• Published 10th Sep 2022
  • 1,362 Views, 35 Comments

A Kindled Beginning - Darkevony



Changeling Princess Chrys undergoes the biggest trials of her life... School, making friends, and living in the world above. For a small girl never having known life outside of complete darkness, this is a hard task!

  • ...
1
 35
 1,362

Chapter 6: As we go along,

Chapter 6:

As we go along,

The dark does not love anyone, for it does not pick a side on whom it chooses to hide. In the murky darkness, something begins to stir. Something sinister.

A quiet howl in the distance begins to shake the air, a din of everything awful. It seeps into every corridor, every crevice. It eats away at the dim glowing crystals like a black hole, consuming what little light they have left. The energies in those dark ancient tunnels shift each way and that, twisting and contorting with violence until they materialize from being drawn together into a single point. They shift into being a cloudy, tall figure with a maddening buzz, causing a cacophony of unconscious insect-like wings to follow along inspired by the noise. Inside the stillness of the guardian, the silence is replaced with the irreverence of that alien, otherworldly sound.

Then, just as quickly as it had appeared, the sounds grow quiet again and all that’s left behind is the normal night.

Yet, all the same, a small little changeling with distinct amber eyes had awoken to the sudden premonition that was quietly creeping into the lives of her and every pony in Ponyville. She could not have known the machinations of the Fate that was trying to coil at her throat, but she could sense it. Like a foreboding pit at the bottom of her stomach and a nettling in the back of her mind, it now rested in the corner of her soul somewhere deep inside.

The timing for it could not have been worse, however, for this night alone she would not allow herself to think about it. In the comforting embrace of two hearts intertwined after finally understanding one another, all other feelings were mute. Whatever may come her way, she would face it together with Twilight. Sinking back into the warmth of that hug, she carried on in her restful sleep.


That morning had not been an easy one for Twilight. All throughout breakfast her mouth could be seen opening and closing constantly in the direction of Chrys, not a word coming out of it as she did so. Even Spike could read Twilight’s ‘random’ behavior easily. The time was quickly approaching for Chrys to go to school once again, and there were still hundreds of questions she wanted to ask her. Even if she had to do so in front of Spike, Twilight needed those answers out of her before either of them could continue forward. She waited patiently and watched the little changeling eat the rest of her food before finally speaking up.

“Chrys... Are you sure you want to go to school?” Twilight asked very, very carefully.

Spike froze up at this still in the middle of eating his own meal. Twilight had explained a lot of the intricate details to him on Chrys’ behavior until now. If it had been a heavy topic for Twilight as an adult, no doubt it was a megaton one for the poor baby dragon. White as a sheet, he stood more still than even a statue. He made for an amusing sight with the fork he had been carrying over to his mouth now dribbling his food onto his lap with his open mouth only inches away from the morsel at the end of it.

“Mm.” The changeling nodded and took her plate over to the sink after having been done. This was not the answer Twilight had been looking for. There was nothing in Chrys’ voice that clued her into a resounding answer. In fact, the monotone way in which she had voiced that approval, was it? Well, it didn’t inspire anything more than an ‘okay’. In fact, Twilight had been really hoping to hear a capital ‘NO’ come out of her mouth so she could then finally have a good excuse to reevaluate the future with her best interests in mind. That or a capital ‘YES’, to feel at ease with letting her go to school per usual.

Worse yet, there was not a hint of an answer in her expression either. It felt like Chrys hadn’t even considered for a second not going, despite her reality. Which had been the case actually. Chrys had seen the promise to go to school as something that needed to be done at all costs.

So no, this was not the answer Twilight had hoped for at all.

At this point in time, Twilight was desperate to hear her complain. To hear her argue. To yell out her frustrations and to speak of what ailed her heart. Twilight needed these things to know how to diagnose her woes. Terrible luck of the draw for her that the girl she chose to concern herself with was Chrys of all creatures. For those answers would not be voiced with simple, surface-level prodding. If it had been hard enough for Twilight to ask her that simple question, the more complicated one felt almost impossible to speak out loud.

But she needed to know.

“Chrys... you’ve experienced the terrible feelings that ponies have for you, haven’t you...? With your eyes and your magic, I mean. Doesn’t it hurt you?” Twilight asked with much concern in her voice and with all the care you can imagine the purple nervous wreck to be. Both of those purple messes actually. Spike was ready to keel over in that air of drama having not been able to escape it in fear a single snag might shatter the shaky bridge the two had finally been able to construct yesterday.

The little changeling considered this question while she packed the homework sheets she’d finished earlier that same morning and the crude drawing she never had the chance to turn in, into her new saddle like some form of a backpack.

“Mm.”

“So... do you actually want to go to school Chrys? It would mean having to face that every day...” Twilight said, being more mindful of the inflections in her tone and the words she used to try to drive the idea that she wanted the honest truth out of her.

“Mm.”

.....

More half-hearted, monotone answers that did not betray the sense of duty Chrys felt. At this point, Twilight and Spike felt like they would break down from the tension. Perhaps Chrys didn’t fully understand what kind of sad things she had just confirmed for the two, and why the flame in their souls teetered wildly with guilt and sadness.

“But it’s just not fair! Chrys, why aren’t you saying no?! Forget school, stay here in the library with me. Help me with the books, cleaning, or we can just play around all day... I don’t know! Something! Don’t just accept it so easily!” Spike finally broke free from his stunned silence in a rather explosive way, his words being said on behalf of Twilight who had almost cracked too had it not been for his outburst.

Suddenly, small golden motes appeared on the noses of the two troubled creatures in the room with a familiar glow from Chrys’ magic beginning to fill the space around them. She had only learned this new version of the spell the day prior, but already she was finding a good use for it. They both looked noticeably calmer when the glow faded and the spell ended.

“Twilight, right. School, is, important. Help, um, changelings. Need go. I. Promised.” She said finally understanding that both of them needed a more concrete answer to accept this decision of hers. “It okay. I’m fine. I’ll, be, fine.” If words alone could fix a troubled heart, then Chrys would have never met them in the first place. It had helped no doubt, but they were still strongly against the idea.

For as much as they wanted to voice their complaints again, Chrys had inadvertently taught them both a very valuable lesson that morning. That they needed to stop being so sad, so angry, and so anxious about her circumstances. No one could know her like she knew herself, and even vise-versa despite the little changeling’s unique gifts. They could only stand to make her situation worse by allowing themselves to be another drop in the whirlpool of that negativity for her. She didn’t need someone speaking on her behalf. All she really needed was someone to love her. Unconditionally and always. To be a pillar of support whenever life inevitably got in the way. That’s the best thing they could do for her.

Considering this was Spike’s first time dealing with this kind of emotional ordeal, he was still none too happy with the arrangement regardless. The tiny little green fumes being exhaled from his nostrils and his soul’s flame betrayed his agreement. Thankfully for him, Chrys was very intent on keeping all of her promises.

“Forgot, homework. Twilight. Sorry.” Chrys spoke up after they were already outside of the library and about to set off for school.

“Oh it’s okay, Chrys, I’ll wait for you here,” Twilight said, not having known the cunning little plan concocted by the wily changeling princess. Or so Chrys thought. Twilight had already guessed what this was about after remembering she had already stuffed all her home assignments into her saddle.

With Chrys having gone back inside, she peered in sneakily through the half-open door at the sight of her giving Spike another magic-infused crystal for him to munch on, and ending that gesture by putting her forehead to his, making him recoil from “that mushy stuff”. Or so he had said not having realized how bright his own smile was.

Twilight gave Chrys a knowing smile as she watched the little girl practically prance in her happiness all the way to school. Perhaps this was just Chrys’ true nature. Her own form of selfish desire. She was happiest watching others be happy and reveled in the accomplishment of making that happen herself. In this, Twilight thought the little changeling reminded her of Pinkie Pie quite a lot.

Then Twilight had a strange series of ideas in her head all at once. Chrys was loving, kind, and even a tad bit timid which reminded her of Fluttershy. She was incredibly loyal to her promises, and to her friends which no doubt made her think of Dash. She was appreciative, giving, and generous, often sacrificing even her own health for others which made a certain white unicorn pop to mind. And she was deadly honest about how she handled her life and talked about its more serious issues considering everything that had happened until now. Twilight had never heard her utter a damaging lie.

Even considering her stunted speech, she could not imagine the little changeling telling a lie meant to hurt another. Chrys had so sincerely kept to the promise that Twilight had made with her to stay in her original form after all. It seemed as though she had learned a lot from her adventures in the past. To never again lie to herself about her own feelings, and about the things she needed or wanted to do. She had become a beacon of true honesty.

And finally, she remembered every little thing she’d heard from others and seen herself. Of Chrys’ inquisitive nature over learning new things. Twilight remembered the spell she’d asked for, studying it extensively to the point of mastering it. How she’d learn to use the personal version of it on others by touching them with her horn, all on her own. How she had asked Rainbow Dash to teach her how to fly. How she’d kept up with her vocal lessons every day, even going so far as to practice with the Queen... Finally, as she watched the little changeling gaze at the scenery and the ponies all around her during their walks around town with longing and wonder in her eyes, Twilight was reminded of herself.

With Chrys’ fear of magic having left her entirely since the events of the past and wielding it much more comfortably now... well, it was easy to see what this was connecting to in Twilight’s mind, no? Every creature in Equestria had the capacity to embody any one element, even multiple at a time. But never in such perfect harmony.

Twilight couldn’t shake how strange it all seemed. Fate’s grand design perhaps? Who should stumble upon this wonderful little bag of love and magic if not for her and her friends? Whatever the case, Twilight was entirely grateful just to have met her.

And vice-versa.

For impressionable children were a product of their circumstances. A changeling like Chrys having been witness to the Elements of Harmony directly in their full glory after she’d felt them, there left little room for interpreting why it was she was making the efforts to be this way. Her previous adventure had changed the little changeling dramatically. From only being able to think about herself and her own needs to subconsciously trying to encompass those very same elements she felt trying to rescue her all that time ago.

That was the immutable fact of life. Freedom. Freedom to move your limbs the way you want them. Freedom to say the words you want to say. Freedom to choose how you interact with the world. The freedom to change your own life and your own thoughts. To be the embodiment of those elements if you so wanted. Everyone has the ability to make those choices.

Twilight watched the small girl wave her off after having been left at school. That bright smile of hers had shown her what Chrys had chosen for herself. Twilight had feared that she’d made a mistake in opening that cave and allowing Chrys to experience the negativity of the world above, but she finally understood how much of a blessing her actions had really been for her. Chrys would’ve never had any of these freedoms had it not been for her actions, and now Twilight understood why it must’ve seemed so important to the little changeling princess to assume responsibility for giving that same freedom to her own kind. To free them from the madness that robbed them of that.

In the face of all of that, what was school then?

“Mm,” Twilight muttered in monotone to herself as she walked away.

Well for one, school was a lot of things. To the average young filly, school was like... being thrown into a giant tumble dryer set to high alongside a couple of small pebbles to occasionally punch at you as they were batted this way and that.

For Chrys? You might as well have put her onto a quickly shattering ship in the middle of dangerous stormy waters as it listed down into a violent vortex of infinite depth, all while the darkened heavens of that impossible maelstrom around her voiced its anger with thunderous rage, rained its displeasure heavily, and the winds knocked at her footing with every step.

A smidge of an over-exaggeration admittedly, but this is what it felt like for her while she was gawked at, whispered about with suspicion, and avoided like a plague.

Thankfully, there were now five little ponies and one adult in that classroom who did not hold those contemptuous thoughts about her, so she was able to carry on with her studies with more heart.

And of these six ponies, three of them were the adventurous sorts who would not hesitate to venture into those stormy waters with her. They no doubt made all the time in the world to include their new friend in their play sessions.

“Avast! Drop anchor and prepare to stallion your stations!” Scootaloo yelled out, standing on her hind legs with a stick in one hoof holding it out as though it were a cutlass, with the other hoof adjusting her invisible tricorn and letting her Crusader cape billow in the wind. She looked mighty impressive standing above everyone on top of a bench in that rather commanding pose.

Annoyed that the three girls in front of her did not reciprocate this order, she tapped the stick to the bench loudly. “Sweetie Belle! You’re our navigator! Get on that wheel and start navigating gobnabbit!”

“Wait... I don’t know how to steer a ship.” Sweetie voiced incredulously.

“Argh! I don’t care if you’re still green around the horn. Just turn this ship around or we’re going to fall into the vortex!” Scootaloo yelled with more exasperation, immediately forcing the unicorn to pretend to put strained effort into a large, invisible wheel that was having a hard time budging because of the strength of an imaginary current. “And you two! Don’t just stare! Put your back into adjusting the sails with the rope! We need the winds if we’re gonna make it out of this alive, ya hear?!”

“Right away cap’n, sir!” Applebloom responded in a mix between her southern accent and pirate-lingo, saluting Scootaloo and getting onto one of the bench’s seats to start tugging at some rope with her mouth. Which just looked like she’d munched on air and was swaying her head back and forth.

“Mm!” Chrys imitated Applebloom’s salute and got to the other side of the bench’s seat to do the same.

They swashbuckled, navigated, and worked tirelessly to bring those masts up to sail. All throughout, a gleam could be seen coming from three of those children’s capes. A hexagonal gemstone in a dark blue with a yellow center. A gift Chrys had given them to imitate their Crusader emblem, which they now gladly adorned on their mantles.

Suddenly, everyone but Chrys who was still taking this whole thing very seriously stopped what they were doing as they were approached by the two young colts from before. It took her a bit to get the mental memo, only stopping when Sweetie Belle nudged her with a hoof.

“It’s you two again, what d'ya want?” Applebloom was the first to ask, her brows already furrowed with annoyance.

“What you guys were playing looked like fun, can we join?” Snips asked sincerely.

“What? We weren’t playing around! This is real Cutie Mark Crusaders training. We’re finding out if any one of us is going to get our Sailing or Pirating cutie marks.” Scootaloo barked back at them.

“Wait, I thought changelings don’t get Cutie Marks. Why is um, uhhh, Chrys, training with you guys?” Snails said in his usual slovenly way.

“She’s an honorary member of the crusaders, and she’s helping us.” Sweetie Belle replied.

“We want to help. Can we pla- I mean train with you too?” Snips and Snails were still intent on joining.

“Mm!” Chrys voiced her approval before any of the Crusaders could vehemently deny them the privilege of Crusader-only activities.

The Crusaders also learned a very important lesson that day too. That Chrys was a force to be reckoned with in her own right. Just TRY and deny that bright smile of hers. Turns out, it’s really, really hard.

“Alright, fine. But be prepared to get your bones grounded to dust in the work. Snips! Take point and get to the mast! We need to be on top of the storm!” Scootaloo yelled after rubbing at her mane with frustration for a bit and then pointed her stick towards the branch of the tree the bench was under.

“Aye aye, ma’am.” He saluted.

“It’s Captain to you, scallywag!” She dug up the Crusader’s patented telescope and tossed it his way.

“Yes! Captain, ma’am!” With that, he was off racing up the tree.

Scootaloo hit the bench with her stick again to catch Snail’s attention which had already waned. “You! Cabin boy! Get to the lower decks and prepare the cannons!” She hit the bench again to indicate that the lower deck was below the bench.

“Why do we need cannons in a storm?” He asked inquisitively, lazily taking up his role.

“In these dangerous waters, anything can be lurking beneath the sea. Now stop talking and get to it!”

While Scootaloo didn’t really have much of a part to play, she took it upon herself to add to the ambiance by imitating the sounds of high winds, the bulging of the ship as it creaked from the violent waves, and the thundering of clouds. Then “CRACK, BOOM.” She exclaimed as she purposely rocked the bench to the sides to roleplay them hitting a rock.

“I think we have a problem, Captain.” Said Snails while knocking on the bench from below. “We’ve got a hull breach, I think. Um. We’re taking in water.” He said with little gravity in his voice, taking them out of the experience.

“What?! Applebloom, Chrys. Tie the ropes and go help him. Board up the hole and dig the water out if you have to! Pronto!” Scootaloo commanded, both of them going over there to do exactly that, clanking at the bench seats and pawing at the ground to simulate the behavior.

Suddenly, Scootaloo began to whistle a tune that fell deeper and deeper as it went on, to signify that things were getting dire from something very large that had just appeared and was casting a shadow over the ship.

“What is this monster?! Snips! What do you see? Where are these giant tentacles coming from?!” Scootaloo yelled up at him, trying to make him catch a clue of what she was envisioning.

“I can’t really tell Captain, its body is beneath the water but it’s massive! I think it’s a... a K-Kraken!” He hammed it up.

“Sweetie Belle! Shake this thing off already! We’re gonna sink if it drags us down!”

“I can’t! The wheel won’t turn. I think it’s got a hold of the rudders!” She tossed herself to the side as though the wheel had turned itself with such a force that her grip on it had sent her flying. “Oh no! We’re going to sink into the vortex at this rate. It’s got the wheel!”

Scootaloo dug her stick in between the bench boards where Sweetie Belle had been steering before, in a show to make it seem as though her cutlass was stopping further manipulation of the wheel.

“This will buy us some time! Are the cannons ready?!” She yelled down at the trio below.

She got three taps from three separate hoofs on the bench from below in response.

“Then on my mark, get ready to fire...” She began to count down. “7...9...err 6...5...4...3...” She stopped at this point to add to the tension. “2... 2 and a half... FIRE!

Nothing. The trio from below didn’t quite understand how to make it seem like they had fired the cannons, so they were at a loss for what to do.

“I said fire those darn things! Fire! Blast off! Kaboom them!” She lay on the bench defeatedly, the trio popping up from beneath to shrug at her.

“Yeah, no idea what you want us to do, Scoots,” Applebloom told her.

“I don’t know, I’m the only one making the noises here. I was hoping you guys would replicate the sounds of explosions or something.” She said, not realizing Chrys wouldn’t have been able to help at all since she didn’t understand most of the things that were happening in this play session of theirs.

“Okay, but even if we did make some sounds, who would’ve voiced the Kraken after it gets hit? It needs to sound like it roared in pain. Besides, the Kraken thing was a far stretch. I just can’t picture it at all. We need props.” Sweetie Belle added from the side.

“Would take too long to get. Recess would be over by then.” Scootaloo thought for a bit.

“Why not get Chrys to morph into a squid? It’s pretty similar to a Kraken I think. Dunno actually.” Snails chimed in.

“Nice idea, Snails! That could work.” Snips replied from his tree perch.

They all turned to look at the little changeling expecting something, which made her shy away at this since she didn’t want to deny them their request. In the silence of their expecting gazes, she was going to have to explain to them why she couldn’t change her form in front of others. Or, wouldn’t, more like.

“Can’t. I promise. Twilight. No change, into pony. Or smart, race.” She said, disappointing them all which really hurt her to see.

Sweetie Belle perked up after a bit of thought. “Okay, but squids are animals, not ponies or other races. Are you allowed to transform into animals?” She asked her, hoping to find some loophole in this promise of theirs.

Chrys was quiet for a bit while she did the mental gymnastics in her head. Well, that certainly was one of the loopholes, wasn’t it? She had been fine with transforming into a rabbit to get through town that one time because she had thought it was okay. In a hesitating agreement, she nodded her head which made everyone happy again.

“But. Never, seen. Squid, not know how. Look.”

“Hmm... Transforming into the whole thing might be a bad idea anyway since you’d need water to breathe...” Sweetie Belle said after a bit more thought, making everyone feel down again. “Oh but wait, I just got another idea.” She got out the wedged cutlass stick and drew on the ground the tentacles that were supposed to be from the squid, considering they were much easier to draw. “Can changelings do partial transformations, Chrys? If you can imitate those tentacles with your hooves, we can make do with just the two since the body is supposed to be underwater anyway. We can just have you wiggle them around underneath the bench.”

Partial transformation? Chrys had never given it much thought since she didn’t often change her form, but she focused the mental image of that simple drawing in her head to carve the shape out of her foreleg into that of a tentacle, with partial success as the suction cups showed the hollowed-out parts of her foreleg.

The tentacle she had made were entirely cartoony. Chrys didn’t have a good mental image of what sea animals were like, after all. The texture was wrong since it was furry with her coat. The design was simple and cutesy because it was coming from a 2D drawing. And she couldn’t really imagine how it moved so it was as stiff as a normal hoof.

While this had made all five of Chrys’ friends happy that she was able to reciprocate their request, they had all glossed over something very, very important that entire time in their fun.

They weren’t alone.

The sheer theatrics of their display earlier had reeled in a crowd of curious and awed pony children, who were all hotly anticipating the continuation of this show they’d put on. After having witnessed this alien-like power of hers, their fear and disgust of her had only grown, having been scared off by it. Twilight had been wrong. It wasn’t just other ponies and races she should’ve avoided turning into... it was transforming at all. Just the thought of it was wholly unnatural to the pastel-colored children. If even adults feared the beauty of the Everfree forest because they thought it was not natural, then she might as well have been a monster to everyone who didn’t care to know her.

The Crusaders spent the rest of that recess comforting a shaken-up changeling princess after having felt and witnessed those emotions firsthand. Snips and Snails had made themselves busy defending Chrys in their own way by diverting the attention of Tiara and Silverspoon who had used that opportunity earlier to add fuel to the fire by commenting some very nasty, very hurtful things that a lot of the troubled onlookers latched onto mindlessly.

Unfortunately, there was no one to blame for this mess directly so they couldn’t enlist Miss Cheerilee’s help to fix this growing, awful feeling floating in every young pony’s heart. The teacher mare had certainly tried to help the only way she could, as she had tried to mend it in her own way by having a serious discussion with the class. But it had not helped. Words alone would not fix the public perception of her.

Even worse still, Miss Cheerilee’s increased attention and care for Chrys had started to grow the wedge that already existed between her classmates and her, thinking that she was brainwashing the teacher or some other terrible lie. They believed, without a second thought, all manner of falsehood that was propagated by the overly imaginative and fearful minds of pony children who did not realize what these lies could do to hurt another.

Even as her friends tried to fight those baseless rumors, nothing worked. Chrys’ position in her class, despite finally having had friends who cared for her, had only lowered that much more. Her friends were not aware of her powers either, so they couldn’t tell that the more they fought and concerned themselves for her sake, the more they were adding to that whirlpool of negativity.

So maybe those words from before were no exaggeration after all. Maybe it really did feel like being stuck in a sinking ship amidst a stormy sea. Who could say except for Chrys?

She did her best not to let it show how much it bothered her, however. If she could only make it home to Twilight and Spike, she had those that would help her walk off the hurt of the day.

Unfortunately, her problems did not end at school. For there was a new air of unease floating about the town of Ponyville. Strange happenings left and right. Whispers of odd things occurring in the dead of night. Hushed talks of inexplicable property damage as carts, stalls and even homes were left ruined. There were vandalisms of fields and gardens that were uprooted and desecrated from a burrowing something or other. There was also that recent stampede earlier too that was still in recent memory for everyone, almost having lost all of their homes in that trampling.

It was safe to say that every pony in town was on edge.

And then there were the sudden illnesses... Animals and ponies alike were falling left and right. Consumed by mental and emotional fatigue, but nothing concrete that could be remedied normally like an average sickness. They would eventually recover all on their own given time thankfully, but their testimonies of how that illness felt were concerning. Every pony who recovered would say the same thing. “I felt empty.” As though they’d been sapped of any emotion and feeling...

This was a horrible turn of events for Chrys since Twilight had busied herself with running damage control wherever she could, and they were spending less and less time together the more the days carried on. Even if Twilight had wanted to run away from this duty to be with Chrys, it was incredibly important that she work towards clearing the troubles that were cropping up in the town, and the rumors that were surfacing because of them.

Mostly because those rumors were connecting to Chrys...

She was only a child who hadn’t even hurt a single fly since she’d first arrived in town, but already the town believed she was to blame for these events. The townsfolk had only just barely slowed their concerns for her after hearing she was the one to thank for the stampede calming down in the end, but in light of the whispers and the rumors that were going around town, some ponies were beginning to doubt that was the truth.

What began as a small little scare of having used her form changing only that one time for something so innocently mundane had snowballed into the worst-case scenario. The grade school children who had spread all manner of awful rumors, unlikely how plausible or real those lies may have seemed, seeped into the normal everyday conversations for everyone with those rumors being passed from kid to kid, child to parent, and adult to adult. Now they were starting to whole-heartedly believe she’d been the one to cause the stampede, despite what Princess Twilight and her friends had said. They were thinking she was the one causing the damages, and that she was the one sucking out the emotions and feelings of the folks in town.

The pieces of the puzzle had fallen all too cleanly on this verdict too... as she was the only changeling anyone was seeing. The only creature who could’ve done something like this...

That feeling in the back of her mind and in the pit of her stomach was growing. Chrys could now feel that nettling premonition of something awful making its way to Ponyville. It loomed in the dirt, above the clouds, and rested in every home. It seeped into every corner, every crevice, and every facet of life for the ponies. And it was growing bigger and bigger every day.

It was as if the very world was growing mad...

There was also one other thing that was deeply concerning the changeling princess. It was the Queen and her brethren. Chrys knew something awful had happened simply from stepping into that cave every night. The changes that had happened to the cave were so tiny, so minute that there had been no way for Twilight to know what was transpiring. All she could do was guess from the gravely worried expression on the little changeling princess’ face that not everything was right. But even as she tried to press for answers, it turned out even Chrys could not know why these things were happening.

For the cave was strangely silent, not even with the hum of the cave’s usual atmosphere. The crystals in the corridors were entirely pale, not even illuminating an ounce in the pitch black. And the souls of every changeling and especially the Queen’s had become dimmer and weaker, barely more than whisks of flame struggling to stay alight.

The cave was dark. Very dark. Yet darker still.

Chrys shuttered as she remembered that otherworldly darkness inside the mad Queen’s all-mighty magic. Those tendrils of pure black that blotted out all light from the room. Even when their bodies had been illuminated by Twilight’s magic when she and her friends arrived to her rescue, everything else in that room had been completely black. The walls, the ceiling, the very ground beneath them. Like floating in the middle of an unnerving abyss of pure darkness.

Even though that wasn’t the case this time around, with Chrys and Twilight walking down the length of those ancient halls, it surely felt like it. It felt like the shadows of the stalagmites were reaching out to grab at their heels like the tendrils that had uncoiled to sap out their heart.

It had been over a week now since the start of those events. A week since those flames had been growing weaker and weaker. After concluding her duties for that day, Chrys could not bare being away from the cave any longer in her worry, and Twilight understood this very well after having been witness to that increasing worry of hers.

"Twilight, I need, stay. Look after, changelings. Something... wrong."

Twilight could not deny her this, no matter how strongly she wished to. There was work to be done on the problems that ailed Ponyville and precious few hours in the day to fix them. For this night alone, she had to allow it in order to afford herself the rest of that night to investigate the rumors and the happenings. In hesitating agreement, they went their separate ways for the first time in a while.

Both of them hoping against hope that tomorrow would come and yield better results.

Unfortunately, tomorrow arrived and nothing had improved. Thankfully, nothing had really worsened either. Yet... perhaps that wasn’t the whole truth as there was a strange lull in the air. In traveling to Twilight’s home in the normal hours of the morning, where there should’ve been a bustling atmosphere of ponies interacting with each other in the freedom of a weekend, there was now a deafening quietness to the streets of Ponyville with hardly a soul out and about in their usual form and factor. The warm feelings of unity and comradery had vanished entirely, and it had felt like the ponies had taken that feeling with them...

Chrys remembered the time when she had fallen from a tall tree and had severely injured herself. She remembered that voice that echoed throughout the valley almost immediately after. She remembered how her first wonderful experiences of the world above had felt like they were not being paid in full... How even the forest had become silent and empty... Blind, lost, alone, and restless, she shuttered violently at the massive shadows that were encroaching on the ship she was on...

“Chrys! What are you doing?! Get in here!” Whispered a voice from a familiar bakery. She followed it with haste after hearing the urgency in it and the emotion coming from behind the door. She was quickly pulled into it when she’d gotten close enough, with the door shutting behind her.

“Thank goodness you were okay. Something crazy is going on and my Pinkie sense has been going absolutely bonkers!” Pinkie Pie said within the dim light of the bakery, Chrys slowly adjusting to it and seeing her image first.

“It’s honestly a huge relief sugarcube, S’pecially after Twilight told us to keep an eye out for you since you weren’t sleeping over at her home today.” Applejack called out from behind her.

“Glad we have some good news for Twilight now at least. It wouldn’t bare thinking what could’ve happened to you darling.” Rarity spoke up. Chrys looked over to her only to reveal the visages of two familiar young fillies, Mr. and Mrs. Cake and the tots, and several other pony-folk that had been caught out in whatever was happening to the town.

“Where, Twilight? What, going on?” She didn’t understand the panic she was seeing in each of their flames.

“Twilight’s been handlin’ the mess out there. Nothin’s happened yet, but that’s what has everyone in such a buzz I think. Look out here, Chrys, you see ‘em small things?” Applejack walked to the window to point with her hoof at something on top of the roof of every home. She squinted to see what the orange cowboy was referring to, as those somethings were very small indeed.

Little round colorful balls with wings that just about blended into the pastel-colored houses were perched in massive numbers just about everywhere the eye could see. You could have hardly guessed they were there in their stillness, but focusing harder on any one of them and you could see them shutter awake every now and again, beating their small little dragonfly-like wings and opening their bug-like eyes for a few seconds, only to fall back to sleep.

They were kind of adorable in their own way as they slept on.

“It was her! She brought them here! They’re both bugs so it makes sense!” Some random pony said suddenly from the crowd behind them who had been staring daggers at her since she’d arrived. Chrys immediately slinked into the wall behind her, cowering from those emotions that erupted from every other unknown pony in that instant fully believing this statement.

“How dare you! You’re an adult and you’d say somethin’ like that?! First Granny Smith, then at school, and now all of you... Argh, what’s wrong with all of the ponies in this town?!?” Applebloom exploded with anger and frustration in her heart at this, getting in front of a teary-eyed Chrys to defend her.

“Now hold on Applebloom, they’re just panicked, I’m sure if we just expl-” Applejack had tried to reason before she was quickly interrupted.

“NO! Applebloom is right! This town is full of gullible dolts!” Sweetie Belle interjected.

“Sweetie Belle! A lady shouldn’t be saying such things.” Rarity tried reprimanding her with no success, as it bothered the white filly none to be seen as something else.

“I don’t care! Stay quiet sis. You have no idea how bad it’s gotten at school for Chrys. Every day we hear everyone making up lies about her. All she did was help us with our Crusader training when we asked her to transform her hoof into a tentacle, and everyone just freaked out. And now the adults are making it worse!” Sweetie Belle barked at her, giving Rarity as well as Applejack no room to fight her words considering the trio of adult mares really hadn’t known of Chrys’ dire circumstance. They’d been left out of the loop and hadn’t been purview to the rumors themselves.

“Only yellow-bellied cowards talk behind another pony’s back and believe lies they won’t confirm themselves! Here I thought you’d all learned from Zecora. But ‘guess not.” Applebloom’s eyes had furrowed quite intensely. “The parasprites aren’t even causing any damage. They haven’t moved all morning. I’m sick of this, we’re leaving! Let’s go hide out in Twilight’s library. Probably safest there for Chrys.” Applebloom motioned to Sweetie Belle to help Chrys up off the ground from where she had been quietly sobbing and moved out of the building with her in tow.

The grownups had not moved from where they were sitting, floored by the sad reality of the little changeling and trying to apologize to the townsfolk for the harsh words they’d just heard. Even if they wanted to stop them from heading outside, the two fillies had been right. They didn’t want to keep Chrys in the same room as all of these panicked ponies who had not changed their minds. Especially considering that the group of close friends had gotten the run-down from Twilight on Chrys’ unique abilities when she’d gotten sick. The only thing they could think to do was let them walk away towards some other place to hide. It was truly awful to think that this was happening to her everywhere around their town...

It’s just... something wasn’t sitting right with them. This didn’t seem like the Ponyville they knew. Surely everyone had really learned from their mistakes and their prejudices before. And maybe because the whole town was on edge, they could’ve excused a few rude remarks here and there... but it really felt like their very words had been twisted up by an outside force. They didn’t have the evidence or the proof to back it up, but now every pony of sane mind could feel the madness creeping into every inch of their lives. They could physically feel the premonition wrapping around their town too.

“Pinkie, are you sure there’s nothing we can do about the parasprites? You managed to lure them away once before, but why not now?” Chrys could hear Rarity’s voice speak from afar, still within her heightened earshot as the volume was beginning to lower with distance.

“I really did try! I had all the instruments ready just in case of a repeat like last time. But now they’re not budging. It’s like they can’t even hear the music. And my Pinkie sense is going absolutely wild... I feel something terrible is going to happen.” Their voices trailed off entirely now.

Being in the middle of the town’s roads alone, the trio of young girls felt very scared indeed. Every now and again the parasprites fluttered their wings for a second on occasion, making an insect-like buzz of from shaken air. With so many all around them, they could hear that buzz constantly and from everywhere... getting louder and louder still.

They nervously eyed the stilled creatures, the tension of the moment growing larger and looming over them.

In their distracted gazes, the three of them tripped over a couple of vases that loudly shattered with a resounding ‘CRACK’, and suddenly... every single sprite in the nearby vicinity opened their eyes to look towards them.

They were cute, sure, and weren’t in the habit of eating living creatures. But in such massive numbers like this, they might as well have looked like a monstrous swarm of preying eyes.

Sweetie Belle and Applebloom lost their cool altogether and began running away with all their might. Chrys hadn’t been too affected since she understood these creatures were pacified and didn’t mean them any harm, but the same could not be said for the other two. She chased after her two friends with all her might, trying to use her spell to calm them down but being unable to due to the distance they were putting between them. Before anything serious had happened, thankfully, they were met and stopped by the figure of the most courageous of the Crusaders, Scootaloo, having she swerved in front of them riding through town in her scooter.

The two fillies just about tackled her as they met, sending them sprawling on the floor. Chrys’ spell finally reached them and did its job while they were knocked on the ground, the two fillies easing up their terrified hearts.

“Ow, seriously, what’s up with you two?” Scootaloo shook them off.

“Sorry, Scoots, the parasprites are really scary when they all look at you...” Sweetie Belle tried to reason.

“Never mind that! Something big is afoot. More so than those sprites. I went around your houses to look for you but no one was around, so I grabbed these just in case while I was there. Put ‘em on.” Scootaloo got their cloaks out of her scooter’s basket to hand them over.

“You really want to Crusade? Right now? You got a few nuts loose, Scoots.” Applebloom said as she and the other two girls obliged her, not having realized she might’ve also had a few loose herself by not denying her request.

“Twilight asked Rainbow Dash to go investigate the perimeter of the town while she was working to find out how to get rid of the parasprites. I think something else is bothering her right now and we gotta find out what that is! The town is in danger, I can feel it in my wings. We gotta do something! Who's with me?” She put a hoof out like she didn’t already fully expect her two close friends to join in.

What Scootaloo hadn’t expected was Chrys to join in on this, considering how badly she had been treated by the town thus far, but with thankful surprise, she was greeted by her unique hoof quite promptly after the three friends had united theirs. What she also hadn’t expected was the two other hooves that joined into the pile-up. From Snips and Snails.

“Wah? What are you guys doing here?”

“We’ve got no special reason.” Snails slowly said, distracting from the severity of this promise. “Just thought it’d be nice to help.”

“Okay, but why are you even out here?” Scootaloo asked with more exasperation.

“We were hanging out at my house when we got the warning from Rainbow Dash to board up.” Snails said.

“Yeah, but Snips had nothing to eat that didn’t require cooking and his parents weren’t home to do that for us so we came to get some grub.” Snails concluded.

“You guys have to pay more attention to what’s going on, seriously.” Sweetie Belle chimed in as the Crusaders shrugged and accepted it either way. Dire times called for dire measures.

“So what’s the plan?” Snips asked.

“Ehm. Plan?” Scootaloo was at a loss. She wasn’t much of a planner.

“Yeah like, what’s our role, what are we trying to do or what.”

“...” Scootaloo thought for a bit. “Uhm let’s see... Okay, we’ll stick together for a bit while we try and find Twilight. I think the last time I saw her was... south of town towards the Appleoosian mountains. She was looking at some mounds she’d seen on one of the carrot fields. We can’t let them know we’re investigating like this because they’ll try and stop us, so keep your heads low while we figure out what’s going on. Once we do, we’ll draft up a better plan. Let’s move ponies and pony-like friends. Let’s save this town.”

“Is that what we’re doing? Oh, man. Adventure. Sounds exciting.” Snails said while they trotted along toward their destination.

“What d’ya suppose is causing all this? Any guesses anyone?” Applebloom asked.

Silence. They could not know. Even the one closest to the epicenter of it all was clueless about what was transpiring.

“That’s what we intend to find out. Here, I think the mounds are up ahead. Stick to the trees and bushes. Go go!” Scootaloo led them all pretty well, splitting the group into three in her command to make the young kids dive into the flora to hide.

Which they hadn’t had to since there was not a single pony around. Whatever Twilight was investigating, she had already moved on, the residue of her magic trailing off into the sky in the direction of Ponyville. They all reconvened in the middle of the field where the mass of mounds had been dug up.

“Alright, any guesses now?” Applebloom spoke up as everyone looked at the strange piles of dirt that were clogging up holes.

“Looks like some kind of creature has been digging tunnels underground. Lots of em.” Snips said, which got a face-hoof in response from almost everyone.

“No yeah, we can see that,” Scootaloo sighed. “Well, nothing to it. Start digging everyone. We can probably find out what’s going on faster if we manage to break through into those tunnels.”

All six of the kids began digging at the mounds around them with their hooves. It was mostly rubble and soft dirt that had clogged those holes, so it was relatively easy to push apart the top layer of it even for children, but it was looking like it would take any one of them a while to get through. And they’ve would’ve kept digging all day long until suddenly...

Everyone noticed that Chrys had clammed up, a cold sweat running down the side of her forehead.

“What’s wrong, Chrys, you okay?” Applebloom asked, being the first to notice.

She had not had the time to tell them about vibrations in the ground growing stronger and stronger as though several pairs of strong claws were weaving through the dirt. She hadn’t the time to warn them about the rapidly encroaching horrible feeling that was nesting in the soul of the creatures that those claws belonged to. No time to even speak a word, her fear stunning her when she saw the twisted, corrupted, maddened fires of those three dog-like figures appear from the ground like land sharks, eyeing up the children once, and then quickly making a dive for the Crusaders and dragging them down into the pits below.

In only a few seconds, her friends had been robbed from her. The only thing remaining was the echoes of their voices calling for help. And then, not even that when a blast of dirt quickly sealed the opening shut behind them.

“Find, grown-ups! Hurry! Please!” Chrys yelled out with absolute desperation in her voice as she took the reins and commanded the two young colts who had been petrified with fear. They immediately bolted into the distance to follow her orders. Chrys began slamming her hooves onto the ground to dig with every ounce of force in her body.

But she was digging too slowly, and those creatures from before were deadly fast underground. She could feel the strong emotions of fear from the Crusaders and the mad state of those souls quickly growing fainter and fainter as they traveled away. Any slower and her friends would’ve been lost to her forever...

In her desperation, Chrys tossed aside all of her fears.

In her love for her friends, she broke a solemn promise she had made to Twilight and herself.

Without a second thought, she clawed at the ground with ease, ripping through the ground like swimming through the air.

And down, down the pitch-black darkness of those tunnels.