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// 5. Epilogue 
// Story: My Name is Elijah 
// by twitterdick 
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	“IMPOSSIBLE,” the queen hissed as she threw the retrieval bag back at ‘Joshua’s face, “‘Absalom’ can’t be dead, are you kidding me!? We can’t a rogue asset running around causing trouble in Equestria with the wedding only weeks away. Do you know how long I’ve been planning this!?”
Meetings with Queen Chrysalis were rarely pleasant. ‘Joshua’ had dreaded the trip ever since he’d found the bag with ‘Absalom’s tooth on his doorstep. The queen was loud, and her voice rung in the cave and hurt his ears. She was up on her throne doing nothing, as always. A few drones stood guard on the steps that lead to her chair, but, other than that, the cave was empty. Much had been moved and many had been scattered and waited for her grand attack on Equestria.
“…An unfortunate turn of events, Your Grace,” he said, choosing his words very, very carefully, “But his… ‘Absalom’s unfortunate early ending was caused by the rogue asset ‘Elijah’ - a former retriever. With your permission, I’d like to take two additional retrievers and hunt for him.”
“Two retrievers!? And you!?” the queen barked, “And what if he kills the lot of you, did you consider that for even a minute, you utter fool!?” The queen smacked her hoof upon her forehead with impotent annoyance. “Argh! Why do I ever bother feeding the worthless pack of you?”
“Y-Your Grace, if I may-“
“Shut your incompetent mouth for a minute and let me think!” She pressed the same hoof to her chin and slouched on her throne. Indignity burst in ‘Joshua’s stomach and filled his guts with heat, but he did not move and did not speak. The queen had a temper and was utterly, foolishly full of herself. Still, she wasn’t above killing drones and replacing them if they annoyed her. To him, she was a spoiled filly given power. He longed for his cabin. 
“This ‘Elijah’ - will he interfere with my plans!?” she demanded.
“…No. ‘Elijah’ hasn’t revealed himself a changeling nor given the ponies of Equestria any reason to suspect your great plan.” None of the changelings ever revealed themselves as changelings because none of them had ever been that stupid. They weren’t plotting against her or a threat to her - though she’d convinced herself over the years that anypony not directly under her control was against her. The changeling runaways, sadly, just wanted to live elsewhere. 
“As I said before, Your Grace, give me two good retrievers and I will snuff out this problem.”
“What makes you think you will succeed where ‘Absalom’ failed!? Hmmm!?”
“I have suspected that ‘Elijah’ lives out in the Everfree forest and that is the last place ‘Absalom’ went to look for him.” The truth was that ‘Absalom’ made a mess and chased ‘Elijah’ there. He was almost lucky that he was dead. The queen would’ve been furious at the scene, though none would suspect changelings, and had ‘Absalom’ decommissioned without hesitation. “The three of us could lock down the whole forest, cut ‘Elijah’ off from it section by section and kill him.”
Queen Chrysalis frowned and picked the rough edges of the rock that made up her throne. “Fine,” she sputtered, “But you have until the week before Shining Armor and Princess Cadenza’s wedding to get it done. I need everypony - and I mean everypony - ready. If you’d like to keep eating, I suggest you get the job done properly.”
‘Joshua’ bowed. “At once, Your Grace.” He turned to leave. Finally.
“And bring me ‘Elijah’s head!” the queen shouted after him, “I want to mount it on the wall and show every traitor the fate that awaits them!”
‘Joshua’ headed for the armory to select two retrievers. Still, all the way there, he had wondered just why it was that ‘Elijah’ had left the tooth. He wondered still how ‘Elijah’ knew who he was and how he lived there - he’d never interacted with him. The only one in Ponyville at the time of ‘Absalom’s murder who knew who ‘Joshua’ was and what ‘Joshua’ represented was ‘Absalom’ himself. He wondered why ‘Elijah’ hadn’t killed him and blinded the queen to that sector for a few weeks.
Then he stopped. A fraction of a thought wormed its way into his head. He thought that, perhaps, ‘Absalom’ wasn’t dead and that he had…
‘Joshua’ shook such a thought off as an impossibility. He had noted that ‘Absalom’ had begun to slip, but they took weeks before they ran. He shrugged and hoped he could kill ‘Elijah’ soon so he could go back to his cabin and away from the queen and her half-baked plans.