Godly
Chapter 22: To Equestria

I run across the badlands and up to the small outpost on the border to Equestria where I stop to talk to the changelings there.

"Hey fellas! Any more sightings of ponies heading this way?" I ask them.

"Not yet, we've felt some faint traces of emotions further in near the forest, but other than that no sightings yet," the leader of the team replies.

"I see... can you feel them now? I can have a look as I go through the forest," I say making them look towards said forest in the distance.

"Barely, but there's also something else out there. It's very faint, but we think it's another Hive, though we're not positive," he tells me.

"Hmmm, keep an eye on the forest then, I'm heading to Equestria to speak to Luna," I reply, getting a nod from him.

With that I take off towards the forest and start zipping about looking for any signs of ponies or changelings. After a few minutes I find a camp of ponies who are cowering against some trees. Three mares and a stallion, along with two foals.

The light purple unicorn stallion with a short blue mane and tail with a white highlight through it is heaving heavily with many cuts and bruises on his body. His mark is a white six pointed star with a silver light around it.

While badly injured and looking ragged, he's still standing strong with an expression of determination on his face as he stares down a changeling with a violet coloured mane, tail, eyes, and shell.

I stare wide eyed as this isn't a drone, but a queen and from what Dragana told us of the violet hive, this must be Metamorpha or a daughter of hers. What I find disturbing though is her behaviour, she's snarling and hissing like a feral animal, pacing back and forth in front of the ponies with drool dripping from her chin. She's also almost skeletal in structure, her chitin hanging off like ill-fitting armour and her skin between them taut and dry with a few burn marks on the chitin, most likely from the unicorn. Her mane and tail is dry and unkempt, and she's also missing her horn which seems to be snapped off at the base, her wings also seem to have been removed as well.

She leans down and takes a pouncing form before hissing loudly and leaping.

The unicorn's horn glows but sputters and fails, making his eyes widen and fear to show on the ponies faces. I quickly bolt out using my speed to punch the queen in the jaw mid leap. She hisses angrily as she tumbles and quickly gets up to glare at me with intense focus.

"Are you Metamorpha?" I ask her.

She growls and hisses like an animal again, making me frown and roll my neck and arms to limber up.

"Not in the mood to talk? Fine by me, I'll just pacify you and send you back to Khepria. Maybe the other queens can help you," I say more to myself than her.

She hisses and charges at me again. I just sigh and once she's close enough, I easily dodge at the last second and knee her in the chin as she goes by. She yelps as her head snaps back, making her tumble into a tree hard.

She groans as she shakily tries to get back on her hooves. I just change to Hercules and sit on her back, pinning her to the ground and making her struggle angrily.

I frown as I really take in her condition, scars and scratches all over her chitin, hair missing in places on her scalp, ticks attached in between her chitin plates. I can even see a few maggots wiggling in an open wound she has on the back of her neck.

I cringe at the sight and quickly smack her in the back of the head, knocking her out and quickly getting off her.

The unicorn slowly walks up to me warily. "Erm, we thank you for saving us from the monster..." he says cautiously.

I turn to look at him and smile. "You're welcome, but she's no monster," I reply and grimace as I look back at the feral queen.

"Not a monster? It attacked us without provocation! Injured me and tried to harm my family!" he replies stunned at my words.

"She's desperate, starving, and possibly alone. Perhaps for a long time now," I tell him and sigh as I change to Aphrodite.

They all gawk at me as I float over to the stunned looking stallion.

"Now hold still while I'll heal those wounds of yours," I tell him and place my left hand on his head.

He gasps as my hand glows with a pink light and seeps into him. The cuts and bruises slowly closing and fading. The mares and foals walk over in awe as they watch.

Once finished he looks himself over and then looks back to me. "Thank you again... who and what are you?" he asks stunned.

"I am Pantheon, God of the changelings. And you are?" I reply and ask.

"Y-You're the changelings god?" he asks shocked as the mares eyes widen. "Erm... my name is Starlight Sparkle..." he then says.

"I am, and it's nice to meet you. Tell me, what are you doing out here by yourselves?" I ask him with a raised brow.

"W-We were heading to your city when this... mare attacked us... I was a teacher of spells and enchantments at the school in Canterlot. But since Princess Celestia threw her sister into the dungeons and changed some laws, Canterlot has been a place of fear and cruelty... I teleported my family out of the City Wall at night with the use of an invisibility spell and we made our way here," he tells me making my eyes widen.

"She did what!?" I ask angrily making them flinch.

"She attacked Princess Luna and shattered her horn before imprisoning her... she then cast a spell making all the guards act strangely before ordering them to seal the City..." one of the mares reply.

My left eye twitches before I change to Janus and open a portal to Khepria.

"TANK!" I yell getting the armoured changeling's attention in front of the keep. It also makes the ponies yelp and flinch.

"Pantheon sir!" he replies and nods to me.

"Gather the queens and tell them to meet me at the Hospital, I've found a severely starved queen alone out here and a group of Equestrian refugees on my way to Equestria who have disturbing news," I order him making him look stunned before closing his eyes.

"Done, Sir. They'll meet you at the Hospital," he replies.

"Alright, you lot go in and get settled in the last house we have available, the other ponies there will help you get settled in. I need to take this queen to get treatment," I tell them making them nervous before Starlight guides his family through after picking up their belongings. Once done, I pick up the queen and I'm glad I can't smell her or worry about the pests on her affecting me.

I carry her unconscious body through and take her to the Hospital where the mixed hive nurses cringe at the state the queen is in.

"Remove the parasites from her and then put her in a pod, But make sure you resin her hooves together, she was acting feral when I found her and she might lash out," I tell them getting them to levitate the queen from me.

"Yes, sir..." one of the honey changelings replies and looks a little ill at the sight of the maggots on the queen's neck.

It takes a few minutes as I watch them carefully remove the ticks and maggots and then burning them alive, but the other queens enter and Dragana instantly hisses at the sight of the starving queen.

"Metamorpha!" she yells and her horn glows.

I stand in front of her and glare at Dragana which makes her flinch. "You will not harm her whilst she is here, Dragana. She'll be given a chance just like you were. If you think she deserves to be punished for her attack on you, then just look at her. She's alone, starving, and has possibly gone insane. We'll just have to see how she'll react when she wakes up, I'd say she's suffered enough," I warn her.

Dragana frowns and then glances back at the violet changeling. She sighs and looks away. "Fine, but if she attacks us then I will put her down," she replies.

"If she's beyond saving, then it may be a mercy to just end her suffering. But until then, she's a guest here," I tell her making her narrow her eyes. She then just huffs and leaves the building.

I sigh and look back as the nurses are still pulling parasites off the queen, but at least they applied the resin restraints.

"Keep an eye on her, I need to go and free Luna from the Canterlot dungeons. Celestia has finally lost it and has imprisoned Luna along with shattering her horn," I tell Chrysalis and Shyla.

"She did what?" Chrysalis asks horrified.

"Yeah... She's also put her City on lockdown and it appears she's now mind-controlling her guards," I tell her with a frown of my own.

"How will you reach Luna?" my jade queen asks me with worry.

"I have a god who's all about stealth and trickery. I'm sure I can slip in undetected and portal Luna and any other ponies I find out of there," I reply and open a portal back to the forest I found the ponies at.

"Please be careful," Chrysalis tells me and hugs me tightly.

I return the hug. "Just get teams ready to receive Luna and any other injured ponies I find," I tell her, getting a nod before I make my way through the portal. Once through, I change back into Mercury and bolt for the Equestrian City of Canterlot.

It takes me a good six minutes to find it, but once I do, I change to Loki, the trickster god and just camp in a tree overlooking the City.

I'm wearing Nordic style light armour that's a light blue tunic with green trim, studded leather armour covering my chest, with silver coloured kite shield shaped plates on either side of my pectorals trimmed with gold and an emerald in the centre of each. Connected to them are wide stripes of brown leather with black Nordic designs on them going over my shoulders before arcing towards the centre of my back where a third kite-shield shaped plate is attached. Hanging on the back is a brown leather tail coat with thin fur lining the edges.

My belt has a similar kite-shield plate but slightly bigger with a length of light blue cloth and green trim hanging from it.

On my shoulders are steel pauldrons with gold trim and a lining of one inch long fur along the edge. On my head is a light blue cowl with a golden forehead guard that thins out over and down the back of my head. Attached to the forehead guard is an emerald in the centre and two large horns that curl back and the up slightly at the ends, with two smaller ones in front of those.

My face has black markings over my eyes, and my eyes are glowing an emerald green. On my legs are leather trousers with golden thigh guards, along with golden shin guards, and steel knee caps with a spike on the front. My forearms are covered by a pair of leather gloves which also have a matching pair of golden guards as well.

My weapons are a pair of long daggers with slightly curved blades and golden snake themed hilts.

I stretch my limbs and sigh as my vision appears sharper and I can see things in much greater detail. I look at the City of Canterlot which is on the edge of a dense forest, there's pegasi guards flying all over the place with plenty of unicorn and earth pony guards manning the walls.

It's five times larger than our city and seems they used marble in most of the buildings construction near the castle with basic stone, wood, and thatch for the more common homes further out.

I frown as I watch and wait for night fall, memorising the patrol patterns and seeing if there's a gap I can exploit. It takes hours before the sun begins to set, and I frown as my vision remains clear but with a green tint, like night vision goggles.

Once dark enough, I use my Vanish skill and turn invisible. I make my way over to the wall and wait a minute until the guards change over. Once the guards above me leave, I use my daggers to scale the wall by placing them in between the bricks.

Once over, I scale back down the other side and make my way through the city. It's depressing watching ponies cower in their homes and barely peeking out their windows as the lifeless looking guards sweep the streets with golden glowing eyes.

I watch as a guard glares at a mare who rushes into a building before following her in and apparently starts beating her if the sounds of struggling and screaming is anything to go by. I can't help and risk exposing myself, so with a soft "I'm sorry" muttered, I pick up my pace to the castle.

I keep hearing more cries of pain along the way, pleas for help and even the cries of foals. It takes all my willpower just to not change god and knock some sense into these guards, but my priority right now is Luna, then we can think of a way to help the others.

After an agonising twenty minutes of sneaking through the streets listening to the pain and horror around me, I arrive at the castle and wait for the gate to open. I watch as the guards are unmoving, like statues and the only thing that makes them even seem alive is their chests inflating with each breath they take.

The castle is made of marble and appears to have four floors with a couple of towers on each side of the castle and many windows with either glass or crystal panes in them. Certainly makes our keep look like a hovel in comparison.

After five or so minutes the gate opens and I sneak in, just barely missing a guard coming out. Once in, I start randomly exploring the ground floor, looking for any door leading down. The maids I pass look terrified, giving the guards a wide berth and some of the decor of banners and furniture look scorched along with a trail of hoof marks... that are imprinted into the stone which looks like its slightly melted.

I find nothing to the right side of the castle but guest rooms, so I head back to the entrance to go to the left, but I stop and hide in a side room as I spot who I think is Celestia.

She's an alicorn that's for sure, but her mane and tail are literal fire, her eyes are black with fire orange irises which are slitted like Chrysalis'. She's wearing what appears to be polished molten rock instead of her crystal regalia. I see what looks like fangs in her mouth and a permanent scowl on her face.

My eyes widen as I hear sizzling under her hooves and I watch as new hoof marks are left in her wake.

I stop breathing as she stops and slowly turns to look in my general direction, she narrows her eyes before huffing and moving on down the hallway.

Letting out a breath of relief, I make my way back to the entrance and head down the left hallway and after another seven or so minutes of frustration, I come across a guarded reinforced door near the back of the castle. The door opens and a guard comes out, but during that, I can hear whimpers and cries coming from the stairwell heading down.

I wait until the guard is gone before moving up to the two remaining guards and quickly bash them both on the back of their heads with the pommels of my daggers knocking both out. My invisibility deactivates since I technically attacked, but I quickly switch to Janus and open a portal under both the guards and dump them in front of the keep in Khepria.

"Tank, secure these two and bind their hooves," I tell the changeling.

He quickly nods and coughs up some resin binding their hooves together as I close the portals and change back into Loki. I reapply my Vanish skill and make my way through the door then down the long stairwell.

I see another guard alone just staring into a cell, so I sneak over and look inside to see Luna curled up in a corner with her back to me, quietly whimpering, and she's not looking too good. Her fur is matted with dried blood and dirt, she has cuts that are starting to look infected all over her body, her wings look broken and her mane and tail are no longer flowing, but a solid powder blue.

I frown at her state before turning to the guard and bashing her head in, knocking her out as well. The noise makes Luna yelp and curl into herself.

"No more, pwease no more..." she quietly begs with a slur and sobs. "Why are you doing this siphter?"

"Luna it's me, Carl," I tell her making her gasp and slowly turn to look at me. I cringe at the swollen left eye and fat lower lip, and the jagged looking remains of her horn.

"Luna, I'm getting you outta here," I ensure her as I change to Hercules and just rip the whole section of the iron bars out of the cell.

"How didph you get in here?" she asks me and tries to get up, only to slip and fall on her face.

"Don't move, I'll get you to Khepria and get you fixed up, just stay still. Is there anyone else here that needs to be evacuated?" I ask her as I place the bars to the side and change to Janus.

"Take the phonies down here witph us," she tells me and I nod.

"Alright, just relax and take it easy," I tell her and open a portal to the Hospital.

Chrysalis and Shyla look at us and their eyes widen. "Oh my..." Shyla says as her horn lights up making Luna levitate gently through.

"Patch her up as best as you can. I'm sending the rest of the ponies down here through next," I tell them getting a nod from Chrysalis as she levitates the knocked out guard through and Luna is placed in another room.

I close the portal and look to the other cells, the ponies are at their bars now staring at me with hope in their eyes. They all look dirty, ragged, and half starved, but nowhere near as bad as Luna is.

"Are you here to free us?" a stallion asks me.

"Yes, step away from the bars!" I order them and they all back up.

For the next five cells, I open a portal by the bars and they all make their way through. Once the last pony is evacuated, I go through myself and close the portal.

A total of fifty-two ponies are trembling as they look around at the changelings who are rushing about giving small amounts of food and water to them while Gale and our other resident ponies try to calm them down.

I make my way to the Hospital and frown as I enter the room Luna is in and see the nurses cleaning her wounds.

"She's not doing too good, Carl..." Chrysalis tells me and I quickly change to Aphrodite.

"Keep cleaning her wounds, I'll fix the rest," I tell the nurses who agree.

I float over to Luna's side and she barely smiles at me. "Phank you for helphing me," she mumbles.

"Shhh, just rest. You're our friend, and we'll take care of you," I tell her and place my left hand on her side as she quietly sobs again.

For the next few hours, I do my best to fix the damage Luna has suffered.

Author's Note

I know I said I would focus on Terracana... but for some reason this has my attention the most right now.

This chapter took me a few days to write due to sprite work taking most of my time again.

And I know I said I wouldn't write till December, but I felt like writing a bit a day.

How will Luna fair without her horn? How will Metamorpha react when she wakes up? And how did Celestia change? Find out next time on... wait wrong show...