Harmonics

by ezra09

Rosalia's Gambit

The ramps were sturdy enough that Mimic wasn’t worried about the structure falling. The way they doubled back and forth at a gentle incline made the climb take much longer than it should have, and each second seemed to drag on and on. Mimic considered just flying them to the top, but her wings locked up at the thought.

Everything was going to be fine.

Thistleroot had fallen silent during the climb, leaving the two of them with nothing but the sound of their hoofsteps on wood and the gentle breeze. Despite the winding path, they reached the top entirely too soon.

Everything was going to be fine.

They came out to a stone landing jutting out toward the now ruined Canterlot. The landing was about twenty feet across, and perfectly level. Below them was the floating ring of interlocking gems that currently held Princess Celestia and Princess Luna captive.

Directly over the closest edge of that ring, on the platform they were standing on, was a stone table. Unlike the last time she’d seen it, there were no glowing lines, and the tablet she and Scootaloo had recovered from the Mad Lands was missing.

Thistleroot approached it. Mimic swallowed, shook her head, and then did the same. Each step was harder than the last, like her legs had been tied down with lead weights.

Everything was going to be fine.

She moved to one side of the table while Thistleroot stood across from her. There was a tension in the air, one that didn’t come from the nervous silence that had settled over the two of them,

She closed her eyes and focused on her horn. She could feel a slight vibration in the air. A hum of power like what she had felt in the middle of the thunderstorm just before Scootaloo bucked the clouds. It was an immense build up of magic. Lightning, ready to strike.

The feeling turned her stomach.

The leylines running through Canterlot mountain, in truth conduits of power forming part of the prison, met at the stone table. The table was the lock to the entire spell. Now that she was actually looking for it, she could feel just how much power was running through it. Enough for a young Celestia to raise the sun. Enough for Luna to become Nightmare Moon.

And enough for a normal, mortal pony to get himself killed.

Thistleroot flipped open his saddlebag and carefully levitated the fragment of harmony out of it.

Queen Rosalia had planned this. She wanted the fragment of harmony destroyed or wasted, yes, but why accomplish just one goal at a time? Why just destroy the fragment of harmony when she could expend it killing one of the ponies standing against her? He would connect his magic to the fragment, and connect the fragment to the prison. The magic would surge along that new connection, and into Thistleroot.

Rosalia knew Mimic couldn’t do it. Mimic had told her about Star Shine. She’d refused her queen’s orders to kill Scootaloo’s group. Rosalia had seen weakness in Mimic. She’d said Mimic needed to be hardened, and then she’d given Mimic an alternative. One that would let the ponies live. A way to destroy the fragment of harmony without them ever knowing she’d betrayed them.

Of course, Rosalia had been lying. A part of Mimic had known from the beginning that she’d been lying. She even knew why, at least in part. Mimic was weak. Too weak to hurt the ponies. It’s so much easier to do nothing. Easier to watch someone get hurt than to hurt them yourself.

Rosalia had no intention of letting Scootaloo, Thistleroot, or any of them live. And a part of Mimic had known that if she sided with them, she’d face the same fate.

“I’m not really sure how to use this,” Thistleroot said, studying the fragment of harmony. “I think I’m just gonna pour in some magic and see what happens.”

This wasn’t like the fight with Star Shine. She wouldn’t have to dirty her own hooves. She could wait and watch, and then she’d be free. She had followed Rosalia’s orders. It wasn’t her fault if she’d been manipulated, was it? The changeling queen had given her a reasonable excuse.

Everything was going to be fine.

“Sounds good,” Mimic said.

There was something Rosalia didn’t know. Something none of them knew, because Mimic had never bothered to tell anyone. Something she’d been holding on to. Mimic didn’t have to make a choice. She didn’t have to betray the ponies that had been helping her, nor did she have to disobey the orders of her queen.

Thistleroot held the fragment of harmony in front of him and his horn began glowing brighter as he fed his magic into it.

It would never work. The unicorn at the SEA center in Greenhaven Grotto had told her that the fragment of harmony could only be used by one of three ponies. Scootaloo had to be one, and another was sure to be Princess Luna. Mimic wasn’t sure who the third would be. Maybe Starswirl, or another pony that Mimic hadn’t even met yet. Thistleroot wouldn’t be able to get it to work. He wouldn’t connect himself to the immense magic contained within the prison.

Everything was going to be fine.

Mimic had obeyed her queen’s orders. She’d brought Thistleroot and the fragment of harmony to the prison, and she’d convinced him to use it. The end result might not have been what Rosalia wanted, but Mimic had followed her orders to the letter. And Thistleroot would be fine. The fragment of harmony wouldn’t even be wasted. At worst, he could blame her for wasting his time.

Everything was going to be fine.

“Hey, I think it’s working,” Thistleroot said. The fragment of harmony flashed, the blue aura holding it aloft became a brilliant gold, and clouds of rainbow light began to drift off the surface.

Mimic stared at the golden light of harmony as the crystal seemed to melt, leaving behind a nebulous cloud of energy.

It wouldn’t work. The ponies at the SEA center seemed to know what they were doing. Celestia had created the fragment so that only three ponies could use it. It wouldn’t work. Everything was going to be fine.

Thistleroot tilted his head and the fragment drifted closer. The warmth coming from the fragment washed across them both as the glow intensified.

It was working. Thisleroot had been chosen by the princess as one of the ponies able to use the fragment. Thistleroot?

A solid thought clicked in Mimic’s head, past her surprise and confusion. It was working.

This was Rosalia’s play. She must have known. She’d had the fragment of harmony while they’d been unconscious. Long enough to understand it. She’d given it to Thistleroot specifically, and separated the two of them from the others.

Thistleroot positioned the fragment of harmony above the center of the table, and the buzz of power surrounding them grew. Thistleroot probably couldn’t even feel it with all of his magic focused on the crystal. Mimic hadn’t felt it until she’d specifically looked for it, and Thistleroot had told them that enchantments weren’t a specialty of his.

Mimic had followed her orders to the letter. She would be free to come back to the hive. She could bring her brother. With Nocturne ruling, there was more room for dead weight. They could go home. They could have their lives back.

Thistleroot stuck his tongue between his teeth, concentrating on keeping a steady stream of magic into the fragment of harmony. It began to drift downward. Tangled lines appeared on the table, just as they had before, with a blank square where the tablet would go. He adjusted the fragment so that it was above the blank spot and kept lowering it.

Rosalia had lied. She’d promised to spare the ponies, but she’d lied.

Mimic could still live, though. She could obey her queen, like she had all her life, and she could go home. She was loyal to her hive and her queen. Her personal feelings meant nothing. Wasn’t that what she’d told Scootaloo? What she’d told Lirian? She could go home. She didn’t have to hurt anyone. All she had to do was nothing. Doing nothing was easy.

He was just a pony.

Everything was going to be fine.

Rosalia would kill him anyway.

Everything was going to be fine.

Her friend was going to die.

Mimic didn’t remember making the decision to move. Her left hoof struck the fragment of harmony, knocking it from Thistleroot’s grasp. It bounced on the floor, golden light fading and rainbow mist retracting to solidify into a crystal surface once more.

Mimic hit Thistleroot in the chest and they fell. He gave a surprised “oof!” as she landed on him.

They laid that way for a long moment, Thistleroot too confused to move and Mimic too scared to move.

“Um?” Thistleroot finally said.

Mimic closed her eyes, dropping her head against his shoulder.

“Okay?” He awkwardly patted her on the back. “Uh, what was that for?”

“I’m sorry.”

*****

“I can’t,” Mimic said again, looking up at Queen Rosalia. Her voice threatened to give out on her, and her legs felt like they could barely support her weight. They stood within the castle Night’s End, in Rosalia’s personal bedchamber, shortly after being caught and defeated by the changeling queen. Mimic was the first to be woken. “I won’t do it.”

Rosalia looked down at the changeling not in anger, but in confusion. “You won’t... You don’t understand. This is just the simplest way to be rid of them, it is not the only way. They will die, no matter what you do.” She paused, taking in Mimic’s look, reconsidering her words. “You would give your life for them? For ponies?”

The question was enough to send Mimic’s heart rate into overdrive. That wasn’t what she’d said.

The queen was looking at her still. The question hadn’t been rhetorical, she wanted an answer, and Mimic had a feeling she’d know a lie.

Mimic thought about Scootaloo, the pony she’d hated. She thought about meeting the pegasus locked away in the hive, of making a deal against her better judgement and fleeing into the storm together. She remembered Scootaloo’s fear of the storm, and how it had only given her pause for a moment. She remembered risking herself to help Scootaloo in the mad lands, not knowing why even as she joined the false Discord’s game.

She thought about Thistleroot, and the tower in Canterlot. She thought about finding him standing over her after the tower had fallen, and staying with her when her leg was hurt, despite the danger. The first time anyone, pony, changeling, or otherwise, had ever risked their life for hers.

She even thought of Sweetie Belle and the weird paste the unicorn had insisted she wear in Greenhaven Grotto. The way she’d tried to treat her like any other pony. The misguided attempts at cheering her up after her last conversation with her brother. The small kindnesses Sweetie Belle had shown her that each individually had meant almost nothing.

She looked up again, meeting the changeling queen’s gaze, and she spoke the truth. “I’m not going to hurt my friends.”

Rosalia stared down at her, face unreadable. “Friends?” She shook her head. “Friendship is an equine poison. It is not for the likes of us.” Mimic didn’t answer. Rosalia’s horn began to glow. “Very well.”

Mimic’s heart skipped a beat and she closed her eyes, ducking her head. A moment passed. Another. No pain. She was still breathing. She kept her eyes shut tight for another moment before peeking up in confusion.

Rosalia still stood above her, but her horn no longer glowed. “You’re serious. You honestly believe these ponies to be your friends.” And then Rosalia sighed, a small, almost regretful sound. “You poor, naive girl.”

“They are my friends,” Mimic said, her voice so small she wasn’t sure Rosalia could hear.

Rosalia turned her head and Mimic flinched. The changeling queen watched her and then continued with the turn, stepping away from Mimic. “Stop that. I’m not going to kill you.” She turned back to face Mimic and sat.

“I am no more a monster than my lady,” Rosalia said. “You are a changeling, and I am a changeling queen. You are one of my subjects, and it is my duty, it is my purpose in life given to me by my creator, to see my subjects prosper.

“I certainly wouldn’t waste a changeling as exceptional as you in a fit of rage. Not after you have performed your duties to the letter.”

“My duties?” Mimic asked, voice still shaking.

“You got Scootaloo into the Mad Lands and out again. You even maintained your sanity. You kept her safe while she delivered the key to Lady Nocturne’s prison. You even managed to throw in your own self serving reasons for doing so. You survived.

“But you would throw that away for ponies?” Rosalia shook her head. “Child, explain it to me.”

“You don’t know them,” Mimic said.

Rosalia cut her off before she could continue. “I do know them. I know them better than they know themselves. I have been Rose Thorn in some form or another for the past nine hundred years. I have watched ponies grow prosperous and complacent while my changelings suffered and fell. Ponies are a vile, arrogant species.”

“Maybe,” Mimic said. “Maybe ponies in general are as bad as you said. I don’t know enough ponies to say. But I know these ponies. They aren’t like that.”

“They have been kind to you?” Rosalia asked. “Treated you like one of them? For now, you’re useful. You’re one of the enemy, after all.”

“That’s not them,” Mimic said. “I thought that at first. I felt the same way about Scootaloo. I was only working with her to get what I wanted. She hurt my brother, and I hated her. But then, after a while, I just didn’t anymore. If I can change, then why can’t she?”

“You grew used to her presence,” Rosalia said. “I know what it is like. I have gone through the same countless times, generation after generation. But it never lasts.” She paused, tilting her head. “You believe them to be your friends. Tell me, what have they done to earn such devotion?”

“Scootaloo promised to help my brother. He was the only family I had left.”

“She is the one who hurt your brother in the first place. At best she was balancing the scales.”

“Sweetie Belle tried to cheer me up, even after I yelled at her, she wanted to help.”

Rosalia stared down at her. The intensity of her gaze was almost a physical weight. Mimic knew she wasn’t satisfied. Mimic had started to consider Scootaloo as more than a pony to be used even before they’d left the Mad Lands, but that wasn’t the first time she’d thought of a pony as something on the same terms as she would another changeling, as something not inherently different, but a living being in a different shape.

“Saved my life,” she mumbled.

“Speak up,” Rosalia said, not exactly gently, but not harshly either.

“Thistleroot saved my life. When Canterlot was destroyed, he’d been protected by Princess Celestia. All of the ponies in the tower were protected, but the specters and I weren’t. I tried to escape. He was slow, and I made the decision to leave him behind and save myself, but I didn’t make it out on time. Thistleroot reached me and shielded me from the falling rubble.

“The pony Star Shine was there too, and my leg was hurt. Thistleroot could have left me behind, like I was going to do to him, but he didn’t. He stayed with me and we beat Star Shine.”

Rosalia leaned back, eyes widening. “Did you?” She smiled. “And here you are, while I’ve been wondering why he’d yet to find me again. I was right, you are an exceptional changeling. You and Thistleroot against Star Shine.” Mimic thought she heard a note of pride in the changeling queen’s voice. “How?”

“Thistleroot managed to stun him and then I—” the words caught in her throat.

Rosalia studied her for a long moment, the smile fading. “I see. You’re an exceptional changeling, Mimic, but you require hardening. So, this Thistleroot is your friend?” Mimic nodded.

Rosalia stood. She closed the space between them and it took all of Mimic’s self control to not flinch again.

Rosalia put a hoof under Mimic’s chin, tilting her head back, then side to side. The changeling queen’s eyes studied her with enough intensity that Mimic wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d suddenly caught fire. It was more than a physical stare. It was as though Rosalia was looking through her. After a moment, Rosalia sighed and turned away.

“Very well.”

Mimic was silent as Rosalia paced away.

“It is clear that you can’t bring yourself to harm your new friends.” Mimic nodded and Rosalia continued, “Then I suppose you should know that they are leaving here alive.”

Mimic’s ears perked up. Her gaze snapped up to Rosalia. Had she just misheard?

“Sadly, my lady has forbidden me from killing the five of them myself, and I can see now that you will not do so. I do have a task for you, however.”

“What is it?” Mimic asked, ears falling.

Rosalia smiled as she turned back to pace closer. “You are willing to refuse my requests in order to protect your friends, or at least to keep your own hooves clean. Commendable, in a way, but not nearly as much as you may think. Doing nothing is easy. If you wish to protect them you will have to do more. You will have to show me that you’re capable of more than simply accepting the consequences of inaction.

“You are no doubt aware of the powerful fragment of magic that your friends brought with them?” Mimic nodded. “My lady has ordered me to return it before we send your group on their way. I want you to get rid of it. Destroy it. Use it on something else. I don’t care what.”

“Or you’ll kill me?” She guessed.

“No, Mimic. I won’t. Get rid of the fragment of harmonic magic, or I’ll kill them.”

“You just said you can’t,” Mimic said, voice coming at a higher pitch than she’d meant.

“Not at the moment. But should they challenge me again, I am free to respond with deadly force. Lady Nocturne will not be pleased should I be forced to resort to such brutish methods, but this tiresome trial would be over and I would have millenia to win her favor once again. I will kill your so called friends if they return, but you can protect them. Take away the one item that gives them hope of defeating Lady Nocturne, and you can prevent them from throwing their lives away.”

Mimic swallowed hard and shook her head. “They’d never forgive me.”

Rosalia pondered for a moment. “Convince them to use it on the prison containing Celestia and Luna.”

“You want them to free the princesses?”

“Of course not. That prison can’t be opened by such an insignificant spell. If it could, I would have had my lady free centuries ago. But your friends don’t know that. Suggest they try, and when the fragment has been wasted, you can claim that you believed it would work.”

Rosalia rose and moved toward the door. “Stay here. You have given me something to think about, and I believe I know what to do next. I am going to speak with the pony Thistleroot, and then I will be sending the two of you on your way.”

Rosalia paused at the door. “I will give you something to think about in turn. Two things, actually. The first is that these ponies will eventually turn against you.”

Mimic’s face darkened, but she didn’t say anything.

“You don’t have to believe me yet. You will see for yourself. There will come a day when you find yourself hated and alone. When that day comes, you will be welcome back to the hive, if that is what you wish. The second thing I want you to think about is this.” Rosalia opened the door and looked back at Mimic. “Love is a resource to be consumed, but actually allowing yourself to feel it is a mistake that will create for you no end of grief. Leave love and friendship to the ponies. You’ll be happier that way.”

Rosalia stepped through the door. “Love will be the death of the Eternals themselves.” And then she was gone.

Comments

[TheGreatEater]

Wow. [sarcasm]That ending wasn't ominous at all.

No wonder the Changelings have such winning personalities. [/sarcasm]

[ezra09]

8918692
I'm sensing a bit of sarcasm here. Not sure why, just a gut feeling.

[Frankie2]

8918692
Cynicism built due to hundreds of years of dealing with ordinary ponies. What Rosalia refuses to realize is how extraordinary this group actually is.

[TheGreatEater]

8919843
I know amirite? It's just one of those magical moments .

8919847
Yep dealing with potential centuries of a species that usually holds the Idiot Ball, and more than one has massive amounts of Poor Communication Kills and major doses of Serious Business over insane / inane things (Apple's Serious Business are Apples; The Rock Family has their rocks; Twilight has her bookgasms; Celestia has her Cake; Noble's have their Idle Richness / Entitlement; etc.).

I'm sure that voltile mixture had nothing to due at all with Rosalia ignoring the importance of the Element Bearers, or the current group. But it's sad she's tossing them out of hoof, because they're ponies. Of course, when it bites her in the butt, it'll be hilarious.

[SWEETOLEBOB18]

“Thistleroot saved my life. When Canterlot was destroyed, he’d been protected by Princess Celestia. All of the ponies in the tower were protected, but the specters and I weren’t. I tried to escape. He was slow, and I made the decision to leave him behind and save myself, but I didn’t make it out on (in) time. Thistleroot reached me and shielded me from the falling rubble.

[Teraunce]

And Mimic has passed her Element Test with flying colors. Good job.