Queen of Equestria

Chapters

1 - From On High
2 - Recovery and Snow
3 - Future Worries
4 - From the Heart
5 - Hopes and Bets
6 - Action Plan
7 - Hold the Line
8 - Feelings
9 - Those Days
10 - Their Perfection
11 - Trading Places
12 - Convergence
13 - Teleport
14 - Rain and Shine
15 - Underground
16 - Live Forever
17 - Loud Unknowns
19 - This Moment
20 - Jungle Camping
21 - Companionship
22 - The Interim
23 - Promise
24 - Star and Flame
25 - Change
26 - In a Blink
27 - Face Off
28 - Staged
29 - Turnabout
30 - The Haven
18 - Warming Up

1 - From On High

Queen Twilight Sparkle's entire body crackled with lightning and her mix of purple and green magical aura enveloped her. Her magic shot not just from her horn but from every part of her being. She knew it was futile, but she had to try anyways. This wasn't a matter of the amount of magical energy she could harness. It was a matter of physics and velocity matched against time and mass. Brute magical force would not be enough. Not even if she had the combined powers of the other three alicorns.

The only thing that could save Cloudsdale now would be if it were completely teleported elsewhere. Even the Queen of Equestria did not have that kind of power, so she cried in agony. Not just as her body strained in the air under the magical release but as pegasi fled by the tens of thousands from a home their race had known for as many years. Generations and generations of history and legacy was in every tuft and puff of cloud that made up that city.

Twilight tried using her hivemind to come up with an idea. Some way of rescue. But none of their powers could be used against such an enormous force of raw nature. Rainbow Dash’s incredible Hive Power over the forces of weather would not be enough. Still the blue pegasus tried to no avail. She sustained three massive hurricanes snapping with green-lit fury. But the foundations of Cloudsdale cared little and only shred apart when they did.

Canterlot below watched in horror as the great cloud city plummeted from the sky to the fields at Mt. Canter's foothills. The direction of the wind might have been the only savior of the unicorn city, having kept Cloudsdale from smashing back into it. Green lightning lanced from the alicorn queen, doing little to slow the massive city. The first edge of the massive pegasi construct hit the ground.

BOOM!

Specially constructed cloud burst apart, splintering upwards as the city drove itself into the ground hard. The most pure elements of cloud ruptured into fog, but much of the city was more than mere cloud. Everything not made of the soft white fluff, blasted into the Earth like an unending spray of miniature bombs. The thousands of pegasi who were giving everything they had to reverse the momentum cried out in pain as the impacts began flowering up from the edge towards them. Everything they knew from foalhood was being destroyed and nopony could do anything to stop it.

Twilight Sparkle exerted more than what she had, feeling the horror and suffering of those around her. She was crying too, but it was not only for the city. It was because, after all this time and all she had gone through, she was still helpless. Still powerless. Saving this city was one thing she couldn't do that resulted in unmeasurable suffering.

The queen passed out where she had been hovering in the air below the market district of the crashing city. She would have fallen into and been crushed by the ensuing carnage if not for a multi-colored flash that dove and caught her. Twilight saw nothing more until the ordeal was well over. Or, at least, the impact.

“Twilight?”

“Twilight!”

The purple pony groggily opened her eyes. Her mind raced to catch up. Where was she? Under a tree in a field. Or what was left of it. The leaves were gone and the blackened branches were smoldering. Near Canterlot? It was hard to tell because the air was so thick with fog.

Fog?

“Twilight,” Rainbow Dash shook her beloved queen with fear deep in her magenta irises. “We need you now! Cloudsdale is...Cloudsdale...”

Fog? The crash! Twilight's mind found itself again. The fog was what was left after the clouds broke up. She cast a sensory analysis spell and got immediate results in spite of the sharp mental pain she also got for it. The crash site was enormous. Mt. Canter's foothills were a wreck. Touchdown had created a massive crater with a wide rather than deep midpoint because of the dispersed nature of the non-cloud elements of the city. Twilight could only rely on her magic because she couldn't physically see five hooves in front of her face. None in her hivemind had a clearer vision of it.

Rainbow's nose was almost touching hers. “What do we do?!” the pegasus cried, adding to the wails that could be heard through the thick fog. It smelled like char...and worse.

Many ponies could be heard beyond the veil of fog. Some shouting in fear or confusion. Others in pain. All weeping.

“Emergency response...” Twilight tried to sort her thoughts. Rainbow’s own thoughts hit her before even that idea could form. The Emergency Response Corps that was reserved for such cataclysmic events was stationed in Cloudsdale. It was a pegasi regiment.

“Chrysalis is looking for the Corps Director,” Rainbow said, trying to soak her panicked emotions into the calming organization of her queen’s hivemind.

The director hadn’t been found yet, Twilight knew after having focused on Chrysalis’ mind. She had found something in the fog that looked like the remains of a hospital. Then Twilight had to turn her focus away. There were medical staff there with patients, but the staff had crashed there along with their patients. The ponies that needed to do the helping were in need of help themselves. Medical response would have to come from Canterlot.

Twilight despaired. It wouldn’t be enough. Fluttershy was also out there, flying in the fog. Gathering what she was seeing as well, the queen could extrapolate the scale of the issue. Thousands injured. Her estimates were rising to ten thousand too quickly.

Rainbow continued trembling against her. Her own sense of urgency that had snapped Twilight from unconsciousness was now lost as she continued hearing the cries and screams around her. She lost focus on her queen.

Get the Canterlot meds here as fast as you can, Twilight ordered.

When Rainbow hesitated with tears, Twilight gripped her. “We have to help them!”

The pegasus snapped back into focus and became a blue blur once more, dissipating fog in the speed of her wake. Fluttershy, meanwhile, was already giving as much aid as she could. The impact had not only hurt countless ponies. It had also hurt countless animals that had called the foothills home. She carried as many as she could to safety and patched up the ones that time allowed and need demanded.

Chrysalis, aware of her queen turning her focus from her mind and eyesight, insisted upon investigating something she found more disturbing than the suffering ponies around her. It was a black sludge, not of charred Earth or perhaps mud. She knew it upon sight and brief magical probe.

My queen! the tall changeling shouted in concern into their shared mind. Our enemy is behind this. We are vulnerable!

No kiddin’! Applejack’s reply burst through sarcastically. That’s old news.

No, now! Chrysalis tried to force her formulating thoughts specifically into the farmpony who had missed them. This confusion is an opportunity for a strike! My queen, retreat to the castle at once! We have to regroup!

The alicorn was stressed beyond limit. “The pegasi need us here, Chrysalis!” she found herself shouting to the burnt-scent of the dark fog around her and the wailing voices therein. “I won’t abandon them!”

Chrysalis saw her queen racing towards distressed voices in need and cursed her royal pony’s selfless nature. She turned from those injured upon the ground around her and sped to her queen. A flash of her magical aura around her long jagged horn was enough to inform her that her suspicion was correct. A black void was swimming through the fog, easily passing by the thousands left helpless either by injury, shock, despair, or all three. It headed straight for her queen.

Queen Twilight used her magic to transform a rudimentary bandage out of some half-burned curtains she had seen nearby. She bound the pegasi’s leg hard to ease the pain of it, and she held the crying pony’s hoof to assure her before moving to another pony close by. The rest of her hive was beginning to help in various ways to get medical staff and supplies there. Applejack was focusing on getting the rallied firefighters down to the foothills, since fires were sparked from the crash and might threaten to overtake the survivors should the injuries fail to prove fatal.

There was no time left, though. The black mist that had plotted with the old changeling hive was here. It filtered through the fog into Twilight’s eyesight. Having intentionally blocked her mind from Chrysalis’ perceptions, she had heard too late her changeling’s cry of warning.

“Watch out!” Chrysalis screamed out in physical form as she too darted to her queen.

She was not fast enough. The black fog condensed into a misty spear and shot straight through the alicorn. But it was not as a physical piercing. Twilight was thrown backwards hard onto her spine, scraping herself on jagged bits of hot debris and rough rocks. No immediate wound came from the spear, though. Instead, the black mist formed again over her while black crystals materialized and hardened all around her royal changeling breastplate. The green glow of it flickered and failed. All of her connections save for the closest that could naturally reach her were lost.

Stinging in pain first from being thrown back and scratched up, Twilight cried out more intensely from the death of her mental connections. Her mind felt hot, as if seared by a glowing red brand. Her heart followed in that manner and her throat choked. The black mist began to envelop her and she could hear words in her injured hivemind. It was a voice she did not know.

Hello, princess, it hissed as if spoken through clenched teeth. Do as I command and I will grant you-

The voice was cut short, though. Twilight beheld the reason above her. The mist was pushed back by a green-glowing changeling.

Chrysalis ignited her own power and charged the mist. Her green aura not only enveloped her horn now but blossomed from her entire body in a large dancing flame. She bore her teeth and her eyes were wide with a ravenous fury. The magic she used was able to push against the mist.

“Get out of our mind, scum!” Chrysalis barked at it. Glancing for less than a second to Twilight, she saw her queen still paralyzed and now gasping for breath. “Release her or I’ll make you suffer worse than death!”

I fear no changeling, nor an empty threat, the mist seethed venom in return.

Not patient for her queen’s sake, Chrysalis screamed out in exertion as her green flame erupted into a thick lighting bolt that struck into the black mist with a thunderous crack. The blast sent debris flying out from around them, dirt kicking back up into the air from where it had recently settled from. Fog dispersed for only a moment before filling back in.

The mist had expected less than what it received. The bolt seared it. Sounds of howling pain came at Twilight and Chrysalis through their hivemind. It had been hurt badly when it thought its physical state left it immune from injury.

“I’m not a helpless pawn, scum of a prince!” Chrysalis shouted in fury again, reinforced in her stance. “I know who you are, filth! Release her or I’ll turn you back into a pony just to break you!”

Twilight writhed, near losing consciousness.

Kill me, kill her! it threatened back. I will have what I want!

Chrysalis had to act fast. She had to make a reckless gamble. But then something incredible came into her mind that changed the situation entirely. Fluttershy. She had just flown close enough to them to enter into a connection with their hivemind again. She was getting close and already igniting her Hive Power. Her power materialized an alternate dimension. It would blow away the black magic of the mist upon Twilight.

“Actually,” Chrysalis corrected with a smirk, “I kill you, I kill you.”

The mist was in their mind. It knew what she did and panicked. Fluttershy would be in range in seconds. It would get sucked in either by the dimension or by Chrysalis’ magic and be laid vulnerable. It was still mortal. Chrysalis’ raw power would kill it. She would kill...him.

The dark mist began to race away as fast as it could. When Chrysalis flew at it to grab and contain the mist with her magic, it ignited a black fireball towards Twilight. This caused the changeling to duck to deflect the destructive flame and allowed the mist to escape back into the wretched fog.

No more than a second after the flame extinguished in Chrysalis’ hole-ridden hooves, the world around her disintegrated into an old familiar dream. A green meadow with a great tree. Twilight laid there by the stream, the black crystals gone. Fluttershy got to her even before Chrysalis, horror still upon the yellow pony’s face as she fought to realize she had indeed arrived in time. Twilight breathed.

Chrysalis almost fell upon both Fluttershy and Twilight, grabbing her queen gently but firmly. “My queen.”

Twilight groaned in pain. Everything hurt. Her wings, her scratched back, her tight throat, her throbbing mind. Her distant hivemind connections were returning. All of her hive members were in chaos too. They scrambled back into her mind at once with a flood of distressed emotions and troubled questions. Except for Spike and Rarity, who were still absent.

Rainbow blasted into Fluttershy’s created hivespace and held Twilight with tears returned to her from earlier. What emotional resilience she had built up by focusing on her queen’s order for assisting aid was now ruined by her nearly losing Twilight in addition to Cloudsdale.

I’ll be fine, Dashie, Twilight assured, thankful to not need her physical voice. She swallowed reluctantly and winced from the pain. We need to get back to aiding Cloudsdale.

Neither she nor the others wanted to add “or what’s left of it.”

Spike held on tight to the edge of the chariot. It bounced furiously at the reckless speed they were traveling and threatened to break apart. Only Rarity’s magic held it together as they hit a rock and a wheel nearly broke clean off.

“Faster!” Spike cried to the six Crystal ponies pulling the chariot. They were the best and swiftest of the empire. Champions from the Equestrian Games. They were the only way for Spike and Rarity to get to Canterlot with any urgency. It all happened so quickly. All at once.

A pegasus flew into the Crystal Castle and collapsed. Exhaustion mixed with horror on her face. She had brought news that Cloudsdale was falling. The entire city. They should have known about any instability prior. They could have been there. Why did the hivemind tell him that the rest of the hive was enjoying a spa vacation? Something was wrong. And then the hivemind cut off entirely.

Cadance was gone with Shining armor. They had left on their trip. What few pegasi were in the Empire could not manage to carry them. Their Hive Powers were greatly deteriorated with the disconnect. The train was the next fastest transportation, but the railway had just shut down. News came of the railroad’s key bridges having collapsed. It had to be deliberate. It was too much of a coincidence.

So they traveled by a six-pony chariot team. They had already passed Neighagra Falls and seen the warped transmitter. With no way to confirm what was going on in Canterlot, Spike feared for Twilight’s life. Rarity trembled beside him in the chariot, biting her lip while trying to hold the transport together with her magic.

They raced into a mossy canyon that would lead them to Mt. Canter.

It was there that they were ambushed by the changeling swarm.

Spitfire’s eyelids creaked open. Good, she thought. There was at least one part of her that was not broken. Everything hurt. The pain threatened another blackout and came at her in harsh waves. Her training allowed her to focus on what was important, though. Besides, she was only one in thousands by the screams she heard around her.

The blood-stained mare looked down to the young colt in her hooves. He was staining his light green coat with tears and his eyes were still screwed as tight as he was clutching her. He looked unharmed, though. So she had succeeded when she dove to save him at the last moment of impact. He had been fleeing the city and she had been getting ponies out. He was the last one she had gotten to before everything came to a blackout.

She took the damage for him as the lower district they had been in shattered around them, covering him in her hooves and wings. It was her duty. It was also who she was. By the looks of her wings and legs around the colt, she wouldn’t have that duty to carry any longer.

Broken.

She tried to use what was available of her shaky and coarse voice to sooth the child.

She had no regrets.

“Contain it! Contain it!” the fire marshal shouted above the roar of the flames and shouts of his fellow firefighting ponies. Canterlot had an unfortunately sparse brigade in spite of the city’s large size and every one of the sixty gear-heavy ponies was here now with many more who were not fighters but helping in the interest of not burning alive.

Eight hundred. That was the rough estimate the marshal gave when they raced in. That many critically injured ponies in this section of the cratered foothills. They couldn’t move. Not enough able hooves to evacuate them. If the raging fire finished circling them in, they would all go from half a chance to live to none at all.

To Tartarus, the marshal cursed as Applejack lassoed a firefighter out from the front when he passed out from a flare that had lashed at him. Burnout. Now there were fifty-nine fighters. If the injured would burn then he would do so first. When the flames leaped out and trailed towards a downed pegasus, he charged to save him.

Pinkie Pie wiped sweat from her forehead. She was always one for energy but not for this. She laid out beds, cots, pillows, blankets. Canterlot Hospital was long past full. The streets outside of it were now a makeshift emergency hospital. Hundreds and hundreds. They never stopped coming. Each pegasus worse off than the last.

She wiped the tears from her eyes. Everypony was crying. She couldn’t. She had to be the one to make them smile. That was who she was. She tried, but it was hard. It came out weak and when she spoke, it sounded even to her like she couldn’t have meant the words of encouragement she gave to the injured.

She used their hivemind to stay strong. Twilight heard and felt her. She gave her comfort and strength. They could get through this. They had to. Twilight was a great leader. Equestria would be okay...it would be...it would be…

The banner mares were with her. They helped set up the next tent, which they placed at the start of a new street stretching towards the city gate. The rough canvas of the tent went taut under her hooves and she snapped a structural lock in place that was getting harder to see in her grasp. Fog was rolling into the city along with smoke. Though the crash was down at the foothills, the fog and smoke rolled up the mountain into the city.

Soir Soleil, one of the banner mares and maids, exclaimed in her unique accent. “Five more coming! Quick! Open the tent and get the water!”

Twilight ascended above the foothills, still covered in dirt and ash. Chrysalis, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy were around her in a protective watch while Twilight gathered her power again. She had exhausted herself before, but Chrysalis had given her some magic in return once ordered. It had very much been against the changeling's will, but she obeyed her queen. The strain from the earlier exhaustion and then the fighting could cause long-term damage to the queen’s body if she kept pushing herself like this.

Rainbow Dash had started to assist by using her Hive Power to blow the fog and smoke away to help those giving aid. Twilight stopped her quick when she realized the fires below would be stoked by such a blast. Perhaps a powerful enough wind could overwhelm the flames and put them out, but she wouldn’t risk torching the survivors below if it went poorly.

Peculiar magic conjured up by Twilight’s combined hivemind knowledge and Applejack’s Hive Power began sucking the fog and smoke instead into a void. The flames would not be encouraged. By now, a thick line of ponies was moving between the crash site and Canterlot, which was up the sorrow-plagued mountain. Within that dense line another thin line moved non-stop as if it were a conveyer belt in a factory. It was the unicorns moving the injured pegasi up to the city. Tents were already being set up closer to the foothills and along the path.

Countless pegasi tried to approach Twilight in the sky. Chrysalis and Rainbow Dash had to fend them off. They were the masses of uninjured pegasi who had successfully evacuated the city. They were the vast majority. Only the sheer size of the Cloudsdale population meant that the tiny minority who had not made it out in the rush were such a numerous amount of ponies.

It was not the fault of the uninjured for trying to get to the queen. They were all horrified. Homeless. With family and friends missing and not knowing if they were even still alive.

The nightmare would end, Twilight told her hive.

They would take care of everypony, she reaffirmed with compassion.

Then her mood turned momentarily to furious hatred. Those behind this would pay dearly.

Morning came the next day. Queen Twilight rose the sun the same as it had been risen every day under Princess Celestia. Nothing much had changed. The injured were still being treated with sparse resources and inadequately trained ponies. Half of Canterlot was filled with them, causing all sorts of new problems besides the obvious ones. Aid began to arrive from other cities, but was hindered by a closed railroad system, which Twilight only now could begin investigating in the interest of getting aid where it needed to be.

Pinkie Pie tied a cupcake-patterned handkerchief to her forehead to keep the sweat from soaking her light blue eyes. She rushed fresh water to the tents to clean wounds and prevent dehydration. Even her Hive Power of quick speed and unlikely teleportation was meeting a limit as she used every trick she could to fulfill the needs greater than her abilities. The maids and guards did likewise, while the others were out in the fields doing their part.

Applejack was now leading the fire fighting in the foothills with her special Void. The major fires had been extinguished and thousands saved for it, but the Canterlot Fire Brigade was no more. All sixty firefighters had joined the critically injured and two hundred more non-fighters, who nearly died taking the place of the properly trained out of utmost necessity. For those in the worst condition, it was yet to be seen if they would survive the day.

An old rusty siren and the firecart it belonged on could just be heard screaming its way off-road towards the ash-covered foothills. The Fillydelphia and Baltimare Fire Brigades had just arrived at the same time. Good, Pinkie thought. Maybe Applejack could help her now. She was a strong pony. They both were. After all, they were Earth ponies and most probably cousins too.

The pink pony took back her assessment. Things had changed for the better. And there was something else that had refreshed her spirits. It was such an odd thing but inescapable of notice.

Canterlot was supposed to be a city of stuck-up unicorns who cared nothing for their fellow ponies. Especially pegasi. There were a number of unicorns for sure, who had hidden themselves away into the upper levels and most gated portions of the city. But the outer districts and the majority of the unicorns were not sealed off in mansions. They were right here with Pinkie Pie.

Carrying the injured whether with magic, or if that was exhausted, by their own shoulders. They wrapped the injured, gave them food, and helped reunite families fearful of having lost their beloved. Seeing the ponies in Canterlot forget and give up everything else to help the pegasi made Pinkie remember this was still Equestria. This was still the place where everypony – or almost everypony – cared about each other. Whether events got bad or worse, everypony was still united in the common good. That was who they were. That was what Equestria was.

It would be okay.

2 - Recovery and Snow

Rainbow Dash. Hero of the Skies. She might have been named that in a different life. Heroism was fine but she didn’t want any more violence. Any more pain. She didn’t see any pride, honor, or gain in that and loathed those that did. Because it was them who caused this.

Her heart had been broken when Cloudsdale fell. Now she walked through Canterlot Castle with her head hung low. She wasn’t doing nothing. No, she was too loyal to abandon her friends and especially her queen and special somepony. She just chose to do things more menial, where she could let her thoughts and feelings take their course. Unlike Pinkie Pie, who was so immersed in helping out in what had become known in the recent days as “Tent City” Or “Pegasi Down.” The latter didn’t escape Rainbow as being completely derogatory in meaning.

Twilight Sparkle had too many urgent matters on her plate of responsibility to deal with a depressed Rainbow Dash right now. And yet here she was coming around a corner from the kitchen to snatch that same pegasus from an errand. Rainbow had been delivering documents from the court chamber on the distribution of supplies to the emergency zones set up in Canterlot.

“Dashie,” Twilight began softly, coming up to her side and beginning what she knew would be a difficult conversation. “I know how hard this is-”

“I know,” the blue mare said quickly. “I know you feel what I feel. You know what I know. I just,” she paused to consider what she did indeed feel, “don’t know if I feel what I feel.”

“Dashie,” the queen’s face saddened and she stopped them in the grand but empty castle hallway. Though red carpet laid atop the hard stone floor beneath, she could only imagine it still felt just as cold to her Rainbow.

“You do feel what you do,” Twilight assured with a hoof on RD’s shoulder and their eyes met. “I know I could change that, but I decided not to. I don’t want you to feel this way. I never want you or anyone else to feel this bad. But I won’t take away your individuality. I won’t make you be anyone besides yourself. I wouldn’t be confident that you really loved me otherwise or that you were really you at all.”

Rainbow was about to cry, but held back the tears and pressed her face against Twilight’s neck instead. “It’s gone,” she sniffled. “It’s really gone.”

Twilight embraced Rainbow fully. There was nothing she could say. She couldn’t bring back the old Cloudsdale or what it meant to those who lived in it. Those that grew up in it. So she did what she could do and sat there with Rainbow now crying in her hooves. She let Rainbow remain herself.

She let her face her own loss, as many other pegasi were doing.

She stayed there to comfort her through it.

Hay in an apple barrel!

Applejack kicked the ground in frustration. This had been the only lead they had and now it turned out that Sombra had just lead them into the middle of nowhere to ditch the trail for good. The Earth pony turned to Midnight Strike, the guard that Twilight had sent with her.

“Rainbow Falls has a magical leyline that interferes with magic traces, correct?” he guessed while testing the flow of a rainbow stream. The myriad of bright colors in the mysterious water flowed effortlessly around his dark blue hoof and even reflected the hues back onto his silver mane, giving it some bright color under the shining sun.

“As good as my Void,” Applejack agreed. She looked around for another minute and had to give up for lack of a reasonable hope to search.

The magic emitted from this place forces trails and traces to be absorbed into its signature. Twilight’s conclusion over the hivemind stopped Applejack from further futility. Talk to the residents. They might have seen something that the currents have washed away.

And you? AJ asked in reply. She could tell her queen was planning something to do as well.

Twilight didn’t bring up Sombra, however. It is absolutely critical that we get to him as soon as possible so he cannot repeat what happened to Cloudsdale. However, he won’t need to do that if Equestria falls apart on its own. There is unrest in Las Pegasus over what happened. I have to go there myself to ease tensions.

You’re in no shape, AJ grumbled. Not after fixin’ the railroad too.

It was Fluttershy who replied, though. Her calm and soothing voice betrayed a motherly affection that seemed odd given the recent events but usual given her inexhaustible kindness. We know. She isn’t going anywhere without our care.

Chrysalis and the maids gave their agreement in the hivemind. The queen’s two remaining guards reinforced her protection as well. Although Rainbow Dash was close to Twilight both in the mind and reality, her voice was weak. Cloudsdale was too close in her heart as well. Rainbow Dash’s father had been in Cloudsdale and thankfully only had minor injuries, as losing him might have proven too much for the mare who was only now facing the full intensity of the grief.

Trying to keep moods light in days that were anything but that, Applejack tried a smirk. You sure you ain’t more interested in her flanks than her wellbein’?

Applejack, Fluttershy complained with an embarrassed wobble in the hivemind utterance.

Hey now, the farmpony broke a laugh which anypony not in the hivemind would have seen as strange. You don’t have any competition from me. Twi’s nice and all but she’s not my kind of pony. You, RD, and Chrysy can have her all to yourselves.

Chrysalis asked her a question she didn’t see coming in her light-hearted attempt to brighten their spirits. The changeling’s thoughts came across almost as buzzy as her voice in real life. So what kind of pony are you attracted to, hm?

Applejack stiffened. Midnight Strike drew his hoof from the stream and placed it back upon the soft green grass that covered the flat area of the Rainbow Falls mountainside. He looked to her with a quizzical expression, expecting something interesting.

I...uh...hrm... AJ’s face contorted. How did one go about masking thoughts inside the hivemind again? Aw, nelly.

Oh...oh my, Fluttershy covered her face where she was in Canterlot Castle.

Chrysalis responded with only a smirk and a single word. Hot.

Spike curled tighter around himself upon the throne of the Crystal Castle. Anything would have been better than this. He had long gotten past the relief over his mother’s safety and now bathed in the annoyance of being sent back to the Empire when the rest of Equestria was inflamed in danger and disaster. That and the changeling swarm that had attacked them only to retreat.

A beautiful white unicorn entered the throne room. Her coat, mane, and tail shone like crystal in what had become more and more her regular form. Whether it was related to her Element of Harmony, cutie mark, or love of crystal ponies, she shimmered in that special glassy sparkle that made Spike’s fiery dragon heart burn with passion. In spite of her love of more showy apparel, the mare was well insulated with a magnificent and furry purple overcoat that flared from her hips in a most becoming manner for a pony as attractive as she was. Or perhaps that was only the dragon’s mind that thought so. He didn’t care whether it was an opinion or not. The Element of Generosity was breathtaking.

She was also very smart on using their hivemind to read his moods and find ways of soothing them. That was what she intended to do now. If not to distract him from the recent disaster of Cloudsdale then to distract herself. They were all finding ways of coping with the reality.

“Spikey,” she said in an almost sing-song tone upon entering the throne room. Her spirits were higher than they had been upon leaving Canterlot a few days prior. Perhaps it was because their hivemind had been restored properly, or that she was safe again with Spike in the Empire, or perhaps some random crystal pony had bestowed her some act of kindness as they were apt to do in response to her own generosity.

“Hm?” Spike grunted, his attitude only now beginning to improve in her presence.

The mare walked right up to him and put her hoof on his claw. “No need for brooding, darling. The Empire needs us.”

“Twilight needs us,” Spike countered with a huff of smoke from his nostrils. His increased size meant that he almost took up more space than the throne allowed and the smoke he could produce from a simple huff was enough to contain a glow of heat.

What had happened nearly a week ago had been troubling to put it lightly. Something must have changed in the enemy’s plan. Rarity gathered from their renewed connection to their queen that the changeling swarm had been called off once Sombra’s plan in the Canterlot foothills fell apart. They didn’t know what had originally been schemed for the swarm to do with Spike and Rarity but whatever it was had required that Twilight been taken in a weakened state.

Neither Spike nor Rarity wanted to pursue the changelings in retreat while still concerned over Twilight’s safety and not knowing of her status or that of their friends for that matter. So the changelings had gotten away and the traces were long covered up by the time opportunity had returned to find them. At least no considerable injuries had been inflicted in that canyon. Even during the worst of it, when Spike had been buried in twenty chaneglings trying to capture him, it was doubtful if the dark beings could actually accomplish it. The chariot drivers were safe too – at no small effort by Spike to protect them.

Rarity took her custom made ushanka from her head and placed it upon the smaller throne that had been set up beside the primary one. It had once been sparsely used by Shining Armor while his wife, the Crystal Princess, ruled the empire. Now with the Empire’s hero Spike at the throne, Rarity took the seat as a caretaker.

“Twilight cares about more than herself,” Rarity spoke boldly but not without her kind disposition towards Spike. She loved him dearly just as he loved her, but she was not shy to speak her mind when it contradicted his own. He would have known in the hivemind had she said nothing anyways.

Another huff of smoke came from the dragon, but it came from his mouth this time in the form of a sigh. “May I be allowed to make a point you cannot defeat?”

“Not likely,” Rarity answered easily with a grin. “Now come, there are more pressing matters for us to settle with the public.”

Spike rolled his eyes, knowing what the matter was that she referred to. He had felt her shock in the hivemind when she became aware of the “issue” earlier that day. “That’s not pressing.”

Rarity scoffed with a dramatic harrumph. “I most certainly believe it is! I will not be seen as some...some accessory to someone else! Even if that someone is my Spikey Wikey.”

“It’s considered a very respectable position in the Emp-”

Rarity would have no more. She plucked the dragon whole from his throne with her cyan magic. It was now infused with green sparks and powerful enough to hover the dragon in the air beside her despite his being nearly twice her size (depending on how one measured such sizes).

The dragon groaned in the magical grasp because it meant that he could no longer afford to keep his grouchy attitude and would have to face the worries of the crystal ponies and, of course, Rarity. He also groaned because he had gone to the trouble of warming up the throne and now his hot spot would get cold again. The air outside the castle was even colder, as evidenced by Rarity’s thick overcoat and her replacing the ushanka on her head. She also repositioned her pink scarf so that the tapered ribbons that trailed the ends would flow along with the angles of her overcoat.

They both traveled the foyer and outer courtyard. Rarity only dropped Spike back to his feet once they were just before the courtyard and confident he would not flee back to warmth. He refused any considerable amount of clothing for himself but did accept a white and purple colored scarf around his neck, which he put on before they exited the door.

The Empire was even more severe than the last time Spike saw it from outdoors. He had not been hidden in the castle for long, either. Weather in the Empire was not a lucid thing. Crystal magic kept the city safe and green from the worst, but lapses had to be built into the outer crystal emitters to prevent overload or deterioration. This was the peak of a lapse and snow was thick everywhere one looked.

The powdery ice crunched beneath his clawed feet and the high-walled boots Rarity had now added to her attire. She was well on her way to looking like a true pony of the North. The only things missing were the more rugged condition of her clothing and the accent which, though common with the ponies of the North who traded here, was absent in the crystal ponies themselves who had come back from a time very different from the modern era.

They tread carefully through the snow-stricken streets, waving to ponies who were working tirelessly with shovels and wheelbarrows to keep the roads useable. They bowed in return, but it was a city square near the castle that was Rarity’s destination. A group of ponies was there, crystal coats shining even in the gentle snowfall. The ponies huddled around the square’s public bonfire that helped the surrounding blocks with the cold of the outdoors or the isolation of individual fireplaces.

Spike noticed that they were all adults. Perhaps the younger ones were kept indoors with their own fireplaces or perhaps more likely they were in the parks playing in the snow while their break from school allowed it. But more noticeable were the snickers that some of these crystal ponies were trying to hold back out of respect when they saw the pair approach. He and Rarity walked right up to them and the dragon made no effort to hide his greed of the fire’s heat. His eyes lidded with pleasure as the warmth seeped into his scales and the snow beneath him had been left behind for a somewhat less cold marble road.

“Now we may put this affair to rest,” Rarity said to the ponies with a high nose.

Silence. Crackling of the fire. They all looked to Spike.

The dragon wanted to roll his eyes again but didn’t want to further upset his special unicorn either. “No,” he confirmed to the small crowd. “Rarity is not my concubine.”

One of the braver of the ponies, a light brown stallion of medium build, had to ask. “But do you not love one another, Spike the Brave and Glorious?”

Rarity was torn at that, knowing she loved Spike but not knowing how to express that in a way these ponies would understand. They seemed to have a difficult time applying their usual romantic terminology to the relationships of a ruler or caretaker.

“N-n-no...I mean, yes. We do. We love each other. But we aren’t...I mean…” Spike fumbled with his response.

“Oh,” one of the middle-aged mares in the crowd appeared to brighten with an idea. “So you just haven’t done it yet.”

“Done it?” Spike’s face was blank and then started to grow hot as he heard Rarity’s own thought and reaction in the hivemind. He looked to her, the mare’s face blushing hard and her mouth stammering for a response at the etiquette-breaking frankness of the remark.

The stallion that had spoken first looked up and down the dragon, who was standing tall on his hind legs. “I suppose it would be difficult to manage since you’re...rather large.”

Rarity’s face paled this time. It might have been visible if not for her naturally light complexion and the whitening fog of the snowfall. Spike, however, was wrestling with what was going on between him and Rarity in their hivemind. He was at first dumb to the meaning of the conversation, then enlightened by Rarity’s clear understanding of it, then embarrassed by the implications, then hurt by Rarity trying to put up a wall in the hivemind to calm her own embarrassment from Spike and the others. Especially the others. Rarity didn’t want Twilight or Chrysalis to listen in on this or her thoughts. Particularly Applejack, who Spike could already hear laughing her flank off.

“Oh my,” another mare exclaimed from the other side of the fire. “Poor girl.”

A second stallion also added in. “No, she’ll be fine. I hear that dragons have t-”

“For Celestia’s sake!” Rarity finally cried out, her head now feeling light from her struggling in the hivemind. “Who taught you to speak so openly of such private affairs?!”

“Why the Crystal Princess, of course!” they all answered in unison.

“Our Beloved Cadance has revealed to us the beauty of love and the folly of shame,” the first stallion explained.

“And she has explained to us the pride it brings to a dragon to speak of his of her achievements in love!” a third mare chimed in with a sparkle in her eye. Apparently, she thought she could win points with Spike by speaking of his bedroom affairs. “Truly only Spike the Brave and Glorious could win the heart of one of Equestria’s famous Elements of Harmony, watch over us with love and protection, and produce for the whole world to see the first and finest of the pony-dragons!”

Spike and Rarity both gaped. Whether it was in white shock or red embarrassment was difficult for the crystal ponies to discern. Mostly they just saw two lovebirds they cherished as rulers and overseers.

“Don’t let us keep you,” the first mare bowed. “Cold nights make for warm bedrooms.”

The second stallion bowed too but looked up with a wink. “Nail her good, Spike the Brave and Glorious.”

Rarity’s voice screamed in the hivemind what she still resiliently had the decency not to say to the crystal ponies before them. Cadance! I’ll get you for this, you whore!

Shining Armor was packing up their tent so that they might continue their journey. He heard his wife snicker behind him and so turned around. "What's so funny?" he asked innocently.

There was a creepy smile on her face. "Just remembering something I did before we left."

3 - Future Worries

Las Pegasus. A city that, in spite of the implication of its name, was not just for pegasi. It was founded by pegasi who wanted a bridge town for dealing with the other races. Much of the architecture incorporated the special magic of pegasi cloud buildings. None of it, though, was constructed in such a way that a non-pegasus would have trouble traversing it.

“Achoo,” Fluttershy sneezed gracefully upon entering their creaky inn room once more. She hung her butterfly-patterned scarf on the hook near the door before walking over to the kitchen area.

It was a bright day outside but very chilly. The sun almost struck noon and everything was sparkling with the myriads of bright colors the city had become known for. Public sentiment was not as cheery, though. Cloudsdale had the greatest population of pegasi in all of Equestria for good reason, but Las Pegasus was next. The last census had shown nearly fifty-five percent of all residents being pegasi, which was quite disproportionate when compared to most other places throughout the land.

It would make sense, then. Feelings over the recent destruction of Cloudsdale would run highest here. The information Twilight was getting from Chrysalis was painting an even bleaker picture. Perhaps the world of politics and public affairs was not the most favorite of Twilight’s old interests, but it was looking as if that would be all that her life would become. Sadly, it made sense. She was the Queen of Equestria. It was hard to rise a complaint without sounding like she just wanted to quit her job.

And, of course, that would never happen. She promised the princesses before they left. To say nothing of her foundational care and concern towards the ponies of Equestria.

-ection, Chrysalis finished explaining from her chair she was sitting on in the city hall while reading an array of documents that Twilight had told her to procure.

Wait, Twilight began backtracking mentally. She put down the hayburger she had been eating in the private inn suite on the outskirts of the city. It had been a chore just to secure a place where she could stay before officially entering the city and being swamped by all the citizens within. Repeat that.

Brooding again? Chrysalis teased. Her lackadaisical attitude towards the seriousness of the situation was silent testament to how much she failed to care. Twilight was the only thing that mattered in her world. That and the well-being of their small hive, of course. I said that in addition to the massive influx of refugees boarding with known relations here in the city and thus breaking the limits of public services, five days ago there was supposed to be a local election.

Election? Was it put on hold? Twilight inquired.

The changeling waved to a pony who walked by. He looked to be a secretary of some kind, but he also appeared absolutely terrified by the sight of the changeling. Only the presence of one of the hall clerks working with her kept him from running for help. The wave Chrysalis gave him made him get out of there even faster, which only amused the changeling into a buzzy snicker.

Yes, Chrysalis confirmed. The standing mayor and city council was given an emergency extension of office due to the crisis. The power to do so was established centuries ago and given to the discretion of the city council. Therefore, it was all legal. The mayor is a unicorn, though, and his popularity plummeted long before Cloudsdale.

Twilight bit her lip at the thought. She found out earlier that the city council had also generated some public distrust after passing a series of controversial allocations of public funds. The council was comprised of five unicorns, four Earth ponies, and only three pegasi. That didn’t help matters when two of the Earths and all three of the pegasi had backed polices with majority public support only to be repeatedly crushed by the unicorns and other two Earths.

The standard method of public action was thus stonewalled. The resulting unrest, with no means of a diplomatic response through city governance, could boil into a riot. Tens of thousands in Las Pegasus were demonstrating pointlessly to a local government that had just made itself unaccountable to its own population. In other words, the only thing left to start the fire was the spark.

Canterlot’s resources are drained, Twilight recalled. I've ordered all guard resources to finding our enemy. The rest of Equestria has poured their emergency funds into maintaining the medical and food supplies for the camps. There’s not enough left without Las Pegasus using its own resources...

Manehattan could send the aid, Rainbow Dash suggested. She was perched up on the top of an apartment building inside Las Pegasus. It was near the western city square. The cool breeze made her wings shiver and fold closer against her body. Fall was supposed to be setting in, but it was anypony’s guess now what was going to happen with the weather. Cloudsdale was gone, which meant that local weather teams would have to manage something without the big weather factories to back them up.

Symbols of a hundred kinds were visible on signs of demonstrators below. Rainbow leaped off the roof edge she was on and began a gentle glide over 30th West Street. She always could read ground conditions better during flight. The symbols started to catch her eyes and she recognized a few.

Uh, Twi, she called in to her queen again.

If you have any ideas that don’t involve me kicking out the city council and the mayor to govern myself, then I’m totally open, Twilight deadpanned. She kept tearing pages from a binder next to her lunch plate. Pages full of useless ideas she had drafted that wouldn’t work. Manehattan will take too long.

Bad news and bad news, Rainbow frowned and banked hard at an intersection to follow another road. It was even more packed with ponies below. Which do you want to hear first?

Twilight skipped the small talk and simply reached into Rainbow’s mind through their connection. The symbols on the signs. Some of them were from local weather control groups. The local weather ponies were out there, which meant they were stopping weather duty for the city. Some had signs declaring an end to all weather until emergency aid was released by the city. Others declared strikes in response to the city’s newly passed financial cuts to all weather teams. Rainbow was hearing the chants, and thus so did Twilight.

“No weather pay! No rain today!”

The alicorn queen slammed her head on the table, narrowly missing what remained of her hayburger. Was the city council insane? Did they really think they could survive without weather support on top of Cloudsdale’s loss? Then it hit her and her face drew back up. Those seven ponies on the council were probably Elite party members. Only those who had been directly involved in the coup had been jailed so far – not all members of the party, which had ponies spread throughout Equestria.

“Twilight,” Fluttershy walked up to her mare’s side and hugged her. “It’ll be okay.”

“Maybe we should flip a coin on that,” Twilight deadpanned.

Chrysalis focused. Her mind was having a hard time keeping up with the speed that her queen’s was now moving at. Even with her experience as a former hive queen, Chrysalis was surprised. Twilight was too strong now to give in to any feeling of helplessness or failure. Unless she saw it as an inescapable destiny-

“Do you require further documents or services, ma’am?” the clerk pony interrupted her thoughts, a hint of nervousness still on her face. Chrysalis waved her off, which she gladly responded to with some expression of having other business to attend to. The mare left as if her tail was on fire.

Twilight’s mind was fifty steps ahead in a game of mental chess. She was already figuring out how to handle Las Pegasus. Chrysalis pinpointed the small amount of despair that still clung in her mind. Every time the queen tried a new approach it led to the same place. Removing the local government to release aid in one form or another. That meant taking direct control, which the Elite party in Canterlot was already blaming Twilight for. Blaming her as a tyrant obsessed with power. Las Pegasus was simply her next victim.

And those ponies were here. Inside Las Pegasus and on the streets, surrounded by other ponies ready to riot. If they took control of the situation, things could get ugly. Sure, it was unlikely. But Twilight hadn’t anticipated a planned coup either. It may be true that the queen could have majority support overnight, but if the local Elites had any plans or countermeasures, there could be serious trouble.

Chrysalis had no issue with trouble.

The tall black shape shifter stood from her seat, which was a tad too small for her anyhow. She raised a hole-ridden forehoof and looked at it. Green electricity snapped around it with the smallest effort of magic. With Twilight as her queen and also as a lover, she had more power than she had ever dreamed of. That was all that mattered to her. She could destroy any pony – or any city – that threatened that. To her, the issue was clean cut and she voiced as much.

You have all of the information and preparation you need, my queen, she broke into her mare’s worries with brutal clarity. The mayor and the city council are guilty of conspiring against the public welfare. Put them in jail like you did in Canterlot and take direct control.

I would be a tyrant, Twilight argued with abhorrence. She knew the path she had already started on. It had been only because of a coup before, but would this end with Las Pegasus? Or would all of Equestria lose the system of government that had presided over it for a thousand years?

A savior! Chrysalis countered proudly. We can even vacation at the best spots in the city while the local teams take care of the weather. All happy and smiling too. Right, Pinkie?

Sounds wonderific! Wish I could be there! the pink pony managed to exert her bubbly glee over the hivemind even though she had been hospitalized in Canterlot from severe exhaustion. She smiled even while laying in her medical bed.

Maybe the others knew how much of a big decision this was for her but didn’t feel it in their hearts as she did. The best option she could think of to preventing total collapse was by her appointing a new city council with public input. She was not so naive to miss the fact that it could be seen merely as her assigning puppets and she would lose popular support. Or perhaps the Elite infiltrators in the crowd were positioned specifically to determine which names for office came up. Considering the turncoat strategy they had used-

Consarnit, Applejack broke in. Just do somethin’ already. We can fix the problems as they come. If they come. No more waitin’. Just doin’!

“Ugh,” Twilight groaned in frustration. She broke at that and gave in. “Fine! You’re right. I shouldn’t worry about potential future outcomes so much that it paralyzes me. I need to handle problems as they come,” she exclaimed and got up from the table with a strong posture. Perhaps some more of Chrysalis had rubbed off on her or perhaps she was just remembering a past lesson she had already learned. “But if I’m going to do this then I’m going to do it big! Shy, get my crown thingy. We’re going to take over a city and I’m going to do it-”

Rarity finished her line over the hivemind.

-with style!

Rarity adjusted the sleeve on her long purple overcoat. It was still chilly enough for her to keep it on in their study here at the castle. Normally, the combination of the fire and Spike’s warm embrace could eliminate the need of insulating clothes. However, she wasn’t of the mind to be held by the dragon while they had a special guest in the room. Especially not after that embarrassing affair in the square.

The orange unicorn with off-white hooves adjusted his large glasses. His orange-reddish mane was a horrid mess by Rarity’s standards, but his blue cloak had some clever style. It was rather close to the sort of thing Twilight might like. Somehow, it reminded her of the dress she made for Twilight years ago for the Grand Galloping Gala.

“You’re quite in luck,” the stallion gave a soft smile, like one not accustomed to being useful. He patted the tall pile of books next to him on the fireplace rug where he also kept warm. “I happened to be reviewing the subject in light of recent events in Equestria.”

“Thank you for coming, Sunburst,” Spike appreciated, his somewhat deeper voice still recognizable to the pony who had seen him before as a much smaller dragon during the Equestria Games. “We may not be there in person to help Twilight, but maybe we can do the reading for her.”

“I am not sure,” Rarity raised a forehoof to her chin and turned so her other flank now faced the fireplace behind her, “how much this will help. They are just some dusty old history books, no?”

The male unicorn smiled some more. Apparently he was amused at the idea of a necessary lecture. “History is what made us who we are today. Understanding the past is how one can understand the present and the future. Ponies of centuries past have faced the same problems we face today, albeit with different names and dates.”

“We were hoping for something...relevant to what’s happening,” Spike interjected.

“O-of course,” Sunburst fumbled for a second and then slipped a book into his magical grasp from the middle of the pile. “Perhaps we should start with the issue at hoof then. The Twenty Hours Coup of Canterlot, as it is being freshly chronicled, was not simply an isolated event of the modern era. It is one detail of an entire line of history going all the way back to the formation of Equestria. The Elite party, as it is now called, was formed almost entirely from members of an older party that fell apart some three hundred year-”

“Perhaps a smidgeon of summarization is in order,” Rarity suggested gently and brushed her mane aside with a hoof. She needed to reposition already to warm another part of her chilly neck. Perhaps she should have brought her scarf in from the foyer, since her coat was leaving her neck cold.

Spike nodded and took note of Rarity’s warmth issues.

“Hm, uh, yes, um,” Sunburst mumbled and his eyes darted around as he mentally tried to find a way of assembling the vast knowledge into a concise form still useful for the rulers. “You know the tale of Hearth’s Warming?”

“Of course,” the dragon and mare both answered in unison. They had both enacted parts in the Canterlot pageant, after all. It was, for the most part, a fond memory.

“Well,” Sunburst turned sheepish. “The truth is far less romantic than the tale of Hearth’s Warming. The story is true to an extent but also exaggerated since the ponies involved were not, in fact, the leaders of the three pony races. They were merely common citizens with the exception of the pegasus leader, who happened to be a capt-”

“Sunburst,” Spike calmly insisted while trying not to laugh in good nature at the stallion’s coltish joy he appeared to be experiencing with the tangent. “What’s so important about Hearth’s Warming to what’s going on now?”

“S-sorry,” Sunburst apologized. “Despotism.”

“Excuse me?” Spike’s face was blank.

Rarity frowned and looked to the desk across the study where Spike’s scarf laid.

“Despotism,” Sunburst repeated with another adjustment of his glasses and the opening of yet another book beside him. This time he hovered the book to Spike. “It’s a most persistent form of government when obscured rather than obvious. Monarchs can be points of public rage, but put an oligarchy behind them to pull the strings and you end up with a very secure means of 'swap-the-puppet' government.”

Spike read the cover title of the book. The Shadow State of Unicornia by Clover the Clever. His eyes widened. The author…

Sunburst continued as Rarity retrieved the scarf at the desk with her magic. “Technically, despotism has always existed as a matter of fact in Equestria. Publicly, the concept was ended with the formation of the Equestrian Council that drafted laws the princesses could only veto through an approved process. However, the power behind the curtains had always existed and was only given a more official space within the council. The modern iteration of that power would be the Elite party and its many non-party alliances.”

Rarity, now back with a comfy scarf around her neck and her flanks to the fire, was amazed. “Clover the Clever wrote about this?” she wondered in awe.

“Yes,” Sunburst nodded, as Spike looked through the book. “At least, the part of it that took place during her time. Clover was real and one of the greatest intellectuals of the time. Sadly, her work was intentionally ignored and buried. It exists in this copy here in the Empire – likely because the Empire had been sealed during the time the remaining copies were purged. I haven’t heard of surviving copies in Equestria and references to the work trailed off in records about eight hundred years ago.”

“What about Princess Platinum?” Rarity asked.

“She was made up.”

Rarity gave a dead-faced frown at that.

“Anyways,” Sunburst continued, “the Royal Sisters had only provided a veil to the oligarchy of the unicorn nobles who had arisen to power through the natural systems of economy set in place at the foundation of Equestria. The sisters did not do this intentionally, of course! Those economic systems had been in the charter of nationhood put to quill and signed by Queen Quick Silver, Marshal Marecus, and Chancellor Puddinghead before the arrival of the sisters.”

“Puddinghead was real?” Spike chuckled and flipped his spiney tail.

Sunburst couldn’t help a smile either. “Yes, though she was not the same pony as in the story of Hearth’s Warming. She was quite a bit more...competent than her popular portrayal.”

Hey! Pinkie Pie exclaimed upon hearing that over the hivemind.

The unicorn scholar proceeded, having not heard it. “Of those three ancient leaders, none had imagined the pitfalls of the charter. Or rather, they didn’t bother to address it. At the time, the chief adviser to Queen Quick Silver was indeed Clover the Clever, who had warned of the dangers of a renewed consolidation of power. That power would arise in only a few successive generations under the charter by the nature of their proposed systems of economy.”

“You sound kind of like Twilight,” Spike observed with a blank look.

“What Spike means,” Rarity shifted her eyes from the dragon to the pony, “is that we would like a more direct...interpretation.”

“My apologies,” the unicorn made a slight bow. “I’m not used to this sort of thing. To put it differently, the ponies all ran from the windigos, right?”

“Yes, dear,” Rarity patiently agreed.

“The windigos did come about because of a famine and the events surrounding it,” Sunburst confirmed and pointed to the book Spike held. “Clover recorded all of it. However, the famine was a result of a small group of unicorns that had risen to a position of despotism within the old world. Those unicorn families owned so much of the land that they began directly ordering Earth pony crop rotations to maximize profit, which-”

Sunburst noted the expressions he was getting and revised.

“Unicorns were telling Earth ponies how to farm. It went poorly. Famine,” he summarized and congratulated himself with their understanding looks.

“Then was Queen Quick Silver…?” Rarity guessed, tapping her chin once more.

The scholar nodded. “Actually, it had been one of her sisters who had been an old world despot. The other races would refuse to sign a charter with her because of that, so she relinquished the crown to Quick Silver, who was seen as the more trustworthy and relatable of the two. The despots were still around, but had to relinquish all majority rights to new land divisions. They had to start from scratch, but their new queen included land provisions and rules of market exchange that would favor them in the future.”

“Then the Elite party,” Spike concluded while closing the book, “are their descendants.”

Sunburst nodded. “It’s far more complicated than that, of course. But essentially, yes. I’ll write a more descriptive summary for your future reference. It may help with preventing future problems such as famine. Or perhaps with coping with public pressure, since more power has shifted from the backstage government to the crown after the coup.”

“Thank you very much for the trouble, Sunburst,” Spike gave his appreciation again. A sudden whim encouraged him to hug Sunburst as a form of thanks.

The stallion blushed at that. He was not so vocal and enthusiastic as the crystal ponies, but he had indeed seen Spike’s acts of valor in the Empire and saw his as quite heroic. Rarity bowed to him as well and gave her thanks, sans hug.

When Sunburst had left and taken some of his books back with him, Spike got closer to Rarity. “It’s already helped Twilight,” he reminded her, though they both knew through the hivemind.

“Her speech should be quite captivating now,” Rarity agreed. The context of the past would be something all of the ponies in Las Pegasus would be able to relate to even if the history was mostly lost to time. “Perhaps knowing will also sooth her worries.”

Rarity didn’t have to wait to know the answer to that, since Twilight’s calmer mind had already become obvious over their connection. The white mare stopped thinking of it and leaned back into Spike in front of the study’s fireplace. This was the more effective means of heat capturing she had been waiting for. The dragon’s body soaked up the heat and radiated some back as well, making her feel…

“Divine, darling,” Rarity added and rested against her dragon.

4 - From the Heart

And finally return once more from despotism to the rule of the common pony!” Twilight exclaimed as a triumphal end to her strategically detailed speech.

There she stood along with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy on the quickly put-together stage that a group of Las Pegasus volunteers has assembled so fast that even Rainbow was impressed. The mic and loudspeakers had done their job to broadcast her speech to the densely-packed city square at the heart of the crowds.

Speakers running throughout the city had carried her message down the other streets and smaller squares closely filled with ponies too far away to otherwise catch it. Technically, it had not been in their authority to hack into those speaker lines the way they did, but Twilight had resolved to take over the city anyways and waived the legality of it.

The roaring cheers of pegasi in the air and stomps of hooves of ponies on the ground revealed to the queen her success. Las Pegasus was charged up and no rulings from the council back in Canterlot could change this even if there was a desire for it. Using the information relayed by Sunburst through Spike and Rarity as well as additional information Twilight had ordered from Chrysalis, her message was clear.

And thus was the new government initialized. Twilight had to encourage the excitement to calm down enough for her to say something more, but it was a good half hour or so until it was quiet enough for her to speak over the masses again. This next part had only been possible through an earlier section of her message where she exposed the machinations of the Elite party and warned of possible infiltrators in the crowds who might try to take control of nominations.

“Now please form your groups as discussed prior!” Twilight ordered and looked down to the group of volunteers below the stage who nodded back and went out to assist. “I will be releasing the public aid now and review the new councils afterwards to ensure they match your interest.”

With a bow, she turned from the stage. In spite of her orders for special public assemblies, the crowds could not help a second wave of cheering. The stomping of praise was so loud and intense that it made Twilight’s head rattle. Fluttershy’s teeth were chattering as her body vibrated away, which was stopped when Rainbow Dash put a hoof around her to keep her in place.

Twilight turned to them first when she spun around. Fluttershy was the closest to her since the unbelievable size of the crowd had terrified her into hiding behind Twilight as much as she could. The alicorn’s dark blue tail had been used almost as a blanket due to Fluttershy’s proximity. As bold as the mare had become from their connections, parts of her remained unaltered by hive conformity.

Have the aid teams started yet? Twilight inquired in the hivemind, since talking aloud was likely to have been drowned out by the roar of the masses.

Rainbow Dash nodded proudly. Like yesterday, she reported with a grin.

Midnight Strike and Flash Sentry were on duty on the stage with her and followed her off in protection. Since the crowds were so thick, no pathway could be maintained on the ground. This made Princess Celestia’s decision to nominate a full pegasi guard all the wiser. The group, all with wings, flew calmly from the stage. It took the guards some time to keep the many adoring pegasi flying from the crowd from swamping the queen.

There was one other guard still in Twilight’s immediate service that was, in fact, also on duty. The loss of Centurion meant that they could not swap shifts as they used to and so a fourth guard was now in request – position not yet confirmed by the queen. Direway, however, had a unique position in the Royal Guard before his assignment to then-Princess Twilight Sparkle. His past experience as a special forces guard made him ideal for being the loose agent in the crowd around the stage.

He had detected no direct plot to threaten the queen’s physical safety and rechecked the pegasi approaching her on her departure. Still nothing. His contacts he made with the volunteers, on the other hoof, had indeed revealed an attempted action by the Elite plants to grab power positions in the forming assemblies. He had been charged to follow up on that by his queen and thus went right to it after her safe leave of the square.

The next period of time was unusual. It felt like that space of time one might have after finishing a test with an excellent grade and having no work left to do. And yet also knowing that there was plenty more homework to be assigned on the horizon. In other words, it was a brief lull. Las Pegasus would not likely sleep that night, so the lull was not for it but rather for the queen and most of her hive. The maids carried on as usual and the guards had to stay extra alert, but a couple of ponies found themselves with free time otherwise not planned for.

Two pegasi walked through an empty field near the inn Twilight stayed at outside the city. As much as Fluttershy wanted to stay with Twilight to keep her company while she worked on certain government scrolls in their room, she also wanted fresh air. The air in Las Pegasus had not been the most fresh since the dense and energized crowds had only made it feel close, uncomfortably warm, and quite a bit unsettling. At least for her.

Rainbow didn’t seem to have a care in the world, though.

“It feels like forever,” the rainbow-maned mare remarked as they walked along at a leisurely pace on the ground. Gone was the warm air of the crowded city and in its place was the cold chill of an autumn either starting or ending without a Cloudsdale to progress it. “Since we did this,” she added as if she only thought now to tack it on.

“Did what?” Fluttershy whispered back in her normal tone. She had brought her saddlebags just in case they needed to put on some clothes for warmth or in case they stumbled across some small critter that needed food or perhaps a hoof-knitted sweater. In fact, she had hoped that would wind up being the case.

Rainbow put an arm around her friend the way she had back on the stage. It felt warmer now than it did then. “Just hung out.”

“You didn’t have to join me,” the shy mare said. “I would be okay-”

“To Tartarus you would!” Rainbow challenged but didn’t lose her friendly mood. “What if there were some bad guy just waiting for you to be away from the guards? Then pounce! Zoom! Fluttershy is gone! Foalnapped by Sombra!”

“I’m not a foal,” Fluttershy objected but also shivered, not from the chill this time.

Rainbow chuckled to herself. The grass crunched beneath their hooves as they walked. It had lost its vibrant green of summer and been replaced by the dull wheat-like hue of fall. It was dry, both from natural cycles and from the reduced rain around Las Pegasus. Snapped pieces of the grass tumbled in the occasional breeze that blew by, but it thankfully didn’t rise as high as their faces to make them sneeze.

Gray rain clouds were packed dense above, giving the land a melancholy if not sad shade. Like autumn, the clouds were frozen too. Almost all in place, but not moving or dumping their heavy loads for lack of pegasi to guide them. It was an enormous visual testament to the problems the city had been crippled by. Problems not long to remain after what had just transpired.

The pair kept walking and then diverted off from the side of the field down to a trail that wound up and down like a roller coaster as the banks of dry dirt and grass dictated. They ascended back from one of the dips to a crest that housed an old tree. Leaves of orange and brown hues remained on it in plenty. They paused there as a squirrel peered down from the tree and came down to greet Fluttershy. The small animal hugged the mare’s hoof when given a tasty nut as a gift.

When the squirrel left to stash the nut, Rainbow felt she had no better opportunity to breach a special topic with Fluttershy. It was one they both were aware of because of the hivemind but too timid to address. Even Rainbow felt like she was out of her element. Twilight’s acceptance of her true self might have given her the extra strength to put her feelings into words.

“Shy,” Rainbow said the name with a tiny wobble and looked in her greenish-blue eyes. She felt like these words were new for her and she felt strange for saying them. Sure, they had connected in the hive. But what was connected was the past, not the future. It was the future she was now treading ground with. How ironic that Rainbow had comforted Fluttershy in crowds but it was Fluttershy who soothed her when alone. “You’re a calming pony. We all know it. What you do for Twilight...well...you kind of do it for me too...you know?”

Fluttershy blushed and looked down to poke the ground. She knew what was coming. Rainbow Dash couldn’t hide things in the hivemind and neither could she. At least not well. “I try to be supportive,” she replied, feeling she wanted to say more but not sure how.

Rainbow Dash stepped closer to her. “I never thought I’d be in this kind of spot in life. I mean, loving somepony that other ponies did – I mean, being loved in return by that pony with, um, darn it. How do I even say this?”

The other pegasi heard the stumbling and badly phrased words not as a lack of eloquence but rather a lack of confidence. They knew they had to come to terms with each other in a way they had never done before. Twilight’s love for both of them was what truly made this moment possible.

Fluttershy felt that knowing Rainbow through the hivemind had opened her up to her long-time friend as somepony more than just a friend. If Twilight would be with them for the rest of time as somepony romantic to them then that meant that obviously there would be a special relationship between them as well.

A soft yellow forehoof came up to rest on Rainbow’s lips. “Shh,” she cooed gently. “I know, Dashie. I’m lucky to have you in my life too. I love all of you for who you are and I’ll try my best to be as loving to you as I am with Twilight, even though she’s the one we both fell in love with first.”

Rainbow nodded and her eyes softened to the kind expression Fluttershy seemed to always have. Her lips slid into a serene smile behind the hoof that now dropped with a clop back to the ground. The squirrel remained in her house within the tree, looking down at the two ponies below and knowing to give them some space. The blue one’s words were not as sensible as the kind yellow one that had given the gift. Her speech was as understandable as another squirrel’s and so the small critter hid back in her tree with a blush at some of the words that followed.

The Element of Kindness leaned forward and kissed the Element of Loyalty on her cheek. Rather close to her lips.

“I’m excited too,” one of the ponies whispered.

“Fluttershy!” Twilight cried out happily when the mare entered their room. She knew the mare had been coming but enjoyed greeting all the same. Truly some things that had been made useless because of the hivemind would not be abandoned merely for their lack of utility. The alicorn stepped to meet her special somepony halfway and embraced her with the warmth of one who had been near a fireplace.

The pair of pegasi had retreated back to the inn when groups of other pegasi could be seen flying out from the city to return to local weather work. Thousands of jobs put back into motion by the queen’s actions and that meant rain. Lots of it. The pip-pip and drip-drip of the skyfallen water had already begun to be heard in the fireplace-warmed inn room.

The dark woods of the old room glowed from the fire due to the lack of natural lighting blocked by the blankets of clouds above. If not for Twilight’s close embrace of the shy mare and the somewhat lavender-like scent of her pink mane, she would have smelled the crackle of the fire and the fresh bottle of cider she had opened on the room’s sole table.

“You didn’t have to leave Dashie, you know,” Twilight said while stroking the mare’s mane and then going back to the table.

“She wanted to make some cookies for you again,” Fluttershy remarked with a giggle. “There haven’t been many sweets around, especially with Pinkie gone-”

I will have my revenge! Pinkie shouted dramatically over the hivemind.

“-and only the inn’s main kitchen has the oven for it.”

Twilight poured two glasses of cider and glanced back to the mare. “And she wanted to give us some time to relax by ourselves before having me.”

Cider! Come on! Rainbow complained from the kitchen several rooms over. You didn’t have to break out the cider while I’m not there!

Fluttershy gave a big cheesy smile to that.

You’ll get plenty, Dashie, the queen tsk’d. We won’t even drink half of it and I have a second bottle here just for you.

I think I’m in love, Rainbow joked with a hearty spirit in return.

Better not be, Applejack joked over their mind. She was idling her time away while taking a long train ride to Ponyville. I got a whole case of it saved for you down at the farm. I don’t want no mare fallin’ for me over that!

Can’t take the heat, AJ? Rainbow countered in an old mood of rivalry.

Twi ain’t my type and, sorry filly, but you ain’t either. No offense.

None taken, Rainbow crossed her forehooves and leaned against the kitchen counter while waiting for the cookies to bake. I’m drowning in mares already~

And one changeling, Dashie, a familiar voice of a shape-shifter intervened.

Rainbow gulped. She had squared her feelings with Fluttershy and how she felt with Twilight was apparent. She could live quite happily in her relationship with both mares at the same time. Chrysalis, however, was another dimension entirely. She wasn’t sure how she was going to feel if they ever got intimate. It would be a unique experience to say the least.

If Twilight had not assigned me to help watch over the assemblies, Chrysalis noted with a disturbingly sweet tone, I would be there with you now, Dashie. Bonding deliciously so that our future time together with our queen will go smooth and…slick.

Rainbow Dash might have been mistaken for a purple rather than blue mare since her blush was mixing the color of her coat. It felt as weird as it probably should given their relationship was not as close as with some others. But she felt a stiffness form in her wings and moaned at herself for being so easily affected.

Twilight facehoofed and then sat on the edge of the bed with her glass. Fluttershy joined her and they tapped glasses together. With a nod of her head and a quiet order in the hivemind, the two maids in the room left so that Twilight and Fluttershy would be alone.

“Is it really okay to be relaxing after what we just started in the city?” Fluttershy asked meekly, the last bit of nervousness showing itself.

Twilight beamed. “Yep!” she responded simply. “I did my part of the organizing, orders, and oral presentations. I won’t be needed until tomorrow, which is approximately eleven hours from now. So all I want to think about is...you.”

Fluttershy blushed and giggled when her queen tapped her on the nose with a forehoof. “Is there something specific you had in mind, my queen?”

“Tease,” Twilight stuck her tongue out.

“Twily,” Fluttershy stuck her tongue out as well.

It was merely a joke of the moment, but Twilight leaned forward fast enough to lick her tongue before it retreated back into the mare’s mouth. Fluttershy’s glass dropped from her grip and was saved by Twilight’s magic. Both of Fluttershy’s hooves went to cover her now closed mouth. She followed Rainbow’s earlier example in blushing as her eyes stared forward in a shocked stillness.

“I’ve been wanting to try that,” Twilight smirked and took one more sip from her glass before placing both on the table with her magical aura. “Though it is rather less involved than an actual kiss.”

Fluttershy finally looked back over to Twilight as the mare leaned back fully on the bed with her head against a pillow that was propped up on the headboard. The pegasus started with a stutter. “I k-know it’s okay with the others, but-”

Did I say that? Chrysalis joked.

“-I still feel-”

“Shy?” Twilight asked, her tone kept gentle for the soft mare.

“Yes?”

“No,” Twilight giggled. “I mean that you felt shy. It’s okay. I believe I’ve mentioned this before but I’m trying to manage our hivemind better so that we retain a piece of ourselves and not lose what makes us unique. Of course, I could allow integration to occur if-”

This time it was Fluttershy who interrupted her. “No,” she shook her head after crawling over the bed and putting her warm yellow hooves around her mare’s neck. “I’m glad you’re doing that. I know that I’m me and you’re you. It makes me feel like these are my own feelings that I’ve felt for years.”

“Hopefully stronger now than before,” Twilight gave her a wink.

But instead of some clever reply, Fluttershy placed upon her queen’s mouth her lips and the ensuing taste of cider. Twilight breathed in suddenly from the contact, both expecting it because of their hivemind and also surprised by the naked sensation of it. Their bed, though no luxurious changeling sleeping ring, was the best the inn had to offer and far more comfortable than any conventional bed Twilight had experienced before.

Sleepiness might have been induced either by the warm softness of the bed or the equal sensation of Fluttershy, who embraced her from above. But no drowsy feeling could come after the sparks of love ignited in her from that contact. Queen Twilight wrapped her forelegs around her special mare and deepened the kiss.

Fluttershy felt loved in that moment. Even more so that she usually did as Twilight’s wings joined her hooves in holding her. Twilight said she would be everything Fluttershy needed and she knew it to be true. This moment was a sweet reminder and a physical reinforcement of what she understood in her mind and in her heart.

The sunny yellow mare relaxed completely in her queen’s hold. Her pink mane draped over one side of both their faces but bothered them little. Fluttershy sighed into the ongoing kiss and even hummed happily when Twilight’s tongue met hers and danced. The pains of her past were forgotten and the worries of the future swept aside.

Now was the present.

Here they would simply enjoy each other.

5 - Hopes and Bets

Home sweet home,” Applejack smiled in relief as she stepped hoof back onto the familiar soil of Sweet Apple Acres. If felt like it had been an age since she had been home and the autumn colors only reinforced that. Being a part of Twilight’s hive was great and all but nothing felt quite as right as home and her first family who resided there.

In a twist of surprise, it was not Apple Bloom who was first to shoot out of the old house door she was approaching. Instead, it was Big Mac. Behind him, walking slower but not any less happy, was Granny Smith. Applejack was no psychic but it didn’t take mind powers to tell how happy her brother was to see her.

“Welcome home, sis,” Big Mac hugged her quick. Not quick enough for the mare to miss the tear in his eye, though. If nopony else knew he was a softy, then she sure did.

Applejack hugged him back. “Missed y’all, Big Mac,” she replied with her own ache of the heart. “There’s no place like home,” she decided to add and then let him go to embrace Granny.

“And no company like kin,” the old mare remarked as she returned the gesture. Her tone seemed more steady but no less pleased.

“Not to mention the smell o’ that sweet apple air!” Applejack released Granny and breathed deep. “No place else like that in all Equestria. Where’s Apple Bl-”

The answer came before the question but after an “oof” from Applejack at a sudden weight on her back.

“Huggin’ the best sister ever!” the growing girl shouted and squeezed AJ’s neck from behind. It wasn’t as easy anymore to land on her back this way since she was not as tiny as she once was.

“Alright, sugarcube,” Applejack giggled and swung the young teen filly off and around in front of her. “Oh my stars!”

“What? What is it?!” Apple Bloom hopped in excitement mixed with some curiosity and confusion.

“Did somepony grow up while I was away?” Applejack joked after putting a hoof to the top of her not-quite-as-little sister’s head. “I’d say you’re twice your size.”

“Don’t go soundin’ like Uncle Apple Strudel now,” Apple Bloom pouted and pushed her big sister’s hoof off. “I don’t want some old mare-”

Granny Smith’s brow raised suspiciously.

“-I mean, let’s go get lunch inside!” Apple Bloom strategically saved herself and started pushing Applejack through the front door.

Big Mac chuckled deep and followed in after Granny.

They soon got settled in the fireplace-warmed living room and Winona-warmed family sofa after a hearty lunch. The family talked for hours even though Granny offered her a nap after the train ride. Applejack was no fainting dramatic, however, and could have bucked apples for half a day after getting home. Granny knew this too, but was forced by a habit of hospitality. So the elderly mare found herself defending her grandfilly’s extended stay away from home from the mare’s own self-criticism.

“I didn’t mean to make y’all short of hooves so long. Honest,” Applejack bowed her head.

“You’ve just been doin’ what you’ve always been doin’. Keepin’ Equestria safe,” Granny Smith reminded her grandfilly.

“Eeyup,” the brother agreed proudly.

“But things ain’t been goin’ right,” Applejack tried to keep herself from a frown. “It’s been more trouble than a knot o’ snakes in a muddy pen out there.”

“Is it true?!” Apple Bloom hugged her sister with a worried expression. “Is King Sombra really back?”

Remembering all she had told her family about the happenings in the Crystal Empire, she now wished she hadn’t. They would only worry for it. “Don’t you fret, Apple Bloom. Your big sister’s got it all under control.”

AJ raised her eyes and caught Big Mac’s gaze. She could tell there was a “nope” hanging back behind his lips and he failed to voice it only to not let the others worry more than they had already. There was an understanding between them and for that she was grateful all over again.

“It’s not just us lookin’ for him either,” Applejack encourage her sister. “Hundreds of them tough guards are turnin’ up every rock and root in Equestria,” she added a wink.

“Well while they’ll be doin’ that,” Granny spoke up, “maybe you’ll get to the relaxin’. Some fresh apple pie and mail will do you some good, filly.”

“Mail?” Applejack quirked a brow in confusion.

Apple Bloom seem to have been adequately distracted by that because the worry slid clean off her face. She darted into the kitchen with Big Mac behind her. He returned to give her the plate of pie and she did so with a letter in her mouth.

Applejack accepted both with a nod of thanks and looked at the address. Why in all of Equestria would she be relaxing with a piece of mail? Only things she ever got were advertisements, flowery spa invitations from Rarity, and notices of sales on used patio furniture. Who in Equestria would be happy over used furniture? A voice in the hivemind answered ecstatically.

The name on the front of the envelope made her pause. “Well now,” she got a deep smile back and took a bite of the slice of pie. “Must’ve been last of school that I got a letter from Rara...”

“It is necessary to abolish the standing Unified Court of the District of Las Pegasus,” Double Haul slid the scroll to Twilight on the other side of the table.

The day was sunnier than the last for certain. After the thunderous downpour of the previous day, rain had temporarily ceased until the district pegasi teams could gather the resources to continue the water cycle. They were, of course, not the only pegasi burdened with painful overtime due to Cloudsdale’s loss.

However, the sunshine would have been necessary anyways, given the political situation of the city. The public was no less engaged today than it was the last. Everypony was on the street, including those who worked special jobs providing for the basic needs of food, water, and daily necessities required by all. This was made possible only by the release of special aid ordered by the Queen of Equestria herself.

Rainbow Dash glided over 30th West Street again. This time she noticed something new in the crowds. The signs that many ponies had been holding the previous day were gone by at least half. The nature of the masses had changed. They were not trying to press forward to the square in protest. Well a few were, but not most. Instead, they were...talking with each other.

Twilight was proud of them but still cautious of the freshness of it that still tempted trouble. The city ponies were engaging in ideas, getting to know their fellow ponies quite possibly for the first time ever. Tensions were easing as the weather was put back in action while the pegasi families received critical relief for homeless or injured kin from Cloudsdale. Even the non-pegasi began to realize how much more they had in common with their fellow citizens – rather than how much they differed.

Chrysalis had gone out earlier than they had and so had informed Twilight previously about the new city council proposal. The queen knew what was in the scroll before it was presented to her. This was perhaps the most risky territory. More so than yesterday. The muggy scent of the air from the recent rains didn’t brighten her hopes for the outcome, nor did the sun that she herself had raised in the morning.

She took a deep breath. It felt more like a show than an act of government. The table was in the road. They were surrounded by the general public on all sides, who had agreed via public discourse late last night that the new government was not allowed to act in closed doors. It had to be in the open at the public square, which this road was up against. They’d have been in the square center if not for the rest of the public assemblies and government groups taking up the spots.

Twilight held a hoof up to shade a glare coming from the sun and looked over the scroll briefly out of show so the ponies watching saw that she did indeed look at it. “This does not only include the abolition of the standing judiciary but also permanent elimination of the presently empty position of all seats of local executive office.”

Double Haul, a muscular stallion of a strange sort wearing glasses and a dusty apron, nodded. He had clearly just walked out of his job at the nearby packing warehouse. He was, however, the current democratically elected official to present the public proposal. The very nature of government had been clearly rethought by the ponies of Las Pegasus. If the hopeful smiles all around here were any indication, they were quite proud of what they had come up with in only about eighteen hours.

Eighteen hours where most had slept little and some not at all. The tiredness in the crowds was, however, held back fiercely by a joy and resolve that Twilight had never seen before in her life.

A wagon mechanic watching at the front of the crowd looked like she was about to cry in happiness. At last she felt she had a voice.

A young teen pegasi was at her side, body patched with scars and bandages from wounds not yet healed – a refugee of Cloudsdale leaning on her aunt.

Twilight continued. “Initiation of a new Citizen’s Court of the District of Las Pegasus with a zero-wait accountability and replacement capability. And the power to overturn any and all precedence set by the Unified Court of the District of Las Pegasus. Including but not limited to: the verdicts pertaining to imprisonment of two thousand, one hundred, seventy-two ponies convicted of fraud, theft, drug possession, criminal trespass, assault, and obstruction of justice.”

Double Haul read from his own scroll that listed details he couldn’t remember so quickly. They had been put into vivid detail by the public assemblies and in turn by their chosen investigators. “All crimes determined by public investigators to be false verdicts enacted by a corrupt court and charged initially by a corrupt police department for the purpose of jailing political opposition.”

A sweets baker, sitting from exhaustion, was not able to leave before he heard what he had wanted so badly for years. To see his wife again – an activist who had been jailed for demonstrating for an end of the criminalization of the homeless.

A Royal Guard retiree, obvious from his stance and manecut maintained out of mere habit, had his head high in pride. He had served to protect a democracy he had only realized had eroded away. With the city all around him, he knew it was coming back.

A fire fighter twisted her mane in anticipation. Her father was jailed for trying to expose the old government’s fraud and abuse. His release was on the line.

“Elimination of the Unified Police Department of the District of Las Pegasus. Fair trial of all staff thereof in relation to allegations of corruption to be explored by the Citizen’s Court of the District of Las Pegasus. Initiation of the new Community Policing Network of the District of Las Pegasus.”

A thin dark stallion looked to his father, who smiled back with visible tears. They would no longer have to fear the sounds of the sirens blaring and hungry for fresh victims to fill prison cells with those who lacked only money and not innocence.

An ex-police officer bowed his head in disbelief. He never thought he’d see a day of accountability like this where he would finally be vindicated in quitting the department out of his own integrity. Not standing to abuse the innocent he had sworn to serve and protect.

“I understand there are quite a few additional proposals related directly or indirectly to the details listed here,” Twilight added as she rolled the scroll out some more. It was quite long, but by no shock considering nearly every public service of the city was being restructured. “Especially pertaining to the district prison facility, doctor’s offices, new food distribution centers, and housing projects.”

“Yes, Ms. Sparkle,” Double Haul nodded but did not bow. He knew who he was speaking to but there was no intimidation in his eyes. It was as if he saw her as an equal. Another pony and not some superior.

Twilight smiled at him. She probably just looked like a typical royal smiling to a crowd, but she honestly did like this stallion she was dealing with. She could see why he had been chosen and his lack of any privileged position or connections was exactly the reason why she was seeing such trust in the faces of the crowd. There were likely even ponies there that knew him personally and certainly those who related to his brash lack of political nuance. He was just a pony. Any pony.

That was what encouraged Twilight. That was why she knew this was working.

Heartened by this and not helping to hold back a gleeful victory she felt inside, she grabbed the stamp on the table that had her cutie mark within the design of her royal seal. The ink pad depressed when she put the stamp to it and rose the wet seal. With a turn to the crowd and a wide grin, she spoke.

“Ponies of Las Pegasus, it is my honor as the Queen of Equestria, to put my seal upon these proposals decided upon by public discourse and enacted by your new spirit of local governance. For good or bad, may the results and any possible revisions reflect the will and desire of you – the common citizen of Las Pegasus!”

THUD!

She pressed the heavy seal upon the scroll and the masses cheered.

“Replicate?” Rainbow Dash asked Twilight skeptically back in the privacy of their room. “We don’t even know if it will work.”

“The effectiveness, foremost, should not be the deciding factor of the style of governance,” Twilight tutted and drank her cup of tea served by Soir Soleil, one of her white mare maids. “If one is to be the least bit serious about actual democracy. Otherwise effectiveness becomes an excuse for dictatorship. And besides, I offered my own advice to them based on the scientific evidence we have gathered over centuries. Las Pegasus may not have had many of these service styles in the past, but other cities have done so at local levels with comparable testing variables. The results are well documented with control groups and outliers accounted for. Did you not review that information within our mind?”

Rainbow blew a raspberry and sat on the big bed with her forelegs crossed. “Just because I can comb your egghead doesn’t mean I’m going to faun over the dullest parts of it.”

Somepony’s feelin’ a lil’ sassy, Applejack joked over the hivemind.

I love Twilight, Rainbow replied coolly. That doesn’t mean I have to be into everything she is. I respect what makes us different and love her for it.

Oh my Celestia, Rarity said in awe from the cold of the Crystal Empire and the soft overcoat she wore. I think our little Dashie is all grown up – speaking so maturely like that.

I am awesome, Rainbow slid her forehoof through her mane and posed. And I don’t see why I can’t be awesome and a good future wife to my Twily at the same time. Awesome doesn’t have to mean I’m rough and tumble, Rarity.

Twilight blushed but felt a peace inside too. Rainbow was reconciling her unapologetic confidence with the softer personality she always wanted. And she did this in spite of the loss of Cloudsdale, which had hit her worse than any other in their hive. Twilight supposed right then that perhaps that was what indeed made the mare so admirable. She had a strong heart.

And then Rainbow couldn’t help adding the jab. Though you would know all about rough and tumble, wouldn’t you, Rarity? What with all those late nights with your Spikey Wikey~

Twilight could feel the heat of the blush over the hivemind. She felt bad for the poor fashionista, a little embarrassed because it involved her son, but also glad because both of them were happy.

We haven’t done anything like that, Spike defended his mare. And then goofed it up by adding “yet.”

Spike! the white unicorn complained.

It wouldn’t be a problem if we did, though, Spike defended again, this time himself from his mare.

Hey, hey, hey, cuuuuuz, Pinkie Pie droned out over the mind to Applejack.

The farmpony groaned, feeling some sillyness coming on. It was practically guarantied any time Pinkie Pie referred to her in that manner. Yes, Pinkie?

Wanna bet?

On what? AJ would have been suspicious but that was how she had started and so the point was moot.

Whether Rarity or Rainbow gets the bumpies in the nighties first!

Applejack chuckled with her deep and rich country tone, confusing her family at the dinner table with her. Now I might just put some bits on that.

“What?!” Rainbow blurted aloud and jumped off the bed.

Meanwhile, Rarity threw down her hat on the snow in offense. Well I never-!

Fifty on RD buckin’ the apples first, Applejack smirked. She knew Rarity would lose her little prim fashionista temper over that and the thought of riling her made the farmgirl giddy.

You dirty-

Naw, Pinkie waved a hoof they couldn’t see. One hundred fifty. And Rarity will totally go firsties. She’d never let an insult like that go for long and Dashie gets cold hooves at the last second anyways.

Do not! Rainbow stomped angrily in place.

You’re on, AJ agreed.

Spike tried to keep his own thought on the matter hidden. Please let Pinkie Pie win. Please let Pinkie Pie win. Please let Pinkie Pie win.

6 - Action Plan

Chrysalis was hungry. Those blue and yellow pegasi were getting all of this attention from her queen and she hadn’t gotten even a kiss since they had been in this grimey city. The transformations were draining her power with every flash. She was now posing as a deep blue mare with a pearl necklace and a few silver teeth. Some local Elite.

“Our police department has failed to contain the insurrection,” Golden Connection explained to the long table of thirty seated Elite party members – the exclusive club of the most wealthy and connected members of Las Pegasus. “They’ve taken at least a dozen of our party members hostage already and have formed armed gangs throughout the city.”

“These terrorists must be brought to heel!” Bronze Bits shouted angrily from the far end of the table, his voice infused with an unstable rage.

“But Queen Twilight Sparkle has signed their new government into power,” Chrysalis interjected from the middle of the table as her disguise, Silver Freedom.

That caused quite the wave of bickering from down one side and around the other. “She’s not our ruler” was voiced at least twice along with “evil dictator” and “insane tyrant.” To prevent her being seen as offering cover for the “illegitimate ruler” or blowing her cover, Chrysalis advanced the conversation.

Silver Freedom stood from her luxurious pillow, which prevented the polished redwood floor from being too uncomfortable to sit upon. “If this Twilight Sparkle supports them then we have no choice but to capture her along with the leaders of this revolt. Without the heads, the rebels will fall apart.”

“We can restore order,” the Chief of Police stated from beside Golden Connection. His deep burly voice rumbled with resolve. “I can muster those in my department still loyal to law and order. We will need to rough up some of these ringleaders. It’s the only way these ponies are going to respect the law. We have to start with Twilight since arresting her will force the terrorist heads to turn themselves in. They’ll fall like dominoes after that.”

A glasses-wearing mare wrote out some numbers on a long scroll before her. “What are the chances of success? I don’t want to keep my investments here if it’s below eighty-five percent. Anything below that will cost me millions.”

“Over four hundred officers of my department remain loyal and ready,” the chief responded coolly. “We’ll go in one unit with riot gear. We also have an armored wagon with military surplus equipment. Arrest is guaranteed, alicorn powers or not.”

Silver Freedom worked to hide her frown. “Don’t we need that wagon in the streets?”

The chief shook his head, his close-cropped gray mane lacked the length to wave with the motion. “We’ve got tear gas for that.”

“Why didn’t you use that sooner?!” the glasses mare complained with a ticked brow.

“We were temporarily locked out of the equipment warehouse by one of our traitors,” the chief grumbled. “She’s been taken care of. We have our full arsenal at our disposal now.”

Glasses mare kicked her cushion out from under her in a quick rise. “Then do it now! Gas all of them!”

“Not before arresting Twilight,” Golden Connection shut her down. “We need the ringleaders first or it will just devolve into guerrilla fighting.”

“Tonight,” Silver Freedom crossed her hooves. “She’ll be vulnerable then. We know her location, right?”

“Yes,” Golden Connection replied before the chief could.

Got it, Twilight confirmed over their hivemind. Thanks, Chrysy. I’ll have a special treat for you after this is over.

I hope so, the changeling whined pitifully. I’m starving.

“I was hoping for some more time but I suppose this will do,” Twilight gave a “hm” of thought as she paced their inn room.

“Four hundred?” Rainbow clearly expressed her worry both in her tone and in her bothered face. “How is there so many? Were there even that many Blue Guards back in Canterlot?”

“Simple math,” Twilight waved it off. “There are far more police officers than royal guards in Equestria. Las Pegasus has a population over two hundred thousand. They have quite a few more officers than just four hundred. The Chief probably came up with the highest number of allies they could equip and organize for the raid before tonight.”

“Why don’t we just take them out now when they’re all together?” Rainbow frowned and insisted with a splay of her hooves.

I don’t have enough energy right now for that, Chrysalis answered.

“And I want the ponies of Las Pegasus to handle this,” Twilight added. “If I’m going to keep battling this ‘dictator’ narrative then the city ponies will have to deal with their own corruption.”

“But we’ll help, right?” Fluttershy asked meekly from the bed where she had been reading some book.

Twilight turned to look at her with a big smile. “Of course!”

Direway, Twilight switched her focus to her guard in the city that had helped Chrysalis accomplish the infiltration. He was currently guarding a tied-up pony – the real Silver Freedom, who the new community police were taking to detention. Leave her to the citizens to handle. I want you to go to Turnip Toss. She’s the team organizer for the city’s new Emergency Response Unit. Tell her about the raid. I suspect she’ll be able to take care of the rest.

But none of them has any training, Direway remarked but began carrying out orders anyhow. What chance would they have against hundreds of police officers in riot gear?

I’ve only talked with her briefly, but she seemed quite resourceful, Twilight offered with trust. I doubt even that military wagon will be much of a problem for her.

“They’ve got what?!” Turnip Toss rumbled and stepped back. Her wild mane tossed and she began pacing feverishly in her garden where Direway and two other ponies stood.

It was getting dark again even though it was only the early afternoon. Pegasi were finishing preparation for another rainstorm. Turnip had been taking care of her crops in the morning and then lost part of both it and noon talking to the other two ponies there, who were the assistant organizers for the newly enacted Emergency Response Unit. Technically, the new government had authorized her to handle any situation requiring substantial effort whether it related to natural disasters or matters of civil unrest.

She hadn’t thought her first major operation was going to be fighting the old police department to save the Queen of Equestria. She was no random choice for her position, though. She may have had a talent for gardening, but her wide frame, thick muscles, and fearless resolve could have put her in the Royal Guard if she had chosen it.

Direway was silent. Her assistants poked at the soft soil with more than a little nervousness.

“Okay! Okay...” Turnip breathed deep and let it out. “The wagon was made for urban fighting. If we can get it off the road, it can get stuck. It’s got a two-hundred hoof reach with the top-mounted dartgun, right?”

“They replaced that two months ago with an automatic crossbow,” one of the assistants, a unicorn stallion, corrected. “Its got double the fire speed and three times the range.”

“The old mayor authorized them to use live fire in ‘exceptional circumstances’ too,” the other assistant, a small pegaus mare added. “We have to assume that’s what they are going to do.”

Turnip Toss walked past the small mare and plucked the map from the assistant’s saddlepack as she did. There was a bench in the garden against the wall of her house where she stopped to lay the map on. She then pointed to a spot on it a short distance outside the city. “Then we have to stop it here on the turn before Deadbranch Road. That way it will be out of range of the inn. We’ll need a roadblock that four hundred officers couldn’t move out in a hurry and something sticky to hide in the soil off the road to guarantee the wagon’s axles gum up.”

“I think Bouncy down at the rubber factory might have something like that,” the unicorn suggested.

Turnip turned to her other helper. “Flip?”

“Ummm,” the small mare, Barrel Flip, thought hard. “M-maybe if Cargo’s big rig breaks the flatbed while carrying one of those giant smokestack assemblies he delivers for Factory Fever?”

“That won’t make them think there could be a trap,” Turnip nodded. “Good thinking. Now we just need some way to deal with all of those officers.”

“Pray to Celestia?” the unicorn deadpanned.

Turnip rolled her eyes and then ordered him. “Go get the trap set up and be discreet. Flip, get the volunteers together for an operation. See if you can’t get more than four hundred. We need to toss some ideas. I don’t want us having to rush riot police with nothing but horseshoes and hope.”

“On my way.”

“Got it!”

Turnip looked back to Direway. “You can go back and tell Queen Twilight she has no reason to worry. Las Pegasus just upped the priority on keeping the peace.”

You sure, Twilight? Spike insisted for the twentieth time from the throne of the Crystal Empire. He was worried about some random mish-mash of ponies defending his mother.

Yes, yes, Twilight groaned from her inn room. Don’t you have your own matters to attend to?

Like helping Rarity to choose which shade of amethyst to wear? the dragon deadpanned.

“It is crucial!” Rarity huffed from beside him on the adviser’s throne. “You do not expect me to go out there and insult the fashion sense of the crystal ponies do you? They may have little respect for our private lives but that does not justify any reduced respect for the public on my part!”

I understand your concern, Spike, Twilight admitted. But I assure you that you will be completely at ease tomorrow. In fact, I think both you and Rarity should take some private time for yourselves for all of tomorrow. The Empire is very peaceful right now anyways, if I understand the situation properly through the two of you.

Private time? I beg your pardon, Rarity began to feel defensive for some reason. Her hooves didn’t know where they wanted to be right then.

Spike fidgeted.

I will seclude your part of the hivemind tomorrow after the events so you might enjoy some peace of mind and privacy.

Rarity gave a restrained and warped growl of frustration. Do not tell me that wicked Cadance has something to do with this, Twilight.

Oh, no, Twilight rejected calmly. I just thought it would be nice since I’ve noticed the feelings you two have had lately. I wanted to give you some space since I’ve only recently realized how much I’ve needed some myself...with the girls, she added on the end.

Thanks, Spike responded before Rarity could say anymore. With that, they were back to their own throne room in the palace, focus no longer on the hivemind or the queen that had also focused on other things.

“Look, Spikey,” Rarity began gently with a wave of her hoof. Her thick overcoat continued to keep the cool of the palace at bay, though it paled in comparison to the freeze of outdoors. “It is not that I would not treasure any time with you I can get-”

“You just don’t want Cadance to feel it was because of her,” he finished in a prediction. “You want to feel like you alone are the one responsible for it.”

The unicorn frowned but failed to deny it.

Spike shifted on his seat and then considered whether they might be more comfortable elsewhere. Technically, they were alone, but it was the throne room. Any pony could theoretically come in at any moment. “Reality just isn’t like that.”

Rarity rose a brow that was not the least bit unpleasant.

Spike tried explaining himself and, hopefully, lighten Rarity’s mood. “I mean, we’re only the way we are now because of the hivemind. We probably wouldn’t even be in a relationship at all if not for Chrysalis bringing this about. Not to mention I met you in the first place because Twilight moved to Ponyville. So you can already blame two others for how we’re together. The ponies around us shape who we are and...”

Rarity’s face did soften but her gaze was directed downwards.

“...and I like that. I mean, I like us,” Spike couldn’t help feeling his words were less than poetic. “I guess it’s just how I feel?”

The white mare sighed, as if to get something out of herself besides just the breath. “I know, Spikey,” she answered and looked back up to him. “And I am glad you feel that way. I know I am being stubborn about this for no good reason. It is a weakness of mine. Perhaps we should grab some dinner and talk a few things over, yes?”

The medium-sized dragon smiled at the idea. “I could go for that.”

I’m not sold, Applejack worried as well. Maybe I should be gettin’ over there too.

Stay where you are, AJ, Twilight ordered, though in a friendly manner. You should be relaxing with your family. They need you. I don’t. If everything else fails then I still have Dashie and Shy. Not to mention all of our Hive Powers.

And me! Chrysalis tried to keep herself from being left out. She made a buzz of loneliness.

Yes, you, the queen giggled. And I have a very special treat waiting, just as promised. Tomorrow morning. Consider it breakfast.

One of the Soleil sisters came into the cozy room with the hayburgers Twilight had been hungry to devour for dinner. The maid gave a little shiver upon entering the room since the temperature was quite a bit warmer as compared to the cooler hallway. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy joined her in earnest at the table. The blue pegasus in particular seemed to be determined to set a new record on how fast a pony could get a hayburger in their belly.

“Tell the queen we found them. I repeat, we found them! One-oh-five by three-oh-eight Northeast of Vanhoover!” Storm Sword, Captain of the Royal Guard, shouted to the scout next to her behind the fallen moss-covered tree log. She had to practically scream in spite of the distance because of the boom and roar of the magical fire her soldiers gave and received in earnest.

The cool old-growth forest was awash in natural mist, but it was heating up with the blaze of magical bolts and zaps. Nothing had gone to plan, but they were holding out. Scarce light filtering through the heavy tree canopy told of a waning afternoon. The soil beneath their hooves stained like wet clay across their coats – a feeling Storm Sword’s units had gotten used to in previous conflicts across the familiar biome.

“Flank!” one of the veteran unicorns dived next to her after just running through the shower of green changeling fire. He had been peppered with shots as soon as he came out of his own cover over fifty hooves away and nearly collapsed. “They’re flanking us! We’ve lost signals from squads three and six!”

Storm Sword could see a dark mist creeping their way from where all the changelings were supposed to be minus those in the apparent flank maneuver. This wasn’t good. What was supposed to have been a locate and tail operation had been discovered and turned into a skirmish. Her half-hundred veterans could take the hive to, at worst, a stalemate. But Sombra was coming. Only Twilight and her special friends could fight his shadow form.

She looked back to the cool-faced pegasus scout. “Don’t trust the communication channels. Lack of reinforcements means they’ve likely replaced our relay ponies with changelings. Go straight to Canterlot and tell the queen directly. We’ll give you cover so fly!”

As soon as the word was out of her mouth, Storm Sword darted around the log and weaved through the fire to the right. “Come get me, bug brains!” she bellowed and dived into a roll to avoid a salvo.

Much to her surprise, the barrage of green fire actually stopped after that. Of course, she didn’t prolong her exposure and finally leapt behind another log where her second-in-command, Bronze Barrier, presently resided.

“What in Tartarus?” she looked to him with bewilderment. Was this a fake-out for a surprise volley?

He shrugged and kept alert with his eyes to his own scout twenty hooves away, who was giving a hold signal. The scout’s eyes widened and her signal started to turn to a “fall back” but it was too late. A wave of black smoke crashed over the decaying log like a tsunami over a tiny island. Instinct forced the two veterans to roll back and fire cannon-grade blasts from their horns simultaneously. But each remembered even as they acted that the shroud was immune to such things.

Creeping tendrils of the dark haze slithered and tied around all of Storm Sword’s hooves, yanking her up from her low position on the ground and causing her camouflage helmet to fall off her head. Bronze jumped towards her to try something – anything – that might break her free. But the mist struck him with another tendril hard, sending him sprawling back out of cover. Changeling fire instantly resumed, striking him repeatedly and holding the rest of the military ponies where they were.

Storm Sword struggled as hard as she could, her considerable muscles bulging and then relaxing with the futility. Her mind switched gears rapidly. She was done, but if she acted right then maybe she could get some intel out of Sombra before it was over.

“What do you want?!” she shouted over the resumed roar of exchanging magical fire. She could see the green dancing back and forth with the rainbow of colors of her own forces due to the height Sombra now held her at. As the dark stallion’s visage formed into a toothy grin within the shroud, she thought to strategically add his title. “King!”

“Somepony remembers my place,” he hissed with an arrogant smirk. “Tell me, little slave, do you fear death?”

She wanted to reply with “only your ugly face” but used her trained focus and control to say something that would be more useful. “I die here or when I get old. Makes no difference to me,” she at least managed to keep her will. “Why does it interest you?”

“Little slaves are so carefree about death. As they should be,” he hissed again.

Was he trying to be a snake or was he just missing some teeth, Storm Sword questioned off-hoof to herself.

“I am the king,” he explained. “I was destined by prophecy to live forever and thus I will.”

“There’s a self-help book on that? Because I didn’t know,” Storm Sword scowled in sarcasm. This time she couldn’t help keeping back the line before it was out of her mouth.

Sombra, however, just sneered. “Your puny slave mind is too small to comprehend. I don’t care if you understand or not. I thought that it would be easier to get this princess to follow me but it seems her interest lays elsewhere. I should have left your relays as they were. It might have gotten her here sooner.”

Again Storm Sword wanted to say “you’re toast when she gets here” but she instead chose to pursue his goals. “How will Twilight help you become immortal?”

“Little slaves couldn’t possibly understand,” he repeated annoyingly. “Now watch your pathetic rabble fall...”

He twisted her around painfully in his magical grip to show her the best view of the fighting that could be possible in a thick forest such as this. Indeed she could see changelings moving around both sides of her encirclement, flanking them. Normally this would not be a situation her experienced team would get into, but Sombra’s dark magic had used mists and illusions from the very beginning to corral her units – a fact she only now realized.

It got worse. The changelings moving to flank them began transforming. Familiar faces of her own ponies were duplicated to the most minute detail. Her heart sank. They could infiltrate their cover and take them out in close quarters without warning. She did the only thing she had left to minimize losses.

She screamed a final order.

“Retreat and sound off!”

Bronze Barrier’s scout was close enough to hear before the commander was thrown to the ground and left unconscious. The scout gave her signals and they all began calling off their duty numbers, clearly differentiating them from faux allies running up on them on all sides.

“Fall back! Sound off!” the scout continued to repeat as they fled the field of battle. More of their true comrades were getting within earshot as they converged to their pre-designated retreat point. Though shaken, the scout kept her cool and confirmed the rest of her squad around her, remembering past engagements that had forced a hurried retreat. Until she could find the third-in-command, it was up to her to muster the platoon.

7 - Hold the Line

It’s stuck,” the officer reported. The heavy rain blanketed his words with a steady thrum of noise. Only about half of the police force that had assembled had rain-resistant riot gear while the other two hundred and five were left with water seeping between the joints of the armor.

The Chief of Police began to say something back but was interrupted by another crack of thunder. The lightning proceeding it better illuminated them in the dark for only a second. He repeated over the noisy static of the heavy rain. “What’s squad five doing?! I told them to shut down those weather ponies!”

“Fried!” the officer replied and glanced back to the armored wagon that was now stuck off the road. Something had gotten all over the tires and then the axle. Whatever it was, it was not coming off. “It’s like they knew we’d try coming up. We can’t even get close now that the cloud screen is so thick. It’s supercharged. They could have enough resource up there to last until morning.”

“Forget it!” the chief angrily shook his head. “Get the rest of the force around the flatbed and we’ll advance in one unit!”

“We have you surrounded! Come out peacefully! You are under arrest!”

The words could be heard via megaphone through the windows. Rainbow Dash was looking out at the police force that had assembled outside. Rather than be impressed with what appeared to be a solid wall of riot police surrounding the inn, she was amused by the look of discomfort on many of their faces. Being soaked, cold, and in the dark wasn’t fun, she guessed. Especially for those who were standing in mud and having to fight to keep their gear from toppling them over.

They were illuminated only by the inn’s front lights and nearby streetlamps. Some might even call it a gloomy or perhaps spooky display. Some of the officers’ faces couldn’t be seen properly in the dark. But even the ones in shadows could be seen by silhouette against the moonlight. If need be, Twilight had the power to turn the moon to a full and bright glow.

Instead of a frown, Rainbow had a smirk. Tendrils of green electricity danced in her eyes and she felt her power burn within her chest. She looked to her queen, who was just sipping some white tea one of the Soleil maids had given her.

“Want me to suck them into a hurricane?” Rainbow gave a toothy grin.

Twilight held back a laugh. “That won’t be necessary, Dashie. Though I would like you to help look out for the citizens when they arrive. I want to keep injuries on their side to a minimum if possible. They need to take care of this, but that doesn’t mean I want any of them to get hurt.”

Fluttershy carefully peeked up from the bottom of the window, not as audacious as Rainbow with standing in plain sight. She ducked back down after getting a look. “I don’t see a wagon.”

“I told you she was resourceful,” Twilight smiled and saw her reflection upon the surface of the tea. She had her regalia on and couldn’t help that smile because of the changeling crown upon her head. It used to be Chrysalis’ mark of being a queen.

If she had to do so, she would step outside with all the confidence she needed to end the situation in a heartbeat. But no. This opportunity was too great. A victory here by the common ponies of Las Pegasus would help give them the confidence they needed to govern and protect their fellow ponies.

“You have thirty sec-”

The Chief-of-Police’s megaphone was interrupted by another.

“You have thirty seconds to drop your riot gear,” the other megaphone boomed over the rain.

Fluttershy popped back up to look out and saw the wall of police was now looking about in confusion. It was hard to see because of the thick veil of night rain, but she could just make out another staggered line of ponies further out on the other side of the police.

Direway reported in over the hivemind the number of citizens still forming up for a practically guaranteed confrontation. Twilight nodded to herself and set her teacup back down. It would be more than enough. All she had to do was be ready like she had told her multi-colored mare.

“Three hundred eighty-four,” a pony came up and spoke right into Turnip Toss’ ear.

The muscular mare gave a “humph” in return. She held the old megaphone away from her mouth. “Just like pulling weeds.”

One of the assistants nearby told a pegasus next to her, “aim for the ground between the forehooves.”

Turnip looked to both her sides. Their group was still lining up at both ends, but it was more than adequate already. Since the ponies had been on the streets the last few days anyways, it was not as hard as she thought it might be to assemble a host of the bravest. One thousand, seven hundred forty-six. About two hundred lined in the front were ex-Guard veterans from the East, North, and South Las Pegasus Retired Veterans Association. They had the most experience with bows and all but nine had been equipped with ice arrows.

Turnip gave a thankful nod to High Dive who was two rows behind her. His dark green coat was hard to pick out in the dim moonlight and ambiant light from the spotlights they had brought help her to see his tall wild mane. The meeting had given them a host of ideas for handling the officers but High Dive’s Extreme Sports Company was the real gem. His business manufactured the ice arrows used for the Equestria Games and he was more than willing to open his stock for use.

One of the ex-Guard veterans was next to her and, though his bow was pointed to the ground now, he was in a ready stance and his body didn’t shake in spite of the cold. “This’ll cool their heads,” he commented dryly.

“No jacket?” Turnip said casually to keep her nerves under control. Maybe it was her imagination, but it seemed reasonable that the heavy rain – even though they were themsevles excluded from it – caused the cold night to be even colder.

The stallion smiled at that. “Bulwark,” he identified himself without looking away from their opposition. “Spent my life up north on station before becoming an instructor. Around where the Crystal Empire is now. This is nothing. Just a little late summer weather.”

“I repeat!” blared the megaphone of the Chief-of-Police. “Go home peacefully or we will be forced to break you up! This is an unlawful assembly!”

“Yep,” Turnip just muttered without her own speaker and then raised it to her mouth on a whim. “I’m looking right at the unlawful assembly! You are all guilty of conspiracy, attempted assault, trespassing, and probably accessory to a hundred past crimes I’m not even aware of. Last warning! Drop your gear and turn yourselves in to the community police present or you will be taken in anyways.”

The Chief, who had moved from the front of the line facing the inn to the rear facing the forming wall of citizen ponies, threw his megaphone towards Turnip. Of course, it only went a dozen hooves before falling into the mud. He was clearly just agitated and not willing to give up, but even Turnip could see the fear in the eyes of the officers around him. Not even the rain, thick air, and black shadows could hide that.

Looking down her sides again, Turnip knew her fellow ponies were at least as nervous. But they were courageous in spite of that fear and most at the front were equipped with all manner of heavy padding from the sports warehouses that donated it. However, Turnip anticipated only a minimal clash given how many bows they managed to get a hold of.

The riot police gathered closer side-by-side to get their shields up and together before advancing. They came as fast as they could manage in the mud without falling. Turnip didn’t waste time and noted Bulwark’s glance to her.

“Ready!” she ordered with her megaphone.

Nearly two hundred ponies raised their bows and pulled back their ice arrows.

The wall of riot police was charging at only a hundred hooves distance now.

“Fire!”

At first, the Chief-of-Police couldn’t believe who he saw on the line of ponies opposing them. Perhaps the darkness and sheets of rain was affecting his ability to identify. The common rabble he didn’t care for but some of the Guard veterans there were ponies he thought he knew. They had talked before casually on streets or restaurants about law and freedom.

It took this moment for him to realize that all that had apparently not been real. Whatever law and freedom they had spoken of, and that he thought he agreed with, was something very different from what he himself believed in. Traitors. All of them.

So he ordered the charge. They would break up the crowd easily with their armor and shields. The stubborn ones could just be beat into submission. The bows he spotted on a few would be useless even if they had the gall to use them since their shields would be more than adequate for such crude weaponry.

But then as they half-ran as fast as they could to break the heart of the line, the arrows flew. More than he realized. Much more. There must have been a couple hundred arrows sweep up and then down in a short arc, like a cold omen of doom. For in that moment as the arrows flew, he recognized the frosty sparkles they left in their wake.

They were ice arrows.

And his entire force was wet.

When the wave met the locked shield of his advancing force, they instantly froze together in a blinding flash of white and icy blue. The sudden locked rigidity and weight caused the line to stumble. The shield wall fell forward into the mud, tipping the officers over who had been holding the grips. The line behind them tripped on the falling row before them even as the first line was tangled in the mud. Over half of the downed row had half-frozen joints that had been iced over by the feverish effectiveness of the arrows in the cold soaked conditions.

The Chief stopped in his tracks as the rest of his force slowed down in panic. He ran. There was no recovery from this because he knew that the second wave was already being released from the bows. There was no way in Tartarus he could break the hundred plus veterans with only a hundred and fifty or so remaining officers. He started to grab his crossbow on his back even in retreat, but his hoof stuck to his back and the grip of the weapon when an ice arrow struck dead onto it.

He tripped in the rough muddy terrain after that and tumbled until he stopped somewhere off the road in a daze. A nearby streetlamp gave him only the faintest visibility. He didn’t get much farther, however, because a purple alicorn stepped up to him from the darkness further down the road. His hoof was still stuck to his back in a case of ice, but she tied his other hooves in a green magical bind.

The queen’s changeling accessories had jagged green accents that glowed with the magical force. That was the last thing he saw before resting his head on the wet ground in defeat.

It was over.

Twilight Sparkle shielded her eyes from the sun with a forehoof. Enough clouds were now gone from the thick dark blanket that it could poke through. Morning. What a long night it had been. Although Applejack might have described it as “smooth as an oiled pig in summer.” It hadn’t been that long ago that the last riot officer had been carried off for detention.

Turnip Toss was as awake and busy as hundreds of her fellow ponies in dealing with this mess, but one elderly stallion did come to see her. He stepped up to Twilight on the road outside of the inn she had just departed.

“Bulwark,” he introduced himself. He still had a bow and a pack of a few remaining ice arrows strapped on his back, so she didn’t have to guess his role even though he gave it. “Helped the new police last night. Just wanted to check on you again. Make sure everything’s alright.”

“Yes, indeed,” Twilight gave her calm and diplomatic smile. “Thank you very much, Bulwark. I will be thanking all of you again later today when Turnip Toss makes the public announcement to precede the trials. You sure stopped them cold,” she couldn’t help adding the joke.

Bulwark chuckled. “Yes we did. Honestly, I hadn’t expected it to be as effective as it was. I’m used to these things,” he jostled his bow and arrows, “in tundra where they just add to the freeze. Stopping the whole line of them at once was as much a shock to me as it was them.”

Twilight made a gesture for him to walk with her down the road as they talked. The cobblestone was still wet and covered in more mud than usual due to the recent events, but it still made for a pleasant enough walk. The queen’s two on-duty guards were behind her along with two of the maids, Fluttershy, and a very eager-looking Chrysalis.

“I’m sure the rest of the volunteers were glad,” Twilight commented. “I heard there was only about a dozen physical fights.”

“Yeah,” he nodded his head. “A few stubborn ones got up to us. Just a few we couldn’t freeze in time.”

“You got the Chief-of-Police, though,” Twilight looked over at him with a grin as they got closer to the city. “That was a very difficult shot and you got him right when he could have pulled that crossbow and hurt somepony.”

The veteran looked genuinely surprised. “I’m shocked you saw that. It was pretty dark and chaotic. I didn’t even get to drag him in until somepony else had cuffed the rest of him.”

“I was keeping my eye on him,” Twilight explained with a shrug. “And one of my guards was watching your front line too. Let’s just say I have special mental coordination abilities that allow me to put two and two together.”

The ex-Guard seemed to ponder that for a time. They continued to walk down the road until they were entering into the city’s outer market district. It had been quieter out by the inn even though it had been a troublesome scene only the previous night. Not much besides the newly arranged dirt and sparse leftovers of ice demonstrated that. But here, in the outer market of Las Pegasus, there was the constant drone of ponies talking, browsing, buying, and selling.

Twilight saw groups of ponies become gradually larger as they walked further in towards the market square. This part of the city was mainly one for tourists to buy gifts for visits. Las Pegasus was, after all, very big on tourism. News of the night’s events might have spread and kept some ponies indoors but, by the looks of it, most were out and talking up a storm.

Having the Queen of Equestria walk by with a few ponies in her wake only stirred up the conversations even more, which were a flurry of opinions. Not all were favorable and more than one might have been from relatives of the captured conspirators.

“We really are lucky that Princess Celestia chose you of all ponies,” Bulwark said, breaking the silence they had held for a time now.

Twilight was headed for the West Street square where she needed to talk to some organizers about the announcement to come. She figured Bulwark was just continuing to accompany her to collect his thoughts and speak whatever came to mind. The praise was appreciated, though, and she voiced as much.

“Thank you,” she couldn’t help glancing down. “To be honest, I wasn’t sure if it really would be a good idea for me to lead Equestria. Princess Celestia has overseen the land for so long, I figured there was no chance I could do as well. But I would be lying if I said I didn’t like how matters were progressing here. It’s reminded me that a ruler isn’t the one that makes a land good or bad, but the ponies who reside in it and decide how to live their lives.”

Bulwark chuckled.

“What?” the purple pony looked to him with a grin. She took his laughter as being playful.

“Just funny hearing it that way from a princess-turned-queen,” he gave her a cheerful look of his own. “Reminded me of something I used to say to my trainees. Not such pretty words, of course. Just told them that if a rank gave them an order they knew was against the spirit of Equestria, not to follow it. Was more important for the lot of them to do what was right than blindly follow a bad superior.”

“Isn’t that bad for discipline?” Twilight questioned frankly.

“Not with the way I taught them,” he shrugged and then stopped on the road. She stopped as well before he continued. “No point in having loyal soldiers following orders if their orders are to crush the rights and freedoms we hold so dear. Seemed to pay off because my best pupil in the academy did right back in Canterlot.”

“Storm Sword?” Twilight rose a brow and kept her grin.

“How’d you know?” he widened his eyes and pursed his old cracked lips.

“She has your spirit,” the queen looked into his eyes with a sight beyond the raw senses.

“Heh,” the stallion looked down and shook his head. “That kid has the most stubborn sense of integrity I’ve ever seen.”

“I know sompeony else that’s a little like that,” Twilight tapped her chin in jest. A certain farmpony came to mind.

Bulwark looked back down a side street they were near. “My turn is here. I’ll see you at the announcement, my queen.”

Twilight was about to tell him not to use the formality, but he was quick and precise in bowing and then trotted off. The alicorn’s forehoof was still raised in the air as he left, but she put it back on the ground with a sigh. Chrysalis came up and brushed against her side before speaking in her buzzy voice.

“Am I going to get that breakfast late?” the tall being purred.

Twilight looked sideways at her with a different expression. It was one of contemplation.

“You promised,” the changeling whined pitifully.

The queen giggled at that. “Yes, yes, Chrysy. I think you will be quite full afterwards. The announcement is not until much later so I just need to talk to some ponies now and then we’ll be back at the inn until then.”

Flame Haze had been a scout ever since she had passed training almost nine years ago. With no superior positions needing to be filled, she was never promoted. It didn’t bother her, though. Her dream was to serve Equestria and her position not only allowed that but also let her explore it to. Equestria had many biomes within it and now, flying on her seventeenth hour, she was sure she had crossed them all.

It was supposed to be a short flight, but the winds were against her and she had a fadeout five hours ago that cost her a lot of time. Normally it would never happen. But she had been on watch before the changelings had discovered them, then participated in the fight before leaving. She had been up and under stress for so long that she just had nothing left to give. The pony who had found her had given her water, food, and refilled her empty rations in her pack.

It would take her even more hours now, though. The kind stallion had informed her that Queen Twilight was not presently in Canterlot but instead Las Pegasus. She could still make it by noon and tried not to think of her fellow Guards she had left. It was probably already too late for them, but if she got to Twilight perhaps a few could be saved.

8 - Feelings

Gah!” Chrysalis exclaimed when Twilight used her magic to help her push the much larger changeling onto the bed.

“I can feel your hunger,” the pony queen stated as she climbed up over Chrysalis. “I didn’t mean to starve you, Chrysy. Please,” she lowered her face to the dark changeling’s, “help yourself.”

In spite of Twilight’s words and the presence of Fluttershy – who was sitting at the table and drinking tea – it was not Chrysalis but rather Twilight herself who started the kiss.

The morning had been bright enough but the closed curtains of the inn room and the lack of the clammy outside air meant that no discomfort or prying eyes disturbed the pony-changeling kiss. It may have been the first time in recorded history that a pony had romantically kissed a changeling knowing that they were, in fact, a changeling. If it was not the first overall then it was certainly the first involving a former hive queen. And none saw it.

Except for Fluttershy, who was still there.

Watching.

Blushing behind her teacup.

Chrysalis enjoyed the warm feeling of her queen’s lips on hers. Then she wanted more and Twilight delivered with a soft tongue against her lips. Their tongues met, making even Twilight hard-pressed to consider anything else but the exhilerating sensation. Chrysalis might have done something in addition, but her horn was already glowing bright and taking in the magical form of love. The fact that Chrysalis wasn’t transformed and was still in her original changeling form only made the collection that much more potent.

No meal in her life came close to comparing to this. Not even the stolen love from Shining Armor. This was pure love directed at her. Chrysalis. She remained limp on the bed below her queen and just tried to make sense of the sensation. She had lived for hundreds of years now and, though not as old as Celestia, she had believed no creature and certainly no pony younger than herself could possibly show her something new.

Something amazing.

A magical fire ignited in her very core and her glowing horn began to pulsate as well with a blue-green beat. She began to feel more than satiated. On top of the bloated feeling of having consumed a meal larger than her stomach, she also felt a sharpness to her mind and body. It was as if she could run a million hooves and not get tired or solve all of the world’s hardest equations in a heartbeat.

Perhaps that last feeling was just Twilight’s own feelings bleeding over the hivemind into hers. Chrysalis didn’t care about sorting her feelings from her queen’s though. This was the best feeling she ever had and, in that moment, her world was perfect.

Fluttershy failed to stifle an “eep” of surprise when Chrysalis finally took action and flipped Twilight around so that she was the one below on the bed. The changeling slithered her long snake-like tongue into Twilight's mouth to continue the deep kiss. The surprised expression on Twilight’s face faded quickly and she simply enjoyed it and wrapped her hooves around the larger being’s neck.

Tea forgotten, Fluttershy tried futilely to get her wings back down from their raised position all while keeping focused on the scene. She couldn’t look away. Why had she asked to stay anyways? She knew why. It was because she loved all of them. Twilight, Chrysalis, and Rainbow. That and she was intrigued by the idea of their small group having intimate moments together.

Twilight lightly pushed on Chrysalis’ chest to break the kiss. The changeling though was so obsessed at that point that her long tongue was stubborn to leave and still hung out of her mouth like a puppy dog’s when Twilight removed the end from her own mouth with her magic.

“Gee, Chrysy,” Twilight licked her lips and giggled. “Is this like third base for changelings?”

“I thid-” Chrysalis garbled her words with her tongue out. She slithered it back in her mouth before continuing. “I didn’t know you were into pony sports, my queen.”

Twilight shrugged beneath her changeling. “Not really. I was just conveying Dashie’s thoughts. I let her in on it.”

Yo, the pegasus greeted over the hivemind. Rainbow currently had a hayburger in her mouth and was enjoying it within one of Las Pegasus’ best unknown restaurants. Her own hunger for a hayburger had overpowered her desire to see how long a changeling tongue was. Although, she was able to see as much over their mutual mind.

I’m surprised, Dashie, Chrysalis smirked. You always seemed more interested in our queen’s flanks than hayburgers. And to think you’d pass up the opportunity to find out if my tongue could reach your-

“Alright,” Twilight bopped her changeling on the nose. She noted Rainbow’s intense embarrassment. “You’ve bothered Dashie enough for now,” Twilight added with her tongue being the one to stick out this time.

“Perhaps another would enjoy a share of my meal,” Chrysalis looked back to Fluttershy, who ducked under the table in response.

“So you’re full then?” Twilight rose a brow. Chrysalis was not yet known to play with her food unless she was already stuffed.

The changeling looked back to Twilight and her smirk faltered before turning sly. “Hmmm,” she hummed and then her horn’s glow pulsed with expenditure. “Maybe it’s time for dessert!”

The prolonged “eep” was all Twilight needed to hear to know what the plan was – hivemind or not. Fluttershy was caught up in a green magical grasp and floated onto the bed in spite of the fact she was tossing and turning in the aura, confused about what to do.

“Fear not, little Shy,” Chrysalis cooed as the pegasus fell from her magical grasp and into her physical one. “I will be gentle.”

“Oh, I’m not afraid of you,” Fluttershy replied in a confident and calm tone that was quite opposite to her appeance of indecision. She then looked to Twilight beside her on the bed. “I’ve just...never...”

“Done something like this with two at once,” Twilight couldn’t help a sultry demeanor. She really had started to see Fluttershy in a way she hadn’t before. She had loved her for some time now but she had also discovered that love and sexual desire were not always the same. Now she experienced both at once.

Fluttershy looked around her, unsure what to do. “I wasn’t even sure for a time,” she decided to say and looked up to Chrysalis before settling her gaze on Twilight again. The pony had rolled over to lay alongside Fluttershy on the bed. “I love you, Twilight,” she said and got her soft smile back. “I love Dashie and Chrysy too. I think what you and Chrysy do...well, it looks...um...nice.”

Twilight could feel what the Element of Kindness was thinking and feeling but decided to say something anyways because it felt right to do so. “We don’t have to do anything like that, Shy. I love you but I don’t want you to feel like you have to do sexual favors for me.”

“No,” Fluttershy quickly objected and wiggled into a better posture to look at her special mare. “I mean, I know that. It’s just that this is something I would like as well. Chrysy needs love to survive but not...”

The sunny yellow mare seemed to have trouble actually saying the word “sex.”

“She wants it anyways because she loves you and it,” Fluttershy wound up saying instead.

This, however, prompted a frown of puzzlement on Twilight. Not for the pegasus before her but rather the shape-shifter. “I’m not aware of changeling rituals pertaining to sexual activity. As far as I’m aware, the process for reproduction in your species was functional more than pleasurable. Yet you obviously have some connection to the patterns and urges of pony sexuality.”

The scientific speak no longer had a bothersome effect upon the changeling. “Of course,” she shrugged as if it went without saying. “How could any hive hope to steal love without being trained in the ways of ponies? Desire is not just a reproductive necessity, my queen. Even changelings can have desire for mere pleasure or emotional bonding.”

Twilight was unknowingly losing her sexual moment to scientific inquiry. “I can’t believe I missed this. I was just so busy with everything,” she swept a hoof with the word. “Honestly, I wasn’t really sure what I was supposed to do after the kissing. I mean, I would know if you were a pony, of course.”

Fluttershy blushed all over again at the implication. Did that mean Twilight would do “that” to her?

“But I avoided prying into your memories of your private areas because,” Twilight left the explanation off, knowing it went without saying. “I’ve never really taken a good look myself. But you obviously can feel pleasure there since you’ve implied-”

Chrysalis put her hole-ridden hoof to her queen’s mouth. “Biology can wait. I’m full anyways and I think there is another who would enjoy some exploration.”

The pegasus stiffened and gave a “heh-heh” of nervous I-have-no-idea-what’s-coming.

Twilight looked back down to Fluttershy and gained what could only be described as a creepy leer. She was about to lean up to the mare’s ear and whisper something decidedly inappropriate when a loud banging on the room door drew her from it. With a groan she called out to the visitor. “Who is it?!”

Her hivemind came back at her at the same time with the information which she had filtered out before. The guards had been reluctant to bother her but did try upon the urgency of the message. This was obviously a matter too grave to put aside, so Twilight dropped her inner shields.

“Messenger,” the voice wheezed, out of breath. The pony fell against the door’s outside with a thud. “Flame Haze, acting scout under Captain Storm Sword, enemy position...”

Twilight hardly bothered with moving. She instantly teleported herself off the bed and also the exhausted mare into the room with some of the bed pillows beneath her to rest her spent body upon. This Royal Guard was one she only vaguely recognized as one of the Captain of the Guard’s immediate inferiors. She was haggard but able to look up to Twilight and give something more legible.

“We found Sombra, your highness,” the scout said, her forehead creased with the pain of her journey and her coat damp with sweat. “The changelings are with him. They discovered us-”

“Storm Sword?” Twilight asked with further concern.

“I was sent when the engagement was still underway. I don’t know what’s become of my unit or my captain.”

The pony queen could hear the suppressed emotions in the soldier’s words. Some parts of the Royal Guard were more like family to each other than temporary postings. This scout might have been under Storm’s direct command for years or even her entire enlisting within the Guard. So, after the spent mare gave the coordinates and time, Twilight had her taken to a medical facility to recover.

After additional guards had arrived and taken the scout away on a stretcher, Rainbow was the first to question their move over the hivemind.

“I have an idea...” Twilight mused aloud in response. She tapped her chin and looked curiously at her changeling still upon the bed. Dashie, you and Shy will have to be at the city announcement in my place. The trials are too important for us to be gone but I have no choice but to deal with Sombra directly.

Chrysalis, however, was reading some random book and looking bored, passing the time until she had some use again. Or food.

“Chrysalis?”

The dark chitinous being looked up from the book, her frown turning into a smile so fast it was as if she were a light that had just been turned on. “Twilight?” she responded in the same tone of voice.

“Do you know the dark magic Sombra uses to detect a disguised changeling?”

“You can see for yourself,” Chrysalis pursed her lips.

Twilight closed her eyes and concentrated on that part of their hivemind. The others were easier to dig into if she wished but Chrysalis was much older than any of them and had many more memories to sift through. The changeling helped, however, and offered it up to her queen.

Twilight's eyes opened again and her horn had a faint glow of green along its spiral lines. “This is going to take some practice, but we’ll have to do it on the train.”

“Don’t wish to waste time – or lives,” Chrysalis read her queen’s thought. “Very well. Are you sure you do not wish any others to go? I am more than a match for him but-”

The purple pony rolled her eyes and went to sip some of Fluttershy’s tea from earlier. It was still warm. In truth, she knew Chrysalis was not exaggerating by much. When she was fully powered as she was now, Chrysalis was at least a match for the stallion king. Perhaps she had been less so before their pony hive had caused alterations with their powers – due at least in part to the fact that the ponies themselves had already been the bearers of Harmony.

She swallowed a sip of tea and began gathering their things in the room into appropriate luggage bags before stopping. It came back to her that her maids might be upset if she did too much herself. So she called them in and gave Fluttershy a loving nuzzle before sending her out to meet Rainbow in the city.

“We might get there faster if we attempted a unified teleportation spell,” Twilight considered as she walked out of the inn room with her changeling and guards in tow. She weighed their options. “It would reduce the magical expenditure so we would not be so exhausted upon arrival. However, we would not have the time to practice the other spell on the way and the plan might fail.”

Chrysalis poked her queen’s consciousness in the hivemind and grumbled at it. She could see what the plan was but was not sold on this grand idea of hers. “Why is there a plan? Why not just let me break him?” she whined.

Twilight put a hoof firmly to the changeling’s hard but warm chest after they exited the inn. “He’s after something. Immortality, right? If I’m not mistaken then he already knows a way but needs me to do something for him.”

Chrysalis frowned deeper than she had in quite some time. She could feel the hivemind closed to all but them and an invisible sound bubble around them prevented the guards and other ponies on the road from hearing. Her friends were not aware of what she was now planning. “You want to use him? He’s not naive, Twilight. You can’t hide this from him. Besides, you are already immortal.”

“This isn’t about me,” Twilight stopped them both again for a minute. “My friends – and those of you I love especially – are not. I can’t live with that. I know the Origins can be persuaded. Celestia did it and so can I. Sombra is just a stepping stone and he won’t be hurting anybody once we’re through with him.”

The steel confidence and icy resolve in her queen’s plan unsettled Chrysalis. It was clear how determined Twilight was to obtain immortality for those she loved. Was the promise of immortality something that ponies obsessed over more than other races did? She herself had, after all, never been too concerned with it. There had never been any assurance even in her younger years that ancient myths could be used to curb the starvation of changelings.

“What about the changelings?” Chrysalis had to ask once Twilight turned and started walking them to the train station again. She didn’t care about her old hive. At least not in the way she once did. Still, she knew all of those changelings and not all of them were traitors like that Princess Flux. Many were mere followers, as changelings were often grown to be. She might not care enough to save them but she certainly wouldn’t be the one to end them.

Twilight’s gaze trailed back to the cobblestone clacking beneath her purple hooves as she walked across it. The lines and cracks between the stones became a matter of fascination to her. All of those small details and each was a part of a much longer road. She neither started at the beginning or would stop at the end. She would get off at the point she needed to.

The story of Chrysalis’ old hive was as complex and the breadth of its own story was not something she had been a part of like Chrysalis had been. She could see Chrysalis’ memories and even her feelings but no matter how much she knew or sympathized, she had not lived it.

They were on the platform of the station and boarding the train to Vanhoover when she looked to Chrysalis again. She was conflicted with her decision but knew no better option.

“Deal with them however you see fit.”

Chrysalis felt that coming and had hoped that her queen would lessen the burden of closure upon her. Twilight’s plan was becoming clear to her though and even if the queen had some idea of what to do with the changelings it would not have mattered. She would be too busy with Sombra to act anything out. Truly unfortunate timing and alliances.

The changeling waited her turn and then stepped up into the train car behind Twilight. “I assume the nature of a foreign hive leaves you at a loss as to how to handle diplomacy with them?”

“They aren’t just a neutral party,” the mare responded. She walked down the clean and well-vacuumed car aisle before taking a window seat at the back and against a newly-polished window, which currently showed only the mud and bush-strewn fields outside Las Pegasus. “They’re combatants. Celestia’s pardon helped your acceptance in Equestria. I wouldn’t have been able to do that on my own. When word gets out about the depth of changeling involvement in the Cloudsdale incident, I’m not sure even this city would take my word on forging a treaty.”

Chrysalis had difficulty getting into the seat next to her queen because of her size and awkwardly non-pony-standard shape. So she morphed into a pony version of herself while keeping her colors and mane style. “What am I supposed to do? Take my old place as queen back? I won’t do that.”

Twilight had no intention of such a thing ever happening but she wondered at the idea and when she looked back from the window to Chrysalis she was surprised at the mare’s look. Chrysalis had the body of a mature but fit mare with a smooth near-black body and a greenish-blue mane and tail that lacked their usual holes. The hair was shiny and swept in an alluring curve like some mix of Fluttershy and Rarity’s styles.

“Not bad,” the queen gave her a wink. “Though I do prefer your raw form.”

“I thought the guard’s news was souring enough to discourage flirting,” Chrysalis got a tug of amusement at the corner of her lips.

At that, the train car lurched with forward movement and Twilight looked back to the window to see the wet grass and small shrubs move by. “I have to feel alive. Otherwise the troubles would drown me.”

9 - Those Days

Darkness was everywhere and yet she could still make out shapes and silhouettes. Where was she? When was it? She was experienced enough to know better than to assume she had only been out for a few minutes. To Tartarus with that blasted stallion!

“Mmmph,” Storm Sword mumbled through the fabric that had been tied around her mouth. Her hooves were tied as well. If she were a unicorn, escape might be easier. The darkness didn’t help.

It felt like her body was atop old grainy wood. It moved and jostled beneath her. Must be in some kind of covered wagon, she concluded. Being taken where and why? That’s what she cared about most at the moment.

The road that the wagon was traversing over must not have been a major one because there was no familiar clack-clack of cobblestone. Just rough dirt and rocks by the feel of it. Occasionally a more pronounced bump in the road would give her body a small jump. She got ready for the next one.

KAPOOM!

The wagon hit a large rock and Storm used the momentum of the lurch to send her over whatever it was that was keeping her tightly bound body from squirming towards the back entrance of the enclosed wagon. This would, of course, have been so much easier if she could make out more than rough edges of objects. She only had to roll over some small somethings to get to the canvas flap that closed the back of the wagon.

Great, she thought as she felt for the tie that bound the canvas to the flatbed. Even if she could get the tie undone while bound, she wouldn’t escape by just dropping off the back. Chances were high she’d be noticed. Who knows what would happen at that point and there was always the chance she would simply break her neck on the fall anyways.

If she could use her unicorn magic then this would be far more straight-forward. Obviously whoever had tied her up was experienced enough and well-equipped enough to put a suppression ring on her horn. She hated it when her enemies were competent. There wasn’t going to be any early breaks or malt cider for her today.

That’s when she reminded herself that she didn’t actually know her exact situation. It just seemed safe to assume that being bound, gagged, and supressed in a dark wagon and being taken somewhere meant that whoever was pulling the wagon wanted her to remain captive...

When she thought of it that way, she felt that the situation was actually quite clear and obvious. So with a healthy dose of pessimism and restrained concern for her Guard division, she rolled onto her side and moved her feathers as much as she could to see if the hidden blade had been found and removed.

Aha, she realized.

She had gotten a break after all.

“I can’t help but worry again,” Fluttershy frowned and poked the pillow in the new hotel room they had gotten within the city proper. It was on 28th West Street so they would not have to keep traveling quite as far to deal with the public gatherings.

In the past Rainbow Dash might have groaned, rolled her eyes, or even complained about her fellow pegasus. She wasn’t the same pony any more, though. Her thoughts were worlds apart from her past as she dumped the ice into the bucket on the large desk that had the new-looking record player and some utensils for making coffee.

With a flick of the tip of her wing, she popped a wax paper cup from the stack and started pouring some ice and water from the bucket she had just filled. The cider bottle they had gotten earlier was next to the bucket, but she wanted to save the good stuff for tonight.

“I don’t blame you,” Rainbow responded while watching the ice cubes fall into the ocean of her cheap cup. “I remember when we were back in Ponyville – before Twilight even lived there. It was quiet. Even when I was always looking for trouble, I was hard-pressed to find any. Now it seems there isn’t ever a place in Equestria we can go without danger following.”

Fluttershy was indeed worried but a calmness radiated to her from Rainbow over the hivemind. It was a strange scenario that Rainbow Dash of all ponies would sooth her since she was usually the one doing the soothing. Perhaps part of her own personality had rubbed off on the blue pegasus the way everyone in the hive had shared traits. But as the shy mare hugged the bed pillow to her chest and rolled onto her back, she couldn’t help but feel like it was Rainbow who had changed Rainbow.

“Want a sip?” the athlete offered and walked to the bedside. “I’ll warn you, though,” she said before hoofing over the drink, “you have to pay me back by trusting Twilight instead of worrying about her.”

“But-”

Rainbow made sure she didn’t get words in. It was better she made her point now and they enjoy themselves than let good time be soured by pointless concerns. “After all we’ve been through saving Equestria – and ourselves – I think she deserves to be trusted. Chrysalis is with her, after all. We both know what she’s capable of. Especially after Sombra’s last attempt.”

Fluttershy took a deep breath, nodded, and took the cup. They had all changed in different ways, she knew that to be true. But maybe keeping a part of what made them unique wasn’t such a bad thing. She had always trusted Twilight and she’d take Rainbow’s advice on it without another thought. She did, however, have other thoughts.

“What do we do now, though? These city ponies won’t look at us the way they did their queen.”

“No,” Rainbow agreed, accepted the cup back from the mare, and walked over to the window. She used a wing tip to make a split in the blinds and see outside.

The view was severely limited because this area of the city had nothing but multi-story apartments and store complexes. So all she saw were neon signs, advertisements, and apartment buildings so bland that even Maud Pie would be left wanting for style. Rainbow’s eyes dropped to the street below. Generally speaking, it was quite filthy. But masses of ponies were out there shopping, commuting, and talking about the coming tirals.

There was word of yet another rainstorm coming up but Las Pegasus practically worshipped the falling water at this point. Rainbow could see a few picket signs of rain pictured with victory. No doubt the involvement of the water in the capture and pending trial of the rogue police force had given the city ponies a sense of personal strength and independence.

“She was right about this too, after all,” Fluttershy whispered beside Rainbow, almost startling the other mare with how quietly she had come up to her side.

“Let the ponies of this city take charge of their own affairs and assist minimally if needed,” the multi-colored pegasus repeated their queen’s order. “Did Twilight become some political prodigy overnight?”

“She used all of our knowledge and experience through the hivemind,” Fluttershy put a hoof around Rainbow. “She was always the smartest to begin with…”

At that, Rainbow turned under the mare’s hoof and looked her in the eyes. Their noses were nearly touching and Rainbow could feel the other female’s warm breath. “And you’re not? We all know what you did when Sombra tried to get her. I’m not sure if even Twilight had thought to use your Hive Power like that. Not to mention the guts it took.”

Fluttershy blushed and began looking at the blinds again, but Rainbow didn’t let her. The blinds closed and Rainbow used a wing to turn the mare’s face back to her. She was close enough that she could see herself in the reflection of the other pony’s eyes.

“I don’t want to be in charge but there are still things I want, you know,” Rainbow persisted and set the cup down on the nearby bedside table.

“While Twilight is in danger fighting some-”

Again Rainbow silenced her, this time with a clean forehoof to her mouth. “While Twilight is safe and saving Equestria like she does every week. Now are you going to ask me what I want or do I have to show you?”

While there was some filtering between them and Twilight, there was none at all between these two pegasi. The maids were not in the room at the moment, so they were alone. Rainbow’s super rare girly shriek was therefore heard only to Fluttershy when the sun-colored mare surprised her by half pulling and half tossing her onto the bed.

“Oh, um, sorry,” Fluttershy mumbled. “I thought that’s what you wanted and I’m trying to be more assertive...if that’s okay with you.”

Rainbow stretched her hooves out on the bed and beckoned the mare to join her. “It’s all good with me,” she said with a wink.

“Do as you’re told!” Sombra bellowed at the changeling queen. Even in his shadow form, his voice carried like thunder. The small pebbles beneath his mist and the hooves of the host of changelings rattled on the ground.

Still Queen Flux was defiant. “If you want slaves, go back to your Crystal Empire, fallen king!” she sneered with every last drop of venom she only wished she could poison him with. “Half of my hive is gone because of your stupid obsession with one pony princess!”

“I didn’t waste all of this time,” Sombra roared and thrust the mist all around the changeling leader, “to have you abandon the plan on a whim!”

Flux bared her fangs and widened her stance. “We don’t need your complicated plots to take over Equestria. The hive will feed without you!”

The shouting turned to violence as Sombra used his magical mist to grab the small queen’s two rear hooves and toss her back against a thick pine tree’s trunk. Flux spun with her wings, though, and avoided anything more than a graze of her side against the rough bark. The move sent the remaining changelings into a swarming attack on the king.

All merely leaped through, tossed items through, or shot green blasts through the invulnerable black haze. Nothing could affect him. Even though the new Queen Flux was only slightly taller than the average changeling, she had begun to master abilities that regular members of the hive were incapable of. It was what marked her as above them, or at least that was her reasoning.

A deep red aura started to form around Flux as she powered up with all of the strength she had left. She only followed this master of dark magic because it suited the needs of her hive. No more though. Too much had been lost and it was clear she and her changeling children were no more than tools for him to discard when needed.

Odors of burnt chitin began to drift among this part of the forest – deep and far from trails or wandering ponies. Guard changelings that were looking over their captured pony prey left the crude clod and stick prisons to assist in futility. The queen was too busy to give orders, so they all joined in. She channeled so much of her magical energy into the attack that her eyes began to droop as she finished the charge.

Angry flames of dark blood red danced around her body like a bonfire until the energy was released and soared into the charcoal stallion of shadow like a blazing comet.

The resulting explosion cracked trees and rocks while leaving her changelings unharmed. It was her greatest and most powerful skill. However, she did not see the result of it, as the toll on her body knocked her out before she could confirm the kill.

“Spiiiiiiiiiiiiiike~!” Rarity cried out as she rummaged through the drawers of her vanity dresser.

It was starting to get cold in her room since he had left to deal with some crystal ponies in the foyer. Her fireplace did an adequate job of heating the grand bedroom but, when one got used to a higher temperature, even a drop that kept within the warm range made one feel cool.

That and she wanted him to fetch a brush for her that was across the room.

The first dinner they had out together had been pleasant, but she had honestly enjoyed being back at the castle far more. When they were out, they got nothing but suggestive looks from the crystal ponies. The public’s rather crass attitude about it was entirely Cadance’s fault she was sure. But that did little to ease her annoyance.

It was an old and rustic restaurant that they visited and could very well have once been a redwood inn. After being stuffed full without even finishing their larger than normal meals, Spike was unable to refuse the equally enormous blueberry and sapphire glazed pie. Even if he was willing to insult them by turning it down, the sapphires were far too tempting for his draconic tastes.

This all mattered for one reason. The kiss. After they had gotten back to the castle and relaxed in her room in front of the fireplace, they had gotten cozy together. Spike’s rather large body had curled around hers, giving her warmth from the back while the fireplace warmed her front side. Rather nice since it was easy to be too hot facing the fire and freezing one’s flanks off at the same time.

Spike suggested they try the pie even if Rarity’s stomach could only handle a small taste. She could still remember him taking the plate with the slices into the room and cuddling her again from behind on the plush royal purple rug before the fire. He took the thin slice with a claw and held it right up to her mouth…

Rarity gave an “oh my” when she saw her cheeks heating up in the vanity mirror’s reflection. Just thinking about it made her heart pound. If Spike had been pouring over romance novels in his freetime then their hivemind sure didn’t let her know about it. Perhaps her feelings for the dragon gave her rose-tinted glasses on his actions, but she only cared how much he loved her.

The pie had blueberries throughout but sapphires only on one side since she couldn’t very well digest hard gems. The slice he fed her was exquisite to say the least. She had never tasted its equal even in the highest level restaurants of Canterlot. What really mattered was that some of the cooked but runny blueberry had trailed down her lips. When she requested a napkin to tidy herself, Spike had done the tidying instead. With his tongue.

His long dragon tongue on her lips.

Her heart had nearly stopped and all in the best way possible.

That was last night. She had been obsessing with it in her mind ever since. Sure, Spike had his concerns about Twilight, but he respected her as well. Perhaps now more than ever before. And she certainly wasn’t so base as to beat away at issues they had talked about and settled already. Something else bothered her.

What would it be like being with a dragon?

“You can use my memories if you want. I don’t mind,” Spike said from behind and to the side of her. The angle had prevented her from seeing him come up via the mirror.

She jumped nearly five hooves out of her skin. “Spike! You know better than to startle a lady.”

“Sorry,” he apologized but grinned at the same time. He leaned in and nuzzled her cheek with his, though he had to place his front claws down on the ground to do so comfortably. “The ponies just needed some advice for putting down new homes. Some of the children are getting old enough for places of their own.”

Rarity cooed at the touch of his warm scales on her fur. “I do hope it is not too much trouble in this snow.”

“Naw,” Spike waved it off with a claw. “They won’t be building until the weather is clear and I can help melt it anyways if they need me to.”

As if the emphasize his ability, he blew a wisp of flame almost as if he was going to whistle.

“I do not wish to use your memories for such private affairs. I would rather experience it myself,” Rarity finally said and returned to attaching her earrings. She kept her language non-specific so as to avoid what she considered crude conversation.

“Huh?” the dragon’s eyes looked around for the topic he had lost.

“I may not yet know what dragons are like in certain respects,” she put it politely as she often did. “But I am perfectly at peace with it no matter the facts.”

Spike meanwhile, wondered why she felt the need to talk about such things at the moment. He also wondered what in the fire ruby she had just said. He might know if he used the hivemind but felt unsure if he should use it all the time. Perhaps it would be more gentledrake-like to give her thoughts some privacy.

“You mean...like,” Spike struggled for understanding. “Um, you don’t know what it would be like if we were married?”

“Well,” Rarity tilted her head and half-agreed. “Yes, but that was not exactly what I meant, darling. You have yet to properly kiss a lady, no?”

“No,” Spike replied and then furrowed his brows and corrected. “Yes.”

Rarity frowned.

“No, I’ve never kissed a lady,” Spike clarified with a cold sweat. Sometimes the mare’s wording was hard for him to give short answers to.

With a better hidden blush, Rarity finished her work at the dresser. We simply must change that today, she decided.

10 - Their Perfection

Time to suit up again,” Pinkie Pie told herself in the most serious of serious voices. She opened the window and began buckling into her changeling-style flight machine she had made some time ago. The engines on the back began to whir to life after the harness locked around her. Green lightning started to dance in her eyes.

Another serious voice shouted after the door to the room was thrown open. “Pinkie Pie! What did I tell you about operating heavy machinery in the hospital? Get back in that bed, young lady!” Nurse Redheart scolded with an exasperated frown.

“No worries, Nurse Cutie Mark Swap!” Pinkie Pie raised her head and looked proudly out the window at the sparkling winter sun. She took on the face of some battered veteran on the cover of a war hero movie. “It’s my sworn duty to protect Equestria and break fourth walls. I have to go out into that shiny bright horizon and create some chaos with the plot. After all, Discord was written out at the end of the last story, so I have to fill in!”

Before the confused mare could do anything more, Pinkie leaped out of the window. The nurse bolted to the opening and nearly fainted before Pinkie’s mechanical wings popped open and the engines raced to full power. The pink pony with the black power suit thundered away at lightning speed over Canterlot’s clear skies.

Nurse Redheart finally fell to the floor with a groan of exhaustion. Looking after the recovery of this pony had taken a toll on her sanity. She was supposed to be working in a hospital. Not a psychiatric ward.

“Last stop: Vanhoover!” the train assistant hollered through the cars. “Last stop: Vanhoover!”

Applejack kicked her saddlebags back up her spine and trotted out of the train. It had been a real treat to spend some days with her family again and it hadn’t been easy for them to get her back out. Sweet Apple Acres was her home and it was, in all her honesty, where she wanted to spend the rest of her life. Some ponies wanted more and more. She was satisfied with just that.

When she read the letter from Coloratura, she was happy for sure. They hadn’t written to each other in ages. She always liked the mare and thought it was a crime shame they fell out of touch. Still, it was unusual for her to be invited to some big concert in Vanhoover all of a sudden. She hadn’t yet convinced herself she wanted to see an old friend more than spend extra time with her family. The news from Flame Haze about the changelings near Vanhoover changed her mind.

If Equestria was in danger then she knew plum well she was going to do something about it. If an old friend was in danger then all the more so. She’d just have to get there and make sure that everything was alright – even if Twilight assured them that she would deal with the problem. Applejack was no pony to nap on the porch while everypony else did the work.

Stepping out onto the icy pavement of the modern train station, the orange mare made her way to the exit. It was a good thing she listened to Rarity’s advice to pack warm. It lingered in her mind even without a hivemind connection since it was advice given every time they had ever gone anywhere together….ever. Without the denim jacket and apple-patterned scarf she was wearing, she was certain she would have been frigid. Even the air had a dreary bite in it.

The train station exit revealed to her the beginnings of the big city. Vanhoover was no Manehatten but it was enormous nonetheless and nothing like good ol’ sleepy Ponyville. Ponies were everywhere, getting from one place to another. Cabs raced by and street vendors shouted out for attention. Applejack veered towards one that was selling hot pretzels. She had forgotten to ration a snack for the train ride and was starving. It didn’t look like ponies were fleeing a changeling attack, so she relaxed her tense stride.

“Ten bits!” the pretzel-selling mare answered after being asked for a regular salted.

“Ten?” Applejack frowned and rose a brow.

“No haggling,” the tan mare leaned against her cart. “Takes a lot to make and keep these babies warm ‘round here. City takes their share too. Lucky it ain’t twelve with the hikes they have planned.”

Applejack had taken a quick glance to some other vendors around and wasn’t seeing anything better. “Alright, alright,” she agreed and flipped some bits out of her bag.

The vendor gave her the pretzel and, to her credit, it was indeed hot and seemed fresh. “Hey, thanks, hun,” she gave a surprising appreciation to her customer. “I know you ain’t from ‘round here, but...”

Applejack looked down to her cowpony boots that were keeping her hooves warm and wondered how the mare could tell.

“...the ol’ council used to take words even from the tourists since we kind of need ‘em these days,” the oddly-accented mare continued. “I know it’s a bit of a favor to ask, but might you be able to help us out a bit and tell them to hold off those changes they’re thinkin’ of? I know over half the sellers five blocks ‘round and we could be in some real trouble, you know?”

Applejack swallowed a bite of her pretzel and asked. “Don’t they depend on taxin’ you? Why would they raise it just to run y’all out of business?”

“Beats me!” the mare blurted in a scoffing tone. “Only seems to care ‘bout gettin’ as much for themselves as fast as they can – no matter what happens to the city. Me and the others think maybe we can get enough ponies talkin’ some sense into ‘em. They didn’t used to be this way. Just can’t figure it. Oh! I’m sorry!”

“Hm?” Applejack rose a brow again while chewing another bite. She wanted to enjoy the snack before it got cold. The air was certainly chill enough to cool the pretzel fast.

“Didn’t give you my name. Hot Salt,” the tan mare held her hoof out over the cart.

Applejack shook it and swallowed again. “Applejack. Pleased to meet’cha, Hot Salt. I’m just here to check up on an ol’ friend, but I can stop by this council of yours as I go. Just point the way.”

Salt redirected her hoof with an explanation and the farmpony wasted not a second. She kept munching on her pretzel as she went, not even aware of the odd looks she occasionally got from the city ponies as she stopped and waited to cross streets. It took a couple blocks but the big city yielded to her the old stone building she had been told about. A wide series of steps led up to some doors that seemed too small when compared to the building-wide stairs.

At least it was warmer inside. Applejack adjusted to the change in temperature with a chill of her own running down her spine. It was also much quieter in here compared to the busy street outside. The door closed behind her and made the silence even more pronounced. The one thought Applejack had, however, was that the place could use better lighting. The large reception room was only dimly lit and was almost like a torch-lit cave even after coming in from overcast weather.

Applejack swallowed the last of her barely-still-warm pretzel and stepped up to the reception desk. “Uh, pardon me, but...”

“If you’re here about the so-called ‘hikes’ then you’ll have to come back tomorrow,” the reception stallion practically bit out. He looked ready to punch somepony. “The council has taken the rest of the day off.”

“Hmm,” Applejack hummed with an obvious look of suspicion. “Well maybe you can tell me-”

“Applejack?!” a sing-song voice called out from a doorway leading to one of the side rooms. The mare had a sparkly look around her cheeks and had a high ponytail of orchid gray and purple. On her flank was a rainbow of musical symbols around a star.

She looked so different that it took Applejack a second of confusion for her mind to catch up and place the cutie mark with the pony. “Rara?” she responded slowly and forgot about the receptionist behind her.

“AJ!” the singer raced to Applejack and hugged her tight. She wasn’t wearing any clothes, so Applejack assumed she had simply taken off her winter wear for the warmer indoors. Though in all honesty, Applejack still felt it wasn’t warm enough to remove her attire.

“Good seein’ you too, Rara,” Applejack smiled big and hugged back. “You’ve sure changed. All grown and I remember you with blue in your mane.”

“Oh,” Rara came back from the hug with a blush. “Just the show biz. My mane is the same if the dye hasn’t ruined its original color. So you got my letter?”

“Uh-huh,” Applejack nodded. “I was on my way to see you, actually. What are you doin’ here of all places?”

A flicker of panic formed in her eyes and was gone just as fast. “Oh, uh, just...had to talk to somepony about my concert tonight. The city has all kinds of regulations and requirements.”

Applejack half-frowned. “Well, I was here to talk about somethin’ like that but he said they were all out.”

Coloratura glanced at the receptionist that Applejack motioned back to. There was a pause and then she spoke again. “I think we were just talking to different ponies. I was with somepony not...on the council. Anyways, how about we get some lunch? I know it’s late but I haven’t had any yet.”

Applejack brightened at the other female’s cheery smile. “Well that pretzel sure only got me halfway. I could go for a hayburger. Sure sounds more pleasant than pushin’ for where who’s doin’ what.”

Figuring she’d save some grief by coming back tomorrow and spending time with Coloratura in the present, Applejack followed the mare back out of the city hall. She was focused on the voluminous and styled tail she was following and thus never saw the sneer the receptionist gave as they left.

“Spikey-wikey,” Rarity fanned herself with her delicate imported hoof fan. “You really do not need to warm up the room any further.”

Spike closed his mouth and thus killed the flames coming out of it. After getting a larger than usual fire going in the fireplace, he had used some of his own flames to heat the place. He did want the room to be comfortable rather than cold and Rarity had even requested as much. Perhaps he did too much.

“Oh, no worries,” the white mare insisted and pat at the bed she was laying on.

They were in her room again. It lacked the soft sleeping ring of their hive-connected chamber, but the bed was certainly comparable for comfort. The imitation fur top blanket was the highest quality in Equestria even though it had been sealed away with the rest of the Empire for over a thousand years. It was better than laying on a cloud.

Just as Spike was beginning to crawl up onto the heavenly bed with her, there was a thunderous knock on the door and it opened to reveal Sunburst. The newly-titled wizard looked even more frazzled than usual. There must have been a dozen scrolls floating around him in his magical grip. Spike squinted in confusion while Rarity huffed and splayed backwards in defeat. She was never going to get what she wanted.

“Your highnesses!” Sunburst blurted. “A thousand apologies but there is something going on with the Crystal Heart! You must come quick!”

Spike leaped off the bed while Rarity sat back up with furrowed brows. What could possibly be happening with the Heart? Cadance had imbued it with a powerful love magic before leaving and, anyways, it was powered by the crystal ponies themselves. She didn’t hesitate long before following both of the males out of the room and down to the base of the castle, snatching some warm clothing on the way.

It took a good minute due to the sheer size of the place but Rarity finally wound up behind Spike at the Crystal Castle’s courtyard base. She slipped his scarf around his neck to help keep him warm in the snow, but she caught her breath in awe as she came around his side and saw the Crystal Heart for herself.

The ancient relic was spinning where it normally did at the center of the castle’s underbelly. But it wasn’t a glassy blue anymore. It had taken on a vibrant pink that practically glowed from within and shone out of each facet upon the crystal surface. The light was pulsing and a soothing hum could be heard emanating from it. Snow that had drifted towards the platform under the heart was glistening and even melting.

Spike reached out and almost touched the Heart but did not do so fully. “It’s hot,” he commented with a curious tone. “Sunburst?”

The stallion spun more scrolls around him in open form. “It’s never done this before. Something is powering it far beyond it’s usual state. The crystal ponies...something has changed.”

“Is this a good thing?” Rarity held a hoof to her mouth.

“I’m not sure,” Sunburst replied honestly. “I think so. All of my research so far indicates that the sources that power the Heart are not capable of imbuing it beyond capacity. But I have come across this tome only yesterday.”

Spike grabbed the book that Sunburst floated over to him. It was open to a bookmarked page with strange drawings of the Heart. He read aloud. “Love that nourishes, those that feed, those that give, here find all they need.”

“A riddle?” Rarity asked and looked to the pages when Spike lowered it to show her. “A prophecy.”

She pressed her lips together as she tried understanding the strange drawings that surrounded the text. The Heart looked quite normal on one far side of the page but it was redrawn and morphed for each repetition until it reached the far side of the opposite page. Forms were around each iteration.

From left to right: normal Heart, glowing Heart with ponies prancing, pulsing Heart with ponies kissing, Heart with vines coming from it with ponies mingling with changelings, Heart in the center of some beehive-looking form with ponies and changelings in every variety of couple. There was even a pair of a changeling and pony holding a baby form together.

“Changelings?!” Rarity gasped. To her knowledge Chrysalis was the only one who was not an open enemy of Equestria and that was only because of the unique details of her salvation.

“Where did you get this tome?” Spike asked the wizard, who was closing his cloak tighter around him.

“The castle’s hidden private library. It would seem King Sombra had hidden away even more information on the Crystal Empire than we realized. None of the other books talk about these drawings, though.”

Rarity read the next line around the last depiction. “True the love, here foretold, coat and carapace, none withhold.”

Spike gave the book back to Sunburst. “I don’t get it. Does this mean that changelings had something to do with the Crystal Empire’s past?”

“That’s just it,” Sunburst adjusted his glasses and continued floating the many scrolls around him. “I can’t be certain but, given the information Queen Twilight shared with me, it’s obvious that King Sombra was heavily involved with changelings before his rule of the Empire. No author was put to quill for this tome but the style closely matches that of Sombra’s earlier writings. If it is, then this could be one of his visions – like the one about the princess on the horizon!”

Rarity frowned deeply at that. “But would that not decrease the reliability of the vision? After all, Sombra was entirely mad.”

“Still is,” Spike’s face took on the shadow of concern.

“The mental stability of the pony does come into consideration when questioning visions,” Sunburst agreed. “In any case, I thought it was critical you be made aware of this. If the writings are true then the Crystal Heart is safe and merely evolving into a more powerful state. Everything I know about it thus far indicates it is being strengthened by some kind of stimulus. I can keep you both up-to-date if anything happens.”

“Thank you, Sunburst,” Spike smiled and then turned to the comparatively small mare beside him. He saw her shiver from the rushed wrapping of her clothes that left her vulnerable to the chill. “We’d better get back inside where it’s warm.”

Rarity was no pony to object and followed her dragon in a hurry. When they reached the hallway several stories up that led into Rarity’s room, the dragon picked up the mare and carried her into her room on his two powerful rear legs. An “eep” escaped her lips – a sound she rarely voiced except upon unusual circumstance.

“Spikey?” Rarity asked as he closed the door behind them with his tail. She was at least pleased by the renewed warmth of the room. Too much given her garments but Spike was already setting her back down and taking off her clothes to hang on the appropriate hooks near the door. “Really, you could at least tell-”

As soon as her last remaining piece of attire was off, he picked her back up and carried her to her large queen-sized bed. He landed them both onto it with a gentle thud. The cozy feel of the plush blankets welcomed them back.

“Where were we?” Spike grinned with a smokey huff of his nostrils.

The movement of Spike’s very visible scale-covered muscles made Rarity’s heart pound in her chest. He might have been two or even three sizes as big as she was, but to Tartarus if that didn’t make her swoon at the power of his embrace and the feeling of being so physically surrounded by the sweetest, strongest, most loving-

“What about the Heart?” Rarity interrupted her own thoughts with a groan.

Spike shrugged and then traced a claw gently down her side as they both lay facing each other on the bed. “You heard Sunburst. It’s in good shape. There’s nothing we can do right now anyways and Twilight has us in silent mode for her mission. You did see what he scribbled on the bookmark right?”

“Of course,” Rarity sighed. “The color of the ink clashed terribly with the colored paper.”

Spike stifled a chuckle. “I meant what it said. He tested the exterior shield strength of the Heart. It’s more than tripled. Right now the Crystal Empire is safer than Princess Celestia’s private quarters used to be.”

“Oh good,” Rarity replied simply.

Spike was almost surprised at that. “So you won’t worry over it for the moment.”

“Of course not, darling,” the unicorn gave her best seductive gaze. “I never wanted to be bothered in the first place. It is so difficult for us to just get a moment to ourselves like this and so long as everything is alright...”

“Let’s enjoy it?” Spike finished with a gulp. He wanted for them to get closer and more intimate like this but it was more intimidating than it seemed in theory. She soothed him over their shared mind and brought them closer on the bed.

“Spikey-wikey,” Rarity began with a flutter of her eyes as she smoothly slid diagonally closer. She moved both nearer to his chest and then up so her face would be level with his. “Tell me, darling,” she locked her eyes half-lidded with his. Her face inched closer and closer still. Their noses nearly touched. “Exactly how long is that dragon tongue of yours?”

Spike took on the deep and fierce blush that Rarity had told him before was so becoming of him. But he wanted to answer in some way more meaningful than that so he decided to show her directly.

His naturally long dragon tongue slithered out, so much thicker than it was when he was in his baby form. Nearly as wide as a pony tongue, it shot out and zoomed down to Rarity’s rear hooves and then twisted back up and stopped in front of Rarity’s nuzzle with a slight downturn of a curl. The tip was almost hanging like a dog’s might but Rarity was wide-eyed when she looked down the length and back up. Her mouth hung open as well.

Somehow Spike managed to reverse it back into his mouth in a second without any drop of saliva spraying anywhere. “It’s about the same length it was before in proportion to my body,” the dragon shrugged. “I guess it’s always like that no matter how big I am.”

Rarity’s heart felt like it was going to burst right out of her chest, but she still managed to take Spike’s muzzle in her forehooves and peer deep into his eyes. “Spikey, I will be crystal clear with you. I am not entirely certain I wish to kiss you as a lady or have you kiss me as a dragon.”

Before Spike could understand her words, she took a deep breath and made her choice.

Their lips came together in a meeting nearly as hot as the dragon’s flame burning deep within his body. He knew Rarity’s lips would be warm, but they felt nearly as hot as his breath. Shock gave way to joy and then to fear. What if his flames came out into her mouth? But that fear left him quickly. He knew deep down it could never happen. Maybe he didn’t have facts to back it up like Twilight always insisted was necessary, but he knew it deep down in his soul. He would never hurt his mare.

Power began to surge through his body as he returned the kiss and their tongues met for the first time. The sound of Rarity’s happy moan turned Spike’s eyes to thin slits. His dragon greed was strong for her, but he did not grow any larger. Instead, the spines on his back glowed and expanded outwards. His arms quickly wrapped around the small mare’s body without him even thinking about doing so. He held her tight while his tail came up to curl along her spine and help hold her to him.

They held the kiss, both losing themselves in the drain of all worry and the gain of pure love.

This was their perfection.

The Crystal Heart pulsed stronger and brighter than ever before as tendrils of rainbow light began to reach out from it.

11 - Trading Places

Comfy place,” Applejack grinned as she kicked back into the old-fashioned sofa.

Coloratura’s travel trailer was a necessity for all the touring she did, but it was like no covered wagon Applejack had ever seen. It had to be a good sixty hooves long. Must take at least four big stallions just to move around. The interior might as well have been an entire home. Living room, kitchen, large bedroom, and even a bathroom that looked big enough for a princess. Truly a work of modern ingenuity to get all that in a movable hard-cover wagon trailer.

“I guess I just expected it,” Applejack went on and kept looking in awe around her, “to be more modern. I ain’t no Rarity, but looks like an ol’ fashioned camp cabin. Reminds me o’ friendship camp.”

Coloratura was at the kitchen sink, looking very out of place and like she knew she needed to be over there for some reason but wasn’t sure why. “Y-yes,” she stuttered back in response.

What was eating at her, Applejack wondered.

“Um, do you like grape juice?” the singer asked after shuffling around and then opening the fridge.

That’s when it dawned on Applejack something had been off this whole time. Maybe Rara had changed. Maybe she had forgotten. But then why would she have changed or forgotten so much when her trailer was clearly right out of a page of their youth. That disparity that bothered her traveled the hivemind. First to the relay and then to Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and the guards as well.

The hivemind returned the most likely answer that hadn’t yet visited her mind on its own. The farmpony’s eyes widened and her muscles tensed up. She looked hard at the pony. But she wasn’t a pony, was she?

Movement down the other side of the trailer made Applejack jump from her seat with the fur of her coat on end.

Two changelings stepped forward from the rear bathroom. “Good job, 720,” one of them snickered.

Coloratura vanished in a flash of green in the kitchen, the cover blown away to reveal the changeling beneath. The hivemind was right and the fact Applejack’s unease was justified was no comfort to her. What happened to the real Rara was far more of a concern.

“Hey,” the Rara changeling complained. “Why am I the only one with a number for a name, Cell Block?”

One of the two changelings in front of Applejack rolled his eyes.

“Mind telling me where my friend is and who gave y’all the idea three changelings could take me on?” Applejack let herself relax just a bit as she felt the Hive Power warm her blood. If they had been cautious enough to notice, the changelings would have seen tiny green sparks begin to form in the mare’s irises.

“Queen Flux of course!” Cell Block put his chest out proudly. “And your friend was taken along with all the others for us to feed from. You’ll join her just as soon as we drag your pony hide back to base.”

“I don’t want to hurt none y’all,” Applejack narrowed her eyes at them. “Haven’t figured where my magic sends stuff so how ‘bout we skip it and y’all just release Rara to me.”

All of the changelings laughed. That’s when Applejack had to decide. It wasn’t easy. She knew very well how changelings were capable of making independent decisions and turning around. Maybe only the queens could but this situation didn’t allow for debate.

“Not goin' to mess up her nice lil’ home either, so...” Applejack gave a sideways grin and darted out of the unlocked door to the outside.

It was more of a dive since the door simply swung open. She rolled and sprung away to the open half-dirt half-grass field that made up the backstage area. The fact that no other concert staff were around must have meant this was either planned or, more likely, the staff had already been taken with Rara. In any case, the lack of other concerns would make this easy. The three opponents flew out at her, seemingly irritated that the Earth pony had managed to get even a small distance away before they could pounce.

“Give up now and nopony gets hurt,” Applejack stared back and tried putting as much resolve into her tone and face as she could to convince them.

All three changelings lunged towards her at once.

Before igniting her Power, Applejack ducked. The first changeling soared overhead. The second landed just to the side and rear of her while the third collided with her front legs. She took the impact with ease due to her raw physical strength and bucked hard at the one slightly behind her. The black creature gave a shriek as it was sent tumbling through the air all the way onto the backstage platform.

The changeling at her forelegs growled and she smirked back. “Wrong choice,” she declared.

A light-sucking black void suddenly expanded into existence when Applejack turned up her forehoof at the shape-shifter. It then thundered with green lightning even as light around it warped and pulled into nothing. The changeling, in spite of being much larger than the roughly head-sized orb, distorted along with the light and was pulled into it in an instant. There was no sound. Only the terrified look on the creature’s face as he was yanked in and disappeared.

Thankfully, the changeling that had overshot had seen this and flew back to give more distance between them. His fear and horror was obvious in his trembling legs and unsteady hover.

“Don’t worry none,” Applejack almost shrugged and then extinguished the void with little more than a flick of her hoof. “We figure it just teleports or suspends between dimensions. I ain’t no killer. Probably,” she added with an upward tick in her grin. “Now, I happen to like this friend o’ mine y’all stole. So we settle this the easy way or I do the same to the two of you and still get my way.”

The changeling on the backstage stood up, exchanged a look with her remaining companion, and then gulped. “Maybe we can make a deal?”

“I doubt it,” Applejack frowned. “I just want my friend back.”

“We free her and you let us feed off your love,” the kicked changeling offered with as much nervousness as appeared on her face.

“720!” the other changeling seemed as surprised by the idea as Applejack. “Flux can-”

“She’s weakened!” 720 argued back. “She’s not paying attention. We can do this. I don’t want to starve anymore and I’ve felt the love between these ponies!”

That seemed to shut up changeling no-name.

“What’s this here feedin’ like?” Applejack felt she knew already because of the hivemind but needed to be sure of the deal. She also kept her eyes on both changelings just in case they felt they could surprise her.

“Just don’t mind us and we can absorb it by being near-”

“That’s not enough to feed both of us,” Changeling No-Name barked back.

“Their love is strong!” 720 countered.

“Skimming doesn’t work-”

“-it does for two under one power-”

“Hey,” Applejack interjected with an annoyed tick of her brow. “Y’all goin’ to show me to Rara or do I have to break y’all up?”

The changeling looked to her, each other, and then her again. “Fine,” 720 answered in spite of No-Name’s scowl. “But you let us do what we need to survive off the connection you have with Rara.”

It was odd at first for Applejack to hear her friend’s nickname from a changeling but then this was the one that impersonated her so maybe she knew a little more than otherwise assumed. Given Applejack’s worry over the real Rara’s safety, she agreed. It might take too long to find the mare on her own. Besides, this couldn’t cause problems down the road, right?

As a filly, Storm Sword had gotten used to other foals pointing out or even laughing at her unusual accent. Her parents were from Unidee, an island off the northeast coast of Equestria that flew the flag of the two sisters. Even after they moved to the mainland, they hadn’t lost their accent and gave it to her in turn. She rolled “R”s and sometimes stretched out her “A”s. Most ponies understood her just fine, which was more than could be said of her parents’ much thicker accents.

The only reason accents were on her mind right this moment was because her successful escape from the prisoner caravan had landed her far into the wilderness. It was here that she came across a large camp clearing that told her very well where she was in Equestria. Or rather, that she was no longer in Equestria.

Thick pine trees with bark nearly as dark as coal. Snow like powered sugar and layers beneath as thick as ice. It covered everything and could blow gently from the pines in little clouds of white haze. She had endured such weather before, but knew she wouldn’t have to do so much longer without proper gear.

Storm Sword hopped over the snow-covered log she had been hiding behind to view the encampment. The writing was in one of the northern and very foreign languages. What was crucial was that it was the Union font that was marked on what appeared to be the command tent. This was a military camp and the inhabitants were of the Pony’s Union of Marescow-Stalliongrad that had aligned with her own division during one of the northern skirmishes against a griffon tribe.

“Здравствуйте!” Storm hailed as she stepped through the snow to catch the attention of some guards coming around on their patrol. She stumbled over the greeting as much as she did last time she spoke it. But she could speak well enough to be intelligible.

The guards approached her quickly and cautiously but had a curious squint in their eyes due to her greeting. Storm Sword bowed her head to them to indicate she was giving herself over peacefully to capture. She knew their procedures and let them take her to the confinement tent with three guards inside, pointing their strange tube-like projectile weapons at her. Five minutes was what it took for the commander to show up, and the flap of the tent opened right on time.

The old grizzled stallion’s eyes widened and his crusted lips formed a big toothy smile. “St’rm!” he bellowed out in an accent that made her own simple to understand. The guards all relaxed and left the tent after he trotted up to her and embraced her fully, heavy cloak flowing out in his wake.

Storm hugged back and then released. “Sorry to drop in, Strat. Caught the wrong wagon,” she explained. “Don’t suppose you’ve been dealing with changelings lately?”

“Pushed ‘em down five days past,” he responded with less cheer. “Took below the border, so we had to let ‘em go. Had to set up here to protect the flight test.”

“Flight test?” Storm quirked a brow as he led her out and into his own personal tent, vented campfire and all inside. She wanted to get back in the field as soon as possible both to ensure the safety of her unit and to protect Equestria. However, she knew at least part of her physical position now and getting where she needed to be without flight might take too long. “Finally got some pegasi to sign on with you?”

General Stratosphere made a “kcht” sound and curled his lip. “Those worthless beggars wouldn’t lift a hoe for their own grandmothers. No, we’ve got a machine now. Dead good,” he rubbed his battered hooves together in front of the fire. “Test goes right, we’ll be half as far as your Luna.”

“That far?!” Storm was truly shocked. She had seen the technological ingenuity of the Union tribes before but the last flight machine she had seen them use was far more rudimentary. Only out of a debt did she agree to withhold the intelligence from the princesses. That debt was looking to stretch farther now.

He reached over and tapped her shoulder. His big grin from earlier was back once more. “Two more tribes have joined us south of Marescow and northwest of Stalliongrad. Some very clever ponies. Council says we’ll be exploring stars only two moons after I’m dead!”

Storm would have laughed along with him but the idea of losing her best contact in the north tribes Union was too gloomy for her. Not to mention the sadness she felt for losing him as a personal friend and old comrade.

“I don’t suppose,” Storm began to think of how to get where she needed to be as quickly as possible, “that you could possibly take me somewhere in this flight machine.”

“Not me,” the old general shook his head. “The test is in an hour. If it passes, I’ll have the pilot take you anywhere in a million hooves. Least I could do for the filly that saved my life.”

“You saved mine too, you know,” Storm stuck her tongue out and then tucked it back in quickly when it felt the biting cold. She cozied up closer to the fire even though Stratosphere had put extra coats on her back. “Now about the caravan that was carrying me.”

“Blacksail’s slavers I bet. Only ones that travel that route,” Stratosphere broke his smile. “No doubt they’ll be captured in Stalliongrad, but how in the stars did you wind up with them?”

“Long story,” Storm admitted with a sigh. “But if that test is in an hour, I guess we have the time. Honestly, I’m not sure about the last part. If I was sold off after capture then they must have needed a lot of bits for something they couldn’t fake their way into...”

The train ride was over. Thank Celestia. Again Twilight wished that magic practice hadn’t required so much time and that she and Chrysalis could have arrived sooner. It turned out to be a good idea to practice in the end, though. She almost botched the spell, which would have vaporized herself. Learning new spells was easy for her but not when it involved an entirely different magical medium.

The two were now standing just a few dozen hooves into the forest northeast of Vanhoover. It was cold, the ground was hard, and the sky was so overcast that it felt more like the eerie time after sunset in which only residual light remained. It may also have just begun to sprinkle. If they were lucky, it would not pour too heavily upon them.

“Mmmm, hey there, Ms. Sexy Queen,” Chrysalis fluttered her eyes at Twilight.

Twilight rolled her eyes. Only they weren’t Twilight’s eyes. They were hers and yet not hers. They had a green tint instead of white. There were two irises instead of one, each a darker shade of green, and her pupils were practically slits. For once, Twilight stood as tall as Chrysalis.

Because she was Chrysalis.

“Really,” Chrysalis continued in her very pleased and hum-buzzy voice. “I knew I was pretty, but I had no idea I was a sexual tyrannosaurus!”

“You’re a real work of art alright,” Twilight responded deadpan, her voice exactly the same as her changeling’s. “Come on. It’s your turn.”

“I had to get the boring spell,” Chrysalis pursed her lips and whined. A green glow lit her horn as well and then died.

Twilight held back a counter and did her scan. When she used her magic, the tall changeling spire on her head lit in the proper green rather than purple hue. It worked. When scanned with the changeling-medium mask detection spell, the signature came back as being a small purple alicorn with stars for Cutie marks. The deception should be adequate to get Sombra to take the bait.

“It’s going to be so weird when we’re in the bedroom and I’m making out with myself,” Chrysalis snickered.

“Let’s get this over with,” Twilight groaned and started them further into the forest. It would take them only about an hour or less to get to the coordinates they had been given. Honestly, she did prefer to have private time with her changeling over this. Then again, who wanted to find and outsmart a thousand-year old villain?

“It’s a plausible theory!” Sunburst insisted.

“No,” Rarity deadpanned.

“Just a small kiss,” he insisted. “It’s not like I’m asking you to kiss me. I was under the impression the two of you had already...”

A fire lit in the white mare’s eyes. “Already what?”

Spike covered his mouth with his claws to keep in the laughter. Rarity was still being indignant about it, but he hardly cared as much. The Empire already knew they were in love and supported them for it. What was the big deal?

“Actually,” Sunburst changed his tone to an even more feverishly interested one. He pushed his glasses up and stepped closer. “I’d really like to know the details if possible. The knowledge could revolutionize foreign rela-”

“I never!” Rarity harrumphed. “Spike, we’re leaving!”

“But it’s cozy in here,” the comparatively tall dragon whined. He had stacked some of Sunburst’s generous private library pillows around him and the stallion’s fireplace did an excellent job of heating the room. Perhaps more than the heat, which Spike needed far less than Rarity, it was the smell of old books that comforted the reptilian. Memories of the Golden Oaks Library back in Ponyville warmed his heart even now.

“Perhaps if I wrote a book on the subject, it would enlighten the rest of Equestria!” Sunburst enthused. “Oh, illustrations would help too! What position did you two-?”

THUMP!

All three sets of eyes shot up to the ceiling, which had just made the noise. Then there was a clop-clop like a pony running along the roof. It stopped only when the thing jumped off at the edge facing the front door, which then resounded with a knock-knock.

“Open up in there! It’s Pinkie Pie! Your friend!!”

Rarity was first to click the lock open with her magic and ease the large door open. Some snow drifted in along with a half-frozen pink pony buckled into a large black flying contraction. Her changeling flight machine, which only fit through the frame because the wings folded in.

“Darling!” the white unicorn hurried to the shivering mare. She flicked off an icicle that had formed below the forward tip of her mane’s long curl. “Let’s get you to the fire. Spike, help me get this thing off her.”

Sunburst got an extra pillow for her to sit on before the fireplace and a thick blanket that he put up around her shoulders. Pinkie Pie continued to shudder for a while but took kindly to the heat until she was a half-melted look of bliss.

“Got any cupcakes for a lonely and tired traveler?” Pinkie Pie faked an old voice while still rubbing her forehooves in front of the flames.

Rarity rolled her eyes while Sunburst took her seriously and went to the kitchen. Spike began to consider his own hunger.

“Wait, why are you here?” Spike then realized. “Aren’t you supposed to be recovering?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” Pinkie looked sideways at Spike and Rarity.

“Us? Recover?” Rarity scoffed. “Why, whatever from, darling?”

Pinkie’s eyebrows wiggled. “Baby-making,” she smirked as evilly as possible.

For once, it wasn’t Cadance that Rarity lost her temper with in a fit of expletive expressions.

12 - Convergence

The rush of water rumbled through the otherwise calm needles of the tall pine trees. The damp forest soil turned downhill to a hearty stream that fell in steps to produce the rushing sound. It moved just fast enough not to freeze. At least some manner of luck was indeed on their side, as the sky had opened back up to let some sunshine down. It glimmered off of the moving water and sparkled brilliantly.

Clouds did still hang around overhead, but they did not threaten to pour yet and gave the sun its space. The dark soil pressed like soft clay underhoof. Twilight’s changeling hoofshoes might have appeared dark with the soil upon them, but they were dark already and thus changed only slightly by texture.

Twilight was already flying over the stream and hovering above the place of interest. It was hard to tell if this was a second spot of luck or if luck had left them altogether. She stepped to the water’s edge on her side of the stream, closed her eyes, and began a spacial memory spell. It was advanced magic, but such things had been very attainable since her ascension to an alicorn.

The tall changeling gently set hoof down in the middle of the crater that took up most of the space on this side of the tight clearing. A few pine trees on the rim had even been cracked down near the base from some apparent blast. The soil and the wood both bore signs of familiar impact patterns. They were patterns that Chrysalis in particular knew much of. Changeling magic.

Only one changeling she knew of besides herself had acquired the ability to channel such power. Power that could only be derived from a hive. Her thoughts could be heard by Twilight if she were not busy with the memory spell.

Flux, Chrysalis frowned sadly at the ground beneath her. What did you do?

The entire clearing from tree to tree, including the stream, lit in a mystical purple and green glow. Shapes appeared. Ghosts called forth from the memories of the trees themselves. Twilight was not fooling around. She was serious about finding the changelings and, in turn, Sombra. Chrysalis could feel even her own magic sapping away to fuel the spell. They were going to end this. All of it.

Changeling apparitions buzzed around, their sound as wavy and distorted as the words spoken between their leader and a mysterious haze. No doubt, that was Sombra.

“We don’t need your complicated plots to take over Equestria. The hive will feed without you!” shouted the ghostly Queen Flux. She appeared much smaller than Chrysalis, who stood near her.

A fight ensued. Sombra tried to toss the queen, failed, and was set upon by the swarm. What they were trying to accomplish was uncertain as they failed to have any real effect upon Sombra’s mist form. Their queen, however, began to charge up with a red glow. The memory spell depicted this in a bloody haze.

Chrysalis grimaced. She saw not only this but also the pain in the faces of the other changelings as their own limited energy was drawn as well. Just as Twilight could draw from herself, so could any other hive queen draw from her subjects. Clearly, Flux had decided the swarm was safer drained and without Sombra than with him and minimally fed.

Twilight shielded her eyes as the charge was released and the spell slammed into Sombra’s dispersed form in a blinding blaze of fire still painfully bright in the recent memory of the trees. The alicorn suspected what the end result would be, but was as surprised as Chrysalis when the light lowered to only flames upon the grass and broken pines. Rock and soil had been thrown everywhere. Changelings were scattered as well but unharmed by the spell – only exhausted and limp upon the ground after being drained by it.

Queen Flux laid unmoving upon the ground. Chrysalis stepped close to the ghostly form and saw breathing. She was still alive. The shroud was no more, though. A pony stood in its place. A wounded stallion. Twilight gasped in shock.

“Black magic?!” the deep male unicorn voice of Sombra bellowed. A tremble in his tone made his pain evident, however, even if his hoof clutching his underside did not. “You filthy slave! To think you could copy and combine my magic!”

His words laced with venom but lacked a certain danger to them. Twilight could tell just as Chrysalis did that he had been hurt and drained too much to kill the queen or her changelings. No matter how much he may have desired to do so.

“I will make your deaths painful when I am restored!!” he shouted as strongly and hatefully as he could manage before running off into the forest with a limping gait.

Twilight considered taking off in that direction immediately, but Chrysalis held up a hole-ridden hoof. Some of the fallen changelings were crawling as best they could to their fallen queen. Twilight hesitated only because she agreed what happened here could be quite important. The first changeling to reach and touch Queen Flux was able to prop himself up against her and called out.

“We must get her to the cave. The prisoners still have energy enough to save her,” the buzzy male croaked with a painfully dry voice. “Cell Weaver! Horn Lock! Recover quickly! We must pursue Traitor Sombra. He is mortal and injured now. If we finish him tonight then the hive will be safe from his predations!”

Two other changelings – guards that looked the toughest – nodded but did not get up immediately. They were as drained as the others and after some minutes of rest they got to their hooves with cries and tears of pain. It was too much for them but they knew the alternative was death at Sombra’s hooves. Chrysalis cringed and felt something strange in her eyes as the spell finally died.

The swirls of purple and green light fell with a crash to the damp ground. The ghosts did likewise and faded into nothing with the sweep of a simple cold breeze. Twilight furrowed her brows and leaped across the stream to Chrysalis. She hugged her changeling.

“Why?” Chrysalis tried to shake the tears at the corners of her eyes.

Her queen knew what she was really asking. “You raised those changelings,” she answered with a solemn mood. “You know each one personally. They may have turned on you in the past and you vowed never to care again...but some feelings bury themselves deep inside. We forget why we feel them at all.”

Chrysalis pulled back from Twilight. “They wanted me dead,” she almost whispered, feeling the conflict within herself.

“They are not our enemies here,” Twilight frowned, though not at Chrysalis. “Not anymore. They were just used by Sombra. This may be an opportunity to end the pain and suffering. If we’re not too late. I told you to do what you thought best with them because I know who you’ve become.”

“Do you not wish to repay them for all of the damage they have wrought upon Equestria?” Chrysalis was surprised even as she felt her queen’s feelings on the matter over the hivemind.

“It’s a vicious cycle,” Twilight looked to the trees. “If we don’t take each chance to end it, then there will always be a vendetta to fulfill.”

There was a silence between them. Twilight took a deep breath. The spell had used a good amount of her magic but she wasn’t counting on her raw power to overcome Sombra. This revelation had put them very close to him. The events here couldn’t have been more than a day ago.

Chrysalis looked back up from the soil her hooves pressed into. “Were you thinking that when you saved me?”

Twilight looked back from the trees Sombra had headed through. She saw the vulnerable look on her changeling’s face. “You were about to die in that cycle. All lives are precious and I wanted you to see that and know there was a life outside of revenge.”

The much taller shape-shifter thought about that. She knew it was true, but it gave her a special feeling when she let it sink in. Freeing.

“We should get moving,” Twilight gave a hum of thought.

Chrysalis knew how normal this had become for Twilight. She liked how her queen could take every turn of tribulation in stride. Even if was beyond her confidence to handle. “Complicated schemes are more likely to fail, you know.”

The purple pony shrugged and fluttered forth on her feathery wings. They headed back into the trees and the deeper shade therein. “Sombra may be wounded still, but we would be foalish to assume his power is weakened. He’s smart. Our best chance is your hidden spell. His own dark-changeling magic is over a thousand years old. Your relatively newer magic can trick him. I’ve gone over the combinations five thousand three hundred eight times with partial hivemind power prior to partitioning. The only offense that can potentially work is a dark-trigger medium-complex application absorption trap cast on a changeling with a minimum of a two hundred year magical generation sphere.”

“Right,” Chrysalis pretended to understand. She could use the hivemind if she cared enough and if Twilight hadn’t cast a temporary hivemind dampening spell to prevent ruination of their plan. But neither was true. “Just remind me to have us try some of my other magic in bed sometime. I can think of a thousand hot-”

“Shh!” Twilight hissed.

Both the alicorn and shape-shifter landed hoof-down on the forest floor. There was indeed a sound that came over the occasional breeze and birdsong of the coniferous forest. Voices in the distance. Unintelligible at first but then slowly coming into focus.

“I mean, hoo-wee! Never thought I’d be gettin’ on as well with...well...y’all know. Workin’ just dandy, though!”

Twilight looked to Chrysalis with an excited joy and glee.

Chrysalis flattened her brows and rolled her eyes. How the Spinner did Applebarn get here? she thought.

It did, of course, occur to Twilight that she might only be hearing an Applejack who was a changeling in disguise. However, there was no reason for a changeling to do that before at least knowing they were around and she was certain they hadn’t been seen yet. The hivemind was very well partitioned at this point and thus the connection she would have had with Applejack was too hazy to confirm. She’d play it safe and they would keep their readiness.

With a nod, Chrysalis took the lead and they walked a distance farther through the increasingly mountainous forest. When the voices become close enough, she hailed. “Apple...jack!”

Twilight facehoofed. Chrysalis had almost gone for one of her joking nicknames and then corrected. Her manners were barely improved over the pony she was hailing. Well, perhaps that was too harsh on the farmpony. In any case, Twilight put a hoof to her changeling’s shoulder to let her know to be on guard.

They could see the opposing party now through a half dozen trees. The two ponies and three changelings all stopped and turned. Twilight recognized only Applejack. The other pony she hadn’t seen before and the three changelings looked very much like average changelings, though one looked dead tired. Her suspicion went up a thousand fold but the logic of the group failed to make sense as a trap.

Both groups tread the remaining distance until they were together on the crest of one of the forest’s jagged moss-infested hills. Applejack gave a friendly greeting and immediately assured her friends that the changelings were on good terms. Chrysalis made the true changelings with Applejack stare in shock. This was certainly not the most clear-cut manner for either side to meet each other again.

“This is a pleasant surprise,” Twilight forced herself hard to hide her doubts. “You’ve discovered the changeling camp? What’s going on here?”

“Long story we ain’t got an afternoon for. The short is we’ve made a deal. As for Sombra, there’s a spot of trouble with that,” Applejack’s eyes turned to Chrysalis. “Maybe you can be some help. They might have some strength with you.”

“Me?” Chrysalis rose her brows. This was getting too complicated. She hadn’t anticipated dealing with her old hive through Applejack of all ponies. “You may need to explain first. Who…?”

“Real quick now. Rara,” Applejack nearly bounced with a pleasant mood, introducing her friend. “My fillyfriend from when I was just a lil’ Apple.”

“Colortura is my full name,” the smiling but somewhat haggard looking mare dipped in a bow first to Chrysalis and then to Twilight. “Pleased to meet you.”

Applejack proceeded with the others. “These here changelings are 720, Honey Glue, and Cell Weaver. I’ll give you the full story later but I reckon y’all are in a hurry.”

“How’d you guess,” Chrysalis deadpanned.

Twilight nudged her in annoyance.

“I mean, yeah!” Chrysalis corrected. “Sombra is still out there!”

“That’s why we set out to find you,” 720 spoke up in a somewhat feminine buzz. “Applejack told us you would be in the area and we figured you might have found our last confrontation with the Traitor Sombra.”

“You know where he is?!” Twilight asked eagerly. Her heart sped up.

“Almost,” Cell Weaver answered. He was the particularly tired-looking one. “Even after changing some of our spent units with our covers in the city, we just haven’t had the energy to catch up. We are so close and thoughts of desertion could cost us dearly.”

Both Twilight and Chrysalis caught the heated gaze shot back from Weaver to the two changelings beside him. Clearly, the long version of the story had a few more details that Twilight would have to grab via the hivemind later. Now, there was no time.

“Let’s hurry then,” Chrysalis insisted after taking Twilight’s knowing look. “You or one of your companions can lead the way for me and Twilight while the others head back to the safety of the city.”

“You sure y’all don’t want my help?” Applejack cocked her head and pointed her gaze at Twilight. “This here void magic might work real well against Sombra. Even considered it myself when we were back at camp.”

Chrysalis looked to Twilight as well. It was hard for them to exchange anything without the ease of the hivemind, but this was simple enough. The void magic was still untested against Sombra and there was the possibility it resonated closely with the dark magic medium, making it too questionable for use in an open fight against him.

“No, we’ve got this,” Chrysalis looked back to Applejack. “She’s more than enough. In bed and otherwise.”

Twilight forced herself from facehoofing again.

Coloratura blushed while Applejack gave a face that spoke something along the lines of “really now.”

“Quickly,” Twilight motioned with her hoof for the changelings to lead on. She didn’t want them to dawdle.

Cell Weaver and 720 led them back in the direction their group had traveled from. Applejack shifted on her hooves as she watched them go. She didn’t like them splitting up as soon as they came across each other. She knew Sombra was on the loose and dangerous but that was why she wanted in. This was just one big mess and she couldn’t begin to wonder how it would clean up – nevermind what she was going to do with the deal she made the changelings.

Colortura put a hoof to the mare’s shoulder. “I’m sure if Queen Twilight says it’s okay then it really is. Come, AJ. We should get somewhere safe.”

Twilight heard those words behind them as they separated deeper into the forest. She only hoped that pony was right. She had made calculations on the best course of action and probabilities of success as well as harm to herself and her friends. This was the best bet. Please Celestia, let her calculations be accurate.

There was tension as they hovered above the ground to pick up speed. They might have gone faster but the changelings were clearly lacking in energy. Cell Weaver in particular. Twilight was unsure how to handle the tension. It was clearly meant for Chrysalis, but a different tension existed for herself. She risked asking a question to distract from the unease.

“By Applejack’s demeanor,” she called out loud enough to be heard over the hum of their wings, “I assume an agreement has been reached for the release of all prisoners.”

Cell Weaver groaned but 720 answered in earnest. Her voice was more cheerful for some reason. “We – Honey Glue and myself – attempted to leave the hive after releasing Colortura for Applejack. She had us agreed to a deal. But when we actually got back to our camp, Applejack refused to leave all the other ponies as prisoners and take only her one friend. One thing led to another and we sort of...got caught. So we came up with a different bargain.”

“Queen Flux,” Cell Weaver interrupted, “was supposed to recover and we were supposed to find Sombra quickly. Neither has happened. Her recovery is too slow and Sombra has managed to remain ahead of our scouts. At this rate, he will recover before us and we will all die!”

“It took until now for Flux to compromise with the ponies?” Chrysalis scoffed. She let on to her feelings too readily.

Twilight shot her a disapproving glare.

720 tried to respond but her meek reply was spoken over by Cell Weaver, who had found enough anger within to soldier through his exhaustion. “She has been an excellent ruler! She does what she does now because she cares so much about us!”

So did I…once, Chrysalis thought. She was all at once irritated and melancholy.

“You’re using your hivemind to take us to the farthest scouts, correct?” Twilight guessed.

“You would know,” Cell Weaver grumbled, but the remark felt more for Chrysalis than the pony.

Indeed, Twilight did know. But not in the way Weaver assumed.

They must have been flying for an hour. Twilight’s sense of urgency was hurt but she knew that the travel was unavoidable. The changelings had to rest a couple of times but continuous twists and turns in the massive unsettled forest made it impossible for them to just point the alicorn and changeling in the right direction. No doubt the directional changes were based on the ongoing progress of the scouts.

When Twilight was going to ask for the eleventh time how close they were, a sound boomed overhead. It looked black and pink. Was that Pinkie? She flew by so quickly that it was hard to tell. Stranger still was a second something that boomed overhead. It was far larger, like one of the small pedal-propelled copters in ponyville. It looked very different, however. It was like a fish in the sky with wings like a bird that didn’t flap or move.

Cell Weaver interrupted Twilight’s concern over the flying objects.

“Don’t stop. He cannot be far now. Our scouts are just over that crest.”

13 - Teleport

Twilight Sparkle stepped over a mossy rock and finally saw enough over the crest of the shaded forest hill to see beyond it. She then knew this was the moment. Everything had to go to plan. Especially because Sombra had apparently recovered enough to turn back.

ZRRP!

An angry red bolt of energy shot only a hoof past Twilight’s face. She ducked to the other side as Chrysalis leaped ahead of her. Sombra was here only a dozen hooves past the decline of the hill’s opposite side they would now traverse. For him to have plagued Equestria for what felt like an eternity...it was both relieving and heart-thumping to arrive at this moment.

A dark gray coat. Black mane and tail. Equally black armor that shined with every bead of sunlight that poked through the forest canopy. His eyes trailed a purple haze and glowed with the same angry red that he had shot past Twilight. But he hadn’t been aiming for her. He had turned back and engaged the changeling scouts that had kept on his tail. His face was twisted in a horrific rage – death was on his mind.

“I’ll rid my world of you vile worms!” he bellowed, voice deep and vibrating the very ground beneath their hooves.

One of the three other changelings that had been the scouts, all equipped with special armor of their own, was enveloped in a black whirlwind and thrown hard against a pine. There was a sickening crunch as he hit and then fell to the ground. Cell Weaver flew to him, slight movement giving the hope that he was not yet dead.

This part of the forest felt damper than the earlier sections and more dew could be seen on the foliage, yet the cold remained. It was even colder around Sombra, but the power Twilight could feel emanating from the stallion made her sweat. It was now or never. Smarts and not strength would defeat him.

“Sombra!” Twilight shouted out and flew down the hill on her own wings. She landed with a soft crunch of pine needles beneath her changeling horseshoes. “Leave them alone. I’m the one you want!”

The madness behind Sombra’s eyes turned to her. All at once she could feel his gaze pierce into her very core. If her magic didn’t hold then this could be over quickly and very badly. But an upturn at one corner of his mouth told her that it had worked.

Sombra smirked and laughed in that certain way that tended to give foals nightmares. “You foal! You’re idiotic tricks won’t work on me!”

Twilight breathed in when a dark lance of magic shot from the stallion’s horn and raced right into her chest. She let it happen. It was a dark magic changeling reveal spell just as she anticipated. The lance triggered the spell she had prepared earlier to jump her back into her Chrysalis illusion spell, which activated right on cue.

The changelings around them gasped as Twilight morphed into Chrysalis in a flash of green flame.

“The princess I want is right there!” Sombra shot another lance at Chrysalis, who had hovered up beside her queen.

Twilight began to panic. He was supposed to use a dark teleport spell for the trap to work, but this one could activate it prematurely. She hadn’t anticipated him casting a second reveal spell on Chrysalis. The changeling adjusted brilliantly, however, and kept Twilight’s panic from ruining the trap.

Sombra’s spell dissipated to nothing since it was designed to reveal a disguised changeling. Of course, this was the real Chrysalis in her already revealed state. So right when the bolt struck her in the chest, she faked an impact and morphed herself into Twilight’s form. At the same time, her horn was lighting with a trigger suppression spell to hold the trap spell from activating. The timing meant that Sombra had no chance to detect either had occurred.

Flawless.

Now it was Twilight’s turn again to lead Sombra into the final act. “Nooo!” she screamed in Chrysalis’ form and voice. She jumped to get between the real Chrysalis and Sombra. In her tone and movements she injected the panic she hid before – giving realism to it she had not planned before.

Sombra demonstrated his expected triumphalism in a single move. “Too late, you pathetic grub,” he sneered with a wicked grin as he short-range teleported right up to Not-Twilight.

Chrysalis, as Not-Twilight, kept the act. She reared back in fake horror, pretending to be unprepared. The stallion grabbed her around her midsection and bellowed a final hysterical laugh as a massive teleportation spell ignited around them.

Twilight, in Chrysalis form, was blasted back with the other changelings as the teleportation spell exploded in an enormous dark sphere surrounding Sombra and his captured prey. Tendrils of red and black energy arched in every direction, igniting foliage and cutting trees they happened to glide through. This was no ordinary teleportation spell. It was the medium-complex massive-range teleport that Twilight had counted on.

He was taking himself and the one he believed to be Twilight straight to a special place. The place of immortality. Just as the sphere was about to become solid and complete teleportation, Twilight saw her own form in Sombra’s hooves wink at her.

“Eternity is mine at last!” Sombra shouted in crazed fulfillment.

BOOM!

The sphere became solid and ignited in a blinding red light. Rock and soil spewed up from the ground nanoseconds after Twilight dropped her illusion spell to cover herself and the changelings in physical barrier spells. They were protected from the fallout even if the center of the blast had become a new crater in the forest floor.

The air was thick and it was hard to see through the fog of smoke and airborne dirt. Twilight could hear the changelings coughing nearby. They would be alright. Twilight could only hope the next part had worked as well as her barriers had. Chrysalis had been fully charged, so a lack of energy on her part was not a concern. If the trap spell did not collapse Sombra’s dark magic core during teleportation then she could only trust Chrysalis’ raw strength to overpower him after transport completed. That was not a gamble that Twilight wanted to count on.

A roar could be heard overhead once more. She couldn’t see anything because of the smoke, but it sounded like the bizarre flying machine from before. It was louder and deeper than the sound of Pinkie’s turbines.

Teleportation was typically not experienced in transit. One merely was at one place and then suddenly another. This, however, was not normal teleportation. There was no magic known that could achieve massive-range multiple-entity teleportation crossing such spaces as continents or worlds. Clearly, Sombra’s tampering and invention of dark magic had overcome this shortcoming.

Chrysalis felt sick. Not because she had been overpowered. Not at all. She was clearly the one in control here. But Sombra’s teleportation was something she could actually feel the transit thereof. It was nauseating. Especially the jarring feeling when they popped back out. They didn’t arrive standing calmly in some place. Rather, they were thrown back into real space and fell a good twenty hooves before plowing into the ground.

Chrysalis didn’t know what she wanted to do first. Cry out at the pain of the impact and her starched up body or rather throw up at the gut-wrenching exit from forbidden teleportation. So she did the former.

And then the latter.

Sombra was worse off. As soon as Chrysalis finished her unsightly activity and collected herself, she could see him on the other side of the mossy cobblestone road that separated them. He was very different from how he had looked before. He no longer looked like a strong and powerful king. His armor was gone, his body thin and ragged, and he trembled limp upon the ground.

“It worked,” Chrysalis remarked to herself and straightened before walking over to him. “I guess complicated plans have to work once in a while.”

“Urgh,” Sombra croaked unintelligibly. His sunken eyes widened in horror as he saw Chrysalis lean over him. He was finished and he knew it. “N-no...“”

“No, what?” Chrysalis gave a mocking pout. “You only got to kill ten thousand before meeting your match? What’s your immortality worth, you filthy grub? Admittedly I care less about random ponies but you’ve put my queen through a lot of misery. And nopony makes me revisit my pony lunches.”

“Egh,” Sombra gurgled and trembled more. He was clearly struggling to stay conscious.

Chrysalis could see his horn throb with red light. It was faint but holding. The trap spell succeeded in collapsing the core of dark magic that existed in the center of his lifeforce. Just as the spell had been placed upon Chrysalis’ magic sphere – her core lifeforce – so had it attached to his and done its job. He should have lost his artificial horn and magic already. Clearly, the smarts that had let him invent the dark magic medium had let him find some feedback loop to hold the magic a little longer.

“Let’s fix that, shall we?” Chrysalis smirked. She raised a holey rear hoof and kicked hard at the horn on Sombra’s head. It instantly shattered.

The dark stallion made a cry that could have been a high-pitched grunt before losing consciousness. Chrysalis did a quick analysis of his still body. Alive. Completely powerless but alive. Good. Twilight had ordered him be kept living if at all possible so he could face judgment in Equestria for his actions. Chrysalis didn’t care much but she did want to make Twilight happy so she smiled at accomplishing the first half of the job.

As for the other half…

The tall changeling post-queen looked around her – more interested. It was not the cold forest from before. The air was much thicker with humidity. It was hot. Old jungle surrounded her. The cobblestone road looked like it was built thousands of years ago and maintained little since then.

It was difficult to see where the remaining stones led but it seemed to meander only a short distance into the trees where it ended in a massive rock. Vines hung down over it, but the side facing the leftovers of the road seemed to be a dark entrance that led both into the rock and down into the ground. The vines hung over this as well and Chrysalis might have missed it as being an entrance at all if not for two statues on either side of the opening.

Both were stone replicas of bizarre creatures and were somewhat broken and eroded. However, Chrysalis guessed from the general look that the lower section was meant to be an insect of some kind – perhaps a spider – and the upper portion looked suspiciously like a pony. Though the pony face had a somewhat longer and sharper angle to it like that of a changeling’s.

Then it hit Chrysalis and she realized. Grandmother’s tales. The arachnes that Sombra got part of his dark magic invention from. This was the Far West. She looked up to the sky, then back to the unconscious and broken Sombra, and finally to the entrance again. In her head she did the calculations to determine where she was in relation to Equestria. The absence of the hivemind to assist her in this gave her a pang of discomfort and anxiety.

It would be best if she were not separated from Twilight for long. Having Twilight mute connections in the hivemind temporarily was not the same as being cut off altogether. With that in mind, Chrysalis executed her queen’s second order. Chrysalis’ horn ignited in a vibrant green explosion which sent a thick beam of green light soaring into the sky. It was sizable, stayed glowing where she had cast it, and did not fade off until it was at least as high as the middle clouds.

The beacon would last plenty long enough for Twilight to see. The Far West was largely unexplored, but pony sailors had mapped oceans farther from Equestria’s western border. That meant that no matter how far west she was right now, it would not be too far away to see. She really hoped that Equestria’s best lighter-than-air craft did not take too long because going back on her own wings wasn’t an option.

Chrysalis sat down. They hadn’t discussed what she would do other than wait. She looked to the entrance and wondered. Perhaps she should find out about this Vine herself. Then she looked at the statues again.

Nope.

It wasn’t that she was scared. No, she was Chrysalis. Former Queen of the Changelings. It was just that she would need backup if they were hostile and there were a thousand of them. Yes, that was it. Being around ponies for so long hadn’t made her soft.

Not at all.

Storm Sword glided through the haze of the fallout. It was unusual to say the least. Strapped to the unicorn guard’s back was some sort of stretched canvas in the shape of wings. They didn’t move but did allow the mare to glide down smoothly from the sky. The sound of the flight machine passed overhead.

The female guard had clearly seen better days, but her focus and determination was clear upon her face. Her speed forced her to hit the ground running and the glider on her back popped off as she did so. With an almost artful movement, she leaped over a fallen tree and ran right up to Twilight. The purple pony was the first of those present she could make out in the haze.

“What’s the situation, my queen?!” Storm asked in a hurry, eyes darting about in case the enemy was nearby.

“As far as I know, very good, thank you,” Twilight gave an unsure grin. And walked around so she could find the changelings.

“What happened here?!” Storm asked again, her accent even more pointed at the loud volume she was using.

“No need to shout, Captain,” Twilight winced as they came across all of the changelings at once. The group was lifting up their immobile scout. She put a hoof in front of Storm Sword when the mare got ready for a fight. “Allies,” she assured and ignited a simple healing spell to the wounded changeling. It would not completely heal him but she did what she could.

“Apologies, my queen,” Storm tried to lower her voice but kept it a bit louder than usual. “The engines on the windcutter are still in my ears. What of my unit? Enemy status?”

“The enemy is taken care of. The changelings are on our side and, if I understand correctly, your unit is mostly recovering in Vanhoover’s out-of-city basecamp. The members that were captured have been agreed for release.”

“So...that’s it?” Storm stopped as Twilight continued walking forward with the changelings, who were heading back towards their own camp.

Twilight looked back with a grim look and shook her head. “No, Chrysalis is still out there – somewhere far away. I need to make sure she is alright. Sombra took her in a long-range teleport. It should have triggered a trap spell but there’s no way to know for sure until I get a beacon-”

“That was your plan?!” Storm Sword shouted louder than she intended to.

“It was the only thing we could come up with that could actually work. I calculated a very high probability of success,” Twilight defended with a frown. “You think I’d put my own changeling in so much danger if I thought it wouldn’t work? Sombra’s spells could counter any pony magic, so we had to get creative.”

“Still,” Storm grimaced. “How do we know she succeeded? Or even where they went?”

“As I said, a beacon. Chrysalis can create one visible from practically anywhere,” Twilight looked back up to the sky and began flapping her wings. She rose higher and higher. It took some time to breach the forest canopy since the pines were exceptionally old and tall.

She saw nothing at first as she spun carefully in a full circle. It had crossed her mind that this teleport might not be instantaneous as typical ones were. Then, just as she was looking again and turning clockwise, she saw a green pillar shoot up into the sky in her peripheral vision. She turned back to it. That was southwest of her current location. The Far West beyond Equestria’s western border. The queen winced. Even the royal blimp would take days. She couldn’t replicate Sombra’s long-range teleport and node-to-node teleport required keys at both ends even if it was more than merely theoretical.

The only good news about it was that the light was solid. If it was pulsing then Chrysalis was in danger and nonexistent meant she might be dead. So their trap had worked. If luck held out, Chrysalis was near this mysterious “place of immortality.” In truth, this affair with Sombra was only half about subduing him. The other half involved attaining something special for her friends. And if not her friends then at least her lovers.

“What are your orders?!” Storm Sword shouted up to the flying alicorn.

Twilight pressed her lips together tight in thought. She gradually hovered back down as she considered it. She needed to get there as soon as she could. It had always been likely that the distance would be at least that far but it was a detail Twilight had let slide on account of her limited options. Perhaps…

“Storm Sword,” Twilight regained a somewhat regal tone as she stepped hoof back on the ground. Twigs and bark crunch beneath her horseshoes once again, only this time charred. “What was that machine you came here on? I assume you were on that flying thing.”

“Yeah,” the mare glanced back to the glider she had discarded. She walked back over to it and started pressing joints that made it begin folding up. “They call it a windcutter. This model was a GRZ-805. The cutter, not this glider.”

Twilight had followed her and noted the symbols on the glider. “Pony’s Union of Marescow-Stalliongrad. You crossed the border?”

“More like I was taken there,” Storm gave a raspberry. “Sold off to some slavers, but I escaped and got lucky. General Stratosphere of the Union took me here on account of a few past favors. I told him it’d be okay since I was Captain of the Guard. Wants to meet you too, but it’ll have to be back in Vanhoover.”

“Why’s that?” Twilight rose a brow.

Storm hefted the folded glider onto her back. A pair of straps made it easy for her to secure with her unicorn magic. “The 805 is their fastest but needs a runway. That’s why I had to bail with this thing. Closest flat open space is around Vanhoover,” she explained. Seeing the pony sigh, she decided to add. “You know, we got lucky. Might not have found you in this forest if it weren’t for seeing that explosion.”

“I’ll count my silver linings,” Twilight frowned. As much as she was looking forward to getting back to Chrysalis, she knew that negotiating for immortality and then returning Sombra to Equestria would be anything but simple.

14 - Rain and Shine

Spike told me to tell you to open our connection with him as soon as possible because he totally has important changeling information stuff to tell you which he told me some of just in-”

“Pinkie,” Twilight frowned when she stopped the pink pony’s blabbering with a hoof to the mouth. “I get it. I was planning to reconnect the non-private hivemind link anyways now that Sombra has been dealt with. I just wished I had the time to get Chrysalis to make another relay. The booster at Neighagra falls is not positioned well to jump our signal from the Crystal Empire to here. It’s faint.”

“But it’ll do,” Applejack crossed one foreleg over the other.

The group was just walking outside of Vanhoover’s gate on the way to the makeshift airfield. Stormclouds had returned in strength and were already rumbling with thunder. Twilight hoped the weather did not impede the many things she had to do. Or this new airship for that matter.

“Does Queen Flux know where to meet us?” Twilight looked sideways to Applejack as they headed off-road.

“Eeyup,” the farmpony answered simply.

“Perhaps it’s easier that Chrysalis is away for the moment,” Twilight decided. “I wouldn’t want to throw reconciliation into this negotiation now that I know where the changelings have infiltrated. Now to see if Spike has anything...”

The connection was restored. Or at least the part that wasn’t private between Rarity and Spike. A flood of information rushed at Twilight’s mind, forcing her to pause in her step. Applejack and Pinkie stopped with her, the pink pony’s mechanical wings twitching in their folded state on her back.

“Oh dear,” Twilight blinked green sparks from her eyes.

I still think it could have gone better with me around, Spike complained mildly. If you need a place for the changelings, though, my Empire would be perfect.

Your Empire? Twilight resumed walking, crunching a stick beneath her hooves as she went.

Spike shrugged from the room back in the Crystal Castle. It was entrusted to me and Rarity.

He has a point, Rarity added.

Oh, I’m sure you’re lovin’ it, Applejack rolled her eyes while following her queen.

Twilight shook her head. If the changelings can have a special connection to the power of the crystal heart then maybe they can get their sustenance in the Empire. It would solve not only their problem but also ours. After all-

Pinkie spoke up in real words as she regained a bounce to her walk. “You can’t just wave a hoof and erase the part the changelings had in the coup and Cloudsdale incidents. Not to mention the takeover of the Vanhoover city government. Meanwhile the Empire has had no direct dealings and is politically severed from Equestrian jurisdiction, which means it would be the perfect refuge for a treaty-bound changeling hive.”

“Right,” Twilight deadpanned, her thunder stolen.

“That’s why I’m here, Queeny,” Pinkie bounced back and petted Twilight on her mane behind her crown. “To prematurely expose the plot!”

“Plot?” Applejack furrowed her brows in confusion.

“Oooh, Jackie,” Pinkie bounce over to the Earth pony and wiggled her brows. “I had no idea you swung that way.”

“Swung what way? What in the blooming apples are you talkin’ about, Pinks?” AJ felt truly lost. “I’m walkin’, not swingin’.”

“She’s just being Pinkie,” Twilight put a hoof to Applejack’s opposing shoulder as a form of encouragement.

“Well at least we got a handle on these here changelin’s,” Applejack resumed their conversation. “I’m thinkin’ o’ spending some time with Rara before gettin’ back to the farm. If you don’t need me past the negotiation.”

Twilight shook her head and shivered when a roll of thunder boomed through the air around them. “I don’t think I will. Especially if I can negotiate a deal with the Union as well.”

“That all you do? Negotiate with everypony on everything?” Applejack grinned.

“It’s what the civilized do,” Twilight winked. “Or the civilized who have the benefit of opportunity, anyways.”

They passed another line of trees before the open grass fields came into view. Indeed, the large stretches of meadow-like land were ideal for landing something at speed. Twilight could see the craft there at the far end. Four ponies were visible around it. As they got closer, Twilight recognized Storm Sword but not the other three.

The aircraft was large but also much smaller than an Equestrian lighter-than-air craft such as Canterlot’s historic zeppelin. This sleek machine looked thin and agile like a fish with the angled wings of a swallow. A glass portion near the forward tip made a multi-seat cockpit partially visible. Two large bulbs at the back of it were patterned with arcane markings.

“Captain!” Twilight hailed once they were close enough.

Two of the other ponies snapped to her direction with a precision that was at least as good as the Royal Guard. One was a light gray stallion with a light brown mane and the other was a pale red with white for her mane. Both appeared quite serious, unlike the fourth pony of the group who had shrugged and moved underneath the main body of the craft to do something mechanically with it.

“My queen,” Storm gave a partial bow. “Let me introduce the pilots responsible for getting me here. Commander of UA-16, Skies. And Commander Ambassador of UA-17, Friendly. Their passenger engineer is not to be named.”

“Oh?” Twilight tilted her head. She had sadly little knowledge of the Pony’s Union culture, but did not fault herself due to the lack of actual materials on them. Equestrian authors seemed to lack an interest on the relatively new nation-like union of tribes.

Friendly was the one to speak up and she did well to project her heavily-accented voice over another roll of thunder. “It is an honor to meet you, your highness, Queen Twilight Sparkle of Equestria. I have been given authority by the Common Council to initiate relations with your people and bargain on the Union’s behalf – within the guidelines given to me.”

Twilight looked closely at the pair of foreign ponies. The lighting was dim due to the dark blanket of clouds overhead and she thought she felt a drip of water from above. Both ponies were heavily clothed, unlike Twilight or even Storm Sword, who lacked even her field clothes or equipment packs. The suits of the foreign ponies appeared heavy and thick with drab colors of gray and off-white, almost as if camouflage for snowy climates.

Insulation, Rarity concluded for Twilight over the hivemind. Typically for cold weather, low pressure, or both.

“An honor to meet you as well, Friendly. Skies,” Twilight responded with a pleasant tone and nodded to each. “Perhaps it would be best for us to speak somewhere we will not be rained upon.”

Friendly brought up a hoof in agreement and spoke clear and crisp. “I will follow you. Commander Skies must watch over the 805. Lead the way.”

The light red mare refused to shed her heavy-looking suit when they entered the covered home-wagon on Countess Coloratura’s rented performance grounds. She looked around her in mild interest at the cabin-themed mobile living space, which was massive for such a vehicle and had plenty of room for all inside. Twilight leaned on Applejack’s suggestion for a place they could find shelter in as well as privacy. No inn had been arranged previously so Twilight didn’t want to worry about securing such a place when it started to rain. Town Hall was clearly out since the changelings were still occupying the place covertly until negotiations with Queen Flux could arrange something else.

Coloratura, or Rara as Applejack called her, delivered Friendly a cup of hot cocoa. The ambassador was sitting on the living space’s large inconspicuous sofa. She gave a quiet thanks in her own language and took a small taste of the drink as the sound of rain picked up outside with the crash of thunder.

Twilight didn’t mean to stare but she noticed a twinge at the corner of Friendly’s eye when she tasted the drink. Clearly, the flavor was quite foreign to her. She continued to drink either out of curiosity or well-trained diplomatic manners.

“Your highness,” Friendly resumed afterward, “the Common Council sent me as a copilot for this mission in the interest of offering your nation the unique assistance of our aerospace technology. We believe in fostering positive relations between our citizens. I understand through Captain of the Guard Storm Sword that you do have use of such technology.”

In spite of the thick accent, Twilight noted how easily the mare was able to speak in the plain Equestrian language. Clearly, the Pony’s Union chose somepony who would be a good communicator, but this implied that she had at least some kind of local-level interactions with Equestrians to become fluent. Whoever was interacting with the northern ponies on a regular basis had clearly failed to write and publish any books on the matter – much to Twilight’s disappointment.

“Yes, of course!” Twilight tried not to scare the diplomat with too much enthusiasm. “I need to go somewhere very far away as quickly as possible. My teleportation is limited in range. Same for my wings. Either option would take considerable energy expenditure. Even Pinkie might not be able to take me far enough. Your airship is very impressive, however...”

Friendly looked over to the pink pony on the opposite side of the sofa from Twilight. She was messing around with her mechanical changeling wings, which were not currently strapped to her. “I am very interested in this unusual saddlepack machine,” the cool mare admitted. “However, you need not worry of range for our 805 windcutter. It harnesses a limitless energy.”

“Besides transport for myself,” Twilight shifted on her seat as she thought, “how many others can it carry?”

“Four total, but only two can be Equestrian,” Friendly began to explain and finally set her cup of cocoa to the side table’s apple-patterned coaster. “Three seats and one external deployment harness. Commander Skies must pilot from the front seat. Or myself. The engineer must also be present at all times in the rearmost seat. The copilot is the middle seat but can be occupied by a passenger.”

“Deployment harness?” Twilight relaxed backwards. The sofas really were top notch. She would have to thank Coloratura again for generously offering her place as shelter.

“We rigged it up for Captain Storm Sword. She wanted to be quickly released into a potentially hostile field. However, a pony such as yourself should have no problem. The undercarriage where the harness connection lies is well protected and the glider proved to have a smooth release.”

“Does your country deal with last minute changes often?” Twilight decided to ask on a whim.

That was the first time the queen saw Friendly smile. “We adapt to every situation and our engineers are second to none.”

At some earlier point of naivete, Twilight might have suggested that Equestrian engineers were the best there were. But clearly she lacked sufficient knowledge of other nations to make such a claim. Clearly the existence of this windcutter flight machine proved Equestrian engineering inadequate. At least when it came to aerial invention.

“Indeed,” Twilight agreed pleasantly. She guessed Friendly was particularly proud of this fact and decided it might be best to play off of it. “I’m sure your country must have already begun exploration of aircraft with larger passenger capacity.”

Friendly kept her smile but waved at the idea. “Of course, but no such craft has been designed for a lack of any need. The resources required to construct and operate such machinery outweighs its benefits. Within the Union at the very least. For mass transport, we have developed a more practical and efficient means. Ground wagon capable of considerable speed, rough terrain, fifty passengers, and no biological drivers capable of weakness.”

“Nopony pulls or drives the wagon?” Twilight sat back up in shock.

Friendly finally frowned. “Eh, no. Not what I meant to say. I mean, no citizen pulls it. There is a driver, who steers it. Not always a pony either. The Pony’s Union of Marescow-Stalliongrad has all kinds of citizens, such as ponies, griffons, mules, buffalo, and a sizable number of caribou. There are also some seapony, changeling, and arachne we house as political refugees. All are equal and the Common Council is once again settled on updating the Union name to be less exclusive.”

Twilight sat back again with wheels turning in her eyes. That must be why Celestia said that Chrysalis was not the only changeling to ever be exiled from a hive, she thought to herself. “Arachne?” she asked aloud, recalling Chrysalis’ tale about Sombra’s dark magic journey.

“Only a few,” Friendly leaned forward. “They are those who dissented from worship of the Vine of Life.”

That caused Twilight to jump up from her seat with wide eyes. “You have knowledge on the Vine of Life?!”

Friendly leaned back from the pony in her face but kept a cool expression. “Our records on the Vine are all accounts of the refugees. We have not been able to improve border relations with the arachnes as a whole. They are very secretive and suspicious of foreigners. According to our refugees, the Vine is a sort of deity. None have ever seen it, so there is reason to believe it was simply made up. We cannot yet confirm or deny this.”

Twilight sighed and went back to her seat, head hung low. “My apologies, ambassador. The Vine is of great interest to me and I’m eager for any information I can get.”

“No apologies,” Friendly shook her head. “Though perhaps I might have some ice water?”

The purple pony tried not to chuckle. “It’s so cold and rainy and yet you want ice water? Are you sure you don’t want something warm?”

Friendly frowned at the hot cocoa on the side table. “Where I come from, there is a pure snow we melt to become drinking water. Even melted, it is as cold as ice and clear as crystal. Here the water does not yet freeze in the sky. It rains. Quite warm enough for me.”

“Perhaps I might try this pure snow sometime,” Twilight regained a diplomatic smile as she got up to get the requested drink. “Now about those ground transports...”

“You wish for mass transit?” Friendly asked over to Twilight in the adjacent kitchen area. “Once or on a permanent basis?”

“We might discuss permanent options at a later point but I just mean for a single...migration,” Twilight decided to phrase it. “Simply put,” she explained as she returned with a cold glass of water in her magical grasp, “I need to get a small but still considerable group of changelings from this city to the Crystal Empire. However, it’s more than simple wagons could safely handle and the train has no direct tracks from Vanhoover to the Empire. I could still use it but I’d prefer to keep the movement as private as possible.”

Friendly gave a quiet thanks when grabbing the glass with her hooves.

Twilight took her seat again. “Many of the changelings are no longer capable of disguising themselves and I don’t want a big public display.”

“We could accommodate this while your personal travel is in motion,” Friendly replied matter-of-fact. “However, it will take several of our best transports, I am sure. Perhaps Equestria might offer something in return.”

“I’m just as eager to improve knowledge and cooperation between our nations,” Twilight levitated her cup of hot cocoa from her own side table. It was finally cool enough for her tastes. “Is there anything in particular that interests you or should I make suggestions?”

“In fact, yes,” Friendly sipped her drink, put it down, and crossed her rear hooves. “We have been seeking to harness additional energy for domestic as well as scientific use. An energy relay into the Union from southwestern Equestria would be immensely beneficial towards this.”

“An energy transport line?” Twilight quirked a brow. “But why southwest?”

“Light and heat are bountiful there,” Friendly explained. “Of course, we must confirm our scientific guesswork, but it will likely be the case. We have developed energy transit methods with exceptionally low distance-loss ratios, which makes the location the best for net energy on delivery.”

Twilight’s lips shifted back and forth. For once she wasn’t the only one using scientific language. “It seems you’ve put a lot of thought into this already. Building energy converters and transit lines – granted I don’t know the engineering specifics – must take considerable effort for us to build. I’m not sure if all of that is equal to one-time transportation I need.”

“I did not mean to imply it was,” Friendly splayed her hooves out and gained a sly expression. “I thought that perhaps adding Equestria as a partner in our space exploration program might justify the trouble. After all, part of the scientific use of the energy would be for the development of a space-reaching propulsion system.”

“Space exploration?” Twilight froze in place. She had watched the stars since a filly and was always head over hooves at the idea of someday reaching out into them – and not by being banished to the moon.

“I have heard of ponies in Equestria who dream of traveling to the stars above,” Friendly took a starry-eyed look upon herself. “It is very much so where I am from. The Common Council decided some time ago that such exploration is critical to our understanding of the universe and our survival within it.”

Twilight had to pause at that. The idea was incredible. If possible, this could make leaps and bounds in science itself! She thought for a moment on this. Canterlot was still struggling with reconstruction of pegasi homes and even with the release of Las Pegasus resources through the city’s reorganization, it was unlikely there would be enough. Cloudsdale was more than lost homes and lives. It was a lost economy. All of those ponies no longer had a means to get by.

“You have a thought?” Friendly asked, breaking the silence of Twilight’s wordless musings.

The alicorn shook herself out of it and realized how deeply she was frowning. “Sorry,” she quickly apologized. “There are just so many things I have to consider. Tell me, would your light and heat energy converters be capable of powering large weather factories?”

“As long as the lightning generators are not drawing power from it, I would assume so,” Friendly pursed her lips. “I am no electrician, however. Nor a weather production technician. I was only given cursory details on the power system as a part of my briefing for an initial offering.”

“We will have plenty of details to discuss then, but for now I’d like to settle matters with the changelings and their relocation so we may leave for my own journey as soon as possible,” Twilight concluded with a minute shake of her head and a forceful release of her frown.

At that, Commander Ambassador Friendly got up from her seat. She took a long sip of her water and placed the glass back down with a sigh. “I will communicate your wishes to the Council.”

“When will we be able to go?” Twilight got up with her. “The destination will be the Far West.”

“Arachnes?” Friendly squinted. “We will not cross their borders. We respect the lines.”

“If you drop me off on the opposite side of the mountains then I will still be on the right side of the border of Equestria without being too far away from my destination. The ridge forms the natural border with an exception close to the target.”

“Then as soon as you are ready,” the ambassador tilted her head slightly with a smile.

15 - Underground

Approaching the landing zone,” Skies reported through the muffling of his air mask.

Twilight Sparkle, seated directly behind him, remained in awe. In spite of the air mask she was also required to wear, the ride had been an amazing experience. She had only known flight by wing or lighter-than-air craft. This was nothing like those methods. The height was considerable but the speed was what was truly incredible.

“Вектор два,” the engineer in the third seat behind her said. Clearly, it was some technical communication to the pilot, who nodded and hit a switch of the complex control panel that wrapped all around him.

“Releasing external passenger,” Skies reported next. A clicking sound followed before a muted “bumph” sounded off outside the cockpit. It was the sound of Pinkie engaging the turbines on her mechanical wings.

Twilight leaned over to look out of the cockpit glass and could barely see Pinkie flying downwards below their craft and making for the landing area. As far as landing areas went, it appeared “doable,” but it was by no means an official landing field. As Skies had informed her on the way, arachne territory was wilderness. There were no artificial clearings or structures above ground.

“Brace for landing,” Skies warned after pulling a lever and carefully controlling the pedals with his bottom hooves while gripping two control sticks with his front.

Twilight kept her mouth shut, remembering the earlier warning about not talking. She had no desire to bite her own tongue. The land came up fast and the peaks of the mountains went even higher. The tops were all around them already and the landing area was, in fact, an unusual straight flat spot on the side of one mountain. It was covered with grass but could hide rocks that would make the landing bumpy at best.

BOOMP!

The landing gear tapped the first part of the ground.

BOOMP!

Boomp!

The impacts turned into rattling as the vibrations threatened to shake Twilight’s very bones apart. The fact that the ship was not falling apart was clearly some engineering feat these Union ponies could be proud of. With a final bump, the craft came to a stop. The pilot wasted no time in popping the canopy to let them all out. Before even the pilot could disengage his harness, the engineer was already swinging up over the lip of the cockpit. He landed with a soft thud and immediately went to inspecting the vehicle.

Skies assisted Twilight out, careful not to knock the equipment all around him. He had done this a thousand times and so it came naturally to him even though Twilight didn’t necessarily need any assistance to begin with. Her wings allowed her to merely fly directly up and out if she pleased. Not to mention teleportation.

“Thanks again, Skies,” she gave her appreciation as they settled their hooves onto the grass and weed-heavy ground. “Need any help to get back out?”

“If you could turn the ship one hundred eighty degree,” he joked lightly.

In a flash of purple and green magic, the entire aircraft levitated upwards a few hooves, gently rotated to face the way it came, and then settled back down again. The engineer had been quite startled, but the turning hadn’t caused the vehicle to hit any of them.

“You are incredible,” Skies laughed aloud. He walked over to a panel in the side of the craft and unlocked it to pull a saddlepack out. He carried this to Twilight, which she accepted and put on her back. “Rations, light, and other tools I’m sure alicorns have no use for,” he lost none of his mirth.

“I’ll see you later, Skies,” Twilight smiled and waved goodbye. She noticed the pilot already joining the engineer for take-off procedure as she walked away.

Pinkie Pie was at a distant edge of the landing area, looking out down below their high vantage point. When Twilight joined her, she beheld the marvelous view. The jungle of the Far West seemed to stretch on forever, but the many mountains, hills, and ridges meant that visibility to the horizon was limited. Pinkie made an “oooo, ahhh” sound as she rocked back and forth on her hooves.

“Hey!” Pinkie suddenly frowned. “We should have brought our safari-jungle-savanna exploration hats like Daring Do!”

“I don’t-” Twilight began to say but was interrupted.

“Don’t worry,” Pinkie suddenly bounced in her spot and pulled a pair of hats from her voluminous mane. “I brought backs ups just in case we forgot the originals back home!”

The hat made an odd suctioning sound when Pinkie pushed it onto her head, somehow setting atop the part of mane that it covered even though it should have been too much for the hat to handle. Twilight was banned from protest after her changeling crown was swapped for the identical hat. It wasn’t that she disliked Daring Do’s look – she was a fan long before Rainbow was – but she rather liked her new crown.

With a sigh, Twilight returned her gaze to the thick jungle below. The beacon was still operating and, in spite of having to land away from it due to borders, the beam of light was still visible over a pair of mountains that formed natural barriers in the jungle labyrinth.

“Ready for a flight?” Twilight looked back to Pinkie with a steady determination.

Pinkie slipped her changeling goggles over her eyes. “I was born ready. No! I was ready before I was born!”

Their travel was shorter than Twilight thought it would be. Sometimes she forgot how quickly the land could fly by when she used her wings. On the other hoof, it seemed incredibly slow in comparison to the aircraft they had come in on. The effort was much more on her part as well. In any case, the jungle landscape they passed was extraordinary with its tall trees connected by ropes of hanging vines and broken up by powerful streams and waterfalls.

What greeted them when they flew down to the base of the green light was unexpected. It surprised Twilight because nopony was actually there. Chrysalis was supposed to have waited. Upon closer inspection of the area, Twilight gulped in realization.

There had been a scuffle and drag marks leading towards a large boulder with a hole in it. The hole lead downwards into the ground and there were no torches within sight. Twilight lit her horn with a crack of green electricity and bathed the dark opening with a purple glow occasionally sparked by tiny surges.

“Is it a mine?!” Pinkie hopped up and down behind her in excitement. Her mechanical wings folded inwards onto her back, which allowed her to enter behind her queen. “A mine like back home on the rock farm!”

“I’m not sure,” Twilight squinted and cautiously proceeded downwards. “I don’t sense Chrysalis anywhere. I should have been able to for a while once we were close enough. Something’s not right.”

“Lack of chocolate cake?” Pinkie whispered her guess.

Twilight led them down and down until the tunnel evened out and they walked for what seemed an eternity. Eventually, they reached a large chamber that the pathway opened up into. The chamber was spherical in shape and had holes leading into other passages in every possible direction.

“Great,” Twilight deadpanned sarcastically.

“Oh, lookie!” Pinkie exclaimed with her idea. A burst of green power lit from her mechanical horn and illuminated the space around them. Her Pinkie Hive Power showed a dotted line leading through one specific hole on their upper right.

“Thank you, Pinkie,” Twilight responded with a regal tone. “Now...”

Another burst of her own magic rotated the room around them. Or rather, it rotated themselves and their relation to gravity.

“Gravity spells really do have so many useful applications,” Twilight smiled happily to herself and practically skipped through the target passageway.

“Why can’t I use those gravity spells?” Pinkie pouted as she followed along behind her queen.

“Because you can already jump out of rosebuds,” Twilight responded coolly. “And haven’t you already defied gravity countless times already?”

Pinkie took to innocent whistling rather than answering that question.

“It sure is dark,” Twilight decided to remark instead of pursing the topic. “Haven’t they heard of guest lighting? I mean, I understand if they don’t need it themselves, but even-”

Pinkie ran into Twilight’s tail as the mare stopped mid-stride.

What caused Twilight to stop was the very thing she had just been talking about. There were lights ahead. Some kind of ancient gem torches by the color spectrum she saw. Twilight increased her pace, lifting up Pinkie’s hope over the hivemind that there were dessert-toting baker arachnes ahead. Just thinking about the frosting was making the pink Earth pony drool.

“Think they have chocolate-frosted cinnamon buns?” she fantasized. “Or maybe strawberry crème-filled donuts with party balloon sprinkles?”

Twilight facehoofed. “No, Pinkie. I don’t think half-spiders are into Sugarcube Corner confections.”

When they reached the first torch that was fixed into the wall of the rocky tunnel, it was rather anti-climatic. There was nothing there except the torch itself. More torches were further down the tunnel, but Twilight took a moment to inspect this one first. It was lit in a gentle yellow hue and powered by a unique spell that glowed brightly as it gradually evaporated the gem it was cast on. Depending on the gem, the process could take thousands of years.

“Ooooooh,” Pinkie realized as Twilight concluded over their hivemind. This was an obscure spell not used in a very long time. Princess Celestia and Luna were the only ones to have made it known to Twilight. This had been set here by the sisters a very very long time ago.

“How old are these tunnels?” Twilight breathed out in amazement and continued their forward trek. A series of the torches could be seen lighting the tunnel in the distance until it turned enough for sight to be lost.

“A hundred bits says there’s a spidey baker somewhere in here,” Pinkie insisted, her fantasies unabated.

Twilight was about to stop and take the bet, but then remembered. Never bet against Pinkie. Ever.

An echo of sound reached their ears, causing Twilight’s fur to stand on end. It sounded like the tapping of needles against rock. Horrible images of part-spider monsters filled her head even as she assured herself they must be reasonable and respectful creatures. So with an ever increased caution, she crept forward down the tunnel with Pinkie pressing up against her from behind – eager for cinnamon buns.

“I told you they are a hybrid species,” an insectile voice argued with another. “Her magic interacts very well with our binding material.”

“She doesn’t look like us, though.”

“Of course not! Changelings became a unique species only after many hybrids and mutations.”

Twilight’s eyes narrowed. They were talking about Chrysalis. She couldn’t see the speakers since the tunnel bent upwards and she guessed by the looks of it that the end would have them going straight up into another spherical chamber. Or rather down. Twilight’s gravity distortion effect was still active.

Trying not to make too much of a sound, the pony queen crept up to the bend of the tunnel and peered around into the chamber. The speakers were still out of sight but obviously around the side of some large and very strange equipment that blocked her view. The chamber was, however, lit with a couple gem torches so the soft yellow ambiance made it easy to see.

“She’s not going anywhere, though,” Voice Two insisted. “She keeps saying her queen will come get her.”

“Perhaps we should have just left her alone out there.”

“The Vine said to take them in, though. It’s looking forward to meeting this so-called queen.”

“The Vine doesn’t give us food stock. That changeling is eating far too much, in my opinion!”

“I wonder if all changelings can eat physical food in addition to emotional food…”

“I don’t know, but what I do know is that we’ve run out of strawberry crème-filled donuts with party balloon sprinkles again because of her.”

“I KNEW IT!!!” Pinkie shouted in joy behind Twilight.

The purple pony’s heart froze.

The speakers had fallen silent at that before a skittering of spider legs sounded off towards them. Twilight started to panic. She backed up on instinct but just wound up falling over Pinkie Pie in the process. Before they could get up, a large form lunged from the chamber opening. It was dark like a changeling and illuminated only in the faint yellow light of the nearest gem torch.

Twilight screamed.

The creature screamed.

Pinkie Pie screamed.

But Pinkie clearly was only doing so to join in on the screaming fun. Her face was beaming with a cheerful smile rather than horror.

“You’re a pony!”

“You’re an arachne!”

“I’m Pinkie Pie~!”

Another arachne came up behind the first out of the chamber. It peered around its companion curiously.

The half-spider creatures were actually only scary at first. The more Twilight laid there, looked at them, and realized she wasn’t going to be eaten, she settled her nerves. The unusual creature had six powerful-looking spider legs propping it upright and two forelegs folded against its chest. The forlegs were, however, not spider legs like the others. They were pony legs! Instead of forming into pronged points, the forelegs had hooves.

The arachnes truly were half-spider half-pony after all.

The lower body and rear abdomen were rather typical looking for some bulky spider like a tarantula. In fact, the hair that covered it was reminiscent of that, though more pony-like in length and quality. The upper torso, which might have formed into a head on a spider, turned into a pony’s upper body. That was where the pony forelegs were attached and held against a pony chest.

As for the head atop the pony neck, it was rather different. Fangs could clearly be seen poking out of the mouth, and a set of six visible eyes populated the face. Two large black orbs were close together at the front and center. Above and to the outward sides were a smaller pair of black orbs. A third pair was located higher on the forehead.

Besides the numerous eyes, the ears appeared jagged and irregular. Something of a mane was present, however. The color came into focus the more Twilight stared. The body fur was in fact not black but deep hues of color. The first arachne was a deep green while the one behind it was a deep purple. The mane of this first one was like the blue of the deep ocean and, in terms of style, it curled about in waves that Rarity might appreciate.

The second arachne had a mane gathered up into a ponytail that hung down from the back of its head. On its pony chest was what looked by all means to be an apron. It was black, but it was definitely an apron.

“Are you the baker?!” Pinkie asked in excitement as she sprung instantly back onto her hooves.

The second arachne looked just as lost as Twilight was in her slow recovery. Even if the arachne were not as scary as she envisioned, it was still quite intimidating to see the enormous half-spider form.

“Umm...” Twilight said as she more gradually got to her hooves.

“Yes, I am,” the second arachne replied at last. “Ka’lah is my name.”

“And mine is Ka’Ran,” the first arachne added. She didn’t sound as worried or combative as she did apprehensive. “It means Prison Keeper. My sister’s name means Baked Food Keeper.”

Once again, Twilight was perfectly happy she did not take that bet.

“I’m Queen Twilight Sparkle of Equestria and this is Pinkie Pie, my...baker.”

“Maybe we can swap recipes! Oh, I want to see your spidey kitchen!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed without any sensitivity to the tension.

“I-”

“If you are the pony the Vine has been waiting for,” Ka’Ran interrupted her sister behind her, “then you must be brought to it immediately.”

“What have you done with Chrysalis?” Twilight gave as her first question. Her eyes narrowed, though she suspected the changeling was fine based on the previous talking she had overheard.

“The changeling is in perfect shape,” Ka’Ran answered smoothly. “We do not harm prisoners even if they are violent. This Chrysalis was more scared of us than we were of her.”

Afraid of bugs, Twilight thought to herself with an amusing giggle she held back. Her outward face remained neutral. “May I see her? And possibly have her released?”

“That is up to Ka’Ling, our queen,” Ka’Ran stated. “But the Vine is above her and has ordered the presence of a purple pony alicorn named Twilight. I can only assume that means you.”

“And I wish to see it as well but only with my changeling freed,” Twilight insisted, not backing down from the notion.

Ka’Ran made a hissing noise before replying. “I will take you to her. This way.”

Both of the spiderponies backed into the chamber they came from so smoothly and effortlessly that it reminded Twilight how spider-like they were in motion rather than just appearance. She was more than a little disturbed, but knew better than to dislike them merely for such a thing.

Modifying her gravity spell as they went, Twilight kept herself and Pinkie following the arachne through various tunnels and chambers only because Ka’Ran slowed herself so as not to lose them. Eventually they arrived in a large chamber lit by many gem torches. Stone carvings were all around of various creatures. They intrigued Twilight but she stayed focused on the arache in the center.

This was the queen. Impossible to miss. As big as half the chamber and easily three times Twilight’s size. A long flowing mane of red came down the arachne queen’s head. Her six eyes blinked at the newcomers.

“My queen,” Ka’Ran bowed and then presented her followers. “Queen Twilight Sparkle from Equestria. Her companion is known as Pinkie Pie. She wishes to have the two south entrance captives released.”

Ka’Ling took a deep breath and then spoke in a whispery voice. “Release them to their pleasure. The Vine will have them in good measure.”

Surprised at how quickly and smoothly this was all happening, Twilight felt the need to ask. “Why did you capture them in the first place?”

“Strange creatures in our land,” Ka’Ling answered as if to throw her voice onto the back of a gentle breeze. Her insectile voice gave it a melodic rather than disjointed tone. “We knew the beacon would bring another band. But we see you are the one for the Vine, thus your passage we allow in kind.”

Twilight bowed in thanks. “You are very gracious, your highness.”

“Hey, do you like strawberry crème-filled donuts too?” Pinkie Pie blurted out without a care or caution in the world.

“They are divine,” the queen arachne answered in a cool even voice.

“Come on, Pinkie,” Twilight winced as Ka’Ran beckoned them again to follow.

Before they left the chamber, however, Pinkie shouted back to the massive spiderpony. “I like you too, queeny spidergirl!”

16 - Live Forever

Oh, Great Spinner!” Chrysalis called out when she saw Twilight enter the prison chamber. Though she was locked behind strange rock-like bars, she appeared anything but a prisoner. The cell was decorated with all manner of comfortable looking cushions and sheets. A low table provided an even surface for a tea set and a large plate of delectable desserts. The changeling had obviously been tearing into the food as a means of comfort. Crumbs and half-eaten baked good were mostly what was left.

Ka’Ran had climbed the ceiling – relative to Twilight’s walking surface – and interacted with some strange glowing crystal. The glow soon stopped and the pony queen immediately felt a pop in her head. The hivemind connection with Chrysalis came back in a rush. She had to stop walking for a moment before she got to the cell bars.

“Good to see you’re alright, Chrysy,” Twilight sighed as she grasped Chrysalis’ hoof through the bars. “Looks like they’ve been very kind to you.”

Chrysalis pouted anyways. “They ran out of the kiwi slushies after I had only three.”

Twilight facehoofed.

“Hey, Ranny,” Pinkie spoke to the arachne as she too climbed the ceiling using suction cups she had gotten from nowhere. “Where do you grow all the ingredients that aren’t mushrooms?”

“We have growth chambers on the surface that are open to the sky,” Ka’Ran answered simply while observing the upside-down mare with interest.

Twilight took the indicative look from Chrysalis to search another cell further down the room. Though Twilight had used a gravity spell on Pinkie and herself earlier, the cells were positioned with proper gravity in mind. So they were all upright as normal, including the individual within this cell. He hardly even looked alive. There was food and water near him, but he didn’t touch it.

“Sombra,” Twilight spoke clearly into the cell.

No response.

She could see him breathing and got the feeling he was conscious even though he was laying in the opposite direction from the front of the cell. So the pony queen looked to the arachne with Pinkie. “Can you take him with us to the Vine?”

“Of course,” Ka’Ran chittered.

“Why did you develop targeted hivemind dampeners?” Twilight asked curiously as they traversed the tunnels to the center of the Temple of the Vine. Honestly, the passages looked no different to her than the ones prior. Rocky and sparsely lit.

“I did not,” Ka’Ran explained. “Our queen ordered it and our engineers did so. Long ago, we had some trouble with changelings. It was many centuries ago. The crystals we developed do not spoil.”

“Heh,” Twilight voiced in amusement. “I suppose they wouldn’t.”

“So then, you must tell me.”

“Must tell what?” Chrysalis interrupted with a frown. She was following just behind Twilight and ahead of Pinkie, who was talking to the arachne behind her.

“Was it fate alone that brought you here or was there another reason? Chance perhaps?” Ka’Ran ventured.

Still not used to the massive spider form walking on so many legs ahead of her, Twilight hesitated a second before replying. “Both, I guess. I intended to come here to talk to the Vine about something, but I had a lot of trouble with that stallion,” she nodded back to the male pony being carried at the back of their group by an arachne. “He also planned to see the Vine for related purposes but separate reasons.”

“Immortality,” Ka’Ran remarked. “It is the only thing any creature ever seeks from the Vine. We protect it, but do not have contempt for those that wish to see it. I will warn you, though. Do not underestimate the power of the Vine or its advice.”

“I don’t intend to,” Twilight defended. She expected it to be old enough to know a few things about the universe.

The tunnel eventually opened up to a bright megachamber. There didn’t appear to be an obvious opening to the surface even though the ceiling was quite high. Twilight saw it after they descended a series of steps to the chamber floor, though. There was a large crack along the center of the roof that allowed dim surface light in. It wasn’t much, though, and was mostly overpowered by the bounty of glowing crystals and gem torches that filled the chamber walls and lined the path leading to the center. Another schism was there in the floor, filled only with darkness.

They walked the path lined with statues of all manner of creatures, some arachne and most not. There were even two alicorns statues that looked suspiciously like Celestia and Luna. Another looked like Cadance and the gem torch shining upon her form was pink in hue. Their group of three ponies, one changeling, and three arachne came to a stop on a massive platform raised before the cracks above and below. Four arachne guards were posted there: two on each side.

A rumbling shook the stone floor as the last arachne of their group laid the passive stallion on the ground near Twilight. At last, Sombra bothered to move. His eyes looked as lifeless as the rest of him, but he lifted his head to see first Twilight and then the Vine itself as it shot up in front of them from the abyss below. His mouth hung open in awe even as his intellect reminded him that all of his bargaining leverage had been lost and his body broken.

Twilight’s brows raised with the Vine. She had seen the size of the Tree of Harmony but each tendril of the Vine was far longer than the Tree was tall. At the thickest parts, they were almost as big around as the trunk as well. Six tendrils draped across the chamber while two others shot up through the crack in the ceiling and hung there.

At last we meet!

Twilight recognized the voice of the Vine from long ago when they had interacted with the Tree. The Vine had cut off communication when they attempted to converse. It was a deep and creepy voice that sounded as if it might not be as terrible as it made itself sound.

“Actually, we sort of met bef-”

Destiny has brought you to me! the Vine hurried to interrupt Twilight.

“More like this one,” Chrysalis waved a holey hoof at Sombra, still laying on the floor. He had kept his head up to watch the Vine, however.

Not for yourself or even for this changeling you hold so dear, the Vine continued to ignore their words.

“Chrysalis? What do you mean? I thought that-” Twilight was again cut off.

For many ages have I waited for-

“What do you know about changelings? And Sombra for that matter?” Twilight was the one to do the interrupting this time.

Oh, for Seed’s sake, let me finish, the Vine grumbled. I rehearsed and everything.

Twilight gave a deep sigh and waved her hoof to let it go on.

For many ages have I waited for the One. Chosen from amongst the stars to deliver the turning of ages and a close to the barbarism of the ancients. This divine being would be granted immortality to ensure no devolution to times past might occur. The turning tide would be a sweet lullaby to the suffering of the millennia. Life had become only a curse to some. Those whose lives extended beyond the mere tedium of a single tick of the cosmic clock. Then a light. A pinpoint of hope that our small part of the universe might reach beyond itself-

“Do you have a shorter version?” Chrysalis deadpanned.

It’s not as if you can get any older, the Vine countered smartly.

“Hey!” Chrysalis shook her hoof at it. “What’re you saying?!”

“Vine of Life!” Twilight broke in. “Please! I’d like some answers. And I’d also like to know how and why you grant immortality. Is that something you still do?”

Ugh, the now bored voice of the Vine groaned. Yes. Fine. I do. Happy?

Twilight’s brows flatlined.

You were already made immortal, Queen Twilight Sparkle. The changeling and dragon of yours are immortal as well. There’s nothing I need give them.

“Beg your pardon but-”

Chrysalis interrupted her queen to directly address the Vine. “I’m not immortal, you stupid plant. I just happen to not care as much about it.”

Oh but you are immortal, the Vine argued back. Any changeling sufficiently transformed through true love will never die. At least not of natural causes. Your race has never realized this because it can only come about if the target of the love is immortal themselves.

“Wait,” Twilight’s mind reeled. “You mean that changelings who love other changelings remain mortal because changelings are mortal, but a non-changeling who is immortal can provide immortality to a changeling if they are truly loved by them?”

You are very good at logical conclusions, The Vine remarked more coolly.

Chrysalis frowned at first but then lightened up. She could feel her queen’s emotions over the hivemind. It was a pleasant feeling to know she might forever be able to enjoy Twilight’s love and provide some in return. Moments such as the most recent danger with Sombra were potentially fatal episodes, but they had endured all so far. So she worried little.

“Oh oh oh!” Pinkie bounced over Twilight and hopped rapidly in front of the Vine. “Make me immortal! Make me immortal!”

A low thrum and rumble filled the room along with an explosion of pink light. It sprayed outwards and crackled like a firework exploding at point blank. The center being Pinkie herself. When the blinding light cleared and the group could see again, the terrifying announcement came.

There, the Vine said flippantly. Now don’t go running with scissors.

Twilight and Chrysalis stared in mixed shock and terror at the quick and random act of timeless ascension.

“Woohoo! I’m forever!” Pinkie bounced around like a ping pong ball, leaving rainbow streaks in her wake. “It’s Party for Eternity Time! Infinite birthdays! Yes yes yes yes yes!”

Twilight’s ears folded down in terror as Pinkie jumped and bounced and somersaulted around as if she were about to go nuclear. In fact, the hivemind warned her that the pony was about to go Critical Pink. Twilight whirled towards the Vine. “What have you done?!”

I don’t get to have fun often, it replied with a snort of its own laughter. To say the least, it was strange to hear such an emotion from an oversized plant via a magical voice.

Pinkie was suddenly in front of Twilight’s face, gripping it with her forehooves. “You realize I get to be your designated birthday and holiday planner for ever and ever and ever and ever! That’s four evers!! Forever!!!”

Twilight gulped.

“Cake and balloons and pinatas forever!”

Twilight sweated.

“Just imagine blowing out all one hundred thousand candles on your one hundred thousandth birthday cake made by yours truly!”

Twilight shivered as Pinkie pressed her face into hers.

“Spike can light them for you. After all, he’s going to be there too!”

“Oh dear,” Twilight simply responded in fear.

A voice then croaked out. A voice none expected. It was Sombra, who had never moved from his spot.

“Why did the prophecy never come true?”

The Vine shifted about, as if finally acknowledging his presence.

“I was to rule forever with the princess of the horizon…”

Some sort of rumbling sound came from the Vine, as if it were deciding whether or not it should say anything. Eventually, it did. After all, it figured, there was nothing for it to lose at this point. Sombra had finally been disabled as a threat.

The prophecy was about a princess of great power, a marriage to her, and the ruling of an empire of immeasurable prosperity. It was never explicitly about you. In your mind, it was made to be about you by your own ego. I was the one that leaked the prophecy to you in the hopes you might find her and bring about her ascension. In a twisted way, you did play a part in that. The prophecy was fulfilled, though not for you.

“I don’t understand,” Twilight spoke after placing Pinkie Pie to the side of her and ordering her to behave. “If I am the princess then who was to marry me and what about this empire?”

Her hivemind was piecing together potential situations to fit the vision, but the most likely answer only came to her when the Vine was speaking it.

The one to marry Twilight and rule with her over an empire was not you, the Vine clarified to Sombra. It was Chrysalis.

The changeling was wordless for a moment as she both heard it and reached the conclusion herself. Of course! After all, this was quickly becoming true. She had already planned to wed Twilight and with her queen’s growing influence and capacity for foreign relations, the idea of an “empire” real or figurative was easy to imagine.

“Uh,” Twilight halted herself then spoke out slowly. “Well, that’s...not bad. I mean, nothing really big is going to happen if that’s how the prophecy has been fulfilled. Though, if I’m the head of this ‘empire’ then I hope it is only a difference in translation. Imperialism is not something I want to...”

It can be figurative if you want it to be, the Vine explained. The prophecy came true as a matter of coincidence. I made the whole thing up.

“What?” Twilight turned deadpan. Chrysalis also lost her zeal and groaned.

I was desperate! the plant defended itself. I couldn’t stand another hopeless eon with a world of complaining mortals. Besides, it basically came true, right? Who’s to say it wasn’t some divine prophecy I got from some higher deity?

“It’s just,” Twilight facehoofed again. “It kind of loses the mysterious sacredness when you say that.”

Please forget that part, it responded in turn.

“Forget what?” Chrysalis asked.

You know, the part where I said I made it up.

Twilight held one forehoof down with another to keep it from hitting her face a third time.

Sombra meanwhile had lost himself in a mix of shock and disbelief. How could he have been wrong all this time? How could he have done so much for nothing? But, no, the Vine was still before him and could restore his life in a heartbeat. It could grant him immortality like it had so easily done for that pink pony. The problem was not the possibility but rather his ability to force it to happen.

So he did the last thing he could. It was humiliating, but he had nothing left but death after this.

“Vine of Life, will you grant me immortality?”

Twilight stiffened at the sound of his coarse voice and direct request. She did not like seeing any pony in such poor physical shape, but Sombra had caused incredible suffering and even death in Equestria. She did not want to see him immortalized.

No, it declared, much to the relief of the others. I have long been opposed to Death, as you should imagine. I am not unaware of your actions, nor your intentions. But I do not give Death what it wishes on a whim. I will restore a portion of your health, so the spell that has collapsed your inner magic will not kill you. But until I know you are on my side, I will not restore you completely.

“He’s staying here?” Twilight questioned.

Sombra glanced to her but returned his focus to the Vine. “You are going to imprison me in the dark? With these things?”

Does the dark not suit your tastes? I thought that it would. Your lack of strength may hinder your vitriol, but it does not escape me, the Vine scolded. You are not speaking to the Vine of Death, nor The Vine of Self-Defeat. I’ve waited a long time for Twilight Sparkle to come into being. I would be insane to allow you to meddle with my only hope. You will be treated very well here. I’m sure it will be much better than Twilight would like to allow.

The pony queen took a deep breath. If Sombra got even half the attention that Chrysalis did in her cell then the Vine was quite right. The pegasi, and Equestria for that matter, would never stand for such a situation. It would be considered a “got away with it.”

“Perhaps we should consider him dead,” Chrysalis looked into her queen’s eyes while making the suggestion.

Twilight looked to the Vine in turn.

You should do whatever you need to, it spoke. I’m uninterested with the details.

Twilight hummed in thought and nodded back to Chrysalis. “It’s a plan. As of now, Sombra was killed in action as a result of the long-range teleportation trap. The only ones that know otherwise are the arachne and those of us here. Being killed in action would be the most uniformly accepted end for the public anyways.”

Sombra watched the alicorn. He felt contempt for her ability to do as she pleased. He had been in that position and lost it. Perhaps it was simply the last of his hatred taking a useless turn, but he wished for her to lose it as well. Not that it mattered. He had nothing to live for now. Even the faintest hope of immortality in the future was like ash to him if it meant he would have to bend to the wills and needs of others.

“Some of my other friends,” Twilight continued talking to the Vine. “Rarity especially. But also Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack. I wanted to know if they might be made immortal. With how quickly you did it for Pinkie Pie, I don’t imagine it would be too much to ask…?”

I don’t grant immortality flippantly, the Vine replied grimly at first but then immediately lightened up. However, I take a special case here. As you and these friends of yours have embodied the Elements of Harmony, it is within my obvious interest to ensure that does not end. The passing of the torch, as they say, is such a messy thing. I prefer to count on something more predictable. So I grant your request. Not for others, mind you. The ponies you have mentioned only.

“This is wonderful!” Twilight exclaimed, not sure how else to voice such a thing. “Just...incredible! When will it take effect?”

It already did.

“You mean right now?”

Yes. A few seconds ago.

“This happened with the same light show that happened with Pinkie?”

Yes.

With a thought of what her friends might be doing and where at that moment, the alicorn queen gulped. “Oh my.”

17 - Loud Unknowns

The plan was working! Sunburst snickered behind the large crystal that jutted up proudly from within the snow bank. His wizard’s cloak was bound tightly around him. He didn’t exactly wear it for fashion, as it was entirely practical for its excellent insulation while out in the frigid conditions. The look of it he did enjoy, though.

This was research. Yes, research. He needed further confirmation of his theory regarding the Crystal Heart and the relationship of the dragon and unicorn. They had parted earlier to go about their governing tasks, but Sunburst never once lost sight of Rarity. He decided to follow her since she would be harder to track down than Spike. The Hero of the Empire was always the talk of the city. Ask anypony on any street and they knew exactly where Spike was at any given moment.

Here the two had reunited behind the Crystal Inventions shop. It was a pleasant public space – something of a sheltered exotic garden amidst the empire’s present snowscape. A fine mesh was stretched over the small tucked-in garden to help hold the warmer temperature. Crystal resonance environmental stabilizers were perched on the top of each pole that held of the mesh. An obvious feat of technological prowess that Crystal Inventions made to prevent snowfall over gardens and regulate micro-climates within it. Many touring Equestrians had remarked in a possibly prophetic manner that the Crystal Empire might be the entity to usher the inhabitants of Equestria into a new technological age.

Sunburst crouched outside the garden, but he had a good view into it to observe his targets. Conveniently, the Crystal Heart was in view to his right a mere eight hundred hooves to his right. Any regular pony might prefer binoculars at such range, but Sunburst had recently manged to perform one of the simpler vision enhancement spells in his vast repository of magic knowledge. It flipped on and off quickly and automatically as he looked from the Heart to the couple.

“Teleporting sure would be a handy skill,” Spike joked as he sat down on a stone bench that rested before one of the garden’s raised circular growing plots.

“Alas,” Rarity nodded in agreement as she laid next to him on the bench, “teleportation is a skill few unicorns have. My magic ability is attuned to my special talent. I can do little more than levitate beyond it.”

Spike brushed his claw fondly against Rarity’s cheek as she laid her head over his lap. “Gem Gear’s idea for a public inner-city transport system seemed quite sound. Maybe we should bring it up to the road maintainer?”

“Gem Gear?” Rarity looked up the medium-size dragon’s face. She then turned her gaze to the resonance crystals around the garden. “He is certainly not without considerable ability and success. I am no expert at such a field of engineering but I am certain Smooth Street would give a fair assessment. I am assuming Gem Gear would need to work with her for the project?”

Sunburst grumbled to himself. Come on already! Of course they were stewards of the Empire first and foremost, but Sunburst wasn’t interested in their mundane tasks. He wanted observations for his research on the Crystal Heart. “Just kiss already,” he whispered through his teeth.

“Did you get lunch?” Spike finally asked after they spoke for a moment longer on other duties. Although it was hard to tell by the sky that lunch time had recently eclipsed, the residents of the Empire knew their time and went about the heavily overcast, sunless, and snowy day like any typical Equestrian in clearer conditions.

“Of course,” Rarity answered with closed eyes and her typical air of oddly placed pride. “A lady knows her schedule and does not deviate from it.”

The dragon grew a sly grin as his claw moved to her midsection. He had slipped his warm claw into her heavy overcoat so that he could gently rub her soft sides in the interest of helping her keep warm and relaxed. “On the contrary,” he countered with a devious tone, “I happen to know you can be very deviant.”

“Oh,” Rarity’s face gave one expression after another as she tried to settle on what she heard and how to react. She ended with a simple blush and a “my” to couple with her “oh.”

“Did you have any dessert?” Spike continued as if his last remark hadn’t occurred.

Rarity wouldn’t let him have it, though. She would not be teased. “Oh, darling. Why would I ever choose some dreadfully ordinary dessert when I could have you.”

The mare leaned up towards Spike and he took the hint. They kissed briefly on the lips. Sunburst’s gaze shot to the Crystal Heart and then back to them. Crystal Heart. Spike and Rarity. Crystal Heart. Spike and Rarity. Crystal Heart. Spike and Rarity. Nothing.

We must test a stronger stimulation, Sunburst thought to himself as he peered harder at the couple and wished Cadance was around to cast some love magic on them. Not that they needed it, but it might help encourage a stronger...intimacy. If Cadance had been right about there coming to pass in the future the existence of pony-dragons, then this could be the trigger to bring the Heart to its next stage of evolution!

“Maybe if I spike their drinks they’ll have the courage,” Sunburst snickered again to himself.

“I cannot imagine a more perfect life,” Rarity said, her breath hot against Spike’s lips that she had barely left. “I do so very much look forward-”

Sunburst’s eyes widened. Rarity had started to glow a brilliant white!

“What?!” Spike suddenly exclaimed in surprise.

Rarity looked down to herself, checking her hooves and natural coat beneath her clothing. “Oh dear. Oh dear!”

“What’s going on?” Spike worried but didn’t let his mare go.

“I’m not-”

BOOM!

Spiraling butterflies of pure light shot out from the unicorn in a hundred different directions before exploding in a light show not dissimilar to fireworks. Spike squinted in the light and heat of the eruptions, but didn’t worry for either of their safeties since Rarity was at the center and he, after all, was a dragon.

BOOM!

The last of the explosions faded out into a magical sparkling, like a hundred fireflies disappearing into the distant night.

“What...was that?” Rarity continued looking around herself and at herself. The glow had petered out to nothing. She couldn’t see anything around them that hadn’t been there before. She didn’t feel any different. Nor did she see anyone around but themselves. Most of the local residents were either inside or at the square bonfire.

“I’m not sure,” Spike frowned, just as confused. Their connection let him know she didn’t feel any different. Something had just happened but neither knew what.

“If only Twilight were in range,” Rarity shifted about and got out of Spike’s grasp. She was antsy to say the least.

“Maybe Sunburst will have some idea. I mean, if his ideas about the Heart are worth anything.”

Rarity gave an unsure agreement.

Sunburst knew they would be looking for him and so he abandoned the crystal he had been hiding behind and made a discreet path back to the Crystal Heart. His vision spell had already fallen apart, so he had no need to disable it. The difficulty of actually performing real magic still bothered him greatly, but at least he had made some progress.

The Heart had remained the same. He stood before it with a frown. Something had happened to Rarity when she was with Spike. He thought it must have triggered some change no matter how minute. Close inspection revealed nothing more than the same glowing pink Heart, miniscule streams of cold water melting away as each new snowflake crowded closer at the base of the spinning relic.

Steps behind him. The crunch of the snow only made the sound louder rather than softer. It was obvious who it was even before he turned. Only one creature in the Empire had that gait.

“The Brave and Glorious,” Sunburst turned with a friendly smile.

“Anything with the Heart?” Spike immediately asked as he put down Rarity. He had been carrying her in his arms so she could get over a large snowbank that had formed up to the base of the castle.

“No, I’m afraid,” the wizard’s frown began to return. “I told you I’d get you if anything happened.”

“Something did happen,” Rarity spoke up with a more serious face than Sunburst had seen on her before. “Except it was not with the Heart.”

Sunburst tried to look lost. He already knew the issue.

“What do you know about magic?” Spike insisted. “Specifically when a pony glows and causes a random fireworks show.”

The wizard withheld the “nothing” they obviously didn’t want to hear. Actually, he did know many spells that involved glowing and explosions. Without advanced analytical magic, though, it would not be possible to do a check on the mare’s body. He knew what the spells required but could not perform them.

“Look,” he sighed. “I wish I could help. I really do. But I just can’t perform the magic necessary to figure out what you want to know. Lots of spells fit your description and the only pony I know of that can perform a cross-sectional uni-genetic computation analysis spell is Queen Twilight Sparkle.”

“Twilight...” Rarity considered aloud. Perhaps what happened relates to what she is doing right now.

Spike looked to his companion and nodded in deep thought. We have to hope that figuring it out is not time sensitive.

Rarity grimaced at the idea of it being an urgent problem.

“I wouldn’t worry, though,” Sunburst added without being privy to the silent conversation. “I know every ailment that involves magical glowing. If there was a serious time-sensitive issue then I can assure you that you would already be incapable of walking.”

Rarity stepped forward and back just to be sure.

“I wish we’d have a normal day for once,” Spike huffed in conclusion, in spite of his relief.

“Mmm,” Rarity hummed in agreement and simultaneous musing. “Normal in which manner?”

“The normal that doesn’t cause unpleasant interruption,” Spike answered succinctly. There had been such a pleasant mood between them before. He could only hope to get it back by the night.

“Was that really necessary?” Chrysalis deadpanned.

One hundred percent, the Vine replied in a haughty tone.

“Fluttershy is going to be so worried,” Twilight frowned.

“Aw, you’ll cheer her up for sure,” Pinkie slung a foreleg casually around her queen. “No need to be a frown factory. We’re immortals.”

“It’s not like I was done talking, you know,” Twilight sighed. She turned her attention to the draping plant in front of them. “You said immortality for those ponies only because they are the Elements of Harmony.”

I’ve always had the ability to make every being on this planet immortal. I’ve never done it because of the problems it would cause. I’m sure I don’t have to spell it out for you.

“No,” Twilight agreed. “But there are so many others besides us. Our relationships will change with those who will not live forever. I’ve considered this and – perhaps I’m selfish – I just couldn’t imagine going on without my friends. Still-”

Have someone in mind?

“You know that I do, don’t you?”

Mother, father, brother...besides one’s close friends, mortals think of their close family. But you can see, can’t you, that if I made the close family of each of the Elements of Harmony immortal then it would only widen the problem. Those ponies would then also have friends and family they would want immortal. It simply balloons out of control. That is why I must be strict. Besides...

“Besides what?” Twilight began to squint with suspicion.

“I’ve already compromised with an exception. Granting an extra mortal eternity was bad enough but granting a lineage...sometimes I wonder if Harmony is right and I do have a little Chaos in me still.”

“Lineage?” Chrysalis added in her own curious suspicion. She continued glancing to the arachne around them. Not entirely comfortable even after all of those strawberry doughnuts.

Ask your sister-in-law when you return to your land.

“Cadance? What do you know about her? I know you granted her immortality by Celestia’s request,” Twilight stated.

The Vine was quick to dance around the subject. I do not speak of exceptions lightly, Princess of the Horizon. I grant them on my terms and on my time. Perhaps I will grant others in years to come. For now, I will not allow it further.

“I don’t have any way of convincing you otherwise, I suppose,” Twilight shifted her lips about.

No, it agreed with a sickening chuckle. Only Death can convince me by force to go against my will. Nothing on this planet right now can harm me or even move me.

“I do have others I love greatly and don’t wish to see grow old and die while I live on,” Twilight made further comment. Admittedly it was more towards herself than the Vine. “I have not discussed it with the others. Not extensively, anyways.”

“Seeing my folks pass on sure won’t be fun,” Pinkie drooped a little besides the queen. “But...I think they should be the ones to decide if they want immortality or not.”

“Everypony should talk to those that concern them on this issue once we return,” Twilight said to Pinkie. She glanced to Chrysalis but knew the changeling’s lack of connections.

“Vine of Life,” Twilight returned her focus to the Origin.

Yes?

“Thank you again for this gift. It can never be repaid,” the purple alicorn bowed. “If nopony else is ever granted eternity after this then I must at least be grateful for who has.”

Such gratitude and diplomacy, the Vine replied. I see the magic of friendship that rests in your heart. Make use of it, Twilight Sparkle. Ka’Ran, take them to the provisions and refreshment chambers before seeing them off.

“We’re leaving?” Pinkie pouted.

Your business is concluded, the Vine answered. You may see me again should your situation change. I have an interest in your fates. But do not scurry. You have all of time itself and even more.

Ka’Ran came around in front of Twilight and stretched one of her non-spider legs towards the way they had entered. Refreshments would likely prove a welcome distraction from the issues and questions tumbling about in Twilight’s mind.

Applejack chuckled as she rolled across the floor. Rara’s wagon house bedroom was matched to the scale set by the rest of it. Huge. After having made friendly fun of Rara’s latest show costume, Applejack had been subjected to a thorough pillow beating and then shoved off the bed onto the floor. Even if the pillows and sheets hadn’t come off with her, the thick carpeting would have ensured her landing was soft.

“You are such a pushover when you want to be,” Rara giggled from atop the almost bare mattress. She had on no special dress or make up. Her mane was put up into a simple ponytail just to keep it out of the way.

Night had come and, lacking a place to stay, Rara decided to have her visiting friend simply extend her visit into a sleepover. Applejack’s earlier clothes had been ditched due to the warmth of Rara’s mobile home. Some kind of fancy machine at the back of the massive wagon was handling the washing of the material, since the earlier altercations had rendered them sufficiently dirty.

“You’re just too much fun,” Applejack replied as she tossed herself around to get upright. “I love my other friends but I didn’t go to Friendship Camp with them. ‘Sides,” she continued upon dragging the sheets and pillows back up and then throwing herself at the soft messy pile on the bed. “Sleepovers with Rarity are all frou frou and RD is...well actually RD ain’t quite the same no more.”

“I get you, though,” Rara agreed and got comfortable next to her old friend. “It’s just nice to hang out with an old friend that gets you.”

“Well now,” Applejack averted her gaze since Rara’s was now so close.

“How about we move on to smores and a movie?”

“Smores?! Y’all got the stuff?” Applejack just about laughed. “Still the princess of camp smores, huh?”

“Always. But the rest of my show staff hates them because they make your hooves sticky. And everypony thinks I’m some pampered princess.”

“Fancy star Countess Coloratura munchin’ on messy smores,” Applejack did laugh that time.

“We have to go outside for a minute to make them, though. Got to be fresh and I don’t want my wagon to burn down,” Rara stuck her tongue out playfully.

The farmpony nodded her head. “Works for me. How we playin’ a movie anyhow?”

Seeing her friend look at the projector screen that was situated on the wall opposite the bed’s headboard, Rara pointed to a modern-looking device on the ceiling. “Projector reel,” she answered while getting off the mattress. “Really new with great clarity, but it can still play old reels so we can watch just about anything in my collection.”

Applejack followed her lead out of the brightly lit bedroom and into the kitchen, where she grabbed the snack materials. “Y’all got Cursed Swamp Monsters of the Everfree?”

“Same one that played at Camp,” Rara winked in answer upon walking out the wagon.

“No way!” Applejack laughed again while following. It was quite cold outside without the wagon’s heat or her clothes, but she could see the firepit Rara went to light. It would be warm enough and they wouldn’t be out for long.

Rara fiddled a marshmellow onto one of the two skewers she had taken with them and was about to pass it to Applejack when the mare’s body broke into a brilliant orange glow. Sparks flew out from her and exploded in sequence. It was like a special effects flare that some of her shows featured for dramatic effect.

“Oooooh, nelly!” Applejack flapped her forehooves uselessly at the small eruptions until they died off.

Rara looked frantically around them but kept going back to her fillyhood friend. “What was that?!”

19 - This Moment

The path back through the tunnels was quiet at first, just the clicking of the spider legs against the rock and the clopping of the hooves in between. Twilight didn’t need to reignite the gravity spell yet, but knew she would have to eventually. An idea popped into her head as they approached a side chamber that smelled exceptionally delicious. Perhaps if she stalled them a moment, she could get some kind of useful information.

“Is that the bakery?” she inquired to the spiderpony in front of her.

Ka’Ran replied, quite pleased. “Yes, our bakers are no doubt restocking our depleted stores.”

Twilight looked backwards to Chrysalis, who blushed. She shook her head and stopped in her tracks, causing the arachnes to stop as well.

“Is there a problem?” Ka’Ran requested politely.

“May we ask some provisions before we leave?” Twilight put her plan in motion. “It will be a long time before we can acquire more and I’m quite hungry after the trip it took to get here.”

The arachne appeared fidgety. “Well,” she looked down the tunnel both ways. “I suppose it’s the least we could do. The Vine respects you deeply. So do we...”

Twilight increased her smile when Ka’Ran stretched her pony foreleg to the side chamber entrance, beckoning them in. She followed the invite along with her companions behind her. Lighting was better than elsewhere, with ovens and stoves illuminating spaces not covered by gem torches. The smell was incredible. Not unlike-

“Sugarcube Corner!” Pinkie shouted out in glee as she bounced forward. “It’s just like Sugarcube Corner! Oh oh oh!”

“Besides the smell, I don’t really see the resemblance,” Twilight tried to bring up a forehoof to calm the party pony but she was already bouncing all over the large chamber. Pinkie crisscrossed from oven to oven stationed by arachnes baking delectable treats and from shelf to shelf stocked with mouth-watering goodness.

“Oh! Chocolate cake! Strawberry cupcakes! Coconut cookies! Oh! We’ve got to sing a song about it!”

Chrysalis’ eyes widened in fear. Twilight tried to reach Pinkie before she had a chance.

“Oh, I never knew what wonders I could find~ Oh, did I come in here so blind~!” Pinkie sang out as an upbeat tune sounded off from nowhere.

“Nooo,” Twilight cried as she ran, trying to catch the mare.

“Oh, yes but lookie lookies~” Pinkie picked up a platter from a shelf with treats on it. “We’ve got spiderpony cookies~”

Chrysalis facepalmed.

Pinkie bounced clear across the room, defying physics and Twilight’s desperate chase. “Even drinks and glasses aplenty~! Two, ten. No! Twenty! On this shelf I can see even higher~ Your delicious stores of spider cider~!”

Just as Pinkie was about to follow the rush of energetic music into a powerful chorus, Twilight finally grabbed her rear hooves and pulled her down out of the air she was starting to walk across (in defiance of all physics). The purple alicorn grabbed her midsection next and put a hoof to her mouth when she tried slipping into the chorus anyways. Mysteriously, the background music stopped once the hoof was over Pinkie’s mouth.

“How about we just calmly enjoy some cake, alright?” Twilight suggested deadpan.

A muffled “mmkay” and a nod came from the big-eyed pink mare to indicate her agreement. Twilight removed her hold cautiously and followed Ka’Ran’s lead to another large chamber that had been half joined to the bakery.

Long and high rows of tables occupied the space, the surfaces flat in alignment with gravity. They were made of stone like the ovens and shelves from before. However, reduced lighting and a lack of seats caused Twilight and Chrysalis to ignite their horns with a powerful green glow and look to their hosts for directions.

Ka’Ran and one of the others grabbed containers with flat tops and appropriate height. They placed them at the nearest table. “We don’t use chairs or stools, as your kind does,” Ka’Ran explained.

“Thank you,” Twilight appreciated and easily climbed up onto the container. It was a little tall since the table surfaces were higher than they would be for a pony. Even if it had been a struggle to get up, however, the use of magic and wings were more than enough to overcome the challenge. “And thank you for letting us eat and take rations. It’s very hospitable of you.”

“We can make plenty,” Ka’Ran answered simply. She went around to the other side of the table, her standing height putting her at perfect eye level with the pony queen. Although, it was difficult for her guests to know which set of eyes to look into. “What would you like to have now?”

Pinkie, who had bounced straight onto her own container, looked back at the bakery with a big-eyed feverish expression. She was practically drooling. “Everything…”

“How about something more practical,” Twilight suggested. “Muffins sound good. Perhaps a slice of cake afterwards for Pinkie.”

“OH! Yes, a dozen muffins please!” Pinkie turned her food-lusting stare to Ka’Ran.

“I’ll have whatever Twilight has,” Chrysalis waved off any concern over her request.

One of the other arachnes retrieved a tray from the bakery. By pony standards, it was quite large. Twelve muffins were arranged on it with a variety of styles. Chocolate chip, blueberry, and glazed were just a few. Although Twilight had been far calmer than Pinkie, she did have to admit they looked and smelled incredible even in the dark surroundings filled with large half-spiders. Ka’Ran sat it down before the ponies and changeling.

“Oh my,” Twilight happily said to herself as she grabbed the first one – a mix of blueberry and chocolate. “These look amazing.”

“Hey,” Pinkie frowned when Chrysalis took the strawberry one she was going for. “I thought you ate love.”

“A muffin or two won’t hurt,” Chrysalis giggled with a purr-like buzz.

Ka’Ran just stood there at her place at the table, not saying anything as she watched the other creatures consume the food. She must have felt the need to provide conversation because she spoke up on her own initiative. “We keep all of the chambers well ventilated. Especially this place due to the ovens.”

After swallowing, Twilight looked up and around. “Now that you mention it, the air does feel relatively fresh. Not as fresh as being on the surface but still not as suppressive as a cavern like this should be.”

Pinkie Pie, knowing her friend’s plan but lacking her tact, went straight for it. “So when did Shining Armor and Cadance leave here?”

Twilight glared at Pinkie.

“The evening before we took Chrysalis and Sombra in,” Ka’Ran openly replied.

While surprised at the forthright answer, Twilight was happy to take the information. It was as if fate had barely kept them from running into each other. “So they might not be too far away...”

With that in mind, the group continued to eat what was by all means a delicious meal on par with the treats of Sugarcube Corner. As much as the setting was worlds apart, Twilight let the chocolatey berry flavor savor on her tongue. When they left after this, there would be much flying to do.

The reel finally ended. The credits had finished and, in spite of the long list of ponies involved in making the film, Cursed Swamp Monsters of the Everfree somehow managed to be just as cheesy as the name implied. Their concern over the spectacle of light and fireworks had faded for now, since Applejack was used to such happenings and trusted her queen to deal with it in due time. Even though calming Rara about it had taken more work.

What remained now were two mares laying on a large bed in Rara’s tour home. The bright lights of the room remained dim from the movie-watching and both of the ponies’ bellies remained full from the smores they had made together. Nostalgia. That is what they had enjoyed the most.

“I forgot how much I was missing out on,” Rara whispered to herself as she stroked AJ’s mane.

She laid just beside the sleeping mare. Given the recent events, it wasn’t surprising that AJ had fallen asleep at the start of the credits. Rara was about to do so herself but, before she did, she grabbed her bed’s neatly folded throw blanket at the end and laid it over them.

YAAAWWWN.

Applejack’s mouth cranked wide open as her eyes started to do the same. Sunlight filtering through the home’s curtains had stirred her. It was warm too. Not uncomfortably warm. The weather was bitingly cold outside while the insulation and heating system of the modern house-wagon made it comfortable enough inside. The additional heat of the blanket on her was quite effective in luring her back to sleep.

But then she noticed. It wasn’t just the warmth of the blanket. It was the warmth of the mare, who was no longer fully beside her but rather tangled up and half on top of her!

“Oh nelly,” Applejack whispered under her breath as she was pulled much harder into consciousness by the other mare’s position. “If Granny saw me now...”

Rara stirred now too but failed to awaken. She merely cuddled against her old friend and mumbled something that might have included Applejack’s name.

“Don’t remember her talkin’ in her sleep,” the farmpony made further comment to herself. She just needed to find a way of getting this famous, beautiful, warm, and irresistible mare off of her.

Wait.

Irresistible?

“I ain’t no mare-lovin’ sleep-around,” AJ continued to whisper, as if she needed to speak the words to convince herself of them.

Rara, however, countered with more of her sleep talk. “Mmmm...so good...”

Applejack gulped. She really should move her filly friend off of her. Her filly friend. Not her fillyfriend!

“Oh...AJ...”

Was that a moan? Applejack bit her bottom lip. This was getting to be a bit much-

“Right there, Jackie…harder...”

“Jumpin’ junebugs!” Applejack exclaimed as she flailed out of the sheets. Rara was sent turning across the mattress in the tangle of sheets while the orange mare landed beside the bed on her hooves.

“Huh?! What?!” Rara’s head poked out of the bedsheet burrito she had gotten wrapped in. “Oh, good morning.”

“Mornin’? Were y’all asleep just then?” AJ asked right away. Her face was a deep red and her legs were rather shaky.

“Mmhmm,” the far sleepier mare nodded with a yawn at the end. Her mane was a mess and the next thing she looked to as she started removing the sheets around her was the brush on her nightstand.

Applejack tried to compose herself. It was just a dream. Maybe she misunderstood. There could have been an innocent meaning behind it all. She tried directing the topic to a better distraction. “Y-you, uh, hungry for breakfast?”

“Like a horse,” Rara replied light-heartedly after getting up off the bed. She made the joke with a snort of laughter that really helped break any illusion of her public image. “I wouldn’t mind pancakes. I’ll be in the kitchen in just a minute.”

“Aw, naw. I’ll make ‘em,” Applejack insisted and hopped out of the bedroom with a vigor. Yes, this would be a nice restart for the day.

So she set about making the best stack of pancakes that any Apple worth their salt would be able to present. The kitchen and dining area were relatively small, but perfectly adequate for a mere pair of ponies. Various syrups and toppings were set out since Applejack wasn’t sure which Rara liked. Some bottles looked older and less used than others, but AJ didn’t take chances. Once the milk was added to the table, she looked back to the bedroom.

Rara walked out in perfect timing, her dark indigo mane done up in a pretty toss with curls at the ends. She sniffed the air. “Now doesn’t that just smell incredible,” she praised and added a warm hug to her friend before sitting down at the table. “Thanks for making this, AJ.”

“N-no problem,” Applejack fumbled her words, bothered by her own bothering. She sat across from her host. “I got everything out. Not sure what y’all like.”

“Well we never had pancakes back at camp,” Rara thought out loud. “I like the fruit dressings most,” she explained while grabbing for the apple jam-like topping. “I rotate them throughout the week, so I’ll go with apple today.”

“Hehe,” Applejack averted her gaze, a nervousness creeping back into her. “Yeah, nothin’ like them apple jams.”

Rara smiled sweetly but gave no indication of flirtation.

Is she doing this on purpose? Applejack thought with a bite of her bottom lip. She reached for the pear butter to add it to the pancakes she put on her plate.

“So, AJ, how’s the family holding up?”

“Oh,” the farmpony gave a sigh. A more normal topic. “Just fine. Better than me, no doubt. Granny’s takin’ care of the lighter chores while Big Mac runs the farm in my absence. Apple Bloom does all kinds of work helpin’ ponies with cutie mark problems...”

“Big Mac still have any crushes?” Rara asked with a sly grin before taking another bite of the meal.

“Hehe,” Applejack chuckled at that. “Sure does, though he won’t tell nopony who.”

A moment passed as both took mouthfuls of the almost-too-hot pancakes. Rara spoke again just as Applejack took a drink of milk to wash down the hearty meal.

“How about you? Are you single?”

PPPPFFFT!

“Sorry,” Rara was the first to apologize. She wiped her face of the spit liquid without complaint or sour expression.

“No, I’m sorry,” Applejack wilted in regret. “I was just so...surprised.”

“So?” the showmare insisted. Her eyes held a serious expectation even though her smile suggested a casual aloofness.

Applejack felt unsure. Less about the truth than her self confidence. This wasn’t her strong suit. She was a hard worker. Rarity was the one that was supposed to know about relationships, but the hivemind was weak at this distance. On the other hoof, she didn’t exactly need the hivemind to make her spill her true feelings. She was the Element of Honesty, after all. No previous lessons over tact could prevent her from dismissing the use thereof.

“Naw, I ain’t seein’ nopony,” she let out.

“How do you feel about dating a mare?” Rara kept her pleasant smile and then took another bite of pancakes. If she had any nervousness over asking such questions then she was perfect at hiding it.

“Heheh,” Applejack’s face twisted in disbelief. How far was her friend going to take this? Not that Applejack didn’t like entertaining the idea of exploring a relationship. She just had no honest idea how or what to do with such a thing-

“Do you find me attractive?”

Applejack’s head finally hit the plate of pancakes in front of her. She was done.

Finished.

“Are you okay?” Rara reach out to her friend, same sweet tone of innocence tinged with just a bit of concern.

Applejack rose slowly with a half-hearted chuckle of defeat. “Y’all want to go the country mile with me?”

“How about we focus on this moment first?” the pop star suggested, bringing up a cloth napkin to AJ’s face to clear off the specks of pancake.

“I might be able to do that, sugarcube,” Applejack finally smiled. “Eating pancakes and washing dishes are two things I know. Maybe you can take it after that.”

“I’d be glad to.”

Spike laughed. Oh how he needed that. The morning had been stressful enough with further work to be done organizing the changelings, crystal ponies, and handling the departure of the Union ponies. This debacle was precisely what was needed to lighten his mood.

“Why I never!”

“It wasn’t an insult, Rarity,” Fluttershy poked the tabletop with a forehoof as a form of fidgeting. “Besides, it’s not like we have any masks to wear with each other.”

They were in the palace dining room. It was the personal dining room as opposed to the public one used for large gatherings and consulate dinners. The smaller size of the room, warmer environment of the fireplace, and rich royal purple rugs made it more comparable to the inviting scenery of Rarity’s stately bedroom than a cold prison of formality.

“Old habits,” Rarity shrugged. “In any case, I assume you are waiting for Twilight to be back before becoming more intimate?”

Rainbow Dash swallowed the remainder of the muffin she had been eating for breakfast. “Yep. I mean, we tried some stuff anyways but only up to a point. It’s awesome even though we both agree that we’re a little more interested in Twi than each other. In that sense anyways.”

“I see,” Rarity voiced, using her magic to push her empty plate from her just a hoof’s distance. “Only the hivemind allows me to get some grasp of your feelings, I suppose. Such a polyamorous relationship is beyond my own feelings or desires. Spikey Wikey is the only one for me for such matters.”

Spike turned to the mare beside him at the table. He had to look down since he was higher up in a sitting position, but her words warmed his already flaming heart. The light smoke he exhaled in the next breath was shaped in the form of a heart, which he puffed out past her on the table. The heart dissipated when it reached the fireplace on the other side of the room.

“Awww,” Fluttershy cooed.

Rarity smiled, her own feelings melted somewhat. “Don’t speak anything to the crystal ponies, though. They’ve been brainwashed by Cadance to believe Spike and I are...well...you know.”

“So you’re not?” Rainbow smirked, her head propped up now by a forehoof as she leaned over the table expectantly.

“Sunburst wants us to,” Spike answered. “He thinks our love may affect the Crystal Heart. If testing the theory means we need to make love then I’m ready and willing even if it fails.”

“Spike!” Rarity’s cheeks puffed out with a pink tinge.

Rainbow laughed.

“You two do love each other so much,” Fluttershy commented in her usual sweet manner. “I’m sure it would be possible if it were not for having to manage the changeling refugees. Maybe Dashie and I-”

“Oh don’t be so giving,” Rarity laughed that certain laugh one only gave when they were incredibly nervous about something.

“You’ve got cold hooves,” Rainbow deftly remarked with a smirk turned sly. “Not that I blame you. I mean, he is like twice your size.”

Rarity’s indignation turned to a pale speechlessness which would have turned again into a deadpan stare if the conversation had stalled.

“Dashie,” Fluttershy turned to her blue companion across the table. “This is something they can do only at their own pace.”

“Not that anybody is asking my opinion,” Spike rolled his eyes, “but this pace is fine.”

To demonstrate his meaning, he leaned over the short distance between his seat and Rarity’s to give her a chaste kiss on the lips. Their lips did meet, Rarity quite willing to in the absence of crystal pony observers. However, a rainbow blur streaked across the table and intervened.

She held their heads together and even pushed a bit.

“Rainbow!” Fluttershy complained from her seat while the Element of Loyalty snickered. She kept holding them there.

Spike could have resisted but honestly enjoyed it. His lips held against hers and pressed deeper. Though Rarity had raised her forelegs up in reaction, she hadn’t yet ignited her magic to resist. The now-familiar press of her dragon’s tongue against her lips made her react automatically. His tongue entered, initiating the deep kiss and holding back only for a lack of space in her pony mouth to contain its full length.

“Whoa!” Rainbow rose her brows as she watched from her close-up position. Her hooves gradually fell away, no longer needing to encourage it.

Rarity, her mind adapting to the moment, turned her gaze briefly to Rainbow as the kiss became heated. An expression crossed her eyes, as if to say “you want it, you got it” or perhaps “jealous?”

The white unicorn put one hoof around Spike’s head and pushed Rainbow back with the other. Running with it seemed to have wiped the smugness from the prankster’s face. Rarity, however, found herself caring less about that the longer the kiss lasted.

20 - Jungle Camping

Twilight Sparkle beat her wings hard against the unfavorable wind. Her eyes were good enough to pick out some features below but the trees and foliage of the mountain range they were flying through provided little help. Rainbow Dash would have been far better at this even with the sight-seeing spell Twilight had cast on herself to assist.

This had been going on for hours. They followed the only logical path up from the entrance of the arachne underworld with no luck yet. Judging on the information Twilight had obtained before leaving, it seemed reasonable for her brother and sister-in-law to take a northerly trek up along the mountain range until heading east at the northwest corner with the Equestrian border. Ultimately it was Pinkie Pie who blasted ahead with her changeling jets, having spotted the ponies of interest.

The air seemed to get damper the lower Twilight flew, an icky reminder of the climate she had forgotten about in the underground caves and sky above the treetops. It also got darker. Even the high position of the sun was blocked out by the equally high mountain range as she fell in altitude. The trees barely parted for what was the best “trail” around.

There were remnants of an ancient road that Twilight finally stepped down upon with her hooves, but calling it a road was a bit of a stretch. The occasionally visible moss-covered stone barely occurred often enough and in a cohesive enough direction and shape to be discernible as once belonging to something more.

If not for Pinkie, they might have surprised their quarry. But alas, the roar of her black jets and boisterously loud voice combined with the conspicuous buzz of Chrysalis’ wings made that possibility void. A large tent was erected practically on the “road” with little offset and a color scheme that made more sense for blending into snowy landscapes than jungle ones.

“Wakey-wakey!” Pinkie shouted at the closed tent door. She was banging a pan against a skillet – both of which she had obtained from absolutely nowhere.

A growling mumble and feminine eek later saw two heads poke out of the forward tent flap. The bottom was pink and the top was white.

“Pinkie-” Cadance began.

“-Pie?” Shining Armor finished.

“The one and only!” Pinkie shouted needlessly back. She threw the pan and skillet behind her, which Chrysalis casually side-stepped to avoid getting hit. “Whatcha doin’?!”

“Huh?” was all Shining Armor could manage before his wife below him stood up taller and caused him to fall back in the tent.

Cadance opened the rest of the tent flap and stepped out. Her mane and tail were a wreck. Perhaps testament to having been awoken from sleep which was also indicated by her sleepy face she shared with her husband. “What…? Twilight? Chrysalis?”

Twilight stepped up to Cadance from around Pinkie and returned the warm hug Cadance gave. “That’s right. I was told you had left not long ago.”

“Told? But we didn’t tell anyone where we were going,” the pink alicorn’s confusion continued.

“Not even me,” Shining said under his breath. He stepped out behind Cadance and offered his own hug to Twilight.

“The arachnes,” Pinkie answered quickly.

Cadance’s expression became far more awake at that. “Y-You’ve spoken to them?”

“Yes,” Twilight said, her tone positive but becoming a tiny bit disappointed. “I think we need to talk.”

“That’s what I said,” Shining Armor sighed out and gestured for them to enter the tent.

“I had no idea how matters were going to develop,” Cadance explained. She was seated on the propped-up bed with her husband.

As far as tents were concerned, this was about as nice as they got. The fabric on the outside was a snowy camouflage but the inside had royal reds, purples, and blues arranged in a pleasant and subdued manner that spoke of Crystal pony design. Unlike Rarity would have, Cadance had not decked the interior with large volumes of unnecessary luxuries. Some necessary items were about such as their traveling bags and small folding table and chairs.

Light streaming in strategically from the tent’s upper screens fell upon the surface of the table, causing Twilight to move the chairs closer to the bed. She preferred talking without being distracted. The light coming in was not directly from the sun but it was strong enough to carry with it the moving shadows of the jungle.

“But you knew I, at the very least, was already immortal,” Twilight frowned. “Why did you decide not to confide in me? And did you think I wouldn’t be able to piece it together?”

“I suppose not,” Cadance hung her head. “But should we not treat good news as good news? Shiny is-”

“Immortal too,” the stallion finished for her. His gaze, however, was on his little sister. “I had no idea that was the plan but when we got here and spoke to the Vine...well, I had a choice to make. Given the situation as it has evolved, I couldn’t see a reason not to go through with it.”

Twilight, in spite of being annoyed at being left out of the loop, got off her chair to hug her brother. “I’m glad you decided the way you did,” she told him before pulling back. “I couldn’t imagine being without my BBBFF.”

“I guess I won’t be without my little sister either,” he nudged her shoulder. “I know there will be hard times ahead as a result of this but,” he drawled out the word, “I think we’ve gotten pretty used to it.”

Cadance tried looking less guilty. “Forgive me for not telling you first?”

“There’s nothing to forgive,” Twilight turned her attention to her sister-in-law, her tone softer than before. “I was kind of annoyed I wasn’t told about it but both of your lives are your own. You don’t need to come to me for approval or even just to let me know. Whatever the case, I’m glad we’re where we are. I don’t have to worry now about any of you kicking the bucket before I do.”

“Kicking the bucket?” Shining rose a brow.

“Applespeak,” Pinkie Pie snorted in laughter from the table. She remained there outside the circle of others so she could work on eliminating the tasty food that had been foolishly left there.

“Well I expect I’ll still be getting you books on your one thousandth birthday,” Shining’s face turned to a sly grin.

Smack!

“Oooow,” Shining mocked pain as he rubbed the foreleg Twilight had playfully hit.

“Come on you two,” Cadance giggled. “Play nice.”

Twilight stuck her tongue out but did so while smiling at her old foalsitter.

“Oh, she always does,” Chrysalis spoke up for her queen.

Cadance, in spite of her previous squeamishness around her once-foe, countered quite coolly. “I’m sure she does, but then I wasn’t talking about what the two of you do in the bedroom.”

“Cady!” Shining turned wide-eyed at his wife.

Twilight blushed while saying something along the lines of “it’s not like that.” But then she mentally added “yet.”

Chrysalis just made a cheerfully buzzy giggle.

“I don’t suppose we have a faster way back?” Cadance went on, leaving the last topic where it was.

“Oh, uh, you mean transport back to Equestria?” Twilight took a stumbling moment to catch the meaning.

Cadance nodded while Shining rolled his eyes at the inappropriate remark that was now glazed over.

Pinkie Pie answered instead and did so mumbling around a mouth full of muffin. “Nope! No more room on the last flight out!”

“Huh?” Shining Armor felt lost again.

“I assume you two have gone slowly because Shining Armor has no wings and repeated teleportation was giving him migraines?” Chrysalis suggested with a sidewise look.

“Y….yes...” Shining looked at her suspiciously. He hated how easily she just reasoned out what they had been doing.

“It’s been a pleasant journey this way,” Cadance insisted happily. “Camping along the way. Just the two of us. It’s been like a breath of fresh air.”

“Literally,” Twilight added casually.

“Actually, I’d prefer for us to continue back the way we came,” she looked again to her husband who returned her kind look. “I’m sure Spike and Rarity are doing just fine with the crystal ponies.”

If Twilight noticed the tiny tick of a smirk that flashed on Cadance’s face then she didn’t bring it up. “That reminds me,” the purple alicorn exclaimed. “They’re probably dealing with the changelings by now. We should get back soon to help. I can’t imagine that mess will be an easy one to deal with – as much as I trust Spike.”

“Changelings?!” Shining Armor went wide-eyed again.

“What exactly happened while we’ve been away?” Cadance expressed her equal surprise. “I thought the changelings had backed off.”

“To make a long story short, I made a deal with them,” Twilight explained. She was back in her seat and sipping at a cup of ice water. It helped take the edge off the clingy humid air. “They won’t pose a threat now and I won’t have to worry about Equestrian politics getting in the way.”

“So you dumped them in our empire?” Shining Armor deadpanned with flat brows.

“Hehe,” Twilight blushed again, but for a different reason.

“Now now,” Cadance patted her husband’s shoulder. “If Twilight trusted them to be there then I’m sure it’s fine. Besides, where better to find the love they desperately need? I’m certain the crystal ponies will never be lacking in it.”

“Agreed,” Twilight joined Cadance with a wink. “In fact, some changes have been going on with the Crystal Heart. We can look into that once we get back.”

“Good changes, I hope,” Shining remained unsure.

“Oh, totally,” Twilight replied with somewhat of a white lie. She had less information on it then she would have liked.

“So any gossip to share?” Cadance again steered the conversation. She looked to Chrysalis for some reason.

The large changeling smirked in response, her posture becoming more interested. “The boring every day kind or the exciting sexual kind?”

“Please!” Shining threw up his hooves.

“Well I guess that means we’re talking about sex then!” Chrysalis happily clopped her forehooves against each other.

Twilight facehoofed while Cadance just laughed. Besides the Princess of Love having no obvious issue with it, the other pink pony in the tent was of the same persuasion.

“Oh oh oh! Talk about me!” Pinkie Pie bounced over in front of Chrysalis. “Talk about me!”

Chrysalis turned from gleeful to deadpan in a mere second. “You’re a virgin.”

“Oh yeah!” Pinkie twirled about the tent. “I’m so wild~!”

Twilight skipped the facehoof this time. “Do you even have any interest in it?”

It was meant as an honest question but Shining Armor wasn’t sure he could take the resilient topic. “Should I even stay here? Maybe I should leave the tent for a bit.”

“Oh, you party-pooper,” Cadance waved her hoof at him. “Fine. If you want to, but don’t go too far away. We don’t want to mount a rescue operation.”

Shining’s reply was only an expression. It said “I was Captain of the Guard, remember?”

Just as the stallion was exiting the front entrance, Chrysalis decided to give him parting words. “Don’t let the bugs bite.” She received a bump to the foreleg for it.

“So,” Cadance resumed their conversation. “What kinky secrets shall we share?”

“Hey!” Pinkie put her forehooves to her hips while standing on her rear legs. “I didn’t get to answer!”

“For Cadance’s benefit, feel free,” Twilight shook her head.

“Not exactly,” Pinkie began. She slid up to Cadance on the bed, putting a foreleg around her as if they were old drinking buddies. “You see...to me, sex may be fun and all but it lacks the free spirit of the party-”

“It’s because you wouldn’t be able to stay in one place long enough to actually have intercourse,” Twilight put it bluntly in continued deadpan.

“It’s not my fault that I like to mooove,” Pinkie bobbed her head around with the drawled word.

“You know, Pinkie,” Cadance poked her forehoof against the other pink pony’s chest. “There are still plenty of safe sexual activities that can be enjoyed without being glued in one place.”

“The Princess of Sexual Counseling,” Chrysalis giggled.

“It’s an important element of love for most individuals,” Cadance tutted.

“Oh, I know,” Chrysalis countered with a wiggle of her brows. “More than you and your husband do. That’s for sure.”

“Don’t play it up. It’s not like we’ve gone that far,” Twilight turned to her changeling with a wicked grin. “You’ve never been with a pony.”

Cadance laughed at Chrysalis’ failed jab.

Pinkie Pie, meanwhile, was innocently sweet. “Well I’m with ponies all the time! I hate being alone.”

It’s not literal, Pinkie, Twilight instantly returned. It’s an expression that means sex.

“Oooooooh,” Pinkie drawled, as if she hadn’t known that.

The pink alicorn broke the more light-hearted mood, however, with her next question. “Would you two like to be with each other?”

“Is that not obvious?” Chrysalis answered at once.

Twilight was slower to respond, though. Not because they hadn’t already talked about such things and shared feelings over the hivemind. Rather, there were some technical details Twilight had not confronted.

“Yeah! Just do iiiit!” Pinkie cheered from next to Cadance. She was waving pompoms now.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “When we’re comfortable.”

“What about Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash?” Cadance gently inquired. “Anything there? Perhaps with each other...?”

“Yeah, you going to make it a foursome or what?!” Pinkie turned to loud grumbling.

“Pinkie,” Twilight did go through with the facehoof this time.

Chrysalis hummed pleasantly. “Sounds marvelous,” she purred at the idea. “I’m more than adequate to keep three small ponies occupied, I think. Why, it would take at least two ponies simply to-”

Cadance put a forehoof to her own lips and blushed lightly. “Oh my,” she whispered out behind her hoof.

Twilight’s face was quite red but she managed to give a steaming rebuttal. “I d-don’t need you flaunting your sexual ambitions to my old foalsitter.”

“Old?” Cadance paled.

“You were perfectly okay with it a moment ago,” Chrysalis pursed her lips in a fake pout. “Too close to home or am I just making you,” she tapped Twilight’s horn with a forehoof and a giggle, “horny?”

“Bahahahahahhahaha!” Pinkie Pie rolled onto her back on the bed, laughing her heart out.

“I’d say your changeling is drunk on your own emotions, Twily,” Cadance offered, recovering from the perhaps misunderstood “old” remark.

Indeed Chrysalis got even more dopey with every instance Twilight blushed and had to reign in her thoughts. “I just thought it’d be nice to talk about this for once with somepony I trust, is an expert in these matters, and who isn’t in a romantic relationship with me.”

“Oh, I know,” Cadance soothed and patted the bed next to her and opposite Pinkie. Although it was a thin pop-out travel bed, the mattress was magic-grade and thus had extra softness that would not have otherwise have been possible.

Twilight moved over to the spot in an almost fidgety manner.

“I get the feeling something else is bothering you,” the Princess of Love gave Twilight a serious opening.

“That obvious?”

“Ponies don’t usually bounce around like that unless their thinking is separate from their talking.”

“I bounce all the time!” Pinkie put in as she rolled around on the bed.

“Not that kind of bouncing,” Twilight clarified.

“So?” Cadance insisted.

Twilight knew this mare well and knew she could trust her. It wasn’t as easy as she thought to talk about, though. Perhaps that had to do with the fact that the hivemind had spoiled her rotten for easily communicating and not worrying about what the other might be thinking in response. Her question wasn’t exactly typical either. There wasn’t any reason to believe Cadance would have knowledge on it beyond general advice and there were plenty of books for that.

“I kind of...want to know how I should approach my...uh...”

Cadance put a forehoof gently on Twilight’s back to comfort her. “Yes?” she encouraged.

“My lovers?” Twilight went on, bumping her forehooves together. “I mean, none of the individuals in my hive have any real sexual experience and certainly not with starting with multiple partners. Should I start with each of them all at once or one-on-one and then in what order?”

“I see,” Cadance let out an even breath. “This is about first times. You’re not sure who to be sexual with first since you want your first time to be with them all. And you’re not sure how you can do that if it is your first time.”

Twilight nodded with a “mhm.” As much as she felt comfortable with Cadance, it still felt a little embarrassing for her. But if anyone could be trusted to help then it was Cadance. Both Pinkie Pie and Chrysalis were only silent because they had been told to be in the hivemind.

“Well,” Cadance began while taking in a deep breath. She had given much love guidance in her life and, though Twilight’s situation was unique, she had indeed countered more than one polyamorous group before. “This may sound disappointingly simple, but I’ve never found it to go wrong. Talk to your lovers as individuals and as a group. See what they have to say about it. Let them speak their minds and speak yours. I get the feeling that won’t be hard with this hivemind of yours.”

“That’s actually part of the problem,” Twilight frowned. “I do know and feel everything already because of it. I think...I think I just doubt.”

“Yourself?” Cadance asked softly, leaning closer.

“Yeah,” Twilight sighed.

To that, Cadance leaned up straight again, her chest proudly out. “Then don’t. You’ve overthought it. Sometimes thinking ruins the joy of experiencing. Rather than worry about making the best first time ever, only focus on having a fun first time together. It’s your love that matters, not your ‘performance.’ Real love is not a show to be criticized. It’s a beautiful expression of life to be cherished. So stop thinking, stop worrying, and start doing.”

“Cadance.”

“Yes, Twily?”

“That was a horrible pun.”

21 - Companionship

The flight back was smoother than Twilight thought it might be. There was an initial concern after Skies made his landing. That was, figuring out how to transport them all now that an additional member had been added. The solution was quickly found when Chrysalis reminded her forgetful queen that she was, in fact, a changeling.

So there they were, flying back across Equestria. The northern ponies were in their seats, Pinkie was hooked onto the underside of the craft as she was on the flight in, Twilight was sitting in the one open seat in the pilot’s compartment, and Chrysalis was on her lap.

In the form of a small cat.

Twilight stroked her back as she watched the familiar trees and grassy plains of Equestria zip by below. Chrysalis purred with the attention but eventually bat at the pony’s hoof with her tiny black paws.

“Hey,” Twilight complained when her gaze snapped back to Catsalis. “What was that for?”

“You weren’t paying enough attention to me,” Catsalis huffed.

“Who are you? Opal?” Twilight frowned.

“Behind the ears, please,” she instructed in return.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Enjoy it. I’ll have a lot to distract me when we get to the Empire.”

“Like those other two lovers of yours?” she purred again with the renewed petting.

Now that they were in range of the hivemind signal booster, Twilight had regained connection with the others and knew their locations the same as Chrysalis. “Yes,” she answered coolly. “But I was thinking of the changelings. Queen Flux is having as much difficulty as Spike and Rarity are with organizing settlement. If there’s one thing I know I can help with then it’s organizing!”

You go girl! Pinkie cheered from below.

“Hardly needing of encouragement,” Chrysalis remarked but continued to purr with eyes closed as Twilight rubbed behind her ear. “I should do this more often,” she added with a sigh.

“Twenty minutes,” Skies reported back to the others in the compartment.

They were almost there.

“It’s a bird!”

“It’s a pegasus!”

“No! It’s a plane!” Spike declared as he joined the crystal ponies at the southern end of the Empire’s exterior ring of fields.

Thankfully it was a clear day. Snowfall had paused momentarily and the sun was at last visible, giving a breath of fresh air to the populace so often blanketed by moody skies. The snow underhoof was, of course, still thick. Clearing a spot for the strange northern craft to land would have been quite the chore if not for the fact that Spike was a fire-breathing dragon. The combination of his flame with the hard labor of some crystal pony workers cleared the snow and the resulting water away before it refroze into ice.

Pinkie Pie was, of course, the first one to come down after detaching from the vessel. She immediately tried to strangle-hug Spike. Failing to do so due to his size and scales, she moved onto Rarity, who she had greater success with.

“It is – rgh – good to – ugh – see you too – argh – Pinkie!” Rarity made a combination greeting and complaint as she was squeezed hard. “Please! You will damage my designer overcoat!”

Although it was hardly necessary, Spike helped Twilight out of the pilot’s compartment. She stepped to the exiting edge and the dragon used his larger size to easily grab her and gently bring her down. She was about to give him a thank you for the unneeded but thoughtful act but was warmly hugged before she could.

“I missed you,” he whispered before withdrawing, appreciating her return hug before he did.

“And I’ve missed you, Spike,” she replied, keeping her teary emotions in check. She knew he hadn’t referred to her leaving for Chrysalis and Sombra since that had not been a long time overall. Neither did he mean an absence over the hivemind since they were practically always present with each other over it. This was about their physical proximity – something that used to always be close when he was smaller.

“Hello to you too, Chrysalis,” Spike put his claws on his hips upon looking down.

“Meow,” the small black kitten spoke as she rubbed her side along the dragon’s rear leg. “This fur coat is exquisite in the cold. I should do this more often.”

Twilight picked up the feline with her magic and started towards the Crystal Castle. “Celestia save us,” she remarked light-heartedly.

Being a good host, Spike went to the pilot and asked if any arrangements or refreshments were needed. Meanwhile, Rarity had escaped Pinkie and gotten to her queen to discuss far more important matters while they walked.

“You must help me,” Rarity practically begged.

“I’m listening,” Twilight grew a grin. She knew what this was about.

Rarity, however, was far more serious. “It is that dreadful sister-in-law of yours,” Rarity swooned for dramatic effect. “She has infected the whole of the empire with scandalous rumors of my relationship with Spike. Now the Imperial Grand Mage Sunburst has schemed to use my feelings for Spike as a way to test the Crystal Heart! We have been cast into one absurd situation after the next to initiate more intimate activity. And worst of all, mostly in public!”

“So I’ll tell him to let you two do it in private,” Twilight shrugged as they continued walking through the more snowy streets leading up to the castle. A knowing smirk may have been hiding in one corner of her expression.

Rarity was dumbstruck. “H-how could you?! I thought you were on my side!”

“I am. You’re just nervous, that’s all.”

The white mare’s cheeks puffed out.

“I got some advice of my own when I met up with Cadance beyond the border. Turns out I was just worrying too much. It doesn’t need to be perfect. In fact, it shouldn’t be. Just go for it and you’ll look back and treasure the moment.”

“Cadance!” Rarity huffed. “I see she got to you as well!”

“Rarity,” Twilight took on a sly smile in full. “You do realize I can read your mind as much as I want to in our hivemind. I usually don’t to be polite, but...”

Rarity’s stride faltered. Her mind raced to check what might have been given away.

The alicorn laughed. “As fun as it may be to keep up this act, I think you might be teasing Spike a too much. Don’t leave him out to dry, okay?”

Finally, the unicorn facehoofed. “I forgot about the mind-reading. Spikey has been so thoughtful that he has often kept from reading my thoughts intentionally. I guess I got caught up in the mood myself. Still, I know how interested he has become in our union, so to speak.”

“And you’re not?”

“Of course I am,” Rarity sighed heavily. “Sometimes thoughts of it make my heart pound so hard I can’t get to sleep at night.”

“That doesn’t sound healthy,” Twilight commented simply.

Rarity passed her a look and then showed her the carefully concealed rings under her eyes. “It is not easy to cover up for a lack of proper beauty sleep.”

They had just entered the castle hall leading to the private chambers when Twilight stopped Rarity for a moment. She used whispered tones but refused to pull back only to hivemind talk. “I’ll make you a deal that will help both of us.”

“Oh?” Rarity leaned forward in great interest.

“Tonight,” Twilight stated firmly. “I’ll be with at least one of my lovers and you’ll be with yours – in separate rooms, of course. Consider it moral support. Deal?”

Rarity chewed her bottom lip for a second but ultimately gave a reserved squeal of decided excitement and “deal!”

Twilight was perhaps the more calm one about it but knew already that it would be just a little harder now to focus on duties before night finally came.

“We’ve got lots of space but figuring out how to use it for changeling constructs during this kind of weather has proven difficult,” Spike explained to his mother in the throne room.

“Listen to you,” Twilight giggled.

The dragon stopped for a moment. “Huh?”

“Sounding all mature and responsible.”

Spike blushed. “Hey, I thought I’ve always been that way.”

A large fire was blazing in a central tub-like object within the throne room. It served as a source of heat to the many other occupants of the chamber, since the numerous changelings not able to take rooms in the castle had to rest here. The castle protected them from the winds and snow, though many fires such as this one had to be maintained to provide warmth. Even the changelings were not immune to cold and none could maintain warmer forms long without a substantial source of food.

“I’ve been talking to the Empire’s best relationship specialists and I haven’t yet come up with a solution to the feeding issue that works for everyone. It’s not like I can just tell everypony to love each other and it’ll happen. The crystal ponies have been very hospitable, though, and agreed to taking in the changelings wholeheartedly.”

Rarity, still in her overcoat and ushanka due to their distance from the fire, interrupted with a gesture towards the chamber doorway leading from the foyer. Twilight turned around to look.

Sunburst nervously stepped into the well-lit room, his heavy cape wrapped around himself for warmth. The source of his nervousness came behind him, which he swiftly stepped aside for. Queen Flux. The female changeling was still on a stretcher, but she was much more alert upon it. The changelings that carried her in were also better known to Twilight. Cell Weaver and Horn Lock were ones she recognized by their unique armor and carapace marks.

It had been a good idea in retrospect for the alicorn queen to have hidden Chrysalis away in the upper chambers as well as smuggling her in initially past the many changeling occupants. Twilight didn’t want any confrontations with old hive members and, even now, she could sense over the hivemind the conflicted feelings coming from her own changeling. Chrysalis’ parting from the hive had not been a good one.

The changeling carriers smartly put down their own queen next to the fire, at a distance she would be comfortably warm. Other changelings made room for her and let Twilight, Spike, and Rarity approach. Distracted with other concerns, Rarity nudged Twilight and made a head gesture towards Sunburst, who remained beside Queen Flux.

Twilight, of course, made her diplomatic bow and greeting to the other queen. “I’m happy to see you arrived in good time, your highness. It seems that both of us have a debt of gratitude towards the Pony’s Union of Marescow-Stalliongrad.”

“They were very generous on the journey here,” Flux replied without raising her head again from the blanketed stretcher. Her tone lacked venom. It rang with a dead half-interest, as if she were just passing time until something of importance occurred. “I considered using them for food but it would have stranded us. The blankets and warming pads were at least useful.”

Sunburst levitated to Twilight a small cloth packet, which she took. “I analyzed one of them. These warming pads are an invention I’ve never heard of before but they seem pretty straightforward. Mineral compounds and a little chemical reaction. Almost like an incredibly toned-down version of their black powder.”

We made those all the time in winter back at the rock farm! Pinkie enthused from her current place up in the chambers with Chrysalis.

“Nifty,” Twilight remarked cheerfully and rubbed one to follow Sunburst’s visual direction. It did indeed warm up almost too hot within her hooves. “So, Queen Flux, I imagine your hive would have an easier time getting comfortable if they had proper changeling shelter that would suite their needs.”

“How perceptive,” the other queen deadpanned. Even laying as she was, it was obvious her frame was small enough so that she would not be much larger than Twilight herself. Comparing her to Chrysalis in size was laughable but, either way, Twilight thought it was only right to be laying as well so she did not look down on her.

“I believe we could accommodate such-”

“Do you think I have not already considered such an obvious idea?” Flux was making a conspicuous effort not to let her frustration turn the conversation too negative. Partly for her need to have positive relations and partly for her outright lack of energy for it. “We need material for our clod and it’s buried beneath at least five hooves of snow. Even if it were not, my changelings are too drained to transform it.”

Twilight glanced to the side, watching the flickers of flame dance and die. Their warmth was welcome and it kept her spirits up due to the memories. Long gone days of staying up into the dark night while reading tome after tome under candlelight.

“I’m no architect,” she readily admitted. “But maybe we can cut down on the needed material by creating hybrid structures against existing crystal pony ones. Spike could help burn away snow to give us access to the resources you need and-”

Queen Flux rose a brow.

The purple pony had stopped herself just in time. Chrysalis could of course provide the clod transformation for at least a couple of the more resource efficient designs but Flux wasn’t supposed to know about her yet. Perhaps there was a way around this, however. Just a tiny omission of information that may cause some misleading conclusions but still keep matters sealed for the time being.

“I can have your clod provided for you,” Twilight decided on her wording carefully. “That way your changelings only need to help to design and direct. No need for hard labor until they have their strength back. Alicorns are more resourceful than you might think,” she added with a wink.

Spike hummed in thought. “I could start a partnership program for crystal ponies to have attachments made to their homes. Living with just one or two changelings each could help build the bonds necessary to sustain them. Not to mention it would go a long way to integrating them into the empire’s existing structure. Considering the numbers, there will easily be enough willing crystal ponies.”

Twilight passed him a look that said something along the lines of “that’s my Spike.”

Flux kept a deep frown. “That would be a lot of work and I have no idea how you would produce acceptable clod. It’s not something ponies know anything about. But I suppose I should tell you to try anyways, since neither I nor my changelings have the energy for anything else.”

“With your approval, we will proceed,” Rarity added in with a firm diplomatic tone. What she really wanted to say was “you could at least be grateful.” She had been taking on a more patient attitude, however, in her role and didn’t want to make a mess for either Spike or Twilight to clean up.

Flux gave a nod before resting her head once again, her gaze returning to the fire in its entirety. The conversation had gone as far as it would, but that was sufficient.

Spike made a gesture for Twilight to follow him out of the chamber and up to his personal quarters, which also happened to be Rarity’s. The other two ponies that he beckoned to come along were Sunburst and, of course, the Element of Generosity. He only spoke once the door was closed behind them and Twilight reinforced the privacy spell over the room.

“Sorry for making you come all the way up here,” Spike spoke to Sunburst. “But it was necessary to have privacy and you are not a part of mom’s hivemind.”

Sunburst looked back and forth between Spike and Twilight. He had come to know something about the hivemind but was less aware of the familial bond between the alicorn and dragon. “I don’t understand. Is there something that Queen Flux is not supposed to know?”

“We’ll need your help to make this go smoothly and you will obviously need to know the truth,” Twilight began to explain as she walked around to sit before the large bedroom chamber’s private fireplace and the warmth it gave. “I’m hoping to keep Chrysalis’ involvement unknown until both she and I decide it is appropriate to reveal her to Queen Flux.”

“Ah,” Sunburst realized the issue in a flash. “So we need to get the materials to her and the clod away from her without the changelings finding out. They will be very curious...”

“Hence, you,” Spike grinned. “You know parts of the Empire and even the castle better than any of us.”

Sunburst let out a nervous chuckle and adjusted his glasses. “I...I, uh...I do?”

“Do not get cold hooves now, Sunburst,” Rarity pursed her lips. “You certainly were not shy with your schemes for Spikey and I.”

“Schemes?” the stallion’s eyes wandered about. “I have no idea what you’re talking about!”

Twilight rolled her eyes but did so in a cheerful mood. “Will you help us cover Chrysalis’ involvement?”

Sunburst shifted on his hooves but ultimately agreed. “Y-yes, of course I would never let down the caretakers of the Crystal Empire let alone a prin- I mean, the Queen of Equestria!”

“Excellent,” Twilight said before Spike could. She got up alongside the royal wizard and guided him out of the room as she walked with him. “We have so much to discuss. I had one or two ideas for how to disguise it but the location and transport will be crucial...”

After the door closed again behind them, Spike looked down and to his side. Rarity’s bright blue eyes looked back up at him from her clear white face. Light as the snow outside. It was moments like this that just made him want to gently grab her and cuddle. Perhaps it was the unexpectedly swift exit of the others and realization that they were in private with each other that gave Rarity that perfect mix of expressed innocence and romantic flair.

Given the few additional minutes they could get away with before needing to return to royal duties, Spike took his opening. Rarity just might have enjoyed the relaxed moment of cuddling even more than her beloved dragon.

Twilight nudged Sunburst and wiggled her brows as they walked down the large crystal halls. “Hope you’re ready to take notes on the Heart. Might get pretty rough tonight, if you know what I mean.”

The stallion blushed hard and almost tripped over his cape.

22 - The Interim

When the hivemind connection came back into being within the realm of Equestria, the members did not question the rather important new bit of information that they had previously been wondering about. All thanks to the changelings in the Empire and other matters pulling focus from what should have been a shocking moment for most. Immortality.

It wasn’t until now – two full days after Twilight’s return – that enough work on the new integration program had been started that memories unnoticed took a more frontal attention. This was allowed by Twilight herself, who had intentionally suppressed concern over it over the hivemind in order to deal with the pressing matter of the changelings. With an opening now available and her conscious not wanting to manipulate her friends and lovers, she released the information.

It happened where all important revelations occurred: the shower.

“Rarity’s immortal?!” Spike jolted under the torrent of warm water, hitting his head on the ceiling. Although the humorously large royal bathtub was sufficient for his increased size, it still did not take much for him to hit the ceiling when he stood on his hind legs.

“Immortal?!” Rarity shouted at the same time from her bedroom. She was on a rare break and working at her sewing desk on a personal project of hers: a fashionable overcoat for the future Spring transition. The machine stopped with her spoken word.

What she felt was a mixture of great joy but also apprehension. She could be with her Spikey Wikey and the others for eternity! She also wouldn’t have to worry about that terrible dying part. Neither the icky aging part, right? But then there were so many she knew and loved that weren’t immortal. Not being dense, it did occur to her that when she had not been immortal it had been the case that she would still see them pass with time.

But not Sweetie Belle. By all probability, she would have passed before her. Now she would see her precious little sister age and pass her by. It was a somber idea. Only Twilight’s voice kept her spirits up on that.

Don’t be sad, Rarity, Twilight soothed. Life is unpredictable. Things could change and there were never guarantees to begin with. Though we are immortal, we are not invincible. We will not die of internal problems, but are still vulnerable to external ones.

Yeah, don’t go flying in front of the sun with butterfly wings again, Rainbow joked with her usual chuckle.

“Haha,” Rarity deadpanned.

It seemed, though, that what Twilight had said was just as much directed towards the others. They all had family and other friends in one way or another. The dark cloud in Rarity’s otherwise sun-happy sky was the same for them all. They took it in a melancholic way except for Applejack. In spite of Twilight’s efforts, she didn’t take it as well.

Now you see here, Twilight, Applejack’s voice sounded over the hivemind from Vanhoover. I don’t recall ever givin’ my say so to make me immortal. The others may live with it just fine but I had a way of lookin’ at life and this wasn’t a part of it. Not to mention my family!

The pony queen could feel how upset the Earth pony was even without the words. She kept calm and calculating, though. I understand it’s a big shock to everypony since I didn’t tell you before that I was truly going to make it a reality, so I suggest you think it over for at least a week before making up your mind one way or the other.

But-

Applejack, Twilight insisted from her own quarters down the hallway in the Crystal Castle, I can always make a special journey back to see the Vine if need be. If your final decision is that you want to be mortal then I’m one hundred percent certain it will be easier to ask the Vine to remove your immortality rather than give it. But I need everypony to think long and hard about it. It’s not like a week or even one year of technical immortality is actually going to change your life – either for yourself or others. You have plenty of time to consider all the facts without depending on rash emotions.

The stubborn side of AJ wanted to pursue the conversation, but she held back. There wasn’t any use arguing. Her queen had an iron resolve and that carried through the hivemind. As long as they didn’t go around advertising the new facts, Twilight was right about it not affecting even her relationships. And that had only recently meant something outside friends and family.

Rara was right next to her, eating the meal they were sharing at The Crispy Croissant. Applejack wasn’t sure herself since she hadn’t poured over the idea of romance the way Rarity always seemed to. But this was something she had to figure out and immortality did her no favors here.

So she agreed to think it over. She’d put it aside for now and focus on this other pressing detail first: love.

Twilight laid back in her large plush bed. It was the only quarters left available in the Castle at the moment – reserved specifically for Twilight. Rarity knew, after all, that the mare would be coming back. Three other occupied it as well, but the bed was big enough for the small crowd.

Queen Twilight Sparkle in the center.

Fluttershy on her right.

Rainbow Dash on her left.

Catsalis on her lap.

“Meow,” the small black kitty said.

“You’re enjoying that too much,” Twilight giggled.

The cat gave her a smirk in reply.

“Sooo,” Rainbow purred almost like the shape-shifted changeling. “Don’t mean to be pushy, but it is getting late.”

Fluttershy just fidgeted with a blush.

“I was thinking I’d go check a few things one last time downstairs before settling in for the night,” Twilight remarked, looking to the door and considering her interests. With a deep breath, she chose two and teleported to the door, causing Rainbow to fall onto the bed where she had been leaning on Twilight. “Be right back.”

She kept where she was going only from Spike and Rarity’s knowledge. She didn’t want some dramatic outcry from Rarity over this or at the very least some manner of distraction from the deal she had struck. She was curious, though, and thus shared the magician’s interest in the Crystal Heart’s evolution.

The first of the two individuals she went to see involved the more regular duties. She checked in with Cell Weaver, who was reporting on the progress the changelings were making with the new contructions. The first few loads of materials they had been supplied had been put to good use already – even though it was the crystal ponies doing most of the labor. Coincidentally, the extra coordination helped create trust and friendship between them.

The second and more interesting visit came next at the center foundation of the castle. There was Sunburst at a simple desk that he had moved there along with a variety of tools and monitoring equipment. The Heart was spinning and glowing with a vibrant pink. A heavy thrum could be heard from it as well, the vibrations causing a ripple-like effect on the shallow pool of melted snow directly beneath it.

This was largely how it had appeared in Spike’s and Rarity’s memories earlier. Sunburst, however, was quite ready. A set of open scrolls on the desk, two quills, and inkpots as well. Even a scientific chronometer to accurately record the timing of events.

“Are we still expecting anything tonight?” he asked her before she could. He came around his desk again and peered as close as he dared to the Heart.

“I guess we’ll find out,” Twilight shrugged upon walking up to him. “If you are ready then I’ll head back up and get settled in.”

“Oh, I’m ready!” the imperial magician assured. “I’ve been pouring over this for weeks and studying the Heart in a more general sense for much longer. If the Crystal Heart continues to progress along the evolutionary predictions then it will all be observed and properly documented.”

“Thank you for giving me a break from it,” Twilight joked only halfway. “As interesting as I also find it, simple rest is more alluring to me right now.”

“I’ve got this, your highness,” he encouraged her with a confident smile.

With her final checks complete, Twilight headed back into the castle interior. Although it was warmer there, she knew her personal quarters would soon get even warmer. Hopefully nothing too crazy would happen. She hoped as much particularly for Spike. Another growth spree on his part would do no favors to the castle architecture. On the other hoof, she knew how much control he had now and did not worry for it.

Tonight would be perfect.

Well, as perfect as any reasonable night could be, she revised her outlook. Enjoyable. Yes, that was the better term.

Rarity fidgeted with her mane in the vanity mirror. The style was fine. Her usual but perhaps with just a tad more curl. It was more a distraction than any legitimate attempt to fix anything. She had mixed feelings about what would happen tonight. Not mixed regarding her love for Spike but rather mixed for whether she was excited or anxious that everything would be alright.

Spike would be back in a moment from the shower and, though they shared a close connection through the hivemind, Rarity felt that there were things she still needed to say. As if the spoken word would give her closure where direct understanding failed to achieve it. Or perhaps she just wanted to hear him tell her everything was okay.

“Rarity!” Spike called out almost in a sing-song voice. He stepped out of the bed chamber’s private bathroom with scales shining. Standing on his two rear legs left perhaps no more than three or four hooves distance between his top head spine and the ceiling – a towering size in spite of his proportions remaining only around twice that of the average pony. “Wow,” he added in a breath when his love turned to face him.

“Spikey, you look marvelous, darling,” Rarity answered with a flattering wave of her hoof.

“And you’re beautiful,” he gained a dopey grin.

Although the mare had chosen a mostly standard appearance upon Spike’s preferences, she did desire a form of attire to help mark the special occasion. Where she normally would have forgone clothing or be draped in her thick winter attire for public outings, this was nothing of the sort. Here in the warm confines of their royal bedchambers – heated by the welcoming fireplace still crackling in a merry rhythm – she could indulge in some impractical but entirely alluring outfits.

Rarity walked towards her dragon in a black nightgown that was only part opaque and could have correctly qualified as negligee. The flowing section past her forward legs was mostly transparent and gave apt visibility to the matching style of undergarments beneath. Such clothing was quite niche in the world of pony fashion but Rarity would be hard pressed to discover even the most obscure corner of apparel she was not already aware of.

It certainly worked on Spike, who went to rest on the bed and beckoned his mare to join him. However, he kept his claws to himself, sensing Rarity’s desire for conversation beforehoof. In actuality, he knew what she was concerned over and had little more to input besides his already given support and agreement. So he let her speak and waited only for the moment to say the words she wanted to hear.

“Spikey,” Rarity began, climbing onto the bed carefully so as to avoid getting her gown tangled. She laid beside him and looked him in the eyes. “I know we already understand each other completely. That is no small reason for the strength of our love and its very existence. But I must speak my heart or I will not be able to feel at peace.”

The dragon nodded.

“I have not minded at all that our love was that of a unicorn and dragon. There are many in Equestria who are supportive of such loves, though they may involve donkeys or griffons instead. But I do have feelings over the matter that I simply must voice. I am in love with you because of who you are, not what you are. The kind and selfless individual that you are attracts me in a way that no riches ever could. If there were anything good from it then the trouble at our first Grand Galloping Gala clarified for me that who I desired was a companion of great character and not position.”

Spike continued listening patiently, withholding remark that they had happened into high positions over time anyways. That was obviously not the point Rarity was conveying, though.

“If you were a stallion, I would love you still, Spike. Even if you were a griffon, because I know you would still be yourself. And yet I do feel guilty. The fact that we are different is something that I enjoy. Especially with us being intimate with each other. I feel guilty because I enjoy the thought of our differences in a sexual manner. You are your own...how should I say this...your own person. You are not a mere animal and yet to think of our union as that of a pony and an animal is a guilty pleasure of mine…”

Spike saw his opening and finally spoke up calm and soothingly. “I know, Rarity. I understand why you do. Both of us have thoughts and ideas that arouse us. But that doesn’t mean we think less of each other for it. We’re honest with each other and we respect and accept each other for who we are. You know I would never feel hurt because you had some fantasy about me. In fact, I’m flattered.”

Rarity let out her anxiety with a long deep breath. After it, she gave her appreciation. “Thank you for saying that, Spikey. Truly. It was all I needed to hear even if I already felt it in my heart and understood it in our mind.”

“Then you also know it turns me on,” he wiggled his brows playfully.

Rarity gave a blurt at that and gently smacked his arm in an equally playful fashion. “Oh you!”

He shrugged in return. “I have some fantasies of my own, but we don’t have to get all crazy tonight. I just want you to be comfortable and relaxed.”

“Such the gentledrake,” Rarity swooned. “But I had been intending to give the night to your discretion.”

“So generous,” he gained a confident grin as he traced a claw across her cheek.

“Am I the generous one?” she countered with a growing smile of her own. Her hoof touched the fire ruby in the necklace currently around her neck. It was the one he had given her those years ago.

He eyed it with her fondly but then lifted her chin and sealed her lips with his. It was as amazing as the times before. This time, however, he ventured deeper. His tongue met hers, the previous practice causing them to relax rather than tense up for it.

The bedroom did indeed get warmer, though not for the fire. The dragon was both eager and patient, embracing his mare fully from his new position above her even as the calming kiss continued.

“Thanks for understanding,” Twilight repeated to both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy nodded happily while Rainbow crawled over Chrysalis on the bed.

“That doesn’t mean I’m not going to get involved,” Rainbow wiggled her brows at the changeling, who rolled her eyes.

“I’m not competing with you,” Chrysalis had her gaze on her queen instead.

“Why not?” the blue pegasus turned disappointed.

“I don’t need to,” the changeling quickly returned her gaze with the light of an idea. She morphed into a new form even while under Rainbow’s hooves. The result was a mirror effect.

“Hey!” Rainbow chuckled. “This is awesome! I always wanted to do myself!”

Twilight facehoofed.

Chrysalis, now in Rainbow’s form, spoke with the mare’s voice as well. “Well, duh. I am awesome after all!”

“Flawless,” Fluttershy praised on the copying in a merry spirit.

A green flash burned across the Rainbow copy to reveal another Fluttershy instead. “Oh, um...yay~”

The demure tone of voice was just as well crafted. The real Fluttershy giggled at the show.

Rainbow was less amused, wanting something more interesting. “Can you do Spitfire?”

“I’m more interested in what Twily wants,” Chrysalishy looked half-lidded to her queen.

“I already told you,” Twilight tutted, “tonight I’m interested in you as you.”

“Oh,” Chrysalishy pretended to pout as she pulled herself over to the purple pony. “I was hoping for something more exotic. Perhaps still tall?”

Another flash and a large white form was now leaning against the alicorn queen. A large white alicorn form with the voice to match.

“I think you’ll enjoy it,” Chrysalestia purred in the tone of the elder monarch.

Twilight blushed fiercely but shook her head adamantly. “No...” she refused in a weak manner.

“Oh,” Chrysalestia smirked before flashing in green flame once more. This time she was pink, but still an alicorn. “Perhaps a tad more kinky?”

Twilight was speechless now in the face of Cadalis.

“Oh my,” Fluttershy put her forehooves to her mouth with a blush equaling Twilight’s.

“Come on, Twily,” Cadalis rubbed her pink nose on Twilight’s purple one. “Sunshine, sunshine...”

Twilight finally pushed the shape-shifter back. “S-stop, Chrysalis. I d-don’t need to be any more embarrassed than I already a-am!”

Rainbow snickered.

“Why?” Chrysalis gave a shrug after dropping her transformation. “You did decide to share over our hivemind. I can’t help it if you have a treasure trove of naughty fantasies.”

Even Fluttershy couldn’t help grinning at that.

Twilight groaned. “Fine! But don’t tease me tonight, okay? Let’s just make this pleasant.”

“I’ll make it more than pleasant,” Chrysalis sang as she crawled over Twilight and brought her muzzle to the alicorn’s. “More than pleasant.”

Their lips met and erased all but a faint blush from the queen’s face.

Rainbow Dash gave Fluttershy a knowing look from across the bed. When the yellow one failed to move after Rainbow climbed over beside Twilight, she decided to pull her over anyways. The Element of Loyalty hated waiting, but thankfully the opportunities for enjoyment were plenty.

23 - Promise

Applejack leaned her hat over her face. She was sitting in Vanhoover’s central park. There was a light snow all around her, drifting through the air and dusting the faded browns and oranges of what leaves remained on the trees. It was cold, but she was warm enough with the denim jacket she wore along with the scarf around her neck. The scarf wasn’t the same one she had worn coming here though. This one was a black and dark blue cloth that Rara had given her.

The Earth pony was thinking. Maybe passing ponies thought she was asleep on the park hill. Maybe Rara had given her enough time to actually do so – what with her being wrapped up with show practice until their meeting here. Twenty minutes to go. The pony selling hot buns and apple fritters across the park had promised her a fresh set when her company showed up.

Too much to think about. Immortality? Pffft. Not something she needed to contemplate when she still had her own feelings to sort out over her fillyhood friend. Did she like mares? For that matter, did she like stallions? Love had never been on her top stack of priorities. She certainly had never dated before. She hadn’t planned on getting into it but she hadn’t planned to not get into it either. Love like this just sat over there in the dusty corner, hidden behind rows of apple trees needing to get bucked.

“Rara...” she breathed out, her warm breath a tiny fog in the park air. It dissipated. She wished her conflicted feelings did the same. “Consarnit,” she added.

Applejack liked being a mare who knew what she wanted and just gosh darn did it.

So far the only thing she was one hundred percent down on was that there was no way in Tartarus she would stoop to asking Rarity for advice on this. Not because there was some feud between them but rather because she already knew what advice it would be. Stupid hivemind. The farmpony knew that going all the way with Rara or not at all was the only style she would accept. AJ was not, after all, known for being half-baked.

She lifted her stetson hat again. Laying on her back gave her a good view of the winter-ready trees that reached their branches around the edges of her skyward view. Time to say goodbye to the pony she had been. The pony who had never known a love. At least this kind of love, that is.

“Guess it’s easy to never change when your whole world is just one farm,” she whispered out to the cold sprinkle of snowflakes falling down towards her vision. “Rara likes me for who I already am, though. So why do I feel...afraid?”

Twilight skipped down the street in her winter garb. If the rest of Equestria was only entering winter then the Crystal Empire was dead in the middle of it. Or so it seemed. Biomes were interesting in that way. Seasons were relative to them all.

“Your majesty,” a crystal pony greeted her in passing with a bow.

“Good morning,” Twilight cheerfully responded. More would do the same as he did, as others had done so before. Formalities had little effect on her mood, however. She was still beaming from the previous night. It had been good rest too. Perhaps she and the others had slept in a tad since it was now late morning, but it seemed to take forever for the sun to come out anyways. She giggled at her internal joke.

The sunrise. That had been an interesting chore. So much so that it had become the topic upon her meeting, sitting down with, and eating an early lunch with the Union ambassador. For that was what she was now engaged in. The restaurant, Crystal Delights, was an impressive combination of clear crystal décor and ravishingly good food. The conversation, unfortunately, distracted from it. The pleasantness of it made up for that, though.

“So then you have reviewed the official cooperation proposal documents we have provided?” Ambassador Friendly asked for clarification.

After swallowing her bite of pancake and enjoying the sweet taste of breakfast-for-lunch, Twilight affirmed. “Everything is in order and there’s nothing I object to or that wasn’t intended in our earlier discussions. I have to say, I really appreciate how succinct the proposal was. I was able to read through it quickly. A similar proposal from the Equestrian court would have easily been four times as long.”

The mare grinned. “Thank Stalliongrad for that. They pushed in to be the leaders on this. And if there is one thing they hate then it is bureaucracy.”

“Of course, the legal framework is quite different,” Twilight remarked while eying her pancakes. “Modern Equestrian framework has become more focused on technical liability and strict wording, which is partly what makes it so long-winded. Yours is more...”

“Held to account on the basis of intent,” Friendly nodded. “I understand. I too have read the documents you provided in return and, anyways, I am familiar with Equestrian legality. It is not how we do things. Our citizens are never allowed to manipulate words and weasel out on technical meanings and most would not try to begin with. To be blunt, I would not have trusted any Equestrian proposal without your personal involvement and assurance. Without it, any ‘agreement’ from this land is not worth the paper it is written upon.”

To some high-nosed Canterlot noble, that would have been an unforgivable insult. Twilight, however, lacked a history of pointing her nose too high. Besides that, she actually agreed and Friendly likely knew that and thus was willing to say it in front of her. Twilight’s always growing knowledge of the court’s history and, in particular, the recent attempted coup were no small reminder of the betrayals of the previous law makers.

Twilight ate another bite of pancake before continuing. “I take it that there were others besides yourself that were willing to have a deal with my word to back it up?”

“How perceptive,” Friendly praised. “Of course, that is true. My own opinion only goes so far. Actually, the councils of Marescow and Stalliongrad had been discussing a trial run project with Equestria for some time. Thanks to the unofficial cooperation on our borders through your Captain of the Guard. Word of your actions in Las Pegasus encouraged them to step it up.”

“Las Pegasus?” Twilight said without quite finishing her next bite. It may have been slightly “bad mannered” but she was genuinely surprised. “How so?”

The pale red mare opened up the front of her sweater. Her coat was already off since they entered the restaurant but even her sweater was apparently getting too warm for her. Obviously the temperature of the Crystal Empire – as low as it was – had little against the freeze of the upper north.

“It was the first time since the founding of Equestria that the police force of the elites had ever been questioned. It showed your interest in the well-being of the commoners was more than talk. It also showed you have a spine.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Twilight smoothly replied after properly swallowing this time. “On that note, I have to admit I’ve become rather curious at the...umm...inadequacies of past relations. It seems to me to be quite obvious that-”

“Excuse me,” the waitress pony interrupted gently upon walking up to the table. She looked as timid as when she had taken their orders. A local mare not used to the company of alicorns or northern tribes. “I c-can go ahead and refill those glasses for you...”

“Oh, thank you very much!” Twilight happily responded with a reassuring smile.

“You are very kind,” Friendly added as well upon her glass being refilled by the pitcher held aloft by the waitress’ magic.

Once the waitress moved on, so did Twilight. “There are bound to be differences of perspective between nations or groups of people. Any Equestrian ambassador should be aware of this and knowledgeable about bridging those differences. I hate to use the word ‘inept’ because, given the records from the foreign relations office in Canterlot, I can’t seriously believe that botched relations with the northern tribes as well as the griffons was anything but intentional.”

“This is something I have come to respect in you.”

“Huh?” Twilight turned puzzled at her remark.

The mare leaned back in her seat, a comfortable ease in her posture. “You do not do not jump to assumptions or invent lies to inflate the ego of either Equestria or yourself. You seek truth, question those within your own borders, and hold them accountable when necessary. In Las Pegasus, they now call you a hero. With the new relations you are forming between our people and the integration of the changelings here in the Empire, I anticipate the entire world will begin looking to you for leadership and hope.”

Twilight was stuck between embarrassment and shock.

“I am not exaggerating,” Friendly defended herself with a carefree giggle. “The Marescow council held a summit only two weeks ago with nineteen of the world’s national bodies. I talked to many leaders there and they were very happy with the lack of Equestrian presence. Oh no,” she quickly backtracked. “I meant they were happy because they were aware of changes you had been making on Equestria’s foreign agenda. They anticipate significantly improved relations at the next summit.”

“Improved in any specific manner?” Twilight thought aloud.

“Trade, travel, cultural exchange, and border claims,” Friendly detailed. “The last of which is only on the southern border of Equestria, of course. Natural barriers prevented historical expansionism on other fronts. Something of the same could be said of Marescow, I suppose. Though there has been a lack of interest in expansionism with my people for many centuries.”

“Since the banishment of Nightmare Moon at least,” Twilight nodded. Then she looked to answer the curious look on the ambassador’s face. “For a variety of reasons from geographical constraints and logistics to culture. I’ve read several books on the subject.”

Friendly giggled again. “It would seem so.”

Queen Twilight Sparkle finished the small remainder of her pancakes and was ready to begin a new thread of conversation on exchanges of technology when a crystal pony ran straight over to their table from the outside. “Queen Twilight! Sunburst sent me to tell you the Crystal Heart is changing!”

The alicorn’s mood dropped from general merriment to seriousness in a flash. “Please excuse me, Friendly. We will have to talk more later.”

The Union ambassador gave a courteous nod and signaled the waitress. “To your duty.”

The purple and green dragon towered over the wizard while on his hind legs. He hadn’t grown from yesterday but his mood was certainly as concerned as Twilight when she approached. “More information would be appreciated,” he said in a tense tone of voice.

“What’s going on?” Queen Twilight Sparkle called out as she ran up to the underbelly of the Crystal Castle. After coming around the enormous banks of snow, she could see Spike, Sunburst, and a few other crystal ponies around the Crystal Heart. It was pulsing slow and almost too bright to even look at. Spots were within the glare, as if parts of the Heart no longer shined. Holes.

Even stranger were thick vines that now stemmed from the heart, twisting down to the ground and stretching out across the melty snow towards the castle legs. The vines glowed as well and shimmered with the same crystal material.

“Twilight,” Sunburst greeted and beckoned her closer. “The Heart is entering another stage. I’m certain my predictions were accurate! The love of ponies and changelings – at the very least of the friendly kind – has given power to the Heart that it is now growing with and reflecting backwards. The love of dragons and ponies helped tip the evolutionary state!”

“Where’s Rarity?” Twilight then thought to ask upon looking around. She could have pried open that part of the hivemind to find out but had kept it closed since last night on account of Spike and Rarity’s privacy.

Spike’s face went from stock still to slow blush to a hesitant “heh heh.” It told Twilight all she needed.

“Nevermind,” the purple pony disregarded her inquiry. “We just need to make sure the changeling and crystal pony integration groups are okay.”

“Already sent medical assistants,” Spike responded, folding his arms. “They’ll get full medical teams to any locations needing them. So far nothing.”

“Which is good,” Sunburst declared. “Integration has started having beneficial effects,” he pushed up his glasses with the remark. “But the changelings are badly malnourished. If my suspicions are correct, the Heart’s evolution will be able to heal that.”

“Since the changelings feed off of love,” Twilight finished for him, her eyes back on the hole-ridden heart. It looked worse, not better. And yet the color was more brilliant than ever. “For once I rush to good news,” she commented with a grin aimed at Spike.

The dragon shrugged but smiled. “I guess not everything in life has to be a total disaster after all.”

“Really now,” Sunburst gave an “ahem” towards the Empire’s hero. “It’s not like that wasn’t apparent before this morning. The Heart glowed so bright last night that I was seeing afterimages until ten minutes ago.”

Both Spike and Twilight looked away with blushes on their faces.

“In any case,” Sunburst shook his head. “The Heart is progressing smoothly. We should be able to celebrate tonight if all the groups check out. And by ‘we’ I mean me. You two have celebrated enough as it is.”

“Hey, I-!” Spike began to protest.

“If this is all I was called over for then I’ll just get to helping the medical aids...” Twilight rolled her eyes but laughed as well.

“Wait!” Sunburst stopped the queen before she could leave. “I wanted to give you this as well. She set up a magic deposit with me before leaving.”

“A letter?” Twilight tilted her head in curiosity as his magic passed it to her. It was pink with a frilly design. The front was stamped with hearts and a foal-grade drawing of a purple pony with a yellow, blue, and black one. “Cadance,” Twilight deadpanned. “It better not be what I think it is...”

“A ‘friendly’ letter of lewd jabs and gratuitous innuendos?” Spike deadpanned with her. “I got one too. And yes, it is.”

Apparently Cadance was either bored or having way too much fun on her return trip with Shining Armor.

“You know what would have made that even more awesome?” Rainbow Dash asked Fluttershy from the bed. Her yellow-feathered lover was across the room, testing out a new outfit on herself that Rarity had given her for the cold weather. The deep earthy tones of the fur-like overcoat fabric did justice to her love of nature and yet it gave her a bold presence like some lord of ancient times.

“Yes, Dashie?” Fluttershy prompted, looking herself in the mirror. She liked the look of it just fine but actually enjoyed the warmth the most. It might have been a bit too warm at present due to the crackling fireplace of the large bedroom, but the overcoat felt like the warmth of a heated bunny burrow within a grassy hill. She would know, since a few of her bunny friends had them. Except Angel, who just used her cottage.

“Nothing,” the blue pegasus chuckled.

Fluttershy giggled back but after a moment an idea popped into her head, giving her a sly grin and half-lidded eyes. She turned back to the other pegasus. “I don’t know, Dashie,” she took a step towards the bed. “For a talented athlete such as yourself, I was surprised you tired out so quickly.”

Rainbow’s mouth hung open a moment before she made to comment. “Look who got a confidence boost,” she folded her forehooves and frowned.

Might be an effect of the hivemind, Twilight commented from afar.

“Actually, I wish I had gotten to see you and Chrysy get closer,” Fluttershy continued and perched on the end of the bed. “I agree with Twilight. There’s a lot of sexual tension between you two.”

Rainbow’s mouth hung open again and was punctuated by a few speechless squeaking noises from her.

“I agree as well,” the pillow behind Rainbow said.

The blue pegasus lurched forward and tumbled across the bed in surprise. “Chrysalis!” she shouted. “Stop turning into non-living objects!”

“Aww. Why not?” the changeling pouted in humor after shifting back into her large normal form on the bed. She was sprawled out lazily – a country mile from what Rarity would consider decent.

“I don’t want to take a shower only to find out later that you were the bar of soap,” Rainbow rolled her eyes.

Fluttershy thought about that for a second and blushed.

“Oh, ho ho ho,” Chrysalis chuckled merrily. “Are you the kind of pony that skips the wash cloth and rubs the bar directly on your body? Even...down there?”

Having already known the answer, the question was merely rhetorical. Silence and a red face.

“Thanks for giving me an idea,” Chrysalis purred. “While we’re at it, do you have any toys I can impersona-”

BAM!

Chrysalis was smacked in the face with a pillow.

BAM!

Another.

Fluttershy vacated the battlezone.

“Go on!” Rainbow warned. “Turn back into a pillow so I can throw you!”

“I think I’ll go check on Rarity. Have fun, you two,” Fluttershy giggled on her way out of the room.

Chrysalis gave her a hooves up to show her approval. Then she returned her attention to the huffing blue mare. “Come now, Dashie. Just relax. I can fulfill any wish you want. No matter how kink-”

BAM!

The changeling took a deep breath and then mustered up a renewed smirk. “Twilight Sparkle.”

Rainbow grabbed one of the pillows she had previously thrown to reuse it.

“As a stallion.”

The pillow dropped from her hooves. Her miffed expression softened back to embarrassment.

Chrysalis instantly flashed into a new form via the green flame of her changeling magic. She had become a purple alicorn stallion with princely locks matching Twilight’s colors. He was sprawled across the bed as Chrysalis had been and yet, this time, his position was nothing less than suggestive to Rainbow.

The Element of Loyalty gulped, her resolve to destroy the redeemed villain now a crumbling mess. “Has to be Twi, though,” she squeaked out after a long minute.

“Very well,” the stallion sighed. Before transforming again, he crawled over to Rainbow and breathed in her ear. His gentle voice just as the mare had imagined it might be. Hardly shocking since that imagining had smoothly been drawn upon through their shared mind. “I will enjoy playing with you in the future then...my naughty mare.”

Rainbow Dash experienced her first fainting not related to daring acrobatic stunts.

24 - Star and Flame

Fluttershy stepped into the warm and cozy bedroom. It wasn’t the one she shared with Twilight. This was Rarity’s...and Spike’s. Some special arrangements and furniture moving had allowed them to sleep together. With Chrysalis on-site, the sleep ring transmitter had been installed in a proper fashion, as opposed to the rig Spike had made so they could make use of the four-poster bed at night.

After Rarity had beckoned her yellow friend onto the bed with her, that was one of the first topics they talked over.

“You prefer this bed?” Fluttershy continued in curiosity.

“Prefer is not the proper word, darling,” Rarity said frm half beneath the sheets. She laid there comfortably and apparently warm enough that she didn’t feel the need to bundle up beneath the covers. “I happen to enjoy the romantic flair it provides us.”

The pegasus giggled.

Using the hivemind to get the hint, Rarity shrugged. “I can not help it if we both find it appealing. Though, I might ask Chrysalis to make something special for us. She is simply divine with her designs – so far as comfort is concerned. My own designer’s eye may provide the bridge we need. Ah.”

“Are you okay, Rarity?” Fluttershy asked, noticing the squeak the mare made upon shifting on the bed.

Rarity groaned, pushing the covers further off herself. “Just between the two of us, I am unable to decide if I should have taken matters easier last night.”

Fluttershy stroked the smooth and clean sheets under her forehoof. “Just by looking, I couldn’t tell.”

“Oh, I had to have the maids take care of the bed this morning, darling. I might have done it myself, but...well...I am in no state. I do not mind getting a little dirty, mind you. But it was – how should I say it? - rather much.”

“I like your...outfit,” Fluttershy had a hard time finding the right word. She blushed when she said it in spite of the fact that Rarity seemed to hold no shyness of her own over it.

Rarity paused a moment at that, looking down at the fresh negligee she had put on after awaking earlier in the morning. The black lacey design was similar to what she had worn prior. She smiled sweetly. “Why, thank you, Fluttershy. I had been meaning to ask if there were any such outfits you might be interested in.”

“Always generous,” Fluttershy grinned, bopping her friend gently on the nose.

“Perhaps we shall speak of it later, though,” the white unicorn had a second thought. “I have been dying to know how your night went!”

The blush came back to Shy without delay. “Twilight said it was okay to tell you, so...I’m...well, I’m glad we’ve kept our privacy in the hivemind but...”

Seeing the mare fidget gave Rarity all the information she needed. “If it is too much then I completely underst-”

“I’m sorry,” Fluttershy giggled nervously this time. “I just don’t know where to start. It was the four of us, after all. A lot happened.”

“If it makes you feel better, I can tell you about mine first, dear Fluttershy,” Rarity soothed while reaching out a hoof to stroke the other mare’s mane.

“Oh my,” was her response.

And yet she nodded.

Twilight read over the copied notes Sunburst had given her. The development of the Crystal Heart had been relatively quick and without apparent danger for the time being. One more evolutionary stage would be required to bring it to Sombra’s prophetic dream. Sombra…

If only he had not gone insane with the desire for power, Twilight thought to herself, only one other mind focusing on hers in their shared mental space. He might have been very helpful right now.

“The Heart?” Chrysalis prompted. She chose to speak aloud since it was only the two of them in the bedroom for the time being. She purred in Twilight’s lap in her cat form while the mare continued pouring over notes at the bedroom’s large desk.

“The Heart is less worrying to me,” she admitted before closing the notebook with a deep breath. She leaned back and petted the changeling cat. “It’s the rest of Equestria. The Cloudsdale refugees have mostly been dispersed from Canterlot to either stay with family or in one of the construction camps the court ordered for creation of Pegasopolis. But that’s just it-”

“I was the only leader of my hive,” Chrysalis reminded, looking up to her queen. “There were no courts or councils. No opposition to appease. If there was any, I simply crushed it. I have no advice you’d find useful, my queen. I apologize for my uselessness.”

Twilight shook her head with little energy in the act. With her magic, she levitated her changeling over to the bed, which she migrated to as well. It was getting late once again and she’d need to lower the sun soon. The light was getting moody through the open curtains of the room – amber hues drifting across the Empire, clearly visible from the room’s high position in the Crystal Castle.

Though still on the bed, Twilight gazed out the window to the South. Towards Equestria and the cities and villages therein. “Changelings have their own chemistry. Their own way of life. So do ponies. There’s no solution...no action that I can take that will avoid what I know will happen.”

Feeling her queen’s heavy heart, Chrysalis let her continue. She knew Twilight would feel better if only the words were voiced and nothing else changed. The pleasantries of the previous nights had been by Chrysalis’ encouragement, but she knew it was only for the moment. Nothing could relieve Twilight of the burden she now bore as the ruler of Equestria. “What is it?”

“I feel like talking about it is a waste of time-”

“And you know I think it will make you feel better,” Chrysalis countered, flashing back into her regular form. She leaned down to nuzzle the smaller alicorn. “If not for yourself then do it for me...Twily.”

Twilight hesitated but ultimately gave in. “I have to sign for the creation of a new pegasus-oriented city,” she gestured with her head towards the desk they had left. “With a ground foundation like Las Pegasus since there is too much resistance right now to rebuilding an airborn city. It will take an enormous amount of resources but there is no way around it. We’ve managed to prevent Canterlot from collapsing by spreading out the refugees to other cities but it’s not a permanent solution. A city was destroyed. A big one. We can’t just make a new one overnight and we can’t avoid making one either.”

Chrysalis went along. “And the blame?”

“With Sombra dead according to the official story, the blame has shifted to those behind the coup. The court’s first formal investigation just concluded. The summary letter is over there along with the signature documents. It’s not good. Ponies were involved in the cloud poison conspiracy. Sombra didn’t act alone. Of course he didn’t. The pegasi are more proactive in security than most – especially Cloudsdale’s support layers and stabilizer factories.”

“So there were traitors in Cloudsdale,” Chrysalis tried to downplay it. She knew it was a lost cause but wanted to at least attempt to help.

“The investigators got names. Connections. Ponies that backed the Twenty Hours Coup are being rounded up – ponies that weren’t on the street and already locked up. Financial backers and strategists. Half of Canterlot’s upper districts are on the list! Each conspirator on the list that gets brought in only reveals a half dozen illegal rackets they were involved in besides the coup.”

Seeing Twilight begin to get worked up made Chrysalis consider what things might help her calm down and relax. Music? Desserts?

“It’s all conspiracy and corruption that has been centuries in the making. The court in Canterlot has already been purged of any strong oppositional parties due to the their involvement in the armed coup. The lower courts throughout other cities are getting weeded out as the investigations reveal the connections. By the time this is over, there may be no more legal political opposition in existence within the Equestrian courts. How long until the new court is labeled a false front and I’m called a dictator?!”

Chrysalis was already speaking to the maids to run a hot bath and bring cupcakes. Twilight didn’t even notice, her eyes wide as she panicked towards the window.

“And even when I’m relinquishing control from Celestia’s historical matriarchal levels to local councils! What do I do?! I can’t let the Elites off the hook after what they’ve done. What they still want to do! Golden Gavel wants all pegasi to be sterilized to prevent ‘unnecessary breeding’ and for Earth ponies to be used as free labor with no citizen rights. And he was a judge in the Manehattan upper court for Celestia’s sake!”

“You’ll do the best you can,” Chrysalis offered in once more and put a forehoof around her queen to help bring her breathing back under control. “So Celestia gave you a ticking time bomb of a nation before skipping town to go on permanent vacation with her sister and that freak. No big deal! Worst case scenario, you have to live here the rest of your life for political asylum while the world of ponies falls into unstoppable turmoil and bloodshed.”

Hey, Spike added in over the hivemind, We’ve got several bakeries, a crystal hat shop, and used patio furniture sales every weekend. The Empire rules!

I know right?! Pinkie agreed with immense joy.

“And me,” Chrysalis smiled big at her queen. “Don’t forget me.”

Twilight failed to find the cup half full.

“CELESTIA, WE’RE DOOMED!!!”

Twilight needed to vent every now and then. Chrysalis had already learned and understood that about her lover and queen. The purple alicorn was, however, returning to a calmer state along with her hoof-in-hoof-out gestures that her pink alicorn sister-in-law had taught her. It was an amusing routine to watch while laying back upon the comfy bed. Twilight was getting better but also gravitating towards the desk she had left.

KNOCK KNOCK!

Chrysalis instantly transformed into her cat form again.

A messenger pony soon burst through the door before waiting for her knock to be answered. Twilight’s prior concerns were forgotten when she saw who it was. A certain crystal pony dressed in golden trim and bearing the royal crest on the lapel of her uniform that gave her the authority to transport even the most secret documents and those pertaining to the very life or death of her people.

“Mercury?” Twilight asked, concerned at the pony’s appearance and look of distress.

“Urgent, your highness!” Mercury bowed before passing an enclosed folder to Twilight. “I will await your word in the event you wish to send a reply.”

Twilight nodded grimly while scanning the text upon the black envelope.

URGENT: Twenty Hours Coup Investigation. Captain of the Royal Guard, Storm Sword. Baltimare Garrison, Equestrian Royal Guard.

The date was marked today. The investigation papers she had on her desk behind her were two days past. That resulted in a quick conclusion. Something had just been found out in the trials that was so serious it could not wait to arrive with the next batch of papers. And if the Captain of the Guard was personally sending her an urgent message then it was likely to be an immediate physical threat. She wasted no time in opening it.

Twilight broke Storm Sword’s cloud and sword seal on the envelope. Inside was only a single page with a short and to the point letter signed by Storm.

I strongly request your presence in Baltimare as soon as possible, Twilight. I have narrowly defused an attack against the public within the city. It was revealed in advance by testimony at court, but it was almost too late. We have been apprehending many of the core ranks of the Elite party membership responsible for the coup. However, splinter groups have begun lashing out in protest and the violence is likely to escalate – especially in your absence. They somehow have acquired advanced offensive magic spells and heavy armaments.

We can discuss the matter more in detail when you arrive.

Also, some additional traitors were revealed within the ranks who did not reveal themselves in the coup. They have been detained, pending trial. Two cases in the Fillydelphia garrison resulted in some injuries to our guards but there have been no casualties thus far.

Oh no, Pinkie wilted, her focus turning from her baking in the castle kitchen.

“Well,” Twilight groaned. “That’s that. Back to Equestria.”

We’ll be there in ten sec-

No, Dashie, Twilight denied. I want us to be cool-headed and discreet. We’ll take regular transport. Spike and Rarity, I’d like to continue watching over the progress of the Heart and the changelings as well as keep the Empire’s superior position for negotiations with the northern tribes. I intend to be back as soon as I can if events allow it. Chrysy will come with us, so no need to worry. She finished creating all the building clod that was needed so there won’t be any problems once we smuggle her out.

Catsalis meowed out loud in happiness.

Mercury looked over quizzically at the black cat but didn’t give her a second thought.

“Mercury, thank you for delivering this. I will reply with my own presence in Baltimare. I’ll have Spike give you something special as a reward. Please request anything you wish. You are excused.”

The mare’s eyes sparkled but she kept a collected response. Normally, she would have denied any such reward and claim she was only doing her duty, but the chance to ask something of Spike was a special opportunity. “Thank you, your highness,” she said promptly before bowing and exiting.

Chrysalis returned to her regular form after the door closed. “You want me to use my new power?”

“Our priority is the safety of the ponies in Baltimare. Not a show of unnecessary force. Use only what is necessary. No more,” Twilight instructed. She knew that the changeling’s powers had been increasing along with advances in their relationship. Chrysalis had become supercharged since their intimate night. Only the changeling’s maturity had kept the power in check, but Twilight could see the lightning in her eyes just as she knew it danced in hers.

“Boo,” Chrysalis pouted.

“It seems like there is always some trouble in Equestria now. Not like it used to be, though. Instead of some ancient evil, it is mostly the ponies themselves. There must come an end to it,” Rarity said from across the table.

Spike, on the other side, shrugged and finished his meal of gems. He was ever thankful for the bountiful supply of gems the Crystal Empire had. After all, what was a crystal empire without crystals and jewels? “I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up. I mean, what got Equestria to this point was pretty...uh...dramatic. It makes sense there would be problems. Not to mention Celestia and Luna being away.”

“Well, I would never put it upon Twilight after all that has happened,” she wiped her mouth with a fancy cloth napkin she had made herself. “She is right in saying she never wanted any of this and had no part in starting it. To think that ponies who already have so much were willing to kill and destroy to have even more.”

“Greed knows no satisfaction,” Spike frowned. His expression was somewhat regretful. “I know.”

“Spikey...” Rarity offered her kind support through her gaze. Her disapproval of his regretting the past carried strongly over their hivemind bond. The emotion was interrupted with the sound of a hoof against a crystal door.

KNOCK KNOCK.

Rarity tilted her head. Who would be knocking on their dining room door so soon after dinner? Twilight’s maids were not attending to this room and the castle staff always gave them space after a meal so as not to hurry them.

“Enter,” Spike called out when nopony came through the door.

The large crystal door opened slowly to reveal the entering pony. It did not open slowly because it was heavy, which it was to quite a degree. Neither because of unoiled or unbalanced hinges – they were in very good condition. The mare was used to barging into places since it was the nature of her work, but this wasn’t work. Not at all.

“S-Spike, the Brave and Glorious,” she bowed to the floor. It was cold on this part of the room but she was so nervous she hardly noticed as the door closed behind her.

“Can we help you?” Rarity rose a brow but spoke gently. She was used to the adoration her Spikey Wikey got. After spending time in the Empire she went from to thinking it was hilariously over-the-top to somewhat endearing.

“Queen Twilight Sparkle told me to come here for a reward from Spike – on account of a recent delivery of utmost importance. I was informed to make a request of my own choosing.”

Spike immediately spoke over the hivemind. Nice one, mom. You hid that from me on purpose.

Twilight laughed in return. Surprises are so much more fun, aren’t they?

“We shall certainly do all we can to see you are given adequate compensation, darling,” Rarity declared diplomatically. “Is there anything in particular that interests you? Something for home? Or a vacation perhaps?”

“Spike,” Mercury returned her gaze to the medium-sized dragon at the left side of the small dining table. “I’d like...I’d l-like...”

Cadance shoved the last piece of cookware into the wagon. This was their last camping stop before being back in the Crystal Empire. She shifted the weight of her heavy winter gear on her back. The thick pink overcoat that her body was encased in was nice and warm inside.

“What was that pony’s name?” she tapped her hoof to her chin.

Shining Armor latched himself into the harness of their small travel wagon. “What pony?”

“There was a pony I wanted to reward when we got back. She helped spread the word about dragon love before we left. She was a top-rated messenger pony. I figured she would be best suited to it,” the pretty pink pony princess pondered persistently. The name kept eluding her.

“Dragon love?” Shining Armor rose a brow and looked back at her. “What did you do this time?”

“Oh, don’t be that way,” she giggled and tried to skip past him. The weight of her winter apparel and the depth of snow prevented it. “Was it Maple? Mercy? Merchant?”

“Mercury?” Shining guessed the name of the Royal Messenger.

“Mercury! That was it!”

Shining’s expression flattened. “Hey, I said it first.”

“I do remember her asking me, though, if dragons and ponies were anatomically compatible. I have no idea why.”

SMACK!

Shining Armor facehoofed.

“I wonder if Rarity likes mares too...”

The royal prince groaned. It was looking like there was going to be some serious work to do when they returned. He found himself looking back the way they had come and contemplated whether going that way instead was a better idea.

“I’d like a date with Spike, the Brave and Glorious!” Mercury shouted out with determination.

Rarity’s eyes began to widen.

Spike froze solid.

Twilight laughed hard over the hivemind.

The shock of the moment soon turned to suspicion. “Cadance put you up to this, didn’t she?” the white unicorn narrowed her eyes.

“Of course not, Miss Rarity,” Mercury shrank back from the other mare’s increasingly dangerous aura. “I have long admired The Great Hero of our Empire and always wished for even one day-”

“I’m already taken,” Spike interrupted but kept his voice gentle. “I’m sorry, but I just don’t feel a date would be right. I’m sure both Rarity and I could accompany you for a day, though. Maybe we can get to know each other as friends.”

Jealousy was hardly an issue between the dragon and his mare. Aside from the hivemind connection, Spike knew the kind of pony Rarity was just as she knew him. But for that very reason, Spike wanted to come up with an inclusive alternative fast. Rarity may hold no worries or jealous suspicions over him but her loathing of Cadance’s manipulations was a terrifying specter of doom looming ever stronger within the room.

“But I was told that dragons took great pride in growing and maintaining their harems,” Mercury drooped.

“By who?” Spike practically laughed at the ridiculousness. It was a redundant question, however, since this had come up before.

“By our beloved leader, Princess Cada-”

The glass hovering in Rarity’s magical grip shattered and spilled its contents on the table. The shattering momentarily covered up the sound of grinding teeth.

25 - Change

The ponies of Equestia need a leader to rally around. Has this not been obvious? For thousands of years-”

“The past has no bearing on the truth of reality!” another pony interrupted. “You’re asserting that-”

“Is it not the case that in the two-hundred thirty-second year of the reign of-”

“History is just as vulnerable to interpretation as the present! You’re twisting-”

“Leadership is useful but should never be exonerated on a throne! Las Pegasus would not have been saved from internal collapse if not for Queen Twilight but that’s exactly why-”

“ENOUGH!” Marigold Summit slammed a gavel he had been given as the official mediator. “If we cannot have an ordered discussion that rises above a foalish shouting match then so help me I will adjourn this negotiation and force all of you to keep coming back until you act like this is more than a schoolyard at recess!”

An aide beside him at the large round table offered him a bottle of water. He anticipated it was needed after Marigold had run out of breath. Apparently, though, even the mediator was too annoyed to bother with it. The court here in Canterlot had been up and down in turmoil ever since the coup. Of course it had been. Coups were not good for keeping things predictable.

The room here in the west wing of Canterlot Castle was large enough to accommodate the many members of the royal Equestrian court – dwindled as they were after some members had been jailed. As warm and inviting as the soft hues of the room décor were, nothing could save the tumultuous mood.

Marigold Summit was a professional mediator. He had been picked by an outside selector who had been agreed upon by a neutral agent which all disgruntled parties of the court decided could only be trusted if picked by three more levels of abstraction. The result was a highly qualified pony that nopony knew and therefore had to, of course, be highly qualified for the job. Redundancy was magic.

“We’ve been at it for four days already,” complained Iron Bit. “I will not concede a single point until all political prisoners are-”

“They are not political prisoners, you braindead slug! I still have scars from their direct attack-” Sandy Skies countered with a fury.

“PONIES!” Marigold shouted out again, his patience miraculously being restored. “All parties present have agreed on a plan. We are to go over this plan point-by-point. As mediator, it is my job to make sure we stay focused and come to a resolution. It has already been conceded by all opposing parties regarding the issue of jailed individuals that their status will not be involved in the negotiation. This is your own agreement. It may not be risen for discussion until the grace period so agreed upon for this specific issue.”

Two other unicorns that were ready to return insult, returned to their chairs.

Marigold continued. “Thank you. Now, let’s resume the negotiation over Point Nine: lawful actions of the throne over the court.”

“Break!” Iron Bit called.

Blue Moon didn’t like the look on the stallion’s face. And it had nothing to do with his personal disagreement over the pony’s politics. A couple of the other ponies around him were giving each other glances. Something was up. When Blue Moon looked to Morning Glory’s face, she appeared to catch it as well but gave him an uncaring look in return as Marigold confirmed a scheduled break for restroom and refreshment.

It took a good minute for all of the ponies to filter out of the meeting room’s heavy double doors. As soon as Blue Moon reached the fern-dense picnic area at the castle’s northwest walled garden, he found Morning Glory. She was giving a group of her party underlings an uplifting if perhaps unjustified update of the proceedings. She was not easy to pull away from them but Blue Moon was too worried to wait. He pulled her into a room back inside the castle, adjacent to the garden and separated only by thick glass walls.

“So dramatic, Blue,” Morning rolled her eyes. “You act as if the court chamber were on fire.”

“It may very well be!” Blue Moon frowned. “You saw that back there, didn’t you? They’re planning a walk out on the negotiations.”

“What makes you think that?” she asked, still with no concern.

“Oh please, Morning,” he groaned. “I’ve been doing this for over thirty years. I know when somepony gets to the fifth hour and promised someone they wouldn’t go a minute longer. When Iron Bit mentioned the ‘prisoners’ we all knew it was over.”

“So?”

“You can’t be serious,” Blue Moon stepped back. The pieces were falling in place and he didn’t like where that left him. He could see it with the self-satisfied smile working its way onto her face.

“I’ve put up with a lot of your trash over the years and now I finally get some sweet relief,” the mare laid back into a plush lounge chair. Being an observation room for the garden, there were a couple of oversized seats and a bar stocked exclusively with pastries. “The smaller groups loyal to the alicorns came under my wing during the coup. Why wouldn’t they? We needed to survive and now they’ll have a position to enact their policies. Golden Dawn will be the ruling party after this. Your mealy-mouthed Equestrian National Party didn’t become the big coalition you thought it would. Even Equestrian nationalists sided with me when you considered giving concessions to the Freedom and Fairness party just days before it was found out they bribed officers to join the Blue Guard in the coup. I stayed true to my beliefs – no concessions now or ever – and now Golden Dawn has come out ahead.”

“If they walk out then it will be bloodshed in the streets within a week!” Blue Moon tried to keep from panicking. “They may have minority support throughout Equestria, but that will just encourage them to use lone wolf methods to terrorize the public into whatever concessions they want. At best it will be underground hit-and-run for-”

“Exactly!” Morning growled and got back up from the seat to stomp the floor. “These ponies are sick monsters! If we sweep them up now then we’ll have maximum public support and minimal contest at trials. Squander it in a fake negotiation for constitutional reform and ponies will die. Ponies that don’t have to die.”

“Ponies will still die if you let this happen. The only difference is that this is the way you end up in control!” Blue Moon felt his own temper bleeding away as well.

The tile beneath Morning Glory’s hooves felt warm. The sun was casting light over it through the windows but that was not the only reason. She felt her own warmth radiating outwards, connected to her special talent. Her emotions just made it stronger.

“I grew up doing this too, you know,” she scowled at him. “You can’t manipulate me the way you did North Star. Your solution would have you in charge and innocent ponies would die because of it. There’s no escaping this. Nopony can stop it. Not even Queen Twilight. These are evil ponies, Blue Moon. They will kill and destroy no matter what path we take. I choose the Path of Harmony. Loyalty to the alicorn goddesses. Honesty to the ponies of Equestria. Generosity to every being pony or not. Kindness to all and especially those hurt by the evil schemes of these madponies. And Laughter for the days of joy we will share in peace under Twilight Sparkle, Element of Magic, Supreme Leader of Harmony, and our beloved Queen of Equestria.”

Blue Moon frowned, feeling empty inside. “You even have your speech prepared…”

“I had hoped to serve my princess and goddess Celestia until the end of my days,” Morning finally cooled a few degrees, a sad look flashing across her face. “But I will honor her request and love Twilight as I did her. Nopony will threaten her or my ability to serve her. Not even if I have to go through you, Blue Moon.”

“Celestia?” the stallion’s mind froze for a moment. “Wait! Request? What are you talking about?”

Morning Glory flushed herself of her heated feelings, heat literally radiating away from her body as she did so. She gave a short turn to look out the window. Her group was safely out of view but she waved to a gardener who was passing by.

“She’s a thousands year old goddess, rocks-for-brains. Of course, she has more than a few contingencies. A wise pony would. And she’s wiser than anypony alive. Golden Dawn is one of those contingencies.”

“She knew about the coup?”

“No,” Morning looked him dead in the eyes. “She would have wiped them out. All of them if she knew what their plans were. She only suspected it was possible certain ponies would revolt against Twilight. Worst case scenario, all loyalists and Elements besides the Queen die and I smuggle Twilight out of Equestria for her own safety.”

The stallion sighed, sitting down where he had been standing. He had long suspected Celestia had a special practical side to herself that she never showed. It was painful to know just how in touch with reality she really was – to the point of considering fatal scenarios like that and planning for them. “The Royal Guard is supposed to-”

“Princess Celestia knew the Guard had traitors in it. The new Captain was one of the few she knew she could trust but she also knew better than to trust every contingency plan to a single pony. Especially if that pony was in a position where she could die early and be of no help later.”

“I guess this means there will be no convincing you,” Blue Moon looked at her, suddenly tired. He had fought long and hard to prevent the dissolution of the court. The coup had deepened the divide, though. This time it was too deep for him and he had lost too much support to challenge Morning once the negotiations were over. Knowing now how close this mare had been to Celestia was the final straw. He hadn’t been able to read her moves before it was too late.

“I hate politics, Blue Moon,” Morning stated flatly. “That’s why I wanted the throne restored and the court dissolved since the day I became a legislator. There’s a purity in our alicorn goddesses that the politics of the court only taints. Clever politicians will always be able to manipulate the ponies of Equestria. The court was only ever a dangerous sham and the coup was the inevitable climax of the illusion. The creation of the court was like the dropping of a fragile glass and the coup like the breaking of its fall.”

“You called me dramatic,” Blue Moon bit out but did so without any strength. “Your blind zeal for imagined purity will hurt more than yourself. Ponies shouldn’t live by the dictate of a single ruler. They deserve freedom.”

“Don’t pretend you care about autonomy or that your broken system is some ‘pragmatic’ solution to pure but ‘sadly impossible’ idealism. If you cared so much about self-determination then you would have been protesting with the ponies in Baltimare against oppression of the public by the police. You would have been doing what Twilight did in Las Pegasus and restored control to the common pony rather than the local Elites. You’d cry the descent into tyranny even as you re-establish the rule of the Elites, hidden once more to avoid scrutiny and obtain plausible deniability behind a puppet court.”

“Tyranny is exactly what this will become with enough time. Freedom can only be obtained when power is released from the crown.”

“And only their queen can keep the politicians from legislating it away.”

Blue Moon cracked the faintest smile. The old routine was like a reminder of his younger years with her and others like her in the court. “We’re wasting our time. As nostalgic as it is to do this with you, I know it will go on forever and yet end nowhere.”

“Will you give me grief?” the mare narrowed her eyes.

“In the response statements to the walk out? No,” he decided. “I will make my case against dissolution should it be proposed.”

“It will.”

“Then I shall,” he responded and then turned to leave. “I’ll let you enjoy yourself with your triumphant coalition. I’ll likely be called before you to give a response, so I will prepare. Afterwards, I’ll mourn. For hundreds of years I failed to save.”

“What should I do?” Fluttershy flapped her wings almost timidly.

“Zap them with lightning bolts!” Rainbow Dash grinned.

Fluttershy gave her “the look.”

“Oh, c’mon. You know I’m kidding,” Rainbow giggled. She flapped on a lower altitude to ensure her companion would not be uncomfortable. “Give them lots of hugs.”

The animal lover gave her a flat-browed expression this time.

“Go back to Canterlot!” called out a pony from below. “We don’t want you here!”

Rainbow Dash could have sworn Baltimare was a much nicer place last time she visited. But then that might have been when she was a filly and her parents were taking her on an official tour where everypony was paid to be nice. The protest and counter-protest going on below was nothing of the sort.

Fluttershy was pulled to the side by her fellow Element when some small object was thrown up at her. A water bottle, as identified by Rainbow’s quick reflexes and keen flying eye. She had also seen the pony who threw it but didn’t zap him due to her queen’s orders not to react unless to protect a pony, which she just had.

“Do we have to stay here?”

“Twilight said to stay with the crowd. So that’s what we do,” Rainbow pulled Fluttershy again to avoid an object. This time she pulled her around the corner of some awning on the second story of a building facing the street. It was some sort of bistro by the looks of it. As much as she would have liked to give the offenders a piece of her mind, she was also eager to leave. Playing rough in tumble was not what she had in mind after Twilight accepted her for the other pony she always wanted to be.

If only Equestria would give her the opportunity.

Hey, Twily, Rainbow began, looking to the east where her love was discussing details with Storm Sword. Any chance you get somepony else to ensure public safety over here?

We can’t deploy the Guard without mass support, which I’m trying to get. The mayor has been bought by the Baltimare police. It’s not like Las Pegasus where the Elites controlled them. The Elites are the police here so I can’t trust them to ensure the safety of the protesters on 74th. I need somepony I can trust.

“Then I reckon it’s a good thing I came down here,” a familiar accent called over to Rainbow Dash from one of the bistro’s balcony tables two ponies distance from her. The orange mare was laid back in the chair, wrapped in her favorite denim jacket, and tipped her hat to her blue pegasus friend.

“AJ!” Rainbow’s mouth was open in surprise.

Surprise! Twilight chuckled from across the city. I thought it’d be better if you were surprised by your relief rather than counting the seconds until she got there.

“I’ll take it from here you two, so don’t worry your pretty little head, RD,” the apple farmer gave a wink.

“Haha,” Rainbow faked while Fluttershy hovered over to give their friend a warm hug.

“I have to say,” Applejack remarked while returning it. “It’s a heck of a lot warmer here than in Vanhoover. Still makes the gophers salt their burrows, though.”

Fluttershy giggled.

“Is that your saying or Fluttershy’s?” Rainbow joined in, setting her hooves to the floor of the balcony. The waitress serving the other tables gave them a curious look.

Applejack kept a weather eye on the crowds below as they slowly moved down the street. On her way over, she had seen a police force moving down Rose boulevard. They would intersect when the protest passed the next two cross streets. She tested a flicker of her Void power in a hoof before giving Rainbow a shrug. “Don’t matter to me. In any case, you might want to get back to Twilight. Probably will need you for somethin’ else when she calls a public assembly.”

“Like keeping her cool?” Rainbow joked and Fluttershy nudged her for it. “Yeah, okay. Just try not to over do it, huh.”

“When have I overdone anythin’?” AJ grinned and headed for the stairs down. “’Sides, me and Twi have an idea now for how to open the void in reverse. Nopony will be gone forever.”

Rainbow lightened at that. If it was true then maybe she’d get back those fizzy drinks AJ had accidentally sucked into the void when they had been practicing in Ponyville.

“It won’t be popular, that’s for sure,” Storm Sword tapped her hoof on the table map. The point of her hoof was on 55th street, which served as the city’s oversized festival road. “You know how it goes. The situation is everypony’s problem and yet nopony’s responsibility. If we force a gathering then most ponies are going to blame us for shutting down the city.”

“I don’t consider the temporary inconvenience to be a bad trade for saving the lives of innocents,” Twilight held to her decision. “Besides, there’s two thousand already on 74th. Some of them are strikers. I plan to end the problem with peaceful resolution. The police just want a bloody confrontation.”

“If it goes bumpier than Las Pegasus then I cannot guarantee this barracks can get violent opposition under control. It’s a big city, Twilight. The Baltimare garrison was never designed to act as the local peacekeepers,” the heavily-accented mare frowned. She actually agreed with Twilight’s direction, but was less confident of the likely outcome.

Twilight walked over to the map that was hooked on the command room’s stone wall. It would have been dark in here if not for the torches on the sconces. The lack of windows was intentional since the command room was located at the heart of the small stone fort. This place had been here for hundreds of years – serving as the starting point of Baltimare’s formation.

She didn’t intend either the garrison or the city to fall apart. The unaccountable police had long seized control but were now taking matters so far that their power was about to break. The old papyrus map had been marked over a dozen times but gave an accurate display of the city and the plans of the puppet mayor. “Didn’t they know I’d be forced to get involved? Are they really this mindless?”

“It could be a strategic loss,” Storm Sword offered before murmuring something to herself.

“What?” Twilight turned back to her Captain of the Royal Guard.

“A final rally for the rest of the Elites and their sympathizers throughout the land. Either they are dumb enough to be repeating the same thing city to city or they planned a failure here to get their remaining people to band together for a direct offensive. Likely on Canterlot Castle. Those are the two possibilities I think are most likely.”

“What about creating lone-wolf-style attackers? I assumed that would be the dominant strategy after Canterlot and Las Pegasus failed.”

Storm didn’t hesitate even a second at the suggestion. “In the failed locations, yes. And that may become the case here. But the remaining cities and rural areas are more likely to go the other route if they lose Baltimare. They would be brainless to keep repeating this when support has largely swung in your favor. Keep in mind that there are thousands of Cloudsdale pegasi spread all over Equestria now that are praising you as a hero for defeating the coup, bringing those responsible for Cloudsdale to justice, and now signing the creation of Pegasopolis. Baltimare will be in our favor as far a public opinion is concerned. We just need to choose the best methods of preventing ponies from getting hurt.”

“You said the counter-protesters following the groups on 74th have advanced destruction spells?” the queen considered their options.

“Yes. Not even this garrison is authorized to have spells of that grade and the police also have a couple of armored wagons they’re not supposed to. Bigger than the one in Las Pegasus.”

Twilight hummed in thought. The destruction spells might indicate mercenaries and it was very clever of them to have two separate forces, each with significant power. Applejack’s Void magic could only handle one or another but not both. She turned to her special assistant, who was playing with a ball of yarn in the corner. “Chrysalis, have you ever wanted to be a dragon?”

26 - In a Blink

It all happened at the same time. That was the weakness. The blind spot.

How to take on near limitless power?

Don’t give it time to react.

- Clover the Clever

THUD THUD!

“Remember to go for the wagons only,” Twilight reminded her changeling dragon from several city blocks away. “The front line protesters will need to lead the counter if Baltimare is going to have any resident-led autonomy like Las Pegasus. We only need to take out the tools that would prevent that. Be sure to avoid any fire. They might be using live rounds and we don’t know if they’ve switched out the standard equipment for military-grade weapons.”

Chrysalis, in black dragon form, thundered down Bloom street. Her glowing green spines were sharp but riddled with holes. She had played with her appearance until she settled on a look much like her natural one. A long slender snout gave her a feminine face in spite of the bulky arms, legs, and abs she needed for this job. Her tail was pleasantly long and slender too, barbed with two spikes at the end that followed the curve of the tail. She kept from forming wings out of the desire to better surprise the police wagons when she came upon their formation on Rose boulevard. And also not to be shot out of the sky. She was powerful but that didn’t mean she was going to be stupid.

As much as she wanted to blow right through them with a two-story dragon form, she knew it would not be smart either for avoiding fire or keeping to Twilight’s plan. This Spike-sized form would do, especially since her black and green body was packed with sufficient muscle to handle the weight of those wagons.

Knowing how close Chrysalis was to her target, Twilight gave Applejack an affirmation over the hivemind.

Not that the tough farmer needed it. She could tell just as well as Twilight could how to time this. She was hunkered around the corner of a three-story inn located many blocks opposite of Chrysalis, with Twilight between them. This side of the city was darker and less cared after. AJ’s targets used that to their advantage but she countered that easily with somepony who knew this place better than even a group of skilled mercenaries. And that was what both she and her guide had confirmed. Mercenaries.

“They don’t live ‘round here,” Amethyst Oven whispered. He tone was quiet, but his deep voice still sounded coarse. “No more than that parasite, Swift Hooves, who’s messed up this whole neighborhood. That’s her warehouse they’re using over there.”

Applejack glanced again around the corner. There was a large series of buildings just a short distance down the road in that direction. Across the street was the warehouse he referred to, situated between two factories – both deserted. Any of the places could have been a landfill with the amount of garbage everywhere. But there was no denying, in spite of their attempts to appear otherwise, that the ponies coming out of the warehouse were not locals.

I know an ex-Guard when I see one, Direway advised while looking through AJ’s eyes over the hivemind. Careful, the one on the right looks too cautious. He might have served special duties like me.

I’d be guessin’ so, Applejack agreed. Makes sense the one with the most experience would be the one with the spell scrolls.

“That’s them,” Amethyst whispered. “You, uh, don’t mind if I give you some space, huh? I ain’t thinking of being like the toast I make at work, get me. Sure you can handle it? I could get some backup.”

“Nnnnope,” AJ imitated her brother with a smirk and ignited a black ball of flaming magic in her hoof. “I got this.”

She gave her guide time to get some safe distance before she spun around the corner. Five ponies were coming out of the warehouse front gate. They would be headed for the protesters with enough magical power to kill over half of them, but AJ wasn’t about to let that happen.

“Heeyaw!” she grunted as she hoped forwards onto a foreleg and used her powerful rear hooves to buck the void orb. It shot forward, snapping with dark tendrils of magic while growing as it traveled to its target.

The mercenaries were fast to respond. Especially the one she had aimed for with the scrolls. He managed to toss a scroll to one of his companions before dodging. It wasn’t good enough though. The void orb was like a black hole and, though it had far less gravitational force, it was far more than enough to suck the stallion in.

SNAP!

The orb collapsed, the merc and most of the scrolls now vanished along with it.

Applejack ignited another in her hoof, which pulled in a pair of projectiles two of the remaining mercs had fired at her. The farmer hadn’t seen those kind of weapons before. They were long, tubular, and blew fire out the back even though the can-like projectiles came out the front. Her void magic nullified whatever the danger was so she hardly cared.

“It’s timeout for foals who can’t play nice,” she shouted out as one of them charged her with a curved blade. She threw the orb at him before igniting one more in each hoof and tossing them up in the air. Flipping backwards so her rear hooves came out from below and forward, she kicked both orbs as they came down.

The first hit the charging stallion.

SNAP!

The second and third hit the mare and stallion with the strange weapons near the warehouse gate.

SNAP! SNAP!

“Well this was easy now wasn’t it?” Applejack smirked at the survivor.

His teeth were clenched tight but he didn’t look scared. The purple glow of his unicorn magic unraveled the bound scroll he had caught from the leader before he had been sucked away. “Mission accomplished,” he sneered.

“What-?” Applejack’s eyes widened as the scroll was activated by the mercenary’s magic.

A ball of fire much like the sun exploded into existence, consuming the scroll and the mercenary so fast that Applejack barely had time to react herself before the flames were upon her. Searing heat beyond anything she had ever experienced before. The street below her and the building around her melted away as the fireball expanded to the size of the entire city block in the blink of an eye.

CRASH!

The heavy armored wagon was flipped onto its side and crashed into the brick wall of the building it had been slowly passing. Chrysalis had thundered around the corner, bulldozed her way through scores of heavily-armored police ponies, and charged full force into the side of the wagon.

One down.

The second was close behind and she was not about to let them get a shot at her with one of those massive ballista-like weapons that were mounted on the top. It did not escape her notice that the hundreds of police ponies filling the street were carrying all manner of weapons from simple clubs to bows and even projectile-throwers like the ones from the wars of her past.

Chrysalis leaped in front of the second war wagon, grabbing the front edge and tossing it upwards.

BAM!

It flipped backwards onto its roof, partially crushing the enormous weapon on top.

That’s what these things were. War wagons. The ponies around her were armored so heavily that they resembled ancient knights clad in iron suits. Even the Royal Guard garrison in the city did not dress so heavily and arm so seriously. Police? These ponies were beyond even soldiers!

Chrysalis had not seen weapons or armor so severe since her youth. That was back when she had taken an entire city, used tunnels to defeat the inhabitants, and withstand the siege with less than half a starving hive. There had been weapons used there like some held by these ponies. Weapons that shot hot metal that could kill in a single blow.

Something soft was hitting her at first. She saw the small pellets pool around her as they bounced off her diamond hard scales. But then they were joined by red hot bits of metal that cooled quickly on the paved ground. They had held back since she was in the middle of them. Crossfire a real danger. But with defeat now a realistic fear, they lost their reservations.

It didn’t matter. Her scales were hard enough. The blows were irritating and prickly but not damaging. She moved.

The third wagon was in a hundred hooves. With a practically graceful pattern of lunges, she closed the distance. Passing by its side to reach the fourth wagon, she gave the third a hard shove. It rocked upwards but failed to flip over, coming back down on its six thick wheels with a BAM!

Chrysalis was already busy with the fourth just behind it though. Grabbing the front with her muscular arms, she tossed it over onto the restaurant tables beside the street. She would have to apologize to the owner later – there was just not much room at this portion of the road since a series of restaurants crowded outwards into the space.

The changeling-turned-dragon knocked away a group of police ponies who tried to grab her and switched her attention to the third wagon she failed to flip. This should finish her job. Once toppled, nothing short of a heavy-duty crane would get these things back in business – assuming none of their mechanisms were so rattled that that they wouldn’t operate.

Chrysalis swallowed.

The wagon’s top-mounted ballista had managed to pivot towards her in the time she had taken on the fourth wagon.

They wouldn’t fire so close, right?

BOOM!

Something had fired from the catapulting device. Something that exploded with extreme force. Chrysalis saw stars as she was blown straight through one of the adjacent restaurant’s front windows. Some of the police ponies that had been around her were also blown in various directions. As for the wagon, she didn’t see until getting back off the floor that the entire rear end had been crumbled inwards. One of the rear wheels was gone and the ballista was clearly split down the center.

That was a desperate move on their part and she was glad it hadn’t been enough to seriously wound her.

Chrysalis dusted herself off in the quaint little diner. Apparently, dragons were quite resilient when it came to fire and explosive force. In over a hundred years, it hadn’t occurred to her to do this. Well, she noted to herself, remember to use a dragon form in any dangerous situation. A simple lunge saw her out of the restaurant again. She quickly started getting away from the police-occupied street, not wanting to give the unofficial army too much time to recover from the haze of destruction.

It was a good thing Applejack had failed to detect any advanced magic users or scrolls in the counter protesters following the crowd. Twilight was worried for a moment about a spell initiating just seconds too soon. On that note, her own guards were turning out to be even more of an asset through the hivemind than in actual physical presence. Not that they couldn’t handle foes on their own, but Twilight needed a more refined strategy right now. AJ was putting them to good use in spite of the fact that they were still here protecting their queen.

As for herself, having Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash beside her was a great relief. They could provide a kind of peace that her three accompanying guards couldn’t. Partly it was her loving relationship with them but also partly her history with them going back so many years as close friends. Fluttershy especially gave her a sense of calm that reminded her of a warm soft blanket on a winter day.

Actually, it was rather cold out. 55th street was slowly but surely drawing a crowd in spite of the chill. The first ones to come up to her at the festive double-wide market road’s performance stage were, of course, the ones more sympathetic to the ongoing protest on 74th. Either that or family and close friends of the strikers. More would come, Twilight knew, but this was the beginning.

“Yes, I reviewed the mayor’s orders,” Twilight answered a stallion who had started discussing his concern with her. “Technically, they are legal under the security mandate from fourteen years ago, but that was itself a violation of the Equestrian Declaration of Justice. Article 8 clearly rules out use of weapons in policing activities and sets clear limits for implementation of large-scale police forces.”

“Why was it not thrown out by the regional court then?” the stallion frowned, clearly not happy from the start.

Twilight’s right wing spread out to shield her eyes from the sun that suddenly decided to poke through a hole in the clouds and harass her eyes. “The Third East Regional Court was headed by Justice Platinum Gavel for the past twenty years. He was a member of the Elite party who was just recently removed from his position due to corruption charges and involvement in the coup conspiracy.”

“Judges are not supposed to have such blatant political biases. They’re supposed to be neutral so they can judge cases without conflicts of interest.”

Twilight frowned as well. She had looked into this herself some time ago upon receiving associated reports on the coup investigations. Her findings were hardly surprising given what she had come to learn about the inner workings of the Equestrian political sphere. Loop holes were so common that even Chrysalis’ forelegs could hold more water in comparison. “Judges are only required by the Canterlot Court to have no public conflicts but they can still have political and personal affiliations as private citizens so long as they don’t carry that over into their job.”

The stallion laughed cynically. “Are you kidding me? Like they won’t just drag their biases into their job? Who even decides if they have or haven’t? Themselves?”

“Yes, self-regulation,” Twilight confirmed. “This is why I would like to open up these kind of issues to you, the ponies of Baltimare. Las Pegasus has taken control of their own city and I believe that every city, town, and village in Equestria has a right to decide how it wants to proceed.”

Noticing the growing crowd around the stage they were conversing on, the queen turned to them. More ponies were lining up behind the stallion to talk to her directly and others were taking glances towards the stage from across the street. Guards from the Baltimare garrison were going down surrounding streets to announce the public gathering.

“I’m aware of the difficult situation that the Twenty Hours Coup has put Equestria in,” Queen Twilight called out. “But I’m also aware that there has been a difficult situation all along. It was the intention all those centuries ago with the Equestrian Declaration of Justice that a court be formed in Canterlot. All so that ponies across Equestria would be able to choose their own law makers that would better serve their interests. Interests that might not be understood so well by one or two ponies who only ever lived in Canterlot Castle.”

Rainbow looked over the crowd with a careful eye. Direway was next to her doing the same while Flash Sentry and Midnight Strike were just as cautious from the opposite stairway that lead onto the stage. Fluttershy was fidgeting just behind Flash Sentry, wondering if she might go back to the garrison to grab an extra scarf for Twilight. Chrysalis and AJ might have been on the job in the city, but their collective wisdom failed to rule out a possible attack here. After all, this was arguably where the rule of the Elites was most in danger.

“But that court was quickly filled with ponies who were more interested in themselves than their fellow citizens. They either came from privilege or quickly attained it, passing it down from one generation to the next. Forming a dynasty within the court was not the intention of its initial formation. It was no better for the ponies of Equestria to have ten or thirty ponies ruling them instead of one – ponies who were no more in touch with the reality of daily life than the throne.”

“Celestia was always good to us!” shouted out a voice from the crowd near the stage.

That made Twilight’s serious expression soften a bit. “Yes, Princess Celestia was very good to Equestria but she could not oversee the life of every individual town in the land. The ponies of Equestria should have the lives they so choose and I cannot tolerate the fear and oppression that has come from the tyranny here in Baltimare.”

“You are the only tyranny here!” shouted out another.

Twilight ignored the mare because the criticism was immediately defanged by her next words. “So it is my intention today to end it by relinquishing all legal concerns of Baltimare from its mayor and police forces to its residents. I will not dictate any terms except that how the city is to be governed – from taxes to policing – will be determined by all of its citizens. Nothing less than full participation of all citizens can be accepted. There will be no more silencing of voices or abusing of the powerless.”

That caused a stir. The crowd erupted into all sorts of responses. From cheers to gasps to praises and insults. Twilight could see one family closest to the stage. They were in tears but it did not appear to be sadness. The mare had two foals with her, one on either side. She began to reach up to Twilight’s hoof on the edge of the stage, a “thank you” on her lips-

BOOM!

The redwood trim that lined the edge of the stage exploded in a spray of splinters. Wooden boards beneath her blasted upwards in flame, knocking back both Twilight and the mare below. Another explosion followed somewhere but Twilight didn’t know where. She knocked her head back against the platform behind her upon falling, vision spinning and ears ringing. Sounds were warped as her mind tried desperately to put back together her consciousness that had just been tossed in ten different directions.

The hivemind exploded with pain not her own. Even as her vision scattered and the world was flipped upside down with her body, she saw it. It was as if in slow motion, the left stage exit passing by her view. The horror of it was emphasized by her inability to do anything to stop it. The stage exploded in a fireball that erupted from beneath the wooden boards. Two ponies were standing there. The first, one of her guards, was thrown from the stage and burned along the way. The other was consumed in the middle of the blast. And the mare had been looking straight at Twilight when it happened, fear being her last expression.

Fluttershy.

Chrysalis stopped cold, the scores of army-style police still shooting at her but now ignored. Her transformation dropped in a flash of green flame as all of her focus switched in panic to her fellow hive member and love. “Fluttershy!” she shouted in fear. But she could not act. She could not fly away towards Twilight or the others.

The second her transformation had dropped, she had returned to being a changeling devoid of hard dragon scale. The exoskeleton-like protection of her changeling hide was much softer.

And the bullets pierced it.

“-ilight!” somepony screamed.

“Mommy!” some young voiced wailed.

“Traitor!” shouted another.

“Get him!”

“Someone get a medic!”

“Doctor! Please! We need a doctor now!”

“Chaos scum!”

“Two more!”

“Law and order will prevail!”

“Die, anarchists!”

“No, stop!”

“Get the kid!”

“Why are you doing this?!”

“Run!”

What went wrong?

What happened?

Twilight felt like she was going to throw up. Her vision was shaking and upside down. She was on her back on the stage, head against the wood. Three copies of the backstage view danced around, slowly coming back together into one. But even as she got herself back together enough to move again, she was pinned down against the boards by a heavy stallion holding up a spear.

“For Celestia!” he screamed, though she heard it no better than anything else. Her ears still rang and everything was muffled.

The spear was never driven into her heart, though. He was knocked over by a blue blur, snapping with lightning so powerful that Twilight’s consciousness was nearly knocked back again by it. Her nerves lit up but the pain was less than what it would have been had the stallion succeeded. Twilight tried to get to her hooves but was slowed as her muscles misfired from the electric shock. Her vision turned onto the other side of the stage where Rainbow had fallen with the attacking pony. She was on top of him, lightning snapping between them so bright that it was hard to make them out. It looked like she might have been fighting him but it was impossible to tell whether it was her hooves or his that were making the blows.

BOOM!

Another explosion. Loud and close by.

Crying.

“Get us out of here now!”

Twilight could finally tell who was saying what now. That was Direway.

“What are you doing?!”

“Fluttershy! Where’s Fluttershy?!”

Twilight could make out nothing more even as she tried to get back onto wobbly legs, her strength less than she expected. Pain started coming to her. Every throb of it threatened to return her to the stage floor. Or what was left of it. The world around her turned to white for a second and then…

She was in a green field.

The sun scroll activation and the stage explosions happened at the same time. Down to the second. The four most dangerous Elements of Harmony had been dealt with simultaneously. Honor Bound clicked her stop watch with a toothy grin. The dark room was illuminated by the magical screens around her, showing her every important point of interest in the city. It worked. It had actually worked.

Of course it had. She had always been smarter than those idiots in the Elite party. She wouldn’t have splintered into her own group if they had been smart. The fools were doomed now that all the brains had left their pathetic removed-from-power club. The answer to the problem of Twilight Sparkle was so obvious. Clover the Clever had lived through some of the worst times of political manipulation and assassination. He would know better than anypony. And so his writings were proven right.

“If an enemy can block five blows with one hoof then strike five blows all at once rather than in succession. Ponies only have four hooves,” she repeated Clover’s insight. “I guess a changeling’s dragon form is too tough but that one still worked out in the end. A shock in the hivemind from the Element deaths was apparently enough to snap her out of it.”

“Ma’am!” a voice called out from the passageway leading to the surface.

“What?” Honor Bound barked. “Can’t you see I’m enjoying myself for once?!”

“Sorry, ma’am,” the mare cowered. “But I was ordered to inform you when Red Fang moved per your plan. And he has.”

“Good,” Honor Bound extinguished the screens. She needed to bring up the one for the Crystal Castle and it took far more magic due to the distance. “Our mercs on 55th will finish off Rainbow if she’s still alive. Rarity and Pinkie Pie are the last two Elements of Harmony and they’re in the Crystal Empire. Red Fang will be more than able to get rid of their useless hides.”

“Spike’s a dragon too, though, and he’s not a runt anymore-”

“He’s a librarian’s secretary!” Honor Bound spat back. “Red Fang has been a killer his whole life and has never failed a mission. Spike will die as easily as the rest.”

27 - Face Off

Mom!” Spike cried out, knocking all manner of items from the desk he was at as he jolted upwards.

Pain. He felt it wash over to him through the hivemind relay. Rarity cried out as well from across the room, clutching her head while in tears. He had no time to make a move, though. To go to Rarity. To run out of the castle. To go to Baltimare. He could do nothing because the next moment was already taken by an explosion.

BOOM!

The side of the study room blasted apart in flame and shards of crystals. Only the position of a shelf flying away from the blast saved Rarity, since the wood absorbed the sharp fragments that otherwise would have stricken her. The mare was still sent tumbling across the floor, though. Spike shook the disorientation from himself as quickly as he could and pushed himself off the desk he had been flung over.

Just in time to see a red dragon a half size larger than him leap through the thick smoke. The wall that had been blasted out faced the castle exterior, which meant that side was now open to the air some ten stories up from the ground. The red dragon’s wings had just finished a flapping beat. He had flown in.

Again Spike was left without time to react because, during the same second that the large dragon had flown in, he also reached for the fallen Rarity. In one move, he yanked the pony back over his shoulder by her tail. The pony’s scream of terror was accompanied by her shouting Spike’s name as she fell out of the castle and plummeted to the ground below.

“RARITY!” Spike cried in horror as he tried leaping past the red dragon.

The attacker, Red Fang, wouldn’t have it. His long sharp-toothed snout curled in a smirk as he shifted to block the other dragon and swiped at him with razor-sharp claws. The only thing that saved Spike was his own diamond-hard scales, which made a horrendously loud screeching noise with the contact.

“NO!” Spike remained wide-eyed, desperately trying to climb past the attacker. He didn’t care in the slightest for whatever damage he might receive. He just had to save Rarity before she-

BAM!

The attacker shoved Spike’s head into the closest in-tact wall. It was hard enough for Spike to see stars, but only for a second. Something came to him in the hivemind. A reassurance. His focus shifted then with all fury released at this ruthless killer.

Red Fang was so smug and certain of his superiority against the smaller purple drake that he didn’t have a guard up when Spike whirled on him. Being a dragon was likely the only reason neither choked on the smoke as Spike launched onto him and they both fell back into the thicker haze that was hanging low in the room.

The back of Red Fang’s head hit the crystal floor just shy of the jagged edge. He was less fazed by it than Spike, though, in spite of his surprise that the smaller dragon had enough muscle to topple him. The smoke this close to the edge was beginning to dissipate as the frigid high-altitude air current swept it away almost leisurely. In that moment, Red Fang saw the green fire in Spike’s eyes.

And a crackle of lightning that snapped within.

For the first time in his life, Red Fang had a doubt.

Sweeping it away, Red Fang narrowed his eyes and retaliated, jabbing at Spike’s side to try toppling him off. In spite of the scales protecting both Spike’s body and Red Fang’s fist, the blow should have been at least enough to rid him of Spike’s pinning weight. Instead, Red Fang’s fist slammed into a purple shield that materialized at the impact point, bouncing off the attempted blow with throbbing pain in his fist.

“What?!” Red Fang shouted out. He hadn’t planned to utter so much as a word to his targets. It wasn’t his style. But this was nothing he had ever seen before, and he had seen a lot. No dragon had magic like this. None!

There was no satisfaction on Spike’s face, though, merely hooves away from Red Fang’s pointed and snarling snout. “Surrender yourself and I won’t get rough!” he commanded with an anger as hot as the tendrils of green flame licking from his mouth.

Red Fang’s only response was to use his powerful wings to spring them both up, flinging Spike off. The smaller dragon landed on his rear claws, scraping to get traction on the now cold floor. Grooves were made by the talons in the process. Red Fang followed it up with a deep blast of golden fire from his lungs, pushing as much heat as he could as quickly as he could. Another dragon might not be killed by such a blast, but it would give him an opening to follow up on.

Except that Spike leaped straight through the fire, flames splashing out across his purple muzzle. A short snarl came out of his mouth as his muscles tensed and delivered an upward swing with his right forearm. The blow smacked Red Fang’s mouth up even as the last of the fire breath was still leaving. The remaining flames shot onto the ceiling uselessly.

“Ugh,” Red Fang gurgled and stepped back as his center of balance was disrupted. He played off the unintended move, though, years of assassin work coming through. His body began to twirl. The two sharp blades protruding from his slender tail whipped at Spike, catching him by surprise.

BAM!

Again Spike was bashed into the wall as the force of the impact pushed him into it. His scales held up against the tail blades but still stung badly. If he had time to check, he would see two of the scales bent inwards and with grooves scored in by the attack.

“Agh!” Spike shouted at the pain.

Red Fang was back in control, so he left no time for his target’s recovery. His claws grabbed Spike’s tail and at the same time he braced his back legs against a pack of rubble beside him. His muscles tensed all together as he swung the smaller but still heavy dragon away and out of the blast opening. Most dragons had wings, but this sorry runt had none. It would be his fatal weakness.

Except Spike didn’t fly out as planned. With a growl, Spike grabbed a thick rug that had been half-shredded by the blast. It was just as his rear half was flinging out into the sky above the Empire. But it was enough. The rug was pinned securely by a half ton of rubble – chunks of broken crystal and smoldering furniture.

He used the momentum he still had before it was stopped with a pull against the rug. Spike swung around and back inwards by curling his tail and tucking his legs to direct his momentum. He had some of his own experience with athletic moves but the hivemind connections only made him all the more affective. Direway was still alive and his experience integrated with Spike’s. The magic dragon added his own non-pony characteristics to bolster the effectiveness.

Red Fang saw the move in motion and side stepped so he could grab Spike’s rear legs as they shot inwards. But he grabbed air. Spike wasn’t aiming straight for him. He landed farther to the side and immediately struck the floor with all of his weight as he flipped over from his rear legs to his forearms.

The crystal floor beneath Red Fang gave away and the assassin began to fall. Where he side stepped had been too close to the edge and a large crack had already formed from the earlier blast. It only took Spike’s weight in a direct attack to break it away. Still, it was a useless move.

Red Fang flapped his wings only a few times and perched back onto the new edge, which was more sturdy. Spike was charging at him again, but he remained collected. This magic dragon may have been resilient and persistent but there was nothing he could do to defeat a professional dragon assassin. Even if neither made progress and it turned into a battle of sheer stamina, Red Fang would win.

Rarity was falling. Her immediate reaction was absolute terror. This high up from the ground, the impact would kill her. It wasn’t the first time Rarity had dropped through the air to her death but it just never got any easier. The only instinct she had after screaming for Spike was to get a spell from Twilight over the hivemind to save herself. But Twilight’s mind was inaccessible now.

The ground!

VOOM!

The white unicorn blinked once.

Then twice.

The ground was no longer coming up to kill her. It was speeding by in a sideways direction beneath her. And two pink hooves held her with warmth. Blue eyes bright even behind the green visor of the mare’s changeling-hybrid flight equipment.

“Hiya, Rarity~!” Pinkie Pie greeted with her usual cheer. “Gee, that was a close one, huh? Have I been getting use out of my Party Jets or what?! I’m sure glad I saw this coming in the last story and got started making these things. You might have been a goner!”

“Uh...wha-?” Rarity, still short of breath, began to question and then remembered this was Pinkie. She switched to “Thank you, Pinkie” instead.

“Just doing my duty, ma’am,” Pinkie replied in a mock military deadness. “Now let’s steer back. We have a dragon to save!”

“Spike!” Rarity finally had the chance to turn her attention back to her love. He was still alive. She easily knew that over their connection but he was still in danger as well. The Hive Power he had gotten was still new to him and his use of extended magic was limited. There was no telling how the loss of Twilight and the others in the hivemind might weaken it either.

An idea came to Rarity, however. As Pinkie sped them back to a roof close to the castle’s blast opening, the Element of Generosity recalled a certain kind of magic. She had used it back during a certain other-worldly adventure that Spike himself had gotten them into. A green bolt danced in her blue eyes. Her Hive Power was still there. She knew it would work. It had to.

Red Fang was pushed back by Spike again after a series of attempts to grab his neck. This time, however, Red Fang’s rear ankle caught a scrap of wood on the floor and he stumbled back a few more steps. He was at the blast opening again but that just gave him an idea. He began to spread his wings so he could-

A cyan-colored rope of magic suddenly materialized around his middle and snapped tightly around him so fast that he felt the magical aura practically bite him as the pressure was transmitted through the scales. He was fast enough to keep his legs from being bound but failed to realize that wasn’t the goal of the binding.

He glanced back to who had done it. Spike’s aura had been purple. He had dealt with enough unicorn targets to be familiar with magic. Someone else did this. His sharp eyes and instincts made out the pony down below. She was standing up on a rooftop closest to the castle, eyes piercing with an anger equal to Spike’s.

Rarity?!

How did she surv-

BAM!

Spike barreled right into him with all of his strength and body weight, thick rear leg muscles bulging as he catapulted them off the edge and into the icy air. So this was why he had been tied. His wings were bound too tight to his back to be used. He was no frail pony, though. The snow below should be enough to pad his fall and he could still make a controlled landing. He would survive, but something else concerned him.

As they fell, Red Fang’s eyes widened. Spike was growing mid-air! Already, he matched his own size and was in position to crush him into the ground that was quickly coming to meet them both. First magic and now controlling size at will?!

The doubt from before grew to a real fear. Red Fang had never met a match or equal until today. This was the first time since his hatchling days that he actually feared losing. But he was a professional. Spike or him. One of them was going to die.

His eyes shifted to the ground.

The snow made a loud poof and splashed everywhere as the large killer plummeted into it. He angled himself so he could pull himself sideways as soon as his claws could grip. It was difficult to do in the thick snow bank but he wasn’t new to such environments. In spite of the padded but still bone-rattling stop, his golden fire sprayed from his mouth as he landed. It melted the snow behind him so Spike’s landing would hurt more.

Spike did not, however, land brutally on his rear legs as he had been positioned to. A cyan shield of magic materialized beneath his feet, angled so the purple dragon rebounded off the melted snow heap. Since the melting hadn’t watered the pile beneath the top few hooves, Spike’s shield was effectively a sled that bounced over Red Fang. Icy water sprayed in the wake, the droplets reflecting the glow of Rarity’s magic.

Once he was twice his own size in distance from Red Fang, Spike hopped off the shield, which dissipated into nothing. The snow crunched beneath the heavier dragon and a strong confidence washed over Spike’s face as he turned to the assassin.

“You failed!” Spike shouted, his voice deeper and rougher as it came from his bulkier snout. Two fangs poked out just a bit even when his mouth was closed and his longer jagged back spines glowed a more intense green. Lightning of the same hue snapped between them. “It’s over! Unlike you, I don’t want to hurt anyone. Surrender and you will live.”

Red Fang snarled and again broke his style of silence. “I’m going to enjoy making you suffer!”

Spike furrowed his brows. This dragon was insane. He was clearly outclassed with no hope of accomplishing his mission. With Rarity fighting along with Spike and their Hive Power activating along with his raw physical size and strength, whatever hope this attacker had to actually harm him was gone.

Red Fang leaped up with his wings and shot forward. Spike stopped the attacker again, claw-to-claw. He held the other dragon’s wrists back from making it to his face. In the struggle, he saw something strange in the assassin’s left claw. It was some sort of small orb with lines running through it and pulsing in a red hue. Something bothered him about it and he had a feeling he had to keep that from getting any closer. If this assassin wanted to use it then it was likely a lethal weapon.

Spike bent one knee to cause Red Fang’s forward momentum to be used against him, tossing him across the snowbank. A single cyan dart from Rarity shot Red Fang’s left claw after he got back up. It didn’t cause much damage but it did knock the small device away from him. Apparently, whatever that thing was, it was something the assassin now believed was critical to his mission. He didn’t have a second one on the thin tool strap wrapped across his right bicep, so he dived for the dropped device.

“Oof,” Red Fang breathed out when Spike collided with him.

The purple dragon wasn’t going to stand by and let him just pick something up. He locked claws with him again and this time had nothing to distract him from unleashing the power built up along his spine.

Golden flame shot from Red Fang’s mouth again to try ridding him of the locked position, but Spike stood firm and released the massive energy charge. Both large dragons lit in a blinding green-white light. Deafening snaps of thunder roared as the flurry of bolts connected the two, electrifying Red Fang. One second, two seconds, three seconds, six seconds.

“AAAAARGH!” Spike shouted in barely-controlled focus, on the knife’s edge of being cooked by his own magical storm of raw energy.

Red Fang shouted out too, but it was in a pain so overwhelming that his mind failed to determine which part of him should even hurt.

Smoke started to pour from Red Fang’s very scales and his knees buckled.

That was when Spike stopped.

The blinding light disappeared in an instant, as if it was completely spent. The smoking red dragon swayed and nearly fell over, his eyes wandering in an attempt to regain his focus. It was in that wandering that he saw the bent scales from his earlier attack on Spike. They hadn’t recovered from the dragon’s growth.

“I told you,” Spike panted from the exertion. “I don’t want to kill you. You’re defeated. Give up.”

Red Fang glared, focus regathered. “You think...you...” he panted as well. “You think I’m... finished?!”

“I’ve drained yo-” Spike began to respond with narrowed eyes. But then they widened in shock.

He had faked exhaustion. In a smooth thrust so fast that Spike had no time to react, Red Fang struck him where his scales had bent. He had never been pierced beneath the cover of his diamond-hard outer skin. The pain was so intense that Spike only gurgled out a wordless cry before falling backwards.

“SPIKE!” Rarity shouted in renewed terror. She thought the attacker was finished but now the pain she felt from Spike was strong enough to be fatal. She ignited her Hive Power, attempting to blast Red Fang away with an offensive shield.

The assassin dove around the side as it tried to hit him and then launched himself towards her with his large wings. His sharp claws were stretched out to pierce her.

Rarity refocused her magic to reform the shield between them but he had launched so quickly and the distance between them was too small. The sharp talons were two hooves from striking her throat when Red Fang was pummeled to the snow by a black blur.

“Agh!” Queen Flux groaned upon getting back up from the crater of snow caused by her ramming into the dragon from the sky. “I said drop me off, not drop me on him,” she sneered at the pink pony flying by on black and green jets above. Flux didn’t waste time, though, before transforming into a black dragon matching twice Red Fang’s size.

“I’ll kill all of you!” Red Fang shouted, having lost all patience from the interference. His attempt to get up was instantly denied, though.

Flux used her massive dragon form to punch him back into the snow and the cobblestone below. He stubbornly survived the powerful blow and launched himself back up on his wings, eyes turning to the device some distance away that he had tried to use before. His flight was cut short even before Flux could react again.

Hissing.

A hundred changelings were hissing in his ears all at once. The sky darkened from the swarm as they poured in from every imaginable direction. Their jagged hole-ridden hooves grabbed at every part of his body. His wings were pulled and forced to fold. He breathed fire once, twice, three times. It didn’t matter. Every changeling that fell away from the flame was replaced by five more.

He fell into the snow bank again in a black ball of clawing changelings. Green stuff was starting to cover him. He would have sliced them with his talons or cut with his tail blades but all of his limbs were held tight. He couldn’t move.

SPLAT!

His eyes were covered in a green slime. He began to shout out from it but his snout was covered next and cemented shut. The green slime continued to cover more and more of his body until little more than his nostrils were left open to breath. The substance hardened and the swarm began carrying off his motionless encased form.

“Prisoner secure. Transferring to stasis pod, my queen,” Cell Weaver reported to Flux.

The giant black dragon flashed in an enormous green flame. In less than a second, Flux was returned to her natural form. She stumbled down into the cold snow, face a mixture of exhaustion and pain. A whimper of pain accompanied the fall.

“My que-!”

Queen Flux pushed him back. “I’m fine!”

Clearly she wasn’t. The small changeling queen had never fully recovered from her dealings with Sombra. She ignored her pain, though.

“My queen!”

“Go!” Flux barked the command. “See to Spike. Don’t let him die! The hive needs him!”

With a simple nod of obedience, Cell Weaver followed orders.

Queen Flux clutched her ribs. The pain was deep, revisiting from the exertion. She had gone farther than it was safe to in her state. But it was necessary. She had finally come to terms with it. The hive needed this dragon and these ponies to survive. Hope had finally returned for the hive, but she was a broken queen and her power was waning. The only thing that mattered now was her changelings and the life they could finally have. She had faced him first because she didn’t want them getting hurt. Something had changed in her at last.

They were her children.

28 - Staged

Green field?

Twilight closed her eyes shut. They burned, but she opened them again to get a second take.

Fluttershy!

“Twilight! I can’t reach the intersection!” the yellow pegasus shouted fearfully.

She was standing just where she had been before the explosion. Her Hive Power had ignited, beginning to transform the space around them as soon as the first explosion had gone off. It had been a reactionary instinct on Fluttershy’s part to protect them and had saved her just in time before the other explosion enveloped her.

But what had been going on in those precious seconds she had heard all of those voices? She needed to get a grip on the situation. She let the hivemind fill her in, her own part of the mind coalescing back into enough semblance post-explosion to make sense of it. There was, after all, quite a bit more than just an empty green field around her.

Her hivemind put it together in a single second once she recovered…

The first explosion came from the stage front, but the direction of the blast splintered the stage upwards in a diagonal fashion. That caused herself and the mare on the ground to be knocked back but not fatally struck. As soon as the blast ignited, Midnight Strike began rushing towards her while Flash Sentry brandished his sword and took a defensive stance guarding Fluttershy.

Twilight’s guards were trained for one thing if nothing else and that was what to do during any attempt to hurt or assassinate the queen. So while Flash guarded Fluttershy and the left side stage stairwell, Midnight moved to a direct defense position near Twilight. The hivemind connection let him know she was not fatally wounded, so he skipped checking her body. Direway, meanwhile, immediately scanned and detected the first attacker to enter the crowd from an alley facing the intersection to the stage’s western side.

A second explosion erupted in flame about twenty hooves behind Direway on the stage, but nopony was close enough for the force of the blast to do any harm. The guard merely shifted his stance to steady himself on the disturbed boards of the stage. He was far more interested in the approaching assailant.

The pegasus attacker was followed by four others but only one other was a pegasus with the advantage of a swift approach on wings. That was when the third explosion happened but, by that time, Fluttershy’s Hive Power had already begun consuming the immediate sphere of space around them. As the explosion ruptured upwards, the physical space transformed and killed all of the blast save for the blinding afterimage of the initial explosion.

Pain from the first explosion heat and shock had been scrambling Twilight’s mind up to this point and that was finally when it overcame her enough to put a hole in her consciousness. But the others were still up. Fluttershy’s sphere of changed space only existed up to a certain number of hooves from her center. So only the stage and part of the surrounding ground were included and yet the outside world was still visible past the clear edge of the sphere of influence, allowing the guards to respond.

Then the shouts. The foals next to the mare who had reached for Twilight were crying for their mother who was unconscious on the ground just outside Fluttershy’s sphere. The lead attacking pegasus who was flying to the stage shouted “traitor” and brandished a spear aimed for Twilight. Direway shouted to Midnight Strike to intercept while someone in the crowd shouted for a medic for the fallen mother.

A stallion inspecting the mother shouted for a doctor as well when two more attackers flew in from the north or backstage direction. One of them cried “chaos scum” before shooting an arrow at Fluttershy. The deadly projectile only turned into harmless flowers when it entered the space, however. As that happened, Midnight Strike leaped up and knocked the spear from his target’s grasp before fighting him in the air.

“Two more!” Flash cried out when he identified two mares charging out of the inn across the street.

“Law and order will prevail!” shouted one.

“Die, anarchists!” shouted the other.

Both were Earth ponies and making a line for the stage, knocking away anyone who was between them. Somepony cried for them to stop, but it was a Royal Guard from the street who made one of them do so. Some guards had been present in the area from the city garrison and this one was the closest to respond. He managed to tackle one of the two rushing ponies.

“Get the kid!” the captured mare ordered as she was forced to the ground.

The second mare changed her focus to the foal indicated by her companion. The young filly close by seemed to realize she was being targeted because her eyes widened and she froze up in fear.

“Why are you doing this?!” Midnight Strike demanded of the attacker he was fighting.

“Run!” the guard in the street shouted to the filly, who the second mare was now headed for.

Fluttershy’s attention was diverted in concern over the imperiled foal, causing the space to flicker out. The stage returned as it had been, smoldering and broken. The Element of Kindness nearly fell into the hole created by the explosion she had narrowly avoided, but a slight change in position saved her.

The other pegasus not engaged with Midnight Strike managed to slip by Direway when the seasoned veteran got tied up with two unicorns that were a part of the attack group. This second pegasus attacker snatched up the spear dropped by his fellow assailant and leaped at Twilight with it. “For Celestia!” he shouted.

Then Rainbow intervened. She had been busy with the two attackers from backstage but came back around just in time. After that came yet another explosion. This time it was some kind of explosive mechanical projectile fired from the fourth story of the inn. It was detonated prematurely in the air by Flash Sentry, who had thrown his sword at it while racing down to protect the foal at risk.

“Get us out of here now!” Direway barked. He was fighting back three attackers now all at once and, though he was clearly handling himself, the wounds and never-ending escalation of the situation were clear signs they could not remain here any longer. It was a complete mess and they were fighting on more than three fronts from a burning stage.

“What are you doing?!” Flash Sentry shouted as the attacking mare got close to the young filly.

“Fluttershy! Where’s Fluttershy?!” Rainbow Dash panicked as the yellow mare disappeared altogether. Rainbow had finally managed to knock her opponent out. But Fluttershy’s body simply vanished and a momentary hole was created in the hivemind.

Then the sphere returned.

A green field.

Twilight was finally grounded. She could teleport them out as Direway had not so subtly suggested. However, that would leave only the street guard and a few other guards running towards him from down the street to deal with the remaining assailants. The public was still in danger.

The pony queen took inventory. Two guards at the rear of the stage had been knocked out by Rainbow Dash. A third as well in the center. The apparently more skilled pony Midnight Strike had been tussling with was just now knocked cold by him. A unicorn and Earth pony were down by Direway, leaving only one conscious unicorn fighting him.

The street guard was holding down one of the two hotel mares. Flash Sentry had managed to stop the second in no small part due to the advantage of his wings. That left a third attacker on the fourth story of the hotel, but no more shots had come from there after the one. That didn’t mean there would be no more attacks from there or, for that matter, any more explosions on or around the stage.

Twilight gave instructions to Flash Sentry over the hivemind and ignited her horn in a snap of green lightning. A bolt of it struck the unicorn Direway was still fighting with, knocking the opponent back across the road. In the next flash of green discharge, Twilight and all but Flash Sentry were mass teleported a few blocks down to the safety of Baltimare Garrison.

The garrison. It was stationed by over a hundred loyal Royal Guards and was a literal fortress within the city. Even so, it was more a matter of lucky events that had saved it from being the center of a blood bath. Or perhaps not so lucky. Luck was not something on Twilight’s mind given what happened not only at the stage, but also the warehouse and police block.

Two ponies that were dear to her were in intensive care.

If she had not been able to teleport them as soon as she had gotten the others to the garrison then they very well may have perished. The inner chambers of the garrison fort were not very welcoming. Hard rock and stone made up every non-windowed wall, floor, and ceiling. However, it was safe and that was what they all needed right now.

Twilight sniffled. The air was harsh with the sharp smell of antiseptic and the myriad of clean sterile equipment used for medical emergencies. At least the magical torch lights were not so bright that they were blinding. They still hurt the eyes, though. Twilight kept waving off nurses who wanted to look at her singed front. Parts of her did hurt but it was nothing compared to the two whose lives were still on the line.

In one room was Chrysalis. The offending projectiles had been removed from her body but the damage had been serious. Her mind was dead in their shared space but Twilight felt something there. Chrysalis was only unconscious and the changeling’s body still rose and fell with life. Her dire condition meant Twilight had only left her side to be with Applejack and vise versa.

The apple farmer might have actually been worse off. Her void magic had managed to consume enough of the magical fire blast to protect her from being incinerated by it, but it was not by much. Most of Applejack’s coat was burnt and the pain had been so severe that the medical team had to sedate her before the physical shock overtook her. She was also unconscious right now.

A Guard doctor came up to Twilight beside the medical capsule Applejack was in. “She has an 80% probability of recovery,” he reported solemnly. “The skin was not too deeply damaged so it will heal in time and her coat will come back. The greater concern is a nervous system overload and the complications that can cause. Our best approach will be to keep her under for a while with the IV. Our field medics have spells that will stabilize her healing and get her back to movement in two weeks. She will need at least a month and a half after that if the therapy spells go smoothly.”

Twilight nodded. Her gaze shifted to the Earth pony in the glass-shielded pod. She could see her own reflection in the glass, coat singed at the front and mane completely disheveled. There was a deadness in her eyes, testifying to how much she had gone through in the last twenty-four hours. Somehow the almost cave-like environment and constant sound of rushing and stressed ponies in the background paired well with her own appearance.

“Chrysalis?” she asked simply, tone even but concerned.

“Still stable. If we can keep her steady for another two hours then the greatest danger will be over. We’ve used your knowledge of changeling anatomy and it seems to have prevented complications. I can’t guarantee anything yet, though.”

A simple nod from the queen allowed the doctor to move on to his duty, which laid elsewhere.

There was just too much.

Too much to weigh on her heart.

Spike, her voice croaked even through the hivemind. Stay strong and rest up, Spike. I love you. We all do.

The dragon gave a tired and hurt affirmative. I love you too, mom. Don’t worry. We’ll live over here. I think they will too.

“Twilight,” Storm Sword interrupted upon entering the medical chamber.

The Queen of Equestria winced at the reminder of the troubles still ongoing outside the walls of the fortress. “Yes, Captain?”

“We’ve got them.”

Twilight stepped over the strewn rubble and broken wood. The building had been half destroyed from the fight with the guards, but it was still intact enough not to worry about it coming down on top of them. The place still smelled like smoke, which was in fact still rising from some spots here and there. If not for this and one adjacent house, it would have looked like the most serene neighborhood ever.

Shimmering Meadows. A private neighborhood of Baltimare walled off and locked off from the rest of the city, which partly explained why one no longer felt like they were in Baltimare once inside. The streets were pristine and every walkway was lined on either side by lush green banks of grass and willow trees. The mansions were a bit on the gaudy side though, or at least according to Rarity.

The guards were thorough and precise, doing their commander Storm Sword justice. Only three areas had been involved in any damage: these two closer-than-usual mansions directly involved in the hideout and part of the community gate. When the community gate guards had used force to prevent the Royal Guards from entering, it got a bit messy.

The queen was glad for once that she hadn’t been involved in this. Storm Sword had probably been glad too. As much as Twilight would have wanted to go after the ponies behind the recent events, she questioned if she would have been as controlled as these guards had been. The city was already in turmoil. It didn’t need to become any more of a free-for-all. And it might have become that if one of the captured assassins hadn’t talked.

Twilight came around into the next room, which was half opened by magical blasts anyways. There was at least ten Royal Guards there from Storm’s personal unit. Two of them were stationed on either side of a golden yellow mare that kept trying to shirk them and kept failing. She was clearly tired out and her eyes appeared sunken from fatigue.

Twilight approached her after hopping over a crushed office desk. “Honor Bound?”

The mare looked to Twilight but didn’t give much response besides a sneer and “I don’t talk to scum.”

“You hurt a lot of ponies,” Twilight frowned in return.

“That was your doing!” Honor blamed her. “I have no regrets fighting for freedom against a dictator!”

“Last I checked,” Twilight fought to control her darkening tone, “you and your group were the ones controlling other ponies with the dangerous ends of your weapons. I find it very unamusing that the one being called a dictator here is the one letting the ponies decide for themselves what they want to do with their city and their lives. It strikes me as a perversion of the word’s meaning.”

The only response to that was a spit to the face.

Twilight gave an “ugh” at the sensation but didn’t retaliate. Instead she looked to Storm Sword, who stood behind her at the “entrance” to the room. The captain gave her a gesture with her head to call her over. Seeing little gain to be had where she was, Twilight complied with the summons. Only after they were back at the leading walkway to the remains of the mansion did they strike up any talk.

“The tunnel connecting the two mansions collapsed?” Twilight asked first.

“Only on one side. We got to the chamber from the other and confiscated the weapons,” Storm Sword replied. “You won’t get anything out of that mare. She’s in deep. We suspect she was the key Elite member behind the coordination of Cloudsdale’s cloud poison conspiracy. The defeat or bribery of the security anyways. And she was definitely behind at least part of the Twenty Hours Coup. We found papers in the underground chamber that planned out the Canterlot Castle occupation.”

“The mastermind, huh?” Twilight glanced back at the smoking house.

“Yes and no,” Storm replied with her brisk accent. “She was behind the attack here in Baltimare and other political maneuvers in the city, but she only played a partial role in other events. There was never any one mastermind behind the coup or related events. She left the Elite party by her own admission due to power struggles within the party and disagreements over strategy. But given the findings in the investigations, the split seems more related to her ego than any difference in ideology.”

“I don’t know what I was hoping to find,” Twilight sighed.

“That she had any remorse?” Storm Sword offered. “I don’t blame you for wanting that. She hurt your loved ones very badly. I’d want the same, but...”

“I know,” Twilight gathered her spirits. “We should finish reviewing the damage, though. The residents are holding a deliberation where I was attacked. I need to know as much as possible about what happened so I can make the right decision when the time comes.”

Storm Sword began walking with her when Twilight started back towards what was left of the community gate. She gave a glance between the queen and the mansion behind them. It was good she was moving on and not wasting time but even Storm hadn’t seen her giving up on Honor so soon. Seeing the determination in her eyes, the captain gained an even greater appreciation for the mare.

“So you’re really thinking of going through with this, huh?” Storm Sword asked.

“I’m just a pony,” Twilight replied simply, her tone revealing that her mind was elsewhere. When her presence returned, so did her gaze towards Storm. “Or at least I would like to be again.”

“Don’t worry,” Pinkie Pie said, her voice much softer and less stable than usual. “I’ve already prepared your I Got All Better party.”

Spike groaned but not because of Pinkie. The pain was still throbbing. “Thanks, Pinkie,” he replied in a coarse voice.

Rarity slept beside him, her head on his right forearm. His size was back to normal, which was still about twice the size of a pony. The crystal ponies had wasted no time in putting together a medical room that could accommodate him. In fact, the room and many of the furnishings were of changeling creation. All of the over three hundred changelings had worked in a frenzied swarm to stabilize and begin healing him.

He glanced to his side where a metal contraption had been fixed to keep the injury from flexing inwards against itself. Two of his scales had been removed completely. How that had been accomplished, he had no idea. He was not conscious at the time and rather glad for that fact. Queen Flux had informed him that replacement scales could be made by the changelings to protect that spot after his underside was healed.

Queen Flux.

Who would have thought? He cracked a small smile as Pinkie exited the room to work on her plans. Every little thing had mattered in the end. Twilight had no way of knowing that making peace with the changelings and bringing them here would actually save him, Rarity, and the entire Empire. Friendship was magic. He began to chuckle at the poetic truth but then groaned instead when doing so gave him a sharp pain due to his wound.

That woke up the mare beside him.

“Spike!” she exclaimed upon awaking. “Oh...sorry, darling. I didn’t mean to shout. How are you feeling? Are you okay? Do you need any-”

“I’m okay, Rarity. Really,” Spike nearly chuckled at her flustered state. She was more worried right now than he was. “I don’t know if it’s just the good news mom finally has for us, but I have a feeling that everything is going to be just fine.”

29 - Turnabout

Big Mac had been the last and perhaps most reluctant to leave. Twilight wouldn’t blame him or any of the other members of the Apple family. After all, hearing that a close relative was in critical condition would have made her drop everything and rush over as well. The large red stallion gave her a somber nod on his way out the door. He knew it would be alright now. The recovery was slow but certain.

Twilight took a seat next to the Earth pony’s medical bed. “Holding up?” she asked simply. It wasn’t that she didn’t know. They had the hivemind, of course. But it was the very action of it that gave the sentiment its meaning.

“Like a hog in a mud pit,” Applejack croaked jokingly. “Just glad I’m the only one hurtin’. Besides Chrysalis, I mean.”

“Yeah,” Twilight breathed out with a lowered gaze. “Lots of other ponies did get hurt throughout the city, but at least there haven’t been any deaths. Except for a few that were perpetrating the attacks – like the ones that tried to kill you.”

Applejack closed her eyes and centered her head on the pillow. “Equestria is a land of harmony. A place where friendship grows. Why do they want to bring such hatred and violence to it?”

Twilight didn’t answer immediately.

“Did we...do something wrong?” Applejack opened her eyes and looked straight up at the ceiling from her medical bed.

“No,” Twilight replied this time, her tone soft but decided. “Equestria is a large land with many ponies in it. It has a history that stretches back long before even our grandparents were alive. The things that have happened might have been triggered by the absence of The Two Sisters, my ascension, or even Chysalis’ rehabilitation. But they were long in the making – sentiments that were looking only for an excuse. We can never be responsible for the wrongdoing perpetrated by them. Otherwise, there would always be some scapegoat to justify this kind of hatred.”

Applejack groaned. “So what do we do? You are the Queen of Equestria, after all.”

The purple pony looked to the painting on the wall across from Applejack’s bed. It had been put there by a thoughtful Guard on the medical team who realized the stone prison was not the most conductive to a healthy recovery. The piece was not some famous work of art but it was perhaps even more beautiful because of that. It showed the expanse of wooded hills that lead up to Equestria’s western border. The tall ascension of the western mountain range could be seen amongst the mist in the distance.

“I think it’s time we went back to Ponyville,” she finally said.

Applejack took up her meaning via their connection and her thoughts echoed back that way along with the thoughts of the other hive members. You think the local groups can handle the responsibilities without a leader in Canterlot?

“Las Pegasus has been more than a success,” Twilight assured. “Since the residents there reclaimed control, the city has been undergoing a renaissance. In fact, some of the new leaders that have arisen there have blown my own ideas out of the water. This is why we have to go through with it. It’s foalish to believe that even with our combined wisdom, our own ideas are superior to theirs – the ideas of tens of thousands of ponies that know their own situation better than we ever could. I wouldn’t be surprised if Turnip Toss can get the east city to supply the construction of Pegasopolis single-hooved.”

Every city is different, though, Spike pointed out over the hivemind.

“Yes, of course,” Twilight shifted in her seat. “I won’t be giving up all power and not all at once either. Just pulling back until each region is stable enough on its own. We’ll be going over the details in Canterlot in just a few days. I’ve received notice that the royal court has settled on a major ruling.”

The initial coup investigations have resulted in a first round of sentences and reforms, no? Rarity asked.

“None of it is public yet,” Twilight nodded. “But the court is of course in the know. We’ll see what they’ve made of it soon enough.”

“You know what I’m looking forward to?” Applejack cut back in, a smile back on her face.

“Sweet Apple Acres?” Twilight returned the happy sentiment.

“Those trees are going to be as sweet as honey to see in the sunrise,” Applejack sighed as her head rested back once more on the soft pillow.

“It would be,” Chrysalis spoke with a pause due to the exertion, “very pathetic for me to die from this given what I’ve already been through in life.”

“You’re a tough cookie,” Twilight kidded her with a grin. She refrained, though, from knocking the changeling’s side in jest.

“But ever so soft for you, Twily,” Chrysalis began to grin back from her pillow before a wince of pain flipped it back into a frown.

Twilight rubbed the larger being’s foreleg that rested over the sheets. “Take it easy, Chrysy. You’ve got all the time in the world to heal and I promise we’ll have some fun times just to relax together once you’re up and out. Back in Ponyville too.”

Capital of Chillaxing, Rainbow Dash added.

“Town of Friendship officially. But yeah, I would call it the Town of Chillaxing too,” Twilight giggled.

We get to come over, right? Spike asked hopefully.

Only if you and Rarity don’t get too frisky in the hot tub, Chrysalis smirked and the look transferred over quite well through her hivemind tone.

Rarity, being quite done with such teasing, just gave an even return. Only if you promise to do the same with Twilight, darling.

Chrysalis pursed her lips at the comeback.

“Alright, you guys,” Twilight rolled her eyes but smiled all the same. “It won’t be for a few days at least. More likely a week. So rest and heal. I’ll be handling the rest.”

“A massive magical eruption occurred where Applejack was. The scroll activated a Nightmare of the Sun spell – one of the deadliest and dangerous scroll weapons normally held under tight lock and key by the Royal Guard. As I mentioned before, this garrison was never authorized for it. Only two armories in Equestria house such super weapons: Canterlot and Manehattan. After the coup, the Canterlot armory was carefully checked for any missing weaponry. Everything checked out but Manehattan never took an inventory after that date. There was an uprising there but we didn’t perform a review because the only trouble detected was on the other side of the city.”

Twilight nodded to Storm Sword’s analysis. The garrison lighting was as moody as ever and she would be happy for once to be leaving it for Canterlot today. “A distraction to sneak out the scrolls.”

“Exactly,” Storm seethed, though more at herself for not being more careful. “Obviously we will be revising our security.”

“What about the origin research? We don’t want anypony replicating the scrolls based on the research that led up to it.”

“That would be Fire Scream’s tomes. Her work was in turn built off of Starswirl’s fire magic studies. Starswirl’s is obviously under lock and key at the Canterlot Archives. Fire Scream’s was secured by Celestia herself. She once assured me it was safe within the restricted section. Whatever that means. Only she would know and I trust it’s safe wherever that happens to be. After all, Celestia is quite intimate with the power of that kind of magic.”

Being reminded of Celestia made Twilight stop. How long had it been now since she had left with Luna and Discord? How long would they be gone? How long before she should begin to worry…? No, she had to stay focused.

“Thank you, Storm,” Twilight hefted her saddle bags back off the map table. “I trust you to carry out the remaining work here in Baltimare. Look after AJ and Chrysy. I’ll be back for them as soon as I can. There are things to be done in Canterlot.”

Storm Sword saluted in a mocking manner. “Give ‘em Tartarus, my queen!”

Twilight chuckled. “Will do, captain.”

“Today is the dawn of a new age!” shouted Morning Glory with the rest of the Golden Dawn leadership around her. “Peace, love, and harmony will be upon us for time eternal!”

The announcement was mere cake decoration. Morning Glory gave the words from Canterlot Castle’s Royal Balcony facing the wide runway leading from the castle gates to the close-knit districts of the old city. There were, in fact, many actual cake decoration downstairs upon the rows of cakes freely offered to the public during the festivities.

And oh did the public show up in droves! The city might have finally lost most of the Cloudsdale refugees that had occupied the place for a time but Canterlot was a densely populated place to begin with. And everypony had been acutely aware of political events since the attempted coup. That meant that the royal court’s passing of the Declaration of Harmony had not gone by without every mare, stallion, and foal knowing about it.

In any case, Twilight was sure to enjoy the downstairs treats as well when she returned within the hour, Morning Glory thought. Although the final ratification of the new Equestrian Declaration of Harmony was incomplete without her signature, the Queen of Equestria was not likely to bring this momentum to a halt. What little public opinion that was still in opposition was quickly dying off after news from Baltimare began to stretch throughout the land.

Golden Dawn was now the sole remaining political party with any notable power. The remaining parties had been unofficially absorbed into a sort of half-existence with Golden Dawn making all of the decisions. Celestia had entrusted emergency control of the royal court to her, Morning Glory, and she was quite satisfied with the results of her efforts.

Well, there was perhaps one small iota of a doubt but she could simply talk to the queen about it later.

“Long live the Queen of Equestria!” shouted the packed crowds below as many of the ponies within waved purple flags emblazoned with familiar stars. “Long live Queen Twilight Sparkle!”

Morning Glory grinned. A quick check of the ancient miniature sundial on her hoofstrap told her how much time she had until the queen arrived. Princess Celestia had given her this sundial when she was only a filly and the fact that it now told her of the return of the princess’s heir only made her feel all the warmer inside.

Best get some cake before the formalities resumed.

“I guess I can accept the post-party planning,” Pinkie pursed her lips in a pout.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes as another pony nudged up against her. This place was way too cramped for her. Was all of Canterlot crowding into the castle’s forward wing? Not that she could blame them. This was probably the safest place in Equestria right now with it crawling with Royal Guard loyalists and Golden Dawn supporters. That and Twilight's personal guards. Still, Rainbow hated how the party dress was keeping her from flying above the crowd.

“Do I have to wear this?” she asked for the millionth time. “It’s hot enough with all these ponies crammed in here. All I want is some cake and then we can find Twi again.”

“Rarity had to stay in the Crystal Empire with Spike so I have to fulfill her every wish as if she were actually here, Dashie!” Pinkie insisted as if it were the law. “And Rares says you have to wear it!”

At least wear something for my sake, Rainbow Dash, the fashionista ordered over the hivemind.

“It’s not like Twilight’s going to keep with this whole ‘give me all the power in Equestria’ empress non-sense,” Rainbow countered. “It’s a party over nothing.”

That caused Pinkie to gasp so loudly that it caused all the hundred or so ponies in the cake-stocked dining room to go silent. The pink Earth pony grabbed Rainbow’s cheeks and stared deep into her eyes.

“There’s no such thing as a pointless party,” she stated in a very serious and also very convinced tone. “Repeat with me, Rainbow Dash. There is no such thing as a pointless party.”

Rainbow groaned but knew better than to argue. “There’s no such thing as a pointless party.”

“Opposition?” Twilight inquired in the private side room. The cushions she sat against were good enough for royalty, which she supposed she was. It was a technical thing and, in spite of her confidence and resolve she had found in her official position, she did not think much of the egotistical aspect of her social standing.

“Broken,” Morning Glory answered simply before detailing. “Political groups were shattered beyond the point of cohesion due to the web of involvement in the coup. As for unorganized public opposition, the mood has been dying. Even ponies that disagree have begun to understand that opposing the new declaration is worse than what they fear will come of it. The Twenty Hours Coup, Cloudsdale, Las Pegasus, Baltimare, and even word of events in the Crystal Empire have deadened hope that returning to the status quo is even an option. Ponies have seen the destruction and bloodshed that the opposition groups have brought and they are more than ready for peace.”

“Indeed,” Twilight nodded with a dark frown. She turned back to the window but did not go to open it. “Some doors shut and may never open again.”

“Would you like for me to order your remaining things moved here from Ponyville, my queen?” Morning Glory asked, her tone perfectly satisfied before even a reply was given.

“No,” Twilight returned her gaze to the mature mare. “Please have the belongings I currently have here transferred to the Golden Oaks Library instead. I will be returning there after I can have Applejack and Chrysalis safely transported there from Baltimare.”

Morning Glory blinked. Her expression failed to change even as she mouthed a “what?”

“I’m making a revision to the declaration, Morning Glory,” Twilight leaned back into the cushions. “Much will remain as your party has seen fit. However, I wish to relax my involvement and secure greater autonomy for the regions. I will return to Ponyville and only mediate should the situation become so serious. Golden Dawn’s responsibilities will not become such a burden, though. New leadership is forming in Baltimare as it did in Las Pegasus. The Declaration of Harmony already took most of this increased autonomy into account – for which I’m very grateful.”

Morning Glory’s exuberance fell but she maintained a disappointed smile. “The extent of your personal leadership is, of course, of your own discretion, my queen. We did make an effort to match the declaration to your own philosophies formed from years as the Princess of Friendship and also recent inclinations towards releasing regional control.”

“Yes. Also, thanks for grabbing me some cake,” Twilight smiled before taking a bite.

The lemon flavor of the cake was a pleasant change of pace from the usual vanilla even though the white icing was of that particular flavor itself. She couldn’t help but wonder if switching back and forth between that and the purple-frosted chocolate cake made for such a pleasant flavor combination merely because Pinkie’s bizarre preferences had crossed over and messed up her taste buds. In any case, those large purple-frosted cakes that had been iced with her cutie mark gave her an unsettled feeling when they had been cut for serving.

Morning Glory’s crestfallen state eventually came out in a weak plea. “Are you sure you won’t reconsider residing here instead?”

Twilight swallowed but failed to wipe the frosting off her mouth before replying, large cake-filled plate still hovering in her purple magic. “I’m sorry, Morning. I did grow up here in Canterlot but then I spent many years in Ponyville as well. I love that town and it’s more...peaceful than Canterlot. Besides, it would be easier on my friends – and special someponies – if we returned there. Rarity can move her sewing work if she wishes but AJ can’t just move the orchard. Neither can Fluttershy move all the animals she has grown to know and care for. There are other concerns too. It would just be easier. And it’s what I want.”

“I see,” Morning Glory sighed. She let a silent moment linger and the queen take a few more bites before speaking what remained on her mind. “You don’t resent what we’ve done do you?”

When Twilight was able to reply once more, she turned curious. “I didn’t think you were such a worried pony. I took you for the pushy overconfident type. No offense.”

Morning gave a weak chuckle at that. “None taken. And maybe I am that way. But I was raised to give every part of myself to what I believed in. Celestia gave me an enormous responsibility when she allowed me into the royal court. I love Equestria and now that we’ve got this far...got the new structure of Equestria ready to implement...I just want to feel one hundred percent certain that I’ve done the right thing.”

“From the one pony left who can be Celestia’s voice of assurance to you?” Twilight said, her plate now lowered and mouth wiped. Her own voice had nearly become somber at the thought of her absent former mentor and second mother. “I get it, Morning. Really. When you’re in the moment and you have tomorrow’s goal on the horizon, it’s easy not to second guess. Then you get everything you ever wanted. The goal is achieved and you still have to live your life...”

“...wondering if you did enough,” Morning Glory finished and finally copied the tired smile on the purple alicorn’s face.

“I know why you and Golden Dawn felt it had to go this way,” Twilight breathed out deeply. Though the air was cool, she could feel the warmth from the fireplace across the room. Looking to it, she wished they had rearranged the furniture to be closer to it when they first walked in. “I might have done the same. Besides, the ponies of Equestria are scared. They want something stable. Something to make them feel like tomorrow will be okay. Nopony can blame them after what has happened. I’ve carefully reviewed Golden Dawn’s plan. With my revisions, everything should be okay.”

“You know, my queen, you aren’t the inexperienced filly I once worried you would be,” the mare even grew a slight humor to her mood.

Twilight tapped her head. “Having a hivemind helps but then me and my friends have already been through quite a lot before I ever became an alicorn. I learned a lot. Though I have to admit that a couple pegasi of mine have taught me the most about courage and that has been particularly handy of late.”

That almost got a chuckle out of the mare.

“I’m not perfect,” Twilight explained in humility. “I don’t always remember the lessons I learned and sometimes things don’t go well even if I do. I try to do the best I can. It’s all anypony can do.”

“Lucky for us, Equestria has you and the Elements of Harmony,” Morning Glory remarked, her confident posture coming back.

“And it always will,” Twilight said before resuming the cake eating, all the while blissfully unaware of the royal shoes she had come to fill. Delegating authority so she might be the protector and guardian of the land of Equestria for time eternal.

And eating lots of cake in the meantime.

30 - The Haven

Applejack took a deep breath.

There it was. The fresh scent of Sweet Apple Acres. Just what she needed. She wished she could be out there with Big Mac, bucking the apples off the trees until sundown. Alas, it would not feel as great as she remembered with her coat still as raw as it was. Healing and resting was still in order.

Not that this mare would let her get out anyhow…

“Fresh water,” Rara exclaimed upon her return, hooves clicking against the old worn boards of the Apple house. “Just regular. I knew you’d spit it out if you caught an imported taste.”

The joking grin didn’t pass over Applejack’s head. She clutched the pillow, wishing she had sheets instead. Twilight may have insisted that she remain in the transported medical pod, but she wasn’t keen on experiencing what felt like a pampering. Her hide might be raw but she was a tough pony. One look from Rara, though, and she stayed put.

“I promised I’d keep an eye on you, AJ,” the singer said after she placed the water jug on the nightstand. “I meant it. The magic runes on the pod will speed the remainder of your healing. The more time you spend out of it, the longer it will take you to get back to work.”

Applejack groaned. “I know, Rara. I’m just not used to this consarned thing. I’d have preferred Twi just zap me back to normal.”

Rara looked about for the folded apple-pattern blanket and found it on the shelf across from the bed. She had set up a few larger pillows near the bed and adding a blanket would make it a more comfortable stay. “I may not be in that special group of yours, but it’s my understanding that Twilight is still not capable of everything,” she commented as she walked across the room and grabbed the thick blanket so old it was probably an heirloom. “In fact, I’m surprised you all survived given what you told me.”

Applejack remained disappointed even if she knew the truth of it all along. “Twi’s not queen for nothin’. Look, thanks for bein’ here, Rara. I haven’t said it yet, so I think I should. I’m sorry for havin’ to run away on you in Vanhoover. I really did want to spend more time-”

“Hush you,” Rara quieted her in a motherly tone. “Your friends needed you. Who am I to keep the Elements of Harmony apart? Besides,” she came up to the side of the open magic pod and stroked AJ’s cheek, “what kind of pony would I be if I cared nothing for the ponies you cherish?”

Applejack blushed and thought over what to say as her fillyhood friend got comfortable again beside the pod. Finally, she decided on, “sure know how to butter up a mare, huh?”

Rara’s only reply was a “dinner will be in an hour” before she put on her headphones to practice her familiarity with the beats to new songs she had in the making.

Applejack was getting hungry now that she was thinking about it. Her gaze lingered on her friend though, rather than the door that lead from her bedroom to the hall and kitchen beyond. Rara was the biggest star in all of Equestria and yet she was here looking after some farmpony.

The orange pony still felt unsure about what she wanted in her life. At least when it came to romance. But she knew one thing for certain. This pony truly cared about her. And that felt good. Really good.

With noticeably less pain, Applejack turned onto her back once more and looked up to the apple stickers stuck to the roof above this spot where her regular bed pillow would be. There was something else that made Applejack think this was not such a bad thing.

Rara was pretty hot.

All I am saying, darling, is that if you think another mare is ‘hot’ then you are clearly attr-

While I’m perfectly fine with the two of you debating the deeper meaning of appearance and attraction, Twilight interrupted over the hivemind relay, I’m much more interested in how you and Spike are doing.

Saved by the Twi, Applejack chuckled before falling silent in the mind.

Rarity huffed. Very well, Twilight. And I will not bother asking why you continue to inquire in spite of having the answer already. Really, sometimes I think you just interrupt for your own amusement.

The queen giggled only.

To answer: perfectly fine, though Spikey won’t stop fussing over his replacement changeling scales.

I’m not fussing, Spike grumbled, voice still deep but not as croaky as it had been when injured. He shifted about on his seat. I just wish they blended into my other scales. Two black ones stand out against my purple.

Rarity cantered over to the medium-sized dragon on the throne. “While I would normally abhor a spot different in color, this is hardly fashion. Some ponies have mottled coats or spots, though it is less common. I am not insensitive-”

Except for zebras, Twilight remarked.

“Now I know you are playing about,” Rarity deadpanned with a flat face. Her voice sounded out in the throne room, the few other occupants besides Spike raising brows in confusion.

“Let her have some fun,” Spike chuckled. It was a nice contrast to the recent mood in the Empire. “It helps lighten things up around here. Celestia knows we all need it.”

Seeing the white mare shiver a bit in her overcoat, Spike blew a breath of steamy air to her, to which her stony expression softened. “It is nothing more than the usual squabbles,” she assured him and leaned up to his face to give him a soft nuzzle. “Managing an Empire even as small as this one is bound to have its own troubles.”

“And vigorous nightly romps.”

“Gah!” Rarity and Spike exclaimed in unison, both falling away from the throne.

There, leaning against the other side of the crystal throne where she had not previously been, was Princess Cadance. The Crystal Princess and supreme leader of the Crystal Empire. She leaned forward onto the armrest from the side, resting her faux innocent face upon her golden royal shoe-clad hooves.

Rarity huffed with a blush. “You said to watch the throne while you went for luncheon!”

“Turns out Sunburst doesn’t have any hidden magi-film capture scrolls in stock at the moment. And they have to be the hidden variety or I won’t be able to film the two of you getti-”

Vvvmm!

The hum of Rarity’s azure magic vibrated as it closed the pink alicorn’s mouth and kept it shut. She had gotten used to Cadance’s endless teasing and pervy pranks, but that didn’t mean she was okay with it being shouted about with changelings and crystal ponies in the throne room. The low chatter of the minor official business being conducted in the throne room soon died upon Cadance showing up again.

Shining Armor, meanwhile, stepped through the front entrance of the throne room. “I told you not to use the Heart’s magic for teleporting, dear,” the stallion pouted. “I can’t keep up.”

“If only it could record pony and dragon coupling,” Cadance mumbled through Rarity’s silencing magic. Thankfully, it didn’t sound comprehensible to anypony.

“You could have just asked,” Spike shrugged, taking on a grin as he looked sideways to his relatively-smaller mare.

“Not helping, Spikey,” Rarity’s deadpan returned.

Canterlot was busier than usual. The sound of rumbling carts was on every street. The sound of an auctioneer rang out even in the chaotic clash of sounds and voices. The square had a dozen Royal Guards directing wagon traffic around the massive auction meeting that boarded off all but a narrow corridor snaking around the edge of the otherwise open square. Wagons bumped along over the tiled stone that formed the walking path along the square’s building storefronts. Guards helped ponies coming in and out of said stores avoid the wagon traffic they, in turn, forced to go slow and careful.

“859 North Canter Boulevard!” the auctioneer mare shouted out. “Two million! Do I hear Two-Five? Yes, the teal pony there! Three! Three million?!”

A certain pink Earth pony was flying over the tops of the old-era architecture that all of the square’s surrounding buildings were made in. “Target sighted,” Pinkie Pie giggled to herself and lowered the hum of her changeling flight turbines. “Engaging!”

The buildings zipped by on her left as she turned and glided downwards, intricate stained glass windows blurring along her sight as she aimed for one particular unicorn. In 100% certified Pinkie fashion, she crashed into the mare directly instead of landing beside her. Engines whined to a halt and pink hooves clacked against the stone walkway.

“Reporting for duty, sir ma’am sir!” Pinkie saluted the pony she was currently pinning to the ground.

“Relieved, Pinkie,” Storm Sword moaned. A glow of her magic placed the over-excited party mare off to the side. The Captain got back up to her hooves, ignoring the stares of the ponies who had been surprised from the event. “You’re not even under my command. What brings you here? Also, I’m off-duty right now.”

“Well that’s obvious, silly!” Pinkie rolled her eyes, smile still bright enough to outshine the sun. “That’s why I brought you these totally off-duty cupcakes! Hazelnut too. Your favorite!”

Storm couldn’t respond before a cupcake was shoved into her mouth. And then a second one. Pinkie’s reputation was well deserved, though. Nopony was a better baker. And these were her favorite. She calmly disregarded the fact that the mare was acquiring these cupcakes from the bottomless inventory of her pink mane. Pinkie even popped out a whole tray of hazelnut treats from her poofy locks.

“Also, Twily wanted to thank you again for everything you’ve done.”

Storm Sword groaned. “Besides it being my job, I do have a personal interest in keeping the ponies of Equestria...you know...not dead.”

Pinkie Pie threw the plate of cupcakes into the air and gave Storm Sword a spine-cracking hug. “You’re the best!”

“You came all the way here just because you wanted to fly around with that thing and make more cupcakes, didn’t you?” Storm guessed with a knowing look as she eyed the hybrid machine-contraption still strapped to the pony.

Pinkie Pie stepped back from her guard friend and proceeded to catch the plate of cupcakes as it came back down. “And give you some of the cupcakes and thank you and hug you and see some of my other awesome friends here in Canterlot!”

Storm Sword’s eyebrows furrowed. How long were those cupcakes in the air? Were they just hanging up there mid-air this whole time?

“They’ve put more trust in you, it seems,” Friendly remarked as she took a seat beside the not-so-tall changeling queen. The bench was less cold now that the dark being had melted away the snow and warmed it in the process.

“Nearly killing myself to save their dragon has put me in high regard,” Queen Flux answered, getting comfortable next to her fellow foreigner. Though perhaps her changelings were becoming less foreign to the Empire every day.

In spite of only the occasional snowflake drifting down, it was by all means still quite cold. Each of Flux’s words was accompanied by a puff of foggy warm air. “The Crystal Heart...I would not have survived without it, UA-17. It has evolved, connecting to every one of us. I didn’t believe in peace or hope for my hive. Certainly not for myself. There was only the struggle. The fight. That was all there ever was and all there ever would be. I don’t care that it nearly took my death to see a new dawn. My children are safe. There’s nothing more I want.”

Friendly looked into the changeling’s eyes for a moment and then turned her gaze to the mountains rising in the distance over the roofs of the crystal buildings. “It is strong of you to see that. Any good leader cares more for those she is in charge of than herself. And I told you, the name’s Friendly.”

“A direct name for an ambassador, don’t you think?” Flux grinned a bit, her fangs baring just a tad.

Friendly have a humorous “hph” of warm breath, finding amusement with it. “I do have a name besides that but this is my name for all others. Outside my borders anyways. You are a surprising choice for an ambassador yourself, are you not? Former enemy of these ponies?”

“I’m trusted now and they wish to fully include my hive in all matters. We are...accepted here.”

Friendly smiled as she looked to the mountains again, envisioning her home beyond them. “All will remember this time.”

“What for?” Flux tilted her head, orange locks shifting in the motion. “Strife? Trouble?”

“It was the time we all came together. In peace.”

Silence. The faint distant murmur of one or two conversations. Rustling of the trees in the gentle breeze. Chirping of birds. A bright sky with a few clouds lazing about.

Queen Twilight Sparkle took a deep breath. Her regalia was off for a change and she enjoyed the feel of the grass and soil beneath her hooves. She stood at the rear of the Golden Oaks just in case some random pony might see her and decide to have a chat. She would enjoy such a thing so long as it was not for an autograph, but at the moment all she wanted was this.

To know...to feel what she had been missing of late. The peaceful life she had here in Ponyville. She let her eyes fall wherever they wished. To the clouds. Then to Rainbow Dash, who was fooling about on one of them, paddling her forelegs like oars to move about.

She let out a blurt of a laugh.

Okay, so her life here in Ponyville hadn’t always been peaceful. There may have been a half dozen or so world-ending threats that she and her friends had faced. That was beside the point, though. Right now was just a time to enjoy this. The moment.

A minute passed. Then two. Suddenly Twilight felt something soft brush up against her foreleg. Looking down, she found a very familiar black cat with vibrant green eyes and a pair of transparent bug-like wings this time. Catsalis.

“I thought you were making tea inside with Shy,” Twilight remarked, her voice cool and relaxed.

“Meow,” the small black feline replied.

“Oh, you’re so funny,” Twilight brought out her sarcasm with a smile.

“I was sent by the strawberry lemonade pony to inform you of the tea’s completion,” her voice came out in an odd combination of a purr and buzz. “I was going to just tell you through our mind, but I was curious about the feeling you were getting through your hooves.”

“Haha,” Twilight continued her sarcasm. “And it’s quite a bit different with paws.”

The changeling’s response to that came in a flash of green flame that was harmless to the grass. Twilight didn’t reel back from the change in Chrysalis’ form but did have to point her head up rather than down. The changeling was still much taller than her in her natural form.

“Aaaah,” Chrysalis sighed happily. “Yes, I agree. It does feel good. Perhaps it helps that the sun has warmed it. Though I do admit it feels much different with small paws.”

“It won’t be around for much longer,” Twilight admitted. “The snowbanks are not far off in Rainbow’s schedule. She’s helping out now that we’re back.”

After that, Chrysalis turned more serious. “You should speak if you have thoughts troubling you. Not mask it in our mind.”

Twilight didn’t answer right away as she processed what Chrysalis had said. Mask it? Then with a bright light of realization she laughed hard.

Chrysalis rose a brow and even Rainbow Dash paddled over, thinning the cloud to get lower.

“What’s up?” the multicolored mare inquired earnestly.

Chrysalis just shrugged.

“You...” Twilight began bringing down her bout of laughter. “You’re just so...serious!”

“I thought-”

“It’s not that,” the queen alicorn assured with a trailing chuckle. “Really. It’s not. I settled all of my official duties in Canterlot before we left. I don’t have any reservations about what I chose.”

Rainbow Dash was quicker to ask as she hovered on a thin cloud beside Chrysalis’ head. “Then what are you hiding?”

Twilight stifled more laughter. “It’s just so funny that the two of you are so persistent in knowing the smallest thing I don’t let you in on.”

“Hey,” Rainbow pouted. “I love you and really care about you. I’d say I have a right.”

“You’ve been hiding more and more here and there ever since you grasped the ability to selectively mask and block within the hivemind,” Chrysalis added with an air of camaraderie with Rainbow Dash.

Twilight said nothing yet in return but instead walked the short distance from the rear of her library to the stream that flowed through Ponyville. She stopped there at the edge of the water, admiring the small smooth pebbles that formed the bed of the stream. Trickling water rolled over the stones and made its way to destinations far beyond Ponyville. This was a spot a fair distance from the bridge, so no ponies were nearby.

With a gentle movement of her shoe-free hoof, she poked the water.

Cold.

Soon she would be enjoying hot cocoa rather than tea with Fluttershy.

“I was just hiding my plans for tonight,” she finally answered, glancing back to her blue and black companions. “Wanted it to be a surprise. I was thinking we’d have a sleepover at AJ’s. Didn’t want to leave her out. And then tomorrow will be an entire day off.”

“That’s a plan I can get behind,” Rainbow replied quickly with a smirk.

Chrysalis, however, was rubbing her forehooves together. “I see opportunities. Is that Rara still there?”

“Yes,” Twilight slid into suspicion. “No pranks.”

“Only love,” Chrysalis defended herself. “Yes,” she repeated to herself, “it will be a welcome little vacation from work.”

A familiar voice then called to them from the distance. Soft yet not so timid. “Twily! Chrysy! Dashie! The tea is getting cold!”

“It ain’t easy getting over that,” Applejack commented to Pinkie Pie as Twilight and Fluttershy danced to the music of the record player the party pony had brought over. “Twi’s been helping though. Having peace of mind is something this hivemind can help with and I don’t know where I’d be without it.”

Pinkie whipped out another cupcake out of thin air like it was stage magic. She placed it on AJ’s plate. The frosting even had an apple design on it with red food coloring. “I know. Well, we all know. Cloudsdale, Canterlot, Las Pegasus, Vanhoover, Baltimare. They’re things nopony can forget. But we can still smile. Equestria is getting better and we’ll always do what we can to make it so. In the meantime,” Pinkie gave her trademark super-smile, “we’re gonna have a blast here in Ponyville~!”

“Got that right,” Twilight called over as she took a break from her signature dance moves. “I need a drink. Pinkie?”

“I’ve got it,” Chrysalis answered instead, practically prancing over to the juice table currently being restocked by Rara.

Twilight began to rethink her desires at that moment. Keeping some responsibility as queen while stepping back and letting the ponies make more of their own decisions was a new balance that only time would tell was satisfactory or not. Regardless of how the future played out, she was hoping that the worst events had already come to pass. Perhaps what she needed most to forget duties and enjoy this particular night was a slice of cake.

Just one.

Or two.

Meanwhile, Rarity was managing a sleepover of her own.

Which was mostly just Cadance insisting she and her husband spend a night with her and Spike. Rarity was quite certain Cadance was simply bored in spite of all the going-ons in the Empire. Thankfully, Sunburst showed up before long, but his droning about Crystal Heart pony-changeling connection magic was hardly adequate relief. Spike embraced her from behind as they all relaxed in the rebuilt bedroom, giving her warmth from the dragon flame burning hot in his chest.

And that kept her happy.

18 - Warming Up

Fluttershy gave out one of her loudest “eeps” she ever had. She would have hidden under the bedsheets if she weren’t already in them. The fireworks were the end of her life as far as she was concerned.

BAM!

Rainbow Dash, meanwhile, was flying to one corner of the room and then another. She quickly discovered the fireworks were magically coming from her for some reason and that they were not harmful. In fact, she even tested by quickly flying through what should have been a hot spray of sparks from one of the explosions. It didn’t burn. Clearly these were some kind of illusory magic fireworks. Harmless.

But why?

“Dashie!” Fluttershy whimpered while trying to stuff herself under the bed. Small explosions still popped around her, though they were dying off the same as Rainbow’s.

“It’s cool, Shy,” the blue mare insisted while landing beside her friend and polyamorous lover. She had pulled her out from beneath the mattress by wrapping her hooves around the rear half that was still sticking out. They tumbled backwards onto the burgundy carpeted floor.

“Is it over?” Fluttershy looked around worried.

Rainbow just chuckled and then tossed the girl onto the top of the bed where they had started. “Yeah, and no I don’t know what that was all about. Ms. Queeny probably does and I’m guessing we’ll find out once she’s in range again.”

“What makes you say that?” Fluttershy asked, her forehooves curled up against her chest as she laid on her back.

“Intuition.”

Before Rainbow could climb back up on the bed, a familiar voice reached them over the relayed hivemind.

Got a minute? Spike asked in a somewhat nervous fashion.

Fluttershy would have asked for what reason but the hivemind began transmitting over what Spike was seeing that prompted the question. Rainbow and Fluttershy were spending the rest of their last day in Las Pegasus by relaxing at the hotel and seeing a few sites – activities that had mostly been absent due to the recent upheaval of the city.

Rainbow looked into Fluttershy’s knowing eyes. Time to cut the vacation short.

We’ll be there in ten seconds flat.

The snow had built up considerably in the Crystal Empire, but past the edge of the most distant roads and houses was significantly worse. Deep unforgiving tundra and ice formations that made for spectacular post cards. It was from one particular low cliff in the distance that the transports first became visible. Spike knew they were coming because of Twilight’s communications before she left, but they was still a fearsome sight to behold.

The low cliff was a good thousand or so hooves out from the last building on the Empire’s western side, which happened to be the Crystal Syrup production house. The double-storied building’s sole street lamp cast just enough light to be noticeable, so it was the moon itself that provided the light necessary to see the massive transports barreling towards them.

They were huge. Built only vaguely like wagons, they moved as if pulled by twenty stallions at breakneck speed. But no ponies seemed to pull them – they vaulted forward all on their own. Easily six times the size of the Apple family jalopy, they were built of heavy metal and braced by reinforcements on the front that could break down a city gate without slowing them down. In place of wheels, they had two pairs of treads on each side. Much like the special snow pushers the crystal ponies had invented, though quite a bit heavier and these vehicles were hardly pushed by a single muscular crystal pony.

Spike began to hear the shouts of the ponies as they saw the growing number of the vehicles approach the city. The only reason he was aware sooner than they were was because of his high vantage point from the balcony of the Crystal Castle. Rarity was moving over to the town square below to assure them of their safety.

Twilight is the diplomat, Spike thought. What am I even supposed to do? Show them the castle guest rooms?

No worries, darling, Rarity bounced back to him mentally.

You’re rather calm, Spike almost turned grumpy at his love’s strangely even demeanor. Got some idea you’re not sharing with me?

Go with the flow, darling, Rarity tutted with a chin held high. She just arrived and began addressing the public.

You mean “wing it,” Spike gained a small grin. Sounds enough like mom. Guess I’ll just go for it.

If Twilight trusts them to hold to their word then we should give them the benefit of the doubt.

Spike could see the transports now rolling down the widest road leading up to the square. Not wanting to bother going back through the castle to get down, the medium-sized drake spotted one of the thicker snow banks that had shored up against the castle. Rarity hated when he did this, but it was rather fun.

“Look out below,” he called out even though nopony was around. With a casual mentality, he swung himself over the railing and plummeted the good distance to the snow pile.

POOF!

The powdery heap blew out in multiple directions. In only a moment, the dragon’s head popped back out of the deep hole he had created. “And Spike scores an amazing nine out of ten on the snow dive,” he commentated aloud.

Rarity resisted facehoofing.

The sound of the rolling treads became more pronounced once the craft got close to the main square. There was the usual crunch of snow but also the clack-clack of tread in tune with a throaty growl from inside the vehicles. The foremost of the large craft decelerated almost reluctantly and came to a halt only a dozen or so hooves from the square’s public bonfire.

Rarity couldn’t help but gulp when it stopped. The clack and crunch of the treads ceased once the following transport machines stopped in turn behind it. However, the roar from their insides only dulled to a gurgling thrum. Since the top of the craft was just above twice her own height, she only heard a top hatch bang open. Her first sight of an exiting occupant was when a burly stallion hopped down from the top and foremost edge.

“Ahhh,” the deep-voiced stallion breathed out before the bonfire. “Тепло.”

Although Rarity dressed in a thick outer coat and warm ushanka to help maintain a comfortable inner warmth, she didn’t have on as many layers as this stallion. Even his hooves were bundled in some kind of heavy wrapping with a hard underside for proper walking and handling. In fact, he was so well bundled that only the short end of his tail and his eyes were visible.

As Caretaker of the Crystal Empire, Rarity felt it was her duty to step forward from the honestly scared crystal ponies and address him. However, it was a second pony that jumped down from the transport that approached her first. This one had an obviously leaner frame, but it was hard to tell if they were a mare or just a thinner stallion since they were just as well covered. The voice was the give away.

“Greetings, Crystals,” the mare waved a tad awkwardly and with a heavy accent of the northern tribes. “We bring your passengers. You are Rarity?”

Rarity put on her best smile and stepped closer with confidence. “Yes, I am Rarity, Royal Caretaker of the Crystal Empire. We were informed of your arrival in advance by Queen Twilight Sparkle of Equestria.”

“Good,” the mare replied. She might have smiled, but it was covered by the fabric wrapped around her face. “We do our duty. Passengers are yours.”

It was then that Spike reached them, pounding on all fours until he came up beside Rarity. He stood high on his rear legs and looked down at the foreign mare. Her eyes betrayed no surprise, fear, or hesitation.

“Welcome to the Crystal Empire-” he began.

“Current ruler,” she spoke up evenly. “Steward and hero. Spike the Brave and Glorious.”

The dragon’s face relaxed into a prideful but suave expression. “So you’ve heard of me.”

Again Rarity wanted to facehoof.

“Much,” she responded in a more cheerful manner. “How could we not? Such a strong and intelligent dragon ruling on our border. Handsome too.”

Rarity’s jaw dropped. Was she coming onto her Spikey Wikey?

“Commander of UA-5, Freezer,” the thickly-bundled mare raised her hoof to Spike.

“You already know me, apparently,” he shook her hoof with a wink.

Said wink was viewed by a deadpan Rarity.

“I’ll get passenger leader for you,” Freezer said with a nod back to the stallion at the fire. “Then we get more comfortable.”

Spike’s expression shifted about. This would be the hard part. Talking to a changeling leader had become routine for him in the form of Chrysalis, but she had been an ex-leader outcast. This was a current leader and he had no idea how many changelings were packed into the transports. A quick count revealed a total of six transports – five lined up behind the first in single-file due to the street width. He guessed the interiors were at least as big as four times his own size.

Both ponies climbed back up to the top of the transport via a step build into a recess on the side. It was only seconds before a clang was heard from inside the vehicle that was followed by a screeching of metal. A huge door on the back of the transport swung downwards, as if the entire back wall of the thing was on an unoiled hinge.

BANG!

The back door hit the road.

Freezer trot out first down the door that now doubled as a ramp. Behind her was a large stretcher being held up by six changelings (three on each side). On the stretcher was a somewhat larger changeling with a unique orange-colored mane and tail. She was obviously the royal leader even if she didn’t match Chrysalis in size. Her horn was only moderately longer than those on the ones that carried her.

The northern mare directed them over to the bonfire so the recovering changeling would not be exposed to the cold for longer. It was interesting in Spike’s eyes to see each of the changelings covered in the same kind of heavy clothing the northern ponies wore. Likely they were merely standard supplies aboard the transports. The queen herself was covered in at least a few layers of thick blankets, which she peered out of. The sheets were decorated in mute red shapes over a richer red that had words along the edge that Spike couldn’t read.

The dragon grabbed the quill and scroll Rarity had been carrying in her bag. This was something he was more used to: record keeping. He noted the changelings as they exited and followed to the bonfire, which more crystal ponies were stepping away from to make room – or simply keep their distance from the unusual sight of the changelings.

One, two, four, eight, sixteen, thirty-two…

He had the urge to go around to look into the back of the transport. They must have really packed them in or else the insides were designed exceptionally well for maximum capacity. When the last changeling came out, Spike concluded the record for the first transport with fifty-six changelings total, not counting the queen. Some quick mental math told him that if the other transports were fully packed, this was going to be a large crowd indeed.

Rarity fidgeted about, also noting Spike’s unease he was trying to hide. There was no doubt these were the same changelings that had ambushed them during the Twenty Hours Coup while in route to Canterlot. They had been used by Sombra and, though no casualties had occurred in that particular scuffle to Spike’s knowledge, it was hard not to get an instinctual reaction against them.

Not a single changeling gave them a hostile look as they went by, however. Those that did look to the side as they passed by did so with either hurt, sad, or defeated expressions. It was possible they merely reflected their hurt queen’s emotions, but the dragon and mare knew little of regular changelings. They only knew of the royal one that inhabited their pony hive and her accounts of the regulars when she was in charge.

These changelings looked like they were starving.

The queen was set down at a safe but warm distance from the bonfire. Spike carefully walked over so not to startle the carrier changelings, which guarded her on all sides. They parted to allow Spike close enough to see the queen’s resting head.

“Queen Flux?” Spike asked, his voice soft but loud enough to carry over the crackle of the fire and hum of the transport engines.

“That is me,” the changeling responded without moving her head. The words came out hollow but understandable.

The dragon heard Rarity proclaim she would see to the other transports and begin work on proper accommodations. He kept focused on the queen, though. “You’ve agreed to live here peacefully?”

“It was agreed,” she responded in the same manner but this time averted even her eyes. She didn’t seem exactly happy about the situation, but lacked the energy to display any spite.

What would Twilight do? Spike thought, considering the happenings in Las Pegasus.

Be kind and forgiving, Rarity answered while counting the next of the changelings.

Spike went to move his claw, realizing only then that it had at some point clenched. He opened it and rested it gently on the shoulder of the changeling queen. Or at least where her shoulder would be under the many blankets. He breathed deep, letting his own tension out with a haze of thin smoke from his natural breath.

“You are safe here, Queen Flux,” he willed himself to say. “Nopony will harm you or bear any bad feelings towards your hive.”

“They are afraid. I can see it,” Flux had her sight resting on the distant crowd of crystal ponies.

“They’re nervous, yes,” Spike agreed. “They haven’t interacted much with changelings. That’s going to change for the better. We will provide anything your people need.”

“Food,” the queen croaked out. The shake in her voice on that one word made it sound as if she were about to break. About to cry. Her eyes had returned to the fire.

Spike knew what was food to them. Of course he knew. He told her they would get what they needed and Twilight had negotiated as much with them previously. But he also knew it would take time and would not be easy. They would have to find a way of stepping it up. These changelings were in considerably bad shape. He had to do his part if not as the leader of the Empire then as someone who had a basic compassion for others.

Even recent enemies.

He breathed deeply once more, closed his eyes, and leaned forward. Thoughts of the attack came to mind and he consciously let them go, replacing them with thoughts of peace. The small changeling queen beneath him was a friend. Not a foe. He thought of Rarity and let feelings of love fill his mind.

A faint trickle of light flowed from Spike to Flux’ jagged horn. It was not a direct line of love like the one shared between Twilight and Chrysalis, but it mixed with feelings of compassion that Spike did hold for her. It made her feel better. Not satiated, but better nonetheless.

Tears formed in the corners of the queen’s eyes.

Maybe, for the first time in her life, she had something to hope for.

Maybe.

“That was longer than ten seconds,” Spike smirked at the relatively smaller blue pegasus.

“Hey,” Rainbow squeaked. “Las Pegasus to the Empire is not a short flight. And we had to keep stopping so Fluttershy could rest.”

“Sorry,” Fluttershy whispered.

“I’m just kidding,” Spike waved it off and led them back to Rarity’s bedroom. “I’m glad you two had a safe flight. It’s reassuring to have you over. I had no idea it would be this hard.”

Fluttershy came up around him and sat with him before the warm fireplace that did so well at heating Rarity’s ornate bedroom. “You’re not talking about diplomacy. Forgiveness is what bothers you,” she commented more than asked. It was a simple prompt for him to let his feelings flow again rather than be tangled in their hivemind.

He sighed and stared into the crackling fire much like Queen Flux had. “They could have hurt Rarity. Even if I’m immune to most harm, she’s not. Losing her would destroy me. Maybe they were just following orders, but then how could I ever trust this Queen Flux? She aided Sombra.”

Rainbow Dash crawled up to Fluttershy’s other side and half closed her eyes in comfort when the yellow mare draped a wing over her. “Totally. But we have to trust Twilight. I mean, she knows what she’s doing. Well,” she corrected herself, “she usually winds up right in the end. Maybe staying in the Crystal Empire will change her and the rest of them in ways we haven’t thought of yet.”

“That’s...possible,” Spike admitted.

“Sunburst seems to have some ideas how that could come about, right?” Fluttershy suggested with a pleasant smile up at the dragon.

He gave a huff of smoke to that. “And more. On one claw, I wish Rarity wouldn’t make such a fuss about it. On the other, it can be incredibly amusing to see her lose her temper over things that are perfectly okay. She’s the ‘cute when mad’ type.”

“Oh really?” the white unicorn made an indignant appearance from the front door of the room. She trot in with a dead expression on her face. “I just get done with assigning rooms up to the fifth floor for these changelings and what do I come back to? This?!”

“Thank you very much for taking care of th-” Spike began what was to his credit an honest expression of gratitude.

“None of it!” Rarity dismissed him with a toss of her mane and a “hoompha.” After hanging her hat and overcoat onto their appropriate hooks, she turned back to the door. “I am off to the baths. At least some warm water might soothe my spirits where my dragon has failed.”

Rainbow snickered after Rarity was gone. “Should we crash her bath time?”

Fluttershy nodded. “Only to help her relax. No pranks, Dashie.”

“Yeah,” Spike said while getting up to go with them. “I still need to sleep with her tonight.”