Blackened Hearts

by NecroLeprechaun

Where Are You?

"Sombra," Chrysalis huffed and kicked at a small patch of snow unmarred by hoofprints. “WHERE ARE YOU?” she screamed at the moonlit expanse of white open land, a few glaciers, and the thick chain of hills that stretched out across the horizon, making a few nearby changelings jump at the sudden outburst. The queen had been running a short fuse since receiving the news of Sombra's return, and time hadn't helped to curb her temper.

The changelings had been searching for any sign of the former ruler for just over a month when one of their hunting teams had heard rumors of somepony robbing houses of their food in one of the outlying regions of the Crystal Empire. It had been two weeks since then, and they still had yet to find anything of King Sombra. Then to make things worse, it had snowed earlier in the day, so the few traces of the burglar's most recent trek had vanished with the arctic storm.

Chrysalis stood there contemplating the situation, and her temper flared as she only reminded herself why this endeavor had been such a failure so far.

Changelings were well known for their skill at deception and hiding in plain sight, as this skill was commonly used to ensure their very survival. It was a heavy blow to a changeling's pride when somepony could hide from them. Changelings were a race built for hiding so they knew all the tricks and how to spot them, or so they thought. The fact that this one pony was able to elude every changeling that wasn't out hunting for love or attending their duties in the hive was a very large thorn in the side of every nymph and drone. Then, to rub salt in the wound, nopony could be sure the pony they were chasing was the same one they were looking for. Chrysalis was one of the few who actually believed Sombra had survived the Crystal Heart's blast, and nopony as had actually seen anything distinguishable about the robber. The entire search was all on one big gamble that the mystery burglar was the supposedly dead tyrant.

Chrysalis was pulled out of her thoughts as a heavy gust of wind suddenly blasted her with cold air and loose snow, threatening to drag the mint-and-cream-striped scarf from her shoulders. As she stood her ground against the chaotic gales, she saw that she wasn't the only one caught off guard by its malicious attack. Two nymphs were on a wild chase for a runaway scarf flying towards a clump of snow drifts, and any changelings with their wings out were either bowled over or knocked out of the sky by the raging torrent.

Chrysalis was immediately worried for the changelings who had been struck from the sky. Changelings were not built for cold weather, so any impacts that might otherwise leave a changeling unharmed would leave them with deep cracks in the now brittle chitin, which could be very painful and easily infected. Not to mention the wind might even be strong enough to tear a changeling's diaphanous wings. She was about to rush over and make sure nopony was hurt when a jovial cackle stopped her dead in her tracks.

She couldn't believe her ears. She quickly looked to make sure the fallen changelings were receiving enough aid before turning a searing gaze back to search for the source of the ill-timed laughter. She quickly found that it was coming from a drone flailing on the ground, crushing his large straw hat with one hoof clutching his sides and another pointing at the unfortunate changelings.

The queen's anger flared as she beheld the spiteful changeling and slowly but purposefully marched up to his side. The prone changeling's mirth was finally cut short as the sound of hooves crunching through snow warned him of his sudden audience. "What is your name?" The seething queen hissed.

The drone hastily scrambled to his hooves and replied, "P-Puppet Master, your Highness."

"And what exactly, Mr. Puppet," Chrysalis spat, "have you found to be so funny?"

Puppet Master hastily looked around for an excuse before his eyes came to rest on the thing on his head. A smirk crawled on to his face. "Why, my hat," he simply stated as if the humor of the cumbersome head gear was blatantly obvious.The hat was more brim than anything else and was covered in colorful ribbons with several large pictures of a golden crown on top of a red horn.

Chrysalis gave it a blank look. "What is so humorous about it?"

The gaped at her. "It's a sombrero... with crowns on it. You know? We've been looking for a certain king with a similar name?" He hinted with obvious disappointment that once again, nopony here thought it was funny.

Chrysalis was getting annoyed at not being able to understand the apparent joke and decided to drop the subject. "Don't think this has made me forget your disrespect for the safety of your peers that you happened to be pointing at in your mirth. A suitable punishment" - the drone wiggled his eyebrows at the word - "will be decided for your conduct when we return to camp," she finished in a disgusted tone; Puppet Master's innuendo not lost on her.

Chrysalis then noticed another drone had walked up to her during the conversation and turned to him to see what he needed.

The queen never saw Puppet Master's smirk as he stuck his tongue out at her back and tried to creep away without being noticed. He was actually quite good at walking through the snow without making any noise, a skill he had mastered to skirt the numerous punishments several officials had decided he deserved. Just because he wanted to have a little fun didn’t mean he was bad, just that ponies didn't often agree with his sense of humor.

Chrysalis nodded as she finished her conversation with the newcomer and noticed a certain conspicuous sombrero that was currently doing its best to ruin its owner's chances of being sneaky. A grin spread across the queen's face as she called out, "Puppet." The drone jumped at the sound of his name and slowly turned in dread. "It seems as if a spy has been caught in the area. You wouldn't want your queen to go meet a possible threat without somepony there to protect her, would you?" she fake pouted.

Puppet Master sighed, his escape plan thwarted, and put on a syrupy sweet grin as he decided to go with it. "Why, if you want to spend more time with me you simply have to ask. Surely if the spy's been caught they must be under heavy guar—AAaaaaaahh!" The queen's magical aura picked him up and tossed him in the direction she was already walking

"Move!" Chrysalis ordered, out of patience with the drone's antics.

It didn't take them long to reach the snowdrifts where the spy had been caught. As they rounded the small hill, the scene in front of them froze like a foal caught with their hoof in the cookie jar. Before the queen of the changelings lay a golden-brown thestral bound and gagged with several guilty looking nymphs caught in the middle of fawning over their very uncomfortable captive.

"What is the meaning of this?" Chrysalis demanded, to which she was answered by several grumbles about food as the nymphs backed away from the relieved stallion. "You all know that if that many of you force feed from him at once he will pass out from exhaustion. We need him awake to interrogate him." As she looked him over she saw the thankful look directed at her by his bold yellow eyes. "Maybe you can have him once I'm done here though." she offered as an afterthought, quickly turning his appreciation to horror.

Chrysalis decided she'd had enough fun for now and suddenly turned serious. "So who are you, and who sent you to spy on us?" she said, magically dissolving the green gel holding his muzzle shut.

The sudden questioning was enough to snap the bat pony back to the weight of the situation. He finally recognized the figure interrogating him as the queen of the changeling race, the very same person who had nearly taken over Equestria's capital city and single-hoofedly overpowered Princess Celestia. His mouth froze in a small "oh" for a minute before he got his wits about him. "M-my name is Night Owl. I'm a member of the search and rescue division of the Crystal Guard," he said, trying to please the changeling queen.

Chrysalis only scowled. "How did the Guard know we were out here?"

"Th-they don't! Just me! I-I search for anypony that might have been caught in the storms. I just happened to hear someone shouting out looking for somepony and ended up finding a field full of changelings. I would have flown off and left you all alone, but as soon as I got in the air I was blown back down by the wind straight into the group that tied me up," he spluttered out as vivid, terrorizing images of being sucked dry of all life and emotion flashed past his vision.

Chrysalis paused to think for a bit. Whoever was shouting is going to be hearing from me personally before dawn. That is a complete breach of protocol. But who did it? It certainly was not me shouting… at some… certain former king that refuses to be found. She facehoofed at the realization. She should have known such an outburst might attract unwanted attention. "Show me his saddle bags," she said, irritated she was the reason she and her changelings had been discovered. Again.

One of the nymphs rushed forward to take the bags off the stallion's back, running a hoof through his dark brown and black streaked mane while she did so. Night Owl flinched at the contact but the changeling simply raised an eyebrow and playfully flicked his nose with her tail as she turned to deliver the bags to her queen.

As Chrysalis rummaged through the bags she found almost nothing to disprove the thestral's story. She found a first aid kit, food, water, blankets, a brush, rope, and emergency flares. Only one set of items stood out as odd among the survival supplies. "Why do you have a customized crossbow with you if all you do is search and rescue?"

Night Owl looked at her and tilted his head in confusion. "It fires tranquilizer darts." His eyes grew dark as he continued. "There's more than just ponies and snow in this wasteland. If you haven't learned that out here yet, then you can consider yourself very lucky. However, I would still suggest doing a head count just to be sure," he advised with sudden seriousness and professionalism.

On such ominous notes, it is usually customary for the universe, a unicorn, or a pegasus to provide a lightning strike to drive the statement home. However, the storm clouds had all been blown away by the wind, so the universe decided to use the next best thing: a nymph's terrified scream piercing the crystal-clear midnight air.

Chrysalis immediately focused on pinpointing the scream's source. "I want every changeling in a disguise now. We don't need anymore unwanted attention." She donned a random pegasus disguise of her own. "Puppet Master," she addressed, using his full name for the first time, "I am putting you in charge of the captive for now. Do not let him escape." At that, the queen took to the air and flew further over the long chain of snow-covered hills.

"Yes, your Highness," the changeling replied to empty air. Puppet Master changed into a grey-brown unicorn with short white hair sticking out from under his sombrero and, after making sure the queen wasn't watching, looked down at his charge and magically dissolved all of the thestral's bonds save for the two large clumps of gel that cemented his wings to his sides. "Come on, we're going to follow her," he in the direction the queen had left.

Night Owl paused after he had gathered his supplies. The changelings that had been all too eager to greet him earlier had vanished, and the only changeling in sight had his back to him.

Everyone seems to be gone. If I can evade this changeling, I should be able to sneak through these hills until I get far enough to not be seen. They haven’t taken anything from my bags, so I should have enough food and water to make the trek back to the Empire on hoof. He sighed. But sompon- no, someone- someling?- someone is in trouble. The only other time I didn’t answer a scream...Silver...

"You know," Puppet Master called, sensing the stallion's indecision, "if you don't want to follow me I could always leave you with those nymphs."

Several heads popped up over the surrounding hills of snow at the offer, but were disappointed to see their food source galloping hard to catch up with the retreating changeling.

---

Not far away, a frantic nymph stood on top of the tallest hill nearby, looking for somepony she could call to for help. At that moment she noticed somepony flying by overhead.

"Wait!" she cried out to the shaded figure and flew up to it, hoping to have caught their attention. Thankfully the figure stopped as and hovered in the air waiting for the nymph to reach them. A flash of the new pony's eyes showed that the nymph happened to have found the best possible pony for the job: Queen Chrysalis, the most powerful changeling alive. "My queen, we need your help! Flitter and I found a cave but he attacked us and she's still trapped down there and I think she's hurt!" the words flew from her mouth hysterically as she nearly broke down into tears.

"What attacked you?" Queen Chrysalis asked, concern clearly written all over her face as she thought of what the bat pony had just told her.

"King Sombra! We found him down in the cave and he tried to blast us with his magic. I got away but black crystals blocked off Flitter's way out so I left to find help and then she screamed and I'm so scared for her I don't want her to die!"

Chrysalis' insides froze at the mention of King Sombra. She had not actually been prepared to take on the dark tyrant. All of her planning had been out of rekindled anger over an old grudge. Now that the prospect of actually fighting him was very real, she realized she had no idea on how to go about getting her answers. She doubted he would be open to calm discussion, and wasn't completely sure she could take on such a powerful foe without a steady diet of strong love like what she’d had in Canterlot.

The queen was thankful her inner turmoil was hidden behind the neutral mask those in power have learned to adopt, one which Chrysalis had long perfected since her first day in this world. "Show me where the cave is.” The panicking nymph quickly complied. The nymph needed the queen to be strong for her. Her subjects had always needed her to be strong and lead them, to be the shining light in the constant shadow they needed to hide themselves in. She couldn't let her subjects down just because she had overestimated her own abilities. Not when lives were on the line.

Both the nymph and her queen landed hard next to a pony-sized hole at the base of one the small hills of snow. "H-he's d-d-down he-here. L-let's go," the nymph said in a raw whisper. Her wings buzzed fast enough to send snow swirling about her, and her legs were shaking hard enough to make it difficult to walk. Worst of all, none of this escaped her queen's attention, and she felt embarrassment almost equal to the strangling fear.

The shaking nymph jumped as she felt a comforting hoof on her shoulder. "Do not worry, I shall deal with Sombra alone and save your friend." The queen spoke with a calm tone. "Meanwhile, I want you to make sure nopony else comes in here and gets hurt."

Fresh tears of relief washed down the nymph's face. "Y-yes, your Majesty," she said shakily.

With a nod of approval and a reassuring smile, Queen Chrysalis entered the icy darkness of the cave, shamefully ignoring her own fear. Yes, she could be strong for her subjects, but she would never have anypony to be strong for her.

---

A few minutes later, a light-brown unicorn around his mid-fifties wearing a sombrero and a very, very good-looking golden-brown thestral walked around a hill in front of the shaken nymph. "Have you seen the queen pass by here?" the unicorn asked her. It took her a second to realize she had been spoken to, the thestral having taken a significant portion of her attention. When her head finally caught up with reality, she flashed her eyes, unsure if the unicorn had done so.

The unicorn rolled his eyes, flashing them. “So, have you seen her? We’re on a bit of a schedule here.”

She simply nodded, pointing a hoof at the cave entrance and briefly wondering why the two drones were in disguise. A very hot disguise. Well, at least the thestral’s is. She couldn't take her eyes off the fine, well-toned young stallion, wishing she could find an available stallion or drone that naturally had those looks.

With that, Puppet Master gave a curt nod, which caused his sombrero to fall over his face, and turned towards the cave. Without fixing his hat, he headed towards the cave mouth which the thestral had already arrived at.

"Wait!" the nymph shouted at them. "It's dangerous in there, and the queen is in there to save my friend, and she ordered me not to let anypony through so they wouldn't get hurt!"

Night Owl paused. Dangerous? This looks like a unicorn-carved cave, so the danger most likely isn’t any kind of wurm. Too small for an ursa. Maybe a lupus, but they ought to be bothering the southern moose tribes this time of year. It’s possible it could be a malicious unicorn. One unicorn takes over an empire and suddenly every ne’er-do-well with a horn thinks they can take his place. One way or another, there’s a mare—er, girl in there who might need help. He set his face into a determined scowl as he patted his saddle pocket containing his crossbow and slipped through the opening with the unicorn-changeling following close behind him.

"Stop! Don't—" The nymph's warning was cut short as the drone paused in the entryway and gave her a confident smirk.

"Don't worry. We don't plan on getting hurt," the drone said, as if it would solve all her problems. The drone turned and disappeared into the crystalline depths of snow.

The nymph was shocked they hadn't listened to her. It was a direct order from the queen to stay out of the cave. She had to do something. She looked at the entrance and took a few steps in its direction, then thought better of it. It was an order for her as well. She took a few steps back to her post but paused again. Finally, she shook her head and decided she needed to tell the others about what had happened. That, and get more guards.

Author's Note:

Hello. This is NecroLeprechaun and I'm so glad you've made it through my story thus far and have at least given it some chance. This is my first full story I've ever written, so please leave a comment and tell me if I'm doing something wrong, or right, or if you're just not sure about something.

FUN FACTS
~The Vanhoover Fault (that thick chain of snowy hills) starts just north of Vanhoover on land and reaches all the way to the Crystal mountains, effectively splitting the habitable portion of the Frozen North in half. Back in the time of the Crystal Empire, the Northern Moose tribes had agreed to live west of the hills. Since the Empire disappeared, several tribes have crossed the agreed border and have settled all over the Frozen North. However, they would never settle near the Empire's land out of respect for their old folk stories of the "ponies of rainbow ice". Those moose are so kind and considerate.

~Puppet Master is wearing a King Sombrero TM hat. Quite popular outside of the Crystal Empire. Plans were to originally sell it in the Empire, but it immediately became apparent that it was "too soon" for the traumatized crystal ponies.

~Chrysalis has never been quick on catching puns.

Comments

[MegAnimefreakx3]

OMG I LOVE Puppet Master