//------------------------------// // Chapter 38: Family Bonds // Story: Converted // by Shaded Changeling //------------------------------// Silver had been talking with his family, looking over the pictures of his first few years without a disguise when Star Dust walked in. “They listened to me.” He said, levitating a pile of documents. “You are now technically unaffiliated with the Hive.” “Meaning?” Silver asked. “You are free to choose your own path.” Star relied. “They can give you your memories back, and then all you need to do is learn to transform, and you’ll be ready to live your life like anypony else.” “Why do I have to-?” “Because those spells the Queens put on you won’t last forever, and then you’ll just revert to your natural form in times of either extreme shock, sadness, fear, all that stuff.” Star replied, levitating the papers over to a side table. “Besides, even if you never transform into anypony else, it’s always good to know how to change, just in case.” “What about staying in the Guard?” Night Glider asked. “I mean… Wingless is going tell somepony about it.” “He won’t need to hide it for long…” Star replied. “My Queen has a plan to reveal some of us once this war against Ceymi is over.” “Ceymi?” All of the Pegasus asked. “Who?” Night Glider asked. “She is the new Queen of Chrysalis’ Hive and she is being hunted.” Star replied. “We haven’t managed to find her yet, but now, we have prisoners to interrogate. We’ll be starting tomorrow. Now I need you to fill these out, in your own time. There’s no rush.” Star smiled as he walked out of the room. When he did, the family hugged each other tighter, and Dawn began crying again. “My little Silver! All Grown up!” Dawn cried. “Mom… Come on… I would never leave you guys.” “I promise I won’t lie to you about anything again!” Dawn cried. “I’m so sorry we had to lie to you all these years!” “Mom… It’s okay… I understand why you-” Silver looked up at the sound of someone clearing their throat loudly. Looking over he saw Sapphire standing in the doorway. “Sorry to interrupt… Whatever this is… But Sunglider is waking up.” Sunglider felt terrible, everything was hurting, and the fact that he could hear rather loud beeping didn’t help with that fact. As he began to wake up, he heard slurred voices that sounded like he was in a fish bowl. “Sunny?” He heard through the fishbowl throng. Sunglider tried to open his eyes, but recoiled instantly at how bright everything was. He let out a groan as his eyes slowly began to adjust. “Where am I?” Sunglider pushed himself up, and could tell there were a few ponies in the room, but he couldn’t make them out. “Sunglider?” “Yeah?” Sunglider replied. “Who are you?” “Don’t you recognize your family?” Sunglider’s eyes widened, and instantly closed again at how bright everything was. “Mom, Dad, Silver? Bat Brain?” “Hi son.” Dusk said. Sunglider looked around the room as his eyes finally adjusted to the light, he was inside of a hospital room, an IV placed in his foreleg, and the heartbeat monitor was the source of that beeping. “What happened to me?” Silver walked up to him. “You mean you don’t remember when the Changeling-?” Sunglider’s eyes widened. “The Invasion! What happened? Is Celestia alright? Where are…” Silver looked at him. “Well… First things first… I know what I am now.” Sunglider looked down. “Oh… So you know now…” Sunglider looked up. “Wingless… I’m really sorry about this. We didn’t want to-” “It’s fine Sunny. My Biological father cleared everything up. I just have some paper work to fill out and I’ll be a free…Changeling… I guess.” “That’s great!” Sunglider replied. “But… What happened? Specifically to the Changeling that did whatever it was to me.” He looked up at the clock. “How long was I out?” Silver’s ears dropped. “Um… This is going to be hard to explain. Almost Three weeks.” “THREE WEEKS!” Sunglider replied startled. “What?” Silver and Night Glider began to explain the events that transpired in the past few weeks, from Sunglider’s near death state, to his memory loss, but they both stopped at the prospect of telling them exactly how they had gotten Sunglider’s memories back. “Well… That’s great Wingless. But, what about the Changeling that originally did this to me?” Silver rubbed the back of his neck. “He’s… Next door…” Silver pulled the curtains back with his magic to show Sunstreak laying in the bed next door, the small form of Sunspot curled up on top of him, sleeping. “If we know he’s an enemy changeling, then why is he here?” Sunglider asked slight anger rising from him. “Because he saved you…” Silver replied. He began to explain how Shade had worked to try to help Sunglider, and the condition that Shade was in when inside the hospital. He then explained what he remembered from the assassination attempt and the process as he understood it for how Shade had saved Sunglider. “But… Who is he right now?” “Sunstreak… His own identity. As to who the foal is, I don’t know.” Silver replied. “How are you feeling Sunny?” Sunglider looked down at his wings, they looked healed, and given how he was slammed into the ground, he figured there should be some kind of damage. “I feel fine, just drained… Like… I haven’t…” “Oh Yeah!” Silver said. “Here,” He levitated a small glass bottle with a pink liquid inside of it. “Drink this.” Sunglider eyed the bottle. “What is it?” Silver placed it next to Sunglider. “Sapphire said it was an… Emotional Supplicant… Should clear up anything that arose from the operation.” “You are taking this whole ‘Being a Changeling’ thing really well all things considered.” Sunglider said, grabbing the bottle and twisting the top off with his teeth. “It… Came as a bit of a shock…” Silver replied. “But… Knowing it happened before… and actually being braced for it helped. I’d hate to see what I was like when it happened before…” Sunglider pulled the top off the bottle and spat it out, looking at the pink liquid, it had the viscosity of orange juice and smelt like flowers. “Damn this stuff is strong…” “Well… They needed to make up for all the love Shade drained from you before. So drink up.” Sunglider shrugged and downed the bottle quickly. When he had drank it, he shivered slightly as he felt a sudden flux of energy. “This feels really weird…” “Well… How do you think I feel?” Silver replied. “I found out that my Father is my Commanding officer and the Leader of the Lancers is my Queen. So now I’ve got more questions than…” “DADDY!” The family looked into the room next to them, where the small filly was being restrained by a doctor while Sunstreak was convulsing. “What’s going on?” Sunglider asked, looking at the Pegasus. “Why is he… Silver?” Silver was holding his head as if in pain. “What the hell is this!” “DADDY! STOP IT!” Sunspot shouted. “DADDY!” Shade was being electrocuted. The Wing prosthetic had been removed long ago by his cousin, but now he had a worse problem. His CO wasn’t just going to lay down and take his punishment. “You think you can stop me?” The Lieutenant asked, holding the gem up to Shade. “You’ve been a thorn in my side for too long Shade, and I’m not about to let you stop me again!” Shade was writhing on the ground from the electricity, but he could focus enough to say something. “I-i-i-i-m not…. He is.” A bolt flew and stuck the gem, piercing right through it. “Wanker!” “I’ll have your head for that Razant!” Shade was still shaking slightly, but it had mostly subsided. “If you ever get the chance.” “I am not going to stop that easily!” He shouted as he pointed a crossbow at Shade’s head. “One more move and I kill him. So come out! All of you!” “Alright…” Raz replied. “I’m putting down my crossbow. And I’m coming out…” Ko’ral smiled. “I know you’re here Carver. Come out!” Carver walked out, his hands in the air, “You got me… Just let him go Ko’ral.” “I’ll gladly let you go Specter, but that is because you’re team would never let me rest.” “AND I WON’T LET YOU HURT MY SON!” Ko’ral quickly squeezed the trigger but the bolt floated two inches away from the opening in the barrel. “Now you’re fucked…” Shade said, looking above them. “Hey mom.” Above them, a dragon was floating, her wings were open fully but not flapping, as her eyes were on fire glaring down at the two of them. Her claws were glowing bright pink and her wings were sparking with electricity. Ko’ral was lifted into the air by a pink aura around him and snapped around to face the angry dragon. “I am going to make this very painful for you….” Shade’s mother said, her claw glowing with electricity. “You won’t get the chance.” Ko’ral jammed a glowing green knife into her arm, causing her to drop Ko’ral and fly on her own. “AH!” She said as she fell to the ground. Ko’ral walked up to her, pulling a dagger from his belt, “You mages don’t know how to fight like a soldier, one nullification rune and you’re down for the count.” He grabbed the mage by her head and held the knife up to her throat. “I wouldn’t if I were you.” Raz said, walking out of the shadows. “And why not?” Ko’ral asked. “I could just as easily…” “Because there are two things you need to know about Shade.” Razant replied. “One, when he gets pissed off enough, he becomes a brutal fighter. And two, the only real way to get him like that is to threaten his family.” Raz gained a very wicked smile. “Oh, and when Shade is like that, Pain is irrelevant. Bye.” Ko’ral looked back at Shade, who was now standing up, and staring death at him. “Put…Her…Down…” Ko’ral raised the dagger to jam into her throat, but found his arm stopped. “Bad move…” There was a rather bad cracking sound and Ko’ral dropped the dagger and Shades mother, before finding himself being kneed in the face. Shade used all of his weight and punched him directly in the face, sending Ko’ral flying. Shade snapped his fingers and teleported in his path before kicking him into the air and taking flight. “I am going to KILL YOU!” Shade said, ignoring the bleeding pain in his wing, and grabbing Ko’ral with his claws and ground his face into the rocky earth. Picking him back up, Shade pulled his foot up and pushed Ko’ral as far back as he could. Shade grabbed two large daggers and threw them quickly at Ko’ral, stabbing into his wings and pinning him against a wall. “You filthy little-.” Ko’ral didn’t get a chance to finish as Shade quickly flew up to him, again throwing all of his power into his punch and breaking straight through the rock. “I WILL RIP THOSE WINGS OFF MYSELF!” Shade rushed up and grabbed Ko’ral’s wings, before unceremoniously pulling up very hard and hearing the bones inside snap as the wings came off. Shade leaned in to Ko’ral. “Now the real fun begins…” Shade turned Ko’ral around and stared him in the eyes, with that Shade’s eyes changed to small slits as Ko’ral’s widened. “No! NO! STAY AWAY!” He shouted trying to get away from Shade. “STAY BACK!” “What’s the matter Lieutenant?” Shade asked innocently, his smile creeping across his face. “You’re not afraid of little old me are you?” “ST-St-STAY BACK! I-I KILLED YOU!” Shade laughed. “This is much more fun than I thought it would be. And that’s not even the best part…” Shade’s eyes turned pitch black. “Do you fear death?” Ko’ral back away clawing at anything he could. “NO STAY BACK! I CAN’T! YOU! I!” Shade walked up to Ko’ral and ran a sharpened claw along his neck. “It’s been a pleasure Lieutenant. I don’t often get to use this trick. Thanks for the stress relief. Now remember this moment. Because I’ll be speaking to you again, very soon.” Shade slammed his fist into the Lieutenants face, knocking him out. “Damn Shade…” Razant said, walking into the building’s new doorframe. “I thought you were going to kill him.” “A pathetic waste of flesh like him doesn’t deserve death.” Shade replied standing up. “At least not yet.” He turned to see Raz looking at him with a concerned expression. Shade’s eyes readjusted to look more normal than black sphere. “What?” “You um…. Have a knife in your gut.” Raz said. Shade touched the spot with his hand and pulled it away, noticing the crimson substance on it, he looked down, there was indeed a blade lodged into his stomach. “Sneaky bastard…” Shade said, before falling over from loss of blood. “DADDY! STOP IT! DADDY!” Sunspot shouted, still being held back by the Nurse, a small team of them had entered the room and were trying to stop his convulsions “Get that Foal out of here!” One of the doctors said. Just as Sunspot was pulled from the room, Tornado Dust ran up to her. “What’s going on?” “We’re not sure, he just started to shake like that. Can you hold onto her for me?” The nurse asked as Tornado Dust placed Sunspot under his wing and the nurse walked back into the room. “It’s okay, they’re going to help him.” Tornado Dust said. “Is he going to be okay?” Sunspot asked. “Please tell me!” “I don’t know Sunspot… I don’t know…” Tornado Dust replied, walking her away from the room. Come on Snake Eye… Don’t do this to us… As Tornado led Sunspot away from the room, he met up with Twilight and Rainbow Dash on their way to the room. “Where do you think you’re going?” Rainbow asked. “I don’t know…” Tornado replied. “Away from Snake Eye…” “So you’re taking her back to that Hive of-” Tornado stuffed his hoof into Rainbow’s mouth. “SHHHH!” Tornado hissed. “I’m not like that.” He moved his hoof. “I’m taking her to the lobby, Snake Eye is having a convulsive fit, so I’m taking the young one away so she doesn’t have to watch.” He turned and walked back towards the lobby. “How do we know that’s all you’ll be doing?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Like what?” Tornado asked. “I’ve been helping Snake Eye since he barreled into me in Ponyville.” “When was that?” Rainbow Dash asked. “A few minutes after I told you not to slack off on my first day back!” Tornado said aggressively. “Listen… If you want to keep up this argument, fine. But at least do it when Candy Floss can help comfort Sunspot. She’s having a tough time right now…” Sunspot let a tear roll down her face. “Daddy… He’s going to be fine right? Twilight… Right?” “Um… Yes I’m sure he’ll be fine…” Twilight replied. “You have a lot of explaining to do. I expect a lot of information before I trust you.” Tornado nodded. “Whatever you need.” After they were in the lobby, Candy Floss rocking Sunspot to comfort her, Twilight and Tornado Dust began talking. “What was your job?” She asked. They had chosen a spot in the farthest corner of the building, so they wouldn’t be interrupted, and just as a precaution, she put up a small Bubble of Silence. “I was an Infiltrator, we are sent to various cities, integrate into the society, and gather love and intelligence for the Queen.” Tornado Dust explained. “And on some occasions, we act as Captors, finding ponies who are widely loved and having them replaced.” “Where did you fit into that spectrum?” “I was an Infiltrator, I served every role, some more than others.” Tornado Dust knew he would need more explanation. “I was always a scout, looking into a town and trying to find the hotspots for love, usually with another Infiltrator as a new couple. I also had to help find info for the Invasion, but my job was about disabling Equestrian relations. Stopping them from getting help. I rejected the role after causing a small disturbance.” “What kind of-?” “I lit a fire in the scroll containment area.” Tornado Dust replied. Twilight blinked for a moment. “So no pony was harmed?” “No… I made sure of it.” “Alright so next… Where is the Hive?” Tornado Dust feared this question. “I know where the Hive is, but it’s empty. The Queen evacuated it after the invasion… I have no idea where the Swarm is though…” “That is disheartening… But at least you are being honest.” Twilight replied. “Now this is about the Queens… How do they decide their heirs?” “Biology mostly.” Tornado Dust replied. “Whichever Changeling manages to get into the Queen’s Chitin, if you get my drift…” Tornado Dust cleared his throat. “Anyway… barring that, the Queen can pass her crown onto another female Changeling, usually one of her best generals or most trusted advisors. If the Queen dies without an Heir and without passing it on, then the Hive just descends into complete anarchy.” Tornado Dust sat up a bit. “The Generals will fight one another for the right to rule, and then once it is decided, that Changeling reigns until they have a child, which is then fed upon a specific diet so that they will grow into a true Queen, by the time the Queen is ready to rule, the General dies, and the Queen ascends to the throne.” “Is that common?” Twilight asked. “Not really… Most Hives keep their Queen out of the fray… I think Pupa’s had it happen once, but aside from that every Queen I know of has an Heir, Except for Ovi…” “Ovi?” “Lust Hive…” Tornado explained. “They feed on the desires of ponies…more accurately, sexual desires…” Twilight’s jaw dropped. “They feed on it during…procreation… Most of them are just nameless drones, they just feed, and…another strange thing… They can feed off of… Reproductive materials...It’s… very strange…” Tornado looked up at Twilight’s jaw, still hanging there. “My hive has a very bad relation with them.” “Why’s that?” Twilight asked getting over her shock. “The emotions we feed on are very similar, so often a power struggle forms. Brothels are very common places for these fights to break out, specifically in Los Pegasus.” Tornado looked up. “But don’t think for a moment, that we are anything like them. We don’t feed on love during procreation, we feed on the love one feels between friends and family, but in the bed is where it is usually concentrated, so the-” Twilight held up a hoof. “No more… I don’t want to think about it…” “Fair enough…” Tornado Dust replied. He didn’t want to talk about it, so that suited him just fine. “So… What about Changeling/Pony family relations?” Twilight asked. “Any you know of?” Tornado tapped his chin. “Huh… I never really thought about that before…” He hadn’t, he had been taught it would be a very bad thing, but his sister always told him how much love was to be had in a full relationship. “I guess there are bound to be a few… I mean we have been living alongside ponies for over one thousand years.” “Any you know of?” Twilight asked. “There was my sister… but it was more of a platonic relationship… They were just friends… She was never interested in her beyond that…” “How can you be sure?” Tornado looked at her as if she forgot something basic. “We were twins… the mental connection we shared basically made us one and the same, very difficult to hide sexual feelings when both of us can feel it…” Tornado looked away for a moment. “It was really awkward during Seduction missions…” “Okay… Enough with the Sexual talk.” Twilight said. “You asked.” Tornado replied. “Mind if I ask you something?” “Go ahead.” “If it turned out that me and Antenna were just trying to get Sunspot back to the Queen, what would you have done?” “Probably stopped you, then interrogated you with the rest.” Twilight replied with a smile. “Now what did you really want to ask?” Tornado Dust sighed. “Are we doing the right thing here?” “What do you mean?” “With all of this.” Tornado replied, waving his hooves around. “The Hospital, the Queens… Is there any way for Changelings to fully integrate without fear… I just… After this attack, I can’t see it happening.” Tornado looked over at his mother as she played with the small filly. “I mean…look at my mom.” Twilight looked over. “She loves children. The way they act, how they play, she loves them. One of her biggest aspirations was always to try to open a day care or orphanage for them. She was so close too…" He sighed and shook his head. "Then Dad died… And then Gamma… Then I left, and she… She had a rough time… I can’t see her returning to the hive, there’s nothing left for her there. But I can’t see her getting very much work…” Tornado ruffled his mane. “All I’ve wanted to do since the Invasion was fix it… but can it be fixed?” He asked. “With all the bad things that Changelings have done, do we really deserve it? I mean…look at Snake Eye. He has a Foal who trusts him, a Mare who believes in him, not to mention the fact that he’s so determined to find Meadow… He even has the Queens on his side.” Twilight listened to the talk and looked at Tornado Dust. “I don’t know Tornado. I want to believe that not all Changelings are monsters, but too many of the ones I’ve heard about are monsters. I know there are exceptions… but I don’t know…” Tornado looked disheartened. “I understand… Just a foal dream…” “I think it could work. But not soon, we need to get rid of this evil queen. Then we can start thinking about adjoining Changelings.” She looked back up. “Now… Because of the fact that we may soon be fighting against them, what should we expect of the Changeling military?” Tornado Dust sighed. “In open engagement, we won’t take prisoners however the first in the fray, are usually the dregs, sent to die. Then we send in some of the actual soldiers, trained to kill, then if they fail, the generals with magical assistance. If things get really bad, the Queen will enter and lay waste to everything.” He looked up. “Essentially, the weakest are led by generals, who will kill them if they don’t follow orders, then magical users get thrown in, along with some warriors, and then the full military force will enter.” “This is… Very good news… This should help when we find the Swarm.” Twilight replied. “Now for a final question here. Would you ever return to the Queen?” Twilight’s horn glowed as a lie detection spell was placed on him. “Honestly, only if she gave me back my sister. Which she can’t do. So never.” Twilight looked at him for a second. “Alright…” She said. “I believe you.” “Really?” Tornado asked. “Nothing else? No test of trust. No strange spells. No trying to get the information out of me?” “No. I trust you.” Twilight replied. “The only thing is that if you give me cause to doubt you, I will.” She said, but it was good enough for Tornado. “Does this mean you’ll help me if I get caught?” Tornado asked. “I’ll think about it.” She replied as the bubble of Silence popped. “Now. You have a friend to see.” An hour later, Tornado Dust, Twilight, Rainbow, and Pinkie were sitting around the room, Sunspot was laying onto of Pinkie’s hair. Sunstreak had a breathing mask over his snout, and he had since normalized his vitals, but the doctors were still heavily monitoring him until he woke up. Twilight was looking out the window as the Sun began to rise over the city’s walls, casting an orange glow around the room. “He should be waking up soon…” “I wonder what he’s thinking about?” Pinkie Pie asked no one in particular. “I wonder if he’s having fun?” “Probably not…” Tornado Dust replied. “His mixture of inner emotions are too strong to be fun… I just can’t figure it out… It’s almost like he has so many memories all at once.” Sunstreak began to open his eyes, groaning as he did so. “Daddy!” Sunspot wanted to run up, but was stopped by Pinkie. “Not right now… In a minute.” Pinkie said winking. “Ugh…” Sunstreak said, as his right eye opened fully while he kept his left one closed. “What happened?” “We did it Sunny.” Tornado said. “Sunglider is going to be fine.” “Well… At least that’s great… Now my brain is equated to an egg falling from a cloud. We got any aspirin or something?” Sunstreak asked, pulling the breathing mask off of his face. “Sapphire gave you something for that.” Tornado replied. Sunstreak looked over at the table Tornado was gesturing to, where a large crystal was placed, Sunstreak grabbed it and threw it into his mouth. Feeling almost instantly better once the crystal was broken. However what he did not expect was a sudden explosion of confetti, a bunch of balloons, and a bone-crushing hug from both Pinkie and Sunspot. “SURPRISE!” Pinkie and Sunspot said loudly as Sunstreak quickly transformed to his natural form and teleported himself onto the ceiling before he felt his lungs start to struggle for oxygen. “Christ… Give a man some warning before you pull that kind of stuff…” Shade said, looking up at them. “Especially when that man has a crippling fear of Pinkie Pie hugs.” “How did you do that?” Twilight asked, “I never taught you to teleport.” “You didn't have to." Shade replied. "My mom taught me a long time ago. She always said, think about where you want to be, charge up a spell, poof. I’ll admit, I meant to be on the floor, but this works too.” Shade turned back into Sunstreak and floated back down to the ground. “So… What did you two have planned for me?” “Daddy!” Sunspot launched herself at Sunstreak who fell over from the force of the young Changeling. “You were shaking really bad, I wanted to stay with you but the nurses pulled me out, and then I spent time with Candy Floss. Then Pinkie wanted me to help with a party. So I did!” Sunstreak was surprised by the filly’s energy. “Well… What is this party?” Pinkie pulled out a cake box, inside which the cake said: “Congratulations On Getting That Royal Guard Out Of Your Head!” Surprisingly it actually fit on the circular cake. “That must have been an interesting discussion…” Sunstreak replied. Reading the cake icing. “You will have to tell it to me some time.” “How do you know I didn’t decorate it?” Pinkie asked. Sunstreak raised his eyebrow. “I’ve seen your writing Pinkie… This is much to precise for your work.” Pinkie smiled. “You were right! But that was mean.” “Still better than mine Pinkie.” Sunstreak replied. “At least you can say you gave a Changeling a heart attack.” “Oh…” Twilight said suddenly remembering something. “This came for you last night from Shining Armor.” She pulled out a scroll. “What is it?” Sunstreak asked. Pulling the letter out of the magical grasp and opening it. “Oh…” He said looking at the name at the bottom of the scroll. “This is a little higher up than Shining Armor…” Sunstreak turned the letter around and pointed to the seal at the bottom, next to it was the name “Princess Celestia.” “By order of Princess Celestia of Equestria, Shade/Sunstreak, you are required to attend a Royal Summit to discuss new terms on free roaming and handling of exterior Changeling threats. Report to the castle at 7:00 Am in your natural form. You will be escorted to the Throne Room by a group of Royal Guards.” Under the seal, another note was placed, one that seemed much less formal. “We look forward to meeting you. ~Princess Celestia and Luna” “This is great!” Twilight replied. “Maybe they want to make you a full time citizen.” Sunstreak however was busy thinking but something else. “If that’s true… Then Why do I have the worst feeling about this…” Sunstreak looked up at the clock. 6:45 “Oh crap!” Sunstreak said. “No time for the Party, Rainbow race you to the castle!” Rainbow looked at the clock and then back to Sunstreak. “You’re on, Sunny.” Without another word the two of them rushed from the room and down the halls, the instant they were outside, the two of them took to the air heading towards the castle as fast as they could manage. Back at the Hospital, Pinkie was looking at the cake. “Now what am I going to do with this?” Twilight walked over and placed her hoof on Pinkie’s shoulder. “I’m sure he’ll be done soon. Then maybe Celestia will let us have the party at the Castle.” “You think so?” Pinkie asked. “Well… Let’s see how this meeting goes before we decide on anything.” Sunspot was rubbing against Twilight’s leg. “I’m hungry…” “I’ll get Candy Floss…” Tornado replied, walking towards the door.