Aegis liked to think she had impressive patience. After all, she suffered years of princesshood, biweekly medical checks, her mother and aunt’s sometimes ridiculous tests, and then there was the “Cake Incident”. She shuddered at the terror of so much cake batter.
All of the seemingly fruitless research wasn’t exactly helping matters. Several paper stacks and old tomes dotted the ground floor with drained tea cups scattered about. Blitz wanted coffee above all, but the caretakers forbade it for the time being.
“Hold still, please,” Gear Ratio asked while inspecting every square inch of the purple proto-queen’s scalp. “Four bulbs. Excellent, your crown is growing in nicely.”
Aegis started scratching the bulbs with those delightfully dexterous fingers. “They itch like crazy.”
Gear gently smacked the hand away. “Don’t irritate them. The bone hasn’t hardened yet so if you mess with them, they’ll break and you’ll start growing in a second crown. Now, drop down so I can set up the probulator.”
“Joy,” Aegis grumbled as she reluctantly returned to her original quadruped stance. She eyed Burny, who was resting at her hooves, and picked it up in her magic to nuzzle her favorite weapon. He just doesn’t feel complete without a loaded fuel canister, but the castle staff keep getting all uppity about it.
Gear Ratio rolled over a machine as large as Celestia herself. Aegis would have blanched at all of the prods, needles, clamps, and various other implements of medical torture were it not a daily ritual Gear seemed to love doing, with an evil cackle at that. Whelp, I know what I’m banning the moment I start ruling my future hive.
A tittering giggle drew Aegis’ ears towards Blitz who was getting inspected as well. A few weeks had passed since the Summit, and the group was now in their personal suite in Canterlot Castle. It was actually Twilight’s old home before moving to Ponyville, which gave everyone a huge sense of wonder. Though that wonder was subdued for both proto-queens. “Aegis, you really need to just let the caretakers work. The sooner they're done, the sooner we can go back to our research.”
Aegis grumbled and groaned, but otherwise quietly complied to be poked and prodded. Mother neglected to mention how much the caretakers would probe us with cold steel tools. Actually, you know what? Screw it, my first act as queen will to make all medical probes double as sex toys.
It had already been late afternoon when the caretakers had begun, and by the time they finished, it was already well past sundown. A knock on the door was followed up by a voice. “Kitchen Service.”
Feather Soft was the only one not occupied by the examinations, having been taking notes. As such it fell upon her to answer the door, only to find Princess Luna waiting on the other side. “Good evening, Caretaker.” Feather jumped in surprise, but managed to speak without stuttering.
“Princess Luna, it’s an honor!” Feather stepped aside to allow Luna and the servants entrance.
With a respectful nod, Luna stepped in to find the other caretakers abandon their physical while the proto-queens happily cantered over. Aegis more than the others after seeing the two serving carts laden with food being wheeled in by the servants. “Hey, Princess, what brings you here?”
The three royals exchanged brief hugs. “I’ve been so busy as of late, I’ve not had a chance to see you since you arrived.” Luna sized them up. It was ultimately difficult to gauge the progress of the two changeling proto-queens towards full physical maturity since they were much taller standing on two legs. It is a little odd feeling when they kneel down to hug, rather than go back onto four legs. “I trust the city’s been kind to you.”
“Funny you should say that,” Blitz answered with a face somewhere between humored and confused. “We went to go sightseeing this morning and ponies kept asking us if we were costumed minotaurs.”
“Or a new species,” Aegis continued with a snicker, “and that one kid who thought we were changeling infested minotaurs coming here for a cure.”
Luna couldn’t help but to chuckle as the caretakers took turns hugging Luna. “Well it is certainly better than pitchforks, and hazmat suits.”
Leaving the royals to their chat, Gear Ratio shooed her staff over to set up the dining table. Blitz laughed only to slowly stop at Luna’s serious expression. “Ah… Well, anyway, umm, I’m glad that didn’t happen.”
“As are we all,” Luna replied with a brief sly smirk towards Aegis. “Archmage Aged Page is not the young stallion he used to be, so I have brought his latest findings with me,” she said while summoning several pieces of paper and an old tome.
Aegis’ face lit up at sight of the documents. “So he actually managed to find something? And here I thought we’d be stuck with fairy tales, ones that I hope have been blown out of proportion.”
Blitz hummed thoughtfully before her face lit up with an idea. “I think we should go over all of our information first, and you, Luna, can correct or add where we’re lacking.”
“Sounds reasonable,” Luna remarked. “Why don’t we try in one of your Linkscapes for better visualization?”
Aegis and Blitz were about to telekinetically grab the food Gear Ratio had brought over when Luna’s comment made them all hesitate. “Wait a second, since when can you enter our hive mind?”
Both proto-queens were momentarily surprised they spoke in unison before Blitz shook it off as a fluke. "I thought your part in defeating Silandrus was just you piggybacking off of momma."
Luna shot Aegis a calm smile. “That is true. Nevertheless, you forget, because I am one with The Dreamer, I am psychic. However, I view the hive mind differently than what’s been described to me. To my sight, your hive mind appears more as lights and souls, rather than a choir, so I can't truly join your Link. However, I believe I can at least enter Linkscapes since they are likely just a different form of lucid dreaming.”
“Incredible.” Blitz stated with an amazed tone. “I think it’s worth a shot.” Blitz turned to Aegis who nodded in agreement.
“Just so long as you don’t actually join the hive mind. I really don’t want to have to explain to mother that you’ve been enveloped like Aunty was.”
Gear Ratio quickly set the plates down before quietly scampering off to join her staff. Undoubtedly to gossip, Luna mused with a hint of laughter.
The trio ate for a bit as Blitz pulled upon Twilight’s lessons and crafted a Linkscape in the form of a grassy meadow with rolling hills. “Okay, everypony, I think we’re ready to start.”
With practiced ease, Luna’s mind departed her body with just enough intelligence left behind to keep eating. Since Blitz was not resisting her, Luna was able to enter the proto-queen’s mind without incident, and followed the tether of her consciousness to the waking dream. The Linkscape appeared to be a blobby window to the meadow until she passed through into the faux dream world.
There she found Blitz and Aegis waiting for her with excited expressions written all over them. “This is too cool!” Aegis cheered. “I would say I wish we could have done this sort of thing with Aunty all those years ago, but” she squashed Blitz with a sidelong embrace, causing her counterpart to wheeze despite not needing to breathe. “Then I wouldn’t have the best mare in the world for a counterpart.” She nuzzled Blitz with deep affection, who couldn’t help but to snicker and return it in earnest.
“I think it all worked out well for everypony involved,” Luna replied diplomatically. This being her first time in a Linkscape, Luna took stock of her senses and mental condition, if only to have an excuse to not look at her companions’ lack of inhibitions. Luna wanted to make sure she wasn’t slowly becoming too attached to the hive mind. It never hurts to be cautious. Sensing nothing out of the ordinary, but keeping herself alert, Luna turned to the heatedly amorous pair of future queens. She coughed loudly before speaking. “Show me what you have, if you have a moment or two.”
Blitz suddenly remembered Luna was still there as she and Aegis were in the middle of an intimate kiss. She broke off and momentarily became vaporous to slide out of Aegis’ grasp before reforming slightly away from her. “R-r-right, sorry. Okay, so, we’ll start with the foal tale Celestia originally told Aunty Twilight.”
Aegis giggled at her counterpart’s insecurity about public displays of affection around non-changelings. <You’re so cute when you’re flustered.>
<Hush, you,> Blitz replied without any real force. <Next thing you’ll suggest is trying to fertilize each other’s eggs.>
<Oohh, that would be an interesting position, what with lacking a-.>
<Focusing on the princess now!>
The image of a stylized ram portrayed in an oil painting appeared. He had dark blue fur, curling horns, and stark angry red glowing eyes. His maw was filled with knives, bearing a cruel hate filled grin. Upon his neck was a bronze metal band that had several thin bells on it, with a much larger one hanging from the bottom. Overall, he was only slightly larger than other rams Luna had seen in her day. Even then, he didn’t quite match her in height. His fur was scraggly and unkempt, but it was impossible to know if that was just an effect of the painter’s style or not.
“Necromancer Grogar,” Aegis opened up with a calculating gaze upon her foe. “The three folk tales were all over the place on describing him, even in the same story, but I think we nailed down the most common factors.”
Blitz circled around the portrait to stand at Aegis’ right. “In one instance, he is said to be a ruler of sorts. His kingdom was called Tambian.”
“It’s Tambelon,” Luna corrected as she waved a mental copy of Aged Page’s notes. “It’s supposed to be a subdivision of, or at least closely linked to Tartarus.”
“The storybooks must have lost the original spelling,” Blitz replied as she summoned a piece of paper into existence and scribbled on it. It disappeared a moment later when the amended text appeared above Grogar’s head.
Aegis stared contemplatively at the demonic ram. “All the kiddy stories we found said he kills whomever he pleases, sending their souls to either Tartarus at large, or to be enslaved within Tambelon.”
“I have no real information to add on that part,” Luna stated with a worried frown. “Other than that it seems to be either both, or that he personally picks which place the victims are sent.”
“The old stories also said that he raised the dead to destroy whole cities, or to gobble up bad little foals.” Blitz created a ghostly pony, and a zombie one. “The legend says that with each victim he gained two more soldiers: the mindless corpse, and the ghost.”
“That’s roughly what the archmage uncovered as well,” Luna added. “Though I have to question the validity of these legends. As you originally feared, it’s all too likely that these stories get blown out of proportion. Did you find anything on his goals, or is he just an engine for destruction?”
“None that I could find,” Blitz replied with Aegis shaking her head. “But judging by the language of the stories, the writer either fully believed he was writing fiction, or was so overloaded with superstition that everything they say is suspect.”
“Yeah, that one kept saying Breezies are heralds of famine and drought,” Aegis scoffed. “The guy also said that Grogar was actually an earth pony originally, and also a minotaur for a while before becoming a demon.”
“I noticed a similar trend in Page’s notes,” Luna stated with mounting concern. “But it’s entirely possible that there were other spirits and demons either mistaken for Grogar, or were actively using his name to spread fear.”
“I hope that’s all we’re dealing with here then,” Blitz stated with waning fear. “Polybia might have secured an alliance with a demon or con artist posing as Grogar. For all we know, Polybia could have used the necromancer’s image on purpose because she thought Twilight would hold us all back while we investigate Grogar.”
“That’s certainly a possibility,” Luna agreed. “If Polybia went rogue in the manner you told me, I would expect a queen to use disinformation like this.”
The hive mind chimed the late hour causing both changelings yawn sleepily. Blitz felt around the hive mind to find that Twilight was highly distracted in other matters. “Hey Aegis, do you know what Aunty’s up to? She’s usually very punctual.”
“I can answer that,” Luna said with deep concern. “Thanks to her sister’s prodding, both Twilight and Rainbow are out exploring less… savory sources of information.”
Intel ‘la ‘Gence, Ferrum, Counterspell, and Thunderfury strode through Lower Canterlot disguised as a quartet of pegasi drifters along a narrow mountain road. Lower Canterlot was perched the very slope of Canterhorn Mountain along northern face, opposite of the old monastery.
Taking up the rear guard, Thunderfury gazed to his left. Without even a railing, the thin road flanked a sheer drop for thirty meters before reaching the roof of another building below. During his training, Thunderfury gained much needed insight into the ground-bound lives of unicorns and earth ponies. <This place is a death trap for non-fliers.>
Had anyone been able to see through his disguise, they would have found Thunderfury bearing his mother’s catlike eyes. Rainbow Dash was watching the expedition through him, but letting him remain in full control for the time being.
Twilight Sparkle kept her misgivings about this dilapidated community masked behind scholarly lectures. <This place used to be called Little Griffintown. Celestia used to tell me stories about it’s marvelous festivals and culture.> Through Intel’s eyes, Twilight silently mourned the glory days she never got to see. <Now though… It’s little more than a slum. I’ve only heard that something ruined griffin pride long ago, but I can’t remember why off the top of my head. Celestia’s planning on rezoning it all, but she’s got to be careful or she might trigger a diplomatic incident.>
Intel didn’t look back at her squad mate to avoid giving any hints to their silent conversation. Like Thunderfury, she too bore her mother’s eyes. <Mother, are you sure Aged Page was right about all this? This doesn’t look like the kind of place an ‘unofficially’ sanctioned demonologist would set up shop.>
The path came to a collasped rope bridge, forcing everyone to fly across. Ferrum was outwardly bored but inwardly scoffing at his commander. <And how many demonologists do you know?>
<Point taken.>
<Alright, kids, enough,> Twilight fussed to keep them focused. <We need to find an old mare unicorn with a cracked horn and a missing front leg.>
Counterspell pulled his tattered cloak tighter across his face as he passed by a skeletal old griffin who had flies buzzing around his rasping beak. Disgusting. <I don’t think missing limbs are exactly rare down here. I say we split up to cover more ground. Going around as a group is suspicious.>
Rainbow Dash hummed negatively. <No way. I remember being down there a few times to locate some of our less disciplined Wonderbolts and a kidnapping case once where the local police asked for outside help. The only reason none of you are getting mugged is because you’re in a group. It’s more natural for this area than walking solo.>
Intel kept trying to look suspicious of others but also nonchalant. Not something that came easy, even for a changeling. She spied a young pegasus colt no older than she was, chronologically at least, who eyed them like a hawk until the squad passed in front of a dilapidated house.
The path was so eroded and narrow that she had to take to the air to keep from falling. As soon as the last squad member followed suit, the group felt an overwhelmingly powerful magical force muscle past their natural resistance to telekinesis.
With a yelp, Intel was dragged into the house along with the rest of her crew to find a glowing mana engine holding them tight while three earth ponies with crude black market replica muskets held their weapons leveled right at them. A unicorn stepped away from the bulky engine’s controls, bringing the changelings’ attention to her and the Ponies for the Conservation of Equestria graffiti tag behind her.
“Well what do we have here,” the unicorn announced with a drawl. “I would have thought the police finally realized they aren’t welcome down here.”
“What the hell makes you think we’re cops!?” Counterspell shouted accusingly. “Is there a badge on me that I didn’t know about? Did someone tattoo one on my flank without my knowing!?”
Twilight and Rainbow tried to think of a plan, so the drones decided to stall. One of the earth gunponies snorted dismissively. “We saw the lot of you coming down from Middle Canterlot, and we’ve never seen you before. Besides, all of you walk too stiff to be riffraff.”
Ferrum let off a terse laugh at Counterspell. “Well lookie there, CS, somepony thinks you look respectable.”
“Will you two shut up!” Intel growled at them. She turned to the leader, forcing her disgust of the bigot down. “Look, we all got thrown out of the Guard for nearly beating some Ling Lover to death up there. We were actually coming down here to find work. There’s always somepony needing some muscle down here.”
“We should know,” Thunderfury said with general disdain.
The earth ponies kept their weapons trained on the disguised drones, but they looked to the unicorn for direction. The mare glanced behind her, knowing the P.C.E. logo was clearly visible. “A likely story. I was in the Guard myself not too long ago, and I don’t remember any of you. Who was your commanding officer?”
Using Thunderfury’s voice, Rainbow Dash was the one who answered. “That old prick Captain March Step of the Forty Eighth Regiment. I couldn’t stand the guy after finding out he had a griffin fetish.”
Using Rainbow’s information, the remaining three changelings gave similar stories about fellow guardponies and Twilight supplied some gossip on castle life until Intel was the last to speak. “And the old nag had the gall to tell me I was wrong, so I clocked her so hard she’ll be needing a new set of dentures.”
The earth ponies were smirking at the mental image, but had enough discipline to keep their weapons up. The unicorn still frowned suspiciously. “Enough!” she barked harshly.
The room fell silent as the mare studied each of the disguised changelings intently. Twilight started to fear that they had pushed the cover story too far, and were moments away from having to resort to violence. Not sure how effective that’ll be with the mana engine forcing our children to be sitting ducks.
The unicorn watched each of her hostages with a slow steady eye as her magic tightened around the engine’s controls. She hunted for any sign of deception, no matter how faint. Eventually though, all she could do was huff bitterly.
“Fine... You proved you at least can act like former guards. But you’re all from different units, so…”
The changelings watched as the unicorn returned to the mana engine’s controls and let Counterspell fall to the ground. She telekinetically grabbed a spare rifle from behind her chair and gave it to him. “You should have no loyalty to any of them. Kill one, and I’ll believe you. Don’t, and I’ll have you shot right here and now.”
Counterspell stalled for time while verbalizing his disgust for the shoddy weapon in his hooves. <Mother, have you figured out how to overpower the mana-engine?>
<Not without physically being there. That mana engine is some serious hardware. It’s even got a counter-TK field in effect, so you can’t simply switch it off from there.> It doesn’t look to be of changeling make. This could be a bad sign. <Regardless, if the engine was our only problem, the four of you could overpower it, but the earth ponies would notice and open fire.>
Counterspell spotted a removable anti-telekinesis ward on the rifle. A back up? These guys aren’t fooling around. <Trust me guys, I got this.> He narrowed his gaze at Thunderfury who started to wiggle futilely within the mana-engine’s grasp.
“Now wait a minute! We just proved we’re who we say we are, there’s no need for this!” Thunderfury shrieked out of convincing fear.
The unicorn mare pulled a dagger from under her chair and leveled it at Counterspell’s spine. “You’ve proven you were Guard. But now I want proof you’re not undercover agents. Shoot him,” she demanded of Counterspell, “Or we kill you and make one of your buddies take the next shot.”
“Fine by me,” Counterspell lied smoothly, “Never did like you much, Paddle Bat, you always bitched too much.” Adopting the standard Royal Guard firing stance, Counterspell aimed and fired at the distraught false pegasus. With everyone so focused on Thunderfury screaming a death knell, Twilight used Counterspell’s horn for a subtle alteration of the air, making it sound like the bullet hit flesh rather than the concealed shield. Rainbow Dash had successfully guided Thunderfury to fidget so his hidden shields were at an angle that caused the bullet to ricochet outside.
Noticing none of this, the unicorn only saw what they wanted her to: a simple execution. Satisfied, the mare had the engine throw Thunderfury out of the room and down the cliff before any blood could fall. “You’re either very dedicated to your cover story, or you might just be legitimate. But there is one other thing…”
The trio of earth ponies readjusted their aim back towards Counterspell as the unicorn charged her horn. “There is one other group who has such disregard for the lives of others.” With a pulse of magic, she bathed Counterspell in purple magic. Twilight instantly knew the spell, and couldn’t help but to smirk. My old disguise removal spell with quite a few nasty improvements. Honestly, did you really think I wouldn’t have developed a counter to that root design?
Having no way to see the distant queen’s superior grin, the unicorn frowned when Counterspell remained a pegasus. “They’re clean.”
The earth ponies lowered their weapons, but kept them at the ready in case any of them wanted revenge for Thunderfury. With a few adjustments to the controls, the unicorn shut the mana-engine down and let the remaining two Queens’ Guard drop to the ground. “The P.C.E. is always looking for new recruits, but Don Cannoli will want to know you’re in the area first.”
“And where can we find him,” Intel growled, forcing herself to keep her eyes away from the door.
“You don’t find the Don, he finds you. But all the same, go the pawn shop two levels down along Edge Street. You’ll run into one of Cannoli’s people down there before long.”
“Yeah, sure, sure,” Ferrum said dismissively as he made his way towards the door.
Intel leveraged every ounce of her self-control to keep from attacking the terrorists right then and there, instead opting to just silently leave. That left Counterspell to toss the spent firearm at one of the earth stallions. “We’ll visit him soon enough.”
“Don’t make him wait too long,” one of the stallions warned. “Cannoli doesn’t tolerate disrespect and if you piss him off, you can forget about working with us.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Ferrum replied before he too left the house.
Twilight was far more reserved about her distaste for the group. <I can’t believe they’re still able to operate within any part of Canterlot.>
The thought of any ponies calling the P.C.E. comrades made Rainbow’s blood boil. <I’ll have the Guard notified immediately. If the P.C.E. is packing hardware like that, we got some flank to kick. But right now, you guys aren’t in a position to take on a P.C.E. cell.>
<Can’t we just talk to this demon guy later? Now that we know about the engine, we can storm the place,> Thunderfury commented, sharing his mother’s bloodlust.
<We only know about four ponies and a single engine. There’s no telling what kind of network they have down here,> Twilight countered with her usual motherly tone.
Rainbow jumped in smoothly as her sister quieted. <Right. And besides, if we did anything to them, we’d probably piss off some police chief or guard captain for ruining an investigation or something because the rest of the cell would go to ground. For now though, keep moving up the path. You should get there in a few minutes, barring any more foalnappings.>
The three remaining false pegasi regrouped once the P.C.E. house and the suspected lookout colt were out of sight. They found Thunderfury disguised as a scraggly pale brown unicorn lazily leaning against the cliff. Even without their empathy, they could tell he was badly drained of mana.
He was wearing a new cloak that was even more ragged than his old one. <Well that was fun. Momma’s gotten worlds better at illusion magic. Had every lookout within half a mile thinking I’m still a corpse back there.> He showed off his torn cloak as if it was a fashionable accessory. <And I found some new digs to boot.>
<Getting shot is fun?> Counterspell snarked. <Must be why our enemies keep jumping in front of our guns.>
Rainbow Dash ignored the banter. <Keep going. Thunder, let them move on a bit before following after.>
<Copy that.>
Shuffling through the rundown sections of Lower Canterlot, the drones finally reached a small storehouse with a sign reading ‘Grizwalo’s Junction’. By any normal standards, anyone would think the business went under long ago.
Intel rounded some broken wooden crates to find a beggar huddled around the cargo entrance to the building. The beggar was sleeping on her belly, seemingly oblivious to the midday sun beating down on all of them. <Broken horn, missing leg, that must be her.>
Thunderfury stopped trying to act like he wasn’t tailing the group and moved forward to meet up with his squad as Rainbow Dash took full control over him. Twilight did the same with Intel before stepping up to the beggar. She had to keep up appearances of a new criminal so she adopted a harsh tone. “Hey, old mare, you know where we can find a friend of ours?”
A dry raspy cackle escaped the mare’s parched lips. Her neck audibly cracked as she turned to look at Twilight with lifeless eyes. “What kind of friend? I can be yours for five bits.” Her crusted eyes looked over the other three disguised drones. “Ten bits for the lot of you, what do you say?”
Even for the free-love changelings, none of them wanted to go anywhere near that topic with her. “I think we’ll pass,” Twilight stated flatly. “We’re more interested in meeting with Tobi.”
The broken mare cackled loudly as if she was not made of bone and muscle, unnerving the drones. “So you want the special do ya!? Well it’s in the back. Come along.” With surprising strength, the mare got to her hooves and pushed her way inside one of the broken side doors into the storehouse.
Twilight watched her go before turning Intel towards the rest of the squad. <Counterspell, Ferrum, stay here and watch the exit. Make sure we don’t get ambushed coming back out.>
The pair sent their acknowledgements before taking positions around the building while Intel and Thunderfury followed after the beggar.
However, instead of stepping into a disused storehouse, the pair stepped into a candlelit library filled with dusty tomes, arcane diagrams on the floor and on paper, a few skulls of various species, and a young looking earth stallion bent over a stone altar. “Always horrible timing,” he complained morosely.
Twilight scanned the room and looked back at the door to find solid stone with an ivory door frame. The frame itself had the magic scent of unicorn horns. Rainbow was equally confused, but left her sister to the exploration. She focused her attention squarely on the pony.
When Twilight finally gathered her wits, she took a closer look at the pony and his altar. Some glowing green liquid was slowly bubbling, as if it was evaporating in the open air.
Rainbow Dash’s arcane senses told her he was using a glamor spell. Feels like the spellwork is entirely different from our disguise magic, but the end result is the same. Is he a non-pony? Or has his trade of choice corrupted his appearance? “Fel-Weaver Schadenfreude, we’re here because Aged Page said you’re the one to go to for information of demonic nature.”
One of Schadenfreude’s ears turned backwards towards Twilight and Rainbow. He reached for a gnarled old staff with enchanted bones hanging off of it. With a rattling clatter, he stomped the butt of the staff on the ground, causing the glowing liquid to condense into a pool before slithering back into a cup he then set upright.
Finally, he turned around to reveal a very plain looking face with grey eyes matching his drab gray fur and mane. His cutie mark was obscured by a fine cloak. “Is that so?” His eyes flashed red for a few seconds before he returned the staff to its original resting place. “So what’s your poison? I doubt he’d send you if all you wanted was to bargain your souls for power.”
“We want all you’ve got on a demon named Grogar,” Rainbow demanded bluntly.
“Grogar?” he asked incredulously before quickly masking his surprise. “Afraid I can’t do that.”
“Why not?” Twilight fished inside Intel’s cloak and pulled out a decent sized bag of bits and threw it down. “We don’t have any souls to spare, but we can pay your monetary price at least.”
“It’s not a question of money, Miss…”
“Call me Loki,” Twilight said.
It took Rainbow a second to remember she was occupying a male body. “Rainy Days.”
Schadenfreude gave Thunderfury a curt nod. “As I said, Miss Loki, I can’t divulge anything about Grogar for another month. A client of mine paid for my extended silence regarding him, and quite handsomely at that. When you’re in my kind of business, your word is all you have to keep ponies like the archmage from frying you where you stand.”
“Even if that knowledge could save the world?” Rainbow rebuked harshly.
Schadenfreude made a dismissive sound and walked over to a filled wine glass and drain a little of it. “I’m a demonologist, Days, I follow my contracts better than any lawyer that ever existed. If it’s in my contract, I abide by it.”
“A snake who stays true to his word, can’t say I expected that,” Rainbow huffed. “But that is at least something I can respect.” Schadenfreude merely shrugged at the derogatory name. It was beyond tame in his book, and suspected it was in his as well.
“As can I,” Twilight began as she let her eyes wander around the cramped room. “But I have it on good authority that client of yours was a changeling. One, Polybia, if I’m not mistaken.”
To his credit, Schadenfreude didn’t react at all. “It’s possible. My client base is quite large, so I wouldn’t doubt at least one changeling decided to request my services. And before you go flashing some obscure law at me, Aged Page and I agreed that I abide by my client’s native laws and customs. Not necessarily Equestria’s.”
“Funny you should mention that.” Rainbow saw her opening and took it. “Let’s say that client was Polybia. Are you familiar with the concept of rogues in changeling society?”
This time he actually chuckled. “Changeling society? Outside of those bugs down in the Everfree," he prodded with a knowing smirk, "there is no society with them. Just a bunch of egomaniacal queens ruling soulless subjects. It’s unbelievably droll.”
“You’d be surprised,” Twilight interjected with an unexpected grin at the stallion’s flippant posture. “Being declared a rogue queen is a serious problem. You see, all of that queen’s loyalties and agreements are considered completely null and void. Any and all contracts you have with her are no longer binding.”
“How convenient.” Schadenfreude settled down in a leather chair and sipped his red wine. “And why should I believe you?”
Sharing a nod between them, Twilight and Rainbow dropped their disguises with a flash of purple and fuchsia magic. Schadenfreude looked at them with not as much shock as they expected. “We are Queens Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash. I would like to think we know something about changeling society and its laws,” they announced in unison.
Schadenfreude’s amusement lasted only a few seconds before he slipped into an intrigued expression. “How very interesting… I admit this is the first time I’ve seen one of you Phoenix’s Roost changelings up close. But even if you’re right about this rogue law, unless you have some tangible evidence of my assumed client going rogue, I simply can’t help you in regards to Grogar.”
Rainbow Dash tossed an even heavier bag of bits at his hooves. “I'm sure you have your own way of checking.”
Greed flashed through his eyes as he scooped up the money. “I'm glad you understand.”
His glamor spell shifted slightly, revealing his teeth were razor sharp. Schadenfreude bit down hard on his foreleg and let his blood spill into his wine glass. “Gelnath feltu, Feralian!”
He threw his bloodwine onto the stone floor, splattering it everywhere and sending broken glass in all directions. Twilight flinched a little as one spec of the wine touched her fetlock. The stench of chemically burning fur started to fill the room before the blood pulled itself off her leg. The crimson liquid formed a pentagram beside Schadenfreude’s chair.
Both mares waited nervously. Oily fel magic saturated every inch of the room, trying to claw its way into their minds. Rainbow Dash could feel the corruptive magic pouring out of a hole that formed in the middle of the diagram. The poisonous energy tried to crawl up their hooves, but Twilight burned it away with a bubble of holy magic. Rainbow followed suit, but her shield was actually much stronger than her sister’s, much to Twilight’s chagrin and disbelief.
Twilight watched Schadenfreude carefully as the stallion gazed deeply into the abyssal opening in front of him. The fel magic swirled around him, caressing him like a lover. Rainbow Dash had to suppress a gag. <Grooooss! Who ever thought magic could try to hit on you.>
“I would keep those barriers of yours up,” Schadenfreude warned with a smirk. “Unless you want the demons on the other side to mark you. Once they do that, it’s nearly impossible to avoid an exorcism. Unless you’re interested in studying the darker magics?”
“Thank you but no. And you could have warned us sooner,” Twilight growled. Using holy magic was highly difficult for her. Holy magic from the Silver City was drawn upon far differently than from the Elysian Fields of ponykind. I don’t get it though. I’ve seen mother pull upon the City’s holy magic with such ease, and yet I have to work so damned hard to keep even this bubble up. If it wasn’t for the other queens at the Summit…
Finally, a diminutive shadowy figure crawled out of the floor portal. It spoke with a hollow echo that grated the changelings’ ears. “Master… How can this one serve?”
“Go to the Record Keeper. See if my contract with client Ginger Bell is still in effect.” Schadenfreude grabbed a raw and meaty bone off the end table to his right and tossed it at the small demon. It’s mouth expanded to double its body’s size and devoured the whole thing in one go.
“As you wish, master.”
A whirlpool seemed to form, rapidly sucking all of the fel energy back through the portal along with the demon. The portal closed and the bloodwine cracked and dried in an instant. Schadenfreude got up to retrieve another glass of wine.
Rainbow Dash saw tiny shadowy creatures peek out from various nooks and crannies and take the remaining shards of glass away. “We shouldn’t have to wait long,” Schadenfreude explained as he poured a new glass. “I gave it a particularly tasty treat. I believe you can appreciate expediency.” He waved a hoof at a pair of red velvet chairs across from him. “Please sit. I get so few high profile visitors… from this plane of existence anyway.”
Twilight scanned the furniture and found no obvious traps before accepting the seat with Rainbow taking the one to her right. “This might be a dumb question to you, but how can you trust those things?”
He chuckled louder than Twilight thought proper while letting his true blood red eyes flash from behind the glamor spell. “Just like mortal beings, demons come in all shapes and mentalities. But unlike mortals, they are bound to any contract they sign to the absolute letter. Even if he wanted to, my little messenger could never lie to me.” He briefly pulled a scroll out from his cloak before replacing it. “I keep his contract close at hoof to make sure of that.”
“I see,” was all Twilight was willing to say on the subject. “Assuming this record keeper is up on current events, and he reveals you are free of your contract, we will still pay you handsomely for any useful information regarding Grogar.”
“I’d expect no less,” Schadenfreude stated flatly. He examined the two possessed drones with intense curiosity. “Tell you what. I’ll offer you a discount in exchange for some information about the two of you.”
Rainbow spoke before Twilight had a chance. “We’re not saying a thing until word comes back from your bookie. If he’s been slouching we’re not giving information for free.”
A wide toothy grin cleaved Schadenfreude’s muzzle. “Fair enough. I’ll be willing to offer this discount to any future dealings we have. It’s obvious you hate even being in this room,” he directed more so at Twilight than Rainbow Dash. “But I can offer a great deal of services, even to more… legitimate governments. After all, I wouldn’t be on retainer with the archmage if I wasn’t. He’s getting along in years, even for a unicorn of his power. I’d prefer to stay off the most wanted lists, on the mortal plane at least.”
<Is this guy for real?> Rainbow asked her sister. There was an air of disbelief in the warrior-queen’s tone.
<He is,> Twilight confirmed. <Celestia always told me that for all the good she tries to instill into ponies, criminals and worse have always been there. That’s why she used to tell me ‘Sometimes the only one who can find a rat...’>
<Is another rat,> Rainbow finished with deep scowl. <Yeah my C.O, Spitfire, gave that speech a few times back in the day.>
<Basically. It’s not pretty, but Equestria will always need unsavory agents to help the rest of us combat beings like Grogar. Celestia likes to keep the really important ‘rats’ close at hoof.>
<Tch… Yeah, I get ya,> Rainbow spat.
“We can start things off cordially enough,” Twilight began with a thin smile after finally addressing the demonologist. “I will answer what I deem unimportant to national security.”
Schadenfreude’s grin never wavered. His eyes turned a smoldering red again. “You won’t regret it. I know Page hasn’t… by and large,” he shrugged. “So tell me, your highnesses. The last changeling client I had, I could see her for what she was right away, even with her flawless disguise. But you two…”
His grin shifted from mirth to fascination. “To the best of my admittedly limited knowledge, your drones are typically carbon copies of their queens. The curious exception is that your drones possess fully fledged sapient souls, but I'll get into that later. What I really want to know is how these carbon copies of you have souls as individualistic as normal ponies. You must be altering them somehow, but no one seems to know how. Not even my contacts.”
“So you want to know about that?” Rainbow carefully avoided using the word ‘alchemy’. “If you think you can use that to improve yourself, then you better be ready to become a changeling to do so.”
Schadenfreude’s grin fell into a scowl and slumped back in his chair. “Is that so? What a shame.” He saw Twilight was about to speak but waved her off. “I don’t care to learn anymore about it then. I respect you, but I have no interest in becoming one of you.” He took a long drag of his wine. “That being said… How does a whole hive of changelings possess souls that are are such seamless mergers of changeling and a pony?”
“What?” Twilight and Rainbow Dash asked in unison.
“Oh it’s as plain as day to me, now anyway. I knew exactly what you four were the moment you approached my door.” Schadenfreude watched them carefully to sniff out any deception. “I don’t identify people by their face, but by their soul. Griffins, ponies, zebras, and changelings all have such unique souls from one another. So I have to ask, humor me if you please, why do both you two and your little drones outside have such unique souls?”
“Well…” Twilight was still a little weirded out by the news, as was Rainbow. “My sister and I were converted into changelings, but I thought that was public knowledge.”
Schadenfreude hummed in contemplation. “Yes, I know of it. I’ve personally seen a pony’s soul be corrupted to the point where she was indistinguishable from a demon. A soul mutates to fit the mind and body, so I anticipated such a change in both of you. However, it’s your children that fascinate me. They also possess this smooth melding where instead I expected them to have predominantly changeling souls. I find myself wondering if I’m gazing upon a whole new species rather than a simple hybrid.”
“A lot of people say that,” Rainbow snarked. “Our whole body-change-science alters who we are. Sometimes the only thing the different hives have in common is that we all call ourselves changelings.”
Schadenfreude deflated a little. “I see… So this melding is just a common side effect of your transformative abilities? It could be possibly tied to your original connection to the elements, but that, too, is beyond my… legal reach. Yet more disappointment. Ah well,” he stated with mild resignation. “Then tell me this, did you purposely intertwine your souls or is that a side effect for pony to changeling conversion?”
“Entwined souls?” both mares responded in surprise. “What do you mean?”
Schadenfreude keenly noted that neither queen seemed at all bothered after speaking in unison. “You honestly don’t know?” He slouched back in his chair, his interest rapidly morphing into dismissiveness. “I wouldn’t worry yourselves over much. It’s probably harmless.”
<This guy’s screwing with us,> Rainbow said before her sister could start to overthink it. <Any sort of ‘intertwining’ is probably just a holdover from the elements. Just leave it be before he starts stringing you along.>
Twilight was able to reign in her shock, and settled into a more passive posture. <Yeah… maybe.>
It wasn’t long before some of Cadista’s earlier remarks started to surface. Yumia was my other half… My soulmate. Was mother just being dramatic, or was there more to it than just our old ties to the elements?
Whatever it is, it can’t be too dangerous. Our hive mind focuses on maintaining individuality, so a soul merger is unlikely. Even so, I’m going to need to speak to mother when our business here is done.
Fel magic started filling the room, emanating from the original portal. The tiny demon crossed over much faster this time, and crawled out almost immediately. “Master, the client committed a heinous act indeed, for the Keeper says the contract is void, but not broken… odd, no?”
Schadenfreude looked to the queens with intrigue. “Not really. You may go.”
Wordlessly, the demon retreated back through the portal which closed after it. “So you’re free to spill the beans?” Rainbow half-demanded impatiently.
“Indeed I am,” Schadenfreude confirmed with a wave of his now empty wineglass. “I’ll keep my payment in simple bits. For a demon of Grogar’s caliber, five million bits sounds reasonable.”
“three million,” Twilight countered. “I should push for two and a half since you said you’d give us a discount.”
He flashed a toothy smirk. “That was with the discount. But… I like you two, your highnesses. I have a feeling you’ll be good customers.”
Fat chance of that, both queens mused while keeping their expressions from shifting.
“Fine, but three and a quarter million is my final offer. Business expenses, you see.”
“Deal,” both queens said in unison. “We’ll open a bank account at the Canterlot Reserve under the name Fair Skies for you.” Rainbow Dash levitated Twilight's unclaimed bag of bits on the ground and slipped it back inside Thunderfury’s cloak.
“That is acceptable.” Schadenfreude got up and walked over to his bookshelves while scanning the titles.
Rainbow hesitated for a few moments as something bothered her, more than the room at least. “Just out of curiosity, what did Polybia pay you?”
“Souls,” Schadenfreude replied without inflection.
Both queens’ hearts went cold, and it took Twilight a moment to speak evenly. She thanked the stars the demonologist’s back was turned so he didn’t see their pale faces. “Drone souls?”
“No.”
…
…
Schadenfreude wasn’t bothered by the heavy silence in the least. While he couldn’t sense it, he just knew the queens were probably ranging from horrified to furious. He was not wrong. At last, he reached the tome he was seeking and withdrew it. “Ahhh, here we are Grogar. Where would you like to start, hmm?”