The Lost Prophecy of Equus

by AlphariusOmegon

XII. Played Like a Fiddle

"Well, this is... concerning."

Void, Twilight, Celestia, Luna, Nox, Sol, Star, Cadence, Shining Armor, and Thorax stood before the podium where a certain statue was supposed to be.

"I should have known he would pull something like this," Void sighed while facepalming himself. "It was too obvious to the point where I thought he wouldn't steal the statue."

"He played us like a gods-damned fiddle..." Celestia said angrily, grinding her teeth together. Twilight had never seen Celestia this angry before. She placed a reassuring hoof on Celestia's shoulder, trying to calm her down. Celestia took a few deep breaths, not wanting to have an outburst in front of her family.

"So, now what?" Nox asked.

"Well," Void responded, "Now we have confirmation Sheol is trying to rebuild his army. My guess is that he's going to use Tirek to take control of the demons, and he's going to create a new changeling hive. Loose ends really do come back to bite you in the ass."

"Could you elaborate on that?" Thorax asked.

"What he means," Sol began, "Well, back in the day, Void led an extermination campaign against the old changeling hives."

Thorax was even more confused. "Wait, there were multiple hives?"

"Yes," Sol continued, "but that was long before your time. The changeling hives posed a great threat for their ability to infiltrate our forces and leak crucial information to the enemy. Supply chains, troop movements, and the like."

"They were a menace. A menace that had to be crushed." Void's tone was filled with repressed rage.

Sol moved to Thorax and whispered in his ear. "It was the changelings that infiltrated the Obsidian City and opened the gates that allowed Sheol to invade, resulting in the death of Void's father." Thorax nodded in understanding.

"So, I took the dragons and burned every hive to the ground." Void clenched his fist. "First, we smoked out the hives, filling them with fire and toxic smoke which caused the changelings to flee for fresh air. Then I took a contingent inside the hives to burn the unscathed chambers. No tunnel was left unsearched, no chamber unscathed, no changeling left alive. We burnt them all."

Twilight and Thorax could see the fire in Void's eyes. He wasn't just reminiscing about it; he was emotionally reliving it.

"The queens I dealt with personally. You remember the stories about the Reaper devouring changelings?"

Thorax nodded in acknowledgment.

"That's what I did to the queens. I devoured them, body and soul until there was nothing left. Then we lit the queen's chamber on fire, destroying the larvae and eggs."

Thorax shivered in fear. Twilight stood close to comfort him and raised her voice. "Void, what you did was-"

"Genocide. I know," Void sighed. "In the end, we burned every single hive, leaving all of them nothing but smoking ruins. But one queen escaped. Chrysalis. She was gone by the time we arrived."

"I still have questions," Thorax chimed in. "Why did my people serve Sheol in the first place?"

"Because the changelings were his creation," Void answered. Thorax was shocked. Shame washed over him like waves crashing into the sand. He felt guilty for what his people had done. "I- I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Void looked at Thorax. The fire in his eyes had died down, now replaced by a gentle gaze. "You yourself have done nothing wrong. In fact, you were the one to lead your people to redemption. The new changelings have rejected the dark doctrines of their creator. In my eyes, your people have been redeemed. Sure, the scars are still there, and I imagine it will be many years before our people learn to live alongside one another. But if we wish to survive, we must all learn to live alongside our monsters."

Thorax could feel a small glimmer of hope radiating from Void's gaze. That hope was quickly vanquished by a feeling of stern conviction. "But Chrysalis... she rejected redemption. Her chances have run out. She once again sides with her creator. And with him, she will create a new hive. Thorax, do you know of the old changeling queens?"

"I've heard stories about them, but Chrysalis never really elaborated on it. Sometimes she would mutter about her sisters. Very angrily I might add."

"Do you know how changeling hives are created?" Void asked.

"Uhhh... no not really. We always assumed that Chrysalis could lay eggs at will," Thorax shrugged. "I'm guessing that's not the case."

Void sighed. "Does no one get taught about the birds and the bees around here?" He thought to himself before beginning to explain. "Okay. So, back in the day, Chrysalis and her sisters would compete for Sheol's favor. This would include making war with us or each other out of jealousy, mass sacrifices of captured civilians, demonic rituals, and other nasty business. You get the picture."

"Changelings back then were much more brutal than they are today," Nox interjected.

"Sounds like it," Thorax said, another shiver running down his spine.

"Indeed. Now, those who had Sheol's favor were allowed special privileges. They were allowed to command the other queens sometimes and lead his armies into battle. But there was one very special privilege they were afforded. Whoever was in Sheol's favor got to be his... concubine."

It took Thorax a few seconds to process the information he had just received. "Wait doesn't that mean they- OH."

"Yup. The good old mushy-mushy, birds and the bees, baby-making, sex. Now, mix a changeling queen without a mate and you get someone who will resort to one-night stands. From what I have heard, Chrysalis would disguise herself as a very beautiful mare and have some fun with stallions from time to time. After all was said and done, she would wipe their memories and disappear without a trace. She probably would still be doing it to this day if she hadn't gotten careless and tried to crash a certain wedding."

"Oh... OOOOOH NO." Thorax said. His eyes went wide as everyone looked over at Shining Armor. Shining was clueless until he saw Cadence and Twilight with very shocked and disgusted looks on their faces.

"WAIT WAS CHRYSALIS TRYING TO HAVE SEX WITH ME?!"

"Bingo!" Nox laughed, "And by the looks of it, she got damn close. You dodged a bullet there."

Shining puked at the thought of having sex with Chrysalis of all creatures. Cadence and Twilight were internally screaming. Thorax started to question who his dad was, soon remembering that he was there for the battle at the wedding. Internally he breathed a sigh of relief but was still horrified nonetheless.

"I guess one good thing came out of Sheol's return. Chrysalis won't be having any 'encounters' any time soon," Sol said with a hint of sarcasm.

"Regardless, this throws a bit of a wrench into everything. Then again, plans don't usually survive the first encounter with the enemy."

"Ah, I remember when I was trapped in a statue." A voice said from behind. Everyone looked back to the podium to find Discord standing on it, posing like an Olympic athlete.

"Hello, Malal, you old prankster." Void said rolling his eyes.

"Oh, you do remember my true name! How sweet. It's Discord now. You put on quite the show, God-Emperor of the Azur," Discord bowed to Void in both respect and mockery. "Welcome back to Equus, by the way," he said, holding out a hand.

Void raised an eyebrow. "You're trying to joy buzzer me, aren't you?"

"Damn, Void, you're good." Discord smirked.

Twilight could see that Void had mixed feelings about Discord, or Malal as he called him.

---

The dragons had taken the news of Void's return with the most enthusiasm. The return of the Dragon-King was a godsend to them, at least, most of them. There was one who didn't know of the Dragon-King, and he had many questions. Spike sat upon Ember's shoulders as she carried him to the royal palace.

"So, let me get this straight, the Dragon-King is the king of dragons... across the universe?!"

"Yup," Ember responded.

"That's... a lot of dragons."

The two entered the palace and walked to the throne room. There, they found Twilight and Void discussing day-to-day matters. Nothing important. They turned as heard the door open.

"Twilight!" Spike shouted as he leapt from Twilight's shoulders

"Spike!" Twilight rushed over and embraced Spike. The two hadn't seen each other in weeks. Twilight had sent Spike to the Dragon-Lands for diplomacy. He was officially the emissary between the dragons and ponies. Ember kneeled before Void and bowed her head.

"Drem yol lok, my lord."

"Pruzah sul. You may rise, Ember."

Ember rose and stared Void for a moment. She still couldn't believe that she was standing before the Dragon-King, let alone speaking to him.

"How is your father?" Void asked. Ember jumped a little, being lost in thought at the sight of Void.

"Oh! He's doing very well and sends his best."

"I'm glad to hear it." Void smiled and then turned to Spike. "So, this is the one I've heard so much about."

Spike looked up to see Void towering over him. As much as he didn't want to admit it, he was intimidated by Void's raw strength.

"You- you have?"

"Twilight has told me much about you, Spike. How you were the savior of the Crystal Empire in its darkest hour. How you braved the Gauntlet of Fire, and then willingly gave up the title of Dragon-Lord to Ember. You're quite the hero around Equus."

Spike found himself at a loss for words. To be recognized as a hero was a privilege in and of itself. But being called a hero by the king of his entire species? Now that was an achievement.

"I'm honored, sir!" Spike stood at attention and saluted as if he were a soldier. He didn't know what else to do to thank Void.

Void chuckled. "There's no need for that, Spike. We're all friends here. By the way, I just noticed your wings. Did you get them recently? I heard you were wingless when you saved the Crystal Empire and triumphed in the Gauntlet."

"Yeah, I got my wings a bit of a while ago. Molting was not fun."

"Oh gods, I remember my molting. You should have seen my fire burps. I almost burnt down the Imperial Palace!" Void and Spike shared a good laugh. Behind Void's kingly stature was a relatable side that all could sympathize with.

"So, your grandfather is Bahamut?" Spike asked.

"Yup. The Platinum Dragon himself. Why do you think I have platinum horns?" Void said, pointing to his horns.

"But, Bahamut only has two... and you have four?"

"Well, my father had four horns as well. They're basically my crown. The symbol of my authority in dragon culture."

"Oh! That makes sense. Same with the wings?"

"Yup!"

"Wait, if your grandfather is Bahamut, does that mean your great aunt is Tiamat?"

"That is indeed true. However, since the end of the dragon civil war ages ago, she has kept her promise of non-aggression. She's actually very nice to talk to. I haven't seen her in a while though. Perhaps I should introduce you to her."

Spike smiled nervously, recalling the stories he had been told. "Uhh... no thanks... I don't want to be eaten by her."

Void laughed. "Oh, trust me, she won't. Not with me around. Besides, she only devours those who dare to question her authority. Might makes right and all of that philosophy. Meanwhile Bahamut values intellect and deeds instead of pure strength. You could say they are two sides of the same coin. Order and Chaos."

Spike pondered Void's words. "Huh. Never really thought of it that way."

"One cannot exist without the other. Same goes for Light and Dark." Void conjured two orbs of magic in his hands. "The Azur were born from that balance. And speaking of my people... I am sorry to cut this little philosophy lesson short, but Mass is about to begin. Would you like to join me?"

Comments

[nightshroud96]

I liked seeing more lore showing up.
I wonder if Void knows it was thanks to Spike befriending Thorax is what led to the changelings reforming?

Loved seeing how Void interacted with Spike and pointing out what Spike got to do.
And the explanation on where Spike was previously. Liked that too.

What will happen next?