Chapters Chapter One
Silently he moved through the corridors. In the back of his mind, he feared the consequences of his actions, should he get caught.
“6…5…4…3…2…1… ” The next moment, two guards, clad in matt black amour passed by. “Like clockwork, ” he thought with a smile.
For weeks he was watching the guards making their rounds, always at the exact same time. If there was one thing the changeling race was considered professional, it was organizing big groups of individuals.
As the sound of hooves disappeared, he left his hiding place behind the rotten door frame and continued his journey to freedom. Slowly, the gray hybrid made his way to the canteen, or rather, to the room behind the kitchen.
Only a short hallway separated him from his destination, when suddenly, he heard a sharp command bellowed behind him.
Careful, not to make jerky movements, the caught colt turned around and let his saddlebags drop on the floor. The shout came from a now very cocky smiling changeling guard with a long spear in his hoof and a purple swelling over his left eye.
“Our little Greybled is making a run for it,” declared the guard, while stepping closer to Greybled, his spear ready and his horn loaded with a potent combat spell.
“How’s the eye, Strikebolt?” the unicorn named Greybled asked.
“Oh, after the beating the queen will give you for trying to leave the hive, I would be surprised, if you would ever hold a spear again,” he retorted viciously.
The next moment, the knock out spell Strikebolt was preparing, fired straight at Greybled, who, just in time, raised his right front leg. The spell harmlessly bounced off the dark gray metal gauntlet which covered his right leg from hoof to shoulder.
“Sorry to disappoint you, Strikebolt, but I didn’t come unprepared,” he bragged with a confident voice.
“All I see is some kind of jewelry that hides the last sign of your heritage,” Strikebolt roared while delivering a barrage of spear hits, each one parried by Greybled’s armored hoof. Then Strikebolt changed his tactics, by retreating a few feet and using his higher range to aim deadly stabs at his opponent’s neck.
“This is it, ” thought Greybled, while stomping his right hoof on the ground. A short sound of metal grinding against metal was heard, when suddenly a one foot long, one inch thick, metal stick extended from the gauntlet.
Strikebolt was shocked when a metal bat smashed forcefully through the wooden shaft of his spear. In the next moment, he saw a lime green flash, and then everything went dark for him.
The Greybled`s horn stopped glowing and the colt looked in awe to the weapon attached to his leg.
He snapped back to reality when his eyes fell on Strikebolt's unmoving body. He would be paralyzed for at least two hours, not quite a lot time to escape the badlands without wings. Then Greybled noted something. Silence. If the other guards would have been alarmed by the sound of the fight, there would be at least a hundred changelings in the room by now.
The guard instructions, state without a doubt, that Strikebolt should have called for backup, before engaging a suspect. But why didn't he alarm anyone?
“Maybe he wanted me to escape, ”Greybled thought optimistically, but then a more plausible answer came to his head,he didn’t want to arrest me, because he wanted to kill me ”
He stared down at his ex-comrade in arms with venom in his eyes. He was only one room away from a working incinerator, it would be so easy.If I just kill and incinerate him, I would have all the time I need to get away... But that's what she would do! ”
Greybled leaned down to the fallen changeling and with one swift punch, hit the side of Strikebolt’s head with his unarmored left leg. It even started to bleed a little but wouldn't cause a serious injury.
He smirked and made his way to the room at the end of the hallway. Inside, there were two ovens, one was burning away the garbage of the hive and the other one had just a sign on it, which stated “out of order ” in the changeling tongue.
The hybrid was relieved, that they hadn’t yet fixed the incinerator he broke two nights ago. He climbed inside the opening, gazing upwards, to the light at the end of a long tunnel.
“Here we go!” he cheered out loud, when he started to push himself with all his hooves against the inside of the chimney. Slowly but surely, he made his way from the underground changeling hive, to the surface.
Delighted, he took his first breath of fresh air since two years. Standing on top of the chimney, he realised, he had to move. If Strikebolt would wake up or be found, changeling scouts would be all over the place. His mother was not the forgiving kind of leader.
***
"What is the meaning of this?" Queen Chrysalis demanded, when the obviously hurt guard was dragged before her in her throne chamber.
"The prince fled," the wounded changeling stammered, while being held on both sides by fellow guards.
"Should we send out our tracking unit, your highness?" one of the other armoured changelings asked, not forgetting the royal form of address like Strikebolt did.
The queen thought for a moment,
After a few long moments, she declared with her royal voice,When they find out who he is, " she added mentally.
The queen couldn't help, but feel a strange sense of pride. She didn't think Greybled had the guts for such a risky stunt.
***
After hours of non stop running, Greybled settled in for the night in the roots of a fallen tree, which formed at least some kind of protection from the night and more importantly, searching eyes. He didn’t see a single changeling since he left, which could be both, good and bad. Chrysalis wouldn’t let any of her subjects go, without an ulterior motive. Maybe she didn’t send search parties because she was glad he wouldn’t ever make a claim to the throne that was his, by right.
The more optimistic part of his mind held to another sentiment. “Maybe she wants me to be happy. ”
As long as he could remember, things in the hive had been tough for him. He was treated different than every other changeling, but it was bearable. It all went downhill when he was 10 years old. During his first training with the wooden staff, he discovered his talent with that kind of weapon and earned his cutie mark, two crossed black sticks.
Greybled would never forget the disappointment in the face of his mother after he showed her his mark. He was not allowed to leave his chambers for two weeks. Chrysalis most likely tried to find a way to remove the cutie mark without peeling the skin off. It didn’t come to that though, word spread fast in the hive and everybody already knew of his newest step towards ponydom, so there was no reason to hide him any longer.
His memories of his life in the hive were replaced pretty soon by an all overshadowing exhaustion.
Two days of travelling later, Greybled laid eyes on the first pony settlement, he ever saw. The sign at the city entrance read “Welcome to New Trot ”. With two deep breaths, he walked into town, trying to look casual. Back home, he learned everything he needed to know, to pass as a pony.
The Village seemed to consist only of about 50 Buildings, all along the dusty main street, Greybled was walking along. He knew that this was one of the smaller pony sattlements. In the hive, he was shown a couple of pictures of Canterlot which were taken during Crysalis’ failed invasion 16 years ago. New Trot was completely different, no white marble towers with Gold roofs, just plain wooden houses with only two floors. Nevertheless, Greybled was amazed by his surrounding.
The teenage colt was surprised, how easy it was to infiltrate these ponies. He only got a few glazes from the passing citizens, but he guessed that it was normal when somepony new came to town. Greybled came to a halt when he saw a little hut, with colourful papers stacked on a counter and shelves. Behind the counter stood an elderly stallion with a white mane and a fitting moustache.
One of the papers caught Greybleds eye. On the front of the cover was a Picture of 3 alicorns with humble smiles on their lips. Above them, he could read the words “Moon Magazine ” in capital letters. In a bubble on the right side of the page stood “The History of the Royalty of Equestria and the Crystal Empire ”. Without a second thought, Greybled grabbed the magazine with his green magic and began to scan through the pages.
He could read the equestrian language for many years. He stopped on the page which said “The royalty of the Crystal Empire ”. On the page was a big picture of a pink alicorn, a white unicorn stallion, a light blue pegasus colt and a little pale red unicorn filly.
His eyes were fixed on the white unicorn and the small text beside him. Greybled mumbled to himself,
For over a minute, Greybled just stood there and watched at the portrait of his father. His trance was broken by an old Stallion shouting at him.
Greybled looked up in the eyes of the annoyed vendor.
“ahhhhh what?” was all the flabbergasted colt could stammer.
“If ya want to buy it, it’ll be 4 bits” The vendor said a little calmer than before.
Now it clicked in Greybleds head, the guy was selling the papers. The concept of payment was explained to the young changelings and him long and detailed. For someone who grew up in a hive, where everyone just took what he needed and did what he was told, it was hard to understand the matter of currency.
Then it hit Greybled like a ton of horseshoes, he didn’t have any of those “bits ” he would need for nearly everything in the mainland of Equestria. How he could forget something that essential, was beyond him. In his saddlebags he stored enough dried food to last two weeks, but nothing valuable.
His thoughts were interrupted once again by the news stand owner who was now right in front of him and raised a hoof to snatch the magazine from him. When the hoof came down, the hybrid reflexively raised his armoured leg to parry a possible punch. A thump noise was heard, followed by a pained cry from the elder earth pony who was holding his right foreleg. Greybled suddenly felt a hundred eyes on him and decided that he shouldn’t stay there.
***
A thousand miles up north, a light blue pegasus with a yellow mane waited for his moment to shine.
He stood at sharp attention on a raised platform in front of a crowd of over 300 Ponies, most of them, crystal earth ponies. While the general of the Crystal Empire Army was holding a speech about “proud soldiers” and “the protection against all threats,” the eyes of the pegasus wandered to the first line of chairs in front of them.
There sat, his mother, Princess Cadence, wearing the traditional Crystal Empire hair style and his father, Prince Consort Shining Armor in a dark blue blazer, the southern ponies usually wore to special occasions. Beside them, with a big grin on her lips, was his little sister, Victoria. Her violet eyes were excited to see her brother in this position and sometimes her horn glowed for a few seconds.
She had just received her cutie mark for medical magic a few months ago, after using a healing spell on him. While practicing ice-archery, he held his bow wrong and the string scraped half his leg, drawing blood. Victoria saw it and started using a healing spell, her mother only showed her once. The wound itched a few days, but left him with no scar, and his sister with a red heart, surrounding a purple star, on her flank.
Artemis’ cutie mark was two white, crossed, wings. Most ponies would assume it stood just for his love of flying, but to him it also symbolized curiosity and a sense of freedom.
After a few seconds, his father lifted his leg to his eyes and made a hoof gesture, to tell Artemis, to keep looking straight ahead and not at them. He never lost his proud smile while doing it.
When his name was called, a few minutes later, Artemis stepped forward, in front of the headmaster of the cadet academy. The sparkly elder began to talk with well practiced voice
Artemis answered, more nervous then the seasoned soldier,
This procedure was repeated, until everyone of the 32 cadets on the podium made their vows. A short speech from the headmaster later, the shiny crowd began to cheer and stomp their hooves for minutes on end.
As Artemis left the stage, he was tightly embraced by Cadence and Victoria. He smiled and looked over his shoulder to his father, waiting patiently for his turn. Next to him stood a Stallion, Artemis may have seen on a few social events, but he wasn’t sure.
He was released from the double hug and trotted over to Shining Armor, giving him a casual,
“Is that any way to greet your chief in command?” the Prince Consort replied mischievously.
Artemis rolled his eyes but complied nevertheless with a salute and a sharp clap with his hind legs.
His father smirked and began to speak again,
The youngling saluted in earnest this time, making the elders face give the slightest of smiles.
Cpt. Barding took the initiative,
“Sir, I was always thrilled by the idea, Sir!” he replied sounding as official as he could.
“Then today is your lucky day, kiddo, when the C.S. Dreadnought is finished, I will need a first mate I can relay on, think you are up to that task?” Barding asked.
After three seconds of bafflement, Artemis answered,
“Cut the ‘Sirs’,” he was interrupted by the Captain.
Artemis tried again,
Barding chuckled,
Once again, Artemis took military pose and declared,
This time, Barding smirked openly,
Author's Note
Thank you everybody who read this far!
Some sidenotes, I call Shining Armor "Prince Consort" because it always bugged me that he is called "Prince" in the show. The Husband of the Queen of England is not King after all.
Feedback is highly appreciated
Chapter Two
Greybled leaned on a guidepost, breathing heavy. Some of his pursuers didn’t let off him for a mile after he ran out of New Trot. They all thought he broke the vendors arm on purpose. That stupid pony shouldn’t have touched him. The half-unicorn scolded himself for still considering ‘them’ ponies. After all, he left the hive to become one of them.
When someone looked at Greybled, all they would see is another pony with a grey coat and a strange metal gauntlet covering his right foot. Only he and the hive knew, that under the metal, he hid the only part of his body that was without any doubt ‘changeling’. A leg with a black carapace and holes in it. He already thought of an explanation, should somepony ask about it.
Another, smaller giveaway were two scars, hidden under his fur. When he asked his mother about them, she said he was born with crippled changeling wings, which could never take him of the ground. The royal medic advised her to remove them and she complied and personally ripped them off. Greybled didn’t remember any of that, for it was shortly after he was born. One of the worker drones once told him, that the queen just ripped them out because she was furious that he looked so much like a pony, but that drone may as well just tried to get under Greybled’s skin. So he chose to believe his mothers side of the story.
The changeling hybrid finally had caught his breath and looked at the sign, which stood between the Y-junction he was currently at. One arrow pointed towards a place called ‘Appleloosa’ and the other pointed to ‘Dodge Junction’.
The map of Equestria, he studied back in the hive, had neither of those places on them, so he decided to just take the dirt road to Dodge Junction. He hoped he’d find some way to travel from there, to the other side of the country, for free... he was in trouble.
***
Artemis was walking through the air-harbor district of the empire. 20 minutes ago he said good bye to his mother and sister. They were both brought to tears by his departure.
Shining Armor insisted on seeing him off at the ship. Some of the ponies turned their heads to watch, for they had never seen royalty this close, but no one dared to talk to them. A few bowed in respect and others weren't even aware of their presence. The less commotion the better.
On pier 14, a rustic looking airship was towed to the landing platform by 6 thick ropes, 3 on each side. The hull looked old, but well cared for, no splintered wood or big cuts, like some of the other vessels had. There was one row of cannons, looking out from holes in the side of the ship and one row on the deck. Artemis began to count the cannons as his father interrupted.
“This is a Crystal Frigate, my son. It has 8 cannons on each side. By todays standards, that might seem petty, but when it was built, there was nothing in compare. Ponies back then feared, they would offend the windigos if they built bigger ships.”
He pointed to the balloon on top of the airship, “The balloon is filled with galian, a gas that can only be found in the crystal mines of the Empire. It floats just like helium or hydrogen, but it adds an enhancement to speed and acceleration of the ship. Nopony knew why, until your aunt Twilight found out that the galian gets infused with crystal magic, while stored in the mines.”
“You know a lot about airships, did you ever serve on one?” Artemis curiously asked.
“10 years ago, I was leading an armada of 20 ships against the bandits of the snow-gryffon tribe.” Shining’s eyes looked upwards as if he tried to remember something. “That was also the first time, I came in contact with your new captain, but back then he was just a navigator”.
As Shining Armor finished his story, Captain Barding was trotting over to them at a medium pace. He was even rougher looking without his parade uniform. Now he just wore a captains hat with golden olive branches and the inscription 'C.S. Temeraire'.
Barding stopped in front of Shining and saluted, completely ignoring Artemis. The prince regent, happy to see his old friend, gave him permission to loosen up by declaring, “At ease, soldier”.
The captain dropped his stance and started talking like a normal pony, “So you really did it?”
Shining raised an eyebrow, not catching Bardings drift “What?”
“You persuaded Cadence to let her precious little boy go” He said, clearly taunting.
“I am not little” Artemis butted in, as manly as he could muster.
Captain Barding dropped the smile and nearly shouted, “Talking without permission?! And no ‘Sir’ at the end of the sentence?! I hope you like toilets, because I sense you will be cleaning lots of them!”
Artemis mouth stood open and he tried to form a sentence, “But, but... you said, to be casual when not on a ship” Barding's glaze hardened “...Sir!” the colt added quickly.
“When wearing this cap,” he emphasized by tilting his head a little, “I am your captain, your first commander, and even, your god, do you understand sailor?”
“Yessir!” Artemis replied, standing at attention like he learned in the military academy.
Barding turned back to Shining Armor, “Is there anything else?”
“No, just make sure he comes home with both wings on his back.” Now it was his turn to say his farewells. He embraced Artemis for a few seconds and told him to be brave, do as he was told, and that he was proud of him.
His son tried his hardest to stay cool, he knew that sailors were machos and he couldn’t afford to cry in front of them. So he just gave a silent “goodbye, dad” and looked back at the ship, only his slightly wet eyes betraying his inner turmoil.
His new captain once again saluted Shining Armor and addressed his first order to Artemis, “Follow me”.
***
Greybled woke up when the sun was setting. He reached viewing distance to Dodge Junction in the early morning hours, but decided to enter at night, to avoid as much attention as possible. The city was still busy, even after sunset. In most of the four story apartment buildings, electrical lights illuminated the windows. Airships glided overhead.
The grey half-changeling saw an apple salesman who was distracted by an undecided customer. At the sight of the apples, Greybled took advantage of the situation. He powered his horn and three of the golden delicious were covered in a faint green aura and started rolling down the vendor’s stand. They didn’t hit the floor, as they floated a few centimeter above the floor. The hybrid leaned down a little, letting the fruits gliding on, directly inside his right saddlebag. Quickly, he closed the bag and took a look around, but nopony seemed to notice his act of thievery. He didn't waste another thought about the salesman.
The apples triggered euphoria in Greybled, for he had finished all his supplies the day before. Greybled walked to a dark sideroad, ducked out of sight of the main road behind a trashcan and started eating his loot.
A metal door to his left was smashed open and a brown pegasus stallion was thrown out, hitting the wall on the other side. He wore a black west and a tie. Two figures followed him, a green unicorn and a ridiculously muscular zebra. None of them noticed Greybled watching the scene, still munching on a golden delicious.
The pegasus tried to take flight, but was pulled back to earth by the orange magic of the unicorn. “Don’t you dare!” the magic user shouted angrily. “You still owe us the bits.”
Their victim who was looking more desperate by the second was pushed against the wall by the tough zebra. Breathing was hard for him as one of the zebras legs was pressing against his chest. He croaked out, “Please, I have the money on me, I only came to you, to pay up.”
“You mean those bits?” the unicorn asked rhetorically, while levitating a medium sized bag out of the pegasus’ west. “Those are the bits you owed us last week, Lucky Flutter wants double now.” He threw the bag to the floor behind him, not taking his eyes off the squirming pony. A bit rolled out of the fabric sack, and fell over right in front of Greybled.
This was just perfect. The hybrid was no expert on the equestrian currency, but in a bag this big, filled with the small gold coins, a trip to the Crystal Empire should be no problem. He laid the apple, he was eating a few seconds ago to the ground and started to rise, slow and stealthily.
Greybled tried his hardest to keep his metal gauntlet from clanking as he took the money bag in his magic. When he first lifted the bag, more coins fell out, hitting each other, and making that very specific coin sound.
Greybled cringed and looked up, the two gangsters hadn’t heard him. Most likely because the unicorn was still shouting at his prey. Now that the bag floated in the air, the noise was no longer apparent. The teenager backed up as silently as he could, never letting the thugs out of his view. He didn’t have any intention of alarming the criminals or to help the pegasus.
Only 10 meters separated him from the main street now, where he could hide in the crowd of ponies exploring the nightlife. Suddenly his left hind-leg hit a metal trashcan and the lid fell off and on the stone tiles. A vibrating gong noise filled the street and drowned the ranting of the horned pony. Both of the goons were eyeing Greybled now.
The colt turned 180 degrees and started sprinting to safety, the bit bag following behind him. He was hit by something heavy but soft out of nowhere and stumbled over. The world was turning. In his dizziness, he saw the projectile that hit him standing up and running away from the scene. Had he just been shot with a pony?
Alarmed by the clopping sound of hooves, the hybrid gathered his senses and stood up. The time to flee was over, now was time to fight.
As the thugs saw that he wasn’t trying to run anymore, they also slowed their pace. Again, it was the unicorn which started the conversation. “Are you really that stupid? No one steals from Lucky Flutter and gets away with it.” His voice was menacing but quiet. “We wanted to make an example out of that lowlife gambling addict you met just now, but I guess you will also do the trick” The stallion pronounced the word ‘met’ as if he cracked the joke of the century.
In perfect synchronicity, at the end of the last sentence, the zebra started charging full speed and the unicorn fired an orange blast from his forehead. Greybled wasn’t caught by surprise though and skipped to his right, to avoid the blast and then jumped up to let the zebra pass under him. His combat training came back to him as he unleashed a spell, aimed at the unicorn who just barely redirected the blast into the wall with his own magic.
Back on the ground, the hybrid immediately turned around to dodge another charge-attack that would have knocked him out for sure. He swung his right leg, to extract his weapon of choice, a black metal staff extending from the tip of his armored right hoof.
When handling the pegasus a few minutes earlier, the zebra had an aura of calm around him, like he was only doing his job. Now he was angry. This time, he didn’t take his eyes off Greybled as he gained speed to tackle him. It didn’t do him any good, as a green ball of energy hit him in the face, slightly disorienting him.
Greybled was shocked that the zebra continued running after taking his blast literally head on. However, the blast gave him the opportunity to jump out of the equine’s way and pushing him in the side with his whole weight. Like the unicorn did to the spell, the hybrid redirected the zebra into the nearby wall. He hit the bricks head first and fell to the ground unconscious.
The unicorn watched the scene unfold, not believing his eyes. A teenage unicorn just defeated the fiercest fighter equestria has ever seen. Now the same teenage colt was staring him down with a death glare. “You’re dead, you hear?!” The henchmen shouted before bolting away in full speed.
The half-changeling had no intention of following him, he just grabbed the bag and all the loose coins on the street and left.
After bringing some distance between him and the back alley, he entered a park and found a remote picnic table and started counting his hard earned bits. As he was halfway through the bag, at 148 bits, he heard a noise. The hybrid looked around but couldn’t find the source.
A white Pegasus in armour collided with him, knocking him on the ground. A second later, another pony jumped him. Greybled tried to push them away with a spell, but he couldn’t activate his magic for some reason.
“You’re under arrest.” The second pony said sternly.
Chapter three
Strikebolt was rudely awakened by three large, heavy armored changelings. “The queen summons you.” The one in the middle announced neutrally. They all wore the dark purple armor of the queen’s guard, so Strikebolt followed without question.
As he was led through the corridors, the recently slumbering changeling began to think about the possible horrors which awaited him. After hearing about his failure in holding her son back, the queen took her time to decide a punishment. If she declared him a traitor, Strikebolt could even face execution.
The grand doors to the throne room were opened by green magic and the four changelings strode in. When they reached the middle of the room, the three guards bowed and turned around. They left Strikebolt alone with the queen to face his severe punishment. He bowed as deep as he could and held the pose.
Queen Chrysalis stood up from her throne, and walked around the bowing changeling.
“You may rise.” She said casually, while trotting to one of the walls. This wall was full of melee weapons, hanging there like pictures. There was everything, from Saddle Arabian broadswords to griffonese metal Claws. The queen carefully took a changeling mace in her right hoof, swinging it a little to test the weight.
She turned around and was very pleased with the reaction of her disgraced subject. Strikebolt stood there, trying to stand still. Only his widened eyes and slightly shaking tale showed the queen, that he was terrified.
“What are you doing here?” The queen asked calmly. “Speak up now!” She demanded after a few seconds of silence.
“Y-you summoned me, my queen.”
Chrysalis rolled her eyes, “I know that, but do you know why?”
“To punish me for my transgression, my queen.” Strikebolt replied.
“You are right indeed, but what am I going to do with you? I think it would be well within my rights to clubber you right here, wouldn’t you agree?” She was now behind him.
“Yes, your highness.” His voice cracked. As much as his body tried to refuse giving her this answer, he knew that he had no other choice. You don’t object your queen, especially when your life is on the line.
Chrysalis smiled viciously and lay the club gently on Strikebolt’s neck and began to slowly drag it across his back. When the weapon touched one of his wings, it involuntarily extended. She began to talk once again, “That was actually my first idea and maybe the next screw-up will experience it, but I have something better planned for you.”
Strikebolt released a breath he was holding as Chrysalis removed her mace from his body, “I will do everything to make it up to you, my queen.”
“I could find someling more qualified for the task I have for you, but there is one quality I see in you, that most other changelings lack.”
At this, Strikebolt looked up at her with a confused expression on his face.
"Tell me, do you know how long I planned the Canterlot invasion?”
“I don’t know, my queen?”
“Take a guess”
He thought for a little while, then responded, “One year, maybe?”
Queen Chrysalis chuckled, “Not even close, my little changeling. It took me less than a week. I was there to drain Shining Armor of his extraordinary strong love. The order to invade was pretty much spontaneous, after I decided I wanted to keep him.”
She continued her speech, “You saw a chance to profile yourself from the rest of the hive and took it, just like I did back then. Every other changeling would have called for backup, as the rules command, but not you. You wanted all the glory for yourself. You are an opportunist.”
Strikebolt gulped, that was it, he was sure of it, there was a rope on the gallows with his name on it.
The female changeling added, “But I am opportunistic too, I sit on this throne, because the last queen gave me a chance to overthrow her and I did.”
He couldn’t bear the suspension anymore and dared to address his queen, “I am pleased that you like my qualities, but you said something about a mission?”
“I was just coming to that, guard.” The queen replied, mildly angry, “Greybled was seen by an informant, entering a pony village called ‘Dodge Junction’, you will go there and meet up with our Infiltrator, he’ll fill you in on the details of your mission. If you do your job well, we will soon be in need of leading officers, and you could be one of them.”
The devilish smirk, Chrysalis had put on soon infected Strikebolt as he saluted and replied, “I will not fail you, your highness.”
“You better not; The royal chariot is waiting for you at the grand drawbridge, you should be able to reach the pony town in less than a day. Use the intelligence network as you see fit, they will obey your commands. You may go now, report back every 3 days via network hub.”
The addressed changeling rose and made his way for the door. He couldn’t believe what had just happened, he thought he was going to be killed, but instead, he now had control over the biggest spy network in the world. Whatever the mission was, Strikebolt was confident he would prevail.
***
Artemis set foot on the C.S. Temeraire together with captain Barding. The deck was smaller than he imagined. A few meters overhead loomed the balloon like a smooth raincloud, somepony tied to the floor.
One after another, the crew stopped whatever they were doing to eye the newcomer. As far as Artemis could tell, there were around a dozen of them. They consisted of crystal ponies of the various tribes, but with an earth pony majority.
After a few seconds of silence, a white unicorn mare with a red mane approached the captain. “The cargo will be loaded and secured in ten minutes, sir.” The mare declared with a piercing voice. Artemis flinched a little at the shrill sound.
The captain immediately replied, “Have you taken into account that my men are just staring at us, instead of working, chief?”
Her face fell a little, as she spun around, “Get back to work everypony! You can gawk at the new guy when we are airborne!”
“Yes ma’am,” some of the ponies replied as they all stated to work again. Artemis got the feeling that the white mare wasn’t liked by the crew, for half of them rolled their eyes before continuing their chores.
Satisfied with her handling of the crew, she faced Barding again, who began to introduce the boy beside him, ”Gusty Swan, meet Artemis, our new cabin boy.”
The only female on board glanced at him without actually moving her head and spat out a short “Charmed.”
“Gusty is our chief of staff, that means she is the third in command and deals with the bureaucratic bullshit.” Captain Barding explained.
“Not here, Captain. He said he had something to manage on Mareroad.” A clearly uncomfortable Gusty Swan replied.
Mareroad was the infamous leisure mile in town, comparable to the Trot in Las Pegasus or the Big Columbian Casino in Doge Junction.
The Captain looked ready to burst, but remained silent. He took a deep breath and declared sternly, “When the ship is loaded, we lift off, with or without him.” Chief Swan saluted and went back to coordinating the cargo placement.
Than Barding looked back at Artemis “Your first order of business is lookout. Get on top of the balloon and shout if something above us is on collision course. Got it?”
Artemis was thrilled about his assignment and he let it show. With a broad grin he saluted and answered, a little too loud, “Yes sir!”
He spread his wings and pushed himself from the ground to start his mission. The moment he began flying, all eyes were on him again. Some of them formed to slits from angry glares.
The colt landed again and asked in the round, “Is something wrong?”
Behind him, the captain facehoofed. “Do you know nothing about seafaring? NO FLYING ON BOARD!”
“Then how am I supposed to get on top of the balloon?...Sir?” Artemis was glad he remembered the ‘Sir’ because he felt like he was already being insubordinate.
Another facehoof. “What do you think?”
“The ladder?” The prince guessed.
Barding didn’t even reply anymore, only one crew member slowly nodded his head. That was all the sign Artemis needed.
As a Pegasus, he actually never climbed a ladder, since he was a little filly and this kind of soft rope ladder was something else entirely.
In front of the whole crew, including the Captain and the chief of staff, Artemis tangled his limbs in ropes while slowly making his way to the top of the balloon. There was a small platform, only big enough for one or two ponies and a railing.
On his post, he could hear a muffled order to continue work given by Gusty Swan.
A little out of breath, the boy sat down and hoped, he would still be accepted by the crew, after making an ass of himself. He actually knew that there was no flying on ships, he just forgot in the moment and now everypony thought he was a greenhorn.
The lift off went smoothly, but was exhausting for the colt who tried to scan the whole sky rigorously until they were out of the harbor and on the way to their first destination.
The only sound that reached him was when captain Barding yelled at somepony. From what he could hear, it seemed that the first mate, Almond, made it to the ship, but only by flying after them. Now the stallion got a loud lecture about responsibility. He was even threatened demotion.
Artemis didn’t know how long he would have to stay up there, but he didn’t care. He guessed that, sooner or later somepony would climb up and release him from his post. Until then, he enjoyed the feeling of the wind in his mane.
***
Greybled was sitting on the lower part of a bunk bed, inside some police station. The room was actually not so bad, it was clean and warm, something that was not self-evident, back in the hive. On top of his head he could feel the cold touch of metal, as a magic incapacitor was slipped over his horn. An incapacitor was just a chain mail sock, in which your magic would just fizzle out.
He found it odd, that he was already held in this cell for three days. There were only four cells in the building, and in the other three, the prisoners were always released, transferred, or new ones added. It was as if the other cells were temporary, whereas his door wasn’t opened once.
There was food delivered in uneven intervals through a hole at the bottom of the metal door by a white hoof, which most likely belonged to one of the ponies who arrested him.
On his first day, after he was shoved in the cell, the guards tried to remove his leg armor, but failed. He convinced them, that it was a prostatic which could only be removed by his doctor. He saw no way to escape, as his magic was still suppressed and all his legs were cuffed together.
Another strange thing was, that he was not questioned at all. At first, Greybled was glad that he was not asked questions, he could not give an answer to, but now he felt like there was something off about this whole situation.
The door made metallic sounds, as a key was inserted and turned. Two guards came in, Greybled supposed they were the ones who captured him, but he couldn’t be sure as all the guards in Equestria used an enchanted armor to look the same. Only color patterns on their helmets and shoulders allowed it to identify their ranks.
“Stand up, you will come with us.” The unicorn guard ordered.
His pegasus colleague stepped around the prisoner and shoved him from the bed with his wing before he had the chance to stand up on his own.
Greybled growled, “This is a big misunderstanding, I found the bits in the park and was just about to search for the owner.” This was the excuse he made up during his stay in the prison. Maybe they would believe it and would let him go.
“You don’t have to explain anything to us, you will answer to the stallion you stole from.” There went his hope to just being released. They made him ready to depart, by adding a chain from each of his fore legs to their respective legs. The pegasus was currently locking a chain with the keys in his mouth.
“Are you even guards?” Both ponies glared at the halfling.
The unicorn, who was tied to Greybled’s right, raised his front hoof to deliver a punch. The gray colt avoided it by ducking and simultaneously tugged on the unicorn’s chain. The attacker lost his balance and tumbled over the prisoner and was bucked to the face.
He decided he would have to knock them out completely to escape, but just as he was going to buck the unicorn a second time, a pink blast hit him from behind and everything went dark.
***
SLAP
Greybled’s eyes shot open immediately, before hitting the ground. A figure beside him took the chair he was tied to and raised it back up.
SLAP
This time, his chair didn’t fall over, even though the punch was harder than the last one. Greybled shook his head, to stop it from spinning and took a look around.
Directly in front of him stood the zebra, he had knocked out a few days ago. The one who spoke was the green unicorn from the alley. From his peripheral vision, he saw two ponies behind him, most likely the two guard ponies. The room was definitely an office of some sort. In the middle of the room stood an oaken desk which was decorated by some miniature buildings made from gold plated metal.
There was one pony in the room, Greybled didn’t know. A dark brown earth pony stallion who was currently watching through a windowpane, his back turned to the other ponies in the room. From the window, the earth pony had a view over an enormous room below, full of ponies, tables and blinking lights. The bound changeling had never seen anything like it, not even Chrysalis’ throne room was that grand. Most of the ponies down there looked like they were having a good time, pushing buttons on machines or drinking colorful drinks.
The green unicorn broke the moment of silence, “I think he’s awake, boss.”
The earth pony took seat at his table and made eye contact with his prisoner.
“My name is Lucky Flutter, and you are the colt who wanted to steal my hard earned bits?” He concluded.
Greybled remained silent.
The earth pony continued, “Then you beat up two of my best employees.”
Armor rattled, as the two guards swelled with pride.
Lucky Flutter’s hoof went to his face as he deadpanned, “Not you two morons, them!” He pointed towards zebra and unicorn.
It rattled again, as the guards deflated.
The bound half-changeling felt the need to defend himself, “Mr. Flutter, you have your money back and your goons look just fine. You kept me locked up for three days, so why not let me go?”
“Boy, I didn’t get where I am today because I let the ponies go who tried to screw me over.” He smirked, “I just wanted to see the one who beat Zerico and Poison Mist, before we set an example. The next days are going to be very unpleasant for you, little unicorn.”
A muffled noise came from the entry room in front of the office.
“That will be Chelsea Smile, my specialist.” Lucky smiled menacing.
The smile vanished when an older guard stepped in, followed by a young mare who looked at Lucky Flutter and began to explain hysterically, “I tried to stop him, Mr. Flutter, sir, but he just went on and-”
“Thank you Marcy, leave us.” The boss told his secretary, who was close to tears. She left the room and closed the door.
The new guard in the room was the most decorated guard, Greybled has ever seen. Ribbons with emblems covered his chest and shoulders. His stare went over everyone in the room, as it reached the two guards, they saluted and one of them greeted, “Captain, what a surprise.”
Lucky Flutter spoke up, “What do you think you are doing? Have you run out of money or something? Bought to much golden bling bling for your troop of clowns?.”
“Watch your tone, Flutter, I am not your puppet!” The stern unicorn stallion replied. “And you are in a lot trouble if you don’t release the colt this instant, do you know who that is?”
“Humor me, Lion. Who is this nobody?” The earth pony replied through grited teeth.
Greybled gulped, how could they know who he is? Did Chrysalis inform the ponies? He thought about the consequences, maybe imprisonment to be used as a bargain chip. The ponies would be very disappointed with the amount anyone would be willing to pay for him. At least it seemed he would not get the opportunity to meet this ‘Chelsea Smile’.
“He is the prince of Saddle Arabia!”
Everyone in the room was silent.
“You two, untie him!” He ordered while everypony was still baffled. The two guards looked towards Lucky who didn’t move. “Do you know who I am?! Untie him!”
Now Greybled understood what was going on, ‘Do you know who I am’ was an old changeling trick to get a little information about the pony you are impersonating at the moment.
Unfortunately for the infiltrator, the guards didn’t reply. The unicorn looked at the pegasus, who nodded. Then they went and untied Greybled and removed the horn incapacitor.
Lucky pushed himself up to a standing position, his goons following suit. The tension in the room was unbearable. The earth pony analyzed the situation. There were him and his two goons on one side, the guard captain and the ‘prince’ on the other. Also two guards whose loyalties were unclear. His odds were not good enough to just attack them, so he sat back down. “Watch your back.”
Greybled and his saviour left the casino with the two guards. Once again, inside a small backstreet, the captain dismissed the guards and turned to Greybled.
“In the name of the royal guard, we are very sorry for what happened here.” He said politely.
“Why are you continuing this act? I know I’m not an Arabian prince. Who are you? What do you want?” Greybled asked.
The changeling sighed. “Couldn’t you just play along, freak?”
The half unicorn jumped a step back and readied for battle. “I won’t go back, Strikebolt. I’ve beaten you before, so just tell her to leave me be!”
“It is Commander Strikebolt now.” He smirked prideful, “and as much as I would like to beat you to a pulp, I have another mission. So, farewell.”
His horn flared up. He vanished with flash, leaving behind a confused halfling.
Chapter Four
Everyone on board the C.S. Temeraire was on his post, for the landing in Doge Junction was tricky. The Crystal crown owned only three of the nearly 30 piers of the DJ-Harbor. In comparison, the city of Canterlot owed 10 and even the relatively small Cloudsdale had 6.
Artemis stood on the railing with a thick hemp rope in his muzzle. When he looked around, he saw 5 other pegasi, also awaiting their cue. He found it ironic, that old traditions forbade him to fly while on deck, but it was no problem when they needed someone to tie the ship up.
Captain Barding stood behind the wheel, focused like never before. He shouted “Ropers, wait for my signal, if you jump too soon, the weight of the rope will pull you down between the hull and the pier, and I’m not hungry for pegasus pudding today!”
Even though the captain addressed all the pegasi, Artemis knew the warning was meant for him and not the others who knew the drill. The mole came closer and closer and the colt became concerned. In his opinion, he would have flown off minutes ago. An excruciatingly long wait later, he finally heard the signal. He jumped as far as he could and spread his wings. The captain was right after all, for every meter Artemis glided, the rope became heavier.
With one final flap, he made it to the pier, where a crystal pony helped him tie the ship to a massive metal ring with a perfect coltstek knot. Now that he completed his task, he looked if someone else needed his help, but it seemed everyone made it without being squished.
A catwalk was brought and the crew started leaving the deck. The captain observed without leaving the ship himself. He turned down to Artemis, “Well done rookie, but the work has just begun, the empire doesn’t have the necessary capacities at this port, so we have to hurry, the next frigate is already waiting. Go to the gate, next to the red building over there and hire some laborers for the next hour. We need about ten.”
Artemis nodded “Yes sir!”
“And don’t forget to haggle, or they won’t respect you!” Barding yelled after him as he was about to leave.
***
After his less than pleasant confrontation with Lucky Flutter and Strikebolt, Greybled was walking in the general direction of the air harbor. He had asked around and everypony seemed to agree, that an airship was the fastest way north.
He decided, to once again steal his food for the day, so he stopped in sight of an orange stand, half hidden behind a brick wall and waited for the right opportunity. The salespony ducked under the counter to get something, so Greybled started to concentrate on a few oranges.
Suddenly, a flash zipped past his vision and hit the wall, he had to shield his eyes from flying debris, then turned to where the shot came from.
“Not again”, he sighed as he locked eyes with the green unicorn. This time, the zebra wasn’t with him, but a scary looking white earth pony with pink scars all over his face. The unicorn opened his mouth to say something, but Greybled didn’t waste any time and sprinted off. Goon A and B followed closely. He used his magic, to knock over the fruit stand, he was just stealing from, so he could get a little distance between him and his pursuers.
***
Artemis arrived at the metal gate, it reminded him of the entrance to his private school. He waved to a guard pony in a small office, who immediately opened the door with a button. On the other side stood 11 stallions who watched him expectantly.
He smiled in the round before asking confidently “Who would be willing to help out for an hour or so?” The men kept on staring.
After an awkward pause, one of them cracked a smile and replied “We are waiting for an offer colt.”
“Ahhh” Artemis hummed in understanding. Unfortunately, he had no idea what those people earned for an hours work, so he asked “Well, what would be your usual salary, fine sirs?”
The group looked at each other, before the same guy as before claimed “One hundred per head.”
Artemis thought a little about the offer, but he had to make a good deal for his captain, so he made his counter offer “I won’t go higher than 80.”
All heads snapped to him and he heard most of them shout something like “Deal!” and “Aye!” Only 2 seemed to not like the offer and trotted away, shaking their head laughing.
Proud of his achievement, Artemis told his men to follow him through the gate. The guard began to close the metal door, but seconds before it was shut, a dark grey unicorn slipped through. He was out of breath and looked back, if the gate was really closed.
The crystal unicorn guard came out of the booth and asked angrily “And what do you think you’re doing!?”
Greybled looked him in the eyes, no idea what he could say to appease this uniformed stallion. Lucky for him, Artemis chimed in “its okay, we were in need of another worker anyways, if that is what you are here for?”
The half changeling nodded and smiled relieved “That is exactly what I’m here for.” He was not out of breath anymore, so he stood up and followed the group. Loud bangs on the door rang above the yard, but the group didn’t care.
Poison Mist banged on the door, till the guard pony opened a few inches. “Yes?” The annoyed guard questioned.
“Open up, we need a word with the grey colt who just slipped in.” He demanded, as the scarred pony watched.
With his most bored expression, the gate sentry explained “He was just hired to do a job, he will be out in one or two hours.” He began closing the door again as a green hoof held it open.
“We are working for Lucky Flutter, so you better let us in or you will be in trouble.” He threatened, as he pushed on the door. The pony with the scars still didn’t interfere.
While pushing back, the guard’s horn fizzled and a siren started howling. From the red building came a swarm of ponies, wearing the same uniform.
One of the newcomers came to the gate and asked the one who triggered the alarm, “What is going on, private Lockheed?”
Lockheed let go of the gate and turned to his superior officer “These ponies are trying to force entrance to the premises, sir.”
Poison Mist smirked, “On behalf of Lucky Flutter, tell your man to let us in, or face the consequences. We are searching for a dangerous criminal.” With that said, he took a step forward and onto the compound.
“You are trespassing on Crystal Kingdom property.” The officer told him to his face. “If there is a criminal here, I suggest you call the city guard. You have five seconds to leave, before my men will make you.” He turned and walked back to the building he came from.
The intruder played with the idea of fighting the dozen or so guards, and with Chelsea Smile on his side, he could win this. When five seconds passed however, he took a step back and left with the white pony.
When they were out of earshot, the unicorn spoke up “They are right, we should call the cops.”
***
Greybled passed the 9 workers and trotted beside the light blue pegasus, who had unknowingly saved him. “What exactly is this work, you have for us?”
“Just unload and load a Cristal Frigate, the C.S. Temeraire.” Artemis replied in a proud tone.
The half changeling nodded and walked on, but then it hit him. “Crystal?! Like in Crystal Empire?” He said in an excited voice.
“Didn’t you see the flags at the entrance? This mole, and the two neighboring are owed by my Empire.” He grinned smugly and patted himself on his back mentally for his clever choice of words… ‘my Empire’.
Greybled rolled his eyes at the cocky answer. This was his first class ticket to the north, served on a silver platter. He just had to get on this ship somehow. Unfortunately, he could not change like the full-blood changelings. Than he could just throw the annoying pegasus off the platform and take his place. To copy this attitude couldn’t be that hard.
They arrived at the Temeraire, and the crew members began ordering the newcomers around. Without minding them, Greybled walked past them and onto the catwalk. He walked straight up to the pony who wore the captain’s hat.
Captain Barding lowered the newspaper he was reading and glared at the colt. “The hell are you?”
It took all of Greybled’s willpower, not to flinch at the old seaman’s gruff voice. He saluted with his metal covered leg and replied, “My name is Greybled, sir. I want to work for you in exchange for a ride to the Crystal Empire, sir.”
“We are no cruise ship, and you are no sailor. Get off my ship.” The captain got back to his paper.
Every minute, Lucky Flutter’s men could track him down, so he had to sell himself. “Sir, I would be a valuable asset to your crew. I am a gr- “
Barding threw the paper on the table with force, interrupting the sales pitch. “Look boy, I’m having a lousy mood right now and no interest to deal with you! I just read in the bucking news that an old comrade of mine was stabbed less than 5 hours ago in this very city by some mob assholes! Also, we won’t sail home for another 3 weeks. So get lost!”
Greybled could feel the anger in the old man. If he could exploit it, he had his ticket. He hardened his gaze and shouted, “People like that are the exact reason, I want to leave this Tartarus of a city! This gangster, Lucky Flutter, wants to see me dead! He controls the police and has men everywhere! You have to take me with you, or I’ll end up just like your friend!”
They gazed at each other without blinking.
“Captain, the men are done loading.” Someone yelled from the pier in a cheery voice.
Reluctantly, the captain averted his gaze and ordered, “Gusty Swan! Pay the freelancers, pegasi, to the ropes, the rest, on your posts!” He turned to Greybled and spoke much quieter “Ok, you can stay, but if you can’t carry your weight, I will throw you overboard myself.”
Suddenly, a shrill female voice cut through the air, “HE PROMISED YOU WHAT?!”
Barding rushed to the railing. Down on the pier stood Artemis, the laborers and his chief of staff, Gutsy Swan. She turned around slowly to look at the captain “The new cabin boy offered them 80 bits.”
“That sounds about right, why so shocked?” Captain Barding replied.
“Per head!” Gusty added.
Artemis suddenly felt very small, he screwed up.
The worker who had led the negotiations just smiled, knowing that a deal under mariners would not be broken for a couple of bits.
“Pay them, we are leaving.” The old pony on deck grunted.
Gusty Swan contradicted, “But sir, the budget…”
“A deal was made in my name, and it will be honored.”
After everyone was paid, the gateway was dropped and the ship departed. Artemis was just stowing the rope, he had to handle during takeoff, when the captain approached him. “Why in Equestria did you offer the loading crew that kind of money?”
The pegasus looked at the floor in shame, “I’m sorry, sir. In hindsight I know I gave them too much, but for example my hairdresser in the Empire takes 90 bits per cut and that is way less work than loading a frigate.”
A small smile crept on Barding’s face. “Well, at least it seems you learned a lesson, but there is still a hole in our budget. You can choose, either you or your father have to pay for the mistake.”
Artemis looked around on the ground, as if searching for the answer on the planks. Then he looked up in determination, “Take it from my salary, sir.”
There was a shout from the back of the ship. “Sir! A pegasus is approaching from the rear, seems to be a city guard.”
Greybled rushed to the rear railing and cursed. It was one of the guard ponies who imprisoned him. The Captain joined him and watched for himself.
“Is this one of Lucky Flutter’s men?” The older pony asked.
The half unicorn just nodded in confirmation.
An armored pegasus landed on the deck with a loud thump. He looked around before pointing a hoof at Greybled. “You there, you are under arrest in the name of the law!”
The crew stopped whatever they were doing and observed the situation.
“Help me restrain this citizen and bring us back to Doge Junction at once.” The guard demanded from no one in particular.
Captain Barding stepped in front of his newest passenger and replied, “After all I was hearing, I highly doubt that you work for the law. Tell me, who gave the order to arrest this boy?”
The guard held his head high “I only answer to the chief of police, maybe you heard of him, Captain Lionheart.” The crew began whispering, which the pegasus took as a good sign.
Once again, the Captain of the Temeraire grew angry. “Cabin boy, bring him the paper from my desk!”
Without hesitation Artemis got the newspaper and dropped it in front of the city guard.
It was the first time, Greybled got a look at this seemingly important piece of paper. On the first page was a big picture of the stallion who got him out of Lucky Flutter’s office who turned out to be Strikebolt.
The pegasus mumbled, “This can’t be.”
“You better believe it! He was stabbed and thrown into a dumpster, and guess what, the pony you are really working for is the prime subject!” Barding all but shouted.
No one saw coming what happened next, the captain rushed to the distracted guard, grabbed him at his collar, and with one powerful motion, threw him over the rail into the open sky.
After a few seconds of stunned silence, every member of the crew, except for Artemis, Greybled and Gusty Swan erupted in wild cheers. The other three were just baffled.
Everyone knew, that the pegasus would be fine, but the message was clear, DON’T MESS WITH THE CAPTAIN.
