Celestia interviews a changeling after the Royal wedding fiasco
A Changeling drone comes to Canterlot offering an explanation of the attempted invasion during the wedding and a through description of changeling shape-shifting abilities in exchange for Equestria's help in saving the hive from extinction.
Celestia accepts the offer,eager to learn more about a potential threat to Equestria but it becomes clear that this deal is far more complicated than it first appears. Has Chrysalis really changed or is this simply they build up to her next little scheme?
In the wake of the failed changeling invasion of Canterlot, both resentment and curiosity regarding the changeling hives east of Equestria reached a level never seen before. Rumours of a full military engagement with the hives were floating around like wildfires, and while the princesses were quick to squash such rumours, they never offered a categorical denial of the possibility regarding deployment of the royal legions.
Questions were asked by the media that no one could fully explain, “how could a changeling replace a princess?” “Why didn’t the royal guard notice something amiss?” “How can we feel safe in our homes when not even our leaders are safe?”
Compounding these issues was the fact that almost nothing was known about the changeling race beyond their ability to shape-shift and need to drain love in order to feed. It was regarded as strange therefore, when a single changeling drone appeared outside of the Canterlot train station, offering to provide a tell-all exposé regarding the nature and abilities of his race, and the reasoning behind the failed invasion.
Under a heavy guard this solitary drone was escorted to Princess Celestia who was to conduct the interview herself, along with several hoof-picked members of Canterlots journalism community. What follows is an account of the historic first confirmed peaceful interaction between Equestria and the unknown changeling hives.
Celestia lead the drone into a conference room not far from the throne room, along with four other ponies; Phalanx, her personal royal guard, Lethe, one of Luna’s night guards, done up in full ceremonial armour with both her draconic eyes and bat ears alert and roaming for potential threats. The other two ponies were members of the media brought along to record the interview. The first one, Hard Hitter worked for the Canterlot Times, and was well known as being a provider of well researched and balanced articles. The other journalist, Daily scoop was a freelancer, currently working for the Stable Enquirer, well know for being a source of news heavily dramaticised and embellished in the pursuit of selling additional papers. If any pony could take what was likely to be a waste of time and turn it into an interesting story it was him.
"Is everyone ready?" Celestia asked around the room. Hard hitter and Daily scoop nodded. Phalanx and Lethe simply stood at attention on either side of the entrance arch. The changeling drone walked over and sat in the centre pillow, clearly placed out for him.
“Well, then let’s begin. Do you have a name?” Celestia addressed this to the drone sitting in the middle of the room. "I am a warrior drone from the changeling hive under the command of Queen Chrysalis”. The drone said proudly looking at Celestia.
“I understand what you are, but who are you?"
The drone looked slightly confused. “I am Drone”
“Yes, but what is your name?”
“Drone”. Celestia has to suppress a face hoof. It was going to be a long day.
“Do you as an individual have a specific name that we are to call you by?”
The drone was now starting to look frustrated. “I am Drone, every warrior, worker, and labourer in the hive is called Drone. Only the nobility caste have individual names”.
“I see” said Celestia. Hard hitter and Daily scoop were scribbling down all the responses that the drone and Celestia were giving, this was the fist piece of hard information that anypony had ever gotten regarding the changeling social structure.
“Well then Drone, I suggest we start at the beginning. Why did the hives invade Canterlot?”
“I think that it may be beneficial for you to understand more about changeling physiology and psychology before I attempt to answer that question, many of the reasons may not make much sense without such an understanding”. Drone looked at Celestia who nodded slightly. “Firstly let me ask you a question, what do you know of us?”
Celestia paused at this, what did she know about changelings beyond what she had seen at the wedding? “You are a race of insectoid shape-shifters who impersonate ponies in order to drain out their love and convert that into a source of nourishment”. Drone nodded slowly. What Celestia had said contained some truth, but was also indicative of the lies and rumours that had spread regarding his race.
“Yes and no, Princess. Yes we are a race of shape-shifters, yes we feed on love. However we do not usually operate like you saw us at the wedding. That was an act of desperation by a starving queen”.
“Changelings are an empathic race, we can sense and manipulate emotions in others. Despite what you may think, we do not need to feed on love exclusively, any form of positive emotion can sustain us, or even in extreme situations, we can eat foods like you would, though this is very bad for us over extended periods, and we receive very little nutrition from it. Any positive emotion – love, joy, excitement, hope can feed us, but love is both the easiest one to manipulate and is also the most nourishing. Ponies often do not even realise how much love they are radiating whenever they see another dear to their hearts. Usually a changeling will copy a pony for a few minutes, wait until they leave home for some reason, and then sneak in, bask in the ambient love for the pony they are impersonating, and leave before anypony becomes any the wiser. Every time you have wondered how a friend or lover seemingly managed to be in two places at once, chances are that it was a changeling impersonation”.
Hard hitter interjected at that point, still using his magic to keep writing on his notepad. “So why the attempted invasion if all you need is to simply be around ponies who are in a good mood?”
Drone looked at Hard Hitter. “I will get to that later, let me tell my story. The problem with such a method is that it can go horribly wrong, if the original pony were to actually appear prior to the changelings exit. It did so one too many times, and ponies living near the hives started taking extreme measures to confirm the identities of their loved ones, which also slowly drained them of large stores of their love and joy. As a result our normal sources of food were denied to us”. Drone looked over at Celestia, who was about to ask a question.
“Before you ask, the ponies that we had been feeding off of will recover their ability to love. They were not harmed in any way, and their suspicion of each other will fade with time. Chrysalis could not stand to see her subjects slowly starve, but was also too proud to actually open diplomatic relations with another nation, she saw that as being weak, that admitting you needed help and friends would reduce you”.
“I understand. I have a student who did not know the magic of friendship until recently. She also did not know that having friends and asking others for help actually makes you stronger”. Celestia looked out one of the meeting room’s windows, the small rural town of Ponyville just visible on the edge of the Everfree.
“Getting back to the invasion however”. Drone paused, gathering his thoughts. “Have you ever been starving Princess? Not just hungry, but truly starving, knowing that if you do not have food soon, you will die. I do not think you ever have. Even in times of scarcity, there would have always been food available for you. Our hive was starving, on the brink of collapse. None of the other hives or royals was in a position to spare us any nourishment. We had to find an alternative source, and Chrysalis found it in the form of Princess Cadance. The love that her groom-to-be Shining Armour felt for her was stronger than any we had felt before. That was what drew us to Canterlot, it smelled so good we could not resist”.
Daily scoop laughed. “So what? We were just to be a buffet for you all to gorge yourselves on until we were used up husks, incapable of ever feeling happiness again?”
Drone shot Scoop a look. “Hold onto that question, later I will explain the reason why not one word in it is correct, but back to the invasion”.
“The original plan was simply for Chrysalis to take the place of Cadance for a short time, while she was occupied with some royal duty or other, and arrange for invites to the wedding to be sent out to ponies that actually did not exist, ponies that would be played by drones. Cadance would be none the wiser, marry her true love, and the drones and Chrysalis in attendance would absorb enough ambient love from the whole event to sustain the hive for months”.
“What went wrong?” Celestia was looking very serious. “From what you describe, the entire thing should have gone off without a hitch, we would never have known. What happened?”
Drone nodded sadly. “Chrysalis got greedy. After taking on the form of Cadance, she decided to alter the plan from a covert feeding, something changelings have done many, many times before to an attempted coup. As Cadance, and with the support of the Captain of the royal guards, she would have had the ability to overthrow you and your sister, replace herself as the ruler of Equestria and slowly convert the populace into new changeling drones”.
At this point, Celestia cut off Drone with a flap of her wings. “What do you mean convert the populace into changelings? Explain yourself”.
“Very well. You remember the cocoons that you and some of the other guests were sealed in during the wedding?” Celestia shuddered and nodded. Those cocoons had been an awful experience, not one that she would wish on Discord himself.
“The cocoons are actually a method of changeling reproduction. Aside from drones that are birthed from the royal hatcheries, changelings can also be converted from living ponies, though this method is extremely rare, highly dangerous, and often does not work effectively. To my knowledge, only fillies and colts that have yet to reach puberty have ever made the change with full success. Adults, often do not convert well, and fail to master changeling shape-shifting magic, resulting in half deformed monstrosities. Unicorns do better than others, due to their innate abilities with magic, but still only children can be fully converted. Failed drones are put to work in the hatcheries or as labourers. You on the other hoof, as an Alicorn are a special case. You would have been converted into a Queen like Chrysalis and then shipped off to the hives for ‘re-education’ and assimilation, eventually to take on a hive of your own”.
“It was a foalish plan, borne of desperate hunger and overwhelming greed. Chrysalis never truly had a chance, only a fully powered hive could have pulled off a plan like that and we were starving. If we had stuck to the original plan, we would have been fed and returned to our own lands a powerful and respected hive. Instead we have wasted what little nourishment we had left attempting to pull off a crazy plan and are now even hungrier than we began, many of my fellow drones did not survive the trek back to our hive after our expulsion from Canterlot. This brings me to a request for you, Princess Celestia”.
“Go on Drone, I’m listening”. Celestia had a sinking feeling that she knew where this was going. “Chrysalis has had to humble herself significantly for this, but she request that a few volunteers be asked to provide nourishment for the remaining members of our colony. They would not be harmed in any way and would only need to provide enough love and happiness to ward of death by starvation. In exchange for this, Chrysalis has authorized me to show you in detail how our shape-shifting works and how to detect it”.
“A tempting offer Drone. I will have to think about it. In the meantime, refreshments are to be served in the next room”. Hard hitter and Daily scoop rose and followed the two guards into the adjoining room.
“Drone, hold a moment”. Celestia motioned for him to come closer. Phalanx remained close, allowing the two reporters to pass him to reach the food spread set out on the tables. “I am curious to see how changelings would normally feed. I have summoned Cadance to join us for lunch. I want you to assume the form of her husband and feed off of her love for him. If she is not harmed in any way, it may help me to accept your Queens offer”.
Drone nodded and suddenly was enveloped in a column of shimmering green fire. When the fire cleared, a powerfully built white stallion stood exactly where he did. “Shining Armour reporting for duty, Your Highness”. The two walked out into the main chamber, to see a bright pink form rush at them. “Shining, you’re back. I’ve missed you so much”. Princess Cadance, living Goddess of Love wrapped her hooves around Drone, who tensed up as he felt a wave of love slam into him, filling him up with energy.
The energy flow was so powerful, that Drone could feel it overwhelming all of his other functions. Like a dehydrated pony finding an oasis in the desert, the need to sate his hunger overrode every other desire, even his ability to maintain his disguise.
Cadance felt her husband squirm and shift under her touch. Opening her eyes she saw the black carapace of a changeling drone and instantly dropped her hooves to her sides. “What is going on here? Where is Shining Armour?”
Celestia walked up to her niece, placing a wing on her back. “Cadance, I can explain…”
End Chapter 1
A/N This is the first story that I have followed through to a point where I am comfortable uploading it. It is also my first major attempt at writing significant amount of dialogue in a long time. I will welcome any form of constructive criticism, if you loved it, great. If you didn’t like it then say why, so that I can improve as a writer, but please don’t just mindlessly hate it. Spot any grammatical errors? Comment below. There are likely to be several, as I do not currently have access to any proof readers.
Chapter 2 is currently in progress with another chapter possibly planned if reception is favourable.
OC credits Night Guard Lethe created by Dawnscroll
“Changeling, CHANGELING”. Cadance yelled out backing away from the black insectoid in front of her. Within 20 seconds, every royal guard in the wing of the palace had entered the banquet hall and surrounded Drone, spears and swords ready. For his part, Drone simply shrank down to the floor, trying to look as non-threatening as possible.
“Guards, arrest the changeling, they have captured my Shining, and we have to mount a rescue at once”. Cadance was getting more and more upset with every passing moment. The guards moved in slowly and hauled Drone to his hooves. He did not resist.
“Cadance, calm down, I can explain everything” Celestia said, putting on her most reassuring tone of voice. “Shining Armour is fine, nothing has been done to him. This changeling is here at my permission.
Neither Cadance nor the guards seemed to hear Celestia, the former not stopping in her panic attack, the latter continuing to drag Drone off to the palace dungeons.
“This calls for drastic measures, a pity, I rather liked those glass panels” thought Celestia, readying her voice for something she had not undertaken for many, many years.
“GUARDS, YOU WILL RELEASE THE PRISONER AT ONCE”.
Celestia boomed out in the all consuming Royal Canterlot Voice. Several of the stained glass panels mounted to the windows shattered. All the royal guards except Lethe stopped what they were doing and bowed down to Celestia. Lethe simply fell to the floor, hooves clutching her highly sensitive ears, writhing around in auditory agony, wings flapping spasmodically. Noticing this, Celestia dialled back the volume significantly but retained the potence behind her words.
“I SAID, RELEASE THE PRISONER”. Two of the guards stood and brought Drone over to where Celestia and Cadance were standing. Use of the Royal Canterlot Voice had also managed to grab Cadance’s attention, and she now looked at Celestia expectant of an explanation. “Cadance, Shining Armour is fine, knowing him, he will appear here any second to find out what was the cause of my outburst. This changeling – Drone, is here at my request and is providing information on why they attempted to invade in exchange for ponytarian aid. The hive is on the brink of total collapse, and needs our help or all the changelings in it will perish, even those that did not take part in the invasion”. Celestia stopped her explanation as a purple burst of magic appeared in one corner of the banquet room. Shining Armour phased into existence, resplendent in his officers armour and helmet.
“What is going on here?” he called out, noticing first his wife and Celestia, second the fallen figure of Lethe on the floor, now slowly returning to her hooves, a thin trickle of blood falling from one nostril, and finally the form of Drone, standing in the middle of all this. “You two” Shining said, pointing to two guards at random “Get her to the infirmary and inform Princess Luna”. The two guards picked up Lethe and carried her off towards the place infirmary. “And now changeling, what are you doing with my wife?” Shining charged up the shield spell that had been keeping Canterlot safe throughout the royal wedding. Against one single changeling drone it would be devastating.
His charging of the spell was interrupted by Cadance running over and hugging him. “Oh Shining, I through that you had been replaced by that drone, I was so worried about you”.
Shining looked into the eyes of his wife. She was clearly scared. “Honey, I’m fine, I would never let anything happen to you, and that includes me being kidnapped by some slimy bugs”. Turning to the elder sun goddess he spoke up again “so what is going on here, what is that thing doing here”. Having comforted his wife, Shining had reverted to captain of the guard mode, and that mode included a hatred for anything changeling. Celestia looked at him and turned to Drone and the two journalists who had been standing off to one side throughout the entire event. Hard hitter would likely be very fair in his coverage of this event, but Daily scoop, Celestia could almost hear the wheels turning in his head, re-writing the encounter as something far more shocking.
“Celestia harbours changeling terrorist, over-powers her own guards to set it free” or something like that Celestia thought. She would have to get the chancellor to arrange that royal clearance be given for his articles on this. “I think that refreshments can wait for a little while, don’t you? Let us return to the meeting room. Cadance, Shining Armour, Join us”.
Drone, Cadance, Shining Armour and the two journalists followed Celestia back into the meeting room, Phalanx and a new guard covering the rear, resuming their places at the entrance. “Everyone sit” Celestia indicated the cushions arrayed around the room and Drone took his one in the middle again. Celestia noticed that Cadance took the cushion farthest away from Drone, she clearly did not want to be there, but also did not want to upset or offend her aunt. Celestia provided a brief recap of the events thus far transpired for the newcomers
“This is Drone, a changeling from Chrysalis’s hive. He has come here with a request and an offer for us. He has been explaining the reasoning behind why his hive tried to invade Canterlot last year, and thus far I believe what he has said. I want both of you to listen to what he has to say with an open mind. This is our first chance to learn about the changelings, and your experiences may help to provide some clues or clarification. Drone, you may continue with your tale”.
Drone nodded. “I think I have covered the reasoning for the invasion fairly extensively now, so I would like to answer any new questions you have, and also get a response on my queens request before getting on to the topic of changeling physiology. As I recall, both of these journalists had questions I said would be answered later”.
Hard hitter and Daily scoop both nodded. Hard hitter went first. “My question was about why invade if all you need is to be around happy ponies”.
“That was it” Drone said “I think I have covered the invade part of that question already, as for the happy ponies part, how is it that think that a changeling normally feeds on emotion?”
Hard hitter stopped for a moment. “I guess that you would take those fangs of yours and bite down on your victim, draining out joy and love like a vampony does in the stories”.
Drone laughed “Nothing could be farther from the truth. As I mentioned before, the pony that we would feed from is not harmed in any way. Think of us more as an emotional sponge, we absorb any positive emotions that are strong enough for us. The fangs you see are simply an evolutionary remanent, serving no major purpose but also not hindering us in any way. If we need them gone, we can shape-shift them away. This is also relevant to your question, wasn’t it Daily Scoop?”
Daily scoop nodded “yes, you said that nothing in my question was correct and that you would explain why”.
“Indeed I did. As I have been explaining, Changelings are empathic, we can feel emotions from others. When we need to feed, we simply have to be around ponies who feel love or joy and bask in that feeling. Love that is aimed directly at us is the most potent, which is why we disguise ourselves so that we can elicit that response. Like the sponge analogy earlier, we will start to absorb love from the target until either we are full, or we reach a point at which we have more love in us than they do. If that happens, we instinctively return some of the love to them until balance is reached. If that happens, the target usually feels like they have had a bad day, but nothing worse happens to them, nothing a good night of sleep or a tasty meal would not fix”.
“Then what about Chrysalis, she drained me almost to the point of death” Shining Armour called out, clearly still visibly angry at a changeling was there at all.
“Queen Chrysalis is not a mere drone. She is a leader comparable with your Princesses in terms of stature and power. Her will is able to dominate that of lesser ponies” Shining Armour bristled at that description of him but said nothing. “And as I said to your Princess earlier, your love for Cadance was some of the strongest we had ever encountered. My queen could not control herself and kept draining you of your sweet tasty love, I can smell it now, radiating off of you, returned two-fold back to you by your wife”.
Drone started to salivate as he described the feast of love floating around the room with him. Unknown to everyone else in the room, he opened himself up and started to drink deeply from the wellspring of love that the husband and wife represented to him. If Celestia refused to help, it was his duty to bring back as much love to share with the hive as he possibly could. That he was still starving from earlier didn’t hurt either.
“I have been thinking about your earlier request Drone, about how you would like some volunteers to help feed the colony. As a sign of good will, and as an apology for the incident out in the banquet room, I am willing to grant your request on the condition that Chrysalis herself guarantees the safety of my delegation”.
“Very well, I will commune with my queen and show you something of the changeling shape-shifting magic’s in the process”. Drone stood and very slowly charged his horn, chittering away seemingly to himself all the while. A wave of fire washed over him, enveloping his body. When it faded, there stood Queen Chrysalis, ruler of the changelings. Or at least what she would look like if she was the size of a normal drone.
“Celestia” Chrysalis spoke, contempt dripping from her voice. Even at only half size, everypony could see that she was looking thin and gaunt. Hungry summed up her appearance perfectly.
“Chrysalis, how are you here. Where is Drone?” Celestia had risen to her hooves and moved to cover the other ponies present.
“I am not really there. The drone I sent to you is still there, he is simply assuming a scaled down version of my form and allowing me to speak through him to facilitate this deal. He has told me that you want assurances that any ponies you send will not be harmed by me or my drones”. Chrysalis looked almost bored by this, but Shining Armour thought he could see a glittering of malice behind the expression. “Yes I promise that no one will be harmed, yes I promise that they will be returned safely, yes they will be treated with respect as living creatures, not as mere food. Is that what you want to hear?” Chrysalis lazily waved a leg around as she said this.
“Very well Chrysalis, I will ask for a small group of volunteers willing to provide sustenance to some of your drones, I understand that they can then share it with others as needed”.
“I see my drone has been explaining this to you in detail. As he would have said by now, he is here at my command and I am willing to allow him to describe and demonstrate our natural shape-shifting powers in exchange for food. However, I want them to go as well”. Chrysalis pointed a hole-filled hoof directly at Cadance and Shining Armour.
“Why them?” Celestia asked “they have already suffered greatly at your hooves. What can they give you that another pony cannot?”
“Surely my drone has already explained this to you. Theirs is the most powerful love we have ever encountered. Feeding on it would be like a dragon finding a chest filled with perfectly aged fire rubies, or you Celestia having a room filled with nothing but the finest of cakes”
Celestia blushed slightly at the mention of her greatest weakness – cake. Sponge, cream-filled, topped with the finest of chocolates or strawberry jams, it did not matter. Cake was everything that Celestia secretly desired but knew that she could never have enough of. Not like that vile drink: Tea. Endless varieties served at every meal and royal function, there was even a pot sitting in the corner right now, mocking her with its aroma, there was no escape from the drink anywhere. Celestia forced her mind off of cakes and tea and back to the meeting.
“You know that I cannot force them to go, this would have to be their choice”. Celestia looked over to the pair who after a brief whispered conversation nodded their heads.
“We will go with the group” Cadance stated. “Both as gesture of goodwill towards those innocent in all of this, but also to protect our little ponies should you betray us. Shining’s protection spell is even stronger than before now”.
Chrysalis cringed at the mention of the spell. “You will not have to worry. My hive is not strong enough to undertake such an action again. That is the reason I have contacted you in the first place”. Turning back to Celestia, Chrysalis looked directly into her eyes “it is imperative that the group be sent, along with my drone as soon as possible. Many of my remaining drones have only days left at the most. The drone I have sent to you knows where to find us”.
“They will depart at first light tomorrow”.
Chrysalis nodded to Celestia rather than surround herself with fire, Chrysalis’s body seemed to shrink and morph before everyponies assembled eyes. Moments later Drone stood woozily in the middle of the room, sitting down hard on the cushions. “Did all go well with my Queen?”
“Yes, do you not remember any of it?” Celestia asked Drone.
“No, I told you that queen Chrysalis can dominate the will of others, I do not remember any of what I said while in her form”.
“Well we have reached an agreement, and a delegation will set off with a group of royal guards first thing tomorrow morning. She mentioned that you were to go with them as you know the way”.
“Indeed she would. Yes I do know where my hive is currently waiting desperately for food. It is about two days trek to the east of Canterlot. But I suppose that this means you now only have the remainder of today and this night to question me”.
Celestia nodded “You are right Drone, but before that we need to assemble a party to move out at dawn”.
“We volunteer” Both Hard Hitter and Daily Scoop called out at once.
“A Chance to see a hive up close, no pony has ever had the opportunity before” Hard Hitter stated
“It would be the scoop of a lifetime, no pony would hire me again if I turned this down” Daily Scoop looked very eager
No doubt contemplating just how many bits he is going to charge for an exclusive on this story Celestia thought. “Very well, that makes 4 ponies plus guards so far. Phalanx…”. Over at the door Phalanx stood even further at attention. “Yes your Highness?”
“I want you to convene the nobles, tell them that I am organising a diplomatic mission to the changeling hives to leave upon the morning and am looking for volunteers. Tell them that any who volunteer will have the honour of a private dinner with me and Luna”. Phalanx saluted and move off, replaced almost at once by another guard.
”An entire night listening to those suck-ups talking about how huge an honour it is that I have graced them with this meeting. Chrysalis, if you survive you owe me for this…”
End Chapter 2
A/N I lied. I know I said only one more chapter after this, but the story has expanded in my head to the point where it is going to need at least 2 more chapters to finish being told, one for the remainder of this day and night, in which Celestia will finish her interview with Drone and Phalanx will deal with the nobles, and a fourth chapter which deals with the actual trip itself. As before constructive comments appreciated. Call out grammatical mistakes to your hearts content. Hope you enjoyed parts of this story so far.
As before constructive comments appreciated. Call out grammatical mistakes to your hearts content. Hope you enjoyed parts of this story so far.
Every royal guard in the palace knew there were two things you never did. One: never stand between Celestia and cake, it wouldn’t end well. Two: never be the one to convene the nobles, especially near sunset. But this was exactly what Phalanx had been ordered to do. Phalanx briefly considered handing in his resignation as an alternative solution, but in the end decided that such a move still would not get him far enough away in time.
Phalanx knew that he was being overly dramatic about this, not all of the upper crust of canterlot nobility were stuck-up prissy whiners, only most of them were. Though Phalanx had never met them personally, he knew that Fancy Pants and his mare friend, the aristocrat Fleur-de-lis were good ponies who helped others when ever they could. Unfortunately most of the nobles were cut from the same cloth as the insufferable prince Blueblood.
Shuffling off to the royal communications room Phalanx sighed as he entered. It was going to be a long night, not to mention the actual trip itself. Why Celestia desired that the nobles be the ones to go he would never know, maybe she knew that they would be the only ones who could be ready at such short notice if it meant spending time with royalty, or perhaps she hoped that not all of them would come back.
Phalanx slapped himself, such thoughts were ill befitting his god-ruler. Stepping into the comms room, Phalanx quietly wrote out a parchment note summoning all the nobles to canterlot castle at once at the request of princess Celestia. Canterlot castle had a small number of adolescent dragons employed as a means of providing rapid communications for royal activities and duties. Phalanx had one of the scribes working in the room copy his note using magic and then gave the parchments to the dragons, instructing them as to which nobles each one was to go to. After the last note had been consumed in various colours of dragon-fire, Phalanx thanked the dragons, provided them with some gems and moved back out into the entrance hall. Most of the nobles were unicorns and would be teleporting into the ante chamber shortly, they would answer a royal summon instantly. Of course nopony said that they had to be happy about this.
“What is the meaning of this? I was just about to have my hooves done” Prince Blueblood, 5th cousin to Princess Celestia, 28th in line for the throne should something happen to both Celestia and Luna, entered the room in a full huff. “You guardsman, I demand to know what reason my aunt had for summoning me here. Not only have I had to miss a grooming session, but my dinner plans for tonight have been disrupted” Blueblood whined as other members of the Canterlot upper crust entered the room, many of them echoing his sentiments.
“Now now, everypony clam down. The Princess would not have sent out a request at such short notice unless she had a very good reason”. The cultured voice of the gentlecolt Fancy Pants rang out as he walked calmly out from the cluster of ponies and approached Blueblood and Phalanx. Fleur simply waited with the others.
“What possible reason could she have had? There has been no national emergency or state death. Nothing that has happened could be worth disrupting my meticulously planned evening”. Blueblood was in fine form tonight, many of the other nobles were starting to rally behind him, agreeing that this would end up being a waste of their precious time.
Fancy was unperturbed “I’m sure that the reason is a good one. I dare say that this guard will know more. Guardsman… Have we met before, It’s Hoplite isn’t it?”
“Phalanx Sir, Hoplite is my Brother, and no we have never met personally” Phalanx replied and then turned his attention to the assembled crowd. “If I can have the attention of everypony please”. The crowd slowly quietened down and turned to Phalanx.
“Firstly, thank you all for coming so quickly, Celestia knows that it has disrupted many of your schedules and apologizes that more notice could not be given. The reason that you have all been called here is that the princesses are forming a new diplomatic mission to leave in the morning and are looking for volunteers to join it. She has promised a private gala dinner to those who join”. Phalanx deliberately left out where they were going. It would be interesting to see who would back out after they all mindlessly volunteered to join the party. As he expected all of the nobles raised a hoof to join the party.
“Thank you all for volunteering, now that you are signed on I feel I should mention that this expedition is a mission of ponytarian aid to the changeling hives to the east, we are going to save a colony from starvation”.
As he expected following that announcement came the flurry of suddenly remembered prior commitments “I just remembered I have a meeting with some clients tomorrow” “My mother is coming to town, I can’t leave her” “I think I left the oven on”
On and on it went until the only ponies still remaining were Fancy, Fleur and Blueblood. It seemed that not even the promise of a gala dinner was enough to temp the nobles to have anything to do with changelings, even if it was a peace mission sanctioned by the princess.
“Well I said that I would go, and I never renege on a promise, count me in” Fancy said calmly.
“If you’re going then I’m going too” Fleur trotted over to Fancy and stood by his side.
“You are all insane. I am leaving” Blueblood walked off towards the rooms designated teleport station, a small nook always kept clear of any clutter.
“Leave and I will see your name blacklisted in every corner of Canterlot” Fancy stated in a low calculated voice. Blueblood stopped and gaped at him. Fancy Pants almost never made threats but when he did, as with his promises, he followed through on them.
Fancy saw Blueblood hang his head in resignation. “Perfect, there’s a good chap” his demeanour changing back to the happy polite gentelcolt that he was instantly. “Lead on, my good Phalanx, lead on”.
The trio of ponies followed Phalanx back towards the meeting room. “All in all, that went far better than I could have hoped for. Almost too well” Phalanx was worried, but with Fancy keeping a tight lid on Blueblood, there was nothing the prince could do.
Celestia watched as Phalanx moved away without a sound. She was under no illusions as to what she had ordered her guard to do. The fickleness of the nobles combined with the destination that they would ultimately end up in, she would be impressed if Phalanx returned with even 3 ponies. Fancy Pants and Fleur-de-lis would come, she was sure of that, but all the others were unlikely to even set hoof outside of Canterlot for anything other than a national emergency.
As it had come many times before, a thought occurred to Celestia. “Is a dictatorship really such a bad idea? Luna and I run most things already and it would get rid of those annoying nobles constantly clamouring for attention”. Celestia dismissed the idea just like every other time. Such a government would be just as bad as the reign of Discord.
Turning back to Drone, Celestia bade him continue. “You said something about showing us how your shape-shifting works, but first could you describe what just happened to you. Chrysalis took command of your body remotely?”
“The two questions are slightly linked, but I will answer the second on first. What you saw was a very old piece of war communication magic. As you may know the queen is the centre of every hive. She is both expected to lead us during any conflict, but is also far too valuable to risk death or injury in direct combat. What you saw was the method that changelings have evolved to deal with such a risk. When at war, the queen can order a drone to assume her form, at which point she can take full command of the drone as if it was her own body. All senses – sight, smell, touch are received as if she was on the battlefield herself, providing her with first hoof experience at none of the risk”.
Drone paused slightly “such a link is only possible through two traits that changelings possess. First is a partial hive mind. The queen can draw on this link to enter into the body of another changeling, the second is our two stage shape-shift”.
“What do you mean by a two stage shape-shift” Hard Hitter asked “do you do more than simply take another form?”
“Our shape-shifting comprises two distinct phases. The first phase is the most common and is mostly a simple illusion spell with a few force fields to simulate extra body parts. You would have all seen how that purple unicorn was able to hit us with a blast of magic to reveal our true forms?” Celestia nodded, she had seen how Twilight was able to do that. Celestia had requested that Twilight teach the spell to all unicorn guards for use in anti-changeling operations.
“That method of shape-shifting is fine for most situations but is very energy intensive to maintain over a long period. That is where the second, far more involved method of shape-shifting comes in. Rather than use an illusion to maintain our disguise, we can actually alter the physical shape and make-up of our bodies to match that of our target. In a sense we will become the pony we are copying, down to the smallest physical detail. Unlike the first stage of shifting, this one requires no additional energy to maintain, and cannot be detected through the use of spells. It is however extremely painful to undertake the changes, with the pain increasing in relation to how long we have retained the form”.
“We use this second stage usually only for deep cover agents who are to occupy a single role for the majority of their life span, or when a queen needs to use the war communication ability. We in essence become the queen, who then uses our body as her own”.
“But you were still a lot smaller than she was, did you not fully change?” Celestia asked.
“We can only take on forms that are similar to our own size and mass, hence why it was Chrysalis herself who had to take on the form of Cadance here. No mere drone would have been able to grow to the right size. It also explains why we did not become an army of Manticores, Hyrdas and Ursas for the attack. Our shifting does not work that way, despite what your legends may say about us”.
Daily Scoop looked like he was going to ask some more questions, but Celestia cut him off. She had spotted Phalanx returning with some ponies in tow. “I am going to have to end things here for tonight. I need to brief the volunteers coming with you, and you 5 have an early start. You set off at first light. Provisions and equipment will be waiting for you when you wake”.
Cadance, Shining Armour, Drone and the reporters bowed to Celestia and departed, followed by the two guards attached to the entryway. Turning to face Phalanx Celestia saw that her earlier estimates had been correct. There were only 3 volunteers, meaning that the party would be consisting of 10: the 7 delegates and 3 guards to accompany them, plus Drone but he did not count. Celestia was pleased to see Fancy Pants and Fleur-de-lis in the group, but very surprised to see Blueblood also tagging along. She felt for sure that he would have been the first one to abandon ship when the destination was mentioned.
“Fancy, Fleur. So good of you to join this expedition. I was sure that I could count on your support at the very least”.
“Think nothing of it, my dear princess, you know we would never turn down a good chance at adventure, and this one promises to be one at that, going where nopony has gone before and all that” Fancy was positively beaming at Celestia.
Blueblood however was still very sullen about the whole idea. “Are you all nuts? They tried to kill us all once, what is stopping them from trying again? This could be a trap for all you know”.
“My dear cousin we will have to take that risk. If you are so opposed to this trip, why are you still here, no one is forcing you to go are they?” Celestia looked slightly over at Fancy Pants who nodded fractionally to her. Not a word was said, and no a word was needed, Celestia understood exactly what had been done to ensure the princes co-operation.
At that point, Fleur made an uncharacteristic move and spoke up separate from Fancy. While not stupid or a trophy mare, Fleur was fairly timid when not at model shoots, or a part of conversations supported by Fancy. “So what exactly are we doing? I know we are going to help a changeling hive, but what does that entail?”
Celestia thought about this, it was time for full disclosure to these ponies. “You and a small number of guards will be travelling east to an as of yet unknown location to the remnants of the hive colony of the changelings that attempted to invade Canterlot during the royal wedding. Once there you primary job will be to provide a source of positive emotions that the changelings will be able to feed off of. I have spoken at length with representatives from the hive and I am satisfied that you will not be in any danger or risk any harm. A drone will be travelling with you to act as a guide”.
Fleur looked satisfied at that explanation. Celestia continued on. “You will be leaving as I raise the sun tomorrow, so you should retire for the night soon, I am told that the trip is about 2 days trot from here”.
“Who else is coming on this forsaken trip? Surely you would not send us alone?” Blueblood was still focusing on the negative regarding his involvement on the journey.
“There will be ten of you, you three, three royal guards for protection, two reporters who have been assisting me with interviewing the changeling who made this request, and finally Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armour have been requested specifically to attend. Now run along to your beds, Fancy, Fleur quarters have been prepared for you in the guest wing. Sleep well, but remember this, while I may believe Chrysalis is sincere about her need for sustenance, I do not trust her, and neither should you”.
Fancy Pants and Fleur bowed out and departed for their guest rooms. Blueblood simply walked out with no comment to anyone. Better keep an eye on that one, he is just foolish enough to try and flee in the night thought Fancy.
Night settled in quickly as Luna raised the moon in place of Celestia’s sun. The Selene light mostly covered only sleeping ponies with its soft illumination, one pony could be seen in a feverish state of activity. Prince Blueblood was hastily emptying out his private safe and filing cabinets. “I’ve got to get out of here now, get away for a while and let this whole thing blow over, it is a lost cause, anypony with a dash of good sense can see that. Fancy would never actually have me blacklisted, he knows I would do the same to him. Maybe I will take a little trip to Horsetralia and get away from it all, visiting dignitaries and all that”.
Packing the last of his valuables into his saddlebags, Blueblood made his way towards his office door. Opening it blindly, Blueblood almost ran into the statue still form of Fancy Pants, waiting patiently outside, blocking the door enough that Blueblood would not be able to get past him.
“Going somewhere my prince?” Fancy had an expression of total and utter calm, but still not moving any part of his body.
“Just to get a drink of water” Blueblood chuckled nervously. “how could he possible know? I didn’t even know I would be doing this until an hour ago ”.
“No need, I have one right here”. Fancy lit his horn and a carafe filled with water and a small glass levitated into sight from a table behind him. Looking at the water, Blueblood slumped in defeat. Between the expectations of Celestia, and the watchful sentinel that was Fancy Pants, there was no way that Blueblood could get out of this, short of faking his own death, and even then he suspected that Fancy would see through that deception quickly. No he was going and that was all there was to it.
Fancy saw the look of resignation in Blueblood eyes, he was defeated. And a good thing too, they would be leaving in a few scant hours, and not enough time to make going to sleep worthwhile.
Fancy again lit his horn and cast a spell he hadn’t had to use high school. The spell banished his fatigue, leaving him as fresh as if he had had his full 8 hours. He would have to pay for it later however, the spell simply delayed the bodies need for sleep, it did not remove it. At some point later on, he would have to catch up on the missed sleep. Such a spell was typically used for exam cramming, and was extremely hazardous to use repeatedly, as the effects compounded with each cast, and the spell became weaker with each consecutive use. Fancy remembered a story he had heard about the Princesses personal student, she had apparently used the spell to keep herself awake for nearly 7 days straight. By the end of it, so the story went, she was so far lost in sleep deprivation that she was convinced that her stuffed smarty pants doll was lecturing her about advanced particle physics. The strange part was that all the notes she copied down from the dolls supposed dictation checked out at every point along the line and not a single physics book could be found in her rooms.
Refreshed, Fancy went back to his shared room with Fleur, who was asleep just as he had left her. Pulling out a cushion, Fancy picked up a current issue of the Canterlot Times and began to check the stocks.
Daybreak came quickly enough, and in the place courtyard, 11 ponies, one changeling and a dragon assembled.
“Thank you all for getting here so promptly, I know that it is still early. Now, assigned roles for everyone”. Celestia looked around at all the bleary faces, all except Fancy who looked remarkably awake. “Cadance and Shining Armour will be in ultimate control during this journey. The guards, Flitter Wing, Stout Heart and Constant Vigil will be accompanying you all for protection should you encounter difficulty. Fancy and Fleur, your primary job is simply to be there and provide a source of love for the hive, secondary is to record any interesting events and observation. Blueblood, you are there as a royal representative, alongside Cadance. Behave yourself.”
Celestia turned to the last two, the reporters Hard Hitter and Daily Scoop. “Record what you can, but respect the changelings right to privacy. If they say something is off-limits, it is off-limits, understood?”
Both reporters nodded. “Understood princess”.
Celestia turned to the last member of the group, a small blue and yellow dragon, one of the group employed by the communications office. “This is Emberflame, he has volunteered to go with you so that we might stay in contact. Should you encounter any difficulty that you cannot overcome, use him to send a message back to me and aid will be sent as quickly as possible”.
The dragon, Emberflame stood up, almost as tall as most of the Stallions in the group, small wings just beginning to sprout on his back. “Pleased to meet you all, I wanted to get out of the castle for a while, and Celestia needed a dragon to accompany you, so I volunteered”.
“Right then, if everypony is done you need to get a move on, time is of the essence”. Celestia nodded to Drone who had been silent throughout the entire speech.
“Everypony follow me, the hive is located east of here, between Balitmare and Fillydephia, at a brisk trot it will take about 2 days to reach it, so we should get started”. Drone covered himself in a green fire aura, and a non-descript light blue unicorn stood there when it cleared. “Not everypony is as accepting as you all are, so a disguise is needed for now, but time and daylight are wasting, so let us depart”.
The group walked out of the castle ground, taking the main road past Foal Mountain headed for Baltimare.
“May the almighty Faust watch your travels, and protect you should this all be a trick” Celestia said looking at their diminishing forms in the distance.
End Chapter 3
A/N Longest Chapter thus far. A big thank you to everyone who has commented, liked or favorited this story. These first three chapters have been mostly for practice at writing large sequences of dialogue, and I hope that no one reading this had gotten too bored with what is essentially just a few ponies talking for 8000 words. If I have accidentally infringed on anyones OC ponies or story ideas, I apologize. Chapter 4 will likely be about another week away, as assignment work is calling my name.
It was a classic beautiful day in Equestria, the sun was shining, not to hot, but not cold either. Weather pegasi were moving around the clouds, shading the ground, and a team of 12 travellers were trotting down an open stretch of road, united in a common goal of peace and tolerance. Their cause was just, blessed by the Princesses themselves and it was in their glorious names that this quest was undertaken. Before long, this troupe crossed paths with another. This new group however was anything but united. One of the members, a white stallion of long blond mane appeared to be doing everything in his power to slow or halt the progress of the rest. The united group quickly decided that maybe Manehatten would be a better place to hawk their services and turned right back around. This troupe went on to later enjoy fantastic successes and riches beyond their wildest dreams. But sadly this is not their tale. This is the tale of the united 11 and their one belligerent companion of the flowing blond mane…
Blueblood was hot, he was sweaty and dusty and dirty, and several other things he was sure ended in ‘ty’. The team had been walking for almost half a day now, and Blueblood was beginning to think that being black listed from Canterlot may have been the better option.
“Why could we have not taken a coach or even the Canterlot express? All this walking has destroyed my hooficure” whined Blueblood. By this point, it was not the first time that he had said as much.
Drone winced inwardly but decided to explain again, praying to Chrysalis that this would be the last time. “The hive is located deep underground inside an abandoned gem mine. We did not have the energy to get all the way back to our hive cluster, so we hid but when it became clear that we would never manage to leave without help Chrysalis sent me back to Canterlot to entreat the Princesses, which has lead to this”.
The team cleared a small hill, almost running into a wagon travelling the other way. Pulling the slightly decrepit cart was a blue unicorn mare with a silver mane. A tattered purple cape and ragged hat rounded out her ensemble.
“Out of The Great and Powerful Trixies way peons, Trixie is in no mood to deal with the likes of you”. The mares haughty attitude went quite a long way to explaining her near destitute appearance.
All of the group but Blueblood moved off to the sides, not wanting to expend the energy it would take to argue with Trixie. Blueblood on the other hand simply dug his hooves in. “I am no peon you uneducated commoner, I am your prince and you will bow down to me. Apologize and kiss my royal hoof, and I may, just may forget your insult”.
Trixies only response to Bluebloods offer was to unhook herself from her cart, charge her horn and blast him with a shot of raw magic.
Blueblood looked in horror as a blast of amethyst magic came hurtling towards him. At the last minute a bubble of shielding appeared around him deflecting the blow. Looking around, Blueblood saw that Shining Armours horn was glowing, having cast a scaled down version of his energy shield spell. Almost unseen to the group, Drone edged away fractionally, clearly remembering the last time he had seen that spell.
Flitter Wing and Stout Heart grabbed Trixie and forced her down to the ground. “Your Grace, what should be done with this witch?” Stout Heart asked Blueblood.
“She has attempted to harm royalty, arrest her. I want her taken to Canterlot and thrown in the dungeons to rot”.
“Release her” Shining Armour spoke up firmly from behind. Everypony, Including Trixie herself turned to look at the white Stallion.
“What? Release her? She attacked me and has to be punished” Blueblood was shocked that Shining Armour appeared to be taking a commoners side over that of royalty.
“Do not forget why we are out here in the first place. We have neither the time, nor the resources to detain her ourselves and cannot afford the time it would take to return her to Canterlot. Flitter, Stout, as Captain of the royal guard and the appointed commander of this expedition I order you to release her”.
Flitter Wing and Stout Heart instantly got off of Trixie and stood to off to the side. Shining Armour turned to Trixie who was looking smugly back at Blueblood. “Do not think that I am letting you off this easily. My sister told me all about you, and how you almost caused her town to be destroyed. Understand when my mission is over, I will find you. As much as it sickens me to say, but you did attack royalty and must be punished. Now get out of here, I don't want to run into you again any time soon”.
Trixie looked at the group, almost as if seeing its members for the first time. Comprehension of exactly who she was talking too bloomed over her face. Not even bothering to re-hitch herself to the wagon, Trixie fled over the hill and out of sight. “Good riddance to poor trash” Blueblood snorted after her.
“Shut up Princy. This was your own fault. You were lucky that I could cast the shield spell fast enough. Twilight has told me of this Trixie. Her lightning magic is potent enough to cause you serious harm”. Shining Armour turned and resumed walking along the trail, the remainder of the group following him.
Blueblood remained and looked back to where Trixie had vanished. “Run little witch, run. For your sake I hope that Shining Armour finds you first. I will be nowhere near as kind”.
The remainder of the days travel passed without incident. Flitter Wing flew ahead to scout the coming terrain, while Drone lead the group down a small, clearly disused track, the kind that anypony would miss unless they already knew it was there. As the last rays of the sun began to fade, the group arrived at the mouth of a cave.
“The Hive is located deep within this mine. However it will be another near full day of travel before we reach our destination, and there are many false trails within” Drone pulled up to a stop the entrance. “There are also many creatures that live inside, not all of them friendly”.
Shining Armour called the group around. “In that case we make camp here and wait until morning to continue. Guards, Fancy, help me erect the tents. Cadance, Fleur can you prepare a dinner. Hard Hitter, Daily Scoop gather up some firewood, It will be getting cold out here very shortly. Emberflame go with them. Drone, can you keep an eye out for any of these not friendly creatures you mentioned?”
Everypony and dragon went about their assigned tasks, though they all noticed that Shining had not given Blueblood a task. He simply had dumped his bags down and started grooming himself.
Before long, a fine campfire was crackling away, with a small pot of carrot soup bubbling away. With everypony having finished their part in the construction of the tents or cooking, the guards moved away from the fire and began to practice, running through their weapon drills. Shining armour and Constant Vigil duelled with swords held in their magic grasps, each one blocking and parrying the others strikes with a practised ease. Flitter Wing however donned a pair or sharpened edges over the tips of his wings, and used those to cut and slash at a dead tree trunk, leaving deep gashes in the bark.
Amid all of this activity, Fleur moved slowly over to where Shining and Vigil were duelling and sat down to watch.
“Be careful ma’am, you could get hurt” Vigil called out, momentarily looking away from Shining’s sword to check on Fleur. Shining used this distraction to lunge in and land what would under normal circumstances have been a killing blow on Vigils armour.
“Buck. Not again” Vigil called out dropping to the ground in a show of submission.
“Did you enjoy the show Fleur?” Shining called out, replacing his own sword into its sheath.
“Oh yes, but I was wondering, could I have a try against one of you? I’ve always wanted to do something reckless like this once in my life, and now seems as good a time as any”.
Shining nodded to Vigil who passed over his sword to Fleur, the latter catching it awkwardly in her magic. Shining concentrated for a moment and the blades on each sword were replaced with padded stuffing. “So you don’t hurt yourself” he commented. Fleur nodded and slowly moved her now blunted sword into a ready guard position. “Ready then, en guard”.
Shining inwardly decided to humour the graceful model for a while and let her take the first swings. From her stance, it was clear that this was the first time she had ever held a weapon. Dimly he was aware that all the other guards had stopped training and were now watching. Over at the camp, the others were also starting to edge over to take a look.
Fleurs first swing was slow, poorly controlled and reeked of wasted energy. Shining dodged it with ease, bringing his own sword up with plenty of time left in order to block her second strike. Following her strikes, Shining made a big show of bringing his own sword over for an overhead strike, allowing Fleur to raise her own in defence. The two swords struck, ringing out despite their padding. Fleur stepped back and stumbled down a small hill, almost dropping her weapon.
“Are you sure you want to continue? You could get hurt out here”. Fleur shook her head and raised her sword back to the ready position. Shining made a second slow strike out at her, which she again blocked, but this time her form and speed were much better. Shining noticed this but had no time to comment. Fleur picked up with her own attacks again, each one coming down with increased refinement over the last. Within a minute Shining actually found himself having to concentrate to block each strike, and he was meant to be the most experienced guard in the troop. “If I didn’t know better, I would swear I was being hustled”.
The speed of the exchange increased, each swing of their swords becoming far more fluid that when they had started. Fleur was now handling her sword like a seasoned professional guard, and Shining was now finding himself hard pressed to keep up. What had started as a simple exercise in maintaining group morale was now becoming a fight to maintain his dignity and honour. Shining Armour would never live it down if he lost to this mare who wasn’t even a guard pony… “She is a model for Celestia’s sake, where did she learn to handle a blade like this?”
All of a sudden and with the fluid grace that only somepony of her lithe build could manage, Fleur dodged over to the side of the camp, hopped around behind Shinning and landed a strike over the back of his neck, on a small strip of flesh between the back plate and helmet. All the collected ponies gasped as Shining Armour allowed his sword to drop in defeat to this untrained civilian. Fancy Pants who had been watching from the sidelines stared in shock, barely even noticing as his monocle fell and shattered on the stony ground.
Not a pony made a sound as Fleur lowered her sword and returned it to Vigil who took it dumbfounded.
Everypony looked at Fleur shocked until Cadance cried out “WHOO FLEUR, you go girl. Show those stallions whose boss”.
“I say my dear, you have been holding out on me haven’t you?” Fancy Pants came back to his senses, looking around for his now shattered monocle.
Fleur nodded and look back at the assembled crowd, a new shy look entering her eyes.
Shining returned his sword to his sheath, pausing a moment to return the blade to both weapons. “You mind telling me what that was? You went from a greenhorn rookie to a seasoned blade-maiden in the space of 5 minutes. You have clearly been trained at some point, extensively. Who was it who trained you?”
Fleur had to draw a breath, a sheen of sweat now covering her face. “You all know me as a famous fashion model and aristocrat, but there is another side to my family that I have never revealed, not even to Fancy. Do any of you know of the Sword-mistress Freize”.
Stout Heart nodded “I remember that name; she was one of the greatest masters of the Neighpolionic era”.
Fleur smiled at him. “She is also my direct ancestor. Every child in my family is trained in the way of the sword from an early age, as soon as we learn to control our magic. It is our way to honour her legacy. While no pressure is put on us to follow through on the training, most of us do. Have you guards never noticed the large number of recruits who hail from my family? Many of them are hoping to become as good as Freize was, to live up to the tales we were told about her”.
“I followed my training until my teenage years when a magazine approached me for a modelling contract. My family supported my choice fully. I had never held a weapon since then until today. It just took a little while for it to come back”.
“Well this has been interesting, but I think we should all have some food and get some sleep” Cadance pulled everybody back into the present. “We still have a long day tomorrow and I need my sleep”.
“Right honey. Flitter take the first watch, I’ll relieve you at midnight”. Flitter Wing took to the sky and started a slow patrol path overhead. The remainder of the group retired to around the campfire to enjoy a hearty soup, Emberflame brought out a small packet of gems, which he offered around, though nopony took him up. Even Blueblood started to loosen up a little bit once he had something hot in him. Fleur regaled the group with tales of her ancestor Freize and all that she had supposedly accomplished. All was going well until Fancy noticed that Drone was not eating his portion. He had not dropped his disguise, and still appeared as a Unicorn.
“Is something wrong with your soup?”
“Nothing is wrong with the soup, I just cannot eat it as you can. Remember that eating food is one of our least effective methods for feeding” Drone replied.
“Oh, right. I forgot that you don’t eat. Holding your disguise up, sometimes I forget who you really are. Is there anything else we can do for you?” Fancy asked with some concern.
“I’m fine. When your marefriend went up against the captain of the guards, she was radiating exhilaration and joy. I was able to feed off of those emotions and get my fill. I will be fine until we reach the hive tomorrow”.
“Well then, I think it is time to turn in don’t you”. Drone agreed.
Flitter Wing was still on patrol over the campsite when he thought he heard something coming up the path they had followed. Moving back to the campsite, he roused Shining Armour and explained the situation.
“Get back up into the air. Corral it if you can, I’ll follow on foot”. Flitter Saluted and took off. Shining Armour moved slowly down the path, keeping an ear out for anything that sounded unusual. He got his wish shortly after when a shrill cry echoed out from the path.
“Unhand Trixie you brutish guard”
“Oh sweet Celestia, not her again” Thought Shining. What was she doing here of all places. Most likely following them, for some unknown reason.
Flitter reappeared, dragging a now very dirty and angry looking Trixie behind him. A magic suppressor band had been attached to Trixies horn, preventing her from casting any spells.
Shining walked over to her, looking like fury warmed up. “What are you doing here Trixie, I made it clear I didn’t want to see you again”.
Trixie put up a brave front “Trixie thought you could use Trixies skills in whatever you were doi…OOOWWWW”. A magic pulse ran through the suppressor band directly into Trixies horn.
“The suppressor band shocks you when you lie. Try again”.
“Trixie had nowhere else to go. After you left, Trixie went back for her wagon and it had been stolen. Trixie is now wearing everything she owns in the world”. The suppressor band remained silent, indicating that Trixie had told the truth this time.
Shining looked over at Flitter. “It’s too late to turn her around, and if we let her go again, she is likely just going to keep following us anyway. We may as well take her with us and keep an eye on her”. Flitter nodded and started to pull Trixie towards the campsite when a low groan cut through the night air. Shining and Flitter drew weapons at once, scanning for potential threats. The groan repeated, growing louder until it became more of a screech. Everypony back at the camp was awoken instantly by the noise.
From the brush over to Flitters left a monster jumped out, attempting to take a swipe at him. At 20 feet from tip to tail, sporting 3 distinct heads of a Lion, Goat and snake, it was an intimidating sight to say the least. Flitter was fast enough to avoid the claws, but only by an inch at the most.
“CHIMERA, Guards to Arms” Shining Armour called back to the camp. “Cadance, get everypony into the cave and stay there”.
At the campsite, everypony was in a flurry of activity. Vigil and Stout Heart were arming themselves and preparing to head out. Cadance and Fancy were moving the others into the mouth of the cave. Fleur on the other hoof followed the guards, pausing to grab a spare sword and sheath from beside Shining Armours bedroll. “No ma’am, no civilians on the field, go with the others” Stout called back to her as he saw her approach, strapping the sword around her body.
“I want to help. You will need all the bodies you can muster to take down a Chimera, either we can waste time arguing about this or we can actually do something, let’s go”. Fleur strode ahead of the two guardsmen, her longer legs carrying her swiftly over the ground. Stout and Vigil followed her, their own mobility reduced slightly by the weight of their armour and bulkier weapons.
Fleur and the two guards arrived at the battle scene just in time to see Flitter dive in for an attack, the sharpened edges to his wing-blades gouging a large line across the Chimera back and rise up again for another attack. The Chimera was ready for him on the second pass however. As Flitter dove, the snake head lashed out, burying its fangs into Flitters flank, injecting venom directly into his bloodstream. Instantly it was clear that Flitter was out of this fight, he crashed to the ground and stumbled away with a lack of balance suggestive of a night of heavy drinking. Shining was still standing bodily in front of a bound blue mare, Trixie by the looks of her crescent star and wand cutie-mark. The Chimera was slowly closing in on him, the snake head biting and dripping venom from its fangs.
Stout Heart bucked a tree branch directly into the Chimera, hoping to get its attention off of Shining and onto the newcomers. “You got its attention, now what do we do?” Vigil asked Stout, who didn’t seem to hear him, his eyes focused on three very angry looking heads all bearing down towards him.
“Keep its attention, I have an idea” Fleur yelled and dashed off to the left side, flanking the hulking creature.
“Whatever you are going to do, do it fast” Vigil yelled after her. The Chimera slowly lumbered over towards the newcomers to its fight. It had a massive weight and height advantage over the assembled combatants, and enough heads to engage all of them at once.
“We can’t fight it for long, it heavily outclasses us” Stout Heart called out to Shining.
“I know, we need to think of something, and soon”.
“I think Fleur has a plan of some sort, but she was a bit skimpy on the details, just that we need to keep its attention” Vigil called out. "That’s not the only thing skimpy about her" he muttered to himself, remembering an old issue of playcolt, in which Fleur was pictured in some very revealing costumes.
During the brief interlude, the Chimera had reached the point at which the longer snake head could lash out and bite the ponies. It coiled up, preparing to spring at whatever was closest, large globs of venom dripping from each of the obscenely large fangs.
“It had been an honour to serve with you sir”. Vigil called to Shining, closing his eyes and waiting for the end.
What he did not notice was a flash of movement from behind the Chimera. Fleur leapt in from behind, mirroring the move that she had used on Shining Armour, her cut slicing down at the snake head, severing it cleanly from the body. The remaining two heads roared in pain, the severed snake head wriggling on the ground, but was no longer dangerous. The Lion and Goat heads refocused on the new threat that was able to cause such harm. Fleur danced around the injured monster but was unable to get a clear chance to strike again.
“Release Trixies magic” Trixie called above the din.
“What, how do we know we can trust you?” Shining retorted
“Trixie doesn’t want to die, Release Trixies magic”.
Shining hesitated for a moment, then pulled the suppressor band off of Trixies horn. Within seconds, Trixies horn and eyes started to glow. Black storm clouds formed overhead out of the formerly clear sky. Gale winds swept through the path. With a sudden CRACK, a bolt of lightning slammed into Trixies horn, causing it to pulsate with energy. Shining watched as Trixies eyes turned fully white, something he had only heard about once, when Twilight had gone for her entrance exam at Celestias school for gifted Unicorns. He and the others backed away from Trixie, not sure which creature now represented the greater threat.
Energy seared out of Trixie directly at the Chimera. The storm clouds overhead reacted with a resounding crash, bathing the entire scene in a blinding flash of light. As the flash cleared, it became clear that the Chimera was no-longer present, save for a charred crater. One moment it was rampaging out of control, the next it was simply gone, banished to some other plane of existence. As for Trixie herself, she slumped over, having knocked herself out through a magical burnout. Shining was about to go to her aid when he saw the now fallen figure of Flitter leaning against a tree. He was on the brink of consciousness, babbling incoherently.
“Stout, grab Trixie and lets go, Flitter needs help now”. Stout Heart picked up the prone body of Trixie and followed Shining, Vigil and Fleur back to the camp.
At the camp, Shining called Cadance and Emberflame over. “Ember, send a message to Celestia, we need a medic out here now. Flitter has been poisoned by a Chimera snake, Cadance, do what you can for him”. Ember rapidly wrote down a message and sent it on its way through the dragon flame.
Drone came over, shedding his disguise as he did so. “Did you say a Chimera snake bit Flitter?”
“Yes, we need a medical pony with healing magic out here ASAP or he will die”.
“No pony can get here fast enough. The hive can help him if we can get there soon”.
“What do you mean?” demanded Shining
“Our queen secretes a great many substances for use in the hive, silks with greater tensile strength than steel, resins for construction. One of the others is an extremely powerful anti-venom that can even stop Chimera poison”.
“Can you use your second stage shifting to take her form and administer the anti venom yourself?” Shining asked hopeful.
Drone shook his head “I would not start to secrete the anti venom quickly enough to have any effect, plus we can only take on a royal form when the queen is linking through us. At this point, only Chrysalis can save your guard”.
Shining quickly bellowed orders to the remaining group. “Fancy, Blueblood, strip one of those tents and make a travois to carry Flitter on, everypony else, grab whatever food or water you can fit in your saddlebags and lets go, if we don’t need it, leave it. We can’t wait until morning now. Ember send off another letter letting the Princess know. Let’s hustle ponies”.
Within 2 minutes everything was ready to go. The group ventured into the darkened cave, relying entirely on Drone to guide them towards the only source of possible hope they had left – the very changeling hive they themselves had been coming to save.
End Chapter 4
A/N Well this one was a wild ride to write, once the muse kicked in there was no getting off until it was done. I originally only had two main ideas for this chapter: that Trixie would make an appearance, and badass Fleur. Aside from that, this chapter was meant to be practice for action scenes, and I think I covered that fairly well. This story just keeps growing inside my head. The original plan was for a two chapter story, possible third. I’m now at four chapters and not yet done. Thank you to everyone who has been liking it or adding it as a favourite, you are making it worth the work to keep on writing. As one of my favourite authors, Matthew Reilly often puts in his books: To anyone who knows a writer, never underestimate the power of your encouragement.
A dozen ponies rushed down an old mine shaft, abandoned carts, and buttresses flitting by at regular intervals. The only light sources available to the group came from the horns of the unoccupied unicorns: Shining, Hard Hitter, Fleur and Vigil. Fancy, Blueblood and Cadance were occupied looking after the invalid Flitter Wing, being pulled along on a makeshift stretcher scavenged from parts of the tents. Emberflame was pulling up the rear, dropping a gem from his travel pack alongside any major landmark the group came across. The newest member of the group, Trixie, was slung across Stout Hearts back, still knocked out from banishing the Chimera
“Cadance talk to me, how are we doing back there?” Shining Armour called back, not slowing down his pace
“I’ve put Flitter into an induced coma, and slowed his heart rate down to the minimum needed to keep him alive. It will slow the movement of the venom and buy us some time, but hours at the most. I can keep him stable over the short term, but he needs real help and soon” Cadance replied from the rear or the group.
“Drone, I see a junction coming up, which way?”
“Straight ahead, then take the third passage on the left, then alternate left, right at every second passage after that. This will take us to a secondary ore processing room, where the gems were extracted from the rocks, Chrysalis set up her temporary hive there. There should be no traps or tricks; we were relying mostly on our ability to remain undetected to protect us from harm".
"So straight, third left, then every alternate second, right?” Drone noted yes.
"Then let’s hustle ponies, Cadance let me know if you see any change".
"Will do Shining"
Drone led the group past the junction and into the tunnels that he had pointed out. From there it quickly became a repetition of One two left, one two right.
Daily Scoop pulled up along side Drone as they all hurtled down one of the many crosscutting tunnels. "This may not be the best time, but just how large is this mine? No pony mine I have ever seen or heard of was anywhere near this big".
"That is because this mine is not of pony origin; it was created by a group of what you may know as Diamond dogs. Their mining expertise is second to none, and as I understand this was one of their most lucrative mines until it went fallow. We moved in because its confusing tunnel layout and huge size deter most of the curious from entering too deep. There was still a small pack of them living here when we arrived, but we haven't seen them since. They may have retreated further into the mine system or left altogether".
"So how long do you think until we reach the hive? We cannot keep up this breakneck pace forever" Shining Armour interjected into the conversation.
"At this speed, we would reach the hive by daybreak, about another 6 hours. I could get there faster if I flew and try to persuade my queen to meet you on the way".
"Are there any other deviations to the order of tunnels?"
"No, just keep alternating, like all puzzles, it was designed to keep out only the uninformed, know the pattern and the puzzle is easy".
"Then go, bring back Chrysalis and whatever help you can".
"Will do; keep going as fast as you can". Drone flapped his membrane thin wings and shot ahead of the group, disappearing into the blackness.
On Stout Hearts Back, Trixie was beginning to stir, jolted back to life from all the bouncing around on Stouts armour.
"Ugh, my head, what is going on here, where am I?" Trixie noticed that she was mounted on a stallions back in some kind of enclosed passage.
"Wait, where are you taking Trixie, let Trixie go now, how dare you kidnap her" Trixie shifted back into her third person speech as soon as she noticed other ponies around her.
"No pony has kidnapped you lady, we grabbed you after you fainted and took you with us" Stout called back "Can you walk?"
Stout Heart slowed down to allow Trixie to get off of his back
"Trixie thinks so, yes" Trixie said taking a few experimental steps forward.
"Good, you are heavier than you look, now try to keep up, we are in a bit of a pickle here, and there is no time to show you the exit".
Stout picked up the pace again, leaving Trixie to be engulfed in the darkness behind the group.
"Wait, at least tell Trixie what we are running from?" Trixie caught up to the back of the pack.
"You can drop that whole third person act now, you are not at a show now and it is getting annoying" Cadance looked back at the now approaching Trixie.
"Never, now what is going on here, Trixie remembers being taken captive by that brute of a guard on the stretcher, then waking up here".
Cadance stiffened at the insult Trixie casually hurled at the pony injured in her own defence.
"We were attacked by a Chimera, Flitter Wing was poisoned before you destroyed it with some kind of lightning bolt". Shining had dropped back to check on Flitter and bring Trixie up to speed. "After we removed the suppression band from your horn, your eyes went all strange, like my sisters when she channels her strongest spells, eyes glazed over. You called a lightning storm down onto yourself and somehow managed to use its power to banish the Chimera. After that you fainted and we brought you here.
“Yes, It is coming back to Trixie now, she saved everyponies lives and is a hero”.
“You were saving yourself as much as anypony else, we were all incidental to your own survival, but for what its worth, thank you”.
Trixie looked around, lighting her own horn to examine the walls as the group ran past them. “That covers the how Trixie got here, but where is here exactly?”
Cadance took that answer. “We are in a mining system that entered near our camp. We were tasked by the princess to undertake a diplomatic mission to a colony of changelings living here, but now we need their help ourselves or Flitter Wing here will die. The Chimera bit him”.
“CHANGELINGS? Are you of your pony minds? They can’t be trusted. Let them rot”.
“It is too late for that now, we need their help. Also this was a direct order from Princess Celestia, so regardless of what we think, we are doing this, when we get there, just sit down and stay out of our way”.
The group continued to run down the corridors, until Blueblood called for a moments rest. “I can’t keep running like his” he said, chest heaving “Cadance said she can keep the guard stable, we need to rest for a moment”.
Shining called a halt and went to check on Flitter. He appeared to be in a peaceful slumber, chest rising and falling very slowly.
“Don’t be fooled honey, he only looks calm because I am keeping him that way” Cadance said as Shining walked over. “The poison is still moving through his body, he has another 2-3 hours at most without help. As much as I never thought I would never say, we need Chrysalis now”.
“Ask and you shall receive, ha ha ha”. A disembodied voice floated down the corridor towards the group. Everypony looked up but could not penetrate the gloom ahead.
“Won’t you step into my parlour, said the spider to the fly?” Stepping into the combined light of several horns, Chrysalis, queen of the changelings hive appeared in view, her black chitinous plating glinting in the light. “’Tis the prettiest little parlour that ever did you spy”. A number of drones appeared after her.
“Chrysalis, thank Celestia you came, please help us” Cadance pleaded.
“And whatever could be the problem for the mighty princess of love?” Chrysalis looked over and saw the stretcher and the pony on it. “Ah, it appears that one of your number has met with a terrible fate and you need my help to heal him yes? My little drone here, has told me all about it” Chrysalis pointed to one of the drones by her side, presumably it was Drone, the one that had travelled with them all this way, now he just looked like any of a hundred drones. “I can certainly do it… For a price”. Chrysalis rubbed her hole cover hooves together, chuckling with barley concealed mirth.
Shining Armour was in no mood. “Chrysalis, one of my men is dying, I have no time for games. Tell me what you want”.
Chrysalis looked at Shining. “The captain, so brave when the enemy is something he can confront. I’ll tell you what I need”. Chrysalis licked her lips, twisted glee beaming out from her eyes. “What I need is for Celestias Persecution of my race to end, but what I want right now, is to drink from the untempered fount that is your love for each other. You smell so good, it is maddening having to simply stand here”.
“If you can save my guard, you can have as much as you want, just do it now”.
“Very well, but I warn you. Even through that coma you have put him in, this is going to hurt, restrain him”.
Chrysalis walked over to the stretcher and kneeled down beside his neck. “And now the reason why your kind compares us to vampires” Chrysalis pulled her head back, opened her mouth and drove her fangs directly into Flitter Wings neck, right down on the artery. The inert figure of Flitter started to convulse at once, his eyes snapping open but unseeing. A shattering yell pierced the stale air of the tunnel, echoing off of every available surface.
“What are you doing?” Cadance called out “You will kill him”.
One of the drones answered for Chrysalis “She is injecting Flitter with the anti-venom, how else did you expect her to administer it directly into his blood stream?” Cadance realised that this was in-fact Drone, having returned along with Chrysalis as he had said he would.
After a few moments, Chrysalis detached from Flitters neck, a drop of clear liquid welling at the bottom of one fang. “The poison in your guardsman will be neutralised shortly, however he will be weak for some time. Now come, we have much to discuss”. Chrysalis led the group onwards. At length they came to a large relatively open chamber, filled with grey-green ooze on the walls, and cocoons hanging from the ceiling. At regular intervals, luminescent pods provided light for the space. The entire cavern now resembled an insect hive rather than a mined cave.
Daily Scoop took it all in. “Been busy much, nice taste in décor”.
Cadance looked horrified, this was not the action of a hive on the brink of extinction, they were rebuilding. “What is all this Chrysalis? I thought you were not planning to stay”.
Chrysalis rolled her eyes. “And you would be right. Have you ever seen an actual hive before. The one I left behind was the size of Canterlot. Not just the Castle, the entire town. Millions of changelings”.
“This” Chrysalis motioned around the room “is not even worth noting as an outpost, it can support only a tiny number of drones, 100 at the most. I assure you, that once you have fed us, we will be on our way. I can’t let one of the other queens try to take over my hive”.
“Well then, as much as I am thankful to you for saving my guard, I don’t want to have to spend any more time here then is needed, shall we just get on with it? After all, you must be hungry” Shining suggested.
“Quite right, quite right” Chrysalis nodded “You will all be treated to a private fantasy of your choosing, courtesy of my drones, who will feed off of your love”.
“No” Cadance spoke up “I’m doing this with my husband or not at all, remember; we can still blast you all, and in this enclosed environment, the spell will be even more powerful”.
“Very well then, as you wish, just get started. We are hungry over here”.
Shining walked over to Cadance. “Honey, we need to think of the moment in which we felt the most love for each other and focus on that moment no matter what. What are you going to think about?”
“I know just the moment” Cadance looked directly into Shinings eyes “The moment when you asked me to marry you. I truly love you Shining Armour” Cadance leaned in and kissed her husband, deep and tender.
All of the drones present sat down as one, faces up and eyes closed, basking in the rays of a force that only they could feel. Chrysalis could feel the raw love emanating from the pair, made all the sweeter by the fact that she was still so very hungry. Everything about her appearance began to improve, her shell began to shine, her jagged horn appeared sharper. Every changeling present started to flutter their wings, resulting in a chirping sound throughout the cavern. Unbidden Chrysalis started to hum to herself “This day has been just perfect…”
Fancy Pants and the others looked over to where the two lovers stood, embracing each other without a word. It was such a tender moment, he almost hated to interrupt it, but he had his own announcement and contribution to make. Fancy waited until they unhooked themselves, still looking at each other as if it had been the first time they had lain eyes upon one another. “If I could get everyponies attention” All eyes refocused on Fancy as he walked over to Fleur.
“My darling Fleur, I have loved you ever since I first met you, all those years ago, I have watched as you grew into the fine mare you are today, and even now you are still full of surprises” Fancy nodded to the sword still strapped to Fleurs side. In the rush, she had never bothered to unclasp it. “But now I want to ask you something that will change the course of my life forever”. Fancy got down on his back legs and levitated a small box out of his saddle bags. Opening it, he revealed a singular golden horn ring. “Fleur-de-lis, descendent to the sword master Freize, will you marry me?”
Fleur looked down at the ring, tears welling in her eyes. “Oh Fancy, yes. A thousand times yes” Fleur lunged in a hugged Fancy. Cheers were heard from all around the room. Chrysalis and her drones were once again basking in the radiant love emanating from the couple. Fancy levitated the ring out of the box and gently placed it upon Fleurs horn, leaning in to steal a kiss while he did so.
At length, Fancy and Fleur separated, and everypony looked over at Chrysalis. “Envoys of Princess Celestia, know that the changeling nation thanks you for your service here today. We will not meet again”.
Drone walked over to the group, new fire radiating in his opaque eyes. “Farewell friends, maybe we shall see fit to meet again, but for now I must return to my hive. The love you have provided us must be shared with the others”. Chrysalis powered up her horn, and in a flash she and all the changelings vanished from the chamber. Only the cocoons and pulsating lights remained as evidence that they had ever been there at all.
“Is it over?” Blueblood spoke up. Both he and Trixie had remained at the back of this encounter, preferring to let other more qualified ponies handle the task of providing love.
“I think so, I can’t see any of the changelings remaining” Cadance replied.
“I don’t know about you, but I am ready to set course for home” Shining Armour said. “Who is with me?”
A general murmur of agreement rose up from the crowd, but Cadance shot it down. “We should rest here, we don’t have the energy for another trek back out to the surface right now, and I want to wait until Flitter wakes up”.
“Very well, let’s all get some food and sleep and head out once we are sure that Flitter is ok”. Everypony nodded and went about various tasks, preparing what food they had brought with them, looking for things that could be used for sleeping.
Hard Hitter and Daily Scoop were deep in conversation. “This will be the greatest story of my career, such action and excitement, every paper in Equestria will be lining up to run this” Scoop was overjoyed.
Eventually everypony crawled in for the evening (morning? It was hard to tell underground) and drifted off to sleep, all except Shining Armour who remained up to take a watch, remembering Drones warning that more than just the changelings lived in these mines.
End Chapter 5
A/N Assignments be damned. I decided to delay my assignment work and get this story finished quickly, rather than simply have it churning at the back of my mind. Sappy ending? Loose ends? The epilogue will cover all of that.
At her introduction, Chrysalis was quoting the poem ‘The Spider and the Fly’ by Mary Howitt, A cautionary tale about trusting the flattery and words of others blindly.
The Sun was shining upon a cloudless afternoon when the group emerged from the mine, following the trail of gems that Emberflame had left behind, like a trail of breadcrumbs.
“Glourious sun and wind. It is heavenly upon my mane” Blueblood was only too glad to get out from underground. Following him came Trixie, Fancy and Fleur, then with short shaky steps came Flitter Wing, now up and moving, but still quite frail.
Once everypony had made it outside, they found the remains of their campsite and scavenged what they could from it for the trip back to Canterlot.
Trixie however decided that it would be best if she parted ways with group here.
“Considering that you saved all our lives, I think we can let you off the hook this one time, right Princy?” Shining looked over to Blueblood who nodded back.
“Then Trixie will be off, maybe you can catch one of her fabulous shows next time she is in Canterlot”.
Shining laughed “Sure thing. But before you go, there is one thing I want to know. How did you banish the Chimera? Twilight told me about the Ursa minor incident, and she said that your magic well, kinda sucked”.
“And I told her that she would never have the amazing show stopping talents of the Great and Powerful Trixie” fireworks exploded from nowhere, and a breeze that blew only for her fluttered through her cape and hat as she stood proudly on her hind legs.
“She and all those other egghead snobs never spent enough time out in the real world, always locked up in their libraries. Trixie found a spell written by Lord Ixion, a contemporary of Star Swirl the bearded which taught Trixie how to absorb elemental energy directed at her. Combining that with my ability to summon a lightning storm cloud, I was able to freely boost up my own power levels to a point at which I could cast magic on a level equal to her. Spending many months practicing my magic basics didn’t hurt either”.
“Well, come by the palace sometime, I think that we can arrange a new wagon for you for your help”.
“Trixie may do just that, but for now, I leave” Trixie tossed a small ball onto the ground, causing a billowing cloud of smoke to envelope her. When the cloud cleared, nothing remained of the blue mare, save for an image burned into the ground shaped like her cutie mark, with the words 'The Great and Powerful Trixie was Here' carved below..
“A Show-off until the very end” Shining muttered. “Come one everypony, daylights burning, and we have another wedding to organize”.
The trip back was as uneventful as any could be. Returning to the palace, Shining and Cadance returned to their quarters for a much needed rest. Vigil, Stout and Flitter were provided with an R&R break for services above and beyond, tackling a Chimera. Blueblood wasted no time taking himself to the groomers, shouting something about needing a bath at once. The two reporters moved off to write up their experiences and put in calls to their respective offices. Soon only Fancy Pants and Fleur were left standing in the entrance hall.
“I hear you have had quite the adventure while you were away” Celestia walked up behind Fancy.
“Quite so princess. I can tell you all about it over that dinner that you said you owed us”…
Far away to the east, past the Griffon kingdoms, the hives of the changeling nation were bustling with activity. The news that Queen Chrysalis was not only alive, but in possession of a love source stronger than any ever before encountered had sent shockwaves throughout the entire hive system.
High up in her spire, Chrysalis was preparing her coronation speech, having disposed of the other queens that had attempted to wrest control of her hive from her in her absence, and thus garnered herself command of their hives instead.
As she stood there, Chrysalis found herself thinking again of the Equestrian kingdom, and all the love contained within. “You will never see me again? Fools. I have suckled directly from the personification of love itself and I will not be denied. For I am Chrysalis, Queen of the changelings. None shall ever dispute my rule again…”
This story has been an absolute blast to write. For a long time I held back on trying to write anything, somewhat afraid of rejection and ridicule. I also felt that I had never had that one killer idea to make a story out of. Several half baked ones, but never one that I was able to run with. This one came to me while reading the novel ‘Interview with the Vampire’ by Anne Rice, and it provided me the basis for the original theme and title. From there however the story morphed and altered as I was writing it. All the comments authors have made about how their characters surprise them throughout their stories make more sense to me now.
Reception for this story had been far better than I could have hoped for on a first attempt at writing prose in over 10 years. I will at some point dust off my other half baked ideas and see if they can be salvaged into a good story. Currently I have three possible ideas.
1. the hijinxs of a vampiric Lyra and Bon-bon, with abilities based on Bram Stokers Dracula, no sparkling emo vamps here. (This one would contain some clop scenes, plus a little bit of blood, and thus need a mature rating)
2. Sweetie Belle gains the powers of Dr Whooves Tardis, resulting in a multiverse fic ala the Sweetie Belle Chronicles: Fragments, but with Dr Whooves and Colgate along for the ride.
3. Cross over fic Combining FiM with the characters of Sam & Max, Freelance police. Max and Pinkie Pie are made for each other.
And finally, the acknowledgements for this story.
WandererD, author of the ‘Three sisters’ series. These stories are what convinced me to actually write my own.
Anne Rice, for providing me the thematic basis for my story.
Edragon, for pointing out grammatical mistakes along the way.
Lauren Faust and Hasbro for creating the world of Friendship is magic. This planet is a better place for it.
And finally, you the readers. Every like I got was an ego boosting validation that someone out there liked what I was doing. You guys are the reason we write.