Order-naries: Storm-chased

by CTVulpin

6. Ain't No Party Like a Changeling Party

The rumbling noise of tons of dirt falling away barely muffled Gold Heart’s screaming or the string of Shadowstar curses pouring from Ashen Blaze’s mouth as the group tumbled downward. Soul Mage kept quiet, too distracted with trying to puzzle out how they’d come to this point to make any noise.

Suddenly, the noise ceased, and Soul found himself in the thick, furry arms of a hulking, canine creature wearing a metal helmet and cuirass. Heart and Ash had been caught by two more of the creatures, and a smaller, bare-headed canine with big ears and a red vest was standing nearby. Soul Mage recognized the creatures and quipped, "“Hey! If isn’t our old friends, the Diamond Dogs! Sup, pups?”

The red-vested Dog narrowed his eyes. "Great. The troublesome ponies; should’ve known.”

“I should’ve known you lot were involved,” Ash shot back. "I don’t know anything else that can dig out a tunnel so…” He trailed off as he caught sight of figures standing just outside the little circle of Diamond Dogs, setting the petrified Cadance down carefully between them. Before Heart and Soul could turn to see for themselves, Ash twisted out of his Dog’s grasp, exclaimed, "Changelings!” and tried to channel magic through his horn. The spell exploded, bowling Ash into the Diamond Dog behind him and snapping the splint around his horn, leaving the broken piece to dangle precariously between his eyes by a strip of medical tape.

Heart and Soul quickly extracted themselves from the Diamond Dogs holding them and took up protective stances between Ash and the rest of the cavern, Spiriter auras alight. Nobody moved as Soul looked around the cavern, noting several more Changelings watching warily from a nearby tunnel entrance, and then focused on the pair standing near Cadance. "Would I be right in guessing that you two are the ones we knew as ‘Iron Horse’ and ‘Coal Hob’?”

One of the Changelings smirked at its companion. "You owe me a bit,” it said.

“I do not,” the other protested. "We had to drop the guises before they figured it out.”

“Boy,” Soul cut in, aiming his horn at the pair, “you must have felt like the luckiest Changelings in Equestria, having us deliver one of the Princesses right into your holey hooves. I mean, sure, the whole dang land’s in dire enough straits as it is with the Storm King out there, but Queen Chrysalis has proven to be an opportunistic little louse in the past.”

“You’re not wrong about that,” the second Changeling commented darkly.

Soul paused in thought for a second, exchanging meaningful looks with Heart. "How’d you manage to get control of a train in the first place?” he asked.

“Because Imago and I legitimately work for the rail service,” one of the pair replied flatly. "And before you ask, yes, they know we’re actually Changelings. Iron Horse and Coal Hob are… official nicknames, if you will.”

“Oh… skvetch,” Ash groaned. "The place you were taking us to is called Hivetown. Skvetchte…” He got shakily to his hooves, rubbed his head, and tried to set his horn back in place. "Convenient how you didn’t mention that until we had our hooves full with airships and harpoons. ‘Just a hop and a skip to the Crystal Empire.’ Pah.” He gave up fumbling with his horn and pointed at Imago. "You tell Chrysalis that-”

“We don’t serve Chrysalis anymore,” Imago’s partner said, spitting the name out like it was a rotten apple.

Ash raised an eyebrow. "Oh,” he said, “we’ve fallen in with a little band of conscientious objectors, have we?”

Despite not having pupils, Imago managed to convey the impression of rolling his eyes. "I owe you a bit after all, Kumquat,” he said to his partner, and then gave Ash a curious look. "What rock have you been living under the last few years?”

“I’ve got better things to do than stay current on your kind’s internal politics, bug,” Ash snapped.

The Diamond Dog in the red vest closed his eyes and pinched his forehead with a pained groan. "Gah,” he muttered. "Ponies arguing, complaining… Such headaches they cause. This is why we moved away from Ponyville.” He waved his free hand in a beckoning way as he headed for the tunnel. “Come, Diamond Dogs, we got better things to do.” The rest of the canines followed him obediently. When they reached the tunnel, however, they had to stop suddenly to make way for a Changeling twice the height of the others, with yellow eyes that had normal-looking pupils and an image of a black, hole-studded heart wreathed in green flames on her flanks. The red-vested Diamond Dog bowed his head slightly to the Changeling and said, “We gots the ponies down safe and sound, queenie.”

“I see,” the Changeling Queen said. "Thank you, Rover.”

“That’s all we’re doing for them though,” Rover said, jabbing a thumb in Ash’s direction. "That one in particular; nasty attitude it’s got.”

“I know,” the Queen said, giving Ash a flat look. Rover and the rest of the dogs slipped past the Queen and disappeared down the tunnel.

Ash returned the Queen’s look, projecting an air of restrained danger despite the slow twirling of his broken horn. "Do I… know you?” he asked at length.

“It has been a long time,” the Queen replied, “and we’ve crossed paths only a few times, but your reaction when I flew into Ponyville in my true shape left quite an impression on me.” She closed her eyes, concentrating, and green flames enveloped her body as she shrank down to an average pony size and took on the appearance of a sea-green earth pony with a blue mane, retaining her yellow eyes and the flaming heart mark. “Does this jog your memory, perchance, Ashen Blaze?”

The broken horn finally broke free of the medical tape, bouncing off Ash’s nose and spinning to the floor, where Gold Heart quickly put a hoof on it so it wouldn’t roll out of sight. Ash didn’t seem to notice, as his eyebrows rose in unexpected recognition. "No,” he said in disbelief, “you couldn’t possibly be that little filly from Trixie’s performance group. That pitiful little Changeling with the crocodile tears.”

“Cabbage Patch,” the Changeling Queen said, changing back to her original form. "That’s my name, and by the will of the Hive, I am the Queen of the Changelings.”

“Will of the Hive? You guys have a democratic government?” Soul Mage asked, looking slightly intrigued.

Cabbage shrugged. “It’s a little complicated,” she said. "Suffice to say, the Changelings got fed up with Chrysalis throwing their lives away trying to take over Equestria, and I had the bad luck to be considered the only alternative.”

“Lovely story,” Ash drawled. "Now, I’m just going to warn you once, shapeshifter, if you think to interfere with-”

“Your goal to get Princess Cadance to the Crystal Empire and try to undo her current condition?" Cabbage cut in, casting a glance at the petrified alicorn. "On the contrary, Ashen Blaze, my intentions are to insure you accomplish that very goal. The Changeling Hive is an ally of Equestria now.” She walked closer to Cadance, eyes narrowed in mild annoyance as she addressed the statue directly. "On the chance you can hear me in there, Cadance,” she said, “perhaps this will convince you that I’m genuine? Imago, Kumquat,” she gestured to two train-Changelings, “would you mind helping me carry the Princess to the cart?”

Ash growled and took a step forward, only to be stopped by Gold Heart putting a leg in his way. "Easy, Ash,” Heart said. "You’ve blown your horn off twice already today.”

“Like I could do much worse right now,” Ash grumbled. Heart gave him a withering look. "You’re not going to trust a bunch of Changelings with the Princess!” Ash exclaimed.

Heart held Ash’s gaze in silence for a moment, and then looked over at her brother. "Soul,” she said, “go help them carry Cadance, would you?”

“Uh,” Soul said, hesitating for a second and looking deeply into Heart’s steely eyes. At length, he nodded. “Sure thing,” he said.

“Gold Heart!” Ash protested.

“What?” Heart asked, staring at Ash again.

Ash opened his mouth, closed it again, and then face-hoofed. "Come on Heart, they’re shapeshifters! Deception is their stock in trade.”

“It’s either go with them, or stay here where we can’t help Cadance,” Soul pointed out as he wrapped a tendril of spirit energy around Cadance and started to lift her.

Ash scowled, then reached down and picked his horn up in his mouth. Muttering darkly around it, he followed the group out of the little cavern and into the tunnel. There was a large cart a little way in, and Soul, Kumquat, and Imago carefully set Cadance inside it. As the Changelings went to grab the pull-handles, however, Soul planted himself in their way and looked at Cabbage. "One last question before we move, if you don’t mind,” he said.

“Yes?” Cabbage asked guardedly.

“What happened to Chrysalis?” Soul asked.

Cabbage sighed and glared off into the distance. "I tried to bring her around to doing things my way, but she just played along for a while and then ran off after failing to seize the Queenship again. She’s still out there… somewhere. With a small band of like-minded Changelings… Making my job of building a new reputation for the Hive ten times harder…” She sighed dramatically.

Soul went over and gave Cabbage a pat on the shoulder. "All right,” he said, “I believe you.”

“Seriouthly?” Ash exclaimed.

Soul ignored his friend, looking up to meet Cabbage’s eyes. “It’s not easy to take something bad and make it good,” he said, “but it’s always worth the effort in the end, right Ash?” He cast a meaningful look at the ash-grey unicorn, who just rolled his eyes and lowered his head, chastened.

---

The walk down the tunnel was over quicker than the Order-naries expected, and the three of them stopped and stared in awe at the massive cavern that greeted them at the end.It was more than a mere cavern; it was an underground town so vast the ponies could not quite see the edge, full of carved stone buildings tall enough to double as supports for the cavern’s roof at least fifty feet overhead. The streets looked like they were paved with hexagonal paving stones, but on closer inspection Soul discovered it was just the cave floor carved and smoothed to resemble paving. An enormous crystal embedded in the center of the roof shone with a brilliance that rivaled the sun on a summer afternoon, and many of the building sported signs with street names and directions spelled out in softly glowing gemstones. Changelings, Diamond Dogs, and even a couple of Earth ponies were walking around, engaging in typical everyday business with one another.

Queen Cabbage Patch allowed the Order-naries to absorb the sight for a few seconds before stepping out ahead of the group, posing proudly and saying, “Welcome to Hivetown’s underground portion. The ‘Hive’ portion, if you will. The majority of the Changelings and all our Diamond Dog citizens make their homes down here, while our pony citizens mostly live and work aboveground. Our main industries are-”

“No offense, Your Highness,” Soul Mage interrupted, “but we don’t have time for a tour. The sooner we get to the Crystal Empire, the better.”

“You’re right,” Cabbage said with a sigh. "However,” she gave the ponies a look that forbade argument, “I insist you take a little rest and refreshment before you move on. Ashen Blaze’s horn needs to be re-splinted, after all, and the decoy team needs time to work.”

“Decoy tean?” Ash asked.

Cabbage nodded in both confirmation and to indicate the group should start walking again. As she led them to a small yet distinctly castle-like building near the center of town, Cabbage explained, “I’ve sent a group of Changelings out disguised as the three of you and Princess Cadance – for extra enticement – to lead the Storm King’s ships in different directions so you can get into the Empire without being seen. How does that sound, Ashen Blaze?”

“Hmph,” Ash said, taking his horn out of his mouth and sticking it behind his ear. "Deception and misdirection. Just the sort of tactics I’d expect from a shapeshifter.”

“Thanks?” Cabbage said, uncertainly.

“Don’t mind him, Queen Patch,” Gold Heart said. "Decoys sound like just the thing we need at this point.”

“Thank you,” Cabbage said more sincerely. She opened the doors of the little castle and gestured for the Order-naries and the cart with Cadance to go in ahead of her. "One more thing I’ll insist on,” she said. “Just call me Cabbage, please. I already get more ‘My Queens’ and ‘You Highnesses’ than I can stand just from my Changelings.”

Heart, Soul, and Ash exchanged looks, then shrugged and walked inside.

A short time later, Ash was sitting with his head propped on a surprisingly comfortable ottoman, his vivid green eyes locked in an unflinching, challenging glare across the parlor at Cabbage Patch, Kumquat, and Imago, while Soul Mage and Gold Heart studiously applied a new splint to Ash’s broken horn. An untouched platter of tea cakes sat on a table in the middle of the room, and an awkward silence hung over the whole space. At length, Cabbage shot Ash a challenging look in return and walked over to where they’d parked the petrified Princess Cadance. Ash bared his teeth and started to raise his head only for Heart to gently but firmly push him back down so she could finish wrapping the splint.

Cabbage let out an amused snort. "I’ve met a lot of ponies who were uncomfortable with Changelings,” she said, “and that’s perfectly understandable. Below the anger and distrust, they’re afraid of us because we feed on emotions and because of Chrysalis’s attempts to conquer the kingdom.”

“Yes,” Ash interjected. "Let’s focus on that for a moment; address the elephant in room. Just how do you manage to… convince ponies to live here and have their love drained out?”

Cabbage Patch sighed and rubbed her forehead. "We don’t drain love from ponies,” she said with the exasperation of having to recite a speech for the umpteenth time, “not anymore. It’s not necessary. Changelings are able to subsist on virtually any positive emotion: happiness, affection, admiration, friendship… Love happens to be the most potent and satisfying of the feelings we can feed on, and so that’s what we focused on collecting in the past.
However, Love is also difficult and time-consuming to cultivate, so the Changelings of the past felt compelled to reach deep into their targets and extract love from the very core just to balance the cost.

“I was exiled from the Hive at a young age, ostensibly because I was too runty and lacking in ability and the proper attitude to be worth spending scarce resources on, but more likely because Chrysalis recognized my potential to replace her and didn’t want to admit her plans for the Hive were dangerously flawed. Separated from the Hive and its traditions, and bearing a lot of emotional trauma on top of my soft-hearted nature, I was too scared to draw much from the ponies I came into contact with, and yet I survived. I realized that Love wasn’t the only thing I could feed on, and by simply being near ponies who liked me and keeping myself open to the emotional energy they gave off – taking only what was given freely – I was getting more than enough to make it through the day.”

Cabbage stepped away from Cadance and approached Ash, kneeling down and looking him in the eye. "Thanks to Chrysalis’s insane second attack on Canterlot and the later schism she caused in the Hive, I only had about a dozen Changelings when Hivetown was founded. There are a little over a hundred of us now, and every Changeling in this town follows my rules of passive feeding. I maintain an open border and a policy of transparent operations; everypony in town knows how the Changelings are supposed to behave and everypony is free to leave if they feel uncomfortable with the fact that their emotions radiate off them and that Changelings can absorb that energy just by walking by. Our current number of pony and Diamond Dog citizens could easily support twice as many Changelings are there are.”

Ash pursed his lips and rolled his eyes to the side, digesting Cabbage’s speech. "Fascinating story,” he said at last. "Did you learn how to act with such passion from traveling with Trixie, or does it just come naturally?”

Gold Heart made an exasperated noise. "You’re just being difficult now, Ash. You know that, right?”

“Meh,” Ash grunted.

Cabbage Patch stood up. "You confuse me a little, Ash,” she said. "Unlike most ponies who hate the Changelings, you don’t fear me, and for all your glaring and bluster your hatred doesn’t go nearly as deep as your simple distrust. Why is that?”

“I don’t fear what I can defeat under normal circumstances,” Ash answered curtly.

“Ash doesn’t trust anything that can alter its form at will,” Soul said. "It’s a deep scar; a shapeshifter broke his heart once, you see.”

Ash shot Soul a confused look. "If you’re talking about Samantha-”

“No, not Sam, silly,” Soul said. "I’m talking about the Meis of Deception.”

“Dele-” Ash braced his legs to stand up, but then stopped and glanced at Heart. "You done?” he asked. Heart nodded, and Ash surged to his hooves and whirled on Soul. "Delepra?!” Ash exclaimed. "Delepra never- I never had anything like that with that sneaky snakey… vetch’ku or any part of her sneaky lying cadre!”

“Really?” Soul asked, a teasing smile growing on his face. "I figured, with those mythical pheromones of hers…”

“No more effective than any other kind of mind control on this or any other Meis,” Ash said, pointing at his head emphatically. "Yes, Delepra and her minions taught me some hard lessons about how far you can trust something that can change its face with a thought, but romantic dealings between her and… Just… Ew.” He stormed off to a corner of the parlor and sat down facing the wall.

“And there it is, out in the open,” Soul Mage said to Cabbage and the Changelings, shrugging. Gold Heart whapped him upside the head with a wing. "Yeah,” Soul said, rubbing his head, “I deserved that.” He grabbed a couple of tea cakes in his spirit tendril and took them over to Ash, ears back in an apologetic expression.

“Uh,” Cabbage said, nonplussed.

“I barely understood half of that,” Kumquat said flatly. "Where in Equestria do you ponies come from, anyway?”

Gold Heart glanced over at Ash and Soul with a conflicted look on her face. "Can we just say it’s no place you’re likely to have heard of and leave it at that?” she asked.

“That’s fine,” Cabbage said. She returned to where Cadance was, grabbing a teacake as she went. As she went to take a bite of the cake, however, something seemed to catch her attention and she hesitated. "The plan seems to be working,” she announced, turning around to face the ponies.
"Whenever you’re ready, I can take you up to the edge of the Crystal Empire.”

Ash came out of his brooding corner, chewing on a mouthful of tea cake, and marched pointedly for the door, giving Cabbage, Imago, and Kumquat dirty looks as he passed them. Soul followed the ash-grey unicorn, meek and apologetic for the moment, and everyone else followed after them, with Kumquat and Imago pulling Cadance in the cart. Once back out on the underground streets, Cabbage trotted up to the front of the group and led them to a nearby building that reached all the way to the cavern roof. Once inside, the Order-naries realized the building contained only a pair of spacious cage-style elevators and a staircase leading up to surface.

As the Changelings loaded Cadance into one of the elevators, Ash finished eating his tea cake and looked up at Cabbage out of the corner of his eye. "How do you know what’s going on up there?” he asked. "Nobody came in to deliver a message or anything.”

“Oh, you don’t know?” Cabbage responded. "The Changelings are all part of a mental network.”

“You’re all telepaths,” Ash said in a resigned tone. "Shape-changing, emotional parasites that are also psychic. A skvetchte triple threat.” He stepped into the elevator, sat down with his back against the wall, and quirked an eyebrow at Cabbage and the twins. "Let’s not waste any more time,” he said.

Cabbage, Heart, and Soul got into the elevator and Imago pulled the lever to start it up. "If it makes you feel any better,” Cabbage said to Ash, “we can only read the thoughts of other Changelings. With any other creature, it’s only the emotional state we can sense.” Ash made a noncommittal noise, and Cabbage let out a gentle sigh of defeat.

---

Flash Sentry perched on the roof of one of the checkpoint huts that had been built along the border between the Crystal Empire and Hivetown, his wings raised in tense attention. Smoke was rising from somewhere beyond the far side of the Changeling town, and several zeppelins built in an unfamiliar, dangerous-looking style had flown over shortly after but had then turned around and flown off to the west. Clearly, something was afoot, but since the Empire’s borders hadn’t been crossed Flash could do nothing except stand at his post and wonder.

Seeing something move at the edge of his vision, Flash pulled his attention away from the distant smoke and saw a group of Changelings and ponies – including the Queen herself! – approaching the border with a cart in tow. Flash flew down to the road and met the group at the barrier. "Halt,” Flash ordered, somewhat unnecessarily, because the Changelings had already stopped short of the barrier, which would’ve become solid for them had they tried to cross, and the three ponies hesitantly followed the Changelings’ example. "Queen Cabbage,” Flash said, inclining his head to the Queen slightly as he looked over the rest of the group with a practiced eye, “might I inquire as to your busi…ness…” He trailed off as he got a good look at what was in the cart: a stone statue of Princess Cadance in a frightened pose. "What is that?” Flash asked, pointing.

“That,” said the ash-grey unicorn with a splint on his horn, “is Princess Mi Amore Cadenza having a very bad day. And this,” he pointed to his horn, “is Ashen Blaze having a very bad day. Do you need us to spell things out more, soldier, or do you get my meaning?”

“Uh,” Flash said, thinking.

Ashen Blaze let out an irritated huff and gestured to one of his companions. "Soul,” he said, “I’m about out of patience. Explain things to the poor pegasus.”

“Hold up,” Flash Sentry said. "You’re saying that statue is actually the Princess? She went down to Canterlot to take part in that Friendship Festival that Princess Twilight’s holding. What happened?”

“According to witnesses,” Soul Mage said, “some uninvited guests from lands unknown crashed the party, stoned three-quarters of the kingdom’s heads of state, and chased Twilight and the Elements of Harmony southwards. As for us, we crashed the party-crasher’s party, stole Cadance from them, jumped on a train and raced up here, nearly got blown up just outside Hivetown, and are in desperate need of a few hours rest, actual medical attention for Ash’s horn, and somepony who knows how to reverse a petrification spell.”

Flash Sentry’s face had gone blank with surprise halfway through Soul’s rambling, and after the unicorn finished Flash had to take another second to process it all. "What are you waiting for, then?” he finally said, standing aside and waving hurriedly. "Get the Princess to the castle immediately! I’ll send word ahead.”

“Thank you,” Heart said as she, Ash, and Soul crossed the border with Cadance in tow.

Comments

[DracoDarastrix]

I wonder if you would go for the full chanceling reformation like Thorax did in the show.

[CTVulpin]

8863824
Nope. Too fond of the black chitin and holey hooves.

[DracoDarastrix]

8864790

Originally I would have agreed with you, but lately their new colour scheme seemed to rub off on me. It makes them more interesting to look at with all the new diversity.

[CTVulpin]

8864962
Well, you do you, and I'll keep the Changelings in my fic 'verse as they were before Thorax came along in canon... More or less.