The changeling has retired from fighting on the front lines. This doesn’t prevent the war Princesses from sending him to bring several lost soldiers back home.
Several months after the invasion of Canterlot and being shipped to Saddle Arabia, the surviving changeling has retired from fighting on the front lines. Due to this, the changeling is still required to work for the Equestrian Army as a wartime strategist and doesn't have to directly see combat anymore. The Princesses acknowledge this, but the new job and retirement from combat can't prevent them from sending the changeling into a tense area ready for combat to bring several lost soldiers back home.
Rated T for violence, language, and an off-page sex scene.
“You did this to me.” A deep, garbled voice says. The voice sounds like it’s in a permanent death rattle.
My eyes open. I see a pony standing in front of me. I remember his face. I’ll never be able to forget it for my life. I’ll never be able to forget his look of fear. I’ll never be able to forget the taste of blood.
“You did this.” Taş Ihanet says. My eyes drift to his neck. It’s open and completely exposes his throat. There isn’t a single drop of blood, leaving me a perfect view of his trachea that's been ripped to shreds by teeth.
“I’m sorry!” I shout at what should remain a corpse. “Leave me alone!”
“You did this.”
“Please forgive me!”
“You will suffer.”
“I’ve been suffering since I left!”
Ihanet steps closer. His eye color changes to gold. “Your death will be just as painful as mine.”
His mouth opens. I try to close my eyes. They lock themselves open. I stare into his mouth as it approaches me. His teeth are sharp as daggers. Just like mine. I can't identify the speed. It seems to switch from the speed of sound to the speed of a snail every quarter second. His mouth is close enough that I can smell his breath.
The image dissipates quickly. Luna is standing in front of me. Her face has a mixture of horror and fear. I breathe heavily. I’ve been having that same dream every night for three months now. Unfortunately, Luna hasn’t rescued me from it each time. Having to see myself being eaten alive and having to feel each and every second is terrifying, to say the least.
“Th-Thank you, Luna…”
She walks up to me and nuzzles my neck. “I can’t save you every time, Changeling. I can’t be the only pony to assist you.”
"I-I thought you were the only p-pony that could enter dreams?"
"I am, Changeling. I know there must be somepony to help you with your nightmares, outside of the dreams." She sighs. "I know why you're having this nightmare so often. Your time in Saddle Arabia must have been... traumatizing." I look down and don't say a word. I don't need to for her to know my answer. "Please speak to me once you're awake." Her horn lights up and my vision fades to black.
I pull my head from the soft pillow. I’m still getting used to the soft bed I’ve been sleeping in every day for the past three months. It's hard to get used to, but I prefer it this way.
Most ponies would disagree with me when I say that I don't care for the soft bed. I've told Princess Celestia a few times, but nothing's ever changed. I'm willing to bet that she's being passive aggressive towards me. The two of us never get along. We probably won't. I'm fine with that.
I crawl out of my bed and onto my hooves. My eyelids feel like lead. I hate waking up just as much as I do going to sleep. I think it's part of the reason why I've been closer to Princess Luna than to her sister. I've barely spoken to Celestia since I've returned from Saddle Arabia. The conversations have been so brief I can't remember half of them. The other half I barely remember.
I wouldn't have it any other way.
I almost step out of my room without using the form of another pony. I use the form I have been for the past month, a white unicorn with a black mane. She's a creation of my own mind. I haven't met any other changeling with that capability. I only use the unicorn for two reasons. To talk and so ponies won't try to kill me whenever I'm outside my room. I don't blame them for being mad at me. It's only been three months since the wedding.
I walk out of my room. So much in my life has changed since the wedding. I think it's for the better, honestly. I've stopped having to fight. What's probably the best thing the ponies have done to me is making me a wartime strategist.
My shift from soldier and one-time assassin to wartime strategist is my rebirth, in a way. I've compared it to my past life, with the other changelings, many times. This new life is quieter. There isn't nearly as much to do and I'm often bored. I'd rather be bored than risking my life attacking a country that doesn't even deserve it.
My former queen, Chrysalis, returns to my mind. Before my rebirth, I wanted to know whether she was dead or still alive. Now, I don't care. I don't mean that to be sociopathic or psychopathic. I have emotions and a conscience. I just don't care about Chrysalis anymore. If I found her alive, my emotional state wouldn't change. The same thing goes for if I found her dead.
I push her from my mind and continue to walk. Am I even going the right way? All the hallways in the castle look the same, except for the stained glass windows. I don't know why Princess Luna thought it would be a good idea to have a room in a hallway that didn't have any windows. It's a good thing that Luna's is at the end of the hallway.
Once I arrive at her door, I knock on it. It surrounds itself in purple aura and opens, exposing Luna's room to the hallway. "Please, enter." Luna's voice calls from somewhere inside. I enter her room. My eyes adjust to the dark quickly. Luna lies on her bed, looking directly at me. "Good morning, Changeling."
"Morning." I reply. "Why did you want to see me?"
"It's about your chronic nightmares." She says with a sigh. Luna steps out of bed. "The cause, specifically. You know I have a similar problem, correct?"
"Post-traumatic stress disorder. I know." I reply.
"I wish I could help you with yours more than I have been, but..." She interrupts herself with a sigh, "ours are just too different for me to help you the way you need it." Princess Luna says to me. Her voice is soft and motherly, like how I've been told her sister usually speaks. Celestia has never used that tone with me. "I will make an attempt to hire a therapist for you. I know the ponies still don't like to see changelings..."
I sigh and nod. I understand what Luna's saying. My type of PTSD and hers are far too different to get first-hoof help. The ponies of Canterlot still hate my species for what we did. I stand with them, but they refuse to stand with me. I've gotten used to it after almost a month. I doubt I'll ever see an end to it.
Luna turns to look out the window into the night sky. The moon reflects off her mane and fur, casting off a beautiful dark violet. "There's another reason why I can't help you."
"What is it?" I sit down in front of her. I've got a bad feeling that I'll need to sit down soon.
She looks at me through strained eyes. Luna says. “As much as I hate to say this, you’re the only pony that can help us with this."
"What do you mean?"
"I was recently given terrible news. I understand you aren’t officially a soldier anymore, Changeling..." She trails off.
I blink. Her implications hit me like a freight train. "No. No. Don't do that to me..."
"Please, just listen to me." Her voice is strained. She's forcing herself to tell me the news.
"I already know what you want me to do." I say before she can continue. "You want me to go back to Saddle Arabia. Is it Toma Jabhir? Is he still alive?"
She shakes her head. I feel an invisible weight fall off my back. I didn't even know it was there. "No. Jabhir is dead." Luna corrects my thoughts. "A platoon was dispatched to an area near Vanhoover last month. They were supposed to return here two weeks ago.”
I know where Vanhoover is. It’s to the northwest, on the coast of an ocean. I haven’t seen the ocean since I was just a larva. I assume it’s going to be like how the pictures show it. A shit ton of water next to a shit ton of sand. I don’t exactly see what the appeal of it is. I've seen enough sand in Saddle Arabia alone to last three lifetimes. The planet's 70 percent water, and water's not very different from place to place. “You want me to go there and bring them back? That sounds easy. What are their names?"
"The platoon has three primary commanders that we know are still alive. Rolling Thunder, a pegasus, Desert Storm, an earth pony, and Azorian, a unicorn." Luna says. I shudder. The last time I was with a member of each pony race, it ended horribly for them. The same could be said for me. "There are other ponies in the platoon. If they're still alive, they'll be with their commanders."
"Why can’t you send another group to get them?”
“Our relationships with a pony in the area, who calls herself Tranquus, are… tense to say the least.”
“So either send somepony that's actually stealthy or possibly go to war. Yeah, I see where you’re coming from, Luna.” Something else Luna said interests me more. “What about that Tranquus mare? What do you know about her?”
“Our information on her is limited." Luna replies. That's a very professional way of saying 'we don't know a damn thing.' "The information we have about her implies she’s a terrorist.”
“What kind of terrorist? Biological? Bombings?”
“Neither. Technically, she isn’t a terrorist. To repeat myself, our information only implies she’s a terrorist. She isn’t responsible for any known deaths. She hasn’t made any threats to Canterlot or anything, but if you see her, be careful around her.”
“Noted. What does her name mean?”
Luna shrugs. “I don’t know exactly. It’s something in a foreign language that I’m not familiar with. I believe it means ‘calm’ or something similar.”
A terrorist with a name like that... Either Luna's information about Tranquus, whether it's the name's meaning or her occupation, is wrong, or Tranquus' parents had a sick sense of humor. "Alright. I'll go."
"Would you like training?"
I probably should. I haven't been in a physical fight for three months. The only fight I've been in since then is a few verbal fights with that jackass Blueblood. I'm a bit out of shape. I'm sure I'll be fine. "No thanks, Luna."
"If you say so. we'll send you off to Vanhoover when my sister raises the sun to its peak."
The next few hours go by slowly. Luna approaches me with a piece of paper in her magic. "Before you're sent off, this is required. It's the last known location of the lost soldiers." She looks at it again. A look of disapproval appears on her face. "It's also the location of Tranquus' business..." She sighs. "I'll send you a slight distance from the building so we can send a message to Tranquus. You'll act as a political representative looking to assist her."
I take the form of a dark blue pegasus mare. Her cutie mark is a gray cloud. The cloud's color is nearly exactly the same as her coat, so I can barely see the cutie mark. "That's not a problem to me. If I have to take her out, I will." The paper and a set of saddlebags float towards me. Luna places the saddlebags on me and the paper inside.
Luna smiles. "I appreciate your bravery, Changeling. Are you ready to go?"
"I've been ready all day." Luna's horn lights up. It covers me, and my vision fades to black.
The quick teleportation to Vanhoover sets me in an alleyway. There aren't any witnesses, save for a homeless pony. He jumps at the sight. "Gotta stop takin' that Blue Sky..." He mutters to himself after recovering.
I walk out of the alley and discover that Vanhoover is absolutely massive. Skyscrapers surround me. Having been in Canterlot for several months, it's not too shocking. I take out Luna's paper from the saddle bags and read it. The paper has an address. I look at a street sign. The soldiers aren't that far off. This won't be too difficult.
I go to the address and step inside the building that's easily taller than the castle in Canterlot. In the center of the main room, there's a large desk with a blue coated and green maned mare. She's likely the secretary. “Could you point me to Tranquus? I had an appointment with her.” I say to her.
She looks up. “Of course I can, Miss…”
Shit. I didn't choose a name. “Blue Skies." I say off the top of my head without hesitation. I have to force myself to not let out a sigh of relief.
She looks at a paper on her desk. She looks back up at me. "I'm sorry, Miss Skies. You're not on Tranquus' list."
"I’m the representative from Canterlot.” I add.
She blinks once. “Oh! Oh yes. Tranquus wanted to see you, but she didn't say your name.” The mare says. Some sort of positive emotion that I haven’t been exposed to much comes off her. Indirect excitement is the closest I can get to naming her emotion. “Walk this way, Miss Skies.”
“Please, call me Blue. It’s what my friends call me.” I follow her. "What can you tell me about Tranquus?"
"She's my employer, for one. Tranquus is one of the most powerful ponies in Vanhoover." Her tone switches to that of boredom. She's probably told this same thing a thousand times before. Her words don't exactly have that practiced tone. "One of the richest, too. She could easily own half the city if she wanted to. Instead, she settled for just one building."
"Impressive." I say. I want to at least appear that I'm listening to her.
"It is." Her tone still hasn't changed. Now that I think about it, she almost sounds like a cliched brainwashed pony. A shiver runs down my spine. A pony as rich as Tranquus could easily afford brainwashing. The things I heard about her in Canterlot make me believe that Tranquus does brainwash her workers. Half of me strongly doubts she did, though. This pony could easily just be bored.
The mare sighs, breaking me from my thoughts. "I respect Tranquus, but she has too many flaws that I don't think she could rule the area."
There goes my theory. I'm almost disappointed. "So why do you work for her?"
"She pays well." She replies simply. I wait for her to add something. She doesn't. Instead, she continues to walk and I continue to follow her. The secretary stops at a door. "Miss Tranquus is in here." She opens it and allows me to enter.
I step inside. There's only one pony inside. A mare. Her dusty gold coat is contrasted by her long black mane. My heart skips a beat when I look at her. She's beautiful. I'm certain Luna's information was wrong. She can't be a terrorist looking like that. I walk up to her. "Are you Tranquus?"
The beautiful mare turns to me. Her smile is just as beautiful. "Yes, I am. Are you Blue Skies?" I nod. I look at her flank to check her cutie mark. It's a dark red peace symbol with a lit fuse at the top. I don't know how I should feel about that. Tranquus catches me staring. "You want to know what it means?" She asks. I nod. "It has several meanings. You won't be given an award for identifying what the peace symbol implies. The color and fuse mean that I'm willing to fight for what I believe in. And I believe in peace."
How in Luna's name did she get this as a cutie mark? She must have thought about overthrowing the Princesses when she was young. I understand why Luna thinks Tranquus is a terrorist. "Can't we find a different way to peace?" I ask. Words won't be able to stop a war, but I can at least try.
"Our path to peace doesn't matter. The end will justify the means." Tranquus says. She's being almost terrifyingly calm. She looks down and sighs. "I don't want to resort to assassination. But, that doesn't mean the Princesses aren't despots. They're tyrants. Tyrants are the scum of Equestria. The lowest royalty can be."
"I don't agree." I say. One of the ponies a few meters visibly flinches.
"Is this because you're from Canterlot?" She asks.
"No. You're openly against the Princesses. A tyrant would have you executed for that."
"Not necessarily, Miss Skies. A tyrant is, by definition, just cruel, not oppressive. The Princesses aren't oppressive. The way they're going, they will be soon. I want to stop them." She speaks almost like how a freedom fighter would.
I want to tell her I'd rather be called Blue, but something else comes to mind. "Are you... An anarchist?"
She chuckles. "An anarchist? No. I think I can see where you make that mistake. No, Blue, I'm not an anarchist. I'm a peacemaker." Something clicks in my head. I stop walking. I can’t identify her emotions. Tranquus stops and turns to me. “Are you okay?” Her face and tone show worry.
“Yeah. It’s just… Yeah, I’m okay.”
“If you say so.” She continues walking. “I just feel that Equestria could be so much better with somepony else ruling. Not Twilight Sparkle. Not Cadance. Somepony else that’s more fit. Somepony that’s not royalty.” She stops again and turns to me. “Are you familiar with democracies? They aren’t common on this planet, so I wouldn’t be surprised.”
“Not entirely. I think I’ve heard the name.”
“Democracies are governed by the ponies. By the ponies, for the ponies. The government workers just make sure the country stays stable. Democracies generally work in turn with an economy that's also ran by the ponies.”
“Would that even work?” I'm not a politician, but I'm sure a government I've never heard of wouldn't work. This 'democracy' sounds nice, but it's idealistic.
“Honestly, I’m not entirely sure. I’d be willing to find out. Sometimes, I think I’m the only pony in Equestria to believe that.” She sighs. “I just believe that a democratic society would fix so many problems. There wouldn’t be any one single pony with absolute power. It could spread across the country. That would mean, theoretically, that we wouldn’t have to rely on the Elements of Harmony to stop every single major threat. We could send platoons of ponies to deal with them. Think about it, Blue, there wouldn’t be another Nightmare Moon. There wouldn’t be another Discord, Sombra, or Chrysalis.” I flinch slightly at the mention of Queen Chrysalis.
I swear to myself slightly. I’m done with her. I don’t want to see her ever again, so why did I seem to fear the lack of her? I look back up to Tranquus. “What about Tirek?”
She shrugs. “Honestly, I don’t think a few ponies could have stopped him. The Elements of Harmony barely took care of him. And even then, it was just one pony that stopped him.” She holds her hoof to her chin. “Maybe we’d have more guards at the gates of Tartarus…” She shakes her head. “Where was I?”
“We wouldn’t have anymore major threats besides Tirek.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you.” She clears his throat. “Equestria isn’t a utopia. With a democracy in place, rather than this diarchy, we would be one step, ten steps, a thousand steps closer to perfection.”
I want to tell her perfection is impossible. It usually just ends in the death of those that want it. But, since I'm supposed to help her out... "If you say so. I'll help you, Tranquus."
"Thank you, Blue." She returns to walking. I follow her. I try to read his emotions again. Still nothing.
What in Luna’s name is Tranquus thinking? I can’t identify her emotions at all. I know she’s not completely cold or heartless. Nopony is. It’s a biological trait they’ve had for millennia. Normally, their emotional sinks are on full blast. Hers isn’t even dripping.
She stops walking again. “Are you okay?”
“Y-Yeah. I just had something else on my mind.”
She nods slightly. “Alright, then." Her face shows signs of slight doubt. I'm certain she's worried about me. Worry leads to suspicion. I need to be more careful around her. "Back to the subject of the current rulers of Equestria... Many ponies in Canterlot, the town next to it that I always forget the name of, and here in Vanhoover view them as deities. I'm not sure if it's because they're immortal or for another reason."
"I hear Celestia raises the sun and Luna raises the moon."
Tranquus chuckles. Her laughter continues for several seconds. "Blue, you have a great sense of humor. To raise a celestial body? That's impossible. Only a deity could do that. And trust me, the current Princesses are anything but deities. If they were truly deities, do you really think they'd decide to be the rulers of Equestria? They could do so much more."
For a second, I actually believe her. I should change the subject, just in case she tries to actually recruit me. "Shouldn't you have an assistant?"
"I'm sorry?"
"A right hoof mare? Somepony that can enforce things for you if you're too busy?" I ask. Usually, evil ponies have assistants like this. The Toma twins didn't have any. In hindsight, I don't believe they were actually evil. I have a terrible feeling that Tranquus is pure evil incarnate.
She scoffs at the idea. "No, I don't. I don't need one, nor do I want one. I honestly thought about hiring one some time ago. I didn't want to hire somepony that would have done something the way I didn't want it. I would have to fire them, and I hate firing ponies." Tranquus lets out a soft sigh. I feel a small amount of pity for her. "Not to mention what it would do to my business."
She stops at a door. "This is the bar of the area. Are you thirsty?"
I could probably use a drink soon. "Yes I am, Tranquus. Thank you." Tranquus' horn lights up in a gold aura. It reminds me of Celestia's. The door is surrounded in the same color of aura. She walks in the room. I follow her and she closes the door. I sigh. “I just wish there was an easy way out of this. I wish we didn't have to go to war with Canterlot. Couldn’t we just start a petition or something to get the Princesses to change their ways?”
She looks into my eyes. "You know, Blue, words won't be able to stop a war, but you can at least try."
Tranquus smiles at me. “You had me convinced for a second. I'll admit that you’re very skilled. I’m surprised I didn’t catch you at first. How did a my guards not detect a changeling the second one walked in?”
Oh shit.
“I thought all the changelings were dead. Either killed in Canterlot or blasted to who knows where. How did you survive?” She says. I don’t answer. She sucks a breath in. “Ah. The silent treatment. I thought that was a stallion’s thing.” She lightly hits her forehead with her hoof. “Oh, but you can be both. I forgot about that.” She walks behind the counter. “Would you like a drink? It will be your last, so choose wisely.”
“How…?”
“How did I find out? Easy, my friend. You stopped walking. I know a lot about your species and body language. Your sudden lack of movement was the first hint. Then I saw your face. Your face betrayed you.” She pours a drink. “All changelings make the same expression when they can’t identify emotions.” She downs the drink with one sip. “You know, you aren’t the first changeling I’ve talked to.” Her smile is absolute pure evil. “You will be my last.” Tranquus sets the glass down. “Please, follow me, changeling. If you don’t, I’ll have you know that my father had my mother executed for disobeying him. I’m not as forgiving as my father.”
I force myself to follow her. I need to get out of here. I could jump out a window and fly towards Canterlot. I’m certain her guards would shoot me down with their crossbows. “...How did you know what I was thinking?”
“Your body language is incredibly easy to read. I might as well have been reading a book.” Tranquus replies without looking at me. “Don’t let it get to you, changeling. It's a common trait of your species. I guess it’s a fault of not being able to speak.” She stops walking for a second and looks upwards at the ceiling. I stop behind her. “But you’re in pony form… I guess your movements don’t change as a pony.” She starts walking again. "Tell me, changeling. What are you, really?" She waits for an answer. I don't give her the satisfaction of hearing my voice. Tranquus frowns. "You're a stranger. You're a changer. But you aren't a danger."
I just look at her. I can't think of anything to say to her. My heart starts to beat rapidly. It's late to the realization of just what's going on.
"Don't make an attempt to fight me, changeling. I see that you're a fighter. There's no doubt about it. If you want to stay alive, I suggest doing what I say." She continues. She pours me a drink and slides it to me. I look at the glass. "You said you're thirsty. Drink up, changeling." She looks at my wings, then lightly taps her head against the desk. "I'm sorry about that. Let me take care of that." She takes the glass in her magic and floats it towards me. I drink it all in one sip.
"I hope you enjoyed that. That will be your last drink." Tranquus says without any hint of a smile. She looks to the side slightly. "Unless I decide to give you another, I mean. I don't plan on it. But who knows what'll happen?"
"Could you just get on with it?" I say. I'm getting sick of her going off on tangents like that.
"Sorry. I do that sometimes." Tranquus lets out a sigh. "Tell me, changeling. Are you familiar with equisetum?”
I've never heard that word before. “No. Do I want to be?"
“Equisetum is an incredibly deadly poison." She says, ignoring my response. "It’s... Well, as the writers say, ‘show, don’t tell.’ Follow me, changeling.” I follow Tranquus out of the room. I need to find a way out this place without being killed. Tranquus hasn't posed that threat directly yet, but I'm absolutely certain she will. "Equisetum is incredibly rare in Equestria." She continues. "I've traveled the globe for decades prior to forming my business, changeling, and I've collected it for just as long."
"What kind of business do you even have? Selling anarchist cookbooks?"
"As I've told you, I'm not a damned anarchist." She snaps at me. There's a lot of agitation in her voice. I smile internally. She hates being called an anarchist. I'll have to keep that in mind. Tranquus lets out a breath. She's probably trying to calm herself down. "This is a clothing business. Manufacturing and shipping. There's a lot of business around Canterlot. But, that's not important right now." She stops at another door further down the hall and opens it.
Inside the room are a few ponies armed with primitive looking spears. In the middle of the room is a pony with a bag over their head. He doesn't feel any fear. The only emotion I sense from him is pure burning hatred. The guards aim their spears at my throat. "Don't worry about her. She's with me." Tranquus says. The guards return to their original stance. She walks to the other side of the room and returns with a small toolbox.
Tranquus opens it. Her horn lights up. A plant resembling bamboo with pine needles floats out of the box. Is this equisetum? I was expecting some sort of pill or something in a syringe. With the plant still in her magic, Tranquus removes the bag on the pony, revealing a unicorn stallion. He immediately locks eyes with Tranquus. "I'm not telling you anything."
"I'm not asking for anything else. I'm here to show a friend of mine something for demonstrative purposes." She gestures to me with her head.
The stallion doesn't look my way. "Fuck you, Tranquus."
"Ooh, naughty language. I'll have to punish you for that." Tranquus floats the equisetum towards the stallions mouth. He locks jaw. Tranquus forces it open with her magic, still holding the Equesetum in the air. The stallion is visibly injured by that. I wouldn't be surprised if his jaw was just broken.
Tranquus forces the equisetum into the stallion's mouth and down his throat. She doesn't even bother making him chew. The stallion swallows the plant. The magic surrounding his jaw dissipates. He glares up at Tranquus. If looks could kill, she'd be in meaty chunks. I'll make sure she ends up like that. "Now stand up. Walk." Tranquus commands. The unicorn does, but keeps his eyes locked with hers.
Shortly after he stands up, his knees nearly buckle. He catches himself. He takes a step towards Tranquus. The look on his face alone tells me he wants to kill her in the most violent way possible. If I didn't have a mission, I'd help him with that. The stallion staggers and falls to the floor. He's breathing heavily. He turns to me and looks into my eyes. His eyes widen, then his body starts to convulse.
I can't take my eyes off him. I'm watching a pony having a seizure, but I can't do anything about it. Even if Tranquus wasn't here, I don't think I even could. I don't know how to save a pony from this.
The stallion stops moving. He's still breathing. Barely, but he is. He lifts his head up and looks at Tranquus. She grins and the stallion's head falls back to the floor. The sudden silence from his emotions is deafening.
Tranquus looks up from the corpse. “I’ll have you know this process usually lasts a week or two. The magic I used on him was more than to keep his jaw in place.”
"Who was that?" I ask.
"A soldier." She replies simply. "His name didn't matter."
“What kind of terrorist are you?”
She chuckles. “Who said I was a terrorist? I’m simply a mare with ideas. A mare with dreams. And dreams are magic proof.”
“You’re a monster.”
“You're wrong about that. I’m a pony. You’re the monster. You’re just a thing. You shouldn’t even be considered a changeling. You ran off from home. If you ever return to your birth nation, you’ll be killed.”
She’s right about that last part. Changelings know scents very well. They’d know I’ve lived with ponies. They’d know I’ve worked with ponies. But every other part? Every single part? They're all lies.
I look into her eyes. If looks could kill, she’d have been a corpse long ago. “I’ve got a family. Changelings aren’t my family anymore. They’re all dead.” I bare my teeth. “You’re the monster. You killed a defenseless pony. I’m going to kill you, Tranquus. I’m going to rip off your head and feed it to the dogs in Canterlot. I’m going to have them tear your corpse limb from limb.”
“That’s a little severe for you, don’t you think? I thought you didn’t like to kill ponies anymore.” Her voice is calm. It’s like she’s used to hearing death threats.
“I won’t be killing a pony. I’ll be killing you.”
“Make it later. I have plans for your Princesses.”
“You can’t kill an alicorn.”
“I can and I will.” Her voice suddenly turns sharp. Tranquus glares into my eyes. “I have been collecting equisetum for years. I’ve bought as much as I could from other species. I have enough to kill seven alicorns. I will use twice as much as necessary for Celestia, Luna, and Cadance. Twilight will have only get enough to kill her one time over.” She smiles. “You’d like to see that, wouldn’t you? Twilight dying like this?” She continues. Tranquus looks at the unicorn's corpse again. I don’t reply. I'm not the closest of friends with the Princess of Friendship, but that doesn't mean I want her dead. “You aren’t any fun when you refuse to speak. I’ll see if you do in my jail.” Tranquus nods to something behind me. I feel an impact on the back of my head. My vision quickly fades to black.
A constant dripping sound forces my eyes open. A piercing pain in my skull follows immediately after. I feel like my head is slowly being crushed. I close my eyes. The pain numbs slightly, but not even remotely enough to disappear. I can hear a faint dripping from some sort of liquid. I focus on that in hopes to distract myself from the pain. Judging by the sound of the drips, I'm in a cement room. Probably a prison. I sigh internally.
Wait. I'm most likely in a prison. Maybe the soldiers I was sent to find are here too. Assuming they're even still alive. If they are, I have a chance of getting out of here and stopping Tranquus.
I wait for the pain to lessen before I crawl to my feet. They hold themselves up. Tranquus or her workers didn't poison me while I was knocked out? Tranquus is full of two things: pride and shit. I'm going to use those flaws to destroy her.
If I can stand up, I can do more. I try to cast a simple illumination spell. Nothing happens, except for worsening my headache. I’ll have to see if spells work later. Maybe the room is the problem. I’ve heard of anti-magic rooms before. They’re usually in prisons in Equestria. This place is probably no different. I’m still in Equestria, right? I don’t even know how long I’ve been knocked out. Tranquus' goons could have easily dragged me to some other country far away.
I look around the room. It's a cubic room made entirely of stone. There only thing that stands out is the door, and that's just a bunch of metal bars. There's also the damn leak.
I walk over to the metal bars that act as the door. Upon closer inspection, the hinges are made of stone rather than metal. It's like they're asking me to break out of here. I can and I will. I just need a plan of escape. Just busting the door down and hoping for the best is never a good idea.
The sudden screech of metal on stone nearly makes me jump out of my exoskeleton. I take a few steps back and prepare myself for a fight. A mare is seemingly thrown in. I step back before I see she lands on her face. The mare looks up at me. I remember her. She's the secretary from before I met Tranquus. Here eyes open widely when she realizes she sees me.
She crawls backwards. I hold up my hooves in a defensive position. This seems to calm her down. I take a few cautious steps towards her. I point to her blue coat, then outside.
"...Are you Blue Skies?" She asks. I nod. A second passes by. “You’re a changeling?!” She shouts. I cover her mouth with my hoof to silence her. I know that the guards know where we are. I just don't want another headache. After a short seconds, she understands to shut up. I take my hoof away. “Why didn’t you tell me?” I shake my head and point at my throat. “You can’t talk?” I shake my head. “That doesn't really answer my question." I glare at her.
She rubs the back of her head. “Can you… Do your thing?” My thing? Does she mean shape shifting? I tilt my head slightly, like a confused dog. “You know. Change your form.” I shake my head. “Hmm… Before they threw me in here, they cast a spell on me. It might be a magic prevention spell. I've heard of some like that. Do you think they cast one on us?"
It sounds like something they'd do. I nod. I walk over to the door and point at the hinges with my horn. The mare looks at them. "What about it?" She asks. Dear Luna, is she being serious? The look on her face says she is.
Something clicks in my brain. I can't identify her emotions either. She doesn't look like the kind of pony that's smart enough to hide her emotions like Tranquus. This confirms my suspicions that the room is blocking out magic. I'm curious about the spell the unicorns used on this idiot. I hope it was an IQ draining spell.
I struggle to not sigh in frustration. Not being able to speak makes thinks extremely difficult at times. I point at the stone part of the hinge. "Oh. It's stone. That's weird." I nod. "It should be metal. It'd be a lot stronger that way." She blinks. "We could do something with that."
I nod again with enough force that would probably break my neck if I was a pony. The only thing preventing that from actually happening is my exoskeleton. Thank you Chrysalis for that. "Just busting the thing down isn't a good idea." She says. Damn. It's like she read my mind. Once again, I nod. "Any ideas?"
I shake my head. "Maybe we should just break it down, then." I glare at her. "Unless you've got any better ideas..."
She's got a point. It's the only idea we've got. It's a bad one, but it's probably better than nothing. I'd rather die out there and fight for my freedom than die in here.
I nod to her. "You kick it down. I'm not good with physical stuff. I'm a secretary for a reason."
I do as she asks. The door breaks off its hinges easily. That's almost insultingly depressing for them. I look both ways down the hallway. There aren't any guards. This is way too easy. This isn't going to end well.
My mare companion leaves the room at a full gallop. I follow her. I know I have a mission to find the three soldiers. If Luna told me more about Tranquus, I'd have ignored the soldiers and focused on Tranquus. That's what I have to do now. Tranquus is a serious threat against Canterlot and Equestria. Once, I would have probably been an ally with her. I'm not blind now.
The mare continues down the hall. She slides to a stop at a large door. She opens it before I stop. I run inside and stop at the sight of Tranquus. She turns towards us. "I thought I locked you two in a prison. My guards are terrible." She says with disappointment dripping from her words like blood from a wound.
"Wait, Tranquus." The mare says. "Can you please let us go?" She asks softly. Her body is trembling. I wouldn't be surprised if she collapses soon. "We didn't do anything to stop you."
Tranquus just looks at the secretary. "You want me to let you go." She repeats. Tranquus shakes her head and laughs to herself. "Alright. Come here." The secretary steps forward.
Tranquus tilts her head down and thrusts it forwards. I have the worst view of seeing her horn impale the mare's neck. Tranquus pulls her horn back. It lights up and the blood on it disappears.
The mare blinks once. She falls to the floor. I can't rip my eyes from her corpse. She couldn't have known what happened to herself.
Tranquus looks at the fresh corpse. "Shame." She says, pulling her eyes from it and turning to me. "She was a good secretary, too. I'll make you pay for that."
I glare into her eyes with a fire in mine. I take the form of the secretary. Half of the reason is to honor her in a way. The other half is to say what I want. "I'm going to kill you."
"If I had a bit for every time somepony told me that." She smiles. "I wouldn't have any. You're the first to say that to my face. We both know you're no pony. I mean that in two ways, changeling."
"I'm still more than you."
She whistles and laughs. "I have to admit, that's a nice comeback. I can't think of any retorts."
I keep my stance locked in a fighting position. I'm absolutely certain she's trying to distract me. "Shut up and fight me."
"Antsy, aren't you? Alright." A guard in armor I haven't seen yet steps forward. She's probably an elite or something. Tranquus stops the guard from continuing. "Hold it. I've got this. I can fight. Only intervene if it's an emergency." The guard nods once and steps back.
Tranquus steps forward. Her horn starts to light up. I start mine up. A beam of aura is sent my way. I don't have enough time to cast a shield spell. I jump out of the way. The wall behind me is blown to pieces. My heart nearly stops. That's the closest I've been to death in a long time.
I charge for Tranquus, sending quick blasts of magic at her. She easily deflects them with her own magic. She isn't in any fighting stance. She's just standing there menacingly. When I get close to her, I take the chance to tackle her to the hard ground. She doesn't do anything to try to stop it. Her head bounces off it once. I step off of her. She looks up at me with a surprised expression, like she thought she couldn't be knocked down. “What are you? Really?”
I lean down so our heads are only centimeters from touching. “I’m a stranger. I’m a changer. And I’m danger, maybe.”
“Using my lines against me, I see. A taste of my own medicine. This is where I'm supposed to say it tastes bitter, right?” She shakes her head. "You're not going to get that satisfaction." Tranquus crawls to her hooves.
We look at each other. Her lip is busted open and bleeding. She closes the wound with her magic. A small line of smoke rises from the recently closed wound. Shit. She cauterized her own wound. If she can do that, she can definitely use some sort of pyrokinesis. I've spent enough time with Twilight Sparkle to know that.
I take a step back. Tranquus grins at the sight. "You're afraid of me, changeling. Admit it or not, you are. And I'll use that to my advantage."
"It's not smart to tell your opponent what you're going to do." I tell her.
"It doesn't matter. I'm going to go to Canterlot and I'm going to kill your Princesses. You can't stop me."
I rear up. "You'll have to kill me first. As long as I'm alive, you won't be able to even get into Canterlot."
Her smile is large. "That's the idea." Her horn lights up. A beam of aura strikes the floor. It slowly moves in my direction. The beam leaves a blackened path. I can feel the heat of it. It's no more than 5 meters away.
I try to escape the beam's path. I move towards Tranquus with a wide approach. She can't turn her death beam towards me quick enough. She kills the magic when I'm right next to her. She's learned from her previous mistake.
She headbutts me in the chest with enough force that I taste blood in my mouth. The sheer force of the impact forces me to rear up. While I fall back down, I aim my front hooves for her neck. She moves herself forwards. The next thing I know, her head is in between my legs. She rears up and carries me with her.
The next moments go by in a blur. I feel the impact on my front leg, then immediately after on my face. My vision is fuzzy. I look up at Tranquus. Somepony is next to her. "Tranquus." The pony says. "You need to get to Canterlot. I'll take care of the bug."
My vision clears up. The other pony is a mare. She's the guard with the unique armor. She's probably an elite or something. Tranquus looks at me, then to the mare. "You're right. Don't kill him. I want him to see what happens once his Princesses are dead."
The mare smiles. I crawl to my feet. "You won't be able to touch them." I say firmly. Tranquus turns to leave. I don't even take a step towards her before the mare gets in between us. All I can do is watch as Tranquus leaves the room.
I glare into her eyes. Her only response is a smile and a wink. I drop my form, revealing my real appearance to the guard. Her facial expression doesn't change. She doesn't even flinch. This is the first time I've never gotten a reaction out of a pony. Even from ponies that know I'm a changeling.
"Are ya ready to fight, bug?" She asks like she's talking to one of her closest friends, complete with an upbeat voice. This mare scares the shit out of me already.
I breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth. I'm not ready for this fight. It's going to happen anyway. My vision is still slightly fuzzy. She has the advantage. I can still kill her.
"I'll take that as a yes." The mare says. Her smile is still stuck on her face. "I won't go easy on you, bug." Her expression melts into a frown and her face darkens. I take half a step back. She takes a full step forwards. "You're scared of me, bug." She says simply. She's right. I shouldn't be. She's just a pony. I can kill her easily.
I let out a breath of air and take a few steps forward. After convincing myself that I can kill her, I charge for her.
She easily doges and kicks me in the knee. My leg pops back and I fall to the floor. My face bounces off the hard ground once. The impact was probably hard enough to break my cheekbone. While I'm down, she kicks me in the stomach. If my biology allowed it, I'm sure it would have made me throw up. She stomps on my wing. The sound it makes tells me it's broken.
"Done already, bug?" She asks with a grin. In a different situation, I'd think it would be cute. She walks up close to my head. I try to crawl away from her. She sets her hoof on my neck. "Not yet, bug. I'm not done with you." I spit at her. She responds by kicking me in the mouth. I spit again. A few blood coated teeth come out. She hovers her hoof over my horn. She winks at me. She stomps down on my horn. My vision rapidly fades to black.
My eyes slowly open. I feel like I was just struck in the head by a freight train. Being hit with a sledgehammer would hurt less. I rest on the cold stone for what must be hours.
I crawl to my hooves and look around. I'm in the same room. It's darker than it was before. It must be night. The lack of ponies adds to that. I stretch out my wings. A pain in my left forces me to fold them back up. Shit. With my wing like this, I won't be able to fly to Canterlot. I've never been able to teleport by myself, either. If I walk all the way there... Tranquus. I'd be days behind her.
The headache digs deeper into my head. I rub my temple and look down. There's a key at my hooves. I pick it up in my teeth. I don't know where it's to, but I have a feeling that Tranquus' subordinates would leave a key to the prison. They think highly of themselves, and this key is saying 'you can't do anything to beat us.' They're going to regret that message. It's going to come back and bite them in the flanks.
If Azorian, Desert Storm, and Rolling Thunder are still alive, they'd be in the prison. The only situation I can see where they wouldn't be there would be if Tranquus brought them with her to Canterlot. That's something she'd do. She would also leave enemies in a place where they have no access to food or water.
I retrace my steps to the prison cells. The walk is short and doesn't require too many turns. I follow the linear path until I reach the cells. "Is anypony still here?" I ask loudly.
"Over here." A mare's voice from one of the cells says. I follow the source. There are two ponies in the cell. A pegasus mare and an earth pony stallion.
"You're not a guard?" The earth pony asks.
I shake my head. "No. They put me in your position not too long ago." I tell them. "Who are you two?" They introduce themselves. The pegasus is Rolling Thunder and the earth pony is Desert Storm. "Where's Azorian?" I ask.
"Dead. Tranquus killed him." Rolling Thunder replies. Her bitterness is almost hidden by her anger.
I can feel anger in myself rising. I might have witnessed Azorian's death. Why didn't I do anything to prevent it? "What about your subordinates?"
"Also dead." Desert Storm replies. "Now get us out of here so we can avenge all of them."
We know you're with us. I don't know who has the keys, but find them."
"I've got one." I say, showing off the key.
I put the key in the lock and turn it. The door opens. So my thought a while ago was right.
"Thank you. I owe you a drink." Desert Storm says.
"After all the shit I've seen, I gladly accept." I tell him. He smiles at me.
"Listen, mare, we're going after her." Rolling Thunder says.
"My name's Blue Skies." I say. I've never liked being identified by just my form's gender.
"That's a cute name. It fits you." Desert Storm says. Rolling Thunder looks incredibly bored. He turns to his partner. "Thunder, can you carry one of us?"
Rolling Thunder nods with a cocky grin. "Damn right I can. Blue, can you teleport?"
I shake my head. "No. You two go on without me. I'll just hold you back."
Rolling Thunder clears her throat. "Maybe I should go with you." She says to the stallion that's definitely trying to get me in bed. "I can't fly or teleport either."
"Desert. You heard the mare." Rolling Thunder says. "I'll be able to carry you. I'm a soldier for a reason."
Desert shrugs. "Alright, Thunder." He turns to me. "See you later, Blue." He winks at me. I give him one of my own.
The three of us walk out of the building. Desert climbs onto Thunder and they fly off towards Canterlot. The way isn't clear for me. I'll have to travel there by hoof. Shit. It'll take weeks. If I was in the form of a pegasus, I'd be able to fly there. At least I would, if my wings weren't damaged. A direct path to Canterlot would only be possible if I had wings.
I begin to walk south. After I get a good distance from Vanhoover, I drop my form. I look at my injured wing. It's not broken, thank Luna, but it's bent. It'll be impossible to fly with it like that.
An idea pops into my head. I change my form to a pegasus. Immediately after, a piecing pain enters my wing. I drop the form a split second later. The pain still lingers even in my real appearance. No flying for me any time soon, I guess.
The walk to Canterlot is painfully long and boring. The only real appeal to it is the beautiful view of the ocean and beach to the west. The light from the sun shimmers on the water. I used to not give a damn about the ocean. When the fate of Equestria isn't in the hooves of a homicidal, and likely genocidal, maniac, I'll need to visit the ocean again.
I enter a forest. The trees are massive. They're easily the largest I've ever seen in my life. I can feel my body shaking on its own. I sigh internally. I'm scared by a bunch of tall trees. I look up at the branches. The leaves are like nothing I've ever seen before. The leaves aren't green. They're... orange?
I gasp. Shit. The trees are on fire. How did I not realize that earlier? I can't do anything about it. I'm in the middle of a forest fire.
I look at the trees and sigh to myself with a rub to my muzzle. The trees aren't on fire. Why did I think that? If they were, I'd hear it. I don't have any idea why the leaves are a different color. Maybe the trees are a different species. Somepony around here would know. They'd also know just where this place is.
I look around for a pony. After a few short minutes, I find a mare. She has her hoof set up on the tree. Is she going to buck it or something? I don't think it's apple season. I don't think these are apple trees, either. "Excuse me?" I say to her. She turns to look at me. "Where are we?"
"White Tail Woods." She replies. She pulls her hoof away from the tree
"What's with the leaves? Why are they orange?"
She looks at me like I'm an idiot. "It's autumn."
I blink. "What?"
"Autumn." She repeats. It doesn't help. "Have you lived under a rock your entire life?"
"Is that a local thing?"
"You've got to be messing with me." She rubs her muzzle. "Some trees do this during this time of year."
"Are they magic or something? Is there any reason for this?"
The mare glares at me. Her expression by itself screams 'you're an idiot.' Her emotions are the same, but slightly more vulgar. "You're either a drunk, an idiot, or a drunk idiot."
"Hey, I'm new here. Give me a break."
"Autumn's a thing all over Equestria."
"Then why have I never heard of it before now?" I shoot back. She can't possibly do anything to counter against that.
"Because you're a drunk idiot." She deadpans. "Now let me get back to work." She bucks the tree. Several leaves colored red and orange fall out. I scoff and continue my walk to the south. I hate ponies when they're not polite.
I've been walking for three days straight. I feel like I'm about to be dehydrated. It's a good thing changelings can go without water for a long time. I think it's got something to do with the insect in our blood.
I see a massive city on the horizon. It's easily at least twice as large as Vanhoover. I pick up the form of Blue Skies once again. I walk towards the city. Maybe somepony will give me a ride to Canterlot. A nearby sign names the city Las Pegasus.
I walk into the city and inside a small bar. It's nearly empty. Only three other ponies are inside, including the barkeep. "Mornin'." She says once I step inside. "Not a lot of mares come by here."
Not a lot of mares go to bars, I think. At least not to Fermented Apple in Canterlot. "Could you give me directions to Canterlot?"
The mare nods. "Yeah. Normally, I'd point you to a taxi service, but they've closed all travel to Canterlot. You can't go there directly from here. Haven't been able to for a couple of days." She scratches her ear. "Dunno why. Something's going on there, I think."
"I really need to get there."
"If you're desperate, you can just walk there." She says. I try not to sigh. I can feel a headache digging into my head. "Are you just gonna get directions or are you gonna buy a drink?"
I could have used one a week ago. Better late than never. "Whatever's going to get me drunk." I say. I give her a small sack of bits from my saddlebags. She fills a few cups up and slides them to me. The rest of the night is completely fuzzy.
I wake up in a dirty white room with a bad hangover. I can smell some vomit coming from somewhere. I pull my head off the pillow. A look around tells me I'm in some low budget hotel. How did I get here?
A door opens behind me. "You're still up?" A voice asks. I turn to it to see a stallion standing in a bathroom. I blink. Dammit. I know exactly what happened last night.
I crawl out of bed with some difficulty. I fall flat on my face and stand up. "Are we still in Las Pegasus?" I ask him.
"Yeah." He says.
"We had sex last night?"
"Yep."
"Let me guess. If I try to leave now, you're going to try to kill me or something?"
"Yep." He gives me a creepy smile that wouldn't be out of place on a serial killer's face.
I sigh. "I don't have time for this." I drop my form and reveal that I'm a changeling.
The panicked look on his face is worth the hangover. He jumps back into the room and hits his head on the sink. He stops moving after. He's still breathing. The idiot just knocked himself out. I return to my previous form and leave the room laughing.
I travel east out of the city. Canterlot isn't in my line of sight anymore. I know where it's at, so that shouldn't be a problem.
Two days go by before I end up in a place with any sentient life. The place I end up? A small desert town. The sign at the town's entrance calls it Dodge City. If this is a city, then Canterlot is its own country. I don't know where Dodge is on the map. I'll just ask the first pony I see for directions.
The first I see is a mare. "Excuse me?" I ask. The mare turns towards me. She's an earth pony with a large red mane and tail in contrast to her white coat. She sports a pink ribbon around her neck and a pair of cherries as her cutie mark. She wouldn't be out of place in a brothel. "Is Canterlot near here? I've got some business there. I think I might be lost."
"You're a ways away from Canterlot, friend." She says. "You're in Dodge."
"Yeah, I saw it on a sign. Is that Canterlot over there?" I point to a large mountain to the east.
The mare looks at it. She turns back to me with a smile plastered on her face. "Oh, no. That's near Baltimare. Canterlot is north of here." She says, gesturing to the north with her head. I look in that direction. I can barely see a tower or two on the side of a mountain in the distance.
"Is there anyway to get to Canterlot from here?"
"You want to leave already?" She asks. Her emotions are hard to identify. They're there, but terribly blurry, for lack of a better word. The closest emotion I can identify out of her is sadness. It's impossible to tell exactly which kind. She's being subtle with her body language. "Well, I'll help you out." She says with a sigh. "Dodge is south of Canterlot, but you don't want to go straight north, unless you wanna go through the Everfree." I know enough about the forest that I want to stay as far away from there as I can. "There's a train that sometimes goes to Ponyville. Next one's due in a few days."
I almost want to hit something. The news is terrible, but she's putting it in such a nice way. I like her so far, so I force that thought out of my mind. I don't even know where the thought came from. "How long would it take to walk to Ponyville?"
She shrugs. "Around a week."
I feel something in me break. I want to just sit down and cry my eyes out. "Shit..." I say under my breath. "Shit."
"I'm sorry." The mare says. "Something important in Canterlot?"
I nod. "Yeah. It's pretty important." That's got to be the understatement of the year. "I don't have anywhere to stay until then."
"I've got a room or two that's open. You can stay with me." She says with a smile.
"Thanks." I look up at her. "I never got your name."
"Cherry Jubilee." She holds a hoof up. "What's yours?"
I tap her hoof with mine. "Blue Skies."
A few hours later, the two of us are picking cherries in her orchard. That mare's got a way with words. She could get even the Princesses to work for her.
I clear a tree of cherries with help from my magic. My thoughts are locked on Canterlot. What will happen if I don't get there in time? I doubt Equestria will still be a diarchy. It'll probably move to a... What did Tranquus call it? Anocracy? Something like that.
"Y'okay, Blue? You've been awfully distracted, looking up at Canterlot and all." Cherry says. Her voice is deeply ingrained with worry.
Oh. She noticed. I nod forlornly. "Conflicted. I don't know how I'm feeling, Cherry. I'll know for sure when I'm at Canterlot." I admit to her.
"I don't exactly understand, but I won't ask anymore if you don't want me to." She replies softly. I wish more ponies were this kind to me.
I return to picking the cherries. "Thanks, Cherry."
"Anything for a friend." She says.
I blink. She's my friend. She's the first real friend I've had in years. Maybe that's not true, but she's the first I've ever had that's never sent me on a mission that might kill me. I want to stay here in Dodge, but I have a role to fulfill in Canterlot. There's somepony out there that would say 'screw destiny,' but that won't not me.
I could just let Tranquus do whatever she wants in Canterlot. It would come back to bite me in the ass. If I stayed here in Dodge, it would also come and bite Cherry's ass. I'm not going to let that happen.
Days pass. Keeping track would have been painful, so I don't even bother. The only problem with that is that I'll have no idea when the time's going to come. I've come to regret that decision.
There's a knock on the door. I quickly take the form of Blue Skies again. Cherry Jubilee pokes her head into my room. "Blue? The train's going to stop by soon."
I look up at her from the bed. It's not as soft as the one in Canterlot. It's far more comfortable. "Thank you, Cherry. I'll visit you again sometime." I step out. My injured knee buckles. I almost fall on my face.
She rushes to my side. She's wearing saddlebags. "You need help, Blue." Part of me wants to object. The rest of me wants to agree. "I'm going to help you to the train."
I respond with a grunt. It's getting incredibly difficult keeping up this form. If she finds out that I'm a changeling, I don't think she would want me in her house.
She helps me to the train by acting as an extra set of legs. A few other ponies give us strange looks, but this doesn't stop Cherry. I respect that.
Something comes to my mind that I haven't thought of before. "How am I going to get on? I don't have a ticket." I say to her.
"I already bought you one." She says. She opens up her saddlebags and takes out a ticket. I take it with my magic.
"I owe you." I say. "I'll see if I can get you an invite to the castle."
She jumps back a bit, but quickly rushes to my side again. Did I not tell her I worked at the castle before? I don't think so. "T-There's no need for that." She says.
The engine bellows out smoke. It's ready to leave the station. "Then I'll visit you again." I jump on the train. "That's a promise. I'm not one to make promises, but it's going to happen."
The train starts to pull away. Cherry and I wave goodbye. I feel like a soldier headed off for war. It's what's happening to me in a way.
During the train ride to Canterlot, I have my own room. I take advantage of it and revert back to my changeling form. Somepony could easily walk by my room and look in at me. I fear that it will happen, but I don't expect it to. There aren't many ponies on the train.
The ride itself is no more than 4 hours long. It feels like it's lasted the entire day. The fact that this is my first time on a train might be part of that. The fact that I'm going to Canterlot and will probably die there is most of it.
The train grinds to a halt. I look out the window. We're at Canterlot. I return to my form as Blue Skies and exit the train. Everything seems to be normal, though the amount of guards is noticeably smaller than normal.
I enter the castle. The first thing I notice is the stench of death hanging in the air.
I nearly gag at the horrible scent. I don't know who died here, but the deaths were definitely recently. I don't know if that means I haven't missed my opportunity to stop Tranquus or if I'm too late.
I walk through the halls. Most of the stained glass windows have been broken. The rest are covered with blood. Despite all the blood, I don't see a single corpse. I'll be able to smell them for the next month.
I turn a corner and see a pegasus lying on the ground in the middle of the hallway. He isn't breathing. I walk close to him so I can try to identify what killed him.
Half of his face is completely gone and reveals his skull. The bone isn't white. It's charred black and splattered with blood. The pony also has a large partially melted hole in his chest. I don't know what killed him. The smell is horrible. It smells just like a mix of beef on a grill and burning charcoal. It's absolutely sickening. I can't believe this pony was once alive. Seeing somepony damaged like this...
I move in for a closer look. He's incredibly familiar. I recognize him. The pony is Desert Storm. I should have brought him along with me. He's not the only pony who's death is indirectly my fault. Just because it's indirect doesn't mean I don't regret not doing something different.
I close his remaining eye with my magic. There's a lot of resistance, but I manage to pay respects to him. It's not the least I could do, but it's the least I'm going to do. If I had any more time, I'd have taken it.
"I'll make sure you're given a proper burial." I say to Desert Storm's body. I stand up and continue to the throne room.
No more than five minutes later, I hear a loud noise coming from a nearby room. I open the door to the room out of curiosity. I don't know what to expect in here.
"Get out! Get out!" A mare's panicked shout makes me jump in the air. My eyes quickly adjust to the dark. The only pony in the room is a unicorn. She has a large cut on her flank. I've seen this unicorn before, back in Vanhoover.
"Whoa, hey. Hold up. I'm a friend." I say in a voice that's as calming as I can make it. "You're Rolling Thunder, right?"
"Who is it?" She barks out. "Who are you?"
"Blue Skies. We met in Vanhoover."
She breathes deeply a few times. "Shit. Good. Yeah, I remember you. You got us out Desert Storm and me out of that prison. I never got to thank you properly for that. Thanks, mare. I owe you a cup of cider."
"I'm going to need it after this."
"We all will." She replies. "Where's Desert Storm? Have you seen him? We got separated last night."
I glance down. "He's dead."
She stares at the ground. "Shit. I shouldn't have ever left him alone. He was into you, you know."
"Yeah. I know." I mutter softly to her. If Rolling Thunder's trying to make me feel guilt for not being able to save Desert Storm, she's succeeding. "How long has the fight been going on?"
"For the castle? About a week. We're having our flanks handed to us on a silver platter." She replies. Rolling Thunder tries to stand up. After a second of being up, she falls back down. "Find that Tranquus bitch and kill her for what she did to Desert Storm and Azorian."
"I will."
"She has the Princesses."
"Shit! Why didn't you tell me?" I sprint out of the room. I run as fast as I can towards the throne room. Princess Luna and three other ponies are just outside the throne room. Luna's bound in something. I know the three ponies are working with Tranquus.
One of them holds up a hoof upon seeing me. "Hold there. Who are you?" She says.
I keep my mouth closed. She asks again with less hesitation. I respond this time with a beam of concussive magic to her head. The magic sends her flying back an easy five meters into one of her friends. The other guard looks at the pile of still breathing bodies. She locks eyes with me. Her face shows strength, but she's terrified to fight me. I can respect that. Fighting despite being terrified of her opponent.
"If you just want to run, I'm not going to stop you." I tell her. "I'd rather not fight you."
She shakes her head. "Too bad. We're fighting." Her tone matches her expression. Where did Tranquus get ponies like this?
I exhale. "If you say so." I look at Luna for a second. Luna's showing signs of both agitation and impatience. I look back at the mare that's challenging me. She's a simple earth pony. I send a blast of magic at her. She dodges it. I can tell her reaction time is better than mine. Something comes to mind.
I fire another two blasts of magic at her, aiming one directly at her and one to her side. She dodges the one aimed directly at her only to jump in front of the other. She barely has time to put on a panicked face before the beam sends her flying backwards. I didn't expect this fight to be that easy.
I move to the bound Luna. She's bound in some sort of rope glowing with a golden color. The same color as Tranquus' aura. I bite on it with my teeth and tug as hard as I can. It rips surprisingly easily. It's only slightly stronger than regular rope.
"Changeling... I owe you my many thanks." Luna says to me once her mouth is free from obstructions. "We have to free my sister from Tranquus."
"No, Luna. I will. I'm going by myself. Do not follow me." I command. "It's going to get violent in there."
"My sister is in there! I can't let her be alone!" Her voice is suddenly loud. I keep my footing.
"Luna. Tranquus can and will kill her. She'll do the same to you, too. We can't risk two Princesses being killed." I point out.
She bites her lip. "What if she kills you?"
"Better me than a Princess." I reply with a sigh. Nopony would really care if I died, except for maybe Luna. Everypony in Equestria would be scared out of their minds if both, or even one, of the Princesses died. "If Tranquus killed Celestia, I'll kill her. I wouldn't want you to witness it. I'll tell you what happens in there. No matter what happens, it won't be pretty."
Luna opens her mouth, but closes it shortly after. She simply nods and trots off somewhere. I watch her leave. I hope I made the right decision.
I turn to the door that's keeping me from Princess Celestia and Tranquus. I breathe deeply and open the door. There are only two ponies inside. Tranquus and Celestia. The latter is bound in the same kind of rope Luna was in.
Tranquus turns to me. A cocky grin is plastered on her face. "You just never know when to quit, do you?"
"You're going to need a lot more than a couple of iron bars to keep me away from you." I get into a fighting position.
Tranquus smiles and tilts her head to the side slightly. "I should have had my guards kill you. There's not as much fun in having guards do my job for me."
"You're going to die here, you know."
"Maybe I am. Maybe I'm not. Maybe Equestria is going to go to war with many nations. Maybe the world will finally be peaceful."
"Bullshit. A peaceful world is impossible." I tell her. "It's idealistic. It's never going to happen. Just look at the griffons. They're practically bred for war."
"You're being pessimistic, changeling." Tranquus takes a few steps towards me. "I'm not going to allow any pessimists in my new perfect world."
I hold my ground. "Then come on and kill me. I'm not going to be the only one that dies here today."
"Exactly. Your Princesses will die, too. All four of them." She casually walks up to me. We're no more than a leg's reach from each other. "Celestia dies first. After Celestia comes Luna. After Luna comes Twilight Sparkle. After Twilight Sparkle comes Cadence. After Cadence comes all of the Crystal Kingdom."
I respond by spitting in her face. She narrows her eyes. "I see how it is." She says. "Then we fight." She takes a few steps back and prepares for combat. I do the same. She lights up her horn, but kills the magic less than a second later. I think I know why. Magic versus magic won't work. She can easily block and deflect my spells. I can do the same with hers. She knows this. I know she knows. She knows I know she knows.
Upon the realization, I charge for her. By the look on Tranquus' face, she didn't expect this. She barely seems to notice me charging until I'm less than a meter in front of her. Her reaction time quickly increases. She dodges out of the way. The only thing in her place is just a hoof that trips me.
I fall to the hard concrete floor. My chin bounces off. Tranquus kicks me in my injured knee. I struggle to my hooves. Tranquus swipes my front hooves off the ground. My face his the ground muzzle first this time. It's hard enough to the point that blood starts flowing from my nostrils. There's enough blood flowing for me to know I won't be able to breathe from them for a while. I close my eyes.
"Don't tell me I win already." Tranquus says to me. She's just in front of my face. I shift my head slightly so my horn points to the source of her voice. I have an idea. It might not be a smart one, but it's still an idea. "You escaped from my prison and walked halfway across Equestria only to be killed at your destination. Don't worry, changeling. You won't be forgotten. I'll put you in the history books as the one that's responsible for my success." She laughs again. She doesn't seem to notice that I'm charging up a concussive spell. "You'll be seen as a hero amongst the government."
"An anarchy isn't a government." I say. I open my eyes and fire the spell. Tranquus takes it in the chest and is sent back at least 10 meters. I'm surprised she wasn't ripped apart from that. I stand back up. My leg nearly buckles.
Tranquus stands back up. She hasn't even been down for 10 seconds. "You're going to regret that." Her tranquil voice echoes through the room. It sends a shiver down my spine. She looks up at me. "You will die today."
Tranquus glares at me. She looks ready to tear my throat out, even with those blunt teeth of hers. Her horn lights up in that golden aura. A beam of light is fired at me like an arrow from a bow. I don't have the reaction time to get out of the way. Fortunately, it hits the ground in front of me. Unfortunately, the ground in front of me explodes and sends debris at me.
Out of the debris comes Tranquus. She tackles me to the ground. She beats me with her hooves. She's using the points of her hooves. Her hooves are sharp and strong enough to cut my skin. The hits that don't cause cuts are definitely going to bruise over. Tranquus rears up and kicks me in the side of the head on her way down. I see stars in my eyes. My vision recovers nearly instantly.
I look at Tranquus with a look that would kill if they could. She responds by stomping on my injured knee. Something in my leg breaks. I can feel the bone rip against my muscles. Normally, this much pain would have forced me to drop my form. I hold onto it with an iron grip.
Tranquus walks away casually to the bound Princess Celestia. "Tell me, Princess. How does it feel to know you've been bested by one of your own little ponies?" Tranquus asks. Celestia glares at him. The daggers in her eyes are sharp enough to pierce even diamond. "No answer? Let me ask you something else, then." She pauses. "How does it feel to know that you're going to die alone?"
"You can't kill an alicorn." Celestia says softly. The pure anger in her makes Tranquus take half a step back. Celestia looks at me, as if to say ‘help me.’
Tranquus takes two steps forward. "Don't make me, Princess. I've studied alicorn anatomy for decades. I know more about you that yourself. You fate and all of Equestria rests in my hooves." She floats a small amount of the equistum towards Celestia's mouth. With her reaction, I can tell she's already tasted some of it.
"Tranquus! Stop it!" I shout. "Leave the Princess alone!"
She pulls the equisetum away and turns to me casually. "What, dear changeling, are you going to do to stop me? You can't even stand up anymore."
"I don't need to stand to kill you!"
Tranquus chuckles. "If you could have, you would have. You haven't even tried to." She turns back to Celestia. The Princess moves her head back as far as she can.
"Get away from her, you bitch!"
"Ooh... Such naughty language." Tranquus fake scolds. Celestia locks eyes with me again. To see fear in her eyes... To see fear in a goddess's eyes... It would take all the hope from a pony. As Tranquus said to me before, I'm no pony.
Celestia's head lights up in Tranquus' aura. I watch as her jaw is forced open. I fire a blast of magic towards Tranquus. It misses her and Princess Celestia barely, only hitting the air in between the two. It gets Tranquus' attention.
She looks towards me. "Good point, changeling. If I kill you now, you'll stop interrupting me." She walks over to me. Her horn lights up. She aims the horn at my injured knee. I close my eyes and prepare to lose my leg. I cringe as I feel the pain lessen. "I'm not going to put you out of your misery."
"What are you... Why?" I ask.
"Shut up and stand up." She replies.
I do as she says. I take the chance to cast a strong illumination spell. It's powerful enough that it could briefly blind a pony if she was a few meters away. Tranquus is one of these unfortunate souls.
This opportunity isn't going to happen again. I level my head at her sternum and thrust it forwards. Tranquus rears up slowly. I take the chance to bite her in the leg. She cries out in pain. I close my mouth as much as I can to keep as little blood out of my mouth. The memory of that time three months ago sends a shiver down my spine. I release my grip. I just can't taste blood ever again...
Tranquus' leg buckles. I turn around and buck her in the chin. There's no way that couldn't have broken her jaw. I walk over to her and hover my head next to hers. She has tears in her eyes. I don't feel any pity for this monster. "I'm sorry..." She says with her newly garbled voice. She flinches from just speaking.
"Tranquus, I'm not forgiving you. Not at all. I don't like you. I hate you with all of my heart. I'm not going to kill you, though." She sticks her tongue out at me. I try not to spit in her face.
I walk over to Princess Celestia. She's bound in the same rope her sister was. I drop my form and cut the rope with my teeth. "Where's Luna?" Celestia says as soon as her mouth is free. "Where's my sister?"
"She's safe. I made sure of that." I tell her.
Princess Celestia calms down slightly. Her eyes move to Tranquus. She stands up and takes a step forward. Tranquus tries to crawl back. The Princess is moving too fast for Tranquus, even though she's only walking.
Princess Celestia makes it to Tranquus. She stops trying to escape. "You've committed terrible crimes, Tranquus. You've conspired to murder four Princesses. You've kidnapped three. You've attempted to murder two. Your sentence is death." Celestia says. The anger in her voice would be enough to kill Tranquus by itself.
She drops her strong mare facade. I can sense fear from her. It's relieving. She crawls backwards with speed that would make Rainbow Dash impressed. “W-Wait! Plea' don’ kill 'e! I’m sorry!” I can tell she's struggling to speak with that broken jaw.
“I don’t give a fuck!” Celestia shouts. Her horn lights up. Tranquus' head surrounds itself in Celestia's aura. Tranquus turns to me with the same fear that was in Celestia's eyes only minutes ago.
I watch as Tranquus' skull slowly caves in. Her temples are the first to break. Her jaw comes next, snapping in half at the chin. The sound sends a chill down my spine. Blood starts to pour out of her nose like a dam that was just destroyed. Her panicked face nearly drops as her cheekbones push up. I stare in morbid curiosity as her eyeballs slowly push outwards.
I close my eyes. I can't bear to see this continue. It makes it worse that Princess Celestia is doing this to Tranquus. She's been nothing but a monster, but I feel pity for her. Nopony deserves a death this horrible.
My thoughts end as soon as I hear a loud crack followed piercing scream. I force myself to keep my eyes closed. The scream suddenly ends. I know now that Tranquus is finally dead.
My eyes slowly open. I still can't bear to see the corpse, so I look at Celestia. She turns to me. "Is Fermented Apple open?" She asks. Part of me thinks it was to anypony listening. She sits down and sighs. I take a quick glance at Tranquus' corpse. She's nearly headless. I never thought a pony could have so much blood...
I walk up to Celestia and take the form of Dark Skies. “You killed her…” I say. It’s mostly to remind myself of what just happened. Princess Celestia, goddess of goodness, just killed a pony. She looks shaken up. “You should have let me do it, Princess.”
“That wasn’t a pony.” She replies. She doesn’t even lift her head. “I killed a monster.” She turns to me. “You’re not a monster, Changeling. You’re a pony to me.”
“Thank you, Princess Celestia.” I bow to her, as best I can with this injured leg.
"Please, just call me Celestia." She says. She struggles to stand up. The equisetum must still be in her blood stream. Panic digs into me like a dagger. Tranquus said she had enough to kill an alicorn. She might have been lying, but I still fear Celestia might die from all of it.
"Celestia, are you okay?" I ask.
"I'm alright." She says hastily. "I just need some rest."
That doesn't help my panicked state. "You need somepony with you while you do. That stuff Tranquus fed you was poison." I tell her what it did to the unicorn.
She looks at Tranquus' corpse again. I keep my eyes locked on Celestia. I can't bear to see what happened to her. I don't think I'll be having nightmares of Taş Ihanet tonight. Celestia turns back to me. "Thank you, Changeling. I'm in your debt. If you need anything, let me know."
"Do you think I'll be able to go out in public with my real appearance?" I ask.
Celestia lets out a soft sigh. "As much as I believe you should, I don't think so. My little ponies might not trust you still. I believe the only way they would trust you would be if I informed them of what happened on this day."
"Oh." I say simply. I should have seen that answer coming. I know Celestia's not going to let this information out to the public. She'd be seen as weak. That would practically invite another Tranquus to come.
"To repeat myself, I do wish you could go out in public." She says to me. "You truly deserve that honor."
"Thanks, Celestia." I say. "How do you feel?"
"The worst I've felt in a thousand years." She admits. I half expect her to break down into tears. "How about you?"
I look down at my leg. It's bleeding an incredible amount of blood. I don't know how I didn't feel that before. I look back up to the Princess. "About as good as I look. I know I look like shit."
"I'll have somepony patch you up. Let's clean this up." She says. She's referring to Tranquus. I feel a shiver run down my spine.
I exit the castle hospital after spending three days inside. I haven't had even a second of sleep after cleaning up Tranquus' corpse and disposing of it out of fear of nightmares. Due to the lack of sleep, I feel like I'm about to collapse. The doctor ordered me to get sleep. I don't want to refuse any doctor's orders, so I walk to my room.
I look at my bed. I don't want to go to sleep. I know I'll have nightmares. Whether they'll be of Tranquus or Taş Ihanet, I don't know. I don't want to know. I'll have to sleep eventually. I'll have to have another nightmare eventually. With a sigh, I get into the sheets. My eyes close slowly.
The dream starts off in a dark room, just like my nightmares with Ihanet. I ready my mind for my fate. Ihanet approaches from the darkness. Like before, his throat is ripped and exposes his trachea. "You did this to me."
"Just get it over with." I say to him. "I've had a long week."
"So let it be done." He replies. His voice is deeper and far more guttural this time. The voice is easily the most terrifying I've heard in my entire life.
The image of Ihanet dissipates. Luna steps forward from where he was just standing. She gives me a soft smile. "I can't save you every time."
