The Man and The Moon

"Sister, has the search party returned yet?" Luna asked as she and Celestia trotted down the hall towards the dining room.

"No, Lulu, they haven't." As they walked Celestia watched Luna out of the corner of her eye, noting that she was visibly anxious and appeared to actually care for the interdimensional intruder. "Have you been able to find him in the dream realm?" She asked bluntly, turning the rest of her head to face her worried sister.

"No, We have not. Though We have been looking, We still feel drained from that net."

"Our analyses ponies are working on what it was made out of, they theorize that it was lined with something similar to Chrysalis' throne, something that works to negate the magic of anypony, but while Chrysalis' throne just negates magic other than that of a changelings, this one seemed to sap your energy as a whole and make you fall unconscious, something of which I haven't seen in the millennia I've been presiding over Equestria so it makes me feel a great amount of unease." Stopping now to face Luna with her full body Celestia places a hoof on her shoulder and looks at her with a caring and concerned expression. "Lulu I don't feel comfortable with you leaving the castle right now so please stay tight and I'll assign a new guard to watch over you okay?" It takes Luna a second to think it over what was just said to her before nodding in agreement.

"Yes, sister, if that's what you wish We will oblige. Now if you'll excuse us, it is time for your morning breakfast before the day council and We must retire for the morning." Without another word, Luna trots off in the opposite direction, looking back to her Celestia waits until she's out of earshot before mumbling to herself.

"But we were supposed to eat together this morning," she says in a hushed and disappointed tone before hearing hoofsteps approaching from behind, turning to face the sound she's met with Scarlet Dawn on time for her shift.

"Good morning, Ma'am!" She belts out with a salute before returning to a more relaxed stance.

"Any news regarding the human?"

"No Ma'am, Chrysalis hasn't made any moves since her drones took him away."

"Just for clarities sake, what did you tell Luna when she woke up?"

"That the human was gone before I arrived, Ma'am."

"Good, if anything we can assume Chrysalis took him to try to get information out of him, so we may have to rearrange guard positions, at least for the night shift."

"Actually Ma'am, the positioning and staff recruitment he put into place for the night shift have improved security and any openings are slim to none with constant patrols, any intruder would have to be able to turn invisible if they wanted any hope of getting within a hundred yards of Princess Luna or any of our confidants."

"Have you reviewed it all?"

"Yes, Ma'am, he made detailed reports of all positionings, who was to be placed where along with highly specific patrol routes covering both ground and air and times for guards to change locations with others with specific code phrases in the event of any doppelgangers. I can only assume that Princess Twilight or one of the other elements told him about the changelings' power to mimic the form of anypony they wished and planned accordingly."

"Where did you find this information?"

"In his desk, I believe he was writing drafts of this one morning when I went in to speak to him, Ma'am."

"Do you have it on you?"

"No Ma'am it is currently on my desk in my quarters."

"Could you retrieve it? I'd like to poor through it."

"Yes, Ma'am!" With another salute, she gallops off in the direction of her room to fetch the requested documents. Celestia then continues to the dining room to hopefully enjoy some breakfast and fix any mistakes that the human had made in the guard arrangement.

--->Edward<---

"Chrysalis."

"Yes, Edward?" She asks in her usually unsettling voice.

"I've been here for about two days now, at least that I know of consciously, and I was just wondering, can I get my clothes back?"

"Do you really need them? I mean everypony else in Equestria, the world even, don't usually wear any clothing outside of special events or in a display of wealth."

"Can I just have my clothes back please?"

"Hmm... Very well you can have enough to cover yourself but, no armor."

"That's fine." With a nod, Chrysalis claps her hooves together and without a seconds gap two drones appear out of one of the many openings in the walls surrounding us."

"What is it you need majesty?"

"Fetch Edward's clothing, just the fabric ones."

"Right away!" They both take off into different holes, and while we wait there is a shared silence between Chrysalis and I, sitting down, I take to observing the walls and watching the holes shift and disappear. After about a minute I notice that when one hole closes, another opens, often times on the adjacent wall or in the ceiling. While they might want everyone to think that it's random from which one closes and which one opens, there is a definite pattern while I can't discern what it is yet in this room alone the holes are paired and if I had to guess I'd say that the everyone hole has its partner. Not even a second passes by when I make the hypothesis that I suffer a migraine and in the wince, I place my hand on my forehead and Chrysalis sees this as the sign.

"Oh, dear you've been getting a lot of those migraines lately, haven't you?"

"Y-yeah.." She summons the emerald glow of her magic and gently places the tip of her horn on my forehead and like before the pain is almost immediately relieved at the expense of some of my stamina, while before it made me fall asleep, this time only causes me to experience some lightheadedness that only lasts a few seconds. Luckily for me, the drones with my clothing arrived oddly directly when my lightheadedness faded so I didn't have to get dressed while in that state, not that it would've been difficult, but it would've been an annoyance none-the-less.

"Now that you're comfortable shall we start with your magic training or the drones combat training?"

"Whichever you'd like to do." She smirks at me saying this and stands before facing me.

"Magic training it is, come follow me." And with that she turns and trots away with me trailing behind, I use this opportunity to examine my surroundings, and from what I could tell my theory is right. Perhaps I'll have time to explore these caverns in the future once I gain her trust a little more... But in all of this, I can't help but feel reminded of how the castle in Canterlot changed between night and day, never anything this drastic and always the same change, just a single corridor but never-the-less it's similar to this.

Chrysalis takes me through a series of corridors and holes before we're greeted by fresh air and the giant orb floating in the sky we call the sun, after taking in a deep breath she turns to me.

"Just a little farther now." After a nod from me, we begin walking again.

"If we're to practice your magic we'd have to do it outside and far enough away from my throne."

"What would your throne have to do with it?"

"it's made from a special stone that nullifies any equestrian magic besides that of a changeling. Not even Discord, the living spirit of chaos himself can so much as conjure a flying pig in my territory. So the hopes of you learning magic in my hive will be none."

"Interesting, and how did you come across this stone?"

"Oh, I didn't, that would've been ages ago. One of the queens before me did."

"So changeling queens aren't eternal like alicorns are then?"

"No, unfortunately, how changelings operate is the queen births all of the drones, which are male, and one female that will in time succeed them and take rulership and become the new queen."

"Do ponies know this?"

"They didn't but most likely they do since Thorax betrayed me. Probably told them everything they need to know. Part of the reason I need you, to be honest."

"Need me?"

"Why yes, those who've been betrayed should stay together, yes that's one of the reasons I took you from Celestia's grasp, but also because if we can take the time to train you, you'd be a great asset to us in future confrontations. Oh, nevermind that though, we're far enough away now."

"That's about half a mile distance from the hive."

"Indeed, It's enough for us to notice anypony who's foolish enough to come for us." She sits down and points a hoof to a spot in front of her. "Sit," she says almost as a command and smiles as I take the seat. 'Something isn't quite right' I think to myself as she clears her throat and begins. "You see, Edward, magic is in everything thing naturally but the use of magic in of itself is the expression of thought given form, some ponies opt to use feeling to use their magic but when it comes down to it the process is based entirely on thought. So let's start with something basic, figuring out where exactly you should focus on when using your magic. For example, I and everypony else who can use magic, focus the energy through the horn, and you know you're doing it right when you see your glow consume it," Her horn glows emerald as a way of demonstration. "Now I don't expect you to be able to even summon your glow today, but let's try it, my drones described you as using your hands, so hold one out and focus on it, if it helps you to visualize then try to see the magic flowing through your body going into your hand."

"Alright." Taking her advice I stare into my hand and after a solid minute of concentrating I start to feel a weight on my palm. "I feel something." I say excitedly.

"Good, that means you're almost there, just a little more. Actually try a catalyst motion, like a wave, a point anything, see what happens." Without a seconds gap of her saying that I do the first thing that comes to mind, pressing my thumb and index finger together I put pressure on them until they pass each other. A loud snap echoes before I look up to Chrysalis.

"Nothing happened," I say shortly before something that smells like smoke enters my nose, and I see her sitting there trying to hold back laughter, failing, but trying. "What's so funny?"

"Your fur! You set it on fire!" Now she's not even trying to hide her amusement, I quickly pat my head to put it out, it was small considering I didn't even feel it.

"It's called hair."

"Oh, alright, your hair was on fire." She says sarcastically as she stands up. "Well, now we know you can at least use magic willingly and not on a rampage. maybe it'll be easier to teach you than I thought... Let's head back for now. It's your turn to do some instructing." Without giving me time to respond she begins moving back to the hive, with me trailing behind.

Our walk back was mostly quiet until about half that when she asks, "So how long have you been on Equestria?"

"About half a year. Why?"

"Half a year? That's quite a while by our standards, most of that time was spent in ponyville yes?"

"That's right."

"Must be pretty lonely being one out of two humans in all of Equestria."

"I suppose, nothing I can't live with."

"Oh don't be silly, every being needs some companionship, even me, I don't know what I would do without my brood, but you, you're surrounded by pastel-colored horses and mythical beings that are pure legend in your world. Even some ponies feel out of their element here that's why we have the occasional visitor."

"I thought no one came out here?"

"Well, occasionally ponies will seek us out for certain, 'Services'. Well, not just ponies there are griffons and even the occasional yak."

"What kind of services?"

"Oh, Edward, I am trying to be delicate. There's a possibility that you will see some visitors and rather than have you dig for the information I figured it'd just be easiest to tell you. Some creatures come to us to live specific dreams, dreams that they either couldn't achieve in reality or just in secret for fear of resentment. It's something that only we can provide as changelings, and it's not a bad deal for us either, we can feed off of the love that's generated by the act." She chuckles as she finishes that statement. "In fact sometimes they don't want to leave."

"That seems a bit risky, I mean I understand you live off of love, but wouldn't that pose as a security issue?"

"No, just because we make no attempt to hide it makes business easier, and besides Celestia would never dream of mounting an attack on us here her magic would be rendered useless and she'd be taken, prisoner. Again."

"Again?"

"I've taken her prisoner twice now, but somepony always trots along and saves her right before my victory."

"Why not take over another kingdom first? Build your resources, box Celestia in, form alliances with other nations..." She stops in her tracks, still with me behind, she puts a hoof to her chin for a second and thinks before continuing to walk.

"That's a good idea Edward, but tell me, why help me so soon after meeting me?" I ask myself the same thing, why help an enemy of the pony I should be protecting? In that instant of self-questioning, my inner voice responds to me, but not just inside of my head, I actually speak, it's response.

"Because I want to." She looks back at me with a grin.

"Good." She says simply and softly, before turning around and continuing to the hive.