//------------------------------//
// We Forgot a Wedding Gift 
// Story: Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold 
// by Dropbear 
//------------------------------//

Orthodox descended the stairs, claw under his chin while he muttered to himself. “Do I tell her, do I not? Do I tell her, do I not?”

He tried to imagine just how Reflection would react upon hearing the news of Nigel’s infidelity. It ranged from her breaking down into tears and storming out, to Nigel receiving a changeling-horn to the balls. In other words it wasn’t likely to be a good thing, no matter the reaction.
On the other hand Nigel had already been in enough hasty marriages that had ended sourly and didn’t need another on the record. If he was already sleeping around, then it was on a certain course for failure. Telling Reflection wouldn’t be pretty, but it would avoid years of disappointment for the both of them.

‘Who knows, maybe they’ll even have one of their big sappy moments and forgive each other?’ He huffed at the thought. ‘Even if he’s too good for her anyway. What’s he thinking, going for her? She doesn’t even have a rack.’

All concerns about Nigel’s apparent lack of regard for fine tits were pushed aside, Orthodox re-joining the party. It was in full swing, even the richer ponies in their fancy clothes downing drinks and stumbling around on the dance floor. An intoxicated young mare bumped against him, the emerald pony giggling before moving off again. Ignoring her, he made his way through the crowd while attempting to avoid any of the living obstacles.

He kept his eyes looking out for James, figuring that the tall man would easily stand out among the crowd of comparably short creatures. James would know what to do, or at the very least would have some clue as to how to approached the problem.

‘How the hell can he not be here?’ Orthodox mentally cursed. ‘Don’t tell me he’s pussied out because they broke out the booze.’ Eyes roaming the room, his gaze passed over the stairwell and spotted the source of his problem.

“There you are,” he growled under his breath, narrowing his eyes when he spied Sparkling Scroll at the top of the stairs coming down. 

Retracing his path, he ducked and weaved through the party-goers with the advisor square in his sights.

Orthodox reached her just as she stepped off the bottom step, Sparkling smiling at him before she must have noticed his anger. She took a step back but it was too late, Orthodox grabbing a foreleg and covering her mouth with his other hand, before roughly pulling her to the side. Sparkling’s eyes widened as he pulled her into the darkened side corridor, Orthodox forcing her back against the wall and staring into her eyes. As soon as her rump hit the crystal wall, Sparkling tried to bite down.

Unfortunately for her, his smooth scales were more than a match against herbivore teeth. All Sparkling could do was kick angrily and yell into his hand, but the noise of the party eliminated any chance of someone hearing the muffled shouts.

“Now you fucking listen here,” Orthodox growled, shutting her up. “I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing, but you’ve gone too far. I don’t want to have to deal with either a shitty Nigel or Reflection, okay? There’s already been far too much drama and ‘feelings’ for my taste. I’m onto you, bitch.”

Sparkling tried to bite down again, her kicks growing all the more fierce. He was about to smack her in the side with his tail to get her to settle down, but he unfortunately found himself moving through the air with it raised mid-strike.

‘What the-‘

He impacted the opposite wall with a crunch, his shoulder making a crack in the crystal. He had no time to protest or even hit the floor before he was soaring upwards.

A grunt escaped him when his face slammed against the ceiling, before he was pulled back down towards the floor.

“Fuck!” Orthodox growled, slamming back down onto the hard surface with a cough. Blood trickled from his snout, and he could feel a loose tooth. “I can taste my everything.” He was granted no respite, footsteps approaching before a hand gripped around his neck and raised him into the air. Orthodox tried to move his tail and arms but failed, and when he was brought into eye line with his attacker he could figure out why. “James,” he spat, staring into the black man’s eyes. “What the fuck?”

“I should be asking you the same thing,” James stated evenly. “I walk in on you terrifying Ms Sparkling in a manner that I find very disturbing. I shouldn’t have to remind you of what Nigel does to people who harm those he’s in charge of.” Orthodox glanced from James to Sparkling. Sniffling, Nigel’s advisor was fixing him with a death glare while rubbing the red mark around her neck with a hoof, but so far she hadn’t run away.

“It wasn’t my fault!” he protested, struggling to raise a claw towards her. “She’s a marriage destroyer!”

“I’m a what!?” Orthodox was met with one very angry crystal pony storming over towards him. She glared at him, eye twitching. “Why would you even think to call me that, you stupid dragon!?”

“I’m not a dragon, pony! And I saw you up there, in his room on his bed. I thought you and Bugsy were friends, then you go and do that to her and Nigel!” There was a moment of silence.

“Well, I’m completely lost,” James admitted.

Sparkling’s glare was also tinged with befuddlement. “I am as well.”

“Liar!” Orthodox accused. “What is there to be confused about? I walked in on you screwing him like it was the last chance you had.” He bared his teeth, causing her to take a step back. “It’s a pretty dog thing to do, fucking him right after their marriage speech or whatever. I’m fucking pissed off at him as well, but when I saw you riding him like a complete and total slu-“

His insult was cut off, Sparkling jumping up onto her hind legs and smacking him in the face with a sideswipe from her foreleg. Orthodox’s cheek stung, and he spat at her while she dropped back down onto all four hooves.

“You’re the liar!” she shouted through her tears. “I went to the bathroom for five minutes, and you accuse me of this! Reflection is my friend, I’d never do that to her or Nigel! He wouldn’t either, and you claim to be one of his friends! You’re horrible!”

“I’m horrible!?”

He didn’t have the chance to finish, Orthodox finding himself dropped on the floor. Rubbing his head and looking up at James, he clenched his fists. “Once again James, what the… James?”

Both Orthodox and Sparkling stared at James, the human pinching the bridge of his nose and sighing. “I… I can’t actually believe that this has just happened. At once, I’m stunned by the sheer idiocy of some, and the mildly disturbing actions of others.” He looked towards Sparkling. “I honestly can’t say which you’d prefer to hear, Orthodox’s false accusations or the reason behind them.”

Sparkling’s eye widened, her pupils shrinking to pinpricks. “Oh… oh, you mean that they…” Coughing into a hoof, she took a second to compose herself before nodding. “Excuse me,” she said in a strained voice. “I’m going to have to have some words with some certain rulers.” She trotted past the both of them, pausing with a glance towards Orthodox. “While I still expect an apology for the way you treated me, I can understand why you did so.”

“What?” Orthodox mumbled, as Sparking disappeared to turn and climb the stairs.

“You moron,” insulted James with a shake of his head. “They’re called ‘changelings’ for a reason.”

“They’re fairy children swapped with human babies?”

James looked at him like he was retarded. “No, that’s just… amazingly stupid. What I mean Orthodox, is that you’ve just accused Sparkling Scroll of copulating with Chalmers, when in fact it was Reflection disguised as her.”

“Oh.” Orthodox pondered the now likely-hilarious consequences for the two randy royals, before a questioned pounded at the forefront of his mind. “Wait… those bug-things can shapeshift?”






“So, who do you want for round two?” Reflection murmured, snuggling in closer with a grin accompanying the heavy blush on her face. Taking a moment to ruffle her ruby-red mane, Nigel thought to himself. To be honest, there were many choices, but one stuck out above the rest.

“Can I ask for you?”

“That’s no fun,” she laughed lightly. “I’m in the mood for some transformations, and you just want the original?” He received an affectionate nip to the ear, the flat teeth far more gentle than the usual fangs. “Although I must admit that I’m flattered at the choice.”

“I’m a boring man,” he chuckled with her. “You should know this by now-“

He only had time to hear the rapid knocks before the bedroom door was kicked open. Scrambling, he covered himself with the bedsheets while pushing Reflection under. She didn’t resist and he could feel her hide down beside his legs without a sound. It was just in time, Sparkling Scroll trotting into the room with a frown.

“Why, Sparkling,” he greeted with a wave and a forced smile. “Evening. You know, I could have sworn that the polite thing to do when knocking is to wait an-“

“Nigel, with all due respect, cut the ‘all innocent act’,” she interrupted sternly. He noticed her glance towards the bottom half of the bed. 
“Reflection, you might as well come out now.”

“Just give me a second and-“

“No,” denied Sparkling with narrowed eyes. “I’m not giving you the chance to change, you’ll have to face me as you are.”

Nigel was stunned, a nervous chuckle covering the rising fear. “Ha… so why did you feel the need to come up here again? Is there… an attack?”

“There was,” Sparkling raised her head so the red hand mark was visible. “A very angry friend of yours pulled me aside to have a chat with me, in which he accused me of attempting to ruin your recent marriage. Do you know where he got the idea from?”

Nigel slowly shook his head, and could feel Reflection freeze under the covers. ‘Welp, looks like we’re completely fucked.’

“Apparently he had walked in on me ‘riding’ you, and naturally was worried about the consequences.” Her gaze locked on the middle of the bed. “Reflection, you still haven’t come out yet.”

Seeing that Sparkling wasn’t going to just forget about it, Nigel nudged Reflection with his leg. Slowly the lump under the sheets moved, before two white forehooves left the covers. Reflection’s head followed, although to Sparkling it must have been like looking in a mirror. 

Sheepishly, Reflection swallowed a lump in her throat before biting her lip. “Uh… hi.”

There was silence for a few moments, Sparkling’s face blank when she suddenly asked the next question.

“Whose idea was this?”

Just before he was about to point towards her to save himself from the wrath of Sparkling, Reflection bowed her head and raised a foreleg. “It was my idea,” she mumbled. “Nigel didn’t know about it, and then it was…”

“Kind of too late,” he finished for her.

There was another stretch of silence, Sparkling still examining Reflection’s mimicked form. After a few minutes she sighed, shook her head, and made her way towards the door.

“Reflection, change to something else.” A flash of green followed the request, the magic dying out to reveal Reflection in her natural state. 

“Thank you. Now, I’m going to leave this room and return to the party where I shall attempt to drown this memory out with all the drinks I can consume. I expect you two to apologise tomorrow and I also expect you to not do… that ever again while Reflection is a copy of me. Understood?”

Nigel nodded, Reflection joining him with a hurried confirmation. “Yes Sparkling, I will never take your form again.”

“Good.” With that Sparkling left, shutting the door behind her.

Both Nigel and Reflection didn’t know what to say after that, the faint sounds of the party filtering up.

“That wasn’t as bad as I expected,” he commented, Reflection glancing at him with disbelief.

“Are you kidding? Sparkling caught me screwing you while looking exactly like her. That’s… that’s such a disaster!” Burying her face in her forehooves, she sank back into the bed. “She’s going to give me so much for this, I’ll never hear the end of it.”

“At least she didn’t seem too mad about it, more surprised.” He tried to smile. “Maybe… she’s even flattered?”

Despite the situation, he still managed to get a mirthful snort from Reflection. “Wow, really?” Removing her face from her hooves to look at him, she rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I’m sure she’s flattered.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Fool.”

“Marriage destroyer.”

“Ouch,” Reflection cringed. “No need to remind me of that. Who would even-“

“Orthodox,” he didn’t even need to think about it.

Reflection shuddered. “That… that only makes it worse.”

“That it does.”

More silence, Nigel beginning to twiddle his thumbs. He hoped that the accusations had been kept private, otherwise he’d have to deal with more than just a disappointed Assistant. He tried to think up ways to make it up to Sparkling, but none came to mind before Reflection spoke again.

“So…” she ran a forehoof down his unclothed chest. “What now? I mean, now that Sparkling’s gone…”

“Really? Even after that you’re still in the mood?”

“Hey, don’t blame me. You did pick this form after all, and the night is still young.” She flicked out her tongue, brushing it against his ear while smiling. “Or, we could always decide on a different form if you-“

“I’ll pass on that,” he quickly interrupted, sneaking a hand under the covers and grabbing a rump-cheek before she could transform again. “I’m more than happy with your form right now.” He gave it a squeeze, Reflection grunting with a shudder.

“Well, I –ah!” the second cheek was grabbed, all thoughts of changing now forgotten. “I guess that can work just fine.”






Chrysalis glared at the drone bowing before her, the changeling shivering under her baleful gaze.

“They what?” she repeated icily, shifting on the plain cot that served as her bed in the burgeoning mining camp.

“They refused your… request, my Queen.”

Chrysalis gave the drone that had spoken a withering gaze, having heard his mental replacement of ‘request’ with ‘demand’. “They refused to furnish me with the love gems owed?”

“Yes, the Lieutenant was very clear on the matter. He said that you’ll eat with everyone else, not at your leisure.” The drone looked up warily. “His words, not mine.”

“Who do does he think he is?” Chrysalis seethed, her teeth grinding. “Get out and tell this lieutenant that I am still his Queen, no matter how treasonous he is.” The drone scurried out through the tent flaps, leaving her alone to brood.

‘Eat with everyone else,’ she thought with a scowl. ‘What am I, a simple drone?’

She crossed her forelegs and waited, hind leg tapping against the ground. She almost, almost regretted trading the relative comfort of the crystal city for a measly tent outside of some mountains. She couldn’t wait until they had mined out some of the old tunnels and formed a new hive, so they would no longer have to rely on the Crystal Empire for shelter.

The area she had been given to administrate was small, the stretch of sparse rocky ground surrounded on all sides by the rising peaks of mountains. It was cold, and the few trees and vegetation were all hardy breeds with little to-no-green in their leaves. Thankfully the barren nature was of no concern for her changelings, but the knowledge that she was here to serve another left a bitter taste in her mouth.

Her head looked towards the tent flaps, her eyes narrowing as three steel-armoured changelings trotted in instead of the drone she was expecting. Taking note of the golden rank markings on the shoulders of the leader, she took a guess as to who it was.

“Lieutenant,” she greeted, her voice icier than the wind outside. “What a… pleasant surprise.”

“I heard you were in disagreement with my logistical decisions,” the Lieutenant stated, his two fellow soldiers shifting beside him. Chrysalis eyed their swords at their sides, but it was the Lieutenant himself that drew the most attention.

The changeling’s face was marred by a hideous scar, the long line almost perfectly horizontal underneath his eyes yet above his mouth. His snout was a jagged mess, whatever had hit him had almost rent it completely in two. It made her slightly uncomfortable, but it didn’t stop her from berating him.

“That’s the nice way of putting it,” she replied. “Your Emperor promised me supplies, which includes the energy contained within the love gems. You have denied me access to them.”

“The Emperor did promise you supplies, but he has left their method of distribution up to me. The love gems are vital to all of us save the Lead Researcher, so their use must be monitored and rationed.”

“But I am the Queen!”

“You are not my Queen,” the soldier pointed out. “I used to serve you, and personally I still respect you ma’am, but my loyalty is to a different ruler and city now.” He must have seen her begin to rely, raising a metal-clad hoof with a nod. “I understand your frustration with the decision of many to change allegiances, but there was no choice at the time.”

Chrysalis continued to glare at him, the Lieutenant unshakable in his stance.

“You are in charge of the everyday operations in this place, but I am not under your authority. If you wish to discuss matters with me then I am open for suggestions, but I ask you to not waste time with personal concerns.” Despite his professional tone, his eyes narrowed slightly. 

“Your comfort is, in my eyes, no more important than the comfort of the other changelings under my watch. Now, if you will excuse me, I have some patrols to organise.”

Without waiting for a reply, the Lieutenant turned and trotted out with his guards in tow.

Chrysalis’ anger only increased, her concerns not just ignored but outright dismissed. ‘Ungrateful fool!’

Her mind worked, a plan already forming in her mind. Out here, she was far from the Emperor’s control. All he had were a few patsies watching over her, and they were outnumbered five-to-one by her loyal changelings. She had a measure of trust from the foolish human, and her time spent in the Crystal Empire had allowed her to soak in the ambient magical energy that was her source of power.

“Yes, of course it will work,” she mused to herself, a smile forming on her face. Leaving her bed, all four hooves hit the floor while she trotted for the exit. Leaving through the grey tent flaps, she trotted out into chilly wind of the valley containing their camp.

Around her there was only a small smattering of activity, a few changelings exploring the surrounding area while a number were gathering what dry wood they could to compliment the stores of firewood provided.

She assumed most were idle in their tents, and unlike hers there were four changelings to each tent. The notable exceptions were the military guards gathered in their own mini-camp area, their identical tents surrounding the stockpiles of mundane supplies. A small spring ran past to the left of the tents, Chrysalis spotting two of the traitorous soldiers filling canteens with the fresh water.

The other stand-out was the largest tent of them all, sitting out to the far right. Unnatural light filtered out from the flaps and it had an eerie glow around it, Chrysalis noticing that no other tents were near it and that any changeling groups kept well away. It was no surprise that it was the domain of the apparent ‘scientist’.

‘At least I haven’t seen him around,’ she thought with a wince. ‘He must already be satisfied for now.’

The trip here had been a long one, the human having spent it asking her all kinds of inane or unimportant questions.

Searching around, the subjects out and about ignored her, Chrysalis not paying them any mind. Spotting a tent with three helmets sitting on a box outside, she recognised it as her goal. Approaching it, she didn’t bother to announce her arrival to the voices inside before she pushed open the tent flaps and entered.

“-so I said to him…”

Four changelings turned to stare at her, three of them rushing off their assorted bedding and saluting while the forth one who had been speaking bowed instead.

“Y-your highness,” Commander Clicks managed out. “I’m sorry, we weren’t expecting you.”

Chrysalis examined the inside of the tent, most of the space taken up by the sleeping area. A small section at the back contained pieces of chitin armour and a few water canteens, but other than that it was not interesting in the slightest.

The two unknown soldiers and the drone were also of no interest, Chrysalis’ attention turned back towards Click. She frowned down at him, still not understanding why he chose to share a tent instead of having one to himself like she had allowed.

“Commander, I wish to speak with you in private.”

Click glanced around at his fellows, before looking back at her. “About what, if I may ask my Queen? I can assure you that we are all loyal to you.”

Half-tempted to instead lecture him about obeying orders, she instead snorted. “Huh, like I can trust so-called ‘loyalty’ anymore.” She glared at the three other changelings. “What I am about to say is important, if any of it is repeated to another than I shall punish you all severely.”

They all nodded, Chrysalis continuing on after a moment of consideration.

“It is apparent that we are still under the iron rule of the human Emperor, even out here. Just before, I was informed by their military leader that the love gems are to be harshly rationed. It should come as no surprise that they intend to keep most for themselves.”

She resisted a smile when Click’s eyes widened in alarm, her lies having worked. Not all of what she said had been true, but it had needed a little… deception to pose as threatening to the underlings. Only through fear could she achieve her ends, and fear was what she could feel from the four before her.

“Harsh rationing?” Click repeated, wincing. “But… if we’re to work in the mines, we’ll all need as much energy as we can get.”

“I know,” she agreed with a fake look of concern. “I too brought up that point, but the Lieutenant confirmed my worst fears.”

“The one with the scar?” the female drone shuddered.  

“I heard it’s from an axe,” a male soldier explained, glancing to the Commander. “They say that it was during one of the Crystal Empire’s fights with invaders. He took a full hit to the face and it nearly split it in half, he shouldn’t have survived.”

“It doesn’t matter where he got it from,” Chrysalis quickly growled, even though the news only made the Lieutenant more threatening to her plans. “I intend to seize control of this place, without any of the fools in the Crystal Empire suspecting a thing.”

“A takeover?” Tapping his forehoof on the ground, Click lowered his voice. “Your Highness, I doubt that is a good idea. They have more trained soldiers, there’s the human, and we require assistance from the Crystal Empire to survive.”

She raised her head proudly. “I have taken into account those factors. We outnumber them overall, we shall deal with the human first, and then we will masquerade as if nothing has happened until we are ready to once again forge our own domain. After we dispose of the Lead Researcher, we will take the traitors by surprise and I shall assume command.”

There was silence, before Click once again questioned her.

“Isn’t that incredibly risky? Even if they are rationing our food, we have a chance to no longer have to hide from others. I even overheard a few of the guards saying that there were plans to award us with citizenship after we were done. Why throw that away for a small chance?”

‘Because it will not be a changeling leading you, it will be a human or pony.’

Her actual thoughts were not given as the answer, Chrysalis merely looking down at him. “Click, I am your Queen and ruler. I know what is best for my subjects, and I know that we are seen as nothing more than tools by our former-fellows. Do you not trust in my judgement?”

Click visibly struggled for a reply, but eventually he sighed softly and nodded. “I do trust you, my Queen. What would you have me do?”

“Assemble a force of soldiers, all that we have,” she smiled. “Meet me at my tent at midnight tonight. We will act while they are not expecting us, and we will need to be swift.”

At that, Click nodded his understanding, Chrysalis grinning to herself before leaving their tent with a spring in her step.

As the four’s whispers grew fainter, she pictured the look on the Emperor’s face when he would hear of her victory over him.

‘That will teach the smug biped. Never mess with Queen Chrysalis.’






Click, along with his gathered squad of thirty soldiers, left their assorted hiding places once the figure of the Queen could be seen in the moonlight. Chrysalis approached them with another one-hundred changelings in tow, Click wincing as she drew near.

He could feel her anger.

“Cowards,” Chrysalis spat, before fixing him with a glare. “You also had little luck I see. Our numbers are drastically reduced thanks to it.”
Wise enough to not mention that she could have expected most of the changelings to not feel up to assaulting two-hundred of their armoured and armed fellows along with a scary human, Click instead thought of his own way to avoid a crushing defeat.

“We could always call it off for now, and instead try to gather more support over the next few-“

“No,” she interrupted. “That will not do at all! I am tired of these simpletons denying me my pow- I mean controlling us like slaves. We will continue with the attack, is the human asleep?”

Click shook his head, lowering his voice at the mention of ‘human’. “No, my Queen. He has been gone for most of the day, only to return an hour ago. Just ten minutes ago, we saw a strange flash of green from his tent.”

Chrysalis scowled, the Queen glancing towards the mentioned tent with a sour face.

“No matter, we will need to be fast and quick. You along with myself and ten of your most capable soldiers will enter the tent. I will subdue him with magic and then take control of his mind. Then, we shall move on our guards and quell any opposition to me.”

Click’s doubts were quickly growing.

He had no time to voice further concerns, however. Chrysalis, a determined glare on her face and a charge in her horn, stormed off towards the human’s tent. Click and the rest of the changelings hesitated, having heard the ominous sounds and seen the ghostly glows from the tent.

There was no doubt in their minds that something evil lurked within, an evil that in their minds was far worse than Chrysalis.

Sighing while he watched the Queen continue to move towards the tent, Click quickly pointed at ten soldiers before following her. At first there was nothing, but soon there were the sounds of the ten he had picked galloping to catch up. They reached him just as he joined the Queen, Chrysalis merely glancing back before barging her way through the tent flaps.

‘This is it,’ he thought to himself. Wincing, he followed with the selected soldiers in tow.

The first thing he noticed was the sheer amount of stuff taking up the space in the tent. There was so much that he couldn’t even find a bed amongst the clutter. Boxes covered the floor, a massive fold-out table taking up the majority of the bench space. On it was yet more boxes, cases, a few illumination gems, unidentifiable items, and items that Click wished he couldn’t identify.

A suit of full white armour was carefully arranged on a roll of canvas to the side, Click recognising it as the human’s. The strangest item was, without a doubt, the cage containing four sleeping rabbits of various colours. Next to the cage and hunched over an item on the table was the human, dressed in a long grey lab coat and shiny black boots. The strange green glow cut out while he turned around, the entire group being met with a warm smile from the bespectacled face.

“Ah, welcome friends,” he greeted with a look at all of them. “Settling in fine? I’m afraid you’ve caught me in the middle of something, and my tent is a tiny bit messy, so I apologise.”

Looking up at Chrysalis, Click saw her facial expression change from a glare to confused then back to glare.

“We are here for a reason, human,” she stated with far less venom than usual. She peered around him at the bench, before she froze and paled. Clicks was too short to see what had sparked the reaction, but already his mind was telling him to run.

“Oh?” the Lead Researcher questioned, turning back to the table. “Please be quick with it, I have much work to do and time is rather pressing.”
While he bent down to retrieve a sleeping rabbit, Click had the opportunity to see what was on the table.

He nearly dry-heaved at the decapitated dragon head sitting in a clear dish of red slime, the dull and lifeless eyes open wide. It was less disgust at the actual white-scaled head, after all he had seen lethal combat before, but more as to the fact that the Lead Researcher had it sitting on his table.

“It’s a shame Orthodox eliminated Miss Dragon before I could speak to her; I have so many different questions.” The human acted as if they weren’t even there, standing back up with a rabbit clutched in a hand. The bunny was beginning to wake, but it made no sound or attempt to escape. “So, unfortunately I have to use different methods that some would find… distasteful.”

The rabbit in the hand went stiff as the human tightened his grip. The other hand caressed the dragon’s head, tiny sparks of green and black energy lancing off the fingers to touch the scales. They could only watch as the bunny seemed to shrink, no sound uttered even as it wasted away. A noticeable green glow began to build around the Lead Researcher, before it died out to nothing.

The shrivelled rabbit carcass dropped from the researcher’s hand into a box by his feet, Click’s eyes following it the entire time. As the lifeless body made a muffled thump, he noticed the tips of tiny furry ears sticking out from the top of the box.

Behind the human, Click could see the dragon head twitch.

Then, the left eye fluttered. 

“One more should do it,” the Lead Researcher muttered to himself, before glancing back towards them. His green eyes were glowing with wicked power, but yet they still held that same accursed warmth from before. “I’m sorry, what was it you wished to talk about again?”

Clicks knew when to bug out from a dangerous situation. When his ten soldiers all ran for their lives, he didn’t even think about Chrysalis as he joined them in flight. Racing out past the flaps of the tent of nightmares, he bolted straight for his own in the hopes that the thin canvas would protect him from the monster he had left behind.

He didn’t even register the fact that Chrysalis hadn’t joined them.






Chrysalis had, in layman’s terms, don goofed.

All thoughts of seizing control of the camp in a bloody coup had fled along with her soldiers, and this time even she couldn’t find fault with their actions. As the previously lifeless head shook and trembled, the human’s smile never faltered.

“Is something the matter?”

She was unable to move, unsure whether it was some form of trickery or just her own racing heart. Elijah moved towards her, a bare finger reaching out to touch her right on the tip of the snout. She shivered when it made contact, a small arc of the sinister energy running across her chitin. The finger tapped twice, before it ran up to rest right between her eyes.

“Well, why I’ve got you here we might as well take the opportunity to discuss a few things.” His smile remained, seemingly genuine. “Now Your Highness, I know that you see yourself as subservient to my comrade in this position, but I hope you refrain from any rash actions. Nigel may act like a blundering fool at times, but from what I can tell he actually enjoys interacting with your race.”

The finger moved, running up towards her head while he stepped closer. “It’d be a shame, for someone to shatter the relative peace between the changelings and ponies that’s formed in the Crystal Empire because of their own power-mongering.” After a brief scratch behind the ear, the digit trailed down her back towards the point right above her heart where it halted. “Such an individual would not last long.”

There was a pause, before she felt the finger begin to circle. She could feel tingles wherever it travelled, Chrysalis not daring to move lest she provoke a deadly reaction.

“Life is a fickle thing,” the topic shifted. “Useful and essential, but fickle. I’ m sure I don’t need to lecture you about wasting precious energy on foolish pursuits, so I won’t. Still, I will urge you to think more clearly before you set out to complete you goals, as a general hint.” She felt his hand go down, the soft surface at once soothing and horrifying upon her back. It rubbed, and she could feel the energy inside of the creature touching her.

For a moment, she wondered what effect it would have if he… ‘ate’ something much larger than a rabbit.

Something like a changeling Queen.

He seemed to almost sense her fearful question. “You have a very strong lifeforce, very healthy. I’m glad to see that you’ve recovered from your malnourishment in such quick time. Your race is a very intriguing one, needing to take from others to function correctly. The evolutionary path is most confusing, and I regret that I have not made enough time to fully explore just what makes you tick.”

Her eyes glanced towards the head on the desk, the scientist’s hand pausing as he followed her gaze. The twitching was almost faint, the human sighing.

“Our time is up sooner than I expected, a shame.” Drawing away, he patted her twice on the cheek. “If you have any grievances with the way things are being run, then please don’t hesitate to let me know as I’d love to help you and the other changelings work things out.” Chrysalis shivered again when he leaned down to whisper into her ear. “Oh, and next time, don’t bother to try and bring your soldiers. I assure you, hostile actions would be rather unwise… and such a risk to your precious life-force.”

Standing back up, he returned to his bench without another word.

But the same, warm smile was still on his face.

Bending down, he picked up another rabbit. Standing on her spot, Chrysalis silently watched while it shrivelled just like the last. More energy was transferred to the head, and she could smell the same smell that only occurred when lightning struck during a thunderstorm.

She turned and trotted out of the tent as soon as the once-dead and lifeless eyes opened wide in shock, more than enough evidence for her.
Chrysalis wasn’t stupid like many of her former subjects thought.

‘Maybe being in total control can wait for a few months,’ she realised, staggering back to her tent with the hope that her dreams wouldn’t be plagued with the night’s witnessed terrors.





“Wow, I wonder what he did.”

Lieutenant Enigma at first didn’t reply to the Sergeant’s hushed question, the two soldiers watching the Queen from their spot behind a pile of storage boxes. Queen Chrysalis’ gathering of goons had dispersed long before, the Queen herself shaken to the core.

Enigma had served in the military under her rule, and could not recall a single time when she had been intimidated or lacking her constant egotistical tone.

It seemed that the record was shattered.

“Should we report this back to the Emperor?” the Sergeant inquired, Enigma waiting until Chrysalis had disappeared back into her tent before shaking his head.

“No, that won’t be needed. I doubt she will attempt anything foolish for a while.” Glancing back at the tent Chrysalis had left, he wondered briefly about the activities happening within.

‘Better to not think about it,’ he decided, turning away while another green flash broke the night’s darkness.






“There, there, and there.”

Sparkling pointed out the locations for the banners to be hung, the three changelings taking flight around the throne room to follow her orders. Checking her list, she surveyed the rest of the workers to ensure that everything was going fine and according to the plan.

Ponies rushed around on the ground, readying tables and gem-speckled decorations. Changelings buzzed around at the top, hanging banners and streamers from the crystal walls. They had all been working since breakfast, close to one-hundred of them assisting with getting the throne room ready for the upcoming wedding.

She had forgiven the two for the scene that she had walked into a week ago, Nigel and Reflection having sheepishly presented her with a ‘we’re sorry’ gift of a shining ruby necklace. Glancing down at the jewel on the golden chain around her neck, Sparkling smiled slightly.
In return, she hadn’t told anyone else. Not even Strategy.

Looking back at the list of things still to do, she frowned to herself. The two hadn’t really given everyone much time to prepare for a massive, city-wide wedding. She could bet the Griffons were more than happy to be trade partners, considering the amount of ale that had been purchased for all of the recent celebrations.

Unfortunately she was the one that had been stuck with organising everything, including the rapidly-changing ideas of Reflection and Nigel on how a wedding should be run. Eventually they had decided to just stick to Reflection’s original plan, and were currently at the tailor getting their clothing for the night made.

“Typical of them,” Sparkling murmured to herself while trotting towards the kitchen. “Always leaving things to the very last minute.”
Leaving the organised chaos of the pre-wedding preparations in the throne room, Sparkling trotted through the side corridor to emerge out into the palace kitchens.

Nodding at the two crystal pony guards stationed by the sides of the door, the Emperor not taking any chances with security, she headed immediately towards the head cook. Dodging junior cooks and other kitchen staff while they careened around the kitchen with pots and pans, Sparkling focused on the tallest hat in the place and persisted on.

A young changeling mare in an apron bumped against her saddlebag of parchment and quills, the unfortunate cook spilling a bowl of flour onto the floor. Wincing, Sparkling continued on without looking back.

“Ah, Advisor Sparkling! Good to see you!”

She poked her head up, a doughy brown crystal pony waving her over. The tall white hat marked him as the Head Chef, Larder returning his attention to the massive layered cake in front of him once she veered towards him.

“It’s a bit…” she paused to fully take in the monstrosity. The white-icing covered cake was taller than the Emperor, the multi-coloured frosting looked like a multitude of sparkling gems and probably had enough sugar in it to kill a pony. “…big.”

“Well, of course it’s big,” Larder responded, mumbling around the icing bag in his mouth as he squeezed on another glob of blue icing. “It’s the wedding of the Emperor and the Empress, I can’t think of a single more important occasion that I’ll have to cook for. Frost, here’s another one for you.”

Sparkling watched while Larder shuffled to the left, another much younger stallion with a blue coat and mane moving up to take his place. He was a unicorn, horn glowing while he shaped the glob of frosting with a flat knife. She had to marvel at his skill and attention to detail, the blob soon turning into the form of a wonderful sapphire gem.

“I can guess that you’re not just here to say hello or watch the cooking for tonight,” Larder continued, carefully placing on another dollop.

“I’m here to make sure everything is going to plan,” she explained, glancing to the side as a mare passed with a tray of steaming muffins. “From the looks of things you’ve got it all under control, but the cooking’s a bonus.”

“Under control is not the term I’d use,” Larder snorted, placing the icing packet on a tray to the side and picking up a new one. “But we’ll be ready. I do wish the Emperor and Empress wouldn’t be so spontaneous with the date. I really should have been given more than a few days for a project this large.”

Sparkling couldn’t help but chuckle in agreement, pausing to tick off the box on her checklist before flashing Larder a smile. “Yes, well at least we can be always be certain of their spontaneous ways.”

“Ha!” Larder rolled his eyes. “Little comfort there.”

Shaking her head, Sparkling waved her hoof at him. “Well, goodbye Larder, I’ve got to go check up on the most important preparation.”

“Why,” Larder paused his work to mock glare at her. “Advisor, for you to insult my work so-“

“It’s the alcohol stores.”

Larder paused. “…Oh, okay then. I suppose I’ll have to be ready for another night of drunken debauchery and the resulting missing staff the morning after.” Shaking his head, Larder waved her away with a hoof. “Don’t let me keep you then, good luck.”

“You too.”

Trotting out of the kitchen, Sparkling shook her head at the situation.

‘Well, at least everything is under control for once.’






Levigust examined the bustling city below him, the three soldiers flying beside him likewise hidden by the clouds. The shimmering dome and their convenient cover didn’t impede his sight, his predatory eyes picking over every detail.

The ponies and changelings below were obviously preparing for something, decorations going up while the streets were swept clean. It was city wide, the faint but excited general noise reaching his ears even at the height he was at. 

‘They’re all getting ready for a big party,’ he realised, spotting carts full of food being delivered to the castle. ‘Perfect, this may be our chance.’

It was their second day of observing the city, and so far things had been looking grim. The city’s military strength was extraordinary considering its size, ballista mounted on the walls while full squads of guards tirelessly patrolled the walls and streets. Groups of armour-clad changelings buzzed around the castle methodically, Levigust having noticed that they paid particular attention to the upper palace floors.

‘My money’s on the Princess being kept up there,’ he figured, scratching his chin with a talon. Most nations he knew of would generally refrain from imprisoning royalty in the dungeons along with the commoners, and it would be fairly easy to hold a Princess within a bedroom with the appropriate measures and guards. ‘Hang on, if that’s the case…’

He peered closer, smiling when he noticed the one window with an oddity. On the second floor was a number of metal bars covering one such opening, the addition looking quite recent. ‘There we go.’

Snapping his talons, he gained the attention of his subordinates. “Okay, I take it that you all noticed the same things as I did?”

“They’re getting ready for a party,” his second-in-command, former-Sergeant Swiftius nodded. “I also noticed the inns and taverns were receiving many deliveries. With any luck, the guards of this city will also partake in the festivities.”

“The perfect time to slip in and out,” the soldier next to him added.

Levigust smiled, pointing with a talon towards the direction of the palace. “Anything else, maybe something to do with the windows on the second floor?”

All three strained their eyes, before Swiftius grinned wide. “Well spotted Boss, that makes our job far easier!”

“Do you believe that we can cut through the bars?”

Swiftius rubbed his chin, before shaking his head.

“No, but there are rooms to the sides. All we’d have to do is break into one during a gap in the guard patrols, disable or kill any guards that try and stop us inside, grab the pony Princess, leave through the same window we came in, then it’s back to Equestria and hello payday.”

“I concur,” Levigust praised his second. “Timing of course will be an important aspect, and we must get our ratio of soldiers participating on the assault right, but it certainly is preferable to a frontal attack.”

Taking a last look at the wall in progress, along with the sheer number of guards in armour, he doubted that even their force of a hundred-and-twelve experienced griffons could take the city without massive casualties. One thing was for sure, Equestria was certainly seeming to be sensible with their tactic of stalling their war-hungry politicians.

‘Still, money is money,’ Levigust thought to himself, turning in the air to fly back to his hidden body of troops on the ground. ‘And this will net us quite a nice haul for such a simple snatch-and-grab.’






“Damn it all, curse this cursed suit!”

“Then, Your Highness, might I recommend that you stop moving so much?”

“Moving, I wasn’t moving at all!”

Shimmering Sequins, Royal Tailor, rolled her yellow eyes at the Emperor’s pettiness. Of course he was moving, she could see him doing it and that was why his suit was getting so crinkled. Brushing back her blue mane with a hoof, she waited for the human to finish patting out all of the creases he could see on the black suit he wore.

She had no clue as to why he requested such a dour shade like black for a wedding, but apparently it was because of ‘tradition’. In her mind, he looked more far more suited for a funeral but orders were orders.

“Nigel, listen to Sequins and be still. I could see you moving as well!”

She turned to look at the new Empress at the laugh, the changeling already ready to go with a brightly-coloured and flowing red dress neatly folded by her side. Reflection was sitting on a soft seat with her legs crossed as per the usual norm for ladies, although the way she stuck her tongue out at the Emperor was far from lady-like.

“Shush,” Chalmers snorted. “Just because you don’t need to worry about creases.”

“I do too, I just know how to wear clothes properly. Pretty strange too, considering I’ve only been wearing them since I met you and you’ve been wearing them for… actually, how old are you exactly?”

“Not now, there are more important things to focus on and- stupid button!”

Sequins repressed a tired sigh and went to help the Emperor with the apparently massive issue. The ruler froze when her hooves brushed his hands away in preparation for her attempt to do up his pants for him.

“Ah… Sequins, I can do it fine by myself.”

“Oh come on already.” Her assistance blocked by the ruler, Sequins moved back while Reflection left her seat to storm over. A quick burst of magic later and the button was through the hole, Reflection giving Nigel a teasing look while he sheepishly did up his zip. “See? Not that hard at all.”

“It’s about this time that I should make a comment regarding your practice in undoing my buttons,” he mumbled in response.

“What was that?”

“Oh, I just was saying thank you for doing up my button.”

‘How the country hasn’t fallen apart I don’t know,’ Sequins silently thought to herself while glancing towards the clock on her wall. The simple session of ensure that the wedding clothes for the night would fit had taken much, much longer than she had first expected, all thanks to the Emperor and his numerous complaints. If she didn’t know better, she’d bet that he was actually nervous about the upcoming ceremony.

“It only took you three hours to be happy,” sighed Reflection, moving around and examining the suit. “It looks good on you though, and I like the…”

“Cufflinks?” Sequins guessed, Reflection nodding while glancing at the items mentioned.

“Yeah, those.” Continuing to trot around, she paused at the Emperor’s rear with a lecherous grin. “But as I already said, it looks good on you.”

The Emperor sighed. “Perv.”

“Hush, you love it.”

Rolling her eyes once again, Sequins decided to break it up before the two got so distracted that they’d miss the actual wedding. Coughing into a hoof to gain their attention, she made a pointed glance to the clock. “Well, now all that’s left is for you to take the suit off and get yourselves ready. You’ve only got a few hours until the ceremony starts.”

“We have left it late,” Reflection winced, returning to her seat.

The Emperor meanwhile, was staring at his pants with a shocked look. “But… but I just got it all on…”

Bracing herself for what was no-doubt to come, Sequins took a second to close her eyes and think happy thoughts regarding her own wonderful dress already made.

She reckoned that they would be here for another few hours at least.






James tapped his foot impatiently while standing off to the side of the tightly packed throne room, the sound of the metal on stone drawing the attention of several excited wedding-goers. He ignored the whispers, continuing to glance around at every area of the throne room and what he could see of the entrance hall through the door.

He had neglected to bother seeing anyone for a suit, preferring to stay in his nice and secure armour despite being Nigel’s best man. Honestly, James hated the timing of the city-wide wedding celebration. Considering the events that happened less than two weeks prior, and the increased alert level of the guards, turning everyone’s attention away from defense towards having a massive party once again was just stupid and asking for trouble.

Of course, when he informed Chalmers of this opinion multiple times, he had been met with numerous excuses and hand-waving.

All in all, if James was the one looking to invade a single city then he’d be doing it when everyone was nice and drunk.

“You’re looking a bit down.”

He glanced down to his right, Sparkling Scroll looking up at him with a warm smile. He couldn’t resist giving a small smile back, tapping the helmet he held against his side. The cheery mare often seemed to be one of the saner individuals in the city, along with Captain Strategy. Secretly, he was currently finding her absolutely adorable in her flowing red dress and glittering necklace; obviously she was looking forward to the ceremony.

“I’m often told that I’m a rather dour individual,” he replied, taking another glance around the room. “I’ve got nothing against Chalmers and Reflection deciding to form a union personally, but I’d prefer them to possibly have waited a month or two when we aren’t expecting a sudden attack at any time.” 

Sparkling laughed lightly, shaking her head. “Good luck telling them that. I swear, they both seem to just suck the common sense right out of each other.”

“Bah,” he snorted. “If that’s the case then it’s a good thing changelings feed on positive emotion, otherwise Reflection wouldn’t be getting much of a meal from Nigel.”

“Ha, and I thought you said you were dour!”

His smile increased, the conversation relaxing him slightly.

It still didn’t stop him from checking the door once again, however.

“Still,” continued Sparkling after she had paused to wave at a passing mare. “Fears of an invasion-“

“Not fears, caution at a possible hostile situation,” James corrected.

“Fine, caution of an invasion forgotten, surely you must be a little happy for them. Timing aside, you can’t argue that they don’t suit each other. I don’t know how weddings work where you’re from, and I’m told changelings don’t have them, but in the Empire they’ve always been a symbol of two ponies who’ve realised that they want to spend their lives together.” She smiled, a glance going towards the doorway leading into the entrance hall. “And, despite their many faults, those two are happy with each other.”

James briefly considered reminding Sparkling that Nigel had already gone through three failed marriages, but decided that it benefited everyone to not bring it up. “I can’t deny that, I suppose.” Seeking to get his mind off suffering through yet another of Nigel’s ‘in love’ phases, he subtly shifted the topic. “In all honesty, I expected you and Captain Strategy to be walking up the aisle first.”

“I… what caused you to think that?” Her pause gave it away, James smirking in response.

“You are both not as subtle as you believe,” he hinted, before shrugging. “Besides, Strategy has been keeping me up to date with all of the, as some would say, ‘juicy’ details.”

“He what?” Sparkling sighed, closing her eyes briefly before opening them again with a pleading look. “Okay, that’s fine I suppose. He did tell me that he liked talking to you, but please don’t tell Reflection anything.” Her voice lowered. “She already knows far too much to use against me.”

“Relax, it was nothing intimate.” James nodded, before raising an eyebrow. “You said Strategy enjoyed talking to me?”

“Well, yeah. I think he likes having another guy in the military to speak to who, well…”

“Doesn’t go out to battle in a bathrobe?” James finished, Sparkling nodding with slight surprise. “I heard all about that incident. Surprisingly, that’s not even close to some of Chalmers' more… eccentric choices.”

Sparkling tilted her head. “Oh, like what?”

He was about to reply, but faint cheering from the crowd outside the palace stopped him. Frowning, he glanced towards the staircase behind him. “Wait, weren’t they upstairs?”

“No they were not,” an orange stallion answered as he rushed past them towards the throne. “I believe they were at the tailor.”

James watched as the pony, the city’s sole judge if he remembered correctly, focused on discussing the final details with another two officials. Turning back to Sparkling, he nodded towards the doorway. “I suppose we must get ready then to do our part.”

“That’s why we’re here, good luck.” She waved a golden-shoed hoof at him, and James returned it before he moved off.

He passed the eager rows of nobles and officials given the privilege of being in the throne room, a few military officers in full armour also interspersed throughout. Their entire attention was paid to the doorway, James moving behind them before making his way towards the side.
Nodding at the armed guard standing to attention next to him, he waited while the cheers of the crowd grew louder and louder.

‘They sure do seem to like him,’ he wondered briefly, smiling and nodding to Sparkling who was standing on the opposite side. ‘Strange indeed, but at least he’s been somewhat more rational.’

Well, aside from wooing and marrying a emotion-draining equine alien.

He brushed himself down and kept his helmet firmly pressed against his side as the cheering grew closer still, until it was right in the entrance all. Over the din of the crowd of hundreds all loudly giving their congratulations to the pair, he could hear clanking of armour.

Out of the doorway, much to the delight of the guests inside the throne room, Captain Strategy advanced with ten halberd-armed guards in tow. It was a mix of five crystal ponies, four changeling guards, and one changeling in very heavy armour. James recognised her as Corporal Shift, the glowing love-gems that powered her suit just visible under the armour plate. He noticed that she in particular drew the amazement of the crowd, not surprising given her armour and the large shield locked in place before her. 

Then, behind the honour guard came the main pair of the night. 

James almost burst out laughing when he noticed that Nigel’s pants button was not done up, and judging from how hurried they looked he wouldn’t have been surprised if they had quite literally been at the tailor still getting their clothing organised. Reflection at least appeared properly dressed, even if the red dress and silver shoes she wore were far from the wardrobe of a traditional wedding based on what he knew.

Then again, there were many other differences to what he knew of Terran-based weddings.

For one, both the bride and groom were walking to the raised step side by side at the same time, there were of course no parental figures to ‘give away’ their daughter, and overall it seemed to be very rushed despite the days of preparation. Still, his role in the ceremony hadn’t really changed, and as the pair came into proper view he moved to walk beside Nigel.

Nodding towards Chalmers, he tried to put on a smile and attempted to appear cheerful.

‘Just smile, play the Best Man, give your short speech, then it’s onto the balcony to finish up their ceremony and it’s over.’

He noticed Sparkling moving next to Reflection just like he was to Chalmers, the two females exchanging words that were inaudible thanks to the noise of the crowd. They both seemed far more comfortable with the situation then he, even Nigel was smiling and waving to the crowd. James just stared straight ahead and walked with the group towards the front.

The soldiers broke off and moved to the sides of the room, leaving the path to the empty throne wide open. The judge standing in front of the throne waited for them beside a set-up podium, James and Sparkling hanging back while Nigel and Reflection moved ahead without them.

‘Surely this won’t take that long,’ James thought as a hush fell across the crowd and the judge adjusted his glasses.

A groan almost escaped James’ mouth when the judge unrolled a sheet of parchment long enough to reach the floor, the stallion clearing his throat as a hush descended across the crowd.






“… And so these two beings are to be united in a mutually-beneficial union that will bring them much happiness throughout their…”

Reflection zoned out again, her thoughts drifting away from the judge droning on and on. In truth she had expected a wedding to be less… well, boring. From what she’d heard from infiltrators during the years, weddings were always about a party and kissing, not judges going on about what it meant.

Glancing up at Nigel, she noticed that while he remained smiling with the occasional nod, his eyes were distant. Following his eye-line, she couldn’t help a smirk when she saw that he was completely focused on the buffet tables at the back of the room.

She’d normally be irritated that he wasn’t paying attention to such an important thing, but the food was looking appealing even to her.
‘Why can’t we just hurry up and get to the ‘I do’s’ and the kissing?’ she thought with a slight huff.

“Empress, is something wrong?”

She snapped out of her daze at the judge’s question, the stallion and the entire crowd looking right at her. “I… uh no, nothing’s wrong. We’re were just at…”

“The vows,” Nigel added for her. The judge glanced between both of them, one eyebrow raised.

“That’s correct. Now, the vows are a very short affair and then it’s onto the speeches.” Clearing his throat, he shifted his glasses before returning to the list. “Ahem. Do you, Nigel…”

“It’s just ‘M’.”

“Right, I apologise for not checking prior.” A few in the crowd chuckled lightly, Reflection letting out a small snort in humour with them. The judge was unperturbed, and continued on as if nothing had happened. “Nigel M Chalmers, do you vow to always be faithful towards this mare?”

“I do.”

Reflection straightened when the judge turned to her. “And do you, Empress Reflection, vow to remain faithful to this… human?”

She smiled at Nigel, nodding. “I do.” There was a pause, before the judge looked up from his lists.

“That’s actually the only one for now, the rest you requested are to be done on the balcony. So, I guess that means we can move on right to the speeches.” He gestured to the left side, two seats with plump red cushions sitting ready and empty. “If you’d both like to take a seat, we’ll proceed with the ceremony.”

Eagerly moving to the seats, Reflection clambered up with some difficulty thanks to her dress and turned to face the area. She waved briefly at the crowd before turning to Nigel when he sat down.

“Psst,” she whispered to him. “Is it supposed to be this… boring?”

Nigel nodded. “Yeah, usually. I think on Terra it was something to do with both suffering through a tedious event or something. Trust me when I say that this wedding is extremely condensed as well. What, did you think it’d be all food, drink, and snogging?”

Furrowing her brows at the strange word, she glanced towards the podium as Sparkling stepped up. “Well, I kinda expected something along those lines.”

There was no more time to reflect on it however, Sparkling clearing her throat while facing the crowd. Reflection gave her an encouraging smile when she turned to face them, wondering just what Sparkling would say.

“Hello, everyone,” Sparkling began, facing the crowd while reading from the notes on the podium. “Most of you already know me as the Emperor’s assistant, and I’ve likely harried some of you if you work in the palace, but for those who don’t my name is Sparkling Scroll.” She took a breath.

“I served as Sombra’s assistant before Emperor Chalmers took the throne, a change I’m sure you’ll all agree was for the best… kind of.”

Despite the subject matter, the crowd all laughed along at the joke.

“It’s certainly been interesting, I must admit. There’s been lots of trying times, but it’s been fun as well. Emperor Chalmers is rather… difficult to keep up with most of the time as many of the palace staff know, but I think we can all agree that it’s more than worth it.”

A chorus of agreement met the statement, a few even stamping their hooves in approval.

“Well, and he’s also my boss so I better not talk too harshly about him.”

Another round of laughter, Reflection joining in while Nigel shook his head and gave Sparkling a mock glare. Waiting until the crowd quietened down, Sparkling controlled her own chuckles and cleared her throat once more.

“Speaking of difficult to keep up with, how about the new Empress?”

‘Oh she better not…’

The grin that Sparkling was giving her indicated that, yes, a thorough ribbing was indeed coming her way. “I remember the first time that Reflection met the Emperor, in particular the insults she threw out.” There was a loud snicker from one of the stallions in the honour guard, his armour baring the rank of sergeant. “I was so shocked that she could stand in front of this… creature that had killed Sombra, and bare her fangs at him.”

Reflection sank down a little in her seat with a blush on her face when the crowd laughed again. ‘Why did she have to bring that up?’

“Now look at them,” Sparkling pointed towards them with a hoof. “Getting married in front of the entire city.” She turned back to crowd with a wider smile. “Being his assistant, I’ve seen some things.” There was a pause for effect. “And trust me, around them, I’ve seen some things.”

Reflection covered her face with her forehooves, shaking her head which only upped the crowd’s amusement. She felt an arm go around her back, so she reopened her eyes and shot Sparkling an unamused look. Her friend’s slightly apologetic smile soon stopped it however, 

Reflection rolling her eyes with a huff before sitting back.

“Still,” resumed Sparkling. “She’s a wonderful changeling, and he’s a decent human. Despite their issues, I’m proud to call them both my friends. I know that they will probably still have problems from time to time, but I’m confident that they’ll be able to get through anything that tries to get between them.”

Sparkling smirked. “And speaking of getting in-between…”

Thankfully for Reflection and Nigel, the punch-line was interrupted.

Unfortunately, the interruption was Orthodox belching loudly as he stumbled out from behind them.

Everyone turned to face the source of the disturbance, the crowd letting out a few whispers and chuckles as the unbalanced and completely naked alien midget struggled to make his way towards the podium. The sloshing keg under his arm was a likely hint to his behavior, Orthodox keeping a tight hold on it while he barged up to the podium with his eyes unfocused. Sparkling, visibly confused, backed away to give him plenty of room.

“This is going to be… something.”

Reflection turned to Nigel, seeing that his brow was furrowed as he watched at Orthodox sway on his feet. “You asked him to give a speech?”
In return, he gave her an incredulous stare. “Orthodox? Are you kidding? Of course I didn’t ask him to speak.”

Reflection looked back to Nigel’s friend.

She doubted it was going to end well.






‘Should I stop him, should I not?’

Nigel continued to debate with himself over the wisdom of letting Orthodox speak. On one hand, a drunken Orthodox in front of a crowd of relatively innocent equines was a likely recipe for disaster. On the other, getting up to remove him would certainly cause a massive fight to break out due to the effect of alcohol on Orthodox’s already volatile temper.

He could still remember his second wedding and the ‘Andronium rum’ incident.

The keg of what Nigel assumed was Griffon ale was placed on the floor, Orthodox leaning over the podium with a finger pointed in the air.
“Hey all,” he greeted with a slur. “Hows you all doing?” There was a smattering of confused ‘okay’ and ‘good’ in reply. “Great, cause I… I feel wonderful.” He pointed down to the keg. “Have you guys tried that stuff? Fucking grade A.”

Many of the nobles and officials flinched back at the harsh swear, Orthodox not even noticing while he continued.

“So I guess it’s up to me to say some words, or something. Both Nigel and Erection-”

“Reflection,” came the correction from the mentioned changeling, eyes narrowing at Orthodox.

“Yeah, that’s what I said.”

Only one stallion at the back of the crowd even uttered so much as a chuckle. The rest were frozen in silence, Orthodox gazing over them all.

“They’re both fucked up,” he put bluntly, a finger pointing towards Nigel. “Take this arsehole. Do you know how surprised I was when I found out he was actually liked by you lot? Very surprised. I mean, given his day job and all of that.” The unfocused eyes were turned onto a fuming Reflection. “And she, she’s a bug… horsey thing that changes shape and eats like, emotion or something.” He leaned forwards over the podium, his voice lowering but still audible. “The fuck’s up with that? That’s just weird.”

“Nigel…” Reflection growled, Nigel leaning closer to whisper to her while the crowd muttered.

“Just let him wear it out, he’s only got another few minutes in him. Trust me, it’s far better than trying to remove him.”

Her glare remained, but Reflection turned back to watch Orthodox without further complaint.

“Now, on the topic of Nigel marrying the emotion-eating change-horse, that’s kind of less surprising. He’s always been more of an exotic guy, right. Personally, I’d have fucked his assistant instead, you know?” As shocked gasps sounded from the crowd, an elderly noblemare even fainting over backwards, Orthodox let out a low whistle. “I mean, damn, she’s a babe even for a pony.”

Nigel was starting to reassess his decision to let Orthodox talk. Slowly, he looked over to were Sparkling was standing. Wincing at the glare from her that was soon directed back at Orthodox, he made a mental note. ‘Will probably have to buy a bracelet to help her forget that one.’

Orthodox himself was swaying on the spot, his tail flicking erratically. Most of his weight was resting on the podium, the finger in the air still waving about.

“Now, even though she ain’t nearly as pretty in my eyes, I guess that Erection is solid.”

Nigel tried to not let his own snicker escape, struggling to maintain a straight face while beside him Reflection breathed in and out deeply.

“She’s got absolutely no fucking clue what she’s in for, but like, who really does?” He belched, leaning forwards once again. “And, hell, after a few drinks even I think she’s pretty fu… fuckabl…”

He didn’t finish, falling face-first down onto the parchment.

No-one moved or spoke when a loud snore rose out from Orthodox, Nigel rubbing his temples while Reflection had again gone an embarrassed shade of green.

“Well, that was certainly something.”

Nigel looked up when James spoke, and watched while he moved towards the podium with a blank face. The crowd was still quiet save for a number of hushed whispers, everyone looking on as James picked up the well-and-truly out Orthodox in his arms and began to move towards the staircase.

“What about your speech?” Nigel asked, James pausing as he was going past.

“I think Orthodox gave more than enough speech for the both of us,” James returned dryly. “In addition, I am currently carrying a naked lizard-alien in my arms who’s blood is likely ninety-percent alcohol at this point. I believe that it would be in the best interests of the entire city if I immediately put him to bed, my speech wasn’t anything special anyway.” James glanced to Reflection, then back to the crowd as Sparkling Scroll began to move towards them. “Besides, I’d rather not be here for the explaining you need to do.”

“Coward.”

With a snort, James continued on without a retort, Nigel sighing. He was aware of Reflection staring at him from her seat, so he turned to meet her narrowed eyes.

“You have some serious making up to do,” she told him. “That was a stupid thing to let him do and-“ Reflection stopped talking when he placed his finger against her mouth.

“Shh,” he shushed with a gesture to Sparkling who was almost upon them. “One second.”

“Well, that certainly was something,” Sparkling growled, glaring at him while he still had a finger over Reflection’s mouth. “I know for a fact that he wasn’t to speak, and yet he did. Was this something you planned as a joke? Because as you can guess I didn’t find it very-“

“Shh.” Sparkling’s eyes focused on his second finger, the digit placed over her mouth as well. “Now, first off, I can assure you both that I in no way planned for that drunken idiot to appear at all.” He turned his focus onto Reflection. “Secondly, the last time Orthodox got drunk at a wedding, he nearly killed a rear-admiral with a grenade when people tried to drag him away from the podium. That’s why I didn’t stop him, he gets unpredictable when sloshed.”

He took both fingers away, holding out his palms to them. “Look, I’m sorry that he said those things about you both, okay? James is taking care of him, so we can all go back to the party without worrying about him coming down again and embarrassing us all.” Both weren’t glaring now, but the mood was certainly at a low-point for the day.

With only one idea what to do, he tried to smile and gestured towards the buffet tables where the crowd had disbursed.

“For starters, we could all grab something to eat and drink, and mingle before heading up to the balcony. Sounds good?”






James sighed while he dropped Orthodox onto the bed, the sleeping imbecile not even stirring when he hit the messy covers. While it certainly wasn’t the most disastrous wedding he’d ever witnessed, Orthodox had certainly managed to mess it up amazingly.

“At least they all seem semi-reasonable,” he mumbled to himself, thinking of the crowd. “Hopefully the party will distract them from what happened.”

Sighing again, he sat down carefully upon the single chair by the side of the bed, the wooden furniture creaking under his armoured weight. He rested his head against the wall, staring at the sleeping Orthodox as the light snores continued.

‘And at least he won’t be causing any more trouble for at least another few hours.’






“Under the power granted to me through my office, it is my upmost pleasure to announce you as legally married.”

Chalmers smiled down at the beaming Reflection when the judge said the last words, the crowd all watching below the balcony cheering their support. He’d had his doubts about the entire ceremony, especially after Orthodox’s blundering, but he figured that he was more than capable of enjoying the current moment like it was meant to be.

‘I hope this one lasts for more than a few months.’

“You may now kiss.”

Taking a second to compose himself in front of the crowd of thousands, he barely had time to straighten his bowtie before the buzzing of changeling wings signalled Reflection’s flight. Chalmers stood his ground when she threw her forelegs over his shoulders and pulled him into a deep kiss, much to the delight of the watching crowd.

Whistles and cheers continued, the kiss lasting for over five seconds before she pulled away. A happy giggle followed, both looking down when the judge cleared his throat.

“Congratulations to the both of you.”

Nigel nodded. “Thanks, for both that and doing the official side of things.”

A hoof was waved in dismissal. “No thanks is needed, it’s part of my job after all.” The stallion smiled widely. “Besides, how many judges can say that they’ve married an Emperor and an Empress?”

“Not a lot I can imagine!” Reflection laughed, before glancing back to Nigel. “Speaking of that, now that we’ve just been married…”

He rolled his eyes. “Like it really changes much in that regards. Keep patient, we’ll spend the rest of the evening celebrating with my- our subjects and then we can focus on sating your carnal desires. Deal?”

“Pfft,” she huffed, but the smile remained. “Fine, but I expect something extra special.”

“Relax, I’ve got something planned.” Chuckling, he moved them both over towards the balcony edge. Looking out over the crowd, he and Reflection both waved out to everyone, Nigel grinning while he waited for the uproar to die down to a reasonable level. “Excuse me, everyone!”

The crowd paid him attention at the shout, all ears waiting to hear what he had to say.

“Reflection and I would both like to thank you all for the support, and for all the work you put in to make this a great wedding.” Another round of cheers went up, Nigel waiting for quiet again before continuing. “There were a few issues here and there, but overall it’s been a gigantic success.” Grinning, he gave Reflection a look. “Also, your new Empress has something to say.”

Reflection left his arms, standing up on her hind legs so she could look out over the balcony edge. “Hi everyone,” she greeted with a wave. “Like Nigel said, thanks for all the work you did. We’re both amazed by the dedication you’ve all shown, and I must admit that you’ve all helped to make this the happiest day of my life so far.”

The crowd remained quiet while she took a breath.

“As the new Empress, it gives me great pleasure to be able to officially announce the start of the post-wedding celebration. All the food and drink is free for all, and of course…” she paused, smiling out knowingly. “Tomorrow can be counted as an official day off work for you all, so enjoy yourselves to the fullest.”

The loudest cheer of them all was the reply to the announcement, Nigel shaking his head at just how much joy a single public holiday after a party could bring. Reflection gave the crowd a final wave before landing back on all four hooves and trotting back towards him with a glint in her eye.

“Come on,” she ordered, passing him and grabbing his hand in her magic to lead him downstairs. “I want to get all of this mingling out of the way as soon as possible.

Shaking his head once again at her demand, he couldn’t help but dismiss his earlier concern.

He was sure this one was going to last a decent while.






The darkness of night had fallen hours ago, yet the city beneath them was still alive and rowdy with the lights and sounds of wild celebration. The streets were all packed with ponies and changelings alike, the taverns and restaurants the main hives of activity for the nightlife. Still, even street parties were easily recognised thanks to the crowds, laughter and mirth audible even to the thirty heavily armed and armoured griffons that were waiting up high in the sky above the palace.

“Go time,” Levigust mumbled to himself, his talon going over his equipment.

Iron breastplate, dulled with ash from their fire, over a warm winter coat? Check.

Short-sword to deal with any particularly difficult guards? Check.

Magical inhibitor to go over Luna’s horn in case she didn’t want to leave with the thirty griffon mercs? Check.

Levigust put on his helmet, the metal ringing when he flicked it with a talon.

“Check, check, and check,” he nodded, glancing back towards Swiftius and the other troops talon-picked for the mission. “Everyone ready?”

“Sir.”

“Yes Sir.”

“All ready, sir.”

He nodded at the affirmatives, gesturing down with a talon towards their target. “You all know which windows we’ll go for. My team will take the left, Swiftius’ will lead the assault through the right. Once inside, we’ll have two minutes until the external guard patrol returns, and if they see us then we’ll be testing the real strength of the Crystal Empire military.”

Levigust glanced around at them all, in particular at the soldiers with maces and war hammers. “I’ll remind you that we should avoid killing any guards we find inside, even the changeling ones. For sure, smack them around if they try to stop you, but given the nature of this mission the least amount of casualties, the better.”

He smirked at the end, another thought coming to mind. “Besides, maybe after this job they’ll be able to forgive us enough to offer us some lucrative work stealing the Princess back.”

The troops all chuckled lightly at his suggestion, Levigust turning back around to gaze down at the palace. His eyes tracked the flying patrol of changelings, ten in number, pass the barred window with their destination being the far end of the city.

“Time to work,” he instructed, angling himself down towards the destination.

His powerful wings propelled him through the air, yet at the same time his descent was almost silent. He could hear his soldiers behind him, the force of griffons grim yet confident in their abilities.

Levigust was thankful for the almost-absent moon, the clouds blotting out the light and disguising their attack from any eyes happening to look up from the ground. The group passed through the dome surrounding the city, the air instantly becoming warmer and fresher. With a gesture with his talon he split off, half of the attack force following his lead while he soared towards the window to the left of the one with bars.

He came to a halt just a mere inch from the crystal wall, his troops waiting behind him. Doing a quick survey, he heard and saw no sign of alarm from any pockets of guards that he had missed.

“Clawigula,” he ordered while moving away from the glass window, a burly soldier with a war hammer moving up to swing it’s blunt edge against the fragile barrier.






Private Sheen immediately went for her sword when the sound of smashing glass rang out from around the corner of the corridor, the magically-enhanced shoe grasping the hilt with ease. Pulling out the spotless blade from its scabbard, she shared a glance with the changeling soldier next to her who had likewise drawn her weapon.

“Let’s check it out,” Private Mirror whispered while softly trotting towards the noise, her face deadly serious. Sheen glanced back towards the door they were guarding, briefly considering informing the Emperor and Empress within.

The two had ordered that there was to be no disruptions to their evening before they had retreated into the bedroom, Sheen having assumed that they were planning a decent wedding consummation. Weighing up the risk of the noise just being a careless maid and then disturbing the two during an intimate time because of it, she decided to back-up her fellow guard instead.

Advancing behind Mirror, Sheen carefully trotted onwards until the changeling halted with a hoof raised. What really clued in Sheen was the way the changeling’s wings buzzed lightly, Mirror doing a quick double check of her armour before pointing forwards.

“I can hear voices.”

Moving up next to her and straining her ears, Sheen nearly dropped her sword when she heard the tell-tale clinking of metal and… something else.

“Intruders,” she whispered, Mirror nodding while taking a deep breath.

“Time to earn our pay.”

With that, Mirror broke into a gallop, Sheen following right behind with her heart pounding. The two rounded the corner of the corridor with their weapons pointed out, both freezing at what they found.

Griffons, many of them, were pouring out of two of the vacant bedrooms. All were armoured and were carrying weapons of multiple kinds, all of their predatory eyes fixing the two soldiers with stares. Mirror was frozen, Sheen trying to control her shaking sword before doing the only thing she could think of.

“Halt! Intrude-!”

She didn’t even register the griffon soldier move, he was that fast. Her shout of alarm was cut off when the weighty mace smashed against her crystal breastplate, not breaching the protection but knocking the air out of her lungs. Sheen could feel some her ribs break, her sword dropping to the floor as she tried to deal with the pain.

The griffon didn’t give her a chance, the mace once again coming down upon her. Sheen collapsed to the floor as he head rung, her left cheek meeting the red carpet as she saw Mirror charge forwards with her sword point aimed at the griffon’s throat.

“Raggh!”

The changeling’s enraged yell was swiftly followed by a second griffon rushing in to save his comrade, the end of a sleek war-hammer denting the side of Mirror’s chest armour and knocking the changeling off course. The hit was followed up by a particularly brutal backswing, Sheen’s eyes widening despite her own disabling pain as the sharp point on the rear end of the hammer punched through Mirror’s steel plate to embed in her chest.

Her friend and fellow guard’s white pupils shrank to pinpricks, the griffon pulling the spike of his hammer out with a fresh coat of green gore. A small spurt of green followed it out, before the frozen Mirror collapsed onto the ground with a chocking wheeze.

“Dishonest beast!” the griffon roared, raising his hammer for the final blow.

“Clawigula, it’s not a threat anymore.” A talon grabbed the limb holding the hammer and pulled it away from Mirror, who was shaking on the ground.

Sheen was unable to make out faces, a fine film of blood slowly seeping down to cover her eyes. She tried to move towards Mirror but was unable to even accomplish that. Instead, she could only lay in agony with the hope that help would reach them soon.

There was the sound of splintering wood before a muffled expletive of some kind, then the clack of sharp talons approaching her. She winced and held back a cry of pain when a claw grasped her chin, lifting her head up which only aggravated her pain.

“Where’s the Princess?”

Sheen’s mind tried to work out the question as the pair of yellow eyes glared into her own, her brain still scattered from the earlier blow.

“Tell me, pony. Where are you keeping Princess Luna of Equestria?”

She tried to blink the blood away, but failed dismally. Was the griffon really asking that question? Figuring that her life, and Mirror’s if she was still alive, depended on cooperation she struggled to provide the griffon with the answer he was after.

“She… she escaped. Some Equestrians tel-teleported in and took her away.”

The grip around her chin tightened, causing her to squeeze her eyes shut. “When?”

The low growl terrified her, Sheen’s teeth chattering when she answered. “Two weeks ago, at least. I swear, she’s probably already back in Equestria now.”

Her head was released and it smacked back down against the floor, the griffon above her hissing through his beak.

“Sir?”

“We’ve been had,” the same voice who had interrogated her replied.

“But can we trust h-“

“She’s telling the truth, I can feel it. Besides, we’ve already squandered enough time, and we have to get-“

“Lieutenant, guards coming up the left!”

“Attack!”

Sheen heard the clang of metal and the sound of a changeling’s horn firing, a squawking scream to her left sounding out over the sudden din.

“All forces, fighting withdraw!”

Clacking talons rushed past her, almost drowned out by the sounds of armoured hooves pursuing them. Even in her state, she could hear griffons clambering out of the window to escape with the sound of flapping wings.

Then, from the corridor behind her, she heard a voice she clearly recognised.

“The flying fuck is going on!?”






Reflection idly circled the tip of her foreleg over bare chest-skin, the other resting in the warm and bubbly water. A light smile was on her face, and she shook her head before taking another sip of wine from the glass she held in her magic.

“No, I don’t want it. It’s weird.”

The plump, chocolate-covered strawberry was waved in front of her, the top grasped between two fingers. “Oh come on, it’s great. Sure, it’s a little crystal-y, but it tastes just like a normal strawberry.”

“I don’t like solid food,” she tried to deflect, even though she admittedly enjoyed chocolate. “Eat it yourself.”

“I’ve already had enough, it’s your turn now.”

She rolled her eyes, but her grin still remained. Light from the candles around the large bath flickered, the strawberry’s bumps and shiny flesh sparkling in the warm glows. Needless to say, when she’d been brought up to the room by to find a platter of fruit and chocolate, wine, candles, a fresh bubble-bath, and most importantly two guards to stand outside and keep any distractions out, she’d been overjoyed.

Even if Nigel insisted that they both ate every single bit of chocolate-drenched fruit.

“Why are you so insistent?”

“Because it’s romantic,” he replied, shifting next to her. A bare leg brushed her rump, Reflection biting her lip before sighing and giving in.

“Fine,” she placed the wine glass down and took the fruit from him. “If it makes you happy.”

Magically levitating it towards her mouth, she looked him in the eyes before biting down and chewing.

The surprisingly pleasant burst of flavour caused her to pause, before she ate the remainder eagerly. The combination of sweet juice and chocolate was amazing to her tastebuds, her eyes immediately going towards the rest of the plate.

“Told you,” Chalmers scoffed from beside her. “And you didn’t trust me.”

“Oh, shut up,” she snorted back, a green glow taking another strawberry and dipping it into the bowl of chocolate. Her hoof on his chest went down lower, trailing under the water as the second strawberry was eagerly devoured. The hoof paused just above its target and she licked her lips, a grin going his way. “They’re good, but I want a different kind of treat right about…”

She paused, her ears picking up a faint sound. Nigel evidently heard it too, straightening in the bathtub with one hand placing itself on the edge.

Reflection winced, recognising the sound of glass breaking.

“Let me guess,” she began with a huff.

“I’ll be just a second,” Nigel reassured, pulling himself up out of the water and stepping out of the bath. A white towel was wrapped around his waist, and a kiss was planted on her forehead. “Given the last month, it can’t hurt to be sure.”

“I swear, this is beyond a joke.” Reflection sank down into the water with her forelegs crossed. “You always have to leave at the good bits.”

“Hey,” Nigel reassured with a pat on her head. “As soon as I can go home, I’ll book us a nice room in a resort on a paradise world and we can have as much ‘good bits’ that we can in-between the margaritas to make up for it. Now sit tight, I’ll see what’s up then come right back.”

With that, he left the bathroom and shut the door behind him.

Reflection was left alone with only the company of the candles, a sigh escaping her mouth before she levitated up another strawberry to munch on while she waited for his return.






Nigel shut the bathroom door behind him and headed towards the locked bedroom one, aiming to be as quick as possible. He’d have stayed and let his guards handle the matter, but to him the smashing glass had sounded suspiciously like a breaking window and he was a man of action at heart.

He unlocked the latch but paused with his hand on the door-handle, a muffled shout coming from the corridor followed by the splintering of wood.

His right hand immediately went for the stand holding his armour, the mace sitting on the belt ring being pulled off.

“Just in case,” he muttered, testing the weight to re-familiarise. “It’s been a long time, Macey my dear.”

He pulled open his door and stepped out, water still dripping from his naked body. Pausing to adjust his towel, not wanting to be caught out in combat with a poorly-sitting groin covering, he glanced to both sides of the door to find the two guards he had posted missing.

“Damn…” he muttered, before a yell caused him to whip his head up to the far end of the corridor.

“Attack!”

“Fuck’s sake,” he grumbled, one fist clenching around the mace handle while the second hand held up his towel. Braking into a run, he dashed down the corridor as the sound of fighting echoed off the crystal walls.

Skidding around the corner, he was faced with an unexpected sight.

A squad of his guards were advancing down the opposite end of the corridor, one of the changeling’s horn smoking much like the hole in the griffon laying at her hooves. There was a mass of other, still alive, griffons all beating a hasty retreat towards two bedrooms in the face of an advancing wall of halberd points.

Looking down, Nigel saw the two guards he had posted on the ground. The changeling was bleeding from a hole in her chest, while the crystal mare had blood covering her face and head. He was well and truly ticked off now.

“The flying fuck is going on!?”

He gained the attention of his guards, and more than a few of the retreating griffons. It proved costly for one, the distraction opening him up to a halberd strike that cleaved his head clean off.

“I was in the middle of a bath with my wife, you ungrateful and traitorous pricks!”

Whether it was the towel, his mace, his words, or the sheer rage in his tone that caused the raiders to route, no-one knew.

However it didn’t matter, the griffons scrambled back in a slightly-more disordered fashion than before. Nigel and his troops gave chase, another death-screech from a griffon sounding from the room the guards rushed into.

He was not so lucky, the very last griffon already out of the window and flying away. Nigel ran to it and leaned out, lining up his shot and letting his mace fly.

The weapon clipped the feathers of the wing but did nothing save the griffon banking to the right, his mace falling down towards the streets below and onto the roof of a house.

“Fucking come back here!” he called out while shaking his fist at the retreating soldiers. “I’ll pluck out your feathers myself!”

His threats were ignored, however what the griffons couldn’t ignore was the squad of changeling guards that buzzed towards them from the flank. A volley of green magic downed three more foes, the remainder diving to the left and towards the city square. Turning around to rush down and pursue them himself, he paused instead at the sight outside the door of the room he was in.

‘My soldiers can handle it,’ he decided, his anger dying out while he moved to check on the two injured privates.

The first was the changeling, Mirror if he remember correctly. She was sitting up with a grimace and an armoured hoof held over her chest. He could see the green blood dribbling out around the sides, and out through the gap at the bottom of her armour. She saw him approach, and immediately gestured with her head towards the motionless pony.

“I’ll live, but h-help Sheen,” she rasped. Nigel moved straight onto the downed crystal pony while the other guards rushed around with barked orders. He had just enough time to register two stallions move to help Mirror, before he knelt down next to Private Sheen and checked to see if she was still alive.

He couldn’t even tell what colour her short-cut mane was because of all of the blood.






Sheen was drifting in and out of consciousness, the taste of copper in her mouth however was sharp and vivid.

The clatter of battle had been changed with other noises now, but all the words sounded far off and distant. She was only vaguely aware of something touching her, before something big lifted her gently off the ground. There was a long thing under her head, and she could feel something take off her helmet.

The last thing she felt before she blacked out completely was the smooth and slightly wet thing she was held against, and the steady heartbeat that pulsed through it.






‘Crap, crap, crap!’

Levigust swerved to avoid another crossbow bolt, the crystal pony that had fired it not able to reload before he had been passed. Looking behind him, Levigust cursed some more when he saw that only three griffons remained behind him, two of them being Swiftius and Clawigula. The other he couldn’t recall at the current time, but he bore the rank markings of a corporal.

‘I hope the others got out,’ he thought, another group having split off from his in an attempt to lead the dangerous changeling guards away. ‘This attack is a shambles.’

He fought hard to supress his rage. It wasn’t directed towards the Crystal Empire, even though they had killed a number of his soldiers.

No, in his mind was the image of the incompetent and possibly malicious Equestrian politician that had sent them to rescue and already-rescued princess.

‘I’m going to skin him alive,’ Levigust vowed, dodging around a cluster of houses while drunken and unaware citizens underneath watched with surprise.

“What are we going to do!?” Swiftius yelled to be heard. “It’s a death-trap above and chaos below!”

He surveyed their surrounds, the group flying towards the town square. Amid the dark sky, he spotted a gap in the unbuilt wall. “There!” he commanded, pointing a talon towards the breach. “Well keep low and fly out, then circle around and meet up with the main force!”

A glint caught his eye, Levigust pausing when he caught sight of the large and, more importantly, unguarded gem in the shape of a heart that was sitting on a podium. It pulsed and throbbed with light, almost calling to him.

“A quick detour!”

Swerving, he dived down towards the gem, the few unarmed civilians below scattering into buildings.

“Sir!?” Swiftius called out. “Are you mad!?”

“I won’t leave here empty-taloned!” he shouted back, snatching the gem off of the podium with both talons and flying back up.

The effect of the removal was immediate, the dome above shattering into fragments of nothing. He paid it no mind, his thoughts set purely on just how much revenge he could buy by selling the large and obviously magical gem to the highest bidder.

His three soldiers followed him while he soared towards the gap to freedom, cold wind and snow already descending upon the city without the protective energies of the gem to keep the weather at bay.






Nigel stormed towards Strategy, the Captain barking orders to squads of guards. He ignored the stares of those that saw him, instead he pointed a finger right at the military leader.

“Strategy!”

The Captain turned and froze at the sight of him, Nigel mostly ignoring it as he continued to approach.

‘It’s probably the blood.’

A glance went to the empty podium that used to house the Crystal Heart, Strategy rushing over after picking up on it.

“I’m so sorry, Emperor! The guards rushed off to help the patrols fight off the griffons, and a few must have slipped past!”

“I don’t care about the guards,” he growled, fists clenched while he glared down at Strategy. Either the Captain knew that his anger wasn’t focused at him or Strategy was just plain brave, the pony not flinching back at all. “I’ve just dropped off a soldier with a section of her skull cracked like an egg to the medics, and the Crystal Heart is stolen. I want all available changeling forces to scour the surrounds for the enemy, the rest of the army to prepare for full-scale war, and the activation of the reserve guard forces!”

Strategy nodded with a stern face. “I’ve already ordered scouts to hunt down the thieves, and the guards are coming onto full alert.” His expression darkened. “But Emperor, although I understand your urgency, we don’t even know where to march to. The Griffon Empire is far too big to take on with our number of troops and it will leave the city undefended by experienced soldiers.”

Nigel was just about to clarify, before an armoured stallion galloped up towards them.

“Captain, Emperor! There’s a griffon survivor we’ve taken prisoner around the right side of the palace! He claims that they were mercenaries hired by Equestrian!”

Nigel fixed the green-coated soldier with a cold stare.

“Take us to him.”






“No, no please, I’m telling the tr-uurgkk!”

Strategy watched with ten of his shocked troops as a blood-soaked Chalmers squeezed the griffon’s throat tighter, before relaxing his grip. The unfortunate hybrid’s talons were shackled behind his back and his hind legs were dangling in the air while the Emperor held him up in the air with one arm.

He winced when the naked muscles in Nigel’s arm bulged again, the grip once again cutting off the griffon’s airflow before relaxing again. “So let me get this straight,” Nigel replied with his voice and eyes cold. “You’re a mercenary, led by a Lieutenant Levigust, and with orders to rescue Princess Luna from my palace.”

“Yes, that’s right!” the griffon soldier hastily nodded with his wings weakly flapping. “But she was already gone!”

“I know that already,” the grip tightened again. “What I don’t know is where you’re taking the Crystal Heart.” The griffon was nearly turning blue before he was allowed to breathe again.

“I… I swear that… I know nothing about that!” he panted out desperately. “An Equestrian hired us with money to rescue and return Luna, that was all I was told! He promised to pay us our second payment when we returned her, and there was no mention of this ‘Crystal Heart’! Please, I’m telling the truth! You said that if I did, you’d let me go!”

Strategy nearly gulped when Chalmers looked down towards him, his ruler nodding towards the griffon. “You think he’s lying?”

Looking at the soldier who was staring back with pleading eyes, Strategy shook his head after a moment of thought.

“No, I think it’s the truth. If it is true then there was either a massive mistake on the Equestrian side, or they’re trying to get us to fight against the Griffon Empire. Plus, it would suit mercenaries to just loot a big, shiny gem.”

“I agree,” the Emperor concurred, his hand tightening once again. The griffon started to struggle as his face got bluer and bluer. “Still, to be sure send their Emperor a message with a question stating that there was an attack by a ‘Levigust’, and if he has any explanation.”

The griffon stopped moving, Chalmers glancing at him before tightening his hand even more. Strategy winced at the crack of bones breaking, before the corpse was dropped to the floor.

“I thought you told him you were going to let him go.”

Nigel turned away, eyeing the palace. “I lied.” Beginning to walk away, he paused to adjust the blood-stained towel around his waist. “Organise the troops like I asked. If it’s true, then Equestria is well and truly on my shit-list now. I’m going to end the annoyance they’ve caused us even if I have to march into the Capitol and stab Celestia and Luna in the face by myself.”

Strategy watched his ruler storm off, desperately hoping that it was just the anger talking.

If not, then he honestly did not look forward to the battles that were certainly to come.