Normally the throne room of Canterlot’s Castle was alight with sunlight, beautiful banners of the ruling diarchs, and filled with various nobles waiting to parade their personal issues before the crown to either get something genuinely needed for the country done or more likely to get a leg up on their personal rivals. Today the only thing it held in common with a typical day was the amount of nobles in attendance.
Another change was the chair containing a bound Princess Twilight Sparkle chained down with several thick lengths of orichalcum. An entire cone of the substance was locked into place on her horn by five seals that required alicorn level magic to operate and bearing dozens of antimagic bindings and wards. She was set before Celestia who was before her ponies in her most official and important capacity as final judge of dangerous criminals.
The rest of the elements hung nearer to the crowd except Applejack who was seated near Twilight. Spike, unlike Twilight’s friends, was in the back of the room being held back by Princess Luna. The princess and dragon both were visibly upset by the proceedings taking place here today while Twilight’s other friends looked only off put by being there. Neither Shining Armor nor Princess Cadence was present as they were officially foreign dignitaries and as such had no say in how Equestria handled its internal affairs. Twilight noted that might be a good thing though as Shining would probably wind up being the next one on trial after assaulting Celestia if he was present.
“Twilight Sparkle, how do you plea to the crime of genocide?” Celestia’s gaze was the harshest it had ever been in Twilight’s memory as the princess gazed down upon her from her throne.
“Repentantly guilty.” Twilight hung her head in shame as she answered. She could not talk herself out of this situation and trying to deny what happened would only make it worse. “I did what I am accused of but I did not mean to wipe out the entire changeling species.”
“So you do not deny your guilt? Very well that will make this a bit more direct. We will now hear your account of the events in the hive on the day in question. Depending on your testimony your punishment might be lessened. Know that we will know if you speak a falsehood. Applejack will let me know if you lie.” Unsaid by Celestia was what Twilight knew to be a truth, that Celestia could read Twilight’s face enough that she could not lie in her presence even if the Element of Honesty was not there to see this.
“Very well. I woke up to find myself in a black chamber surrounded by green light…“
Twilight looked around the dark chamber she had awoken to find herself in trying to notice anything distinct enough to tell her where she was and who had her. The upside to her scan was that she at least knew who had her. The downside was that it meant she was rather screwed. The black colored organic chamber lit in green could only mean one perpetrator. A resin like substance held her immobilized to a wall where she observed these things through mostly closed eyes. This almost caused Twilight to sigh in annoyance but she held it in. If she had learned anything from her youth as a political bargaining chip, as the Princess’s student, it was to avoid drawing your captor’s attention until you were ready to make a move to escape.
Apparently that advice did not help when your captor could sense emotions. At Twilight’s initial feeling of both aggravation and worry Chrysalis had already stepped before her somewhat closed eyes. “No need to pretend to still be asleep. I can tell you are already awake.”
Twilight knew it would be pointless to continue to act as if she was still merely sleeping and looked up into the face of the changeling queen. For some reason at this point she merely rolled her eyes as she had been in this face off with the queen too many times before. “Really? Still going for the dramatic confrontation? When are you going to leave me alone?”
“Why my dear, you wound me so. I thought we had a good rapport really. I show up and threaten all you’ve ever known and love and you fight me, rinse and repeat. According to the hive’s projections we’ll be doing this for at least the next several decades and I found that unacceptable. Luckily for the both of us I have a solution that is not only efficient but gets both of us out of our little war.”
Twilight watched as Chrysalis moved her head away from her own and watched the queen wave her hoof around at the resin that bound Twilight to the wall. As she observed her bindings she noticed small vaguely orange veins running through the resin to her coat. “Oh? And what is your solution to this rather tedious dance we’ve found ourselves in?”
“I’m going to turn you into a changeling drone.” The bug queen smiled in her usual predatory fashion as she looked onto her victim. “It won’t be easy to accomplish now that you are an alicorn but we will succeed in making you into a convert to my hive. No more of you standing in my way but rather paving it ahead of me. It really is the best solution and keeps us from escalating until we are destroying either of our people.” Chrysalis looked rather happy about her solution.
“That is ridiculous. I understood that you had to have a more or less broken will in order to be converted. I am still healthy and very much upset rather than cowed at the moment.”
“Ah, but for how long? Do you hear them yet? The sounds of your soon to be brothers and sisters as their thoughts crawl in the background of your mind assaulting you with various questions and sensations?” Chrysalis asked the pony princess even as she began to fiddle with some sort of organic knob on the wall just out of Twilight’s field of view.
“What do you mea…?” Twilight cut off as she felt an assault of information lash into her mind. It was nothing like anything she had ever experienced even when joined with the others in the middle of using the Elements of Harmony. Thousands of other minds dumping stray thoughts into her own in a single moment with the most overwhelming sensation being that of smug victory coming from the most active thread of thoughts jabbing away at her.
“You see? I have already successfully linked your mind into our collective. I felt this was the more efficient way. Bodily torture I already know you can somewhat resist given what my spies have told me and my own observations. On the other hand I think we both know the truth to your reaction to when you are harried and can’t think straight for any length of time.”
Twilight was trying to keep a calm façade even as she could feel her own panic begin to set in. It was starting to get hard to tell which thoughts were hers and which where those of others outside herself. “This will never work,” she managed to stutter out even as she worked to keep herself from realizing she was hearing Chrysalis as much in her head as she was with her ears.
“Cliché lines already? My dear this will work perfectly. Eventually the cacophony will break your little pony mind and then you will be a more than willing conscript. Once that happens turning your body into that of a changeling will be a mere formality. You will break and we both know it. And you know we both know it because I can now hear your thoughts as assuredly as you can hear the ones I want you to.” The queen’s sense of victory grew. “I hope you do appreciate the trouble I had to go through for this. We won’t be able to try this approach again for another ten years at least but it will be worth it. You alone keep interfering with my plans and this will put a stop to it.”
“But how?” Twilight managed to ask around thoughts about how Appleloosa was a good place to strike for some food before she could be caught and how to create a new venom compound that would immobilize prey faster. She was fairly certain those thoughts were not her own and felt some distress at the fact that a part of her mind actually weighed in on both questions with helpful answers.
“A good question my dear future minion. An interesting fact that you seem to know is that the ritual to turn a pony into a changeling requires they either be willing or so broken to the point that it doesn’t matter. Luckily my changelings are rather gifted in fields besides magic most notably science is one in which they excel. We found an interesting compound that would activate a portion of a pony’s mind that would open them up to our hive mind. The downside is that we can only make a limited supply due to the reagents needed. The upside, I can now convert even the most strong willed of ponies to my side cleanly without the usual mess of beating them insensate over and over.”
Twilight strained to use her magic in an attempt to escape having realized that those little veins in the resin are probably the vehicle for the mentioned compound. Chrysalis seeing her start to concentrate taps the unseen dial once more increasing the mental strain on the alicorn and disrupting her attempts at escape. “Now now, no more of that. This set up allows me to control how strong of a dose you get and thus how much of the hive you can sense. Keep struggling and I’ll dial it all the way up to the maximum just to watch you squirm.”
Twilight looked down to her bindings seeing a visible increase in the amount of veins she can see. She began to rack the ever more distracted and busy mind to find a solution. She had already decided that simply escaping wouldn’t be enough because it would seem that the changelings could just make more of this chemical and perhaps capture an even more important figure to bring to their side.
“… and I had also come to the conclusion that I couldn’t just let Chrysalis continue to pose a threat. I had to think of something, anything, to deal with this situation.” Twilight looks up to Celestia with somewhat saddened eyes though there are no tears there. Something that Celestia personally found somewhat disturbing as in spite of Twilight’s obvious remorse she doesn’t display the normal emotional range of her student anymore.
“So you are maintaining that the changeling queen was experimenting on you with a drug that would have eventually allowed her to bind your mind into her hive and let her control you?”
“Yes. It was a rather desperate situation with no easy solutions that I could see. As all of you present know I’m no stranger to being held prisoner but when one is under such duress one grasps at straws to save not only themselves but everything they hold dear. I knew that if I didn’t get free I would be used to cause harm to my home so I had to fight back. The only tool I had that I could use at that moment was my mind and it was busy being distracted. Naturally I decided to try and get it back in line the only way I could. By solving the life or death puzzle I was in.”
Twilight was desperately trying to get her thoughts in line before they got swept up into the hive or more of her concentration was lost on solving problems for her enemies. As she scrambled to get her mind under control she began to notice an interesting side effect. Her answers to the thoughts coming into her head were being accepted and used which meant that the communication went both ways. This could be the solution to her problem. Perhaps she could use this to find a way to escape and so she set to test that theory. She first thought hard about wanting to know how much of the chemical that was being used on her there was. She got back a response by one of what she got the impression was a technical drone that it was just enough to keep her under its sway for a day. She next tried to think quietly about what to do if she was captured. The almost unanimous response the hive gave back was to fight fang and horn for escape. It would seem as if the collective were not aware she wasn’t one of their own as things stood. As she did this she tuned back into the real world to notice that Chrysalis was staring at her intently once again.
“I see you are already trying to adjust. Why fight it anyway? I can assure you that there is more harmony and unity in our collective hive mind than there ever was amongst you ponies. Join me my dear and I will convert your friends so they can join you. Surely this would be a better choice than to have to be driven mad first.”
Twilight mentally scraped together a few thoughts and directed them at the changeling queen telling her what she could do with her offer. She could however have done without knowing that the queen literally could do that if she wanted to. The look she got in response for her thought roused her attention though and almost made her laugh.
“I see we are going to have to clean that dirty mind of yours out with soap when this is finished. You don’t think such things to your queen.” Chrysalis was not happy at the offense nor pleased with the thread of thoughts she felt coming from her victim. Those kinds of thoughts meant Twilight had likely realized something.
Forgoing mental communication and in an effort to keep Chrysalis minutely distracted, Twilight opted for a verbal comment instead. “Oh Chryssy, this was one step too far you know. This communication thing works both ways as you yourself just definitively confirmed for me. While you are slowing down my ability to process thought and distracting me can work nothing prevents me from doing the same in return to you.”
“What can a single mind come up with that a collective of them can’t easily handle?” was the queen’s response.
“How about every magical theorem ever postulated at once? Perhaps the rules by which Pinkie and physics interact? Or maybe, just maybe, some of my own specialized theories in the many fields I hold degrees?”
Already Chrysalis could feel it as several of her lesser drones began to slow down and stop. She froze up in a realization so horrifying that she didn’t broadcast it to the rest of the hive which would turn out to be a mistake. The realization that Twilight had just overloaded a few hundred drones to the point their minds completely shut down. She had put in safe guards to keep the link from killing Twilight with its impact but had not thought to put any in for the reverse.
Twilight could feel her mind speed up a bit from where it had devolved into during her session. As such she was able to recall, partially between herself and partially through the collective mind she was now tapping into, that Chrysalis could step in and put a stop to what Twilight was doing. Without stopping to consider why the queen wasn’t doing anything she set her drones, as she had come to think of the ones that were aiding her, to work on inundating the changeling queen with distracting thoughts and sensations. Chrysalis might be more used to handling a hive mind as its dominant factor but she wasn’t used to so many simultaneous requests for information and help in a single moment.
As Chrysalis got bogged down in both horror and mental dead weight Twilight freed up her mind to target other key supports of the hive mind structure. She could now tap into some of her knowledge of mind magic to aid in her assaults which made her much more dangerous. As she began to tear into them on this now psychic crusade she was not aware of the fact that the minds she was attacking were actually part of the physical hive itself. Once she was finished with tearing apart the mind she had targeted, telling herself that all she was doing was possibly knocking them into a coma parts of the hive were giving up the ghost and collapsing in on themselves. Those minds she had assaulted set to shutting themselves off and down in order to save themselves thus robbing the changelings connected to them of a large portion of their mental network. As a result they completely collapsed into either insanity or simply mentally shut down resulting in scores of casualties for each mind Twilight assaulted.
Chrysalis could only watch in horror as Twilight set about killing her citizens. She might have been doing it unknowingly but she was doing more harm to changelings than the queen ever intended to do to ponies. She began to move to destroy the machine keeping her connected but realized she could not move a single hoof. Terror set in as she turned to look at her bound captive and most likely her soon to be executioner. All the changeling minds that were still even vaguely operable had latched onto her for support to keep from going completely feral or mad and as such were taking up enough of her mind that she could not concentrate on motor control.
“Oh Chrysalis, I am sorry about all this but I can’t let you do what you were planning on doing to me. Also, I find myself loathe to deal with you for the next several decades of repeat battles. I’m not my mentor and I have no intention of constantly fighting the same enemies over and over. I’m afraid I’m going to have to just put you down now.” Twilight prepared a spell she was sure she would never need to use. It was designed to induce brain death in its targets. The only problem with the spell normally was that it only targeted the castor but in this situation Twilight had enough of an opening to hijack Chrysalis and her magic which meant that it was Chrysalis casting the spell on herself. In moments the changeling queen fell to the floor as her spirit departed onto its next life.
After a few moments in which Twilight reveled in her now free mind she began to realize something somewhat worrying. She somewhat expected to feel a return of the strain as the now possibly only dominant mind in the collective but felt no thoughts alien to her own point of view. This was not a good thing and she desperately searched throughout the mental landscape to find any one else using it. She found nothing save a few lingering sensations of hunger before they too ceased to register.
Leaving out her last few lines of conversation with the changeling queen, Twilight reported all that she could recall of those final moments. She went on to detail using her magic to break free of the wall once she had realized there was no longer a mental storm preventing her from doing so and stepping out to see what had happened. She also went on to detail how she had found only a small scattering of changelings still moving about and how they had attacked her much like a mad animal would and how she had to defend herself from the aggression. This almost always ended in another dead changeling before Twilight could stop them most disturbingly in them splattering themselves against her personal shield before she could grab them out of the air and stop them.
“So you see it would appear that I did indeed kill off the entire changeling race but I did not do so with malicious intent. I did not realize I was doing that much harm to them.”
Applejack nods her head in verification of Twilight’s story so far. Celestia rakes her gaze across the rest of the Elements for a moment before turning her focus back to Twilight. “And then what happened?”
“Well at that point my friends arrived intent on saving me only to find a hive of corpses and my self stained in changeling viscera. I asked them to help me find any that survived and at first they were hesitant but I eventually persuaded them to help.” Twilight told her former mentor. “I was hoping that with the lot of us we could at least save a few of them from my accidental genocide. Unfortunately we couldn’t find a single one.”
“We have testimonies already on hand from the others as to what they saw and heard. Is it true you drove at least three of the remaining changelings to suicide in front of the others?” Celestia asked.
“Not intentionally no. I merely found them and requested they come with me. Upon looking at me they turned and rammed their heads into the wall snapping their necks. I’m unsure if it was some sort of fear that caused it or if they were just that lost without direction.”
“Rarity reported seeing sparks of your magic surrounding them.”
“I was trying to use some of my magic to synthesize a psychic connection to them to calm them down not drive them to their deaths.”
“Twilight, ignorance of a crime is no defense. Even if you did not mean to kill all the changelings you still did it. As much as the court would normally trust your word we can not in good coconscious do so here. There is no evidence to confirm or deny your motivations than your testimony and some of what others witnessed seems somewhat contrary to what you maintain.” Celestia closed her eyes as she thought of how to handle this situation.
Spike and Luna both struggled with themselves to keep from leaping to Twilight’s defense. As they both started to move to stop the proceedings they felt a small nudge in their minds. Twilight’s voice flowed through their minds. “Stop, don’t interfere. I am sure I know what will happen and I need friends here in this country. Spike, please stay with Luna. Luna, please keep Spike safe and with you when you can. The other girls are going to be angry at me and resentful and I don’t want them taking it out on you, Spike.”
Luna’s eyes somewhat widened in shock for a moment before she nods her head. “I will look after your drakeling, Twilight.” She sent the thoughts to the alicorn having got over her surprise at Twilight being able to use a telepathy spell even under all the antimagic warding.
Spike simply sends a plea down the mental connection to Twilight to fight this situation. “Please Twilight surely there is a way you can get out of this?”
“No Spike. I did the crime I stand accused of even if it was by accident. I must pay the price for it or else I’m not setting a good example for you, my son, or the ponies. Do not worry though; I know we will be in touch. Please stay with Luna as she is one of the few ponies I can trust in this situation,” was Twilight’s response to the dragon’s plea.
Celestia’s eyes snap open as she has come to her decision so all conversations in the room, mental or otherwise, cease. “Twilight Sparkle, heir to House Star and my former student, you are to be exiled from Equestria and its lands. If you set hoof in them again you will be sealed in stone. Your titles and properties are to be stripped from you before you are to be transported out of the country. You will only be allowed a single pannier’s worth of supplies before we will be leaving you in the Badlands on the doorstep to the mass grave you created. What you do from there we have washed our hooves of.” The crowd that was in attendance seemed to almost be ready to celebrate which was unsurprising giving their natural hate of Twilight even before her act of genocide. All the nobles and politicians felt it was time that thorn in their side was dealt with and best of all they didn’t have to dirty their hooves to do so.
Twilight, Luna, and Spike had been expecting this punishment as execution was not possible for an alicorn and had not been in times before even Discord’s reign. Twilight’s friends, the other Element Bearers, seemed upset about the situation but it was obvious they felt Twilight was more likely intentionally guilty than not. Even Twilight knew she had intentionally killed Chrysalis and that it was the start of a potentially slippery slope that would end with her being more like Sombra than she had ever feared she would be. Perhaps being away from pony lands and some of the stress of her title would help her avoid that descent.
“You are allowed to make a final statement before the guards here will escort you back to your home so you may prepare and then they will escort you to your exile.”
“I accept this punishment as I am guilty even if I did this act ignorant of what it would cause. I do, however, object to having been treated like such a threat. These bindings were silly as is the antimagic cone you’ve had put on my head. I think its time to remove them, don’t you?” In one act, perhaps the first real act of defiance to Celestia in her life, Twilight stood up as the chains that had been holding her to the chair sloughed off as if they were merely water and the cone over her horn simply shattered into small particles.
“Good day to you all.” Twilight turned and walked from the room. She looked over her supposed friends considering this just yet another betrayal by them once again. As she walked up to the guard that awaited her in the front, which were still standing stock still in shock to Twilight freeing herself, she sent one more message to Luna and Spike. “I’ll get in contact with you two as soon as I can. Luna, see if you can’t find me in the dreamscape tonight and if you can bring Spike. We are going to need to plan for what comes next.”
Celestia continued to keep her steely glare upon Twilight as she was finally escorted from the throne room. It had hurt her to do this to her most favored pupil but she could not allow such a crime to go unpunished. It would not only hurt her position and upset her subjects, nobles and commoners alike, if she had been lenient but it would have also set Twilight down a dark path. At least it had with Sombra when she had pardoned some of his crimes in his youth and Twilight had been the most powerful unicorn she had seen since his time and as an alicorn was only more of a potential threat than a mere mad unicorn ever was. Tonight she would weep as she had not done since banishing Luna. Perhaps, in a few hundred years, she could allow Twilight to return once more.
Twilight felt she had put on a good show at the trial of casting off her bindings but was worried that it might have seemed too much like an act of defiance toward Celestia and to an extent Equestria. She was still so deep in thought about this that she did not notice when the guards had lead her up to the library in Ponyville so she could pack her bag. Finally having looked up and realizing where she was, Twilight went inside to prepare for her exile. One guard remained posted at the front door while another took flight to land on her upstairs balcony just in case she tried to make a run for it.
Twilight ever prepared actually had to do little packing. She had a jump bag waiting just in case she ever had to flee the country due to any reason. She admittedly had expected it to be something like House Blood trying to wipe out her family line or one of the other noble clans making another attempt to kidnap her again but it would serve for this occasion as well. It contained a few things she felt she would need such as some precious metals and gems that could easily be converted to some other form of currency wherever she found herself, some food good for a few days, water purification tablets, a small first aid kit, and a few coat and mane dyes just in case. Even as she did this though she arranged some of her books on a shelf before leaving so as to inform the only resident of the library who was not at the trial where he could find her. A wizard did not travel far without her familiar after all.
Having finished getting herself prepared for her exile as best she could, given that all her property was officially seized by the government and her accounts frozen, she set hoof outside once more. It had barely taken her more than thirty minutes to prepare much to the shock of the two guards. Admittedly they had never had to escort an exile out of the country before but they suspected it would take longer than that to get ready. She informed them that she was ready to depart and they proceeded to escort her from Ponyville and into the air on the way to the Badlands. They all took wing just as the clock struck three in the afternoon.
Ponies all around the small town watched as their princess was escorted away by the guard and had several different reactions. Many were simply confused as to what was happening while a few were genuinely angry to see the local hero being treated in such a way. Even less numerous were the ones happy to seeing her go as that number comprised only two families of merchant stock who had eyes on becoming aristocrats. With the clever minor noble turned royalty out of their town they could get back to business as usual with unfair contracts and skewed business practices well out of sight of anyone important.
The Element Bearers could not bring themselves to return to Ponyville after the trial and as such were staying at the castle for the evening. Applejack was dreading how her granny would react to what happened at the trial and her failure to try and stop it while Rarity just felt too drained by the drama of it all to do much more than drag herself to a bed and sleep. The two pegasi were also out of sorts with Fluttershy being somewhat restless and cagey when directly addressed and Rainbow being far too quite while sitting in a corner pretending to read, an upside down book at that. Pinkie Pie appeared to be her usual self unless one was to actually look in her eyes and then they would see no mirth there only sorrow and shame.
“You think she will forgive us this time?” Applejack asked the others.
“I hope so. We didn’t have much choice now did we? As it was Celestia did all she could to keep it from coming up in the trial as it would have really ruined her chances of ever coming back. None of those nobles need to know what else she did there.” Rainbow answered even as her eyes continued to move as if to prove she was reading.
“Doesn’t really matter if she does or doesn’t, really. We’ll never see her again ourselves. I do hope she stays safe out there.” Fluttershy put in even as she again flapped her way across the room to find some place she would feel comfortable in.
Pinkie observed the others as they tried to rationalize. “The scary thing in this is that Twilight doesn’t remember any of it. You don’t think the stuff they did to her scrambled her eggs too much, do you?” The pink party pony asked while motioning to her head with a spinning foreleg in the universal sign of crazy.
“Nah. I think she was still just sorting through the trains of thought caught in her head during all that. It wasn’t really her doing those things if you think about it. Also, I suggest we all calm down. We know there isn’t anything out there that can hurt her anyway. She took out an Ursa Minor as just a unicorn and now she is an alicorn. Hard to find anything sturdier.” Applejack weighed in on the discussion once more.
Spike and Luna were within the night princess’s room preparing the drake for his first voyage in the dreamscape. He had a place prepared just for him to sleep in since he would be staying with Luna for the near future. Spike hoped in a few years he would be big enough to return to Twilight’s side or that she would have found a way to return to Equestria, whichever would be best for her. Having to be separate from what he considered his mother in spite of others viewing them as only co-workers or siblings was not something he handled easily if he did not know how long it would be for. Normally for something like this he would have stayed with Celestia but since she was the source of the distress he was instead staying with the only other he knew to be on Twilight’s side.
“As you lay down to sleep tonight I will cast a spell that will pull your consciousness to me in the dreamscape and then lead the way to Twilight’s sleeping mind. Be prepared to see strange things though, young one, as the dreamscape makes what Discord does in the real world seem tame at times.” Luna warned the whelp as she prepared her bed to be as comfortable as possible for the coming night ahead. Normally she did not sleep at night save for a few hours which would be devoted to breaking up the nightmares of her citizenry but tonight she felt she could get away with spending most of it in order to comfort a friend and discuss what might need to happen.
“I think I am ready Luna. Given some of my own dreams in the past I think I know some of what to expect. Just warn me if we have to cut through Pinkie’s head first, please. I’m not sure I want to see what is in there at all.” Spike stated while he looked through his little area to sleep before remembering it is not his bed from the library so it doesn’t have his hidden supply of small geodes for snacks.
“Trust me when I say we will steer well clear of that. I have yet to even attempt to go inside her dreams out of fear for my sanity. Are you sure you are okay with staying with me? I know Tia used to look after you while Twilight was younger and some are not comfortable with me even now after all these years.”
“Yes Luna, I trust you more than enough to be comfortable staying with you. I hope you just don’t regret letting me stay in your room. I’ve accidentally burned a few of Twilight’s things over the years.”
“Not a worry Spike. I used to have a general that was a dragon so I know how to handle the occasionally accidental burst of flame. He tended to do that a lot when he got angry.” The mare of the moon assured the dragon all would be well.
“Oh? Could you tell me about him? We couldn’t find a lot out about dragons when we were searching for it awhile back and I am curious about my people and how we interact in pony culture.”
That night before bed Luna spent telling Spike quite a bit about what she knew of dragons and in particular an old one who used to be one of her friends. In the process the young drake learned that not all his people were the bullies he had met even if they did all have something of a minor temper issue by comparison to ponies. He also learned of some of the magic his kind could use if not the particulars of how to use it.
As the moon had just cleared the far off mountains in the East Twilight could see that she was about to lose the guards that were escorting her from Equestrian lands. Before the three of them lay what remained of the changeling hive in the middle of the Badlands. She was not aware she could fly fast enough to get to the hive within an evening but it would seem she still had more to learn about her new body. The two guards made sure to land and that she was safely on the ground before they summarily left her without so much as a conversation with her.
‘Must be the massive empty changeling hive giving them the creeps. Or me,’ Twilight though as she stepped into the entrance of the hive proper. She looked around for a moment and a portion of her mind expected to see changelings buzzing about doing their jobs with a few of the warrior class, praetorians her alien memories supplied, greeted her with a salute. After a moment she shook off the expectation while checking the entrance for how much damage her friends might have caused when they stormed the place. She had been in no condition to really note it at the time she had been drug screaming from the hive. ‘Wait, I wasn’t screaming. I was crying wasn’t I? My children were dea… wait that wasn’t me. It was Chrysalis’s mind in my head but she was dead already, right?’
After a moment of trying to sort out her memories she returned to the task at hand and detected no great damage to the entrance that would make it easy for random critters to get in. Stopping an attack from ponies or griffons though might be another matter. As such she began to set detection wards up around the entrance before heading deeper to plan what to do next. After all, she would be having company soon if her calculations were correct. There was no way rival countries to Equestria would wait long to see if they could not petition her to help them. Equestria was not the only country with its problems and an alicorn of magic could be a handy solution to use against such issues. Of course, some could also do without such a creature being out there beholden to no nation or creed either. Already she suspected the international spy network was abuzz with them trying to find her for one reason or another.
‘Griffons or minotaurs to get here first I wonder? Then again I suppose the diamond dogs are also a potential contender.’ Twilight knew though the first race to visit would be ponies. Namely agents of some of the noble houses that would have a vested interest in her never living long enough to see Equestria again. She suspected the same would have happened to Luna if any of their ancestors had a way to reach the moon at the time. ‘Really need to revise the education system as they don’t seem to get that immortality kind of makes that impossible. Then again maybe I’m overestimating their backstabbing natures.’ After a moment she shakes her head. “Nah.”
For now though Twilight needed something to concentrate on so she would not have another fit as she had in her holding cell before the hearing and as such she returned to the room she had been held in. The remains of the resin that had held her to the wall still contained some traces of the chemical that they had used to open her mind to the hive. ‘Perhaps this could be useful,’ Twilight thought as she used her magic to try and analyze the chemical as well as she could. Without her lab with her there was only so much she could do but she would make do for now. Thankfully for her a lot of the chemical remained in the reservoir in the machine that had been used to pump the stuff into her so she would have plenty that had not been exposed to the open air for a proper analysis later once she got settled in.
So intent was she that she did not notice when a drop of it landed on her horn while she was observing the resin’s little vein like distribution network. In that moment she felt something she had not before. Something that felt like tiny little blips of awareness only capable of expressing one thought. Hunger! “What?” She blinked for a moment and then concentrated on the feeling. As she did so a memory not her own flashed through her mind of where the hive kept its nurseries. “This means I might not ha…” The alicorn took off like a rocket toward where her memories guided her hoping against hope that she might find at least a bit of redemption in having not slaughtered the entire race in a single evening.
She slid around corridors and slammed into walls hard enough to leave dents but let none of it stop her as she powered her way throughout the maze like hive toward where her mind was telling her she could find her own personal chance at proving to herself she was not a complete monster. As she smashed into the nursery at first she was shocked. In spite of that feeling of lingering small minds crying out for food the room was empty save for the husks of what were likely the care takers of the nursery and more than a few of the nymphs of the hive. She almost gave into the despair that filled her soul at that moment but felt another flare of those minds. This time they seemed to give off the feeling as if they had been hurt. Realizing it was in reaction to her own feelings of despair Twilight managed to reign in her emotions and make her way through the set of chambers. After what felt like an hour Twilight found a room containing eggs that still seemed healthy under a special green light. There were five in all contained within the room.
“These don’t look like the other eggs did,” Twilight observed as she neared them. One egg had what appeared to be blue veins running along its shell and was a touch larger than any of the eggs she had seen since she had arrived. The other four looked more or less like the usual eggs though they too were slightly larger than average. After looking for a moment Twilight began to remember having seen these eggs in the distant past. The slightly larger eggs were those of the praetorians that would grow up to be guards and soldiers for the hive. The blue egg though she remembered seeing to with care for a long time spending time with it and feeding it lots of love as it was her daughter. A future ruler of her people, one that hopefully would not let a personal grudge continue to harm her subjects even when she knew it was better to let it go. “Not my memories,” Twilight screamed out loud to remind herself that she was not Chrysalis.
“Well, this changes things. How do I feed you little ones?” Twilight asked herself as tears sprang to her eyes. Apparently there was hope for the race she had almost single hoofedly wiped out after all.
Author's Note
Hello. Not as long as the previous chapter I know but I felt that was a good stopping point. We'll pick up later that night. I do hope everyone sticks with the story as I think this is going to wind up being my longest yet. As usual let me know if you spot any errors. If you do please be specific because if I've missed it during my editing odds are good I won't spot it if you just hint at it.
Dun dun duh..... not only in exile but finding yourself possibly stuck raising the future of a race of parasites. Twilight, how do you keep getting into these situations in my stories.
Twilight stumbled her way through the halls toward what amounted to a throne room for the hive. It took an awful lot of concentration and effort to direct what love she could toward the eggs she had found in the hopes of keeping them viable leading to this trip coming way past midnight. She would not let them die while she was around if she could help it after all. There would be problems in the future though if she succeeded, she knew, not least of which would be explaining to a changeling princess that she had murdered her hive. With the last bit of energy she had placed a few illusions over the entrance to the nursery before setting out to find an open central room in which to rest. Might not be safe but it would let her see whoever was coming for her.
Finding the rather large throne, which for her size was practically a couch, Twilight lay down upon its seat and began to sleep in an effort to recover. As she did so her mind began to drift within the dreamscape leading her to the now somewhat familiar ocean of stars. In a few moments she was joined by Luna and Spike. The young dragon appeared to be rather fascinated by what he saw for a moment but forgot about looking around when he spotted Twilight and ran over to her to give her a hug. Twilight returned it before looking toward Luna who had chosen to not intrude on the moment.
“Thanks for coming you two. I take it Spike adjusted rather quickly?”
“It was no trouble at all, Twilight Sparkle. Your little drake here had no troubles adjusting to traveling here which is not surprising. He seems to be rather adaptable to new experiences,” Luna stated.
“Isn’t that a trait of all dragons?” Twilight laughingly asks. The other two join her in a moment of mirth.
“Well it helps to live with an ever dabbling scientist slash wizard. One must remain on their toes.” Spike weighs in on the topic of discussion. “I’ve missed you Twi. Did you make it safely to the hive?”
“Yes, no troubles there. I’ve left a message for Owlowiscious on where to find me so I should have his company soon. Never know when he might be useful. I’m sorry I couldn’t take you with me Spike but I don’t think Celestia would have allowed me to.”
“I understand Twilight. So what is your plan now?” Spike could not help but to be curious.
“Indeed. Also, you seem to be troubled by something. Perhaps we could help?” Luna managed to put in before Twilight could answer.
“Well my plan for now is to wait here and deal with a few likely troubles that will have followed me.” She did not need to elaborate as both of the dream walkers knew she referred to the spies and likely assassins that had been sent after her by various factions in Equestria. “After that I will probably see about talking with Shining Armor though I am unlikely to need to do anything there. I suspect he will be here sometime tomorrow himself in order to ensure I am safe.”
The other two knew this to be likely given how protective Shining Armor was barring mind control by a changeling queen. Luna made a note to swing by and check on Cadence in the dreamscape afterwards to find out how she was handling the news of Twilight’s exile. She doubted it would be well received and dreaded the political fallout of having the Crystal Empire at odds with Equestria. “There is still something you are not telling us.” Luna pointed out.
“It would seem the news of my act of genocide might have been a bit premature. I managed to find an egg I believe to be for the next changeling queen. Some of the thoughts lingering in my head from Chrysalis seem to indicate it to be such anyway. There also were a few eggs that look like they were for future military changelings perhaps even an elite guard for the princess if you will,” Twilight shared with a slightly lopsided expression that not even she could decide if it meant she was happy or terrified.
“This is good news, isn’t it? I mean that tells us that you did not kill off the changelings. Perhaps if we tell Celestia she will let you come home?” The drakeling began to get excited hoping this meant his mother figure could return home.
“Sorry Spike, but no. All this accomplishes is possibly adding on a few other complications to Twilight’s case. She would be charged with creating war orphans most likely thanks to the nobles. That isn’t even a situation that would come before me or my sister to weigh in on. It is better this discovery remains quite,” Luna noted that Twilight was nodding with her.
“I also fear that news of a few survivors would prompt a few factions to move to remove them before it could be verified. Next thing we know the eggs are destroyed and there is no proof left behind to indicate that I wasn’t lying or they are taken in by one of those factions and raised to be weapons. It is better that I keep them safe and under observation for now. The problem though lies in feeding them and keeping them viable. I already did what I could from what those memories tell me but it left me feeling very drained.” The purple alicorn began to pace as she rattled off her own findings and theories.
“So what do we do?” Spike began to get a bit worried at this news.
“You and I, Spike, contact Cadence and see about what can be arranged with her to divert some energy from the Crystal Heart toward the eggs. She may have a grudge with the changelings but she will not allow them to die out,” the night mistress stated as a definitive solution. “I am sure she will help you in this Twilight. Is there anything you need us to do on this end aside from that?”
“Yes. See if you can’t find out why my friends didn’t try and do more to prevent my exile. I’m very curious as to why they were mostly silent during everything. It isn’t the first time they have failed to be in my corner but it’s the most devastating one all things considered. Aside from that….” Twilight turned away from her guests in the dream realm. “It would seem I have guests at the hive. If you will excuse me,” Twilight faded from the dream plane leaving Spike and Luna behind for a moment.
Spike turned to Luna with a somewhat sad look upon his face. “I really don’t like it when she has to get serious in a fight. It always upsets her. The last time she had to get serious was when a few of the other students at Celestia’s school tried to off her in a ‘training accident’. The results weren’t pretty.”
“Come along Spike. We have much to do and we both know your mother will be fine. If she could stand up to me, Discord, and the rest I’m sure a few mercenaries and assassins are little more than pests. Hopefully we can help her calm down when she returns to the dream lands if it comes to that.” Luna began to walk across the empty dreamscape and began to fade. Spike ran to catch up.
Twilight awoke where she lay upon the former changeling Queen’s throne awaiting her visitors. ‘Perhaps I should play the part while I’m at it. Ask the supplicants what they require?” She began to chuckle aloud to herself before using some of her recovered magic to summon to herself the sceptre Discord had made for her.
After only a few seconds of waiting she swung the sceptre quickly intercepting three separate daggers each with a different coated edge while quirking an eyebrow at the shadows of the room. “Really? Not even going to say hi? At least come before the princess and have the decency to make a request of her first.”
A pegasi for each dagger steps from the shadows eyeing her warily prepared to strike at a moments notice. Fully being suited up in black each and every one led her to believe they may have read too many of those Neighpon ninja comics but on the other hand that meant some of what they had might be obvious. She can already tell each of them have some sort of breathe filter as part of their mission outfit so toxic gas was a given as one of their tools. It would seem this lot felt that blade and strength would not work but perhaps poison was the key. ‘What fools.’ The lack of unicorns with them explained not only their failure to detect her wards but also why they were not deactivated. This meant that they knew using magic to take her down was an even more foolish solution and as such they must have access to her personal records. This meant they were dispatched by some rather connected nobles… or ones that she had trumped in a duel directly.
The middle pegasi spoke up first. “We have but one request oh princess of this mass grave and that is that you die peacefully.”
Twilight paused and thought to herself for a moment or two before responding. “No, I don’t think I will. However, just for you three, I will add a few more bones to this mass grave. Namely yours. I hope you’ve trained well. Before the day rises I will show you why it has been long known that a fight with me directly is foolish.”
In an instant the two pegasi at the sides charged toward her throne on wing as the middle one threw down the likely container of whatever toxin they planned to use. Twilight’s expression of bored amusement changed to one of gloating humor even as they charged. In the next moment the one coming from the right found himself lacking his breathe mask and stuck in a small shield that was also playing host to the toxic gas the lead pegasi had tossed. As he began suffocating he saw Twilight actually catch the other charging pegasi with a hoof and crush his skull against the throne’s arm in a rather definitive and final cracking sound and then knew no more. The lead pegasi was still staring shocked at how quickly his two agents were dealt with and the fact that the princess had not even moved from her seat.
“You seem surprised. I have no idea why. Alicorns are a mix of all the pony races. That means I have the strength of an earth pony and the speed of a pegasus. As such that little trick was easy with your minion’s skull. I’ll admit it was almost hard to dodge his hidden hoof daggers but a small personal shield made that rather easy. As for the other, well we all know my magic capabilities so any sort of aerosolized agent was moot to begin with. Now, how about you tell me everything, yes?” Twilight had not lost that almost manically happy expression after killing two rather capable assassins in the span of less than thirty seconds.
The lead pegasi began to toss every blade he had on himself at her hoping to buy time to escape with her blocking them. As the blades took to the air he felt a chill go down his back. The voice of the princess began to talk within his mind. ‘Oh, dear me, did you really think that would work? I’m so sorry but you will be disappointed. On the bright side, you and your comrades will be helping me soon enough. You have training that I was legally not allowed to receive thanks to Celestia’s fears about me. I’ll be taking a copy of those memories now.’ In the next moment he found himself sitting upon the throne and Twilight standing where he had been. Then he found himself riddled with poisoned blades and pinned to the throne. Twilight simply began to chuckle to herself for a moment before hurling her sceptre with the full force of her magic behind it toward the already dead assassin. It drove itself through his chest, the throne, and halfway through the wall behind before it stopped moving as her laughter reached a crescendo and she began to look around for more targets to eliminate.
After a few seconds of no more takers she calmed down enough to really see what she had done. “What? I was enjoying that? Why was I enjoying that?” Twilight began to panic a bit for a few moments before a part of her mind rationalized the actions as a kill or be killed situation glossing over the rather messy ways she had ended each of her attackers. Besides, she did not have time to worry about it. Her wards informed her there would be more guests.
Author's Note
Don't look like I'll get this finished in time for the contest. Oh well. I could list the myriad reasons for the delays but those are excuses. In the end I'm sadly just a lazy neet who got a bigger tv recently and has been trying it out. Do please forgive this one, neh? Violence begins this chapter. I hope no one minds. It'll pretty much be a part of this story all throughout. Hope that doesn't put anyone off.
As usual, if you see any spelling mistakes or the like let me know and I'll get to fixing them. Grammar mistakes as well though I am aware of having at least two sentence fragments in here that are there because they are manners of expression in verbal conversation. Thanks for reading.
