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// Chapter 49: Duel of Fates 
// Story: Converted 
// by Shaded Changeling 
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	When Shade and Twilight arrived at the Library, they saw a small Squadron of Changelings, four of which were holding a Dragon and the CMC in their forelegs while holding blades up to their necks.
“Let them go Spine.” Shade hissed.
The Changeling in front, wearing a dark blue armor that had a large crack in the chest area looked back at them a small smile working across his face. “Ah… Nymph so you came.”
“Let them go.” Shade hissed again, taking up an aggressive stance.
“So much hostility.” Spine replied calmly in a false Sotto voice. “Remember when we used to be friends?”
“No.” Shade replied venomously, growling slightly.
“Well neither do I.” Spine looked towards Twilight. “So you’re the one this Dragon has so much respect and affection for? I must admit, it is a rather strange chemistry you two have. Almost like brother and sister.” He walked up to Spike and lifted his head with a hoof. With the other one, he transformed it into a small blade and lowered it down to Spike’s eye.
“NO!” Twilight shouted. “Leave him alone!” Her horn lit up and as it did, the Changeling holding Spike pushed his head up so Twilight could see the bladed foreleg pressed tightly against his neck.
Spine laughed. “Oh… This is great…” He dragged the blade across Spike’s cheek, leaving a small cut. “A baby dragon and his precious pony sister. That is almost as funny as Nymph and the foal!”
Shade stepped forward. “He has nothing to do with this Spine. None of them do.” Shade growled. “Just let them go.”
Spine shook his head. “I thought you would have learned by now…” He said. “Simply knowing you is a good enough reason to kill them.” Spine pressed the blade against Spike’s cheek, increasing the pressure as the baby dragon’s eyes dilated.
Shade glared at Spine and pulled the dagger from his side, he tossed it into the air before surrounding his hoof in a green flame, as the blade fell, Shade griped it in a Griffon claw and threw it towards the two of them. It hit the Changeling holding Spike in the shoulder of its bladed limb, making him wobble slightly as Spike began squirming against his captor. “I mean it Spine. Let them go.”
Spine laughed, pulling the blade away from Spike. “Very well.” He nodded towards the other Changelings. They let go of their prisoners and all of them ran towards Twilight. The Changeling holding Spike fell to the ground and clutched at the knife now imbedded into its Chitin.
Shade turned to her. “Get them out of here.” He ordered motioning to the four young ones before turning back to Spine.
Twilight opened her mouth but seeing the death glares both Spine and Shade were giving each other, she closed it and nodded. In a flash, all five of them were gone, leaving Shade with Spine.
“What did you do to them Spine?”
“The fillies you mean?” Spine asked as if he didn’t know. “They’re alive… For now.” Spine motioned to the top of the tree. A small Changeling flew out from behind the layers of leaves; its eyes were glowing bright green as it flew up to Shade’s face. “Say ‘Hi’ to them.”
Shade glared at the Changeling. “I’m coming for you two… I promise…”
Spine dismissed the Changeling with a wave, and it flew back up to the top of the tree, observing the two combatants. “A valiant statement, but one that will ultimately be proven false,” The two of them began to circle each other. “I am going to pay you back for what you did in Canterlot.” Spine smirked. “And I must thank you.”
“For what?” Shade asked keeping his defenses up as he watched for any kind of opening to form, while keeping his eyes on all of the Changelings around him.
“Helping me deal with the Queen,” Spine replied. “Chrysalis was simply a puppet, under mine and Ceymi’s control. I had been running the Hive from the shadows for years. And now?” Spine laughed. “Now she’s dead, and the blame fell on you. Now Ceymi is the true Queen, and I will soon be a hero for killing the perpetrator of the crime.”
Shade glared. “If you can even manage it,” He hissed. “Hoping third time’s a charm, huh?”
“So much anger.” Spine replied. “So much hatred. It tastes delicious.”
“Let the two fillies go! They have nothing to do with this vendetta of yours!”
“Oh on the contrary,” Spine replied. “They know you, and once I kill you. They will watch as you suffer, then I’ll let them slowly starve, before bleeding them dry of any Love and emotions they have left.”
Shade charged at Spine. “You mother Fucker!” He tackled the Changeling but was quickly pushed off.
“That’s not even the best part!” Both of them transformed their forelegs into blades. They charged towards one another and clashed their blades together, Shade’s snarling face mere inches from Spine’s smirk. “Once that’s done, Ceymi will drain those Element bearers. Then nothing could possibly stop her!”
Spine slammed his body into Shade, pushing him away. “Not even Celestia can stand against the element’s power!” Shade pushed himself up in time to stop Spine from ramming him through with sharp blades by catching the blades with his own crossed blades. “And then we will conquer the other hives! With the combined power of the sun and moon, we would be invincible!”
Shade was having trouble pushing against Spine’s attack. He was in a bad position with his back up against the ground with Spine having the ability to place his full weight on the Conversion. Shade managed to pull up one of his hind legs and kick Spine back; he quickly used his wings to lift himself off the ground. “Then why hurt Meadow? Why kill Mirror?”
Spine was already back on the offensive, Shade only managing to block as Spine’s ruthless attacks pushed him back. “Because I love to see you squirm… In fact. Maybe I’ll let you watch as I drain them, then I’ll kill you!” Spine shifted his foreleg into a mace and brought it down on the two bladed forelegs, causing Shade to become wide open.
Shade’s horn ignited and he teleported out of the way of a jabbing foreleg, then something Spine said connected, Control of the Queen? “How long did you have control over Chrysalis?” He said as Spine pulled the blade out of the ground.
“For forty Years! I spent forty Years controlling a foolish Monarch! She couldn’t tell her Flank from her face if they were labeled! She was too kind, she cared not for our old ways! So I pushed her in the right direction… I controlled her during our last attack, and Ceymi was in charge of Canterlot.”
The fiords… Shade felt something inside him click. “You… It was… You! You attacked my home! You destroyed it!”
“The Burning Fiords? Yes that was my plan. It was fun to slaughter your village…”
“YOU FUCKER!” Shade felt a deep-rooted anger welling up, something he had not felt for almost two hundred years. It wasn’t anger, it wasn’t hatred, it was much stronger than that… It was a bloodlust… “You destroyed everything I held dear to me! You turned me into one of you! You DARE to attack a dragon! Then Let’s see what you’ve got insect.” Shade didn’t care what it took, he would kill Spine, he would not stop until every piece of him was scattered through the lands.
“Oh yes. Now is where I say I don’t play fair.” Spine nodded to the other Changelings, which charged at Shade.
“STAY OUT OF MY WAY!” Shade turned to them, his bladed forelegs igniting with green fire. He ran the blades through each of them, stabbing, slicing through their wings, and ripping the horn off of one only to jam it into its throat. He looked down at the Changeling now gasping as its lungs slowly filled with blood. A smile worked its way across his face as he looked over the struggling Changeling.
He began to laugh, a slow quiet laugh, his bright red eyes showing a sadistic pleasure at watching the changeling gasp, the laughter got louder slowly, more insane, until it as nearly unstable. “I haven’t felt like this for centuries…” He said. “It feels good…” He raised one of his bladed forelegs up at Spine. “Now let’s see how far I can go before you break!”
Shade charged, his bladed forelegs quickly slicing towards Spine, but while he was more aggressive, he was sloppy, Spine was able to block or dodge all of the strikes easily before knocking Shade back with a flurry of blows to his chest. Spine turned around and bucked Shade directly in his Ribs, there was a resounding crack, and Shade fell to the ground.



Throughout the Underground cave, every Changeling looked up as a huge emotional spike came from the city above, a bright red fire that caused all of them to shiver. Including the Queen.
“Spine…” She said softly. “Slave!”
Biome flew into the chamber.
“Gather my Guard! I will enter the fray myself!”

Farther in the Hive, Meadow and Echo watched as Shade was knocked to the ground.
Meadow gasped and covered her eyes. While Echo started to cry. “Daddy! Wake up!” She shouted at the projection. “Daddy! Please!”
Meadow looked at the projection, Shade wasn’t moving. “Come on Mr. Shade,” She said softly. “Please…. Get up…”
“DADDY! NO PLEASE!” Echo shouted. “DON’T GO! I NEED YOU!”
Meadow looked as Spine stepped on Shade’s chest. “Shade… Please…”



“See where your precious emotions get you?” Spine said as he looked down at Shade, holding him down with one of his forelegs pressed squarely against Shade’s ribs. His foreleg became a deadly blade as he smirked. “You are going to die here! Then there is nothing that will stop Ceymi from destroying Equestria!”
Shade slowly opened his eyes, all hints of the bloodlust gone. Instead of anger, it was replaced by sorrow. He had failed again… He couldn’t protect those he cared for from the Changelings back then, and he wouldn’t be able to now. The Changelings flew above him in the sky, chasing down Pegasi as they did. As he watched, the shapes and surroundings twisted to reflect his home…
“Good… I want you to watch as I…” Spine was tackled by a dark gray earth pony guard.
“Surprised to see me?” The Guard said to Spine.
“You!” He shouted. “You were the one that helped us!”
“And now I’m returning the favor!”
Shade pushed himself up off the ground, his head was spinning, and every time he took a breath it hurt as if a knife was jammed into his chest. He looked up to see Lockup on top of Spine.
“Lockup! Don’t!” Shade tried to shout, but ended up cringing as he made the sounds.
Spine smiled as he shot a green beam at Lockup’s chest. Lockup was launched back, and landed on the ground a few feet from Spine. “You pathetic Enforcer.” Spine walked over to him. “I’m going to make this…VERY… painful for your insolence!” He jammed the bladed forelegs into Lockup’s hind legs, piercing right through them, there were two very loud cracks, he twisted the foreleg and listened to the Changeling scream.
“NO!” Shade shouted. The anger began to rise again, but it was more controlled, it wasn’t a wild inferno he couldn’t hope to control, it was more a consistent flame of hatred… He felt he could use it… he had to use it… After all, all emotions are is… “power…” Shade said under his breath.
Shade closed his eyes and focused on the inner flame, he tried to will it to grow, so he could use it. I hope this works… He lowered his head as a green flaming circle began to surround him, popping up as he stoked the anger within him, thinking back to his home as he watched it burn, the looks of families, and he focused all of it on Spine. As the flames completed their circle, Shade ducked his head down and flared out his wings as a large green beam shot into the sky.
Spine turned away from Lockup to see Shade as a Dragon flying directly at him.
Shade threw a punch directly at Spine’s face, with a resounding crack; the Changeling flew off of Lockup and slammed against the ground.
Shade looked down at Lockup, his eyes closed and his body unmoving, a section of his golden armor had a black burn mark over it. Shade knelt down and placed two of his clawed hands by Lockup’s neck, feeling the faint pulse, he let out a relieved sigh.
His transformation was in no way painless, he still felt the now shattered rib, and he had to lose his wings and tail after the charge to make sure he was still able to do anything, even now; the drain was evident on his body. He stood up and quickly strode over to where Spine had started to get up; he gripped the Changeling by the horn and dragged him across the ground towards a building. He lifted the Changeling up and with his other clawed hand, punched him in the stomach, hearing a crack of his ribcage as the Changeling gasped for breath.
He lifted Spine up and slammed him into the wall as a crack formed across his back from the collision. Shade let go of Spine, and let him fall to the ground. “You made some very big mistakes…” Shade growled, looking at the Changeling as he struggled to stand up. “You attacked innocents, You attacked a child, you attempted a brainwash of a leader, and you pissed me the fuck off.” He extended the claws on his right hand as he lifted Spine with his left. “Now let’s see how much blood I can drain before you die.”
Shade lifted his claws but before he could bring them down, something forced his entire body to stop.
“HALT!” Shade found himself crippled by the mental attack. And he found himself obeying it.
“Release him!” Shade let go of Spine. Leaving the Changeling General to cough for a few seconds.
“Kneel to your Queen!”
Shade tried to resist it, but he found himself falling to the ground as Ceymi landed in front of him. “Spine! Are you alright?”
Spine weakly pushed himself up, his chitin cracked along the left side of his face, and his backplate cut through the middle. “I am fine now that I am in your care my Queen.”
Shade tried to move anything, even gag! But found himself unable to do anything at all. He couldn’t even dispel his transformation, which was still draining his energy quickly. “So this is the one you sought.”
“It is my Queen.” Spine replied.
“Then I believe you should do the honors.” Ceymi said, looking down at Shade. “But not before I have a little fun of my own.”
Her horn glowed and Shade’s eyes shot open as his mind was assaulted by thousands of voices. This time, it was worse than when Blackout did it to him, as this felt like the entire Hive was bombarding him instead of a portion of it.
Shade felt himself get lifted into the air and thrown against a wall. He opened his eyes to look at Ceymi, she was saying something, but Shade couldn’t make it out. She lifted him again and fired a green beam at his chest. He felt the scales around his body burn and underneath the hardened armor; he felt a few more of his ribs crack.
He was thrown against the ground, and felt a heavy force press down on his back. One very bad crack later, and Shade lost feeling in his legs. The shouting in his head stopped, as he opened one of his eyes to look for a reason.
“I believe that is enough damage.” Ceymi said. “You may kill him now.”
Spine hobbled over to Shade, and transformed his foreleg into a blade. “This is the end for you Nymph!”
Shade could barely keep consciousness, everything was blurring together, he lost feeling in most of his body, and he had no way to defend against it. He just kept his eye open and struggled to speak. “Make…Sure you….Finish me off…This time…”
Spine smiled and lifted the foreleg, but before he brought it down, Spine’s ears swiveled around as his eyes widened. He turned to look up at the sky. “no…”
“ENOUGH!” The Voice pierced through the heads of every Changeling, regardless of Hive, every one of them stopped what they were doing and turned towards the voice.
“PRINCESS CEYMI!” The voice shouted, Shade barely moved to look at Ceymi’s shocked expression.
“That… That’s not … Possible!” Seem said as her eyes widened at the voice, she began to step backwards as she looked into the sky.
“YOU HAVE TESTED MY PATIENCE FOR THE LAST TIME!” Shade craned his head to look into the sky.
An army of Changelings was flying above them, each one from Ceymi’s hive, only… They were fighting the others? Shade looked around and saw a group of Changelings land around the three of them.
“Ceymi!” Spine said looking back.
“SURRENDER NOW! OR FEEL MY WRATH!” All of the Changelings following Ceymi landed on the ground, placing their hooves over their heads.
Shade looked up, and saw something that elicited a mixture of pure hatred and relief.
“M-m-Mom?” Ceymi said surprised.
Queen Chrysalis landed in the center of the Changeling circle, her horn was covered in some kind of crystal. She was just as ugly as Shade remembered her, only a few small things were still damaged, with small pieces of her chitin giving way to the gray flesh underneath.
“You take my throne! My Hive! And have the audacity to attack a peaceful Hive!” She hissed as she walked towards the Princess. “Be lucky that I don’t strangle you myself!”
“Mom! I-I thought you were dead!” Ceymi replied, she was backing away from her mother, like a mouse when cornered by a large cat.
“I’m sure you did,” Chrysalis replied. “That is why you and your subordinate here brainwashed me into attacking not one but TWO peaceful nations!” Queen Chrysalis grabbed Spine in a green aura and pulled him close to her, making sure he was hanging by one of his hind legs. “Soldier 495, I hereby relinquish you of all power you have over my army.”
Spine was going to argue, but Chrysalis glared at him. “You have nothing to say to me. You are a traitor, a cowardly Nymph that deserves respect from nopony, not even the lowest Grub would dare listen to you!” She tossed Spine to the ground and stepped on his back plate. “I hereby revoke all connection to my Hive!”
Spine’s eyes widened as a Green aura surrounded his wings and horn. The aura pulled the wings open forcefully as the wings began to shrivel to nothing and his horn was turned to ash. Chrysalis applied pressure to Spine’s back making a loud crack as she shattered the blue backplate, letting the pieces fall to the dirt below as she pushed him with her hoof.
She turned to Ceymi. “As for you my loving daughter,” She said with pure disgust. “You are forgetting the powers a Queen has.” She leaned in to glare right at her daughter. “I revoke your rights to the crown.” She hissed
Ceymi’s eyes widened. “You can’t do that! It is my biological right to be on the throne!”
Chrysalis hissed. “You forget… only I may choose who succeeds me! It is a privilege to be a member of the Royal family. But I refuse to allow a power hungry tyrant like yourself to rule over MY hive.” Chrysalis lowered her horn to Ceymi, Ceymi looked at the horn with pure fear. A green beam was fired and connected with Ceymi’s own horn.
There was a bright flash as the spell hit Ceymi. She screamed as she watched herself transform slowly. Her pupils expanded and gave way to pure blue eyes, and her longer horn shrank to a small curve. There were a few painful sounding cracks as the Chitin shrunk and contorted to fit her newly smaller body.
When the spell was completed, Ceymi looked down at herself in shock. She screamed and looked at every detail of her body. She was now almost completely indistinguishable from the other Changelings. The only thing remaining that proved she was once a princess were the three green stripes across her stomach.
Ceymi began to tear up as her mother stood over her menacingly. “I do hope that Celestia and Acari come to an agreement on what to do with you.” Chrysalis said scathingly. “Because as far as I am concerned, My daughter is dead.”
Chrysalis turned from Ceymi, who ran over and tried to comfort Spine. Chrysalis looked down at Shade. “Is he alive?”
A Changeling walked up to Shade as his vision began to blur out again. The last thing he saw was his claws being surrounded in a slow green fire that began to work its way down from the tips of the fingers.
“He’s fading my Queen.”
Chrysalis sighed. The rest of her words blending together for Shade, the last thing he heard was a single word. “Sleep…”