Pearl's Travels 1: Hollow Shades

by Makitk

47

The news about the attack could not have come at a worse time. Just when my Queen Chrysalis had looked to want to give the ponies the benefit of the doubt, she now clammed up and got her earlier hard stare in her eyes again.

As she tread past me on my left, I looked to the right to Starlight who had her right forehoof to her forehead, just next to her horn, and sighed.

"Oval, right?" she asked, and I gave a halfhearted nod back.

"My Queen, this is not an attack," I tried, turning to face Chrysalis, but she was too busy ordering the guards around to listen.

"Yeah, it's just fireworks!" Pinkie Pie agreed.

Chrysalis just pointed back at us with a cold fury in her eyes. "And bring them. If this is an attack, they may think twice when they see we have these ponies as our prisoners," she told the guard near her.

Other guards moved into the room to stand around us, and I felt my heart sink. Just when it had looked like our plan was going to work, Oval may have ruined it all just by creating a diversion.

As Chrysalis set in motion, we were quickly ushered to follow behind her, a guard in front and one behind us. I had not realized on the way over thanks to my intoxicated state of mind, but the corridors here were larger than the ones deeper in the outpost. These were definitely made to size for the guards and Queen rather than us drones and the matrons.

There was ample space for Pinkie, Starlight, and myself to walk side-by-side comfortably, and Starlight moved up to my left side.

"Now what do we do, Pearl?" she asked, as if I had all the answers.

"Follow behind the Queen, I suppose," I returned. "There's not a lot we can do right now unless you want to start this war off properly by trying to escape."

"That's the last thing I want to do right now," Starlight Glimmer mumbled, her mood quickly dropping.

"I know the feeling," I suggested, giving her a soft nudge with my shoulder. "You were doing good up there until Oval spoiled the mood."

"Honestly, so were you. For a moment I thought we were going to really make a difference," Starlight mused.

"It definitely looked that way from where I was sitting," I chuckled weakly. "Let's hope Oval didn't set the mountain on fire or something. If it's just fireworks we can deal with it. My Queen may even like the look of them."

"You do realize what you're saying, right?" Starlight wondered, looking at me sideways. "You called her 'My Queen'. I saw the look on your face, and of the others, when she came on stage. Are those pheromones of her truly that strong?"

I thought back and gave a slow nod to Starlight. "Yes... yes, they are. I was caught by them before I even realized what it was I was breathing."

"Does your cheek still hurt?" Starlight wondered, and I moved my jaw a little remembering the punch I'd received in the large auditorium.

"No, not at all. I think the resin I was given earlier healed that as well as clearing out my head," I pondered.

"I wonder what all we could learn from one another, if we could set our differences aside," Starlight mused quietly.

We continued through the larger corridors until we came to an exit with a lot of guards gathered near it. Even from inside we could hear the fireworks go off, and there were flashes of coloured light coming from outside.

Chrysalis stepped out into the night's air, and the Guards forced us to follow. Pinkie Pie was immediately distracted by the show of fireworks in the air, shooting up from a place just a little farther up the mountain.

Starlight and I put our attention lower than that; to the small group of Changelings gathered near to the entrance, surrounded by Guards. I recognized Blaze, Oval, and even Breeze, just from having been around them so much the past days, leaving the fourth one to be Moonshine.

They were all staring at the ground, even as our Queen turned to face them.

"More of my children inciting rebellion?" Chrysalis demanded, then used her magic to douse the pile of fireworks still shooting up in the sky. "It does not matter how many flares you shoot up in the sky for your pony friends to follow; I will personally make sure none of you survive to meet them!"

Our Queen's horn flared up as she prepared to unleash her magic upon the group of siblings, but then a voice called out to her from behind us.

"Chrysalis! What have I been trying to tell you about your anger issues?" the feminine voice spoke, and a Changeling rushed by where we stood to move in-between our Queen and the other four.

"Who dares," Chrysalis started, but then her eyes settled upon the other and all energy seemed to drain from her. "Don't tell me you come to defy me as well, Matron?"

I perked up at hearing the name, and realised I knew the other Changeling! She was the Matron who had led me through the tunnels to the Common Room! The Matron who had demanded of Moonshine to teach me magic!

"I have come to stop you before you make a grave error, my Queen," Matron spoke up, motioning back at the group behind her. "These are not the problem. Burst has a history of getting herself into trouble, and even blew a hole into the main Hive while she was still young, if you remember?"

Chrysalis turned her head to the left and stared sideways at Matron while her eyes narrowed. "Yes... now you remind me."

"They obviously wanted to pull another stunt now you brought us all together in this outpost," Matron suggested. "Childish pranks, but certainly nothing to kill them over!"

"We are deep within Equestrian territory this time, Matron. This prank necessitates me pushing our invasion ahead before their armies will come up this mountain to find us," our Queen decided.

"Queen Chrysalis, if I may speak?" Starlight Glimmer started, and quickly continued before she could be stopped. "The only settlement nearby is that of Hollow Shades, and they are barely able to see the sky through the thick canopy from the forest around them. Fillydelphia and Baltimare are even farther away and won't be able to pinpoint our location correctly even if they used instruments to do so. If anypony has seen these fireworks, they would mostly assume somepony else was having a party and leave it at that."

"Yeah," Pinkie Pie agreed! "I throw parties with fireworks all the time! I'm the number one party planner in Equestria, you know? Well, there's Cheese Sandwich as well, but we throw the best parties together!"

Chrysalis did not look convinced, but Matron's interruption had at least stopped her from blasting my siblings off the side of the mountain with her magic. I took a deep breath to steel myself, then took a chance and threw myself past the guard nearest to me, and at the hooves of my Queen!

"My Queen, please, I beg of you, please use your pheromones on me. Let me tell you my story up to now," I asked in desperation. "Please let me tell you all that I saw, heard, and felt. Let me tell you about how your children, my siblings, took me in under their wings and taught me how to live as part of your large family, what good I learned from them, and how they made me realize that we need to work to have the ponies love us for who we are."

I had to take a breath before I could continue, "and of Pinkie Pie, who loves without question, and Starlight Glimmer who came from a spot far darker than you or I and has managed to find herself friends and a place to live among the other ponies. Please, ask anything of me. Let me show you why we are all here, trying to get you to understand."

This was the second time I had begged my Queen for something, and in such a short amount of time. I could see she was hesitant, and was getting more uncomfortable by the second.

Matron took a step toward me and lifted her left forehoof to gently stroke it over my head. "Chrysalis, my Queen, I am one of your oldest daughters, and this is one of your youngest. Between us are thousands of your children, all worried about what their future may bring."

Our Queen closed her eyes with a painful look on her face. "How can you betray me in this fashion?" she whispered under her breath.

"It's not betrayal, Chrysalis. It's trying to help you make the right decision. One from which we can continue on as a stronger family," Matron responded calmly.

"My Queen, I'm wed to a pony mare. I'm happy in that guise. I'm well-fed, and give back to the Hive what I can," Oval spoke up carefully. "We've been prosperous for years now, even considering the failed attack on Canterlot. Any of us will do as you command, you know that, but I would really like to just go home. See my mare, drink her love, and come back to the Hive with new stories, goods, and food."

"We've lived in relative peace for over a decade now," Breeze suggested. "There's no reason why we can't continue as we've done so far?"

"I haven't found the breakthrough yet which you sent me to find in the Canterlot archives, mother," Moonshine sighed. "Starlight Glimmer offered to teach me more about Unicorn magic if I would come to visit her in Ponyville. She can be the one pony I need to help us figure their magic out properly."

"That failed invasion on Canterlot was poorly planned," Blaze huffed. "And this is not looking to be going any better. I'm the first to kick a pony's teeth out if I need to, my Queen, but if you don't listen to our tactical advice, this invasion is doomed to fail just like the one before it."

I felt a tear leak down my right cheek. "I don't want to be last of our kind, my Queen... there are many nations back in my world who fell to ruins because they sought war instead of peace," I whimpered. "I just want to live."

"And you say friendship with these ponies is possible," Chrysalis whispered, then shook her head. "I can't see it."

"When is the last time you tried to make friends with a pony, Chrysalis?" Matron wondered. "Even now, these two here are surrounded by Guards. What have they done to us?"

"They infiltrated our Hive," Chrysalis threw back weakly.

"And we have infiltrated their society on levels they can't even guess at, my silly Queen," Matron chuckled softly, walking forward to place her right forehoof against Chrysalis' chest. "Do you trust me, who has been with you for decades now?"

Chrysalis closed her eyes and gave a slow nod.

"Then ask the pink Earthpony if she wants to be your friend," Matron decided, pulling away again so she could use her right forehoof to point in Pinkie Pie's direction.

Comments

[tsaukpaetra]

Kekekeke, you may have won the Queen over, but now you have a horde of starving lings to feed! Need to act quickly before a true attempt at uprising occurs!
Keep going! ;)

[hmaf43]

7542910
Do it red army style!

[tsaukpaetra]

11325676
😅😂