It All Begins
“Nameless. Nameless, wake up.”
Nameless stirred in her sleep, slowly opening her eyes to see the Changeling General standing in front of her inside her cell.
“You need to get up. The Queen just gave you a special mission,” The General said.
Nameless blinked confusingly at the General. “What kind of mission?”
“You’ll see soon. Now get up.”
Following his instructions, Nameless got off the plank and starting walking along the General, who guided her the way out of the dungeon and up into the grand hallway.
She doesn’t know why, but during their walk, she would catch glances with the general who holds a solemn frown; something she has never seen before. He usually would give her a cold and harsh presence; so this wasn’t something she expected from him.
Something’s wrong about this, she thought. But why?
They both arrived at the doors of the throne room, where Nameless saw her mother sitting upon her throne and two guards, one female with a short purple mane and another male and stout, are standing right next to it. She also saw the small smirk on the guards’ face, but she didn’t want them to notice since the only pony she should be focusing on was her mother.
“Good morning, dear daughter,” Queen Chrysalis said, using her charismatic charm to intimidate Nameless, to which how she cowered before she made it work.
“G-good morning, mother,” Nameless said very quietly, her eyes almost drifting down to the floor and then back to the Queen.
“I’m sure the General has told you why I brought you here?”
Nameless slowly glanced at the General and the guards that send her the same look they had before, even though it was a little bit softer. Feeling uncomfortable of them staring at her more, she quickly reverted to her mother and replied, “Something about a… m-mission?”
“Indeed.” She chuckled, a little pleased to notice that Nameless doesn’t suspect anything at all. “This is something I’ve never done to any servant or any other royal has ever done before- not since over a thousand years. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you any more of that. But to begin your quest, you must go outside of the castle walls.”
Nameless widened her eyes in disbelief, “Out-Outside the—the kingdom? But--But where exactly? And…. How will I get there?”
“The General and his guards here will perform a teleportation spell for you, as well as being your escorts for the entire trip. You must do exactly as they say, and you must complete this task; even if it means I won’t send you back to your cell incomplete. Do you understand, daughter?”
There must be something weird about all this.
She knows she keeps thinking about it a lot, but she really can’t deny it either. Her mother, who always had specific orders from her in almost every chore she has given her, being a little vague and sending her guards who seem to be giving hints about what’s about to happen? All this had just happened in the last ten minutes, and now she is anxious enough to build her guard up in defense. She might never know when they are ready to attack.
“Yes, Mother,” she sighed, bowing her head before the queen.
“Good. Now off you go.”
Chrysalis watched the Pegasus walking towards the guards to perform the spell. While their horns ignite and Nameless look over to see her face, Chrysalis pulled a smile that tried to show a loving, kind grin but came off as a frightening sight to see.
“See you soon, my dear.” She said quietly to Nameless before the magic from the guard’s horn engulfed them and disappeared in a flash of light.
When the light faded, Nameless saw that she along with her companions have arrived at the edge of a mountain top and down below seemed to be a part belonging to a forest. From looking down and then up, she saw the sun rising over the farthest mountains. She stared at the whole land in awe and took in the massive scale and beauty of it. This was almost everything Nameless dreamed of seeing.
Ever since she heard her mother sending her somewhere outside of the kingdom, she admitted, she got a little shocked and excited at the same time. Being in the cell for too long and only seeing any scenery from that storybook, she dreamed about what was like being out there in the world. She remembered how she had a chance to be outside of the kingdom when she was a filly, even if the memory was very unpleasant for her to look back. But at least she can look forward to the possibilities she had right now. A chance to feel the grass, to experience the wonders that Equestria can offer, to be a part of pony-kind; it was enough for her ecstatic! How it would be nice just to experience this moment for one day.
Unfortunately, she knew it was never meant to be since she is only here at her mother’s request and needs to do whatever she needs to do to complete it; even if her life depends on it.
She turned back to her companions behind her and questioned them, “So, umm…. What’s the mission?”
“Oh, you can just stand right there,” The General replied creepily, “And we can take care of the rest.”
Nameless made a puzzled brow, “What do you mean by—AHHH!!!”
She screamed when she felt a powerful force consuming her whole body. She saw there that the guards are using their magic to paralyze her body then forcing her to kneel to the ground. She tried struggling out of their magic, but they are too strong enough she couldn’t even move!
“Wha—what’s going on?” She asked in fear.
“There is nothing you need to be worried about,” The General said to her, still holding a grin on his face. “This is necessary for the mission.”
“What kind of a mission inquires holding me down against my will?” Nameless exclaimed.
“An execution, of course.”
Nameless widened her eyes in horror. An…. Execution?
“I…. I—I-I don’t understand,” She said, with her voice sounding broken and fearful.
“The Queen just sign the death certificate last night,” The General said, kneeling to the Pegasus and leaning his face almost forwards her. Nameless tried to back away from the grim-looking changeling, though proved impossible due to the guard’s spell.
“Just because she saved your life as a foal doesn’t mean she loved you. I thought you'd known that already.”
“Just get on with it,” Gypsum sighed in frustration to her commander, “We don’t have much the time here.”
“Right,” The general replied, moving up to his full height.
He gave Nameless one quick look before walking a few feet away from the restrained pony and his guards. He then squatted down, and his horn started glowing, letting in a vast amount of energy manifesting upon his head.
“There’s no need to worry, your highness,” He shouted to the condemned pony, whose body is shaking violently, and her eyes were brimming with tears, “This will happen so quickly, you won’t feel a thing.”
Nameless shut her eyes shut and made a muffled scream when the general released the shot.
Just as the blast was inches away from her, her chest then suddenly glowed so bright that it made an explosion from the beam’s collision! The force from it was so strong that sent the general and the guards flying to the stone wall and Nameless plummeting off the mountain!
It happened all too fast; she didn’t think of a way to save herself! She came to her senses when she spread her wings widely and started flapping them. She, along with everyone back in the kingdom, knew that she is known to be ironically the weakest flyer. But given the circumstances, she needed to do something to break her fall.
She gasped a few breaths of relief but still hasn’t gotten rid of the panic and fear she is experiencing right now. She looked up at the top of the mountain where she heard echoes of the changelings groaning with pain. That force that she sent them must’ve hit them hard.
But was it me? She thought, and how did I do that?
Her thoughts were interrupted, and panic came back when her wings grew tired and immediately her body fell to the ground.
The Changeling general groaned in pain as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Ugh, damn her,” he mumbled.
He then gasped as he realized the pony is not with them. He raced to the ledge and looked down in time to see Nameless recoil in fear and running past the bushes of the forest. Gypsum and Nabis came to see the general staring down at the ledge and noticed that the pony was gone.
“She escaped! What do we do?” Nabis said panicking.
“She didn’t go too far. Let’s find her and finish the job,” Gypsum growled.
She spread her wings to take off, but she was stopped by the general firmly grabbing her arm.
“No.” He uttered.
Gypsum looked at her leader in confusion, “But— “
“No!” The General yelled. “We can’t afford to cause anypony suspicion! They might’ve heard that explosion from a distance! Any more action from us would attract attention!”
He paused to take a long silent breath and letting it out, which almost made him calm. Even though he is upset that he is unable to kill the pegasus, he knew that he wasn’t going to give up.
“All we can do right now is to report the queen and see what she has to say.”
“But what about her?” Nabis questioned to the General.
“I don’t think we should be worried about her now. With a forest like this, it would take a miracle for her in survive in there.”
And with that, the changelings flapped their bug-like wings and flew away from the mountain, heading back to the Changeling Kingdom.
Nameless ran far away from the three changelings as fast as she can. She didn’t have time to think about to look if they were behind her. She was still shocked by the whole ordeal that she didn’t think of anything at all! She continues running aimlessly as if she was blind through the dark and eerie atmosphere surrounding her.
The wild, surreal plants surrounding the path, the trees are spread so far up into the sky, the echoes of growls that she doesn’t recognize, the fog that was emerging the whole area; It was almost like that she had just arrived at the very pit of her nightmares and there was no way she can wake up from it.
She ran into the vines that were hanging from the trees, trying to push them out of the way so that she can get through. She often had her hooves get tangled in them, but she manages to pull them back to free them.
She was then running past leafless bushes of twigs that gotten caught into her mane and tail. She wasn’t sure if it was real or her imagination, but she could’ve sworn that those bushes and twigs looked like claws and they were grabbing her. She struggled with the twigs to get the claws off her. When she got herself off from them, she must’ve used so much force into her body that she fell backward into another bush where she saw more hands grabbing her. Luckily, the twigs were much thinner and weaker than the other bush, so it was easy for her to push them aside and get out of it with a couple of small scratches.
The moment she got out, she jumped when she heard a screech and a shadowed figure with wings flew over her. That made her accidentally bumps into a tree where she woke up a group of more winged shadows, only smaller and jagged in shape. They flew frantically around her as she tried to get away from those small screeching flyers.
The more she runs, the more she kept seeing creepy, claw-like hands coming to grab her. But along with those hands, she can see faces; Faces with glowing eyes that hold different colors that made its features terrifying at sight. Nameless tried everything to get away from these creatures of the dark. But no matter how hard she tried, they always caught up after her. She tried closing her eyes, but she feels the intensity in their eyes that she can’t. She tries to pretend that it’s not real, yet, they are there. Glaring at her, filling her ears with strange noises and her eyes with her gleaming orbs and coming close to her getting to grab her at any second. At the same time, she hears the noise from her past. The taunting, the name-calling, the words the general said to her back on the cliff; they had haunted her mind until the sensation around her becoming overwhelming for her to bear.
Finally, she lets out a loud, bloodcurdling scream and falls to the ground, her hooves covering over her face.
There she started crying. Crying for her life, her near-death experience, her fears coming to life before her very eyes; crying over everything. She doesn’t care if there were anypony watching her or if any creature came to eat her alive, all she can think of doing right now was crying; shedding away all the weight of shame and emptiness resting upon her shoulders. It wouldn’t matter to her if she were able to cry herself to death; for she knew she was lost and alone.
She felt cried for an eternity until she felt something fuzzy touching her arm. Puzzled by this sensation, she lifted her head, her eyes burning red from all the tears she shed, and yelped in surprise when she sees a small, white rabbit looking at her in curiosity. Her squeal frightens the rabbit, as well as the other animal that had been observing her and they all fled into their hiding place.
When she noticed the other animals that encircled her before they ran, she called out to them in a worried yet assuring voice, “Oh! Please, don’t run away! Please, I won’t hurt you.”
The animals had heard her pleading and they all turn their attention towards her. They were surprised to learn that this mare can talk to them like she immediately understood them.
Nameless tried to assure them more after they stopped and looked at her, “I’m very sorry if I frighten you; I didn’t mean to. It’s just that….”
She lowers her head and stares into the ground sadly.
“I was scared…. I’ve never been in the forest before—I never been far away from— “
She was going to say her home, but it wasn’t necessary to say it. She never felt that place was home anyway.
“I’m so sorry for causing you any trouble.” She started sobbing very quietly, afraid that any more sobbing from her would frighten them even more.
She cried for a moment until she jumped as she felt something beside her. It was the same white rabbit from before, sitting down beside her and outstretching his arms onto her as to hug her. She was surprised by this gesture and immediately felt touched. She brought her one hoof up to pet on its head; the rabbit immediately welcoming her touch.
For the first time in a long time, she smiled as she continued petting the comforting rabbit. It like this fluffy little animal was trying to tell her “please don’t cry. Everything’s going to be okay” which was no surprise to her that she did hear it say that. She did earn her cutie mark, an image of three pink-winged butterflies, on the last time she had encountered animals before, though that’s a memory she doesn’t like looking back to.
For now, all she can focus on is the rabbit beside her and the other animals that came near her. Where she was standing was surrounded by different animals, consisting of chipmunks, squirrels, birds, ferrets and bears. Each one of them cuddled beside the mare and sending messages of comfort and assurance as she tried petting each one of them as she can. She felt truly blessed to have this much company; it was something she never had before and glad she had at this moment.
Nameless wiped off the tears from her eyes and looked at every creature that surrounded her with a warm smile on her face, “Thank you all so very much. I feel a lot better now. Though it will tough for now on, I need to get used to this. Everything’s going to be alright.”
Then she grew a worried look on her face, “But I need someplace to go. I can’t live out here, and I don’t know how I’m supposed to hide from my mother and her guards.”
The animals shared the same expression as her until they had an idea. They had spoken to Nameless about a place that she can live. It is in the forest, unfortunately, but it is close to a town filled with ponies.
Nameless widened her eyes and exclaimed in surprise “You do?”
The animal exclaimed in their noises as a “yes,” and they saw that they had filled Nameless with hope as she got onto her hooves and asked them with anticipation, “Can you show me where?”
They agreed to show her when the birds pushed her to the direction they are going, and she followed them. They, along with Nameless, didn’t see a pair of yellow and red eyes that hid in the bush they just passed by.
“SHE ESCAPED?!”
Chrysalis’s scream from the throne room echoed through the hallways. The General and the guards just returned to the Changeling Kingdom to report on their failed execution.
“Yes,” Nabis said, his voice shaking with fear as he stands before his Queen. “Her element glowed the same time when the general strike her. It causes an explosion and she fell into the forest!”
Chrysalis growled in frustration as she stomped away from her throne.
“But—but the forest looked dangerous,” Nabis nervously said, trying to assure the Queen. “She probably gotten herself killed right now!”
“That’s why I’m checking the crystal ball for, you fool!” she barked at her soldier as she walked toward the crystal ball and activated its magic using her horn. “Show me Nameless.”
The green smoke swirls around until an image came up to be Nameless, alive and happily walking through the forest with a bunch of woodland animals.
“She’s still alive!”
The changelings looked at her shocked and surprised, “WHAT?!”
Gypsum spoke out, “But that’s impossible. She should’ve been eaten alive or crushed to death by now!”
“Apparently, she was lucky,” Queen Chrysalis said, gritting her teeth with anger. She then asked as she turned her attention to the changelings behind her, “Do you happen to know which forest you put her in?”
The changeling stood there dumbfounded, as they didn’t think about where exactly they were at. The spell that they used would only consciously lead you to a location.
When the silence and shocked expressions from her soldiers were her only answer, she once again growled in frustration, “You have disappointed me, General! I gave you one task to seal our chance of freedom and you blew it!”
The General and the guards kneeled in shame and fear in front of Chrysalis, “I am sorry my queen. I promised you that we will finish the job no matter what the cost.”
“See that you do,” Chrysalis scoffed, turning her head away and see the image of Nameless. “Now that she rejoined back to ponykind, we must be more careful.”
She turned her head to the Changelings still kneeling before her. “General, it seems like the mare has some traveling to do. I need you to inform the soldiers and our subjects that they are at the task of finding the mare and they need to report me immediately about her whereabouts. Also, tell them that I and I only should give the commands after their reports; I don’t want to risk their lives if they decide to harm her at the hunting field. Is that clear?”
The General then stands up and salutes, along with the two guards who copied him. “Yes, my queen.”
“Good,” Chrysalis said, “You may leave now.”
“Yes, my queen,” the three changelings repeated and walked towards the exit of the throne room.
“But, your majesty?”
The Queen and the two changelings turned to the nervous Nabis, already regretting to disobey her wishes. “Um… s-shouldn’t you check that…. Magical… orb where she is? It would’ve made our mission much easier— “
“Nabis!” Gypsum hissed in his ear.
“No.” Chrysalis sighed in weariness, “I can’t. The power of the crystal ball can only show me what I want it to show me; it doesn’t give me the exact location. Whether it is memories from the past or what’s happening in the present, it is all it can show me.” She pauses for a minute at the ground with a melancholy look until she calmly ordered back to her soldiers, “You may leave now.”
“Yes, my queen,” all three of them replied and walked out of the throne room.
After overcoming the sudden rush of nostalgia from the past, Chrysalis turned to the ball looking at the yellow mare, smiling and laughing along with her new animal friends. The sight may be disgusting to her, but she mainly focused on the mare. Her hoof swirled around the ball, causing the image to fade before her eyes gradually.
“Soon, my dear, your life and your element shall be mine for the taking.” She whispered to the crystal ball, as the image faded and become the green smoke that inhabited inside the glass orb.
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Gypsy Bard
BTW: I of course do not own the song...
Crystal ball!!!!!