Angel gave a yawn as she stood up on the tower's balcony. Her newest assignments were bummers, standing all alone up on a wall or a tower where nopony went. I mean, who would want to sneak in the Royal Launderers tower anyway? Still, Angel was a guard and as such, it was her duty to guard stuff. By now, Angel was used to being awake during the day, so her readjustment to staying awake at night hadn't been easy. She was twice found asleep by another guard, thankfully not a superior officer, and really missed her friends. Her big golden eyes lazily scanned the sky above her, stopping at the big bright full moon. Angel loved looking at it and often wondered what was up there. She personally thought it was cheese because Luna had to have something to eat while she was banished.
A creak behind her caught her attention and a bright flash of green just barely missed her. Angel yelped loudly and spun to attack whoever it was, giving a loud snarl. The pony behind her, a dark blue one with a white and blue striped mane, backed away in fear and soon was the victim of a merciless bat pony beat down. Angel simply reacted as she brought a hoof up and under his chin, then landing a powerful kick to his belly as he rose from her first blow. The pony hit the wall and his image shimmered before melting away to reveal a pony almost as large as Angel, colored midnight black and full of holes. A sickly colored green mane wafted around a large crooked horn while a small buzzing could be heard from the translucent wings on its back.
Angel's face melted into horror as she saw what she was fighting and tried to jump away before a sharp pain caught her tail. She was pulled backwards and hit her head against the tower wall, causing her to get dizzy. The last thing Angel remembered seeing was a large set of green eyes boring down on her before she blacked out.
The changeling stood over the unconscious bat pony, silently cursing to herself about missing with her first spell. Her wickedly glowing green eyes scanned the pony who had gotten in two cheap shots on her and she half considered throwing her off the tower.
"Niccccce one, Gorgon," came a slightly hissing voice and the changelings head whipped up to see three Royal Guard standing in the doorway, each snickering.
The larger changeling bared her teeth angrily and hissed in reply, "Assss your future queen, I'm commanding you all to sssssshut up!" The guards faces immediately hardened and their snickers faded away. Gorgon hated it when her own charge of workers treated her like one of them. She was their leader and as such, demanded the respect of one. She wasn't a changeling princess just for show and she vigorously reinforced that to this group.
"Sssso, what are you going to do about thisssss?" one asked and Gorgon returned her gaze to the unconscious bat pony.
"Do we need to imperssssonate anypony elssse?" she queried.
"No, but that one issss ssssuppossssed to be at the Gala," a reply came.
Gorgon studied the bat pony and wondered what to do with it. She could just always leave her here and have her believe this was a dream. As a race born in darkness, changelings had a wide variety of ways to disappear. One was altering memories to make the pony believe meeting them was a dream or hallucination, another was eradicating the memory entirely. Being the future queen of the hive and Chrysalis's own daughter, Gorgon knew how to do both. However, her natural ability to sense the changeling's main food source, love, was perking up at the bat pony. Narrowing her green eyes, Gorgon inched closer to Angel, sniffing at her. Silently, she weaved a spell to look into Angel's affections to locate the source of this emotion.
Since it was the first spell she learned, Gorgon easily peered into the bat pony's emotions, trying to locate the source of love. Every changeling had to learn this spell and it was how they often changed into a specific pony without knowing anything about them. It was also how Chrysalis jumped into Princess Cadance's role without anypony knowing since she met Shining Armor first. Gorgon suddenly felt the surge of love within the bat pony and saw the image of a Royal guard who had an orange pelt, brown mane and vivid red eyes. She even saw the pony's cutie mark, an exploding rock with a white tail, and grinned to herself. While the changelings were feeding on the other Royal Guards who were entranced down in the armory, Gorgon herself was rather hungry.
"Get out of here," she whispered to her subjects, who looked at each other curiously. "I know what to do with this one," she continued, grinning wickedly at the sleeping bat pony.
Comet woke up to a pretty violent sneeze. He jerked back, wide awake and looked around. Outside of his vision, he felt something rather large shift next to him and slowly looked down to see Valyrie's white plume of feathers shift as they wiggled closer to Comet's chest. A sense of horror crawled up his chest, as well as one of caring. He had slept next to Valyrie all night and while it horrified him Angel might've seen this, he felt very refreshed, like one does after a very good sleep. He sat there, unsure of what to do before looking up at the clock. Well, it was more of a magically charged sundial than a clock. The sundial reacted to the rising of the sun since Celestia didn't raise the sun at exactly the same time everyday. It was very hard to tell time in Equestria, but some genious unicorn thought of a sundial that reacted to the sun's presence to keep time.
As of now, the dial read about nine in the morning. Comet silently thanked Celestia it was his day off.
After slowly waking up Valyrie, who protested by burying her face farther into Comet's side and nipping at him playfully when he moved, the two made their way down to the mess hall to get breakfast. It was a rather nice day outside to them, but that was before they learned the windows were magically made to let sunlight shine through the stained glass. In reality, it was a gray and cold day outside, one that sounded the alarm of snowfall. However, this didn't bother Valyrie since the Gryphon Kingdom was always cold with its location north of Equestria. After the two finished breakfast, they went to check on Angel but found her sound asleep with a nurse tending to a large bump on her head. Comet was visibly worried, but the nurse assured him she would be alright.
"It's actually quite common for pony's who are not issued helmets," she said as Comet stood over the sleeping bat pony, "Now go on. I will tell her you came by." As the pegasus and gryffon walked away, neither one noticed the nurse's eyes flare bright green.
"So, what'cha wanna do today?" Valyrie asked.
"Well," Comet scratched his head unsurely, "I was going to take Angel on another date, but I guess that won't happen. I even rented a boat to go out on the lake."
Valyrie stood there and felt an evil smile perk at the sides of her beak. "You know, you and I haven't just hung out," Comet's head turned to look at her and she pressed on, hoping he wasn't going to get mad at her. "I have the day off too. Why don't we just go out and relax? Me and you and nopony else."
Comet had the creeping suspicion Valyrie wanted to monopolize of Angel's absence, but she didn't hint at any ulterior motive. He contemplated the idea of just he and Valyrie spending the day together before coming up with an answer.
"Uh, sure. That sounds fun," he said with a nice, but awkward grin.
Several hours later, Comet and Valyrie were walking down a street in Canterlot, smiling and talking to each other. The day, even though it was gray and started to snow, was going surprisingly well for them. Comet wore a new scarf Valyrie insisted he buy to keep himself warm, a rather plain brown colored one to match his mane and tail. After acquiring the scarf, the two had gone to the train station and sat on a bench, watching the random ponies walk by. There the duo just talked about everything, including why Valyrie was here instead of the Gryphon Kingdom. She explained that since her father was a high ranking soldier in the kingdom, she was a prized gryffon since she probably carried future great warriors. She also told of how one gryphon got stone drunk one night before the Picking, the ceremony where gryphons competed for gryffons, and tried to force her into an alleyway. Valyrie, according to her own words, beat the daylights out of him so bad, he had to be sent to the hospital.
What happened next was a series of honor and pride based mishaps. The gryphon's father claimed that unless Valyrie's father either banish her or repay his family's lost honor, there would be a feud between the two families. Valyrie's father was very unhappy with her, but in no way got violent. Instead, after hearing Valyrie's side of the story, he made the claim the gryphon's own son had shamed the family by going outside tradition. Thus began a war of words that got heated to the point where the lord of the village, a gryphon by the name of Hookclaw, settled the dispute personally. Valyrie wouldn't be banished, but she would be taught her place by being whipped publicly. The gryphon's son had to live with the fact he had dishonored himself and his family and suffer the consequences thereof.
After the proclamation, Valyrie's father consulted with Hookclaw personally and, after much convincing and gifts, he finally agreed to let Valyrie not be whipped. Instead, she would suffer only a partial banishment to Equestria where she would learn what would happen should she undermine the gryphon's authority again.
Comet simply sat there, stunned at what he had heard. Apparently gryphons were more barbaric than he had initially thought. Comet, in response, spent the rest of the day doing whatever Valyrie wanted to try and make her punishment leass of one. The two ate in a fancy restaurant since the Gryphon Kingdom solely had taverns, they went to an art museum since gryphons felt weapons on a wall were art and so on. Eventually, the sun sank below the horizon and Comet, along with Valyrie, sat on the roof of a building, watching the sky change colors.
Comet sat still, marveling at the colors while Valyrie had a hard time concentrating on anything but him. She hadn't told him about one thing from her homeland, the rumor of Equestria being the safe haven for any gryffon like herself. Now that she was here with Comet, it felt like a dream. She had come to Equestria without cutting ties to her family, met a wonderful and caring stallion and almost didn't want to return home. Comet, although not a gryphon, certainly had the build of a full adult stallion, muscular and strong while gentle and caring at the same time. He was handsome to Valyrie in a way no other gryphon could match with his fiery red eyes, brown mane that moved slightly in the wind and a smile that she never wanted to leave his face.
Comet looked over to Valyrie, who had a dreamy look on her face and chuckled. "So, I take it you enjoyed today?" he asked.
Valyrie answered by pressing her break to his mouth yet again. Comet sat there, wondering just what he was going to do. He had a cute and fun bat pony on one hoof, but now he felt a strange force vying for control of his feelings.
Valyrie is not being a very good friend to Angel now, is she?
I find myself growing to like Valyrie more and more. I never disliked her, but, . . yeah.
Still prefer Angel.
When you don't think of a response beforehand, then of course you're not going to have one in the heat of the moment. When will you ever learn, Comet? Hopefully you don't have to break Angel's heart to learn that lesson.
Anyways, I thought it was a good chapter! I do find it a odd that Comet didn't insist that he stay by Angel's side though. Given their relationship and how long they've known each other, I think it would have been his natural reaction.
Cliff hanger... This is brutal!
I this chapters
can not wait for the next chapter
the love triangle stays! lets just hope it doesn't get and bigger
this chapter is dope. just sayian
Nice! a new chapter
you would think that the Equestrian society would be polygamous considering the gender ratio and that natural male horses take multiple mates, so would angel be fine with sharing?
No wonder that changeling is so mean, she was named after someone who turned people to stone with her ugliness.
2152402 When listening to our hearts we often do many a stupid thing.
Oh, and who wants to come on a Changeling hunt?
You know, on his pride as a man-stallion, whatever, Comet must ask for a threesome. Those are the rules.
yay new chapter!
Nice new chapter! I can't wait to see how this turns out
Wait a minute...He likes Angel and Valyrie, so why not have them both? Problem solved
Given what I have seen of the gender ratios, they should form a bad-ass elite guard and combat evil forever!
meh, i'm still on team (non-changeling) angel
I'm now wondering if Cadence and Shining Armor are having arguments about imposing rules against fraternization.
SA: But it disrupts the team dynamic! It's hell on discipline and morale!
Cadence: Are you going to order ponies about who to LOVE!?
I think she's winning, which is good for our heroes, anyway.
What did that bitch do to Angel!
Gorgan...must...die...
Well I hope that Comet gets with both of them because they're both good characters.
this is a question that is completely out of the blue and probably doesn't make sense, but:
i went to see where you got your cover picture from, Equestria_Prevails in DeviantArt, and he/she has a whole illustrated storyline with a bunch of bat ponies and gryphons included. it even has a couple of characters resembling the trio in this story by appearance.
so in that case, would this story you written be related in anyway, shape or form, to the illustrated story made by the artist?
this was just one wild card i had to throw out there
Team Valyrie. She so adorable XD
... I feel my manliness draining out of my shoes with this story
2152727
That would be only if he wants it to be related. As of now, no.
I liked the characters he made and the story slowly formed while looking at his art. I only guessed at his characters relationship from the images where Midnight Blossom (Angel) had a playful look about her while Cloud Skipper (Comet) always looked irritated. I altered Midnight Blossom's artist given personality of being a mean bch to one of just carefree happiness and wrote a reason for Cloud Skipper's scowl.
Overall, Comet and Angel are just my interpretation of the relationship of Cloud Skipper and Midnight Blossom. As for the other names I've heard, Hoplite and Lethe, I have no idea what they were like.
Good to see the love triangle gets complicated further!!!
2152597 From what I understand about women, most of them don't go for polygamy.
Commence read.
Still those changelings continue on unobstructed.
2152471 Let me just get my pitchfork and torches
When I read the part with Angle and the Changeling my reaction was along the lines of this:
1d4chan.org/images/8/8b/AM_WHATMUTHERFUCKER.png
"SO HELP ME CHANGELING SCUM, IF YOU MESS WITH ANGLE, I WILL PAINT THE MONA LISSA WITH YOUR BLOOD WHILE USING YOUR SEVERED HORN AS THE PAINT BRUSH!"
But besides that, I really enjoyed this chapter.
Please no, I follow you from the start and please no, don't let Comet fall in love with some pony else than Angel, I find that disappointing than Comet take Valyrie instead of Angel...
Didn't Valyrie explain to Comet a few chapters back about Equestria being a safe haven for gryffons? I remember it being talked about before.eh.
~Have a good one.
2152471 *nods* The heart is deceitful above all things. I'm very disappointed in Comet right now. He needs to decide who he wants and make it clear to the girls. Then, he needs to stay faithful. Thinking about how Angel would feel about the events in this chapter makes me sad.
I will hunt with you. All changelings will die under my hooves.
2152892 Pitchfork and..........Torches?? Okay, but you risk being collateral. My M132 and M61 doesn't discriminate, so keep your head down!!!!
2152970 I do not see Comet as being in the wrong, as plenty of my friends girlfriends have fallen asleep in such a position on me. Now don't get me wrong, I'd jump at the chance, but I prefer to have some friends then none at all. I meant Valyrie, as Comet seems to have chosen Angel, but she won't let go. Which means that when this comes to a head, it will get messy.
The hunt is a bring your own gear event. And not all Changelings are targets. Kuno, Flitter, Suncloak, and Cyr are under my protection.
Inb4 Gorgon falls in love with Comet somehow. If that happens, I'm going to punch a wall.
2152970
LIGHT THE TORCHES
I'LL GO GRAB THE PITCHFORKS AND POOL NOODLES
2153043 Oh. I guess I have different morals.
Of course! I'd be severely disappointed in myself if I harmed some of our good changelings. Pity I've heard of none of those other than Kuno.
2152471 I Do!
As much as I love Angel, Valyrie's a gryphon...
Eh. I'm curious as to how this'll play out.
2152818 Then again, a society with a large majority of mares must have something along those lines
2153077 If you wish, I can link you to the stories, but I will put them on your user page.
2153087 I have no spare gear, so bring what you wish. Just remember to pack supplies. Unless you feed on love.
Then..... I'll have to take your photo.
2153140 I appreciate the offer, but I have ponies that need drawing. If I get some free time later, I'll find them. I do love changeling stories.
2153043
Comet approves. Good job leaving Kuno and Flitter alone.
2153046
That would be rather funny. Chrysalis likes the captain of the guard, her daughter likes his lieutenant.
I'm sorry but... Valyrie is a whore. I'm not trying to say that to insult her but she made out with her best friend's boyfriend and that makes her a whore. Comet is little better but I can understand him cause if I was in his position I would sadly do the same thing and be just as conflicted cause both girls are awesome. Still on team angel.
2153202 No love for Suncloak or Cyr?
24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m74nez3s3T1rv8jpzo1_r1_400.gif
2153236
Sadly, I don't know who they are.
NO! IT HAS TO BE ANGEL AND COMET!!!
media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m9fyajjIBI1qfh83k.gif
2153263 Ah, Suncloak is rather unlucky Changeling banished from Chrysalis' hive after having the failed invasion blamed on him from Thrown Abroad.
He now lives in Ponyville. And Cyr is the beheomth in My little Behemoth.
If they are sensible, they won't be anywhere near there when I set of my Havok tactical nuclear bomb. What do you do when you find a bug hole?
(Just replace the Araknids with Changelings )
I've literally been reading 'Valyrie' as 'Valkyrie' since the beginning.
I get the feeling that a certain infiltrating changeling is going to be hamstrung by the fact that her target happens to be part of a love triangle.
"punishment leass of one."
at the end
ERMERGERD! Comet...man, he's going to have a hard decision on his hoof pretty quickly...