriors who were transfixed by the sight of their queen duelling with an alicorn. Some changelings were running about as well, either dragging pods to safety or – he hoped – hustling other nymphs playing truant back to the hatchery. He didn’t dare call out to Stickle for fear of making him leave that spot because it was relatively sheltered should there be another explosion.

Caramel stole a glance at the fight and saw that Chrysalis wasn’t fairing so well. She was shaking and yielding ground. It was the first time he’d seen her grit her teeth, and her beam of energy was faltering and giving way to Luna’s.

Not good. He put on a burst of speed, clambered up a rock column and dashed upside-down to Stickle’s hideout. “Come on, let’s get out of here. It’s dangerous,” he urged.

At that moment, he heard a shriek from Chrysalis. “Children, help me!”

He stiffened. The queen’s voice was filled with agony and overwhelming need, and he was too stunned by the amount of desperation behind the compulsion to resist. He dug into his reserves of magic and sent it forth to her, despite the stinging tingle it brought to his still-recovering horn. The others were doing the same, creating a swirling web of magical tendrils that converged on Chrysalis who appeared very close to kneeling at that point.

But it all changed when she began siphoning power from all of them. It wasn’t a gentle transaction like sharing love to feed others. It was desperate and ravenous; Caramel felt his reserves draining at an alarming rate. After a moment of it, Chrysalis was standing tall and proud once more, and her stream of magic had strengthened to a blazing beam of fiery wrath. Nightmare Luna’s eyes widened in shock as her magic was rapidly driven back, and it was her turn to grimace when the green energy came rushing to her end. She braced herself and the point of collision halted for a moment, just a couple of tail-lengths from her horn.

Then, Caramel saw a blinding flash of green, followed by a thunderclap and the sound of crumbling rock. The drain on his magic stopped abruptly, and when his vision had cleared he saw Chrysalis standing alone in the middle of the chamber, panting and bowed over with fatigue. Smoke and dust clouded the place where her opponent had once been standing, and green embers were floating in the air.

She’s… gone? Caramel felt empty inside. Princess Luna had been beaten twice. But then smoke cleared a little, revealing Nightmare Luna, still standing in place. She was staring at Chrysalis in surprise, though he could not tell whether it was because she couldn’t believe her magic had been outmatched or that she was still on her hooves.

Horse apples. What was the princess made of to be able to stand up to a blast like that? He was starting to think that maybe she was secretly a dragon or something.

Then, the smoke cleared a little more, and he saw a gaping hole in the dark alicorn’s chest, just below her warped, smouldering breastplate. It went right through her; the other opening was between her wings. An impact crater was visible on the wall behind her. Chrysalis’ jaw dropped, and Caramel felt his blood run cold. But even more unnerving was the fact that the wound was filled with billowing purple mist instead of the more gruesome stuff that one would have expected. The mist flowed together as they watched, pulling the edges closer together like inky water. Within seconds, there was no trace of the damage.

Okay, probably not a dragon…

Nightmare Luna grasped her mangled breastplate with magic and bent it back into shape, eliciting metallic groans from it. When she had reworked it so that the edge no longer bit into her chest, she grinned wolfishly. “Just a flesh wound.”

“Oh, T’chaak,” Chrysalis muttered.

The princess lunged forward, nimbly dodging a bolt of magic. Chrysalis cried out, and several warriors rushed in to answer her call, charging straight at Luna. She grabbed one with magic and flung him aside, then grunted when a magical blast struck her on the cheek. She stalled, and the other warriors leaped onto her and began slathering her with resin. Blue smoke jetted from her nostrils when she snorted in disgust, and Caramel blinked in surprise when she dissolved into starry, purple-blue mist and whirled around like a miniature sideways tornado, dragging along several of the changelings who had failed to retreat quickly enough at her sudden transformation. They were flung out like stones as she surged and corkscrewed towards Chrysalis.

This time, the queen was genuinely out of sorts. Her emotional barriers were down, and Caramel could actually taste her fear. She fired more magic at the mist, but they were relatively weak and poorly aimed. In any case, they passed harmlessly through Luna when they were on target. When she was only a couple of strides away, Chrysalis conjured a wall of green fire than elicited an angry hiss from the purple mist. But a second later, the mist coalesced back into Nightmare Luna. She burst through the wall of fire unscathed, chest fully expanded with a deep breath, and unleashed an explosive roar upon Chrysalis. It was like a cannon blast.

The shockwave of sound staggered Caramel and caused dust and bits of debris to rain from the ceiling. A wave of air laden with dust radiated from the shout’s point of impact, and Chrysalis, being smack in the middle of it, was pummelled into a kneeling position. Unsatisfied, Luna leaped into the air and blasted her with another roar from above. The queen’s legs buckled, and she ended up sprawled on the ground, utterly spent. She was bleeding in several places where her carapace had cracked. Her ears flattened and her pupils shrank to pinpricks as Nightmare Luna landed nearby and advanced on her.

Seeing the queen cowed like that stirred something in Caramel. It reminded him of the nightmare when he entered the subconscious of Luna’s guard, when he thought that she was going to squash him like a grape.

He released his grip on the ceiling, dropped to the floor and shouted as he galloped towards the dark alicorn. “That’s enough!”

Nightmare Luna either didn’t hear or was ignoring him. Her horn was crackling with lightning, which wasn’t a good sign. The queen was beaten; there was no need for further violence. And he had no idea if it really was Luna or Nightmare Moon with a slightly different look. Whatever the case, she looked like she was keen on finishing off Chrysalis, and that was something he couldn’t allow.

But before he could reach them, something small dropped from the ceiling and landed between the queen and princess, then fired a green spark that exploded in Luna’s face. She grunted and rubbed her watering eyes as her spell fizzled out, then glared down at the nymph standing protectively before Chrysalis. Stickle bared his fangs and hissed angrily at her. She lifted a hoof, ready to swat him aside…

And Caramel lunged in to interpose with his foreleg. It was enough to stop her, but only because she was surprised by the move and had paused of her own accord. He had no doubt that she could’ve broken his leg if she’d meant to go ahead with her attack.

“Your Highness, please…” he said.

She glared at him, but didn’t lower her hoof.

A second set of pounding hooves became audible, and Luna spread a wing in anticipation of the newcomer approaching from behind her. Caramel tensed as a panting Sassaflash galloped into view, skidding to a halt before she got within striking range of the dark alicorn. She was wreathed in green flame for a second and changed into her pony form, drawing a suspicious glare from Luna.

“Your Highness,” Sash panted, “my name is Sassaflash. I was granted citizenship in Ponyville when I became of age. I was there when you visited on Nightmare Night. As one of your subjects, I beg of you… please don’t hurt my mother.”

Uncertainty flashed across Luna’s features for a moment, but her coldness quickly returned. “Stay out of this,” she growled.

“You were wrong, Caramel. Nightmare Moon really is a monster,” Stickle piped up in Equestrian.

Luna’s eyes widened. She looked at the nymph, turned to Caramel, then slowly lowered her hoof.

“Get away from her, all of you.”

All eyes turned to Chrysalis. She waved a hoof at him impatiently, and he moved aside so that she could have a clear view of Nightmare Luna. The queen had regained her composure and her emotions were guarded once more.

“I yield,” she declared solemnly to Luna. Her gaze was fearless, but it was clear that it was due to resignation rather than confidence. She had no further tricks up her sleeve. “You will have your guards and subjects returned; all of them. All I ask is that you spare my children and let them go.”

The princess settled into a more relaxed stance, apparently deep in thought. Caramel noted that she was gazing at Stickle, but her eyes were unfocused and she seemed to be missing the fact that the nymph was staring back defiantly at her. “Nay, children, wait…” he heard her whisper almost imperceptibly.

Then, Luna sighed deeply, and the dark colour of her coat dissolved into black smoke that drifted up and disappeared into thin air. She shrank to her regular size, then folded her wings and regarded them gravely. “Apologies. I should not have allowed passion to consume me so.” Then, to Chrysalis, she said, “How soon will you return my guards and free my subjects?”

“Immediately.” Chrysalis barked out some orders to the others present, then settled into a more dignified posture on the ground. “I will have the pods brought to the surface. After that, if you let my children go, you may deal with me as you see fit. I will not struggle.”

“Mother!” Sash cried, but wilted when Chrysalis gave her a stern look.

“Fear not,” Luna interjected. “I tire of violence; I have no inclination to cause further harm to your kind, and I do not intend to take prisoners. Once my guards arrive, I will take Caramel to the surface to have a few words with him. Then when all is in readiness, we will leave you in peace.”

“Wait a minute, whose side is she supposed to be on now?” Stickle asked in confusion.

Caramel sighed and drew him close with a hoof. “I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure she’s not against us for now.”

They waited for the next few minutes in silence. Princess Luna sat passively on her haunches and watched as Builder Caste went about shoring up the points where the battle had damaged the supporting structures of the cavern. Caramel sat next to Sash, who had reverted to changeling form, but he could not find much to say even though there was the possibility of separation if the princess declared it so. Being close to her was all that mattered to him for now.

“You’re Princess Luna.”

“You fought Discord, right?”

Caramel sat up straighter and turned to find the princess eyeing a pair of nymphs by her side.

Mite and Pith came back... Why am I not surprised?

“Yes, I did,” Luna answered.

“He was a bad guy, wasn’t he?” Pith continued.

“Indeed, he was.”

“So that makes you the good guy, right?” Mite asked.

Luna tilted her head. “I… I suppose so.”

“So why were you fighting us?” Stickle said as he skittered over to them.

Princess Luna opened her mouth to answer, but the words didn’t come. Her eyes became unfocused again, as if she was remembering something unpleasant. Or maybe she just didn’t want or know how to explain to them that changelings and ponies were supposed to be enemies.

“That’s enough; do not pester her,” Chrysalis chided the nymphs. “Go back to the hatchery before I decide to implement spanking in the hive.”

The three of them glanced at Luna hopefully, but when she continued to stare at them in surprise, they quickly retreated without another word. An awkward silence ensued, but they were soon spared the task of breaking it when metallic clinking became audible. Up from one of the tunnels came the two bat-ponies, shackled and collared, escorted by three changelings each. Although pretty battered up from their encounter with the queen, their grim demeanours changed to relief when they saw Luna waiting serenely.

“Your guards, as promised,” Chrysalis said as she levitated a key out of one of her leg holes. Once she had unlocked their bonds, she added, “The rest of the pods are being brought to the surface right now. They will be ready soon.”

Luna whispered something to her guards as they returned to her sides, then stood up and turned to Chrysalis. “Thank you,” she said. “But before I go, I would have words with… one of my subjects.” She turned to him and beckoned him over.

Caramel noted that she had used the word ‘subject’ very hesitantly, but he decided that there were bigger things to worry about. He rose and took a step forward, but turned back to look at Chrysalis for approval. She nodded curtly, and he trotted over to the princess. After a moment of hesitation, he bowed before her.

Princess Luna’s horn glowed, and he felt a tingle run over his body.

“Wait, what are you doing?” Sash cried.

“Worry not. I am merely teleporting to the surface for some privacy. Caramel will not be harmed.”

Sash ran over, but skidded to a halt when both of Luna’s guards blocked her way with outstretched wings. She scowled at them and added, “I’m coming with him.”

The blue alicorn frowned, then regarded Caramel with a slightly raised eyebrow.

“She’s my special somepony and the reason I came here. I’m pretty sure she can listen to whatever you have to say to me,” he said.

“I see.” Luna waved her guards aside. “Very well, let us be off.”

Her horn brightened and Caramel heard a loud pop. The next thing he knew, they were standing on a rocky tor out in the open. A mild breeze blew through his mane as he took stock of his surroundings. He thought he recognised a rock formation some distance off as the tunnel exit he had used nearly two days ago. As best he could tell, it was late into the night. The stars and moon were out and twinkling in the sky.

“Hammer, Anvil, keep watch for trouble,” said the princess.

Both bat-ponies nodded and took to the air, circling above. When they were high enough, she silently shot a small plume of blue magic into the sky. It burned brightly, but gradually waned until it dissipated entirely.

“What was that for?” Caramel asked.

Luna gestured at a low hill in the distance. “I have reserve troops hidden nearby. Had I not sent a signal within the next few minutes, they would have assumed the worst and taken action.” She then turned her gaze to a patch of drying green resin on the rock that they were standing on and inclined her head towards it. “They also assisted in carrying away prisoners as I extracted them from the hive.”

Sash frowned. “So… this was supposed to be a rescue mission and not an invasion?”

“Indeed. Confronting your queen was not a part of the plan.” Luna chuckled dryly. “Neither was the part where my guards got themselves cornered. We were supposed to incapacitate all changelings that we encountered, waking or otherwise, but your presence sent it all awry. I had not expected to find you of all ponies intruding into the dreams of the prisoners.”

Just one more thing that I’m good at messing up. Woo hoo.

The princess sat down and gestured for them to do the same. After they complied, she sighed and said, “Caramel, do you consider yourself a pony or a changeling?”

“Huh?” The question caught him totally unprepared. “Err, can’t I be both?”

Luna gazed at him silently, and he suddenly felt a whole lot more self-conscious about his hybrid appearance. But his fear that she would find him disgusting proved unfounded; she seemed quite unfazed by his looks. In fact, she seemed more fascinated than unnerved, and he supposed that that was to be expected, given her guards’ appearances and her own... alter-ego.

“Well, I do not see why not.” Luna’s smile was mild and understanding, but her expression grew stern for a moment. “But your disappearance did cause quite a stir in Ponyville. Your friends were worried, and your parents were frantic. Did you not consider their feelings before running after a mare without so much as a goodbye?”

“I’m right here, you know,” Sash muttered.

“She didn’t ask for it,” Caramel hurriedly pointed out. “In fact, she… told me not to. But I couldn’t leave her. Sassaflash might not be a pony, but she is real, and she is my special somepony.”

“I can understand that. But did you really have to keep silent? Your friends eventually guessed and brought the matter to my sister, but the lack of information stayed her hoof for weeks. And when they finally decided to go searching for you on their own, they only got themselves captured. I found the remains of Miss Cherry’s balloon on my way here.”

Caramel went a little red. “I… I kind of Pinkie Promised not to tell anypony.”

Luna raised an eyebrow. “To whom did you make such a promise?”

“Err, I don’t think I can tell—”

“Was it a changeling?”

“Well…” He shuffled his hooves nervously, then realised that he’d already given it away. Luna was showing the tiniest hint of a smirk. After sighing, he added, “Acorn Nut. That’s his pony name, anyway. I visited him in the dungeons. He gave me directions for the hive, but only after making me Pinkie Promise not to tell anyone.”

“So he did know something, after all. We suspected as much since he was amongst the last ones you spoke to,” Luna mused. “But did it not occur to you that the situation warranted a small stain on your honour for breaking that promise?”

“Nopony breaks a Pinkie Promise!” Caramel and Sash hastily said in unison.

Princess Luna blinked. “Ah… very well. In any case, at least I eventually did find you.”

“How did you do it?” Sash asked.

“As Princess of the Night, it is my duty to guard the dreams of my subjects. I had hoped to find him in the dreamscape and ask him myself,” Luna explained. She looked at Caramel pointedly and continued, “But you were a special case. Tell me, did you have nightmares for the last few months?”

Caramel remembered the shapeless figure that haunted his sleep—the writhing mass of shadow with a gaping mouth brimming with teeth. He shuddered at the memory of it chasing him night after night. “Yeah. Was that really you all the time?”

“In a manner of speaking. I can interact with the dreamer, but fear is a very common response when I touch mortal minds. It usually lessens with each encounter, whereupon most ponies are comfortable with my presence on the third of fourth attempt.”

“Umm, I’m pretty sure you were scary for way longer than that.”

Luna nodded and pointed at his chitinous forelegs. “That probably had something to do with it. I have never interacted with a dreaming changeling, and your condition was… interfering. Your mind was growing increasingly foreign to me even as I familiarised myself with it night by night. Even our most recent contact was disappointingly marred by this.”

Caramel frowned, recalling the one-sided conversation and her silent, eerie presence in his dreams following that episode. “I could understand you just fine. Why didn’t you tell me what you were planning? We probably could’ve avoided all of this.”

Luna put a hoof to her chin. “Yes, we probably could have. Unfortunately, I had no way of knowing that, and there was scant proof of whether any information I gave you would be safe, regardless of your allegiance.” Her ears drooped a bit, and she gave him an apologetic look. “I am sorry. Your friends were missing, and I had to make do with the few options I had left. I could not determine your location through your dreams alone, but if you were to come into the direct line-of-sight of the moon, I could make an educated guess. When you eventually did, I sent my guards in as bait, and through their capture was able to locate the rest of the prisoners.”

His eyes widened after he'd processed that. “Wait. You mean… the moon idea was from you?”

“What 'moon idea'?” Sash asked, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“I planted in his sub-conscious the notion that he would find assistance should he go to the surface on a moonlit night. I also ensured that he would be uncomfortable with the idea of divulging that information to anypony else.”

“What, I—you can actually do that?” Caramel sputtered. He scooted back several inches. What’s with leaders and their freaky mind-control powers? “What else did you leave in my head?”

Sash held him close, and her touch helped to soothe his nerves. When he had calmed enough to return to his original spot, she shot a glare at the princess.

Luna still looked apologetic, but there was a bit of steel in the way her mouth had set to a thin line as well. “Again, I am sorry, but I had to place the safe return of the others over your dignity. I assure you; such manipulation is not taken lightly by Celestia or myself, and I would not have attempted it were there other reliable options available.”

“I guess I could live with that,” Sash said after some thought.

Caramel tentatively agreed. It would probably be selfish of him to think otherwise, especially since he was pretty much the reason Lucky and Cherry Berry had gotten themselves caught.

“I am curious about your condition,” Luna suddenly said. “How did it happen, and why were you subjected to it?”

Caramel noticed Sash fidgeting a little at that remark. “Your Highness, I wouldn’t really call it a ‘condition’. It’s not a disease or anything.”

“Was it forced upon you?”

“Err, not really.” He scratched his head. “Chrysalis said she would let me be with Sash if I agreed to this. She even gave me a few chances to change my mind.”

“Did it hurt?”

Caramel glanced at Sash, then turned back to Luna. “I have no regrets.”

“I see,” said Luna. “But what was the purpose behind your transformation? It looks incomplete.”

“Well, long story…”

Rax. Changeling, warrior, friend. Friends do not forget.

Caramel and Sash told her about the state of the hive. About how they had to scrounge for food and fend off attacks from below. He told her about their flimsy agriculture and their shortage of love, and their reliance on the captives as their primary source of magic and means to defend themselves. The hive’s population had shrunk to an unhealthily small number after the wedding attack, and they were hard pressed to maintain and defend their home. But they could not leave because they had nowhere else to go.

The princess asked questions every now and then, but for the most part she listened without interrupting. He also told Luna about how Chrysalis had planned to use him and Sash as a more stable source of love energy.

“So that’s why I can’t go back with you,” Caramel concluded. “My new family needs me around.”

“But we can’t do without the, uh, captives either,” Sash emphasised. “Caramel and I aren’t strong enough to feed the entire hive. If you take them away, we soon won’t have enough energy to spare for magic, and we kind of need that to fight intruders and heal the wounded.”

Princess Luna did not look happy to hear that. “That is… unfortunate. But are you truly asking me to let them remain here?”

“Just long enough for us to find alternatives. Please, Your Highness, just let us keep them for a while longer. Once we are stable, we will let everypony go.”

“Does your feeding harm them?”

Sash shook her head. “No, not if we are careful. At worst, overfeeding gives them nightmares, but we are taught to control ourselves because bad dreams will make ponies take longer to recover for the next session.”

Luna frowned and looked pointedly at Caramel. “Is this true?”

He nodded tentatively. “As far as I know. I’ve been keeping an eye on Lucky and Cherry, and they looked fine up until today.”

“Would you stake your lives on their safety?”

“Yes,” they said in unison.

Luna’s gaze intensified. “Even knowing that, should they be harmed by your hive, I will return to personally make known my feelings on the matter?” As she spoke, her mane began to writhe angrily, her eyes glowed, and wisps of black smoke rose from her coat.

Caramel shrank back a little, but he forced himself to keep eye contact and nodded. Sash did the same.

The princess held their gaze for several moments before she relented and sighed, returning to her normal appearance. “Very well. Then there is little more to discuss. But before we settle this, I must ask you once more, Caramel. Do you wish to stay here? You are still welcome back home, and I will ensure that Sassaflash has a place by your side as well. Your friends and family are waiting for you.”

He placed a foreleg around Sash. “I’m sorry, Your Highness. But I have another family to take care of now. When things are better, I might be able to visit. But for now, I know that my place is here.”

Luna was silent for a moment. After a while, she glanced at Sash and said, “My little pony, cherish this stallion of yours. There are few like him.”

Sash laughed and nuzzled Caramel’s cheek. “There are none like him.”

He grinned sheepishly. But beneath his embarrassment at her public display of affection, he was also thrilled that Luna had called Sash a pony, even when she wasn’t wearing a disguise. And her words hadn’t sounded forced. Maybe things are finally starting to look up.

“Come now,” said Luna as she rose to all fours. “I must speak with Chrysalis. We have taken long enough as it is.”

They went back into the hive on hoof, flanked by Luna’s guards and tailed by several warriors who kept a healthy distance. Caramel could not sense hostility from anyone, which was a good thing, but he wasn’t too keen on the suspicious looks that they were giving him.

The remainders of the pods had been arranged neatly in rows outside the entrance, and he spotted Lucky and Cherry amongst them. But Luna had other matters foremost on her mind, and she headed down into the tunnel after telling the workers to keep an eye on them for the time being.

When they were half the distance to the queen’s chambers, Luna spoke up, “Who was the young one who defended Chrysalis?”

“Oh, umm, that’s Stickle.”

“And the other two who questioned me?”

“Mite and Pith. Why do you ask?”

Luna had a distant smile on her face. “They remind me of a colt and filly I know.”

“Oh.”

“It is amazing how children can put one’s perspective in order, is it not? I sometimes wonder why it is that when we grow up, we shed so many qualities that we would benefit from retaining.”

Caramel waited for her to elaborate, but she remained silent after that. He supposed it was true enough. Aside from Sash, the nymphs were the ones that had helped him to keep going when he’d sunk to his lowest in the hive. He wondered how things would turn out if a bunch of nymphs and foals were dumped in the same room, then snorted when he imagined the same being done to grown-ups. With all he’d seen, the kids were more likely to end up friends first. Or at least not start a war.

She’s got a point.

“What else do you want?” Chrysalis asked when she saw them. Caramel detected a hint of resentment in her voice.

“To discuss your future.”

“You already have your subjects back. Take them and leave. We’ll survive… somehow. It’s been that way for a long time.”

Luna sighed. “Caramel and Sassaflash have enlightened me. If your feeding does not harm them, I will allow you to keep my subjects for a while longer.”

Chrysalis blinked in surprise, then frowned. “What’s the catch?”

“Peace. Let us end our mutual animosity. I have been informed that you have your own form of agriculture and can subsist on physical food; I will provide your hive with supplies, and perhaps even some land in a more fertile region. In return, you will stop abducting ponies and eventually free your current… charges when the time is right.”

“Is that it?” Chrysalis sounded a little sceptical, as if the offer was too good to be true.

Luna nodded. “Well, except for one thing; I will take the elderly home. Given their age and state, they cannot be of much value to you now. Allow them to depart from this world with dignity.”

“I… I can agree to that,” Chrysalis conceded.

“Then it is done. I will have my soldiers return those I had rescued.” To Caramel and Sash, Luna added, “Take good care of them. I will be watching.”

Caramel nodded, Sash bowed. “Got it, Your Highness.”

The blue alicorn gave them friendly smile and extended the same courtesy to Chrysalis. “Then I bid thee farewell. We shall keep in touch.”

With that, Princess Luna and her guards teleported back to the surface in a flash of blue light. When they were gone, Caramel plopped his haunches on the floor and let his breath whoosh out. “What a day.”

“Tell me about it,” Sash replied.

He heard slow steps, then felt a gentle hoof on his shoulder. He turned to look and blinked in surprise at Chrysalis. She had a little smile that was equal parts relief, pride and genuine happiness. After a moment, her hoof went to Sash’s shoulder as well.

“Well done,” she said.

Two simple words that somehow carried the weight of an entire hive’s gratitude. It made him a little giddy.

But in the next moment, Chrysalis’ hoof faltered, and she turned and ambled off. Her steps were slow and her body swayed dangerously to either side, and Caramel realised just how weary she was. A couple of her personal guards rushed in to support her as she made for her private quarters. The rest of the changelings present, mostly overseers and a few warriors, soon left to mind their own businesses. The damage to the hive had to be repaired, and the pods had to be shifted back to their places. Before long, he and Sash were left alone in the queen’s chamber.

Caramel had been feeling a strange tingling sensation after hearing Chrysalis’ words. It was hauntingly familiar, like an old memory that was just out of reach. He thought he could hear something too, like the faint sound of a unicorn casting a spell.

“Umm, Caramel?” Sash whispered.

He saw her pointing a hoof at his flank and looked at it just in time to see the three blue horseshoes of his cutie mark glowing softly.

A couple of seconds later, the horseshoes grew transparent and faded away to nothing, leaving his flank as bare as a foal’s. He wasn’t sure how long he spent staring at it, but by the time he finally said something, the sound that came out was “Erm…”

“You okay?”

His cutie mark was gone. Though he had never really been appreciative of it, it was at least a part of him. It was something that nopony else in the world had, not even the princesses. Sure, being part changeling meant that he could just make it come back, but it wouldn’t be real. He shouldn’t have to pretend to be himself!

He felt a gentle hoof on his shoulder as his vision clouded. “Caramel, I am so sorry…” he heard Sash whisper.

Three horseshoes going in a never-ending circle. Wandering.

When he saw her sympathetic expression, he sniffled and tried to shrug it off, saying, “It’s okay… I guess it just means I’m not a wanderer anymore. I finally know where I belong.”

She sighed and gently wiped his tears away with a hoof, then hugged him tightly. “I love you, Caramel.”

He smiled and nuzzled her back. “Love you too.”