Halfling

by Dee Pad

Chapter 20 - Unlikely Alliance

Halfling
By Dee Pad
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Chapter 20: Unlikely Alliance

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Fluttershy let out a long yawn, brushing the errant strands of her slightly disheveled mane out of her eyes. It was impossible to tell what time it was, but based on how sleepy she was starting to get, it felt like it may be getting late. It looked like she and her friends would have to spend another night in the frightening caves of the Changeling Kingdom.

Then again, maybe it wasn't that late. While Fluttershy and Rarity hadn't managed to get much sleep, trudging along as though their bags were stuffed with rocks, Rainbow Dash was full of energy. Granted, not bouncy and peppy like Pinkie Pie would be, but she frequently wound up having to wait for her two companions to catch up. Neither of them would ever understand how the cyan pegasus could possibly get a good night's sleep on a dirty, uncomfortable, stone floor.

While Fluttershy had said very little since their arrival in the Changeling Kingdom, Rarity had been quite vocal of each and every grievance that she had. Currently, the issue was her hooves.

"I wonder what is the most intensive hooficure treatment the spa offers. I know I'm certainly going to need it after all of this. Ugh, I think I may have even chipped my hoof. Oh, this has just been an absolute nightmare!" the ivory unicorn whined.

Walking ahead of them, Rainbow Dash breathed an exasperated sigh and rolled her eyes. "We haven't even seen any changelings since we got here and you've already found every possible complaint you can come up with. Complaining about it isn't going to fix it."

Rarity turned her nose up at the pegasus's attitude. "Hmph. I'm simply trying to fill the air. The silence is a touch unsettling, if I'm being honest. I just can't think of any topics of conversation that don't involve how unpleasant this all is."

"I think I'd rather the silence over your moaning and groaning."

Rarity scoffed, insulted by the comment. "Well! Perhaps you should have just gone with Twilight, then."

Fluttershy lowered her head, interjecting before this went too far. "Could you two please not do this? The last thing we need is to be fighting with each other."

Rainbow Dash flashed an apologetic smile over her shoulder, but to Fluttershy rather than Rarity. "Don't worry about it, Fluttershy. Rarity knows I'm not serious."

"Yes, just as airing grievances is my way of breaking the silence, arguing is Rainbow Dash's method," Rarity added with a derisive giggle.

"Are you complaining about my arguing?" asked Dash with a smirk.

The unicorn challenged her smirk with one of her own. "What if I am?"

"Okay, okay, I get it," Fluttershy interrupted with a quiet giggle. "I didn't realize you two were so playful."

Rainbow Dash faced forward again with a grimace and an embarrassed blush. "I wouldn't call it 'playful,' more like, uh..."

"Harmless banter," Rarity finished.

"Yeah, that."

The conversation was cut short when the trio found themselves approaching what looked like a fork in the road. Reaching the end of their current path, they stepped out into yet another straight tunnel that ran off to the left and right, but not quite perpendicular to the path they had come from; their route intersected with the new tunnel that put them facing toward the left. The new tunnel also appeared to be some sort of junction for other paths as well, as there were multiple tunnels that joined to this one in the nearby vicinity.

"Goodness me. More choices..." moaned Rarity with exasperation. "Honestly, would it do any harm to at least put up some signs?"

"The changelings probably can't read," Fluttershy pointed out, reminding her that Shade and Chamella were also illiterate when they first arrived in Ponyville.

"All of these tunnels are running toward that direction," Rainbow Dash noted, pointing a hoof to the left of the tunnel they'd entered through. "I'd say that way is our best bet."

Rarity nodded, not wasting anytime heading off in that direction. "Agreed. If that's where these paths are leading, then that must mean there's something in that direction. So, let's not daw-dle!"

Rarity stumbled suddenly, her bejeweled helmet clattering onto the stone ground ahead of her as her hoof slipped off of the edge of a lip in the floor, causing her to fall forward into an unseen hole in the floor. Thankfully Rainbow Dash reacted quickly enough to catch her before she completely slipped out of sight, grabbing the unicorn by the tail with her teeth and keeping her hindquarters out of the hole.

Fluttershy rushed over to their sides, peering into the hole at the hanging unicorn. "Rarity, are you okay?!"

"Is there no end to the torment this place brings?!" Rarity cried out in a combination of fright and anger.

"Jusht hang in there..." Rainbow Dash said through clenched teeth as she held Rarity's purple tail tightly.

"Is that supposed to be a joke?! Just pull me out!"

Rainbow Dash managed to wrap her hooves around Rarity's withers and began to remove her from the hole, not without a few yelps from having her tail tugged on as well. Once she was able, Fluttershy leaned down to help Rarity get her front half out safely until the fashionista finally fell backwards onto her haunches, panting and looking more than a little frayed. Fluttershy picked up her friend's helmet and returned it to her.

After taking a moment to compose herself, Rarity put her helmet back on, taking a deep breath and standing up as straight as she could manage in an attempt to maintain some shred of dignity. "Well, that was an experience I certainly did not need right now." She pushed her annoyance of the situation to the side for a moment to give her two friends a grateful smile. "Thank you. Who knows what fate could have awaited me had you not jumped in?"

Rainbow Dash stifled a snicker. "Don't mention it. But you gotta admit, it was a little funny. Kinda like unclogging a pipe."

Rarity wretched at the thought, but didn't retaliate, although she was now even more aware of how unkempt her coat and mane had become. "Ugh, in all honesty, I feel like I've just crawled out of a sewer anyway."

Fluttershy tried, and failed, to suppress an amused snort. "That sort of reminds me of this one time when a chubby mouse friend of mine got stuck in the entrance of his burrow."

The unicorn grimaced at the implication, but didn't retaliate. "Can we just get going, please?"

The two pegasi wholeheartedly agreed, wasting no time pressing onward. The further they traveled down this new tunnel, the fewer connecting tunnels there were until it seemed there were none left entirely. But that wasn't the only noteworthy change. After some time, the three mares could hear the distinct sound of running water; the first thing they'd encountered that they could all agree was relieving.

The source of the sound soon became apparent when the three arrived in a relatively small chamber with a basin of water smack in the middle of the floor, being fed by several small streams of water running down out of the walls. But more eye-catching were the plethora of colorful gemstones decorating the walls of the room, eliciting the first genuine look of happiness and excitement from Rarity since they left Ponyville.

"Good heavens! Look at all of these gems!" the unicorn gushed as she admired how they sparkled under the light of their headlamps. She approached the water basin carefully, peering down to find even more jewels beneath. "It's too bad this place is so out of the way, not to mention dangerous. These gems appear to be of high quality. Although I'd need a closer look to confirm that. Rainbow Dash, be a dear and dive down for one of those rubies, will you?"

Rainbow Dash balked at the request. "Why me? You're the one who wants them so bad. Go down there yourself."

Rarity pouted in frustration. "My coat is filthy enough as it is. Who knows how disgusting that water is?"

"And you're fine sending me down there? Yeah, thanks, but no thanks."

"Why don't you just get one off the wall?" Fluttershy interjected quietly.

The unicorn paused for a moment as she looked around, not wanting to admit she didn't think about that. "I suppose I could." Rarity walked over to the left wall of the room, eyeing up a particularly large emerald. Using her magic, she carefully and expertly worked the gem out of the rock wall, popping it out like a cork from a wine bottle. She analyzed it closely, grinning with enthusiasm. "Oh, my, such beauty! I don't think I've ever seen an emerald this pure. I know Applejack will probably give me an earful about it, but I simply must take some samples to bring home. Would you mind helping me collect some, Rainbow Dash? That's not too much to ask, is it?"

The cyan pegasus rolled her eyes, but gave an apathetic shrug. "Yeah, sure. Just don't take too many, okay?"

With that, Rarity continued plucking jewels from the left wall, while Rainbow Dash flew up to the higher gems on the right side. Fluttershy, meanwhile, was beginning to realize that there was an imminent problem.

"Um, girls? I think this is a dead end," she pointed out, shining her light on what appeared to be a cave-in on the opposite side of the chamber.

"Great, now we gotta backtrack," groaned Rainbow Dash.

"That is disheartening," said Rarity, though her mood seemed unaffected as she removed a sapphire from the wall with a smile. "Let's just grab a few more of these lovely gemstones first."

Rainbow Dash eyed up two rubies about halfway up the wall. "They are pretty cool. Think they'll be more valuable since they're from the Changeling Kingdom?"

"Oh, I hadn't thought of that," Rarity exclaimed, her eagerness only heightening at the thought. "Just a few more then..."

Rainbow Dash reached out to try and jostle one of the rubies free. However, when she touched it, it seemed to sink into the wall and disappear, as well as the other ruby beside it.

"Huh?"

Confused, she retracted her hoof and the rubies emerged from the stone once more.

And then they looked at her.

It was only now that Rainbow Dash realized that what she was looking at were not actually rubies, but some creature's eyes. She shone the light of her headlamp down along the wall, noticing the odd shape of the area.

"Uh, guys? I think we should—gyah!"

Before Rainbow Dash could finish her thought, the creature suddenly lunged at her from the wall, snapping at her with diamond-like teeth. Thankfully she backed off quickly enough to avoid its powerful jaws and the creature dropped to the floor with a loud thud.

Spinning around to see what had happened, Rarity took one look at the crocodile-like animal before turning back to her wall and noticing the moving gemstones above her. She let out a shrill shriek as she saw two ruby-eyed crocodiles crawling down the wall toward her.

"Ahhhh! What are these things?!"

"I don't know, but I think we should get out of here!" Dash suggested as she leapt out of the way of another bite, stomping down on the crocodile's snout with her front hooves.

"Help!"

Rainbow Dash turned to a distressed Rarity, who had quickly gotten surrounded by the animals, one even emerging from the pool of water in the middle of the room. The unicorn shuffled in place, unable to find an escape route as one of the creatures opened its diamond-lined jaws. Rarity covered her eyes, not wanting to see what it was going to do to her. Just as it was about to bite down, Rarity felt herself being hoisted off the ground and carried away, followed by the loud snap of its jaw clamping down on air. Rarity finally opened her eyes to find herself being hastily dropped off next to the entrance, away from the vicious animals.

Rarity took a moment to catch her breath that she had expended with her screaming. "Oh, thank you, Rainbow Dash. You're literally a life saver."

"Don't mention it, but we've gotta go, now."

"Wait! Fluttershy!"

At the mention of the other pegasus's name, Rainbow Dash spun around to search for her mild-mannered friend, worried that she hadn't heard a peep from her since the crocodiles started attacking. It only took a moment to notice the light from Fluttershy's helmet, but on the opposite side of the room. If that weren't enough, she was being beset upon by two more crocodiles.

"Fluttershy, look out!" Rainbow Dash called out as she started flying over to her.

Fluttershy didn't even look away from the animals, raising her hoof to Rainbow Dash rather casually. "Just a moment, please, Rainbow Dash."

The cyan pegasus came to a stop midair, raising a puzzled eyebrow at Fluttershy's shockingly nonchalant attitude.

"One's a female changeling with a long, purple mane, and the other's a pegasus like me, but with a white coat and red mane."

Dash hung in the air, jaw wide open and brain uncomprehending. "Are you... talking to them?"

"Rainbow Dash!"

Spinning around again, Dash saw the crocodiles moving in on Rarity once more.

Fluttershy also took notice, her ears perking up as if she had just remembered something, looking back at the two next to her. "Oh, could you ask your friends to stop fighting, pretty please?"

Without a moment of hesitation, one of the crocodiles turned its head to the three across the room, letting out a low, hissing noise. The three immediately stopped just a few feet from the cowering unicorn before backing off.

Rarity watched, shaking and confused, as her attackers moved back toward the pool of water, but they didn't take their eyes off the ponies. "Wha...? What's happening?"

"That's it?!" Rainbow Dash shouted in disbelief. "They were about to tear us to pieces, and now they're cool?! What gives?!"

"They were just defending their territory," Fluttershy explained. "They're crystal crocodiles. They're very protective of the jewels in their caves."

One of them turned back to Rarity, causing the unicorn to flinch instinctively. Even though it couldn't really form actual facial expressions, she couldn't help but feel it was scowling at her.

"I think you should return the gems," the yellow pegasus suggested.

"They tried to kill us!" Rainbow Dash argued. "Don't get all buddy-buddy with them!"

Fluttershy furrowed her brow at Dash's attitude. "We are trespassing on their territory, and we stole their property. I'd suggest you apologize before they get mad."

"What?! But..." Dash looked around at the five crocodiles and one pegasus staring straight at her expectantly. She let out a long groan as she touched down next to Fluttershy. "Fiiiine. Sorry, or whatever..." she muttered begrudgingly.

Rarity tried to carefully maneuver around the room to join her friends, but was stopped when one of the crocodiles crawled in front of her, hissing at her. "Alright, fine!" she yelled in a panic, haphazardly emptying her saddlebags of all of the gems she'd collected. The crocodile backed out of the way, allowing her to hurry over to her friends. "I really don't need all of this stress right now."

Satisfied that the crocodiles were placated, Fluttershy smiled and turned back to the one she'd been talking to. "Anyway, have you seen them? I know it's a long shot, but I figured I'd ask."

The creature hissed quietly, but non-threateningly.

Rainbow Dash observed the odd exchange with a quizzical look. "So, you can understand them?"

"Their accents are a little thick, but I can get the gist of what their saying."

Once again, the crocodile hissed, and Fluttershy's eyes lit up happily.

"Really?!"

"What did he say?" asked Rarity curiously.

"She said that Winter and Chamella actually came through here!" Fluttershy beamed excitedly.

That news managed to perk up Rarity as well. "Oh, well, that's wonderful news! How lucky!"

"Don't get ahead of yourselves," Rainbow Dash interrupted pessimistically. "This is a dead end, remember? They would've had to turn around. Now we gotta go back and try and figure out which of those other paths they went down."

Once again, one of the crocodiles hissed, and the whole group of five turned toward the basin of water. Curious, Fluttershy stepped up to the pool and peered down into it.

"Wait, they went through here? So, there's actually a way forward through the water?"

"Good news, Rarity. Looks like you'll get to go for a dive after all," Rainbow Dash chuckled with an amused smirk.

The unicorn groaned at the idea. "Eugh... Now that I know what's been in that water, I'm even less inclined." She received an insulted hiss from a nearby crocodile, causing her to quickly backpedal with a forced grin and a nervous clearing of her throat. "Erm, yes, well... I-I was in need of a bath anyway."

"Oh, while we're here, have you also seen a male changeling with a blue mane?" Fluttershy asked the crocodiles.

She received some unsure sounding hisses and what could only be described as dismissive shrugs from the crocodiles.

"Oh, I see. Oh, well, couldn't hurt to ask."

"I take it they haven't seen Shade," assumed Rainbow Dash.

"Apparently not many changelings actually come through here. Winter and Chamella were the first people to brave this path in quite a while," Fluttershy elaborated.

Dash rolled her shoulders and took a deep breath. "Well, guess we should get moving then."

Fluttershy nodded. "Alright. Thank you very much for your help," she said to the crocodiles with a grateful bow. "We promise we won't be bothering you any more."

"You mentally prepared yet, Rarity?" Rainbow Dash asked with a sly grin as she looked around at the caved-in passage.

The unicorn huffed begrudgingly, but made an attempt to look stoic. "Quite." She then looked back at the pile of gemstones she'd given back, reluctant to leave with nothing. "Are you sure I can't have just one, teensy little—?"

As she was gingerly reaching for a particularly large ruby, one of the crocodiles snapped the air near her, forcing her to quickly withdraw.

Rarity turned her nose up to the animal's perceived greediness. "Hmph. Fine. They aren't so beautiful anyway."

"If you're done stalling, we need to get moving," Dash said again, having found a gap at the top of the cave-in through which to deposit her supplies while they swam through the basin. "Get your stuff through here and we'll pick it up on the other side."

As they made their preparations, getting all of their stuff safely through the gap and getting ready to take the plunge, they couldn't help but feel at least a little at ease knowing that they were on the right track. Now, they could only hope that Winter and Chamella weren't too far ahead of them.

***** ***** *****

Shade flew as fast as his wings could carry him, the buzzing of his translucent wings accompanying the sound of his rapid heartbeat in his ears. The near-vertical tunnel he was flying through was uncomfortably narrow, and the winding path it brought him down wasn't making it any easier to navigate. He'd chance a glance behind himself to see if he was being pursued, but he feared he'd scrape himself against the coarse, stone walls.

He didn't feel good about leaving Twilight and the others behind. He was so surprised and relieved to see them, but now he was forced to separate from them after only a brief time. Still, though, knowing they were even here at all was an easing thought. He just had to hope that they could find Winter and Chamella, or even Snowflake.

But that wasn't really the main concern right now. One of two things was about to happen: either his friends were going to be in trouble, or he was. Wraith did not look happy when he last saw him, but Shade wasn't entirely sure if he chose to chase after him or not. All things considered, Wraith probably was on his tail; Wraith had specifically shown up with the express purpose of hunting him down. At least he could rely on Twilight, Applejack and Pinkie Pie to take care of a few grunts, but who knew if he was going to be able to reunite with them again?

Flying as hastily as he was, Shade didn't even notice right away that the tunnel had come to an end and he now found himself in a more open space. Unfortunately, it was yet another nondescript cavern, but at least there was a path forward. He touched down for just a few moments, surrounding himself in silence and keeping his ears attentive. He stared at the hole he'd come out of for only a couple of seconds before his heart rate picked up again. He could definitely hear the distinct sound of buzzing wings echoing up the tunnel and quickly getting louder.

Shade didn't waste another moment. Now he knew for certain that he was being chased, and the last thing he wanted right now was to find himself in a head-to-head with Captain Wraith. Taking to the air once more, Shade continued his attempt to escape by flying down the path ahead of him. Shade chanced a look over his shoulder as he flew. He still couldn't see Wraith, but he could most certainly hear him. Somehow, Wraith's wings sounded even louder than his own, despite the distance between them. He was gaining on him, which meant that it was only a matter of time before running was no longer an option.

The tunnel Shade was flying through was starting to develop more notable features as he flew. Particularly, there were rather large crystals growing out of the floor and ceiling like stalactites and stalagmites, but hexagonal in shape. The further Shade traveled, the larger those crystals became. Eventually, the tunnel widened considerably, and the crystal structures were basically large clusters of pillars reaching up or down more than a dozen feet; a few in particular were even larger, extending almost to the ceiling. The crystals didn't look particularly appealing from an aesthetic standpoint, as they were all of a yellowish-green color and the insides of them were very cloudy and practically impossible to see through to the other side of them.

This was about as much as Shade could take. The joints where his wings met his back were burning. He had to stop here, but he couldn't rest. Wraith was right behind him, but at least this cave offered Shade an opportunity. The changeling hurried over to the right side of the room and ducked behind a large cluster of crystals jutting up from the ground by the wall. He was choosing to hide, hoping that maybe Wraith didn't notice and kept flying by. That would not only give Shade a chance to catch his breath, but would also allow him to backtrack and rejoin Twilight and the others.

It didn't take long for Wraith to catch up, either, and the moment he arrived in the room where Shade was hiding, he came to a quick stop. Wraith flittered slowly to the ground, alighting unusually gently given his size. With narrowed eyes, he scanned the immediate area scrutinously.

Already Shade's idea wasn't going how he wanted. Wraith must have taken notice of the sudden lack of another set of wings buzzing. It was looking like it was only a matter of time before Wraith found him.

The armored changeling took a few slow steps forward, the clomping of his hooves echoing ominously. Wraith glanced from side to side as he passed by crystal pillars, checking behind them as he combed the area for his quarry. Ultimately, his patience was failing him. He knew Shade was here somewhere, and he wasn't about to waste his time checking every nook and cranny.

"I'd suggest you come out of hiding," Wraith ordered, his voice reverberating throughout the room.

Shade didn't budge, trying to keep his breathing quiet. He was holding out hope that maybe Wraith would decide he may have been mistaken and keep moving.

Wraith furrowed his brow, not particularly pleased with the lack of a response. "Have it your way..."

Wraith began to flitter his wings, but remained grounded. The buzzing of his wings gradually grew louder as he picked up the pace.

Shade stayed in hiding as he wondered what Wraith was doing. The pitch and volume of the buzzing only kept increasing, eventually overpowering what was typical for a normal drone; the sound would have drowned out any other noise in the area had there been any. Shade winced, and he felt a headache coming on all of a sudden. His ears were beginning to hurt as well. The high-pitched buzzing was getting louder still, and Shade could feel it beating on the inside of his ears like a snare drum. He lifted his hooves to cover his ears in the hopes of protecting himself from the aural onslaught. It didn't do much, as the sound was starting to feel like a physical force bearing down on him and putting pressure on his skull. Shade grit his teeth to fight the pain, doing his best to avoid making any noise despite the fact that it would certainly go unheard.

Shade was starting to feel like a drill was digging into his ears and boring into his brain. He even felt a small trickle of blood begin to run down the side of his head. If he had to endure this much longer, he was worried about the sort of damage it might cause, especially given his condition as it was. He was already feeling a little lightheaded.

Reluctantly, Shade gave in. He stood up and emerged from his hiding place. Wraith immediately turned in his direction, bringing his wings to a stop and locking eyes with the pained changeling. Even though the penetrating buzzing had finally been silenced, Shade could still hear a ringing in his ears, his hearing gradually returning to him. What was interesting to Shade was that Wraith's horn was aglow, and his ears, poking out through holes in his helmet, were encompassed by magic to protect himself from the sound of his own buzzing. Even so, Wraith also looked somewhat uncomfortable. Like how Shade had attempted to block it out with his hooves, Wraith did so with magic, but, likewise, it didn't seem to help entirely. Wraith was wincing slightly, too, and a bead of sweat rolled down his neck. Flittering his wings that quickly must have been strenuous, even for him. That also must have been why Wraith didn't just do that from the start; surely prolonged exposure to that kind of sound would eventually kill those nearby, but it could also cause irreparable damage to Wraith himself. It must have been a desperation move.

Even though Shade was now out in the open, Wraith said nothing. He only glowered in Shade's direction. The two changelings stared each other down in silence for a few moments until Wraith started walking towards Shade.

"I want to ask some questions," Shade said, unfaltering under Wraith's disdainful glare.

The changeling captain didn't stop moving towards Shade. "I have no reason to answer them. I'm merely here to kill you, so taking the time to chew the fat would only be a waste of my time."

Shade took a step back as Wraith continued to close the gap. It seemed his bid to buy time wasn't going to work, so it was time to go on the offensive. Without warning, Shade fired off a beam of magic from his horn at Wraith, hoping to catch him off guard. Wraith didn't even flinch, erecting a small barrier in front of him to block it as quickly as Shade could fire it.

Not wanting to give Wraith a chance to counterattack, Shade rushed at the larger changeling. However, once again, Wraith was fully prepared. Wraith quickly stepped forward, meeting Shade at the last second with a thrust of his hoof against the smaller changeling's chest. Shade felt the air being forced out of his lungs from the sudden impact, but had no time to register the pain as Wraith then slammed Shade to the ground, pinning him on his back with a hoof pushing firmly on his chest.

Shade coughed for air, but found breathing difficult with the immense pressure bearing down on his ribs. He stared up furiously at the changeling standing over him. Wraith didn't seem at all bothered by Shade's attempt to fight back, simply gazing down stoically. Shade felt like he'd been in this position a lot recently, and he'd managed to get out of those situations the same way. No reason not to try his luck again.

The moment Shade lit his horn up to fire another blast at Wraith, he felt the hoof on his chest press down harder, eliciting a pained shout from the pinned changeling. But the light of Shade's horn did not fade, and he glared back up at Wraith, practically snarling at him through his teeth. Through the pain, he managed to get off the bolt of magic, this time catching Wraith slightly off guard. The larger changeling only managed to shift his head to the side, but the shot still managed to graze the side of his face. It struck his midnight blue helmet and knocked it clear off his head, landing with a resonating clang and letting Wraith's long, fiery orange mane spill out.

With a small burn on his cheek and a newly ignited fire in his intense, violet eyes, Wraith finally looked like he'd reached the limit of his patience.

However, before Wraith could exact whatever form of violent harm he had in mind for Shade, he looked up from his prey, distracted by something.

"Shade!"

Although he was still pinned beneath Wraith's hoof, Shade managed to tilt his head back enough to see who it was that was calling out to him. Charging toward the two changelings from the direction that Shade had been fleeing towards earlier was none other than Twilight Sparkle.

Twilight stopped a short distance away from Shade and Wraith, glaring with fierce determination at the larger changeling. "If you know what's good for you, you'll let him go."

Wraith didn't appear to be bothered by the vague threat and was simply staring back with a cocked eyebrow. Shade, too, was staring at Twilight with a look of confusion. Any relief Shade had felt when he had heard her voice quickly evaporated. He would have been more than happy to have Twilight's help right now, the problem was he immediately noticed that something was off. This Twilight was missing the wings that had been given to her upon becoming a princess.

"What are you doing?" Wraith deadpanned, unamused by what was clearly an uninformed changeling in disguise.

"Twilight's" determined expression fell when she noticed the odd looks she was receiving. "Huh? What do you mean?"

Shade sighed with a roll of his eyes. It didn't take much thinking to determine who this actually was. There was only one changeling that Shade could think of that might be remotely willing to help him and wouldn't have known about Twilight's wings, not to mention that they had come from the opposite direction from where the real Twilight was. "I guess no one told you that Twilight's an alicorn now, huh, Guise?"

The disguised changeling tried to play dumb, but noticing that the other two weren't buying it, they grimaced, clearly disappointed that their plan didn't work in the slightest. "Uh, yeah, that would've been useful information. Oh, well, can't blame me for trying," they said with a shrug.

Since the jig was up, the fake unicorn's horn lit up green and emerald flames surrounded their body to reveal, as Shade had guessed, Guise. Despite the failure of his attempt to trick Wraith, the red-maned changeling still managed his signature smug smirk.

"What exactly were you trying to do?" Shade asked Guise from his position on the floor. "You're not anywhere near Twilight's level. Wraith would have slaughtered you."

Guise sneered at Shade. "Well, I was hoping that just her presence would be enough to scare him off. Isn't she supposed to be, like, the strongest unicorn, or something? Or alicorn, whatever."

"Even if you had been the real Twilight Sparkle, I would not flee with my tail between my legs like a frightened puppy," Wraith asserted.

Guise shrugged. "Maybe not, but even still, it's two on one now. I think we have the advantage," he stated confidently.

Wraith narrowed his eyes skeptically. "You honestly believe you possess the ability to sway this fight in your favor?"

Guise grinned wider. "Not exactly."

Before Wraith could even raise an eyebrow to question what Guise meant by that, he was struck by a blast of magic in his chest. Thankfully for him, his chest armor absorbed most of the force, but it was still enough to cause him to stagger backward, finally freeing Shade from his grasp.

"I make for a pretty good distraction, though," chuckled Guise.

Shade rushed over to Guise's side, giving the red-maned changeling a vexed look. "What are you still doing here? I thought you left."

Guise grimaced at Shade's ungrateful attitude. "You're welcome."

Shade rolled his eyes. "Look, I appreciate the help, I just don't understand why you want to help me."

"You saying you don't need my help? Guess you got a point; you looked like you had this pretty much under control," Guise quipped sarcastically.

"Could you stop being a snide jackass for two seconds and just answer the question?" Shade snipped, clearly losing his patience.

Guise lifted a hoof to diffuse Shade's rising temper. "Alright, chill out. The short answer is that I kinda need you for something."

Shade narrowed his eyes, glaring at Guise suspiciously.

"It's nothing heinous, I promise, for as much as my promises are worth."

"I swear to Celestia, Guise, whatever crap you're trying to pull, I'm not buying it," Shade stated testily.

"Okay, maybe I'm not exactly trying to turn over a new leaf here, but I mean it when I say I want your help in return."

"'In return'? Do I have to remind you that you tried to kill me?"

"Are you still harping on about that? You won, remember? I got locked up in a dungeon for two years because of that."

"I'm harping on?! The first thing you did when you got out was try to kill me again! And now you have the gall to ask for my help?!"

"Hey, you're supposed to be the nice guy. I thought those pony friends of yours would've taught you to forgive and forget, or whatever schmaltzy 'love and friendship' crap they try and push on people."

"Are you two quite done?!"

The two bickering changelings froze when they remembered that they weren't alone. Wraith's voice boomed throughout the crystal-laden cavern, his ever-growing anger making itself very much known. The captain glared fiercely at the two of them, his slotted pupils narrowed and staring venomous daggers at the two he deemed traitors. If Wraith hadn't completely lost his patience before, it was out the window now.

"Uh, talk later?" Guise said with a nervous chuckle.

"Sounds good. Provided we make it out of this," Shade agreed, taking a defensive stance.

Wraith's eyes shot back and forth between the other two changelings. As furious as he was with their inane arguing, he couldn't deny the convenience of the situation. "Perhaps I shouldn't complain. At least this will save me some time tracking you down, traitor," he said to Guise with a low growl. That being said, he still glared ferociously at the two of them. "And if you two have any disillusions about escaping with your lives, I'm sorry to inform you that you are sorely mistaken."

Wraith's long horn began to glow brightly. Leaning forward, he launched a magic beam straight at Guise, who managed to fly upward and out of the way. Shade charged forward toward Wraith, earning the captain's attention. Keeping in mind what happened last time he rushed in head first, Shade lead his charge by lifting into the air and firing a burst of magic. Wraith reacted by raising a barrier, however, Shade's projectile instead struck the ground in front of Wraith, kicking up dirt and shards of stone which partially obscured Wraith's vision. Wraith scoffed at Shade's attempt at a tactical approach, retaliating with a quick pulse of magic around himself to push all of the debris away.

Shade was still flittering in the air, and Wraith wasted no time unleashing another beam, sweeping it horizontally and forcing Shade to duck low to avoid it. Still focused on Shade, Wraith wasn't able to react quickly enough to the other adversary flying in from his right.

With a devious grin, Guise rushed Wraith, delivering a straight punch to the larger changeling's cheek. But his smirk didn't stick around long. Despite the solid blow to the face, Wraith didn't budge, glancing at his attacker aggressively through the corner of his eye while Guise's hoof was still planted firmly into his cheek.

Wraith lifted his front leg, elbowing Guise in the barrel and immediately following up by swinging his head underneath him and using his curved horn like a rhinoceros's to toss Guise to the side and into a nearby crystal formation.

Guise collapsed to the ground with a long groan, pain shooting through him from both his chest and back. Through one open eye, he glared at Wraith with bared fangs.

Wraith was about to walk over with the intent of crushing Guise's skull beneath his hoof, but noticed the smirk suddenly return to the fallen changeling's face. Assuming the implication of that, Wraith spun around in time to catch Shade charging him again from the air, thrusting his horn up as he turned in an attempt to impale him. Shade shot up a shield in time to block the sharp horn, but was forced to a stop by the impact. Just as he had done to Twilight's barrier earlier, Wraith lit up his horn and thrust even harder against the neon green force field. Unlike Twilight's barrier, cracks began to appear in Shade's instantly, and the smaller changeling had to back off before Wraith shattered it.

Capitalizing on the opportunity as Shade tried to put some distance between them, Wraith flew up after him, tackling Shade midair with his shoulder and causing him to fall to the ground. Shade managed to right himself as he fell, landing on his hooves and watching as Wraith touched down as well. Wraith fired off another beam at Shade, but this time Shade didn't evade and instead protected himself with a barrier. However, while his shield did its job, the force of Wraith's beam was enough to push Shade back until he was up against the wall of the cave.

Shade started to realize what Twilight had had to deal with when Wraith assaulted her barrier. He had to use every ounce of his strength and concentration just to keep the barrier up, and even then it was starting to wear down and crack. Shade clenched his eyes shut as the pain started shooting down his horn, but after a few more moments, the powerful force suddenly let up. But now the cracking sound was coming from something other than his shield.

Opening his eyes, Shade looked across at Wraith. The captain's horn was still lit up, but instead of focusing his magic into a beam, it was wrapped around the large crystal growing out of the ground next to him, about twelve feet high and six feet in diameter. The cracking was coming from the yellowish-green crystal as Wraith used his magic to break off shards of it. About two dozen razor-sharp shards, ranging from six to eighteen inches in size, were now floating around Wraith.

While Wraith's eyes were locked onto Shade, he briefly glanced to his left. Guise had gotten back up and was running at him. Wraith didn't even bother to give Guise his full attention, simply launching one of the crystal shards in his direction with pinpoint accuracy, threading through one of the holes in Guise's left front leg with enough force to embed itself firmly into the stone floor. The back end of the shard was larger than the end in the floor, preventing Guise from lifting his hoof and effectively pinning him to the ground momentarily while the sharp edges of the crystal dug into his chitin. Any attempt to wrench his hoof free only resulted in the edges cutting him deeper, his blood beginning to drip and pool on the ground. Guise glowered furiously at Wraith, but the captain barely looked back at him for a moment longer. If being pinned to the ground, helpless and bleeding, wasn't infuriating enough, Wraith's dismissive glance, as if he wasn't worth Wraith's time, was the clincher.

Wraith turned his full attention back to Shade. Shade was still recovering from his assault just now and hadn't moved. With impeccable coordination, each of the remaining shards floating around Wraith were rotated, their pointed ends all taking aim at Shade. After only a moment, the entire salvo of crystals were hurled toward him. Given their erratic formation, any attempt to evade them would likely result in at least one of them hitting their mark. So, instead, Shade took a different gamble and erected his barrier again. Thankfully, the shards plinked harmlessly off of the round shield, although Shade felt the sharp force of each strike as several deflected off the barrier and others dug into the wall around him.

But, apparently, Wraith wasn't finished yet. With his magic enveloping the large, splintered crystal again, the base of it began to crack, the split quickly crawling around the circumference. With no lack of visible effort on Wraith's part, the entire column of crystal came loose from its base, the sound of shattering crystal echoing loudly throughout the cavern.

Shade barely had any time to react as Wraith hurled the huge chuck of gemstone lengthwise towards him. Shade dove to his left and the crystal slammed into the wall, breaking away large chucks of rock from the wall. The impact practically shook the cavern, the other crystal formations growing out of the floor and ceiling shaking and clattering from the force.

Shade reeled for a moment as he stood back up, his back now against an enormous crystal embedded partially in the wall that stretched almost up to the ceiling—perhaps the biggest one in the cavern. He was in awe of the raw strength of Wraith's magic. Again, he found himself wondering just where a changeling without access to love could get that kind of power.

Wraith wasn't about to give Shade a moment to compose himself, though. Continuing his feats of impressive magical power, he wrenched several smaller, more narrow crystals—yet still sizable—that had been clustered around the larger one, tossing each of them end first at Shade like blunt, oversized arrows.

Shade wasn't confident enough in his barrier to attempt to block them like he did the shards. He managed to hop out of the way of the first, it's end crashing into the huge crystal behind him and taking a chunk out of it. He was about to keep running alongside the wall when the second crystal crashed in front of him, cutting him off. Seeing no other course of action, Shade flew upwards. Wraith followed his movements by tossing the remaining crystals, each of them bashing the larger crystal on the wall and barely missing Shade.

Wraith scowled up at his airborne target. Unfortunately, he'd run out of ammo, and the shards that had scattered on the floor had already proven themselves to be ineffective. But as long as his quarry was on the defensive, he knew he had the upper hoof; it was only a matter of time before Shade slipped up or got worn out.

Wraith levitated a group of scattered shards around himself again, preparing to launch a second flurry anyway. However, his attention was diverted by the sound of buzzing wings to his left. Of course, he knew it was Guise, but what he didn't expect was for the red-maned changeling to charge at him brandishing the shard of crystal Wraith had used to pin him to the ground.

In an effort to thwart Guise's haphazard attempt at a sneak attack, Wraith swung his front leg outward, expecting Guise to either dodge, or simply take the hit. But neither happened. Instead, a sinister grin played across Guise's lips as he thrust the shard into Wraith's swing, driving its sharp edges into one of the holes on Wraith's legs as he had done to him before.

Wraith winced in pain as the shard dug into his skin, wedging itself in the hole. However, that didn't stop his swing, and Guise still felt the full brunt of it, being knocked out of the air and rolling across the ground.

Despite the solid and rather painful blow, Guise's devious smirk persisted as he rose back to his hooves, though there was a notable amount of fiery rage in his blood red eyes. "Thought you could just ignore me, did you?! Save me for later because you think I'm not a threat?! I've got more killer instinct in me than he does!"

Wraith didn't respond. He merely glowered viciously at Guise as if the injury he'd sustained were nothing more than a bothersome mosquito bite. With his magic, he torn the shard free from his leg, drawing out a small splash of blood as he did so and throwing the bloodstained shard to the ground, shattering it to tiny pieces. "I was willing to give you a few extra moments to breathe, but if you want to die that badly, I can certainly oblige," he practically snarled. "But first, tell me who it was that released you."

Guise smirked mockingly. "Oh? Did you not give the order?"

"As if I would allow a traitor like you to roam free."

"And yet you asked that Blight creep for help."

"Blight is mentally unstable, but he has no intention of assaulting the throne," Wraith clarified. "And he'll be executed when his job is done regardless. Now, tell me who released you," he demanded.

Guise shrugged, but maintained his cocky smirk. "You've got a lot of soldiers wandering around. You think I know all their names? Maybe Chrysalis ordered them to let me out."

Wraith narrowed his eyes. "I very much doubt that. And you are trying my patience."

"Why should I bother telling you? You probably plan to kill me either way, so I may as well have a little fun messing with you while I can."

Wraith scowled at him, clearly irritated by Guise's nonchalant attitude in the face of someone who was clearly stronger than him. "Then I'll make sure your mirth is short lived."

Guise chuckled darkly as Wraith closed the gap between them. The captain raised an eyebrow.

"Do you find your imminent death amusing?"

The red-eyed changeling grinned deviously. "Hey, remember when I told you I make for a good distraction?"

Wraith halted. It was only now that he started to notice an odd sound coming from behind him. A cracking noise, like when he broke off those crystals. He spun around, spotting the source.

Shade was using his own magic to crack the giant crystal on the wall, its integrity already having been weakened by the several smaller columns Wraith had chucked at it before. With all the strength he could muster, Shade focused his magic on the damaged parts of the crystal, the cracks snaking outward. With one last forceful push, the towering column could no longer support its own weight and snapped off at the center. The enormous chunk of crystal toppled over, its sheer size smashing against several other crystals growing out of the ceiling, sending rocks and gemstones raining down as the colossal crystal fell with them.

For the moment, Wraith was no longer concerned with Shade and Guise, instead focusing on the stones and gems falling all around him and threatening to crush him. He was about to move out of the way, but was suddenly struck in the back of the head by a kick from Guise. The weaker changeling's blow wasn't enough to really cause much harm, but it did reinforce Guise's claim of being a good distraction, as well as continue to boil Wraith's anger.

Guise and Shade flew out of the way of the falling debris, but Wraith was forced to ignore Guise's incessant sucker punch and escape in the opposite direction due to the large boulder falling beside him and cutting him off. He even threw up a barrier just in case an errant piece of debris managed to strike him.

The entire cavern shook, the sheer force of the quaking enough to shake several more rocks and crystals loose from the ceiling. Shade and Guise could both tell that remaining in the area any longer would likely result in them being buried alive, and with Wraith concerning himself with his own safety, they decided now would be a good time to make their escape.

Wraith found himself back where he had entered the cavern, now cut off from where Shade and Guise had gone by the debris that continued to pile up, the floor still shaking from the weight of it all. With all of the large crystals and boulders that had fallen free from the walls and ceiling, the area had been effectively caved in.

Wraith scowled, gritting his teeth furiously as he retrieved his fallen helmet. It would take far too much time for him to clear all of this away in order to give chase. They had escaped, and he was not happy about it. Any minor injuries he had sustained during the battle were not nearly as painful as the humiliation of being bested by two traitors, one of them being no better than a common drone.

That being said, Guise's presence brought to light a situation Wraith had not anticipated. Now that his quarry had managed to elude him, this may be a good opportunity to do a little investigating.

***** ***** *****

As the quaking in the caves died down and debris stopped raining down from the ceiling, Shade let himself fall back onto his haunches, out of breath and exhausted, both physically and mentally. He and Guise had managed to get out of the cavern of crystals without being buried alive and, all things considered, no worse for wear. Shade felt a throbbing in his head, but it wasn't so much like the headaches he'd been experiencing recently as it was centralized around the base of his horn. It took a lot of effort to topple that huge crystal, and he likely wouldn't have been able to do it at all if Wraith hadn't conveniently created several weak points.

"Ahhh, that'll get the blood pumpin'," Guise exclaimed with a satisfied grin as he sat down nearby Shade. "Who would've thought we'd make such a good team?"

Shade managed to give Guise a bemused glare as he continued to catch his breath. "Alright, so what's this 'help' you were talking about?"

Guise's smirk dropped. "Just like that, huh? Jeez, you're all business nowadays, aren't you? I'd've thought you'd mellow out a bit with your new, laid-back life style," he quipped, gently rubbing his bleeding leg.

Shade let out a long sigh. "Look, I'm not in the mood to deal with your attitude right now. Can you just answer the question, please?"

As much as Guise liked to mess with Shade, considering everything that's happened, he decided to cut him some slack for once. "Well, I don't need your help per se, but if I'm gonna ditch this poor excuse for a kingdom, I'm gonna need a fall back plan."

Shade raised an eyebrow skeptically. "And what exactly is that supposed to mean?"

"The ponies already know there are good changelings out there, so it shouldn't be too hard to insert myself into their society. Especially if I have someone to vouch for me," Guise hinted with a bob of his brow.

Shade grimaced at the implication, groaning and getting up to keep moving deeper into the hive.

Guise rose to go after him, confused by his reaction. "What?"

"Do you honestly think I'm going to defend you after all the crap you've done? You already told me you plan on just finding somepony to siphon love from. I am not condoning that."

Guise rolled his eyes. "Alright, alright, what if I promise not to cause too much trouble? I do realize that if I start acting maliciously, I'm probably gonna get found out."

"I already said that if you do decide to live with the ponies, I'm informing Princess Celestia that you're there. Plus, I'm gonna be keeping tabs on you."

Guise scoffed. "Tch, as if I'm going to hang out in that podunk town with you. No, no, no, I'm not gonna be kept on a leash. I'll do my own thing, thank you very much."

"Then you're really not giving me any reason to vouch for you," Shade deadpanned. "If I back you up and you do something stupid, I'm gonna get lumped in with you. I've got too much at stake to risk on you and your power fantasies."

"Sheesh, this is how you treat someone you've known literally your whole life? I know we were never exactly 'friends,' but how did we manage to tolerate each other growing up? You used to hate the ponies as much as any of us."

Shade stared forward, his voice growing quieter and more solemn. "Because I'm not the same person I was back then. I've changed, but you haven't."

Guise remained silent for a moment. He couldn't deny that, certainly, but a part of him knew that Shade was his only real chance of making it outside the Changeling Kingdom. He managed a smirk once more. "How about if I sweeten the deal?"

Shade glanced at him curiously, but suspiciously. "What?"

"Okay, so, I'll promise to try not to cause any trouble in pony country. In return, you bail me out if I mess up in some way."

Shade was about to interject with another refusal, but Guise held up his bloody hoof to stop him.

"If it's a minor slip up. I won't expect you to help me if I royally screw up, and you don't even have to associate with me until I make some kind of mistake. That way, you can decide whether or not you want to help me out."

Shade took a moment to think about it. He breathed a reluctant sigh. "Guise, I don't trust you. It's as simple as that. It's gonna take much more than that to convince me to help you."

Guise chuckled. "Funny you should say that. I think I have just the ticket."

Shade waited for what he expected to be an underwhelming argument.

"I know where your kid is."

Shade came to a halt, his eyes widening in surprise and disbelief. "What? You know where Snowflake is?!"

Guise nodded. He knew he had Shade's attention now. "Yup. Met the little half-breed myself."

Shade narrowed his eyes skeptically. "And how do I know you're not lying?"

Guise rolled his deep crimson eyes, getting a little tired of all the mistrust. "Fine, I'll prove it to you."

With a quick flash of green fire around his body, Guise suddenly vanished. Shade had to look around for a second before he turned his gaze down to the floor. He was shocked to see the spitting image of his own son staring up at him. The green tuft of hair and bright, emerald eyes; the pitch black coat; the translucent wings. He was telling the truth.

"Good enough?" Guise said in a high-pitched, squeaky voice.

Shade had to admit it was a little surreal to hear his infant son talk to him, but there were more important things on his mind right now. "Uh, yeah, okay. You've got a deal."

Satisfied with that answer, Guise returned to his original form with a grin.

"So, where is he?" Shade asked desperately.

"He's being kept at the soldiers' quarters, somewhere near the throne room."

"How is he? Is he okay?" Shade's voice was dripping with concern.

Guise pulled back, off put by Shade's desperation. "Yeah, he's fine as far as I could tell. Glory's looking after him now."

"Glory?" The mention of the name put Shade on edge. "Why is she looking after him?"

Guise chuckled. "Apparently she got demoted to foalsitting duty after she failed to kill you. I wouldn't worry too much; she seems like she can take good care of him."

"Do you know what they even want with him?"

"No clue," Guise answered with a shake of his head. "I'm not even sure if Glory knows."

Shade shrugged. "Well, it doesn't matter. Just lead the way."

Guise hesitated for a second, looking a touch embarrassed. "Uh... Actually, I only know where he is. I didn't say I knew how to get there."

Shade stared at him, baffled. "What? But you said you were there."

"And you've been to the throne room before, but do you remember how to get there? The only reason I found the soldiers' quarters was because I followed Glory there. And I followed a squad of soldiers to get here. I'm not just randomly wandering around in here, ya know?"

Shade let out a disappointed sigh. It wasn't a good feeling to have his hopes raised like that only to come crashing down. He could tell that Guise didn't intend to do that, though, and, after everything, he felt like he finally owed Guise something. "I'm never thought I'd have to say this once, let alone twice, but, thanks, Guise."

Guise's eyes widened a little. He was actually surprised to hear that. It caught him off guard. "Oh. Uh, well, I'm still not doing this for entirely selfless reasons. Maybe save your thanks for when this is all over."

"I guess that means you're going to be tagging along with me for the time being, huh? Can't let anything happen to your contingency plan, right?"

"Don't get me wrong. If I have to step over you to save myself, I will."

Shade nodded with a roll of his eyes. He figured he shouldn't have expected too much. Whatever the case, he had some sort of lead now. It might not even be entirely necessary to confront Queen Chrysalis if he could just find Snowflake and leave. But that still left Winter and Chamella, not to mention Twilight and the others; thanks to that cave-in, he didn't even have the option of going back to meet up with them. All things considered, there was still going to be a lot of luck involved, but at least he had something, and that gave Shade a newfound confidence, especially since they had put some distance between themselves and Wraith.

***** ***** *****

With a heavy sigh, Glory trudged back through the caves to her new post. She was feeling a little tired and somewhat exhausted. Slung over her back was a makeshift sack made of dehydrated leaves, their ends tied together to hold what she had gone to fetch. It wasn't easy to find leaves that were both big and healthy enough to use in this manner in the Changeling Kingdom, so she counted herself lucky. She could have carried everything with her magic, but considering the distance she had to carry them, she'd rather not.

It was pretty ridiculous the distance she had to travel just to get this stuff. Even though she was well acquainted with the winding passages of the hive, it was still some ways away to the nearest exit, and this task just ate up a few hours of her life. Yet another reason to despise her new station.

If that weren't enough, she couldn't even enjoy the silence anymore. News quickly got around that she'd been delegated as the new foalsitter for their newest prisoner, and the other soldiers were certainly relishing in her misery. She used to command respect from the soldiers; some were even uneasy in her presence. But one simple order from her superior and now she was the butt of everyone's joke. Now, every time she made her way through the caves, she'd have to put up with snickering and degrading comments from every soldier she passed. If the plan was to demoralize her, it was working.

Glory's ears swiveled forward slightly. There was a sound coming from up ahead, one she was starting to get familiarized with, whether she liked it or not. The sound of whiny sniffing and sobbing. At this point, she was just happy she was about to have a chance to sit down and relax for a little bit. At the very least, taking care of the halfling wasn't an entirely strenuous job. She was starting to realize how well suited for the task she was, too, as much as she hated to admit it. Being able to see the tyke's memories made it pretty easy to figure out what was wrong with him.

As she approached the green flames flanking the entrance to the soldiers' quarters, Glory inhaled deeply and walked inside.

Snowflake was sitting in the middle of the room, just where Glory had left him. He was whimpering and hiccuping with tears running down his cheeks and snot dripping from his nose. But the moment the foal heard hoofsteps, his sobbing ceased and he turned to the entrance.

Glory raised an eyebrow at the little colt's expression. Even though she hadn't spent that much time with him yet, he seemed to recognize her. He didn't seem to be afraid at all like when he first saw her. If anything, he stared at her pleadingly. Of course, the whole reason she left in the first place was resting on her back.

Glory removed the leafy sack from her back and tossed it unceremoniously in front of the foal. The impact caused the leaves to unravel on their own, revealing all the food that she had gathered from the forests and fields outside. There wasn't much, but that was to be expected, especially since half the stuff Glory had found she ate herself. She had saved all the small stuff for the tyke. She was lucky enough to happen upon a rather bountiful bush of blueberries, but also left half an apple that had started to brown, and even picked up a few glowing mushrooms that she passed by on her way back.

With the food platter laid out before the kid, Glory let herself drop down to the floor, removing her helmet and letting out a long moan as she stretched out. "There. Have at it."

Snowflake's sobbing was diffused the instant he laid his eyes on the food. He eagerly crawled over to the spread, looking over the options before him. With a big, playful grin, he swung his hooves down onto the pile of blueberries, splattered them all over the leaves and the floor around it and staining his little, black hooves purple. He then began to suckle on his juice-soaked hooves, loudly slurping down the sweet berry mush.

As odd a display as that was, Glory couldn't help but grin in amusement. "Can't say I've ever considering eating them like that."

Glory observed the foal as he indulged in the meal she had brought him. It was strange how quickly he could go from frightened and lonely to cheery and playful. He likely didn't really understand his circumstances, but as long as he wasn't screeching and blubbering, Glory wasn't going to complain. The happier the foal was, the easier her new job was.

Glory let out a long yawn. After trekking around for several hours and having seen the sun starting to disappear beyond the horizon in the time she'd been outside, she was starting to feel the night approaching. She was looking forward to getting a little shuteye. In preparation, Glory slipped her metal chest plate up over her head and set it aside with her helmet, scratching an itch on her chest that had been bugging her for a while. After a quick stretch, she lay down on her stomach with her front legs crossed. She closed her eyes for a few moments, but didn't lay her head down just yet; she wanted to let her muscles relax a little first, otherwise the aching would keep her awake.

Just as she was starting to get comfortable, Glory felt something lightly hit her leg. Opening her eyes and looking down, she saw Snowflake with his little mouth stuffed with a mushroom while he was playfully shoving another mushroom into one of the holes in Glory's leg. Apparently the tyke still had quite a bit of energy; it probably didn't help that she'd already put him down for a nap earlier, but it wasn't likely she was going to get much rest until the halfling wore himself out.

A green glow surrounded the mushroom lodged in Glory's leg, as she popped it back out and dropped it next to Snowflake. "This stuff's for eating, not playing," she told the young pony, her tone soft as opposed to scolding.

As if heeding her words, Snowflake chomped down on the mushroom in his mouth, chewing with packed cheeks. Glory noticed his enthusiasm as he munched away. She'd always found those mushrooms pretty bland herself. They weren't necessarily satisfying to eat, but he seemed to enjoy it greatly. Glory didn't know if mushrooms were a part of the ponies' diet or not, but the way he was eating it seemed to suggest they might have been. That, or his changeling genes gave him a natural tolerance to them.

After he'd finished the first mushroom, Snowflake started looking around. He wasn't looking for food since there was still another mushroom and half an apple within hoof's reach. Not wanting to spend time playing guessing games, Glory gently placed her hoof under the foal's chin, turning him to her and staring straight into his bright, emerald eyes to figure out what he wanted. Just like the last couple of times she'd done this now, Snowflake looked a little uncomfortable after the experience. Unfortunately, he was going to have to put up with it since this was the closest thing they were going to get to communication.

After a moment of perusing, Glory determined that he was simply thirsty and was searching for something to drink. Without getting up, Glory used her magic to levitate one of the leaves she'd brought the food in over to the small pool of water by the wall. She used the leaf to scoop up a little water and carefully brought it back over to the foal. At the sight of the water, Snowflake reached out and held either side of the leaf, letting the water run down the center and into his open mouth. He got more of it on himself than in, but he seemed satisfied afterward anyway.

Watching the little one eat and drink and play, Glory found herself lost in thought. She was able to do something that no other changeling could do by seeing the halfling's memories. As a result, she knew what he wanted when he wanted it. And in doing so, she was starting to realize how similar her job here was to what his parents did for him back home. She was feeding him, keeping him calm, putting him to sleep. She wasn't just watching him, she was taking care of him. It was a strange feeling to actually take care of another creature.

Glory was snapped from her thoughts when she felt something press up against her shoulder. The tiny pony was leaning into her, suddenly letting out a long, squeaky yawn. Apparently, while she was silently pondering, he'd eaten the other mushroom and even got started on the half apple, though he'd only taken a few small bites. With his little tummy full, it didn't take long for him to doze off, his head nestled up against Glory.

Her first thought was to wake the foal up and put some space between them. However, his soft, thin coat felt pretty nice and warm against her chitinous skin. Maybe just this once she'd let him have his way, but she was going to make sure this didn't become a habit.

Now that things had gotten quiet, Glory finally laid her head down on her hooves and followed Snowflake's example, shutting her eyes and drifting off to sleep.

Comments

[GSandSDS]

Chamela is still my favorite character in this story, and the main character with the most troubled mind (and Shade's ignorance doesn't make it really better).

[Helljumper206]

Glory mite not want to get rid of the kid if he keeps getting cute with her

[sonicucman]

CALIBRASS GIVE ME THE EYE OF BLAZE

[DezzarTac]

Awww, Glory is being suckered!

[Teraunce]

Why do I strongly suspect Glory is going to/has already performed a heel-face turn

[Truthseeker]

If she wasn't a murderous bitch she might make a passable babysitter. Still, kill mercilessly.

[Luckysweep]

Guise has to be the biggest wild card in this group. They are so egocentric that they can easily toss aside claimed hatred if they believe a certain route has better long-term profit than another. But that can easily turn on a dime.

And Snowflake has eaten mushrooms. I do hope their nightmares aren't to bad.