The black batpony woke up somewhere she had been before and immediately corrected herself that she wasn't awake yet. She was standing in front of a cave entrance made of pure black, a hole into a reality which she wasn't expecting to be visiting ever again. Regardless of expectations here she was and while worrying wasn't her thing she had no idea whether to be scared or not but she remembered her last visit here and Void's words.
'She' was waiting and knew about the batpony's presence. To be precise, it was the owner of this place who brought the batpony here.
Choking Darkness passed through the sheet of black without making it ripple and looked around the cavern just to see a familiar piles of bones and two figures greeting her. Well, one was sleeping or in a coma if that was possible to conclude from the pile of black fur slowly burning with ethereal black-purplish fire. The other figure, a golden alicorn with white mane was waving her to come closer to her.
Choking would have been much happier if things were the other way around but, as said before, she had little choice in being called here.
"Scream," Choking nodded her head to acknowledge the waving alicorn but there was very little friendliness in her voice.
"Good to see you again," Scream kept smiling despite Choking's cold tone.
"I don't mean to be rude but what the buck do you want? I know you immortals don't think ponies have any real long-term memory but you were defeated about three days ago."
"I talked... and did other things to Void which left him a bit tired, he might not wake up for few weeks but I haven't felt this happy in eons. I'm rambling a bit, ehm. So after him telling me everything and me using my special sight I see it fit to give you a reward for the role you played in all this."
"Huh, what are you talking about? I just let Void sleep in my apartment for two days before we headed to Tartarus," the batpony grew more suspicious with every second.
"I see, you haven't talked to Blazing Light yet. Just ask him about what happened to him in his reality then when you wake up."
"How can I trust you that you aren't trying to plot something against him to get revenge for ruining your plan to destroy princess Celestia?"
"Because I have everything I wanted right here, little bat. You can be angry for what I did and I still think Celestia should have suffered the fate I had in store for her but I'm willing to leave her alone as long as she doesn't bother me. Back to your reason for being here though - your self from Blazing's reality did something which led to the favorable result of my actions here and I wish to offer you a unique opportunity."
"Alright, what is it?" asked Choking, still suspicious but curious at the same time.
"My magic prowess coupled with my natural connection to lust and desires of all creatures gives me a very special sight and while I can't use the ability to see into the future for myself I can give you the opportunity."
"Haven't you just said that you used it after you talked things through with Void?"
"My sight reaches far and wide but my future is off limits to me. The past in another reality was possible to see with enough guidance pertaining where to look."
"Couldn't you, I don't know, just make me super hot, rich and immortal?" asked Choking nervously.
"Actually yes, I could. I just thought you might want something more precious than that."
Choking paused. If Scream was to be trusted and that was a big if then she might have a chance at knowing something nopony else would know. If this was some Scream's scheme again then what? She couldn't run away from this place and she had no doubt Scream would have done whatever evil stuff she wanted without inviting Choking to her dream dimension.
"This will not make me see thousand years into the future, right? I mean it would be cool but somewhat useless."
"No. The knowledge you'll recieve will be connected to you and ponies tied to you."
"Okay, I'm in. What do I have to do?"
"Lie down. In case you see something you don't like you might fall down."
Choking crossed her front legs under her muzzle and felt the soft carpet rub her belly. When the golden alicorn came closer she closed her eyes and felt Scream's horn touch her forehead. The situation was exactly the same as when she retrieved Void's soul from its hiding place in Tartarus.
A tree from wood which looks like stone with carvings of six familiar cutie marks. The scene shifts. The changeling queen ordering the ranks of her subjects to retreat from hordes of ponies, griffons, minotaurs and some mechanical creations resembling unicorns pouring from a rift in space. No matter the changeling combat prowess and the raw magical power of their queen, the swarm begins to leave what looks like a pony city with buildings repaired by globs of green goo. The last thing to see is the desperate changeling queen lowering her head in front of a tarnished golden statue of an alicorn with black streaks in her coat creating look similar to changeling plates.
A dark-grey batpony armed with a spear and wearing Nightguard armor holding his own against an alicorn... no, a changeling with red crystal where a horn would be and wings resembling those of a phoenix. The insignia of the highest Nightguard rank possible and the bronze color of the changeling's chitin leave no doubt about who the two actors are. For a moment the batpony seems to be winning only to have his body skewered from behind by a multitude of swords appearing from a distortion in reality controlled by an orange magical glow.
A silouhette sitting in a room of what looks like a normal cheap hotel looking at a knife held in his hooves. After an eternity filled with silence the figure slits its throat with the knife, staining the floor. Then a green gleam passes over the figure which twitches and sits back up. It shakes its head and uses the knife again, letting what happened seconds before happen again. The figure casts a look at a bed in the corner of the room with a small black rectangle lying on it and after a moment of hesitation uses the knife for the third time. This time it doesn't get back up.
A small village on the edge of what looks to be the Everfree forest where a pony is talking to an undisguised changeling drone. Two guards, one pegasus and one changeling, patrolling side to side through the streets. A purple alicorn, warily talking to the queen of changelings who is curiously looking around. Two changeling queens facing one another with the smaller one with sapphire blue eyes bowing.
A midnight blue alicorn, shaking on the ground and covering her head with the blue-eyed queen snarling and baring her sharp teeth at her, murder in her glowing eyes. The threatening atmosphere disappears with Luna being replaced by a black alicorn with burning golden eyes who bows before the queen and then wraps his front legs around her. "You were given a chance at a high price. Do not waste it pointlessly, others need you," says a deep voice.
Choking Darkness woke up again, this time in her own bed. A new day was dawning and she had places to be so she didn't linger on the dream which was slowly burning away in the sunlight entering the room from the window opened by her hooves. Not that she didn't care about it but there were others more qualified for dealing with such situations and Scream's trustworthiness was questionable so she made a mental note to talk to princess Luna when she had time and let the new day take her.
Blazing Light twitched and suddenly sat up when his nose picked up the smell of fresh bread, butter and batpony. Two of those were lying on a plate on the bedside table and one of them was right on the bed. Not even morning Blazing needed more than two attempts to identify which was which.
"Why am I all sticky?" he asked when he managed to unglue his mouth, surprisingly not stuck only by his drool.
"You were sticking your face where it didn't belong at first but it found its place in the end."
"Oops, sorry. Did I spill anything from the fridge?"
"Not the fastest in the morning, are ya?" Choking smiled and wiggled her hips suggestively.
"Oh!" Blazing's eyes suddenly shot up and he pulled the blanket to his neck.
"A bit too late for that, is it now?"
"I-I... was I that bad?" he smiled nervously.
"Ya might have foals, kids, larvae or whatever changelings call them but ya need some serious pointers."
"Oh." Blazing looked down at his hooves still holding the blanket.
"I think I'll remember that night for a while though."
"Oh sweet Celestia, what did I do?"
"Ya did what nopony else has done before. Ya tried to make me feel good instead of yourself. Just for that I think ya deserve a second chance... and third, fourth and then we'll see," she stuck out her tongue at him.
"Soooo... not mad?" Blazing explored the distant possibility.
"What? Why? You weren't by far the worst I've ever had. As a reward, ya got a breakfast in bed."
"Thanks! What's with the sandwich then?"
Choking looked around, confused. Then it clicked.
"Har har, mister changeling. Don't ya dare invoke some love-eating just so ya can avoid my cooking."
"You call that sandwich cooking? That's like comparing a dropped bit hitting the ground to a Smashing Apples concert."
Looking hurt for a second, Choking swallowed her remark and then remembered Blazing wasn't too keen on her kind of music. Yet he still thought of her enough to make a reference she could identify with.
"Awww that was so nice. I'll take you to one so ya know what you're talking about."
"I can't win, can I?" Blazing rolled his eyes.
"Nope! Marefriends always win and have the last word, Blaze."
A not too unhappy whimper from the bronze changeling was her only answer as she bit into the sandwich.
"Soooo?" he asked when she was done messing up the bed with bread crumbs.
"So what?"
"What do I do now?"
"Ya could just slip back into training the guard recruits. They might grumble a bit but as long as nopony talks about what ya did too much then ya should be okay."
"Well, it's been over a year for me. Nevermind, I could complain but that would just make it worse, wouldn't it?"
"No," she put her forelegs on Blazing's shoulders, "If ya feel bad about something then we can wait until the princesses decide what to do with your changelings. Technically ya are a king of a different nation so that makes my apartment a Nightmare changeling embassy."
"You're messing with me."
"Yep! And I'm enjoying it immensely. Ya think they'll call what we did yesterday diplomatic relations?"
A bronze face turned into an unhealthy green one.
*Knock knock*
"SALVATION!" yelled Blazing, picked up the platter where the breakfast was and went to the kitchen.
Opening the apartment door revealed four ponies wearing Royal Guard armor.
"What's going on?" asked Choking.
"The princesses ask for your presence."
"Wow, both of them?" joked Blazing.
"All four of them."