//------------------------------// // Progress // Story: Warped Mind // by TheUnknownPerson //------------------------------// Taltra and Shining Armor trotted up the stairs to Shining's room, side by side. "I really do apologize for his actions, Shining, I didn't expect him to do something so rash, especially in front of Queen Chrysalis." Taltra said. Shining glanced over to her and noticed that she looked a bit sickly. Her face had become pale. Beads of sweat rolled down her forehead. "It's fine." Shining said as he and Taltra stepped up the last stair. "Nonsense, Taltra..." Taltra muttered, her words almost inaudible. "Excuse me?" "Nothing. Just- nothing," She muttered quickly. Taltra opened the door and motioned for Shining to enter. "Please, enter." Shining did as he was asked and trotted into his room. "Remember, you're allowed to roam the halls. But, do not exit the palace. Good day, Shining Armor." Taltra shut the door gently. I should stay in here for a while. Just to make sure that I don't run into that commander again. Shining looked around the room, his vision passing over the bed and bookshelf. Maybe if I read something, I could take my mind off of... of them. Shining trotted up to the bookshelf and pulled out one book in the middle. The book he pulled out had large, bold text that was written in a language unknown to him. Is this in Changeling? Shining flipped the book open. The pages were filled with scribblings in an unknown language. He put the book back on the shelf and trotted back over to the bed. He slid onto it and laid in the middle, resting the back of his head on the cold pillow and staring at the ceiling. Utterly alone. His thoughts drifted, stopping over a few specific ponies. Cadance... Twilight... Shining's slapped his right fore-hoof. No! I don't need to worry about them anymore! Get it into your thick skull, Shining! He scolded as he rolled onto his right shoulder. Shining squeezed his eyelids shut, shaking away the thought of the two. What... what kind of thing am I? You're a changeling. Nothing more, nothing less. Only serve Queen Chrysalis. I've done so many terrible things in such little time, tarnished my reputation, and probably destroyed my relationship with my wife and my sister. For what? Shining thought. However, he already knew the answer to that last question; for his queen. His merciless, controlling, and deceptive queen. --- "Push!" "What does it look like I'm doing?! I'm telling you, it's not gonna budge!" Lance was forcing me up against the door to the left of the one I had just searched. She'd woken up a few minutes ago, and I had made the mistake of asking her to help me bust the door open. It's either locked or something's blocking it; I can't really tell which. "What the hay is behind this door?" I asked as I used all the might I could summon up to try to break through the door, but to no avail. It didn't even budge. "I don't know. I just wanna find out if it's got anything we need in there. Now, quit with the chit-chatting and push!" Lance said, pushing against the door along with me. Tink Tink Creeaa- Bang I feel the weight of my entire body land on my right broken fore-hoof, causing me to immediately jerk up from the pain and look at the sight. We had broken the door off the hinges and, apparently, that released enough of the restraints to break the lock and tip over the object that was behind it. This room was like the last; it had a bed in the middle with white sheets and pillows which a bookshelf was resting at the foot of the bed. Huh, must have been that keeping us from getting into the room. There was a large hole in the wall to the left of the room, leaning into a room with different scarfs, clothes, dresses, suits, socks- lots of things we could use. Jackpot! Lance was leaning against the door on her left side, dazed from the fall. "Are you all right, Lance?" I trotted over to her and helped her up. Blooming immediately rushed to my side, worried for her sister's well-being. "Yeah... just hit my head against the door when it fell," Lance coughed as she rubbed the left side of her head. "Buck, that hurt." "Are you sure?" Blooming asked. Lance rubbed the top of her head lovingly, messing up her already dirty mane. "I'm all right. Don't worry." She covered her mouth as she coughed. "I think this might just have paid off. Look-" I pointed to the left side, at the side of the room, to the hole. "That'll keep us warm." I stepped over the bookshelf and to the left side of the room. "Nice. That'll help with the cold." Lance stepped over and stood beside me. She began to take out some of the scarfs and clothes, looking them over. Blooming followed behind us. "Isn't this s-stealing? What if somepony lives here and c-comes back?" "It's all right Blooming," Lance took out a small, light blue scarf, looking it over. "Nopony's been here for a long time. It won't be missed. Here, try on this." She bent down and handed Blooming a small scarf. I pulled out a thick, black scarf. No holes, still feels thick... it'll be good. At least until we get back to the Crystal Empire. I threw it over my shoulders, wrapping it firmly around my neck. "You two keep looking for more things we can wear, I'll check under the bed. See if there's anything else around here we could use." "All right. I'll let you know if we see anything else." Lance glanced back to me as she and Blooming looked through the clothes. I leaned down, looking under the bed. I could vaguely make out a small box under the bed,in the middle of the bed. Wonder if it has something we could use in there? I pulled out the box. Now that it was out in the sunlight, I saw it was a wooden box. There were rusted hinges on the back of it, and a rusty latch at the front. I pulled the latch up, revealing a small folded paper. Strange... I picked up to paper, unfolding it and reading. Dear Radiant Shine, If you're reading this note, then you're probably realizing that I've left. Please, I need you to know why I did. These changelings have been coming to me for weeks while I'm out hunting and gathering food for you and Thunder Arc. Wait- the other room. Was that his foal's room? They even tried to take Thunder Arc when I took him with me last week. Every time they've came, tried to coax me over to join Queen Chrysalis' army. I did what I have every other time- refused. Then, yesterday as I was coming in from the river with Thunder, they were standing out of the house, with one of them trying to start a fire with a torch. I chased them off- got the hay beat outta me for doing it, but I got them away from Thunder and our house. Yeah- that's where I got all those bruises from. They said when they left that this was my last chance to come willingly before they'd take all of us. So, I'm going to leave. I'll make sure they don't come around you two. I looked down at the box and saw a beautiful, elegant necklace. It had a small gold chain that led down to one large red ruby. I picked it up. The necklace was still in great condition and the gold seemed real. There was a message engraved into the ruby. You'll always be in my heart To, my love and best friend, Radiant Shine The gold, craftsmanship- this must have cost a fortune to make, probably more to buy! I sat it back down into the box carefully and looked back at the note. I traveled to the Crystal Empire and spent most of my live savings just to get it. I still had some bits left, so I bought some food. Hopefully, it'll be enough to last the winter. Tell Thunder Arc that I have to go away for a while and that he's the big stallion in the house now. Make sure that he doesn't stray far away from the house and that he knows I love him, so much. I'll always love you. To my last breath. It breaks my heart to even leave you, but I must protect my family. From, your best friend and husband, Warding Hunter Horseapples... I wiped my eyes as I sat the letter back down into the box, closing it and latching it shut. I pushed it back under the bed. "Rocky, I found some socks for us. Come here." I glanced up at Lance. A concerned look spread across her face as she noticed me. "Uh... i.. it's nothing." "Okay..." Lance said, suspicious of my true feelings. I stood. "So, what did you find?" --- Fifteen Minutes Later Knock Knock Knock Shining Armor, still in his sorrow, opened his right eye, looking around the room for the knocking. He lifted his head off of the pillow and opened his other eye. The knocking echoed in the room again. "Shining Armor, are you in here? It's Taltra. Please, open the door." Shining got up from the bed and trotted over to the door. His left eye opened as he opened the door. "Queen Chrysalis requests your presence," Taltra said, holding a sheet of paper and a quill in front of her face, writing something down. As Shining looked at her, he noticed that his vision was blurry in his left eye. "Please, follow-" Taltra stopped as the sheet levitated down from her face. She seemed a bit surprised at first. "Ah... her royal highness said that this would happen soon," Taltra said, much to Shining's confusion. "Follow me and then we'll take care of that afterward." What is she talking about? Is there something wrong with my eye? Taltra trotted back towards the staircase. Shining followed behind, as to not disrespect his queen. --- Twilight Sparkle trotted towards the archives' entrance, passing by a few guards as she opened the door and entered, her hair slightly damp from the warm shower she had just taken. Okay... back to research, Twilight thought, going over to the table and sitting down on the chair, still in the same position. She looked down at her open notebook. She read down the page, seeing two constant words in her writing. Experiment Failed. Twilight sighed as she magically flipped the page to a fresh, blank one. "Let's try this again," Twilight said as she plucked one of the bent feathers from her right wing and sat it on the table. Please, please let this work... She thought quietly as she prepared the spell The tip of her horn emitted a purple light as she aimed her horn at the feather. Bbrr-ing Twilight looked back up at the feather. This time, it had been frozen. "Well, at least it isn't burnt this time." Twilight trotted up to the table and levitated the feather in the air, slowly rotating it, looking for any sign of change. She slightly knocked it down on the table. It broke off half of the feather, and she noticed that the inside was light gray, almost white. "Strange... but, at least it's progress." Twilight magically picked up the quill beside her notebook and dipped it into the ink bowl in front of her notebook. She began writing the details of the experiment. "A bit more of that..." Twilight said as she began to change her theoretical spell to fit what mixture of magical elements she had used to create that spell. "a little bit more of this... and there." "Now, let's see if I can progress anymore." --- Shining Armor trotted into the throne room, this time, it was empty with the exception of a few guards beside Queen Chrysalis' throne. There was a round, large staircase leading up to her and her throne, with a viewing area for her and the throne room around the staircase that ended at two big pillars at each side. "Your highness, Shining Armor is in your presence. He's also showing signs of transforming earlier than we expected." "Ah, excellent. Come, Shining. Let me get a better look at you." Queen Chrysalis said. Shining trotted up the staircase and to her throne. She leaned in towards him, examining his face. "I see... is your vision blurry?" "Slightly, your highness." "I can see why. Your left eye is beginning to change." "What does that mean, my queen?" Shining questioned. Queen Chrysalis leaned back in her throne. "It means you'll transform sooner than we had expected." She turned to Taltra. "Taltra, make sure that the gets his eye bandaged to make sure his transformation isn't damaged," Queen Chrysalis said. Taltra nodded and turned, motioned for Shining to follow. However, Shining remained in place. "Your highness, w-with all due respect, m... may I see Cadance? Just to make sure she isn't damaged." Shining asked. Queen Chrysalis sighed. "Please, stop treating her like another pony, because she's not just anypony- she's the princess of love. You of all ponies should know that. And no, you may not see her. She's being taken care of as we speak." "Please, your highness," Shining asked as he bowed. She let out a small snarl. "Shining Armor, you're beginning to push your boundaries," Queen Chrysalis said. She put up her right fore-hoof under Shining's chin and lifted his head up to her eye level. "Listen, you are not allowed to see your wife. Do not ask me again, otherwise, I'll siphon the rest of the love out of her. Then it'll be your sister who'll be my number one resource. Would you prefer that, hm?" Shining balled his hooves. If she dares to even speak about Twilight again, I'll- He stopped. No. She's your queen, her wish is yours. "Whatever you wish, your highness." "Wise words. Would've expected you to snap there, perhaps you don't care about your sister as much as you let on?" Queen Chrysalis questioned, a small grin spreading across her face as she stood. She trotted to Shining side, trotting behind him. "Is that true, Shining?" Twilight Sparkle trotted in front of him from his right shoulder. "Don't you love me?" Shining kept looking straight ahead, refusing to look at Twilight. He bit down on the side of his mouth, keeping himself from speaking. "Sh-Shining?" Twilight whimpered, tears coming to her eyes. "Why don't you answer me? Is it true?" She leaned into his shoulder, weeping. It's not her, Shining... it's not her. Shining winced as she bit onto his nape. She grew a head taller as her mane grew longer, and darker. "I'm impressed, Shining. Although, you've still got some love left. We'll have that taken care of that soon." Queen Chrysalis turned, sitting down in her throne. "You can leave. Taltra, take him back to his room and bandage his eye." Shining stared at her furious. "Follow me, Shining." Taltra turned, beginning to trot away, but Shining remained in position. She turned back to him, realizing something was wrong. "Come on, Shining," Taltra trotted up the staircase quickly, leading him down. "We've got to get back to your room." "Keep calm." She whispered. "It's just a mind game- just making sure she can trust you. It'll stop soon, trust me." Taltra lead him up the staircase, turning him back to her. Shining sighed, glancing downwards. --- "Nice, clothes for everypony. Good thing we decided to stay here." Lance stood, a white scarf over her neck and pale brown socks on her hooves. I sported my own black socks, and Blooming had white socks. "We really got lucky when we-" "Eek!" My body jolted as a large, high-pitched scream filled the room. A small, gray rat rushed out from under the bed and pass the bookshelf, exiting the room. "Blooming?! You all right?!" Lance knelt down quickly. Bright pink blush spread across her face as she glanced down in embarrassment. "Y-yes... I-I just got scared from that r-rat. I found this bag. I-it crawled out of it." "All right. Let me hold it." Lance's stood up as she opened the bag. She leaned away disgusted. "Rotten fruit and moldy bread. No food in here we can salvage." Lance tossed the bag down. "The changeling will probably be here soon. Get everything we need or want, and get out." I stepped over the bookshelf, stepping out into the living room. I nodded and stepped out into the living room with her. I grabbed my spear that was still leaning beside the doorway and draped the blanket over my back. "Hey, Rocky-" I turned to Lance. who had the journal that I'd found in the other room in her hoof. "What's this? What was that thing you found in there, too?" She asked as she used her right wing to point to the room we were just in. "Well, that's some sort of journal that I found in that other room. And, the other thing..." I stopped for a moment, with Lance looking at me with intrigue. "The other thing was a necklace. I guess it might have been one of the pony's who used to live here." "Why are you so reluctant to tell me?" "Here- I'll just show you," I said as I motioned for her to enter the room, allowing her to enter first. We trotted over to the left side of the bed. I unlatched and opened the wooden box, pulling out the note. "Read the note." Lance picked up the letter and quickly read over it. "Oh..." "Yeah." "That was so brave of him... so noble... almost..." Lance stopped, her cheeks becoming red. "Almost what?" "Nothing. Go help Blooming with her drawings. I need to think for a moment." "I understand. Let me know when you're ready to go." I rubbed her shoulder as I stood. I stepped over the bookshelf, trotting out into the living room. Blooming was sitting in the middle of the room, leaning against the sofa. She was humming, drawing ponies onto the paper. "Mind if I go ahead and put those up?" I asked. Blooming sighed, disappointed. "Go ahead..." She sadly handed me the pieces of paper, and then the pencil. "Thank you, and don't worry. We'll stop again soon so you can get back to drawing." I said, trying to cheer her up. Blooming nodded with a smile. Lance quickly trotted out of the room, the bag's strap around her neck and the bag resting at her right side, below her shoulder. "Come on. We're going." She trotted out of the door. Blooming stumbled beside me and over to the door. Not wanting to be left behind, I followed behind. ---