“So,” Twilight began, looking at Jason like he was insane, “You’re telling me that that weird human took you to another universe, in which you and our entire reality were erased and then restored?”
“Yeah, that’s about right,” Jason said with a nod, taking a bite of his sandwich.
“You know how utterly insane that sounds?” Twilight asked, giving him a rather flat look.
“Not two months ago we fought an army of killer shadows trying to eat the planet... insane is just how we do things, Twilight,” he countered with a roll of his eyes. “You know... why don’t I get a throne?” he asked, casting a glance around the room. The girls were currently in their thrones, with him sitting in a chair taken from another room in the castle.
“Ya already got a throne in yer castle,” Applejack snorted, rather amused, “‘Sides we’re here to figure out what ta do about her.” She pointed at Sonata, who was busy reading comics with Spike.
“I say we let her stay!” Pinkie shouted, jumping up and down on her throne, “She’s so much fun to hang out with!” Pinkie bounced one last time before the ground started to shake. The floor in the center of the thrones started to shift and grow, quickly forming into a large table. A 3D map flickered to life across it with the girls’ cutie marks floating over Ponyville.
“Well, shit,” Jason said blinking, “Wasn’t expecting that at all...” He reached into the map, waving his hand around, distorting it a little.
“Oohh....” Sonata said, floating over and gazing down at the map, “Thats really, super cool!!”
“Uh... getting back on topic,” Dash said, watching as Sonata and Pinkie ‘rampaged’ across the map, “Whadda we do about her?”
“Well, I have been going over everything I can find about sirens and I found out that they need to feed off emotions, kind of like changelings. However, Chrysalis tried to give her some love but Sonata said it was too sickly sweet,” Twilight recounted, tapping her chin. “So, if she’s going to stay here, we have to find something for her to eat.”
“Didn’t you say the sirens had gems?” Rarity asked, primping her mane a little.
“They did, it was what allowed them to feed off negative emotions,” Twilight agreed, “Without it I don’t think she can eat.”
“Well, can’t we just make her a new one?” Dash asked, holding up a talon. “I mean you guys made me new legs, can’t you just make her a new gem?”
“Oh I got this one!” Hodgepodge declared, loud enough to make Jason wince.
“Got what?” he asked, rubbing his head.
”You just take some of that goo changelings like to spit at everything, put it in some mood crystals and bam! Awesome new gem!
Jason blinked, relaying the message to Twilight.
“Hm... that could work...” Twilight sat back in her throne, rubbing her chin.
“Um... Twilight,” Fluttershy spoke up, getting their attention. “Our cutie marks um... moved,” she said, pointing to the floating images, which now hovered over a rather lonely looking town surrounded by mountains.
“Why the hay did they move there?”
“I don't know,” Twilight started, giving it a hard look, “But it seems like the map wants us to find out. The Tree, the chest, this castle, and now the map. How can we not follow it?”
“Y'know what?“ Dash asked, talking into the air, “There's a ton of room for dangerous adventure along that route. Count me in!”
Applejack nodded her head. “Aw shoot, I reckon yer right.”
Pinkie paused before tapping her chin and breaking into a smile, “Well, I was planning on organizing my baking sheets, but okay!”
Rarity just sighed, realising she was getting dragged into another adventure, “Very well.”
“Oh um...” Fluttershy frowned, putting a hoof on her stomach, “I dunno if I should go...maybe I’ll just stay here with Spike.”
“Awesome!” Spike shouted, having gotten a big foam finger and what looked like a beer hat, “Me and Big Mac have a huge weekend ahead of us talkin' hoofball, and... and trading hoofball cards, and arguing about hoofball stats...”
“O-o-on second thought, m-m-maybe I'd better go with them. In case they need me.”
“Ahem,” Jason cut in, pointing at Sonata, “We have a starving siren here,”
“Oh right,” Twilight said, giving a sheepish smile, “Getting the goo shouldn’t be too hard, but mood crystals are rather rare. Best place to get them is probably the Crystal Empire,” she turned to the map, “So while we’re investigating with town, you can take Sonata up to the Empire and get a crystal.”
“Aw yeah!” Sonata squealed, flying up into the air, “Road trip!”
“Uh... ya’ll can’t really go out like that ya know,” Applejack pointed out with a frown.
“Oh yeah, duh,” Sonata said with a giggle before her body shimmered. She shrunk down to their size, becoming a very aquatic looking pony that reminded Jason of a vaporeon, with a fin replacing her mane and a fish tail instead of a normal pony tail.
“Why didn’t you do that before?!” Dash shouted, looking at her with an incredulous look.
“I forgot,” Sonata said, causing the entire group to facepalm and/or facehoof.
“Everything is so shiny!” Sonata cried in awe as she trotted off the train, her eyes sparkling as she looked around at all the shimmering buildings and ponies.
“Oh, this is going to be a fun trip,” Lightning Dust snorted, watching rather bemused as Sonata pranced around like an idiot.
“Just let her have fun,” Jason said, stretching his limbs out, smiling as Zed padded out behind him. “She hasn’t been herself in, like, a thousand years.” He quickly rounded up the wayward siren, corralling her towards the marketplace.
“And you couldn’t send someone else to do this, why?” Lightning asked, adjusting her helmet, “I mean, you’re a prince, they have people for this kinda thing.”
“Unlike Celestia, I like to do things myself,” Jason said, pulling Sonata away from a food cart. “Not only that, but she’s starving and the quicker we get that new gem on her the better.”
“Well you’re the boss,” Lightning said with a shrug, keeping an eye out for any trouble. “You ever consider breeding your uh... dog?” Lightning asked before flinching back as Zed growled at her.
“Zed is a Baskurr, and yeah I have, but as you know, she’s the only Baskurr here,” Jason said, patting her head, calming the irate Baskurr down, “I’d probably have to go back to Tennyson’s world to find her a mate.”
“So like... does she she lay eggs or?” Lightning asked, eyeing the Baskurr curiously, “I mean, she is a reptile... right?”
“You know... I have no idea,” Jason said with a shrug, “I’ll talk to Fluttershy about it. I bet you’d like pups one day wouldn’t you girl?” Jason asked, scratching Zed’s ears, making her growl contently. She looked up at him, licking his hand.
“Well when you do, let me know, I so want one,” Lightning said, eyeing Zed for a few moments more before going back on alert. Jason gazed at Lightning Dust, a small smile on his face. The pegasus had changed much during her time in his employ. Sure she was still brash and abrasive but she had also cleaned up her act and did her duty well.
“We’ll see,” he said, looking around the market for the mood crystals, “Anyway, keep an eye out for the crystals, I’m not exactly sure what they look like.”
“Prince Jason!” a vaguely familiar voice called out, catching the group's attention. A familiar crystal pony trotted over, a big smile on her face.
“Oh, hey,” Jason said, his eyes widening with recognition, “I remember you, you were at the trader’s fair. Uh... Citrus right?”
The mare giggled, not seeming to mind the incorrect name, “No silly! My name is Citrine!” She blinked as Sonata suddenly appeared in her face.
“Hi! I’m Sonata! It’s nice to meet you!” the hyperactive siren exclaimed, grabbing Citrine’s hoof in both of her own and giving it a powerful shake.
“Forgive her, she’s just... excited,” Jason said with a laugh, shaking his head, “I didn’t think I’d see you again,” he said, smiling down at Citrine as she recovered from Sonata’s ‘attack’.
“Oh it’s alright!” Citrine said, regaining her smile, “It’s always nice to meet a friendly pony!” She turned her full attention back to him. “So, your Highness, what brings you up to the Empire? Official business?”
“Nah, I’m looking for some mood crystal to help out Sonata here,” Jason said, patting the siren-turned-pony’s head.
“Mood crystal, hmm?” Citrine asked, rubbing her chin, “I can help with that! Follow me!” she said with a grin, starting to trot off.
“Well, you heard the lady,” Jason said, starting to follow her, Lightning and Sonata on his heels.
Chrysalis sighed as she left the room, feeling much better than she had when she woke up. She wasn’t having the best of days, as both of her spouses had decided to just up and leave, dropping everything to go off on some adventure.
“I never get to go on adventures...” she muttered to herself, grumpily sitting down on the throne. She had cancelled court for the day, mostly due to how utterly boring she found it, and she had the sneaking suspicion that the nobles didn’t like her. She snorted at the thought, utterly hating the thing ponies called ‘politics’.
With nothing better to do, she closed her eyes, allowing herself to submerge into the hivemind. She shifted through the voices until she found one, this ‘ling being one of her harvesters in the Empire.
‘My child, have you found them?’
‘Yes mother, they're looking for something called a... mood crystal.’
‘Keep an eye on them. Oh, and when you get the chance, tell Jason we’re going to have a nice long talk about him and Rarity just up and leaving me here.’
‘Yes, mother.’
Disconnecting from the harvester, she sifted through the voices again, looking for a very particular one. Since Rarity had become part changeling, the two of them had discovered that they could speak through the hivemind, though Chrysalis had to initiate the contact for it to work. This time though, something was wrong. Rarity’s voice was weak and she almost mistook it for just another drone.
‘Rarity? Are you alright? Something seems very, very wrong with you.’
‘Chrysalis! Oh thank Faust you contacted me!’
‘I get the feeling that something has gone terribly wrong. What is it?’
‘Well... you see, the girls and I went to investigate this village and we found that they had all removed their cutie marks. We uh... had our marks stolen...’
‘What!?’
‘They have us locked in a house, I think they’re trying to brainwash us. Chrysalis?’
Rarity didn’t get a response as Chrysalis got off her throne, her eyes filled with rage. She issued forth an order, almost all of her drones dropping what they were doing, heeding their mother’s call.
“Your Majesty, where are you going?” Pupa asked, looking rather concerned as Chrysalis trotted out of the throne room, her guards falling in behind her.
“I’m going to get my wife. You stay here. If anyone asks where I am, tell them I went to go rescue Rarity and her idiot friends.” With that, the empress lifted off into the sky, dozens of armed drones following after her.
“I feel sorry for whoever pissed her off.” Pupa turned, trotting back into the castle, shaking her head.
“I think this is about all we need,” Jason said, hefting a shard of crystal the size of his head, “How much?” he asked, his gaze turning to the rather plump griffon that sat behind the stall.
The griffon stared at the shard, stroking his beak in thought. “For something that big... hundred bits.”
“What!?” Citrine screeched, looking rather indignant. “Thats highway robbery!” Jason raised his hand, silencing any further complaints from the mare. He pulled out a sack of bits and tossed it onto the stall. “That should be enough, yes?”
The griffon greedily snatched up the sack, peering inside of it, “Oh yes, this is more than enough!” He cleared his throat, looking up at the group. “Pleasure doing buisness with you.”
“You have a good day,” Jason said, leading the ponies away, into the market crowd, “Well, that guy was pleasant...”
“Why did you pay him?” Citrine asked, frowning up at him, “He was obviously overcharging you!”
“I have a lot of disposable income,” Jason said with a shrug. He opened his mouth to respond when a loud shout caught their eye. A humanoid figure barreled through marketplace, pushing aside anypony that got in their way.
“Stop, thief!” a blue crystal pony shouted, doing his best to follow after the bandit.
“Omnitrix, Bloxx!” Jason commanded, shifting into a multi-colored, gorilla like creature that looked like it was made out of legos. He extended his arms, using them to outpace the criminal. “Not a fan of thieves, you know,” he said as he morphed his body into a wall, blocking their path.
The thief skidded to a stop before attempting to turn around, only to be blocked by approaching guards. Looking around for another escape route, they pulled something from out of their cloak. They hurled the object at the ground, creating a smoke screen.
Sonata gasped, looking around. “They’re gone! Oh wait,” she paused, pointing her hoof, “There they are!” Said thief was attempting to flee down an alley.
“Oh no you don’t!” Lightning Dust sneered, bolting after the thief, then slamming into them and sending them crashing into a wall. Before they could react, she pointed her spear at their throat. “Don’t even try it,” she ordered, glaring down at them.
“Alright, stand down Lightning,” Jason ordered, entering the alley, having reverted back to normal. “Well now, lets see who's behind the mask, shall we?” He reached down, pulling the thief's hood off, only to step back in surprise. Staring up at him was Trixie, the mare still in her transformed state, only she looked terrible. Her mane and coat were a mess, and she looked like she hadn’t had a decent meal in months.
“Don’t look at me!” Trixie hissed, pulling the hood back up.
“Trixie, where the hell have you been?” Jason asked, pushing Lightning’s spear away. “We looked for you after the wedding but we couldn’t find you.”
“Why would I want to be found?” she asked bitterly, her purple eyes glaring up at him from under the hood. “I’m a freak! Nopony would want to look at something like me...”
Jason sighed, running his hand down his face. “You are not a freak,” Jason said, holding his hand out to her. “Look, I’ll try my best to get you back to normal, but you can’t live like this, Trixie.”
Trixie stared at his hand for a few moments before reaching up and grasping it rather shakily. “A-alright... I’ll try...” she said with a nod, allowing him to get to her feet.
“Ok, good,” Jason said, giving her a smile. “First things first, we smooth things over with the local guards...” he paused, looking Trixie over, “Then get you cleaned up.” He motioned for her to follow him, walking out of the alley. Trixie watched after him for a few moments before following after him, hoping that for once, things would look up for her.
“I've got a good feeling about today!” the mare known as Starlight Glimmer stated, looking at the recently equalized ponies that had come into town. “So, do any of you have anything you'd like to say?” They either ignored her or gave her dirty looks. “Aw, pity. Well, let's try this again tomorrow, shall we? No new friends today, I'm afraid!”
“Wait!” Fluttershy, a recent convert, called out. “I'd like to lock them in.”
“Marvelous, Fluttershy!” Starlight said, giving her a smile, “That's the spirit! Party Favor, will you...” she paused, looking around as an odd buzzing filled the air.
“I told you she was coming,” Rarity said with a smirk, “She wouldn’t just leave us hanging, after all.”
“Who are you talking about?!” Starlight demanded, her calm demeanor slipping away. She already had to deal with this group of meddlers, she didn’t need more.
“Oh, you’ll see,” Rarity said, never losing her smirk. All around them, dozens of black, insectoid ponies dropped to the ground, some armored and all of them armed. A very tall one landed last, looking around somewhat frantically. “Starlight Glimmer, may I introduce, my wife, Empress Chrysalis, ruler of the changelings.”
“Changeling?” Starlight asked, not sure what to make of all of this.
“Are you alright, Rarity?” Chrysalis asked, trotting over to the white mare, looking her over. “You don’t look alright.”
“Uh, hello!” Dash cut in, “We had our cutie marks stolen by these weirdos! I don’t exactly think we’re okay!”
Chrysalis snorted at Dash’s comment but turned her gaze toward Starlight. “You! Return their damn cutie marks, now!”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” Starlight responded, standing her ground. “They are so close to embracing true harmony!”
Chrysalis just glared at her, lighting her horn up. “I am so going to enjoy this.” She signaled to her drones, who proceeded to bind the townsfolk with goo, leaving just Starlight.
“You can’t do this! This is our town!” Starlight shouted, lighting up her own horn.
“I can and will! You took my wife and friends captive and tried to brainwash them into some idiotic friendship cult! You brought this on yourself!” she hissed, firing off a shot, which Starlight managed to dodge. The bolt of magic instead struck a house, which exploded in a rather spectacular fashion.
Starlight gritted her teeth, going through her options. She could obviously flee, this pony was clearly stronger than her, but, if she could equalize her, her followers may stand down. Starlight smirked, charging up the removal spell, only to realize Chrysalis didn’t have a cutie mark. Chrysalis took advantage of Starlight’s lack of action, blasting her into a nearby stack of barrels. Most of them broke open, drenching her in water.
“She still has her cutie mark!” one of the trapped ponies shouted, being followed by more shouting, most asking why Starlight had betrayed them
“Well, isn’t this lovely, you can’t even practice what you preach,” Chrysalis taunted, a smirk on her face. “I believe there's a word for that... ah yes! Hypocrite!”
“Shut your mouth!” Starlight shouted, getting to her hooves, seething in rage. “You ruined everything I’ve worked to build!”
“Oh please, don’t blame me your your failures as a leader,” Chrysalis scoffed, readying another spell. Starlight glared harder, charging up her own spell. Starlight dodged Chrysalis’s spell, casting her own, setting up a blinding light, darting off to make her escape.
“Bitch!” Chrysalis spat, shaking her head. “Find her!” she ordered, sending her drones out. She was so going to enjoy her next meeting with that pony. “So much fun,” she muttered to herself, trotting over to Rarity, her thoughts mostly centered on revenge. No one harmed her mate and got away with it.
“There you go, Sonata,” Jason said, attaching the newly forged gem around her neck with a smile. “That should do it!”
“Oh, I can’t wait! I’m going to be the bestest singer ever!” Sonata declared, prancing around in a way that reminded Jason way too much of Pinkie Pie.
“I’m sure you will,” Jason said with a chuckle as he walked into Twilight’s castle with Trixie and Sonata following him. “Hey girls! You back?”
“We’re in here Jay!” Dash called, her voice originating from the throne room.
“So,” Jason asked as he walked in, “How’d it go?”
“First, it was like really, really creepy, with all these ponies with weirdo smiles! Then that meanie pants Starlight Glimmer stole our cutie marks! I thought we were gonna get brainwashed but then Chrysalis came with all her guards and saved the day!” Pinkie exclaimed, having tackled Jason to the ground, jumping up and down on his chest.
“Wait, what was that about Chrysalis?” Jason asked, clamping his hand on Pinkie’s muzzle to quiet her.
“What she means is, I invaded a town,” Chrysalis said from where she was sitting next to Rarity, holding the smaller mare rather protectively.
“You what!?” Jason asked, pushing Pinkie off, moving over to Chrysalis, “Who gave you permission to do that!?”
“No one, Jason,” Chrysalis said, moving over to him, “Rarity was in trouble and I needed to help her.”
Just as Jason opened his mouth to respond, there was a bright flash and the two of them vanished. Those still in the room stared at the spot the two had stood before Trixie spoke up.
“Does that happen often?”
Twilight just sighed, rubbing her forehead. “Way more often than you’d hope.”