In the Crystal Empire, far up. north, a man was on a mission.
He was dressed in work gear, tan and meant for personnel, perhaps staff of somewhere. He also carried a dark vest, with the initials CC on it. He walked with swift purpose, clodding his work shoes along the crystal paved roads of the Empire’s chief city. His destination was the Crystal Palace, and he would not be delayed.
Strolling past the confused crystal pony guards, he started to strut through the winding hallways and corridors of the palace. His destination was bound to be around here somewhere... his eyes searched every pony that he came across. His gaze was level, and his blue eyes scorched everyone he saw with an intense, searching glare.
Guards had been dispatched to intercept the man, but he merely sidestepped them. Their commands were lost on him, for he did not answer to the guards. He was obviously here for a much more significant prize. After a while, the guards pointed their spears at him to block his approach, but he sidestepped and parried the pony spears with his hands, and he continued his silent march. Only the rubber soles smacking against the crystal tile vocally marked his presence. The guards resigned themselves with hanging heads and made to get the Princess.
Now alone, the man continued on his way. His purposeful march led him to a T-junction where he could keep going or turn left. He looked to his left, and then stopped in his tracks, and turned around. Finally, around the corner, the man spotted what anyone else would call a janitor pony. His crystal coat was cyan, and his crystal hair was purple. The man walked up to the pony, still with a broom, and knelt down. Looking into the crystal ponies hazel eyes, the man said, “Hey, how are you? I’m Prince Aaron, Changeling Conservation.”
The pony jerked back at this introduction and shied away from an offering hand.
“C-Changeling? There's changelings here?”
The man’s smile dropped hard as a brick on pavement. He retracted his offered appendage. He put the hand on his hip, with his other hand on his knee. The man looked into the pony’s eyes for a little while more, then he said, “I can see you, you know. We can keep doing this dance, or we can be done with this charade. “
The pony looked to the left, and then to the right. He sighed. Soon, green magic fire enveloped the pony, and in its place was one of the aforementioned changelings. The black carapace was interrupted only by the blue eyes and the blue insectoid wings tucked to his sides. Now, in a shaky voice, the changeling asked, “B-But how did you know?”
Aaron took off his silver, square-ish spectacles, looked directly into the soul of the changeling and darkly said, “Because I have special eyes.”
Now worried, the changeling asked, “Y-You do? Really?”
The man put his glasses back on. “No,” he said. “I just have been trained to instantly spot changelings, disguised or not.”
Now slightly disappointed, the changeling asked, “Oh. ...So... Changeling Conservation?”
Aaron nodded. “Yes, I’m a part of a special interest group that wants to conserve the remaining changeling population, and we have built a special, walled settlement for this purpose.”
“Changelings are an endangered species?” asked the baffled changeling.
Aaron offered, hand running through his black hair, “Yes. Under Article 12, changelings are now considered a protected species. If you’ll come with me, we’ll go to the changeling reserve now. We have special accommodations for you.”
“This... seems like a trick.”
“It is not a trick.”
“...I don’t believe you.”
“That’s fine. What’s your name?”
“...Thorax.”
“Okay, Thorax, we’ll–“
Then, from the opposite way that Aaron came, three individuals happened upon Aaron and the changeling. A white unicorn with a blue mane, and a pink alicorn with an even pinker mane. Finally, a visiting baby dragon gasped and held his purple and green self.
Cadence shrieked, “Changeling!”
Shining Armor shrieked, “Changeling!”
Spike the dragon shrieked, “Changeling!”
With a quick motion, Aaron pulled something from his vest. With points, and two pulls of a trigger, red-feathered darts flew from Aaron and stuck into the necks of Cadence and Shining Armor. They staggered, and then fell into each other. Spike, claws in his mouth, shook like a leaf on the wind.
Quickly holstering his tranq pistol, Aaron bounded towards Spike. Spike yelled, but remained motionless before the tall biped rapidly closing on him. With a few quick motions and a tussle, Spike was held Aaron’s grip. Aaron held Spike’s neck between his upper and lower left arm. Aaron gently squeezed.
Aaron said, “Hi. I’m Prince Aaron, Changeling Conservation. Sorry about this, little buddy, but I figure my darts wouldn’t get past your scales.”
Spike managed to choke out, “Change––“
Aaron then said to Spike, “Yeah, I know. Heck of a job, huh?”
A few more seconds passed, with Spike flailing his legs. Finally, Aaron let up on Spike. He now lay limp and snored in long breaths. Gently setting down Spike next to the now sedate Cadence and Shining Armor, Aaron knelt down. He pulled the darts off of the sedate ponies and pocketed them.
Thorax poked Shining Armor in the face with a hoof. He did nothing in response, other than blowing a slight raspberry in his sleep. “What did you do?” asked Thorax, the flabbergasted.
Standing back up, Aaron replied, “Well, I wouldn’t want to hurt them, but I couldn’t have them compromise my mission, either. Here.”
Aaron grabbed Shining Armor by the midsection. He started hoisting up the military stallion.
“Help me get these into the broom closet. Then, change into your old disguise, and we can get out of there.”
Rather than run, Thorax decided to change back into his janitor disguise and grabbed a curled-up Spike.
Finally, after several minutes, and a bit of cooperation to get the treat-happy Cadence into the broom closet, Aaron closed the door to the broom closet. Thorax, back in his janitor crystal pony disguise, did his best not to look nonplussed about the whole affair.
Wiping his hands off, Aaron said, “Come, Thorax. Let’s go.”
With a bit of a whine, Thorax meekly followed Prince Aaron.
Aaron and Thorax managed to get to the train just before the contingent of crystal guards found two irate ponies and a scared baby dragon inside of a locked broom closet.
Just outside of the Changeling Empire, seven ponies (and a scared dragon) stood at the edge of what seemed to be a wasteland.
In the middle of the wasteland, a jutting, dark tower stood. It was Chrysalis’ tower, and it held a magical artifact that drained the very air and land around it of all magic except changeling magic. An approach to the tower would not be easy.
“Okay, girls,” Twilight began for her friends. “The sudden appearance of this Prince and the subsequent changeling activity can be traced here... to Chrysalis’ palace. We will have to forfeit the use of our magic so we can apprehend Queen Chrysalis. She will surely have answers for what’s been going on.”
The other girls (and dragon) nodded. Perhaps none were so interested in finding out what “Changeling Conservation” meant more than Spike.
They hyped themselves up, they made themselves limber, and they made themselves ready. Just before the cusp of the kingdom, Twilight took the first step into the proverbial wilderness.
Then, several olive-colored, modified 1992 Jeep Wranglers sped past them, causing them to bundle up with each other for safety. Six of the modified vehicles in total sped across the wasteland and towards Chrysalis’ spire. Wheels tore up the rough terrain, and the occupants of the vehicles bounced along with the frames of their cars, but they sped on. The vehicles stopped, and more bipeds climbed out. They carried long equipment and netting.
Twilight looked at her friends, then clambered down to see just what in Equestria is going on. Spike pointed. “It’s Aaron!” he half-shouted to Twilight. She followed his clawed finger, and saw a man in the middle directing the other humans.
They set up tubes with metal bases that pointed into the air and at the spire. They lifted boxes and net throwing devices out of their jeeps and gathered themselves.
“Uh, hello?” Twilight shouted. Aaron lifted a waving hand, gave some more unintelligible instructions to his peers, and then walked over to the ponies. Away from the jeeps, Aaron came within walking distance of the ponies.
“Hello!” Aaron shouted to Twilight.
Twilight went ahead of her friends, who were never several paces away, and asked, “Who are you and what is it you’re doing here?”
Aaron extended his hand. After a moment, Twilight tentatively reached out and placed her hoof in his palm. He gently grasped her hoof, and Twilight felt just a bit of heat rise in her cheeks. Aaron let go of Twilight and turned around.
He called out, “Is everything ready?”
One of the men, working on... something, gave Aaron a thumbs-up. Twilight was certainly mechanically inclined, but she still couldn’t make heads or tails of the jumbled mess of wire, mechanical beams, and netting. Other such nets were ready to deploy, almost like traps.
Twilight’s eyes widened, and she gasped.
More jeeps bounded over the hills behind the ponies and sped past them. A man inside one of the jeeps waved to Aaron, and he waved back. These jeeps were full of men with nets and net-guns. They sped past the contraptions and raced towards the tower.
Suddenly, a man stood up in the bed of the rightmost jeep. He was handed a tube. A bazooka! Twilight realized, but before she could do or say anything, the man had fired his rocket at the hive.
A white trail followed the quick projectile on its way to impact. The black thing sped onwards towards the spire with a weighted premonition behind it. Upon hitting, the payload was released and dispersed. It was the most obnoxious-smelling of chemical compounds; liquid ass.
A moment passed. A moment passed again. Then, the moment became a minute, as the cloud of condensed nose-offense spread. A shriek sounded from the spire, and changelings started to swarm. Among them, Chrysalis sought to flee the now forever stained spire. Upon seeing this, the vehicles turned sharply, with the men giving out whoops and calls.
Standing next to Twilight, Prince Aaron gave a shout of his own. He threw his arms wide.
“Open the game!”
The traps were now scattered widely, and the men of the first group stood next to their vehicles, netguns at the ready. The swarm of changelings buzzed and roared as they neared the ponies and the humans. Suddenly, the four new cars broke away, and raced away, parallel to the group, and the traps. Suddenly, all of the nets were launched by springs and powder charges. Large swathes of changelings were taken from the swarm by the nets, and the weighted bolas at the edges of the round nets kept the now trapped changelings to the ground. Three parts of the now-smaller swarm went up and away, two of these swarms chasing the four rolling jeeps, and the last charging for Twilight and her friends.
Chrysalis snapped at the air and hissed. The swarm hissed with her. She hovered, and then set down in front of Aaron and Twilight. Chrysalis growled. “Twilight!” she shrieked. “I knew you were in cahoots with these invaders!”
Confused, Twilight said, “I thought you were in cahoots with these Changeling Conservation people?”
Aaron laughed. “We are on nobody’s side... except our own. Obviously.”
He pulled out his tranq pistol, but Chrysalis slapped it away with telekinesis. The changelings swarmed, but the men with the net guns fired. Individual changelings were bagged up. Chrysalis batted away a few of these nets fired at her. Then, Aaron charged.
Chrysalis reared up on her hind legs, and she bared her teeth. Aaron took the opportunity, and tackled Chrysalis to the ground. He grappled Chrysalis around the neck, and shouted,
“Prince Nephi! Prince Lehi! Help me out with this!”
Human twins showed up, with long, grey hair. They were also in modern wrangling uniforms. The three men held down Chrysalis and began... massaging her. Prince Aaron raked his fingers through Chrysalis’ mane, and he scratched her chin. Prince Nephi held down the bulk of Chrysalis by straddling her back, and he was using his hands to massage her shoulders and back. He made special care to groom Chrysalis’ wings. Finally, Prince Lehi sat on Chrysalis’ hind legs and gave her a careful hooficure with a file.
Chrysalis struggled under the gentle ministration of the humans. “Unhand me, you––“
Aaron took his hands away from Chrysalis’ mane and chin and started to scratch her ears. Her floppy hearers were trapped between the fingers and thumbs of the Prince.
Chrysalis’ eyes widened, and she let down her head across Aaron’s lap. As the relaxing motions continued, Chrysalis sighed. She throatily sighed. More petting followed, and the Changeling Queen was thus subdued. The ponies stood watch, as well as a growing number of changelings. Nephi wrinkled out the gossamer wings. Lehi pulled out a soft brush and started to gently swipe away at the unkempt rear hooves.
The other vehicle party came back around and stopped before where the Princes kept Chrysalis. She now closed her eyes into a dopey expression, with all the physical attention she’s getting. Aaron reached for the Queen’s hanging tongue, hesitated, then went back to scratching her neck.
The swarm became a crowd as it landed and gathered before the prone and happily defeated Queen. Noling dared to make a sound. They stood stock-still, waiting for any commands from their Queen. Then, medics disembarked from their trucks and began their examinations of everyling there.
One such medic took over for Prince Aaron. “Thank you, Prince Alma,” said Aaron as he stood up. It was a smooth transition, with Aaron holding up Chrysalis’ head just long enough for Alma to slide under and cradle it, and take over the petting.
Aaron dusted off his pants and then walked back over to the ponies. They, too, were looked over briefly by the medics. One of them gave Aaron a thumbs up, and Aaron waved him away. Aaron went down on one knee to talk eye-to-eye with the ponies. Twilight grimaced slightly and looked at him with a tilted head.
“Who are you people?”
Aaron smiled. “We’re the Changeling Conservationists. Under Article 12, endangered species, such as the changelings, are to be given our help.”
Aaron looked at him. The Princes behind him gently lifted Chrysalis up. They slowly set her back down on a stretcher. Prince Alma took out a bottle of glowing, pink water. Pausing his petting of Chrysalis, Alma slowly coaxed a relaxed Chrysalis into drinking the love-infused water.
After emptying the bottle, Chrysalis gave a slight burp. Giggling, she fell into a deep sleep. Lehi and Nephi took up positions on either side of the stretcher. They slowly lifted up Chrysalis while Alma carefully looked over Chrysalis for any signs of stress or illness. Walking evenly, the three men walked over to one of the jeeps, which had pulled up with an empty flatbed, other than men, readying themselves.
Once there, two men grabbed the sides of the stretcher and carefully lifted up Chrysalis further. Men on the jeep did the same on Lehi’s side. Nephi and Lehi walked out from underneath the working men as they loaded Chrysalis. They tucked her in on her stretcher, and then strapped her down. While Aaron and Twilight watched, the jeep drove away.
A commotion began as the swarm of changelings gathered. Men with clipboards and pencils worked furiously as changelings milled about, get looked after by men with gloves, or loaded on the all-terrain buses that had just arrived.
Wait, what?
Twilight looked over and saw at least a couple dozen buses coming over the hill in single-file, all empty, all crewed by humans, and all ready to ship out again.
She looked at Aaron. Aaron caught her gaze and looked back. Twilight asked, “Why? Why go through this for the changelings?”
A laugh from Aaron. He knelt down and beckoned her over. He leaned into her ear, and whispered, “Because we’re just that bored.”
