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// Prompt #305: Weaver 
// Story: Ponywatching 
// by ThunderTempest 
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Princess Cadence dashed through the trees, swerving around the trees. Branches snapped out at her skin, leaving welts and cuts in their wake. But that didn’t matter. What did matter was getting away from the things that were chasing her. What they were, she didn’t know, though they resembled ponies in shape. But they were very clearly not ponies to Cadence’s senses. She had always been able to get some degree of insight into everything she encountered, thanks to her natural abilities, and these things had been absolutely devoid of everything that made a pony a pony. 

And then, the big one had showed up. She had felt closer to a pony than the rest, and for a moment, Cadence had trusted her, but then she had claimed that she could ‘taste’ Cadence’s love, and that such love would feed her hive for generation. That was when Cadence had started running, but that had been hours ago.

Now, she was sore and nearing the verge of exhaustion. Her once frantic gallop had slowed, and in the distance, she could hear the buzz of wings and the pounding of hooves coming closer. It would be here, then, that she made her final gambit. Cadence was no powerhouse like her Aunt Celestia. She couldn’t simply overwhelm the black ponies with sheer magical force. She would have to be cleverer than that, and Cadence’s horn lit up, illuminating the area around her as she prepared to confront her pursuers.

As Cadence looked around, she saw the silhouettes of the pony-like monsters encircling her, though not moving to capture her directly. They looked like they were waiting for something.  A moment later, the big female landed, and strolled towards Cadence.
The blue glow emitting from her horn intensified, causing the bug-like pony to stop for a moment.

“Don’t you dare come any closer,” panted Cadence.

“Do you honestly think that you can defeat us, little pony?” laughed the big female, “you, against a dozen of the hive’s best trackers and a queen? Oh, but you will be a delicious meal.”

Cadence reeled backwards as the queen resumed her advance, and the two eventually were pressed up against a tree. 

“Yes, you will be a fine meal. Tell me your name, and I might remember it when I let the young feast upon you when you no longer have any love left to give us,” hissed the queen.

Instead of answering, Cadence lowered her horn, and blasted the queen in the chest. It was the queen’s turn to take a step back, and she glanced down at her singed chest.

“Perhaps you do have some fight, little pony. But you are still, however, just a pony,” The queen lowered her own horn, and a green blast of magic slammed into Cadence, and slammed her through the tree. The queen trotted over, and glanced down at Cadence’s broken and bleeding body.

“Not so tough, pony. Any normal changeling could have survived that,” said the queen, rubbing a hoof over Cadence’s face. Cadence spat in the queen’s face, and attempted to muster her magic for a final spell. However, all she got off were a few feeble sparks. The queen laughed at Cadence’s attempt, and turned away.

She turned just in time to see two of her drones have their heads slammed into neighbouring trees, and a flash of pink, purple and yellow vanish into the shadows. As another drone was disposed of, the queen reached out with her own magic, gripping the one responsible. An exact mirror of the pony she had been chasing, her horn still glowing and pulsing with magic. The queen glanced back to see the broken body still lying there.

“What are you?” murmured the queen, “you have now piqued my interest.”

“My name is Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, and you have made a very terrible mistake,” smiled Cadence.

“I doubt it,” said the queen. With a pulse of magic, she snapped Cadence’s neck, and let the body fall limp to the ground. She was then forced to duck as one, two, three of her drones were thrown at her.

****Time****

“You don’t understand,” said Cadence, waltzing out of a gap between two trees, “each time you kill me,”

“I get better,” smirked Cadence, swooping in to an ungainly landing.

“I get smarter,” said a chorus of Cadences, emerging from the shadows between the trees.

“I am legion,” said Cadence, alighting in a tree above the queen’s head. The queen of the changelings screamed.

********

Princess Cadence sat up from where she had been blasted through the tree from the queen’s very first blast. It had been a simple matter to disguise herself with an illusion, make the queen believe that she had died, though she was far from unhurt. She would be feeling the impact for days. After that, it had all been downhill for the queen of the changelings, whatever a changeling was. 

As Aunt Celestia’s magic was inclined to the school of Alteration, Cadence’s was inclined to the school of Illusion. It wasn’t something that Cadence liked to think about, or draw attention to, but the fact remained that she was very effective with illusions. But for now, she had a changeling queen to deal with.

Cadence reached out with her magic, and twisted the illusion she had set up, and the queen screamed and then magically overloaded herself to death. Cadence sighed, and decided that she would have to have another talk with Aunt Celestia when she got back to Canterlot.