For A New Dawn

Chapters

Prologue
Born for a purpose
Amicitiae
Like a Machine

Prologue

On the outskirts of the Necosta Badlands, a single jet black changeling trudged through the blazing heat. The roaring sun beat down on its back, heating the creature to its core. He ached as he felt his shell start to simmer. The changeling would just have to endure it.

The area was one of the most hostile for any being to reside in. It was no wonder nothing lived out here. The Necosta Badlands were a barren, miserable area; but that’s why it made a good place to hide.

The changeling turned its eyes upward towards a large cliff a few yards away. The rock formation towered over him, standing like a great pillar of naturally etched stone. He took a moment to breathe in the shade. Almost home, it thought. Deep inside he pulled out the last reserves of love he had. It had been a new couple, fresh, awkward, eyes beaming with new hope. It was a raw kind of love, untested and without any richness to it, maybe even a little too early for picking, but it would work just fine.

The changeling started his wings up. The thin fibers cracked off a few flakes of dead chitin as he slowly rose into the air. He kept his eyes on his target, a cave opening a few hundred feet up, as he strained to ascend. His body ached and he could feel a great sense of nausea start to overtake him. He knew he was overheating, and this extra effort wasn’t helping it at all. The changeling shook his head and grit his teeth. No, it didn’t matter. All he had to do was make it inside and complete his task.

The edge of the large opening came into view. The changeling could feel his body ache as his wings cracked apart in the searing heat. Just a little further, he thought as he continued to push his breaking body. He ascended just past the lip of the cave entrance and quickly jerked forward just as his wings faltered. He reached out and grabbed the edge, barely getting his chest on top. The changeling’s heart sank as the last of the raw love finished pouring through his system, his strength starting to leave his limbs. He grunted and dug his front hooves into the rock, splitting the weakened chitin in the process. The changeling winced as he held on, barely keeping from falling as he slipped back a few inches at a time.

Two changelings rushed out, grabbing his front legs. They had much thicker armor, differentiating them as front guards in contrast to his own, more sleek scout class carapace. The scout changeling grunted as they grasped hard around his cracked forelimbs. The two guards lifted him over the edge, a puff off orange dust pushing out as he fell.

“Did you get it?” one of the guards asked.

He lay there, gasping for breath before he spoke. “Yes... I have it.” The changeling coughed and hacked. “I need to get this pony’s biological signature to SS25. Please, help me. I—I won’t last much longer.”

The two guards exchanged looks and sighed. “Hang in there. We’ll carry you in.” the first said as he and his guard mate moved over and lifted the changeling scout’s forelimbs up onto their shoulders. “Just hold on tight.”

The scout blinked as his head began to feel heavy. Within moments, darkness moved over his eyesight completely as he lost consciousness.

Deep in the hive, a fairly large changeling stood in a round room, the walls around it coated in a sticky biological growth. The changeling was taller than average, structured much like Chrysalis but lacked the Queen’s horn, instead featuring a double set of large wings and a more equine muzzle structure that still had the usually sharp fangs of her species. Four tendrils, each about as thick as her hooves, sprouted from her back and traveled to the floor, each pulsing a bright green like a heartbeat. Her eyes were locked on a pod on the far end of the room as her magic pulses fed into the single entity inside.

The creature’s body was structured like that of the a basic changeling but its skin had taken on a new quality. The normally solid chitin carapace was absent, and instead its body was made out of what looked like black, elastic cord twisted around a jagged skeletal structure. It slept as the translucent cocoon pulsed a bright green in tune with the waves of energy coming from the changeling at the center, each moving soon after through glowing veins in its chest.

She closed her eyes, connecting with the creature at the center of the pod. Super strain number twenty five—Development exceeds normal growth in every aspect, she thought, going over her work. Language and fully matured muscle coordination have all been loaded with spectacular success. Never before have we been so successful in breeding a new strain of changeling.

Two guards walked into the room from behind with the scout in hand. “D2,” the first said, kneeling. “BD606 has returned. He has the biosignature ready for SS25.”

D2 shifted her large wings, folding them to her back, and kept her concentration on flowing energy into SS25. “That will have to be the final one then.”

“D2?”

“Any other scouts that haven’t returned are more than likely dead or captured at this juncture. We have to move forward. The hive doesn’t have a choice anymore.” D2 opened her eyes and looked back up at the special changeling she was working on. “We’ve been out here for no more than a year and nearly every resource has dried up right before our eyes.”

The guards both stood frozen in place. “D2, we—we can still find something. There has to be something we’ve missed!”

D2, flared her wings and turned around, narrowing her slitted eyes at the guard. “There isn’t! We can’t keep telling ourselves that we can avoid a fight any longer. We’re starving and Chrysalis has been missing for a week now after a nigh suicidal mission for resources near Canterlot.” D2’s eyes jolted back and forth between two guards, both of whom simply looked to her with despondent expressions. D2 sighed and looked down. “I know it’s hard to face. It’s hard for all of us, but our numbers are dwindling. At this rate we can’t last another month.”

One of the guards looked up. “We’ve fed so much into SS25... Is it really worth it when we’ve had next to nothing?”

D2 turned away. “It is rash but we had to do something. There’s no turning back now that we’ve invested so much. If SS25 can’t save us, then we changelings have no hope of recovery.”

A harsh coughing fit interrupted them. All eyes turned to see the scout coming to on the floor. D2 felt a knot in her stomach. His carapace was faded and chipped, his chitin wings were dry cracking, and his lungs sounded awful. Days of fruitless scavenging and this final retrieval mission had finally done him in.

D2 concentrated and a bladed tentacle popped out of the floor with a schluck. The appendage shot to the side of the room and plunged into another green pod. It emerged and came back to hover in front of D2. The front prong had separated into four sharp claws and held in their grasp a crimson colored crystal shard. The shard shone brightly even in the dim green overglow of the room. Within its prism, swirls of shimmering stars moved around as if being mixed by some sort of supernatural power.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” D2 said, not taking her eyes off the gem. “arcana—” She moved the gem over in her grasp watching the glittering dots caught in a twisting night sky within. “It’s legendary magic, special because it doesn’t conform to the natural laws. They even say it’s derived from powers of the gods who shaped our world.” She chuckled. “How pitiful that we found a shard of the most valuable material in Equestria but no reliable source of food.” D2 glanced over at SS25 and smirked. “But with the biosignature of Twilight Sparkle, we now have a use for it, don’t we? If anyone can control arcana, is would be the element of magic herself.”

D2 turned and kneeled down next to the injured scout. “Can you stand?” she asked.

The changeling opened his faded blue eyes, meeting her own bright green, snake-like ones and slowly moved his head back and forth. D2 lowered her gaze. “Alright then,” she said quietly. “I-I’m sorry for this.”

The bladed tendril shot forward and connected with the changelings chest. He immediately stiffened, eyes and mouth shooting wide open as the his carapace was immediately punctured. Green fluid spewed in a burst from the entrance. He coughed and hacked, unable to make any other sound.

D2 winced. “Hold on. I’m going to give you as much pain relief as I can, but this is still going to hurt.” A blue glow permeated through the connected tendril. The changeling immediately relaxed but was clearly still in pain. D2 turned to the glowing pod at the other end of the room. Her eyes narrowed and locked onto the figure sleeping soundly at the center. “This is...” she whispered to herself. D2 grit her teeth and lowered her stance. “...our last shot.”

A thunderous shockwave of changeling magic exploded through the room, deafening the guards who soon hurried out. A green aura of energy roared to life around D2 as she powered up her spell. D2 winced as she started to feel the pressure of the magical field building around her. It whipped through the room like a bright green typhoon, bursting with power and steadily building in intensity.

She shoved the tendril that held the arcana shard forward. The appendage drilled through the membrane of SS25’s breeding pod with ease and touched the stone to his chest. D2 focused and channeled the spell through the extended arm. The shockwave traveled down and exploded with a roar of red and green magic, shaking the room. D2 braced herself as the pressure in front of her built up to near unbearable levels. She dug her hooves into the soft, tissue-like floor and braced herself against the spell storm.

The arcana shard rumbled as the spell blasted across it. Red wisps of magic flailed at the contact zones between the tendril and the changeling’s chest. D2 tsked and lowered her brow. It was resisting bonding.

D2 closed her eyes and focused on the bladed tendril within the scout, still keeping as much power feeding into the spell as possible. She rooted around in his being with her mind, searching for the magical signature. A tingling feeling surged through her as she finally felt it.

D2 cast another spell, absorbing the biosignature of the Element of Magic. She removed the appendage from the scout and turned the second arm toward SS25. She moved the tendril forward, stopping just in front of the subjects center. The blade opened to four different prongs and blasted magic at the converging area between the crystal and SS25.

The creature’s flesh warped and squirmed under the magic, the black coils that made up its musculature twisting its form into equine flesh. Skin covered in a lavender coat began to form across its stomach. The arcana still didn’t bond, resisting the entire time like a magnet to its like pole. D2 cried out in pain as she surged even more mana into the spell. The aura erupted around her as the ends of the tendrils were flooded with even more energy.

The majority of the changeling’s left side became that of an equine and the essence was now moving over its face. SS25’s nose reshaped, becoming more straight and structured, the signature purple coat soon moving over it. Fine, dark purple hairs sprouted across the back of its neck and on the top of its head, forming into a messy mane. His forehead writhed for a moment before a loud crack echoed through the room and a horn of keratin burst forward.

SS25 was now covered in equine features with a new coat and only a small remaining gap at his chest. The the fibrous cord-like material thrashed and contorted, closing the remaining opening. As the essence made its way, some of the arcana’s wisps of energy connected, flowing into the center of SS25’s mass. D2’s face lit up. It’s working! Finally, yes! It’s—

A powerful red aura surged forth from the Arcana shard. It started to push back against the tendril that held it in place, slowly forcing the appendage off SS25. The arm’s interlaced plating cracked under the pressure as D2 struggled to keep it in place. She clenched her eyes shut and grunted as the pain tore through her arm. “Ugh, no! This has to work!” The sinewy membranes underneath snapped apart, spewing green fluid across the floor. The armored carapace on the bridge of D2’s nose cracked and a small stream of blood flowed down and dripped off her chin. “We can’t afford this any longer!” She shook as the Arcana forced her back, bringing her to her knees. D2 cried out in pain while still forcing every mana nerve in her body to fire at maximum as she pushed forward, digging in with every ounce of strength she had. Her body ached and burned from the exertion and threatened to give out at any moment. “Please...!” she cried out, blood dripping down her face. “You have to help us!”

In the deafening roar of the magic feedback, D2 thought she heard a small voice. “Would that make you happy, mom?”

D2’s eyes shot open. The green mana swirled around like a sickly tornado, blocking out every other sound, even that of her cracking armor plates. All the pain was just an afterthought. She looked up at SS25, who was peacefully asleep, stuck in an artificial slumber that not even the bellow of the mana torrent could shake. D2 stood there, blood trickling through the cracks in her face. How much work she had put into all of this. How much she had taught him while he still lay in a world of darkness. How much she had hoped...

This is it then, she thought. We tried—It’s over. D2 slumped to the floor collapsing in a heap. She didn’t even notice the last solid armor plating on her two active tendrils breaking away like chips of concrete.

A shockwave of purple suddenly blasted through the front of the room. D2 looked up, and her eyes went wide. A fully formed purple pony looked at her with two brilliant maroon colored eyes. She froze, breathless in its stare. The Arcana stone hovered in front of him, mysteriously not seeming to shake anymore. Without a word the pony reached out to the radiating Arcana stone. It lit up, emitting a high frequency as the room was bathed in a last blast of light.

D2’s eyes fluttered open. She discovered herself laying across the floor on her side, her two front tendrils limp and unresponsive. Everything had stopped and all was quiet. Only the sound of her own heartbeat filled her ears. She looked up. There, sitting but a few feet away was a small unicorn stallion. Across his flank lay a six pointed pink star with five white ones surrounding it. He looked at her with wide, curious eyes, and leaned forward. D2 balanced her aching hooves under her and stood up, shaking as she steadied herself. She moved one of her two usable tendrils towards him. The pony flinched as it came close, backing away and pulling his hooves in close. He charged his horn and attempted to launch a bolt of magic up at the outstretched arm. The magic backfired, sending a loud pop through the room. The pony yelled out and gripped it’s head. D2 raised her eyebrows and retracted her arm. The poor pony was curled up small and shaking like a leaf as it watched her with wide, fearful eyes.

“No, shush little one,” she said. “I’m not here to hurt you. It’s okay.” She got up and took a few careful steps forward. The pony cocked its head to the side and leaned forward a pinch. “It’s me. Don’t you recognize me?” D2 said. “I talked to you while you developed. I taught you everything you know. I was the voice that you knew since birth.” D2 made her way over, taking careful steps so as not to scare the new form.

The pony sat up and looked at D2. His eyes flickered across her own, desperate to find some kind of recognition as its brain took in all the new things around it. The pony found himself feeling safe. He looked up with a question in his eyes. “D—” SS25 worked his jaw, still unfamiliar with what exactly he was trying to do as he operated on instinct. “D—2?”

D2’s face lit up. “Yes. Yes that’s right. My name is D2.” She could feel small trails of blood still running down her nose as she looked down at the wide eyed pony. Small drops trickled down off her muzzle and splashed on his cheek as he stared up at her, his mouth slightly ajar.

“D2—are you hurt?”

“No,” she said, smiling. “I’m happy.”

Early morning light drifted in from the large, wall sized window in Twilight’s old living quarters in Canterlot. Inside, an hour glass sat flanked on both sides by bookcases. It’s glossy sheen had dulled, obscured by dust and filth from the inactivity. All around stood monolithic shelves filled with all manner of study material, a thin layer of dust coating the tops of each volume. The room was dead quiet, save for the ticking of a clock that lay high up on the north facing wall above the tall bookshelves.

The door swung open as Twilight stepped in, beaming. “Oh my gosh, Spike, we’re here! Can you believe it?” she said, breaking the silence of her old study and flying inside.

Spike followed inside a moment after, dragging a suitcase behind him. He bent back and groaned under the strain as he slowly but surely pulled the luggage across the floor. A scarlet aura enveloped the suitcase, and before Spike could react, the baggage flew through the air out of his claw and landed next to Twilight.

Spike’s hands fell to his knees and he panted. “Twilight, don’t you think you’re getting a little excited over this? It’s not like we don’t see Celestia ever and you write letters all the time.”

Twilight trotted around with the expression of a kid in a candy shop. “Oh, I know that, Spike. It’s just that I can’t wait. Celestia said she’s going to teach me something important.” She turned to him with a tremendous grin. “Do you know what that means?”

Spike leaned back and pushed his palms against his lower back, eliciting a series of pops from his spine. “Uh, it means you’re going to give me that sapphire you promised?”

Twilight rolled her eyes before tossing a cool blue gem towards her assistant. He caught it, licked his lips, and immediately chomped it to bits. “No, Spike,” Twilight said. “It means that she thinks I’m ready.”

“We don’t even know what Celestia wanted to go over with you, just that it was important that she see you personally about a lesson,” Spike said. “It could be something totally minor and you’re going and making a big deal out of it.”

“But, Spike, she’s going to be teaching me something in person. It has to be big!”

He lowered his eyelids. “Yeah, I’m sure you're not just over emphasizing this at all,” he said. “I’m going to get some food downstairs.”

Twilight had already started to look through her study. Everything was just as she remembered it. The sand in the giant hourglass had long since ran out and settled at the bottom in an off-yellow cone. Twilight sighed. She remembered the first time she had settled into this place. Her eyes turned to the giant window near the rest of the bookcases. Near the floor, she noticed a black, hardcover book laying open. Twilight quirked an eyebrow, trotted over, and looked at the cover title.

Arcana: A study in theory.

Twilight hm-ed to herself and lay down on the floor. That’s right I remember having started this book just before I went to Ponyville for the summer sun celebration, Twilight thought. That was also the day I received the mythology book from Celestia in the mail. I never really got a chance to read this one because I was so eager to get through the one Celestia sent me. Then there was the nightmare moon incident, and I guess I had forgotten all about it.

“Whatcha reading?”

Twilight jumped in surprise and spun around, fluttering into the air before coming down again. Spike was standing behind her holding a daisy sandwich and two colas.

She glared at him. “Spike, you almost gave me a heart attack.”

Spike munched on the sandwich. “Sorry, Twilight. Didn’t mean it.” He leaned his head to the side, looking at the open book. “So what’s up? It’s like you picked out a book in five seconds. Were you looking for something specific?”

Twilight shrugged and looked back at the book laying on the floor. “Not really. I actually just found this one laying out. I was studying it when we moved to Ponyville.”

“Oh, that’s right!” Spike said, looking up as the memory came back to him. “We never came back...we just kind of moved right into Golden Oaks. So it was just laying out here the whole time?”

“I guess.”

“So, what’s it about?”

Twilight activated her horn and brought the book around in front of her. “Hm, well I remember it was pretty strange. It’s about a type of magic called Arcana. You cast it through a prism.”

Spike took a sip of the soda. “That doesn’t sound weird to me. A lot of stones have magical properties and it’s not really uncommon for different elements of magic to be stored in a prism structure, right?”

Twilight smiled. “Someone’s been paying attention. Yes, that part’s normal, but that’s where the regular stuff ends.” Twilight turned the book around and flipped through the pages until she landed on a chart. The picture showed a unicorn with wavy lines traveling to its core and out its horn. “Regular magic is based on a system in which a unicorn weaves the unshaped mana from leylines into a new, usable form. Every spell is cast by concentrating on the task, then releasing the newly weaved mana through their horn.”

“Okay, so Arcana does something weird with this then?”

“Yes,” Twilight said. She used her magic once again to flip through to another page. This one was filled with all manner of strange symbols and circles with differing designs in them. At the center lay a crystal appearing to have stars flowing inside. “Arcana is said to be channeled through a specific kind of shard, aptly named an Arcana shard, rather than a unicorn horn. Moreover, it doesn’t even seem to affect the mana around it.”

Spike’s eyes scanned across the page as he listened. “Weird...so then which one of the mana types does it use for spells?” he said.

Twilight tapped a hoof to her chin. “That’s the odd thing,” she said. “It uses the energy of the user rather than having to channel and weave spells. Arcana is also supposed to be much more powerful than normal, but it’s very erratic. The book describes it as something that bends laws, rather than actually casting a spell.”

Spike’s eyes widened. “That’s—amazing! Twilight, is that what Discord used?” he said.

Twilight shook her head. “No, he was actually using high level chaos mana as the base for his spells.” She spun the book back around to face her and closed it with a thump. “But none of that matters. It’s not worth studying anyways,” she said as she hovered it over to a shelf slot and walked past Spike.

He quirked an eyebrow at her. “What do you mean it’s not worth looking into? Can you imagine what you could do with something like that? Arcana sounds unreal, Twilight!”

Twilight rolled her eyes as she continued to the door, Spike moving along behind her. “That’s because it is unreal, Spike,” she said. “For one, it only shows up in old legends about the origins of our world. No shards of this so called ‘Arcana’ have actually been discovered on record, and it would be just too unpredictable. It’s just an old pony’s tale.”

“Like Nightmare Moon?”

Twilight pause then looked back at her assistant. He shrugged as he kept munching through his food. “Spike, that was—different. So, you ready to head over to the castle yet?”

“We’ll have to wait a while,” Spike said. “Wasn’t Celestia out on that political trip in Stalliongrad? I can’t imagine she’ll be back for at least a few more hours.” Spike crushed up the last can of Dr. Pony in his hands and tossed it into a wastebasket near the door. He took a moment to wipe some of the crumbs from his mouth.

Twilight walked outside and beckoned Spike with a motion of her head “I know, but there’s always the archives if we have to wait. Besides, the least we can do is say hi to Shining Armor.”

Spike walked out the door and hopped off the first step. “No way! He’s visiting all the way from Crystal Empire?”

Twilight nodded to him as she closed the large wooden door. “Yup. He’s on a short leave. Cadence is taking care of things in the Empire for now. ” She reached Spike a few steps down and the two started on the walk to the castle. “Shining wrote to me saying he’d happen to be evaluating the guard station in Canterlot the next few days. I think he just wanted to spend a little time together without actually saying so.”

Spike chuckled to himself. “I never knew he could be so cheesy.”

“Spike!” Twilight smirked and gave him a playful shove. “He’s my brother! We hardly ever get a chance to see each other anymore; Of course he’d take an opportunity for a short visit. He just doesn’t like to be so obvious about these kinds of things.” Twilight dropped her gaze as she walked and gave a small smile. “He really does care though.”

Twilight and Spike made their way across the paved roads past the unicorn school’s studies and dorms. They could see Canterlot Castle in the distance, as they passed groups of young unicorn students either hanging out and talking with friends or walking to class in small groups. Twilight noticed a filly laying down and reading alone in the grass a few yards away. Twilight slowed to a halt and she stared out at the lone pony. Several other unicorns waved and joined her, sitting down and talking in the distance. Twilight lowered her eyelids and smiled to herself.

“You ever think about, you know, a time when things change?” Spike said as he turned to her. “Like, a time when you and your friends drift apart or something.”

Twilight opened her mouth to answer but nothing came out. She hadn’t ever really thought about it. Things were perfect the way they were now. The thought of things changing had put a kind of odd, sick feeling in her stomach. “I—Spike, come on. That’s silly. My friends wouldn’t abandon me.”

Spike gave a shrug before the he turned and continued on. He looked up near the blazing sun that was just clearing the top of the royal castle. “I wasn’t talking about them abandoning you.”

Twilight glanced over and followed his gaze. “Oh... ” Her mouth melted into a frown as the inner ends of her eyebrows turned up. “I didn’t really think about that. Do—do you really think my studies with Celestia will end up taking me away from my friends? I-I didn’t really think becoming an Alicorn would...”

“Change everything?” Spike said.

Twilight flinched at his words and let out a heavy sigh, her ears flattening against her head. “Yeah...” she said hesitantly. “But you know what?” she said, picking up her gaze. “I think Celestia will be able to figure something out. We’re the elements of harmony; we’ll never be separated.”

Spike stared off as the words sunk in. A smirk found its way across his face. “I see you share the same like for cheesy stuff as your brother.”

Twilight snapped towards him. “Spike!”

“Haha, I’m kidding, I’m kidding,” he said, putting his palms out defensively. Spike nodded in the direction of the castle. “C’mon, the sun’s getting higher; we’re going to be late.”

Twilight expression faded into a sad smile as she stood and stared off at the castle. Things will be just fine, she thought. There’s no need to think that there would be anything to take me away from them. Equestria is a land of peace.

Canterlot’s midtown square was quiet in the early hours. Shops were still closed and most ponies were taking care of their early morning routines as the sunrise shone down on the cobblestone paved roads, tinting them a rusty orange. At the center of the square stood an intricately designed fountain, featuring multiple twisting spouts that spewed water in arcs toward the center where a main column stood. A trio of ponies were moving through the lazy, early morning calm. A red stallion with a blonde mane that flowed to the sides led the way, checking corners and shifting his gaze to and fro. Behind him, a lazy eyed, blue stallion with a brown mane tied in a tail by a black band casually strolled along, not really caring to do the same. A light purple, unicorn stallion with a messy indigo and pink mane lagged behind them, glancing around, open mouthed as he absorbed all the new things around him.

The red stallion led wearing a scowl and looked ready to fight at the first sign of anypony else entering the square. “Blackout, could you at least try to not make a scene,” the blue stallion said.

Blackout turned around, baring his teeth. “Oh, you want to make something of it, Slipstream? We’re not here to make friends with ponies.”

Slipstream quirked an eyebrow but didn’t flinch. “That doesn’t mean we go around looking for a fight. We’re here on a mission so don’t lose sight of the objective.”

Blackout moved within inches and stared daggers into Slipstream. “Oh yeah? And what if I do get in a fight?’ he said with a slight growl in his throat. “Then what? You’re going to pick their side? Help them out, perhaps? I’ve been sitting around a lot lately. Besides, I don’t think you have the right to judge the merit of my—” Blackout furrowed his brow and cocked his head to look around the pony in front of him. “What the heck?” he said. “Where’d 25 go?”

“He’s been playing in the fountain ever since we stopped because of you,” Slipstream said with a smile. “You would have noticed if you weren’t so busy trying to intimidate me.”

Blackout snapped his head to the center fountain to see a lavender unicorn looking up in awe at the water arcing above his head. He clenched his jaw and bolted over with a leaping start. He slammed his front hooves atop the stone carved ledge, glaring down at the pony watching the water. “What the heck do you think you’re doing? We’re here on serious business, not to play in fountains like little foals!”

The pony was sitting down, his dark cloak getting soaked at the back as he brushed his hoof through the bottom water and watched the liquid move. Slipstream came up next to his partner with a grin. “Curious, isn’t he?” he said with a chuckle.

“He’s a complete child, Slipstream, and it’s annoying!”

“Captains C06 and C07,” 25 said with his head cocked to the side, now looking up and staring straight at them. “Why are you both referring to each other with such odd naming conventions?”

Slipstream leaned his head to the side and looked up, putting a hoof to his chin. “Oh, you’re referring to use calling each other Blackout and Slipstream...I guess you never heard about that,” he mused. “Well, ponies use more personalized names based on things in the world, like...” He paused and looked around him for a bit, “Like, flowing fountain, or blue sky,” he said gesturing around. “Anyways, we have adopted pony names that we use on missions to refer to each other so we can talk without arousing suspicion. It’s just become a habit that we become known by them after a while.”

“I’d think it would make things very unorganized...” 25 said, furrowing his brow and looking down. “But then, since I am part pony, would I not get a name to keep?”

“There’s really no point,” Blackout said, shaking his head dismissing the idea with a hoof. He turned around and leaned back against the ledge with his elbows resting on top.

Slipstream shrugged, ignoring Blackout. “Fine. What would you like to be called?”

A smile wrapped across the purple pony’s face as he glanced around him before his gaze finally landed on the sun. “What is that entity’s name?” he asked, pointing a hoof.

Slipstream turned around and spied the sun just starting to rise. “Oh that. That’s called the sunrise..”

“I wish to have this pony name then,” he said, leaning forward.

“What? Sunrise?” Slipstream said, quirking a brow and giving a lopsided smirk. “Haha, I don’t think you want that name. The sunrise is a symbol of our enemies.” Slipstream’s expression softened and he seemed to deflate a little, regardless of keeping his friendly smile. “The ponies that hunt us down worship the sunrise, 25.”

“Oh...” The pony said, shrinking back a little. “Then what is the inverse?”

Slipstream rubbed the back of his head. “What? You mean like, the opposite?” He hummed to himself, rocking back and forth on his hooves. “Well I guess that would be when it moves all the way to the other side. I think they call that—Dusk.”

“Dusk...The dark that opposes the sunrise of our enemies. It—saves us. ” 25, said to himself, mulling over the new information. “Then this is my pony name.”

Slipstream shrugged. “Not what I would've picked, but sure, your name is Dusk then.”

Blackout put a hoof to the bridge of his snout. “Ugh, for the love of... you guys are so good at wasting time,” he said as leaned off the fountain and continued on.

“Chill, Blackout. Come on, Dusk.” Slipstream said, jerking his head for Dusk to follow. He eagerly hopped a few times through the water before leaping out and following the two captains.

The three soon made their way over to one of Canterlot’s high streets that overlooked a wide city expanse leading up to the castle a little ways below. The city had been designed around very difficult, mountainous terrain for defense purposes. As such, the streets had been built to move with the landscape in a way, with paths and buildings rising and falling in slow angled hills that gradually would end at an apex, allowing one to look out over an expanse of the city for at least a half mile. The overlook where the trio stood was the last rise obstructing a straight shot to the castle, of which was uncharacteristically not surrounded by any large siege wall, instead mingling and blending among the other medieval architecture of Canterlot with subtlety.

Dusk’s eyes scanned around the complicated structure of towers, bridges, and buildings. There are many possible paths and so much intricacy built into the pony world, he thought. Nothing like the hive.

The area below gradually opened up into a large, flat plaza that hosted scattered groups of gold clad guards that meandered around a few scattered towers. The towers were connected by smaller walls here and there, each wall set separated at least a hundred yards apart. The concrete structures looped around in a circular manner, each having a gate entrance or an archway at alternating ends around the extent of the castle, giving the mostly pegasi guards an obvious movement advantage. The walls merged with various businesses and homes, making the defense blend in unless one were looking straight down over the whole set up.

“It’s a killzone,” Dusk mumbled to himself.

Slipstream’s ears flicked to the side. “Hm? What was that?”

“The huge open area gaps that separate the main castle from all the surrounding architecture—It’s a killzone.” Dusk said. “The first entrance gate is stationed toward us but the next is behind the castle, then again in front, then again in back, with guards placed all about the surrounding buildings in between. The wall is too short to provide cover for an army, so they’d be constantly under fire from the main castle as well as from all the smaller, randomly placed towers.”

Blackout snorted. “Well, I guess you’re not as dumb as you look.”

Slipstream raised an eyebrow and hm-ed to himself. He looked over his shoulder and saw that ponies were one by one starting to file out of nearby homes and businesses. Things were still slow with only a few citizens in view, the ponies likely getting a head start on the day, but it wouldn’t be long before Canterlot was bustling with many eyes and ears.

“We better go over the directive while we have the chance,” Slipstream said. “We didn’t have the opportunity earlier, and we need to be clear about everything.”

“Things seem fairly simple,” Dusk said absent mindedly as he stared out across the different structures. “We are to rescue the hive queen, designation, Chrysalis. Currently, the enemy’s main hive queen, Celestia, will be coming back from an ambassador trip from Stalliongrad—Estimated time of arrival: one hour, therefore limiting our best time window to now.”

Blackout glanced over at Slipstream who simply shrugged. “About right,” Slipstream said. “Anyhow, we’re to infiltrate with a disguise then get out as quick as we can.” Slipstream cracked his neck in a circle. “Sound good?”

Dusk stiffened and bit his lip, the inner ends of his eyebrows turning up. “Uh... I—I can’t.”

Slipstream and Blackout paused and looked at each other before staring back at Dusk with questioning gazes. Blackout glared at him. “What do you mean, you can’t?” Blackout hissed.

“I’m don’t know how to change forms,” Dusk said, lowering his head and stepping back. “Am...am I supposed to? I didn’t know...”

The two other changeling’s jaws nearly hit the floor. “What the heck?” Blackout growled, his voice rising. “Yes you’re supposed to! You’re a change—” Slipstream moved a hoof over Blackout’s mouth, silencing him as two ponies walked past over the hill a few feet away. After the couple were out of earshot, Slipstream removed his hoof and Blackout lay down, rubbing his temples. “Okay then, what spells can you do?” he whispered.

“Spells...” Dusk tilted his head and put a hoof to his mouth. “The result of weaved mana cast in a specific combination then channeled through a horn or tendril. And I...” he paused, staring at the ground as he went through everything he had been given. His eyes slowly widened as the realization dawned on him. “I-I know none.”

The two changelings froze for a moment. The side of Slipstream’s mouth pulled back in mock pain and his hoof rubbed the back of his neck. Blackout bit his lower lip and his cheeks inflated just before he burst out laughing. “Ha! Are you kidding me?” he said. “You’re a unicorn who’s supposed to be made to specialize in magic. Why don’t you know anything?”

“Ah, I remember hearing something about this. It’s because he’s supposed to have some different type of magic,” Slipstream added, rubbing his forehead. “It’s supposed to come from a shard he was made with, or something. I only heard bits and pieces a while back. I guess they didn’t bother to teach him any conventional mana based spells because they figured it wouldn’t mean anything.” He shrugged, and let a breath out of his nose. “Okay, so what Arcana spells do you know?” he said, gesturing to Dusk.

Dusk rubbed his shoulder as he stared at the two Captains. “I don’t really know anything about those either.”

Slipstream’s expression dropped. “You’re kidding...”

“No spells of this nature were taught in incubation, as no spells of the Arcana sets are known. It was believed that I would come to understand them as this pony.”

“Twilight Sparkle?”

Dusk scrunched his nose and frowned. “I was under the impression that it was called a unicorn...”

Slipstream shook his head back and forth. “Wait, you don’t know... Ah, nevermind.”

Blackout was now fighting back a fit of giggles as he tried to speak. “Heh, how about this spell then? Weave three general mana then release them while concentrating on your legs or wings. It’s a common retreat spell so you can run away.”

Dusk nodded and he gave an earnest smile. “Thank you, Blackout. I’ve been trying to analyze a way in this whole time.” He looked over his shoulder at the fortress at the bottom of slope. “That actually makes things much simpler...” he said as his eyes began scanning across the entrance.

Blackout blew a raspberry rolled back over, a new fit of laughing starting up again, his legs kicking wildly. “Haha! I bet it does! I hope you run in there—really. You’re gonna’ get splattered and prove to everyone what a giant waste you’ve been.”

“Blackout—” Slipstream said with a tinge of warning in his tone.

Blackout through up a hoof. “No, he needs to hear this. I don’t think he’s anything special. He’s practically a child and there’s no way he’s going to save the changelings like some magical messiah like D2 thinks he is. You don’t have any experience and you don’t know any spells. You’re useless!”

Dusk stood still for a moment, keeping his gaze away as he his shoulders slumped and his head lowered. “I’m...useless...” Dusk said quietly, a hard feeling welling in his chest. “Then why was I made? I—I don’t want to be useless. I know I can still help.”

Slipstream’s lips curled into a smile and put a hoof to his chin. “Ah, is that so?” he said, humoring him. “How is that then?”

Dusk turned his head to face them. “I was given combat algorithms,” he replied.

Blackout did a quick motor boat and laughed. “Oh Chrysalis, is he kidding?” he said, raising an eyebrow. “Those things are worthless guides given to drones so they don’t stand there when attacked. None of them are practical in a real life combat scenario.”

Slipstream moved his head back and forth. “Yeah, kid, those don’t work.”

Dusk looked away. “I’m the same biological age as you two, you know. I’m not a kid.”

“Fine,” Slipstream said, closing giving a casual shrug. “But, you can’t be thinking about going down any of those lists and expecting them to work in a real situation. Things just happen too fast, and with all the fear and adrenaline, you’re not going to be able to think through them clearly anyways.”

Dusk turned back to studying the cityscape. “These sets of moves come from every successful combat encounter any changeling has survived and were then compiled and purified to the ideal, streamlined form. I know I can do this, just let me try. I can help.”

A thin smile curled its way across Blackout’s face as he struggled to keep the occasional giggle in. “Heh, ok sure. I can’t wait to see it.”

Dusk lowered his stance and starting tapping into the mana in the air, programmed instinct fueling him as he activated his natural unicorn magic. “Perfectly reasonable with the spell you provided.” Within a few moments wisps of energy burst around his lower legs. He took a few steps, each one jolting him forward and bursting a few small blue sparks at the back of his hooves. “I’ve figured out the ideal route. It’s straight through the front. Any other way is going to take too long and judging by the sun, we don’t have the time.”

Blackout glanced back and forth between Dusk and Slipstream, his smile slowly fading from his face. “Heh, h-he’s kidding right? There’s no way he’ll make it in there by charging head on all by himself.”

Slipstream stood, stock still, eyes shot open wide. “No...I don’t think he is kidding,” he mumbled.

Dusk’s mind sorted out the path’s final details as the magic finally built up enough energy and came under his full control with a burst of blue light around his legs. It faded to thin wisps at the bottom flaring up whenever he lifted them. His expression hardened and he lowered himself to a lunging position.

“Operation start.”

Author's Note

Big thanks to Daemon of Decay, The parasprite, Kaidan, and Skeeter for all their help, particularly with the rework of Dusk.

Also a big thanks to everyone who provided feedback to help me re-tune the start of this. There are a lot of errors that are prone to happen when I use these docs so feel free to point anything out so I can fix it for everyone.

Born for a purpose

Shining Armor stood stock still, watching the wooden blades of the pegasi guards around him with a careful eye. He searched for even the slightest twitch, the most minor of movements signalling an attack. They all mirrored his still form perfectly; head down, one foreleg forward like a cat ready to pounce, eyes locked on target and still as stone. They counted six in total, all evenly spaced in a circle around him, each holding a single broadsword made of wood in their mouths, their wings pinned safely to their sides. Shining Armor himself held two in his magical grip.

The training hall was much like the throne room. Pillars lined the sides, and large pane glass windows let in long beams of light across the floor. Unlike the traditional throne room, however, the training hall was a large square, allowing plenty of room for multiple training routines without hindering one another. The floor was covered in a firm mat that acted to steady balance and prevent slips when new guards were learning swordplay footing.

Something moved out of the corner of Shining Armor’s vision. He jolted his gaze to his right and raised his weapon to parry. Instead he found himself blocking nothing, eyes coming to rest on a guard remaining still as a statue, focus still and unwavering. False alarm, Shining Armor thought to himself. He adjusted his magical grip on the wood blades and moved to realign himself. Just as he turned his head back, he felt just the slightest bit of air shift to his left.

Shining moved his weapon up and caught the downward slash of the guard on the opposite side. Small splinters hacked off the practice sword as the blow sent a loud crack through the hall. Shining Armor narrowed his eyes and clenched his teeth together. It’s started.

Before he could move, the one behind him gave a yell and charged. Shining quickly swiped to his six-o'clock with the same sword he had used to guard, forcing the previously blocked pegasus away from him. His body whirled with the force of his turn and his weapon met with the other pony’s blade, the wooden weapons each letting out another loud smack. The force traveled down the hilt and vibrated in his grip as the air thickened and seemed to grow hotter.

The rest of the guards rushed in, attacking on all sides. Shining moved like a whirlwind to counter each blow. Horizontal, mid, jab, two downward slashes. He was a blur as he countered them, no time in between to do more than simply match each attack. Each hit resounded through the room like rapid drum beat as he blocked each in a flurry of accurate swings. One of the ponies moved to sweep with a low slash. Shining Armor hopped a few inches, and redirected a jab from his left with a sliding motion of his blade across his side. He bent his head down, keeping his eyes forward, and dodged just under an overhead swing as he directed his second blade to meet with another on his opposite side. His hooves landed just after.

Shining Armor’s eyes darted around, ahead of his blocks, marking each opponent's stance and movement for a mere split second, analyzing their attack and how to react accordingly, before moving on to the next. He had no time to watch his swings. Only the harsh crack of the wooden practice weapons or whiff of air confirmed the success or failure of his decisions as his own weapons whirled in a torrent of swings.

He felt one of his blocks push through, this time unsteadying the grip of one of the guards. Shining twisted his weapon, bringing it around the bottom hilt of his opponents, then forced it upward with a jerk. He heard the click of teeth snap shut as the practice sword was flung out of the guard’s jaw. One down. That’s all I needed, he thought calmly. He jolted over and rammed his shoulder into the disarmed guard, knocking him to the floor a foot or so away. Shining Armor turned his back to the new opening, still carefully blocking each new strike as they came. With his rear now covered, Shining Armor disrupted four attacks at once with two diagonal ones of his own, arching them in a X in front of him. He moved forward and swung his first preemptive slash, bringing his sword in a vertical arc from below at the center guard while moving his other to counter a horizontal swing directed at his left side. His blow cracked across the jaw of the guard, sending the stallion reeling back with a grunt.

Shining blocked another attack to his right and twisted his weapon around hilt again. With a skilled flick, his opponents blade went spinning through the air like a chopper blade. Shining turned on his front left hoof and brought a back leg up in the guard’s direction, coiled it against his stomach and unleashed a powerful kick. His hoof connected and sent the guard sprawling across the floor. The pony stopped and hit the ground just before his weapon stuck into the training mat beside him.

Shining Armor countered the last three attackers with ease, hitting their blades away, but leaving them in the guard’s grips. Before they could reset to block, he dashed in close and unleashed a flurry of blows across each them. They all yelped in pain and reeled back, rubbing their sore shoulders and snouts. Six guards stood or lay around him, taking deep breaths and looking back at their captain with half closed eyes, sweat dripping down their coats.

“Not bad that time, guys,” Shining said, giving a smirk. He lowered his weapons and relaxed, standing straight up. “So, again, why did you fail to land a hit on me?”

The six looked around at each other as they strained to catch their breath. “You’re too fast Captain,” the center one said. “We just can’t keep up—not when you can use two swords...”

Shining Armor pursed his lips. “Not a bad guess, I suppose,” he said in kind of drawn out way. “But with six of you, the sheer number of blades and my speed is irrelevant. Once you get going you match me just fine. Most times you even score a hit if you keep it up for more than a minute.” Shining Armor walked out of the perimeter of armored ponies and stopped again at the center where they began. The guards groaned, drawing harsh breathes through their teeth as they shuffled or limped back to their starting positions.

“What’s the real reason?” Shining asked.

“Chain Mail’s grip was faulty,” one said. The pony who had been first to lose his sword lowered his head as the other guards nodded along, mumbling agreements.

Shining stomped a hoof, silencing them. “Completely wrong,” he spat.

The guards jerked back at the outburst and avoided eye contact like dogs caught chewing couch cushions.

Shining Armor paused, scanning across their hesitant expressions with a cold look. “None of you think you know?” He ran a hoof through his mane and sighed. “It was your lack of teamwork,” he said plainly. The group gave him a cockeyed look. “You’re all good at attacking in unison, avoiding hitting each other when you have a single target, but you don’t go beyond that. At a certain point, I could tell each one of you were getting impatient and were more focused on attacking me with as much speed and strength as you could muster, rather than defending your fellow pony. Not once did you attempt to make an opening by blocking for your fellow guard. If any of you would have parried an attack for one another, I would have been left wide open.”

The guards looked at him then each other with blank expressions. “We’re supposed to block for each other?” one asked, cocking a brow.

Shining gave a quick nod. “Yes. Harmony is the key to true strength. Don’t just fight next to one another, fight with one another. You’re more than just a mob of flailing swords. Act as a single entity in battle and you’ll be unstoppable.”

The guards looked to the floor, mulling over his words. Shining watched as each seemed to absorb the lesson, solidifying it in their minds. He nodded to himself and smirked. They would make a good squad yet.

“Reset!” he ordered, his tone firm and unyielding. The guards snapped into place, their hooves creating a unified crunch as each hit the mat. “Alright, remember, that first strike is important. It’s an old saying that he who strikes first strikes last so make it count. Don’t hesitate for any reason at all.”

The door to the training hall creaked open and a stallion galloped in. “Captain Shining Armor.”

“Huh?”

Smack

Shining Armor’s face met with a wood sword and he staggered backwards, his nose dripping blood. “Augh, Ironside!” he said, rubbing sore snout, “What the heck was that?”

“B-but you said—”

“I know I know, just—take a breather,” he said shooing them away with a hoof, using the other to hold his nose. They shrugged and trotted off, being sure to put away the practice equipment before heading out.

“Ugh, this is totally going to bruise,” Shining Armor mumbled.

“Sir, this is important,” the guard said, his expression strict and unmoving.

Shining Armor walked over grabbed a white towel hanging on a nearby rail and began dabbing up the blood. The guard patiently stared at him, waiting for permission to speak.

“Spit it out. I’d like to take care of it before my sister gets here,” Shining said.

The guard hesitated for a moment. “We’re being attacked, sir.”

Dusk galloped down the hill at full speed, his eyes locked on the castle below. Wind whistled in his ears and blew through his mane, bursts of blue light flaring just behind his heels with each step as he closed the distance. Blackout and Slipstream were just a few feet behind him with the same blue flares tagging at their feet, having cast their own spells just a moment after. The buildings on either side passed as colored blurs as they blew past them, a gust of wind following in their wake as they roared through the early morning streets.

“Stop you idiot! What do you think you’re doing?” Blackout yelled over the wind.

The two captains caught up with him. Blackout looked him straight in the eye. “Dusk, what the heck do you think you’re doing? I was kidding, you idiot! You’re not supposed to just run in like this.”

Dusk looked down for a moment, furrowing his brow. “Why not?”

“The fact that you’re charging right into their stronghold!” Blackout yelled, seeming on the verge of popping a blood vessel. “Combat magic is illegal in pony cities. If they see you charging at their castle, they’ll fire at us, and trust me, they won’t be normal bolts here.”

“Fire on us... Won’t they hesitate because we’re in their city?” Dusk said.

“Pfff, the buildings can take it and just about everypony is indoors. Now stop being stupid and slow down before I take you out myself!”

“Dusk, Blackout.” Slipstream said as he bit his lip. He had been quiet the entire time, instead focusing ahead of them.

“What?!” Blackout spat. “Seriously, what in all bloody tartarus could you possibly need right this moment?”

Slipstream clenched his jaw, eyes narrowing. “They’ve already noticed us.”

Ahead of them, the towers glowed a light pink at the top. Looking closer, one could see unicorn guards had mounted their positions at the tops, horns ready to channel magic as they weaved any number of possible spells. Above them, a few gold plated pegasi had already taken to the air with spears or broadswords and were steadily being joined with more by the minute.

Without warning, streaks of magic burst forth from the nearest towers and soared straight into the air, pulling a trail of pink behind them. The horizon became coated with bright crisscrossing lines, soaring higher and higher in the distance.

“We’re in for it now...” Slipstream said.

Blackout let out a guttural roar that rose up from his chest, his sharp teeth showing as his fury shook him. “Dusk, if we survive this, I am going to kill you!”

The bolts turned and screamed down through the air. Blackout and Slipstream swerved like mad as the whole street erupted in a sea of flashes. Dusk could feel the heat from each bolt, the arcane blasts nearly singeing his fur as they roared past. A shot whizzed inches from his side, knocking him off course. The force of the shock wave slammed him diagonally into a nearby wall and he heard a sickening crunch. Dusk gasped in pain but ducked down and kicked his legs down under him. Adrenaline eased the throbbing in his shoulder but he could still feel a dull ache welling up. Dusk closed an eye and gritted his teeth as he ran. Hopefully it’s not broken, he thought.

Blackout and Slipstream had disappeared from sight, likely having ducked into alleys or side streets to try and avoid the bolts. Dusk was now all alone with nothing but the sprint spell to aid him. He heard a whistling sound and looked up to see more bolts high in the sky above. A cold sweat broke out across Dusk’s skin. There must have been over a hundred, all with his name on it. His eyes darted around to the street he was on, looking for an escape. The paved road a corridor, with only a few spare overhangs and dead end alleys. There was no room to dodge or find cover, and with his hurt shoulder joint, he was moving even slower.

The first bolt impacted in front, sending a blast of dust into his face. He hacked and blinked his eyes clean as he burst out of the cloud. Another hit to the side a few feet away, then another in a different spot, then another, and another. Dusk dodged left and right as the colored explosions filled his vision. He strained to keep his eyes open with all the debris in the air as his mind raced to react to each impact within a fraction of second’s notice.

A bolt caught his back leg and sent him forward onto his face. Dusk’s chin slammed down on the hard concrete and he yelled out as a burning sensation went up his right leg. He glanced back and nearly heaved. His hoof was completely gone and his limb had been reduced to little strips of sizzling flesh. Dusk’s face paled and his heart skipped a beat. There was no way he was going to make it with his leg in that shape.

Dusk glanced up just in time to see the another bolt heading right at his face. He rolled to the side and felt the hot energy as it passed in front of him, missing by inches and impacting a mere foot away. The air shockwave hit his chest, knocking the air out of him and sending him scraping a few feet across the concrete, leaving a smear of bright red.

Dusk gasped for breath, coughing up blood as more rained down nearby, each one getting closer to their target by the second. Pain rolled through his system and his head swam. Why not just lie here? he thought. The pavement felt cool against his side. He lay still, body now wrought with pain and exhaustion, sounds dulling around him and eyesight blurring. It would be so easy to just close his eyes and sleep at this point. Why fight? Why suffer? Dusk slowly lowered his eyes and looked up to see a final, boulder sized beam of energy headed right for him.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion. The titanic blast crashed down right on top of him. Dusk’s vision flashed white and a ringing in his ears drowned out everything as a numb, cold feeling wormed it’s way through him. He blinked away the veil over his eyes just as the ground came up to meet him. Dusk slammed down onto the pavement just on the other side of the newly formed crater with a dull whack. As his vision darkened. He could hear the sounds of someone yelling to him, the calls sounding like they were underwater, but he couldn’t move, couldn’t think. All Dusk could do was stay still as darkness closed around him and the voices were swallowed into silence.

In the darkness, a small foal sat still, completely alone. His skin and irises were completely devoid of any detail, instead staying a mute dark gray.

“Synapses connected. All vitals are normal and the brain is just starting to develop past adolescence. He’ll be ready to learn combat algorithms soon...”

The foal’s ears flicked forward and he picked his head up. He looked around but there was nothing. He couldn’t even be sure if he had actually heard anything in darkness. It was a world he was familiar with—emptiness. There was no feeling, no sight, no smells, no tastes, nothing to even feed into his imagination. But every now and again, if he was lucky, there were sounds and visions—things that he had never truly experienced nor knew what to do with. But for some strange reason, he knew their meaning, like they were something from a long forgotten dream. These were the only things in his world of everlasting nothingness—that one voice, and those things it came to show him.

“SS25, Are you ready to learn something new today?”

The foal’s heart rate picked up and a small smile curved across his lips as he sat and stared ahead and waited. Within a few moments, the blank slate of darkness gave way to large open field with lush green grass. A bright sun burst into being above and bathed the landscape as far as the eye could see. Rolling hills surged up across the landscape, taking their place among the grass, flowers. Miles away, ice capped mountains launched into the skyline.

The foal’s eyes widened as he looked around and a breathless gasp escaped his lips. He carefully stood to his hooves, gaze locked on the plains around him in a stare. The foal took a step. An odd, tickling sensation hit his hoof and he jerked it back then stared at it for a moment. He turned his head down and looked at the odd little green protrusions before him. The foal ducked down and lowered his foot again, slower this time, as if he were testing hot bath water, and brushed it across the tops of the blades. They ran across the bottom of his pad, tickling his nerves in a way he had never felt before.

“25?”

The colt’s gaze snapped up and he turned to see the familiar face he had come to know. She was a pony-based creature, just like him but taller, with four long flowing wings and shiny black plates across her body. A jagged horn grew from her forehead among her smooth translucent mane. She smiled at him, something he had come to recognize as a way of saying hello, as she waited for him to speak.

What is 25? he thought at her.

She blinked and drew her head back a bit. “Oh, well that’s you. Your hive code is SS25. It stands for special strain number twenty five because you’re different from the usual breed set.”

25 cocked his head to the side. I am SS25 because I’m... different. What are you?

“I am D2, it’s a breeder rank. I’m here to take care of you and teach you before you head out into the world and fulfill your role,” she said with a smile and beckoned him over as she laid down.

25 walked over with heavy, unpracticed steps and sat down in front of her with a flop. D2 did her best to suppress a small snicker at the clumsy foal. He stared open-mouthed at her face for a few moments, studying her, trying to somehow figure out what exactly made this one so different from all his other figments. He wasn’t sure what made him think it, but D2 was different. For some reason, he could feel a calming familiarity from her that he just couldn’t place.

D2, moved a bit of his mane away from his face with a hoof. “You’re developing fast. You’ll grow up to be big and strong in no time. I think you’ll make a great changeling.”

He stared down for a moment. D2? he thought to her.

“Yes.”

Your voice is nice. I like it when you come to visit. I—I don’t like it when I’m alone in the dark. 25, bit his lip and the inner end of his eyebrows went up. Can you...stay for a little longer today?

D2 blinked as she studied 25’s hopeful look. She smiled and unfurled a wing, wrapping it around him. “Yeah... I can do that if you’d like. We can just talk for a little longer today. I can even show you different landscapes if you’d like.”

25 stared into her eyes. He turned away, staring out to a slowly developing forest sprouting around them. D2...

“Hm?” she said absently.

You said you were here to teach me and that I have a role to fulfill when I get old enough. What is my purpose?

D2’s eyes lost their happy sheen and she sighed and turned away. “It’s a bit early to talk to you about that, I think.”

25 swallowed and his ears folded back. D2, did I say something wrong?

“Uh, no no, it’s just that...” D2’s eyes lowered and she let a breath through her nose. “Let me ask you a question instead.”

Yellow sparks burst in front of the foal’s snout and a small, turquoise butterfly flapped forth. It flew over and came to a rest on his nose. The foal crossed his eyes and watched as it folded and unfolded it’s wings in front of his face.

“25, can you tell me what that is?”

Anthene lycaenoides, a common blue butterfly. 25 said, reaching for it with a hoof and causing the insect to retreat off his snout. It is an insect with no nutritional, or monetary value in of it’s parts. Worthless.

D2 flinched at the ‘word’ but nonetheless gave a half hearted smile. “Good. That answer is correct.” The foal’s face lit up with a big smile. “...technically anyways.”

He deflated. It’s not right?

“No. It is right. That’s what the queen wants you to see it as,” D2 said as she raised a hoof and had the butterfly hand on it. “This little guy has a role to play in nature, just like you and I. His job is spreading pollen so flowers can grow and more creatures can be fed, including us when we don’t have love to feed on if we really need to. Each and every being has a place in the universe’s cycle. Life is a precious and beautiful thing. However, we live in an imperfect system. There aren’t ever enough resources for everything, and only the best can survive,” D2’s smile darkened as the butterfly lifted off and headed into the meadow then refolded her hooves. “One of them has to die at the hands of the other, 25,” she said, turning to him.

D2, I don’t understand... Do I need to learn to value life to fulfill my role?

“No,” she said. D2 paused looking out at the field she had constructed, watching the different insect buzzing about in the bright sunlight as a light breeze shuffled the grass at their hooves.

“The first, most simple rule of the laws of nature is that the strong live and the weak die,” she said. “The hives are founded on that principle. It’s just how thing are—creatures prey upon one another.”

25 furrowed his brow and nodded. So... what do I do in the system?

D2 took a deep slow breath, closing her eyes. “You kill.”

Dusk groaned as the shock wore off and the pain re-entered his nerves. Everything was quiet now. I’m... alive? he thought. A painful tingling sensation in his jaw and hind legs interrupted his train of thought. He glanced back. The skin and flesh below his hip had been torn away, and underneath, a black cord-like material twisted and writhed around. Loose pieces tied tightly back together as they touched and quickly pulled taught into a kind of muscle. Dusk heard a snap and screamed. The fibers pulled hard around in his hip, popping it back into place. His skin and coat began to grow back, covering the gap of glossy black fibers showing across his lower half.

He felt another tingling in his jaw. He turned pale as he felt the black strands grip around the upper construct of his mouth and pull. No, no not another— A sharp crack reverberated through his head and he screamed. His throat ached as he cried out and he shuddered as the pain subsided. A nauseous feeling welled up in his stomach. He turned the side, heaved and ejected bloody vomit onto the ground. Dusk starred slightly open mouthed with half closed eyes for a moment before a nearby blast shook him from his trance.

“Dusk, move!”

Dusk glanced around and saw Blackout run over from a sheltered alley way. With a flash of his horn and a grunt, he put up a transparent green shield over the both of them. Magic rained down on the road from above, some even striking Blackout’s shield with a hollow bang. Slipstream appeared behind Dusk and grabbed him, pulling him to the cover of the alley before he could even get his bearings.

“Idiot, pay attention,” Blackout said as he walked in behind them. Dusk glanced down to see blood dribbling down Blackout’s muzzle and dripping off his chin. Blackout crossed his eyes, and let out a sort of grumble. He snorted up hard, hacked for a moment then spit out a bloody loogie. He lolled his tongue out in disgust as he held his nose. “Bleh, det aweys dastes awful.”

Slipstream quirked an eyebrow. “Then don’t try to overdo it like that then. You know that if you push magic like it bursts blood vessels.”

“Nad my fauld.” Blackout said as he removed his hoof. He sniffled while he looked it over for blood. “It’s a good thing he can heal though—we thought you were a goner. How exactly did you do that, Dusk?”

“I-I don’t really know,” Dusk said, furrowing his brow and looking down. “It just kinda happened. D2 said I was able to do things other changelings can’t but she never really talked about it.”

There was an awkward pause for a moment as the two changeling captains stared at him before giving each other a look.

“Hmm,” Slipstream. “But we’re not going to get through this at this rate even if you can heal a bit. You were knocked out for a full minute and they didn’t keep firing because they probably thought you were dead.”

Black snorted. “We did anyways. They’ll be more thorough next time and it won’t matter if there are bolts raining down on you while you’re getting pulled back together anyways.”

Slipstream sighed and leaned just a small bit out of the alley to look down the road. “We’re not far, but it’s only going to get worse once we’re inside the gate. Plus we’re on the clock with Celestia’s return and they’ll probably send pegasi to flush us out anyhow. We can’t just sit around waiting.”

“So what do we do?” Dusk said.

“I...

Changeling intel... Dusk thought absent mindedly. Suddenly he jerked his head up and his eyes went wide.“Wait, what did you say about the intel about the stuff inside the gate?”

Blackout and Slipstream both glanced up and looked at him. “What, that they’ll splatter us if we run in?” Blackout said with a quirked brow. “Pff, yeah well that’s old news. We’ve even heard a little about them developing a super weapon of some kind but who knows about those rumors. You hear all kinds of stuff with cell spies.”

“No, that’s exactly it,” Dusk said. “We know all about our enemies because we can change into their forms and infiltrate their society to gather information. This whole time both of you have told me all kinds of info that we’ve gotten from cells in Canterlot. Don’t you see? We’re not alone! We have backup all over the city.”

Blackout and Slipstream both stared slightly wide-eyed for a moment before glancing at one another. “Uh,” Blackout started, “Technically he’s right. There are roughly a hundred fully intelligent drones in Canterlot.”

“The only problem is that they don’t have any hive mind connection because they’re undercover. We can’t talk to them,” Slipstream said.

“Can’t you send them a widespread message?” Dusk asked.

Slipstream put a hoof to his chin for a moment and hmm-ed to himself before a smirk grew over his and Blackout’s faces. “Actually—we can use mental magic to broadcast an all call. It’ll go to everypony in the next three miles but that doesn’t really matter—the castle guard already know something’s up. The only thing is we’ll need to get to a high enough location. Namely, we’ll have to storm a guard tower with only the three of us. We have no clue how many soldiers are in each one and we’ll only have minutes before backup swarms us,” Slipstream glanced between Blackout and Dusk, looking for some form of opinion.

Blackout shrugged. “Hey, it’ll make this more interesting.”

“We don’t have a choice right now,” Dusk said softly.

“Alright, we’re doing this then.”

Slipstream and Blackout both starting focusing. Dusk could feel them molding the mana in the air, drawing it in like a breath of raw formlessness from around them before shaping and forming it for their needs.

“Be ready,” Slipstream said. “It’s going to get really chaotic.”

Dusk nodded, and they took a deep breath and sprinted out into the alley.

Twilight Sparkle stood dazed as she watched the chaos unfolding in Canterlot castle. Ponies ran to and fro, yelling into different communications spells and rattling off battalion codes or relaying orders. Guards in regular, unarmored uniforms sprinted around her on all sides, each carrying documents of some kind. A group of armored pegasi roared past overhead, sending the papers scattering around the hall and adding even more confusion around them.

Twilight’s breathing picked up and she found herself being overwhelmed by it all. “What is going on...” she whimpered. “Where’s Shining?”

A gold plated guard with a faded scar just below his eye bumped into her, sending her sprawling backwards. He didn’t even turn to look. “Mount up now!” he yelled to a group of white stallions. “We have a group of possible infiltrators, affiliation and ability unknown. Send the order for everyone to stay inside their homes while we continue to shell the inner city.”

The stallions all rushed over to a collection of travel sized duffel bags and proceeded to clip on crystalline armor. The group pulled out a gladius each and tightened the strap around their shoulders. With salute and a flicker of focus, their skin turned to a brilliant sheen of glass-like gemstone and they took off down one of the castle halls.

“Crystal palace guards? What are they doing here...” Twilight said aloud.

The stallion who had knocked her down quirked a brow and spun around to see Twilight, still flat on her back. “That’s on a need to know bas—” He stopped himself mid sentence and squinted. “Princess Twilight Sparkle? Your brother will want to make sure you’re ok and keep you safe. Come with me.”

Before Twilight could protest, the officer grabbed her hoof and dragged her down the hallway. Twilight ducked as another wave of pegasi surged overhead, a wave of air blasting past in their wake. The crowd split around them like water, no doubt regarding his rank and priority as everypony ran to their battle stations.

“I’ve never seen the castle like this before,” Twilight yelled over the noise. “Why is it so crazy in here?”

“We’ve spotted a few unaffiliated ponies charging at the castle with illegal magic. We’re not sure what’s going on but we think someone is trying to steal the elements before Celestia and Luna get back from their political trip. We’re in the middle of shelling heavy arcane bolts at them now.”

“But why are there so many ponies?”

“Oh, your brother brought quite a bit of security with him. He thinks ahead like that.”

“Or he’s paranoid and protective...” Twilight mumbled under her breath.

They moved under an archway and headed into another room, this one muffled from the noise outside, turning the chaos into a murmuring buzz in the background. Long metal crates were stacked in clusters against the walls, some open, revealing swords or spears with a sun symbol in the hilt. At the center stood a large table surrounded by a handful of guards all focused on a paper map of Canterlot laying on top. To the side of the map, a magic stone glowed a dim blue.

“Ironside, can you repeat your last. I thought you said hit confirmed earlier,” one of the stallions said.

The crystal on the table flared up and crackled with fuzz before a static filled voice answered back. “We’re unsure now. Howitzer said he hit one dead on but the pony got back up a little while later. He must have missed somehow. We lost sight of them for now.”

“Make sure you keep vigilant. Tell the third pegasi division to start looking overhead. We need to find them and my sister as soon as possible,” a familiar voice said.

Twilight perked up and released herself from the officers grasp. She’d recognize that voice anywhere. “Shining?”

The group huddled around the table parted around her brother, who looked up with surprise. “Twilight?” he said and visibly relaxed. “I’m glad you’re alright. Where’s Spike?”

“He went his own way to the archives earlier. What’s going on around here?”

“We don’t have time. Twilight, listen, I need you to stay in a safe room while we sort this out. I don’t want to take any chances without Celestia here.”

Twilight narrowed her eyes. “What? I can take care of myself—I’ve fought before and I’m a sworn element bearer. Why don’t you let me help instead?”

Shining Armor paused, looking back at his angered sister. He rubbed a hoof to his temple, closed his eyes, then looked to one of the guards. “Monitor the situation for me while I take care of this.”

“Hey!” Twilight stomped hoof. “Don’t ignore me.”

Shining Armor’s horn flared up, and in a flash, Twilight found herself and her brother in a secluded suite. The purple carpet and clouds at eye level outside the side balcony revealed it to be part of the higher floors in the castle. The tower suites were meant for personal relaxation of royalty or guests, and usually came with plenty of pillows and a fireplace, both of which were present.

“What gives?” Twilight said with a scowl. “Why’re you treating me like such a foal? I’m a fully grown mare, you know.”

Shining Armor rolled his eyes, finally able to drop his professionalism away from his men. “Twily, you’re only just beyond middle filly years. But that’s not the point anyhow. I just want you to stay safe while we check out something suspicious. This isn’t a time when you should be fighting.”

“What? Shining!”

“Twilight, just give me a chance to explain!”

A static hiss interrupted the two and a small bar of light flashed into being a little ways off Shining Armor’s face. “Captain Shining Armor,” a voice said, a wavelength matching the intonation with short jolts. “This is lieutenant Howitzer. We have a visual on the unknowns again!”

“I’m kind of in the middle of something,” Shining answered, turning to the side. “Can it wait?”

“They started charging again and we have confirmed visual right now. Sir, I think you’ll want to hear this.”

Shining spared a glance over at his sister and Twilight gave him a glare. He sighed. “Ok, fine. What do you see?”

“There’s only three confirmed right now. The first two are unknowns but the third... you’d better come out and see this. You’re not going to believe it.”

Shining Armor’s furrowed his brow. “What? What’s going on?”

“It looks like... Twilight Sparkle is with them.”

Twilight and Shining flashed looks at one another. “That’s impossible,” he said. “Check the cutie mark; you’re probably mistaken.”

“It... It’s a pink, six pointed star surrounded by six more white ones.” Both Twilight and Shining Armor’s eyes went wide.

“They know...” Shining said low as he clenched his jaw. “Howitzer, I’ll get back to you in a few seconds. Don’t let them out of your sight.” The glowing wavelength to Shining’s side faded away with a crackling sound.

Twilight furrowed her brow. “Changelings...? But what are they doing here? I heard they were on hard times recently but if they needed food why not go somewhere safe—why show up at our gates? They’d need a good reason to come here. Are they after the elements? Or are they... are they here for me?”

“Twilight you can relax. It’s not you they’re after.”

Twilight stopped herself as she finally noticed her brother avoiding eye contact and looking worried. Her eyes flicked back and forth across his face “Shining, what are you not telling me? What’s so special that they’d risk coming right at us... Wait.” Twilight’s eyes widened. If they weren’t after her, Celestia or the elements there was only one possible answer. “You have Chrysalis, don’t you?”

Shining Armor blinked. “No.”

“Shining!”

Shining groaned and put a hoof to his snout. “It’s on a need to know basis! We’re dealing with changelings here, Twilight. We can’t risk that information getting out. There’s a good chance some of the castle staff or even my own soldiers are spies and would release her given the chance. I couldn’t take that risk. It’s probably how those changelings out there got the information in the first place.”

“Let me deal with this then. As Celestia’s pupil I—”

“No.” Shining Armor narrowed his eyes, his mouth a firm line across his face. “There’s too much risk.”

“Shining, I’m the element of magic, and in case you forgot, I fought changelings to save your butt not two years ago,” Twilight said, giving him a sideways glance. “I can help.”

“Look,” he said with a sigh. “It’s not that I don’t think you’re capable. You’re the strongest spellcaster I know and you’ve saved Equestria more than once. But that’s not what I’m concerned about. Celestia warned me to keep an eye on you and make sure you don’t cast anything more than telekinesis now that you’re an alicorn.”

Twilight worked her mouth for a moment. “What? Shining, what are you talking about? What’s wrong with my magic?”

He paused, and looked Twilight right in the eye. “Twilight, Celestia told me that as a new alicorn, you can’t use your spells for any reason. Right now, any magic that requires weaving has been supercharged by your new condition, and alicorn magic is, as you might imagine, very powerful even at the starting stages. As a result, your spells will automatically need to draw a lot of power and will do so out of your control.”

Twilight stepped back and shook her head. “I-I don’t. Shining what are you talking about? What does that mean?”

“Celestia told me that if you cast anything without being aligned to a celestial body, you’ll take energy from closest source around you. Twilight...It means that if you use a spell right now... you’ll pull from the ponies in Canterlot. You’ll kill everyone.”

Author's Note

Kinda took a while but I finally got back to this story. Thanks to Hobbes and Rainbowbob for their help/abuse. Feel free to criticize to help me improve or point out errors so I can fix them for everyone.

Amicitiae

Twilight found herself staring at her brother with a blank expression, mouth open. “Sh-Shining, I…”

“I know it might be a lot to take in but—”

“What on earth is wrong with all of you?”

Shining Armor blinked. “...What?”

“Why did nopony tell me this the second I became an Alicorn?!” Twilight paced back and forth, a scowl on her face. “It’s been weeks for crying out loud. Unintentional homicide seems like a rather important detail.”

“Whoa, calm down, Twily.” Shining Armor stepped back, holding up a hoof. “The power drawing phase doesn’t come until a few weeks later. Most of your Alicorn magic is still dormant, but that's changing as we speak. That’s why Celestia wanted you here. She was going to help bind you to a star system and explain all this.”

Twilight groaned. “So I really can’t use magic?”

“I'm not really sure. Celestia mentioned something about a white book with her mark on the front that—”

A wavelength bar flashed up to the side of Shining Armor, the spell spurting static as it crackled to life. “Sir, we need backup!” a voice echoed out. The loud bangs of magic bolts could be heard in the background along with muffled yelling.

Shining Armor winced at the volume. “Whoever this is, please go to command with your transmission. I’m in the middle of something important.”

“Command already sent what they could. It's the infiltrators—They’re trying to hijack the tower!”

“What!?” Shining Armor and Twilight yelled in unison.

The sound of wood smashing to pieces, splintered bits giving hollow notes as they hit the floor, met their ears over the transmission. Someone yelled, ‘They’ve broken through. Whatever you do, hold them back!’ Spell bolts hissed through the air, crashing with heavy booms in the background. Hooves hitting stone echoed over the spell for a moment before the guard’s voice returned.

“I…” The guard breathed heavily. “I made it away for a moment. We’re doing the best we can but—”

A vicious crack spiked the wavelength, making Twilight and her brother flinch. There were a few shouts and more impacts, then only hoofsteps could be heard fading away.

“Private!” Shining said. “What’s going on? Can you hear me?”

Static answered, but now another set of hoofsteps tapped louder and louder. The steps got closer, and after a few gargled clicks, a new voice spoke. “Well look at you, thinking ahead and calling for backup like that. I suppose that would have been clever had you actually made connection before Blackout broke your face in. Heh, that’s quite the nasty crack there...”

Shining Armor immediately tensed, the air around him almost seeming to shift. His pupils shrank and his mouth contorted into a tight scowl. “...who is this?”

“Oh. There is a connection then. That’s interesting. Does that mean you're alive still?”

“Screw you,” the guard choked out.

“Come on, no need to get upset.”

Another voiced yelled down a flight of stairs, sounding a fair distance away. “Slipstream, quit playing around and come up here, you lazy piece of shit! You’re making me do all the work and just strolling along like this is some sort of tour. Come on already.”

“I’m only serious when I have to be,” the voice mumbled.

“What have you done to my soldiers?” Shining asked, still speaking calmly. Despite his intonation, Twilight could see him practically crushing into the floor with his hooves.

“You sound familiar. Would this happen to be Captain Shining Armor?”

“It is.”

“Haha, well this will be neat then. We’ll get to take out multiple problems in one shot. That’s nice and convenient.”

“What exactly are you trying to pull? If you're after the power cells, it’s useless. The crystals in that tower don’t generate enough energy to level the castle no matter how many of you there are. Taking them won’t do anything.”

“Hm, see, that’s the thing. We’re actually just using the power cells to call for backup. That and the elevation helps the signal for telekinetic waves and such.”

“What?”

“Sorry, I’m not really interested in explaining it to you, even if you could stop it. I’m hanging up now.”

Armor clanked and scraped across stone as the telltale pitch of magic casting echoed over the transmission. The guard holding the transmission coughed and struggled, crawling away as best he could. “No, don’t!” he said. A loud bang rang out, and the transmission fell to lifeless static.

Twilight could feel a lump building in her throat and her eyes stinging. “Shining, is he…?”

“Twilight, don’t,” he said as he lowered his head and stopped the spell. “Just...don’t ask that question.” Shining Armor turned away, and Twilight thought she could almost see him trembling.

She took a tentative step forward, but stopped and brought her hoof against her chest. Twilight had never seen her brother like this before. It was like he hung in the balance between crying and bursting with fury. Whatever this was, it was serious, and here at the capital they had everything to lose. Right now, nothing made her more afraid.

“Shining...” Twilight’s eyes flicked back and forth across her brother's face. “Shining… there has to be something we can do.”

Shining Armor gave a half-hearted shrug. “Well, Celestia mentioned a tower. Maybe there's a way, but I don’t know a whole lot about it.”

“Wait, what?” Twilight perked up and came closer. “Shining, if there’s a way to solve this, you need to tell me. I don’t want to hurt anyone with my magic, and if Chrysalis gets out when Celestia isn’t here...”

“I know.” Shining Armor eased her away. “But I need you to stay here. I know you don’t like it, but it’s just too risky to go anywhere right now.”

“Shining!”

Shining stomped his hoof. “I said no!” Twilight reeled back at his outburst. “Do you not understand that I care about you? That I wouldn't be able to handle it if you got hurt, or Celestia forbid, died? My answer is no, and Twilight, I mean it. I've seen what these high-level infiltrators can do, what I know they're doing to my soldiers. I understand that you want to do something about this, but you're just going to have to stay here.”

Twilight felt tears welling up at the sides of her eyes and she glared. “Fine…” She turned and walked over to a collection of pillows by a bookshelf and flopped down on her side, facing away. “I’ll just be up here, doing absolutely nothing."

Shining Armor sighed and turned to leave. He stopped at the door, putting a hoof against the side frame and glanced back at Twilight. Her side rose and fell in steady, slow rhythm, tail twitching every so often. “I'm sorry, Twilight. Just...stay safe,” he breathed and shut the door with a soft click.

Twilight snapped up to look over her shoulder, ears swiveled towards the door. Hoofsteps echoed down the halls for a bit, along with the sound of another transmission opening up. Shining said a few words she couldn’t decipher, then there was a crack like muffled lightning, signaling that he had teleported. Twilight leapt up and ran to the shelf nearby.

Sorry, Shining, but you can’t expect me to sit idly by like this—not when ponies are getting hurt.

Her eyes fell upon the rows of volumes before her. Shining had ironically put her in one of Celestia’s private studies. Maybe the Princess had something on Alicorns that could help. Shining Armor had even hinted at that there was something she could do. Twilight scanned across the shelf for anything that might help, eventually settling on a book labeled Pony Breeds.

Twilight instinctively flared her horn and grabbed it with her telekinesis. A sickening wave of nausea interrupted her and the book dropped from her grasp, slamming to the floor. Wisps of purple energy swirled across the carpet and an icy feeling flooded through her nerves. Twilight reeled back and clenched her eyes shut. She’d never felt anything like this. It was like her whole body was vibrating and being doused in cold water.

She tried to stifle a groan as the room began to spin. W-What’s going on? Is this what Shining was talking about? An odd tingling sensation assaulted her nerves along with a feeling like she was not only here, but all over the castle. Her hooves walked across the cold tile floor outside in several different strides and stances, her eyes scanned the halls while at the same time remaining closed. The sounds of a hundred different perspectives echoed through her head, becoming clearer with each passing second.

She could still feel her main perspective retaining dominance, but it wavered now and again. All around the room, objects began to lift into the air like they were caught in some sort of anti-gravity zone. Her eyes faded back and forth from her usual purple irises to the bright glowing sight that she could recall having with the elements. Twilight gritted her teeth, her brain overloading from the sensory onslaught. She desperately clung to her own senses as they became more and more mixed.

Focusing everything she had, Twilight flared her horn and shoved down against the building pressure. The mana spinning around her wobbled for a minute but continued to build. Twilight bit her lip, drawing blood, and crushed down with her will again, crying out and giving everything she had. The whirling mana let out a warped whine then burst outward with a bang. The objects that had previously been left floating tumbled to the floor as bright particles evaporated around Twilight. She fell to the floor, panting, a few beads of sweat on her muzzle.

I can’t believe this. It’s way closer than Shining Armor thought it was. I can't even use basic telekinesis. Twilight shook her head and shakily rose to her hooves. I can’t give up though. At this rate, Chrysalis is going to be released before Celestia can make it back, not to mention the elements are still in the vault. If ponykind loses its best weapon, who knows what will happen.

Twilight eyed the books that had been scattered around the room. The titles ranged from Equestrian law, to geography, to meteorology, but nothing about magic or Alicorns. “This is one of Celestia’s studies,” Twilight said as she turned to scan what was left of the shelves. “There has to be something here that—”

Twilight stopped herself as her eyes came to rest on an alabaster book with a golden sun emblazoned on the cover. It had been hidden behind the others on the shelf, but now lay exposed.

The words of her brother suddenly echoed through her head. Celestia mentioned something about a white book with her mark on the front.

Her horn flared up and she reached out. She winced and quickly released the mana before casting. Her ears went back against her head and she gulped.

“No magic… right.”

She looked behind her and unfurled her wings. A smile worked its way across her face and Twilight made a mental note to thank Dash for the flying lessons as she took off. She grabbed the book, glided back down, and opened to the glossary. Her eyes scanned the page a moment before she noted a number and flicked through, counting as she went.

After flipping to the right page, Twilight found herself staring at a diagram of a star above a ruby maned Alicorn with an alabaster coat. She read the side passage aloud.

“Seeker Star, Alicorn research Entry 89: Looking through history, mythic heroes of the past such as Rallek, the awakened, or Asha, the fire heart, were said to have achieved supernatural feats through some sort of connection with the stars.

Old Equish tales tell of a 'conduit' to the heavens that created a bridge, allowing them to enter into what the stories called ‘their full form.’ The second part of the legend details a ‘song’ that must be channeled through the magic of our world. This ‘song’ is represented as a series of glyphs – see figure 8e on the next page.”

Twilight turned the page. A diagram written in ink charted out sets of symbols that ran across in rows. The symbols were unrecognizable, but even if she could read them, she wasn't looking for some historical song. She felt a sinking feeling in her chest. “This can’t be what Shining was talking about. It’s useless lore.”

She had to admit, the Old Equish legends apparently did have some truth to them, specifically the celestial connection bits, but it was more likely that they used some kind of magic rather than some ancient song to trigger a connection. There had obviously been something lost in translation through the ages. The glyphs didn’t even make any sense when one looked at them as music. There was no time signature, no key. Each supposed note was just written one after the other, making what would have been a constant erratic melody.

She looked around the room, noting titles one after another for a second option. None of them were what she was looking for, either dealing with meaningless records or unrelated topics. The answer was supposed to be in this book, Celestia had even said so. Maybe this wasn't even the right book.

Twilight felt cold in the quiet of the room and she slumped down. I really can’t do anything then... What would Celestia think if she came back and the elements were gone? Ponies are going to die—are dying, and there’s nothing I can do about it without magic or the elements. Twilight felt moisture stinging at the corners of her eyes. “Is that all I’m really good for—a few magic tricks?”

She glanced down at the book again. The title of the song was “Amicitiae”, the translation below reading ‘fellowship’ in parentheses. Twilight smiled. Even the song reflected what Celestia had always striven to teach her: Friendship had a magic to it, allowing one to overcome any obstacle in their way. Twilight smiled. It was still useless, but at least the song had a good symbolism to it. Friendship is magic, she thought.

Twilight froze, then jolted down to the page. Friendship is magic. Does that mean...? Her eyes flew back and forth as she read over the symbols. Twilight drew back, and her mouth dropped open. She couldn’t believe she hadn’t seen it before. The glyphs, this supposed sheet music of legend, it showed more similarity to a magic book than anything else. Even the symbols looked slightly similar to the simplified notation they used today.

Twilight picked up the book and stared at the page, going over it time and time again to make sure she hadn’t made any mistakes. “No… I’m right. This isn't music at all. This a spell for connecting to a body!” she said, eyes widening as she spoke. Twilight felt a huge grin spread across her face. “Yes, I did it! I can cast this spell at a conduit like the book said and…” Her sudden enthusiasm deflated, her smile replaced with a frown. “Wait… what is the conduit to the heavens? Is it like a tower?”

She turned the page and saw an illustration of a grand tower, with sharp and rigid spikes rising to the peak. The body stood covered in gold and a great glass eye rest at the top.

Twilight quirked a brow. “What in Equestria is this thing? I’ve never seen anything like it, even in Old Equish legends. Maybe something about this had been misunderstood like the song? The conduit has to exist here for Celestia to have called me to Canterlot. If it’s somewhere else, she would have asked me to go there instead, and we would have left earlier to make better timing with the Alicorn magic issue. So if this conduit tower exists here, then what exactly am I really looking at?”

Twilight stared at the image, looking for some form of misconstrued metaphor. Canterlot had gold in places, but no tower was explicitly made of it, and the spiked design was too fantastic to be real. Those had probably been liberties taken by the artist, but the glass eye… that they couldn’t have changed. That had to symbolize something somehow—it was too unique, too well defined.

A glass eye to the heavens… What could have been misunderstood in old writing as a glass eye? Twilight scrunched her face for a moment, then let up as realization dawned on her. “The observatory,” she said. Twilight stood to her hooves, a new vigor in her step. “They mean a giant lens to focus on a star or system. I’ve got it now. I need to get to the observatory, pick something to align to, and then cast the spell. I can do this.”

Twilight moved toward the door, carefully remembering to use her hooves instead of magic to open it, but stopped, biting her lip. She slowly closed the door, remembering the guards she had sensed earlier. Shining had been extra careful posting sentries to make sure nothing happened to her, and there was no way they'd let her past. She glanced over her shoulder at the balcony and unfurled her wings. Not that they could do anything if she flew to the observatory instead. It was on the edge of Canterlot, placed to be unobstructed by the eastern mountainside, or as much as possible anyways. The observatory still wasn't far, reachable in maybe a couple of minutes by wing.

Twilight trotted over to the book and ripped out the pages with the legends and the spell. She winced at mutilating the tome, but it was better than trying to carry the whole thing while flying, and the spell and information was far too long to memorize. She'd have to bear it and repair the book later once her magic was restored. A small messenger bag hung on a hook nearby, and the pages folded easily into it as Twilight slung the leather pack over her shoulder.

The clouds moved lazily outside the window, a light breeze pushing the orange plumes in the early morning light. Twilight opened the balcony window and took a deep breath, steadying her nerves. “You can do this,” she whispered. “You've been working at flying for a while now. You'll be fine, just try not to look down too much.”

Her legs trembled slightly at the memory of feeling open air beneath her hooves. Pegasi were born used to the feeling, but she had lived on the ground all her life as a unicorn. Granted, Twilight had practiced hard to become proficient, considering it an assignment in a way, but flying still made her nervous. Only this time there was no Rainbow Dash to help her if she panicked and only a few thousand Canterlot citizens' lives on the line—no pressure.

Twilight shook her head and focused on the task at hand. Celestia wouldn't have backed down from flight jitters. Twilight opened her wings, reared back, and launched off with speed that would have made Rainbow proud. Wind whipped through her mane as a fresh gust surged around Twilight, making her eyes water a bit. She rolled to the side and turned west. Her hooves pushed out ahead of her like Rainbow had taught her, and Twilight began pumping her wings.

The city looked ominous underneath her. The sun was still making its early rise from the east, painting the city a blood red while the streets lay barren and lifeless. Just above the cityscape, Pegasi circled like vultures, the glint of their armor catching the light now and again and sending flashes of gold up to Twilight. A few even sat perched on rooftops, scanning the city. Among the many buildings, the defense towers pulsed a faint pink, signaling the magic charge pad at the top stood armed and ready to super-charge bolt archers with mana.

The towers directly under her flashed for a moment before the pads went dim and several bright glints filled the air below. Twilight tilted her head. More glints appeared and the pegasi seemed to start rushing to and fro. What's going on? Are they having a malfunction?

A rumbling thunder, like the sound of following a mach flyby from Dash, met her ears. The glints formed into full bolts as they came closer and Twilight's eyes shot open. The towers weren't malfunctioning at all. They worked fine, and they had fired at her. Twilight banked to the side as the first bolts surged by, shaking the air with their momentum. Another flew past, coming within inches of her face and leaving a sunspot like a pillar in her eyes. Twilight jerked and bobbed in the air, blinking rapidly and trying to clear her sight. The spots faded, and Twilight looked down just in time to see a group of four bolts converging on her from different angles. Her heart nearly stopped.

There was nowhere to go.

The bolts arced in and her whole world went white. A ringing filled her ears, and Twilight's body burned and ached like she had never felt before. Each muscle felt like it had been seared, pulled apart, then put back in place. A sensation of weightlessness along with a tingling cold filled her being, replacing the agony at its apex. Her mind drifted as her body shut down. Twilight found her thoughts coming to Celestia, of disappointing her. If she had one regret, it was that she had failed her mentor.

The white around Twilight's vision faded and she found herself staring down at a crimson city, the red buildings slowly rushing up to meet her. She looked through hazy, half opened eyes at the scene.

“Canterlot?” she mumbled. Twilight's muddled brain struggled to put together the pieces. Why was she at Canterlot? More importantly, what was that horrible stinging in her back? In a split second, everything clicked again and her eyes shot wide.

A burning sensation filled her and she cried out as the feeling in her nerves returned with a malevolent vengeance. She looked back and saw one of her wings had blackened, a trail of little singed feathers coming off like chaff behind her. The other wing looked more like a tattered scarecrow, with crazed feathers and bits of bone sticking every which way. Only a numb, throbbing sensation returned from it. Thankfully that looked to her to be the worst of it. Her sides and hooves had bits of charred skin that almost made Twilight lose her lunch, but for the most part, she was okay—somehow. Before she could think anything of it, the messenger bag flew past, a black smoke trail drawing a line through afterwards.

“The spell!” Twilight said and dove down. A sharp crack met her ears and she cried out in pain as her left wing shot signals to her brain. Her wing had already looked like it was on its last legs, and without thinking she had further dislocated it. She wouldn't be able to fly without healing it first. Twilight grit her teeth and pulled her wings in, tempting more searing jolts of pain, and nosed down as hard as she could. She'd just have to figure something out when she got to the ground.

She cut through the air like a missile, wind howling in her ears like a storm gale as she shot down. The bag seemed to rise up to her, strap flailing wildly in the air. Twilight jerked a hoof forward, grabbing for the strap. She felt the material on the end of her hoof but she only caught the edge of it, causing it to spin away from her. Her eyes stung from the cold wind, and she clenched them shut, groaning in frustration. Twilight blinked away her irriation and saw the messenger bag tumbling down under her, seemingly taunting her just a few feet away. The ground rose up faster and faster behind it, threatening to crush her within seconds. One of the towers stood just below, it's magic induction pad giving off the slightest shade of pink.

Ten seconds… give or take. Twilight surged down and strained her front hooves, grabbing at the bag again but only managed to nudge it away again, having not been used to grasping things like earth ponies did. She glanced over her target to see the top of the tower rushing up to meet her, now only a few breaths away. It was too late to find way to land, even if she had gotten the bag.

The tower's threatening pink glow surged, and jagged sparks of lightning danced up to meet her as Twilight descended. She tightened her stomach and locked her eyes shut, a sense of hopelessness settling in her chest. Twilight waited for the hit—helpless, falling. Everything seemed to move in slow motion: the beat of her frightened heart, each exhaled breath, the tickling sensation of losing control in flight, a static lick rolling up her horn and through her chest. Her eyes snapped open. She’d recognize that feeling anywhere. Mana! With only a split second of thought, Twilight cast the first spell that came to mind. A huge wave of wind exploded beneath her just as Twilight roared into the tower's top floor. Her shoulder rammed into the surface with a harsh crunch, spreading a spiderweb of cracks across the pad. Her world spun in a blur as she glanced off the glass surface and tumbled through the air. She slammed into the short side wall of the tower, and her mouth dropped open, almost anticipating the scream. She only quivered, closed her eyes, and fell to her side like a ragdoll. The pad flickered a few times then went completely dark under her, draining away any chance at more magic. Twilight let out a faint whimper as moisture licked at the corners of her eyes. A wet and warm feeling touched against her head as her vision blurred in and out. Her whole body ached like nothing she had ever felt before.

But she was alive.

The wind spell had done its job, slowing her just a pinch and redirecting her to hit at an angle, instead of straight on. That was lucky, Twilight thought. Very lucky. If the pad hadn’t linked up... She shoved her thoughts down—Twilight didn’t want to think about it.

Movement just out of her field of view caught her attention as she struggled to stay conscious. A pony walked up through an opening on the far side of the tower. Thank Celestia Twilight thought. The guards will see me… they can heal. I don’t know how much longer… stay awake...

Twilight squinted, trying to see who it was. Her vision cleared for just a moment, and her heart almost stopped. Before her, stood a lavender unicorn with a pink star cutie mark. He turned and looked straight at her.

Her pupils shrank to pinpricks and she felt her heart skip.

She had landed on the tower the changelings were taking over. Her skin went cold as she imagined what might lie just below her—what might happen to her soon if she didn’t move. The tower’s circular overlook almost seemed to shrink as he walked closer.

She tried to scramble to her hooves, but her head swam as soon as she lifted off the ground, and she lost her balance. Twilight clenched her jaw and tried again. Her legs trembled under her, giving out every so many inches as she slowly lifted herself.

The changeling stopped in his tracks and tilted his head to the side. Twilight heard a muffled, “...You’re alive?” and the creature lowered his head, eyes locked on in a wide-eyed stare. “You look just like me…”

Twilight aimed her horn, but only meant to feint. It was all she had left. Casting was out of the question and there was nowhere to run; the tower’s round upper floor stood maybe three, four stories from the ground. She’d never survive the fall, not like she was now.

The throbbing in Twilight’s head increased to unbearable levels and her legs began to tremble, feeling like jelly as she struggled to stay upright. Tears now flowed freely as she glared at her enemy. Her mind felt jumbled and a ringing surged through her ears, black curtains closing over her eyes.

She willed everything she had into just keep standing. Princess Celestia is depending on me. I can’t… I can’t pass out—not here. she thought, gritting her teeth. Everything she’s taught me, everything I’ve experienced because of her—I-I don’t want it to be for nothing. I don’t want… With a final ringing that surged through her ears, all feeling left her and her eyes closed as she fell to the ground.

I don’t want her to regret it.

Author's Note

So... slower update than I planned...

This chapter got a lot longer and in depth than I ever thought it would. The document labelled chapter 3 is literally 10,000+ words and is still incomplete, so I choose to publish a more bite size piece before I took on a fourth week of not updating. Hopefully next update won't be so slow. It's really the perfectionist editing combined with my own writers block but I'm learning to deal with them more and more.

Big thanks going out to AspiringWriter and Descriptor for editing/pre-reading.

So then, what do you think is going to happen to Twilight?

Like a Machine

A light green glow from a fluid tank lit the room around D2 as she lay on the ground, cold and trembling in sporadic bursts. Several lacerations covered her back, each trailing lines of crimson across her sides, and a large gash ran across her cheek. The taste of blood still lingered in her mouth from the wound penetrating through, but despite what had felt like fire a moment before, her wounds otherwise only felt icy and numb.

“I hope you understand why I had to make an example of you… D2.”

A little ways off in the dark murk of the room, Chrysalis lay on a soft pad, the side of her face lit by the light from the fluid tanks. She stared off into the alien aquarium set in the wall, watching the small bubbles rise, taking in the silence of the room.

“I’ve always seen you as a kind of daughter, D2,” she said. “You’ve done so much for the collective.” Chrysalis turned, her eyes narrowing in a glare. The whites of her fangs glinted slivers of green as she turned to face D2. “But I can’t ignore failure, not when the eyes of our whole hive are on it. I would have buried this if I could have, D2, but I wasn’t given a choice. Progress with strain SS25 has been dissatisfactory, and the swarm is getting restless. We need food yet we’re pouring our energy into this special experiment that I personally would have scrapped months ago if you hadn’t said it held so much promise. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought you had some sort of attachment to it.”

“I-I don’t…” D2 coughed. “He’s just one more. I would never...”

Chrysalis eyed her for a moment but said nothing, instead turning her attention back to the glowing liquids pulsing through the walls. “Give it the memory. We need to advance quicker.”

D2’s eyes flashed wide. “My queen, he is just a child! The trauma would break him.” She stopped and choked for a few seconds, blood hitting the ground in a fine spray.

Chrysalis watched, eyes unwavering. “D2, you know full well the danger of a doubtful changeling, especially one with the power we think 25 could one day possess. Captains have to be able to think freely to make decisions, there’s no way around that, but it’s because of this that we need to show them why we are the way we are, that we are not the image of the cruel insensitive race our enemies like to propagate. Our way is one that shuns weakness because it’s what is needed for survival—for strength, and unity above all else. 25 is no exception. You will show him what ponies do to our kind, what they are capable of deep down. He must understand.”

D2 braced her legs against the ground and pushed herself up, her eyes pleading. “Please, it could kill him. Chrysalis, I won’t—”

“You won’t what?” Chrysalis said, rising up, her eyes glaring. “Somehow I feel you’re forgetting everything I ever taught you, such as manners for your queen. I’d like to give you the benefit of the doubt for now, but don’t overestimate my kindness. Even you have limits in my favor.” She tossed an orange blob over to D2’s side. “Treat your mouth wound for infection with the medicine gel. Otherwise, no healing for three days.”

D2’s head sunk down, her eyes brimming with new tears. She picked up the gel with a bladed tendril and coated her cheek. All the while, the wound stung like nails were being dragged across it. She slowly put the remaining gel down after she finished and waited for her next order.

“Go now,” Chrysalis said.

D2 turned to leave, keeping her eyes pointed down.

“And D2.” She stopped her back still turned to Chrysalis. “SS25 is a weapon for the hive—not a ‘he’ but an it. I don’t think I have to remind you what happens to breeders who forget their role. Affection is not required, and that kind of filthy behavior will earn you more than just a few lashes, regardless of how much I favor you.”

D2 felt a cold sensation along her back. “...I understand.”

“Good."

D2 opened her eyes to a veil of darkness. It had become a familiar sight. Things would always start out this way as she moved forward into SS25’s mental threshold. Just darkness... nothingness...

Emptiness.

D2 let out a breath and closed her eyes. We need something with a bit of space this time. Maybe a forest with a clearing… she thought.

D2 concentrated and imagined a deep, lush wood with tall oaks. Boulders spread across the leafy floor, and a round clearing about the size of a house surrounded her, the flooring made up of soft grass. Her mind projected the image, and the world mirrored it, each piece growing into place in seconds. A sun burst into being above with a deep, echoing ‘ffip’. Rays of golden yellow light beamed in through the tree canopy above, painting spots of grass and pine needles with a light yellow hue. Birds spawned from thin air and flew up to nest in pre-ordained homes among the bark, chirping on their way. Their light ambience, along with fine particles of dust only visible in the rays of light, soon filled the wood with its final trimmings.

D2 studied her work and found herself smiling. She had never considered herself an artist, but she had definitely been getting progressively creative with her projections. Nature was indeed a beautiful thing.

D2!

Before she could react, a small dark foal tackled her to the ground, laughing with glee all the way. The two rolled down to the soft grass with a ‘thump,’ kicking up light blades with the impact. The colt pinned her belly up with his hooves and smirked. Ha! Caught you off guard, D2. You should be more… Hey, what’s that? he said, pointing a hoof at her cheek.

D2’s turquoise eyes trailed down to the large, blood smeared cut in her facial carapace. “Oh—I almost forgot about that...” She lowered her eyes and almost seemed to deflate a bit. “I’m surprised that projected here.”

The colt stepped off and D2 stood up, revealing the cluster of gashes on her backside, each with its own trail of red stained across her stomach.

25 edged forward, the sides of his mouth pulling down in a frown. D2, are you hurt? What happened?

She stopped, opening her mouth to speak, but nothing came. There was no way to explain it really. Not at his age. Not yet.

D2 sighed. “It’s okay, 25. Queen Chrysalis, the one we talked about before—she’s upset with the progress recently. It—It’s not something you’ll really understand until you’re older. We’re going through a difficult time and she needs to show the hive that it’s important everyone does their part. Especially me.” D2’s gaze dropped and she hooved around at the grass beneath her. “It’s nothing out of the ordinary really. Punishment is just part of how the hive maintains success.”

D2...?

“Yes?”

Are you mad at me?

D2 jerked her head back and quirked a brow. “No... Why would I be? You’ve done nothing wrong, 25.”

He kneaded his forehooves, looking to the side. B-But... wasn’t it because... because I… I can’t…

D2 stared at him for a moment then gave a chuckle and put a hoof under his chin. “Don’t worry about the real life stuff until you get there. I’ll handle the outside. You just do your best and keep on your lessons.”

25 stared up at her, his eyes shifting back and forth across her face. He gave a nod and settled himself to a sitting position. Okay. If you say you’re alright.

He was worried about me… she thought. What am I thinking? Remember your duty to the hive. D2 shook her head in an effort to dispel the awkward feeling in her stomach. “Get ready for algorithm review. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

25 snapped a smile and bounded back a few feet. He turned and planted his hooves, the front right slightly in front of the other with his head down.

D2 suppressed a laugh at how serious he looked, the sound coming out more like an awkward snort more than anything. 25’s physical body would be fully grown in a month or two more, and with it his mind, but for now it was pretty adorable to watch him snap right into fighting mode with his small body—all 20 pounds of it. I think I’ll miss this soon… she thought. “Now as usual, we won’t do any specific spell work. The Arcanna should let you cast without weaving mana anyways.”

25 gave a sharp nod and narrowed his eyes. “Ready.”

D2 closed her sight and focused. A royal guard appeared to 25’s left with a spear level with the ground. He stood frozen in a charge, angled at the young changeling with an opaque blue tint.

“25, what is the answer to a spear charge from the side?”

“Roll back to keep target in sight when available.”

D2 smiled. “Good job. Execute.”

The false guard lunged forward spear first, as if coiled by a spring. 25 bent his head back and watched the spear glide just out of his peripherals. Dirt flicked into the air as he rolled and popped back on his hooves with a thump. 25 snapped his gaze to the guard, who had his back turned. The pony disappeared in a flourish of blue particles.

The particles circled above and flew behind 25, and he moved to turn around.

“Ah-ah-ah,” D2 said and shook her head at him. “No looking.” 25 bit his lip, almost seeming to fight the instinctive urge to face his attacker but eventually settled back into position. The particles amalgamated into three pegasi frozen in a dive holding gladiuses.

D2 watched 25 tense, his legs almost seeming to tremble faintly. “Pegasi in a divebomb from behind. Non spear,” she said.

“Aerial dodge to either side.”

“Execute.”

The pegasi cut forth like missiles as they angled down on their prey. 25 bent at the knees and jerked left with his whole body. The aerial trio swooped low, little pieces of grass getting nicked in their wake just as 25 cleared their flight path. He spun and landed on his hooves, only to topple with his momentum, going end over end. His side hit the ground with a thud, stopping him.

D2 blinked and dissipated the pegasi as they turned for a second wave. “You’ve got to remember how to land that better, 25. It won’t matter if they miss the first time if you’re on the ground.”

25 picked himself up and brushed the grass from his colorless mane. His ears folded back against his head and he looked up at D2 with a frown.

D2 shook her head, smiling. It was funny how hard he took things with his training. He’d stumble and fall while romping around her worlds all the time and simply get back up with a confused expression, like he was trying to figure out what exactly had gone wrong. Take him into training or studying, and the smallest trip or misstep was like catching him in the act of doing something deeply wrong.

D2 sighed. It was admittedly a bit adorable. She immediately shook her head, shoving away the thought. What am I thinking… Keep focused. “Okay, 25, a full review now.”

25 froze for just a second then nodded with a slight hesitation. “Alright, D2, if you think I’m ready.”

“Are you not feeling up to it?”

25 bit his lip and looked down. “I don’t know if I can do it.”

“25, you can’t get any better if you don’t—” She stopped and gave a playful smirk as an idea came to her. “What if I answer any question about the real world for you?”

25 kneaded his front hooves into the dirt and pursed his lips. “I-I don’t know. I can’t really—”

“They can be about ponies.”

25’s mouth dropped and he froze. “Really?” D2 nodded. A smile grew across 25’s face and he hopped back to position with a lick of his lips. “I’ll hold you to that.”

Without a word, D2 summoned a collaboration of guard stand-ins, each frozen in attack formations that she knew 25 had memorized and become proficient with. She allowed him a moment to look around, study the combinations, marking each foe and lining up the actions in his mind. She could see it too. Spear thrust from behind, roll to dodge downward stab from a broadsword above, a sweeping trip of the sloppy formed one to the left… There were maybe twenty moves to victory and a handful of guards that would turn and do a new action, all of which 25 had memorized to the utmost. He turned back at her and she watched through his eyes knowingly, seeing him put the last pieces in place just as he crouched low in the fighting form she had taught him and gave a nod.

D2 let the attacks loose, eyes trained on her faithful student but not truly watching.

She reached out with a tendril and whipped up a memory in the bladed palm. The memory manifested as a ball of flowing energies, like a handheld planet covered in bleached oceans, waves tossed to and fro in an eternal storm. A faint light illuminated from its core, giving the orb a soft glow.

D2 stared off into its ambience. I’ve wielded this a hundred times and will a hundred more, she thought. I’ve never hesitated before. Why now? Why am I having such second thoughts? Because I think he’ll die, that he can’t handle it? But he can… I don’t—I don’t get it. Ugh, what’s wrong with me?

“What’s that?”

D2 snapped her gaze up to see 25 sitting on the silvan floor. He raised his eyebrows when D2 looked up at him.

“Oh, I-I finished the routine,” 25 said. “Did I do okay? You look a little… unhappy.”

D2 paused, turning her eyes away. “Uh, nothing—It’s nothing. I’m fine,” she said, dissipating the sphere.

25 sat down and swished his tail against the grass. “Is it okay to ask my question?”

D2 blinked. “Oh right, I almost forgot,” she said. “Go ahead.”

“I want to know about the pony family unit,” he said. “Specifically, what is a mother? Like, what do they do?”

D2’s mouth dropped slightly, her voice barely a whisper. “A mother…? Y-Yeah, I can answer that.”

25 gave a wide grin and lay down on his belly, tail wagging back and forth.

D2 felt a cold pang in her chest, but she ignored it. Her mind was focused on moving forward, like an athlete sprinting through a painful burn—just pushing forward. It’d feel better when it was over.

“Uh, well,” she said and licked her lips, searching her words out. “In a pony family unit, there’s a father, children and… well the mother, like you said. And she’s a caretaker. She takes care of the fillies and colts, makes sure they do the right thing, teaches them how to be safe. She even heals ailments when the children come down with them, or stuff like small injuries.”

“Is it like a breeder?”

D2 paused. “Uh… Yes. In a way our roles are very similar. What I do could in fact be looked at like a kind of mother, but i-it’s—” She choked on her words. “Look, just, it’s not the same thing.”

25 tilted his head. “How?”

She swallowed. “It’s just not. A real mother has… she has these kinds of feelings that... I-It’s just hard to explain, 25,” D2 said, giving a half hearted smile. “Look, we need to get to work on something else today, okay?”

“Oh—alright,” he said, ears folding back and slumping down. “I didn’t mean to take so much of your time, D2. I won’t do it again.”

She reached out a tendril and flipped open the serrated tip into four sharp prongs. The ball of white flared back to life at the center with a flash of light. 25’s eyes widened at the glowing orb as he watched, fixated on the glowing entity in her palm.

D2 took a deep breath and held up the sphere. “This is a memory that we show to any changelings given the full emotional spectrum. That’s what separates the leaders from drones. No matter how much intelligence one puts into a being, it’s just a machine until it can think with emotions, with feelings. There’s just no comparison. That’s why we give captains and higher ranks full cognition and personality. But...”

D2 sighed and pushed a bit of her turquoise mane out of her eyes. “The thing you must understand is that… emotions are dangerous. It’s also why certain lessons are best learned through some reinforcement. We remember experiences best if they are attached to things like sadness, misery… pain.” D2 motioned to the cuts on her back. “25, what I’m about to show you might be difficult to understand at first, and I want you to know that I’m not doing it to hurt you. I… just…” She sighed and dropped her gaze. “There’s nothing I can do...”

The sphere burst out in great blinding rays, each beam tearing through the landscape around them. 25’s pupils dilated and he clenched his head. A scream tore from his throat as the world slowly washed out in a bath of white in front of him, burning his eyes. The light seared everything, turning the grass to shreds of ash in the air, rocks to useless power, trees to dust and splintered fragments. 25 fell on the ground and convulsed, still holding his head and crying out. Then, just when the horrible pain hit its apex… there was nothing. Just darkness... nothingness...

Emptiness.

A faint sobbing came through the deafening silence. “25… please… don’t hate me.”

25 blinked his eyes slowly and found himself staring up at a bright white light. His mind ached like it had been bucked by a minotaur and his throat throbbed. Why was it throbbing again? There had been a flash… and someone crying. They said something important, he could feel it, but the throbbing kept it just out of reach, like something on the tip of his tongue.

25’s eyesight blurred and he let out a groan. Something wasn’t right, didn’t feel right. He rubbed his sight clean and looked up. Above him stood a giant sun of pure white, rays circling like searing solar flares while equine faces swirled around in the mass. Their eyes and mouths gaped open, letting lose beams of light like three eyed lighthouses. 25 felt his stomach drop and limbs go weak. The faces weren’t smiling—they were screaming.

“It hurts. It hurts!”

“Please, I don’t want to be alone.”

“Not again, not again, not again.”

“Why did you abandon me?”

“I can’t take it!”

“My Queen...”

“We’re all dead. All dead-all dead-all dead…”

“Please don’t kill me.”

“Why?!”

They blobbed and distorted in the giant mass before him in a incessant outcry, each replacing the other in a roulette of suffering the likes of which he had never seen.

These are… changelings. 25’s breathing turned to short gasps and a cold sweat broke out across his back. Wh-What is this? D2, I don’t understand.

Tendrils of light burst out from around the sphere and surged toward 25. His heart skipped and his pupils shot down to pinpricks. He wanted to scream, wanted to move and get away, but his body refused to react. It was like it was just him and the mass of white, stuck in a sea of jet black ink. The arcs of light connected with the sides of his head, and 25’s eyes rolled back. His mind screamed as thousands of neuron impulses suddenly surged into him like a lightning storm.

“D2, help!” he said. “Whatever this is for, whatever I did, I’m sorry. Just please stop it, this hurts!”

He thrashed and squirmed, desperately trying to clear his head. It was like a thousand voices all talking, all screaming through him at once. Memories of pain and suffering flashed through his mind, and he struggled to find the clarity to speak.

Rocks cracked his chitin as a young changeling filly stoned to death outside a pony village. Steel cut through his chest as a drone slaughtered by a royal guard. Heat seared his flesh as an infiltrator burned at the stake by Gallopoli.

Please… I can’t. Drool dripped from the side of 25's mouth and his body fell limp. D2… help.

His chest surged with pain as a he felt a spear tip drive through him as a breeder class. The images of her young children being sliced apart in front of her in a pony raid were the last thing to meet her eyes. Panic and fear filled his mind as an infiltrator while a mob of ponies took him away. He screamed to stay with his family, who he had come to love even through the years of lies. If he had a choice he would have stayed with them and buried his identity forever.

25 recovered for just long enough to think clearly. I’m going to die… I can’t take this. His eyes lay open in permanent shock, and hot tears streamed down the sides of his face. 25 doubled over as he felt his stomach lurch and he unloaded its contents with a violent shudder. The fluid splattered across the ground, partially getting on his hooves. His mind burned as it slowly started to overload. He had been through what had felt like a thousand lives, and there were thousands more, each replacing the last in a constant flow that grew faster and faster.

But, for just a moment, 25’s focus zeroed in on one particular instance. The roar of voices just dulled to a low rumble, the conglomerate of pain reduced to a tickle in the back of his head. He didn't know why, and he didn't know how, but somehow, in eye of the storm where he lay, an ice cold dread gripped him in a vice.

He lay on the floor of a hive somewhere. 25 tried to move but stopped and winced as a wound running up his side sent agony through his system. He looked around and his eyes met with a blue maned and white coated unicorn. The stallion's silver armor clicked as he moved closer, two swords set on his sides. The pony passed without a word, a single, ice-blue eye tracing across 25. In the corner of the room, a tall, bloody and beaten changeling lay on the floor, panting and surrounded by the lifeless bodies of a dozen royal guards. Her four oversized wings lay back, twisted at odd angles and ripped to shreds in spots, and her mane had been partially burned on one side, leaving a blackened spot amidst the calm amber color of her hair and eyes. The soldier drew his blades with telekinesis as he moved over her.

25’s eyes shot open. Reflected in them was the changeling breeder. “No… no stop!” He pushed against the ground, dragging his broken body forward. 25 felt blood trickling down the side of his face.

The soldier raised his sword.

“Stop!”

The blade gleamed, and a spray of red splashed up into the air. In that moment, everything seemed to stop; the blood stuck in the air, suspended like little droplets of unholy rain trapped in a spider's web. The stallion’s stone cold mask gave way to neither hatred nor sadness nor pity—only duty, only a responsibility to do one job. But above all, his mind burned at the sight of her eyes... the eyes of the young breeder. Her deep pools of glowing amber traveled to him and reflected back the image of a bloody changeling, its eyes wide and a look of complete horror across its face. She slowly reached out a hoof, a weak smile gracing her lips. In that moment, he no longer saw an unfamiliar breeder or another suffering changeling. All that he could see was the one who had been there all his life. His one friend, his one companion. The one who cared for him.

His body shook and his throat tore from the scream. “Mom!”

The space around him ripped apart, emitting a loud muffled cracking as it pulled away. An overwhelming tingling sensation swam throughout his body as he felt himself being pulled through space by an unseen hand. Every single nerve in his body felt like it was vibrating and being charged with electricity. The feeling built higher and higher, sound deafening, touch burning and tickling and freezing and bruising. Just at the sensation’s height, a flash of light burst in front of him and every bit of feeling disappeared like a snuffed out flame.

25 took a sharp breath through his mouth like he had surfaced from deep water. He slowly raised his head up and saw the frozen figure of D2, her eyes shot wide open, mouth slightly ajar. Her legs trembled and she fell to her haunches.

“I—I stopped it...” she choked out. “I really just did that. Oh tartarus, what have I done? 25...” Her voice cracked at his name. “I couldn't watch it. I don't know why, I just couldn't. Not that last one. Not when you...” She clenched her eyes shut and turned to the side.

“D2?”

D2 looked up just in time to see 25 reach out and hug tightly to her. Her mouth dropped open and she looked down to see him burying his face into her chest, shivering and shaking with muted sobs.

D2 stared, dumbfounded and listening to the small sniffles coming from below. Emotions… are a very dangerous thing. She thought of Chrysalis catching her like this if she didn’t shove him away, thought of the pain, thought of the shame and consequence of it all. Years of loyal, distanced service would crumble in one moment. Emotions… are a very dangerous thing, she repeated in her head. D2 stared down at the frightened child, who turned and looked up at her with his large purple eyes. Her eyes flicked back and forth across his.

“D2,” he said. “I don’t want to go back there… but if it’s what you want, I’ll try again.”

She let out a sob and smiled as she wrapped herself around the small foal. But there is something wonderful about them too. “25, I’m sorry. I’m never going to do anything like that again. No matter what anyone says, okay? It’s alright now. I’m right here and from now on, I always will be.”

The foal’s eyes widened as the embrace was returned. He found himself slowly easing back and simply resting within her arms. “D2?” he said.

“Yes?”

“Your chest is actually kinda hard.”

D2 jerked her head back and quirked a brow down at him. They stared for a moment then both burst out laughing. “I suppose so,” she said. “Would you like me to build you someplace nice then?” 25 grinned and nodded his head up and down. D2 smiled as she began weaving together a beach, with fine white sand and rolling blue waves for the two of them.

25 leaned back against her and relaxed, the sounds of the crashing waves easing through his ears. “Thanks… Mom.”

D2 looked down for moment and pawed at the sand. A faint grin formed on her lips and she snuggled into him. “You’re welcome.”