Vortexes are Magic

by JeckParadox

Change in the Air Part 2

A little Extra; when I write I have a very loose idea of what I want to do, I make up one or two scenes, and then try writing them out and connecting them, and i find that (at least for me) knowing how I want something to end only makes it harder for me to be motivated to write about it. It also means that I'm bad at planning things out when I write (my other fic, PInkie, Paradox, Discord, was originally going to be part of this story, but i wrote him out of the story) The title of this segment 'A Change in the Air' was made knowing I wanted to write about Changelings, and as I was writing they ended up in Cloudsdale, it wasn't intentional, but I ended up causing my random title to make sense, now then, on with the story!

Sunset was uncloaked now, in her full Changeling self. Her eyes were a glowing blue, but she used her own magic to stop the light from attracting attention, her skin was a black shell, protruding from her head was a curved featureless black horn. On her back was her especially hard blue shell and her own large insect wings. Her tail and mane were stiff grey hairs, connected by a darker harder skin. One of the hardest parts of being a Changeling was that she had a pony's sense of beauty, but was trapped in a body that her own eyes deemed horrifying. Perhaps that was why they could transform. So they didn't have to look like themselves. Often Sunset wondered if the Queen modified her appearance, she still looked like a Changeling, but her eyes became more mysterious than creepy, and she had actual hair instead of whatever Sunset had for a mane and tail. Chrysalis had the same shell on her back, and even an extra on her belly, probably to protect the growing children usually inside, and her 'crown' was a natural part of her head, but in the end she was still beautiful, even to a pony.

She was waiting patiently for the two Earth Ponies, they were in the sewers now, and she had been luring them steadily closer to the Queen's room. As soon as she could hear them splashing in the collected filth and rain water of the city, she would fly silently closer to the Queen's room. As far as she could tell, only one of them had any enchantments applied. So one of them was an actual Earth Pony, with a spell for Cloud-walking.

Sunset played with the idea that the male might be a mutilated pegasus, and though the though made her shiver, she had no other explanation for an Earth Pony with natural pegasus magic. The two ponies were close enough now that she heard the splashing of their movement. She dropped from the ceiling and fluttered into the Queen's chamber. "My Queen, they're coming! Are you sure about this?"

"I'm sure, we'll get the answers we want, and if not, we can silence them." The Queen got up and trotted to the entrance. She let her horn glow. "This- this is... agh!" The Queen backed down in pain, her horn glowing even more. "Graahhh!!! heh, hehehehe... what are you!?" The Queen let out a small chuckle, which was her equivalent to a maniacal laugh. "Ooh, I do love challenges! Your mind, your love, your hate, never before have I seen anything similar in any pony before!" She let out another gasp of pain, the Changelings in the room winced at their beloved mother's shrieks. "WHAT ARE YOU DOCTOR!?"

Pinkie and the Doctor were galloping through the sewers, following the directions of Pinkie's pattering heart. After they came a certain distance into the sewer tunnels they heard a woman's shriek of pain. "Hurry!" The Doctor shouted, beginning to gasp from running. Pinkie Pie was simply following the slightest difference in her heart rate, going through the maze of solidified clouds, not caring about the murky water splashing against her.

They came out into a great hall, hundreds of feet tall. And every bit of it, except the many doors and entrances on every level, was covered in a green slime. In the center of the room was a great black Alicorn with long blue hair. She had a long curved horn that matched her crescent ears. On the back of her head was a small black and blue crown. And covering her stomach and back was an emerald-green shell, similar to a beetle's. She had great transparent wings, almost twice as long across as she was tall. Pinkie gaped at her, but the Doctor noticed two things. One was that there were literally hundreds of ponies sleeping in the slime. The second was that there were also about forty black unicorns with alien eyes and insect shells/wings. "So, you're all Changelings, and by looking at your walls you've been in the pony-napping business for quite a while, going by your numbers and the obvious design of the room you've been here quite a while and this is an important base. Now, two things to make sure of first; 1) Do you know who I am?"

The giant mare in the center of the room let out another scream, which turned to loud laughter, that eventually evolved into a gleeful giggle. "Oh, I know who you are Doctor... and no, I'm not an GRAAGHH!--! A-an alien... Not in your sense of the word at least."

"How do you know me, and what's happening, why are you in pain?"

"I know you because I can taste what you are! So much is in your mind Doctor, so so much, and I have never before met a mind like this!"

"Wait, telepathy, stop! You're only going to hurt yourself, you'll never get by my psychic barrier, even if I tried to let you, so simply stop."

"No! Doctor, I trust your friend has told you of our frightful nature." She smiled, then opened her mouth in a long wail of pain, she scrambled to her hooves and banged her curved horn against the floor. "Sooooooo m-much, b-but..." Chrysalis collapsed again, and every Changeling in the room rushed to her side. Even the smallest one. "But... Doctor, why have you come here?"

"I... what are you doing here, who are these ponies?"

"We are currently keeping our food supply safe."

The Doctor turned around to the maroon mare they had followed here. "What supply?"

"W-we feed on the love of ponies. When love is directed at us, or simply around in large amounts we can consume it." Chrysalis answered, getting back to her hooves painfully. "Seize them!" Sunset jumped at the Doctor, uncloaking and letting a burst of green magic fire from her horn at the Doctor and Pinkie's hooves. It sealed them to the ground with green slime. Chrysalis let out a long relieved sigh. "Perhaps that was too long spent in your head... but I now can appreciate the complexity of your brain Doctor." She shook her head. "Your hatred is so strong and so deep within yourself. Truly, I have not seen a more natural villain in all of my years." She opened her eyes, three pupils were present. The outer circle was yellow turning blue, with a large green segment between, the second circle was the same blue of her hair, and inside the blue pupil was a black reptilian Dragon's pupil. Her stare captivated the two of them. "But that is almost nothing compared to the amount of love deep inside yourself." She bowed her head to him, breathed in deeply through her nose, and lifted her head, letting out the breath through her mouth. "I feel more powerful already!" She said. "But... you have such strange loves... or perhaps this world and this body is simply that different." She was enveloped in green flame, and in her place stood something Pinkie had never seen before. It was about as tall as an Alicorn, was wearing strange clothes, it had a frizzy blond mane, peach-ish colored skin, and claws like the Minotaur or Spike, but without the actual talons. The Doctor's eyes widened. "River..." He said slowly. Flame engulfed River Song, and in her place was a centurion, followed quickly by a woman with long red hair. "Ponds..." A tear fell from the Doctor's face. Another flame and it was a different red-headed woman. "Donna.." The Doctor choked out, his eyes becoming bleary. Another flame appeared, a woman with dark skin and darker hair "M-martha... stop... please stop!" The Doctor was breathing hard now. Another wave of flame and one man appeared, then another, with the last wave of flame the Doctor let his head hang. A blond woman stared at him, a smirk on her face.

"Wow Doctor, this... I haven't felt love like this for so many years, and for so many people..." She said in a thick Londoner accent. "I thank you Doctor, the amount of love you sent in the last minute is enough to feed the entire race for almost a week." She turned back into the Changeling Queen, and spoke with her normal voice. "Doctor, know that your inconvenience will help us for so long. And that we have not forgotten you." She said, as the Changelings dragged Pinkie and the Doctor to a wall. Pinkie began shouting and trying to headbutt or bite the oncoming Changelings. The Doctor let them push him back. "Sweet dreams."

"2." The Doctor stated as the Changelings pushed him into the slime.

"Doctor, help!" Pinkie shouted.

"What?" Chrysalis asked.

"2." The Doctor said again. "What have you done to these ponies?"

"We are keeping them asleep and alive, siphoning off the love that emanates from their pleasant dreams." She looked at the struggling mare and the depressed alien. "The same thing I'm about to do to you."

"You stole their lives." The Doctor shouted, making everyone in the room stop moving. "That mare... the one we followed in, which one of you were her?" Sunset backed away slightly, but a nod from the queen made her hang her head in shame, and she transformed back into the maroon pegasus. "Now then. I'll ask you just once, how long have you been living that girl's life?" The Doctor stared at the cocooned maroon pegasus filly.

"s-six years..."

"And him?" The Doctor jerked his head upward at a stallion in a similar cocoon.

Another Changeling from the crowd said quietly "twenty eight."

"Or her?"

"One hundred seven." The Changeling who was nearby said to him coldly. "I already stopped using that disguise for actual work after my 'funeral' as her, but we can't exactly free her before we're done, can we?"

"You stole her entire life from her..." The Doctor said. "That is something I cannot stand for. It's an injustice against any species. That's strike one. The second strike is that you've been doing this for years, and the third..." The Doctor glared at the Queen. "The third is that you used Rose's voice."

Queen Chrysalis fell backwards, gripping at her heart. "Stop!" She shouted. But she fell over, writhing in pain. "Stop it!"

Pinkie looked at the Doctor with frightened eyes. "What are you doing to her?"

"I'm poisoning her food. She's feeding on my love, but i'm lumping in a whole bunch of hatred along with it."

"Stop it, you're killing her!" Pinkie said, shocked. At this remark one of the Changelings looked at him with eyes full of fear.

"Stop it!" It shouted, bringing a hoof against his face. But Chrysalis continued to writhe. "Stop it please!"

One of the other changelings fell over, then another. All of them were beginning to look sickly. "Doctor stop!" Pinkie Pie screamed. All of the other Changelings fell back with relief, having the poisoning of their systems being drawn away. "What's wrong with you?!" She yelled at him.

"I... Sorry, but.. Rose..." He let his head hang again, and now that the Changelings near him weren't pressed against him he could grab his screwdriver. "I'm sorry, but I won't stand for this." He pressed down with his jaw and the gel shivered, then melted near their hooves. The entire room's slime shivered, and then froze. Pinkie was about to say something but the Doctor cut her off. "Don't worry, everyone will live, I've just made it more brittle, this stuff is magic given physical form, so i can manipulate it like any ordinary goop and identify the psychic particles that they've been feeding off of. If love is nectar, than this stuff is the honey. They can still extract love from it, but if they do, it'll suck it all up. All of it, and that'll free the ponies. And all of them will be too busy recovering from the hatred, so there'll be nothing stopping all of the Pegasi from escaping!" The Doctor said happily and quickly. He grimaced and pulled at his hooves, the frozen slime broke and he quickly freed his other hooves. He did the same for Pinkie. "Everypony lives."

Pinkie looked skeptically at the Doctor. "You were trying to kill them." She stated.

"I was trying to kill her, and yes, it was wrong but... look at what they're doing Pinkie!"

Pinkie put a hoof up to his face, and narrowed her eyes at his. "No killing. Got it? Never." She brought her face even closer. "I will not travel with a meanie- no. Not grumpy, not mean, that's almost nothing. I will not travel with somepony who talks honestly about killing somepony else!"

"Y-yes... You're right... no more killing, not unless absolutely necessary."

"Promise me."

"I promise, I'll try not to kill anyone."

"Pinkie Promise."

"What?"

Pinkie Pie took in a deep breath. "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." She narrowed her eyes even more. "Say it."

"um... cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye?"

"Good. Now you can't kill anypony. Got it? Forever." She backed away, and was suddenly behind him. "FOREVER."

"Alright... now then, let's get out of here."

"What about them?" Pinkie looked uncertainly at the Changelings covering the floor.

"I took the hatred out of the system, and filled it with as much love as I could to shock their systems. They'll all be fine, don't worry. Like I said, this time, everybody lives."

"Not everyone." The two ponies turned around to Chrysalis. "You ruined everything Doctor. Do you want to know out horrible plot?! Our evil scheme? We were manipulating the royal weather committee into giving Equestria good weather at certain times to increase the amount of overall love in the country. These ponies here? We haven't hurt them once in our lives. They were unluckies, or ponies we needed. We could have put Changelings everywhere, filled this room from head to toe, but we only did what was necessary. And now you've ruined it. I have subjects all over Equestria riding on the plans made here! Relying on my limited influence on the weather. Doctor. You've doomed us, unless you reverse the freezing of the gel this instant I will kill you and your friend."

The Doctor looked at the Changeling. He couldn't outrun her, he couldn't outfight her, she had horns, more muscles, fangs, and who knows what else. But he could do one thing. He held up the Sonic Screwdriver. "You have my sympathy, but these people have lost enough of their lives already." He pressed it and the Tardis appeared between him and Pinkie and the Changeling Queen. She fired a burst burning green flame at the two of them, but the Tardis absorbed it. She looked at the force field with wonder, and fired another burst. It dispelled the cloud under the two ponies and the Tardis instantly. The Doctor and Pinkie looked at each other for a brief second before both falling, strangely, the Tardis stayed where it was. The Doctor had let go of the Sonic Screwdriver while they were falling, and looked he looked up hopelessly at the black Changeling Queen.

She didn't smile. She had nothing to be happy about. It is common belief in Equestria that no species, at it's heart, wanted to kill, but the ability to do so without remorse is what separated the predators from the others. Or perhaps in this case, Changeling. She watched the two of them fall and then turned away, walking towards a patch of frozen slime. Inside was her newest child. She loved him so much. And she would never tell who was the Changeling who sucked out the love from the rock, bringing down their entire operations. She smiled warmly at her youngest son as he bit into the hard slime, and sucked just tiny amount of love from the rock.

Comments

[Slateblu1]

lobotomized pegasus,

I'm very sure a lobotomy refers to the removal of part of the frontal lobe of the brain, responsible for controlling emotional decisions. Or something like that. I'm very sure it has nothing to do with wings, so it doesn't seem to fit here.

Otherwise, wonderful story. I like you characterization of Chrysalis *or however you spell her name* Enjoying the read, and as always MOAR!!

[SP00KY NINJA-PON3]

Rose... *Le sheds manly tear*

GERONIMO!!!

[JeckParadox]

1519171 fixed, I think. Thanks for the bit about Chrysalis, I read in a different fanfiction, I think it was 'a change in heart', that the Changelings had holes in their legs and wings because they didn't get enough love and were beginning to fade away, so I put emphasis that the Changelings are healthy right now.

[JeckParadox]

1519659 why is it everyone with that picture is 'user does not exist' when I click on it?

[SP00KY NINJA-PON3]

1521027 He is no one.

GERONIMO!!!