Chapter 19 Welp, That Escalated Quickly!
Edited by iakovl
The Empress reclined upon her throne lazily, watching the events play out before her in the middle of her vast throne room. Around it were gathered her daughters, having been summoned to a gathering the likes of which none could remember in recent memory. Queen Druanae was still not accounted for, as she was busy keeping an eye on Equestria. Of course, Queen Anisophira was mired in the middle of a mess the Empress felt she had put herself into. Then there was the third missing queen, Chrysalis.
“See, my daughters! See the princesses of the Sun and Moon! See how they deal with adversity. Behold Leviatan, one of my most ancient servants. Let us take note of how he fares against the might of the moon.” All they could see were her eyes, flaring blood red as they focused on the moving image before them. More than a few rolled their eyes at her melodramatic declaration.
A collection of malevolently glowing eyes shifted to slits, going from the source of absolute power to where those hellfires were settled on. They shone with their own inner fires, driven by their own desires. From within the shadows, more than one queen leaned forward. The sound of buzzing filled the room, stirring the air. The only light came from what lay beyond the scrying spell currently held in place by the Empress. The great form of the sea dragon filled it with his immense bulk. It was noted how tiny and insignificant Princess Luna appeared as she approached.
“She will be devoured!” tittered one of the queens with a loud sneer.
A great gray form shifted next to the Empress, directly to her right. It was usually immobile. Impassively, a muzzle lifted, watching the image of Princess Luna addressing Leviatan. Great feathered wings shifted slowly as hooves clattered once against the stone floor in disapproval. A pair of green eyes flashed momentarily, levelled coldly at the queen who had spoken so rudely. She quieted nervously and they then resumed their normally stoic, half-lidded observation. There was a spark of interest in those orbs.
“Indeed, Shield,” she whispered, affixing a stern glare at the queen who had spoken. “Tell me, child, have you ever faced Princess Luna in battle?”
There was hesitation before an answer was given. “I have not, Mother.”
The Empress chuckled. “Pray you never do, my child. This battle was over before it begins.”
“A message from the embassy in Canterlot,” announced a dry voice from the ceiling. “Ambassador Fae reports the Equestrians will be delayed in their arrival.”
The Empress shifted to a more comfortable position. “Do tell,” she murmured. “Queen Felu, are you aware of who is with them now?”
To her right, in an alcove deep in the shadows came the reply, “I have, Mother.” She was distracted, it appeared. The Empress knew why and chuckled darkly. Her sisters followed with their own laughter, some nervously. Felu was a powerful queen and did not suffer insults lightly. Second to Chrysalis before her mysterious disappearance, Felu now held the dubious favor of the Empress. Only Tappis and Tappaz held greater power, and they were the Twin Queens.
The dark form of the mother of all the changeling queens spoke, and loudly. “Observe, my daughters. The alicorns are formidable. Watch and learn from this battle as it unfolds. Know to underestimate them is to seal your own doom.”
Leviatan considered the tiny dark blue alicorn hovering fifty feet from the tip of his tapered snout. She bore a smirk on her muzzle, hovering on lazy wings as her blue eyes unwavered as they looked into his massive slitted orbs. He had always wondered just what was so special about a creature that was nothing more than a mosquito to his massive form.
His age was unknown, his might never tested. Beneath him at the bottom of the ocean was his great hoard, gathered from countless ships over the aeons. The last fight he had involved a whale, and that had been a sport to the dragon. The whale had been delicious.
“Little blue pony, you are so tiny,” rumbled the immense beast. “What makes you think you can best me?”
She grinned, taking a quick moment to toss her head over her shoulder and wink at Celestia. Luna then faced the dragon again. “Oh, a thousand years of basically doing nothing has left me feeling a bit pent up. I think besting you in combat would be a nice way to test my physical abilities.”
Incredulously he stared at the alicorn, furrowing his massive scaly brows, before inhaling deeply, drawing his head back. The dragon slowly began to laugh sending shock waves thru the air. “You? Best me? A changeling queen defeated your sister. The whole world knows of her failure. I’m certain that if a queen can defeat the so-called Sun Goddess, then you should pose no problem to me, Moon Goddess.”
Luna sighed and rolled her eyes expansively at the dragon. “I am not a goddess! My sister is not a goddess. How many of you idiots do we have to explain it to before you get it right?”
Leviatan did not like being called an idiot. He took exception to the contempt in the alicorn’s voice. Did she not know who he was? He was the lord of the sea, the master of the oceans! No ship on the surface nor in the air was beneath his notice! All treasures were his. Everything was his! Why, even the very life of this insolent little blue winged snack was his!
“Die,” he hissed, lunging forward, maw agape.
Celestia fluffed up a nearby cloud and sat on it, making herself comfortable. This was going to be a test of her nerves, to be sure, but her sister wanted this. Luna was opening up to some of the more modern dialogue and taking to it like a fish to water. Testing out insults on the largest dragon in the world was a bit of a stretch, but Celestia trusted her little sister knew what she was doing. All she had to do was wait for her moment.
The jaws snapped at nothing but air, the blue alicorn flitting easily just out of range as her smile dropped and she began to study her massive opponent. Leviatan was a little quicker than she at first thought and Luna was unsure as to his strengths and weaknesses, obvious ones aside.
“Where did you put the World Gate, Leviatan?” she shouted at him, banking over his left eye, the tips of her armored hooves tapping his thick scaly brows. “You know not what forces lay beyond it!”
“Oh, but I do, puny pony,” boomed the dragon’s voice as his head swiveled to track her movement. His baleful eyes narrowed as he curled a scaly lip in a snarl. “Wealth beyond imagining! Access to magics to bring celestial thieves like you to heel!”
Luna scoffed. “You do not understand what you would unleash upon our world, dragon! You do not understand the humans. They would surely wage war upon you and you would fall! Arrogant foal!”
“Arrogant like you?” sneered the dragon, having locked on her hovering form. “I do not need their magic to slay you, pony.”
“You really are an idiot,” Luna muttered under her breath. Loudly, she called down to Leviatan, “I will give you one chance to surrender the World Gate.”
“Come and take it, if you dare.”
Luna rolled her eyes and shook her head once. “Where wert thou whenst they handed out the brains? Very well, let us see this farce to its inevitable conclusion.” With that, her horn lit up and her eyes flared to pure lamps of fiery white flames. About her, the air gathered, swirling as she slowly rose higher and higher into the now darkening sky. Clouds formed, gathering, heeding her call. As they came, forming from the sea and beneath the blazing sun, they thickened, towering high into the sky. All the while, they began to swirl around the two combatants. Soon, lightning flashed and thunder rolled angrily. The seas came to violent life as the wind sent white-capped waves into a mad froth.
Mind the ships, sister, Celestia reminded her gently.
I know what I’m doing!
Of course you do. Just reminding you in case you get a little too enthusiastic.
Just stay on your cloud, Tia.
Oh, he’s attacking you. Celestia smirked as her sister was distracted with their little argument.
Snorting, Luna focused on the dragon. Leviatan was not about to wait for her to complete her battlefield, having drawn his neck back and inhaling deeply. Did sea dragons breathe fire? She wasn’t sure, having never thought about it to this point other than flames being their default breath. As the dragon’s head shot forward, he again opened his mouth wide, the air around it growing as still as a grave.
Leviatan exhaled, spewing from his gullet green liquid in the form of a mist. Luna simply shot straight up into the air and out of his range. Her hooves dangled delicately beneath her as she stared at Leviatan, flicking her gaze down at the mist following after her. Summoning a gust of wind, she threw it at the poison, the massive downdraft shoving the disgusting stuff right back at the dragon who spewed it.
She called down to the dragon, her voice upon the wind of the downdraft, “At what point would you like for me to die? I hope my continuing to live does not inconvenience you too much!”
Leviatan recoiled from his own breath, closing his eyes and clamping his mouth shut. He shied away as droplets struck his thick scales, hissing as they burned into his natural armor. Smoke rolled from where blackened marks indicated where he was struck. Fury erupted from deep within his throat. He roared, shattering the skies as his rage doubled and focused on the insignificant creature who had dared challenge him.
The massive sea dragon bellowed, “You are not a goddess! You are not omnipotent!”
“Neither are you!” retorted Luna as she hovered warily. She knew the dragon was not going to underestimate her, having caught a glimpse of how she moved.
The dragon inhaled again. Luna expected more of that acid and immediately shifted her body into a rapid ascent with powerful strokes of her wings. The air rushed past her ears as her mane and tail trailed majestically in her wake. The dragon’s head shot forward, his neck muscles rippling as they bulged through his explosive exhale. Flames roared out from between his jaws, licking over his fangs and filling the air with the heat of a small sun.
The Moon Princess dodged the massive tongue of flame as it chased her. The speed she gained increased more and more until her form was but a blur of indigo, leaving behind her a streak crackling with an ethereal swirl. Her wings sang as they extended slowly with each stroke through the air, shimmering with a song like singing steel.
Nice to know this dragon breathes fire as well, she noted mentally.
Luna streaked through the air, darting into the angry, boiling clouds. Her armor flashed and her wings flared with elongating blades of magic. They flexed as she flapped her wings, undulating much as her mane and tail did, as if on a separate wind. Her horn flared indigo, her body shimmering in waves in response to the pulsing it began to emit. Below her, Leviatan bellowed and roared, frustrated at losing sight of his prey.
She commanded the storm and created a vortex; dancing, spinning and gusting, pouring more energy to it. A finger of clouds began to form beneath her, arching downwards to the sea. while in the eye of the vortex, Luna adjusted the funnel’s direction, tapping into her pegasi magic.
The Empress smiled from behind her mask of shadows. “Tell me, my champion.” Her voice caressed the giant pegasus’ ears with the tenderness of a long-lost love. “What say you to Luna, Mistress of the Moon, Lady of the Night and Princess of Equestria?”
Her daughters tittered nervously, as it was rare when the imposing pony was asked his opinion. When he spoke —if he chose to— his voice was unlike anything any pony could possibly possess. The only bodyguard the Empress ever kept near her, his green eyes always watchful. Intently he watched Luna as she darted easily from the dragon, her eyes never showing panic or worry. Her confidence was clear, faith in her abilities evident and absolute.
Shield was intrigued. A slight smile twitched on his muzzle, then resumed to being nothing. Inclining his head towards his Empress, he said in a voice barely above a whisper, “I should like to face her.” It was deep, a soft rumble only the Empress could make out.
She smiled, leaned over to the pegasus, and gave him an affectionate nuzzle before resuming her attention to the image. “Soon, my dear. Soon.”
You know what? I love being surrounded by kids. There’s a blissful chaos to be had when you’ve got a little bundle of chitin and fangs hanging on one arm, while another glomps you on the head. To my left, one chirped for my attention as he wanted to show me his wrestling prowess, distracted by his own need for attention. The sister he wrestled took advantage of this and rolled him on his back, bumping the both of them into a third nymph. She took exception to this and began to complain loudly, batting at both of them with her forehooves. Her protests sparked a chain of events which stirred their guardians from their dozing. Changelings mares were soon drifting among them, snatching children apart and scolding them in their language. Some were harsher, I thought, than others.
There were three of them. They were tired, worn out, and each bore an expression of weariness not caused by the room full of nymphs. They watched me as I moved, stopping every muscle as I sat up and leaned over, reaching my arm out towards a particularly loud colt, the wrestler.
“Enough of that,” I told him as I grabbed him by the scruff of his neck. Just like a kitten, he immediately went limp as soon as my fingers closed over the back of his neck. He weighed nothing, but I brought my other hand underneath for support and picked him up. As I picked him up, I turned him around so he could meet my gaze. He blinked at me, his solid blue eyes widening. “Behave,” I admonished him gently.
I decided to call him Bitey. As the adults watched me like constipated gargoyles, ready to intervene should i do something wrong, I pulled him to my chest, hooves facing up and cradled him like I cradled Chryssie when she was younger...and much, much smaller!
Bitey blinked again, finding himself very comfortable indeed. I began to rub his belly and he almost immediately went limp with bliss once he realized how good it felt. His tongue lolled out as he grinned, his eyelids going heavy.
Yeah, I experimented on my daughter to know just how to make a changeling like putty in my hands. Blissfully the colt chirped as I had him settled in ten seconds flat.
I think someone just guffawed. What?
For the next few minutes, I helped the mares settle down the wriggling brood of unruly changeling nymphs. Queen Annie had left some time ago, tending to doing more queen stuff, or just braiding her mane, or whatever it was changelings do when they’re under siege.
I guess I should describe the room, now that the chaos has died down to nap time. It’s a fairly large room, circular in shape...more of an oval, really. There’s a lot of nooks and crannies in the walls filled with little books and toys. More are scattered on the floor. Throw rugs are here and there, brightly colored. Lots of large cushions are also on the floor, each one bearing at least one nymph. Odd lamps dangle from the ceiling, looking more organic than mechanical in their make. It gave the room a ruddy glow, as changelings seemed to prefer less light than, say a pony. I was reminded of a room filled with perpetual sunset, just after the fiery orb had settled beneath the horizon.
Putting the snoozing Bitey on a nearby cushion, I stood up and stretched my cramped limbs, startling the adults in the process. I hated this. I hated the waiting. I hated the not knowing what was going on. My instincts told me all was not well in the world of ponies.
About then, the room came alive as the queen entered, her face grim as her mane seemed somewhat disheveled. The nymphs felt her emotions and all awoke from their naps, most quite upset. The sound of insane crickets filled the room. Scared changeling nymphs would fit right in with Ozzfest. She gave them a sympathetic smile as she swept through them, throwing out nuzzles like Miss State Fair waving at the crowd. Annie was all smiles and tenderness to them, but as soon as she came up to me, she hissed a sentence.
“Come with me quickly!”
Her voice suggested ‘no’ was not an option. Dislodging Bitey from my leg (he latched on to it when the queen woke everyone up) proved to be akin to prying a tick off with a wet noodle. He chirped at me frantically, shaking his head. It was easy to see what he was saying in his baby changeling talk.
“Don’t go! Don’t go! Don’t go!” he seemed to chirp at me, his eyes huge and already welling up with tears.
One of the mares darted in, taking him by the nape of his neck. He went limp for the second time, sniffling pitifully as he realized he wasn’t going to be allowed to stay with me. Bitey began to cry, hiccupping for breath as he tried weakly to reach out to me. It broke my heart, but the queen held sway over a portion of my mind.
Why hadn’t I mentioned anything to her about it? It was as though I couldn’t. I was compelled to obey, yet still hold on to the most important aspects of my mind and those things within that made me an individual. A living puppet, restrained, following a linear path though there were countless paths shooting off in all different directions. My bare feet stayed true to a course not set by myself. I hated it, yet obeyed with a feeling between curiosity and determination. I could feel a portion of Annie’s concern, the anger lying within her inner self. She was consumed by her worry for her hive and the changelings who looked to her for guidance.
She was an angry mare.
She was a determined queen.
She was a grieving mother.
She was a steadfast leader.
Fronts, all of them. Lies to conceal her fears. My thoughts pieced together something different, another angle, a different picture. I saw a dying old woman, left to fend for herself, her own family having forsaken her to a fate I could not even begin to fathom. Though her figure was lithe and moved with fluid grace, it was as though her very soul was crumbling before me.
Why was I seeing this?
“I must prepare the hive for her,” she told me as we followed a winding corridor. Her hooves made no sound as she offered me a passing glance. Her wings buzzed every so often, a clear sign of her agitation. “But for you, I must ask you...no, command you to take up arms. I must task you with protecting my children. We are surrounded, but we must make a breakout towards the forest and get the nymphs to safety. The dragon’s minions are beginning to tighten the noose. I imagine their master is engaged in combat. Their fleet has been scattered. Either they seek to take hostages or they seek slaughter.” Annie rambled, seemingly as though she expected me to pay attention. My feet padded on the balls and toes. My sore toe barked at me.
“We have weapons,” she went on, taking a turn that led the two of us deeper into the bowels of the shattered hive. “But we don’t know how to use them. They are alien to us. Not made for hooves. Our magic is not accurate enough to manipulate them properly and our training has not advanced enough for us to understand and properly train with them.”
Weapons?
“Human?” I guessed out loud as I used my hand to steady myself on the steepening descent. The floor felt firm and bumpy, but my instincts wanted a third contact with a surface for balance.
There was a pause from Annie. “Yes,” she replied with a heavy sigh. “We used the World Gate to steal human weapons. My hive is small and I wanted an advantage against my larger and more aggressive sisters.”
Whelp, that’s such a welcome thing to hear! “Wait, how long have you had it?”
“Hmm?”
“The World Gate. How long have you had it?”
She tilted her head, pausing a step or two before resuming our journey. “I should imagine seven or eight years now. It took five to gather enough energy to power it, figure out how it works, and establish an anchor on the other side.”
“Anchor?” I blinked in confusion.
She misread my one word question. “Vatican City.”
“The Pope!?”
She chuckled. “The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. Numbers chapter six, verse twenty-four through twenty-six.” The queen stopped in her steps and regarded me with amusement. Wanted to see the shock on my face. “Honestly, Mr. Spriggs, how can we changeling collect love if we did anything other than preach love and peace?”
Without waiting for me to reply, Annie tossed her mane and resumed her walk.
“Now just wait a minute, Lucy. You got some ‘splainin’ to do!” I called after her. “The friggin’ Pope? Seriously? The whole of the Catholic faith is centered around you guys? THE. HELL. YOU. MEAN !?!?”
No way. Absolutely no way! Impossible!
“No,” she snorted dismissively. “The infiltration was recent, during your current century. The time differences between my world and yours differs greatly, expanding and contracting. I’ve noticed our timelines slowly falling in sync with each other. I should imagine them to be aligned within a generation.” Anisophira grinned to the side, allowing me a view of her fangs. “But that’s not important right now.”
“The hell it isn’t, lady!” I snarled. “Changelings on Earth? For how long?”
“Almost as long as the ponies have been. Not quite. Perhaps two thousand of your years? Oddly enough, despite the troughs and crestings of our respective time lines, the total difference between our worlds is even enough.”
Smart talk hurt brain! Mikey need smash something to feel superior! Change the subject, you idiot! Your brain can’t handle the overload! I can’t even do a proper overload because my brain is too primitive!
Something clicked in my head. “Wait a damned minute. You’ve got guns!”
“Acquired through various means,” she conceded, unabashed.
“You were trying to learn how to use guns?”
“Such a smart monkey.”
“And you’re too stupid to figure out how to make the long stick go boom?”
Michael, Michael, Michael. If you’re going to insult a being with the ability to obliterate your head off your shoulders in a blind rage, calling her stupid is a great way to start!
Instead, she gave me the stink eye. “Amusing. An implied joke involving your mind in the gutter. How typically male of you. I wonder if you would be as effective gelded.”
My boys shrank up into me. I don’t know how that was even possible, but it sure felt like it! Yipe! Yipe! Yipe! “Hey, now! Let’s not do anything—”
“Stupid?” she suggested smoothly as I felt something grab my genitals and begin to squeeze, her horn glowing a bit. She never moved from her spot and gave me the look of an old friend having a pleasant chat with me. “Oh, indeed, let us not do anything rash, Mr. Spriggs. I wonder, what words would be most appropriate for this very moment? What terms of endearment would my ears hunger to hear from such a scholarly gentlecolt such as yourself?” Annie gave me a lovely smile behind those wicked, wicked, wicked fangs of hers.
“I’m sorry?” I guessed through the pain in my nether regions.
“With more feeling, Mr. Spriggs,” she encouraged like a demented movie director. Think Quentin Tarantino if he had boobs, erm, teats, erm….whatever! The invisible hand squeezed harder making it very hard to think straight.
Since the topic of religion had made a fresh impression on my mind. “Jesus! I’m sorry! Oh, God, I’m sorry!”
With that, the pressure was gone and I immediately placed my hands over the tender spot, scrunching my knees and thighs together as I hissed in the remnants of the pain. “Too far?” I asked lamely.
“Yes.”
We continued and soon came to a door flanked by two menacing-looking guards. Without hesitation, they opened the door and the queen went through without so much as a nod at them. They glared at me. I cringed a bit, rubbing a hand at the base of my neck subconsciously. Lowering my eyes, I simply followed Annie inside.
“Behold,” she announced proudly, her horn flaring to light the room. The queen slid to one side to allow me an unimpeded view of what lay before me.
Cases of carbines. Racks of rifles. Parcels of pistols. Ammunition. Grenades. Enough weapons and ordnance to supply a small army for a month. A veritable cornucopia of mayhem.
There were different sorts as I drifted among the neat stacks, reaching out and touching flash suppressors, butt stocks, receivers…
“Oh God...you’re preparing for war!” I stopped, turned, faced the queen. Spreading my arms wide, I demanded, “Where did you get all of this?”
Annie shrugged. “Stolen,mostly. There are reserve bases and storage places where the security is lax. A simple thing to send in a small team to gather up these tools of violence. I sought an advantage over some of my sisters, as I might have mentioned. Unfortunately, word of the World Gate reached the ears of Leviatan. You know the rest.”
“How...I mean...why?” I stumbled over my own words, completely at a loss.
“Could you fight if it meant protecting the lives of innocents?” the queen asked sternly. She swept a hoof over the room. “I have but a small force and need to give them any edge I can against any threat beyond my reach. There are those out there who would surely find happiness upon the corpses of dead changelings, my own kind included.”
I blinked like a deer in the lights of an oncoming semi. “You...want me to...fight for you?” My nagging thoughts formed words and those words were what came out. “I...I don’t know what to say…”
“Would you take up arms to protect your daughter?” she insisted, stepping towards me like an ominous storm cloud. “Are these nymphs within this crumbling sanctuary not worthy of being protected? I need you to help watch over them while they make a run for the forest. The Equestrians are gathering there as we speak.”
Her eyes began to glow, her voice growing ernest.
“Take up the tools necessary to protect the future, Mr. Spriggs.”
I didn’t want to pick up what I had left behind all those years ago. Still, there was the possibility of a fight, and I would be an idiot to be without some form of defense. The urging from the queen compelled, I had to obey. Though there was a part of me screaming for freedom from these mental bonds, the other part wondered what the big deal was.
Wait...Chryssie? It was the last memory I had before everything went blank. All that mattered now was my queen. I must defend her. She is all that matters! I am her chosen! I must protect her, even with my life!
FML.
I wonder how Daddy was doing? We arrived into the hidden canopy of a bunch of trees not far from the sound of waves crashing against the cliffs. The ocean was so close, I could smell the salt in the air. The sun was finally rising and we could make out patrols of winged creatures larger than pegasi flying over a particular area. Griffons, I noted once I squinted for a better look.
Having arrived just as the first rays of the sun broke the horizon, we were quickly approached by a pair of camouflage changelings. Anzealous was nervous, but spoke to them quietly, ignoring their initial glares. They were focused on him, almost as though they knew the fat little changeling. On the horizon, we could all see dark clouds forming. Lightning flashed here and there, the sound of distant thunder making my ears swivel towards them.
“Luna’s hard at work,” noted Bob with an admiring grin. “Probably giving that dragon the fight of his life!” He was looking at me when he said that. I could feel his pride welling out from him.
Feeling her magic, or the concussions from her manipulation of the atmosphere left me in a sense of awe. Her signature was in the air, sort of like a shockwave. With it rode her confidence. I heard a roar in the distance. Or was that just more thunder?
Feathersong assumed overwatch, while Steel Jaw vanished ahead to scout out the lay of the land. Quint Orca chewed on the end of an unlit cigar, looking unimpressed as he glared at the two changeling scouts. All the ponies were armed, except for myself, Anzealous and Fleur de Lis. I was in my unicorn disguise. My eyes fell away from the horizon and settled upon the two changeling scouts speaking with the former ambassador.
Something else was here. I felt uneasy. It was the same as on the airship. I blinked as my mind worked through the initial confusion of this sensation. I zoned out, focusing on that source. It felt like something within myself.
“Ye smell her, girl?” growled Quint, squinting at me with a knowing grin. “Ye feel her, don’cha? Her presence pings around inside yer little head an’ ye know. Ye can’t explain it, but ye know, girl!” The older pony leaned in as he whispered. “Are ye good?”
“I’m fine!” I said, more than a little creeped out by the pegasus.
“Wait here,” announced Fleur suddenly. “Anzealous and I will be going into the hive to make contact with the queen. Emeraude, come with us. Queen Anisophira wishes to see you.”
Quint nudged me. “Git.”
Nervously I trotted towards Fleur. “There’s a tunnel entrance not far from here,” she said as I came within the range of her quiet voice. “According to the scouts, there are twenty, perhaps twenty-five unfriendly folk about here, watching the hive. There are three airships inbound.” She flashed flinty eyes. “They are not our friends.”
“Pirates?” I guessed.
She nodded. “There’s a squadron of destroyers giving chase, but I should think they come to finish the job. I do not know why they would do this, but petty vindictiveness, I should think.”
“How much time?”
She turned to Anzealous questioningly. He in turn grumbled, but repeated her question to the scouts. They responded, one of them throwing a hoof in the direction of the storm. I squinted and noticed three dots at a level where they nearly blended in with the dark clouds. “Less than half an hour,” was the answer from the fat changeling. “I recommend haste.”
The two scouts stared at me. Their eyes widened. One chirped at Anzealous. He sighed, nodded. They both bowed hastily to me, exchanging words excitedly with each other in hushed whispers. Finally, they turned and slinked into the underbrush. Fleur went after them, and I followed her. Anzealous brought up the rear. Considering his ample caboose, it was only fitting.
I didn’t want to follow him. “Keep your eyes off my butt,” I warned him, half joking, half willing to rip his face off if his eyes so much as wandered over my tail. My ears swiveled back on him as I kept my eyes ahead of me.
“Nothing much to look at,” he seemed to mutter.
It wasn’t long before we found the entrance mentioned earlier. It was hidden beneath some bushes and a very clever illusion spell. Without pause, we disappeared into it and headed towards the hive.
Yay me.
Luna panted lightly, the storm running wild around her. The shafts of her elongated wings caused by her extending herself had served effectively as blades. The dragon’s natural armor was rent and torn, scales dangling in places, exposing skin and flesh beneath. The dragon’s fury had not left the alicorn untouched; wounds and bruises from the dragon’s own manipulation of the storm had scored her well. The tip of her horn glowed as she readied another bolt of pure magical energy to hurl at one of the number of spots on Leviatan she had been concentrating on.
As she did so, warily circling high over her opponent, the dragon’s maw bore smoke drifting from between his fangs. Both combatants were eager to continue, neither willing to give an inch.
Luna’s eyes narrowed as she steadied her breathing. Far from exhausted, she chided herself mentally for exerting more energy than she felt was necessary in wearing down the dragon. Her constant waterspouts bounced off his hide at first, doing little more than to blind the dragon as she planned her attacks. She had no intention of killing him, despite his best efforts to roast her. The dragon was in a frothing rage, or rather near one as she stymied every effort he made to slay her. Having wings gave her certain advantages where his sheer size made him near immune to most of her magic.
Had Celestia found it yet? The World Gate? Have you spied out where the beast hid it?
I have. It lies beneath the waves in a cave within a seamount. He has been hovering over it, guarding it. I think he has minions down there as well. Very strange. I do not know the sea. Celestia mentally frowned to her sister. I shall assume the shape of a porpoise and see for myself.
Hurry! My strength is not bottomless!
You’re the one who insisted she could handle Leviatan!
You get the next dragon.
Fine!
Fine! Luna found her smirking after having a foalish outburst with her sister. I hope you get Spike. She nearly missed the flames reaching for her hungrily and skipped on wing out of the way. “How rude!” the alicorn called out to the dragon.
“Stop your prancing in the air, little thing!” complained Leviatan with an aggravated snarl. “I grow weary of your cowardly tactics!”
“Surrender the World Gate!” she cried. “This battle is already mine. You delay the inevitable!”
Leviatan screamed at her, hurling more flames in defiance. Again, she dodged out of range, plinking away with her horn in reply. Cobalt bolts of magic flashed down, striking flesh stripped of armor. Blood seeped through some of the wounds. He did not care, nor did he feel the pain, for it was nothing to him. True, he had never been harmed like this since he was a hatchling, but those memories were ancient and like the dust. He barely recalled what it was to feel such an assault upon his body.
The dragon decided he did not care for receiving harm. The insufferable mare was proving to be far too quick and agile and her command of the storm rivaled his own. Since when did wings cut such gaping wounds? His eyes swirled, unable to fathom the depths of most magics, having been largely ignorant of it for most of his life. He was aware of magic, even had his own magic abilities, like his flames and his ability to call up storms. Leviatan could create a vast whirlpool to swallow up ships so he might take them apart and take what treasures he desired for himself.
He drove the storm with his own will, finding her mind to be formidable as it challenged his. Luna knew this, understood him, and took advantage to what was before her. Already she had an idea to his weaknesses, his obvious strengths. It was as though she could see into his mind, though this was far from the truth. Leviatan was a creature of habit, so used to his strength and size, he had forgotten there were smaller beings who were capable of bringing him down.
She began to command the storm to charge up, hurl bolts of lightning at him. Again and again they struck his exposed flesh, his scales unable to deflect the repeated assaults. Each strike landing true made him shriek in agony, thrashing in the ocean, adding his own waves to the violent sea. Blinded by the growing and unending agony, he did not think to dive, driven mad with the desire to strike back at the alicorn doing him such harm. To flee was unspeakable!
“Yield!” she cried down to him, using her Royal Voice.
His great form jolted and jerked as his nerves spasmed from the damage.
Luna sighed, saddened it had come to this. So much suffering in the name of pride!
“Do you see, my daughters? Do you see the cunning behind the power?” the Empress lectured, drifting her attention from daughter to daughter. “Luna was banished in the moon for a thousand years, yet she is able to overcome the madness which threatened to consume her.”
Her mane stretched out, an extension of her will as it idly caressed the side of her champion. Within the shadows concealing her features, she smiled. An exchange occurred in the span of a glance and she withdrew into her throne until the darkness swallowed her. Only the glow of her eyes was proof she was still there.
“A loss of a day, perhaps two,” she noted dryly. The Empress lifted her chin. “Felu?”
The third queen to her right stepped on hoof forward, bowing. “Yes, Mother?”
“Go to him. After so many years, I am sure you are eager to get reaquainted.”
She flinched, but bowed her head. “As you wish, Mother.”
The Empress smiled. “Go. I think I have let you suffer long enough. Your loyalty has proven itself.” The smile faded, became serious. “Anisophira goes too far and overplays her role.”
Queen Felu nodded and herself disappeared into the shadows. The Empress regarded the scene of Leviatan being overcome by the Princess of the Moon. “Go, my love. Be a better opponent than the fool who underestimated her.” Her horn lit up and she began to channel a delayed spell as she decided she had seen enough. It was inevitable it would come to this.
Leviatan had failed, as expected.
The gray pegasus rose to his hooves, shaking out his wings. His eyes lit up in anticipation and the faintest hint of a smile played out for a moment. Bowing to his Empress, he turned, flicked his tail, and departed into the darkness.
Leviatan was in the last throes of his fight. The alicorn was too much for Storm Serpent, her will finally taking what control over the storm he held sway. The relentless pounding of the wind and the sleeting rain compounded with the precise lightning strikes finally wore him down. Stubbornly he resisted on, as dragons were not prone to surrendering. The only other creature they could even think of fleeing was another, larger dragon.
He was the largest in the world.
“Inconceivable,” he whispered in a pale shadow of his voice. “I am the ultimate predator! All bow to me! I am king!”
Luna observed the writhing mass of pain beneath her and felt a pang of pity for him. It took a moment to pass as she realized why she was here to begin with. “It’s over,” she told the dragon. A hateful glare was aimed at her. “Yield, Leviatan. Yield and submit to your fate. There is much for you to answer for. The suffering of the innocent beneath your shadow ends this day!”
She paused, observing the living mass ignoring her as it could only feel the agony wracking his body. Celestia was busy finalizing the location of the World Gate. She succeeded with the simple message ‘I found it!’ pinging in the younger alicorn’s mind. Other than that, Celestia left Luna to concentrate on the dragon.
“The Council of Dragons will be interested in taking you into custody, as they have first rights to you, Leviatan,” she said, determined he should hear her. Drifting before his massive head, she addressed him again, repeating her words louder. “No doubt the list of charges against you is great.”
He fixed her with a hateful glare, unable to do more than snort smoke in her general direction, managing to still his body enough. Leviatan sank into the sea, but Luna charged her horn and held him with a grip on his massive snout, like a great band.
“Delusional creature!” she told him coldly. “I can smell the innocent blood you have taken. I can feel the suffering you have inflicted. I am not goddess, but I am a greater foe than you have no doubt discovered for yourself. You command the storms? At my whim! You rule the sea? I bring the tides! I have shattered the glass you have encased yourself within, Leviatan. For the last time, yield!”
“Your hatred of humans is known to me,” hissed the dragon in a rumbling whisper. “Tell me, why should they matter to you? Would not the blood of humans upon the water please you? I would do you a favor by making humans suffer, would I not?”
She narrowed her eyes. “My grievances against another world has nothing to do with you, monster.” Luna shifted her focus. “Whom are you serving? You cannot have the knowledge to work a World Gate!”
Leviatan opened his mouth to speak, but froze, his eyes going wide. He gurgled, eyes rolling back into his massive head. The thrashing renewed with a frantic frenzy. The dragon rolled on the ocean, his sheer mass breaking the magical hold Luna had. He shrieked in a new, deeper agony, his claws clutching at his chest with such ferocity as to tear his scales and rend deeply within himself. The alicorn pulled away, in utter shock.
She could feel it! A powerful spell had exploded within the dragon!
“By the Maker,” she breathed in horror, watching the lights die in the dragon’s eyes. Celestia, he is dead…
The air before her shimmered, the telltale sign of an incoming teleport. The alicorn did not recognize the signature. It was completely foreign, but it was strong and solid. The caster was experienced, even taking out the bright light that normally preceded instantaneous travel. A strange gray mass solidified before her, The gray form spread its wings wide, facing her, not more than fifty body lengths from Luna. He was larger than her, his wings flaring wide. No horn adorned his head. How did he teleport here? This was easily one if not the largest pegasus the dark princess had ever seen.
“Who are you?” she demanded, recovering quickly. Luna knew this pegasus could not have possibly used magic to get here. Where did he come from? “Who sent you?”
The strange pegasus ignored her for a moment, his eyes drawn to the floating corpse of the dragon beneath him. For a second or two he stared, his expression neutral.
Luna asked again, “Who are you?” His ears swiveled towards the princess, then his muzzle came up.
“A challenger,” came the answer, his voice as unsettling as it could possibly be .
His left eye assumed a burning ember of red flame, observing balefully.
Luna did not like this, she didn’t like this at all. “Ponyfeathers,” she muttered under her breath.
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i would be all for hanging out in a changeling hatchery!
hoard
Who said "Who are you?" Was it Luna asking again, or was he repeating what she said? Considering it wasn't "Who am I?", the former seems more likely. In that case, you need to split the paragraph in two so the two characters' words are not in the same one. Also, you have an accidental space before the period at the end.
The phrasing here is kinda awkward, as "ember" isn't a color. You could say "assumed the color of a burning red ember", or simply added an apostrophe and an "s" after "ember". Another possibility is that you meant "amber", but that's not so much a burning red color as it is a brownish-orange one.
4825243
soon the sworm will run over celestia... soon
4825440
that was Luna again. the first time he didn't answer and after ignoring her she asks again.
as for the eye color, ok you got us there. the whole idea is that his eye color changed from the normal green to having one eye red, why? you'll find out in the next chapter... spoiler, there is another color for his eyes... for a reason
4825779
i dont think celestia would mind that kinda swarm
4825799
resistance is futile
4825884
not as cute
Changeling politics hurts my brain... I can totally see Chryssie rounding a corner to find Mike standing guard over the nursery and being told she's now a big sister. I was going DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWW all through the nursery scenes, especially with Bitey.
4825779 He's not the first warrior pony I've read of with a single color-changing eye, so it didn't strike me as something to think too much about.
4826102
well... will see about that... had some nice ideas for him
4825440 Good catches! Will fix!
Here's a piece of music explaining how I think everything's falling apart:
....Nope. Don't care if she was ordered to, I hope Felu takes a hypersonic .50 bullet through the cranium just at the base of her horn. Yes I have a pretty good idea of who she is and what's going on. No I still don't care.
Come to think of it, I really would love for the Empress 'way-too-full-of-herself-and-supremely-confident-in-her-all-knowing-villain-shtick' to get summarily executed without even enough time for her to process it, much less react. Eeeyep. (This villain archtype does wonders in ticking me off)
The Empress was behind it all! Oh Empress, I am much disappoints in you!
seriously though for a race that doesn't want humans to join the equestrians side,
the changeling are well on their way to pissing them off
1 They stole weapons from earth
2 They stole children from earth using Levitan as a puppet
3 They have steathily hidden many changelings on earth
Countries on earth have gone to war over far less than this in the past
4833259 Then she is doing her job and just as I envisioned! Also, keep in mind all of this is just a game to her. Want a little spoiler? She's testing the bonds of the two sisters who spent a thousand years apart. All these little nuisances...nothing more than tests for all those involved. Even her daughters. For some reason, she's testing their loyalties.
Why? I'll leave that for you to decide! We're rapidly approaching the climax!
4834116 No all changelings want that. Felu was replaced for a reason.
4834608
Was that a Earthbound reference?:
Wait, did the empress just referred to the sisters as her daughters?
Gah, no nymphs better die you'll be sorry! And Annie should survive too!
If you're not trying to make a pun, the slang variant on "Well" is "Welp". A "whelp" is a young offspring of a carnivorous mammal.
Welp -> Well
Yep -> Yes
Nope -> No
(The "e" in "Nope" is needed to force the "o" to say its own name by forcing a certain interpretation of where the syllable boundaries lie. See also "hope" vs. "hop", "mope" vs. "mop", and "lope" vs. "lop")
"pegasus magic"
You use the singular when treating a noun as an adjective.
What the heck does this mean? Puzzling over that completely broke me out of the story.
"camouflaged", unless you mean that their role is to camouflage other people/things. (Present tense as an adjective means that's what they do. Past tense as an adjective means that's what was done to them.)
6901251 FML means "Fuck My Life."
I hate how much sense this makes, but I love when I can use exclamations with their literal meaning. Jesus Christ, Scar.