In Sheep's Clothing

by Kydois

Chapter 29 — Tastes of Interference

—

I stared out the drawing room’s window to my left and blew out a bored sigh. A few books were left out in a disorganized pile on the table in front of me, mostly small novels left there to occupy my attention. Mother had asked me to wait alone here while the Queen was in Baltimare, and while I trusted she had a reason for it, my mind was going numb from the monotony.

Not that I complained about it out loud. I’ve never been much of a talker. I went through my training diligently and used most of my free time curled up somewhere to read on my own, so I never really needed to interact with anyling other than Mother.

But what I wouldn’t give to have something to do right now.

“Well now, what have we here?”

The table jostled with a wooden thud as I jumped, startled out of my daydreaming. I turned to find Queen Chrysalis sauntering over to me with a smug grin. “Hello there, young one,” she drawled.

I nearly knocked my chair over in my haste to face her. “M-my Queen!” I stammered out, pressing my face into the ground.

She let out a low chuckle. “You may rise,” she said, looking at me closely. “My, my, quite a skill you have there. You’re very good with it, you know.”

There was a pause as I tried to think of what she was talking about, but it hit me. I had been keeping my emotional aura suppressed as part of my training, though at this point, I was so proficient that keeping it hidden was almost an afterthought.

My mouth was dry when I responded. I hadn’t been expecting to see the Queen, especially so personally. “Th-thank you, My Queen.”

She hummed in thought. “Still, I don’t remember authorizing any rangers to be trained. I wonder why Broodmother Chorion decided to raise one up without notifying me.” The Queen narrowed her eyes, staring at me intensely for a moment before a slow smile crept across her lips. “Well, no matter. I think I have a potential use for you. Tell me, young one, are you ready to contribute to your hive?”

“I uhh… y-yes, I am—wait, I mean,” I said, looking down and fidgeting with my hooves. “W-what do you mean by that?”

“Just a… small task,” she continued. “One I think is well suited to your abilities.”

“A-are you sure, My Queen?” I said. “I’m still in training.”

She waved it off with a snort. “You don’t give yourself enough credit. It takes a very long time to learn how to completely suppress your emotional aura, and I’m certain you’re much better than you think you are. It’ll be a simple task, don’t worry.”

“I-I, well… O-of course, My Queen. I would be honored,” I finally said with another bow.

“Good, good,” she said, charging up her horn. “Come, let us be off.”

My eyes widened. “A-already, My Queen? Sh-should we not wait for—”

“Don’t worry about your mother,” she said. “She’ll be informed and you can continue your training afterwards. Come.”

I fidgeted with my hooves a moment longer before finally stepping closer to her. “Al-alright then.”

A ring of green flame flared up around us, casting an eerie glow over the queen and me. All of a sudden, there was rain and thunder. I felt the cold droplets impacting against my chitin. The wind had picked up, and I reflexively shut my eyes against the sudden storm that had descended upon us. Purposefully cracking my eyes open, I was surprised to see that I was still in the drawing room, even as my gut kept telling me I was in the streets of Canterlot. I still felt and heard the phantom hurricane all around me. The faint sound of hoofsteps echoed through the downpour. The room had darkened considerably, even as the swirling flames turned into a blazing inferno.

Out of the corner of my eye, just behind the Queen, my mother rushed around the corner into the doorway, her eyes wide with horror.

She cried out, but I couldn’t hear her through the thunderous gale.

And then, the flames completely enveloped us, consuming everything until there was nothing but darkness and silence.

“Ahh, one more thing,” a ghostly voice, that of Queen Chrysalis, echoed in my ears. “In all the excitement, I forgot to ask for your name, so tell me, young one.

“Who are you?”

Nymph

I glanced up through the treeline at the moon shining down on me, a constant companion during the past three days. My training back at the hive was difficult, but there was usually time to rest and recover, even during the more intensive lessons. There was always the thought that if I reached my limits or wore myself out, I could just take a breather, but now, it seemed that I always had to push, using what little rest I had during the daytime to prepare for the evenings.

In the past, I had those carefree moments when I had been caught up in a fantastic story and read late into the night, even as late as two or three in the morning, but my experiences waking up at five each day to make it to my guard shift and, more recently, slinking around at night on life-threatening missions have given me a wonderful perspective on the value of sleep.

I nearly stumbled over a gnarled root in my path and huffed. I was still recovering from the Princess’s long-range teleport, which placed me right in the middle of the mountain forests surrounding Canterlot. The entrance to the mine was a little ways away from where I landed, unfortunately, but it was better to make my way in stealthily rather than alert everyone with a teleport right at their doorstep.

I shivered. Though I tried to keep my thoughts focused, my body seemed to remember what happened last time I’d been in a forest less than a month ago. My skin crawled. I flinched at every snap of a twig or rustle of the trees as if there were a manticore ready to pop out of the underbrush and pounce on me at any moment, even despite knowing that there weren’t any manticores this far from the Everfree. Lily, who followed me closely the entire time, had been a constant source of distracting noises due to her prodigious weight until she started humming a low song of silence to counteract her heavy hoofsteps.

Not that there weren’t any dangers in this forest. Though wild beasts were less of a concern, there was still the occasional “pony,” likely outside sentries for the changeling hive I was approaching. It was easy enough to avoid them, even without line of sight. The cover of night that made them hard to spot also made stealthing past them easier. The suppression of my aura that had kept me hidden the last couple days also extended to Lily now that our magic had been linked through Crystal.

At the moment, I was making my way to one of the alternate entrances to the Crystal Caves. The main entrance that the Princess had pointed out had multiple guards at it, and I was not eager to waltz straight into them without a backup plan. The side entrance wasn’t too far away though. I barely managed to spot a small opening in the mountain, low and disguised by a few large rocks at the entrance. I sunk into my empathy sense, and it took only a moment to see that this alternate entrance was also guarded by someling just a little distance inside.

“Princess,” I mumbled under my breath. “There aren’t any other entrances you know of?”

“Not that I am aware of, no,” she replied, a low buzz in my ear.

I frowned. I needed a way in past the guard. A distraction, perhaps, though I couldn’t think of anything that wouldn’t also raise the alarm. Using a fume to obstruct vision was a big no-no, and I was certain that Lily didn’t have an invisibility song memorized in that head of hers.

Maybe I could get in when they needed to change shifts. There was no way the sentries outside could stay there forever without tiring out, and they would have to be replaced at some point. It would be the perfect reason for any traffic through the entrances to the mines as well, though having to get Lily through as well made things a little harder. I made the decision to stay close to the side entrance though. There was a better chance of getting through here without suspicion since it was much less heavily guarded.

“I’m going to wait for a change of shifts,” I whispered back to the Princess. “The entrances are both guarded, and it’ll be easier to make my way in then.”

“Good luck,” came the simple reply.

I took a deep breath. With the forest being much less populated than the city, the effective distance of my empathy sense was significantly further without all the background noise muddling everything up, so I was able to keep tabs on a few of the sentries nearby. Hopefully, it would be enough to detect any fresh guards coming out from the hive.

There was a small hollow under a fallen tree nearby, and although it was a little snug for both Lily and me to fit in, it would keep us suitably hidden until the time was ready. I changed back into my changeling form to try and take up less space and slid in after Lilywater, leaving my loose harnesses just outside as I settled in for the long wait.

I squirmed around as I readjusted my position, feeling all the aches I had accumulated recently. I had spent a long time preparing myself this morning for this mission, yet I just felt weary now, as if it were at the end of a long day of work. I leaned into the warm body at my side, breathing out a contented sigh and letting myself relax a little.

It felt… good. It felt good not being alone this time. Sure, I had my queen with me, but having another body there was comforting on its own. Lily would have her part to play soon enough, and it would hopefully make my own part easier, even if my own part was neutralizing the queen. I hoped that it wouldn’t be a direct confrontation, that I could sneak by and hit her from the shadows, but if not…

I took a deep breath. It was hard to imagine just what kind of spells she would bring to bear against me. Magic could be a terrible thing to behold, and thanks to my queen, I saw full well just what kind of terrible strength she could wield.

My thoughts went to the binding ritual that she wove and what I had seen because of it.

Why had I seen that memory in particular, and so clearly?

There had been a jumble of images, flashes of the centuries of life lived. Some stuck out more than others. Two distant ponies surrounded by a flock of laughing phoenixes. A bloodied and broken griffin lying amidst a pile of rubble and gold. A queen mutilated beyond recognition in a wartorn cavern, surrounded by changelings.

Perhaps I had only seen that last one so vividly because it was such a life-changing event. Perhaps it was because it was my queen’s last memory before she became… Crystal.

The level of spells I had seen being thrown around in it though, even the anti-magic ward, was beyond my understanding. The amount of pure magical might used was far beyond what I had ever seen before. Such strength, an entirely different level that I never even imagined could exist, seemed so foreign to me.

I shivered despite the warmth around me. Could I do that now that I had bound myself to Cryst—Queen Chrysalis?

Several new signatures drifted in on my empathy sense, coming from deeper within the mountain, and I let out a low sigh. Just as I had gotten comfortable, too. I reluctantly dragged myself out of the hole, slipping back into my harnesses before transforming back into Overwatch.

I winced. That strap around my leg was a little tighter than I remembered.

I readjusted my gear quickly as Lily crawled out behind me, stretching out like a cat before going through a musical scale and working back into her humming. Two signatures had just now passed through the cave’s entrance and split up. I kept my head low as I stalked in the underbrush after one of them, who had been disguised as a pony camper.

I felt a little jealous that Lily could sneak as well as she could with little to no training on the subject. It was a bit cheating to just make no sound on command, though her singing proved invaluable in getting us past the leaves and branches unheard. We were following fairly closely behind our quarry, but we might as well have been ghosts.

A little walking later, and the disguised changeling finally met up with one of the sentries. He raised a hoof in greeting as he approached. “Traveler,” he said, his voice carrying over the quiet ambiance. “What’s the quickest way to the city?”

The sentry, a female rock climber, turned to the voice. “It’s about two hours due east, but it’s a lot of hiking,” she said in a disinterested voice, almost as if she were reading from a script.

“I’ll take a break then. This pack’s not getting any lighter,” the stallion said before shrugging off his saddlebags with a groan. “Home’s a bit unsettled at the moment. Big lady’s not happy after what happened yesterday.”

I crept closer, my ears listening closely to their quiet conversation. Never know what kind of useful tidbits I could pick up. The mare scoffed as she began to gather her items. “Figured. Heard something happened. Why do we need code again? It’s not like we don’t know each other.”

“Maybe. I heard that there’ve been some… unwelcome visitors listening in,” he replied, leaning in closer. “They seem like they’re part of the group, got the link and everything.”

The mare seemed shocked. “How’s that work? Think they’re listening in on us now?”

“Don’t get paranoid on me now,” the stallion said with a snort. “I can’t sense anything even remotely close to us. Just follow the rules and we’ll be fine.”

“Right right,” she replied, slinging on her bags before departing back the way the stallion came.

We trailed the returning sentry as she made her way back. About halfway to the cave, far enough away from anyone else to be nigh undetectable, I charged up my memory spell, drawing from the vast magical pool I had access to. My queen’s adjustment of the spell was seamless, nearly unnoticeable if I hadn’t been paying attention.

Just as all the other times, my aim was true, and the magical tether snapped right to the base of her skull. This time, however, the tether cast a deep red color on my surroundings, and I remained completely conscious. Starting from my horn, crimson flames ran across my body, changing my body to that of the unconscious mare. It was all over within three seconds, and the forest returned to the moonlit darkness it had originally.

I stood there in stunned silence for a moment. Lily just clapped quietly for me, a huge grin on her face, but I was sure she had no idea just how absurdly quickly this spell changed in barely a weekend’s worth of time. Just yesterday, this same spell knocked me out cold, but now it was almost like a normal transformation, save for the other hive’s link at the back of my mind. The world had changed slightly, as if I had slipped on a new pair of glasses, and I realized that I could see a bit farther in the darkness than I could before. My queen had said that the senses of changelings were affected by their magic, so had changing my magic forcibly changed how I perceived the world? It made sense for a night sentry to have good night vision. I gave Lily an appreciative nod and took the saddlebags from my downed target before we began the trek towards the cave’s side entrance.

It wasn’t too hard to find again, even in the dark over unfamiliar territory. Mother had taught me much from her experiences tracking and exploring, and Overwatch had an internal map as well. Even though hers was mapped more for the streets of Canterlot than any of the surrounding areas, I could still feel a sort of inner compass guiding my hooves.

I nearly stepped out into the open towards the cave entrance, but I hesitated for just a moment and retreated back into the shadows. “My Queen, Lily doesn’t have a presence on their hivemind, right?” While I had unsuppressed my aura, Lily’s aura was still hidden, and without that link, she would be instantly ousted as an outsider by the guard.

“Just call me Crystal for now. You may address me as your queen when I am not a mere voice in a rock,” she said, sounding just a little peeved. “And no, Lily is not linked to their hivemind, but that would not be a difficult task. She can already hear everything on our link, and with the binding ritual, I could theoretically mold a part of her magic to copy yours.”

I blinked. “That sounds…”

“Give me a couple minutes while I work this out. For now though, we need to get past the cave entrance without immediately setting off the alarm.”

“I might be able to just cast the memory spell again…” I grimaced. “Wait no, if I go around as the door guard and they realize I’m not where I’m supposed to be, that’ll be suspicious.”

“Ooh, just put him to sleep, luv,” Lily whispered. “You ‘ave a sleep spell, don’cha?”

I shrugged. “Kinda, yeah, but I don’t think it’ll necessarily work. Sleep spells are hit or miss.”

Lily stuck her tongue out at me. “I’ll sing too. It’ll be easy. You even ‘ave Crystal backin’ you up.”

I opened my mouth for a moment to respond before thinking better of it. Of course. If the three of us couldn’t make one sentry fall asleep, we might as well pack it in and go home.

I gave Lily a simple nod and headed out towards the cave entrance. I heard her soft voice behind me, humming what sounded like a foalhood lullaby in a language I couldn’t understand. I could feel the magic in the air, yet it simply washed over me as if I were a mere bystander, and I strode a little more confidently to the entrance of the cave. It was near black inside with only the barest of reflections from the moon providing light to see by, but my eyes adjusted much more quickly than normal, markedly faster than I had expected.

The entrance guard approached me with a wave. “Hello there,” he said, stifling a yawn. “What’s the quickest way to the city?”

My wariness shot up several levels. The two sentries had mentioned something about a new code. “It’s uhh…” I said, trying to piece together the conversation I had heard earlier, “about two hours due east, but it’s a lot of hiking.”

He nodded, rubbing at his eyes. “Take me a… take me a break then. Pack’s not getting lighter any time soon,” he said, and he trudged back into the darkness.

I waited until he turned completely around before I charged up a sleep spell and nailed him right in the back of the head. He slumped over onto the ground, completely out cold.

I let out a low whistle. Having a siren was cheating.

Glorious, glorious cheating.

Lilywater pranced over, smiling her ever-present smile. “Sleepy guards are prone to dozing ooo-oooff,” she said in a sing-song voice.

I rolled my eyes and trotted over to the downed guard, who had curled up into a ball and was snoring softly. I took a moment to move the body behind a few rocks and then waved her farther into the cave.

The cave only got darker as we moved away from the light of the entrance, difficult even for me to see clearly. The passages themselves weren’t all that cramped, but it still felt much more claustrophobic than the forest where I had started this mission. I knew how to track and maneuver through all sorts of environments since both Overwatch and I had been trained as snipers. Overwatch in particular was known within the guard as a particularly skilled arcane sharpshooter, and it wouldn’t be wrong to say that I had inherited some of her prowess, judging by some of my time spent on the ranges at the guard barracks, so it was rather irksome that I instead found myself in predominantly close quarters and cramped areas rather than areas where I could take advantage of long-range spells and good sightlines.

I shook my head. Can’t get distracted by such trivial matters now. Lily had been biting onto my tail since we slept the guard, blind in the near darkness. I could see a little of where I was going, but my other senses weren’t faring much better. In addition to the winding passages, my empathy sense seemed like it had been dulled. It felt like there was something below me, but everything blended together into an indistinct haze, and the uncertainty made me wary about lighting up my horn when it was so difficult to sense anything clearly.

I stopped. Something had darted out of sight out the corner of my eye. It looked like a foal, but I only caught a glimpse of its tail. I hadn’t even realized anything was there on my empathy sense.

Or was it just my hallucinations?

I shook my head and pressed on. The last things I needed to worry about were specters and reflections of my own shadow. We were definitely getting somewhere though. Large crystals jutted out from the walls, some of them glowing a very faint blue, reflecting even the tiniest bit of light. Mining tracks had been laid across the ground here, and the ground had been smoothed out to accommodate them. A minecart sat abandoned to the side of the tracks, and a quick poke from a hoof confirmed that the thing was too rusted over to provide any sort of transportation.

With the flattened ground, I could also make out a large number of hoof prints along the track. It would make sense for a hive living within the caves to travel along the easier terrain, and following them further down would likely lead me much closer to them.

“Ahh, I think I have done something.”

Lily paused for a moment, and I looked back at her as she blinked several times in surprise. She let go of my tail and straightened up with an appreciative, “Oooooh! I can see now!”

I raised an eyebrow. “What did…”

“I managed to alter a little of her aether to emulate yours, so she can benefit from some of the same magic that affects you. Judging by her response, I surmise that night vision had been one of those benefits?”

I nodded. “Ever since I had cast the memory spell on that first ling.”

She hummed. “Quite useful indeed, though I wonder if… hmm… Nevermind that for now. Have you had any success in locating their city?”

I sighed. “Not really. It feels like there’s something here, something big, but I can’t get a read on it. You’d think that if it were the main hive, it’d be almost impossible to miss that many signatures clustered together.”

“I have not had much progress either. The crystals here are very good conduits of magic, which makes them very disruptive to your empathy sense. It is also fairly difficult to detect small spells down here as well, and speaking of which, I am almost certain you tripped something earlier.”

My eyes widened and my mouth opened in surprise. “I tripped something? I didn’t notice anything!”

“There was a ping of magic. I did not notice it either until it was already too late. One of the crystals was trapped. I caught a quick glimpse of it just before it faded into the background.”

I brought a hoof up to my forehead and groaned. “So we just set off their security system. Fan-tastic.”

There was a small crackle of sound in my ear. “Corp—al, everyth—okay? The connec—breaking up, over,” the princess said, though it was much more difficult to understand her through the breaks of silence.

“Too much interference from the crystals,” I murmured back. “Connection’s likely to break if I go further, over.”

There was silence. I waited for a little while longer, but the princess failed to send a response back to me.

I frowned. “Should we head back? We already tripped their security, and I’ve just lost connection with the princess.”

“We are fairly far in already. If we retreat now, we only serve to give them more time to adapt. They already know we can disguise as them and masquerade as part of their hive, but they are still much in the dark about the true extent of our abilities. The code phrases are already something new that they have introduced to try and counter us, but they will have changed them and implemented even more difficult precautions should we decide to come later. The guard we slept could easily reveal that we know at least one of their codes.”

I let out a sigh. “What a pace we’re setting.”

“We will be fine. Be vigilant.”

I closed my eyes. Breathe in. Breathe out.

Everything will be fin—

I stopped. My fur stood on end and goosebumps ran across the back of my neck.

Careful.

I threw my head back and opened my eyes just as a green arcane bolt whizzed past, a mere hair’s breadth away from my muzzle, and splashed with a caustic hiss on one of the crystals to my side.

Comments

[dzamie]

Ooh, this should be fun! Looks like it's time for some light in this cave after all!

[Georg]

*sniff* I'm so proud. A cliffhanger worthy of the name. For bonus points, drag the update out a week or two from now, and tease it in the blog :)

[Kydois]

9539228
Sounds to me like it's the perfect time to take a hiatus!

See you guys in another two years!

[cheetored20]

9539449
NUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

in all seriousness i was confused with all the my queen talk at the begining, might be because i havent read this in a while duno.

[NekroPony]

9539449
Die in a Fire.

...or better, keep writing. Write so you don't Die in a Fire.

[Misdirection]

Excellent chapter!

[Kryssi]

9539228 Now that would have been a great April Fools joke no please don't give Kydois ideas!

[Bugsydor]

I wonder if the pack's straps are getting tighter because changeling bodies are heavily influenced by their magic, and she just linked hers with a queen...

[TartarusFire]

Augh, I came back in time for a vicious hook of a cliffhanger.
You're terrible, but clearly it's a viable option seeing how many thumbs you got from that suggestion 9539449

I winced. That strap around my leg was a little tighter than I remembered.

OH NO. She's becoming unstable, and will explode from the magical instability

[JazzyWaffles]

I threw my head back and opened my eyes just as a green arcane bolt whizzed past, a mere hair’s breadth away from my muzzle, and splashed with a caustic hiss on one of the crystals to my side.

Final battles incoming?

[Kydois]

9540709
I, for one, blame Lily. Have you seen how much she eats? Big fish are really heavy!

9547672
Not in particular. I was just going for a myth-y feel for titles, and I eventually settled for that because I liked the gravitas of it.

9548217
Still got a little way to go before that happens :P

[Razzy]

Ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny!

... Maybe with such a greater pool of magic, she actually changed to a full sized Overwatch now.