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.