The Triumvirate

by Fedora71

Luck, Chance, and Chaos

Chapter 13
Luck, Chance, and Chaos.

“What do you mean, you won’t let me in?” Rainbow Dash said to the stone-faced guard.

“Sorry ma’am, but you do not have an appointment to visit the palace.” He had stood there repeating himself, for what felt like an hour.

“But this is an emergency, changelings are attacking the prison.”

“So we’ve been informed.” The guard had repeated that multiple times as well. He just didn’t display his shock upon hearing the news. He still had the bruise from the library when the changeling knocked a bookshelf on him. “It’s being taken care of.”

“But why hasn’t the princess come down and taken care of it?”

“The princess is in Fillydelphia,” the guard said plainly, “one of our guards has been dispatched with a letter informing her of the situation.”

“What about Luna?”

“Yes, what about Princess Luna.” The guard put emphasis on the princess part, since she had forgotten to add the proper title.

“Why not wake her up?” The pegasus practically growled.

“Ma’am, the captain has erected his shield spell around the prison, nopony or changeling is getting in or out of the prison without his knowledge. There have been no other incursions, and there is no need to wake Princess Luna.”

“But this is important, what if-“

“She was already awake regardless; she was grabbing a midday snack when she heard the news and is preparing to go to the prison as we speak.”

“Yeah, bu-“ She paused as the guards words clicked inside her head, “Okay thanks.”

Just then a soaking wet Rarity made it up the hill and saw rainbow dash wave to the guard.

“Oh there you are Rarity, don’t worry everything is taken care of.” She smiled, oblivious to the rage the marshmallow mare had building inside her. She still hadn’t gotten her back for leaving her in the desert with Pinkie pie. The pegasus flew off through the increasingly driving rain, leaving Rarity standing at the gate.

“May I help you, ma’am?” The guard said.

“Which way did you say the nearest garbage chute was?” Ancro hollered back towards the bouncy pink pony.

“First hallway on the left,” she replied with an urgent tone.

They reached the trash chute, and without hesitating, Ancro leapt headfirst through it. A second after fully committing to the jump, did he realize that he just leapt head first into a garbage chute. He heard the distant ‘weeee’ as Pinkie Pie followed him down and into the myriad of interesting smells. ‘At least it’s not the sewers’ he thought, as he kept plummeting, and saw a dim light at the end of the literal tunnel.

“Keep walking,” Twilight prodded when the changeling stopped.

“Shhhh,” He said, hugging the wall.

“Don’t tell me what to do,” she said, lighting up her horn in a threatening manner.

“They’ll kill us both!” He whispered. Reluctantly, Twilight got next to the wall just as three changelings flew by. This baffled Twilight, seeing as how he was a changeling, the changeling that had been locked up for breaking into the library and brawling with thirty palace guards. They had to be pretty tough to scare him; either that or it was a rouse to make her lower her guard. Something she was determined not to do. They wouldn’t be sneaking up on her. She prodded the changeling onwards.

“Captain, the prisoners are all being corralled,” a guard said joyfully. “We are also reporting that the changelings are on the move.”

“How many?” Shining Armor asked as chits were levitated onto the map of the prison, representing the sightings.

“Less than fifteen and more than seven,” he said as he finished placing the chits on the map. The guard looked up and solemnly answered the question that was hanging in the air. “I’m sorry, but there hasn’t been a sign of your wife yet.”

The captain of the guard didn’t say anything, just nodded. “When we can spare the guards we need to move on the changelings.”

“Yes, sir.” His subordinates saluted and began giving orders. Shining Armor didn’t pay attention, though. He was busy staring holes in the map trying to find a clue, a hint to where Cadence could be. Trapped in a cocoon on a mine cart, heading towards a furnace, didn’t cross his mind.

“Pinkie, you said there’s a switch that changes the track’s course, correct?” Ancro asked, as they made their way through the carts filled with garbage.

“Uh-huh.” She nodded, still smiling and making her way forward, despite being surrounded by the foulest odor ever concocted.

Ancro had opted to fly, when he did the quick math and realized it was more tiring to hop from cart to cart. He had asked if Pinkie Pie needed a lift, but she seemed obliged to turn him down. At first it confused him and offended him to some extent, and then he remembered he was a changeling and thus she didn’t trust him. He was right to think that she still didn’t trust him.

“So, how long have you all been friends?”

“The three of us?” Ancro asked rhetorically, and thought back to his freshman year in highschool. “Six years.”

“Wow, that’s a long time,” She said with amazement. “Would you fight Cerberus too?”

“Yeah,” Ancro said, with an intentionally deranged chuckle. She didn’t seem taken aback by it, she just saw it as time for an evil chuckle, of which they had. The duo made their way through the carts of trash.

“Hey Pinkie,” Ancro asked as he buzzed forward above the carts of trash. “Is your Pinkie Sense going off?”

“Only burning hoof and itchy ear,” she replied, somehow popping up ahead of Ancro. “I’m still not quite one hundred percent sure what burning hoof is, but itchy ear means I’m going to be digging through a lot of trash.”

“You don’t know what your own Pinkie sense means?”

“Well yeah,” She replied. “I didn’t know what twitchy tail meant until a flower vase landed on my head.”

Ancro chuckled under his breath as the various theories of what burning hoof meant, they all added up to the singular meaning that they were from another universe. He would have to keep an eye on that in case anyone else showed up. His train of thought was cut short when up ahead he saw the green cocoon the changelings had trapped Cadence in.

Ancro darted forward, gaining ground on the mine cart as it rolled deeper into the mine. He nearly smacked on the wall as he came to a corner, and found the tracks traveling downward in a spiral. He dived down, desperate to catch the cart. His faint hope that the increasing temperature was only him, faded quickly when he saw a red light at the bottom of the spiral shaft.

Mine carts full of garbage would roll down the tracks, stop above the fire, dump their stuff, then follow the tracks to other parts of the prison to pick up more trash and repeat the cycle. Ancro had no idea how the mine carts stopped and went and dumped the trash out, but he highly suspected magic may have been involved in some way.

The changeling was on the brink of exhaustion, when he caught up with the cart. His first reaction was to try to pick up the cocoon. First, he tried it with magic. It was six inches off the ground when he realized he didn’t have the power to lift it. Then, he tried using muscle where his magic had failed. This time he managed to lift it a foot out of the cart before he realized it wasn’t going to work. Getting hot and desperate, he got in front of the cart and tried to push it to a stop as the spiraling track straightened. He watched from his front row seat as the number of carts between Cadence and the dump point got closer. Barely feeling the cart slow, he looked around desperately for an emergency stop button, or a lever to make it change course. No such luck. The changeling flew to the side and charged his horn in desperation.

Ancro fired at the side of the cart, and knocked it and Cadence off the tracks and away from the furnace. With that crisis solved, he was met with another one. Cadence was falling towards the ground, still trapped in her cocoon. He flew towards the cocoon, but failed to completely look where he was going or what he was flying over. A sudden updraft from the furnace scorched his wings, and sent him careening away from the cocoon.

Ancro struggled to regain control and find the cocoon. He managed to regain control and flew around the furnace, trying to find where the cocoon had fallen.

“Where did it go?” He said to himself.

“Ancro,” Pinkie Pie called out. Ancro looked around, frantically searching for the location of the pink pony who he had almost forgotten about. He finally found her, with her forehooves wrapped around one of the supports for the track. In her rear hooves was the cocoon. He wasn’t even going to ask how she got there. She was Pinkie Pie, and that was, and always would be, answer enough for him.

“Well, now that the crisis has been averted,” Ancro said when they had finally managed to get the cocoon on the ground, “I think I’m ready for my nap.”

“Nope,” Pinkie Pie replied. “You don’t get a nap. You can, however, get Cadence out of this cocoon.”

“Can’t you do it?” Ancro whined as he flopped on the ground.

“Nope.” Pinkie Pie said, "I wouldn't know where to begin."

“Fine,” Ancro groaned and thought 'like I would?' He poked the cocoon questioningly. The changeling had never used the stuff. He didn’t even know how to make it. Hell until a little while ago he didn't even know where it came from.

“Why don’t you use your magic fire-ray thingy?” Pinkie Pie asked, poking her head over his shoulder.

“I’m pretty much spent, that’s why,” Ancro replied, looking around in the dancing light of the furnace for a sharp rock. “I could, but I wouldn’t be able to cope.”

“Huh?”

“I wouldn’t have enough magic left to block out all the background magic, and I’d hurt, a lot,” he said with a bland, clarifying tone, while he walked around in a virtual trance. He had reached the level of exhaustion where, if he stopped, he would fall asleep. Something he craved back on Earth. In a prison, surrounded by dangerous changelings that want him dead, it was a bit more of a curse.

Ancro found a rock that he hoped would be suitably sharp, and went to work on the cocoon.

Una had reunited with the rest of her squad that was still alive. Seven changeling praetorians in total, not including herself, or her commander in the laundry room. They searched the surrounding area for Ancro’s body. He couldn’t have gotten far. While she and four others dredged the water, three others worked to clear the tunnel Cadence had rolled down.

“Una,” one of the praetorians spoke up, while they flew over the water through the parasprites. “What will we tell the commander?”

“We will not tell him anything, until we find either a body of Cadence, or of that traitorous bastard. Preferably both.” She replied in a tone that could freeze water.

“Yes ma’am.” There was a crash that signaled the tunnel Cadence had rolled down was clear. Una sighed, at least this wasn’t a total loss. Her squad flew off down the tunnel. Yes, the changeling had been her mission, but Cadence would be a bonus so sweet, Chrysalis may let her live. Even if it was only the princess’s corpse. She left three behind to continue searching for the changeling’s body. Maybe they would be able to turn this day around.

“They went this way,” Specs whispered, as they made their way through the tunnels. Had everything gone as planned, her, Shift, and Ancro would be well on their way out of the prison and heading towards Cloudsdale, Manehattan, or any other places where she knew they could hide. Being held captive by his two friends who were neither changelings, nor under any sort of control spell, hadn’t been part of her plan.

“Are you sure?” The griffin growled, trying to sound intimidating. It would work better if he wasn’t constantly working his shoulder. All things considered, it was the unicorn with the fat q-tips on his flank that worried her. His horn had been on a dull glow this whole time, like it was getting ready for a spell. She could sense the spell being formed also, but it was never completed, always half-way done.

“Yes, I’m sure,” she said, rolling her eyes at the griffin. A gesture she knew would go unnoticed, as not having visible pupils had its benefits.

They approached a ledge with a set of tracks and a tunnel at the other end. Scott was about to fly across, when Specs stopped him. He was about to ask what was wrong, when he found he couldn’t open his mouth. He was about to lash out at the changeling, then he realized the aura was brown instead of changeling green. He looked at Stigandr, who gestured towards the chasm. That’s when Scott noticed the three changelings searching the water.

“I think we can take them,” Scott whispered.

“They are all praetorians,” Specs replied. A groan came from the griffin’s throat as the blood drained from his face. Specs couldn’t help but smile, tasting the griffin’s ego crash.

“How long does it take for them to transform?” Stigandr asked.

“Not long enough,” Specs answered. “We’d have to dispose of two of them in order to have a chance. We’d also have to hope that another one isn’t sitting around waiting to spring and ambush on anything thinking the same thing.”

“Can’t you just sense them?” Scott asked.

“Praetorians know how to hide,” she said. “Part of their training is they have to sneak into Chrysalis’s throne room. If they get caught, they draw lots and the loser gets killed by their team mates.”

Scott was chilled by the nonchalant attitude in which she said that. This changeling was creeping him out, and he couldn’t wait to be rid of her.

“Any ideas?” Scott asked, trying to hide his shivering.

“We sneak across very carefully,” Stigandr replied, standing up and started to silently walk across the tracks. The unicorn’s magic tugged her across. She immediately followed, not wanting to give the praetorians any reason to look up, and the feeling of a unicorn’s magic is a good reason. Scott flapped his wings and followed behind her, silently gliding after them.

Cadence emerged from her cocoon. Gasping for air and somewhat sticky, the first thing she became aware of was the changeling standing over her with a sharp rock. Granted, the dancing lights of the furnace didn’t help to set the mood much. So Ancro couldn’t really be upset with her negative reaction. She kicked him in the face a few times, and considering she was wearing shoes, she was able to knock Ancro back and give him a black eye. The force of the blows was enough to send him backpedaling, and head first into a rock. Luckily Pinkie Pie was there to intervene.

“Whoa, calm down Cadence,” She said, popping up between a terrified Cadence and bruised Ancro. “Ancro’s been trying to help you.”

She immediately backed away from Pinkie Pie. Not trusting that she wasn’t a changeling too, her eyes were still wide, but she narrowed them and started charging her horn. She didn’t know any real fighting spells. She did, however, know the spell to reverse a changeling’s disguise. Pinkie Pie just shrugged, and took the blast of magic that knocked her back.

“Are you happy?” She answered, shaking her head clear. Cadence still kept her horn pointed at the pink pony.
’She may not be a changeling’, Cadence thought, ‘But she could still be under their control.’

“How do I know if you’re not under their spell?” Cadence asked, while her eyes darted around, looking for an exit.

“Well of course I’m not, silly,” Pinkie said, and put a hoof on her chin in thought. “He doesn’t have the magic to control anypony, and he doesn’t believe in that sort of stuff.”

“How do you know he isn’t lying?” The princess followed the tracks with her eyes, and found several tunnels that empty carts were going into.

“Pinkie sense didn’t go off,” she replied, with a grin on her face.

“Yeah, but they have mind control magic like they used on Shining Armor.” She had heard all about the mysterious Pinkie sense from Twilight. It was supposedly accurate all the time.

“And you’re thinking I’m under the mind control magic that makes my eyes go all...” She demonstrated with her eyes spinning independently of each other. Cadence nodded, those were symptoms of the spell. “Well, are my eyes going green and all...” Pinkie Pie demonstrated again.

“No.” She hung her head, feeling vulnerable.

“Ladies, we need to be going,” Ancro said, walking into the darkness of one of the shadows. He came back a few moments later with a parasprite clutched in he teeth. “Found a tunnel, c’mon, we need to go! Every changeling in the prison is looking for you, so your best bet is to keep moving. Pinkie, you bring up the rear.”

“Okeydokey,” Pinkie Pie said.

“Cadence, you’re going to be in the middle, providing light.”

“Al-Alright.” She said, still not trusting, but knowing that she couldn’t stay put either.

“That means I have point,” Ancro said, hating every second of being in charge. He was more the reckless, personal endangerment type than the one to take charge.

Twilight heard it first. A cheery whistling tune, coming from one of the tunnels. The lavender mare told her captive to stop just outside of it, and they waited as the tune got closer and closer. Two ponies were whistling. She relaxed a bit, thinking it may be a guard or somepony who got lost and didn't know what was going on. The lavander unicorn relaxed slightly letting her guard down. She was utterly infuriated when a changeling emerged from tunnel instead of a pony.

Ancro was immediately blindsided by a blast of magical energy. He attributed the surprise to one, his eye being swollen up, and two, blocking out the magical feedback coming from an alicorn. Regardless, he went rolling down the hall as he started to steady himself for the next barrage from…Twilight Sparkle. A very angry Twilight Sparkle, whose mane looked like it was about to burst into flames. He doubted if he was up to fight a guard in a fair fight, much less the element of magic herself. Then, as Cadence walked out of the tunnel, he realized that he wouldn’t have to.

“Twilight, wait!” Pinkie Pie shouted. Not the pony he was hoping to intervene, but it worked and bought him some time to get his guard up. This stalled the unicorn assault, and bought Ancro time to duck in closer, in case she decided to fire again. That way, he may be able to get a shot off on her horn and maybe overtake her. "Don't hurt Ancro."

“What are you doing, Pinkie Pie, he’s dangerous!” She shouted as she tried to get a clear shot at the changeling, her magic had recharged enough to enable her to fire a few shots. “Wait, if that's Ancro then who are you?”

"Shift." He whimpered remembering the stories about the changeling's hit by the party cannon.

Pinkie Pie waved at the changeling, "Hi Shift I'm Pinkie Pie," then she turned to Twilight and shook her head, "Ancro didn't do that mind control stuff on Scott or Stigandr, my new Pinkie Sense is still going off around him." The pony raised her hoof to demonstrate.

“So, a unicorn and griffin decide to break into prison and rescue a changeling?” Twilight scoffed. “That sounds more like a bad joke, than anything else.”

“No, if it was a joke they would’ve walked into a bar.” Ancro interrupted, smiling, hiding the fact that his barriers were being overwhelmed from a combination of Pinkie Pie, Cadence, and now Twilight Sparkle. He had managed to creep within a few feet, striking distance of Twilight Sparkle. All he would have to do if she got violent, was hit her in the horn.

“Twilight,” Cadence said, emerging from the tunnel. “Please, we mustn’t hurt him.”

“But Cadence, h-“

“We’ll take him to Shining Armor,” she said in an authoritative tone then looked to Ancro, “he will then take you to the princesses and they will decide your fate.”Ancro had completely forgotten Cadence was a princess. Not just some spoiled pony, with a title and a land grant. She was an alicorn, a demigod, if a young one, in her own right. She had the royal air around her, it had fooled most of them into thinking she was in control. Well, half of them. Shift and Ancro could see the cracks in the hastily put-together royal façade. Ancro and Shift were put into the middle with Cadence, and Twilight behind, and Pinkie Pie bouncing on point.

“Dude, what happened to your face?” Shift asked, directly into Ancro’s ear. “Bet you went hoof to hoof with the praetorians and won. I mean seriously, you took on thirty royal guards. I bet you could handle at least one of them. I’m Shift, by the way.”

“Do you mind not talking directly into my ear?” Ancro said. It was personal pet peeve of his, he didn’t tolerate it from his siblings, he wasn’t going to tolerate it from some changeling.

“Oops, sorry,” he said, with a sarcastic apology. Ancro merely rolled his eyes and began looking for way out of this. He had a feeling Shiny may not be in a good mood, and Ancro would like to be in one piece when brought before Celestia. First thing he would have to do, though, was incapacitate Twilight and Cadence. Then, he had to do the impossible… Get away from Pinkie Pie. He saw a laundry chute, and took a deep breath. His conscience was going to kill him.

With one hind leg, he kicked a rock back, and with the other still firmly planted, he spun on it and ducked low. The rock had served as a decent distraction while he closed, to take care of the immediate threat: Twilight. While Cadence had more power, she was obviously a bundle of nerves and would hopefully worry about her sister-in-law instead of him. The lavender mare didn’t see it coming as Ancro brought his left hoof around and hit her in the horn, stunning her and preventing whatever spell she was cooking up from firing. The leg he used was numb up to the knee, though. He swiftly turned to Cadence, who was predictably slightly taken aback by the sudden attack. Granted, not as much as Ancro was hoping, but it was still enough to take her by surprise and stop the spell she was cooking up from discharging. Before the party cannon could be brought to bear on him, he grabbed Shift and leapt down the laundry chute.

“Collapse the tunnel!” Ancro shouted to the much confused Shift. He blinked into realization of what just happened, and did as Ancro had told him. Firing a blast straight upwards, causing a miniature cave-in, they continued to slide down the metal chute.

The commander waited patiently in the laundry room as news spread that the riot was getting under control, and that they were closing in on the changelings. He knew better than that, a praetorian is dangerous, you corner them and you have a blood bath on your hands. That being said, he was starting lose patience. They were supposed to be back by now. Then they would blast into the sewer pipe that ran directly beneath the laundry room and make their escape. So far he had no news or even a report from his underlings, and was considering if he was going to need to make them draw lots, or if he would do it himself.

There was a thump as something fell from one of the chutes and into the dirty linens behind him. He felt that they were changelings, but not his changelings. He was unaware of deserter presence in Canterlot. He would be sure not to kill them until it was necessary, but torture, on the other hoof...

“Dude, Ancro. That was amazing.” Shift shouted, rolling out of the linens. “I mean, you took down both Twilight Sparkle and Cadence.”

“I took out two ponies with no combat training,” Ancro replied, feeling genuinely unimpressed about hitting the element of magic, his con. “Ultimately, what happened was, I got lucky.”

“So did you get lucky when you fought those guards AND Shining Armor?” He laughed.

“A bit, and I pushed a bookshelf on most of them.” Ancro replied, struggling to get up. He was beginning to feel the all too familiar feeling of a spiked vice around his temples, “Caused a domino effect and made the terrain to a bit more of my favor.”

“Impressive,” said the layered voice of another changeling. Shift instinctively coward back from it. Ancro’s reaction was one of exasperation and anger. “I didn’t expect such humility from you.”

“Well, I’m a fairly humble individual,” Ancro said, standing up and eyeing around the room. “May I help you?”

“Yes,” The changeling said, emerging from behind one of the laundry basket wagon things and transforming from an elderly stallion with a folded shirt cutie mark, into a changeling with a scar down the left side of his face. “I’d appreciate it if you would move out of the way, I haven’t fired a blast in ages and I’m afraid I’ll be a bit rusty and miss the deserter.”Ancro did as he was told, much to the shocked look made by Shift. In his defense he was really feeling guilty about this. The scarred changeling nodded in appreciation and turned to blast Shift. His horn charged, and Ancro fired a shot directly into the scarred changeling’s head. It managed to knock his aim off a bit, and saved Shift by mere inches. The smoke cleared, and the scarred changeling turned to Ancro, not the least bit amused.

Ancro had falsely hoped that it would’ve generated some sort of feedback in the changeling, or at least incapacitated him for a moment. But no, he treats it like a minor nuisance. The changeling turned to face him and popped his neck, green fire formed around his hooves, and hands formed where the hooves had been. Ancro gulped, as he realized just how deep of a hole he had dug himself.

Scott and Stigandr had not planned on being captured so easily. To their credit, they put up a fight, or at least tried to before being incapacitated, wrapped in cocoons and being hauled back to god knows where. Scott had to pass san check after san check to keep grips of what had happened. They were attacked in the furnace room. Luckily, the changeling from the cafeteria had recognized them and requested that they be taken alive. How kind of him. They were quickly beaten. Had no idea where Specs went. Now they were being taken back as prisoners. In sticky green cocoons from gunk that came out of their horns. Stigandr was satisfied when he discovered the source of this material, but still fairly pissed off that he was captured.

“Commander,” Una said, when the scarred changeling’s hoof-turned-fist was practically touching Ancro’s face. Ancro was petrified, the changeling had started ten feet away at least, and had closed the distance in the time it took to blink. Was he fighting Bruce Lee? Ancro looked to where Una’s voice had come from, and he saw that she was carrying two cocoons containing the struggling Stigandr and the freaking-out Scott. Ancro took a deep breath, glad to see them. He waved to get their attention. Scott proceeded to scream but the cocoon was sound proof, even against his voice. Ancro needed to learn how to make that stuff. Stigandr struggled, but to no avail.

“You know,” the voice of Discord whispered in Ancro’s ear, “These odds seem pretty unfair.”

“What’s the deal,” he whispered in reply, just wanting to cut to the chase.

“Well, an infinitesimally small percentage of my powers are freed up, and I may be willing to use it to help you.” Discord said, Ancro could see him smiling and tapping his fingers together like a classic villain. “It won’t win, but it will turn the odds into a more even match.”

“How much more even?” Ancro asked, then he decided to tack on, “Why are you helping me?”

“Three to one,” Discord replied. “His favor and no real reason, entertainment mainly.”
Ancro paused for a moment. “How do they stand now?”
“Trust me kid,” Discord replied with a chuckle, “you really don’t want to know.”

“When does this deal expire?”

“Fairly soon.”

“What is the meaning of taking these two?” The commander asked hiding the impatience in his voice.

“Sir,” Una replied, “they apparently aided the objective of their own accord.” She eyed the changeling who had prevented her from killing them outright, “No leverage or magic, Chrysalis may want them as well.”

Scott and Stigandr struggled desperately to break out of the cocoon. Suddenly, rocks started falling from the entrance to the laundry room. The praetorians went back, and two cocoons went forward, and managed to hit one of the crystals along the walls just right to cut open the cocoon. It was altogether a one in a million shot that it all happened just perfectly like this. Scott and Stigandr rolled out of the cocoons, and found themselves lying before a very upset changeling with a nasty scar down the side of his face. Quickly, they got to their feet.

“You are going to want to stay down,” the changeling said through clenched teeth. “It will be a lot less painful.” A green fire spun around him, and he transformed into one of the things Scott and Stigandr had fought earlier. There were a few things different about this praetorian though. The shell growing around him, instead of layered chitin, it resembled solid plate armor, and a lot more of it. The armor continued to grow, until it covered the vast majority of the changeling’s body unlike the last ones there was no apparent weakness. Small spikes decorated the armor along the back, shoulders, and haunches, with an additional spike behind each leg. Its rear legs resembled raptors, including the massive toe claw. A five fingered claw that looked like metal was on the end of each hand. The creature arched its back, and let loose a wild howl that shook the cave. “I need to vent some rage,” it said in a deep, relaxed, casual voice that you would expect to hear from an executioner. “So, you’ll have to forgive me for every broken bone I cause. And the quadriplegia that comes when I typically spar with this form. No need to worry, though, most of you will survive.” They could tell that underneath the changeling’s protective mask he was smiling.

Discord sat in a crystal with a bucket of popcorn, and watched, hoping that they would last long enough to at least make this fight entertaining. The power released from the prison break was so woefully insignificant to the amount he needed to release himself. He would need to find another source of chaos if those three proved not as useful as he had hoped, or if they die. He turned his mismatched eyes towards Cadence as he gazed through another crystal. She was stressed, frightened, and feeling useless, so much similar to a certain princess he observed one thousand years ago. First though he would need some help to push her over the edge. He looked at Shining Armor as he rushed down the halls a wicked grin formed on his face as the malevolent plan began to form inside his head. Finally he turned to gaze at Specs as she frantically tried to make it out of the prison.

“Oh little changeling,” Discord said to himself, “It won’t be that easy, not with your brother in danger.”

(Thanks for reading feedback is always appreciated so I can know how I did. Big thanks to my editor/artist Sara for making this story readable and helping with my atrocious grammar. A big thanks to my friends who inspired two thirds of the main characters of the Triumvirate and have had the courtesy not to complain about me writing about them in such a way. Expect about two weeks on the next chapter. Hopefully I’ll get it done sooner but the way these past few weeks have been going I wouldn’t count on it. Be sure to Fav if you like and let me know how I can improve the story so it’s a better read!)

Comments

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“Twilight, wait!” Pinkie Pie shouted. Not the pony he was hoping to intervene, but it worked and bought him some time to get his guard up. This stalled the unicorn assault, and bought Ancro time to duck in closer, in case she decided to fire again. That way, he may be able to get a shot off on her horn and maybe overtake her. "Don't hurt Ancro."

“What are you doing, Pinkie Pie, he’s dangerous!” She shouted as she tried to get a clear shot at the changeling, her magic had recharged enough to enable her to fire a few shots. “Wait, if that's Ancro then who are you?”

"Shift." He whimpered remembering the stories about the changeling's hit by the party cannon.

“No, he didn’t.” Pinkie Pie replied. Ancro couldn’t have been filled with more brony glee, being defended by Pinkie Pie. “At least he says he didn’t, and my hoof’s still burning like for Scott and Stigandr.”

I don't see any reason for Pinkie Pie to be saying "No, he didn't." in that last part. It looks like it's missing something.

[Fedora71]

1495906
Thanks for pointing that out it was something I missed when I rewrote the scene! I'll fix it right now

Edit:Fixed