//------------------------------//
// The Council of Sehlp Part Two 
// Story: Yaerfaerda 
// by Imploding Colon 
//------------------------------//

	"Do forgive me," Duchess Arcanista murmured, leaning forward with a slight shudder.  "And correct me if I'm wrong in my attempt to recount that which I have just learned."  She gulped hard, then glanced at each of the Jurists in turn while she spoke.  "There is a race of equines who can shape-shift, and their Queen—the forbearer responsible for their very existence—has laid claim to Val Roa?"

Several ponies nodded and nodded.

Arcanista's eyes narrowed. "And this Queen can take the form of anyone or anything?"

More nods.

"And she is utilizing the skills of her 'hive' to perform subterfuge within the central kingdom?"  She blinked.  "With the purpose of sowing memory that she can then feed on?"

"It's... it's just her," Rainbow said.

"Huh?"

"It's Chrysalis and Chrysalis alone," the pegasus reiterated.  "She no longer has any control over her broods."

"You're sure of this?"

"Pretty sure," Rainbow said.

Pilate spoke up.  "We've already encountered more than one group of changelings formerly loyal to the Queen's cause.  Without her influence, they're innocent... practically blank slates."

"Our major concern is that Chrysalis will do something in Val Roa to feed and become strong enough to control her hatchlings once again," Bellesmith said.  "Considering how far-spread they are, not to mention how vulnerable to her telepathic connections, you can imagine the great need we have to prevent this sort of a thing from happening once again."

"The dayum metamorph has already laid waste to an entire continent," Josho grumbled.  "Hundreds of thousands died thanks to her meddling."

"She even infected an immortal dragon with chaos," Pilate said.  "One of the Ancient Divines—dead now, thanks to Chrysalis and her hatchlings."

"Good God..."  Arcanista blinked.  She turned towards Rainbow Dash.  "This war... this Xonan and Ledomaritan conflict: it began without her?"

Rainbow nodded.  "At some point, several years ago—we think—Chrysalis sank her teeth in and steered the conflict in the direction she wanted."

"Single-hoofedly making it far bloodier than it needed to be," Pilate remarked.

Josho pointed.  "What he said."

"Then..."  Arcanista couldn't help but shudder.  "If Chrysalis is indeed at work beyond the West Gate—"

"She's got a lot to work with," Roarke said bluntly.  "Especially if what you say is true."  Her ice-blue eyes narrowed.  "Conspiratorial back-stabbing... bureaucratic intrigue... secret murders, secret burials, and secret embezzling."

"You see, what Chrysalis does, is—like..."  Rainbow fidgeted from where she hovered.  "...t-take a place that's already got a bunch of bad crap going on and magnify it by a gazillion.  But she does it slowly, so that you can't tell when the normal evil ends and the changeling influence begins."

Ebon Mane shuddered.  Eagle placed a gentle hoof on his shoulder.

Rainbow gulped.  "No offence, buddy."

Arcanista blinked.  "What bothers him so?"  She craned her neck, peering straight at Ebon.  "Did changelings affect you terribly, good sir?"

"It's m-more than that..."  Ebon stammered.  "I... uhm..."

"He is a changeling," Roarke blurted.

Eagle glared at Roarke.  He opened his mouth to say something—

"No.  It's... it's okay."  Ebon smiled weakly.  "It was going to come up eventually."

"A changeling in your midst?" Arcanista remarked.

"He's all Jurist!" Eagle exclaimed.

"And our cook," Zaid said with a smirk.  "So—yeah—we love the dickens out of 'em."  Props giggled.

"I... must admit that I am rather curious," Arcanista said.  "If not a bit concerned.  Would you mind if...?"

Eagle's brow furrowed.  "What?"

"I think she desires a demonstration," Pilate muttered.

"Well, he's not a trick pony!" Eagle grumbled, voice cracking.  "We got the Duchess her brother back.  Isn't that enough to trust us by—?"

"EE, please," Ebon sighed.  "Don't make a show."  He smiled faintly, stood up, and concentrated.

"Don't strain s-something, Ebony!" Props squeaked.

Relaxing, Ebon allowed his burgundy coat to vanish with a cascade of green flame.  He stood before the Duchess with twitching wings.

Arcanista recoiled slightly.  The reindeer guards at her side flinched, their antlers brimming with dim beams of mana.

"Settle your glimmer," Floydien suddenly hissed, startling half of the souls in the room.  His red eyes flared briefly.  "The boomer is Floydien's friend..."  With a sigh, he hung his head, returning once again to his quiet corner of the room.  "...plus, sailboat makes good munch munch."

"Do... d-do forgive me," Arcanista remarked.  "This is a lot to take in.  I was merely startled.  I have every faith in your character, Mister...?"

"Mane," the changeling said in a warbling voice.  "Ebon Mane."  He closed his clear eyes, concentrating.  "And I don't blame you for being startled.  This is... t-taking some getting used to me as well."  At last, his body flickered with green flame.  He blinked with violet eyes, tossing a purple mane.  "Whoops..."  Concentrating again, he exchanged his unicorn horn for a bergundy coat.  He turned towards Eagle Eye with a sheepish smile.  "Sorry... it's the qu-quickest way I know how to revert back."

Eagle smiled goofily.  "I'm not complaining."

"You can turn into anything?" Arcanista asked, leaning forward.  "Anyone?"

"No.  I... n-not reallly."  Ebon leaned into Eagle, shivering slightly.  "I-I really don't have a mastery over the shape-shifting.  I can take the shape of my close friends here, but only for a sh-short time."  He gulped.  "This—what you see before you—is the only form I can keep for long."

"Why is that?"

"It's... how I remember myself," Ebon said with a sigh.  "My Mother—... Chrysalis, she... she..."

Rainbow Dash hovered forward, clearing her throat as she took the torch from Ebon.  "Chrysalis had a strategy that involved planting several amnesiac hatchlings in random or strategic places throughout the world."

"That's... terribly cruel!"  Arcanista's brow furrowed.  "What the devil for?"

"They could do their job better."

"And what job is that?"

"Assuming the identities of replaced ponies," Rainbow Dash said.  "If that's happened in Val Roa, I'm sure the whole kingdom would know about it by now.  However, I'm willing to believe that only Chrysalis has been in Val Roa this whole time.  She was controlling the changelings in Ledomare, Xona, and Stratopolis from long-distance.  Meanwhile, she's stationed herself in Val Roa as a fallback.  Once she had fed from the misery caused in the west, she'd use this kingdom as a springboard."

"A springboard for what?"

"To carry her brood past the Grand Choke," Rainbow said.  "And—east beyond that—the edge of the world."

"She wishes to rejoin her sister Tchern on the Dark Side of the world," Pilate said.  "There's a conflict called the 'Trinary War,' and Chrysalis' ultimate goal is to raise an army empowered enough to turn the tide for dominance of the Plane."

"Wait..."  Arcanista's eyes narrowed.  "Dark Side... of the world?"  She blinked.  "Why, whatever do you mean?"

Pilate opened his mouth, lingered, and smiled tiredly.  "Perhaps... it's best that we stick to the circumstances at hoof."

"Chrysalis is the sole reason we came to this part of the continent to begin with," Rainbow said.  "Otherwise, I..."  She faltered, cleared her throat, and said.  "We would have gone further south to continue with our journey."

Roarke glanced at Rainbow.  She blinked over at Belle and Pilate.  The couple had their heads bowed.

"What we want to do... need to do is get inside Val Roa and sniff out Chrysalis so we can end her Reign of Terror once and for all," Rainbow Dash said.  "I mean... why not?  We've had so many run-ins with her, and after Stratopolis it would be practically criminal to leave her to her own devices."

"And that is the reason why the Noble Jury has remained in this kingdom for so long?"  Arcanista smiled slightly.  "Because you have been dedicated to finding a way past the West Gate?"

"Oh, we've had a ball!  Believe it!"  Kera grinned, tattoos flickering briefly with charismatic mana.  "Kicking goblin butt?!  Saving towns?!  Earning flower necklaces?!"

Zaid did a double-take.  "When did you earn flower necklaces?!"

"But it's all too easy, y'know?"  Kera stuck her nose towards the ceiling.  "We want a real challenge!  We wanna kick the bugshell butt of the Queen who caused everything to begin with!"

"And by 'everything' she means genocide," Josho said in a dull tone, eyeing the Duchess wearily.  "So perhaps you can see why we're so damn itching to get into your Ledo-forsaken kingdom and clean house!"

"Not an easy task, I assure you," Arcanista said.

"Shouldn't it be as simple as..."  Booster Spice shrugged, blinking.  "...rooting out the most likely candidate within Val Roa?"

"Candidate for what?"

"For being the Changeling Queen!"  Booster Spice exclaimed.  "Just think—of all the power players in your kingdom, who stands to gain the most from all of this subterfuge and backstabbing?"

Arcanista practically hissed:  "Fishberry."

Bellesmith and Rainbow Dash exchanged glances.

"Are you so certain of that?" Roarke spoke up.  "You seem rather biased there."

"She's marginalized Bountiful into nothing, disrupted the right to representation, and overseen the drafting of heinous and abominable laws!"

"And she's also responsible for the incarceration and supposed 'murder' of your brother," Roarke droned.  "That's a good enough reason to despise her, but would it be a changeling Queen's work?"

Arcanista shivered slightly.  She glanced aside at Floydien.

The elk said nothing.

With a sigh, Arcanista hung her head.

"How about this..."  Rainbow Dash paced in mid-air.  "Who's the most powerful pony in Val Roa?"

"Prince Eine of House of Evo, of course."  Arcanista blinked.  "Soon to be king."

Rainbow pivoted towards her.  "Are you certain of that?"

Arcanista fidgeted.  "Grand Secretary Sharp Quill has been acting steward of Val Roa for a long time, but as soon as Eine is crowned the new King, Sharp Quill steps back to assume the role of chief advisor, just like when the previous monarchs were still alive."

"You're talking about the ones who died in a fire?!"  Zaid raised an eyebrow.  "Yeesh, what an lucky 'unlucky' guy Sharp Quill must be!"

"Are you insinuating that Sharp Quill is directly responsible for the King and Queen's deaths?"

"If it was my mother in diguise..."  Ebon Mane shuddered.  "I c-certainly wouldn't put it past her."

"She'd be in the right place and the right time to control an entire kingdom during its most turbulent transition in years," Roarke said.  "Murder is likely a tiny stepping stone towards achieving that.  Who's to know what else Sharp Quill has accomplished?"

"Wait a second..."  Booster Spice spoke up.  "Didn't the Duchess say that the military's line of defense is broken up towards the south?"

"Yes..."  Arcanista nodded.  "It would seem as though General Saikano has need of the troops elsewhere."

"And that's a clear advantage to the Cartel if they wanted to invade from the southern border?"  Booster blinked at the others through his goggles.  "Well, wouldn't that be a stroke of brilliance on Chrysalis' behalf?"

"You... you mean..."  Arcanista leaned forward.  "General Saikano could be...?"

"From the way it looks," Eagle Eye spoke.  "Your kingdom is full of suspects."

"I... I..." Arcanista ran a hoof through her mane, shuddering.  "I-I think I may need to lie down..."

"It's not all hopeless!"  Props said, blinking.  "All we need to do is get in and have a look-see for ourselves!"

"Allow me to guess..."  Arcanista gazed at her lethargically.  "You've invented a 'changeling-detector' during your travels?"

"Well... it's not quite like that!"  Props grinned.  "But we do have Ebony!"

"Erm..." Ebon bit his lip.

"Props."  Eagle squeezed Ebon's shoulders protectively.  "We are not about to use him as a metamorph counter!"

"Well, can he sense Mommy Dearest or can't he?!"

"He can't!  And he won't!"

"It could be a viable option, EE," Pilate remarked.

"Says you!"

"Eagle... s-settle down, darling."  Ebon gulped.  "Please..."

"Look... first thing's first..."  Rainbow Dash hovered forward, waving her forelimbs.  "We have to get inside that place!  And we haven't been lucky on our own!  But you, Duchess, you have connections on the inside!  You know names!  From the sound of it, you might even have a familial acquaintance with Saikano."

"Unless... he's actually a she," Arcanista stammered.  "A changeling queen, she."

"Still, can you get us in there?"  Rainbow Dash asked.  "Can you get us inside?"

The room dropped into a cold hush.  Several Jurists leaned forward, anxiously.  Kera glanced at everypony with bright, blinking eyes.

"There is a way," Arcanista ultimately said, though with a reserved tone.  "But it will be difficult."

"Define 'difficult.'"

"It will require a certain degree of Val Roan subterfuge of our own."

"Well then..."  Zaid smirked and cracked the joints in his neck.  "If it involves dressing as giant slabs of grilled cheese sandwiches, count me in."

"Zaidy Waidy..."

"Okay.  Intermission."  Kera hopped off the sofa before Bellesmith could hold her back.  "Where's the noble Crapper of Sehlp?"