An ancient dragon escapes from Tartarus and shows Equestria that light is not always a force of good
When Cerberus briefly left his post at the gates of Tartarus Tirek wasn't the only one to escape. This is the tale of that ancient prisoner's journey across Equestria and its pursuit of a single goal: the death of Discord.
Queen Chrysalis watched as Cerberus, the three-headed guard-dog patrolled the tunnel leading into Tartarus. She smiled to herself as she transformed into the spitting image of Princess Celestia. The fake Celestia stepped from her hiding place in a small cluster of trees and called out to Cerberus in an imitation Chrysalis had perfected by hiding in the crowd at one of Celestia's many speeches.
"Cerberus, come here boy." The huge hound bounded over to the impostor tail wagging and all three heads bearing an expression of happiness. Chrysalis enjoyed the taste of the affection that poured out of Cerberus, wishing not for the first time changelings could sustain themselves off the love of pets for their masters. Life would be so much easier she thought to herself. Returning her focus to reality and her current task she said to Cerberus, "Why don't you run along for a while? I just need to make a quick visit to Tartarus and I'll keep an eye on things while I'm here. I'll let you know when I'm done."
With those words the fake Celestia levitated a trio of rubber balls and magically threw them into the underbrush of the surrounding forest. Cerberus glanced at the balls then turned back to look at the fake Celestia, who nodded at the hound, which then ran after the toys mouths slobbering in anticipation. As Cerberus faded from sight Chrysalis smirked in derision, the expression out of place on Celestia's face, at the intimidating giant dog acting like a small puppy.
Chrysalis then dropped the disguise and signaled her guards, who had been hidden and prepared to defend their queen had the deception failed. Now they stood at attention waiting for instructions, their armored carapaces ridged and grooved, a sign of their role as the queen's personal guard. Chrysalis turned her gaze towards two changelings standing slightly apart from the rest, their carapaces lacking the extra armor of the other changelings.
"Flitter, Arachne, well done. It seems your information about Cerberus was correct. If the rest of the information is true you'll be rewarded when we take Canterlot from those foolish Princesses." The mentioned changelings bowed while simultaneously letting out sighs of relief at the fact that they hadn't needlessly put the queen's (and consequentially their own) life in danger. Chrysalis ordered four of the assembled guards to wait at the entrance and the rest to follow her downwards.
The tunnel was dark and dusty, yet no cobwebs were to be found, as if even spiders had learned to avoid this place. Chrysalis studied the tunnel, which was large enough that she and two of her guards could stand side-by-side comfortably and wondered idly if she would need to make it bigger on the return trip for their 'guest'. As the group descended Chrysalis noticed the stone walls were gradually changing from grey and brown to a faint blue color. This blue stone became more and more prevalent and proved itself to be faintly luminescent providing the group with enough light to see.
Despite herself Chrysalis felt a growing sense of unease inside. Even among the changelings were stories told of the horrific monsters that were imprisoned here. She had to remember that feasting on all the love in Equestria was worth the risk of this trip. Finally the tunnel leveled off and Chrysalis could see a faint light a short distance ahead. That faint light revealed itself to be a massive cavern filled with platforms that each containing something chained down.
"Remember, don't even go near anything if you value your life, or your magic in Tirek's case," said Chrysalis as she walked along the path that encircled all the platforms. She came to a stop in front of one and climbed the steps leading up its sole occupant, a pure white dragon with its head bowed. "Aduro, I presume," said Chrysalis.
The dragon's head perked up at the sound of Chrysalis' voice and revealed two silver eyes which stared directly at the changeling queen.
"You have me at a disadvantage, you know my name and I've never even seen your kind before unless you're Celestia who's decided to join in the Nightmare Night spirit and yet you don't smell like her. Who and what are you?" Aduro's eyes never left Chrysalis'.
"I am Chrysalis, queen of the changelings. And I've got a proposition for you," she answered. She stepped closer and began to study Aduro. She noticed that he was thin, with his bones easily visible beneath the skin. She also noticed he was proportioned differently than any other dragon she'd ever seen and the row of spikes on his back were smaller and more rounded than other dragons'.
Aduro stood on four legs rather than two and he was smaller than she expected. Chrysalis guessed that Aduro was roughly the same size as the princess she planned to replace, Cadenza something. "Though now I've seen you face-to-face I'm not sure you have the skills I need," said Chrysalis. Aduro quirked a scaled brow at that comment then gave a little knowing smile.
"If you wanted a demonstration of my power all you needed to do was ask me directly," remarked the dragon. Chrysalis was about to respond when she suddenly found herself standing in a pool of light surrounded by darkness. Then out of the darkness came not one but three unchained Aduros. The middle Aduro walked forward and placed a glowing claw against Chrysalis' cheek and she felt the heat coming off of it. Then just as suddenly as they appeared the three dragons vanished and Chrysalis found herself back in front of an imprisoned Aduro who said simply, "Does that answer your question?"
Lifting a hoof to her cheek Chrysalis felt the small burn inflicted by the other Aduro. She then began clapping her front hooves together.
"Yes, that will do nicely," declared Chrysalis. "Now here is my offer, I free you from this place and in exchange you help me and my changelings takeover all of Equestria. Beginning with Canterlot and the Princesses. Interested?"
Aduro chuckled before responding. "I can't say that I am. Although I would appreciate being let out of this dungeon and I'm not overly fond of the Princesses the rest of Equestria hasn't done me harm nor does it have anything I want. If that's all you have to offer me then you can be on your way." Chrysalis merely smiled confidently at the dragon.
"I forgot to mention that once we take Canterlot I'll give you a statue of a certain draconequus I've heard is the reason you're here in the first place." At this he glanced in surprise at Chrysalis before his brow furrowed in thought and turned his gaze down to the ground. Chrysalis watched in silence, secretly hoping that whatever forces controlled luck would bless her at this moment, though outwardly she was a paragon of confidence. Finally Aduro seemed to have reached his decision.
"In exchange for my freedom and Discord I will aid you in your bid for control of Equestria. However I will require several conditions to met. First, the instant we have secured Canterlot I will be free to dispose of Discord at my discretion. Second, the decision of whether or not I stay in your service after I eliminate Discord will be my choice and if I choose to leave you will not stop me. Finally, I will only assist in this single attempt. If you are defeated by the Equestrians I will not help you again understood? I don't relish the thought of being involved in a long drawn-out conflict."
Chrysalis considered Aduro's counteroffer for a while as she paced back and forth weighing her options.
"It seems to me you don't enjoy the idea of working with us for long. Pity. I willing to accept your conditions if you accept one of my own, you will be free to kill Discord the moment Canterlot, the Elements of Harmony, and the Princesses are under my control. Are these acceptable terms to you?"
"Yes," said Aduro almost instantly. Chrysalis stretched out a hoof which Aduro took in his claws and shook. "Now I would enjoy having these chains removed if you don't mind." Chrysalis signaled her guards who either crawled or flew closer, each working on removing one of the many chains binding Aduro. They spat goo at the keyholes, goo that hardened and functioned in the place of keys.The chains on his legs were removed without incident but when it to the ones attached to his wings a problem was encountered. These chains were physically embedded into the joints where his wings attached to Aduro's body.
"This will hurt a bit, the chains have pierced the joints," one of the changelings murmured into Aduro's ear.
"As long as it heals I will endure." The dragon closed his eyes preparing himself. However, when the chains were removed Aduro's wings went with them. He roared in protest and, with a strength Chrysalis hadn't expected from his seemingly frail body, knocked the nearest changeling away with his tail. The unfortunate changeling sailed through the air unconscious until it crashed into one of the worst things it could hit. Tirek. Tirek wasted no time in grabbing the changeling and draining its magic. However, he was only able to steal a small amount of the changeling's magic when Chrysalis pulled the helpless guard out of Tirek's grasp.
Queen Chrysalis glared at Aduro and said in a soft voice that still managed to convey menace, "If you ever endanger one of my changelings like that again, you won't have to worry about the Princesses' imprisoning you ever again." Aduro returned the glare despite the fact that Chrysalis towered over him. Waves of negative emotion flowed from the dragon in a slightly sickening cocktail that vanished when he closed his eyes.
Then Chrysalis turned to the guards who'd removed Aduro's chains and said, "As for you, the entire plan we've been working on for the last several months on was very nearly jeopardized by your incompetence. If we aren't able to properly reattach Aduro's wings I will know exactly who to blame. Now let's leave this accursed place before something else goes wrong."
Meanwhile...
Cerberus had been playing by itself for several hours before the heads asked themselves what to do next. The middle head wanted to wait back at the entrance of Tartarus until Celestia returned. The left and right heads disagreed and decided to explore more. Eventually the middle head gave in and thus Cerberus wandered around Equestria until it came to Ponyville and the purple unicorn librarian led it back to its post at the entrance of Tartarus.
Tirek had stolen just enough magic from the changeling to magically change his body and escape from his shackles. However, he was still very weak and his progress from Tartarus was very small over the next several hours. Tirek managed to reach a fire swamp before falling into a pit of quicksand and sinking to the bottom where he remained trapped for several months until a thrashing chimera knocked a nearby tree into the pit of quicksand and enabled Tirek to climb out. (But that's another story.)
*******
Chrysalis had Flitter gather up the dragon's wings and three of her guards to carry the now unconscious Aduro. She personally carried the unfortunate guard who'd come into contact with Tirek and quickly trotted back up the tunnel out of Tartarus. Once she felt sunlight hit her carapace, Chrysalis buzzed her wings and lifted off, joined by the rest of her swarm.
She called back to the trio carrying the dragon, "If he regains consciousness explain the treatment he'll need to reattach his wings. I don't want him panicking halfway through the preparations." She stared at the limp dragon thinking, how could such a foolish creature have been a threat to the Princesses. He really thinks I'd risk the safety of my future empire by having anything to do with Discord. It's almost too easy.
With that the swarm of changelings flew unnoticed towards the empty wastes of the Badlands under the light of Celestia's sun.
Aduro opened his eyes to reveal a blur of green and he briefly wondered where he was before the blur was split in two. He was lowered down from the cocoon he'd been suspended in by a a trio of changelings as a small pile of gemstones fell to the floor. The medical changelings looked at them in confusion as the dragon started eating the gems.
"Rations Celestia sends me to keep from starving. She invented a spell that causes them to emerge from my mouth. It was rather odd coughing up my food before eating it," explained Aduro around a mouthful of sapphire. As he chewed the unexpected feast he took the time to look around. The room he was in almost completely pitch black, with only scattered glowing fungi providing illumination.
"Has it been a week already?" Asked Aduro as he unfurled his wings and shook the regenerative gel off of them. Either this hallucination is far more elaborate than the others or I've actually escaped from Tartarus...I don't know what to feel right now. He flexed his wings, testing how well the muscles and nerves had recovered. Aside from a slight twinge he felt when he fully extended his wings they seemed to have been reattached without too much trouble. A changeling approached the dragon during this time.
"I am Arachne, I was present at your release. I've been instructed to escort you to our queen. Walk this way." Arachne walked away from the still damp dragon who wordlessly followed. Aduro took this opportunity to observe his surroundings without the pain of having two missing wings to distract him. The corridor he was currently in as well as the chamber he'd been in were made of stone, but unlike his former prison, this stone was smooth and had a faint greenish tinge to the grey rock. The stone was actually soft enough that his claws would leave small gouges in them as he walked behind Arachne.
The pair reached a intersection of at least seven different tunnels, four of which were along the walls, two in the ceiling and one in the floor. Several other changelings could be seen entering and exiting from the various tunnels, all of which stopped for a second to stare at the white scales of Aduro. In fact, his scales seemed to glow in comparison to the darkness of the tunnels and Aduro briefly wondered how the changelings navigated. A quick sniff of the air answered his question. Aduro could smell a unique scent trail identifying each tunnel as clear as a giant sign.
In his analysis of the tunnels Aduro failed to notice that Arachne had flown up to one of the ceiling tunnels and was gesturing for him to follow. When her signals were ignored Arachne felt a flash of impatience that when combined with the stress Arachne had been under recently from stealing private information directly from Celestia's private quarters and the preparations for the pending invasion, proved to be the straw that broke the camel's back.
"Lizard! The queen has too many issues to deal with and she cannot afford to have you waste her time. Now get up here before I come down and drag you to her majesty myself." She snapped angrily, breathing heavily until the realization of what she'd just done hit her and she stopped breathing all together. Every changeling in the area stopped what they were doing as well and watched the dragon's reaction. All felt the curiosity and a faint sense of awe coming from the dragon vanish instantly to be replaced by amusement though Arachne thought she detected a faint undercurrent of contempt.
"Lizard? If you're trying to anger me, you'll need to do better than that Arachne. I've lived far too long and spoken with too many enemies for much to insult me.. Now lead on." Aduro said as he slowly trained his silver eyes onto Arachne's blue orbs. With a shaky nod she began crawling up the tunnel followed closely by the dragon who put a little more force than was necessary in his climb. The two continued through the twisting and turning tunnels in total silence, Arachne too nervous to break it out of fear of actually agitating the dragon. Aduro was simply content to be alone with his thoughts and organize them before his meeting with Chrysalis and shake off the torpor of his rest.
After what seemed to be an eternity for Arachne the pair finally reached Queen Chrysalis' throne room. The room was large and arranged like an amphitheater with the actual throne being throne and allowing Chrysalis to address her subjects in one central area. Additionally, the throne room was actually in the center of the hive, allowing Chrysalis to send messengers via one of the dozens of tunnels branching out from the room. The first fact Aduro was able to determine by sight as the room was almost completely lit by large clusters of the glowing fungi from the previous tunnels. The second fact was discovered when Aduro sniffed the air and was briefly overwhelmed by the sheer amount of scents culminating in the room. This time his reverie went uninterrupted by Arachne and it was only when Chrysalis spotted the dragon and called out to him.
"Aduro, I trust you're satisfied with changeling medicine? Nothing else like it in the world," said Chrysalis rising from her throne and approaching the dragon.
"I am grateful for the aid your Majesty, but I would have preferred not having my wings torn off by your servants in the first place. It brought up memories I'd prefer never to dwell on again. Now, if we could skip the false pleasantries and discuss what exactly you want me to do. I dealt with enough of those the few times Celestia dropped by Tartarus," said Aduro ignoring the look of mixed anger and disbelief on Arachne's face. Chrysalis, in stark contrast to her underlings, didn't bat an eyelash at the blunt statement.
"Very well. Arachne," said Chrysalis.
"Yes my Queen," responded Arachne snapping to attention.
"Go prepare for the train to Canterlot and inform the others we depart as soon as possible."
"At once my Queen." Arachne turned and off into one of the many tunnels.
Chrysalis turned to Aduro and said, "Walk with me and I'll explain your role in the plan." She began walking leisurely down the same passage Arachne had disappeared into and indicated for Aduro to follow. "Aduro," she began, "we will be taking a train into Canterlot where, with your help, I intend to replace Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, who'll be marrying the captain of guard Shining Armor in three weeks time. By the day of the wedding I will have devoured enough of Shining Armor's love and weakened him enough that he won't be able to cast his protection spell over the city. Then we invade, your task will be to deal with Celestia and Luna until my changelings can overwhelm them. Any questions?"
"Several, first what is a train? Second just how long was I imprisoned? Final question: how am I supposed to deal with two alicorns in my current state when I could barely defeat one with all of my power?" Asked Aduro incredulously.
"According to the records one of my spies found, you've been imprisoned for close to 1800 years so expect a lot of things to be different than you remember and you'l find out what a train is soon enough. As for dealing with Celestia and Luna, I already said you're only to keep them busy enough until my changelings take them prisoner, I'm sure you can manage that much." Aduro had no response to that and Chrysalis took his silence as acceptance. Once again Aduro found himself walking along a tunnel in silence, free to spend time with his thoughts.
This is what I get for not finding out more about my business partner before making a deal... again. Aduro thought to himself. At least this deal can't go as wrong... no, no I am not going to tempt fate by finishing that thought. Focus on how to keep two angry alicorns from knocking me out in an instant. Alicorns who imprisoned you for being capable of doing what needed to be done.
As Aduro remembered the events that lead to his stay in Tartarus he felt the old anger reignite, fueling his determination and resolve. Chrysalis noticed the spike in volcanic anger with a small smile. So long as he keeps that anger directed at Celestia and Luna my plan will succeed. Everything will be perfect.
The queen and dragon continued in their silent manner until they reached the end of the tunnel and stepped out into sunlight. Aduro blinked, eyes adjusting to the brightness of daytime for the second time in centuries. They were in a small red canyon, with the sun bearing straight down baking everything in its wake. Even the air was noticeably dryer than down in the tunnels. Aduro unfurled his wings in an attempt to feel as much as the sun's warmth as possible.
He could almost feel the gears and cogs of his mind continue their gradual warmup after the limbo of Tartarus and his recent recovery. I forgot just how nice freedom really is. And to think all it took was promising to help the changelings take over Canterlot to get that freedom... I'm probably going to regret that decision later but for now I'm glad it gave me chance to do this.. With that thought in mind Aduro simply basked in the sunlight.
This must be the Badlands, unless they've changed the name during my absence. Then he turned his attention to the changelings, a group of about 6 including Chrysalis, all of who had a saddlebag on. Suddenly green fire engulfed each individual and now a group of 6 ponies stood before Aduro. He sniffed the air experimentally, the scent of changeling was gone and the scent of pony was in its place. He was impressed, the, now ancient, tales he'd heard of changeling disguises hadn't mentioned that every sense was fooled.
Chrysalis, now looking like a green earth pony mare with a braided blue mane and a shovel cutie mark, stepped forward and asked, "can you provide your own disguise or will we need to-". Before she could finish her sentence Aduro seemed to become a blur of white that gradually focused into a tall albino bat-pony stallion, complete with tufted ears and red slitted eyes. "Perhaps something less conspicuous," said Chrysalis dryly.
The image of the bat-pony rolled its eyes before blurring and refocusing into a grey pegasus with a closely cropped purple mane complete with a oil lantern cutie mark. "Better?" Asked the pegasus in Aduro's voice. The disguised queen nodded then turned to address her subjects.
"My subjects, we are about to embark on the most ambitious plan attempted in the Hive's history. It is paramount that we go unnoticed for I doubt we will have another opportunity like this ever again. We will have to fool Celestia and Luna themselves but should we, no, when we succeed we will be able feast on more love than we've ever dreamed of. And," she turned to look directly at Aduro, "remember to play your part. Now onto Canterlot, then Equestria."
All the disguised changelings shared a small cheer then began walking out of the canyon. The dragon hesitated for a second before falling in at the back of the group. One of the group fell back and walked alongside the disguised dragon. The false pony was a yellow unicorn mare with a long black mane.
"I am called Tsetse but in this form you will refer to me as Honeybee," said the unicorn. "You are to be my 'cousin', Smoke Stack, who I'm showing around Canterlot for the first time. Unless I or the queen says otherwise you are to simply be quiet and leave the talking to us. Am I clear?"
"Transparently," answered Aduro. He took this opportunity to survey the surrounding landscape. For miles in every direction except north there was nothing but flat bare dirt and rocks for miles. In the north however, Aduro saw a rather large hill and even further in the distance, almost invisible, was a city built on the side of a mountain. Canterlot, I'd always pictured it smaller from the way Celestia described it Aduro mused.
The group continued on their northbound path for approximately 30 minutes when they reached the base of the hill. There the group split into two groups, with three of the changelings heading towards the west and leaving Aduro, Arachne, Chrysalis, and Tsetse to ascend the hill on their own. From the top of the hill, Aduro was finally able to see what had been hidden from sight until now, a town.
A nearby signpost announced that they were at Appleloosa's city limits. The group descended the hill and walked through the town, false smiles on every face as friendly greetings were returned in kind. Aduro began to wonder if they were supposed to walk all the way to Canterlot when Tsetse nudged him in the side and pointed to what looked like several large boxes on wheels linked together on some sort of track.
"There's our train, Smoke Stack. I've got the tickets in my saddlebag so just stay close and you won't get in trouble like last time." Tsetse said with a perfect mix of a teasing tone and annoyance in her voice. Remembering his instructions Aduro made the image he projected of a pegasus roll its eyes and nod.
Tsetse got into a line heading into one of the boxes that made up the train two tickets held in her mouth. Aduro stood right behind her, tail carefully wrapped around his body to avoid hitting the pony behind him. Eventually the pair had their tickets punched, boarded the train, and headed towards the sleeping compartment, where to Aduro's complete lack of surprise, they found Chrysalis and Arachne occupying the bunks directly across from them.
Arachne and Tsetse quickly struck up a no doubt rehearsed conversation for the benefit of the other passengers. Aduro felt suddenly exhausted from having to absorb so many new sights after the monotony of Tartarus.
"I'll be in my bunk if you need me Honeybee," he said as he climbed into the top bunk. Tsetse looked up at the dragon then nodded and resumed her conversation with Arachne. Aduro pulled the curtain across his bunk, got under the covers provided, and dropped the illusion he'd been projecting. Within seconds he had fallen into a deep dreamless sleep. It was nighttime when he awoke.
First he put on his pony illusion and removed his head from under the blanket. The train was currently climbing a mountain, offering a view of the landscape of Equestria. He saw a cluster of lights in the distance he took to be a town. It was larger than any town he'd seen before his imprisonment. Without even looking out into the compartment he knew the other passengers were asleep. A strange sense of peace filled him, something he hadn't felt in ages.
And yet, the very reason I'm able to enjoy this calm is that I'm heading to Canterlot to disrupt the peace of this land, Aduro thought to himself. But it will be a temporary disruption, he reminded himself. Even if the changelings prove to be cruel masters, time will see them gone, and the world will be forever free from the taint of Discord. He continued to stare at the passing landscape for awhile then covered himself with the blanket and fell back into sleep.
Princess Cadence trotted down the hallways of Canterlot Castle while the sun was lowered and the moon took its position in the sky. She yawned then blinked as she suddenly remembered something. I was supposed to ask Auntie Luna if she wanted to meet Twilight and her friends with me when they arrive. Cadence started to walk in the opposite direction when another yawn interrupted her. Then again, they won't actually arrive until a week from the wedding, I'll just make a note to ask her at breakfast tomorrow.
"Two weeks left," she said to herself smiling tiredly. Resuming her original course Cadence continued down the hallway until she reached the doors to her bedchambers and the guards posted at them. "Good night Aegis and Lumber, I'm going to bed early. By the way, you were right Lumber, getting ready for a wedding is surprisingly exhausting work."
"I said getting ready for a normal wedding is stressful enough, I can't even imagine what a royal wedding entails. If it was me I'd be an absolutely nervous wreck by now. Well, I won't keep you from a good night's rest anymore, Princess," said Lumber Mill, as he magically opened the doors to Cadence's bedchambers. Cadence nodded in thanks and entered the room, letting out another yawn.
As the doors closed behind her Cadence turned off the lights from the chandelier and made her way to her bed in the dark. There she elegantly collapsed on top of the bed covers and levitated her tiara onto the dressing table leaving her shoes and necklace on. Within seconds she was asleep and she remained dead to the world as several obscure figures surrounded her bed in the darkness. She stirred slightly when a dome of green fire engulfed all present and vanished silently.
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Cadence slowly became aware of the fact that she seemed to be hanging upside down from the blood rushing to her head and when she opened her eyes only a green blur greeted her.
"Hello? Is anypony there?" She tried to ask but due to the cocoon all anypony outside would have heard was muffled gibberish. Cadence tried to push the cocoon apart with her hooves but they were all stuck together in some sort of hard green shell above her head. Okay, I'm hanging upside down stuck inside some kind of green shell. Either I've been captured by some kind of horrible monster who plans to eat me later, I'm having the most realistic nightmare of my life, or Auntie Celestia followed through with her threat of throwing me a bachelorette party. Not sure which option is the most terrifying at the moment. Just breathe and take stock of everything.
Hooves. Still stuck in a green shell. Wings. Shell too small to use. Horn. Usable.
Cadence summoned her magic and tried to simply push the green shell apart. Nothing happened so she tried again with more force. Still no result. Now thoroughly annoyed the alicorn opted to do her best and blast the shell to pieces, this time she succeeded. The pink alicorn fell to the ground painfully. Groaning she got to her hooves and heard a voice call out 'she's awake'.
Blinking as her eyes adjusted to the dimness of her new surroundings Cadence saw to her surprise she was no longer in her bedchambers. Instead she was in a cave which seemed to be made entirely out of crystals, her many reflections staring back at her. Looking around Cadence came upon a very strange sight, a small, relatively, all white dragon sleeping in front of the only passage out of the room. Its wings were spread out, covering the ground just in front of the passage guarenteeing that Cadence would have to fly over the dragon to avoid stepping on it. Additionally, the wings bulged and glowed from the objects underneath them.
Behind the dragon several black insect-pony-things with big blue orbs for eyes stared at her. Cadence stared at the bug-ponies who stared back and at the dragon, which seemed to be still asleep. Finally Cadence gathered enough of her wits to form a coherent thought.
"Um, hello? Did Auntie Celestia arrange this? If so she has an even stranger sense of humor than I thought." Cadence chuckled weakly as the bugs merely stared and the dragon remained asleep. Cadence stopped laughing awkwardly and started walking towards the strange dragon. "Well, I'd love to stay and chat but I've got preparations for a wedding to make."
Before she could make any attempt to move past the dragon however, it whipped its tail into the alicorn's path. "I'm afraid I can't let you do that child," it said never once opening its eyes. "I've been ordered to keep you here."
"By who," asked Cadence.
"It won't make any difference if you know, but you aren't leaving unless I'm told otherwise."
Cadence backed up and prepared a teleportation spell. "I'd like to see you try and stop me," she challenged. Suddenly, Cadence found herself facing one of the cave walls. Turning her head she found the dragon and company behind her. Ignoring her confusion at the change, Cadence teleported past them and sprinted down the tunnel. She made it about seven feet down the tunnel before slamming face first into what looked like thin air but felt like a stone wall.
Holding a hoof to her sore muzzle Cadence sat down and tentatively stuck her other forehoof out. It came into contact with a hard surface in midair. How? This isn't a spell or I'd see the glow of the magic she thought to herself. A second later she found herself facing a wall again. Once again turning around Cadence found the passage on her left.
This time Cadence tried to fly past the dragon only to be met with another head-on collision with an invisible wall. She peeled herself off the wall but before she could form a new plan of escape she was tackled from the side by something she couldn't see. The alicorn was slammed into a nearby wall and collapsed unconscious.
Around the unconscious alicorn the room blurred and reformed to reveal Aduro standing over Cadence, backlit by the dozens of firefly lanterns clustered by the tunnel entrance.
"Put her back in the cocoon and make it stronger like I ordered in the first place. This is your only opportunity to practice imprisoning an alicorn and remember, these have contain Celestia and Luna themselves. Tsetse, relay what just occurred to Chrysalis," the dragon instructed.
"There's no need for that, I saw everything," said a voice just behind Aduro. Turning he saw an image of the changeling queen in the guise of Princess Cadence. "Hearing you talk one would think defeating an alicorn was a nigh impossible feat and yet there you are, standing over an unconscious princess," said Chrysalis an amused smirk on her disguise's face.
"She doesn't know me, an advantage I won't have over the other Princesses. Now let me do the job you ordered me to do. Also I'd like to request more changelings to assist me. I'd prefer to have too many helpers than too few when the Princess tries to force her way out." Aduro explained, a paragon of militaristic discipline and control.
"I can't yet, you'll have to wait until more arrive in Canterlot tomorrow. Inform me when she wakes up again, I want to have a little chat. Now if you'll excuse me, I have wedding preparations to see to." Chrysalis cackled as her image faded from the wall.
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Cadence regained consciousness and was greeted with the same green as before. Okay, that's it, I am getting out of here now! However even though she blasted the inside of the new shell with all her power it took her the better part of an hour to break free. She emerged from the shell, protection spell at the ready and was greeted with a blinding white beam that gave off so much heat the remains of the cocoon caught fire and the crystal walls and floor seemed to melt slightly.
This assault combined with her efforts to free herself took their toll on the princess. She sank to the floor panting heavily and the protective bubble around her wavered as Cadence struggled to maintain the spell. Across the room behind the cluster of lanterns, Aduro was just as exhausted, despite only having fired the beam of light at the princess.
"Now somepony tell me," wheezed Cadence, "why am I here? And who are you?"
"Allow me to answer that Princess Mi Amore Cadenza," said a voice that sounded too familiar for Cadence's liking. She turned and saw herself looking down at her with a look of condescension from a flat slab of crystal on the ceiling. Cadence gaped at her doppelgänger, her mouth opened and closed wordlessly.
"I am Chrysalis, Queen of the changelings. And you're down there because it would be rather counterproductive for my plans if two Princess Cadenzas were spotted roaming Canterlot." Explained Chrysalis as if it were the most obvious fact of the world.
"What plans?" asked Cadence, afraid of the answer she half-knew was coming.
"Why the plans I have to feast on Shining Armor's love for you and take over Equestria of course."
Unnoticed by either member of royalty Aduro subtly gestured for the changelings behind him to get out of Cadence's line of sight and prepared himself for the oncoming onslaught. He didn't have to wait long.
"Don't you dare even go near my Shiny. I am going to get out of here then I am going to march right up to you and expose you to all of Canterlot as the imposter you are. And then I am going to marry Shining Armor and you will be lucky if you only get banished to the sun!" Cadence said, her voice rising the longer she spoke until she was yelling at the changeling queen.
"That certainly is a powerful imagination you've got there. You actually think you'll make it past my guards. Well, I have a pleasant lunch with my future husband to attend. Enjoy your stay." The image of Chrysalis vanished, leaving only the echo of her mocking laughter in the air. Cadence didn't say anything, merely looking down at the ground in silence letting the protection spell disappear from around her.
Then with a sudden explosion of magic Cadence attacked. She fired a beam that hit the dragon square in the chest and knocked him into the tunnel, causing a cloud of dust to billow out.
"You missed." Said a voice directly into Cadence's ear, causing her to whirl around to face Aduro, who stood less than a foot away from her. She fired another beam at him, which he somehow dodged and flew around the room before vanishing before Cadence's eyes. She yelled in frustration, eyes darting left and right for any sign of the dragon when she felt herself being tackled by several invisible...things. These invisible creatures let go almost as soon as they made contact.
Now enraged Cadence began to wildly fire off beam after beam of magic and all the while she felt blows landing on her from unseen sources. The fight, if one uses the term loosely, raged for several minutes which seemed to last for an eternity for the combatants. Cadence never saw her assailants straight on, only catching glimpses of the dragon or the changelings in the corners of her eyes. Finally, the stamina of the princess gave out and she collapsed to the ground, not even having the strength to stand.
She lay there, helpless, for several moments then watched as the room blurred and focused to reveal the damage inflicted upon it. Unconscious changelings lay scattered all around her but even more stood on guard in case the alicorn got up and resumed her efforts to escape. The walls, ceiling, and floor all had chunks missing, some were even still smoking. Judging by the number of bruises she felt Cadence determined she hadn't fared much better than the room had and her horn felt like it might catch fire if she tried to cast even a simple illumination spell.
Then she saw the dragon limp into view, favoring its hind left leg and letting its right wing drag on the ground. Something clicked in Cadence's mind and she remembered the lessons Celestia had given her on the inmates of Tartarus.
"You're...Aduro, right? How did you escape from Tartarus? And why, why are you helping these things?" Cadence pleaded, attempting to stand and failing. Aduro stopped limping away and looked down at the beaten princess. "Auntie Celestia always said you never had ambitions for Equestria. She said the only thing you wanted was...Discord." Comprehension dawned on Cadence's face and tears began to form in her eyes as she realized what that imposter had offered Aduro.
"Y-you don't have to do this. If you let me go I'll do my best to get Celestia and Luna to not punish you harshly for this. And you changelings, if you had come to us in peace we would have done our best to find a way to aid you, even coexist. We can still find a way if you stop this before it goes any farther and you do something you can't take back." Cadence finished her small speech, tears of anger, pain, and sorrow running down her face. Both the Princess and the dragon noticed several changelings exchanging looks and whispers.
Aduro turned away and limped down the exit tunnel but not before responding to the alicorn's pleas, craning his neck to stare one silver eye into her purple ones.
"You are offering imprisonment and starvation in place of freedom and food. Even if you could convince the other Princesses to have mercy, the rest of the populace is unlikely to be as forgiving. Unless you can change everyponies opinion before a single changeling starves that isn't an option. And if you could do that, you shouldn't be on your thrones in the first place." With that Aduro limped out of sight. Cadence closed her eyes and wept quietly to herself as the changelings gathered their wounded for treatment.
----------
Some time later found Aduro scaling the walls of Canterlot Castle with a bandaged wing and leg in broad daylight. However to the casual observer, nothing would be seen on the castle walls. To anypony paying close attention small clouds of dust would be seen emerging in a zigzag pattern up the wall and somepony looking straight down the wall would see two small lines bobbing around in unison.
But nopony was paying particular attention and Aduro managed to climb up to one of the many balconies unimpeded and unnoticed. He crawled to the doors of the room connected to the balcony and slowed opened the door and peeked inside. The room was dark and dominated primarily by a large bed whose sole occupant was a dark blue alicorn who shifted in her bed. Aduro closed the door and crept back down the wall heart pounding in his throat.
He wandered towards a lower section of the castle, checking every window he passed for Chrysalis, before he finally caught sight of the fake pink alicorn. He spotted her in a hallway and crawled through an open window onto the ceiling. Aduro followed her in this manner until she reached her destination: a bathroom. Aduro followed Chrysalis inside when she magically opened the door.
Having been in the company of changelings for more than a week, Aduro had learned that changelings couldn't actually digest the food ponies ate and had to throw up any food they consumed in the course of their deception. This is what Chrysalis was preparing to do when she was interrupted by the dragon.
Chrysalis had just spit out the last of the daisy sandwich she'd had for lunch when a small circle of light danced across the wall which then morphed into the phrase 'look up'. She did and saw Aduro hanging from the ceiling looking down, (or up), at her.
"What are you doing here?" Demanded the Queen as she flushed the remains of her meal away. "I thought I told you to guard Princess Mi Amore Cadenza until I instructed you otherwise. If even a single member of the Royal Guard sees you and reports it back to the Princesses, it makes our plans that much harder. Now get back to the crystal mines immediately or-"
"I'll go back once you explain why you seem to enjoy sabotaging your own plans." The dragon said calmly as he descended from the ceiling. "I've risked being sent back to Tartarus to see you because you just needlessly antagonized an alicorn, a mortal one, but an alicorn nonetheless. We were lucky this time because she had already been tired from breaking free of her shell but if she hadn't, there was a significant chance that she would have escaped," Aduro lectured. "As someone who's had a lot of experience keeping things against their will, I recommend that unless you have a hostage prepared, never tell a prisoner their loved ones are in danger, they tend to fight harder for others than for their own sake."
"Don't lecture me on how ponies think you fossil." Said Chrysalis taking a step closer to the dragon. "I'd say you took a bigger risk coming here than I did."
"Would you prefer I point out the unnecessary risks you took in front of your loyal subjects?" Aduro also took a step closer.
"Are you threatening me?" asked Chrysalis, her voice dangerously quiet. Her muzzle was now inches from Aduro's as she glared into his eyes. The ivory dragon was tempted, sorely tempted, to say yes. However his better sense prevailed and he broke eye contact, lowering his gaze to the floor.
"No I'm not. What I am saying is that you seem to have forgotten that the consequences of your actions affect me. We are planning to take the seat ot the Princesses' power from right under their noses. I don't want another 1800 years of imprisonment to occur before I see another sunrise. And you don't want to have to live off the scraps of love anymore so can we agree to disagree after we take Canterlot?" Aduro finished, now eager to spend as little time in the Queen's presence as possible.
Chrysalis, satisfied with her ability to stare down the dragon, merely chuckled and patted his cheek. "While I admire your commitment to the plan, I think you've forgotten that changelings are born knowing how to decieve. Now get back to the caverns before one of the Guard spot you." Internally however, Chrysalis was already appraising how much a threat Aduro would be to what she hoped would become the Changeling Empire. It seems that the chances of him staying loyal to me are dropping and his becoming a wildcard are increasing. Note to self, get Tsetse to keep me updated on any hints of betrayal.
Aduro clambered back up to the ceiling, preparing to sneak back out when he asked, 'By the way, what do you plan to do with the Captain of the Guard after the wedding?"
"I plan to keep feeding off his love until I grow tired of the taste then I'll pass him off to one of my more deserving subjects. Why do you care?"
"Simple curiosity, you hadn't mentioned his fate in our previous meetings. Now please, will you open the door and let me rest. Fighting an alicorn takes a toll." Gesturing to the door Aduro vanished from sight, leaving the Queen seemingly alone. He's planning something, I'm certain of it. But like he said, it's back to Tartarus if our plan fails. She thought to herself as she opened the bathroom doors and walked out into the hallway.
I don't understand, why would he willingly aid the Princesses after his imprisonment? No, it doesn't matter what he does or what he tries to do. The Changeling Empire will come to be, the plan has advanced too far for any one thing to stop it. A small, dark smile formed on the false Princess's face. I think the time has come for the next stage to commence, and thanks to that fossil the work is already half-done.
**********
Princess Celestia was sitting at the royal dining table enjoying her dinner and going through the piles of mail that made it through the series of royal mailmen to her. Even though she would have loved to, even Celestia couldn't find the time to read and respond to all of the letters ponies wrote to her. Still she made it a habit to read through at least some everyday. Luna was doing something similar as she ate her breakfast and surveyed her smaller, but still respectable pile of letters.
As Celestia lifted a forkful of salad to her mouth her eyes caught sight of a blank envelope among the crayon-colored letters from foals and invitations from adults to grace their places of business with a royal visit. She levitated it to her face, removing the letter inside. As she read the message her expression subtly shifted from mild interest to concern, a change which went unnoticed by all except Luna, who paused in eating her bowl of dried oats to look at her sister.
"Tia what-," said Luna before Celestia flashed her a look that said 'this is a matter not for public discussion'. Celestia waved a hoof-servant over and whispered something into their ear. The hoof-servant nodded silently and took the letter and envelope away. Luna raised an eyebrow as Celestia leaned across the table towards her sister.
"What's the matter Tia?" whispered Luna.
"I just received a disturbing report, that if true, means Canterlot is in grave danger. The anonymous writer claims to have seen a dragon climbing the sides of the castle and that nopony else seemed able to see." Celestia looked at her sister, waiting to see if she understood the implications of the letter. She wasn't disappointed.
Luna's eyes widened as she muttered, "You mean that..."
"Yes, if we find the evidence described in the letter, it lends credence to the possibility that Aduro has escaped from Tartarus," said Celestia softly. "Luna, until we determine whether or not the letter is genuine I want to you keep the news of this quiet."
"We should keep it quiet even if the letter is true," said Luna earning a confused look from Celestia. "If the news that an invisible dragon is roaming the streets, panic could run rampant throughout the entire kingdom. Furthermore, I'm more interested in who sent the letter, especially if what they say is true."
"I've already sent it to be analyzed for any clues to the writer's identity and relayed instructions for the sides of the castle to be checked for claw marks. Luna, we need a plan of action. What are your thoughts?" The two alicorns proceeded to get up from their chairs and left the dining room leaving a trail of whispers.
Shining Armor watched the pair leave and turned to his fiancèe, "what was that about?"
"I haven't got the faintest idea Shining," said Chrysalis, her face the paradigm of innocent confusion. Internally, she was rejoicing. All according to plan.
Cadence laid panting on the ground, her most recent escape attempt having failed even worse than the previous ones. She looked up at Aduro, who she'd failed to hit even once this time. Or maybe she had and what she saw was an illusion. Maybe the dragon standing in front of her was actually a changeling in the form of Aduro... And maybe Nightmare Moon collected stamps on the moon, it's irrelevant either way. Focus on the fact that I'm a prisoner and so far trying to force my way out isn't working. And remember what doing the same thing expecting a different outcome says about you, she reminded herself.
With no view of the outside and since none of her captors wore timepieces, Cadence had no clear idea how much time had passed since her capture. The only things she could use as reference were the number of times she fell asleep and the times Aduro coughed up a gem or two and ate them. By her best estimates she'd been in the crystal cavern for at least four days but it could just as easily have been an entire week.
She prepared herself for the next step in the odd routine she'd developed with her guards. First Cadence would wake up in one of those, now annoyingly familiar, cocoons, then she would break out, fight with the guards until exhaustion, and repeat. However, each time it took her longer and longer to free herself from the cocoon and the last time several times they had been filled with some kind of green goo. She sighed and prepared for the changelings to knock her out and begin step one all over again.
Fifteen minutes passed and Cadence found herself left in her state of collapse on the cavern floor as Aduro seemed to take a nap at the exit while the changelings vanished further into the tunnel. She knew appearances could be deceiving, and with the dragon in the room that possibility was almost a certainty. She took advantage of the unexpected moment of, relative, solitude to think as the fireflies continued to flutter around in their lanterns.
Ok, they're not dragging me back and putting me into another cocoon. That's a plus, but why? Why stop now? I think it took almost an entire day to get out last time. Is that it? Cadence thought furiously, about her impersonator, the changelings' plans, Aduro, and how she was going to get away from them. She stood up gingerly, feeling her injuries protest at the action and slowly walked to the back of the cavern. She placed a hoof on the wall, confirming it was actually there and leaned against it for support.
So, I can't rely on my eyes to get out of here. No harm going blind from here on out. With that Cadence closed her eyes and began to feel her way along the wall, feeling the sharper edges of the crystals scrape against the skin under her fur. She hadn't moved five feet before a gust of wind blew into her face and something sharp was pressed against her forehead. A trickle of blood ran between her eyes and down her muzzle as her breath involuntarily caught in her throat.
"Princess Cadenza, while I admire your dedication to your fiancé, following this course of action will force me to take more serious measures to keep you confined. I don't desire that and I doubt you do either," said Aduro and a look of significance passed between the two. Cadence shivered and slowly opened her eyes to be met with the sight of a scaly palm holding a claw that blurred just above her eye level. "But I am curious, if you truly love this...Shining Armor, surely the farce of a wedding being prepared won't actually change anything between you two. So why are you so set on stopping it?" Aduro withdrew his claw from her head and looked to the alicorn for her response.
"What!? What kind of question is that? The love of my life is getting married to a bug impersonating me, in order to drain the love out of him and take over all of Equestria and you need to ask why I'm doing everything in my power to break out of here and rescue him?" Cadence asked furiously stomping her hoof to punctuate her point. Despite her show of anger, a slight tremor of fear laced her exclamation, something that didn't go noticed by the dragon.
"I ask because it seems to me that your primary reason for escaping seems to be you want to hurt Chrysalis more than you want to save Shining Armor, the dragon said, infuriatingly calm. Cadence blinked and considered the statement. It was true she'd spent most of her time between escape attempts imagining the look on her duplicate's face when she would burst through the doors and expose the fake to all, but surely she'd thought about Shining Armor's well-being at least once. Right?.
Maybe Aduro is right. What kind of pony am I to lose sight of what is truly important to me: saving the love of my life... Wait a minute, why does he care? Cadence asked Aduro as much and it was the dragon's turn to blink in surprise.
"I asked because unlike some things I know, I don't take pleasure in seeing anything lose themselves to the pursuit of vengeance." Cadence shot a skeptical look at the dragon who quickly added, "I am aware of my own hypocrisies, Princess. Unlike most however, I am willing to accept the consequences that are brought by my actions. That is why I am willing to do what needs to be done," finished Aduro an undercurrent of pride in his voice.
"Is this something that 'needs to be done'," inquired Cadence gesturing at the cavern around them.
"...Yes, and soon after Equestria accepts its new rulers, it will be freed from a threat that has been hanging over it for millennia."
"We don't need Discord dead. He's harmless as a statue."
"And when he's not? I've heard the stories about his recent bout of freedom, and how the current Bearers defeated him. But what about the next time? What happens when the Bearers age and die as all mortals do? Will the next ones be found before he escapes again? He may have underestimated his opponents the last few times but of all the things Discord is, an idiot isn't one of them. While you might be willing to take that risk are you willing to place such a risk on the shoulders of your foals' or your grand-foals'?"
Cadence was speechless, taken aback by the passion in his words; a passion as fierce as her own desire to escape. A large part of her wanted to yell obscenities at him, an equally large part was seriously considering the questions he asked, and a small but very loud part just wanted to run away screaming her head off. The terrified voice was quickly silenced and the angry part fought the thoughtful part for dominance. Eventually the two parts came together and she reached a conclusion, Aduro is convinced he is doing what is best for the greater good and is unlikely to be persuaded from it.
Worst of all, she realized, he may have a valid point. As much as I think of Twily as the little filly I sat for the fact remains she has grown up since then and she'll continue to grow old until one day...she just won't wake up. What will happen then? I'm sure Auntie Celestia has some sort of master plan to deal with him. Her doubts and concerns swam around her mind like fish in a pond. 'And yet she was powerless against Nightmare Moon despite having a thousand years to prepare. Along with Aduro's escape and the fact I was taken from my own bedchambers it seems Celestia isn't all that wise', said a voice in the back of her mind.
Because she was depending on Twilight and her friends to find the Elements and save Luna and you can't guard against a threat you don't know exists. Cadence countered in her mind. More preoccupied with her mental discussion she sat down and focused her non-seeing gaze on a random rock. Arguments and counterarguments bounced around until Cadence forced her train of thought to a screeching halt. Stop. Just stop. Debating my captor's motivations will not help anypony especially Shining Armor. Think of it like a day at the Royal Court. Focus on the facts and ignore everything else. Aduro: millennia old dragon with a grudge against Discord. Good at illusions but needs lanterns to make them. Changelings: bug ponies that shapeshift and eat love. Have wings and a horn but seem to rely on numbers instead of strength.
Unbeknownst to Cadence, the changeling Tsetse was thinking similar thoughts to her as it watched the dragon slink back to his post at the tunnel entrance. The dragon will not be easy to pin down, thought Tsetse. He will not stand fight like the ponies, he will creep and hide behind his light. But his close quarters combat skill is still an unknown factor. When he is no longer needed will he fight to escape or fight to stop our plans?
While every other occupant of his surroundings was thinking of a plan to defeat him, Aduro's mind was on another topic entirely. Three hours ago instead of another gem for him to eat, he had coughed up a scroll, although he had almost eaten it out of reflex but the unexpected taste of parchment stopped him before he swallowed. Just as he had been about to read it however, when the Princess tried to make another break for the tunnel. He had slipped the scroll underneath one of the firefly lanterns before joining the fray.
Now he had a chance to discover what it contained. Aduro put up his regular illusion of sleep and, taking care to make as little noise as possible, removed the scroll from its hiding place. The scroll contained a message and despite centuries having passed Aduro still recognized Celestia's style of writing in the old letter system. The ancient lettering was actually familiar to Aduro, so unlike the strange scrawling language used by the ponies of today.
Aduro, we know of your escape. I'll understand if we're some of the last beings in the world you'd want to speak to. So much so I must confess I doubt you will do anything but burn this letter after reading it, but as Luna so vehemently asserts, acting on a slim hope is better than acting as if there was none. With that in mind we beseech you, if you desire a peaceful resolution fly to the peak of Canterlot Mountain where you will find a squad of Royal Guards who will escort you discreetly to the castle. There are multiple squads assigned to this task so you may arrive at any hour of your choosing.
Once you have entered the castle walls Luna and I will sit down and discuss the situation we find ourselves in as well as how to solve it in a fair manner. 1800 years is a long time, even for those such as us. I will admit that I was hurt by your actions and most likely let my emotions affect my judgement. Now time has allowed my mistakes to teach me the lessons you attempted to impart to us. Now I will turn to Luna to offer insight into more recent events.
Salutations old friend. I don't know how much of the circumstances surrounding my banishment and recent return to Equestria you are aware of but...I now understand a little of what you've been through. I now know what it is to be consumed by anger and blinded to all views but my own, but I was saved from truly falling to the depths by the Elements of Harmony and their Bearers. Their friendship was able to overcome the Nightmare and reunite with my sister so let our friendship overcome the barriers between us. The world has changed so much in my absence I can scarcely imagine how it must seem to you. As you can see even this letter must be written in a version of Equish so old it is almost an entirely different language from the modern style. Let us ease you into this new world as equals, nay, as friends like we were so many years ago.
Now as much I hope and wish you will be willing to meet us peacefully, as you once said, we must also prepare for the worst. Should you attempt to harm any of our subjects your actions will be met with the appropriate consequences. May we meet as allies and not as opponents.
Pr Celestia and Luna
Aduro stared at the letter for several long minutes unsure of how to react. His first question was how had the Princesses learned of of his escape in the first place. He quickly answered that question himself but it only brought up far more. Why would the changelings let the Princesses know I escaped when they went to the trouble of breaking me out in the first place, he asked himself.
Unless...I was merely supposed to serve as a distraction from the beginning. Yes, that does make a certain amount of sense, especially if I factor in the foolish amount of pride that Queen has in her plan. Have an outside threat to capture Celestia's attention while sneaking in unnoticed. But like I warned her, everything hasn't gone the way she planned it.
Lifting his gaze from the letter to the Princess of Love lying on the floor and staring blankly at the floor. And it seems that I'm in the exact same situation. Can I reveal myself to Celestia and Luna, openly admit to keeping their niece prisoner, and free the world from Discord? Unlikely. But Chrysalis is just as, if not more, unlikely to allow me to either if I'm reading the facts right. But why would Luna of all ponies have been banished? Luna said she'd been saved from making the same mistakes I made. What does that mean? Did she try to use blood magic? Or do they still think I was unjustified in my actions.
With that Aduro sank further and further into thought as did Princess Cadence and Tsetse the Changeling. Each one drawing up and discarding plans of action as the day of the Royal Wedding approached and decisions became more and more urgent to make.
Moonlight filtered through Shining Armor's shield spell as Princess Celestia approached the balcony where Luna stood guard over the night skies of Canterlot. Celestia's brows were knitted together and a frown was present on her face.
"Luna, do you have anything to report," asked Celestia.
"No reports of anything missing from rock farms or gem mines and no reports of anything strange wandering the streets of Canterlot," said Luna glancing at her sister. She promptly did a double-take upon seeing Celestia's expression. "Is something wrong Tia?"
Celestia sighed before responding. "I just witnessed my student verbally assault her future sister-in-law until Cadenza burst into tears and ran from the room."
Luna's jaw fell open at that statement. "Surely thou art jesting sister. When we met with her during Nightmare Night she helped us reconnect with our subjects," said Luna, oblivious to her relapse into the old manner of speech. "What could Cadenza have done to drive such a filly to act as thou claim?"
"Marry Shining Armor and, in Twilight's eyes it seems, steal him from his little sister." Celestia walked towards the balcony and rested her fore-hooves on the railing. "Twilight burst in on the practice ceremony and accused Cadenza of outright brainwashing Shining Armor, among other things. I must confess I'm disappointed that Twilight chose to see this happy event in a negative light. I thought for sure she would be overjoyed for her brother finding somepony to spend the rest of his life with." Celestia lowered her head onto her fore-hooves and gazed at the slightly shimmering bubble of the protection spell.
Luna continued to search through the telescope as she said to her sister, "We...I believe that Twilight's current attitude is a rather saddening turn of events but I have faith she will change her opinion in due time."
"I truly hope she does. I've seen too many of my friends lose their way instead of improving themselves in due time. And as I was just so unpleasantly reminded, even we can't always predict the actions of others." Celestia felt her eyes grow slightly moist as she was reminded of that awful time a thousand years ago when, because of her own foolishness, she had almost lost Luna forever. Celestia tried to blink the moisture away slightly when she felt a wing being draped across her back.
"Then it's a good thing she has many noble friends to help her see the truth and make the right decisions," said Luna. The two of them sat there in silence for several peaceful moments until Celestia broke the silence with a chuckle.
"I've had to be the one ponies rely on for suppport for so long I forgot how nice it is to know I can turn to somepony else," Celestia said turning to face her sister. Celestia nuzzled her sister before getting to her hooves with a ruffle of her wings. "When did you become the wise one Luna? I seem to remember you constantly hounding me for advice on how to do everything," she said with a smile.
"I think you misremember events sister. I only asked because I wanted to make sure you could understand all those long words with your simple mind. After all you had a thousand years to catch up and still I need to explain everything to you," said Luna with an overly dramatic sigh. The sisters shared a laugh. Then Celestia extended her wings and flew to her study to plan for the next day and Luna resumed her watch over the night sky.
Down in the crystal caves
I'm going to have trouble dealing with green ponies now that I can honestly say I don't like the color green, thought Cadence as she observed the shell the changelings had once again entombed her in. She had spent most of yesterday focusing her magic on drilling a small hole in the shell casing. A hole small enough to be unnoticed at a distance but it was enough to make the job of breaking herself out easier when the time came. Then she had a far easier time falling asleep while hanging upside down than she thought she'd have.
Idly Cadence realized she wasn't as disturbed by her predicament as she had been. I guess it's true that you can get used to anything given enough time. Now once more over the plan. 1. Cause a distraction, 2. Quietly get out of cocoon, 3. Extinguish lanterns, 4. Subdue Aduro and changelings in that order, and 5. Escape from this forsaken place. Cadence readied her magic and hoped she had calculated the distance between her shell and the exit tunnel correctly.
Flitter was bored. No two ways about it he was bored. Admittedly standing guard over one of the three Princesses of Equestria had been interesting enough without the frequent jailbreak attempts every so often. But that still left hours in between of nothing to do but stand around and stare at a dimly lit corridor and he couldn't do anything to kill time because that defeated the whole purpose of standing at attention. Flittered snorted and shot a glance behind him at Tsetse. How does the soldier caste deal with guard duty doldrums?
Flitters musings were cut short as blue sparks suddenly appeared in front of him and just as quickly vanished. Then all thought was banished from his mind except for one. What an amazing rock!
Aduro was awoken from his sleep by the sound of hisses and buzzing wings. He was met with the sight of the changelings under his command tackling one another seemingly over...a rock? Aduro felt a desire for the clear rock grow within him and he had taken several steps forward before a thought crossed his mind why do I want a rock? He clung to the thought and felt the desire struggle to be at the forefront of his mind.
Magic! Aduro realized. Fighting to keep himself still, Aduro raised a claw and pointed at the rock, currently being held in the mouth of a changeling. The rock began to shine brilliantly, blinding almost everyone in the confines of the corridor and melted causing the changeling holding it to run off shrieking in pain from a burned mouth.
When the rock was nothing more than a small glowing pile of slag the changelings stopped fighting each other and blinked the spots and confusion out of their eyes. Aduro turned to look into the cave and found only an empty shell and the remains of the lanterns scattered around the room. She dared to use mental magic? I might have underestimated what she's capable of.
"The Princess has escaped," roared Aduro. "Find her and return her to this place alive. You three will follow me," Aduro pointed to the changeling pile that contained Tsetse, Flitter, and a changeling named Culex. "The rest of you, cover all the exits and aim for her wings and horn if you encounter the princess." Without another word the dragon rushed down the tunnel with his entourage following close behind.
The tunnel was choked with the black forms of the changelings as they flew past the dragon who could only run within the small confines. The dragon reached an intersection of three tunnels and finding no hoofprints leading down any of them, sniffed the air twice. Princess Cadenza left a strong scent trail of blood and sweat that was easy for him to follow, fortunately for him.
Gesturing for his companions to follow, Aduro went down the left most tunnel. Aduro repeated this action for the next three intersections when hoofprints joined the scent leading down what he knew was a dead end.
The dragon signaled with his wings for Tsetse and Culex to remain at the entrance while Flitter entered, flanked by an invisible Aduro. The dragon and changeling crept down the dark narrowing tunnel, the only source of illumination from the glow of the changeling's horn. I will never ask for something interesting to happen ever again. In fact I will forget the emotion boredom even exists, thought Flitter as he placed one shaky hoof in front of the other.
As the pair went further in both tensed in anticipation of a cornered pony's struggling and wild blasts of magic. None came. Instead they reached the end of tunnel and found nothing.
"How?" Aduro murmured as he became visible again. He looked down at the ground and confirmed that no tracks were heading in the opposite direction. A sniff told the dragon that the scent had lead here. Unless... "She fooled us again," said Aduro impressed. "She must have teleported back to the crossroads and then teleported down another path. Hurry, she's gaining more ground as we speak." And it means she isn't as ignorant of my abilities as I thought. She is dangerous, Aduro noted as he raced back.
Upon returning to the crossroad, Aduro sniffed down the other paths like a bloodhound finding the scent again on his second try and giving chase once again. The next interruption in their progress came in the form of a pile of rubble that had once been a wall separating the tunnel from an adjoining cavern and a new scent joining the Princess's. The new scent was of ink and parchment and Aduro didn't like this new development at all.
Now we have two escaping prisoners to contend with. And it seems this newcomer is also a formidable unicorn. Unless an Earth pony decided to take the time to break each piece of the wall into gravel. Damn it Chrysalis you've just made it easier for your plan to come crashing down on your head. And potentially mine.
Aduro took off at a much faster pace than before, now growing more and more worried at how events were unfolding. The trail became harder to follow as it vanished occasionally and Aduro had to find where it began again; another indicator that the new prisoner was a unicorn. One who was capable of teleportation too if the number of gaps in the trail was any indication.
As time progressed and no indication that they were gaining on the prisoners, that feeling grew worse in the pit of the dragon's stomach. Then a pair of unconscious changelings were found and he could see sunlight being reflected off some crystals a hundred feet away. Aduro knew a new plan of action was needed.
"Culex, stay here until they awaken and then gather the rest of the guards. The prisoners have most likely made it to the surface by now and we need to regroup before the entire Royal Guard is in pursuit," Aduro instructed.
"That will not be necessary, Culex," said Tsetse. Aduro looked at the changeling soldier in disbelief. Tsetse had practically been attached to him since his release from Tartarus and throughout the time neither had ever contradicted the other's orders. In fact, the two had barely spoken to each other unless it involved the invasion of Canterlot.
"Why is not necessary to prepare for the complete failure of your plan? The moment Princess Cadenza steps into the same room as your Queen, Celestia and Luna will not waste any time investigating this. The next thing you know, Equestria declares war on all changelings and I'm put back into that infernal pit for the rest of eternity. And you say nothing needs to be done about that?" Aduro finished his rant, panting from both weariness and the emotions threatening to overwhelm him.
"I recieved instructions from the Queen herself last night dictating that the Princess's captivity was no longer necessary for the invasion to succeed." Tsetse said calmly despite the anger rolling off the dragon just a few feet from him. "Culex, Flitter, Aduro, we will head to the surface and await the signal for us to take the capitol today. Leave these two here, they'll find their way out eventually."
Without so much as a backwards glance at the dumbstruck dragon, Tsetse took off from the ground and flew at a comfortable pace towards the surface entrance. Culex followed wordlessly and Flitter nervously skirted around Aduro before following his fellow changelings.
So I am just another pawn. I was a fool to think anything else, thought Aduro. He walked after the trio, catching his breath and mentally preparing himself for what was shaping up to be a very unpleasant day.
The Royal Castle, One Hour Later
Princess Celestia was having a bad day. She'd discovered too late that her niece had been impersonated and now Canterlot was being invaded all because she'd been unable or unwilling to see the signs. She watched Twilight and her friends rush to gather the Elements of Harmony before letting her head sink back to the stone floor. She barely noticed the stampede of panicking ponies as they ran as fast they could away from the creature that had defeated her. She barely noticed the changeling queen's cackling growing louder as Shining Armor spell finally shattered allowing the swarm to bombard the city with green fire.
Celestia did take notice when the queen placed a hoof on the Princess's head and declared, "Thus ends the reign of Princess Celestia and thus begins the reign of Queen Chrysalis." Righteous fury swelled in Celestia's chest as she struggled to control the magic within herself and attack Chrysalis. I may not be able to defeat her, but does she really think I will let my kingdom be invaded without a struggle? I have not been beaten yet, thought Celestia as her horn began to glow with golden light.
Chrysalis was enjoying herself immensely, despite Cadence's appearance at the wedding throwing her plans for sabotage out the window, everything else was going according to plan. She felt both Princess Celestia's and Princess Cadence's anger as the pair prepared to attack the 'distracted' queen. Almost causally Chrysalis stomped on Celestia's horn, elicting a cry of pain, then jumped to the side as Cadence flew through the space formerly occupied by the queen, blue magic blasting from her horn.
Upon missing her target Cadence swerved to avoid flying into a pillar and turned around, another spell at the ready. She never noticed the white blur streaking towards her until it slammed into her and she crashed to the floor. Cadence attempted to rise to her hooves but stopped when a clawed foot was pressed into her back and twin pricks of pain arose from the base of her wings.
"I warned you before I would have to resort to more serious measures if you made another serious escape attempt." Cadence looked up to find Aduro standing over her. "Consider this your second warning. There won't be a third," he stated simply. The pain in her wings increased and Cadence realized if she tried anything, she'd lose use of her wings. Even if the damage would heal, Cadence didn't want to cripple herself for nothing. She stopped struggling and complied...for the moment.
"Aduro, I see that you're able to move independently. So tell me, why is there a Princess under your foot rather than underground?" Chrysalis asked still in a relaxed pose.
"She used neuromancy on me and the other guards to provide a distraction. Then she recieved assistance from another prisoner, one I had no knowledge about." By this time Tsetse and a squad of changelings arrived and bowed before their queen.
"Prepare a pod for the good Princess," Chrysalis lowered her horn to Celestia's and the Sun Princess fell unconscious. "I want her to enjoy the sight of the captured Elements of Harmony, her imprisoned sister, and the conquest of Canterlot. And know she is unable to do anything." Chrysalis let out another cackle as her changelings gathered around the Princess and in unison formed a green cocoon magically. The cocoon was then attached to the ceiling and left to hang.
Cadence began to hyperventilate, a nervous habit she thought she'd outgrown years ago, as the changeling queen approached her. I must not panic, Twilight won't go down easily. If she was able to defeat Discord, then this bug has no chance. Cadence forced herself to take deep breaths as Chrysalis bent her head to look directly into Cadence's eyes.
"Now what to do with you. Hmm...oh well, I have plenty of time to decide. Aduro," said Chrysalis. "You are to capture Princess Luna and bring her here, understood?"
"Yes." Aduro lifted his leg off of Cadence who was quickly restrained by having her hooves and wings encased in a familiar green covering. The dragon unfurled his wings and was about fly when Chrysalis abruptly stood in front of him.
"I asked you if you understood my orders. I'm still waiting for a response." Chrysalis leveled her gaze at the dragon who didn't meet it.
"Yes, your majesty," said Aduro. The Queen nodded her head in acknowledgement and stepped out of the dragon's way. Aduro ran towards the balcony and dove off, letting his wings catch the air before flying off in search of his target. He didn't have to search for long despite the plumes of smoke rising from the city.
Princess Luna had been sound asleep and enjoying a rather pleasant dream involving the most amazing new creation during her banishment: nightclubs, when a nearby explosion sent her tumbling out of her bed. Luna ripped off her sleep mask to find a snarling, black, insectoid pony standing in front of a hole in her bedchamber's wall. The changeling charged only to met with a blast of magic that sent it flying back out the hole it had made and down into the castle hedge maze.
Luna poked her head out of the hole in the wall and saw legions of the insectoids dive-bombing the city. It took less than a second for her to understand what she was seeing and she took off at a speed many Wonderbolts would have been impressed by. Luna immediately flew into the city firing off beams of magic at every changeling she encountered.
She had just freed a pony cornered in an alleyway by three changelings when something landed on her back. Luna automatically threw herself against the nearest wall and was satisfied to hear the grunt of pain as her attacker was knocked off of her. She whirled around to find a white dragon recovering from having the wind knocked out of it.
"Lucere? Is that you?" Luna asked.
"That is a name I haven't heard in a long time. Luna, I am sorry it had to come to this but, I'm going to ask that you surrender quietly." Aduro got to his feet and pointed a claw at the alicorn. "Please don't make this any harder than it needs to be."
"Lucere...thou art allied with these changelings?" Before Luna could say anything else an explosion ripped through the air and Luna started to gallop towards the source but a beam of light from Aduro's outstretched claw cut her off. The princess glared at the dragon. "Lucere, We shall protect our subjects and We shall remove any obstacle keeping us from our duty."
"I was afraid of that." Aduro raised his claw and a white orb shot out from it, flying up in the air where it erupted into a bright flash. Suddenly the roofs of the buidlings on either side of the alley were covered in changelings leaping down towards the alicorn. Rule number 1: Have more allies than enemies if possible, thought Aduro.
Luna merely frowned, vanished in a flash of magic, and reappeared on the roof of a building a block away. She formed a shield around herself and flew in the direction the explosion came. The changelings flew after her and threw themselves at the shield again and again with more and more gathering around the princess. She tried to press on but the sheer number of blows to her shield took its toll on her.
Luna teleported again, this time ending up inside a bedroom with a view of the mass of changelings that dispersed all around the immediate area. There are too many of them and it seems they're after me specifically. I can't help anypony if I'm spending all my time avoiding that swarm. Where are you Celestia? And Lucere...just what is your role in all this? Luna concentrated her magic, this time to change her form to that of a blue mist.
Luna flowed down the stairs of the house and under the crack in the door. She swept down the street, over the craters and scorch marks, unnoticed by the swarm above. Then a blast of heat grazed the mist and Luna reverted back to her normal form, coat steaming slightly.
Rule number 2: Know your opponent's plans. Aduro leaped from his perch, claws aiming for the Princess's wings. Rule number 3: Cripple your opponent's movements as soon as possible.
Aduro scored Luna's back with deep cuts, causing her wings to fall limply at her sides. Luna craned her neck and fired magic at the dragon. He dodged and vanished into thin air, leaving Luna to dart her head back and forth in search of her opponent. Rule number 4: Keep your opponent guessing about your next move.
A trio of changelings flying by saw the Princess and dove at her, auras of green fire covering them. Luna sidestepped the attack simultaneously throwing up another shield spell just in time to block several large chunks of rubble that shattered against her shield. Luna turned, grabbed the three changelings in her magic, and threw them in the direction the boulders had come from. The changelings crashed through the window of a bookstore and wound up at the bottom of a book avalanche.
"You can't fight off an army all by yourself Luna. Just lie down and let me bring you to the queen. Changelings feed off emotions," said the voice of Aduro which seemed to be circling around the alicorn on her left. "The more ponies alive means more food for them and they receive the most power from love than any other emotion." Aduro continued to circle the Princess, her eyes tracking the approximate area where the voice originated from.
"So, following that train of thought, a harsh and oppressive environment is hardly an ideal environment for harvesting love." By this time more changelings had arrived but kept their distance from the wounded alicorn. Luna blinked sweat from her eyes and tried to flap her still healing wings but they remained motionless. Aduro finished his attempt at convincing Luna to surrender with, "All things come to end eventually, even your reign had to end someday and this is that day."
Luna was quiet for a moment then said quietly, "Is that what they told you or is that you tell yourself to ease your guilt?" The only sound was the shuffling of the changelings.
"I will ask you one last time to give up on your own accord. I don't need to state the alternative," Aduro said at length.
Luna looked down at her hooves and the dark patches of cobblestone where her sweat and blood landed. She continued to stare for several moments before lowering her shield and sinking to the ground. A surprised silence fell over the crowd of changelings and they hesitated then closed in on the princess.
Aduro backed away uneasily. That was too easy. She wouldn't just surrender that easily...or has she really changed over the last two millennia? Then he heard Luna whisper something that made his mind up for him and he scrambled to get out of her path.
"Rule number 5: Never underestimate your opponent under any circumstances." With that Luna's eyes glowed white as she charged the swarm. An aura of dark blue magic enveloped her and she simply ran through their ranks with changelings being launched into the air as her magic swept them aside. The street broke beneath her hooves as she ran past.
But Luna wasn't finished. The roofs of no less than twenty of the surrounding buildings were wrenched off and sent them smashing down on the changelings like giant fly swatters. By the time her eyes stopped glowing white, hundreds of unconscious changelings lay scattered around like leaves. Luna let out a snort and prepared to gallop away when a white beam passed through her ethereal mane, grazing her right ear.
Whirling around Luna saw a silhouette outlined in the dust kicked up by her attack and she fired a beam of her own at the figure. Luna saw the dust swirl as the beam connected and knocked back the figure. Luna sent several more blasts of magic in the direction of the silhouette for good measure. She trotted closer to confirm she had hit her target.
Passing through the dust cloud she found Aduro leaning against the remains of a wall for support, blood oozing from multiple wounds on his body. His body shaking, Aduro limped closer to the princess, parts of his body disappearing and reappearing as he tried to turn invisible. He tripped over a piece of rubble and collapsed to the ground. Luna thought that was the end of it but was surprised to see Aduro slowly drag himself forward with one hand.
"Lucere, please stop. Thou art only causing thyself even more harm. Once these invaders have been stopped We will send aid. Then Celestia and...I will decide what to do with you." Luna looked down at the beaten dragon, only pity in her eyes as galloped off to defend Canterlot.
Aduro watched Luna depart and flipped onto his back to stare up at the thousands of changelings still besieging the city. Is this what I've been reduced to? A mere pawn in another's plan? I'm not even a capable servant, I failed both of the assignments I was given. I've betrayed the only friends I've had and now what will I have to show for it?
Luna won't be able to defeat all these changelings and Chrysalis by herself. And once Chrysalis has the Elements of Harmony under her control, what need does she have for a useless dragon? None. Aduro was content to stare up at the sky until a wall of pink magic lifted him off the ground by his wings along with all the unconscious changelings near him.
As he was passing over the peak of Canterlot Mountain Aduro felt something tear and he began to fall down. Fortunately for him, the ground was close and he tumbled down the side of the mountain instead of hitting the ground straight on. When he finally stopped rolling the dragon looked up at the city and found himself unable to see any changelings in the air around it.
He quickly considered and discarded possible answers for the event and came to one solution that fit the most, the invasion failed. Tapping into reserves he didn't even know he had Aduro gathered his magic and teleported as far away as he could. Finding himself deep in a forest and in an exhausted state he decided to climb a tree in a feeble attempt at self-protection.
When his limbs refused to move Aduro concentrated the very last dredges of power and teleported to the top of a very tall oak tree. With the last of his strength spent he soon passed out from sheer exhaustion.
Arachne rubbed her sore head wondering where the chariot that hit her had went. When she opened her eyes, however, she found a white stone wall and realized something terrifying. The plan failed. And I'm still in the castle! Arachne quickly resumed her pony form, a beige unicorn named Blotter Paper. Not a moment later Princess Luna herself rounded the corner and came face-to-face Arachne/Blotter.
"Princess Luna, thank goodness you're safe. I-urk," was all Arachne managed to say before being lifted up in Luna's magically grasp.
Luna asked, "What was the first thing I asked you about the new inventions during my banishment?" Her tone did not leave room for anything but an immediate answer.
"Why nightclubs were concerned with lights and music rather the actual night," squeaked out Arachne. Instead of being released, like the changeling expected, Luna's horn didn't stop glowing and the Princess's gaze hardened instead. Luna turned around and headed back the direction she came.
Heart thudding in her throat, Arachne stammered, "P-princess? What are you doing?" I remember that conversation perfectly, so why-
"I saw you transform Blot. As they say, you can 'drop the act'." Those words sent chills up Arachne's carapace as she realized Luna now knew her assistant had always been a changeling. Arachne let out a small whimper as she was carried through the castle.
Meanwhile Princess Cadence was doing her best to crush the life out of her fiance, at least from his perspective.
"Oh Shiny, I was so close to losing you forever. I don't care what anypony says, from now on I'm not letting you out of my sight." Cadence continued to squeeze causing Shining Armor to gain a faint blue tinge over the normally white parts of his coat.
"Cadence, I appreciate your concern for me but...I can't...breathe..." Shining Armor managed to choke out as he weakly patted a hoof on Cadence's back. Twilight Sparkle and her friends watched Shining Armor's increasingly asphyxiated face with a spectrum of concern to amusement on their faces.
"Uh...Cadence, I don't think Shining's coat is usually that blue," said Twilight. This finally broke through to the alicorn and she released her fiance from her vice grip. As her brother returned air to his lungs, Twilight found herself the new subject of a powerful hug causing her eyes to bug out slightly.
"And thank you Twily, if it hadn't been for you I might have never made out of those caverns in time to save Shiny."
"I'm sure you would have out of there on your own. I didn't really do much-". Twilight was cut off by an increase in the pressure of the hug and she felt several bones in her back crack. Fortunately Cadence was spared from committing equicide by the release of Princess Celestia from her cocoon. Two unicorn guards succeeded in peeling the shell apart and Celestia glided down to her niece and student.
"Cadence, I wish to talk to you about the details of your imprisonment. I'm afraid your gratitude will have to be postponed briefly," Princess Celestia said with a small smile.
"Oh, right." Cadence let go of Twilight, who straightened out the new bend in her spine. Celestia opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by Rainbow Dash flying up to the pair.
"What's the matter Princess? Cadence and Shining Armor just kicked an entire army's flanks to next week. We should totally be rocking out now," Rainbow declared. Behind her, Rarity seemed to suffering a minor panic attack as she pulled Rainbow Dash to the ground with her magic.
With a nervous laugh Rarity said, "Pardon us, your Highness. Just carry on with your conversation." Rarity then backed away, carrying a protesting pegasus along with her.
"It is all right my little pony, I just need to clarify something with Princess Cadence and oversee the cleanup of the city. Then we can consider celebrating." Celestia turned back to Cadence and asked, "How long were you imprisoned and what do you know of Aduro's involvement in the invasion?"
"If today's the wedding then I was trapped in the crystal caverns for...two weeks. As for Aduro, he only left the caverns once during my captivity as far as I know. Aside from that one instance at the beginning, he said his job was keep me imprisoned. And he did a pretty good job of it until the end."
"How did you manage to escape?" At this Cadence looked away nervously for a moment before answering.
"The uh, Want-It Need-It spell. I cast it on a rock and it provided me with the distraction I needed. Then I ran into Twily and you know the rest." Celestia raised an eyebrow but her expression remained neutral, while Twilight's became thoughtful, her friends grimaced at the memory of the 'Smartypants' incident, and Shining Armor looked concerned. As Celestia's lack of reaction continued Cadence felt a hole appear in the joy she had been feeling and she began to fidget like a school filly under the Princess's gaze. Then Celestia draped a wing around Cadence and smiled encouragingly.
"You can relax Cadenz-Cadence. You're not in any trouble for being forced to act under duress. I probably would have used that spell after a week myself. You know how quickly paperwork can build up around here." Shining Armor let out a breath he'd been holding as both Princesses shared a chuckle. Celestia turned to walk out of the room when Applejack spoke up.
"Do you need us do anything to help clean up your Majesty? I know whenever we get an infestation in the orchards we call in extra help. An' Canterlot jus' had one hay of a bug problem," she said adjusting her hat.
However Celestia merely continued walking at a leisurely pace craning her neck to look at Applejack. "That shouldn't be necessary. It won't take long to make repairs and ensure this is the end of hostilities. This isn't the first 'infestation' I've had to deal with. The Royal Guard know what to do right Captain?" Shining Armor snapped to attention and saluted Celestia. He gave Cadence a peck on the cheek and an apologetic smile before galloping towards the Guard headquarters.
"If you feel like you want to help anyway I'm sure I can think of something for you to do," Celestia called back to the group. A few glances were shared before the six ponies, one dragon, and one alicorn followed the Sun Princess.
In the back of the group, Applejack looked at Twilight and asked, "Would somepony please explain to me jus' who is this Aduro fella?"
Twilight's ears flopped down, as an annoyed sigh escaped her lips, and she muttered, "Does anypony read the books I send them?" She then straightened her neck and began to lecture like a history professor.
"Aduro is a dragon who's supposed to be a prisoner in Tartarus for leading a break in of the old Castle of the Two Sisters. Several ponies died during the event, leading to Aduro's imprisonment; but I can't find a lot of records about Aduro before then, aside from being called 'Lucere' prior to his imprisonment and having a hand in advancing early post-Discordian medicine. The strangest thing I found was that some texts refered to Aduro as a 'she' and others as a 'he'."
"What, was everypony too afraid to ask which he was?" Rainbow Dashed snickered to Pinkie Pie.
"No, she just didn't want to be bothered by such questions because she actually isn't either gender so she always told everypony to 'pick a pronoun and at least be consistent'," said Celestia from the front.
"Wait, so a big ol' dragon literally from Tartarus is runnin' round the city and nopony is acting like that's somethin' to worry about?" Applejack half-yelled before running to the nearest open window and looking out the window for any sign of the beast.
"Applejack, you don't need to worry so," said Celestia approaching the window and placed a hoof on Applejack's shoulder. "Luna sent me message saying she had defeated A-Lucere. Furthermore, Lucere was never as big as a regular dragon, at most she is slightly taller than the average pony. The Guard will soon have her in custody."
Applejack looked like she wanted to argue for a moment longer but her faith in Princess Celestia overruled her own doubts and she let the matter drop. No pony knew how wrong Celestia was until much later in the day.
----------
Aduro awoke to find sunbeams landing directly onto his face. Briefly he was confused as to where he was before the memories of the last several weeks came flooding back. He glanced up at Canterlot to find almost no smoke rising from the city and the sun resting much lower in the sky. With a groan he raised his head up from a tree branch feeling the wounds covering his body and his aching muscles protesting.
Ignoring his discomfort he untangled himself from the tree and climbed down. Halfway to the bottom he leapt off, expecting his wings to catch the wind and bring him gliding down to the ground. Instead he plummeted and landed on his feet with a jolt that went up his entire body.
Looking at his back Aduro found only a dark red stain running down his back instead of a pair of wings. His innate magic had kept him from bleeding out in his unconscious state but the wounds had partly reopened due to the jolt of his dismount from the tree. Aduro looked at the spots where his wings used to rest for a minute before forcefully suppressing a roar of anger. He settled for picking up a stone and crushing it to dust between his teeth.
Again!? I lose my wings, have them reattached, and then have them ripped off again? Damn you Chrysalis! And my stupidity for agreeing to her deal in the first place...Didn't I do something similar to Kolran before I...Stop. Those memories hold nothing but long dead madness. Focus on now. Not going back to Tartarus is the priority. First, find water to bathe and drink from. Ensure my wounds don't get infected. Then find enough gems to avoid stealing food from towns.
Aduro threw one last glance at Canterlot before heading north of the city. Ignoring the pain coming from his back Aduro kept a steady pace as his mind wandered. I'm at a disadvantage, I can't put as much distance between me and the Princesses as fast as I'd like. But until they find my wings, they won't look for me on the ground. And considering my luck so far, it's merely a matter of time. With this fact in mind, Aduro increased his pace a little and Canterlot was soon hidden from view by the leaves of the trees.
----------
Whatever Arachne had expected to happen when Luna captured her, standing in line and answering questions like 'how long have you lived in Canterlot' was not one of them. After a process that strongly reminded her of an average day's work at the castle with the addition of a number of changelings that would simply snarl at the guards asking the questions, Arachne was lead with several other changelings into a secure yet oddly well furnished room she didn't recognize.
"Does anyone know what's going on?" Arachne asked. She was met with equally confused shrugs and glances. None of the changelings were disguised, the ones who had refused to drop their disguises had them blasted off with magic. Now she was left sitting in a chair nervously awaiting whatever fate awaited them The strangeness of the situation was not lost on any of the occupants.
Several weak attempts at small talk were made and Arachne noticed that all the changelings in the room were members of the infiltration caste. After what seemed to be an eternity the door to the room was opened and Princess Celestia and Luna walked into the room. Before the door closed Arachne could see a number of guards standing by the door.
"Greetings," said Celestia breaking the silence. "The reason you have been separated from your fellows is because based on your answers to the questions and reports compiled from your jobs, you have managed to create lives for yourselves in Canterlot among our subjects. You have not replaced any subjects and have performed your jobs well, so we have an offer for you. You will be allowed to remain in Canterlot and your involvement in the invasion will only be known to a select few aside from Luna and myself."
"In exchange we ask that you reveal all that you knew of the invasion and any information concerning the current state of changeling affairs. If you feel your loyalty lies with the rest of your hive, you will be escorted out of Equestria to join them. This deal will only be available for a short time, so think carefully about your decisions."
Arachne sat still, digesting the Princesses' offer. She glanced around to see other stunned faces and quietly curled her legs to her body. Betray the Queen and remain in Canterlot. Or stay loyal and be banished. Staying in Canterlot means never having to worry about running out of love to eat, but be a traitor to all my friends and family. Then Luna spoke, causing Arachne to lose her train of thought.
"You will now be separated and be free to make choice without any outside influence." Luna then stomped her hoof twice and a squad of guards entered and broke off to carry one changeling each. Arachne was escorted outside and lead to what looked like a supply closet that had all its contents emptied. A single light hung from the ceiling illuminating bare dusty shelves.
They're leaving us to stew in our own minds and left to wonder what the others are doing. Well-done Celestia. Hours seemed to pass as Arachne argued for both sides before finally reaching her decision. She knocked on the door with her hoof and told the guards she'd reached a decision.
She was then lead back to room she'd waited with the other changelings to find the Princesses dealing with stacks of paper and talking with the veritable stream of ponies entering and leaving the room. Arachne and the guards entered the stream and soon were before the Princesses.
"I-I want to stay in Canterlot. I'll tell you as much as I can." Celestia and Luna both smiled at the news and Celestia began filling out a sheet of paper. "But I will only comply on one condition." Arachne drew a shuddering breath and tried not to imagine the horrible things the alicorns could do to her. "I want to guarantee that my mate will also be able to remain in Canterlot with me."
Luna looked slightly surprised by the request but Celestia merely smiled again. "What is your mate's name?" asked Celestia drawing out another sheet of paper.
"His name is Flitter and until recently he was one of the Royal gardener's assistants."
"You mean the blue stallion I constantly see you staring at through the window?" asked Luna.
"The one and the same. But the Queen had him do some other job. I don't know what it was though," answered Arachne.
"Ah, yes, I have a record of him here. He is being held with the majority of the changelings we picked out of the rubble. He will be released in short order and the both of you will be under surveillance for a yet to be determined amount of time. To ensure your sincerity," said Celestia with a hint of something behind her kind smile.
Luna began the questioning with "Why was Aduro released from Tartarus?"
-----One Week Later-----
Aduro opened her eyes to the ground shaking beneath her feet. She scrambled upright from her perch in a tree to find an Ursa Minor drinking from the river next to the tree in the moonlight. She relaxed upon seeing the massive star bear. Even in her current state such creatures were no threat to her.
She crawled down from the tree careful not to disturb the bandages she'd wrapped around her midsection to cover the wounds on her back. Her stomach rumbled reminding her to find some gems to eat. So far she'd managed to only come across what she dug up near a small mining town. That had been three days ago. Now her hunger had returned with a vengeance.
Aduro leaned over the riverbank and drank from the water, making sure to be upstream of the Ursa Minor. Unfortunately for her, the Usra decided to play with the strange little white creature next to it. The Ursa reached a paw out to nudge Aduro but it bent around the dragon, a decidedly painful experience judging by the Ursa's roars.
The bear nursed its paw, now back in its original shape. Aduro merely watched as the Ursa swung its other paw in an attempt to harm her. This time the bear's paw and part of its arm were bent around Aduro causing an even louder roar to erupt from the Ursa Minor. This particular roar of pain was soon replaced with the ground beginning to shake even harder than before and an Ursa Major carved a path through the forest towards its injured young.
Aduro mildly concerned with the amount of noise being made decided to distance herself from the loud Ursa and began swimming across the river. She hadn't made it a quarter of the way across when the Ursa Major caught up with the Minor. Several grunts and gesturing pointed out the white dragon to the Purple Ursa Major.
Unbeknownst to Aduro, she had encountered the Ursa Major before, although at the time it had been little more than a newborn Ursa Minor. Several Ursa Major and their offspring had amassed near a pony town much to the displeasure of the ponies. The Ursa Major remembered the white creature that no Ursa could touch, how all who attempted were met only had twisted limbs and roars of pain as the result of their efforts.
The group of Ursa were split up by the creature, herded like cattle out to distant reaches of Equestria. This memory sparked within the Ursa Major and it snatched up its young and retreated back to its cave deeper in the forest, the magical light of their skin faintly luminescent against the night sky.
Meanwhile Aduro merely swam on unconcerned. Once she reached the other side of the river, she checked her bandages to ensure they were still secured to her body. Then she continued on her way, occasionally stopping to sniff the air for any signs of pony villages. After two hours Celestia had raised the sun and Aduro caught the scent of baking bread to the west.
Following her nose Aduro soon found a small town half of whose inhabitants had barricaded themselves inside their homes, probably due to the roars of the Ursa Minor. The other half were nervously going about their daily routines, occasionally stopping to look around as if they expected to see the Ursa before they heard it.
Aduro spilled into the town, invisible, searching for material to make fresh bandages and for any food. Aduro found a bed-sheet hanging out to dry and quickly cut it up into strips for her bandages. She was near the edge of town searching for the source of the smell of bread when she came across something that made her change her mind on where to get food from. What she found was a sign that declared 'Pie Family Rock Farm 20 miles' pointing northwest of the small town.
Had anypony been wandering around the hills surrounding the Pie family rock farm, and had been paying very close attention, they would have seen a small flash. As it was, the event of Aduro coughing up a scroll went unnoticed by all except her. The mid-morning sun shone as the dragon unfurled the scroll to find the message: To whoever finds this scroll, bring it to the nearest guard station as soon as possible, with both Celestia's and Luna's signatures at the bottom.
This wasn't the first scroll Aduro had received, but the others had all asked her to surrender peacefully. So they've given up on that, and judging by the sun, I think they actually sent this one earlier than the others. Aduro crumpled the scroll up and set it on fire like every other one.
I was lucky this time around but I need to be even more careful from now on. If that scroll had been sent a few hours ago, when I was in town, the Princesses would have heard the reports and teleported there by now. I might be safe now, unless they intend to send more scrolls. Aduro decided to wait in case another message was sent, and regretted not taking the time to think of a counter-spell while in Tartarus. Aduro waited twenty minutes and would have waited longer but the rumbling of her stomach persuaded her that getting food was a bigger concern.
The dragon descended the hill carefully and slowly crept towards the rock fields, maintaining her invisibility all the while. A cursory sniff revealed five ponies and what smelled like a large collection of pastries. As Aduro grew closer to one of the rock fields the faint scent of gemstones reached her nostrils as the scent of a pony and, oddly, the collection of pastries grew stronger as well. Did they rob a bakery? Why would somepony carry a bag of baked goods out to a field?
Crouching behind the thickest of the black, skeletal trees dotting the landscape, despite knowing nopony could see her anyway, Aduro watched as a greyish-purple mare with a grey mane pulling a cart came into view alongside a bouncing, violently pink, and grinning mare who seemed to be the source of the pastry scent.
"Come on, Blinky, those rocks aren't gonna move from the east field to the south field by themselves. Unless they secretly come to life when our backs are turned and go on amazing rock adventures," said the pink pony picking up a rock and staring intently at it. "One of these days I'll catch you in the act. I swear on it!" The pink pony shot a hoof into the air with a look of determination on her face.
"You have no idea how happy I am to not have to do this with Trixie 'assisting' me. Pinkie, that mare does half the work assigned to her then gapes like a fish when you point out the other half," said Blinky spitting out the rope attached to the cart and completely ignoring Pinkie's antics. "Personally I think she faked that fainting fit to get out of working in the fields. Why would an Ursa Major come out this way in the first place?"
While Pinkie Pie berated her sister in an impromptu musical number about respecting other ponies feelings, Aduro felt a chill run up her spine. Pinkie? As in Pinkie Pie, the Bearer of the Element of Laughter? Are the other Bearers nearby? I only smelled six ponies and this Blinky isn't one of the Bearers, I'm certain of that. I should be safe, so long as I remain hidden and they don't notice the loss of a few gems until I'm long gone. I'm going to have wait a little longer for my food. Just a few hours at most then I'll have food for days, remember that.
Unfortunately the smell of nearby jewels proved to much for Aduro's stomach and it let loose a loud growl that interrupted Blinky's apology and caused both ponies to look around for the source of the sound. Taking that as her cue to move on, Aduro quickly slipped away from the rock field and back towards the hills.
Hours passed and Aduro struggled to maintain her self-control and not simply run down to the farm and eat as many gems as possible before running away. Instead, she kept her distance and circled the farm, waiting for an opportunity to present itself. At last, as the morning passed into afternoon and Pinkie Pie broke into song at least four times, Aduro found her chance.
----------
Trixie levitated the last of the bags into the cart wiping the sweat for what seemed the hundredth time. "Trixie still doesn't understand why the gems have to be put onto the cart in a specific order. Or why nopony told the Great and Powerful Trixie until after she had already put the bags on the cart."
Igneous Rock Pie merely shifted the piece of wheat from the left side of his mouth to the right side and said, "Because the rubies get jealous if they're behind the sapphires and the topazes prefer to be in the middle." His tone sounded like he was stating that the sky was blue or that the Princesses changed day into night.
"Jealous?! I- but- urgh," sputtered Trixie. She turned back to the cart muttering under her breath about rock farmers. Trixie levitated a harness onto her back and whispered to herself, "At least Trixie doesn't have to hear Pinkie Pie sing another song away from the farm."
"It's a Friday, Pinkie always sings a lot on Fridays," came the monotone voice of Maud Pie and the expressionless mare hooked herself up to the other harness. Trixie looked surprised then worried at how much of her supposedly quiet mutterings had been heard.
"Now remember, don't stop for anypony on the road, even if they're wearing a guard uniform and as unlikely as it is, keep an eye out, those reports of an Ursa in the area were caused by something," said Igneous, concern tinging his words. Trixie tensed at the mention of the Ursa and a small scowl formed on her face.
Trixie and Maud then set off towards their destination as Pinkie appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, and sang a song about traveling, prompting Trixie to all but sprint away from the rock farm. Once the sound of the pink pony's voice had faded and the rock farm was out of sight, Trixie relaxed from the furious run, panting for breath. Maud simply blinked at the sight and started trotting again, effortlessly pulling the cart and dragging the still gasping Trixie along.
The journey was uneventful until the pair were halfway to their destination, having left the barren area ideal for rock farming behind and reached a green forest with birds chirping as normal. Trixie kept nervously looking around half-expecting a pack of changelings or an Ursa Major to come barreling out of the woods. Maud had none of these worries but still she felt like she was being watched. Though most would have seen no change in her expression, Maud's brow lowered by a millimeter and felt her muscles tense slightly.
The sound of splintering wood suddenly came from behind them and the cart lurched to the left. Trixie yelped at the expected movement and whirled around to find the cart now being supported only by three wheels instead of four. With a loud groan Trixie unhooked herself from the cart and walked around to inspect the damage. The rear left wheel had broken into pieces.
"No, no, no, no, no!" exclaimed Trixie. "I already replaced that wheel twice today. Why do you enjoy seeing Trixie suffer?" Trixie demanded of the wheel, which said nothing in its defense. Then more splintering wood was heard and the carts rear end thumped onto the dirt road as the other rear wheel broke. Trixie stood still for a moment, simply staring at the broken wheels.
The next moment the air was filled with angry incomprehensible yelling as Trixie stomped around the cart. She started throwing the pieces of the broken wheels around. Maud took cover behind the raised part of the cart until the yelling calmed down and pieces of wood stopped flying through the air. Peeking her head around the cart, Maud found Trixie lying down on the road.
Maud approached the prone unicorn and patted Trixie on the head. "It's all right. We just need to fix the wheels then we can deliver the gems." If Trixie hadn't have been used to Maud's monotone voice, she might have thought the earth pony was mocking her. Instead Trixie sighed and stood up wearily.
"Give Trixie a moment. Trixie needs to find some wood to make some new wheels, and we'll need something to brace the cart with." Without another word Maud stretched out a hoof and lifted the rear of the cart off the ground like it weighed nothing. Then the bushes surrounding the two mares shook and out stepped a pack of diamond dogs. They were all clad in metal armor that shimmered in the sunlight.
Before Maud could react one of the diamond dogs rushed over and hit Trixie on the head, knocking the unicorn out. Maud dropped the cart and charged the diamond dog hovering over the unicorn. It jumped out of Maud's path at the last second and Maud received a blow to head herself. She stumbled, dizzy but still standing and bucked her hind legs in an effort to hit her assailant.
Instead, her hooves hit nothing but air and another powerful hit to the head finally sent Maud into unconsciousness. Several moments passed as the diamond dogs watched the two ponies for any sign of movement before vanishing in a ripple of light. In their place Aduro stood on the cart shoveling gemstones into her mouth as fast as she could.
Despite her need for haste, Aduro couldn't help but appreciate the flavor of the jewels as they were crushed between her teeth. They really have made great strides in rock farming during my absence. The flavor is so much more pronounced than I remember. Though that could just be because I'm starving, but there definitely is a difference between these gems and the ones I got from that mining town.
Once her stomach had its fill of gemstones, Aduro counted six bags in the cart, too many for her to carry at once. With a quiet curse, Aduro quickly seized the two emptiest bags and poured some gems from each of the other four bags until she had a nice variety in both bags. She placed the two mixed bags into the improvised saddlebag she'd made out of the strips of bed-sheets originally meant for bandages. The strips had been tied together into a mesh net that strained slightly under the weight of the bags but held together.
Gathering the rest of the bags, Aduro ran into the woods a short distance before digging a small hole and dumping the rest of the bags inside. This should at least fool the local guards into thinking it was a mere diamond dog raid, and those rock farmers will at least get some of their stock back. What do they eat to get a head as hard as that mare's? My claw still stings. Aduro piled the dirt back on the bags and smoothed the dirt as much as possible before taking off towards the north once again.
-----At the border of Equestria and the Badlands-----
Princesses Celestia and Luna were sitting on chairs they'd formed out of nearby boulders. The large circular table in front of them was made in the same fashion with an empty chair facing the two alicorns.
"She's late," stated Luna.
"She's trying to show us that she doesn't fear any repercussions from us. It seems she is as arrogant as Arachne said," Celestia answered. A bead of sweat appeared on Celestia's forehead and Luna conjured up a beach umbrella to provide both of them with shade. Celestia nodded appreciatively and with a flash of golden light, summoned a tea set. Celestia had just started pouring tea into cups for them when the buzzing of wings reached their ears.
A small group of changelings lead by Queen Chrysalis approached the princesses. Chrysalis descended into the empty chair and her entourage stood in a protective semi-circle around their queen. Wordlessly Celestia began to pour the tea, the first cup filled being taken by Chrysalis. Luna raised an eyebrow at the childish display of insolence but said nothing as Celestia finished filling the other teacups. Silence persisted among the gathered party, the Princesses of Equestria content to simply sip at their tea while Chrysalis quickly drained her cup.
Finally the silence was broken by Chrysalis. "You called for a meeting and here I am. What do you want?" Chrysalis demanded.
"An end to hostile actions against Equestria, an agreement guarding against any future hostility, the abdication of your power, and that you appear before a court to account for your crimes peacefully," responded Luna.
Chrysalis looked from Luna to Celestia then back to Luna then she began to laugh. She continued to laugh until she was gasping for air.
Celestia and Luna simply watched silently. Luna's wings twitching a little and Celestia taking a slightly longer sip of tea were the only signs of anger they allowed to show. Such signs went unnoticed by Chrysalis who finally reined in her fit of laughter.
"And what makes you think I'm going to do anything you want? What is to prevent me from simply taking what I want? You two? All I have to do is find another couple of ponies who love each other enough and you won't be able to defeat me." Chrysalis sneered at the alicorns and leaned back in her chair.
"If you are truly so confident in your ability to achieve victory against Equestria, why did you come to this meeting?" Celestia leveled a questioning gaze at Chrysalis. "Now please, if you could save the empty threats and bluster so actual progress can be made."
Chrysalis glared at Celestia for a long moment before answering. "I came because I was curious about what you wanted and I got my laughs out of it but now I see no reason to stay. You've only made demands and frankly, there is nothing you have I can't take for myself." Chrysalis rose from her chair to leave when Luna spoke up.
"It is in your best interests, and those of all changelings loyal to you, that you stay and listen to what we have to say."
"Is that a threat?"
"No," continued Luna. "It is a statement of fact. We have the ability to accomplish our goals with or without your consent but the process will occur faster and result in less casualties if you agree of your own free will."
Chrysalis sat back down and waved a hoof in a 'continue speaking' gesture.
"Your infiltrators are hardly the first changelings we have encountered," said Celestia. "We are aware of how changeling society works, including how you are not the leader of the majority of changelings and that-"
"The Nest is nothing but a collection of fools who have forgotten what it is to be a changeling. My swarm all follow me because I can and will bring about a changeling empire," spat Chrysalis.
Celestia simply resumed talking as once Chrysalis finished her sentence. "We have written testimony from former members of your swarm stating that many had already decided to leave should the invasion of Canterlot fail. With that in mind how many do you think will stand by you once the forces of Equestria and its allies march against you?
"Also, consider just how many will stand against you when they learn you deliberately let loose Aduro from her imprisonment in Tartarus. Do you think the other nations will be as willing as we are to agree to a peaceful solution before taking up arms?"
"But we are willing to offer you something should you agree to our request," added Luna.
Chrysalis was fuming as she saw the truth of the Princesses' words and hated how they knew just tenuous her hold on power was. She wasn't completely defeated however.
"It is true there have been whispers of dissent among my ranks, but I think you are forgetting something yourselves." Celestia and Luna exchanged glances and Celestia nodded for Chrysalis to continue. "While it is true Aduro was a prisoner in Tartarus, his only crimes were committed against Equestria. Why should the Griffon Kingdom , for example, care if a miniature dragon harasses a few ponies?" Chrysalis grinned, confident that she had removed one of the swords the Princesses claimed were hanging over her head.
Celestia sighed and said, "Unfortunately, while it is true some like the Griffon Kingdom wouldn't be moved to act if it were only Aduro who left Tartarus. However, she was not the only one. Tirek escaped too."
At this Chrysalis' jaw dropped open and a look of fear crossed her face. "Y-you're lying. I didn't come within 20 feet of that monster. I-" Then Chrysalis remembered the guard who had been struck by Aduro's tail. Quickly regaining control of her emotions, Chrysalis wiped the fear from her face. "That's impossible. Your attempt to scare me into submission will not work," she lied.
"Even if Tirek has escaped, what makes you think I had anything to do with it?" Chrysalis' voice betrayed none of the whirling thoughts and emotions in her mind.
"We know Tirek is gone, because soon after we received an anonymous letter suggesting Aduro had escaped from Tartarus, I presume we have you to thank for that, I visited Tartarus myself and found not only Aduro missing but Tirek as well," said Celestia. "I immediately noticed how Aduro's shackles had been opened, and yet Tirek's remained locked. Curious I analyzed the chains for traces of magic and found that both sets of restraints had changeling magic used on them.
If you do not agree to our demands peacefully I will organize a group of representatives from the other nations and allow them to analyze the chains themselves. When they find the evidence of changeling magic on both sets of chains, what do you think their reactions will be? So I ask you one last time, agree to our terms willingly or we will use force."
Chrysalis slammed a hoof down on the stone table and swore at the two alicorns violently and received only calm, collected gazes in response. With a look of pure venom, Chrysalis spoke through gritted teeth, "I agree to your terms Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. I will sign whatever official documents are required but once we are done here I never want to see either of you again." With a weary sigh Luna teleported a stack of papers and thus the peace treaties were drawn up and signed.
Aduro crept into the cave, sniffing slightly and only finding the scent of the limestone cave itself. This should serve as a suitable shelter for the night. Heading deeper in, until the patch of sunlight at the cave opening was a good distance away, Aduro set down her saddlebag then returned to the entrance. Invisibility spell concealing her, she watched as pegasi gathered up clouds over the forest. They worked efficiently and before long the evening sky was soon replaced by grey clouds.
It has been far too long since I've seen a rainstorm. I hate how ponies never seem to get tired of virtually endless, blue, sunny days. At least they've improved on cloud production with time. It seems they can just completely cover an area in clouds, like everywhere else does. Do they even use the cloud line method anymore?...I'm getting distracted, that's how mistakes are made. It'll be hard to smell anypony approaching over the scent of the rain. I should set an alarm.
Aduro walked out into the forest and gathered an armful of leaves, glancing up to check if any of the pegasi had noticed her. None did and she reentered the cave and laid out the leaves around the entrance. Two more trips for clumps of leaves and sticks were made before she was satisfied she'd hear any intruders, even a pegasus, if they came close to her. Aduro laid down on the cave floor, barely visible even to her in the abscence of a light source.
I've got a food source that will last me at least two weeks, water is easy to find in Equestria, and until winter I won't need any serious protection from the weather. Now what do I do? ...I guess the answer hasn't changed since I left Tartarus: I need to find out more about the new state of Equestria before I can make any long-term plans. Aduro stopped planning for a moment as a sudden epiphany made her groan and lift a claw to her forehead.
I could have asked directions to the nearest town with a library back when I got the gems! I could have easily gotten the information then been gone before anypony had even learned of the theft. By now that village is probably swarming with guards looking for diamond dogs, or even for me.
Relax, she thought to herself, at most it means following the roads towards the next town the getting directions there. I have a plan for now at least. With that thought offering a small amount of comfort, Aduro curled up and went to sleep.
Her sleep was not a restful one however. Pale grey light illuminating dark stone walls, and the heat of the beating object coating her claws in red were the only things Aduro could remember of her dreams as she awoke in a cold sweat. The sound of the rain outside mixed with the sound of her heart pounding away in her chest. She lay there staring at nothing but darkness, thoughts spinning in her head.
I thought I made peace with my actions long ago, so why come back now? No ready answers came to mind and Aduro shifted focus from her nightmares to the storm raging outside the cave. It was a fierce one with the wind howling between the trees and thunder rumbling between flashes of lightning. Aduro felt her heart slow its pace as she listened to the storm reverberating off the cave walls. She realized the futility of returning to sleep with her thoughts in such a disarray, so Aduro got up and walked out of the cave.
The feeling of the rain hitting her scales was soothing and the sound of the thunder like a lullaby. Eventually all worry at the nightmare's return vanished as she lost herself in the sound of the storm. Then all thought and sense of self disappeared too, replaced with the whirling forces of nature. A small smile grew on Aduro's face as she remained lost in the music of nature and time itself ceased to exist. There was only room for the storm.
After some time the wind and rain lessened in intensity, thunder rumbled less frequently and Aduro came to her senses. She was standing in front of a cave soaking wet in the middle of the night. With a sad and disappointed sigh Aduro returned to the cave and hoped for a dreamless night of sleep.
----------
Luna landed alongside Celestia on the small balcony of the Golden Oaks library. Moonlight reflected off the glass of the doors inside as Twilight Sparkle opened said doors for the Princesses.
Twilight bowed to the Princesses and said, "The others are downstairs and Spike is asleep in his bed." Celestia thanked Twilight as Luna's horn glowed and had anypony been standing on the balcony they would have seen the assembled ponies' mouths move but no sound come out.
The trio moved past the sleeping baby dragon and descended the stairs to join the the rest of the Elements of Harmony who were sitting in a semi-circle facing the stairs. Twilight joined her friends in the semi-circle as Celestia cleared her throat and began to speak. "Thank you for agreeing to meet at such a late hour but as much as I hate to admit, there are some things the fewer ponies know the better."
"No problem Princess, I would have been still awake anyway," bragged Rainbow Dash, "I need to be able to practice my moves where it won't blind anypony with their awesomeness."
"Ya mean you practice at night so nopony will see ya crash as often," snipped Applejack who looked dead on her hooves completely oblivious to the glare shot by the blue pegasus. "I haven't stayed up this late since that time I tried to harvest the whole orchard by myself." The other ponies present were in similar states of tiredness as Applejack, except for Pinkie Pie who seemed as awake and energetic as she did during the day.
Celestia paused a moment to let any other interruptions get themselves out of the way before continuing. "The reason Luna and I asked for such secrecy in our letter is that we felt it was necessary to let more ponies know about the situation Equestria finds itself in without causing a panic that a public announcement would cause. The invasion of Canterlot a little over a week ago might have been avoided had we not decided to try and solve the problem alone. We will not make that same mistake again.
"For this reason we must prepare you for the struggle to recapture A-Lucere before any serious harm comes of it." Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Twilight started to speak but Celestia held up a single white wing and silence reasserted itself in the library. "Lucere is unlike any foe you have or likely will ever face. Unlike Discord, Queen Chrysalis, or Nightmare Moon, Lucere has never attempted to seize control of Equestria and I doubt she ever truly will.
"Twilight, as you likely discovered to your displeasure, the history books offer vague details at best and none at all at worst about her. I am afraid to say this is the result of a decision a much younger and foolish version of me made almost two thousand years ago. But before I can properly explain my decision I must tell you a brief version of Lucere's past for if I tried to tell the whole story, many years would pass before I finished.
"You see, three and half thousand years ago, when Luna and I used the Elements of Harmony to imprison Discord in stone, we were not alone in our desire to free our world of his grip. Among our many allies was Lucere, who had been cursed by Discord to be without a physical body of her own. Upon learning that Discord was imprisoned in stone and not vanquished completely by the Elements she grew angry. The reason was that before being cursed, Discord had brainwashed her into doing...evil things to her loved ones.
"This sparked a hatred within her that, despite our best efforts over the centuries we spent rebuilding the world together, never truly faded. Then one day, a little over 1800 years ago, she led a cult of Discord worshippers who wished to free Discord in order to gain more power for themselves, under the name Aduro, into the old castle where we had originally decided to guard Discord's statue. However, Lucere had another plan in mind."
At this point Celestia paused, looked around at the assembled ponies, glanced at her sister who nodded in silent agreement, before saying, "I know you already signed a promise to keep what I reveal here a secret, but I must hear you say it again before I reveal the truth about that night." The Bearers of the Elements exchanged curious and slightly concerned glances before in unison performed solemnly vowed to remain silent, except for Pinkie who made a Pinkie Promise. Celestia watched this before drawing breath to continue the story.
"What the cultists didn't know and what Luna and I learned later that night was that Lucere had in secret developed a new method to access magic. Normally a pony, be they a unicorn, pegasus, or earth pony, draws their magic from the natural magic that abounds in the world. Other races follow similar rules though some differences are present in the exact process of how the magic is drawn in. What Lucere had discovered after centuries of research and experimentation was that it was possible to use the very life force of a living being to fuel a magical spell.
"Lucere had purposefully lured the cult to the vault where we kept Discord's statue and used the cultists to fuel a spell in an attempt to permanently kill Discord. I later learned that being the victim of such magic is extremely painful and it was this aspect of the magic that alerted me about the situation in the vault where I found Lucere standing over the bodies muttering that 'it wasn't enough'."
Twilight's expression had started off being one of focus and curiosity when Princess Celestia began her tale, that expression slowly fell as the story progressed and now she sported a look of horror at the perversion of magic committed long ago. Applejack took off her hat and clutched it tightly against her chest. Rainbow Dash was sitting still, staring at the floor dumb-founded. Fluttershy was hugging Rarity for support as tears flowed down the yellow pegasus' cheeks. Pinkie Pie's mane had deflated slightly and in a quiet voice that didn't seem like it should be coming from the pink pony asked, "What happened next?"
Celestia exhaled with a weary sigh. "Then I fought her. With Luna joining the battle partway, we were able to defeat Lucere without the use of the Elements of Harmony and locked Lucere away in Tartarus. Soon afterwards I ordered that anything Lucere had ever written be searched for and destroyed if it even hinted at her creation of such evil magic. Then in my anger I went a step further and ordered all mention of her to stricken from every record and tried to erase even the mention of her name. It took Luna's intervention by saving several records of Lucere's earliest achievements in medicine to prevent her complete erasure from history.
In the centuries since, I have made infrequent visits to Tartarus to determine her condition and though I can say with confidence she will not resort to such measures lightly, I don't know at what point she will use such magic again. But, I still have hope, hope that she can be persuaded to abandon her quest for vengeance without any serious harm coming to anypony. You see, while Lucere did participate in the Changeling Invasion, nothing we have learned from our sources remotely suggests that Lucere even mentioned she was capable of such unique magic to Chrysalis.
With that in mind, I am leaving the Elements with you, Twilight, as a measure of added protection though I honestly believe that you will not need to use them against Lucere. But...Lucere is not the only denizen of Tartarus loose in Equestria at the moment. This creature's name is Tirek..." The Princesses and the Bearers remained the library discussing just what should be done about the situation well after the point where Celestia had to raise the sun.
Spike awoke to the sound of hooves ascending the steps to the bedroom. Rubbing his eyes, Spike looked to find Twilight with dark circles under eyes, an all too familiar sight to him. "Twilight, did you pull another all-nighter studying...whatever it is you're studying at the moment?"
"Yes, Spike. Now get out of bed. We have a lot of work to do," said Twilight whose eyes, underneath the sleep deprivation, contained a steely determination. Spike sighed and stood up stretching his claws in preparation for what he knew would be a long day of note taking.
Aduro awoke to the overwhelming smell of the wet forest and enjoyed a brief moment of sleepy oblivion. Then he remembered all that had happened and, with a weary sigh, stretched out his limbs to get ready to move. As he arched his back in a manner he'd been told was similar to a cat, he brushed against something on the cave floor. It was another scroll with the royal seal emblazoned on it. For a moment Aduro considered just burning it right there but he decided that he should check for any differences from the last scroll. Unfurling it, Aduro was slightly surprised to find it addressed to him directly.
The letter read as follows: Lucere, if you truly harbor no ill will towards Equestria, I ask that you help us in locating Tirek, who appears to have made his own escape from Tartarus shortly after yours. By telling you this, you already know more than the average citizen. Equestria is still shaken from the invasion of Canterlot and I fear the news that there is more than one escapee from Tartarus would cause more harm than good, especially where Tirek is involved. As a result, Luna and I are planning a quiet search for him. If, in your efforts to elude us you should find any clues to his location we would be grateful.
That isn't the only possibility, you know. Lucere, you can stop running and stand by our side in this search. If my memory serves me correctly, you often said one should admit when one makes a mistake. Though I also seem to remember you having trouble following your own advice even back then. Enclosed with this letter is a quill and some ink in case you decide to respond. From Celestia.
Aduro finished reading the letter and stared at the small bottle of ink and quill that lay on the cave floor. Tirek also escaped? How? He's been imprisoned longer than I was, so how could he escape now? Then a memory flashed through his mind. The pain of his wings being torn off, lashing his tail out in response, and sending a changeling flying towards another prisoner. His eyes widened at the implications the memory brought forth.
...No. It couldn't be. When I hit that changeling away with my tail... I remember Chrysalis insulting me about endangering her subjects but I was too distracted by the pain to pay much attention. That means it is my fault that infernal centaur is loose. Aduro slammed his head against the nearest cave wall, causing a spiderweb of cracks to form around the impact point. After a moment he peeled his head off the cave wall and began to pace back and forth, eyes focused on the ground.
Maybe I should turn myself over to Celestia and Luna... No I can't. I held the Princess of Love captive for two weeks. Then I joined in the invasion of Canterlot and fought with Luna for the fate of the city. Now I can add letting one of the most dangerous foes we've faced escape from his place in Tartarus. They'll send me back there alongside Tirek for sure. Aduro furrowed his brow in frustration before letting out a resigned sigh and continued his pacing around the cave.
I can't blame them though. I'd send me back to Tartarus for those crimes; and I think I prefer death to being sent back there. Aduro blinked at his own vehemence at not being returned to his prison. I can't go back there. I guess being free makes me hate being imprisoned even more.
But I can't just let Tirek tear apart the land like he did last time. It seems I am going to have to agree to Celestia's request but... I need to have somewhere to run to in case that scroll tracks my location when I return it. Aduro stopped his pacing, approached the bags of gems, and ate several, enjoying the sensation of the gems being crushed between his teeth.
It is nice to be able to think without hunger occupying most of my mind. With that Aduro walked out of the cave, sweeping up the leaves scattered across the floor with his tail. Blinking slightly when the morning sun hit his eyes, Aduro scanned his surroundings for the tallest tree. Finding a suitable one, he sunk his claws into the bark and quickly climbed up its length.
Emerging into a slightly blinding ray of sunlight Aduro looked around for any signs of a town. Towards the south he found Canterlot perched on its mountain and far too close for comfort. To the west he saw that the forest he was in gave way to a wide plain, above which a huge cloud system hung. Raising a claw to his eyes, Aduro focused the light, enabling him to see the distant cloud with greater detail. With his now-enhanced vision, he could make out pegasi flying all around the cloud, some ascending to the cloud and some descending to the ground, many with carts hitched to themselves.
Must be Cloudsdale, glad to see at least some things remain the same even after all this time. Turning his magically enhanced gaze to the north, he found only mountains with snow-peaked tops. Can't go north, too cold. I'd run out of fire before making any serious progress through that arctic wasteland. Now turning to the west, Aduro came across something he wasn't sure about. There several tall rectangular structures with smaller rectangles up and down the sides of these structures. What are those? Focusing the light reaching his eyes even more, the image of the structures grew larger and sharper.
Now Aduro could see that they were buildings of some kind he had never seen before. The way the building shone in the sunlight was fascinating to the dragon and the sheer number of buildings offered the promise of knowledge about this new Equestria. I've found the answer to several of my problems. A city that big is bound to have a library I can use and it's good distance away from Canterlot. Now how shall I get there? Aduro decreased the magnification of his vision slightly and looked at the land surrounding the city and found a trail of train tracks leading to the city. Then Aduro zoomed out even more in an attempt to find any train tracks nearby to him. He wasn't disappointed.
Not far to the west of him a set of train tracks cut through the forest. Satisfied with the solution to his short term goal and the first part of his long term goal he bounded down the tree and back into the cave. He put on his saddlebags, taking care not to disturb the bandages around the area once occupied by his wings. Now he felt ready to write a response to Celestia's letter.
Taking the quill in unsteady claws he tried to bring it over to the inkwell but the quill fell out of his claws before then. It feels so odd to hold a quill again after all this time. At least I didn't accidentally break it in half. Picking the quill back up in a firmer grasp he dipped the quill in the ink only for it fall out of his now ink soaked claws. With a frustrated sigh he picked up the quill for a third time and pressed it to the blank section of the scroll. The quill snapped and poke a hole in the scroll.
Aduro looked at the offending quill for a moment before clenching the claw holding it into a fist and igniting the quill with his claws. Now thoroughly frustrated with both the quill and himself for not being able to accomplish such a simple task, Aduro dipped a claw into the inkwell and scratched out his answer: I will keep an eye out for any signs of Tirek but don't expect me to just parade myself through the streets of Canterlot. I made a decision long ago knowing full well what the consequences might be. I must stand behind that decision even though it would be far easier for me to just surrender. Would we have ever been friends if any of us went for the easy route in life? And tell Princess Cadenza, for what it's worth, she put up an admirable fight to return to her love. I wish her nothing but happiness in her marriage and if she hates me for my role in the invasion, I understand why. From Aduro.
Looking over the messy scrawl of his claw writing, Aduro decided he had done his best. He blew a small plume of white fire over the scroll and watched as it dissipated into ash which flew out of the cave. With a roll of his shoulders he sped off in the direction the train tracks had been.
Before long Aduro came across the train tracks which stretched as far as his unaided eyes could see in either direction. A cursory sniff revealed only the faint smell of oil and coal in the area. There were two sets of train tracks and Aduro began walking in the gap between them, invisible once again. Why are there two sets of tracks? Oh, because they probably can't turn those metal tubes as easily as a carriage Aduro idly though to himself.
A half-hour later he suddenly heard the sound of clanking metal and he turned to see a train surprisingly close and rapidly approaching. The dragon moved away from the tracks and waited for the train. Once the engine blurred past he took a running start and teleported onto the top of a train car. Unexpectedly his claws found little purchase on the metal roof and he slid back along the car, leaving a faint trail of claw marks. His journey ended when he reached the end of the car and fell into the gap between it and the next one. Quickly sticking out his limbs spread-eagle fashion, Aduro caught himself just above the doorways of the cars. The sound of approaching hooves made Aduro stiffen. What now?
His question was soon answered when a mare in a conductor's uniform opened one of the doors, saying, "All right my feathered friend there are no hitchhikers... Huh." The mare looked around for somepony and saw nothing. She then began to climb a ladder uncomfortably close to Aduro's left arm. He slowly withdrew the claw embedded in the wood paneling, counting on the noise of the wheels to mask his actions. The mare evidently didn't notice anything while climbing the ladder where she looked at the scratches on the roof. "Another tree branch," she sighed before descending the ladder.
Aduro waited several moments after the mare returned to the inside of the car before letting out the breath he'd been holding. Of course they'd have a system to keep ponies from using this transportation for free. It is this kind of ignorance that is going to get me caught before long. With that reminder of how little he knew about the current Equestria, Aduro carefully pried his claws from their spots and entered the car opposite of where the conductor had come from.
Inside the train car he was greeted by the sight of crates stacked upon crates with suitcases scattered around, filling the entire car. He made his deeper into the car until he found a nice spot nestled between a box marked 'Sapphire Shores Records' and a window. It seems like just yesterday I on a train to Canterlot with my goal within arm's reach and now I'm no closer than I was 1800 years ago. All those sacrifices and nothing to show for them. He shook his head and glared out the window. I must stop wallowing in the past. It is done and I can do nothing to change that fact. I have to remain true to my vow. It is as simple as that. He opened the window and breathed in the smell of the forest. As simple as that.
----------
The it was well into the afternoon when the train pulled into the station and Aduro faintly heard a voice proclaim, "Manehatten Station." Aduro poked his head out the window to glance around. He saw a crowded platform with dozens of ponies and to his right he caught a glimpse of paved roads and buildings he couldn't see the tops of. Figuring this was the city he'd seen from the tree the dragon clambered out of the window. Had he been a healthy pony he wouldn't have been able to fit through without a tight squeeze, instead his thin form easily slipped through. So being chained for almost two thousand years does have some benefits he thought, a wry smirk on his face.
He dropped to the ground next the platform and quickly scurried away from the crowded place. What he didn't notice was that a nearby reddish-brown stallion's eyes tracked his invisible form the entire time. The dragon hurried down the train tracks until he reached a curve. Then he jumped up to an alleyway and looked around. On the far end of the alley he saw many ponies passing by the entrance and the buildings on either side were so tall he had to look straight up to find where they ended. There are more ponies walking around than I expected. It'll be difficult to make sure nopony accidentally bumps into me. Now to find a library. With that Aduro quickly scaled the taller of the two buildings forming the alley.
Once he reached the top he gasped in awe. Aduro knew the world had changed during his imprisonment. The trains that now dotted the landscape of Equestria and the city of Canterlot were proof enough of that but the trains were just longer versions of chariots and Canterlot's architecture was very reminiscent of the towns he remembered. Manehatten, however, was something else entirely. He had just climbed one of the tallest building he'd ever seen and still he could see some easily twice as tall as the one he was standing on. This city was enormous.
Looking down the side of the building the dragon saw so many ponies walking around that combined with the height of the building, made him think of an anthill rather than a place ponies lived. I could hide here for years and the Princesses wouldn't even know I was ever here. A smile grew on his face and he allowed himself a small cheer before returning his focus to his immediate goal. Now how am I going find a library in this mess?
He teleported over to the tallest building he could see, one who's top was graced with a horse head. Aduro appeared at the top the figure's 'mane' and was nearly blown off by the wind whipping past him. This time Aduro was prepared and anchored himself in place. Pressing himself flat against the mane the dragon lifted a claw to his eyes again, and focused the light around them. He saw vendors selling food on the streets, carts being pulled, and ponies walking in and out of buildings but he didn't see a library. He searched and searched but he didn't see a library, though he did see ponies reading books scattered around the city.
The sheer size of the city worked against him as he found himself scanning areas he'd already gone over multiple times. The sky was beginning to turn orange and he was about to teleport to another building and search from there when he finally spotted a pony leaving a relatively small building with a small stack of books in the western part of the city. Focusing on the area Aduro saw several more ponies leaving the building with books and some entering with books. He then began chain of teleportations that brought him to the building.
From the window of a nearby skyscraper a reddish-brown stallion grew a pair of wings in a flash of green fire and flew up to the spot he'd been observing the dragon from. Looking in the approximate direction the dragon had been looking, the stallion raised a pair of binoculars and looked for any sign of the invisible dragon.
Aduro looked at the building which appeared to be made of a different style than most of the surrounding buildings. Across an archway that spanned above the entrance, was what Aduro assumed to be the name of the building. 'Manehatten...Public...Library' he read slowly. Just like that sign that had pointed him to that rock farm, the lettering was only vaguely similar to the language he remembered. He then teleported onto the roof of the building and began to search for a way in. The only one he could see on the roof was the entrance for pegasai and too many ponies were using that entrance for his liking.
He snorted in frustration and kept to the edge of the roof to avoid any pegasai accidently landing on him. Aduro circled the building and much to his frustration he found no open windows or any entrances not currently being used by less than a dozen ponies. Then a glance at the darkening sky reminded him that he wouldn't have to wait for an opportunity much longer. Sure enough, within fifteen minutes, the flow of pegasai using the rooftop entrance had diminished enough for the dragon to risk it.
He followed behind a grey pegasus stallion with a greying cyan mane. The stallion hummed quietly as he descended a staircase, unaware of his draconic companion. The pair navigated corridors with smooth marble flooring until they reached the main reading area. It was a wide, open area illuminated by the streaks of orange light coming from the windows. Aduro parted ways from the pegasus and scaled up the walls till he reached one of the small alcoves he noticed pegasai using as private reading areas. The alcoves came equipped with tables, chairs, a couch, and, much to Aduro's satisfaction, curtains.
He closed the curtains and relaxed his invisibility spell for the first time in hours. Haven't had to do that for a long time. I'm out of practice. The dragon yawned and stretched, unaccustomed to being awake for so many hours in a row. He resisted the temptation to curl up and take a nap and instead watched the dust dancing in the few rays of sunlight. Despite his best efforts, the warmth of the alcove and the quiet of the library proved too much for the dragon and he felt his eyes droop. Deciding not to fight his weariness Aduro rearranged the furniture slightly so the couch covered a corner completely. Satisifed nopony would spot him without deliberately searching for him, he fell asleep. He was awoken by raised voices and the clatter of furniture being knocked over.
Resuming his invisibility spell, Aduro exited the alcove to see what was going on. The first thing he noticed was that the sun had set. The next thing he noticed was the grey pegasus from earlier, now in a civilian guard uniform escorting a unicorn and a pair of earth ponies out of the library. The unicorn was holding some kind of electronic device in his magic and was protesting quite loudly with the guard. As for the earth ponies one seemed just as vehement to stay while the other was all but dragging his compatriot by the tail.
"We just encountered the strongest ecto-etheric and para-pyschic readings I've ever seen. H-hey unhoof me sir," said the unicorn as he was pushed along by the pegasus. "I need to stay overnight to track the activity to check if it's cyclical or just sporadic. We are talking the difference between-." The unicorn had walked directly into a table causing a loud scraping noise to once again fill the empty air and knocked his glasses off.
"Unless you got a permit from the chief librarian saying you can stay overnight my job is to keep visitors out until visiting hours. Sorry to have interrupted your science project but them's the breaks," said the guardpony.
"Sir, please. This far more important than a science project we are this close to proving the existence of-," was all the protesting earth pony could say before his friend yanked on his tail and proceeded to actually drag the protester out of the library. As the guardpony escorted the unicorn out while Aduro simply watched the show and ate a few gems. Dinner and a show, thought the dragon.
Finally the grey guardpony returned and sighed wearily. "Oh, don't worry guys. I had it all well in hoof. Don't bother getting up and doing something," he said sarcastically. This drew Aduro's attention to a group of more guardsponies seated at table with cards held in their hooves.
One of the other guardsponies, an elderly blue stallion with a cigar in his mouth responded with, "Aw don't be like that Hoovesy. If we all got up to chase them out who'd keep track of the game?" The cigar pony gestured to the cards on the table. "Besides, luck's on my side tonight. Ain't that right boys?" A chorus of quiet groans of affirmation sounded out and the grey pegasus laughed in response. "Feel like joining in for a round Hoovesy?"
"Sure but don't expect to win any muffins from me tonight. My neighbor's dog got the rest of them earlier and my daughter won't be sending another batch until Saturday." Another chorus of groans responded but sounded disappointed this time around. Aduro took that as his cue to slink off to conduct some research. He climbed down to the floor and crept past the guardsponies without trouble.
The dragon wandered the halls amd corridors of the library, stopping to peruse the shelves of books but he soon realized he had no idea how the place was organized. The only thing he was reasonably sure of was that he was in the nonfiction part of the library, since the books had titles like, 'Slumber 101: All You Ever Wanted to Know About Slumber Parties But Were Afraid to Ask' and 'The Book of Obscure Unicorn History'. For anypony else, wandering around in a dark library would have been an exercise in futility but for Aduro, with a simple focusing spell, could see as clearly as if it was day. Even so, he had to stop and examine the book titles for several minutes until he could translate it into something he understood.
As a result, it took him several hours of looking at random books before an epiphany struck him. I need to look for the language section. With any luck there'll be a guide to, ancient I suppose, Equestrian. If they're anything like the language guides they used to make in my time they'll have a section that compares the alphabets. With renewed energy Aduro resumed looking through the books but this time he only checked the writing before moving on.
Another half-hour of searching passed, during which Aduro had to freeze temporarily when a guardpony wielding a flashlight checked in the room the dragon was in. The flashlight all but blinded the dragon who forgot to remove the enhancement spell, and left him blinking spots out of his eyes after the guardpony left. Then at last he found what he was looking for, 'Origins: A Guide to the Evolution of Modern Equestrian' with the word origins spelt in the old style. Eagerly the dragon grabbed the volume and began to read it. The first few pages were just modern text that he had no use for but before long he found a section showing how letters had changed over time. Perfect. Now to begin the long process of catching up with the world.
Aduro found a comfortable spot to curl up and began to read the book, frequently referring to the section that showed the evolution of the letters to check he was reading it correctly. He had been reading for a couple of hours when he noticed sunlight beginning to creep into the hallways. Now comes the next obstacle, finding a place to sleep securely and without anypony finding me. Preferably someplace nearby. Tucking the book into his makeshift saddlebags the dragon once again crept through the library. He made his way to the pegasus entrance which he found locked. One teleport later and Aduro was back on the streets of Manehatten.
Glancing around he was surprised to see a fair number of ponies already walking on the streets. I need a disguise. If I want to stay in this city long enough to learn what's changed and plan my next move I can't be occupied with finding secluded spots to sleep in everyday. Now what was that name I used to sneak into Canterlot... Smoke Stack. Drawing on his memory of that event a dark grey pegasus stood where the dragon once was. Then with a frustrated groan the pegasus became a dark grey unicorn.
Aduro walked out onto the street and nonchalantly left the library behind him. He walked for several blocks looking for any indication that a building was a place where he could sleep. He then came across a building with the word 'hotel' written above a door. Aduro actually recognized this word from the book which had said that what he knew as hostels had morphed over time to become called hotels. Progress.
The dragon-in-disguise opened the door and walked up to a lime green mare sitting behind a desk and asked, "Is this where I inquire about borrowing a place to stay?"
The mare scrunched up her nose slightly and answered, "Yes, but I'm not sure you can afford the rates here...sir." Confused Aduro reached for his saddlebags, also disguised, to grab some gems for payment when a thought struck him. When was the last time I bathed? The rainstorm was two nights ago so... Ah. I see.
Aduro placed the gems on the desk of the receptionist and asked if that would cover the cost of a day. The mare took one look at the pile of gems and instantly a smile leapt onto her face. "Certainly sir. Your room number is 715, the elevator is on your right and breakfast is served at 8 o'clock. What name will the room be listed under?"
"Smoke Stack," replied Aduro. The mare handed over a key with a tag reading 715 over to Aduro who grabbed it with his magic, his 'horn' glowing a light green. He then walked over to where the mare had gestured to find a stallion opening the elevator door for Aduro. Not knowing what exactly was going to happen, Aduro projected a mask of nonchalance and stepped into the elevator.
The stallion pulled a lever at his side and the elevator began to ascend, much to Aduro's surprise. He jumped slightly when he felt movement and glanced over at the stallion who merely looked with an amused grin at his distress. "First time in an elevator?" The stallion asked. Aduro merely nodded and planned at least three different methods of escaping the elevator by the time they reached the seventh floor. The stallion opened the door and gestured for Aduro to exit the elevator. The dragon left the elevator with almost indecent haste and hurried down the hallway.
He found the room with the same number as the tag on his key quickly and entered it just as quickly. He recalled the last time he'd stayed in a hostel he'd simply given the owner some bits and been told to take the last room on the left. He turned to the door, locked it, and then promptly collapsed onto the bed. He barely had the presence of mind to burrow underneath the blankets and not tear everything up with his claws before falling asleep.
Meanwhile a reddish-brown stallion finished his breakfast of stored up love when he received a message. His bathroom mirror turned completely black and a series of taps emanated from it. He translated the message as follows: Another will join you to confirm. If other confirms do not approach target. Observe and identify other's intent. Report after confirmation and identification of intent. That is all. The reddish-brown stallion responded with his own series of taps which translate as : Yes, my Queen.
Luna flew through the ethereal landscape of the realm between dreams, spheres reflecting fantastic landscapes and countless stories, watching as their number began to diminish. Ponies are starting to wake up, she observed. Nonetheless Luna continued her vigil for any whose dreams brought trouble instead of rest even at these odd hours. Then she came across one that showed clouds of smoke and the dim glow of fire. Luna focused her magic and entered the dream, intending to bring calm to the nightmare. She found herself flying in through a thick cloud of smoke and she blinked her now watery eyes. Sometimes I wish ponies would get the details wrong about these things more often, she thought as she coughed and emerged from the smoke.
Canterlot was burning. Luna felt herself tense at the sight. The level of detail made her feel compelled to intervene despite knowing the failed invasion happened a little over a month ago. She could see ponies running through the streets with changelings in hot pursuit. The changelings were different, she noticed. More savage looking and predatory than they were in reality. She continued flying, bringing a wave of soothing rain clouds in her wake. The fires were extinguished and the monstrous dream changelings faded away. She cast out her senses to locate the dreamer reliving this horrible day and found a wellspring of negative emotion coming from the castle. Before she could do anything further, the entire landscape shook before vanishing and leaving Luna in the dream realm.
"What?!" exclaimed Luna and realized she could no longer directly sense the dreamer.
"After you stopped visiting my dreams I made it a personal project to develop a method of consciously keeping you out. I'm glad all those years spent working on the theory paid off. I wonder how many of my other time-killing projects actually pay off," said Aduro materializing. His form was like a window, a view of a grassy plain with large white clouds contained within his silhouette contrasting against the starry dream realm.
Luna blinked in amazement for a moment before regaining her composure and a bit of anger. "I have questions for you, Aduro." Her wings ruffled ever so slightly as she spoke.
"Is it to formally charge me with crimes associated with Chrysalis' invasion? Or is to test me and see if I let slip a clue to my location?" asked the dragon as he started to circle the princess. The view of the grassy plains through his silhouette rotated with his body, strengthening the window image. Is he using his dream as a body? Wondered Luna even as she prepared for arguments likely to ensue.
"I'm here to find out why you seem determined to be our enemy. We sent a letter offering a peaceful meeting and you answered by attacking me with an army of changelings at your back," said Luna.
"By the time I got the letter I had already held Princess Cadenza prisoner for several days. Once I took all the factors into consideration I made the decision I thought would benefit the most," answered Aduro.
Luna sighed. "I fail to see how killing an imprisoned Discord helps more ponies than preventing a invasion that will cause long-lasting enmity between ponies and changelings. Even with Celestia's and my best efforts, it will take years before changelings can even consider walking openly among the population. You could have exposed that imposter and shown that maybe you were deserving of redemption."
"And yet, if I had done what you said, there would still changelings loyal to Chrysalis in Canterlot with you unable to ferret them out. How confident are that they didn't have contingency plans for that very situation? Now you can least be assured that there won't be any serious cases of internal sabotage," said the dragon.
"You've certainly been prepared for this meeting if you have so many excuses at the ready," remarked Luna. Aduro stopped circling Luna for a moment. She tried to glean what he was thinking but while she could see the outline of his head clearly, there was no visible face.
"Will Celestia be joining us today?" Aduro asked cautiously.
Fortunately for Luna, she didn't need to see someone's face in order to gather information. The nature the of dream realm made sensing Aduro's emotion foal's play as his mind was literally on display. A soft mist was gathering over the grassy plains at the moment offering Luna insight she suspected Aduro didn't want to consciously give.
"...No. Not today. She has other matters to deal with presently."
"Organizing the search for Tirek?"
"Among other things."
"I meant what I said in my letter. I will help in anyway I can in the search for Tirek."
"How much aid can you really offer when you're spending most of your time hiding from everypony?" asked Luna. She watched as storm clouds began to roll into view on Aduro's 'skin'.
"Is there something you want out of this conversation other than an opportunity to insult me?" he asked at length.
"I wanted to see how much of my old friend is still in you, but I can safely say I'm disappointed by the answer," snapped Luna.
"Do not forget that you were the one who chose to not visit for centuries," Aduro shot back. "You can't abandon someone and then complain that they aren't the same they were before."
Luna grimaced at that and after a moment of debate asked, "What do you know of Nightmare Moon?"
"It's some kind of monster made up for Nightmare Night. Something to frighten foals and be an enemy for you defeat or something like that. It's somewhat hard to care about a festival focused on candy when you've forgotten what candy tastes like. What about it?" he asked dismissively.
Luna had felt a small smile form on her face over just how wrong Aduro was even as she recalled the unpleasant memories involved. "A thousand years ago, she and I were one and the same," she said.
Shock radiated from Aduro and his dream body warbled before dissolving. Luna found herself now standing on the grassy plain facing a white-scaled dragon and felt the link to the dragon's emotions return. She noted that Aduro looked how she remembered from millennia ago, with lithe muscle and confident stance, rather than the skeletal being she'd fought. Luna felt her throat grow thick with emotion as she spoke. "I had grown jealous of Celestia over a course of decades and eventually decided that being feared as a nightmare was better than being ignored as a princess. I attempted to bring about an eternal night and Celestia was forced to use the Elements of Harmony to stop me.
"I was imprisoned on the Moon for a thousand years until the stars were right. Then I was free to resume my conquest and I even managed to imprison Celestia. But then Twilight Sparkle and her friends were able to return me to my senses. So don't you dare try to act like I have no idea what you've gone through. I have been doing my absolute best to make up for all the wrong I have done since my return. What have you done? Run. You've run away from justice and seem to be doing everything in your power to avoid the consequences of your actions. That is something I cannot...no, will not allow."
Everything was silent for a moment. No wind blew through the grass. The alicorn and dragon stared at one another, neither blinking or even breathing. Then Aduro looked away.
"Why is it that just when I think I can start to hate you, you go and do something like that? Luna...even if you don't believe anything else I say, believe this, I don't want to be your enemy. There were times in the past when I seriously considered letting go of my hate for Discord thanks to you and Celestia. Particularly when it came to that night 1800 years ago. But every time I thought about it I always came to the same answer. Discord is too dangerous to be left alive.
"I thought I had enough conviction in that belief even knowing it might cost me your friendship. Then came my imprisonment. It took a toll on me, especially when you stopped visiting and Celestia barely acknowledged that I even existed. I thought you two had willingly left me to rot in isolation and I tried to hate you. But as time dragged on, I found it harder and harder to hold onto that anger or to even feel anything at all. Then came Chrysalis with an offer out of that pit. I wasn't entirely sure she wasn't a hallucination when I agreed either. And now with all of the consequences of my decision rearing their heads, I've realized something."
"What?" asked Luna gently.
"First, that I will accept death over being sent back to Tartartus. With all that I've done and all that I know can you honestly say that there is no chance I won't be sent back there?"
Luna said nothing which was answer enough for the dragon.
"That is why I ran and am still running. Fear, pure and simple."
Luna couldn't fault Aduro for that at least, she'd shared a similar fear after the Elements purged Nightmare Moon and restored her. It had taken weeks of Celestia's reassurances that the both of them had been punished enough by the whole affair before she could start to relax. "It doesn't have to stay like this," she said at last. "I know Celestia wants to talk to you face-to-face and reach a peaceful agreement. 'It's not too late for all of us to make amends' is what she said." Luna sighed heavily and lowered her head. This is not something I planned for.
Aduro stepped closer and brought his own head down to meet her gaze. "What do you want, Luna?"
"I want to understand," she whispered. "I want to understand why you care so much about revenge that you're willing to kill ponies to get it." Her expression hardened as her voice began to rise. "I want to understand just where things went wrong. I want to understand why you can't move on! That's what I want!" She was practically shouting by the end.
Aduro flinched back, but said nothing.
Luna took a moment to calm herself before she asked, "what do you hope to accomplish?"
"What do you mean?"
"I am curious what you intend to do. You've been imprisoned even longer than I and I find myself overwhelmed at times at how much has changed. You were offered a chance at getting your revenge and that failed. You are alone in an unfamiliar world now. So what will you do?"
"That sounds like something Celestia would say," he said.
"She did ask that I make it a point to ask that question," Luna admitted. "If you truly don't want to be our enemy, prove it by answering that question."
It seems that ruling alone for a thousand years has given Celestia a lot of experience manipulating ponies. I don't answer and I practically declare that I'm plotting something. Next thing I know I'm getting letters that explode the moment I open them. If I do answer I'll be giving the Princesses clues to track me down. I could try lying...no. Not while dreaming. I have no real choice at the moment, Aduro realized.
"At the moment, I'm educating myself on the modern Equestrian language. After that I don't know," he said honestly. "I don't know enough about Equestria to do anything. All I can do is wait and learn."
"Are you able to feed yourself?" Luna asked recalling his unhealthily thin appearance.
"Huh? Of course I can feed myself. I've already tried starving myself and it's not a very pleasant experience. Why would you...," Aduro trailed off as he realized what he'd just let slip. Now she knows I've been stealing gems...wait. She already knows that. So why would she ask so abruptly? Is she trying to confuse me? How common are gem thefts nowadays? ...I'm getting distracted, I must focus. Aduro was rescued from his reverie by Luna beginning to speak.
"I confess myself at a loss on how to proceed from here," began Luna. "I was prepared to match wits with a brute, a sly liar, or even a crazed lunatic but not you it seems. You feel genuine regret for the invasion but you are determined to avoid your fair punishment. All I can offer right now is the same thing Celestia and I offered before. Surrender yourself to the Guard and we can discuss what to do from there. I will say this in your favor, you could have told Chrysalis about your blood magic but you didn't."
Luna prepared to leave when Aduro spoke up. "Before you go, I have a question."
"What?"
"How is Princess Cadenza? Does she hate me? Fear me?"
Luna paused and considered the question. She hadn't had the opportunity lately to have a heart-to-heart with her niece while awake or in dreams. She had noticed that Cadence was passionate in being involved in the search for Aduro.
"She seems determined to have you recaptured. I don't know her reasons for doing so at the moment," Luna said choosing her words carefully. "Why do you care?"
Aduro raised a claw to his forehead and pressed it against his forehead. Small red lines emanated from the point of contact and started to form ritual magic designs she'd only seen in the dragon's old notes. "Because I let her believe I was willing to use blood magic on her and it seems she knew enough of the subject to be terrified at the thought," said Aduro. He lowered his claw and the ritual lines vanished from his forehead.
Luna sucked in a breath of surprise at that revelation and paid close attention to the regret and shame she sensed from him. She could not afford to be mistaken about his feelings on this subject.
"Thank you for being honest with me about that. We will talk again," Luna said, and then she woke up. She quickly got out of her bed and proceeded out the door. A messenger was soon dispatched and Luna waited for her sister in one of the many secluded rooms in the castle. She had already completed a dozen circuits around a table when the door opened and Celestia entered the room. Luna wasted no time in relaying the conversation to her sister concluding with, "we need to do something and soon. While Aduro might not be a threat right now, there is no telling what he might do in the near future."
Celestia frowned thoughtfully for a moment, then she shook her head. "Not quite. We can be reasonably sure that she will remain in Equestria. Take notice that she said specifically that she didn't know enough about 'Equestria', not the world, to make any plans. The problem is that when we do come close to finding Lucere, she will almost certainly feel cornered and lash out," said Celestia. She leaned back and considered the current state of affairs.
There was managing the fallout of a failed invasion, organizing not one but two covert searches for escaped inmates from Tartarus, both promising complications to any attempts at recapture, and now a potentially festering issue with the Princess of Love to deal with. The only thing that kept her from losing sleep at night was the fact that she could once again rely on Luna for support.
"Why do you keep referring to him as Lucere?" asked Luna. "He made absolutely no effort to correct the changelings or me when I called him that. Even after all this time he still accepts that as his name."
"I know that but... I can't help but hope that by using Lucere that somehow we'll find a way to change her mind. I've lost so much over the years, then I was blessed in getting you back Luna. I can't keep myself from indulging in the hope that we can get our friend back too," Celestia replied quietly. She felt a wing being draped over her back and smiled at Luna.
"We'll come up with something. We've done better in far worse situations than this," assured Luna. "Now let's go over what we have to work with. We know that Aduro is somewhere east of Canterlot based on the robbery of the Element of Laughter's sister. We know that he's somewhere with a library where he can learn modern Equestrian and is large enough to have enough gems nearby for him to eat. That alone limits it to the larger cities."
"It's not much but it's enough for a start," Celestia admitted. "But now our first priority is coming up with a plan that will minimize the risk of Lucere feeling cornered."
"Like finding an alternative to Tartarus," offered Luna.
"If we chose to go that route we will have to build one ourselves. Nowhere else has such a naturally potent anti-magic composition. ...We shouldn't forget about Cadence in all this either. She might need more help than we realized if she deliberately left out being threatened with blood magic," added Celestia. Plans were beginning to form and the two alicorns continued the balancing act of ruling a country as they'd done for centuries.
**********
Aduro awoke around noon from the lucid dream he'd been enjoying after his visit from Luna. He stretched and flapped the partially regrown wing bones on his back. He estimated it would take the better part of a year before his wings would be fully functional again. He rolled out of bed and walked up to his desk. Sheets of paper containing various versions of the Equestrian alphabet composed one stack and notes about Equestrian legends made up another.
The white dragon grabbed an opal and nibbled at it as he focused on the page he'd been translating last night. To many others it would have been ironic that he'd been translating a modern book into old Equestrian but such humor went unnoticed by him. The page in question was about a string of small islands off the coast of Vanhoover, a city located on Equestria's northwestern coast and only half translated. Picking up a quill, the dragon resumed his work and within the hour he finished.
He looked over the translation, now able to read the whole thing rather than single word at a time. His suspicions were confirmed by the decided lack of information about a specific item located on the largest island in the chain. Now the problem is that actually going and getting it will take resources and connections I don't have, he thought to himself. Even with all these new trains and boats it will still take weeks to get there and that's not even considering what it would take to convince somepony to sail there.
I just don't have the resources... I don't have the resources. But it doesn't need to be me who finds it.
