Chapters ---2 weeks prior---
Changelings had a truly remarkable ecology. They were on average faster both physically and mentally, stronger, and more charismatic than an average pony. And unlike the lesser species, they needed only a sip of water every few days to survive; along with a small heap of emotional nutrition, of course. Lessers instead needed to kill to gain sustenance. Some more noble lessers could consume one large animal, perhaps a pony or a zebra, and feed off it for weeks. Others, like the ponies themselves, killed constantly, tearing life from the ground, or ripping it from trees, and masticated it while it was still living. Carrots didn't talk much, but they grew; they must be alive. A horrifying species, ponies, even if they did so to far lower-order organisms than even themselves. And in their wake, they left strong and powerful emotions.
Emotions were real, tangible physical forces of the world. They could effect magic, were given off by all living things, and were edible to plenty of upper-level organisms, from even far distances. Even as far away as the hive, the changelings could feel the emotions writhing through them a year ago from that land known as Equestria. Hate was not a good emotion. The windigos, respected even by the Queen, seemed to enjoy the taste, and gained a way to consume it even when it wasn't directed at them, but to the changelings it was like eating diet stale bread. But so much of it appeared, hating all life and even existence in general, that they ate it anyways, or else would have drowned in it. It took only two days... Well, "nights" would be more appropriate, for the suffocating emotive feed to be washed away with the tart filling sweetness of friendship, even if only for the briefest moment.
---Present day---
'I would even be willing to kill for a taste of pity at this point, even if it is comparable to saltwater.' A lone changeling thought as it trekked through an empty dirt road in an empty forest. There weren't even any animals to feed from their primitive fight-or-flight instincts. What sort of forest had no animals? Were they quarantined somewhere far away, or was it merely bad luck that none passed his sharp gaze? It had been days since his last meal, and though a river ran nearby, the lack of food was making him dizzy and weak. His wings had long decided to stop flapping, the hummingbird-speed appendages needing far too much energy to consider anything but walking. His chitinous body clacked with each step, every misstep, every missed pothole causing the plates to click together painfully, errors he never would have made were he hale and fed. He would have taken the form of a pony, their solid, non-segmented legs and softer hooves would make the trek easier, but he had only ever seen pictures of them, and in only maybe one textbook, and his memory was failing him of even their general image at this point.
It was really turning out to be a terrible idea. Why did he ever think to do it?
---2 weeks prior---
That wave of hate and friendship a year back was what inspired the Queen to look into a new land. One ripe with strong emotions, of all kinds. Scouts were sent out, examining, probing, testing, tasting. It was a rich, fertile land, full of active and thinking life. The drones impersonated loved ones of the ponies, consuming the care and compassion, and keeping the feeling of love in their hearts and minds. When at risk of discovery, they would come back to the queen, and empathically transfer the feeling of love to her that they had experienced. Love was absolutely, intoxicatingly, mind-numbingly, deliciously, awe-inspiringly amazing. The changelings still had taste buds, to better emulate lesser species during impersonation, an evolutionary throwback, but nothing had a taste as good as love. And it was for the Queen alone. So much of it, too. She grew powerful from it, far more powerful than before, and though they ate not as well as the most plentiful in their history, the hive still had seemingly perpetually reliable and steady food, unlike ever before. They began to thrive.
But with less miserable population came more varied viewpoints. Certainly they shared an empathic link with the hive, but each had their own personality as well. Historically, non-team-players died. Their lot in life was as an example to others. But now, even they could gain some nutrition with minimal effort from this overtrusting but aggressive nation of Equestria. Some of the more negative ones began to murmur as the Queen laid out her plans to overthrow a duo of beings that controlled the skies themselves. More and more deviant behavior began to exhibit itself. One very off clutchmate, "Mirror" if he remembered correctly, took to watching the transformation chrysalises, over serving the hive. Deviant and disturbing behavior, she even would talk to them during that very private and personal journey. Others, like a wingless defect gained the attention of the Queen and though even their magic was subpar, got special attention. High warriors Flim and Flam just up and left the hive, never to return. One of the oldest-planted drones in the area noted they came by her village she was feeding from, but the Queen did nothing about it, so consumed she was about getting a perfect plan for her "perfect day". The plan would bring pain and subjugation to the ponies, ruining the food sources. But he couldn't speak against it, the groupthink and peer-pressure were powerful, and he was a courtier class, one of many mates of the Queen, his solidarity kept the hive moving.
But what was the future here? Keep smiling, keep mating, keep feeding, and watch the hive crumble around him, and maybe take him with it...
Or go? The Queen was obsessed. She had not punished the lesser drones for parting. But he couldn't go, he was a true changeling. He was full. Strong. Complete. He wasn't defective. Not like all those others. Several thoughts brushed against his mind, so deeply immersed in his own mind that he had not given out any empathic signal for some time that he was still present. Concern, confusion, curiosity, and... Fear? Fear. The courtier sent back a feeling of cold aloofness, the only emotion he could muster enough of to mask his true thoughts. His stomach turned, and not just because fear wasn't a particularly nice-smelling emotion. The old hive wouldn't have even thought once to check on him. Everyone just did their part. Everyone KNEW they would just do their part. Now? He hadn't laid with his Queen in months, the drones shared some emotion with the courtiers before handing it to her as she cloistered herself to keep them from starving, despite the food some went hungry as She did not share Her portion, and each week one or two more drones simply never came back, though no one noticed because there were always more drones. Well, someone did notice. The end was coming. Maybe not today, maybe not this month, but soon. Something snapped in his mind. He intercepted the neared emotion-laden drone coming into the hive.
"Mimic, Her Majesty Chrysalis is deep in planning. She will need more sustenance than you offer. Relinquish it to me, and head back to gain more, I shall deliver this." The drone nodded and infused the courtier with love and hope, the receiver nearly doubling over at the filling sensation within him. The drone Mimic quickly left to gain more. And unseen behind him, a minute later after finding his hooves, fresh love powering well-practiced magics, a larger invisibility-coated changeling followed.
---Present Day---
The mere memory of that hit of love made him quiver, then made his stomach growl in protest. To make it worse, he seemed to be walking at a pretty steep incline recently, the extra effort to climb upwards tiring him even faster. Things weren't looking good, then he walked straight into a wall with a thud.
"Owwww..." He complained, but sudden hope flared from within him, its fire burning away even hunger to allow him clear thought. A wall meant life. Unless these were ruins. But it was at practically the top of a mountain, looking back the way he came. Somepony would be living there, they must. Mustering the last bits of his energy, he flapped his bug-like wings, bringing them to a solid hum, and not so much flew rather than vaulted over the wall, landing hard with a resounding and crackling crunch against a grassy floor coated in loose branches.
At the same time, an unknown deep voice yelled something at his direction. Normally, even the most sedentary changeling would tune into that as a very dangerous threat, but with the yell came anger, and suspicion. Raw potatoes, and ghost peppers, to use a similar taste. Completely unpalatable, painful even to consume (for suspicion usually meant to retreat as quickly as possible), but most importantly, at least in theory edible. And starved as he was, instead of running or hiding, he fed.
It lasted only a second. A second of life-gaining painful torture, searing right through his chitin to hit the core of his soft insides, before the owner of the voice came into view. Armor. That was rarely ever a good sign. Clearly this was not the best spot to stop for a snack. The clarity of this sentiment became all the more acute when four more armored ponies came into view. His sight was strong, being of the superior race, but even they would see him clearly within the next few seconds.
His mind spasmed. Hundreds of possibilities fell through it, half his own, half from the hive sensing strong turmoil. They ranged from useless to impossible, and he could not even take the form of a pony. He hadn't a good image of one in his mind before this very instant, they were unknowns to him, conceptual things learned from the drones. And he couldn't take the guards' own form, not with a combat troupe right in front of him. Empathic hints from the hive wouldn't help, and he knew instinctively that hostility would be the immediate outcome of their meeting. One voice, not his own, rang into his head, clear like a glass bell. The Queen. The only one to give words and abstract thought along their kin connection. His worry reached even her in the cascade of replies. Her thought was simple, wasting no time, as was proper for the Queen. An image, of an unarmored pony. He clutched it without a second thought and shifted faster than ever he had before.
Five guardponies advanced on the intruder. He was half-sitting, a light purple coated stallion of a somewhat slight frame. Two of the guards were pegasi, three unicorns. Their suspicion slammed into him like a tidal wave of capsaicin. 'But I followed the image my Queen gave perfectly!' The guards didn't seem to agree with his frantic thought, each one examining him from rust-red tail, to lilac body, to horn on the tip of his head. He couldn't see much from his position, but looking up, the horn looked quite like the ones in front of him. While the changeling tried to figure it out, one white unicorn lowered his horn towards the intruder, and two more horns and two spears joined it. This seeming lead unicorn, with electric blue hair, bore in closer and spoke in a deep but deceptively casual tone. The changeling noted a coat of arms as this leader's "cutie mark", something ponies gained to show their station, a workaround for their lack of empathic bonding if he remembered the texts right. Clearly a guardpony, then, of some sort, and speaking to him.
"It would be great if you could tell us your name, your purpose here in the Royal Canterlot Gardens all alone, and what in the hay you're supposed to be."
The disguised changeling flinched, and fluttered his wings instinctively. 'Wait...' Were it not for the tense situation, he would have facehoofed right there. He may not remember much from the books, but basics were basics. 'Unicorns don't have wings.' His interrogator continued, not a party to his personal life-changing realization.
"You seem a bit short to be an alicorn. Trust me, I'd know." This for some reason merited chuckles from one of the other guards, "I'm friendly right now but I'm late for a playdate with my marefriend, so explain here now or explain in the dungeons tomorrow."
The transformed changeling took measure of the spears and horns pointing at him, the well-kept garden that should have been obviously regal in hindsight, and at the almost hostile mocking cackle coming from his Queen at the back of his mind. Perhaps it was a suitable revenge for his leaving, karmic justice to repay an embarrassment with an embarrassment, but those thoughts were relegated to the "to be reviewed as hindsight" category. There was a much more important fact at hand: 'I can't believe I fell for it.' He sighed deeply and cursed quietly to himself at making light of so many others making critical mistakes. 'Oh Chrys, I'm defective too!'
The head unicorn did not seem like his threat was an idle one, though the mix of feelings in his words had left the changeling with an odd cloying taste on his tongue. Really, it wasn't a threat much at all anyways; dungeons were like the hive, small rooms in cool stone cave systems. The only major and present danger was an extended interrogation. If this colt was really late, answering poor answers now off the top of his head could be much simpler than answering good practiced answers later, when there was time to examine the veracity of the statements. 'I'm in a mess already, what's the worst that can happen?' The changeling-pony cleared his throat with a bit of a dry cough. He spoke nervously, but tried his best to toss some feeling of guilt in it as well. He was surprised to find his voice quite low, a pretty deep baritone, if not quite bass. Must have been an effect of the change on the vocal chords.
"Sorry! Sorry! Oh, I screwed up royally." The changeling opens his gambit. Every sense was wide open, tasting the emotions that came from his five-pony audience. In this regard, more ponies were better, it helped him tune his show. Unfortunately, he had the very distracting feeling there was another audience member, looking and listening from inside his head. "I fell and... Oh, I guess you want my name first, where did my manners go?"
They were all paying attention. Suspicion was high, he couldn't afford to pick a name that had even the slightest chance of him misinterpreting it for somepony else's. Responsiveness would be key, and besides, once he was clear, he had five new models to take the form of, and pick a better name. "I'm Forgery..." 'Idiot!' "Sorry, I'm speaking a bit too fast, I'm still nervous. That's Forge Aerie, that's me. From out west." Forgery noticed one unicorn began to calm, giving off no real emotional flavours, and she had begun scribing, taking his statement with proper disinterested professionalism. That's one for five. 'If they're clinical, they're not critical. Griffin emulation 101. Hope its similar with ponies...' His brief pause had the remaining soldiers look towards that blue-maned unicorn again. His own gaze fell elsewhere, eyes tracing the outline of the overdecorated castle just in sight at the far end of the garden; together, these facts and places, with how emotional he knew ponies could get, at least from the drones' stories, inspiration struck, and he took a shot in the dark.
"I really admired the royal guard ever since I was a foal, you guys protect the princess... es." He caught his habitual use of singular for royalty fairly quickly. "Both of them. and I always looked up to the guards, especially the captain. Leader of the great defenders, a paragon of honesty and loyalty." He tasted a twinge of embarrassment from that white stallion. Perfect. His hunch was correct, or at least close enough. The changeling took a moment for the words to sink in, and reflected on these species. How did they ever manage to spy on each other without empathic receptors?
He may have waited a bit too long, because one of the pegasi, a fairly young (and likely new to the job, Forgery noted her nervousness underneath other emotions, unbecoming a seasoned guard or soldier) mare with ruby-red coat and a purple-blue lock and crest, tilted her head in confusion and asked the obvious question he hoped might have been glanced over. She had a nice voice, a bit squeaky but rough, it reminded him of home. "Where out west? That's a lot of land to cover." Her head nodded hard in the direction of the last attentive subordinate unicorn, who might as well have been her twin were it not for the pegasus-unicorn thing. The deep red unicorn nodded and her horn began to glow.
The white stallion actually lost composure and face-hoofed! He turned away from his intruder, to the two red ponies. "I didn't order a truth spell. You're in the Royal Guards now, you have to take the lead of your commanding officer, discipline is what separates us from regular guards. Expect a full lecture later on it, you earned it." The emotional mix of the five were now blended, mish-mashes of feelings. He turned to Forgery. "But it is a good question."
'A truth spell. Well horsefeathers. At least white-coat here did something about that.' The changeling's pony face grins sheepishly, scowling on the inside, and he continues his gambit regardless. "Commanding officer? You're the captain, aren't you?! Oh, this is awesome! Where I'm from? Well, it's a long story, in a way, but you could say I'm from--" His voice catches. The words get caught in his throat and he can't seem to get them out. 'Oh, right.' It simply wasn't his day. There, just behind and out of sight of this captain, the red unicorn's horn kept glowing the same violet aura.
Forgery coughed to take some time and cover the catch, though he knew from the eyes, and the emotional current, that the irritating unicorn caught it, at the very least. Well, nothing else to do. It wasn't like there was any knowledge of changelings or their lands in the hooves of the pony folk, as best he could remember. Besides, lying and not telling the truth were very different things. "Very far west, a place in the badlands where my family moved after we had trouble everywhere else. Born and raised there, not much of a city name so much as a big family estate. My mum pretty recently just wouldn't stop talking about how beautiful Canterlot was, and how she'd love to be treated like a queen here, how great everypony was to be around, how much love and truth and integrity were in the Guards and the people... I couldn't help it after listening for a while, and one thing led to another, went here myself. I came across the wall and felt stupid for walking up the wrong way, and so I, umm, kind of... jumped it. Umm... Sorry about that, seems like it wasn't the most reasonable thing to do." He smiled gamely and shrugged.
There was laughter in his head, it seemed whatever he was doing here was more important than making that "perfect day", since the Queen didn't appear to have anything better to do than spectate. Forgery put forth all his spare mental faculties to project saccharine happiness back along the link, fake, oversweet; piling strained smiles on the channel to block her out, if only to spite her for putting him in this mess, she hopefully wouldn't see the conclusion.
Unlike his prior Queen, the guardponies seemed to be more agreeable. And why wouldn't they be? There had not been a war in Canterlot for a pony's lifetime, if not more: Forgery wasn't certain on their history, but knew that much at least. There were no real threats. Oh, he knew all about Nightmare Moon, threats did exist, but no outside threats. And not from regular ponies. Their naivety about life and how it worked was one of the reasons Equestria was so enticing. Every emotional taste led the changeling to believe they were inclined, at least, to accept his words. The last pegasus removed his spear, and no weapons being pointed at him made the lilac imposter all the much more relaxed.
Their leader looked up at the sun. Clearly having an appointment was no lie, the tang of worry radiated off him, but was subsumed by his sense of duty. Forgery found the internal conflict fascinating, all the more so because the other four guards seemed to have no clue that it was happening. They seemed so disorganized, so unaware. Fairly quickly, as if merely choosing to ignore other thoughts, duty overpowered worry and the latter's smell faded completely. The captain gave Forgery his full attention.
"That covers name and presence, I'm not entirely convinced so I will be having somepony cross-check your story. You still need to explain... That." The captain's head gestures along Forgery's entire body, however the request was fairly obvious. And the changeling ignored the rest of the words, the suspicion being voiced wasn't there. It was a script, he was certain, voiced either for the benefit of the others (in which case he was right, and they were new recruits), or to try to trip him up (which might work if he were as blind as these poor ponies). Either way, it could be ignored. The failure of a transformation, however, couldn't. And a silent curse was breathed as he noted the red menace's horn still glowed, the truth-spell still active. This would be tricky. 'Thanks be that it is such a brute-force spell, though. Any sophistication at all and I'd be ruined.'
"Ponies don't have wings and a horn, right? That's alicorn territory." His voice kept its shakey waver, but he added a slightly darker, sadder tone to it. "I know I look like a freak, everypony who looks at me in regular circumstances might think it. When I was given this body, and understood what it meant, I knew I'd have problems. The wings are somewhat vestigial at this point--"
"Vestigial?" The red pegasus mare asked in a whisper.
"They don't work. Just for show." The similarly coloured unicorn replied in an annoyed tone.
"--But I can't honestly say I would prefer to not have wings. Pegasi and unicorns can intermarry..." Forge gave what he hoped was an appropriately knowing look to the colour-matched red guards. "And the kids could be one or the other, I suppose. Biology similar to mine could be a throwback, unicorn horns are recessive traits after all, but I'm not an expert in pony genealogy. I like having wings, they're sensitive, and they're warm to hold against me, unicorns get cold so easily. I kind of envy earth ponies having that warmer bulk."
He paused for a moment in his tale, to assess the undercurrents and see how things were going. The red sisters believed him, for the most part. Would be stupid not to, they were controlling his speech after all through their spellcasting. The scribe wasn't paying attention beyond enough to do her job. That was fine. Of the other two "competent" guards, the pegasus was mildly interested, the captain was still all-duty. And he showed it too.
"So let me get this straight, for our record. You are a unicorn with inoperable wings, not some mutant or odd different species that just looks similar." The captain seemed about ready to wrap things up. That was good.
'And by the sun and moon, thank you for adding all those qualifier words. Ugh, pegasus wings are so weird. They have joints and bones in them and just kind of flutter their feathers without control over the entire form. How in Chrysalis' name do they fly with these?' Forgery tosses the thought from his mind, finishing up the last verbal lap. "What you see is what you get. I can flap the wings, they aren't totally inoperable, though flying is pretty much out of the question. Other than that, your description sounds great to me. I don't want to keep you here longer than you have to, I know you're in a hurry, and I can't have the most awesome ponies I've met be late for something as important as love."
The captain blushes at the thought. He holds out a hoof. "I'm Guard Captain Shining Armor. Try not to say such embarrassing things, it makes the newbies get giggle fits." Sure enough, the duo behind him were holding back happiness. "I do need to go so I'll let them escort you out of the garden. We aren't as amazing as you set us up to be, we're just regular ponies called from within to help serve the country and the princess. But if you're that enamored, you might just have the spark even if you're a bit young."
Shining Armor smiles, almost to himself, thinking on his own past and his path to where he was. "I'll fill out some papers later, come to the barracks, and I invite you to try out being a guard for a day. If you somehow still like it after that, we can talk about proper training. Until then, you are a bit young to wander Canterlot alone, I'll assign the gemstones as protection duty, I'm sure that's ONE order they can do appropriately." The unicorn glares at the two mares behind him. It appears he was quite aware of their meddling despite not seeing it. "They clearly have too much energy to be guarding the princess as they would have been."
'Gemstones? I suppose I'll figure that out soon enough. But a job offer? If I intend to actually win freedom from the Queen, I shall need to blend in. Could sticking out like a sore thumb actually be stealthier than all the techniques we were taught?' Stay in this flawed form, that the Queen inflicted upon him in a moment of weakness as some impractical joke, or escape as soon as possible, and use one of these guards as a template and just follow the road to a new city? That would mean the queen won. She sent this image expecting him to fail, he was certain, punishment for abandoning his post and her. An insult, too; that a courtier of all ranks couldn't control his thoughts and manners well enough to thrive directly under the nose of the land's rulers. It was a direct challenge...
"Ohmygoshohmygosh! Thank you! You're the nicest pony I've ever met! I'll be there tomorrow! First thing in the morning! You're my idol Captain Armor."
...and Forgery never backed away when a gauntlet was thrown.
Step.
Step.
Step.
Things didn't seem to move too quickly, time slowing for Forgery as the adrenaline of escaping his prior situation and his silent declaration against his queen pumped his perspective to a split-section analysis. Of course, there wasn't exactly anything to use that focus on, so he simply stared straight ahead, blankly at the backside of the red unicorn who was leading him. His eyes unfocused, keeping step with the pegasus that followed in behind with her spear, a passing thought that some conversation with these rather aggressive and maverick creatures could reduce his bloodflow and let time resume its normal course, though such was maybe too much to ask.
"So... You know my name, but I don't think I caught yours..."
"No, you didn't." The pegasus' answer was curt and to the point. Somehow her hostility was rising by the second. It did nothing for Forgery's own nerves, pushing him to the edge of a battle-state. Against a flyer in this form where he could not maneuver in return would be hard, but if his attack was first...
The unicorn in front's identical voice chimed in, piercing through the tactical thoughts. "Don't be mean, Ru, he might be a co-worker one day." Her emotions were at least fairly well-maintained. Mostly amusement. And, Forgery noted with mild concern, raising at almost the same rate as her opposite's ire. "She's Ruby Shield, my older twin sister. I'm Garnet Veracity, but please call me Verity, its much nicer-sounding."
Verity never even turned her head, and just kept walking as if the interlude never happened. 'Well, the less talking, the more time to get everything straight. The Queen, in all her righteous glory, bestowed a body upon me, likely filled with many flaws. Judging by my shin splints from even this short a walk, I believe I may have a pegasi's hollow bones, combined with the lack of musculature found, or rather not found, in unicorns.' His gaze falls upon the flank of the mare in front of him, as she swayed every-so-slightly in her walk, an emblem of sunrays piercing though dark metal-gray clouds showed itself. He kept staring at it each time her hips would sway so that it came into view. Those markings were supposed to be donating of rank or occupation, if he remembered correctly, but it seemed somewhat abstract, hard to place what such an image would represent, quite unlike the coat of arms adorning the guard captain. The thought came to mind that his own was also part of his Queen's "gift", he remembered it was a complete disguise, but could not fathom what it was. He was rather distracted at the time, after all. 'I could look back and check, but that pegasus Ruby Shield seemed antsy enough already without me acting strangely.'
The body was beginning to irk him almost as much as his two companions. He was certain this Garnet was baiting Ruby somehow, otherwise their opposite emotions wouldn't be in such near synchronization. The focus of his blank stare raised her tail to bat away a fly, keeping it up for a moment like a flag, perhaps to ensure no more came nearby. Flies, the last thing he needed. His hooves hurt, his neck hurt, a full horn was much heavier than the efficiently-tapered changeling type, and the wings... 'Seriously, how do pegasi fly? They're full of bones and joints, and they kind of fan out against your will. Maybe a protobrain? I should have paid attention in the classes. And they're so hard to move back if they randomly extend like now, and just stupidly they get suddenly stiff as chitin..."
Forgery's reverie was shaken abruptly by a spear-slap to side. Ruby cantered forward to walk in line with him, her face an accurate representation of the emotions he was tasting in the air, many directed at him, some going by towards Verity: disgust, irritation, fear, and... jealousy? He would have choked on that foul mixture had her angry hiss of a sentence not distracted him.
"That's my little sister, pervert! You might not be a pegasus but you broadcast like me. One. Like one. Keep your wings, and everything else, to yourself, or I'll use your guide pinions for pillow stuffing."
Now, that was about the equivalent of the earth pony threat of "using your blood for cupcakes", outlandish, horrific, and borderline stomach-turning, however the changeling had no idea of the colloquialism. He could infer emotively that it was some sort of death threat, though, and so did what he felt was the most appropriate response.
Nodded dumbly.
Verity finally then turned her head, her own world finally letting in the hisses and spear-thwap, to observe the other two. Her eyes boggled a bit. "What did you say to him to get his wings to pomf so quickly? I've been trying for the past ten minutes to get a rise with no luck. He wasn't kidding that they don't work well." She said with a hint of surprise, and one upraised eyebrow.
Now would be a good time to note how changelings consume and observe emotion trails. Compare it to an apple pie; when the emotion is aimed at the changeling, it is like shoving the pie right at their snouts. A conscious effort pretty much needs to be made to not consume some bit of the pie touching your lips, and there's no escaping its presence. When it is aimed at another, it is like being somewhat aware that somewhere in the village, you're pretty sure someone is making pie. If you concentrate, you can probably point out its general direction. No feeling is quite as disconcerting as that pie teleporting from almost inside your mouth to the edge of your senses, no matter how unpleasant its ingredients.
This is mentioned, of course, because every bit of ire, annoyance, and resentment that was almost choking him disappeared instantly. It was clear where it went, though, as Ruby Shield marched past him. Her own tail brushed his stiffened wings, the light touch nearly flooring him from the sensations it created. Yet again he wondered how these creatures could fly; if a tail's brush caused such a strong reaction even in his false, assumed form, what did the windshear do to them? A mystery for another day, but perhaps it did explain why some of the pony groups with pegasi in them that he passed on this trek had them hovering inches off the ground, flapping wings hard enough to get wind flowing through their feathers, rapidly and repeatedly thrusting airy fingers through their sensitive limbs, over, say, walking like any sane pony would. 'Seriously, nymphs would envy how quietly and subtly their entire species seems to be pleasuring itself under the noses of their friends.'
His eyes looked at the pegasus in front of him, solidly on all four hooves. 'No nonsense with her though.' Her emblem, her role-mark, was her namesake. Probably nopony thought that was ironic, that Ruby Shield had a ruby shield. Its gem-like shimmer and outline was really the only way to differentiate it from her already ruby-red coat.
All formality between the two twins, what little was there in the first place, was completely gone. It was becoming a full-blown tussle, and loud too. Their armor may have not been formal platemail, but it had an echo to it. Forgery took this opportunity to look around, as if checking to see if they were creating a commotion. They were, of course, they were already well into the public part of the gardens, there was no need to investigate that. But it gave the chance to look over the back of his lilac form before someone surprised him with a question. His rusty red tail matched his mane, thank Chrys for small favours. His emblem, though, took a bit more neck-maneuvering to examine.
A cracked, but ornate full-face masquerade mask... Its mouth formed in a silent scream... And was on fire.
Exasperation oozed from his very being as he rolled his eyes, much to the mirth of another mind closely monitoring his thoughts. 'No, I don't much appreciate the "joke".' Letting the masked one crash and burn may be a riot to his uninvolved third party Queen, her love for bad wordplay well-known throughout the hive, as all their names would indicate... It was a hive of over 500, yet somehow everyling was named a wordplay on copying. But it was not the most ideal for him. Forge hoped no one would ask on what his emblem of rank and station meant. Falsifying that would be hard, to say the least.
His introspection ended with crowds forming increasingly dense circles. His two wardens-- 'Sorry, "escorters"' -- were well past anything to do with him, how one stepped on the other's toes while guarding some gala, how the other impersonated her and scared off a marefriend... Being identical twins (barring the species difference), it sounded like a particularly crazy pony heatedly arguing with herself. Still, being the centre of attention at any royal palace whilst not being the royalty in question was generally not a good sign for keeping an already flimsy cover from shattering into so many pieces. As jumping headfirst into these things and drawing altogether too much attention to himself had worked so well so far, he decided why change such a good trend, and stepped between them, placing a hoof over each of their mouths. "Please, gems, fighting over me is wrong."
It never ceased to astound the changeling how twins, whether born in the same egg or from the same birth, managed to act with complete synchronicity sometimes. He only wished this time it wasn't two hooves coming at his face. This was nothing, though. The raw emotions roiling around him were more than enough sustenance to instantly cure the pain. Their attention was now completely on him. "Better. We're drawing a crowd, and I don't think the captain would be too happy to see guards on your behavior, even I'm getting disillusioned about the regal royal guards."
The two looked sheepish, an expression Forgery never would come to understand considering sheep never looked nor acted sheepish, and quickly waved the crowds away, Verity calling out "Nothing to see here, continue your daily routine." While Ruby did a much more casual "Don't worry, we're not on duty. Sorry for disturbing everypony though."
They formed back into a line and kept on their march to the barracks.
Step.
Step.
Step.
Suddenly, slowly counting off the seconds until they arrived seemed a lot more reasonable than before.
In all fairness, it was only fifteen minutes of a walk. The barracks was somewhat intimidating to the changeling, all sharp edges and straight lines; a blatant show of power over nature and commanding it compared to the curves and natural waves of the hive, living in harmony with nature. Every pony building was like that, Forgery assumed, but it wasn't until he stood in front of a door, looking up at its four stories of dominating presence that he really felt it.
Verity opened the door. "We have a guest quarter in the far end of the fourth floor. It doesn't have windows, but I think its comfortable enough for one night." No windows. Forgery smiled. He would quite like that after sleeping outside for two weeks, the open sky a harsh reminder of everything he gave up to go on this journey. His leading escort continued. "I think they said it was so far up and out of the way because it was originally meant for prisoners of war, but we haven't had battles for hundreds of years, so it's just a spot for if someone wants to have a conjugal visit now..."
Her red coat seemed to get just ever so slightly redder as she realized what she said. "Not that that will be happening tonight. Not with anypony. And they clean it regularly... Uhh... Don't worry Forge, the door locks from the inside." Forge, he had best become accustomed to hearing the abbreviated form of his name, he grinned even further in spite of the spear lightly tapping against the ground less than a pace away from his hooves. Embarrassment was an acquired taste, but once one became accustomed to its layers, it was really quite charming in its own way, and her unique bouquet of it was very attractive. He walked in, covertly taking in the scent of his leader as he went. There was finally time to hole up for the night properly, to reflect on his path, and to prepare his act for experiencing being a royal guard as a backwoods fan on the morrow.
Changelings don't sleep, they merely lie in wait. The horror stories about their kind said something akin to that, but in reality they required a period of reverie just as any other creature would. And Forgery, mode-locking himself into his disfigured pony form the prior night, awoke to a clatter of hooves on wood.
Ruby Shield bucked the door open. He saw the deadbolt, he set it in place in case his form lost cohesion during the night. But there she was, fuzzy through bleary eyes, looking smug at her handiwork. Hooves carefully rubbed the sleep from his eyes, as he rose upright. "I take it the day has begun?" He asked his intruder, voice cracking from the night's disuse. She seemed just a bit too cheery for someone on his tail about everything yesterday.
"Better! You missed breakfast, and its almost time to get into formation for today's duties!" The red mare informed him with unsuppressed glee. Forgery had to hold back an equal smile in return, glad to avoid needing to consume pony "food" just yet. He wasn't sure if he was ready to kill for maintaining his disguise, at least, not this instant. Instead, he leeched a little of the schadenfreude from Ruby, until he noticed her blinking oddly. He stopped and tilted his head at her.
"Oh, sorry... I thought I felt something for a second there..." She murmured, almost to herself.
"Well, if you feel something for me, I can understand that." Forgery stoically took the clop to the head as she whacked him. The bloodflow to her muscles and the topic change would keep her from thinking too much on that earlier sensation. He had to be more careful, take smaller amounts from many ponies and not make a breakfast from just one. She may not be a unicorn, but he knew any species could feel their feeding, the siphoning process wasn't entirely subtle, after all.
He belatedly remembered he was supposed to be putting on a persona. "Ow. Guess not. Well, I suppose that makes us even now. I traded blows with the Royal Guard and came out scathed but alive! We get our assignments now, right? Oh, I can't wait." Hopefully the pegasus would accept it as early-morning sleepiness to explain the earlier laconic personality.
She did. "Yes. Let's get you working, before you say something more and wind up losing a tooth."
Guard Captain Shining Armour was waiting for them, fully armour-clad and standing at rigid attention. 'He really does reek of duty. It's almost like being back in the hive, feeling a particularly zealous worker drone. I bet he'd ignore his own family if the slightest duty got in the way of even merely a letter.' Smiling at the silly thought, no pony, so full of emotions, could be that uncaring about their family, Forgery stepped in line with the gems and a few others, and gave a mostly-synchronized salute.
"At ease, soldiers. Here are your orders. Pike, Sharps, Wren, and Feather, you're all on cleanup duty. Ruby, Garnet, Edge, Moonsprite, you get to listen to petitioners in the throne room." This was met with a groan, but hard to saw from who or how many. "Deal with it. Silverspeed and myself will be giving a day in the life tour for our fan Forge Aerie here. Don't be jealous, it's a full-day job, she's stuck with us two colts for fifteen hours. Everypony else, standard patrols. Do a flyby in front of Luna's tower at least once early on each of your aerial patrols." The remaining guards nodded or rolled their eyes. "It helps her sleep knowing there's ponies who care." Shining Armour added, for the newbie's benefit.
The group scatters, some to their destinations, others to toss on armour since they finished breakfast late themselves. Their captain clearly didn't mind, there hasn't been a serious threat in a lifetime or more, after all, but Forgery could tell he would have preferred them to be a bit more professional, judging by a twinge of irritation. There were still thieves after all, and while golden utensils could be replaced, it wasn't something anyone wanted to do.
"Well, you made my job seem like a punishment. Two dashing stallions... A double shift isn't long at all." She must be Silverspeed. Her coat was... Silver. 'And a pegasus, I'm sure a speedy one. Self-descriptive names are nice and all, but it makes it seem like their entire population has the naming sense of my Queen, only worse.'
Instinctively, Forgery sized up this achromatic mare. She seemed... possessive. It was the only word for it. Desire and envy gave her aura a veritable green tint, or would if such things were visible. Odd, the other ponies he's felt out were very well-behaved, or at least weren't so dominating in their negative traits. Best to play along until he was certain, then. "Well, that's a long day! Seeing as we'll be guard-mates, I'm Forge Aerie. Nice to meet you." He extended his hoof.
"Glad it's me." She clopped her hoof against his, and looked him over. "There's something off about you though..."
'Is she really that dense?' There was no suspicion in her flavour. She was genuinely confused about something. The wings, then, but not even noticing it. The trainings for the guard here in Equestria were clearly not as comprehensive as the ones back home.
'Home... No, it isn't anymore. It's the Hive. Still four letters, still an "H", but it is just a geological feature. Home is where the hoard is, and I've got nothing to this name.' The changeling didn't let his saddening though show on his face, instead looking at Shining Armor, in anticipation. "So you work standard days, what do you do?"
Shining Armor laughed, a rare bit of emotion showing through his mental coat of arms. "Well, I said a typical day, but that wouldn't do to show everything we do at the palace, so I pulled a few strings. Never let anyone say Shining Armor isn't as generous as the elements themselves. We're starting with basic showpony duty: We're a symbol, and so we're expected to display our knowledge of the castle to anypony who requires it."
So saying, he turns, and begins marching towards the exit.
...Forgery had to give a hoof for the captain. He was an expert in trickery, but as he stood in the gilded hall, eyes glazing as they stared at stained glass windows, he knew the captain could put a deceptively positive spin on anything related to duty.
They were tour guides.
"...And this pane depicts the triumph of the bearers of the Elements of Harmony over the incarnate god Discord, you can get a better view of him in his draconequus form in the statue garden. They were led by a unicorn named Twilight Sparkle, not much older than some of you here at the time." Shining radiated pride as he recited this factoid. How he could be so proud from something completely unrelated to him, the changeling had no idea. He gathered the royal guards were quite useless at the time, after all.
His mind zoned out, and it was clear Silverspeed was doing little better. Since the captain was all too eager to explain the things in this "Hall of the Elements", bristling with an energy not prior seen in the stallion, both ceded the right to play tour guide to him. In theory, they were guarding the vault that lay at the end of the chamber, containing six magical artifacts that channeled emotive energy into pure manna, but in practice, tour groups came by looking just a bit lost, and their job was to enlighten them, since no one could get past the Sun Princess' protective spells anyways.
The only thing that worried Forgery was the somewhat distorted feeling of having an extra pair of eyes gazing through his own, listening intently to the tour he mindlessly tuned out. He did his best to ignore it, to block the passages ingrained in his mind, but only time would be his savior, his Queen's presence leaving him after the first tour.
Silverspeed was still looking him over. 'She's still confused? The poor foal must be daft.' Thankfully, her intense staring was interrupted with a chorus of bells' clear chimes. Shining Armor approached the two at the sidelines, and gestured towards the front door with his head.
"The next shift starts, some guards are coming to relieve us here. It's been quite the three hours, hasn't it? I hope this taught something, we're here to make all of Equestria happy. We're not just pawns on a chess board, protecting our princesses. We're here to help everypony, from the highest royalty to the lowest schoolfilly. Mare or colt, princess or pauper, uni-- Oh, our relief is here." He interrupts himself so smoothly, the flow seemed intentional, tripping up his audience.
The captain of the guard points to the two incoming pegusi. 'It's always pairs. There's probably some significance there.' Shining Armor grins at Forgery. "You're going to love this next bit, it's time for lunch."
'Lunch? Oh no...'
The auditorium, for there was no real better word for it, could easily sit fifty ponies. The elegant and gold-gilt table of mahogany dominating the centre of the room could easily serve fourty large dignitaries. Instead, only seven were at the table, and none in the stands. Four guards, Shining Armor, Celestia, and Forgery.
The meal was lavish for a private luncheon, Forgery supposed, but harshly reminded him of the murderous nature of ponykind. Flowers of all sorts, their lives sliced short and essence bleeding at a rapid rate in every colour of the rainbow. Carrots and lettuce cut in intricate displays, trying in vain to heal their gaping wounds, living to survive long enough to win a sentence to death by mastication. Loose sheafs of hay, decapitated and ripping asunder, decorated each piece. It was a plating fit for a genocidal ruler, lording the fragility of life over its lessers. It was all the changeling could do to not choke and run for a pail to be violently sick in when the guards began eating.
Not wanting to risk a cover being blown, he seeked anything, at all, that might save him from participating in this cruel carnage of crudities. Looking, they shimmered at the edge of his reach. Strawberries. A thoroughly unique plant, its seeds didn't digest in pony stomachs, it used being eaten to procreate. Good enough, he supposed, and grabbed an armful to nibble on, hopefully nursing them long enough to last the meal.
"You eat so daintily for a farm boy. Don't be afraid, I won't banish you for chewing too loudly." The white princess spoke to him. She hadn't eaten yet, obviously letting the guards have the first fill to check for poisons, a sensible precaution if an unneeded one. She was horrifying to Forgery though. She stood as tall as his Queen, he knew she could command the very sun with her magic, had thousands of years of court experience to see through deceit, and scariest of all, gave off no aura.
Now, no living thing gives off no aura, even invisibility spells only displaced it. If they knew they were being watched, a pony or a 'ling could fake emotions strong enough to feel them, and thus hide their intents. A ruler could convince themselves so thoroughly they were calm that only the one emotion showed no matter what. This went beyond it. Princess Celestia was, for all Forgery's feeding senses and empathic links, a very emotive rock. She spoke, compassion came forth, and cut off as soon as she finished talking, as if she knew compassion was the right emotion for that phrase, invoked it, then was done with it.
It was like speaking with a sociopathic skeleton's rictus grin. A major communication tool of his was suddenly gone in regards to her, like a pony suddenly speaking emphatically yet entirely silently, or sound coming without them moving their mouths; unnerving at the least. She continued, and Forgery couldn't tell if it was regardless to his introspection or not. For all he knew she seemed like she was just making friendly conversation until she could be allowed to eat.
"It has been a while since I have seen a case of genetic dimorphism so acute as yours splitting the nobler race. My star pupil has been working with a filly Earth pony with half-formed wings, also lacking the pegasus magic to grant her the levity to fly, so Twilight plans to enchant her when she finds the right spell, to... correct nature's mistake, I believe she put it." The simple turn of topic kept Forgery's mind on edge. There was so much information there. This Twilight was her pupil, likely the same who vanquished Discord, and was clearly still quite alive, something Shining Armor never mentioned in the tours. And he had an excuse for his body, a solid one backed by the Princess herself.
"Genetic di-what?" He had to ask; he was a bumpkin, after all.
"Dimorphism. When mixing blood gives traits of two sides of parentage when they should be just one. About one in a hundred ponies have it, but usually its so small that its unnoticible. A weak Earth pony could have a pegasus' hollow bones instead of a strong musculature. A unicorn could gain the need for flight but not the wings to facilitate it, leaving them feeling grounded and stuck." Celestia lectured, in a very well-practiced lecture voice, and while the conversation unnerved Forgery due to her losing an emotive state at the end of each sentence, the smoothness of a continuous run made it feel almost natural. Almost.
"Acute cases can have wings or horns when they shouldn't. Most compensate. I try to keep track of them, as our own race's history and origins are a bit of a mystery. Poor Scootaloo, though. When its so acute you can't tell their birth race, it can lead to complications from societal expectations. Although, looking like you do, I'm sure you're well aware of how forcefully our society treats outliers. It can be quite hostile, and executed with extreme prejudice."
'She knows!' Overwhelming panic gripped the changeling for the second time in as many days. Like before, many minds met his, offering understanding, courage, even empathic holes to share his worry so he could focus on the task at hand. He was no longer a Hive changeling though; he acknowledged the security blanket, and passed on it. 'No, she can't. Our magic is perfect, racially perfected over all senses. Calm. She is just speaking of her subjects. Take a strawberry. Bite it. Chew. Swallow. Breathe. She's a princess, not a longma, not a dragon, just a pony. A powerful pony, but a pony. Panicking is the last action of a fool. Another strawberry.'
Celestia sighed, presumably at the thought of her little ponies being intolerant, her own subtle tribalist leanings shoved to the wayside. She wasn't the only one in a lower mood from the topic, and Silverspeed, bless her wings, brought forth an alternative.
"So I hear Princess Cadenza is coming for her seasonal visit soon."
...The luncheon went on for an hour before Celestia even took a bite to eat, the unsettling goddess finally settling herself long enough for Forgery to catch his breath and slow his manic heartbeat. He would fear nothing in the future, this he knew, for he had seen the face of the devil, and it trailed fruit jam on its lips like a 'ling's brackish blue blood.
Noon had passed, but their day had only just begun. "Next, we're on to the sparing grounds. Come on, it'll be fun."
Author's Note: Sorry for a delay, I just really, really hated that previous chapter. I've been going over it a few times to try to "fix" it, but coming up as blank as Sweetie Bell's backside. I don't know why it irks me. Well, it is past, so hopefully I'll ignore it from now on.
The bolt of gray energy flew at near-sonic speeds, hitting with an explosion of sparks its target, sending cast-off bits of what used to be a pony in twelve different directions. Now, it was just a pile of cloud-stuff.
At the same time, a different shot, blood-red, enveloped yet another pony, and the energy lifted its focus off the ground, and hurled it at the castle wall, sending off a cloud of dust and a shattered pile of loose stones.
The sources of the two destructive spells looked around intently, unicorn horns blazing out. One black as night, one as red as a fresh cut. Two unicorn mares, both looking forward with cold determination in their eyes, and just a hint of amusement from them as they continued their magical assault.
"Oh Celestia that was a close one!" Forge Aerie cursed a bit too loudly, and two heads turned to face his direction, their feelings of victory imminent.
The sparring grounds were really just two sets of wide packed-earth fields, symmetrical, except one had a large number of clouds giving deep shade spots while the other allowed the glory of Celestia's sun to shine clearly upon the dirt. Each had seven coniferous trees, twelve huge boulders, a large warehouse-type building, a big gazebo, two houses, and a sturdy fountain in the center. A few paths made from gravel gave the grounds some change in texture, as well as a few brave sprouts of crabgrass that dared challenge the pony battleground.
It is in one of the houses that Forgery found himself and Shining Armor soon after their lunch duties. They sat on velvet cushions, and the changeling had to wonder why there would be such nice furniture in a dueling field. As they settled down, Shining began a brief assessment.
"The princess agreed with your judgment, you're a unicorn at the core, so I suppose you must know a bit of magic. Do you have anything that might be useful in a combat situation, or will we be working fresh?" The captain asked, in a practiced tone, clearly expecting little.
"I used to sometimes break up rocks back where I'm from. If something can break rocks, it is probably good for more as well." Forgery shrugged, and decided to himself to keep as honest as possible when not working on a "truth" of this persona.
"That's good. Petriculturalist, then. I was curious. Yes, that type of blunt force energy is probably quite apt. But most of our work is stopping ponies whose had a bit too much salt or cider, and if it for ravishing rocks, I think it may be a bit too much." The captain smiles. He had a lot to smile for, the world was a pretty simple place to be a guard. It was mostly a status symbol now, but he insisted on keeping the corp in the best shape they could be, especially after all the recent incidents surrounding his sister. "Can you do levitation? Teleportation?"
Forgery shook his head. Changelings never bothered with levitation, beyond the simple light object handling and everyday use that he assumed anypony could do as well. Teleportation, he wasn't even familiar with the word, so that was a no.
Shining returned with a nod. "Expected, but you should work with levitation as much as you can. Even if you don't join up, you never know when you may need to throw an Ursa back to its cave." Somehow, the situation seemed unlikely to ever come up. "Let's work differently. What is your best spell?"
This was a question the changeling was expecting. He also knew it would be a good time to work on that emblem meaning he thought on as the prior night passed. "My mark isn't like it is for no reason. I've always been good at illusions. Ever since I was hatched." He tapped the mask for emphasis.
"Hatched?" The white stallion's face cocked incredulously,
"You know, little baby pony? How else are new ponies brought into the world?" Forgery mentally flinched at his opposite's confusion, but kept as straight a face as possible.
"Uhh... Well, remind me to get somepony to speak to you about mares..." Shining's eyes glittered along with a grin to himself. "Luckily for me I can delegate that task away and not worry about it, but suffice to say I think your education on the subject may be a bit... out of date, considering your age." He laughed at the thought, and brought himself back down. "So you're good at illusions? Show me your best shot, but keep it in the house."
The changeling didn't bother to suppress his giggle. It would be expected, getting to show off to the captain of his idols, and he knew exactly what to do. A burst of green magic washed over him for a brief moment.
"Attention! I am Shining Armor. I like eating candied rose-petals!"
The guard had to suppress an unprofessional laugh, but Forgery took the amusement anyways, letting the emotions Shining felt for himself fill his body with energy for what he was sure would eventually be needed.
"It even sounds like me."
"It even sounds like me."
A wry look silenced going further in that route pretty quickly, and brought Forge Aerie back to his proper lavendar form. "Fiiine."
"You know, that's the first time I've seen real emotion from you. You really do like playing with disguise spells, don't you..." Shining Armor looked a bit pensive. "But how did you know what I was going to say?"
At first, the changeling deliberated digging a deeper deception. But digging too deep could get someling in trouble when the worst came to pass. Half-truths were the game of the day, he needed to prove himself in order to prove to the Queen he could overcome her challenge. "Hiding as somepony if you get in trouble isn't worth much if your parent can easily tell it's you, I guess I'm just more empathetic than most ponies, and got pretty good at guessing what they plan to do. It isn't mind-reading, but I like to fancy myself one of the better improvised method actors out there."
Shining gave off a brief flash of suspicion, nearly unwittingly burning the nose of his opposite, but the story was steadfast, and his emblem could easily be for acting, being a mask. The two held their ground for a mere second, a standoff, though the white captain did not quite realize that was what he was doing, and broke eye contact. "So you can use tactics to overcome brute force. I saw the way you walk, you have combat training, though it might just be self-defense at your farm. I think I might be able to teach two lessons today, I can hear our partners have arrived. But first, I've got a little plan to share with you."
He stood up, and walked slowly out the door, Forgery following close behind.
"So if Forgery manages to touch you, you're out, we'll let it be easy on his first day. You, on the other hand, need to make him give up. Got it Garnet?" Verity nodded passively. She and a black-coated mare named Moonsprite met the two stallions out on the centre of the cloudy field. Shining Armor was explaining a simple training exercise, noting the two mares' lacks of interest.
"And because I have faith in our rookie, let's make this fun. If Garnet Veracity wins, Moonsprite gets ten bits from the captain of the guard himself. If Forge Aerie wins, Garnet, you owe the winner five bits. Get to your positions. Meanwhile, Moonsprite, you're with me, we'll work on simple shielding spells and basic ray magical attacks." Before Verity could complain of her lack of benefit, only loss, in this battle, everypony else was already moving to their positions.
There was a brief second of silence, and the two on the sidelines knew that there would be little practicing of basics as the burning battle of the bloody bits began.
A flash of red magic brought four of the nearby stones in the air telekinetically, circling Garnet in protective orbits. "Please give up now, you don't have a chance. I don't want anypony hurt, we're all civilized here." The stones spun in their ranges faster, and steadily the glow around her horn amplified in intensity.
Forge Aerie smiled. "Proper police tactics, a stand-down order even in mock-combat. You really were trained well." His own horn began to glow. "But those rocks aren't gaining enough centrifugal force to break through a shield when thrown." Thus saying, a pink, hexagonal disc materialized about two paces in front of the imposter pony, and he looked his opponent in the eye. Gaining a smirk, he very dramatically raised one hoof, and placed it a pace closer to her. Her annoyance at the act of blatant defiance was palpable.
"We will see..." Verity muttered, her amiable mood gone when her bits were on the line. Making one final arcing loop around her, the rocks were released with a rapid rush of energy, launching themselves at Forge. He calmly took another step forward, into the line of fire, and the rocks shattered as they impacted his shield, reduced to shards and pebbles by the wayside. Verity's gaze narrowed. "I am rather proud of my tactics, it's all I have."
Unperturbed, another step forward is taken, each one forceful and overly embellished. He paused, and twitched his eyes backwards. It was all the warning he got as six razor-edged shrapnel pieces from the prior blast slashed towards his flanks. A pinky sheen covered his body just before impact, and sparks flew as the rocks scraped along skin, just barely not making contact.
Forgery observed the emotions of the red mare. 'Suspicion, expected I guess. And happiness? But it's dark. She's plotting something.' His eyes wavered around the battlefield, trying to find the secret. But she wasn't giving anything away. Caution would be needed to win this battle. It was the best part of valor, after all.
"Your opponent can block telekinetic projectile attacks." From the sidelines, the voice of Shining Armour narrated the scene. "And still advances, no doubt to do terrible things to the princess. Defend harder."
Forge Aerie made a face at being the supposed villain in this match, but did not waste movement to make it at the sidelines, keeping forward-facing. Obviously the princess could defend herself, the guards were ornaments at best, but making her have the need to was probably an honour issue, in some obscure historical charter.
Thoughts on roles were quickly abandoned as Garnet's horn shone once more. That tell of magic being cast made one-on-one duels somewhat predictable to guess when something would happen. Hooves left the ground as the lavender pony was lifted off the ground. His own horn shone in return, and he applied the same telekinesis spell to himself, forcing him down. It was a simple battle of wills; any sustained direct competition as such was incredibly exhausting, and to force a stalemate was to believe your own magic would outlast the other's, or to give up early and keep enough magic to have a fighting chance. For a moment, neither budged, two auras circling one overstressed pony. Ruby's suspicion spiked high as she released her hold, ceding the contest to keep some reserve of power.
"Your opponent approaches closer, and though he is alone, so are you. If he reaches you, the best thing that you can hope for is a quick death by this point, having proven yourself a threat." The colour commentary continues in this brief second of interlude. "Your magic is quickly proving ineffective, and you don't want to know what happens to some ponies when they're caught alone by dangerous and possibly disturbed intruders."
The empathic read was an excellent source of advance information in combat. The suspicion peaked, and triumph washed up beside it. Ruby looked down at the commentator, and spoke out. "True. But you forget yourself. The Royal Guard are never alone. Fight for your bits, Moonsprite! Semper fidelis!"
For the first time in the fight, the purplish pony broke his gaze from Garnet Veracity. His fears were confirmed as Moonsprite stepped closer. "Semper fidelis!" She called, and unleased a wave of colourless energy, without form, without flow, just a wide wave. It was wasteful magic, using altogether too much energy to literally flood an area with her psychic scent, but she was an experienced guard, unlike the rookie Garnet, and knew exactly what she was doing.
The wave flowed around the large hexagonal shield, and saturated the protective skin, sparking and flickering as it tried in vain to combat an assault from every direction at once. An assault that was entirely harmless magical discharge. "Someone's shields are too protective." Moonsprite noted with a wry grin.
Her target let his barriers down, no point to wasting magic two against one. He stood still for the first time, no long advancing on Verity when it would open himself up to attack from Moonsprite. He looked at Shining Armour on the sidelines, who merely tilted his head and shrugged, then tapped his marking on his own flank.
But not without defenses. No, what he would do implicitly required a strong defense, or they wouldn't buy it, it just wasn't his skill. He cloaked himself in pink shielding energy, nearly invisible beneath the heavy layers of it, and jumped hard to the side. At the same time, four more shields were created in his shape around a variety of objects nearby. They all moved as one, running from cover in multiple directions.
"Doubles! Take them out quickly!" Verity called out, unnecessarily. Moonsprite was already methodically preparing her next spell. A sharp ray shot from her horn, and into the ground. It opened up beneath the trio and shields, causing everypony to fall a bit more than a pony's height onto a rocky layer below. As they fell, a second spell formed parts of the more solid ground into spikes; a brutal, and efficient, strategy that inspired the more direct Night Guard to court her. Two copies fell upon the spires and dissipated as they were impaled, gravity being enough force to break the more cosmetic shields of the clones. The others dodged through luck (and for one of them, active skill) and landed unharmed.
Forgery allowed the luxury of a moment to muse. 'Moonsprite... Never thought she'd make the ground like the moon in order to perform her namesake. I suppose some of the names may be better than I thought.' The grudging respect passed as he was reminded the match was two against one, completely unfair. Their horns glowed with synchronicity.
A ray and a smash into a wall later, and through pure luck, the flesh-and-blood pony remained, astounded at the odds. "Oh Celestia that was a close one."
Moonsprite looked at the lone figure remaining and pounded it with a quick burst of charcoal-toned orbs. Their impacts brought ice crystals clinging to the edges of the hardened pink defense, and as they cracked in the warm air, so did the shield. Verity's red aura blasted forth similarly, and the pressure shattered the guard. The lavender pony looked tired, dirt caked his coat, and he was breathing very heavily.
Shining Armour slid down the side of the crater, and looked casually at Moonsprite. "I think Garnet can take it from here. This is why I wanted control training, you go one second and decimate the field. The gardeners will harangue me for it." He walked past the achromatic unicorn, who looked appropriately chastised, though not guilty in the slightest.
Verity advanced on the weakened pony. "There! Do you yield?" She asked him in a huff. His initial reply was a smile, and shakily got up to his feet, causing her to hop back in caution. She repeated her order. "Yield."
The battered pony gave a chuckle, and shook his head. "Nope. Because you just lost." He began to glow a bluish tone, lights pouring off his body.
Verity hopped back further, just in case, but bumped into Shining, who was approaching the scene. "Sorry sir." She said absently, not losing sight of the spell cast in front of her...
...By Shining Armor?
"Indeed you are sorry." A hoof clapped Garnet Veracity on her cutie-mark, causing her to jump and spin, and the Shining Armor beside her burst into green lights, leaving behind Forge Aerie in his place, grinning smugly. "You just lost five bits."
Author's note: So... Combat scene. I'm new to everything, tell me if you liked it or didn't, so I know if I should totally bypass these kinds of things, or not be shy about them if they're necessary. I dropped enough hints it was Shining throughout, I know its weird, but I'm fairly sure he casts blue magic but with pink manifestations, if I remember the finale correctly. Please remind me otherwise if I'm wrong, and I'll edit that.
The daily life and tour returns next chapter.
Chapter 5: Queens and Princesses
It was reaching dusk. Training finished after the sparring match, both to get enough time to fix up the field for the next group, as well as to get a sermon on the values of friendship and trust. Forgery knew their values, though. They were nourishing emotive states. They were also apparently a coping mechanism of the ponies, a way for them to work together without being empaths. Shining Armour called it "empath-y", and the changeling was inclined to agree; if you squinted hard enough it could look like it, but "empath-ish" might have been the better term. Apparently, with enough of it, the two mares would have been able to tell that neither of their sparing partners were who pretended to be, that "Forge Aerie" was walking like a soldier when he was a farmer, that "Shining Armour" was being unnecessarily heckling during the bout... Friendship could create rank cohesion, defeat avatars of anarchy, it must have been a truly amazing thing to the ponies. But nevertheless soon Forgery found himself ignoring the lesson's sermon-like tone and drifted into his own mind.
He had a passing thought that questioned the wisdom in revealing his magic to Shining Armour. It seemed to originate from the hive. 'So at least some supporters of me. Is this their spectacle now? Am I a show, to be made example of? Well, changelings are old pony tales, and thanks to the invasive efforts of the red one on the receiving end of a droning lecture, everypony will believe anything I explicate, even if it had more holes than the Queen herself.' No ling nor pony would fault him for relying on what, easily, was his best magic, and it kept him from worrying about being expected to know farming magics; after all, he wasted his time with learning these incredibly sophisticated transformations, why would he know any more than the basics elsewhere?
"...So be careful in future. Understood?" Sharp ears perked upon catching the edge of the lecture.
"Yes sir!" Came the unison saluted reply of the three members of the audience. A whiff and a look told Forgery more than the captain's gaze would in a week of staring. Nopony paid an iota of attention to the lesson, either learning it prior, or resolving not to learn it at all: Exactly what the captain believed, but had no way to prove or even know with certainty. There was a short silence and stillness as Shining examined each in turn, until Verity broke the standoff.
"Sparring is the last item in my day, and I promised I'd go for tea this afternoon, so if..." Her voice trailed as her commander leveled the most blank look at her possible, cutting her off with slow but unrelenting silence.
"I still don't know how you managed to pass basic training." He eventually commented, then gave a shake of his head. "Get cleaned up then. We all need to. Come on Forge, your day is still going; dinner's with Luna."
A brief hop into the pond later and Shining deemed himself and Forge to be "fresh enough" for this next, and final, task... Meeting with the dark Nightmare Moon. Well, first they did a bit more tour guiding and some simple standing guard, Forgery gathered the life of a soldier was, at its core, similar no matter where somepony goes. The castle's crowds had thinned out as school tour groups and court visitors dwindled over the course of the day, and as the sun began to consider descending upon the horizon, the only people still in the halls were servants and guards. And one changeling.
Shining Armor kept alert on the long walk to the opposite end of the castle that housed Princess Luna's private dining room. Eyes still shifting, he motioned along the wide open windows and vistas inherent in the building's design. He put on his indifferent tour guide voice. "Never has there been a castle as beautiful in architecture as this one. It is designed to allow easy access for pretty much anypony to just walk right in and do whatever they want. Though they're really rare, that includes thieves and whatnot trying to grab something shiny and bolting. It also includes hostile forces."
Forgery paid attention, if only because he knew that, thematically speaking, if he didn't then this would come back to bite him. 'Its Chekhoof's Bow, poetic justice one-oh-one.' Happy to have avoided a terrible future fate at the hands of an assassin, he continued to listen, after all, there wasn't much else to do on the walk but talk.
"Unlike zebras, griffons, donkeys, and all sorts of other species, we have an inherent and natural militia, in the unicorns. Even a common untrained unicorn like yourself can stop a minor attack. Some young fillies jump at the call a bit too eagerly and frequently, much to my constant stress." The emotion coming off of him was not stress at all, but love. Forgery bit his lip unconsciously, slowing his pace slightly and holding off against his base instincts to syphon it off. 'Think logically, impersonal.' This was clearly not truly a general case. There must be some history there. Shining, a step ahead to lead the way, noticed nothing and kept going on.
"Not that it wasn't necessary but it would be nice if she didn't worry her parents so much. For all we know she could get turned into stone in the Everfree and Anvil would need to leak it to me from Luna overhearing it from Celestia..." He stopped a moment, and turned, a bit redder. "Well, I guess I'm a bit off-topic. I'm used to walking alone, sorry about the venting there."
"No, no, no, I don't mean to intrude upon your ranting time." Forgery returned with a smile and a shrug. It was fascinating, after all. The stallion was one-track minded, even his emotive states were fairly streamlined and pure, so hearing a bit of chaotic truth told the changeling much more about his soon-to-be-captain than the entire day beforehand.
"Either way, this is the most dangerous time of day in the castle. Our natural buffer of petitioners show up before the sunrise, and the Night Guard oversee Luna's protection with dark efficiency, but only if they are awake. They're just waking now, and we're tired from a long day; some have already left, like Garnet."
Forgery smiled, wondering if the captain would be so open about the best way to invade the castle if he knew that a creature from their darker tales walked beside him instead of a country bumpkin. Casual chat of the expectations of the guards continued for the majority of the trip, until they opened the sculpted and silver-inlaid ebon-wood door leading to the sitting room of Luna's castle wing.
The door opened with nary the slightest creak, the heavy weight of the wood nigh-ignored by the force of magic pushing it. Expecting another long and terrible trek through poison-test Tartarus, he was surprised to see Luna in the immediately adjoining greatroom, already sipping from a large ceramic mug. The entire room looked modeled much like her ranking insignia; the changeling had to take a moment to add up even the costs of the dyes before following Shining's lead and stepping inside.
"Thou art here to safeguard Our repast this evening, Captain?" Her voice was deep for a mare, smooth, some might even call it musical. But it held a tone of aloof distrust to it, and a tone of tiredness, as if the question meant something else entirely. Curious, Forgery opened all his senses wide.
Bad idea. 'Successful execution, though.' Forgery was dazed from the waves of heavy, heavy loneliness coming from the Princess of the Night. Or, who he assumed was her for a lack of other blue-black alicorns in the land. It was not a nice emotion.
Now, some changeling philosophers, that is, consorts with far too much spare time on their hooves, debated over which was the worst emotion in life. It always ended with three parties, saying apathy, absolution, or loneliness. Apathy was a void. It was scary, putting a creature very much used to knowledge and control outside of it by the sheer lack of caring it exuded. In hindsight, it was probably very much what Celestia was feeling, though his mind was not the most stable in the nerve-wreck that was lunch. Absolution was odd, in that most "positive" emotions were quite pleasant, so it was a terrible oddity that it made most changelings physically ill, but was luckily an emotion usually directed at the self and not others, and its close neighbor forgiveness was just fine.
Forgery sent a set of feelings through his link to the hivemind, to answer the question with proper firsthoof experience. Loneliness was the worst. Perhaps it was the scale of it all, if he remembered the myth he spent the day recounting, she had had 1000 years to build up her current wreck of a mental state. But loneliness was the opposite of love. It stole it away. At least loathing was a strong link and relationship-building emotion; affection can be born of rivalry, respect of hate. But as Luna's gaze passed ever-briefly across Forgery's eyes on her way to the captain, the wave of her feelings pulled out every bit of love he had left in him, draining his energy just by being near. But at the same time, potential arose. 'Being in the debt of a princess is nothing to scoff at. This must pain her as much as it does me, so if I were to solve the issue--'
"Yes Princess, we are your chaperones today. A newbie too, Forge Aerie, he may be joining us in the longer term, very enthusiastic." Outside the spinning wheels of internal soliloquy, time marched on.
"It is always good to see the equity within our royal guard, there has been a lack of stallion recruits of late. Thy efforts are more suited to the walls and administration of orders than of breaking my day's fast." The small talk continued, Luna placidly drinking whilst using her magic to pull a bench for her guests.
"I know you've been good lately, but your sister..."
"We are familiar with Our sister's concerns and what is wont to have happened. Fear thee not, We shan't risk your livelihood." Luna looked at the guard captain, but only managed to hold the gaze for a moment in the impromptu staring contest before turning towards the wide array of comestibles plated before her, all untouched. With a lagging and shaky telepathic bond, she dragged a thin slice of apple and took a small nibble, constantly returning her gaze to the while-coated stallion, as if to ask 'Is it fine now? How about now?'.
Forgery resisted letting his mental states show on his face. She was clearly hungry, he did not even need his sixth sense in order to intuit that. Her actions, though, were slow and languishingly methodological, and if they were not there to oversee poison testing once more then she was just taking time to keep them with her in her room for as long as possible.
'That's it...' Be it through stroke of luck or inevitability, Luna's eyes met his just as they widened in realization. 'She's feeding off us.' Luna looked back down at her apple, taking a second slice of it and lowering her head to hide her own expression. He schooled his own emotions to ensure Shining did not notice anything amiss. Well, amiss beyond the doubling of the eating pace of his charge. He stood at her side, ignoring his seat, and as she consumed some of his happiness and self-assurance, his worry for her created in the process spawned more confidence in his necessary presence, allowing her to more thoroughly digest her true meal whilst letting the spread before her grow stale.
The only issue being, of course, that ponies do not ingest emotions. Not even ones as powerful as Luna. Yet glancing at the mare, who was now keeping her eyes on the offering of food before her, Forgery could not help but feel the urge to project more upon her, that she needed to feel more, to cast her current miserable mire of a mental mess from the room. He gathered up the feelings of goodwill, of awe, of appreciation he got from playing at being a guard all day, and before fully realizing it, sent along the feeling of being a workaday guard pony directly to her; a habit ingrained in all drones when their queen needed it, as she did right now.
Upon further consideration, such was not the best course of action.
Author's Notes:
