Chapters Prologue: No peace in war
“It’s been a few years since the royal wedding and the changeling attack. Twilight and her friends successfully beat us, and they’ve even managed to fight off Tirek. I even hear Twilight is a princess now” Chrysalis told a slightly shorter changeling as she recalled her attack on Canterlot. "Yes and you are still the most beautiful queen." One of the underlings said bowing before the ruler.
"The greatest!" Another said as they kissed her hoof.
“Yes my darling subjects. You’re queen will forever be great” she said with a wicked smile, “where is Swiss?’ Swiss ran in. He was only a foal. "I'm right here mom!" He said smiling as he Nuzzled her.
“I have been thinking my loyal followers” the queen stated, “Our hive is getting smaller by the month, since it is breeding season, I fear soon, we will have to move”.
“But where will we go my queen?” a changeling asked.
Swiss rose his hoof. "I heard that the zebras are leaving the everfree forest!" He said eagerly, hoping his mother would notice him.
“Hmm” she says as she raised a hoof to her chin, “You know what, I
think Swiss may be onto something. Do you wanna make you mommy proud?”. She lifted the little changeling’s head to look at her. Swiss squeed happily. "Oh yes mommy! Anything you ask mommy!" He said smiling. chrysalis smiled and hugged the little changeling. “I’m sending Swiss to check the spot in the forest the zebra’s left” she announced, “if it’s big enough we’ll move there”. The crowd cheered and roared happily.
"Go Swiss!" They cheered as he started to walk to the forest. Before Swiss fully left he stopped by his room and grabbed the little helmet his mother gave him. It was the one thing he loved most. He had been walking for about an hour when he reached the everfree forest. It was dark and he was scared, but he knew he had to do this. He had to do this to please his mother. Her love and approval meant everything to him. "Run away!" A group of breezies were shouting as they flew the opposite direction of Swiss. One of them stopped and looked at him.
"Run! Get out! While you still..." Before it could finish, a hoof came out of the ground and squashed the breezie. Swiss quickly ran behind a tree and started panting. When he turned his head, the hoof was gone. With a sigh of relief, he turned around, only to be greeted by a green and brown earth pony much larger than him. The brown was probably dried on dirt, but that didn't matter now.
"WHO ARE YOU TO ENTER SERGEANT EVERFREE'S FOREST, PRIVATE?!" He shouted loudly, knocking Swiss on his butt. Swiss wanted so much to change into a pony form, but he hadn’t learned how yet. “p-p-please Sir, I am looking for a new home for my mommy and me” he pleaded as tears brimmed his eyes. "Son. Do you know what I do to your kind around here?" The mischievous pony asked as he grabbed a knife.
"Uh..." swiss stared scared.
"Time's up." He said as he cut a blue flower and gave it to him. "Eat up." He said. Swiss slowly raised his hoof.
"More for me." He said as he chewed the flower and spat right into his face. Swiss started to scream. The flower the crazy pony spat on him was burning his face. Then suddenly he couldn’t breath. "I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" he shouted as he raised his hoof and brought it down and raised it, shaking off the residue. He smiled as he lifted the head with the helmet. He quickly ran to his little hut and put the head on a pole. He smiled as he wrote a note and left it on the back of the headless foal. He dragged it over to a catapult and launched it back into changeling territory. Chrysalis sat on her throne, watching over the changelings when a guard rushed in. “Your majesty, something has happened”
“What?” she asked.
“It’s prince Swiss” he said looking down.
“What about him?” she asked trying to keep her panic low, “is my son ok?”.
“Come with me” he said leading her outside. She quickly ran outside and her eyes got wide.
"MY SON!" She said crying as she hugged it. She sobbed heavily as she saw the note. She read it out loud.
" LISTEN UP MAGGOTS. YOU HAVE WAITED 30 YEARS TO ATTACK AND HOPED THAT I WOULDN'T BE AROUND. GUESS AGAIN. UNTIL I SEE YOUR COWARD'S WHITE FLAG, I WILL BE AROUND. DISMISSED!!
-SERGEANT EVERFREE"
Raged filled Chrysalis. She screamed out and changelings around coward. Her horn glew and a green blast of magic flew out, burning down the closest trees. “Those ponies first cause have my kingdom to starve and now, one murdered my baby!” her voice deepened as she pounded the ground with her front hooves. She noticed the guards looking at her, “Gather the changelings, we attack first thing in the morning” she ordered.
“What about the pony who killed Prince Swiss?” the guard asked. She smiled wickedly as her eyes glew green. “He’s mine” she said with a hiss.
Chapter 1: Filly and the Beast
A teal earth filly was running around happily. She squeed as she poked applebloom. "Tag! You're it!" She said squeeing as she and all the other young ones ran away outside of the Ponyville Schoolhouse's Recess area.
"Blank! Y'all get back here!" Applebloom smiled as she started to chase after her classmates.
Blank ran and hide a few feet into the safer part of the Everfree forest. She knew Apple Bloom wouldn’t find her there. “Hello little one” She heard somepony say. She turned around and saw a strange pony before her. She squeed as she looked at the new pony.
"Hiya!" She said happily as she waved her little hoof.
“Aren’t you just” the queen leaned down to in take the love radiating off the filly “Mmm adorable” she smiled, “My name is Chrissy. What’s yours?”
"I'm Blank Canvas!" The innocent filly squeed. "I love cheesecake, and noms and um...cheesecake...and umm....cheesecake." she blushed embarrassed.
“Well Blank” she thinks to herself and smiles, “I have to walk home in the forest all by myself and I’m a little scared”.
“Oh no” the filly frowns.
“How about you walk with me?” Chrissy suggested with a sweet smile.
"Otay!" She squeed as she grabbed her little fez and put it on her head and walked off following her. As they walked one way, a changeling smiled as his skin turned teal...
"So, do you like noms?" Blank asked as they were marching through the forest.
“Oh yes I enjoy noms here and there” Chrissy said.
“I do too!” the filly squeed, “my favorite is cheesecake!”
“I have never had this cheesecake?, is it good?” Chrissy asked trying to keep the filly occupied.
"Here I made some earlier!" She squeed as she took off her Fez and pulled out a cheesecake. She cut a slice for her as they sat down at the border between the Hive and Everfree Forest. Elsewhere, a familiar changeling knocked on the castle door.
"Help! I have nopony to watch me!" It cried out as its black coat was a bit more teal and the eyes were grey and mane was white. “My name is Blank, and I was just abandoned here.” She shivers to add effect.
“Come with me little one." A guard says as he picks the filly up with his magic and heads to the throne room.
Celestia was in her throne room, going over some papers and when the guard walked in. “You’re highness. We have an issue.” he said as he bowed. Celestia noticed the teal filly on his back. “Who is this?” she asked.
“My name is Blank, I has no mommy or daddy” the filly said frowning.
“What happened to them?” Celestia asked walking up to the filly.
“I don’t know” the filly said tears filling her eyes.
“I'll talk to Luna and see what we can do” Celestia said. After she discussed it with her sister, they decided to keep the filly until her parents could be found.
Elsewhere, a crazed pony ran over to a hoofprint left by the Queen. He licked it and grabbed a knife. He smiled.
"So, you thought that Everfree Forest is a free route home?" He chuckled as he licked the blade of the knife. "Well next time, you'll pay with your life." He laughed as he ran off.
Chapter 2: Noms and Punishment
A changeling ran around the forest. His wings were ripped off and his horn was ripped off and jammed into one of his back hooves. He leaned up against a tree and panted and looked.
"Good. That military nut job isn't here." The changeling smiled as he turned around. His ears suddenly dropped and eyes widened with fear.
"Who's not here?" Sergeant Everfree said as he pulled a vine near by. Before the changeling could react, two giant logs came swinging from opposite sides of the front and back. Sergeant ducked as they met. He pulled them back and looked at the mess.
What was left of the body sat in a sea of blood. Chunks of flesh sat like tiny islands in a deep, red sea. The organs spilled out like fresh spaghetti. He smiled as he put his hoof in the blood and sipped.
"Ah. If there is anything better than warm blood, its probably royal blood." He said as he grabbed the large intestine and started to walk back to his hut.
Back in Queen Chrysalis castle, the queen and Blank were on the bed. They were talking to each other about their lives and telling jokes.
"And so the Yeast says to the Bread, 'Together, we'll Ryes!'" The cheerful filly giggled at her own joke.
“I must say Blank, you are more delightful than anypony I’ve come across” The queen said. She said that because the love that radiated off the filly was so intense it filled every one the of the queen’s senses.
“Thank chu!” Blank squeed with a smile.
“I may just keep you as my own” Chrysalis said, “would make up for what they took from me”.
"They?" She squeed uneasy. "Whose they and who did they take?" Blank asked as her smile went down and looked worried. Chrysalis smiled as sweetly as she could, “Ponies. They killed my son. He was only about your age”. The mention of Swiss made the queen fight back tears.
"Oh nu!' Blank sadly squeed and then quickly smiled again. "We should tell Princess Celestia and Luna! They haven't been busy since the Tirek attack. Did you know they want to make peace with the Changelings?" She squeed as she quickly nomed on cheesecake.
“Then why did they kill my precious little colt?” The queen asked, “an innocent child” tears fell down Chrissy’s cheek as she recalled the sweet changeling colt.
"Well, I doubt it was the princesses. They have warned us not to go into the forest as it is dangerous for unknown reasons." Blank said as she wiped the tears.
"The reason is Sergeant Everfree." A familiar voice called out from the shadows. They stepped forward and were it was revealed to be Princess Twilight.
“Princess Twilight?” the queen said confused, “how did you find my hive?”.
“She told me” she said as she uses her magic to hold a changeling in the air, “I found her roaming the castle in Canterlot” Twilight informed, “she wasn’t in pony form”.
“How am to believe it wasn’t you precious princesses?” the queen spat.
“We would never order the death of anypony, let alone a child of any type of creature” Twilight stated.
“Fine, then who is this Sergeant Everfree?” the queen ordered. Twilight pulled out a book "This is Princess Celestia's explanation. I got her permission to borrow it." She squeed as she began to read."Remember the war 30 years ago? Well he was basically never told it was over. He has killed several ponies, including our own foals. He doesn't care if you're changeling or not. Until he sees the white flag raised by changelings and he has been given one final salute for his commitment in the war as a hero, he will kill all who enter the forest. He knows it like I know that blank likes cheesecake or that Twilight is a bookworm." Twilight slightly blushed at the last part and continued. "Any who, he is considered dangerous. The reason Zebras are short is him, but he just thinks he's killing changelings." She said as she closed the book.
Chrysalis was silent for a while. “So why hasn’t this senile old pony been locked up?” she asked.
"Well duh. He kills all who enter. In fact," twilight got quiet as she puts her hoof on blank. "We almost lost blank because of it." She said as blank squeed.
"Its true. I was given a note saying the war was over and was told to give it to him. He said I forged the princess's signature and he almost stabbed me. Twilight had to teleport me home but not before...well..." Blank said as she took off a sock to show a hoof with bear trap marks on it. She sighed and finished "....he made me fall into a bear trap.", she squeed a little unhappy then slipped back on the sock.
Chapter 3: Unity of the Lost
“So what do we do, just keep letting him kill?” the queen asked, “it seems below the pony royalty”.
“The only way to stop him is if the ponies and changelings work together” Twilight said.
“How?” Chrissy asked confused.
Twilight sighed and looked down, “we have to kill him”. Chrissy let what Twilight said sink in and nodded, “I’ll call the changelings off, but what after that?”.
“We have one of your fastest changelings drop a bomb near him” Twilight announced, “it’s the only way”.
“I’ll go gather my kingdom” the queen said and walked outside. Early the next morning Twilight used a tracking spell to pin point exactly where in the forest Sergeant Everfree was. Chrissy picked a changeling named Blur to drop the bomb on Everfree.
“Do you understand your orders?” the queen asked Blur.
“I am to hoof travel until I am close enough to fly up and drop the bomb on the target” Blur said confidently.
“Well we better get a move on” Twilight said, “the faster we kill Everfree the better”. Blur started through the forest. He was to look for dead trees then fly up and drop the bomb on a small hut. He was trotting as silently as he could when he bumped into something. He saw a tree when he looked up. He sighed, relieved as he took another step. Sergeant Everfree hopped out from behind him and dragged him down to the ground below. He laughed as the silent forest was silent again.
Back at the castle, Blank squeed as she was on top of Twilight's head. "So, we are off to sign the peace treaty?" She said as she saw Crissy behind her.
“Yes little one we are” the queen said as they entered the throne room. Celestia stood as they reached her and Luna. “Sister are you sure we should do this?” Luna asked.
“We had a common threat Luna, and they helped, we have to do this” Celestia said.
“Celestia” Chrissy greeted as she nodded.
“I want to give you my thanks for helping get rid of that awful pony in the forest” Celestia said with a sincere smile.
“He killed my son” she said looking at Celestia, “it’s was my honor Celestia”.
“I have both our kingdom’s waiting for us to sign the treaty” Celestia announced, “let’s go”. They all walked out onto the balcony and was greeted by both ponies and changelings. Before they could speak, a small pinecone hit the Queen in the head.
" WHO THREW THAT?" She snarled. She looked all around.
"YooHoo! " a voice called out. It was Sergeant Everfree. He smiled as he walked up holding a detonation switch.
"GOOD EVENING MAGGOTS. today, we say goodbye to the changelings and hello to the future. Today, this war will end and today, we discover who the real traitors are." He said smiling as he pointed to a monitor that had shown 2 gigantic bombs with timers. The locations, however, were not easily recognizable.
"You won't get away with this!" Luna said as she used her magic to lift him to face her.
"Get away? Please. Do you really want me to be known as a typical one trick pony who has a scheme that will fall? " he smiled as he got a green flower. "I got away with it 3 minutes ago." He said as he crushed it into powder and blew it into her eyes. Just as he starts to fall, a large explosion happens from the bottom of the castle and all across every street in Equestria. The second bomb that was shown, had a target that was clear as day. It was the changeling hive.
"Well, love to stay and chat but I got 5 good friends of the princess to clean their traitorous ways." He said shouting as he picked up Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Applejack "Oh and think fast!" He shouted as he ran off and another explosion occurred right behind the Royal member's heads. Blank quickly jumped into a pile of hay as the explosion radiuses collided. Ponies all over equestria where fleeing as their houses and buildings started to collapse. Carriages crashed in the road and even the castles around equestria were giving out. As the bombing died out, Twilight watched over all to make sure they were OK.
"I pray my friends are OK." She said as she grabbed Blank. The filly squeed as she hugged Twilight and Crissy shaking scared.
"He will pay!" The queen said angry. She began to turn around when one of the piles of rubble began to shake. Together, the princesses, the queen and blank began to help clear it.
"What in Equestria?" Celestia had let her mouth slip. Underneath the old building, there was a pony completely covered in a weird white metal suit. There were gold screws and bolts that were in it and causing no visible pony parts.
"Is it alive?" Blank asked as she looked at the left front hoof, pointing 2 gauges that said "Hunger" and "Thirst". Before Luna could answer, the eyes on the mysterious figure's eyes glowed red and it stood up, taller than Big MacIntosh.