The Wrong Hoof

by ChainGunDragon

Dark Spires

“So you knew about Sunset Shimmer?” Shining armor asked, passing the time on the side of the green hill, next to his blue-maned guard. “That’s why you did the whole thing with the guards at the crystal empire? I must admit, I’m impressed.”

“That means a lot to me, coming from you,” Flash answered. “We found our own portal into the other world some time ago and I was the first of our kind to explore it. Sunset Shimmer helped me learn how to fit in and in return, she sought to use me for her own gain. When I found out about her plans to overrun Canterlot, I left her. Then I overheard that Twilight was going after her. I knew first-hoof how manipulative Sunset can be so I thought Twilight might need someone with more experience on her side.”

“If you had your own portal, why not use that one instead?”

“They open at different times. If I had waited for our portal to open up I would have been far too late.” Shining turned his head and noticed the six mares approaching the hill.

“Time’s up. Are you ready?”

“As I’ll ever be,” Flash replied quietly as he started walking toward the others, meeting them halfway at the bottom of the hill.

“Everyone’s here and accounted for,” Twilight said as the guard just nodded briefly in response.

“Wait, what’s going on?” Rainbow Dash asked, looking back and forth between the two and then at the captain. “I thought Shining Armor was supposed to be in Canterlot.”

“Change of plans,” the white unicorn said as he trotted down the hill, stopping next to his fellow guard. “Princess Cadence has taken charge of the royal guard for the time being while we attend to more serious matters.”

“How serious?” Shining armor paused and looked toward flash for confirmation. As the guard nodded his head, his captain looked back at Rainbow-maned mare and spoke.

“The changelings have returned. Princess Celestia has been injured. We’re all on the verge of war and the only way to stop it is to defeat an immense creature with untold power… So I’d rate it about a nine.” The mares all stopped and stared at Shining except for Twilight and Fluttershy who exchanged looks.

“The last time we defeated Chrysalis, it was because of you and Cadence,” Applejack said, breaking the silence. “How in the hay are we supposed to do that again if she’s all the way in Canterlot?”

“We’re not fighting against the changelings,” Flash answered. “We’re fighting with them.” The orange mare slowly raised an eyebrow as she processed the statement.

“Why would we ever do that? The changelings are a horde of power hungry, creepy crawly, black coated, hollow legged, love sucking parasites.” The guard’s eyes widened, slightly shocked at how strongly AppleJack felt about his kin. Twilight looked at the ground, starting to feel ashamed as the yellow pegasus beside her wrapped a wing around her back to comfort her.

“I’d appreciate you to watch your tone,” Flash responded, narrowing his eyes. “The changelings are not power hungry, they’re starving. They are not parasites, they think and feel just like you do. They feed on love because that is their predetermined biological nature which is not their fault by any means.” The orange guard stomped his hoof into the grass as he raised his voice slightly. “And we can’t help our appearance any more than you can, but that’s no reason to hate us.” AppleJack scrunched up her face in disapproval but remained silent, as much as she didn’t like his bold approach, she knew he had a point. Rainbow Dash stepped closer, ready to stick up for her friend before she was immediately cut off by Rarity.

“Did he just say… We?” The pegasus froze in her place, suddenly rethinking her decision to approach the guard and instead started backing away slowly. AppleJack did the same as she saw Flash roll his eyes.

“Not the best time for a Freudian slip, but I guess it’s out of the bag now.” As Vano retook his form as the changeling prince, Shining Armor noticed the mixed expressions from each of the mares, including Pinkie Pie who, oddly enough, was sitting down with a smile on her face, unalarmed by the situation.

“This is Prince Vano,” Shining started before anyone could object. “He had nothing to do with the attack on Canterlot, he had nothing to do with Princess Celestia being hurt, and all he wants is to look out for his people. That little comment from AppleJack wasn’t helping.”

“Excuse me?” AppleJack asked. Rarity stepped closer cautiously, studying the golden scale-like links on the prince’s armor.

“You’re a changeling?” She asked as she continued walking around him slowly.

“Yes, I am. I don’t…” He didn’t bother finishing his sentence but instead looked toward Twilight questioningly.

“Rarity’s really into fashion, she-”

“Is this real gold?” the unicorn interrupted, unable to take her eyes from the changeling’s armor.

“Yes it is. It was hoof crafted by-”

“I don’t get it,” AppleJack continued, ignoring Rarity completely. “Why would the changelings ever need our help? They even defeated Princess Celestia in a unicorn battle. What could they possibly use us for?”

“No one’s seen anything of Chrysalis since the attack on Canterlot. We’ve tried searching but no one’s found anything. We don’t know if she’s ok or if she’s… Look, that doesn’t matter right now, even Celestia’s magic pales in comparison to the combined elements of harmony, so we’re going to need all six of you to defeat Karkinos.”

“Oh, so now you need our help. But before when you were all-“ Before Applejack could finish, Vano interrupted the mare, raising his voice

“We already tried to-“

“Enough!” Shining Armor shouted as they both fell silent. “Look, I think you two just got off on the wrong hoof. Vano, here, has served as a royal guard under me for over a year. I know him. He’s not the enemy here.”

“How do we know we can trust them?” Shining Armor and Vano exchanged looks, neither of them sure which one should tell the others before someone else did it for them.

“Because you’ve been talking to one all night.” As the two stallions stepped aside, the mares looked past them, up the hill to see a familiar looking, star-headed tiara appear over the horizon, soon followed by a purple alicorn walking towards them.

“Twilight?” Rainbow Dash asked, looking back and forth between the one on the hill and the one standing next to Fluttershy. As she approached the others, walking up between Shining and Vano, she faced towards her copy and nodded.

“It’s ok Dolus, you can change back now.” As the other Twilight Sparkle lit up in a green flash, changing back into his changeling self, Rainbow Dash quietly edged toward the other pegasus who didn’t look the least bit surprised, whispering to her.

“Did you know the whole time?” Fluttershy slowly nodded in response with a small smile appearing across her face while Rainbow Dash’s turned to an expression of death, growing slightly pale. “So all of that stuff I was saying before about…”

“Don’t worry,” Fluttershy whispered back. “I’ll keep it a secret.” As the rest of her face turned a lighter shade of blue, Fluttershy could almost make out a small blush on Dash’s face after hearing her own words quoted back to her.

“How do we know that this Twilight isn’t just another changeling?” AppleJack asked, pointing a hoof at the princess who answered for herself.

“Because this Twilight is wearing the element of magic, the elements of harmony don’t work for changelings. It took a lot of trouble to get the elements here and I’d appreciate it if you guys could help me out here. You’ve been hanging out with a changeling all night and he didn’t try anything suspicious or do anything evil, all he’s done is get to know you and you let him just because he looked like me.”

“I-I’ve honestly enjoyed g-getting to know you… Y-You seem like nice people,” Dolus stuttered nervously, not wanting to overstep his bounds after AppleJack voiced her opinion on his kind.

“And exactly how long have you known?” The orange mare asked, turning to face Fluttershy.

“A few months. He’s been very helpful, taking care of the animals whenever I’m away or busy.”

“Come again?” Vano said as Dolus carefully edged further away from him, beside Fluttershy. “Dolus, when this is over, I want to have a word with you.” The changeling nodded solemnly in response as Rainbow Dash changed the topic.

“So how did Celestia get injured if the changelings had nothing to do with it?”

“I never said the changelings had nothing to do with it,” The prince answered. “But whoever attacked her, did so without my permission or direction and I assure you, when this is over, I will find out who was responsible and they will be prosecuted in turn.”

“So what’s the consensus?” Shining asked before catching a confused expression from the blue pegasus. “Who’s in and who’s out? We have Twilight and Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash?”

“Twilight, you probably know more about what’s at stake here than I do, so if you really think we can trust the changelings… I’m in.” Rainbow Dash nodded as the captain turned his head to look at Rarity. She hesitated briefly but nodded her head as well.

“Parasites don’t care about appearances. Clearly there’s more to you changelings than I realised.”

“AppleJack?” The captain asked to which the orange mare responded with a gentle sigh.

“I don’t like this. But if even Fluttershy trusts them… I’m in too.”

“So that’s everyone,” Vano said as Twilight shook her head gently.

“Not quite. Pinkie?” She asked, looking at the pink mare who nodded once on cue and continued to sit completely still with a smile fixed upon her face aside from the gentle wagging of her tail.

“Is she alright?” The prince whispered to Twilight. “As in, mentally?”

“We find it easier to not ask questions, just be glad she’s on our side.”

“Hold on. If you guys don’t eat food.” Pinkie paused mid-sentence as her eyes lit up with opportunity. “Does that mean you’ve never had cake before?”

“I see.” Vano nodded and started walking back up the hill. “This way.” As the others followed him, they soon noticed large spires coming into view over the horizon, the only structures in sight that where darker than the star-lit sky itself. As the group walked closer, more smaller buildings reaches over the horizon and the picture became clearer with each step. As the changeling prince stopped at the top of the hill, he looked down at the ruined city below. Buildings decayed, homes destroyed, supplies rotted and withered, all surrounded by large hills, covering every side of what had once been a city except for the far end which was barely visible through the dense forest of dark towers and spires. All along the edges of the demolished city, the hilltops were lined with several pairs of gleaming blue eyes, each one adorning a full suit of armor and standing vigilant, waiting patiently for any word to do otherwise from their esteemed leader. As the other elements of harmony each placed their respective gems around their necks, Twilight turned her head back to see the others prepare and she began to wonder about all of her decisions she had made up until this point. Whatever she did now, it was too late to turn back, but she couldn’t help but wonder if Dolus had never showed up at her door on that winter morning. Friendships made and friendships broken, so many things that could have gone differently leading up to this event, but now they were all here.

“It’s time.”

Comments

[Gdenofa]

Very good chap. Least everyone is in agreement. Btw: Dolus is the most freaking cutest timid changeling in this fandom. I still think a side story of Dolus and Fluttershy's meeting could make a fun adorable read. :)

[ChainGunDragon]

4490807 The idea behind Dolus being timid as he is, probably went unexplained in the story (it's taken so long to write I don't even remember) The idea is that Vano is a strong leader, which means he's often a bit tough on his subjects so as to avoid them falling out of line. This lead to Dolus already being sort of afraid of him. But above all, Vano does his best to look out for the changelings, and since the ponies in power were against the changelings, he sort of has a policy against communicating with any pony because he doesn't want to risk anyone getting caught and endangering the rest of them.

Basically this means Dolus is defying his prince by remaining friends with Fluttershy, so that's why he's afraid of what Vano might do.

And then he's afraid of Twilight because she threatened him... twice I think.

And I suppose he may have been timid towards AppleJack because of what she said about the changelings, including him by default.

... Wow, Dolus can't catch a break.

[Gdenofa]

4490874
After what all he has been through, it wouldn't surprise me if Fluttershy had to comfort Dolus that his shadow wasn't going to hurt him.

[ChainGunDragon]

4493056 Changelings do look awfully shadow-like

[Gdenofa]

4493620

So I guess seeing his reflection would make Dolus jump You gotta luv scaredy-lings

[bigthink]

Keep up the good work!

[Dragon of Shadows]

“Enough!” Shining Armor shouted as they both fell silent.