Chapter 53
Our movement didn't stop for a second after Spear Head landed on the other side of the chasm and kept hauling ass off to wherever these seemingly endless tunnels would lead us, I spit out a strand of that ended up in my mouth as I was pressed tight against the back of his neck. It was the best grip I could get on him without having fingers readily available to me. So I wasn't going to be receiving any judgment from anyone as I kept myself pressed up against his neck and shoulders as we yet again ended up walking into another stretch of darkened tunnels. My very non existent night vision doing nothing to help me as I tried squinting to see if I could spot anything. But I didn't have to squint for long as I was suddenly blinded by a bright flash of white light, letting out a pained noise as I immediately shut my eyes and placed my hooves over my eyelids, my teeth pressing firmly against each other as I shook my head back and forth.
Spear wasn't fairing any better as I felt him suddenly jerk and let out a surprised noise of his own.
'Who the hell flash banged me?' I mentally cursed as I tried to open my eyes. The scrambling of my eyesight made it so that I was seeing those weird rings of purple that usually lingered around after a moment or two of me looking directly at something bright, like the sun. But in this case, some jack ass decided that blinding me was the best course of action.
'Assholes' I cursed again as I gained my bearings on my surroundings. Keeping my hooves up at my face just in case anything of the flashing sort decided to make itself known again, I looked at where we were and paused. Having to take a moment to actually register the image that appeared in my head, I half expected it to turn back to normal and just be the effect of getting the flood of bright white light in my eyes. But as the effects faded away and I blinked once, then twice before mentally resigning. Those little flicks of distorted light were lingering in the corners of my eyes.
I let out and audible groan nonetheless. Spear seemed to agree with my sentiment as his own noise of discomfort played out after mine.
"What was that?" I said after a moment. Taking a look at our surroundings and noticing that nothing looked different. So I crossed out the idea that we were teleported somewhere.
"Nothing good, I bet." Spear would grumble underneath me. Before he finally seemed to reign himself in and continued forwards.
Yet I still couldn't help but be suspicious, even if he was quick to shrug it off, and even if there seemed to be no real reason for the flash to have happened. I one hundred percent know that it's probably going to be something that is going to screw me over in the future. It's just the most plausible assumption that I could make. Video game logic proves that things like this happen for a reason.
"Everything they've done so far has been nothing short of terrible," I said with a bit of snark. Not directed towards Spear but mainly towards the general situation that we were in for the past few da- days? Hours? I could honestly care less, I've spent way too much time in this changeling hive. Way longer than someone like me should be. Honestly I'm glad I'm not a regular child, I would've ripped my vocal chords a new string from the amount of panicked shouting if I didn't have the common sense to actually try to do something against my captors.
"Let's just focus on getting out of here, the sooner the better," I said with a small sigh as we rounded a corner. To guess what? Even more endless stretches of tunnels!
"All these tunnels are going to make me contract trypophobia.." I muttered.
Spitfire was a bit out of practice when it came to trying to calm somepony down when their child has been ripped straight from their hooves and kept in an unknown location, especially when the parent was single, not having that support from their significant other made it even harder on them. Also with the fact that said pony used to be one of her closest friends before they fell out of contact all those years ago, it made the situation hit even closer to home. So she could only reciprocate the hug that Hazel wrapped her into and tried adding in words of comfort to the best of her abilities, but it was only doing so much for the mare that was in complete hysterics over the fact that her foal had been constantly ripped from her grasp over the course of a few weeks.
It made her distaste for the changelings as a whole to delve further into a sort of hatred for them, adding in the fact of the whole Canterlot wedding fiasco, she really had nothing more to say about the changelings that others weren't already thinking when the concept of them was brought up in conversation.
But them really sinking to such lows as kidnapping an innocent and harmless child? It made her blood boil at the sheer gall that they had to outright storm Canterlot Castle for what seemed like the second, well, it was the second time that they've stormed the castle. Nevertheless, they had the absolute gall to actually storm the castle and target Speckles for seemingly whatever reason they had.
A thought in the back of her head made it seem like the changelings just outright kidnapped Speckles like that just to spite her for the absolute mockery she made of them the last time that they tried to do that, in a calmer state of mind she would've had a grin on her face at the memory of the changeling queens face distorting just by the amount of force she put into her punch. But it just served to fill her with an even greater sense of confusion and anger.
Why did they want him in the first place? She wanted to ask, but she knew she probably wouldn't ever get the answer to that question.
Speckles was just some random foal, why target him? From what she knew about him, the only thing that could be of worth noting is the fact that he has an above level of intelligence for a foal of his age, and that is putting it lightly. She'd seen kids that were considered 'gifted' in 'Princess Celestia's school for Gifted Unicorns', that were of the same age and some that were well over his age, act completely differently than how he did. There was just something about the way he talked and just how self aware he was of himself that was of interest, and that was the only thing she could see him being singled out for.
But regardless of how smart he was he was still a child, who did absolutely nothing to deserve this situation that he so happened to find himself in, he and Hazel both, it was just terrible.
And glancing back down at her friend made her wince, and it was a detraction from the amount of time that she's seen something far worse that should've prompted a wince from her but didn't, tuning her ears back into the real world, she couldn't find herself saying anything in response to her hysterics. It'd been such a long time since she'd seen the pink pegasus that she just found it hard to pick up where they'd fallen out of contact, in a deeper more emotional way than she'd been indulging in for the past few weeks she'd gotten to reacquaint herself with her and to introduce herself to Speckles.
She also felt a little bad for Princess Luna who was awkwardly standing a few feet away from where she was originally, trying to make it seem like she wasn't watching the interaction in front of her by feigning interest in the reflection of her that was casted by some of the tiling.
But she relented and focused on trying her best to comfort her friend, it was the very least that she could do in her position, with which she had very little experience in since she was always on the receiving end of comforts by Hazel.
"I-I just don't know why! Why would they do this to me? why would they take my baby from me?!" the sorrow filled voice of Hazel caused her eyes to focus back down to where the pink pegasus's arms were tightly wrapped around her neck. She shifted her own arms and used her hooves to try and soothe her by rubbing her back in a circular fashion.
"I don't know, Hazel, I don't know." Were the words that left her mouth as soon as she contemplated even speaking them. And it was the truth. She did not know in the slightest.
"What I do know is that you have got to calm down," she calmly said. She internally winced after the fact because that is not something you say to somepony, especially in this position. But she had to save face.
"H-how am I supposed to calm down? Why should I calm down? I come here and i-" Hazel was quick to voice against her request. Her voice choking up as she pulled away from the embrace and turned away. "-i I get my baby stolen from me, Spitfire! I can't.." she trailed off before turning to face her once again.
"I just can't calm down!"
"I understand that, Hazel," Spitfire said gently, still keeping her hooves on her friend's back. "It's okay to feel angry, upset, and frustrated. You have every right to feel those emotions, but we need to think about Speckles too. He needs us to be strong for him, to think of a plan, and to get him back safely."
She paused for a moment, taking a deep breath before continuing, "And in order to do that, we need to remain calm and focused. I know it's easier said than done, but we have to try. We can't let our emotions cloud our judgment and hinder our ability to help Speckles."
Hazel looked at Spitfire, her eyes red from crying. Spitfire could see the pain in her friend's eyes, and it broke her heart. But she knew she had to be strong for her friend, to be the rock she needed in this difficult time.
"I'm here for you, Hazel," Spitfire said softly. "We'll get through this together. We'll find Speckles and bring him back home where he belongs."
Hazel nodded, taking a deep breath to steady herself. "Okay," she said, her voice still shaky. "Okay, we'll do this together."
Spitfire smiled, giving her friend a reassuring hug. "That's the spirit," she said. "Now, let's start thinking of a plan."
"We might actually have a plan," Luna's voice butted in.
Spitfire turned to face Princess Luna, her expression one of curiosity and hope. "What is it, Princess?" she asked, her tone eager.
"It is one my sister has discouraged me from acting upon," she admitted. "But we, I mean, I have been taken a sample of the magic used by the unknown changeling queen and have used it as a basis for when I used my magic to scan the surrounding area," Luna explained. "And I believe I've found something that could lead us to the changeling hive where Speckles is being held."
Hazel's ears perked up at the mention of Speckles. "What did you find?" she asked, her voice filled with anticipation.
"There's a cave system not too far from here," Luna said, gesturing with her hoof. "It's been shielded with powerful magic, which you can guess is the changelings, but I was able to detect a small disturbance in the barrier that fluctuated every so often. I believe that could be a way into the hive."
"And Princess Celestia is not a fan of this, why?" Hazel's accusatory voice would question. Causing Luna to look at the ground and let out a small sigh. "Sister is well, how do we put this," she placed a hoof to her chin before nodding. "Sister has gone soft, she has a sort of belief of things."
Hazel wasn't satisfied but Spitfire quickly interjected, her mind already focused on what was important and working on a plan. "Okay, we need to get there as soon as possible. We can't waste any time."
"I'll lead the way," Luna said, her horn glowing as she created a magical portal. "Follow me." As she stepped through the swirling blue vortex.
Hazel and Spitfire wasted no time, following Luna through the portal and into the cave system. The air was damp and cool, and the sound of dripping water echoed off the walls. But they pushed on, determined to find Speckles and bring him home.
"No teleportation?" Hazel would ask as she glanced back to the swirling vortex suddenly fizzle out and disappear, the soft blue glow it was emitting causing the darkness to seep back in behind them.
Luna simply shook her head as she lit her horn and lead the way. "A one way portal is more seamless and expels less magic than a long distance teleportation spell."
Hazel tilted her head in interest while Spitfire simply shook her head. 'Egghead,' she would think but not admit out loud.
They continued along the cave, with Luna creating a magical shield halfway through to protect them from any surprises. The barrier was invisible and only the faintest hints of magic could be felt in the air. "We are near the entrance," her quiet voice would say as the two ponies behind her tensed.
They rounded a corner and Luna came to a sudden stop, causing the two two slam into each other as Luna simply turned around and pointed with a hoof. The two followed the motion and looked around the corner to see the sight of a large and gaping crevice with glowing green masses growing along the walls. The sight of it caused the two pegasi to gag while Princess Luna simply fixed it with a narrowed gaze.
But Lunas head suddenly snapped in another direction as a familiar sensation coursed through her causing the two to look at her in confusion. Spitfire shook her head and went up to question her, but she paused as Lunas ears pressed against her head and her horn glowed brightly. "get behind me, we must hurry!" as she sprinted towards the entrance of the hive.
"This room looks important," Spear muttered as we walked into another spacious room. But instead of there being a multitude of cocoons lining the walls, it was empty.
It looked more like an auditorium, what with the center of the room having a set of elevated pieces of stairs carved into the stone. But it could also be a throne room, what with the large throne cut from stone sitting at the center of the platform.
Ah.
"Ya think?" Was my sarcastic reply as he walked further into the room, my head started looking from left to right for an exit.
"No need to get hostile, just making an observation." Spear said with a verbal roll of his eyes. To which I simply squinted my eyes and unwrapped my hooves from around his neck and promptly hopped down onto my own four legs, immediately stumbling as they'd fallen asleep from me not using them in quite a bit. After I made sure that everything was working and I could feel the blood bubbling back into my limbs did I quickly trot in front of the blue pegasus and made my retort. "A dumbass statement, that's what," I simply said with a small shrug before turning and making my way towards the throne.
"Wh-what?" his surprised voice called out before he shook his head and leaned forwards as he followed me to the throne. "You kiss your mother with that mouth?" he'd say just as I turned around to look up at him. His face was a mix of curiosity and surprise as he looked down at me.
"Why wouldn't I? It's good enough for your mother," I let slip from my mouth as I clambered onto the throne and sat on my rear looking up at his flabbergasted face with a bit of a smug grin plastered on my own face.
He opened his mouth to respond but paused and simply shook his head as he looked down at the floor and muttered something before raising his head and returning back to his stoic face. "Listen, Kid," he tried. I'm pretty sure I told him my name already, looks like the early onset dementia is kicking already. So I better help him.
"Speckles," I simply corrected.
"Alright listen, Speckles," he said with a nod. "I could care less if you curse like a sailor, I'm more focused on us actually getting up and out of this changeling hive," he whispered urgently to me. "Now, we just have to.." he paused and looked off to the side in thought.
"..." he didn't say anything else as he dropped onto his haunches and stared down at the ground as if he was trying to melt the stone it was made out of. I fixed him with a confused look before shaking my head and looking away from him.
And as I sat on the empty throne, my small hooves dangling off the edge. I tried to think of a plan, a way out of this place, but nothing seemed to come to mind. The silence was deafening, and I wished I could hear something, anything to break it. I went to say something to Spear before something caught my eyes, or rather, a lot of somethings caught my eyes.
Because when I looked up and around us, I truly felt a chill run up my spine from just how many glowing green eyes were staring at the two of us from the darkness. It spooked me enough that a little, "oh shit," left my lips as I got up and stood on the throne. The curse caused Spear to shoot me a confused look before I simply used a hoof to point behind him, causing his eyes to suddenly narrow as he leapt to his hooves and spun around with his wings spread. And I wondered what exactly that would do against the hundreds of magic wielding, love sucking, changelings.
"Your fear is rightly deserved.." the familiar deep and hissy voice of the cockroach Queen herself caused me to looked up and scan around the sea of green eyes before they suddenly appeared at the epicenter, I followed them as the buzzing of wings echoed along the room. Her cheese leg hooves were the first things I saw as she landed from the darkness. "You've crawled all along my web and have finally landed at the center, how convenient." she chuckled darkly. "I was hoping for more of a challenge.. my dearest child told me how much of a chase you gave her.."
I tossed her a disbelieving look as she fully stepped out of the shadows, with that same fang filled grin staring not at Spear in front of me, but directly at me. Spear saw this and quickly blocked her eyesight with his body. "You won't get away with this, changeling," he simply growled at her. His voice slipped into a really authoritative one.
"Oh, won't I?" she simply teased. "You're surrounded by all my lovely children and with nowhere to go!" she said in a sing song voice.
"I've already won." she hissed.
"leave it to a Queen to force her subjects to do her dirty work for her," I simply said as a distraction as I looked around the room and tried to approximate how long it would take me to stop time and subdue every single one of these changelings in the room without paralyzing myself. "It's a tale as old as time."
The changeling queen's eyes narrowed as she turned her attention to me. "You are quite the clever one, aren't you?" she said with a smirk. "But your little tricks won't work on me again. Whatever you did to me last time won't work this time, you're in my domain now, my magic is embedded in every stone."
She began to walk towards us, her hoofsteps echoing in the silent throne room. "You see, my dear, I am not like the other changelings or my sister. I am more powerful than they could ever hope to be. I can sense your every move, anticipate your every thought." Her large and crooked horn glowed dangerously as she looked down at Spear with an amused grin.
I tried to keep my cool, but I could feel my heart racing in my chest. I didn't know what she was capable of, since I'd only encountered her once or twice before, but I knew that I didn't want to find out. "What do you want from us.. what do you want from me?" I asked, trying to buy time.
The changeling queen chuckled darkly. "What do I want?" she repeated. "Oh, nothing much. Just your love and your magic, and perhaps a little bit of revenge."
"Revenge?" I echoed, my mind racing to try and figure out what she could be talking about. "What did we ever do to you?"
The changeling queen's eyes blazed with anger. "You and your kind have been a thorn in our side for far too long," she spat. "Always interfering, always trying to take what is not yours. It's time for you to pay the price."
And like a switch her expression changed and her sneer shifted back into a grin, "Oh, but I can worry about revenge at a later time. I'm more interested in your endless love," she giggled again. It was a creepy noise.
"Or what my children have told me," she dropped her grin and looked to her side as a lighter shade of red eyes suddenly glowed from the darkness and out stepped the very bane of my existence, Aurora, or whatever her name was. She looked down at Aurora with a bit of annoyance as the latter hyper focused on me and grinned widely, it looked a lot less contained than when she first showed me those pearly white fangs.
But she pushed the manic Aurora back into the darkness before fixating her gaze on the two of us. "now that you are in my humble abode.. why don't we, play a game?" she said as she lit her horn and the sound of metal scraping against stone rang out before a short sword floated out of the darkness and dropped in front of the taken aback Spear.
She hissed as she pulled out a sword of her own, an ornate blade that looked really out of place in her magical grasp. "You like it?" she said as she noticed my gaze. "It belonged to the late king of Haystonia." I pitied the man who she stole that from.
"What kind of game?" Spear questioned.
"Simple, you fight me one on one." she grinned. "And I might let you leave if you win."
I was about to call her out on how ridiculous that was before Spear beat me to the punch.
He took a deep inhale before bending down and picking up the sword with his mouth, he somehow spun the sword around with just his mouth and spread his legs as he lowered his head to her.
The changeling queen's eyes narrowed as she stepped forward, her sword at the ready. "You're brave, I'll give you that," she said with a smirk. "But you're also a fool. You can't possibly hope to defeat me."
Spear didn't respond, but I could feel myself tense as I watched the two. The words at the tip of my tongue as I prepared to stop time and help out Spear if anything started going south.
But before I could react, the changeling queen suddenly lunged forward, her sword flashing in the dim light of the throne room. Spear barely had time to react, parrying her attack with the shortsword and dodging her follow-up strikes. I simply looked on with widened eyes as he did so.
The queen moved with an eerie grace, her movements almost inhumanly fluid. She seemed to glide across the floor, her eyes fixed on Spear with a predator's intensity as she backed away.
The two combatants clashed, the sound of metal on metal ringing out through the room. Spear was quick and precise, his movements honed through years of training no doubt, but the queen was unnaturally fast, dodging and weaving with a fluidity that seemed impossible for a creature of her size.
The queen's attacks were wild and unpredictable, and she seemed to be using her long, stocky body to her advantage, contorting and twisting in ways that were impossible for any ordinary creature. It didn't make sense for that size to be doing things like that.
Spear was on the defensive, his sword moving in a blur as he tried to keep up with the queen's rapid strikes. He was breathing heavily, sweat pouring down his face, but he refused to give up.
The queen hissed with amusement, clearly enjoying the fight. "You're quite skilled for a royal guard," she said. "But you're no match for me."
Spear gritted his teeth, redoubling his efforts. He managed to land a few strikes, but the queen simply shrugged them off, seemingly unaffected by the blows. She simply flicked her tongue out as she lunged forwards at break neck speeds, Spear just narrowly used his wings to propel himself up into the air and barrel rolled out of the way as she used her magic to stab at the air where he was. He slid on his feet as he landed and deflected another strike from her sword.
The queen's attacks were becoming more ferocious, her sword whistling through the air as she launched a flurry of blows. Spear was forced back, his sword barely keeping up with the queen's frenzied assault.
Just as it seemed that Spear was about to be overwhelmed, he managed to sidestep the queen's sword and landed a solid blow to her side with the handle. The queen recoiled, hissing in pain, but she quickly regained her composure and attacked again.
The two combatants were now locked in a fierce battle, the sound of their swords ringing out through the throne room. Sweat dripped down their faces, and their breathing was heavy and ragged.
Spear was skilled, but the queen's movements were just too fast and unpredictable. She seemed to be everywhere at once, attacking from every angle.
Finally, Spear saw an opening and launched a powerful strike. The queen managed to block it, but the force of the blow sent her staggering back. Spear saw his chance and charged forward, his sword flashing in the air.
The queen's movements became even more frenzied, her sword moving with a speed and fluidity that seemed almost inhuman. But despite her best efforts, Spear managed to land a powerful blow that sent the queen reeling.
For a moment, it seemed as though the fight was over, but the queen was not one to give up easily. With a fierce snarl, she launched herself at Spear, her sword flashing in the air.
The two combatants clashed once again, their swords ringing out through the throne room. It was a battle of skill and determination, and in the end, it was Spear who emerged victorious, his sword flashing through the air and landing the final blow.
The queen fell to the ground, her sword clattering to the floor beside her. She lay there, panting and gasping for breath, her eyes fixed on Spear with a mixture of rage and admiration.
"Nicely done, royal guard," she hissed. "You are indeed a worthy opponent. It's no wonder that you were chosen as a breeding stock." To which I had many questions as to what she meant by that.
Spear breathed a sigh of relief, his chest heaving with exertion. He looked down at the fallen queen, his sword still at the ready.
"I'll take that as a compliment," he said, his voice laced with exhaustion.
The queen simply chuckled, her eyes fixed on Spear with a predator's intensity. "Don't get too comfortable, royal guard," she said. "I don't play fai-" and before she could even get that sentence out I quickly lurched forwards and shouted "stop!" and felt my heart almost beat out of my chest as I just narrowly saved Spear from being struck by a salvo of magical blasts from the changelings hiding in the darkness. I almost slipped out of the throne from how my hooves were still outstretched forwards and I balanced on my hind legs, I spread out my wings and quickly flapped them as I raised myself into the air.
I felt at my chest as I flew over to where Spear still stood with his exhausted expression and the changeling queen lay with her creepy grin.
"I knew she'd pull something like that.." I breathed out. "Just so lucky that I caught it." I admitted as I flew up to Spear and gently grabbed his face with both of my hooves and pulled him out of the way of the magical blasts. I set him back down next to the throne and flew back to the where the magic was in suspended animation. I gingerly reached out a hoof and touched the blasts, instinctively reeling for the pain but stopped as I didn't feel anything.
"So much for 'I can sense everything'" I mimicked her voice before looking at the magic.
"Idea," I simply grinned as I grabbed them in my hooves and directed them so that they would careen down towards the Queen, directly at her face. I flew turned around and quickly flew back to the throne and plopped myself back down on it as I let out a calm breath. "stop."
The Queen's eyes widened in shock as she realized what was happening as time resumed. She tried to dodge, but it was too late. The magical blasts struck her full in the face, the green explosion forming a cloud over her form and sending her flying into the wall.
As she hit the ground, she let out a deafening screech that echoed throughout the room. The other changelings emerged from the shadows, hissing and snarling. She joined their snarling as she rose to her feet, her hair disheveled and her form heavy with burns from the magic.
Spear spun around and looked down at himself and the changelings in confusion, but quickly scooped me up from the throne and held me close to his chest as he held out the sword with his mouth in as much of a defense as he could muster. I looked up at his sweaty face and he simply shot down a disgruntled smile back down at me as he returned his gaze to the approaching changelings.
But it seemed that she wasn't having any of Spears nonsense and bared her horn down, the magic crackled out of her damaged horn and quickly shot out towards us in the form of blood red tendrils. Spear tried to fly out of the way but the sheer speed outmatched him as they caught us out of the air and stole me out of his grasp and tightened its tendrils around his body, forcing the blade out of his mouth as he grunted in pain. I tried shouting out the words but the tendrils swam along my body and wrapped around my neck, causing my words to come out as a "GHACK!" as she slammed me down onto the floor and dragged me over to her.
I grunted at the pain along my back and brought my hooves up to the tendrils gripping my neck. I couldn't. Breathe.
"You and your little.. TRICKS!" she yelled hissed directly into my face as I tried kicking her away with my hind legs. "I won't let you run this time.." she growled with unbridled rage.
The queen quieted though, her eyes fixed on mine, and I felt her horn begin to glow. I could sense the magic flowing from her, a dark, oily energy that sought to seep into my mind and suck the love out of me. It was a familiar feeling from the time that Aurora tried to do it to me, but this was much different, much stronger. It was hard to resist and keep myself from passing out from how tight the grip was on my neck.
But I refused to give in. I focused on nothingness. I let those blank emotions fill me up, pushing back against the queen's magic with every ounce of my being. It was grating, as if trying to pull off an army of leeches from your brain.
The queen hissed in frustration, her eyes narrowing as she realized that her magic was having no effect on me. She unhinged her jaw, revealing her sharp, needle-like teeth, and I felt a surge of fear.
But I refused to back down. I stood my ground, channeling all of my mental fortitude into resisting the queen's magic. I could feel the strain in my mind, the pressure building as the queen pushed harder and harder, but I held on.
And then, suddenly, it was over. The queen stepped back, her jaw snapping shut as she glared at me with a mixture of rage and awe.
"Impossible," she spat, her voice dripping with venom. "How could you resist me?"
I smiled through the lack of air, feeling a sense of pride and triumph. This just caused her even more rage as she hissed deafeningly into my face and tossed my so hard into the ground that my vision went black for a moment. But the only thing I could focus on was how the tendrils unwrapped themselves from my throat and finally let me breath, I ignored the pain flaring all over my body and simply curled into myself as much as I could while greedily taking in breaths of air.
"Y-you monster!" Spear would shout from where I couldn't see him. And to be honest, I really couldn't move myself. The pain just caused me to grit my teeth and lay there as still as a corpse.
"No matter.." she walked over to my body and lowered her head down to my level, tilting her head as her slit eyes stared into mine. "I shall simp-" but she was cut off by a cacophony of cracks coming from somewhere in the room and just the room shaking entirely as a large blast shook the room. I painfully rolled over to see what'd happened, but the shrieking of changelings and the queen herself told me that it was nothing good for them. The dust covered any sort of sight line for me but I let out a noise as something grabbed me, but to my relief it was the injured form of Spear who'd crawled over to where I was and wrapped his hooves around me protectively.
"Spear.. are you?" I tried to ask him if he was alright but he simply pressed me further into his chest.
"J-just h-ang on.." he grunted through his own pain as he cradled me. I couldn't help but finally close my eyes in exhaustion.
Princess Luna had led them through a sped up walkthrough of the cave, her magic almost autonomous with the way that it lit the way, shielded them, and rendered any changelings that attack them unconscious.
"YOU!" the Queens voice echoed all along the cave as the dust settled. "How dare you desecrate my beautiful hive!" she hissed loudly and as one all the changelings in the room started towards the three ponies that'd entered the room. Spitfire got into a battle stance while Hazel simply did the same. But Princess Luna wasn't having any of it as her horn simply flared and at once all the changelings in the room collapsed onto the ground, even those that were airborne had their wings completely stop and let them ragdoll onto the floor. The Queen was the only one who'd resisted the magic and simply looked down at her children with hatred in her eyes before she lit her horn and charged full force at the Princess.
But a blue aura sprouted from the ground and wrapped around the changeling, stopping her momentum and slamming her against the floor and Princess Luna had acted quickly, using her powerful magic to subdue the changeling queen. With a flick of her horn, she bound the queen's hooves and wings in a tight grip of magical energy, rendering her unable to move or cast any spells.
"Stay back, both of you," Luna warned Spitfire and Hazel. "This changeling is more dangerous than I expected and could try to harm us even in her restrained state." She simply looked down as the changeling hissed and growled, green viscous spittle flying everywhere.
The two nodded in understanding, and Spitfire kept a watchful eye on the Queen while Luna approached her, her horn glowing with a soft blue light.
"What do you want with these ponies?" Luna demanded, her voice firm and authoritative.
The changeling queen sneered and spat at Luna's hooves. "I am Queen Vespera, ruler of this hive that you have desecrated! And as for these ponies, they are nothing but food to us. Food for me to grow even more powerful!"
Luna's expression hardened at the queen's callous admission. "You are a twisted and cruel creature. You will not harm these ponies any longer. You will be brought to justice for your crimes."
"I WI--" but she was cut off as Luna summoned a metal muzzle out of thin air and clamped it over Vespera's mouth. The Queen simply continued struggling as Luna turned away from her and looked to Spitfire and Hazel, her expression softening just a bit as she focused on Hazel. "Now, we wi-" but Hazel cut her off as with her own wandering eyes she caught sight of an injured blue pegasus cradling something small and brown in his hooves.
"Speckles!" Hazels voice cried out as she sprinted over to where the prone pegasus was. Spitfire was quick to follow after her, though with a bit more caution as she cast a look at the incapacitated changelings around them before kneeling down to where Hazel was trying to talk to the stallion. Luna followed shortly after making sure that there were no more changelings in their vicinity.
"G-give me my baby!" she would say while prodding at the unresponsive stallions side. Spitfire would try to calm Hazel as she placed a hoof on her back. "Hazel.. come on, relax."
The stallion only seemed to respond when the towering form of Princess Luna popped over the heads of the two pegasi mares, one eye was firmly shut and the other widened and his lips curved into a small grin. The first thing he did was shakily raise a hoof up to his forehead, "Li-lieutenant Spear H-head.." he grunted out. "Sorry.. had to make sure.." he said while turning his gaze over to Hazel and finally relaxing his grip.
Hazel easily spread his hooves open and took in the sight of the small sleeping figure of Speckles huddled close against his chest, she felt tears pricking at her eyes before she leaned in and snatched him out of Spears grasp and pressed him close to hers as she wrapped her hooves firmly around his body. Holding him as if he would disappear at any moment. She only broke from the hug as she sat on her haunches and took in the state of Speckles as he let out soft snores.
He had bruises and cuts all along his body, but what worried her most was the large and darkly colored bruises around his neck. The tears only fell faster as she whimpered and held him close once again. Spitfire looked at Speckles and only winced and tried to look away to save face but she was pulled into the embrace by Hazel, causing her to smile softly as she reciprocated.
Princess Luna on the other hand, was happy at the results, but she was a bit worried over the sight of the royal guard, Spear Head. He was trying to push himself back onto his hooves, but was clearly struggling as his knees shook before buckling underneath him. She caught him with her magic and set him gently back onto the floor as she gave him a small smile as he looked up at her through his one opened eye.
"You did good, my sister would.." she stopped before shaking her head. "I am proud of you, now rest." she said while bending down and pressing her horn against his head, causing him to fall unconscious.
She stood back up and looked at the other ponies in the room, she had no place in their celebration. So she simply materialized an ink and quill in front of her, quickly using her magic to write out a small note before signing it and rolling it up. She looked over to the two mares and not wanting to ruin their moment, floated the rolled up letter over to Spitfire and gently slipped it into one of the crevices of her armor.
She then closed her eyes and flashed her horn, all of the ponies but her were transported back to Canterlot castle, specifically the infirmary.
Luna remained in the remains of the changeling hive with new found determination in her eyes, she would clear out the rest by herself.
To be continued..
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Sleep and rest and I wish good tidings your way.
Still can't wait till he meets Princess Cadance, if he meets her anyway.
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with how the changlings say he is apparently an unlimited sorce of love i would guess that they would get along
God damn, almost had heart attack seeing update to the story XD
It was worth it 😃 and sweet dreams 😊.
Eyyy we're back!
Only a little disappointed that Spear wasn't actually a changeling considering all the negative coincidences that kept happening.
Whelp, time for some R&R!
nice ending for this ark, love luna's badassary :D
this queen's hive is one we can do without
Why do I get the feeling that it was a short part of the chapter to close the arch.
Aurora may have escaped.
I wonder if there’s another arc planned. Either way, I like this very much. Moar plez!
Rest well.
I cannot side with either Celestia's or Luna's action to this changeling threat all because Luna mentioned that "her sister has gone soft".
This sounds like a deeper issue with Celestia herself. After all, a millennia of ruling had to have refined her own method of dealing with crisis by clearing internal breaches. She's done this alone, specifically.
Celestia seems like she fell back to her method rather than let her sister handle the other part of the crisis like this search and rescue. I hope you won't put Celestia on blast by just making her obstinate without reason.
After ten thousand years this story awakens once more to bring dar- I mean fluff and cuteness to the world!
So what was the whole "flashbang" about? Sorta not explained. Something that'll come up later?
Thank u 4 new ch can't wait 4 more
Thank you for the new chapter!
I wish you a long and furfilling life!
”Li-lieutenant Spear H-head” but luna thinks ”but she was a bit worried over the sight of the royal guard, Spear Hoof” so what is his actual name?
* Hits the author with a pillow* No sleep for you!
moore chapters plz been a while since the last on this dieing website
Seems to me that Spearhead is getting a love interest. Kids mom is single isn't she and he just saved her kid.
Someone is getting lucky tonight.
Monk
I'm worried 😟 that the Changeling will not get a redemption ark but....
That was a really cool 😎 chapters
Reading 📚 how his Mom react to his Injures has a nice touch it made me tear 😢 up a bit in a good way.
I hope there isn't a changeling redemption ark. Even if they turn over a new leaf there will still be changelings out there who kidnap people, just make a spell that focuses on one species and put a kill switch on them.
I don’t care if the changelings get a redemption arc. Although it would be very mlp-ish for them to get with. I doubt they will though because this story clearly isn’t shown in the same candy & sprinkles lenses that the show is.
Well, he had my suspicion, but I'm glad Spear Head seems to actually be a pony.
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I honestly hope they don't. Not in this story.
Speckles should have used the time stop to take the sword and kill the queen, or at least completely disable her. That was a life or death situation and getting clever backfired on him.