//------------------------------// // Chapter Eighteen // Story: Her Mother's Daughter // by Nadake //------------------------------// “What is going on?” Twilight asked, stepping away from the creature lying on the bed. “What are you?”   The large… thing, shifted its weight, gingerly stepping off of the bed. The tacky remnants of the horrific burns that had scared Cadance’s chest when Twilight entered the room were still there. The residue had apparently been real, even if the creature wearing them had been… under an illusion? That didn’t make sense, an illusion wouldn’t have been able to create a real, physical fluid that would remain after the illusion fell. This thing must have actually been burned then. Twilight felt her stomach recoil at the thought in being covered in insectoid gore. She had been able to ignore the sticky, disgusting feeling of her matted fur until this moment. It had been Cadance, her friend, the pony who raised her. A little blood leaking from rapidly healing burns was a small price to pay to know she was going to be alright.   The creature took a slow step forward, blue eyes shimmering as if through a haze. Cadance’s eyes. The shimmer resolved itself as the last illusion fell away from the thing, the last reminder of what form it had been concealing itself as only moments ago. The thing’s true eyes were no less beautiful, she noted mildly. Rather than a compassionate cerulean though, these were a deep, endless emerald. A green even darker and more brilliant than Spike’s. Beautiful though they might be though, they weren’t Cadance’s eyes. And like that, Twilight felt her hesitation melt away.   Her spine straightened, and she stood rigid. She felt her eyes narrow as the creature took another shaky step, coming to stand beside Celestia. She couldn’t stare down her nose at the beast. It was of a height with the Princess, maybe a hair shorter. But by Thunder and Lightning, she could damn well glare at it.   “I said, what is going on.” Twilight repeated herself, voice soft. “What are you?”   “Twilight,” the creature said. Her voice, and Twilight was sure that it was female, had a queer quality to it. Not an accent, precisely, but an odd intonation and inflection. It was almost as though she were hearing words made from a thousand tiny instruments, not a living throat. She had an enchanting voice, lyrical and vibrant, unlike anything Twilight had ever heard.   Quickly, Twilight threw up another layer of mental shielding, then another, and another. The words were enchanting, in the most literal sense of the word. Intentional or not, and Twilight was rather disposed to think the worst of this female at the moment, magic flowed through every word the creature spoke. The stout barrier she had kept up, cutting Luna off from the raging emotions she had bottled away, had alerted her to the presence of the magic. It was only luck that the spellwork hadn’t slipped into her mind, doing Light only knew what.   “Stay out of my mind,” Twilight snarled, forming the final defense with a little more force than strictly necessary. She saw Celestia and the black thing wince as the last door to her mind slammed closed, and felt more than saw Luna gasp as the connection between them was blocked so abruptly.   “Little Star,” it began again, taking a step towards her. She could see pain in those deep green eyes, and hear it in her musical voice. Her voice was still hauntingly beautiful, but Twilight could feel the magic woven into the words break upon her barriers like waves upon the mountainside. Thankfully, the mental fortifications kept any more magic from entering her mind, but the words were still enchanting.   Once again, Twilight spoke across the bug. She took a step forward, feeling her magic rise up like a cloak about her. “Do not call me that,” she said. Her words were soft, and as cold as a mountain spring. Her eyes narrowed, and she felt her body shift slightly as she tilted her horn towards the creature. “I will ask you once more. What. Is going. On.”   The insect took a startled step back as magic began to condense around Twilight’s horn. The tip began to glow as a pinprick of magic formed, angled straight at the creature’s throat. Twilight wasn’t sure how strong that thing’s carapace was, but she would reduce the creature to ashes if it hurt Cadance.   Its fanged mouth opened for a moment, as if struggling to find words. Helpless, it turned to the white mare standing beside it. Celestia let out a sigh, one centuries older than even the Princess. It was the sound of resignation, the sigh of a martyr before the pyre. Twilight could almost hear Celestia’s voice, muttering in that worldweary tone, “Best to get it over quickly.”   Celestia nodded to the creature, who closed her eyes as that same resignation, this time with the tang of fear, crossed her own features. Her head ducked down, eyes closed as the bug mastered herself. Then she looked up, looking deep into Twilight’s eyes. Her own shimmered again, with tears this time. She took a deep breath, seeming to fortify herself and commend her spirit to the Light itself. Then she spoke.   “My name is Cadance,” she said, shaking her head sharply as Twilight growled. “Allow me to finish, Twilight. My name is Cadance. I am a changeling Queen, born many centuries ago. Now, I am the last of my kind.”   “A changeling?” Luna asked, alarmed. Her shock turned to anger in the next instant. “What do you mean, the last? Where is your hive?” Cadance turned to look at Twilight, eyes deep and sincere. “I mean I am the last of my kind. The last hive was destroyed centuries ago, and only its young queen was spared.” Her words were soft as she spoke, and in only a moment she was speaking not to Twilight, but to a ghost. Her eyes gazed at the young mare, but looked through her, and through the mists of time as the changeling lost herself in the memory. “I watched them die, and was spared the silence only because my ability to…” she took a shuddering breath as her eyes closed. It seemed to break the spell of whatever memory had entranced her, and she opened ancient, sad eyes. “I am barren. I was spared because I was made to never bring forth life to my children. There will be no more hives. And once my song falls silent, then the Changelings will pass from the world forever.” “Celestia,” Luna snarled, voice as cold and hard as a snowy mountain peak. “Why have you let this monster live?” “Luna!” Celestia gasped, eyes wide with shock. “You know what they are!” Luna roared at the older Princess. “They are monsters, and whoever destroyed them did the world a great boon.” “What are you talking about!” Twilight shouted, torn between defending Cadance, and turning on the changeling. “Changelings are monsters, Twilight.” Luna snarled, glaring at the creature in question. “They change their shape and-” “And feed on the love a thinking, feeling creature has for another.” Cadance said, voice flat. “Those are the stories you have heard, are they not?” Luna jerked her head in a short nod. “Such stories are the reason that my people were hunted to extinction.” Cadance growled. The angry words were a far cry from the ethereal beauty of her speaking voice, the many layers and harmonies in her words suddenly falling into discord. “We feed on emotion, Princess. Love, anger, despair, joy, we consume it all.” “You take the place of ponies we love and see us for food!” “We do not!” Cadance roared, slamming her clawed foot against the marble floor. Her talons carved three narrow gouges out of the stone as the changeling took half a step forward. “My ancestors were the monsters you so hate, child, but my mother, and my sisters learned from the mistakes of our mothers! We stayed small, kept our hives under control. We stole nothing, we only consumed what emotions we found!” “Then you admit that you are no better than a parasite? You are a flea, a tick, glutting yourself off of pony-kind for Light only knows how long! You are a thief by your very nature, and I would be in my rights to smite you where you stand, insect!” “Luna, you will calm yourself!” Celestia added her voice to the argument, shouting over Cadance’s furious defense of her race. “Cadance has done no wrong in the centuries I have known her.” “She is a shapeshifter, Celestia!” Luna screamed, magic flaring. “They live by lying, hiding, and eating the most important parts of who we are!” “ENOUGH!” Twilight shrieked. “Twili-” “Shut up, Luna.” Twilight snarled. She glared up at her wife, some of the magic she had called to herself leaking from her eyes and she shifted her glare to the other two mares in the room. “We don’t have time for this!” “Twilight,” Cadance began, voice gentle. There was still a hint of that discordant chord in her words, but soothed. It occurred to Twilight suddenly that everypony in the room was on the edge of exploding into a firestorm of magical power. She could feel the oppressive weight of their collective power crushing her own aura of emotionally charged magic. Their magics even feel different. She noted with interest. They all… taste? Yes, they all taste like anger. But Celestia’s power feels like the weight of sunlight streaming down on the hottest days of summer. A heat so fundamental you feel its weight, more than feel its burn. Luna’s smells like the mountains. No, not the mountains, a blizzard. Snow and ice so cold they burn, swirling and flying in flurries that obscure everything. Impossible to see through, to think. And Cadance… her anger is salty. Tears. Anger, and sorrow. I can feel the pain of her history in her magic. Changelings must have a deeper emotional link to their power than we do. And I can feel the traces of Celestia and Luna’s magic in Cadance’s. LIke she’s absorbing some of it, and it’s feeding directly into her power. What does my magic feel like, I wonder? Twilight blinked. The distraction had taken barely a heartbeat to ponder, before she snapped back to the present. All three mares were still looking at the much smaller pony, all of them wrestling to regain control over the turbulent magic that roiled in their minds. Twilight lifted a hoof from the marble floor as she reached out to take a firm hold on her power. She slammed her hoof against the floor before her with a ringing crash, sucking in a deep breath. As she pulled in the breath, she gathered up the mantle of power surrounding her, and sent the power deep into the stone of the Heart. The hard thrust of her hoof against the stone jarred her shoulder painfully as the impact echoed up the leg. But it was the magic suddenly rushing out of her body that caused the stone underneath her to fracture with a mighty report. “We have much bigger things to worry about right now. Luna, if I can set aside my anger with her, then so can you.” “But-” Luna protested, voice cracking with anger. “But nothing.” Twilight said, voice cool as she turned to glare at her wife. “She was my mother, in every way that mattered. And if I can set aside my anger at being lied to for my entire life, then you can set your grievances to the side until more pressing matters are dealt with.” “I-” Luna began again, but she trailed off as she winced. Just as suddenly as Twilight had, the black mare withdrew her magic, though she didn’t fracture several inches of marble in doing so. Resigned, Luna nodded to her wife. “You are correct. I can… wait.” “Thank you, Twilight.” Cadance said, smiling at the younger mare as both she and Celestia drew their powers back as well. Her smile faltered as Twilight turned a frigid glare towards the Queen. “Make no mistake, Cadance. We will settle our issues when this is over, as well. There is a reckoning coming.” The Changeling’s shoulders slumped as she sighed. Her head bobbed in a weary nod. “I understand.” “Now, Princess Celestia.” Twilight said, voice somewhat less explosive as she addressed the most innocent of the party. “What is going on. Why did you destroy your chambers, and nearly turn Cadance into a briquette?” “Changelings are extremely resilient naturally, and their magic reacts defensively on instinct.” Celestia corrected absently. “It is unlikely that anything short of an intentional attack of extreme power would incapacitate or kill a Queen. And as said before things… escalated, we have found information about Rylias’ recent behavior.” “Please remind me,” Twilight asked, eyes narrowing as she focused on the Princess. “I was, understandably, distracted at the time.” “Of course.” Celestia nodded, gaze sharpening. “The summery of what Cadance found while infiltrating the dragon’s camp is that they are not a warband.” “Yes,” Twilight muttered, brow furrowed in thought. “Something about their breeding grounds being destroyed?” “In a manner of speaking.” Cadance spoke up, taking a step toward the center of the uneasy circle of mares. “It wasn’t destroyed, so much as stolen, if that makes sense.” “It doesn’t.” Luna said, barely suppressing her glower. She couldn’t quite keep the growl from her voice though. “From what I could find out, they haven’t been able to breed in nearly four thousand years. Even if they are effectively immortal, they will die out eventually if they can’t replace their losses. They’ve lived through centuries full of disease and conflict. Ever since the magic of their breeding grounds was sealed, they’ve been living on borrowed time, as it were. There isn’t much written so far into the past, but a few of the songs of my mothers speak of those times. I can’t recall much of the tales, but they spoke of a land of great fire where the Waste is now.” Cadance winced, once more looking away, haunted. “Whatever magic it was that permeated their breeding grounds was unique. Without it, something vital is missing. The females can still lay clutches of eggs, but the eggs never hatch, no matter how long or jealously she broods them. They have been living on borrowed time for centuries, and what few dormant eggs they had are slowly running out. The last baby dragon will be born soon, and unless they can do something, it will be the end of their race. I know the kind of desperation that they are feeling. They have nothing left to lose, and they have a chance to save their entire species. They stole the object the magic was sealed into and they are bringing every dragon they can to release the magic back into the Waste. It’s their only hope.” “Wait, so why didn’t they talk to us?” Luna asked, so confused she forgot to growl at the Changeling. “If we had known that they only wanted to save their people, then we would have surely allowed them to…” The black mare winced, and Celestia nodded. “They assumed that we would attack if we knew that they were weakened.” “But that doesn’t explain your anger, Celestia.” Twilight insisted, thinking furiously. “I remember Luna saying something about betrayal being the only thing that caused you that much anger.” Here Twilight’s eyes flickered to the chitinous body near her with a venomous fury. “A sentiment I can understand.” Cadance and Celestia both winced at her words, but the white mare squared her shoulders and soldiered on. “It is. Part of the reason that the dragons didn’t trust us was who sealed the magic of their breeding grounds.” As she spoke, Twilight could feel the Princess of the Sun’s rage building once more. She could feel the waves of oppressive heat rolling off the mare once more, and all three ponies took a step or two away from the alicorn. “Spike has been using us. She sealed the magic that they need to breed, and her presence here, now, has lead them to believe that we were complicit in the theft.” “WHAT!” Luna roared, whirling to face Cadance. The Queen nodded her head in confirmation. Spike sealed the dragon’s magic? How does that implicate Helios and Selene into this though? She must have sealed it thousands of years before either country was ever formed. Wait. “Why did Spike show up here, Princess?” Twilight asked, turning to the white mare. Celestia once again withdrew her power, and inclined her head to Twilight in an jerky nod. “She claims that she felt something significant was about to occur. I thought, originally, that she meant the marriage of our nation's through you, Twilight. Later, that she foresaw something of the invasion from Rylias.” Her voice dropped to a feral snarl, though she kept her magic reigned in as she spoke. “But she foresaw nothing, she knew that the magic had been returned to the dragons. She came to make the dragons wary of what she may tell us, and bring a military force with them to ensure their success. Seeing this, we would move to defend ourself, and she could reclaim or destroy whatever is holding that magic contained.” :Celestia, do you understand what you are saying?” Luna demanded, sounding more shocked than angry. “You cannot truly believe that Spike has been playing the traitor for millennia. Not even she could possibly hold an act together for so long.” Celestia sighed, letting her head droop. “I don’t know, Luna. I wish I did. But I cannot say what Spike has planned, nor what she has done in the past. Her current actions must make us examine what else she may have been lying to us about. We cannot afford to assume anything that she may or may not have revealed, nor to whom she divulged those secrets too.” The white mare’s body twitched as her muscles spasmed, and one bare hoof slammed into the stone beneath her. Celestia lifted her head, looking from pony to pony. Twilight meet the Princess’s eyes and had to fight not to take a startled step back. The soft, lavender eyes of the Princess burned with fury, enough that Twilight could smell the hot, metallic reek as the marble beneath Celestia’s hooves began to glow a sullen red. “It was my negligence that allowed this to occur. Had I not extended my trust blindly, then our nations would not be in this predicament. My role in this treachery is not something I will skirt about, nor will I let my failings hurt my ponies. For now, though, we must remain quiet on this matter. I will accept your judgement, but our priority now must be seeking a peaceful conclusion to this situation. Twilight, I must ask you something,” Celestia turn to her former hoofmaid. Her words had been spoken calmly, with more than a little steel mixed into the words. Had she not been practically glowing with suppressed anger, an anger hot and terrible, Twilight would have called the tone chilling. As it was, the youngest pony present turned to face her fellow as stoically as she could. “Yes, Princess?” Twilight asked. A disjointed voice in her mind seemed to wince at the words, and Twilight wondered for a moment if there was a more formal way she could have responded to the inquiry. None of the ponies here were less than five centuries old, save her. Anything she came up with couldn’t sound too archaic for them. “Twilight,” Celestia snapped, voice cracking like a whip. The sharp tone derailed Twilight’s distracted thoughts, and the white mare winced. “I apologize. But I… we, need to know if you are able to keep your mind closed to Spike? While I doubt any of us could keep her out of our minds should she desire entry, we can certainly hold enough of a defense to notice her intrusion. If she is alerted to what we know, the results could be disastrous. Can you keep her from reading your surface thoughts?” “I can,” Twilight said. She shushed the nagging doubt mumbling something about her ‘shouting’. “At least until she really tries. She taught me several lessons. She said something about me ‘shouting’ my thoughts for several days after the wedding. That it was disturbing her slumber.” “Good.” Celestia said, cutting Twilight off before she could begin to ramble further. She turned to Luna. “Luna, how quickly can the Selenian military mobilize?” “I gave the order for them to assemble the moment we received word of the dragon’s movements. It is likely that they are assembled already, and awaiting marching orders.” Celestia smiled. “Excellent. Tell them to continue the evacuation of the region bordering the Waste. Whatever happens in the next few days, I want to ensure that no innocent ponies will be harmed over… this.” She said, waving a hoof in a gesture that encompassed everything from the ruined blankets to the changeling beside her. “I will have Shining Armor facilitate the evacuation of the Helios side of the border. Cadance, you need to ferret out any information you can on their plans. Get back into the dragon camp, gather the information, and return to me in a week’s time.” “Why a week?” the Queen asked, cocking her head. “Wouldn’t more information be better?” Twilight spoke up, eyes narrowed as she thought. “Because you won’t be able to reach her after a week. That’s when the Southern Guard are arriving, and when the bulk of the military force is heading out. Princess Celestia has to go with them, especially now that we might be able to forge a peace. And while I have seen that you are a master of subterfuge, dragons can also shapeshift, and the Southern Guard are probably the most dangerous soldiers in Helios. You can’t sneak through to see the Princess, of all ponies, and they would spot an additional soldier wandering around where he shouldn’t be in a heartbeat.” Cadance blinked, turning from Twilight to look at Celestia. The alicorn gave her friend a tight smile, and nodded. “Twilight is right. So I want you back by the night before we leave, one week from now. You must find out everything you can, without revealing yourself.” “Luna, I want you to keep control of Selene, but do so from here. If there is a confrontation, together we may be able to contain the traitorous bitch long enough to draw her away from the innocents.” Twilight blinked. Had the Princess just called Spike a… Well, not that Twilight thought that the dragoness wasn’t one, but she couldn’t remember hearing the Princess swear before, at least not with so much venom in her voice. “Twilight,” Celestia called again, the snap of her word drawing Twilight’s attention back to the present. “I know that it is unlikely, but I want you to see if you can figure out what exactly, this stolen magic is. Everything I know about magic says that to steal magic, Spike would have to seal it into something, probably a crystal of some sort. I need you to try and track down whatever it is that she sealed it into, and how and when the dragons got their claws on it. No matter what, we need to gather leverage, on both sides of this conflict. I don’t expect miracles from you, Twilight, but every scrap of knowledge you can find will help us, and save lives.” “What of you?” Luna asked. Her voice was hard and determined, just like her counterpart. “What will you be doing?” Celestia let out a mirthless bark of laughter. “I will be trying to sway the council to search for a peaceful solution. Most likely, by setting them at each other's throats. “Suddenly,” Cadance noted, in the same wry tone Twilight remembered from her youth, “I feel much better about infiltrating a nest of magically potent, firebreathing predator soldiers and their mages. I’ll leave the scary job to you, Princess.”