//------------------------------//
// Chapter 9: You're not alone! 
// Story: Kingdom in Shadows 
// by Istaran 
//------------------------------//

I stopped by the fortress façade we had built, slipping past a couple of ponies standing guard to keep curious gem ponies at bay. It wouldn't be that long before the place was presentable, its secrets well hidden out of sight, but we weren't there yet. We were still busy making new secrets. 

The main portion of the interior was still a big empty pit for now, but the means to change that was just settling into place at the bottom. We had cleared out all of the dark crystals revealed so far, stored them away for later use making more Sin Eaters or other experiments. Now the bottom floor was completely clear except for a single earth pony, a colt named Bark Tender. He was one of the seasonal workers who had joined us in the early days, a green pony with brown mane and a trio of trees for a cutie mark. He had been captured along with Cherry Blossom, forced to watch her thrown to her death in the pit beneath Citrus Hills for daring to insist they would be rescued, and ultimately watched her rise again as my 'undead' abomination. Now, he squirmed a bit as he settled into place at the bottom of his own pit, looking up at me with a nervous smile.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" I asked him. "You could very easily die in the process..."

"I'm not going to die, I'm just going to transform. Even if I did become 'dead', I won't fail. I'll just become even more like her. And that's the point... Cherry Blossom has been alone for far too long," Bark Tender answered. He had resolve in his voice, but it was far from total. He was afraid, though, much less than I was afraid for him. He closed his eyes and grit his teeth as a protrusion emerged from his forehead, his kingsblood forcing a newly formed horn into place where there had been none. "I don't suppose I could convince you to give me some privacy?"

I shook my head. "Whatever happens, I'm with you to the end. Though, just in case I'll watch from up here, hopefully outside your blast radius if something goes horribly wrong."

He rolled his eyes at me. "Really not the time for jokes," he said before concentrating. I noted his subnet id changed to 'gardener - hosting Viagra' as Stud Muffin remotely took control of his newly formed horn and began casting. I began drawing 'love' from my changelings and channeling it into the colt, empowering the spell. 

Bark Tender's form began to twist and mutate, fur and skin becoming bark, while the flesh underneath changed to match. Roots and limbs shot forth, plunging into the walls and ceiling. In minutes he occupied the entire bottom of the shaft, and still he was growing rapidly. The ground trembled and shook lightly as roots dug into the earth around us, absorbing and devouring its rich nutrients. I could feel his fear starting to spike and focused my thoughts toward easing him through it, even as I felt Cherry Blossom doing the same. The earth here still held more caches of the dark crystals, unchanged over the thousand years since Sombra created them. They were much stronger than the ones harvested in Equestria, and Bark's roots had to find them physically and destroy them as he went, giving him a full terrifying dose of their power as he did. Unlike Cherry Blossom, he lacked the dead's immunity to their effects, though at times he felt ready to give up on life and die from the sheer supernatural terror they inspired. 

The nanospiders that made up his 'kingsblood' multiplied rapidly. The magic could not replicate them, but merely gave them a larger region in which to exist, letting them replicate themselves and fill the growing wood, permeating the sap that ran through it. It was tying up a lot of their thought for now, but as portions became finished I could feel its consciousness expanding, becoming more like Cherry Blossom's. A massive, almost unfathomable intellect: more thought than will. What remained of the pony, the real pony's heart and mind, seemed tiny in comparison, but like a small rudder could turn a ship, I knew what an impact it could still have. 

I directed others throughout the kingdom to make their respective preparations for the night ahead while I watched. Over the hours I saw limbs of wood climb up the sides for the shaft, before filling in the space between to make a solid coat of wood from the bottom of the basement to the top of the tower, leaving holes only for the windows and doors. Interior floors and walls grew out across the space, even perfectly spaced stairs connecting most of the floors, while a column in the center served as an elevator shaft. The wood was all covered in bark as it grew, fitting given the martyr's name, but as sections were completed the bark dissolved to leave perfectly smooth wood, even secreting a bit of varnish to look perfectly manufactured. Only on the lowest floor the stairs reached was the living nature of the wood on display, with wooden limbs that moved freely, as weird semi-organic sort of robotic factory floor. 

The bottom floor was kept accessible only by the elevator, a lift controlled by Bark Tender himself, and was meant to house our ongoing research projects, far from the prying eyes of outsiders. Disruption fields were put into place, making it difficult to impossible to teleport in or remotely view the contents without specialized techniques like those used by our 'gatecrasher' teleportation bracers. It was as fine a secret laboratory as one could hope for, though for now it lacked interested secrets except for the horned colt's head protruding from one wall.

Down below, the roots continued to dig deeper and deeper. For now, between magic and the earth he was consuming, Bark was able to meet his ongoing needs as a living being, but in the long run he would need an energy source. Growing leaves over the top of the building was an amusing option, and we used it, but it didn't provide enough energy to keep everything going. At this latitude, the sunlight was too indirect, and the root system was too broadly spread as well. However, we had high hopes for being able to tap into the geothermal energy deep in the earth and sustain the massive plant-pony that way. 

As the day approached its end, I approached Bark Tender's face, and gave him a light nuzzle. "I'm glad you're still alive. And.. at least a little bit pony."

"This is... really incredible. Even with our link, I can't describe how it feels. Your mind just doesn't have room for it all," he replied, awestruck with his own transformation.

"Thank you so much for doing this. I'm... still sad that you lost what chance you had left of a normal life, but I just hope you can be happy like this," I answered.

The head in the wall nodded. "I've got a very strong connection to Cherry Blossom now. Not just in terms of bandwidth but... well, we are closer than ever in other ways as well. I know she tried to not be lonely by being connected to everyone through 'Elysium'," he said, referring to the virtual 'dream' world she maintained for the other ponies in our kingdom, "but she was still so... different than everyone else. She finally has someone who can relate to her."

I nodded, turning in a futile effort to hide my tears as I walked back toward the elevator. "I need to get back upstairs, prepare for the siege," I managed to get back out. I wasn't even quite sure what I was crying for.

[It will all be okay,] Cherry Blossom assured me. [Better than okay.]





When he could afford to take a break from singing, Alexander went looking for Garnet. It took some time and some asking around, but he finally found her at the castle, hanging out with her sister while the older mare stood guard at one of the side entrances. 

"Greetings, my fine glittering mares! The sunlight really draws out your beauty," he complimented as he glided to a halt before them. 

Diamond Glitter looked at him in annoyance before letting her expression soften. "I- I owe you an apology," she began.

Alex waved it off with a hoof. "Say no more. Life is too precious to waste it on guilt and regrets. I am only glad that we found you before it was too late. And the others as well! As many as we were able to rescue.. so far."

"So far? Do you think the others can still be saved?" Garnet asked hopefully. By her expression it appeared Diamond lacked her hope.

Alex nodded. "We will do what we can, and we cannot promise success in this endeavor, but my father and our people will do everything we can."

"Thanks so much. For everything," Garnet replied before moving in for a kiss. It started as a light peck, but then she closed in for a second kiss, pulling Alex in tightly for a deep, passionate kiss that lasted until Diamond 'coughed' to remind them they weren't alone. Garnet was blushing heavily as she backed off.

Alex nodded, blushing brightly as he sat back on his haunches, dazed a moment just enjoying the sensation. As a half-changeling, he could easily sense her emotions toward him, even if they weren't a required part of his diet. And simply basking in it, along with the sunlight on his back, was a nice break from the tensions of the day. Eventually though those tensions returned to his thoughts. "Do you two have a safer place to be tonight? I fear there will be another attack tonight, and I would feel better knowing you are far from the front."

"We will be pulling all of the civilians into the fortress proper tonight. The main advantage of our low population is that we can do so if we must, though it makes life harder for everypony. Better than being hurt in a fight though. What about your people?" Diamond responded.

"We will be the front," Alex said, standing up and getting a determined look. "If it is okay, I believe it would be best for me to be on the roof of this fine fortification. My own contribution will be acoustic in nature, and that would be the best place to let my songs ring out across the whole battlefield. If your liege is agreeable to the idea, that is."

"Can your songs even be heard from that far away?" Garnet questioned.

"Would it really surprise you to know I know some spells for amplifying sounds?" he countered.

Garnet looked a bit embarrassed to have not assumed as much. "Of course, why wouldn't you. I mean.. it's practically your cutie mark."

Alex waved dismissively. "As I said, the marking is false, or at most a 'boast'. Neither of my parents' races get real cutie marks. Nevertheless, song is most assuredly my passion and my talent. The spells I had to learn from the libraries in Canterlot, however."

"I'll check with the Prince and Princess about that, but I doubt they'll have a problem with it. We're happy to have any contribution to the defense of our ponies, even one as unconventional as singing," she answered. Diamond was still a bit skeptical, and it showed in her tone, but she had seen some evidence of the bard's powers already, and couldn't dismiss it as completely as some did. She didn't remember singing along with the duet with her sister the night Alex had first come to their home, but she did remember their fight and that they had reconciled much more easily than she would have expected. That, and the street riots that had been instantly flipped into a street party... the Itinerant Prince had done something, surely, even if nopony recalled a lyric or a note.

"But one thing: no making out while I'm away. She's watching!" Diamond pointed to her partner, the other guardpony on duty at this entrance, before heading inside. So instead Alex and Garnet stood side by side, watching the sunshine and the glittering ponies below as they simply enjoyed each other's company.





As the elevator rose to deposit me on the ground floor, I found myself rising farther than I had requested, and let out on the top floor instead. There was housing here for some of our key personnel, including the 'royal suite' that would soon be my home. The door to that suite was the only one open in the hallway before me, and I sighed a bit to myself, noticing my wife's subnet signature coming from within. Her ability to override my orders got on my nerves at time, but I knew she always had my best interests at heart. Or at the least, her own interpretations of them. 

I trotted up to the door, looking within only to see Bark Tender had already managed to furnish the room, including an elegant four poster bed dominating the center of the second room in. I could see the silhouette of somepony within, Queen Wind Chaser if her id was not a lie. It wouldn't be the first time she had tried to trick me into sex with somepony else, and I knew she wanted me to impregnate the other changelings at least once each. 

But as I approached and pushed aside the curtains, hearing the doors close themselves behind me, I could feel the powerful, genuine love radiating from her. It wasn't like when we redistributed the magical power source that was 'love', using the changelings as living magical batteries to story the power ponies naturally generated. It was her heart reaching out for mine, laying bear her true emotions. The other changelings might have been able to fake her subnet id with her help, and they could easily fake her appearance, but they couldn't match her love. Most of them had some degree of love for me in their own right, for varying definitions of 'love', but nothing that could compare to that of my queen.

I was surprised when I laid eyes on her, as rather than her natural bug-pony form (which I had slowly gained an appreciation for over the years) or her more common pegasus disguise or some other pony form she had chosen her 'guardian angel' form. It was the form she was in when I first set eyes on her, drawn from the memories of my alternate-timeline self before I had met her. A beautiful human woman, with long flowing golden hair and fair but not pale skin. She was tall, lean, and graceful. She wore a shimmering white dress, revealing just enough skin to tantalize, framed by a massive pair of white feathery wings. The wings glittered slightly, a new trick she must have picked up from the crystal pegasi. And her face was obscured by a thin, silky white veil. 

"To what do I owe this... delightful presentation?" I asked, climbing onto the end of the bed and drinking in the sights. "And should I be changing to match?"

"Use whatever form you like, my beloved," Wind Chaser replied. "I just wanted to remind you how much you are loved, before you go into battle tonight. This is a battle of hearts as much as it is a battle of bodies, minds, and blades. Perhaps more so." She beckoned me with a finger gesture and a lustful grin. "So, come and fill your heart with the awareness of our love, while you have the time to do so. Then I will take my place at your side as we show our enemies the strength of our hearts."

We didn't have a lot of time together, but we made the best of it.