Godly

Godly
Chapter 8: Rise of the changeling kingdom Part 2

I open my eyes to my training area and frown in thought. Celestia is hopefully quite injured, giving us a few more days to prepare.

I walk over to the fountain Ra usually sat at and just sit in front of the flowing water as my mind wanders. What else can I do to protect my home? To protect Chrysalis?

After a few hours my thoughts are interrupted as I can feel someone trying to enter my mind, and the only one I know capable of such a thing is Luna.

I allow her in and she appears ten feet away from me. "What do you want?" I ask her coldly, making her wince.

"We... we hast come to ask thou if... if thou would allow us to stay with thee for a while..." she asks me nervously.

I raise an eyebrow at her. "And why would I even allow you or your sister anywhere near me or my home?" I ask her in return.

"Our sister hast... nary been herself as of late. She's quick to anger, quick to accuse somepony of something mundane like mixing up her tea by accident. We... We no longer feel safe in her presence and feel we should leave before we become the target of her anger..." she tells me sadly. I'm mostly keeping an eye on her horn and she's not even attempting to use magic.

"And do you know why your sister is acting the way she is?" I ask.

"Ever since her ascension and the defeat of Discord, she's had this idea of perfect harmony and believes we both are the key to it. We personally don't agree with her view but fear her wrath should we say so... she's much more powerful than us and we wouldst nary stand a chance," she replies and sits down with her head hung low.

"We have only been able to contact thee right now due to our sister being unconscious, allowing us to speak with thee without her discovering our spell," she then tells me.

I frown at her and think. If we have her back at the Hive, that would be one less alicorn to worry about.

"And you aren't afraid of the changelings?" I ask her next.

"We would be lying if we said no... we art not sure what to think anymore... Our sister says she found a pony killed by a changeling and we had no reason to disbelieve her... but now..." she replies and looks depressed. "Thou hast lived with them for months, and thou art unharmed, thriving even," she then says with uncertainty.

"Would you believe me if I said it was the changelings that shrivel up into husks and not the ones they feed from?" I tell her making her look shocked. "Should a changeling not feed, their body starts cannibalising itself, that's why the holes form. And if there's no energy left to burn, their body dries out and then turn to dust, it's also extremely painful. I've only seen this process during a burial I witnessed once," I tell her.

"Then how hast thou been feeding them?" she asks confused.

"If you wish to know then come alone to the edge of the Badlands, I'll meet you there where we'll take a portal to the Hive," I tell her. "I would get going before your sister regains her senses."

She goes wide eyed before smiling faintly. "We thank thee," she says and fades away.

I just stare at where she was for a few minutes before sighing and force myself to wake up.

Chrysalis is still asleep on my chest but at least she looks better now. I gently shake her awake and she grumbles in annoyance.

"What?" she asks and nuzzles into my neck.

"Luna is coming," I tell her bluntly which wakes her up better than coffee ever could. I'm getting the feeling of Déjà vu

"WHAT!?" she yells making my hidden ears ring.

"She wishes to get away from her sister. I'll tell you everything on the way," I reply and let her get off me.

Along the way to the surface, with ten guards armed with my weapons and armour, I tell her what Luna told me making Chrysalis sceptical of her intentions.

"She could just be trying to find our location," she tells me with a frown.

"Possibly, do you have anything or a spell that can neutralise her magic?" I ask her.

"Our resin when placed on a unicorn's horn can stop them from casting spells, but I don't know if it will work on an alicorn," she tells me unsure.

"We'll just have to see," I say and change into Thanatos.

I morph back into a human shape and four large black raven wings grow from my shoulder blades. I'm covered head to toe in black armour with silver trimmings. My head is covered by a hood and my face obscured with a silver mask of a human face.

A scythe appears in my right hand with a lethal looking black, silver, and purple blade. Kind of looks like a bat wing to me.

On my pauldrons is a face on each with curved back ram like horns on them, as well as another face on my chest, each face giving off a purple mist of energy.

I stretch my four wings as Chrysalis flutters hers for flight. I take off as she and the guards follow behind me. Unlike in the game, I can also sense strong sources of life as well as those near death. We fly along the border for a few hours as the moon is now high in the sky before I sense a strong life force heading our way.

After a few minutes we barely see Luna land alone a good thirty feet from the border and look around for something. I decide to have a little fun and land silently right behind her.

"Hello, Luna," I say in a sickly sweet tone making her yelp and trip as she stumbles to turn around quickly.

I chuckle making her scramble away from me in panic. "C-C-Carl?" she asks terrified and breathing heavily.

I change into Janus and politely bow. "Yes, it's me. Sorry about the scare, but I couldn't resist," I tell her and hold a hand out.

She gingerly places her right forehoof on my hand and I gently help her up.

"So," Chrysalis says getting our attention as she lands with her guards. "You wish to hide from your sister?" she asks Luna with clear distrust in her tone.

"V-Verily. We believe she has let her power go to her head and nothing we say seems to dissuade her from doing what she believes to be right. We... we wish to stay away for some time as we are ashamed to admit we dost nary feel safe near her anymore," Luna replies looking both intrigued and terrified at the changelings steel weapons and armour.

"So you wouldn't have any objection if we block your magic for awhile?" I ask Luna making her look worried.

"But we need to raise and lower the moon," she replies.

"I can do that as Awilix. We just want to make sure you don't try anything or alert your sister to our location," I tell her.

"We've known thy location for months already. We were able to sense where thou was sleeping, but we didst not know thou were with the changelings..." she replies making me go wide eyed.

"And you never told Celestia?" I ask.

"Nay. She wouldst send a detachment of guards along with herself to hunt thee. Since thou managed to wrest control of the Elements and the sun from her, she's seen thee as a threat to all life. If we told her of thine location, innocent blood would've been spilt," she tells me.

"So, she's been trying to find me since I left the Empire?" I ask getting a nod in return.

"She believes thou art still in the north somewhere and we hast told her we could not sense thy dreams," she replies.

"I see. Well, back to why you're here. Are you willing to have your magic blocked for now? You'll be treated fairly and we have fresh drinking water and food growing as well," I tell her, making her sigh and look down.

"Very well. We surrender our magic for now if it will help us be on good terms," she says in a defeated tone.

"Don't think of this as a punishment, but as a sign of trust. Until we're sure you won't try something, you'll just have to live without your magic for a week or two," I tell her and nod to Chrysalis.

She coughs up some resin without any nasty regurgitating sounds and applies it to Luna's horn with her magic. Luna grimaces after seeing where it came from but looks upset as I'm guessing it has taken effect.

"It can only be removed by me, so don't try to do so yourself or you may just damage your horn," Chrysalis tells her getting a small nod in reply.

"Alright then," I say getting everyone's attention. "Please step through the portal, I'd like to get back to sleep," I tell them and open a portal to the Hive's Throne Room.

They all step through, though Luna hesitates for a few seconds, and I close the portal behind us.

"We art starting to have second thoughts..." Luna says getting very nervous.

"What happened to the Luna who got all in my face when we first met?" I ask her as I change back into Khepri.

"Our sister tells us to be more regal and imposing as to not be seen as weak... if we art to be honest, we have always hated violence and preferred to talk matters through," she replies.

"Explains why you backed down quickly and didn't really fight back when you tried reading my memories," I say and notice a few changelings staring at Luna.

"So... now what?" Chrysalis asks awkwardly.

"Now? We give Luna a room along with a couple of guards and let her experience life like a changeling," I reply and start walking out the Throne Room.

The others follow behind me and Luna speaks up. "What dost thou mean?" she asks me.

I glance at her before looking forward again. "Firstly, you really need to lose that way of speaking, makes you sound like you think you're better than everyone else. Secondly, you'll be allowed to roam about the Hive, except for off limit areas, your guards will notify you about them later. I'd like you to see what your sister is too paranoid and blind to see."

She looks speechless as she follows me. She takes in the large cavern we enter with homes built into the walls and ceiling. In the centre is a small artificial lake with a tiny island in the middle with a special tree where its drooping leaves give off a pale blue light, giving the water a nice calming glow.

Chrysalis said it's called a moonlight willow tree due to the light it gives off.

"Beautiful..." Luna comments and walks up to the water to see white fish swimming in the small artificial lake.

She then looks to the left to see a couple of changelings just chatting by the shoreline with two bottles of liquid love. Looking up she spots the large flower I helped grow just dangling from the middle of the ceiling that's giving off light which is illuminating the cavern.

"Not at all what you expected is it?" I ask her getting her to shake her head gently. "Come on, let's find you a room," I tell her making her tear her eyes away from the sight and follow us again.

We navigate the tunnels until we reach our bedrooms. "Hold on, I want to transfer some of my possessions to your room so Luna can have mine," she says and giggles. "It's not like I'll be needing it anymore," she then tells me suggestively making Luna look confused.

So for the next five minutes changelings carry whatever items Chrysalis wants to keep to my room and Luna is ushered into the now much barer room.

"You'll be living here for now, but don't mistake our hospitality as letting our guard down. You'll be watched at all times and anything that even seems hostile or any attempt to remove the resin will result in you being restrained in a pod. So please behave and we won't have to resort to that okay?" I tell and ask her.

"We... I understand... it has been awhile since we." She takes a deep breath and sighs slowly. "Since I have spoken normally. So please forgive me if I slip now and then," she replies and looks around the room. Chrysalis has left her mirror desk -which is polished frozen ice with a preservation spell placed on it to stop it melting, though it does need replacing now and then-, her bed, and a few pieces of furniture behind but her personal stuff is all gone.

"Now then, I'm going back to bed," I say and without warning, I pick up Chrysalis in my front legs making her giggle and place her on my back while avoiding my three large horns.

I carry her back to my room where we both go back to sleep.

I'm awoken by a guard telling me that I need to lower the moon and if the sun doesn't rise, I have to do that too. But I'm going to cheat and put both on a stable orbit so they move on their damn own. Why these two alicorns thought it would be a good idea to move them themselves is just stupid. If one or both of them died, then the planet and everyone living on it would be royally fucked.

I get up and carry a still sleepy Chrysalis on my back up to the surface where the early risers of the Hive are just starting work on the inner walls of the keep.

Luna arrives behind us and Chrysalis gets off me. I change to Awilix and I can feel the moon above me as Suku comes through a portal. I smile as I scratch him behind his ears making him purr and reach my left hand up and set the moon onto its own path so it won't need guiding again.

"What hast thou done!?" Luna asks with wide eyes.

"I've set the moon on its own orbit, it won't need to be guided anymore," I tell her making her gasp.

"But tis our... My job, my destiny to guide the moon!" she yells at me like I've taken something from her.

"Oh? Then tell me, what would happen should you and or your sister die? Would the moon and sun just stay still forever? Freeze one side of the planet while scorching the other? What you've done is put the whole planet in danger by altering its natural orbit!" I tell her making her flinch at the harsh tone I used.

"My home world's moon orbited our planet on its own, while our planet orbited the sun. While we had gods and goddesses of the sun and moon, they never threw off the balance in fear of destroying the world," I then say. To be honest I have no idea if my world had or has real gods, but I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have done what these two alicorns have.

Once done, I change to Ra and after a few minutes of waiting to see if Celestia will move the sun, which she hasn't yet. I raise the sun, (which I think is a lot smaller than Earth's since it is orbiting the planet) into a stable orbit and sigh as I leave the two celestial bodies to do what they've been doing for what I assume is millennia before the Princesses took control.

It also felt like the sun and moon were relieved that they're back into their own orbit, like they were prisoners before.

"There, now you don't have to worry about the sun and moon again. The only time you should intervene with their orbit is if something or someone else tries to alter them. Then you stabilise them again," I tell Luna getting a sad look from her.

"I understand..." she says quietly, and now I feel like I kicked a puppy for some reason.

"Why are you upset? Now you can sleep in or do something else instead," I tell her getting her to look up at me.

"The moon and night is my calling, it's my talent and I am their keeper and guardian. Now that you've done what you have I feel... like a piece of our... my soul has been cut out," she says holding back tears.

I glance to Chrysalis, only for her to shrug at me. "Look, Luna. I'm sorry I did that, but would you prefer keeping the world and all life on it in danger, or truly be its guardian by keeping an eye on the moon instead of constantly having to care for it when you could be helping your people instead," I tell her.

She frowns in thought and I get another idea. "You can still enter other people's dreams can't you?" She looks at me and nodded. "Then perhaps you can make better use of your time helping those having nightmares or life problems... you could be a dream therapist," I tell her with a smile, sounds like a fun idea actually. I wonder if I can dreamwalk as Nox? Perhaps Kumbhakarna can?

She looks at her cutie-mark and after a few seconds she looks like she has just discovered something. "Perhaps that is what our... my destiny is. Not the moon or stars... but dreams... I have always felt more comfortable in the Dreamrealm than being awake," she says.

"For now don't worry about it, think of this as a vacation from being a Princess? Now you are just Luna," I tell her and she then looks around and gasps.

"Where didst this wall come from?" she asks confused.

"I raised it and the changelings reinforced it, we're preparing for when your sister decides to attack us," I reply. "Which reminds me, we need wood for the support beams and flooring for the keep," I say and change to Janus to once again make a portal in the air to the forest where we get our wood for the forges and boilers. "I need volunteers to start chopping trees!" I call out over the changelings working.

Instantly a good seventy flutter over and head through the portal. Makes me wish I could use their hive mind as well, such wonderful organisation and quick responses.

"I'll be back in a couple of hours, why don't you show Luna around, Chryssi?" I ask Chrysalis.

"I suppose I could. Come, Luna, you need a bath... you're starting to smell," she replies and tells Luna.

Luna sniffs herself and grimaces. "During all that hast... has happened yesterday, I did not notice..." Luna says and follows Chrysalis back into the hive.

I smile and head through the portal. If I can get Amore, Cadence, and Luna on my side, Celestia may just back off. But if what Luna said is true and Celestia is getting more unstable, she may very well attack them all as well thinking them as traitors.

"Alright you lot! I want about three-hundred trees brought through! We'll use any branches cut off as extra fuel for the forges and the baths boiler!" I order them getting affirmatives in reply.

I then notice the sun getting brighter for a second before going back to normal. 'Looks like Celestia is awake and not happy it seems,' I think to myself with a smirk and continue to watch over the changelings.

It takes a total of five hours give or take ten minutes to get all the wood we need through. I can only imagine how fast we humans could have got work done if we had magic.

"Honey I'm hooooome~" I say in a sing song voice as I change into Hercules.

Chrysalis looks from the work being done on the inner keep walls to me and smiles. "Took you long enough," she tells me and nuzzles my chest.

"Well there was a lot of wood to move, but now we can start processing it into timber for the floorboards and supports," I reply and rub her ears.

She hums and then pulls back. "Good timing as the main floor is ready to be done," she tells me and I look to see the ground has been flattened and ready for floorboards to be placed.

"Great, I'm going to get something to eat. How'd Luna like the tour?" I ask her.

"Pretty well actually. She had a few frights when some changelings flew past in the darker hallways, but other than that she was quite impressed with what we have, and how you made all the love we now feed from. She even asked about our weapons and armour, but I told her she'd have to ask you first," she replies and looks back to the keep. "I'll keep an eye out here. You go and have lunch," she tells me and without warning, slaps me on my ass with her tail.

I chuckle and when she's not looking, I lightly slap her ass making her yelp and leave a faint impression of my hand in her chitin, which is already returning to normal.

She shakes her head with a smile and I head down into the Hive to the cafeteria for a nice salad, perhaps I'll add some pork from Bacchus' meat joint to it as well… Mmmmm.

I enter and spot Luna sitting at one of the many tables just staring at the fresh salad in front of her.

I quickly get a bowl of my own from the servers behind the counter and I sit next to Luna making her jump.

"Got something on your mind?" I ask her.

"Our sis... My sister has always told me that the other races are too dangerous or savage to truly get along with... The gryphons are predators and hunters and would not think twice to hunt us for sport or game. The minotaurs are barbaric tribes whose traditions revolve around fighting, blood, and honour. The dragons and diamond dogs are nothing but greedy and bloodthirsty beasts. The zebras and demons commune with the dead and practice dark arts. She called the changelings parasites, says the elks and breezies are in league with the spiteful woodland spirits, and the centaurs use dark magic," she tells me and frowns.

"We... I just don't know what to believe anymore..." she then says sadly.

"I see. Then once this is all over, why not go and visit the other races and get to know them better? Maybe I'll join you as it can't hurt to have the locations memorised for my portals," I tell her.

"Thou... you would do that with me?" she asks surprised.

"Sure, I'd like to know the other races as well as I'll be living on the same world as them. I'd rather not get on their bad sides as well," I reply.

"I would like that," she tells me and smiles faintly.

I stand up and change to Bacchus and using a knife that my apprentices made during their blacksmith training, cut off strips of meat from my pork joint. I notice Luna looks a bit uncomfortable.

"Don't feel too put off. If you plan to visit the other races, you'll have to get use to seeing meat being served and eaten. Mainly by the gryphons, diamond dogs, and dragons I would guess," I tell her getting a nod in reply from her.

"I understand, it's just that I'm uncomfortable seeing something that used to be alive cooked and eaten," she tells me.

"If it makes you feel any better, I don't think this was ever alive," I reply and smile. I head over to the food counter and ask for two cups which Mirage, who is working today's shift, gives me. I walk back over to Luna and fill a cup with some wine from my jug. "Try some of this," I tell her and set the cup down.

"What is it?" she asks and sniffs at it.

"Grape wine," I reply as I pour myself some and then change back into Hercules before sitting back down.

She picks the cup up carefully with her hooves and takes a sip. Her eyes shoot wide open and she takes a bigger sip.

"Tis delicious!" she says and takes another sip.

"What did you expect? It is a wine of the gods," I tell her and take a drink of my own.

"How did you become a god?" she asks me.

Errr, shit... Well, she did allow us to block her magic as a sign of trust. Guess I can tell her the truth. "To be honest? Discord gave me the ability to be any god from my world," I tell her.

She spits out some wine she was drinking and coughs a few times. "Discord made thee a god!?" she yells in surprise, making changelings look at her oddly.

I decide to tell her what Discord wanted and that he knew he would be defeated soon, so he picked me at random to continue his work.

"So... thou... you are the new god of chaos?" she asks nervously.

"No. I think Discord is more like a god of balance. We humans were never satisfied with what we had, we had to go beyond what we knew and make advancements in science, medicine, war, and many other things, and we still do. Discord said he just tried to make the races advance and not stagnate like the ponies seem to be. Said Celestia and you didn't want to change your way of life and were happy to keep things as they are. If we humans were like that, we may have died out long ago," I reply and chuckle. "As for me? I think I'm just a godly being now. Or as Chryssi once said. I'm the god of the Changelings due to my ability to change into different gods," I finish my speech.

"I... see. Is that where your guards weapons and armour come from? Your race's knowledge?" she then asks me.

"Blacksmithing or metalwork we call it. Once you've earned our trust, I might show you how we do it," I tell her with a smirk.

She sighs and stuffs her face into her salad bowl.

"Life was much simpler before our ascension," she mumbles and then sits back up with a mouthful of greens.

"How did you ascend?" I ask curiously.

She swallows her mouthful and looks at me. "Our... my sister, Empress Amore, and I found a crystalline tree deep down in a ravine within the Everfree Forest. We were looking for a power source to defeat Discord and our search lead us there. We found the Elements of Harmony embedded in a crystalline tree and when we took them, we ascended into alicorns," she tells me.

"How did Cadence ascend?" I then ask.

"She was born an alicorn. Her father, a unicorn named Emperor Diamond Blade, died of old age a good seventy years ago," she replies.

"Huh... Well then. I need to finish this and head back up to help continue construction," I tell her and then get an Idea. "Would you like me to bring Cadence over for you to talk to?" I ask her.

"I would like that very much," she replies now with a big smile.

I stand up and change to Janus. I create a portal on the wall to Cadence's room and find no one there. I then create a new portal to above the Throne Room and find Amore and Cadence on their thrones and no Celestia in sight.

I step through and float down to Cadence making her and others in the room yelp once I enter their vision.

"Carl! We told thee not to do that!" she scolds me but as usual has her smile.

"I apologise, Cadence. But if you have some time, Luna would like to speak with you for a few hours," I tell her with a polite bow.

"Auntie Luna? She disappeared yesterday and we've been looking for her since then," she replies and trots over to me. "Thou knows where she is?" she then asks me.

"She's back at the Hive. It was her decision and I'm sure she'll tell you why herself," I reply.

"Very well," she says and looks to Amore. "Mother, we shall return in a few hours, we shall talk to our aunt," she says to her mother who smiles warmly and nodded to her. Cadence then looks back at me. "We also need to continue our discussion before auntie Tia interrupted us," she tells me.

"Alright then," I say and open another portal back to the Hive's cafeteria. "Where is Celestia by the way?" I ask her.

"She returned to Equestria in a foul mood saying the sun wouldn't listen to her... didst thou have anything to do with that?" she replies and asks me.

"Maybe," I simply say with a smug smile and step through the portal.

She sighs and follows behind me.