New Moon Rising

I woke up feeling sore all over, no doubt from our activities. Getting onto my hooves, I begun thinking, not of what was about to happen, but the repercussions of it. The three griffons we had killed would most likely not be traced back to us, as Gary had mauled two of them, while I had stabbed one in the chest while in the form of a griffon. Then there was the fact that there was apparently somepony plotting against the changeling race, and just to top it of, a freaking demon on the loose.

Walking towards the lake, I watched the light from the moss refract in it, the water seeming to light up, send the occasional refracted ray of light up tuio the ceiling, where it seemed to make whatever geode it hit glow brighter for a moment, like a twinkling star.

All those times I had done a 180 and became a bloodthirsty monster, were in the defence of Ribbon. One of the few ponies who I truly relax around. Ever since I defeated Discord, I had become more aggressive. Against Sombra, I was reduced to a vicious beast, driven by nothing but bloodlust and instinct. Both times, I had been willing to destroy anything in my way to protect Ribbon. It worries me. What if I don't calm down? What if I continued to rampage? I would become something worse than Nightmare Moon. And the worst part? I would keep. Coming. Back. Time would have no meaning, and if I was patient enough, I could reverse engineer anything I knew of. Even Nuclear weapons. The potential fallout if became evil was staggering. I was long past being a monster, and merely steps from becoming a complete monster. The information I possessed could bring about the end of the world as we know it.

"Just... what have I become?"

I've been walking a fine line this whole time, and I've only now realized how easily I could slip and fall.

A slight groan from back in the cave brought me back to the present. Turning to look back in, I found Ribbon tossing and turning as she slept, a pained look on her face. Walking over, I layed down beside her. Ribbon... you've always been there for me, ever since we first met. You've kept me sane, even after Celestia's revelation of my immortality nearly broke me.

I was soon snuggling against Ribbons side, yet something kept nagging at me. It had had violent moments as a human, but none anywhere near the caliber of my fights with Discord or Sombra. Had becoming what I am now changed me somehow?

Enough dwelling. Theres still changelings to rescue, and I don't want to be distracted when it comes time to bust them out.

The sensation of someone rubbing my back woke me from my slumber. The first thing I noticed was how wet my cheeks felt. Had I been... crying? "Ribbon? Is that you?” My brain was still nine tenths asleep, And I couldn't even find the energy to open my eyes.

“Yeah, I’m here.”

"Its all finally hit me, just what I could become if I truly became lost to the dark side... And it scares me."

I heard Ribbon sigh. “What do you mean?”

"Just think Ribbon, I just won't stay dead, and I know things, things that if I had the time to reverse engineer from what I know of them, could bring about the end of the world as we know it... or worse, what if I went crazy and didn't calm down? It scares me, Ribbon, just how easily I could become a complete monster."

“But, I thought the only reason you’re alive is because of me. If I died so would you. And I know everything that you do, well most of it, and I have to say, there are a lot of things, resources, that just aren't here.”

"Ribbon, you're the only thing keeping me from giving up hope. I can tell that nearly everypony is still secretly terrified of me, and it hurts. To be feared for actions not my own..."

“But their getting better. What about Twilight, She’s all over Ponyville and so they’re getting used to the new look, and you don’t really look like Nightmare Moon anymore. Your mane turned black, your eyes turned red, it wouldn’t surprise me if your coat turns green. And my changelings, they don’t fear you.”

"I... I just can't bare being compared to her, I've tried dammit, and yet almost everypony loathes and fears me. Knowing you and your people accept me helps, but it doesn't change what ponies think of me."

“You’re only looking at the negatives, plus Twilight and me are in the same boat as you, and either of us care two bits worth what others think. They say Twilights been ‘infected’ and that I’m Chrysalis’ daughter, we both know that’s not true. Twilight did that to herself and I used to be a scout.”

"Its true... it may not be much, but we both have the ponies in the Crystal empire accepting us. We did save them from Sombra after all."

“That’s right, And you might be mad at them but, the princesses have been supportive too, that includes Cadence. She made sure the crystal ponies got the story straight and that any rumors were silenced.”

"Yeah, but who knows how many nasty rumors Blueblood has spouted, he more than likely has it out for me after I scared him shitless... even though the wanker deserved it."

“Ohhh, he deserved it. But most of those rumors will never leave Canterlot. I mean, outside his little bubble of ponies, nopony even knows who he is.”

"True... There is still so much to learn about this world, isn't there? Keeps me focused on things other than myself." I sighed. "I love you, and I don't know what I would do without you."

“I love you too, I’ll always be here.” I finally got up, and pulled Ribbon into a tight hug. “You need a bath.”

Taking a good whiff if myself, I noticed, that yes, I did smell of our 'activities' and Ribbon smelt of it as well. "You need one as well."

After a nice long bath, with me and Ribbon washing each other off, we waited a few minutes for everyone else to get up and prepare themselves. As they were preparing, I tried to think up a plan B in case things went south, but kept coming up blank, meaning things could get real ugly if this didn't go as planned. “you ready Ribbon?”

“Sure, slight change of plans though. After you and me set fire to the store houses in the barracks, we’re going after Stel Singer.”

“Roger that. Lets do this. Get in quick, create the diversion, get that griffon, and bust out our fellow changelings.” Closing my eyes, I took the time to focus, bringing the design from the book Twilight had shown me to the forefront of my mind, and using my miasma to turn it into a physical mass, protecting me. Seeing this armor made physical for the first time, I noticed how it felt… natural, more so then what I had used before. “What do you think RIbbon?”

Ribbon looked in awe of my new armor and inspected it carefully. “Impressive, but how did you come up with the design?”

-Twilight told me there used to be a cult worshipping Nightmare Moon, and some of the members had secretly worked on armor they deemed worthy of her… Twilight apparently had the diary of one of those members, and it had complete blueprints for that armor. Thus what you see before you. Its actually quite comfortable to boot.-

Ribbon went over every piece, inspecting it from the links holding it together to the gaps filled with chainmail. “Was it difficult to make? I’ll bet it took awhile.”

“Yeah, It takes quite a bit more time and focus to form then the minimal amount of armor I had before.”

“You said Twilight had this? It’s very intricate, the prints mustn’t have been too hard to read.”

“Reading and remembering the prints was easy, envisioning them in three dimensions? Thats a whole nother ballgame.”

“I’d like to see the diary that had this in it. No doubt the Princess hide it for a reason. I wonder though, she use any of the prints to influence her current guards armor?”

“That would actually be deliciously ironic. The Royal guard, using Nightmare Moon’s armor designs. But we’re getting distracted, we have to rescue the changelings, remember?”

“Right, yes.” Ribbon turned to the others. “Are we ready?!” Again they all answered ‘Yes my Queen’. It was still creepy as hell.

As we made our way out of the cavern, I tried to clear my mind and focus on the task ahead of us, instead of dwelling on things that would just wind up putting others at risk due to my indecisiveness.

Once we were at the city it was getting dark. It took a few minutes to find an entrance to the drainage system, and after getting past the grate, we made our way into the griffon city, where we split up to head for our objectives. Leaving Ribbon and me, alone. “You have the spies everywhere, I’m flying blind here, so you lead.” Finishing my sentence, I let my miasma flow over her so we could enter our shade form.

Ribbon seemed lost as she looked about, for a second. I felt her smile through the miasma and she took off, carefully running around the few griffons that were out and about. It did not take her long to get to the barracks. “Ok, here’s where my knowledge ends for now.”

-So they aren't complete idiots then.-

Entering the barracks wasn’t much of a problem, the guards couldn't even see us. The only way I could think of this going wrong was if we walked into a griffon rounding a corner… ah crap, please tell me I didn’t just jinx it. I didn’t say it loud, so maybe it won’t count? ’Is something wrong?’

-Nothing, I’d rather not jinx this.- We soon made it to the living quarters of the barracks, where we were shocked to discover several changeling chained up, none of them were part of ribbons hive, which explained why she had no intel on this place. and judging by how beat up they looked, they had been used for ‘stress relief’ quite a bit.

-Fuck causing a fire, lets bust these poor saps out!-

’Agreed, and more brownie points with this hive.’ Ribbon softly touched one changeling on the head and woke her up. Her panic was quickly shushed and Ribbon pointed to the sleeping guards. Ribbon leaned in to whisper. “You must leave quickly, you might not get another chance.” with that, Ribbon pulled the greenish ring off all of their horns and broke the chains.

She whispered “Thank out.” back to us and ran, with the others following her.

-We still need to find Stel Singer, and then we can hit the whorhouse and free everyling there.-

’Don’t worry about Stel Singer, he won’t be a problem.’

-Why, did one of our other groups find him already?-

’He just past the whore house, I think he’s going towards Wendy’s group.’

-I pity the fool… so how badly do you think Wendys gonna mess him up?-

’Not sure, though ‘maimed’ seems like a good guess. We should hurry, the others will be needing the distraction soon.’

-Right. So how are we going to start the fire anyways?-

’All changelings are fire adepts, I just wasn’t strong enough magically to really cast anything before.’

-Ah, well, thats not really a problem anymore, now is it?-

’Hasn’t been yet.’ After a while of searching several buildings, we found the store houses. Most of them were filled with either rations or gun powder. With guards at the front, we went through a window into the building that held the powder. Ribbon picked up one keg and poured out a neat line, making sure to end the makeshift fuse at the largest group of kegs.

-Light this joint and run like hell?-

’That’s the idea.’ Ribbon lowered our head to the end of the fuse and a small… blue flame jumped from our horn? Ribbon seemed confused too, but it was short lived as she bolted back out the window, flying high into the night sky where we could see the explosion easily.

I really should figure out if I should use first, second, or third person when in this form.

-Distraction created, now for the actual rescue.-

It wasn’t that difficult to find the whorehouse, considering Ribbon basically had the whole city mapped out in her head, it did take us a while to get there, but once we did, it soon dawned on us just how much of a challenge it would be to get that many changelings out undetected, even with a distraction.

-Ribbon? with that many changelings, we might need a bigger distraction… one that demands constant attention.-

’You don’t think a fire and an explosion was good enough?’

-For a few dozen maybe, but a few hundred?-

’Right. If there was a bigger, more demanding threat the griffons wouldn’t notice us.’

-Perhaps a ‘dragon’ attack is in order? I can shapeshift too, remember?-

’Can... Can I at least get inside first?’

-Yes, once I separate from you, run for it.- Giving Ribbon a few moments to prepare herself, I peeled my form free of her, and begun taking on much larger form, as she bolted inside. I soon reached the required size, and my form begun solidifying, scales of a midnight blue forming around me, and a long whiplike tail emerged from the cloud of miasma. followed by my arms and legs, talons gleaming in moonlight. My head and wings emerged from the cloud last, as a cloud of what appeared to be more miasma spewed from my mouth, causing black ice to form on the ground. The drain was there, but not as intense as when I had turned into a Tyrannosaurus. perhaps because this form was native to this world?

The sound of me roaring more than likely caught the attention of everything within a few miles, meaning I would have just about every damn griffon here after me, giving Ribbon the perfect opportunity to get everyling out undetected.

I exhaled plumes of freezing darkness, causing black ice to form over several buildings, before roaring a challenge to the griffons that had amassed just out of range. I could feel their fear, and I let it strengthen me as I swatted several griffons that tried to get close out of the air, before freezing them solid.

Bellowing another roar, I gave a swift flap of my wings, blowing a large group of griffons back, and into a wall. Spewing clouds of frigid shadows everywhere, the area soon begun to look like a localized ice age had occurred.

-Ribbon! How much longer do I need to keep these birds attention for?- I did a quick 360, knocking the griffons that had begun collecting around me away.

’Just a little longer, I’m getting the last of them out now.’

A giant bolt flew over my head, and when I turned towards its point of origin, I noticed they had set up a ballistia at some point, meaning I had to haul ass, because I did not want to find out if I was protected against that. Taking to the sky, I was forced to keep dodging bolts, especially when I noticed they were aiming for my wings.

-Anytime would be good now! They brought out the big guns!-

’You froze over the waterways, we have to go a different way. Go ahead and start making your way out.’

I spewed out a massive cloud of darkness, before reverting to my normal from, and quickly teleporting to the ground, where I tried to pinpoint Ribbons location. Upon finding it, I teleported again, and arrived in front of Ribbon, inside a giant tunnel, with what looked like hundreds of changelings staring at me. I made what could only be described as the sound of a choking rubber duck and put Ribbon between me and the massive group... And then hid in Ribbons shadow.

Ribbon kept running and met up with Rushdown’s group. When we made it to the exit, we were all the way back at the to valley. It seemed there was a tunnel that lead to the city we could’ve used. We went back to the Glowstone Caves where we saw Wendy was already there, looking rather... gleefull. She really must have let loose on Stel.

When most of the changelings had entered the cavern, I finally emerged from Ribbons shadow and startled quite a few of them. Ribbon immediately went to address the yellow changelings we rescued. They seemed understandably nervous. “Fellow changelings, are any of you close enough to speak with your Queen?” It took them a moment, by they all noded their heads. “Good, if you can inform you Queen that, now that I have a good amount back, I will be leaving her territory, I would like to avoid fighting. If you would also inform her that my changelings will be raiding the rest of the griffon cities, so if she wants to rescue any of her lost subjects, now’s her best chance. And if she wishes to speak with me, I will be rebuilding my hive, hopefully, in Equestria’s capital. In the mean time, you’re safe with us.” Having finished her speech with them, Ribbon turned to me. “With over four hundred changelings here, you and I can go back to Ponyville now. I can stay out of harms way, and manage everything over the hivemind. And I have something special for you.”

Considering how she tended to use ‘special’... “I like the sound of that. Lets get there quickly, no?”

It was an uneventful flight, but Ponyville was now in sight, and I was greatly anticipating the surprise Ribbon had mentioned. “Ponyville, the weirdness capital of equestria, am I right Ribbon?”

“Sure is. I blame Twilight. It used to be a calm little place, then Twilight moved in and the whole place got a lot livelier.”

“And then, I came here and the whole place went to hell.”

”Tartarus.”

“Goddamit. Hell, Hades, Tartarus, Chicago, its all the same thing!” I took a moment to compose myself. “So about that ‘surprise.”

“Ah ah ah, no spoilers. I need to get it ready anyways.”

“Hey, is that Pinkie?” It had to be, considering I don't know anypony else who would be that shade of pink, and up in the middle of the night, conveniently under our flight path, waving at us. I swear, she knows these things before they happen, and breaks physics when it pleases her. Kinda like Deadpool, but kid friendly. “Go ahead and get your surprise ready, I’ll catch up with you in a bit.”

Flying down to greet pinkie, I noticed how she had a very knowing grin. “Hya Chi! Did ya… *hic* did ya like your surprise?”

“Pinkie, Are you drunk?” And how did she know about what me and Ribbon did!?”

“Applejack can’t even handle me right *hic*... now!”

“How much did you drink?”

“Not enough! Never enough! I won't stop until I taste the rainbow!... Can I join you?”

I felt my cheeks flush at that. She wasn't talking about Skittles. "Pinkie, you're drunk, go home."

"I'm not drunk, just watch! I can count to potato! Uhhhh... Pineapple?"

"Pinkie, I can smell the alcohol on your breath from here..."

“But I got all the thingys for you!"

Wait, what! She got Ribbons presents!? Gotta distract her! "I heard Rainbow gets really 'testy' when inebriated..."

"Really!? Kay thanks bye!" She bolted, obviously Rainbow was going to be in for a surprise.

-Ready yet?-

’I’m waiting on a fluffy new cloud bed for you. And that’s not the surprise, just a bonus.’