//------------------------------// // Loyalty is the Best Home // Story: Urohringr // by Imploding Colon //------------------------------// "Ebon...?" The stallion panted and panted, his face wrenched in pain as he curled a pair of forelimbs to his chest. A lavender hoof reached in and dabbed a cold washcloth across his burgundy brow. "Ebon, try opening your eyes..." Ebon eventually relented. A tear or two streamed down his cheek as he squinted across the Noble Jury's infirmary. Eagle Eye squatted beside the cot. He smiled thinly, reaching in to stroke the stallion's bangs. "How are you feeling, Ebon?" he asked. "Be blunt." The stallion shuddered. He fought a whimpering voice in the back of his throat and instead stammered, "The Jurists... are... are th-they fed?" "Ebon..." "I was... in the m-middle of making breakfast." Ebon gulped. "I... r-remember dropping so much. Please... t-tell me they still got to eat something—" "Ebon, please." Eagle nuzzled the stallion, stroking his cheek before staring him in the eye. "For just a moment, humor me. Tell me how you are feeling. You." Ebon bit his lip. "I... I feel like something's burning inside of me." "Like you have a fever?" Ebon slowly shook his head, wincing from the effort. "It's... it's more than that. It's like... like..." Eagle watched, listening quietly. "...like something is wanting to come out of me," Ebon wheezed. "Something huge... something loud." Eagle glanced nervously at the bulkheads. "EE? What... what if this is something to do with what's always plagued me?" Ebon gulped. "What if this is something I can't outrun?" "You'll get better," Eagle murmured, steeling his nerves. "You will. Trust me." "Eagle Eye..." The stallion sniffled and glanced up at Ebon. Ebon squinted. "Do I need to believe that or do you?" Eagle's lips pursed. He fumbled for words. Before his eyes could grow misty, he leaned in and hugged Ebon closely. Ebon shivered in Eagle's warm grip. He slithered his hooves out from underneath and gently held onto Eagle's shoulders. "This is all my f-fault," Eagle murmured, voice shaky. "I should have been watching you closer. I should have stayed around you all hours of the day..." "Eagle...?" Ebon breathed. "H-How could this possibly be your fault?" "... ... ..." "It's... it's not b-because of you that I'm feeling worst off than Rainbow Dash right now," Ebon said with a nervous chuckle. A blink or two later, he grimaced. "How... how is Rainbow Dash doing?" He gulped. "Did... did she and Roarke ever come back, or...?" "Yes..." Eagle Eye leaned back, rubbing his cheeks dry. "They c-came back, Ebon." "That's..." Ebon exhaled through a week smile. He cuddled up against the blankets on the cot and stared at Eagle sideways. "That's wonderful to hear, EE..." Eagle Eye bit his lip, fidgeting. Ebon blinked. "Isn't it, though?" A plastic smile. "Of c-course it is, Ebon." Ebon's eyes narrowed further. "Then why do you look like you've seen a ghost?" Eagle gulped. "It's... uhm..." He ran a hoof shakily through his mane. "...it's because of who or what Rainbow Dash came back with." Ebon's tired eyes fluttered. "Who?" "Changelings, Ebon," Eagle droned. "They're... uh... they're in the Amulek town hall as we speak." Ponies shouted. Ponies hollered. Ponies pointed hooves and bellowed. A thin line of changelings squatted pensively behind Rainbow Dash and Roarke. Their black exoskeletons rattled with each exclamation booming forth from the angry crowd. Not far away, beneath the flickering torchlight, Pilate, Bellesmith, and Josho stood. They stared worriedly at the shape-shifters, then back at Rainbow Dash. Rainbow needed to lean against Roarke, for her dizziness had barely cleared. Rubbing a hoof over her sweating brow, she stared thinly—sickly—past the torchlight and into the crowd as more and more ponies clamored for attention, attempting in vain to shout their angry words above their likewise furious comrades. Hooves stomped and nostrils flared. Finally—goggles glinting—Booster Spice galloped bravely into the center of the chamber and waved his hooves. He shouted louder and louder, the volume of his voice gradually overtaking the bedlam echoing off the wooden support beams. "Order... Order... Can we have some order and quiet for one second?!" Drakshaa stormed forward, his snarling voice devouring the brief silence at the end of Booster's exclamation. "Just as soon as those sniveling, snake-in-a-grass monsters get carted out of this accursed town!" "YEAH!" shouted the whole group of villagers. Drakshaa pointed an angry hoof at the creatures behind Rainbow Dash. "It was them! Them all along!" He gnashed his teeth. "They drove us out of the mines! They drove us into poverty!" "They saved all our lives, Drakshaa!" Booster hollered in the stallion's face. "Didn't you hear a single word they said?!" "And you can get wheeled out of town along with them if you believe their stupid bullshit, Booster!" More ponies cheered. Booster stomped his hooves. "Dang it, Drakshaa! The real monsters are out there! Holed up inside Silver Point! I saw them with my very own eyes! The only reason the three of us came back to the village in one piece is because these changelings saved our sorry hides!" "Saved us from what exactly?!" Drakshaa turned and hissed at the flinching metamorphs. "They've ruined us, ya goggled dumbass! If they really wanted to save our village, they would have done the right thing and fed their worthless, mutated flanks to these supposed monsters so that all the filth would have their fill! Then maybe they'd fly away and bother another town that deserves this crap more than we do!" "YEAH!" the whole room roared again. "It's... nnngh..." Rainbow rubbed her scalp. "It's like I tried t-telling you," Rainbow murmured, seething through her dizzying pain. "These monsters... these chaos abominations... I've s-seen the likes of them before. They're way too numerous and too strong for just any small group of ponies to handle. Changelings or not—" "How can you be so stupid, outsider?!" Drakshaa spat. "They're in league with each other! Can't your stupid ass see that?!" "Use the word 'stupid' to describe her one more time, breeder, and I'll replace every bone in your body with your own feces," Roarke snarled. "Roarke..." "These changelings aren't the only ones who gave their all to save this village," Roarke said loudly. "Rainbow nearly killed herself back there trying to distract the monsters from inside the mountain! If she can't tackle this threat on her own, nothing can!" "The Val Roans can!" Drakshaa frowned. "With a threat this big, we can finally convince them to come in with their royal machinery!" He hollered, "Incincerate everything that moves inside the mines, I say! If we have to peel off the charred flesh left on the ore, so be it! We're sick and tired of all this stupid nonsense!" He raised a hoof high in the air. "Who's with me?!" Ponies cheered and thundered their hooves. Belle struggled to shout, "If we can all just be calm and talk this over—" "No more!" Drakshaa yelled. "We've had enough of outsiders making problems into even bigger problems! Send them on their way—" "Drakshaa, we'd be in the dark if it weren't for them!" Booster exclaimed. "You wanna join them, Booster?! You've been about as useful as a rusty pickaxe as of late anyways!" "Oh, of all the lousy—" Booster shook his hoof. "Go on and hit me if you like, punk!" Drakshaa barked. "The day you choose treacherous freaks over your own kind is the day that you've finally lost it—" "ENOUGH!" Merigold's voice resonated across the hall. The villagers instantly silenced. Nervous families huddled together, trembling. Drakshaa stepped back from Booster, fuming quietly, allowing room for the elderly mare to step down from her seat and slowly approach Rainbow and the changelings. Merigold's eyes narrowed as she spoke airily, "I have heard many words... and yet I haven't heard enough. If you would be so kind, Miss Dash, to explain to me what exactly we are dealing with." "Well, ma'am... I..." Rainbow fidgeted, glancing back at the changelings immediately behind her. "I can't exactly... I mean, not on my own—" "With the assistance of your unique company, if need be," Merigold said. Drakshaa gasped. "But, Merigold—!" Merigold raised a hoof into his face without looking. The stallion clenched his jaw, glaring Rainbow's direction. Rainbow exhaled. She pressed Roarke's shoulder, and the metal mare reluctantly let her go. Standing on wobbly legs, Rainbow cleared her voice and took a step or two forward. "These creatures before you may look like monsters... they might even sound and smell like monsters. But, trust me, they are not what they look like." Ponies immediately stirred and murmured in disbelief. Booster whistled shrilly, silencing the crowd for Rainbow to continue speaking. "And that may be a tough pill to swallow, considering that they're capable of looking and sounding and smelling like anything. But... you've got to believe me... you've got to believe us." Rainbow looked over her shoulder and nodded at the Jurists. Josho and Belle nodded back, and they took a few steps forward with Pilate. "We've seen them at their worse, and they've since changed," Rainbow continued. "They've changed for the better. They used to answer to one authority and one authority alone, but that's changed. They no longer answer to a malicious calling." "That's a very intriguing notion, Miss Dash." Merigold squinted. "Could you, perchance, stand to be less vague?" Rainbow opened her mouth—but one of the changelings stepped up and spoke boldly. "Our Mother is no longer in control of us." Ponies instantly murmured upon hearing the changeling speak. Drakshaa's face wrinkled in confusion. Merigold took a few steps closer. "Your... Mother?" "It's not all that disimilar to how the ponies of Amulek obey you, Governess," the changeling said, its green eyes flickering above its fangs. "Only, they follow you through respect and admiration. For us, our Mother was the source of everything. We felt and fed and lived through her. But all she fed us was misery, and like mindless drones, we accepted what she gave us—for we confused it with love, the most nourishing emotion of all." "But not anymore..." The changeling shook its head. "No, ma'am. That all changed weeks ago." She turned and glanced bashfully at Rainbow Dash. "It changed when she found a way to break Mother's control over us. Now... we are free." The changeling grimaced. "Although... it has left us no less confused and frightened..." "Governess..." Booster Spice turned towards the old mare. "In all of the dragon's attacks, it never ever tried to harm us physically. And now we know that it was them all along and—" Merigold daintily waved him off. "I'm in no need of your genius intellect right now, Booster." Booster hung his head, shuddering. "S-sorry, Governess..." "Quite alright..." Merigold paced slowly around the group of Jurists and changelings. "You, creature..." She singled out the shape-shifter right next to Rainbow Dash. "You're rather well-spoken for a 'form-swapping freak,' as my children are so apt to call you." The changeling shivered. "We... are g-good at emulating ponies around us." "I see." Merigold nodded. "Then you have been emulating the ponies of Amulek?" "You were... th-the first souls we found outside of our nest when our connection with Mother was broken," the changeling hesitantly said. "The love and the comraderie you all share is palpable... and palatable. Just being within miles of your town is enough to sustain us for—" "Sustain you?" Merigold blinked. "Then you mean to feed on us?" Ponies murmured in fright. The changeling struggled to speak above them. "It was Mother's desire for us to do such a thing when she made her nest in the mountain to begin with! But since we lost contact with her, we lost all nefarious desires! Please... I-I wish I could prove this to you somehow!" "You could prove it by being forthright about every single detail that you know!" Merigold exclaimed. "Ma'am, if I may..." Rainbow Dash stepped forward. "It's impossible for them to know every single detail." "And you do, I'm guessing?" "I know a lot," Rainbow said, nodding. She teetered a bit, gulped, and continued. "For instance, I know that this 'Mother' that she refers to is in fact a Changeling Queen named 'Chrysalis.' She feeds off the misery of entire kingdoms of ponies. She takes their love and twists it into something evil that she can control and then feed to her hive." "To what end?" "To gain power," Rainbow Dash said. "So she can reinforce her sibling who's at war on the dark side of the world." Merigold and Drakshaa both collectively blinked at that. "Nnnngh..." Rainbow Dash waved her hooves. "Look, I-I know there's a whole lot of crud to take in. Basically, what you need to know is that my gang and I have run into Chrysalis before. Somehow, I was able to reach through her control of her children and give the entire changeling brood a taste of harmony. This—like—severed their intense connection with Chrysalis." She pointed at the small group of metamorphs. "These guys—and the others outside—are the first bunch of changelings we've discovered since our last run-in. Somehow, I wouldn't doubt that there're bunches of shape-shifters stuck in random places all over the surface world, abandoned and lost, not knowing what to do with their newfound freedom." "You mean like terrorizing an entire town full of non-freaks?!" Drakshaa snarled. Despite Merigold's insistence, he further spat, "Just where do you get off?!" "Please... you have to understand..." The changeling beside Rainbow Dash stammered. "There was no other way! We know! Because we tried!" "Really?" Drakshaa frowned. "How?!" "Weeks ago, we first came to this village posing as wealthy ponies seeking to buy out the town and the mines! We even salvaged some silver from the mountain itself to make it look like we were rich!" Booster Spice murmured aside, "The suited stallions from the north..." "Good heavens," Merigold murmured, holding a hoof over her muzzle "No wonder they were so awkward..." "You can't buy silver with less silver," Drakshaa muttered. "Friggin' idiots..." "And do you remember the week after?" the changeling exclaimed. "The Val Roan officials with the royal decree for relocation?" "You mean those charlatans were you too?!" Booster Spice stammered. He grinned stupidly. "Wow, you don't know what Val Roans even look like, huh?!" "It never occurred to you to simply appear to us as you truly are?" Merigold inquired. The changeling shook its head. "Judging from today's reaction, would we have gotten any better a reception then?" Drakshaa rolled his eyes. Merigold glanced at him, then at the speechless villagers seated all around the hall. She sighed and looked straight ahead. "Allow me to guess, you ran out of options?" "We were hatched to be agents of misery and destruction," the changeling said. "It occurred to us that the best way to handle this situation was to do so naturally. If we couldn't convince your village to flee out of harm's reach, then perhaps we could frighten you into action." "And then you took on the dragon form?" Merigold remarked. "But wait..." Booster Spice scratched his head. "The dragon started attacking us months ago." "We know," the changeling hesitantly said. "That... w-was Mother's doing. Among her many experiments, she was attempting to find a way to have mass broodlings impersonate the Dark Divine that she had in her employ." "Nevlamas, Governess," Rainbow Dash explained. "It was a creature sent to destroy the ponies who lived on a continent far to the west." "Ledomare and Xona, ma'am," Pilate spoke up. "It's where my beloved and I hail from." "For decades, they had been locked in a bloody, ongoing conflict," Belle said. "Entire generations had been invested in the war." "Chrysalis sought to use the war in her favor," Pilate explained. "She seized an immortal dragon already corrupted by chaos and used her diseased flesh to construct something called 'chaos strips.' These strips are capable of tapping into the discordant miasma through which our plane drifts and summoning horrible, otherworldly abominations." "Just like the ones inside your mountain," Rainbow said. "Chrysalis had gone so far as to replace a Xonan monarch and control entire legions of otherwise innocent Xonans." She gulped, fighting dizziness still. "This same changeling queen threw prisoners into a giant flying city called Stratopolis, using the ancient sentinel to accomplish her own means. It's... really n-not hard to believe that she was doing something similarly evil in this continent as well. In fact, the reason why my friends and I have come this far is because we heard word of an invasion she was attempting to stage on Val Roa." "An invasion?!" Merigold breathed. "Or something like it! I'm not sure exactly..." Rainbow sighed. "But shoving a nest full of changelings and chaos monsters inside your mountain makes total sense, because it's such a good staging area." She winced. "Erm... you know what I mean." "No, Miss Dash." Merigold shook her head. "I don't. All of this that you're telling me, it goes beyond the heads of simple miners such as oureslves—" "But it's all true!" the changeling exclaimed, shivering. "Mother had so much planned here!" "Then perhaps you can tell us what her plans were!" "I... I wish that we could." The changeling winced. "We... were s-severed before her message became clear." "Was she ever here?" Merigold leaned her head to the side. "This 'Chrysalis?'" "Once. Long ago. When we were first hatched," the changeling said. "Of this, we are sure. But she left at some point, and she gave her commands from afar. That's what led us to guard over the silver that she had corrupted in your mountain. That's also what taught us to take on the form of Nevlamas. We all feel something tugging us east—which we're now told is in the direction of your Val Roa." "She probably wanted to send the whole arsenal in one fell swoop," Josho spoke up, his jaws tight. "Dragons, changelings, chaos creeps—the whole works. All that shock and awe would have made the Val Roans piss in their armor, without a damn doubt. They'd probably have galloped straight into the Grand Choke." "But now that Chrysalis' connection is severed—" "She lost control of us. But you have to understand, Governess..." The changeling stepped forward. "Nopony and nothing controls the chaos monsters now!" Ponies throughout the hall murmured in fright. She continued, "Only Mother knew the secret to overpowering them! She must have personally overseen the transport of Nevlamas' spawn from Stratopolis to here! But since we've been severed, we've lost our influence, and the creatures have been stirring in increasing levels of unrest! Even now, as each hour of each day ticks by, we can feel them growing more wild and unpredictable! Please understand, we haven't just been trying to get you ponies out of this valley... we've been trying to keep those monsters inside the mountain! But we're failing! We're failing on both fronts!" Ponies broke into a worrisome commotion, exchanging glances. "You must leave this town... you must leave this valley!" The changeling's fangs glistened in the torchlight. "I... I-I don't know what else to tell you to convince you!" Merigold paced closer. "Even if all of this is true—" "And it totally is," Rainbow said. Merigold ignored her. "I find it intriguing that you and your fellow 'hatchlings' ultimately decided that the best thing to do was continue terrorizing us in the dragonform that your 'Chrysalis' instructed you to do in the first place." "We... have never been skilled at diplomacy, ma'am," the changeling said, hanging its head. "You could have fooled me." "And we have," a voice said from the far end of the room. "But only to understand more what we were dealing with, in hopes of learning a different, better solution." The entire room stirred. Merigold turned aside, squinting into the shadows. "Who speaks? What is the meaning of this?" Three random villagers trotted into the center of the hall from the far corners of the room. In the center, Rainbow spotted a familiar face. "Keebroo...?" "You have to forgive us, Governess," Keebroo said. "While we knew that we had to drive you out of here, we... also h-had to feed. It was the only way we could sustain ourselves throughout the whole effort." "Feed?" Merigold blinked. "What do you mean, child?" Rainbow gulped. "Hoboy." "Huh?" Booster Spice glanced over. "Why does this deserve a 'Hoboy?'" Keebroo took a deep breath. In perfect coordination, he and the two ponies beside him vanished in a wave of green flame, replaced by three identical changelings. The entire room exploded in gasps and shrieks of shock. "Okay!" Booster squeaked, shivering beside Rainbow Dash and Roarke. "Definitely a 'hoboy!'" "You..." Drakshaa slurred into a growing snarl. "You were one of these deceitful manure bags the whole time?!" "You dare replace three of ours?!" Merigold said, the hairs on her wrinkly neck rising up. "We had thought they had fled Amulek with their families!" "And they did, Governess!" the changeling who was Keebroo exclaimed. "We simply found strategic ways to pretend that these three hadn't, and in that way we facilitated our place among the township!" "To do what?!" Drakshaa growled. "To spy on us?!" "Not... a very smart revelation," Roarke muttered out the side of her mouth. The changeling glanced at her. "We were told to be completely forthright!" It turned towards the gawking villagers. "And so we are! No more secrets! No more shadows! We have..." It winced. "...greatly underestimated the fierce love and loyalty that you ponies share with one another. This is something we've learned overtime, even while sharing the emotions we've sampled in this town to keep ourselves alive. Please, understand, we only ever wanted to relocate you! We've never meant to dissolve you as a culture!" "That's not the way I'm seeing it!" Drakshaa paced thunderously around. He shouted at the onlooking ponies as much as at the changelings. "Sounds to me like you decided to siphon us for all we had to give!" "What?! No! We just meant—" "To terrorize us from the outside and coddle us from within! You call that helping us?! Fuzzy skin or bug shells, I can smell a hypocrite when it's in the same room with me!" "Drakshaa," the changeling spoke. "If a single one of you stepped into those mines you'd be eaten alive by what Mother planted in there—" "Do not call me by my name!" Drakshaa pointed viciously at the creature. "You are no friend of mine! The real Keebroo may have been a total pushover, but at least he knew what it meant to be loyal!" "But—" "And not some deceitful bastard!" Drakshaa spun towards the elder. "Governess, are you gonna friggin' stand for this?! These freaks have been eating us from the inside out! What more evidence do you need?!" The whole hall erupted in angry shouts and furious rants. Josho glared left and right. Belle and Pilate held each other nervously. "Hey... Hey!" Rainbow Dash hovered on weak wings, wincing slightly. "Cut them some slack! Come on!" "Quiet, outsider." Drakshaa grunted. "You've said enough—" "No, you shut up, jerkface!" Rainbow frowned at the crowd. "Less than a month ago, these changelings knew nothing but misery! They were fed nothing but the stuff! All the time! They devoured pain day and night, courtesy of a selfish mutated Alicorn who's willing to risk anything—even the lives and welfare of her own hatchlings—just to accomplish some stupid agenda in a far off place! Suddenly, overnight, they're free creatures who desire harmony and love! Can't you friggin' forgive them for taking a few bumps and making goofy mistakes along the way?! I mean—for Pete's sake!" Rainbow flung two hooves towards the hall's entrance. "Your mountain's filled to the brim with life-eating chaos serpents! Love these changelings or leave 'em, nothing's going to change the fact that all this time they were trying their darnedest to save you from a very real... very dangerous... very chaotic threat!" Belle spoke up, "They might seem monsterous on the surface, but they only mean well! And as hard as it may to believe, Rainbow and the rest of the jurists witnessed them turn leaf first hoof!" "They ambushed us in the flying city of Stratopolis, governess," Pilate said. "But then—within a day—they all turned and helped free us from the very same threat. They are capable of good. You just need to give them the benefit of a doubt!" "And if you don't, then you'll end up as bad as the Ledomaritans and Xonans back west!" Josho said firmly. "Even worse! The whole lot of us have yet to see what can really happen when these friggin' fart monsters are let loose on an innocent pony populace. Hell, back in Xona, Rainbow stopped Nevlamas and Chrysalis before the absolute worst could happen!" Silence hung in the room. At last, Merigold took a deep breath. She trotted towards Rainbow Dash. "These friends... they speak for you..." "Yes, ma'am. They do." "And do they speak the truth?" Rainbow blinked. "Of... of c-course!" Merigold frowned. "And just what would you have me do, Rainbow Dash? Flee from our very own home?" She waved at the creatures. "Give in to these imposters demand and trust them more than my own flesh and blood... my own instincts?" "I know that it's a lot to take in, Governess—" "No." Merigold shook her head. "You don't know. Your travels sound remarkable and they sound perilous. But a life lived in the air, constantly on the move, is a far cry from the weight of having to dissolve the only home you've known for generations." "Governess, with all due respect." Rainbow Dash touched back down beside Roarke. "I've given up more than you think. There are nights when I can't stop dwelling on what I've lost... and what I've sacrificed. But..." She bit her lip, glanced aside at Roarke, and sighed. "...if I chose to regret all of those changes, I would choose to reject what I am now. And that's impossible. In spite of all of the highs and lows, I'm proud of who I am and where I am—even if there is no 'where' to be drawn on a map." "How do you expect us to even possibly relate to that, Miss Dash?" Rainbow's ruby eyes narrowed. "Because, in the end, loyalty is the best home you can ever have." She gulped. "This village may not survive, but your villagers can. Leave this place..." The entire room erupted in shock and anger. Rainbow spoke louder. "Leave! And we'll help you get the Val Roans to come here and—" "And do what?!" Drakshaa snarled. "Build us all aircraft so we can fly around the world, disturbing the peace like you?!" "No! I mean—" "Silence!" Merigold exclaimed. "All of you!" As the room died down, she gave Rainbow an exhausted look, and then the changelings an even more exhausted look. After a firm breath, she said, "Leave us." "But—!" The changeling that was Keebroo stepped forward. "Governess—!" "Leave now!" Merigold growled. "Leave the premises! We will talk again when I decide. I must... deliberate on this..." "And just how long do you intend to do that?!" Roarke spoke up. "Rainbow and the rest of us have told you everything you need to know about the looming threat and—" "I know, metal one!" Merigold retorted, eyes like daggers. "That is why I am asking you to leave rather than forcing you by knife point!" She pointed out the front entrance. "Until you can claim to have selfless ancestors who've lived and died on this land, you cannot pretend to make decisions for it. Now, depart, before my patient draws thin." Gradually, the ponies broke up, murmuring in shattered clusters. The changelings exchanged glances. Their eyes flickered green in cadence, and they buzzed limply out the front entrance, causing local villagers to flinch and gawk at them. Rainbow Dash was panting as if having galloped up hill. She tried taking a step, but stumbled. Roarke caught the wincing pegasus. Using her weight, the metal mare helped Rainbow out the door, where they were joined by the limping trot of Josho, Belle, and Pilate. Booster Spice looked all around, biting his lip. Finally, with a nervous breath, he galloped out, joining the jurists. Drakshaa stood in the center of the hall, fuming with folded forelimbs. As the crowd gradually broke up, he drew over his face, sighing as his features went slack... dull.