The Changelings Have a King

by Jade Ring

Chapter 10: Promises and Lies

Canterlot Castle

“You find yourself in a deep, dank dungeoun. The only sounds in the darkness you can detect are the dripping of water from the distant roof… and the slow, steady breathing of some enormous creature.”

Moon Shadow looked up from his character sheet. “I cast Sunlight.”

“Hold, my son.” Luna looked over her own detailed list of abilities and bits of equipment. “Sunlight may be too powerful. There’s a chance we could be blinded, and thus easy prey for some terrible beast.”

The small unicorn smiled sheepishly. “You’re right. I’m sorry, Mama.”

She returned the smile and waited for him to make his move.

Shining Armor peered over his Dungeon Master’s screen at his wife and son. “Whenever you’re ready.”

“Right.” Moon Shadow looked closer at his list of available spells. “I cast Lamplight.”

“A wiser choice.” Shining Armor slipped back into his ominous Dungeon Keeper’s voice as he rolled his hoof-full of die. “Soft light slowly fills the cave… illuminating a hideous piece of living fungus! It clicks and clatters at your intrusive light, the membranous wings buzzing lightly on it’s back.”

“A Mi-Go!” Luna whooped in excitement. “It has been millennia since my sister and I last encountered those beasts!” Her eyes darted to her sheet. “I swing with my War Hammer!”

The rolling of die. “You miss!”

“You lie!”

“The beast zooms away from the light and deeper into the cavern. As you listen…”

“No.” Luna smashed her hoof into the table. “I don’t miss. My Hammer never missed.”

Shining Armor rolled his eyes. “Luna…”

“Shining Armor.” She matched his exasperated tone. “I freely admit that I am eternally grateful for your introducing Ogres and Oubliettes as our family game of choice. It has allowed to me relive fond memories of my past and is surely helping with Moon Shadow’s developing intelligence…”

Moon Shadow hastily stopped picking his nose and nodded enthusiastically. “It is!”

“But with that being said, I will not have my history as one of Equestria’s greatest monster fighters slandered, especially by a game of all things.”

Shining Armor stared at his wife. “Are you finished?”

“Yes. Yes I am.”

“Good.” He ducked back behind his screen. “You still miss.”

Moon Shadow laughed as his mother tackled his father to the floor, pantomiming smashing his head to the tower’s stone floor. “Let me fetch my Hammer from the armory and we’ll see how much I miss!”

Shining Armor laughed as well before looking up at his son. “Moon Shadow! The Old One’s power has corrupted your mother!”

“I’ll save you!” Moon Shadow leaped from his chair and joined the laughing pony pile.

Once the impromptu tickle war that erupted once Shining Armor also fell to the influence of the Old Ones had subsided, the three ponies carefully retook their seats around the table. The game continued to the point where Luna's Lady Selene of the Crescent Islands and Moon Shadow's Dornoot the Breezie Mage finally reached the threshold of the great treasure they had been seeking. Shining Armor was just preparing to reveal the greatest puzzle he'd yet conceived when his son spoke up. "Papa?"

"Yes?"

"Can you bring Morning Dew with you next time so he can play too?"

Shining Armor and Luna's eyes met across the table and shared a knowing, worried look. They'd known this question would be coming sooner or later. They'd dreaded this moment, the moment they would have to tell their young son that the times he would get to see his favorite cousin were few and far between.

But recent developments...

"Moon Shadow." Shining Armor began. "You know that I have to beg Dewey's mother and father for permission every time I bring him, right?"

"I know." Moon Shadow pouted, running his hoof over his character sheet. The young unicorn knew all about how Aunt Cadance and her unseen husband were incredibly protective of Morning Dew. It was why they only entrusted his papa, the Captain of the Crystal Guard, to bring him for the occasional visit to Canterlot.

Noting his son's disappointment, Shining Armor walked over to him and pulled him close. "What if I told you that one day..." He looked back at his wife and noted her apprehensive look. "What if I told you that one day, maybe, we could all live together."

Moon Shadow's eyes became enormous plates. "Here in the castle?"

"Why not our own castle? Would you like that?"

"Would I?!" Moon Shadow's horn lit and his magic soon had him doing mid-air somersaults.

Luna could not help but laugh at her son's antics. Her magic intercepted his and she pulled him into a hug. "I know it sounds exciting, but you must control yourself. If such a thing were to happen, it would not come to pass for possibly a very long time."

Moon Shadow's happiness began to rapidly dissipate. "But why?"

Shining Armor joined them and pulled them both close. "Because we have to wait for the things that are best in life. Even though the wait is long, the end result is always worth it."

Basking in his parent's warmth, Moon Shadow looked at his father with an inquisitive eyebrow raised. "So it would be us, Dewey, and Dewey's mama and papa?"

Shining Armor could barely supress a smirk. "Maybe not Dewey's papa. I think his mama might have her eyes on somepony else."

Luna gave her husband the longest, most withering glare she could muster.

"It sounds like the best thing ever!" Moon Shadow exclaimed.

Shining Armor ruffled his son's mane and crossed horns with his wife. "It will be the best thing ever." He told them both.

Luna's gaze softened at his sincerity and she pulled her boys tighter into the embrace. "The very best thing." She said, almost believing it herself.

Shining Armor sighed in contentment as he held half of his family close. "It will be. I promise."

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

The Archives of Truth

"I'm sorry, Twilight. I should have warned you about his... condition."

Twilight watched the now blind librarian who had helped her on so many late night study sessions make his way with practiced steps down one vast bookshelf in search of more tomes for the alicorns to look over. "What happened to him?"

Celestia sighed as she refilled both she and her student's tea cups. The Archive's false sun shone overhead provided more than enough light for the two to read the rapidly growing pile of books before them. "Twilight, you know we keep many things besides books in the Archives, yes?"

Twilight nodded as she gratefully took the offered tea in her magic.

"Do you recall an item called 'the Alicorn Amulet?'"

Twilight grimaced. "I remember it, alright. Trixie used it to conquer Ponyville before she became Luna's student."

Celestia nodded. "After you sent it to me, I had it brought down here and stored in the relics. A thief somehow found his way past the guards and stole it not long ago. I'm afraid the thief blinded Brother Veritas with a spell in the course of the burglary."

"That's awful!"

"Indeed." Celestia sipped her tea thoughtfully. "After it happened, I offered to release him from his commitments but he refused. He told me 'I will relinquish this hood just as every Brother Veritas has before me; with my last breath.'"

"And the amulet?"

"Still missing, I'm afraid. But no matter, we will find it again."

"And Brother Veritas; doesn't he need any help down here?"

"Help? Nonsense." Another stack of books landed on the table as Brother Veritas returned. He offered Twilight a familiar grin. "I know these Archives like the back of my hoof. The books are all in the same order." He ran his hoof down one cover and his bandage covered sockets widened in momentary panic. "For the most part." He snatched the offending title away and magicked it back down the shelves. "Pardon me, your majesties, but I didn't think you'd be much interested in the erotic exploits of Filly Hill."

Celestia and Twilight laughed as the librarian bowed and beat a hasty retreat to search for more books.

Twilight's magic pulled another book close and flipped it open. "There must be something we're missing. Starswirl's journals didn't reveal anything we didn't already know."

"Perhaps we should examine more of Equestria's great minds." Celestia selected herself a book and smiled at the familiar cover. "Ah, the autobiography of King Noble Heart, father of Princess Platinum. He was quite the unicorn, as I recall."

Twilight flipped to another page. "This is the last diary of Mareco Polo. I haven't read this in years." She flipped a few more pages until she came across one with an all too familiar sketch on it; a nearly skeletal being with insect-like wings and glowing green eyes. "The changing ones..." she whispered.

Celestia put aside her old friend's work and craned her neck to look at the page herself. "Remarkable, isn't it? All these years, we believed that Mareco had chronicled the end of a species. Who would've thought they would have survived somehow?"

"According to Mareco's notes, they were more insect than equine." Brother Veritas returned with yet another stack of books. "They didn't actually have bones, but rather a thick exoskeleton, not unlike beetles."

Twilight looked up. "Notes?"

"Oh, there's a collection of letters and such that never made it into Mareco's journals, mostly correspondence between himself and his distant spouse. Please don't ask me to look for them." He caught her next question before she could ask it. "It would take me days. And I assure you they have nothing to do with Clover's prophecy."

Twilight pouted as her chance the gain new knowledge was snatched away. "The Changelings being more like insects raises all sorts of new questions."

"Like what?" Celestia asked, sipping her tea. "We already know they reproduced through eggs laid by a queen."

"Well, some insects operate on a hive mind system or some kind of pheromone control. It might be worth knowing if the Changeling drones we encountered the day of the wedding were acting of their own free will."

"A hive mind system seems ultimately self-destructive." Celestia tapped a hoof on the illustration. "In some colonies that use hive minds, if the queen is killed then the drones drop dead as well."

Twilight suppressed a shiver and closed the book with a snap. "Why don't we save these questions for another time? Like the next time Queen Chrysalis drops by for tea?"

The three shared a laugh before Veritas lifted one book from the top of the latest pile. "This might be of interest to you, your graces." He carefully laid it on the the table so they could see the cover; a stylized swirling vortex of stars. The book was heavily damaged and encrusted with ages of sand. "This is Starswirl's lost journal, recently discovered by one Daring Do in the Bad Lands."

Twilight nearly lunged for the ancient tome. It was only Celestia's golden magic that restrained her and returned her to her seat. She offered a sheepish grin at her mentor's knowing smirk. "How did you get it?"

"She, erm... left it with me before she departed." Veritas wiped a hint of sweat from his brow while Celestia calmly drank her tea. "Since it seems the structure holding the lost prophecy was destroyed in the struggle with the Smooze..."

"The what?" Twilight dead-panned.

"Later." Celestia winked. "Continue."

"Since the prophecy itself has been lost, then the journal may be your last best chance to find out what any of this means."

Twilight carefully opened the book and began to leaf through the pages. Using techniques she'd long since honed in school, she'd nearly reached the heavy book's final pages in a matter of minutes. "'My final preparations are complete. Clover's final prophecy has been entombed forever beneath Truth itself. May those cursed words never see the light of day.'" She read. "'My failure to master the Spell of Absolute Harmony will be my greatest shame. My only hope is that by venturing into the wastes of the Bad Lands, alone, I will finally have the peace of mind with which to sort the problem out.'"

"It's a shame he never understood what you figured out, Twilight." Celestia beamed at her student. "That the spell itself was imperfect and had to be rewritten to include the magic of friendship."

Twilight allowed herself a small smile before she continued reading. "'I will keep this journal to record my findings and adventures. Upon the event of my death, I have placed a spell upon it so that it will return to my greatest creation; the Archives. I know that my nephew will guard it well, as will all that follow him.'"

The old librarian smiled. "The first Brother Veritas."

"'My journey into the Bad Lands has hit a snag, it would seem. I have badly injured my leg in the Macintosh Hills. It is only by the kindness of my hosts that I am still well enough to write this. They are an earth pony clan of apple farmers with a bit of an honest streak. I will have to give them a gift before I depart.'" Twilight flipped through the last few pages before she landed in the very last one. She sighed. "This is the last entry. 'It has been two weeks since my self-imposed exile. My supplies are running low. The burning sands torment me endlessly. Already I have seen the specter of death approaching me in the night. His horned visage portends darkness waits for me beyond the veil. I have done my best. Forgive me, Luna. I will love you always. Forgive me, Celestia. The mirror...'" Twilight looked up. "That's where it ends."

Celestia looked troubled. "I wonder what he meant about the mirror..."

"Wait." A light-bulb went off in Twilight's mind. "This doesn't make any sense."

"What doesn't?"

"Starswirl said that he enchanted the journal to return to the Archives upon his death. But Daring Do only just found it in the Bad Lands recently."

The implication hit Veritas. "Starswirl didn't die in the Bad Lands. He was captured or taken in by somepony. That figure he saw in the night, perhaps."

"More than that." Celestia lowered her cup to avoid dropping it. Her voice nearly trembled as the final pieces fell into place. "Starswirl's spells were ironclad. If the journal was never brought back here by Starswirl's magic..."

Twilight looked at her former teacher with wide, disbelieving eyes. "...then Starswirl the Bearded is... no. Can it be true?" She looked at the ancient journal that had lain in wait for a millennium to be returned home.

Celestia said nothing, the wheels in her head spinning furiously with the new information.

"It would seem clear." Brother Veritas sat heavily at the revelation. "Somehow, some way, somewhere... Starswirl... is alive."

Comments

[Yami Vizzini]

Ah, apparently the origin of the Apples' journal. And I'm guessing that Starswirl got snatched up by the Guild.

Wait, did Cadance take the Amulet too? Because otherwise that would be a needless loose thread in Celestia's cover story.

[Aatxe360]

Interesting...

Exposition is a little holey but understandable.

[Jade Ring]

7069616
7069623

Damn, you two are fast. Is there a Jade signal I should know about?

Starswirl was indeed snatched, but by whom is not who you'd expect.

The reason this took so long was that it was mostly exposition and I felt the need to add a bit more too it then that. Next chapter has a fairly major development and won't take nearly as long to write.

[Yami Vizzini]

7069738 What can I say, I had my iPad open and the notification popped right up.

Also, the opening scene was sweet.

[Aatxe360]

7069738

The reason I had a problem with it is the timing mentioned in the entry left behind. Timing for badly injuring his leg, running into a friendly group of ponies and running low on supplies isn't consistent.

I was actually waiting for another update when yours showed up.

[Jade Ring]

7069762 Thought you'd like that. I've had that scene in my head since the comics revealed that Shining played table top games.

7069936 I should add a line emphasizing that Twilight didn't read every single page.

[Rubycast]

OOOOOOO!!!!!! Bomb drop! Boom! Woah...

In the next movie Starswirl went through the portal and became a teacher at Canterlot High where he lived forever cause of tenure. xP

[Vic Fontaine]

Holy crap!!