It was a pleasant and sunny morning for Verdant as he stood outside the magnificent Canterlot palace. The birds were chirping and there were very few clouds in the sky as he approached the gate.

Reaching into his saddlebags, the shamrock stallion presented the royal summons note that he’d received the previous night to the guards by the gate. The two quickly examined the note before the unicorn of the pair ran a scanning spell over him.

With the scan finished, the guards nodded and opened the gate for him, letting him trot into the grand palace.

A few minutes later, he arrived in the throne room where Princess Celestia was seated upon the throne. “Ah. Private Range, excellent timing.” Verdant gave a salute as the alabaster alicorn rose from her throne and descended her dais.

“To get straight to the point, I’ve summoned you here because there is a special mission that requires your special skills.” The princess’s horn began to glow with golden light before it flashed, flooding the throne room.

When the light faded, Verdant found Celestia and himself in another chamber of the palace. Though the room looked as fine as the other parts of the palace he’d seen, the chamber only had a somewhat plain chandelier, a door with a lock behind them, and a mirror with a purple horseshoe shaped frame.

“Long ago,” the princess’s words snapped Verdant from his thoughts as she moved towards the mirror, “Starswirl the Bearded experimented with portal magic, creating portals to multiple realms. Of all the portals he’s created, this is the only one I know of that still remains.

“This portal leads to an alternate version of Equestria where things turned out radically differently. On very rare occasions, I would speak with the ruler of this Equestria, and now he needs your help, Verdant.”

The princess turned about, looking down upon the short stallion. “The king of this Equestria has an ally whose life is in potential danger, courtesy of an assassin. He’s personally requested your aid in defeating this assassin and ensuring his friend’s safety.”

“Your highness,” Verdant asked as he hesitantly drew closer to the princess and the mirror. “Was I requested because of my skills as a sniper and soldier… or because of my experience with being shrunk and eaten?”

“Both,” the alicorn mare bluntly answered. “Make no mistake, your mission is likely to be very dangerous, but the king and I both believe you have the skills needed to handle this. Now, do you accept this assignment?”

Verdant took a deep breath before giving his confirmation. “Yes, I do, your highness.” He then stepped closer to the mirror, coming to a halt directly in front of it. “I’ve already got a collapsible bow and some arrows in my saddlebags. Is there anything else I’ll need?”

“I cannot say, but I’m certain that anything you’ll need will be provided on the other side of the mirror.” The princess then gave Verdant a gentle pat on the back. “Good luck, my little pony.”

Taking one final moment to steel himself, Verdant stepped forward to go through the mirror.

***

Verdant stepped out of a mirror identical to the one he stepped through, arriving in a room nearly identical to the one he’d just left, only instead of the white that made up Celestia’s chamber, this room’s walls were gray.

“I’ve been waiting for you, Verdant Range.” A stallion’s voice made the fur on the back of Verdant’s neck rise. It was a deep stallion’s voice he’d heard more than once before and it belonged to somepony he despised.

Slowly turning about with a glare on his face, Verdant looked upon the source of the voice.

By the mirror’s side was a unicorn stallion with a deep gray coat. His mane was charcoal black with some streaks of deep blue separating them while his eyes were a sparkling green that stood out in stark contrast to his gray coat. In addition, he wore a full regalia. Adorning the stallion was a cobalt crown that sported an amber jewel in the center with matching shoes on the end of each hoof, colored the same cobalt as his crown and accompanied by a dark purple cape with a furry white trim that was held in place by a cobalt clasp, complete with an amber jewel in the center. Behind the clasp was a pale violet cravat.

“King Sombra, I presume?" Verdant asked, trying to keep the venom out of his tone.

“Yes, my good stallion,” Sombra said as he approached the young earth pony. “From what I’ve seen, the moralities of various beings between our worlds are inverted. Ponies that are good here are bad in your world and vice versa. I’m assuming from your tone that you have some bad history with my counterpart.”

“You could say that,” Verdant said through gritted teeth. “King Sombra in my world slew many of my fellow royal guard cadets, along with many innocent civilians, sealed the empire away from the world for over a thousand years, making it so I could never see my family ever again and burned a scar onto my back!” The shamrock stallion's words erupted into a yell as he pulled down his yellow vest, revealing the large mark upon his back.

“I see.” Sombra winced at the sight of the pony’s scar. “I am truly sorry for the loss you suffered at the hooves of my counterpart, Verdant.”

“And I’m sorry for shouting at you,” Verdant replied as he raised his vest back up. “I know you’re not the stallion that did this to me. You just… have the same face.”

“Aye. Now, come along,” the king said as he started to walk to the door. “Time is of the essence.”

“Alright.” Verdant quickly fell in line behind Sombra as they stepped into a hallway with two guards standing by the door. When Verdant entered the hallway, the guards nearly gasped at the sight of the shamrock stallion before they started to follow as well. “So, based on what you said about our two worlds, I’m assuming my counterpart is pretty bad?”

“The Verdant Range here is one of the most dangerous stallions in this world.” King Sombra replied, his eyes locked on the hallway before him. “He was trained by my traitorous former apprentice Magic Barrier to be an assassin as well as deceiving the great doctor Sweet Tonic to teach him about poisons, adding that to his arsenal of hidden blades, bows and arrows.”

“Why do I have a feeling he’s involved with the friend of yours I was told is in danger?” Verdant’s question made the dark unicorn look over his shoulder.

“Because if the Barrier from your world is anything like the one in mine, he trained you and your fellows to be some of the sharpest, most skilled combatants he could possibly make,” Sombra bluntly replied before taking a sharp right turn and coming to a halt in front of a large set of double doors.

With a flare of his horn, the two doors were pushed open and the four stepped into the chamber where a large, imposing figure was laying on a bed. Rather than fur, her body was covered by a smooth obsidian chitin with a mane and tail of soft, dark turquoise. Finally, her eyes were harlequin green, covered by both dark green eyeliner and a pair of small spectacles.

At first, Verdant thought she was also wearing some kind of violet saddle, but closer inspection revealed that it was actually a part of her body, which seemed to be a sort of shell while the dark bands beneath seemed to be her stomach. To his disgust, it seemed the bands were somewhat transparent, giving him a hint of her insides’ appearance.

Looking to her back, she was sporting a pair of dazzling, translucent wings that looked to be a mix of dragonfly and butterfly wings. Once again drawing his gaze back to her face, he first saw the long, smooth, blade-like horn upon her head and then the six-pointed crown-like formation rested behind it.

“Verdant Range,” The green stallion’s gaze remained where it was. “I present to you Queen Chrysalis,” Sombra said as he walked up to the changeling’s side. “My friend, I bring you the one who I think can help you.”

Chrysalis weakly looked over to the shamrock stallion before she quietly spoke. “Hello, Verdant. Please forgive my unwillingness to talk. My current predicament is rather painful.”

“I understand, your majesty,” Verdant said as he offered her a quick bow. “King Sombra, could you please tell me what is currently wrong and what I can do to help?”

“Suffice to say, she’s suffering due to your counterpart’s handywork,” Sombra replied. “Your counterpart managed to slip his way into Queen Chrysalis sometime last night and is currently causing a healthy degree of internal damage.”

“I’ve been shapeshifting my insides in order to try and reverse the damage he’s causing,” Chrysalis said with a wince. “However, this is rather strenuous on me and eventually, I’ll run out of the magic necessary in order to keep this up.”

“We’ve tried to use magic and medications to flush him out, but it seems he has some kind of anti-magic metal lining his clothes and has somehow managed to avoid the effects of the medicine.” Sombra said as his horn flared up, pulling from a bottle filled with a purple brew as well as a saddlebag that looked like it’d fit perfectly on an ant. “That’s where you come in.”

“Right. I know where this is going,” Verdant said with a note of tiredness in his voice. “What’s in the saddlebag? I’ve already got my bow and arrows in my bag and I know that’s a bottle of shrinking violet potion.”

“Very well,” Sombra replied as he levitated the bottle over to the shamrock stallion. “Inside the saddlebag is a pill. Once it digests, it will create a large amount of gas inside Queen Chrysalis. This will be what will get you and your counterpart out once he’s incapacitated. Drop it in her stomach and it should make her burp you both out.”

“Understood,” Verdant said before pulling the cork from the bottle with his teeth and drinking down the potion. “I really don’t like getting eaten, but I’ll do so to save your friend.”

“Thank you, Verdant.” Sombra gave a thankful smile as the earth pony quickly started shrinking down to bite size. “Genuinely, you have my sincerest thanks.”

“And you have my thanks for making it so that I won’t need the back exit,” Verdant replied just before he was reduced to the familiar size of a pea. Finding himself picked up in the light of Sombra’s magic, the small stallion felt his hooves floating off the floor before the pill’s bag was placed onto his sides.

“Best of luck, my little pony,” Sombra said as the changeling queen opened her mouth wide and he floated the shrunken stallion towards her.

Verdant both felt the warmth and smelt the scent of peppermint from Queen Chrysalis breath as he felt himself gently placed on her large, spongy tongue. To his mild surprise, she kept herself rather still as he started to walk across the tongue’s slick surface.

After one too few moments, he reached the back of her mouth. Looking up, her uvula hung above him, looking like an organic punching bag. Turning his attention downwards, he saw the undulating tunnel that led to her stomach.

“Um, your majesty?” his tiny voice echoed throughout her wide open maw. “I need you to swallow me down. If I try jumping down, I’m pretty sure it’ll just make you gag.”

After a moment of silence, the tongue started to pull back and the massive organic cavern started to darken. Verdant didn’t need to look to know that her lips had sealed behind him before he started to feel the tongue raise up.

The tilting back of her tongue was surprisingly gentle, just before Verdant felt himself being pulled down into her esophagus.

Huh. That’s rather surprising. Verdant thought to himself as he found himself massaged down towards her stomach in the organic elevator. Her mouth is pink, but her other insides are green. Weird. Is that due to her changeling magic or something?

Before he could ponder any further, the esophagus brought him to the end of its trip and pushed him down into the pulsating, semi-translucent green sack that was the changeling queen’s stomach.

Verdant lightly splashed down into what smelled like a creamy tomato soup with soggy chunks that he assumed were garlic croutons some time ago.

“Y’know, I wonder why my life is so damned weird,” Verdant muttered to himself as he paddled through the stomach’s soup. “I just want to be a gardener and tend to flowers yet here I am, in another universe, swimming through a giant changeling queen’s stomach to fight an evil version of myself.”

After a few moments, the shrunken stallion saw that the valve he needed was submerged under the acid. With a roll of his eyes, he took a deep breath before diving under juices.

I wonder what it’ll be like when I face off with this guy. The thought went through Verdant’s mind as he swam down to the tightly closed orifice.

What kind of skills will Verdant have? Will he have the same weapons training as I do? He reached out with a hoof and began to massage the valve, trying to coax it open. Should I call him Dark Green or something so I stop calling him by my name?

After a moment, the valve opened up to the shrunken stallion and a current of the stomach’s juices carried him into the small intestine, where he was able to take a relatively fresh breath.

Taking a few seconds to shake some of the digestive fluids from his coat, he began his long trek through the small intestines while doing his best to ignore the knee-high liquid he was wading in.

As he trudged through the former meal and digestive acids, Verdant heard some loud sounds in the distance. There was a series of furious shouts and splashes coming from up ahead, along with the wet noises of a blade cutting into flesh.

That’s gotta be Dark Green, Verdant cautiously moved ahead, unsure what his villainous counterpart would have up his sleeves.

“Damned bug,” a vicious growl came from around the bend as Verdant saw Dark Green taking a breath, a bit of green flame sealing the fresh wound he’d just made.

The Verdant referred to as Dark Green was clad in a green bodysuit with a dark vest and matching set of boots while upon his raised right foreleg was a retractable blade.

Looking at his face, Verdant found himself staring into a twisted mirror. His mane was swept out to the sides while being more rough in the back while the tail, compared to Verdant’s short tail, was rather long and jagged looking.

However, what made Verdant feel the most uneasy was the vicious look of bloodlust resting on his counterpart’s face. He didn’t know why, but seeing that kind of look on a face just like his was distinctly unsettling.

“I refuse to stop until one of us is dead, and it won’t be me!” Dark Green growled again as he rose up to his forelegs, ready to take another slash.

“Halt!” Verdant barked, making Dark Green stop before he could land a blow on the fleshy, green wall. Slowly turning, he saw Verdant, clad in a yellow vest with pale brown saddlebags on his side and a short mane and tail.

“Oh? What have we here?” Dark Green grinned widely as he retracted his blade and started to examine his virtuous twin. “I had heard rumors that Sombra had a portal to another world, but I never expected he’d recruit a counterpart of myself to fight me.”

“So, I guess that makes you ‘Good Verdant’. Meanwhile, I’m ‘Bad Verdant. If that’s the case, you don’t stand a snowball’s chance in Tartarus,” Dark Green chuckled as Verdant started to reach for his saddlebags. “You’re a little goody four-shoes.

“Little goody four shoes! Little goody four-GAAAAAHHH!” Dark Green’s sing song taunt erupted into a scream as he felt an arrow strike him in the joint of his left shoulder. “GAH, WHAT THE FU-GAAAHH!!!” He found himself cut off yet again as a second arrow found purchase in the same spot on his other shoulder.

“I am Verdant Range!” The shamrock stallion barked as he stood perfectly balanced on his hindlegs, bow drawn back with an arrow ready to fire as he looked down at his counterpart struggling in pain on his back. “I am a former private in the Equestrian Royal Guard under the command of their royal majesties Princess Celestia and Princess Luna! Serial number Three-Six-Two-Three-Seven!”

Dark Green angrily bit down on the arrow stuck in his shoulder before pulling it out. The instant he looked back to Verdant, he found his wound being struck in the exact same spot with another arrow. Dark Green’s scream of pain caused him to drop the arrow into the river of fluids, where it quickly started to dissolve and float away.

“I was personally trained by Captain Magic Barrier of the Executors and I’m a veteran of the Crystal Empire, where I personally shot King Sombra in the face with an explosive arrow,” Verdant exclaimed as he glared down at his counterpart. “You have no chance of beating me. Surrender now to avoid further injuries.”

“You little worm,” Dark Green growled as he started down the emerald-coated archer. “I'll crush you with my bare hooves!”

Suddenly, the villainous earth pony leapt forth from the fluids, his foreleg blade moving into position with the intent to land a lethal strike.

As his counterpart flew towards him, Verdant fired off a fourth arrow that stuck itself in Dark Green’s left hind knee. However, the injury only made the wicked stallion flinch as he sailed forward.

At the last second, Verdant leapt back and to the side, causing Dark Green’s blade to only make a slash in one of his bags. Acting quickly, Verdant swung his bow like a baseball bat into Dark Green’s throat, knocking him back as he gagged and choked.

With his counterpart struggling to regain his breath, Verdant jumped forth and drove both of his elbows into his opponent’s chest before pressing the bow against Dark Green’s throat, pushing him even further down into the acidic river.

“Surrender!” Verdant barked in Dark Green’s face. “You’ve got three arrows in you already and you were tired by the time I arrived! If you value your continued existence, you’ll surrender now!”

Before the vile earth pony could make a response, a hissing noise made both stallion’s ears stand at attention.

Looking over Verdant’s shoulders, the two saw a large purple and orange pill sitting in the digestive liquids with a large amount of bubbles. It was then Verdant saw the slit Dark Green had made in his bag, making the gas pill fall into the fluid.

“Uh-oh…” The two stallions said in unison, both knowing what was to come.

***

As King Sombra nervously paced around the room, his friend suddenly started to groan before giving her belly a rub. “Chrysalis, are you alright?!”

“I think so.” The changeling queen sat up slightly as she looked down at her belly. “I’m not feeling the same sort of pain I was before, but it feels like something’s building up in my-”

Chrysalis was interrupted as a loud *Pfft!* echoed throughout the room, making her cheeks turn a bright crimson. “Nevermind… I know what I was feeling.”

With the pressure from her bowels gone, she looked over her shoulder as Sombra came up to her hind end. Looking closely, he could just spot the tiny, green, pony-shaped specks on the bed by her buttocks. Looking closely, one was sporting a yellow vest while the other wore a dark green ensemble with three arrows sticking out of him.

“Well,” Sombra said as he lit up his horn and picked up the two shrunken stallions. “It seems Operation: Eat Your Greens was a complete success!”

***

A little over an hour later, a now bandaged Dark Green was sitting in a dungeon cell, glaring at Verdant, Chrysalis and Sombra on the other side.

“You know,” Dark Green said as he slumped against the stone wall. “My friends will come and get me out. And when they do, there will be blood.”

“Hopefully, we shall be able to best them with as little bloodshed as possible. Until then, you will stay in that cell until you’ve served enough time to atone for your many crimes, Verdant,” Sombra said before he looked to the shamrock stallion at his side. “And thank you very much for your help today, Verdant.”

“Not a problem, Your Highness,” Verdant said to the king before he found himself suddenly pulled into the insectoid queen’s forelegs for a tight hug.

“And you have my deepest thanks, Verdant,” Chrysalis said before planting a kiss on his forehead. “Your bravery and heroism mean so much to me.”

“All part of being a royal guard… even though I’m not really a guard anymore,” Verdant replied as she let go of her grip on him. “Say, may I have Dark Green’s battle clothes as a reward?”

“I don’t see why not,” Sombra answered. “It would probably be better to have it as far away from him as possible.”

“Hey, fuck you, Sombra!” Dark Green barked as he rose up and hobbled towards the cell bars. “I worked real hard and killed a lot of griffins to get the materials for that outfit!”

“At any rate, we’d best return you to your world,” Sombra stated as he started to lead Verdant and Chrysalis out of the dungeons, completely disregarding the prisoner. “I’m sure that once you return to your world, your Celestia will likely give you a medal for your actions.”

A moment later, Dark Green heard the doorway to the dungeons seal shut and made his way over to his bed.

“Just you wait, Sombra,” the villainous Verdant said as he hopped onto his bed. “You may have been able to beat me, but you’ll never defeat Celestia’s secret weapon.”

A dark, mirthful chuckle came from the stallion’s throat before he looked up to the ceiling.

“Tick-Tock goes the clock…”

Author's Note

Hey folks. Glad this chapter's here for you. It was something I was hoping to do for a long time. Sorry it took so long for this chapter come out, but I was working on the anniversary chapter for A Pony Displaced: Homeward at the same time as this, so that put this behind my intended planned schedule.

Just a reminder, the AP mark in the title indicates this chapter shares continuity with A Pony Displaced: Another Path and its sequel, A Pony Displaced: Homeward.

Anywho, time to vote for the chapter after next.

1. Swift Snort (AP): Verdant is training with his fellow soldiers on Butterfly Island and we see one of the misadventures there.
2. Lovely Nights and New Beginnings (Alternate Ending): Verdant was called upon to impregnate Cadance with Shining Armor's sperm. Well over a year after his successful mission, Princess Cadance calls him back to the empire. What could she want this time?
3. Dating Delights: Verdant goes out on a date with a fancy mare he met during a dating service and things seem to go swimmingly... until he learns she's a cannibalistic serial killer with a shrinking fetish.
4. Betty: The Last Cutesaur: Verdant is recruited by Daring Do to explore an island full of long lost flora and fauna, only to encounter a creature that supposedly went extinct eons ago.
5. Bibinba's Inside Story: While playing Marinara Party with some friends of his, Verdant accidentally lands on the wrong space and finds himself staring down an imposing longma.
6. Double Trouble in the Fire: A teleportation accident ends up sending Verdant to another universe where he meets Dr. Overdrive and a green mare with a white muzzle named Shamrock Meadow. When the two try to get him back home, things go awry and the emerald pony pair end up in the kitchen of Spitfire.
7. Dragon of the Wastelands: In the wastelands that were ruined by mega spells, a small band of ponies wish to reach the town of New Griffinstone. To get there, they hire an odd unicorn mare who goes by the name of Verdant Range.
8. Dog Day Afternoon: On a day out, Verdant finds himself stumbling upon a patch of Shrinking Violets... and a rather hungry Diamond Dog.
9. Happy Hearts & Hooves Day (AP): Verdant wants to give Erica a wonderful Hearts & Hooves Day. After learning she has a fetish for shrinking and vore, he knows what he'll do to make his special somecreature happy.
10. Death to Daybreaker: In a dark world ruled by Daybreaker and Nightmare Moon, two vicious tyrants who plot and scheme against each other, the Mare of the Moon decides to put an end to her sister once and for all. For this, she's going to need a rather skilled assassin.
11. Tales from the Mirrorverse - Digestions & Dragons: Set after the events of "Antacid's Creed", Verdant is assigned to Celestia's elite privateer, Magic Barrier. His first assignment: recover the treasure from a hibernating dragon's stomach.
12. Squad 982's Egg-cellent Adventure: A teleportation accident causes the ponies of Squad 982 to end up inside of reproductive tract of their griffin cadet, Jaylin Blauhäher, just as she's about to lay an egg... an egg that she intends to eat once it's laid.
13. Sweet & Shining Strawberry Snacks: Another round of teleportation leads to another disaster for Verdant as he's teleported to a bowl of strawberries in the Crystal Empire just as Princess Cadance and Shining Armor are about to have a sexy little game.
14. Sailing into the Blue: In the war with the griffins, Captain Barrier comes up with a plan to allow them to infiltrate the Griffin Kingdom and turn the tide of the war. All they need is a boat, Verdant's knowledge of anatomy and a lot of Shrinking Violet potion.
15. Into the Sunset (EG): An accident involving a flower cart and High Gear's teleporter leads to the teen to be shrunk again and finding himself stuck in a salad in Canterlot.
16. Ponies and Portals: Verdant is poached by a mare who is competing against High Gear's project by working on creating long range portal spell. However, things go wrong and Verdant finds not only is he shrunk, but his body has become a strange creature with weird appendages and clothes... along with being in a package of peanut butter and crackers.
17. Enter the Mecha Mare: While showing up for one of High Gear's experiments, Verdant learns that he's made a robotic pony. However, something seems a bit off with this miraculous mechanical mare. What could she have planned?
18. The Celestial City: A terrible accident that wrecks many buildings and leaves many in Vanhoover without homes, Princess Celestia gets an idea to solve this housing problem based on the reports she got from her student's friendship lessons and High Gear's reports on her teleportation guinea pig.

Remember, only one vote per person. Also, from now on, vote that only have a number will no longer counted and even deleted. I'm sorry if this seems harsh, but I did this since it makes tallying the votes easier for me.

Next time, Verdant finally makes it to Baltimare, but he doesn't end up in a lab, but in a kitchen that caters to carnivorous species when we get A Verdant Sandwich.

See ya then!