Halls of Cocoons

Author Comments:

Before I began writing this, for awhile I was kind of joking around with my friends about writing a Matrix-themed crossover with My Little Pony (this was before I even knew about the changelings). Originally I thought it’d make a good comedy by giving the mane six cast roles based on the characters from the Matrix, with Rainbow Dash being Neo.

However, with a similar concept, I was stricken with this idea when the changelings were introduced to the show. While this is not purely a Matrix-crossover, the Matrix did inspire some of the ideas, and rather than going with a comedy on the subject, I chose to give it a more serious tone in a post-apocalyptic world. Further inspiration on the concept came from this video.

I love feedback, and I really do appreciate helpful critiques. I like to know where I make errors so that when I continue writing I can learn from my mistakes.

Cover Art:

Normally I’d do my own art, but the picture used on TheH215’s Youtube channel I felt was perfect for the cover art. According to the author comments on the Youtube page, the art is done by Aluxor. The music on the channel is really awesome too, check it out!

Editing and Assistance:

Many thanks to my good friend, David Hasselhoof. He’s been pre-reading, editing, and assisting me with ideas to help the plot.
I’d also like to thank another good friend of mine, Morfonious. He’s also done some pre-reading and has thrown me suggestions here and there to help improve the story.

—TheBlox—

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Everything was dark, and the sickly numb feeling overpowered her body. Unable to move, she was at a state of mind where everything seemed blank and fuzzy, as if she was waking up for the first time. The absolute silence slowly drifted away, and she could hear very faint voices echoing from the eternal darkness. At first she could hardly understand these voices, as if they were vibrant and distant, mixing in with her empty dreams in the middle of her awakening.

“I found another one,” a voice echoed through the air like it was heard from all directions. “There’s no love left flowing through her.”

“Another dead pony?” another deeper whispering voice murmured in the darkness. “Well, dump her in the river with the rest of the dead ponies.”

Slowly opening her weak eyelids, the exhausted pony examined her surroundings at the corners of her eyes. The numbness through her body was slowly fading, and her feelings were coming back to her. She could tell she was being held up in the air by her limbs, and that she was moving. Her vision was fogged, and all she could make out was a fuzzy, dark green background, and two blurry black creatures glaring down at her with haunting turquoise eyes.

“I’ll inform the Queen once we get rid of her,” one of the creatures exclaimed. Slowly, the pony’s feelings continued to come back to her, and the threatening voices sent a jolt of adrenaline rushing through her, causing her to breathe hard and squirm in their grip.

“She’s alive?” the creature with the deeper voice noticed the alert pony. “You told me she was completely drained!”

The other one was just as surprised. “She was!” his words fumbled, “At least, I thought she was!”

“Put her back in her cocoon, you idiot!”

The voices made the frightened pony struggle harder. Her survival instincts took over, and she attempted to wiggle herself free from the grip they had on her suspended in the air. She was now hyperventilating as she struggled, kicking harder and harder.

“Don’t let her go—AH!” Her full-grown wings suddenly spread out, pushing the creatures off of her. Once released, she began to fall into the darkness below.

“Get that pegasus!” the deeper voice shouted in a panic.

She kept falling while struggling to use her exhausted wings, and a loud thud took place when she met the floor. The intense fear rushing through her gave her the strength to immediately stand to her hooves, ignoring all pain she may have felt from the fall. Limping sideways, she panicked and turned her neck to examine her surroundings now that her vision was beginning to come back to her. The two dark creatures who had dropped the pegasus were swooping down toward her. Another spark of adrenaline raced through her blood, and she ran into the unknown darkness with the sound of her clattering hooves echoing from behind.

As she ran with her vision returning back to normal, she had a better look around her, which made her stomach turn. Everything was covered in a thick layer of a green mesh. All of the walls and the floors had dark hued textures that seemed to haunt the place. Strings of dark blue cobwebs hung from the ceilings, and it was when she saw what was suspended on the ceiling when she really panicked.

Thousands upon thousands of ponies sealed inside thick cocoons hung from high above her, and they spread throughout the entirety of the ceiling. Flying in the air were hundreds of the dark airborne creatures, spiraling around the dome-shaped room with their beating wings echoing horrifically like she was in the heart of a hornet’s nest. She whimpered at the dreadful sight, galloping harder aimlessly into the darkness. The buzzing sound from the wings of the creatures chasing her grew louder as they were closing in on her. Galloping through the dark, she frantically searched for a way out, locating one high above her.

There was a massive hole in the ceiling providing the only light this haunting place had. She could see the sky through the hole, and the sight only made her feel sicker to her stomach. The sky was darkened by a thick green haze, and only the faintest of stars were seen through the gaps of the deathly clouds.

From above her, the many dark flying creatures all changed formation in their flight patterns and dove down toward her. Her inner pegasi instincts told her to fly for her life. Doing just that, she leapt up into the air and flapped her large wings to make the attempt to escape, hoping she could pass the airborne creatures flying down after her. To her disappointment however, she only made it a few feet into the air, and her overpowering exhaustion caused her to back down toward the ground, and she crashed into the solid floor with a thud. The downed pony struggled to get back to her hooves, and one of the creatures chasing her landed on top of her, pinning her down by her shoulders. Facing up with her back to the floor, the pony now had a perfect glimpse of the terrifying black creature glaring down at her. The bug-like blue eyes and wings, the demonic razor sharp fangs, the fins upon its back and tail, and how the creature had holes in his legs and hooves. It was in that moment when she recognized them from the invasion in Canterlot during Princess Cadence and Shining Armor’s wedding—changelings.

“Cocoon her!” the deeper voiced changeling yelled from above. The one pinning her frowned and grit his teeth, and his crooked horn illuminated a faint tint of green. The piercing glow of magic made the pegasus quiver from fear. Using her hind legs, she managed to get her hooves beneath the changeling on top of her, and with a powerful thrust from her legs, she bucked the creature off of her, sending him onto his back. Scrambling quickly to her hooves, the pegasus turned and ran, ditching the idea of flying up to the hole in the ceiling, seeing how flying got her nowhere in her weakened condition.

More changelings from above were flying down toward her from all directions. She could hear the intimidating buzzing from their beating wings echoing throughout the large room. Tears of terror were now falling from her dilated eyes as she ran, without the slightest idea which way to turn. As she galloped onward aimlessly in the dark, her front right hoof stepped into a hole in the floor, startling her into a traumatic gasp. She fell down into a vertical tunnel, flipping forward in the air while tearing through strands of sticky transparent cobwebs until she landed on her flank on a slope, and she began sliding downhill. The tunnel kept going downward like a spiral slide through perpetual darkness, and she attempted hitting the brakes using her hooves, but had no control and her hooves just kept slipping and scraping across the slanted floor beneath her.

After what felt like an eternity, she eventually saw a dim lighting ahead of her, and she was cast out of the tunnel into another room. Flinging through the air a couple stories high with flailing hooves, she dropped at an incline like a stone. Spreading out her wings, she attempted to slow her fall down, and she crashed sideways into a wall. “Gaah!” she shrieked when she felt a painful burn rush through her right wing, and from there she dropped helplessly to the mesh floor below, landing on her hooves with her knees buckling, sending her violently to her haunches.

She curled up on the floor and wrapped her hooves around her wounded wing, wincing in pain while groaning through her gritting teeth. The echoing sound of the changelings’ buzzing wings haunted the atmosphere like a song representing her inevitable doom, and it made her ears fall back from terror. There was no time to sit and rest; she had to get up. She had to. “Get up…” She trembled and stood to her hooves, and continued running through the foreign tunnel of mesh and darkness.

The buzzing noise of the changelings grew louder and closer, and then to her horror, she watched the swarm of bug-like creatures flying out of the tunnel she fell from into this room like a disturbed wasp nest, and they spread out like wildfire. She panicked, and continued galloping with her view focused ahead of her. The nerve-racking buzzing from behind her kept getting closer and closer, making her break a sweat and hyperventilate.

Like a comet jetting down from the air, a burst of green flaming magic struck down beside her, exploding into a fresh slimy webbing of the same film their world was covered in. When it struck the ground at her hooves, the startling burst of slime caused her to jump and shriek. As exhausted as she already was, the terrified pegasus’ adrenaline was overwhelming her, throwing her legs into a full gallop, and she trailed further and further down the seemingly endless tunnels. She turned her neck to look back and saw the many changelings right on her tail.

Their horns one by one were glowing green, and they were firing neon flaming darts at her. Each flare of magic striking the floor burst into patches of slimed webbing—one bulleting dart of magic after the other, she steered from left to right and back again, and managed to evade five of their cast spells, but the sixth—“Ahh!”—struck her in the back left hoof. The spell that struck her immediately covered her leg from the shin down in a slick green cocoon. It only effected her running ever so slightly, but as she galloped, it was getting worse—her leg was getting numb, causing a struggling limp in her gallop. As her leg slowly lost its feeling, she could feel herself tense up from her panicking. To her left, she found a hole in the side of the wall: with limited options, she went for it.

Turning for the hole and nearly being struck down by two more green flares of magic, she managed to dive into the tunnel in time to get out of firing range from the swarm behind her. She landed on yet another sloping landscape, and just like before, she was sliding downhill into darkness. Not far behind her, she could hear the echoing wings of the changelings as they followed her through the tunnel. As she slid further down into the curving tunnel, among all the buzzing of the wings, she heard a different noise coming from ahead of her—it sounded like rushing water. A dim lighting revealed the end of the tunnel, and she braced herself just as she was about to enter the next room.

Sliding into the room ahead, the path continued on an inclining bridge of stone and green slime with curved edges to prevent from slipping off the sides. This room was enormous, and there were crystallized rocks upon the ceiling, reflecting light from the exterior of the cave like a giant sunroof. Throughout the entirety of this massive room along the walls were more tunnels and pathways leading from one passage to another—truly like she was in the heart of a giant hive. Far below her was an aggressively rushing river that flowed through the cavern. Ahead of her at the end of the slide was another tunnel. From behind, the changelings all came spewing out of the tunnel into this open cavern, swarming aggressively.

As they closed in on her, she had to make a decision, and she had to make it now. Either keep sliding into the tunnel up ahead of her and hope it takes her where she needs to go to escape, or take her chances jumping off of the inclining bridge. Holding her breath, she made her quick decision, and with a thrust using her good wing, she pushed herself off of the bridge slide, and fell below into the water abyss.

“She’s got to be nuts!” a shouting changeling’s voice echoed in surprise, and she kept falling and flipping through the air, flailing her helpless hooves as she dropped. The fall felt like forever, like time was slowing down. Closing in on the rushing water, she took in a large breath of air, and after a hard splash, she was submerged beneath the surface of the river that immediately dragged her downstream, tossing her and flipping her through the water like a ragdoll. It was dizzying, and she couldn’t see where it was taking her. She attempted taking a breath of air every moment she could when her head surfaced, but the rapids kept sucking her back under, bumping her against rocks and steering her every which way she had no control over.

The river dragged her along, and ahead of her there was what appeared to be a giant funnel. Spinning around and around the draining vortex, she was getting closer and closer to the center where the water was being sucked below into the unknown. She was panicking, unable to do anything to save herself from the inevitable, and in moments, she was sucked down into the eye of the vortex.

Swallowed into the dark void, the helpless pony was being dragged down, down, down for what felt like an eternity. She could feel her lungs quitting on her, and soon her body was thrown around in multiple directions as the tunnel spiraled and twisted. A faint rumbling sound emanated from the unknown submerged darkness, which started off silent and distant, and gradually grew closer and louder. It sounded like a constant crackle of thunder, and although she couldn’t see anything but darkness, she could feel that the rushing water was powerfully increasing in velocity. It was as if it was instinct that she knew what was up ahead, and she intensely braced herself for what was to come.

The pegasus was spit out of a mountainside like a torpedo with the inclining waterfall. She was now out in the open and no longer inside the changelings’ nest, flailing her hooves through the air as she plummeted toward Equestria’s floor below. Out of breath, she couldn’t even scream—instead, she inhaled a traumatic gasp for oxygen, and her frail body flipped through the air out of control, too dizzy to keep a focus on where she was falling. She kept going down, down, down, until she found herself plummeting into another body of water below. A loud splash upon impact with the water’s surface at the bottom of the waterfall, she was submerged once again, screaming bubbles as she sank quickly into the stream.

Her descent into the deep water slowed to a stop, and with her eyes wide open and facing skyward, the breathless pony swam as hard as she could with her hooves to resurface. Her numb hind leg was giving her troubles, making it much harder for her to swim. The surface of the water seen above her was glistening from the reflections of light, and it seemed so close, yet so far. Her lungs were begging for another breath of oxygen, and it only grew more intense as she ascended in the rippling waters. She was murmuring bubbles as she panicked, feeling the painful quivers in her chest, thrusting harder to get that taste of fresh Equestrian air, until finally—just as she could’ve sworn her lungs were going to collapse—she reached for the surface, gasping loud and hard for that breath, feeling an immense amount of relief.

Floating atop the surface of the water with exhausted lungs, she weakly swam with her tired limbs, taking in breath after satisfying breath of oxygen while coughing up excess inhaled water. The stream was much calmer here, save for the mist from the base of the waterfall pushing her along the ripples of the glistening river. The trembling mare slowly swam for shore, reaching desperately for the waterbed. Climbing out of the water, she felt so cold and very tired. She dragged herself across the solid ground a couple of meters away from the stream, and she collapsed onto her belly, breathing and quivering with her head down, soaked in frozen dripping water from mane to hoof.

She remained lying there for several long minutes to catch her breath and regain her strength. Her feelings in her left hind leg were also now coming back to her. Briefly lifting her head to look back at her numb leg, she witnessed that the cocoon layer concealing it had fallen off—it must’ve come off in the rushing waters during her escape, she thought.

Sighing deeply with relief, she put her head back down on the ground to relax. Apart from feeling physically wounded, tired and cold, she also felt it on the inside, like she was empty of emotion—that all of her existing happiness had been sucked out of her.

Gasping painfully, the traumatized mare had finally regained enough energy to push herself back to her hooves. It took her frail legs a lot of effort, but she managed to limply stand up. Turning very slowly where she stood, she examined the world around her. The horrific sight made her stomach turn.

Everything was covered in a thick film of green mesh, just like in the changelings’ nest. All of the trees were stripped clean of leaves and covered in the same slimy webbing, with blue transparent cobwebs stringing down from the branches like curtains, hauntingly swaying in the chilled wind. In the sky, the thick green clouds she saw earlier from the hole in the roof of the changeling nest gave the world an ominous and dark feeling. Everything was so quiet save for the waterfall in the river. No birds were heard chirping, no bees were heard buzzing. Her ears sank low to her sides, and she suddenly felt very alone.

Turning to look up the mountainside she had fallen from, she recognized it. It was the mountain where Canterlot was built upon—the city must have been on the other side of the mountain from where she was. The waterfall came from a hole in the mountainside, about half way from below the peak, and fell all the way down to Equestria’s floor in this river. Taking a moment to gather her thoughts, something in the water had caught her eye—the sight made her mane stand on end. Trembling from the horrors in the river, she weakly backed away from the water with a limp. “Oh… oh, dear Celestia…”

Putting her hooves over her mouth in traumatic shock, she couldn’t believe what she had found. Bones—dead ponies. Many have sunk to the bottom of the stream while there were many lying along the shore of the riverbed. The sight was disturbing to the point it had taken a toll on her innocence. Her eyes widened and tears streamed down her cheeks. Her pupils were dilated, and she kept turning her neck, seeing one corpse after another, all lined up along either side of the river. “Oh goddess, no… Please, no…” After a long moment of mourning over the lost souls in the river, she vaguely remembered one of the changelings mentioning a river: A river where they would dump dead ponies. The river she hurled herself into not so long ago must have been just that, and here were the bodies—hundreds of them. A squeak from her disgust escaped her lips and she began to cry, “No, no, no!”

The sight was too much—she had to turn away and clench her eyes shut while she tried burning the images of dead ponies from her mind, but to no avail. Traumatically reopening her glistening eyes, she turned her glance back up to the mountain’s peak. Mental images of the many cocooned ponies stirred in the back of her mind. There was an inner voice calling to her, telling her they needed to be saved. Taking a trot forward, the mental images of all those trapped ponies were suddenly clouded by a swarm of changelings, and her voiced conscience was drowned out by their loud buzzing wings. “No!” She stepped backwards a few paces and stopped, standing frozen. While there was that voice telling her to go and free them, there was another voice screaming in her mind—the voice of logic—telling her to run, that if she even tried to go back and save them all, she would fail. That she would be captured, and she would be cocooned with the rest of the ponies once again.

Scared and helpless, the mare took one long final look at the mountain’s peak, and she turned and ran. With an exhausted and wounded limp, the lone pegasus galloped away from the mountain, leaving the river of bones, and off into the deadwood forest of cobwebs and ominous fog.

“There’s got to be somepony out there…” she whimpered to herself and ran, leaving a trail of tears behind. “Somepony has to be able to help me…”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Deep inside the changeling nest, the throne room stood out to be the most decorative from the rest of the hive. The evenly squared off room of mesh and stone walls, with ten green crystallized windows of stain glass—five on either side of the extension of the room—giving the room an ominous green glow from the little light shining from the outside. Stands of transparent blue webbing hung from over the windows as curtains, giving the room a more gloomy appearance.

The large double-door in the back of the room slowly creaked open, and a changeling guard cautiously entered. He quietly closed the doors behind him, and he slowly crept further into the room. The nervous changeling gulped and approached the green marble throne where a much larger changeling resting in her seat.

“What is it, Chitin?” the vibrant voice of the large changeling made the guard cower.

“Uh… my Queen?” He cleared his throat and timidly apologized, “Forgive me for disturbing your silence, Chrysalis. I’m afraid I bring you some, uh… bad news.”

Chrysalis rolled her eyes grumbling, “And what would that be?”

Chitin took a nervous breath through his teeth. “Well, earlier, one of your subjects took a pony out of its cocoon.” The changeling guard winced to express his disappointment. “He claimed that the pony’s love was completely drained.”

“Yes, we’ve had several deceased ponies already,” Chrysalis exclaimed and leaned back. “What of it?”

“She was, uh… still alive,” he admitted, slouching low to the floor.

The room went forbiddingly quiet. The dead silence made the guard feel uneasy. He felt a lump in the back of his throat from nerves that he had to swallow, and he looking up to the Queen, hoping she wasn’t about to snap at him.

“Alive?” Chrysalis questioned him and stood from her throne on all fours, frowning down at the cowering guard. “How can the pony be alive, Chitin?!” She leaned toward the frightened changeling. “A pony cannot live without love! If she was completely drained, then she should be dead!”

“I-I know that.” Chitin stepped back, trembling.

“Uuugh.” The Queen of the changelings sat back down, placed her hoof between her eyes, and shamefully shook her head. “Just get out of my throne room and put that pony back in her cocoon…”

“Uh…” The cowering guard paused and slouched lower to the floor, failing to keep eye contact. Chrysalis put her hoof back down, sensing that something had gone wrong judging by his behaviour and tone of voice. “Chitin?” she muttered and furrowed her eyes. “What… happened?”

“Well, she um… sort of…” Chitin briefly froze before he was able to finish, “…got… away.”

“She escaped?!” Chrysalis jumped out of her seat and her large bug-like wings spread out in a threatening manner. She marched aggressively toward the guard, and the loud stomping of her hooves echoed from the surrounding walls of the throne room. “What do you mean she escaped?!” she yelled furiously, “Our hive is heavily guarded! How do you buck that up?!” She stomped her hooves right in front of him, making him flinch and buckle at the knees. “Where could she have even gone?!”

The terrified guard backed away from the Queen. “Sh-she escaped through our water supply. I don’t know how she could’ve survived those rapids.”

“So she went through the vortex? It will have dragged her out into the Equestrian wasteland,” Chrysalis growled, and she pointed a hoof to the door. “Assemble our top search crew! She can’t have gone far if she’s still alive—she should still be in the vicinity of the river. Find that pony, you parasprite!”

Clearing his throat, Chitin shrugged and stood up. “What’s the big deal? I mean, it’s only one little pony.”

“Excuse me?” Chrysalis frowned, glaring down at him.

“I-I mean that with all due respect, your Majesty.” Chitin stepped back. “We still have thousands of other ponies.”

“Every bit counts—it all adds up,” the Queen explained factually.

“Is one missing pony really going to effect us?” he questioned her further.

“You really don’t see the full picture, do you?” The Queen turned away and looked to the side as she explained herself, “Each and every one of those ponies has enough love to feed a hundred of us for as long as two years—some ponies more than others.” She briefly paused and turned back to glare at him. “That one little pony was still alive, and therefore still had potential to feed from. What happens to us when they are all gone? Hm?” The Queen turned to the nearest stain glass window and peered outside to the lifeless world of fog and skeleton trees. “As much as you all like living here in Equestria, once all of the ponies are deceased, we must leave this place to seek other creatures who carry enough love for us to feed off of. And I intend to stay here as long as I possibly can!” Turning back to Chitin, she stepped forward. “Now go and find that pony or your position as head guard will be revoked!”

“But…”

“Go!”

He didn’t need to be told again. In a blink, Chitin turned and flew back out the door, exiting the throne room. After he had left, Chrysalis rolled her eyes and returned to her throne. She slumped into her seat, and with a deep and aggravated sigh, she looked up to the ceiling. There on the ceiling, high above her throne, hung a lone cocoon containing an alicorn inside.

“Don’t get your hopes up, your highness.” A grin formed over her face, and she squinted coldly at the unconscious body above her. “That pegasus won’t get too far… Before you know it, she’ll be nice and cozy with the rest of your precious little ponies, back where she belongs.”

Vacant Echo

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Through the haunting fog, the lone pegasus roamed aimlessly beneath the tall skeleton trees. The dead grass that once beautifully grew was now dry and prickly to the touch, and it crumbled apart with each step. Not a sound nor a breeze, just flakes of dust dancing along the grey Equestrian floor beneath her with a cold wind at her hooves. Apart from all the grey, there was a green mesh stringing from trees like aged cobwebs. It saddened her to see her world like this. Nothing could grow here—not any more.

“What happened…?” her voice was a whisper of sorrow. She approached a tree feeling brokenhearted, and she lifted up her front right hoof, and placed it on the trunk. Its bark crumbled and fell to the ground in chunks of dust. The fragile bark of the tree startled her, and she stepped back when it broke apart. Glancing up into the treetops, no branches would sway with any wind—everything was stiff and lifeless.

The lone pegasus stood there in forlorn silence. She turned to continue wandering with pity in her heart, when she spotted a pair of eyes staring down at her from within a tree. She was a little caught off guard by the piercing eyes, and she stepped back, returning a stare at the bat that hung upside down from a branch, glaring at her. There was a long stare between her and the bat before she finally rolled her eyes and heaved a sigh of relief. Turning away from the bat in the tree, she sauntered onward with the mental image of changelings watching her.

She was feeling cold and tired, and was beginning to grow hungry. However, without plant-life capable of growing in the condition Equstria was now in, she was concerned about being able to find food. While searching for something to eat was a strong priority, she also needed to find a safe place to hide and rest.

Slowly and uneasily walking through the fog, she heard a twig-crackling sound from behind her. Startled from paranoia, she gasped and quickly turned around. There didn’t appear to be anything there. “H-hello?” she whimpered and trembled, “S-somepony there?” She stood frozen for a few long moments in absolute silence. Then from in the shadows, something came flinging out into the open, screeching. “Aaah!” the pegasus shrieked and dropped to her haunches, as the bat flew over her head, and off into the distant woods. She sat there, watching the bat’s silhouette grow smaller as it flew away, when an epiphany jolted her like a slap to the face.

“It might be a fruit bat!” she thought aloud and galloped after it, thinking that perhaps it could lead her to food. Her heavy breathing and the pattering of her hooves echoed in the vacant forest, and the fog danced around her in the air as she galloped through it. The bat ahead of her took a few curving turns through the trees as the pegasus struggled to keep up. “Stupid bat, slow down!” she growled, passing under and leaping over broken down trees. Looking up to keep her eyes on the flying mammal, she suddenly lost her footing, and her hooves slipped down an incline in the ground. “Aaaaah!!” She stumbled down the slope into a ditch, landing on her side with a dry thump in a heap of dust. Coughing from the dust dancing in the air, the pegasus slowly pushed herself to her haunches.

Feeling winded and filthy, she sat on her flank, rubbing the dust from her irritated eyes with the backside of her front right hoof. “Uhhgh… ow!” She winced in pain and arched her back near her shoulders. “Friggin… wing. How am I supposed to—EYAAAHK!” she shrieked and stumbled back frantically at the sight of a large ant hill on the ground. She had landed just a couple of feet next to it when she fell into this ditch. Staring at it, she watched the ants as they crawled around in assembly lines, going in and out of the nest. Some were carrying little crumbs of what appeared to be that green mesh the changelings covered their world in. “Gross…”

Taking in a deep breath, she tilted her neck back and tried to calm herself down. When she looked up from beneath the fog in the ditch, she saw that the bat was circling around in the air above her, descending closer to the ground. Backing away curiously, she watched the bat gracefully lower over the ant hill. Using its clawed feet, it picked up a few ants and flew back up in the air, and ate them.

“That’s gross!” The disgusted pegasus put her hoof over her mouth, and looked down at the ant hill, squinting. Looking back up to the bat in the air, she released her mouth and stood on all fours, stomping her hind left hoof in the ground angrily. “I thought you were a fruit bat!” After a distressed sigh, she rolled her eyes and sat back down in the dirt. “Guess I’m really screwed.”

With a few graceful flaps, the bat flew away off into the distance, disappearing from sight over the top ledge of the ditch. The tired pegasus let out an irritated grumble, staring down at the ant hill. Squinting at the ants that were crawling along the ground, she made a disgusted expression and licked her teeth. She was beginning to see no other options for herself. “Uuuuugh…”

Disgusted, her instincts of survival brought her to give into the idea. Turning her neck from where she was sitting, she looked for something to use. The miserable pony found a twig on the ground beside her, and she picked it up with a grip in her hoof. With a disgusted sigh, she stuck the end of the stick on the ant hill; the ants shortly began climbing it. Pulling the stick away from the ant hill with a few ants crawling all over it, she brought it closer to her mouth. “Uuugh…” she groaned again while hesitating, pulling the stick away from her mouth. A loud grunt escaped her throat, and she frowned at the dark clouded sky. “This is a joke, right Celestia?”

Glaring back down at the ants crawling on her stick, she winced and brought it back to her mouth again. Slowly and hesitantly, she put the stick in her mouth, and pulled the ants off of the twig with her lips. She could feel them crawling in her mouth—it was disturbing, and made her immediately spit them out, “Y’agh!” Picking at her teeth with her tongue, she shivered uncomfortably.

Licking and smacking her lips, the unhappy pony stuck the end of the twig on the ant hill to try again. Ants began climbing on the stick, and she pulled it away from the ant hill, and once again she brought it up to her mouth. Closing her eyes, she decided to act fast to get past the idea that she was eating insects. Quickly, the starving pegasus stuck the twig in her mouth and pulled the ants clean off the stick with her teeth. She started chewing them as fast as her mouth could grind them, and she swallowed them, followed by a loud and disturbed gasp for air.

Putting her hooves down, she winced at the insects on the ant hill, licking her teeth. They were crunchy and weird-tasting. It wasn’t unbearable, she thought, though it certainly wasn’t a Sweet Apple Acres apple.

The hungry pegasus sighed, and proceeded by sticking the twig back on the ant hill, waiting for the ants to climb up. As she did so, her mind began to wander… She thought of her friends. Were they okay? Are they in cocoons? Are they dead? “I hope they’re alright…”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Alright, listen up,” Chitin ordered loudly to a lineup of four soldier changelings. Pacing back and forth along the assembly of guards, he glared at them eye to eye as he walked past them. “There is a pony out there, alive. And as long as she is breathing, she has potential to feed us.”

Stopping his pacing, he turned to face the group. “The Queen has inquired me to assemble our top search crew,” he exclaimed and stood tall. “If she is out in the Equestrian wasteland for too long, the harsh environment will kill her. Ponies, as you’re all well aware of, are herbivores.” He pointed a hoof at an opening in the wall that exposed the clouded and barren outside world. “Since the sun can’t rise with Celestia imprisoned, plants can’t grow.”

“Where do you suggest we begin our search?” the changeling questioning him had rattier wings than the other three. Chitin looked to him and squinted, putting his hooves down. “I don’t recall seeing you in this group before. I believe there were only three of you the last time you were assembled together.”

“I’m new, sir,” he explained himself.

“State your name,” Chitin demanded.

“Flake.”

Chitin raised a brow and stood tall again, staring at his beat up wings. He turned his neck, eyeing the other three guards. “The Queen know about this?”

“She recruited me, sir,” Flake answered.

Chitin turned back to him and squinted. “Are you sure you’re fit for this job?”

One of the other changelings cleared his throat and spoke up, “Perhaps, Chitin, it would be wise if you didn’t question who the Queen recruited herself.”

Chitin rolled his eyes and turned to face him with a frown. “Trek, do you really think Chrysalis would’ve recruited a changeling with such frail wings?”

“I’m not as frail as I look, sir,” Flake tried defending himself.

“You may address me either as Captain or Chitin.” The lead guard furrowed his eyes at the newcomer. “Not sir.”

“My apologies, Captain Chitin, sir,” Flake replied in a bold and rude tone, frowning back at the leader. Chitin just looked at him with a raised brow and squinted.

One of the other crew members acknowledged the newcomer’s rude behaviour, and couldn’t help but snicker, “Heh, heh. I can see why the Queen recruited you.”

“Shut up, Dozer,” Chitin growled, keeping his glaring eyes on the newcomer. He raised a hoof and pointed between the new recruit’s eyes. “I’m watching you.” Putting his hoof down, he stepped back and glared at the others.

“The pony was last seen in our water supply,” he informed the search crew. “Check around the river near the base of the waterfall, and spread out from there. When you find her, cocoon her, and bring her back alive.” After finishing his sentence, he acknowledged that the fourth group member didn’t seem to be paying much attention. The guard was standing straight with an irritated wince, looking straight ahead, but not directly at Chitin.

“Plague,” Chitin grumbled and glared at him, “Is there a problem?”

Plague impatiently rolled his eyes and turned to glare back at the leader. Chitin frowned and kept silent, waiting for an explanation for his ignorant attitude.

“Not at all, Captain,” Plague replied sarcastically in his grungy voice.

Chitin cringed and sighed, standing tall as he growled, “Anyone else??”

Silence.

“No?” Chitin impatiently pointed a hoof to the opening in the wall. “Then get out and find that pony!” After his final command, one by one, the four changelings turned and flew off into the open wasteland. Once they had finally left, he sighed and sauntered away from the exit. “Those dolts had better find her,” he muttered to himself.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Aimlessly, the lone pegasus continued wandering through the fog and darkness. Licking her teeth clean from the bitter taste of the ants she had eaten earlier, she shuddered from the mental image of the crawling insects. She didn’t eat very many, but in terms of tolerance, she certainly had enough.

She had walked for a little over an hour now since she left the ant hill she stumbled upon. It didn’t matter where her hooves took her, everything seemed the same—dead, dark, still and quiet. This wasn’t the Equestria she remembered. With everything so corrupt, she had a hard time finding anything that she could recognize.

Trotting onward, she came across a cave entrance on the wall of a cliff-side. Exhaustion was taking over now—she needed sleep. The cave was going to have to do for now. She took a few steps toward the mouth of the cave, and momentarily paused, turning her neck to examine her surroundings. She had the odd feeling that she was being watched. The mental image of Changelings kept flooding the back of her mind. Letting out a sigh after ensuring the coast was clear, she sauntered into the cave.

It was very dark—she could barely see her hoof in front of her snout. “Unicorn magic would be handy right about now…” the tired pegasus murmured, wishing she had something—or somepony—with her to light her way. Slowly the cautious mare continued trotting deeper into the darkness, her ears perking every which angle from paranoia. She could hear the silent echoes of dripping water coming from the depths of the cavern.

She eventually stopped to turn and face the mouth of the cave. “Good enough…” she murmured to herself with no desire to trot any further into the dark. The tired mare moved over to the cavern wall at the side, and she lied down on the stone floor. She put her head down, keeping her eyes on the cave entrance.

Her eyelids were beginning to grow heavier each passing moment; they were slowly closing, and she felt her coherence fading, fading, fading… And suddenly her eyes jolted open and her ears perked to a scratching noise in the cave.

She curled up into a tight ball against the wall beside her, shivering. The scratching sound was heard again, and her ears sank to her sides. There was a tiny screech that echoed through the cave. That did it—she sprung to her hooves and spun around where she stood, panicking, “Wh-who’s there??”

The frantic pegasus tried figuring out where the sound was coming from. It was getting louder and closer, until something swooped down from above and screeched right before her eyes. “AAAAH!!” She stumbled back and fell on her flank, wide-eyed and petrified. She then looked up at the creature flying before her, and felt a bit embarrassed that she was so freaked out by a creature so small. Eyes blinking, the dumbfounded mare glared eye to eye with the bat. “You again…?”

The bat flew around the cave in circles, and up to the ceiling to hang there upside down. The mare raised a brow and stood to her hooves, trotting beneath the bat on the ceiling. “You following me or something?!” she yelled, her voice echoing throughout the cave, “Cut it out, you’re starting to creep me out!” She picked up a stone from the ground with her hoof, and hurled it up at the bat—the stone missed and clunked against the stone ceiling next to the bat, which startled it and made it flap its wings and frantically fly away to the exit. “Leave me alone!” she shouted at it. The bat did a few more circles, and hung on the ceiling again right at the entrance of the cave; she could see its silhouette just hanging there, and its eyes glared over at her.

“Uuugh…” she muttered and went to lie back down, attempting to ignore the bat’s company. The pegasus curled up and rested her head, when she heard the bat flap its wings and fly around the cave again. It screeched a couple times, which instinctively got her to throw her hooves over her irritated ears. “Uuuuuuugh!!!” It screeched again and again, and flew around in circles above her. She sat up and tried swatting it in the air. “What the heck is wrong with you, bat?? Can’t a pony get a goodnight sleep??”

The bat kept it up for a little longer, screeching, flapping, and spinning around her head. Eventually it got her full aggravated attention, and she jumped to her hooves, and the flying mammal trailed off further into the cave. “Oh, you!!” she growled and dashed after it, chasing it further into the darkness. The bat flew around a corner, and she followed it into a small room. It flew up to the ceiling and hung there out of reach. “Uuugh! Stupid, frickin—”

“I think I hear something in this cave!” a voice echoed from the entrance of the cave. Her ears sank to her sides, and she gulped. Peeking around the corner from the room she was in, she carefully glanced over to the entrance, where she saw two changelings creeping into the cavern. She gasped and hid against the wall out of view, breathing heavily.

“Check over there,” one of them suggested to the other.

She could hear the silent pattering of their hooves echoing in the cave as they slowly trotted inside. They kept coming closer, and her heart continued beating faster. She covered her mouth with a hoof, trying to resist heavy breathing so they wouldn’t hear her. Just as she felt as though they were just around the corner, the bat swooped down from the ceiling from above the pegasus, and flew back out into the cave toward the changelings. The pegasus almost panicked when the bat went out into the open. It flew down toward the changelings, screeched to get their attention, and it flew back up to the ceiling above them, and hung there upside down.

“Ugh, it’s just a bat,” one of the changelings muttered, turning to leave the cavern. “Come on, Dozer.”

Dozer turned and followed him back to the entrance of the cave. “Trek, Maybe she went further in the cave,” he suggested, “Shouldn’t we keep looking?”

“I wouldn’t bother,” Trek muttered, “Ponies can’t see in the dark like we can. There’s no way she’d try going in there.” They left the entrance and flew away. “Besides, I don’t want to take my chances if there’s an Ursa Major in there.”

The pegasus waited for a good half a minute of silence before she crept out of the small room around the corner. She slowly trotted forward with her eye on the entrance, and she paused, looking up to the bat with her jaw hanging open. She pointed a hoof at it and raised a brow. “Did you just… save me from being caught?” She rolled her eyes and turned to trot the other way. “Coincidence. Pure coincidence,” she said to herself, “It’s a bat.”

She went back into that small room around the corner, feeling safer there than closer to the entrance, and she went to rest back on the floor. The tired pegasus put her head down, and closed her eyes to get some rest. Though, she had a hard time falling asleep with the mental image of changelings in the vicinity. After a few restless moments, the bat flew into the room she was in and hung on the ceiling above her. The pegasus looked up to the bat on the ceiling at the corner of her eye, and sighed. She lifted her head to look straight at it, and it glanced back at her. Several quiet moments have passed, and feeling bored and lonely, she decided to speak to it.

“So, um…” the pegasus cleared her throat, “I guess you can stick around, if you promise not to annoy me when I’m trying to sleep.” She paused, as if waiting for a response, though she knew she wasn’t going to receive one considering she was talking to a bat. It dropped from the ceiling and flew down to her, and stood on the ground next to her, facing her. Startled, she stood up and looked down at it. “Jeez, it’s like you’re communicating with me.”

Trying to relax, she sat on her flank and looked down to the bat with a hoof on her chin. “Well if you’re going to keep following me, I guess I’ll just have to name you.” The bat remained still in response to that. “Okay… Hm…” she scratched her chin, thinking out loud, “Hooow abooout… Oh I know! Bruce Mane!”

The bat screeched and flew up to the ceiling to hang there upside down.

“No? Hmph… Bitey?” she muttered more suggestions, “Batlicious?”

In response to that, the bat wrapped himself up in its wings and screeched.

“Angel. No wait, that’s Fluttershy’s bunny’s name…”

Silence.

The pegasus paused briefly to think of a proper name, and something hit her. “How about Murcielago? It’s Spanish.” she rubbed a hoof through her mane. “It’s a bit long, though… How about Mercy, for short?”

The bat opened its wings and looked back down to her. It didn’t seem to cringe or anything at that name. So the pegasus smiled. “Mercy then.”

Resting back down on the floor, the pegasus yawned and made the attempt to sleep again. She curled up in a small ball, and slowly began to drift off to sleep. “Well, good night, Mercy.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Many thanks to these gentlecolts:
Proofreading and Editing done by David Hasselhoof.
Prereading and other Assistance by Morfonious.

Decay of Time

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“What do you mean you didn’t find anything?!” An angry changeling paced back and forth before a row of guards. “How are you four my top search crew?”

The other guards winced at their captain, muttering beneath their breaths.

“Chitin, we’ve looked everywhere within twelve miles from where the waterfall lands in the river,” Dozer exclaimed, frowning. “What do you expect? We just waddle up to her like she expects us, and be all like, ‘Hey pony! Wanna come with us?’… It’s not like she’s just simply going to turn herself in.”

“Hey, Dozer,” Chitin growled, glaring at the changeling. “Shut up!”

“With all due respect, Chitin… Dozer does have a point. Our prey has its life on the line and knows we’re hunting her down,” Trek exclaimed, clearing his throat, “She’ll be acting on her most primal instincts, and ponies tend to be more clever when they’re doing so. Finding her will be no easy matter, and certainly not a quick one.”

The lead guard rolled his eyes and growled, looking back at him with a frown. “Well, I don’t care what you have to do to find her!” He stomped a hoof and raised his voice, “Just find her!!”

“She’s probably dead by now,” a third changeling spoke up. The captain and the other three turned to him, wincing.

“What makes you so certain of that, Flake…?” Chitin frowned. “A pony can survive a few days without food.” he stomped his hoof and growled, “These are the Queen’s orders! If you have something to say about this mission, go talk to Chrysalis yourself.” He rolled his eyes and paced the other way. “That is, if you think your head would look good on her wall.”

The four guards stood there and said nothing.

“Now…” Chitin turned back to face the search crew. “Anyone else have something to say??”

Silence.

“No?” He stepped forth and hissed, “Then get going!!”

The three spoken changelings nodded, flying back out into the wilderness. Plague however stayed put, frowning at the lead guard. Chitin glared back at him, waiting for an explanation. There was a long pause before one of them finally spoke up.

“So, what exactly made you Captain, huh?” Plague questioned with a grumble in his throat.

“Do your job, Plague,” Chitin snarled, squinting back at him angrily. “Don’t question the Queen’s orders.”

Plague just winced at that. “Right…” With that, he flew off after the other three guards.

Chitin frowned as he watched the four guards fly off into the wasteland. Turning around with a grunt, he rolled his eyes and stomped off into the cave.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

From in the depths of the cave, the lone pony rested heavily in the dark. Tossing and turning in her sleep, she shivered cold. Dreams flooded her mind. Clenching her teeth, she whimpered scared.

“N-no…” she murmured in her sleep, “I-I can’t… Get back…” Gasping as she kicked her restless hooves, her breathing escalated. “Get back!!” A jolt of adrenaline shot her awake, and she stood to her hooves and spun around in the dark, freaking out. “I gotta get out of here!!!”

She began galloping aimlessly into the cave, uncertain where she was even going. The frantic pegasus tripped over a rock, and she fell forward, landing in a puddle of water that settled on the cave floor. The splash seemed to properly wake her up, and she snapped out of her moment of insanity.

“I’m… Uh…” she whimpered to herself, catching her breath. Standing upright, she sighed and used her hooves to wipe away the water from her wet mane. “Ugh… Well… Had my bath…”

Putting her hooves back down, she sat in the puddle, looking up and around her surroundings. Breathing silently, she could hear her breath echoing back to her from within the cave, as well as the quiet distant drips of water now and then. It was a lonely feeling, and she tucked her hooves and wings in to embrace herself.

Looking down to the puddle, she murmured and a tear came forth. “Oh Celestia… What am I going to do?” she whispered in a hurt voice, wishing this was all a dream. The ripples in the water slowly faded away, and with enough light coming from the entrance of the cave, she could vaguely see her reflection in the water. Her eyes suddenly jolted open a little at the sight of herself, and she leaned in closer. “What…?”

The water ripples faded, faded, faded… until the puddle was still, and she saw a perfect image of herself in its reflection. She took a long, long look at herself, and she stood frozen, wide-eyed. The mare couldn’t believe it. The pony in the reflection was not how she originally recognized herself.

The grown pegasus in her reflection was a very pale ivory colour—almost to the point of being grey—and her mane was dark brown; nearly black. Her colour had changed—it had become dull and lifeless. Colourless, just like the way her drained emotion felt. Her colour change however wasn’t the only thing that caught her off guard.

“It… it can’t be… I… I’m older?” She winced at the mare in the reflection, and stepped away from it. “What in Equestria is happening?!” She stumbled out of the puddle and turned to the exit of the cave, and ran for it. Galloping with a gasp in her voice, she trotted out of the cavern and stopped, looking up and around her surroundings at her world.

The grey, dead and prickly grass at her hooves; the aged, lifeless trees covered in mesh; the deathly green clouds overhead that hid the sky. She nibbled her bottom lip, and lowered her head with her eyes wandering. “How long was I in that cocoon for…?” she murmured to herself, looking to the haunting sky to express her sorrows and sadness. “How long has Equestria been like this?”

She tried spreading out her wings just out of discomfort, and felt a pinch in her right wing. “Gh—ow!” Closing her wounded wing partly back into her side, she turned to look at it with a squint. She sat on her flank and clenched her teeth together, trying to move her sore wing around. It hurt a lot, but she could tell that at least it wasn’t broken, and just a sprain. Still, being grounded in this condition made her vulnerable—she would have to take extra precautions because of it.

After several moments of sitting alone in the fog, there was a quick high pitched screech coming from within the cave. Startled by the sudden noise, her mane stood on end and she turned to the cave—the bat came flying out, screeching again right in front of her.

“AAH!!” The pegasus stumbled over and collapsed onto her back, looking up at the flying mammal. Frowning, she rolled over onto her haunches and pushed herself to her hooves, turning to the bat. She was not very amused.

“Mercy!” the pegasus growled angrily, glaring at the winged creature that was hovering a mere foot in front of her face. “Stop scaring me like that!” Frowning, she stomped her hoof and snarled, “Listen, just leave me alone, alright? I don’t need a bat following me around—I’ve got big enough problems!”

With that, the mare just squinted at the bat one last time, and marched away from it aimlessly into the empty woods. After a few moments of walking, Mercy flew up and over her head, landing in her mane.

“Wh—hey!” The pony twitched, backing up with a stumbling limp. She tried shaking her head around to get the bat off of her. “Get. Off! I’m in no mood for this right now!” She stood tall, looking up at the bat in her mane from over her forehead, frowning and grumbling. “Hey! Bat!” she yelled, “I said off!”

Mercy nuzzled her mane and used it as a bedding to get comfortable.

“Wh—Mercy!” She was now trying hard not to smile. “Stupid bat! What part of off don’t you understand? I don’t want you around, you hear me??” She stomped a hoof and raised further questions, “How do I know you’re not a changeling, huh?!” She backed up further, growling, “Show yourself, changeling!!”

Mercy closed his eyes and tried sleeping there. The pony stood there in silence with a very confused look. She raised a brow with a very forced straight face, trying not to break out a smile from the bat’s adoration. She frowned and grit her teeth, and was about to growl when she heard the soft breathing coming from the bat on her head. The frown on her face slowly faded to that pacifying sound, and very slowly, a faint smile finally broke out. “Eh, I think I’ll take my chances.”

Finally giving in to the bat’s company, the pegasus sighed and continued on aimlessly through the wilderness. After a few steps, she turned her head, looking back at the mountain in the far distance beyond the forest. She stood there in silence, just staring at it. Her ears sank to her sides at the thought of all the ponies that were still trapped there.

She knew she couldn’t just go back and save them all—she would surely get caught, and she’d be cocooned like the rest of the ponies all over again. It then painfully occurred to her, “What if I’m the only pony out of their cocoon now…?” she thought.

The idea of being the only free pony in Equestria made her shudder. For a moment, she had the sudden desire to go back to the mountain to free other ponies. But that was quickly drowned out with the chances she had—and there were none. While she felt somewhat responsible to free the other ponies, she also had this sense of responsibility to keep herself free; if she were to get caught, ponykind would be forever doomed.

“Oh Celestia, what do I do…?” the lone pegasus whimpered, standing with her eyes locked on the mountain in the distance. The answer she got was as good as any answer… and that was nothing. If she were to go back, she’d only have one chance. One.

The pony simply sat there in the dead grass, looking at the mountain as she attempted to make the dreadful decision. She couldn’t look at it for long, as the building guilt became too burdensome and distracting after awhile. She closed her eyes, reflecting in the pure silence of the wasteland that used to be her home.

She didn’t know if it was logic or cowardice that made her decide, but feeling inevitably useless, she turned away and wandered aimlessly through the lifeless trees. The empty silence brought only more guilt until she absolutely needed to get away from this place. She ran, relishing in her hoofbeats making a sound to break the nerve-wracking quiet and tried to go somewhere, anywhere, that wasn’t here.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The changeling throne room was quiet; Queen Chrysalis was sitting at her throne seemingly bored. Her ears twitched at the sound of the doors opening, and she glanced over to see a cowering Chitin enter. She rolled her eyes and sat up straight with an aggravated sigh.

“Have you found the pony yet?” she questioned him impatiently.

Chitin cleared his throat. “Uh, well—”

“Yeah, I didn’t think so,” the Queen murmured disappointingly, knowing how the guard was going to respond simply by the downbeat tone in his voice.

“My Queen, they’re out there searching as we speak,” the guard explained solemnly, “I intend to go help them in their search, but I needed to come see you in regards to a concern I have.”

Chrysalis winced at that, and after a quiet pause, she sat comfortably in her throne. “And what would that be?”

“It’s Plague,” Chitin declared uneasily, followed by an unenthusiastic sigh. “I’m beginning to fear that I can’t trust him.”

“Plague?” The Queen put a hoof to her chin. “What seems to be the problem with him?”

“It’s no surprise really, but I recon that he’s jealous of my position as captain,” Chitin exclaimed solemnly. “He doesn’t like listening to my orders.”

“Hm, yes, well he’s always been rather independent.” Chrysalis cleared her throat. “Send him to me after tonight’s search. I’ll deal with the issue.”

Chitin nodded respectfully in response. “Yes, my Queen.”

“And Chitin.” Chrysalis frowned and put her hooves down, sitting tall. “That pony better be alive. For your sake.”

The guard gulped and nodded, backing away while cowering, “Yes, my Queen,” he repeated, turning to exit the throne room.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It’s been about an hour since the lone pegasus had left the cavern where she spent the night. Everywhere she wandered was so quiet and lonely. Everything looked the same: lifeless. The greenish mesh from the changelings seemed to spread everywhere she went. Trotting onward through the ominous wilderness, she felt that unpleasant grumble in her gut which told her it was time to find food again.

“Uuugh…” She was most certainly not up for more insects. Trying to ignore her hunger, she pressed onward through the empty forest until she came to a clearing out of the forest. Trotting out from the dead woods, she stood in the dead, prickly grass, looking ahead across an open field. In the distance there was an old village crumbled into ruins. Homes were torn down, and the place was filmed in the changelings’ green filth. At first the pegasus could hardly recognize the place, but after a long and sorrowful glance at it, she could begin to feel her stomach turn when she thought she realized where she was. She was whispering to herself, praying she wasn’t where she thought she was.

The weeping pegasus slowly trotted toward the corrupt village. The closer she got to the ruins, the lower she felt her heart sink. With her eyes fixed ahead, she was walking as if in a trance—she couldn’t move her eyes from the village ahead, and tears were falling with every step. As she trotted onward, she stepped on something solid that cracked, which caught her attention. Looking beneath her, she lifted her hoof to see what she had just stepped on—a broken sign post: Welcome to Ponyville.

She was suddenly frozen, and for a moment she could say nothing. Once again, only the wind could be heard as the countless decadent thoughts of her home surged through her mind. She slowly lifted her head and, now knowing the place to be Ponyville and having her hopeful skepticism dashed, she could clearly see that everything was recognizable—if only slightly—beneath the green mesh and decay of time. The shape of the town, apart from a shattered building here and there was still the rambunctious pony-made construct that once stuck out of the green fields cheerily. But the once vibrant green fields became sickly; the cheer of the town had died and its posture sagged. But the memories still came.

She didn’t need the buildings to be in prime condition to remember and identify them from so far away. And each building seemed to open a window of her memory. She could see Sugarcube Corner, where she and her friends would conspire on how to spend and seize their innocent days; she could see the field off to the east of town where she always practiced flying, where she dared to dream and to prove the neigh-sayers wrong. She saw the school and the shopping plaza, the farm and the playgrounds. She saw the gym, the city hall and the gathering gazebo. And in that silence, she could swear that she heard the laughter of foals, the chattering of teenage fillies and giggling babies, which seemed to quickly drown out with screams of pain and terror, pleads of mercy and the crackling of fire, and the beating of hornets’ wings.

The stimulation was too much. The empty town with no sound had given her too much noise and sight in the darkest corners of her mind, and once again, she hunched over. But there was real sound this time, “No… please, Celestia, no. This isn’t…” The tears finally came and her voice cracked. She straightened in a single jolt and dashed towards town, openly crying as she kept repeating herself, “No. No, no, no. Nonononono, please no.”

She slammed open the door of the nearest house. The door crumbled beneath her strength easily, and everything inside was empty. There were signs of struggle with knocked over furniture and broken glass. And, of course, there was the green film. There was always the green film.

“No…” She ran back outside and shouted at the dead city, “SOMEPONY! ANYPONY! PLEASE, ANSWER ME!” She bolted through the town, turning her head every which way, glancing at the horrors around her. “HEEEEEEEY! SOMEPONY!”

She collapsed rather suddenly. Her body couldn’t sprint in this condition; the crying, hunger and adrenaline crash saw to that. Miserable, she lay there sobbing; she was a mess. But she still beckoned for somepony, anypony, to be there, “Please…”

It was in that dark place that she felt a rustling on her head, in her mane. Mercy—who had slept for most of the day as his species does—was roused by all the excitement. By the time the pegasus had collapsed, he was wide awake and looked down on his friend with the closest feeling an animal could have to pity. A few minutes passed and he flew down on the ground in front of her, watching her mourn her home.

The pegasus rested low with her chin on the ground looked down at him, her tears leaking like a broken faucet. She sniffled and wiped her snout with her right hoof, and chewed her lip. At first she was seemingly frozen. “Y-you’re still following me,” she whimpered and lifted her head a little, eyeing the winged mammal beneath her. She sniffled again and wiped her snout. “W-why are you still following me…?” she questioned him, suddenly feeling something warm in her heart, and from the corner of her eye she noticed something. With her hoof in view, she witnessed her fur colour change—very slightly—but she noticed it. “What…?” It had become ever so slightly brighter in colour.

She stood up, feeling dumbfounded by this foreign feeling and new coat on her body. The pegasus spread her wings, examining herself from top to bottom. “Wh—I don’t understand. What is happening to me?” She tucked her wings back into her sides again, and turned back to look down at the bat on the ground. Mercy flapped his wings and flew up to her at eye level.

The pegasus sighed with damp eyes, and tilted her head eyeing the bat before her. “Thanks for sticking around,” she murmured quietly, wiping tears away from her eyes with her hoof.

Mercy’s ears perked, and after a few moments, he turned and flew off toward a large tree. The confused mare watched the bat fly away, and she trotted after him. “Where are you going?” He flew up and around the tree, and perched on a branch looking down back to her. That’s when she noticed where she was standing: right in front of Twilight’s library. It was so broken apart and hidden in that green mesh that she hardly recognized it before, but it was standing right there, where it has always been.

She took a long stare at the entrance of the library, with the wooden door broken off into planks on the floor. Her ears sank to her sides with forlorn feelings, and she crept toward the entrance with curiosity. Slowly trotting inside the library, she glanced left and right with hopeful feelings that she’d find another pony, but just as she had expected, she did not. Before entering further, Mercy flew by her into the library, screeching into the open silence.

The inside of the entrance of the library was a total mess. Books were scattered everywhere, the windows were shattered open, floorboards were split and pried out of shape, and strands of green webbing hung from the ceiling and walls. Twilight’s old desk in the corner had a broken leg and was tipping slightly off to one side, and many bookshelves were split and had caved in. Parts of the staircase leading to the upper level of the library had also caved in, with the wooden splinters and planks scattered across the floor.

She cringed at the sight of the destruction, and slowly turned her head to examine every horrifying detail, until something caught her eye. Mercy had perched on Twilight’s old desk, and he stood facing her on a book—a very familiar one. She was quick to trot to the book and examine it. When she approached the desk, Mercy flew off of the book and made a few circles in the air before landing on the mare’s head to rest in her mane.

The cover and pages were worn from age, but she could still make out the familiar art. Gently, the pegasus pulled the book closer to her on the crooked desk, and blew the dust off to get a better look.

“Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Statue,” the mare read aloud to herself. Before turning to the first page, she kept looking at the cover art. Blinking a few times, she looked up to see herself in a mirror on the wall in front of her. Her darkened mane, her dull fur coat… In a way, she looked just like her.

Disregarding that intriguing matter, she looked back down to the book under her hooves and turned it open to the first page. A small cloud of dust puffed up from the desk when she opened the cover; ignoring the filth, she read on silently to herself.

There was a rustle in her mane which startled her; the mare looked at the bat on her head through the mirror’s reflection who was trying to get comfortable. She smiled a little and looked back down to the book to keep reading on.

Getting further into the story, she got to a point where Daring Do had entered a temple, rummaging through decay and triggering traps, with such low odds to survive in her condition with a wounded wing—it was inspiring.

Reading onward, the pegasus stood silently with the book rested on the crooked desktop, her ears perked with suspense. Daring Do didn’t seem to be afraid of anything, she thought. Springing traps, jumping boulders floating on molten lava, taking leaps of faith with one working wing… She paused briefly, and looked up at herself in the mirror, specifically at her wings.

She spread her large wings out to expose their full span to herself in the mirror, but she cringed and grunted in pain when her sprained right wing reached its maximum length, and she curled it back in half way. Solemnly glancing at her crooked wingspan, she began to daydream.

Daring Do was just a fictional character, and she knew this, but there was something about that courageous mare’s tale that opened up her eyes. Looking up and around her at the massacred room, the inspired pegasus opened a third eye and could see the library as something more than just a room full of rubble, splinters and scattered books. It was wide enough, high enough, and the broken boards lying around everywhere were mere obstacles for a proper training ground.

The lone pegasus finished the final pages of the book, feeling renewed and enthused. Closing the book with a puff of dust, she glanced at herself in the mirror somberly, and then looked to the bat in her mane.

“Mercy, we’re staying here,” she declared with powerful emphasis in her voice, turning to the library of decay that to her looked like an obstacle course. “I’m going to start flying. Sprain or no sprain!”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Many thanks to these gentlecolts:
Proofreading and Editing done by David Hasselhoof.
Prereading and other Assistance by Morfonious.

Call from Destiny

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Silence overtook the throne room. The quiet was comforting to the Queen of the changelings. Ruling a kingdom daily was not an easy task, and with the new situation regarding the missing pony, it was certainly not a good day for her. Resting her eyes, the silence was abruptly interrupted when the entry door to her throne opened up and a changeling walked in, closing the door behind him.

“Ugh, who is it now?” Chrysalis muttered, leaning forward from her throne. “I’ve had a busy day, this had better be important!” She then briefly paused, acknowledging who had entered. “Ah, Plague.” Clearing her throat, she leaned back in her seat.

“You wanted to see me?” Plague questioned, slowly trotting into the room toward the Queen.

“I understand you’re unhappy with Chitin’s orders,” Chrysalis went right to the point.

“You could say that,” the guard muttered. “To be honest, I don’t think he knows what he’s doing. He isn’t the changeling for the job.”

The Queen leaned forward. “Chitin has earned his rights. Are you questioning the position I myself have given him?”

“Yes.” Plague winced at the Queen. “As a matter of fact I am.”

There was a long pause. The deathly silence had returned to the throne room as the guard and Queen glared at each other from a distance. Chrysalis didn’t like the tone Plague was using, but she was curious nonetheless as to what was going on in his head.

“That is quite the lip you’ve developed,” Chrysalis muttered with lacking enthusiasm. “Tell me, Plague… What is it about his orders that you have against?”

Plague cringed as he explained himself, “I don’t think he even has a plan of his own. He sends us out to split up and search for the pony, but the idiot doesn’t have a hot clue what to do. Essentially we’re figuring this out on our own—he’s just telling us the inevitable: Get to work.”

Chrysalis put his last comment to thought. She leaned back in her seat and put a hoof to her chin. Clearing her throat, she decided to listen to any ideas he might have, “And, what do you propose? Do you happen to have a plan?”

“Yes, I do in fact,” Plague exclaimed boastfully. “Chitin wants us to search from where the pony was last seen and hunt her down in an expanding radius.”

“And what would you do differently?” the Queen questioned him.

Plague cleared his throat and replied, “If you escaped from captivity and wanted to go where you felt safe… Where would you go?”

Chrysalis’ ears perked; she was beginning to like the way he was thinking. Plague grinned and answered, “Home.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Back in the library, the lone pegasus stood at the top of the broken staircase, looking over the side edge of the stairs. With a wounded wing, this height seemed even steeper to her than usual. However, this was not going to stop her from getting airborne. Taking a couple trots back, she breathed in, and exhaled before leaping off the edge with her full wingspan.

“YEEAAAH!!” she shouted proudly, but after a single flap, she felt a sharp pain in her right wing, and it buckled, sending her plummeting to the floor. Gasping in a panic, her left wing constantly flapped by itself until she hit the floorboards with a loud crackle.

It took her a few moments to readjust and stand back to her hooves. “Damn it!!” she yelled at her stubborn self, bucking the wall with a single back hoof behind her, making a crack in the side. She lowered her head and sighed, and then lifting herself back up with further stubborn determination, she carefully climbed back up the broken staircase, avoiding any of the fragile crevices in the wood with each step.

Back to the top of the steps, she leaned over the ledge on the side and spread out her wings. Before jumping, she stretched and prepped her right sprained wing. “Come on,” she muttered at it, while preparing herself for the jump. “Huah!” Leaping off of the top of the staircase, she flapped a couple of times, and her wounded wing once again buckled, sending her back to the floor. “NoOO!!” she collapsed into a pile of loose planks and the crackling of tumbling lumber echoed through the room.

The flightless pegasus lied there for several minutes in self-pity before she decided to climb out of the pile of boards, feeling a few new sharp pains throughout her body. Depressed that she was grounded, she stepped away from the boards and sat on her flank, looking down at herself to see that she had cut herself on the planks. She was bleeding from her haunches, as well as her chin and left hind leg. The open wounds were nothing serious, but they were enough to aggravate her.

Frowning at herself through her disability to fly, her disappointed grumbles were challenged by another sound—her growling stomach. Rolling her eyes and sighing deeply, she glanced up to the top of the staircase. She hated giving up so suddenly, but she figured it was best that she went back to practicing later. She needed to eat. Food now being her main priority, she turned to the door and paced in that direction.

A screech echoed through the room, which caught her attention, perking her ears. The pegasus glanced up to her bat friend flying through the air. Mercy flew down close to her, hovering face to face with her.

“So you want to come, too, huh?” the mare warmly murmured and nodded, turning back to the broken door and trotted on. “Alright, let’s go, Mercy.” She sighed upon exiting, and the bat landed on her head, resting in her mane. Wandering off into the ghost town of Ponyville, she began her hunt.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Pacing through Ponyville, the forlorn pegasus searched across the empty town for food. The town was disturbing to look at: The world covered in darkness beneath the deathly green hazed sky; the mesh stringing from everything that stood, just like in the woods. It was so quiet everywhere she wandered.

As she trotted on through town with the bat in her mane, her stomach growled continuously. She grew hungrier and weaker by the minute it seemed; she needed food if she wanted to keep going. “Ugh, I should’ve gone looking for food before I did all that flight practicing…” she muttered to herself as further growls interrupted her from her starving gut. At this point she didn’t care what she ate—even if it was another hill of ants. However, even that seemed difficult to find in a wasteland like this.

Pretty soon, the pegasus dropped to her haunches, feeling like giving up. “What’s the point?” she asked herself in pity, “Even if I do find an insect or two to eat, that isn’t going to keep me alive.” She lied down and rested her chin on her right foreleg, quietly crying to herself, “I’m done.”

She sat there in the middle of all the silence, hearing nothing save for her breathing. Closing her eyes, she tried to drown out the impossible quiet. Her mind began to race through the halls of the changeling Kingdom; all those cocoons, all those ponies… all those lives trapped for the changeling race to feed off of through their greed. It was no question that she was the only pony outside of a cocoon, and that she alone was their only hope.

So much responsibility rested in her hooves. But she was just one pony. “Even if I can keep surviving, what can I do?” she whimpered.

From her mane, Mercy flew lower to briefly face her. The mare’s ears twitched at the sound of his screech, and she raised a brow at him. Mercy turned around and flew off down the streets of Ponyville.

“Oh come on…” the pegasus murmured impatiently, standing to her hooves once again, which seemed to hurt her stomach muscles from hunger. “What is it this time?”

She found herself aimlessly following the bat once again. Why did she keep trusting in this mammal, she wondered? Why was she following it? It seemed odd to follow such a creature in a corrupt world, but so far he hasn’t lead her astray, and each time he flew off like this, it was as if he was trying to tell her something. It seemed kind; could it be possible that this bat was one of Fluttershy’s many pets? Perhaps she was only following this creature out of loneliness and desperation for survival, or just for the basic desire of having a friend.

Following Mercy down the roads of this ghost town made her stomach turn. Her starvation was kicking in a great deal at this point, and it was getting more painful to move. She needed to eat, and she needed to eat very soon. She would not last much longer if she didn’t.

“Where are you taking me?” she muttered to the bat ahead of her. It took a couple of turns here and there. “Mercy?” she called out, feeling her stomach trying to collapse from starvation.

Mercy then slowed to a stop, and then hovered up a specific familiar building, and perched on the sign post at the entrance. He looked down to her and tucked his wings in, resting where he perched. The pegasus read the sign on the building, and took a glance at the mesh-covered pink gingerbread-like structure before her. It had a few chunks missing here and there; bits of the roof had collapsed, and parts of the walls were broken, but it still stood right where it used to be.

“Sugarcube Corner. Of course!” she blabbered out loud to herself, as if she felt dumb to not have thought of this sooner. “Candy doesn’t go bad. Right?” She was too hungry to care if anything in here was stale or not, and she trod into the building with a kick through the door. Once she entered the entrance of the bakery, she could feel the vibrating rumbles in her gut when her stomach growled.

The vacant interior of Sugarcube Corner was—just like everywhere else—a disaster. She knew the owners of this establishment: Mr. and Mrs. Cake, the young couple who had two foals before the whole incident had happened. It was painful to see a place she knew well in ruins. In her mind, she could practically undo all the webbing and wreckage to make it seem exactly as she'd last remembered it. And, contrariwise, it made her imagine how the place was damaged in the first place.

The overturned boxes showed a struggle, one which she could not keep herself from imagining, no matter how hard she tried. She saw Mr. Cake fending off all the changelings he could. She always thought he looked rather strong for a baker, and wondered if he gave them any problems and how many it took to overwhelm him. She shuddered at the thought. She then imagined Mrs. Cake trying to take the babies away from it all, the main goal of Mr. Cake's defensive struggle. They, of course, failed in their mission. And the mare could only sit there and tremble, petrified, as she saw the phantoms of the ponies who were so kind to her fight their hardest to defend their foals, and eventually get captured.

She stood for a few moments, trying to gather her nerves. She would have to mourn later. Her primal urge to feed was prodding the back of her mind and the bottom of her stomach. Letting herself in, her eyes trailed across the colourful massacre of sugars and icing. There were doughnuts layered in the counter, but seeing the shattered glass, she felt it was probably wise not to eat those to avoid hurting herself. They looked completely dried out and stale anyway. Over on a table that still miraculously stood, there was still a piece of cheese cake in a plate, set in place as if the seating was welcoming her.

“Well… Pinkie Pie pretty much lived off of sugar,” she murmured hungrily to herself, trotting to the empty seat. “Nothing bad seemed to happen to her.” Sitting in the chair, she pulled up to the plate of cake and placed her front hooves on the table, leaning over to take a bite out of it. The moment her teeth met with the cake, she could’ve sworn she had just bitten into plastic. “Gh—Ow…” She lifted her head away from the cake and licked her teeth. Frowning at the dessert, she lowered her head to make another attempt, taking a harder bite. Her jaw stopped the moment she bit into it, and she tried to enclose her teeth to get a chunk out of the cake to eat it.

“HrrrRRRrgh!” Biting down harder and harder, her teeth finally clamped shut with a crackle from the solidified dessert. “Gh!” She had nearly bitten her tongue attempting this, but managed to get something in her mouth. Lifting her head, she attempted to chew—she could’ve sworn she was consuming a jawbreaker. Sliding it around her mouth to try getting a better grip on it with the back of her jaw, she tried biting harder to grind it down. It took a lot of effort, but eventually it crushed in between her teeth with a dry and loud crunching sound emanating from her lips as she chewed. The aged cake was bland and tasteless, but at least it wasn’t grimy insects. It took her several bites before she ground up the cake in her mouth small enough to swallow it.

“Ngh… Yuck.” She winced from the dried up crumbs in her mouth, smacking her lips, and licking her sore teeth. Deeply sighing, she leaned down for another bite, and chomped her teeth into the solid aged cheesecake. This wasn’t pleasant, but at least she found a place with a source of food to keep herself moving for now. Though she wasn’t sure how long her body was going to tolerate old desserts, but at this point, she didn’t have much other choice.

After her struggles to finish about three quarters of the slice of cake, from the corner of her eye, she saw Mercy landing on the table top, tucking his wings in when he perched there. The pony lifted her head and her ears perked, and she looked to him with a warm smile. She quietly sighed from her snout with the relief that she had found what she was looking for. “Thank you, Mercy,” she calmly murmured.

Mercy just screeched in response, and flew up into the air, landing in her mane to rest there. The bat’s cuddle gave her a warm feeling pulsing through her—similar to what she felt before. Curiously, she lifted up her front hooves to look at them, and just like what happened the last time, her fur coat’s colour very minimally changed to a brighter tint. She still had the same dark and dirty ivory coat of fur, but it had once again become slightly lighter.

She sat there, feeling dumbfounded by her slight colour change. “What’s happening?” she questioned herself out loud. Standing from her seat, she wandered over to a mirror on a wall to have a better look at herself. Her mane had slightly changed in colour too—it was still that dirty black, but there was one slit of hair that was slightly brighter than the rest of her black mane with a very minimal reddish tint to it.

“Huh…” She slid her hoof through her mane intrigued by the new look, turning her neck to get a glimpse of the sides of her mane. Then from the corner of her eye in the mirror, she saw a bright green glow. She was quick to look at it in the reflection, and immediately her pupils dilated through fear.

She gasped and spun around very quickly in a panic to face a changeling in the room standing mere meters away from her with a glowing green horn. The pegasus stood there, frozen with her back to the wall. The changeling grinned and cackled from his throat, gritting his serrated teeth together.

“Found you, pony!” A burst of magic erupted from his horn, and a comet of green light came forth toward her. To her it seemed like time slowed down—her mind had gone blank. The green spell that he had cast was coming closer, closer, closer… and a familiar screech echoed through the room, snapping the mare out of it, just in time for her to dive to the side out of pure instinct. The pegasus toppled over across the candy covered floor and rolled back up to her hooves, turning quickly toward the changeling as the spell he had cast collided with the wall creating an explosion of green dust. The trembling pegasus looked to the wall where the spell had struck—a fresh burst of green mesh stuck to the wall.

Her ears fell back, and she slouched where she stood, turning to the changeling. She stepped backwards a few paces, and the changeling just followed her at the same pace with his horn glowing green once again.

“It’ll be nice to be called Captain Plague for once,” the changeling growled to himself. “The Queen will be pleased…”

The terrified pegasus was sidestepping, uncertain what she should do or where she could hide.

“Don’t bother running,” Plague snarled through his grinning teeth. “You’re coming back with me.” With that, he launched another spell from his horn, and another green magic dart came blazing toward her. As she leapt to the side, the magic bullet struck her good wing.

“AH—No!” she shrieked when the explosion of green dust burst on her wing. In moments, the dust had cleared away to expose her wing, which was sealed within the thick green webbing like a cocoon, and she could sense that her wing was losing feeling. Gasping frantically, she scraped at the webbing with her hoof to tear it off of her wing, and Plague started to charge another spell.

A screech echoed through the room, and from above, Mercy dove down toward the changeling. Swooping down at him, Mercy scratched at Plague’s snout with his clawed feet and took off flying back up in the air.

“Gah!” Plague shook his head and glared up at the bat overhead. “You little pest!” Using his charged spell, he fired at the flying mammal, striking him out of the air. An explosion of green magic emanated from the collision, and Mercy fell from above like a stone, collapsing to the floor covered completely in a mesh cocoon.

“No, Mercy!” the traumatized pony shrieked. She ran to the bat’s aid, and the changeling stepped in her way, grinning. This made her freeze, and she backed away, trembling.

“Your turn,” Plague muttered with his horn glowing once again. He marched toward her, his eyes fixed on hers. She backed away, turning her neck to find a place to run, until she backed into a wall. The changeling before her stood in preparation to launch the spell, and she started gasping frantically for her life, trembling beyond her control.

Turning to her left, she saw herself in the mirror. It was as if her reflection was glaring back at her—as if ashamed of her. She was the last conscious pony in existence, and she was about to back down and let herself get caught this easily? “No…” she murmured, and a frown emerged on her face. Something switched inside of her; something that made her understand just how much responsibility was actually resting in her hooves. “I can’t let this happen…” she quietly whispered to herself, and turning her glare to the changeling, she positioned herself on all fours, with a posture for battle. “I can’t.”

“Ha ha, standing up for yourself now?” Plague chuckled, his horn illuminating brighter.

“No.” The pegasus winced and tensed her legs. “For them.”

“Hm?” Plague raised a brow.

“For the ponies.”

Plague laughed and shook his head in pity. “You are so blind and so stupid! The chances of you getting out of this are a million to one!”

“Then… there is still a chance,” the pegasus exclaimed, and using all the strength in her shoulders, she pushed her sealed wing free from the cocoon, ripping the mesh into shreds of webbing, which they floated to the floor, and she spread out her two large wings aggressively. She felt the pinch in her wounded wing, which made her eyes twitch, but she ignored the pain and kept her stance. Once her good wing had been freed from the cocoon, she could sense that its feeling was slowly coming back.

Seeing the pony act threatening like this gave Plague the sense that he should hurry and take her down. So without further small-talk, he growled and fired a blast of magic from his horn that launched toward her. The pegasus leapt to the side and did a roll, getting back up to her hooves as the bullet of magic struck the wall, leaving another burst of green mesh.

“You think you changelings own this place?” the pegasus growled, sidestepping with her eyes fixed on the changeling. “You think you can make something so beautiful become a wasteland of dust and cover it in all your filth? Tell me, why do you need us?”

“Quiet, pony. Your kind had its prosperity for eons while we toiled in the muck,” Plague declared, and he began charging another spell. “Now it’s our turn…”

“Your greed will become your weakness. And I should know,” the pegasus admitted.

“Oh? Really, now,” the changeling muttered, getting annoyed by the rambling pegasus.

“I once wanted something so bad… Something that I thought was so important to me.” She winced, realizing her own selfishness. “But in the end… what’s more important are the ponies you love. The ponies who support you.” She looked up and frowned at the changeling. “Friends, family… They are what matter. That’s what Celestia has always tried to teach all of us. But you, you only think of yourself. What you want.” She leaned forward and snarled. “You feed off of love, and I think I know why.”

“Oh, pray tell…” Plague grumbled, his horn almost fully illuminated now.

“Because you don’t know how!” the pegasus yelled, and with a kickoff from her hind legs, she galloped straight for the changeling, which caught him by surprise. He fired the spell again, and the pony dove to the side, and continued galloping toward him. Plague’s eyes widened as he tried recharging another spell, and found a hoof strike him in the snout.

“Ghah!” Plague lost his balance from the blow to the face, and he stumbled back, crashing into a wall with a vibrant thud. The thump against the wall seemed to shake him back into reality from the hoof to the snout, and after a few tipsy sidesteps, he frowned and faced the pony.

“So you do have a little fight in you…” he spat, charging up his horn once more. The pegasus frowned and sidestepped in a faceoff with the changeling.

“There’s a reason I’m here,” she exclaimed solemnly. The changeling was getting aggravated at this stubborn pony, but nonetheless, he held off on firing magic at her for the moment, just to give her a chance to speak out of curiosity toward what she had to say.

“I’m here because I need to be,” the pegasus continued, “Celestia says that everything happens for a reason. And that everypony alive is alive for a reason.” Her eyes wandered at her proclaimed epiphany. “I am here… because it is my destiny to be here.”

Plague was intrigued by her attitude. “Tell me, pony… What is your name?”

She opened her mouth to declare her name, but there was sudden silence. The pegasus put that to deep thought, and turned back to the mirror. Time felt like it slowed down as everything seemed to be placed together in her mind. If she revealed her true identity, the changelings would surely use it against her and her friends. Chrysalis knew who she was, and she couldn’t take the chance that the Queen would use her weaknesses against her if she knew.

“My name is Daring Do,” she boastfully proclaimed, eyeing the changeling with fury. “And I will fight for my Princess. For the ponies!”

“Such loyalty,” Plague spat. “Well, Daring Do, your Princess was a fool.”

The pegasus winced at that remark. “If you think so, then just try it. Catch me.” She stepped forward and yelled, “Shoot me! I dare you!”

The irritated Changeling growled angrily, and he postured for battle, firing a bullet of green magic at the pony. The pegasus put all the strength into her hooves to leap up into the air, and with a powerful thrust of both wings—despite their injury and numbness—she flew up to the ceiling with the changeling’s spell striking the wall behind her. Plague looked up to the flying pony who dove down at him from high above. “Wha—?!” Upon collision with the changeling, they cracked right through the weak floorboards, and they fell into the basement with split planks and debris falling through with them.

They landed on the concrete floor beneath the bakery, and debris fell down on them, burying them in wood and insulation. There was a long passing moment of silence as the fog of dust from the boards collapsing into the basement settled to the floor.

From the pile of debris was a faint crumbling sound, and a hoof pushed through from the inside of the pile. “Hngh…” Climbing out of the rubble, the proclaimed Daring Do emerged, limping away from the pile of boards.

Daring was exhausted at this point. She could feel several cuts across her fragile body, but fortunately nothing appeared to be broken. Stepping a couple of meters away from the pile, she collapsed to the floor, huffing and coughing to the floor as dust rose up with each breath.

“Heh…” She couldn’t help but grin, despite the immense pain she felt. “I flew…”

It took a lot effort pushing herself back to her hooves, but she wasn’t ready to quit here. Once back on her hooves, she turned to face the pile of rubble with Plague buried under the debris. A frown took over her face, and after a painful grunt, she spat blood to the floor, and turned her back, weakly limping her way to the stairs in the basement pantry.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Making her way out of the basement and back to the main floor was a real challenge for her limping legs, but she kept moving. Weakly stumbling through the room, she approached the small cocooned bat on the floor and knelt to her haunches. A very sorrowful expression filled her face, and using her front hooves, she started to peal the mesh off of Mercy.

“I’m sorry…” she whimpered, scared of losing her friend. String of thick webbing after sticky string, it took her a few minutes, but she managed to rip the cocoon completely off. After pealing the mesh off, she looked down upon the bat in silence. He wasn’t moving.

She reached down, whimpering and picked him up. “Mercy…?”

Moments passed. The pegasus waited, shaking the bat in her hooves gently. “Please wake up…”

Nothing seemed to be happening. Seconds felt like minutes; minutes felt like hours. She chewed her lip and whimpered as tears started to fall. “Please,” she cried, shaking the small creature in her hooves. “Wake up.”

Through all the silence, a faint squeak was heard. Her glistening eyes joyfully lit up, and she beamed down at Mercy who had just slightly opened his eyes, breathing slowly.

“Oh, thank Celestia…” she gasped quietly, holding the bat close to her, cradling him in her front legs. After a few moments of relieving silence, Mercy regained enough strength in his wings to fly. Lifting up into the air, the bat gently rested in her mane, and she sighed and trotted to the exit.

“Let’s get back to the library…” she murmured, tired of her day.

Will of a Pegasus

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The proclaimed Daring Do had limped through Ponyville to return to the library. She was exhausted and in a lot of pain. Practically dragging her hooves across the floor, she trotted through the main room and headed for the staircase. The intensive exhaustion was overpowering—even climbing up the stairs was a struggle.

Reaching the top of the broken staircase, Daring cautiously entered what appeared to be Twilight Sparkle’s old bedroom. It was just as trashed up here as it was on the floor below. Boards were scattered across the floor; her dresser and mirror were tipped over and broken; the windows were all shattered. The bed was also in rough shape, but it looked more than welcoming for her.

Coming from her mane, Mercy flew up into the air, finding a nice spot on the ceiling to hang upside down. Daring looked up to him and yawned, “Tired too, eh Mercy?”

The bat on the ceiling wrapped himself up in his wings and remained silent. The pony smirked and trotted on toward the bed. Yawning loudly, she climbed up onto the turquoise bed sheets and collapsed onto her side with her head on the pillow. This sure beat sleeping in a cave, and it didn’t take her long before she drifted away from consciousness.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Chitin paced back and forth in the nest hall next to the open entrance. Patiently waiting in silence were Trek, Dozer and Flake. The captain of the group was grumbling through his frustrations.

“Where is that parasprite?” he grumbled and twitched. “He should’ve been back hours ago. What’s taking him so long??”

“Perhaps he lost track of time?” Dozer suggested.

“Shut up, Dozer,” Chitin quickly replied.

Trek cleared his throat. “The three of us separated and searched the perimeter like you suggested, but I recall seeing Plague fly far out of bounds. I’m not sure where he was going, but I thought nothing of it.”

“Uuuugh.” Chitin rolled his eyes and clunked his own forehead a few times with his hoof. “What is wrong with that idiot? Why didn’t he listen to my simple orders??”

Looking over the horizon outside of the opening in the wall, he frowned and put his hoof to his chin. After a short cringe, he grumbled and turned away from the opening and marched down the hall.

“Chitin?” Flake looked over to the frustrated changeling making an exit. “Where are you going?”

“To have a chat with the Queen,” Chitin replied, expressing his irritation with a snarl in his voice. The other three just shared glances with each other and shrugged.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Pushing through the doors to the throne room, Chitin marched inside and confronted Chrysalis. She was startled by his sudden entry. “What is it, Chitin?”

“Plague hasn’t come back yet,” Chitin abruptly exclaimed, getting straight to the point.

Chrysalis raised a brow and leaned back in her seat, putting a hoof to her chin. “Hmm, that’s unlike him. He isn’t usually tardy. Something must’ve happened.”

“If I have to, I’ll continue the search without him.” The captain frowned. “Uuugh, I gave him specific instructions to search the area near the falls, but apparently he flew out of bounds.” He stomped his hoof. “Why can’t he listen to my simple orders??”

“Because, he was listening to mine.” Chrysalis stood and frowned down at the guard. “Plague may have been a burden in your eyes, Chitin, but he was certainly not expendable!”

“Uh… Yes, your Majesty…” Chitin cowered, and there was a moment of silence before anything else was said.

“New orders,” the Queen exclaimed as she sauntered up close to Chitin, which made him feel uneasy. “Tell the others to continue their search. As for yourself, go to Ponyville and find Plague.”

“What. Me?” Chitin winced at that, and then he stood up straight with a dumbfounded look. “Wait. Ponyville?”

“Just do as I say.” Chrysalis rolled her eyes. “When you’ve all returned, I want you to come and see me here.”

Chitin stood there, wondering why he would have to go to Ponyville of all places. “You sent Plague there?”

“No, I didn’t,” Chrysalis exclaimed, turning back to take a seat in her throne. “I told him to follow his instincts. He’s been doing this job for longer than you have, you know. You should take his advice sometime.”

The captain winced at that. “I’m a higher rank than he is.”

“And that can easily be taken away,” Chrysalis threatened, pointing a hoof to the door. “Now go and find him!”

Chitin briefly paused, and backed away squinting. He didn’t like the tone Chrysalis took on him, but he was no changeling to disrespect her authority. “As you wish, my Queen,” he murmured quietly, and turned to exit the throne room.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Daring slept soundly in the comfort of Twilight’s old bed. Mercy remained hanging upside down on the ceiling, wrapped in his wings.

The mare’s slumber however was abruptly interrupted when she heard the sound of creaking boards. “Nnnh…” she murmured and rolled over, clenching her eyes tight, subconsciously trying to ignore the sounds in the background disturbing her sleep. The sound echoed through the library again, which made her eyes open in a jolt. She quickly sat upright and gasped. Her ears twitched to the constant pattering sound of hoofsteps coming from the room below.

“Oh, no no. Oh please don’t tell me…” she whimpered quietly to herself, and then shut her mouth, trying to keep quiet. Silently, the pegasus climbed off of her bed, and crawled over to the staircase, trying to keep low to the ground. She peaked down to the bottom of the steps, and—just as she had feared—a changeling was searching the bottom floor. A moment after the changeling came into her peripheral vision, his neck turned quickly with his turquoise eyes glaring straight at her. The moment he set eyes on her, she immediately backed away to hide from his view. She cowered to her haunches and froze, hoping that he didn’t notice her, but she knew it was too late for such wishful thinking.

The hoofsteps from below were then coming in her direction up the stairs, and she could hear a faint hum of magic, and a translucent green glow emanated from down the stairs as he came closer. She backed away, turning her neck to inspect her surroundings while trying to come up with a place to hide. Mercy then swooped down and screeched from above her, and he flew around her head to get her attention. She watched the winged mammal flying off and out the open window. “Good boy…” she frantically turned to follow the bat toward the window to make an escape, and she heard the changeling behind her launch his spell. The green dart of magic beamed at her, and struck next to her hooves, leaving a neon puff of dust in her tracks, and she dove out the window.

Once she had hurled herself out the window, she found herself plummeting down to the ground below. Falling closer and closer to the Equestrian floor beneath her from the library’s treetop, she spread her wings, and closed her tear-leaking eyes. “C’mon wings… C’mon!” She flapped them a couple of times, getting her nowhere with the painful burn in her right wing. Feeling the wind ripple through her mane, sudden flashbacks struck the back of her mind; voices of neigh-sayers. Ponies who believed she was nothing; that she would never be as great as she knew she could be. Her eyes jolted open with a determined frown. “NhaaaAAAH!!” Ignoring all pain and overcoming all self-doubt, she flapped her two powerful wings, and just before hitting the dead grass below, she pulled back at an incline and flew back up into the air. A wide grin formed over her face, and a burst of excitement rushed through her. She was flying. “Yes! Yes, finally!”

Soaring higher and higher into the air, she turned back and saw that the changeling was flying closely behind her. “Oh-oh shi—” Her eyes widened as the changeling fired a burst of magic at her. With little time to react, she quickly dove downward, taking a nose dive toward the ground. The spell that he fired at her zipped past her and hurtled into the clouds, and she continued diving toward the Equestrian floor.

“You can’t outfly me, pony!” the changeling shouted to her, charging another spell.

From below, Daring was flying over an open field, and not far ahead was the forest. Frowning at the changeling’s last comment, she felt challenged. Flying faster toward the ground, she inclined to fly straight once she was leveled with the grey earth. The changeling was hot on her tail.

Daring could feel her heart racing faster as she got closer to the trees. She felt this was the easiest—although dangerous—way to lose track of her hunter. Closer to the trees, closer, closer, and she entered the borderline of the forest and soared through the haunted woods of fog and mesh, dodging tree after dead tree. Her eyes were widened from the adrenaline rush, steering left and right at sharp angles, and the changeling followed her through the vacant forest.

Up ahead, the trees seemed to be closer together. Her eyes widened, and taking a chance, she tilted sideways and straightened out her wings, slipping between two trees. Leveling back out, she steered to the left, then to the right, and then there was a crackling sound behind her.

“Aaah!” the changeling shrieked as he crashed into a horizontal branch, and flipped forward through the air over the branch that cracked on impact. Dropping toward the ground, he hit a few more branches on the way down, collapsing into the dead grass like a rag doll with a hard thump as shavings of dried up bark and twigs rained over him.

Daring had stopped to turn around, and found the changeling lying motionlessly in the fog. She hovered for a few moments, and then flew to the ground and landed on her hooves in the dried up grass. Frowning, she cautiously trotted toward the downed changeling. She quietly came closer and closer, and just as she approached him up close, he growled as he stood up in a jolt with a wounded limp on his front right leg. The pony stepped back and stood her ground, squinting at him. He huffed from exhaustion, and winced in pain. Lifting a hoof, he rubbed his horn and grumbled. Trying to stand strong on all fours again, he cringed. “You…” He was sidestepping with a limp in his right hoof. “Of all places, pony, I didn’t expect to find you here.” He grit his teeth. “The Queen will surely be pleased when I bring you back.”

Daring just frowned at that. “Who are you?”

“Right to the point, I see.” The changeling cleared his throat. “I am Chitin. Captain of the changeling guards.” He stepped forward, building up magic in his horn. “It’s inevitable, pony. You’re coming back with us.” As his horn charged of green magic, he cringed painfully, as if he was having a difficult time conjuring a spell. Daring watched the changeling struggle with his magic, and realized that he must have hurt his horn crashing through the trees.

In his weak state, and with his magic temporarily out of commission, she figured that now was her chance to act. Daring galloped toward Chitin, throwing him off guard, and she leapt straight for him through the air with a powerful thrust of her wings. Chitin rose up on his hind legs to try to counter her attack, and using his front hooves, he knocked the pegasus out of the air, hoofing her in the snout. “Gah!” She flipped over the changeling and collapsed on her back in the dirt behind him.

“I have to tell you, pony.” Dropping back on all fours, Chitin muttered and turned to face her. “You’ve got guts.”

She frowned and struggled to her hooves, wiping her snout with a hoof. Returning back to her hooves, she stood defensively and huffed. She scraped her front hoof in the dirt and spread out her wings.

“Hmh. Relentless, too,” Chitin remarked. “I admire your persistence.”

“Come any closer and I’ll kill you, too!!” Daring yelled furiously.

From the way she worded that, he realized what she meant. He winced and furrowed his eyes. “Plague… What did you do to him?”

Daring just frowned at him in response, making her facial expression an obvious enough answer. Swallowing any fear that she may have felt, Daring took a step closer to him. “Go back to your Queen, and tell her that Daring Do has no interest in going back with you to your hive.”

Chitin stood defensively, frowning. Daring acknowledged that he was feeling slightly threatened by her in the respect of her victory against the previous changeling. Using that to her advantage, she took another intimidating step toward him, and when she did, he took a step back.

There was a long stare-down between the two. In the silence, the haunting wind whistled through the skeleton trees, making a suspenseful humming noise. Several long moments passed, and Chitin slowly changed his timid expression into something fierce.

“Uuugh!” Chitin’s eye twitched, and he charged toward her in full gallop. “I don’t have time for this!”

His sudden sprint toward her caught her by surprise, and she lifted up on her hind legs as if it were instinct. He galloped into her and leapt up on his hind legs too, and they began throwing hooves at each other. A few of the front-kicking attacks were blocked, but after a few swats in the air of clashing hooves together, Daring felt one meet her jaw. “Ogh!” She fell over sideways, and was quick to get back up on all fours.

Wiping a bleeding lip, she frowned, and leapt right back into the fight. “You can’t have me!” She threw herself against him, knocking him over at his chest. He fell over onto his back with her on top, and she began slamming hooves down on his snout. “You son of a—” After four or five blows to the face, Chitin pulled his hind legs back so they were under her, and he kicked her off of him with a hard buck to the gut. “OOhf!” She fell back, and collapsed onto her side, holding her belly with her hooves. “Ooohhgh…” She cringed and curled up in a ball.

The changeling stood back up, and furiously wiped the blood from his nose and lips. “If my orders weren’t to bring you back alive, I can assure you, you wouldn’t be!”

Daring spat blood into the ground, and growled as she tried to stand. Bracing herself, she found her balance, making it back on all fours, and she snarled at the changeling. “You… couldn’t kill me… anyway…” she huffed between her words.

“Hmm, back on your hooves again…” Chitin lifted his chin, keeping his glare on her. “There’s no use in being so stubborn, pony. You’re only delaying the inevitable.”

Daring only frowned in response, and spread out her wings, standing tall. Chitin felt intrigued by her strong will to keep going.

“Tell me, Daring Do.” Chitin slowly trotted up to the pony, and Daring just kept her stance while keeping her eyes on her hunter. “Why fight when you know how incredibly outnumbered you are?” He frowned and stopped a couple of feet in front of her, glaring at her eye to eye. “Back in the hive, there are thousands of us.” He squinted at her. “And there’s only one of you…”

There was a moment of silence before Daring answered in a very solemn, whispering voice, “Sometimes, it only takes one.”

Chitin just squinted at her response, and he rose up onto his hind legs. “Aah!” making a quick assault with his front hooves in the air, Daring lifted up her own hooves, blocking his first two attacks, and on the third, she got a firm grip on his hoof. Then with a powerful flap, she thrust herself to the side while holding onto the changeling’s limb, and a crackling sound emanated from his shoulder as he flipped over onto his belly. “AAhAH!”

She pinned him there, standing on his spine while holding onto his front leg that she had twisted behind his back.

“Now, go back to your hive!” she yelled down next to his ear. “You tell the Queen my message! She can try sending all the changelings she wants after me, but she won’t take me back! I will fight for my freedom!” She twisted his arm tighter, making him cringe and groan. “You got that??”

“Agh, let go!” He squirmed, but she just pressed down harder on his spine, making him flinch.

“You got that?!?!” she repeated louder.

“Yes, damnit, let go!!”

With that, she released his hoof, and gave him a kick to the back of his head before she stepped off of him. Chitin was quick to scramble back to his hooves, but he couldn’t put any pressure on his wounded leg that she had twisted behind him. He turned to face her, frowning and limping backwards. With his arm in this condition and his horn’s magic not working properly, he knew he couldn’t keep fighting. “You won’t last a week out here, pony.”

Daring squinted and leapt toward him. The changeling cowered when she made the sudden lunge after him, and he backed away faster with a few stumbles. The pegasus stood there in front of him, glaring at him with her teeth grit and her wings spread out. Her intimidating gesture was enough to have him turn and fly away.

She watched him fly back to the mountain, and she proudly stomped her hoof, claiming her victory once more. A squeak echoed from the trees, and her ears perked from the familiar sound. She looked to see Mercy flying down to her, and he flew up close, inspecting her wounds.

“I’m fine, Mercy,” Daring sighed, trotting slowly back to Ponyville. “But I think we’re going to need a new place to hide…”

The Impersonator

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Trek, Dozer and Flake waited at the entrance of the hive. Looking out into the open Equestrian wasteland, Trek and Dozer paced around impatiently. Flake stood there in silence, watching the two changelings trot around in circles.

“Something’s going on.” Trek exclaimed, “First Plague disappears, and now Chitin’s taking forever to come back.”

“He said he went to Ponyville, right?” Dozer murmured.

Trek nodded in response. “That was where he said Plague went looking for the pony.”

Flake’s eyes wandered as he listened in, and he backed away from the other two. Keeping silent and stealthy so Trek and Dozer didn’t notice his departure, he flew out into the open wilderness.

“Should we tell the Queen?” Dozer shrugged with uncertainty.

“I dunno. I doubt she will like this.” Trek shuddered.

“Doubt I’ll like what?” the voice of authority made the two changelings cower. They turned to face Chrysalis, who was just walking in on their conversation.

“Uh…” Dozer nervously gulped.

“Chitin isn’t back yet.” Trek exclaimed uneasily.

There was a pause. Chrysalis slowly trotted to the opening, and looked down upon the wasteland. She slowly turned her neck, examining every direction. “I expected to see him in my throne room a couple of hours ago.” she muttered. Then, she saw something off in the distance. She squinted and leaned forward, getting a better look at who was flying toward them. “Chitin…?”

Chitin’s flying was very weak—he could hardly keep himself in the air. Chrysalis raised a brow and stepped aside, giving him room to land. Flying into the opening, Chitin stumbled across the floor and collapsed, huffing for air. The others all stared at him in silence as he tried standing with a harsh limp on his right foreleg. He kept his back turned from the others with his eyes to the floor.

“What the hell happened?” Chrysalis was the first to say anything.

“Plague’s dead.” Chitin muttered angrily, getting straight to the point.

“What?” the Queen went wide-eyed.

Chitin slowly turned around to face the Queen, and looked up to her to expose his facial wounds—the bloody lip; a black eye; his damaged horn. Chrysalis winced at the sight of him. “Explain yourself.”

“She calls herself Daring Do.” Chitin grumbled, cringing painfully while lifting his wounded foreleg off the ground so pressure wasn’t applied to it.

“Daring Do?” Chrysalis raised a brow.

“The pony.” the captain revealed. Chrysalis’ eyes slowly widened, and she stood up tall in disbelief.

“Wait, wait.” Dozer was trying hard not to chuckle, “You’re saying, that the pony did this to you?”

“Shut up, Dozer.” Chitin grimaced.

“Chitin, are you suggesting that this pony killed Plague?” Chrysalis questioned him.

“She said that she will stop any changeling that gets in her way.” Chitin murmured and painfully winced, “She had me pinned, and nearly broke my leg.” he rubbed his wounded shoulder for emphasis. “She let me go and sent me back here as a warning.” He put his hoof on his head and cringed, “I tried cocooning her, but I crashed through some trees when I was chasing her, and I damaged my horn…”

More silence. Chrysalis rolled her eyes and stepped up to him, leaning in closer to have a better look at his horn. “It looks fine. You should be able to cast magic again in a day or two.” She stood up and kept her glare on him, “Be more careful. You’re aware that our horns are much more fragile than a unicorn’s.”

“Yes, my Queen…” Chitin looked to the side.

Chrysalis then turned her focus to his wounded shoulder. She held out her hoof and lifted up his injured limb, making him flinch in pain. “I still can’t believe a pony did this to you.” she murmured with lacking enthusiasm.

“I don’t know where she learned to fight like thaAAAAAOOW!!” Without a warning, Chrysalis pulled on his limb with one hoof, and using the other, she kicked his shoulder. “AAAaaAA What was that for?!”

“Your shoulder was dislocated.” Chrysalis released his leg and stood up tall. “I had to put it back so it could heal properly.”

“Ugh…” Chitin frowned and rubbed his shoulder. “Thanks… I think.”

“Rest for a few hours. You’re in no condition to go back out there.” Chrysalis suggested to the captain, and turned to Trek and Dozer. “Are you two up for continuing the search?”

“Yes, my Queen.” they replied almost simultaneously.

“Good. The sooner we cocoon her, the better. If she’s out there for too long, she likely won’t be any good to us.” Chrysalis exclaimed, “I recommend you stick together this time. You know where to search.”

Trek and Dozer both nodded, and turned to fly out back into the wasteland. Upon their exit, Chitin raised a brow and scratched his chin. “Strange.”

“What, Chitin?” Chrysalis turned to him curiously.

“No one said anything about Flake. He wasn’t here when I got back.” He turned to the Queen and shrugged, “Did he not make it back either?”

“Flake?” the Queen questioned him. “Who is Flake?”

“Flake. You know, the newcomer you recruit—…” Chitin paused, and winced at the sudden realization. There was a long gap of silence in their conversation. “Nothing, my Queen.” he glanced to the side and frowned, disappointed in himself.

“Nothing?” Chrysalis waited an explanation. “I did not recruit any new changelings into your search crew.”

Chitin looked up into the Queen’s green eyes and squinted in self-disgust.

“It sounds like we have a changeling posing himself as a high rank guard.” Chrysalis murmured, frowning at the captain.

“I… had my suspicions.” Chitin admitted quietly. “I’ll take care of it.”

“See that you do.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Daring wandered through Ponyville, seeking a new place to rest. She passed through several vacant buildings throughout the town, but none of the restful stops seemed to satisfy her. She knew that the changelings would come back; she had to find a good place to hide. A place they wouldn’t think to search.

“Where are we gonna go, Mercy?” she sighed, directing her questions to the bat in her mane. He responded with a twitch in his ears, and looked down to her. Flapping her wings, she ascended into the air and flew up above Ponyville. She perched at the top of the crippled town hall to have a better look around her from a higher level. A certain building came to mind, so she scanned Ponyville’s ruins of decay to search for it. “Hnh… Rarity’s boutique would definitely be a cozy place to sleep in.” she murmured to herself, remembering the place as a fabric haven. She turned her neck, trying to find it, but she couldn’t see the building anywhere. The sight of the town from this height made her stomach turn from heartbreak. She sighed and winced, trying to pull herself together, and just kept looking.

“Where did it—…” she paused when she found the boutique in a heap on the ground. She could tell by the manikin pony statues that once stood close to the top of the building. “Oh…” she sighed and sat on her flank, turning her view to find other possible hiding places.

Looking down at Ponyville’s debris made her feel homesick. After several minutes of staring down at the empty town, Mercy suddenly jumped out of her mane with a loud screech. His spontaneous startling act caused her to panic and turn around through instinct. Only meters away, she was standing face to face on the rooftop with a changeling. His horn was illuminated with green magic, and he looked like he was ready to fire.

Daring panicked and stumbled backwards. A creaking sound emanated from the rooftop beneath her hooves, and just as he fired a dart of magic at her, in that split second the shingles at her hooves caved in and she fell through in a heap of debris. “AaaAAA!!” dropping through the insolated attic of the town hall, she crashed through the ceiling and fell to the wooden floorboards with a crackling thump.

For a brief moment, she lied there feeling winded. Coughing dust to the floor, she pushed herself to her hooves, gnashing her teeth as she struggled. Looking up, the changeling descended down toward her from the hole in the ceiling.

“So you’re the one causing all the trouble.” the changeling muttered.

Daring cringed and stood on all fours, tensing her legs in position to fight back. She snorted from her nostrils and tapped the floor with her back hoof, kicking up a puff of dust. She gnashed her teeth, and she twitched furiously.

“I’ve warned your captain.” she growled at the back of her throat, and with a powerful thrust with her wings, she leapt up into the air toward the airborne changeling. Her sudden lunge up after him caught him off guard, and she collided straight into him. Upon collision, the two bodies flipped through the air and fell back to the hardwood floor. After crashing to the floor, Daring pinned the changeling by his shoulders. “You freaks just don’t know when to quit!”

“N—No!” the changeling snapped and buckled his hind legs, kicking her off of him. She stumbled backwards and collapsed onto her back. The changeling struggled to his hooves, and frowned at her, “I have to be the one… to take you down!”

Daring just frowned at that, and after a short struggle, she was back on all fours. “What is it with you changelings, all trying to be the first to take me down?” she grumbled and squinted at him, “What benefit does capturing me serve?”

“Pride.” he replied boastfully, and stomped his front hoof to the floor, “Acceptance!”

Daring winced, trying to figure him out.

“All I’ve ever wanted, was to feel like I am worth something to my Queen!” as he yelled, Daring realized something—he was crying. It was very subtle, but the dampness in his solid turquoise eyes was indeed there. “I’ve trained my whole life to get some acknowledgement, and the Queen doesn’t even know my bucking name!”

The pegasus kept her defensive stance, but she was curious as to what was going on in his troubled mind. She squinted and sidestepped, holding back on striking him down again. “And you think, that by capturing me, that the Queen will accept you?”

“Heh… Nopony’s ever escaped our hive before and lived.” He stepped forward, his eyes widening as he explained himself, “Bringing you back… and showing you to Chrysalis…” he paused for a moment, feeling as though his destiny was about to be fulfilled. “…This will show her I am worthy!!”

Daring stepped backwards, her ears falling back from suspense. The desperation in her hunter’s eyes; his black horn illuminated of green magic. She had to attack him now, or he was going to fire his spell and cocoon her for sure. Before he could fully charge his magic, she galloped toward him with the help from her wings to pick up speed.

“NaAAH!!” the changeling yelled and fired a burst of magic at her. She quickly sidestepped to her right to avoid the spell, but she wasn’t quick enough, and it struck her in the left wing.

“No!” Daring panicked and stumbled off to the side, and watched as the neon dust from the spell fade away, and found her wing to be sealed inside a cocoon mesh. She could sense all feelings in her wing slowly going numb. Growling, she turned back to the changeling and frowned. “You can’t take me!” she yelled and galloped toward him, “I won’t let you!”

The changeling snarled and began charging up his horn again, backing away from her as she got closer. He tensed up his legs to prepare himself as she lunged into him, striking his chest with her front hooves. She growled on impact and knocked him over onto his back, and had him pinned again. “I’m sick of you changelings!”

“NooOO!!” he struggled through his desperation, and with his horn fully illuminated, he fired the spell straight up at the pony pinning him. She saw it coming, but a moment too late. The burst of magic struck her straight in the snout, and she immediately leapt off of him in an immense panic. Her wings fluttered from fear as she stumbled away from him, using her hooves to scrape the mesh that sealed the entirety of her face; she couldn’t breathe nor see. Struggling to scratch away at the sickly green slime, she managed to open a hole for her to breathe through her mouth, and took in a loud gasp for air.

With his prey now blinded, the changeling took the opportunity to face her up close. He pushed himself back to his hooves, and trotted toward her, charging up another spell. To his surprise, the pegasus began flailing her hooves in random directions, bucking and kicking the air.

“Come on!!” she yelled, blindly striking the air while spinning in place, “AAaAAAH!!”

He stood there to briefly watch her, keeping a good distance so he wouldn’t get kicked. As she spun around hoofing the air, she bucked a wooden support pillar and cracked it. After she had kicked the fragile post, a few boards fell from the ceiling. “WHA—” the changeling had no time to react, and the boards came crashing down right on top of him, burying him in wood planks and splinters.

The room was silenced with a cloud of dust, and she kept flailing her hooves. She heard a screech from above her, and she could hear the flapping of wings coming down close to her. “Mercy?” she briefly paused, gasping, “I-is that you?”

Mercy flew up close to her and screeched again to signal that it was just him now. Hearing his screech calmed her down, and she sat on her flank with a sigh. He clawed at the mesh covering her face, tearing it away from her eyes and snout. Once her eyes were free, she blinked a few times. Her eyes were burning—they felt like she hadn’t used them in awhile from the effects of the mesh. “Awgh…” she felt relieved after noticing that the changeling wasn’t in the vicinity. “Thanks, Mercy…” She wiped her eyes with her hooves.

After wiping her eyes clear, she heard a rumble coming from the debris. Her ears twitched, and she was quick to stare back at the pile of boards where the changeling was buried. She sat there, feeling adrenaline rush through her beating heart. Curious, Mercy cautiously flew over to the rubble.

“AAAH!!” the changeling erupted from the pile of boards, pushing himself free. He climbed out with a limp, and his horn was glowing bright neon. “I won’t allow you to take this chance away from me, pony!!!” he shrieked, and furiously swat the bat out of the air.

“No, Mercy!!” Mercy was punt against a wall, and he collapsed to the floor. Daring galloped after the changeling, yelling angrily, “Parasprite!!”

“AAAH It’s Flake!” he shouted, galloping toward her as well. In mid-gallop, he fired his loaded spell at her, and she hit the brakes in surprise. The dart of magic struck her in the front leg, and she fell over onto her chest.

“NOoO!!” she cried and tried pushing herself back to her hooves, but had a difficult time getting back up. Flake sidestepped while recharging a spell, and he fired at her again, sealing the top of her head in a cocoon. “NooOO Please, NO!”

He fired again, and again, and again, striking her down and slowly sealing her in the cocoon mesh. “No, no no! AhAAAA!!” she struggled relentlessly, pushing her numbing hooves to stand back up. “My friends!!” she screamed in tears, “They need me!!!! I can’t!! I ca—” silenced by a cocoon sealing her face off once again, she could feel herself slowly losing consciousness. Squirming on the floor, she felt like time slowed down, and everything that she had believed in darkened with the rest of her fading world, and her mind went blank.

The pony collapsed helplessly on the floor, completely covered in a cocoon. Flake just stood there, dumbfounded.

“I did it…” a grin formed on his face as he murmured. The victorious changeling trotted up to the sealed pony and nudged her in the cocoon. He couldn’t help but chuckle. “Ha, I can’t believe this!” he exclaimed aloud to himself, and lifted the cocooned pegasus in his hooves, and flapping his wings, he carried her off the ground. “Sorry, pony… You’ve had a good run.” he sneered, “But you’re mine now!”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Many thanks to these gentlecolts:
Proofreading and Editing done by David Hasselhoof.
Prereading and other Assistance by Morfonious.

Reborn

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Author Comments:

The irony about this chapter, is that I had been planning this scene since before Season 3’s finale. Of course, it was going to be a little different, but the episode inspired necessary changes, such as the specific appearance of the location. I don’t want to get into all the details here or I’ll spoil this chapter, but if you’ve seen the episode, you’ll see what I mean. So the Season 3 finale did actually help move this plot along pretty well!

Hope you enjoy!

—TheBlox—

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Flake carried Daring in her cocoon over the forest, making his way to the mountain. As he flew closer to the hive, he felt his heart racing faster, filled with pride that he was able to do what even the other top changeling guards could not: capture the pony.

Reveling in his victory, another changeling came flying up from the trees below. The changeling ascended right in front of him, forcing him to halt. “Woah, Chitin.” he backed away a little, caught off guard. “Er, hey.”

Chitin just glared back at him, then trailed his eye to the cocooned pony. He was admittedly surprised by this, and looked back to Flake with a raised brow. “You captured her?”

“Er, yes sir.” Flake nodded respectfully, and then noticed Chitin’s facial expression go sour. The captain frowned and gnashed his teeth. “Uh… Chitin?” Flake felt a nervous lump in his throat.

“Let’s take this lower, hm?” Chitin demanded.

“Uh… Sure.” Flake nodded timidly, “Yeah, okay.”

The two changelings descended into the forest, landing next to a river in the grey fog and dead grass beneath the skeleton trees. Flake put the cocoon down beside him and looked up to Chitin curiously. “So, is there a problem, Captain?”

Chitin just winced at that. There was a gap of silence in their conversation before anything else was said.

“You… are a traitor to your own kind.” Chitin had to look away as he abruptly choked on those words with disgust.

Flake paused, and looked to the side. “Heh. So you know, then.”

Chitin turned back to Flake and squinted. “I don’t want to see you back in our hive again.”

“Wait, what?” Flake’s eyes jolted open and he turned to the captain, “But… You can’t just—”

“The Queen doesn’t want you back, Flake. She told me herself.” Chitin snapped, “You’ve impersonated a high rank guard.” He winced and grit his teeth, “Do you have any idea how disrespectful that is?”

“I…” Flake stepped back a little, “I’m sorry, Captain, I was just… trying to be like… one of you guys.”

“One of us?” Chitin stepped toward him and raised his voice, “One of us?!! …You. Will never. Be one of us!!” He turned his glance to the cocoon next to Flake and pointed at it, “Now hand over the pony, and get out of my sight!”

Flake’s turquoise eyes slowly filled up with tears, and he stepped forward with a loud holler. “N…No!!” he stomped his hoof in the dead grass, “I refuse to believe that the Queen would say that!”

“Heh. Sorry to burst a hole in your pride.” Chitin frowned.

Flake picked up the cocoon and spread out his ratty wings. “I’m taking this pony to her myself!” he yelled as tears trickled down his cheeks, “She’ll accept me! You’ll see!”

Before he could fly away, Chitin lunged into him, striking him in the gut with a hoof. Flake coiled up with a grunt, and Chitin kicked him down. The exiled changeling collapsed onto his side, and held onto his wounded stomach, coughing into the dust beneath him.

“If I see you again…” Chitin muttered coldly, “I’ll kill you.”

Flake frightfully looked up into his eyes with many broken feelings racing through his heart. Chitin just shook his head in disgust, and reached down to pick up the cocooned pony. Watching as the captain of the changelings reached down to take what he felt was rightfully his, Flake growled, and with a swift kick, he bucked the cocoon, and it rolled into the river.

“NO!” Chitin leapt toward the rushing river, and quickly turned his head to find the cocoon, but it had vanished in the rapids. He stood there, feeling the rage build inside of him. He turned back to the cowering changeling, and he began to charge a spell; his horn glowing blood red.

“Ch… Chitin.” Flake squirmed away from him, “Don’t. Don’t, that spell is forbidden!”

“You…” Chitin snarled, trotting up to the downed changeling, infuriating sparks forming from his horn.

“No! No, don’t! Chiti—” Too late. Chitin fired a black discharge of electrical energy from his red beaming horn, and struck him straight in the chest. “GhYAAA!!” shrieking in agony, Flake squirmed and panicked, and after a good five seconds of burning magic rushing through him, Chitin’s spell wore off.

Lying on his back, Flake held onto his chest, breathing heavily as smoke emanated from his wound. He twitched painfully, unable to regain the strength to get back up. Chitin just gave him one last glance—a stare of disappointment and hatred—and he turned away, and began trotting back to the mountain.

“Chi… Chitin. You… can’t just… leave me here…” Flake breathed painfully.

Chitin looked up to the sky and rolled his eyes, then without another word, he ascended into the air, flying back to the hive. Flake was left traumatically wide-eyed. “Hnn…” he weakly sat up, and examined where Chitin had struck him in the chest; there was a burnt mark, and it stung horrendously. Every passing moment, he could feel himself fading away. Collapsing back into the ground, he just lied there, watching the thick clouds drift by, and closed his damp eyes, letting the tears roll down the side of his face as the roaring of the river echoed in the background.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lying still in darkness, Daring Do felt as though she was weightless. Opening her tired eyes, she leaned up onto her haunches, and found herself sitting in an unfamiliar world. A world of stars and galaxies, and rippling clouds of beauty drifted through the everlasting open space.

“Where…?” her voice echoed back at her, “…am I…?” She pushed herself to her hooves, and slowly turned to examine her surroundings. It was as if she wasn’t standing on anything at all. “Am I… dreaming…?”

“No, you are not dreaming.” a deep and elderly voice echoed through the air, making her instinctively turn around to find where the voice was coming from. Not far from her, stood an alicorn stallion. He had a black coat and a white rippling mane like the clouds around her, and upon his head was a golden crown with a diamond in the center. He wore golden boots on his hooves with diamonds to match his crown. His cutie mark was a scale of gold. Her ears fell back, and she cowered at the sight of him.

“Who…?”

“I’ve been watching you, Scootaloo.” the alicorn looked down to her with his emerald eyes.

The proclaimed Daring Do’s eyes widened, and she glanced left and right, then turned her glance back at him, “You… know my name…”

“I know a lot about you. And I can tell that you have many questions.” he exclaimed, and then properly introducing himself. “I am the King of Equestria; father of Princesses Celestia and Luna. Or best known as the god of balance.” he declared, “By the look on your face, you’re probably wondering where you are.” He waited for her to nod, and he just smirked back at her with an answer, “You are in a world beyond the dream world. Very few have set hoof here.”

Scootaloo scratched the back of her head and lowered her ears, “So… why am I here?”

“You have a destiny, Scootaloo.” he tilted his head and sighed, “But you aren’t fulfilling it.” He cleared his throat and stood up tall again, “You are here, because this is the only way I am able to talk to you. Because I am unable to come to Equestria in this form, for if I do, I will break my rule.”

“Rule?” Scootaloo raised a brow, “What rule?”

“Balance.” he simply replied, “Equestria can only be molded by the free will of the living.”

“Of the living…?”

“Correct. I am deceased.” the King admitted with a sigh, “Have been for a millennia.”

“I… see.” Scootaloo felt hurt to hear that, “But… I thought… gods and goddesses lived forever.”

“Correction, we age forever.” he explained factually, “Many believe us to be immortal, but alas, that is not true. Though it is unheard of, we are still capable of dying.”

There was a short moment in silence. Scootaloo’s eyes wandered, and she looked up to the King. “Um… I have a question.”

“Yes, little one?”

“Er… How long has Equestria been the way it is?” she asked.

“Ten years.” he revealed.

“Ten years??” Scootaloo jumped.

“Yes. That explains why you’ve grown into a mare in what felt like over night. You were cocooned by the changelings for that long.” he explained and sighed, “You are eighteen years of age.”

Scootaloo’s expression saddened, and she lowered her head.

“I know it is hard to believe, and unfortunate for you to have missed your foalhood years. But sometimes, life has mysterious ways to keep its balance. It’s in those mysterious moments where you have to realize, everything has to happen for a reason.”

The grown mare wiped her damp eyes and looked up to the King with a sniffle, “Why so long…?”

“Because, Scootaloo, if you escaped at a younger age, your wings would not have been developed enough for you to fly. Nor would you have been strong enough to fight back.” the god of balance exclaimed factually, “You would not have been able to fulfill your destiny.”

“So…” Scootaloo’s eyes wandered a bit, then she looked back to him. “What is my destiny?”

“I can not give you all of the answers.” he exclaimed, “And you already know what your destiny is.”

“But… Wasn’t I just captured again?” she wondered, and lowered her head, “I failed, didn’t I. That’s why you’re telling me I didn’t fulfill my destiny…”

“No, you have not failed.” the King reached out his hoof and lifted her chin up, “In moments, you will awaken.”

“I… get a second chance?” she murmured. The King nodded and put his hooves back down. Scootaloo’s eyes wandered and she went deep in thought. “I have… another question.”

“Yes?”

“So… Why me?” she asked, looking into his eyes, “Why not somepony else?”

He just smiled in response, “Simply because, it is your destiny. There isn’t always a clear explanation for the bigger questions.” He pointed at her, “Don’t be alarmed. Look at yourself.”

Scootaloo raised a brow, and first lifted a hoof to look at it. She was in her full bright orange colour that she used to be. She turned her neck to look at the rest of herself. Her large full-grown wings; her pink mane and tail; and something new…

“A cutie mark!?” she was ecstatic. It was a pair of silver wings, and in the center of the wings, a golden lightning bolt. Surrounding the lightning bolt was an emerald coloured sparkle effect. After her brief foalish dance on her hooves, her expression became more solemn. Getting a cutie mark was indeed as exciting as she thought it would be, but there was something else that she felt—pride.

“The green sparks, Scootaloo, represents your freedom, and how deeply you stand for it.” the King explained her cutie mark to her, pointing at the details, “The lightning bolt represents your loyalty toward your friends, and to all the other ponies in need.” He put his hooves down, “And the wings, represent your determination. To be exactly what you need to become. No matter how hard it is, or how bleak it may seem.”

Scootaloo kept looking at her new cutie mark with awe. “Wait… Loyalty?” she turned back to the alicorn in question.

“Yes. Loyalty.” he nodded.

“But…” Scootaloo scratched her head. “Rainbow Dash. She is the element of loyalty.”

“Indeed she is.” the alicorn King chuckled, “Those who we admire the most have a great impact on our lives. And you were very close to her, weren’t you?”

Scootaloo nodded, “Yeah… She was like a big sister to me.”

“And thus, you follow her hoofsteps, becoming loyal like her.” He grinned, “It’s no question why you would select her favourite fictional character to hide your identity.”

Scootaloo briefly turned away and blushed a little. “Oh, heh, yeah.” She looked back to him with a smirk, “Pretty clever though, huh?”

“Indeed.” the King cleared his throat and stood tall, looking down to her solemnly, “So… Do you understand why you are here now?”

“I think so…” she murmured and scratched her head.

“Good.” he replied, “Because you’re about to wake up.”

“Huh?” her eyes widened and she stood up straight, “But I have so many more questions!”

“Heh, and you will find your answers, all in good time.” He stepped back, and her vision slowly became blurry.

“Wait!” Scootaloo held up her hoof. She could feel herself fading away from this world, and it was happening fast. There was the sound of static slowly growing louder as the world around her rippled with vanishing starlight. “W-what’s your name??”

The King just chuckled, “I have been known by many names… But my name isn’t important right now.”

“No, wait! I feel like I have to know!”

He stood there, and grinned. “Next time.” he replied, “We will meet again. Good luck, Scootaloo.”

The moment he finished his final sentence, the world vanished in a blinding flash of light, and all she heard was a monotone white noise. Slowly, the light and the echoing white noise faded into darkness…

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

…And she woke up, lying on her side. She was washed up on the shore of a river. The stream here was calm, but the forest surrounding her was just as gloomy as before. Slowly opening her eyes, the first thing she saw were two eyes staring straight back at her. The sight made her jump and gasp.

“Mercy?” she froze, staring back down at the bat who had waited there patiently for her to wake up. She rubbed her eyes with her front hoof, and felt enough strength to stand back up. “Ugh, I had the strangest dream…” she murmured, rubbing her forehead. Looking back down to Mercy, she couldn’t help it, and leaned down to pick him up and hug him. “Aw man, am I glad to see you… I was so worried!” she admitted frightfully, lifting him up to have a look to see if there were any wounds on him.

After her little moment with the winged mammal, she realized something. When her forelimbs were in her peripheral vision while lifting Mercy, she noticed that her coat was bright orange. Gently releasing him so he could fly at a hovering pace, she turned to the stream and looked down at her reflection in the water. “It… wasn’t a dream??” she whimpered at the sight of her new coat and mane, and she turned to see if her cutie mark was still there. And sure enough, there it was.

Her eyes wandered, and she went deep in thought. Looking up over the horizon, she saw the mountain where the changeling hive was. She stood there, thinking deeply to herself about what the alicorn King had all revealed to her. At first, she considered turning around to find a place to hide, but she knew that wasn’t why she escaped in the first place. That wasn’t her destiny—not to run and hide.

It only took her a moment to understand why she was here. She couldn’t fathom why she of all ponies would have been chosen for this, but she took a glance at her cutie mark, and honoured it. Frowning with strong determination, she stood up straight, and marched along the riverbed up stream. With Mercy following along beside her, Scootaloo made her way to the changeling’s nest, putting her fears behind her.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Many thanks to these gentlecolts:
Proofreading and Editing done by David Hasselhoof.
Prereading and other Assistance by Morfonious.

To Accept Acceptance

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Trotting along the riverbed, Scootaloo continued on toward the changeling hive, with Mercy resting in her mane. She knew she could simply fly there, which would get her to her destination faster, but in the air, she was more likely to be seen. Taking that to consideration, she felt it was best to stick to the ground, hidden beneath the trees.

After a solid three hours of trotting through the eerie forest, Mercy ascended from her mane, and flew off course. Scootaloo raised a brow and watched him fly into the darkness through the thick woods of the Everfree Forest.

“Mercy, why do you fly off like that on me?” she grumbled and trotted after him. Entering the thicker part of the forest, she followed the flying mammal, and she froze when she heard growls in the depths of the woods. Slowly turning her neck, she tried to figure out where the sounds were coming from. She remained silent for a brief moment, but heard nothing. “Alright, Mercy,” she called to him quietly with a timid voice, “I don’t think taking this route was such a great idea. Maybe we should turn back?”

Looking ahead, she continued following him. Mercy wasn’t flying all that fast, enough so that she could keep up. After a couple minutes of wandering through the skeleton trees beneath the deathly green clouds, they came across an old hollowed tree. Scootaloo squinted and trotted up to it curiously. “Hey… I know this place.” It was in rough shape from obvious changeling encounters, but it was still exactly how she remembered it. Mercy flew back down into her mane, and she cautiously approached the wooden door to the hut built within the hollowed tree. Placing her hoof on the doorway, she pushed it open, and it creaked as it slowly swung inwards on old rusty hinges.

Stepping inside, she felt a nervous lump in her throat that she had to swallow. “Hello?” she murmured, turning her neck, “Zecora…?” The room was vacant, and left with a mess. Zecora’s brewing cauldron had been tipped on its side, and spilled across the floor was a dried up green stain from a decade old recipe. Her collection of masks were scattered and broken, and old dried up herbs spread across the floor. Trotting further inside, she spotted something in the far corner, accompanied by broken boards from shelving that were once held up on the wall.

Lying there in a heap in the corner were several cork sealed vials of different sizes, containing multiple coloured liquids. Intrigued by this discovery, she trotted over to the corner and reached under the cracked boards, and gathered whatever she could collect. Scooping them up into a pile on the floor, she sat on her flank and examined each potion. “I wonder if they’re still good…” she murmured, checking their labels that were tied to the necks of the bottles. “Hmm, this one could be useful,” she read a label, and found an expiry date in the bottom right corner. “Huh, good for another two years,” she exclaimed, but her ears fell to her sides after remembering it’s been ten years since this bottle was sealed, making the expiration of the potion eight years ago. “Ugh…” Rolling her eyes, she separated the potions into different organized piles, one specifically for expired bottles. She reached for another and read the label. “More effective as it ages…” She grinned and set it aside on another pile.

After separating and organizing many of the small vials of liquids, Scootaloo heard that growl again coming from the exterior of the hut. Her ears folded back, and she glanced over to the window. She kept her stare on the window for at least two minutes, frozen in place, waiting for the sound again—she heard nothing. Mercy kept still and silent in her mane.

Sighing nervously, Scootaloo turned back to the vials and continued separating them. It only took her another couple of minutes to finish organizing the potions, and out of the dozens of bottles, she counted at least fifteen that were still good to use.

Standing to her hooves, she turned around and searched the room for something to carry them with. “Zecora’s gotta have somethin’ useful around here,” she murmured, and her ears perked when she spotted a simple leather saddlebag hanging on a hook on the wall, which was covered in cobwebs. She trotted over to the wall and took the saddlebag, brushing the webs and dust away from it before she threw it onto her back.

Scootaloo trotted back to the vials, and she began carefully picking the good ones up and placing them gently into her bags, the glass clinging together as she filled them up evenly on both sides. Leaving the expired vials behind, she continued her search throughout Zecora’s hut in case she missed anything else that she could find a use for.

Opening drawers and inspecting cupboards that were still upright, she found a few rags and wooden stir sticks. She took the rags, and though she wasn’t sure where stir sticks would come in handy, she picked them out of the drawer and put them in her saddlebag anyway. There were a few different sized wooden bowls that she took as well.

After at least fifteen minutes of searching the hut, she felt satisfied enough with the few things that she collected. She was especially intrigued by the potions she found. Feeling like she was done in here, she made her way to the exit and stepped back out into the forest, taking a cautious glance to her left and right before trotting out any further. Seeing that the coast was clear, she began trotting back in the direction she came from to find the river. She felt it would be safer traveling along the riverbed than taking her chances in the thicket of Everfree.

Traveling in a quiet, yet hurried pace, she heard another growl in the darkness of the woods, making her freeze in her tracks. She stood still, and very slowly turned her neck to examine her surroundings, and her eyes dilated when she saw what was lurking in the shadows. There in the distant trees was a very large timberwolf, just walking on through the forest. Its maw hung open exposing its serrated teeth, and a translucent green mist escaped its mouth and nostrils as it breathed.

Mercy cowered low into her mane, and Scootaloo kept her timid eyes locked on the mystical wooden beast. She slowly crept in the direction of the river, hoping the terrifying monster couldn’t spot her. She could feel her heart racing as she moved further away from the creature, and eventually the timberwolf turned and began walking in another direction, away from her location.

Scootaloo had to let out a long sigh of relief, and she sat on her flank, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hooves. “Aw, man… They’re even creepier than how Spike described.”

Taking a moment to recollect herself, she decided it would be wise to just fly back to the river from here. Turning away, she flapped her wings and ascended off the ground, and flew low through the trees.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Returning to the river, she landed back on her hooves, and crawled up to the waterbed. Letting out a sigh, she collapsed onto her haunches and dipped her hooves into the stream, splashing water up into her face to cool herself down. “Goddess, I hope I don’t ever see one of those things again,” her voice trembled as she reached into her left saddlebag for a rag, and used it to wipe her face dry.

Shaking herself off, she sat on her flank and turned her neck to look toward the mountain. She stood back onto her hooves, and continued her journey upstream, trotting along the riverbed. Glancing to her right to keep her eyes on the shadows of the forest, she kept a hurried pace.

After a few minutes of further walking, Mercy screeched and flew out of her mane, startling her. Mercy kept still as he hovered in the air, keeping his eyes locked on something not too far up ahead. Scootaloo curiously glanced over to what he was staring at, and there lying in the fog on his back, was a changeling. Her eyes widened, and she jumped when she set eyes on him. Crouching low to the ground to hopefully remain unseen, she kept silent for about a minute before she felt that something was off about the lone changeling simply lying there in the middle of nowhere. He wasn’t moving—not an inch.

Scootaloo gulped nervously, and crept closer to the changeling in the descent fog. Once she got close enough, she could make out who it specially was—it was the one who captured her back in Ponyville’s town hall, Flake. She noticed the burn injury on his chest, which made her question the situation even further.

Slowly approaching the downed changeling, she quietly stepped up to him, keeping her head low and her ears curved back. Now standing only a meter away from him, she felt her heart racing as she kept sneaking closer. He appeared to be breathing, but it was very weak. Mercy flew on ahead, and descended next to Flake’s head. Scootaloo’s eyes widened, and she shook her head, whispering to the mammal, “Mercy, no… What’re you doing…?”

He screeched a few inches from the changeling’s face, which made Scootaloo cower. After a delay, Flake slowly opened his turquoise eyes. He blinked slowly a couple of times, and he turned his neck to face her, looking straight up at her with his eyes only half open. She could tell he was very weak. Slowly, his eyes almost involuntarily closed again, and he remained still, breathing quietly and hoarse.

Scootaloo wasn’t about to admit it, but she actually felt pity for the changeling at her hooves. She stood in silence, just staring down at him. He was her enemy, and he was the one who captured her, nearly taking her one and only chance to save her kind away forever, but she knew she couldn’t just leave him here. Not like this.

“What happened…?” she caught herself asking him.

Flake’s eyes clenched and he weakly turned his neck to face the other way. “Go… away…” he croaked between his words.

There was a long moment of silence. Though she felt that she should probably just do as he told and walk away, she didn’t.

“I sa…aid…” he coughed and turned to face her, opening his eyes momentarily to frown at her, “Go aw… away…” Breathing impatiently through his snout, he just glared at her, while she looked back down at him, emotional sorrows stirring in the bottom of her heart. There was a minute long stare between the two, and Flake eventually turned away again and sighed. “Why won’t you just… leave me alone…?” The more he spoke, the rougher his breathing sounded.

Scootaloo wasn’t even sure how to respond to that. Even she was subconsciously asking herself the same question. He was in bad shape—if she just left him here, he was inevitably going to die.

“Ugh…” he groaned and tried to yell. “Go, away!” his holler was hoarse and weak, and didn’t come forth very loud. He plunked his head back into the ground and coughed.

Though he tried to verbally prod her away, she didn’t move; she couldn’t move. While she felt anger and hatred in the back of her subconscious mind toward the changeling, she felt it in every bone in her body that helping him was the right thing to do; the loyal thing to do. Deeply sighing, she turned to her saddlebags and dug through her supplies.

“Leave me… alone,” he croaked impatiently.

After a few moments of searching through her saddlebags, she found what she was looking for, and pulled out a vial with a purple liquid, checking the label to ensure it was the right one. She sighed as she carefully placed the vial on the ground, and she gently pushed it toward the changeling.

“Wha… what is that?” he grumbled ignorantly, “I don’t want your junk.”

“I’m trying to help you.” She rolled her eyes and muttered.

He just looked up at her and winced at that. “And why… would you help me…?”

Scootaloo shrugged. “Because… sometimes, when somepony needs help, we help them,” she murmured, “And right now… you need help.”

“I don’t need your help,” he grumbled and tried kicking the vial away from him, though it only rolled about a foot from his reach from such a weak punt. “I don’t need your crap, and I don’t need you.” Forcing himself to lean up enough just to glare at her, he coughed, “Go. Away.” After repeating himself for the umpteenth time, he dropped back to the ground and exhaled an irate sigh through his snout with his eyes clenched shut.

It became clear that she couldn’t convince him to give in to her aid. Regrettably, she knew there wasn’t much else she could do for him at this point. “Alright…” Scootaloo pitifully sighed. “If you want me to go… I’ll go,” she said in a slow and hurt voice, and slowly pushed the vial back into his reach. “But, please. Take it.”

Flake just frowned at that with his eyelids shut. There were a few moments of silence, and he slowly opened his eyes again, looking up to where Scootaloo stood. However, she wasn’t standing there any more—she had already started walking. Weakly, he turned his neck to see that she was trotting toward the mountain. In that moment, he felt something, though he couldn’t understand it very well—he was new to the feeling. It was a warm and welcoming emotion, unlike anything he has ever experienced back at the hive. There was a part of him that wanted to say something to her—to say thank you—but, his stubbornness kept him silent, and he just let her walk away.

Turning his neck to look at the vial next to his hoof that she left with him, he weakly reached for it and slid it across the ground closer to himself so he could read the label. His lips trembled as he read it, and he gently closed his eyes, and tears trickled out of his closed eyelids—warm and grateful tears.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Chrysalis remained silent in her throne room after a long and hectic day. Standing next to a window, she peered out at the wasteland through the green stained glass. During her quiet moment to herself, the doors to the throne room creaked open.

“Your Majesty,” Chitin addressed her at the door, stepping into the room.

The changeling Queen rolled her eyes and she turned to face the captain. “Do you have any news about our situation?”

“I’ve taken care of the imposter,” Chitin exclaimed.

“I see.” She sighed and trotted up closer to him. “How did he take it?”

“Hm...” Chitin put a hoof on his chin and thought of a way to put it. “Let’s just say that Flake won’t be trying that again any time soon.”

“Right. Well good.” she cringed and turned away, “I still can’t believe one of the changelings in the hive tried posing himself as a guard.”

He frowned. “Nor can I.”

“And Daring Do?” She turned back to him in question. “Any updates on her?”

Chitin scratched the back of his head and winced. “Er, well... No, not exactly,” he shamefully admitted, “I nearly had the pony in a cocoon, but Fla—er, she um, jumped into the river, and I lost her.”

Chrysalis caught onto his stutter, and gave him a suspicious look. Not thinking too much of it, she questioned him further. “How do you keep losing her?” she grumbled in a displeased tone, “We’ve never had a problem like this before.”

“I-I don’t know, my Queen,” Chitin stuttered.

There was an awkward pause before Chrysalis began speaking again, “Chitin... Ten years ago, we were capable of capturing every single equine in all of Equestria.” She stood tall and emphasized herself, “Every earth pony, unicorn, pegasus, zebra, and even their princesses... We’ve even managed to capture several cockatrice, some timberwolves, a dragon, a few gryphons, and even an ursa minor,” as she spoke, her voice was rising, “So why, Chitin, can you not capture—let alone keep track of—one, bucking, pony?!”

Chitin could’ve sworn the throne room shook when she shouted those last few words. His eyes widened, and he just stood there, unable to produce any words from his gaping mouth.

Chrysalis pointed to the door, expressing a very disappointed frown. “You’d better find her, Chitin. I’m beginning to lose my patience with you!”

The captain cowered and his ears fell back. “Yes, my Queen...” With that, he turned and galloped back out the door. Chrysalis shook her head and grumbled, trotting back to her throne. Taking a seat, she leaned back and sighed, placing her hoof on her forehead.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Scootaloo carried on along the side of the river for about half an hour, keeping her eyes on the mountain ahead of her. Every step she took was a strong stride with purpose. She knew what she had to do when she got there, but how she was going to do it was a whole different story. Trotting along the riverbed, she had lots of time to come up with a plan. She was overwhelmingly outnumbered beyond anything she could compare, and she had one shot at this.

As she kept her strong pace along the river’s shore, she heard a noise in the trees that made her freeze. She cowered and turned her neck to view the dark shadows of Everfree. Staring into the depths of the woods, she heard another growl—the same growl as before. “Aw shoot... C’mon Scoot. Keep walking...” she murmured to herself, creeping along. The growling became louder, and she turned to see a pair of glowing eyes, staring straight at her from the lifeless bushes.

She couldn’t seem to trot any further. She found herself immobilized, with her hooves frozen to the ground out of fear. After what felt like an eternity of staring into those piercing eyes, a timberwolf came charging out straight at her with a fierce growl. Mercy screeched and rose up into the air from her mane.

“Aw, BUCK!” she yelled, and galloped along the ground, with the timberwolf hot on her tail. She watched as Mercy flew up into the air, and he turned back to her as a signal for her to follow. She took a chance and leapt up, and flapping her wings, she ascended away from the beast. Just when she thought she had enough distance in the air from her predator, it leapt up at her, and swatted her right out of the air. She hurtled back down into the thick fog, and crashed painfully in the dirt, rolling to a stop against a tree.

Scootaloo arched her back from the pain, and held her hoof where it stung. The moment she opened her eyes, the timberwolf was the first thing she saw, creeping up to her with its gaping maw and green mist emanating from its breath. She turned her neck in a panic, and tried standing, then something else in her peripheral vision caught her eye. She quickly turned to it, and saw another timberwolf off in the distance, charging in her direction. Her pupils dilated, and she was quick to stand and run, adrenaline racing through her veins.

Galloping off into the forest, she leapt up into the air to try to ascend again, but she felt a pinch in her left wing, and she fell back down to the ground with a thud. “Agh BUCK, not again!”

The first timberwolf came charging up close to her, and the second was closing in too. To her surprise, it struck down the first timberwolf. Her eyes shot wide open, and she stood up, backing away from the two fighting over her. Scootaloo wasn’t sure what to do, and she sidestepped closer to the river. Maybe—just maybe—she could get away, and let the two distracted beasts fight. She watched as they pounced and bit each other.

The second timberwolf was knocked onto its side, and the first turned to face her, and began charging after her again. She turned tail and ran, galloping harder than she knew her legs could ever allow. “Celestia, help me!” she shrieked. Just as the timberwolf reached her, the other one came back, and jumped right on top of the one chasing her. She turned for a brief moment to watch, then decided it wasn’t worth it, and kept running. She heard a loud clash of splintering wood, and she had to turn and see what had just happened. The second timberwolf had ripped the first one’s forelimb clean off in its jaw, hurled it off into the trees, and kept him pinned while ripping more and more chunks off of the wooden beast while it howled in pain.

Scootaloo was watching this while she galloped away from the scene, and wasn’t paying attention to where she was running. She turned to look ahead, just in time to see a branch right in front of her, and crashed into it snout first. “OGH!!” The impact sent her flipping backwards, and she crashed onto her back on the ground. She coughed and wiped her snout with the back of her hoof, drawing a little blood from the impact with the branch. Cringing, she pulled herself back up onto her flank, and she turned to see that the second timberwolf had completely ripped apart the first one into splinters. It was now jogging toward her at a terrifying pace.

The last hope for ponykind got to her hooves, and kept galloping away from the beast. The timberwolf sprinted after her, and leapt up into the air, landing on top of her, pinning her by her back. Hyperventilating, she scraped at the ground with her hooves, trying to pull herself free from the creature. It growled from over her head, and then to her surprise, he slowly stood off of her, and backed away.

Scootaloo scrambled to her hooves and turned to face the beast, wide-eyed. She froze, seeing that the timberwolf was sitting there, just looking at her. But he wasn’t attacking.

Terrified, Scootaloo stood frozen, and they exchanged a long stare. Then something happened that made her jump back, but she kept watching. A green flare engulfed the beast, and she watched in disbelief as it began to magically change form from the neon fire. Slowly the flames faded away, and a familiar changeling was replaced by the fierce timberwolf, and her eyes widened.

She was lost for words, staring at the changeling before her. There was a very long stare between the two. After they exchanged glares, Flake held up an empty vial in his hoof, and awkwardly read the label. “Apply to cuts, burns or bites. Do not consume, for it may cause plights.” He looked at her with a raised brow in question.

“Uh... yeah.” Scootaloo scratched the back of her head. “Zecora has this... rhyming problem.”

Flake put the vial down at his hooves, and they kept their eyes on each other from a distance.

“Why...?” Scootaloo finally asked.

He shrugged. “Sometimes... when somepony needs help... we help them.”

Scootaloo could only smile in response.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Many thanks to these gentlecolts:
Proofreading and Editing done by The Princess Luna and David Hasselhoof.
Prereading and other Assistance by Morfonious.

Grave of Neglect

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Scootaloo and Flake returned to the riverbed after the timberwolf chase through the thicket of Everfree forest. There wasn’t a lot said between the pegasus and the changeling; it was mostly awkward silence.

“So...” Flake cleared his throat. “What did you say your name was?”

Scootaloo’s ears twitched, and she turned to face him. She was still uncertain if she could trust him, so she felt it was best she stuck with her other name. “Daring Do,” she replied, stretching out her wings as she stood back up. “Well, I should keep moving.” Turning to face the mountain, she began trotting upstream.

“Huh?” Flake’s ears twitched and he stood up to follow her. “Wait, you’re leaving?”

Scootaloo sighed and briefly stopped to face the changeling, rolling her eyes. “Look. I know you and I managed to get off on the right hoof there in the forest. But you really shouldn’t come with me.”

“Uh... Right.” Flake cleared his throat and turned away. “Well, bye then.” As he trotted off, Scootaloo watched with a raised brow. Why would the changeling be traveling in the opposite direction of his hive?

“Hold on,” Scootaloo called out to him, “Where are you going?”

Flake turned back to face her and shrugged. “Not sure. I guess it doesn’t matter,” he murmured, “I’ve got nowhere to go, really.”

Scootaloo was puzzled by that. She tilted her head curiously. “What do you mean?” she questioned him.

Flake was hesitant at first to reply. After a brief moment, he sighed and sat on his flank. “I don’t understand something... So I need to ask,” he requested solemnly, “My whole life living in the hive, none of the changelings would ever help me.” He frowned and looked at his ratty wings. “They’d look at these, telling me I’ll get nowhere in this shape. It’s always been my dream to join the high ranked guards. But I’ve always been turned down without even being given a chance.” He looked down to the ground. “That moment when you escaped from your cocoon, I realized that was my opportunity to show the hive that I am stronger than I look. So I snuck into Chitin’s search crew, and convinced him that the Queen recruited me so I could have the chance to show them what I can do.”

Scootaloo’s ears folded back as she listened. Flake’s expression grew more sour as he told her this story, and evident tears began to show in his turquoise eyes.

“So... I did what the captain and his crew could not,” the changeling explained, “I cocooned you.”

“Congratulations,” Scootaloo said cynically, frowning at him. Flake’s ears twitched, subconsciously reminding himself that he was talking to the pony he had captured.

“Well... You’re a pony.” The changeling sighed and winced. “You wouldn’t understand what that sort of thing means to a changeling.” He lowered his head, his eyes wandering. “I don’t feel proud of it, and I didn’t then either. I just wanted acceptance from my Queen...”

Scootaloo sighed. “You said you needed to ask me something. So what is your question?”

Flake chewed on his bottom lip, thinking of a way to word it. After a brief hesitation, he continued. “After capturing you, I thought that they would accept me. That they would give me a chance to be one of them.” The tears finally escaped his eyelids and trickled down his cheeks. He tried shaking his head in the attempt to hide it from her. “But instead, my own kind exiled me and struck me down... and left me for dead.”

Scootaloo’s ears twitched hearing that. It made sense to her now—why she found him the way she did on the riverbed. She couldn’t say much in response, but she felt the empathy.

“While my own kind sought to kill me... a pony—our enemy and food source—helped me; healed me.” He looked at her with his damp eyes and murmured, “Even after I’ve cocooned her, she still came back to help me. So I have to ask... Why?”

Flake’s single worded question stirred through Scootaloo’s mind. Strangely, she couldn’t think of an answer. Why did she help him? Why is it that she had fought her way through the other changelings after her—even resulting in killing one of them in a heap of boards and insulation—but spared the one who had succeeded in cocooning her, nearly sealing her fate forever? She stood there quietly, her eyes staring off into space as she searched the deep corners of her mind for an answer to his simple question. She knew the answer had to do with the fact he was just lying there, helpless, with hardly enough strength to even breathe. So, was the answer pity or guilt? Or did she see something in the dying changeling that she hadn’t before?

“Well, I, um,” Scootaloo murmured, trying to help even herself understand her answer. “It just felt like the right thing to do.”

Flake tilted his head and raised a brow. “But we were enemies,” he exclaimed.

“Thank you, for clarifying that for me,” Scootaloo said in a quiet tone.

“Huh?” Flake’s ears fell back. “I...”

“You said were,” the pegasus had a soft voice in her response.

Flake stood up straight and his ears twitched. “Um... Wait. So, what does that make us now then?”

Scootaloo smiled. “It makes us friends.”

There was a pause. Upon hearing those words, the changeling was seemingly frozen. Scootaloo was confused by his sudden behaviour. It was like he had been lifted from a sin, and he just stared at her. “F... friends...?”

The pegasus just shrugged. “Well, yeah. You saved my life,” she exclaimed. “I mean, what else would I call you?”

Flake just kept looking her in the eyes with that wide-eyed stare. Scootaloo kept watching him, and something happened that she never would have expected... His coat magically changed in colour, from the pitch black all changelings tend to have on their bodies, to a dark olive.

At first, Scootaloo was left in awe. She didn’t understand—until she remembered something. That very same thing happened to her when she was comforted by the love and affection from Mercy. When she escaped the changelings’ hive, her coat and mane were a dead grey; Mercy’s friendship brightened her colour, more and more each time she felt the warmth of kindness. “You... have coloured coats, too.”

The changeling blinked a few times, snapping out of it. “What?” he questioned her comment, and out of curiosity, lifted his front-right hoof up to look at it. When he witnessed his new colour for himself, he just kept looking at his hoof. He stood there in silence, admiring his new look. After what seemed like a long minute, Scootaloo watched as he continued to acknowledge his change. Closing his eyes, he slowly lifted his head, looking to the sky through his closed eyelids. “Why do I... feel so warm?” he murmured in a trembling voice of comfort. “I-I don’t understand this feeling. What is it?” He opened his eyes and put his hooves down, looking at the pony through his damp turquoise eyes. “What is this feeling, Daring Do? I don’t understand.”

Scootaloo stood, watching, and slowly a smile formed over her face. She knew exactly what he was feeling. “You’ve never felt it before?”

“What is it?” he asked again in a voice that sounded as though he was ready to cry.

“The very thing you need to live,” she replied.

“Love...?” he questioned her.

Scootaloo nodded with a warm smile. “The magic of friendship.”

“I’ve never... felt such a thing before,” the changeling murmured and tilted his head. “N...nopony’s ever called me their... friend before.”

The pegasus raised a brow. “How could that be?”

Flake breathed through his nose and looked to the ground. “I’ve never even known what a friend was,” he whispered slowly, “Until you showed me.”

Scootaloo put that to thought. “Well... what doesn’t make sense to me, is... how is it that every changeling I’ve ever seen has always had that dark and colourless coat? And then I meet you, and your coat changes colour as a result of friendship...” She squinted at the thought. “Does every changeling in your colony have that same black colour?”

The changeling nodded curiously.

This got Scootaloo thinking. Her eyes wandered as she searched for the answers in her thoughts, and slowly, it started to make sense to her. “If that’s true,” she pondered, “Then it’s almost as if none of the changelings have ever experienced friendship in their lives.” Her eyes widened as the epiphany came together. “And... that’s why you have to feed off of love. Because you creatures don’t know how to love yourselves.” Her eyes wandered as she thought about it. “Every changeling I’ve ever met has been self-centered. Always wanting all the honour to themselves. Always wanting respect from the Queen. Always thinking—so deeply—about themselves.” She looked at the changeling, and he looked back at her. “Is that how it is in the hive? You all just do your job in the Queen’s name, but you don’t do anything for other changelings?”

Looking into Scootaloo’s eyes, Flake’s ears fell back. “Will you teach me?” he requested.

Scootaloo’s ears perked from the question. “Teach you what?”

“The magic of friendship,” the changeling replied. “Now that I know that feeling, I don’t want to let it go,” he murmured quietly. Then his eyes widened, and he breathed a little coarser, like he was about to have a panic attack. “That’s the feeling we’ve been draining out of ponies? That’s the love we’ve been consuming?”

The pegasus tilted her head and she raised a brow in question. As she nodded, his breathing became faster, and he lifted a hoof to his head. “I... I can’t...” he stuttered, “We’ve been taking this wonderful feeling from you ponies? Leaving you feeling...” He paused, thinking of how to describe how he felt before he knew friendship.

“Empty?” Scootaloo asked.

Flake looked back into Scootaloo’s eyes with understanding, and he nodded. “Empty...” he replied solemnly. A brief moment of silence had past before he cringed from self-disgust. “I’m going to help you get your friends back.”

Scootaloo stood tall and perked her ears. “You’re coming with me?”

The determined changeling nodded.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Resting in her throne room, Chrysalis waited for Chitin to return from his search. Sitting in her seat, she heard hoofsteps approaching the doors from the other side. Leaning forward, she sighed and murmured, “About time...”

The door knocked three times, then there was silence. “Come in,” she called out. There was a hesitation, and the doors opened up. The changeling entering her throne room however was not Chitin like she had expected. “Shade?” She raised a brow and sat up straight. “What brings you in here?”

“My apologies for being intrusive, Queen Chrysalis.” He bowed for a brief moment before standing back up and getting to the point. “We have a problem back in the cocoon dome.”

“One thing after another...” Chrysalis groaned and impatiently slammed her hoof into her armrest. “We have enough problems dealing with the pony on the loose.”

“I understand you’re busy with that,” he muttered abruptly. “However, there is a crisis on our hooves bigger than a missing pony.”

Chrysalis rolled her eyes. “What could possibly be so important that you had to come in here?”

Shade took a breath in before he explained himself. “Since the pegasus escaped, we have had to throw away eight other cocooned ponies who have been drained completely of love.” He raised his voice to emphasize the severity of the situation, “I have been the head guard of the cocoon dome for eight years, and in that time, we have never had to toss out empty ponies at a rate this high.”

The Queen momentarily froze, and remained silent. She stood up slowly from her throne, and squinted at him. “How could that be? The only way to drain love so quickly is to use our transformation magic. And even then, there is no way it would drain it at a rate as high as you say, unless multiple changelings were doing it.”

“I looked into it,” he revealed with a sigh and a wince. “I don’t know the source of it... but, it appears that someone is draining the love of every cocooned pony in our possession.”

“Someone is stealing our love...?” the Queen questioned him with doubt. “We’ve never had a problem like this before.” She cringed and sat back down, putting her hoof to her chin. There was a moment of silence, and she put it to thought. “How quickly are they draining? If we don’t stop the source from stealing our supply, how long do we have?”

“Before we have nothing left?” Shade looked to the side, putting the question to thought. He shrugged his shoulders, and came up with an estimation, “Four, maybe five months?”

“That fast...?” she quietly stuttered. Her eyes wandered, and she put the situation to thought. “What I am having a difficult time fathoming is how all of these critical problems have been unraveling ever since that pony escaped!”

“Are you suggesting there is a connection?” the guard questioned her.

“I don’t know,” the Queen grumbled. “Chitin and his search crew are looking for her as we speak.”

“And how is that going?”

Chrysalis just cringed at the question.

“Never mind,” he murmured and cleared his throat. “I will continue to look for the source of the drainage problem.”

“Good,” Chrysalis sighed. “Come back to me with any updates on the matter. If we don’t take care of it soon, we won’t be able to live in Equestria any longer.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Trotting side by side along the riverbed, Scootaloo and Flake made their way toward the mountain.

“I have a question,” Scootaloo exclaimed and turned to the olive changeling beside her. “After you cocooned me, I awoke washed up on the riverbed. What exactly happened while I was unconscious?” When Flake looked at her, she could tell that he was still sore on the subject. “I don’t mean that offensively; I know you meant well by your job,” she reassured him, “I just want to know what happened.”

Flake sighed. “I was taking you back to the Queen, and Chitin stopped me.”

“So, he’s the one who tried killing you?”

The exiled changeling winced in response, and he looked away from her. There was a silent pause in their conversation before he continued to talk. “And to think, I wanted to become just like him.”

Scootaloo’s ears fell back, and she thought about his response. She imagined a pegasus soaring through the air creating rainbows and clearing clouds, and a memory of her flightless foal self looking up at her idol from below, wishing to be airborne like her. “So... you looked up to Chitin?” Scootaloo couldn’t fathom her idol turning her back on her. But she knew, that if that ever did happen, she would probably die on the inside.

“Like a brother,” Flake replied with a sigh. “Although I don’t think he ever really noticed me...”

Memories of Scootaloo’s idol pegasus kept spinning through the corridors of her mind. The day Rainbow Dash took her under her wing, accepting her as her little sister—her happiest memory. The agonizing empathy she felt for the changeling stirred in her heart. Chewing her bottom lip, she looked away and tried to move on with the subject, and cleared her throat. “So... what happened after that? How did I get in the river?”

Flake’s eyes wandered and he took in a breath through his nostrils. “Chitin wanted to take you back to the Queen himself,” he explained. “At that time, I didn’t feel it was right that he would bring you to her. That should have rightfully been me, because I caught you.” He squinted and sighed. “Before he had a chance to fly off with you, I pushed your cocoon into the river so he couldn’t get you.” He frowned and lowered his head. “As a result, he got angry, and cast a forbidden spell on me known as Red Death, which burns the victim from the inside out—which, in most cases is fatal, but after a slow and painful struggle. The Queen doesn’t approve of this spell ever being used, unless absolutely necessary for our survival.” He turned to look at the pegasus. “You were no longer in a cocoon, because water washes our mesh away.”

“I see,” Scootaloo murmured.

Trotting further upstream, they could hear the roaring of the waterfall up ahead. Looking up, the mountain was now towering over them, with the water plummeting into the river below, where Scootaloo had fallen from. The dead equine bodies in the gloomy water sent chills down her spine. Flake looked over to her, acknowledging her ominous expressions as she glared into the watery grave. Scootaloo stopped trotting, and had to stand still for a moment to pull herself together. Slowly turning her neck to view the river of bones, her heart kept sinking deeper and deeper into her gut.

“Daring Do?” the changeling questioned her, expressing his concerns with a calm voice. Scootaloo’s focus was swallowed by the heartbreaking view; she could hear him, but not coherently.

“Daring,” he called again, snapping her out of it. Her ears twitched in response, and she turned to look at him. “Everything alright?” he asked.

Scootaloo exhaled slowly through her nose, and she brought her glance back to facing the river. Flake cleared his throat and stepped closer to the emotionally scarred mare. Cautiously, he approached her with his ears curved back.

“Every living creature needs to feel love,” Scootaloo solemnly and quietly explained. “Just like you changelings need it to live, we ponies need it, too. Without love, a creature feels nothing. If a creature feels nothing... they die.”

Flake turned to look at the dead bodies in the river, his eyes slowly trailing along the stream of bones.

“Because of your kind’s way of life, I can see why you need to rely on feeding off of the love that other creatures provide to stay alive. And because of this, I have a question...” She turned to look at Flake, and he looked back at her. “When a pony’s love is cleaned out, you throw them away as if we are garbage...” She winced. “What do you changelings do to your own kind when you’re deceased?”

“I...” Flake froze, and his eyes wandered. “I don’t know... I never really thought about it.”

“How often do you know of changelings dying?” the pegasus questioned him further.

“Well... It isn’t unheard of. It happens every once in awhile... Why do you ask...?”

“Do you know who they were?” She sat on her flank and made a saddened expression. “Did any changelings know who they were?”

“Um... Yeah, but... I...”

“So a changeling dies, and nobody acknowledges it. They just toss them out, too? You can’t show even a speck of love for your own kind, so you feed off the love of another. To the extent, you feel nothing for even a changeling when they die, and dump them here with the other dead bodies, without a hint of respect.”

“What... what makes you think...”

Scootaloo interrupted his question by pointing to a skeleton on the river shore not too far from them. Flake glanced at the body, and winced at it. After a brief hesitation, he slowly crept up to the body. His ears fell back at the sight, and he felt his heart sinking. The bone structure was different from the other deceased ponies. “A changeling...?” he whimpered, “Bu... but why... why would we...?”

“You’ve never really thought about it before, because you’ve never felt love before,” Scootaloo murmured. “You’ve only ever fed off of it.” She stood up and trotted to him. “But now that you’ve felt what we ponies feel—love and friendship—you feel the loss; the heartbreak and sorrows in your soul.” She stood next to the trembling changeling who was looking down at the corpse at his hooves. “You feel what I’m feeling.”

Flake kept his eyes on the changeling’s skeleton. The sickening feeling in his heart was overwhelming, and tears began to trickle from his eyes. Slowly, he reached out a hoof and gently nudged the skull, which tilted to its side at an angle which seemed like it was staring right back up at him through its empty eyes. His ears fell back, and he looked up to the mountain where the waterfall was flowing from. “This is wrong,” he muttered in a breathless voice. He looked back down to the skeleton, then he turned to Scootaloo, and he started to cry. “I’m sorry,” he whimpered, “Daring Do, I’m sorry, it never crossed my mind, I’ve never felt it, I didn’t... I didn’t know...”

“But now you have felt it,” Scootaloo replied warmly, “And I forgive you.” Tears were evident in her eyes as well.

Hearing those words of comfort and acceptance, Flake was left speechless. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out; just a weep. Scootaloo sighed, and she trotted up to him. He was at first confused by her gesture when she wrapped a hoof around his shoulders; he didn’t know what to make of it. Scootaloo embraced the trembling changeling in a forgiving hug, and a gasping hiccup escaped his throat. He lowered his head upon her shoulder, and he began to sob. He could feel himself changing—his colour growing brighter; greener.

After a long moment in the silent embrace, Scootaloo finally broke the hug and stepped back, witnessing the bright leafy-green changeling before her.

“I won’t allow this to continue to happen,” Flake exclaimed. “We have to tell them... show them...”

Scootaloo smiled and nodded. “You know a safe way in?”

“Hm...” Flake put a hoof to his chin and put that to thought. “...Yes,” he replied and put his hoof back down. “The original entrance. The changelings don’t use that part of the hive any more; we’ll be able to get in easier without being seen.”

“Alright,” Scootaloo exclaimed. “Where?”

“The original entrance is through the old abandoned city.” The changeling looked up to the mountain at the far side, and pointed a hoof. “Canterlot.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Many thanks to these gentlecolts:
Proofreading and Editing done by The Princess Luna and David Hasselhoof.
Prereading and other Assistance by Morfonious.

The Requiem of Equestria

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Stepping through the entry gates of Canterlot, Scootaloo and Flake cautiously moved forward at a slow and steady pace. The city had crumbled into ruins, and was completely vacant without even an equine corpse. It was quiet to the extent they could hear the echo from their breath, and the whistling winds passing through the alleyways. Buildings had collapsed into rubble, and the stone pathways were cracked and shifted. The darkness from the deathly clouded sky made the empty city feel ominous with its casted shadows.

Keeping a timid pace as they wandered through the city, they kept their heads down and their eyes focused on the darker corners of the ruins. Mercy was cowering low in Scootaloo’s mane, his ears pinned back.

“So...” Scootaloo cleared her throat and quietly questioned the green changeling beside her, “Why, exactly do you not use the original entrance any more?”

“Well, we sealed it off,” Flake explained with a sigh. “So we’ll have to do some digging.”

“Sealed off?” Scootaloo looked at him and winced. “What do you mean, sealed off? Why?”

“We didn’t want the feared monster of Canterlot to get into our hive.”

The pegasus stopped walking forward and squinted at the changeling. “Feared monster?”

“It appeared soon after we’ve captured the princesses of night and day,” Flake explained in a timid voice. “It fought back at us, and though we’ve tried, we couldn’t seem to cocoon it.”

“Uh... Why not?”

He winced. “Whenever we fired our mesh spell at it, the effects would just dissolve away from its body.”

Scootaloo sighed loudly and rolled her eyes. “You know, Flake, you could have told me this before you guided me to these ruins!”

“If I had, would you still have come?” he questioned her. She just furrowed her eyes at him in response and said nothing. “Relax. So long as we don’t bump into it, we’ll be fine,” he reassured her, clearing his throat. “After all, there’s only one.”

“That is so comforting,” Scootaloo sarcastically muttered. “And if we do bump into it?”

Flake shrugged. “Run?”

Scootaloo gave him an unimpressed look, rolled her eyes, and continued walking. “So, where is the entrance anyway?”

“In the castle,” he exclaimed and trotted toward the iconic stone structure. “We had the original entrance in the back of the ceremonial room.”

Scootaloo just cringed and followed behind. Keeping herself alert, she watched her surroundings for signs of movement; she felt uneasy not knowing what sort of creature was lurking in the abandoned city.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Flying through the cocoon dome, Shade examined the cocooned ponies hanging from the beveled ceiling, searching for a drainage source. Placing his ear up against a cocoon shell, he could hear the energy being drawn from the pony. “What is going on here...?” he grumbled to himself in question. It sounded like the energy was being drawn upward into the ceiling through the stem of the cocoon. Hovering up the side of the cocoon, he examined the stem. It seemed the love from the ponies were being drawn up into a channeling source through the walls.

Hovering up close to the wall of the dome, he placed his ear against it. He could hear the buzz of the energy trailing through it. Judging by the sound of the current, it appeared that the energy was going downward.

Flying down along the dome walls, he slowly and cautiously made his way lower, following the source. Until eventually, it lead him to a two meter wide patch on the wall that seemed darker than the rest of the dome. He squinted curiously, and prodded it with his hooves. The surface of this wall was frail, and it was crumbling easily.

“Hmm...” He hovered back a bit to give himself some room, and then with some momentum, he launched himself into the surface of the wall, breaking through it with ease. Upon impact, the mesh wall collapsed into chunks of rubble. On the other side of the frail wall, he revealed a tunnel that cast downward into darkness. He winced and raised a brow at the sight of the foreign cave in their dome. “What the...”

He turned his neck to see if any other changelings were watching; none were in the vicinity. Looking back to the hidden tunnel, he shrugged his shoulders while taking in a breath of air. After a moment of hesitation, he descent into the dark abyss, following the source deeper into the blackening shadows.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Flake and Scootaloo made their way to Canterlot Castle, approaching the large double-doored entrance up the stone staircase. Scootaloo felt nervous entering the royal building of Equestria, feeling as though she was setting hoof on forbidden ground. Standing in front of the doorway, they briefly exchanged glances, and Scootaloo stepped up to the door with the attempt to push it open.

“Hnngh...” She put her weight into it, but the door wouldn’t budge. “Oogh... This door is heavy...” Taking a breath and stepping back, she turned around to face Flake. “You mind helping me push—” He wasn’t there. “...Flake?” She turned her neck to locate the changeling, and found him off to the side. Flying next to the castle wall, he gave himself some momentum, and hurled himself into a stain-glass window, smashing through it. “Right...” the pegasus murmured, rolling her eyes. Flapping her wings, she followed Flake through the broken window, landing on the white tile floor inside the castle next to him.

The interior of the castle was massive. Everything was covered in the green mesh, draping from the walls and ceilings, and patches covering the floor across the room.

“The entrance to the hive is just through those doors ahead,” Flake exclaimed, trotting up to the double-doors. Scootaloo recognized this location; beyond those doors was where the Royal Canterlot Wedding had been held. Flashbacks of preparing to be one of the flower fillies played through her memories as they approached the doors. They slowly pushed the creaking doors open to see the altar at the end of the red carpet aisle, with open windows on either side. She remembered seeing the changelings for the first time, and their Queen, who had taken form of the original bride to hide her identity from the ponies. She remembered how Princess Cadence and Shining Armour had defeated the changelings with one of the most powerful spells known in Equestria, conjured up by their love. At the steps at end of the aisle, there was a large pile of rubble.

Flake sighed and trotted up to the pile of brick and stone debris. Scootaloo winced and followed the changeling. “So, the entrance is buried beneath here?” she questioned him in an unenthused voice.

“Unfortunately, yes,” Flake replied uneasily. “As I said before, we’ll have to do some digging.” He began pulling rocks away from the pile.

“Yeah right! That’ll take forever!” Scootaloo groaned loudly. “Isn’t there some other way we can get in?”

“Nope.”

Scootaloo gave him an unimpressed look. “Just how deep is this debris buried?”

“About... ten meters below the floor?” he estimated. Scootaloo’s jaw dropped, and her eye twitched. She was about to say something, but instead, all that came out was an unpleasant groan of impatience. Flake winced and looked at her, lowering his ears. “That’s annoying, don’t make that sound, please.”

“You have got to be kidding me!!” Scootaloo yelled, startling the winged mammal resting in her mane. Mercy rose up into the air with a screech, and hovered in the air, looking below at the frantic pegasus. Flake raised a brow in response to her sudden outrage. “We’ll never get this pile of crap dug up! I’ll be old enough to have a boyfriend by the time we get through!!”

“Uh... what?” One of Flake’s ears perked in response. Scootaloo rolled her eyes, remembering that she had skipped her foalhood. “Never mind!” she growled.

“Are you coming on to me?” he questioned her.

“Wh—No!” Scootaloo squinted in disgust.

“Sheesh, you’re acting like a foal,” he exclaimed.

“Well I... I’m... You’re a... Shut up!”

Flake sighed and pointed at her saddlebag. “Daring, you have any other useful potions in there that could come in handy?”

Scootaloo rolled her eyes and opened her saddlebags, searching them upon his request. The glass vials clinked together as she dug her hoof through them, checking the labels. “Well... there’s one here that provides temporary amplified strength.”

“That’ll do just fine,” he exclaimed as he pulled another boulder aside. “Drink it and help me dig.”

Scootaloo winced at him. “Me?”

“Yeah?” His left ear perked and he looked at her in question.

“Are you implying that I’m not strong enough to dig without it?” she grumbled. “Why don’t you drink it?”

“Can you stop acting like you’re five?” he requested with lacking enthusiasm.

“I’m not five!” she snapped back at him. “I’m eight!...” She paused and blinked. “...teen!” she corrected herself.

Flake just stared at her, unimpressed.

“Fine.” Scootaloo exhaled with a grunt, plucking the cork from the vial. Sighing irritably, she took a swig of the potion. The moment it hit her tongue, she made a very sour expression, and her eyes winced and watered. She held her lips shut, and felt as though she was about to gag every time she tried to swallow it.

“That good, huh?” Flake snickered, watching the pegasus struggle to drink the potion. Scootaloo just cringed at the changeling, and with a loud and forceful gulp, she managed to swallow the liquid in her mouth.

“Ugh!! That is the most disgusting thing I’ve ever put in my mouth!!” She spat raspberries and gagged a few times. “Oh, gosh, my stoma—” she was interrupted with an unpleasant belch that made her clench her mouth shut and arch her back.

“Uhhh... You okay?” Flake winced.

Scootaloo clenched her eyes shut as she smacked her lips in a disgusted manner. “I just verped.”

“I don’t know what that means,” Flake muttered, and then cleared his throat. “Do you feel any stronger?”

“I dunno.” The unhappy pegasus sighed and rolled her eyes, putting the seal back on the half-consumed potion, and placed the rest in her saddlebag for later. “If I feel anything at all, it’s sick.”

“Good, that probably means the potion is doing something,” Flake exclaimed with amusement. Scootaloo just winced at him in response. Flake grinned and pointed at the pile of rocks. “Try moving something.”

Scootaloo exhaled through her nose, and trotted over to the pile of rubble. “Alright.” She shrugged and approached a large rock. Rising up on her hind legs, she used her front limbs to push the massive boulder. “Hngh!!” She gave it a hard shove, but even though she was putting all of her weight into it, the rock wouldn’t move.

Flake shrugged. “Well, maybe you should try drinking more...?”

“Oh, hell no,” Scootaloo muttered, making that disgusted facial expression again. Stubborn, she removed her saddlebags and placed them aside on the floor, and she continued pushing the rock. Flake stood watching, and to both of their surprise, the boulder ever so slightly slid across the ground a couple of inches. Flake’s ears perked in response to the moving rock, and gradually, Scootaloo was able to push it further and further at an increasing pace.

“Woah, Daring!” Flake leaned forward, intrigued. “I think that potion’s kicking in!”

Scootaloo’s momentum was picking up, and eventually she stopped to grip it at a lower section. “Hhhngh!!” Sweating from her mane, she attempted to lift it.

“Daring, don’t hurt yourself,” Flake suggested. “Don’t try anything you’ll regret later.”

“Haaah!!!” Scootaloo hollered from her throat, and slowly, the boulder rose up from the ground, inch by inch. Flake’s eyes widened, and his jaw nearly dropped. “AAAh!! AAAAAAH!!!” She lifted it upon her back, and held it up with her shaking legs.

After verifying that the potion was working, she dropped it off her side, and it crashed hard into the tile floor beside her. “HOOOAGH!! Pheww!!” She wiped her sweating forehead with a hoof and sat on her flank.

“Huh.” Flake smirked and applauded, clapping his hooves together. “That was epic.”

“Alright...” Scootaloo huffed. “I think... we’re ready to dig our way back into the hive now...” She turned to him and pointed at her saddlebag on the floor. “Drink the other half of the potion.”

Flake nodded and trotted to her saddlebag, and reached into the pouch for the bottle. Pulling it out, he uncorking the vial and held it up. “Well, cheers.” With that, he tipped the bottle back, and drank the rest. Lowering the empty vial, he smacked his lips a few times and shrugged. “I don’t really know what you were whining about. This tastes just fine.”

Scootaloo winced. “Well... you’re...” She froze, trying to come up with a response. “Your taste buds are screwed up.”

“Right, right,” he snickered and threw the empty vial to the floor, shattering it. “Now, let’s get digging!”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Shade continued his search through the tunnels, following the source of the drainage problem. He could hear the energy emanating from the walls, and the sound grew louder the deeper into the passage he went. Taking turn after turn, the caves went deeper, and lower beneath the hive. Until finally, he came to a dead end.

“Ugh...” he grumbled and turned his neck to look for explanations. “I’ve trotted all the way down here for nothing?” After a sigh and a wince, he stepped up to the dead end, and placed his hoof against it. Just like the wall that he had discovered in the dome that crumbled with ease, so did this one. “Hngh!” He pushed through it, and it collapsed into dust, revealing a shallow opening beyond the dead end.

Suspended in the air at the end of the tunnel was a black cocoon, which was hanging by strands of dark mesh attached to the walls around it. His ears fell back, and he cautiously trotted toward it. “What the...” The cocoon was massive; at least three times his size. He examined the area, and it wasn’t too difficult to realize that the ponies’ love was all being drawn into this cocoon through the strands of mesh attached to the walls.

“Huh...” He scratched the back of his head, unsure what to think of it. After some brief contemplating, he stepped up to one of the strands attached to the cocoon, and tried tugging on it to strip it off the wall so it would stop draining their food source. After plucking just the one strand of mesh with a bit of force, the tunnels shook, and he braced himself at his hooves. “W-what’s going on?”

Looking up at the cocoon, he watched as it began to split open. The first thing that punctured through the shell of the cocoon was a large bat-like wing. Shade’s eyes widened and he stepped away from the creature emerging. An equine shaped monster climbed out of the cocoon, and looked down at Shade with its piercing red eyes. Its body was a thick solid armour as black as the shadows, with sharp scales across its back. It flapped its hideous wings and descended from where it dwelled, and landed with a loud thud in front of the trembling changeling. In place of hooves, the creature’s four legs were pointed like that of a spider.

“Yoouuu...” his voice was deep and hoarse. “What brings you all the way down here, hm?”

Shade was shivering, and his eyes were widened. After a brief hesitation, he decided to retaliate. “Ah!!” He fired a green spell at the monster, and a burst of mesh struck against his cheek. The creature briefly flinched by Shade’s assault, and the mesh just fell off of him. The beast frowned and looked back at Shade with a menacing glare.

“You disturbed my cocooning process,” he exclaimed in an angry voice. His crooked horn glowed a deathly red, and he began charging a spell. “Now I have to re-attach myself all over again!”

“Wh... who are you??” Shade whimpered.

With the monster’s horn illuminating bright red, he glared into the eyes of the terrified changeling, and grit his serrated teeth. He lifted his front limbs, concentrating the magic from his horn.

“Wait, no!!” Shade pleaded, but to no avail. The monster crashed down to the floor with his front limbs, and a powerful blast of magic emanated from his horn, striking down the cowering changeling. “AAAAAH!!” Shade’s shrieking voice echoed through the halls in agony, and his body dispersed into ashes, leaving behind nothing apart from his bones.

The monster furrowed his eyes at the bones beneath him, and grit his teeth. “Who am I...?” he growled as he lifted his right limb, and smashed Shade’s skull with his pointed leg, cracking it into pieces. “I am the requiem of Equestria...”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Many thanks to these gentlecolts:
Proofreading and Editing done by The Princess Luna and David Hasselhoof.
Prereading and other Assistance by Morfonious.

My Little Guardian

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Boulder by boulder, Scootaloo and Flake continued to dig up the debris blocking the entrance to the changeling hive with the help of the strength potion they had consumed. Even Mercy was trying to assist them, lifting the smaller rocks by his claws. Scootaloo couldn’t help but watch the small mammal with adoration as he made an effort to help out.

“So, Daring Do,” Flake said to the pegasus while setting down a boulder, “Where exactly did you come across this bat?”

“Huh?” Scootaloo’s ear twitched and she turned to him. “Oh. After I escaped the hive, I found him in the forest, and he seemed to follow me.”

They turned to the bat and watched him lift a small rock out from the pit they were digging up. He dropped it aside, and flew back down into the hole to pick out more stones.

“It’s cute how he’s trying so hard to help,” Flake admitted. “Sure is a smart little guy.”

“Heh...” Scootaloo turned to Flake and smiled. “You have no idea. If it wasn’t for Mercy, I think I’d be lost... Or dead.”

“What do you mean?” Flake’s ear twitched, and he glanced eye to eye with her curiously.

Scootaloo lowered her head as she thought about it. Sighing through her nose, she looked out a window up at the deathly green clouds in the sky. “Mercy helped me when I was in need,” she explained in a gentle voice, and she turned to the bat digging up stones. “When I was hungry, he guided me to food... When I required shelter, he steered me to shelter... When I had to hide, he brought me to safety... When I needed to escape and run, he led me away from danger, and ensured I stayed on my hooves.” She turned back to Flake. “Mercy gave me what a true friend could ever give you.”

Flake tilted his head. “And, what is that?”

“He gave me love,” Scootaloo exclaimed. “He gave me the courage to move on, the wisdom to stay alive, and the strength to endure my tasks.”

Flake’s eyes wandered as he put that to thought. It was a long moment of solemn silence.

“Well... I suppose we should keep digging before the potion wears off,” he suggested.

Scootaloo nodded and climbed back into the pit, which at this point was about eight feet beneath the floor. Flake followed behind, and using their enhanced strength, they continued lifting heavy boulders out of the hole.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

About an hour had past. Scootaloo and Flake kept digging deeper beneath the castle floor. Gripping stones by their hooves, they lifted them with the thrust of their wings by flying up and out of the pit. Progress was beginning to gradually slow down; they could tell the potion was beginning to wear off.

“I hope you have more of those in the saddlebag,” Flake muttered as he lifted another heavy rock out of the pit.

“I don’t think I do,” Scootaloo admitted regrettably. “We’d better be close to the bottom.”

Flake exhaled through his nose and landed back in the bottom of the pit. “I don’t think we’re too far now.” Gripping a large stone, he lifted it and ascent back out of the hole with it. “Hhnn... I... Can’t—AH!” The rock slipped out of his grip, and it fell back down into the pit. Scootaloo was below, and she looked up just in time to see the boulder dropping toward her. Her eyes widened, and she swerved to the side; the boulder crashed back into the bottom of the hole. Flake and Scootaloo stared at the rock, and then exchanged glances as echoes of the loud crash emanated skyward.

“You almost crushed me!” Scootaloo yelled, frowning at the changeling overhead.

“Uh... Sorry?” Flake sighed. “I think the potion just wore off... I suddenly couldn’t lift it any longer.”

They then heard a sound that made them fold their ears back in terror—a sound familiar to Flake. The echo of a loud birdlike screech.

“The hell was that?” Scootaloo raised a brow.

Flake’s eyes widened and he ascent back up out of the hole to look. “Oh please, Queen, no.” Turning his neck to see where the sound came from, he saw it out the window, coming straight for him. “She found us!” he yelled, and flew away from the creature chasing him.

“Flake?!” Scootaloo flew up after him, and a blur of flames ripped overhead past the surface opening of the pit in Flake’s direction, which startled her back down into the hole with wide eyes. Then from above she heard a loud crash, and the room shook aggressively. Instinctively, she flew back out of the hole, concerned for the changeling. Off in the corner of the room, she witnessed the winged creature. It was twice as large as herself, and completely consumed by fire. Flake was pinned to the floor on his back, trembling and shielding his eyes with his hooves. Scootaloo’s eyes widened at the sight of the monster—she had never seen anything like it. She has heard stories of these creatures before, how they can grow to such immense sizes over time, and how they are born again from their ashes after death. “A phoenix...?” she murmured to herself in awe, “A phoenix is the feared Canterlot monster...?”

She could see that the phoenix was building up a flaming attack, and it was preparing to strike Flake with it. Instincts told her that she had to stop it; she had to save Flake... After a hesitation and a deep breath, she built up her courage, and stepped forward. “STOOOP!!” she yelled at the monster in a loud and hoarse shriek. The phoenix froze, and slowly it turned around to face her. Its glowing golden eyes made contact with hers, and it frowned fiercely at her.

Flake uncovered his eyes, and sat up on his flank to watch. His eyes widened, and his jaw dropped at the sight—the pony was standing up to it.

“Don’t you dare hurt my friend!!” Scootaloo yelled furiously at the burning monster. It stood up with its wings spread out in a threatening stature. Though she was afraid, she didn’t show it. She stood taller, pointing at herself. “My name is Daring Do! I was sent here in the name of the Equestrian King!” Stomping her hoof back into the ground while leaning closer, she snarled at the phoenix. “I have a destiny to fulfill! And you are in my way!”

The phoenix just screeched in response, and flapping its wings, it ascent above her. Standing on the ground defensively, Scootaloo waited for the phoenix to make the first move. From the mouth of the fierce monster, a ball of fire began to expand and ripple. “Come on!!” Scootaloo daringly taunted the creature.

After an angry shriek, the bird launched the fireball straight for the pegasus like a torpedo. Scootaloo braced herself, and dove to the side with the help of her wings. The assault struck where she previously stood, creating an explosion of rubble and smoke. The phoenix frowned and flew after her through the room. Scootaloo made her way to an open window, and the phoenix launched another projectile at her. She felt the heat of the blazing missile as it missed and zipped past her, and it crashed into the window frame, creating another loud explosion of stone. The vibrant detonation threw her off course, and she swerved to the side to dodge oncoming airborne debris. “No no no—AH!!” Struck out of the air by a stone projectile from the blast, she dropped back onto the tile floor, collapsing hard with a thud. She rolled a few meters across the ground, and stopped limp on her side.

“Daring Do!” Flake stood up and galloped after her, and the phoenix turned to face him again. When it made eye contact with him, he stopped and froze, frightfully backing away from it.

“No!” Scootaloo winced and weakly pushed herself up from the floor. The phoenix turned back to the struggling pegasus. “Your fight... is with me,” she breathed, and bravely made it back to her hooves with a slight limp.

“Daring, it’s not worth it!” Flake called out to her. “C’mon, let’s get out of here!” She didn’t respond, and stood her ground. The phoenix began charging up another attack from its beak, and Scootaloo spread her wings and ascent a few meters into the air until she was level with the blazing bird.

“If the King himself told me I have a destiny... Then I cannot fail,” she exclaimed with pride. Lifting her front hooves, she raised her voice. “C’mon! I’m not afraid of you!”

Shrieking angrily, the phoenix launched its flaring bullet at her. With little time to react, she gasped and dodged the attack. The ball of flames zipped past her again, detonating against a pillar and breaking it into rubble. A large cylinder chunk of the support pillar of stone crumbled away, and tipped over, crashing to the tile floor with a loud crackling thump that rattled the room. Scootaloo and Flake watched the pillar as it slowly rolled toward the pit where they had been digging up.

“Ah!!” Scootaloo flew toward the rolling pillar to stop it, and the phoenix simply blocked her off. She tried swerving around it, but it kept blocking her way, and with a quick swipe with its wing, it swat her out of the air. Flipping back, she collapsed on the ground and rolled to a stop. Winded, she coughed and sat back up, noticing that the giant heavy cylinder was closing in on their dug up hole. “Flake!! Stop that pillar! Don’t let it bury what we started!”

Flake panicked himself and flew toward the rolling pillar chunk. Pushing hard on the rolling marble stone, he tried to slow it down. “Uuugh! It’s... it’s too heavy!” It continued to roll, and it didn’t seem to decelerate.

“Keep trying!”

After a short stare down at the pegasus, the phoenix turned its glare at the changeling.

“Hey!” Scootaloo growled. “Your fight is with me! Leave him al—HEY!!” The phoenix ignored her and flew toward Flake.

At the corner of his eye, Flake saw the phoenix coming, and in a panic he swerved off to the side. “Oh NO!” In his attempt to fly away, the phoenix launched a fireball at him. Scootaloo watched as the burning projectile struck him right out of the air, exploding on contact.

“Flake!!” She watched him flip through the air in a puff of smoke, and he crashed to the ground, rolling across the tiles. Bumping against the wall, he coughed and remained still, lying on his side. He pushed himself back up and coughed a few more times. He had an obvious limp, but at least she could see that he was okay. She turned to look at the rolling pillar, and she felt a sinking feeling in her gut as she watched it reach their pit, and the massive marble cylinder fell down into the hole. Her ears fell to her sides when she heard the very loud crash in the bottom of the pit that shook the room. She and Flake exchanged glances, both knowing it was going to be impossible to dig that up—especially without another strength potion.

After a brief moment in silence, the phoenix shrieked once more, and flew down toward Flake again. Flake’s eyes widened at the incoming bird, and he tried standing back up, but his weak legs wouldn’t allow it. His ragdoll limp made it impossible to get to his hooves.

“HEEEY!!!” Scootaloo yelled furiously and lunged toward the phoenix. It briefly turned its glance to witness an angry pegasus. “I said your fight is with ME!!”

The phoenix huffed a cloud of smoke from its beak, and it hissed an intimidating screech. Spreading out its wings, it turned its course to fly toward her. Now that she had the bird’s full attention, she took the opportunity to guide it away from the changeling. Swerving to the side, she flew out an open window, and the phoenix followed behind her.

Soaring through the darkened sky, she turned her glance behind her to see that the phoenix was hot on her tail. She clenched her teeth in suspense and turned to look back ahead. Taking in a deep breath, she made a nose dive, heading toward another section of the castle. “C’mon! Let’s see you outfly this!”

She aimed for a stain-glass window and braced herself for impact. Smashing through the glass, she found herself flying through a narrow hallway with red carpeted flooring and support pillars lined up along the sides.

Flying through the castle halls to get away from the persistent monster, Scootaloo was struck out of the air by a flaming projectile. “AH!” Flailing through the air, she collapsed and rolled across the tile floor, and she crashed into a wall to her back, knocking the wind out of her. The phoenix kept coming, lighting up every corridor as it came closer, and Scootaloo trembled as she made the attempt so stand. From the phoenix’s beak, she could see it charging up another attack. With a loud and angry shriek, it launched its fireball at her. Her eyes widened as the incoming projectile came hurtling toward her. In a panic, she rolled to the side, and the attack struck the wall with an explosion. The forceful and hot wave of the blast pushed Scootaloo off her hooves, and she stumbled over, collapsing hard on the floor.

The phoenix landed on the tiles with a crackling impact, and stood before Scootaloo with its wings spread out. Scootaloo gasped and tried standing, when the phoenix swatted her back with its right wing. She slid across the floor on her back, and her head collided with a stone pillar. The impact to her head caused an irate ringing tone to her ears, and her vision was suddenly blurred. She cringed in pain as she weakly and slowly rolled over to her left to get back onto her front. Placing her hoof upon her throbbing head, she tried pushing herself up again. The ringing noise in her ears and her vision slowly went back to normal, just in time for her to look up to see the phoenix standing over her. It was ready to strike its finishing assault on her.

She was too weak to get back up or dodge the inevitable fate she was about to be dealt with. Staring into the golden eyes of the giant bird, her eyes filled up with tears.

“This isn’t... my destiny,” she murmured in a sobbing voice, “I... I was sent by the king. This can’t be my destiny.” Too weak to stop the attack, she felt her body give up. She closed her eyes and lowered her head, shamefully weeping in defeat.

Nearly ready to strike her down with its final attack, the phoenix arched its back to increase the firepower in its mouth. Before it struck her down, a screech echoed through the castle halls.

Scootaloo’s ears perked to the familiar sound, and she lifted her head to look. Mercy, her tiny companion, was flying eye level with the gigantic phoenix. Screeching loudly, the bat spun around the air in circles, distracting the horrifying beast from the pony. Scootaloo’s mouth was hanging open—she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. The phoenix stepped back, eyeing the puny mammal flying around its head. The downed pegasus could tell that the phoenix was trying to focus more on her than Mercy, but the bat continued to relentlessly screech and fly around the head of the monster like a pesky fly. Aggravation was building up in the phoenix, and it continued backing up across the tile floor, step by loud crackling step, attempting to swat Mercy out of the air with its wings of fire.

Scootaloo’s eyes widened as she watched Mercy face off against the phoenix, and she tried harder to stand up. As she pushed herself back to her hooves, a vibrant hiss emanated from the phoenix’s beak. Then in an instant, it fired its built up flaming energy point blank into Scootaloo’s airborne friend, and a blazing explosion erupted on impact with the mammal, followed by an agonizing screech.

“Mercy!!!” Scootaloo’s shriek was loud and hoarse, and instant tears began to form in her eyes. She suddenly felt an impossible inner strength build up in her legs, and she jumped back up onto her hooves. From the airborne explosion, she saw the bat fall in a puff of smoke, collapsing on the ground with a dusty and soft thud. “Noo!!” She made a dash for the downed bat, and the phoenix stepped closer toward her. She hit the brakes when the phoenix stepped in her way, but only briefly, and then she positioned on all fours for battle. Rage built inside of her, and her eyes furrowed as tears fell to the floor. “You!!” she screamed in sobs, and with a powerful thrust, she lifted off in the air flapping her wings. “AAAAAAH!!!”

Without giving herself a moment to think, she lunged straight into the chest of the fiery beast. A vibrant thump emanated upon impact, and she felt the burn when she came in contact with the ablaze phoenix. She was too caught in her fury to care, and after she collided into the monster, she pushed off with a hard buck to the bottom of the large bird’s beak. It screeched painfully when her hoof met its beak; it made a few steps backwards, and then flapped its wings to ascend.

“Come on!!” the airborne pegasus yelled furiously, raging tears spilling from her eyes. “I’m not afraid of you, you creep!”

The phoenix shrieked at her, and dove after her. Frowning with immense anger, Scootaloo challenged the bird’s game of chicken and thrust herself toward it. The phoenix and pegasus flew closer and closer to each other, and just as they were about to collide into one another, Scootaloo braced herself without thinking clearly about what she was attempting, and she tensed her muscles before impact. From the collision, there was a loud crackle of a thud. Scootaloo felt the painful burns when she came in contact with the bird’s scorching body, and she fell and flipped back through the air in a trail of smoke.

Collapsing to the ground, she rolled across the tile floor to a stop. She coughed a few times from being briefly winded and burnt, and pushed herself back up, growling. Looking up, she noticed that the phoenix was dizzied from the strike in the air. It occurred to her that the strength potion she drank must have still been in effect—if even a little—otherwise the large bird wouldn’t be flying the way it was after they crashed into each other, considering their body mass differences. It had a hard time flying straight, and it tilted and swerved a few times. Then after some drunken flapping, the phoenix fell to the floor in a crackle of rubble, and a cloud of dust rippled across the tile floor in a ring from its collapse.

Scootaloo braced herself, feeling the vibration of the castle halls rumbling after the phoenix’s crash. The ground shook immensely, and her eyes were widened from shock. The raging beast weakly stood up from its crater it put in the floor, screeching horrendously in anger. Scootaloo’s eyes widened from all the commotion, and the rumbling began to increase as pillars started to collapse. From the bird’s crater, a crack split across the floor in multiple directions, and trailed up the walls and spread through the ceiling. Then from the ceiling, massive chunks of rubble began to cave in.

The pegasus was in a panic, stumbling at her hooves where she stood. She spun around as pieces of rock fell from above, and she looked down upon her small friend not too far from her. She heard the phoenix shriek once more, and she turned to glance at the beast, and witnessed a giant piece of stone fall from directly above it. The phoenix looked up at its impending fate, and Scootaloo watched as it spread its wings in the attempt to fly away. Before it could move even an inch, the massive rock crashed down upon the bird, and a loud painful screech echoed through the hall; the bird burst into ashes as it was crushed, and a wave of its charred remains spread across the floor in flakes of dust.

Scootaloo panicked and turned back to the downed bat, and she made a dash for him. “I’m coming, Mercy!” she cried as she dodged boulders, shards of stain-glass, tipping pillars and other falling debris from the rumbling hall that was collapsing down on her. Diving through the air, she flew in his direction. She swooped down over him, and with open arms she picked him up off the ground. Holding him close, she made her way to an open window, and flew out into a clearing. Ascending away from the collapsing ruins behind her, she spun around to watch as that part of the castle crumbled into a pile of rubble with rising dust and ashes.

Eyes still damp from tears, she looked down upon her friend in her arms. He was breathing, but very slowly and weak. His body was burnt very badly; his left wing had been scorched through, and his right ear was singed off. “Ohh, nooo...” Scootaloo’s lips trembled, and she hiccuped a silent cry. “Pleeease... Mercy, nooo...” Her eyes then widened and wandered. “The potions,” she exclaimed to herself. Without wasting time, she quickly flew back to the ceremonial room where she and Flake had been digging—she remembered her saddlebag was in there.

Flying through one of the open windows in the ceremonial room, she spun around in search for the leather bag. She then spotted it sitting on the floor. In a hurry, she flew down to the saddlebag, and while gently holding the bat in one arm, she dumped her saddlebag of supplies onto the floor. The glass vials of potions tumbled across the tiles in a pile, and she began digging through them desperately for something—anything—that could save the bat’s life.

“Come on, come on!” she whimpered, finding nothing that would be useful for his condition. Then after a prolonged search for a potion, she heard Mercy squeak in her arm, ever so quietly. Her eyes widened in tears, and she stopped to look into his eyes. “Mercy, you’re going to be fine,” she cried and sniffled. “You can’t go now, I need you. Way too much.”

Her ears then perked to the silent sound of hoofsteps approaching her. Quickly turning to her left, she saw Flake limping up to her. He had the expression of concern in his eyes, and his ears were folded back. He saw the look on Scootaloo’s face, and decided it was probably better to stop where he was; he stood watch from the short distance.

Scootaloo turned her glance back down to Mercy in her arm. He was suffering... but even so, he was smiling. The silent weeping pegasus watched him slowly fade. His breathing slowed down each passing moment; his pupils progressively dilated... Then, nothing. Everything stopped.

“Mercy...?” More tears trickled down her cheeks, and she looked into Mercy’s cold, empty eyes. He wasn’t moving, he wasn’t breathing... He was dead.

Scootaloo bit her lip and a silent weep escaped her throat. Tears kept coming from her eyes, and the changeling stood aside, watching. Scootaloo sat down on her flank, whimpering her sobs as she cradled Mercy in her arms.

“I... um...” Flake murmured, trying not to make the pegasus even more upset than she already was. “We should keep moving.”

Scootaloo cringed in response, and she looked at him, frowning. “Excuse me?” she questioned him quietly with a faint growl in her voice.

“Wh—” Flake scratched his head, uncertain how he would have said something wrong. “B... before the phoenix reforms herself from her ashes—”

“There is always time to pay your respects!” the pegasus interrupted the guilt-tripped changeling.

Flake’s eyes wandered in response. He looked to the floor, trying to figure out why this was important. His ears curved back, and he looked up into Scootaloo’s eyes. “I-I don’t... understand.”

“How?” Scootaloo whimpered. “How can you not understand?” She looked down into the bat’s dead eyes in her arms, and with a gentle hoof, she closed his eyelids for him. “When somepony dies, you don’t just... you don’t...” she wept and turned her glance back to Flake. “You don’t just... neglect them.”

“I...”

Keeping Mercy in one arm, she pointed her other hoof off in the direction where they had come from. “What about the bones, huh?” she cried. “The river? You saw your own kind over there!” Frowning, she wrapped the bat up in both arms and glared at the changeling. “Tell me you felt something.” Her eyes squinted. “Or do you feel nothing?”

Flake wasn’t sure what to say to that. He looked down at his olive green hooves, putting her words deep into thought. He cringed, and a tear rolled down his cheek. “Yes... I feel,” he exclaimed. “I just... I...”

“You what then?”

His ears twitched, and he looked back up into her eyes. “When a changeling dies... We don’t know what to do.” He shrugged. “I’ve never known what we’ve done with the bodies of the deceased. But... what do you do when somepony dies?” His head tilted. “How do you respect somepony... who is dead?”

Scootaloo stood up, holding onto Mercy in one arm, and she trotted toward the doors. “You bury them,” she replied solemnly. “Respectfully. Honourably.” She pushed herself through the doors and exit the ceremonial room. “Properly.” She turned her neck to look back at the changeling, and she squinted her damp eyes. “And then you pray,” she exclaimed. “Though they are dead, they still hear us. Somewhere out there beyond our world, they’re still present, and they want us to remember them as they were. And the right thing to do, is to let them know... that they shall be remembered, exactly as they should be remembered.”

“But, if they’re dead... why do we bury them?” he questioned her.

The pegasus exhaled through her nostrils and shook her head. “The deceased deserve a proper burial where they shall not be disturbed. A place where they can rest in peace. You said it yourself, how they were treating the dead changelings was wrong. Dumping them in the river like they were garbage...” She winced at him. “So tell me. When you die, what do you want other changelings to think or do? You want to be buried and remembered? Or do you want to be dumped in a heap like you never mattered in the world?”

Flake’s ears folded back at the thought. “I...”

“Oh wait, you’re dead. So who cares, right?” she muttered cynically. Flake felt a nervous lump in his throat, which he had to swallow. After a quiet gulp, he opened his mouth to say something, but couldn’t seem to respond to that. Scootaloo sighed and turned around, making her way out of the castle. “We bury them, because it is right. Because it is what they would want. And it is what they deserve.”

The changeling felt a heavy weight in his heart as she stepped out of the room with the bat in tow. He lowered his head, and his eyes wandered. Thinking deeply about what she was saying, he felt himself tremble. And he felt himself cry.

“Wait,” he suddenly said, and galloped after her. Scootaloo stopped trotting ahead and turned to him in question. He slowed down to a stop, and he slightly cowered as he made his request. “Is it okay... if...” He bit his lip. “...If I watch?”

Scootaloo was a bit struck in awe by his question. It took her a moment, but she smiled and nodded. “I would like that,” she whispered.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Outside of the castle, they found a proper patch of soil in the shape of a circle surrounded by a stone path. Scootaloo gently placed Mercy down on the ground beside her to free up her hooves, and in the center of the circle of dirt, she used her hooves to dig a hole.

Flake sat off to the side and watched. Once Scootaloo’s hole had been deep enough to her satisfaction, she turned to the bat beside her, and gently scooped him up in her arms. First holding him in a soft embrace close to her heart, she carefully and respectfully placed him down into the bottom of the hole. Looking down at him from over his grave, she sniffled and wiped her nose with the back of her hoof as tears kept dripping from her cheeks. After her final glance at her small friend, she began pushing the dug up soil back into the pit, burying him.

After Mercy was properly buried, she sat on her flank, and bowed her head over his grave. Flake listened closely as he heard her whisper...

“Mercy, thank you,” she murmured. “You’ve been more than a friend. You’ve been my guide, my hope, and my hero.” As she spoke, her voice kept wandering into stutters and whimpers. She sniffed and wiped her nose as she continued. “You’ve shown me love and helped me overcome self-doubt. And... You saved my life.” She grit her teeth and looked to the sky as more tears fell into the soil. “I’ll never forget you.”

Sitting off to the side, Flake remained quiet. There was absolute silence for well over a minute. It was a long moment for him to think—to feel. Standing to his hooves, he slowly trotted over to Scootaloo, and gently placed a hoof on her back. Her ears twitched, and she turned to look at him with her damp eyes, to see that he was crying himself. She tilted her head in question, and he put his hooves around her, and held her in a calming embrace. Her eyes widened from the surprise, uncertain how to take this sympathy from a changeling.

“Thank you, Daring Do,” he whispered to her, “For showing this to me.”

The pegasus felt her heart tremble, and she returned his gesture, hugging him back. “It’s Scootaloo,” she said.

Flake raised a brow and pulled away from her to look into her eyes in question. “Scootaloo...?”

“My name is Scootaloo,” she revealed.

Confused, the changeling blinked a few times.

“I’m sorry I kept my real name from you. I did it to protect myself and my friends.” She sighed. “Hope you understand.”

The changeling smiled and nodded. “Of course.” He grinned through his damp eyes. “I think Scootaloo sounds much prettier anyway.”

Scootaloo turned away and blushed. Then echoing through the sky, they heard the unpleasant screech of the phoenix. Their ears perked from the sound, and they released each other and both looked up, spinning around where they stood with caution.

“She’s reformed herself,” Flake exclaimed and trotted in a hurry back to the castle. “We’d better go now, while we still have a chance.” He stopped to turn around, and saw that she was taking her time. “Scootaloo!”

The pegasus was looking at him from Mercy’s grave. Turning her glance back to where she buried him, she calmly bowed once more. After her quiet moment, she stood back up, and took a few steps back. “Goodbye, my little guardian,” she whimpered, and turned to Flake, galloping to finish what they started. After she caught up to him, they ran together back into the castle.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Many thanks to these gentlecolts:
Proofreading and Editing done by The Princess Luna and David Hasselhoof.
Prereading and other Assistance by Morfonious.

Love is a Gift

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Returning to the ceremonial room, Scootaloo and Flake rushed to the changeling’s original entrance they were making the attempt to dig back up. Approaching the pit, they both sighed in hopes that the pillar that had crashed down into the hole wasn’t going to be too much of a problem to remove. The echoes of the phoenix’s screech was emanating from all around them, and they could hear its powerful thrusting wings from the exterior of the room.

“She sounds pretty angry,” Flake exclaimed frightfully.

“Well I did just kill her,” Scootaloo muttered.

Flake sighed and stepped up to the hole they were digging up, and peering down, his ears perked. “Huh... Well, that’s... convenient.”

“What?” Scootaloo trotted up to the hole to see for herself. It turned out that the pillar that had fallen into the pit didn’t block off their path at all. Instead, the weight of the marble cylinder that fell into the hole had crashed right through the rubble floor at the bottom, opening up the entrance the rest of the way.

“Well what’re we waiting for? Let’s go!” Flake exclaimed and jumped into the hole, hovering down into the open dark abyss. He stopped at a hover and looked up at the pegasus who was timidly looking below. “Hey, are you coming, or do you want to stick around up there to be phoenix bait?”

“Uh... Just hold on,” Scootaloo muttered and galloped to her potions. Putting them back into her saddle bag, she carried it on her back and trotted back to the pit. Bracing herself, she looked down into the darkness once more, and taking a breath, she hopped down into the hole. Together, they descent lower and lower into the entrance of the changeling hive, with the shrieking echoes of the phoenix dwelling behind them.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Uuuugh, the Queen is going to kill me for being so late,” Chitin muttered to himself as he made his exit from Ponyville. “Where did that bloody pegasus go?”

Flying back to the mountain, he made his way over the Everfree Forest. As he made his return to the hive, he kept his eyes on the trees below. “Well if she’s not hiding in Ponyville anymore, where the heck has she gone?”

Turning his neck to view the forest beneath him, something caught his attention on the river shore. “What the... where the heck did Flake go?” Stopping at a hovering state to think for a moment, he winced at that empty spot where he left the exiled changeling to die. “He couldn’t have just stood up and walked away from that,” he murmured to himself. Curious, he descent to the riverbed to investigate the area.

Landing in the fog, he trotted around the vicinity, searching for signs. In the grey soot beneath him, he witnessed hoofprints leading upstream. The captain was completely dumbfounded. Not only due to finding hoofprints, but the fact there were two sets of them. One of them was a changeling’s tracks, and the other...

“The... pony?” he quietly muffled in his throat, trying to piece the illogical puzzle together. Trailing his eyes along the hoof tracks upstream, he couldn’t make sense out of the situation. “Why would they be going back to the hive...?” He raised a brow and rubbed his aching head from his own mind-numbing questions he had to ask himself. “Let alone... together?” He shook his head after stating that remark. “No. That’s absurd. Why the heck would a changeling join forces with a pony?” He cringed at the thought and sat on his flank. Nothing about this situation made any sense to him.

Deeply sighing after his moment to sit and rest, he stood up and ascent back into the air. Flying back to the hive, he shook his head. “Chrysalis is not going to believe a word of this...”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Walking cautiously through the abandoned changeling tunnels, Scootaloo and Flake trotted side by side. It was quiet and musty, and it was dark.

“Ugh, I can hardly see anything,” Scootaloo muttered, squinting in the attempt to focus on what was in front of her snout.

“Just stay close to me, I can see in the dark just fine,” Flake exclaimed.

Scootaloo exhaled through her nostrils and turned her glances at her surroundings. The thick walls of mesh; the strings of web hanging from the ceiling; the many ominous passages to alternate corridors.

“It seems so easy to get lost in here... How do you know which way you’re going?” Scootaloo murmured. “This place is huge.”

“I know where most of the hive tunnels lead.” He turned to her. “I don’t particularly have a plan, though. Do you?”

Scootaloo sighed and shook her head. “Are the ponies all in one place?” she wondered. “When I escaped the hive, I only recall seeing there was one room that was filled with cocoons.”

“You mean the dome room,” the changeling exclaimed. “Yes, that is our main location where we keep the cocooned ponies.” He cleared his throat. “Excluding ten others.”

The pegasus turned to him in question. “What do you mean, excluding ten?”

“We keep these ten particular ponies separate from the rest of the equines,” Flake explained. “They’re scattered in different rooms throughout the hive. The Queen keeps them away from one another, because she fears their capabilities when brought together.” He raised a brow. “She called six of them the elements of um... what was it called again...?” He put a hoof to his chin. “Something to do with friendship.”

“The Elements of Harmony,” Scootaloo exclaimed factually. “I know who those six ponies are.”

“Yes, Harmony. That sounds right.” Flake nodded and turned to her. “Another two of these ponies were the Princesses of night and day.”

“Celestia and Luna,” Scootaloo proclaimed.

Flake cleared his throat, looking back ahead. “The last two are the Queen’s most feared ponies. They’ve defeated us once before, during our last attempt at taking over Equestria. Together, they formed a bond of love so overpowering, we could not handle the energy, and the blast took our entire race out.”

“Yeah... I was there when Princess Cadence and Shining Armour kicked your flanks,” Scootaloo mumbled.

Flake raised a brow at that. He exhaled through his nose and squinted. “Kind of ironic though... We’re creatures who live off of love, and yet, it is love that defeated us.”

“Heh.”

“But... it wasn’t the first time we have been defeated by love,” he admittedly revealed.

Scootaloo raised a brow at that. “Huh? What do you mean?”

He squinted as he explained himself. “Well... The Queen wasn’t around when this happened. But one of her ancestors, whom she would call by the Great Changeling King, was defeated by the same spell as we were.” He looked up as he continued explaining. “Although, when it happened to the changeling King, it was very... different.”

“Different? How so?” Scootaloo murmured.

“You see...” Flake exhaled through his nose and turned back to her. “That spell is legendary. Few have conjured it. And how it happened the first time, was said to be impossible.”

Scootaloo looked back at him in question to that.

“It was said that the spell could only be cast by the love two ponies,” Flake explained, and his eyes wandered. “But the unthinkable happened...” His eyes widened and he looked forward. “Our Great Changeling King was defeated by a lone stallion.”

“Huh?” Scootaloo’s ears twitched. “You mean he was defeated by one pony?”

Flake nodded as he exhaled. “Somehow, yes...” He looked up. “As the Queen explained it, the spell can only be conjured up under the condition that the casters are in a moment of bliss. A moment, where they both feel love for all things, and hatred toward nothing.” He turned back to her. “They say that when two ponies are in love, there is a moment in which they share, that is absolute bliss—where their minds become one in harmony. And it is in that moment, when the spell can be cast.” His eyes wandered and he looked forward, squinting. “It is said that those feelings can only be shared. But, for an individual pony to feel those emotions—to feel bliss and love for all, and to feel hatred for none—is unheard of.” He lowered his ears. “That is, until he cast it...”

Scootaloo’s eyes wandered as she thought about what he had told her.

“Next to Discord, the Great Changeling King was the most powerful being in Equestria,” Flake exclaimed. “Not in the sense of spellcasting, but in the sense that—like your Princesses—he was said to be immortal. And yet, the lone stallion still defeated him.” He turned to her. “But in doing so, the pony had died.”

Scootaloo raised a brow. “Casting the spell killed him?”

Flake nodded. “The spell is far too powerful for just one pony to conjure up, and live to tell about it.” He squinted and looked up. “Ever since I’ve heard the tale of the Great Changeling King, and how he’d been defeated the way he was, it could never dawn on me—nor any one of us for that matter—how somepony would willingly, knowingly die, as an act of protection.” He turned back to her. “He knew the spell was going to kill him before he even made the act.” Tilting his head, he murmured, “I could never understand... None of us could... What did it mean? And why would he do it, if he knew he’d die?”

The pegasus sighed through her nose, feeling pity for the changeling’s misunderstandings. “It is sad that your kind doesn’t have the teachings of love.” Her ears perked as she explained herself. “When you love somepony enough, you would do anything to keep that somepony safe.” She turned to him. “Even if it means you will die.” She raised her head. “What the stallion pony did was an act of love. He gave his life so others could live.”

Flake winced and looked down. “Love is... a gift?”

“Love is many things,” Scootaloo exclaimed. “There is so much to it, to the extent, it can never be explained. It can only be experienced. It can only be shared. Given.” She winced at him. “You can’t just take love. You will never feel its true power. The reason you never actually feel anything is because the only way you ever take it in, is through your hunger for it.”

Flake’s eyes wandered as he put that to thought. “It’s still so... strange, that somepony would actually allow himself to deliberately perish. For any reason at all.”

Scootaloo exhaled through her nostrils and shook her head. “To give a life, is the greatest gift of love, anypony could ever give.”

The changeling looked eye to eye with the pegasus, uncertain how to respond. Scootaloo could see that he was seemingly overwhelmed with the topic. With a sigh, she turned to face onward and changed the subject. “So, where can we find the ten ponies you specified?”

“Er...” Flake winced. “I don’t know.” He looked up and turned his glances around him. “All I know is they’re each hidden in random tunnels.” He cringed and sighed. “And as far as I know, the tunnels they are hidden in are sealed off, so they can never be found.”

Scootaloo’s ears folded back in response to his unfortunate explanation. She could feel a heavy weight on her heart, believing she may never see her friends again. “You don’t even have a rough idea where they could be?”

“All I know is, the Queen hid them herself, and never told any of us where. She hid them a decade ago, shortly after their capture.” Flake turned to her. “Since it was that long ago, our best chance that we have of finding them would be in the oldest tunnels we’ve built.”

The pegasus nodded. “So, where exactly would that be?”

Flake looked up and around himself. “We’re walking in them.”

Scootaloo blinked. “Huh. Well, if this was the original entrance, I guess that makes sense.” She turned her neck curiously. “So, if we were to go looking in these tunnels, where would be a good place to staAAAAA—!!” Suddenly the ground beneath Scootaloo’s hooves crumbled loose, and she fell into a dark cavern. She landed hard on a sloped platform and rolled downhill, collapsing to a stop, nose down.

“Scootaloo!” Flake yelled from above the pit. “You okay??”

“Ngh... My nose...” Scootaloo murmured, holding onto her snout while lying flat on her belly. After recollecting herself, she stood back up, rubbing her nose with the back of her hoof. Refocusing her vision, she noticed something at the end of the cave she had fallen in. Curious, she cautiously trotted toward it. Flake jumped down after her—more gracefully than Scootaloo did—and followed along behind.

There was a cocoon hanging from the ceiling, covered in cobwebs and dust. In its present condition, it was obvious that it had been here for a very long time. Scootaloo winced at the cocoon and approached it closer. When she was close enough, she could see the silhouette of a familiar athletic pony inside. Closer, she could make out her mane and tail, and her legendary cloud and lightning bolt cutie mark. But there was no colour; the spectrum of her idol was depleted and grey—just like she was when she had escaped the hive. Leaning in closer, she put a hoof on the face of the cocoon, and she murmured in a soft, breathless voice to the sleeping upside-down pegasus inside, “Hey, Rainbow Dash...”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Many thanks to these gentlecolts:
Proofreading and Editing done by The Princess Luna and David Hasselhoof.
Prereading and other Assistance by Morfonious.

Wings of Legend

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Flying slowly over the river, Chitin followed the pony and changeling hoofprints upstream. They brought him all the way to the base of the mountain by the waterfall where the skeleton ponies were dumped, and their tracks came to an end. Raising a brow, he descended to the ground, landing in the soot by the riverbed.

It occurred to him that from here they had taken flight. Looking to the sky, he examined his surroundings for any signs of them, but found none. They couldn’t have just gone into the hive; any entrance they would have taken, they surely would have been caught by another changeling. As he pondered, examining the mountain sides, he heard a shriek echoing from the skies.

The sound had come from the far side of the mountain where the ruins of Canterlot stood. His ears fell back from the familiar sound. “She’s awake…?” Keeping his ears alert, he waited to hear the sound again. After a few moments in timid silence, the monstrous screech echoed from the city once more, and he had an epiphany. “Sounds like they’ve woken the monster,” he determined to himself. “So, they’re trying to sneak in through the abandoned entrance.”

At first he considered flying into Canterlot after them, but he quickly decided against it. He knew that he would stand no chance if he bumped into the phoenix, and judging by the loud and hoarse shrieks from the beast, it was obvious that it was very angry.

“Perhaps, they didn’t make it past the phoenix,” he pondered, weighing the odds. But he knew he couldn’t take any chances; somehow the runaway pony and the exiled changeling had to be tracked down regardless. Sighing through his nose, Chitin rose from the ground, and made his way to a standard entrance into the hive. “This just keeps getting better. What am I going to tell the Queen now…?”

“Chitin!” a voice shouted from behind him, startling the captain. Raising a brow, Chitin turned back, finding himself face to face with Trek and Dozer. “Where in Equestria have you been?” Trek muttered, “Do you have any idea how late you are?? The Queen is going to be so pissed at you.”

Chitin just frowned in response. “I have a lead on where the pony went.”

“Oh?” Dozer tilted his head. “Well, this information better be good. Chrysalis has been acting very frantic recently.”

“Over one missing pony?” Chitin winced.

Dozer shook his head. “Apparently she has concerns for all of our ponies. Their love is being drained much faster than normal.”

Chitin looked at Dozer with a squint, and then to Trek. “She brought this to your attention, but not mine?”

“You took too long to get back, so she told us instead,” Trek exclaimed. “The Queen’s patience has run dry. She even sent us out to find you.”

“Excuse me…?” Chitin frowned. “What else has she been saying during my absence?”

“Well…” Trek chewed his lip, hesitant to reveal anything. Dozer was even making odd gestures regarding the matter. “I don’t mean to get on your bad side, but, she told me that once this mission is over, she’s promoting me to Captain.”

“Wh—” Chitin felt a heavy weight slam into his gut. There was a moment of silence, and he suddenly burst into a rage. “What in the Hell does that make me then?!”

Trek and Dozer just shrugged. They hesitated once again to say anything.

“Answer me!!!”

“Uh…” Dozer nervously brushed a hoof through his mane. “You’re being relieved of your position when this is over. Unless you can prove something good to the Queen, and soon.”

Chitin’s left eye twitched, and he found himself clenching his teeth in hatred.

“If you want her approval, you could start by telling us some information about what you know in regards to the pony,” Trek suggested. “You said you had a lead on where she went.”

At first, the thought of giving Trek or Dozer any clues at this point made him feel that they would use the information against him, and have the Queen favour them over him even more than she already has been. Looking furiously into their eyes, he grit his teeth, and a twitch in the back of his mind made him consider casting Red Death. If he did, however, he would risk even more than he was already in trouble for. It only took a few moments before an idea occurred to him, and with a cold sneer, he delivered the truth.

“I need to speak with the Queen on the matter,” he declared, and pointed to Canterlot. “The pony went to the abandoned city. While I am away, I suggest you two go look for her.”

“Wh—” Dozer raised a brow. “You mean the ruins?? Why would she have gone there?”

“She is with Flake,” he revealed to them. “Flake betrayed us. He is helping her in the hive through the original entrance. Go find them both, and stop them before they breach.”

“Flake betrayed us? And he sided with a pony?” Trek winced. “Why would he do tha—”

“It doesn’t matter!!” Chitin screeched, pointing at the city. “Go find them, now!! Like it or not, I am still your Captain as long as this mission moves forward!”

“Uh… Y-yes sir,” Dozer shuttered, and after a hesitation, he turned and flew toward Canterlot. Trek held back to question him further.

“What if we bump into the phoenix?”

Chitin turned away and winced. “I’m counting on it,” he very quietly murmured under his breath.

“Um… what was that?” Trek questioned further. “I didn’t hear what you said—”

“Go, now!!” Chitin yelled furiously, swatting his hoof through the air while glaring at him. “Or I’ll tear you a new hole in those legs!!”

Trek just frowned in response, and without saying another word, he turned and followed Dozer. As he flew away, he looked back to give the Captain one last disapproving glance, and then continued forward. Chitin sighed loudly and angrily to himself, and made his way to an entrance into the hive to confront Chrysalis.

“Well, that takes care of that problem,” he quietly growled. “I don’t need them… I can do this mission on my own.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Flake sat relaxed while Scootaloo paced back and forth with her eyes on the colourless pegasus sleeping on the floor. The changeling wasn’t sure how to respond to how Scootaloo was acting, but he could tell that she was being very impatient.

“How long is it going to take for her to get up?” she asked in a scared manner.

“Give her time,” Flake murmured. “She’ll be just fine when she regains consciousness.”

Scootaloo sighed and rolled her eyes, sitting while looking down upon her. Waiting, she noticed Rainbow Dash’s left ear twitch. Scootaloo stood and stepped back, giving her some room. Then after a moment, Rainbow Dash coughed, and slowly her eyes began to open.

In an unhurried pace, the downed pegasus gradually began to squirm and gain her strength back. Breathing easier, Rainbow Dash brought her hooves beneath her, and made the attempt to push herself up. Scootaloo could tell by the look on Rainbow Dash’s face that she was confused by her weak condition that she had woken up in.

“Ho, man, it’s... it’s so good to see you,” Scootaloo exclaimed.

Rainbow Dash coughed a few more times, and turned to look at the bright orange pegasus. At first, she winced at her, and leaned in closer to get a better look at her. “Who...?” She tilted her head. “Do... Do I know you?”

Scootaloo cowered at that. “You don’t recognize me...?” It took her a moment, but after she asked her that question, she took into account that she was in a much older body than the one Rainbow Dash would have remembered her in. Clearing her throat, Scootaloo stood taller, and opened her mouth to announce who she was, when Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened. “Hey! Look out behind you!” The colourless pegasus suddenly jolted into a swift gallop and leapt past her, straight toward the changeling. Flake, completely caught off guard, took her full leap into his chest.

Collapsing onto his back with Rainbow Dash on top of him, she pinned him and snarled up close to his snout. “Run!” she called out to Scootaloo.

“Wait, stop it!” Scootaloo galloped up to Rainbow Dash and tried tugging on her to get her off of the startled changeling, though the agile pegasus was much too focused what she was doing to pay attention to her.

“I’m gonna rip your wings off, you—OW!” Rainbow Dash was caught in the moment when Flake got his hooves beneath her, kicking her off of him. Rainbow Dash fell back, collapsing and rolling across the floor. Easily winded from being concealed in a cocoon for so long, she tried regaining her strength, and stood back up. “Why... am I so... tired??” she muttered between gasps.

“Watch it, pony!” Flake yelled at her, standing his ground. “I’m not afraid to take you on!”

“Stop it!” Scootaloo panicked, stepping in Flake’s way. “You already know she’s on my side,” she growled, then turned to glance at Rainbow Dash, attempting to acquaint the two. “This changeling is helping us!”

“Helping?!” Rainbow Dash twitched. “Who are you to say, huh?! You’re probably a changeling, too!” She prepared to strike, and began galloping toward her. “C’mon!! I’m not afraid of you insects!”

Seeing the oncoming pegasus sent a frightful shiver down her spine, and her eyes widened. “Wait, WAIT!”

Before Scootaloo could convince her otherwise, Rainbow Dash plowed into her with the powerful force of her agile wings. “Ogh!!” Scootaloo was knocked back onto the ground, and Rainbow Dash leapt on top of her. “W-wait, Rainb—” With increasing strength by the second, Rainbow Dash threw a hoof into her snout. Then pulled back and hit her again, drawing blood from her nostrils. Before she managed to get a third strike, Flake leapt into her, knocking her off of the traumatized pegasus.

After rolling to a stop, Rainbow Dash was quick to get back to her hooves. She turned to face the changeling who had assaulted her, wincing curiously. “Never seen a changeling actually stick up for its own kind before.”

“Well maybe I’m different!”

“Yeah, you’re always different every time I look at you! But always the same on the inside,” Rainbow Dash snarled disgustingly. “Always changing; always changelings!” Galloping toward Flake, the angry pegasus leapt toward him. Flake braced himself, and after a quick growl, he launched a green spell at the incoming pegasus. Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened, too late to dodge the oncoming attack, and she collided right into his spell, airborne. It struck her in the face, sealing her eyes shut in a green mesh. “AAH!!”

Flake leapt to the side as the pony collapsed with her vision blocked out. Scrambling to her hooves, she began spinning where she stood, bucking random directions in the air. Her breathing was escalating to a panicking state. With her guard down, Flake fired another green spell at her, striking her in the wing and sealing it in mesh.

“AH NO!” Rainbow Dash shrieked. “No! Stop!! I gotta save my friends!”

“RAINBOW DASH!!!” Scootaloo’s yell was loud and hoarse enough to even make Rainbow Dash flinch. The blinded pony buckled her knees, cowering low to the ground at the sound of her voice calling her name. In that moment, she was frozen. Flake looked at Scootaloo, then back at Rainbow Dash curiously.

“How do you know who I am...?” Rainbow Dash questioned her in a whimper.

Scootaloo wiped her bloody snout with the back of her hoof with a sigh, and she approached the blinded pony. Rainbow Dash could hear Scootaloo’s hoofsteps closing in on her, which made the blind pegasus back up in a hurry.

“D-don’t come any closer,” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, trembling at her hooves.

“Rainbow Dash, let me get that mesh off your face so you can see.”

The stubborn pegasus stepped back again. “H-how can I trust you. You’re changelings!”

Scootaloo sighed through her snout. “No, Rainbow Dash, I’m not a changeling. And the changeling here with me is my friend. He’s helping us.”

The confused pegasus’ ears fell back. “A changeling...? Siding with a pony?” She shook her head. “I-I can’t believe a word of that.”

“Rainbow Dash, it’s me...” she revealed to her, “Scootaloo.”

Silence. Rainbow Dash was frozen at her hooves, unable to speak. Cautiously, Scootaloo tried to approach her again. Rainbow’s ears twitched at the sound of her hoofsteps, but this time she only slouched a little, but didn’t move from her spot. Acknowledging Rainbow’s slightly increased trust in her, she took the chance to step up close to the mare, and with her front hooves, she gently peeled away at the mesh covering her eyes. Rainbow Dash flinched at first, but remained still and allowed Scootaloo to continue.

“After all your loyalty, isn’t it about time somepony saved your life for once...?” she murmured as she uncovered Rainbow’s eyes.

Once the mesh was cleared away, Rainbow Dash blinked a few times, and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hoof. She then looked into Scootaloo’s eyes and squinted to get a good look at her. It took her a long moment to collect her thoughts and fully trust her, but all of the tension between them was finally lifted when Rainbow smiled at her.

“Little sis...?” Rainbow Dash murmured to the younger pegasus. “Wow... Have you ever grown up fast.”

“Heh, tell me about it,” Scootaloo chuckled nervously, thinking about her unexpected growth spurt herself.

Rainbow then turned to the changeling. It didn’t take long for her smile to disappear, and though she was a little tense about him being here, she cleared her throat and tried speaking to him. “So... Not even trying to hide your identity I see.” She then noticed something a little off about him. “But what’s with the colour?” She raised a brow and pointed a hoof at him. “You’re all… green.” She put her hoof down. “I’ve only ever seen a black changeling.”

“Long story...” Scootaloo exclaimed.

“So, you’re Rainbow Dash,” Flake commented to the pegasus. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Hearing that from a changeling was a bit odd to Rainbow, but she took it as kindly as she was able to and nodded. Raising a brow, she replied, “Uh huh, and who might you be?”

“Rainbow Dash, this is Flake,” Scootaloo introduced the changeling to her, trying to ease the tension between them. “I know what the changelings have done to us, but, he is different.”

Rainbow just squinted at the changeling. “Uh huh.”

“Heh, I don’t expect you to fully trust me,” Flake exclaimed. “All I’m asking from you is a chance.”

The hesitant pegasus looked him in the eyes for a long period of silence. She sighed heavily through her nostrils, and nodded. “Alright, but!” She pointed at him. “If I catch you doing anything suspicious, I’ll make you wish you never opened my cocoon.”

“Rainbow Dash…” Scootaloo murmured, “You should really look at your reflection.”

“Why?” the curious pegasus questioned her.

“Just… You’ll understand why you feel so empty-hearted when you do.”

“Empty-hearted?” Rainbow winced. “What’re you talking about?”

“Well isn’t it obvious? You’re not acting like yourself.”

Rainbow Dash knew the younger pegasus was right about that. She was traumatized from the events of a decade ago, and to finally wake up in these conditions, she did feel empty. She couldn’t define it, but it made her unhappy. It made her feel unlike herself. Off to the side, there was a small puddle of water, slowly dripping in from the ceiling. Curious, she trotted up to the little open source of water, and peered down into the inch-deep liquid. She felt her heart sink, and the cave went so silent they could’ve heard a pin drop.

Scootaloo and Flake watched her reactions, and slowly, Rainbow Dash raised a hoof as she gently brushed it through her colourless mane. Her grey appearance made her feel as pale as she looked, and her visual reactions made it obvious to Scootaloo how traumatizing it was to see herself that way.

“Wh-what happened to me?” she squeaked in a painful monotone.

“The same thing that happened to me when I escaped my cocoon…” Scootaloo explained. “For ten years, the changelings have been feeding off of your love, leaving you emotionless as you are colourless.”

“This… this is the same thing I felt when Discord flipped my element…” Rainbow Dash turned to her. “And I was grey then, too.”

Scootaloo exhaled through her nose and trotted up to Rainbow Dash. Rainbow looked at her curiously, and trotted back a couple paces.

“You feel scared,” Scootaloo exclaimed as she approached the pale mare. “Frightened of anything and everything.”

“I-I…”

“When I needed help, when I was alone in the dark, when I just… needed to be loved after I had gotten out of this hive, colourless and afraid... It was shared.” Scootaloo murmured quietly with a particular bat screeching in the depths of her mind.

Rainbow Dash wasn’t sure where she was going with this, and realized she was right about what she said. She was scared, of pretty much everything. Even afraid to trust her. Scootaloo walked up to the shaking mare, and without any further explanation, she lifted up onto her hind legs, and hugged her. Flake watched as Scootaloo embraced Rainbow Dash with care, and Rainbow’s eyes widened and lit up. The changeling witnessed it before himself; an act of kindness and love, as Rainbow’s coat slowly glistened with magic, and gradually reformed her colour. Her spectrum gleaming mane, her sky blue coat, her bright violet eyes, damp with tears… and she returned the embrace, holding Scootaloo back. And together they cried.

Flake tilted his head, curiously, observing their actions. Their emotions; such feelings he has only ever heard of, but never really seen. It was evident these emotions were strong, and they were joyous. He could slightly understand what they were feeling, as she had done the same for him when they were in the forest, and he was dying.

“I’ve been so scared,” Rainbow Dash sobbed, “Wh-what has been happening to everypony. I watched the changelings take you and all my friends. I watched them cocoon you. I couldn’t stop them!” She cringed and hugged the younger pegasus tighter. “I couldn’t do anything! I was so powerless! So weak!”

“Rainbow Dash, you have never been weak,” Scootaloo reassured her.

“A-and then they captured me!” Rainbow added. “They cocooned me, and… now I wake up… A-after ten years??”

Flake sighed through his nose and sat on his flank, listening in as guilt was seeping through his veins. He remembered the war to take over ponykind; he remembered being part of that war. He cringed at the thought, learning more about the peace the ponies have resembled in Equestria. Deep in his thoughts, he pondered why his kind were never this way. And he began to think, did they really need to feed off of love to survive? Was that really their only solution for existing? That was their purpose?

Scootaloo sighed. “I’m just glad you’re back.”

Rainbow sniffed and tried to get a hold of herself, finally separating their embrace. “Y-yeah… Good to be back…” She sat on her flank, looking to Scootaloo and acknowledged her bleeding lip and snout. Her ears fell back, and she sighed. “I’m… I’m sorry, if I hurt you.”

“Don’t worry, Rainbow Dash,” Scootaloo exclaimed. “None of that matters.”

Flake remained in silence as he lowered his head, lifting his hoof to look at it. His olive green hoof; a colour that only he among the rest of his kind had. And it was all because of Scootaloo. It was all because of love… Proper, unconsumed, love. And because of this, for once in his life, even though he hasn’t consumed anything… he didn’t feel hungry. Not for love. Instead, he felt happy. He felt respected and cared about.

“Love… is a gift…” he murmured in silence to himself, marveling in this ongoing epiphany that slowly sank more and more into his heart. And the more he felt it, the more he wanted to learn.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Chitin marched through the hall of the changeling hive toward the large and intimidating double-doors. The throne room ahead was guarded by two changelings—one on each side of the entrance. Trotting up to the doors, he noticeably slowed down in a cowering manner. Getting closer and closer, he found himself stop at the face of the doorway, and he looked up at the entry, suddenly feeling very small.

He knew the Queen was going to scold him the second he would enter that door. It was bad enough that he was beyond tardy, but what was he going to tell her about the pony siding with Flake? How would she ever believe it? And what would she say if she were to find out that he cast Red Death—a spell forbidden by Chrysalis herself—on the changeling? Furthermore, how would she react if she knew he sent Trek and Dozer off to Canterlot where the phoenix was lurking?

“Distracted, are we Chitin?” the guard to his left muttered to him. Chitin frowned in response, but didn’t make eye contact with the changeling, staring at the doors in front of him.

“Your duty is to stand there and shut up,” he grumbled back at the guard questioning him. Bracing himself, he stood on his back legs and placed his front hooves against the face of the door, ready to push it open to confront the Queen. Once his hooves made contact with the door, he stopped there, and found himself unable to push the doors open. To him it felt as if the doors weighed a ton, though it was his unwillingness to enter—his fear of the Queen’s rejection—which held him back from pushing them open.

He knew he couldn’t tell her the truth, and he realized he had no believable lie to cover it with. He would lose his position as captain for certain, and who knew what else she would do to him. Slowly, he lowered his hooves from the door back onto the ground, and he stepped back from the entrance. Taking a long, hesitant glance at the doors, he trailed his eyes down to his hooves, and he frowned, gritting his teeth as a faint, angry growl emanated from his throat. And with that, he turned around, and he walked away.

“Shouldn’t you be speaking to the Queen?” the second throne guard exclaimed to the captain. Chitin paused for just a moment and tensed his frown, and then kept walking.

“I have some unfinished business to take care of,” he declared without looking back.

“The Queen isn’t going to like you walking out like this.”

Chitin stopped for a brief moment to turn and glance at them, cringing furiously. “If the Queen questions my motives... Tell her, I’m going to come back when I am prepared to come back.” He stomped a hoof and leaned toward them, raising his voice. “And that when I come back, I’m going to hand over that pony to Chrysalis myself!!”

With that, Chitin turned and stormed out in full gallop. The throne guards exchanged glances and shrugged.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Many thanks to these gentlecolts:
Proofreading and Editing done by The Princess Luna and David Hasselhoof.
Prereading and other Assistance by Morfonious.

Within Us All

View Online

Scootaloo, Rainbow Dash and Flake wandered through the changeling hive’s old tunnels for what felt like hours. Flake led the way, while the two pegasi followed behind.

“I never thought I’d find myself following a changeling,” Rainbow Dash muttered under her breath. She leaned forward to complain to their leader, “Hey! How far are we going?” She turned to face Scootaloo and raised a brow. “And furthermore, do we even know where we’re going?”

Flake let out an irate sigh. “You’re just going to have to trust me, Dash.”

The impatient pegasus rolled her eyes and turned to Scootaloo. “So, other than myself, he says there are nine other ponies hidden in these particular tunnels?” she questioned her, “Just why are we trusting a changeling again?”

Scootaloo just shrugged. “Because he knows these tunnels. We don’t.” She turned to Rainbow and sighed. “He’s been helping me up until this point, I’m pretty sure you have nothing to worry about.”

“Uh huh,” Rainbow murmured sarcastically. Frowning, she turned back to Flake in question. “Just why are you helping, huh?” She leaned forward suspiciously. “Or are you leading us into a trap?”

“Rainbow Dash,” Scootaloo muttered at her rude behaviour.

“It’s okay, Scootaloo.” Flake sighed and stopped to turn and face them. “Rainbow, I know it’s hard for a pony to trust a changeling after what happened ten years ago. If you must know, I am an exiled changeling.”

“Exiled?” Rainbow raised a brow. “What’re you talking about?”

“They kicked me out of the hive,” he said bluntly.

“I find that hard to believe.” Rainbow Dash sat on her flank and folded her forelimbs. “And if that is true, I bet you’re using us to gain your reputation back to rejoin the colony.” She pointed at him. “You’re just going to hand us to the Queen, aren’t you.”

“Ugh…” Flake cringed and covered his face with a hoof, shaking his head.

“Come on, guys…” Scootaloo tried to calm them. “Rainbow, I found Flake nearly dead by the river.”

“Yeah, so you helped him out, but that doesn’t mean a thing,” Rainbow scoffed. “Scootaloo, changelings are all the same.” She turned to Flake and frowned. “They don’t care about anypony other than themselves, they don’t feel pity even for their own kind, and they don’t know how to love.”

There was a moment of silence. Flake just glared into Rainbow’s eyes, staring blankly at her. Scootaloo could see that there was a lot of tension between the two. Flake gave Rainbow a cold squint. Then, after a long passing of silence, there was a faint splash that emanated at Scootaloo’s hooves. The three of them were quick to glance down at her legs, witnessing that her legs were concealed in changeling cocoon mesh.

“I got her!” a voice called out from in the darkness.

Scootaloo was wide-eyed, and in a panic, she tried to run, but she fell over from the numbing in her legs from the effects of their mesh. Rainbow Dash looked into Scootaloo’s damp eyes one last time, seeing her overwhelming fear. Scootaloo had no time to say anything before another two darts of magic was fired from the darkness that struck Scootaloo in the wings and her head, sealing her into a sticky green webbing, rendering her motionless.

“Scootaloo!” Rainbow Dash yelled, when another bullet of green magic came flying toward her. Rainbow saw the spell in time to dodge out of the way, leaping to her left. The dart of magic zipped past her and struck a wall. From the darkness, a changeling came swooping toward them. He dove down to the cocooned pegasus, and picked her up, dragged her past Rainbow and Flake through the air.

“No!!” Rainbow jumped up and lifted off to fly after her, when another dart of magic came firing at her from behind her. It struck her in the back where her wings met her shoulders, concealing her shoulders in mesh. “AH!!” She flipped forward a couple of times and collapsed into the ground.

“Another pony?” the second changeling hovering toward them murmured, “I thought there was only one.”

“Trek! You and Dozer have no business here!” Flake growled at him. In the meantime, Rainbow Dash pushed herself to her hooves, listening in to Trek and Flake.

“Pff, Chitin told me about you,” Trek exclaimed. “He says you’re a traitor.” He turned to glare at Rainbow Dash, who just looked fearfully back at him. “And I can see he was right. So you’re siding with the ponies, hm?”

Flake winced. “Trek, you don’t realize what you’re doing—”

“We’ll take it from here, you’ve done enough!” Trek lifted back off the ground and flew toward Rainbow Dash with a glowing horn. Rainbow went wide-eyed as she watched him fire a spell that darted straight for her. She had nowhere to dodge from where she was sitting, and with her agile wings concealed in mesh, she didn’t have enough time to react either. Time felt as though it had slowed down as the bullet came soaring toward her, and she shielded her eyes with her hooves from her impending fate.

Then a loud pop emanated from the air, making Rainbow’s ears twitch. She uncovered her eyes and looked ahead of her, seeing that Flake stood in front of her—he had blocked the shot with a shield spell that was glowing from his horn.

“Go after Dozer,” he commanded her.

Rainbow Dash was lost for words. Her jaw hung open, and she felt overwhelmingly dumbfounded that a changeling stood up for her. She tried to speak to Flake, but she couldn’t find any appropriate words to say to him.

Flake turned briefly to her and yelled, “Go and save Scootaloo, damn it!” With that, he cast a quick spell that struck the mesh on Rainbow’s wings. She could feel the cocoon webbing slowly dissolving as a result. “I’ll cover you!” he exclaimed loudly.

“Uh,” Rainbow Dash stuttered her words and just nodded. “Y-yeah.” With that, she turned and galloped off into the darkness to chase the changeling carrying Scootaloo’s cocoon. Flake frowned and turned back to face Trek, and cringed angrily to him, gritting his teeth. Trek was building up another cocooning spell, and he focused his aim on the pony running off.

“Fly, Rainbow Dash!” Flake called out to her, and he rose up into the air, flying straight into Trek. Their collision into each other caused Trek to misfire, and his dart of magic zipped past the galloping pegasus, missing by mere inches and striking the floor.

As Rainbow Dash ran further away into the darkness, the mesh on her wings gradually fell apart from Flake’s spell, and then her wings spread free. Then with a few determined flaps and an adrenaline pumped thrust, she lifted off into the air and flew after Scootaloo.

Trek floated there, wide-eyed, with disbelief written in his facial expression. He slowly cringed, glaring into the eyes of Flake with his teeth gritting. “So, this is the path you’ve chosen, is it?” he growled.

“At least there is somepony who accepts me for a path I’ve chosen,” Flake replied wholeheartedly.

Trek just furrowed his eyes at that. “Stand down and let me pass,” he demanded. “Or would you rather I cocooned you so you can join the ponies…?”

Flake cringed and sighed in response. “Call it what you like, whether it be betrayal, naive, or two-faced… But I will not let you pass, and I will not let you put those ponies back in their cocoons.” Trek slowly grew wide-eyed as Flake boldly put his hooves down. “So, if you really want to get to them, you’re going to have to go through me first.”

There was a long standoff. They could feel the tension in the silent air as their turquoise eyes glared into one another’s. Trek slowly shook his head in disgust.

“Why?” he growled.

Flake sighed through his nose. “If you gave my path a chance, you might just see.”

“Hmh. If you choose to be one of them, then I shall treat you like one of them,” Trek coldly exclaimed. A green glow emanated from his horn.

Before Trek had a chance to fully charge his spell, Flake made a dash straight into Trek as forcefully as his wings would allow him to. “What the—!” Colliding into Trek out of the air with an emanant thud, the two changeling bodies fell helplessly down to the ground. Crashing to the floor, they rolled across the cavern mesh in each other’s strangling grips.

After a few tumbling moments, Flake spread his wings to balance himself when he was above Trek, and forcefully stomped down at the changeling beneath him, pinning him successfully by the shoulders. Trek was lying there, glaring up into his eyes, dumbfounded.

“So, you really can fight,” Trek breathed, then after a short struggle, he pulled his hind legs up underneath Flake, and with a forceful buck, he kicked him off of him. Flake fell over and collapsed onto his back, but was quick to get back onto his hooves. Trek pushed himself up as well, and they stood glaring into each other’s eyes, silently in a faceoff. They began sidestepping, circling each other. “You’ll never be one of us.”

“Heh…” Flake cringed and tensed himself for an attack. “I have no reason to be.” Taking a chance, Flake galloped straight toward him. Trek frowned, bracing himself as he awaited Flake’s assault.

Flake leapt up into Trek with a thrust from his wings. Trek crouched down and reached up, gripping onto Flake’s left forelimb, and using his galloping momentum, he threw him over his shoulder and slammed him into the ground.

Pinning Flake in a headlock, Trek gnashed his teeth, growling. “Why do you betray your own kind??”

Struggling to free himself from Trek’s grip, Flake winced and panted, kicking his back hooves. “Maybe we’re the traitors,” he exclaimed. “If it weren’t for the ponies, we wouldn’t be alive.”

“The heck are you talking about?” Trek muttered.

Flake kicked the air a couple more times. “The ponies provide us with what we need to survive, and we treat them lower than even prisoners or slaves.”

Trek winced at that. “What would you know?” he grumbled, “You’re being brainwashed by those two pegasi!” Flake attempted to struggle harder, so Trek just gripped him by the neck tighter to keep him in the headlock. “Are you implying that you really want to go back to the way things were? When ponies ruled Equestria, leaving us in the dust without a care?” He held onto him tighter. “Ponies only care about the harmony amongst themselves!”

An aggressive growl emanated from Flake’s throat. “You hypocrite!” Clenching his teeth, he kicked himself up, and managed to wrap his right forelimb around Trek’s neck above him. Clinging onto the changeling pinning him, he used as much strength as he could to hurl Trek over his shoulder, flipping him onto his back with a thud, and held him there. “The only reason we have what we do now, is because we took it.”

Cringing and growling angrily, Trek hurled his head back, bashing the back of his skull into Flake’s snout. “GAH!” Flake was quick to release him, and he stumbled back, holding onto his muzzle with his left forehoof. Trek stood up and turned to face him, and with a quick leap toward him, he threw a hoof into his left jaw. There was a crackling impact, and Flake tumbled over from the punch and collapsed onto his side.

“Perhaps it’s time you learn your place in this world,” Trek muttered, slowly pacing toward the downed changeling. “If you have no place out there in the wasteland, and you have no place here with us… Then perhaps you don’t have a place. Perhaps, you have nothing.” Flake limply pushed himself back up, and turned to look back at Trek, frowning furiously at him while holding onto his sore jaw.

A growl emanated from Flake’s throat. “I do have something…” he declared. “Something which I fear none of you may ever find.”

“Oh, pray tell?” Trek scoffed. “What could a ratty-winged two-faced no-life parasprite have that we don’t?”

Flake squinted in response to Trek’s insulting comments. “Friends,” he boasted, and with that, his body suddenly engulfed in green flames. Trek stepped back, and watched him make his transformation. And his jaw dropped at the sight of him when the green fire had faded from his shapeshifted body.

“A… a timberwolf??” Trek took a few steps back. “But… but that’s impossible!”

Growling like the true ferocious monster that he had transformed himself into, Flake slowly crept toward him as if he was stalking prey. Trek’s eyes were wide open. “Flake! Wha… what the heck! How!?” He noticeably trembled and panicked. With a kickstart, Flake charged in full sprint toward him. Trek was quick to leap into the air to evade him, flying out of reach.

Flake circled Trek in an impatient hunter’s motion, waiting for him to come back down. Trek was hovering as closely to the ceiling as he was able. “Get away from me!” he shrieked. Then, in a burst of green flames, Flake began to change again…

Two wings of brown feathers emerged from his shoulders, his snout formed into the beak of an eagle, and the claws of a lion. Trek’s eyes widened at the sight of Flake’s griffin transformation. Flake raised his wings, and with a firm thrust, he lifted off into the air toward Trek. The frightened changeling hurried and flew away through the cave, with Flake trailing behind in pursuit. “No, no no! Stop it!”

It wasn’t so much that he was afraid of the monsters specifically that Flake was transforming into, but the fact he was shapeshifting into any creature he seemed to choose. Trek was going in mere circles; he was too scared to fly straight or know where to run. Inevitably, Flake caught up to him, and with his hind claws, he struck the airborne changeling, sending him flipping through the air and crashing into the ground in a comical stumble. Scrambling quickly to his hooves, Trek turned to Flake with widened eyes in a battle stance, trembling.

Flake hovered in the air for a few moments, and then slowly, he descent to the ground. Upon landing on the ground, flames engulfed his body once again. Trek stepped back, anticipating his next chosen form.

The green flames engulfing his body lit the cavern. Two red bat-like wings replaced his brown feathered ones, and the rest of his body shifted from feathers to crimson scales. When the fire covering his body had vanished, Trek froze with his jaw hanging open at the sight of Flake’s fierce transformation of the rare, winged reptilian creature know all across Equestria.

“A dragon?!”

Flake huffed a cloud of green smoke from his nostrils, and crept toward the cowering changeling. Wings fiercely spread apart and serrated teeth gnashing together, he stopped a mere two meters away from the trembling changeling who couldn’t seem to move. Flake stared him down with his yellow slit eyes.

There was a long moment in silence between the two. Flake just stood there in the form of a dragon, and Trek remained unable to move or speak. He was shivering from ears to hooves. After a long and quiet standoff, Flake sat up straight, and green fire consumed his body.

The flames vanished in a faded puff of green smoke, revealing himself as his normal changeling form once again. Trek’s ears twitched in response, and he stopped trembling, though he was confused. “I… I don’t understand,” he murmured. “How? We can only transform ourselves into the shape of another pony.”

“That’s what you all seem to believe.” Flake sighed. “But none of you ever went out into the wilderness to find out for yourselves. You just stayed cooped up in the hive all these years until finally a pony escaped for you to have a reason to do so.”

“I… What?” Trek muttered, confused.

Flake shook his head and rolled his eyes. After a short pause, he exhaled through his nose and furrowed his brows. “I have always been rejected by everyone, no matter how hard I tried. The Queen would never look at me twice, and nobody would even care to even know my name.” He cringed. “Why? Because of these.” He spread his corrupt, ratty wings for emphasis. “I was always told I would never fly well. I was told I would never be good enough for the hive... That I was nothing. To anyone.”

Trek squinted at Flake’s wings, and looked back into his eyes. “But… how is it that you fight so well if your wings are like that, or without training? How is it… that you can change into anything?”

“I wouldn’t say I can shapeshift into anything,” Flake corrected him. “We can transform into creatures which feel love and compassion. Transforming into other creatures is another thing I’ve been practicing on my own.” He winced, and his ears fell back. “Do you really want to know how I am able to do what I do? Or exactly how my wings have become so brittle?”

There was a pause. Trek acted as though he tried not to care, but he still found himself sincerely asking, “How?”

Flake turned to his side and winced at his frail wingspan. “Nine years ago, back when my wings were healthy like your own, I looked up to Chitin and his search crew. And I tried very hard to make it into his team.” He lowered his head. “They, nor the Queen, would ever accept me, because I didn’t have the proper training necessary.” Raising his head again, he looked to the ceiling with a saddened frown. “Nobody seemed to care, and sometimes, I wondered if I was the only changeling in the hive who felt emotions. And all I ever wanted, was acceptance.” He looked back to Trek. “Which, I am certain, is something we all want.”

Trek looked away, but didn’t say anything.

“In the attempt to be enrolled in a group among the hive, I went looking for training. None of the other battle trainers in the hive would let me in, because I was too small for my age. I was a runt. A weakling. They said I would never pass,” Flake muttered. “And the flight trainers gave me the very same lecture. They said I needed to grow into my wings before I would ever be a good flyer.” He paused briefly, his eyes wandering. “So, I went looking for my own training.”

Trek’s ears twitched, and he looked to him with a raised brow. “How do you do combat training alone?”

Flake cleared his throat. “Once the ponies were all cocooned, there was never any point for changelings to leave the hive any more. Everyone had everything they needed stored in one place inside this mountain. Everyone, except for me…” He sat on his flank and sighed, and after a brief pause, he murmured silently. “So I left.”

“I don’t understand. Why?” Trek tilted his head and cringed. “What was there out in the wasteland for you that wasn’t in the hive?”

Flake frowned in response. “Training.” He looked up. “Out there in the wastelands of Equestria, I did what the rest of you were afraid to do, because I had no other purpose. I hunted down monsters, and I fought them. On my own, I battled timberwolves, griffins, manticores, cockatrice... and even a dragon.”

“You fought… a dragon?” Trek was struck with disbelief.

“It wasn’t a full grown dragon, but yes,” Flake replied. “I’ve fled from many fights at first, seeing it how I was incapable of standing a chance. But as time went on, I grew better with my fighting, and worked my way up to battle stronger beasts, and found I was able to defeat some.”

“Define defeat,” Trek requested. “Did you have them cocooned? Did you kill any?”

“No,” Flake replied. “I don’t think I should have to cocoon or execute my opponent to prove I can beat them. A proven defeat is when your opponent has cowered or run; given up. I don’t strike my enemy when they’re down.”

Trek squinted and turned away, realizing that’s what had just happened. Flake could have taken him out when he was cowering right there if he wanted to. But he didn’t.

“After defeating that dragon—mostly by luck—I decided it was time to face the one creature we’re all afraid of. The feared monster of Canterlot.”

Trek’s ears twitched. “You went to Canterlot to fight the phoenix?”

Flake nodded. “I nearly died, but I successfully defeated her, and she combust into ashes. I’ll be honest, I had no intentions to take her down that hard. By luck it seemed, this was the first monster I have actually killed, and it was for my life’s sake. The phoenix was powerful, and I wouldn’t have gotten away without it coming back after me.” There was a pause, and he frowned. “Full of pride, I was going to bring the ashes to the Queen to show her what I’m made of, that I was able to defeat the hive’s most feared monster on my own. But on my way back to the hive, the phoenix reformed itself from the ashes. I had no idea they could do that…” He looked back over at his wings and exhaled. “Reborn from the ashes, she burst out of my saddlebag, and corrupted my wings with her newborn fire. And the only reason I survived after that, is because I fell with my wings ablaze, and I landed in a lake, which put out the fire.”

Trek stood still, unable to speak.

“I had an epiphany that day,” Flake continued. “When I resurfaced from the water, I looked up to the phoenix, and she looked back down to me. I was scared. But then, the phoenix just turned around… She didn’t come after me any more. She went home, back to Canterlot.” He exhaled through his nostrils. “It was then when I realized, it wasn’t just ponies who felt compassion, or love. Every creature does. If that phoenix didn’t feel those emotions, she would have come after me without a care for remorse. And it occurred to me, that the only reason she tried killing me in the first place, was all a case of self defense. Not because she wanted to do it. I never really understood compassion or love, all I knew was that creatures like that had it too, not just ponies.” He tucked his wings in. “It’s because of that night that my wings have become corrupt and frail. And ever since, I knew that nobody would ever accept me. And I didn’t need another changeling to tell me that I would never become a great flyer, because with scorched wings like these, I already knew that.” He looked up. “But that didn’t stop me from practicing. In the wastelands I remained, practicing, flying and fighting. For years I stayed away from the hive, because I was afraid of going back...”

There was a quiet moment. Trek’s eyes wandered, thinking about everything Flake had said.

“Out on my own with brittle wings, I found a way to keep myself alive… By feeding off of love from creatures other than ponies,” Flake exclaimed. “I was right. Every creature felt it. And that being said… I learned that I was able to transform into those creatures, too. So, that became a new practice for the next several years.” He shrugged. “I’ll admit it isn’t easy learning how to change into something you’re not used to. But if that creature feels any compassion at all, it is possible.” Looking up, a faint smile emerged on his face. “I used to believe that the love we feed from could only come from a pony alone. But as time went on, I learned that every living creature feels that emotion. And then, that pony showed me… that I have it too. That I don’t need to feed off of love to survive. That love is something that lives within all of us.”

Trek raised a brow. “In the end, what made you come back?”

“Huh?”

“Why did you return to the hive and try to impersonate one of us?”

Flake took a moment to think about an answer. “I came back because I wanted to show all of you what I have learned. That our race can live on forever without the ponies.” He hesitated and squinted, turning away. “But… to prove this, I needed… a pony…”

“Wait a second,” Trek caught on quickly. “In the dome, the pony that had escaped… The changeling that took her down, claiming she was completely drained of love...” He twitched. “That was you?!”

Flake didn’t say anything. He just looked blankly into Trek’s eyes, his expression answering his question for him.

“You knew all along that she was still alive in her cocoon when you took her down? Your intentions were to set her free?!”

“My intentions were to show the Queen that the ponies don’t need to be cocooned for us to survive,” Flake explained. “I didn’t expect her to get away. And when she did, I snuck into your search crew to get her back and show you I was capable of more than I look like I am.” He winced. “I have my doubts that Chitin had mentioned anything about this to you, but I had actually captured the pony when she was out in the wilderness. I had cocooned her and was on my way back to the hive with her...” He frowned and turned away. “Things took a turn for the worst from there.”

Trek squinted. “What are you talking about?”

“Chitin tried taking the pony from me after learning that I wasn’t actually recruited by Chrysalis. And I had ensured that he didn’t take her from me—I punt her in the river, which the water had dissolved her cocoon,” Flake exclaimed. “As a result, since Chitin couldn’t have her, he cast Red Death on me.”

Silence overtook the conversation. Trek shook his head. “No. Chitin wouldn’t cast a spell on another changeling that the Queen had forbid us to use without her consent.” He pointed a hoof at him and frowned. “And if he did, you’d be dead.”

“Well, the whole reason I’m alive is because of the pony,” Flake revealed. “Despite catching her, she still came back, and she saved my life with a burn healing potion.” He shrugged and sighed. “I couldn’t understand why the pony would do such a thing for her enemy. And as a result, I grew curious, and I followed along her side to learn more. And from then on, her continuous acts of friendship taught me so much more about compassion and love than I had ever known in my lifetime. She showed me emotions I had never experienced from my own kind. Good feelings…” He squinted while trying to pinpoint exactly how to describe it. “She makes me feel… happy... accepted… wanted…” His eyes widened. “Do you have any idea what that feels like, Trek? To feel loved?”

Trek paused, and his eyes wandered. “I can’t say I know what you’re talking about. I don’t know the feeling, I only know what it’s like to consume it,” he said quietly, thinking hard about it and how else he could response. “But if it’s true about what you say, that the pony saved your life… An explanation as to why would suffice.”

“Why don’t you ask her yourself, then maybe she will help you understand,” Flake suggested and shrugged. “You’ve never actually spoken to a pony, you don’t know what they might say or think, because they’ve been in cocoons for as long as you can remember. Aren’t you at least a little bit curious what a pony might have to say to you if you gave them the chance to talk? Because here is your chance.”

Trek turned away at first, wincing in self-disgust for allowing himself to be subjected into this.

“There is love within all of us. And I know it exists in you, too, Trek.” Flake tilted his head. “Somewhere...”

“And what makes you believe that?” Trek murmured.

Flake just grinned. “Because if you didn’t feel any compassion at all, you wouldn’t have stopped to listen to me speak.”

Trek just looked back into Flake’s eyes, and felt dumbfounded by the truth in his statement. As much as he would want to deny it, he had to be right about that.

“So, why don’t we go get her, so she can help you find out for yourself what love is, and where it comes from? I know you’re curious like I was and still am about it, so what do you think?” Flake murmured calmly, and leaned forward with a risen hoof. “Help me…?”

Looking away, Trek kept silent. It took a few moments, and he hesitated, but eventually he looked back to him with a sincere expression. And after a pause, he nodded. “Just this once,” he said solemnly. “I can’t say I have gained your trust, but I won’t lie that I am curious about what the pony may have to tell me.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Many thanks to these gentlecolts:
Proofreading and Editing done by The Princess Luna and David Hasselhoof.
Prereading and other Assistance by Morfonious.

Friend or Foe?

View Online

Rainbow Dash soared as quickly as her wings could take her through the tunnel ahead. It was dark, almost to the point of being black as night. The only visual perception she had around her was the glimmering effects of light from the exterior of the caves bouncing off the green mesh walls. Keeping her focus ahead, she raced forward, teeth gritting in determination, striving to catch up to Dozer and free Scootaloo.

After minutes of flying, the elusive changeling appeared up ahead with the cocoon in his grip. Her eyes widened, and with a growl, she made a dash toward him.

“Hey!!” she called out to him, “Where do you think you’re going with that pegasus, huh?!”

Dozer raised a brow and turned his head to look back. Seeing the incoming cerulean pegasus, his mouth briefly hung open in disbelief. “How in the…” He was quick to turn back and flew faster ahead of her.

“Think you can outfly me, do ya?!” she yelled, closing in on him. “You’re not gonna get away from me!”

The changeling turned his head back once again to see that she was right on his tail. Astounded by her godlike speed, he made a quick turn while gliding backwards, and fired a green projectile of magic at her.

“Woah!” Rainbow Dash swerved to the side, caught off guard by his assault meters in front of her. She was able to dodge, and the spell zipped past her, hurdling through the tunnel behind her until it hit a wall with a pop. Leveling herself out after losing some altitude, she continued the chase after him.

“Ugh, blasted pony!” Dozer began making twisting flight patterns in the attempt to lose her. To his disappointment, she easily tracked his every motion. Then as if it took her no effort, she flew up right in front of him. Startled, he made a sharp stop in the air, and turned to fly the other way. Again, he found himself flying straight into her once more. With a grunt, he made the attempt to fly in another direction, but again she would only zip in that direction and block his path. “AGH!!” Angry, the changeling lunged himself into Rainbow Dash with a solid buck to her cheek, while keeping the cocoon in his grip.

“Ogh!” Rainbow Dash flipped back from the impact. Leveling herself out, she placed a hoof on her sore jaw, and looked up to see that he had already made an effort to escape her again. “Hey!!” She twitched and threw herself at him. “Get back here!”

Like a bullet, she caught up to him in moments, and crashed right into him. “AH!” The force of her impact caused him to flip forward through the air, and he crashed into the ceiling with a puff of debris, and fell to the floor with a stumble and a thump. Wincing, he pushed himself up, and noticed the cocoon rolling away across the ground in front of him.

“No!” Rainbow panicked and made a dash for it as she watched the cocoon roll toward a hole in the ground. Dozer’s eyes widened, and he was quick to get up and gallop after it himself. Closer and closer the cocoon rolled to the hole, and just out of reach, it fell into the pit. “AAH!” Rainbow made her way after it, but before she could make it down into the hole after Scootaloo, she was struck out of the air by a spell cast by Dozer. She collapsed to the floor and rolled to a stop mere feet from the hole.

Winded, she coughed and stood back up, sensing that her wings had been struck once again, rendering her grounded. Slowly, she stood up and her eyes twitched, looking down into the darkness of the pit.

“Go ahead, jump in after her. The fall will kill you without your wings,” Dozer exclaimed.

Rainbow felt a sudden twitch. She gnashed her teeth together, and a faint growl emanated from her throat as she slowly turned to glare at Dozer. “Why do you parasprites… always… aim for the freaking WINGS?!” Quickly, she made a full turn to the changeling in a battle posture, snarling.

“Mad, are we?” Dozer squinted at her.

“AAAAAH!!” In full gallop, Rainbow charged straight at him. Dozer just grinned and flew up into the air, hovering over her. Rainbow stopped, looking up at the airborne changeling with hatred.

“Now, this seems to be more of a fair fight,” he muttered.

“Come at me, you monster!” Rainbow angrily dared.

Dozer cringed down at the pegasus, and his horn illuminated green. Rainbow braced herself, awaiting his attack.

“Back in your cocoon!” he shouted, firing a green missile of magic at her. Using her quick reflexes, Rainbow Dash sidestepped with a bit of a leap, and the bullet struck the ground. Dozer cringed at her, and charged up his horn again, and fired again. The mare below made a quick jump backwards, and it missed her again. “Hold still!”

“Hold still?” Rainbow Dash raised a brow. “Have you even met me?”

“AAH!” Dozer recharged his spell again, and made another attempt to fire at her. Rainbow Dash payed attention to his aim, and leapt to the side once again, dodging his attack.

“Come down here and fight like like a stallion!” she mocked and stomped her hoof.

Dozer was beginning to lose his patience. Squinting furiously, he began charging his horn again, taking longer to get a bigger charge for a stronger spell. His horn illuminated a brighter, fluorescent green. “Dodge this,” he muttered, and focused his aim carefully, firing straight for the colourful mare below. Rainbow braced herself, and at the speed his spell was bulleting toward her, it was in that moment when she realized she was done for. It was too fast—even for her—to get out of the way. Her eyes widened, and she clenched her teeth as it came closer, and she cowered low to the floor with a frightened holler with her eyes shut tight. Rainbow heard the loud magical explosion of the spell when it made its impact.

There was a quiet moment as the green mist from the spell faded, and she slowly opened her eyes. She was mystified; why wouldn’t she be in a cocoon? Rainbow looked up, and saw the silhouette of a changeling from the back. She stood to her hooves in awe, and when the mist had cleared away enough, she could see that it was Flake, who had blocked the shot for her yet again.

“What the hell has gotten into you?!” Dozer yelled in an irritated manner, flailing his hooves in anger. Charging up another spell, he growled impatiently. “I’ll get you!! I will!! AAAH!!”

“Now, Trek!!” Flake shouted.

With Dozer distracted, Trek came flying out from the dark, and collided straight into him from the back. “AH!” Dozer was knocked out of the air, and Trek landed on top of him when they made contact with the ground. “GraAAH, get off of me!” Trek had him pinned, and he had a spell in effect, radiating from his horn that kept Dozer still. “Wait, what?! I don’t believe this! You too?!” the pinned changeling shrieked furiously. “What has gotten into you backstabbing parasprites?! Get the buck off me! GET OFF!”

Rainbow watched from a distance, uncertain if she should get involved or stay out of it. It looked intense from where she was. “Rainbow, where is Scootaloo?” Flake asked her quickly. Rainbow looked up to him, then pointed to the hole in the ground. “She fell down there,” she exclaimed, “I couldn’t fly after her; he shot my friggin wings again.”

Flake took quick initiative, and dove down into the hole after the fallen cocooned mare. Dozer watched from where he was pinned, trying to struggle free of Trek’s grip while growling helplessly. “Why are you on their side…?”

“I’m not,” Trek replied. “I’m doing this for us.”

“The buck are you talking about?” the grumpy changeling muttered.

“For the changelings,” Trek exclaimed. “Maybe there’s another way of life than the one we are living, where we’ll never starve of love. Flake says that the ponies can teach us.”

Dozer just cringed at the thought. “Ponies are our enemies!!” That declared, he jumped up onto his hooves, pushing Trek off of him. Then with a quick motion, he spun around and struck Trek in the jaw with a hoof, and then shoulder checked him onto his back. He prepared himself to strike him again, when Rainbow Dash galloped in the way, and she stood there between them defensively. Dozer looked into Rainbow’s determined eyes, and cringed at her. “I don’t understand you,” he growled. “Any of you.”

Then from the pit which Flake had gone down in after Scootaloo, they heard a scream in terror that echoed through the caves at an alarming volume. Rainbow Dash, Trek and Dozer’s eyes all widened from Flake’s sudden shriek. The pegasus and two changelings at war exchanged glances with each other; they knew this battle had to be held off after a scream like that. After a brief hesitation and uneasy glares between the two changelings, Rainbow trotted over to the hole, and glanced down below with caution. “Flake?” she called out. “Hello?”

“What the hell happened down here?!” Flake cried loudly from the darkness below.

Trek and Dozer both jumped in after him, leaving Rainbow at the top of the hole who couldn’t fly anyway. Descending below into the black pit, they landed on the bottom next to Flake, who was standing next to Scootaloo in her cocoon. He was frozen where he stood, terrified at what he was looking at before him. Trek and Dozer both looked to see what he was staring at with such immense fear, and their eyes both widened and their jaws hung low.

Surrounding them in this dome shaped room, were dead bodies. Age old changeling skeletons covered the walls, which dangled from black cobwebs. The ceiling hung as high as ten meters, with the hole at the peak of the dome which Rainbow was peering down below from.

“What’s going on?” she asked. “How deep is it?”

The three changelings were completely lost for words. They turned their heads, examining the room of death.

“What could have done this…?” Dozer murmured quietly to the other two beside him.

None of them could take their eyes off of the walls. Turning their necks to examine all the skeletons and cobwebs, Flake found a stone slab on the floor with some markings. He trotted up to it and peered down at it. It was covered in dust from age, so the imprinted markings on the stone were hard to make out. Gritting his teeth nervously, he brushed the dust away from the stone while the other two changelings beside him watched him uncover the engraved markings.

It was an imprinted circle with spikes around it, and four-cornered stars surrounding it.

“It’s the symbol of the King,” Trek determined. Within the center of the circle, there was a written scripture...

‘From dawn to dusk, I’m feared at sight; my wrath eternal, like Nightmare Night.
My time will come, and all shall hail; and those oppose, shall surely fail.
For each betrayer, shall decor my shrine; my death be theirs, a return be mine.
New body and soul, new mind and power; my place be taken, for the darkest hour.’

The three changelings reading the scripture looked up and exchanged glances with each other. Then looked up at the walls again, seeing the dead changelings hanging all over the room in a decorated manner, evenly spaced out to align the dome of the room.

“You figure this is the Great Changeling King’s shrine?” Dozer questioned the other two.

Trek winced at the thought. “But, that wouldn’t make sense,” he exclaimed. “It says in this scripture that those who betrayed him would decor his shrine. I can only assume it means their deceased bodies...” He gestured to the bones on the walls for emphasis, then turned to Dozer and squinted. “But, I was always told that our King was a good King. That he looked out for the changeling race. So why would our race stand up to their own King?” He looked back up at the walls, and turned to examine all the bodies.

Flake grit his teeth and exhaled. “Perhaps there are more reasons behind this cave being abandoned than the Queen let us to believe.”

“The fact the King’s shrine being here, though, still doesn’t make sense,” Trek exclaimed. “I thought this cave was only as old as our return to Canterlot ten years ago when we first dug out our hive.”

“Or…” Flake put it to thought, still traumatized by this discovery. “Maybe this cave was always here, and Canterlot was a coverup to hide his shrine.”

Trek and Dozer both exchanged looks with each other. “The Queen wouldn’t hide something like this from us,” Dozer exclaimed, wincing as he turned back to Flake. “Would she…?”

“Hey!!” Rainbow called from above them. Looking up, the three changelings saw the silhouette of the grounded pegasus impatiently peering down at them. “What’s going on down there?”

Dozer cringed at her, and Flake held a hoof up in front of him. “Leave her,” he said.

“We still have unfinished business,” Dozer muttered and turned to him with a frown. “And you’re on my list, too!”

“After a discovery like this, you’re really going to think like that?” Flake shook his head and exhaled. “Don’t you see there is something obviously wrong with this picture?”

Dozer raised a brow. “Uh, yeah, I do. You’ve sided with a pony.”

“You call the pony our enemy…” Flake squinted at him, then turned and pointed to the wall of dead changelings. “And yet, we find this shrine, decorated of our own kind’s skeletons, in what appears to be the Great King’s tomb.” He turned back to him and frowned. “This is the work of our own kind, and you’re pointing hooves at her, why? Because she is different from us? Has she done us harm?” Dozer just turned away in response, keeping his frown. “There is something very wrong with us; don’t you see it? We make the biggest discovery in centuries that shows such a huge flaw in our race, and all you can think of is yourself, and getting even with a pony.”

After finishing his speech, he knelt down to the cocooned pegasus beside him. Picking up Scootaloo, he flew up into the air with her and frowned at Dozer, who just looked back at him with disgust. Exhaling through his nose, Flake turned away and shook his head. “I sometimes ask myself why our race even exists, if all we’re good for, is consumption. We take land that isn’t ours, we steal its life and its love, and not long after we’ve turned the place into a desolate wasteland, we find ourselves empty, and we must move on to find more lives to take away for our pathetic existence to continue.”

Flake flew back up to Rainbow Dash who backed away to give him some room. He gently placed Scootaloo down on the ground, and focused a spell on the cocooned pegasus. In the meantime, Trek and Dozer ascent from the shrine below, landing beside Flake, though keeping a bit of a distance. Trek was paying attention to what Flake was doing, and Dozer was just expressing a lack of enthusiasm with a frown.

“I don’t care who the leader is,” Flake exclaimed, “Nobody harms these ponies.” With that, he sent a magic jolt into Scootaloo’s cocoon. Her mesh prison slowly began to dissolve away.

“You’re the single most confused changeling born, aren’t you,” Dozer spat. “What the hell is the matter with you? Why would you side with them? It makes no sense!”

Flake rolled his eyes and finished dissolving the remaining mesh off of Scootaloo, then turned to Dozer and sighed. “When your own kind tries to kill you, then who was supposed to be your enemy saves your life, you tend to question yourself who is on your side.” He glanced back down to Scootaloo who was lying on her side. “She’ll wake up in a few minutes. We’re staying here until then.” He turned back to Trek and Dozer, wincing. “Any questions?”

“Ugh!” Dozer just marched away and sat down a good distance from them. “I can’t believe this!” he shouted to the ceiling.

Rainbow Dash and Trek both looked over to him with a raised brow. Flake just rolled his eyes and turned to frown at the stubborn changeling. Ignoring the debate between the changelings, Rainbow Dash stepped into the conversation. “So, what was down there?”

Flake looked into Rainbow’s eyes and exhaled through his nostrils. “Nothing…” he murmured with a lack of enthusiasm, trying to avoid bringing it up. “Here, let me free your wings.”

Rainbow raised a brow in response to Flake’s disappointed expressions. “Uh… Kay?” She lowered to her haunches to make it easier for Flake to work with her wings. Flake stood beside her, and began to focus a spell. Trek watched as Flake prepared to help her, and Dozer watched from his distance.

Dozer squinted as he witnessed Flake perform his spell, and Rainbow Dash just sat there, fully trusting in the changeling. Casting his magic into her wings, the green mesh glowed a warm orange, and slowly crumbled away. He scraped his hooves at her wings to help remove it, and peeled it off of her, carefully and gently. The more Dozer watched the trust they had in each other, and the more he thought about the shrine below, he started to experience a feeling he didn’t understand. Lowering his head, he winced and turned away.

“So… what are we doing from here?” Trek questioned Flake.

Flake raised his head and turned to him. “As soon as Scootaloo wakes up and Rainbow Dash can fly again, we’re finding the other ponies Chrysalis hid in these tunnels,” he replied. “I don’t know what your intentions are, but if you two aren’t going to help us, you both can leave and we’ll take it from here. But I’m not leaving these ponies. They’ve helped me more than you’ll ever know.”

Trek nor Dozer had anything to say. Dozer slowly turned to look at him with a frowning glare in his eye.

“Where could we start looking?” Rainbow asked. “This place is so big, and you know it way better than either of us.”

Flake put that to thought, but didn’t know how to answer the question.

“There is a passage not far from here,” Dozer revealed, pointing a hoof off in the dark. “South side of the tunnel, about a mile in that direction.”

Flake, Rainbow and Trek all looked at him in question.

“I found one of the cocooned ponies when searching for you and Daring Do… Er, Scootaloo, whatever her name is,” Dozer replied and exhaled through his nostrils. “A unicorn, with a cutie mark of diamonds.” Rainbow Dash’s ears perked and she sat up at the description of her friend.

Flake tilted his head in question. “I don’t know… Can we trust you…?”

“I do,” Rainbow exclaimed and stood up, adjusting her wings that were now free from mesh.

“You do?” Flake raised a brow.

“Well, I know he isn’t lying, “Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “He just described to us one of my best friends… Rarity.”

Trek and Flake exchanged glances. After a brief moment of thought, Flake shrugged and looked back to Rainbow Dash. “Alright, when Scootaloo wakes up, we’re heading in that direction.”

“I’m not going,” Dozer murmured.

“Huh?” Confused, Flake raised a brow. “But, you know where she is.”

“After discovering that room down there, I feel disgusted enough already about my race,” Dozer exclaimed with a mutter in his voice. Rainbow Dash glanced to the hole in the floor in question toward Dozer’s statement. “And now I feel like a total traitor telling you where to find that unicorn,” he murmured.

“Traitor?” Flake questioned him.

“I don’t know!” Dozer shouted. “Can I even call myself a changeling?!” He backed away and cringed, looking off to the side in self disgust. “I don’t understand why, but revealing the location of that unicorn to you, it… it felt right.” He turned back to them and squinted. “Why?! What is happening to me? All of a sudden after seeing you actually care for these pegasi, it… it made me feel different. It made me feel sympathy!” He stood tall and began to act frantic. “Why do I feel like this? I’ve never felt this before, and it’s scaring me!”

Flake sighed. “All those years in the hive, fending for ourselves, serving our Queen… It has really turned us into mindless, selfish creatures. Although it’s all we consume, I don’t believe any of the changelings in the hive know what love even is, let alone what it feels like.” He then gestured to the pegasus asleep on the ground. “But she showed me. And because of her, I don’t need to consume love to survive.”

In that moment, Scootaloo slowly regained consciousness, and opened her eyes. Her tired eyes wandered, and she looked up to the changeling watching over her. Flake smiled at her, and she smiled back. Dozer saw their smiles, and felt a welcoming warmth within himself. He squinted and shook his head. “This isn’t us,” he protested. “What even are we?! I can’t expose myself to this!”

“Dozer?” Trek turned to question him, but he had already started galloping the other way. “Dozer, come on!” The changeling running off into the distance didn’t even look back. He flapped his wings and flew off into the dark, feeling the need to stay away from the exposure of the unfamiliar feelings and emotions.

“Dozer!!” Flake called out to him, but there was no answer. He knew there was no convincing him to stay with them and help. He sat on his flank and sighed. “It is ironic, how a changeling’s biggest fear is change, when change is all we can do.”

Scootaloo slowly pushed herself back up to her haunches. “What… what’d I miss?” she yawned, turning her neck to view her surroundings.

Flake took one more glance in the direction Dozer had run off in, and then turned to help Scootaloo back to her hooves. “Doesn’t matter,” he murmured, helping lift her up from her shoulders. “We know where another one of the ponies are, though.”

“I still want to follow,” Trek exclaimed. “I am curious how the ponies can help us.”

Scootaloo and Rainbow exchanged looks and smiled.

“Heh, well… Thank you, Trek, for giving the ponies a chance,” Flake quietly said.

“I will admit, I’m a little skeptical about change, as you put it.” Trek shrugged. “But after the few things I’ve seen in the last short while, if it’s for the benefit of our survival, I’ll give anypony a chance.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Many thanks to these gentlecolts:
Proofreading and Editing done by The Princess Luna and David Hasselhoof.
Prereading and other Assistance by Morfonious.

Determined to the End

View Online

After Dozer had left Scootaloo, Flake, Rainbow Dash and Trek earlier after giving them an insight on where they could find the next hidden pony, they made their way back through the tunnel in that direction. Flake, Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo seemed to lead ahead, while Trek trailed behind, keeping his distance.

Scootaloo noticed Trek falling behind, and she turned her neck to glance to him. “You can walk beside us, you know.”

“I’m fine back here,” he replied with an awkward murmur.

Raising a brow, Scootaloo could see the tension Trek was experiencing. While he was willing to follow them, it was obvious that he was feeling a lack of pride in doing so. She turned to Flake, then to Rainbow Dash, who were focused on walking ahead. She sighed and stopped, and she turned to face him. Rainbow Dash and Flake stopped pacing forward to see what she was up to.

“Trek,” she stepped up to him and tilted her head. Trek’s ears folded back, and he squinted at her curiously. “Is something the matter?”

“Ehh…” He turned away and sighed. “Just… feels like I’m betraying my Queen.”

Scootaloo exhaled through her nostrils and sat on her flank. “Well, you’re doing this in hopes it creates a better life for the changelings. Right?”

“I guess?”

“So…” Scootaloo squinted. “Then wouldn’t she understand, and perhaps welcome it if it works?”

He cringed at the thought. “I sincerely doubt it.” He looked back to her, and she could see the guilt expressed in his eyes. “Now that I’ve chosen to walk with you, she’ll only consider me as good as dead.”

“At this point, if I had the choice to side with her or the ponies, I would choose the ponies,” Flake loyally exclaimed. The others looked to him in question; Trek had a raised brow. “I intend to speak to her myself, if I get the chance to. I do want us all to see eye to eye.”

“Are you suggesting that the Queen might even consider this a good idea?” Trek muttered. “If you have expectations for that, then all I can say to you is that you have some extreme wishful thinking.” He winced and shook his head. “You don’t know Chrysalis like the rest of us do.”

Flake winced at that. “What’re you saying?”

“I’m saying, that you and I are as good as banished from this hive forever.” The way Trek was speaking was in a worrisome tone. “Where do we even go from here?”

Flake sighed and made the attempt to ease his frustrations. “Look, I know you’re scared. But we can’t think about that right now.”

“No, listen!” Trek twitched. “Even if we do find these ponies you’re looking for, what will we accomplish afterward?”

Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo exchanged glances.

“Look at the cards we are dealt with!” He pointed at the others for emphasis. “We will never reach the core of the hive—there are thousands of changelings throughout every corridor! Even if we find these hidden friends of yours, we’ve then got a few ponies, and two changelings.”

“Three changelings,” a voice exclaimed from behind. Trek blinked and turned around to see a wounded changeling limping toward them.

“Dozer?” Trek winced at him, examining the cuts and scars on his body. “The hell happened to you?”

Dozer went silent at first. He coughed and grit his teeth nervously. “I just came back… because I needed to tell you that you’re no longer safe in these abandoned tunnels.”

Their eyes all widened in response. They exchanged looks, and Flake cringed at him. “What did you do?”

“It wasn’t my fault,” the wounded changeling exclaimed. “Further into the tunnels, I bumped into Chitin.”

Everypony stood in silence. Flake trotted up closer to him, squinting. “What did you tell him?”

Dozer’s eyes wandered, frightfully, and he shook his head. “I-I didn’t tell him anything. He just took one look at me, and attacked me.”

“What?” they questioned him together.

“Flake, Trek… It’s like Chitin has gone insane.” He chewed on his bottom lip. “He is taking desperate measures to keep his title as Captain. He wanted Trek and I to go through Canterlot’s entrance, only because he wanted the phoenix to get us on the way in.” He lowered his head. “Seeing me, and acknowledging that we in fact survived getting into the back entrance of the hive; he went ballistic.”

Flake and Trek exchanged looks and expressed their concerns. They turned back to Dozer, anticipating more details.

“I have my doubts that he went back to inform Chrysalis, because he’s trying to make this mission all about himself,” Dozer continued. “He knew we were here all along. He was down this far into the hives to look for us.”

Trek grit his teeth and trotted up to a wall, and slammed his forehoof into it. “BUCK!!” He turned back to Dozer, yelling, “What the hell do we do now?!”

“GUYS!” Scootaloo shouted, catching their attention. “Panicking is not going to accomplish anything right now.”

“Well what do you propose, hm? Scootaloo?” Trek muttered cynically. “We can’t go back where we came from because of the phoenix, we can’t stay here because we’re now being hunted, and we can’t go forward because we will never survive the swarm of changelings when we get into the heart of the hive! So?” He raised his voice, “What do we do, huh?!”

“Hmh…” Scootaloo shook her head. “We keep doing what we were doing.”

Trek raised a brow and trotted to her anxiously. “Hold on, you still want to keep going against all these odds.” He squinted in discomfort. “You’re serious.”

“We’ve come this far alive. So why stop here?”

“Because it’s suicide?” he replied.

“So, let me get this straight…” Scootaloo paced forward, and circled around the wounded changeling. “You’re trying to tell me, that if we go back, we die. If we stay here, we die. And if we keep moving forward, we die.” She stopped to glare into his eyes. “Right?”

Trek and Dozer exchanged looks with each other.

“Well, if the result to any path we choose leads to an inevitable death, then I for one do not want to die a coward.” She took a step closer to both of them for emphasis. “You’re either with me, or you’re not. I’m going to stay in these abandoned tunnels until I find each of Chrysalis’ hidden ponies. Even if I have to tear the place apart with my bare hooves. So if you’re not coming with me, then which way are you going to go?”

Rainbow Dash and Flake grinned at the inspiring enthusiasm Scootaloo was presenting to the newcomer changelings. Trek and Dozer’s eyes wandered in response to her loyal behaviour. They didn’t seem to have anything to say in response; her little speech tended to silence them.

Scootaloo exhaled and examined Dozer’s wounds again. “I’ll see what I can do about your cuts in the meantime.” She turned her head to her side, and realized her saddlebags were missing. “Oh, shoot!” She lifted her wings and spun around, searching for it.

“You dropped your saddlebag when Dozer dragged you off in a cocoon,” Flake revealed. “I tried getting to it when fighting Trek, but somewhere during our fight, I lost track of it.”

“Uuugh…” Scootaloo sat on her flank and clunked her hoof against her forehead. “Okay, so we’re low on resources.” She put her hoof back down. “Sorry, Dozer, looks like I don’t have any medicine for you.”

“Heh…” he mumbled. “Well, if Trek and I didn’t attack you, you would still have it. So it’s only fair to say it’s my fault.”

Scootaloo turned to Rainbow Dash in question. “Did Rarity know any healing spells?”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “No idea, but why don’t we ask her.” She looked to Dozer. “You said she’s just down the cave somewhere in a corridor.”

He nodded. “The unicorn? Yeah. I saw her in a narrow path. It’s actually not too far from here.”

“Alright.” Scootaloo grinned. “So does that mean you’re sticking around?”

Dozer rolled his eyes and sighed. “Yes, I’m in.” He winced and looked away. “It’s not like I’ll have anywhere to go considering I’m betraying my race.”

Flake cleared his throat and shrugged. “You know… I for one don’t believe we are betraying anypony.”

Dozer raised a brow at that. “What do you mean?”

“We’re all in this for the benefit of both ponies and changelings alike.” He smiled. “I mean, what if this does work? What if we can make a better life for all of us? Do you honestly believe Chrysalis would object?”

Dozer just winced. “I do, yes.”

“You really don’t know Chrysalis very well,” Trek exclaimed to Flake. “She hates compromise, and she hates change. Trust us, we’ve worked under her orders for years.” He tilted his head. “You said it yourself, Flake. You’ve been away from the hive for so many years; how would you know what the Queen is like?”

Flake just squinted in response. He didn’t have anything to say to that. To end the subject, he turned to Scootaloo. “Maybe we should just move on.”

“Right. Let’s discuss these matters later,” Scootaloo suggested and turned around. “Let’s get going and not waste any more time.” She gestured forward, looking to Dozer. “Maybe you should lead the way; you said you know where she is.”

Dozer exhaled through his nostrils, and nodded slowly. Moving on, he lead the others through the cave.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Together, the pegasi and changelings made their way through the tunnels in search of the cocoon containing Rarity. Dozer lead the others to a corridor to their right. The crevice in the wall was only three inches wide; far too narrow for any of them to fit. Scootaloo peaked through the crack, and within the dark room on the other side, she could see a cocoon hanging from the ceiling.

Rainbow Dash sighed. “If we had a unicorn in our group, we could blow this opening bigger.”

“Yeah, well… there’s one right there.” Scootaloo stepped back and pointed through the crevice, wincing at the irony.

Rainbow stepped to the crack and took a look for herself. “Yeah, that’s Rarity alright.” She stepped back and turned to the others. “How are we supposed to get in there?”

“I got this,” Flake said and stepped forward. The others watched him curiously as he concentrated a shapeshifting spell. His body engulfed with green flames, and the fire illuminated the vicinity with a faint neon glow. When the flames surrounding his body dissipated, he revealed himself as a small winged creature.

“A bat?” Rainbow Dash raised a brow.

Scootaloo exhaled through her nostrils and acknowledged what he did. The reminder was tender to her, though she tried not to express it too much. “You took Mercy’s form?”

“He told me he could take the form of any creature that could express love,” Trek explained. “Apparently he’s been practicing that.”

Flake could see that his form was perhaps not the best choice for Scootaloo. Feeling bad for the pegasus, he decided to act quickly before changing back. Flying toward the crevice in the wall, he slipped his tiny body through the gap. Once he had passed through, he descended to the ground and landed, curling his wings up. Then in the flash of green flames, he changed back to his original form. He turned to the crack behind him and looked to Scootaloo on the other side of the wall.

“I apologize, Scootaloo. I should have chosen a different form.”

“Flake, it’s fine,” the pegasus insisted. “I know you didn’t mean anything by it.” She briefly exhaled a small chuckle to ease the tension, and she shrugged. “In a way, it’s as if Mercy is still helping. Even though he isn’t with us.”

“How so?”

“If you haven’t met him, you wouldn’t have been able to choose that form. Is that right?”

Flake nodded, now understanding what she meant. The others looked to Scootaloo curiously.

“Mercy?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Scootaloo lowered her head. “Mercy was a bat I encountered when I was alone. He helped me see through danger, and if it weren’t for him, I’d be either dead or in a cocoon right now.” She looked up to the agile mare. “Mercy died saving my life from the phoenix in Canterlot.”

“Oh,” Rainbow Dash murmured, “I see.” She blinked a few times. “Phoenix? In Canterlot?”

Scootaloo just nodded in question.

“Could it be Princess Celestia’s royal pet, Philomena?” Rainbow questioned further.

“You mean to tell me a pony once tamed that thing?” Dozer muttered.

“And it sounds like you changelings pissed it off when you captured our Princess,” Rainbow exclaimed cynically. “I can only guess it attacked Scootaloo with the assumption that she was a changeling, too.”

Flake exhaled and turned around to face Rarity’s cocoon. “Whatever, let’s get this unicorn out of her prison.” Stepping toward her, he examined the unconscious pony inside the concealing mesh. Concentrating on a spell, he cast a dart of turquoise magic into the cocoon. The shell of the cocoon began to crackle and melt, and he stepped back and watched, waiting patiently for the spell to fully kick in. After a few moments, the base of the cocoon split, and the liquid from inside oozed out, dripping on the floor. Then the unicorn inside slipped out, and she dropped into the puddle on the floor with a thump and a small splash.

He stepped up to her, and looked down to the sleeping mare.

“Uh, Flake? Are you sure it’d be a good idea for you to be the first thing she sees when she wakes up?” Scootaloo suggested. “You do remember what happened when Rainbow Dash woke up, right?”

“Meh, it’s fine.” Flake waved his hoof through the air. “She’s going to freak out sooner or later regardless.”

“Yeah, well, you haven’t seen Rarity freak out,” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

“Neither have I.” Scootaloo shrugged and chuckled. “Sweetie Belle says its quite hilarious.”

Flake turned around to glance back at them. “Hey, are we here to joke around or save your frie—”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!” He was cut off with a sudden loud shriek from beneath him. He jumped in surprise and turned to look down at the unicorn, who had just woken up. As quick as she was able to in her exhausted state, she scrambled to her hooves and staggered backwards across the floor away from him. “Don’t you dare touch me!!” she dramatically threatened him.

“Uh, I didn’t—”

“HELP!!” she screamed out as loud as she could, leaning against her back to the wall. “Somepony! Anypony!!”

Flake just watched Rarity stand there and scream, and with lacking amusement, he turned to Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo, giving them an unimpressed expression through the crevice. Turning back to the terrified unicorn, he opened his mouth in the attempt to talk to her, and found that her horn was illuminating.

“Don’t come any closer!!” she threatened him, “Or I’ll turn you into a newt!!”

The confused changeling raised a brow at that comment. “First, I could just do that to myself anyway. Second, are you a witch or something?” He blinked. “A newt? Really?”

“I’ll do it!” Rarity snapped with a booming voice. “I will!!”

“Rarity, calm down,” Rainbow Dash said to her from through the crevice. Rarity blinked and turned to face her.

“Rai-Rainbow Dash??” Rarity stuttered, turning back to the changeling, then back to the pegasus. “NO!!” she snapped. “Y… You’re just a changeling, too!” She pointed at her accusingly. “Go on! Turn back into your true self!”

“Rarity, it’s me,” the agile pegasus exclaimed factually.

“Ohhh REALLY now,” Rarity growled. “Prove it!”

Rainbow Dash raised a brow and sighed. She put that to thought for a moment, thinking about what would be the best thing to tell Rarity to prove to her that she is who she says she is. After a moment, she thought of something; one simple word. “Tom.”

Rarity’s cheeks lit up bright red, and she just stared at her. “Uhhhh…”

Flake raised a brow and turned to Rainbow Dash. “Tom?”

“Nevermind!” Rarity quickly said, trying to change the subject. Getting down on four hooves, she cleared her throat. “Could somepony please tell me what in Equestria is going on here?!” She raised a hoof and gestured to Flake. “You know this changeling?? He’s on your side??”

“Well, as far as I know,” Rainbow Dash replied.

Rarity looked back to Flake and raised a brow. “I see.” She leaned forward and squinted at him. She gave him a long, intimidating glare, making him feel uneasy. He just looked back into her eyes, uncertain what was on her mind, but he got the impression that she didn’t trust him. She pointed a hoof at him up close. “I’ll be watching you, so you’d better not be getting any ideas!” she sneered.

“I...deas?” Flake question her, and turned to Rainbow Dash on the other side of the split in the wall for an explanation. Rainbow Dash just shrugged.

Feeling soaked and disgusting from the ooze, Rarity examined herself. “Eeeewww… What is this?!” She shook her dripping hooves, shivering from the disturbing texture of the liquid mesh.

“You were concealed in a cocoon for ten years,” Flake explained to her. “You were floating in this liquid, which is what kept you asleep until now.”

“Te… ten yea...” Rarity limped backwards, trying to recollect her words. “Ten years?!” The changeling nodded in response, and she felt a heavy weight in her gut. She spun around, examining the circular room around her. “Wherever even are we?”

“We’re in the far ends of the changeling hive,” Flake replied. “We should keep moving though. Do you know any spells to break through this wall?”

She looked to the crevice he was pointing at, where she saw Rainbow Dash on the other side. “Is that our only way out?” She turned back to Flake in question, still feeling uneasy with him in her presence. “How did you even get in here?”

“I shapeshifted into a smaller creature,” he replied with simplicity. “I don’t know any spells of my own that could break through this wall.”

“Well, I’m certainly not staying in this musty old place,” Rarity exclaimed and stepped up to the crack in the wall. She examined it, and knocked on it with a hoof. “Hm, it’s rock solid… I’d teleport to the other side, but I’m a little rusty with that spell.”

“Ugh… Twilight could help us with that,” Rainbow Dash muttered.

Rarity stepped back, and she illuminated her horn. “I don’t know if I can blow a hole in this wall, but I will give it a shot.” Concentrating, her horn glowed brighter. Rainbow Dash stepped away from the wall as well, and waited for Rarity to cast her spell. Then with a flash of light from her horn, she fired a blast of magic at the wall. On impact with the wall, the spell exploded with a crackle, and a cloud of dust emanated throughout the vicinity. When the dust had cleared, the wall was still standing; her spell had only merely cracked the surface. “Oh, fiddle,” she muttered disappointedly.

From the other side, Rainbow Dash leapt into the wall, and spun around to buck it with her back legs. “YAH!” On impact with the pre-cracked wall, the cracks in the surface grew larger, and the wall sagged a bit in several large chunks of stone.

“That’s more like it,” Rarity exclaimed, and using her unicorn magic, she began to levitate the loose rocks away from the wall and set them aside in a decorative fashion. Flake watched how Rarity placed the rocks so delicately together, seemingly attempting to make some form of art. He opened his mouth to question it, but decided against it and just sat there waiting.

Once she had cleared the rocks away, the opening was then large enough for her to pass through. Stepping through the widened crevice in the wall, she approached Rainbow Dash with a sigh.

“I was beginning to get worried that I’d never get out of th—AAAAHH!!” She jumped to the side, and made a quick ninety degree turn, face to face with Trek and Dozer. She illuminated her horn and stepped backwards.

“It’s fine, Rarity,” Rainbow Dash reassured her. “They’re with us, too.”

Rarity’s widened eyes trailed from changeling to changeling, then she made contact with Scootaloo. “Who are you?!” she demanded and turned back to Rainbow Dash. “All of this is just too much!! Tell me what’s going on!”

“Rarity, that’s Scootaloo,” Rainbow answered the frightened unicorn.

Rarity paused, and turned to the bright orange mare in question. She raised a brow and looked at her curiously. “Scootaloo?” She stepped a little closer to her. “Sweetie Belle’s friend, Scootaloo?”

Scootaloo nodded.

“Oh, my…” Rarity sat on her flank, trying to absorb everything that was going on. She took in a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself down. “I see you’ve got your cutie mark,” she tried making a conversation to ease the tension for herself.

“Oh.” Scootaloo glanced at her flank with a slight grin. “Yeah, took long enough.” She then turned to her and raised a brow. “So, who’s this Tom that Rainbow Dash mentioned?”

Rarity just squinted at her, and said nothing.

“What?” Scootaloo shrugged.

Dropping the subject, Rarity turned to the changelings and cleared her throat. “So, are changelings all nameless, or do I call you something?”

Scootaloo took the liberty to introduce them, starting off with the changeling stepping out from the cave Rarity was trapped in. “This is Flake,” she exclaimed, then turned to the other two and pointed them out. “And this is Trek and Dozer.” Scootaloo sat on her flank and looked to Rarity. “I know this is a lot to take in, but you can trust them.”

Rarity acknowledged that Dozer specifically was scarred up pretty badly. Wincing, she approached him in question. “What happened to you?”

“He got into a fight with another changeling,” Rainbow Dash explained the situation on his behalf. “We were actually hoping you could heal him with your magic.”

“Well, I’m not so keen on the idea of assisting a changeling,” the unicorn muttered, and sighed as she stepped up to him. “But, just this once. I would feel bad not to.”

With her magic, Rarity focused an aura around the changeling’s wounds. He winced at first, as it burned when she did so. “This will take a few minutes, so bear with me.”

Dozer’s eyes wandered as Rarity healed him. The fact a pony was helping him recover from a fight against his own kind gave him a lot to think about. He sat and relaxed, feeling his cuts slowly closing up.

“So where do we go next when the unicorn is done healing him?” Trek asked.

Scootaloo shrugged. “Can’t say I know where we can keep looking for the next element. They could be anywhere in these tunnels.”

“Well, we’re not going to find them sitting around,” Rainbow Dash exclaimed with enthusiasm.

Flake nodded. “Right. As soon as Dozer is healed, we’ll move out.”

In Whom We Trust

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Scootaloo and the rest of her group were still resting before they carried on with their search. Rarity was nearly done healing Dozer’s battle wounds, sealing them up with her magic.

“So, where do we look next?” Rainbow Dash impatiently questioned the others. “The others could be anywhere.”

“We’ll find them,” Scootaloo reassured her.

Rarity had just finished up with the last of Dozer’s wounds, and released her aura. “My healing magic is limited in comparison to Twilight’s, and I can only heal what is visible,” she exclaimed. “I was able to seal your cuts and stop any bleeding, but your hind leg on the left side may still give you some trouble walking.”

Dozer sighed and stood up, putting pressure on his legs. His back limb was still aching like Rarity thought it might, and it had a limp, but it was no longer unbearable. “You’ve done plenty,” he murmured quietly, gritting his teeth as he tried getting used to the pain. “Uh… thank you.”

“Alright, we should get moving,” Flake suggested and gestured onward. “We can’t stay here.”

The others nodded, and together they wandered deeper into the tunnels.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Traveling further into the caves, they came across a fork in their path which lead to nine alternate directions. They stopped there, suddenly feeling lost, and they exchanged looks with each other.

“Uhm…” Rarity looked to the others in question as to which way they should even go. Then clearing his throat, Dozer stepped forward, and entered one of the paths. Rarity raised a brow at him. “Dozer, do you know where we’re even going?”

“I believe this route would best interest us,” he replied.

Rarity blinked. “Why, exactly?”

“Wait, who made you boss, anyway?” Rainbow Dash muttered to the changeling taking initiative.

There was a momentary standoff. Scootaloo exhaled through her nostrils and stepped toward him. “We might as well follow him,” she suggested. “He got us to Rarity. Perhaps we should take his advice.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Rainbow questioned her with lacking enthusiasm.

“Well, you could stay here,” Dozer cynically offered, “That is, if you want to be a sitting duck for Chitin.” The others nervously winced at that. “Look, we should keep moving,” he sighed. “No, I don’t know these old caves, but I do know techniques in which changelings use to dig tunnels. I used to be a tunneler before I joined the guards.”

“So, what exactly is it about these nine paths that makes this particular one so special?” Flake asked with curiosity.

“Just the way they’re laid out,” Dozer replied factually.

Trek shrugged. “I’ve never been a tunneler, so I can’t say I know any techniques or tunneling spells.”

“Well, it’s the best lead we have right now,” Flake exclaimed.

At first there were some more exchanged glances among the others. But after finally agreeing to the retired tunneler’s suggestion, one by one they followed him into the cave.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Together they wandered deeper into their chosen path. Rarity kept her horn lit like a beacon to light up their vicinity. After a long walk, everyone seemed to begin to grow anxious.

“So, Dozer,” Trek muttered, “I never knew you were a tunneler. You’ve never mentioned that to the rest of our search crew.”

Dozer just winced at that. “I didn’t think it was important.”

“Uh huh,” Trek suspiciously murmured.

Up ahead, they could see a clearing. Their ears perked, and they tended to trot a little faster after finally spotting something new in this path. With high hopes, they made their way to the room ahead of them. Entering the dome shaped room, they examined the area, and found a cocooned pony hanging on the ceiling.

“It’s a pegasus!” Scootaloo determined.

Lifting off the floor, Rainbow Dash flew up to the cocoon. Hovering up close, she placed her hooves upon the shell of the pony’s prison. “It’s Fluttershy!”

Rarity and Scootaloo both expressed beaming smiles. “Well now, about time we had some luck,” Rarity exclaimed. “Are you able to bring her down here?”

“Hold on, that’s a different kind of cocoon…” Trek determined from below.

Rainbow Dash raised a brow and looked down to Trek in question. “What of it?”

Trek’s eyes widened after realizing the shape and tint of the cocoon, and he turned quickly to look for Dozer, who was still in the cave they had entered this room from. Dozer just gave him one last glance, and his horn glowed yellow.

“You backstabber!!” Trek shrieked and lunged after him. The others all turned to watch the commotion as Trek ran toward him, and Dozer cast his spell at the floor. The yellow beam of magic emanated brightly, and a buildup of mesh rose up from the floor like crystals. “NooooOOOO!!” Trek slammed into the built up wall of solid mesh, and pounded it a few times with his hooves. “Damn it!!”

“What the hell just happened!?” Flake trotted to the scene.

“Dozer used a high class tunneler magic! It’s a yellow aura spell, and it forms tunneling walls made from our solid mesh!” He turned to the wall beside him and punched it. “The only way to break through this wall is with an orange aura drilling spell, and I don’t know it. We’re trapped in here!” He then turned and galloped to the center of the room at an alarming pace, and yelled up at Rainbow Dash, “Get away from that cocoon!!”

“Huh?” Rainbow raised a brow. “But what about Fluttershy?”

“That’s not Fluttershy!”

In that moment, the cocoon made a crackling sound. Rainbow Dash turned to look back at the upside-down pegasus just in time to see her open her eyes and glare back at her. Her stare gave Rainbow Dash frightful chills rushing down her spine. Then the bottom of the cocoon split and popped open, and Fluttershy fell out, flipped upright, and her yellow body was then engulfed in green fire.

“It was a trap!” Trek shouted from below. Rainbow Dash backed away from the flaming pony. The bright flames lit up the room with a haunting neon tint, and the others could all feel the tension rising from their mistake choosing to follow Dozer. In a few moments, the fire surrounding the faux Fluttershy evaporated into a cloud of smoke, and a changeling revealed himself after the traumatic transformation.

“Chitin!!” Trek shouted out from below. Immediately after Chitin’s transformation, he turned straight to Rainbow Dash, and in the blink of an eye, he fired a green dart of magic at her. Rainbow Dash was thrown off guard and didn’t have time to react to the sudden attack. The spell struck her out of the air, directly in the face. The frantic pegasus flailed helplessly as she fell downward with her head concealed in mesh, and she collapsed into the ground. Chitin dropped down on top of her, landing on her back, and cast more magic down on her, sealing the rest of her body in a thick cocoon.

“Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo shrieked. Rarity gasped traumatically and held a hoof to her mouth at the sight of the downed pegasus. Chitin looked up, and he was in direct view with Rarity. Not wasting time, he went for it, firing another green spell at her.

It struck her in the head, concealing her horn and blocking her eyes. “AH!!” The unicorn sidestepped, shaking her head blindly. “H-help me—” Before she could get very far, he struck her down with a few more green bullets, and consumed the rest of her body from mane to hoof in mesh. She collapsed to the ground in a puff of dust, motionless in a cocoon.

“No! Rarity!” Scootaloo panicked, and turned to scream at Chitin, “That’s enough!!” She pushed off with her hind legs, and charged toward him, flapping her wings hard to increase her momentum.

“You ponies and your gullible nature,” he spat and pushed off the ground, ascending back up into the air. “So blind to the idea of friendship you’ll believe anything that can speak.”

Lifting off the ground, Scootaloo chased after him. “You won’t get away from me!”

Chitin frowned at her as she approached him at an accelerating rate. He awaited her attack, and just as she reached him, he gripped onto her left forehoof, and used her momentum to flip her over. Holding onto her by the limb with one hoof, he punched her in the gut with the other. “OH!!” She buckled from the hit to the stomach. Then with her flight out of focus, he gave her a little push, and turned around to buck her in the head. Knocked out of the air, she flipped backwards as she dropped to the floor, and collapsed into the ground with an emanant thud. For a moment, she was completely motionless. She twitched a few times, and slowly brought her hooves beneath her in the attempt to push herself back up. Her vision was blurred from the hit to the head, and there was a constant monotone ring muffling her hearing.

Chitin dropped down on top of her, and standing on her back, he prepared himself to strike her down again. “Back in your cocoon!” he snarled and charged up a green spell. As he was about to fire, Flake leapt into him, knocking him off of her. They hit the ground, and rolled into the wall with a crack.

“You!!!” Furious, Chitin was quick to buck Flake off of him. Flake stumbled over and collapsed. Scootaloo’s vision was slowly coming back to her, and she managed to look up, just in time to see their fight.

“That is the last time you make a fool out of me!” Chitin angrily shrieked, and his horn illuminated bright red. Scootaloo hasn’t seen Red Death being cast before, but she had a good idea what Chitin was about to do when his horn emanated a crimson rippling effect as he charged it up. Her eyes widened, and she stood up to try to stop it, but she was too weak, slow and dizzy from the impact to her head.

Flake was just getting back to his hooves when he turned to Chitin, and the twisted changeling fired his deadly attack. Flake saw it coming, and felt a rush of adrenaline pump through him as it came closer at a horrifying speed. Time felt like it had slowed down as he watched his fate rushing forth.

Then in that instant, he felt an impact, but from his side. He was pushed out of the way of the attack, and sent tumbling over. Scootaloo watched it happen; Trek had leapt into Flake, and took the hit. When the Red Death spell made contact with him, he let out an agonizing shriek, and there was a loud crackling sound as the spell pushed him across the floor.

Chitin took a step back, wide-eyed and dumbfounded by Trek’s sudden act of sacrifice. Trek held onto his chest as he tried to get up from his haunches. Breathing hoarse, the wounded changeling collapsed onto his side, twitching and panting heavily. Smoke was rising from his body from the spell, and he groaned in agony from the burning sensation.

“Trek!” Flake stood up and galloped to the downed changeling. “Trek, are you alright?”

Trek’s breathing was growing more rapid, and he looked up to Flake with his wide, terrified eyes. “It… it hurts,” he breathed. Flake didn’t need to ask him how he felt, having experienced being struck down by that spell himself. Trek tensely buckled, and he grit his teeth from the immense pain.

“Fool,” Chitin muttered and shook his head.

Flake grit his teeth, and his eyes furrowed into an intense frown. Standing defensively, he turned around and faced Chitin, glaring him in the eyes. The room was ominously quiet; the only sound heard among them was Trek’s hoarse breathing. Flake stepped forward, and his horn began to glow blood red. Chitin’s eyes widened when he saw Flake attempting to conjure Red Death, and he stepped back from him.

“Flake,” Scootaloo called out to him. Flake turned to her, and he could see her concerns she had in her eyes. His eyes widened when he realized what he was about to do. He cringed and he shook his head, snapping out of his tense behaviour.

“No!” Flake growled to himself, and he deactivated the magic he was conjuring in his horn. “I’m not like you,” he cynically said to Chitin, eyeing him furiously.

Chitin remained wide-eyed, and was absolutely dumbfounded and puzzled by Flake and Trek’s actions. Trek had taken the fall for Flake—a selfless action that Chitin had never seen by another changeling—and Flake refused to kill him by the means of Red Death.

“Chitin, there is a reason that spell is forbidden,” Flake exclaimed. “It burns the victim from the inside out. Do you realize how painful that is?” He squinted at the thought. “Extremely.”

A twitch, and then an impatient growl emanated from Chitin’s throat. “Why?!” he snapped. “Why are you being this way?! I don’t get it!” He placed a hoof upon his head. “Why won’t you defend yourself?! You illogically make actions that cripple your chances of survival, and why? Because it’s wrong?!” He leaned forward, yelling louder, “Your actions don’t make any sense!! They’re flawed; they show weakness! Why do you refuse to use that spell??”

“Because, Chitin, not even you deserve to die that way. And I won’t watch it, nor let it happen.” With that, he turned away from Chitin, and stepped toward Trek. Chitin took a step back, raising a brow and lowering his jaw. His eye twitched at the sight of Flake’s refusal to battle on. Then, gritting his teeth, he stood furiously and charged his horn again with crimson magic.

“Don’t you dare turn your back on me!!” he yelled as red sparks were flying from his horn. “Face me like a real changeling!! Face me! I’ll kill you!!” Preparing to carelessly fire, he stepped forward and took aim. “Die, you useless waste of—!!!” In that moment, Scootaloo had leapt into him from the side. On collision, Chitin launched his infuriating spell; it fired far off course, and bolted upward. The spell crashed into a section of the ceiling with a loud crackling impact.

The room then began to rumble. Scootaloo and Chitin both stood up in a panic, and Flake spun around wide-eyed.

“What’s happening?!” Scootaloo shrieked.

“The spell hit a support brace in the ceiling!” Flake exclaimed aloud, and rocks began to fall. “The room is caving in!”

In response, Chitin panicked and initiatively went for the crystallized exit. Ignoring the others, he charged an orange aura drilling spell, and fired it at the doorway. The crystallized mesh cracked and split, and began to fall apart. Before it had a chance to fully come apart, a rock as large as a melon had then fallen from the ceiling, and it hit Chitin square in the head, emanating a loud thump. Flake, Scootaloo and Trek watched Chitin collapse to the floor like a ragdoll; he was knocked completely out cold.

The door then crumbled away, exposing the open tunnel they had entered from, providing them with an escape exit. The room began to shake more horrendously, and more rocks began to fall. Scootaloo panicked and ran for Rainbow Dash, and attempted to lift her from the floor. “C’mon, Rainbow Dash,” she groaned as she put her back into carrying her. “You’ve saved me enough times!”

Leaning down to Trek, Flake attempted to lift the wounded changeling onto his back. “P...put me down,” Trek whimpered to Flake. “Leave me; I’m dying anyway.”

“No! You’re one of us now, and we don’t leave anypony behind,” Flake exclaimed and managed to get him over his shoulder. Another rumble shook the room, and more cracking emanated from the walls.

“You’ll never make it out with me!” With as much strength as the dying changeling could muster, he pushed Flake over. Trek collapsed back to the ground, and lied there, breathing hoarse. Flake looked down to him, wide-eyed.

“Trek, let me take you to safety!” As Flake reached down to attempt to assist Trek again, the downed changeling swat Flake’s hoof away, and pointed to Rarity.

“I’m only going to slow you down; don’t waste any more time.” The wounded changeling coughed. “Get the unicorn and go!”

Flake turned to Rarity, who was on the other side of the shaking room. Scootaloo at this moment was still dragging Rainbow Dash’s cocoon across the ground, and there was no way she could carry Rarity at the same time. Nibbling his bottom lip, he turned back to Trek, who looked back up to him with a sincere expression. “Please, go... You can’t save us both.”

With a brief hesitation, Flake grit his teeth and regrettably nodded to his wishes. “I’ll come back for you,” he said as he turned and ran for Rarity.

Galloping through the debris after the cocooned unicorn, a few rocks had fallen to his left and to his right sides, startling him with each impact. Diving for the pony, he grabbed hold of her, and lifted her onto his back. With Rarity in tow, he began marching to the exit.

Scootaloo had managed to avoid being crushed under the falling debris, and she safely made it back to the tunnel. Dragging Rainbow Dash a safer distance into the clearing of the cave, she put her down, and then turned back to the collapsing room. Nibbling her bottom lip in suspense in hopes that Flake was going to make it, she witnessed a rock fall and strike him in the shoulder.

“AH!!” Flake collapsed to the floor, and he dropped Rarity. Taking initiative, Scootaloo dove back into the collapsing room, she raced to Flake. Everything was shaking much harder now, and the walls were emanating frightening crackling sounds. Flake slowly managed to get back to his hooves, and he got a hold of Rarity again, and began dragging her across the floor, tugging as hard as he could.

“Flake!” Scootaloo reached them, and he held onto an end of Rarity’s cocoon. “Together!”

Flake nodded respectably and gripped onto the cocoon as well, and their combined efforts pulled Rarity closer to safety faster. A rock crashed down beside them, making the room horrendously shake and caused them to trip. That didn’t stop them; they got back to their hooves, and continued pulling on the unicorn. Closer and closer to the exit, they finally reached the cave where it was safe.

The room they had escaped continued to crumble into debris as more rocks kept falling, burying all of its contents. Then almost immediately, Flake raced back into the wreckage.

“Flake!” she shouted to him, concerned.

The changeling didn’t answer her, and he rushed back to Trek as quickly as he could. Dodging left and right to avoid falling debris, he made it closer and closer to his wounded friend. Reaching a few meters from Trek, there was a very loud, terrifying crack that echoed from above them. Then suddenly all at once, the entirety of the dome ceiling split in thousands of growing crevices as larger rocks began to fall.

Caving in hard, the rocks all collapsed around Flake, and he watched as a ton of them fell right down on top of Trek, and buried him in rubble. “NO!!” Flake shrieked when he witnessed Trek disappear beneath the giant rocks. “Trek!!” Another rock landed right in front of Flake, cutting him off. Looking up, he could see there wasn’t much time left, and this room was going to be completely filled in mere seconds. Looking to where he last saw Trek one last time, he expressed his heartfelt guilt, and then turned back to the exit.

“Flake, come on!!” Scootaloo shrieked, “Hurry up, damnit!!”

Flake galloped for the exit as quickly as he could. Rocks were now slamming one after the other, shaking the room with each impact. Closing in on the exit, another downed body caught the corner of his eye to his left. Chitin was still lying there, inevitably about to be crushed in the debris.

He knew it would be a bad idea; he knew what Chitin had done. But all the same, he felt it was his obligation. Gritting his teeth, Flake made an instinctive decision, and he passed the exit, running for Chitin.

“Flake!!” Scootaloo’s eyes widened. There wasn’t much time, and it was stressing her out to see Flake seemingly dance around in the falling debris so close to safety. Reaching down to Chitin, Flake grabbed onto his limbs, and he pulled him across the ground. Dragging him as quickly as he could, the last of the ceiling suddenly burst, and everything then fell down at once. “AAAAH!!” Flake immediately picked up the pace from a case of adrenaline, and pulled Chitin faster than he knew he was able. And just as everything crashed down in a heap, he reached the safety of the tunnel, dropped the unconscious changeling, and collapsed to the floor with a loud relieving huff.

A loud rumbling echo roared through the cave as a thick layer of dust clouded the air. Scootaloo and Flake coughed from the dust that fogged their vision, and after a few moments, it slowly settled back down to the ground and the tunnel cleared up again.

Wide-eyed and exhausted, they turned to the entrance of the now buried room, which was completely blocked off by boulders. There was a long moment of silence as they recollected themselves from the intense escape.

Flake’s ears fell back, and he slowly stood to his hooves. He sauntered to the concealed room of buried rock. He gently placed a hoof on the blocked off entrance, and lowered his head.

“I couldn’t save Trek,” he murmured in a low and disappointed mutter.

“I’m… I’m sorry.” Scootaloo nibbled her bottom lip, and trotted up to him. “You gave it your best shot, Flake. You tried.”

Flake’s eyes were wide, and full of trauma. He leaned forward, and rested his head against the face of the rocks with a quiet thump. “Trek saved my life,” he whispered.

The concerned pegasus felt sore for the changeling. At first, she hesitated to say anything, but then a warm smile appeared on her face. “You know… I have very high hopes for our mission.”

Flake’s ears perked, and he turned to Scootaloo in question.

“What he did, that was a true act of friendship. You and the other changelings; you all claim there is no love in any of you. That you’re all selfish and heartless?” She tried to express a smile to ease the hurt. “The elements of harmony are not just in ponies. I see them in changelings, too.”

“You… you do?”

“In you, Flake, I see the element of Loyalty. And in Trek, I saw the element of Generosity.” She smiled. “He gave you his life. And you said it yourself, that no changeling was selfless enough to even consider such an act.” She turned to Chitin and pointed to him. “And I can see just how much you have learned about the magic of friendship, because you risked your life to even save our enemy.” She turned back to Flake in question. “May I ask why?”

“I…” Flake paused. There was a moment in silence, and Scootaloo waited patiently, and proudly for Flake to think of an answer. It took awhile, but he eventually said something. “It felt it was the right thing to do.” His eyes wandered. “I saw Chitin lying there, and I thought… well… If he was conscious, unable to save himself, how would he feel knowing he was about to die? If I was in his hooves, how would I feel?” He paused again, and lowered his head. “I knew I would feel scared. Cus, when I saw him, I… I saw myself.”

Scootaloo nodded. “And, that is what Trek was feeling when he saved you. It’s called empathy.”

Flake’s eyes slowly widened and wandered.

“Somewhere in all of you, changelings do feel compassion,” she assured him sincerely. “If you and Trek can learn the magic of friendship, then I have faith in the rest of your kind. Everypony has a purpose. And I believe that all of you do, too.”

Flake lowered his head as he took in what she had just told her. His olive coat began to brighten greener, and a tear slowly trickled down his cheek. “Scootaloo…?”

A silent pause. “Yes, Flake?”

“I-I think… I…” the emotional changeling quietly cried, but he stopped and searched for different words. He turned to her. “Thank you.”

Scootaloo was caught off guard by his first statement. She tilted her head in question. “What do you think?”

“Uh…” Flake turned to Rarity and Rainbow Dash, and he gestured to them. “I’d better um… get them out of their cocoons.”

“Might be a good idea,” Scootaloo suggested. With that, Flake nodded and used his changeling magic on their mesh prisons.

“I think we should rest here for awhile,” he said quietly.

Secrets Untold

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Chrysalis paced impatiently back and forth in her throne room. She was muttering to herself with a nervously expressed frown upon her face. After a long wait, the large doors opened up, and a changeling marched in.

“Finally!!” she shouted and turned to her visitor.

“Er…” the nervous changeling murmured, having a difficult time to reply. He was smaller than the rest of her main search crew, but he had an agile appearance to make up for his size. “You wanted to see me?”

“Buzz, please tell me you have some good news.” Chrysalis seemed desperate. “I left you second in command of the cocoon dome guards in case of a crisis like this. Shade had disappeared forty-eight hours ago, and nobody claims to have seen him anywhere since. Chitin and his search crew are nowhere to be found, either.”

“Yeah… The last time I saw Shade, he was searching for the source of where our love was being taken in the dome. I have no idea where he went. The only information I have gathered for you is an update on our drainage rate problem.”

Chrysalis grit her teeth, anxiously awaiting his answer. “What do you have for me?” she silently asked, though she really didn’t want to know at this point.

“Since Shade’s disappearance, we uh… had to toss away, um…” He paused. The Queen’s eyes slowly widened the longer he delayed the completion of that sentence. Then he revealed the numbers to her, “Si...sixty two ponies.”

She felt an overwhelming weight drop in her gut. Then after a moment of silence, she roared in a booming voice, “What?!”

“I don’t know what to do!” Buzz panicked with her, and sat on his flank as he explained himself. “We can’t find the drainage source, and changelings doing any searches outside of the hive are disappearing. Word is getting out to the rest of the changelings, but right now it’s declared as a rumour that we’re losing our source of food, but if this rumour is deemed true, I fear the way our colony will react.”

“Do you at least have any clues as to what the source could be??”

Buzz exhaled and looked to her to express his concerns. “You and I both know that the only thing capable to drain our love supply is another changeling.”

“But at a rate this quickly?” the Queen muttered. “The only way a changeling would be able to consume that much energy at a rate this incredibly fast, is if the changeling was—” She stopped, and her eyes widened. The epiphany silenced the room, and her eyes began to wander as she put it to thought.

“Uh… my Queen?” Buzz raised a brow. “Chrysalis?”

Chrysalis ignored the changeling’s suspicions and trotted passed him. “There is something urgent I must investigate myself,” she exclaimed as she made her way to the door.

Confused, Buzz turned to her in question. “Er, did you need me to do anything?”

“Your information was enough, thank you. You may return to the dome and keep doing your job,” she replied as she made her exit. Buzz sat there on his flank and tilted his head.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Oh, my, I am exhausted…” Rarity whimpered, lying on her haunches. She and Rainbow Dash were out of their cocoons now, regaining strength to carry on their search. Flake and Scootaloo waited patiently for them to recover, and Chitin was still unconscious, lying on the floor.

“I’m getting pretty sick of being cocooned,” Rainbow Dash muttered, sitting on her flank with a bit of a forward slouch. She rubbed her eyes with her forehoof. “Do they always aim for the wings or face?”

“That’s how a changeling is trained to hunt,” Flake explained to the ponies. “They’re taught to aim for the parts that give their victim an advantage—like the eyes or legs. And in the case of a pegasus, they would go for the wings; and in terms of a unicorn, they target their horn.” He turned to Rarity. “A unicorn cannot cast any spells if it’s consumed in our mesh.”

“So, what about a changeling?” Scootaloo asked, and pointed a hoof at the unconscious changeling on the ground. “Maybe you should conceal Chitin’s horn in mesh before he wakes up?”

Flake shook his head. “That won’t accomplish anything. We are unaffected by our cocooning spells. He will just free himself.” He looked down at Chitin and squinted. “A changeling can consume itself entirely in mesh if we want to. Kind of like how we found Chitin when he was in the form of your friend, Fluttershy.” He turned back to the ponies who listened in. “We will often cocoon ourselves to sleep through the winter season.”

“Oh, so it’s a hibernation thing,” Rarity determined while nodding.

“Hang on,” Rainbow Dash murmured and stood up with some of her regained strength. “How would Chitin have even known who Fluttershy is?” She trailed her eyes to the downed changeling. “I mean, if he took her form, he would have to know what she looks like.”

With his eyes wandering, Flake nodded. “Yeah, you’re right.”

“So, that means that he had to have stumbled upon her cocoon,” Rainbow determined.

The others paused after that remark, exchanging glances with each other. Scootaloo then took initiative and made a suggestion, “Perhaps before we leave, we should wait until Chitin wakes up.”

Rainbow raised a brow and took a step toward her. “Now hold on, are you suggesting we ask him where Fluttershy is?” She squinted and shook her head. “Do you honestly believe we could trust this parasprite? You do realize what happened when we followed Dozer, right?”

Scootaloo exhaled through her nostrils and took a seat on her flank. She nodded slowly, and turned to Chitin. “I do, but… if we’re going to find her, then Chitin might be our only hope.”

As much as the others didn’t want to admit it, she was right. They didn’t even have a clue where to begin their search. So it seemed their only option was to wait for their enemy to wake up, and hope they can reason with him. With nothing else to say against that, the cave fell silent.

“So…” Rarity looked up to Flake and shrugged. “Should we… just try to wake him up now then?”

“Hm…” He put that to thought, and he shook his head in response. “I’m thinking it would be in our best interest to wait until he wakes up on his own. It will give us time to recuperate from the incident earlier…” He looked down to Chitin with a sigh. “And, it will give us some time to think about exactly what we’re going to say to him.”

The others nodded, and they all sat and waited.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Wandering deep into the abandoned caverns, Chrysalis made her way through the old tunnels. The lone Queen of the changelings searched the corridors until she finally came across what she was looking for. There was a hole in the ground, which she approached and peered down below into the dark abyss.

She hesitated before she acted, but after taking in a deep breath, she jumped into the hole and descent to the bottom. Gently landing onto the bottom of the vast dome cave, she turned and glanced at her surroundings. The dead changelings hanging upon the walls; the age old cobwebs dangling from the beveled ceiling. The expression upon her face could show that she has seen it all before, and it didn’t really phase her immensely, but it did make her feel uneasy.

Looking down at her hooves, there was a stone slab with some markings on it.

“From dawn to dusk, I’m feared at sight,” she read it quietly to herself, “my wrath eternal, like Nightmare Night.” She sighed from the memories that burned. “My time will come, and all shall hail; and those oppose, shall surely fail.” She squinted and looked up to the bodies dangling from the walls, and continued to recite the prophecy written on the slab that she had memorized. “For each betrayer, shall decor my shrine; my death be theirs, a return be mine.” Looking back down to the slab, she nibbled her bottom lip from the suspense, and placed a hoof upon it. “New body and soul, new mind and power; my place be taken, for the darkest hour…”

After reciting the ancient poem, she gave the slab a little push. Upon doing so, there was a click as the stone slab moved like a switch, and the shrine began to shake. Before her, a stone door that camouflaged with the rest of the shrine opened up on the side of the wall, slowly sliding into the sides like a temple gate. Once it had opened up, it revealed a hallway. With the door opened, she trotted to the entrance of the secret hallway extension. At first she hesitated, but she stepped inside and pressed onward.

The hallway was designed similarly to her throne room, though in a darker shade of evening blue. On the other end of the short corridor was a stone pedestal upon a staircase pyramid. She bravely braced herself, and she slowly trotted toward it. Getting closer to the staircase, she noticed writing engraved in the stone wall behind the pedestal, which read ‘The Requiem of Equestria’. She carefully trotted up to the pedestal at the top of the steps, and gritting her teeth nervously, she reached eye level with the stand and looked down at it. Her ears fell back when she found there to be nothing placed upon the stand, and she felt a heavy weight slam into the bottom of her gut. “Ohh, nooo… It’s gone…”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After a few minutes of waiting for Chitin to wake up, Scootaloo couldn’t help but notice that Rarity was acting under the weather. Resting on her haunches, Rarity was looking to the floor, as if she was deep in thought.

“Rarity?” she murmured to the upset unicorn. “You okay?”

After a quiet moment, Rarity let out a long sigh. She looked up to the ceiling and nibbled her bottom lip, then turned to Scootaloo. “I, um… Scootaloo…” she quietly whimpered. “I don’t suppose you’ve seen Sweetie Belle anywhere, have you?”

The mention of Sweetie Belle’s name shot her in the heart. “Er…” The pegasus shook her head. “No, we haven’t. And, unfortunately, she probably isn’t in these parts of the caves.”

Rarity tilted her head in question, and her ears fell back to express her concerns.

Flake cleared his throat and explained it to Rarity, “You see, the only ponies in these parts of the caves—whom we’re looking for—are the elements of harmony.”

Scootaloo nodded. “Them, and the four other ponies who have interfered with Chrysalis in the past. Princesses Celestia and Luna, as well as Cadence and Shining Armor.” She sighed and lowered her head. “I won’t lie though, I think about Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom a lot. Ever since I first got out of my cocoon, I kept hoping and praying that I would find them. And they’re probably where I was when I first escaped—in the central dome with the rest of the thousands of ponies.”

“Who are Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom?” Flake sincerely asked her.

“My best friends,” Scootaloo replied. The others continued listening to Scootaloo’s backstory, and her voice suddenly cracked as tears came forth. They could see the pain in her eyes when the other Cutie Mark Crusaders were brought up. Avoiding an outburst of sobs, Scootaloo tried to stay strong, and carried on explaining, “We went through a lot together. Every now and then, the three of us would visit the Ponyville Library for Twilight Time. Princess Twilight Sparkle would teach us lessons.” She turned to Rarity and expressed a proud smile beneath her damp eyes. “She taught Sweetie Belle how to use magic. Personally I’ve always thought Sweetie Belle was getting really good at it.” Rarity found tears leaking from her own eyes as the story grew deeper. “She taught Apple Bloom how to brew potions. And, she taught me how to do basic engineering.” She nibbled her bottom lip, and a squeak emanated from her throat. “I-I’ve tried avoiding mentioning them. Because, i-it hurts. I miss them.” Her eyes wandered, and they slowly squinted into a frown of leaking tears. Closing her eyes, she exhaled an emotional sigh to calm her angers toward the changelings responsible for this apocalypse. She then looked back up at the others, who returned their concerns back at her.

“Twilight would also teach us the Magic of Friendship,” Scootaloo revealed, which triggered Rarity and Rainbow Dash’s ears to perk. “How that one, simple, important concept alone, makes up everything in Equestria.” More tears trickled down her cheeks. “Without it, we are nothing. But with it, we are more than just strong…” A proud grin appeared upon her crying face. “...We are unstoppable. Anything can be achieved through the Magic of Friendship. And Twilight would also often say, that even when you’re apart, your bond remains just as powerful as it is when you’re together. Nothing can break a true friendship.” She proudly looked up with a determined frown. “They are part of the reason I’ve pushed this far to save Equestria. Because, wherever I go, I can feel their bond. The strength of their friendship keeps me going, even in the dire moments when I fear I am unable to move on. I think of them, and I feel purpose in my life. That there has to be a reason I’ve been set free.”

There was a moment of silence after her warm speech. “I wish I knew about the Magic of Friendship a long time ago,” Flake replied with a heartfelt smile. The others all looked at him, and caught him on the verge of crying. Tears were then dripping down his cheeks as the emotion running through his beating heart broke him into a fluttering, silent sob. “Whatever it takes,” he murmured, “I will make this all right. I will get all of your friends back.” He looked to Scootaloo and nodded. “Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, too. One way or another, we’ll find them all. And one way or another, we will end all of this.”

“Jez, I’ve never seen a changeling cry before,” Rainbow Dash muttered, grinning at the changeling.

“Flake,” Rarity murmured with a warm smile, her eyes still damp from Scootaloo’s story about her sister. “Thank you for being here with us.”

Flake’s eyes widened in response to her statement. He didn’t really know how to reply to that, but it hit him hard with emotions. He only found the strength to smile and nod respectably back to her.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the deeper sections of the abandoned tunnels, Dozer was wandering through the caves at an unhurried pace. There was a lot on his mind. During his saunter back to the hive, there was a resistance in his pace, as if a part of him wanted to turn back. Every few moments, he would stop to turn around, and look behind him. There was a very lost expression upon his face, and there were moments that he would stop to decide whether or not he would go back the other way.

After a while, he sat on his flank and sighed in a slouching motion. The guilt impaled in his heart was growing the further he walked away from the others where he had trapped them.

“Ugh, what is wrong with me?” he muttered to himself. Sitting upright, he tried maintaining a strong attitude. “I’m a changeling,” he said to himself, though the way he said it was seemingly forced. “I was just… doing my job.” His eyes wandered as he tried to convince himself that he did nothing wrong.

Up ahead in the cave he was wandering, he noticed something on the ground that was out of place with all the mesh-stained walls. Curious, he trot toward it. The item he had discovered appeared to be a misplaced saddlebag. Raising a brow, he examined it and opened one of the pouches. Inside the bag there were glass vials of potions, and a few other miscellaneous items, like a wooden spoon and bowl.

Dozer then remembered Scootaloo talking about missing a saddlebag back when he was severely wounded by Chitin’s attacks. Scootaloo mentioned having potions that she was going to heal him with, provided she had them with her, but she had dropped them somewhere in the cave. “This must be hers,” he determined silently to himself.

Though Scootaloo didn’t have her potions at the time that he was injured, Rarity was also willing to heal him, and she used her unicorn magic to do so. Despite everything he has done to the ponies, they never fought back. Rather, they helped him when he was in need, whereas Chitin—his captain and his own species—assaulted him as a means to obey his orders. He began to remember Chitin’s threats.

From the moments Chitin was mercilessly attacking him, he could remember his voice ringing in the back of his subconscious mind. “Lead those ponies to me, or I’ll have your hide!” the memory of his captain’s infuriating words screamed at him like a burdening echo. “Make the ponies believe you are on their side, and lead them into my trap so I can finish what you couldn’t! Do it, or I will finish you off the next time I see you.”

Dozer was staring blankly into space. Silently, he closed the saddlebag back up to seal the potions inside. His eyes wandered, as if he was seemingly lost with himself. Why would his own kind do that to him, when the ponies took the time to heal him after what Chitin did? Why didn’t they just leave him to bleed out and die? Admittingly to himself, he knew that’s probably what he would have done—it’s what any changeling would have done. But why didn’t they?

“It’s time you’ve figured out your role! I am your captain! Be a changeling for once, you coward.” Something switched inside of Dozer when he remembered Chitin’s final words to him. It made him feel heavy in the gut, and the feelings slowly turned into something foul. Furrowing his eyes, he picked up Scootaloo’s saddlebag, and placed it upon his back. Then with all of his hesitations completely shattered, he turned around, and galloped the other way to return to the ponies.

Mirrors

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Scootaloo, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Flake watched over Chitin in his unconscious state. It had been a couple of hours, and finally he was showing signs of movement.

“He’s waking up,” Scootaloo alerted the others. Quick to react, they awaited the outcold changeling to fully awaken.

“What if he tries something?” Rarity questioned nervously. As if on cue to her paranoia, the downed changeling’s eyes jolted open. He sprung to his hooves in a panic, and he immediately began charging a red aura spell.

“Hold him!” Rainbow Dash shouted, and she dove into the psychotic changeling, pinning him back into the ground.

“Agh!!” At first he showed signs of struggle when Rainbow Dash had him pinned, but he managed to kick her off and he stood back up. Rainbow collapsed onto her side, and she swiftly maneuvered back to her hooves again in a tense fighter stance.

In the attempt to charge his spell, Chitin winced in pain, and he slouched while holding his head. “Uugh!! G’ow!” He couldn’t seem to hold the spell, and his red illuminating horn faded out. It became evident that he had a difficult time conjuring any magic in his condition; he had a migraine from being hit to the head by that rock, and it was breaking his concentration. Growling, he stood on all fours in a battle formation, and a turquoise glow took hold of his limbs. Then to his surprise, he collapsed, and found himself pinned by Rarity’s aura, holding him down by his hooves and neck.

“Stop it at once!” Rarity demanded and held him there. “My Celestia, Flake saves your hide, and this is your reaction.”

“I never asked for anypony’s help,” he said with a growl, attempting to push himself to his hooves, but to no avail. “Ugh, let go of me!” He tried to conjure a spell again, but he couldn’t seem to hold its charge, and it went out again in seconds. He tried to stand up again, but Rarity only pushed him into the ground harder in response, making him grumble. After a moment of silence, he looked up at them at the corners of his eyes, squinting both angrily and confused at the others. “I don’t get you… Why didn’t you just let me die in the rockslide? You could’ve just left me and run off!” He tried to free himself again, but each time he did, Rarity only held him down harder with her magic. “Ugh, you’re all fools!”

“Look, Chitin,” Flake muttered and cleared his throat, approaching the pinned changeling. “We have no intentions of letting anypony die. And we need your help.”

Chitin rolled his eyes in response to that. “Ohh, and now it makes sense. You need me for something—of course.”

Flake sighed and sat on his flank, rubbing his brow with a hoof. “You can think however you want, but I wouldn’t have saved your ass just to gain some information.” He pointed at the buried entrance of the collapsed room where they had escaped from previously. “I risked my tail to pull you out of there before you were crushed because I choose to believe that every given life means something.”

Chitin paused briefly to give Flake a disgruntled expression. “Oh, you are a sad one,” he muttered under his breath. “And pray tell, what exactly do you need my help for, hm?”

The others exchanged looks with one another, and they took a moment in silence to figure out how they could bring up their request in a way he would reply without being cynical. There was, however, no way of knowing what to say aside from getting straight to the point. “Where is Fluttershy?” Flake asked, in the attempt to sound polite.

“Heh, Fluttershy?” Chitin chuckled. The others winced at him in response to his laughter.

“Yes, Fluttershy,” Flake replied factually. “The yellow pony with pink hair; the one you transformed into earlier. If you can take her form, then you’ve seen her.”

“Hmm…” Chitin muttered and rolled his eyes. “Can’t say I know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t be smart,” Rainbow Dash impatiently grumbled.

“Heh. Well, it’s kind of hard to think when you’re being pinned to the floor by the neck.” His demented eyes focused on Rarity, who looked back at him uneasily. “Let me go, and maybe I’ll talk.”

There was a moment in silence; the only sound echoing in the cave was Rarity’s beaming aura on her horn. She turned to the others, uncertain what she should do.

Scootaloo cleared her throat and spoke up, “Go ahead, Rarity.”

“What?” she questioned the younger pony.

“It’ll be fine,” the pegasus said in a reassuring tone. “Let him go.”

“Are you out of your mind?!” Rainbow Dash turned to her, throwing a fit of confusion. “He’s only going to attack us again!”

“Four against one, and he can’t use his magic,” Scootaloo determined, frowning at the pinned changeling. “I don’t think we’ll have any problems.”

Chitin just winced at her in response. Rainbow Dash grumbled and kept a firm battle stance to prepare for the worst. Flake just stood by and watched, going with the flow and allowing Scootaloo to make her decision. With a nervous sigh, Scootaloo turned to Rarity and nodded to signal her to release the insane changeling. Then after a moment of hesitation, Rarity turned off her levitation aura, releasing Chitin.

In response to her letting him go, he at first remained lying on the ground, eyeing the others. Given the opportunity to get back on his hooves, he stood back up with a slight limp. There was a lot of silence in this moment of uncertain trust. Chitin continued to coldly eye everypony else. Rainbow Dash was having a difficult time holding back from attacking him. Rarity was wide-eyed and nervous, resisting to use her magic. Then among all the silence, Scootaloo bravely stepped up to Chitin, and stood face to face with him.

Chitin could feel the tension when he looked into Scootaloo’s fearless eyes. He was about to question her as to why she was now face to face with him, when he could easily just attack her right then. However, he did know better not to act, considering the others would retaliate if he did. With the way everypony was looking at him, he could tell they weren’t going to keep giving him chances like this one. Turning his neck to look at all of the eyes glaring at him made him feel small; he could do nothing if he tried, and he knew it.

“Heh.” He lowered his head, then looked back up to Scootaloo with his sadistic grin. “So, you want to find Fluttershy.” He put a hoof to his chin. “Fluttershy, Fluttershy…”

“Don’t pretend like you don’t know who we’re talking about!” Rainbow Dash snapped at him, spreading her wings furiously. “Fluttershy!! The element of kindness!! She’s yellow, and has butterflies for a cutie mark!” She leaned forward and shrieked louder, “Where is she?!”

Chitin’s ears twitched in response to Rainbow Dash’s outburst, and he raised his head. “Oooh, you mean the weak and useless pegasus.”

“Excuse me?” Rarity grumbled.

“The weak and useless pegasus, I said.” Chitin’s body then engulfed in green fire, and he changed into the form of a familiar yellow pegasus with breezy pink hair. Then in Fluttershy’s innocent voice, he began whimpering, and he cowered to the floor, impersonating her cries. “Nnno! Don’t! Leave me alone!” The other ponies gasped when they saw him imitating their helpless friend. “Stop it! W-what did any of us ponies do to you?”

“What did you do…?” Scootaloo snarled and stepped closer to him. Then in a burst of green fire, Chitin turned back into his normal self again.

“You should see the looks on your faces right now…” He observed them with a squint and a grin. “So much hate… so much anger.” He cleared his throat and gestured to Scootaloo. “Yes, I know where that pony is. When I found her, I had to remove her from her cocoon so I could transform into her and properly mimic her personality. She put up such a pitiful fight…”

“I’ll rip you a new one!” Rainbow began galloping toward Chitin, and Scootaloo held up a hoof to stop her. Rainbow halt and huffed impatiently. “I don’t want to hear another word out of this creep!”

“Rainbow Dash, we need him,” Scootaloo sighed displeasingly. She then turned back to Chitin to question him, “What are you talking about? Why did you have to take her out of her cocoon?”

“A changeling can’t turn into another pony if they are cocooned,” Flake explained it for her. “When a pony is in one of our cocoons, they are in a deep sleep, and all of their visual and mental properties are locked inside the mesh, where we are unable to breach and imitate in a transformation.”

Scootaloo rolled her eyes, then turned back to Chitin and frowned. “Right, well, where can we find her then, Chitin?”

“Now hold it!” Rainbow Dash interrupted her and stubbornly stepped forward again. Chitin looked to Rainbow, keeping a bored expression. “How do we know you’re not going to pull anything else?! After that whole incident with Dozer, why should we trust you?”

“Ahh, good question,” Chitin cackled and shook his head. Then he coldly stared back at Scootaloo. “Why should you trust me?”

In response, Scootaloo just squinted and kept her eyes on his. “I never said I did.”

Chitin raised a brow at her with a grin, and Scootaloo just pointed, trying to keep authority in the situation.

“Now, lead us to her,” she demanded with a growl in her voice.

“Heh.” Chitin rolled his eyes, and he turned to head into the tunnels. “Very well then, ponies… follow me, if you’re so bold.”

The others all looked at each other uneasily. It took a moment of hesitation before they accepted the situation handed to them, and they began following the insane changeling.

“And don’t you dare try anything,” the determined pegasus added with a threatening snarl.

“Heh, heh… Right, then.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dozer galloped through the abandoned caves to return to Scootaloo and the others, carrying her saddlebag of potions upon his back. Pressing onward, he ran by a few corridors, and he heard a rustling sound. He slowed his gallop to a more cautious trot, and he turned his neck, curious as to where the sound was coming from. He heard the sound again, and stopped with his ears perked to listen.

The dark and ominous caverns around him were now silent. Keeping himself quiet, he waited until he heard that sound again. Then from the silence, he heard that scruffing sound again coming from a path to his left.

Squinting, he trotted toward the passage where he heard the noise, and peered into the room. The moment he set hoof into the entrance of the unexplored passage, his eyes widened from the unexpected discovery.

There in that room, he found Queen Chrysalis. Her horn was glowing yellow; she was using drilling spells to dig through the thick, solid walls of mesh and stone.

For a moment, he was uncertain whether or not he should speak up and greet his Queen. If he did though, he would be inclined to question her actions. Why was she digging tunnels down here? And more importantly, why was she alone?

Suddenly her ears perked, and she stopped her digging to make a quick turn to face his direction. Gritting his teeth nervously, he hid around the corner of the corridor to keep out of sight. Absolute silence fell upon the caves, and he could feel his nervous heart beating.

He kept himself silent, hoping that if he didn’t say anything, he could convince the Queen that she didn’t hear or see him. He then heard her hoofsteps approaching him echo from within the cave. His eyes widened, and he turned his neck to see if there was a place to hide from her, now having the distinct feeling that he shouldn’t be here—that this was a secret. Backing away from the corridor, Chrysalis stepped into his path, and she turned to him and stopped. Her eyes jolted open, surprised to see him in these parts of the caves, and she just stood there, glaring into his eyes. Dozer found himself cowering after being caught, and she remained unspoken, as if awaiting for an explanation.

“Uh…” Dozer’s nervous voice echoed from within the hollow of the caves.

“What are you doing down here?” she asked him in a quick manner.

Dozer had no idea how to respond to that, suddenly feeling very small. “I was um… going to ask you the same thing,” he managed to say, which resulted in her frowning at him. She didn’t respond to his question, but she didn’t ask him another one either. In the attempt to lessen his nervousness, he stood taller and cleared his throat. “Why are you here, alone?”

“That is none of your concern,” she replied defensively. “This doesn’t make sense. Why are you down here? Where is Trek and Chitin?” She eyed the saddlebag upon his back and squinted. “What do you have in the bag?”

“Uh…” Dozer took a couple steps back, uncertain how to reply to her. The way he was stepping away from her made her stand taller, and her frowning eyes widened.

“Dozer?” her voice was demanding and hoarse. “What. Is in. The bag?”

He knew that if he questioned the Queen further, he would regret it. “Nothing of importance,” he said. Chrysalis gave him a bored look in response to that, and using a levitation spell, she lifted the saddlebag off of him, and brought it over to her to take a look herself. He nibbled his bottom lip nervously, and the Queen opened up the pouch in front of her.

“Potions?” she questioned him and raised a brow. Taking a couple out of the bag to examine them, she read the labels. “Amplify lung capacity? Anti burning serum?” She lowered the bag and potions to look down at the anxious changeling. “Where did you get these, and why do you have them?”

“Uh…” He grit his teeth, uncertain how to respond. “It… it’s a long story.”

“Well, let me hear it.”

“But—” he stopped himself, and took a moment to stand taller. “It’s not important.”

“It is to me,” she said to him, “I want to hear the full story, from front to back. Why are you here, where did you get these potions, and where is Trek and Chitin?”

“Well, can’t you first explain to me why you’re down here?” he questioned back at the Queen, his raised voice echoing again and again through the caves. He froze, realizing the irate tone of voice he was giving her. Her eyes widened in response to his suspicious behaviour, and he could tell that she was getting angry. Biting his lip, he took a chance and stepped closer to her. “With all due respect, my Queen, I would happily tell you everything… but…”

He stopped, and the changeling Queen gave him a menacing look in response. “But?”

“I don’t know if I can trust you right now,” he boldly replied.

“Excuse me?” She winced at him and stood tall and aggressive. “If you keep this behaviour up, Dozer, I will demote you from your position in the search crew!”

“I don’t give a damn about my bloody position!!” he yelled defensively at her, catching her off guard. Her eyes widened in surprise, and she even took a step back from the way he shouted at her—he even surprised himself. And now with as far as he has already gone with the way he’s spoken to her, he knew there was no point in toning himself down, or she would just talk above him again. “Look, Chrysalis. I’ve been beaten down enough by changelings who think they own me! So I don’t care any more! Banish me from the hive for all I care, I’m sick of being treated as small as a rat under Tirek’s hoof!”

Silence. Chrysalis’ widened eyes slowly furrowed into something more furious, and she opened her mouth to talk back to him, when he stepped forward and continued yelling before she had a chance.

“No!” he carelessly shrieked at her, “I don’t trust you! You’re hiding something, otherwise you wouldn’t be down here digging holes! Don’t you dare scold me for not telling you why I’m down here if you can’t handle explaining your own reasons!”

“I don’t have to tell you anything; I am your Queen!” she roared back at him, taking two steps toward him, and her horn illuminated with a green aura. “How dare you speak to me like this, you ungrateful parasprite!”

“No!!” he shouted again, disregarding her threats and her glowing horn. “How dare you!” He stood taller, and finally brought it up. “You know about that changeling tomb in these caves, don’t you!” When he called her out, she froze where she stood, and her ears fell back. Her eyes were anxiously wide, and she suddenly had nothing to say.

Her silent response gave him the only clue he needed. “I knew it!” he snapped at her. “Yeah, I found that tomb, your Majesty. So explain that to me, huh?!”

Chrysalis now felt put on the spot. “Nobody was meant to know about that place,” she quietly said.

“Yeah, well, I do now. And it’s probably only a matter of time before everypony else does, too. Why are you down here, Chrysalis? What are you hiding from the hive?”

Feeling defeated, Chrysalis let out a sigh, and she gently put the saddlebag and potions on the ground. Dozer kept his eyes pierced up at her, and she uneasily opened her mouth to speak. At first she couldn’t seem to say anything; her airway seemed to be blocked by nerves. Dozer could easily see that it was very difficult for her.

“You are probably unaware,” she finally said, “But the ponies in the hive are being drained.”

“Drained?” Dozer raised a brow. “You mean our supply of love is being taken?”

“I’m afraid so,” she said with a sigh. “And at an exceeding rate, no less.”

Dozer’s eyes wandered at the revelation, understanding the severity of the situation. “So, what does that have to do with you being down here, exactly?” he asked curiously.

Another pause. Dozer looked up to Chrysalis, and she turned away with a sorrowful expression upon her face. After a long, painful hesitation, she opened her mouth to speak again.

“I think… it’s time the truth came out,” she solemnly said. “Yes, it’s true… I have been hiding something from the changelings.”

Dozer could’ve sworn he felt his heart stop when she admitted that. She slowly turned back to look at him, and she gestured at him with a hoof. “Please, Dozer, take a seat… There is a tale you must hear, as it is of great importance. And time is short...”

“A… a tale?” He raised a brow curiously, and obediently he sat on his flank. “A tale about what?”

Chrysalis’ eyes suddenly began to glisten. Confused, he paid close attention, and discovered a single tear had trickled from her eye. His eyes widened at the sight of his crying Queen, and he kept his mouth closed, saying nothing. The cave fell completely silent for a moment, before he had to open his mouth again to question her.

“You’re… crying,” he said in a dumbfounded, quiet voice. “But… nopony’s ever seen you cry.” He had to emphasise that statement, “Ever.”

She let out a very slow and inaudible sigh. During her sigh, two more tears trickled from her eyes, crawled down her cheeks, and dripped to the floor.

“But I thought…”

“A creature does not cry who feels no love,” she finished for him.

Confused, he nibbled his bottom lip. “Y… yeah.”

“What I am about to reveal to you has been untold for a very long time.” She lowered her head. “There will come a time when I will have to tell this tale to the rest of the hive as well. But, for now, because you are here, and because you know of the Great Changeling King’s Shrine, you should know the truth. And… I must start from the very beginning, for you to understand…”

Dozer wasn’t sure what to say to that. Keeping seated, he waited for her story. However, something inside of him told him that he wasn’t going to like it. With a deep breath and a strong idle stance, she began her tale…

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

...Over a millenia ago—before the banishment of Nightmare Moon, some time after the defeat of Discord, and before the city of Canterlot was built—changelings and ponies lived among one another in Equestria. At this time, changelings were far different than we are today. Unlike today, we were once colourful, our limbs and wings contained no holes. Our bodies were pure and clean, and our eyes were white with coloured irises… Just like the ponies.

Unlike the ponies, however, we were much, much weaker than they were. Far weaker than our race is today. Our bodies were so frail, in fact, that we could not work with the earth ponies to help tend to the land. We had our wings, but we could not fly with the pegasi, because we were not fast enough, nor could we control the weather or walk on clouds. We could not join the unicorns, because though we had our horns, we could not cast any spells. The one thing unique about us that was different from the other races, was our signature ability to change our appearance into another pony.

Our ability to transform into other ponies was not as advanced as it is today. Back then, we could only turn into a pony by making eye contact with them, and once we left eye contact, the transformation would only last for mere seconds before we turned back to our normal selves. Sure it was a unique ability that gave us our race’s name, but in a way, we felt no more useful to Equestria than mirrors.

At this time, there was no changeling King nor Queen. I was among the crowd of normal changelings. I was not their Queen, I was not powerful, nor was I larger in size. I was an ordinary changeling like any other, with a coat of green.

My life in those days was, well… a struggle. Just like it was for any other changeling. Back when there was a city by the castle of the two sisters, I lived in a small, old home on the outskirts nearest to the forest, where most of the unwealthy lived. And I lived, married, with another changeling stallion with a blue coat. It was hard for any changeling to live in the city, as finding jobs was not easy for us considering our weaknesses, unable to do what the pegasi, unicorns and earth ponies could do. Very few of us lived within the city—many others lived in the outskirts, like myself and my husband, where the cost of living was not as strict.

One early morning, a royal pegasus guard showed up at our door. He told us that Princes Celestia had a message for us, and that she wanted us to meet her in person at the castle.

He took us to the castle in a flying chariot, and when we arrived, Princes Celestia herself was waiting for us at the doors. We were both, needless to say, in awe by this privilege, to see our Sun Princess face to face.

“Why have you called us to your castle?” we asked her. What she was about to tell us, though, we could never have been prepared for.

“I have spoken to my father,” she revealed to us. “Among all the changelings in the land, he has chosen you two specifically for something very important. He has a gift for you, and he wishes for you to meet him on the top of mount Canterlot.” She pointed a hoof across the land of Equestria, to the peak of the tallest mountain in the midst of the wide open world—a very long distance away from the castle of the two sisters. “Go there,” she said to us. “He has told me that you must travel alone, and that I must not provide you with assistance to get there. The distance you must travel is your test of devotion, to prove you are worthy of possessing his gift. The decision for you to go on this journey is yours, but you must be there before my sister, Luna, raises the moon tonight, or you won’t find him there.”

He was a very mysterious alicorn, and very few have seen him in person. Not even Celestia or Luna have seen him very often.

Like the changelings, the alicorn King had the ability to transform himself into another creature. He was not seen very often, because most of the time, he had taken the form of another animal to keep his identity hidden while he watched over us, protecting us in his unknown silence. He would never be involved with any choice anypony would ever make, for he was the god of balance. He would grant us our free will, whether to choose to do good or evil, and made us face the consequences if we make our choices poor ones. The only time he would ever appear, is if there was an imbalance in our world that only he could correct. Otherwise, he was always in hiding, in the shape of an animal without a spoken language.

We did realize that to meet Princess Celestia’s father, the King of Equestria himself, would be a real honour. However, the decision for us to fly across the land to the tallest point of Equestria was not an easy one. When I said that our capabilities of flying were not strong, I meant that with a lot of emphasis. We were a very weak race, and we knew it.

Once Celestia told us of our mission, she gave us this one chance to make our choice. Either we choose to return to her royal guard’s chariot and have him take us home, or we jump off her balcony, and fly to mount Canterlot’s peak. And we had to decide together.

In the end, we chose to take the leap of faith. We jumped off the balcony, and with our weak and easily exhausted wings, we flew to mount Canterlot.

This was the most difficult task we have ever done together. We knew that if we were to make it there in time, we couldn’t take a break, as it would surely take us until sundown to get there. By my side, he encouraged me to keep flying. And by his, I did the same. We battled through harsh weather, and many times we wanted to give up. But with each other there to keep one another strong, despite the feat at hand, we made it to the mountain.

It was so cold near the peak, and the blizzard made flying became impossible. To make it to the top, we had to resort to climbing. We still did not know what we would find at the top, nor why Celestia would send us through such a harsh task.

But in the end, at the peak of the mountain, we found Celestia’s father—bright and mighty, just as the stories of him were told.

“So you made it,” he solemnly said to us, a proud smile on his face. “I know you went through a very hard journey. I had to be sure.”

“Sure of what?” we asked him.

“Changelings: The pony race who require love to survive; to be strong. The more love you possess, the stronger you become. And you two are Equestria’s prime example of what that means. Together, you made it all the way up here, like I knew you would. You are not weak creatures like you believe you are. Together, you are strong. Your love for each other has given you the courage and the strength to make it here. A feat that, if you traveled alone, would have been unsuccessful.”

“Love gives us power?” my husband was quick to ask him. “All this time, we’ve struggled to withstand our tasks to survive, and all we needed, was to obtain love?”

“Yes, your race becomes stronger with love. Love is your power as magic is to a unicorn. Love is the sole thing that your race represents. And because you two have made it here, you have proven that.” The god of balance then presented us with the gift he had promised. It was a stone, and it looked like one of the elements of harmony, but it was a different colour from the other six. It was a lighter, warm pink.

“This is the Element of Love,” he revealed to us. “When you touch this gem, it will grant you its power. It is not one of the key elements of harmony—it is an element on its own, which requires two ponies to use its true power. However, if just an individual tries to use its magic, they will become corrupt.” My husband and I looked to each other when he told us of that warning, and I saw a trusting smile in his eyes. I could tell he wanted the power, and I saw in his eyes that he wanted to use it for the benefit of our struggling race. “If you choose to accept my gift and touch the stone, you will each obtain the strength of an alicorn, and like we do, you will age forever.” After his explanations, he stood tall and proud, and he declared to us, “I shall deem you King and Queen of all changelings.”

We were in awe. This was too good to be true for our kind. We didn’t really see it before, but we knew right then, that the changelings needed a leader of their own species.

“I chose you, because I saw greatness in you,” he continued to tell us. “Always supporting each other through the good and the bad, and kept one another on each other’s hooves. Just as your element portrays. The choice is yours whether you will take on the roles of being King and Queen, but it must be a mutual decision.”

After his speech, we took a short moment to think. I looked to my husband, and he looked back to me. I could tell he really wanted that power. I myself was, admittedly, a little hesitant to take on such a huge responsibility. But I felt that, as his wife, it was the right decision to make, and I accepted my role. So, together, we touched the stone.

Once we came in contact with the mysterious gem, it glowed bright as day, and it levitated off of the ground before us. A crack began to form down its center, exposing a blinding light from within its core, sparks of suppressed power emanating from within. Then the element of love split in two, and each half of the stone slowly hovered closer to each of us. And with a loud crackle of thunder, they attached to our chests like medallions.

Instantly, we could feel the energy flow through our bodies. The power; the strength… It was unlike anything I have ever experienced.

Once we had been granted our new power, the god of balance looked to us with a trusting smile. “It is done.” He stood tall to represent his authority. “Take your roles responsibly and with pride, and always remember to work together, for the element of love is only sustainable when it is shared. Love is a gift—share it with Equestria.” With his final words spoken, there was a flash of light, and the alicorn King transformed into a winged creature, and he flew away to leave us with our new destiny.

I began talking to my husband—about how this was good for us; for our kind. That perhaps now we can become a bigger part of the ponies’ world, and help make a greater difference in Equestria. Then he looked at me, and he laughed. He said to me, “Now nopony will look down at us like useless mirrors.”

I asked him what he meant by that, suddenly feeling worried that the power he had been given may have gotten to his head.

“Did you hear what Celestia’s father said?” he asked me with his cold grin. “He said it is love that makes us strong.”

“What are you saying?” I asked him.

“Together, we can rule Equestria,” he boasted to me. “Let us strip the ponies of their love, and feed our kind so we can grow strong. We will become the dominant pony race. It’s time the earth ponies, unicorns and pegasi knew what it was like to be as weak as we were. Our lives were so unforgiving, we could hardly make a living. They don’t know what it was like to be so unfathomably useless.”

No, I did not like the direction he was taking his power. But, I had to admit that he had a point about the ponies being superior among our race. So as his wife—and now Queen—I felt obligated to obey.

Together, we returned to the city. We learned of a way to absorb the love from within the ponies. And so, we taught the rest of the changelings how to consume it, to transfer the ponies’ energy into our own bodies.

“Now, feed!” we commanded the changelings who were still weak. The changelings began absorbing the energies from the ponies, and gradually became stronger. It wasn’t long before the changeling race was suddenly able to cast spells of their own, and they started cocooning other ponies with mesh as well, like we taught them to with the new magic we had been given. Absorbing the ponies’ love gave them unicorn magic, and they began trapping the ponies in mesh prisons so they couldn’t escape. With our strengthened wings, not even the fastest pegasi could get away. And with our powerful bodies, we could take down even the strongest earth ponies.

While the other changelings were after the ponies among the city, my husband and I went for the castle. We took down the royal guards, and went after their Princesses. I went after Celestia, and he pursued Luna.

I caught Celestia, and I was about to trap her in mesh so that I could drain her. I had her pinned… and she looked up at me with her terrified eyes. “Who are you…?” she asked me, frightened and trembling. “You’re a monster,” she gasped.

I didn’t know what she meant, but the words she said to me had opened my eyes a little. She was right, I had become a monster. And then, while I had her pinned, I saw my reflection in the tiles of the castle floor.

I was dark, and the brightness in my eyes was faded and dull… I had holes in my mane and my wings, which had faded into a translucent teal colour. And my limbs were even developing holes in them as well. I looked hideous, I thought!

“What happened to me?!” I bounced back, afraid of what I had become. My husband returned to me in this moment and saw me, and I saw him… His coat was black as night, his eyes were red as blood, and his legs were jagged and crippled. He had even grown—nearly triple my size. He had become worse than even myself…

He looked powerful—it was evident that he had absorbed all of the love in Princess Luna to get to that point. He was now stronger than he was when the alicorn King granted us with our new abilities in the first place, and now even stronger than Celestia herself.

Celestia saw him, and she staggered to her hooves. She was even more frightened now of him than she was of me. And, for some reason, I was, too. I saw it now: The king had warned us this would happen if we use our power for our own selves, and that is exactly what we were doing. And it corrupted us. It ate us alive, and it starved us of the very element we were meant to represent. I could tell he was about to go for Celestia so he could take her power, too.

As he marched toward Celestia, she gave us each one last glance, and escaped with a teleportation spell.

“She is only delaying her inevitable capture,” he said with a twisted expression. “These ponies are useless to us. Let us begin our own kingdom away from this place.”

At this point, I was too frightened of him to disobey. I also could not bring it to myself to betray my husband who loved me for so long. So, I followed him, and we exit the castle of the two sisters to rendezvous with the other changelings. The moment we opened the door of the castle, we peered outside, and we saw the havoc our changeling subjects have wreaked across the city. And then we saw them…

Just like us, they had become dark, and their eyes had lost their irises. Our entire race was like this now. They all looked like us; like oversized insects. Never knowing how to obtain love, we taught them to steal it; to absorb it. And as a result, they became what they are because of the act of selfishness. The greed for power had corrupt us all, and it made us hungry for more.

I stood there, jaw hanging open with disbelief in what I was seeing. We had come back to the city to make our kind stronger, and that’s exactly what we did… We made them strong; we were now the dominant populated species of Equestria. But what I did not think would happen to us was this. We have become monsters of greed, and we portrayed the exact opposite of the element that the King of Equestria has told my husband and I what we represented. We were no representation of love—we were thieves.

“We do not need the ponies,” my husband shouted to the changelings, who all stood by and listened to his words. “We have what we now need. We can begin the growth of our colony now that we are strong!”

Despite their change, it seemed that the changelings looked up to him. I could see that they were happy with their power; they didn’t seem to care what they had become at all, as long as they were stronger than the ponies were. When I saw their proud faces of themselves, I felt that, as Queen, it was only right to let be what had become of them… Because, why would I try to object to something that made my colony so happy?

We left the city, leaving the drained ponies behind, and we made our way back to the mountain. We dug our home within the rocks, representing the location of our kingdom as where the power we had been granted all began. And from there we strived. We were strong; unbeatable.

Within our tunnels—which today are abandoned—my husband dug out and constructed a shrine. And within his shrine, there was a stone slab, where he wrote a prophecy.

“From dawn to dusk, I’m feared at sight; my wrath eternal, like Nightmare Night.
My time will come, and all shall hail; and those oppose, shall surely fail.
For each betrayer, shall decor my shrine; my death be theirs, a return be mine.
New body and soul, new mind and power; my place be taken, for the darkest hour.”

I never knew what he meant in that message, but I’ve always been afraid to ask him.

A year had gone by, and he and I noticed something… We were all slowly getting weaker. We were starving, and we needed more love. So he proposed that the best option for us, was to return to the ponies and steal more of it. I was not going to deny that this had to be done for the sake of our race, so I followed him.

When we returned to the city, we noticed something. While we were getting weaker over time, they were getting stronger. They have replenished all the strength that we had drained—they had become the way they once were, with their hearts renewed of love. I had no explanation for how this was possible, but it was astonishing to me. Acknowledging their regained power, I felt concerned for my own species. Why were the ponies able to recollect their lost love while our own race would drain without it?

My husband overlooked this and saw it as an opportunity to regain our lost power back, to grow even stronger once more. I will be honest, I did not like the way our species had to stay alive. But, because my race was now corrupt from the misuse of the element of love, I knew we had no choice. We had to feed, and the ponies contained the largest source of love among any other species. If we did not, we would surely become extinct. I hated it, but as Queen, I felt the heavy responsibility of keeping my children alive. I could not let them starve to death.

Like we did a year ago, we reigned the city. We began cocooning ponies, and just like we did the last time, while the little changelings went after the ponies, my husband and I went for the castle to take on the alicorns so the other changelings did not have to. We burst through the castle doors, and there on the other side of the entrance, we saw Celestia in her throne, powered with all her strength. Luna, however, was not present.

Celestia looked down to us, frowning with burning anger. She stood from her throne, and opposed us, with tears raining from her eyes.

“You will pay for corrupting Luna!” she roared with her hurt and loud voice. “Because you had taken her love away, she had lost herself, and became a threat to Equestria! After you and your subjects disappeared from our city, I had to banish my sister to the moon!”

Hearing that felt horrible. I turned to my husband, who stood far taller than I, to see if he felt the same pain I did… but in his eyes, I saw nothing. He was long gone and lost with the power he had stolen from Luna. He felt nothing—no pity; no sorrow… just hunger. He did not care. Still wielding his half of the element of love, he continued to use it for his own gain like he has done since the beginning of our ascensions.

Before a fight were to begin, a small flying creature came down from above, perching on the ground, separating us from Celestia. We stood, confused, and Celestia seemed to be the only one who knew what was going on. And in a flash of blinding light, the animal transformed, and turned into an alicorn—the King who had given us our powers.

I was frightened at the sight of him. My husband, however, just coldly glared at him as if nothing bothered him. And for the first time, I cowered in fear, and I cried. I cried so hard, thinking of all the horrible things I have done with the power he had given me.

“Hmph, if you are going to be weak, you can stay out of my way,” my husband growled at me, shunning me for my helpless cries. He stepped forward to oppose the king, and I stood, watching in tears.

“I must stop you, for nopony else can,” said the alicorn king, and he seemed to be directing his comments closer to my husband. “You have abused the power I have given you, and now are so far gone, you are already dead inside. And before you continue to grow strong, you must fall.”

The king closed his eyes, and tears rolled down his cheeks. His horn lit up, and a magic aura surrounded him, and sparks flew in mystifying patterns. I watched him, and the spell he was performing has never been seen before. But the moment he began, Celestia went on a riot.

“Father, no!!” the sun princess shrieked and galloped to him. “No, please!! Don’t do it, father!! There has to be another way!” She tried shaking his shoulder. “You can’t perform this spell without Mother and survive it! It takes two in love to activate this spell!”

“Understand, my daughter, that there isn’t another way,” he quietly said, looking down to her while his body was fuming with energy. Her eyes widened, and more tears rolled down her cheeks. “It is time I reunite with her now. Please, understand. You have made me so proud, my little Celestia. You will be a fine ruler alone.”

“Quit stalling and face me!” my husband shouted to Celestia’s father. “I am the Great Changeling King! I am the Requiem of Equestria!” He stomped the ground with his heavy hoof. “You dare oppose me?!”

The waves of magic kept rippling around the powerful alicorn. He gave his daughter a tender smile, then after that final glance at her, he made a more serious facial expression as he turned back to face the changeling king.

Celestia wouldn’t stop crying. I didn’t understand what was happening, but it was obviously big. I stepped back, away from my husband, and I watched it happen. He seemed so brave with the way he performed his spell, and his horn began to glow brighter by the second.

“Great Changeling King,” said Celestia’s father called out to him. “I make no room for any hate in my heart for anypony… not even for the likes of you. But as the god of balance, it is my solemn duty to make this sacrifice. I must protect Equestria, and if I don’t do this now, you will prevail. I’ve seen the dark future, and I must prevent it. You are lost, and you will never be found.” He winced in pain, and a grunt escaped his throat. Celestia backed away, as his aura was becoming more intensified. “Your power is false; you feel nothing. True love conquers all… What you have in you is stolen.” With one last strong and bold stance, an explosion erupted from his horn that cast through everything around him. However, nothing was effected by the blast. The only thing that happened after that flash of light, was the Changeling King had vanished in a cloud of ashes.

My eyes widened when I saw the death of my husband, and all that was left of him was his half of the Element of Love. The stone dropped to the ground and rolled across the tiles, and it stopped at my hooves. I looked up, and I saw the god of balance lying on the floor. Celestia was crying over him, and I knew what had happened. He had given his life to save Equestria from us. I realized just how big of a sacrifice it was, and I knew I would do the same for my own kind.

I looked back to the stone at my hooves, and with my heart pounding from nerves, I reached down, and I picked it up. In that moment, I for some reason wasn’t sure how to feel. My husband was deceased, but I did not feel the pain. Did the things he put me through truly make me feel he was a monster who had this fate coming? Or was it the fact that I was corrupt like he was from using the element of love in the way it was not meant to be used? It was hard to know, because at that moment, I felt no emotion for this loss. But I saw the pain in Celestia, and I wanted it to go away.

“I’ll leave Equestria,” I said to her. She looked up to me from over her father, wide-eyed and confused. Before she had a chance to say another word, I left the castle with both halves of the Element of Love in my possession.

I brought my changelings away from the city, and we returned to the mountain. I made a temporary stop into the caves, where I returned to the Changeling King’s shrine that he built. And when i was there, I removed my own half of the stone, and hid both shards of the Element of Love in the core of the mountain in this shrine. I couldn’t wield that stone any more. It has done nothing for me but corruption. I was not worthy of such a role.

Once I hid the Element of Love within the tomb of dead changelings—those who were killed by the Changeling King himself when they turned against him throughout the year in our hive—I exit the mountain to leave it all behind, and with the colony, I left Equestria…

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dozer stared blankly when he heard Chrysalis’ horrifying backstory. His wide eyes wandered aimlessly. The unravelled truth of his Queen was very deep, and it struck him very hard.

“Why… would you tell me that?” he asked her, winded by his own question. “You would never have told just anypony else that story. Why me, and why now?”

“I told you what you needed to hear, because you know of the shrine, and sooner or later the truth would have to come out, anyway. Because, time is short for us all. And the more we know, the better chance we have to survive what is coming…”

Dozer nibbled his bottom lip. “And, what is coming?”

“The Great Changeling King’s prophecy is coming true,” she solemnly said. “New body and soul, new mind and power; my place be taken, for the darkest hour,” she recited the final line of the passage. “The reason the love in the ponies is draining, is because it is being stolen. And the only way it can be taken at such a rapid pace, is if the changeling is powerful and large enough.”

“Wait… are you saying that the Changeling King has returned?”

“More or less, but not exactly,” she explained. “A changeling has discovered the secret within that tomb you found. New mind and power—somepony else is following the Changeling King’s hoofsteps… Somepony found the Element of Love, who now possesses the power of our King, and is growing stronger by each passing second because he is draining our ponies.” She lowered her head. “I fear that he will attack the hive to take our love as well. And if he does that, the rest of us won’t survive. At this point, he will surely be unbeatable; I will be unable to protect the changelings alone… We are not prepared to face up against him, and at any time now, he will surely strike the hive.”

Chrysalis turned back to the tunnel she was digging in, and she trot inside. Dozer picked up the saddlebag of potions, and he nervously and curiously followed her.

“There is but one solution, and our only resort to saving our kind.” A saddened expression upon her face, she continued digging into the wall with her magic. “Because there is no other way to stop him.”

“What solution…?” Dozer questioned her. “Why are you digging here?”

Chrysalis turned to him with a guilty expression. “Dozer, the rest of you don’t know so much about love, or what it represents, because the Changeling King and I taught you the selfish act of consuming it… Once you have been exposed to it, you have become corrupt just like the King and myself, and it became the only way I could keep feeding it to you. One thing about love that I have always known, however, is that I would do anything to keep my children alive. And I understood that when I saw Celestia’s father make his sacrifice to save his own children.”

Dozer tilted his head, feeling the tension in the Queen’s tears.

“I continued pursuing what I’ve done for the last millennia, collecting love so my subjects could survive. And I took us back to Canterlot a thousand years after we left Equestria, because my children were starving—they were dying. And ponies contain the greatest source of love among any other living soul.” She squinted in self-disgust. “I did not want to come here. I did not want to cocoon all these ponies. But for the sake of my little changelings, it had to be done. I am no less your Queen than I consider myself your Mother.”

Dozer’s eyes widened when she said that last comment. His eyes wandered, and he felt warmth and in shock when she told him that.

“And so, that leaves me with the reason I am down here.” She turned back to the wall. He could see that what she was about to do was very hard for her. With one final jolt of magic into the rock, it collapsed, revealing a new room beyond it. There was a cocoon on the other side, and within the mesh prison contained a lavender alicorn princess. “Our last resort, is to awaken the Elements of Harmony…”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Many thanks to these gentlecolts:
Proofreading and other Assistance by Morfonious and David Hasselhoof.

Trust in Me

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Through the dark of the tunnels, Scootaloo, Flake, Rarity and Rainbow Dash followed Chitin, while keeping their guard up. There was no telling what the insane changeling would try; Chitin seemed to have little control of even himself.

They traveled for at least twenty minutes, all in distrusting silence. They could tell by the look in Chitin’s cold eyes that he was hiding something. Once they had gotten to a certain point in the caves, they could hear rushing water up ahead. Scootaloo’s ears curved back to the sound that haunted her.

“Wait, wait, stop,” she said quickly. The others all briefly put their travel to a halt and turned to her in question. “Chitin, where are you taking us?”

“To Fluttershy,” he muttered.

“Why do I hear rushing water?”

“What about rushing water?” the twisted changeling wondered.

“The river in the caves,” she replied, “Is that where we are going?”

“Oh, right, right… Our water supply—you had jumped in to escape our hive when this whole thing started.” He grinned. “You must be terrified of rapids after that whole fiasco.”

Scootaloo didn’t say anything to that; she just frowned.

“She’s been through a lot, okay?” Rainbow Dash growled.

“Why are we going this way?” Flake asked him again.

Chitin turned to Flake and grinned. “You do want to find this pegasus, don’t you?” He leaned forward and furrowed his distrusting eyes. “Then, follow me.”

The others exchanged looks, turning back to Chitin with nervous expressions.

Chitin raised a brow. “You do want to see her precious face again, don’t you?”

“Uuugh, shut up!” Scootaloo snapped and tensed her posture.

“He’s just trying to get to your head,” Rarity said to the frustrated pegasus.

“Yeah, and it’s working,” Scootaloo growled, and pointed at Chitin with a squint. “You’re up to something! Why are we going to the underground river?”

“Heh, well if you think you can find Fluttershy elsewhere, then fine by me, turn around.” Chitin frowned with his crooked grin. “I assure you though, you won’t find her without me.”

Putting her hoof back down, Scootaloo exhaled through her nostrils. Her eyes wandered, and the others awaited her response. “Fine. Keep going,” she muttered, eyeing the twisted changeling. “You’d better not try anything.”

“Yes, yes…” Chitin chuckled and turned around. “Whatever you say.” With that, he kept walking forward. Scootaloo furrowed her eyes, and nervously continued to follow him with the others by her side.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After Chrysalis had uncovered the cocooned lavender princess, Dozer stood back in question. He was giving her odd looks, not certain what to think of his Queen.

“Chrysalis,” he murmured to her quietly in question. “Whose side are you on, exactly?” She looked to him, and he tilted his head, squinting at her. “First you want us to find and capture the pony, and now you’re freeing them? Make up your damn mind!”

“I understand you’re confused,” Chrysalis replied.

“What do you hope to gain freeing the ponies that represent the Elements of Harmony, huh? We’ve imprisoned them for ten years, and now you all of a sudden think that they’re just going to just help us?!”

“I’m even questioning myself in that regard.” She turned back to the cocooned alicorn. “You don’t think that even I find this as stupid as it sounds?”

Dozer sighed and sat on his flank. He remained silent for a moment, and biting his bottom lip, he slowly shook his head. “To be honest… No.”

“What?” Chrysalis turned to him and raised a brow. “Just like that, you agree with my terms of action? Even I think it’s crazy.”

Dozer’s ears slowly curved back, and an expression of guilt became obvious to the Queen. Chrysalis eyed him in question, awaiting an explanation.

“You revealed this to me,” he said quietly. “You had asked me earlier why I had this saddlebag of potions. Perhaps you should know.” Chrysalis didn’t respond, nor did she frown. She waited for his response, trying to cut him slack like he did for her in regards to this discovery. “These potions… they belonged to Scootaloo.”

“Scootaloo?”

“The pony we were trying to hunt. They are hers.” He sighed. “I was returning them to her.”

“So… You are on the pony’s side?” She squinted, trying to understand.

“Chrysalis, Chitin has gone out of control, and I made a foolish mistake taking his orders. He wanted me to round up the ponies that we had freed so he could take them for himself.”

“Wait, ponies?” Chrysalis cut him off and questioned him further. “As in plural? You found some of the others in the cave already? And you freed them?”

Dozer nibbled his bottom lip and nodded, feeling a sense of guilt. “Er… Yeah… A couple of them.” His ears perked and he turned back. “I… I should get back.” Looking back to his Queen sincerely, he could see the understanding expressions in her eyes. He tilted his head in question to her reaction, and she nodded.

“You round up the others. I’ll gather the ponies still in cocoons.”

“You’re suggesting we split up?”

Chrysalis nodded. “Time is short. We must bring these ponies together before it’s too late!” She pointed a hoof. “Go, Dozer. We shall all meet back at the tomb when we have the ponies.”

Dozer nodded respectfully, and he turned and galloped back to the others. After he had left, Chrysalis turned back to the cocooned princess in her possession, and she sighed quietly to herself. Lowering her head, her horn glowed a warm green, and she began melting the cocoon.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Chitin guided Scootaloo and the others to an opening in the cave. Through the wide entrance, there was the familiar underground river that Scootaloo remembered being dragged through. Not far down stream, she could see the vortex that sucked her down into the tunnels that spit her out into the wasteland when she first escaped. The entrance they stood in was just an opening in the wall high above the rushing waters. They all stopped to look around, confused.

“Why did you take us here?” Scootaloo muttered, and then down below on a rock, she saw a pegasus sitting there, surrounded by rapids. At first she was hardly recognizable, as she was a dull grey, but her mane flowed with grace just like her old friend’s did, and it was clear that it was indeed who she hoped they would find—she was just clearly drained like Scootaloo was in the beginning. “Fluttershy!”

At a first glance, Flake and the ponies were confused. Why wasn’t the stranded pegasus flying away?

“Heh, I told you I’d take you to the pony,” Chitin said with a grunt.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and leaned forward to shout to the mare below. “Fluttershy!!” her shouting echoed through the wide open tunnel, but her distance from Fluttershy combined with the loud rapids drowned out her voice.

“It is weird that she isn’t moving from that spot.” Rarity puzzled the situation. “Perhaps you should get her, Rainbow Da—” As she turned to look to the agile pegasus, she paused at the sudden realization that Chitin had disappeared, and now there were two Rainbow Dashes. The others all glanced to the two identical mares, and suddenly the cave fell silent apart from the thunderous crackles from the rushing rapids beneath their cave.

The two Rainbow Dashes gave them a puzzled expression, confused as to why they were being looked at the way they were. Then the two mirrored pegasi turned to look at each other, and they jumped in shock.

“AH!!” One of the Rainbow Dashes stepped back from her doppelganger. “You!! Bloody changeling, this isn’t a joke. Turn back, Chitin!”

“What?!” the other was quick to respond. “Don’t you play this game with me!”

“I mean it, Chitin!”

“AGH!! I am not Chitin!”

“Oh, no no no,” Scootaloo muttered and stepped up to them. “Chitin, whichever you are, turn back, right now! We don’t have time for this crap.”

The Rainbow Dash to Scootaloo’s left pointed at the other. “That’s Chitin!”

“What?!” The opposing Rainbow Dash looked to her accuser and shouted back at her, “Stop it! You’re Chitin!”

Scootaloo’s ears fell back, feeling a deep sinking feeling in her gut. She couldn’t tell them apart. She took a quick glance behind her, looking to Flake and Rarity, and they were equally as clueless. “Uh…” Scootaloo turned back to face the mirroring pegasi and chewed on her bottom lip anxiously. She couldn’t act on the offense without knowing which Rainbow Dash was the true element of loyalty.

“I will not lose my friends’ trust to the likes of you!” the one to Scootaloo’s right exclaimed.

“You can’t lose friends, ‘cause you don’t have any!” the other snapped back.

“Agh!! I’ll make you eat those words!” With that, the pegasus to Scootaloo’s right leapt into the other, ramming her shoulder into her foe’s chest. There was a loud thump upon collision, and the two Rainbow Dashes collapsed to the ground with the attacker on top. “You bloody changeling!” With that, she threw a few punches with her right forearm, slamming her hoof into the other’s face.

Scootaloo and the others gasped when a fight broke out. They wanted to step in and stop it, but without knowing who to trust, they couldn’t properly act.

“Get off of me!” The victim of the sudden attack kicked her doppelganger off of her, and sent her slumping backwards. Standing up and wiping her bleeding lip, the wounded pegasus prepared to strike back. “I’ll buck you all the way to Tartarus!!”

“Okay, that is quite enough!” Rarity stepped in, frowning at the two snapping pegasi. The two turquoise mares turned to her, both impatiently squinting at her. The one to the left of her had a bruised eye and a bleeding lip from the other’s attack, which was now the only way to identify their difference. “We don’t have time for this! We’ve come this far already; we need to get to Fluttershy. Chitin, whichever you are, change back into yourself. I am personally willing to forget this whole thing if you would just cooperate!” She tilted her head, expressing her concerns. “Really, Chitin, why do you continue to persist on being so single-minded?”

The wounded Rainbow Dash nodded and turned to her doppelganger after hearing Rarity’s rant. “Yeah, Chitin, come on! All we want is for everypony to be on the same page… Why do you have to make it so complicated?”

“Stop calling me Chitin,” the other exclaimed, frowning. “Stop pretending like you care. You don’t know what having a friend even means!”

“Jez, you really can’t be reasoned with!”

“What’s there to reason?! Stop pretending to be me!” Anxiously, the pegasus without battle scars placed a hoof upon her chest to gesture herself, looking to Scootaloo with desperate expressions. “I am Rainbow Dash!” She trailed her eyes to Rarity and Flake as well. “Guys, it’s me!”

“What are you planning now?!” the bruised pegasus raised her voice and growled. “You can’t expect to attempt to pull off acting like me and get away with it! My friends aren’t stupid!”

“Planning? I’m not planning anything!” Angry, the other spectrum pegasus sneered back at her. “There’s no time for this. We need to get Fluttershy and carry on finding the others. Whether you choose to be on our side or not, Chitin, I could care less!” She leaned forward and stomped a hoof. “But damnit, make a choice!!

“AAAH I am not Chitin!!”

“ENOUGH!!” Scootaloo shrieked at the top of her lungs, startling everyone around her. Everypony turned to her, wide-eyed and alarmed. “Chitin, I don’t understand why you are attempting to impersonate our friend’s identity and steal her trust, because let me assure you, it won’t work!” She looked to both of the startled Rainbow Dashes and cringed furiously at them. “Whichever of you is Chitin, understand this. We know Rainbow Dash far better than you give a buck to realize. So go ahead. Try to convince me. Which of you is Rainbow Dash?!”

The pegasus without battle wounds pointed at herself. “Come on, it’s me!”

“HA!” the other turned to her doppelganger, squinting with a bruised eye. “You don’t know what mess you’ve gotten yourself into, Chitin. My friends aren’t idiots.”

Scootaloo just gave them a bored expression, and waited until there was a significance between the two. One of them was her loyal friend, and she was determined to figure it out before she placed any judgement upon either of them. “I said convince me.”

The two Rainbow Dashes looked at each other. Expressing determined frowns, they could see it in each other’s eyes that they were not going to back down with ease. The wounded pegasus sighed and nodded, stepping up to her. The other just watched her confront Scootaloo, keeping a tense frown.

“For a long time, you’ve looked up to me,” said the wounded Rainbow Dash. “We’ve always been great friends, and there is nothing that could ever break our bond.” She gestured with her hooves, expressing a smile. “You’re right. There’s no way this changeling could convince my awesome friends that he is actually me!” She turned to the other Rainbow Dash, and trotted toward her. “There is no way you could ever match up to just how awesome I am.” She leaned closer and yelled in her face, “Hear me, Chitin?! You’re a fool! Nopony could possibly mistake you for me, because you don’t know a thing about me, or my friends.” Then the pegasus turned back to Scootaloo with her bleeding lip and smiled brightly at her. “Right, Daring Do?”

The room fell silent at those last words; what she had called Scootaloo. Rarity and Flake both exchanged looks with each other, grinning and raising a brow. They all caught on.

“Well then, I’ll admit, that was a nice little speech.” The other Rainbow Dash then stepped up to Scootaloo, casually passing by her doppelganger. “Buuuut… You are wrong.” She took a quick turn to face her duplicate and frowned with a grin. “My friend here is more than a friend.” She turned back to face Scootaloo, warmly smiling. “She is my little sister. And sure she has always looked up to me, with her strong will and desire to become just as awesome, but no more than I have ever looked up to her…” Scootaloo’s ears fell back hearing those words. She felt the emotion from the way she said that, and she smiled back at her. “As far as I am concerned, she’s always been the most loyal filly I’ve ever known, and it astounds me just how much she has taught me by just being who she is. And I am so very proud to see how amazing she has become all grown up…”

After their short moment to look into each other’s understanding eyes, Rainbow Dash turned back to her duplicate and frowned once again.

“And one other thing, Chitin…” she said, “Her name isn’t Daring Do. It’s Scootaloo!”

Silence. Chitin was indeed caught, and he was frozen standing there with his jaw hanging open in Rainbow Dash’s form. He looked at all the eyes glaring at him, and his eyes slowly furrowed as he growled. A green burst of fire engulfed his body as he transformed back into his changeling self, and he snarled at them. “Scootaloo, huh…?”

“Leave,” Scootaloo bluntly exclaimed, pointing a hoof down the tunnel where they had come from. “And don’t even think about coming back.”

“Heh.” Frowning, Chitin lit up his horn in a red aura. The others stepped back, keeping their defenses up. “I think I’ve just about had enough of you, pegasus.”

“Don’t you even think about it!” Before Chitin had a chance to attack Scootaloo, Rainbow Dash leapt into him, crashing into his side. They tumbled over and bumped into the wall of rocks. Chitin’s horn was beaming red, and he prepared his focus his spell to strike Rainbow Dash. Rainbow saw it coming, and prepared her defense against it. Before he could cast his spell, Rainbow leapt hard into him, shoving him out into the opening of the cave, and they fell toward the river below.

“Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo ran for the ledge, and watched Rainbow and Chitin fall; Rainbow held onto Chitin to keep him from flying away, and they hit the water, submerging beneath its surface. Rarity and Flake both stepped up to the ledge, looking below for any signs of either of them. They had disappeared. Then after a few silent moments, there was a red flash that lit up from beneath the rapids—Chitin’s spell had gone off below the water.

Wide-eyed and worried, Flake, Rarity and Scootaloo waited at the cave opening, looking below the waters to see any signs of their friend. Scootaloo leapt out into the cave, and flew downstream. “I gotta find her!”

“Scootaloo!” Flake called out to her, expressing his concerns. “Be careful!”

Flying downstream, Scootaloo found the two bodies floating toward the vortex. Chitin was struggling to get out of the water, but the rapids were too much for him to escape. As for Rainbow Dash, she was found unconsciously drifting downstream. In a panic, Scootaloo dove down after her.

Soaring down toward Rainbow Dash, she reached out her limbs to catch her. Before she could reach her, Rainbow Dash involuntarily submerged. “No! Damnit!” Keeping her wide eyes focused below, she waited to see the pegasus again. Chitin had reached the vortex, and Rainbow Dash was found spinning around the funnel as well, flushing down toward the hole where Scootaloo had been sucked down in the beginning of her adventure.

“No!” Chitin began chanting from the water. “This is not how I go! AAH!!” He continued splashing around, trying to fly out, but at the velocity he was being thrown around in the funnel, he couldn’t. “Nooooo—!!” Then, just like that, he was swallowed down into the abyss below. Rainbow Dash was closing in on the eye of the vortex as well, and Scootaloo was having a difficult time catching her.

“No, Rainbow Dash! Come on, wake up!” Closer and closer to the abyss, the pegasus in the water continued twirling around the funnel. “NO!” Taking a desperate dive into the river, Scootaloo grabbed onto the unconscious pegasus. Flapping her wings as hard as she could, she made her best effort to pull her out. The rapids proved too powerful, however, and she was now being dragged toward the hole, too. “Come on! Come on!!”

Then just as she was closing in on the abyss, she was caught in an aura of magic. “Wh… what?!” Slowly, she ascent from the vortex, being lifted out of the water along with Rainbow Dash. Drifting through the air, the aura took them to a ledge of safety, and gently placed the two pegasi on the rocks. Scootaloo stood up, confused, and she spun around to see where the aura had come from. She found Flake flying over to her, and he was holding Rarity. For a moment, she had thought it might have been Rarity who had just used her magic to save her, but her unicorn magic wasn’t nearly strong enough to lift two bodies like that.

“Are you two alright?” Rarity asked her in a panic, and Flake put her down. “Scootaloo, that was crazy!”

Scootaloo was dazed from what had just happened. She turned to Rainbow Dash, who was still unconscious, then back to Rarity in question. “Did you just… do that?”

“Huh?” Rarity raised a brow and trotted closer to her. “Do what?”

“Did you levitate us out of the water?”

“Uhh, no?” Rarity blinked.

Scootaloo blinked a few times as well, confused. “But, then who?” Scootaloo then caught something at the corner of her eye. Startled, she spun around to face that direction, and witnessed an alicorn princess trotting toward them. She was in awe, and it was at first difficult for her to know how to react.

“Twilight Sparkle…?” she murmured. “You’re free..?”

Twilight eyed the two pegasi who she had just captured out of the water, and acknowledged that Rainbow Dash wasn’t moving. Quickly, she attended to the unconscious mare. Scootaloo’s ears fell back, uncertain how to respond to this. Rarity and Flake were both equally confused.

“Rainbow Dash,” Twilight called to the downed pegasus, and she nudged her. That’s where the others noticed what Twilight saw—Rainbow Dash had a black burn mark on her chest. When Chitin cast his spell under the water, it must’ve struck her there. She stood up and looked straight at Scootaloo. “Did you get your bag of potions back yet?”

Scootaloo just nervously shook her head. “How do you know about my potions?”

“You still had an extra burning recovery potion in that bag,” Twilight exclaimed. “Rainbow Dash can still be healed without it.” The princess looked up to Scootaloo with her expressed concerns. “But… you need to trust me on something.”

“Wh… Trust you?” Scootaloo winced at her suspiciously. “You’re a changeling, aren’t you?”

The alicorn shook her head in response. “No, I am not. I am Twilight Sparkle.” She looked down to the injured mare. “I wish our hello could be less stressful, but we need to tend to Rainbow Dash right away.”

Squinting, Scootaloo leaned forward. “Trust you for what, exactly…?”

“She is in hiding right at this moment,” Twilight said in a sincere tone. “She’s in the vicinity, but I had to come see you alone, first, to avoid any conflicts.”

“Who?” Scootaloo began turning to look for who Twilight was talking about. “Who’s in the vicinity?”

“I’ll call her here; she can help Rainbow Dash. But I need your word, that you won’t retaliate,” she directed her request to all three of them.

Scootaloo raised a brow at her. Then she trailed her eyes down to Rainbow Dash, who was obviously dying the longer she was in her condition. She turned around to look to Rarity and Flake, and they both just looked back at her. The tension was high, but nopony really knew what to do.

Turning back to the princess, Scootaloo sighed. Twilight’s appearance was very sudden, and if anything, it was questionably suspicious. However, Rainbow Dash’s life was at stake, and it was resting on the trust of this mare—who she knew may or may not be a changeling.

Slowly nodding her head, Scootaloo agreed. “Who is here that can help Rainbow Dash?”

Twilight turned her neck to look behind her. “Alright,” she called out into the shadows. “They’ve agreed not to fight. Come on out.”

Then from behind a boulder from in the shadows, out stepped a taller, crowned changeling. Scootaloo’s ears fell back and she cowered at the sight of her. Rarity put her hooves to her mouth and gasped intensively. Flake stood his ground and furrowed his eyes, gritting his teeth.

“Chrysalis…” he growled.

Chrysalis stepped up to the others, eyeing them all. The expression on her face was tense. Eventually she stopped, and she stood idle, glaring down at the others. Keeping silent, they exchanged uncertain looks with each other.

“Twilight—if that’s who you really are,” Flake muttered, “Explain to us what is going on.”

Twilight nodded, understanding their concerns. She raised a hoof, gesturing to him directly. “I don’t reckon we’ve met.”

“I am Flake. And I stand for the ponies.” He stood taller and eyed her sincerely. “If you have any negative intentions against them, you must go through me, first.”

The response Flake had received was far different than he had expected. Twilight smiled and nodded to him. “I respect that, Flake. I truly do.”

Flake raised a brow in question and he looked to Scootaloo.

“These ponies are my friends, too,” Twilight continued. “I am pleased to see a changeling stand up for them.”

“I, um…” He didn’t know how to respond.

“I would love to get better acquainted, but right now we have different matters on our hooves.” She turned to Chrysalis and gestured her to move forward. Chrysalis stepped up closer to the others, and stood by her side, face to face with Flake, Rarity and Scootaloo. They gave very uneasy looks at her, but with the way Twilight was presenting her, they held back on retaliating.

“I speak for Chrysalis, in the respect that she can be trusted,” Twilight declared. “You asked me how I am free.” She gestured to the Queen of changelings. “Well, she released me from my cocoon prison.”

“Why?” Flake bluntly went to the point. “What is going on, Chrysalis?”

Twilight sighed and opened her mouth to respond. Flake, however, immediately cut her off, “No, Twilight. I want to hear this from the Changeling Queen herself. She hasn’t said a word to us yet.” He glared up at her while stepping closer, and she raised a brow in response. “This is totally out of character. You wouldn’t free Princess Twilight without a very good reason!”

Chrysalis was at first silent. Twilight looked to her and nodded. With that, Chrysalis sighed before she spoke. “Have patience. I will explain everything soon. Right now, though, I need to heal Rainbow Dash. Without my help, she won’t have long.” She gestured to the unconscious mare. “The spell I had forbidden my changelings to use was cast upon her. I am the only changeling who knows a spell to reverse the internal burns and cure her.” She looked into Flake’s eyes. “I have to put her in a cocoon for the healing process to work.”

Flake winced in response to that. Now they were talking about cocooning Rainbow Dash—typical for a changeling to suggest. He looked to Scootaloo, and she returned a glance at him.

“If Chrysalis wasn’t on our side, she would have captured all of us already,” Rarity exclaimed. “And we can’t just sit here and delay our decision—Rainbow Dash needs help!”

Scootaloo exhaled nervously. “Yeah… I know… For her sake, I guess we don’t have any other choice.” She looked to Chrysalis and nodded. “Alright… I can’t believe I’m resting the life of my friend in your hooves.”

Flake turned to Scootaloo, surprised that she chose to trust the Queen. He remained silent, and decided to stay out of it, allowing her to make the call.

“Very well.” Chrysalis’ horn lit up with a violet aura, focusing her spell on Rainbow Dash. Then she cast a jolt of magic upon the unconscious pegasus, and it concealed her in a transparent purple mesh. She exhaled a sigh and looked to the others. “It could take a few hours for her burns to heal, but she should be okay as long as she remains in her cocoon. The mesh she is concealed in will keep her at a sleeping state while it performs its healing process. This isn’t like our other cocoons, as it is more fragile and can easily tear. So it wouldn’t be wise to move her.”

“So we’re stuck here for awhile?” Scootaloo questioned the Queen.

Chrysalis nodded.

“Alright… Well, I guess you’ve got some time to explain what is going on then, now that we’re supposedly on the same page,” Scootaloo exclaimed. “However, hold that thought for the moment. Now that we’re settled, I’m turning back to get Fluttershy.” She pointed to Flake and Rarity. “You two stay with Twilight and Chrysalis until I get back.”

Flake and Rarity both nodded respectfully.

“Try not to fall in the water again,” Flake suggested.

“Heh. I’ll be back in a bit.” Scootaloo lifted off of the ground, and turned around, making her way upstream where she saw Fluttershy.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Up ahead, she noticed that Fluttershy was still perched on that rock surrounded by water. She raised a brow, still wondering why the grey pegasus wasn’t moving from that spot. It wasn’t very safe there, with rapids surrounding the small platform she was on. She got closer to Fluttershy’s platform, and landed on the rock, with Fluttershy facing the opposite direction. The rapids were loud here, and it was difficult to hear well—it’s no wonder Fluttershy didn’t notice her approach.

“Fluttershy,” she called to her. Fluttershy’s ears twitched and her head perked, and she turned around rather quickly. She had hardly any colour in her eyes, and her cutie mark was even fading. It occurred to Scootaloo that the grey pegasus must have had hardly any love left in her at all—she was drained nearly dry, and it wouldn’t have been long before the lack of love would surely kill her.

Fluttershy was terrified at the sight of Scootaloo, and she nearly had a panic attack. She gasped and stepped back. “G-get away!”

“Fluttershy,” Scootaloo said calmly, holding out her hoof. She kept an eye on Fluttershy’s footing, hoping she wouldn’t tip back and fall into the water. “I’m here to help—”

“Get away from me!!” she shrieked again, and her hind leg slipped off the rock, nearly sending her into the rapids. “Ah!” She collapsed to her haunches, making Scootaloo flinch. She stood back up, shivering and breathing fast, and her pupils were dilated from panicking.

“Fluttershy, calm down,” Scootaloo said slowly, trying to keep a low tone for the frantic pegasus. “I’m not a changeling.”

“Y-yeah right!”

“I’m Scootaloo,” she revealed to her.

“S...Scootaloo?” Fluttershy murmured, still breathing fast. “Y-you’re not Scootaloo. You can’t be Scootaloo!”

Scootaloo wasn’t sure how to convince her. The fear in Fluttershy’s eyes was still as intense as ever. She had to convince the panicking mare that she was in fact Scootaloo, or this would never end well.

“Scootaloo is a filly! You don’t know anything about my friends!” She remained cowered by the edge of her platform, and she lowered her head against the rock, sobbing. Tears rained from her innocent eyes, and she whimpered and gasped. “L-leave me alone! W-what did I ever do to any of you changelings?!”

It was understandable that she believed she was a changeling due to the circumstances. It was still unclear, however, that if Fluttershy considered her a threat… “Why won’t you fly away…?”

“Stop!” she cried, “Just stooop!”

Nibbling her bottom lip, Scootaloo took in a breath. She had an idea that might work, but she wouldn’t know for sure unless she tried it. Seeing the intense shivering fear Fluttershy was experiencing made Scootaloo feel sick to her stomach. The innocent mare wouldn’t even attack her—being that she was the element of kindness, it made sense. Taking in a breath, Scootaloo started humming a soft tune.

“W-what are you doing??” Fluttershy murmured, and then her ears perked to the familiar tune. And slowly, she began to rise from her haunches. The melody was capturing her attention.

Acknowledging that it was seemingly working, Scootaloo took in another breath, and continued whispering the melody, singing words to go with the tune. “Hush now, quiet now… Time to lay your sleepy head.”

Fluttershy’s eyes slowly widened, and her shivering slowed down. Her ears rose up, and she gradually made her way to her hooves.

“Hush now, quiet now… It’s time to go to bed.”

Scootaloo stopped and stood still, waiting. She knew Fluttershy well enough that if she tried to force her to know who she was in a more aggressive manner, she would lose Fluttershy’s trust for certain. The song was familiar to her—she sang Scootaloo to sleep with it when she was young. Slowly, the grey mare tilted her head, tears trickling from her eyes as she squeaked her name, “Scootaloo…?”

She nodded. “Yeah… I’m here to help you. I’m not going to hurt you.” She held out a hoof. “Now… Just, please, step away from the water.”

Fluttershy turned back to realize that she was inches from falling in. She was so overwhelmed with fear that she didn’t even take the river into account. She gasped and took a step away from the rapids, looking back to Scootaloo. “But you’re… supposed to be just a filly. H-how long was I in that cocoon for?”

Scootaloo was first hesitant to tell her. But she knew the truth was going to come out sooner or later, so it was best to be told now. “Ten years, Fluttershy…”

A tear gleamed in her eye, and she held a hoof to her mouth and gasped.

“I know… It was hard for me to accept, too.” When Scootaloo took a step closer to Fluttershy, the colourless mare took a step back and whimpered again. “It’ll be okay, Fluttershy. It’ll all be fine…” She held out her hoof again. “Come.”

Fluttershy eyed her from behind her dull coloured hair, still nervous and scared. Scootaloo kept her posture, holding her trusting hoof out to her, and she waited on her own time. Until, finally, Fluttershy stepped closer to her. Slowly, the frightened mare made her way closer to her at her own, cautious pace. When she was close enough to reach, Scootaloo calmly moved forward. Fluttershy flinched, but she didn’t seem to object this time. Now that she won her trust, Scootaloo wrapped her forelimbs around her shoulders, and gently hugged her.

“You’re going to be fine, Fluttershy,” Scootaloo murmured. “You’re okay.”

A soft weep, and then Fluttershy burst into tears again. She sobbed and gave into the embrace, hugging her back. Her cries were hard enough that she couldn’t bring herself to say any words.

“You took care of me all those years ago, like a mother,” Scootaloo whispered. “It’s my turn now, to return the kindness.”

Fluttershy just continued to cry, and her grey coat glowed a brilliant gold. Her colour had returned to her former yellow, and her cutie mark was bright once again.

“When I got out of my cocoon, h-he came at me so fast. I didn’t know what to do, or where to go. I was so scared!” she sobbed.

“Chitin,” Scootaloo revealed his name to her.

Fluttershy sniffled and stepped back. “He said he needed my form, and he left me on this rock… a-and he…” She gestured to her back, whimpering, “He b-broke my wings… So I couldn’t get away.”

Scootaloo’s eyes widened at that revelation. It made sense now, why she wouldn’t retreat from this spot.

“Fluttershy, I’m sorry…” she whimpered for her. “I’m here with some friends—we’re not alone. I am sure one of us can help heal you.”

“There are others?” Fluttershy murmured.

Scootaloo nodded. “Yes, though… You should know something about them.”

Fluttershy blinked nervously.

“A couple of them are, uh… changelings.”

“What??” Fluttershy gasped again, stepping back. “W-what are you talking about?!”

“It’s okay, Fluttershy,” Scootaloo tried reassuring her, gesturing with her hands to calm her down. “These changelings can be trusted. They’re on our side.”

Fluttershy’s eyes wandered, and she bit her bottom lip nervously. “How can you be so sure?”

“One of them helped me get into the hive to save the rest of you—his name is Flake,” Scootaloo exclaimed. “If he really wanted to, I’m sure he would have captured me all over again.” She sighed. “The other changeling is rather new to our group. I’m still uncertain what I’m supposed to think about her, but she seems to mean well.”

Fluttershy blinked. “Who?”

“Uh… Chrysalis.”

“The Queen?!” the frantic pegasus stepped back once again, breathing fast. “D-don’t you bring me to her!”

“Fluttershy,” Scootaloo tried reassuring her yet again, “It’ll be fine. Like I said, if they wanted to put us in cocoons, they would have done so by now.”

Fluttershy murmured and looked away, lowering her head. “I don’t know.”

“Trust me,” Scootaloo said, holding out her hand once more. Fluttershy looked to her, to see that she was smiling. “Follow me. Despite all the darkness, there is always hope for a new day. I will see to it that there will be peace again.”

Fluttershy’s ears perked to that inspiring comment.

“...Trust me?”

The golden mare’s eyes wandered for a few moments, until she looked back up to Scootaloo, and she slowly nodded.

Scootaloo let out a relieving sigh. “Good… Now, let’s get you off this rock.” She crouched down. “You don’t look too heavy, think I can carry you on my back?”

“Uhm…” Fluttershy nibbled her bottom lip, nervously. “Are you… sure it’s safe?”

“Heh, I can fly now,” Scootaloo said proudly. “I won’t drop ya.”

It took Fluttershy a few moments to warm up to the idea, but eventually she gave in. She knew she couldn’t stay here, after all. “Okay… Just be careful.”

“Of course.”

With that, Fluttershy climbed upon Scootaloo’s back, with a moment of prior hesitation. When she was ready, Scootaloo spread out her wings, and flapped them carefully to keep her balance. Fluttershy squeaked and held onto her back, keeping herself from falling. Then with a few powerful thrusts, the became airborne, and Scootaloo turned and flew downstream to meet up with the others.

“By the way…” Fluttershy said quietly, “I like your cutie mark. Congratulations.”

Scootaloo grinned proudly. “Heh. Thanks, Fluttershy.”

Curse of the Changelings

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With Fluttershy in tow, Scootaloo returned to the others. With Chrysalis now involved in their group, she sighed with relief that nopony had gone anywhere—the Queen may actually be here to help without any tricks up her sleeves. Landing on the ground, she set Fluttershy down, and trot toward them.

“I-I’m gonna stay here…” Fluttershy murmured.

Scootaloo turned to see that she was still afraid of confronting the changelings. “Fluttershy, it’s alright.”

“I just… I don’t know.”

Understanding the frightened mare, Scootaloo nodded. “Just stay close enough that you don’t lose sight of us.”

“O-okay…”

With that, Scootaloo turned back and returned to the others. They acknowledged that Fluttershy wasn’t following her, and they looked to Scootaloo in question. When Scootaloo met up with the others, she sighed and nodded. “She needs a bit of time to take in what’s going on.”

“Well I don’t blame her,” Rarity exclaimed. Taking the initiative, she trot back to see Fluttershy. “I’ll go talk to her so she isn’t way over there by herself. Somepony should.”

“Right.”

That settled, Scootaloo turned to look down to the cocooned pegasus on the ground. Her ears folded back and she sighed before looking back up to Chrysalis. Chrysalis looked back at her in silence.

“So, this cocoon spell of yours,” she questioned the Queen, “How long is it going to take to fully recover Rainbow Dash?”

Chrysalis took a glance at Rainbow Dash, giving her a short examination. “Based on how bad the wound is… four, maybe five hours.”

Scootaloo sighed and sat on her flank impatiently.

“Could be worse,” Twilight said, trying to ease the tension.

“Indeed, she could be dead,” Chrysalis exclaimed. “As a matter of fact, she should be. She is very lucky… The spell hit her mere inches from her heart.”

Scootaloo lowered her head briefly and nodded, understanding the situation at hand. She turned her neck to look back to Fluttershy and Rarity, who were still talking. From where she was, it looked like Fluttershy was slowly beginning to warm up, but she did still look scared. Turning back to face Chrysalis, she cleared her throat before she spoke.

“So, since we’ve got some time to kill… Why don’t you start by explaining to us what’s going on?” She turned to Twilight and pointed at her. “Why did you free Twilight?” She put her hoof down and looked to her cocooned friend, sighing. “Why are you healing Rainbow Dash?” Looking back up to Chrysalis, her ears fell back. “This isn’t making sense… You first try to trap us all, but now here you are, helping us. Why, Chrysalis?” Her eyes widened and she eyed Twilight. “The fact you’re presenting the Queen of the Changelings with good intentions isn’t making sense at all either! Did you even retaliate when the first thing you saw opening your eyes was the changeling Queen?!”

A short pause, and Twilight responded with a simple and quiet answer. “No.”

Scootaloo was then silent. She couldn’t think of any words to say to that. Her expression of sheer disbelief said everything.

“When I opened my eyes, yes, I was at first frightened,” Twilight explained herself calmly. “But the eyes looking into mine… I’ve seen those eyes before.” She looked to Chrysalis. “The sadness, the aching heart, the tears… She looked just as frightened as I was. Because she knew that freeing me could have been a very big mistake. I am an alicorn Princess after all. Though… no, she didn’t tell me why, only that she wanted to help us, and that she needed help. So, I chose not to attack, and learn to understand her intentions, as time was short.”

“True, you could have retaliated,” Flake said. “So… what were her intentions?” He looked back to Chrysalis. “Why did you do it?”

Chrysalis exhaled a long sigh, and she sat on her flank, lowering her head. “You will think me selfish. But you three particularly should know the truth.” The others waited patiently for her to continue. Even Twilight was now giving her funny looks. “Somewhere within these caves is a monster… A large, king changeling, too powerful for me nor my hive to defeat.” She gestured to Twilight. “I’ve resorted to freeing the Elements of Harmony, in hopes that they would be able to stop him before he destroys us first.”

“Now, hold on… You’re just using us to protect your own hide?” Scootaloo bluntly went to the point. “And when he’s vanquished, what next? Huh? You going to just cocoon us again once the threat’s gone and all is well?!”

Chrysalis squinted and felt the anger in Scootaloo’s voice. “If I didn’t do this, my hive would be at risk for a merciless doom. I will free all of your ponies when this is all done… and I will leave Equestria. And I won’t come back to bother you again… Nothing is worth losing my little changelings. They’re like my children. And feeding off of love is the only way to keep them alive.” She turned away and lowered her head. “I just can’t say I know where I will go, nor where I will find another source of love to feed them. You wouldn’t understand. This… this is the only way for them to stay alive.” She shook her head in self-disgust. “No, I don’t like this way of life. But this is the way we are. We need love, or we die. And the only way to get it, is to take it like this… In the beginning of our invasion, I never wanted to trap the ponies. I was doing what I felt was right to save my children from extinction.”

Scootaloo was still expressing a frown. She pointed behind her to emphasize what she has all gone through, and uncontrollably began shrieking. “You still have a lot of blood on your hooves! Have you not seen the pony graveyard in the river?!” Stomping her hoof, she cringed at the thought of the deceased. “I don’t know what you plan on doing once we round up the Elements of Harmony and take down this threat you speak of, but how could I ever trust you or forgive you for all that you’ve done?!”

Slowly exhaling through her nostrils, the Queen lowered her head and murmured, “I don’t. I’ve lived for more than a millennia, and to this day, I still don’t know what our purpose as changelings even is. All we do is cause desolation, and it is very hard to accept such a life. When we feed the love off of our victims, if they run dry, they just die. Just like we do if we are to run out.”

“So you dump them in the river and say good riddance.”

“What else are we to do?” the sorrowful Queen solemnly asked. “Ponies would never simply allow us to consume their love so we can live. No, we have to take it, because it’s the only way. And when the ponies die as a result of consuming their essence of love, we don’t know how to feel about it. They become empty souls; their purpose justified.” She shrugged. “We throw the ponies into the river because we don’t feel we should keep them anywhere else. What good is a soulless body? What do you do with such? When somepony dies, they are empty. They become nothing, and need nothing.”

“...Nothing?” Scootaloo’s frown intensified. “Of course you of all changelings would say that. You can’t decide how to feel about death because you don’t know what it means to die. You’ve been alive for over a thousand years! So you can’t even relate to a dying creature, and you don’t even consider what it may be like after death!” She shook her head in disgust. “It’s selfish! You’re no different than any of the other changelings; empty and cold! You have no appreciation for the deceased!”

The cave fell silent apart from the rapids. Chrysalis slowly nodded, trying to find words to say. Twilight was even giving Chrysalis funny looks now, only just finding out about the pony graveyard.

“If you did die, Chrysalis, what would you want from others to do with your body?”

Chrysalis squinted and turned away. “It wouldn’t matter. I’d become nothing.”

“Why in the heck would you even believe something so absurd?”

“Or maybe I deserve nothing!” Chrysalis finally snapped a shriek back at Scootaloo. Scootaloo’s eyes widened, and she took a step back from the Queen’s intimidating hollar. “I don’t care, okay?! Dump me in a ditch if I die! After all the lives I’ve clearly taken away, then maybe I should be dead!” Tears began to roll down her cheeks. “I hate this life; this burden! Day in, day out, I just want it to end. But I don’t let that happen, because without me, my children will starve to death! So for their sake, I continue this cursed lifestyle and consume other lives so theirs can go on!” Trying to calm her tone down, she sighed and continued, “We live like arachnids. We hide and we feed, or we die.”

Scootaloo couldn’t help but feel at least a little sympathy for the Queen after a response like that.

“When this is all over, I will command my changelings to free all of the other cocooned ponies and leave them alone.”

“Chrysalis.” Flake stepped up to her, and she looked back down to him in question. “Scootaloo has taught me a lot since I’ve met her.”

“Taught you?” She sighed and sat on her flank. “Taught you what?”

“First of all, have you not noticed anything different about me?”

Exhaling through her nose, the Queen looked closely at him. It didn’t take her long, and she stepped back with widened eyes. She was dumbfounded that she didn’t notice it sooner—he wasn’t black like a changeling should be; his coat was olive. Memories of her past began to echo in the back of her mind from a millennia ago. Back in a day when all changelings had colour, before she was Queen, when her kind did not require the consumption of love to survive.

“How…?” she murmured quietly.

“Scootaloo taught me that love is something that can only be given; not taken. She showed me what it means, what it represents, and why consuming it is only making us a weaker race.”

A pause. Chrysalis tried to understand. “So… Are you saying there is another way?”

“She saved my life, in more ways than one,” Flake exclaimed. “Chitin had cast Red Death upon me, and Scootaloo gave me an antidote so I could heal.”

“What?” Chrysalis looked to Scootaloo in question. “During our pursuit in capturing you, you took the time to save one of us?” Her eyes expressed deep gratitude. She didn’t know how to respond to that. “...But, why?”

“Originally, I was the changeling who had captured her. Yet, despite that, she still chose to save my life.” Flake shook his head and silently cackled a breath. “I couldn’t understand. A changeling would never do that. Not even for our own.” He paused. “At least… not until recently, I’ve seen it with my own eyes.”

Chrysalis waited for an explanation as to what he meant by that. “Who?”

“Trek…”

The Queen’s ears twitched when he spoke of that name. “Trek?”

“He chose to join us after we showed him Scootaloo’s ways, giving it a chance.” He chewed his bottom lip as he tried to process his words. “And in the end… he sacrificed his life to save ours.”

“He… what?” Chrysalis’ eyes wandered, and she became very quiet.

Flake nodded. “We are changing. Thanks to this pony that has escaped our hive, we are all changing. And this change is for the better.” He noticed that Chrysalis was zoning out, as if this was too hard for her to believe. “Uh, Queen?”

“Huh?” Chrysalis snapped back into reality, and a tear was found rolling down her cheek. “I’m sorry. I’ve just… I’ve never…”

Scootaloo blinked, waiting for an explanation.

“I’ve never seen our species act this way before. Not since before Luna’s banishment…” Her eyes wandered some more, and she was deep in thought about it. “We’re healing. From our curse, we are healing.”

Flake raised a brow. “Uh, curse? What?”

“We should all be colourful…” Chrysalis revealed to Flake. “All of the changelings. We once had no holes in our bodies, and pure, colourful coats, just like the ponies… You are slowly gaining yours back.” She tilted her head, expressing her sadness. “A long time ago, we were pure. But as a result of a selfish act, we became what we are, and the consequences ate us alive, resorting to feed off of love from others to survive. We became colourless, and our bodies ate away, leaving these holes that today represent the lacking love we are doomed to die without.” She leaned forward and pointed closely at him. “...And it looks like your irises are starting to come in nicely, too, Flake.”

“Irises?” Flake’s ears twitched, and he became curious. He trot to the stream, and looked down into the water. At the sight of himself, his ears curved back, and his jaw dropped. He sat on his flank, and stared at himself for a long moment. Many mixed feelings were rushing through him, and he found it hard to say anything else.

“So, a long time ago, you used to be like us,” Twilight murmured.

Chrysalis nodded, still gently crying. “It was a long time ago. But the memories are still there. I never truly appreciated what we had in those days until it was all taken by our own greed.”

Flake finally stepped away from the river and looked to Scootaloo, who then noticed the irises herself. They were very hidden beneath all the turquoise in his eyes, but as the turquoise was fading, his irises were slowly revealing beneath it. It was at a state that it was too difficult to tell what colour they were, but they were there. Scootaloo smiled, welcoming his new look.

Rarity then stepped up to the others. “Alright, I think Fluttershy has calmed down now. She’s taking her time, but she will come with us.” She looked to Scootaloo. “So, what’s the situation with Chrysalis? Can we trust her?”

Scootaloo looked to Chrysalis, then back to Rarity. “Yes, Rarity, we can.” Chrysalis’ ears twitched, and she smiled in response to Scootaloo’s declaration. “We should really continue our search for the other ponies. We are running short on time as we speak.”

Rarity nodded, and pointed to Rainbow Dash cocooned on the ground. “I realize that, but we can’t just leave her here. What do we do then?”

“We split up,” Twilight declared.

“What?” Scootaloo looked to her and raised a brow. “We’re not doing that.”

“Why not?” the alicorn questioned her. “I suggest that Chrysalis and maybe a couple others go search for another pony.” She looked down to Rainbow Dash. “While you are searching, the rest of us will stay here with Rainbow Dash until she is awake.”

Scootaloo and Flake exchanged looks, thinking about the idea.

“I know where all of the ponies are hidden, after all,” Chrysalis exclaimed. “We can’t move Rainbow Dash, or the healing won’t work properly, and she could die. So, yes, a few of us should stay behind and watch her.”

Flake turned to Fluttershy, who was still having a difficult time wanting to join with them. She was keeping her distance, slowly pacing toward them with idle waiting periods. “Perhaps I should go with you,” he suggested, turning back to Chrysalis. “Fluttershy is obviously uncomfortable being around changelings at this time. So she can stay here.”

Rarity nodded. “I’ll stay behind with her, then.”

Scootaloo sighed. “Alright, fine. We’ll do it your way. I’ll admit, your plan is better than no plan.” She stepped up, nodding willingly. “I’ll go with you and Flake.” She looked to the alicorn Princess. “Twilight, I suggest that you stay behind with Rarity and Fluttershy.” She tilted her head, looking to Rarity. “You will need her here if there is any trouble. There should be somepony stronger in your group to defend you while we’re away—no offense.”

“None taken,” Rarity exclaimed, nodding. “I would have to agree to your terms.”

“Right. So are we settled?” Scootaloo asked the others, turning to look to each of them.

“Well, we’d better get started,” Chrysalis declared, eager to help.

“Ready when the rest of you are,” Flake exclaimed. “Lead the way, Chrysalis. You know these tunnels better than the rest of us.”

Chrysalis nodded, and with a thrust, she lifted off with her flapping wings. “The closest hidden pony from where we are is Applejack. We’ll go for her first.”

With that, Flake and Scootaloo lifted off the ground, and followed the Queen.

“Be safe,” Scootaloo said to Rarity, Fluttershy and Twilight before they left.

“You too,” Fluttershy murmured, expressing her nervous concerns.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Everything was a blur. His vision was fuzzy, and all that was heard was a constant high toned ring. He was weakened from exhaustion, and deep inside he felt the rage from it all.

As his consciousness slowly returned, he began to hear an irritating voice calling upon his name. His vision was also gradually coming back, and he found himself to be lying on his back, looking skyward. Above him, there was somepony else looking down to him—his visual perception was still mostly a blur, and all he could make out was the black body and turquoise eyes.

“Chitin!” the voice rang down to him, and the name echoed into his ear with a ringing aftershock. “Chitin, you okay? Wake up!”

Finally a burst of renewed strength, and he jumped up from his back, returning to his haunches. Then he stood up, and without a warning, he gripped onto the other changeling’s neck, and threw him down to the ground onto his back. He held him there, pinning the suddenly terrified changeling.

“Chitin, relax!” the changeling under his hoof shouted up to him. “I-it’s me, Buzz!”

Chitin just squinted down at him, gritting his teeth. Then after a brief moment of growls, he released the panicking changeling and stepped aside. “DAMN PONIES!!” he shrieked to the shadowy skies of green clouds.

“Chitin, you okay?”

“I am fine!” he quickly replied, marching back toward the mountain. He spread his wings in the attempt to fly, but he collapsed from exhaustion. “AAAAGH!!”

“Uh, Captain, you should probably rest, you kinda fell from the mountain’s waterfall.”

Chitin raised a brow and turned to Buzz. He frowned, and then looked up the side of the mountain that was spewing the waterfall down into the river below. In the river, he could see all of the pony skeletons on the shores and on the floor of the stream. With a wince, he stepped up to the river and looked around, examining all of the dead bodies.

“I’ve never seen so many corpses,” Buzz exclaimed. “I haven’t been outside of the hive since we moved in; this is the first time I went out into the wasteland. This is where all of the ponies have been dumped?”

Chitin rolled his eyes and pointed a hoof into the water. “These are examples of the weak souls.” He turned back to Buzz and squinted at him. “What the heck are you doing out here anyway?”

“I think Chrysalis may have gone looking for you,” he replied, still recollecting himself from Chitin’s sudden retaliation. “I don’t know where she has gone looking, but I took the initiative to assist in her search, and came out here to look for myself.” He gestured to Chitin, tilting his head as he squinted. “And during my search, I saw you fall from the top of the waterfall, and you dropped into the river. I pulled you to shore—you were unconscious.”

“Uh, huh.” Chitin grumbled and trot toward the mountain. “I’m going back to find that bloody pony.”

“Wait, Chitin.” Buzz stepped in front of him. “Why are you in such a hurry? You can barely fly off the ground.”

Chitin grit his teeth and raised his snarling voice. “I am going to find Scootaloo, even if it kills me!” He leaned forward, glaring at Buzz with his piercing eyes. “Now stay out of my way!”

“Scootaloo?” Buzz questioned him, giving him a look. “Hold on, you’re talking about the pony that escaped? Daring Do, right?”

“Ugh…” Chitin pushed Buzz aside and continued walking. “Yes, I mean Daring Do.”

“Huh. Scootaloo… Strange.”

As Chitin marched away from the suspicious changeling, he briefly paused. Raising a brow, he turned back to Buzz and questioned him, “You make it sound like that’s a shock. So she faked her identity, what of it?”

Buzz just shrugged. “Eh, I just remember Chrysalis mentioning that name before. But it’s probably nothing.”

Chitin’s ears twitched, and his eyes furrowed. “You mean Chrysalis knew this pony?”

“Meh, barely. This was from the Canterlot Wedding.”

“And what does Chrysalis know about Scootaloo?”

“Don’t really know. She never really said anything important.”

Chitin began to grow irritated. “This information might actually be useful to capturing this pony,” he clarified through his teeth. “That is something our Queen desires, is that not correct?”

“Er… Well, yeah?”

“So…” Chitin creepily stepped closer to him, making him feel uncomfortable. “What did Chrysalis know about this pony?”

“Um…” Buzz put that to thought, and he sat on his flank, placing a hoof to his chin. “She never really said much about Scootaloo. Only that there were three flower fillies at the wedding ceremony. All she really said was that Scootaloo was the most annoying to her among the three fillies.”

“Uh, huh… And that is all?”

Buzz nodded, giving Chitin an uneasy expression. “Why?”

“Buzz…” Chitin cringed and grit his teeth. “Who were the other two fillies?”

“Uhhh… I know one of their names was Sweetie Belle. The other was, um… Apple Bloom, I think.”

“I see…” Chitin expressed a psychotic grin. “And do you know where their cocoons are in the dome?”

He wasn’t sure why Chitin was so interested to know this information. However, after a long and frightening face to face glare in silence, Buzz finally nodded.

The Anomaly (revised)

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Moving as quickly as they could to gather the other ponies, Chrysalis lead Scootaloo and Flake through the abandoned tunnels of her hive. With the Changeling Queen on their side, Scootaloo and Flake knew their mission was going to come to a close much sooner than they had planned, thankfully. Unless, of course, there was something she was hiding from them, but with their time rapidly running out, they saw no other options.

They traveled to unexplored tunnels, where the walls appeared to be ominously crystallized in this sector of the caverns. Eventually they came to a halt, and Chrysalis landed next to a large boulder.

“Here we are,” she exclaimed, gesturing to the heavy stone. “Applejack is hidden in a crevice beneath this rock.” She leaned into it to push, and she gestured to the others. Flake and Scootaloo nodded and helped push it with her. With the three of them putting their backs into pushing the large rock, it slowly began to budge, gradually shifting across the floor.

“This would be a lot easier if I had a strength potion…” Scootaloo groaned, putting all her might into moving it.

Chrysalis’ ear twitched and she turned to look into the darkness of the cave. The thought of a wandering Dozer crossed her mind in response to Scootaloo’s mention of her potions. The changeling carrying her saddlebag should have found them by now, she thought.

“Chrysalis?” Scootaloo questioned her. “Everything alright?”

“Fine. Keep pushing,” the distracted Queen exclaimed and went back to pushing the boulder.

Once they had moved it far enough, they exposed a hole in the ground. They pushed the boulder until the crevice was uncovered enough to enter it. Chrysalis took initiative and jumped into the hole while Scootaloo and Flake waited at the top. In moments, she flew back up out of the hole with a cocoon in her grip containing a pony inside it. Scootaloo recognized her; it was indeed Applejack.

Carefully, the changeling queen rested Applejack down on the ground. Standing upright, she looked back to Scootaloo. “Should I be present when she awakens? Or should I hide to give you time to explain our situation? Surely she will be afraid to see me.”

“Maybe so,” Scootaloo suggested, “But to be honest, I think it would be best that she saw you right away.”

Chrysalis tilted her head, raising a brow. “Okay?”

“She will have to see you eventually. It would be better if she saw you and Flake with me first hand.”

Chrysalis slowly nodded. “Alright then. Let’s not waste any more time.” Her horn illuminated, and she cast a spell down upon Applejack’s cocoon. The cocoon’s tint of colour faded, and it began to melt.

“She’ll be awake in a few minutes,” said the changeling Queen, stepping back to stand by the others. “If you have anything to say that will convince your friend that you are not a changeling, now would be the time to think about it.”

Scootaloo nodded, and the cave fell silent as they waited.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Twilight, Fluttershy and Rarity remained by the riverbed next to Rainbow Dash’s cocoon of healing magic. Expressions of concern were upon their faces.

“It’s good that all of my friends are coming back together again,” Fluttershy whimpered. “But what if Rainbow Dash doesn’t make it?” A tear rolled down her cheek as she rested to her haunches. “And what if Scootaloo and the others don’t make it back?”

“We can’t afford to think of such possibilities,” Rarity exclaimed, eyeing down to her friend concealed in glowing mesh. “Have faith; Rainbow Dash will heal just fine.”

“Scootaloo won’t let us down,” Twilight said with confidence, stretching her wings for comfort. “They’ll be back before you know it.”

“Oh… I hope you’re right,” Fluttershy murmured, looking off into the distant caves where they had made their exit. “They’ve been gone for an awful long time.”

“How are your wings, darling?” Rarity asked the wounded pegasus.

Fluttershy nibbled her bottom lip and slouched lower. “They hurt...”

Twilight sighed and trot next to her. “Fixing broken bones with magic is not fun. But it is important that we’re all in our best condition as soon as possible.”

“Not… fun?” Fluttershy questioned her, not liking the sound of that explanation.

“Either we allow your wings to heal naturally—which could take days, or even weeks... or, I speed up the process with a spell. Which will unfortunately really hurt…”

“Huh?” Rarity looked to her curiously. “What spell?”

“Uh…” Twilight just made an uncomfortable expression. “Levitation magic…”

“Levitation… Wait, you mean you want to physically move the bones inside her wings?!” The unicorn was wide-eyed and nearly disgusted. “Twilight, that can’t be comfortable!”

“I said it hurts.”

“We can’t put Fluttershy through that, there must be another way!”

Twilight shook her head. “Magic isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. Not every spell works without any consequences or side-effects. Sometimes, there is a catch, too.” She looked down to Rainbow Dash and relaxed her eyes. “You remember when Rainbow Dash broke her wing? I never told her I could fix it, because I know how painful it can be.”

Fluttershy clenched her teeth at the thought of it, and she remained curled up on the ground.

“The reason I didn’t tell Rainbow Dash wasn’t only because I know it can be painful, but also because, back then? We had time to allow it to heal naturally! Right now, we don’t.” She rolled her eyes. “And also, if Rainbow Dash knew I could fix broken bones, considering how stubborn she is, she would have wanted me to heal her so she could get back to flying again as fast as possible. If she knew I could heal her and I told her no, she would have gotten mad at me because I refused to help... And if I said yes? She would still have gotten mad at me, because if I healed her, it would have hurt, and she’d wonder why I even suggested it.”

Rarity shrugged. “I guess that makes sense on Rainbow’s behalf.” She then gestured back to the pegasus beside her. “But this is Fluttershy, dear! We can’t do that to her.”

“I’m slowing the rest of you down… aren’t I,” the quiet pegasus murmured.

“Huh?” Twilight blinked. “I… No! I just don’t know what else to do!”

“No. It… it’s fine,” the wounded mare whimpered. “Just do what you have to… If you really need me to fly, then fix my wings.”

She was shivering, and clearly scared of the thought that it may be very painful. Twilight took a long moment to watch her cower and whimper, and she turned to Rarity, who looked back at her.

“Do we really have to?”

Twilight didn’t know what to say in response to Rarity’s question. She sighed and sat on her flank, lowering her head. Then after some moments in thought, she slowly shook her head. “You know just as well as I do that I can’t do that to her.” She looked to Fluttershy with a saddened expression. “I’m sorry, Fluttershy.”

“But… but I’ll just slow you down.”

“We’ll deal with it,” said the Princess. “We can carry you if we need to get to higher places.”

“Oh, no! You shouldn’t have to do that.” Fluttershy’s ears sank to the sides. “What if… what if we’re being chased? You can’t carry me then!”

“Yes I can,” Twilight declared, and she trot closer to Fluttershy to gently hug her. “You’re my friend. I won’t allow you to go through such pain.”

“But…” Fluttershy whimpered, and began to gently cry.

“It’s alright. We’ll be fine.” She pat Fluttershy’s shoulder to comfort her. “You shouldn’t have to go through any more than you already have.”

Fluttershy continued weeping on her shoulder. Twilight exchanged concerned looks with Rarity, and the cave fell silent.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Scootaloo, Chrysalis and Flake stood watching Applejack, waiting for the earth pony to wake up. Until finally, she wiggled in her sleep, and slowly opened her eyes.

“Ugh…” Applejack pushed herself upright, rubbing her eyes. “Wh… what happened…?” Looking up, the first thing her eyes met was Chrysalis. Her eyes jolt open, and she stumbled back. “You!!”

“Applejack,” Scootaloo called to her in a calming tone, “It’s alright. We—ohh no... ” Before she could finish, Applejack was already in full, furious gallop toward the Queen.

“Y’all are dead!!” Applejack hollered, and she leapt through the air toward Chrysalis. Colliding head on with the wide-eyed Queen, Chrysalis collapsed onto her back with a dumbfounding shriek.

“Applejack!” Scootaloo was quick to try and stop her. She jumped onto her, and made the attempt to pull her off of Chrysalis. “Stop!”

I response to her tugging gesture, Applejack kicked up, and bucked Scootaloo straight to the head. The echoing impact sent Scootaloo collapsing hard, and she tumbled a few feet across the ground. She skid across the mesh and soot, and bumped into a rock, stopping there in silence.

“Scootaloo!” Flake shouted, running for the downed pegasus. Applejack’s ears twitched when she heard the name, and she turned to Flake and Scootaloo in question. Raising a brow, she stepped away from Chrysalis.

“Hold on a minute. Scootaloo?” The grey earth pony turned back to Chrysalis and squinted at her. “What the buck is goin’ on here?!”

Chrysalis stood up tall, towering over her in height. The changeling Queen gnashed her teeth, and she growled.

“Do not attack me again,” she threatened in a deep and aggravated voice.

“Scootaloo,” Flake whimpered her name, shaking the unconscious mare. Flake’s cries caught the attention of Chrysalis and Applejack, and they turned to see the situation for themselves. “Scootaloo, come on, wake up,” his voice was slowly turning into a hiccup.

Applejack was dumbfounded and wide-eyed. For starters, it made no sense to her that the changeling was calling the wounded pony Scootaloo. However, what really surprised her was to see a changeling actually care about a fallen ally. Slowly it came together, and it started to make sense without the need of an explanation. There is only one pegasus that she knew by the name of Scootaloo, and there was no way a changeling would call another by that name.

Loud and afraid, Applejack turned to Chrysalis and pointed a hoof to the pegasus lying in the dirt. “Ya mean ta tell me that’s not a changeling?! That’s actually Scootaloo?!”

Chrysalis didn’t respond, she just frowned at Applejack and stepped past her. Applejack turned quickly back to Scootaloo and felt a lump in her heart. “A-ah didn’t mean… I was defending myself!”

“I know,” Flake croaked, looking to Applejack. “This was bound to happen. What else can you expect when the last thing you remember after being cocooned was a war between ponies and another species that can turn into ponies?”

Applejack blinked, trying to put it all together. Flake’s tears showed mercy, and she wanted to know why. She trot to the scene herself and looked down to Scootaloo with a guilty conscience. “I don’t get it,” she murmured, “I’ve never seen a changeling express an emotion such as love or friendship.” She looked to Flake, who looked back at her. “You mean you actually care about this pony?”

A small and weak groan emanated from Scootaloo. She wiggled a bit, and slowly opened her eyes, looking up to Applejack. After a moment’s glance, she held her aching skull with her hooves, cringing from the pain. “Ngh… my head.”

“Scootaloo,” Flake spoke down to her, and he reached beneath the pegasus to help lift her up. “Are you okay?”

“I’ll be alright…” the aching pegasus muttered, trying to sit upright.

Applejack nibbled her lips and stepped back. “I-I’m really sorry, Scootaloo.”

Scootaloo simply let out a chuckle, “Heh. Rainbow Dash hit me, too.”

“Can you stand?” Chrysalis questioned her. “We need to keep moving.”

Applejack raised a brow as Scootaloo struggled to push to her hooves. Confused and concerned, the earth pony turned to Chrysalis and looked up to her. “Ah’d like a bit of an explanation. What’s the hurry? And why are you suddenly helping?”

“Trust me, Applejack, it’s a long story,” Scootaloo exclaimed on the Queen’s behalf, finally managing to regain her balance. “We’re rounding up the Elements of Harmony. We need all of your help to confront the Changeling King.”

“Uh…” Applejack scratched her head, clearly unfamiliar with the situation. “Pard’n?”

“The Great Changeling King has the strength equivalent to Celestia’s father—the god of balance. And he is about to be reborn,” Chrysalis explained solemnly to Applejack. “There is no telling what he will do.”

“Never heard of ‘em.” The stubborn earth pony rolled her eyes. “And after everything you’ve done to us, why should I help you?”

Chrysalis sighed and her ears lowered. “I don’t expect you to wish to help. But if we don’t stop him, both ponykind and changelings alike will be in grave danger. He will consume everything in his path to become stronger.”

“Uh, huh,” she muttered. “I’ve just got a question…” She pointed to Scootaloo. “She’s a fully grown mare. If that’s the same Scootaloo that I knew when she was just a filly, then I must’ve been in that cocoon for years!” She stomped her hoof. “How long has it been, a decade er somethin’?!”

The Queen slowly and regrettably nodded. “About that.”

Applejack had to take a seat, and she placed a hoof over her eyes, shaking her head. “Sweet Celestia…” Putting her hoof back down, she looked back up to the Queen. “So… where are the others?”

“Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy and Twilight are in another part of the caves by our underground river,” she explained.

“We just need to find Pinkie Pie, then we will have all of the elements. That is, providing Rainbow Dash gets better…” Scootaloo murmured.

“Rainbow Dash?” Applejack stepped forward. “She’s hurt?”

Scootaloo nodded slowly and silently. “Chrysalis put her in a cocoon of healing magic for now, in hopes that it cures her… But, we don’t know.”

Applejack was stunned, and her eyes wandered. “Ya mean… she’s on the verge of dying?”

“She was lucky to still be alive before I put her in that cocoon,” Chrysalis revealed, hesitantly explaining the situation. “Even so, she may not make it.”

“W-what?!” The concerned pony stepped up to her. “Where is she?”

“Uh…”

“Take me to Rainbow Dash, I gotta see ‘er!”

“But, we are too short on time,” Chrysalis muttered. “She is with the others, so she is safe there.”

“No, I need to see ‘er right now! I don’t want to get back to her later and find she’s died before I got to see her again!”

“Applejack, she’s not coherent right now, she is asleep,” the Queen continued.

“Chrysalis.” Flake stepped up to her. “I can take her back. You and Scootaloo go on ahead and get Pinkie Pie. You know where she is, right, Queen?”

Chrysalis looked to Applejack, who seemed to be in a panicking state of mind, anxious to see her friend. Rolling her eyes, she nodded. “Alright, fine. You and Applejack go on ahead. Scootaloo and I will get Pinkie Pie and regroup by the underground river.”

“Alright.” Flake looked to Applejack. “Follow me.”

“Uh…” Applejack looked to Scootaloo with an uneasy expression.

Scootaloo nodded. “You can trust him, Applejack. If the changelings wanted you in a cocoon right now, they wouldn’t have let you out.”

“...Ah guess so,” Applejack murmured nervously. “Well, alright then… Ah suppose ah don’t have a choice right now.”

Flake nodded to Applejack to reassure her of his trust, and then looked to Chrysalis and Scootaloo. “Good luck.”

Scootaloo nodded. “You, too.”

Flake turned and began galloping through the darkness, and Applejack followed behind. Scootaloo and Chrysalis were about to wander the other direction when Flake suddenly stopped. He turned back, and he trot back to them. Scootaloo caught on and watched him curiously as he trot closer to her.

“Flake? Did you forget something?”

Without hesitation, Flake brought his front hooves around Scootaloo, and gave her a hug. Scootaloo was wide-eyed from his unexpected approach. Applejack was dumbfounded to see such an act from a changeling, and Chrysalis was lost for words herself.

“Please be careful, okay?” he requested solemnly.

“I… Yeah. We will,” Scootaloo promised the changeling embracing her.

Flake then released her and stepped back. He looked into her eyes for that brief moment and nodded again, smiling. “I just… needed the reassurance.”

“Heh. Well… Alright!” Scootaloo smiled back. “You be careful, too.”

“Yeah…” he whispered as he turned away once more, and galloped back to return to the others. Applejack raised a brow, looking back and forth between Scootaloo and Flake. Scootaloo just shrugged to Applejack’s questioning expression in regards to what had just happened. Then before Applejack lost track of the changeling leaving the scene, she turned and galloped after him. “Ah guess we’ll meet up later!” she called to Scootaloo.

“Right!” Scootaloo called back. Then without wasting any more time, she and Chrysalis turned and began trotting the other way. Scootaloo took a few steps before she stopped to look over her shoulder, watching Flake disappear into the distance as Applejack followed behind him.

“Scootaloo,” Chrysalis called to her. “Let’s hurry.”

“Right, coming!” Snapping out of it, she turned away from the corridor where Flake made his exit, and she followed the Queen.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Twilight, Rarity and Fluttershy waited in silence, sitting around Rainbow Dash in the form of a circle. They all continued to watch over her, hoping and praying that she was going to get out of her healing cocoon alive.

Then among all the silence, they heard the sound of trotting hooves. Their ears twitched to the noise, and they were quick to turn to where the sound was coming from. Upstream, they saw Flake approaching them by the river shore, and Applejack galloping along side with her.

“Aha, they found her!” Rarity said joyously.

Flake and Applejack reached up to them, huffing from galloping most of the way here. Applejack had a big smile on her face to see her old friends grouping together.

“Boy, is it great to see you girls!” Applejack was ecstatic, and simply seeing her friends again revokebrightened her coat from its faded grey colour. Most of her orange had come back; seeing the others brought back old memories that sparked her with a smile.

“This is so amazing! The gang is slowly getting back together again!” Twilight exclaimed, leaning forward with a risen front hoof. “I take it you’re a bit confused with everything that’s going on…”

“You could say that…”

“Um, so, where is Scootaloo?” Fluttershy wondered.

Flake cleared his throat. “Scootaloo and Chrysalis are searching for Pinkie Pie as we speak. Applejack wished to come meet up with the rest of you.”

“Oh, I’m glad to hear they’re doing alright.” The pony of kindness tilted her head, smiling. “It is really wonderful to see you again, Applejack.”

After their happy moment, Applejack looked down to see the cocooned pegasus on the ground. Her smile slowly faded, and she trot up to the sleeping, wounded mare. The others caught on that Rainbow Dash was primarily the reason Applejack had come here sooner, and they stepped out of the way so she could look at her.

Applejack trot up to the downed pegasus, and sat on her flank, looking down into the sleeping mare’s closed eyes. “Hey, R. D…” She lowered her head. “Just wanted ta make sure I got ta see ya… I dunno if ya can hear me er not through that cocoon, but… I just wanted ya to know, I’m here for ya. We’re all here, and Pinkie’s comin’, too.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Traveling into further corridors of the caves, Scootaloo followed Chrysalis into the deeper unknown. Eventually, they found themselves at a dead end. They stopped, and Scootaloo raised a brow in question to her directions.

“You’re sure this was the right way?”

“I hid Pinkie Pie extra carefully,” Chrysalis exclaimed, charging up her horn. “I had to put her behind a crystal wall.”

“What? Why?”

Chrysalis launched a spell into the wall, and on impact, there was an explosion of debris and smoke. As the smoke cleared, she turned to Scootaloo to reply, “Because it’s Pinkie Pie.”

Scootaloo rolled her eyes and she nodded, understanding her fair point. After the airborne dust had settled, they could see the cocooned earth pony hanging on the ceiling in a small, enclosed room. A grin formed on her face, and she stepped closer to the imprisoned pony. “Alright, let’s get her down, open up her cocoon, and get back to the others.”

Chrysalis nodded and plucked the cocoon off the ceiling. She rested her down onto the floor, and cast a spell into the mesh entrapping Pinkie Pie. It sizzled and glowed a warm orange, and it slowly began dissolving.

“And now we wait,” the Queen declared. Scootaloo nodded, and the two of them stepped back and took a seat, waiting patiently as Pinkie Pie was being released.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Seated around Rainbow Dash, Flake and the other ponies watched over the downed pegasus as she slowly healed. There wasn’t much said, but there was comfort to see an improvement on Rainbow’s burn wounds from earlier. Keeping their spirits high, they remained by one another’s side, keeping each other hopeful.

As they waited, something caught Fluttershy’s eye that was floating in the water.

“Oh my gosh!” She gasped, and galloped to the edge of the stream. The others all turned and saw what she was looking at, too. A changeling was floating in the waves of the river, still alive and struggling to keep himself surfaced.

Flake immediately took initiative, and he leapt after him, flying over the open water. Swooping down toward the drowning changeling, he grabbed onto him by the shoulders, and pulled him out of the water. Once surfaced, the struggling changeling coughed and gasped for air.

Flake brought him back over the others, and descent back down to shore, resting him on his side. The changeling coughed a few more times, hacking up water.

“What in tarnation?” Applejack trot up to the downed changeling, confused and concerned.

“Do you know this changeling?” Twilight’s question was directed to Flake.

He nodded. “He is one of the changelings in charge of our central dome.” It didn’t take him long to spot a burn wound, clearly caused by the Red Death spell. Now heavily worried, Flake immediately questioned him, “Buzz… Did Chitin do this to you?”

“What has gotten into him…?” Buzz whimpered in an aching voice. “He’s psychotic!”

“Buzz, what happened?” Flake attempted to keep the conversation going.

“Chitin knows you’re all here... He tossed me in the river, making the assumption you’d find me.”

“What happened?” he asked again.

Buzz groaned and curled up. “It hurts…” his voice was hoarse and agonizing. It was clear that he was dying, and there wasn’t much anypony could do.

“Buzz, please,” Flake murmured, feeling sympathy for the changeling. “You said Chitin wanted us to find you. Why?”

“Hold on a minute. Who is this Chitin?” Applejack questioned out loud.

“Right… you haven’t met him yet,” Flake determined.

“...I thought he had good intentions… when he wanted those ponies from the cocoon dome.”

“Which ponies?”

The two names that he breathed sent shivers down everypony’s spines. “Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom… He has them hostage, and… he told me to tell you.”

Rarity gasped and held a hoof to her mouth. Tears immediately began to trickle down her cheeks. “Sweetie Belle…?”

“Well what the buck would he even want with mah little sister?!” Applejack became hysterical. “Somethin’ ain’t right here!”

“What else did he say?” Twilight asked.

“Where is he, and what does he want?” Flake questioned him further.

Buzz coughed a few times. “I don’t know where he’s hiding,” he sorely admitted. “But… he said that Scootaloo would know.”

Flake squinted. “What? That doesn’t make sense. How would Scootaloo know?”

“He said to tell Scootaloo this… When she escaped the hive, she made a choice. A choice to move forward, or to dive into the river.”

“Right, she went in the river during her escape,” Flake recalled. “What does that have to do with where he is?”

“...Chitin is in a room down the path she ended up not taking. You can find him there… But...” He coughed. “If you want Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle alive, then he wants Scootaloo to go to him... alone. He wants to trade… Scootaloo for Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. One for two...”

Flake’s eyes widened. “What? That’s not gonna happen!”

“...He has the two ponies. And he was very clear about one thing… If Scootaloo does not go alone, or if anypony else chooses to go instead, Chitin will execute them both on the spot.” Another agonizing jolt of pain rushed through him, and he curled into a tighter ball. “H-he’s not bluffing!”

“No!!” Flake stomped out of a fit of anger. “What does he want Scootaloo for?!”

“I-I don’t… I don’t know. I-I... “ Buzz’s breathing became more of a hyperventilation. Then after an increase in his breathing, it suddenly all stopped with a silent exhale. He lied there, absolutely still.

“Is he…?” Fluttershy weeped.

Flake lowered his head over the deceased changeling, feeling the anger stir in his heart. Then looking up to the others, he began to shed tears. “What do we do?”

“We gotta save Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle!” Applejack exclaimed.

“Our sisters need us!” Rarity whimpered, tears leaking from her eyes like a broken faucet.

“Everyone calm down,” Twilight tried to reason with the other ponies, and Fluttershy dropped to the ground, sobbing and holding her hooves over her eyes, trying to block it all out.

“This isn’t fair!” Rarity shrieked.

“This can’t be happening!!” Applejack yelled. “It just can’t!”

“Everypony shut up!” Flake shouted, catching everyone’s attention. A few hiccups in the sudden silence were heard. “How can we do this without risking the safety of any of them?” he asked as calmly as he could, though most of it was coming across as a panic. “We can’t send Scootaloo in there alone, and if anypony else goes in there, then the blood of Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom are on our hooves.” He stomped his hoof again. “I-I can’t lose Scootaloo... I can’t,” his last words broke out into more of a sob.

“Jez, you sure care about that pony,” Applejack exclaimed respectfully.

Flake exhaled deeply, and he nibbled his bottom lip nervously. “Okay… We can’t do anything until Scootaloo returns, because we don’t know where Chitin is anyway.” Trying to calm himself, he exhaled slowly. “According to Buzz, she’s the only one who will know where to find him.”

“So… what do we do?” Twilight solemnly asked.

“When Scootaloo and Chrysalis return with Pinkie Pie… We ask Scootaloo…”

The Choices We Make

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By the riverbed, Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack and Flake looked down to Buzz at their hooves who had just passed away. Nopony seemed to know what to say; there was only silence and tears, and an immense fear of what he had revealed to them before he died. The thought of Applebloom and Sweetie Belle being held captive by Chitin stirred in the corridors of their minds. And to think that their only way of getting them back was with Scootaloo, their fears only grew deeper.

They had no way of knowing what to do—not without Scootaloo. So in silence, they waited.

After their silent mourns, without a word, Flake reached down to the changeling and he gently picked him up. Then to the ponies’ surprise, he carried the deceased changeling away from the river’s edge, traveling further uphill. They exchanged puzzled looks with each other, uncertain what he was doing. Curious and sympathetic, they followed him.

Gently, Flake set Buzz down on the ground. He stood up, looking down into the eyes of the dead changeling, spiritually feeling the loss, despite him not knowing Buzz very well to begin with. Stepping aside, Flake began scraping his hooves into the dirt beneath him. The ponies watched as the green changeling dug a hole in the ground, understanding what he was doing.

It took him a few minutes to dig up a hole deep enough to bury a body. Once he had dug up enough dirt to his satisfaction, he looked back to Buzz, and he reached out to him, and picked him up again. Then, slowly, and with care, he placed Buzz down into the hole on his back. Taking one last look at the changeling in the hole, he then began burying him, pushing the dirt back into the hole over him, until he was completely buried.

Sitting on his flank, Flake bowed his head over Buzz’s grave, and closed his eyes.

“I apologize, Buzz, I, um… I’ve never done this before,” he said in a bit of a nervous whisper. “Scootaloo says the dead can hear you if you pray. So… If you can hear me, I just wanted to say… thank you.”

The ponies looked at each other during Flake’s prayer, astonished to see a changeling behave in such a way. Looking back to the changeling bowing over the grave, they respectfully bowed with him, and allowed him to continue his speech.

“I never knew you too well, Buzz, but… Something I was taught, was that everypony has a purpose. And I just hope you can rest in peace, knowing that you, too, had a purpose, and it was fulfilled… If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t be here right now. We wouldn’t know where to turn, or who to turn to. We would be lost. You showed us the way. Your dying words, bravely revealing to us of Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle… it proved to me, that in all of us, there is hope for every changeling… to become more. To be like... the Elements of Harmony.”

With that, he slowly opened his eyes, and the ponies lifted their heads.

“That was beautiful,” a voice said from behind him. Flake’s ears perked, and he turned around. Rainbow Dash was sitting off to the side, who was listening in to his prayer.

“Rainbow!” Applejack was the first to jump. “Ah’m so glad yer alright…”

“We were so worried,” Fluttershy murmured, trotting up to her.

“Heh, of course I’m alright,” said the agile pegasus, stretching her wings. “Why wouldn’t I be?” She cleared her throat, and trot up to Flake with a bright smile. Flake blinked a few times, curious about her behaviour. “Flake… I have to apologize for the lack of trust I had in you from the beginning… That was very touching what you did for that changeling. From now on, you have my full respect,” she exclaimed to him with emphasis.

Flake’s smile brightened, and he nodded. “Thank you, Rainbow Dash.” He pointed at the burn on her chest. “How are you feeling?”

“Well, I woke up covered in that gross meshy stuff, whatever it was…” She brushed her wound a few times. “My burn still stings a bit, but it’s nothing I can’t handle. I feel much better.” She put her hooves down, looking around to see all the happy faces looking at her. “Sheesh, you’re all acting like I had died or something.”

“You were close…” Twilight explained. “Chrysalis put you in that cocoon to heal you.”

“And it looks like it worked!” Rarity gratefully added.

“Wait… Chrysalis??” Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened at the unrealistic thought. “You mean the Queen herself showed up? … And she helped me?!”

“Yep,” Applejack simply replied. “Believe me, I’m just as dumbfounded and confused as you are.”

“Well… Where is she anyway?” Rainbow perked her head and looked around.

“Chrysalis and Scootaloo have gone looking for Pinkie Pie,” Twilight educated the pegasus. “I imagine they should return soon.”

“We just… don’t know what to tell her about Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom when she gets back,” Flake quietly said.

“Huh? What about them? I thought I heard Flake mention their names over the changeling’s grave.” Rainbow was determined to know the full story. “For Celestia’s sake, how much did I miss in that cocoon?! What happened with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle?”

There was a strong hesitation. After a sorrowful sigh, Flake tried to explain, “Before Buzz died, he told us that Chitin has them in his possession.” He lowered his head. “We’re waiting for Scootaloo to return before we are able to make a plan. Because without her, we don’t know where he is hiding anyway.”

Rainbow Dash’s jaw slowly lowered. She was clearly lost for words. This wasn’t exactly what she would have chosen to hear when she woke up.

“Chitin wants her alone, or he’ll kill Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the depths of the abandoned tunnels, Scootaloo and Chrysalis waited in the cave for Pinkie Pie to awaken. Like all the others Scootaloo had set free, Pinkie had lost her colour. The grey party pony remained silent in her sleep, and not a sound was heard through the caves.

“So… When we bring Pinkie back to the others, we’ll have rounded up all of the Elements of Harmony,” Scootaloo broke the silence, turning to the changeling Queen beside her. “Then we’ll have to get the three Princesses, as well as Shining Armour. They are in these caves, too, right?”

Chrysalis slowly nodded, looking back at the pegasus. “Celestia, Luna and Shining Armour are in these caves.”

Scootaloo blinked. “And Princess Cadence?”

Chrysalis shook her head. “Cadence is not in these tunnels like I lead others to believe.”

“Oh… kay?” The confused pegasus shrugged. “So where is she then?”

“She is in the one place that nopony would think to search. My throne room.”

“Huh? Why would you put her there?”

Chrysalis cleared her throat before she explained, “Cadence is the Princess of Love. I keep her in a cocoon stored in my personal throne room where her essence cannot be withdrawn.”

Scootaloo raised a brow, tilting her head. “What? Why?”

“In case we were to ever leave Equestria, she has a large source of love that can sustain us for a very long time.” She exhaled a sigh. “In addition, I kept her in my sight for all these years in case something were to happen—that she and Shining Armour would get together again—and repeat what occurred years ago.”

At the corner of Scootaloo’s eye, she noticed something. She and Chrysalis quickly turned to where they had left Pinkie Pie to rest. She wasn’t there.

“Where’s the pony??” Chrysalis jumped.

“Maybe you should’ve kept your eyes on me instead!!” a loud and obnoxious voice echoed through the cave, and from above dropped Pinkie Pie, landing right on top of Chrysalis. They collapsed to the ground, with Pinkie pinning her on top. “I’ll show you, Queenie Meanie Pants!!”

“Pinkie Pie!” Scootaloo made the attempt to stop her by grabbing onto the crazy pony. Pinkie just turned around and bit her arm. “Ow!” She pulled back and rubbed the bite marks on her arm, frowning at her with an odd expression. “Who even does that?!”

Pinkie started to snarl like a caged hound, gnashing her teeth at her.

“Get off of me!” Chrysalis stood up, gripping Pinkie by the hind leg, and she flipped her over onto her back. Pinkie rolled out of her stumble, and stood back up, hopping around to play hard to get.

“C’mon, changelings! Put up your hooves!” She began bouncing on her hind legs while throwing boxing punches at the air. “I can take ya!”

“We’re not here to fight!” Scootaloo exclaimed, frustrated.

“Riiiight, and I’m not here to be Pinkie Pie!” she replied sarcastically. “You changelings are all a bunch of liar liar manes on fires!”

“I’m not a changeling!” the irritated pegasus growled. “Now would you settle down?!”

“Liar liar!” She pointed at Scootaloo accusingly. “You’re lying lies!”

“I’m… what?”

Chrysalis sighed and looked down to Scootaloo with lacking enthusiasm. “Can I please put her back in her cocoon?”

“Go ahead and try!” Pinkie shouted to her. “Make my day!” She then paused, sitting on her flank to put the situation to consideration. “Wait a minute. How come I’m not in a cocoon anyway?!”

Scootaloo groaned and tried to explain, “Well, if you’d listen—”

“No! I will not!” Pinkie yelled, skipping up to them furiously. “Now tell me why!”

“... I said—”

“Yooou shut up and tell me!”

Scootaloo blinked a few times in response, and she looked up to Chrysalis, who looked back down to her.

“There is no logic in this one,” Chrysalis stated with a grunt.

“Uuuugh!!” Scootaloo then turned back to Pinkie and stepped toward her. “We don’t have any time for your games, Pinkie Pie! We need your help!”

“Pfffffff!” Pinkie spat. “Ya, right! I’m not helping you!”

“Damnit, it’s me, Scootaloo!!” the irritated pegasus yelled.

Pinkie Pie blinked a few times in response. She examined Scootaloo with sudden fascination. “Waaait a minute. Scootaloo?”

Scootaloo rolled her eyes and nodded.

“Scootaloo Scootaloo? That Scootaloo?”

“Yes,” she replied, annoyed.

“As in Scootaloo Scootaloo Scootaloo?”

“YES!!”

“As in Scoo—”

“Yes damnit, YES!!”

“Oooooooohhhh.” Pinkie slowly nodded, quizzically tilting her head. “But you’re older…”

Scootaloo sighed and nodded, her ears folding back.

Pinkie scratched her chin with her hoof, puzzling the situation. “So you mean to tell me, that I’ve been trapped in a cocoon for ten years, and now Chrysalis needs our help because her changelings are in trouble because some mean meany pants is going to destroy her hive, and it’s up to me to save the changelings so that changelings and ponies can live in peace together so that nothing bad ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever happens again, and so we can get along and live in harmony like our elements represent and—”

“Finally!!” Scootaloo screamed joyfully and threw her hooves above her head in successful relief. “She gets it! Oh my goddess!”

“Well why didn’t you say so?!” Pinkie Pie’s grey coat suddenly flashed into her original fluorescent pink colour, and she skipped past them, making her way through the tunnel. “Let’s go!”

“I can’t decide whether this was easy or difficult,” Chrysalis said with a grunt as she and Scootaloo raced back to the others. To save time, Chrysalis picked up the irritating wingless pony, and she flew through the caves with her in tow.

“Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!” Pinkie Pie squealed as they carried on, and her laughter echoed throughout the caves.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Scootaloo, Chrysalis and Pinkie Pie soon returned to the river. Pinkie continued to giggle in Chrysalis’ arms as she carried her, aggravating the changeling Queen.

“Ahahehe! I’m being carried by Chrysalis! Can you believe it, Scootaloo?!”

“Nnngh, does she ever shut up?” Chrysalis muttered.

“Uh… Not really,” Scootaloo exclaimed with a lack of enthusiasm.

Coasting through the tunnel with the rapids below, they approached Flake and the other ponies.

“Hey, Rainbow Dash is out of her cocoon.” Scootaloo pointed out the pegasus standing with the others. “It looks like your healing magic worked.”

“Heh, well let’s hope we don’t have to go through that again,” said the relieved Queen.

They landed on the shore, and Chrysalis set Pinkie Pie down. The moment Pinkie’s hooves made contact with the dirt, she began bouncing toward the other ponies.

“Hey you guys!!” she squeaked, then hit the brakes at the sight of Flake. Her eyes widened, and she glared at him.

“Hey, Pinkie Pie!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed happily.

“They found ya!” Applejack trot up to her, smiling. “How’re ya doin’?”

Pinkie kept her glare on Flake, and she pointed straight at him with an extended hoof, expecting an explanation. The others looked to Flake in question, realizing they haven’t met yet.

“Uh, right…” Twilight gestured to the changeling. “This is Flake. He’s on our side.”

“Oh, okie!” Pinkie then leapt toward Flake, and grabbed onto his hoof, shaking it rapidly. He was caught off guard by this, raising a brow in response to her greeting. “Hi there, Flakey! I’m Pinkie Pie!!”

“Uh…” He blinked, having no control over his shaking limb. “Hi.”

“Oooooo you’re different than other changelings.” Pinkie stopped shaking his hoof and spun around him to examine him. “Your cheese legs have smaller holes than most changelings, and your coat is green!”

“Cheese legs…?”

A loud and exaggerated gasp escaped Pinkie’s throat, and she put her head right up close to his, looking him directly in the eyes with fascination. “And you have irises?!” Her ears perked and she skipped back. “Wowy!! You’re almost like a pony!”

“Heh.” Flake grinned and rolled his eyes, slightly chuckling. “You’re making this weird.”

“So, what did we miss while we were away?” Scootaloo wondered, trying to get back on track.

In response to her question, the others fell silent. They exchanged looks with each other, all with very uneasy expressions. Scootaloo could see that there was something wrong, and she felt her heart sink before she built the courage to ask what the problem was.

“What happened?” she murmured.

More heavy hesitation brought the cave into a deeper silence. Scootaloo looked to the other ponies, feeling her gut turn the more she thought of the worst possibilities. But what was about to be revealed to her, she wouldn’t have been able to prepare for.

Flake stepped up, and cleared his throat to explain the reality. “Chitin came back… He has Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle hostage.”

Scootaloo stepped back, and her eyes widened with terror. “What?!”

“He wants a trade…” He chewed his bottom lip, nervously. “It was only fair that we spoke to you about it before we make a plan.”

“A trade?” she questioned him further, “What kind of trade?!”

Flake turned to the others, unsure how to put it. He cringed at the thought, and turned back to her with sincere pain in his heart. “He… wants you.” He furthered his explanation with emphasis, “He says that Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle will be executed if the rest of us go after him. He wants you to go alone.” He had to take a seat from the stress. “We don’t know what to do!”

Scootaloo’s expression went blank. She was terrified without a doubt, yet there was exposed determination in her eyes. Slowly, her blank expression furrowed into a furious squint. “Where is he…?”

“We don’t know… We only got a hint.”

“Well?” Scootaloo snapped, stepping closer to him. “What is it?!”

Flake could see the fury in her eyes. He knew that this was a nonnegotiable matter to her. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were her closest friends, and she was not about to stop at anything to save their lives. Knowing he couldn’t prevent her from making this decision for herself, he sighed, revealing the hint to her, “Chitin said that you made a choice during your escape from the hive.”

“...A choice?”

“You were heading for a cavern opening, and instead of choosing the path ahead, you took a dive into the river.”

Scootaloo’s ears perked, and her eyes widened. She turned around, looking through the vast cavern upstream, then she turned to look downstream at the vortex where she was sucked down into the Equestrian wasteland. How could she forget? Then in the blink of an eye, she lifted off the ground, and flew upstream as fast as her wings would carry her.

“Scootaloo!!” Flake took off after her. “Stop!!”

“No!” she cried, racing for her destination. “I know where he is, and he is NOT getting away with this!”

Ignoring her desperation, he snatched her out of the air. She squirmed and sobbed in his grip, and he carried her back to shore as the other ponies galloped up to them.

“Sugar cube, you can’t!” Applejack exclaimed.

“Let me go!” cried the traumatized pegasus as she wiggled in the changeling’s grip. “I need to get to my friends!”

“You don’t understand! We don’t know what he wants with you when you get there!” Rainbow Dash was hysterical. “You could die!”

“I don’t care!” she cried, wiggling free from Flake’s grip. Once she broke free, she stumbled back, and stood with powerful determination. “Stop it!” she yelled, stepping back. “Don’t follow me! You know what he said. He wants me alone!”

“There has to be something we can do that doesn’t put you at risk,” Flake solemnly said.

“You don’t get it…” Scootaloo’s eyes filled with tears and she shook her head. “Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom are like family to me. And… they’re probably the only family I’ve ever had...” Applejack and Rarity both lowered their heads, feeling the emotion from her words. “And now that the opportunity has risen to get them back, I am NOT going to let it pass. Don’t you see? I have to do this!”

Flake felt the power in her voice. “Why do you?”

“Because I love them,” Scootaloo proudly explained. “They are like my sisters, and I will not let them down!”

“I-I can’t lose you, though,” Flake whimpered, and tears began to fall from his eyes. Scootaloo paused to see his pain, and she looked into his crying eyes in question. He breathed rapidly, and he continued between his whimpering, “You’ve taught me so much, what will I do without you?” The other ponies fell silent as Flake’s sobs echoed through the cave. “I need you, Scootaloo,” he continued, his voice growing more hoarse. “What if… what if you don’t come back?”

Scootaloo sighed and stepped closer to Flake. “You will do just fine without me. If you had an opportunity to save somepony you loved, wouldn’t you take it? No matter what the cost?”

Flake’s damp eyes wandered as the question burned into his mind.

“Flake… this is the Magic of Friendship,” she said as she cried with him. “And this is something I need to do… for my friends.” That being said, Scootaloo took a couple steps back. “Please don’t follow me…” Then with a swift thrust, she flew upstream, away from Flake and the other ponies.

“Scootaloo!” Flake trot in her direction, and he slowed to a stop as he watched her go further into the distance. His jaw hung low, and he breathed in agony to see her exit.

“I don’t like this!” Rainbow Dash snapped. “Is there nothing we can do?!”

The words that Scootaloo had said slowly crept deeper into the corridors of Flake’s mind. It irreversibly built up inside him, and the emotions he felt grew deeper. He turned to all the grieving ponies, and looked to each of them with a feeling he has never truly understood until now. Looking back to the flying pegasus upstream, he knew in his heart what he had to do. And without a word, he lifted off the ground, and flew after Scootaloo.

“Hey, wait!!” Rainbow Dash galloped upstream in his direction as he made his exit. Flake didn’t even look back, and he moved onward as fast as he could. As Rainbow galloped in his direction, she eventually slowed to a stop. After a quiet moment to herself, she sat on her flank in acceptance, watching as Flake disappeared in the distance.

“Wh… Rainbow! Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom are at risk if Flake shows up in Chitin’s hiding place!” Rarity marched toward her. “Why aren’t you chasing him?”

“You don’t think he knows that?” Rainbow turned to Rarity and expressed a reassuring grin. “After everything that has happened so far, I told Flake that he has my full respect. So I trust him. I believe he knows what he’s doing.”

Applejack grit her teeth nervously. “Ah hope yer right, Rainbow. There’s a lot at stake right now!”

Rainbow Dash nodded slowly, and she turned to look upstream. “Good luck, my friend,” she calmly said to the distant changeling.

Boundless Friendship

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The cavern was dark with ominous glowing mesh upon the walls and ceiling. This was clearly much closer to the hive’s core. Scootaloo bravely marched through the forbidding tunnel, her ears fallen back at what she may find at the end.

Up ahead, she came to an opening into a larger room with neon crystal walls. Pressing onward, she cautiously entered the large circular room. Once she made her entrance, the first thing that caught her eye was a red glow in the dark, and below the threatening burning light, was a pair of angry turquoise eyes and crooked gnashing teeth.

“So, you got my message…” the changeling in the shadows growled to her. Where he stood, he had two fully grown mares in a choke hold around each of his forelimbs—a unicorn and an earth pony, each a dull and empty grey colour. They were out of their cocoons, alive, and very weak. Scootaloo saw the traumatized looks upon their faces, which made her stomach turn. His crimson illuminating horn signaled a fully charged Red Death spell that was waiting to be released on a victim.

Taking a breath, Scootaloo stepped forward and gnashed her teeth. “I came alone like you asked, Chitin,” she declared with a grunt. “Release Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle.”

Chitin’s maniacal chuckle echoed through the cave like the distant roar of thunder. “A deal’s a deal…” Then as she requested, he dropped the two ponies, and they collapsed onto their sides. They were quick to stand back up and stumble away from Chitin, gasping and panicking.

They looked to Scootaloo, and tears of fear poured down their cheeks.

“S-Scootaloo?” Sweetie Belle whimpered.

Scootaloo nodded reassuringly to them, and she gestured with her head to the exit behind her. “I’ll take care of this.”

“But…” Apple Bloom sniffled and hiccupped.

“Go,” Scootaloo demanded, wishing for a much better hello. “It’ll be okay.”

Chitin remained still as the two greyscale ponies trot to the exit, and he allowed them to run free. They galloped past Scootaloo and made their way to the doorway, and they turned back to her.

“W-what about you?” Apple Bloom cried.

Scootaloo turned to glare at them. “I said go!” she snapped with heartfelt compassion. “Don’t wait for me. Just run. And when you get to the river, turn left and go downstream. You will meet up with the others there.”

“But, Scootaloo…”

“Just run!” Scootaloo repeated, and she turned back to Chitin, squinting furiously at him. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom each took one last glance at their old friend, and they turned and made a dash through the tunnel. Their hoofsteps were heard in the darkness as they made their escape, until they were too distant to be heard any longer.

“I was beginning to think that I was going to cast this spell on those two fillies,” Chitin cackled at the angry pegasus. “So, you decided to show up. I’ve been waiting here for awhile. What kept you?”

Scootaloo took a few cautious steps forward. Nervous, she kept her eyes on the burning red glow on Chitin’s fully charged horn. She knew he could cast it at any time; the question remained, when was he planning to?

“I’ve been rounding up the Elements of Harmony,” she declared. “After all you’ve done, I doubt they will allow you to live through another sunrise.”

“Oh please, I’ve never seen the sun rise,” he chuckled in response, and began stepping forth toward her, too. “So, I’ve got a question for you,” he said with a croak in his throat as his horn began to make a humming sound. Scootaloo could feel the tension; she knew he was going to use it on her. However, she didn’t stop nor did she turn back. “You came all the way over here, knowing you were going to die. And for what? Just a couple of little ponies.” He cringed at her, and the Red Death magic spiraled at the sharp edges of his horn. “Why?”

“Because friendship is magic,” she simply said, and they stopped face to face. “But I didn’t come here to die.”

“Ahahaha!!” Chitin prepared to strike her down with his spell, grinning coldly at her. “Oh, you poor soul. Say hello to Mercy for me—!” In the blink of an eye, to his unexpectation, Scootaloo turned back with her front hooves in the ground, and she kicked up her hind legs straight up into Chitin. With the full force of her powerful buck, her rear right hoof made direct contact with his horn of blazing magic. “—GAAHH!!” On contact with his horn, there was a loud, thunderous crack that lit up the room with a flash of crimson light.

It snapped clean off of his head, and flipped through the air above them like a flailing twig. “MY HORN!!” he shrieked in agony, collapsing to the floor, and he held onto his aching head with his front limbs. Then his horn came falling back down to the ground, uselessly bouncing across the terrain until it stopped on its side. “You bastard!!! What have you done to me?!!” He pushed himself to stand back up, breathing through his snout like a furious dragon. There was now an obvious hollow spot on his forehead where his horn once was. “I’ll kill you!!”

He stood just in time to see Scootaloo turn back to face him, and her front hoof met with his jaw. Then she swung her other arm, punching him across the other cheek. He stumbled back, growling ferociously, and before he could regain his balance, she leapt into him as hard as she could. They collapsed into the ground with Scootaloo pinning him on top.

Almost as quickly as she had him down on the ground, he tucked in his back legs, and kicked her off. Scootaloo stumbled back on all fours, regaining her stature as Chitin stood back to his hooves. He glared menacingly at her, and he wiped his bleeding lip with the back of his hoof. They had a short stand off from a couple meters apart, staring coldly into each other’s piercing eyes. They began sidestepping, keeping their focus on each other. It was clear that neither of them at this point were intending to show any mercy.

Hollering a warcry, Chitin galloped toward Scootaloo. Just as he nearly reached her, Scootaloo knelt over, gripped onto his forelimb, and flipped him over her back with a loud grunt. With as much strength as she could muster, she slammed him back down into the stone and mesh ground. Scootaloo then spread her wings, and she leapt backwards a good distance, using her wings to propel her jump, and she landed on all fours in a merciless battle stance.

Chitin coughed into the ground, and he slowly pushed himself back up. Lifting his head, he looked straight at Scootaloo, wide-eyed, and his ears were curved back. In that moment, Scootaloo could see that he was beginning to fear her. Trying to keep his cool, he pushed himself back to his hooves again, brushing himself off. “So,” he muttered. “Where in Tartarus did you learn to fight?!”

“You’ve messed with the wrong ponies,” Scootaloo solemnly said, gesturing him to come back at her. Chitin just cringed in response, and he went for it, galloping after her. He leapt into the air, allowing his wings to carry him toward her. As he dashed after her, Scootaloo jumped up, and flew to the ceiling. As she attempted to dodge, Chitin pulled up and chased after her.

She made contact with the ceiling upside-down with her hooves, and she kicked off back down to the floor. Chitin made an airborne u-turn, diving down toward the pegasus with his full focus.

Landing back onto the ground, she immediately kicked off again, leaping back up into the air, straight toward Chitin. Chitin’s eyes widened at her sudden change in direction, and she clashed straight into him, shoulder checking him out of the air.

Chitin flipped backwards with flailing wings, and he dropped to the ground, crashing hard into the dirt. The wind had been knocked out of him with the way he landed. Scootaloo gracefully hovered back down to the ground, landing a safe distance from him. Lying limp on the ground, Chitin struggled pushing himself back to his hooves. Scootaloo stood tall, watching the changeling as he had a difficult time getting back up. A sigh, and the pegasus sauntered to the downed enemy.

“Chitin… Why do we have to fight?”

“Yooou shut up,” Chitin breathed, squirming on the ground.

“Listen,” Scootaloo muttered. “This is all for nothing! Why can’t you see that?!”

Chitin didn’t say anything. He continued to breathe hoarse from exhaustion. Then something to his right caught the corner of his eye. His broken horn was within arm’s reach. It was still radiating a minimal glow of Red Death magic through it. His piercing eyes sickly turned to Scootaloo, and with a stubborn, cold heart, he reached for the horn and grabbed it. Then with a burst of adrenaline strength, he pushed himself up to his hooves, and turned furiously toward Scootaloo. He maneuvered toward the pegasus, and with a full arm swing, he jabbed the rigid horn right into Scootaloo’s left side.

She felt the burn of magic piercing her body as the sharp horn was driven deep into her flesh. The moment the horn had been stabbed into her, she stumbled back in a traumatizing panic, gasping and hyperventilating. Chitin stepped back and watched the pony try to pull the jagged object out of herself.

Slowly, the injured pegasus was growing weaker, and she hunched to the ground with a limp. Giving up on pulling the horn out of her, she collapsed, breathing heavily.

“Heh.” Chitin slowly marched toward her, reveling in his victory with a satisfying grin. “It was only a matter of time before your inevitable death were to come,” he sneered at her, standing over her helpless body. “But you knew that already, didn’t you, Scootaloo.”

Scootaloo wiggled painfully, and she looked up into his sickening eyes. The pain in her wound surged through her body, and she could feel herself weakening further every passing second.

“You’ve made a fool out of me far too many times, and I have grown sick of it,” he breathed angrily at her. “Now that is something that you shall never do again… Good bye, Scootaloo.”

With that, he turned away from her and stepped onward, leaving her there to die. Trotting toward an opening in the room, he paced toward his exit. Just as he was about to leave, he heard a sparking sound coming from behind him. Raising a brow, he turned back to look at Scootaloo, squinting at her. “Hm…?”

To his confusion, neon sparks were emanating from the downed pegasus’ body. It started off inconsistent and slow, but they were beginning to become more noticeable and repetitive. “What…?”

Scootaloo pushed herself up as hard as she could, growling furiously at him. He fully turned to face her in question, waiting to see where this was going.

Her snarling was becoming more hoarse and audible, and she pushed herself to stand, struggling immensely. Her eyes were fixed onto his, and she made an impossible effort to get back up again. The green sparks kept flinging in all directions from her body, and Chitin began to step backwards, wondering where the flaring magic was coming from so suddenly.

The sparks became louder, and she kept her glare into his eyes. Then he finally caught on to what was happening to her.

“No.” He stepped away from her, his ears curved back. “No! No, no, no!! It can’t be!!”

Finally the green flames and sparks emanating from Scootaloo engulfed the rest of her body, lighting the walls of the room with an ominous neon glow. Chitin just stared, his jaw hanging low. And from the flames, an olive changeling appeared in Scootaloo’s place.

“NO!!!” Chitin shrieked, feeling horrendously defeated. The way Scootaloo fought; it now all made sense. “Flake, you… You!!”

“Heh.” Flake limply kept his balance, trying to remain standing. “You… will never… harm Scootaloo.”

Chitin’s eye twitched, and he stood there with an immense tension in his frown. He gnashed his teeth together, growling furiously. Flake recollected his strength, his knees buckling as he made the attempt to stand again, despite the powerful surge of pain rushing through his body from his deep wound. He could feel himself fading every passing moment. He knew he was dying, but he stood strong as long as he was able.

“You took away my best chance to get rid of that pegasus!” the crooked changeling shouted. He pointed at the horn shoved into Flake’s side, yelling further, “Look what your actions have come to! You are a fool!”

Flake stood his ground, keeping a powerful posture despite his weakening limbs.

“Why?!” Chitin continued, astonished that Flake didn’t even express any fear in his eyes.

“Because,” Flake murmured with a weak voice. “Friendship… is magic.”

“Stop saying that!” Chitin muttered. “Do you not realize how pitiful that sounds?!”

“Not at all,” said the loyal changeling, smiling warmly toward his chosen actions. “You can’t defeat the magic of friendship, Chitin. You will always lose. And with the last few breaths that I have in my body... I will ensure that you will never harm anypony... ever again.”

Chitin growled and marched closer to Flake. Though he was frowning, furiously, Flake only grinned in response.

“You’re afraid,” Flake solemnly exclaimed aloud. “You can’t fool me behind those soulless eyes.”

“Shut up!” Chitin began to pick up his pace, galloping faster toward him. “I’ll end you!”

Flake stood tall, challenging the oncoming changeling. He didn’t move, he just waited. “Well then come at me!” he shouted back at him, tears came forth from his weakening eyes. “Come on!!”

Time felt like it had slowed down as Chitin was charging toward him with death in his eyes. Flake was in no position to fight; even the smallest attacks would be too much for his limp, injured body. But still, he remained unmoved. His tears continued to trickle from his fearless eyes.

As Chitin came closer, Flake’s horn began illuminating a bright green. He kept a strong posture, and took aim on the changeling charging at him. Just as Chitin was about to reach him, Flake cast a spell straight into Chitin’s chest. Firing the spell caused Flake to drop from its kickback, but it also knocked Chitin off his hooves as well.

Chitin collapsed onto his back, and he was quick to push himself back up again. He checked his chest where Flake had struck him. “Mesh?” he laughed, standing up while he brushed the mess off of his chest. “You’re trying to cocoon me?”

Flake gnashed his teeth, and forced himself to stand once more. His knees were shaking and buckling, but he managed to get back up again. Huffing from exhaustion, he illuminated his horn once more.

“You can’t cocoon a changeling,” Chitin cackled at Flake’s poor attempt to stop him.

Ignoring Chitin’s mockery, Flake fired another spell at him. Chitin attempted to dodge, but he still got struck in the shoulder, where a clump of mesh had formed.

“Stop it,” he muttered impatiently. “I told you, you can’t cocoon me. I’ll just break free again!”

Flake squinted and began trotting toward him. Fearlessly, he furrowed his glistening eyes, and charged up another neon spell.

“Stop being a coward and use Red Death if you want to get rid of me so bad!” Chitin dared the stubborn changeling, feeling nervous about the way Flake was glaring at him.

“No, Chitin,” he replied solemnly. “I’m not like you.” With that, he fired another mesh spell at him, striking his other shoulder.

“That’s enough!” Chitin began charging after him again, ignoring the harmless mesh on his body. Flake kept marching closer to Chitin, and he fired another dart of magic beneath Chitin, striking him at his hooves. Chitin almost tripped from the cocooning magic that made contact with his front left hoof. His leg was stuck to the ground. He tugged on it to break free, but he found that he was struggling. “What…?”

“Try to escape your prison without your horn,” Flake exclaimed, pelting Chitin with more and more small darts of cocooning magic.

Chitin’s eyes widened at that epiphany. Without his horn, he had no changeling magic. And without changeling magic, he had no way of breaking through their mesh. “No!!” He pulled his front hoof as hard as he could, ripping away from the mesh on the ground, just in time to get his other hoof stuck to the floor instead. “Stop it!!”

Flake halt where he was, standing at a safe distance, and he continued firing magic at Chitin, covering more of his body in cocooning mesh. Chitin stubbornly wiggled with all his might to break free, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get unstuck. From head to hoof, he was being coated thicker and thicker in his prison, and it was becoming harder and harder to struggle.

“STOP!!” he screamed desperately, “NO!! NOOOO!! NO, NO, NO, NO!!”

Flake ignored his cries, and kept firing.

“THIS IS NOT HOW I GO!! THIS IS NOT!! NO!!”

“This… is for Scootaloo…” Flake declared as he charged up his final shot. Chitin’s eyes were desperately wide.

“DOOOOON’T!!”

Taking a step back, Flake’s horn illuminated brightly, and he fired his finishing spell at Chitin, striking him right in the muzzle, sealing his head along with the rest of his body in a cocoon prison.

Then there was silence. Chitin was frozen, as if locked in time. Now that his threat was properly entrapped forever, Flake’s damaged body accepted its toll, and he collapsed like a featherlight ragdoll.

There he lied, helpless and weak. He slowly turned over onto his back, looking to the gleaming, crystal ceiling as his tears rolled down the sides of his face. One arm over his chest, and the other at his side, he kept his body relaxed as he felt himself fading. And beneath his crying eyes, was a very warm smile. An expression of acceptance and pride.

“Flake?!” he heard his name echo through the caves. His ears twitched at the sound of Scootaloo’s voice, and he closed his eyes, concerned about her emotions when she finds him this way. He heard her galloping hooves racing into the room from the entrance.

Scootaloo stopped immediately and gasped when she saw him lying there in the middle of the circular crystal room. She witnessed Chitin in his cocooned state, and realized what had just happened. Her ears curved back, and she slowly crept toward the downed changeling with an aching heart. “Flake…?” She saw the horn stabbed deep into his side, and her eyes widened, filling with tears. “Please, no…”

She stepped up to him, looking down to his quiet body. “Flake…?”

“Scootaloo…” he murmured with a croaking voice. “I-I’m sorry.” He weakly opened his eyes, looking up to her. When she looked into his eyes, she saw perfect green irises. He had completely reformed into the full colour and shape of a pony, like his ancestors from years ago before their curse. His once jagged changeling horn was now smooth, the holes in his legs and wings were closed up completely, and his fangs were no longer present.

The pegasus hiccuped and held a hoof to her mouth, and tears rained forth as her heart tore in half. “Flake, why…?” Slowly, her trembling sad eyes turned into a frown, and she stomped a hoof into the dirt. “It’s not fair!! This was my fight! You shouldn’t have come here! I-it was my… my fight...” she sobbed, her furrowed eyes reforming back to her saddened heartbroken state. “Why did you… why… why’d you take my place?”

“Forgive me, Scootaloo…” he breathed, crying with her. “I had to.”

“M-maybe there’s something I can do,” Scootaloo exclaimed in a trembling voice. “I-I just gotta get a recovery potion from my saddlebag!” She spun to the entrance, quickly remembering it was no longer in her possession. “Or… I’ll get Chrysalis! She helped Rainbow Dash; maybe she can help you—!”

She felt Flake’s hoof reach up to hold onto hers. Turning to look back down to the dying changeling, she stopped speaking, and expressed a deep concern as her heart sank deeper into her stomach.

“No…” he said, smiling warmly at her to reassure her of his acceptance. “There’s no stopping this.”

“Y-you don’t know that. I can still save you—!”

“Scootaloo,” he interrupted her. Then there was a short pause. They quietly just looked into each other’s eyes in tears. “You already have saved me,” he proclaimed. “You’ve taught me so much… The magic of friendship; how to love… I… I’m not afraid. I’m just glad I got to see you this… one last time.”

“Flake, no…” she dropped to her haunches, leaning over him. Her heart felt like it was being crushed. “Why?”

“It’s okay,” he gently murmured. “Be strong… like you always are.”

“I-I can’t do this without you, Flake!” she whimpered loudly.

“Heh…” He slowly nodded, smiling. “Y… yes you can.”

“No!” she argued. “W-we’re a team! We can stop this war between ponies and changelings… But… I can’t. Not without you.” She sniffled between her sobs, and Flake just gave her a hushing gesture. Scootaloo lowered her head to briefly hiccup a few times, then she looked back up to look him in the eyes again. “Just…” she whimpered, tears rolling down her cheeks and dripping from her chin. “Flake… why did you do this…?”

Flake just looked deeply into her eyes, and he hesitated to reply. With a stuttering breath, he breathed his answer, “If you had an opportunity to save somepony…” He paused, warmly smiling, and a tear trickled from his eye. “...Somepony, who you loved… Wouldn’t you take it? No matter what the cost?”

Scootaloo’s glistening eyes widened in response. To have heard this from him in this moment ripped her heart out of her chest. She didn’t know what to think, nor how to answer to that. Then she felt his arm go limp, and Flake’s head slowly tipped back, resting peacefully against the soft ground. His eyes were closed, and he remained still with his gentle smile. He went silent.

The pegasus gasped in tears to this gesture. “Flake??” She shook his arm to capture his attention, but he didn’t react. Setting his arm down to his side, she tried shaking him by the shoulder. “Flake, no. Not now!!” Trembling, she whimpered in the silence of the crystal cavern, still tugging at his motionless body. “Wake up!!”

Her heart couldn’t take any more abuse, and she burst into sobs. “Flaaaake…” She lowered her head onto his chest, crying over his body. The sound of her weeping trailed through the room in echoing song. “Don’t leave me…”

In the heat of the moment, her cries were cut short when the horrifying sound of a ferocious roar trailed through the caves. Her head lifted and spun around. Her body faced to Flake, and her head turned to the entrance, her damp eyes stared fearfully into the dark of her exit. The noise sounded like it was coming from something big. Turning back to Flake, she shivered and whimpered to his still body, “F-Flake, please, get up. We need to keep going.”

There was no response from the changeling, and another deep, loud roar emanated through the caves. She was startled to her hooves, and she turned her body to face the doorway. “W-what is that??”

From the caves, she heard another sound. It was a cry for help, screaming her name. “Scootalooooo!!!”

Her eyes widened. It was Sweetie Belle.

“Heeeelp!!!” a second voice shrieked beyond the dark, which sounded like Apple Bloom.

Looking back to Flake, she felt the ache in her chest. She was needed now, and she had to leave Flake behind. It was painful to admit it to herself, but there was nothing she could do for him now.

Another roar in the distance nearly shook the cave, making her twitch and turn back to the tunnel, startled by the intensifying volume. “I-I’m coming,” she whimpered to her friends beyond the caverns, turning back to Flake once more. Her lips trembled, and she took a few steps away from his peaceful body, tears pouring from her eyes.

“I…” she hiccupped and wept. “I-I promise. I’ll be strong. For you.” With a heavy heart, she turned and galloped into the cave toward her friends’ distress calls. Leaving her changeling friend behind for the last time, she kept Flake’s final words close to her. And as she galloped, she found herself whispering in prayer.

“I… I love you, too…”

Element of Faith

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Racing as fast as she could toward her friends’ cries for help, Scootaloo rushed through the caves of mesh. The sound of a ferocious roar echoed through the caves, and it grew louder as she approached the final stretch to her exit. She didn’t know what she would witness when she returned to the river, but there was something big out there. Irelivant to what it may be, her friends needed her, and she wasn’t about to turn back on them.

Another roar emanated from the exit ahead, and the screaming of Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were loud and clear. She braced herself for what she may find, and with a brave soul, she rushed through the exit of the cave.

Quickly stepping out into the open, she looked downstream, and witnessed a gigantic monster that was half the size of the river’s cave itself. Her eyes widened at the hideous sight of the impossibly large creature. It looked just like a changeling, but its four legs were sharp like scorpion tails. It had razor sharp scales down its spine, and large, dragonesque wings that curved across its sides. With each step it took, it shook the cave with loud crackles of rubble.

Scootaloo’s jaw hung low, and she felt herself freeze where she stood. Her eyes were wide, and her pupils dilated from the sight of the horrifying monster crashing through the cave like a giant spider dwelling through its tunnels.

She knew immediately that this had to be the Great Changeling King that Chrysalis had warned everypony about. He had awoken, just as she predicted.

Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Chrysalis were flying around the creature; they looked like mere flies in size comparison. Twilight and Chrysalis were both firing bolts of magic at it, which were doing nothing on impact. Rainbow Dash was merely trying to confuse it with her speed, and failing in doing so. Rarity was standing off to the side, casting spells at the monster from a safe distance.

“Scootaloooo!!!!” she heard her name shriek in the darkness once again. This snapped her out of traumatic paralysis, and she twitched and spun, searching for where her friends were calling her name.

“Sweetie Belle! Apple Bloom! Where are you?!”

“W-we’re down here!” Apple Bloom called out. Scootaloo stepped up to the ledge, peering down below, where she saw them near the rapids on a small ledge of stone, huddled together in terror. It was evident that they were trying to climb down to get to the other ponies downstream before the giant changeling made its appearance. They were far too frightened—let alone weak from exhaustion—to move from their spot.

A great sense of responsibility rushed down Scootaloo’s spine. Pushing her fears aside, she boldly stepped back. “Hang on!” she called out, spreading her wings in preparation. “I’m coming!”

With a heavy beating heart, she leapt off the edge of stone, and soared down toward them. The cave continued to rumble from the monstrous changeling bashing around. Hovering safely down next to them, she landed safely beside her friends. With pouring tears, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle leapt into her and hugged her, both crying over her shoulders as the echoes of crackling rock screamed through the air in sync with the monster’s roars.

“Don’t worry, I’m not letting anything happen to you,” Scootaloo declared, breaking their reunited hug. “We need to move, now! But I can only carry one of you at a time.”

“W-where are we gonna go?!” Apple Bloom whimpered.

“Anywhere but here,” the guardian pegasus exclaimed. “Now come on! The others can take care of themselves.”

Sweetie Belle only began tearing up some more from the trauma. Scootaloo looked to her and nodded. “Alright, you first,” she said, picking up the unicorn. Then spreading her wings, she leapt up into the air. “I’ll come back for you, Apple Bloom; stay put!!”

The earth pony sniffled. “O-okay.”

Sweetie Belle pointed downstream. “Bring me to Rarity!”

“No, Sweetie Belle, it’s too dangerous where she is.”

“But I wanna see her now!!!”

Scootaloo ignored her screams and flew back up to the cave in which she had entered from. She set her down, and pointed into the cave. “Get in there, that huge thing won’t be able to get you.”

“But… Rarity!”

“She will be fine! Now go!”

Another bang shook the cave, nearly throwing Scootaloo off her hooves. She was wide-eyed, and she turned to look at the monstrous changeling again. The ponies were still fighting it off, and it had gotten closer to her direction. Then in a blink, she saw its giant claw swat Rainbow Dash out of the air. Rainbow clashed into the wall, and fell like a stunned insect, plummeting into the water.

“Rainbow Dash!!!” Scootaloo shrieked, and began flying to her aid. Rainbow Dash surfaced, where Scootaloo saw Applejack pulling her out of the water by the shore. Scootaloo stopped herself, seeing that Rainbow Dash was being taken care of, but from the distance, she could see the agile pegasus was hurt. Applejack dragged the wounded rainbow pegasus out of the river, where Fluttershy assisted in aiding her.

Gnashing her teeth in panic, Scootaloo turned back to see that Sweetie Belle was still standing on the stone ledge. Rolling her eyes, she flew back to stubborn unicorn.

“I said get back in the cave!”

“No!!”

Scootaloo growled and gave her a push in that direction. “I will not ask you again!” With that, she left Sweetie Belle and went down to get Apple Bloom. Landing next to her, she found her crying up a storm.

“Apple Bloom, it’s alright, I’m gonna get you out of here,” she said to her.

“W-what’s happening, Scootaloo?”

“There’s no time,” she replied, reaching to pick up the earth pony, when a loud crash shook the cave once again. In that instant, Apple Bloom lost her balance, and she tripped and fell straight into the rapids beneath her.

“No!!” Scootaloo took a deep breath and leapt into the water after her. Submerged, she could see the earth pony being swept away by the current with bubbles blocking her vision. Pushing hard in Apple Bloom’s direction, she reached out for her. With all the strength she had in her limbs and wings, she propelled herself into the earth pony, and grabbed her with her hooves. Then kicking back to the surface, she leapt out of the rapids in flight, right beneath the horrifying monster.

Scootaloo gasped at the size of the gigantic changeling up close, and she found herself flying vertically with its front leg, which was thicker than a stump. It looked down at her with its blood-red, soulless eyes. The way it looked at her made her coldly shudder. Making a quick u-turn, she carried Apple Bloom back to where Sweetie Belle was.

Then with a powerful gust of wind, she felt the monster’s arm attempt to swat her out of the air. She saw its limb slice past her, barely missing her by mere inches, and the aftershock of the wind brushing from its attack threw her flying off balance. She gasped and breathed faster, trying to keep away from it, when it made another attempt in striking her out of the air again. This time it barely clipped her wing, just enough to get her to let go of Apple Bloom.

“AAAAAAAAAAA SCOOTALOOO!!!”

“Damn it!” Scootaloo dove after her, reaching out to get her. Just as Apple Bloom was about to hit the water, she was entrapped in a magical aura. Scootaloo froze at the sight of her being caught, and looked up to see who was responsible.

From the distance, Sweetie Belle had managed to catch Apple Bloom out of the air. Scootaloo nodded with immense respect, understanding that the unicorn’s instinct had kicked in, and she was able to perform an emergency levitation spell to save her friend.

“That a girl, Sweetie Belle!”

With all her concentration, Sweetie Belle carried Apple Bloom toward her. Scootaloo watched Apple Bloom get carried to safety, and the two ponies rushed into the cave together where they would be protected.

“Good,” she said, turning around to face the monstrous beast. She couldn’t help but notice that despite all the other ponies attacking him, he was primarily focusing on her alone. The way his glowing, crimson eyes stared her down, it was as if he recognized her.

Still frightened, she hovered up higher to level with him, and could easily see that he was following her movements with his eyes.

“Scootaloo, get out of here!” Rainbow Dash shouted from below, too weak to attend, but still strong enough to shout at her.

Scootaloo disregarded Rainbow Dash’s concerns, and kept level with the monster. Though she was scared, she felt she needed to know why this monster was focusing primarily on her. Then an intimidating, deep and godly voice growled through the monster’s teeth.

“Daaarrriiing Dooooo.” His words were slow, and loud enough for the cave to rumble. Scootaloo’s eyes widened when he called her by her code-name, and her ears fell back. “Yoooou will paaaay,” his vibrant and angry voice echoed. The other ponies were just as concerned about this, wondering how it was possible for the Changeling King to know her.

Chrysalis flew up in front of Scootaloo, capturing the attention of the giant changeling. Scootaloo’s jaw hung low that the Changeling Queen was defending her.

“I know you found the ancient relic!” she yelled angrily. “The Element of Love does not belong to you. It will only corrupt you if you continue to use it this way!”

“Element of Love…?” Scootaloo mumbled quietly to herself.

“My Queen, you are nothing but a speck in the wind.”

“How dare you!” she shouted back to him. “Who are you?! The result of your monstrosity is only possible if a changeling consumed the power of Love from that stone!” She pointed a hoof at him. “You’ve been stealing the love from the ponies; you’re endangering the lives of many!”

“What do you care, Chrysalis? You mean nothing.” His squint grew heavier. “All these years of consuming the souls of ponies, and now you are on their side? You are a disgrace.”

“As your Queen, I demand you put that stone back where it belongs!!”

“Hmhmhm… This stone?” He gestured to a small rock on his chest. “It is infused with my heart; you cannot stop me!! I am immortal, and you are dust.” With that, his horn lit up a bright crimson. Chrysalis panicked and hovered back, swaying her limbs in defense.

“No! You do not dare cast Red Death!! I forbid that spell, stop!! Stop at once!!”

“I no longer listen to the likes of you. The changelings shall have a new leader...” With a loud blast of magic, he fired a spell straight at his Queen. She didn’t have any time to react, and she stared wide at the oncoming spell with her ears fallen back, and her eyes dilated at the presence of her doom. Scootaloo watched as the large beam of magic ripped straight through her body, disintegrating her into powder and bones, and the skeleton of the Queen fell into the river below in a cloud of ashes.

Scootaloo was too traumatized at what she had just witnessed to even scream. Her heart was now racing, and she was hyperventilating from terror.

“And now, you,” he declared with an illuminating horn. “Die.” A beam of magic quickly rocketed from his horn, straight toward Scootaloo. Twilight raced for the targeted pegasus, and she grabbed her in her hooves, teleporting in a blink. The spell cast at her ripped through the air and missed, being sent into the rocks with a flaring explosion of magic.

Twilight and Scootaloo appeared down by the cavern’s riverbed next to Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. Rarity and Pinkie Pie raced toward them as well, reuniting the group together again.

Twilight released Scootaloo and held her by the shoulders, looking at her in the eyes. Scootaloo was staring blankly into space, as if she’s seen the end. “Scootaloo,” the princess shouted, shaking her shoulders. “Scootaloo!!”

Scootaloo’s eyes slowly regained focus, and she looked to Twilight with trauma. The changeling king roared again, and he turned toward them, and he began marching after them with enormous, loud strides.

“Let’s get to a safe location!” Twilight suggested in a hurry. Scootaloo was still nearly paralyzed from all she had been through. Twilight growled and shook her again. “Scootaloo, snap out of it!! We’ve gotta go, now!! Be strong!!”

Those words. They burned deep into the subconscious of the pegasus. “I…” she wept, thinking about Flake’s last message—to be strong. “I-I’m trying. I will.” She shook her head to snap herself out of it, and took a step back. She pointed a hoof to the cave upstream. “We have to get to Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom; they’re in that tunnel!”

Twilight looked to the cave and nodded. “On it. Everypony group together. I’ll focus a teleportation spell to get us all to that ledge, safely!”

“Well ya better hurry up, Twilight, he’s comin’ back!!” Applejack exclaimed in a panic. Then as the alicorn instructed, the ponies all huddled together.

“Now, listen up!” Twilight called out to them, illuminating her horn in concentration. “We are a team! We do everything as one!” She turned her head to the others, who all nodded with her. “In order for this spell to be cast, all of us need to be calm, with our minds set on our teleportation target, or it won’t work. Everypony close your eyes; avoid distractions! Don’t watch the changeling king!”

“Right,” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, closing her eyes as she was told, as did everypony else.

Fluttershy whimpered, but she nodded, trying to remain calm as she was requested to.

“Five!” Twilight began her countdown, and the stomping of the monster’s steps were growing closer. “Four!” The giant changeling’s roar echoed loudly through the cave again, and he kept rummaging after them. “Three!” His large, crooked horn illuminated bright red again. “Two!” He took aim. “One!!” He fired his spell, and it ripped through the air toward them. The crimson beam darted closer and closer to where they were, and the seven ponies vanished in a blink of light. The spell crashed into the rocks with an explosion of fire right where they were just standing.

The Changeling King noticed their disappearance. His eyes furrowed from frustration, and he shrieked loudly into the caves, slamming the walls out of anger.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Within the safety of the smaller cavern, Twilight reappeared with the other ponies in tow. The sound of the changeling king’s furious roars were emanating from outside. Once they regained focus after their teleportation, they saw Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom in the vicinity. Rarity and Applejack stepped away from the group, in awe at the sight of their younger sisters.

“Rarity?” Sweetie Belle wept, running to her sister. Leaping into each other’s arms, they held each other in tears.

“Apple Bloom!” Applejack exclaimed.

“Sis!” Apple Bloom ran to her for a hug as well.

“I thought I would never see you again!” Rarity sobbed, holding her little sister like it would be the last time.

During their embraces, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom’s coats brightened to their natural colours. Apple Bloom now had a cream coat, and Sweetie Belle’s coat became white like her sister’s. The others were happy to see them unite once again after so long.

“Y’all are grown up now! What gives?” Applejack laughed, giving Apple Bloom a noogie.

While the others were all happy, Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but notice that Scootaloo was still lost in a vacant expression. Raising a brow, she waved a hoof in front of her face. “Scootaloo? You alright?”

“Hm?” She shook her head to snap out of it, and she slowly nodded. “I’ll be okay…”

“Sugarcube, what happened?” Applejack directed her attention to the troubled pegasus.

Scootaloo looked down, finding it hard to speak.

“Hold on, has anypony seen Flake?” Rainbow Dash question the situation.

Then there was silence. Absolute silence. Scootaloo sat on her flank, lowering her head. Then from her gritting teeth, a hiccup was heard, followed by soft, tender weeping.

“Scootaloo…?” Fluttershy whispered gently.

“He… he’s dead,” the heartbroken pegasus whimpered. The others exchanged looks, uncertain what they could say to the traumatized mare. There were expressions of shock among their faces. “Please,” she wept, and stood to trot past the others. “I just… I need to be alone for a minute.”

“Where y’all goin’?” Applejack questioned her.

“I don’t know,” she said. “Just… some place I can think. I’ll be back…”

The others didn’t know what to say or do for her. They kept silent, feeling sorry for her loss, and allowed her to step away.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Scootaloo walked through the darkness with her head low. When she felt she was far enough from the others, she stopped in the midst of the cavern, and sat down. Then with every emotion snapping inside of her, she burst into a loud and painful sob. She shook her head, shaking her mind from the truth that she couldn’t wipe from her memories. Standing tall again, she looked skyward, and gritting her teeth, she frowned to the heavens with a sick heart.

“Why, damn you?!” she screamed. “You said everypony has a purpose!! So where is mine?!” She choked. “With...without… him?”

Lowering her head once more, with her ears curved low, she closed her eyes and continued weeping. Her cries echoed back at her in the dark. She sat there for a long time, weeping and mourning.

“It’s not fair…” she sobbed. “It’s just… not… fair…”

“Open your eyes,” a strong voice said to her. Her eyes jolt open, and she looked up in tears.

She found herself to be somewhere else—somewhere familiar. She was among the stars and galaxies, with dancing mist and magic. And before her, stood a familiar black coated alicorn with a white swaying mane; his cutie mark of a golden balancing scale. It was the Equine King of Equestria, and she became frightened at the sight of him.

“W-what… what’s going on?” her words stumbled.

“I did say we would meet again,” said the wise king with his solemn expression.

Scootaloo whimpered and sat up on her flank, lowering her head. There was a hesitation in her voice, but she managed to eventually say something to him. “I failed,” she confessed in a choking voice.

“Failed?” he questioned her in a laughable manner. “My, Scootaloo, are you giving up?”

In response to the question, Scootaloo just cowered lower. It was evident to him that she didn’t want to keep going.

There was a moment of silence. The King tilted his head with a warm and understanding expression. He reached for the mare and lifted her chin with his hoof. “Be strong, remember?”

Scootaloo’s eyes filled with tears in response to that, and she lowered her head again, hiccuping and weeping. “It isn’t fair. How can I go on without him?”

The King exhaled slowly, and he placed a hoof upon her shoulder. “This isn’t the end of your journey, you know.”

“I am tired…” she wept in a heartbroken voice. “I’m cold, I’m hungry, and I just… want to go… back home…”

“Without you… there won’t be any home to go back to.”

Scootaloo looked back up to the King in tears. She knew her purpose was an important one. It was just very hard to accept at this point.

“How can I even fulfil my purpose to save all the ponies?” she questioned him. “Not only is Flake gone, but I no longer have any changelings on my side to back me up! How in Equestria can I convince the entire changeling hive that we are meant to work together in harmony, if I don’t return with their Queen?”

“By having faith.”

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “Okay, define your version of faith. What is that? Because I feel pretty damn screwed!”

The King snickered at her ongoing attitude. “Faith is not hoping for things to happen. Faith is believing they will.”

“And what is there to believe in at this point after all I’ve gone through?”

He grinned. “That is for you to decide, little one.”

She sighed and lowered her head. “You sure have mysterious riddles to tell. But they’re not helping!” Frowning at him, tears kept streaming down her cheeks. “Tell me! What is it you want from me, huh?! I’ve lost so much! And if the ponies even do get out of their cocoons, there isn’t much left of Equestria to go back to. Everything is dead!!”

The King stood tall, gesturing with a hoof. “Everything happens for a reason. What matters is we keep believing that.”

“So what’s the reason?!” the heartbroken pony screamed. “Huh?!”

“I don’t have an answer for everything, Scootaloo. The answers are for you to discover on your own.”

“Yeah?! And what have you done to help? Hm? You haven’t done anything!” She stomped a hoof in the translucent pathway beneath her, and continued yelling in tears, “You’ve just told me what to do so far! You told me to go back to the hive and make peace with the changelings! I’ve had no help from you! All you’ve done is talk to me in riddles!”

The King remained silent, waiting for her venting to calm down. When she finished her rant, she breathed angrily from the throat, and he continued to simply smile at her.

“The last time you saw me, you wanted to know my name. Yes?”

“Maybe I don’t care anymore,” she muttered, feeling irritated by his grin at this point.

“No?” He shrugged. “Okay. Perhaps you’re right. Maybe it is still unimportant.”

“Stop it with your riddles,” she grumbled.

“Well? Do you want to know, or not?”

Scootaloo’s ears fell back. Suddenly she wasn’t so sure anymore. But the way he brought it up expanded her curiosity.

“You only have a few moments left before your spirit is sent back to your body.”

“Okay, fine,” she murmured, exhaling and trying to calm down. “Who are you then? What is your name?”

With a bold stature, the King explained himself in more riddles. “I go by many names. To each pony, I am known as another identity. And when they need guidance, strength, will or courage, that is when they seek my name. I am given a name in every time of need, and I watch over that pony. Any pony that seeks my help, they name me.”

“Uh huh…” She was losing interest.

“For example... ” he continued with a backstory, “A lost filly in the woods was seeking shelter. I guided her into the caves away from danger. I motivated her back to her hooves when she was giving up, and I brought her to food. And there came a time when the filly could carry on without my guidance, and so my final actions lead her to bury me, so that a lost changeling could see the true values of sacrifice.”

Scootaloo’s eyes were squinting in irritation toward his riddle. And then slowly, her eyes began to widen. She stood and gasped, trembling, and her ears curved back at the epiphany. “...Mercy??”

The King didn’t reply directly, he just grinned. “If that is what you choose to believe…” He gestured to her with a smile, and she could feel herself fading from this world, about to return to Equestria. “Remember, Scootaloo… Faith is believing. Not hoping.”

Then the world around her buckled before her, and she fell. Everything faded into darkness, and the stars all vanished.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Her eyes jolt open, and she found herself lying on the ground in the caves. She must have cried herself to sleep; that would explain her visit with the Alicorn King. When she looked up, she found that she was nearing the entrance of the room where Flake had died.

Her ears fell back, and she slowly stood up, her eyes fixed on the room ahead. She didn’t know how much more her heart could take, but she felt she had to pay a visit to his grave, and properly bury him now that there was time.

Slowly trotting to the room ahead, she braced herself for seeing his deceased body. And as she entered the room, the first thing she saw was Chitin’s frozen body, still entrapped in his mesh prison. As for Flake…

“W-where… where is he?!” she gasped and galloped into the room, spinning around. His body was gone. Her eyes widened, and her neck perked. She wandered her eyes at the odd situation. The only thing left behind that she could find, was Chitin’s broken horn rested on the ground. A grin formed on her face, and she looked up to the heavens in question.

“He’s alive…?”

The silent voice of Mercy echoed in the back of her subconscious. “If that is what you believe?”

Scootaloo beamed with joy, and she skipped around the room with faithful enthusiasm. “He’s aliiiiiive!!!”

With that, she left the crystal room, and made a dash back to her friends in full gallop. Her mission was not yet complete. But now, she was ready.

Withering Burdens

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In the safety of the narrow tunnel, Twilight Sparkle and the rest of the group waited as per Scootaloo’s request. Sweetie Belle and Rarity were off to one end of the wall, talking and catching up with one another, as were Applejack and Apple Bloom. Pinkie Pie was busy attempting to humour Fluttershy to keep her calm.

Rainbow Dash peered out into the opening where the river was. She turned her neck to view both up and downstream, not finding any signs of the Changeling King.

“Twilight.” She waved her over. “Where do you think he would’ve gone?”

Twilight trot over to see for herself. As Rainbow Dash implied, the coast appeared to be clear. “I don’t know, but I don’t think it would be wise to go looking for him.”

Rainbow sighed and stepped away from the opening back inside the narrow cavern. She sat on her flank and lowered her head. “What are we gonna do? Did you see the way he just vaporized Chrysalis like she was nothing?!” She turned to look at Twilight with concerns. “We’re clearly going to wind up confronting him again. Something that big doesn’t just go hiding. How can we beat something that powerful??”

Twilight sighed and tilted her head. “We haven’t gone this far to fail now.”

“Twilight, I’m serious!!” Rainbow’s shouting caught the attention of the others as well. Looking up at her, they all listened in to what she was fussing about. “You and Chrysalis were fighting that thing together, and couldn’t even scratch the surface! He is invulnerable to your alicorn magic!” She began speaking quicker, as if she was on the verge of a panic attack. “Not even I was fast enough; he still managed to knock me out of the air!”

There was then a moment of silence. The ponies were all deep in thought, and saw the dangers Rainbow Dash was concerned about.

“What Chrysalis did, though…” Fluttershy murmured, looking up. “She saved Scootaloo’s life.”

The others nodded, taking a short moment to share their respects for the queen's final actions.

“I know it seems hopeless, but we can’t give up yet,” Twilight exclaimed, turning back to Rainbow Dash. “Everything has a weakness. We will not allow the Queen’s death to be in vain. Not after what she did.”

Rainbow Dash sighed and sat down. “What can we even do? How can we complete what we started?? We have yet to confront the hive without their Queen, which I am very certain the changelings have noticed she has gone missing by now! In addition, we have this gigantic Changeling King to deal with. How?! How can we keep going knowing the dangers ahead?!”

A voice echoed through to them from within the cave, “By having faith.”

The ponies all looked up, and saw that Scootaloo had returned. She had a very solemn expression on her face.

“Scootaloo, you’re back,” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, quickly flying over to her to greet her.

“We were beginning to get worried,” Fluttershy said in a soothing voice, trotting to her as well.

“You doing okay, kiddo?” Rainbow asked.

Scootaloo nodded. “Fine, Rainbow Dash,” she replied calmly. “I paid a visit to Flake’s grave.”

“Oh…” Rainbow nibbled her bottom lip, unsure how to respond. “How uh… how did that go?”

“His body wasn’t there,” said the dumbfounded pegasus.

Rainbow Dash blinked a few times, shaking her head in question to what she had just heard. “Wait… what?”

“Yeah, I dunno, Rainbow…” Scootaloo turned her neck to look behind her. “I went to properly give him a burial, and… he wasn’t even there.” Turning back to Rainbow with a hopeful expression. “You think he might still be alive?”

Rainbow shrugged. “Hard to say. That changeling has certainly surprised me quite a lot, though.”

Scootaloo nodded. Then she opened her mouth to speak, but hesitated. The others knew she had something else she wanted to say, but found it difficult. “I-I, um…” She paused briefly, and the others waited for her to finish. “I know what I have to do,” she finally managed.

“Huh?” Rainbow questioned her and felt nervous toward the way Scootaloo said that. “What are you talking about?”

“I spoke to the King,” she solemnly said.

“What, that giant monster we just fought??”

“No.” Scootaloo shook her head. “The Alicorn King of Equestria.”

The others all exchanged looks with one another, wide-eyed and confused.

“Wait,” Twilight muttered, gesturing with a hoof to express her questioning. “You mean to tell me you spoke to Celestia’s father?”

Scootaloo nodded. “I went into a lucid sleep, and met him in this big open world, where everything was built up of stars and magic…”

Twilight’s eyes slowly widened, and she stepped forward. “The void between Heaven and Equestria,” she determined. “I know where you are talking about. I’ve been there, too, where Celestia had turned me into a Princess. Not many ponies see that place…”

Rainbow Dash raised a brow and turned to Twilight. “What does it mean that she did?”

Twilight’s eyes wandered, and she put it together as if it were prophecy. “The only ponies who can reach that void… are those who have a great destiny. A destiny in which only the royalty can fulfil... ”

With what she said, everypony else looked straight at Twilight in awe. Nopony knew how to react to such an explanation.

“Royalty…?” Scootaloo murmured, then she stepped back with widened eyes. “Wait, wait, you’re not telling me I’m a Princess, are you?”

The alicorn didn’t know how to answer that; she could only shrug. “I don’t know what the Equestrian King has planned for you, Scootaloo. But the purpose you have been chosen for is certainly not a small one. And even with as far as you’ve gone, I have my doubts that he is done with you yet.”

Scootaloo’s wide eyes wandered, and she put it deep into thought. She knew her role here to save Equestria was big enough, but how much bigger could it possibly be?

“You said when you came here, that you knew what you had to do,” Twilight reminded the pegasus. “What was it you were trying to tell us?”

Nibbling her bottom lip, Scootaloo lowered her head, and her eyes wandered some more. She wasn’t sure how to answer without making it sound like a death wish. But after some courage, she looked back up, and replied, “I need to return to the core… The cocoon dome, where I first woke.”

With her declaration, there was an absolute silence. What she had said sounded absolutely absurd. Such an act would be downright suicidal, but the way she made the announcement, they knew she was serious.

“Uh… kay?” Applejack muttered, raising a brow toward her intentions. “And what exactly do ya plan to do when ya get there?”

“Did you hear what the Changeling King said to Chrysalis before he struck her down?”

The others looked to each other with uncertainty.

“His obvious intentions are to rule the hive in Chrysalis’ place. With that in mind, there’s no doubt he is digging his way to their core… That can’t happen.”

“Huh?” Rainbow was confused. “Well… what happens then?”

“That is where all of the cocoons are; all the ponies,” the younger pegasus explained. “Chrysalis has made it pretty clear that the reason he has gotten so big is because he has been consuming the love from them all. Now that he is powerful enough, I imagine that his intention is to bring it upon the other changelings to do the same, and lead an army of changelings strong like himself.” Her ears fell back, and she gnashed her teeth. “I fear that if we don’t stop this from happening, there won’t be anypony to save. He’ll consume every ounce of love the ponies possess, and within the hour, the ponies will all be drained completely… and every single pony in a cocoon will die.”

“Ohhh, this is all happening so fast…” Fluttershy whimpered.

“There is something else that didn’t make sense,” Rarity exclaimed, lifting a hoof to gesture her concern. “The Changeling King looked straight at you and called you that fictional pony’s name from Rainbow Dash’s book collection.”

“Daring Do,” Rainbow corrected the unicorn. “But yeah, why? I know you used the name to cover up your true identity from the beginning, but that would mean he knows you.”

“Kinda creepy if you ask me!” Pinkie spoke out uneasily.

“I don’t know,” Scootaloo murmured, then her eyes wandered as she put it together. “Do you… think it might be Dozer?”

“Dozer?” Pinkie wondered.

Scootaloo nodded and shrugged. “I dunno, it seems to only make sense. Dozer betrayed us in the caves earlier; he was working for Chitin to capture us.”

Rainbow lowered her head and nodded, remembering Trek’s bravery in saving their lives. “Yeah, he lead us right into a trap and bailed.” She frowned. “It’s gotta be him!”

“It just… doesn’t make sense,” Scootaloo determined, sitting on her flank and puzzling it with a hoof to her forehead. “But he’s the only other live changeling who knew me from their wasteland hunts when going after me.”

“Well, whoever it is, we’ve gotta stop him if what you predict is going to happen comes true,” Twilight declared, making her order heard clear.

“Just… what is going to happen when we get there?” Apple Bloom wondered.

“How can we possibly do anything? We’re just a few little ponies…” Sweetie Belle exclaimed.

Scootaloo exhaled a long sigh, and she shrugged. “I don’t know what will happen. Nor do I know what we can do when we get there… All I know is, we have to try. And we have to have faith that we can do something to save all of ponykind before it’s too late.”

The ponies all exchanged looks with each other. The situation was certainly an urgent one, and they had to decide and act now.

“Well, what do you believe in?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Scootaloo nodded, and she stood taller. “I believe we can make a difference. I believe it will work. Yes, I am afraid, but I am not in doubt. The magic of our friendships will see us through until the end.” The others perked with grins as she continued speaking. “After everything I’ve gone through, there is one thing I no longer believe in… and that, is failure.” Her words moved them. They could feel the power coming from her motivation. It was like they were being spoken to by a royal guardian. “When all is said and done, there will be a joyous reunion with all the ponies still alive in those cocoons. I don’t know how, and I don’t know when, but Equestria will become how it once was again. And the only way that can happen, is if we do something about it. Right now.” Once she had finished what she had to say, she looked to the others solemnly. “So, who’s with me?”

There was a short pause, and the others exchanged looks with each other.

“That depends,” Rainbow Dash grinned. “You got a plan?”

Scootaloo shrugged, and grinned along with her. “Nope.”

“Well, then. Count me in,” the agile pegasus exclaimed.

“Weee! I’m in!” Pinkie Pie skipped around.

“I’m in, too,” Fluttershy gently said with a smile.

Simultaneously, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom jumped up with glee. “Cutie Mark Crusaders: Equestria Saviours! YEAH!!”

Applejack raised a brow at them. “I dunno if I could allow my lil’ sister to join in.”

“Nor mine,” said Rarity, squinting at Sweetie Belle.

“Applejack, ye know ya can’t keep us from followin’ you guys,” Apple Bloom exclaimed. “We’re in this, too, whether you like it or not.”

The stubborn earth pony sighed. “I dunno. It’ll be dangerous.”

“Soooo, you’re just gonna leave us here then?” Sweetie Belle grinned, putting them on the spot.

“I, well, uh, jba, ehf, behl, iev... “ Rarity paused after her vocabulary got mixed up, being outwitted by her sister.

“We’re not little fillies anymore,” Apple Bloom exclaimed with a tall posture. “We’re grown mares like you, now. And we can make decisions, too.”

Sweetie Belle nodded in agreement to that. “I know we don’t have our cutie marks yet. That just means we haven’t had time to discover our true talents. We can’t help it that we’ve been in cocoons for ten years, and that certainly does not make us any less important than the rest of you!”

“So, we’re in,” Apple Bloom declared, making the final say.

Applejack and Rarity’s jaws were both hanging open. They looked to each other, dumbfounded. At this point, they didn’t know how to react.

“Hmm, I dunno.” Twilight grinned, nudging Applejack and Rarity by the shoulders. “They sound pretty mature to me. You sure they can’t handle it?”

“Are you out of yer mind, Twilight?” Applejack muttered.

“Perhaps, but with a mission like this, aren’t we all?” The alicorn pointed to the two Cutie Mark Crusaders. “They have a point. We can’t leave them here. I mean where are they going to go, hm?”

Rarity rolled her eyes and groaned. “Oh, Celestia, she does have a point.”

“Alright, fine,” Applejack muttered, turning back to their younger siblings. “But we stick t’gether then, ya hear?”

“So, Scootaloo… You said you know the way to the core?” Twilight asked.

“From here, yes,” she replied. “We’re actually very close... I’ve been in these same caves during my escape.”

“Alright… So, whenever you’re ready to lead the way, Scootaloo, we’re right behind you,” Rainbow Dash loyally exclaimed.

Scootaloo turned to look at everyone who smiled and nodded with her. She expressed her gratitude and grinned. “Thank you for having faith in me, guys… I know we can do this.”

“Right. Now let’s go!” Applejack suggested, as time was running short.

Scootaloo nodded and made her way back to the river. “This way!”

In a herd, the ponies all followed her. With determination to complete what they had started, they ran together as one.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Returning to the river, they entered into the open with caution. There was no giant changeling in the vicinity. Stepping out onto the stone and mesh bridge so familiar to Scootaloo, they trot onward toward the cave on the other side of the river.

As they crossed the bridge, something caught the corner of Scootaloo’s eye. She turned to look downstream, where she saw a changeling washed up on the riverbed. Her jaw hung low, and she stopped where she was. The others all turned to look at what had caught her eye, and they were surprised to see Queen Chrysalis in the distance. Based on where she was and her condition in which they saw her in, she was easy to spot… but very hard to look at.

Her left ear was singed off, and her wings were burnt to the shoulders. Most of her limbs were missing, aside from her front left hoof, which she was using to desperately pull herself out of the water. There were scarring holes down her back, her right eye was blinded, and her horn was broken off inches from her forehead.

“Oh my goddess!” Scootaloo was the first to dive off the bridge and fly to her aid. The others all found their own route to the Queen as well—those with wings flew, and the others took paths down the sides of the caves. Fluttershy joined Pinkie Pie as she couldn’t fly in her current state, and eventually they all met up with Chrysalis.

Scootaloo landed in front of Chrysalis. The Queen’s weak, limp head slowly looked up to her. The pegasus saw the pain when she looked into her single eye, and she felt her heart sink at the sight of her. Reaching down to the Queen, she took the downed changeling’s hoof, and dragged her the rest of the way out of the water.

The others finally caught up to them, and there was only silence. Nothing could be said, there was only guilt, sympathy and pain to see her like this. Broken beyond repair, Chrysalis’ eye leaked a tear, and she began to hiccup. Scootaloo’s ears fell back, and she nibbled her bottom lip, as the Queen began to helplessly, and breathlessly cry.

Her sobbing was so quiet and hoarse, it was evident that there wasn’t much left in her to carry on. Externally destroyed, and internally corrupted, her body was noticeably withering away. Bit by bit, at a very slow rate, the surface of her body was dissolving away, like dust that spilled onto the floor and slid toward the river.

It was purely a miracle to have even found her alive like this. However, even so, it was clear that in moments, she was going to die anyway. She was too far gone for even Twilight’s magic to do anything at all. The full force of the Red Death spell that the Changeling King had struck her down with had taken a toll on her, and it was eating away at her, fast.

“You saved my life...” Scootaloo said to her with a calming tone.

Chrysalis gnashed her teeth painfully, and she reached upon her head with her only limb. She gripped onto the crown that was still barely placed upon her head, and with a shiver, she took it off and weakly dropped it to Scootaloo’s hooves. Scootaloo blinked to her gesture, and the queen pushed the crown closer to her.

“Th…… they need …. a queen….” she desperately whimpered with mere impossible crying breathes, “...F...find one….... Please……”

Scootaloo didn’t know how to answer her. Her request was simple, but how could she do that?

“Scootaloo…” Chrysalis whispered and tried to lift her head to speak clearer. “I am... … so…. sorry… for everything.” Tears trickled from the queen’s eyes—both her blind one and the one looking up at her. Soft hiccups and weeps escaped from between her clenching teeth. “...My changelings… they don’t know how to love…… I...didn’t know what else...to do…… Forgive my children…….”

Chrysalis was on her last few breaths, and at a great state of weakness. Her words felt powerful; they silenced everyone who heard them. Scootaloo slowly exhaled, and she knelt lower to Chrysalis in tears. “What was done, can’t be undone… But everypony has a purpose, and there is a reason for everything that happens.” She placed a hoof beneath her chin, and lifted it up with a solemn smile. “I forgive you…”

Chrysalis’ eyes slowly widened, and more tears trailed down her cheeks. Her good iris dilated, and her weeping began to amplify. Those words that came from Scootaloo’s mouth, they hit her in a spot in the heart that has been cold for a millenia. Then before the ponies’ eyes, her black, changeling coat glistened, and it became a beautiful shade of emerald green. Her one iris was clearer, and in a few moments, like magic, the holes in her one limb had sealed up.

She had turned into her original form from before they had become what the changelings are now. Everypony who saw it was in awe, and completely lost for words. With her burden lifted, and with nothing more to say, the queen placed her head back down into the ground, and she went silent and still.

“Chrysalis...?”

She remained unmoved, and the rest of her decaying body slowly began to wither away like dust in the wind. The spell the Changeling King had cast upon her had finally taken her, and the deceased queen’s body slowly disintegrated from the waist up. The ponies could do nothing for her, and they stood watching in silence until there was nothing left of her.

Scootaloo sat there, looking down where she last saw the Changeling Queen. Then with care, she gently picked up her crown. The other ponies didn’t say anything, they just remained quiet, waiting for Scootaloo’s orders.

The pegasus turned around, holding the crown in her hooves, and she nodded. “We’re going to fulfil her last wish and find her changelings a new queen.”

“What?” Rarity blinked and raised a brow. “How are we even going to do that?”

“With faith,” said the determined pegasus, holding the crown under her wing, and she trot past the others. “We’d better hurry, there’s not much time!”

The others exchanged looks with each other, confused and uncertain. Without further questioning the pegasus, they followed her. In a hurry, Scootaloo raced for the path to boldly return where her adventure had begun.

The core.

Journey to the Core

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The nine ponies rushed to the core, with Scootaloo leading the way. On hoof they traveled for the sake of those who could not fly to keep up. As they journeyed through the dark tunnels of the hive, they seemed to climb higher. Scootaloo could feel her nerves twitching—she knew she was getting closer.

“So, what’re we do when we get there?” Apple Bloom questioned the leading pegasus.

“How many changelings are gonna be there?” asked a nervous Sweetie Belle.

Scootaloo exhaled through her nose, and stopped to turn to the others. She had the look of fright in her eyes, but she kept a determined grin to keep moving.

“There will be lots,” she revealed to them, “more than any of us can count.”

“Oh…” Sweetie Belle’s ears tilted back at the thought.

“I don’t know what we’re going to do when we get there,” Scootaloo said, following with a discomforting sigh. “But we can’t progress going backwards…”

“Whatever happens, we’re in this together,” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

“We have to do something,” Rarity said with expressive hoof gestures. “If we don’t act now, all of Equestria will be doomed forever.” She put her hoof down and sighed. “I just hope there is something we ‘can’ do.”

“There will be,” Scootaloo said, turning back around and leading them deeper into the caves. “I have faith there will be.”

The others exchanged looks with each other. They knew it was hard even for Scootaloo to believe in her own words, but they trusted her, and continued to follow her in the dark. Ahead of them was their greatest challenge. The hive was waiting.

As they carried on, a sound ahead of them was heard. Scootaloo stopped and held up her hoof to signal the others to halt. Her ears were perked, and she glared ahead with a squint. Ahead of her in the tunnel, she could make out a pair of turquoise eyes, squinting back at her in the shadows.

“Oh my…” Fluttershy whimpered, stepping back a few paces. “A changeling…”

The ponies all stood with caution. Being this close to the core, there was no telling how many there could be in these parts of the tunnels. After a long and intimidating glare at them, the changeling’s voice muttered to them through his teeth.

“I can’t let you pass.”

His voice was solemn. It didn’t make a lot of sense to the ponies that he stood up to them; there were nine of them, and he was alone.

“You’ve got a lot of nerve standing up against us!” Rainbow Dash spat.

“Heh…” The changeling then stepped forward into the light, exposing his identity. The changeling was scarred in many places, and he wore a saddlebag upon his back. “I won’t let you.” He turned his neck to look back, then he returned his glance to the ponies. “I can’t.”

“Dozer…?” Scootaloo blinked, and acknowledged the saddlebag in his possession to be hers.

“What?” Rainbow was confused. “But… I thought…” He addressed the changeling while looking to his friends. “Wasn’t he that giant changeling?”

“Do you often make quick accusations?” he asked, squinting at her.

Rainbow looked back at him, growling and gnashing her teeth. She arched her back and threatened to charge forward. Dozer reacted quickly to Rainbow Dash’s battle posture, and from his jagged horn, he fired a green spell at her. It struck her at the hooves, sticking her to the ground.

“Hey!” Rainbow Dash shrieked and struggled. “That’s not fair!”

“Calm down, pony,” he grumbled.

“Alright, that’s it!” Scootaloo leapt forward, making a dash for the changeling. Dozer prepared himself for her attack, and she took flight, increasing speed. Charging up a spell as quick as he could react, he took aim and fired at the pegasus diving down at him from above. Scootaloo saw the green dart of magic hurtling toward her, and she swerved around it.

The incoming pegasus was proven to be too swift for Dozer, and without enough reaction time to dodge, he braced himself for her impact. Scootaloo plowed down on top of him, pinning him into the ground on his back.

“Why do you have my saddlebag, huh?!”

“Get… off of me!” he growled up at her, tensing his limbs before he hoofed her off. His kick pushed her back, and she stumbled a few feet away from him. Quickly standing to his hooves, he stood defensively against her, and she leapt toward him again as soon as she regained her balance. “Scootaloo, stop it, now!” Reaching up, he blocked her assault. She growled inches from his face, and he struggled keeping her hooves off of him.

Off to the side, Twilight had her horn illuminated. She was focusing a missile spell on Dozer, but she hesitated to fire her attack, afraid of mistakenly striking Scootaloo. They were head to head, and hooves between the pegasus and the changeling were swinging for one another, their aggression increasing with each attack. Scootaloo was beginning to lose her temper; the ponies could tell by the way her growling was growing louder.

“You made a fool out of us!” she shrieked at him, slamming a hoof into his cheek, finally getting a good enough hit to knock him over. He stumbled sideways, and stopped to hold onto his aching jaw.

With the changeling now out of reach of Scootaloo, Twilight positioned to target him, and she fired her magic bullet. Dozer saw the incoming spell of violet light, and in a panic, he tucked and rolled out of the way. Her spell struck the ground, leaving a small explosion of flashing particles, and a patch of black debris.

Quick to return to his hooves, Dozer gave Twilight a glare. He then noticed a rainbow pony dashing in his direction; she had pulled free from the mesh that sealed her to the floor. Rainbow Dash came rushing after him, and before he had a chance to put up his hooves to defend herself, she plowed straight into him at her full velocity.

She crashed down on top of him, and they rolled across the cave floor. As they rolled, Dozer seemed to counter their tumbling war, and found himself on top of her, pinning her down.

“G...AH! Let me go!” she growled up at him, squirming. He had her in a fairly good lock; she had a very difficult time getting out of it. On her back, her wings were proven useless being pressed against the ground, and her legs were wiggling helplessly. “Stop it!”

“There’s no time for this,” he grumbled impatiently. Scootaloo was about to take initiative and charge into him to defend Rainbow Dash, when something about his characteristics seemed to completely change. Dozer released Rainbow Dash, and he stepped aside, cautiously, to let her get back to her hooves again.

Rainbow Dash scrambled to her hooves, and she turned to look at him in question. The cave was completely silent, and all the eyes of the ponies were locked on the changeling. He could have cocooned her right there. Having her pinned gave him the perfect opportunity, and to their confusion, he let her go.

After a long and confusing stare, Rainbow Dash twitched and stomped her hoof. “Okay, what the heck?!” she muttered and gestured with her hoof to express her misunderstanding. “First you go on attacking us, then you let me go?! What is with you?!”

“Correction, you attacked me,” he boldly replied.

His statement caught the ponies off guard. They exchanged looks with each other, unable to fathom the situation. He had a point; they did make the first move.

“But…” murmured Rainbow Dash, “You stood your post. You weren’t going to let us pass!”

He nodded. “Aye?”

Rainbow Dash stomped her hoof again and growled fiercely. “Would you please make some sense?!”

Dozer shook his head and sighed. He sat on his flank, and gesturing with his hoof, he tried to explain himself. “I knew you were heading in this direction,” he exclaimed. “I had to catch you before you made a mistake.”

“Mistake?” Scootaloo asked, stepping toward him.

Nodding solemnly, he turned to face her, and continued with a calmer speech. “I spoke to Chrysalis… She told me a story; a story about her, and the Great Changeling King.”

The others looked to one another briefly, and then returned their glance to the changeling with anticipation for him to continue.

“She has sided with you, yes?”

Slowly, they nodded, and their expressions became sorrowful. Dozer exhaled through his nostrils, and he glanced to the side. “She is deceased… isn’t she.”

The others lowered their heads. Fluttershy could see the pain he expressed, and she murmured silently, “I’m sorry…”

He nodded. “I kind of knew… I felt it.”

“You felt it?” Twilight wondered.

“It was strange…” he went on, trying to describe it, “I… felt something. Like a part of me became empty.”

Fluttershy’s eyes wandered, and she put that to thought. “I wonder if your species has some kind of… connection?”

“I believe so… Our hive is connected very deeply with our Queen. To levels nopony could understand…”

Fluttershy nodded. “Well, I do.” Her ears lowered, and she expressed her sympathy in her eyes. “I’m sorry, Dozer…”

He slowly nodded respectfully to her concerns for him.

“Hold on…” Applejack stepped forward, seemingly startled. “Do you think that… if that connection thing is true… the entire hive would know about it, too?”

Sudden terrified expressions upon the ponies’ faces were evident. They looked to each other, having a bad feeling about that.

“If that is true, I can imagine they won’t be very happy right now,” Rarity determined.

More timid silence. After a quiet moment, Rainbow Dash finally spoke up again, “Wait… so why did you try to stop us from heading to the core if you’re on our side?” She squinted at him, unsure if she understood that correctly. “You ‘are’ on our side… right?”

Dozer’s ears sank low, and he sighed. “I couldn’t let you get to the core… Now is not the time.” He looked to Scootaloo more specifically. “There is something I need to show you. Which, as far as any of your plans are concerned, I am certain will change everything…”

Scootaloo blinked, not sure what he meant. “What is it?”

The expression in his eyes seemed to be filled with sorrow. He quietly, slowly exhaled through his nostrils, and he turned to walk deeper into the tunnels. “Come with me…”

Scootaloo looked at the others. The ponies just shrugged, and their nervous curiosity escalated. Something seemed nerveracking about this whole ordeal, and Scootaloo felt she had to know. Without questioning him further, the pegasus followed him, and the others trailed behind.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dozer took the ponies through pathways that seemed to lead closer to the core. They were getting more nervous with each step, but whatever it was that he had to show them felt that it was important.

“We’re here,” he said silently, turning to a corridor. The ponies followed along, and they looked into the room ahead to see what it was he had to show them.

The moment they laid eyes upon what was in the room, the ponies all gasped, and their eyes widened. Scootaloo was affected the most, and she nearly broke out into sobs. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and before she could give herself a chance to cry, she screamed out his name, “Flake?!”

There in the quiet, small room, lied their friend. The green changeling was on his haunches, and he was alive. The wound in his side had been treated with a healing substance, and though the scar didn’t look too healthy, Scootaloo was overjoyed to see him breathing. He lifted his head and looked over to her, and he warmly smiled.

“Mercy says hi,” he softly murmured.

Scootaloo squeaked a small cry, and she galloped toward him. Flake managed to sit up enough to catch her embrace, and she wrapped her hooves around him, and broke into sobs over his shoulder.

The other ponies had tears in their eyes as well, and smiles of gratefulness were expressed. This was purely a miracle, and few words could be said.

“But I saw you die...” she whimpered in a sobbing tone. “How is this possible?”

“Heh…” Flake groaned. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Scootaloo pulled from their embrace, and she examined his wound. It was black like a burn, and crevices in the scar were radiating a glow of Red Death magic. The joyous expression on her face seemed to turn bitter when she had a look at it.

“While I was away, I found your bag of potions,” Dozer solemnly explained, “and when I returned, Flake was the first one I found. He was out cold; I presumed dead. I pulled the broken horn out of him, and I used a recovery potion on his open wound.”

Scootaloo turned to Dozer with hopeful eyes. “So, you’re responsible for this…” She smiled, tears trailing down her cheeks, and she respectfully nodded. “Thank you… so much. I’m really sorry I attacked you.”

“No, I’m sorry,” he boldly replied, “I shouldn’t have listened to Chitin. Maybe none of this would have happened. If it weren’t for me, Trek would still be here.”

Scootaloo lowered her head, and she slowly nodded. “Everything happens for a reason…” she murmured, looking back into Dozer’s eyes. “I forgive you.”

They shared a moment of silence, and no words were said by the ponies. Scootaloo looked back to Flake’s wound, and then she returned her glance to Dozer. “So… he’s going to be okay, right?”

Dozer could only sigh to express his guilt. “I’m afraid I don’t know… There is nothing more we can do to help him, but it’s not getting better. It seems to be getting worse.”

“Worse?!” she snapped out a whimper, and the sudden shriek in her voice caused everypony to jump in surprise. “What do you mean, worse?!”

“Aside from Chrysalis, there is only one pony in Equestria who can reverse the Red Death curse.”

The way he announced that revelation gave Scootaloo chills down her spine. She had a feeling it wasn’t going to be simple to find the pony he spoke about.

“If we are to ensure that Flake will survive, we need Celestia’s magic. Only she can save him now.”

“W-wh… what are we…” In between trembles and whimpers, she looked back to Flake and held him close to her. She cried, trembling at the thought of losing him again. After as far as she has gone, the fact he was still alive gave her reason to believe in more hope than she was presented with. “There must be ‘something’ we can do!”

“I’m afraid there isn’t…” Dozer sighed, and he gestured back to where they came from. “During my travels in these tunnels, I have found Celestia and Luna’s cocoons… Their prisons are sealed by a magical barrier that can only be opened by either Chrysalis or all six Elements of Harmony alone.” He returned his glance to Scootaloo, expressing his sympathy. “But you know full well that if you want to have a chance at stopping the Changeling King, you have to be at the core before he gets there. If he gets there before we do, he will convert all the changelings into monsters like him, and Equestria will be eternally doomed.”

Scootaloo continued to tremble, and she looked to Twilight and the others. Her eyes were big, and glistening of tears.

“If we go and free Celestia to save Flake, we will not return in time to stop the King,” Dozer continued. “I’m sorry, but there is nothing that can be done. I brought you here, because I thought you would want one last chance to speak to Flake before you no longer can…”

Scootaloo’s eyes wandered, and she felt the heat of the situation burning her heart into ashes. She looked up at acknowledged that all the other ponies were crying, too, for her and Flake. It was obvious that they knew how she felt about him.

“Scootaloo…” Flake murmured, catching her attention. She turned back to him in response, her gleaming eyes reflecting in the light from her tears. “Your destiny must be fulfilled… You have to go to the core. You’ve gone so far, and I’m so proud of you…”

“N-no, Flake, I can’t finish this without you…” she whimpered and knelt down to him. “I watched you die once… I will ‘not’ let you do that to me again.”

“Listen…” Flake breathed, “You need to be strong now.” He smiled at her. “You taught me that everything happens for a reason…”

She nodded. “Yes… and there is a reason you’re alive,” the crying pegasus exclaimed.

“Scootaloo, please understand…” Flake sighed and placed his hoof upon her shoulder. “There are more important things at stake right now than my life.”

“How can you say that?!” Scootaloo’s voice shrieked loud, and she broke into a sob. “I can’t leave you here! I can’t!!” She gasped for air and screamed, “I love you!!”

She gasped, catching herself saying that out loud, and she kept a hoof to her muzzle. Tears continued to trickle down her cheeks, and she turned around to see all the sympathetic expressions watching her. Flake especially was wide-eyed.

With that revealed, Twilight’s ears fell back, and she spoke in a calm tone, “Cadence has always taught me that when the heart speaks for you… there is no arguing with it.”

Scootaloo lowered her head with a very sad expression upon her face. She sat down, only able to weep.

“What should we do?” asked the Princess of Friendship. “You have steered us all in your faithful path, and you have kept true to your mission, guiding us all where we were destined to be. I know you are scared; we all are. But if there is anypony here who I believe in right now, it is you.”

Scootaloo’s ears twitched, and she slowly looked up to the Princess before her. “What…?”

“I know that love can make us do crazy things and make decisions that make no sense… but I trust your judgement,” Twilight declared, and the other ponies looked to her. “What do you want us to do? I will follow your every command until the end.”

“You’re… putting ‘me’ in charge?”

“You have been in charge since the beginning,” said the Princess with a grin, “and that isn’t about to end.”

Scootaloo’s eyes were wide, her tears kept trickling, and her heart was aching. “I… I do know what… ‘should’ be done,” she whimpered in a continued crying voice, “But what if I can’t accept it? I can’t picture my destiny without Flake in it!”

“Listen to your heart,” Twilight reassured her, “You’ll know what to do…”

Scootaloo’s eyes wandered, and amongst her crying, she put herself deep in thought. Shaking her head at the thought of losing Flake again, she kept puzzling her options. Then with a deep and hesitant breath, she turned to Flake, and the tears in her eyes spilled even harder.

“Flake…” she whimpered in agony, “I can’t let Equestria fall…” She took a breath to give herself a moment. “But… I can’t do this without you either. We’re a team. We’re meant to do this together. Even if it means… we do this apart...”

“Hm?” Flake leaned closer, feeling concerned. “What do you mean?”

She turned to Twilight, solemnly looking her in the eye. “If I am in charge, here are my orders…” she said as clearly as she could through her sobs. “All of you must bring Flake to Celestia; Dozer will show you the way.”

The others began exchanging looks with each other, feeling like they could sense where this was going.

“Twilight… you and your friends need to use your magic to release her.”

Twilight could feel the sudden tension in what she was implying. She stepped forth, shaking her head. “Scootaloo, what are you doing…? What are you saying?”

“I’m… I’m going to the core…” whimpered the terrified pegasus. “...By myself.”

Silence. Everypony began exchanging looks with each other, and the tension in the cave had become overwhelming.

“Scootaloo,” Flake weakly spoke to her, “You can’t go alone… You should all go; you’re stronger together. You’re a team.”

“If they come with me… you’ll die. And I can’t let that happen.”

“And if you go alone, you will!!” Flake shouted hysterically, managing to stand up with shaking limbs. “I can’t let you do this by yourself!”

Scootaloo nibbled her bottom lip, and she wrapped her hooves around him for an embrace of reassurance. She then stepped back, and looked deeply into his eyes. “You told me you believed I could do this without you, before I thought I saw you die…”

Flake’s eyes wandered, and he chewed on his lip at the truth.

“I need you to keep believing in me…”

With a sniffle, Flake nodded. “I-I do… but—”

Scootaloo tilted her head with a bittersweet smile. “It’ll be okay…”

Slowly, Flake nodded, and he leaned in for another hug. He held her for a few moments before he released her, and he lifted her chin. “Be strong…” he whispered, “like you always are…”

Scootaloo nodded and trembled. “I-I will.”

Flake exhaled slowly. “I love you, too…” he whispered sweetly.

With their goodbyes in place, Flake looked to the others. Twilight nodded, and she looked to everyone else. “Let’s go, everypony. We don’t have much time.”

“You might want to bring this with you,” Dozer said to Scootaloo, slipped the saddlebag off his back, and he set it down next to her. Scootaloo nodded respectfully, and she wore it on her back. “Good luck, Scootaloo…”

Scootaloo nodded, and she stepped back. “You, too.” Then, she looked to Flake for one last message. “I don’t know what our lives entail… but I have faith. Trust in my faith, as I have trusted you from the beginning.”

Flake sniffled and tears trailed down his cheeks from his emerald eyes, and he respectfully nodded to her. “Okay. I will.”

She gave him one last bittersweet smile, and she turned and ran into the darkness, once again leaving him behind. Flake watched her make her exit, feeling his heart sink deeper the further she ran.

Twilight placed a hoof upon his shoulder, and he gasped, snapping out of his moment of silence.

“She’ll be okay,” Twilight whispered.

“I do hope so…” he quietly sighed.

“Well, we’d better get going,” Dozer exclaimed, trotting back where they came from. The ponies all followed him, and Flake kept looking into the darkness where he watched Scootaloo leave. Then taking a few steps back, he turned and followed the others.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Alone once again, like in the beginning of her journey, Scootaloo climbed higher into the caves. She knew where she was going—the tunnels were horrifyingly familiar to her. The mesh walls were getting thicker as she traveled, so she knew she was getting closer.

She could feel her heart jumping horrendously as she reached the final stretch. The one that went upward through strands of cobwebs. The hole where she had fallen into her escape from the very beginning.

Gulping for air, she began climbing the green mesh. Higher into the dark, she could hear her own breath—she was gasping for air, frightened beyond anything she has ever felt before. Then passing up through the last few cobwebs, she climbed up out of the hole…

A black cloud spinning in circles of the dome was the first thing she saw when she entered. The cloud was a thick swarm of thousands upon thousands of changelings, buzzing like hornets.

Her ears fell back, and she trembled at the sight of the heart of the changeling hive. She knew that having faith was now the only thing left she had on her side. She felt cold, and completely alone.

“Mercy, help me…” she whimpered, cowering before the core.

Impending Doom

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Scootaloo stared fearfully into the heart of the hive she had just entered. The changelings of the core flew in a synchronized circle around the dome, like a tornado of black hornets. She knew it was only a matter of time before one of them were to spot her. There were cocooned ponies hung all across the ceiling, and there was an opening to the outside at the very top, just as she remembered it, like the mouth of a volcano. The clouds were still thick and green, like smog, and no sun nor moon could shine through.

The nervous pegasus opened her saddlebags, and looked inside to see what she had to work with. Five potions, and Queen Chrysalis’ crown.

She didn’t have much of a chance in her position. All she had was faith. Looking back up at the swarm, she wasn’t sure what she could do, but all that was at stake was resting in her hooves alone, and she had to do something to save her kind.

Suddenly the changelings’ flight patterns changed, and they made a curve in their path, and began trailing down after her. She gasped and froze—they had spotted her. Rushing down after her like angry bees, she had to act fast. The question rushed through her mind, “What do I do…?”

She could run… She could fight… Either way, her options were mute. It didn’t seem to matter; she had walked into her impending fate.

“No…” she whispered to herself, refusing to believe this was the end. Standing tall, she pressed forward, and faced the incoming swarm. Taking in a deep breath, she took the only action she could against them—by speaking to them.

“By now I would imagine you all know who I am!” she chanted to them out loud. “I am the pony who had escaped your hive! I’ve eaten insects and dried up, decade old food to survive, and traveled across Equestria to get away from you! Well I’m tired of running; I’m tired of hiding!” Tears began streaming down her cheeks as she raised her voice, and she stood taller, proud of how far she’s gone. All of what she had just said was enough to say to herself, that she at least tried. “You want me so bad that you had to risk the lives of your own blood to retrieve me?! For one pony?? Well, here I am!!”

What she was chanting to the changelings seemed to aggravate them more, understandably. But after she spoke to the heart of their hive this way, her fear had toned down into almost nothing. She’s gone too far to fail—there was no way she possibly could now. She had faith in that, and she wasn’t about to turn around. Reaching into her saddlebag, she wasn’t sure if what she had in mind would work to her advantage, but she didn’t have many other options. Scootaloo had to act now, or everything she has worked for up until this point will be for nothing. From her saddlebag, she pulled out Chrysalis’ crown, and she held it in two hooves in front of her, showing it to the mob of changelings in the neon light from the deathly clouds.

In response to the exposure of their Queen’s crown, their flight pattern changed. They seemed to slow down, and rather than one massive swarm hurtling toward her, they spread apart, as if they were being repelled by a forbidding shield. Scootaloo kept the crown held high, and she gnashed her teeth defensively. She stood her ground—in sweat and tears—unafraid.

Something then happened that the pegasus could not fathom. There she was, all alone against the entirety of Chrysalis’ minions, and the swarm against her stopped. The entire hive—they froze in motion.

Their eyes were wide, as if they were frightened of her. They kept a distance away from her in a spherical formation surrounding her, hovering in sudden silence.

Scootaloo wasn’t sure how to react at this point. She could see the look of uncertainty in all of their eyes, and she kept turning her glance to witness every single one of them. They had her full attention—it was now her chance to speak.

The pegasus slowly lowered Chrysalis’ crown, and held it closer to her chest. Her ears curved back, and she expressed to them her sympathy for the loss of their Queen.

“I have not come back for vengeance. I have come back to make peace.”

The changelings seemed to react in many odd ways. Risen brows and exchanged glances with one another, Scootaloo could see that they were dumbfounded by her daring request in this depth of the hive while wielding their Queen’s crown.

“You have felt your Queen die,” she sympathized. “I saw it happen before my eyes… I was there when she withered away into dust. I tried saving her life, but there was nothing left I could do…”

“What makes you think we should believe you?” asked a changeling amongst the swarm. “How do we know it wasn’t you who killed her?”

Scootaloo sighed, nodding and folding her ears back. The accusation was understandable, and with this many changelings to convince otherwise, there was not much she could do or say—she could only pray. “There are thousands of you, and I am alone,” she said to them in a nervous voice. “Why would I come back to the heart of your hive if I did such a thing to your Queen?”

The changelings exchanged looks with one another. It was in their blood instinct to want to capture her and put her with the rest of the ponies, but none of them seemed to be retaliating.

After some time in silence, one of the changelings came hovering down from above her. He landed a couple meters before her, and looked to her with uncertainty.

“I will admit, coming here was very unwise,” he declared with squinting eyes. “What is it you want, pony? Why did you come back?”

She nibbled her bottom lip, uncertain how she could explain herself without them taking it the wrong way. She was in hot water, and anything she was about to say could change the fate of Equestria, if even just one changeling were to attack.

Taking in a breath, she explained herself. “I have come to tell you of the Great Changeling King…”

Eyes were wide, and glances were exchanged. Chatter among the thousands echoed throughout the dome, and Scootaloo’s nervousness escalated. When their chatter quieted down for her to speak again, she continued.

“He is reborn… and he is in your hive. But, he is not who you might remember him to be… He will try to convert you into monsters like him.”

“Monsters?” one of them questioned her. “We are already monsters!”

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “A monster is a creature whose actions go against the elements of harmony. You are not monsters. You are all doing what you were meant to do.” She looked up at all the cocoons with entrapped ponies, and her ears sank to her sides. “And for all you’ve done… for taking a decade out of all of our lives… I forgive you. Because you were only doing what you had to, for your survival…”

The changeling standing before seemed to be lost for words. He stepped up to her, confused. “Wait… what? You’re not… mad?”

“I saw the grave of ponies. I saw what my world had become.” Her eyes expressed sadness, and she nodded. “But… none of this was your fault. It took me a long time to see it that way, and for awhile, yeah, I was mad. But… I’m not any more. I don’t hate any of you for your way of life. Just as the rabbit eats the carrot, the hawk must eat the rabbit...”

He squinted at her, trying to learn exactly what it was she wanted. “So you came all this way… to protect us?”

She nodded slowly, feeling relieved that they were beginning to understand. “Chrysalis herself pleaded me to come here and let you know. The king is coming, and he won’t spare anyone that gets in his way… Chrysalis tried to defend me and my friends against him, because she really hoped that we could save her hive. And in doing this, she was killed...”

“Your friends?”

Scootaloo nibbled her bottom lip and nodded. “You are all in danger, and time is short. I don’t know what I can do being here… But I had to try. I had to at least warn you. I had to do ‘something’…”

The changelings looked to each other with mixed expressions. She could tell it was not easy to convince them of her intentions.

“If all your pony friends weren’t in captivity, would you have still come?”

“Huh?” the pegasus murmured.

The changeling who questioned her rephrased himself, “Did you come here for us?” He looked up at the ceiling of cocoons. “Or them?” Looking back at her, he expressed uncertainty of her trust. “If those ponies were not in captivity, would you still have come here?”

The question was valid and understandable. Scootaloo, however, didn’t hesitate to answer. “I know that if I was in the heart of an impending disaster, I would wish somepony would come and help me, too.”

They had a moment to gather each other’s understandings, when there was a sound echoing through the dome. It sounded like silent thunder, and as it gradually grew louder, the ground and walls began to vibrate. The changelings were all spinning in their idle positions, turning their necks to see where it was coming from; after what they had been told, they were acting very paranoid.

Scootaloo gnashed her teeth, and her ears fell back. She was just as concerned, and looking down at her hooves, small pebbles were bouncing on the shaking ground. She felt her heart drop into her stomach, acknowledging that the king was about to make his entrance.

The ground cracked and shifted, and from right beneath her formed a web shaped split in the rock that grew across the floor in a wide radius. The changelings all fled the scene in a panic, and Scootaloo was too petrified to move from her spot. She was shaking at her knees, and her head turned to see that she was right in the middle of it—he was right beneath her.

The ground began to lift in chunks, and the entire cave was shaking vigorously. Then in an enormous explosion of debris, Scootaloo flailed skyward, shrieking. She caught wind and hovered at a safe distance above, as she watched the horror beneath her.

Razor sharp legs like a giant spider rose up from the holes created by the monster below, and they came back down to the ground to pull himself out of the abyss. Then in the frightening silence, out climbed the Changeling King. The razor fins on his spine trailed all the way down his back, his enormous bat wings strongly curved from his shoulders, and his four limbs stood out like a spider’s legs. He stood powerfully in the middle of the room, taking up a fifth of the overall size of the dome. He turned where he stood, acknowledging all the frightened changelings hiding from him against the walls, chuckling in his deep, deathly voice. Then he turned to Scootaloo, who was in flight only a few meters from his face. Her eyes were wide, and she was trembling from the sight of him, and her fear only escalated when she made eye contact with the blood-eyed monster.

“Daring Do…” his voice echoed through the caves. He showed his razor teeth in a disturbing grin.

Scootaloo’s heart raced, and she turned her neck to all the changelings watching. She was too scared to flee, and too afraid to fight. She could hardly move, not knowing what to do.

“How fitting to see you here,” he growled and glared at her.

The pegasus was trembling beyond control. She gulped from immense fear, staring into the horrifying crimson eyes of the gigantic monster. She couldn’t react—her frozen mental state wouldn’t let her. Nervous sweat rolled down from her forehead, and her eyes were dilated.

“I can smell your fear. It reaks…” the monster growled with his thunderous voice. He then disregarded the pegasus, seeing she was no threat to him, and he turned to the changelings who had fled to the furthest edges of the dome to avoid him. “Join me, my children,” he spoke out to them, “The cocoons… Feed off the rest of the love from the ponies, and rid their existence. Become strong like me, and we can become unstoppable.” He grinned, and the changelings exchanged looks with one another. “Equestria is nothing but a wasteland now; but we can turn it into a home far greater than we could ever imagine.”

Scootaloo was in a moment of trance. Her shivers died down hearing his chanting to the changelings, and something inside her snapped. She was indeed afraid beyond anything she has felt facing against this enormous creature, but she had to do something… say something… anything. Building her courage, she gnashed her teeth and squinted furiously at him, and a sudden roar escaped from her throat. “HEY!!!”

The ears of the giant changeling perked at the sound of her hoarse shriek, and he turned back to face her, grinning pitifully at her.

Scootaloo was twitching now, and her trembles of fear turned into shivers of anger. “If you’re so bold, finish what you started—with me!!”

Briefly, the changeling monster turned to see that the others were watching him being tested by this mere pony. “Hmh…” He turned back to her, cringing at her. “What an unwise specimen you’ve proven yourself to be, Daring Do.”

She twitched again, and she hovered up another meter to elevate herself. “My name is Scootaloo!” she shrieked loudly for all to hear. “How do you know me?! Who are you?!”

He squinted at her, breathing fiercely from his nostrils. “You humiliated me, putting a bad name to my role. A mere pony… defeating me with nothing but her wits.”

Scootaloo raised a brow, confused.

“I was ashamed to return to the hive as I was after what you’ve done to me. And I knew, if I were to show my face again, I had to redeem myself of the burdens you’ve caused me.”

The pegasus seemed to understand what he was implying. “So to redeem your role, you stole the ancient relic that the Queen hid so long ago to never be tampered with again.” She pointed a hoof at him in disgust. “And look what it made you become.”

“A monster?” he chuckled. “It made me grow strong! And with it, I was able to absorb so much love from the ponies in the hive that I’ve become so powerful, no force in Equestria can stand in my way!” He turned to the other changelings and spoke to them. “Chrysalis lied to us all about the Element of Love!” He addressed the glowing pink gem strapped to his chest. “She said it would corrupt us. But look at me!” His voice echoed through the dome. “I am now the most powerful creature to ever roam our world!”

“Hey!!” Scootaloo interrupted his speech to the changelings once more. He twitched in response and turned back to her, furiously. “Answer my question!! Who are you?!”

The deathly voice of the gigantic beast breathed through his teeth. “Heh… You still do not understand? You don’t remember… what you did to me?!” he screamed out loud. “You buried me, in a grave in which I rightfully should have remained. But I couldn’t let myself go—not like that—I could not rest in peace without knowing I’ve had my vengeance on you and your kind!”

Scootaloo squinted at first, trying to put it together. She thought back to the beginning… who could he be? What did he mean that she buried him? Then it suddenly hit her, and it all made sense. Her eyes widened, and she floated back at the realization. “You’re… you’re that changeling who cornered me in Ponyville. I… I killed you! I crashed you through the floor! The ceiling in Sugarcube Corner collapsed on you and buried you in its debris! You should be dead!”

The monstrous changeling grinned that she finally remembered. “I am Plague!”

A sudden lunge forward, he raised his giant limb, and went to attack her. Slashing his single-clawed hoof at her with a horizontal swipe, Scootaloo was quick to react, and she dove downward. She could feel his attack brush the end of her tail as she barely dodged his strike. Flying straight down, Scootaloo swerved and tilted to regain her balance, and after doing a few airborne barrel rolls, she maneuvered a new angle, and now leveled out, she began flying back up toward him.

“I’ll end you, pony!” Plague made the attempt to strike again as she came charging toward him, and he swiped his claw at her vertically. Scootaloo swerved quickly to the side, and his heavy attack missed once again, though the gust of wind from the attack got caught in the folds of her wings. Wide-eyed and stunned, Scootaloo flipped backwards several meters in the air from the brush of wind, shrieking and gasping. Capturing her balance once again after some dizzying spinning, she leveled out and found herself facing towards the monster once again. In that moment, he had a red glowing horn, pointing straight at her.

He was about to fire a spell, and she had barely enough time to react and serve to the side once again. From his crooked horn, a horrendously wide beam of blood-red magic ripped past her, burning the end of her tail, and the trailed beam of magic tore straight through the stone wall behind her. She flipped to the left, and the changeling king charged up yet another spell, and after building energy, he fired again. In a panic, Scootaloo reacted by swerving the other way, flipping sideways to dodge this attack as well, and it, too, vaporized through the walls behind her, exposing the empty wasteland of Equestria beyond it through a circular window of melted rock.

Scootaloo was gasping for air, frightened by the impossible fight she had found herself involved in. Plague was charging another red spell on his horn; she knew she couldn’t hold those attacks off for much longer. Though, there were not many options for her—he was fully mindset on eliminating her. Just as he fired his beam, she went for another nose dive, soaring straight down. His wide beam burst past her once more, missing her by the end of her tail.

As she soared downward, the changeling king watched her movements with his bright red eyes. She made her way absolutely vertically; it merely looked as though she was going to crash into the ground. Then just as she was about to come in contact with the floor of the hive’s core, she pulled up ninety degrees, and she flew level with the ground, dodging fallen debris that had formed from his entrance with zigzagging maneuvers.

Heading straight for Plague, Scootaloo flew right beneath him, and then pulled upward. Up close, she could determine that he was undoubtedly well over a hundred times her size at this point of his growing cycle. Being this close sent chills down her spine. The monster sidesteps, making the cave rumble with each impact to the ground with his hooves. The brave pegasus flew up from behind him, and she head straight up, past his total height, and kept going skyward. Plague spun around, trying to locate her; her movements were quick, and confusing like a fly.

Spotting her in the air, he swung his limb up at her, attempting to strike her out of the air with his single clawed hoof. Scootaloo could sense his attack coming as if it were instinct, and she naturally swerved to the side. His claw ripped past her again, though it clipped the tips of her feathers. “AH!” His strike caused her to wobbled in the air. Regaining her balance once again, she kept flying higher, with the large opening overhead that exposed the smog in the sky.

Once she gained a satisfying height, she furrowed her eyes and looked back, down at the giant monster below. Gnashing her teeth, she stopped flapping her wings, and curved to fly back down after him. She put one hoof out in front of her, and clenched her teeth as tears came from the corners of her eyes while increasing speed.

The changelings all watched the pony return fire, heading back down after the changeling king. They were awestruck that this mere pegasus was battling such a giant monster, and yet without any magical abilities of her own. All she had was her wings and her wits.

“Fool!” he roared at her from below, charging his horn again. Scootaloo braced herself for the attack he was preparing. Then with a full forced blast of red magic, his beam shot straight up at her. She was prepared for this attack, and managed to dodge to the side in time to not take the hit, while maintaining her increasing velocity.

“AAAAAH!!!” shrieking at the monster below, Scootaloo reached a velocity that sent chills down all the changelings’ spines.

Gnashing his teeth, Plague instinctively waved his hoof up in the air in the attempt to swat the airborne pegasus, but she was proven too quick for him, and before he had a chance to strike, she crashed straight into his skull between his eyes, hoof first. Her impact sent a loud crackling sound through the air, and she ricocheted off his head to the side, and his head bobbed as he made a slight sidestepping stumble from her strike.

Scootaloo had lost a lot of balance from her own attack, not used to the intense speed she had reached, and she found herself hurtling through the air. Plague regained his idle stature, and he charged up another spell, aiming at the out of control pegasus. “I’ll make you wish you’ve never gotten out of your cocoon!” An explosion from his horn, he fired another beam of crimson energy at her. The beam ripping toward the flailing pony struck just past her head; she could feel the heat emanating from the magic attack, and in that instant, the left half of her mane burnt into dust and smoke.

She gasped and panicked, and unable to regain her balance, she collapsed into the ground into a hard roll, and she tumbled across the floor. During her stumbling roll, she made her best effort to maneuver the roll back onto her hooves, which she managed to do so in an awkward gallop. Wasting no time, from her galloping state, she kicked off the ground, and flew back up in the air with powerful wings.

Returning skyward, she angled her flight to spin counterclockwise around the gigantic beast, while keeping her glaring eyes on his. He gnashed his teeth in response once more, and he charged up his horn. Then a rapidfire of smaller, yet still dangerous bullets of magic came flinging at her like a machinegun. Scootaloo saw them coming fast, and going wide-eyed, she swerved and zigzagged as they ripped past her at multiple angles around her. She could feel the brush of heat swish by her, each bullet feeling far too close for comfort. Swerving up, down, left and right, she barrel rolled and flipped out of harm’s way.

Enraged that her flying skills outdid his aim, he stopped his rapid fire attack, and formed a giant sword of blood-red fire that hovered before him. Scootaloo’s jaw hung open at the size of the weapon produced from pure magic; it was at least ten times her size. Holding a hoof forward like a command, the ablaze blade sliced through the air at Scootaloo at an angle. In that one quick swipe that she was not prepared for, it sliced off half her tail in smoke and flames.

Piece by piece, he was destroying her; she had to do something against his attacks. How could she compete with such unmatchable power? As hard as it was to see this positive, she had to try fighting back; she obviously couldn’t run. Plague repositioned his hovering weapon, and he struck at her again downward. Scootaloo saw the attack ahead of her; he was attempting to strike vertically in a position where she was heading. That acknowledged, she hit the brakes, and watched the bright crimson blade flare before her eyes just past her at a very unfriendly speed. Maneuvering up and over the weapon, she made a hard left turn, straight back at the monster.

Seeing that she was coming for him again, his sword vanished in a cloud of smoke so he could concentrate on a different spell. Flaring up his horn again, he began firing more rapid darts of magic. She was far too close for him to concentrate on properly aiming, and each dart of magic ripped past her.

Fearlessly flying through the crackling fires of Red Death, she soared closer and closer to the beast. The rapid fire came to a halt, and he tilted his head back with gnashing teeth to charge one of his large blasts again. Just before he fired, Scootaloo dove downward, and he fired with a complete miss. When his beam of concentrated magic depleted, from beneath the monster, up came the angry pegasus, and she flew straight up into the side of his horn.

“AAH” shrieked the Requiem of Equestria as Scootaloo ricocheted off of him again, and he sidestepped from her impact. The cave rumbled with his giant steps, and he regained balance, turning to glare at the pegasus who was now flying the other way about to perform a U-turn. When she turned around to face him, she hovered up at a safe distance, keeping herself still.

They had a standoff moment, glaring furious eyes at each other from afar. Plague was about to make the next move, when a sound echoed from in the cave… a sound that wide-eyed the king, and made Scootaloo confused. She looked around from where she hovered, and found that the changelings all watching… were cheering her on.

“Come on, Scootaloo!” one of them called out to her.

Plague turned his neck at all his backstabbing children, and from the bottom of his lungs, he roared furiously. “How dare you!!!” he shrieked, “I am your King!!!”

Scootaloo spun around, feeling their chanting as a warm welcome. It inspired her, and made her feel right inside.

“Leave the pegasus alone, she’s trying to help us!” another voice called out to him.

“Queen Chrysalis sent her!”

Plague began feeling the harsh, cold defeat in his plans. Cringing, he yelled at them once more, “You have no Queen, for she is DEAD!!!”

Cringing furiously, he turned back to Scootaloo with an illuminating horn. She flinched when he targeted her, and he flared up his spell before launching it. Just as he released his explosive magic, a changeling from above rammed into his head, resulting in his attack missing by a few meters.

“YOU!” he swat his giant hoof up at the attacking changeling, striking him in the shoulder. The changeling flipped a few meters away, and regaining his balance, he hovered at a safe distance. Then another changeling came down after him, striking him in the back of his neck. “What is this?!” he roared at them, and found that the changelings were all coming down after him one after the other. Scootaloo watched in awe as they struck him one by one, and the attacking swarm increased in numbers.

“AAAAAAAAH!!” He flailed his limbs in the air, trying to strike at them. Angrily, his giant hooves bat several of them out of the air. The wounded changelings fell out of the sky and collapsed into the ground. But for each changeling that he knocked out of the air, a dozen more took its place. “Get off of me!!” shrieked the giant monster, and his horn glowed a deathly red.

Scootaloo saw this, and she payed attention to where he was aiming. She couldn’t let him attack the changelings with Red Death; she had to do something. Acting quickly, she flew at him to join in the battle. “Hey!!” He looked at her with his furious eyes, giving her his full attention. Plague furrowed his eyes and threw a few more changelings off of him, then focused his aim on her. With her in his targeted sights, he furiously charged up his spell once again.

Wide-eyed, Scootaloo gave her best efforts to prepare for the impending attack in hopes she could dodge this one, too. The small changeling attacks were clearly doing nothing to the monster; they were just annoying him. With her in his focus to attack, he had blocked out the other changelings, completely ignoring them.

“Time to end this,” he coldly muttered, his horn illuminating brightly.

Just as he was to fire, a loud, terrifying shriek echoed through the dome. Scootaloo, as well as the changelings, recognized this. It sent chills down their spines, and they all looked up to where it had come from. Plague looked up, too, and there above them was a phoenix.

“AAGH!!” Plague furiously yelled at it, switching his target to the phoenix instead of Scootaloo, and he fired his beam at it. The phoenix swerved around the attack, and it raced towards him.

“Philomena!!” another familiar voice yelled out from above, “Stop that monstrosity!”

From above, they could see Princess Celestia in all her glory, hovering down from the clouds with her large wings. She was frowning, determined to end what had begun. As she descent, the thick smog above her separated, exposing a cerulean sky through the opening of the top of the dome, and the beautiful, warm rays of the sun.

“How is she free?!” Plague snapped. Then the golden bird of flames crashed down into his muzzle, and it began pelting him with repeated attacks. The other changelings backed off when the phoenix arrived, frightened of the flaming bird. The king flailed his head in the attempts to shake off the legendary bird. “AAGH!” He swat his hoof at the phoenix, striking it out of the air. Philomena screeched loudly when he hit her, and fell to the ground with a hard thud.

He cringed at the bird, and Philomena dissolved into ashes. Then, looking up, he had realized the phoenix was a distraction, and he was now surrounded by six ponies. Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Applejack were hovering weightlessly around him in an orbital motion. Glowing with a spectrum of colours, they prepared to strike the king with their elements.

Scootaloo watched in awe as they illuminated brighter.

“Now, ponies!!” screamed Celestia.

Preparing their final stages of their attack, a beam of light cast from each pony and into the monster. Plague flinched and grunt, and he felt immobilized.

“Send him to Tartarus!” the sun princess instructed the ponies.

Plague squinted and grit his teeth. “So, you freed Celestia with these powers you bestow?” he cackled at them, and looked up to Celestia with a wide grin. “This is your defense to protect Equestria? Oh, my dear princess, you wouldn’t know power if it hit you in the face.”

His horn flared a crimson glow, and despite their magic holding him down, he managed to move regardless. An explosion erupted from his horn, and a radius of magic flared from him and struck all six ponies at once.

They repelled backwards, shrieking, and the magical connection from their elements of harmony were disrupted. Each of them collapsed into the ground, and the king stood strong.

Celestia nibbled her bottom lip, feeling the turmoil of the situation. Scootaloo gasped to see her friends being struck down like that. Frowning and gnashing her teeth, she looked to Plague with hating eyes, having had enough of him. “AAAH!!”

Launching herself toward the monster, Plague focused on her. He prepared for her attack, and simply grinned. Celestia was in awe that Scootaloo still wanted to fight after seeing what happened to the Elements of Harmony against him.

“Come on!!” she carelessly screamed at him.

Plague growled and his horn began to illuminate with black electrical static emanating from it. She didn’t allow this to phase her, and she kept coming at him. As she came closer, he watched her flight pattern, and aimed where he predicted she would try to fly to in an attempt to dodge. “Dodge this, pegasus!!” From his horn, a black, shadowy sphere of pulsating energy came hurtling toward her. Scootaloo’s eyes widened; he hasn’t cast this attack yet, and didn’t know how to act.

“Scootaloo!!” A familiar voice from above her screamed out to her, “NO!!”

She could tell it was Flake who called her name. Briefly looking skyward, she saw the green changeling in the skylight, flying as hard as he could toward her. Everything felt like time had slowed down, and looking back to the bullet that Plague had fired at her, she knew there was no use on dodging; it was coming too fast. She gave it an effort by swerving to the side, but to no avail; it hit her dead on, and an explosion of energy echoed through the dome. Celestia and the six grounded ponies gasped at the sight of Scootaloo being shot out of the sky by this attack, and she came falling out of the air with a trail of black smoke behind her.

She crashed into the ground and bounced a few times as the trail of smoke from the dark magic followed her behind. After a few bounces, she skid across the ground to a complete stop, and the dark magic that emanated from her still body slowly depleted.

Flake flew down to her and landed next to her, gasping. “Scootaloo?” he whimpered, kneeling to his haunches to check on her. “Scootaloo, no. No, come on. Celestia didn’t heal me so I can come this far to watch you die. Now get up.”

A loud, crackling noise echoed through the dome, which was determined to be Plague’s laughter. Flake began to panic, shaking her by the shoulders. “Come on, get up!”

Though he tried, he couldn’t awaken the pegasus. “Scootaloo, please get up!” In tears, he lowered his head over her, and he embraced her.

The six grounded ponies watched from where they were, dumbfounded and distraught. Celestia had a look on her face of disbelief. The changelings among the dome were silent, and they watched with their observing turquoise eyes. Her act of heroism had captured their attention; she knew she didn’t stand a chance against the king, and yet, she risked everything for them regardless. And in the end, took the fall for everypony else. And to top it all off, they felt something they’ve never understood before when they witnessed Flake embracing her, crying over her.

Changelings exchanged looks with one another. They were confused by what they felt, but witnessing Scootaloo fall for their sake and seeing how much Flake cared, opened their eyes, and opened something forgotten deep within their hearts.

“Face it, fool,” Plague’s booming voice growled, and the silence of the cave was once again consumed with his sadistic laughter. “She’s gone.”

As One

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Fog…

That’s all she could see.

Her trembling voice echoed in the dark void. “S-so… c-cold…” she whimpered to herself in a frightened tone.

“I’ve failed…” said the whimpering mare, sensing that she was drifting weightlessly through the silent darkness of despair. As her vision finally returned to her, she could see that she was in the dream world, where she met Mercy. She curled in a ball while afloat in the gleaming starlight of this open void. She whimpered to herself, feeling agony in her heart. “What did I do wrong…? You said have faith…”

“It takes faith to dive straight into the eyes of death, Scootaloo,” said a deep, comforting voice resounding in the empty space.

Scootaloo gasped and uncurled, looking up. Suddenly standing on a weightless cloud of mist, she looked up to the King of Equestria. “Mercy…” she whimpered, and uncontrollably started crying. “Why is this so damn hard?! I’ve come so far… I did everything you told me to!”

“I have told you to do nothing, other than to move forward with faith. This is your story, not mine; only you can write your history.”

Scootaloo lowered her head, weeping. “A-am I dead? Is that why I’m here…?”

Mercy remained silent. His silence made Scootaloo feel nervous, and her eyes widened. “I cannot answer that,” he finally said.

“W-what do you mean, why not?” Her words seemed to shuffle. “What would it matter if I was dead? Why wouldn’t you be able to answer that? If I was dead, I wouldn’t be able to go back, and you wouldn’t have a reason to keep being so friggin mysterious!!”

Mercy raised a brow. “And?”

“And—” She let out a grunt. “—What the hell! Would you stop that?!”

“Stop what?”

“Being so mysterious all the time!”

Mercy just quietly chuckled. “I’m just doing my role. Perhaps you should continue doing yours.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” she mumbled. “Am I dead or not?!”

“Well, isn’t that for you to decide, Scootaloo?”

Scootaloo blinked a few times, lifting her head higher in question. “Well… If I’m not dead… then what the heck am I? Did you see that huge spell that Plague shot at me?! How could I survive that?! What even was that?!”

“Yes, I saw it. Shadow Globe, is what it’s called; one of the most difficult spells to cast, and nopony has ever survived its guaranteed instant death before. So, are you dead, or not, then?”

Scootaloo’s hoof swiftly made its way to her forehead, and she let out a grunt. She sat on her flank and lowered her head, sighing.

“It’s not a trick question,” said the king.

A weeping sound emanated from the pegasus. The way he described the spell made her heart sink; there was no way she could be alive if that was the case. “Even if I did return… what could a pony like me do, now, anyway? That monster defeated the Elements of Harmony…”

“Hmh. Did he?”

Scootaloo looked up in question. “Well, yeah…”

“The Elements of Harmony cancel each other out when they are attacking each other,” he declared. “An Element bearer can not be defeated by another Element of Harmony.”

Scootaloo’s eyes wandered a bit, trying to put together what he had explained. “But… the Element of Love isn’t one of the Elements of Harmony, is it?” She looked back to him. “It’s an element on its own, is it not?”

“Perhaps,” he replied solemnly. “However, does love not have a representation of Harmony in itself?”

Scootaloo tilted her head, and she squinted at him. “Hold on… what are you implying?”

Mercy didn’t say anything. He only nodded as Scootaloo’s eyes widened. She began to catch on.

“Wait…” she paused briefly, trying to put it together. “You… you’re saying… the Changeling King…” Her eyes widened, and she stood up tall. “The Element of Love… That gem on his chest is what’s protecting him—that’s why the Elements failed to stop him! It canceled their spell out!”

Mercy nodded again. “You know, if you weren’t dead, you’d be able to do something about that now, wouldn’t you?”

Scootaloo’s eyes wandered, and she looked back up to him with hopeful eyes. “W-what’re you…”

“But as I said,” he continued, “An Element of Harmony can not defeat another Element of Harmony.” He gestured to Scootaloo as he made that declaration.

Scootaloo paused for a moment to try and understand, until she stepped back. “W-what? I’m…”

“You are the Element of Faith, Scootaloo.” He leaned closer. “Or did you not know this already?”

“W-what?!” Scootaloo put that deep into thought. That statement felt like it had hit her far too fast. It took her a moment, but after she let it sink in, she felt a sudden burst of inspiration. Everything Mercy had hinted to her made sense to her. Everything coincided exactly as it should have. The Changeling King was not yet defeated, because by fate, he was not meant to be.

“Everything happens for a reason, Scootaloo.” She nodded slowly in response to Mercy’s exclamation. “So, what now?”

A rush of destiny flowed through her veins. Determined to the core, she furrowed her eyes, and nodded. “I’m going back.”

“Oh?” He looked to her with a grin. “But, you are dead. Are you not?”

“Not this pegasus,” she boldly decided, and suddenly the entire dream world buckled beneath her hooves. The stars escaped the open void, and a flash of light consumed her vision.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Violet eyes jolt open. Looking up, she found herself lying on her side, with a crying Flake resting his head upon her. Plague’s laughter filled the changeling hive’s dome ominously. A gentle smile, and the pegasus rest her hoof upon Flake.

“H...huh?” Flake lifted his head, and looked into her eyes, in pouring tears. “H-h...how…? You’re…”

“I’m not going anywhere,” said a solemn Scootaloo. She gnashed her teeth, and pushed herself to her haunches. Flake stepped back, giving her space. His eyes were wide; he was completely astonished that she had gotten up after what had happened to her.

“This… this doesn’t make any sense!”

Standing to her hooves, Scootaloo leaned into Flake, and embraced him. “My time has not come,” she quietly said as she pulled away from the embrace. Resting her hooves upon his shoulders, she nodded. “My role is not yet complete. I have a destiny to fulfill.”

Flake looked back at her with stunned eyes, but after a few moments, he expressed a determined grin, and he nodded. There were still evident tears in his eyes, but he remained strong for her.

“Come with me,” she solemnly said, “Let’s do this together. We can finish this.”

Flake nodded, still tearing a little. “I believe in you, Scootaloo. I have faith in you.” He stepped back and spread his wings. “As one?”

Scootaloo nodded, spreading out her wings as well. “As one!”

Plague turned his glance to Scootaloo and Flake, and his eyes shot open at the sight of them standing together. “It can’t be!” Then in a powerful burst off the ground, they thrust into the air together, flying in a mesmerizing pattern together, as if they were dancing. They hovered up to eye level with the monster, and each glared at him.

“So, plan?” Flake asked.

“Get that gem,” she exclaimed, gesturing to the Element of Love upon Plague’s chest.

Plague gnashed his teeth and lit up his horn, posturing for battle.

“Split up!” Flake shouted, and upon command, Scootaloo and Flake both flew in opposite directions.

Down below, the six ponies pointed out the flying duo. “Hey look!” Rainbow Dash shouted out. Celestia was astonished to now see the pegasus airborne again, let alone the fact a pony and a changeling were fighting together. The changelings around the dome watched as well, all in awe, and they began chanting amongst each other, and cheered them on.

Plague turned to focus his aim on Scootaloo, furious that she survived. He was so angry that the magic on his horn was pulsating to a boiling point, bright as ever.

“Hey!!” Flake shouted out to the monster. “C’mon!!”

Plague growled and turned around, changing his target to focus on Flake.

“Your power is a joke!” Scootaloo yelled, “You want to know what true power is?!”

Plague was growing impatient, and he spun around to fire his attack at her. Releasing a large amount of magic, he launched his spell at her. She flipped sideways, and the beam ripped past her. Leveling herself out after his embarrassing miss, she pointed her hoof to her chest. “It comes from in here!! In all of us!! You can’t defeat us, Plague, we won’t let you!!”

Sudden pelts of magic were striking him from the back of his neck. Plague cringed and turned around. Flake was launching mesh spells at him from afar. He squinted at the olive changeling; his tiny attacks were nudging him with enough force to be annoying, though they were not dealing damage.

“Stop it!” he shrieked at the changeling. Flake ignored him and continued firing, bullet after bullet of green changeling mesh. “I said stop!!” He kept firing, disregarding the building anger in the giant monster. Plague gnashed his teeth and stepped toward him, his hooves shaking the cave with each step. “Enough!!” More darts of magic from Flake were pelting him, and Flake simply would not cease fire. He flew sideways, avoiding the beast from a distance while he continued shooting his impossible to miss target.

“You are making a fool out of me!!” Plague’s horn lit up brightly, and he aimed for Flake in the distance.

“Come on, Plague,” Scootaloo taunted, “Show me your power!”

“As you wish, pegasus!!!” He spun and fired his attack at her again. As if she had predicted what he was going to do, she had dodged long ahead of time, and he missed. Scootaloo just furrowed her eyes at him from afar, glaring at him.

“I shall not fail,” she exclaimed. “This hive and my friends, they all need me. You can throw anything you want at me, Plague, but I won’t stop!! And you will not win!!”

“Silence!!!” He lunged toward her, his horn glowing as if it were as furious as he was. He angrily swat at her, and she gnashed her teeth, swiftly dodging out of harm’s way.

More pelting magic was being cast from Flake, hitting him in the back. He frowned, but he tried to ignore his attacks; he wanted Scootaloo dead before he went after him. However, the attacks against his back were suddenly growing heavier. Different attacks, different patterns, and suddenly his entire body was being fired at.

“What is this?!” He spun around, to see a wall of changelings, all firing from their horns at him together. His eyes widened at the sight of the entire hive retaliating. Their attacks were strong enough to nudge him back a little.

“We will not stand by any longer! We’ve had enough!” a changeling among the attacking swarm shouted.

“If you’re so powerful and bold, then come at us!!” another changeling taunted.

While they were distracting him, Scootaloo made her move. She rushed into him, and flew around his massive body to go for the Element of Love on his chest before he could notice. Locating it, she made her way into it, and reached out with open hooves. Up close, the tiny speck of a gem appeared to be half the size of her head.

Reaching for the gemstone, she grasped it in two hooves. “G—AAAGH!!” The energy from the stone warped through her, and it repelled her hard. She flipped through the air backwards, but managed to level out. Her eyes were wide—how was she supposed to retrieve it with a powerful forcefield like that?

Plague was so distracted by the swarm of changelings firing their magic at him that he didn’t even notice. “STOP IT, YOU FOOLS!!!”

Flake trusted that the changelings would continue on their own, and he flew after Scootaloo. Joining up with her once again, he checked her to see if she was okay. “You hurt?”

“I’m alright,” said the pegasus, brushing herself off.

“Let’s try again,” Flake suggested, pointed to the Element of Love that was wide open with Plague being so distracted. “Before he realizes what we’re doing. Let’s do this together.”

Scootaloo nodded, and with that, she and Flake rushed toward the pink gem on Plague’s chest.

“ENOUGH!!” Plague yelled at the changelings, and he began firing bullets at them. Scootaloo turned back, acknowledging this. Her eyes were wide at the sight of the changelings all dropping from his missiles of magic one by one.

“No,” she murmured. “The changelings!”

Celestia ascent from below after aiding the other six ponies, who were still exhausted and grounded from their last attack. She pointed a hoof to Scootaloo’s destination. “Scootaloo, go!” Flake and Scootaloo both paid attention to her, hearing out her wishes. “I’ll distract the monster. Whatever it takes—get that gem!”

“You can do it, Scootaloo!!” Rainbow Dash cheered.

Celestia flew up to confront Plague, and aided the other changelings. By releasing a large forcefield of her magic, she repelled Plague’s spells, and the changelings kept firing their own magic back at him.

“GAAAH!!” Plague charged up another powerful attack, and he fired a large beam at her. It struck the face of her shield, and made her flinch and sweat. She gnashed her teeth, resisting as hard as she could to protect the changelings. His magic was strong, but she managed to hold him off enough to keep him from harming more changelings.

Scootaloo and Flake approached the gem on his chest once more. They exchanged looks with each other, and nodded.

“On three,” Flake initiated a countdown to act.

Scootaloo nodding and turning to the gem with wide open arms. “Two.”

“One!”

Simultaneously, Scootaloo and Flake reached out for the gem and grabbed it. The energy from within the gemstone was felt casting through their bodies. It was as if the gemstone was trying its hardest to push them away, but with the two of them taking on this task together, they were able to hang on.

“KEEP… GOING!” Flake called out to her, flinching from the incredible power flowing through him.

Scootaloo gnashed her teeth and groaned from the intense energy. “PULL!”

Together, they attempted to pull the Element of Love free from where it was attached to the giant changeling. In that moment, Plague noticed what they were doing, and he looked down to the tiny pony and changeling several meters beneath him. “NO—”

Too late. In their final efforts, they ripped the stone from his chest, and they each fell with it still in their arms. The moment the stone left his chest, Plague began howling in agony.

“NO!!! AAAAGH!!” He flailed in pain, and swat his limbs in the air. He could feel himself growing weaker now that it was gone. “MY POWER!!”

Scootaloo and Flake were at a hovering state. They slowly ascent after releasing the gemstone from his chest, and in doing so, it split in half, and each half merged with their chests. They could each feel an immense amount of power surging through them both. Scared, they held onto each other, as sparks of powerful energy rippled away from their bodies.

Celestia held up a hoof and turned to the changelings. “Hold your fire, changelings!!” she ordered, and they obeyed and stopped. She looked down to Twilight and the others.

“Again!!” she called out to them. “Use your Elements of Harmony!!”

“Right!” Twilight replied, and she and her friends galloped together. Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie met up together, and they joined hooves.

“Now, listen,” Twilight spoke to them, “This is it. It’s now or never. We can end this once and for all. The only thing stopping him from his defeat was that stone—now let’s take him down!!”

“You can not stop me!!!” Plague hacked away at them with his muttering words.

They then lifted off into the air with grace, each levitating toward him. Twilight and the others began orbiting around him once again, and he attempted to swat at them with his giant hooves. “Back off!!!” he muttered at them. “I mean it!!”

“Ready, girls?!” the princess of friendship asked out loud.

“Ready!!” they exclaimed with determined faces. With their second attempt on its way, their bodies glowed with a spectrum of colours. Plague spun around where he stood, watching the six ponies rotate around him weightlessly.

“Stop this, now!!” he demanded.

Off to the side, still in an embrace, Scootaloo and Flake were getting used to their newfound powers surging through their bodies. They released each other and floated back a little. They looked to each other with bright, gleaming eyes, in awe with one another’s glowing appearances. Scootaloo’s burnt up mane and tail had reformed anew, and were swaying gracefully with the wind. The Element of Love had fused with them, choosing them as its new host for control.

“I will not be defeated!! I am immortal!!” Plague screamed as sparks of magic emanated from his body while the Elements of Harmony cast their magic upon him.

Flake reached out and held Scootaloo’s hooves. “Let’s help them.”

Scootaloo, feeling energized and renewed, nodded. “Let’s save Equestria.”

In a hurry, Scootaloo and Flake flew to their orbiting circle around Plague. Hovering from above, they looked to each other and nodded to reassure each other. Concentrating the magic within them, joined with the Elements of Harmony, and a beam of magic cast from them as well, striking Plague in the chest where the Element of Love was last held in his possession.

“AAAAAA!!!” Plague’s shrieking was hoarse and agonizing, and he began shrinking. “NO, NO, NOOOO!!!” He collapsed to his haunches and cowered, holding his hooves upon his head.

Sparks of magic glowed from his shrinking body. All the ponies kept the magic of their elements focused on him, and he could only flail around, unable to stop them. A glow emanated from his horn, and it exploded clean off his head. Sparks of electrical magic cast in all directions from the hollow spot where his horn was.

“AAAH!! NO!!” his voice was becoming more and more hoarse, to the extent of a panic. Several moments had past, and Plague had shrunken down to the size of his former changeling self. Cowering there with his hands upon his head, a funnel of magic began forming beneath him from the power of the elements. In that final moment, Plague dropped inside its vortex. “NOOOO—!!” And in a blink, the portal closed up with an immense flash of light that lit up the entirety of the dome, and the magic being cast from the Elements of Harmony depleted.

Absolute silence…

Flake and the seven ponies descent safely to the ground. The glow surrounding Flake and Scootaloo had faded, returning them to their normal states, remaining hoof in hoof as they were when conjuring their magic alongside the other six ponies.

Acknowledging all the silence, Flake and Scootaloo released each other and took a step back to observe their surroundings. The six ponies were, too, examining the dome around them. The changelings were all spread out, watching them from afar.

“You had rid Plague of his magic,” Celestia exclaimed, approaching from off to the side. Flake and the ponies all looked to her. “The Elements of Harmony have sent him to Tartarus.” She then looked up at what the others were watching. The changelings didn’t seem to be moving; they remained a great distance from them. They were hiding it seemed, keeping silent and still—and their frightened eyes were on Scootaloo.

“So… what do we do now?” Twilight asked, quietly. She and the others looked up to the ceiling, where all the remaining ponies remained hanging within their cocoons. The cold intensified as sadness overtook them, and they exchanged looks with one another. Their ears fell back, and they remained still, uncertain what could happen next.

Then among their silence, Scootaloo stepped forward. She trotted past Flake and the other ponies, and they looked to her in question.

“Scootaloo?” Fluttershy whispered to her.

“What are you doing…?” Rainbow Dash asked.

She trotted silently to the center of the floor in the dome. Then looking around, she cleared her throat.

“Don’t be afraid,” she called out to the changelings, her voice echoing among the massive hive. After witnessing her and the others defeat such a monster with unfathomable power like that, they seemed to find it difficult to want to approach her. “It’s okay,” she said reassuringly. “I mean you no harm.”

The changelings exchanged looks with one another. Hushed whispers of uncertainty were communicated between them. Until one changeling finally left their crevice, and with buzzing wings, descended down to her. He was descending with hesitance, and he made his landing several meters away from her, his expressive, uneasy eyes looking suspiciously at hers. He stood from a distance, just looking eye to eye with the pegasus, but he remained unmoved.

“The dome General…” Flake whispered to Scootaloo.

After a long, quiet glance between one another, the changeling finally said something. “We… we don’t… know what to do.”

Scootaloo slowly nodded. “I understand.”

“Ten years, we’ve imprisoned your kind… and… many perished in the time we had consumed their love.” He sat on his flank, cowering slightly. “We didn’t know how to love… the only way we could ever live was to take it.” Lowering his head, his ears fell back. “Even our Queen could not learn another way to survive. And ponies would never simply just… let us take love from them. Chrysalis did all this, because she feared for our extinction. But she never wanted it to result in slowly killing off ponies. It just… happened along with what we did.”

A pause. Scootaloo just listened, feeling the apologetic words coming from this changeling, who was explaining on behalf of the entirety of the hive.

“We just…” An evident tear trickled from his eye. “We don’t know what to do… We don’t want to keep living like this. But… we don’t know another way. We don’t know what it means to love and be loved...”

Scootaloo slowly exhaled from her nostrils. “You said that your Queen did this for the sake of your kind to live on, yes?”

“I…”

“That,” she exclaimed, “is love.”

“...Huh?” He looked up with glistening turquoise eyes.

“Your Queen loved you, so much that she did everything that she knew she could to save you. She knew that what she was doing to the ponies was not the path of Harmony. But she, like you, did not know another way. But she wanted to be strong for you, and did everything in her power to sustain your lives with as much love as she could supply you with.”

“What…?” The changeling whimpered. “So… what do we do?”

She tilted her head. “You’re asking me?”

The changeling nodded, desperately. “What do we do?” he asked again.

“That depends…” said Scootaloo, “Do you trust me?”

“Huh…?”

“Do you trust me?” she repeated, this time more gentle.

“I…”

A silent pause. Scootaloo only smiled, and she approached the changeling. At first, the changeling took a step back, cowering a little. Flake and the other ponies watched curiously at what she was doing, and the changelings around the dome were all watching as well.

“Love cannot be taken,” Scootaloo said while calmly approaching the changeling, trying to express as little intimidation as she could. “It can only be shared—given and received. There are many ways of expressing it. Through generosity, you give. With kindness, we care. Sometimes, even when the truth is hard, honesty can do so much, for the right reasons. And to be loyal, we may sometimes have to put down what we want, for the ponies who we need. Through laughter and through faith in each other, in the end, love is no different than the Elements of Harmony.”

She had reached the changeling, face to face, and she extended her hoof to help him up from his cowering position. The changeling was frozen; he didn’t know how to respond, how to act, or what to think. After some time in silence, he accepted her helping hoof, and she assisted him in standing.

“You asked me what to do…” Scootaloo solemnly said, looking up to the cocooned ponies. “For starters, you can free all of the ponies.”

“What?” he muffled. “B-but… I…”

Scootaloo looked to him in question.

“What… what will we do? What if we can’t survive without them?” He slowly looked away. “And… when we free them, what will they think of us? They’ll fear us. Like they always have.”

The pegasus slowly nodded, understanding their concerns. “Trust me,” she replied with a warm smile. “Free them all, and you will see.” He looked back to her with worrisome eyes. “They may certainly think different of you after what your kind had done. But time changes all things, and heals all wounds. We all live in this world together. We may as well share it, in harmony, and with love.”

“How could these ponies ever forgive us, though?”

“It may take some time…” Scootaloo admitted to that concern. “But sometimes, we have to live through our mistakes, and allow time to make amends. You are afraid that the ponies will fear you… However, that is a fear of your own. You are just as afraid of us, as we are to you.”

Lowering his head, he tried to understand, nodding. He looked back up, turning his neck to all the changelings. They were all watching on his behalf, feeling the same sorrows as he was.

“I know you’re scared,” sympathized Scootaloo. He looked back to her, and she leaned into him. Wrapping her hooves around his shoulders, she hugged him. His eyes widened at her gesture, and it threw him off guard. “But you could be so much more… Trust me. I can save your kind.”

It took him a moment to process her gesture. The changelings watching had to lean in for a better look. What was happening? What was Scootaloo doing?

Then in response to her embrace, the changeling in her arms returned the gesture, putting his hooves around her. His eyes were wide, and they wandered. It was new; it was warm. And deep inside, he felt his burdens burn up, and he burst into tears. Then his coat began to change. His limbs of holes slowly sealed up, and his black coat began fading into a bright turquoise.

Watching this, the other changelings were in awe. Mystified beyond anything they’ve ever known, they kept silent.

“Free them,” she said once more. “Make them feel safe, make them feel your comfort. Show them love, and they will love back. And you will never go hungry again.”

She pulled away from the embrace, and keeping her hooves upon his shoulders, she smiled, looking into his new, sapphire irises. He was in calming tears, as if he was at peace.

Taking a step back, he respectfully nodded to her, and he took off to the air. From below, Scootaloo watched.

“Help me!” said the renewed changeling to his kind. They exchanged looks with one another, and they nodded. Then from all throughout the dome, they flew out from hiding, and ascent to the ceiling, where all the ponies were held.

One by one, they began plucking cocoons off the ceiling. Scootaloo, Flake and the other ponies watched in awe. It was too good to be true.

“In all my years, I…” Celestia began, feeling warm in her chest. A gentle hint of crying, she gazed upon the beauty—they were one at a time, releasing her subjects. “I’ve never… seen anything like this…”

Changelings brought them safely to the ground, and opened the cocoons with their magic. The sleeping ponies inside were colourless; grey like Scootaloo was when she first escaped. At first, they didn’t know what to do. They didn’t want the ponies to feel afraid. So, they did what Scootaloo did.

Before the ponies would wake up, the changelings gently held them in their arms, to wake them in an embrace. At first, it was evident that they didn’t really know what they were doing. But after sensing that warm touch of harmony, they were quick to catch on, and they held the ponies with loving, caring embraces. Changelings not having done so were catching on as well, imitating one another, until the entire hive was freeing, and hugging ponies.

It was an unbelievable sight. They seemed desperate; they wanted to understand. And slowly, the ponies in their arms woke from their decade slumber.

Upon their awakenings, the room surrounded by a spectrum of mystifying colours. Both the changelings and the grayscaled ponies were regaining their colour, through the changelings’ simple acts of harmony. The ponies seemed unaware of their surroundings, and completely numb of what was happening, but they didn’t seem to panic. Being awoken in arms of comfort calmed them.

Thousands of changelings and ponies lit up the dome with their magnificent colours, and soon the hive didn’t seem so dark. Then among all that was happening, a few changelings approached Scootaloo again, in their own full bright colours.

Scootaloo waited patiently for what they had to say. Until finally one of them made the approach, and set something on the ground before her.

It was Chrysalis’ crown. Scootaloo looked at the crown, then back into the gleaming eyes of the changeling. She wasn’t sure what to think of the gesture.

“We want you to be our new Queen,” said the changeling before her. Scootaloo’s eyes widened to the enormous request.

“Huh?” She blinked a few times, feeling overwhelmed by the sudden attention she was being given. “Me? But, I’m not a changeling…”

“Perhaps… that is exactly why we need you,” he exclaimed in a hopeful tone.

Scootaloo nibbled the bottom of her lip, nervously. She didn’t know how to approach the situation, and she turned her neck to look back at her friends. They seemed to want to stay out of it, as it was her decision to make, but they were certainly surprised.

Turning back to the changelings confronting her, she stared at the crown at her hooves. She hesitated to even pick it up. “I… don’t know.”

“Maybe we need a pony to lead us…” one of the changelings quietly murmured. “To teach us. You know so much about love and harmony…”

Scootaloo put that deep into thought as she stared deeply into the gems of Chrysalis’ crown. She knelt down, and she picked it up to hold it closer to her, to have a closer, more personal look at it. ‘Scootaloo, Queen of the Changelings’, she thought to herself. Was that really a title she wanted to carry?

“Please,” said the changeling who presented her with the crown. “We wouldn’t rather have any other pony, nor changeling, to lead us.”

Scootaloo’s ears perked to that, and she looked up to them again.

“You alone stood up for us against that giant monster, and while we as a hive were afraid, you fought for us,” another changeling exclaimed.

“Despite how impossible the fight was, you didn’t give up.”

“We’ve never seen a more faithful leader.”

There was a pause. A long pause. All eyes were on her; it was frightening. She looked around at the changelings and the ponies. The ponies seemed startled beyond comprehension, considering everything—their location, their age, the situation—and it was evident that the changelings were trying their hardest to improve. Comforting the ponies, welcoming them back into their world. This would undoubtedly never have happened if not for her.

Taking another look at the crown in her possession, she took deep consideration toward all that had happened from the moment she escaped her cocoon, up until this point. She couldn’t explain the emotions she was experiencing to anypony else, but she felt a great sense of responsibility resting in her hooves. One minute, she was still learning who she was, discovering her cutie mark, and still trying to fly. And the very next, after a long, ten year sleep, she has a crown in her hooves.

The tension was high, and everypony was still waiting on Scootaloo’s decision. But after her long moment to think for herself, she lifted the crown above her head, and placed it upon her brow. The moment it nestled in her mane, the crown seemed to give off a glow in the light exposed from above. The dark, gloomy colours of the crown faded into a bright, sunlight orange, and the gems crystallized into a dazzling pink that matched her mane and tail.

Scootaloo blinked a few times, processing the situation, and she watched them respectfully acknowledge her as Queen. The changelings all bowed before her, row after row. Her eyes wandered among the crowd. The free, confused ponies also within the crowd, turned their necks to look around and process what was happening. They didn’t know what had all happened, but they could see what had become of the changelings through the circumstances, was a good thing. It was clear that the ponies did not know who she was, and did not know whether they should bow, until Celestia and the other six ponies did as well. When they saw their sun goddess bow before Scootaloo, they took initiative and did the same.

A gentle caress on her left shoulder. Scootaloo blinked and looked to see Flake standing beside her with his hoof placed upon her.

“You did it,” he whispered proudly to her. “You brought changelings and ponies together, just like you said you would.”

Scootaloo blushed and shyly tilting her head away. “Well… I couldn’t have done it without you.” She turned back to him, presenting a sincere smile. “I’m happy to be able to share this moment with you.”

Flake silently chuckled and nodded, then he gestured to the crowd bowing to her. “Well… shouldn’t you be saying something, my Queen?”

Being addressed as Queen in that way gave her an unfamiliar shiver. It was a powerful word, but she took it to heart and grinned. Nodding to him, she stepped forward to the crowd of changelings and newly awoken ponies.

“Changelings and ponies, rise now!” she called out to them with authority. Celestia stood back up, and she grinned and nodded proudly, intrigued by the way she spoke so strongly to them. In response to her order, the changelings and ponies all stood. She took a moment to gather her words together. She turned back to look to Celestia for reassurance, who in turn nodded with trusting eyes. Taking in a deep breath, Scootaloo nodded back to her and turned back to the crowd of changelings and ponies.

“This is rather sudden…” she confessed to everyone, nervously. “Most of you do not know who I am. My name is Scootaloo. I am the Element of Faith… and the new Queen of the Changelings.”

“Wait…” a pony among the crowd called out to her in question. “Scootaloo?”

The proclaimed Changeling Queen looked into the crowd to see who had called her name. She recognized the pony—it was Cherilee, her old school teacher.

“Yes,” Scootaloo revealed to her with a nod. “It’s me.”

“But…” Cheerilee looked around with widened eyes, then returned her glance to Scootaloo. “But you’re… older!”

Scootaloo sighed very slowly through her nostrils. Her facial expression went sour, and she nodded to her former teacher. “You have all been asleep for some time… A decade had passed, and much has changed.” The ponies exchanged looks with one another, appearing to be in shock by the length of time that had been taken from their lives. It was no wonder Cheerilee was so in shock to see her grown.

“A ‘Pony’ Queen of the Changelings?” she heard somepony question the situation from somewhere in the crowd.

“That doesn’t make any sense!” another shouted.

“Ten years?!” further voiced concerns emanated in the echoes.

“Why should we listen to this pony? Why should we associate with the changelings?!”

Chatter arose in the dome, and Scootaloo’s ears fell back. She didn’t know what to do; a panic seemed to arise. “E-everypony, wait,” she tried to calm them, and rose her hoof to capture their attention. But their chatter escalated, and soon it was too difficult for Scootaloo to even hear herself.

“PONIES!!” They were quick to hush, and they looked with worrisome eyes to who had called out to them so loudly. Where they had looked to, a few ponies had just made an entrance from another cave.

It was Princess Luna who had called out to them, and alongside with her was the Princess of Love herself, Cadence, with her husband, Shining Armor. Following along with them was Dozer, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom.

After the echoing voices of the dome died down, Luna stepped forward to speak up with sincerity to the ponies and changelings. “Sometimes, for great things to happen, we must first fall into the dark. Sometimes, for a very long time.”

Cadence nodded to back her statement, and she addressed them to Scootaloo with a hoof. “Changelings and ponies… Please, listen to what Scootaloo has to say. For her words are important.”

When Luna and Cadence spoke to reassure them, the cave seemed to silence. Although the ponies still seemed uncertain whether or not they could trust the new ‘Pony Queen of Changelings’.

Scootaloo turned to Luna and Cadence, nodding respectfully. “Thank you…”

Celestia trot up to her and gave her a nudge and a reassuring grin. “Now it’s your turn.”

Taking in a deep breath, she turned back to the changelings and ponies all waiting for her to say something. For a moment, she lost what she wanted to say, being so nervous. But after a few moments to recollect herself, she build enough courage to say something.

“Before I can speak, you must all see the outside world. Our world, Equestria, is currently a lifeless wasteland. And for a decade, we ponies have been absent from it, unable to perform our roles to keep its balance.”

The ponies responded with sickened expressions. The changelings cowered a little with their ears to their sides, feeling the sorrow. Flake took initiative towards Scootaloo’s exclamation, and he flew up and over the crowd. The ponies and changelings watched him, and he illuminated his horn. To present to them what Scootaloo needed to show to them, he fired a spell into the exterior wall of the dome. A blast of magic echoed through the cave along with a flash of light. Ponies shielded their eyes as dust and debris rippled away from the hole he had shot into the wall.

When the dust had cleared, the big hole in the wall revealed to them all what Equestria now looked like. Gasps of trauma and voices of horror were echoing from the ponies witnessing it for the first time. The Ponies of Harmony were equally as shocked, not having seen it yet themselves. The crowd was now facing the hole in the wall, with Scootaloo behind them. She gnashed her teeth at the sight of the ponies all horrified to see their world like this. The skeleton trees; the smoggy clouds; the lack of plant life… It was awful. Lifting off the ground, she flew up and over the crowd to join Flake.

She looked down upon them at an angle to which they could see her, and she continued to speak.

“I know, the sight is sickening…” said the sympathetic Queen of the Changelings. “But… all is not lost.”

“How could this happen…?” a pony cried out. “There’s nothing out there!”

“Our world is uninhabitable!” another traumatized voice shrieked.

Scootaloo’s ears fell back, and she nodded slowly, understanding the aching ponies. “A long time ago… changelings and ponies lived among one another. We formed what we knew as Equestria. But, we did it together.” She addressed the changelings, who had gained colour from their act of Harmony when freeing them from their cocoons. “While ponies are the essence of friendship… changelings, believe it or not, are the essence of love.”

Ponies exchanged looks with one another. Many different expressions were seen among them—doubt; confusion; uncertainty; lacking hope… It was evident they weren’t prepared for this sudden change any more than she was.

“Good things take time…” Scootaloo solemnly said. “Great things… happen all at once.”

She received many different looks after she said that.

“I know Equestria is not the same home as it was ten years ago. It feels as though only yesterday we were sitting under the warm sunlight in the grass, enjoying one another’s company.” Their eyes were solely fixed on the wasteland. They could hear her voice echoing in the dome, with little to say in response. “Some of us were still even discovering our cutie marks…”

They looked up to her, getting the hint that she didn’t have her cutie mark before the changelings took Equestria for their own ten years ago.

“The only thing keeping Equestria from returning to its true glory, is us. I have seen the Elements of Harmony do great things. And many believe it lies within just the six ponies who protect our world. But the truth is, it lies within all of us. We are their essence.” She gestured her hooves to the wasteland, and they looked out into the land of devastation. “Do you know why Equestria was once so beautiful?” she solemnly asked them. They took a moment to look to her, waiting for some kind of hopeful response. “Equestria is a world that relies solely on magic. It lives and breathes magic. And all that magic comes from us.” She trailed her eyes among the crowd watching. “All of us; changelings and ponies. Without us or our magic, Equestria would never have come to be. In the beginning, we built our world the way it was from the ground up. Changelings and ponies once lived together, in Harmony. And at the time we did, our friendships and efforts to work together breathed our world life.” She smiled to express herself. “Ponies, we are the creatures of friendship. And changelings, you are the creatures of love... For the longest time, our world was missing a great chunk of its essential magic, because we had forgotten.”

The room went quiet and calm. The silence was almost tangible.

“Harmony is not only the symbolism of friendship, but love as well,” declared their new Queen of Changelings. “Through love and friendship, we can create Harmony. We can bring back Equestria the way it once was, and together, we shall live among it in all its glory...”

She could finally begin to see some smiles in the crowd watching her. Her speech brought calm whispers among the crowd; they were very moved by her. Nopony was arguing at this point, and nopony wanted to turn tail and disregard her. They were all standing strong, listening to her words.

“Everypony… Not all hope is lost.” She placed her hooves upon her chest and spoke louder. “Please, join me; let us create a world we can all call home. This is not something we can do alone; we need each other! Together, we can be so much greater!”

She paused her speech. Though she was not well known among the ponies and changelings, they could only sense good in her intentions. Through this crisis, she stood tall and inspired, giving them hope.

“Like all those years ago, let’s breathe life into Equestria.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It was a long climb down the mountain. The view of Equestria’s wasteland was heavy on their hearts. Still, they followed Scootaloo. With nowhere to go, or nopony else to trust, they put all their hope in her. Scootaloo walked along side the ponies of Harmony, with Flake on her left side, as well as with Celestia, Luna, Cadence, Shining Armor, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom who were following along.

Scootaloo turned to Flake, and he looked back at her. They gently smiled, and she nudged into him as they continued walking. He grinned and nudged her back. Her friends watching from behind her could only playfully smile at their loving behaviours toward each other.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It took at least half an hour to reach the bottom on hoof. Stepping into the fog of emptiness, the skeleton tree forest remained as dark and lifeless as it did from the start. The ponies and changelings were all silent and devastated. Scootaloo, though, kept her head up high, and she looked skyward with a determined expression.

“What now, Scootaloo?” asked Apple Bloom.

Scootaloo looked to her, being reminded that she had an unfinished situation with her new subjects. She stepped back, and then turned around to face the crowd of ponies and changelings who followed her all the way down the mountain. They awaited another speech of inspiration, and many seemed doubtful that there was much left for them. They stood beneath the green smog and skeleton trees, all eyes on her.

It was quiet for awhile, until a pony from the crowd spoke up.

“Here we stand, after a decade of being trapped inside cocoons, and we owe it to a simple pegasus,” said a stallion among the ponies.

“We are all scared…” a mare said to her. “But we owe you our trust.”

“Scootaloo, my Queen…” said the changeling who had spoken to her back in the dome. She looked to him in question, listening to what he had to say. “We thank you,” he humbly said to her.

Scootaloo felt warmth in her heart when they opened up to her this way. She smiled and nodded to them.

“What got you to come this far?” the first stallion asked.

The question seemed sudden. She had to put it to thought for a brief moment, but she knew the answer. “All of you did,” she replied. “Ponies and changelings, I came back, for you…” She trailed her eyes among the inspired crowd. “And it took an enormous amount of faith… But still I believed. It was a long journey, but that journey ends today.”

“So… what do we do now?” the question came up again from another changeling.

There was a quiet moment in silence. Scootaloo didn’t know how to answer immediately, but she felt that whatever was to happen from here could only get better.

Something caught her eye, and she looked beneath her. It was a white and blue flower, growing in the midst of all the fog. Those who were up close to see it gasped at the sight of its beauty. Scootaloo knelt down to the plant, and she examined it with awe.

“We breathe love into our world,” she calmly said in response to the changeling’s question, and they watched her carefully inspect the flower she found. “All life grows with love. We continue to share, to laugh, to be kind, loyal and true to one another. And this magical place will flourish, just as we do.”

A gentle ray of light cast down from the sky. Looking up, the ponies and changelings could see the sun trying to break through the smog. The ponies and changelings were in awe. Among all the deathly landscapes, seeing the sunlight shine down upon them through the crevices of the clouds was the most beautiful sight they could have asked for.

“Just like us, Equestria is finally now waking up,” said a solemn Scootaloo as she grinned peacefully. “Just like when a storm passes, the darkness leaves behind something beautiful… Life doesn’t end… It only sleeps, and awakens a dawn for something brand new.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Thanks to Nioniosbbbb
for proofreading and editing!