//------------------------------// // Secrets Untold // Story: Requiem of Equestria // by TheBlox //------------------------------// Chrysalis paced impatiently back and forth in her throne room. She was muttering to herself with a nervously expressed frown upon her face. After a long wait, the large doors opened up, and a changeling marched in. “Finally!!” she shouted and turned to her visitor. “Er…” the nervous changeling murmured, having a difficult time to reply. He was smaller than the rest of her main search crew, but he had an agile appearance to make up for his size. “You wanted to see me?” “Buzz, please tell me you have some good news.” Chrysalis seemed desperate. “I left you second in command of the cocoon dome guards in case of a crisis like this. Shade had disappeared forty-eight hours ago, and nobody claims to have seen him anywhere since. Chitin and his search crew are nowhere to be found, either.” “Yeah… The last time I saw Shade, he was searching for the source of where our love was being taken in the dome. I have no idea where he went. The only information I have gathered for you is an update on our drainage rate problem.” Chrysalis grit her teeth, anxiously awaiting his answer. “What do you have for me?” she silently asked, though she really didn’t want to know at this point. “Since Shade’s disappearance, we uh… had to toss away, um…” He paused. The Queen’s eyes slowly widened the longer he delayed the completion of that sentence. Then he revealed the numbers to her, “Si...sixty two ponies.” She felt an overwhelming weight drop in her gut. Then after a moment of silence, she roared in a booming voice, “What?!” “I don’t know what to do!” Buzz panicked with her, and sat on his flank as he explained himself. “We can’t find the drainage source, and changelings doing any searches outside of the hive are disappearing. Word is getting out to the rest of the changelings, but right now it’s declared as a rumour that we’re losing our source of food, but if this rumour is deemed true, I fear the way our colony will react.” “Do you at least have any clues as to what the source could be??” Buzz exhaled and looked to her to express his concerns. “You and I both know that the only thing capable to drain our love supply is another changeling.” “But at a rate this quickly?” the Queen muttered. “The only way a changeling would be able to consume that much energy at a rate this incredibly fast, is if the changeling was—” She stopped, and her eyes widened. The epiphany silenced the room, and her eyes began to wander as she put it to thought. “Uh… my Queen?” Buzz raised a brow. “Chrysalis?” Chrysalis ignored the changeling’s suspicions and trotted passed him. “There is something urgent I must investigate myself,” she exclaimed as she made her way to the door. Confused, Buzz turned to her in question. “Er, did you need me to do anything?” “Your information was enough, thank you. You may return to the dome and keep doing your job,” she replied as she made her exit. Buzz sat there on his flank and tilted his head. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ “Oh, my, I am exhausted…” Rarity whimpered, lying on her haunches. She and Rainbow Dash were out of their cocoons now, regaining strength to carry on their search. Flake and Scootaloo waited patiently for them to recover, and Chitin was still unconscious, lying on the floor. “I’m getting pretty sick of being cocooned,” Rainbow Dash muttered, sitting on her flank with a bit of a forward slouch. She rubbed her eyes with her forehoof. “Do they always aim for the wings or face?” “That’s how a changeling is trained to hunt,” Flake explained to the ponies. “They’re taught to aim for the parts that give their victim an advantage—like the eyes or legs. And in the case of a pegasus, they would go for the wings; and in terms of a unicorn, they target their horn.” He turned to Rarity. “A unicorn cannot cast any spells if it’s consumed in our mesh.” “So, what about a changeling?” Scootaloo asked, and pointed a hoof at the unconscious changeling on the ground. “Maybe you should conceal Chitin’s horn in mesh before he wakes up?” Flake shook his head. “That won’t accomplish anything. We are unaffected by our cocooning spells. He will just free himself.” He looked down at Chitin and squinted. “A changeling can consume itself entirely in mesh if we want to. Kind of like how we found Chitin when he was in the form of your friend, Fluttershy.” He turned back to the ponies who listened in. “We will often cocoon ourselves to sleep through the winter season.” “Oh, so it’s a hibernation thing,” Rarity determined while nodding. “Hang on,” Rainbow Dash murmured and stood up with some of her regained strength. “How would Chitin have even known who Fluttershy is?” She trailed her eyes to the downed changeling. “I mean, if he took her form, he would have to know what she looks like.” With his eyes wandering, Flake nodded. “Yeah, you’re right.” “So, that means that he had to have stumbled upon her cocoon,” Rainbow determined. The others paused after that remark, exchanging glances with each other. Scootaloo then took initiative and made a suggestion, “Perhaps before we leave, we should wait until Chitin wakes up.” Rainbow raised a brow and took a step toward her. “Now hold on, are you suggesting we ask him where Fluttershy is?” She squinted and shook her head. “Do you honestly believe we could trust this parasprite? You do realize what happened when we followed Dozer, right?” Scootaloo exhaled through her nostrils and took a seat on her flank. She nodded slowly, and turned to Chitin. “I do, but… if we’re going to find her, then Chitin might be our only hope.” As much as the others didn’t want to admit it, she was right. They didn’t even have a clue where to begin their search. So it seemed their only option was to wait for their enemy to wake up, and hope they can reason with him. With nothing else to say against that, the cave fell silent. “So…” Rarity looked up to Flake and shrugged. “Should we… just try to wake him up now then?” “Hm…” He put that to thought, and he shook his head in response. “I’m thinking it would be in our best interest to wait until he wakes up on his own. It will give us time to recuperate from the incident earlier…” He looked down to Chitin with a sigh. “And, it will give us some time to think about exactly what we’re going to say to him.” The others nodded, and they all sat and waited. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Wandering deep into the abandoned caverns, Chrysalis made her way through the old tunnels. The lone Queen of the changelings searched the corridors until she finally came across what she was looking for. There was a hole in the ground, which she approached and peered down below into the dark abyss. She hesitated before she acted, but after taking in a deep breath, she jumped into the hole and descent to the bottom. Gently landing onto the bottom of the vast dome cave, she turned and glanced at her surroundings. The dead changelings hanging upon the walls; the age old cobwebs dangling from the beveled ceiling. The expression upon her face could show that she has seen it all before, and it didn’t really phase her immensely, but it did make her feel uneasy. Looking down at her hooves, there was a stone slab with some markings on it. “From dawn to dusk, I’m feared at sight,” she read it quietly to herself, “my wrath eternal, like Nightmare Night.” She sighed from the memories that burned. “My time will come, and all shall hail; and those oppose, shall surely fail.” She squinted and looked up to the bodies dangling from the walls, and continued to recite the prophecy written on the slab that she had memorized. “For each betrayer, shall decor my shrine; my death be theirs, a return be mine.” Looking back down to the slab, she nibbled her bottom lip from the suspense, and placed a hoof upon it. “New body and soul, new mind and power; my place be taken, for the darkest hour…” After reciting the ancient poem, she gave the slab a little push. Upon doing so, there was a click as the stone slab moved like a switch, and the shrine began to shake. Before her, a stone door that camouflaged with the rest of the shrine opened up on the side of the wall, slowly sliding into the sides like a temple gate. Once it had opened up, it revealed a hallway. With the door opened, she trotted to the entrance of the secret hallway extension. At first she hesitated, but she stepped inside and pressed onward. The hallway was designed similarly to her throne room, though in a darker shade of evening blue. On the other end of the short corridor was a stone pedestal upon a staircase pyramid. She bravely braced herself, and she slowly trotted toward it. Getting closer to the staircase, she noticed writing engraved in the stone wall behind the pedestal, which read ‘The Requiem of Equestria’. She carefully trotted up to the pedestal at the top of the steps, and gritting her teeth nervously, she reached eye level with the stand and looked down at it. Her ears fell back when she found there to be nothing placed upon the stand, and she felt a heavy weight slam into the bottom of her gut. “Ohh, nooo… It’s gone…” ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ After a few minutes of waiting for Chitin to wake up, Scootaloo couldn’t help but notice that Rarity was acting under the weather. Resting on her haunches, Rarity was looking to the floor, as if she was deep in thought. “Rarity?” she murmured to the upset unicorn. “You okay?” After a quiet moment, Rarity let out a long sigh. She looked up to the ceiling and nibbled her bottom lip, then turned to Scootaloo. “I, um… Scootaloo…” she quietly whimpered. “I don’t suppose you’ve seen Sweetie Belle anywhere, have you?” The mention of Sweetie Belle’s name shot her in the heart. “Er…” The pegasus shook her head. “No, we haven’t. And, unfortunately, she probably isn’t in these parts of the caves.” Rarity tilted her head in question, and her ears fell back to express her concerns. Flake cleared his throat and explained it to Rarity, “You see, the only ponies in these parts of the caves—whom we’re looking for—are the elements of harmony.” Scootaloo nodded. “Them, and the four other ponies who have interfered with Chrysalis in the past. Princesses Celestia and Luna, as well as Cadence and Shining Armor.” She sighed and lowered her head. “I won’t lie though, I think about Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom a lot. Ever since I first got out of my cocoon, I kept hoping and praying that I would find them. And they’re probably where I was when I first escaped—in the central dome with the rest of the thousands of ponies.” “Who are Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom?” Flake sincerely asked her. “My best friends,” Scootaloo replied. The others continued listening to Scootaloo’s backstory, and her voice suddenly cracked as tears came forth. They could see the pain in her eyes when the other Cutie Mark Crusaders were brought up. Avoiding an outburst of sobs, Scootaloo tried to stay strong, and carried on explaining, “We went through a lot together. Every now and then, the three of us would visit the Ponyville Library for Twilight Time. Princess Twilight Sparkle would teach us lessons.” She turned to Rarity and expressed a proud smile beneath her damp eyes. “She taught Sweetie Belle how to use magic. Personally I’ve always thought Sweetie Belle was getting really good at it.” Rarity found tears leaking from her own eyes as the story grew deeper. “She taught Apple Bloom how to brew potions. And, she taught me how to do basic engineering.” She nibbled her bottom lip, and a squeak emanated from her throat. “I-I’ve tried avoiding mentioning them. Because, i-it hurts. I miss them.” Her eyes wandered, and they slowly squinted into a frown of leaking tears. Closing her eyes, she exhaled an emotional sigh to calm her angers toward the changelings responsible for this apocalypse. She then looked back up at the others, who returned their concerns back at her. “Twilight would also teach us the Magic of Friendship,” Scootaloo revealed, which triggered Rarity and Rainbow Dash’s ears to perk. “How that one, simple, important concept alone, makes up everything in Equestria.” More tears trickled down her cheeks. “Without it, we are nothing. But with it, we are more than just strong…” A proud grin appeared upon her crying face. “...We are unstoppable. Anything can be achieved through the Magic of Friendship. And Twilight would also often say, that even when you’re apart, your bond remains just as powerful as it is when you’re together. Nothing can break a true friendship.” She proudly looked up with a determined frown. “They are part of the reason I’ve pushed this far to save Equestria. Because, wherever I go, I can feel their bond. The strength of their friendship keeps me going, even in the dire moments when I fear I am unable to move on. I think of them, and I feel purpose in my life. That there has to be a reason I’ve been set free.” There was a moment of silence after her warm speech. “I wish I knew about the Magic of Friendship a long time ago,” Flake replied with a heartfelt smile. The others all looked at him, and caught him on the verge of crying. Tears were then dripping down his cheeks as the emotion running through his beating heart broke him into a fluttering, silent sob. “Whatever it takes,” he murmured, “I will make this all right. I will get all of your friends back.” He looked to Scootaloo and nodded. “Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, too. One way or another, we’ll find them all. And one way or another, we will end all of this.” “Jez, I’ve never seen a changeling cry before,” Rainbow Dash muttered, grinning at the changeling. “Flake,” Rarity murmured with a warm smile, her eyes still damp from Scootaloo’s story about her sister. “Thank you for being here with us.” Flake’s eyes widened in response to her statement. He didn’t really know how to reply to that, but it hit him hard with emotions. He only found the strength to smile and nod respectably back to her. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ In the deeper sections of the abandoned tunnels, Dozer was wandering through the caves at an unhurried pace. There was a lot on his mind. During his saunter back to the hive, there was a resistance in his pace, as if a part of him wanted to turn back. Every few moments, he would stop to turn around, and look behind him. There was a very lost expression upon his face, and there were moments that he would stop to decide whether or not he would go back the other way. After a while, he sat on his flank and sighed in a slouching motion. The guilt impaled in his heart was growing the further he walked away from the others where he had trapped them. “Ugh, what is wrong with me?” he muttered to himself. Sitting upright, he tried maintaining a strong attitude. “I’m a changeling,” he said to himself, though the way he said it was seemingly forced. “I was just… doing my job.” His eyes wandered as he tried to convince himself that he did nothing wrong. Up ahead in the cave he was wandering, he noticed something on the ground that was out of place with all the mesh-stained walls. Curious, he trot toward it. The item he had discovered appeared to be a misplaced saddlebag. Raising a brow, he examined it and opened one of the pouches. Inside the bag there were glass vials of potions, and a few other miscellaneous items, like a wooden spoon and bowl. Dozer then remembered Scootaloo talking about missing a saddlebag back when he was severely wounded by Chitin’s attacks. Scootaloo mentioned having potions that she was going to heal him with, provided she had them with her, but she had dropped them somewhere in the cave. “This must be hers,” he determined silently to himself. Though Scootaloo didn’t have her potions at the time that he was injured, Rarity was also willing to heal him, and she used her unicorn magic to do so. Despite everything he has done to the ponies, they never fought back. Rather, they helped him when he was in need, whereas Chitin—his captain and his own species—assaulted him as a means to obey his orders. He began to remember Chitin’s threats. From the moments Chitin was mercilessly attacking him, he could remember his voice ringing in the back of his subconscious mind. “Lead those ponies to me, or I’ll have your hide!” the memory of his captain’s infuriating words screamed at him like a burdening echo. “Make the ponies believe you are on their side, and lead them into my trap so I can finish what you couldn’t! Do it, or I will finish you off the next time I see you.” Dozer was staring blankly into space. Silently, he closed the saddlebag back up to seal the potions inside. His eyes wandered, as if he was seemingly lost with himself. Why would his own kind do that to him, when the ponies took the time to heal him after what Chitin did? Why didn’t they just leave him to bleed out and die? Admittingly to himself, he knew that’s probably what he would have done—it’s what any changeling would have done. But why didn’t they? “It’s time you’ve figured out your role! I am your captain! Be a changeling for once, you coward.” Something switched inside of Dozer when he remembered Chitin’s final words to him. It made him feel heavy in the gut, and the feelings slowly turned into something foul. Furrowing his eyes, he picked up Scootaloo’s saddlebag, and placed it upon his back. Then with all of his hesitations completely shattered, he turned around, and galloped the other way to return to the ponies.