Changing Expectations: Reflections

by KKSlider

Phasma Is Considerably More Evil But He Is The Main POV Character So It’s Okay 3/4

I examined myself in the white suit. It complimented the dark color of my chitin quite well. At least, I think it did. I had next to no knowledge about fashion.

"What do you think, Coxa? Gold highlights? Red? Orange?"

The drone looked over, scowling. "I think you should reconsider."

"There’s nothing to consider.”

"And if they figure out what we are?"

"Then we pod them," I said simply.

"Considering the mess you left behind in Hooferville, I doubt things will go that smoothly."

I turned to Coxa, “We don’t have a choice. We need allies, Coxa. We need them. You… you have no idea how powerful Daybreaker is. We can’t fight her alone. We can’t.”

He stamped a hoof, "You know this is stupid. It's too hot right now! There's an entire battalion of Royal Guards in the city!"

I chuckled and shrugged, "Seaddle’s a big place. Any response they can muster will take time. If things go wrong, we can clean up and be gone before the fuzz have time to put their boots on."

“These guys aren’t even worth it,” Coxa said, gesturing towards the closed doors behind us. “They’re low-lives. Criminals. Civilians without morals. Ponies! Why can’t we find allies elsewhere?”

“There is no elsewhere, Coxa.”

“What about the bat ponies? Didn’t they have an army promised to Nightmare Moon?”

A shiver went up my spine, “The drones I’ve sent to Vallachia haven’t returned, Coxa. Whatever’s going on there, they have gotten good at keeping outsiders out. I sure as hell won’t be going to them undisguised– there’s no telling where their allegiances lie. We’re doing this, Coxa. We need whatever help we can get.”

Coxa grunted as I passed him, "Your funeral."

"Been there, done that, got the t-shirt," I waved his concerns away.

I magically shed my clothing, prying off each piece and folding them, keeping the whole two piece suit together in my magic as orange flames wrapped around my body. Using the Thread of Change, I adopted my Unexpected Value disguise and began redonning my suit.

By the time I was putting my tie back on, I was shouldering open the doors to the dirty warehouse. Inside. A crowd of both ponies and disguised changelings were arguing. Now, my drones outnumbered the ponies two to one, but the ponies didn't know that. Not when it was their friends and comrades next to them that had also been replaced.

When they saw me enter, the heads of the mob of prey turned my way, firing off very menacing glares at me. I put on a grin and waved to them all..

"Well well well, if it isn't the stallion of the hour," A stallion in a black suit and red tie said.

I knew he was the leader of the Dockyard Hounds. Anything past that didn't matter- save, of course, for his swanky outfit.

"Haha, sorry I'm late! Had to do some last minute shopping."

Another gang leader, the pegasus godfather of the Seaddle Stewards, sneered at me, "You kept us waiting for a poundin' shopping trip?!"

I chuckled as I struck a pose, “Totally worth the expedience fee! Now, I am here, let’s skip the pleasantries and get to the heart of the matter; who here wants to commit High Treason?”

---

Staking out a potential lead was one of the most boring parts of the job.

Long hours of waiting in cafes, in cold carriages, sitting in parks, whoever they could. Being a member of the Seaddle Regular wasn't a thankless job- it was true what they said about mares and uniforms- but it was a grueling one at times.

Detective Long Stand scratched his neck as he stared through binoculars. His spot on the roof of the apartment building gave him a remarkable view into the shattered northwest window of the warehouse. So he waited for hours in the cold, light drizzle. There were ponies in there alright; Long had counted at least thirty ponies entering, and only eight leaving. Through the window, he could see them congregate in the center of the empty structure.

Behind him, the roof access door swung open on rusty hinges. The sound made Long flinch, but Private Curtain's nasally voice made him flinch even harder.

"Any changes?"

"No," Long Stand growled back. "And if there are any changes, I'll send Sparks down to you. There's no need to bother us every five minutes!"

Sparks waived from his spot beneath the raised edge of the building.

Private Curtain shrugged, "If you two get spotted and nabbed, it would be my job to discover that."

"Celestia willing," Long muttered, returning to his binoculars. "... Hang on."

"What?" Came the nasally reply.

The crowd of ponies broke up into a dozen fights. Not an unexpected outcome, given all the marks attending this clandestine meeting.

".... Something's changed. Looks like the targets are getting heated. Guess nopony else is showing up, get the colts rolling."

Private Curtain shuffled his wings, "Finally!"

The door creaked shut behind Long Stand. Long Stand turned back to the shattered window. This time, he spied more than just ponies inside. The thugs weren’t just fighting each other, there was an entire ravenous horde of changelings in there!

"... Oh cowpies! Curtain! Private Cur- ah, buck he's already gone! Sparks, go tell them there's changelings present in Seaddle! Code Green! Code Green!"

Through his binoculars, Long Stand could only watch the slaughter.

---

I had found the limits of my diplomatic skills. They were, unfortunately, quite a bit closer to outright violence than I liked.

The various ponies and their henchmares were shouting at each other, and at me. Mostly at me.

"Kill them all," a familiar voice cooed into my ear.

I ignored Chrysalis's specter. Giving the ghost some credit, that would have been her exact advice, anyways.

"You know it's true," I insisted. "The searches are becoming more frequent, the patrols more often, the bribes more costly! The E.U.P. are condoning the city in all but name! And this is happening everywhere in Equestria! We have to band together if we want to survive! You all know what they’ve done to Manehattan- the crackdowns, the random searches, the papers requirements… Let them have any power, and they’ll bring the hammer down!"

Also it would be remarkably easier to simply replace each of the leaders.

"Lick your own length, coltcuddler!" The Seaddle Stewards' leader yelled.

"So much for civility," I sighed.

"Like hay I'm ever working with you!" Another growled at me.

"Together, we can turn the tide!" I insisted. "We outnumber those reds and blues three-to-one, even with the golden boys from uphill! We can run this town how we please! Can you dig it, do you understand what I’m getting at?! We can take control of this city! We can force ‘em out and keep ‘em out!”

"Buck you!"

“You can’t say I’m wrong,” I insisted. “The pressure has only been building, and it’s going to keep building. None of us can get into Manehattan with the way it is, and now you’ve seen the signs that the same will happen here in Seaddle. We must stand together, lest we fall apart!”

“Fighting is suicide!” The Seaddle Stewards' leader snapped at me. “I don’t need some jumped-up carpetbagger telling me how to run my business, foal! Did you honestly expect us to just drop everything and listen to somepony who’s still wet behind the ears?!”

I sighed and whispered to my disguised lieutenant next to me, "This isn’t working.”

The disguised drone frowned, "Orders, sir?"

Through the Weave, I silently commanded, "Plan A has failed. Prepare for Plan B."

'... We can pod them all. It'll be a tight window, and the initial scuffle will be loud enough to have the fuzz coming down on us. But… we've had practice. We can make the timing. Pod every pony, get them out the doors and into carriages. It can work. Bur that Royal Guard battalion… The timing will be different. Changed. Can we still make it? What other alternatives do we have?'

"Kill them all," Chrysalis whispered again.

This time, I found myself nodding slowly.

'Forty leaders and Lieutenants. I can spare the lings to replace them. Mmm…. I don't want to. Let's say a fight knocked off a number of the Lieutenants and muscle present. I can whittle that figure down to… twenty four replaceables. Claim the Royal Guard got the rest. Yeah. It can work. But what to do about the ponies themselves..'

I stomped my hoof on the ground. The loud clop was not as intimidating as I liked, but these days I was making do with what I had.

I spread my hooves wide to my unknowingly-captive audience, "Ladies! Ladies! We must adapt! We must change! These are hard times, but the strong will survive! Now, I ask you all, will you adapt and thrive? Or will you fight and starve? Feast… or famine?"

The various 'Up yours, buddy' and 'buck off, sidewalk licker' responses were all that I got in return for my offered olive branch.

Shrugging, I gave the final command, "More for us, then. Because tonight, we feast!"

The second part I shouted aloud and through the Weave. The drones, dispersed throughout the warehouse room, acted as one. The ponies were ready for a fight. They had drawn close in their little wedges of Loyalty, mimicries of their territorial lines across the island. But my loyal subjects transcended their pathetic territorial disputes.

The ponies expected a fight. Hell, so did my drones. But my Weave order was an unmistakable signal. I was crying havoc and letting slip the dogs of war.

It was time to feast.

My drones, not ones to ignore an order or pass up the chance, turned the room into a feeding frenzy. Disguises were shed, spells were thrown, and some limbs were torn clean off as they savagely beat down the ponies around them and consumed their love. The ponies put up a fight when they had the chance, but there wasn't much of one to begin with. The drones went wild, and were practically fighting over the chances to quadruple their monthly love rations in a single day.

I stood in the middle of it all, lending a helping hoof at taking down the more troublesome prey. That Seaddle Stewards fellow was particularly stubborn, but a well placed buck folded his hind leg the wrong way and sent him to the ground, where a pair of changelings sucked his love out, leaving him nothing more than a husk.

"Should have taken my offer," I mocked his corpse.

Somewhere behind me, Sloth chuckled.

I had recorded the identities of the important ponies in my Weave. We had no need to preserve bodies for identification. The unicorn who attempted to stab me in the chest with a conjured knife was rewarded by me grabbing him with my magic, draining him till his fur fell and skin shriveled, and dropped his desiccated corpse to the floor.

That was when the city and Royal Guard both arrived in force.

---

Private Iron Curtain clutched his spear as his squad surrounded the West primary bay door.

When the order came to breach, they followed through without hesitation. In perfect form, they lined up, the unicorn specialist blasted open the metal bay door, and they rushed in, spears and spells at the ready.

Curtain faltered.

A blue unicorn in a blood-splattered white tuxedo was staring back at them. Around him, a field of dead or dying ponies was being picked over by a Swarm of changelings. Four ponies were incinerated in green flames before his very eyes.

At the unicorn’s hooves, a dying, wretched remains of somepony pawed at the ground, trying to drag himself towards the Royal Guards and away from the blood-splattered pony.

“H… help!” The dying pony’s lips mouthed.

The menacing unicorn pointed at the dumb-struck squad and spoke two words which spurred every one of the changelings into action.

"No witnesses!"

Hell descended upon Private Iron Curtain. He and his squad formed up, throwing out stun spells, shields, and spear jabs that would have divided and conquered any unorganized, lesser foe.

But today, they were fighting the Swarm of the Fifth Hive.

---

Clack clack. Clack clack. Clack clack.

Coxa looked up at me. I watched him from the doorway, swaying side to side as the train hustled along its tracks.

“You keep standing there and people are gonna mistake you for a statue.”

Shutting the sliding door behind me, I sighed wearily as I flopped into the seat across from Coxa. The drone continued to stare at me, the book in his hooves forgotten.

“How are you holding up?”

I turned an eye his way, “Fine, technically.”

“Meaning?”

“Daybreaker… It’s not something you shrug off. Even months later, the feeling remains…” I trailed off as I pressed against the exposed side of my chest.

“Next time, you’ll have backup,” Coxa said. “Next time, you’ll have us. Also, these artifacts from Nisir should help tip the scales in our favor.”

I pushed myself upright, “There won’t be a next time.”

“How are we gonna defeat Equestria without defeating Daybreaker?” Coxa questioned.

“I don’t know,” I said quietly. “But it was made painfully clear the difference between us. I see why the Legions retreated in their entirety; a Nightmare-possessed Alicorn can swing a love-fed royal like we’re nothing but a wooden baseball bat.”

Coxa shut his book and placed it on the empty seat next to him, “So what? We just give up? Wait for the Inquisitors to dig us out of every hole we hide in? We let them run Locksdale uncontested?”

“We need to get the Elements of Harmony,” I said, rubbing my head. “They killed Envy. Princess Luna is proof of that. We just need them to be used on Daybreaker…”

Coxa frowned, “Tough sell. If they were gonna use them on Daybreaker, they’d have done so already. How do you plan on convincing them to switch sides? Ask nicely?”

“Maybe.”

He snorted, “Good one. Seriously, any ideas? Any at all?”

“Ask nicely.”

“Phasma, do you have any idea what’ll happen if they use the Elements on you?”

I shrugged, “Unless there’s an entire moon I don’t know about named Phasmatodea or something, I think I’ll be safe from banishment.”

“They turned the Draconequus into a statue for several thousand years. They might banish you to the moon all the same. Or they might…”

I raised an eyebrow, “What?”

Coxa shifted in his seat, “I heard about what happened. What Daybreaker said. What it called you. That demon called you a Nightmare.”

“Lie to him,” Praetorian Weevil whispered, suddenly lounging on the seat next to Coxa. “Lie, or I take away every gift and leave you to die again. Or worse.”

I stared at the hole in his neck.

“... Don’t be ridiculous, Coxa. I’m me. If I wasn’t me, you’d know.”

Coxa scratched his head, “Yeah, but… Don’t act like your magic changing color isn’t as obvious as a taste of love. I’ve read up on that shit; the prissy unicorns of Canterlot all agree, it’s bad. What’s going on with you, Phasma?”

I gestured to myself, “I’m fine, see? I don’t know why my magic is that muddy brown. Shit just keeps happening, I don’t have answers. I’m not a local like you guys. One day, my horn wobbles. The next, I learn I’m some freak genetic experiment designed in a lab. The day after that, I kill my best friend. I don’t have answers… Maybe Daybreaker sees me as some Nightmare because that’s what I am? A soul possessing a body designed by Chrysalis?”

“All the more reason to stay away from the Elements,” Coxa muttered.

“What choice do we have? If we keep going the way we are, we’re dead.”

“Can’t you… you know?” Coxa waved his hooves at me, “Use your dream magic stuff. Talk to the Elements– or even Princess Luna through dreams. That’s a lot safer than meeting up in person.”

I gritted my teeth, “I told you, I can’t do that. It was all Nightmare Moon. Ever since she died, I haven’t had any more nighttime visitors.”

“One night at one of our speakeasies can fix that,” he smiled.

“Coxa, this is serious.”

His smile dropped away as he threw his hooves up, “Well? What do you want me to say?! Lace and Thorax are dead?! That we’re going to join them before long?! That our species spent its last chance at survival, and now we’re just a flame sputtering out?! There’s always a way forward. You, Oest, and I can take on any challenge Panar throws our way, you’ll see.”

“Then we better start coming up with something that can convince the Elements to save our sorry asses.”

Coxa picked his book back up, “Or find some other way. It’s there, Phasma. We just have to find it.”

I stood up and headed for the door.

“Going already? You just sat down.”

“I can’t sit still,” I answered. “I’m going to go over our haul. Maybe your other way is in one of the crates.”

I shut the door behind me and shouldered my way past the Red Right Hoof soldiers standing guard. Stepping through the rear door, I was met with a blast of cold air and snowflakes. We were still pretty far north, still close to Shimmervale and the mountain that held Nisir. I paused before entering the next train car. The cold bit through my chitin, and the noise made my ears flop backwards on instinct, but I took a moment to take in the sight of the snow flurry illuminated by the carriage’s lights around me.

One of my ears flipped upwards, rotating towards the storage car ahead of me. But it wasn’t sound that alerted me. It was emotion. There weren’t supposed to be any ponies here. Not on this train.

Quickly, I cast a sound amplification spell that Sloth taught me, directing it towards the empty storage carriage. The sound of voices strained to be heard over the loud clacking of the train wheels….

“What is this stuff?”

“That’s a magical artifact. Definitely a powerful one– don’t just drop it! Put it back gently.”

“Err, right. Sorry ‘bout that, sugarcube.”

“Where did they get all this crud?”

“Not sure. Clearly, whatever they were after in Shimmervale, they found it. What do you think, Twilight?”

“Eee!”

“What?!”

“Ahem, sorry! It’s just… Daring Do just asked for my help!”

As the voices started bickering about what was or wasn’t considered help, I glanced back at the door behind me and let the scrying spell fade away. If the Elements of Harmony were here, then I would need backup to take them down. With Oest and Coxa at my side, we should be able to subdue them rather easily. ‘Should’ being the key word there. But… if they were hurt badly, or even killed, they might never listen to us…

‘Or maybe this is my chance to convince them. To take the final plunge and lay it all out before them. They might kill me… or they might listen. There’s not a single army in the world who can put an end to Daybreaker’s ineffable wrath, but there were six mares who could.’

My reflection in the door’s glass window bared its fangs at me

“Careful now,” Sloth warned me with my voice and face. “You know what that can do to us. You said it yourself: they can and will obliterate a Nightmare!”

“I’m not a Nightmare, you are,” I snapped back at my reflection.

“Are you sure of that? Are the Elements sure of that?!”

The thought of dying again caused me to reach up and feel my heartbeat through my chest.

‘I don’t want to die… But if I don’t take the risk, I will die anyways. We all will die.’

“Coxa is right,” Sloth said. “There is another way.”

“No.”

“There is,” the Umbrum insisted.

“You’re lying,” I hissed. “No, I know you’re just as terrified as I am, but this has to happen!”

“Don’t–”

Dark brown flames covered me from horn to hoof, replacing my chitin with gray fur. It was my blown disguise, Oroboros. This time, I switched from being a pegasus into a unicorn. The change would probably tip the ponies off, but I might need every edge I could get.

I was terrified, no point in lying to myself about that, but determined to try something.

The dark magic in my veins writhed as Sloth made his anger known. I ignored him. Twenty seconds was all it took to etch the carvings onto the train coupling. Twenty seconds to seal my fate, one way or the other.

Opening the door to the storage car, I stepped through and shut the door behind me before I could change my mind. My eyes darted across the dark single room, scanning the silhouettes of boxes for the ponies. My heart pounded in my chest as I forced myself to take deep breaths.

I was thankful that I was the one who could sense emotions, and not them. If they knew how afraid I was… Well. Would they do anything differently?

Atop one of the stacks of crates, Daybreaker glared down at me, her fiery visage lighting herself up.

“Turn back. Now.”

Blinking, I whispered quietly and quickly, “I’m doing this. You want to throw me off and destroy any chance we have at living? If I mess up, we’re both dead!”

Daybreaker vanished in the blink of an eye. A quiet voice near the back was cut off by a louder ‘Shhh.’

Slowly, I reached over and flicked the magical light switch next to the door. It operated similar to a normal one, just without any wires. Crystal lights on the roof of the cart flicked on, illuminating the room in a slight yellow tinge. I noted the fact that several of the boxes had been unfastened from their places. These were the ones that the ponies had opened.

Clank. Clank. Clank.

Each step I took brought me back to entering Chrysalis’s lab for the first time. The sound of my hooves echoed across the metal floor in a similar fashion. This time, I had a lot better of an idea of the potential fates that awaited me.

I could sense them. They were spaced out on either side into four distinct clumps. The rear two had a jumble of more emotions, meaning more ponies. The first two were… No, first three. There was a third source of emotions, so faint I missed it at first.

‘Division-P training. That must be the Daring Do pony Twilight Sparkle was talking to.’

I closed my eyes and focused everything on calming down. My breathing slowed as I got some semblance of control over my heartbeat. I gave myself four seconds to prepare.

‘One for the money. Two for the show. Three to get ready… and four to go!’

Opening my eyes, I walked further into the carriage.

Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank.

I came to a stop in the middle of their ambush. They hid behind crates with varying levels of success. The two vanguard groups– one of them being a single pony, the other two at most– were the best at hiding. I saw a bushy pink tail sticking out from behind one of the crates at the very rear of the carriage, betraying their position as obviously as their emotions did.

Turning slowly, I examined the nearest crate.

“These were all bound down tightly when we set off,” I said loudly. “I suggest you make yourself known before I throw you overboard and into the snow, stowaway.”

They sprung from their places with admirable speed. A yellow pegasus cut off my exit. A cream earth pony crouched low next to the pegasus, some sort of wooden wand clutched in her teeth. The Elements of Harmony formed up on the other side, towards the rear. Twilight Sparkle stood a pace ahead of the others.

“... I remember you,” I told the unknown earth pony. “From Manehattan, that night Daybreaker came for us. You were there.”

For all the excitement they felt, there was little fear to speak of. Either they didn’t know who I was, or were far too confident in their own numbers and abilities.

“Oroboros,” the yellow pegasus declared, “by the order of Princess Daybreaker, you are under arrest.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“I would have thought that Daybreaker’s pet would be the one making the arrest,” I said, pointing to Twilight Sparkle.

“Hey! I’m nopony’s pet!”

“Come quietly, sugarcube,” Applejack said. “Ain’t no reason for anypony to get hurt.”

“I don’t really do quiet,” I said. “Besides, you’re all stealing my things. Do you know how hard I worked for all of this?”

“You stole it from its rightful owners,” Rarity piped up. “That much is clear.”

“These are ancient artifacts,” the yellow pegasus added. “Whoever the owners are, I’m certain they aren’t you!”

“They are mine by right,” I snarled.

“They belong in a museum, you have no right–”

I stomped a hoof against the metal ground, “I have the only right!”

The action put everyone on edge. The unidentified Division-P earth pony pointed the wand at me. The pegasus splayed her wings out– nearly whacking her compatriot. The Elements took a step back.

Twilight spoke up next, “I don’t see how raiding some ancient ruin gives you any right to any of this, but maybe we can talk it over.”

“Yeah, in Canterlot!” Rainbow Dash added with a grin.

‘Right. Talk to them. Here goes nothing…’

I took a deep breath, “There’s nothing in Canterlot that awaits me other than death.”

“If you surrender, Princess Daybreaker will show mercy,” the cream pony said. “Nopony will die.”

“You think she even knows what mercy is?” I countered.

Twilight bravely stepped forward. When I swiveled around to look at her, she froze.

“Oroboros… We know who you are. Or rather, what you are. If you want to prove that there are two sides to every story, you have to come with us.”

“Don’t fight,” the Division-P pegasus warned me.

“Daring, let me handle this. Err, I mean... please?” Twilight added. At the pegasus– Daring Do’s silence, Twilight continued, “It’s not hard to guess. First Hooferville, then Manehattan. Alicorns don’t grow on trees– trust me, I’ve checked– and neither do their counterparts.”

“Go on, then,” I told her. “Say my name.”

“...You’re Prince Phasma.”

I gripped the Thread of Change, and will away my disguise. The ugly brown flames washed over me, and I rose above the ponies.

“It’s King, now,” I said as I stood before them all undisguised.

“Didn’t the Princesses say his magic was orange?” Rarity questioned.

“So, will you come with us?” Twilight asked.

I made an effort of looking around at them, “Why would I do that? Daybreaker will rip me to pieces and polish each one into a trophy.”

Several of the Elements paled at that, nausea coming strongest from Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkamena.

“Nopony’ll hurt you,” Applejack insisted. “We swear it. And we’re the Elements of Harmony! We ain’t gonna break any promise we make!”

I ignored the pink one’s furious nodding, “Daybreaker makes no promises. She makes no oaths. I know about Locksdale. I know what the Princess of the Sun does in the dark.”

“What… are you talking about?” Twilight questioned.

I turned and nodded towards the Division-P agents, “Tell them. Tell them about Locksdale.”

The two of them shared an unsure look.

“Daring? Sweetie?” Fluttershy whispered. “What is King Phasma talking about?”

The earth pony– Sweetie, by process of elimination– cleared her throat, “I’ve heard of it, but not what goes on inside. It’s where the captured changelings are sent.”

“Rumor travels twice around the world before the truth even has time to put its boots on and get out the door,” Twilight said. “That’s what the Princess told me. Surrender peacefully, and we will make sense of everything together.”

“... You still have to answer for Hooferville,” Sweetie growled.

“Oh Harmony,” Rarity whispered. “I forgot about that.”

“It was self defense,” I countered. “The guards attacked me.”

“A hundred ponies are dead because of you!” Sweetie insisted.

I worked my jaw in frustration, “That wasn’t my fault. How could I have known? Besides, they weren’t even town guards, they were Royal Guards. It wasn’t their duty to defend against monster attacks.”

“It was their assigned duty,” Sweetie insisted. “And you put every single one of them in the hospital. When the rats came…”

“Not. My. Fault.” I growled. “I didn’t know. Couldn’t have known. I refuse any blame leveled my way. I’m just trying to save as many changelings as I can!”

“Sweetie–” Twilight started.

“Your actions have consequences,” Sweetie pressed.

“... Sweetie is right, Twi,” Rainbow said. “We can’t ignore that.”

“Which is why we’re placing you under arrest,” Daring picked up. “I think we can all agree that a lot has happened in the past six months. A lot. From the Invasion to wherever these magical artifacts came from, there’s a lot you have to answer for, King Phasma.

Twilight added, “If you are confident in the answers you have, then you don’t have to be afraid.”

Daring continued, “But you do have to surrender and come with us. Right. Now.”

I felt the hair on the back of my neck raise. A vestigial reaction, considering there was nothing but a red fin there. A ghost of what I once was, and a reminder of the stakes…

‘Okay. Okay. Right right right– I can’t– but I have to. They haven’t convinced me. I don’t… I need to try again, if I tell the Elements about Locksdale–’

The wand that Sweetie held lit up in a blue glow. I melted into shadow as a zap of lightning shot, crackling with energy and slicing through where I was.

“No!” Twilight yelled.

“You missed!” Daring yelled.

‘So much for peace,’ I thought darkly.

“I told you so,” Sloth cooed.

With a mental sigh, I activated the magical enchantment I had carved onto the train coupling. The ponies were all turning their heads to look up at me, where I clung to the ceiling in a half-shadow form, when the train lurched forwards. All of them stumbled as we began slowing down.

“What the hay was that?” Applejack yelled.

The ponies looked towards the front of the car.

“The brakes?” Daring questioned.

“The coupling,” Sweetie said, pointing at the window. Through it, the lights of the next train car were rapidly shrinking. “We’re braking automatically. He cut us off from the rest of the train!”

The ponies all looked back up at me.

Still half shrouded in my shadow form, I swallowed, “If I am coming with you, the rest of my subjects are certainly not. While I am willing to risk my life, I am not allowing any risk to them.”

“That’s… very selfless of you,” Twilight remarked.

“Over four hundred petty crimes were committed by the gangs connected to the Manehattan incident,” Sweetie quoted. “Forty felonies, too. We can’t just forget those.”

“Only forty felonies?” I repeated. “I would have thought you guys would have found at least one of the bodies by now. That number should at least be double that…”

“Bodies?” Twilight repeated.

I grinned down at her.

“Then you’d better be completely honest when you face Princess Daybreaker,” Applejack said. “And beg for forgiveness. As we said, she’s capable of mercy, but killin’ ponies…?”

My smile faded as I slithered down the wall and coalesced at the front of the train.

“Right. Facing Daybreaker…” I whispered. “I’ll have to… put myself at the mercy of her whims.”

“She can be a fair judge,” Rarity said. “... When she feels like it. Which, if the rumors are true, are less and less often.”

“Before the truth gets out the door!” Twilight insisted, shaking a hoof at Rarity. “Look, King Phasma, you surrendered peacefully. That matters. Plus, if what we’ve heard is true, you weren’t exactly a friend of… of your mother. The Princess will be willing to listen to your story. If you have an adequate reason for… everything you’ve done, maybe she will let you go.”

Sweetie scoffed.

“Lots of maybes, there,” I pointed out.

“You’ve got no other choice than to trust us,” Rainbow pointed out. “Toughen up and face the consequences of your actions.”

I pressed a hoof against my chest, “Easy for you to say. The last time you saw Daybreaker, she didn’t crush your ribcage with a single stomp of a hoof. Do you know what they do to changelings in Locksdale?”

The ponies shook their heads.

With a sigh, I told them.

Comments

[tsaukpaetra]

It's always fun watching Twilight's worship of Celestia crumble. Though, as she's Daybreaker at the moment perhaps it doesn't count as much...

[harts fire]

wow Twi is really sucking the lies up.

it is going to be fun to watch the bubble explode.

[KatieBreeze]

“They belong in a museum, you have no right–”

This is so Indiana Jones omg xD Yoink cultural artifacts from their people so it can look pretty in Canterlots museum