The Substitute Demon

by Reykan


Don't Underestimate the Power of a Bored Mare

It started out innocent enough. A kiss here, a nip there, a nuzzle in exchange for a hug. Then it got mean. The alicorn and changeling queen started teasing each other in the worst ways; nips, kisses, growls, hisses, shoves, a few brushes against wings. It was honestly the most fun he'd had with her recently. Eventually he did have to leave the queen, but not before promising that if Cadance could be left alone tonight, they'd use his room this time. That had earned him the most wicked grin he'd ever seen the queen display. For most ponies and alicorns, it would have been a terrifying sight. For him? It only made him even more excited.

He ended up retreating to his own room for a while, letting himself recover from the, er, contact. The alicorn was fairly certain the queen was giggling to herself just as much as he was, but he needed to focus, he had other things to do right now. Concentrating, he managed to pull his wings in, a stupid grin still on his face.
'I think she had fun. Maybe as much as I did' he chuckled, floating back into the realm of dreams. He watched them for a moment, before noting an odd dream off by the griffon camp. It wasn't a nightmare, but it certainly wasn't a nice dream. He floated in, watching a young pegasus beating the ever-loving shit out of a large group of changelings, her wings having taken a few hits. Behind her were two more mares, a pale yellow earth pony mare guarding a unicorn, both looking equally terrified, though the earth pony at least struck out at the changelings that came to close. They were too young, though. The pegasus, the one Pandinus called out earlier, was a mere filly.

That's when Ted noticed the location. It was in a lavish room, the girls trying to hold a small supply room against a large number of the bugs. It bothered Ted though, how small the changelings looked, how weak and withered they all seemed. He watched the filly fight them for a long time. She never waivered, never lost hope. Eventually a wave of pink washed over the room, crushing all the drones against the far wall. Consisting of so little actual emotion, the corpses almost immediately dispersed, leaving nothing more than a few stray smears of green.

'The wedding invasion.' Ted realized, watching as what little remained of the changelings dispersed in the breeze generated by the fillies passing. 'Thus, the ponies first real contact with changelings was in a way that left them looking like mindless monsters that weren't actually people.
'And to think she'd already started fighting at such a young age.'

He watched them for a while, always sitting outside the mare's peripheral vision, listening to her chatter with her friends, watching her bounce around a blue haired and rainbow maned pegasus. She kept going on about how awesome the mare was, how fast she was, how strong she was. It was obvious she held the blue mare in high regard.
'Seems we've found Miss Dash.'

Eventually the dream started to fade out, but he reinforced it with his own magic. Immediately, the orange pegasus jumped, alerted to another presence. She looked around, hoping to find out what it was, noting how none of the others in her dream were moving. Donning a smile, Ted walked out into her line of sight.

"So that's Rainbow dash? Quite the colorful mane coloration. I'm going to hazard a guess and say it's her natural color." Cimmerian said with a smile.

"Yea, that's Dash. My hero, my role model... she was almost like an older sister to me." The pegasus said. She then looked at him suspiciously. "I thought Luna was in charge of dreams."

"Luna and I are a bit closer than we'd both prefer, though through no fault of our own." Ted answered. "Your friends called you Scootaloo, do you still use that name?"

"Yea, you never lose your name, but I do use the griffon one I have now as well. Especially when I'm working with them; Eloise is my name to the Talon's."
The mare kicked at the ground awkwardly for a few moments, looking for the proper words. "The, the pink alicorn. That was Princess Cadance, wasn't it?"

"You know her?" he asked with curiosity.

"I, yea. I was a flower filly at her wedding. My friends and I all were. I haven't seen her in years, but to see a pony that was always so happy just..."

"Pandinus is taking care of her right now." Cimmerian said with a smile. "She's needed constant contact and reassurance since we've found her, and I can't really think of a better source than Din. We'll do our best to help her."

"You really trust them, don't you? The bugs I mean." Before he could respond she waved him off. "They're different, I get it. I've never seen a drone that didn't have holes, much less an entire hive that was like that. Looking back, it makes all the other changelings I've seen over the years look downright sickly."

"The queen from the wedding, Din told me about her. She went mad from hunger, built that army of drones from what she could pull from animals. She was directing each one personally, which is extremely dangerous because if a drone dies while being controlled, the queen feels the death. Your capital was invaded by an army of empty shells." He looked around at the ponies still standing about in the dream. "She broke after the shield wiped her army out."
"Enough of this, though. Let's see about finding this Rainbow Dash, shall we?" He said with a grin, holding out a hoof.

"You can do that?" Scootaloo asked him, her eyes lighting up.

"If they're asleep, I can find them. Cross my heart, hope to die. If I lie, stick a needle in my eye."

The mare shuddered at the twisted version of the promise she knew so well. "I want you to show me a friend of mine first. Applebloom goes to bed early, so she should be in bed by now. Can you do her first?"

"Applebloom, huh? The light yellow earth pony from earlier?" At the orange pegasus' affirmative nod, he closed his eyes in concentration, pinging through the dream realm. He waited a few moments, pouring his power into the mare he was targeting, allowing her to construct her own dream even under the Mad Queen's anti-dream array. Far away, a return ping was finally given. He smiled, took the mares hoof, and the world shifted.

<-(0)->

The next thing they saw was an apple farm. Ted marveled at the near-perfect fruit on every tree. Each apple became perfectly ripe at the same time on each tree. A sharp report from nearby drew their attention, and the alicorn and the pegasus both wandered the orchard, following the shouts of effort and the cracks of hooves against bark.

"Applebloom! Over here!" Scootaloo shouted, rushing over to her friend. The pegasus tackled the other mare, both rolling around giggling for a bit. Eventually they parted, the earth pony smiling brightly.

"Shoot, Scoots. If'n ya'd of told me ya was comin' I'da made ya some cider!" Applebloom gave one last kick against the tree even as Cimmerian entered the clearing, knocking the apples loose from their branches. "As it is, Ah still got a tonna apple buckin' to get done today."

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "The day hasn't started yet, AB. This is a dream."

"A dream?" The pale yellow pony asked with a giggle "Silly Scoots, we don't have dreams anymore, remember? Not since, well, She took 'em."

"I respectfully wish to argue your point, Miss Bloom." The dark alicorn said, making himself known.

The earth pony looked at him, then scrunched her face up in confusion. "That ain't Luna. An since when was thar a alicorn tha' was also a stallion?"

"This is Cimmerian, AB. I met him while working with the Talons. He said he can help me find Rainbow Dash!" The pegasus said, hopping in place giddily.

Applebloom's eyes widened. "Can ya really do that Mr Cimmerian, sir? If ya can, I'd be mighty grateful if'n ya could find mah sister, Applejack. We ain't seen hide nor hair of her since Twalight went loco. Rarity too. She's the older sister of our other friend, Sweetie Belle. Same with two other mares. Ain't nopony heard from Pinkie Pie or Fluttershy for years."

"I'll do my best, Miss Bloom. In return, I'll ask that you let me know about any thing that happens on that side of the world, okay? I may stop by in a few days to ask you for the information. Anything you can supply us with would be helpful." Cimmerian said. If he was going to be helping them, he might as well find some way to help the Temple.

"Ah can do that. Ponyville's pretty quiet since Twalight took Canterlot. Always thought it was kinda odd she left her shiny new castle to use the princesses castle, but not much o' what she does makes sense anymore. Why, just the other day I heard tale of her attackin' other countries!"

"That one's true, AB" Scootaloo said quietly.

"Come on, Scootaloo. We need to get going." he said, drawing the mare from darker thoughts. " Say your goodbye's while I try to find Miss Dash."

Cimmerian tuned out the goodbye's, the threats, and the offers traded between friends. He sent the ping, and soon got a response from nearby. It was strange though. The ping was faint, nearly nonexistent. He pulled Scootaloo with him into the dream realm, and soon found the source. He made a dream himself, since the mare seemed incapable of it, before entering it.

<-(0)->

The world was a black void, a formless emptiness that was much colder than it should have been. The pegasus unconsciously ruffled her feathers in discomfort, backing against him as they watched the area. He continued pinging, trying to find the dreamer. What caused her to be so distant? Why was she so deeply sleeping?

"This is odd." He said aloud, his voice echoing in the emptiness.

"Why is it so empty?" Scootaloo asked, looking around for any sign of activity.

Ted shook his head. "If I knew that I'd tell you." Again he pinged, finally feeling like he had a direction. He stood up, starting to walk in the direction of the echo. "I think we need to go this way."

The pegasus took off trotting after him, calling her hero every now and again. For what felt like an hour they wandered the void, nothing changing. After a while, the mare was nearly in tears.
"We'll never find her. This is supposed to be in her head right? Does this mean she's gone?"

"No, this is her mind. If she was gone, I don't think we'd even have gotten this far." Cimmerian told her, looking around. "It doesn't feel like we're getting closer, but I think it's because we can't from here."

"What do yo-" Her question was cut off when she suddenly shuddered, her form fading slightly. "What was that?"

The alicorn frowned. "That's someone waking you up. Talk to someone about getting a tranquilizer or a sleeping brew and joining me in the dream realm again later. Call Luna if you need to, she's wandering the area. If you sleep too late you'll catch her attention just by the fact of there not being more dreams about.

"Luna's out here too?" She asked, surprised.

"Not so much out here in the Temple grounds as she was always able to wander the dream realm." He told her as they walked. "Doesn't matter when there are no dreams though, does it? Take your time, Scootaloo, this may be a several-night endeavor."

Even as the orange pegasus faded from the dream, the alicorn frowned. What put the mare in such a deep state of mental hibernation?

<-(0)->

It had taken so long to get any reaction out of the first mare that he'd decided to try the others, only to get the same results. All of the mares the that the farmer had mentioned seemed to be in some sort of deep hibernation, at least the ones he'd checked so far.

"What in the world is up with these mares?" he wondered aloud as he was finally giving up on the fourth one, Fluttershy. There was almost no activity, almost like they were in some sort of coma. No, that wasn't right, even people in comas dreamed, didn't they? Wait, what happened when people in comas couldn't dream? Did their minds shut down?

Sighing in exasperation at his current situation, he left the empty shell of a dream and pinged the last one. These mares were all relatively close to each other, likely prisoners somewhere. In fact he'd say it was the same room. Were they in changeling pods? How long would a pony last without a changeling watching over them?
'Din or Mirage would know the answer to that.' He thought, touching down in the final empty dream.

He looked around once more, and again was only greeted by a black void. 'Another empty mind.' He realized.
"Come on, just let one of these girls be reachable." He shouted, stomping a hoof.

A hoof nudged him from behind, drawing his attention to a pink pony behind him.

"If you're here for poker night, you're late. You'll have to ask everyone really, really nicely if you want to join in."

<-(0)->

"So you brought them over for poker?" the alicorn asked, following the pink pronking pony.

"Well yea, what else are we gonna do sitting here for days on end?" She said with an eye roll. "It's not like we can just ask Meanie-Light for a vacation or something."

The pink pony led him to what appeared to be a small house, complete with a picket fence that reminded him of sugar. Actually the entire house looked like it was made of some sort of candies or baked goods. She walked up to the door, knocked a few times, then opened the door anyway. "Watch your head." She called back as she disappeared into the building.

It was odd, like something out of a science fiction cartoon or something. "It's bigger on the inside." He muttered, looking around at he mansion-styled receiving room. In fact, the building seemed to be divided into sections, each following a different style. One stairway led to an elegant room, where he could see portraits and fine china even from the door. Another led to what looked like a room made of clouds. The ground floor split into four rooms, oddly enough, two seemed like homely cottages, while the third was in the same style of the outside. The fourth however was his destination.
As he got closer to this door, some sort of living room, a raucous laughter could be heard within.

"I swear, there's no way she knew I was bluffing! She had to be cheating!" A scratchy voice was saying.
Walking into the room, he got a good view of each of the mare's he'd been trying to find for the last, well who knows how long it was in reality? Each of the mares was exactly as they'd been at the wedding, if a year or two older by his estimate. It seemed he was right on that part at least; the girls here were being held in some sort of suspended animation or something like that. That still left the question of why. What good would preserving these girls do whoever was keeping them imprisoned?

"Oh, she's...here..." A white unicorn said as she noticed him. "Uh, Pinky dear? That's not Luna."

"I never said it was Luna, I said it looked like Luna." The bubbly mare next to her said as she reshuffled the cards. "It's not my fault you jump to conclusions."

All eyes were soon on him, the looks he received ranging from fear to shock. The only exception was the pink mare, her focus more on the cards than anything else. The yellow pegasus fainted, drawing the attention of the white unicorn who immediately started fanning her with a paper fan.

"No way." Rainbow Dash said in a whisper, her eyes nearly popping out of her skull. "No bucking way, we got rid of it. The Nightmare was destroyed!"

"Uh, technically it abandoned ship." Ted said with a sheepish smile. "You look familiar. I think I saw you just after I got pulled here. Everything was a bit fuzzy, though. I was suffering from a pretty bad spell recoil at the time, too."

"Course you've seen us before, Nightmare Moon!" Rainbow Dash shouted, jumping in front of her friends and flaring her wings. "We kicked your flank once, and we'll do it again!"

"Uh, Dash? Don't mean ta burst yer bubble, but we kinda don't have the Elements this time around." An orange mare stage whispered to her friend, taking a supporting position behind her.

The alicorn blinked. "The Elements of Harmony. That's you girls?" At their confused nods, he laughed. "Oh my god, this is perfect! Do you know where you are?"

The mares looked around at each other, thrown off by the sudden mood shift from the monster. The white unicorn managed a response first.
"And why, pray tell, would we give you such information?"

"So I can figure out how to break the array of course." He answered with a grin. "Luna told me the elements are being used to power the spells that keep Celestia and herself trapped, while the element bearers were petrified. If I can get you girls clear, the Mad Queen's power base will collapse on itself. You're literally the base element of her entire campaign."

"Campaign?" The blue pegasus asked. "You make it sound like Twi's nutty idea of using the Elements of Harmony to capture the princesses actually worked. We've just gotta wait until Princess Celestia knocks some sense into that egghead, and makes her let us go."

Ted stared at the pegasus before shifting his gaze to each of the mares, unsure how to proceed. "How long have you girls been here?" He finally managed to ask.

"About two weeks?" The orange mare guessed, raising a hoof to her chin. "Don't rightly know. Nothin' really breaks up the days, an til' Pinks over there figured out how to get us all over here, Ah was mighty bored."

At his conflicted look, the unicorn shifted uncomfortably. "Um, excuse me, Mr Nightmare. Was our estimate incorrect?"

"I, It's Cimmerian, Miss. And I'm not the Nightmare, it swapped places with me when you launched the Rainbow Death-ray at it. I took the hit instead. I was just recently released from the armor after spending a long time trapped in it." He braced himself, trying to figure out how to say this nicely. "I was released about forty years after my imprisonment."

The blue pegasus mare giggled uncomfortably at the information. "F-forty years? Yea right! There's no way the princesses would let Twilight lock us up for that long, right girls? ...Girls?"

The others were all staring at the doorway the larger alicorn had just walked in through. In the doorway was a much smaller Luna, nearly the size they'd first seen her all those years ago. Next to her was an orange pegasus, staring at Rainbow Dash with tears in her eyes.

"Rainbow Dash?" Scootaloo whispered in disbelief.

The rainbow maned pegasus just stared at the newcomers, shaking her head while taking a step back. "No, there's no way. There's no buckin' way." She whipped around to face the larger alicorn with angry tears beginning to pour down her face.
"You think this is funny? You think I find it funny, being told I've been away from her for that long? Just you wait, you jerk! I'm gonna get loose, and I'm gonna kick your flank so hard you won't be able to sit on it for the rest of your life!"

"Oh stars and sun, it is you!" Scootaloo said, taking the younger mare in a crushing hug. "It's been so long, I thought you were gone, I though you were dead, I just, I, I don't care. Nothing matters now.
"I found you, and you're alive!" The mare said, her words degrading into sobbing into the blue pegasus' barrel.

Even as Dash floundered in the embrace of the orange pegasus, the others were looking at Luna with desperate eyes.

"Tell us he's wrong, Luna. Please tell us he's lyin'." the orange mare asked her. The others were staring at the spectacle, whimpering and muttering their own fears.
"Tell me Lil' Bloom ain't on her own. Tell me mah little sister ain't been left to take care o' the farm on her own."

"She wasn't, Applejack." Scootaloo answered quietly. "Me and Sweetie helped her. Big Mac did too, until he was drafted. He spent about ten years in the Royal Guard, then came back. Was even quieter then before, but he worked just as hard."

"An, an Granny?" Applejack asked, scared of the answer.

"She...I'm sorry AJ. Granny Smith passed about ten years ago."

The pink mare was at her side in a flash, in fact Ted was certain the pink pony left an after-image at her seat.

"It's wrong." Dash said, pushing away from Scootaloo. "There's now way this happened. This is you isn't it? You made it a nightmare. That's what you do isn't it?"

"Dashie, he can't." Pinkie said, stroking the grieving farmer's mane gently, even as her own mane lost some of its volume.

"Indeed." Luna said, speaking for the first time. "After all, this is no dream, is it miss Pie? I would place it more along the lines of an extremely vivid hallucination."

The pink pony nodded. "It is. It's nice to see you again, Princess."

"The feeling is mutual Miss Pie." Luna said with a wan smile. "I'm glad to see you retain your minds after so long. I feared the time would be less than kind on you. Please do not attempt to lash out at Cimmerian. He has done much to aid my sister and I. Even now he gives Cadance safe harbor." The smaller alicorn turned to the larger. "Speaking of Cadance, I did not see her last night. Where is she?"

"She's with Pandinus, Luna. We're hoping we can use the link to wean her off constant physical contact like she now requires." He answered. "The link allows the queen to know where Cadance is and if she starts to panic, Din can talk to her from anywhere. Basically she's never alone, even if she ended up miles away. Or at least I think that's how it works, I don't know if the link has a range."

"Queen?" Rarity asked.

"Cimmerian's home has become a sanctuary for all races. I've seen the dreams of thestrals, ponies, griffons, and changelings there. The Temple of the Shadows was once a temple dedicated to my possessed form, Nightmare Moon. Now it fulfills a role I'd never imagined. Blur especially cites the Temple as a place where the shadows protect the weary and the homeless." Luna turned to Fluttershy, the pegasus watching cautiously from the back. "She reminds me you actually, Fluttershy. It would not surprise me if you two were related."

"Changelings?" Rainbow Dash said. "You let changelings wander your home? Are you nuts?" She turned to the mare that continued to stay by her side "Tell him he's nuts, Scoots, you talked about being worried about those things for a long time after the invasion."

Scootaloo chuckled nervously, not wishing to go against her hero. Luna raised an eyebrow at the interactions. "Perhaps you would be interested to know a changeling queen is currently residing in the Temple as well?" The small alicorn giggled at the shocked expressions of the gathered bearers. "In fact, I believe she successfully courted Cimmerian." At that Luna's grin became downright malicious.
"Do not attempt to deny it, you carry her magic in your aura. She also dreams of you quite often."

"Thanks mom, I'll be sure to bring up your flings, like True Strike and Hidden Strength." He said with an eye roll before shuddering. "God, I'm not digging any farther than the names. Did you at least wait till the second date?"

"Why would I delay such wonderful opportunities? Oh! Perhaps you could learn something for use with your mate?" Luna teased mercilessly. "I'm certain you could learn plenty of things your mare would find pleasurable if you were to look."

"But- Luna, for the love of god, those are your memories! Doesn't that bother you!?!" he sputtered.

"Not really. After all, most gentlecolts won't delve into such things, not when the physical sensations are there." she said with a giggle. "In other words, I don't think you'd ever actually touch them."

Cimmerian rubbed the top of his muzzle with a hoof. "This has been a blast, Luna," he said, waving her off with a hoof "but I need to get going. I know it was morning a while ago. I need to go make sure everyone hasn't given up on me and started taking casket measurements."

"You-you're just going to leave us here? After telling us that?" Dash yelled at the alicorns "What are we supposed to do, sit here and twiddle our hooves in the meantime?"

Ted looked around at the gathered ponies. "I can't stay here forever, girls. I have others who are looking for help, others who are in even worse situations than yours. You said yourselves you didn't even notice how long it's been. For those who are still walking the world, things have become dangerous. I'm doing what I can, and you're on my list, but that list expands every day."
"Scootaloo! No mentioning them to the griffons. I know you trust them, but all it takes is one griffon getting that information, one griffon getting it in their head that they can pull the array down to lead to the death of every single one of these mares. For now, see about getting an actual location for the array using them. We pull it down, preferably by pulling them out of it, and the Nightmare can't hold Luna and Celestia any more. The griffons and minotaurs are going to be striking back against her very soon, I'd like to use the distraction to pull them out of the fire if we can."

Rarity blinked at the wording. "Wait, Nightmare? But Twilight's the one... with... you can't seriously be telling me that the dear's been-"

"I need to go, someone's been shaking me for the last few minutes. I'll reinforce the dream-side of this world, so Luna and Scootaloo can stay longer, but I need to leave. Luna, fill them in. Scootaloo, I'll be counting on you to help me help them."

The orange pegasus took a long look at her hero before slamming a hoof across her chest in a griffon salute.

"Be well, ladies. I'll stop by as I'm able. Luna, I'm counting on you to get her back to her dream when this one gives out." With one last burst of power, the alicorn exited the dream and made his way back to the Temple. Reclaiming his own body, he jerked awake, staring hatefully at the one who'd been poking him.
His anger fell as he took note of the queen sitting there looking at him with a concerned expression. He looked out the window and finally took note of how dark it looked.

"Din? What time is it? How long was I ou-ow!" He muttered, shifting and stretching his body. He felt abnormally stiff, and strangely hungry. Just how long was he gone anyway?

<-(0)->

Ted rolled his eyes as he stuffed his face with leftovers from dinner. It was nearly sunset when he'd awoken, much to his dismay. The orange mare was currently in the infirmary being watched over by a few medical experts they'd picked up, ranging from changeling field medics to a griffon surgeon.

"...can't believe you left me to deal with both the griffons and Cadance. Do you have any idea how frustrating that is? It was like my entire day just zipped by. I had to not only guide the changelings, but the griffons and the ponies too! Do you know how irritating it is trying to guide creatures that don't listen? And don't even get me started on the mercenaries, constantly demanding my attention, that I actually speak to them in person instead of having a drone stand in my place. Fools, I'm a queen, I have other things to do than entertain them!"

'Kinda like trying to court a creature that doesn't understand my definition of love, I would assume.' The alicorn thought. Still, he let her rant. He hadn't meant to leave her in charge of the Talons for the day, either, but she'd done well from what he could tell. Even asked them to send any refugees they could find their way as well as offering some extra jarred emotion as proof of their words if it was needed. At the rate the hive was growing though, the temple would be a primarily changeling city before long. Maybe he'd need to finally do some advertising? Yes it was dangerous, but with the queen looking over the remains of the griffon's country and preparing for an assault on the minotaurs, she wasn't going to be looking at him for a while now.
'I'll have Scootaloo pass the word around. I'm sure she hangs out in the kinds of places that cater to the kinds we've been picking up anyway.'

The alicorn took one last sip of water and then drank the last bits of changeling honey, as the residents had begun to call the processed emotions. He needed every boost he could get, and if the pink goo helped him become more capable of defending his family, so be it.

"Are you listening to me? You better not be ignoring me, Cimmerian, I-"

A flash of light cut the queens rant off, leaving them both sitting in his room. Before she recovered, he smashed his lips into hers, using his magic to lift her onto his bed.

"I know I made you a promise, Din." He whispered into her ear before trailing nips down her neck. "I want to thank you for taking care of the Temple while I was out of it. I didn't forget my promise, I just found the Elements of Harmony today, and got distracted talking to them." He used a hoof to lay her on her back, gently pressing his barrel against her own. "I promise I'll make it up to you though."

The queen's mind was still hitching, caught off guard by the sudden change of topic and location. "I, I can try some of the things Cadance knows, I mean I know how to-"

He put a hoof to her lips, silencing her. "This is about you and me tonight, Cuddlebug." he softly said while smiling. "Tonight is going to be like trying food. It's going to be about enjoyment, about learning about each other, about fun. No pulling from a veteran. Now then, are you ready to finish what we started earlier?"

"B-but don't, sound ward?" She floundered, eyes tinting slightly despite not actively consuming the love. She giggled slightly, the saturation of love and lust in the air flooding her senses despite her attempts at resistance.

"I've had to put up with them for the first few nights before I learned the sound wards." The alicorn grinned, baring his fangs to the queen below him. "They'll live through one night."