Techorse Short Stories

by Spirals95

#30 - Three Mane Team: Part I

Three Mane Team - Part I

Techorse series: #30

By Spirals95

---

Fluttershy had found herself in a little bit of a predicament. She was enjoying a nice refreshing hide in fear under a large cardboard box because she had failed to show up to a promised meeting with a friend of hers for breakfast. Of course, Twilight was not going to let her friend intentionally not show up to the meeting, not simply because it was rude, but because earlier Fluttershy had nearly gotten the both of them squeezed by a giant snake over the issue of colts.

Of course, she was still mortified at the thought of having to talk to Shadow Breeze over breakfast at Sugarcube Corner. There would be other ponies watching her, in public, trying to talk to a stallion that'd she'd only known for a little while.

Twilight understood that her friend was making a large issue out of absolutely nothing, and that Shadow Breeze would feel a little bit hurt over her missing their breakfast together. Her horn glowed softly as she used a special spell used to see through thin wall segments, and scanned around for Fluttershy. The other residents in town gave her funny looks as she looked around the town square for her concealed friend.

"Where did you go?" She muttered, turning her head around and scanning the flat terrain of Ponyville.

Eventually, she scanned upon the overturned cardboard box by the town post office, and saw Fluttershy's silhouette clearly through the object.

"Aha!"

She ran over to the cardboard box, and with a kick of her back hooves knocked the container off of Fluttershy, who whimpered over being caught.

"Come on, Fluttershy, it's rude to be late!" Said Twilight, nearly shouting.

"I don't think I can talk to him," explained Fluttershy, still sitting on the cool sidewalk, "I'm, I'm just too nervous!"

Twilight smiled, "What if I came with you? Would you feel more comfortable?"

"Oh… sure! That'd really help." she said happily, her ears perking up in delight.

---

She slowly followed Twilight into Sugarcube Corner and found Shadow Breeze, one of only a few customers left in the building left from the breakfast rush, sitting at a table in the back of the room with an empty plate and mug, evidence of having finished his meal about 15 minutes before Fluttershy had arrived.

"Hey, you made it," he said, his brown eyes lighting up upon seeing the two entering the bakery, "I was just about to leave, I thought something might have happened!"

"Something did happen," muttered Twilight, flicking her tail in frustration.

Fluttershy cautiously took the wooden chair across from Shadow Breeze and looked at the graphite-colored stallion nervously. He seemed equally concerned about how late Fluttershy was, but he tried to be polite by smiling and pretending that it wasn't really a big deal.

Shadow Breeze turned away to talk to Twilight, "It would have been fine with me if Fluttershy didn't show up, really," he answered, trying not to be rude or express frustration, "I could have tried to talk to her later at her house."

"Right Fluttershy?" He asked, turning his head back to her.

He gained a look of surprise when he realized he was talking to a long pink tail. Fluttershy had ducked her head under the table to avoid being seen, and her rear end stuck up above the table.

"What's wrong?" Asked Shadow, trying to be gentle.

Fluttershy wanted to continue to cower, but she really did want to be nice to Shadow, who'd gone to all the trouble to plan their conversation, and slowly stuck her head out, returning to a normal seating position at the table, "I dropped something, sorry."

Shadow Breeze smiled, he wasn't fooled by what she said, but was glad Fluttershy had managed to overcome her anxiety.

Pinkie Pie had heard the bell mounted above the door of the bakery, and bounded into the room from the kitchen, a tray of fresh sugar cookies bouncing precariously off of her head. She tossed the tray nonchalantly onto the display rack behind the counter, and to Twilight's surprise, not a single cookie fell out of place or cracked from the drop.

"Hey everypony!" She said, "Don't mind me, just stacking the cookies."

"Hi Pinkie Pie," said Twilight, taking a seat near the pair of pegasi, "I'll take a few of those and a glass of milk, please."

"All righty!" She cheered, leaning down behind the counter to grab a tray, showing her fluffy tail, "Anything for Fluttershy? We have some reeeeeally good brownies coming out!"

"No thanks," said Fluttershy, "I'm not really hungry right now."

Twilight received her plate of cookies and tall glass of icy milk from a giggling Pinkie Pie, who knew that Fluttershy and Shadow Breeze were extremely uncomfortable. Twilight knew that someone had to break the awkward silence, or else her dragging of Fluttershy kicking and screaming would have been in vain.

"Maybe we should just go get something to drink, since we're not hungry," suggested Shadow Breeze, fanning himself with a wing, "it's kind of hot out today."

"Oh, that's a great idea," said Fluttershy happily, "what should we get?"

"I know what would hit the spot!" Said Pinkie Pie, popping up on the table with a big jump, "A super-delicious icy and sugary root beer from Steiner's place!"

She flicked her tongue across her lips at the thought of getting to drink the sugary liquid and nearly drooled on the table. Twilight nibbled on her sugar cookies and tried not to laugh.

Shadow Breeze and Fluttershy left together to go grab a drink at the Froth Shop, leaving Pinkie Pie and Twilight alone.

"Gonna keep chasing them?" Teased Pinkie Pie, sitting down on the table.

Twilight shook her head, "It looks like Fluttershy overcame her fear and is going to have a great day with Shadow Breeze. My work here is done."

"So we're not getting a root beer?" Asked Pinkie Pie, frowning.

"We can get one later, promise!" Laughed Twilight, "I just don't think we should follow them around all day. Bad things tend to happen to us when we do that."

"You're absolutely right about that!" She giggled, paying attention for any twitches in her body, "We'll see how things went later. Hope they have tons of fun together."

---

Steiner's bar had plenty of customers due to the heat of the sun, and he was busy pouring several mugs of root beer. The unicorn pony was running out of stock fast, not expecting such a sudden shift in the weather, and knew he'd have to close early after selling out. When Fluttershy and Shadow Breeze entered the front door of the noisy shop, he nodded at them and ran over to his last keg to get them two mugs. He was completely out of everything else, even his vanilla ice cream supply was gone from the volume of customers.

The unicorn finished filling the two mugs he was holding onto with his magic, and slid them down the metal counter to Fluttershy and Shadow Breeze, who caught them with their front legs.

Fluttershy took a nice sip from the soothing mug of soda and subsequently asked, "What have you been doing this week?"

Shadow Breeze did his best to hear her over the other talking customers and answered, "Just studying how peace treaties are written, and taking care of my house plants."

"That sounds nice. I'd like to see your plants sometime," she said, "it'd be great if I could learn how to grow a few new flowers for my house. I'm sure my animals would love to have them to enjoy."

"I can show you this weekend," suggested Shadow Breeze, hoping to get to spend more time with her, "I'll even give you a sprout, so you can get started."

"You'd give up a plant for me?" Asked Fluttershy with a surprised tone and a shimmer in her light blue eyes, knowing how valuable Shadow Breeze's plants were to him, "That's very sweet of you, Shadow. Thanks."

He blushed and tried to deal with the blood running to his face by taking several large swallows from his mug. The icy beverage running down his throat helped, but Fluttershy picked up on the blush and gave a shy smile. Some of the soda splashed out of the mug and got on the light blue stripes of Shadow's otherwise black mane.

Steiner simply laughed and went back to cleaning an empty mug with a dishrag.

Fluttershy and Shadow Breeze had a great time talking about what they had done with their week, mostly involving plants and animals, while the stream of customers entering the soda shop went from a good flow to a trickle. Steiner ran out of root beer within the hour, and decided to close up shop early. Just as he was about to go over to the glass door to switch his sign to closed, Techorse appeared at the door, his mane damp with sweat.

"Sorry Tech," said Steiner, "I just ran out of stock and I'm closing up the store for the night."

"A glass of water please?" Asked an exhausted Techorse, hoping he'd get something to drink.

"Sure," answered the unicorn pony as he opened the glass door, "Fluttershy and her friend are still here. We might as well enjoy the afternoon."

The green colt thanked him and walked into the cool air conditioned environment of the bar, a refreshing break from the heat. He made his way over to the bar and dropped himself onto one of the stools casually beside Shadow Breeze.

"Hey Shadow," he said tiredly, "what's up?"

"Fluttershy and I were just spending some time together," he replied, proud of himself, "you look beat."

Techorse nodded as he accepted a mug of ice water from Steiner, "I was out exercising and the sun was just too much for me."

A robotic arm extended out of his battle saddle, and grabbed the mug, which he downed in a little under a minute without even stopping for a breath.

"Oh my!" Exclaimed Fluttershy, "If it's really that hot out, we should probably just get home and stay inside."

"Ugh, no thank you," moaned Steiner, stomping his left hoof and rolling his eyes, "my home's cooling system is broken. It's an oven in there!"

"Well we can't have you staying in your shop all night!" Protested Techorse, regaining hydration and strength from his drink, "Here's an idea, let's all hang out at my castle for the night."

Shadow Breeze smiled at the idea of getting to play some games with Techorse and Steiner. Techorse had some of the best board games in his home, and probably had many other neat inventions that could be fun to mess with. If he'd let him, of course.

"By the way, Shadow Breeze, this is Steiner," Techorse introduced his two friends, "Steiner, Shadow Breeze is studying law and diplomacy here in Ponyville. He wants to be a diplomat someday for Equestria."

"It's nice to meet you," said Steiner, flicking his yellow and red tail, "Hopefully we'll get to know each other a bit better today, hmm?"

Fluttershy closed her eyes gently and smiled, she was glad to see that Techorse finally had some guy friends to spend time with.

"You can come too, Fluttershy," offered Techorse.

"Oh, thank you," she said, "but I need to go back home and give the animals their lunches."

She dropped down from the tall metal bar stool and headed towards the glass door, but not before giving another look back at the dark gray pegasus pony staring at her.

"It was really nice, you know… talking to you," she said slowly.

"Yeah, you too," he stuttered, "bye Fluttershy."

The door closed behind her, and the bells indicating a customer arriving jingled against the door softly, as Shadow Breeze let out a small sigh.

"She's a really nice pony!" Laughed Steiner, "Don't know that many who'd talk for so long about… plants, of all things!"

"Oh come on!" Groaned Shadow Breeze, "It's not that stupid to like taking care of houseplants."

"Of course it's not stupid!" Snickered the unicorn, "Just silly."

Shadow Breeze frowned and his ears drooped, he hated being picked on about his less stallion-y hobby.

Techorse tried to cheer him up, "Come on, let's go back to my place and have some fun! I've got plenty of canned lemonades and soft pretzels!"

"Soft pretzels?" Asked Shadow Breeze, lightening up.

There was no snack he loved more than soft pretzels, and Techorse knew that weakness from the times they had hung out before in the month since knowing him. The dark gray pegasus never passed up a chance to scarf down a hot pretzel, especially with cinnamon sugar on it.

"Yeah, soft pretzels!" Confirmed the inventor.

"Well let's go then!" Cheered Shadow Breeze, flapping his wings to jump off of his seat.

---

The three made their way back to the castle, and found themselves in front of the oak doors. Techorse turned on the intercom on the front of his home, and to his surprise, PAL was not there to greet them.

"PAL must be out shopping," he said to his friends, "I'll just get us in using the password."

Techorse nudged a few buttons on the intercom panel with his front hoof, and the oak doors slowly ground open, allowing the three to enter. Electrical lights turned on for them as they walked down the stone hallway, a new blue carpet underneath their hooves led down the clean and neat fortress. The friends entered the living room, where the once-roaring fireplace had been cleaned out of ash since the winter, and the light green and blue sofas Techorse used to seat his guests had been lined up to the sides of the flagstone mantle.

"So what should we play first?" Asked Shadow Breeze, "Got a particular favorite?"

"I've got plenty of them," stated Techorse, looking at the game shelf in the room, which was piled high with board games he had collected over the past year, "I don't know if I could pick a favorite, besides Cooperation Castle 2."

"I haven't played that one before," said the pegasus, "can you play it with 3 players? It's always kind of hard to find a board game for 3 ponies."

"Sure you can!" Answered Techorse, pulling the game off of the shelf with his hooves.

To his dismay, the large orange box containing the game fell out of his hooves and landed with a sharp smack on the ground.

His saddle opened up, and his robotic arms grabbed the game with a metal sound of servos.

"All we'll need to do is divide the pieces up into 3 teams across the square game board, and then we should be able to play against each other," he said, carrying the game over to his large, cherry wood coffee table, "Let's set up and play a round, then maybe we can move on to something else."

---

The board game went outrageously in Steiner's favor, as he managed to score several lucky rolls when attacking his two friend's pieces, and he ended up creaming poor Shadow Breeze's forces within just a few turns. Of course, the unicorn took the opportunity to tease the pony about his terrible game play, even though it had mostly come down to luck.

"Steiner, please stop!" Asked Shadow Breeze, "You're going to end up making me sit out most of the game."

"Better for me, less competition," he snickered, as he picked up the die to roll his last shot against Shadow Breeze's remaining unit.

Steiner's magic rolled the die across the table, and it landed near the edge. He went to read the result and gloat over his victory over his opponent, but before he could, the three friends heard a tapping noise.

Techorse's ears perked up at the noise, and he leaned over and put his head on the table, thinking that was the source of the strange scratching and tapping. When he concluded that it wasn't his table or any part of the game making the noise, he looked around to see if he could find it. Eventually, his eyes rested upon the window. The tapping noise started again, and he knew that something on the other side of the glass was hitting it. With his robot out of the house, it was up to the three ponies in the castle to figure out where that strange noise was coming from.

The inventor got up from the table, and his friends followed him over to the windowsill. The green stallion opened the window using his robotic arms, and looked around out his second-story window, in every direction. He couldn't see anything, and wondered if perhaps a bird or bug had been trying to get through the window by mistake.

But to him and his friends shock, there was a female changeling hovering outside of the window. She floated there outside on the power of her four-part insect wings, nervously looking at them with her cyan eyes, surrounded by white, unlike the males of her species. Her chitinous hair was in a bob cut, and her scythe-like horn extended above her ears.

She asked nervously of him, "Hey there, you're Techorse right?"

Techorse's first thought was to switch to his laser cannons, but he figured that since she knew his name and had come alone, that she probably was not going to be much harm.

"Yes…" he said, adrenaline still flowing through his veins from the surprise, "I'm Techorse. Proud owner of a front door nopony seems to want to use."

She gave a slight blush and said, "Sorry, but I didn't think you'd let me in, to be honest, seeing as I'm a changeling."

"That doesn't really make a difference to me, so long as you're friendly," he answered, "I hope…"

The female licked one of her fangs with a forked tongue, and answered, "I'm friendly, I promise. My name is Nectar, I'm from the new changeling colony that Razor set up."

Now that was a name Techorse recognized! It was his friend Razor, a kindly changeling who wanted to break free from Chrysalis' rule and offer a home to changelings where they could honestly earn the love they needed to metabolize their food. This changeling in front of him must belong to the new nest, or so he thought.

"How's Razor doing?" Beamed Techorse, smiling broadly, "I haven't heard from him in a long time!"

"That's just it!" She said desperately, "May I come in and talk with you?"

His companions seemed rather shocked that their friend was able to hold a conversation with a changeling without freaking out about it, but Techorse nodded, and Nectar flew into the room gently. She landed on the ground, and her wings folded to her armored, green colored midsection.

"These are my friends Shadow Breeze, and Steiner," Techorse said to her while pointing to his still startled friends.

"It's very nice to meet you all," she said humbly, "it must be very weird for you to see a changeling behaving friendly towards ponies, but you've got to understand that not all of us are bad. Some of us want peace, and freedom from Queen Chrysalis's iron hoof."

Shadow Breeze knew how important peace was, and approached her calmly, "It's nice to meet you too. All I knew before now was about the attack on Canterlot. It's good to know that there are changelings who are on our side too."

"Agreed," said Steiner in a serious tone of voice, "now tell us, Nectar, what has gone wrong with your friend Razor?"

Nectar explained rather dramatically, "Queen Chrysalis has taken Razor captive and she's told our colony that if we don't turn ourselves in, she'll squish him! They've set up a fort a few miles from the colony, and are going to raid us in a few days if we don't respond."

"That's awful!" Exclaimed Shadow Breeze, dreading the idea of being crushed.

Techorse's mouth fell open in horror, but he regained himself and said, "We need to get the army. I'll contact Princess Celestia."

"We can't use your guards," Nectar explained, shaking her head, "Chrysalis said that if she spots any of the Equestrian guard, or any of Celestia's close followers, she'll do Razor in right there."

"Then we need to explain the situation to the princesses anyways and figure out what to do there," he said, "we can't let Chrysalis shut down Razor's colony. It'll mean the end of hope for peace between all of us."

"So you'll help me rescue him?" She asked hopefully, "You'll help me get my husband back?"

"Husband?" Asked a shocked Techorse, "I didn't realize Razor was married to you. Congratulations!"

Nectar admitted with a blush to her dark cheeks, "Well, he's not my husband yet. Or my fiancé. We're not even dating at all. But I know he will be someday!"

Steiner snickered, and Techorse tried his hardest not to roll his eyes at the silly behavior. It did seem like she really did care about Razor, even if she probably did drive him nuts back at their colony.

"Let's go get Twilight and her friends. We need to talk everything over with the Princesses, and come up with a plan of action. Hopefully we can come to some kind of agreement with the other changelings and get Razor back in one piece," he said.

She threw her perforated legs around him and ground her face against his in a happy, but overly tight hug, "Oh thank you so much Mr. Techorse! I knew my Razor-sweetie liked you for the right reasons!"

"You're crushing me!" Gasped Techorse, trying to keep his ribs from entering his lungs.

Nectar let him go and blushed again, "Sorry, I'm just really thankful. I thought you were going to say no at first. Ponies usually hate us changelings. I didn't even think explaining my situation would have won me much help."

"But you guys are a different type of changeling," he explained, pointing at her with a hoof, "you want to earn a living without harming us. I think we can all be friends."

"You mean it?" She asked, smiling.

"Of course!" He answered, "Right guys?"

"Absolutely!" Answered the others together.

"So what should we do now?" Asked the changeling female, her wings beating with excitement.

"Let's get my friends and travel to Canterlot. From there we can figure out how we're going to get Razor back, and stop Chrysalis," he answered confidently, "let's grab our gear and get going!"

---

The three friends split up to prepare for the trip and the eventual conflict with the changelings. Shadow Breeze returned to his apartment and recovered his magical amulet from his safe, while Steiner returned to his shop and packed several magical brews that he thought might come in handy while out in the field. Techorse loaded his battle saddle out, fitting in his trusty laser cannons, his missile launcher with a full set of ammo, and of course his turbofans for flight and robotic arms for grabbing things. Once they had picked up their gear of choice, they returned to Nectar and took her to the library to go find Twilight Sparkle.

As it had turned out, she had invited Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie over to make plans for the week on attending a new display of confectionery flowers the flower-peddling ponies of the town were going to set up. Explaining the situation to them was fairly easy, and Twilight agreed to teleport all seven of them to the castle in Canterlot in order to speak with the princesses about the situation. She had Spike send a message ahead of them so that they would not show up unannounced, and then, she had her friends step outside for the short jump.

---

In Canterlot castle, the equally sunny day provided the perfect opportunity to get a decent sunbath. Captain Arbiter had taken advantage of this by requesting that he be stationed at the front gate of the castle, in a short battlement that he frequently stood over to watch visitors come and go from the huge estate. He had a green lawn chair set up on top of the white stone, which reflected the sun's rays back on him, warming him up. He wore dark black sunglasses over his face, covering most of his eyepatch and hiding his scar. Of course, the other guards around him on the walls had taken their helmets off, and were wearing their own pairs of sunglasses to help brave the heat and sun.

"If only we could get a couple glasses of ice water up here," he mumbled, hating how much he was sweating over the scorching day.

Suddenly, a bright and loud flash of purple light appeared in front of the gate, making the guards nearly leap in the air, and causing Arbiter to jump in his lawn chair, accidentally flipping the latch keeping the chair up. It collapsed with a heavy thud, and Arbiter fell down onto the hard stone with a grunt as his sunglasses flew off his face and fell off of the stone wall.

Twilight and company had successfully teleported in, and stood right in front of the gate. Typically they appeared either directly in the castle or from farther away in the town, but Twilight had specifically wanted to find Captain Arbiter first, since his military knowledge might be needed in order to come up with the perfect strategy for stopping the changelings and getting Razor back in one piece.

Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy flanked her, with the colts close behind them. The sunglasses fell down and landed perfectly on Pinkie Pie's face, who accepted the shades eagerly and grinned at her friends, celebrating her luck in catching the refreshing eyewear. Fluttershy couldn't help but laugh gently at the event.

The now grumpy Captain stuck a hoof over the wall providing a safety edge on the battlements, and looked over the structure down at Twilight.

"Twilight Sparkle!" He said angrily, "Would you mind not doing that, please? You nearly made my stallions sound the alarm."

"Sorry Arby," said Pinkie Pie, butting in front of Twilight, "but this is really really important! We need to see the princesses right away, and we need your help too!"

"Why do you need my help?" He asked, somewhat confused.

Twilight answered his question, "One of our friends has been captured by Queen Chrysalis, and we need your help coming up with a plan to get him out."

"A mission against the Queen's army?" He asked.

Techorse explained, "Razor, if you remember him, is being held hostage. The changelings attempting to separate from Chrysalis are being told to re-join the kingdom, or they'll hurt him. They'll also hurt him if they see anyone related to the attack at Canterlot showing up on the scene."

"Come on inside, we'll discuss this further in the air conditioning," he suggested, moving for the gate switch.

He then remembered something, "Oh, and, Miss Pie, any chance of me getting my sunglasses back?"

"Of course, Arby!" She giggled, taking off the eyewear.

---

The team assembled before Princess Celestia at her throne to try and explain the situation to her. Nectar had finally arrived after having checked in with her fellow changelings back at Razor's colony, and had entered the castle grounds after receiving approval, albeit reluctantly, from Captain Arbiter to enter. She entered the throne room cautiously, still a little nervous due to all the nasty looks she had been getting from the guards, still rather bitter over the earlier changeling attack. When she entered the throne room, the princess looked up from Twilight and Techorse and turned her attention to the new guest.

"Are you Nectar?" Princess Luna asked.

The timid changeling nodded her head and shuffled, wings folded, over to the front of the room.

"There isn't anything to be afraid of," said Princess Celestia calmly, "the residents of Equestria and I are pleased with your friend Razor's decision to break away from Chrysalis and start a new changeling nation. That's why we want to help you save Razor and take back your colony."

"I appreciate this very much, your majesty!" She answered, bowing gracefully, "None of us deserve help."

The princess smiled at Nectar, "But you've certainly earned it, I hear reports from time to time of helpful changelings seeking honest work. You've done a great job learning to enter society and get what you need without stealing it."

"It could all be over if we don't put a stop to Chrysalis," interrupted Arbiter, "which is why I need a commitment of troops. We're going to take Razor back and show the Queen we mean business."

"But we can't!" Protested Twilight, glaring at him, "She's told the changeling colony that if anyone she recognizes comes within a short distance of their camp, she'll squish Razor."

"If you recall, Twilight," argued Arbiter, "I received my post as Captain after the attack. She won't recognize me and a detachment of guards who aren't dressed in the royal armor."

"Still, to be on the safe side, it is best we try to rescue Razor without causing any harm," suggested Celestia, trying to steer Arbiter away from thoughts of violence.

"We're volunteering to rescue him ourselves," stated Techorse, pointing to Steiner and Shadow Breeze, "Chrysalis hasn't seen any of us, and working together we can easily get Razor out of the camp without causing too much trouble."

"That's dangerous!" Gasped Pinkie Pie, "We just gotta stick together as a team! Maybe there's a way we can distract the Queen so she doesn't mush Razor, and then somepony can nab him!"

"I agree," added Twilight, "it's not that I don't think the boys can handle themselves, it's that it's stupid to expect the three of them to take on the changelings like this."

Princess Celestia understood the dilemma facing her subjects. One possible solution was to allow Techorse's "commando" idea to go through, but if that failed, they would need to be rescued as well. Of course, she didn't want to see what Arbiter was capable of doing with her guards if she chose to take the more direct approach. Sending Twilight and her friends in all at once might mean Razor got crushed before they could even reach him, and simply giving up and surrendering the good changelings to Chrysalis wasn't a choice. It was a very tough answer, but her duty was to come up with a decision in a situation like this, and the Princess of the Sun had made her choice.

"Let's give Techorse a chance, Twilight Sparkle," she said, "I will send a Pegasus scout from Cloudsdale, whom the changelings haven't seen yet, to monitor their progress. If they get into trouble, we will go to confront Chrysalis ourselves."

"But m'am, you can't possibly mean you'd go to fight Chrysalis," complained Arbiter, stomping his hoof firmly into the stone floor, "not without me, anyways."

"If it comes to it, I'll offer whatever assistance I can," she replied sternly, "I am expected to aid my subjects, and if that means taking a risk to solve the changeling threat, I will do so."

Twilight frowned and looked sadly at Fluttershy, who also seemed rather upset. It seemed like a more diplomatic approach to the situation would have been more favorable, but Arbiter and Celestia were sure that there'd be no way to appease Chrysalis short of caving in to whatever she demanded. Perhaps peace was impossible.

"Sorry girls," whispered Twilight as the princess continued to lecture Arbiter, "I was hoping that we'd be able to trade Chrysalis something for Razor's release."

"I don't think there would have been any way to get that meanie to cooperate!" Answered Pinkie Pie, maintaining a harsh whisper, "A million cookies would be a good trade, but she's too mean!"

Nectar spoke up at this point, trying not to be rude to Princess Celestia but still wanting to make a point, "I will take Techorse and his friends to our colony so they can make the trip to the enemy camp. I gave your Captain a map showing where it is located so you can send your scout over."

"Very well," said Celestia, "with any luck, we'll have Razor back by the end of today."

Techorse looked at his friends with determination, knowing that they'd be able to live up to that expectation.

---

They were issued free train tickets to an eastern part of the country where the new colony was set up in a crystalline cave, itself a few miles from a moderate sized town called Hoofington. The train pulled into the station in the suburban community, where the female changeling was greeted by a few of the ponies walking around on the outdoor wooden platform.

"Hi Nectar!" One of them called out, a tan colt with a few silver nails for a cutie mark, "I have that order of oak wood and building supplies ready for you to pick up!"

"Thanks!" She answered, "But I don't suppose you've heard the bad news yet."

"No I haven't!" Answered the concerned carpentry supplies sales pony, "What's wrong?"

"Razor has been taken by Queen Chrysalis. Our town's not been able to do much of anything out of fear and panic that we might lose our founder," she explained as Techorse and his friends exited the train, "luckily, these three stallions from Ponyville have volunteered to rescue him."

The carpenter looked behind the changeling at the three ponies, and raised an eyebrow, "These three? Are going to take on the entire hive?"

"We're hoping to solve it diplomatically," said Shadow Breeze, a little angry that he was passively being called weak, "I want to be able to offer a treaty between Razor's colony and Chrysalis's hive."

"Good luck with that. After all the damage in Canterlot I was paid tons of bits to help fix, I doubt they'll listen. Just try not to end up in the hospital, ok?"

Steiner grunted, "Perhaps you'd like a soda?"

Steiner opened his bright blue saddlebags with his magic, and lifted a small purple can of liquid out.

Techorse knew what he was up to and pushed the bottle back into he bag with his robotic arms, "Steiner, we can't go around giving away free sodas, folks will think we're creepy."

"Well I can't accept free drinks anyways," he said, "my name's Founder, by the way, own a huge lumber shop on the other side of town. Since the changelings are my biggest customers right now, you get Razor back and I'll get you a nice patio installed at your homes, ok?"

"That's a nice offer, Founder," said Nectar hurriedly, "I may just have to hold you to it. Now, if you'll excuse us, I have to get these stallions started on their mission. We don't have much time."

"All right, take care now, and good luck!" He answered, waving to the four as they left the train station.

---

Razor's colony was located about three miles of a walk from town, up the side of a nearby hill outside of the city. A brown dirt path against the green grass of the hilly countryside wound its way up the incline, and eventually leveled off in front of a large opening in the side of the hill, which led inside the underground of the grassy mountain.

"You live in a cave?" Asked Shadow Breeze, frowning, "That sounds pretty depressing."

"Changelings like cool and misty places, and caves are perfect for that," explained Nectar, leading them down into the mouth of the cavern, "Of course, we do touch up the inside of the caverns we live in with our own houses and decorations. Prepare to be pleasantly surprised!"

The path down through the cavern system was a cold and damp tunnel filled with small light blue crystals of various minerals, eventually leading to a large opening that was flooded with light from some kind of artificial source. When the three ponies stepped out into the main opening of the cave, they looked around in awe at what they could see.

The large, open cavern room featured several large crystal structures along the walls, many of them supporting a small home, a wood house of changeling design, round with several windows and a door at the base. Each one had a staircase leading down to the floor of the cave, which was lined with small amounts of glistening shards from the fragmenting crystals, each thousands of years old. Changeling males and females buzzed about overhead, entering and leaving their homes to go seek work in the outside world. A hole in the ceiling of the cave system, with a large metal cover underneath that could be fitted over it in case of a storm, allowed the changelings to exit the cave vertically, and re-enter horizontally through the tunnel Techorse and his friends had entered through.

A large subterranean river, flowing fresh from underground springs from the water table, brought fresh and cold drinkable water to the changeling community. The spring itself, located in the center of the cave, flowed and made a gentle sound like a natural fountain, adding further to the beauty of the environment.

Nectar noticed the mouths of her new friends hanging open and giggled, "I told you!"

Roughly eighty changelings lived in the community, of which 4 were newborns, the first to be born out from under the control of Queen Chrysalis. Nectar led them to her home and opened the rounded wood door carefully with her porous leg. She ushered the ponies inside, who explored her simple two-floor home.

Each house seemed to have a small bedroom and bathroom upstairs, and a kitchen and living area underneath, like a large apartment. Changelings preferred to live this way, as they did not spend much time in their personal living spaces like ponies do, but instead went out to enjoy the company of the rest of the hive. Constant socialization was how their species had advanced to compete with the ponies, and it was only in recent years that they had turned to more sinister ways of obtaining the emotional energy they needed to properly metabolize their food and survive.

Nectar's first floor of her home featured a nice set of furniture, a couch, a beautiful dining table with four places for guests, topped with a beautiful floral print tablecloth in a light blue base color. A few pictures of her family hung on the walls, and there was also a space for a stove in the back where she might prepare food if she didn't want to eat communally with the other changelings. Although there wasn't much space for anything else, making it a rather plain yet cozy place to live, there was still enough room for the ponies to sit around the dinner table and discuss their plan for bringing Razor back in one piece.

Techorse couldn't help but compliment what he had just seen, "Nectar, your home is amazing! How did you all ever build this place?"

"Yeah, surely it had to cost a lot of money," mentioned Steiner, who was met by a nasty look from Techorse about talking about the price.

Nectar answered cheerfully, "Well, when the ponies from Canterlot heard there were changelings who wanted to behave themselves, they started giving us donations to build a new home. Guess they wanted to support us stopping our kind from having to go on raids for our love."

"Seems they were very generous!" Smiled Shadow Breeze, "I'm sure this is a much better home than what Queen Chrysalis had for you all."

"Very much so," nodded Nectar, her wings vibrating slightly as she remembered the conditions, "we didn't have enough materials to build our own homes, and so more and more of it was held together with our glue."

"Glue?" Asked a puzzled Techorse.

"We have two glue glands under our tongues. The green goop hardens into a super tough shell after a few hours. It's how we create the cocoons Chrysalis and her followers enjoyed trapping her victims in for easy feeding."

"Stop!" Begged Steiner, putting a hoof to his mouth, "I think I'm going to be sick!"

"Well don't worry, we didn't use a drop of it making this place, we had plenty of nails and other supplies for sticking thanks to your kindhearted citizens," she answered, frowning, "it's just a shame that we might lose it all."

"We won't let that happen," assured Techorse, "now where is Queen Chrysalis?"

Nectar went and retrieved a large paper map from a nearby shelf, and unrolled it on the table. The three friends leaned in and saw a large illustration of the local area outside of Hoofington. Nectar's scythe-like horn glowed, and a few green dots of energy appeared on the map. The first dot turned red, highlighting a small circle on the forested hills outside the town.

"We're here," she said, pointing to the red dot, "Queen Chrysalis's camp is located ten miles away, here."

She shifted the red dot over to a small cave system drawn over another area of the map.

"Also, there's a swamp located here just a half of a mile from the smaller cave she's camping in with her troops. It's a good way to know that you're going in the right direction. Princess Celestia told me before we left that her scout will be meeting you there," She finished.

"So we'll head for the swamp, get our information, and get Razor out safely," stated Techorse.

"Hopefully without causing too much trouble," hoped Shadow Breeze, not eager to get into a fight.

"Oh come on, we can take those bugs!" Assured Steiner.

Nectar looked rather hurt by the degrading comment, and Steiner blushed as he realized what he had just done.

"I'm very sorry about that. It's just, after what the Queen did to Canterlot," he said, trying to make up for his insulting comment.

"We're trying our best to do good and break away from the Queen," sighed Nectar, "but I guess we're still pretty hated by you ponies."

"I don't know if that's true," soothed Shadow Breeze, "you seem to be getting pretty positive reviews from the ponies in Hoofington. Maybe it'll just take a little more time for Equestria to get used to you being on our side."

"If we give up today, we'll be forced into doing evil things again," she said, trying not to get too upset, "I don't want to go back to that. The poor looks on those ponies' faces after we got what we wanted, and then we just dumped them back in their town, depressed and exhausted from it!"

"We'll stop this plan, promise!" Said Steiner, standing up from the table, "Right?"

"That's right, Steiner," sdded Techorse, drawing his laser cannons out of his saddle, "we're going to make sure the changelings here can choose to live how they want to, honestly and without heavy hearts!"

Nectar led them out of her home, and the three stallions were met by the other changelings of the hive forming two lines towards the exit of their cave.

"Good luck!" Some of them cried, "Bring Razor back!"

---

The three friends felt uplifted, not only by the support, but the knowledge that someday maybe changelings would be fully accepted into Equestrian society, and the planet would enjoy even more peace than it already did. As they walked past the changelings, many alike, but each unique in some way, they realized that they had a lot in common with this other sapient species. The light on the other end of the entrance cave shone, and the three exited out into the daylight again, ready to bring back their friend, and help to secure the future.

But as they began their walk for the swamp, a less than cheerful changeling male watched from above the cave entrance. His eyes, a strange yellow in color, tracked the three as they walked away unaware of him. The spy drew a tongue over his left fang, eager to draw the emotional energy from his victims and watch their pain as they descended into sadness and emotionless slump.

"Soon enough," he thought to himself, laughing only in his head, "first, to let the Queen know that our guests will be arriving shortly."

Once the intruder was sure that the ponies were well out of earshot, he spread his four-part wings and buzzed off into the air to go tell Chrysalis about the small party headed for her camp on the other side of the forested hills. If they played their cards right, the Queen's changelings new that they'd have more than just one captive to make the Equestrians squirm.

And that might just be enough of a bargaining chip to get them to turn over some daily love for them.

To be continued...

Author's Note:

In this story:

Razor, a kind changeling dedicated to helping others of his kind make an honest living, has been captured. It's up to Techorse and two of his friends to get him back, otherwise there will be no hope for the new changeling colony. Twilight Sparkle doesn't like the idea of them going alone. Will her worries be justified?