Vengeance

Deep in the crystal caverns beneath the Wastelands, two former Changeling princesses planned their escape.

One of them, a tall, majestic dragon with shining but scarred scales of ruby red, gave a hiss of annoyance and pain as the tip of one of her claws broke. "It's no use," she snapped, turning away with an angry lash of her spiky tail. She scowled at the piles of gems and the thick crystal walls of the cavern, dagger-pupiled green eyes flashing. "The walls aren't going to break, no matter what we do."

The scarlet dragon plucked a large, baby-blue sapphire from a heap of jewels and examined her reflection in it. In the light blue surface of the gem, the dragon's likeness warped and twisted into the image of a beautiful royal Changeling with a crimson mane and startlingly bright green eyes.

She blinked, and the reflection returned to that of a dragon.

The other dragon was substantially smaller than the scarlet one, and her scales were deep green and without any chips or scrapes. Like the red dragon's and like they had always been, her eyes were brilliant green with cat-slit pupils. "Please, Princess Ruby," the emerald dragon begged. "We can't just give up now! Mother – Queen Thysanura is planning something. I can feel it."

With a gusty sigh, former Princess Ruby of the Changelings sat down and curled her tail around her talons. "I'm sorry, Emerald. It's just that . . . my sister – your mother – is the most powerful being I know. She bested me, our sisters, and even you. Tell me, Princess Emerald, what chance do we have against her?"

"We can defeat her," Emerald insisted, unwilling to let go. She and her newfound aunt had to get out of here before Thysanura put the entire Hive in real danger. "We just have to be stronger than her! We are not going to die and rot here!"

"Are we?" Ruby lifted her head and pointed upwards with a claw. "Niece, do you see that green mist gathering near the cavern ceiling?"

Bewildered, Emerald tilted her head to look up. Sure enough, high above them, strange curls of transparent, pale green mist leaked from a tiny fissure in the crystal. The fog smelled faintly of water tinged with something else, something that Emerald had never smelled before. "What is that, Ruby?" she asked.

"Mist from Silkwing's Spring," Ruby answered. At Emerald's blank look, she sighed and started to explain. "In the Wastelands, there are the seven sacred Queen's Springs. Each one supposedly belongs to the spirit of one of the first seven Changeling queens. They are –"

"Flutterheart's Spring, Mistwing's Spring, Shimmerflight's Spring, Amethyst's Spring, Flittershine's Spring, Iridescence's Spring . . . and Silkwing's Spring. Yes, I know of them," Emerald stated in her matter-of-fact way. "The legend says that each of these hot springs is hidden away with magic. Silkwing's must be very close to the Hive, then. But Ruby, why would the mist matter?"

"Because Silkwing's Spring is cursed," Ruby said bluntly. "They say that after Queen Silkwing started the first Changeling-Equestrian war, when her spirit began to be pulled into darkness, her spring's water became poisoned. No one, pony or Changeling, can do anything with it. They cannot even touch the tainted water without knowing great pain or, in the worst case, death. That is actually why the Changelings stopped their tradition of creating springs to honor their queens. Did you know that?"

"N-no," said Emerald, taken aback. "I, well . . . I always wondered why there were only seven springs, but I didn't stop to think why Silkwing was the last of them."

"Yes, knowledge of the Queen's Springs was quite lost to both pony and Changeling after they dropped the custom. It is now one of the greatest secrets kept by the royal family of the Changeling Hive." Ruby's long tail swept across the floor in displeasure, pushing aside gems of all shapes and sizes. "But the point is, because Silkwing's Spring is cursed, the mist from its water is also poisonous."

"Oh." Emerald knew that it was a stupid thing to say right now, but what else can you say to something like that? "Sooooooo . . . how much time do we have before we die?"

Ruby looked at her niece strangely, then gave a short laugh that echoed around the crystal cavern. "Oh . . . no, no, no," she said with a draconic smile. "That's not how the mist works. The water from Silkwing's Spring is magical and poisonous, so therefore its mist is also magical and poisonous, but in a very different way. The mist contains powerful, ancient magic that will most likely benefit us, but in the worst-case scenario, it will kill us. It all depends on the spirit of Queen Silkwing."

"Wait, what?" Emerald interrupted. "I thought that was just a myth! How can the spirit of a dead queen decide our fate?"

With an amused snort, the older Changeling-turned-dragon shook her head. "It is anything but a myth, Emerald. Now listen. Silkwing's spirit is very much real, and it lives in the heart of her spring. And so a tiny bit of her is with us right now, judging us. The mist should change us in . . . let's see . . . a few hours or so."

"Change us? What do you mean?" Emerald's curiosity was piqued. Her eagerness to learn brought a smile to Ruby's face. Her young niece reminded her so much of . . . Ruby shook the thought away.

"We'll be changed back into Changelings, of course," Ruby replied, as if Emerald should have known the answer. "Where do you think the Queen's Springs get their magic – out of the air? No, it is Changeling magic that helps the springs to survive here.

"Being turned back to our natural forms is only one of two options that Queen Silkwing has," continued Ruby. "The other option? Death." She said this last part simply and offhoofedly, in a way that astonished Emerald.

"But . . . it won't come to that, right?" the younger princess asked hopefully.

"I don't know, Emerald. Your mother put us in this cavern for a reason. Did you really think that she wouldn't have noticed or made use of Silkwing's mist here? She knows of this curse, and she must have assumed that Queen Silkwing would deem us unworthy of being changed back and spared from death. Of course, we can only hope that she was wrong. We will find out in due time."

In due time.

"Keep it together. Keep it together."

Queen Thysanura paced back and forth in her bedroom, her wings twitching restlessly, her breathing fast and distressed. She felt a strange sensation in her black chitin coat: fire-hot, ice-cold, and then back again. Her horn tingled in an odd way, itching to cast a spell to vent her worries and discomfort. Any spell.

The door creaked open without warning, causing Thysanura to jump a mile into the air. "Your Majesty? Are you all right?" asked a feminine voice.

After steadying her breaths, the queen inhaled and exhaled deeply, and turned to face Melody, her daytime chambermaid. The young female Changeling was levitating a gold-plated tray of tea and all sorts of pastries in her glowing magic. With a small squeak, Melody fell down in a deep bow, the tray still floating in her grasp.

She was scared. Everyone was scared of Queen Thysanura.

This had never bothered Thysanura before. She'd never had any qualms about making others frightened of her. Why shouldn't they fear her? She was a queen, and she deserved to be treated like one.

But things change.

"P-please, stand up," Thysanura said shakily, extending a hoof to her quivering maid.

"Your Majesty?" Melody stared at her queen in bewilderment, startled by Thysanura's sudden change in behavior.

"Stand up, Melody." The Changeling queen took Melody by the hoof and helped her up, much to her maid's confusion and surprise. Thysanura's magic took the tea tray from Melody and set it on a nearby table. "And . . . thank you. You are dismissed for the day."

"Yes, Your Majesty . . ." Melody trailed off, slowly walking through the doorway and casting strange looks at Thysanura. She quickly shook herself. "Good day, my Queen!"

Once the younger Changeling was gone, the old queen sighed and turned to her black-and-silver vanity table against the wall. The large oval mirror was cracked down the middle, a long, clean split, and a jagged piece was missing from the top, where the corner of the glass would have been – if the mirror were rectangular. Two sides. Split personality. She saw her reflection in the smooth crystal glass, fractured in two. A single teardrop leaked from her right eye and splattered across a silvery shard of reflective glass on the table. The missing chunk of mirror.

Mustering a tiny, tearful smile, Thysanura's magical green aura surrounded the piece of glass and floated it in front of her, spinning slowly. After a long moment, she fitted the glass into its former place. The mirror was still broken, but at least it was partly whole.

Am I just a mirror? A reflection of myself, of who I used to be?

No, I'm not. Thysanura glared at her cracked image in the mirror. This is the real me now. And I'm not going back.

I am going to do what is right.

She looked away from the mirror and smiled a real smile, not one of her cold, malice-filled ones. Then she furrowed her brow. Commander Amas, meet me in the War Room. NOW. Thysanura sent this short message through the mind link and abruptly left her bedroom. I will show them who I really am.

"The judgment should come any minute now," Ruby whispered. She wasn't sure why she was whispering, but it seemed appropriate now. "Come on, come on, come on . . ."

Emerald sat next to her aunt, her twitching tail betraying her impatience and desperation. Finally, she said, "You know, Aunt Ruby, doing that won't make the judgment come any faster. Just sit here and try to relax, all right?"

Instead of listening to Emerald, Ruby did just the opposite. She got up from her fidgety position and started to pace, her tail swishing from side to side. "I can't. How can you relax when a queen's spirit is deciding your crucial fate right this instant? We could die, Emerald!" She plopped down again and crunched a sweet amethyst with her teeth.

"Fine, you have a point," Emerald grumbled. "But look, just –"

She was cut off rather suddenly when a burst of green flames encircled her and Ruby, closing them in. Emerald's wide eyes glowed in the bright firelight. "Is – is this supposed to happen?" she demanded, backing away from the burning fire. A dragon's scales were fire-resistant, but these flames were clearly magical.

"Don't know. Never seen this before," was Ruby's plain reply.

Then the spirit appeared, and time seemed to stop.

A swirl of green mist rose from the fire, creating a Changeling-like shape. Features formed: eyes, a snout, a mouth, fangs, Changeling wings, a crooked horn, a mane and tail, the like. The spirit's eyes glowed white until the color bled away, leaving behind luminescent green eyes with narrow dragon pupils.

"Queen Silkwing," Ruby breathed. She lowered her head in a respectful bow, and Emerald quickly followed her example, not wanting to anger a powerful queen's spirit.

"Rise." The spirit's voice was soft and musical, like the gentle lullaby of a delicate glass harp. Not at all like Emerald had imagined Silkwing, the Changeling queen who had started a war between the Hive and the ponies of Equestria.

"I have come to pass my judgment on you, Princess Ruby and Princess Emerald," Silkwing's spirit said softly, her words like the wind. "I am very proud to call you two my many-times-great granddaughters."

"So . . . you won't kill us?" Emerald asked optimistically.

Silkwing threw her head back and laughed quietly. "Nay, Emerald. You two have proven yourselves truly worthy. I can see it in your hearts. You are free from the chains of your dragon bodies." Her horn glowed, and a haze of green magic streamed from it, wrapping around Emerald and Ruby. "Goodbye, my beloved family."

The spirit of Queen Silkwing faded into the mist.

The foggy, feather-light magic surrounded the two Changeling princesses. They rose into the air, floating serenely, hanging there with the ribbons of misty green enchantment. Emerald felt a strange tingle in her dragon scales and looked down. She and Ruby were glowing pale green. And then her vision was blinded by a blur of soft, pearly white.

When Queen Thysanura entered the Hive's War Room, Commander Amas was already there, looking over the maps that were strewn across the table and parts of the floor. The sight of her commander and the reminders of her brewing war made an uncomfortable chill run through Thysanura. But she was going to fix all that.

Stalking up to the table, Thysanura faced Amas with a firm, steely look in her eye. "Commander, this war is over."

There was a long pause. Then, "What?" the army commander asked, blinking fast. "I'm sorry, what was that, my Queen?"

"I don't know how to make my words any clearer," the queen said unyieldingly. She leaned forward to look Amas in the eye and repeated herself harshly but slowly. "This. War. Is. Over. NOW. Tell the army to stop preparing for it. Drop the planning. I am done with this."

"I-I'm afraid I do not understand, Your Majesty," Commander Amas stammered, shrinking away from his queen's hard stare. "Is this about our progress in creating magic-proof talismans and ever-burning fire? I assure you, our thaumaturges can –"

"No, it is not about that," Thysanura interrupted him. She turned her back on Amas to stare at the wall and ceiling murals, the paintings of the Prophecy Curse. How she hated those paintings. They were nothing but a curse like the one they depicted, constantly reminding her of who she was supposed to be.

Well, they are wrong. I guess you were wrong, Princess Flitterheart. I will not be defined by a prophecy or its curse.

"This war is pointless, Amas," Thysanura hissed, glaring at the murals. "How many lives, Changeling and pony, would be lost because of us? Why should we start a war just because some prophecy tells us to? Who are they to tell us what to do?" She sent her silent apology to Princess Flitterheart. She had always greatly respected the famous prophet, and there was no reason to stop it now. "Perhaps it is time for something new. Maybe peace can be worked out between the Hive and Equestria."

"Peace?" spat Amas, slamming a hoof on the floor. "Those ponies would not reason with us! We are monsters in their eyes! You are a fool if you think that they would listen to us! I –"

His eyes widened.

"SILENCE!" Queen Thysanura thundered. She stalked toward her army commander, angry flames flickering around her. Her long mane and tail started to move and ripple with a fiery green glow, much like the way the Equestrian princesses' hair floated in a nonexistent breeze. Her white fangs, slightly elongated, were sharper than the deadliest magical spears and a million times more poisonous. She actually started to rise above the ground in her sheer amount of magical fury. She thrust her muzzle close to Amas's, so close that he could see the fire burning inside her eyes.

"I always knew you were an arrogant fool, Amas, but even I didn't know that you would go this far!" she shouted. A stray flame streaked from her mane, igniting one of the commander's wings. He squealed like a filly and proceeded to frenziedly beat out the fire by flapping his wings madly.

"You would question ME?!" Thysanura screeched. "YOU STUPID, MINDLESS IDIOT!"

"Y-Y-Your M-M-M-Majesty, f-forgive m-m-me," Amas stuttered, scrabbling to get away from the Changeling on fire.

"Forgiveness is something you must earn," the furious queen hissed. "Go to your army and call off this war! If I hear any more of this nonsense, there will be immediate, PAINFUL consequences by burning! Now GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!"

Shaking only slightly, Amas stood up. He met her eyes and said, unexpectedly:

"No."