Finally, Firestorm was going to Canterlot where he would be personally escorted to see Princess Celestia and hopefully get some answers regarding who and what he really was. Before the others had packed and returned to the library, Firestorm rushed to the train station where he not only purchased tickets for everypony, he rented an entire First Class Railcar just for the occasion. The initial excitement had since worn off once the train ride began, Firestorm and Scootaloo laid curled up together on one of the benches and had since sound asleep while the others talked quietly amongst themselves. Twilight had sent a letter to Pinkie Pie and Rarity asking them to meet up with them in Canterlot when conveniently possible.
Applejack and Fluttershy had taken a seat near the rear of the car where they talked together and Twilight and Rainbow Dash, who was unusually quiet, sat together. Twilight was the first to break the silence when she noticed Rainbow had mostly just been watching Firestorm and Scootaloo from her seat.
“Rainbow, is everything alright?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah I’m great. Why?”
“I was just wondering, you don’t exactly seem like your normal self when you’re around those two,” Twilight said gesturing to Firestorm and Scootaloo with a hoof. As if to drive home her point, Firestorm shifted in his sleep so that his foreleg transformed into an arm and hand which gently wrapped itself around Scootaloo and pulled her closer to his chest.
Rainbow Dash opened and closed her mouth several times trying to come up with an answer or an explanation but opted to just sit quietly when she could not come up with any.
Twilight sighed softly, “Rainbow, I know you try to keep up this “tough-guy” appearance all the time but please, telling me what’s wrong won’t make me think any less of you.”
Rainbow Dash shifted uncomfortably in her seat, “Okay look, I’m happy Scootaloo has a home now, I really am, but… I can’t get over this feeling like I missed an opportunity to have something really special with her. I know I’m not the fastest pony to pick up on when somepony is having trouble with something, that’s why I missed the signs Scootaloo needed more than just somepony to look up to or more than just calling me her sister, she needed a home and now she has that and I can’t help but think of what it would have been like if I had adopted her…”
“Rainbow Dash, wanting a relationship with Scootaloo like that doesn’t make me or any of our friends think any less of you, quite the opposite in fact, and I’m sorry you feel the way you do about Firestorm adopting Scootaloo but there’s no reason you can’t still have that relationship with her…”
“How?”
“Well, I’m sure Firestorm wouldn’t mind letting you hang out with Scootaloo, I’m sure he already knows how important you are to each other. In fact, you might even consider spending some time with him too, one on one or with Scootaloo.”
“Wait, you mean like, on a date?”
“Perhaps, or two ponies of the opposite sex socializing publically or privately simply as friends…”
Rainbow Dash stared at Twilight for several seconds with an unreadable expression before finally speaking, “I heard “sex” in there somewhere…”
Twilight rolled her eyes, “Concerning your gender, in which you are female and Firestorm is male and you two meet for lunch or dinner as…” Twilight paused when she saw the perplexed expression on her friends face, “Look, you and I have had lunch together on several occasions, right?”
“Yeah?”
“Well, are we in a relationship?”
“No, but…”
“Then what I am suggesting is that you simply do the same thing from time to time but with Firestorm, maybe even going out on an actual date as your friendship progresses.”
“But Twi, don’t you remember what he said at the restaurant? He doesn’t want to be in another relationship, he can’t stand the pain of losing somepony close to him.”
Twilight thought for a second, “You won’t know unless you try, remember when I first came to Ponyville, before I learned the true value of friendship? I was so ready to get back home to Canterlot once the Summer Sun Celebration was over, but when it finally was over, I wanted to stay, with my friends. Ponies change Rainbow, and if you don’t ask him, and he does end up falling for another mare, you’ll be right back here where you are with Scootaloo, but it will be over him, somepony you could have loved and who could have loved you.”
Twilight’s last words really struck Rainbow Dash, she looked down at her hooves while she processed the advice she had just received. After several minutes she looked up, turned to Twilight, and…
THUD!
Everypony looked towards the source of the commotion originated from only to see Firestorm lying on his back on the floor after having rolled out of his seat. Scootaloo lay haphazardly across Firestorm’s chest, both still sound asleep. Suppressed giggles filled the railcar, Twilight leaned over to Rainbow Dash and whispered, “I swear, there is definitely chemistry between you three, until now I’ve never seen somepony sleep as hard as you!”
Firestorm slowly stirred from his sleep, taking notice of Scootaloo still slumbering on his chest as well as his new makeshift bed on the floor as he gradually awoke. Using his telekinesis, Firestorm used every ounce of tender care to relocate his adopted daughter from his chest to the cushioned bench to serve as an appropriate resting place for the remainder of her nap. Once Scootaloo had been tucked in under a blanket, Firestorm leaned forward to stretch his legs and back while at the same time, stretch his wings which had spent an untold amount of time beneath his bodyweight in awkward positions. As his stretch reached its peak, Firestorm threw his head back causing what seemed to be every bone in his body to echo with a loud pop.
As the stretch ended, Firestorm yawned and hopped contently onto the bench across from where Scootaloo continued sleeping. He smiled as he watched the blanket covering her small body rise and fall with each breath she took, quickly becoming lost in thought until a blue hoof snapped him back to reality. He looked at the hoof on his shoulder and then to the pony it belonged to. Rainbow Dash smiled warmly as she asked in a hushed tone, “Sleep well?”
Firestorm nodded.
“Mind if I sit with you?”
Firestorm shifted in his seat to make room for Rainbow Dash. Rainbow took her seat beside Firestorm and looked ahead at Scootaloo while she slept. Rainbow struggled to come up with a good conversation starter, eventually settling on, “So, have you ever been to Canterlot before?”
“Never, you?”
“Oh yeah, plenty of times. We were there for the royal wedding between the princess’ niece and Twilight’s brother, Scootaloo was actually a flower girl there…”
“Really? Wow. Hey, maybe you could show me all the best places to avoid everypony,” Firestorm said with a playful wink.
Rainbow Dash giggled, “Don’t worry, I’ll help you maintain your sanity.”
Scootaloo turned over in her sleep, her blanket slipping down below her shoulders. Both Firestorm and Rainbow Dash moved to adjust her blanket but stopped when the noticed the other one moving. Firestorm smiled and motioned towards Scootaloo with his hoof. Rainbow Dash moved to the filly’s side and adjusted her blanket as needed. As she returned to her seat beside Firestorm, she caught him smiling at her. “What is it?” she asked.
“You deeply care for her, almost like a mother.”
“Well… I… Look, last time we went camping things came out and she, we sorta adopted each other as sisters…”
Firestorm smile grew, “There is nothing wrong with that, but I can tell something is bothering you, your fear that my new relationship with her might interfere with yours.”
“How did you know that?”
“Rainbow, we may be going to Canterlot to find out how I came to be, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t already figured some stuff out on my own. I’m part changeling, and as such I can not only shape shift, I can sense love and affection as well, and the love and affection between you two is very strong, I would never wish to break that.”
Rainbow Dash was overcome with joy, she tried to think of a way to thank Firestorm but before she could, a realization hit her, “Wait, you can sense love?”
Firestorm nodded.
“Like, all kinds of love?”
Firestorm nodded again.
“And you can tell who that love is directed at?”
Firestorm hung his head and sighed, there was a brief pause before he turned his head towards Rainbow Dash. Rainbow was startled to find him leaning in towards her, and even more startled that she was moving in in return. Their lips met in a brief but undeniably tender kiss. As Firestorm pulled back he stopped to look Rainbow directly in the eyes, “When this is all over, when you and I both know the truth about me, we’ll see where to go from there…”
Rainbow could feel her heart beating a mile a minute, her thoughts racing just as fast. In the end, the only thing she could say was, “Okay…”
A soft grunt pulled their attention to Scootaloo as she slowly awoke from her long nap. Firestorm smiled at her and levitated her over to him where he rested her head on his shoulder and held her body against his chest like one would with a newborn foal. As Scootaloo was pulled further from her dream state she mumbled, “Are we there yet?”
Firestorm glanced out the window, Canterlot growing ever closer to the point where he could make out individual buildings in the distance, “Soon…”
Gathering their luggage and other belongings, everypony exited the railcar and followed Twilight through the busy streets. The journey to the castle was direct and relatively quiet, the group arriving at the castle gates where they were stopped by the royal guard and processed through. Twilight made a mental note to ask the princess about that, the last time the guard was on alert like they were now, the kingdom was attacked by a changeling army.
Twilight led her friends through the magnificent hallways towards Princess Celestia’s main courtroom. She had memorized the entire layout of the castle during her time studying directly under Celestia herself. Rounding a final corner, the group came to a stop outside of two large double doors. Twilight nodded to the unicorn guards on either side of the doors who bowed in return before opening the massive doors with their magic. Twilight led everyone inside where the doors were promptly shut behind them. Twilight gasped when she saw her mentor and friend, Celestia. She appeared exhausted, distracted, and her flowing mane even seemed to somehow be lacking in its enthusiasm as she read over some scrolls her scribe had presented to her.
The sound of the main doors drew Celestia’s attention to the ponies standing before her which brought a tired smile to her face, “Twilight, it is so wonderful to see you and your friends.”
“Thank you Princess, it is wonderful to see you as well, is - is everything alright?”
Celestia’s smile faded as she leaned her head forward, “Sadly, no. My attempts at peace with the griffon kingdom have thus far failed. An ambassador will be arriving soon to further discuss matters here, but I believe they will be in vain as well…”
“I’m so sorry Princess, is there anything we can do to help?”
Celestia shook her head, “This matter may be out of your hooves. While the griffon king seeks power I do not believe he is enough of a threat to which the Elements of Harmony would be of any use.”
“I understand, please let us know if there is something, anything we can do to help. Perhaps being present for the negotiations with the ambassador would somehow be beneficial?”
Celestia smiled at her former students’ eagerness to prove helpful, “The ambassador is a very dear friend of mine, I have already made the same offer but he respectfully declined, stating he was not worthy to be in my presence alone, much less to dine with the bearers of the elements as well…”
“Very well then, if there is nothing else, this is the pony I spoke to you about in my letters, Firestorm.” Twilight said as she stepped aside.
Firestorm bowed briefly to Princess Celestia, his heart was racing at the realization of how close he was to finally finding out what he was. However, the universe seemed to be stalling as there was a sudden knock on the door and a guard hesitantly poked his head inside, “Um, your highness? We have a situation…”
Celestia hung her head, “What now?”
Before he could answer, the guard was shoved aside as Discord entered with the changeling queen, Chrysalis, who was flanked by two of her guards with Celestia’s personal guard surrounding them altogether. Discord gestured to the changeling, “Is that really the attitude of the great and powerful princess Celestia when a ruler of a neighboring nation wishes to make peace?”
Celestia facehoofed. Taking a deep breath she turned her attention to the changeling queen, “Is this true?”
The queen took a cautious step forward, “Here’s the deal, Discord showed up in my hive and asked if I’d like to go for a walk, I hesitantly agreed, and the next thing I know I’m in your palace with him talking about making amends and guards glaring daggers and pointing spears at me and…” the queen sniffed at the air, “It appears I am not the only changeling here…”
Firestorm turned to face the queen but momentarily locked eyes with Discord first. Discord’s expression was neutral as he simply addressed Firestorm, “Rug burn.”
“Paracord,” Firestorm returned calmly.
Chrysalis completely ignored everypony else as she approached Firestorm who, much to the surprise of all in the room, bowed to the changeling queen. Chrysalis circled Firestorm, seeming to inspect every inch of his being. When she had gone full circle around him she softly said, “Rise.”
Firestorm obeyed and looked ahead with the blank expression typically found on any guard’s face. Chrysalis leaned in and smelled the back of Firestorm’s neck. As she pulled away, her guards screeched in objection. Chrysalis gave a smirk, “Be that as it may, he does outrank you…”
The queen’s guards exchanged confused looks before looking at Firestorm and bowing to him. Twilight approached Firestorm, “What is she talking about, you outranking them?”
“Do you recall when I said I lived in a changeling hive for a time, to learn to better control my shape shifting abilities?”
“Yes?”
Firestorm looked to Chrysalis as if asking for confirmation.
“Go ahead, I would very much like to see your true form as well…”
Firestorm closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, blue flames formed around his hooves and quickly spread across his entire body. When they faded, a large midnight black changeling stood before the queen. However, unlike any changeling anypony had seen before, the changeling version of Firestorm was remarkably different; unlike the changelings which had attacked Canterlot, Firestorm had no insect like traits. Instead, his body was coated with an almost iridescent dermis, his wings retained their original bat like frame, but the most noticeable difference was his facial features. While the queen and her two guards both had a singular horn protruding from their forehead like a unicorn would, Firestorm had two horns jetting out from the base of his skull where his ears would be. His mouth was filled, front to back, with pointed canine teeth, and fangs on his upper and lower jaw towards the front of his mouth. At first it seemed as if he were bearing his teeth, but it quickly became evident that in this form, he simply didn’t have lips at all. Two large slits ran parallel down either of his cheeks from just below his eyes to just above his mouth. When he opened his eyes, his pupils were black slits surrounded by red. His talons and hands clenched, digging his claws into the marble he stood on.
Firestorm opted not to make eye contact with anypony as he sensed the fear his natural changeling state was producing in everypony. In time, Chrysalis smiled, “So, you have changeling autonomy from the Western kingdoms, how interesting…”
Firestorm looked around the grand hall. If he had to guess, his poor vision was a trait of his full changeling form. While he could still make out shapes and gauge the distance to objects, everything seemed blurry, no colors or sharp edges were visible. The queen took notice of his dilemma as he tried focusing his vision by squinting, “That won’t help you I’m afraid.”
Firestorm looked at Chrysalis, thought he was mostly just looking in her direction, “From what I understand about changelings from the Western kingdoms, they have extremely poor eyesight during the day, it will be virtually nonexistent as the sun begins to set, but at night, you will have the sharpest contrast of night vision of any creature known to Equestria.”
Firestorm shifted back to his pony form, blinking his eyes as they readjusted. Once he could see the queen clearly she continued, “The slits on your face are what made changelings of the Western kingdoms the most powerful trackers of love. Love causes the body to produce a specific scent, no doubt you sensed all the love in this very room no matter how minute it may have been. Where it came from, who it was directed towards…”
Firestorm thought back to the moment earlier, remembering all the love he had sensed, Chrysalis was right.
“What did you mean he outranks your guards?” Twilight asked.
A changeling soldier has a scent unique to his rank which comes from the venom of the queen being injected on the back of the neck, The higher the rank, the more venom injected, the stronger the scent. Only the queen can envenomate her soldiers but they can all smell it and distinguish ranks. Your friend here is a Commander.”
“My brother is a Captain, I’m sure you know all about that,” Twilight said harshly.
“Be that as it may, from what I recall, the Western kingdoms had a different ranking system. A Commander was equal to if not higher ranking than a Captain of the Royal Guard.”
“Oh come on, you’re just making that up to try and tick me off!”
Firestorm turned to Twilight and shook his head.
“Really!?”
Firestorm nodded.
Chrysalis addressed Firestorm again, “I’m surprised you lasted this long, I was under the impression your kind all died off after the war between the kingdoms which led my hive to the predicament it finds itself in now…”
“I am just the child of at least two extinct species your highness, I’m just here trying to find out what I still don’t know about myself,” Firestorm said softly with his head bowed.
Celastia spoke up, “I will be happy to help you find those answers in any way I can, Firestorm, but the fact remains, the queen of a nation who waged war on my own finds herself in my court, I must deal with her first…”
Firestorm bowed to Celestia and took his place beside Scootaloo. Celestia looked directly into the queens emerald eyes, “You waged war against a peaceful neighboring nation who would have been willing to aid you in your time of need. If you wish to make peace, make it be known, otherwise I want you out of my castle and out of my kingdom faster than Rainbow Dash can fly.”
Everypony was shocked by the stern tone Celestia had just used in addressing Chrysalis, but nopony was more surprised than the queen herself. She had faced down Celestia before at the wedding during her initial invasion attack, and won. But now she was in Celestia’s court, nose to nose with Celestia herself, and no army or upper hoof advantage to back her up. Granted, if the situation in her hive had become desperate enough, she might have considered this option, but that decision was made for her and one wrong move could cost her that necessary option. With one final consideration, she made her choice. Surrendering all her pride, power, and appearance, she fell to the floor and bowed her head, “I wish to negotiate peace with Canterlot.
Celestia nodded with approval, “Then you shall remain a guest in my castle until negotiations can be made. Canterlot is already in the midst of negotiations with the Griffon Kingdom, which requires my full attention.”
Chrysalis nodded her head in understanding. Celestia extended her hoof into the queen’s field of vision which she hesitantly accepted before being helped to her hooves. The doors to the courtroom burst open, nearly knocked off their hinges as Pinkie Pie burst through them carrying Rarity in her front hooves like a groom carrying his new bride. Rarity was clinging to Pinkie for dear life as were all the bags impossibly secured to the party pony’s back, her mane and tail were a windblown tangled mess. Once the feeling of forward motion ceased, Rarity released her grip and practically teleported to the nearest pony to her who wasn’t Pinkie Pie. The unfortunate pony to be within Rarity’s immediate vicinity happened to be Applejack, whom she clung to with admirable force. Rarity caught sight of a clock in the courtroom, her words were trembling and shaky as she spoke, “I was in Manehattan. No literally, I was in Manehattan 8 seconds ago before Pinkie appeared in my room stating we needed to be in Canterlot. Here we are. She carried us here. Me here. She ran all the way here, with me in her arms!” Rarity finished before fainting.
“You’re such a drama queen, Rarity, always so over dramatic. Yes, I carried you here all the way from Manehattan but I’m fine. I got there really cool pills from another party planning pony, heh, try saying that three times fast!
Party Planning Pony!
Party Planning Pony!
Party Planning Pony!
Meh, I guess it’s not as hard as I thought. But anyway I think they really helped, good thing I bought two hundred bottles because it took ten just to get us here in the time it took for us to get here! The best part is, there are no side effec…”
THUD!
Pinkie collapsed before she could finish her sentence, everything she already said only took 1/16 of a second to do so and went completely over everypony’s heads, Discord included.
Celestia turned Pinkie onto her back and listened for her heartbeat. Her heart was beating, but almost incomprehendibly fast. She summoned two confused guards over to herself and Pinkie, “You, take her to the medical wing, get her on an IV and have the doctors give her a sedative… a strong one. You, go through her bags and confiscate any pills you find.” Celestia ordered. The guard ordered to search Pinkie’s bags helped the other guard first get Pinkie onto his back before they both left at relatively the same time.
Just before the doors were able to fully shut, they were knocked open again as Princess Luna strode in, “Sister, this is an outrage, you have guests and we hear it from the guards and staff before we hear it from you? Explain!”
She scanned the room making eye contact on everypony the fell upon until they fell on something which caused her pupils to shrink, her heart to stop beating, and her blood run icy cold. With the sharp vision of her blue eyes, Luna observed all the traits of one particular stallion as he made his way into the exact center of the room, his amber eyes as they became draconic, his bat like wings as they were lowered until they touched the ground as a sign of utmost respect, the phoenix cutie mark adorning his flanks, and finally his hooves as they shifted into hands and talons before he bowed to her.
“Princess,” Firestorm said in almost a whisper.
Luna was shocked, she stammered and shifted her weight from hoof to hoof. Soon enough, she found the right words, “No…. You can’t…That’s… NOOOOO!”
Luna’s horn began glow with a bright blue aura. Twilight could feel the power radiating from Luna as she charged what was undeniably a very powerful offense spell. Firestorm felt it as too, knowing full well what would come next. Standing upright he spread his wings, held his arms out at his sides, and turned his palms towards his soon to be attacker, Luna, “So be it…”