Equal and Opposite

by Quillamore

Window to the Soul

Asher could faintly hear Cadance trying to explain the very strange and convoluted situation from her bedroom. For now, she was guarded and forbidden to leave her tiny area, but moreso out of fear for her safety than out of punishment. The alicorn couple had been able to notice right away that even after she had regained consciousness, her magic remained unstable. In order to prove their point, Asher had tried to transform into something, anything, but was not able to, even though her magic levels should have been restored by now. From what she could recall, she hadn’t fallen back into any comas, but fell asleep easily and just seemed weak in general. No matter how much she itched to get out of the confined space, her aunt and uncle were just too worried about what could happen to her if she did. Well, at least, she knew Cadance was worried about her. She wasn’t quite sure what, if anything, she could do about Shining.

All residents of the castle were slightly on edge at the moment, and not only because they’d just found out that the crown princess was missing. Some of the messengers had tried to send letters to Celestia for assistance, but as of yet, there had been no reply. So, Shining and Cadance were in one of those situations in which progress cannot be made without an agonizing amount of waiting for permission from a higher authority. But honestly, Asher was just glad that none of the guards had laid a hoof on her, even during the initial shock of the revelation. She didn’t take this as any sort of recognition of a possible alliance, however. They probably just thought that taking her prisoner would be far more useful than killing her on the spot.

Except she wouldn’t be of any use there, either. She’d been transported to the Crystal Empire somehow, but her memories of that day had been tampered with so that she wouldn’t accidentally reveal too much of the mission. Too late for that, and even then, she wouldn’t have a clue of how to get back to changeling territory from here. It likely wouldn’t stop them from beating an answer out of her, though. Changelings just brought back too many bad memories here. Just another reason why her family was too twisted to ever get along.

As she lay in bed, her mind drifted, flitting from one thought to another. The first thing on her mind, of course, was how her uncle could possibly respond. Or should she just give up on calling him that? Perhaps the story could clarify things, quell his anger a bit, but at the end of the day, she still considered him the biggest threat to continuing her life. She knew that he could change his emotions in an instant. After all, it didn’t take too long for him to go from loving her as Skyla to seeing her as basically a copy of Chrysalis.

But, strangely enough, Skyla herself came into Asher’s mind. Before, she didn’t even bother thinking about her cousin; after all, it’s not like they ever met and they were elemental opposites. She was more like a plot device to allow Chrysalis to create havoc amongst her own family. And yet, she knew how void and unwelcoming the changeling habitat could be. She knew that they wouldn’t put up with any sort of resistance. To a filly, such an environment could induce fear beyond belief, if not worse. For the first time, she realized that her temporary opportunity to live the life she’d always wanted could have inflicted some very permanent damage.

Okay, I’ve found a passage into your thoughts, a strange voice echoed within Asher’s mind.

The young changeling wasn’t quite sure what to make of the matter, but rolled over in her bed in an attempt to try to tune it out.

It would have been better if you hadn’t invoked me through your worries, but an entrance is an entrance. I know you probably think you’re hearing things, but you aren’t. I’ve never tried this with another living being before, but it shouldn’t have any negative effects. You’re having a very expected reaction to my magic.

“Who are you?!” Asher yelled suddenly. “Why in Equestria do you find it necessary to mess with my head?!”

I’m not messing with your head, the voice responded. Telepathy isn’t difficult if you can find a link to a soul. Some have more control over it than others, but I have the ability to look clearly into all of that, to see hidden emotions and to guide ponies from there. Though, like you, my magic hasn’t quite refined yet, so I was a bit hesitant about fiddling with it before in order to send you a message. Thankfully, it’s a lot easier to enter thoughts when somepony’s already thinking about the caster, so you just made my job a lot easier.

Frantically, Asher began to backtrack to those she’d thought about in the past few minutes in an attempt to figure out who the figure was. Shining was out of the question, as he’d never told her he’d even had those abilities, and besides, the voice was feminine and nowhere near as hostile as his would’ve been. So it had to be…

Princess Skyla? Asher thought to herself.

Pretty different from how you imagined I’d be, huh? the voice responded. Seeing as you were sent right in to imitate me without even meeting me, I’m not surprised. Since you’re wondering, they haven’t really done much to me yet other than some slight experimentation and such. But I’ve realized that I’ve basically lost my ability to speak in the physical plane outside of talking like this. If you were to go up to me in the changeling land, I wouldn’t be able to respond at all. I don’t know why, but I get the feeling it has something to do with what they’re planning for me. I don’t know what that is yet, but let me tell you: there are a lot of stray souls around here.

What do you mean by stray souls exactly? Asher wondered.

Well, they’re like ghosts, and yet, they’re not like ghosts, Skyla clarified. And yes, that doesn’t sound like it makes very much sense, but it does. Something about the way the changelings used them, whether as nourishment or for something larger, makes them different. A ghost would have something that’d look like a body, but these beings—or ‘glimmers,’ as I call them—don’t even have that. They just let out tiny amounts of magical light, not even as big as your hoof. For some reason or another, they’ve all attached themselves to me ever since I’ve been here and dimmed their lights so that the only sign of their presence is their voices. If Chrysalis were to find them, they say that something terrible could come out of it. At first, I was a bit skeptical, but…thanks to them, I’m able to gather information without leaving the cocoon I was imprisoned inside. Some of them have been around even before Chrysalis was the ruler here, or so they claim.

Asher, trying to take in all of the information, paused for a few moments before finally asking, Is anypony else being held captive here?

No, it’s just me and another filly who was placed in the same chamber that I’m in, Skyla answered while summoning some sort of magic. At first, Asher wasn’t quite sure what she was trying to do, but inside this strange zone of imagination, a royal blue-colored pegasus filly with a braided, wavy greenish-blue mane appeared out of some shadows. The pegasus’s light brown eyes moved up and down slowly as the filly was trying to take in what she saw.

Skyla, are you sure this is safe? she questioned fearfully. When you told me we were going into someone’s mind, you didn’t tell me that that someone would be a Duchesse changeling!

She isn’t going to hurt us. The glimmers tell me that this is one of the first times a Duchesse might have actually broken the streak. Typically, they don’t come out being this…’soft,’ as they’d probably put it. If we don’t help her soon, though, this could be the end of—

Wait, Asher interrupted. What are you talking about? I didn’t think there were different kinds of changelings.

Duchesses, in more ways than one, are more “pony-like” than other changelings, Skyla tried to explain. A lot of the glimmers that got killed here ended up doing so because regular changelings tried to possess them in order to gain Duchesse powers. Supposedly, they’re meant to live longer and be stronger than the others, but as of late—

Things have gotten really bad, the pegasus murmured, still having the same childish, fearful tone as before. Chrysalis has been trying to make it so that more of them become Duchesses, but so far, she’s the only one of that subspecies to survive. From what Skyla’s gathered, more of them used to exist, but somehow, their life spans have been dropping. It had gotten to the point where she even tried to have children, in hopes that bloodlines could break the curse that seemed to be placed on them. But it ended up making things worse. Chrysalis has begun to unravel because she’s realizing that having them herself is only speeding up the process. All the child Duchesses have been weak-bodied and die after only a few months. I’ve been here longer than Skyla has, so I’ve seen it happen. And the more it happens, the worse it gets over here, and the worse she ends up treating us.

After saying all of this, the tiny filly dropped to her hooves and curled herself into a ball at the thought of what could happen to her. Skyla cantered over and began to gently stroke her, attempting to comfort her friend.

Somehow, you have to try to find a way to survive until I end up being found, the princess explained. I don’t know what’s been happening to Duchesses to make them like this, but your survival could bring Chrysalis at least some hope. It’s a long shot, but like my friend Hyacinth Harmony explained a few moments ago, worse things could happen if you end up dead. For one thing, she could use a transformation spell to turn Hyacinth into a Duchesse, and she’d likely end up dead after that as well. I can’t lose her, Haine. With no connection to my parents or even my origins, she’s the only thing I have. It’s nice being able to speak with the glimmers, but they can only go so far. Hyacinth—at least she’s, well, alive.

I want to help, I really do, Asher replied, but I’m already weakening. I haven’t been able to use my changeling magic for a day or so.

No, I’ve heard about that happening to other young changelings, Skyla countered. You’re not getting as weak as the others Chrysalis tried it on. When a pony princess is born, the changeling world reacts. Just as I’m considered to be a level above other ponies, you could be a level above the other Duchesses. Just—be careful. I’ll keep in touch.

The dream world around her then dissipated, and Asher realized that she was back in the material world. Thoughts continued to whirl through her head, but this time, there were more questions than answers. Looking back just a few minutes before, she scoffed at how frivolous the worry of Shining going against her was compared to all of this. Somewhere, her very health determined whether or not two fillies would be tortured. Or perhaps worse. And as if she didn’t already know that her mother’s feelings for her were as detached as possible, now she knew that if she survived, she would only be valued based on her eligibility as a potential breeder. To her, she had no future in the colony. So what would become of her then?

And, as the door opened in front of her, she couldn’t help but wonder why, out of all the Duchesses, no, out of everyone in Equestria, why did it have to be her who would be chained to this fate?

Comments

[Pump It Up]

I like this story! I'll be watching it.

Where does the comedy come in? So far, I can only see the adventure.

[Quillamore]

4238843

I mean it more in a sense that it isn't a tragedy like its prequel. I'm using it in the more dramatic "happy ending" sense. I can put some comedic parts in there, though.

[Pump It Up]

4238850
Mm'kay. Whatever needs to be done.