//------------------------------// // 22 - Serpens // Story: Change // by tom117z //------------------------------// A rose coloured mare walked blissfully through the Canterlot castle gardens. In all her years working as a maid, her one favorite thing to do in all Equestria was to take a nice, completely peaceful walk through the beautiful gardens. The mare stopped at her usual spot, a bench just by a bush filled with the most wonderful flowers she had ever seen. She had no idea of the plant's name, but the aura they gave off was sublime to the mare's senses. She just sat there, basking in Celestia’s warm, welcoming sun that was like a loving mother giving a hug to her infant child. The mare’s bliss was interrupted however when a shadow fell upon her. Looking up to locate the source of the shadow the mare was met with a black form speeding towards her, its chitin black as night, its fangs glistening fiercely, its slit pupils staring into her soul… It was also screaming in terror. The bush of flowers exploded into various debris as the changeling slammed full force into the unfortunate flora. “Twilight!” a raspy voice called out, the mare just spotted a blue Pegasus flying towards the changeling as she vacated the area in a hurry. Twilight spat out a crushed petal. “Ugh, I’m fine.” Rainbow Dash breathed a sigh of relief as five drones finally caught up with the pair. “You really gotta start flapping those wings in sync, or do you just really hate flowers?” Twilight looked at her friend in bemusement. “Very funny Dash, how about we just call it a day.” “Nope! We are not quitting until I get you flying!” “But we’ve been at it for hours already! I’ve got things to do, books to read and-" “Nope” Rainbow repeated. “Come on Twilight, flap those wings and try again!” Carduus facehooved, at this rate the five guards would drop dead long before those two troublesome mares. “If Princess Twilight wants to call it a day, then we call it a day.” “She is not getting out of this that easily! No friend of mine is being stuck on the ground if I can help it! And I can help it!” “Dash, really I’m perfectly contented with walking.” Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight as if she had grown another head. “Wow, you must have hit your head harder than I thought.” Twilight sighed. “Rainbow…” Suddenly Rainbow had an idea, an awful idea. Rainbow Dash got a wonderful awful idea. “Say Twilight… let’s make a deal…” Twilight looked up at the evilly smirking Rainbow Dash. “A deal?” “Yeah, you learn how to fly… and I don’t burn your books!” Twilight gasped deeply. “You wouldn’t!” “We all need motivation, now there’s those Starswirl books you fangirl over, famed griffon poetry, and also-" Suddenly, following a green flash, Rainbow Dash’s vision was filled with two bright white eyes coming from a mare with a mane and wings of pure fire whose chitin had turned white with a pure righteous fury emanating from her. "Rainbow Dash! Your persistent, strict coaching I can handle. But nopony, and I mean nopony! Threatens. My. Books!” If Twilight was looking for any reaction from Rainbow, a victorious smirk was not it. “Oh,” the Princess muttered, reverting back to normal as she realised something. She was flying. Twilight hovered perfectly in front of Rainbow Dash, her guards all peeked out of the cover they had dove behind when her outburst started. Twilight glared at her friend. “That was a dirty trick, Rainbow Dash.” “Hey, like I said. Everypony needs motivation.” Both Twilight and Rainbow gently touched back down onto the ground. “Damn, your highness,” one of her guards spoke. “Remind me never to get on your bad side.” A blush made its way to Twilight’s face, only then realizing they had all seen her lose her temper. “Definitely her mother’s daughter,” Carduus teased. “Well at least we know how the egghead does the whole ‘on fire when angry' thing. Hey Twilight, how much can you do with the whole ‘turning into stuff’ changeling thing?” Twilight pondered for a moment. “I don’t actually know. It’s definitely something for me to research.” “Twilight?” a new voice called. The group turned to see Raven approaching them. “Oh, hey Raven. What’s going on?” “Princess Celestia sent me to collect you, the proceedings are due to start soon.” “Thank you Raven, I’ll be right there.” Twilight turned to Rainbow Dash. “Sorry we have to cut this short Dash.” Rainbow snorted. “No you’re not, but I did what I came to do. And now that you’re flying, we’ll work on your acrobatic skills next!” Twilight began to feel faint. “Acro-ac-acrobatics?” A changeling stood in the shadows, a rose coloured mare stood next to him, her eyes glowing a soft green. The changeling watched as Princess Twilight concluded her business with the blue Pegasus, Rainbow Dash, the bearer of loyalty if he was correct. Rainbow Dash took off into the skies as the Princess, along with her five guards, turned to follow the Sun Princess’ assistant. The changeling turned to the slightly swaying mare, his horn glowing the same green that inhabited her eyes. “Follow them, and make sure none catch word of what’s to come.” The changeling’s horn sputtered out, and the mare’s eyes returned to normal. She shook her head from side to side as she shook of any remaining dizziness. “Oh my, how strange.” The mare took note of the individual next to her, a Pegasus. “Oh! Commander Broad Sword- I didn’t hear you coming. But I guess that’s a good thing for a guard. Do you need any help with something dearie?” “Oh no thank you,” the Commander smiled. “Have a good day now.” The Commander nodded his head respectfully, before departing. The mare soon followed to do her tasks for the day; some tasks she was aware of, others she would do without ever realizing. And nopony would notice the green tinge in the very corner of her eye. That night The day's proceeding had gone off without a hitch, dignitaries from both sides had been introduced and diplomatic relations officially started. Now with the last rays of sunshine fading and the moon rising, almost everypony was turning in for the night, getting a good night's rest before the undoubtedly more strenuous meetings to come in the following days. Twilight slumped into her chair as she sat down in Celestia’s private tearoom. The Solar Princess herself sat just opposite in her usual regal manner. “You did fine my student, do not worry yourself so.” “Fine? I barely said a word! I just let the others do all the talking, I mean, I didn’t even know where to start! I have no experience as a diplomat, a princess or anything. Mother should be doing this, not me…” Celestia shook her head. “Have some faith in yourself, Twilight. You say you have no experience; then this is an excellent opportunity to gain some. Above all, while ponies may be wary of you, after all you’ve done they trust you. The same cannot be said for Queen Chrysalis. Besides, there wasn’t much to be said today; it was an introduction more than anything, laying the ground rules. And if I know you my faithful student, and I do, you’ve already made a checklist of things to discuss tomorrow,” Celestia noted as she smiled knowingly. Twilight smiled sheepishly, her lavender aura sure enough bringing a clipboard out of her saddlebags that lay on the floor next to her. “Well now that you mention it…” The door opened and a few servants filed in delivering tea and, of course, cake to the royal pair. Before they left the servant with the rose coloured coat glanced at Twilight, not that she noticed as she was too busy explaining her extensive checklist. “-and after all that we can finally move on to trade relations!” Twilight finished enthusiastically. “You’ve given this a lot of thought Twilight, but I doubt we can accomplish all of those things in a single session.” “Oh I know, but it’s good to be prepared.” Celestia nodded, before taking a sip of her tea, and a bite out of her chocolate cake. Twilight couldn’t help but grin as she remembered an article about a certain princess from a certain Gabby Gums. Celestia grinned mischievously. "So how are you holding up, Princess?" "It's... just Twilight,” Twilight said, uncomfortable at Princess Celestia calling her that. "As you say, Princess." Twilight pouted as Celestia continued to grin mischievously. “That’s payback for me always calling you Princess, isn’t it?” “Perhaps.” “So…” Twilight said as she changed the subject. “How did you meet Longshot? I spoke to him yesterday and he mentioned he had met you before.” “Ah,” Celestia briefly reminisced. “It was… interesting.” “Interesting?” “About a year ago, one of our outer EUP outposts was attacked by a rogue griffon raiding party, an attack I was told was thwarted by a lone sharpshooter.” “Longshot,” Twilight realised. Celestia nodded in confirmation. “I visited the outpost shortly thereafter, to commend him for his bravery and congratulate him on his subsequent promotion to sergeant.” “OK then, so… how is any of that as you say… ‘interesting’.” Celestia chuckled lightly as she thought back to the meeting. “When I finally met him, he attempted to flirt with me, right in front of everypony else.” “He did what?” Twilight’s tea flew across the room, before Celestia caught it in her magic, and dropped it in a plant pot. That done, she returned to her story. “I was flattered to be sure, but I had to politely turn him down. Still… it's been centuries since anypony had the courage to try.” “But… he… why would he try and flirt with you!?” “Twilight!” Celestia said with fake hurt. “Are you saying I’m not good enough to flirt with?” Twilight’s eyes widened. “What! No, I didn’t mean-" Twilight became less panicked and more irritated as Celestia began to laugh. “Very funny,” Twilight tried to deadpan, however she couldn’t hold on to her irritation and too started to laugh. After a minute or so things finally calmed and the laughing slowly ceased, when it finally stopped Celestia spoke next. “Oh Twilight. I’m going to miss you.” The grin Twilight had been wearing quickly left her as she looked up at her mentor in confusion. “Miss me?” Celestia sighed sadly. “You are a princess now, and I would assume you will eventually return to the hive, with your mother.” Twilight’s ears fell. “Oh...” “Twilight...” Celestia moved from her seat and sat down next to the smaller princess. “Know that you will always have a place here, and that as your teacher and as-“ Celestia paused for a moment, her normal regal mask breaking momentarily, a few tears breaking through the millennia old dam as she thought back to the small filly running around the castle halls, who she would sing lullabies to whenever she had a bad dream, watching her grow into a wonderful young mare with the pride only a mother could hold. “Twilight, you couldn’t have made me prouder,” Celestia half-whispered. Twilight, with fresh tears of her own, buried her head into Celestia’s alabaster fur as a wing was draped comfortingly around her. Luna’s moon hung high in the sky, and the same rose colored mare from earlier stood next to a store cupboard at the very back of the castle. She had no idea why she was there, she just felt compelled to be there. “Ah, right on time,” the voice of Broad Sword caught her attention. The mare jumped. “Oh! It’s you again Commander! I didn’t see you there.” “Good.” With a green flash the image of Broad Sword was burnt away, and the creature advanced with its horn aglow. The mare tried to scream, but the green glow in her eyes came back as her mind was overtaken by changeling magic. In a zombified voice the mare spoke. “I spied upon Twilight Sparkle and her friends as instructed, they suspect nothing, and your plans may go ahead.” “Good, then I have no more need of you.” “Hey, you there!” a new voice called out. Spinning around the changeling saw a thestral Lunar Guard draw his sword. “Step away from the mare, and release her from your foul manipulation at once!” The changeling snarled at this unwelcome interruption. However, despite being without his usual weapon at that moment, he was still far from defenseless. “Attack,” the changeling ordered. With a violent screech the controlled mare shot forward and launched herself at the startled thestral, who dropped his sword and began to try and pry the mare off of him, unwilling to harm an innocent maid. Just what the changeling wanted. As the Thestral struggled with the ravenous mare suddenly he felt two hooves grab his head from behind, he barely let out a shout as the changeling snapped his neck. The guard slumped over, his head bent at an unnatural angle. Briefly admiring his work, the changeling turned to the mare. “Now, as I was saying, I don’t need you anymore. Go find a nice tower, and would you kindly jump out of it.” The zombified mare turned to leave, loyally walking to her own doom. “Infiltrator, the Moon Princess will almost certainly notice one of her guards is missing.” “My Queen, I will dispose of the body and I promise you my mission will be long completed before suspicion could ever point in any direction, let alone mine.” “Be sure of it, do not fail me, Serpens. You know what that would mean.” “Yes, we wouldn’t want to disappoint Crudelis now, would we?” Despite the sarcasm, which was out of spite more than anything, his statement was still true. His hive’s future depended on him, and he wouldn’t let them down.