Path of the Unforgiven

by HeatseekerX51

CH 14: Not All Who Wander Are Lost 2/2

“All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.”

― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

Dutiful to their orders, the Changelings that had maintained guard over the weather factory had just finished blasting out the last of the control mechanism that kept the floating facility on an automated route. A pillar of black smoke rose from where the wheel house would be, had not the drones smashed it in the process of accessing the controls. Surrounded by magical amplifiers of copper piping that splayed out in all directions, the enchanted compass that served as the heart of the guidance system lay on the floor, glass shattered and body dented.

Leaving off with a maniacal laughter, the marauders began to exit the inner facility as the whole berg tilted downwards, on course to crash in what they expected to be the genesis of a terrible storm that would scourge the countryside.

When the skyborn boom of the arriving Lunar forces reached them, they gave no thought to the careening weather factory, and turned in numbers to meet the oncoming Thestral Guard.

“Our priority is the weather factory!” The Lunar commander called out to his troops. “We’ve got to stop that cloudberg from hitting the ground!”

“Sir! What about the Changelings?!” Asked another.

“Go through them!” Was the order.

The soaring Thestrals loosed a war-chant, ‘Haoo! Haoo!’ like the rumble of thunder as they glared at the enemy, keen silted eyes looking out from their beaked battle helms.

https://www.deviantart.com/vector-brony/art/Nightmare-moon-s-Guard-576324798

A volley of green magic ballista was released from the surging Changeling squadron, aimed to captured them in mid-air. But the Lunar knights were better trained than that. Tucking their wings close to the body they dived sharply, letting the shots go right overhead. Then the wings flared back out, and in unison the Thestrals swooped back on trajectory to intercept the drones.

Another round was fired, and though a few managed to find a target, none of Luna’s finest dropped. Before a third volley could be launched, the two sides met, the drones in loose charge, the Guard in a tight wedge formation. Thestral armor smashed through chitin at incredible speed and the sky was filled with a chorus of smacking impacts. Like a knife through butter the Thestral wedge broke through to the other side of the Changeling ranks, sending a hail of black bodies to the ground.

“To the bottom!” The Commander screamed. “To the bottom!”. Still moving as a flock, the Lunar knights rounded the diving end of the cloudberg and glided in to amass themselves against it.

“Push!” One of them cried. “Push until your wings break, and then push some more!”

“HAOO! HAOO!”

The traditional royal Canterlot voice had carried out even to where the deer and Changelings were coming to the end of their own melee. General Magna herself was now flush in the face with battle-fury, her horn locked with an equally furious King Aspen. All around them flashes of green fire going up where the drones altered their form into all manner of creature to try and hold back the tenacious cervids.

Both sides hesitated when the voice thundered, a wave of tremors moving through the Changelings like a current.

“PROTECT THE QUEEN!” Breaking away from her tangle with Aspen, Magna hurriedly threw herself into the air among the rising numbers of her legion that remained capable of flight. Even those drones who had taken too much of a thrashing to achieve lift limped along as fast as their tired legs would take them in the direction of the castle. The soldiers of the Thicket allowed most of them to scamper away, others harried the fleeing marauders for a bit before turning back to the protection of the fold.

“The reinforcements from Canterlot!” Yelled the Hart of the Forest. “Chrysalis is routed! Quick! We must close the snare before they escape!”

As the other deer rushed onward, Blackthorn intended to join them but was halted by an outstretched hoof across his breast.

“My loyal knight.” The King said stoically. “I have sent Prince Bramble to return to the Thicket by way of the secret path, on mission to seek the sacred ichor of the Source, to find where Chrysalis has hidden Queen Juniper, restore our kingdom, and the rest of our kind. I need you to meet him back home and aid his healing work.”. It had been in the form of his wife that Aspen was overtaken by the Changeling monarch. Where the real Juniper had been stashed, remained a mystery.

“My lord.” Blackthorn protested, but his breath was ragged, and he visibly winced from the pain that racked his body. “I can still fight, I can still-”.

“I know the strength of your heart, and that is why I would entrust no-other to this task. Help my son, find my wife, purge our kingdom of this black curse.”

“What of you?” The knight asked. “Is this not better your place than mine?”

“As much as it pains my soul, my first duty must see to it that Chrysalis and her minions are vanquished at last, then I may attend my personal matters.”

A hard stare was traded between the two, the weight of his charge not lost on Blackthorn. The King was entrusting to him what was most precious.

“I will not fail you, my King.” He promised as he bowed.

“I have every faith in you.” Aspen touched a hoof in the center of Blackthorn’s head, bestowing his royal blessing. “Now go.”

Without another word Blackthorn was off, bounding as best he could into the woodline. As Aspen watched his loyal servant disappear, he noticed the many dark shapes betrayed by the renewed brightness of the moonlight racing over the tops of the trees, towards town. Some mechanism of the Changelings alerting them to the peril of their progenitor. All her scouts and roving troops withdrawing at last from the Everfree.

He made certain that none of his own warriors were left on the battlefield, seeing those too injured to continue the fight limp to their hooves and begin the process of collecting each other. The King helped a few up himself, commending their bravery and service to the realm before setting off for Ponyville.

The mammoth Timberwolf spat out the length of the acid-spewing stigma it had torn from the Snapdragon’s mouth, screeching in pain from the oral wounds traded to get it. Mighty as it was, even the forest beast was heavily wounded by the savage opponent, the unleashed floral abomination bringing more to the table. Sections of its back and forelegs were smashed, and the right side of its face was splintered. Though the Snapdragon spilled a sweet-scented fluid from its own wounds, it was still the better off, more durable.

The fire on their side still raged, conceived of by magic rather than natural combustion, it lasted far longer. A primal understanding of combat, the Timberbeast knew that this fight would not sustain itself much longer, it needed to finish its foe off now.

Enraged by the amputation of its tongue, the Snapdragon issued one final screech, flinging spittle in all direction. Then it reared back, intending to bring both claws down across the head of the other. Seeing the opportunity, the Timberbeast sprung forward, much faster than expected, and sunk its fangs into the sinewy neck of the dragon, the continuing momentum driving it back, back into the flames.

The Snapdragon reacted in self-defense, latching on with claws as it fell onto its back in the sea of flames, holding the wolf down with it. Horrible wails mingled as teeth rent and claws ripped, the two monsters consumed in the green flame, too determined to destroy the other to save their own lives.

“Ooo…” Pinkie Pie marveled at the sight in the sky, watching the Lunar war host descend on the Castle. She did so leaning on the confetti canon, not seeming to mind the trembling that came from within.

“You know Twilight, one day we’re gonna look back on all this and have a good laugh. Yup.” Brushing her hoof against her chest, Pinkie checked for any defects. “Good thing I brought my extra-sturdy canon with me, or else all that magic you’re firing might have blown it apart by now. Yup, I imagine there’s a ton of pressure in there right now just ready to-”

The canon shot into the air in a poetic reversal of role. It had rocketed up so fast, Pinkie’s leaning elbow stayed in place a moment longer before collapsing over to impact something else, something softer. She smiled sheepishly into Twilight’s face before everything was transformed through a prism of hardened magic.

That was the last of them. All four of her former friends trapped in the lavender amber.

“TWILIGHT!” The Princess turned in the direction of the call but found the speaker already upon her.

Rainbow Dash, holding the party cannon in her hooves was coming crashing down directly towards her. As there was no standing command concerning this pony, Twilight did nothing but teleport out of the way. The Pegasus however was not aiming for her friend and she brought the canon smashing down on the magical prison, breaking it into a thousand shards. Pinkie Pie, still in the leaning position, fell over.

“Get the rest of the girls Pinkie!” Rainbow shouted, putting herself between the other two. “I’ll keep Twilight distracted!”

Grabbing the canon from where it lay, Pinkie hefted it over her shoulder. “Ookie-dokey-loki!”

Sparkle started to follow the blurred trail of the pink Earth Pony, ready to cast another entrapment spell, but Dash came from behind and locked her forehooves around her trunk, pulling her off the ground.

“Now you just calm down! We gotta find a way to break whatever spell Chrysalis put you under! Why else would you be attacking your best friends!”

In a flash they were both gone, teleported out of sight. They reappeared next to a charred brick wall, the Pegasus wrestling to keep her friend under control. They hit hard against the wall, both of their flying thrown off by the struggle.

“Snap out of it egghead!”

“Batter up!” Pinkie Pie swung the canon, and shattered the magic holding Applejack.

“What in the tar-?” Cut-off by the sight of Rainbow Dash and Twilight vanishing and appearing in several spots, Applejack shook her head in disbelief.

“But if Rainbow Dash is back then that means…” She pivoted to the sky, where it was filled with the war between Changelings and the Lunar Guard.

“No time to stand around, AJ!” Zipping over to where Rarity was encased, another swing of the canon freed her as well.

“GAH! What a horrid thing to do!”

Taking a cue, Applejack ran to Fluttershy and leveled three good bucks into the material, cracking it more with every blow. The last one did the trick, splintering the hard magic. Fluttershy sucked in a long gasp of air.

“Oh! ...Oh, that wasn’t so bad.”

“Guys! Little help!” Once more the tangled two were teleported from the sky, this time back to the ground, Rainbow Dash on the verge of losing her grip. The four other friends rushed in, dogpiling on to keep them in place.

“Come on Twilight!”

“You’ve got to fight it!”

“Don’t let her win!”

“You’re stronger than this!”

“We’re your friends!”

Whether it was the weight pulling her down or something else, the alicorn’s resistance wavered, and the group of them sank to the earth. A soft white glow enveloping them all from the outside in. The mares held on with all their strength and eyes shut tight, just hoping that they could do so long enough for their friend to regain her senses. Oblivious to the magic surrounding them.

Increasing with intensity the closer it got to Twilight, the white magic crept its way up her horn until it reached the pinnacle where it coalesced into a brilliant star. It was a magic more powerful than the Changeling Queen’s curse.

The aura broke with a tremendous sound of shattering glass, the light going nova before dissipating into the ether. A flash of multi-color shimmered across Twilight's eyes, then she blinked rapidly.

“CHRYSALIS!” She yelped as if in mid-sentence, coming down from a sudden surge of panic. Then she realized that she was in the embrace of her friends. The others looked to her and saw that the spell was beaten at last. Darting over the fretful faces surrounding her, Twilight let the moment overwhelm her and collapsed into their combined warmth.

“Thank Celestia you girls are okay.”

“No thanks to you!” Rainbow blurted out joyfully.

“Girls?” Twilight asked, suddenly becoming very worried. “Where’s Spike?”

The diamond-shaped viewing pedestal shattered as Wanderlust and Crassus smashed through it, rolling across the floor in a tangle of limbs, snarls, and sparks of magic. Eyes filled with hatred bore into each other, foreheads touching as they grappled. Crassus adjusted, moving to snap his fangs at the unicorn’s neck, held back only by a hastily placed foreleg across his throat.

But there was more on Wanderlust’s mind than the mauling that thrashed only inches away.

“If only I could get to my bags!” He cursed mentally, sensing their familiar presence close by. His gaze flickered back and forth between possession and foe, deciding which to devote his primary focus.

“To the pit with this!” Reaching out with his magic, Wanderlust grabbed hold of the bags, dragging them across the floor. Crassus caught the sight of the aura around the pony’s horn and sensed an attempt at mischief. Secretion glands in the sides of his throat flexed, producing the magic-stifling gunk. It splattered over Wanderlust’s horn and the bags dropped where they were.

“Vermin!” A solid hoof struck the General in the jaw, sending spit and green goo flying. The vagabond tried to kick Crassus away, but was lifted off the ground and slammed back down in a furious reprisal.

“You’ll never see the sun again!” Crassus hissed venomously, trying to twist his head around the defensive foreleg. “When I’m done with you, I’ll pay a visit to your little marefriend!”

Rage flared in his heart, drawing Wanderlust’s full ire. He pulled back with his foreleg, allowing the enemy to come surging down. Diverting the momentum however, he bit onto the cragged horn so hard he could feel the chitin begin to crack. Crassus bellowed in protest, but Wanderlust was able to muscle him to the side and regain his footing.

Normally the ability to fly was a distinct advantage, but being the lighter of the two, it meant that the unicorn could maneuver the Changeling around using the horn to leverage him where he wanted. Crassus set his appendage alight in green fire to try and force his release to no avail, his head compelled at the painful angle.

Putting his superior strength to work, Wanderlust drove Crassus’ head into the wall, splintering the crystal. The General grunted, feeling his teeth grind against each other and chip. Again, skull met wall, weakening resolve. A third time and his legs nearly collapsed. Unthinking, Wanderlust tossed him aside with a growl, taking hard breaths through a clenched snarl.

As he stumbled to stand, a trickle of green ichor dripping from his mouth, Crassus felt his leg brush against something heavy. Looking down he saw the saddle bags that the unicorn had been trying to reach for. Whatever his opponent had wanted so badly, must be something useful he deduced.

“Looking for this?” He asked with a wince, picking the bags up in his magic, feeling the curious weight of it. “Huh? What’s in here that’s so important?”

Wanderlust spat to the side. “Normally I would warn you not to go in there, but frankly I don’t care what happens to you.”

“Another pony trick!” Crassus barked, his nerve coming apart. “You possess some weapon or tool in here! You thought it would save you, but now it will be your end!”

The clasp of the one of the bags came undone and Wanderlust made to step forward instinctively but halted after a thought.

While keeping his attention on the other, Crassus methodically lifted the flap and sunk a hoof into the cavity. He might have thought it odd that the unicorn didn’t offer any protest, instead of standing back and observing, but he was certain that whatever he found was about to give him an advantage.

His foreleg jerked suddenly, pulled downward a bit more into the bag. The startling wrench on his limb drew his immediate concern, looking down at it with perplexed shock. “What?”

Another pull brought him shoulder deep into the bag, his eyes wide with fright and alarm. “What trap is this?! What have you done?!”

But Wanderlust offered no clarification, merely watching with bated breath for the phenomena to play itself out.

There was nothing Crassus could do against the force that resided within the bag. His wings beat frantically, and his legs scraped on the floor trying to get away from the seemingly immobile satchel.

“I can’t-! Q-Queen Mother! Yahh!” Now his cheek was pressed to the bag, face contorted in sheer terror. For a moment he looked into the eyes of his foe, expecting to see satisfaction, expecting to see anger. Instead the cool blue gaze of the pony softened, and he saw only pity in them.

As a terrible realization sunk in, Crassus let out a chilling scream. It was cut off sharply when his head was sucked in at last, the rest of his body following through with a sound of rushing air. The saddlebags fell to the floor with a thud.

Walking casually over, Wanderlust used a shard of crystal in hoof to scrape the goo off his horn. Once it was clean, he took the bags up in his magic and re-secured the clasp before slinging them over his barrel.

“That’s why I tell ponies not to go in there.” He said in a sing-song voice.

The battle of Ponyville had reached its climax. In the skies the Thestral soldiers of the Lunar Guard fought with a fresh vigor and delight in sweeping down on the infamous enemies of Equestria. On the ground the Thicket warriors, hearts still hot with vengeance, gave no reprieve to the Changelings who sought safety by hiding among the ruins. As such, the weariness and demoralization of the invaders took its toll, many going down in defeat swearing fealty to their matriarch with their last conscious breaths.

Chrysalis herself was throwing everything she could at the armor-clad alicorn, their battle settling on the roof that spanned the east wing of the castle. It was her fanatical hatred against the might of the Princess, and neither one had yet to land any decisive blows.

The queen cast a series of fiery orbs from her horn as she back-peddled. Each of them in turn deflected by the parry of Luna’s duel-ended cudgel with a graceful finesse.

“Ha!” Luna laughed, finishing the sequence by stamping one end on the roof with a bang. “It is well that I missed your visit to Canterlot, ‘ere we might not take such enjoyment in this!” She declared with a smile.

But the mother of Changelings had nothing but a malefic scowl to counter Luna’s glee.

“A good skirmish is quite the exhilarating thing after a thousand years imprisonment! After our sister told us of her encounter with thee in Trot, we had hoped that fate would put thee in our path!” Leveling the weapon, Luna gave a coy eyebrow raise. “But if thee wishes to surrender, we would be reasonably merciful. Does two-thousand years under chains in Tartarus strike thee as agreeable?”

“We will see who spends the next eon in a dark cell!” Chrysalis spat. In the next moment she was lunging through the space, her body consumed in fire like a verdant meteor. When she emerged from the plume, she had taken on an entirely new frightening form, one more familiar to the Mistress of the Night. Her advance was checked by the length of Luna’s weapon across the breast, a shock of fear causing the Princess to buckle.

“Don’t tell me you’ve never had the urge to throw that obnoxious sister of yours in a lightless pit!” The merciless face of Nightmare Moon taunted, her voice gravely and severe. Luna cringed, staring back at the image of her darkest self, the face that had haunted her before becoming her.

“Come on…” The demoness in disguise continued. “You and me, we’re a lot alike, we get a bad rap just for being who we are. We could have a lot of fun, you and I.”

Luna grit her teeth and finally began to push back. “Neither face you wear bears any thing in kind to us!” She drove the front of her helm directly into Nightmare Moon’s forehead to break them apart. “The devil’s face upon thine own was a wicked twisting of who I am!” One side of the cudgel was swung, catching the Nightmare on the cheek, causing it to stumble back.

“I am a guardian of this realm! I am the bringer of peace and tranquility!” The fact that she was now referring to herself in the first-person did not occur to Luna as she used the other bludgeoning end of her staff to uppercut the succubus. “I am the mistress of the dreamscape!”

The imitation of Nightmare Moon staggered, a trembling hoof to her mouth. “You are a spawner of parasites!” Luna positioned her weapon for a power-blow, her magical aura condensing around the weighted end.

“I AM THE PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT!”. Whirling in place, Luna brought her instrument around and hammered the Nightmare in the chest with a crack of thunder impact. The combination of raw alicorn strength and magical detonation knocking Chrysalis out of her disguise and careening into the wall of the castle’s central tower.

“What in the seven hells was that?” Looking to the ceiling of the hall, Wanderlust had to blink to keep the tiny particles of dust and crystal from getting in his eyes.

“There you are!” Trixie shouted, scampering down to hall to him, not minding the rough jostling Spike was getting on her back. She nearly ran into him as she skidded to a halt, catching her breath. “It’s chaos outside!”

“What happened?” He asked, putting a calming hoof on her shoulder.

“The cavalry showed up! Princess Luna and a whole army of Canterlot guards!”

A shiver went down his spine and the pupils of his eyes contracted. For a moment he was speechless, but eventually he managed to spit out a more pressing question.

“W-what about Princess Twilight? Did you find her?”

“Oh, yeah.” Trixie began, as if she had forgot. “Chrysalis hypnotized her, or something, and she was putting all her friends in magical ice cubes.”

He stared at her for a few incredulous seconds. “Come again?”

Crystal shards fell and exoskeleton popped as Chrysalis peeled herself out of the crater her body had made in the wall. She collapsed face-first onto the tiled roof, groaning weakly, bits of her pilfered and perverted crown tumbling down to scatter around her. Vision blurry and disoriented, the sound of something heavy striking the roof kept pounding in her ears. Focusing long enough, she realized it was one end of the still polished weapon no more than a pace from her nose.

“Surrender Chrysalis.” Luna warned, this time with no hint of humor. “Surrender now or face the full justice of Canterlot.”

“The justice of Canterlot?” The broken Queen mumbled, lifting exhausted but defiant eyes to her foe. “What justice?” She spat a wad of mixed colors aside. “Turn me to stone? Obliterate me into shadow? A cozy bungalow next to Tirek in the pits of Tartarus?”

Chrysalis meekly stood, keeping her head lowered. “Or perhaps I’ll have a nice view of Equestria from your prison in the moon…” The last few words slithered out with a mocking tinge.

The weight of the cudgel was put upon her neck, Luna reminding her of its persuasion. “Whatever punishment you face will be too good for thee, no doubt. For that, thou may thank the benevolence of Celestia.”

Chrysalis raised an eyebrow. “And just when I thought we had a connection.”

But Luna’s weapon was pressed in response to her sarcasm. “It is thine exceptional fortune that we are not thy doomcaster.” The alicorn leaned down a little bit. “The moon is a harsh mistress.” She stressed.

“Of that I’m sure.” A cleaver gleam shimmered over her double irises as Chrysalis made to prostrate herself before the victor. “But I am crueler.”

With a sudden surge of movement that caught Luna off-guard, Chrysalis threw her self backwards with a fluttering of her wings. Her horn alight, she cast a ring of green fire around the Princess that shaped itself into a semi-translucent dome.

Luna used her staff to try and hold the spell back, but it did her no good when she felt the floor give way underneath her, her legs sinking like quicksand.

Watching her enemy go, Chrysalis chuckled wickedly to herself. “If I can replace one Princess, I can replace another.”

The reflection of a panicked Luna in the shrinking bubble played across her elated eyes and was frozen there when the mass of solid lavender magic encased her.

Twilight Sparkle, landing on the roof beside her friends, some being released from her aura of levitating magic, went first to Princess Luna. With the Changeling sorceress incapacitated, the transportation spell had been cancelled before completion, and the senior alicorn popped harmlessly back into the space she had previously occupied.

“Princess Luna!” Sparkle exclaimed, the group rushing forward. “Are you alright?”

“I am unharmed, young princess.” The lunar avatar assured her, using her wings to dust off her armor.

“You came just in time!” Twilight threw her forelegs around her neck, giving Luna a tight hug. “Thank Cel-” The faux pas struck her before she could finish the expression, and she slowly rolled her gaze up to where Luna was gazing back down at her, waiting for the other half to drop.

“I mean… thank… Selene you did! I don’t know what would have happened!”

“We shall let it slide this time.” The diarch said.

“Sooo… We win right?” Everypony turned to see Rainbow Dash hovering in the air, shoulders shrugged in inquisition.

“Yes, Bearer of Loyalty.” Luna began, stoically using a hoof to reestablish personal boundaries with Twilight. “This night is ours.”

The confirmation gave way to a chorus of cheers from the Bearers, peaked by a toss of the hat and a rowdy “Yee-Haw!” From Applejack.

Celebrations however, were premature. A surge of magic from her horn and the magical amber was shattered. Chrysalis recoiled into a pantherish crouch, aghast to see the powers arrayed against her. While the gems of the Elements of Harmony were safely restored to the Tree, she didn’t know that. And fearing a damnation to last an epoch, let loose with an ear-splitting screech as a last-ditch attempt to escape justice.

The pitch caused even the alicorns to flinch and cover their heads from pain. But the sound was not a weapon, indeed it wasn’t even for them. Every Changelings within ear-shot of the scream moved instantaneously to the call, an automatous response beyond any conscious decision to obey. Breaking away from whatever scuffle they were in, from hiding places, even the eyes of the comatose snapped open to rise to the summons. Thestral soldiers and deer alike tried to stop them, but instinct would not be denied in the feverish scramble

Perplexed but not deterred, Luna raised her staff to deliver a silencing blow to the impossibly excruciating noise. Before she could strike, however, a storm of Changelings came swooping in from all sides to surround their mother. Twilight cast a protective shell around her friends, thuds and bangs of colliding drones bouncing off its surface.

“It’s like a bat cave emptying out!” Fluttershy observed.

Through the chaotic frenzy, Luna kept her gaze locked on those of Chrysalis, who skulked within the swarm staring back with glowing irises. Then like a flash of light she was gone.

“It’s a getaway!” Pinkie Pie shouted once the swarm began to clear.

“’Tis thus!” Luna cried angrily. “Come friends, we must not let her escape!”

The swarm had other ideas however. No sooner had Twilight withdrawn her protection spell, then the Changelings split into four smaller flocks and dispersed to the winds.

“Awww, horsefeathers!” Applejack cursed.

“We’ll never catch her now!” Rainbow complained, switching between the rapidly exiting swarms.

“Pick a direction!” Luna cried, choosing a mass and pursuing it. She gestured for a portion of her guard to join her, and for others to go after a different swarm.

“I’ll take the one going over the Everfree.” Twilight declared, taking wing. “Rainbow Dash, you-” But the cyan Pegasus was already off, hot on the trial of the swarm heading south.

“I’ll uh, I’ll be back you guys, I’m just gonna-“

“Wait!”

They all heard the voice but didn’t know where it was coming from.

“Twilight!” It called, this time mares recognizing it as Trixie.

Sparkle flapped over to the edge of the roof where she could see the pale-blue unicorn hanging out of a window waving a hoof. She ducked back in briefly, coming back out a second later holding Spike in her magic, his head slumped backwards.

“Can you do something with this, please!”

On the opposite side of the castle, on the balcony that overlooked the west, Wanderlust ran out. Seeing the buzzing mass of Changelings heading out over the Everfree.

“No!” He growled. “You’re not getting away again!”

Soaring over the dark treetops of the forest, the Changelings made sure to keep a low profile, the light of the moon could still betray them to careful eyes. As the features of the primeval wood passed beneath them, one drone in particular glanced behind them, looking for any sign of being followed. After several seconds of inspection, they were satisfied.

The drone immolated itself in green fire, the ragged form of Queen Chrysalis was exposed among her troops, limping along on pained wings. She hung from her wing joints like a puppet on strings, head wallowing in mortification. Her plan having come crashing down around her in utter defeat, it would take a good long while to recuperate the strength of the hive, she might even need to lay a new batch of eggs.

Varus was gone, even her favorite Crassus was nowhere to be seen. “Look what they’ve done…” She wept to herself. “My bugs, my bugs… my bugs…”

Through the haze of her misery, she was able however to spot the outline of something potentially useful nearby. A new plan formulated in her crafty mind.

“You four, come with me.” She commanded the nearest group of drones. “The rest of you get back home.”

She and her select few peeled away from the main body, heading down to where a grouping of stone ruins populated a grassy hill.

“Isn’t he so cute when he’s asleep?” The squeaky voice asked. As he opened his eyes, the faces surrounding him were a collection of colorful, blurry oblongs.

“There he is.” Cooed a softer one. “Little Spikey-wikey is waking up!”

“Wha…What happened?” Sitting up, Spike held a claw to his head, still groggy from the extended slumber. “I feel like I got hit in the head with a dictionary.”

“Spike! I’m so glad you’re okay! Twilight said, taking him up in her magic and wrapping her wings around him. “I was terrified to think of what might have happened to you when I found out you got replaced by a Changeling.”

The mention of ‘Changeling’ was enough to snap the young dragon back to full sobriety. “I GOT REPLACED BY WHAT!?”

Then a pink hoof settled on his shoulder. “You kinda missed a lot kiddo, we’ll fill you in later.” Pinkie tried to comfort him.

Taken aback by the thought of so much going on that had been totally out of the game for, he tried to figure out what had happened to him. .

“The last thing I remember was answering a knock on the castle door…” He pointed a curious finger towards Rarity and Applejack. “And you were there, and you were there.”

The mares exchanged puzzled looks. “Wasn’t us sugarcube.”

“That must have been when they switched you.” Twilight realized.

“Wanderlust tried to wake him up earlier, so he could get a message to Princess Celestia, but whatever whammy Chrysalis put on him was too strong.” Standing to the side, Trixie gauged them all with a degree of apology in her voice.

“He probably doesn’t know Haycart’s counter to slumber spells.” Sparkle chimed in, helping Spike to fully stand. “It was only in the addendum to the 2^nd edition of his Casting Corpus. I have all four.”

Rarity stepped forward, eyes full of concern. “Trixie? Where is Wanderlust?”

Parts of the northwestern corner of the Castle of the Two Sisters had remained standing despite all the years of decay and overgrowth of gnarled vegetation. Chrysalis touched down on the soft blue-shaded grass among what must have been a set of medium-sized rooms beside one another. Now however, the roof was long gone, as was the hallway that connected them to the rest of the castle.

“Keep a look out.” She ordered her drones, leaving them to assume patrols while she attended business. Striding up to one of the walls, she knocked away a loose stone and reached her magic into the hollow behind it. From the cubby came four, small black round items. Without wasting a second, she cast them on the ground, equidistant and forming a square.

In the carved images of scarabs, the totems split down the seam of the wings, blasting a green magic that linked them all in one design. Quickly, Chrysalis checked over her shoulder, a healthy suspicious nature cropping up.

The scarabs were then drawn to one another, swirling together in a spherical blur of motion. A construct of hard webbing sprouted downwards from the magic orb, creating a support structure as it rose higher off the ground. After a moment the sphere expanded into an ethereal window pane, the edges wafting with green flame.

“Hey!” She barked at the darkness that occupied the majority of the surface. “Is anypony there?”

It took a few moments, but emerging from the shadows of the other side, a unicorn appeared. His white horn stuck out from a hole in the large hood he wore to cover his face, only his snout was exposed. The hood itself was finely crafted, of a black velvet material and trimmed with gold piping and intricate knotwork.

“Queen Chrysalis…” The stallion began with a polished accent. “This call is… unexpected. You look dreadful, are you unwell?”

“Cut the act!” Chrysalis snapped, the bangs of her hair falling over her face. “I need help! Everything has come apart! Luna came with her guard and-”

The stallion held up a hoof. “Yes, yes, we are aware of what happened in Ponyville, word here travels fast. Aside from Luna, Princess Celestia has also left to clear the Thicket Kingdom of any ponies and deer that were still trapped.”

“Celestia?” She cowed her head instinctively, eyes roving around. Her mind still recalled the defeat in Trot when she felt the brutal power of the solar alicorn. “I haven’t seen her…” But there were more pressing matters to address. “I need your group to provide a safe lair for me and my swarm to regain our strength. I know we can strike again soon enough.”

The sound of her request being met with a breath being sucked through teeth turned her face from anxious to alarmed.

“Yeah… I afraid that’s not going to happen.” He said, tilting his head.

“What!?” Chrysalis shoved her face towards the pane, searching for some sign that her ears had deceived her, but found none. “Do you dare take me for some pawn in your little game of shadows? We had a deal you insolent foal! You and your den of scorpions need to fulfill your end of the bargain!”

“There is no more bargain, Chrysalis.” The mysterious figure’s tone became firm. “You have failed, utterly, and the Project has decided that the arrangement is no longer in our interest. We have decided on another course of action.”

“You can’t do this!” She snarled. “You don’t have the authority! Where are the rest of the Project members?”

The hooded stallion took a step back, and two more conspirators stepped into view. To the right was a slightly taller stallion, similar robe, similar horn. On the left emerged a female unicorn, lean and lovely by the way the cloak hugged her form.

“The decision in unanimous, Chrysalis.” Spoke the tallest, his voice a bit more refined, betraying an older stallion. “We speak with the authority of the entire Restoration Project when we say that, well, we’re finished.”

“I was never too keen on the idea of aligning ourselves with your kind anyway.” The mare huffed with condescension. Her voice was melodic in its biting cruelty, sophistication and poise sharpened to a razor. “The very idea of allowing you repulsive creatures to run amok in Equestria was positively revolting.”

Chrysalis was speechless, she felt the bottom falling out from underneath her. She stared wide-eyed and jaw slack, realizing the degree to which she was royally screwed.

The hooded mare leaned herself forward. “You’re on your own.”

With that curt parting, the swirling portal collapsed, a sign that the magical artifact on the other end of the line had been disconnected, and probably destroyed for good measure. The Queen sat staring at the grey stones of the wall, the small muscles in her face twitching, a breath slowly escaping.

She might have been stuck in position until the next rising of the moon, had not a queer crumbling sound not aroused her suspicion.

“Now where would she go?” Twilight Sparkle asked herself as she glided through the night air. While the Everfree forest might seem like the perfect place for Chrysalis to flee into, it was the habit of the Changeling to operate by deception, trickery, and misdirection. The black queen could have made her escape in any direction, and Twilight knew she could have havens hidden anywhere on the continent.

Still, the Everfree would provide the quickest and easiest means to evade capture. Chrysalis might elude the reach of justice yet again. But, as Twilight scanned the ever-darkening horizon, she would drag Chrysalis back to Canterlot kicking and screaming if she had too. She had been enthralled and used as a weapon against her friends, and there was some serious Tartatus to pay for that.

Skulking in the shadows of the decrepit castle, Chrysalis tilted her head around the corner of the stone wall-section, wary of any sign of danger. True, Celestia tended to be hard to miss, but given a thousand years maturity, it wouldn’t be surprising if the solaric alicorn learned how to soft-hoof it when she needed. Plus, there was always the conventional threats that lurked in the primal forest. A run-in with an owl-bear, Chimera, or a cockatrice she’d much rather avoid.

Nothing appeared or made any troubling sounds, just a soft breeze moving through the nearby bushes and the light of the moon above.

“Drones!” She barked in a hoarse whisper. “Drones, where are you?”

Not only was there no sign of danger, there was no sign of ally either. None of her soldiers were in sight. Usually this wasn’t the greatest issue, as they might have transformed into something else to make themselves inconspicuous lookouts. But she would be able to detect that, her own bugs could not deceive her senses, they were her spawn, and they could not fool her.

She glanced about, stepping more into the open. Behind her was the castle, where the broken outlier chambers transitioned into what remained intact of the main structure. Apprehension told her to stay near to cover, but her need to maintain a lingering sense of control pushed her out, searching for the drones.

“Hey!” She yelped a little louder.

“My Queen!” Another voice finally broke the eerie quiet. A drone popped out from behind another section of abandoned wall, he postured low in anticipation of a threat, gaze darting back and forth. “We are not alone here, I cannot find the others.”

“What?” She recoiled, breath catching in her throat. Across her chitin memory rippled with a flash of heat, what Celestia did to her at Trot scorched into her brain. “But we weren’t followed…”

“Somepony or something is here, Mother. Taken out the other guards.” The Changeling made careful sure that they were alone. “They are nearby I think… very close.”

Chrysalis scanned the woodline, teeth grit. “We need to get out of here… back to the-“

The beam of swirling green and white magic struck her on the right flank, she was off her hooves and crashing through stone before she even realized what was happening.

Her body flew out of the dust cloud like a comet, tumbling across the grass in a blur of limbs and painful grunts. She came to an ugly stop against another stone wall, this one part of the castle’s main structure. Fissures spread-out from where Chrysalis hit it, back impressed into the bricks.

“As a matter of fact!” Striding through the broken wall, the dust settling around him, the Changeling marched, his voice altered from what it had been a moment before. “I think I hear something approaching right now!”

Chrysalis had just enough time to raise her groggy head and look up to see the next blast coming for her. The magic consumed her, driving her the rest of the way through stone and mortar and into the main gallery of the Castle of the Two Sisters.

Face sliding over the musty carpet, the black queen still didn’t understand what was happening, she only knew that she kept getting hit and she had to get away. Chrysalis lurched to her hooves, tried to flap her wings but cried out in agony when a sharp stab of pain revealed the damage done to them. With a pitiful yelp she collapsed to her knees, seeing nothing ahead of her but the staircase that topped at a landing and bifurcated up to a higher balcony. The moon shone down through the tall, narrow window that loomed over the space, casting a soft glow down the steps to where she crawled.

Heavy hoof-steps echoed in the hall as the Changeling entered through the hole he had forged with Chrysalis’ unwilling body. He was breathing through his teeth, eyes hardened and burning a lance through his target.

Reaching the base of the stairs, Chrysalis heard the methodical steps approaching from behind, and turned with horror to see what she thought was one of her own bugs stalking forward.

“What… What are you?” She begged with ragged gasps.

The Changeling disappeared in a plume of green magic, revealing Wanderlust in its place, his face a mask of perfect hatred.

“HRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!” Chrysalis screamed, beyond aghast to see her native magic used by an outsider.

“You! You can’t do that! You can’t use our magic!”

“A spell like any other.” He growled. “You can learn it with enough practice. And I got plenty of practice after all the time I spent in the hive!”

Was it possible? She wondered. Nopony had ever managed to mimic the Changeling spell before, never even heard a rumor of it. It was too much for her to process. She sputtered, inching her way further up the stairs.

“You were in our hive before…” She muttered, remembering the interrogation her generals had put to him. “How… How long were you there?”

Wanderlust paused, face twitching as he stood over her. “Long enough.” He spat. “Long enough to outlive the rest of them. Long enough to watch them wither away.”

He shot a beam of magic, it struck where Chrysalis’ breast had been, but she swerved to the side just barely. The stone was left blackened. She slithered a few more steps upward, chest heaving.

“It’s not possible!” She tried to counterfire, but her magic was met with his own, and in her weakened state, overpowered as it was dispersed in a cracking burst.

“I held back you know.” She continued to crawl, he kept pace, menacing over her. “I held back against Varus and his soldiers. I held back against Crassus. I’ve been saving my best stuff for you. Saving it for a very long time.”

She scrambled, attempted to leap away but she was caught in mid-air, frozen in his magic.

“A lifetime.”

Instantly she was flung into the ceiling, her armor denting the stone. Just as fast she was dropped, it was all her superior physiology could do not to shatter on impact.

The pummeling from Luna had put her in a bad spot to begin with, and her state of mind was coming apart. Normally she’d be able to handle this unusual pony, one way or another. But not like she was now, skittering like a cockroach from some stranger with an old grudge.

He spoke coldly. “I can’t imagine you even remember them.” Chrysalis reached the landing where the stairs went to the left and right. Wanderlust’s magic gripped her head, forcing it down into the dust-soaked threadbare carpet, pushing it along.

“I mean, we’re just food to you, right? How many families have you monsters dragged back to your hive over the centuries? Countless.”

“It’s not like.. ah! Like you remember everything you ever ate!” She growled with her face pressed to the stone. “It’s not personal!”

“It’s personal for me!” He lifted her in his magic and ran forward, burying his shoulder in her back until ramming her up the steps and into the wall. “Hraaa!”

Chrysalis swung back with a leg, putting a knee in his nose, forcing him to back off as his head snapped. Then she lunged, tackling him, the momentum carrying both into the shaft of moonlight cast across the balcony. Even as battered as she was, there was still enough strength in her immortal body to put up a fight. They settled with her on top, astraddle his barrel, hooves at his throat. Her teeth were bared in a savage grin, a fanatical expression as she felt his breath struggling to escape.

“This is all your fault!” She snarled. “I should have sucked the life out of you when I had the chance! Hmm... But now that you’re here…” Her maw opened.

Staring back up at her with steeled determination, his horn flared with fire magic, going off in a small explosion. A reflexive terror swept Chrysalis at the sight of flames so close, and a second before the fire spell detonated she threw a hoof in front of her face to shield her from it.

Wanderlust rolled to his hooves and wrapped his forelegs around her, hefting her off the floor and slamming her back down with a thud.

“But I’m not doing this for my own sake!” A trickle of crimson dripped from his nose, falling to spatter on Chrysalis’ neck.

“I’m doing this for them.”

Wanderlust’s horn ignited once more, not with fire, but with pure white-hot magic.

“For my wife!”

The light swelled, a nimbus building in intensity around the horn.

“For my son!”

Another surge and the light was blinding, Chrysalis had to turn away from it.

“For Aquileia.” He hissed.

At hearing that name, the mention of that place, something snapped in Chrysalis’ mind, it gave her the same stunned expression that Crassus wore when the secret was whispered into his ear.

Aquileia… She repeated in her mind.

But her time to ponder the concept was at an end. With a grimace, Wanderlust lowered his horn and released the accumulated magic.

A purple flash of sparks appeared just as the beam was fired, and Wanderlust was gone in a blink. Chrysalis opened her eyes to see a section of stone missing right next to where her head had been, a pit of blackened ash.

Twilight Sparkle and Wanderlust reappeared outside the castle on the grass, the remainder of his magic beam spending itself into the ground. She and he recoiled from one another.

“What were you doing?!” Twilight cried out, shocked and fearful.

The surprise of the teleportation wearing off, Wanderlust glared at the princess.

“I was about to destroy that demon once and for all! And you saved her!”

In a fury Wanderlust fired a bolt of white fire at Twilight, deflected by a shield and returned with a shot of her own lavender magic. It served to sober his senses a bit.

“Hey! We don’t do that here.” She scolded. “Chrysalis will face Equestrian justice.”

“Justice!” He spat. “I have had my taste of Equestrian ‘justice’!”

Left alone on the balcony, Chrysalis shivered as she realized that her rescue, however temporary, was a precious chance to make her escape. Slowly she crawled as fast as she could drag herself down the stairs and down to the hall floor. There she hobbled along on two good legs, head cowed, looking back over her shoulder to where she had heard the two ponies arguing with each other.

“That creature has to be destroyed, Twilight!” Wanderlust demanded. “After all the centuries of terror she’s inflicted! After all the lives lost! The lives of my family!”

Princess Sparkle was stunned. He had mentioned that his family was gone, but she had no idea that it had been at the work of the Changelings. “I’m sorry about what happened to you and your family, I truly am. But I cannot allow you to impose your own revenge as justice!”

“Forgive me Princess…” Activating his magic, Wanderlust readied himself. “But I wasn’t asking for your permission!”

The two of them fired at the same time, the magic streams smashing against each other.

Chrysalis was nearly home-free when she bumped into something warm and furry. She froze, the tingling in her horn a sign that she was in the presence of very powerful magic. Turning her face forward and tilting upwards, she found a set of pink irises staring down at her.

It was strange thing for Princess Celestia to bear such an indomitable visage, very few would ever warrant the gravity. But Chrysalis was one such creature familiar with how terrible the wrath of the solar alicorn could be.

“Celestia…” She nervously muttered, forcing a smile. “You’re looking… sunny.”

The castle was filled with a brilliant flash of golden magic that beamed out from every window and crevice. It interrupted the conflict between Twilight and Wanderlust, drawing both of their attention. Sparkle felt the sensation of her mentor’s distinct magic immediately.

“Princess Celestia!”

Wanderlust clenched his teeth, taking a step back.

Back in town the Lunar Guard and the newly arrived contingent of Royal Guard were restoring order to Ponyville. The ponies that had been trapped in the Thicket had been rescued and brought back by Canterlot’s finest, reuniting families and coordinating recovery efforts. Portions of the fleeing swarm that had encountered the Royal Guard, still licking their wounds, simply hadn’t the fight left in them to contend with the fresh vigor of the Royals and surrendered.

Luna’s armored Thestrals concerned themselves with rounding up the Changelings and placing them under watch in the town center. Unaccustomed to polite formalities like the Royal Guard was, the Lunar knights in their fearsome helms were aptly suited to keeping the marauders in check.

Between the Royals and Thestrals existed a professional courtesy, though aside from exchanging prisoners, very little was said across the party lines.

“Nooo! You can’t do this to meeee!” Being dragged kicking and screaming by two burly Royal Guard pegasai, General Pernicia Magna thrashed in their hold, digging her heels in the dirt to slow them down by any measure.

“You know you don’t have to raise such a fuss.” Trailing the captured General, Flash Sentry was simply annoyed with how difficult she was being. “Whatever punishment you have coming, it’s not as cruel as what you’ve spent your life doing to innocent ponies.”

Magna spat at the ground in spite. “You ponies have got a reckoning coming! And when it does, I’ll be there!”

“Yeah, like that’s not the tenth-time I’ve heard that tonight.”

“Rumble! There you are!” Flapping over to the Element Bearers and the others gathered, Thunderlane rushed with open hooves to where his little brother was being ushered along by Rainbow Dash. Having returned just in time, fulfilling her pledge was something she had to see done. The brothers reunited on one of the bridges that spanned the river running beside town hall, the elder scooping him up tightly. “Thank Celestia you’re okay!”

Rainbow Dash looked on happily, satisfied that had been able to keep her promise of bringing Rumble home safely.

“Thanks Dash.” Thunderlane said, eyes watering. “I knew you could do it.”

“Hey, I promised you didn’t I?” She chuckled. “I always come through for my friends.”

The other girls turned their attention towards answering the throng of questions from the townsponies, who fairly expected the multi-time champions of Equestria to know something about what was going on.

Rarity, feeling a bit overwhelmed by the jabbering mass, stepped away just in time to see Trixie ducking her head and starting to make a quiet exit.

“Trixie, wait.” The seamstress called out, trotting over to catch her. Visibly uncomfortable, the magician took an extra moment before she could look Rarity in the eyes.

“Listen...” Trixie sighed. “I know I’m not the most welcome pony in town, so I’ll just leave, and you girls won’t have to worry about-”

“That’s not it at all darling.” Interrupted Rarity with a raised hoof. “I just wanted you to know that despite how unpleasant your last visit was, you have acquitted yourself bravely on this occasion, and I for one am glad to have had your help.”

Blushing, Trixie didn’t quite know how to take the compliment. “I suppose I just needed a reminder of some of my better days.”

“I could see it you know. The way you looked at him, the way he brought out something different in you, something a bit nobler than what I was accustomed to. At first I thought you might have been an old flame of his but-“

“You thought me and Wanderlust used to be an item?!”

“He explained otherwise.” Rarity hastily corrected. “But I know that you meant a lot to each other. You will stick around for a proper reconciliation, won’t you?”

“I don’t think I’m ready for that yet. I uh…” The words ceased to flow for a moment, Trixie looking to the ground as if the right thing to say might sprout from the soil. “I need some time to process a few things.”

Reaching out to gently lay a hoof on her shoulder, Rarity gave a comforting touch. “He’ll understand. Just don’t make him wait too long, eh?’

“Tell him that… Tell him I’m not angry.” With a final exchange of nods, the two mares parted. Trixie spared the town one more glance before disappearing into the crowd.

“We found this one all by himself. Practically turned himself in.” The CMC, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie turned around to see a gruff Thestral guard escorting an adolescent Changeling to where the rest of his kind were being rounded-up.

“Arthon!” Pinkie exclaimed. Leaving the others behind as she shot forward. Before the guards could bind his legs and wings, she scooped him up in a hug. “Somepony’s gonna have the greatest bravest-little-Changeling party ever!”

“Ya dun good, kiddo.” Said Applejack, trotting up to tilt her hat. “If you hadn’t thrown them fellas off our trail, we’d a been caught for sure.”

“To be honest I’m not sure why I did it.” Arthon meekly admitted once he was set back on his hooves. “I just, I just didn’t want to hurt anypony anymore.”

Standing at the edge of town, Gentle Heart and Paleo Search watched events play out, keeping themselves out of all the hustle and bustle. They were passed on his side by a pair of Thestral guards.

Paleo called out to them as they went. “Glad to have you guy here!”

The guards paused, glancing back at their kindred with curiosity.

“I remember you.” One of them said after a few moments scrutiny, leveling a hoof. “You’re that kid that skipped out during his service probation!”

“Oh, you still remember that, huh?” Paleo lowered his head in a show of embarrassment. “Was kinda hoping that whole thing would wash over by now.”

“Wash over?” The guard asked, a bit incredulous. “Dishonor like that doesn’t just wash over, coward!”

The guard lurched, as if he were about to attack, but held back. Paleo flinched defensively, Gentle Heart throwing her limbs around his neck with a shocked gasp. Disgusted, the larger Thestrals sneered at him, scraping some dirt with a hoof in his direction.

“Oh…” Paleo sighed when they had left. “I bet dad is still pretty mad at me too then, huh?”

Breaking away from the sheer terror of all the worried faces throwing their unending questions at her, Fluttershy found some breathing room in the boughs of a tree. She saw some of the Thicket deer among the crowd, King Aspen working with the Royal Guards to secure the town. She did not however catch sight of Blackthorn and let out a disappointed huff.

Teleporting back into the Castle of the Two Sisters, Twilight found Princess Celestia standing over the unconscious form of Chrysalis, subdued at long last. She rushed over, knowing without any doubt that this Celestia was the real thing. “Princess!”

When the immortal saw her favorite student, she let out a heart-filled gasp at the sight, floating over in a single flap of wings to meet her half-way. Twilight was engulfed in massive white wings, wrapped bodily and drawn into the warm embrace.

“Twilight!” Celestia nuzzled her restlessly, using her feathertips to caress and inspect for damages. “When Rainbow Dash tore into Canterlot and started rambling about Changelings, I realized that I hadn’t received a letter from Spike or anything. I was so worried that I almost teleported straight here, if not for Luna talking some sense and strategy into me.”

“I’m *puft*, I’m okay! Really!” Twilight had to flail her limbs to keep from drowning in the tempest of soft feathers, surprised but glad all the same by the flustering of concern. “Chrysalis almost had me, but, luckily my friends were there to pull me back.”

Celestia threw her forelegs around Twilight, a show of tenderness that only a hoof-full of other ponies had ever experienced in a thousand years. “If something happened to you, Twilight, I don’t know what I’d do.”

As they hugged, Twilight was able to look over her shoulder and see the trail of smoke rising from the mad queen’s body where she lay.

“What are you going to do with her?”

Breaking away, Celestia gave her counterpart a cold glare. “She has managed to stay one-step ahead of the justice coming to her for far too long. Not anymore.”

It was just then that Twilight realized that in her hurry to see Celestia, she had left Wanderlust outside. Gliding over to the base of the tall window, she searched the lawn for him.

“What is it, Twilight?” Celestia asked, coming up alongside her.

“There was…” Twilight considered telling her about Wanderlust, but there were a few questions she needed answered first.

“I thought I saw something else.”

Author's Note:

Next Time:
Find out the secret of the Cup of Crimson Wonder!
And!
The Demon of the Deep!

Paleo Search and Gentle Heart are the ponysonas of Tarbtano and Faith-Wolff respectively, used here with their permission but not assistance.