It was unusually tense in the DropShip’s small briefing room. Honestly, it didn’t typically see a whole lot of traditional use. The Galloway had four ‘Steed stalls and a forward hangar with two berths for aerofighters. A full-scale op, with all concerned pilots and their support staff, would have required the sizable conference room in order to get everypony on the same page before launching an operation. As it was, with just Valkyrie and Slipshod to brief―the two ponies who, more often than not, attended the initial briefing from the client with Squelch in the first place―their immediate employer rarely had a need to do much more than talk over a few additional points with the two of them either in her cabin or in the ‘Steed Bay just before they launched.

It was pretty well packed now though! Squelch, both ‘Steed pilots, Doc Dee, Mig and Tig, and two security ponies to watch over the purple alicorn that had been woken up a few hours ago, all filled out the chairs gathered around the holoprojection table. Its surface was dark at the moment. As were the plethora of screens surrounding the room. There was no mission briefing today.

This was an interrogation.

At least, that’s what it must have felt like for the alicorn, who had the full attention of every other pony in the room. As well as a couple of rifles that were being carried in very conspicuous fashion by the armored ponies at her flanks. Slipshod noted that they were at least not crass enough to actively be pointing those weapons at the mare. Though that could be changed in a heartbeat if their prisoner/guest did anything that seemed out of place.

Nopony said anything for what felt like a rather long time, though it was probably only a few seconds after everypony was seated. Squelch began the proceedings. Only fitting, Slipshod supposed. This was her ship after all, and it was the meeting that she’d requested.

“Let’s start, with your name,” the sage unicorn mare said in an even tone, her hooves arched together, obscuring her muzzle, as she contemplated the purple alicorn sitting across from her at the far end of the table.

“Princess Twilight Sparkle,” the other mare responded in a surprisingly imperious tone, given her situation. She certainly had all of the affectations that somepony would expect of a royal, Slipshod noted. Though it was pretty clear that the outfit’s commander didn’t particularly care for that answer.

Squelch sneered at the alicorn, “this again,” she lowered her hooves in disgust. She glared at the ship’s physician, “if she’s still delusional, then this is all a waste of time―” she started to stand up from the table.

“I am Twilight Sparkle,” the violet mare repeated, flashing her own piercing gaze at the unicorn. She fluttered a wing in Doc Dee’s direction, “he’s had to have confirmed for you that I’m an alicorn at least, correct?”

The doctor looked over at his employer and gave her a slight nod, “I’ve run every test I could come up with,” he assured her, “every piece of equipment on this ship confirms that she is an alicorn,” the purple pony allowed herself a satisfied smirk, which soured slightly as he continued, “as for whether or not she’s the Queen―”

“That is Chrysalis!” she snapped, her features creasing in dark lines. Slipshod couldn’t remember the last time that he’d ever heard a pony utter a name with such visceral hatred. No, that was a lie. Dominus Blueblood had sounded much like that when he’d been roaring for his guards after discovering the golden earth pony in bed with his wife.

The emerald unicorn arched an eyebrow, but slowly slid back into her chair, folding her hooves in front of her, “and ‘Crystal’ is…?”

“Chrysalis,” the alicorn stressed, “is a changeling―the Queen of the changelings, to be precise. She’s an ancient enemy of Equestria. One that I had thought vanquished forever,” she added bitterly. She closed her eyes and shook her head in despair, “that...was my failing. I’d forgotten that Harmony’s magic doesn’t work like that. It didn’t do so for Nightmare Moon, nor Discord.

“I should have been paying more attention, but…” a sardonic smile creased the corner of her lips as she looked back up, “time has a way of...getting away from you after the first few hundred years. When faced with the more immediate concerns of your subjects on a day-to-day basis, it becomes very easy to put off making preparations for an event a thousand years in the future until ‘tomorrow’. It also didn’t help that my day planner only allowed for scheduling events so far in the future…”

The other ponies all exchanged looks. Some confused, other’s skeptical. However, it was still only Squelch that was addressing the alicorn mare, “Discord? As in, the Disciples of Discord, correct? Is he your leader or something?”

Again the purple pony’s face contorted in annoyance, “I don’t know who or what these ‘Disciples of Discord’ are, or why you keep bringing them up,” she insisted.

“You were found in one of their old DropShips,” the company commander shot back accusingly, “it had their emblem all over it.”

Still the mare looked confused. Slipshod raised his hoof and tentatively offered some elaboration, with a permissive look in his employer’s direction, “the crossed horn and antler,” he explained to the alicorn.

Realization dawned over Twilight’s face, “ah. You mean the emblem of the Ninth Force Recon? Discord’s Rangers?”

It was Squelch’s turn to frown now, “what’s a ‘ranger’?”

The alicorn shrugged, “I have no idea,” she admitted, “when I asked him about it, he told me to ask Spike. Spike said it was an ‘Ogres and Oubliettes thing’. What Discord chose to call them was none of my concern anyway,” she said, shifting the subject slightly, “the Ninth Recon were many things, but they were never a cult, or a terrorist organization,” she insisted vehemently.

“Well they are now,” the unicorn mare quipped, earning a dour look from the alicorn, which she ignored, “and since you were on their ship, you were either one of their prisoners, or one of their members. Nopony goes through what they did to save a prisoner though,” she leveled a knowing look at the alicorn, “which suggests to me…”

Twilight sighed, rubbing her temple, “the Ninth Recon was tasked with keeping watch during my meeting with Princess Selena of the Lunar Empire,” she explained, “we weren’t expecting any treachery, but...better safe than sorry, and all that. Tirek had been dealt with, but Cozy Glow and Chrysalis were still unaccounted for.”

The gathered ponies exchanged looks with each other, clearly at a loss to place some of those names. Tirek’s was known, of course. His appearance in 998 AC, and the subsequent destruction that he’d wrought across the Harmony Sphere had been the impetus for the development of BattleSteeds, as well as the first target for their deployment. The other two, Slipshod could tell, were names that meant nothing to anypony other than Twilight.

“I know I never made it to the meeting,” the alicorn continued, “so if I was on one of their DropShips, that means that things went very badly indeed and they must have pulled me out,” the alicorn frowned, “I honestly don’t recall making it to their ship…”

“You were in a pretty bad way,” Doc Dee spoke up, looking between the alicorn and Squelch, “it’s fairly common for victims of serious trauma, like the kind you sustained, to have little memory of the events that led to their injuries. I’d honestly be shocked if you did remember everything that happened.”

“I know we were ambushed,” the purple mare insisted, her tone once more brimming with ire, “and I know it was Chrysalis. She couldn’t resist taunting me,” her amethyst eyes unfocused for a moment, “we were suddenly surrounded. BattleSteeds powered up all around us, as if on cue. They’d known exactly where we would be dropped off, and the route we would be taking.

“She must have had one of her changelings in our communications loop already. It’s the only explanation.

“It was a trap.”

“So what is a ‘changeling’, exactly?” Squelch asked.

The alicorn looked taken aback, “what do you mean? Surely you’ve heard of changelings! They were one of Equestria’s greatest enemies!”

“Well, ‘Equestria’ hasn’t existed for a very long time,” the unicorn mare pointed out, “and studying ancient history isn’t high on a lot of ponies’ lists these days.”

“But there should still be reformed changelings now,” Twilight protested. She appeared to notice the mirrored looks of confusion among the other in the room, as Slipshod saw her look from one face to the next in search of comprehension. When she didn’t find it, her features began to falter, “...aren’t there?”

“And a ‘reformed changeling’ is…?” Doc Dee prompted.

“A changeling that’s bought into the Our Worlds League’s weird Cutieless Cult?” Tig offered in an audible aside to her twin, who wasn’t able to restrain herself from sniggering. A stern look from their employer silenced the pair.

“A changeling that’s decided to share love, rather than devour it,” the alicorn explained patiently, though was clearly a little distressed at having to elaborate at all, “you’ve never met one? How is that possible?”

Nocreature had an answer to that, Slipshod noticed. Not surprising. He suppressed a deep sigh when he noticed that Squelch was looking less and less convinced of the alicorn’s sanity. Not good for his plans. The stallion had to find some way to salvage this before the unicorn just ended the meeting and had Twilight locked back up in the brig to await entering Canis orbit.

“So,” the earth pony interjected, trying his best to redirect the flow of the conversation back to topics that didn’t make the purple mare seem quite as insane. It took a lot of effort on Slipshod’s part to remain as composed as he was. He’d specifically asked Twilight to be more cooperative so the Squelch would be more easily convinced she was safe to keep around. Blathering about ‘changelings’ wasn’t accomplishing that, “you said that you were ambushed on your way to a meeting of some sort?”

Twilight started for a moment, surprised by the topic shift, as she stared at the golden pony. The pair held each others’ gazes for a long moment, then she took a deep breath and regarded the green unicorn mare, “you said I was the only survivor?”

Squelch nodded, adding, “and your Rainbow Dash was the only ‘Steed on the ship.”

The alicorn paled visibly now, looking down at the table, “...a Strongheart carries twelve ‘Steeds.” she whispered.

Slipshod recognized the implication. If the unit that the DropShip had been a part of was tasked with guarding the delegation's flank, then in the event of an ambush, it would have flown in and deployed its forces to cover the fleeing Princess and her escorts. Twelve ‘Steed pilots had disembarked from the ship as a screening force to hold back the attackers long enough for Twilight to get onboard.

Then, either because they’d already been destroyed by that time, or because the DropShip was taking too much fire to safely remain in the hot zone any longer...it had flown off without the forces it had arrived with. All twelve ‘Steed pilots had been sacrificed to save her life. Later, the ship’s entire crew had died saving her as well. To say nothing of however many of her escorts had been slain in the initial ambush, or however many other Ninth Force Recon Strongheart-class DropShips might have arrived to deploy their own forces in her defense.

Potentially hundreds of ponies had lost their lives to save hers―if not thousands.

That the weight of their sacrifice was shaking her like this spoke volumes about the mare’s character, in Slipshod’s opinion.

Squelch’s too, it seemed, as the earth pony noted the slightest softening of the stoic expression that she’d been wearing rather consistently during the whole exchange up until this point, “and your claim is that this ‘Chrysalis’ and her ‘changelings’ took your place?”

The haunted look in the alicorn’s eyes was replaced by fire once again at the mention of the name. A focus for her grief, and her vengeance, “if the ‘alicorn’ reigning from Equus is indeed styling herself a ‘Queen’, then it has to be her,” her brow furrowed now as she looked around the room, seeming to find something very amiss all of a sudden, “...but so then how are you all still here? How has she not consumed everycreature after five centuries?”

The other ponies in the room all exchanged looks. Slipshod could tell that most of them still didn’t believe a word that the alicorn was saying―about the changelings, at least. That her ‘Steed had been ambushed and beaten to Tartarus and back had been fairly evident from the physical damage. There was also the fact that Doc Dee had verified that this mare was as real an alicorn as he could determine too.

So not everything she was saying was a lie, at the very least.

Right now they were trying to decide exactly which parts they were willing to believe on just her word.

“If Chrysalis has been maintaining everything the way it was all this time,” the purple mare continued to muse aloud, starting to pace across the front of the briefing room, “then she must have something else planned...but what could possibly require centuries to put in place when she already has everypony fooled?

“She’s not doing this by half-measures either, if she’s managed to somehow purge the knowledge of the existence of changelings from the public record...” she paused for a moment and looked at Squelch, “I want access to a record of the Celestia League’s history,” she said, “I need to know what lies she’s been spreading.”

The unicorn frowned, and for a moment Slipshod thought she was going to refuse the request―though the tone involved had certainly suggested that it’d been a demand, the stallion felt. Apparently, Squelch ultimately felt that there was no harm in agreeing, “that can be arranged,” she nodded.

“Good,” again the earth pony suppressed a sigh. A ‘thank you’ wouldn’t have gone amiss, he thought. Twilight was really going to have to get used to not being the top rung of the hierarchy ladder around here. Pissing off Squelch wasn’t going to do the alicorn any favors, “I don’t suppose I could also get census records for the last five centuries so I can find out what happened to the reformed changelings?” the unicorn’s expression was much more incredulous now, but before she could issue her flat denial, the alicorn seemed to rethink the idea on her own, “nevermind. If Chrysalis has been fudging the history books, then she has to have been fudging the records too, or somepony would have noticed by now.

“So she’s ruling from Equus, but she’s still letting everycreature go about with their lives…” the alicorn rubbed at her chin, “why? What does that get her?”

Then a thought seemed to occur to her and she looked over at Slipshod, “the first time we met, you said that you were all ‘independent’. What did you mean by that?”

“We’re mercenaries,” Squelch answered for him, taking back control of the conversation from the alicorn’s ramblings, “freelance. We take contracts with just about anycreature. The kirin, hippogriffs, ponies, whoever. C-bits are C-bits.”

The princess’ brow furrowed, “mercenaries fighting...who?”

“Whoever,” the emerald mare shrugged, “right now the kirin and the hippogriffs are going at it pretty good. The Federated Moons and the Pony Commonwealth are at each others’ throats. The Our Worlds League gets on everycreature’s nerves, it seems like. So, yeah, plenty of work to go around for ponies like us,” she paused for a moment, then hastily added, “and kirin,” the twins nodded in unison.

“Who are all of these―what about the Celestia League?” the purple mare asked.

“They dissolved a long time ago,” Squelch explained, “as I remember it from history, Queen Twilight basically told every system that they could do whatever they wanted, and so they did. By that time, half the systems in the old League had left anyway, so it was kind of a foregone conclusion no matter what she said.

“Whole galaxy kind of went to shit for a while there though. A lot of very brutal wars. Lot of creatures died. Lot of records, technology, and infrastructure was lost and had to be rebuilt.

“So, a little over three hundred years ago, the Queen stepped in and set up ComSpark to try and ‘civilize’ the wars a little, along with the Mercenary Review Board to regulate groups like ours. It’s actually been going pretty smoothly since then.”

“Smoothly?” the purple alicorn remarked, sounding mildly taken aback. Squelch nodded, “but creatures have been fighting almost constantly ever since?”

The unicorn nodded, “it’s a big galaxy,” she said, “some planet somewhere is getting annexed on any given day. But most of the destruction is kept to a minimum...ish.”

“That’s not ‘smooth’, that’s horrible!” the alicorn protested indignantly, “why doesn’t everycreature just stop fighting?!”

“Because food doesn’t grow on―” the unicorn caught herself and rolled her eyes and let out a defeated sigh, “okay, so maybe food does grow on trees,” she allowed, ignoring a pair of snickers from the kirin mechanics, “but there are only so many trees in the galaxy, and a lot of creatures! Same goes for mana crystals and clean water. In order for somecreature to have any, other creatures have to go without.

“Curiously enough, a lot of creatures are willing to fight hoof and claw to not be part of the latter group,” she smirked at the alicorn.

“That’s ridiculous!” Twilight spat, “just terraform more planets to grow more food! Build more Dulmen Spheres around stars to harness the power needed to charge depleted mana crystals! There’s plenty of resources in the galaxy for everycreature!”

“That would be nice,” Squelch conceded, “except that terraforming is losmagitek that nopony’s been able to reproduce for centuries. Same goes for the ability to build Dulmen Spheres; and the ones that used to exist got destroyed in the wars before the Aris Conventions set guidelines to preserve civil infrastructure.

“So, yeah. What there is, is what there is; and there just isn’t enough for everycreature. It is what it is, and we just have to make the best of it.”

The alicorn was stunned to silence as she digested the news. It had to have been quite the sock, Slipshod reasoned to himself. She’d once known a galaxy of plentitude where all the beings on all the worlds lived in nominal peace with one-another. Now she had awoken to discover that that serene society was no more, and in its place was a galaxy at war with itself. Anypony could be forgiven for being overwhelmed by such a revelation and falling into despair―

“I’m going to fix it,” Twilight stated, her features set in determined lines, “all of it. I need you to take me to Equus,” she insisted, “help me defeat Chrysalis and take back the throne and I can―” Slipshod put his head in his hooves.

Squelch burst out laughing. There was nothing mirthful about the sound though. It was an incredulous, scathing, cackle that served as an indictment on the absurdity of the alicorn’s request, and promptly brought the violet mare to silence once more, “listen, ‘princess’,” she snorted, “I don’t ‘need’ to take you anywhere. Least of all Equus!” the alicorn opened her mouth to object, but the green unicorn held up a hoof to forestall her, “first and foremost: no creature goes to Equus without the expressed permission of the Queen Herself!

“There is exactly one JumpShip that has the jump point coordinates for the Faust System, and they don’t let just anypony dock up with them and hitch a ride,” Squelch explained. Then she leaned forward on the table, glaring at the alicorn, “but even if I could get authorization, I still wouldn’t take you. I mean, unless you have about five million C-bits tucked up your flank to pay us,” she smirked.

Twilight Sparkle scowled at the other mare, “if money is all you’re concerned with, the Royal Treasury has more than enough to cover whatever price you could care to name.”

“Not good enough,” the unicorn insisted, “we need payment up front.”

“I do not appreciate having my integrity questioned like this,” the alicorn growled, her ears folding back on her head in obvious anger, “if I tell you that you will be compensated for your aid, then you will be! I can meet any price that will satisfy your banal greed―”

“It’s not about greed,” Squelch shot back, her eyes flaring with barely contained rage, “it’s about transit fees! We’re currently the better part of three hundred lightyears from Equus. A ‘best time’ route would mean effectively renting out an entire JumpShip for the whole trip to do the minimum ten jumps required to get to Equus from our current position. They’d absolutely charge us for the cost of the potential business they’d lose catering to our intended destination, which would mean paying to cover all the available docking ports. Easily the better part of two hundred thousand C-bits, per jump, for a minimum of ten jumps. Realistically, it’d be closer to fifteen, but let’s be optimists for a moment.

“That’s over two million C-bits in just the jump fees alone. I also have a crew that needs to be fed and paid for the three months it’ll take us to get there,” Squelch pointed out, “Cookie’s good in the galley, but even he can’t whip up a hardy meal using only promises of future payment. I doubt the families of my crew can pay their rents using IOUs with your signature either.

“I didn’t spit out the number ‘five million’ because I’m a greedy bitch. That’s the number I gave because it’s just about the break even amount to get your flank to Equus and then get us back to where we are now so that we can get back to going about our lives,” the emerald mare held the gaze of the alicorn with her cool eyes, “I’m not even turning a profit on it. That’s the closest you’ll get to charity out here, princess.

“But if it’s not fucking good enough for you, then your only cheaper option is to march your happy flank out the airlock and hitchhike.”

Much to Slipshod’s surprise, his employer’s little tirade actually seemed to cow the alicorn somewhat. The feathers on her wings lost their puffed appearance and her expression waivered, shifting from ire to uncertainty and embarrassment.

Squelch hadn’t been exaggerating either. Co-opting a whole JumpShip for the journey was certainly the quickest option, at just under three months for the trip, ideally. It might even be the cheapest route too, seeing as how catching passage on whatever JumpShip just happened to be going in the vague direction of Equus could possibly end up meaning dozens of additional jumps and many more months of travel.

Normally, such transit costs were covered by a client when the Galloway set out for a job in another system, hardly making them much of an issue. This time though, traveling would be the job; and the coffers of the Steel Coursers was nowhere near deep enough to bankroll it upfront. Especially with such an uncertain payday. It wasn’t as though Chrysalis was just going to roll over and give up the throne to Twilight the moment the purple alicorn arrived in the system.

The alicorn’s ‘plan’ was barely worthy of the word.

“...I apologize,” the alicorn said, much to the surprise of the golden earth pony; and much to the satisfaction of Squelch, “I had failed to consider the logistics involved,” a wan smirk touched her lips, “I always had generals for that sort of thing.”

“What did you hope to accomplish when you got there anyway?” Slipshod asked of the purple mare, “if you think Equus is a changeling stronghold of some sort, then Chrysalis isn’t just going to let you walk up to the front door unopposed. You don’t honestly think one mare can stop the whole hive, do you?”

The alicorn looked at the stallion for a few seconds, seeming to study him before saying, “that’s all it took one time,” with a cryptic smile on her face, her eyes clouding for a brief moment before she sighed and shook her head, “but...you’re right. Having allies would be the smarter course of action. Not that I know where to find many of those now.”

Twilight’s expression fell into a deep frown. Then she abruptly sat up, her eyes wide as she looked back at Squelch, “these Disciples of Discord,” she began, “you said that they’re still around?”

The green unicorn shrugged, “they pop up from time to time on some world or other near the Periphery. They show up, cause a little mayhem, and then vanish again. Nopony knows where they’re operating from. ComSpark offers bounties on any kills on them, as well as for information on their whereabouts.

“So, if you happen to know where any of their old hideouts were a few centuries ago, we might be able to cash in on it and help you pay for this trip to Equus of yours…?”

Twilight gave the mare a flat look, “in my day, the Ninth Force Recon was based out of the Loki System. Even back then it was well developed and very populated. They never had any permanent installations anywhere else.

“However, if they truly are still active, and they do use their old regimental crest…?” she looked between Squelch and Slipshod. Both ponies nodded, “then it’s possible that they recognize that the Twilight on Equus right now isn’t the real me,” she said hopefully, “maybe that’s why they’ve been raiding: they’re resisting her rule, even after all this time!”

The other ponies at the table all exchanged unconvinced expressions, but the alicorn seemed undeterred, “I need to find them. To speak to their leadership. They might be able to help me!”

“Oh, yeah, sure,” Squelch rolled her eyes, “violent fanatic cultists are frequently known for philanthropy…” the mare said in a sarcastically drole tone that was quite evidently unappreciated by the purple alicorn.

“If they’re opposing Chrysalis, then it only makes sense to seek them out,” Twilight countered.

“Unless they’re not opposing her, but instead are after you,” the unicorn pointed out, “and by ‘you’, I mean Queen Twilight Sparkle, the alicorn who’s been ruling the Harmony Sphere for thousands of years.”

“I haven’t been―I mean, she hasn’t been ruling for―oh, never mind!” she let out an exasperated sigh, “I won’t be able to prove anything to you about that until I know how she’s changed the historical record anyway...

“But those have to be remnants of Discord’s Rangers,” the purple mare insisted, “they’re still using their old crest. The Ninth Recon knew I was ambushed and never made it to the meeting with the Empire. They have to know that the Twilight on Equus is an imposter!

“You’re right,” she continued, glancing at Slipshod, “I can’t do this on my own. I need allies. The descendants of the ponies who rescued me might be the closest thing that I have to friends left in this galaxy,” now she looked back to Squelch, “if you can’t get me to Equus, then can you at least help me make contact with these ‘Disciples’? I’m sure they’ll have the finances to cover whatever transit fees are involved,” she added with a wry smirk.

“Can I help you link up with avowed enemies of the Harmony Sphere?” the emerald unicorn mare propped her head up with a hoof, gazing levely at the alicorn, “violating somewhere around a dozen galactic laws and getting me and my whole crew blacklisted by both ComSpark and the MRB?

“Sure. For fifty million C-bits. To cover the cost of all the money we’ll never make again because we’ll have to flee to the Periphery and live out the rest of our days in hiding.

“I’m sure the mare that couldn’t manage five million can come up with ten times that amount without any issue whatsoever.”

Twilight narrowed her eyes at the unicorn, “you know, sarcasm is a sign of a weak mind.”

“Well, right now this ‘weak mind’ controls a ship, a crew, and whether or not you’ll spend the rest of your life―which, as I understand it, for alicorns is quite a long time―in a dungeon in the Queen’s palace on Equus,” there was no amusement whatsoever in the smile she was directing at the alicorn, “so what’s that say about the weakness of your mind, exactly?”

“Nopony knows how to contact the Disciples,” Slipshod interjected, drawing Twilight away from the deathly cold glare she was shooting his employer. Nothing productive was going to come from the pair of mares trading barbs with each other, “they show up without warning, raid some garrisons, and then withdraw back out of the Harmony Sphere. There’s no way for anypony to just ‘take you to meet them’.”

The violet mare seemed to deflate a little, “I see.”

“Well, this has been a profoundly ‘enlightening’ conversation; but I think that I’ve heard all that I need to,” Squelch said, standing up from her seat, “you can’t help us, and you can’t afford to hire us to help you. You’ll be secured in the brig until we reach Canis. Then you’ll be given over to the local ComSpark rep and you can be their problem,” and with that, the emerald unicorn strode from the room, Valkyrie, Doc Dee and the kirin twins following closely behind her.

Slipshod watched them all leave, looking furtively between the door and the alicorn. The ‘interrogation’ hadn’t gone quite as well as it could have, honestly. He hadn’t counted on Twilight being so inflexible. Squelch was a good mare when it came down to it. She did right by her crew at the end of the day. The alicorn had, at multiple points, insulted her integrity and suggested endangering the wellbeing of everypony onboard. Neither of those were ways to get the unicorn on your side.

The stallion had to wonder how well those ancient negotiations that Twilight had been prevented from attending would have gone with an attitude like that...

“The others seemed quite surprised by all my talk of changelings,” the alicorn said in a low, even, tone from where she was standing in the front of the room. The pair of guardsmares at her flanks were still standing rigidly at attention.

Slipshod didn’t immediately reply, taken aback by the unexpected comment. He was also a little curious why her escorts hadn’t ushered their charge to the brig yet, like Squelch had ordered them to. He gave an uneasy laugh, “I mean, you did just tell us that a bunch of shape-shifting monsters have been controlling the galaxy for the last five hundred years and nopony knows about it. That’s a bit hard to swallow.”

“You misunderstand me,” Twilight corrected him, regarding the stallion with a cool gaze, “I said: ‘the others’ seemed surprised. You...on the other hoof…”

The stallion went perfectly still. A cold knot formed in the pit of his stomach. He fought through the crawling sense of dread that her fixed gaze evoked within him and forced out a laugh that sounded a lot more nervous than he might have preferred. Why weren’t her guards saying or doing anything? “Heh...trust me, I’m just as surprised as everypony else! I’m just really cool under pressure, you know? Comes with being an experienced ‘Steed pilot. You know how it is, right?”

The purple alicorn maintained her stare, her gaze seeming to burrow right through the stallion. He felt himself swallow nervously even as he tried to maintain his uneasy smile, “...you called them a ‘hive’. If you’ve never heard of changelings before, how did you know they were a ‘hive’?”

“Umm…” before the stallion could muster a reply, her horn, which Slipshod only just now noticed had been glowing with a faint aura already, flashed and filled the room with purple light. Slipshod winced, briefly blinded by the brilliant pulse of magic, but the light quickly faded away, seeming to leave the room exactly as it had been.

Well...perhaps not exactly as it had been. The stallion didn’t know what it was at first, but something felt...off. He couldn’t put his hoof on it, but he suddenly felt...exposed. The alicorn’s expression remained as hard and impassive as it had been, but there was now an additional element of animosity in her amethyst eyes. The armored mares behind her continued to remain apparently oblivious to everything that was happening, not reacting in the slightest. The earth pony suspected that the veneer of magic surrounding them had something to do with it. Some sort of paralysis spell, perhaps?

Slipshod couldn’t stop himself from looking away beneath her glare. That was when he saw it. He caught sight of a powered down display mounted on the wall beside him. Without being lit up, the jet screen functioned almost exactly like a mirror. In it, he could see his reflection.

Only, it was not a golden earth pony stallion that was looking back at him. It was a glistening black equine form. It had a pair of wide, solid pale blue eyes, framed by a jagged maw and a curved horn emerging from its forehead. Delicate gossamer wings peaked out from behind its shoulders.

It was a changeling.

“Oh...fuck!”

Slipshod panicked and bolted for the door. He wasn’t sure why. Being seen like this by the rest of the ship was hardly going to do him any favors. Where did he think that he was even going to go? They were in space! There was nowhere for him to run. Not that he was doing a lot of it at the moment, the stallion realized. His legs were moving, but no progress was being made, on account of his hovering a foot over the deck plating. The alicorn had him enveloped in a telekinetic field and was already pulling him back towards her.

Soon the unfortunate changeling found himself turned to face the stern gaze of his captor. Her expression was cool and detached. It was the face of a pony who was weighing what to do with a piece of trash that they had just picked up off the deck...and that tossing it in the incinerator wasn’t necessarily off the table.

Slipshod’s mouth was moving for a good three seconds before he was actually able to coax any words out of it, “I-I-I can explain! Don’t kill me!”

Twilight’s lip curled back into a sneer as she glared down at the carapassed equine, “by all means: explain to me what you’re doing here. Explain Chrysalis’ plan. Explain how to defeat her. And after you have explained everything to my satisfaction, I might―might―not kill you.”

“I’m hiding!”

“I can see that much,” the mare growled, “I want to know why?! What good does infiltrating this ship do for Chrysalis? She’s cunning, yes, but there’s no way that she could have known that this ship would stumble across me. Unless she has a spy on every ship in the Harmony Sphere?”

“No! I mean, I-I-I don’t think she does,” the stallion stammered. He could feel the magic field that was holding him slowly constricting all over his whole body, crushing him. It wasn’t painful, just uncomfortable; but there was no doubt in his mind that she could change that on a whim if she found his answers to be unsatisfactory, “I honestly don’t know! I’m not a part of the hive anymore!”

“You don’t honestly expect me to believe that?” the alicorn scoffed derisively, “your whole species is based on lies and deception.”

“It’s true! I swear―!” Slipshod winced as he felt the field constrict suddenly, squeezing the breath from his lungs. She was going to pop him like a balloon!

“Lies! Do you expect me to believe that the first drone I come across just conveniently happens to be a deserter? Do you take me for a fool?!”

“I’m not a deserter!” the stallion gasped desperately, fighting for every breath in his bid to explain himself as quickly as possible before the angry alicorn finally crushed him to death, “I just...completed my mission already! The Queen has no more use for me, so I’m left to my own devices; with no way to contact the hive―!”

Another sharp squeeze. He was pretty sure he felt something crack that time, “what mission did she give you? Why not give you another assignment if your previous one was completed?”

“My mission was to leave Equus,” the changeling managed to get out in a pained breath, “changelings are only ever given one mission their entire life! Most take a lifetime to complete...I was just...unlucky,” he gasped, looking desperately at the alicorn for mercy, “please...I mean no harm…”

The mare snorted derisively, “what sort of mission is that for one of Chrysalis’ agents?”

The magical hold relaxed slightly. Slipshod gasped loudly as he managed to take in the desperately needed breath, which flowed almost immediately into a hacking fit as his lungs continued to burn from their mistreatment, “the only assignment that mattered any longer for me,” he spat out contemptuously. His disdain wasn’t directed at the alicorn though.

“Explain yourself. Now.”

The changeling swallowed and nodded. He was dead if she didn’t like his answer, and she was most certainly not going to appreciate a lie. Slipshod wasn’t convinced that she was going to accept the truth, but it was his best shot of surviving the next five minutes, “the academies on Equus,” he began, “that’s how Chrysalis gets her agents in place.

“Everypony who’s anypony ‘knows’ that the best universities and ‘Steed academies in the Sphere are on Equus. Every family with the connections, money, or means to do so, sends at least one of their foals there. Like Squelch said: access to the Faust System is tightly controlled. Only one JumpShip has the jump coordinates. When the new academy attendees arrive...they’re cocooned, replaced, and drained immediately.

“From day one, the pony studying under their identity is a changeling assigned to take their place. We go through all the classes, do all the course work, write home to our―their―families. All of it. We become them from that moment on. When we graduate, we’re sent to our new families. Those families that had the wealth and political power to procure a slot in one of those premiere schools.

“We live out our lives in those families, funneling back information to the Queen, and taking orders from her. She has her hooves in every planetary government and the leadership of every major mercenary unit in the Harmony Sphere. Nothing in the galaxy happens without her knowledge, or say-so.

“You asked why she hasn’t wiped out everypony over the last five hundred years? It’s because she doesn’t have to. She controls everything already, and the whole galaxy sends her a steady supply of creatures to feed the hive back on Equus. She has no reason to do anything more than she already has. Whether anypony knows it or not: they’re just as much one of her puppets as any drone.

“That’s why nocreature knows about changelings too, by the way: she’s had centuries of agents in place rewriting the history books. She has agents in most levels of every planetary government, so she gets to control the school curriculums. Creatures know what Chrysalis wants them to know. Why would anycreature think it had to be different?”

“...and Thorax and the reformed changelings?”

Slipshod swallowed, knowing that the alicorn wasn’t going to like the answer, “the Queen deals with traitors only one way,” he said softly.

“All of them?” the alicorn asked breathlessly.

He nodded slowly, “it took a while,” he admitted, “but nothing’s easier for a love-starved changeling agent to sense out than a love-emitting reformed changeling. However, they couldn’t tell the difference until it was too late.

“In all the fighting going on back then, nopony really noticed the genocide until after it had happened. A couple generations later, and they were just anecdotes. A few generations after that...well...creatures have had other things to focus on besides some obscure, extinct, race of bugs.”

The best word that the stallion could come up with to describe Twilight’s expression right now was: haunted. Nopony else might know, but Slipshod was aware of the connection that the alicorn had had with the reformed changelings and their leader. Chrysalis didn’t feel a need to keep the extermination of her enemies a secret from her drones. It was actually meant to be a source of pride for them, really. Though it had taken a thousand years, she had rebuilt her hive, and exterminated every last descendent of the drones that had abandoned her.

All without the average Harmony Sphere denizen noticing either, as it had all taken place behind the scenes. The discrete nature of the extermination of the reformed changelings had been essential, actually. Stoking explicit hatred and animosity and creating anti-reformed changeling propaganda that would have been required to fuel an overt campaign of genocied would have created a long-lasting cultural memory among the galaxy’s inhabitants.

By letting it all take place in the background, while everypony was too busy worrying about the wars and destruction that they brought, it meant that creatures had just sort of...woken up one day and realized that they hadn’t seen a reformed changeling in a few weeks. Then a few months. Then years, and decades, and...now nopony thought about them at all.

It was like they’d never existed at all; and all with honestly very little massaging of the history books.

This alicorn, however, didn’t need a book to know about them. She’d been present for their emergence as a species, and had spent a millennium interacting with and guiding them. Now they were all gone. Wiped out to a bug by his own race.

That was it. Twilight was either going to kill him now, or...well, honestly Slipshod didn’t see much of an ‘or’ at the moment. Knowing the truth didn’t make him any less of a changeling. He was still the same reviled creature that this alicorn despised; and thereby complicit in the atrocities committed against her by his race through association. He could beg for her mercy, but he didn’t have anything to actually use as a bargaining chip in exchange for his life.

The purple mare regarded him for a long while in silence, studying him intently. Searching for signs of deception. Finally, she said, “and what about you? Do you mean to tell me that this mercenary outfit was significant enough to warrant Chrysalis’ attention?”

“I doubt it,” the stallions snorted, “I’m here for me, not the Queen. Like I said: I completed my assignment. We only get the one.”

“What was your mission?”

“To leave Equus,” the magical field restraining him began to constrict once more. The stallion cringed, “I swear that was it! That was all I was directed to do!”

The telekinetic field did not ease as the alicorn growled at him, “what manner of ‘mission’ is that?”

“The only one left to me after my host’s family got themselves executed for treason!” he cried out desperately.

Twilight’s magic eased―slightly, “explain.”

Slipshod coughed once more, though it was still hard to draw a full breath, “while I was attending the academy, my host’s family became involved in a plot to depose the Archon of the Pony Commonwealth. They were caught, and the Archon had them executed. When that happened, there was no longer a House for me to infiltrate and report back on or influence.

“All that was left for me to do...was leave...and never go back,” he spat out, bitterly.

“Why not simply have you assume a different identity?” Twilight asked skeptically, “if there was no longer a family to infiltrate, Chrysalis could have―”

“Because ‘Slipshod’ existed,” the changeling responded with a defeated sigh.

“Pardon?”

“Slipshod existed. So he had to keep existing. If he just...vanished...it would leave a hole in the records.”

“What would that matter?” the alicorn asked with a derisive snort, “you don’t mean to say that Chrysalis cares that much about the identity of one pony that no longer had any use to her. Why keep a useless agent in the field like that?”

The stallion looked up at the princess, “hundreds of thousands of students are enrolled in the academies on Equus from around the Harmony Sphere every year,” he explained, “maybe even millions. The average course of study is five years. That’s a lot of time for the political landscape to change somewhere in the galaxy. It’s not uncommon for a family to fall out of favor, suffer an accident, or get wiped out down to the last pony because they got involved in a coup,” he said with a sardonic smile.

“You’re right, if one or two ponies vanished without a trace, it would hardly really matter. Ponies go missing all the time in the galaxy. But we’re not talking about one or two; and we’re not talking about your common plebian creature either. We’re talking about potentially hundreds of members of the highest echelons of the galaxy’s societal elite every year. Ponies with connections to massive interstellar corporations, planetary governments―ponies with high profiles. For centuries. Over time, that adds up to hundreds of thousands of creatures directly tied to galactic leadership that would be unaccounted for.

“Eventually, that would get noticed.

“Look at my case: my family plotted to snatch the throne of the Archon right out from under him! He killed my host’s father, mother, and eight siblings in retaliation. The only reason that he spared Slipshod was because it was conclusively proven that the plot didn’t start until after he’d left for Equus, and they could find no evidence that any mention of the plot had been made to me―er, him. Which is true; I didn’t know a damn thing about it until the news of their execution broke.

“The Archon publicly absolved Slipshod of any wrongdoing and granted him a full pardon. He did that to send a message to any other potential plotters: ‘turn in the members of your family that are traitors, and I won’t punish you too’.

“But what if the Archon hadn’t been feeling so ‘magnanimus’? What if he wanted to avoid a potential situation where I went on a crusade for vengeance against him?” the changeling shrugged his shoulders, “I mean, that’s not exactly a super unlikely scenario, is it?” honestly, from what the stallion knew of his host, it was very likely something that the real Slipshod would have gone through with, “sending out some assassins to tie up a loose end like Slipshod was arguably the more pragmatic thing for the Archon to do in that situation.

“So let’s say he does that. Let’s say a bunch of highly skilled and motivated assassins go out to track down and kill Slipshod. How do they find him?” he asked rhetorically, “they follow his trail obviously. A trail that leads them to Equus. With no record of Slipshod ever making port at any other system in the Harmony Sphere after leaving Equus.

“There are records of him arriving on Equus. Transcripts of the classes he took. A record of the dorm he stayed in. A record of him graduating as a top tier―” the alicorn arched a brow, “...mid tier,” the changeling grunted, “BattleSteed pilot. Maybe even a record that he left.

“But no record that he actually arrived on any other world. Their trail would end on Equus. So where are they going to go to start looking for him?

“The last thing that Chrysalis wants are teams of assassins finding a way to sneak into the Faust System, crawling through Canterlot looking for loose ends to tie up, and risk having them stumble over…something else.

“So, yeah...there had to be a record that ‘Slipshod’ left Equus and―more importantly―arrived...somewhere. It didn’t matter where I made port, or even where I went from there, as long as it wasn’t back to Equus,” the changeling growled, “the moment I got stamped in at the gate on Simeron, I’d ‘completed’ my assignment as far as the Queen was concerned. What I did after that...didn’t matter. I was no longer part of a noble House in the Commonwealth government that I could influence and control. I was useless to her.”

“What exactly did she expect you to do once making port?” the alicorn asked.

He shrugged, “die, probably,” at the mare’s skeptical expression, he elaborated, “we’re supposed to be returning to the robust social support network of our host’s family and friends. Which means we don’t have to go looking for love to feed on. We can just take whatever we need from the ponies in our host’s social circle. We’re not taught how to scavenge for ourselves, because we don’t need to. So, most changelings that don’t have that support structure...they just...wither away after a few weeks.”

“So how did you avoid dying then?” there was an edge to the alicorn’s voice that suggested she expected to not like the answer she was going to receive, and that she would be responding appropriately.

“I got lucky,” he informed her, swallowing nervously, “I walked into a merc Hiring Hall, figuring ‘battlefield comradery’ might be able to sustain me, you know? Squelch showed up the next day, saw I was willing to work for barely anything despite being highly―er...decently skilled, and brought me aboard the Galloway.

“Now I have a whole ship full of ponies that I―erk!”

“How many?” the mare demanded in a deathly growl, her magical hold tightening around the changeling’s throat, “how many have you killed on this ship?”

“Nrrk―” the changeling couldn’t breathe at all beneath the crushing weight of the alicorn’s telekinetic grasp on him. Every last mote of air had been wrung out on him. Even his heart was hard-pressed to get in a full beat beneath the intense pressure surrounding it. All that he could do was thrash his head desperately from side to side in the negative.

By some miracle, the field loosened and he found breath once more, “none!” he assured her, desperately, “I’ve never killed anypony,” hastily, he amended, “on the ship anyway. I mean, I’ve killed a lot of ponies in my ‘Steed―agh!” another tight squeeze, “that’s literally my job!” he wailed. Twilight let out an annoyed grunt but relaxed her magic nonetheless.

“I’ve never husked anypony, I swear!” he specified as quickly and sincerely as he could, “I’ve never had to! There’re dozens of ponies on this ship that care about me; I don’t have to drain anypony. I can just...sort of ‘graze’ whenever I want. I even make sure I’m not taking too much from any one pony. I have a rota!” he furiously tapped at the terminal on his suit’s fetlock. This earned him a withering look from the alicorn.

“Bodies leave questions and increase stress,” he said hurriedly, “stressed ponies don’t radiate a lot of warm and fuzzy feelings, you know? I go to a lot of trouble to keep the ponies on this ship happy. Karaoke, poetry readings, riffing, spotting, art modeling―I do whatever ponies want to make them feel happier about being a hundred lightyears from home!

“I don’t husk them,” the changeling repeated emphatically, adding, “I never would.”

“Fine. I believe you,” the stallion let out a long sigh of relief. It, however, proved to be short-lived as a fresh constriction of her magic quickly reminded the shape-shifter that his fate yet remained precarious, “but I still think it’s too dangerous to let a changeling stay on this ship. The risk that you’ll report my presence to Chrysalis is too great.”

Slipshod’s blood grew cold. His mind worked frantically to think of some way to stay the princess’ hoof and remain alive. Unfortunately, his panic made it hard to think straight. He blurted out, “but they’ll want to know why you just killed me for no reason!”

The alicorn frowned, “...other than you clearly being a changeling? The exact creature I just finished warning them about? You’re the proof that I need to convince them to aid me in defeating Chrysalis and save the galaxy.”

Fuck!

The changeling gasped as the magic surrounding him suddenly began to press down around him on all sides with rapidly increasing force. He’d be crushed to death in seconds. Desperately he yelled out, “they’ll turn on each other! You’ll panic the ship!”

Mercifully, the pressure abated once more...barely. At the very least, the stallion was able to regain enough breath to plead his case for life, “Slipshod has―I’ve―been with these ponies for years! They never suspected a thing. If you kill me and reveal that their loyal comrade, pilot, friend, and former lover, was a ‘monster’ living among them this whole time,” the changeling panted, “exactly how long do you think it’ll be before they start wondering who else isn’t who they say they are?”

Twilight snorted, “you’re the only changeling on this ship. All I have to do is tell them that.”

“They’ve known me for years,” Slipshod reiterated, “you’ve been conscious for less than a day! You really think that you can kill their best pilot and they’ll go along with it? That you just happened to find the exact kind of ‘mythical monster’ you just told them about ten minutes ago?

“That’s damned convenient, don’t you think? About as convenient as this ship stumbling across the ‘real’ Twilight Sparkle who is ranting about the one who’s been ruling from Equus for a thousand years being a fake…

“Damned convenient, isn’t it?” the changeling glared at the alicorn, who he was gratified to see wasn’t looking quite so sure of her plans anymore. Though the audible gritting of her teeth suggested that she still hadn’t discounted killing him quite yet. At the very least though, she was back to merely considering killing him, and not actually actively doing it.

Slipshod felt that was a marked improvement on his situation, and so he risked pressing his luck just a little further, “mercenaries are a suspicious, pragmatic, bunch. It’s how we survive. You’d be asking them to accept a lot of things really quickly if you hoof them over a dead changeling immediately after telling them we exist. Doc’s given me a hundred physicals, patched me up a dozen times. He never found anything to cause him to suspect I wasn’t exactly what I looked like,” the stallion pointed out, “...which will make everypony start to wonder if it’s not actually you who managed to fool Doc.

“Finding the actual Chrysalis locked away on a cultist transport after being defeated by the real Queen Twilight who is very much still ruling from her throne on Equus is at least as believable as the story you’re feeding them, isn’t it?”

Doubt. The changeling could see it clear on the alicorn’s face. Just enough of it for the princess to stay her magic for the moment and consider alternate resolutions. She resented him. Slipshod didn’t need to be empathic to know that. Her eyes very clearly revealed exactly how much she wanted to transform him into the first of many corpses that she was ready to make of Chrysalis’ drones on her crusade to reclaim her throne and truly free ponykind, “...what do you want?”

“You’re not going to believe me,” he told her, a wry smile crossing his fanged muzzle.

“That’s a given,” the alicorn sneered.

“Fair. Fine: I want Chrysalis to go down.”

The mare’s eyes widened in stark surprise for a second, before the purple mare schooled her features and narrowed her gaze at the changeling, “why would a drone turn on its Queen?”

“She’s no Queen to me,” Slipshod sneered back at the alicorn, “I told you she cast me out to die, didn’t I? I devoted myself to my Queen―mind, body, and soul―and her last order to me was to leave and never return. My fate was to die alone and forgotten within a week. If Squelch hadn’t hired me...I probably would have.

“Fuck ‘er. This crew has done more for me than the hive ever has. Seeing it burned to the ground around her? Oh, I’d die one happy bug to see that,” the changeling’s grin was predatory.

“Assuming that I believe anything that you’ve told me,” Twilight said, still a note of doubt in her tone, “your commander still intends to give me over to Chrysalis. Neither of us get our revenge if that happens.”

“You let me handle that,” Slipshod insisted, “I know Squelch. I can get her to change her mind about you. She’ll keep you onboard. However,” he stressed pointedly, “you have to promise to play nice too,” the alicorn didn’t seem to like him taking that tone with her, but the changeling wasn’t going to be cowed this time. Twilight had been determined to undermine his efforts to defend her to his boss up to this point, and it was going to finally stop.

There was hardly any point in him sticking his neck out for the alicorn any further if she was going to save Squelch the trouble and just cut it off again, “hey, you already tried throwing your high-and-mighty weight around and that didn’t work out now, did it?” her glare intensified, “this is Squelch’s ship. Her crew. She calls the shots. She’s the ‘princess’ around here, got it?

“If you want her to help you, you’ve got to prove you’re willing to help her. That’s going to mean piloting that ‘Steed of yours and earning some C-bits. Maybe you don’t know any Disciple hideouts; fine. But you were the fucking Princess of the Celestia League! You have to know where some sort of ‘top secret’ R&D lab or something was. A military base that the galaxy’s forgotten about. Something that we can raid or salvage for a quick C-bit.

“You give her that, she’ll warm up to you, and then we’ll see about finding a way to contact the Disciples and see if they really are what you think they are. Alright?”

The alicorn stared at him, considering. Slipshod waited, tensely, for her response. He was asking a lot of the mare, he knew that. He was one of her avowed enemies. A―former―servant to the creature that slaughtered her protectors and usurped her throne. Chrysalis may not have wiped out the whole galaxy, but that fact was largely immaterial when compared to the billions who’d died over the centuries because of her. Potentially hundreds of millions husked on Equus alone, in that time.

Now Twilight was supposed to trust him to keep her safe. Trust that she’d encountered a changeling drone that was ready to turn on his hive. All because he’d been given a bum assignment. Drones like him were expected to lay down their lives for the hive and be grateful for the privilege if doing so, right?

Once upon a time, that would probably have been the case, Slipshod admitted to himself.

Then he’d actually been faced with the prospect of death. A day after stepping off the transport onto Simeron, the stark reality of his situation had finally hit Slipshod. For the first time in his life, love would not be delivered to him. He was feeling hunger. Weakness. Loneliness.

Terror.

His devotion to Chrysalis began to waver in the face of those feelings. In the face of a slow, painful, death through starvation. Since then, that wavering had evolved into despisal. How dare his Queen cast her loyal servant into the cold like that! He’d done nothing to deserve such a fate. He’d served her―loyally―all his life. He’d pledged himself to her cause!

She’d sentenced him to die in return.

Fuck her.

He’d stewed on those feelings of betrayal for two years. Frustrated all the more by the knowledge that he’d never be able to do anything that could harm Chrysalis.

Until now.

Here was his chance to not just hurt his former queen, but to utterly destroy all that she had been building for half a millenia! The ultimate revenge. Casting her into the cold. Alone. Unsupported. With no course of action left available to her...but to die.

Slipshod would have his revenge. And so he would save Twilight from her fate as well. He needed her. All he needed to do was to convince Squelch that the purple alicorn was more valuable alive and onboard the Galloway than in the clutches of ComSpark.

All the princess had to do...was put her trust in him right now.

“...Very well,” she finally said. Her magic finally released the changeling completely.

Slipshod didn’t even try to hide his immense relief, letting out a long sigh and slumping against the wall. He briefly closed his eyes and the room glowed with a flash of green firelight. When it faded, the ebony changeling was gone, and in its place was a golden earth pony once more. He smiled up at the alicorn, “thank you,” his eyes darted briefly to the two security mares, who were still standing stoically by the door, “I’ll go talk with Squelch. She’ll probably be by in an hour or so to talk with you.

“Agree to whatever deal she offers you, okay? Please? I promise it’ll be the best you’re going to get,” he could see the reservation on the mare’s face, but there was little help for it, “we’ll get you to Equus. I don’t know when, and I don’t know how―yet,” he insisted, “but we will bring down Chrysalis.”

Twilight regarded him for a long moment, “...I once knew a drone who turned on Chrysalis,” she said, “a long time ago. He went on to do great things.

“I don’t get the impression that you’re anything like him,” the stallion wasn’t sure how he was supposed to feel about that assessment. It hadn’t sounded like a compliment though, “I guess we’ll just have to see if that makes a difference.”

The purple mare turned away from him and walked back over to her escorts. As she neared, both security ponies began to move again, appearing to be completely oblivious to anything that had transpired during the last ten minutes. Both mares dutifully ushered their charge out the door to take her to the brig as they’d been ordered.

Slipshod took a few minutes to compose himself before leaving the briefing room as well. Step two of his plan was almost complete: keeping Twilight alive and on the DropShip. He just needed to convince his ex-wife that the alicorn could be an asset to them. Just because he wasn’t one hundred percent clear on how he was going to do that was only a minor issue. He’d figure out something.

After that...well, things somehow got a little more complicated…

“I should have Dee give you another lookover. Apparently Emery File hit you over the head harder than he thought,” the emerald unicorn said flatly to the stallion standing near the door of her quarters, “because you’ve clearly lost your damn mind!”

This was going well. He could tell, “we have a Rainbow Dash, but we don’t have a pilot for it,” the earth pony began again, being sure to keep careful control of his tone and expression. He was trotting on thin ice as it was, and he was only going to get the one shot at this. If he pushed Squelch too hard on this and she shut him down, there was little chance that she’d be willing to revisit the topic of what to do with their alicorn captive prior to reaching Canis orbit.

“There are plenty of pilots looking for work on Canis,” she pointed out.

“Okay, yes, but,” he conceded, “how many of them will be willing to work for just room and board? Twilight won’t care about C-bits. Three hots and a cot is all it’d take with her.”

Squelch arched a brow, “‘Twilight’? You’re not trying to say you believe that crazy mare―”

“I don’t care what she calls herself,” he insisted, “Twilight, Discord, she could claim that she’s the First Archon of the Pony Commonwealth for all I care! For all you care, too. Be honest,” he sighed, “since when have you given a damn about anypony’s past on this ship? I know a dozen ponies on the crew who are a fugitive wanted on some planet or other.

“Shit, the Archon has a modest price on my head!”

“But none of them―or you―are wanted by ComSpark,” the unicorn shot back, flashing the stallion a knowing look, “there’s a huge difference there. The Steel Coursers won’t be blackballed by the MRB because of Axel Rod’s unpaid back taxes on Serval. But if ComSpark finds out we’re harboring a Disciple―a mare who could turn out to be a Disciple leader―”

“Exactly!” The mare balked at his outburst, her eyes widening in surprise. The stallion smiled and continued, “don’t you get it? That pony very well could be a Disciple leader; and she’s determined to make contact with them and get them to take her back to their base!”

“Which is exactly the problem,” Squelch informed him flatly.

“Is it?”

“...Yes?”

Slipshod grinned, “I think it’s an opportunity,” he stressed. He was unsurprised that the green mare still appeared unconvinced, “if we hoof her over to ComSpark right now, we’ll collect a pittance of a bounty. You know that. The price offered for Disciples is a flat rate; they don’t care about rank when paying out. They’ll interrogate her, but because she’s obviously a crazy fanatic, you and I both know she’ll never talk. Not to ComSpark.

“But to us…? She just might. She wants us to take her to meet the Disciples so that they can take her back to their base. They just might take the rest of us along too,” he pointed out, “at which point we’ll have the coordinates for a Disciple base to turn over to ComSpark for a real payday!

“All we have to do in the meantime is entertain this mare’s delusions.”

It was obvious that Squelch wasn’t completely sold on the whole idea yet, but Slipshod didn’t hear her shooting him down outright, so that was a hopeful sign, “we don’t even know how to make contact with the Disciples. Nopony does―not even her apparently!”

“That’s the easy part,” he assured her, “we just have to wait until we encounter some of their units in the field. We’ve fought them before. Someday we’re bound to run into them again,” he said with a shrug, “Twilight’ll accept that reality. Which means she won’t complain about how long it’s taking or anything like that. She’ll keep helping us―keep fighting for us for free―for months, if not years. It’s not like any of us will have any control over where and when the Disciples’ll pop up, right?

“But, someday they will, and we can have her comm them and see if she can convince them of who she is, or who they think she is, or however that works.”

“You realize that your plan relies on her having told us the truth about Queen Twilight being an imposter, right?”

Slipshod was quiet for a moment, considering the company’s commander, “...and what if she is?” he asked carefully. The unicorn’s frown deepened and she was about to chastise him again, but the stallion interrupted her rebuttal, “what would that change? Honestly? How would whoever’s actually in charge on Equus affect anything that you and I do out here in the Sphere?”

Squelch stared at the golden earth pony, “Sweet Celestia, you do believe her, don’t you?” the mare let out a dry laugh, shaking her head, “a mare bats her eyes at you and you start falling all over yourself to get under her tail. I don’t know why I’m surprised―”

“It’s not like that,” the stallion said coolly, gaining the unicorn’s attention once more, “you know it isn’t. Don’t make this about me, or ‘us’. This is about the company and what’s best for the crew. That’s it.”

“Harboring a fugitive is ‘what’s best for the crew’?”

“No, but giving them a chance at a big score is. The kind of score that we’ll get for telling ComSpark about a Disciple base. That’ll be a lot more than a bounty on a Disciple member.”

Squelch started shaking her head, “the risk involved is―”

“―is minimal,” Slipshod interrupted her, earning a skeptical frown from the unicorn, “it is! What risk is there, really? ComSpark blacklisting us? Only if they find out that Twilight was found on a Disciple wreck. How many ponies on this ship are making regular reports to ComSpark about our personnel? You’re certainly not. ComSpark doesn’t care about the hiring practices of every little merc outfit in the Sphere.

“The MRB’s going to want a Merc ID number,” Slipshod allowed, “but it takes all of five minutes for prospective pilots to register,” the stallion gestured at the terminal on Squelch’s desk, “you can even do it for her right now!”

“And how are we supposed to explain her being an alicorn?” Squelch asked sardonically.

“How do you explain it?” he shot back. To which the mare didn’t have an answer at the ready, “only a few ponies know about the results of Doc Dee’s exams. He’s got that whole ‘patient confidentiality’ thing going on, so he’s not going around telling the crew she’s the real deal. We can tell ponies whatever we want to. She’s a pegasus with delusions of grandeur. A unicorn with a feather fetish. A genetic freak. Whatever.

“The point is that ComSpark has no way of knowing who we have on board without us explicitly telling them about it.”

“Alright,” the unicorn conceded reluctantly, though it was clear that she still wasn’t entirely convinced of the efficacy of his plan, and voiced another of her concerns, “but how exactly do you expect to convince her to let us turn in her Disciple ‘allies’?”

“We don’t tell her we will,” Slipshod replied simply, “you have a unique opportunity to double-dip here. Triple dip, even! We get the help of an experienced and competent ‘Steed pilot essentially for free for an indeterminate length of time. We get to collect a reward from the Disciples for returning their ‘princess’. And we can collect a bounty from ComSpark for telling them where the Disciples are hiding,” he smiled at the mare.

It stung a little to play her like this, the earth pony thought to himself. That was the trade-off for knowing her as well as he did: he knew how to get her to do what he wanted by appealing to her motivations. Made all the more uncomfortable by the fact that he had no intention of allowing her to capitalize on that last part. In order for he and Twilight to get their revenge on Chrysalis, they very much needed for the Disciples to remain unmolested by ComSpark.

Hopefully, by the time the issue came up again, he’d have been able to convince Squelch that Twilight was the real deal, and that she’d been telling the truth about what had happened five hundred years ago. Her and the rest of the company. Most of them were genuinely decent ponies―he knew that much after years spent with some of them―and so would probably be all for helping to dislodge the changelings once and for all. Those that weren’t quite so altruistically-minded...well, they’d go along with it anyway as long as their paychecks continued to clear.

That was what happened when you didn’t concern yourself with fostering a sense of loyalty and devotion among your ‘subjects’, Chrysalis was about to learn: it didn’t take much more than enough zeros at the end of a payout for creatures to turn on you.

Squelch hadn’t been lying earlier when she’d offered to get Twilight to Equus for a few million C-bits. Had the purple alicorn had the cash on her right then and there, the Galloway would be docked at a JumpShip right now making the trip―assuming that Twilight knew the coordinates for an arrival jump into the Faust System. Queen Twilight was little more than a concept for most ponies. She was the ruler of Equus and the controlling interest behind ComSpark. But that was it. Nopony swore any sort of fealty to her, not even the leaders of the major star nations. Who ruled in Canterlot didn’t matter to anypony, not really. So why not lead a revolt to dethrone her if the money was good enough to balance out the risk involved?

The only thing that kept that from happening at any given moment was the fact that no group existed that would bankroll such an operation. ComSpark certainly wasn’t going to foot that bill. Neither were any of the other major powers in the Harmony Sphere, by virtue of the fact that they were being either passively or actively influenced by Chrysalis’ agents. Which was probably why Chrysalis felt so secure, despite no creature in the galaxy being her "loyal subject"―or even knowing she existed: there was no power in the galaxy that could rival her without her either knowing about it, or already actively controlling it to some extent through her network of changeling agents embedded directly into their hierarchy.

At least, not yet...

Squelch was massaging her chin with her hoof as she pondered the proposal, looking for the downside that would sour the whole deal. While even Slipshod would acknowledge it was hardly the greatest C-bit-earning opportunity for their outfit, it also wasn’t a bad one. ‘Steed pilots―especially the good ones―weren’t cheap. Getting potentially months, if not years, of work out of the alicorn for next to nothing was quite the fiscal incentive. And if she really did turn out to be the real deal, and the Disciples were grateful enough to pay out a reward for her return, all the better. Especially considering that making contact with the Disciples would only entail doing what they would have done anyway: taking on contracts to intercept their raiding parties.

Minimal risk. Reduced costs. High potential payout. The holy trinity of the ‘perfect’ mercenary contract.

It looked like the company’s owner came to the same conclusion in the end, “alright. We’ll try it your way,” the unicorn finally added, “get her to give up a cache, and I’ll keep her onboard as a pilot. We’re not going to go Disciple-hunting right this minute,” she added sternly, “but that kind of work is inevitable, and I’ll keep an ear out for potential incursions.

“If she plays nice, we’ll see about letting her try to make contact with them,” it was pretty clear that Squelch was dubious that any such effort would prove fruitful, but it ultimately didn’t cost them anything to let Twilight make radio contact with a Disciple raiding party if they encountered one in the future. If it didn’t work, oh well. That was the alicorn’s problem more than it was theirs.

“Thanks,” Slipshod said with a smile, “I’ll give her the good news.”

“While you’re there, get her measurements too,” the stallion blinked in surprise. His boss glared at him briefly and added, “for her uniform, you letch. I’ll have some barding picked up for her on Canis.”

Author's Note

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