Changeling

by Yukito

Chapter 11

“Sister, why does Father hate Equestrians so much?” Chrysalis asked her older sibling with a pitying look in her eyes. “What is the point of it all? What did the ponies do to deserve such animosity towards them?”

“You want to know?”

…

“That’s fine. It’s about time you heard this story. You’re old enough now… that you should know of our tragic history.

“That you should know of how our race was nearly wiped out by them.”

---

Chrysalis stopped her troops’ advancements and ordered her scouts to check the area ahead of them. ‘It was three hundred and seventy-six years ago. That was when everything changed… When the changelings were brought to the brink of extinction, at the hooves of those ponies.’

“All is clear, my queen,” the leader of the scouting party informed.

Chrysalis nodded and ordered her troops to continued advancing. She led them forward, entering the desert that acted as the border between Equestria and the Changeling Kingdom. ‘For our ancestors, as well as my children, who were mercilessly slaughtered by them… we will end Equestria’s tyranny once and for all!’

“Incoming!” one of the scouts walking ahead of Chrysalis shouted.

Chrysalis halted and ordered her troops to do the same. Standing before the advancing army, Chrysalis could see another army, standing in their path in the distance, bearing the flag of Equestria. “So, they anticipated our arrival?”

“What should we do, my queen?” the scout asked.

“We’ll hold our ground here! First to third battalions, follow me! Everyone else, prepare the catapults and wait for orders!” Her soldiers obeyed. Three squads joined their queen in advancing towards the awaiting army ahead of them. As expected, Princess Celestia herself was leading the other side. ‘If we can kill her, the rest will falter. This whole battle… is riding on us killing Celestia.’

Once they were close enough to talk, the changelings stopped their advance and stared coldly at the army of ponies staring right back at them. Chrysalis, in particular, was glaring into Celestia’s eyes, and the regal alicorn returned the sentiment in kind.

“So, Princess Celestia… you decided to meet us here, in this dying wasteland. I’m surprised you even knew that we were coming.”

“Your son was very informative.”

Chrysalis’ anger rose and she felt her heart burning as though it was on fire. ‘You dare to torture my children and then boast it right in my face?! Your death will be painful…’

“Please, Queen Chrysalis,” Celestia pleaded. “You don’t have to do this. Please turn back, before it’s too late.”

Chrysalis simply stared at the alicorn in shock and disgust taking over her face. “… Is that a joke?” she asked with venom in her voice. “After all that you’ve done, after all the sins that you have committed, you think you can avoid punishment just like that?”

“What are you-”

“I know,” Chrysalis said, cutting off the Princess. “I know what your country did… and what you did, too. You were so afraid of us, so fuelled by your anger and prejudice… that you purged our entire race, and then erased all mention of us from history. You even decreed it illegal to speak of us in schools, so that future generations would forget that we even existed!

“You commit genocide on our race and then you have the gall to declare us to be monsters, all while you bask in the love and adoration of your subjects as their ‘virtuous saviour’?!”

Celestia maintained her calm demeanour, but Chrysalis’ words hit her hard, like daggers to the heart. “I’m sorry… I-”

“SORRY WON’T BRING BACK THOSE YOU KILLED!” Chrysalis roared, her magic flaring up. Celestia’s army readied themselves, as did Chrysalis’ troops. “Now, Celestia… you have escaped justice for far too long! Today, you and your kingdom will fall at our hooves!”

---

Alexander awoke with a loud yawn, stretching his hooves and his back before sitting up straight and looking around his immediate surroundings. The campfire was dead and the remains had been covered by a blanket to prevent smoke from rising. Chill was already awake and drinking water from one of the bottles that Trixie had brought along, and Aura…

“What?!” Alexander shouted, rising to his hooves and glaring at Trixie, who was lying next to his sister as they both slept. At some point during their sleep, Aura had rolled into Trixie’s hooves and now Trixie was holding Aura close to her, almost resembling a couple of sisters if not for the clearly differing races.

“HEY! LET GO OF MY SISTER, PONY!”

“Prince, please,” Chill pleaded, rushing up to Alexander to hold him back. “Trixie needs her rest! She’s our ace in the hole!”

“THE HELL SHE IS! SHE’S A PONY! SHE’S-”

“An illusionist,” Chill said, struggling to hold back the raging prince. “Which is what we need if we’re going to infiltrate Canterlot.” Alexander continued trying to get past Chill, so he tried a different approach. “Aura will be upset if you kill her!”

Alexander calmed down a little bit, but still gritted his teeth as he glared daggers at the sleeping pony. “Damnit.”

“Also, if we can’t rescue Princess Luna, then we have little-to-no hope of reaching your mother, and that means that Lor-That Odysseus will win!”

Alexander stopped trying to push past Chill and took a step back with a grunt. “Fine… But I swear to Mother, she’d better pull her weight!”

Alexander turned around and marched off into the trees to check out the surrounding area. Trixie shivered as she held Aura tightly, part of her entertaining the idea of using the youngling as a shield. ‘Perhaps I’ll pretend to be asleep for just a little longer…’

“Guys, bad news!” Alexander shouted as he ran back towards the group. “Chill, wake ‘em up, quick! We got an enemy approaching!”

---

Trixie and Alexander hid in a bush, eyeing the pony that was checking the clearing before them. “You’re sure that’s a changeling?” Trixie asked quietly.

Alexander nodded. “No doubt. My sixth sense is reacting in a way that only happens around General Mystic.”

“General Mystic? Oh, great,” Trixie deadpanned with a frown.

“Did you say ‘General Mystic’?” Chill asked, surprising the two as he snuck up behind them along with Aura.

“W-What are you doing here?!” Alexander asked in a hushed tone. “We told you to wait at the campsite!”

“You want me to guard the princess by myself? Nothing doing.”

“That’s an order from your prince!”

“Guys!” Trixie snapped. “We have a bigger issue right now!”

Aura nodded. “She could be one of Odysseus’ troops,” she said, furrowing her brow. “Which means there may be more.”

“Doubt it,” Chill said. “Mystic likes to fight alone. Even if there are more, they wouldn’t be nearby.”

“Which means that this is our golden chance!” Alexander stated with a wicked grin. “We capture her and then make her talk! We’ll take whatever info we can about Odysseus’ plans! If we’re lucky, we won’t have to rescue that moon princess after all.

The others nodded in agreement, though Trixie’s nod was a little more hesitant. ‘I’m so gonna be brought to trial after all of this, aren’t I?’

“Well, you’re up, Trixie,” Chill said, patting her shoulder with a hoof.

She looked at him with a puzzled look and then turned to Alexander, who simply nodded in agreement. “Yeah, as much as I hate ta admit it, you’re the best choice for this fight.”

“Why?” she asked, suddenly feeling very anxious.

“Mystic’s an illusionist,” Chill told her. “To combat her, we need another illusionist. One who can cancel out her illusions.”

“Of course, the biggest problem is that,” Alexander said. Both Chill and Aura nodded their heads in agreement, whilst Trixie frowned and narrowed her eyes at the three changelings.

“‘That’? That what?”

Alexander leaned over to whisper into Trixie’s ear. “Alright, listen up. Here’s what we need you to do…”

---

Mystic moved cautiously through the woods, checking behind every bush and tree that she passed. She was certain that Prince Alexander was nearby and, with any luck, Prince Odysseus was one of the remaining two changelings that she could also feel. What concerned her was the pony presence with them, but she was confident that the prince wouldn’t fall so easily to just one pony.

‘Unless that pony is just watching them, whilst waiting for backup to arrive… in which case, I must make haste!’

Before Mystic could proceed any further, she felt something approaching behind her and slowed down to concentrate her magic. ‘… A pony! They’re stalking me… They might know what I am!’

Mystic wasted no time in turning around and throwing a dagger into the bushes behind her. She heard the sound of her dagger hitting its target and, seconds later, saw a blue unicorn mare fall out of the bushes, blood pouring from her forehead where the dagger had struck her.

“Can’t afford to take chances,” she said to herself, approaching the body to recover her dagger. She stopped when she felt a strange vibration through the air and immediately cast a spell designed to cancel out illusions.

Mystic turned around and dodged the incoming blast of magic, being pushed back by the force that it caused. Once she had regained her balance, she saw the same blue pony that she thought she had just killed standing before her, gathering magic into her horn.

“You felt the Great and Powerful Trixie’s presence, even through her illusion? You may just be an opponent worthy of Trixie’s full power!”

Mystic undid her disguise and flared her wings. “Let me guess… Royal Guard, right?”

Trixie scoffed and fired another blast of magic, which Mystic dodged nimbly. “Oh, please! The Great and Powerful Trixie’s talents would be wasted serving the likes of them!”

“Then who are you?” Mystic asked. “No, it doesn’t matter. In fact, that makes things easier. It means I can just kill you and be on my way.”

“Try it,” Trixie challenged. Her horn lit up and eight pillars of lava shot up from the ground, surrounding Mystic.

Mystic was unfazed and focused her own magic, sending out a green shockwave that turned the pillars of lava into smoke and caused ice to form on the ground.

Trixie shivered as she felt the temperature suddenly drop, but then closed her eyes and focused her mind. ‘It’s just an illusion… I just have to cancel it out… Focus, Trixie. Focus!’ Trixie’s eyes shot open and she cast a spell to form illusionary fire on several patches of ground, heating up the area and melting the ice around her.

“Impressive,” Mystic said, grinning at the blue mare. “Illusions are powerful tools. They attack your mind, rather than your body, and even if you know that they’re fake they will still feel real if your mind is not strong enough.

“But you, even after falling victim to an illusion, managed to compose yourself and break free of it. That takes talent.”

“You too,” Trixie returned. “You didn’t even so much as flinch at Trixie’s illusion, and even now, it seems that these flames have no effect on your mind.”

Mystic’s horn glowed green. “What is your name, Pony?”

“… Trixie doesn’t know it works for changelings, but in Equestria, it is considered rude to ask one’s name before introducing yourself first.”

“That so? I’m General Mystic, knight of Princess Elizabeth and head of the Royal Court Magi.”

“Impressive. My name is Trixie Lulamoon, the most powerful, and most graceful unicorn ever to grace this world!” Trixie’s lowered her head and charged magic into her horn. “You should realise by now… that you have no chance of winning this battle.”

“We’ll see!” Mystic shouted as she cast a spell, winking out of existence and reappearing just inches away from Trixie’s face. Vines shot out of the ground, grabbing Trixie and throwing her up into the air. The vines wrapped around Trixie’s legs and body, suspending her in the air as they started to constrict tightly.

“Is that all you have?” Trixie asked as she unleashed the spell she had charged up. The vines holding her disappeared, and Trixie found herself back down to the ground towards Mystic, who was standing on her guard. Trixie righted herself in the air and threw a kick at the changeling below her.

Mystic blocked the kick with a forehoof, but was knocked down to the ground by a second one. Trixie turned to face the bushes behind her, instead of to the downed changeling, and conjured up an illusion of several large swords, all of which flew through the air and stabbed through the bushes.

Mystic jumped out just in time to avoid the swords so that they wouldn’t skewer her, but when she landed on the ground, Trixie was already in her face, ready to deliver another set of kicks. This time, Mystic dodged and blocked each one. Each kick became slightly harder to block than the last, until eventually, Mystic had to cast a flash bang spell to make Trixie back off.

“An illusionist who knows physical combat? A nice combination.”

Trixie smirked proudly and flicked her mane. “Yes, well, the Great and Powerful Trixie was destined for greatness, after all.”

“… I never thought there’d be another one out there,” Mystic said to Trixie’s surprise.

“You mean-”

“Yeah.” Mystic chuckled as she cast a spell to reveal a bag sitting by a nearby tree. She noticed Trixie eyeing it with some scrutiny and said, “Don’t worry, it’s not an illusion. It was merely an invisibility spell. What you should be afraid of is what’s inside. I don’t like using this, but for you, I’ll make an exception.”

“Gee, Trixie feels honoured,” Trixie replied sarcastically.

“It’s a shame. If it weren’t for the fact that you’re a pony, I think we could have learned a lot from each other. Perhaps even have been friends. But alas, I shall have to cut you down now, in order to save my Prince.”

Trixie’s ear twitched and she raised an eyebrow at Mystic’s last comment. ‘‘Save’?’

Mystic drew a sabre out of her bag and pointed it at Trixie. “I also know how to fight without illusions. And unlike you, I was actually trained to fight, for militaristic purposes. That gives me the edge in this battle!”

Trixie quickly jumped back when she saw Mystic charging towards her and leaned her head down, as if ready to cast a spell… “NOW!” she shouted, and not even a second afterwards, two blurs jumped out in front of her.

Mystic didn’t have time to stop before one of the figures stopped her attack with its hoof… Its hoof! ‘H-How?! They stopped my blade with just a hoof?! But, only the Prince can…’ Mystic gasped when she could finally see who it was that stood before her. Prince Alexander.

Beside him was another changeling, one that she didn’t recognise. He summoned several icicles at her hooves that slowly made their ways up her body, encasing her in ice.

By the time that Mystic had realised what was going on, her entire body – save for her head – was frozen in ice. “W-What?!”

“Trixie, her horn!” Alexander shouted. Trixie nodded and took action immediately, reaching into her cape and pulling out a magic restrainer. She teleported up to the frozen changeling and placed the ring onto her horn, rendering her magic useless.

“We did it!” Chill shouted, before an idea crossed his mind. He turned to Trixie for confirmation. “Right?”

Trixie nodded. “She casted no illusions. Of that, Trixie is certain.”

“Like I said,” Alexander started as he moved away from Mystic, “Once she pulls out her sabre, it means that she’s abandoned her illusions and is relying purely on her physical strength to cut down her opponent.”

“Seems a bit self-destructive,” Trixie commented.

“To date, I’m the only one whose ever beat her in a physical confrontation,” Alexander informed her.

“… Prince?” Mystic asked, still in shock by the events that had just transpired. “What’s going on? Why are you… working together with this pony?”

Alexander glared at Mystic and summoned some magic into his horn. “We’re the ones asking the questions here! Now, how about you start by telling us Odysseus’ battle plans? How many squads does he have, and how are they to be arranged on the battlefield?”

Mystic tilted her head as far as she could in her icy prison. “Prince Odysseus? But… Prince, your brother came to Equestria alone. He came to avenge you…”

Alexander and Chill exchanged quick glances before turning back to Mystic. “What d’ya mean he came to avenge me? How stupid d’ya think I am?!”

Mystic flinched at Alexander’s sudden rage and started to shake, both from the cold of the ice, and from fear. “T-That’s why I’m here! To rescue him on orders from Her Majesty!” Alexander’s eyes widened. “It was good fortune that I found you, alive and well! We had all thought that you had been killed, just as the princess had!”

“… You came here on Mother’s orders?”

Mystic nodded, and Chill stomped the ground in frustration. “Damnit!” he shouted. “I thought we finally had a lucky break! I should’ve known! Odysseus wouldn’t rely on someone who works alone, or whose strengths and weakness you already know well!”

Trixie sighed and placed a hoof in-between her eyes. “You mean… after all that, we gained nothing?”

“That’s not true,” a voice called out. Aura approached the group, causing Mystic to gasp loudly. “We’ve got a new ally, right?” Aura asked, smiling as she looked up at Mystic.

Alexander thought about it and then grinned. “Yeah… If she came here on Mother’s orders, to find Odysseus… Eheheh. He always has things planned so well, but when things don’t go as predicted…”

“Like with Trixie,” Chill said, glancing at said unicorn. “He never anticipated her, so she was able to save Aura from his assassins, and even break all of us out of that dungeon below Canterlot and escape with our lives… Well, most of us…” He shook his head to clear the thought and turned back to Mystic. “Well, that really all depends on where her loyalties lie.”

Mystic wasn’t sure what to make of the situation and thus remained silent as all eyes turned towards her. Alexander took a step towards their prisoner and said, “Alright, General Mystic. We’ll explain the situation to you. Listen closely, ‘cause we don’t have much time.” Mystic nodded. “But first, who else did ya bring? I don’t wanna have ta repeat this story more than once.”

“Just a few medical and scouting troops. They’re waiting at the forest’s entrance.”

Alexander nodded to Chill, who went off to find and bring said troops back to the group.

---

Mystic and her party could only stare at the prince in shock as Alexander finished his story, their mouths agape and their eyes wide. His story of Odysseus, who was favoured by many to succeed the throne, plotting a coup d'état against their queen, and had even used the ‘death’ of his own sister to incite a war with an enemy nation… A war that only served to pave the way for Odysseus to claim dictatorship over the kingdom.

“Well, now that you know the situation, what will you do now?” Alexander asked.

Mystic looked down at the ground, her teeth grinding together as several thoughts raced through her mind. “My whole life… Ever since I first laid eyes on Princess Elizabeth, I swore that I would one day serve and protect the royal family.” Many of the changelings behind her nodded their heads in agreement. “Now I find that one of the princes, whom I’d admired and revered so much, has turned his back on his family, and his entire country!

“How can I… What am I to do now?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Trixie asked, flinching as all eyes fell on her. ‘Suddenly I regret being born a pony.’ After clearing her throat, she said, “You became a soldier for the sake of this ‘Princess Elizabeth’, right? Well then, that’s where your first loyalty should lie.”

Chill nodded. “She’s right.” Alexander let out a huff, but Chill ignored it. “Odysseus’ actions have cast him outside of the royal family. He is no longer deserving of the title of ‘prince’. He is now a high traitor, and must be dealt with accordingly. He deserves no loyalty from any of you, who would lay down your lives for our country.”

Trixie turned to Aura. “‘Back all of your friends, and you’ll backstab some’, was it?” Aura nodded.

“What about you?” Chill asked Trixie. “If your two princesses were to fight each other, which would you support?”

Trixie flicked her mane and pointed her nose into the air. “The Great and Powerful Trixie is loyal to only one pony: herself. As long as the result doesn’t endanger Trixie personally, she could care less which princess wins.”

“I see…” Chill looked at Mystic, whose eyes took on a new light as her face showed determination and resolve. “Well?”

“… I can’t believe that this is happening,” Mystic said with a solemn shake of her head, “But it is as you say, Trixie. For Princess Elizabeth, and for my country, I will fight Prince Odysseus, and bring him to justice for this treason!”

The rest of her squad cheered in agreement. Alexander and Chill exchanged quick grins before the former rose to his hooves. “Well, then,” Alexander said, turning to Trixie with a menacing grin. “It seems we no longer have any use for you, Pony.”

Trixie flinched. Once more the thought arose of using Aura as a shield. Unfortunately, her ego wouldn’t allow her to flee or hide, but instead screamed at her to firmly stand her ground. “W-What are you saying? Of course you do… You need Trixie to lead you through the castle, r-right?”

Alexander’s horn lit up and he let out a soft chuckle… before stopping when Aura suddenly stood in his way.

“Brother, no!” she shouted, causing him to back down. “Trixie saved my life, and yours, too! You can’t just kill her! It would be rude!”

‘‘Rude’?’ Trixie thought to herself incredulously.

“Hey, now,” Chill said, trying to calm down the prince. “For now, perhaps it would be in our best interests to keep her alive… Princess Luna might not be so happy when we meet her, and we may need this pony’s assistance to get through to her.”

“If we meet her,” Alexander scoffed, turning towards Mystic and beginning to undo the magic-restrainer.

Chill got to work on thawing her out. “I was trying to think positively… Chrysalis knows we need to right now.”

“So, what’s the plan?” Mystic asked as she felt her body warming back up again.

Alexander looked to the side and Chill blushed as he silently continued working on the ice. Aura scratched the back of her head as she nervously admitted the truth. “We… don’t have one…”

Mystic raised her eyebrow and Trixie quickly added: “Other than simply storming Canterlot… which Trixie is personally against, just FYI.”

---

Changelings and ponies were quickly turning the once desolate wasteland into an even more desolate wasteland, the ground being scorched by blasts of magic and bodies littering the ground as troops from both sides dropped.

The two leaders, Queen Chrysalis and Princess Celestia, were fighting their own battle away from their troops. During the first few minutes of the battle, both sides quickly realised that they would die if they got too close, and so they made sure to not approach the two powerful beings as their energies collided.

“Celestia, it’s no use! You remember how our last battle ended, right?!” Chrysalis asked as she summoned green flames around Celestia. Celestia’s horn glowed and a golden shockwave neutralised the flames. “Here’s a fun fact you may or may not know!” Chrysalis shouted as she fired a blast of green magic at the princess, which was met by her Celestia’s own golden blast. The two energies met and exploded, causing the two rulers to distance themselves apart from each other. “A changeling feeds off of love as a food source, but when the love they devour is of the purest nature, the changeling’s power increases greatly! And that new power doesn’t simply fade away over time.

“In other words, that power I had back then is still with me, even now! And I have only improved since then!” The queen demonstrated her statement by summoning several walls of green flames around Celestia, who once again dispelled them, but this time, she was suddenly greeted by a hoof flying towards her as the flames dissipated. The hoof was enveloped in a green aura that serves to increase the sting that it would cause if it collided with Celestia’s face.

The princess backed away in time to avoid a lethal blow, but still sustained a rather nasty injury as the magical energy surrounding the hoof reached out and clawed at her face. Blood dripped down her forehead and she panted heavily. Looking around at the battlefield, Celestia noticed that her troops weren’t doing too well. She knew that she would have to end her battle with the changeling queen soon.

“Now do you get it?” Chrysalis asked. “I’m greater than you, Celestia. Your reign is over!”

“… Tell me, Queen Chrysalis,” Celestia said, her breathing steadying as she regained her composure. “What is the difference between our battle last time, and our battle now?”

“You mean besides me being more powerful? Well, I guess that this time, I’ll finish you off!”

Celestia shook her head and used her magic to undo her horseshoes and necklace. Once they were off, she removed her tiara and then narrowed her eyes at the queen. “No. Last time, we were in that cramped room, with so many of my little ponies there.” Celestia’s horn lit up, and her eyes began to glow a bright white colour.

Chrysalis looked at her in confusion. “Are you… going berserk?” ‘No… It looks similar, but it feels different… It feels more controlled…’

“Last time,” Celestia continued, “If I had used my full power in that situation, my subjects would have died… But this time, there is nothing to stop me.”

---

“Princess Luna,” one of the guards pulling the chariot called out. Odysseus, disguised as Luna, opened his eyes. “We have arrived, Princess.”

Odysseus smiled down at the guard and stepped off of the chariot. “Thank you. Please wait here. We shall be but a moment.”

The guards nodded and saluted. Odysseus used his magic to levitate the box that was in the chariot into the air behind. He spotted a certain pony in the street who was looking at him with a confused expression. ‘Shock…’ He nodded to Shock and the disguised changeling nodded back before running off into the town.

Turning around, Odysseus had to hold back his laughter as he made his way towards the building in front of him. A giant tree which held inside the most dangerous weapon that Equestria had at its disposal. ‘And now, that weapon shall work for me.’

Comments

[ThePopeMobile100]

Oh no he didn't

[The Random Lord]

oooooooooh so good

[clonezero]

How I saw Celestia's defeat was similar to this, but instead she held back for a simpler reason, to protect Shining Armor's life. Chrysallis was draining Shining Armor of his life in their fight and if it continued Twilight's brother would have died.

Anyway it seems shit has hit the fan, with more to come! Can't wait!

[Mattricole]

I cannot WAIT for the next chapter! *sniff* I'm so happy this came out.

[Autism Man]

I think celestia is mad

[CommanderX5]

Finaly a update.

Even thought the explanation that Celestia lost was because she did not used full power to not hurt other ponies, but I still fell that she went down to easy, I mean, even if she was not going full on offensive, she still could use shields, she could teleport herself and Queen outside, or just tackle her out of throne room, or levitate her out, and she should endure far more than 1 laser in the horn or at last evade the attack, yea, fight should be far longer and more epic, but I quess reasoning that she screwed up only because she was afraid to hurt her subjects is better than nothink ).

Also Alexander start to annoy me, he want to get rid of Trixie so much, that he not even bother that it will hurt his sister fellings, and it not bother him that Trixie saved his sister live, I not like him as character

Also, Celestia realy tryed to purge changelings and erased they existence from history book, woow, if this story is even going to end with happy ending, Celestia will have alot to pay back, because invasion on the wedding where hardly any pony was hurt was the result of pass purge and this war was provoced by Celestia in the end.

Can not wait for the next chapter.