Aduro opened his eyes to reveal a blur of green and he briefly wondered where he was before the blur was split in two. He was lowered down from the cocoon he'd been suspended in by a a trio of changelings as a small pile of gemstones fell to the floor. The medical changelings looked at them in confusion as the dragon started eating the gems.
"Rations Celestia sends me to keep from starving. She invented a spell that causes them to emerge from my mouth. It was rather odd coughing up my food before eating it," explained Aduro around a mouthful of sapphire. As he chewed the unexpected feast he took the time to look around. The room he was in almost completely pitch black, with only scattered glowing fungi providing illumination.
"Has it been a week already?" Asked Aduro as he unfurled his wings and shook the regenerative gel off of them. Either this hallucination is far more elaborate than the others or I've actually escaped from Tartarus...I don't know what to feel right now. He flexed his wings, testing how well the muscles and nerves had recovered. Aside from a slight twinge he felt when he fully extended his wings they seemed to have been reattached without too much trouble. A changeling approached the dragon during this time.
"I am Arachne, I was present at your release. I've been instructed to escort you to our queen. Walk this way." Arachne walked away from the still damp dragon who wordlessly followed. Aduro took this opportunity to observe his surroundings without the pain of having two missing wings to distract him. The corridor he was currently in as well as the chamber he'd been in were made of stone, but unlike his former prison, this stone was smooth and had a faint greenish tinge to the grey rock. The stone was actually soft enough that his claws would leave small gouges in them as he walked behind Arachne.
The pair reached a intersection of at least seven different tunnels, four of which were along the walls, two in the ceiling and one in the floor. Several other changelings could be seen entering and exiting from the various tunnels, all of which stopped for a second to stare at the white scales of Aduro. In fact, his scales seemed to glow in comparison to the darkness of the tunnels and Aduro briefly wondered how the changelings navigated. A quick sniff of the air answered his question. Aduro could smell a unique scent trail identifying each tunnel as clear as a giant sign.
In his analysis of the tunnels Aduro failed to notice that Arachne had flown up to one of the ceiling tunnels and was gesturing for him to follow. When her signals were ignored Arachne felt a flash of impatience that when combined with the stress Arachne had been under recently from stealing private information directly from Celestia's private quarters and the preparations for the pending invasion, proved to be the straw that broke the camel's back.
"Lizard! The queen has too many issues to deal with and she cannot afford to have you waste her time. Now get up here before I come down and drag you to her majesty myself." She snapped angrily, breathing heavily until the realization of what she'd just done hit her and she stopped breathing all together. Every changeling in the area stopped what they were doing as well and watched the dragon's reaction. All felt the curiosity and a faint sense of awe coming from the dragon vanish instantly to be replaced by amusement though Arachne thought she detected a faint undercurrent of contempt.
"Lizard? If you're trying to anger me, you'll need to do better than that Arachne. I've lived far too long and spoken with too many enemies for much to insult me.. Now lead on." Aduro said as he slowly trained his silver eyes onto Arachne's blue orbs. With a shaky nod she began crawling up the tunnel followed closely by the dragon who put a little more force than was necessary in his climb. The two continued through the twisting and turning tunnels in total silence, Arachne too nervous to break it out of fear of actually agitating the dragon. Aduro was simply content to be alone with his thoughts and organize them before his meeting with Chrysalis and shake off the torpor of his rest.
After what seemed to be an eternity for Arachne the pair finally reached Queen Chrysalis' throne room. The room was large and arranged like an amphitheater with the actual throne being throne and allowing Chrysalis to address her subjects in one central area. Additionally, the throne room was actually in the center of the hive, allowing Chrysalis to send messengers via one of the dozens of tunnels branching out from the room. The first fact Aduro was able to determine by sight as the room was almost completely lit by large clusters of the glowing fungi from the previous tunnels. The second fact was discovered when Aduro sniffed the air and was briefly overwhelmed by the sheer amount of scents culminating in the room. This time his reverie went uninterrupted by Arachne and it was only when Chrysalis spotted the dragon and called out to him.
"Aduro, I trust you're satisfied with changeling medicine? Nothing else like it in the world," said Chrysalis rising from her throne and approaching the dragon.
"I am grateful for the aid your Majesty, but I would have preferred not having my wings torn off by your servants in the first place. It brought up memories I'd prefer never to dwell on again. Now, if we could skip the false pleasantries and discuss what exactly you want me to do. I dealt with enough of those the few times Celestia dropped by Tartarus," said Aduro ignoring the look of mixed anger and disbelief on Arachne's face. Chrysalis, in stark contrast to her underlings, didn't bat an eyelash at the blunt statement.
"Very well. Arachne," said Chrysalis.
"Yes my Queen," responded Arachne snapping to attention.
"Go prepare for the train to Canterlot and inform the others we depart as soon as possible."
"At once my Queen." Arachne turned and off into one of the many tunnels.
Chrysalis turned to Aduro and said, "Walk with me and I'll explain your role in the plan." She began walking leisurely down the same passage Arachne had disappeared into and indicated for Aduro to follow. "Aduro," she began, "we will be taking a train into Canterlot where, with your help, I intend to replace Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, who'll be marrying the captain of guard Shining Armor in three weeks time. By the day of the wedding I will have devoured enough of Shining Armor's love and weakened him enough that he won't be able to cast his protection spell over the city. Then we invade, your task will be to deal with Celestia and Luna until my changelings can overwhelm them. Any questions?"
"Several, first what is a train? Second just how long was I imprisoned? Final question: how am I supposed to deal with two alicorns in my current state when I could barely defeat one with all of my power?" Asked Aduro incredulously.
"According to the records one of my spies found, you've been imprisoned for close to 1800 years so expect a lot of things to be different than you remember and you'l find out what a train is soon enough. As for dealing with Celestia and Luna, I already said you're only to keep them busy enough until my changelings take them prisoner, I'm sure you can manage that much." Aduro had no response to that and Chrysalis took his silence as acceptance. Once again Aduro found himself walking along a tunnel in silence, free to spend time with his thoughts.
This is what I get for not finding out more about my business partner before making a deal... again. Aduro thought to himself. At least this deal can't go as wrong... no, no I am not going to tempt fate by finishing that thought. Focus on how to keep two angry alicorns from knocking me out in an instant. Alicorns who imprisoned you for being capable of doing what needed to be done.
As Aduro remembered the events that lead to his stay in Tartarus he felt the old anger reignite, fueling his determination and resolve. Chrysalis noticed the spike in volcanic anger with a small smile. So long as he keeps that anger directed at Celestia and Luna my plan will succeed. Everything will be perfect.
The queen and dragon continued in their silent manner until they reached the end of the tunnel and stepped out into sunlight. Aduro blinked, eyes adjusting to the brightness of daytime for the second time in centuries. They were in a small red canyon, with the sun bearing straight down baking everything in its wake. Even the air was noticeably dryer than down in the tunnels. Aduro unfurled his wings in an attempt to feel as much as the sun's warmth as possible.
He could almost feel the gears and cogs of his mind continue their gradual warmup after the limbo of Tartarus and his recent recovery. I forgot just how nice freedom really is. And to think all it took was promising to help the changelings take over Canterlot to get that freedom... I'm probably going to regret that decision later but for now I'm glad it gave me chance to do this.. With that thought in mind Aduro simply basked in the sunlight.
This must be the Badlands, unless they've changed the name during my absence. Then he turned his attention to the changelings, a group of about 6 including Chrysalis, all of who had a saddlebag on. Suddenly green fire engulfed each individual and now a group of 6 ponies stood before Aduro. He sniffed the air experimentally, the scent of changeling was gone and the scent of pony was in its place. He was impressed, the, now ancient, tales he'd heard of changeling disguises hadn't mentioned that every sense was fooled.
Chrysalis, now looking like a green earth pony mare with a braided blue mane and a shovel cutie mark, stepped forward and asked, "can you provide your own disguise or will we need to-". Before she could finish her sentence Aduro seemed to become a blur of white that gradually focused into a tall albino bat-pony stallion, complete with tufted ears and red slitted eyes. "Perhaps something less conspicuous," said Chrysalis dryly.
The image of the bat-pony rolled its eyes before blurring and refocusing into a grey pegasus with a closely cropped purple mane complete with a oil lantern cutie mark. "Better?" Asked the pegasus in Aduro's voice. The disguised queen nodded then turned to address her subjects.
"My subjects, we are about to embark on the most ambitious plan attempted in the Hive's history. It is paramount that we go unnoticed for I doubt we will have another opportunity like this ever again. We will have to fool Celestia and Luna themselves but should we, no, when we succeed we will be able feast on more love than we've ever dreamed of. And," she turned to look directly at Aduro, "remember to play your part. Now onto Canterlot, then Equestria."
All the disguised changelings shared a small cheer then began walking out of the canyon. The dragon hesitated for a second before falling in at the back of the group. One of the group fell back and walked alongside the disguised dragon. The false pony was a yellow unicorn mare with a long black mane.
"I am called Tsetse but in this form you will refer to me as Honeybee," said the unicorn. "You are to be my 'cousin', Smoke Stack, who I'm showing around Canterlot for the first time. Unless I or the queen says otherwise you are to simply be quiet and leave the talking to us. Am I clear?"
"Transparently," answered Aduro. He took this opportunity to survey the surrounding landscape. For miles in every direction except north there was nothing but flat bare dirt and rocks for miles. In the north however, Aduro saw a rather large hill and even further in the distance, almost invisible, was a city built on the side of a mountain. Canterlot, I'd always pictured it smaller from the way Celestia described it Aduro mused.
The group continued on their northbound path for approximately 30 minutes when they reached the base of the hill. There the group split into two groups, with three of the changelings heading towards the west and leaving Aduro, Arachne, Chrysalis, and Tsetse to ascend the hill on their own. From the top of the hill, Aduro was finally able to see what had been hidden from sight until now, a town.
A nearby signpost announced that they were at Appleloosa's city limits. The group descended the hill and walked through the town, false smiles on every face as friendly greetings were returned in kind. Aduro began to wonder if they were supposed to walk all the way to Canterlot when Tsetse nudged him in the side and pointed to what looked like several large boxes on wheels linked together on some sort of track.
"There's our train, Smoke Stack. I've got the tickets in my saddlebag so just stay close and you won't get in trouble like last time." Tsetse said with a perfect mix of a teasing tone and annoyance in her voice. Remembering his instructions Aduro made the image he projected of a pegasus roll its eyes and nod.
Tsetse got into a line heading into one of the boxes that made up the train two tickets held in her mouth. Aduro stood right behind her, tail carefully wrapped around his body to avoid hitting the pony behind him. Eventually the pair had their tickets punched, boarded the train, and headed towards the sleeping compartment, where to Aduro's complete lack of surprise, they found Chrysalis and Arachne occupying the bunks directly across from them.
Arachne and Tsetse quickly struck up a no doubt rehearsed conversation for the benefit of the other passengers. Aduro felt suddenly exhausted from having to absorb so many new sights after the monotony of Tartarus.
"I'll be in my bunk if you need me Honeybee," he said as he climbed into the top bunk. Tsetse looked up at the dragon then nodded and resumed her conversation with Arachne. Aduro pulled the curtain across his bunk, got under the covers provided, and dropped the illusion he'd been projecting. Within seconds he had fallen into a deep dreamless sleep. It was nighttime when he awoke.
First he put on his pony illusion and removed his head from under the blanket. The train was currently climbing a mountain, offering a view of the landscape of Equestria. He saw a cluster of lights in the distance he took to be a town. It was larger than any town he'd seen before his imprisonment. Without even looking out into the compartment he knew the other passengers were asleep. A strange sense of peace filled him, something he hadn't felt in ages.
And yet, the very reason I'm able to enjoy this calm is that I'm heading to Canterlot to disrupt the peace of this land, Aduro thought to himself. But it will be a temporary disruption, he reminded himself. Even if the changelings prove to be cruel masters, time will see them gone, and the world will be forever free from the taint of Discord. He continued to stare at the passing landscape for awhile then covered himself with the blanket and fell back into sleep.