Chrysalis' Revenge

by ladyanaconda

Saddle Arabia

Shining awoke as soon as his ears caught the sound of the train's wheels screeching as they came to a halt, and when he looked through the window, he realized that he was no longer staring at the template, warm landscape of Equestria, but he was instead staring at an endless desert, with dunes from different sizes and shapes scattering through the land.

They had arrived in Saddle Arabia.

Picking up the first part of the scepter, the pole, Shining walked out of his cabin to reunite with the others and was surprised to find they were not there yet; they either had overslept or were still getting ready. Mares could take very long in getting themselves ready, he knew it by experience. However, he discarded that theory when, out of sudden, Rainbow Dash crashed into him, sending them against one of the seats, luckily he did not lose consciousness. However, he did give Rainbow Dash a small glare, but the panicky look in her face showed she had no time for that.

"Shiny, I think we may have a problem with Stormie..." she spoke

"What?! What's wrong with Stormfly?!" he didn't give her time to continue, he abruptly stood up, not minding to wait for Rainbow Dash to stand up first, "Did he run away?!"

"Nope... it's a little more complicated... You should come and see."

The pegasus led Shining to Stormfly's cabin and he noticed Applejack and Spike were there already, standing on the other side of the room; Screwball was sitting next to the Changeling... that's when he realized Stormfly still hadn't transformed.

"Come on, Stormfly," Applejack spoke, "Try one more time."

Stormfly cloud his eyes shut and gritted his fangs, attempting to transform, but the his magic just wouldn't work for some reason; he started sweating, but he did not stop. When he finally stopped, he panted heavily and attempted to recover his breath.

"I... Can't..." he whispered, "Something's blocking my magic..."

Shining noticed something on Stormfly's horn... small black crystals that looked like...

No... It couldn't be.

"Stormfly, could you try again?" he asked, to which the Changeling reacted with a frustrated sigh.

"Come on! Didn't you just see I couldn't do it?!"

"Please! I think I know what's wrong with you, but I won't be able to confirm it if you don't cooperate!"

Stormfly sighed in defeat and once again attempted to transform; Shining focused his attention on the Changeling's horn, and realized that the black crystals were blocking Stormfly's magic, and prevented him from changing forms.

"Stormfly, I'm afraid Sombra put a curse on your horn. He planted obsidian crystals on it, and they will prevent you from using your magic."

"That idiot! I'm so going to kick his butt when I find him!" Rainbow Dash snapped.

Screwball stared at Stormfly's horn, "Isn't there any way to remove those crystals?"

Shining shook his head, "I don't know... the las title I had I had those things on my horn, i only got rid of them when the Crystal Heart banished Sombra and his dark crystals, but I don't know if we can remove it in any other way."

Stormfly smacked his forehead, "Great! What now?! If I go out like this, the pony folk will lynch me to death!"

Spike thought for a moment before speaking.

"Guys, now that I remember, there was a wagon filled with costumes, " he said, "How about we go there and find something for him to wear?"

The Changeling's eyes snapped open, "Wait a second!"

---

He was not happy.

The only thing they had found his size was a dark blue trench coat and cowboy hat, courtesy of Applejack, and a long scarlet red scarf. The scarf was wrapped around his snout and he was wearing socks to hide the holes in his legs. Unfortunately, he was very hot, and was sweating heavily underneath those clothes. And to enworse things, all the ponies that passed by gave him weird glances, to which Rainbow and Spike stated that he had a sensible skin and couldn't be exposed to the sun.

"Seriously?!" he snapped ,fluttering his wings -which were hidden underneath his coat- in annoyance and adding a bit of sarcasm, "Couldn't you have picked something hotter?"

Applejack rolled her eyes, "For the last time, it was the only thing we could find your size on. Stop being such a foal!"

Screwball giggled when she heard the Changeling mutter "I'll get my revenge" under his breath. But he was right in complaining about the clothing. All of the other ponies wore no clothing at all, but light scarves or hats to protect their eyes from the scorching sun. The buildings were simple buildings made out of stone and mud, most of them one or two stories high, with one or two windows.

"So this is Al-Coltabh? The capital of Saddle Arabia?". Spike inquired, to which Shining Armor, nodded.

"Yep, one of the most beautiful cities in Equestria."

Rainbow Dash looked around at some of the buildings worn by time, "Oh, yeah. How pretty."

"That's because we're in the middle-class sector of the city," Stormfly explained as he fixed his scarf, "The rich neighborhood is much more attractive than this, believe me."

"Hey, how do you know about that?"

Stormfly looked at the ground in sadness, catching a glimpse of his scarlet socks, "... Because this is one of the places Cupheart and I visited after defecting from the hive."

The ponies realized Stormfly didn't wish to talk about it, so they decided to change the subject.

"Where do we start looking? I mean, this desert is very big, and we may take weeks in searching for this said temple," Spike pointed out, "Shouldn't we be asking for directions?"

"If we do that, we might draw treasure hunters and they might attempt to steal the artifact from us," replied Shining.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, "Seriously, why colts don't like asking for directions?"

As the ponies and Spike discussed what to do next, Stormfly took a look around the neighborhood, waves of memories returning to him. Cupheart and he had come to this place when she was pregnant, and barely managed to stay undercover. A pregnant Changeling consumed more energy than usual due to having to keep the embryo, and the egg's shell forming around it, growing inside her body alive. But the smile vanished within seconds, for the good memories also brought painful ones. The argues they had about the baby when they were still part of the hive, the times he they would feel Cupheart's growing belly, the times Cupheart was close to a miscarriage, the attempts at guessing the hatchling's gender... all came back in an instant.

'I'm pregnant, Stormie! Can you believe it? We're going to be parents!'

'I'm afraid, okay?! Afraid that the hatchling will bring nothing but trouble!'

'I can't wait! I already want to incubate the egg after I lay it!'

'Why couldn't you have just used the damn protection! I did take my pill, but you didn't, did you?!'

'I have the feeling we are getting a girl, Stormie!'

'It hurts!'

I wish there was a way to get away from everything. From the Hive, from the Queen, everything. I would like to go somewhere, far away, to a peaceful place where we could raise our hatchling peacefully. We could even remain as ponies for the rest of our lives, if we wanted to!'

"STORMFLY!" the Changeling was brought back to the present when Rainbow Dash's voice rung at its highest volume in his ears, and he took a few steps back, almost tripping over his scarf.

"Sorry... I was thinking on something else..." he apologized, fixing his hat.

Spike coughed, "Well, I don't know you guys, but unless we want to wander the desert for yard, we should really ask for help."

"Well... actually, I know somepony who can help."

Shining immediately stepped forward and started shaking Stormfly violently, "Who?! WHO?! IT'S URGENT! CADENCE AND TWILIGHT COULD BE GIVING BIRTH RIGHT NOW AND WE DON'T EVEN KNOW IF THEY'RE ALRIGHT!!!"

Applejack tapped on his shoulder, "Huh, Shiny. I think you should really stop doing that."

Stormfly released himself off Shining's grip and barely managed to keep his hat on his head. He shook off the dust off his coat and accommodated his hat, his icy blue eyes staring at Shining Armor.

"An old friend of mine. He lives here, and he knows this desert much more than the ponies themselves. I'm sure he'll know the location of this temple, and I'm sure he won't mind taking us there."

"Awesome! Where can we meet this friend of yours?"

"He lives on the other side of the city, in an abandoned barn near the South Gate. I can lead you there," but before the Changeling could move, the dehydratation started to gain on him. He would have collapsed if Screwball hadn't caught him in time; he blushed as soon as he felt Screwball's warm arms around him, but this time the scarf hid it.

"But... I think I will need one of you to carry me."

---

The south gate of Al-colthab lead directly into the desert of Saddle arabia, but there were few ponies who actually dared to head into the endless ocean of hot sand. The desert was merciless, if you went unprepared the price was very high.

For that reason, Stormfly suggested upon driving at the worn-down barn that while he went to fetch that 'mysterious friend of his', as Rainbow Dash had put it, the others should gather supplies for the desert. When they were done, they would meet outside the city walls, which made the ponies grow suspicious. Why didn't they just meet in the central plaza, Spike had suggested, and Stormfly replied that his friend was shy and didn't like crowded places.

And so, while Stormfly was looking for their guide, the group went shopping. Water, food, some clothes in case they were caught in a sandstorm, and lanterns, for when nighttime came, they had been told by the shopkeeper that the desert was not only dangerous during the day, but at night as well. The temperature almost dropped below zero degrees, and there were from few to none places to spend the night. For that reason, they also had bought some tents for when night came.

When going through the South Game, Shining Armor had offered to carry the saddlebags, despite the others' insistence that they could handle it. After a quick revision from the guards of the South Gate, they were allowed to pass into the desert, and the group walked a little longer until they were sure nopony could see them. They had already put on their desert clothing, so they had no reason to worry about the heat.

"So, how do you think Stormfly's friend looks like?" Applejack inquired.

"I wonder who would befriend a Changeling at all," Rainbow added

"Perhaps he's a pony from the region."

Shining added, "Or maybe another Changeling."

Spike didn't take part in the conversation; he thought the heat was affecting him, he had started to heard wing beating. But not Stormfly's: this wing beating was much slower, but strong, as if the wingspan was very long. The baby dragon looked around in the sky, shielding his eyes from the scorching sun.

But when he spotted the source of the noise, he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him.

"I bet he's tan. After all, anypony living in this climate would have a dark coat," Screwball suggested.

Spike muttered in fear, "Perhaps he is not a pony at all..." he gulped in worry, "Maybe he's a big, black-scaled dragon with big bat wings, a whip-like tail and a sharp fangs."

The group turned to look at him in confusion, and Rainbow spoke, "What makes you think that?"

Spike pointed at the black spot in the sky, dashing towards them, "Because I think it's him!"

Indeed, before anyone of the group could do anything, the creature Spike had spotted landed a few meters away from them. Long and sharp claws like blades dug into the sand, and he moved it's whip-like tail constantly. His neck was long and arched slightly, his body was slim, but he was extremely strong enough to carry an entire wagon, and his wingspan was of about 3 meters. The underside of his wings were a sharp lilac, his underbelly was a more darker tone of purple, and he had a spiky mohawk on his head which was almost of the same coloration. He had toxic green eyes, and his head was sleek and very lizard-like; on the sides of his head he had three pairs of silver horns.

A Kurosidae.

Stormfly landed a steps away from the group and walked closer to them, not noticing their state of shock.

"Everypony, this is Fukkuteru," he spoke while pointing to the black dragon, until he noticed the others were frozen, "Uh... hello?"

Fukkuteru walked closer to them, his pupils dilated slightly, and inspected the ponies carefully; he had to admit, it was amusing to see them in that state.

"So, this is the group you talked me about, Stormie..." he spoke with a deep, masculine voice, "... This is going to be harder than I thought."

Comments

[TheDerpyOutcast]

things are really getting good.

[Dragaen]

Well, speak of the devil and the devil shall appear

[crystalflower0029]

There should be a Screwball tag.

[crystalflower0029]

This is great! PLEASE CONTINUE!

[Mr Afro Pony]

Weird, I'm writing a fic that has Chrysalis trying to raise Sombra from the dead.

[headcrabnew]

I'm now waiting for more. This is good.