//------------------------------// // Dreams and Daggers // Story: Exiled To Home // by Ebonysdagger //------------------------------// Twilight stumbled her way through the halls toward what amounted to a throne room for the hive. It took an awful lot of concentration and effort to direct what love she could toward the eggs she had found in the hopes of keeping them viable leading to this trip coming way past midnight. She would not let them die while she was around if she could help it after all. There would be problems in the future though if she succeeded, she knew, not least of which would be explaining to a changeling princess that she had murdered her hive. With the last bit of energy she had placed a few illusions over the entrance to the nursery before setting out to find an open central room in which to rest. Might not be safe but it would let her see whoever was coming for her. Finding the rather large throne, which for her size was practically a couch, Twilight lay down upon its seat and began to sleep in an effort to recover. As she did so her mind began to drift within the dreamscape leading her to the now somewhat familiar ocean of stars. In a few moments she was joined by Luna and Spike. The young dragon appeared to be rather fascinated by what he saw for a moment but forgot about looking around when he spotted Twilight and ran over to her to give her a hug. Twilight returned it before looking toward Luna who had chosen to not intrude on the moment. “Thanks for coming you two. I take it Spike adjusted rather quickly?” “It was no trouble at all, Twilight Sparkle. Your little drake here had no troubles adjusting to traveling here which is not surprising. He seems to be rather adaptable to new experiences,” Luna stated. “Isn’t that a trait of all dragons?” Twilight laughingly asks. The other two join her in a moment of mirth. “Well it helps to live with an ever dabbling scientist slash wizard. One must remain on their toes.” Spike weighs in on the topic of discussion. “I’ve missed you Twi. Did you make it safely to the hive?” “Yes, no troubles there. I’ve left a message for Owlowiscious on where to find me so I should have his company soon. Never know when he might be useful. I’m sorry I couldn’t take you with me Spike but I don’t think Celestia would have allowed me to.” “I understand Twilight. So what is your plan now?” Spike could not help but to be curious. “Indeed. Also, you seem to be troubled by something. Perhaps we could help?” Luna managed to put in before Twilight could answer. “Well my plan for now is to wait here and deal with a few likely troubles that will have followed me.” She did not need to elaborate as both of the dream walkers knew she referred to the spies and likely assassins that had been sent after her by various factions in Equestria. “After that I will probably see about talking with Shining Armor though I am unlikely to need to do anything there. I suspect he will be here sometime tomorrow himself in order to ensure I am safe.” The other two knew this to be likely given how protective Shining Armor was barring mind control by a changeling queen. Luna made a note to swing by and check on Cadence in the dreamscape afterwards to find out how she was handling the news of Twilight’s exile. She doubted it would be well received and dreaded the political fallout of having the Crystal Empire at odds with Equestria. “There is still something you are not telling us.” Luna pointed out. “It would seem the news of my act of genocide might have been a bit premature. I managed to find an egg I believe to be for the next changeling queen. Some of the thoughts lingering in my head from Chrysalis seem to indicate it to be such anyway. There also were a few eggs that look like they were for future military changelings perhaps even an elite guard for the princess if you will,” Twilight shared with a slightly lopsided expression that not even she could decide if it meant she was happy or terrified. “This is good news, isn’t it? I mean that tells us that you did not kill off the changelings. Perhaps if we tell Celestia she will let you come home?” The drakeling began to get excited hoping this meant his mother figure could return home. “Sorry Spike, but no. All this accomplishes is possibly adding on a few other complications to Twilight’s case. She would be charged with creating war orphans most likely thanks to the nobles. That isn’t even a situation that would come before me or my sister to weigh in on. It is better this discovery remains quite,” Luna noted that Twilight was nodding with her. “I also fear that news of a few survivors would prompt a few factions to move to remove them before it could be verified. Next thing we know the eggs are destroyed and there is no proof left behind to indicate that I wasn’t lying or they are taken in by one of those factions and raised to be weapons. It is better that I keep them safe and under observation for now. The problem though lies in feeding them and keeping them viable. I already did what I could from what those memories tell me but it left me feeling very drained.” The purple alicorn began to pace as she rattled off her own findings and theories. “So what do we do?” Spike began to get a bit worried at this news. “You and I, Spike, contact Cadence and see about what can be arranged with her to divert some energy from the Crystal Heart toward the eggs. She may have a grudge with the changelings but she will not allow them to die out,” the night mistress stated as a definitive solution. “I am sure she will help you in this Twilight. Is there anything you need us to do on this end aside from that?” “Yes. See if you can’t find out why my friends didn’t try and do more to prevent my exile. I’m very curious as to why they were mostly silent during everything. It isn’t the first time they have failed to be in my corner but it’s the most devastating one all things considered. Aside from that….” Twilight turned away from her guests in the dream realm. “It would seem I have guests at the hive. If you will excuse me,” Twilight faded from the dream plane leaving Spike and Luna behind for a moment. Spike turned to Luna with a somewhat sad look upon his face. “I really don’t like it when she has to get serious in a fight. It always upsets her. The last time she had to get serious was when a few of the other students at Celestia’s school tried to off her in a ‘training accident’. The results weren’t pretty.” “Come along Spike. We have much to do and we both know your mother will be fine. If she could stand up to me, Discord, and the rest I’m sure a few mercenaries and assassins are little more than pests. Hopefully we can help her calm down when she returns to the dream lands if it comes to that.” Luna began to walk across the empty dreamscape and began to fade. Spike ran to catch up. Twilight awoke where she lay upon the former changeling Queen’s throne awaiting her visitors. ‘Perhaps I should play the part while I’m at it. Ask the supplicants what they require?” She began to chuckle aloud to herself before using some of her recovered magic to summon to herself the sceptre Discord had made for her. After only a few seconds of waiting she swung the sceptre quickly intercepting three separate daggers each with a different coated edge while quirking an eyebrow at the shadows of the room. “Really? Not even going to say hi? At least come before the princess and have the decency to make a request of her first.” A pegasi for each dagger steps from the shadows eyeing her warily prepared to strike at a moments notice. Fully being suited up in black each and every one led her to believe they may have read too many of those Neighpon ninja comics but on the other hand that meant some of what they had might be obvious. She can already tell each of them have some sort of breathe filter as part of their mission outfit so toxic gas was a given as one of their tools. It would seem this lot felt that blade and strength would not work but perhaps poison was the key. ‘What fools.’ The lack of unicorns with them explained not only their failure to detect her wards but also why they were not deactivated. This meant that they knew using magic to take her down was an even more foolish solution and as such they must have access to her personal records. This meant they were dispatched by some rather connected nobles… or ones that she had trumped in a duel directly. The middle pegasi spoke up first. “We have but one request oh princess of this mass grave and that is that you die peacefully.” Twilight paused and thought to herself for a moment or two before responding. “No, I don’t think I will. However, just for you three, I will add a few more bones to this mass grave. Namely yours. I hope you’ve trained well. Before the day rises I will show you why it has been long known that a fight with me directly is foolish.” In an instant the two pegasi at the sides charged toward her throne on wing as the middle one threw down the likely container of whatever toxin they planned to use. Twilight’s expression of bored amusement changed to one of gloating humor even as they charged. In the next moment the one coming from the right found himself lacking his breathe mask and stuck in a small shield that was also playing host to the toxic gas the lead pegasi had tossed. As he began suffocating he saw Twilight actually catch the other charging pegasi with a hoof and crush his skull against the throne’s arm in a rather definitive and final cracking sound and then knew no more. The lead pegasi was still staring shocked at how quickly his two agents were dealt with and the fact that the princess had not even moved from her seat. “You seem surprised. I have no idea why. Alicorns are a mix of all the pony races. That means I have the strength of an earth pony and the speed of a pegasus. As such that little trick was easy with your minion’s skull. I’ll admit it was almost hard to dodge his hidden hoof daggers but a small personal shield made that rather easy. As for the other, well we all know my magic capabilities so any sort of aerosolized agent was moot to begin with. Now, how about you tell me everything, yes?” Twilight had not lost that almost manically happy expression after killing two rather capable assassins in the span of less than thirty seconds. The lead pegasi began to toss every blade he had on himself at her hoping to buy time to escape with her blocking them. As the blades took to the air he felt a chill go down his back. The voice of the princess began to talk within his mind. ‘Oh, dear me, did you really think that would work? I’m so sorry but you will be disappointed. On the bright side, you and your comrades will be helping me soon enough. You have training that I was legally not allowed to receive thanks to Celestia’s fears about me. I’ll be taking a copy of those memories now.’ In the next moment he found himself sitting upon the throne and Twilight standing where he had been. Then he found himself riddled with poisoned blades and pinned to the throne. Twilight simply began to chuckle to herself for a moment before hurling her sceptre with the full force of her magic behind it toward the already dead assassin. It drove itself through his chest, the throne, and halfway through the wall behind before it stopped moving as her laughter reached a crescendo and she began to look around for more targets to eliminate. After a few seconds of no more takers she calmed down enough to really see what she had done. “What? I was enjoying that? Why was I enjoying that?” Twilight began to panic a bit for a few moments before a part of her mind rationalized the actions as a kill or be killed situation glossing over the rather messy ways she had ended each of her attackers. Besides, she did not have time to worry about it. Her wards informed her there would be more guests.