Change of Life

by Lil Penpusher

5 - Saved and Doomed

"What is the matter of this, Chrysalis? I thought we taught you and your changelings the lesson to stay out of Equestria."

Chrysalis broke out in laughter.

"Haha, lesson? Dear Celestia, the only one to be taught a lesson here is you. It is to never underestimate your enemies."

Celestia grumbled and stared at Chrysalis with a serious expression, not distracted by her laughing.

"You will not succeed, Chrysalis. You are a fool to believe you are going to succeed."

Chrysalis' look clearly said she thought otherwise.

"I wouldn't be so rude if I were you, my dear. We wouldn't want any arguments to occur, otherwise...you get the idea."

Cadance now walked up next to Celestia to assist her in facing Chrysalis.

"You will never win, Chrysalis! Twillight and her friends will stop you! Equestria as a whole will if they find where you are!"

Chrysalis rolled her eyes at the Princess' enthusiasm.

"Of course I know they will be looking for me, but they won't attack if they are smart. You aren't just my captives, you are also my protection against Twilight and the others. If they really do dare to attack to "save" you, then I am afraid they will find a cage with alot less alive Princesses."

Cadance and Celestia both looked at eachother and sighed. Cadance lowered her head and walked back to Luna and Thunder who were standing on the other end of the cage. She stopped infront of them and sat down, her head still hanging down.

"I don't think there's much we can do..."

Thunder and Luna looked at eachother as they saw Cadance being so sad.

"I just hope Shining and Twily are alright..."

Luna lifted up Cadance's head to look her in the eyes.

"Do not worry, Princess. I am sure Princess Twilight and Prince Shining Armor are safe. They were not involved in the attack it appears."

Cadance shut her eyes for a second, sighed and opened them again.

"You're probably right...thanks Luna."

Luna nodded. She turned around to listen to what Celestia and Chrysalis were doing. They were still talking as before it seemed, but suddenly the door to the room opened once again and two changelings entered the room.
The Changelings were both armed with spears and wore obsidian body armor and helmets which was standard amongst the changeling guards.
They walked up to Queen Chrysalis who had turned around to them as they entered. The Changelings both bowed before Chrysalis before they started talking.

"My Queen, you ordered us here?"

Chrysalis nodded.

"Indeed Lieutenant." She turned around and pointed at Thunder who looked very surprised and and scared by this. "I want this Pegasus to be taken to the Food Chambers. He is no use for us here."

The two changelings quickly looked at Thunder and then bowed before Chrysalis again.

"It shall be done, my Queen."

They opened the cage using their magic and entered. The Princesses all moved back into one corner, behind them was Thunder. They would not let them be taken away like that.

"No step closer, changelings!"

Said Celestia while all three of them charged up their horns while going into defensive positions in front of Thunder. As the Changelings didn't react and slowly walked towards them though, they were forced to take action. Their already charged horns glowed and...nothing. It didn't work.

"What...what is this? It's not working!"

Said a confused Cadance as she tried to figure out why her magic was not working, the others had the same problem. Chrysalis was visibly enjoying herself as she looked at the confused and helpless Princesses.

"Ladies, please. You didn't honestly think I would leave you your magic, right? I would love to tell you how I took it and where it is but all you need to know is...it's not with you anymore."

An evil smile concluded Chrysalis' sentence. The Princesses looked at eachother in confusion and disbelief. Their magic taken? By the changelings? How could that even be possible? There was no time for them to think about that though as the two changeling guards pushed them away with their spears and continued on to Thunder who was cowering in the corner of the cage. His whole body was shivering and he held his hooves up infront of his face to protect himself.

"D-don't hurt m-me...please!"

Was all he managed to say as the changelings stared at him.

"Stand up."

Said one of them. They waited for him to respond but...there was no response. Thunder didn't say or do anything, he just kept cowering in the corner. The guards got mad at him and grabed his forehooves.

"That wasn't a question! Get up!"

Yelled one of them as they pulled him up with brute force. As Thunder got on his hooves he almost collapsed again, afraid of moving, going where they want him to go.

"Let's go, move!"

Thunder looked back at the two changelings who had now pointed their spears at him.

"Are you deaf? I said move!"

Yelled one of them as he pushed Thunder forward. Thunder began walking but stopped when he was next to the Princesses. He looked at all of them briefly, mostly at Luna and said...

"I'm sorry..."

Then he continued on to leave the cage. All three of the Princesses were visibly hit by this but they knew they couldn't do anything. Not now, not without their magic and while at the mercy of their enemies. All they could do...was watch.

"I hope you choke on your bloody love one day..."

Said Thunder as he was escorted past Chrysalis and out of the room. As they left the room, Chrysalis turned back to the Princesses who were focused on what was happening to Thunder.

"I am sorry to interrupt, but I have important matters to attend to. Being a Queen certainly isn't an easy job. Don't worry though, we will meet again soon enough."

Then she too turned around and left the room. The two changelings that entered with her followed her, one of them looked back at the Princesses in the cage briefly and then closed and locked the door from the outside. He looked to the right to see his Queen inspect Thunder who looked like he wanted to spit her in the face (thank celestia he didn't). He quickly ran up to her and interrupted them.

"My Queen,.." He said as he pulled down the Hood of his robe which he was wearing, revealing the face of Shade. "I need to talk with you about something."

Chrysalis turned away from Thunder and turned towards Shade with a questioning look.

"And what may that be?"

Shade scratched his head as he tried to find the right words to tell his Queen about this.

"It's...about him. The Pegasus."

Chrysalis' eyes widened in surprise and she looked at Thunder who had turned away from her by now, the two guards were still next to him.

"Him? The Pegasus? What is there to talk about when it involves...a pony?"

Shade sighed.

"You said our Captives wouldn't be taken to the Food Chambers and be fed on. Why are you doing this then?"

Chrysalis chuckled and put a hoof on Shade's shoulder.

"Oh, you must have misunderstood me. With captives I obviously meant the Princesses. They are not to be harmed for now because we may need them in a healthy state later. Him though...he is just a regular pony. He doesn't really provide any benefit to us if we don't feed on his love so why would we not do so?"

Shade looked disapointed. He thought that his old friend was at least not gonna be brought to the food chambers, cocooned in slime and have all his love sucked out of him. Shade had to think of a better solution quickly. He knew Thunder too well to have that happen to him. If it was just an ordinary pony he wouldn't have cared but...he knew him. He knew him very, very well. And although it was just a disguise, he felt like they truly were friends.

"But...You can't do that to him!"

Chrysalis was more than surprised by Shade's resistance against her order. Especially because it was a normal thing for changelings to do.

"Shade, what is the matter of this? You feed on love yourself everyday, you even brought ponies to the Food Chambers yourself a couple of times. Why would this pony be different from those other ones?"

Shade stared at the ground. He knew he had to do something. He had to tell her about him being friends with Thunder but...would she understand? Maybe she would punish him for "allying with the enemy" or something like that....but no, he had to do this, for Thunder.

"It's...It's because I know this one very well. He was a Lunar Guard who I spent alot of time with while I was at Canterlot as a Solar Guard."

Chrysalis thought for a second.

"So you are friends, hm?"

Shade gulped and answered with a bit of fear in his voice.

"Yes, you could say that."

Chrysalis turned around and walked towards Thunder who then turned around and looked at her with an angry face.

"I see..."

After a few seconds of thinking she turned back around and walked towards Shade.

"And you are sure about that, yes?"

Shade nodded, not wanting to upset the Queen by saying something wrong.

"In that case I only see one solution to this problem. We will take him to the Hall of the Elders. You know what to do. Meet me there in an hour, I will prepare everything."

Shade sighed in relief. He knew what would happen at the Hall of the Elders as well as Chrysalis did but this was the only other option he had to save Thunder.

"I will be there, my Queen."

Shade bowed and walked past Thunder and the two Changeling Guards. Thunder didn't seem to recognize him as he walked past, not much of a surprise considering the only difference is a scar over his left eye. As he continued walking he looked back one more time and saw Chrysalis talking to the guards, presumably telling them about their new orders. As Shade kept on walking through the tunnels of the Hive, he felt multiple emotions. There was happiness, because he had just saved his best friend Thunder from being food for his Hive. He also felt regret because now his Queen might think of him as someone who makes friends with the enemy. But mainly he felt sorry. He felt sorry for Thunder. True, Shade saved him from one of the worst things a pony could imagine but got him into something that he may not be ready for. Something he as a a Pony simply might not be able to understand and live with.

For now though he could only hope for the best to happen in the future and tell himself that he did the right thing.