Changing Expectations

by KKSlider

Rating: teen
Tags: Princess Luna, Drama, Changelings, Original Character, Queen Chrysalis, Violence, Thorax, Death, Human, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Alternate Universe, Romance
Length: 531246

What does it mean to be a Changeling? To the former human Prince Phasma, that means doing what you can to survive and thrive in an utterly alien world.

In the beginning, The Great Weaver brought together the world, from the mountains to the forests. Stitching it together, the Great Tapestry connects all living and nonliving things.

The Changelings found themselves especially connected to this Tapestry. Legend says that the first Changelings fell through the world as it was woven together, only to be caught on the First Weave beneath it all.

But what happens when something else is caught in the Weave?

Prince Phasmatodea, son of Queen Chrysalis, remembers what it was like before he hatched. He remembers being a human. He remembers dying. And he fully intends on avoiding another death.

But being gifted a new life does not matter when one failure, one false step, will lead to your untimely demise in the Changeling hive, for Prince Phasma must survive his toughest adversary from the start: Mother Dearest.

Cover art as of 1/18/21 by Nixworld

Published 2020-10-18 18:20:01 UTC
Last updated 2022-05-15 02:38:53 UTC

2- Tantalus

‘W-what? Who’s there?’ The voice did not speak again. ‘Hello? Are you the… queen? And am I a prince?’

As I wondered this, I noticed myself in the reflection of the queen’s massive eyes.

My head was black for the most part, though it turned into the white that the lower parts of my body were, starting at the ears. Speaking of ears, they were near the top of my head, and extended outward. My eyes were the same as the queen herself, only I had faded orange slitted irises, rather than the villain green.

Strange, I took after her rather than the other two similar creatures, the Changelings. That was probably important, I noted absently.

‘Wait, changelings? How did I know that?’

”Grow strong, my larva. For you will bring me the future,” continued the voice.

‘It must be the queen speaking, but she cannot hear me.’

The queen opened her mouth, giving me a nice view into her elongated muzzle, filled with teeth and fangs. Pink wisps of fog started to emanate from the back of her throat, drifting lazily outwards. Almost immediately, whispering started to drown out the dull skittering and clicked that filled the back of my mind.

“With you by my side-” “- very best-” “- You shouldn’t have-” “-say you and I go-”

There was something else. Some thing beyond anything I had ever experienced. It was good, but I could not place how it was good. Did I taste it, like a shark tastes blood in the water? Could I smell it like a bloodhound smells a steak? I didn’t know how, but I wanted it. I needed it!

My mouth opened and I drew in gasping breaths, my tongue rolling out and trying to grasp at the ethereal tendrils of love.

The pink mist flew into my mouth and I instantly tasted the most divine thing that I could possibly imagine. This ambrosia and nectar filled every inch of my being with warmth and filled my stomach to the brim.

My mind… Clouded. So good. Wanted…. More love.

The queen broke eye contact and I felt myself being moved again, this time to the queen’s back. I could hardly care, I was already starting to slip into what I assumed was the best food coma I had ever experienced. I barely noticed that the whispers had vanished, leaving me alone with the skittering and chirping again.

I hiccuped.

As I curled up on the green shell that housed the queen’s now retracted wings, I stared out with half-closed eyes at the small eggs, which had now begun to crack and break open. Smaller versions of myself, though with the blue eyes of the, what I could only guess to be, drones poked their fat heads out.

They too started to hiss and flail, only at each other rather than their new existence. Or maybe they did, I wasn’t in a state to care.

‘I have no idea what’s going on,’ I remarked with a quiet giggle that came out as muted hisses. ‘Nap time, I think.’ As sleep took me, I noticed– and then immediately discarded– the fact that the small hatchlings were now crawling towards me, or rather, the queen.

Psocid rose after Queen Chrysalis past her, then moved to stand beside Lethocerus. They shared a glance before returning their attention to the royalty in the room. They were silent until their queen started to feed Prince Phasma.

“Her Majesty must care for the larva’s condition no small amount if she is feeding him undiluted love, from her own personal store no less,” Lethocerus whispered.

Psocid’s muzzle scrunched up as she thought, “Makes sense. When was the last time she laid a prince or princess?”

Lethocerus was silent for a moment. “... Not anytime within the unsealed nursery records.”

The eggs around the queen started to crack and break as the rest of the brood entered the world. “More than an entire century?” Psodic asked, and Lethocerus nodded.

The larva was now starting to swarm over Queen Chrysalis, a few fighting over the best spots. This generation seemed to favor the holes of Chrysalis’s back legs, closer to Prince Phasma.

Soon enough the larva’s collective hissing died down as they curled up on the queen, and a silence once again took the chamber. Psocid counted the intact eggs scattered about.

Comparing her count to the figures available through the Weave, Psocid commented quietly, though loudly enough for Chrysalis to hear, “Four out of fifty one eggs. That is the most successful clutch we’ve had in decades. In the entirety of the records, in fact.”

Queen Chrysalis looked over to the two broodnurses, who immediately straightened up, before glaring at the Prince’s egg. “As expected. Even as larva, the new drones feel the pull of Prince Phasma on the Weave.”

“His voice is quiet, My Queen,” Lethocerus remarks. “He is as silent as the rest of the larva.”

Chrysalis sneers, “simple minded dolt! Do you think I have forgotten basic changeling biology?” She questions with a hiss. “He does not speak words, but his mere presence is felt. And this nursery better be cleared out by the hour, Broodnurse Lethocerus, or you’ll be going into the recycling vat as well!”

“At once, My Queen!” Lethocerus ducks and says. A bit too loudly it would seem, as several larva rustle, earning another glare from the queen.

Psocid helped clear out the egg shells and the diluted love-infused albumen fluids off of the ground. The two changelings worked deathly quiet, the slightest noise earning yet another signature glare from their queen. It was quite the trip from the nursery to the recycling vats, but the broodnurses worked quickly with practiced expertise.

The Hatching. The day when the broodnurses welcomed the young into the world, and the day when the nurses squirmed under Queen Chrysalis’s scrutiny.

Psocid remarked that she had no idea whether she looked forward to Hatchings or whether she dreaded them.

As I woke from my dream of medieval France ruled by giant moths, it became immediately apparent that I was not, in fact, still on top of the queen. I was laying on the ground, covered in warm things.

Opening my eyes, I saw that once again I was in the circular cavern. The light green light flowing in from the ceiling hadn’t changed in the slightest. These changelings really need a new interior designer.

The warmth was not from my blankets, and the hard floor was definitely not my bed. Whatever this strange new existence was, it was here to stay. I really was still a changeling, and now I was covered in smaller changeling larva; they seemed to have piled around me.

The chirping in my mind had quieted even more, I had to focus to listen to it.

‘Well, this is not going away, I need to take stock of what I know. I am a changeling larva. I feed on love.’

How did I know these two things?

‘The voice that spoke to me without words, it was as if it was projecting straight into my mind.’

Maybe it did. Maybe the queen was communicating telepathically. Anything was possible at this point.

‘The changeling queen, it called me Prince Phasma.’

That must be my new name. And since I was a prince and she was a queen….

‘She… is my mother.’

The matching traits supported this; no other changeling had the eyes we did. All these drones have blue eyes with a clouded iris, meanwhile the queen– my mother– and I had slitted irises, like a cat. I was also comparatively massive, surrounded by these smaller changelings.

That all suggests she laid my egg herself, and no other egg.

‘My last memory, I was being robbed. There was an intense heat…. I must not...have...’

I had died. I had died and was reborn into the body of a royal insect horse.

‘Fuck.’

3- Anesidora

‘This is my life now.’

I was still in the pile of larva, the center of a veritable mountain of changelings. At two feet tall, we were the highest point in the nursery. At least until the two changeling drones that first accompanied the queen returned to the room.

One noticed me staring, and paused midstep, returning the stare. She leaned to the side and whispered to her companion, who also halted and stared.

They were each carrying something, using the same telekinesis that the queen used to pick me up. Large black jars, the tops of them had no lid. I could see a light pink glow emanating outwards, a stark contrast to the– at this point nauseating– lime green light that the changelings loved to shine on literally everything.

Apparently, the workforce prioritized monologuing, evil-looking queen positions before interior designers. Or they were all color blind.

I caught the same taste/smell/feel of love as the drones carried the jars closer to my fortress of chitin, but the jars couldn’t be filled with the stuff, I’d have sensed the potent emotion the moment they carried them into the room.

Perhaps the love was watered down or baked into whatever baby-food the jars must be filled with. At least, I assumed it was food for us chubby changelings.

‘Heh, larva-food.’

Around me, my living defenses started to stir, shaking sleep from their tiny heads. The larva started to stretch and wiggle, awakening their two limbs while trying to blink away the sleep from their eyes. It was kinda quite cute to watch, if you squinted. Like, really squinted. And pretended not to be revolted.

And then they started hissing and headbutting, and it stopped being cute and returned to completely outlandish.

Despite the fact that I have been reincarnated as an emotion-eating bug-horse royalty that had mysterious voices whispering thoughts into my head, I felt that I was taking my new life quite well.

‘I guess food is the way to my heart. I really should really be screaming and panicking, though. Maybe the voices prevent me from panicking.’

Speaking of voices, the chittering seemed to quiet down a bit every time they planted thoughts into my head. Again, another sentence that should send me into a tin-hat wearing craze.

This was not the first time I reviewed my current situation; questioning my new world and lack of existential crises was the only way I could pass time at the moment. Luckily, the two changeling adults rescued me from my newfound boredom.

Then the quiet chittering started to rise.

Broodmother Lethocerus froze when she saw the orange eyes staring at her from the pile of young changlings.

‘Barely a day old and he’s already giving me heart attacks. I liked him better when he was hissing and moving about, like normal larvae.’ In her periphery, she noticed Psocid also stopped.

“He’s far more attentive than any larva I’ve ever raised,” Lethocerus whispered.

“And he’s just as foreboding as his mother,” Psocid replied, barely audible.

Their cargo roused the young larva, the dulled taste of love gel starting to permeate from the opened jars they carried. The nurses smiled as the larva started to stretch and play with each other. It warmed Lethocerus’s heart to see the tiny headbutts and adorable hisses.

When the nurses set the jars down, the little changelings started to crawl their way over. Lethocerus and Psocid dutifully began to take globs of love jelly out of the jars using their magic, and started to dole out each orb to the larva. The larva fought each other to get fed first, but in the end, all were fed.

All except the little prince, who did not move from his spot, even when finally free of his young companions. He just stared.

It was time for the First Weave.

Psocid levitated him over, setting Prince Phasma in front of her. Around the nurses, the larvae had finished eating, and were resuming the oh-so-fierce territorial displays that started when they woke up.

Lethocerus started to speak, capturing the attention of the Prince.

Psocid began, “once, we were nothing,” and called forth the ancient lore.

“Yes, indeed,” Lethocerus answered. “When the world was naught but strings, floating in dust, all dwelled within these strings. Separate, deaf, blind. With no air to sing, their voices could not travel between the strings. No thoughts were shared between beings.”

Psocid spoke, “But with strange eons, Nothing became Something.” Remembering the old lessons, Psocid pulled.

Lethocerus answered, “Panarthropo, The Great Weaver, came from beyond all. They plucked the strings from their places, and wove them together. For eleven days and eleven nights, Panarthropo weaved the world together. Rock joined Rock and became Mountains. Power and Change joined to form Time. Move and Life fashioned into Water. And so all was woven.”

This was easier than Psocid remembered. A glance at the being at her hooves answered her question of why. “But one was forgotten.”

“Changelings,” the other Broodnurse spoke, “hung dearly to the end of their thread. All others, the ponies, the griffons, the sheep, had been woven. The changelings had not. The thread of Together hung limp below the Great Tapestry.”

“They learned to weave,” purred Psocid. If only a royal was present for every First Lesson!

“With threads so thin they could not be seen, changelings wove themselves in, onto Magic, onto Emotion, onto Change, onto five others. From the thread of Together, the First Weave was created.”

As Psocid and Lethocerus began to speak in their Changeling tongue, the whispers and chitters of The Weave rose to match.

The words flowed in one ear and out the other, but the meanings caught. The chirping and chittering resolved itself into words.

Strings, Panarthropo, Mountains, Time, Water.

Each time when the Weave started to quiet, Psocid would stoke the fire once again.

Together, Magic, Emotion, Change, The First Weave was created.

Even though the whole story was not heard by Phasma, he understood it. It was a neat story, and it ended with a phrase very similar to one from Earth.

”As it is woven, so it shall be,” thought the Prince.

The broodnurses stared, slack-jawed, at Prince Phasma. Psocid let the First Lesson slip away, more out of shock than the fact that it was done. Even the larvae, who had only felt a pull from The Weave rather than heard it, had stopped and stared, unmoving.

His Highness had finished the First Lesson, not Psocid.

“Fetch the Queen!”

Queen Chrysalis was splayed over a stone chair, carved from the black igneous rock her drones had carried back in slabs from lands distant. The seat and back were padded with real wool and fabric. One of the perks of being the undisputed voice of authority was first, second, and third pick of the loot the infiltrators brought back with them.

She was looking down on a map of Equestria lying on the table in front of her.

It was a useless effort; she had already studied its faded yellow visage inch by inch. Chrysalis had even committed it to memory. But sitting in this comfy chair, brooding over a faded map brought her some semblance of comfort.

She would occasionally accent her alone-time with some evil cackling, if she was feeling creative.

Then, as all great and totally benevolent monarchs do, she began to monologue to herself.

“I-”

But a loud knock on her study’s door interrupted. With a pained groan, Queen Chrysalis put her head in her hooves.

“This had better be important.”

A muffled voice responded, “My Queen! There has been an inci-”

“Open the door, you incapable waste of chitin!”

“AtOnce, My Queen!” An armored drone shouted as he opened the door.

He saluted and stood at attention.

“..... Oh by the-” Chrysalis groaned yet again, “now you may tell me your message.”

“My Queen, there has been an incident in the nursery! The Broodmothers requested your presence!”

The queen hmm’ed. “Ah, right. The Prince. He must have gotten aggressive when he was not fed with the lower drones.”

The guard shook his head, “No, My Queen. The incident was during the First Lesson.”

Chrysalis slowly straightened up and turned to face the guard. “The First Lesson?”

4- Olympus

“You’re telling me that Prince Phasma… spoke?” Queen Chrysalis asked.

Having been fed and sat through story-time, the young charges of Lethocerus and Psocid decided it was play time. Though a few wriggled about around Prince Phasma, the majority scaled the, by their point of view, sheer cliff faces that were Queen Chrysalis’s legs.

“Yes, My Queen. Through the Weave,” Lethocerus clarified.

“Through the Weave?”

“Yes, My Queen. During the First Lesson, he… finished it, saying the ending stanza. His Highness accessed the information directly from the Weave, and finished the poem before Broodnurse Psocid could.”

Chrysalis stared at the attentive Prince.

“That’s… not possible,” the queen all but whispered. “A mere larva? Speaking through the Weave?”

Lethocerus shifted on her hooves and glanced at Psocid. Luckily, Psocid took the hint. “We were under the impression that using the Weave to communicate was a trait common to all royalty, My Queen.”

Her Majesty tore her gaze away from Phasma to address Psocid. “That is correct. But being able to communicate at the larva stage…. That has never happened. Princes and princesses learn to speak at the Nymph stage, and verbally first.”

‘Chrysalis is being very forthcoming with information,’ Lethocerus thought. After the Prince spoke, Lethocerus and Psocid checked the Weave for information on the life cycle of the royals. They could not find anything.

‘She’s even been here for five minutes and hasn’t even threatened us. This must be something really serious.’

The queen glanced back towards the nascent prince.

Before feeding Prince Phasma, Queen Chrysalis decided she would get to the bottom of this. A larva speaking? Preposterous! Impossible! These nurses must be delusional, no larva has ever possessed the intelligence to speak.

Even her own offspring or from what the records say any changeling royal only start communicating at the Nymph stage. She would have to visit the archives later to double check, there was no time today.

If they had interrupted her precious relaxation time for a mere misunderstanding, there would be hell to pay! Of all the resources the hive possessed, her time was the most precious, the most coveted.

‘Let’s see if there is merit to their madness. I can always think of punishments later.’

She moved closer to Phasma and spoke through the Weave.

”Prince Phasmatodea. What is my name?”

The large larva tilted his head to the side, but otherwise did not respond. Thinking back, she might have neglected to introduce herself. Well, that’s something that had to be corrected immediately.

”I am Queen Chrysalis, ruler of the Fourth Hive Dynasty. I am your progenitor. Now, repeat back to me my name.”

Still nothing. The nurses did mention that he spoke during the First Lesson…

During the lesson, one broodnurse uses the Weave and broadcasts the information for the listeners to access through their own connection. It was how all larva started to learn how to use the Weave.

Quickly, she thought up a test for her prince. She brought up on the Weave Phasma, Chrysalis, Dynasty, and Progenitor. Then, she leaned closer down to Phasma.

“Phasma, Chrysalis, Dynasty,” Chrysalis spoke aloud, and waited.

”Chrysalis,” Phasma spoke through the Weave.

‘Impossible!’ The queen shot upright, dislodging a few larva that clung to her. Rather than saying progenitor, the word that was left unsaid, or expectedly remained silent, the prince had answered ‘Chrysalis’.

Chrysalis’s mind raced with possibilities, implications, and ideas. This changes everything.

“Prince Phasmatodea will be in my direct care from now on,” Queen Chrysalis addressed the other two changelings in the room actually capable of speech. ‘Verbal speech,’ she unconsciously corrected herself.

Chrysalis regurgitated some love from her personal stores for Phasma. The pure love would accelerate his growth; she decided to personally feed him every day, before and after giving him lessons instead of having love delivered for him. That would reinforce her position in his life as provider of everything under the sun.

‘Or would it? He seems to be quite intelligent. This is the most interesting phenomenon I’ve ever seen since Lieutenant-Colonel Acrid exploded during the last war games. No, definitely longer than that!’

Chrysalis, as I now know her name was, opened her mouth and the love flowed outwards again. Again I drank in the wonderful pink cloud. The familiar sense of complete euphoria filled my being, just as warm and filling as the first time and I slumped over.

‘So this is why people do drugs; they’re amazing!’

She then picked me up and placed me on her back using her telekinesis. That was a really neat trick that I needed to learn as soon as possible. This whole lack of fingers thing hasn’t been a problem so far but I mean, it’s telekinesis. Who wouldn’t want telekinesis?

Bug mom also removed the other larva from her, then turned and left the room with me still on her back. Field trip!

Viewing the journey in reverse, the first thing I noticed was the cold. As soon as we left the nursery, I was hit by a freezing breeze. They must keep the nursery very warm for the developing changelings.

I huddled closer to Chrysalis’s neck for warmth in a vain attempt to escape the biting cold.

As we exited through the door– made of the same black material as the walls– I saw two changeling guards standing on either side of the door, awash in the now blue light coming from sconces on the walls. They saluted as we passed them, crossing their left hoof across their chest.

These changelings wore blue armor but I couldn’t tell the metal. Their helmets’ cheek guards resembled mandibles of a beetle. They also had some sort of chest piece covering their neck and the space between their forelegs.

Onwards my noble steed carried me, though turns and junctions, rooms with unknown purposes, and passing changelings along the way. Most did not wear armor, though occasionally I saw a door with one or two guards posted by them. The changelings we did pass I saw were bowed, probably doing so when they saw their queen passing by.

A few, especially the guards who did not have to bow, saw me watching from Chrysalis’s back. My knowledge on horse body language may be underdeveloped, but it was easy to see their confusion or shock.

We were climbing high, I realized after the third staircase. Higher, higher, yet higher. Less and less changelings occupied the rooms and halls we made our way through, and more guards were making their ways through the hall. A few of them had a purple armor as well as what I guess constituted as vambraces and boots.

There was a nine pointed star on their chest, which was probably important. They also had pieces that covered the rest of their torsos, unlike the other guards. Apparently only these guards were allowed protection from literally any direction other than straight ahead.

One final staircase later and we were in a grand hallway, complete with a red polished stone path set in the middle and great vaulted opened windows on either side. I saw sunlight for the first time in this new life. It was warm in here, though not as warm as the nursery. We were at the top of the hive spire, yet I did not hear the rushing wind normally associated with heights.

The contentment of the love had slowly ebbed away, allowing me enough presence of mind to notice a slight blue shimmer in the glass-less windows. Curious.

The sounds of clanking metal and creaking hinges suddenly filled the room. We then passed through a pair of massive doors, which must have just opened. The doors were covered in carvings and colors, but my attention was elsewhere.

We were in a throne room, that was the only explanation I had for the massive vaulted ceiling, the even bigger– though less wide– windows, and various black, blue, and green tapestries of an unknown material that hung from warped rafters support beams and on evenly spaced twisted columns. More royal guards in purple armor stood at attention in this room, at least twelve in total.

The tapestries depicted changelings bedecked in the rarer purple armor, normal ponies lying prone, and other species I could identify from myths alone. Griffons, pegasi and unicorns that were the same size as the normal ponies, buffalo, and… dragons.

Before I could wonder about the existence of these fantasy creatures and normal small horses, we sidestepped a large stone throne. It sat atop a raised pedestal, flanked by large, smooth black braziers.

The throne itself was made of a different material than the walls; it was a dark blue wide seat, with a back that was five feet high, with a nine-pointed star made of nine teardrop shaped sapphires, their tapered point facing outwards. The symbol of Panarthropo.

A skylight from behind draped the seat in a golden light, far more golden than natural sunlight.

‘All of the decorating budget went into this room, it seems.’

A slow creak signaled the opening of another door, and we passed through an arched door with a blue-stone filigree scorpion on its center.

The room inside was a small hallway, this one with orangish yellow lights atop cones that jutted out parallel to the wall, like a torch. It was a far cry from the private chambers of the obscenely rich European monarchs, but compared to the rest of the hive, it might as well have been covered in gold and jewels.

Seriously, how could this area be so well designed and with so much comparative wealth put in when the rest of the place seemed to be a literal cave?

‘Oh right, absolute monarchy. Screw the poor, and all that.’

This hall had a few doorways that were arched but lacking the scorpion symbol. Chrysalis brought us through the door at the end and into a personal study. It was a smaller study I guessed, though I had no experience with personal studies of ruling monarchs. Still, it was spacious enough, with a black rock chair with white upholstery sitting behind a wooden desk covered in papers, empty inkwells, and a few empty pots. To the left, a wooden bookshelf filled with worn tomes. To the right, a couch and two chairs that seemed completely nondescript faced each other. They sat in front of an empty fireplace with a large silver mirror above it.

‘Their mere existence is fancy enough for Queen Chrysalis, I suppose.’

I was moved from Chrysalis’s back and put down onto the couch. She sat in one of the opposite chairs, looked at me, and sighed.

“Prince Phasma, you will be staying with me from now on. Your tutelage will begin tomorrow.”

”Tutelage?”

‘Aw hell, school again! I knew there was a catch to being reincarnated as an emotion-eating, half-caterpillar half-bug-horse prince!’

5- Sköll & Mánagarmr

That night I learned how changelings defecate.

To be specific, I learned that they don’t. Instead, they regurgitate a sort of slime. Big Bug Mom gathered the waste and threw it into one of the empty pots.

”The changeling digestive system,” Chrysalis began, ”rids itself of the waste from processing love by congealing it into a thick mucus, then rids itself of the slime. We use this slime in a myriad of ways; from construction to being the basic component of a self-repairing salve, the changeling gel is our most abundant material.”

That would explain the warped-looking walls, columns, and ceilings; they are made of bug slime. Considering concrete is one of the most consumed resources in human society, I find it hilarious, disgusting, and most of all impressive that the one of the most used resources in changeling society is bug vomit.

Changeling anatomy lessons with Chrysalis continued into the night. She told me we could change our form at will, using magic inherent to changelings themselves. No other species had such an innate master over shapeshifting.

That’s another thing. Magic. It was very real, and it was how Chrysalis, Psocid, and Lethocerus could levitate objects. It also unsurprisingly had countless other uses: from popping popcorn to transmutation of elements.

‘I wonder if this means it is possible to split atoms using magic...’

That wrapped up the impromptu nightly lessons from bug mom. She told me to get used to the study, as it would be my room until one of the spare rooms could be prepared for me. The other larva of my generation had to sleep in a pile on the floor of a cavern while I got a room to myself.

I could get used to this.

With Prince Phasma asleep on the couch of the study, Queen Chrysalis made her way to her bedroom. Tomorrow, before the Prince awoke in the afternoon, she would check the archives. For now, she retired to her chambers. The bleak changeling-gel walls stood in stark contrast to the room’s contents.

They were the pinnacle of luxury in the changeling hive: an actual bed, complete with two pillows, a few blankets, and a mattress. She had to hand it to the ponies, they know how to live comfortably.

There were also three wooden chairs around a low table. A chess was set on the table, though Chrysalis never played. No windows, she would not tolerate such a security risk in her own personal wing, just as her predecessors never did. The pony Princesses were fools to leave such vulnerabilities in their castles.

Ponies. Right.

Chrysalis trotted over to the table and picked up the Black Queen using levitation. She started to giggle, then moved on to a full-blown cackle. The thin layer of dust was quickly brushed off as the piece jiggled in her grasp.

“Centuries of-” Chrysalis looked at her door…

However no guard knocked, bringing news of supply shortages, of strange happenstances, or of the latest issue of Colt-Cloak Magazine being released. Her monologues were interrupted more often than not, and it was starting to get on her nerves.

“.... Of planning, and the Great Weaver grants me such a boon! And the fact that Prince Phasma is blessed with being such a prodigy? The signs are clear, the sun shall set upon the eternal Sun Princess!

“How many centuries have we toiled in the dark? It is finally time for our place in the sun; Prince Phasmatodea shall deliver the final blow to the oh so glorious E.U.P., and city by city, Equestria will fall! My most loyal son, you shall be the key to delivering me Celestia’s head on a silver platter. Together, we will bring in a new era for our kind.

“No more hiding in the shadows! No more food shortages! No more suffering! Well, for my changelings, that is. Dear Celestia and her little ponies shall wish they were granted the mercy of death. Soon she will feel that her nightmares are real!

“Yes, step aside Celestia! The age of ponies has ended. The age of changelings has begun!”

Queen Chrysalis hummed quietly to herself as she headed down to the archives the next morning. Getting to the lowest layer of the hive was far easier than getting to the top spire yesterday. Without Phasma on her back, she could use her wings in the vertical shafts that formed the arteries of the hive.

Changelings moved out of her way and clung to the walls. The oncoming traffic parted as she made her way all the way down, past the dormitories, the nursery, the storage rooms, until she reached the final layer.

At the bottom of the shaft, just above the grate leading to the Underhive, there was one exit. That exit lead to one hallway, which lead to one room with one final door.

This final door was more akin to a wall that moved, it was thicker than many of the walls that made up the hive. A giant, circular vault door, twisting inwards in a spiral, converging to a circle that held a picture of a blue scorpion. Just below this central circle was two holes, equally distant from the center.

Chrysalis paid the two royal guards stationed on either side no heed as she slotted her forelegs into the circles. As her hooves pressed against the end of the recesses, tumblers slotted themselves through the holes of her legs. She turned her left leg clockwise ninety degrees, her right counterclockwise forty five, then her left counterclockwise one hundred thirty five. Finally, she turned her right leg ninety degrees. There was a loud click and the tumblers retracted.

She never got the combination wrong, not after accidentally getting it wrong once and having to sit there as the royal guards attempted to get her unstuck when the magical tumblers locked in place. The alarm blaring just added to the indignation.

The vault door started to swing outwards and Chrysalis pulled it out all the way with her magic.

“In the dark of the night, evil will find her!” She quietly sang to herself as she stepped through.

Proximity runes triggered the activation of the white light orbs on the walls, revealing the massive room. Rows of bookshelves, extending out a hundred feet and fifty feet to each side.

“In the dark of the night, terror comes true!” Chrysalis trotted to just to the side, where the index lay.

Finding the section she wanted, she pranced off to Row Fifteen, Section Three, Shelf One. There were the journals of King Mesopleuron, Queen Cantharidae, Queen Maxilla, and Queen Sphecidae. She pulled them out and brought them to the table that was in the center of the room.

Chrysalis pulled out the one chair at the table and continued to sing to herself as she read through the entries.

Outside, the royal guards glanced at each other. Despite the rigorous training they endured, ensuring they remained vigilant and reserved at all times, their stoic poise was broken.

Queen Chrysalis was singing.

Royal Guard Hydro made a quiet prayer to The Great Weaver.

6- Chiron

Checking the journals had yielded no new additional information.

As far as Chrysalis could tell, this was a first. None of her offspring nor any from previous rulers had been fully sapient from hatching. Every single prince and princess only began talking and indeed cognitive functions greater than ‘feed’ and ‘regurgitate’ at the nymph stage of their lives.

Chrysalis herself couldn’t recall any memories from when she was a larva, all those centuries ago.

As she made her way back to her chambers, she considered the situation she found herself in. Since he was capable of learning now, she would teach him herself as well as feed him. Forming a close bond between them was, as she learned in the past, key.

These early weeks would be crucial for everything to go smoothly.

I awoke to Chrysalis looming over me on the couch.

I wanted to ask if she stared at me throughout the entire night but I had not figured out how to communicate my own sentences through the Weave. I was still limited to repeating information.

”Your lessons begin now.”

What happened next would become the routine for the next three weeks: after waking me up, Queen Chrysalis fed me some of her personal stores of love. I later learned that this was extremely spoiling. The hive often suffered shortages of love, and all changelings except Chrysalis consumed diluted love.

The pure-love diet mom had me on would accelerate my growth, apparently. I wasn’t exactly a pediatrician, and neither was bug-mom, but with a distinct lack of CPS, Changeling Protective Services, there was no one to oversee my health except mother dearest. Good thing she had literal centuries of being in charge of the health of the young.

After feeding me the equivalent of a twelve course meal, Chrysalis would begin the lessons. For hours, until what I had guessed was mid-afternoon, she would drill concepts into my mind through speaking in the Weave.

From mathematics, which I excelled at, to the history of Changelings, which I did not excel at. Strangely enough, my life as a human did not give me a headstart on memorizing a list of dead shapeshifting emotivore monarchs.

Queen Canthari established the modern system of love harvesting. Queen Spheci rebuilt the main hive spire after a legendarily massive sandstorm tore away most of the outer layers of the hive.

Queen Chrysalis presided over the greatest, longest-running near-starvation ration distribution system. That, I inferred from that context. Her actual lessons regarding herself were limited to the “50 reasons why Queen Chrysalis is awesome and why you owe your life to her” variety.

Not that I didn’t pay lip service to the literal overlord of my new existence. I wasn’t that stupid.

Changelings were not doing very well at the moment. Due to reasons Her Majesty couldn’t figure out, we were running out of food. Or rather, we ran out of food and are barely floating by with the current harvest of love coming from Equestria.

Chrysalis briefly covered the changeling biology. Changelings subsisted on magic, and were optional omnivores. Eating other things could give us some sustenance, but it did not do more than stave off the side effects of starvation for a time. Emotions such as friendship, love, and sympathy were delicious. Emotions such as fear, anxiety, and anger tasted good and could be consumed like a fine wine, but like wine, they were not suitable for living on. We also had three stages of life: larva, nymph, adult drone. Changeling royalty caste members did not age, as it turned out.

The lack of ability to ask original questions had caused me to shelve certain topics for later, such as why we didn’t try new methods of gaining food, or if Queen Chrysalis is nearly a millennia old, where are my siblings? If all changeling royalty did not age, how come I was the only prince I’ve seen so far?

The lessons moved onto the world at large. Griffonstone. The land of griffons, a shadow of its former self. Apparently a string of weak kings brought it down straight down into the gutters. Never heard that one before.

The Emberlands. The land of dragons, a completely decentralized, near-tribal nation. A land where might-makes-right, where internal feuds meant that the entire place was a conflict-strewn hellhole. The only fact that it still stands and hasn’t been conquered is because, ya know, dragons.

Then there was our neighbor, Equestria. A massive, continent-spanning principality. Or rather, princesspality, as it was ruled by an immortal Princess Celestia. Equestria was home to the ponies: earth, pegasi, and unicorns. The ruler was a special case, a member of all three species at the same time. She was the big boogeyman to the changelings, and I think maybe Chrysalis doesn’t like her.

It was at some point during the first thirty seven minute rant about Princess Celestia that I got the feeling that there was no love lost between them.

‘Heh, love.’

Still, if Princess Celestia hated changelings, it would probably be best to guess she would not take kindly to my continued existence.

Equestria was also our number one–and only– source of food, love. Changeling infiltrators siphoned it off unsuspecting ponies. This meant that everything combat and infiltration related was targeted towards the ponies. And advancing security and communication measures meant that our one source of sustenance was in danger.

As it turns out, being a hyper-evolved species dedicated to one specific source of food meant that when our environment changed, we were in mortal danger. Wow. This is my shocked face.

Princess Celestia was also reported to be responsible for the movement of the celestial bodies. With a name like that and an immortal lifespan, I chalked this up to a cult of personality spreading misinformation.

The Changeling Hive was located roughly close to the center of the dry region known as the Badlands. To our north was the Duchy of Apple Loosa, ruled by Marquess Deep Pockets, part of the Totally-not-a-Kingdom of Equestria.

To our south, east, and west, was jungle. Ruled by the grand and majestic Count no one, who owes fealty to King nobody.

Geography lessons turned into physics and Thaumaturgy. That really got me excited. No, not learning the changeling equivalent to Isaac Newton.

Spells. Magic. The ability to change the fabric of reality to fit your wishes! Chrysalis stuck to the basics first, the concepts of mana, ley lines, the law of equivalent exchange (have I heard that before?), and the structure of spells. They were formulas, and more closer to chemical formulas than math formulas.

It boiled down to channeling magic while envisioning concepts and their complex relationship with each other: the Strings of The Great Tapestry.

But I wasn’t to learn how to cast yet, casting would have to wait until my Nymph stage.

Finally, language lessons. I learned how to speak and write Equish as it was the Lingua Franca of this world. I also was being taught how to speak on my own in the Weave, but that was a difficult concept to grasp. Still, finally being able to communicate was useful.

Once I started to get a good enough grasp on the language, the lessons slowly switched to verbal.

Then, after all lessons were over, she would feed me more once again, and then I went to sleep. There were often quizzes and tests. All verbal, for the same reason there was no homework; paper was a valued commodity, and thus strictly used for the running of the hive. Even Queen Chrysalis, ruler of all the upholstery in the hive, obeyed this rule.

Everyday. For weeks. Any error had to be corrected immediately. Any failed test retaken and I “...had better get it right this time, dear Prince.”

Slowly but surely, I was starting to become the target of her more aggressive side.

I never saw hair nor hide– nor chitin?– of either Psocid or Lethocerus again. I had assumed they would watch over me when Chrysalis did her day job of being an overbearing ruler, but that never came to be.

I don’t think I ever saw any other changelings, apart from a royal guard occasionally interrupting to give Queen Chrysalis some important bit of news, causing her to put a lesson on hold to go deal with some goings-on in the hive.

Her constant attention also meant that I couldn’t explore this wing, or even this room very much. The one time I tried doing something, that being pulling a book off the lowest shelf with my left hoof when she was out of the room, Chrysalis returned and put the book back using her magic and told me to not mess around. I had only just made out the title, Thermodynamics And Thaumaturgy, by Starswirl.

Then came the second-strangest day of my new life.

“High level casting spells, such as teleportation and transmutation are seldom mastered by any unicorn. And forget changeling drones, they haven’t a chance at grasping the higher concepts of thaumaturgy.”

Queen Chrysalis was accentuating the magic lessons with knowledge from the Weave, to better teach Phasma Equish. After all, it was far more efficient for her little prince to learn two subjects at the same time.

Phasma was nodding slowly. Very slowly.

“Prince Phasma, you’d better be with me right now,” Chrysalis sternly chided and Phasma’s head shot up.

“Yesh, mom!”

There was that annoying childish accent again. Chrysalis suspected it was due to the still-developing vocal chords and teeth. The fact that the larva could speak at all was a windfall she intended to make as much use of as possible but that did not excuse a lack of diligence.

“Yes, mom,” Chrysalis corrected. “Now, the teleportation spell. As a prince, you will be expected to know this one. The core concept is the String of Location…” Phasma was nodding off again.

”Prince Phasmatodea.” That got his attention. ”If you continue to try to sleep through these lessons I am so generously giving you, then I will put you to work scrubbing my study clean. And I don’t care if you don’t have levitation yet. This room will be spotless.”

“Sowwy, mom.”

“Sorry, mom.” For three weeks Chrysalis had-

‘Wait, three weeks? Could it be time already?’

“Very well. Since you have been working hard, I will give you this day off.” Chrysalis smiled. Either Prince Phasma was about to start his transition phase, or the day off will further endear him to Chrysalis. A win-win scenario for her!

Chrysalis then left the room, closed the door behind her, and waited.

7- Apotheosis

Arc 2: First Fang

As Chrysalis left the room, I felt a huge yawn wrack my body. Rather than look the gifted pony in the mouth and question why she was suddenly letting me have a day off, I decided to take a nap. This rigorous schoolwork was very tiring, after all.

I curled up on one of the chairs by the fireplace, and went to sleep.

Or at least, tried to. No matter how I repositioned myself, I just could not get comfortable. I shifted, tossed, and turned, but nothing worked. I decided a different spot would probably do the trick. I crawled over to the couch, and tried laying on that. Still, I could not get comfortable. Keeping my eyes open was an effort at this point. I was exhausted but no rest ever came.

‘Those changeling larva I saw when I first hatched seemed to love to fall asleep on Chrysalis’s legs, maybe there’s merit to that. Do changeling larva naturally fall asleep on vertical surfaces?’

I got off the couch and started to scale the fireplace itself, eventually reaching a point halfway up, and tried to get some shut-eye. Yet again, sleep did not come. However, I did feel somehow a bit more comfortable.

‘Closer… Higher, maybe?’

My mind was still awash from the different definitions, formulas, and facts from my lectures that I couldn’t focus on anything but going to sleep. Even when I made it all the way to the ceiling, my thoughts drifted only towards rest.

‘Almost… Need, uh, dunno, a blanket? Something to wrap myself in… There we go.’

A warmth had wrapped around me; I was snug, comfortable, and safe. Finally, sleep took me.

After thirty minutes, Chrysalis opened the door. Prince Phasmatodea was missing. Instead, an iridescent chrysalis hung above the fireplace.

The queen smiled at her namesake, a fanged grin pulled up the corners on both sides of her muzzle.

“Sleep well, my little prince. You will need your energy when you wake.”

She shut the door and trotted off to the throne room to begin working through the backlog of tasks that had piled up in her absence.

There, she took up her throne, and the one changeling not in royal armor out of the thirteen present moved to bow in front of her. Chamberlain Eucharis had been sent for when Queen Chrysalis was still waiting outside of her study.

“My Queen, your itinerary is ready. A debriefing with Intelligencer Ocelli is the first time.”

Intelligencer Ocelli was the head of the infiltrator operations. If she wanted a debriefing, then she believed she had found something worth notifying Chrysalis. Ocelli’s judgement had been correct when bringing in past information, so this was most likely important.

‘If only more drones had her wit.’

“Good. I will see her at once, fetch the Intelligencer.”

The Chamberlain left, and later returned, at a rapid pace. He brought with him a guest.

“My Queen,” Intelligencer Ocelli bowed, “I thank you for the honor of meeting with me.”

Queen Chrysalis didn’t react.

“I have brought news from the newest infiltrations of the pony city of Baltimare. Collection of news printings has proven most wise, My Queen.”

The monarch continued to stare.

“Uh, our findings have greatly improved our information network! We have discovered the existence of a second alicorn princess. A princess of love!”

That got a reaction. “A second alicorn, a princess of love? You will tell me everything.”

‘There hasn’t been an alicorn of love since…’ Chrysalis trailed off in thought.

I dreamt with perfect clarity about alien worlds.

I dreamt I was walking through a jungle valley. Mountains ringed a dense green canopy. In front of me lay the roots of a tree bigger than the ring mountains, a tree that could only be called a World-Tree. Its massive branches supported entire ecosystems, its trunk casted a shadow that blocked out the sun, its roots tunneled and burrowed through the jungle for thousands of miles.

There was an orchestra of bird calls filling the air and a small sapling grew at the mountain-tree’s base. Despite the World-Tree’s shadow, the forest around it did not shrink in size where the shadow lay. The jungle was feeding off the root system of the World-Tree itself.

The nearby flora couldn’t hold a candle to the World-Tree’s majesty.

The world around me vanished and I found myself in a crowded city. I was on a packed sidewalk, going against the flow of pedestrians. There was a bright light coming from a distant skyscraper, it’s black and white form dominating the skyline.

The street was flooded with noise, but I couldn’t make any specifics out. It seemed like there were a number of conversations going on, but all the words sounded like gibberish.

I tried getting someone’s attention, but he ignored me and continued on.

Then, I was floating in an open, calm sea. I felt the pull of different currents, present even up here on the surface. I could sense the ocean floor beneath me. At places, it was close to the surface, reefs and shoals of fish bountiful. In others, it was far below, a desolate waste. Small waves seemed to rise up and crash upon themselves at random, but they never did more than send ripples across the water. It was quiet; it was calm.

In the distance, a massive summer storm was coalescing into a dark hurricane.

Finally, I found myself in a black void, looking up at a starry night sky. Only, instead of pinpricks of white light scattered across a black canvas, I saw entire galaxies fill up the sky, almost seeming to fight each other for space. Whites, yellows, reds, and blues painted themselves across the horizons. Blues shifted from light cyans to deep violets. Yellows flowed from light ambers to hot oranges.

If I focused hard enough, I swear I saw the galaxies pulse, ebb, and flow. They seemed to move as if in a breeze.

At the very top of the heavens, a supermassive spiral galaxy commanded my attention. It was at an angle, so it should have blocked out anything behind it, yet I could see other galaxies bleeding through the spiral galaxy’s light. One single large arm stretched itself downwards from the heavens, touching the distant horizon. The massive glowing tendril stretched down a distance beneath me into the black void.

With nothing better to do, I moved towards it. I didn’t have a form, I noticed. I was just a blob of dull orange light.

I took the time to think about my new life. Chrysalis was running me ragged with the endless lessons. Showing my intelligence so early on might have been a mistake, but it’s not like I did it on purpose anyways. Besides, who would want to live out their baby years normally, anyways?

I sure as hell didn’t want to crawl around, cry, and shit myself until I could pretend to learn how to speak. I just now realized that bug-mom sacrificed my would-be childhood– nymphhood?– to train me to be a ruler. I would be more upset over that if it wasn’t for the fact that I already had a childhood, complete with actual caring parents.

I wasn’t sure that Chrysalis loved me. Was she even capable of caring for others? Or was she entirely dedicated to keeping her place at the top? And where are my siblings? I knew from one or two off-hoof comments that I was not her first larva that she raised personally.

‘Off-hoof? Did I really just think that?’ I pressed onwards, my mind wandering from topic to topic.

Reaching the arm took seconds and years, minutes and decades, hours and epochs. It stood before me, stretching out indefinitely to either side. I could not see its ends, nor could I see through it anymore.

It was composed of more specks of light than I could fathom. Just in the section in front of me where white, red, blue, and yellow specks that numbered more than the grains of sand on any beach.

I reached out a glowing orange arm, and touched it.

At once, I could feel the thrum of each of the galaxies up above. They beat like a heart, like a pulse was traveling through them, its source beyond one of the horizons.

Then, I heard a whisper from below call out to m-

-seven ponies in a ring, an eighth bled in the center, the blood spilling out to form a seven pointed star-

-a unicorn falls asleep at her desk, snoring loudly into a notebook-

-an army marches in lockstep, their forms obscured, but light filtered through holes in their legs-

A field of white petaled flowers rested beneath a full moon. There were craters and pockmarks on the moon, resembling the head of a unicorn.

It turned to face me.

I jerked awake. At least, I would have, if I were not tightly bound up in something hard. As such, I twitched awake. I couldn’t see anything.

‘Oh not this shit again!’

I pressed outwards with all my might and my bindings broke easily. Gravity took hold of me and I fell all the way to the floor, my rear hitting the mantle above the fireplace, flipping me over midair. I landed on my back with a loud thump.

“Ow…”

Thankfully, my carapace stopped the cold, hard stone floor from injuring me seriously. Still hurt, though.

‘Wait, carapace? When did that happen?’

I looked at the rest of my body; I was a full changeling now. Or, at least a nymph. I resembled a normal changeling but with much smaller proportions. Four legs, a tail, and other protruding parts. Unlike the other changelings, my legs were solid: no holes in sight.

I looked around the room; it was a bit different, the bookshelf across the room seemed more full, bug-mom’s desk was mostly cleared of the papers that were on it last night, and the couch had actual pillows now.

‘Aw man! I would’a given her my shopping list if I knew she was headed to Bed Bugs & Beyond!’

Speaking of the chitinous devil, the door opened and Queen Chrysalis stepped through. When she saw me, she paused and smiled. A chill went up my spine when she inspected me with those bright green cat-eyes.

She looked like she was eyeing up a slab of meat in a butcher’s shop rather than greeting her son.

“Welcome back, Prince Phasmatodea.”

‘If she licks her lips, I’m running. Wait, back?’

8- Heka

Today is the worst day of my new life.

Chrysalis is cutting me off. No more pure love. No more sweet, sweet drugs. Instead, I am being fed a gel that has a bit of love mixed in. I checked and no, it was not the changeling-vomit-concrete.

I spent a month in a chrysalis and came out a nymph. Waking up with actual legs is nice and all but it all came at a cost I wasn’t willing to pay. I would have stayed a caterpillar if it meant avoiding this.

Apparently the pure love was a special diet to speed along my growth as a larva. Since I’m no longer bird-food, I am being moved onto a diet that’s normal for the changelings of the hive. Well, every changeling except Chrysalis. She still gets pure love for herself.

Chrysalis also says that since I was on a diet of pure love, my nymph stage will also go by quicker than normal. Fine by me, the sooner I can stop being a child, the sooner I can start living a new life rather than just reacting to new events around me. I feel helpless and vulnerable. I want to do things, not go to school again.

Thankfully the new stuff that I’m being fed isn’t that bad. Instead of reaching a state of euphoria and inner peace, it just tastes good. Quite the step down, but considering the hive was in a state of starvation, rations could be far worse. I can’t even imagine what peasants in medieval human history ate during famines.

So my dealer is holding out on me, but it’s not the end of the world.

Queen Chrysalis is still tutoring me herself for the most part, keeping me away from other nymphs. However, today’s lessons, the first that I had while a nymph, brought with them an interesting surprise.

“Prince Phasma. Urgent matters require my attention but I have acquired a tutor for you. Do not worry, your studies will not be put on hold,” Queen Chrysalis said and I noted her careful phrasing.

“I thought you said you were going to teach me everything?”

“Yes yes, I will. This tutor is to help you practice. You do not need my presence here for that.”

I blinked. “Practice. As in, practice magic?”

That certainly puts a spin on things. I was still bummed out that I am no longer being fed love but it seems Chrysalis is ending off on good news to try to endear herself to me further. I liked her better when she was giving me free drugs.

“Yes, my little prince. It is too early for you to learn flying– your wings must harden– but it is time you put your lessons to use. I am certain you will excel at casting just as you excelled at thaumic theory. Sergeant Katydid, you may enter now.”

I glanced at my back as the door opened; my transparent wings lay under elytra that blended in with the rest of my back. I had shades of orange filling out my back, in contrast to bug-mom’s green and the rest of the changelings’ blue.

I suppose I looked good– and orange is my favorite color– but I can’t help but picture myself as a horse stuffed into a traffic cone.

A changeling enters her study as commanded and bowed before the queen. As all changelings looked similar, I had trouble telling him apart from the rest physically. The only things identifying him from the other changelings seemed to be the nicks and scratches on his armor.

Thankfully there was a Weave signature that was unique to each changeling. It would be hard to tell each other apart at a glance otherwise. As it is, you just know each other’s names. Introductions are the exchanging of information through the Weave, like if you were to trade driver’s licenses when you shake hooves.

‘Hands! Shake hands!’

Officer Katydid brings me out of my mental tirade, “My Queen, I am honored to be chosen for this duty.”

Chrysalis nods, “You may rise, Officer Katydid.” When the officer rose, Chrysalis stared him in the eyes, “Prince Phasmatodea will become an unrivaled spellcaster under your instruction.”

That wasn’t a question or a hopeful remark, it was an order. Without another word, she left the room and closed the door behind her. The officer continued to stare at the spot she occupied.

“No pressure,” I said with a fanged smile. He turned to glance down at me.

“I will not fail, My Prince!” I don’t think it was me he was trying to reassure. “We will begin with levitation, as all nymphs first learn.”

“Daring today, aren’t we?”

While I did memorize the thaumic formula for casting spells, casting them is a horse of a different color. I would make a pony joke there but today’s lessons have left me dead on my hooves with no energy left for puns.

As it turns out, learning spells and casting spells are two completely different things. One requires thinking and memorizing, and the other requires thinking of your memorized material while commanding reality to bend to your whims. I am simplifying things a bit here.

Point is, casting magic is taking all the effort and skill that went into learning thaumic theory and spell crafting in addition to using a muscle that quite literally does not exist in the physical realm. We changelings, as well as any magic capable species, use our horns to channel magic from our souls. The horn is the conduit, while it’s our mana reserves doing the real work.

And since pain is the body’s signal that something is going wrong, our bodies tell us that we fucked up casting by making our horns hurt like hell, since they are the only physical part of our body used in casting.

Not that I miscasted or anything. No, instead I felt magic fatigue. Which is like the pain of miscasting, only it stings instead of burns.

The first spell all changelings and magic users in general learn is levitation. Simply put, you channel magic with the intent of moving things around.

For most nymphs, foals, fawns, what-have-you, that’s quite the mental conundrum. For someone who had hands, imagining picking things up from far away was a really great point to start off of. However, humans do not have magic. Meaning, my magic reserves, while abysmal for a changeling adult drone and ridiculously high for a newly-born changeling nymph, were spent up within an hour.

All I had to show for my efforts were some paperweights that were moved from one side of the floor to the other. Exercising magic was like exercising any other muscle group; it hurt, it took effort, and I was a complaining mess by the end.

‘Wizards are supposed to be the opposite of gym rats! This is ridiculous, I want a refund on my reincarnation!’

I had retired to my room, which was down the hall, near the exit to the throne room. It currently consisted of an actual mattress which had been retrieved in the month I was taking an extended nap, a changeling-concrete frame for it, and a stone chest. It doesn’t take three guesses to find out which two materials the hive had in abundance.

No sheets, blankets, or pillows, but with hard chitin they were more of a luxury than a need.

I was utterly exhausted, probably in the early stages of withdrawal, and completely out of my element as the prince of an insectoid, equine kingdom. My mother, the individual who’s supposed to be my role model and primary caregiver, seemed like the kind of person who kicks puppies for a laugh.

A smile slowly crept onto my face.

‘I’m an actual wizard! I can make this work!’

That night I dreamt of a blood-red moon above an empty sea, whispering the Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War tutorial into my ear. Yea, I’m definitely going through withdrawal.

9- Seiðr

“Now, to cast the ice spear spell, you must imagine a hole in your surroundings, devoid of heat and energy. Then, you must fill that void using your mana, channeling through your horn.”

I rubbed my eyes, “We’ve been at this for at least two hours now. I think we are done for the day.”

“Ok,” Katydid said, following my example. “You did a good job today! You are knocking these spells out quicker than any nymph I know! I mean, of course you are, Your Highness.”

One week of lessons and Officer Katydid still was as unsure of himself as ever. I have to admit, changelings are kind of cute. Especially when they shuffle their hooves like Katydid is. I probably looked even more adorable, with my shorter proportions.

“Thank you for tutoring me,” I said the now well-practiced goodbye.

“It was my honor, My Prince,” Katydid responds as usual. However, before I retired to my room, I had a few questions I’ve been meaning to ask. I stopped him in the hall.

“Officer Katydid, I have been wondering… How come I do not have any siblings?”

Katydid frowned. “Oh, that… uh, yea. Well, changelings only lay one egg at a time, so–”

“No, I know that. But why hasn’t my mother had any nymphs before me?” I had a suspicion I knew the answer to this and that Katydid didn’t.

‘Katydidn’t. Apparently I’m not too tired for horrible puns today.’

Katydid looked around and shifted uncomfortably on his hooves. Still adorable. “W-well, uh, she most likely has had princes and princesses before you. I wouldn’t know, My Prince. Perhaps you should ask Q–”

‘It’s time to fish for some answers.’

“If I had siblings born before me, where are they? Changeling royals are ageless, so wouldn’t they be here?”

Katydid failed to hide a sigh, “I really don’t kn-”

I continued on, “I checked the Weave. There’s nothing on my brothers and sisters.”

‘C’mon, take the bite.’

“W-well that would be because any old information is removed from the Weave, a-and stored physically.” I looked at him expectedly. When he didn’t continue, I pressed further.

“Physically?”

‘Here, fishy, fishy!’

Katydid gave me a smile, most likely thinking I was an adorable nymph pestering him with questions, as is tradition for all children. “Yes, in the vault.”

‘We got a live one!’

“A vault? That sounds cool! I wanna see it!” I added a grin for good measure. If I could, I would have made my eyes twinkle.

He shook his head, “It’s all the way down at the bottom of the hive, just above the underground layers. Until you can fly, I’m afraid there’s no way you can go down there. Even so, the vault is sealed.”

“Sealed? Then how do changelings put information in it?”

“These are good questions for the Queen. She is the one who opens it, no one else.”

I got enough answers, best not push my luck here.

“Oh. Well, thank you Katydid. I look forward to our next lessons!”

“I also look forward to them. Good night, My Prince,” he said with a wave that I returned.

‘So, all information is stored in this vault, down near the center of the hive, and only Queen Chrysalis can enter. That certainly is going to make things difficult in the future.’

“Good morning, Prince Phasmatodea.”

“Good morning, Queen Chrysalis.”

“I have some good news. Since you have been so diligent the past week and a half, today we will begin learning shapeshifting spells. You have displayed a satisfactory level of knowledge in the outside world, so it is time for you to learn what it is to be a changeling.”

I perked up. Learning the inner workings of the hive, as well as how we interact with the outside world?

“Yes, you are ready,” Chrysalis noticed my surprised face, “the most important tool in a changeling’s arsenal is subterfuge. Deceiving ponies, as well as other species you encounter, will be key to keeping the hive safe.

“I will cover the theories, protocols, strategies, and goals of being an infiltrator. However, knowledge will only carry you so far. You will attend infiltration classes with the drones. I know you will be on your best behavior.”

“Of course, mother.” I couldn’t believe it; this is too good to be true!

“Being in this class will mean you will be with the nymph drones of the hive. So first, we will begin lessons on how to act as a changeling royal.”

I stifled a groan. There’s the catch. However, I could bear tedious lessons on manners if it meant being in contact with more changelings, and more importantly, learning infiltration. I am finally beginning lessons on entering the outside world.

Chrysalis’s lessons on how to be a prince differed greatly from what I expected a noble would have to learn. Instead of learning the difference between soup spoons and flower arrangements, I learned far more practical things.

Things like deflecting blame, accepting no insult or shame, and how to get away with making mistakes. Standard politician stuff. Now, since I was an adult already, I know how to do these things. But still, learning a few tricks from ol’ Chryssy would not go unappreciated.

This does mean that she expects me to be an even higher level of unparalleled excellence though. It seems with each new lesson, the bar set for me gets raised higher and higher. Now I can’t rely on cute looks, being royal, and my young age when I make mistakes.

I’m still going to abuse those three as much as I can, but I think Chrysalis will be paying even closer attention to my behavior.

And since I will be with other nymphs, I am expected to be a paragon of virtue. At least, look the part. Chrysalis makes the distinction very clear: in the hive, I obey the rules. Outside the hive, I disregard the pony’s laws when needed.

In addition to lessons in manners, I was also being taught how to rule. As a second-in-command, of course. Don’t want me to have illusions that I will ever be in charge of the hive, after all.

These lessons covered topics such as giving orders to drones, following all of Queen Chrysalis’s orders, accepting no insubordination, examples of punishments to give to drones (ranging from exile to execution), and managing the resource allocation of a city with a population in the thousands.

I admit, that last one really lost me. Apparently being a changeling ruler meant that you had to control the entire economy from the top down.

Sounds like Soviet-socialism to me but I can’t explain the negatives to Chrysalis. I am only a month and a half old or so, who am I to know the nuances of macroeconomics? Besides, it seems that the system in place was created in response to the growing famine problem the hive was facing. There was probably a good reason why it is run the way it is. Probably.

All this was in addition to my lessons on politics, spell theory, practicing spells, language lessons, and a bit of math and science. To accommodate the new lessons in changelings rulership, management of a society, and the basics of infiltration, Chrysalis decided to extend my lessons earlier into the morning. I wasn’t a larva anymore, and that means my days of sleeping half the day away are long past.

And still not a single piece of paper in sight. Studying for verbal exams is damn near impossible when you can’t even take notes. All my ideas for acquiring information on my siblings, or their suspected whereabouts, had fallen wayside. I just didn’t have time to pursue anything.

‘And she considered these lessons good news? I can’t believe I was even excited for this.’

The days were blurring together. Wake up, eat, go to lessons with mother until the late afternoon, practice with Katydid, go to my room, stay up late trying to go over the new material I learned, maybe study for an upcoming exam, then sleep for the few hours I had left in the night. If I had any dreams, then they were nonsensical ramblings, usually involving the moon or insects.

Then repeat. Over and over.

I knew I couldn’t keep this up forever but that’s exactly what I had to do.

Chrysalis was going over the latest report from Canterlot. The new infiltration team put in place in the unicorn-dominated city had yielded far more value than she ever realized. The information, bits, and materials smuggled out of the city made her wonder why it was even protocol to avoid the lavish mountaintop city.

A stray thought of its ruler reminded her why.

She placed the papers back down onto her desk when her door opened and Phasma stepped in.

“Good morning, Prince Phasmatodea.”

“Good morning, Queen Chrysalis,” he mumbled.

Chrysalis recalled today’s lessons. Ah yes, the political structure of Princess Celestia’s upper court, infiltration, Laughing Newt’s three laws of motion, adverbs, the political structure of Queen Chrysalis’s upper court, and tapping into the disguise spells that changelings have an innate affinity for.

Not light material, but Prince Phasma has proved himself more than capable of handling this. Phasma already finished with mathematics, he seemed to take to that like better than any changeling she knew.

“Let’s start with the exam on Celestia’s court. Name the positions and their duties of office.”

She leaned forward to listen to the prince. In fact, this information was new to her as well, having come from a report hooved to her last week.

Phasma looked up in thought, eyes closed. “The Minister of the Interior is in charge of herding cats– I mean, nobles, the Secretary of Court is in charge of organizing the royal court, the Chief of Staff is in charge of everything related to the palace and crownlands, the Captain is in charge of the Royal Guard, as well as nominally in charge of the border guard and the navy…

“Uhh, I think the Judicator was in charge of the courts,” Prince Phasma finished.

When Phasma opened his eyes to look back at Chrysalis, she looked at him pointedly. “Laws? Finance?”

“O-oh, yes, the Treasurer is in charge of monetary policies and the Magistrate is in charge of making the laws.”

“The Magistrate does not write the laws, Prince Phasma.”

“I, uh, knew that...”

Chrysalis sighed. “I’m certain you will do better on the quiz on my court, Prince Phasma.” At that, Phasma looked down at the ground dejectedly. To segue to the next lesson, Chrysalis stepped out from behind her desk and lifted Phasma’ chin up with a hoof.

“When you’re out in the field, you need to cover the gaps in your knowledge better. You will encounter unexpected information, and you must remain calm in control of the conversation.”

She gave him a smile, “I demand excellence because I know you are capable of it. Now, onto formulating fake identities.”

In the back of her mind, Chrysalis was wondering if Phasma just lacked incentives to try his hardest...

11- Nicaea

Infiltrator Sclerite observed the class as the changelings took their seats.

For the most part, nymphs stuck with nymphs and adults stuck with adults. It was strange having both age groups in her class. It was by the Queen’s orders that the infiltrator program be expanded and so many adults working in other sectors of the hive were put into infiltrator classes.

In Sclerite’s class alone there were excavators, soldiers, processors, and engineers. Friends, colleagues, and strangers filled the room. And the nymphs, who were just limited to friends and strangers.

So Sclerite called the class to order, and asked the changelings to reseat themselves in neat rows and columns with nymphs up front and adults behind. Not that there were any seats to help them. No, the room was completely barren, devoid of furniture. That didn’t stop the changelings from taking their assigned positions with practiced efficiency.

As they reordered themselves, Sclerite felt her heart beat quicker. That was strange, she felt calm up till that moment. Right as the last adults were moving to sit down in the back, the door on Sclerite’s left opened.

She watched as a changeling she’s never seen before entered the room.

‘Ah, there’s Prince Phasmatodea.’

Chamberlain Eucharis had informed her a few days ago that the prince would be attending, so she had a head’s up on the new student. His hatching had been announced three months ago, and very few have seen him since.

The rest of the class had no such warning.

When the door opened, all heads swiveled to look and twenty three pairs of eyes latched onto the young changeling. For all of them, Infiltrator Sclerite included, this is the first time they saw the new royal.

He looked sorta like a changeling However, he lacked the holes in his legs, he had orange eyes and orange back, and he was essentially a large nymph. He wasn’t as big as an adult but he was at least twice the size of a nymph.

‘Gonna have to stick him in between the two age groups, then.’

I walked through the door only to freeze in my tracks.

The moment the door opened, every head swiveled towards me. The moment I walked in, about half the jaws in the room dropped. I absently noted that the room seemed to be two thirds nymphs up front, one third adults in the back.

‘I feel like a cliche visual novel side character. Rich, privileged, and just entering a class filled with normal people.’

But these were changelings, not normal people at all. That reminder brought me out of my silence.

“This is Infiltrator Sclerite’s class, is it not?”

The changeling straight ahead, the only one not in rows spoke up. “Yes, Your Highness. I am Infiltrator Sclerite, the teacher for this class. I am honored that you would join us.”

“Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Infiltrator Sclerite,” I said while moving forward to shake her hoof. The changelings started to whisper.

“Class, this is Prince Phasmatodea. We have the honor of having him with us, so I know you’ll all be on your best behaviour. My Prince, if you would sit there,” she pointed to an open spot in the middle of the room, a gap between the two segregated age groups, “then we will begin lessons.”

I nodded and moved into the open spot.

‘A classroom without chairs, table, chalkboards, or ancient projection machines. This certainly is strange.’

As I sat down, all the changelings kept staring at me, and the nymph closest broke the silence.

“Are ya really the prince?”

That broke the floodgates.

“Is it true that the throne room is covered in gold?”

“What’s Queen Chrysalis like?”

“Why do your eyes look weird?”

“Is it true you can breathe fire?!”

“How come you don’t got holes?”

“AHEM.” That last one was Sclerite. Her loud throat-clearing got the attention of the class, “Now class, we’re going to go through a round of introductions. I know we did that the first day but now we have a new class member.

“I will start. Good morning class, I am Infiltrator Sclerite. I am thirty six years old and two interesting things about me are that I have been all the way to Manehattan and I have listened to actual pony music.”

She looked at the first nymph in the first row expectantly.

“Oh, my name is Pyrina…”

The introductions went on, with the nymphs picking facts like their favorite color or what sports they play. It was nice to know that basketball still existed, though I couldn’t wrap my head around the logistics of it.

Do you dribble with your magic? Your hooves? What’s the ball made of?

My mental tangent left me unprepared when the nymphs finished and it was my turn.

“Hello everyone. I am Prince Phasmatodea, or Prince Phasma for short.”

‘I should avoid talking about my new upbringing to avoid distancing myself from these changelings.’

“And two interesting things about me are that I hope to learn how to ski like ponies do, and that I’ve tasted pure love.”

‘No, damn it! That was-’

The changelings gasped and one asked, “You did?! What did it taste like?!”

‘... a mistake?’

“Err, it’s… like being wrapped up in a thick blanket on a freezing day.”

‘Please none of you ask how I know what a freezing day is like despite my age…’

Luckily, they all seemed to nod, and Sclerite smiled and took this to input her own lesson.

“For those of you who will pass my class, you won’t have to wonder what love tastes like. Successful infiltrators taste love regularly. We’re the ones who bring much of the food back to the hive, after all.”

The changeling adult next to me took the brief moment of silence as his cue to continue introductions. “My name is Pharynx, and I was a royal guard before being put into this class.”

‘That didn’t sound bitter at all. I wonder if Chrysalis arranged for him to be here so that there is a royal guard with me at all times.’

“And a second interesting thing?” Sclerite asked.

“... My brother is in this class, too.”

Sclerite sighed. “Alright then. Your turn– and you can’t use the brother thing too,” she said to the changeling next to Pharynx.

The adults all introduced themselves and unlike the nymphs, their interesting facts were all pertaining to what professions they used to be. That, and their second facts were usually along the lines of hobbies, if they’ve had the honor of laying an egg, and one claimed that the infiltrator he was roommates with had an actual book.

After introductions, Infiltrator Sclerite started today’s lessons. They were all concepts that Chrysalis had covered. Apparently she taught me the book material and put me in the class for the practice tours they do outside the hive.

The fact that those start a month from now must have escaped her notice.

During the lessons, I caught more than a few glances in my directions, as well as my name being whispered around the room.

‘Really making me feel self-conscious, huh?’

When the class wrapped up, instead of all the changelings immediately booking it for the door like normal school kids do, they all stuck around. To bug me with questions, of course.

“No, I do not shoot lasers out of my eyes.”

The changeling aww’ed, before being pushed aside by another with a new question. I recognized this new nymph as Lacewing, a nymph who said she wanted to see a painting when she becomes an infiltrator.

“Can you speak through the Weave, like Queen Chrysalis can?”

I perked up. That was a question I did not expect from a nymph.

“Yes.”

Lacewing’s eyes widened.

“Can you show us?”

“Speaking through the Weave is not something to be flaunted around… But I’ll make an exception, just this once.”

It was funny to watch the crowd go from curious, to dejected, to thoroughly impressed so quickly.

“What’s your opinion on ponies?” This one came from the brother of that royal guard.

I thought about what Thorax asked; this was quite the loaded question.

“Their luxurious lives have... made them lose sight of how the world really works. Their time in the sun will soon come to an end,” I said, channeling my inner Chrysalis.

Thorax tried to hide his disappointment.

‘Fool, you’re going to get yourself killed if you do not hide your humanity better. Or would it be changanity? I’ll have to ask Chrysalis later. Oh right, I’m supposed to be cementing loyalty here.’

“Perhaps there are many things we can learn from them. After all, what’s stopping us from taking the best ideas they have to offer, and discarding the rest?”

‘There we go. Vague enough to satisfy your self-inserted ideals? The questioning look you’re sending me says maybe.’

An adult changeling, Tarsus, stepped forwards and asked, “We’re going to go down to the recreation area and play some hoofball. Do you want to join us… Errr, Your Highness?”

I thought for a moment. “That would be interesting, I would enj-”

“Prince Phasma, it is time to go.”

I glared at the interrupter. It was Chamberlain Eucharis, at the door.

“Perhaps another time, Tarsus.” He smiled when I remembered his name.

“I look forward to it.”

“Good evening, all of you,” I awkwardly said my farewell, “I will answer more questions after the next class.”

That cheered up the few changelings that didn’t get to bug me about my non-existent social life.

“Did My Prince enjoy his first experience with changelings of his age?”

“They’re all older than me by at least five months, Chamberlain.”

Eucharis frowned as we continued our way back up.

“Your actual peers are still unable to talk.”

“Peers?”

He straightened up. “I mean the changelings of your age, My Prince. I meant no insult.”

“I’m sure you didn’t. And yes, I did enjoy meeting other changelings outside of the royal court.’

The Chamberlain let out a long breath, “It is good to hear that, My Prince. You may be giving them orders sooner rather than later. That is... Good.”

“Hmm? Nothing about how getting along with my subjects is an important lesson to learn? Or how socializing builds important skills?”

“Who put that idea in your head, My Prince? Was it that layabout Thorax? He’s always up to no good. I’ll investigate the matter myself, Prince Phasma, don’t you worry!”

I shook my head. “Nevermind.”

‘It’s a bit strange how Eucharis goes from caring about my wellbeing one second, to announcing he’s going to persecute a changeling the next. What’s he up to?’

There was something I remembered to ask.

“Speaking of Thorax, his brother claimed to be a former Royal Guard. Was there a reason he was moved into the infiltrator class?”

“The Queen wanted to put changelings from all professions into the infiltrator class. She believed the experiment could yield interesting information on how changelings from different parts of the hive will react to the outside world.”

“Wow, she said all of that?”

“Not a word of it.”

‘So he might still be a bodyguard. Knowing bug-mom, he definitely is a body guard.’

“Alrighty then… What’s the real reason?”

Eucharis looked at me, “That is the real reason. Her Majesty just left me to connect the dots when carrying out her orders.”

“Sounds like an inefficient way to rule a kingdom.”

“Well don’t expect me to tell her that,” Eucharis mumbled quietly, but not quietly enough for me to miss. “Her Majesty rules her hive as she sees fit. And she sees more of the bigger picture than all of us.”

‘Tactfully avoiding agreeing with me or disagreeing with me, huh? I can be an ass-licker, too!’

“Oh, that makes sense. I guess actions that seem strange to us are actually well-thought out.”

We walked the rest of the way back in silence. Changelings still bowed to me in the hallway, and there were more of them this time.

12- Apostles

Another day, another class covering material I already know. I had been in this class for eight days now. At this point I’m wondering if Chrysalis had intentionally put me in a class where I already knew everything to make myself, and possibly by extension herself, appear far more knowledgeable than we actually are.

Today’s lesson was on schooling our expressions and to be always on guard during a conversation for slips and gaps of knowledge that would give us away.

‘Thorax had better be paying attention. He may be useful as of yet.’

Once the class wrapped up, we had a few minutes for another Q&A session. It seems the changelings of the hive never receive any visits from Chrysalis, so actually meeting her is usually bad news.

I was with five other changelings at the moment: Thorax, Lacewing, Tarsus, a nymph named Coxa, and an adult named Oestridae. These five seemed to stick around me the most, asking questions about me.

We had actually gotten to know each other somewhat by this point. I knew that Thorax totally would be in on my conspiracies. Lacewing wanted to become an avid painter with her disguises. Tarsus was a shoo-in for some position close to me I’ve yet to invent and suggest to Chrysalis. Coxa would have made an excellent assistant to the Chamberlain had he not been rerouted into the Infiltrator pipeline.

And Oestridae… He would probably make an excellent personal guard. Dude’s built like a brick shithouse and has the personality of a kitten. I didn’t know it was possible to be bigger than the normal changeling, but I swear he’s at least two inches taller than normal. That’s practically The Mountain That Rides!

‘Not sure why any changeling thought a transportation specialist as big and clumsy as Oestridae would be needed out in the infiltrator line of duty, but maybe he’s going to ferry materials back to the hive?’

I was zoning out again, answering benign questions for the most part. Really, these changelings have crazy imaginations. How could you even come up with the idea that Panarthropo talks to me personally?

‘Actually, I might already be receiving visits from a deity in my sleep. Need to check up on that at some point, the vault may have information on this Moon Presence.’

“Prince Phasma, who is your dad?” Lacewing asked.

This one got my attention, shaking away thoughts of Bloodborne bosses.

‘Dad? Uhh... Who… I don’t think I was ever told?’

The changelings had noticed my silence.

‘I mean, I don’t think his identity matters, but still that sounds like something important to know. What if it’s a changeling within the hive? Or a pony Chrysalis seduced at some point?’

I shivered at the thought of bug-mom sleeping with anyone. Nasty.

“My Prince?”

‘Did she even sleep with anyone? Don’t ant queens mate with themselves or something? Oh god that’s disgusting and I don’t want to think about it anymore.’

“Prince Phasma?”

‘I remember my human dad. That’s enough for me. Yea, no one can replace him, whoever this mystery donor is is completely irrelevant.’

I snapped to my side, where a hoof landed on my shoulder. Tarsus was looking at me with concern.

“You too? I woulda thought with Queen Chrysalis....”

‘Too? Wait, all nymphs are raised in a communal setting.’

“None of you know your parents, huh?”

The nymphs and adults gathered around me shook their heads.

Thorax spoke up, “Well, I know Pharynx is my brother, but none of us have actually met our..”

Said brother was currently on the other side of the room, talking with a buddy of his.

‘The guard is not present, I may have an opportunity right here and now. They don't have a family, so let's make one.’

“They don’t matter.” The five changelings raised their eyebrows at this. “They don’t. What matters is us. Us hivers have to stick together, right?”

More confused looks. Exactly what I was hoping for.

I continued, “If no one else has our backs, then we need to watch each others’. We look out for our own, and we help each other when we have to.”

Coxa rubbed his chin in thought, “Like some sort’a pony family?”

“No,” I shook my head, “we’re changelings, not ponies. We’ve got to be something else, something better. Families fight and bicker, we need to be watertight!”

Ostridae grinned, “Yea!”

‘Eloquently spoken, Gregor Clegane.’

Lacewing looked down at her hooves, “I’ve never…” She looks up at me, eyes beaming. “I would like that, My Prince.”

‘If I had a camera right now, that’s a picture that I would hold onto forever. On second thought, having pictures of others’ kids being adorable in your wallet is probably creepy.’

Tarsus nodded but didn’t say anything.

“Hmm…. I like the idea, but I dunno if we should tell others about it.”

‘And that’s why I love Coxa. I don’t need to suggest all these near-treasonous ideas when he reaches the conclusions I’m getting to before I can even hint at them.’

Thorax pitched in next, “But Pharynx is my actual family! How could I just abandon him like that?”

I stepped into the conversation again, “You won’t have to. We can consider him an.. Honorary member. We cover his back, just without him knowing. We’d never leave your brother out to dry, Thorax.”

“I don’t like lying to him. Can’t we just include him in on this?”

I frowned. “He’s got enough to worry about when it comes to protecting the hive as a guard. We don’t want him to favor protecting us over the rest of the hive in his royal duties, do we?”

This made Thorax pause in thought, but he continued his line of thinking, “But you’re The Prince. He’s already got to favor protecting you over us.”

‘Stop poking holes in my argument, Thorax.’

“Look, the worst case is that I order him to protect one of you if needed.”

“... If you say so, Phasma.”

‘Already discarding titles, are we?’

I looked to the five changelings gathered in front of me.

“Then it’s settled. We stick together through thick and thin.” I stuck my hoof out in front of them.

“Together,” Coxa put his notched hoof on top of my solid one.

Lacewing added hers, “Together.”

“Together!” Ostridae placed his massive, quarter-of-an-inch bigger hoof onto the pule.

“Till the end,” Tarsus added unnecessarily ominously before piling on.

‘If Thorax stays out, then that’s one less liability. If he joins, then that’s a changeling with a conscience I can use.’

Thorax looked apprehensive. However, he added his hoof. “For our family.”

I had to refrain from fidgeting in place. This was striking a bit too close to home.

I was standing next to Queen Chrysalis’s throne in, you guessed it, the throne room. There were twice as many royal guards present, up to two dozen. There was also the entire retinue of the royal court, from the Head of Infiltration to the Captain of The Royal Guard.

The reason for such a turnout was sitting glued down in front of the throne.

Evanii, an infiltrator, was on trial. He was currently making himself as small as possible, flinching at the Chamberlain’s words.

“... conspiring to subvert the hive, conspiring to threaten the peace, and high treason against Her Majesty,” Chamberlain Eucharis finished reading off the charges.

Officer Katydid stood next to me, trying to be a reassuring presence. However, you don’t inspire confidence when you look about as content as a drowning rat.

Apparently he knew Evanii from class, a few years back.

‘I would not be comfortable if anyone I knew was being sentenced to death…’

Bug-mom spoke up for the first time into this trial which had already been going on for twenty minutes, “You are faced with all these charges, with all this evidence, and yet you dare plead innocent? Have you no shame?! You waste the court’s time. You waste my time.”

“B-but all I did was suggest that maybe the hive could benefit from Your Majesty hearing our plights directly! T-there’s precedence in Equ-”

Chamberlain Eucharis interrupted, “You dare lie to the court?! The Royal Guard has searched your room and we have found more than ‘suggestions,’ you have in your possession a Treatise on Harmony, written by the Pony Princess Celestia herself!”

Evanii started to tremble. “I-I’ve never s-seen that book in my life! I swear!”

“We know you brought it into the hive,” Eucharis pressed, “Sources have confirmed the book as being yours specifically. My Queen, the accused has made his plea, and has provided no evidence to support his radical claim!”

‘Wait, someone had said in Infiltrator class that their roommate possessed a book.’

I scanned the room, looking for a changeling in particular. If there was a changeling I had met before, the Weave would intuitively provide their identity if I saw them.

“Infiltrator Evanii, the evidence cannot be denied. You are guilty of bringing in pony ideals into the hive. Furthermore, you have attempted to poison the court with their false teachings. The sentence for such a crime is death.”

Evanii gasped and started sobbing.

Next to me, Katydid started shaking. I wish I could have reassured him that Chrysalis is going to back down from the death penalty, but I dared not speak outloud. It was expected of me to be reserved and silent, so reserved and silent I was.

Chrysalis wanted me in here witnessing this for a reason.

“However..” The Queen drawled, “I am a merciful queen. Instead of being sentenced to death, you will be enrolled into the guard training program. In addition, you will have recycling vat duty for the next thirteen months.”

“T-Thank you, My Q-Queen!”

Katydid let out a sigh of relief which was drowned out by Evanii’s rambling thanks.

Chrysalis stood up, “Your recreation hours will be sacrificed to fit in your extra duties. I am giving you a second chance. You would do well not to relapse.”

‘Note to self: don’t get caught.’

“This court is adjourned.”

As the changelings started to file out, two breaking the infiltrator’s bindings and dragging him off, Officer Katydid leaned over to whisper to me.

“You did well, My Prince.” However, before he could continue with his unneeded compliments, Chrysalis approached us.

“Queen Chrysalis,” I said aloud, and Officer Katydid looked up and bowed to the monarch.

“Prince Phasma. What would you have sentenced the traitor to?”

‘Fuck, a test already?’

I took a deep breath, giving me a moment to think.

“I do not think I could have done any wiser of a sentencing, Mother. Announce the death penalty to strike fear, then backing down to a less severe penalty to project an aura of mercy and power to our subjects. He will tell those around him how thankful he is that you granted him the honor of a second chance, thus reminding the populous the penalty of treason against the crown.”

Chrysalis nodded, then walked off.

As I smiled to myself, Katydid stared at me.

“Something the matter, Officer Katydid?”

“You…. Nothing, My Prince.”

I sniffed and looked away, towards the glass-less windows of the throne room.

‘So many things I need to do, so few hours in the day. Find a way into the vault, continue to build a closer relationship with the five classmates, and study for tomorrow’s exam on illusion spells.’

I did not find the changeling I was looking for in the throne room.

13- Circe

“Today we will cover disguises,” Infiltrator Sclerite addressed the class.

‘Finally!’

Apparently this part is really easy to changelings, so it’s saved for the end, right before expeditions out begin for the infiltrator class. Seems like allocating the least amount of time for the most important lesson to me but considering it takes extra energy to maintain a disguise, the teacher probably just wants to make sure that no energy is wasted on changelings that cannot perform the rest of the required lessons.

Case in point, the class had been reduced by a bit at that point. It started out with twenty two changelings and now it’s down to fifteen. The class seemed easy enough to me but then again I was juggling it along with five or so other subjects every day. I was focused entirely on education, whereas most changelings had work or were unprepared for classwork.

“First, you must feel your connection to the Weave. Even outside of the hive, you have to understand on an intimate level how you are entwined into the Great Tapestry. The String, or Thread as some say, of Change must be known to you.”

The infiltrator was using the Weave to help us feel the thread.

I literally grasped onto the knowledge she was trying to give us and held onto it. Already, I felt heat building up in my horn. The changelings around me, the five members of my new inner circle, found the task of grasping the thread that much easier due to my efforts.

“Now, your first disguise will be an earth pony with a black coat, white mane, green eyes, average build. The Cutie Mark will be a red question mark. Picture the pony with your mind’s eye. Then, while still holding onto the String of Change, push your mana through your horn.”

I watched as many changelings vanished into a curtain of green flames that crept up their body. In their place were the disguised ponies.

Focusing, I channeled the mana while picturing the disguise. I kept in mind the different lessons on body proportions, average mane length, and so on while creating my disguise. My vision was briefly obscured as orange flames rose up from my hooves and rapidly spread across my body, eventually covering my eyes.

When the flames receded, I didn’t feel any different. Lifting a hoof to inspect it revealed a dull black hoof rather than a glossy black hoof. I was covered in fur, rather than chitin.

Looking to my immediate class members, I saw the same pony disguises. We all varied on height and muscle sizes, but for the most part we looked like normal ponies.

‘At least, I assume we do. I’ve never seen a pony.’

In just a few moments, there were no changelings left in the classroom. Slowly, Sclerite walked between each student, checking their disguises.

“Your legs are too thin. Your eyes are still blue. Ponies don’t have holes in their legs, how could you forget that?!”

Most changelings she passed by with no comment. As she passed by my area, she glared at Thorax’s disguise. “Ponies have manes, not fins, Thorax.”

“Right. I remember that,” Thorax said, adjusting his disguise with more green flames.

“You’re too big, Oestridae. Most ponies are not that muscley, and you don’t want to stick out.”

After she checked all of our disguises, she returned to the front of the classroom and spoke loudly to the class.

“Good. Now, drop your disguises. To do this, grab back onto the String of Change and channel mana without picturing a disguise. The raw mana will disrupt your current disguise. With practice you will get a better feeling of just how much mana is needed to disrupt it.”

A wave of green flames with a small island of orange ones washed across the room as each changeling discarded their disguises

“Next, I want you all to create your own disguise, complete with a cutie mark.”

‘Oh no, originality! My one weakness!’

“And you need to get used to creating one under pressure, it’s not always the case where you will have time to think out a clever disguise. You have five seconds.”

Quickly, I pictured a tall pony with dark blue fur, a two-toned faded purple and light black mane and tail, and a cutie mark that was the greek letter μ.

‘No Phasma, don’t make the obvious OC joke here.’

Once again, Infiltrator Sclerite walked between the changelings and judged our disguises. A hooffull didn’t think of a disguise in time and stayed changelings after they were enveloped in green flames, a few had errors with their disguises still, but most accomplished the task just fine. Not one of us had bright colors for a coat.

This time, Sclerite, disguised as a white pegasus with a green mane and red question mark on her flanks, spoke to me as she passed.

“Prince Phasma, your eyes are still orange. And ponies don’t have random scribbles for their disguise.”

I blinked. I hastily fixed my mistake and imagined purple irises on my disguise, channeling again.

With orange flames fixing my error, I said, “It’s the letter Mu, not scribbles.”

Sclerite looked at me questioningly but did not press further. She moved onto the rest of the class behind me.

“Now we will cover unicorn disguises. As you recall from earlier lessons, their horns possess a different shape than changeling horns…”

“That’s it for today. You all will receive a single extra portion of rations to make up for the energy loss. Don’t let this privilege get to your heads, next class we will be combining lessons, so be prepared!”

As the class broke, my inner circle formed a hexagon. I mean you could call it a circle, but there are six of us and hexagons are cooler than circles. Lacewing and Coxa started rubbing their horns. Taking the form of a pegasus had been especially tiring, with each changeling having to imagine each individual feather on both wings in order to get a complete disguise.

“You’d think she’d cut us nymphs some slack,” Coxa whined.

“Yea, I can see why a lot of changelings usually don’t pass this class!” Lacewing added.

Tarsus shrugged, “Seemed pretty easy to me.”

“That’s because you have the mana pool of an adult, Tarsus,” I said while rolling my eyes.

“Oh, and you’re fine, Phasma?”

I sighed. “I am now. I have lessons after this, and I won’t be fine after those.”

“You have more lessons? Don’t you also have lessons before this class, too?”

“Yea.”

Lacewing shook her head, “I can’t imagine that much classwork. When do you get to relax?”

Coxa added, “And what do you even do to relax?”

I absentmindedly rubbed my chin in thought. “Well… I… Uh…. Study?”

“That’s not relaxing,” Oestridae pointed out.

“I sleep for a few hours each day.”

“That’s not relaxing, either.”

I threw my hooves up with a shrug, “Then I don’t.”

“Prince Phasma,” Chamberlain Eucharis called from the doorway.

“You’re here too early, come back in five minutes!” I yelled back to him.

He responded by tapping his hoof impatiently.

“... Damn it, looks like I have to go already.”

“By the Great Weaver, I don’t envy you, Phasma,” Thorax whispered.

“We don’t get to choose our lot in life. For the good of the hive, and all that.”

Coxa, Lacewing, Tarsus, and Thorax all raised their eyebrows at that last comment. Oestridae was too distracted by Lacewing’s tail, which was slowly swishing back and forth.

I stood up and walked over to the buzz-kill.

“Chamberlain Eucharis. Is there a reason you’re especially on time today, or can you just not wait to see me?”

“I do enjoy our walks, My Prince, but I am indeed here early for a reason. We are headed to the North-East Main Exit, rather than the royal chambers.”

I looked behind him and sure enough, there were four royal guards waiting in the hallway.

“I’m… leaving the hive?”

He nodded, “Yes. Today we will begin your flying lessons. We won’t be going far, just sticking close to the hive.”

“I’m actually leaving the hive?”

“You already asked that, My Prince.”

‘Holy shit.’

I heard the clopping of hooves and looked to my right and saw Tarsus walking up.

“Prince Phasma,” he began with my title, “I couldn’t help but overhear. I’d like to come with you, if you would have me.”

“...You may.”

Eucharis butted in, “Your Highness, these private lessons are-”

“-Are occurring at my discretion,” I cut off Eucharis. “If I say he can come, then he can.”

As we walked out of the hive with our escort, Chamberlain Eucharis was giving me the rundown on flying lessons.

“Now, since you will be exercising a whole new muscle group, what we’re going to start with is simply buzzing your wings. First, move them out of your wing coverings, your elytra.”

I moved my elytra up and out of the way, and my unused wings rose partially from my back.

“Good, My Prince. Now comes the hard part, you have to vibrate your wings.”

That, I could not do. Moving a leg was as easy as moving my leg or arm as a human. Adjusting my elytra was as easy as moving my shoulder around. Moving my wings on the other hoof, was another matter entirely.

‘On the other hand. How many of these have I missed?’

Tarsus seemed to notice my struggles and used his magic to lightly push my wings up and down.

‘Oh that feels so weird.’

Tarsus stopped pushing on my wings now that I felt the alien muscle group. I gave him a nod of thanks and focused on my wings. I imagined the muscles twitching, focusing on where I felt Tarsus’s movement meet my back. Thankfully, it was just that easy to get them to twitch on their own.

“Well done. Keep getting them to twitch, getting faster and faster, until the wings start buzzing.”

Vibrating a part of my body took practice, so much so that by the time I actually managed to move my wings at a speed above a grandma’s slow trudging, we had reached the exit of the hive.

It was a large pair of doors made of a solid black stone material. They were covered in etching similar to the pair of doors to the throne room, which I had by this point learned was the changeling creation myth, with the doors being mirror images of each other.

Each door had a changeling on the outer edge of the door, reaching towards the upper, inner corner. From said corner, a tapering tendril extended down to the center of the bottom edge of the door. The tendril seemed to have twists and turns within itself, seemingly at random.

It was the first changeling grasping onto the String of Together

‘Déjà vu. These changelings are very good at replicating art, the only difference I could see between this set of doors and the throne room doors was that the throne room doors were painted.’

‘…’

‘No. There was a dream…’

Eucharis ordered the guards at the gate to open the way. The guard on the left moved to a horizontal wheel I neglected to notice and started pushing it.

The doors slowly creaked and swung outwards. Sunlight from a setting sun blinded my eyes which had been accustomed to the dark of the hive.

‘Every damn time I walk through the Great Hall, this shit happens.’

“Come, My Prince, it’s time for you to fly.” Eucharis had stepped through the doors before they finished opening, the guard retinue and Tarsus sticking by me.

And so I stepped out of the hive for the first time in my life.

14- Icarus

It was a cool day out in the drylands.

I took in the sights; the ground was rocky and unsurprisingly dry with not a blade of grass in sight. In the distance, mesas rose up from the uneven ground. For miles around the hive, there was nothing. Not a hill, not a tree, not even a Starbucks.

We were far from civilization.

The sky was clear, yellows, oranges, and pinks being painted across the blue canvass by a hidden setting sun. The sun was setting mostly behind the hive, casting a shadow over the plains in front of us. The hive itself was a towering, dark structure, its details hidden by the contrast of the light.

“Now we have some room to breathe,” Eucharis said, drawing my attention back to the ground. He had stopped about thirty paces out in front of the entrance and had turned around to face me.

I walked up and stopped in front of him.

“Let’s begin. Our changeling wings give us far more maneuverability than pegasus or thestral wings. We can hover, move sideways, directly up and down, you name it. They may have us beat on speed and gliding, but we are far more nimble.

“I want you to vibrate your wings as fast as you can.”

With my wings already out of their hardened housings, I tried making them vibrate. They beat at a respectable speed, but far from what you’d consider a vibration.

“You have to let go, and let the wings move themselves.”

Tarsus and the guards watched from near the entrance as I worked up a sweat, moving my thin insectoid wings as fast as I could.

“Faster! And stop flapping them manually, you have to let your body do the work!”

I relaxed my control over my wings, and their beats slowed down.

‘But they’re still moving!’

“Very good, Your Highness! Now, imagine yourself lifting off of the grou– Yes!”

I looked down and saw my hooves were wobbling above the ground, rather than planted firmly on it. My movement of looking down caused me to tilt forward, and I saw the ground rush up to meet me. My chitin protected me from collecting any scrapes, which would have been my only injuries from the no-speed impact of hitting the ground. Still, it was embarrassing.

Chamberlain Eucharis walked up to my side. “Why do we fall, Prince Phasma?”

“Because gravity pulls us downwards,” I responded, stating the obvious. I flipped myself over and got back onto my hooves.

“We fall so-”

“I know, Eucharis. I know.”

I looked at my back and saw my wings were extended once more. The fall hadn’t damaged their fragile structure. Once more, I vibrated them and started to lift off the ground.

I fell four more times before I got more than five feet off the ground. Being so close the first few times, I quickly learned how to recover my wings using my elytra before I hit the ground.

That is a valuable skill all changelings learn with little input from their tutors. Apparently it was just a natural reaction to aborting flying.

Eucharis rose off the ground to meet me at eye level. Before he could tell me the next lesson, I heard a buzz behind me.

“Yo Prince Phasma! You’re doing far better than I did when I first started flying! You’re taking to this like flies to sh-”

“Next, Prince Phasma,” Eucharis glared at Tarsus, “it’s time to do more than hover.”

‘So no shit there I was, fifty feet off the ground as a royal insect horse on another world…’

I slowly buzzed around a few of the lower hive spires that were jutting out from the base of the hive superstructure. Despite how tired I was becoming due to the constant work, I was enjoying myself.

Eucharis was flying next to me, giving me points on how to adjust my momentum and center of mass. It had only taken an hour, but I could fly without hitting the closest object in sight. Usually the ground right beneath me.

Tarsus was flying a bit back, but with Eucharis right next to me, we kept our conversations very limited.

Now the sun had dipped below the horizon, the last few rays staining the dark sky yellow.

“Alright My Prince, it’s time to turn in.”

“The night is still young, Cham-wow!-... Err, Eucharis…”

I dodged a massive spire that had come out of nowhere. Well, I flew in a straight line at it, but it’s not my fault they built it there.

Seeing that he was right, I adjusted my slow, bumbling course and headed back for the entrance, wobbling as I came in for a landing.

Behind me, two guards landed a distance back. They had never left me out of their sight, or further than fifty hooves– ‘Feet!’– away from them. Tarsus landed closer. “That… was slow. But still fun, Prince Phasma. If you can’t get some time to play hoofball, then we should definitely go flying.”

“With my flying lessons,” I said between pants, “that just might be more doable.”

“It’s time to head back up, Your Highness.” Eucharis motioned towards the hive entrance. We talked as we walked, the guard retinue and Tarsus filing in behind us.

“... As easy as it is for most of us,” Tarsus broke the silence from behind, “I know some changelings that struggle with flying. It just doesn’t come as easy to them.”

“This is the first I’m hearing of that, though I’m not surprised,” I explain.

‘Flying really is something else. Something tiring,’ I thought with a yawn. 'And painful.'

“There should be some classes available to the drones of the hive. Not all of us have a private tutor, ya know. I mean, My Prince.”

Eucharis looked back at Tarsus with a neutral expression, before turning back forward.

“I’m sure that while a few changlings may benefit from such an expenditure, it would be a waste of valuable time for our more experienced fliers.”

“...It’s an idea to consider, at least,” Tarsus grumbled.

"And I will. Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Tarsus," I softly told him.

We walked on in silence until we had passed the usual turnoff for the infiltrator classroom. My back was really starting to sting at this point.

“This is where we part ways, My Prince,” Tarsus spoke up from behind me. I turned to give him a smile.

“Thank you, Tarsus, for your company. I will see you and the rest of the class tomorrow.”

Our retinue continued without him up the hive.

“You’re becoming close with this Tarsus classmate of yours,” Eucharis said in a low voice. “I would advise caution, My Prince.”

“Not every ‘ling has an agenda, Chamberlain. You need to calm down and take a step back.”

“My Prince! He just spoke to you and suggested how to run the hive, that’s not something to be shaken off! He uses your companionship to whisper into your ear!”

“Eucharis. Tarsus is just looking out for what’s best for the hive. He has no secret agenda to push.”

“You are making bold assumptions, My Prince.”

“Enough!”

I was tired, my back was starting to hurt, and a part of me sticking off my back was definitely hurting. I didn’t get a whole lot of sleep last night, or any night for that matter.

‘Fuck, I’m treading dangerous waters here. Tone it back.’

I sighed, putting a hoof to my head while walking forward. “My apologies, Chamberlain. I know you’re looking out for my best interests but… I’m just tired. There’s no magic lessons after this, are there?”

“No, My Prince.”

“Thank the Weaver for small miracles.”

When we reached the royal wing, I continued into my room while Eucharis stayed in the hall. I shut the door behind me and flopped onto my bed.

‘Too tired to study. Too hungry, too.’

Normally after magic lessons Officer Katydid had a meal for us to eat together. It was a short, brief thing, consisting of just the love-gel, but it was nice enough.

Still, some extra time to myself was nothing to scoff at, and I took the extra hours of sleep.

A loud noise jerked me awake.

“Wha? Whuzzit?!”

I flipped over to face the door and saw Queen Chrysalis looking down at me. My body still ached from last night’s lessons.

“Mother... I can’t recall the last time you’ve woken me for lessons personally,” I said as my brain rebooted.

She chuckled. “You have not been asleep that long, Prince Phasma. It is still night.”

I blinked the crust from my eyes and looked at her.

“Night…?”

Chrysalis nodded, “Yes. The Chamberlain has informed me that your disguising and flying lessons have gone well today.”

I sat up, facing her. “Yes, Mother.”

“Show me a disguise.”

‘Oh, come on!’

Suppressing a sigh, I hopped off the bed and stood in front of Chrysalis, ignoring the protests from my body. I pictured a pony in my mind. Unicorn, white coat, blue mane and tail, horseshoe Cutie Mark.

Orange flames covered me as I channeled magic. With my disguise in place, she paced around me. My horn started to sting from the overuse.

“Acceptable. Now, who am I looking at?”

‘Figured this is what Infiltrator Sclerite was talking about when she said combining lessons. Thankfully, I am prepared.’

“I am Big Iron,” I said in a voice that was deeper than my own and with a rougher accent. “I am a blacksmith from lower Canterlot.”

She stops in front of me. “And what do you do for a living, Big Iron?”

My stomach growled.

“I just said, Ma’am, I am a blacksmith. I forge bits and pieces, made to order.”

Chrysalis leaned in close, “And what is your opinion on the upcoming Summer Sun celebration, Big Iron?”

‘The fuck is that?’

“Well, err…. The celebration itself don’t bring me business, but the partyin’ does do damage that customers are fixin’ to have fixed.”

She didn’t move away from my face. “No, I want to know your opinion on the Sun Princess herself, Big Iron…”

‘Chrysalis is really drilling me here. Damn it woman, give me a break! I just woke up!’

“She– I do think highly of our dear Princess, Ma’am. Where’n would we be without her raisin’ the sun erry’ morning, and her guard protectin’ us and whatnot?”

Chrysalis finally leaned back. She still stared at me, though.

“....Acceptable,” she repeated her mediocre praise after a moment. “Dispel.”

I dispelled the disguise, my horn now flaring in pain.

“You did well for a first disguise. But ‘well’ will not be good enough. Canterlot citizens do not have as thick of an accent as you put on. Your disguise would not hold up to scrutiny.

“Still, you did admirably, Prince Phasma. Your classmates have received extra portions in their meals to offset their increased activities. Do not think I have forgotten you, My Prince.”

I tilted my head at that.

She looked behind her and brought over a sealed pot. My stomach started to hurt at the sight.

‘Ohhh yesss! If there's a catch to this, then future-me can pay it!’

“This is a bit stale, but you won’t mind.”

I already can hear the whispers of the sweet succor.

“Thank you, Mother,” I said, swallowing saliva. My jaw started shivering. “I am… most grateful.”

As I took the jar in my magic and popped it open, Chrysalis continued to address me.

“You have done as well as is expected of you in your Infiltrator class.” I barely caught the next statement, I was so involved in consuming every last wisp of love from the jar. “But I’m afraid you will be too busy to attend the traditional expedition to Equestria with the rest of your class.”

‘Mmmmmm….. Wait, what?’

“M-Mother?” Prince Phasma said in a stuttering voice.

‘It’s always adorable to watch him eat,’ Queen Chrysalis thought to herself. ‘Just keep it up, little Prince, and you will have all the love you desire once we conquer Equestria.’

“You still have lessons with me, Prince Phasma. There is no time to go gallivanting about, playing with your prey.”

Phasma swayed slowly from side to side as he spoke, “I w-was under… the impression that, uh, I was with the class specifically for the expedition?”

She sneered, “Then you had the wrong impression. You were in the class to… reaffirm your lessons.”

‘You don’t need to know the truth. And don’t think I don’t know about your…. friends, young Prince.’

“Tomorrow, your lessons will cover the dangers of outside opinions,” Chrysalis steered the conversation away from the infiltrator class.

Chrysalis watched as Phasma blinked slowly and shuffled his hooves in his slower-of-mind state.

‘Yes Prince Phasma, I am always watching.’

But it was Chrysalis’s turn to be surprised when Phasma asked her a question she, quite frankly, didn’t expect.

“Mmmm… Mmm-Mother, who’s my dad?”

‘Where did this come from?’

“...I am all that matters, Phasma....”

I suppose I should have expected this question. Did it slip out now that he's unguarded of mind? I could train him to be used to the feeling of love, so that he is not so... weak, when consuming it. But I think I'll have him keep that particular vice...

The Prince mumbled something in response as Queen Chrysalis backed out of his room and closed the door.

‘That nymph vexes me.’

Author's Note

Changing Expectations has surpassed my favorite story in likes, and that just breaks my heart.

As such, I'm shilling it to you all. Prey and A Lamb is my second favorite series ever, and top favorite on this site. I'm not going to do a full review here, so I'll just say if you love evil villains/anti-heros, then please give this story a read!

The author puts far more skill and forethought into their writing than I do mine. Be warned, it is a Tragedy story, despite the lack of a tag for it.

15- Selene

I was looking down on Earth.

Lifting up my foreleg, I saw the bleach-white ruffles of a NASA spacesuit. Still a changeling, though. In fact, instead of the USA flag patch on my shoulder, I saw a Chrysalis’s horn flanked by insect wings.

I tried looking behind me, but I had no way to spin around. As far as I could tell, I was tethered to the International Space Station or a rocket. The tether itself was occasionally visible in the corner of my eyes when I tried to turn all the way around.

Giving up, I looked at the view in front of me.

Earth. A mural of blues, greens, whites, and yellows on the night side. Currently, Europe, Africa, and parts of Asia were visible before me. I could see in detail the beaches, mountains, and forests that accentuated the industrialized lands.

On one spot, the snow-capped mountains of the Alps rose up to meet the heavens. On another, the sands of the Sahara stretched from sea to shining sea. Between it all, the glistening Mediterranean dominated the view.

I sighed deeply as I watched night slowly creep across the world, the bright lights of the cities making themselves visible, replacing the white clouds.

The blue-green jewel glistened as the sun became more and more hidden behind it. A band of bright green slowly slithered across the northern crown of the world. The Aurora Borealis, the bright greens gave way to near imperceptible reds at its peaks.

‘Home.’

How long had it been since I last thought of home? How long h-had it been?!

‘I’ve been a changeling for months now… Almost four, I think?’

‘... There’s Paris. Rome. Berlin. Istanbul. I’ll never even see a photo of any city ever again. Not a human city, at least.’

The sun had set on the world, leaving it wholly in the dark. I floated there, watching the world slowly spin. Turning without me. Life moved on, even when mine ended.

‘Is my family wondering where I am? Is-’

I felt the tether behind me go taught. Earth in front of me had stopped its slow spin.

‘W-what?! Oh fuck-’

“Kindred soul.”

A voice was speaking to me, it’s words as clear as if they were right next to me. Worse yet, the voice was behind me. It was a woman's voice, I could tell, and I felt power drip from its every word.

“Thy presence is known to us. Let us converse.”

“You are the Moon Presence?” I managed to ask, trying my damnedest to hide the quakes in my voice.

“We art the Moon made manifest. Eons past, We were revered. Worshiped. What once was, shall be.”

Everytime the feminine voice spoke, the nonexistent hairs on the back of my neck stood on edge. I had a new body, but in the dreamworld I obeyed human instincts.

“Why talk to me?”

“Thy presence is known. We hath felt thy touch upon the Nightscape. We cannot recall the last time such hath occurred.”

I remembered my dreams during my transformation.

“The Great Tapestry. Was that you, beneath?”

“Thou speaketh in riddles. Hath our own teachings gone unremembered? Thou art a devout soul of the night, are thee not?”

I remembered an old piece of wisdom from my life as a human; ’...when someone asks you if you’re a god, say YES!’

“I covet the company of night.”

“Thy words soothe our worries. On this, the longest night, We speak. For on the shortest, our return shall be made, and all the world shall know our rule.”

I started to slow spin around.

“We hath felt thy devoted castings from our distant prison. The bindings weaken. The seals art breaking. Prepare, for our arrival approaches.”

I couldn’t see Earth anymore. In front of me, my tether was abruptly frayed and snapped twenty feet out. There was no space station or space shuttle behind me. Just the moon.

Just the moon which had turned to a dark blue. A black inkinesss wreathed it in an unholy corona, tendrils extended forth, slowly undulating and lashing out at stars, plucking them from the night sky and vanquishing them.

“Kindred Soul. Make thine name known to us, so that We may know thee in the waking world.”

“Chrysalis."

‘If I accidentally piss this thing off, bug-mom's gonna have to take one for the team.’

“Chrysalis, a curious name for a pony. We art Nightmare Moon, rightful ruler of the night.”

‘She thinks I'm a pony. Good.’

“I shall count the days.”

“They will be the last thee ever count, for We bring Night Eternal!”

‘Nightmare Moon, you need to work on your branding. Only psychopaths are gonna listen to creepy voices preaching the End of Days.’

I was not foolish enough to say that out loud.

The next day continued as normal. Better, in fact.

I had slept better than I ever had since my transformation. I should really look into conversing with mysterious dark goddesses if it meant feeling this well rested. Morning lessons progressed well, with the exception of an especially pointed lesson on taking a grain of salt with what other people say. There was a lot of pointed looks, making me repeat her teachings over and over, and a thrown chair. I get the feeling that Chrysalis isn’t happy with my choice of friends.

Soon enough I found myself walking to infiltrator class with Eucharis.

“We will alternate days for learning magic and practicing flying, My Prince. Two days magic, one day flying.” Eucharis told me.

“I can at least look forward to the flying lesson then.”

“You enjoy them that much, Prince Phasma? Many changelings view flying as merely getting from point A to point B.”

“I’m not most changelings,” I retorted.

“No, My Prince, you are not. You’re doing very well, My Prince. Others do not see the effort you put in, but I do. Great expectations are put on you and you strive to meet them.”

I stared at him. This was out of character for… well, most changelings.

“Thank you, Eucharis. I’m not sure if anyone has ever… complimented me.”

“And that is a shame, My Prince. Changelings do not recognize how dedicated our Queen and Prince are.”

‘Don’t think I don’t know it was you who told Chrysalis about Tarsus, Eucharis. Snitching on me one day, kissing-ass the next? You may be looking out for what you believe are my best interests, but you’re certainly not honest.’

We stopped at the classroom. “At any rate,” I said, “thank you for your... Company, Chamberlain. I appreciate your sincerity.”

He gave me the fanged grin that all changelings have. “I am honored to be of such praise, My Prince.”

I parted ways with the Chamberlain, and entered the class. Infiltrator Sclerite has yet to arrive, so I sat down in my seat. My inner circle moved to gather around me, however with Pharynx still sitting next to me, we had to watch our words.

“Prince Phasma! Tarsus was telling me that your first flight went great,” Lacewing started the conversation with.

I nodded. “Yes, and I look forward to more flights. I do hope you all can join me when flying, but I’m sure you all have your own duties to worry about.”

I caught the slight movements from Lacewing, Tarsus, Thorax, and Coxa when they each stole a glance at Pharynx, who was sitting within earshot.

Thorax sighed, “I wish there was a way to fix that problem.” He wasn’t talking about the flying lessons.

I shook my head, “We must work within the constraints that bind us all. We could sit here all day talking about ifs, what’s new with you all?”

“I was taking inventory of the gel stores the other day,” Coxa began, “and I swear by my broodnurse’s chitin that I caught Bristletail making eyes at me.”

Tarsus snorted, “Coxa, you’re a nymph, no ‘ling is gonna ‘make eyes at' you.”

“Heh, you’re just jealous that no one’s giving you any attention.”

“Ladies, please,” I try to get the conversation back in control, “You can paint each other’s hooves later. Changelings that may or may not have ‘made eyes at’ Coxa despite the lack of pupils aside, what have the rest of you been up to?”

Lacewing spoke up, “I found a weird strain of glow-moss in the Greencave today. Instead of giving off light, it seemed to suck up all the light that came near it.”

“How is that even poss–nevermind. See if you can get your hooves on some of the stuff,” I say before remembering our present company, “I bet the Queen would love to see it, who knows what uses it could have.”

Lacewing scuffed the ground with her hoof, “If it hasn’t been thrown into the recycling vats, I’ll try.”

“I saw a flower outside yesterday!”

Oestridae had scouting duty three days a week, meaning he was sent out of the hive far more than any of us combined.

“Oestridae, there are no flowers in the drylands,” Coxa said with an eye roll.

He stomped his hoof, “I saw one! I swear by Panar that I did! It was tall, a green stem, with black thorns coming out the sides.”

“That’s a cactus.”

Class wrapped up quickly. Today’s lessons were on covertly siphoning emotions from ponies. The actual mechanics of doing so would be taught during the expedition, so like all other massively important lessons, they were saved until the last possible second.

Sclerite did mention the String of Emotion, so it was easy to guess that taking emotion would be similar to taking a disguise. We would all learn the specifics later.

That got the inner circle talking about the expedition, though.

“I can’t wait! I heard the ponies decorate every inch of their walls in paint and paper!” Lacewing told the group.

“Heh, I’m sure you’ll get to see plenty of art, Lace,” Tarsus chuckled.

I saw from the corner of my eye Thorax glaring at the ground.

‘You hide your emotions about as well as… something that makes this comparison makes sense. Point is, Thorax, if you weren’t such a good person– er, changeling– I wouldn’t touch you with a thirty-nine-and-a-half foot pole.’

“Something wrong, Thorax?” I ask instead.

“No no… Well, I mean, yea,” he rubs the back of his neck, “Apparently I can’t go on the expedition.”

I raised an eyebrow at this.

“Whaddya mean?” Tarsus asked.

“Ah, well… Apparently Infiltrator Sclerite says I’m ‘not up to snuff’ when it comes to... Well, lying. She said she, as well as others, are not confident in my ability to uphold the Masquerade.”

For a split second, I tore my gaze away from Thorax to look at his brother. Pharynx was still facing away from the group but I saw him wearing a neutral expression. It fit poorly on him, as he normally had a sour, scowling, or irritated look.

‘That’s heartless, Pharynx. Your own brother?’

“Not to worry,” I came to Thorax’s rescue before he drowned in pity. “You can keep me company then.”

He looked up. “Keep you company? Does that mean…”

“I’m not going, either.”

The four changeling capable of conversation gasped. Oestridae instead looked on with an upset expression.

“But but, you work harder than any of us, and you’re not going? Why, Phasma?”

“I have lessons to keep up, Lacewing. I wish I could go, but I can’t shirk my duties.”

Tarsus objected, “You work hard enough as is! You deserve this!”

“Tarsus, that’s not how the hive works. We work hard and do our tasks without thanks, without expectations of rewards.”

“But we…” He stopped himself and half-looked at our silent eavesdropper. “The class splits up after the expedition and I doubt you’re going to be placed with an infiltrator to apprentice to, My Prince. How are we gonna see each other again?”

‘Fuck if I know, but I’ll figure something out.’

I gave him a sad smile, “Have faith. It’ll all work out in the end.”

Our eavesdropper decided to stop being silent when he turned around and walked over in the silence that followed my words. Pharynx tried to hide the emotions he was feeling from showing on his face.

“Thorax, let’s go on a flight together, while there’s still daylight left.”

Thorax turned to face his brother, “I… Okay, Pharynx. I’d like that.”

The two departed without another word.

“So we have… two weeks left? Then you’re gone for good?”

“Lacewing, I said we’ll see each other again, just trust me.” With a quick glance around to look for anyone within earshot, I added, “We look out for each other, remember? I always keep my word.

“You’ll be down in the Greencave or with an infiltrator apprentice. You too, Coxa, you’ll be with an infiltrator or still in storage inventory. Oestridae will sign up with the guards,” I elbow him in the ribs when I say that, and Oestridae nodded, “Thorax will… be somewhere, I’ll find him. And don’t think I forgot about you, Tarsus. I know you’ll be out in the field as an infiltrator, Sclerite has her eye on you, so you’ll have to find me. And if Coxa and Lacewing do become infiltrators, you’ll help with getting in touch with them.”

“I’m sure I can find reasons to sneak off to speak with you. Especially if you have flying lessons just before dusk.”

I nodded. “This is just the first obstacle that we face. I have a plan, we will see each other again.”

16- Triumph Of The Will

Arc 3: New Swarm

The last two weeks in Infiltrator Sclerite’s class flew by faster than any of us wanted. I still had my lessons with Chrysalis, magic lessons with Officer Katydid, and flying lessons with Eucharis, outside of class.

Tarsus came a few times to the flying lessons, but he couldn’t make it for the most part. Eucharis was happy enough to spend the time with me. It was hard to fill all the silence when flying with him, so I didn’t. I used the time to relax, the only time I had mostly to myself during my entire life. I was getting good at flying, unlike magic. Once you get past the workout bit of flying, it’s pretty simple.

Magic lessons continued. I also started learning more and more combat spells. You have your basic fireballs, your ice lances, your acid cubes, and your electric dodecahedrons. Hey, Katydid found that joke funny. I swear he wasn’t laughing because I'm royalty and he’s a suckup.

Soon enough, our last day together arrived.

Infiltrator Sclerite went over expectations, behaviors, and procedures for how the expedition would go down for those attending. By now, the class was down to ten changelings that would go. Thorax and I continued to attend class because of our friends, but the rest of the drop-outs were long gone.

When the teacher wrapped up and wished all of us a good day, the inner circle sat close together in silence. Pharynx had stepped outside to talk with some changeling, I didn’t pay attention. I took the small miracle at face value.

I opened my mouth to say something…

...But nothing came to mind.

This had been going on for a bit now. If we didn’t get this through soon, Eucharis would fetch me before we could even say goodbye.

“Well.”

“Y-Yes,” Tarsus stuttered.

I cleared my throat. “I dislike goodbyes, so this is just a… see you later.”

Coxa also cleared his throat. “Yea. We’ll see each other again?”

“Of course we wi– oof!” Lacewing tackled me with a hug.

“I… I don’t wanna be alone again, Phasma.”

I awkwardly patted the young nymph’s back. “Hey hey now, I said we’ll see each other again, where did this come from?”

‘Come to think of it, I’ve never seen any changelings hug each other. Or kiss. Or show any physical affection outside of a hoofshake.’

“S-Sorry, it’s just… I looked forward to this class everyday, and I just felt so sad when you left. Before all of this, I had no ‘ling to… hangout with. To talk with. To laugh and tell jokes to. Now, thanks to you Phasma, I’ve got you five.”

“What? Why not?” Lacewing just held me tighter.

Tarsus mouthed the words ‘can’t fly’ to me, and I guessed the rest.

‘Holy shit, this is what Tarsus was talking about? Do changelings really care that much that a single issue like that would….? I guess when you all look alike, the slightest deviations paint a target on your back. I know humans pick on each other for the smallest bullshit, why not changelings?’

“I said we’ll see each other again, Lace. I promise we will, and I always keep my word.”

Coxa spoke up, “Aintcha like five months old? When have you even given your word?”

“It’s the thought that counts!”

Tarsus chuckled, “The way you carry yourself Phasma, I forget that you’re not even a year old!”

‘And how old is Lacewing? She’s a child, right? I don’t recall ever hearing her age. Or Coxa, for that matter. They can’t be more than fifteen, yet here they are, alone, trying to survive.’

The group fell back into silence.

‘The section of hive dedicated to raising plantlife is far out of the way for my daily routine, but if Lacewing is this alone, I’ll have to make time when they come back. Somehow..’

I sighed and whispered to Lacewing, “We’ll see each other again.”

‘Protect Thorax. Protect Lacewing. Keep in touch with Coxa, Tarsus, and Oestridae. All on top of lessons and whatever duties Chrysalis will inevitably heap onto me. So much to do, so many questions to answer as well.’

“This is not a goodbye.”

She let go and backed up a few steps. “We’re more than a family, right?”

‘So young, with no one to watch over her. Who’s to blame for this? Chrysalis? She didn’t create the broods, her predecessors did. Equestria?’

I nodded, “Yea. We’re more than brothers and sisters. We’re practically a secret society,” I said, trying to distract Lacewing. “And all societies need a cool name.”

“Like what?” Lacewing asked.

“The First Fang.”

“First Fang,” Lacewing whispered. “I like it.”

“I would’a gone with the Companions, but First Fang works too,” Coxa said.

Thorax sniffed, “Closer than family, yea? A-And don’t forget, Pharynx is an honorary member.”

Oestridae spoke up, “Never forget.”

“Closer than family,” Tarsus summed up.

‘Family. What is family to a changeling? Does Chrysalis even consider me her son?’

When my attendance in the Infiltrator class came to an end, Chrysalis filled the gap in my schedule with exactly what I was expecting. In fact, I was hedging every last plan, scheme, and hope on her exact action. Well, other than breaking into the vault.

It was a week after I said my farewells to the First Fang. Chrysalis had kept me in her study at the conclusions of her lessons. Normally this was when Eucharis escorted me down the hive to the classroom.

As Chrysalis wrapped up, she began a speech that I’m certain she had been preparing for at least a week beforehand. Beforehoof. Whatever.

“Prince Phasma.”

“Queen Chrysalis.”

“Your studies are almost complete. You have done well to face the challenges I place before you.”

I knew what was coming next. She had said so once, some time ago. ‘I need a commander’ were her exact words but I never considered the idea that she actually would go through with it.

‘Is this really happening?’

“But now I am entrusting to you the greatest responsibility I can bestow upon any changeling. Long have I preached the end of Equestria. The infiltrator networks have wormed their way into Canterlot, the sun-touched capital of the presumptuous pony empire. It is finally time for you to begin the dream you have been working towards.

“Prince Phasma, you are a prodigy without equals amongst the hive, and as such, I am entrusting you with the command of the Changeling Swarm in its near-entirety. The Royal Guard shall keep to my beck and call, the rest of the Swarm shall be at your disposal.”

She stood up from her seat behind her desk.

“Eons past, the Changeling Swarm did battle against the Equestrian Royal Guard. It was on those ancient fields that we were repelled, shattered, sent to the wind. Ever since, changeling Queens and Kings have discarded the notion that we may be victorious in open combat, that the only way to supplant the Equestrians was through subterfuge alone.”

Chrysalis walked over to stand in front of me.

“But while we have spent the millennia sharpening our fangs, looking outward, the Equestrians have lapsed in their vigils. Too long have they basked in the sunlight of their incandescent princess, and they have suffered for it. Understaffing, poor equipment, tactics as ancient as our own, and complacency plague the E.U.P..

“The Swarm shall strike with a dual-pronged approach. A frontal attack to engage the Royal Guards, and a second, hidden approach that already subtly invaded the capital to cut off the head of the snake. I will defeat the alicorn Princess Celestia. You will defeat the alicorn Princess Cadence. With them out of the way, and Canterlot in our control, any response Equestria could muster would be ill-equipped to stop us.”

‘Wow, an actual military strategy? I’m pretty sure there’s some Sun Tzu in there! And here I was, just expecting her to go and say ‘just win’ and send me off.”

“But first,” Chrysalis continued, “we must discard the ancient tactics that constrain the Swarm. You shall reform the Swarm to best combat the Royal Guards, as well as begin combat training to take on your alicorn foe.”

When she didn’t continue, I took this as my cue to say something. I had predicted this, even prepared a speech for it, but I just never thought this day would ever come. I thought there would be delays, posturing, threats, or more lessons. Yet here we are.

“You’re… giving me control of the Swarm? You’re not giving me a test beforehand to prove that I’m up to it?”

Chrysalis smiled.

“Our subjects await in the throne room.”

‘What is going on here?’

Officer Katydid stood at attention with the rest of the Officer Corps, behind the Upper Court.

In total, only one hundred changelings were filed in rows, filling up the back two-thirds of the throne room. One hundred officers, in charge of the entire changeling Swarm, which numbered at least ten thousand of the entirety of the hive was levied. More, counting the changelings it would take to staff the logistics required to keep such an army working.

The hive could be staffed with only a skeleton crew, after all.

In front of the officers stood the Upper Court. Among its numbers were the changelings that frequented this room more than any other; Chamberlain Eucharis, Intelligencer Ocelli, and Commander Scorpion to name a few.

The entire court had been called to attention, with enchanted relays dedicated to broadcasting the assembly to the rest of the hive. Namely, there were a few, each placed in the largest rooms in the hive, which were filled from wall to wall, including on the walls themselves, with changelings.

The door to the royal wing opened, and the entire Officer Corps saluted as Queen Chrysalis entered, followed by Prince Phasma.

The Queen wore a green-metal crown, inlaid with a hooffull of precious rubies, sapphires, and a single large diamond. The crown matched her armor, a full set of grieves, sabatons, a peytral, and a barrel plate that covered everything above her legs and behind her head. Her Elytra were covered up by moveable metal coverings, part of the barrel plate. All made of the same, bright green metal. It's source was beyond Officer Katydid's paygrade. Not that he got paid.

'The gems must be from the recent infiltrator operations within Canterlot,' Katydid thought to himself.

Prince Phasma looked almost naked in comparison. Katydid realized that for most changelings, this was their first time seeing the young prince. He had the honor of teaching the Queen’s own son for many weeks now.

As the Queen took her place on the throne with the Prince standing up and next to it. The changelings in attendance returned to parade rest as Queen Chrysalis addressed the hive.

“My changelings. For too long we have suffered in the dark, while the rest of the world moves on without us. For too long, we have endured starvation rations, strict curfews, and the stifling Masquerade Protocol. You have gathered here today to demand an end to this injustice. It is our right to stand dominant over our prey.

“The end of Equestria shall be delivered to you by none other than my most loyal changeling, Prince Phasmatodea, Heir of The Fourth Hive Dynasty. He has trained his entire life for this duty, and he will not fail!”

Prince Phasma moved to stand in front of the Queen, then knelt in front of her. Queen Chrysalis stood from her throne as a green metal peytral was brought forth from the side. Inset was a line of nine blue sapphires, growing larger in scale the closer they were to the center.

Queen Chrysalis placed the peytral onto Prince Phasma using her magic.

“I name you High Marshall Prince Phasmatodea. Rise,” Queen Chrysalis ordered both out loud and through the Weave.

The Prince did as he was commanded.

“I entrust the command of the Swarm to you, Prince Phasma.”

The Officer Corps had been made aware of this transition for a while now. The Changeling Royal Guard would remain under the authority of Commander Scorpion, and by extent Queen Chrysalis herself, while the rest of the Swarm fell to Prince Phasma. Still, control of at least two thirds of the Swarm was nothing to scoff at.

High Marshal Prince Phasma turned around and stepped forward.

The setting sun filtered in through the open windows on the right side of the throne room. Long shadows were casted by the massive banner-tapestries that hung from the rafters of the room, but Officer Katydid thought that Prince Phasma seemed to glow in the setting sunlight.

“We,” Phasma’s voice echoed through the room, “are changelings. For generations we have dedicated all that we have to survival of the hive. This ends today, for now we shall dedicate every last drop of blood, sweat, and mana to restoring order to the world. We are predators. Unrivaled in prowess. Unmatched in strength. Our sufferings are an unnatural anomaly that I will right.

“In our centuries of hiding, we have not been idle. We have honed our skills. We have perfected the art of infiltration. We have learned to fight for our right to rule. We stand united in our thousands. One Hive. One Queen. One dream.

“The dawn of a new era shall be upon the world; for we shall take our rightful place at its peak! The sun has set upon Equestria, the Hive shall rule eternal!” The High Marshal saluted, all changelings present except Queen Chrysalis returned the salute.

The Chamberlain took a step forward.

“All hail High Marshal Prince Phasmatodea! All hail Queen Chrysalis! All hail the Hive Eternal!”

The Queen smiled and Phasma stood rigid, but Katydid knew Phasma better than almost anyone else present. When he looked at the Prince, he didn’t see the determined changeling he knew that would step up to the challenges he faced.

Right now, Prince Phasma looked lost.

As I stood there, the crowd stomped in sync with the hail.

‘Marshal of almost the entire army. Up till this point, I really didn’t think Chrysalis would ever trust me enough to give me this much power. But aside from ominous warnings, what has Chrysalis really done to me?’

I stepped back next to the throne. Queen Chrysalis was giving another speech, but I was only partly listening.

‘I’ve never been punished for failure, despite her posturing. For the few steps I’ve made outside of her influence, she has lectured me but again, never punished. Her military strategy is actually sound, it’s pretty much what I would have come up with. We really have a shot at defeating Equestria.’

I stomped and saluted when the crowd did as well.

‘Sure, she has used my… dependency... on love to her own gain, but she is really only using it to deliver bad news as well as motivate me. And if I were to go through with a coup, the risks would be death.’

‘There are no other princes or princesses. Whatever they did, they’re dead now. Yet here I am, pursuing a policy of seizing power despite the risks, despite what Chrysalis is doing to persuade me otherwise. I have little to gain, and so much to lose.’

Chrysalis had finished her speech and the changelings were marching out of the throne room in two neat columns.

‘Then there’s the Equestrians. Sure, all this talk about destroying their empire is ominous, but we’re literally on the brink of starvation here. The status quo must change, or our species will go extinct. Who wouldn’t be considering all options?’

‘And who even are the ponies? I’ve never met one. Never even seen one. If you have to choose between two people, which one must suffer, who wouldn't choose to protect their kin?’

Chrysalis retired to the royal wing, and I absentmindedly followed her. I entered my room and sat on the bed, staring at the wall across from me.

‘Chrysalis. She makes me paranoid as hell, but gives little reason to actually be paranoid. Maybe she’s just shit at parenting but trying her best. I think.’

I sighed and put my head in my hooves.

‘Am I really prepared to risk everything? And for what? How much danger am I really in if I obey? Second in command of an empire is a lofty title, and it will come with all the rewards I could want.’

‘I’ve been constantly moving, plotting, scheming, and fearing the worst since my hatching. Evil Queens, Dark Goddesses, separation from my only friends. All these sound terrible, but are they really?’

‘Chrysalis isn’t evil, she’s pursuing what she believes to be an end to the suffering of her people. Nightmare Moon… is probably evil. But she doesn’t know who I am, where I am, or what I am. The First Fang is separated, but given time we can easily reconnect.’

‘So why am I only seeing the worst possible outcome? Is it because I want control, that I will see what I want to see to rationalize a seizing of power?’

I pressed a hoof to my chest. I felt my quick heartbeat despite the thick chitin. I remembered the warm pool that I laid in as the world grew dark. I remembered my heart stopping.

‘I remember my own death. The fear of never seeing my family again. The fear of finding out the great unknown. The fear of what happens after death. Am I really ready to die again?’

‘I’m afraid. Afraid of failure. Afraid of dying. So why am I trying to get myself killed?’

I curled up on my bed. I didn’t hear my door open.

17- Despoina

“You’re not authorized to enter the royal wing at this hour,” the Royal Guard next to the door said to Officer Katydid.

“What are you talking about? I am scheduled to enter at this hour every two out of three days,” Katydid replied.

The royal guard paused for just a moment, “The Prince’s lessons were canceled due to-”

“The ceremony?” Katydid asked incredulously. “Who told you that nonsense? Step aside, I am mandated by the Queen herself to continue the tutelage of the Prince.”

He wasn’t, in fact. Chamberlain Eucharis had told him that lessons today were canceled due to the ceremony but Katydid wanted to see the Prince immediately. Said Chamberlain was currently speaking with the top commanders of the Swarm to organize the transition of power.

“Now step aside.”

The Royal Guard, wanting to avoid the Queen’s potential wrath, stepped aside. Katydid wasted no time in opening the door and heading down the hall to Phasma’s room. Katydid raised his hoof to knock, but decided he didn’t want to risk Queen Chrysalis overhearing from the end of the hallway. Instead, he opened the door.

He saw Prince Phasma, now High Marshal, curled up on his bed. Katydid shut the door softly behind him as he walked up to Phasma. Katydid stood there for a moment, watching the nymph’s chest rapidly rise and fall with his breathing.

“Phasma?” He called out softly.

He froze, then slowly sat upright, looking at the ground.

“Hello Officer Katydid. I was… under the impression that I had today off.”

Katydid frowned. “You do, but…. Phasma, what’s wrong?”

Phasma sniffed. “You know, I’m your boss now. Isn’t that weird? Chrysalis just put me straight right at the top of the military-in...in… oh damn it, I don’t know the word for that. What I mean to say is that she didn’t put me in charge of a squad to have me practice leadership skills, she just put me at the top. She hasn’t even taught me any military strategy.”

‘Military what now?’

“Who taught you how to swear?”

Phasma looked up at Katydid. “Chrysalis says she wants a commander, but she trained me to be a Prince. I didn’t even think I’d get this far, yet here I am, with far more power than changelings who have been in the Swarm their entire lives. They’ve got far more experience than I, why am I High Marshal?”

“No ‘ling has seen combat outside of the infiltrators, Prince Phasma. That’s why you have this position, getting assigned to the Swarm just meant a cushy duty filled with standing around. I don’t remember the last time we had a breakthrough from the Underhive. Now, you’ll make an army outta the layabouts I call equals.”

Phasma tilted his head at that.

“It’s true!” Katydid says, “I bet if Chrysalis sent the Swarm out right now, they’d just be that: a swarm. No tactics, no organization. Just chaos running rampant.” He shakes his head, “Against an actual military, we’re hopeless.

“Only the infiltrators have any experience with combat, and that’s mostly the critters they occasionally face out in the wilderness. Wolves, timberwolves, cragadiles, lions, maulwurfs, sand worms, and so on. Sure, the Swarm is trained to fight these too, but they only leave the hive on patrols. The last expedition into the Underhive was at least a hundred years ago!”

Phasma rubbed his muzzle. “Why doesn’t Chrysalis get her hooves on Equestrian strategies? Why does she want me, who has no experience or training in fighting or strategy, to lead the army?”

It didn’t take long for Katydid to come up with an answer. “I think it’s because she believes in you. You have met every obstacle with a determination and zeal few changelings could match.”

“All I’ve done is take a few tests-”

“AND,” Katydid continued, “she’s not alone. We all believe in you, and hope is a powerful thing. As pony as it sounds, hope can mean the difference in war. The hive doesn’t have much at the moment, Phasma. The only way to bring in more materials and goods is the infiltrator network, and that’s already pushed to the max on bringing back love and what information they can gather. You’ve been training all this time, receiving an education that already is above what every other changeling receives.”

“I don’t know how to fight,” Phasma retorted.

“That will be solved starting very soon. Our lessons are to transition into more martial focused ones as soon as possible.”

Phasma sighed. “I’m the High Marshal with orders to radically reform the entire military, because… we need to conquer Equestria. We need to conquer Equestria because we need more food…

“So we need more food. And I take it we can’t compromise other sectors of the hive to get more? If that’s the case, why is our hive so far away from Equestria? Wouldn’t a lot of logistical problems be solved by being closer?”

“You should ask Queen Chrysalis that yourself,” was all Katydid could offer.

“I will. In fact, I have a number of questions I’m going to ask.”

That got Katydid’s attention. “Oh, like what?”

The next day Eucharis woke me up as usual and I made my way into Chrysalis’s study. This has been my daily routine for every day I’ve been a nymph. However, when Chrysalis entered the study, I decided to break tradition.

“Prince Phasma.”

“Queen Chrysalis. Before we start today’s lessons, I have some questions I’ve been meaning to ask.”

Chrysalis raised an eyebrow. “Very well, Prince Phasma. As long as this does not take too long, ask your questions.”

‘Best not beat around the bush, then.’

“Where are my brothers and sisters?”

Chrysalis leaned back.

“I had thought that you knew the answer by now.”

“Then let me rephrase: what killed my siblings.”

She smiled. “Ah, now there’s a question. Let me answer it with one of my own; why do I hide their existence?”

I had to bite back a joke. This was serious, after all. In fact, I wasn’t going to hold anything back.

“Because you killed them.”

Chrysalis frowned, “Infanticide? Do you think so low of me, Prince Phasma?”

“I did. I had feared the worst, and that I would share their unknown fate. Hence me trying to… clear this up.”

“Then I shall clear this up, as you put it. I did not kill my nymphs.”

When she didn’t continue, I pressed further.

“Then what did? And why conceal their existence?”

“I did not conceal their existence. I simply… neglected to inform my subjects about topics they needn’t know.”

“A lie by omission…” I trailed off.

“... Is a valuable tool that you should use often,” Chrysalis picked up, making me snort.

“How consistent of you. And you didn’t answer my question. How did they die?”

Chrysalis rolled her hoof as she spoke, “Wyrm attack, training accident, crushed by a falling rock. The list goes on.”

“Those sound like awfully mundane deaths, considering the responsibilities and power you’ve given me.”

“Changeling royalty make the best leaders. Before you, my predecessors and I maintained a policy of status quo. That meant princes and princesses were put in charge of security teams. The Underhive is very dangerous, you know.”

“You expect me to believe that you go through princes and princesses like a pony goes through toilet paper?”

“Come now, Prince Phasma. You undervalue your kins’ worth. It’s more like a pony goes through candles.”

My expression fell flat.

‘At least she’s being forthcoming with answers. Far more than I expected. I guess I can understand that. Wait, wouldn’t…’

“Wouldn’t an expedition to the Underhive be the perfect opportunity to have me learn and practice leadership skills? To test my mettle?”

“You’re a High Marshal, Prince Phasma, not a squad leader. You are not as expendable as your predecessors. With the exception of dealing with… noteworthy threats… a commander leads from the rear. You have a mind sharper than the fangs of any warrior I have encountered, Prince Phasma. I need a commander, not a drone.”

“How eloquent. I expected more… Oh, I don’t know, intrigue? Betrayal? Rebellion?”

“The Hive would never survive a catastrophe as tumultuous as a rebellion, Prince Phasma. Rebellion. What an alien idea. A pony dissents. A changeling obeys. Though soon enough, ponies will obey, too.”

I sighed. “Right. As well as griffons, dragons… If they died like that, why not, I dunno, make them martyrs? They died protecting the hive, and all that.”

“Because that would support the idea that we are mortal, Prince Phasma. A royal changeling is above concepts such as death. Best to let the memory fade, as well as the shame. I don’t think I have to tell you that none of this leaves this room.”

I thought over what she said.

‘Chrysalis is far more laissez-faire with this than I expected. If she was telling the truth, at least.’

“No vague threats, no ultimatums, no ominous one-liners? You are very… happy today.”

‘Shit, there’s the creepy fanged-smile again. That shit’s nightmare fuel.’

“We grow ever closer to the promised day, Prince Phasma.”

“Ah, there’s the one-liner.”

“Now that your curiosity has been sated, we will begin lessons. An important topic today, your final lesson in changeling biology: love extraction.”

18- Morpheus

Infiltrator Sclerite had clued me in on the basics of how to extract love. In concept, it was very similar to taking a disguise, only instead of imagining a form, you imagined what emotion you were extracting. In addition, you grasped the String of Emotion, rather than the String of Change. Simple concepts were required for the basic survival and functions of your species, after all.

Evolution doesn’t do “over-engineered,” just “good enough.”

Queen Chrysalis spent little time going over this distinction. Instead, she led me on a trip through the hive. Our destination was the storage section. Specifically, the secured storage where our food sources were kept.

‘I am going to meet my first pony. In a manner of speaking, at least.’

Ponies. Our number one, two, and three enemy. Unicorns, pegasi, earth ponies. I had been lectured for many hours on their danger, their importance, and their place in the world. Beneath our hooves.

Now, I would get as close as I could to seeing this for myself. For better or for worse, I was going to see just exactly the future Chrysalis had in mind for the population of an entire continent.

I wondered what I would see. Small cells, with minimal luxuries, surely. Their diets would be poor, consisting of what we could grow in the farms in the Greencave. Still, the captives would probably be eating better than the average changeling.

‘It’s not going to be pretty. Too many red flags for it to be anything good. But for the survival of our species? No cost is too great.’

‘.... Our species. There’s no going back to being human, is there? I’m 100% changeling, whether I like it or not. These are my people now, my changelings. Their problems are my problems and their suffering is my suffering. They put their faith in me to help them as their prince.’

Some are born great. Some become great. Some have greatness thrust upon them.

‘Seems to be a case of the first and the third.’

We were close now. The ambient temperature of the hive was rising and there were less changelings moving about in the hall. Those that were present were moving materials back and forth. Changeling concrete– I gotta come up with a name for that, the changelings just refer to it as hive-gel, and that makes things confusing when our main foodstuff is also called gel– as well as said love-gel both transported in sealed jars. There were some other materials, such as the scant piece of paper or a cart of different plants and lichen that had been harvested.

As we passed a door labeled as Storage 012, my mind wandered to the First Fang.

‘Coxa will be back to working in one of these, if he is not apprenticed to an infiltrator. It should be easy to get in contact with him again if he’s back here. Lacewing too, the Greencave is not too far below this spire. I wonder what they’re up to right now?’

Chrysalis stopped at a large door, flanked by two royal guards who saluted as we approached. Wordlessly, their smooth, curved horns lit up with a green hue as they opened the doors for us. Immediately, I was hit by a wave of hot, stale air. Blue light filtered in, in stark contrast to the light green that most of the hive was awash in.

The air was filled with scents of emotions. I knew one by heart, and others by study. The tang of happiness. The bitterness of anger. The zest of pride.

I snorted air out my nose to try to flush out the scents. The air itself was a flurry of different… tastes. I had no point of reference in my past life for this, but I recognized one taste.

‘Love.’

My eyes became adjusted to the bright blue lights as we entered, and I saw the room before me.

It was a large hive cavern, at least a hundred hooves across, and two hundred deep. Periodically, large blue globes of moss hung from the ceiling, seeming to almost drip from their hive-gel mountings. Between each upside-down light was a sea of glowing green pods. Forms in each pod twitched, shook, or sat limp, their shadowed form revealed by the blue light.

I saw the outline of ponies, yaks, sheep, cows, griffons, and more. There were at least five hundred in this chamber, with the ceiling only visible in the spaces between pods. The pods themselves had about a hoof of distance between each one. The room seemed to be half filled.

‘Room for another five hundred, at least.’ The analytical part of my mind worked faster than the rest.

Between the rows of the green pods, changeling drones flittered to and fro, checking on the status of each pod and its inhabitant. Occasionally, I saw one carrying a large pot, sometimes weighing the changeling down as the drone buzzed down to the ground level where carts with pots were waiting.

My stomach started to twist in on itself.

‘So this is what it looks like, what we must do to survive’

“Yes, Prince Phasma,” Chrysalis spoke to me. I realized I said my thoughts out loud. “This is the natural order of the world. We prey upon those beneath us.”

“This is what awaits every pony in Equestria?” I had to listen to myself speak, making sure my voice didn’t crack.

“Yes,” was all she had to say.

I heard a bang. Instinctively, I pressed a hoof to my heart. In the distance, a changeling was being berated for dropping an empty jar, which lay shattered on the floor.

“There's no other way?”

Chrysalis disregarded the question. “Our techniques have been practiced for millennia.”

“Why,” I struggled to keep my voice steady, “have alternatives not been pursued? Our gathering could be perfected yet. Surely, if the hive was closer, we would not struggle as much for food.”

“The hive used to be closer. We are the Fourth Hive Dynasty, but our blood goes back to the first changeling King.”

‘An unbroken chain? Then why…’

“...Not the fourth dynasty, the fourth hive,” I whispered.

Chrysalis picked up on it. “It took generations for our survival to reach this level of efficiency. We are hidden from the world. We are in a defendable position. We have a food supply within the hive itself. We are far away from the reaches of scrying spells. These ways kept our species alive. Come My Prince. It is time for your extraction lessons.”

Her wings flittered out from their cover and buzzed. She lifted from the ground, not bothering to look back at me as she took off. After a moment’s hesitation, I followed. We flew to a pod near the center of the room where a changeling drone was waiting. When Chrysalis came close, the drone gave an upside-down bow as he stuck to the ceiling.

“My Queen, this one here is ready for harvest.”

She landed next to the pod and waved him off with a flick of her hoof and the drone did as he was ordered, leaving immediately. I came up behind her, steadily floating in the air.

I could see the shape in the pod clearly now. It was a pegasus, the blue light showing a huddled green form. Her hooves were pressed close to her chest, her legs were half straightened beneath her.

Now that I was close, I could pick out her emotions from the rest of the room. I tasted the sweetness of happiness as well as the soothing blend of contentment.

‘She is having a pleasant dream,’ was all I could think.

”Eat,” Queen Chrysalis commanded me. I flew close to the pod, touching it.

‘This is where love comes from. Who love comes from.’

It was one thing to hear about what’s going on. To see it yourself and to take a direct role in it…

‘For the survival of our species.’

I let out a shaky breath and focused on the String of Emotion. Immediately, the tastes of emotion that lingered with each breath made themselves known. My mind cast out and I felt the emotions stirring within the pods around us.

Fear. Hate. Anger. Sympathy. Love. Happiness.

I focused on the pegasus in front of me, her emotions making saliva pool within my mouth. Then, I pulled.

“-Chaser, why don’t we-” “-got you something as well!” “-ever let go-”

The pegasi twitched in her slumber as tendrils started to weave their way through the green slurry she was interred in. When the tendrils reached the hard exterior of the pod, they pushed out, the blue light coloring them a pastel purple.

‘An end to all our suffering.’

I drew in a shaky breath, the wisps following the intake of air and made their way into my muzzle.

I felt the familiar warmth embrace my whole body as my mind drifted. I let out a sigh of content and happiness as my worries melted away. I wobbled in the air as my balance was thrown off.

A muted voice drew some of my attention back to the present. Chrysalis was speaking, “...deposit in a jar for distribution. But this harvest is all for you…”

Chrysalis’s words brought enough presence of mind for me to taste emotions once more. Close by, I tasted pain. The pony within the pod had stopped twitching. Her fur coloring seemed to be a bit faded, her breaths more shallow.

‘For the survival of our species…’ I thought again, swallowing bile, ‘.... a monument to all our sins.’

I somehow knew her dream was no longer of weaving between clouds on a warm summer’s day. She was dreaming of a winter’s chill, a killer of the flower moon. A similar chill clutched my beating heart.

‘This is the fate I promised to bring upon everyone outside of the hive. Is this how we will rule the world? Is there truly no other way? I don’t... I can’t believe this is the only way.’’

My teeth silently clattered in my closed mouth as I felt my face go numb. I looked to Chrysalis; she was going on about logistics of collection, how around 60% of the network was dedicated to collecting food and the very rare isolated individual.

‘The vault holds the records of our entire species. If Chrysalis won’t consider alternatives, then I must find them myself. I shall bring the end to Equestria as ordained. I will secure the survival of our species. But this will not continue any longer than it has to. These violent delights have violent ends.’

The chill would not leave my chest for hours.

19- Proteus

“The invasion of Equestria,” I interrupted Chrysalis’s lesson. “It goes against everything changelings stood by.”

We had returned to her study after visiting the pod room. Chrysalis began our normal lessons with magic theory, this time covering harmonic shield lattices. The chill from earlier had subsided, however it left behind a pain that ached and creaked like I had run a ten mile marathon. My head throbbed and my chest stung.

Chrysalis sneered at my interruption, “This is happening with or without your approval, Prince Phasma. I am the queen, you are the prince.”

“I would have recommended the invasion had you not ordered it, Mother. I am just remarking on the fact that you are going to break the Masquerade, which goes against all ingrained rules and traditions of our species.”

“I do hope that you’re not wasting my time by stating the obvious.”

“So why stop there? Surely there are alternatives to love collection. Why limit yourself to doing what your forebears did when you already disregard their rules and teachings?”

“This again? Prince Phasma, we harvest love from podded prey because it is the most efficient method we have at our disposal.”

The pain was making me frustrated, so I argued further, “But surely other methods tried in the past are viable now that the Masquerade has been discarded-”

Chrysalis shut me down fast, “Alternatives have been considered and they all have been rejected. Now, repeat back to me the available frequencies for shield lattices for defending against fire spells.”

I grunted in annoyance.

‘I’m getting nowhere fast. Chrysalis seems resolute, though at least she considered alternatives. Maybe once I get my hooves on more information, I can better prepare a case to change her mind. Throw that onto the pile of shit to deal with at a later time, I guess.’

Lessons continued as normal for the rest of the day. Well, not really.

The pains, while not even close to being as bad as the chest pain I had in the storage room, were more than distracting. I missed points here and there. I zoned out occasionally. Often, I found myself rubbing the base of my horn.

Eventually, it came time for magic practice. When Chrysalis finished the final lesson for the day, she stood up from behind her desk and said her goodbye to me.

“We are done for the day. Prince Phasma,” Chrysalis said, then she actually put a hoof on my shoulder, “you were distracted during our lessons. I do not have the time nor patience to repeat the material. You need to put the extraction lessons behind you and move on. Prince Phasma, you said it yourself; we are predators. The hunt is messy and is unpleasant to look at but this is for the survival of our species, you will move on.”

I thought of the bloody carcasses I saw on nature documentaries. Messy is an understatement.

‘If it’s truly the only way, what choice would I have? Would I inflict pain upon others to survive?’

I didn’t like it and I knew it would end horribly for us, but I knew the answer to that question.

‘What choice do we have? It’s us or them.’

Chrysalis let her hoof drop to the floor and walked past me.

“Better them than us…” I mumbled. She was already out of earshot. I stood up from the seat across from the desk and paced about the room. I had some time before Officer Katydid’s arrival for magic practice.

‘I don’t know enough about changelings to think of alternative methods for food sources by myself…’

I rubbed my head as I thought.

‘Maybe Thorax has a few ideas. This is why I wanted him in the Fang, after all. I’m sure he’s put no small amount of thought into this. Problem is, where is he? Phayrnx would know, but fuck Pharynx.’

I groaned and flopped onto the couch. I worked my jaw as I stared at the empty fireplace in front of me. My headache was really starting to sap my focus.

‘Does this pain have something to do with the fact that I extracted love myself? Shit, I didn’t think to ask Chrysalis. I’ll have to ask Katydid. Love extracting… Could I induct Katydid? Like Thorax, he’s got a good heart… No, he’s an officer and my subordinate now, but I can’t risk adding him to the First Fang. Because he has too much contact with both Chrysalis and Eucharis, the odds of him accidentally revealing the First Fang is too great.’

I flipped onto my back and stared at the ceiling.

‘Creating a less risky group within the military that I can seek ideas from is my best bet here. That, and the vault. It’s going to be a bit before I can start giving orders around with impunity, so no funny business until then. The vault is fair game, I just need to get Oestridae into the guard and on vault detail.’

'Oestridae would be returning with the infiltrator flunkies next week. That means I can get in contact with at least one of the First Fang, and we can start arranging things like secret meetings.’

I glared at the door.

‘Everything is moving so slow and yet so fast at the same time.’

Finally, the door opened as Officer Katydid arrived.

“Ah, I’m sorry My Prince. I had an unexpected conversation earlier…”

I grunted an acknowledgement, “It’s fine. We're doing shields today, too?”

He smiled. “Yes, My Prince. Nothing so advanced as what your material covers, I’ve been told, but it is important material. We’ll be working on the physical shaping of your shield spell.”

“Mmmm…”

“Is… everything alright, My Prince?”

I shut my eyes, covering them with a hoof. I could still taste the pegasus’ pain. Or maybe that was the pain at the top of my head, spreading down to my muzzle.

“Are there side effects of extracting love manually?” I asked, glancing at the changeling drone with a half-opened eye.

Katydid brought a hoof to his chin as he looked to the ceiling. “Nnnno? No. There shouldn’t be any sort of side effect, Prince Phasma.” He looked back down to me, still on my back on the couch. “What are your symptoms? I can fetch a nurse immediately.”

I gave a dismissive wave. “Just aches and pains. A bit everywhere, but mostly my head hurts.”

‘It’s like going through puberty all over again. Wait a second.’

“Katydid? Nymphs go through a series of molts, right?”

“That’s right. You believe you are approaching your first molt, My Prince?”

“Would it explain the pains I am feeling?”

He shook his head. “Symptoms of approaching a molt do not include strange pains, My Prince, just an uncomfortable feeling of tightness.”

I gave another groan at that, but Katydid continued.

“Though I’ve never heard anything about royal nymphs or accelerated growth cycles. Perhaps Your Highness is indeed approaching your first molt?”

I sat up, ignoring the pain.

“Maybe. Another question for Queen Chrysalis, I guess. Anyways, we’re doing shields?”

Katydid shuffled his hooves. “I… would be much more comfortable if I could fetch medical assistance, My Prince. I do not think you should be ignoring this. Queen Chrysalis might be busy, but a dedicated nurse can be here within minutes.”

“I don’t-” a jab of pain in my horn ended my protests. “Fuck, that stings. I’m six months old, and I spent a month as a-”

“Where did you learn to swear?” He asked me, not for the first time. I ignored him, not for the first time.

“-larva. Is that a normal ratio for changeling growth cycles?”

“Your first molt is expected in another month, following our observations on your biology. I’m fetching a nurse,” Katydid said after I hissed in pain.

I wanted to argue, but avoiding getting mysterious pain checked out sounds like a great way to die for no reason.

Nurse Obturator finished running a diagnostic spell on Prince Phasmatodea. From his near-polished hooves to his smooth, curved horn, the spell showed everything as fine. At least, as far as Obturator could tell.

“Where does it hurt the most?” Obturator asked.

“Again, my head,” the young Prince growled. “Keep asking that and your head’s gonna hurt, too.”

‘Like mother, like son. I’m surprised he made it this long without a threat, even if it isn’t a death threat.’

“When did this start?”

“This morning.”

“On a scale of-”

“A lot. It hurts a lot.”

“What were you doing when the pain started?”

“Extracting love.”

‘Utilizing the Thread of Change could exacerbate pre-existing conditions…’

“Have you done anything else of note in the past week?”

“Physically? No.”

“Well Prince Phasma, the scan is being… less than helpful. I do not have any experience with the morphology of changeling royals, My Prince. I believe Her Majesty should be notified immediately.”

Queen Chrysalis was inspecting a discovery made down in the Greencave, hence why she wasn’t here immediately. Prince Phasma at first denied Obturator from sending word to the Queen, but the nurse felt that he was out of his depth.

Prince Phasma hissed, “Fine. Go get her to do your job.”

Nurse Obturator nodded at Officer Katydid, who then left the room.

‘Well Queen Chrysalis, I warned you something like this could happen. Frankly, I’m surprised it took this long for symptoms to manifest.’

“I’m sure it’s nothing,” he told the grouchy nymph. Obturator threw in a fanged smile to try to cheer Phasma up.

“I’m not imagining the pain.”

“Oh no, My Prince, I was not insinuating that.”

Phasma tapped his horn and grimaced. “Then, what where you– Gahh…! Insinuating?”

“Have you casted any complicated spells recently? Anything that might have to do with this pain?”

“If I did, I would have told you.” Phasma mumbled something under his breath. Obturator guessed that it was an insult.

“Have you been using your magic frequently?”

“Yes.”

“Do you have trouble performing?”

“W-What?! I’m a nymph, you overgrown, shit-eating dung beetle-”

“Spells! Performing spells!”

‘I don’t even want to know why Chrysalis had the crickets and the bees speech with a six-month-old nymph, by Panar!’

“O-Oh, that makes more sense. No, my spells have been fine.”

‘Conduits are okay, diagnostic confirms that. He rubs the base of his horn a lot, could it have to do with the horn structure?’

“When was the last time you casted a spell outside of levitation?”

“Four days ago, I think.”

“Anything of note that happened then?”

Phasma crossed his hooves, “Officer Katydid had me going over the changeling transformation spell.” He took in a long breath, “We were going over different surface-level changes.”

Obturator suppressed a sigh, ‘If we had access to pony alcohol in the hive, I would surely have died of liver-failure by now.’

“You don’t think changing your physiology counts as an important thing to tell me?”

“I’ve been busy!” Phasma threw his hooves in the air. “Shit happened!”

Obturator recalled the fates of three of his predecessors. One was not quick enough with a diagnosis. Another tried to overrule Queen Chrysalis when it came to treatment. A final gave bad news on a day that was already terrible for the changeling monarch.

‘Well, it’s not everyday the Queen invents a new position in charge of the entire Swarm. Not to mention Prince Phasma is only half a year old, so his skewed sense of importance is far above the worst case scenario. In fact, he’s only threatened me once, he’s answered every question, and he’s been as restrained as possible given the pain he’s in. I was wrong; compared to his mother, he’s practically a saint.’

Before he could apologize for being less than careful with treating the irritated royal who could order his execution, Phasma touched his horn one more time. He hissed in pain as it wobbled.

“That’s not supposed to do that,” Obturator helpfully pointed out.

20- Endymion

“No, it’s definitely not supposed to do that,” Queen Chrysalis confirmed. She gently tapped my horn. Causing it to jiggling and me to yelp out in pain.

"I'm gonna peel you apart layer by layer if you do that again!"

That got a giggle out of Chrysalis.

"You've yet to show proficiency in the Sharpened Will spell or any alternatives, Prince Phasma. And you're in no condition for casting spells."

"Does My Queen know what ails our Prince?" Nurse Obturator asked from behind Chrysalis.

"Yes. He's losing his horn."

"Thanks captain obvious."

"Captain Obvious has been retired from the Equestrian Royal Guard for thirty years now. Prince Phasma, this has nothing to do with ponies. No, your horn is falling out. Not to worry though, you will sprout a replacement.”

“Changelings don’t just grow horns! We’re not deer!”

Chrysalis grinned. “Astute observation, Prince Phasma. We are changelings, yes. However, you forget that we are changeling royals, our biology differs from that of a drone’s.”

“So are you saying that your horn falls out, too?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, of course not.”

I groaned and put my head in my hooves. Then I yelped in pain and shot upwards when I accidentally brushed against my horn.

“Then what the fuck is happening to me?”

Chrysalis’s grin vanished as quickly as it appeared. She cleared her throat, “It would appear that there are unforeseen consequences to your upbringing.”

Behind her, Nurse Obturator opened his mouth and raised a hoof as if to argue, but quickly shut his mouth and put his hoof back down.

Chrysalis continued, “It’s not unheard of for a changeling royal to lose their horn. It is assumed to be a… defect…. However we have neither the time nor the resources to truly investigate the matter. You will have to be placed in a healing pod shortly as you transition to a new horn. An unfortunate delay in your training, but I’m certain you will be able to make up for lost time.”

‘There’s definitely something she’s not telling me.’

“I’m going to be placed into a pod and that’s it? I’ll be all good?”

“Yes.”

“No chance of anything going horribly wrong?”

“Y-Yes.”

“You hesitated there.”

“No.”

“How bad is it?”

“....There is a chance you will explode.”

‘Oh god I’m gonna die again!’

She must have noticed the clear signs of panic because she followed up with, “Just a small chance. Well not really, but I’m sure you will be fine. You’re too important to my plans to die.”

“How reassuring.”

“Keep your sarcasm limited, Prince Phasma. You’re not as witty as you think you are. No, you will not die to this. Losing your connection to your mana-pool is far from safe, but you will have access to the best healing on this continent.”

‘I died once before, it’s not like I have plot armor or anything.’

“You may suffer other symptoms, though. Do not panic, I can have your peytral enchanted with a permanent disguise spell if you turn pastel green or pink.”

“I think I’d prefer death.”

“A reasonable response, but your duties come first. Once Equestria has been conquered, then I may consider a petition for your release from life, My Pretty Pink Prince Phasma.”

More carefully this time, I facehoofed.

“Ain’t this just fantastic? What does this mean for my immediate future?”

“You will molt very soon. Your combat training will also be delayed a bit to make sure that there are no complications, but you will begin reforming the Swarm soon. You have been creating a plan, of course.”

“Yes,” I answered the non-question. “I have been putting no small amount of thought into it.”

‘As well as finding answers that I need, ones that you won’t provide. Speaking of which.’

“Queen Chrysalis? Is there a reason you couldn’t acquire Equestrian books on military tactics?”

She took little time to think of a response.

“The infiltrator network has yet to breach Upper Canterlot, let alone the E.U.P., and the ponies keep their military tactics close to their chest. Rest assured, as the promised day grows closer, we will gain access to their codices and doctrines. The best way to fight an enemy is to know how they think, after all. It would be preferable to manufacture and distribute their training manuals ourselves for obvious reasons, but we do not have the time for such a deep infiltration.”

“I suppose I’ll have to implement counter-strategies and drills in the small amount of time between the delivery of their manuals and the invasion day?”

“You have excelled at all goals placed before you thus far. But first, you should focus on the herculean task in front of you: the Swarm’s reformation.”

For security’s sake, the bio-pod was placed in my own room. Nothing’s better than the most defended wing of the entire hive, after all. Nurse Obturator and Chamberlain Eucharis were in my room with me, the nurse to oversee and control the process, and the chamberlain for some reason I didn’t know.

My bed, still bare, had been pushed to the corner of the room. In its stead, a dark blue ovoid dominated the small room. It had a glisten to it, like I was looking at hardened candy. Knowing that it was going to be filled with a love slurry added to this comparison, though strangely enough I was not looking forward to being submerged in the drugs-gel combination.

‘I really hope I can’t overdose on love. I’m too handsome to die!’

Obturator popped open the top using his magic, revealing the translucent pinkish slurry within.

“This positively charged psychomagnotheric love-gel will help facilitate the sealing of your mana-pool when it’s exposed to the outside environment. In addition, it will also prevent infections. Now, Prince Phasma, all you have to do is hop in. Once you are lulled to sleep, I will close the pod. Your health will be checked up on several times a day.”

I turned to face the nurse. “Look, I don’t mean to call into question your qualifications– mostly because I doubt their existence– but this does not look like something I want to ‘hop in.’ It looks like it’s going to digest me!”

“Well…”

“Oh for fuck’s sake!” I rubbed my temples.

“I was joking, My Prince. I am sorry, this is serious business. It’s perfectly fine, plenty of changelings are podded to repair serious injuries. I’ve got a pod occupied right now, down in the medical spire. Everything will be fine.”

Eucharis added, “I was briefly podded a few years ago when an accident destroyed part of the training room I was in, Prince Phasma. It fixed me right up, and was as pleasant as a long snooze.”

My studies did briefly cover the different pods. These had a very, very high success rate, the kind that human doctors would salivate over. Or insurance companies looking to bleed people dry.

“It looks disgusting.”

“We all endure hardships, Your Highness,” Eucharis spoke up. “Surely some discomfort is worth not dying?”

‘Eucharis has a point, I’m acting like I’m a six-month-old child. I need to stop acting my age.’

“Yes, you’re right. I’m sorry, this pain has made me irritable.”

Eucharis gave me a smile, then nodded towards the pod.

I dipped a hoof in. It was lukewarm, and the slime felt strange on my chitin. I buzzed up and above the pod and slowly lowered myself into it and the sudden movement sent a jab of pain through my head. The pod was giving me a very strong sense of déjà vu.

“Hey, is this the same stuff that’s in larva eggs?”

Obturator’s eyebrows shot up. “It’s actually very similar. In fact, we discovered it after reverse-engineering the albumen fluid found within those eggs.”

“Your mind never rests, it seems, My Prince.”

“Not by choice. I’ll see you when I wake up and undertake the biggest reformation in changeling history, then?”

“Yes, My Prince. Focus on that, and a week will fly by in the blink of an eye.”

I already felt the warm ooze– which should by all accounts freak me out– start to make me feel drowsy.

‘Why does love always make me sleepy? What is love?’

My eyelids started getting heavy and I didn’t fight to keep them open. As I let them fall closed, I sunk lower into the gel. I didn’t even notice when my head became fully submerged in, though I did notice the pain slowly ebb away. My whole body, in fact, started to feel better immediately.

‘There must also be a numbing property as well.’

I couldn’t tell when I fell asleep. The moments seemed to blend in with each other as blackness took me.

However, I knew I was asleep for some time when I started dreaming.

My eyes shot open and I found myself staring at the night sky. My night sky, not the alien one I caught glimpses of during my flying lessons. I could point out the constellations. The Big Dipper. The… well only the Big Dipper.

Still, the sight made me smile. I was lying down, I noticed. Turning my head, I felt fine silt brush against the back of my head and neck as I turned towards the side. Grayish white rocks and powder rose up to meet the sky. It looked like I was in a crater.

A glance at the night sky confirmed my suspicions.

Flipping over and standing on all fours, I rose out of the shallow crater and took in my surroundings: a vast, unending landscape of white dunes, rocks, and craters.

I looked down at myself. Unlike my last eventful dream, I had no space suit. No, I was as naked as the day I was born. And the day I hatched. And every day after that one, except for one occasion where I had a fancy necklace.

I giggled at my own joke, but I couldn’t hear myself. I felt the vibrations from my vocal chords, but no sound reached my ears. Instead, I heard someone else’s voice. A very familiar someone.

Someone feminine and right behind me.

“Who Hath… Chrysalis? My, this is a most unexpected development.”

‘Can’t go a week without this shit.’

I put on as big of a smile as I could, and turned around.

21- Ishtar

My smile faltered when I got a good look at the voice’s origin.

Nightmare Moon.

A tall alicorn, fur as black as night. No, night has a blue shade to it, this was the absolute absence of color, though it took a slight purple tinge at the very edges. A nebulous mane, flowing behind her in a nonexistent breeze. Warplate, the same light blue as her big eyes. Her wings were spread wide, as if her massive build was not intimidating enough.

She stood tall, staring me down. Despite being the same size as Queen Chrysalis, I felt oh so much smaller.

“Thou art not a pony, Chrysalis.”

She had an aura of authority that Chrysalis would be jealous of.

“I never said I was.”

“Thou art neither an acolyte of my night.”

When she spoke, I felt the very air in my lungs vibrate.

“I rarely enjoy the luxury of seeing the sky.”

“Hast thou only told us lies?”

Like my own, she had slitted eyes, like two ovals cut clean from pure obsidian, hung in a pool of blue.

I swallowed. “I told only a single lie.”

“If thy lie is not your species nor your devotion, then it must be thy name.”

I felt my heart beat faster and faster each time she spoke.

“Yes,” was all I said.

“We see. Thou wilt not tell us thy name?”

My breathes deepened almost imperceptibly.

“No. Names hold power.”

“One who claims to be Chrysalis, thou art wise for not trusting apparitions within the Dreamscape. However, thy wisdom is countered by slighting us. Bequeath thy name to us; We have been truthful, so too shall you, lest you incur our wrath.”

‘This is an alicorn. This is an avatar of power, the true apex predator of the world. I’d rather not piss her off.’

“... You may call me P.”

“P. What art thou?”

“I am…. A watcher in the dark.”

“Thy honeyed words broker no favors, P. Thou weave thy wordings to suit us. Flattery is a waste of breath.”

“There is no more accurate a description for my people.”

Nightmare Moon leans back, eyeing me over.

“People...? Thou art assuredly not a pony of mine. Doth thou even knowest of us?”

“I… We know of only two alicorns. You are neither.”

“Then thou dost know of us. We were formerly Princess Luna, diarch of Equestria.”

I shook my head. “Princess Cadence and Princess Celestia are the two alicorns.”

Nightmare Moon sneered and stomped a hoof. I was sent half an inch upwards off the ground.

“Has our sister perverted our name? What else has her tyranny corrupted?!”

I recovered enough to answer, “Uh, you’re not Princess Cadence, that much is clear.”

This made her pause.

“No? Then who is this Cadence you speak of?”

“The alicorn of love.”

Nightmare Moon threw her head back with a loud laugh.

“Love? LOVE?!”

Her form shuttered as she was taken by a fit of laughter.

“We have not heard such a humorous joke in millennia. There art but two alicorns P: ourself and our twice damned sister, Celestia.”

“Our knowledge of Equestria is rather lacking...”

“Thy kind doth not live within Equestria? Of course not, We would have known of your kind. We suspect knowledge of alicorns has been distorted greatly in thy lands. We art the alicorn of night. Our sister is the alicorn of day. There is no alicorn of love.”

‘Three alicorns then, I doubt our knowledge is wrong there.’

Nightmare Moon moved closer to me. When I didn’t move, she started prowling around me.

“Thy darkened visage. Thy stark white fangs. Thy slitted eyes. If We did not know better, We would assume that thou were created in our own image.”

She stared at my back.

“Thou hast wings?”

I looked backwards and saw the tips of my wings peeking out of my elytra. I moved them out and completely into view.

“If thy shined carapace hath not revealed thy heritage, thy wings surely would have, Night Watcher…. We knowest of no insects who art cunning as thou art.”

I turned to face her. With her being so close now, I could see in detail the etching on her armor, the strands of her fur pushed down by the edges of her warplating.

‘I need to be careful with what I tell her.’

“We are hidden from the world intentionally. To be known is to risk destruction from Equestria.”

“Thou art an enemy of our sister?”

“She does not know so.”

The corner of her mouth raised in a smile that threw up red flags.

“Thou also doth not bow and scrape as a serf doth.... We suspect in the waking world, thou head is not unadorned? Tell us ‘tis so.”

I was silent.

“And thou art no lordling neither. Thou hast at thy beck and call, a kingdom?”

Despite my better judgement, I slowly nodded.

“Prithee, let us strike a covenant. We possess a common enemy whose removal benefits the both of us. Upon our return to the world, let us strike at the tyrant who sits upon the throne of Equestria.”

‘A potential ally… And also a potential enemy, once Equestria has fallen.’

“We are so far from Equestria’s borders. We are also unprepared for war. It would take a year to march to Canterlot,” I lied.

“Then should our sister survive my arrival, you shall join forces with our loyal acolytes. Thy forces will grant us strength and our might shall grant us victory. Together, we shalt vanquish our foes and usher in an era of night!”

“You receive the throne of Equestria, the rulership of the night-”

“As is our right!”

“-and in exchange, we receive… An end to the Sun Tyrant?”

“Doth we have an accord?”

‘Hell no, you’ll just turn your sights on us afterwards once you find out about our diet!’

“We do.”

“What is thy full name, P?”

‘Like hell I’m telling you!’

“... Prince Phasmatodea.”

‘W-wait, what? Is this some kind of truth spell?!’

Nightmare Moon smiled once more.

“A prince, not a king? Thou hast good taste indeed, Prince Phasmatodea.”

‘No, no no no! Lie to her!’

I nodded.

‘I don’t feel any magic, what is this?!’

“Thou art conversing a great while. Thou slumbers deeply?”

“For now.”

‘Shut up, shut up, shut up!’

“Then we shalt converse for what time we have. Doth thou enjoy our prison?”

She gestured around us.

“You are imprisoned here? On the moon?”

Nightmare nodded.

“Our sister cast us off one thousand years past. We have toiled here in the dust since.”

‘Why can’t I lie to her? I already lied to her once, what’s changed?’

“I never imagined this is what the moon looks like.”

‘No, I can still lie. So why did I tell her my name? Was it some kind of geas with the accord that I didn’t know about?’

“We suspect few thought of our distant moon as such a… wasteland.”

We were silent for a bit. I did not attempt to start any lines of conversation, I was so worried that I would say more things I didn’t want to, like the location of the hive.

My heartbeat hadn’t slowed any bit during our conversation, in fact it rose when I told her the truth. The silent moments allowed me to regain control of my wits and bring my heartrate down.

“Thou knowest of our bindings now. What dwelling doth a Night Watcher Prince lodge in?”

“Ah. I live in a collection of rooms at the center of our society.”

“A collection of rooms? Thou describes thyself as a baseborn, not a prince!”

‘Don’t need a thesaurus for that one.’

“We… our kingdom is not nearly as large as Equestria.”

“Thy words trouble us. Have We made a covenant with a pollard?”

“Not sure what that means, but if you are doubting our strength, rest assured, our levy is beyond what Equestria is capable of.”

“Verily? Thou remindest us of our own acolytes yet again. They-”

Nightmare Moon abruptly straightened up.

“Thou art awakening. If we do not converse ‘ere our return on the longest day, remember our covenant, Prince Phasmatodea. One year, we expect homage at Canterlot, or a joining on the battlefield. Thou art wise to ally thyself with the rightful ruler of the sky.”

“One year,” I echoed. The grey dust of the moon blurred out of focus.

I emerged from the bio-pod coughing and hacking up the fluid.

The cold air immediately bit through my carapace, chilling me. I started to shiver, and I opened my eyes to the dark interior of my room. Light was spilling in from the opened doorway, where Chamberlain Eucharis stood.

As he spoke, I pressed a hoof to my chest. My heart was still beating faster than resting pace.

“Welcome back, My Prince! As I said, you are perfectly unexploded. In fact, your new horn looks dashing!”

“Dashing?” I echoed and looked up. All I saw was the ceiling above me. “Do you have a mirror?”

“As a matter of fact, one was retrieved during your absence. But, ah, the horn was not the only change you underwent, My Prince. During your submersion, your body molted for the first time.” Eucharis floated the mirror over and I grabbed it, holding it in front of me.

Funnily enough, seeing my own reflection was like an out of body experience. I half-expected to see me staring back, a human, not a changeling. But no, I am a changeling now.

My smooth drone horn was gone. In its place stood a taller horn, still more closely resembling a drone's rather than Chrysalis's. It was a uniform backwards curve, though taller and the curve more shallow in comparison to its length.

I also got a good look at my face. Slitted eyes, like an orange parallel to Nightmare Moon’s. Large white fangs that dominated the front of my muzzle. Shiny black carapace, though tinted pink with splotches of the love-gel that I had emerged from. Its shininess reminded of a black jaguar, quite dissimilar from the Vantablack fur that covered Nightmare Moon.

I couldn’t recall the last time I saw my own reflection. I couldn’t remember if I even saw it in the first place.

Moving my head to the side, I saw a fin jutting out from the back. It was light red, and had it continued to the top of my head, I would have called it a plume. I imagined I would see a tail of similar color and length, if I were to get out of the pod completely. It seemed to stay rigid at all times, though the fan did seem to move when I pressed on it.

‘That feels weird. Like the cartilage of an ear or nose.’

Pressing on my fin gave me a good look at my forelegs, which I now inspected. They did seem longer, though I could not tell how tall I was now, sitting half submerged in the pod.

“Huh,” I spoke quietly. “Not bad.”

“I’m glad you think so, My Prince.” Eucharis said, “This was most unexpected. It appears your body has taken more after a common drone than a changeling royal. You lack the hair and crown that adorns every royal.”

‘Luckily I find the common drone to be adorable, so this is far from ugly. In fact, keeping in mind the cyan protrusions from Chrysalis’s head that she calls hair, I’d say this is an improvement.’

“Unexpected, but not unwelcome. As long as this is the final change to my appearance, then I’d say I’ve gotten off lucky with my… mutations.”

Eucharis leaned to the side and into my line of sight. “There’s more, Prince Phasma. Your mother has picked a day for the invasion.”

I lowered the mirror to glare at him.

“Let me guess, it’s far too soon?”

“The summer solstice. Princess Celestia will be completely unprepared for our arrival during the pony celebration!”

‘Five months?!’

“Five months?! That’s……”

‘Celestia will be busy, alright!’

“... perfect,” I said slowly. “The summer solstice: the Promised Day will be the longest day of the year, and the ponies won’t know what hit them.”

23- Yggdrasil

We stopped in front of a nondescript habitation room. It wasn’t even labeled.

“This should be the place,” I said quietly before knocking.

Thorax and I had to weave our way through the block to reach this dead-end hallway, out of sight of most of the rest of the units. With so many turns off the main hallways, it was a miracle we didn’t get lost.

In addition, not being seen entering here is a blessing I did not expect, but I intend to use to its fullest.

Thorax opened his mouth but I cut him off before he could say anything.

“Not here. Wait till we’re inside.”

The door in front of us opened as Oestridae greeted us.

“Thorax? Phasma?”

‘And that’s about as big of a greeting as I will get out of him.’

“Hi Oestridae, may we come in?”

Oestridae stepped aside to let us in, but not before looking me over.

“You’ve… changed,” he said as we stepped into his room.

As expected, it was utterly spartan: somewhat larger than my small room, yet just as bare. He had a desk with a chair on one side, and a bed on the other. The bed had some kind of mattress on it that I guessed was made of a softer substance than the floor, if only marginally.

‘Why does he have a desk? It’s not like we actually have paper to write on freely, or books to read. Is it for eating meals? Doesn't the Greencave grow some supplements for their diet, or something?’

I turned around as Oestridae shut the door behind us.

“Yes, I have. I see you don’t have a roommate? That’s good, we can speak freely for now.”

He nodded, “We can talk in here. Are you well?”

“Yeah Oest, it’s great to see you again,” Thorax said from my side.

“I am as well as expected. I’m sorry I couldn’t contact you sooner, but I’ve been very busy of late.”

“Yes. With the Swarm,” Oestridae spoke plainly.

“You’re with the guard now, right?”

“Yes.”

“Aha. That’s good to hear, are you enjoying it more than transportation?”

“Yes.”

“Good, good. I have an open position for a personal Praetorian, Thorax here is the one other. Are you interested?”

“Yes.”

‘Get this man a Pulitzer award!’

“Fantastic. However, I do need you in the guard for a bit longer. I’ve got a job and it has… risks.” I glanced at Thorax before continuing. He had a questioning expression. “You may end up banished.”

“Is it important?” Oestridae asked.

“Potentially, yes. It could be for nothing, or it could also decide the fate of the hive.”

“I’ll do it.”

“You have been nothing but reliable, Oestridae.”

“You’re telling him to do something that could get him banished?”

“Thorax, I said not to put too much hope in finding alternatives. That was because we were being watched and listened to. Now, we can speak freely: our objective is information that will save the hive. I… I don’t know if what we need is in the vault. But we have to try.”

I nodded towards the chair and the bed, and Thorax and Oestridae took their seats respectively. The height difference was even more noticeable with them sitting.

“As you both know, the Weave holds information up to ninety nine years old. After that, any information important enough to be kept but not important enough to stay on the Weave is recorded and stored in the vault down at the base of the hive. In addition, any information too… radical, is also stored inside.

“Queen Chrysalis rejected the notion of considering alternatives, citing the fact that she already did. That means there are alternatives. They will most likely be held in the vault somewhere. We’re going to see for ourselves just what these alternatives are.”

‘As well as check for the fates of my siblings.’

Oestridae just nodded, but Thorax spoke up.

“Breaching the vault? That’s never been done before. No ‘lings even consider it.”

“Which means its security has never been tested nor improved. Now, I could try to devise a plan to crack through the vault’s impossibly thick exterior. I could also try to figure out its combination, assuming it has one. I could do one of a myriad of impossible things, however, the simplest solution is usually the best solution.”

I pointed at Oestridae, “I need you on guard duty for the vault. I’ll try to provoke Chrysalis into checking the vault’s contents twice. Once so you can scope out the security, I’ll tell you what to look for, and a second time if my theories on the security lines up.”

Thorax waves his hooves in front of him.

“This all sounds very vague and unlikely to work. You have theories on how to crack a vault that you’ve never even seen before? C’mon Phasma, that’s ridiculous, no plan-”

“-Survives contact with the enemy? I know, which is why improvisation might come into play here. I’m hoping it doesn’t, but we’ll burn that bridge when we get to it. Oestridae, you know what to do. I’ll contact you when you manage to start getting assigned to vault detail.”

“And what should I do?” Thorax asked.

“I don’t have a job for you. This is for Oestridae and myself alone, a two person job. If I need to come up with a plan that requires more hooves, I’ll get more from the First Fang, don’t you worry.

“That should be everything. I’m very busy today so I can’t stick around and chat, and I have to drag Thorax here with me when I return to the main hive spire. We’ll see you later, Oest.”

“Take care.”

“Bye Oest!”

We reached the top of the main hive spire and entered the main hall before the throne room.

“Is... are those the Doors of Maxilla the Savior?”

Thorax had stopped and pointed a hoof at the towering doors that made the entryway to the throne room.

“They have a name?”

“C’mon Phasma, don’t you know your history?”

“Queen Maxilla, predecessor to Queen Chrysalis, reorganized the internal societal structure of the hive.”

“You sound like you’re listing off facts from a lecture.”

“... As opposed to?”

“Your teachers never– oh. I forgot. I forgot how young you are.”

“Am I missing something here?”

Thorax walked closer to inspect the massive carved doors.

“None of us drones have personal tutors, Phasma. We all get put in a few lectures a day for our nymphhood in addition to our duties. One of these lectures is the history of the hive, and I'm assuming that Queen Chrysalis didn't go in depth on each subject when teaching you.”

He poured over the details of each door, like they were the answer sheet to an upcoming exam.

“Oh my, I love expositions!”

“Look, the point is Maxilla the Savior saved the hive, hence the name. This is something all nymphs are taught. See there, the crowned changeling standing above the rest? That’s her. And over there, the lines of changelings saluting? That’s when she formed the broods and drastically reduced the hunger crises.”

‘The Savior saved. I’m not going to judge changelings on that nickname, Emperor Aurelien “Restorer of the World” restored order to the Roman world.’

“Sounds straightforward. My lessons never covered anything in great detail.”

“Well, these doors are ancient. And so much detail went into their creation, look at the fins on those guards over there!”

A guard standing next to the door glared at Thorax.

“Is there… no art in the hive like this?”

“No Prince Phasma, not outside the throne room.”

“Well then step aside so they can open up the throne room for us.”

Thorax froze.

“Throne- oh! I get to see the throne room in person!”

The doors slowly swung open in a way that was starting to get on my nerves by this point. Grand slow moving doors are cool the first time they open, but when they’re a part of your daily commute then they’re just a pain in the ass.

Thorax stared at the open gateway, eyes slowly sweeping over the throne room. His eyes lingered first on Chrysalis’s throne, and second on the tapestries that hung from the rafters.

“Come on Thorax,” I said as I passed him. Belatedly, he slowly walked forward, never taking his eyes off the banners.

The throne was empty, Queen Chrysalis was currently in her study doing queen things. This was the period of the day where normally I practiced magic, however with the week delay Chrysalis gave me the time to start implementing my reforms.

‘Mom said it’s my turn on the totalitarian communist throne.’

I was about to lead Thorax into the royal wing and into an empty room that was starting to be used as my own office, however his mind was too far up in the clouds to notice my gesturing.

“Thorax. I’ve got a meeting with Colonel Aphid in…” I casted a simple spell to translate the sun’s position into local time. “Ten minutes. If you want to freak out about the room, get it out of your system quickly.”

'So glad I'm cleared to cast spells again.'

“Ph- Prince Phasma, look at those!” He exclaimed, shaking a hoof at the tapestries that I had seen more times than I can count. Granted, I had only been alive for around 180-200 days, but still.

He pointed a hoof at the leftmost tapestry on the right side of the room, “There’s the first changeling!” True enough, I saw the outline of one at the bottom of the banner made of what looked like vines coming from the sky. The biggest one had a curvy ‘N’ on it. I knew that symbol was the Thread of Together.

Above them, the banner showed different symbols clashing that were not that hard to grasp. Such as a heart being impaled by a nine-pointed star, representing the melding of Love and Magic.

Since changelings lack a common alphabet-- we use Equestrian-- the banners were composed of almost hieroglyphics.

It was easy to see that this was the creation of the world.

“And there, that’s the first disguise!”

The banner on the right was the changeling in between two halves of a sideways double helix. Change, I recalled. Seeing it written down, rather than a nebulous concept on the Weave, made me realize the symbol for change is almost DNA.

“And-”

“Prince Phasma?” Came a muffled voice from the royal wing. It was Chrysalis, she must have heard Thorax’s excited yelling.

“Wait out here, Thorax. And don’t piss off the other Praetorians.” At their mention, the closest one broke their rigid parade rest to glare at Thorax, before going back to the stance.

I opened the door and entered the royal wing, heading straight for Chrysalis’s office. The door was open, and Queen Chrysalis and Chamberlain Eucharis were inside, looking back at me.

“You called, Queen Chrysalis?”

“Who is the changeling yelling in my throne room?”

“That would be my new Praetorian.”

“Your new Praetorian sounds highly undisciplined.”

“The rapid expansion of the Swarm by the Founding requires that we… lower standards when it comes to recruiting.”

“You did not recruit them from the existing body of the Swarm? What is the name of this changeling you have elevated to the highest martial status capable of an enlisted?”

“... Thorax.”

Eucharis’s head snapped to Queen Chrysalis, “A known rabble-rouser, My Queen! He has received disciplinary sanctions for siding with pony ideology.”

Her eyebrows raised but she did not say anything.

‘She expects a good explanation. Bullshitting powers, go!’

“Yes, he is a dissenter. However, you have bestowed upon me the honor of High Marshal not because I entrench myself in the ways of the old, but for my unique, outside perspective. Thorax is certainly outside perspective. Entropy exists in vacuums, after all. I seek only to emulate your wisdom, Mother.”

“You seek council from your personal guard?”

“I will not be on the front lines, and when I am, your Praetorians will be more than enough to protect me. If a threat makes its way all the way to me, two more guards will not defeat it.”

“Hmmm… Chamberlain, who are the known associates of this dissenter?”

“That would be Prince Phasma, Thorax’s brother Praetorian Pharynx, infiltrator Tarsus, clerk Coxa, grower Lacewing, and guard Oestridae.”

‘Now, did Pharynx tell them that, or did Eucharis assemble that information from retrieving me all those times?’

“A Praetorian’s brother? You believe their lineage possesses the raw skill and talent needed for a Praetorian?”

‘She seems like the kind of ruler to pursue eugenics.’

“The broods remove the opportunity of studying that fact. Perhaps once Equestria has fallen, the broods will be… defunct. If it is, we should begin work improving the drones as soon as possible.”

Chrysalis nodded. “Return to your duties.”

“At once, Mother.”

‘She knows about Thorax far sooner than I had hope, but this is still a victory for me,’ I thought as I swiftly made my exit.

Fearing what the delay cost me, I checked the time again as I headed into the throne room.

“Thorax,” I called out as I came close, “I’m going to have to cut our time together off for today. You are dismissed, we’ll discuss your position tomorrow. Head to the throne room at seven and I will collect you.”

“Oh. I’ll see you later then, Prince Phasma.”

“One more thing. Queen Chrysalis knows about your, ah, accusations put against you. You’ll need to watch what you say around her and the public.”

“Am I in trouble?”

“No, but that answer isn’t enough to stay out of her ire. You have a target on your back already, you have to be careful. I’ll see you tomorrow, Thorax.”

24- Fides

Colonel Amphid addressed the Praetorian standing at attention at the entrance to the royal wing.

“Colonel Amphid to see High Marshal Prince Phasmatodea.”

The Praetorian nodded before entering the wing himself. Amphid bit back a rebuke, remembering that the royal guards never saluted officers outside their own ranks.

Amphid did not have to wait long before the door reopened and the Praetorian stepped out.

“First room on the right, Colonel Amphid.”

The Colonel entered and knocked on said door.

“Enter.”

Amphid entered the room, and was not impressed.

A small space, about the size of his own office if not smaller. In it was a hive-gel desk, what he assumed was a chair behind the desk, and two more in front. There were some papers in a neat stack on the side of the desk, but it was what was in the chair that held all the attention in the room.

Prince Phasmatodea, newly appointed High Marshal of the New Swarm.

‘The Prince of the hive has an office that’s the same size and contents of a Colonel. Perhaps I should give His Highness the benefit of the doubt, he was only promoted two weeks ago or so.’

“Colonel Amphid, it is a pleasure to meet you.”

“And an honor to meet you, My Prince.”

The Prince levitated a paper from the side up to his eyes.

“I have a lot to do and not much time, so I’m going to cut to the meat of the matter. The Fourth Legion needs a general.”

“General?! My Prince, that is quite the honor!”

“Yes it is. You are one of the top candidates for promotion. Now, are you the best candidate?”

“I have commanded the Third Hoof for nine years now, My Prince. My command has been without issue and the Third Hoof was the pride of the Swarm!”

“Without issue, you say? I have a report right here on my desk that says otherwise. A complaint filed by Colonel Xiphydriidae saying that your ‘radical ideas’ constantly endanger your side’s chances for victory during training exercises.”

‘Why, that stingless wasp!’

“My Prince, Colonel Xiphy says a lot of things, and rarely do they hold thought. His promotion to Colonel only happened because of his predecessor’s untimely death, he ought to be no higher than a sergeant!”

“Does his complaint hold merit, Colonel?”

“The training we received does go against my actions during the training exercise he calls into question, yes, BUT there is no victory without risk, My Prince. I have seen the exact same scenario in that training exercise before and the side we were playing as would lose again if I followed training. Surely, My Prince understands the need for changing the ancient constraints that bind us?”

Prince Phasma gave Amphid a smile.

“This report is what led me to consider you for promotion.”

“So this was some kind of test?”

“Of course. Now, training and orders are two different things…”

“Your Highness, I would never disobey an order!”

He levitated a piece of paper over in front of me. Amphid craned my neck to look at it. It was a document detailing the structure of Legion IV, The Second Line Legion.

“Then sign at the bottom.”

“What is your command, My Prince?” Amphid asked while signing.

“Your orders are to secure the East Coast. The honor and glory of felling Manehattan and its sister cities falls to you, General Amphid. Three brigades from the Seventh will assist you in cracking any stalwart defenses Equestria might place in front of you.

“Now, as General, you hold the same title as nominally myself as general of the Third Legion…”

“My Prince, I could never consider you so low as to be my equal! The fact that any can hold the same title as Your Highness is practically an insult!”

“... Which is why your only true equal is the general of the Fifth Legion, when that spot is filled. It goes without saying that Queen Chrysalis and I are above your station, but if Commander Scorpion of the First or Intelligencer Ocelli of the Second gives you orders, it would be very wise to listen close, if not obey outright. So long as they do not conflict with orders I give, General.”

“I understand, My Prince.”

Prince Phasma picked up a small stack of papers from the corner of the desk and placed them in front of Amphid.

“These detail the structuring of your legion. I expect you to fill the positions within using your own judgement. If you have need for any supplies, file a request with Chamberlain Eucharis, as he is the Captain of the First Logistics Legion.”

“I will do so, My Prince.”

“Good. We will talk more later. Congratulations on the promotion, General Amphid.”

“Your Highness is most generous, I am honored beyond words.”

‘And that’s the Second Line Legion taken care of. I’ll have to get a better view of his leadership later so I can start setting up the Lodges, I bet he is what I’m looking for.’

When the General left my office, I checked the time.

‘Right on schedule.’

I placed the papers back into the stack, and headed out to the throne room. There, Thorax was waiting for me. Specifically, he was staring at the sapphires on Chrysalis’s throne.

“Good afternoon, Prince Phasma.”

“Good afternoon, Praetorian Thorax. Walk with me.”

As we headed out of the main hive spire and into the adjacent secondary spire, I spoke to Thorax.

“My lessons with Queen Chrysalis are nearly complete for I am to spend every hour outside training on founding the Legions. That means you will be sticking with me all day everyday.”

“That sounds great, Prince Phasma! We get to hang out every day?”

“Not ‘hanging out,’ Thorax, though I wish we were. I’m very busy, and as my personal Praetorian, you are expected to be by my side for most of the day when we leave the hive. But before that, you’ll be running errands for me, helping me set up the legions.

“Listen, Thorax, when we’re around Queen Chrysalis, please… keep to yourself. I don’t want you to accidentally give her a reason to set her fangs upon you.”

“I’m glad you’re worried for me, Phas– Prince Phasma. I’ll be careful, I promise. Where are we headed now?”

“The office of the First Logistics Legion.”

“First Logistics Legion? Why do you need a whole legion dedicated to logistics?”

“They will be embedded within every other legion, so they are mostly a legion in name only. The reason why they are separate is…”

‘Fuck, how the hell do I tell Thorax this?’

“They're… They need to… Oh fuck it, they’re the ones who will be rounding up the ponies, putting them in pods, and dealing with the prisoners in general. They need to have a certain level of authority around other legionnaires.”

Thorax quickly whispered to me, “Phasma, you said-”

“I have to prepare for the worst, and I will do this if we don’t have another solution. I mean it. I really hope it doesn’t come to it, but I cannot ignore the possibility. Especially when it's expected of me to plan accordingly.”

Thorax huffed and we walked the rest of the way in silence.

Collecting what I needed from the Logistics office was a quick affair. Chamberlain Eucharis had worked with me to get everything ready for my two Praetorians, as well my Steward when I chose one.

We were picking up the personal armor for Thorax. It was an orange counterpart to Chrysalis’s Praetorians, with no other changes.

When Thorax put the armor on, I could see he was uncomfortable.

“You look good in it, Thorax.”

“That’s because it’s orange, Prince Phasma. It’s no secret that you like orange, considering half of you is that color.”

“Everyone looks good in orange,” I grumbled.

“I don’t like this, but if you say I have to wear it…”

“It’s expected of you.”

“Then fine.”

“... Do you find it strange that you are the same position as your brother?”

Thorax snorted, “Of course. He’s big and tough and wants to protect others. I’m… just a changeling. I want to help others, but protecting? I’m not a fighter.”

“You won’t have to be.”

As he started walking around the room to get a feel for the helmet and peytral, Thorax asked, “Explain your legions to me. I never received officer or guard training, so I don’t know what they are.”

“Sure. The First are the Praetorians, led by Commander Scorpion. Aside from yourself and soon Oestridae, they are loyal to Queen Chrysalis. The Second are the Infiltrators, led by Intelligencer Ocelli. The Third, Fourth, and Fifth are the Line Legions. You can picture them as the main body of the army.

“Then comes the Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth. These are all Specialist Legions, and are comparatively small. They are split up and attached to the three Line legions to fulfill special purposes.

“Finally, the Eleventh and Twelfth are Logistics Legions. The Eleventh are garrison and pony-podders, and the Twelfth are focused on medical aid. I’ve got some ideas I want to experiment with, so having a special group dedicated to medical practices means I can easily change how they operate. If we do find an alternative, they will be the ones implementing it. Again, they will be split up amongst the other divisions.

“Within each Line Legion are Brigades, about five each. The first are command, the rest are main line infantry. Within each Brigade are battalions, made up of squads and whatnot. The Specialist Legions are Battalions directly.”

Thorax stopped walking around, “Oookay, Eleventh and Twelfth are separate divisions for support?.”

“I need to be able to give orders to specifically all the changelings involved in the podding process quickly, and that works best if there is already an established hierarchy within those changelings.”

"Right. Can you repeat the part about everything? Because I'm still a bit lost."

I huffed, "One and Two are important and special. Three, Four, and Five are the main army. Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, and Ten are special. Eleven and Twelve are support.'

“Why didn't you just say that?" I groaned as Thorax continued, "… So I got my armor, Phasma, what’s next?”

“Why, the most important thing a Prince can do. Paperwork.”

25- Remus

Thorax sat in a spare chair, leaned against a wall, staring at the ceiling while I finished up today’s paperwork.

“Y’know, when you said I was going to be a Praetorian, this isn’t what I imagined.”

“You said you don’t want training, right?” I answered without looking up. “That means you can’t even have guard duty– which, need I remind you, is even worse than sitting down and talking to me.”

“That’s fair… Then let’s talk.”

“What do you want to talk about.”

‘Don’t expect me to be a savant at socializing, Thorax. I’ve been alive for half a year, and the two changelings I talk to the most are Queen Chrysalis and Chamberlain Eucharis. Actually, Eucharis isn’t that bad.’

“If… If it were possible to avoid podding and instead work with ponies, would you?”

“Hmmm. There would be the issue of convincing Chrysalis, but maybe. It all depends on how much control the ponies would have over us. If our survival depended entirely on their cooperation, that’s quite the risk. They could simply start shackling us over time, with law after law, until we are utterly at their mercy.”

“And we could completely disrupt their entire civilization, their very way of life. Trust goes both ways, Phasma.”

I sighed and stared at Thorax. “I don’t need friendship lessons.”

That got him to laugh. “Friendship lessons? I get the feeling there are some changelings that definitely do need those.’

“Like Pharynx?”

“I mean... I know he’s rude and a loner, but he’s my brother, ya know?”

“No.”

‘Yes…’

Thorax started to explain how he loves his brother despite how cold Pharynx sometimes is, but I wasn’t listening.

‘Another person I’ll never see again. I wonder if I did see my family again, and when I was reincarnated all my memories of the afterlife were erased. A question that will never get answered, I suppose. The oldest question; what happens after life? This is after my life, and I still don’t know for sure.’

“–asma? Phasmaaa? Hellooo?”

Remembering to breathe, I took in a lungful of air and concentrated on Thorax to my side.

“Sorry, I was… elsewhere,” I spoke softly.

“You okay?”

I opened by mouth to answer but paused.

‘Should I– no, no one must know. There’s no telling how they’d react. Chrysalis especially, she might just off me for worries that someone with outside knowledge and morals is in a position of power here in the hive.’

Something brushed against my hoof, causing me to look down. Thorax had put his hoof on mine.

“Hey Phas, you can tell me anything. What’s going on?”

‘I wish that were true.’

“It’s nothing.”

“Nothing my flank! We’re family– practically brothers– and you trust me, right?”

‘You even swear innocently. How the hell can I say no to that?’

“Of course.”

“Then tell me.”

Thorax looked at me with pleading eyes. At least, I think he did. Hard to express emotion with them when they are one solid color. It’s the eyebrows that have to do all the work.

“.... What do you and your brother do for fun? Together, I mean.”

Thorax smiled, removed his hoof, and started telling me about how they would often take flights together, eat every meal together, and sometimes just walk around the hive. During all of these, they would talk about their day, who they met, and their opinions on pretty much everything.

“I don’t know if Pharynx likes the fact that we eat together as much as I do. Any day where he’s too busy with guard duty to come back to our room, I feel… Like I’m missing part of me.”

“Missing part of you?”

I started at my desk, not looking at Thorax while he spoke his part.

“Yeah. I don’t know how to describe it. It’s like…”

“Like you know they give you a headache sometimes, but you cherish the pain?”

“Uh, sure? I guess that makes sense.”

I brought a hoof up in front of my face.

‘How much of me is missing? Thorax is sitting over there with holes in his hooves, yet he’s more complete than I am.’

I heard a scrape as Thorax got out of his chair and moved closer to me. I turned and saw Thorax at eye level, now that he was standing and I was sitting.

“I forget how old you are often, Phas. I’m sure the entire Fang does. It’s hard to remember that you’re just a half a year old, with so little knowledge of who we changelings are–”

“I passed Chrysalis’s history exams with flying colors.”

“–or how you’re put under far more stress than any other ‘ling in the hive–”

I crossed my forelegs. “Someone’s gotta do something about our problems.”

“–or with no social life.”

“W-what?”

He sighed, “When was the last time you played with another nymph?”

“I’m an adult-”

“When was the last time you played sports? Or took a flight, just for fun, with no one watching? Or played cards with your friends?”

I blinked. “... I never got the chance to.”

Thorax pulled me into a hug, the chair I was sitting on clattered to the ground. Aside from my back hooves on the ground carrying some of my weight, I was limp in his grip as he supported me despite my larger frame.

“Thorax?”

“That’s not okay. None of this is okay, Phas. You want to change this, we all know. Please, let us help you.”

After a short while, I raised my hooves and hugged him back. We were quiet for a few minutes before I spoke again.

I sniffed, “A man can die but once.”

“What’s a man?” Thorax asked, his voice vibrating my chest.

I didn’t answer his question.

“I’ve seen many things, Thorax, despite never being more than a hundred hooves out from the hive. Tell not a soul,” my voice wavered, “and don’t let go. I don’t want to drown the world in flame, all I want is to save my people.”

“... You should take up poetry, Phas,” he whispered back.

“Stop ruining the moment.”

I rested my head on his shoulder.

“Now, we’re going to begin with shield spells. They are the mainstay spell of defensive tactics, and so have the most theory and tactics behind them.”

Officer Katydid’s voice bounced off the comparatively cavernous walls of our empty training room. We had chosen this reinforced room, specially designed for magic training, for our first lesson. Thorax stood off to the side, paying rapt attention. After all, defensive magic was fair game for the pacifist.

“First, cast a baseline all-purpose shield spell, My Prince.”

Recalling Chrysalis’s lessons on the different shield types, as well as Katydid’s own on practicing those, I summoned a basic shield matrix.

Katydid walked up to inspect the shield with a closer eye. He hummed to himself as he looked it over.

“Looks good, let’s see if it actually is good.”

He stepped back and casted a directed force spell.

I felt a twitch in my horn as he did so, the force upon my shield sending feedback to me.

“Still holding up, My Prince? Did you feel anything?”

“A slight twitch in my horn.”

“Normally you would feel a lot more drained from getting hit by that spell. Your mana pool must have deepened considerably over our training and your molting.”

“Convenient.”

“I’m casting again,” he warned me

Then, he flung an ice spear and a fireball at my shield. I felt a slight pulling on my horn, but no pain.

“Still good,” I called out.

“Great! Now let’s say you noticed that I have been favoring fire magic. Switch your shield matrix to counter accordingly.”

Katydid ran through different drills, and quickly switched over to not telling me what he was casting next, and instead left me to adapt accordingly.

As our lessons progressed– and as I got more tired and started looking for excuses to catch my breath– I motioned Thorax to come over.

“Hello, Prince Phasma,” Thorax said, using my full title now that we were not in private.

“Hey Thorax. You should participate in this. You know the material, yeah?”

“Mhmm.”

“Excellent. Hey, Officer Katydid!” I called out, “Praetorian Thorax is swapping out for me for a bit. Start from the basics and go from there.”

He spoke as he trotted over, “A Praetorian? I’m afraid my caliber of spells will not be of much practice for you, Praetorian.”

Thorax didn’t maintain eye contact, “Don’t be too sure about that.”

I came to his rescue as I started walking over to the closest wall to sit next to, “I recruited Thorax here from the general population of the hive, not the guard. I would like him to be at least proficient in defensive spells.”

I collapsed with a sigh against the wall, and watched on.

“Oh, I see. Nice to meet you, Praetorian Thorax. We’ll start at the base level, as His Highness says. A basic shield spell is usually the first defensive spell casted first, even though it’s not very effective. You then switch shield matrices when you figure out your opponents preference…”

I rubbed my horn, which was stinging from overuse after hours of quick casting.

Thorax, while not having a superb mana pool, had half decent reflexes and knowledge recall when it came to adjusting his defenses.

‘Not quick enough for the Praetorian guard, but he would make a fine officer. Not that I would ever force him to be one.’

I sat back and watched as Thorax was slowly worn down over the course of more than half an hour.

When I saw him wince when a particularly large acid surge hit his shield, I yelled over to Katydid.

“That’s enough for now, Officer!”

“I was thinking the same, My Prince!”

I made the effort to push myself off the cold, hard ground that was oh so comfortable and made my way over.

“You did well today. Both of you. I take it Praetorian Thorax will be joining in on our lessons from now on?”

“Just the defensive ones.”

“Yes, I would prefer avoiding the rest.”

Katydid sighed, “I’m actually relieved to hear that. I do not want Her Majesty breathing down my neck when she finds out that Phasma’s lessons were drastically cut due to accommodating another. Not that I don’t want to practice with you, Praetorian.”

“I understand,” Thorax said with a smile. “You don’t have to mince words with me, Katydid. This was fun, if a bit scary. Normally I’d leave this stuff to my brother, but,” he looked at me, “I guess I have to own up to my duties now.”

“I’m glad you find it fun, Thorax. These important lessons are often ignored and neglected by the common Swarm soldier. Now, My Prince, we shall begin the offensive lessons.”

“Yaaay,” I said with mock joy.

As Thorax moved to sit by the wall, began the lesson.

By the end, my horn was stinging something fierce.

“Must we go so long?”

Katydid frowned, “I’m afraid so, My Prince. We have so little time, we need every minute of practice you can get.”

I hesitantly raised a hoof to touch my aching horn, but withdrew it with a hiss after tapping it.

“That’s all for today, Thorax” I said, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Alright, take care Phas. You too, Katydid.”

“Till next time, young Praetorian.”

As we watched him leave, I asked, “Young Praetorian?”

“Thorax is quite young for one, yes, My Prince. His mana well is shallower than almost every other Praetorian I’ve trained with.”

“His brother is a Praetorian, and I was under the impression that they were the same age.”

“Ah, his brother is Pharynx, then?” At my nod, he continued, “Pharynx is also very young for a Praetorian. Normally the Royal Guards, as you intimately know they used to be called, are veterans of the Swarm. Pharynx, on the other hoof, was elevated after taking down a Tatzelwurm single hoofedly. Quite the achievement, My Prince.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that.”

“You, uh… You two are close, My Prince?”

“Why do you think that?”

“Because My Prince, he didn’t call you Prince Phasma. He called you Phas.”

“What? No he didn’t.”

Katydid squinted at me. “Yes, he did, My Prince.”

‘Did he really call me Phas? I don’t think I’ve ever been called by a nickname before…’

“We’ve known each other for some time now, right Katydid?”

“Yes, My Prince. Most of your life, at least.”

“Then you can call me Phasma. No titles between friends, eh?”

“I’m honored that you consider me a friend… Phasma.”

“Say Katydid, what Legion is picking you up?”

“I am to be the Colonel of the 503rd.”

“Ah, General Labrum selected you, then? I would have thought General Amphid of the Fourth would have taken you first chance she got.”

“Yes, Phasma. General Labrum was apparently impressed with my skills.”

“She’s got a good head on her shoulders, that’s why I picked her for that position after filling the Fourth. Should I start calling you Colonel, instead of Officer?”

“No titles between friends, you just said. The paperwork isn’t finalized, either. Apparently we’re waiting on a certain someone to sign everything.”

I groaned when I remembered the growing mountain of paper sitting on my desk.

‘How do we even have that much paper to spare? Chrysalis must be nabbing more from Equestria, if only to make my life more miserable.’

26- Argonauts

“Is there a particular reason why the invasion must happen so soon?” I asked Chrysalis.

We had just wrapped up today’s work. Our lessons now consisted of magic spells and theory and nothing else. She really wanted me to have a veritable arsenal of spells ready when the invasion came.

She looked up briefly from the paper on her desk which had her rapt attention.

“Constraints require the invasion to occur soon. Now be off you, we both have work that must be done.”

“What constraints?” I pushed.

“The ones I have placed on you. You are dismissed, Prince Phasma.”

She looked back down at her paper, ending any chance of further discussion.

‘I’ll keep asking until you give me something. There’s got to be a good reason why you’ve chosen such an early date, I don’t believe you would risk your one chance at victory just to have it sooner.’

I huffed and walked out, shutting the door behind me.

I yawned after leaving Chrysalis’s study. The magic training which had been going on for two weeks at this point was leaving me feeling drained every night and not much better the next morning. I made my way into the throne room, the Praetorians saluting as I walked past them.

Thorax was waiting there, kited with his Praetorian armor. He was looking down at his peytral, the simplistic lines had caught his attention while waiting for me.

“Praetorian Thorax, we’ve a busy day ahead of us.”

He looked up at his name, “Ah, Prince Phasma. Busy for you, or busy for us?”

“Us,” I replied as I started walking out of the throne room and into the main hallway outside.

“Whereto first?”

“The Second Legion.”

“The infiltrators? What do we have to do there?”

“As it just so happens, I received word that the latest recruits are in…”

“The expedition!”

“So we’re going to see if any of the First Fang are there. If not, we’ll go check their usual spots. Do you know what Tarsus was before and during infiltrator class?”

“He instructed nymphs on basic spells. That’s where he met Lacewing, in fact.”

‘With his cheery disposition, I can imagine him having fun teaching nymphs.’

“That’s… I can see him enjoying that job. Why did he go into the infiltrator line?”

“Tarsus didn’t have a choice.”

“Oh.”

We were silent on the way over to the Legion’s offices. Unlike most Legions, the Second had a decent amount of rooms dedicated to their work. In addition to a hooffull of offices, they had storage rooms, meeting rooms, training rooms, and so on. All material and recovered information goes here first, before being sorted and placed into warehouse rooms further down the hive.

Stopping at a large door at the end of the hall dedicated to specifically offices, the one guard at the side saluted me when I came near. I opened the door without knocking.

The changeling at the desk looked up from the report they were writing.

“W- oh. My Prince, I didn’t expect to see you,” Intelligencer Ocelli said with a short bow, placing their quill down.

“Good evening Intelligencer. Has the Second’s restructuring gone well?”

“Yes My Prince. There was little to change, other than some titles and names. Losing a few of my best agents to train the other Legions is quite the setback, but one I can handle, My Prince.”

I nodded, “Good.”

“Though I do hope, if I may be so bold Your Highness, that I will be getting those infiltrators back.”

“They will be back in the Second before the invasion, in time for you to brief them and give them their objectives.”

“Thank you, My Prince.”

“I did not come here just to see if all is well. I heard that the newest recruits had finished their training?”

“Yes, My Prince. Their expedition arrived two days ago.”

“How many will be recruited from the pool?”

“Of the three classes, only thirty two, My Prince.”

“Thirty two out of… Seventy five?”

“That’s right, My Prince. We have nothing but the highest standards, the infiltrator role risks not just the infiltrator’s life but the hive’s existence.”

'I know for a fact that that's no longer true.'

“I would like to see a list of these recruits.”

Ocelli blinked at my strange request, but levitated over a paper with no comment. Reading it through, I saw only Tarsus’s name on the list.

‘No more teaching for him, then. Hope he likes his new role.’

I hoofed it back, or rather I levitated it back, as most of these exchanges of items usually goes.

“That will be all, Intelligencer.”

“Of course, My Prince. Might I inquire as to when the first drafting of the invasion plans will begin?”

“Soon,” was all I replied as I left.

Thorax, having held his tongue throughout the meeting, followed me out. Once we left, however, he broke his silence.

“Who’s on it?”

“Just Tarsus. Lacewing and Coxa must not have made it.”

“Lacewing won’t be happy about that.”

“And we won’t be able to talk to Tarsus anytime soon. I bet he’s not even here in the hive at the moment.”

“So, which are we seeing first?”

“Coxa. The storage section is on the way to the Greencave.”

“Fifth times the charm,” I said, pushing open a side door leading to the room in front of us.

With the workers constantly moving items around, or taking items from the storage rooms in the Infiltrator section using direct access corridors, it was hard to pinpoint a specific changeling working in them.

Coxa’s foreling would not know where he is, so we had to find him ourselves. Four times so far we entered a room, filled with different things from metal to clothing for disguises. Each room had a few changelings constantly buzzing around between rows of shelves. Each time the workers bowed when they noticed my presence.

The fifth warehouse was half filled with chitin, bone, and other organic materials harvested from creatures slain. It was a chilled room, to better preserve its contents.

“Worker Coxa?” I called out.

“Gimme a moment!” Came the reply, several rows down from the door.

I strained to see if I could pick out the changeling, but even with my taller height the shelves were at least two hooves taller than me.

“Some bastards went and threw an entire haul in here. Lazy ‘pillars, no respect for organization!”

A loud thunk echoed in the spacious room as Coxa presumably threw something heavy on the hive-gel shelf.

“Now, what can I do for ya?” He asked, stepping out from the aisle. When he saw me, his eyes widened and jaw dropped.

‘Coxa doesn’t look like a nymph anymore, he’s a full drone now.’

“Phasma? Ya look like shit!”

I rolled my eyes, “Thanks Coxa. You look utterly unremarkable.”

“Better than looking like shit. Lace ‘n I molted during the expedition. What happened to you? Did you start drinking that stuff that pools down at the entrance to the Underhive?”

“Hi Coxa!”

“Oh, hey Thorax. And why’re you wearing guard armor?”

“To answer your first question, I molted for the first time three weeks ago.”

“And I’m a Praetorian!”

Coxa tilted his head.

“You? A Royal Guard?”

“Praetorian,” I corrected. “I had an open position, and he had a shitty job.”

“Phas says I don’t have to fight, just look pretty.”

‘So he DOES call me Phas!’

Coxa leaned against the shelf next to him and pressed a foreleg to the top of his head.

“Oh, Prince Phasma, have you come to whisk me away too? Here to sweep me off my hooves and take me away to a far off tower?”

“Yes, actually. I need a Steward, my paperwork seems to reproduce every time I leave my office. You’re it until you're dead or I find someone better.”

Coxa dropped his foreleg.

“Dead? The hell kinda paperwork do you got?”

“The kind you drown in. Queen Chrysalis has apparently stepped up the infiltrator’s game when it comes to nabbing resources for the hive, paper especially.

“Ooooh. That explains the shelves of the shit we got up in A4. Why didn’t we start taking more sooner?”

I shrugged, “Chrysalis has been rapidly expanding the infiltrators since a bit before I was hatched. The more drones we have out in the field means we can steal more stuff.”

“Aaaand why have we only expanded the infiltrators recently?”

I threw my hooves in the air. “I dunno! Chrysalis has been dodging the question. Best I can figure is that more infiltrators means a bigger risk of being exposed. Also, we did lower our standards a bit, despite what Intelligencer Ocelli wants us to believe. We used to recruit directly from the Royal Guard, but now we’ve expanded to the whole hive.”

“Is that why we had combat lessons before infiltrator class?”

“You all had combat lessons? And never spoke a word of it?”

Thorax leaned over, “Most changelings do. It’s just that those of us in the class had more. Nothing new, and pretty boring stuff.”

“Why did no one tell me during class?”

“Why bother?” Coxa asked. “It’s really standard stuff. You can’t exactly hold a conversation talking about how you casted a stun spell twenty times today. Or ten in nymphs’ cases.”

“I… suppose so. And we did always have better topics to cover.”

“Like the Swarm. The whole expedition heard you’re reforming the Swarm, how’s that going?”

“Where do you think the paperwork is coming from?”

He looked surprised. “Wait, you want me to help you reform the entire Swarm?”

“Just the paperwork. I’ve done all the groundwork for the reforms. You’ve got an analytical mind, and two extra hooves. So I’m dumping at least half of this on you.”

Coxa looked around the cold warehouse.

“My talents are wasted here…”

I leaned towards Thorax and faux whispered behind a raised hoof, “Should I tell him he doesn’t have a choice in this promotion?”

Thorax smiled, “Phas, you wouldn’t do that to one of us.”

“Alright,” Coxa said.

“Alright?”

“Alright.”

“Alright!”

“You two are horrible,” Thorax moaned.

“Thank you,” we both echoed.

“Back to more important topics,” Coxa interrupted Thorax’s whinging, “Molting doesn’t really explain why you look so… drone-y.”

“I think Mother Dearest was doing things she wasn’t supposed to when I was an egg. That would explain the Nurse's reaction when she claimed ignorance. Dunno, I’ll find out… soon.”

“You got a plan for that?”

“I do.” I quickly casted a glance at Thorax and saw him staring at me, mouth shut. “I’ll tell you about it later.”

“Sure you will. We need to tell my boss that I’m quitting, though.”

“Already handled,” I said while turning towards the door. Thorax followed me by my side, with Coxa bringing up the rear.

When we went down instead of up in the vertical shafts meant for flying, Coxa spoke up.

“Hey, uh, My Prince? Isn’t the… whatever-room-you-work-in up at the top?”

“Yes. Lacewing is down below, though.”

27- Sub Rosa

“Thorax, when did you start calling me Phas?”

“You didn’t notice?”

“Apparently not. Katydid was the one who pointed it out.”

“I’ll be more careful with that in public,” Thorax softly said.

“When, though?”

“That day when you picked me to be your Praetorian.”

“Oh.”

“Do... do you want me to stop?”

“N-No.”

“You two should kiss,” Coxa whispered from behind us.

‘These hallway conversations remind me of Mass Effect elevator scenes.’

“Never heard of a Bromance? And keep your jokes limited out in public, Coxa. If word gets around I let such ‘insults’ slide, the Queen will hear about it, and she’ll make me sit through lectures about how I need to have a massive ego.”

“You told me not to make jokes, then immediately made a joke.”

“Do as I say, not as I do.”

Coxa sighed.

“Bromance? Where did you come up with that terminology?” Thorax asked.

“Shush.”

We had arrived at the Greencave. Despite the name, it was actually a complex of large rooms, all linked by a central hub. Inside the hub, changelings bustled about, moving carts of different mosses, soil, plants, and other organic materials.

“My Prince!” Came a surprised voice to my right. At the exclamation, all the changelings looked over, and immediately bowed.

“Rise. I’m not here for an inspection.”

“Then what does My Prince need?"

“I’m looking for a changeling.”

Lacewing had her tongue stuck out to the side, completely absorbed in her work when Coxa called out from behind her.

“Lacewing!”

Lacewing jumped up, hitting her hooves on the bottom of the tray, and her head on the crystal lights hanging above them.

“Ow!”

Lacewing quickly fiddled with the bottom of the tray in front of her
“What’s the big idea, scaring me like that?”

“It’s funny,” Coxa chuckled. Thorax looked uncomfortable.

‘I mean, it kinda was…’

“You’re going to have a lot of problems picking up girls if….” Lacewing said while turning around. She started to stare at me as we approached.

“Phasma…?”

I smiled, “I told you I keep my promises.”

She ran over and tackled me with a hug.

“Oh- Again! You know, I haven’t seen any other changeling get hugged other than myself.”

“That’s because you’re so huggable!” Lacewing squealed.

“Oh...kay?”

A throat cleared behind me, “It’s true, you know.”

“Of course you would claim that, Thorax. To you, every ‘ling is huggable.”

“Wait, Thorax? That Royal Guard–”

“Praetorian.”

“– is Thorax?! Why’re you a guard now?”

I turned my head and saw him sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck.

“Ah, well, Phas got me out of a bind…”

Lacewing let go and backed off.

“Oh. Oh Prince Phasma, have you come here to sweep-”

“Coxa already made that joke.”

“Aww carapace!” Lacewing pouted, though shortly broke off her fit to hoof-bump Coxa when he stretched out a hoof.

“It’s good to see you again, Phasma and Thorax. You both, or rather all three of you, got here quick. How did all three of you manage to shirk duties to come all the way down here?”

“They both work for me.”

“Have you come to recruit me, too?”

I stifled a yawn. “Wish I could. I don’t have anything open, but when I do, you’re at the top of the list. Best I can do right now is a safe position in the Eleventh Legion. That is, unless you’re fond of doing paperwork…?”

“I’ve never done paperwork and I don’t think I’d like it either. I do enjoy working in the Greencave, even if it gets rather… dull.”

“What do you do to keep yourself occupied?” Thorax asked.

Lacewing smiled as she trotted back to the tray she was sitting at. Now that I was closer, I could see that it was filled with blue glowing mushrooms. They had a dark brownish-green hue, with light cyan veins of light snaking through their tops and the entirety of the underside of the caps.

‘Never seen those around the hive for illumination. I wonder what they are for?’

Then I remembered that I could just ask.

“What’re those mushrooms for?”

Lacewing pulled something out from the bottom of the tray as she spoke. “Saturnine. In addition to feeding some of the bugs we keep on hoof, many changelings use it to light up their personal rooms. You’ve never seen it?”

I shook my head.

“Hmm. Anyways, I managed to get something from the expedition to help pass the time.”

She had in her hooves a paper notepad. Lacewing flipped open the cover and showed the pages to us all, who had gathered around her while she removed the pad from her apparent hiding spot.

There were crude sketches of pony, houses, plants, a squirrel, and trees.

“Wow,” Thorax gasped, “I love your drawing of that creek there!”

“Thanks! I saw it and just had to sketch something quick!”

“Lace, I don’t remember seeing you stop to sketch all this,” Coxa said.

“Most of these are brief drawings,” she sighed. “Wish I could do something in detail.”

“How’d you get this?” I asked.

“I bought it. With pony money. At a pony store.”

“From a griffon?”

“No, from a– oh, har har har.”

We eventually extracted ourselves from Lacewing’s nonexistent hair after a few minutes of conversation– I was still busy, after all– and after she extracted promises from us to keep meeting with her. And to bring Oestridae along.

My companions and I headed up to the main hive spire so I could get to work on today’s needlessly in-depth paperwork.

‘Apparently not even severe resource scarcity brings an end to bureaucracy. Horrid.’

When we entered the main hall, I swear I could see Thorax’s wings start to vibrate when he got close to the Savior’s doors. Coxa, on the other hoof, looked unimpressed.

“I mean, it looks nice and all, but I don’t see what’s special.”

“That’s not surprising, drone,” came a deep voice from the side of the main door.

The Praetorian on duty spoke. When he stepped forward and into the light of the open windows, I quickly recognized the edgelord. Thorax beat me to the punch, though,

“Pharynx!”

“Thorax? Why’re you wearing orange Praetorian armor?”

“He’s my personal guard.”

Pharynx reared back in disbelief.

“Thorax? You’re… what?”

Thorax scuffed a hoof on the ground before coughing, “Ahem. Yeah I’m not actually working down in excavation anymore.” He ducked his head when Pharynx glared at him. “Don’t be mad, please?”

Pharynx groaned and put a hoof to his forehead. “Why… Ugh. My Prince Phasmatodea, what is the meaning of this, if I may ask?”

I smiled, “Well I knew that you worked hard to achieve your position, dedicating so much of your time to constantly training, completely dedicated to the survival of the hive, and one of our best warriors. So I promoted your brother to the same level, despite the fact that he’s a pacifist, ill suited to physical training, and most definitely not capable of following any order given to him without question.”

Pharynx stared at me with a blank expression. I gave him a small smile in response and walked into the throne room, turning away so I can keep a straight face easier.

“O-oh, I guess I’ve got to go now. We’ll talk later tonight, okay Pharynx?”

“We'll be talking alright. I’ll see you then, Thorax.”

Queen Chrysalis sat on her throne, speaking with a few members of her higher court. I directed our group around the edge so as to not attract her attention, but I really should have known better.

“Prince Phasma,” she called from her overpriced stone chair.

“Queen Chrysalis,” I responded from across the room.

“Who is that drone you are dragging in, now?”

“My new Steward.”

“I see I do not need to inform you how useful delegation is. Do not let your standards slacken or attention waver, Prince Phasma.”

With that, she returned to her conversation with Chamberlain Eucharis and the rest of her attending court.

‘Great conversational skills there, Bug-mom. She’s probably just happy that I’m working hard to keep the invasion on schedule.’

I motioned Coxa and Thorax to follow again. Coxa was still silent, though clearly was no longer unimpressed. He was wise enough to hold his tongue until we stepped into the royal wing and into my personal study.

In preparation for the Stewardship role, I got in a whole ‘nother desk and chair. A small desk, and stuffed into the close left corner from the door, but I’m sure Coxa wouldn’t mind.

When Thorax and Coxa entered, I shut the door behind them. I then pointed at the desk.

“That’s yours, my Steward.”

“Wowiee. A whole desk for doing paperwork. You’re spoiling me, Phasma.”

Thorax took his usual seat on the back left corner as I sighed, while Coxa lounged in the chair behind his new workstation. I then took my spot at the big boy desk in the middle.

“I tried getting a gold plated mahogany desk imported from the farthest corner of the globe, but Chrysalis said that will have to wait till after we conquer Equestria.”

Coxa snorted, “In that case, I suppose I’ll just have to suffer then.”

“Oh come now Coxa,” Thorax spoke up as he leaned back. “We’re not that bad. At least, I’m not.”

“Wait, did you just deride me, Thorax? I didn’t know you were physically capable of talking low of others.”

“I think you’re rubbing off on me.”

Coxa snickered. “Is that what you two do in here all day?”

“Y’know, on second thought, Lacewing would make a better Steward. Now that you’re here though, I need to ask you to do something.”

“I’m not rubbing–”

“Coxa, please, this is serious. I need your help, as well as any loyal changelings in this. And by loyal, I mean… to me,” I finished in a whisper

Coxa stood up straight and I heard the shuffling of Thorax’s chair behind me.

“To… you?” Coxa whispered back.

“That’s right.”

“Are you…?”

“I might.”

“W-.... Why?”

“Chrysalis claims that all my siblings died mostly natural deaths, though she was rather callous with them. I think at least a few tried to rebel, and she murdered them and covered up their deaths.”

“What?” Thorax gasped from behind me.

‘Good thing there’s no Game of Thrones in this world, Thorax would have a heart attack by the end of the first episode… Joking about my siblings’ potential murder leaves a bad taste in my mouth, though.’

Coxa looked at the door.

“Is this… We’re awfully close to….”

“Which is why your first task is to find somewhere we can talk and meet. The entire First Fang, and any ‘ling else we can trust.”

“And then you’re gonna….?”

“We’ll see. I’m going to get some answers soon.”

“From where?”

I mouthed ‘The Vault.’

28- Thoth

I leaned against the wall as a yawn overtook my entire body. After today’s lessons, I was ready to just go to sleep.

‘Fuck magic training. Fuck combat training. Can’t I ever catch a break?’

“Prince Phasma,” Chrysalis called out from her study.

‘Nope, no breaks allowed. I’d be mad if it wasn’t for the fact that this works to my advantage.’

“Yes, Queen Chrysalis?” I asked as I slowly walked into her study. She was sitting behind her desk, staring at a report.

“Officer Katydid says that you are falling behind on your combat lessons. Far behind.”

I stiffened.

“I am?”

She looked up at me.

“You are not a warrior, however you are still expected to hold your own in battles. You did well in establishing the Ninth Legion to assist us, but they are merely drones. We are royalty, expected to not be a disappointment when it comes to fighting. After all, we are the embodiment of the Weave, the will of the hive made manifest.”

“I....”

“I am not blind to your efforts, Prince Phasma. You are failing not for lack of trying, but you are failing nonetheless. So, I have arranged for the forging of a new piece of wargear.”

My mouth dropped.

“Wargear? For my failures?”

“To make up for them. A warhammer, to utilize your raw magical strength when facing foes. I will concede that you may be too busy outmaneuvering the ponies on the entire warfront to maneuver the one standing in front of you. I need you to focus on the Legions and the war at large.”

She motioned to the fireplace on my right, and I looked over and saw a long box leaning against the couch. Picking it up with my levitation and opening it, I pulled out a warhammer made of the same lime green material as my Peytral which sat in my room. I had chosen not to wear that thing outside of ceremonies and the invasion itself.

It had a similar motif of thin lines and swirls around its head, its shaft made of an unknown wood. The two sides of the head had a ruby embedded on them.

“Since your studies have kept you away from the enchantment field of magical studies, I created this myself. With this hammer, shatter your foes. With your cunning, end them.”

I felt its smooth, cold surface. I could feel enchantments– weak as they were- slowly coursing through the strange, alien metal.

“You will begin using the hammer in training immediately. What you hold in your hooves is several expeditions worth of Adamantine, sourced from the Underhive itself. Your peytral, even moreso.”

“Don’t lose them, got it.”

“That would be most unwise. It also needs a name. All legendary weapons have one, and this is the hammer that will bring the end to Equestria.”

‘To further fear the changelings is redundant; to hate them, heretical. Yet ultimately, it was I who who set these events into motion, with a single blow from my hammer:’

“God-Splitter.”

The metal seemed to ripple as I named it in the Weave, and I knew intrinsically that this hammer was indeed named God-Splitter.

"You are dismissed."

Chrysalis returned to the report on her desk, but I wasn’t done. After all, I could gain something very useful from this conversation.

‘Now, to get you to check the vault’s contents.’

“Say, Mother. Has there ever been a changeling who could… see the Great Tapestry?”

“We are all part of the Great Tapestry, Prince Phasma.”

“I mean, really see it. During my… transition into a nymph, I had a strange vision. I saw the Threads, there was no mistaking them, as well as… Something else.”

Chrysalis sighed, “Do not waste my time with the nonsense that fills your mind when you slumb–”

“I spoke with a demon.”

Her attention was focused once again on myself.

“She claimed to be someone named Princess Luna, the sister of Princess Celestia.”

Chrysalis slowly straightened up and took a deep breath.

“What did this demon say?”

“She would be returning soon. Has there ever been a Princess Luna?”

Chrysalis was silent for a moment before speaking, “Yes.”

“Did, or rather does, she know about us changelings?”

“I doubt it.”

“Then how did she know what I was?” I lied.

‘I am paying a lot of secrets and information for this, but I do expect to get some in return…’

Chrysalis was silent for even longer now. Half a minute passed before she spoke again.

“Do not converse with this demon, and report whatever it says next time it speaks to you in your dreams.”

“My dreams? Does this demon normally speak to changelings in their dreams?”

“Princess Luna is known to walk the Dreamscape, a realm similar to the Weave.”

‘Just keep pressing and keep giving her reasons to check the vault tonight.’

“I see. Has there ever been a changeling who could walk such a realm as well?”

“I… am unsure. Return to your duties and leave this matter to me, Prince Phasma.”

“As you command, Queen Chrysalis. I will report any further contact with the demon.”

I returned to my chambers, laying God-Splitter against the wall by my bed. I would need what little rest I got before heading down and checking in on Oestridae in a few hours.

It was a few hours later that I heard Chrysalis return to her room after leaving the royal wing. I had my head pressed against my door to listen, and had been there ever since. I probably dozed off a dozen times.

For good measure, I waited another hour before opening the door and quietly walking out.

As I exited the wing, I nodded to the Praetorian on duty. An acquaintance I knew from shifting around the Royal Guard into the Praetorians. One of the few Praetorians I had the names of. Another, I knew for a fact, was on vault duty with Oestridae.

The throne room itself did not have any Praetorians during the night shift, only the main doors leading to the throne room, as well as the door to the royal wing.

You’d think with the paranoia that Chrysalis exudes, she would want the throne room filled with guards at all hours of the day. Regardless, I left the royal with a grumpy look and a fast pace as I headed towards the Savior’s doors. Confidence is how you get away with everything, after all.

‘If Chrysalis asks, I’ll just say I couldn’t sleep– mentions of demons, and all that– and that I figured I might as well pick up some paperwork from the empty Legions offices to fill out.’

I passed through the Savior doors without looking back at the Praetorians standing guard. Making my way through the hive was quite the change of pace. During the day, it was a constant buzz– heh, insect puns– of activity. At night, there was only the scant drone, usually a guard on patrol.

If they were confused why their Prince was wandering the halls at night, they had the awareness to not ask me. So, I made it to the vault without being stopped.

Not that I went in a straight line to the vault, no. I made sure I was seen heading towards the spire that held the Legion offices, before using empty side hallways to get all the way down to the base of the hive.

There, Oestridae was waiting. The other guard on duty, Praetorian Weevil, was a good lad. Friends with Coxa, as it turned out. The two were clutch-mates, having grown up in the same brood. They were as thick as thieves, and probably did no small amount of thieving during their time together.

It’s probably a universal law that every military organization has their fair share of cutthroats, the ones you go to when you need to get shit. I think in the US it was called the E-5 Mafia or something.

But my attention was not on either Oestridae or Weevil, it was on the door in between them. I saw the grand vault door for the first time, only openable by Queen Chrysalis. Circular, with a swirling pattern converging on a blue scorpion in the middle, Chrysalis’s sigil.

The door sat before me, between Oest and Weevil, opened.

‘Un-fucking-believable. Miracles exist, and alarms don’t.’

It didn’t look like it opened, but that’s because it was just slightly ajar. I might have even not noticed if it weren’t for the fact that Oest was waving me over.

Weevil looked only slightly confused, meaning Oest must have told him something.

“Good morning, Oest.”

“Hey Phasma.”

“My Prince.”

“Hello to you too, Praetorian Weevil. Coxa has told me a lot about you.”

“Whatever he said, it isn’t true. Unless you need something cheap, then it might be.”

“Right,” I mumbled as I looked at the door. “It’s really open?”

“Yes,” Oestridae helpfully confirmed.

“This isn’t a trick of the light? It’s really opened?”

“Your suspicions were correct, Phasma.”

In my sleep deprived-state, I mustered enough energy to be only just slightly paranoid about this. Something had finally gone my way! Month after month of hard work with no breaks at all were worth it, the universe had just thrown me the juiciest bone. Or, two, to be specific.

Two miracles. One, no alarm. Two, the vault locked itself after being shut, meaning Chrysalis just lazily closes it behind her. That second one is a double edged sword, as if it closes while I’m inside, I will be unable to leave until Chrysalis herself unlocks it.

That’s just a bit worse than being caught with my hand in the cookie jar. Just a bit. The vault was just a bit more important than a vessel for storing treats.

The Records Vault. Ever since its creation hundreds of years ago, it has held the most important commodity found within the hive: information. Never has any changeling other than a royal stepped hoof within it.

Furthermore, never has it been breached to the extent of my knowledge. It is guarded and locked shut with a massive vault door built with millennia old magic and with intertwining and unbreakable locks….

But today, I got lucky. The odds of my hopes being dashed were so high I didn’t want to think about them. I must have used up my entire life’s luck in scoring this, but I didn’t care. What mattered was the vault’s security.

With only the royals being capable– or rather, trained– in enchantment spells, there was not much time for discovering and practicing enchantments. As such, the vault, despite being the most enchanted object in the entire hive, was less secure than most Equestrian vaults.

To be specific, this vault lacked an enchantment that acted as an alarm that sounded when the vault was left open for too long. Perhaps it had one if the lock was tampered with, but I was not doing such a thing.

I have a piece of technology that cannot be beaten. A device created to crack the uncrackable, break open that which has never been pilfered, defeat all known levels of security that the vault possesses.

I have a doorstop.

One that Oestridae, as stealthily as he could, wedged into the door as Chrysalis left the vault.

‘Chrysalis would be tired after leaving the vault after such a long day. Even if she noticed the guards had changed since she entered, why would she care? She also apparently didn’t look back or make sure it was locked, or else I’d be having a very different conversation right now.’

There were no two ways about it: this is a Deus Ex Machina, it was only time to tell how much value it held.

Oest helped me pry the door open, with Weevil acting as lookout. Not that it mattered, the door was at the end of a long hallway, and if some ling came, I would have no valid excuse to be here.

The vault door swung open on quiet hinges, with us using our magic to help pull it open the rest of the way.

“Now, keep that doorstop in there, Oest. I’d rather not have my chitin peeled off layer by layer if Chrysalis finds out I was in there, simply because I locked myself in.”

“D’ya really think she’d do that, My Prince?” Weevil asked.

“No idea. Probably not, but I’d rather not take the chance and find out.”

“Go on in, Phasma, we’ll stay out here.”

I nodded to Oestridae, and headed inside. Oest closed the door behind me, remembering to put the wedge in the door so it didn’t close all the way. The door was closed in the first place just in case any ‘lings have reason to come down here, either on patrol or for some unexpected reason.

As I entered, lights started flickering on, starting close to me and working their way to the back of the room. The vault was a large room, filled with rows of shelves, each filled to the brim with books.

In the center, a simple table with a chair.

‘It’s gonna take days to trawl this place to find what I need. Now, if I were Chrysalis, where would I write down the fates of my children…?

Looking to my side, I saw a plinth where a small book lay. I trotted over and opened it up. It was an index of the vault.

‘That’s a fucking relief. Chrysalis didn’t memorize the contents of the vault by heart– or at least their location– and actually wrote down their locations. Or maybe her predecessors did.’

I skimmed through the different sections and picked out a few that caught my attention. Personal journals, reports on the death of notable changelings, historical records, and medical records.

There were sections dedicated to powerful spells, I could tell, but considering I was struggling to multicast even the basic spells, such lofty pursuits were beyond me. I had more pertinent things to focus on, anyways.

I collapsed in the chair. I had been skimming books for at least an hour and a half now. Exhaustion now permeated throughout my entire body.

I found some interesting things, like the fact that Chrysalis did in fact experiment on a lot of eggs in her time. Most never hatched. Mine did. There was a report on what exactly she did to me, but almost all of the technical jargon was beyond me.

‘Glad I’m not still-born. Still-hatched. Jeez, thanks mom.’

I found out that Chrysalis murdered her mother, Queen Sphecidae.

‘Not surprising. What else would kill a ruling changeling monarch? Matricide is totally within Chrysalis’s purview.’

Chrysalis detailed a number of her frequent activities. Chrysalis even wrote that she, on occasion, left the hive to go ‘play with the ponies.’

Her words, not mine.

‘She’s probably detailing all of this knowing that there’s a good chance her successor is her murderer. If all the monarchs hoarded their knowledge out of spite, we would know nothing about our own history. And if your successor had opened the vault, then you’re most likely dead already.’

‘It’s rather pragmatic, and totally in line with us royals.’

Most of the information in this vault was written during this Fourth Hive period. Some of the knowledge was ferried from the older hives, carried away during their collapses. The further back you get, the exponentially less survived. There is just one book from the First hive, written on a very high level enchantment spell that seven other books built on.

I learned I was also the first to breach the vault as never before had any changeling royal tried my method of breaking in. Almost every single one of them just outright removed the vault door at the beginning of their reign, and created and enchanted a new one to take its place.

That meant that they were not building on each other’s security, and while my method might not have worked in the past, Chrysalis neglected to plan for it this time. The opposite is true as well; something that would not work this time would have worked on a past iteration of the vault door.

I found other methods of extracting love.

They were not pleasant. Spells, Drills, lobotomization, the list went on.

I also found a mind control spell. I had said to myself that high-tier spells were beyond me, but I saw a book titled “Mind Manipulation,” and while its contents were above my skill level– far above– I decided that I might have use for it in the future. The far future.

If I ever lived to that point....

I had found the fates of my brothers and sisters.

Many did die as Chrysalis said they did. The most common method of death was during Underhive expeditions. We got a lot of our best materials and minerals from down there, so it was the princes’/princesses’ duty to bring that material back to the hive. Unfortunately, a lot of big bad nasties made those tunnels their homes.

The second most common cause of death was... Reprocessing. Many of these also had a note of rebelling just before their mysterious death.

That sounds vague, and these journals didn’t really use euphemisms. My best guess was that they were murdered and their bodies thrown into the acidic recycling vats.

‘So she does kill them. I figured that, though it’s nice to have it confirmed. It also means that she is absolutely capable of murdering me when convenient.’

‘This also removes any doubt that creating the Warrior Lodges is a bad idea. If she has a history of murdering her children, then I want a loyal powerbase within the hive to back me if it comes to blows.’

If. I still hadn’t decided if I was going to rebel or not.

‘On one hoof, she kills those who rebel. On the other, who’s to say she won’t kill me when we win? The best way to secure her own survival is to end mine.’

‘Is this my own overactive paranoia? If I am happy with second-in-command, which I sorta am, then she wouldn’t need to kill me. Would she think that, though?’

My mind was going in circles. In the end, I decided to prepare for the worst, and hope for the best.

‘This changes nothing. Create the Warrior Lodges. Secure the loyalty of the Legions. Create some plan for removing Chrysalis. Go through with the invasion. Somehow, avoid getting murdered. Find a better alternative to podding. Maybe Thorax can help. Really, I need another Deus Ex Machina for that, but that’s a problem for future me.’

I sighed and collapsed onto the desk. My dried out eyes were really stinging by this point, and my horn was aching something fierce from the levitation and spells I had used today.

‘This is no place for rest. I need to get back to my room before Chrysalis wakes up, and I have to come from the Legion offices first.’

I sat up straight and accidentally knocked a book off the table.

As I bent over to pick it up with my fetlocks– my horn was still hurting– I noticed some shapes on the ground beneath me. In fact, beneath the table was an entire mural.

Written in a spiral pattern were a series of symbols. Symbols I recognized, though only knew about four. They were the same symbols that decorated the tapestries and banners that hung in the throne room, the ones that Thorax had gushed on about.

I recognized the symbols for Magic, Emotion, and Change. A nine pointed star, a heart, and a double helix respectively. The rest, I did not know. They were a collection of everything from pictographs to what looked like greek letters.

‘Why is this here?’

I picked the book up, revealing the symbol for Together. The double helix popped up from the ground with a click.

I froze, though no alarm sounded.

‘No way. No fucking way.’

There were faint edges between the spirals of symbols, meeting at a point in the center, and a circle around the entire mural. It looked like a sealed aperture.

‘This is a puzzle lock. There is a vault within the vault.’

I had broken into the most secure room in the entire hive, only to find a smaller, more secure one inside.

29- Horus

Thorax slumped to the ground.

“Nothing?”

“Nothing better than podding,” I said as I paced the room. My breath formed small clouds in front of me as the cold air of the storage room we were in kept me awake. Two days after the vault, and I never stopped thinking of its contents.

‘And that puzzle.’

I asked Thorax to teach me more about the symbols, but that was going very slowly. I’d need a better teacher for those.

Coxa and Lacewing shared a look, but added nothing. Oestridae watched on quietly.

Thorax stared at a spot in front of him on the floor. “What… what else was there?”

I stopped. “My siblings. The princes and princesses.” I turned and saw the First Fang looking at me expectantly. “Many went as Chrysalis said. But plenty were… reprocessed.”

“Reprocessed?” Coxa, Thorax, and Lacewing said in unison.

“Probably thrown into the recycling vats. Guess even changeling royals have limits when it comes to their down deeds, and have a hard time stomaching their… murders.”

“Now what?” Thorax asked quietly.

“If Equestria falls, there’s no telling what Chrysalis will do. She might let me live. Might. I am not staking my life on the hopes that my cold, distant mother cares enough about me to, from her perspective, risk her own survival for my sake. And to that end, I need your help. In fact, I need more than just the First Fang.”

My eyes wandered around the room. The cold storage we were in held the grisly remains of whatever creatures were kept as livestock for their component parts– bugs, from the looks of it, and Lacewing’s comment in the Greencave– as well as parts from creatures from the Underhive. A Tatzelwurm fang here, a Great Uttu mandible there. That last one was slated to be carved into a holy symbol, Coxa had told me.

“I need the backing of the Legions.”

“You made them,” Lacewing said, “Surely they will be loyal to their creator?”

I shook my head. “No. They are loyal to their commanding officer, who is in turn loyal to the highest link in the chain of command. If it came down to it, they would side with Queen Chrysalis rather than High Marshal Prince Phasma.”

“So how do you plan on getting their loyalty?” Coxa questioned.

‘By reaping what I sow. Chrysalis made a mistake in letting me choose the commanders.’

“With your help, I will establish the Warrior Lodges within the Legions. Clandestine meetings and groups, whose members take leave of rank to speak openly and freely.”

Thorax’s head tilted as he asked, “Wait. You want to secure their loyalty by letting them talk freely?”

I started to pace in a line again.

“That’s right. They speak their minds in these lodges. At first it will seem, uh, benign. Let’s say that I am establishing them to gather opinions and ideas from them. Things like letting them give a nickname to their own legion, or ideas for tactics.

“Then, we transition to questioning Chrysalis. Why are we risking our one chance at conquering Equestria by launching this invasion far earlier than it needs to be? Shouldn’t the one who made the Legions have more say in how they will be used? After all, he would know best how to utilize them the greatest.”

Coxa nodded, “You’re talking a lot of sense to me.”

“And the broods. They seem to be inherently inferior to the concept of families, so why does Chrysalis enforce their existence? Is she making our lives worse, separating us from each other, to cement loyalty to her? Or rather, to mitigate loyalty to others?”

Thorax stood up, “Yeah!”

“Why have the infiltrators been so few in number, when we have been struggling for food? Is our suffering artificially created by Chrysalis so she can have ultimate say in each of our lives? Give us duties without question? Why can’t we have artists, writers, or more infiltrators to gather love?”

“I wanna paint!” Lacewing cheered.

“Why does Chrysalis choose only now to go after Equestria, after so long of sitting on her ass? Why didn’t she address our hive’s issues before they became so disastrous? Will she fix future problems before they become as bad as they are now?”

Oestridae nodded slowly.

“Queen Chrysalis has ruled for centuries and she never lifted a hoof to help the hive. Only now, with my hatching, does she get her ass off her throne to help out the common drone. But can we really trust her? Queen Chrysalis is a threat to the hive.”

“Then what?” Oestridae asked.

“What? After I get the Legions’ loyalty?”

He nodded again.

“Then… We force her to come to the negotiation table. We say, ‘hey, we don’t want to fight you, but things need to change.’ Show her that we are willing to be loyal, in exchange for a change to the status quo. With Equestria capitulated, she won’t have any reason to deny our demands.”

Coxa shook his head, “You’re putting a lot of trust into the idea that Chrysalis will play along. She’s ruled the hive for centuries, you think she’d let go of that control so easily?”

“Which is why we also need to devise a plan to kill Chrysalis.”

Thorax hissed, “There’s got to be another way!”

“It’s… very likely that this will end with one of us dead. We will approach her, willing to compromise, but ready to attack. Push comes to shove, we can retreat while the Legions turn on Chrysalis.”

“But, what if she just kills you after, Phas?”

“Then I will become a martyr in death. My name will be a rallying cry against Chrysalis. You won’t be able to kill her– doing so would mean the extinction of the royal caste– but you can take away her power and imprison her forever.”

“No,” Lacewing declared. “I won’t risk that. You can’t throw away your life, you’re only seven months old!”

I sniffed. “If we are willing to negotiate, Chrysalis will have no leg to stand on. If she tries to kill me, she takes away all her credibility. If we try to kill her first, we risk losing our moral high ground.”

“I don’t want to fight anyone, but I also don’t want to lose you, Phas.”

“Those who dare, win, Thorax. If we are to get the changes we want, we must be willing to risk what we have. You all will work with friendly contacts I have in the legions to establish the Warrior Lodges. From there, we will spread the idea of free thinking. Then, we plant the idea of disloyalty to Chrysalis. Is everyone clear on that?”

“I don’t like it,” Thorax moaned, and Lacewing nodded.

“It’s better than doing nothing. We can think about it more while we make the Lodges. I’ll contact each of you later with more information on who to talk to within the Legions. Oestridae, I’m making you my other Praetorian now that the vault has been cracked. If we need to, we can get two Praetorians loyal to myself to crack it again if we need to go back.”

‘For the puzzle lock, to be specific.’

“And the podding?”

“Thorax, I want you to try to figure out an alternative while we make the Lodges. The rest of the First Fang will be too busy to figure out an alternative, so I want you to discreetly look into that. I’ll contact you all later with instructions, and I’ll see you two,” I pointed at Coxa and Thorax,” tomorrow.”

I made my way to the side door we used to enter before stopping.

“Oh, and if any of you see Tarsus, tell him I want to speak with him as soon as possible. I’ll get him on board with this, and he can help create a Lodge within the infiltrators.”

That night I dreamt of frozen tundra mountains, rising above a raging blizzard.

Sitting on a snowbank at the peak of one mountain, I could not stop shivering. The cold, though I knew it wasn’t real, bit straight to my core. The wind howled in my ears as I curled up into a ball, covering my face with my fin-like tail.

“Thou dreams of a cold winter’s night? Must be sweltering down on Equus.”

“N-n-not r-r-really.”

I poked my head out of my tail to see Nightmare Moon standing above me, looking at me with a puzzled expression.

“Thou are controlling this dream. Do so.”

‘I’ve never tried lucid dreaming before. Well, here goes nothing.’

I imagined the cold seeping away. Slowly, the biting chill receded from my body, and soon enough even the snow I was sitting on had no temperature at all.

“That was… easier than I’d thought it would be.”

“Thou are a natural Dreamwalker of great untapped potential. ‘Tis the reason We could sense thy kindred soul.”

“And here I thought it was my good looks that caught your attention.”

Nightmare Moon snorted, "Thou doth look different. Thy visage has changed, what for?"

"I've entered the adult stage of my life."

"Only just? Thou art very young, Prince Phasmatodea." Nightmare Moon turned to look at the blizzard raging beneath us.

"I've got an old soul."

“Dispel thy tempest. We only can see Equus through the mind’s eye of dreamers, and We yearn for more than moondust.”

I sat up to get a better look at the dark storm beneath us. I imagined the blizzard fading away, the winds dying down. Sure enough, the raging storm below the mountain dissipated, revealing a snowy valley, with a small church on top of a craggy peak in the middle.

“We doth not recognize this valley, yet We hath trotted the world over. Where are we?”

“Ariandel,” I whispered.

We were behind the church’s main entrance, on a cliff overlooking the whole valley. A rope bridge extended out of view from behind the church, and beneath the snowy butte was the ruins of a coliseum. Snow, rock, and windswept trees covered every surface.

“Ariandel? A real place then, not a construct of your fantasy. What species calls this glacial abbey their home?”

‘I don’t know what I can and cannot lie to her about. I could lie about this, but what if she asks a question later about this that I can’t lie to? Better just say half-truths, I can just say this is fictional after all.’

“A tall species of apes.”

“Verily? It is very much in character for the Stormmen to live in a frigid waste such as this. We must see this abbey up close, then!”

‘Stormmen? There’s a sapient species of apes on this world? Why wasn’t I told about this? I want opposable thumbs AND magic!’

Nightmare extended her massive pegasus wings– cooler than mine– and took flight. I quickly buzzed my wings in pursuit, but struggled to keep up. Changelings’ natural wings were better for maneuverability rather than speed, after all. Thankfully, there was not much distance to fly.

I caught up with her at the main doors. Even at our larger-than-average heights, the doors were still far larger than us. She put a hoof against the massive doors and pushed, but they did not budge.

‘The door does not open from this side,’ I thought with a snicker.

“Prince Phasmatodea, command this door to open. We must see the interior!”

I shrugged, “I can’t do that.”

“Ah. Thou hast merely gazed upon this church from afar and do not know its interior. ‘Twould explain the low detail.”

Leaning closer, I saw that the church, and everything else, seemed low-poly. In her excitement, Nightmare must have not noticed such an important detail.

‘Dreams cannot extrapolate from memory, probably unless I specifically command it to. In addition, Nightmare really wants to see anything other than the moon, despite being her namesake.’

“Yes… So, I’ve been meaning to ask, how are we able to speak right now?”

“Thou hath said it before; thou slumbers deeply.”

“Not this time.”

“Oh? Thy nascent dreamwalking powers must be awakening. In time, thou will be able to dreamwalk on command.”

“I can dreamwalk? That would explain how I could sense a pony’s dream once… What’s the catch?”

“Thou art catching something?”

“No, what are the consequences of this?”

“The Dreamscape is host to a myriad of… miseries. Demons, parasites, other-worldly beings. Walking the Dreamscape is akin to…”

“Ringing the dinner bell?”

“Verily.”

‘Gonna need a Gellar field for this.’

“Good thing I have the most dangerous demon by my side when I dreamwalk.”

“Demon? Choose thy next words carefully, young Prince.”

‘Oh shit.’

“Uh….”

“Uh?”

“I mean, w-... y-… Ah to hell with it, you’re powerful and terrifying. I don’t really have a frame of reference for that, given that I’ve never met an alicorn before you.”

‘Bug-mom’s pretty powerful and terrifying, but she’s just a cheap imitation of you, really.’

Nightmare’s eyes narrowed and I gave a nervous fangy smile.

“Though We do cultivate an aura of fear and power, thou will do well to remember that We are an alicorn, not an evil apparition.”

“Trust me, that’s not a mistake I’ll ever make again.”

“No, We think not.” Nightmare straightened up, looking at the sky. “Thou–”

I sheepishly rubbed the back of my neck as Eucharis stared daggers at me.

My war hammer was embedded in the wall right next to him.

“Sorry?”

“This is the last time I wake you up!”

30- Aequitas

Cataglyphis stifled a yawn as he stood in at parade rest.

‘Not supposed to be here. I’m just a lichen grower, I belong in the Greencave not the training yard.’

His sergeant was having the squad running drills.

“Alright grubs!” Sergeant Apidae belted out, “To wrap up the day: urban fighting. This here’s a house. A pony house. Filled with ponies.” He pointed to a door behind him on the back of the training room. “The boys in the Eleventh filled it with ‘ponies’ just for us. Breach and clear it, as you were trained to!”

The ten changelings started to take their places by the door, only to be hurried along by the Sergeant.

“C’mon grubs! This is war, no time for a picnic! MOVE IT!”

With a bit more pep in their step, the changelings formed to columns on either side of the door. The first changeling on the left of the door nodded, and kicked the door open. The first changeling on the right leaned in and quick-casted a flash spell.

The squad rushed into the room, tackling hive-gel cutouts of ponies to the ground, casting stun spells first. They quickly spat their gel excretions on the bottom of the cutouts, as if binding each target to the floor.

Unicorn cutouts got an additional shot to the horn and pegasus cutouts got one to the base of the wings.

They then cleared the small building room by room, all five of them. Kick the door open, flash spell, then rush in and stun every pony they see. Then, subdue them. Move onto the next room.

‘This sure is a massive house, do ponies really have this much space?’ Cataglyphis thought idly.

“Clear!” Called the group that moved into the last room. With the building clear, the squad exited the training area and returned to parade rest in front of Sergeant Apidae.

“Three minutes two seconds. Not bad, but next time some boys from the Fifth will be playing defenders. You can take down a cutout, but can you take down an enemy unicorn casting spells? Well you’d better, or I swear by Panar I’ll have you running laps from now till the Promised Day! Dismissed!”

The changelings broke formation and slowly walked to the exits. They did not groan as they did so, that was quickly proven to be a bad idea by the eager Sergeant.

“Hey Cata!”

Cataglyphis turned his head and saw Lacewing headed towards him.

“Hey Lace, got no one else to bug?”

“Not really.”

“Uh, right. You headed to the Greencave, too?”

She smiled, “Course I am, silly! We both work there.”

“What– oh yeah, you work in fungi! How’s that working out for ya?”

They turned onto the main hallway and started to make their way down to the Greencave. Cataglyphis remembered that Lacewing can’t fly, so he led the way to the stairs.

“Oh it’s alright, not much to complain about. My friends have a hard time finding the time to come all the way down to my work to hang out, though.”

‘Hang out? What?’

“Who are you friends with that can just skip their duties to talk? They guards on patrol or something?”

“Sorta. So, you got those Sarcodons and Hydnellums I wanted?”

“Yeah. I’ll give them to you when we’re down there–”

“Yes!”

“Okay then. Alright I’ll ask: why are you so excited about these fungi?”

“Because I was having problems getting my hooves on blue and green paint.”

“You can make paint out of– no, that makes sense. What I want to know is, what are you painting with? And painting on?”

“I got some stuff during the expedition. Not much, but Coxa says he can get some more canvas somehow.”

“Friend of yours?”

“Yeah.”

Their conversation was interrupted by a small guard procession moving through the main hallway. Cataglyphis and Lacewing moved to the side, and bowed when they saw who the guards– Praetorians– were escorting.

With a bowed head, Cataglyphis could only see the young Prince from his hooves to his neck.

‘Lotta orange there.’

Cataglyphis thought back to the last time he saw the Prince: the ceremony where Chrysalis hoofed over the entire Swarm to the near-stranger. He’d heard about him wandering the halls, especially now with the Swarm being reformed, but he’d never personally seen–

“Hiya Prince Phasma!”

Cataglyphis’s eyes darted to his companion next to him.

“Lace,” he hissed, “What are you doing?”

“Oh. Hello there, Lacewing. Wish we could talk, but we can’t. Later?”

‘W-wait, what’s going on?’

“Kay.”

And with that strange exchange, the Prince and his two orange Praetorians moved on.

Once they rounded the nearest bend, Cataglyphis pressed his snout up against Lacewing’s.

“What’s the big idea here, Lace? You can’t just talk to a Prince like that! You could've gotten put on recycling duty! Or worse!”

Lacewing pushed him away before saying, “Naw, Phasma wouldn’t do that.”

“Phasma? You’re on a short name basis with the High Marshal Prince of the hive?”

Lacewing started walking away, “Yeah. He’s a nice ‘ling once you get to know him, even if he seems a bit cold in public.”

“A bit cold?” Cataglyphis echoed. He trotted to catch up with Lacewing. “Lace! He executed a changeling for having a pony book!”

“That’s just a fake rumor. Phasma says a changeling must have overheard a test the Queen gave him and spread that rumor. He’s not as, uh, scary, as his mother.”

“You expect me to believe that?”

“Look, if you don’t believe me, ask him for yourself.”

“Ask–”

“Shh,” Lacewing shushed Cataglyphis as they ducked into an empty side hallway. “Tonight. Cold Storage A3. Prince Phasma will be there, and any ling can talk to him themselves. Tell the changeling at the door ‘Have violent ends.’ Don’t tell anyone the code or about this.”

“Why would the Prince be talking to changelings in a cold storage room?”

“Because… Because he wants to listen to us and hear what we have to say. Just… trust me, okay?”

“I’ll believe it when I see it.”

“Good enough,” Lacewing said, and went back into the main hallway to the Greencave.

‘Yeah right, talking with changelings my carapace! Like any ling related to Queen Chrysalis is going to care about us drones!’

I trotted into the room as Oest closed the door behind me.

Looking around the cold storage, I saw Coxa, Lacewing, Thorax, Praetorian Weevil, Generals Aphid and Labrum, as well as three changelings I didn’t recognize.

‘Coxa’s, Lacewing’s, and Thorax’s plus ones. Hopefully their judgement is sound. I’ll introduce the lodges to the Specialist Legions’ Captains after the lodges in the three Line Legions are established. Should be very easy, given their small size.’

“Good evening everyone. What will be discussed tonight does not leave this room. You understand of course, half-true rumors will do great damage to our progress towards the Promised Day.”

The changelings outside of the First Fang exchanged nervous glances at that.

“We’re not going to be talking about things that are… against the law, are we, My Prince?” A changeling next to Lacewing asked.

“Of course not. This is simply a trial run of seeing if there’s a way to promote the free exchange of ideas within the Legions. The Legions were created to be something new, and I’m certain you all will have some better ideas of how to exactly use your strengths.”

Labrum spoke up next, “So this is for suggesting ideas both to the commanding officers of the Legions, as well as yourself, Your Highness?”

“That’s right. And please, call me Phasma. While this meeting is in session, there are no titles or ranks; we leave those at the door.”

Aphid rubbed his chin, “You’re really pushing this whole experimenting thing, huh?”

I shrugged, “We’re doing something never done before. No idea is a bad idea. At least, suggesting them isn’t. Let’s start with introductions. I am Phasma, the Prince and High Marshal, here to listen to what you have to say.”

The First Fang each introduced themselves. Coxa as my steward, Thorax and Oestridae as my Praetorians, and Lacewing as a Greencave grower. After their four introductions, the rest of the changelings spoke in order.

“General Aphid, commander of the Fourth Legion.”

“General Labrum of the Fifth Legion.”

‘My loyal apprentices. Come to the dark side.’

“Praetorian Weevil, First Legion.”

‘Loyal to whomever will bail his ass out of trouble, probably. Luckily, I can do just that.’

“Cataglyphis, Fifth Legion and Greencave grower.”

‘Lacewing’s plus one. Funny that, he’s here with his boss’s boss, as well as his boss’s boss’s boss. Unless he’s not a squad lead, then there’s an extra boss layer on each of those.’

“Aleyro, Eleventh Legion and love extractor.”

‘Must be Coxa’s plus one. Figures, the extractors and the organizers must interact with each other a lot.’

“Corporal Ventricle, Third Legion and Scribe.”

‘By process of elimination, that’s Thorax’s plus one. Was Thorax a scribe? I can’t remember what his job was prior to that shitty transportation gig.’

“So. Now that we all know who’s who, does anyone have something to start us off?”

Labrum scoffed, “Well, you could push back the Promised Day. Four and a half months isn’t enough time to train our lings for combat and other roles.”

I shook my head. “I don’t think that will be possible. I’ll attempt to convince Queen Chrysalis to delay the invasion, but she seems set on the summer solstice. And once she sets her fangs into something…”

“She ain’t letting go till the beasts dead and rotten,” Weevil finished.

“So the training. Has my provided exercises shown merit?”

“Yes, My P– err, Phasma,” Aphid replied. “My talks with the First Infiltrator Legion has shown that they not only love the idea, but have taken to training each one of their operatives in the urban fighting modules you’ve… provided. I’ve also taken the liberty of training my Legion in it as well.”

“That’s a good idea. The East Coast is quite urbanized, the training should prove quite useful.”

Cataglyphis took this opportunity to speak up, “Wait, that training was your idea, Pr– Phasma?”

I nodded.

“But you’ve never even seen a pony building before. How did you come up with an idea that the Infiltrators hadn’t come up with in their centuries of existence?”

I avoided the whole never seen a building thing, “Infiltrators don’t go ‘loud’ when taking out targets. They prefer being quiet at all times, but I guess they want to be prepared, just in case.”

‘It’s not even an original idea, it's just a human SWAT tactic. But there’s no need to reveal that fact.’

I continued, “Just goes to show, some fresh perspective is desperately needed in the hive.”

“Can you change the names of the Legions?”

We all looked at Weevil.

“What? The Third Line Legion is actually the Fifth Legion. How does that make any sense?”

"He’s got a point," Thorax mumbled.

“The Legions are ordered in terms of hierarchy, with actual designation following that. Besides, most soldiers will just refer to their units as the 501st or the 403rd, and so on. But you offer a great segue into a topic I want to cover. I’ve left room for a common designation for each legion, but I wanted to get those names from you all.”

“Oh, is that what that space is for on the establishment forms?” Aphid asked.

“Yes. I kept it on only a few forms so we don’t go through a mountain of paperwork just to add a nickname to each Legion.”

I shivered at that mental image. Coxa also looked uncomfortable at the idea of redoing all the paperwork, despite most of it being done before he took the steward position.

Labrum and Aphid looked deep in thought, so I offered my idea. “That can always wait for meetings like this within your own Legions. However, since you two are the commanding officers, I will leave that decision up to you. Ventricle, I’ll hear your suggestion with everyone else’s at the Third Legion’s meeting.

“Though, we can’t nickname the Praetorians. Those bucketheads are rather locked in when it comes to their name,” I said while pointing to Weevil, Thorax, and Oestridae. “Now, does anyone have anything they want to ask?”

“Is it true that Queen Chrysalis ate your dad?” Ventricle asked.

I balked. “She did what?!”

Thorax fainted while Coxa and Lacewing were brought to tears from laughter.

31- Dolos

I rested the head of God Splitter on my back as I walked to my study. The handle was dragging on the ground, and if it were made of metal I would suspect that it would be making a satisfying trail of sparks. Or, realistically speaking, an awful grinding noise.

‘No way in hell I’ll be any good at fighting at this rate; my best hope is to scare the enemies away. Let’s hope the self-touted Princess of Love is just as shit at fighting. If she is receiving self-defense lessons from the monarch who has ruled for millennia, I’m doomed.’

I threw open my study door and parked my hammer up against my desk. I was about to go to my desk and collapse from exhaustion when I had an idea.

‘Chrysalis is probably in her study right now…’

I meandered down the hall and knocked on her closed door.

“Enter.”

I took the invitation and opened the door. I leaned against the door frame, “Queen Chrysalis?”

“Prince Phasma,” she responded without looking up from a book she was reading.

‘Look at Ms Fancy Pants, with her printed books ‘n shit.’

Too tired to beat around the bush, I got to the meat of the matter.

“Who’s my father?”

“I already addressed that subject.”

“I don’t really remember what you said.”

She looked up. “I said to put it out of your mind.”

I sighed.

‘Really going to stonewall me on this? Fine, let’s see if I can bait an answer.’

“It’s a pony, isn’t it?”

Her eyes narrowed.

“Was it just some nobody you ran into in a tavern? Could you even–”

“Prince Phasma, you overstep your boundaries. I have said that they do not matter, and so they do not.”

“By asking who my father is? You know, the word in the hive is that you ate my father. I can’t imagine how you would go about eating an entire pony. I mean, you–”

She stood up from her desk.

“Prince Phasmatodea. Do not test me.”

‘Still dodging the question.’

I shrugged, “I just want to know who my father is.”

“We changelings are above such emotional weaknesses such as familial attachments. You are loyal to the hive, and I am its Queen. Remember that.”

“W–… I just… If my own mother is the Queen herself, I just thought that maybe my father was someone important, too. I apologize, I’ll go bug Eucharis with–”

“You will not approach anyone else with this line of questioning, either. You are now severely behind schedule with your personal training. My gift– as well as my patience– can only cover so much. Return to your duties.”

‘Damn it all, no answer. Why is it such a big deal that she keeps my father’s identity from me? He must be someone important, if he was a nobody then she would simply say so.’

“Yes, Queen Chrysalis.”

‘Someone important. Why else would she be so insistent on their identity not being important? Is some Equestrian Duke my dad or something? I can imagine the problems that knowledge would cause, knowing that I was sired by the enemy and ‘prey.’ Would definitely explain why she wants it to be a secret.’

“Just… one more question? Not related to that subject at all.”

“Make it quick.”

“Is there a reason why the Promised Day happens on the solstice, and not any later?”

“Yes.”

“May I–”

“You are dismissed, Phasma.”

I took the subtle cue to leave.

‘Ain’t no rest for the wicked.’

It is now four months until the Promised Day.

Working all day, working out all afternoon, then staying up late establishing a new world order was exhausting business, but I had no other choice. Progress was not being made with my personal training, but at this point that’s expected.

Very little news on Tarsus. Apparently, he was on missions in Equestria, but will be back this week.

Thankfully, progress was being made on the subterfuge front. Warrior Lodges had been established in every legion barring the first two. I simply did not have enough contacts in either, nor enough trust in their respective leaders, to make the secret organizations.

Chrysalis was none the wiser when it came to the Warrior Lodges. Whether she knew and kept it a secret, or the trust my subordinates put in those they invited to the meetings was well founded, the end result was the same.

The First Fang bounced around between the meetings. They, along with a few other changelings loyal to myself, kept conversation topics pertinent to my revolutionary agenda. Nothing outright yet, just following along with the broader strokes I detailed in our meeting after the vault heist. Names, tactics, and so on. The First Fang also promotes a close, fraternal relationship between the members. Trusting the soldiers and commanders with your life is a big deal, after all.

They also kept an ear out for potential turncoats. Or turncoat-turncoats, as these Lodges will soon start their real purpose; there will be questions concerning Chrysalis’s rule.

Today would be the first day of those, starting with the Lodge within the Third Legion, which was under my command. The boys and girls had decided on the nickname “Equestria’s Lament,” on account of the fact that my Line Legion was the one dedicating to landing the first and fatal blow to Equestria: the siege of Canterlot.

Next week I will go over the invasion plans with each of the Captains and Generals of the Swarm. This week I will create an important contingency that might save lives. Tonight, I plant the seeds of revolution.

I entered the abandoned hab block that the Third Legion used for its Warrior Lodge meetings. No ling had seen me come all this way down, of course. I may be hastening this plot, but I can’t afford to get caught. However, there’s always the chance that a changeling loyal to Chrysalis is present tonight.

‘Chrysalis will simply murder me if she finds out. Oh well, sitting around doing nothing is worse than taking this chance.’

I arrived at the entrance to the Lodge, and a ling was standing guard.

“I have an invitation.”

“Moozart never died,” the guard said gruffly.

“He simply became music. As nice as your attention to security is, my appearance should be enough to verify who I am.”

The changeling stepped aside, letting me enter.

Inside, changelings were standing around in a loose circle. There was a chorus of laughs, I must have missed a pretty good joke to get that great of a response.

“Good evening, gentlelings. It seems I was the last to arrive.” I nodded to Coxa as I took a spot next to him.

“As usual. I was just telling the fellas here that… ah, nevermind.”

I raised an eyebrow.

‘A joke at my expense, no doubt.’

“Uh huh. Well in any case, I call to order this fifth meeting of The Equestria’s Lament Lodge. Does anyone have any announcements to make?”

A Colonel piped up, “Some folks over in the Twelfth, Hive’s Finest, have come up with some hive-gel material that they believe can be used as armor to reduce injuries.”

“That… sounds like something that would have been invented a long time ago. Like, centuries, if not millennia.”

“It was. Apparently it’s used in hive construction on parts that need to be strong and light. We’ve never used it in armor before because the Swarm has never really been in open combat, and it has no anti-magic properties. It’s very inferior to the current mixture used to make Praetorian armor, but it’s better than nothing.”

‘Looks like establishing that experimental legion is already paying dividends.’

“Interesting. Tell them to bring the subject up to me during the day, and I’ll see about mass producing armor before the invasion. We should be able to produce at the very least helmets for all the lings, provided the process for making the gel is cheap enough.”

When no one added anything else to say, I started with the topic I wanted to cover.

“My fellow changelings, we are four months away from The Promised Day, and yet no closer to an answer as to why it must happen so soon. Whatever reason Queen Chrysalis has to keep the invasion on that date, she refuses to impart that knowledge to me.”

Some lings present started to whisper to one another.

“I’m sure she has a good reason. She is, after all, very interested in this whole invasion going as smoothly as possible. However, whatever that reason may be, she refuses to tell a soul about it. Not even her second in command, myself.”

Now the Lodge members’ whispers rose in volume.

“–our one chance at feeding–”

“–faith in the Queen. She’s never steered us wrong before–”

“–long as there’s a plan, everything will be fine, right?”

“So what do we do?” Lacewing asked, her voice barely audible through the rising volume.

“We must have faith in the hive,” I all but yelled. My loud voice seemed to quiet the room. “The Queen has a plan. Or rather, I have come up with one on her orders. Soon the generals will be read into the specifics, rather than the general points that they were given. I will ensure that the hive survives this conflict.”

A Lodge member– Sergeant What's-his-name– asked, “What’s the plan?”

I scuffed a hoof on the ground.

‘I’ve been ordered to keep only those in the need to know informed, but why bother follow that rule? This is a great chance to create trust between me and the Lodge.’

“The plan is confidential at the moment, but… I don’t see the harm in telling you guys. Just keep it a secret, yeah?” I cleared my throat, “So. The invasion will have three main pushes. One through the center, one to the East Coast, and one to the West Coast. Respectively, the three main objectives are Canterlot, Manehattan, and Las Pegasus.”

Changelings nodded, already knowing the broad strokes of the plan.

“The Third ‘Equestria’s Lament,’ heard those guys were pretty good, will be taking out Canterlot with the aid of The Praetorians, much of The First Infiltrator Legion, the Sixth Legion ‘Panar’s Hammer,’ the Ninth ‘Will of The Nine,’ the Tenth ‘Underhive Scarabs,’ and of course division attachments from the Eleventh ‘Chosen Conquerors’ and Twelfth ‘Hive’s Finest.’

“The Colonels will receive orders on what targets to hit, ranging from VIPs to securing designated districts. Queen Chrysalis and I will take out Princess Celestia and Princess Cadence, respectively. With stun spells primarily being used, the majority of casualties are going to be concentrated in the Equestrian Royal Guard, where taking prisoners is more difficult. Any questions?”

“What will happen after?” A voice from the crowd asked.

“After Canterlot and the princesses are securely within our control, the Legion and its attached forces will move out, leaving behind a sizable contingent of the Chosen Conquerors. From Canterlot, we will push north and spread out, securing settlements and forts between the other two prongs of the invasion. With Canterlot taken out, resistance will be sporadic and unorganized. Once everything is within our control... I’ll make sure none of us go hungry again!”

That got a round of cheers and I swallowed before I started to drool from the thought.

‘All that love! Though I do hope Thorax comes up with an alternative to feeding sooner rather than later, as I suspect podding the majority of the pony population is going to have disastrous long-term effects on our controlled territory. Still, it’s us or them.’

“We just have to hope that launching the invasion so soon won't ruin our one single chance. But Chrysalis has got to have a good reason, yeah? Coxa, how’s the training going along with the Legions?”

Coxa rolled a hoof, “Ehh, we could definitely use more time, but it’s probably doable with the amount we can fit in within the time frame we have.”

“Probably doable. Those are the odds Chrysalis wants to go on.”

One of the members shook their head. “I wouldn’t risk our chance on ‘probably.’”

“We don’t have a choice. She won’t budge and what the Queen says, goes.”

“Another impossible deadline,” came a grumble. I couldn’t pinpoint its source and that just worked more in my favor.

“As long as we all stick together, we can figure this out. We Lodge members will do what we can for each other on the battlefield, agreed?”

A couple nods.

I sighed. “Onto our next topic then. Once Equestria has fallen, I think the broods will become defunct. They were established to maintain the hive’s internal ration structure, but with ample food supply, that shouldn’t be an issue.”

That got a lot more nods.

I continued, “The Queen should have no issue when holding the hive back in that regard.”

‘Looks like it’s commonly accepted that the broods are a bad thing. Good. Just need to keep suggesting good things while questioning Chrysalis, whether or not she was planning on doing those things anyways.’

32- Rhadamanthus

After a few days, I had received word that Tarsus was finally back at the hive after months of absence. I quickly arranged a meeting with him. It was easy enough to find an open spot in my schedule to get a conversation in with him alone.

Which is why I was heading down to the Infiltrator Legion storage rooms.

‘He should be around here somewhere.’

I turned the corner and saw Tarsus sitting on the ground in the unused side room.

“Hey there, Tarsus.”

He shot up and stared at me. Now that he was facing me, I saw that there was a scar on his right eye, though the eye itself seemed undamaged.

“Prince Phasma? Is that you? You look….”

“Like a drone?”

“... good. You look good. Better than Chrysalis, at least.”

“Heh, yeah.”

I moved closer and we bumped hooves.

“So you can see a lot’s happened with me, but what’s it like being an infiltrator?”

“Oh, there was a lot more training after the expedition. Turns out that’s just to find the best candidates. There’s a lot of spells, techniques, and– err…. Other stuff. You know.”

“Uh, sure? So can I ask how you got that scar?”

“This? That’s quite the story…”

“I’ve got some time. Better make it short, though.”

“Alright. So no shit, there I was, surrounded by Direwolves–”

“A bit less short.”

He snorted, “Heh, okay. So long story short, me and Dorsal, my teacher, were on our way to the town of New Hoofington. We were going through a wooded area when we heard growls coming from trees to our right. It was light out, so being attacked on a pony road was something we weren’t expecting– we were disguised as pony merchants, you see.

“Anyways, these three massive white wolves jumped outta the shadows, right at us. Dorsal flung one away using a rubberized shield while I conjured up some spears planted into the ground in front of me. Didn’t stop the beast from getting in a good lick, though. If it was any closer, I’d have lost the eye and would have to come all the way back here to get put in a healing pod to grow a replacement.

“Back to the story, the other two tried to retreat to pounce again. Dorsal, quick on his hooves, casted a fireball at each of em, interrupting their feral plotting. Next, he casted a flash spell to stun them after warning me. They tried running away blind, but that just meant they couldn’t dodge the ice spears we threw at them. Bam and bam, they both go down. Scariest fifteen seconds of my life, I tell ya.”

“That started and ended quite abruptly.”

“What did you expect? Life as an infiltrator is long periods of boredom, mostly walking or talking with ponies, with brief moments of excitement. If the fight was long and drawn out, the wolves would have won with us exhausting ourselves quickly. And you told me to make the story short!”

“You got me there. Still, that’s a great story, I bet you can’t wait to tell it a million times to anyone who’ll listen.”

“Ha! You got it in one. So now it’s my turn to ask, why do you look like a drone?”

I shrugged.

“The mystery of life. I might get my looks from my anonymous father. Or, more likely, a dash of experimentation on my mother’s part. Unsanctioned medical experiments on eggs, and all that.”

He blinked. “Sounds like you’ve got quite the story to tell.”

I looked around the room. Still empty, and there were no open doorways where an eavesdropper could listen through.

“Alright, but I’ll have to keep it short as well. So no shit, there I was, with the vault opened–”

“Wait, with what opened?”

As I regaled the grand tale of me telling Oestridae to stick a doorstop in the biggest doorway in the hive, Tarsus seemed a bit confused throughout the entire story.

His silence ended after a moment’s thought when I finished the story.

“Phasma… you broke into the Queen’s vault?”

“It’s the hive’s vault. She didn’t make it. And besides, you have nothing to say on the whole ‘she murdered my siblings’ thing?”

“Phasma, you know as well as I that they probably revolted just before their death.”

‘I didn’t tell him that.’

“Huh? Where’s this coming from?”

Tarsus looked around the empty room.

“Isn’t it obvious?”

“Even if they did, who’s to say that Chrysalis won’t do away with me once we defeat Equestria?”

“I suppose you might be right.”

“Yeah, I am. Oh, the First Fang! I got everyone together again, you can meet everyone else at the same time!”

Tarsus smiled, “That sounds great! Where are we meeting up at?”

“Well, it’s too late today and I’m busy tomorrow with a meeting with the top brass of the Swarm, but you and the rest of the gang can hang out while I’m in the meeting. Everyone but Lacewing will be waiting around, so all you’ll need to do is get her and pick a hangout spot. Oest’s room is a convenient enough choice.”

“I can do that. Lace works in the Greencave, right?”

“Mhmm.”

“Sounds like a plan. Catch you around?”

“You know it.”

It was not too late to meet with Coxa tonight. In fact, before he turned in for the day, I had told him to meet with me and Oestridae down to the base of the hive at a specific point in a certain hallway.

Thorax was busy hanging out with his brother, which was fine. We’d catch him up on this little operation of ours later.

“So fellas,” Coxa said as he walked up to us, “Is there a reason why you wanted to see me in this side hall at ground level?”

I pointed to an inconspicuous wall. “That.”

“Yes, that’s a wall Phasma. You’ve seen them all your life.”

“It’s not a wall.”

Oest shook his head.

Coxa turned around and pressed a hoof to it.

“This is definitely a wall.”

“Move your hoof down a bit and to the left. Yes, right there. Now push.”

Coxa’s hoof sunk into the wall. With a soft click, a small portion of the wall swung open to the outside. Not much green light from inside spilled out into the cold, dark night, leaving the area beyond the opening pitch black.

“That’s not supposed to happen.”

“No it is not. Some inspectors found out that some ling put that secret door there. Why? Who knows. Only thing that matters is that they reported it to me directly and I told them I would get it fixed, and that telling others of the possibility of alternative exits puts the hive potentially in danger.”

“So… There’s a secret door in our hive. Now what?”

“Now I tell you two about a little plan I came up with. It’s a contingency, just in case one or more of us needs to… make themselves scarce.”

“You don’t really need a plan to use a secret door, Phasma.”

“What’s beyond the door? Sure as hell doesn’t look like a lush forest to me.”

“I can’t see shit, but I do get what you’re saying. You’ve got an idea to somehow survive the Badlands?”

I nodded. “Oest here will save our chitin.”

Our mute companion delivered his grand speech, “Me?”

“No, the other Oest– yes, you. What you’re going to do is covertly ferry out some pots of diluted love to a secure spot, close to the hive, and in the direction of Equestria. Then, if one of us gets banished, we use that cache to get enough food supplies to make it to ponies, where we can get more love. Simple, yeah?”

“Oh yeah,” Coxa began, “All we gotta do is somehow steal love from the most secure storage rooms in the hive, find a secret spot that’s still recognizable, fill it with love during a massive food shortage, then keep it stocked. All the while remaining undetected.”

“Glad you’ve already got a plan, Coxa. I’ll leave this matter in your hooves. Oest can ferry the stuff out after you’ve gotten it. And don’t forget we have the Lodge members to call on for help. Just try to convince them that you aren’t stealing food for yourself.”

“Wha– hey! No! This is your stupid idea, you see it through!”

I was already starting to walk away. There’s a soft bed waiting for me on the other side of the hive. The very top, to be specific.

“I did the impossible already and broke into the you-know-what. Your turn.”

I heard a groan behind me, causing me to stop and turn around.

“Listen, Coxa. I’m kinda up to my nose in shit I gotta do right now. Can you please handle this for me? I don’t have the time at all to do this, and I’m worried about our survival.”

“Yeah yeah, I can do this. Though I might, uh, lose a pot of love on the way.”

“As long as you don’t jeopardize the amount needed to survive the trip to Equestria, fine. Be careful, and don’t get caught.”

“Easier said than done.”

The next day, my briefing with the generals ended earlier than expected, leaving me with some spare time in the afternoon.

As it turns out, the gel mixture that can be used in armor is a bit tricky to make. We will only be able to make enough armor for officers out of it, and that risks highlighting our commanders for the enemy to target. Instead, it will be produced for the Infiltrators, who will store it in caches on-site for operations that are intended to go loud.

Still, that’s a boon that I was happy to take.

‘Now, I did suggest to Tarsus that Oestridae’s room is a good spot. I’ll check there first for the gang.’

When I arrived at Oest’s room, I couldn’t hear anything through the door. I knocked anyways, just in case.

Surprisingly, after a moment Oest opened the door. Looking past him, I saw the rest of the First Fang sitting around.

“Hello Oest.”

“Phas?” Thorax called from behind him. “You’re here!”

I waved to the group, “My meeting got out early.”

“Come in,” Oest said, stepping aside.

I took the invitation and entered Oest’s crowded hab. They had pulled in some chairs from somewhere and arranged them in a circle around Oest’s desks pulled out into the middle of the room.

The other members said hi and I returned their greetings, but I was distracted by the objects sitting in the middle of the room.

There were flasks on the table.

“What’s that?”

Lacewing giggled, “Sprout!”

“I’ll ask again, what’s that?”

“Sprout!”

“It’s a drink. Made from some sugary mushrooms they got down in Greencave.”

“Thanks Coxa. And by drink, you mean…”

“Sprout!”

“... She’s drunk, isn’t she?”

Thorax sighed, “I told her to pace herself but now she’s eight flasks in.”

‘Lacewing is a party animal? They do say it’s usually the quiet ones you have to look out for, I wonder what Oest is into. Actually, I don’t wonder. I don’t want to know at all.’

Coxa pushed a flask into my hooves as I took a seat.

“Drink.”

“Err, I’ve never had alcohol.”

“Yeah we figured that, given that you’re only half a year old.”

‘Oh right. I meant ever, but they wouldn’t know that.’

I stared at my cup. It had a foamy blue liquid inside.

‘That does not inspire confidence. I think I’ll pass.’

“I still have things to do today, how would the Queen react if I showed up drunk?”

The gang laughed at the mental image.

“I imagine she’d be very confused,” Coxa chuckled.

“Don’t be such a stick in the mud, Phasma!”

“Lacewing you’re drunk at four in the afternoon. Have you even ever had this stuff before? Weren’t you a nymph up till the expedition?”

I was still staring into the opened cup. There was something else. Something lurking at the edge of my memory...

“Ah may have had a cup… or three. What? It gets boring down in Green with nothin to do!”

‘H-hand it over, bud!’

I took a deep breath. “I think I’ll pass,” I said while putting the flask back, putting emphasis in my tone to make sure my voice didn’t waver.

“I don’t blame you, Phas. I’m not a fan of the stuff either.”

While slowing my breathing, I did see that Thorax was without a cup.

‘As straight-laced as a Boy Scout. Ah, how long has it been since I last saw anything human?’

Coxa leaned in towards me, “C’mon Phasma! You never relax, this’ll do you some good. Hell, right now you look as wound up as… as something that makes this metaphor make sense!”

I didn’t respond, I was lost in reflection.

“You don’t have to be drunk to hang out with friends,” Thorax said in my stead.

I brought my attention back to the conversation and decided to change the subject, “You ever had pony drinks, Tarsus?”

Tarsus was leaning back in his chair, silently watching our argument up till this point. Being put in the spotlight, he sat upright and tapped his chin.

“Once. Infiltrators try to avoid being drunk, for obvious reasons. But yeah, I’ve had Griffish pale lager and a glass of cheap Canterlot wine. They were... interesting.”

Lacewing ‘ooh’ed. “Where d’ja have ‘em?”

“After I arrived at New Hoofington. Infiltrator Dorsal got ‘em to celebrate my trophy.”

I nodded, as did the rest of the gang.

‘Tarsus must’ve already told them about the scar. Not surprising, it was one of my first questions when I saw him.’

I stifled a yawn and Thorax asked, “Did you read any pony books?”

“No. No time, and it’s against our teachings. We infiltrators are supposed to know some titles, but actually reading them is considered improper.”

“Aww. No chance of getting me one, then?”

Tarsus glared at Thorax. “As Phasma already knows, there’s severe punishments for possession of most books. I’m not going to break the rules to put you in danger, Thorax.”

“Oh.”

“Termite, get back!”

‘What?’

I looked around my study. There was no one here, just my empty office. I had returned for the night after combat practice to finish a few forms before turning in.

Still, I had heard a voice. Scanning the room, I saw nothing out of the ordinary.

Coxa’s desk on my right, the door straight ahead, God-Splitter leaned up against a hive-gel cabinet on the left. Behind me, there was nothing but an empty chair up against the wall.

I looked back at the door. It was closed, and thick enough that most sound does not pass through it.

‘Is Chrysalis yelling at a changeling?’

I got up and went over to the door.

Pulling it open, I was greeted by an empty hallway. Checking the throne room, yielded roughly the same results, though the Praetorian on duty nodded to me. I checked her study, but Chrysalis wasn’t there.

‘Huh.’

34- Iustitia

“Here in death, remember our strength!”

I dropped God-Splitter out of shock and my eyes darted around the training room. Katydid stopped the lesson and trotted over to me, his hooffalls echoing through the empty room.

There was no one here besides me and Katydid. And Katydid definitely could not speak through the Weave.

“Everything alright, Phasma?”

“You didn't hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“Someone just spoke through the Weave. It… sounded female.”

“Queen Chrysalis is talking through the Weave? And you can hear her from so far away?”

“Maybe? It sounded like she was saying a motto or rallying call or something.”

“What was it?”

“Here in death, remember our strength. Familiar?”

He shook his head, “Better just ask Queen Chrysalis.”

‘I’d prefer not to. Last time I talked to her she gave me an ominous threat and I’d rather not stir the pot at the moment with strange questions she won’t answer.’

“At any rate, that’s enough for today Phasma.”

“You sure Katydid? We barely did anything with the disguises.”

We were finally just getting to integrating transformation to combat. The very slow pace my lessons crawled at due to my own inability to stop being shit meant that only now did we use one of the most versatile tools in our arsenal.

“You know that it won’t be used extensively in the invasion.”

It wasn’t any good against unicorns, so its use during the invasion would be severely limited. You might turn into a giant enemy crab, but the unicorn you’re facing can just pick you up with his magic and flip you onto your back. Or puncture your shell with sharpened will spells. Or in case your legs in mud or stone. There are plenty of ways to disable a non-magic combatant.

Point is against unicorns it’s as powerful as a wet paper bag. Unless you have changelings covering you with spells, but at that point unless you are extremely skilled at transforming and have a skilled casting team at your back, it’s simply more energy efficient as well as tactically sound to be casting spells too. Against pegasi, changelings already have wings, so casting spells while flying already puts us at an advantage that pegasi don’t ever train to counter. It is only against earth ponies that transformation magic becomes useful.

Similar rules for the rest of the species, from yaks to griffons.

Then, there were also the consequences of transforming while injured.

I rolled my right shoulder. The aching pain when it got hit by a blunt force spell was intensified when I tried to transform into a tiger to claw through Katydid’s anti-magic shield. Disguising changes your body up to a certain depth from the surface of your chitin, but magic can only account for so much. Injuries and imperfections make changing your body more difficult, and pre-existing damage is only exacerbated by transforming.

The entire process also uses more magic if you want to create something that’s not there, like claws, extra limbs, extra size, and so on. Not that creating extra limbs and eyes is a good idea. It’s practically a wasted effort since changelings can’t mess with neural pathways within the body, meaning the only way to get functionality out of extra limbs is to duplicate nerves and ‘pair’ them with existing ones.

That’s the culmination of many in-depth biology lessons that Praetorians and Infiltrators have to take. I had a crash course, with my human knowledge being the only reason why I have a chance at pulling off those complexities.

“Another lesson wasted. Apparently all I’m good for is planning to hurt others, not actually carrying through with it.”

“You did well enough Phasma, but maintaining enough concentration to transform through extreme pain is a skill that takes a long time to learn, far longer than what we have. No, you’ll be sticking to combat spells, along with most other changelings.”

‘Praetorians won’t be. One thing the changelings did well over the centuries, I suppose.’

Those guys actually did use transformation spells in combat. Sparingly, but still used them all the same.

The door closest to us slammed open and Pharynx stomped up to me.

‘Not often I see him without his armor. Oh, he does not look like he’s in a good mood. Instead of his usually grumpy self, he’s grumpy and angry.’

“Hello Praeto–”

“Shut the fuck up.”

I blinked.

“Exc–”

“I didn’t care what you’re up to, but now you messed up. You better fix your fucking mess!”

“Am… I missing something here?”

“Thorax was arrested under charges of treason! Treason!”

‘She didn’t. She did. Of course she did. Damn, Chrysalis works fast.’

“Treason?”

“What have you been putting him up to, Prince Phasma?!” He asked accusingly while jabbing me with a hoof. “Do you know how hard I’ve been working to keep him safe? How many changelings I’ve spurned to protect him? Now you’ve gone and thrown him to the wolves!”

‘If she thinks harming my closest friend will inspire loyalty… No, there’s something more to this.’

“I’ll get to the bottom of this.”

“Damn right you will,” he hissed. “I don’t care if you’re wearing a crown or not, you will regret it if something happens to my brother.”

“Thorax trusts me, Pharynx. I can’t ask you to trust me too, but be calm about this. Whatever Chrysalis is up to, I will get Thorax out of this. Take care Katydid, I have to see to this immediately.”

“You too, My Prince.”

Pharynx glared at me as I passed him. I was heading to the throne room, and drones didn't enter without reason, so he knew he had to stay here.

‘If Thorax was my brother, I’d be pissed too. Actually, he’s probably as close to one as I can get.’

The walk back to the main hive spire was brisk. There were the usual sights of changelings moving aside and bowing as we passed, something I had come accustomed to over the months of walking around the hive. As accustomed as possible, at least.

When we arrived at the big ol’ doors in front of Chrysalis’s fancy big chair room, the Praetorians on guard duty pushed the door open, revealing something that made my heart drop and the blood drain from my face.

Thorax out of his armor.

With gel-binding on his hooves and his muzzle.

In front of Chrysalis.

‘They fucking muzzled him?! Breathe, Phasma. Breathe.’

I slowly walked forward. There were many Praetorians in the room, and everyone from Chrysalis on her throne to Thorax in his bindings were all staring at me.

‘Chrysalis really fucking knows how to hit where it hurts. This is what I get for underestimating her.’

When the doors shut behind me with a loud thunk, the flinch I had was not manufactured. This time, I was scared for real.

My hooffalls echoed loudly in my ears and I approached the throne. Chamberlain Eucharis had a trained neutral look, but Chrysalis had hints of malice in her eyes.

“Prince Phasmatodea.”

“Queen Chrysalis.”

I didn’t dare turn to look at Thorax, not three hooves away from me. Looking would be a sign of weakness, I knew.

‘If she tries to hurt him– No! Breathe in, breathe out. Losing my calm here will only hurt Thorax.’

“Your… underling. Thorax. He has been found empty love pots underneath his bed, ones that were marked as missing from storage. In addition, we found books. One such book was written by none other than Princess Cadence herself. A memoir of her pony-life, and about her feelings.”

That made me glance at Thorax. He was staring at me, eyes wide.

‘Fear.’

His muffled breathing was the only sound he could make, but I knew what wanted to say.

‘Help me. Please.’

I gave him a single, small nod.

“That is an act of treason against the hive, Prince Phasmatodea.”

I tore my gaze away to meet Chrysalis’s.

‘There’s no empty pots. There’s no books. You simply picked one of my subordinates, one known for treasonous thoughts, and put the blame on them. So what’s your deal, here? You know someone stole love, yet you pin it on a random subordinate of mine?’

At my silence, she continued, “You remember your lessons, I’m sure. Pass judgement on this traitor.”

‘And there it is.’

I looked back at Thorax. He was shaking.

‘The punishment is normally death. Execution. We all know it, so why is she asking me? Does she want me to swing the axe? Kill my own friend? No, no. Think!’

I kept my breathing steady, though I could do nothing about my heartbeat. It was deafening. The throne room was quiet, but I could only assume that.

‘Why? Why is she asking me to pass judgement when it’s obvious what the penalty normally is. What does she gain? She’s clearly clever enough to know this won’t make me loyal, so there’s got to be a spin on this. She knows I won’t kill him.’

Like stepping back and viewing a collage of pieces from afar, everything fell into place.

‘She knows I won’t kill him. If I passed judgement and gave him a less harsh sentence, she would accept it. She would appear merciful. Even if I knew exactly what her moves were, she would still come off as willing to bend the rules for me. After all, she’s willing to accept that I have a weakness, one very exploitable. It also serves as a reminder to stay in line. Stay very in line.’

‘But Chrysalis will always be suspicious of me. She will have me watched at all hours, meaning I can’t coordinate with the Lodges. The rebellion will be smothered in its infancy. And after the invasion, she might just do away with me. I will have proven that I’m loyal to my friends first, hive second. If I didn’t...’

I kept a straight face and my heart rate climbed down from its spot near the top of the vaulted ceiling.

‘If I didn’t have that backup plan, I would have no choice but to bend the knee here and acquiesce to her clever plan. Fuck you, Chrysalis. You’ve gotten rusty, and now I’m one step ahead.’

I made my decision.

‘This will go one of two ways. Either you think I am cold and will not change your suspicions of disloyalty, or you think that I truly am utterly loyal to the hive. I’ve got a plan for that first one though. I underestimated you, but not as much as you underestimated me!’

“Exile.”

I heard a muted whimper next to me, but I kept my focus on Chrysalis. I didn’t back down. I couldn’t.

‘Take the bait. Thorax means nothing to me compared to the hive. I am loyal. Believe me.’

She crooked an eyebrow.

“Exile?”

‘Believe me.’

“That is more generous than the normal punishment, but… I cannot kill my friend.”

‘I understand what you’re doing. I will pay the price for my actions. I am loyal to you.’

She leaned back. Eucharis stared at me with his jaw open, but slowly closed it. Queen Chrysalis nodded, and thus judgement was passed.

‘I understand that you are being generous and being light with punishment against me. I am loyal to the hive, not to my friends.’

“I… Would like to say goodbye to him before he is sent out.”

‘But I’m not heartless. I do care for those beneath me. I will not betray you out of lack of compassion for those close to me. I am loyal to my Mother.’

Chrysalis slowly nodded, and the Praetorians next to Thorax backed off. I leaned in close and gave him a tight hug. Then, I whispered into his ear, covered up by pats on his solid chitin back. I moved my lips as little as possible.

“Plateau, one mile north of the hive. Look for the rock shaped like a triangle on the north face.”

“I’m sorry it came to this.”

"Take what you need and get to Equestria.”

“I wish I could turn back time and… I’m sorry. I should have tried harder to stop you.”

Thorax nodded slowly and rested his head on my shoulder.

‘Fuck you Chrysalis. Use my friends as bargaining chips for my loyalty? I will kowtow and prove my utter devotion to the cause. But you, you will pay in blood.’

There was a reason exile existed. It was seen as a humane (or whatever the changeling equivalent word is) alternative to execution. In addition, there was always the slimmest of slim chances that the exile survived. But only if Panar judged them worthy of redemption.

"May Panar forgive you and deem you worthy of redemption. Goodbye, Thorax."

‘This isn’t enough. There’s still too much room for doubt. I need something more. Something irrefutable.’

“No. May Panar forgive us both.”

I broke the hug and faced Chrysalis.

“I am his commanding officer, and I failed to report this. I betrayed the hive’s trust. I am as guilty as he is, so I must suffer the same judgement.”

“No. From the day you were hatched, you have been loyal to the hive. We have entrusted to you a great deal, and you will prove worthy of that trust by bringing us The Promised Day. You will not redeem yourself through exile, but instead through securing our future.”

‘So if the invasion fails, I am to blame. Not that it matters, if it fails we’re all doomed.

“I… am unworthy of a second chance, My Queen.”

“Do you doubt my judgement? I deem it so, and thus it is.”

I just silently nodded then stared at the floor.

‘I’ll find you once this is all over, Thorax. Once Chrysalis has been subdued. And now I have to work tirelessly to ensure the loyalty of the organizations that I created and empowered.’

35- Áine

I watched from a window of the throne room as a black dot slowly flew away from the hive northward.

‘I know Chrysalis wasn’t the one who exiled him, it was me, yet I still blame her for his exile. The First Fang is going to give me hell for this, but I can convince them of my logic. Pharynx, on the other hoof…’

“You did well, Prince Phasma.”

“What?”

I turned around and saw Chrysalis was behind me.

‘I’m in her good graces again, it would seem. All it took was the death of my closest friend.’

“It takes courage to admit fault. Many changelings would rather lie and claim innocence, rather than to give back to the hive that raised them. It takes even more strength to cast judgement and condemn against those who were close to you. You will need that strength.”

‘That’s awfully kind of her to say, despite the horrible context.’

“And it is a painful lesson on letting changelings get close to you. You are a prince, and there are those who will seek your company for the boons it provides. We must not let any ling come between us and our duties to the hive.”

‘And there’s the heartless despot I know.’

“I will… keep that in mind, Mother. Thank you.” I said before turning back to the window. I knew Chrysalis well enough to know that the conversation was over.

“I’m proud of you, Phasma.”

My ears swiveled towards her as I half-turned my head in her direction.

‘When was the last time she didn’t call me prince? Has she ever?’

“... Why?”

“I expected you to let your bond affect your judgement. You’ve proved my assumptions wrong.”

‘Stop the presses, did she just say she was wrong? Is it opposite day or something?’

“Yet I still betrayed the hive by concealing his crime. How can I claim to champion a cause that I’ve betrayed?”

“We all have our faults, Prince Phasma. Do not let them overwhelm you, and you shall find yourself ruling Equestria as my second-in-command in no time. I will have the Praetorians’ silence on today’s events.”

‘The Lodges will still find out.’

“Mother, does the phrase ‘Here in death, remember our strength’ mean anything to you?”

At her silence, I turned all the way around to look at her. She was working her jaw in thought.

“Where did you hear that?”

“The Weave.”

“The Weave?” I nodded. “That’s… impossible.”

“What does it mean? Who said it?”

“It... was the rallying call of Princess Procho. She died two hundred and sixty seven years ago.”

“How did she die?”

Chrysalis’s eyelids drooped as she stared at the window behind me.

“She was returning from a particularly devastating underhive expedition. She was almost all the way back to the hive when the dregs of her party were set upon by the monstrous inhabitants of that dark place. Princess Procho guarded the retreat.”

‘Is that the truth?’

“Why do I hear her, then?”

“Hmph... You were visited by the demon Nightmare Moon as well. I’m not sure, Prince Phasma. You seem to have an extraordinary talent for attracting unnatural phenomena.”

I looked back at the window.

‘Unnatural phenomena certainly describes this new life. I hope she isn’t planning something stupid, like sticking me onto the end of a pole and using me as a supernatural Geiger counter or something.’

After a few moments, I heard the clopping of hooves on stone as she walked away in her usual Irish Goodbye fashion.

‘Has she ever even said goodbye in her life? I would actually be surprised if the answer is yes.’

My eyes traced Thorax’s route to the setting sun on the horizon, and the closest plateau before that.

‘He’s got a long way to go. Godspeed, Thorax.’

Now I had to tell the First Fang what happened. And Pharynx, he deserved to know what the Queen and I did.

After ten minutes of watching the small dot become smaller, I sighed and pushed off from the window. There would be time for breaking the bad news later. I had paperwork to do. Also, rushing to them would risk making Chrysalis suspicious.

‘Requisitioning the construction of caches for the Swarm takes tens of dozens of papers to fill out. Sentencing someone to slow death? Not a single one.’

I slowly made my way to my office in the royal wing. The guard on duty saluted as I passed him and went into my office.

Some filing cabinets on my right with God-Splitter leaned up against them. Coxa’s short desk on my left. My large desk straight ahead, covered from end to end in papers, both in organized stacks and chaotic piles. Two chairs in the corners behind that.

I stared at the chair on the left. There was a small pile of orange armor next to it.

The chair itself was empty. Likely, it will never be occupied again.

‘It’s just two months. Then, with Canterlot taken, finding Thorax will be easy. After all, we will be hitting every settlement, and no one can stay far away from food sources. Chrysalis can’t hurt him then, his survival would be proof that Panar has deemed him worthy of redemption.’

I considered moving the chair out, but decided against it.

‘I’m not going to sweep what happened under a rug. Thorax deserves better than that.’

So, I sat down at my desk and put a form in front of me. I stared at it for thirty minutes before I actually started reading it.

‘Two months.’

‘Soon after, there came a very hot day with a boiling sun,’ I thought as I stared at the hate-fueled star baking the world alive.

Around me, the hot dirt and sand and rocks of the Badlands broiled in the bright sun. I myself was not doing well either. If sunburn was possible for a bug, I would surely find out soon.

“Tis thy dream! Cool thyself, Prince Phasmatodea, there is not any need for suffering in a world you control.”

Behind me, Nightmare Moon was fanning herself in the shade underneath a black parasoul, sitting down.

“The sun is as oppressive as We recall. The end to its tyranny cannot come soon enough! Prince Phasmatodea, cool thy dream at once!”

“You can call me Phasma for short, Nightmare Moon.”

“Thou avoids peroration like no monarch We have known. Thou converses like a commoner, rather than a Prince. Hath thy progenitors taught thy any court manners?”

I watched as a cactus slowly wilted under the intense heat.

“No. My mother was more focused on teaching me things like ruling a nation, warfare, and crushing those beneath my station.”

“A mare after our own heart!”

Not wanting to piss off the pony-princess-demon-alicorn-thing, I replaced the hot air around her with a cool breeze. Immediately, she stopped fanning herself.

“Hmph. Thou art capable of treating a lady well, it would seem. If only needing no small amount of prodding towards the correct direction.”

I wiped sweat from my brow. I hadn’t in fact removed all of the heat from my dream, just around Nightmare.

‘Thorax is going through this every day for at least a week. An entire week of nothing but dirt and rock for miles, and the horrid sun above his head.’

“Speaking of that, I very well might need your help, Nightmare Moon.”

“We are not in a position to supply boons, Prince Phasma. After our restoration to the throne, though…”

“That’s the thing. You’re not the sharing type, are you?”

“Most assuredly not. We demand what is rightfully ours. Ours, as in, belonging to myself. That doth not include thou.”

“I didn’t think so. No, I need your help killing my mother.”

Nightmare smiled. “Matricide? Prince Phasma, We become more endeared to you with each passing meeting of ours. For why must we kill your mother?”

“She isn’t the sharing type either, and will kill you if you try to butt in on what she decides is hers.”

“Ha! As if any old crone could match an alicorn in combat!”

“My mother has been preparing for quite a while to take Celestia on. I don’t doubt that she is capable of killing the Princess.”

“Our sister Princess Celestia was never a savant with a blade, however she has had centuries of practice, assuredly.”

“So has Queen Chrysalis.”

Nightmare Moon froze and stared at me.

“We do not believe we heard thou correctly. Thou claims thy mother has had… centuries of practice?”

“My species’ royals do not suffer many of the maladies that mortals do. We can’t get cancer or other bodily failures, we don’t suffer chronic diseases, and we cannot die of old age. We are as close to immortal as can be.”

I silently thanked whatever happenstance led to Equish words being exactly like English words, only with Equish syllables instead. Grammar rules can be relearned, but being set back to the vocabulary of someone who just started learning the language over half a year ago would be intolerable.

Nightmare Moon meanwhile just stood there in silent consideration of what I had said.

“Immortals? We have never… We have never encountered other immortals. Not ones worth keeping company. The only perpetual We know of that was pleasant to be around was murdered millennia ago.”

“The other species have no equivalent to alicorns and royals?”

She shook her head slowly.

‘Huh. What makes ponies and changelings so special, then?’

“That’s unfortunate.”

“We had not known thou would be with us in perpetuity, young Prince. We had assumed…”

“That I would be dead within eight decades?”

“Indeed. How long hath thy mother been alive?”

I shrugged, and took the opportunity to wipe the sweat from my head again.

“She keeps information on lockdown. Actually, I’m sure I could figure that out, but I’d guess five hundred years?”

“And what is in it for us to rid thou of thy mother?”

“As I said, removing a threat. She will want a slice of the Equestrian pie, as it were. I am open to making deals and arrangements with you in the future. She will not be.”

“Arrangements?”

“My kingdom doesn’t have much to offer in terms of material goods, but I know you’ll value the skills we can provide.”

“What skills would those be?”

“The kind I’ll show you in person. In pony. Whatever you want to say.”

“Very well, Prince Phasma. We shall join in battle against our sister, then we shall partake in thy matricide."

Nightmare Moon chuckled.

“In Equestria, it is customary for the mare to make the first move. It must be different in thy kingdom.”

“How did we go from threatening my life to threatening courtship?”

“Hast thou spent a thousand years alone? Thou doth not appreciate the true pleasure of the presence of others.”

“I can’t even imagine staying sane for a thousand years alone. Ugh, I don’t want to think about this, I have to focus on preparing for war. And possibly killing my own mother.”

She looked to the horizon.

“Thou art awakening, Prince Phasma. We are, too, though at a slower pace, for the barriers between the realms grow weaker with each passing day.”

Nightmare Moon smiled.

“Do not perish on the battlefield, Prince Phasma. Thou art a dreamwalker perpetual, and a stallion at that! No, do not perish, for We shall never meet another of thy likes again, and necromancy is quite costly!”

The First Fang had all gathered in an empty growing room in the Greencave area, though it was filled with different mosses and ivy dripping down from planters.

The entire First Fang, except Thorax. Our hexagon was hexa-gone.

“Yesterday, Thorax was arrested for the theft of love, as well as possession of forbidden pony material.”

“Fuck,” Coxa succinctly summed our feelings up. “And? What happened?”

“Immediately, I went to remedy the situation. Queen Chrysalis suspected me no small amount, and ordered me to pass judgement on him. She would have accepted a lesser punishment, but...”

“Where’s Thorax?” Lace asked me in a near-hissing tone.

“I exiled him.”

Oest gulped and Coxa let out a shaky sigh. Lacewing wasn’t done, though.

“And why did you do that?”

“Chrysalis would have accepted it if I had punished him lightly, I’m sure, but the cost would be too high–”

“Cost?! You just killed Thorax!”

“No,” Coxa said quietly.

“Thorax isn’t dead Lace, but he is out of the picture. I had Coxa steal love to set up an emergency cache outside the hive, just in case this happened. Funny, we had to use it because we set it up in the first place. One often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it.”

Lacewing looked lost. “So then he’s gone?”

“For now.”

Coxa sighed, “Why was it too costly to save him?”

“I would pay for Thorax’s life with a commodity I have very little of: trust. If I saved Thorax, Chrysalis would forever suspect my loyalties. She would have me watched at all times, and the odds of her deciding to move against me… I weighed Thorax’s life against the benefits of her trusting me, and I made a decision.”

“You stole love from the hive?”

I looked at Tarsus. I had forgotten that he was even here, he’s become so silent ever since we last saw each other before the expedition.

“A bit. Enough to survive the journey to Equestria.”

“Phasma, there’s hardly enough love to go around–”

“Don’t you think I already know that? It will hurt the hive, yes, but out of all the changelings in the hive, who’s currently in the most danger? Who is under constant watch, expected to fulfill impossible expectations? Who is constantly working hard every Panar damned day to get a future for the hive where everyone is happy?”

“When will we see Thorax again?” Lacewing asked, interrupting our argument. She was rubbing her eyes, trying to not shed tears. She wasn’t succeeding.

“... After we take Equestria. His survival will be proof of his redemption, so long as none of us reveal the love-cache.”

“And you’re sure he’ll be fine before then?”

“I rigged the odds to be in his favor as much as I could. Thorax will be fine, we just have to focus on what’s ahead of us.”

36- Gullinkambi

The Promised day is now only twenty days away.

The Army would begin the journey thirteen days before, and the trek to Canterlot would take ten days. That leaves three whole days to capture settlements along the way within Equestria’s borders. Estimates suggested we could do it within a single day, but I wanted as much leeway as possible.

I had also broken the news to Pharynx that I exiled Thorax. In turn, he broke my nose.

We came to a mutual understanding; it was a fair trade, as I got the impression that he trusted me when I said that I made absolutely sure Thorax would live. Doesn’t mean he forgave me or likes me in any capacity, but maybe I don’t deserve his forgiveness.

Tarsus was gone again. As an infiltrator, he was called to be with Chrysalis inside Canterlot.

The most important news was that Chrysalis was gone.

She left the hive yesterday to join up with the Infiltrators. From her the forward command center that was being established with the aid of the Tenth Legion Underhive Scarabs. Along the way, they would also be creating the caches that would be used to supply the Swarm. While in Canterlot, she would pick out the high value targets, and take down a few herself.

Moving the Swarm was up to me. Other than watching the grand speech and initial order to move out using a magical communication thingy, Chrysalis left the invasion to me.

The hive she left to Eucharis and the massive amount of Praetorians still present. Those guys would be keeping an eye on me, but I reckon they won’t be paying as close attention as they would have, if I had chosen to spare Thorax.

‘This is the slack in the leash that I had bought using Thorax’s life.’

Currently, I was on my way down to where my journey began. The hive nursery. The reason for this was simple: the secret vault.

It seemed to be a puzzle or combination lock, using symbols of the Threads. To learn more information, I was going to those who taught the First Lesson, and all it entailed. I couldn’t go to Thorax, since he was gone.

Another reason why I was heading to the nurses was the solution itself. Sure, it could be a random combination of symbols, but this door and puzzle looked ancient. The main door was to keep out intruders, which was only ever breached when the former monarch was well and truly dead, and once that happened it was replaced. The puzzle door looked as old as the walls and floors of the place itself, meaning it had a combination that every ruling monarch learned.

Therefore, the solution was, somehow, obvious. If it wasn’t random, then it must have a specific meaning.

I was thinking about this for some time while I worked on the invasion. The only possible combination I could think of was the whole holy number nine thing the changelings have going on. A question to Coxa revealed that the nine was in reference to the nine Threads that made up the Weave.

‘Nine symbols. If this isn’t the code to the puzzle, then I will have to break my way in and risk damaging what’s inside. And tripping an alarm, most likely. Push comes to shove, I’ll just open it the same way I’m opening the vault again. I just don’t want to risk damaging anything immediately behind it.’

I had given the order to the Lodges to prepare to open the vault. Permanently.

A team was being assembled; a few changelings to maintain silencing field spells, a rotating team to use their focused will spells to literally drill through the weakest part of the wall around the vault. A tertiary team stood watch outside and at key checkpoints close to the vault.

Any reports of vibrations were quietly snuffed out through the byzantine bureaucracy of the hive by those loyal to me.

All in all, it would take about five days to break into the vault. They began as soon as they were ready.

And so I went to where this all began.

The hallways before the hatchery were fancier than normal, preferring blue lights in sconces, similar to how the royal wing was designed. Standing in the pale, blue light were changelings most definitely not loyal to me.

The door in front of me was flanked by two Praetorians, wearing their blue armor, exactly like I remembered them. The fact that no changeling morphology differs so little, as well as the consistent matching armor played no part in that, none at all.

They saluted as I opened the door to the hatchery. They, while not being part of the Lodges, still did as they were trained. The fact that they were not of the few Praetorians loyal to myself above the queen mattered little, now that I had proved my loyalty.

Immediately, I was buffeted by a wave of hot, humid air. It was like stepping out into Badlands, only without the dry heat. I walked inside and beheld the large chamber. Green light beamed down from a central point in the middle of the ceiling. I assumed there must be some mutant strain of glow-moss up there. Normal glow-moss wouldn’t be so luminescent, after all.

The one thing that didn’t line up with my memory was that the room was nearly empty. There were no hordes of changeling larvae, no remains of hatched eggs, nothing. Instead, right in the middle of the spacious manufactured cavern was a circular table, with five chairs pulled up to it.

Two were occupied.

Their occupants were hunched over the table, one with their back to me, the other mostly obscured by the one facing away. They held a quiet conversation as I quietly approached.

‘Psocid and Lethocerus. Hard to forget the names of the first two aliens I ever saw. Actually, I’m the alien, aren’t I?’

Not quietly enough it seems, as the closest one’s ears swiveled towards me. She sat upright and spoke loudly, her voice echoing in the empty chamber.

“It seems our little Prince has returned, Psocid.”

The changeling on the far side of the table, Psocid, leaned out from behind the speaker to get a better look at me. When I stopped by their table, they stood up, bowed deeply, then stood back up and took their seats again.

“So it would seem. Hello, little Prince. You honor us with your presence, but it would seem you’re not so little now.”

“You are the first changelings I met, aren’t you?”

“Quite so, My Prince. I am Broodnurse Lethocerus.”

“And I am Broodnurse Psocid.”

“And we are the caretakers of this holy place!” Lethocerus spread her forelegs wide, as if the empty room was a grand cathedral.

“This holy place seems rather barren.”

Lethocerus dropped her forelegs and looked at me sadly. “Our Queen decided that there would be no hatching this year. Your brood was sent off to be divided up between the Clutches, leaving us here, all by our lonesome. So we, bringers of life and guardians of the new, sit here, in our sanctum, playing poker all day. ”

I leaned to the side as Psocid was doing and saw that there were indeed cards on the table, as well as what looked like circular chips.

‘What could they be using for chips? Stone shards? Nothing that carries value, there’s nothing like that here outside of food and favors.’

“There will be no changelings born this year?”

Psocid shook her head, “Your brood was the last Queen Chrysalis approved. She declined to allow changelings to lay their eggs this year. And who are we to question Her Majesty?”

“... Huh. At any rate, I did not come here just to say hello. I wanted to talk about the First Lesson.”

The twin nurses beamed at me.

“Such a wondrous moment,” Lethocerus nearly sang.

“We’ll be telling that day to future hatchlings for the rest of time as Broodnurses, My Prince. Truly, for Your Highness to be so gifted by Panar is nothing but a miracle!”

‘It was certainly something alright, but again not why I’m here.’

“My mother tended to my education personally, why you both no doubt already know. However, there was something from the First Lesson that stuck out to me, and I wish to know more. I can’t ask Queen Chrysalis, since she’s not in the hive at the moment.”

“We would be happy to answer any question you have for us, My Prince.”

“Again and again I hear the number nine come up in the hive. It has to do with the Threads, no?”

“That’s right, My Prince,” Lethocerus nodded.

“I would appreciate it if you taught me those nine Threads and their written symbols.”

“It would be an honor,” Psocid said. Then she added quietly, “So few changelings nowadays care for our teachings…”

Lethocerus took a deep breath as Psocid moved out from behind the table to stand next to her. After a moment, they took turns speaking, the silent one pulling forth a concept from the Weave.

“When Panarthropo contrived the Great Tapestry, the Thread of Change was left loose.”

“From their precarious hold onto the world, changelings brought themselves into the Great Tapestries from what they learned by watching Panar.”

“They, like the great creator, wove together a world of their own.”

“Together. The core of the Weave.”

‘A curvy N.’

“Magic. The font of life and power.”

‘A nine pointed star.’

“Emotion. The vessel for Magic.’

‘A heart.’

“Change. The first gift we claimed from Great Weaver, in their absence.”

‘A double helix.’

“Flight. So that we may conquer the skies.”

‘An outline of a wing.’

“Strength. So that we may conquer the lands.”

‘A three-pointed flame.’

“Cunning. So that we may conquer the Great Tapestry’s prey.”

‘An oval with a V in the lower half.’

“Command. Our purpose given voice,”

‘A three-pointed crown.’

“The Great Tapestry. To finish binding the Weave to the world.”

‘An asterisk with nine lines.’

“As it is woven, so it shall be,” they said in unison.

“Thank you for the lesson, Broodnurses. There are still a great many things I must learn yet, it would seem.”

Lethocerus leaned against the table. She shared a look with Psocid, who nodded, before returning her attention to me.

“Does My Prince also wish to learn how to play poker?”

I casted a time-checking spell. I had an hour to kill.

“Sure.”

Five days of running interference.

With such a comparatively small portion of the Praetorians loyal to me, I had to make sure as many patrols in the lower hive were regular guards as possible. However, I could only exert so much influence over what is normally Eucharis's responsibilities. That influence I had to covertly use on putting the few loyal Praetorians on vault detail.

Thus, Praetorian patrols, particularly those close to the vault had to, in some way, be delayed long enough for word to get to the cracking-crew to halt, or be redirected entirely.

Lodge members started brawls. Made false reports of incidents. Chatted up the on-duty Praetorians. Closed off hallways for ‘reconstruction.’ Anything to get the Praetorians away from the vault. There were a few close calls. One patrol forced me to forge an incident report detailing how a Tatzelwurm was burrowing close down in the Underhive, causing the vibrations the patrol reported.

Both reports, the guards’ and my own, were buried as far as possible within bureaucracy.

Five days of preparing the last steps of the invasion. Generals, Captains, and Colonels were checked, double checked, and triple checked to make sure they knew their orders and subordinates. The helmets we had produced for the infiltrators were shipped off, to be stored in the Crystal Caverns beneath Canterlot. Last minute requisition orders for the infiltrators out in the field, as well as troop assignments, were filled out. Meetings with the Lodges and the First Fang

Five days of last-minute drills given to me by Katydid. It felt like cramming for finals in university.

Five days of waiting for discovery. Chamberlain Eucharis was mostly absent, but he visited me a few times in my office as I worked. He seemed proud of my hard work, and even gave me a few compliments.

‘Wormtongue.’

He made no comment on my loyalties. I nearly started chewing on my hooves out of anxiety while I stared at my report. At any moment, Praetorians could have busted in and arrested me for breaking into the vault, had they discovered what I was doing. They were still reporting to Chrysalis somewhat regularly on what I was up to, but I put up a front of a good little son, doing as he is told.

Five days of drilling into the vault.

And now, a Lodge team was pulling the entire section of the wall away, door and all. All in all, there were about one hundred changelings involved in the cracking of the vault, working in teams to crack it, keep watch, maintain silence spells, and reorder reports and patrols within the hive.

I promised the Lodge members that we were finally taking control of information within the hive back into the hooves of the hive itself. The contents of the vault would be protected, but changelings could read the books within pre-scheduled times. They would find out about the disloyalty of some of the royals, but I had proven myself loyal to the hive. I would never betray them, only Chrysalis, and they were with me on that particular betrayal.

During the entire operation, I never left the main hive spire outside of Katydid’s training lessons and the one foray to the nursery. I wanted as few reasons as possible for the Praetorians to patrol the lower hive, and my continued presence would warrant increased patrols in areas I frequent.

Oest was here with me, as Coxa was busy looking normal for me and Lacewing had no alibi to get out of training for her position in the Chosen Conquerors.

I helped with the team on duty slowly lift the massive carved portion of the hive away. We just had to move it far enough away to make room for changelings to enter through a gap on the right side.

As we set the door down, I looked at the blue scorpion filigree on its center. This was Chrysalis’s vault. I brought God-Splitter forth and scrapped a line through the scorpion using the war hammer’s pointed end. Now, it was mine.

I stepped through the threshold of the massive vault doorway. Behind me the changelings were taking in the sight of the opened vault. They were the first changelings outside of Praetorians standing on duty to see what was inside.

“By Panar, what the hell is going on?!” A voice bellowed from behind us.

A patrol of five Praetorians stood behind us. The changelings on watch duty had neglected their posts to see the vault being opened, and I hadn’t the presence of mind to remind them of their duty.

When they saw fifteen pairs of eyes swivel in their direction, they started to turn to run.

“Get them!” I hissed.

37- Prometheus

The Praetorians turned and started running for the main hallway.

‘If they get away, we’re fucked!’

“Winter Contingency!” I yelled over the Weave.

The loyalists were nearing the entryway to the hallway when reinforcements came down the end of the main hallway to cut off the Praetorians who had stumbled upon us. They had been standing on lookout duty on the side hallways around us, and came as quick as they could when they heard my order.

‘Thank fuck the Weave doesn’t care about having to travel through different mediums like solid walls.’

Five changelings now accosted the Praetorians. They wouldn’t be able to stop them, but they would slow them down long enough for us to get close. The Praetorians knew that, and skidded to a halt as they started to sling spells against the changelings on both sides of them.

The brief chase was over, and the fight had begun.

Oest and I charged past our ranks and into the thick of the five Praetorians.

Swinging madly, the Praetorians moved away from me and started to cast stun spells. Unfortunately for two of them, they stepped back and right into Oest’s hooves. He grabbed two of their helmeted heads and CONKED them together. The Praetorians collapsed as he moved on to duel with a third.

The fourth and the fifth were successfully keeping me on the backhoof as they strung together stun and electricity spells. It was only for the friendly changelings layering their shields over me that I had not been taken out immediately.

A missed swing against number four left God-Splitter embedded in the wall, cracks snaking outwards from the impact. Number five realized that range wasn’t working, and moved in for hoof-to-hoof combat. I abandoned the expensive paperweight, removing it would take too long.

That proved to be the right decision when five opened with a flurry of blows that blew any training I had out of the water.

Some punches were thrown and I managed to catch them all. Unfortunately, that was a bad thing.

So I threw my entire weight at five and we went to the ground, rolling around, kicking with our hind hooves, punching with our fore. Every time one of us would cast a spell, the other would land a smack on the horn, stopping that.

The shields the Lodge members were casting on me had fizzled out when he hit the ground, the precise encompassing matrices unable to handle CQC.

We each tried to use our fangs to impale the other straight through the chitin, but often one’s head was smashed into the ground while the other tried to pull free. Blows to the head also stopped any kind of fang usage.

It was ungraceful. It was painful. And it was exactly how I remembered fights went back on Earth, complete with hits below the belt.

Number four moved to pick me off his compatriots when about nine different stun spells riddled his body, causing him to go down in spasms.

Praetorian number five managed to get his hind hooves under me and kicked me off, sending me flying into the ceiling. His genius was rewarded by six stun spells and one fireball smacking into him and the ground around him.

I fell to the ground with a thud.

I looked over and saw the final Praetorian being swung by her legs into the wall by Oest. The solid SMACK made me wince.

‘Holy crap, that’s gotta crack some chitin plates.’

Just as suddenly as it had begun, the impromptu fight was over.

Changelings quickly secured the three Praetorians that Oest bodied and the two I had taken down with their help.

The small fire was put out as the Praetorian’s hooves, wings, and horns were encased in changeling-slime. They would not be casting anything with that muck on them.

Fifteen against five. Skill can only count for so much when you are thrown around like a ragdoll, experience blunt force trauma to the head, or piled on like a football. Hoofball? I had neglected to look into pony and changeling sports.

I sat there, trying to catch my breath. Oest moved over and offered a hoof. I took it, wrapping my fetlock around his hoof as he pulled me up.

“You ok, Phasma?”

“Yeah. I bit my tongue to the point of bleeding, I’m sore as hell, but I gave that bastard a broken nose in return. You?”

He shrugged. “They weren’t very good. Chrysalis took the best with her.”

I looked over and saw the Praetorians being lined up against the wall in a sitting position.

“What are you, The Mountain That Rides?”

“What?”

“You… Ah, nevermind. Were you always able to just… throw changelings around like they’re dolls?”

“Unlike you, I work out.”

“Hey! I have fight practice with Katydid every afternoon!”

“Not working out.”

‘An inch taller than average, but fifty times as dense with muscle, it seems.’

I looked at the cracks left behind when Oest swung the Praetorian into the wall. They were half as big as those left behind by my literal warhammer.

“When did you get so good at fighting, Oest?”

“I was a guard. They wanted me to be a Praetorian, I said that was boring. I became a guard again because you asked.”

“But weren’t you just hauling things in storage before I recruited you?”

He shrugged.

I groaned. There would be time to question his superchangeling strength and questionable entertainment sources later.

I walked over to the two changelings that were still conscious, the ones I had faced.

Walked might have been a bit too generous; I limped over to the Praetorians.

The one that was rolling with me was the first to speak up.

“You t’aitor–”

I cut him off with a left hook to the face.

“I’m letting you breathe with nothing keeping your muzzle shut. Keep talking, and you’ll be breathing through a drinking straw and speaking sign language.” I stopped and leaned back. “Oest, there is a sign language for mute changelings, right?”

“No.”

“Oh. All the more reason to shut the fuck up, then. Make sure these loyalists don’t do anything stupid.”

I hobbled over and pulled God-Splitter free from the wall.

“Bettah to die for the hive than live fo’ you’self!” He slurred through his broken nose.

I leveled God-Splitter to his head.

“I would say ‘that can be arranged,’ but that would imply that you are dying for the hive. You are dying for Chrysalis. We fight for the hive, for the greater good.”

“The greater good,” the Lodge members around me said in unison.

‘Man, cults are fun. I should have joined them when I was back on Earth. Anyways, time for children’s puzzles, I’ll deal with the patrol-not-checking-in-thing after.’

I left behind the disgraced Praetorian behind as I limped into the vault.

Changelings filtered in behind me and made my way to the center of the vault, where the table, chair, and secret puzzle was. Using telekinesis, I flung the table and chair to the side and stared at the puzzle lock.

Sure enough, I now recognized the symbols for the nine Threads: Together, Magic, Emotion, Change, Flight, Strength, Cunning, Command, and The Great Tapestry. They were strewn through the spirals that made up the lock, amidst more symbols I didn’t know.

I pressed down on Together with my magic halfway, but retracted my telekinesis when an idea struck me.

“Bring over the Praetorian who was oh so pleasant,” I called over my shoulder.

I heard the clip clop of hooves, the shuffle of a body being dragged, and the slurred curses of a ling with a broken nose as the Lodge members did as I asked. I turned to face my new friend as the Lodge members dropped him behind me.

“What is your name, Praetorian?”

“Co’eid, t’aitor.”

“Coeid Taitor?I’ve never heard of a changeling having two parts to their name before.”

“Coh. Reid.”

“Coreid? Well Core, today’s your lucky day. You get to open the most secure door within the entire hive.”

“Mm not gonna help you, t’aitor.”

“Oh you will. Whether it’s with your permanent silence or pushing buttons is up to you. Either way, the door opens. The only thing that changes is how not-hurt you get out of this.”

He huffed, which actually sprayed a bit of the blood that was trickling down his lip.

I pulled off the gel constraints on his hoofs– though I left the gel on his horn and wings– and pointed to the door.

“You will press what I tell you to press, then you will step back and sit down with the rest of the Praetorians. Don’t do as I say, and…. I suppose we’ll find out if this door is trapped?”

He pointed to his encased horn.

“Not going to happen. Use your hooves.”

He huffed again but moved to the closed aperture. Once he got a look at the symbols covering each of the spiraled door segments, he looked at me with a glare.

“Alright Conrad, first press the symbol for Magic, the N…”

I gave him the descriptions of each symbol to press, and each time he slowly shuffled over to the symbol to press it down, careful not to press any others.

When the unwilling Praetorian pressed the final button, the nine line asterisk, he jumped back as a hiss came from the center of the closed aperture.

I saw a small stream of air, the culprit of the hiss, jettison out of the center as the aperture’s segmented door pieces slowly pulled away from the center and into the floor surrounding the opening with a low grinding sound.

‘Higher air pressure? Also, the door must be enchanted to open on its own. No other door does that here, meaning this thing is probably chock full of enchantments. Having someone else open it was definitely a good idea.’

The grinding noise came to an end with a click as the aperture locked open. Seeing that nothing else came out, and that the Praetorian’s face didn’t melt off or anything, I leaned over to look down the hole. Now that I was close, I felt very cold air.

It was a straight vertical shaft, about twenty hooves deep, ending in a gradual ramp. I called out without looking away.

“Oest, please escort Cordeil here to his friends. And make sure no other Praetorians stumble upon our little party here. I don’t think it’s going to be trapped, so I’m going to scope the place out first. Watch my hammer for me.”

“Be careful,” I heard Oest say from behind me. After floating God-Splitter to the side of the vault, I told Oest, “If I don’t come out in half an hour, come in and get me.”

I jumped into the pit and used my wings to slow my fall.

My hooves made a loud clang as they hit the ground. I couldn’t see more than two hooves in front of me, where the light from the shaft ended.

My breath was visible in the freezing air.

Looking down at where I landed, I tapped my right forehoof on the ground twice.

Clang clang.

‘Metal flooring? Isn’t there a massive shortage of the stuff?’

It was a black metal, the same color as the rest of the hive’s walls. Unlike the hive, it was covered in carvings. Every square inch was taken up by what looked like runes.

Puzzled, I casted a light spell, and the top of my horn started to glow a bright pale blue light. I saw I was in a room with empty tables, hive-gel boxes, and abandoned equipment.

The room itself was not very big, perhaps a quarter of the size of the vault above. On the far end twenty hooves down, there was a door with the Command symbol etched into it in some blue material.

I moved closer to the equipment I saw. It was laying in piles on a table which, as I came closer, I saw was stained red on the top.

The equipment itself was unlike anything I had seen in the hive; it looked modern. Drills, saws, empty glass vials, what looked like a faucet in the back, and strange contraptions with pipes and containers.

‘If I were to guess, this is a magical laboratory, and not a meth lab. This is the first time I’ve seen glass in the entire hive, not even the throne room has the stuff.’

I stepped back and slowly made my way to the empty boxes on the other side of the room, my hooves clanging loudly on the ground despite my cautious movement.

Lifting up the lid on a box on the outskirts, I looked inside. It was hard to tell what exactly its contents were, possibly parts from plants grown in the Greencave or scavenged from the Underhive? Bits and pieces of defeated monsters?

The rest of the boxes, like the opened one, lacked labels. Shaking my head, I dropped the lid and turned around, heading to the door.

‘This is ominous as hell,’ I thought as I stopped in front of the door.

The Command symbol took up the center quarter of it, it was so large. Now that I was very close to it, I could see faint green light coming from the crack beneath the door.

I pressed an ear up against it. Nothing.

I pushed the door open slowly. It swung backwards silently, revealing a short hallway before another door. The green glow was much brighter around that door.

I stood there for a moment, the only sound being my deep, visible breaths. I tilted my head to the side, trying to see the hall at a different angle.

‘If this was a spy movie, there would be invisible laser trip wires in this hallway.’

I used a spell to conjure light steam to fill the hallway, but either fortunately or unfortunately, there were no lasers revealed in the mist. The steam quickly dissipated and left droplets of water clinging to the walls, already starting to freeze. I sensed around for any magic I could feel, but my training in detection was very limited.

“No point in stalling,” I whispered to myself.

I put one hoof across the threshold of the door. Then another. I hunched low and made my way across the room at a snail’s pace.

Clang. Clang. Clang. Clang.

Despite how quiet I was being, the sound of my hoofsteps was loudly banging in my ear, only just overshadowing my own heartbeat as I neared the glowing door.

But it didn’t drown out the growing sounds of chittering and skittering.

In what felt like the blink of an eye, I was across the hallway.

‘No alarm. No tripwires. What is that sound? Do I want to even know?’

I stood up straight and put a hoof against the door.

‘Just open it. There’s nothing alive behind it. This isn’t a horror movie. Open the door.’

My hoof didn’t move.

‘Open the door Phasma.’

I leaned against the door, pushing it open an inch. More green light spilled through. I stopped casting the blue light spell so I could take a peek. From the crack in the door, I saw on a table to the right. It, unlike the ones in the first room, was not empty.

Changeling eggs. Some were cracked open. Others had tubes going into them. That was all I could see from my restricted view.

Taking a deep breath, I pushed the door open.

When my eyes adjusted to the bright green light, I shut the door immediately and collapsed against it, my ragged breaths outpacing even my heart.

Clack clack clack clack clack–

I pressed a hoof up against the bottom of my jaw, stopping the shivering.

‘In. And out. Breathe. Breathe.’

I had a long day of sitting around doing nothing. Despite that, I felt exhausted. The fight early had taken a lot of energy out of me, but that was nothing compared to just looking into the next room.

I shut my eyes, trying to gather the strength to stand back up and go in there. It took two minutes of sitting in that cold, dark hallway to do so, the only company being the sounds of my breathing.

‘That’s it, breathe.’

I put my hooves beneath me and pushed off of the cold floor, turning to face the door once again. This time, I threw it open and stepped inside, not giving myself the chance to be a coward again. The door stopped perpendicular to the doorway, covering up what was immediately to my left.

The sounds of insects scuttling about and chittering reached speaking-level loudness. Still, my breathing cut through it like it wasn’t even there.

This final room was a large, circular one. On the right, in the five o’clock position, was a table that curved along the wall to the two o’clock position. There were about nine eggs with a bit of spacing in between them, in various states of destruction. The farthest one looked whole. All of them were hooked up to tubes which went to a series of opaque containers at the far end of the table.

The rest of the room was filled with vats, big enough to house an entire royal changeling, equally spaced apart, starting straight ahead at the twelve position.

I knew that was a very accurate description, because that’s exactly what they held.

Two princes.

Three princesses.

Five occupied vats in total.

‘My brothers and sisters.’

I saw blue and red hair, silver elytra, and brown and yellow manes. Five sets of colors. Five royals hanging limply in translucent green liquid, the source of the light in the room. A few were missing limbs. Many were scarred and cracked and beat to hell. The princes had manes in the style of ponies, the princesses had long hair that swayed slowly in the green liquid. All of them had twisted horns, holes in their chitins, and...

All of them had a number of tubes connected to their temples and the back of their heads.

A few had extra tubes. One Prince was missing his lower jaw and had several tubes going up into the top of his mouth and the back of his throat. A princess was missing the back half of her barrel, her hindlegs completely gone, with a large number of tubes taking their place.

And in the center, a pedestal with one worn down book. I knew it would hold answers to questions I didn’t want to even ask.

The door slowly swung shut behind me as I limped over to the book.

Clang. Clang. Clang. Clang.

I looked down at the old tome.

“Ascension,” I read the title aloud, desperate to hear anything other than my own breathing and those god-forsaken skittering sounds.

With a shaking hoof, I flipped it open, not daring to use any magic on the thing. Words were faded, pages were missing, but there was plenty in the book. Plenty I didn’t understand, but recognized from the reports I read in the vault as medical and magical theories, experiments, and reports.

The best I could tell, the entire tome was dedicated to the process of “Ascension,” where the chosen “Aspect of Panarthropo’s Command” would be elevated to the highest and holiest level of existence.

I recalled that the few books I skimmed in the vault from the Third Hive often overused holiness in their descriptions of magic.

‘This is a very old book, recovered from the Third Hive. It must be the most important one, to be down here.’

The book referred to the Ascension ritual as being the most revered piece of knowledge recovered from the First Hive. Attached in the middle was the few pages recovered from a book from the First Hive. They were completely yellow with age and threatened to crumble in my loose, careful grip. They were written in a language I did not know.

‘The changelings had a language, now lost to time?’

The last page of the recovered section showed a royal with a large crown, and changelings bowing to them. There was a circle on the center of the crown that seemed to radiate out something. Light, energy, I couldn’t tell.

I skimmed through the pages of the rest of the book, not understanding most of it. At least, until the diagrams started showing up. My eyes shot upward towards the princes and princess suspended in the green liquid.

The diagrams were brains, with labels attached to each part, and guides for which sections to remove and where to insert tubes to pump magical energies.

‘Lobotomization.’

My eyes moved to the two princesses on the left side of the room.

‘One of those might be Princess Procho, the last royal. She said Procho died, but why would I believe anything that Chrysalis says at this point?’

I staggered over to the two princesses. Their vats were next to each other, letting me get close to both at once. One had light red hair and elytra, almost pink it was so lightly colored. The other had a deep blue, like it was the abyssal depths of an ocean.

The red princess was the one missing her back half. The blue princess looked comparatively fine at first glance, she still was covered in scars and gouges, but then I noticed the abundance of the tubes at the back of her head. The entire back half of her skull had to be missing to fit in that many.

Both had numerous scars and marks from surgery on their skulls.

“Procho? Are you… there? Can you even hear me?”

Skittering.

“Hello?”

Scuttling.

If they could hear me, they had no way of even responding. I reluctantly went back to the podium in the center. I looked back down at Ascension, and forced myself to start reading again. I was reaching the conclusion of the process in the notes.

“... Thus achieving the desired aura of the Weave. Doesn’t that mean…? Are these…?”

I skimmed ahead and got to the conclusion of the reports and confirmed what I had feared. A simplistic image of a circle around a city-looking structure. It was labeled with a curvy N.

“The royals are what’s projecting the Weave throughout the hive.”

I dropped the book back onto the pedestal and limped over to the vat in the twelve position of the room.

The occupant was the silver prince. His right hindleg was gone, and his right foreleg was cut off halfway down. Burn marks stretched across his body, starting from the right side and tapering out towards the left. His mane, what remained to the left of the burns, undulated slowly in the nearly-transparent light green liquid.

“Reprocessing. The rebels weren’t murdered and thrown into the recycling vats, they were lobotomized and turned into projectors for the Weave!”

The chittering and skittering never quieted down while I was in the room, and so close to the prince, it was loud, but still any sounds I made cut right through it.

“They’re still alive in there. Their hearts are still beating.”

My legs started to shake and I collapsed onto my flank. I pressed a hoof to my heart.

‘I felt my own stop as I… as I laid there in my own hot blood. My heart had to stop before I moved on.’

“They’re trapped in there! How long have they been dying but unable to die?! Oh god, I have to free them!”

Before I could even start conjuring an elemental spell to destroy the desecration to life, I came to a horrible realization.

‘If I free them, the Weave will rescind from throughout the hive. Everyone will know what I did, including Eucharis. If I kill them now, Eucharis will know something has gone wrong, and will contact Chrysalis. I could try to cut off his communications before that, but he will still know, and his absence from the invasion will tip off Chrysalis.’

‘I’ll have to return here after I kill Chrysalis. Only then will it be safe. And I will kill Chrysalis. If not me, then who?’

I was already starting to forget any attempt at peace when I exiled Thorax, but this steeled my resolve. I had abandoned all plans of coming to Chrysalis with a peace offer. Queen Chrysalis of the Fourth Hive must die.

‘All my fears, even the ones I thought were from rampant paranoia, all proven true. I can’t believe I even thought there was a chance for peace between us–’

I had turned around to leave, but froze.

To the right of the door, covered up by it when it was opened, was an empty vat.

Empty.

Waiting for an occupant.

Waiting for me, if I had rebelled and failed.

Trapped forever in a living tomb. Lobotomized, ripped apart, and unable to die and move onto the next life. Maybe there’ll be nothing left of me by the end of my rebellion but a brain. A brain put in the vat, hooked up and pumped full of energy and unknown fluids.

I vomited, and then I staggered my way to the door. The sticky changeling-slime I got on my hoofs caused me to trip over and fall onto the cold ground. I pulled myself to the door, nearly clawing at it as I pulled it open, trying to avoid looking at my own coffin on the right. I shut the door behind me, and curled up against it.

“– Phas! Phasma!”

“Th... Thorax?” I weakly called.

“What the hell happened?”

I lifted my head up from behind my hooves and saw Oest. He was looking down at me with a very concerned look. He must have come down here after I didn’t come up after half an hour.

“My… family.”

“What?”

I offered a hoof to him, and he used his magic to wipe off the slime before he took it and pulled me up off the ground. I stumbled as I got up, nearly tripping on my own hooves.

“Go, see for yourself. Words can’t describe,” I said while starting to limp down the hall, pressed up against the side for support.

I heard his hooves clanging behind me as he went to the vat room, his pace far quicker than my own. The skittering slowly faded away as I limped my way out of the hallway and into the first room. I made it to the chute back to the upper vault before Oest returned.

“Phasma. What was…?”

“My siblings. Dying but unable to die. Trapped forever. Have to free them after Chrysalis dies. Can’t do it before. Chrysalis, she… Oest, do you know what she did? Can you understand it? She didn’t kill them, no, that would be too kind. She trapped them forever in their own bodies. Cutting and pulling out piece by piece till they couldn’t even breathe. You have to die to move onto the next life, you know that, right?”

I stared at the strange etchings on the ground as I spoke.

“The last Princess was Procho, and she ‘died’ over two hundred years ago. How many centuries have they been in there? Have they been driven mad by the isolation? Have they been asleep the entire time? There’s only two ways this all ends. Either we win, or you all die and she traps me here, forever. Forever, Oest! I can’t… We can’t fail. The price is too high.”

I looked back up at Ostridea. He was frowning, but still held his tongue.

“This… This changes nothing, Oest. We are going to kill Chrysalis, and then we will grant these royals the release they so desperately need. We are going to fix all these problems that my own mother let fester in the darkness as she went and played with ponies.”

“Are you sure? That they are in there?”

“I… Yes, Oest. I know it without a shadow of a doubt. They are still in there. Unable to blink, twitch, or scream. The soul stays in the body until the heart stops.”

“How do you know?”

‘Experience.’

“Please don’t ask me that. I just do.”

He looked back towards the door leading to the chamber, then back at me.

“I believe you.”

I looked up the vertical chute, the light from the vault shining down onto me. I was well and truly exhausted. But I would not stop until I was dead, or worse.

“Help me get outta here.”

Oest wrapped his hooves around my barrel, and helped me fly up and out of the laboratory.

38- Providence

Oestridae set me down amidst a group of changelings gathered around the Ascension Lab’s entrance. I leaned against Oest as I considered my words to address my followers.

“For those of you who have any doubts about what we must do, what’s down there,” I pointed with a hoof at the opened aperture, “will remove any doubts. The plan was to spare Chrysalis, to demand concessions from her. I know now that the only way this ends is death. Or, something far worse than death.”

“You’d kill your Queen-mother? Your treachery knows no bounds!”

I looked over to the row of captives still bound up, now all of them were awake. The one who spoke up was one of the Praetorians that Oest originally took out.

I was too exhausted to muster the energy to be angry at the unnamed henchmen/henchling.

“And show these Praetorians just how their loyalty is ultimately rewarded. Show them just how kind and merciful their Queen is. My changelings, we will not have time for another meeting before the invasion, so I must leave it to you to spread the word of what you will see down there.”

I pushed off Oest and limped over to the exit of the vault. Oest tried to follow me out but I stopped him.

“Phasma–”

“I’ll be fine. Make sure these Praetorians are shown what’s down there, and if they still won’t stand with the hive, find a secure place to keep them. I’ll handle the paperwork side of their disappearance. A bit of good news I suppose, we just got five more names to put on vault guard duty.”

“You’ll never get away with this, traitor!!” The particularly stubborn Praetorian with the now staunched broken nose said.

I turned in the doorway to address our captives.

“Praetorians. I offer you a chance to fight for a just cause. The question isn’t whether you want to be a traitor or not, but instead whether you are loyal to the Queen, or to the hive itself. How can we be the traitors when we’re the ones fighting for the survival of the hive? Down there you’ll see just how far Chrysalis will hurt her subjects to fulfill her own ambitions.”

“Just what is down there?” A Lodge member asked.

“Chrysalis’s rewards for those closest to her.”

‘Experimenting on eggs and royals, that’s pretty damning evidence that Chrysalis’s ambitions are not necessarily the hive’s ambitions. If she would stoop so low as to mutilate the most dedicated changelings as well as the unborn young ones, who’s to say that she really cares for the hive?’

I left the vault as the Lodge members began the process of flying the still bound Praetorians down the shaft. Looking to my left, I saw God-Splitter was still wedged into the wall. A tug on the tethering-enchantment on its handle ripped it free, creating even more cracks in the abused wall.

I put the hefty head of the war hammer on my shoulder and started the long journey back to my warm bed, all the way at the top of the hive.

However, when I reached where the vault’s hallway meets the end of the main throughway of the lower hive, the sound of hooves on the hard ground made me freeze.

‘More guards?! Shit, if it’s Praetorians, this is very bad news–’

“–about what you’re going to do after. That’s the key.”

It was a feminine voice, one I had heard before.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a blur moving. As I spun on my hooves to see what, it seemed to vanish. Whatever it was, it was heading to the grate at the end of the great hallway.

The one that led to the sealed passage to the Underhive.

“.... Procho? Princess Procho, can you hear me?”

“–nothing.”

I heard the sound of the grate swinging shut with a clang, and the sound of hoofsteps ended.

“Hello?”

‘What was… That was her leaving on the expedition, wasn’t it? Is that it, I’m hearing the beginning of her journey? Why?’

“My Prince?”

I jumped at the sudden question from behind me, quickly spinning around and brandishing God-Splitter.

A changeling put his hooves up and backed up a few paces.

“Whoah, I did not mean to startle you, My Prince!”

‘Just a Lodge member…’

I lowered the hammer back onto my shoulder.

“My apologies. It’s been a long day. You’re the changeling on watch?”

“Yes, My Prince. Has the vault been breached?”

“Indeed it has. A Praetorian patrol found us all the way down here. What happened to our forward eyes and ears?”

Her ears lowered.

“I’m afraid the shifts just changed, My Prince. They must have snuck in through a small gap in our watch.”

“Then see to it that that gap is fixed. Discovery now would be… We cannot afford it. We....”

“I’ll see to it, My Prince.”

I rubbed my eyes, and restarted the journey back to the main hive spire, though not without stealing a glance back at the Underhive grate.

‘Why do I only hear her voice if there’s five of them trapped down there?’

The rest of the walk went by without note and when I finally arrived at my room, I fell asleep the moment my head hit my bed.

The darkness withdrew from my vision like inky black tentacles.

I was standing in a throne room that stood in stark contrast to the one near where I was sleeping.

It was a vaulted stone room, the walls had windows with real glass. Simple gold and red banners hung at several spots between the windows. At the far end from the door stood twin thrones, one blue and black, the other yellow and red.

Over the blue throne, a banner marked with the moon hung. Over the yellow, a sun banner.

Unlike the hive throne room, this one was half destroyed.

The gold throne was utterly demolished. The grand ceiling above me had collapsed, a starry night sky shining through. The walls were not in any better of a shape. The banners above the thrones were torn and tattered, some parts staying together by mere threads. A great gaping hole in the masonry stood between the banners and thrones, revealing a moon, one wreathed in a rippling black aura, similar to my first encounter with Nightmare Moon.

Speak of the not-devil, and she will begin to materialize right next to you as she enters your dreams. Yeah, that’s how that phrase goes.

“This is where it happened,” Nightmare Moon said after a moment of looking around, eventually settling her gaze on the hole in front of us.

“Where what happened?”

“Where Princess Luna cast off her allegiance to Princess Celestia, and became the greatest Alicorn of all, Nightmare Moon.”

“That sounds like one hell of an origin story.”

Nightmare broke her stare with the moon to look down at me.

“Hell? An archaic term, even by our standards. Thou art a curious one, Prince Phasma, but thou distracts us from our surroundings. This is the Castle of the Twin Sisters. Those are the thrones of Equestria.”

“No.”

“N– What?”

“The throne of Equestria resides in Canterlot.”

“Your distant kingdom once again falls short when it comes to information. This keep is the center of our great kingdom.”

“The capital is definitely Canterlot. Perhaps your sister moved it during your thousand year imprisonment?”

“... We shall see the validity of what thou say once We return, Prince Phasma. Nineteen days till Eternal Night. We have waited so long, yet only now doth the hours drag on. We take it that your army shall march upon Equestria on schedule, several moons from now?”

“About that…”

Her eyebrows furrowed as she squinted at me.

“We will be at Canterlot, the capital, the day you arrive back on Equus, having secured all the land south of that.”

“We do not believe We have heard thou correctly, thou claims to be months ahead of schedule?”

“The invasion of Equestria was always planned to reach Canterlot on the summer solstice. I originally lied about that in case you could not be trusted. We will join forces in the city, and take out Princess Celestia, your sister, and Queen Chrysalis, my mother.”

Nightmare leaned and sat down on her haunches.

“We did not expect such expedience on thy part. Thou continue to surprise us. What other secrets doth thou withhold?”

I scuffed a hoof on the ground.

‘Better start working on what comes after the invasion.’

“We should talk about our deal. You get the throne in Canterlot, and Equestria by extension.” She nodded. “We, my species, will need something in return. We need pony prisoners.”

“Pony prisoners?”

“The reason why we are invading in the first place. Your ascension to power is sure to cause some ponies to dissent, so instead of just offing them or putting them in prison, just hoof them over to us. They’ll never cause you problems ever again, and we get what we need.”

“And what is it that thou gets from these prisoners?”

“A sustainable food supply. We’re not eating them in the traditional sense, but we are… using them. We need magical energy, and we collect it in the forms of emotion.”

“... Most curious. This requirement of thine is easily accomplished. Now We know your reason for coveting the throne, yet We have neglected to share ours. That is, after all, why we started this conversation.”

She swept a hoof across the room, gesturing to the entire rubble-filled scenery.

“Nine hundred and ninety nine years ago, We crossed blades with our sister. For centuries, she had basked in the glory and adoration of our subjects, leaving me to dwell in the dark. For centuries, We endured our duty without thanks or rightful respect. Eventually, We decided that a change was in order. Our ponies did not appreciate the effort We put into carving the night sky, so We sought to correct this misunderstanding.

“Sister, of course, resisted. She had grown accustomed to the fame and admiration unrightfully bestowed upon her, and so she resisted change. We fought and when she learned she could not defeat me in combat, she used the Elements of Harmony to imprison me,.”

“The Elements of Harmony?”

“An ancient artifact of untold power. She should not have been able to wield them, yet she did.”

“Ah, a Deus Ex Machina. So she used this artifact then you’re suddenly imprisoned for a thousand years?"

“Our greatest weapon, turned against us. In days long past, the both of us wielded the Elements together. Then, sister dearest sealed my tomb using it!”

'Great, now I gotta be on the lookout for a Deus Ex Machina, as if I didn't have enough on my mind.'

“A thousand years on ice would make me want to kill whomever was responsible, that much is certain.”

“Indeed. We have been pondering on what thy story is. Prince Phasma, for what reason are we bringing an end to your forebearer?”

“Chrysalis… I never trusted her. An odd feeling at the back of my mind, always second guessing her words. Not that she was trustworthy to begin with, she loves mysterious threats and being unchallenged in her rule. But I constantly asked myself if we are immortal, then how come none of my siblings were around? With too many unanswered questions, I secured a pact with you, Nightmare Moon, as a backup plan, in case her tyranny would potentially be my end. Yesterday, every single one of my fears were validated.”

“We see thou art as ominous as thou claims thy mother to be.”

“Heh, it’s easier to show you rather than to describe it.”

With that, I changed the scenery. The Castle melted away, replaced by the cold hallway before the Ascension Chamber. Nightmare’s hooves clanged on the metal floor and she circled around, getting her bearings in the small hallway.

“Ah yes, a cold hallway. A perfectly reasonable motive for matricide.”

“I’m getting to that. This is one of the three most secure rooms in the entire kingdom. The other two are at either ends of the hallway. The one behind us is the storage and entrance to this place, and that door down there is why I am showing you this.”

As she sauntered over to the closed door, I hesitantly followed. Just because I had control over everything in my dreams did not mean I wanted to go back in there.

“I found out that some of my siblings rebelled, and were, quote, ‘reprocessed.’ I did not imagine what Chrysalis had been up to. How could anyone guess at what she did?”

“Thou already had our attention, Prince Phasma. Now, thou caught our interest.”

She pushed the door open and entered the glowing green chamber. I followed in after her, at a much slower pace. When I walked up next to her, I saw that her eyes were flicking between the different vats.

“These… art thine siblings? Their cadavers were used in an experiment of some sort?”

“Cadavers? They’re still alive, Nightmare Moon.”

“Impossible!” She scoffed, before getting closer to one of the Princesses. It was the red princess, the one who ceased to exist halfway down her barrel.

“We are experts at magic healing, any injury short of death can be fixed by a submergence in the magic-imbued liquid you see these royals are in. Furthermore, royals are apparently very hard to kill.”

“Thou art certain these ponies still live?”

“Not ponies, and yes, I know it for certain. I also know that they will never wake up. The one exception to our healing is trying to heal the brain...”

She broke her stare at the princess to stare at me instead.

“The brain?”

I pointed to the book sitting in the middle of the room.

“The oldest book we have. It was written thousands of years ago, and it details the process of Ascension. Lots of religious phrase this and medical terminology that, but the pictures were quite clear. Every single one of my siblings in here was lobotomized and used as a magical artifacts, for lack of a better term.”

'Battery would be more accurate, but electricity doesn't exist here.'

Nightmare’s jaw dropped, and slowly raised back up.

“Pony artificers have stayed well away from blood magic. Even our knowledge in this field is lacking...”

“This isn’t blood magic, it’s our magic. It’s hard to explain, and most knowledge was lost over time.”

“This is vile, Prince Phasma. Not even We are wont to stoop to such butchery! Our millennia on our moon was spent sleeping and waiting, but We have a chance at life once again. Thy kin are denied a chance at ever waking! We see why Queen Chrysalis must die, for she is worse than Princess Celestia!”

I turned around and pointed to the empty vat behind us.

“Which brings us to why I want her dead most of all.”

“... Thy intended tomb?”

“What else could it be?” I sighed, “One way or the other, royalty will die during this War For The Sun.”

39- Modern Crusaders

Showing the rest of the First Fang the contents of the Ascension chamber turned out to be a painful experience.

I felt the air start to escape my lungs as the changeling wrapped her hooves around me tighter.

“Please let go of me!”

“Never!”

“You’re going to crack my chitin!”

Lacewing ended the one-way hug and backed up.

“Sorry, it’s just, how could she do that to her own nymphs?!”

“Did Oest give you workout lessons or something? Jeez.... Anyways, they might not all be her nymphs. Who knows, maybe one or two of them are an uncle or aunt? I didn’t read anything about how long they can be interred for, so...”

Coxa was standing to the side in silent thought. He had seen what was down the opened trap door next to us, while Lacewing I broke the news to, rather than having her look down there.

Oest was here, too. He was as talkative as always.

At first, Lace said she was a tough girl who could handle the skeletons in the closet I was going to show. Then I told her it was literal skeletons, and she started singing a different tune, and decided to just hear about the Ascension chamber, rather than go into it.

“Don’t worry Phasma, the Legions and us will make sure she never does anything like this ever again,” Coxa reassured me.

“I can’t help stop her? Oh, you’re already drafting a eulogy for me, aren’t you?”

“Here lies Prince Phasma. He showed up, made a mess of things, and left it for us to clean up.”

“Coxa! Don’t make fun of Phasma’s inevitable death like that!”

“Rest in peace Phasma. He died as he lived, only used for his brainpower.”

“Hey!” I protested half-heartedly, but I couldn’t help but smile as Coxa, Lacewing, and Oest laughed. Okay, Oest snorted, that’s as close to laughing as anyone can get from him.

‘If only Thorax was here. On second thought, perhaps sparing him this nightmare fuel is doing him a favor.’

I chucked the magically-imbued quartz crystal at the wall, watching it shatter to pieces. The blaring alarm that woke me up immediately cut out.

‘Not even in medieval alternate universes can I escape the pure evil that is alarm clocks!’

That one was made by Chrysalis, and I destroyed it because I could. Every day before, I would need to use its pure, concentrated evil to wake up the next day. But I would not be waking up in the hive anymore.

For today is the day we march on Equestria. The long awaited War for The Sun will begin at noon. It is for this reason alone that I woke up at this ungodly hour, Seven AM.

As I rose from my bare bed and donned my Adamantium peytral, I mentally went through a checklist.

I told the First Fang I had a plan for killing Chrysalis, though I neglected to mention that it was an alicorn visiting me in my dreams.

‘Best case scenario, Nightmare Moon pretty much kills Chrysalis for me after Chrysalis defeats Celestia. I can deal with making a pact or whatever she wants afterwards, first comes the survival of my species and myself. Oh and that whole eternal night thing. I’m sure she won’t end the world, and if she did, well I’m sure she might be able to listen to reason. Oh well, a problem for later.’

Finally, the last topic I covered with the First Fang was to tell Coxa to get himself and Lace out of danger just in case Chrysalis somehow survives. Whether that be to vanish in the middle of the invasion or to fake their deaths, I left it to Coxa’s judgement.

The Praetorians at the vault were now loyal to me. Seeing the Ascension chamber must have been enough to dislodge their loyalties enough to at least give the all clear to Eucharis. Not that I let them send a message unsupervised, I had some of my few loyal Praetorians watching the message delivery, ready to destroy any communication devices Eucharis would use if he was warned about the oncoming storm.

Lacewing and Coxa have their positions during the invasion. I got them positions that were as safe as possible, in the rearguard as members of the Chosen Conquerors. No fighting or danger for them.

I looked at myself in the mirror Eucharis had gotten during my time in a pod.

A strange, tired thing looked back at me, with orange slitted eyes, like Smaug the Terrible’s. Or maybe Sauron’s. My eyes stung, the cold air of the early morning and lack of sleep bringing me no small amount of misery.

‘Time to establish a new world order. I’m definitely making alarm clocks illegal.’

All my plans were in order, with everyone moving into their respective places.

‘The faithful watch the forest for the coming of the King. Their lanterns bright, they wait at night for the new world he shall bring.’

I sighed and rubbed my eyes, grabbing God-Splitter before heading out of my room.

Chamberlain Eucharis was waiting for me out in the hallway. He spoke with a smile, “Good morning, Prince Phasma. We’re going to go through checks of the army together, then we shall depart posthaste.”

“Wonderful. I take it I’m going to give a speech?”

“Of course, My Prince! This is one of the most important occasions of our race’s history!”

‘Fantastic. I’ve been too busy with the Lodges establishing contingencies and plans to come up with a speech. I’ll have to bullshit it.’

It took a moment for the exact nuances of Eucharis’s words to reach me.

‘History? Considering how much Chrysalis keeps secret, just how much history do you exactly know, Eucharis?’

“Very well. Lead the way, Chamberlain.”

We entered the throne room and I saw the generals and captains of the Legions waiting around the map table in front of the throne. When they saw me enter, they rose from their seats and saluted in the hoof-across-chest fashion that the changelings used.

“High Marshal Prince Phasmatodea, the Legions are mustering as we speak. By noon, we will be ready to take what is rightfully ours,” Commander Scorpion of the Praetorians spoke in his low voice.

‘What came first, his low voice, or his menacing name? Scorpion just fits him too well for that to be a coincidence.’

“Excellent, Commander Scorpion. Everyling, take your seats.” As they sat back down, I picked up the small rake used to push the figurines on the map. “To recap the invasion plan, Legions One, Two, Three, Six, Nine, and Ten will be the center Push to Canterlot. They will begin their attack on the Promised Day.”

I used the rake to point at each of the figures of the mentioned Legions, each one being a changeling carrying a banner with their respective Roman Numeral on the banner.

“Legions Four and Seven will be pushing East. Due to the discovery of optimal routes, they will begin the siege ahead of schedule, on the Promised Day, rather than after. Legions Five and Right will push West, focusing on Las Pegasus first. Legions Eleven and Twelve are split up amongst the three prongs of the invasion. That concludes the first stage, and the only one that needs recapping today.

“Thirteen days from now, The Promised Day will arrive, and the siege of Canterlot and Manehattan will begin in the early morning, before the sun even rises. The ponies will have stayed up all night celebrating beforehoof, meaning they will be tired and ready to collapse before we even attack. We expect the tiredness of the civilian Equestrians to lower their ability to resist by a significant degree, though the Royal Guard is still expected to be at full fighting capability.”

I put the rake down before looking around the room. In attendance were changelings loyal to Chrysalis, as well as changelings loyal to me.

“We are fighting for the survival of our species against those who would threaten it. We have no room for personal ambitions. Once Canterlot falls, we will know the fate of our species, as well as the fate of Equestria. You all know what’s at stake. You all know what you must do. Failure is not an option.

“Our cause is just! We shall stand victorious over those who would seek our destruction, for the Hive Eternal!”

The changeling stood up and saluted once more while echoing, “For the Hive Eternal!”

‘One speech down, one to go.’

The sand and gravel crunched under my hooves as I strode into the morning sun. I took a breath of the hot Drylands air. Next to me, Oest looked around as my entourage consisting of the upper echelon of the changeling high court got in order.

‘Just as unpleasant as I remembered. And we all get to endure a week of this oppressive heat.’

My entourage and I made our way to a raised platform that had been constructed for one singular purpose. I would address the Legions in their entirety.

The platform was all the way across the assembled Swarm, at the north side of the Hive. My entourage and I would have to walk all the way through a center lane in the armies. As I walked, I saw some Legionnaires tilt their head to the side slightly to get a look at their Prince walking amongst them.

Eventually, my group reached the platform and circled around to the back. I climbed the steps and the entourage stayed behind. The group would be watching my speech from behind the platform.

Before me, ten thousand changelings stood in segmented sections of varying sizes. The Line Legions held the majority of the changelings standing at attention, and were front and center for the speech. Here and there, changelings flitted about on their insect wings as orders were ferried to and fro.

When I stopped at the front of the small raised platform, teams of changelings activated their communication artifacts as they flew at points above the New Swarm, acting like flying carriers for televisions broadcasting me to the entire assembled hive. Just as well, I knew there are changelings watching from afar over in Canterlot, Manehattan, and Las Pegasus. Queen Chrysalis would be one of those distant viewers.

When I spoke, my voice echoed loudly over the audience thanks to an amplification spell.

“Changelings of the Fourth Hive. We stand at the precipice of a new era. The age of ponies is at an end. The age of changelings has come!

“For millennia the Masquerade Protocol protected us, and in its protective shadow, we grew strong. We sharpened our fangs, honed our practices, and prepared for the inevitable. In the shadows, we grew hungry, not just for love, but for justice!

“Brothers all! With one swift strike, we shall end the tyranny of the Sun Tyrant! We shall take our place in the sun! Our dominion over the world is ordained by Panarthropo themself, none can challenge our strength! The end to our hunger is finally at hoof!

“For the Hive Eternal, Let the War For The Sun begin! ” I commanded the Legions both verbally and through the Weave.

“For the Hive Eternal!” The assembled Legions bellowed, stomping their hooves in unison.

“Legions, forth, to Equestria! The Promised Day awaits! As it is woven, so shall it be!”

The Legions started marching in lockstep, the morning sun filtering through the holes in their hooves and legs. When they reached the platform, their wings extended out from their elytra, and they took to the skies.

I stared ahead as the communication transponders were turned off, and the Legions continued their march and flight. I knew behind me the formations would begin splitting up, the Legions all heading to different destinations and checkpoints both in the Drylands and in Equestria.

My focus was on the hive.

I knew I would never return here, so I had given the order to what few Lodge members that would be part of the skeleton crew to bring an end to the princes and princesses trapped in the Ascension Chamber in a few days time.

I made sure that all communication transponders would also be taken by the Legions to report in. Their rarity ensured that there would be none in the possession of the skeleton crew. The Weave of the Fourth Hive would collapse, and like a tree falling in the woods, there would be no one around to hear it fall.

At least, Chrysalis wouldn’t hear it, and if any changeling tried to make the journey all the way from the hive, the Promised Day would have come and passed by the time they arrived at Canterlot.

I turned to the North, where the Legions were flying to the horizon, beyond which Equestria lay.

‘Months of plotting, working, training, and paperwork. Now, we shall see if it was all worth it.’

I spread my wings and took flight.

40- Athena Promachos

For seven days and seven nights the changelings flew across the Badlands.

That sounds awfully biblical and ominous, but seeing nothing but dirt, rocks, and cacti was just boring. And hot. Oest and Chamberlain Eucharis stuck close to me during the flight north, and neither were good company for long journeys. Oest because he doesn’t talk very much, and Eucharis because we couldn’t talk about many things I wanted to talk about. Like not dying, how my mother was a horrible being, and the overall rebellious phase I was in.

But we did talk. We had a conversation about our jobs, and that was the only conversation with him that I was able to recall afterwards.

“How long have you been Chamberlain?”

“Oh… I’d say about twenty nine years now, My Prince,” He spoke loudly. The air above the Badlands was mostly stagnant, meaning our flight was actually pretty quiet.

“That’s quite a long time.”

“Ha! Your Highness is only eight months old, a single year is a long time for you.”

“Mmm, I suppose that’s true. What were you before that?”

“I was in charge of the distribution of love rations.”

“I can see how you got promoted to Chamberlain, then.”

There was a lull in the conversation as I desperately thought of things to talk about.

“... You work with Queen Chrysalis more than any other changeling, right?”

“Yes, My Prince.”

“Has she told you who my father is?”

“... I don’t think she’d appreciate you asking about him, Prince Phasma.”

‘Damn. Of course she’d tell Eucharis to keep his mouth shut.’

“Okay. Do you like your job, Chamberlain?”

“We all do our duty, whether or not we enjoy it, my Prince.”

‘I swear, it's like he’s reading from a manual on how to spout propaganda.’

“I know. Do you enjoy doing your job?”

“I do. It’s very gratifying.”

“Oh, good. Good.”

“Do you enjoy your job, My Prince?”

“Hmm… I don’t like the paperwork. The everyday training was absolutely exhausting. Having the entire fate of the hive depended on how well I did my job is scary. But… I love feeling needed. All these changelings look up to me, and I can help each and every one of them out.”

“Everything for the hive.”

“Yeah, that. I could never leave this job, not when there’s more I can do for the hive. Even if I have to endure all this, it’s worth it.”

‘So long as I don’t give everything to the hive, specifically my… brain. Life? Sure. Lobotomization? Hell no.’

“I’m proud to hear that, My Prince.”

“Though I’d love to have time for myself… Has Queen Chrysalis told you any of her plans about after the invasion? Or I should ask instead, have you figured out her plans for after?”

“Her Majesty has a plan for controlling Equestria’s towns and populations, but… The details she keeps to herself.”

“I see.”

The heat of the Badlands makes keeping any conversations long an arduous task. Everyone was too busy being miserable, though I was proud I managed to go an entire conversation with the brownnoser without lying once.

When the Legions finally approached the Equestrian border early in the morning on the seventh day of flight over the Badlands, with stops each night at designated locations with love-caches, they split up into the three invasion forces.

I managed to resist the urge to lean in and whisper ‘Hail Hydra’ in General Aphid’s and General Labrum’s ears, though I gave another short speech about ‘love’ this and ‘the end to modern pony society’ that. I refrained from mentioning the phrase the greater good, just in case Eucharis was paying close attention.

I saluted the Generals, and they in turn saluted their High Marshal. After wishing them good hunting, their Legions split off to head to their targets.

The first target that the Swarm Group Center would be hitting was the small town of Dodge Junction. We arrived there just a few hours after the Swarm had split up. Unlike the next two targets, full capture was expected to take fifteen minutes most, with most of that time dedicated to continuous sweeps afterwards to make sure all inhabitants were captured.

Before arriving into view of the town, the Swarm descended to fly low, just barely above the ground. Then, we all set down behind a massive mesa, hiding the thousands-strong invading force from view of the townsponies.

A small team went up to the mesa, to scope out the place. Once they gave the all clear, myself and the attacking force silently flew to the top, setting down on the edge farthest from the pony village.

I strode over to the edge of the mesa overlooking the tiny town, the changelings ahead of me on the edge already casting an illusion spell to hide ourselves.

“Six buildings down at the base of the mesa, a seventh train station, with five outlying ranches. Any ponies outside of a mile have already been captured by the vanguard scouts,” Colonel Cricket informed me as I arrived.

Of course I wasn’t traveling at the forefront of the invasion, but instead near the core of the force.

“We’re ready on your order, My Prince.”

I looked to my left and right. Changelings were crouched low to the ground, ready to swarm down below and blitz the town.

I looked back to the sleepy, Western-themed town. I saw four earth ponies hooked up to a stagecoach parked in front of a building labeled as a bank. Across the street, a mare with a parasol slowly made her way through the tiny town. Other than those ponies, the little town seemed almost abandoned.

‘Most will be inside, avoiding this horrid heat. They won’t know what hit them.’

“Guard presence?”

“None, My Prince.”

“Expected number of combatants?”

“Just the sheriff, My Prince.”

‘This town is so small that its capture would be completely beneath note, save for the fact that it is the first ponies we will capture.’

“Any possibilities of long-range communication?”

“Forward scouts report no possibility, My Prince.”

‘This will be my one chance to feel strong and powerful before we go up against actual enemies.’

“... Then I want to have just a little bit of fun, before things get serious. Stay here, and wait for my command through the Weave. Then, you may begin the attack.”

I focused on the Thread of Change, and took on the form of a pegasus. The disguise had a white coat, brown mane, blue eyes, and a bullseye cutie mark.

I backed up from the illusion field, and flew up and over the mesa, before spiraling down towards the town. It was not the easiest task, given my comparative lack of flight experience with feathers, but my flight training did include both feathered wings and leather wings in addition to my normal changeling wings.

I was circling down, only about twenty hooves above the street, when I saw the stagecoach pullers all look at my direction.

‘One of ‘em must have seen my shadow, or heard me falling. Hmm. I bet if I land on the far side of them…’

I touched down north of them, putting them between me and the Mesa. A small dirt cloud greeted me as I gave one last flap, killing the last of my speed. As he dust settled, much of it on me, I heard a gruff voice call out from the four stallions in front of me.

‘Annoyance. Confusion.’

I smiled as I got a good look at the ponies, the first ones I ever saw outside of a pod.

‘Look at em. So cute.’

Though they were trying their hardest to look tough and manly– stallionly?– in their cowboy– cowcolt?– outfits, the fact that they were adorable ponies in cowboy outfits undermined any attempt.

I saw one of them lean towards the rest and whisper something, and the taste of annoyance faded, leaving just mirth.

The stallions trotted over to me, getting a good look at me as I got a good look at them. Four stallions, two with brown coats, one with caramel, one with cream.

‘So. Adorable. They all have matching bandanas and ten gallon hats!’

The pony with the cream coat spoke up, “Heya city-slicker, what brings ya tah Dodge Junction?” The stallion’s accent made the what sound more like h’wat.

“Oh hey there fella’s. My family and I are on a sightseeing tour of all the towns in Equestria, and I just had to see Dodge Junction for myself!”

“Yer family? They hiding behind ya or somethin'?”

“Ha! I flew on ahead you see, I heard about the sights and just couldn’t help myself!”

The ponies looked around at the town.

‘Confusion.’

“Err… Just what sights are ya seein’?”

“We don’t get many tourists ‘round these parts, friend. Maybe yer thinkin’ of Appleloosa?”

‘Nah, I’m thinking of Wall Drug. Ha, never visiting that tourist trap ever again!’

“I don’t think so. But anyways, what’re you ponies doing out here, sitting in the hot sun?”

“We’re waitin’ on our boss inside tha bank. She likes countin’ her bits, ya see…” The caramel pony said with a smile.

‘So cute and friendly. Almost makes me want to have a moral dilemma here. However, it’s us or them.’

“I think I know the type.”

“Oh, where are our manners?! We forgot to ask yer name, Mr Pegasus! I’m Rocky Rustler, these here are mah friends Straight Ace, Mornin’ Mist, and Dapper Dancer. Mind if ya share yer name?”

‘Ah! There’s the line I was waiting for.’

“Mayhem.”

At my command, the changelings launched themselves forward from the top of the mesa, letting gravity speed their descent towards the town. The stallions, with their backs to the mesa, were none the wiser. They were too busy sharing a look between them, before looking back at me.

‘Can’t have bad-ass one liners without setup.’

“Mayhem? My… that’s a… unlucky name…”

The changelings closed the distance at fast speeds, gliding silently on the wind.

“Not for me, it isn’t.”

“Wha–?”

Four stun spells hit the ponies in front of me nearly simultaneously as changelings took down their targets. They were quickly bound in goo as the rest of the changeling started to clear out buildings in their assigned teams.

Eighty changelings against a population of around twenty four ponies, none of which save for the sheriff having any capability to fight back.

Far from a fair fight.

And just the way I like it.

‘Fear.’

“What in tarnation?!”

Speak of the devil, and he will kick open the door behind you. I turned to face the sheriff who was standing in the doorway of the, you guessed it, sheriff’s office.

Another brown coated earth pony, though this one was wearing a vest and a silvery badge in addition to their ten gallon hat. He was looking around his town as the sound of spells being flung, ponies yelling, and furniture being overturned filled the air.

There were also the tastes of fear and confusion starting to permeate throughout the town as the takeover was moving at an extremely rapid pace, but the sheriff, not being a changeling, was oblivious to his own additions to the emotion soup that was being cooked.

I pushed magic into the Thread of Change and dispelled my disguise in a cloak of orange flames. As the flames receded, I tasted his fear in full force as he now stared at me with wide eyes.

‘So tantalizing… But now is not the time for breakfast.’

“Catch!”

I casted a stunning spell at him. He made to dodge, but the state of shock he was in slowed his reaction so that he only managed to turn to the side before being hit by the small blue and white glowing orb that formed the stunning projectile.

He went down with a grunt, and immediately two changelings were upon him, wrapping him up in bindings.

“Nice catch!”

I turned and started to take a stroll through the streets, but stopped almost immediately when I saw a cowboy hat laying on the ground at my hooves. I took in a taste of the air. The fear, while delicious, was not fulfilling. Already, the yelling was dying down, with the last ponies, in what seemed to be the tavern, becoming quieter and quieter.

Looking around the streets now filled with changelings moving to and fro, I realized what was missing from this town and my smile slowly dropped from my face. There was a distinct lack of a very close friend here. One who would be tired after his week long journey through the heat, and would possibly wait for his friends to find him.

‘Thorax isn’t here. Damn it, I could really use his advice right about now. His sappy, unrealistic, impossibly naive advice.’

I looked back at the sheriff. He had been propped up against the wall in preparation for the Chosen Conquerors to come in and pod the pony. I could see his eyes start to focus on things again as the stun spell slowly wore off.

Trotting back to him, I pulled off the binding on his muzzle.

“You will answer my questions, or there will be consequences you don’t want.”

“W-What’s goin’ on here?!”

“Did a pony come up from the Badlands all alone in the past few months?”

“Who are ya–”

“Answer the damn question!”

He shook his nod, not in the negative but to clear it. The confusion and fear from him never went away.

“Think! Was there a pony all alone who came from the Badlands?”

“N-... Yes’er. A p-pegasus came in ‘bout– A-Ah don't kno–”

“What did he look like? What was his name? Where did he go?”

“H-He had grey f-f-fur, black m-mane, blue eyes, and t-tree Cutie Mark–”

“Name? Destination?”

“Dusty Cloud! A-And he was headed north!”

“... That is enough, thank you.”

I replaced the bindings on his muzzle.

'A Cutie Mark that doesn't match the name? Really, Thorax?'

I sighed.

‘Any infiltrator would know that being seen doing something so out of the ordinary as coming from the Badlands alone without any equipment or supplies would burn the disguise so to speak, and would make a new one immediately after leaving Doge.’

‘But this is Thorax. Knowing him, he’s still a grey pegasus, wandering Equestria. If he isn’t waiting here…. Hmph. I’ll find him, I know I will.’

The town was quiet again, and as the Chosen Conquerors arrived and started to pod the ponies, the fear that permeated the air started to dissipate.

I turned around and looked back at the cowboy hat lying upturned in the dirt road.

‘These ponies greeted me as a friend, despite never seeing me. For an edge-of-civilization town, these rural folk were awfully kind. And I came in and completely ruined their lives... No, it's us or them. Us, or them.’

A brown coated earth stallion, one of the four stagecoach drivers I recognized, trotted over and picked up the hat from the ground. I tasted no emotion from him, meaning he was a disguised changeling. He placed the hat on his head, and looked at me with a smile.

‘This is just the first town on our potential six day journey. Three days till Canterlot, with three additional planned just in case of delays. The towns of New Horseleans and Cincinneighti are up next, then Canterlot. These ponies sure do love their puns.’

41- Panathenaia

The town of New Horseleans was the life of the party, and that party had been going on for at least a decade.

With a population much, much larger than Dodge Junction, and a full guard garrison of Royal Guards, this was quite the step up from a tiny dust pile in the middle of nowhere. Granted, it was much smaller than the human parallel, but I imagine that would be the case when it came to all these horse-pun cities.

Equestria was far more sparsely populated compared to Earth. Or maybe most of the population was on the East coast? There would be time to find out those answers later, for now it was time to crash the party.

New Horseleans was situated at the junction of the rolling hills and forest of the North, the drier grasslands of the South, and the wet, humid swamps to the South-East. A small mountain ridge separated the two Southern distinct climates, one that split the South-East from the rest of South Equestria. The town itself was far closer to the swampy areas than any other, however.

The ponies residing within the town, as well as all the outlying farms and homesteads cared little for the specifics of the climate though, save for complaining about the excessive mugginess and heat. After all, why wonder about the percentage distribution of rainfall, watershed, and forest coverage when over half of your town’s industry is based solely on tourism and partying?

New Years, Hearths Warming, Nightmare Night, Pancake Tuesday, it didn’t matter. Any excuse was good enough for the residents, as well as the packed hotels filled with tourists and other visitors. However, Pancake Tuesday was what made the town famous.

Ponies loved any excuse to gorge themselves on baked goods, it seems. I can respect that.

But I still had to burn the place to the ground, metaphorically speaking.

Approaching the massive town from the South risked being spotted before arriving. Invading from the South-East meant flying over swamps, above the treeline, which brought similar issues. We could invade from the North and avoid all the bad weather, approaching from the treeline of the nearby forest. But that would be forgetting our greatest strength. We are changelings; infiltration is not limited to gathering love.

So the invasion plan for New Horseleans was to walk in through the front doors. Hey, if it worked for the Greeks, it will work for the changelings.

More specifically, the plan was to disguise the entire force that would be attacking and filter them in slowly through the Southern entrances to the town. The extra ponies present were passed off as newcomers here for the start of a new party.

‘What were they celebrating?’ A local might ask.

‘Who cares!’ Literally any other pony could, and would, respond. Ultimately, ponies were at heart party animals.

The downside of this was that I had to make sure there was an increased presence of changelings from the Chosen Conquerors, with a few Praetorians to provide backup, to enforce strict oversight on the invading force. With all the revelry and good emotions, keeping self-control was paramount for the changelings. Revealing our presence before the town was properly encircled and infiltrated would be… bad. Still, despite the risks of unprofessional behavior within the Swarm, this was our best chance to take the massive town as quickly as possible.

A large portion of the Swarm would infiltrate into the town, and the rest would wait in different locations outside, spread to cover the all the roads, open fields, and any other possible exit the ponies could take.

There was a flight risk, pun intended, for pegasi to escape, so having teams stationed and ready to intercept fliers, often using comparatively dangerous acceleration spells casted on the changelings, made this good practice for aerial fighting.

Everything slowly fell into place as over the course of four hours, thousands of Legionnaires took to partying in the streets, the taverns, bars, shops, and inns, slowly spreading themselves equally throughout New Horseleans, using bits we had secured prior and during the invasion to act as if they were indeed well paying tourists. Then, they partied, partaking in the spontaneous festivities while waiting for my signal.

I overlooked the town from behind an outcropping on the ridgeline south of New Horseleans.

“Is everyone in position?”

“Several squads are yet to get to their positions around the guard barracks at the center of town, My Prince,” Chamberlain Eucharis said from behind me.

“I’d rather not risk discovery, and the longer we wait, the bigger a chance of something going wrong. The guards will fall, and even if they escape into the town proper, they will be in the middle of the most confusing and hectic battlefield they have ever seen. I’m giving the order now.”

I stood up from the boulder I was peeking over, and hopped up on top of it.

New Horseleans was beautiful. The afternoon sun glinting off the many windows that filled the town as well as the rivers that ran around the downtown district. I could see the distant figures of ponies strolling around the riverfront district, sitting at cafes and restaurants, or dancing in the streets as small bands played music here and there. In the occasional park, even more dancing and games were had between the trees, stones, and small creeks that composed the green spaces.

The notes of the music occasionally made their way all the way south to where we were, as well as an occasional taste of emotion from downtown. In addition, smells of normal pony food such as funnel cake, steamed vegetables, and other horribly vegetarian foods carried themselves on the occasional breeze.

New Horseleans was indeed a wonderful, happy town.

“Terror shall be the order of the day.”

Was. Past tense.

I had hopped down from the top of the boulder and was pacing back and forth next to it, out in the open. It wasn’t like being spotted now would make any difference at this point, considering the invasion of the town was underway.

No one had told me how long it would take. It was a variable none of us could even estimate. Dodge Junction had taken minutes, but that was just a hooffull of ponies, with the majority being captured by forward scouts who explored the periphery of the town.

This was taking longer. Much longer.

The first signs that something was happening was the increased activity of the distant blurs that made up the pony population. Ponies were running. Then the music stopped. Then, the taste of fear finally made its way all the way over to my observance spot. I could hear an occasional yell and scream.

So distant, so comparatively muted to when I was in Dodge.

That was half an hour ago. The activity I had seen as the ponies started panicking had been replaced by the frenzied rush of the changelings going after their quarry. Unlike Canterlot, the capture of New Horseleans and Cincinneighti was for more chaotic and unplanned.

An open buffet, if you will.

More practice for the Chosen Conquerors and Praetorians in reigning in the Legionaries, I suppose. I didn’t blame my changelings for wanting to feed right away, but that’s not how we do things. It’s more efficient to feed from a pony that’s within a pod. You get far more, safer too, that way.

As a way of rewarding the changelings, I was allowing some siphoned love off the first ponies podded to be distributed amongst the Legions. A mere taste, when accounting for how much had to be split up. The real feast would be after Canterlot falls, then even I will join in.

After Chrysalis is dead, at least.

“Progress?”

Eucharis turned away from the messenger he was speaking with to answer my question.

“The Old Quarter is completely within our control. The Riverside, Theatrical, and most others are wrapping up capture procedures, My Prince.”

“And the Chosen’s reports?”

“They have found excellent candidates for storage, My Prince. They have recommended several close amphitheaters in the Theatrical district promise open spaces at considerably defendable positions.”

“Give them the go ahead.”

“At once, My Prince. Flier teams have intercepted sev–”

A messenger flew up to us, barely stopping his momentum before landing, then bowing before me.

“My Prince! We have encountered a huge problem in the Central Business District!”

“Speak.”

“The Royal Guard garrison, My Prince! We have captured the patrols that were out in the city, but…”

“But?”

“The garrison has erected a shield, a very sturdy one! Nothing we throw at it even frays the matrices!”

“Sounds like a job for me.”

“My Prince!” Eucharis objected. “Panar’s Hammer can surely take care of this foolish resistance!”

“I’m sure they can, but we are starting to fall behind on schedule. We are supposed to be wrapping up the initial phase fifteen minutes from now, and we’re nowhere near that. Oest, with me. It’s time God-Splitter is put to the test.”

The streets were empty of ponies as Oest and I strode down them.

Here and there, discarded hats, bags, food, and an occasional stagecoach littered the sidewalks and roads. Changelings were the only faces we saw, and they were all either in a hurry to get to someplace, or were carrying captured goods or ponies.

Bits were bits, and we could definitely put them to use before Equestria fully capitulated.

The town was even more beautiful up close, the brick and wood architecture, the balconies fenced in with iron railings, and the colorful paint jobs reminding so much of New Orleans, though I had only seen pictures of the town.

The most colorful thing in sight was the purple bubble encasing a five story building in the middle of one of the blocks. There were changelings gathered around the edges, and one of them split off to meet up with me.

“My Prince,” she greeted me with a salute. “My Prince! The Royal Guards have barricaded themselves in with some civilians, they have expertly layered their shields to counter our attempts at dispelling it!”

I listened patiently as the changeling restated the obvious.

“Very good. I shall take care of it, be ready to move in once the shields down. Remember, disorientation spells before entry.”

“Yes, My Prince!”

I nodded to the changelings and started making my way to the shielded building, Oest shadowing me every step.

The changelings gathered around the shield, most smartly behind cover in case the ponies decided to drop the shield and sortie out, all watched as I slowly and leisurely sauntered up to the shield.

Once I got right up to it, I could see the small swirls and eddies as the ambient thaumic currents flowed around the shield, pressing into it. I could also see so many shades of blues, blacks, and violets that blended into each other, like a stellar nebula flowing in a breeze.

I could also see several unicorns inside the shield, pointing glowing horns at the shield itself, almost certainly the casters themselves. The colored shield hid most of the smaller details of what was behind the shield, but that didn’t block the smell of fear and anger coming from within.

‘Right. A group casting, with multiple layers stacked inside of each other. A shield like this will wear out the casters inside, and I doubt they have many replacement casters to fill in the gaps. Theoretically, all we have to do is wait the few hours it would take for the casters to burn out. Possibly shorter than that if they stop early to reserve some mana for fighting.’

I hafted God-Splitter into the air next to me using telekinesis.

‘Or, I could pop the magic bubble. Yeah, I’m going to pop the magic bubble.’

I pulled God-Splitter back, and propelled it forward, swinging it on the tethering enchantment that was imbued on the handle.

Now, a normal hammer would bounce off the shield. A magic hammer would bounce off the shield. God-Splitter, being a combination of both, by all rights should not be able to do what it could do.

Or maybe it definitely should be able to do what it can do, and changeling knowledge in the mechanics of higher thaumic interactions was rather lacking. Considering the brain drain that had been going on since the Second Hive, this seemed like a reasonable explanation.

God-Splitter was made of Adamantium, one of the rarest elements in the world. However, it was not pure Adamantium. God-Splitter’s head was a thick Adamantium casing around a Mithril core. Mithril, an element even rarer than Adamantium, counteracts magic, acting like an anathema. Adamantium, on the other hoof, acts like a piece of paper for writing magical words. There is no medium more suited for housing enchantments and channeling magic energy.

So what happens when you wrap enchanted metal around a hunk of metal that eats magic? Well, you should get two chunks of magicless metal. Or maybe a vacuum that slowly eats up the ambient magic as the Adamantium pulls it in and the Mithril eats it.

Neither cases are true with God-Splitter. Somehow, it works as the most powerful dispelling tool ever created. That we changelings know of, at least. From my very, very limited understanding of how enchantments work, the best I could guess is that the Mithril works as part of a permanent dispelling enchantment imbued in the Adamantium casing, somehow not stripping the green metal of its precious magical engraved power, but instead complimenting it.

‘Stupid magic, not listening to any rules, not even it’s own!’

This was all information I scoured from the vault during what little freetime I had. There was mention of an existing Adamantium tool that God-Splitter was forged from, though the details were lost.

All this magical nonsense meant that when I propelled it forward using telekinesis and it swung on the tethering enchantment bound to a thin Adamantium core in the wooden shaft, it made a mess of things wherever it hit.

A shield made impossible to break through?

Well I’ve got a hammer that doesn’t listen to thaumic laws.

Look, if the ponies get a Royal Guard Captain whose specialty is a shield resistant to anti-magic spells, something that should by all rights be impossible. It’s only fair that we get to break thaumic rules too! I had a plan for dealing with Captain Shining Armor, however that’s a bridge I would burn when I got to it.

The moment God-Splitter touched the Royal Guards’ shield, the magical matrices, power channels, and other magic doohickeys immediately vanished around its impact sight, causing a chain reaction that dissolves the entirety of the shield within the span of a nanosecond.

From my point of view, the shield vanished and God-Splitter carried right through where it was, slamming into the ground in front of me, hissing steam rising from the front of the head where the Mithril core shunted off the excess energy it absorbed, heating up the thick Adamantium casing.

“Knock knock!”

The dazed unicorns that sustained the spell barely registered what was happening in their confused state. Namely, the fact that over one hundred changelings were now swarming all over the building, rushing in the moment the shield dropped. Windows, doors, balconies, any entrance the changelings could fit into, they did.

The sudden shattering of glass and swarming must have scared the ponies inside shitless, as the stench of fear became practically palpable in the air.

The unicorns who, I could now see, had been sticking out of the opened front door, went down like a sack of potatoes as shocking spells hit their already exhausted bodies. Changelings breached through the open doorway, casting flash spells as they entered.

I was going to go inside and join the fun but Oest interposed himself between me and the building.

I glared at him, “Move, I want to hit them with my hammer!”

“You did your job, My Prince. Now, stay back.”

“But, hammer!”

“Phasma.”

“Tch! You’re no fun, Oest.”

“Back to Eucharis.”

“Yeah yeah.”

I kicked a Guard helmet that was lying in the streets, the sound of chaos behind us slowly fading as we went back to the boring ridge where there was no fun to be had, only conversations with Chamberlain Eucharis.

At least I got to use my extremely cool paperweight. There were so many enchantments, I could feel their interactions with the ambient magic around the hammer, wedged into the head.

Chrysalis deigned to only tell me about the three most important enchantments. The dispelling effect, which she only told me the barest essence of, the rest I merely guessed. The tethering enchantment, which would become immediately apparent the first time I swung it. The magic-link enchantment, which worked in tandem with the tethering enchantment to make sure that I was the only one who would properly pick up the hammer with my magic. That was standard issue on any weapon used in magic combat, as without it you could just stop your opponent’s weapon using telekinesis.

The sun was setting on New Horseleans, the day’s excitement almost over. If there was no fun to be had in either New Horseleans or Cincinneighti, then at least Canterlot would hold some combat, as I was actually expected to fight in that battle.

‘I have no presumptions that everything will be as smooth when it comes to conquering that mountaintop city, and defeating the one of the most powerful spell mage in existence that rules from its height. Oh, and murdering my Queen-mother. Can’t forget that.’

42- Moros

Star Armor sat behind the front desk, trying his damndest to not fall asleep while listening to the pony in front of him. Between him and the pony was a solid inch of glass, and Star Armor had to resist the urge to bang his head against it.

Honey Cupcake had been going on for half an hour at this point about her missing shipments from New Horseleans. Despite receiving an invoice for the shipment of her organic blueberries, Honey Cupcake never received anything.

Star suppressed a sigh as she finished, and lifted his head off his hooves to speak the same phrase he had told her half an hour ago after he finished taking a police report when she first came to the Cincinneighti Royal Guard garrison.

“I’m sorry we can’t help you, ma’am. As I have said before, you must take this issue up with both the Duchy of Appleloosa’s and the County of South Hoofington chambers of commerce. Once again, I am sorry the Royal Guard cannot help you recover your missing berries.”

“But I already went to the D.A.C.C.! And they said to file a police report for the missing shipment!”

“And we now have a report on this. Any further–”

“So you’re going to go get it for me? I’m a busy mare, I can’t make the trip all the way south and run my business at the same time!”

Star Armor suppressed another sigh.

“As I said, the Royal Guard have too much on our hooves to help you. I’m sorry, ma’am. Have you tried contacting the Royal Guard garrison in New Horseleans?”

“I tried! They said to talk to you ponies!”

‘Typical. Somepony in New Horseleans is trying to get out of doing some paperwork and legwork, leaving this mare out to dry.’

“Look, I can send an inquiry about this to them, but ultimately it’s out of our hooves.”

“I want to speak with your officer!”

Star groaned and his head fell into his hooves again.

“Again, Sergeant Emerald Aura is out at the moment. You’re more than welcome to come back tomorrow, ma’am.”

“Hmph! And just where is this missing Sergeant?”

“Responding to a domestic.”

“Where?”

“I’m afraid I can’t give you that information, ma’am.”

“I am a sovereign citizen of the Principality of Equestria, I know my rights! You are required to find my missing property!”

“Have you asked your supplier where it is?”

“I’ve sent a letter, but they haven’t responded!”

“How long ago was this letter sent?”

“Yesterday!”

Star Armor felt very thirsty all of a sudden as he was filled with a desperate need to drink his sorrows away. Thankfully, he was saved from his misery when the front doors were pulled open, and Sergeant Emerald Aura came in, two privates in tow.

“Sergeant Emerald! Am I glad to see you!”

Emerald stopped and gave Star a smile.

“Corporal Star Armor. I hope front-end duty isn’t wearing you down too much.”

“You’re this guards superior?” Honey Cupcake interjected herself into the conversation.

“That’s right, ma’am.”

“My name is Honey Cupcake, and I need you Royal Guards to help me find my missing shipment of blueberries!”

“Alright. Have you asked whomever you were purchasing from where the shipment is?”

“Yes! They are ignoring me!”

“Have you filed a report with Corporal Star?”

“Yes! He’s been most unhelpful!”

“.... Uh huh. Hmmm, let me guess, the shipment is from New Horseleans?”

“As it so happens. I order only the most healthy and organic blueberries from top quality producers!”

“Then I’m afraid I can explain your missing shipment. Word has come in that some unplanned storm from the Everfree has caused increased rainfall, which made the rivers flood way past their normal heights. I’ve got traders and travelers telling me that there’s no current way across the Father of Waters River.”

“But I need my supplies now! Tomorrow night is the Summer Sun Celebration, this is the busiest season past Pancake Tuesday! And you no doubt know how I can’t open my doors if I don’t have blueberry pancakes in stock!”

Emerald gave Honey a sad smile, “I’m sorry ma’am, but many are awaiting delayed friends, shipments, or special someponies coming from the New Horseleans area. There’s simply nothing we can do.”

“Unbelievable. I’m writing to Princess Celestia about this!” Honey Cupcake huffed as she stormed out of the building, pushing past the two privates still lingering near the door.

Star knew he would unfortunately see her again. Despite having to introduce himself, he had met her already. Several times, in fact, for she was a regular here. Honey Cupcake always had something to make a fuss about, and always found a Guard to harass.

“To answer your question, no, I am not enjoying the front desk.”

Sergeant Emerald snorted.

“Don’t be such a sourpuss, Star. You can’t let one pony bring down your mood. After all, we’ve got donuts in the breakroom!”

Emerald unlocked the thick security door next to the desk, entering it and trotting out past Star and through the swinging doors behind him, the Privates right behind her. Star watched as one of the Privates stopped to talk with him.

“You look like you could use a break, Corporal Star,” Private Baton said.

“I could use eight of those, Private Baton. How’d the call go?”

“Oh you know the drill. Noise complaint, we go over, ask some questions, nopony knows anything, we go back empty hoofed.”

“You managed to ask around the entire block in…” Star leaned back and looked at the clock on the wall next to him behind the desk, “An hour?”

“We split up to cover more ground.”

“Hmm. Well then Baton, I think I’ll take one of those eight breaks I’m due. Take over the front desk, I’m grabbing a donut.”

“Alright, Corporal Star.”

As he entered through the swinging doors, Star Armor saw Private Breeze taking a drink from the water fountain just to the side. He gave him a nod, which was returned after Private Breeze finished drinking.

He was about to strike up a conversation with breeze when Star’s rumbling stomach reminded him of his goals, namely a chocolate covered donut which had his name on it.

‘Hopefully there are chocolate donuts. If they’re all glazed again…’

The doors swung shut behind him. As Corporal Star Armor made his way down the hall to the break room, he didn’t see the thirty ponies that had entered the building just after he left the front room, nor did he see Private Baton unlocking the security door, letting them in.

The break room was a small rectangle room, filled with tables, chairs, bulletin boards, and a small kitchen at the end. Two ponies, Corporal Hooves and Private Nimble were playing cards at one of the tables. One one side of the room were metal lockers. On the other, the bulletin boards hung above a table. The table beneath the boards had a colorful cardboard box that made Star’s stomach rumble just looking at it.

There were indeed chocolate donuts, much to Star’s delight. He grabbed a donut out of the box, and sat down in a chair in the corner of the break room, happily munching away for the next few minutes.

Afterwards, Star brushed the crumbs off his coat as he got out of his cheap, uncomfortable wooden chair. He made a mental note to petition Colonel Comet Wing to raise the budget for furnishings.

Specifically, to get something to sit on in the break room that didn’t make his flanks sore for the next two hours.

He stopped in the hall when he heard a rumbling echo through the building.

‘There’s no storm planned for today. That rogue storm must have messed up all the schedules, I hope this doesn’t ruin my weekend plans.’

The pause also made him reconsider the idea of going back to the front desk and doing nothing but read old newspapers, books the previous attendants left, and listening to ponies drone on and on about non-issues.

‘I’ve been working hard today, and what better way to complement a donut than with a nap?’

So, Corporal Armor Star made his way to his favorite sleeping spot, an out-of-the-way janitor’s closet, and collapsed on a sack of cleaning powder. The door closed behind him, plunging him into darkness, the only light coming from beneath the door. He yawned, and shut his eyes.

Outside, he heard what sounded like Emerald having an argument with somepony.

‘Oh no, somepony’s forgotten to make a new pot of coffee when they emptied the last one. Celestia help them, they’re going to need it for somehow managing to get on her bad side!’

When he woke, he saw the light beneath the door had dimmed considerably.

‘Oh ponyfeathers, I wasn’t supposed to nap that long! The Sergeant's going to have my hide!’

He jumped to his hooves and pulled the door open. He made his way over to the front of the building, where Private Baton, or his replacement, was no doubt fuming. A scorch mark on the wall stopped him in his tracks.

“Is this what the argument was about?” He mumbled to himself before slinking back to the front.

When he got there, he couldn’t find anypony behind the front desk. Then he checked the break room. Tables were overturned, chairs too. I could see the cards spilled out over the floor where the ponies were playing earlier. But he didn’t find anypony here.

‘Nopony at the desk. Nopony in the break room, and it’s a mess...’

He trotted out and up the stairs, to where the offices were. As he reached the last flight and pushed the doors open, he was met with an empty office. Nopony was at their desks, filling out the tedious, unnecessary paperwork. Nopony was cracking jokes at the water cooler, wasting time. Nopony was asking suspects or victims questions, taking reports, or anything Royal Guard related.

Nopony was here at all.

Corporal Star Armor looked out the nearest window. The sun’s rays were reflecting brightly off the glass windows of the brick seven story apartment building next door. His eyes snapped to a clock hanging on a wall.

‘Nearly six o’clock. That’s not closing time, where is everypony?’

“Hello? I swear, if this is another surprise party, I’m eating everypony’s lunches out of the fridge for the next week!”

Nopony answered.

“Aaaa HA!” Star yelled as he jumped and turned around.

But again, he saw nopony.

Needing answers, he headed back down the stairs, down the hallway, and into the lobby area. When he reached for the front door, Star saw that it was unlocked. The security door, which policy stated must be locked at all times if not in use, was unlocked. This has never happened before.

Tentatively, he pulled the door open, and slowly walked through the lobby to the front doors. Taking a moment to calm his breathing, and dismissing a thought of this not being some kind of elaborate prank pulled on him when somepony found him sleeping in the closet and told everypony, Star Armor then pulled the front doors open.

The Streets of Cincinneighti were thankfully not empty. Star let out a sigh of relief as he saw that he didn’t wake up alone in the world, and there were indeed strange bug ponies here with–

“What the buck?!” He screamed, stumbling and falling back and onto the ground. His scream made every single pitch black insectoid pony monster stop what they were doing and stare at him.

They had blue eyes, black bodies, and massive fangs.

Star started to shake.

“This is a horrible nightmare. This isn’t real. I’m still asleep.” Star repeated to himself as he began to hyperventilate, pressing his hooves to his head rocking back and forth.

Then he got hit by thirteen glowing darts and one fireball.

Everything went silent and very painful.

As he slumped over against the front door of the Guard garrison, two of the monsters flew over and spat goo onto him, and also put out the fire. He couldn’t move his head to see just what exactly they were doing, but he felt something hit his hooves and then his muzzle. Crossing his eyes, he could make out something green on his face.

Star Armor tried crying out in disgust, dismay, and distress but his body didn’t respond to him. He was still under the effects of the stunning spells that hit him. However, the ringing in his ears that started when he got hit began to fade, and he heard the monsters that looked like ponies talking with each other. They spoke with almost a buzzing undertone to their voice.

“...with the fireballs! Seriously, I know one of you loves them, but you need to stop! Panar…! How many ponies do we miss with each target, Chamberlain?”

Star’s eyes darted around, trying to get a look at the speaker, but with his angled towards the ground, he couldn’t see much other than the strange hooves of the monsters. Hooves was a generous term, as they seemed to have more in common with cheese than a pony’s leg.

“Just a few, sleeping ponies produce no emotion detectable, but the commotion usually wakes them all. This one must have been quite the heavy sleeper, and considering there are no beds in the Royal Guard barracks, who knows where he was sleeping? Back to the matter at hoof, My Prince…” A second speaker, coming from wherever the first was, trailed off.

‘Prince? What was going on? Was Prince Blueblood here or something? Why won’t this horrible nightmare end?!’

“Our estimates did not account for the time it would take for infiltrating. Despite the extra days you’ve allotted, we will not make the rendezvous tomorrow.”

There was a long pause.

“.... Reduce the number of targets we will hit. Prioritize reaching the rendezvous in time over hitting Canterlot’s outlying communities. I’d like to hit as many targets as possible, but a community seeing what’s going on in Canterlot and warning the rest of the Principality is far less of an issue than missing the rendezvous.”

Star’s head was lifted by a hoof, and he saw a monster right in front of him, looking him in the eyes.

“This one’s good, mark him for pickup.”

“We won’t have time for any targets, outside of the few small hamlets along the way, My Prince.”

“Then so be it.”

Though the monster in front of him dropped his head again, Star felt strong enough to at least roll his head to the side, giving him a view of most of the street. The two speakers he had been hearing were more of the monsters, and they were walking down the road in a group of three.

A far one was mostly obscured, but it resembled every other insect pony monster he had seen so far. A close one was wearing strange orange armor. And the one in the middle of the group…

It was tall. Tall like an alicorn. It had one large, curved horn jutting from the top of its head, a red fin on the back of its head with a similar red tail, and an orange torso. It wore a green peytral, and wherever it walked, the monsters bowed.

‘Prince, they called that thing.’

He saw levitating next to it, in an orange aura, was a massive hammer, the metal end of it as big as Star’s head and neck.

‘Oh Celestia, what is this nightmare?! I have to wake up!’

But Star Armor could do little more than twitch and roll his head around.

“Nothing else matters but reaching Canterlot in time. We have one good shot at defeating the Princesses, missing it jeopardizes everything.”

'Defeating the Princesses?! No no no no, this is not real! Not real! Not real!'

Eventually, the Prince monster and the other two walked away. Two more bug pony things flew up to him after a short while.

‘C’mon! Wake up! This isn’t real!’

No matter how hard he tried, Star Armor never woke up from the nightmare.

“This is the one. Let’s get him over to the storage,” one of them said in their buzzing voice.

They moved to grab him. He tried to scream and back away, but all he could manage was a grunt and falling onto his side. Hooves grabbed him and carried him away. Eventually, after being taken away from the Royal Guard garrison building by the apparently flying monsters, he was taken into an old warehouse.

Inside were a lot more of the bug monsters, flying around green glowing pods hanging from the old wooden rafters. He saw the shadows of ponies inside of them, before being placed himself in a pod filled with warm liquid. He slowly slipped back asleep, and had dreams of nice, comfy chairs in the break room, with boxes of donuts piled to the ceiling.

43- Five Minutes To Midnight

The first thing I noticed was that I was wearing my peytral and carrying my hammer, which was strange. No previous dream had that been the case.

The second thing was that I was standing on a cloud. Or, at least, level with clouds, far above the world below me. Looking down, I saw forests, hills, rivers, hamlets, mountains, and more, all quite visible despite the fact that it was night time. Directly beneath me was a large set of ruins, set on the side of a ravine in the middle of a massive forest.

The clouds immediately to my right dissipated, and Nightmare Moon strode forth, the mist streaming behind her in a disappearing cloak. Her nebulous mane standing in contrast to the black sky, the blue field of stars flapping in the wind.

Like myself, she was prepared for war. Nightmare Moon wore dark cyan horseshoes, peytral, and helmet. The color matched her eyes, I noted. The peytral had a moon on the center of it, and her horseshoes had fleur-de-lis acting as front guards.

‘Now that’s just a good taste in fashion.’

“The Promised Day is tomorrow, Prince Phasma. Art thou prepared for our return?”

“My forces will lay siege to Canterlot the moment the sun touches the horizon. I did not inform my forces about our alliance, as well as your existence. I figured that some things are better played close to the chest. I feared word and rumor of another alicorn existing could spill out of my loyalists’ organizations, and jeopardize their clandestine existence.”

“Then thou shalt inform thy levies posthaste, as undue confusion on the battlefield We shall place entirely on thou.”

“I weighed the two risks, and decided that hiding my disloyalty was more important. Don’t worry, I’ll tell them.”

Nightmare Moon glanced down below us.

“That ivy ridden refuse resembles our castle, The Castle of the Twin Sisters.”

“Told you. Canterlot is the capital now, the castle must have fallen into ruin in your absence.”

“So it would seem. Hast thou heard of the whereabouts of the Elements of Harmony?”

“Our scouts could find no mention of them anywhere, outside of one historical account. Princess Celestia seems to have let knowledge of their existence fall by the wayside.”

“She seeks to hide her most potent armament, no doubt. Find the Elements, she would in her wisdom keep them close to her.”

“The plan is to trawl the vaults and secure rooms of the Canterlot Castle once we capture it, but infiltrating it beforehoof has proven to be an arduous undertaking. If Princess Celestia chooses to wield the Elements in combat, facing her would be a near fatal task. That’s a detail I seemed to have failed to mention to my mother…”

“Then we shall triumph together, side by side, for the Elements can only be utilized against one individual at a time. The rituals have been complete, the sacrifices made, the proper spells cast. We have no doubt that We can trounce our sister in combat. With two of us, we shall outflank her every maneuver!”

I waited politely as Nightmare Moon cackled villainously. It took a short while for her to regain her composure and for me to continue our conversation.

“Any word on your own loyalist forces?”

“The thestrals have remained quiet, We hear none of their voices. Nevertheless, We shall call upon the shadows themselves, for the barriers between realms have been weakened considerably!”

“.... Right. So anyways, we are leaving the Canterlot’s outlying communities for you to take with your forces. My army is on a very tight schedule, and we don’t have time to get those. If you could take particular care to make sure word doesn’t get out about our takeover, then securing the rest of Equestria should be a sinch.”

“It shall be so! We shall not miss our battle in Canterlot for this, however.”

“Perfect. If Celestia does defeat my mother in combat using these Elements of Harmony, then that would simplify things so much. Which is to say, there’s no way that it’s going to happen. My life is never easy…”

“The life of a monarch is fraught with trials, young Prince Phasma. Fret not, for thou hast wisely chosen a powerful ally. Together, we shall vanquish our foes!”

“Onto the next subject I’ve been meaning to ask about. This eternal night… Plants can still grow during it, right?”

“Most assuredly. Our moon shall provide the energy the flora of our world requires. No more relying on the hateful globe which burns all that it sees, the gentle comfort of our moon shall mother the life of Equus.”

“Lovely. Finally, there’s the discussion of lands my people have already captured. Every settlement directly south of Canterlot is in our control, and it would be near impossible for us to relinquish it. The attacks on the East and West portions of Equestria can be cancelled, though.”

“Then do so once We have linked forces. We intend to rule all of Equestria, but if relinquishing just a meager portion is the price to pay for thine forces and pact, then We shall pay it gladly on stipulation.”

‘Everything has a cost.’

“Name your price.”

“Thy kin feed off ponies, as thou said? Yes, then thou shall relinquish thy kingdom, and integrate thyselves into our Equestria as a protectorate. Thy kin will receive as much sustenance as they desire, and in return We expect fealty.”

"You expect me to put the safety and fate of my people in the hooves of another? Why would I ever agree to that?”

“For thou would receive a position in our own governance. Prince Phasma, thou shall remain a Prince, though thou wilt be one of Equestria, not… Thou hast not shared the name of thy kingdom.”

I rubbed my chin, pretending to think it over, before pointing out the obvious.

“That’s still putting my people in your hooves.”

“Nay. They shall be loyal to thou, though beholden to our law. We shalt not give them order, only thou will.”

“But you just said you expected fealty?”

“Thine, of a sort.”

“So you expect me to trade one master for another?”

“We would not be thine master, We would be thine… companion.”

“Come again?”

Nightmare Moon looked away, towards the moon, bright white and rising high over the world around us.

“It has been so many centuries since we had even conversed with another, let alone… None of the stallions of our age hath wooed us with promises of matricide, marching to war, or any other entertainment.” She looked back at me, “Prince Phasma of unknown lands, We would ask for thy hoof in courtship.”

‘Oh fuck. She was serious when she said that mares make the first move.’

I didn’t worry about fighting a blush, since I couldn’t, but I did feel my face heat up, as well my heart beat faster. I cleared my throat, as well as my mind.

“Ahem, I… I am very busy right now. I can’t even entertain the idea of being with anyone else, not until everything is more stable.”

“And once that is so?”

“Once…. I’m going to be honest with you, Nightmare. I’ve never pursued the thought of being with another. Never. The pleasure of others, while being a pleasure, never quite had my interest.”

“Is that a nay?”

“I’m saying I don’t know.” I rubbed my head with a hoof, trying to think.

‘She does look nice, for a pony. Gee, what could go wrong with dating a demon/alicorn/goddess as my first foray into that side of my life? Is she really going to be expecting me to do things like murder others to win her favor? What’s her idea of a date, razing a town to the ground? This just seems like a bad idea.’

I looked back at Nightmare Moon. Remembering my lessons in pony body language, I could pick out a few details. Her ears were straight up, indicating attentiveness. She was ever so slightly leaning towards me, as if trying to listen closer.

‘Something tells me saying no is a suicidally stupid idea. Typical medieval society, courting for alliances and shit. I’m sure that I can… That we…. Oh hell, this is totally going to end in my death.’

I turned away from her this time, staring at the pine trees of a coniferous forest resting at the base of a far mountain. I gathered my thoughts to respond. I couldn’t lie. Well, maybe I could, but I didn’t risk not controlling what I said.

“I don’t enjoy murder or going to war, Nightmare Moon. We are similar, but… I do what I have to do, not because I enjoy it, I usually don’t, but because I must. I admit, I have been having fun with conquering the pony towns in my way, though a nagging voice in my mind has been telling me that this is all wrong. I ignore it because I know there is no alternative, so I might as well have fun while doing my job, Panar knows I’ve had no other way of getting entertainment out of this life.”

I looked back at Nightmare Moon. She looked like she hadn't even twitched a muscle.

“I’m sorry, I’m not who you think I am.”

“Thou art exactly whom we think thou to be. We know you dislike some of our passions.”

That got a start out of me.

“But you just said you are interested in me because I come to you with war and murder on my mind.”

“Prince Phasma, We already know thou take no pleasure in murder. Thou seems to be schooled most effectively, but We have been practicing our craft for centuries; thou possess subtle signs of discomfort when such topics are conversed. Yet thou would still plunge the knife if needed. We know thou has a distaste for war, yet thou carries a war hammer without hesitation. No stallion We knew outside of our loyal thestrals could do such things. Nopony has even looked at us without ill will outside of our thestrals, too.

“Yet thou art not a thestral, raised and trained to worship and grovel at our hooves. Thou art a stranger, who hast listened to our story and understood our views. Thou finds displeasure in what We do, but thou finds pleasure in our conversations yet. Thou cannot hide the phantoms of a smile that graces thy face when thou sees us when We enter.

“Thou art a kindred soul, Prince Phasma. Do not conform to the wishes of others, and never apologize for thy aspirations. And truth be told, if thou were a copy of us, We would rend thy mind asunder for fear of usurpation.”

“How very reassuring. The fact that I’m unaging and a dreamwalker has nothing to do with this decision to court me?”

“We would have our eye on thou without those factors. With them, this is an opportunity We cannot afford to miss.”

"I see."

I took in a shaky breath and considered my options.

I could say no. The alliance between us might still hold, we hold a common enemy. Negotiations with her would always bring this subject up, again and again. And considering she would hold a near monopoly on our food source, that puts our entire future risk.

I could say yes. She said she’s fine with me not being a murderous psychopath. What a lovely basis for a relationship.... There’s also the fact that she’s good looking. For a pony, that is.

I look at her up and down. She did the same.

“Thou art also pleasing to the eye.”

“I think you’re just in love with your own reflection.”

“We think thou art as well.”

“Maybe so.”

“Doth thou have an answer?”

‘I’d be lying if I said it was entirely out of duty…’

“... I accept.”

I stopped channeling energy into the vision spell, letting the complicated lattice structure of it collapse on itself, bringing my sight back to my immediate surroundings rather than the target ahead.

Canterlot was before us, the gleaming city halfway up the mountain ahead. A bright pink bubble enveloped the entirety of the city, shimmering in the moon’s light.

On its walls, I had seen ponies marching into defensive positions, readying themselves to repel a force that outnumbered them three to one, should their first line of defense fall. Their torches bobbed as they moved around the walls, though their colors were muted.

Around me at the base of the mountain, right in front of the railroad tracks leading up, the scouts of Swarm Group Center were conversing with each other out in the open, the need to hide clearly no longer important. The full moon lit up our staging area at the base of the mountain, and it was so bright there was no need to cast light spells to see the way.

“How did they know about our approach?” Eucharis voiced, coming up to my side.

“A missed message? A delayed report? An incorrect codeword in a faked report? A scrying spell, or some other unknown form of divination? There’s a hundred possible reasons, and none of them matter. We planned for this.”

“Yes, My Prince. We’re here on time, now we must take the gleaming jewel of the Equestrian Principality, and the Princesses along with it.”

“Fetch a communication disk. It is time to inform Queen Chrysalis that we are in position, and that she must bring the defenses down from within.”

The shield belonged to Captain Shining Armor, leader of the entire Equestrian Royal Guard. The shield itself was in every sense of the word impervious. Not even my psychics-defying hammer could destroy its defenses, for it was immune to anti-magic spells.

So the plan was to exploit the weakness of Shining himself. Namely, his fatal weakness to being stabbed in the kidneys.

As long as his concentration was disrupted, or he was led to believe that Canterlot was already infiltrated and therefore the shield was useless, the shield would be dropped. Chrysalis, her few Praetorians, and the few Will of The Nine sent with her would target Captain Shining Armor from within his own defenses, his spell leaving himself vulnerable.

A changeling brought the device forward, and activated it. The pieces floated up and formed a circle, magic zapping between them, quickly dying out and forming a mirror-like surface. After a moment, my reflection was replaced with a changeling. They were in the middle of a cave, covered in pink crystals, and illuminated with blue glowing moss taken from the hive.

“My Prince!”

“Tell Queen Chrysalis that I wish to speak with her.”

The changeling hurried off, leaving me to look at the empty crystal cave. Instead, I glanced back up at the city. The sounds of stomping hooves, orders being yelled, and conversation between the troops droning out any sounds of nature around us, or the forest we had just left.

“Prince Phasma.”

I looked back at the device. Queen Chrysalis was there, wearing a set of Adamantium armor: helmet, peytral, and horseshoes.

I brought a hoof to my chest in a salute.

“Queen Chrysalis. The Legions are in position and ready for your order. The Equestrians have noticed our advance, however…”

“Yes, intercepted communications suggest the presence of a clandestine intelligence organization. They noticed a strange happenstance south of Canterlot, too many incidents for it to be explained naturally. It matters not. Do your duty and provide the distraction. Give me five minutes, and I shall be in position myself. Then, bring the dawn.”

“At once, My Queen.”

The device shut off from her end, returning the surface to its mirror-like quality for a few seconds before the changeling attendant shut off our device.

I turned back to Eucharis, and nodded to Oest who was standing right next to him.

Earlier in the day, I told him about, then ordered him to spread the word of, Nightmare Moon and her forces. I emphasized trust in myself, and that I would secure a future far more secure and better than what Chrysalis could offer.

He was surprised, and a bit angry that I hid the existence of a third all-powerful alicorn, but did as I asked.

“Chamberlain Eucharis, assemble the army.”

The Legions of the New Swarm were flying just above the city, the ground far beneath our hooves, the buzzing of our wings producing a loud, ever present noise.

There were thousands of us.

A swarm in every sense of the word.

Before us stood the grand city of Canterlot, its population far more than there were changelings alive. But its guard forces, those we outnumbered by a considerable amount. The Equestrian Royal Guards had rushed to positions along the edge of the city facing the cliff.

In truth, the city had the majority of its defensives facing the numerous sets of train tracks at its front, expecting any conventional army to approach via land. They maintained defenses around the rest of the city in the event of a Griffon attack, and as such did not have many anti-magical wards imbued on the parapets of the walls.

The walls themselves were strengthened as they acted as a support structure for the section of the city that was nearly overhanging off the mountainside. Still, the covered towers that housed the spell-slingers, ballistae, and crossbowponies were not to be ignored.

The changelings surrounded the city, our black chitin shimmering in the full moon. At the vanguard of our forces, shields were put up and maintained, on the small chance that the shield came down early and the Royal Guard opened fire. The greenish hues of the shields stood out almost as much as the offensively-pink Equestrian shield.

I flew ahead to the vanguard formations. Each of the front line formations formed a three dimensional X, with the changeling at the front and middle of the formation, and the four behind them, maintaining the shield.

Oestridae and Eucharis followed me as I went, as did a changeling with a communication device. Just before reaching one of the forward shields, I stopped and turned around.

“Activate the devices.”

“At once, My Prince!”

The device the attendant was carrying turned on, and since it was broadcasted to the many devices now being activated distributed across the entirety of the Swarm across Equestria, it once again showed a reflection of me flying in front of Canterlot, the green and pink shields distorting the city behind me.

I casted a voice amplification spell, and addressed the entirety of the changeling race.

“Changelings of the Fourth Hive, The Promised Day has arrived at last.

“For so long, our kind has worked to achieve the chance before us, this opportunity to end our suffering. By seizing this dawn, we secure not only our safety, but the future of our race!

“We must strike down the Equestrians, here and now. We must rip out their empire, root and stem, for nothing less shall spell their doom. We must be prepared to risk everything to achieve the victory we so desire. If we risk nothing, we will achieve nothing.

“This Battle of Canterlot shall decide the fate of the next epoch! Our nymphs and our nymphs’ nymphs shall sing of the glory that unfolded this day! Stories will be told, from the day after tomorrow, till the day our kind walks amongst the very stars above in the heavens. Stories will be told of our heroism, our strength, our courage! We will carve out our future from our prey, who so foolishly cast us out from this world!

“Let us show these ponies the true heirs of the world! For the Eternal Hive, we bring the dawn! Panar’s Hammer, rattle. The. Cage!”

The Legions bellowed, “For the Hive Eternal!”

Just an hour before Celestia would normally carry the sun in an extravagant celebration, the changelings of the Fourth Hive created their own dawn.

One hundred fireballs, each gargantuan in size, were sent soaring through the night sky, hitting the pink Equestrian shield with a loud BANG! each. The rapid staccato of the fireballs impacting the shield echoes loudly across the entire area, heard for miles. The accompanying flash lit up the entirety of the city, as well as the rest of the mountain.

The fireballs, we all knew, did nothing. Nothing except distract and scare the absolute hell out of anyone watching. I myself pressed a hoof to my chest, above my heart, as the fireballs started hitting. The sound of the fireballs hitting reminded me of–

‘Focus! That was then, this is now!’

I shook my head to clear the thoughts, and waited. I did my part, now it was time for the advance teams led by Chrysalis to engage Captain Shining Armor.

It took five minutes and nineteen seconds for the infiltrator teams to find Shining. He was on top of the front wall of Canterlot Castle and out in the open. Thirty changelings and one Queen descended upon him.

Noticing the dark shapes approaching from the city, the Royal Guards closest to him shouted a warning, and threw up a shield around the group. It was immediately dispelled by a piercing blow from a directed will spell, the laser beam set to counter the specific patterns that formed the shield.

Desperately, two more shields were thrown up, and two more shields were taken down in a similar manner.

“Warn the Princess! The invaders are already here!” Captain Shining Armor yelled at a Royal Guard behind him, who saluted and galloped off.

‘We just have to hold out until Princess Celestia c–’

“Nngehahahahaha!”

Captain Shining Armor turned to face the threat. An invader, far larger than the rest, had come to a rest on the parapets. Her greenish armor reflected the pinkish-red flashes of light that periodically brightened the city.

She had her head thrown back in her evil laugh, revealing a fanged maw. Her strange cyan hair flowed in the winds that constantly pressed against the high walls of Canterlot Castle. At her sides, what Captain Shining Armor assumed to be the thing’s minions, chuckled along with her.

The large invader ended her laugh, now staring directly at Shining. Her fangs were still visible as a sickening grin stretched the corners of her muzzle into a smile.

“Scamper on, little pony! It will do you no good, for your doom has arrived!”

44- Set

The entirety of the invasion force in and around Canterlot waited, counting each passing second. The shields were up on both sides. Prayers to Panar and Celestia were whispered. Squad leaders made last second checks.

The rapid BANG BANG BANG of the fireballs pelting the Equestrian shield never let up, always reminding the Equestrians just what they were facing; doom. Once the shield fell, there would be no sortie out. There would be no heroic charge by the defenders to take the fight away from the city. The defenders were hunkered down in what defenses they had, and they would have to be dragged out, or burned out.

Crossbow bolt tips peaked out of murder holes. Ballistae meant for slaughtering great dragons were lowered to be level with the changelings forces, and springs were pulled down as massive spears were loaded onto the slide and pulled back. Unicorn anti-air teams took positions in the towers ringing their gleaming city, ready to engage the invaders. Pegasi lined up in formation, ready to intercept any targets that charged the defensive emplacements, and to engage foes that had made it all the way to the walls.

The changelings waited, like a beast stalking its prey, prowling at the treeline.

The ponies stood unwavering, resolute in their oaths to protect their city and Princesses. They stood ready to fend off the foreign, cloaked invaders. When the Battle for Canterlot would start, they would fight with every last breath.

But the Battle for Canterlot did not start on the Promised Day. On the contrary, the changelings had no intention of fighting fair, and had been at war with an oblivious enemy for quite some time. The Tenth Legion, Underhive Scarabs, had established a forward base within the crystals caves, and from that they sabotaged the springs of the ballistae, sapped the power from shield enchantments placed on the fortifications, and created accurate layouts of the defenses, which were then distributed to the attacking force.

Even now the entirety of the specialist legion, a few hundred changelings strong, waited patiently for the shield to drop, only on the inside of the shield. They waited in alleys, in near-empty drinking halls, in shops, and parks. They waited just behind the Canterlot outer defenses, waiting for the shield to drop and for their greatest duty to begin.

Between a hammer and an anvil, the Equestrian defenses would be shattered, swiftly and brutally.

The Equestrians were expecting a pitched battle, where force would clash against force. Where heroes would emerge from the battle, as strong and courageous as the tales of yore. A gentlemare’s war, with no real idea of just how high the stakes were.

The changelings merely counted the moments passing. They had waited their entire lives for this, and were willing to wait just a few minutes more.

‘How many seconds of time are in eternity?’

I looked to my side. Oestridae was with me. Chamberlain Eucharis had fallen to the rearguard, where the majority of the Chosen Conquerors were. It was his duty as nominal Captain of the Twelfth to lead them.

“Oest…. What happens when we die?”

“Hmm?”

“When we die. What happens to us? Is there a paradise waiting? Judgement?”

“Dunno.”

“What do the teachings of Panar say?”

“A changeling who gives everything to the hive ascends above The Great Tapestry, to the realm of The Six Halls. A changeling who lives for themselves, is cast off The Great Tapestry.”

–A field of white petaled flowers–

A shiver went up my spine.

“And beneath The Great Tapestry is…?”

“No one knows. No one wants to know.”

Our conversation lulled, and I looked up to the moon. That’s when I noticed the craters and seas that formed the so-called Mare in The Moon had vanished. Now, it lacked any of the black patches that formed its seas.

‘The cretin moon no more is howling, gone its mourning black. Nightmare Moon walks Equus.’

“What about reincarnation?”

I heard Oest’s armor clink as he turned his head to me.

“Reincarnation?”

“What if, beyond everything, there is a new life? A new world?”

“I suppose anything’s poss–” Oestridae cut himself off with a sharp intake of breath.

Ahead of us, the pink shield that was maintained by Captain Shining Armor flickered out of existence.

“And so it begins.”

The barrage of enlarged fireballs coming from Panar’s Hammer ceased, though the ones still in flight hit the great pony city, causing untold damage to the houses, shops, parks, and infrastructure.

‘We’ll fix that later.’

Now that the shield was gone, I could see the city of this world’s desire far clearer.

It was a four tiered behemoth, each layer a concentric ring. I could pick out white stone, greenery, rivers, and an offensive amount of purple in the metropolis.

The lower tier held the manufacturing districts, as well as transportation in the form of the rail yard close to the front of the city. The middle tier held the shops, homes, and many of the parks in Canterlot. It was by far the largest section, bigger than the other three sections combined. The upper tier held the lavish pony estates, foppish shops and restaurants, as well as buildings and complexes dedicated to the running of Canterlot and Equestria as a whole. I heard there were also schools and universities there, though I could not spy them from our locations.

Finally, standing tall in alabaster white chiseled stone, Canterlot Castle towered over its city. Its towers, walls, and ramparts like a panopticon, ever present and watching, no matter how far away from the center of the city you were. I saw banners of purple and gold flapping in the wind, atop the tallest towers of the keep. The sprawling compound also seemed to be home to the biggest garden in the entire city, complete with a hedge maze.

A bolt of lightning zapped the shield in front of me, just a few hooves in ahead, snapping my attention back to the siege.

I didn’t bellow an order to hold. The Legions knew the plan, they knew what to do. As the Equestrians started opening fire, crossbow bolts, ballistae shots, and all kinds of spells ranging from focused-will laser beams to classical elemental projectiles, the changelings did nothing but hold the line.

Some shields at the front started to falter, the combination of attacks starting to wear down the casters as they constantly cycled through the different key combinations of defenses to counter the projectiles and spells they saw coming their way.

To stop this, changelings fell back out of formation as new casters took their places, taking the burden of maintaining the shields. This went on for a minute at most, yet the rapid pace action made each second feel like their own period of time, marked with events that stuck out in memory.

The Equestrians were throwing everything they had at the fangs of the monster closing in for the kill. They had no idea the lower jaw was rapidly snapping up to tear into them.

The flashes of light and lessened rain of blows against us were all the signals I needed to know the next phase of the invasion had occurred; the attacks from within, against the relatively unprotected backside of the defenses.

Now, it was finally time to join the battle.

"LEGIONS! CHARGE!"

The legionaries gave a rallying cry as the forward X formations started the rapid advance to the outer Canterlot defenders.

Around me, changelings surged forward in flight. Oest flew by my side, and a group of changelings started to gather immediately behind me. The Will of The Nine would be sticking close to me throughout the battle up until the Princesses are taken out.

Though until there was a threat that actually warranted my attention, I would be sitting safe in the back lines. I almost looked longingly at my hammer which I had slung over a shoulder, but I knew I would get to use it eventually.

Corporal Solar Vision ducked back into cover after he finished firing a salvo of fire bolts at the green shields of the hostile forces outside.

Nopony knew where they came from, why there were here, or even what they were! Somehow, an entire army made its way to Canterlot with nopony knowing, not even the Princesses!

Solar Vision looked to his left and right; Private Cold Comet, a white coat blue mane unicorn, and Corporal Shining Star, a golden yellow coat red mane unicorn, were peeking out from behind their parapets and were in the middle of letting off their own attacks. He watched as Cold prepared a particularly brutal looking Ice Tempest spell, the small icicles spinning rapidly in the forming cyclone.

Solar peaked out from behind his thick stone parapet to watch the fast moving spell construct zip across the open air, only to shatter harmlessly against the shield closest to his squad’s position.

‘By the sun, how are we not even breaking a single shield?!’

He knew that these spells would normally drain the mana reserves of an opposing unicorn maintaining the shield quite effectively. Yet with so many teams of Royal Guard throwing everything they had, there was nothing to show for it.

“Star!” Solar called out after getting back behind his cover. The unicorn in question finished his barrage and retreated to his own cover, before answering Solar.

“What?!” Shining Star yelled over the deafening sound of the spells

“Nothing we’re doing is working!”

“You just noticed that?!”

Solar shook his head. “We need to do something different!”

“What do you suggest?!”

“Firefly’s Pillar of Flame!”

Shining Star stared at Solar for a moment, before yelling at him.

“Are you outta your mind? We haven’t managed a single successful cast of it yet!”

“This time will be the one! I know it!”

Shining muttered something that Solar didn’t pickup over loud shouting and spell casting. Then, Solar turned to his other side and waved to get Private Cold Comet’s attention.

“I need you to switch off of cold spells! Me and Shining Star are going to dual cast a fire spell together, cold will interfere more with our channeling!”

“Shining Star and I!” Was all the Private said, before switching to casting lightning based spells. If Solar ever needed a reminder that Cold Comet was here only for a Canterlot University scholarship, Cold was more than happy to supply him with one.

Rolling his eyes, Solar turned back around to face Shining. Shining had taken off his golden Royal Guard helmet, letting his long red mane flow freely in the low wind.

“You ready?!”

“As I’ll ever be!”

Solar Vision took a deep breath, and started forming the constructs and pathways by channeling mana through his horn. He slowly built up half of a cylinder made out of the complex formations in his mind, trusting Shining to complete the other half. Here and there, he even let channels end abruptly, spilling their contents into the open air. Solar had to, as those were where Shining would connect his own channels, linking the two halves of the spell construct together.

A single mistake on either of their parts would cause the entire structure to fail, inflicting serious damage to both of them. That would mean neither of them could cast anything to protect themselves– or continue firing at the invaders– until they could recover.

“Done! Aim it!” Shining called out from the other side of the spell.

Solar Vision opened his eyes, not realizing he closed them to help him concentrate. There was a gold and orange swirling mass of dots between them. As he concentrated on holding the spell, Solar couldn’t help but stare at the nascent spell, giddy with happiness that he and his friend finally managed to pull off the group casting.

‘Right, enemies!’

He leaned out from behind the parapet to look out over the enemies. There were two shields close enough to hit, one right in front of their section of the wall, and one on the left within range. Solar Vision was about to direct the spell to hit the shield in front of him when he spied a silhouette of a larger invader behind the shield on the left.

‘Whoah, that’s one big pony! I bet they’re important!’

Switching targets, Solar finished casting the targeting matrix, completing the spell.

“Loose on my mark!”

“Ready!”

“Three! Two! One! M–”

A searing burning pain in Solar’s horn wrenched him away from the crenel in front of him, sending him onto his back as he clutched the base of his horn with two hooves.

‘Ponyfeathers! We had it! What went wrong?!’

“Shining!” He managed to hiss out, squinting an eye in his direction. Corporal Shining Star was on the ground, not moving.

“S-Shining?!”

Solar saw Shining’s prone form twitching on the ground. Solar started to drag himself over to Shining’s prone body, eyes blurring from tears as his horn seemed to burn a hole in his head. Shining was only four hooves away, but it felt like Solar was crawling for a solid hour before he reached him. Solar Vision pushed Shining’s helmet out of the way on the ground as he got to him, and tried shaking him.

“Shining Star! Get up! Please!”

Something was wrong. It took Solar a moment to realize that it had become considerably quieter.

‘We’re right in between the 103rd and 106th, but I don’t hear them casting spells. What happened?!’

Solar got an answer to the question he asked, as well as the one he didn’t ask. The same thing that happened to the other two squads had happened to his, he was just the last pony standing.

When rolled to his side to look at Private Comet, he saw him slouched over against the parapet he was behind. Standing next to the private was some sneering thing, all covered in black and staring right at–

Oest and I watched as changelings swarmed over the ponies, dozens of stunning spells zipping through the air at any given moment. It took only a few minutes for the deluge of hostile fire upon us to cease, lessening at first before halting all together. The defenders, at least those still standing, were using everything they had in a vain attempt to stop their imminent defeat.

Here and there, squads of changelings were starting to break away from the engagement, flying deeper into the city now that their targets were dealt with.

“My Prince!”

I turned to the changeling calling me, “Yes?”

“The advance teams report the outer defenses of Canterlot have fallen below effectiveness, and are ready to move into Lower Canterlot!”

I eyed the city ahead of us. The fires were spreading at an alarming rate.

“Give them the go-ahead to pursue targets at their own initiative, but emphasize the need to extinguish the out-of-control fires. We need Canterlot intact.”

The changeling saluted and flew off.

“Alright Oest, let’s go find Princess Cadence and get her autograph.”

Princess Cadence’s last known location was Canterlot Castle, which meant I would run into and have to talk with… her.

45- Iliad

Queen Chrysalis would be at Canterlot Castle by now, either dealing with or having dealt with Princess Celestia...

‘One empty tube–’

I shook my head and continued on. We were flying above Middle Canterlot now. I could see changelings pursuing fleeing ponies occasionally, though the vast majority of the force was still working their way through Lower Canterlot.

As we flew above the city, I stared down at the ground, picking out small details. An overturned stall here, a group of ponies galloping towards the city center there. I even caught a glimpse of a yellow pony tending to a garden in their backyard, either unaware or uncaring of what was happening in the city.

There would be plenty of time to admire the city later. Lots of time.

After a bit of flying, Canterlot Castle, which was forever looming over the grand city, gradually became larger and larger as we neared. I had to admit, Princess Celestia knows how to build a beautiful castle. Or at least order subordinates to build one.

It lay in the geographical center of the city, with roads extending out like spokes from a wheel hub. The immediate area around it was a plaza filled with different stalls, a few stages, and scattered greenery. At the front of the castle and facing the entrance to the city was a large statue of Princess Celestia, rearing back with wings spread high and wide.

The castle itself was a monument of towering snow white walls, colored windows that shone in the moonlight, and of course more open nature spaces. The towers of the castle were adorned with gold trimming, so much so that I was doubting that it was even real gilded gold and not another substance painted gold yellow.

Atop the tallest tower, stretching high above the cityscape, the end of a massive telescope jutted out the end of a vertical opening in the purple, union-shaped roof.

‘Was Princess Celestia a fan of astronomy? Or was she just checking up on her prisoner on the moon?’

As my group flew closer and closer, I began to pick out more details about the castle. Blurs which must have been birds previously roosting in the trees of the castle garden now flying away from the castle and the loud noises that awoke them. The stained glass windows had shapes resembling ponies, but a few of them– specifically at the keep, near what had to be the throne room– had been blown out. Or blown in, I couldn’t tell at this distance.

And finally, I saw changelings. The Infiltrators and Underhive Scarabs that weren’t on the attack against the perimeter wall were all swarming the castle, moving from tower to tower, balcony to balcony, and from pony to pony.

I watched as a pegasus in a black french maid’s outfit tried to make a break for it out on a particularly high balcony, only to get grabbed and dragged down by a changeling watching that area of the castle.

The changelings behind me followed my lead as I landed in front of the main doors of the castle, past the opened portcullis of the main gateway. Two changelings wearing Praetorian gear were standing at attention on either side. The doors themselves, massive birch wood beams banded with gold plating, seemed to be partially ripped off their metal hinges and resting slanted against the walls on either side.

“Where is Queen Chrysalis?”

The one on the left responded, “Inside, My Prince!”

I nodded, and headed inside. The front foyer had a black and white checkerboard stone flooring, with red carpet laying across the center, leading from the front door to the center of the room, where it split to either side where light and dark wood doors sat, and straight ahead, to a grand staircase, covered in similar red fabric.

The walls kept in theme with the castle with large white sections decorated with more gold, or again a metal similarly looking to gold, trimming and etchings. Great banners hung on the walls against purple backgrounds, the banners’ contents ranging from simplistic diamonds and other geometric shapes, to what I assumed to be the standards of Royal Guard divisions.

Those last ones were the most interesting, often with roman numerals, pictures of ponies in golden armor, and different medals pinned to them.

The staircase did not go an entire floor up, merely splitting off to either side when it hit a low wall with a gold, bejeweled railing on top. On this wall, a painting of Princess Celestia hung. She was looking at the viewer, smiling as she strode through a garden.

‘Smiling in paintings was unheard of, right? I’m getting sidetracked again…’

I did not come here to sight-see. Queen Chrysalis was somewhere in this almost-pristine castle, and I was betting I knew just where to find her.

‘Where is the throne room?’

I was about to look around for clues when a sign at the base of the staircase caught my eye.

‘All petitioners please head up this staircase and straight ahead. Please form an orderly line.’

“Well that’s convenient.”

“What is?”

I nearly jumped as Oest appeared at my side. I pointed at the sign.

“We don't need to hunt down where Chrysalis is. That is, unless she is off smashing the place up. I wouldn’t put that past her.”

The staircase led to a large, grand hallway that gave me serious Déjà vu. More stained glass windows; most of them were smashed out but the ones that were intact depicted stories that I recalled were about Equestria’s history. One had Celestia with three smaller pictures above of the sun rising, full in the sky, and setting. Another had Royal Guards stabbing towards a dragon.

‘But not hitting it. That time I recall they simply herded it away from their empire, too afraid to actually try to break its natural scale chainmail.’

Again, I admonished myself for getting distracted. I was here to do a job.

We continued down the hall at a brisk pace. At the end of the hall I saw again two massive doors, nearly ripped off their hinges. Beyond them lay what must have been the throne room. The group stopped in the hallway, just before the threshold of the throne room.

White marble flooring, utterly massive stained glass windows, a dominating red carpet rolled all the way to the throne, a captivating vaulted ceiling with exposed ribs and countless stained wood boards, held steadfast to the ceiling with gold embroidered and filigreed ribs painted black.

There were massive equally spaced ionic columns, each bearing a carved sun at the top where they touched the edge of the vaulted ceiling.

Then there was the throne. I imagined that once, it was a massive golden symbol of power. Where Chrysalis’s was a blue metal thing that dominated the room, this was a golden mountain that dominated not just the room, but the world itself.

Half of it was missing. Many of the windows were blown out. Several columns had been ripped apart at varying heights. The breathtaking ceiling was not spared the devastation, either.

Queen Chrysalis was sitting on the remains of the gold throne, the gold and red velvet backing ripped off. She had a sinister grin on her face as she watched me enter and do a three-sixty spin as I took in the room.

“Prince Phasmatodea! The Throne of Canterlot Castle, and by extension the world, is mine at last!”

‘Smug bastard.’

“Queen Chrysalis. Your battle with Princess Celestia went well?”

“Oh, it will. She and her niece must have fled the moment her spies heard of my imminent arrival!”

‘Gone? The touted paragon of all virtues fled her keep, abandoning her precious ponies? What?’

“Then what put up such a fight as to warrant this much damage?”

“As if there is any other foe in existence which could give me pause! No, I simply decided that some redecorating was in order.”

“You... Alrighty then.”

“Tell me Prince Phasma. You flew over the city as you came here, what did you see?”

“The gleaming capital of the race that stood at the top of the world?”

“And what is this city worth?”

“As it is without the Princesses? Nothing.”

“Find Captain Shining Armor. He’ll know where the Princesses have gone.”

‘Did she say find the Captain?’

“Didn’t you have to engage him to force him to drop the shields? How did he get away?”

“I played with my food, but he’s an opponent not to be underestimated.”

‘Can’t you do anything right? You claim the throne is yours yet you’ve accomplished nothing at all!’

I was calm enough to control my responses, though. It would do no one any good if I got axed before I could link up with Nightmare Moon.

“And where might your quarry have scurried off to?”

“To where the fighting’s the thickest.”

“I came all this way just to head back to the perimeter wall?”

“You came to Canterlot Castle to pick up the trail of your prey. Go, find him, and find the Princesses. I’ll try to bait out the Sun Tyrant.”

‘Need me to do anything else while I’m at it? Give you a backrub, perhaps? Scrub your hooves? Do your fucking job for you?’

“Then deliver to you Princess Celestia’s location so you can deal with her?”

“Nnhahahaha, she cannot hide forever!” Chrysalis laughed, just before blasting out another window.

‘Nightmare better get here sooner rather than later, or I swear I’ll kill her with my own two hooves!’

We soared over the city, scanning for fights.

There were plumes of smoke rising into the air now; some of the fires were extinguished and produced the most smoke, but for every building put out, two more took its place. It was a Sisyphean task that was taking up a lot of lings’ time and effort to combat.

Now that Outer Canterlot was mostly secure, the invasion moved inward, towards Middle Canterlot. That’s where Captain Shining Armor would most likely be.

“I’m not seeing anything from this high up!” I called out over my shoulder to Oestridae. “I’m landing!”

I dropped height quickly, and the small cloud of changelings spaced out behind me did the same. When my hooves set down onto the cobblestone road beneath us in Middle Canterlot, the Will of The Nine set down both on the road and on top of some of the nearby houses. Oest, sticking to me like glue, landed by my side.

“Right. Up for a stroll through Canterlot?”

Oest just glared at me.

As we made our way through the once busy street of one of the main roads, I got a good look at the invasion in action. For the most part, buildings were cleared SWAT-style, as I had taught the Legions. The reason for this was quite simple: Canterlot is a unicorn city. By and large the biggest demographic of the city was unicorns, and therefore anti-magic measures were required to safely clear each building and subdue each pony.

But that was the boring way of doing things. Some lings took the risk and broke away from the rule brook and let loose. I saw a pony being chased down a side alley as a ling taunted her.

A few changelings must have gotten really bored, as three Great Uttu were spitting web globs at fleeing ponies down a street that split off to the side of the one we were traveling down, slowly chasing them on eight legs. Once their yellow-striped spider forms disappeared around a bend, chittering with laughter as they went, I continued on.

We saw a few changelings fed off a few ponies that were podded already, under the watchful eyes of nearby Praetorians.

‘So long as this is regulated… I know what happens when a city is really sacked, this is much more tame.’

In fact, we witnessed an instance of the potential reckless and abandon that was kept subdued by the Praetorian forces.

When a large group of earth ponies barricaded themselves within a hotel, my group and I saw a ling outside changed into a massive Millipore. The changeling rapidly grew in size until it was thirty hooves long, forty three segments long, and his black carapace taking on an oily black tinged with red hues. It clacked two massive sharpened mandibles that had more in common with chainsaws than bug parts before facing the barricaded hotel. Thundering forward on a hundred legs before rearing back and up and slamming down on the building, shattering many of the wooden walls and caving the roof in.

‘So that’s what a Millipore looks like.’

When it started prying off bits of the wooden ceiling, I looked around and saw three Praetorians similarly watching it all unfold, no doubt impressed by the display.

“Hey! You three! Reprimand that changeling for potentially killing ponies! And for unregulated feeding, there’s no way he could sustain that transformation on rations alone!”

They had saluted when I addressed them, before rushing off to bring the overzealous changeling in. As they group casted a anti-change spell, the rest of the changelings that were part of the rogue’s squad rushed into the opening, dragging out ponies that were stunned from the sudden appearance of an Underhive monster.

‘Not that they know what the Underhive even is…’

Above all else, the most noticeable thing I witnessed firsthoof was the very air of the city. It reeked of fear, the tantalizing emotion forming almost tangible waves that washed through the city blocks.

I made a mental note to grab a snack for myself later.

As I stood there by the collapsed hotel, daydreaming of the taste of love, a changeling had flown up to me, stopping and saluting before me.

“My Prince!” He grabbed my attention.

“Yes?”

“The 302nd has encountered an issue that requires your immediate attention! I am thankful to find you so soon, My Prince…”

“Go on, my changeling.”

“There’s a pony shield up a couple blocks away. Nothing we throw at it seems to even scratch the thing!”

“That is marvelous news! Show me.”

The shield was as I had hoped, pink.

It was at least fifty hooves in diameter, encompassing an entire building within as well as portions of the neighboring ones. Three squads of changelings stood by, patiently waiting for me to bring home their food.

‘A coffee shop? That’s where you’re making your stand?’

I swung God-Splitter to my side before tapping the shield with a hoof.

“Hello? Are there ponies in here?”

I saw shapes in the window of the shop move around, before the windows were covered up with what I presumed was overturned furniture. The chairs and tables on the patio out in front were all pushed over, as their occupants celebrating the holiday had rushed inside when the invasion came.

“Helloooo?! I’m looking for a Captain Shining Armor!” I yelled at the shield.

There were muffled voices coming from within, but no clear response.

‘This isn’t going to work but it’s worth a try.’

I pulled God-Splitter to the side before projecting the head forward, swinging it on the tether spell. It hit the shield with a very satisfying thud. Satisfying, and not completely disappointing. It was immune to being dispelled, and though I only managed to make it flicker briefly into a more transparent hue of pink, I had confirmed that it was maintained by the one and only Captain Shining Armor.

“Ooooh Shining Armor! I’m a big fan of yours, I’m just here to ask you a few questions!”

“Like buck you are!” A slightly-muffled yell from within both the shield and the building responded.

‘He’s got an impressive pair of lungs. I bet barking all those orders for years must’ve helped.’

“I just need to know where the two Princesses are, then I’ll be on my way…! Say, what are you even doing here, Captain Armor? What’s a wolf doing hiding amongst these rats?!”

“I’m not telling you and you’re not getting in!”

‘He’s right. The only way forward is to bait him out.’

“Hmm… A shop in the middle of downtown Canterlot… Is there someone inside you care about? A wife? Sibling? Parent? Friend? Come on, I am dying of curiosity out here!”

“You can wait out there all you want, we’re not leaving!”

“Oh you will, you will!” I turned to one of the changelings watching. “Get me a pony foal. I don’t care where you find one, just get one." Then, I asked over the Weave, "The rest of you, are you any good at group illusion casting?”

46- Hector

Group casting spells is a task that most ponies find extremely difficult. Given how each pony is raised to be as individualistic as possible, and often find working with others a difficult task, this isn’t surprising. This is why their Princesses often find themselves having to preach about cooperation to their ponies.

Changelings on the other hoof, are raised from their nymph stage on to be communal workers, often finding themselves working with others very often. Working with the lings next to you is emphasized greatly within the hive, especially when it comes to combat and casting magic. The hive would not survive if everyone was as self-concerned as they are in pony society.

That doesn’t mean that changelings are friendlier. In fact, they are more xenophobic than ponies, if the invasion and propaganda didn’t give that away. Anything not a changeling was most definitely beneath contempt, let alone working alongside.

So whereas the ponies have excelled at researching and discovering new types of magic as well as spells, including expanding their knowledge of the underlying mechanics of magic, changelings have excelled at perfecting teaching and casting processes for group casting spells.

This is aided in no small amount by the Weave. The subconscious near-hivemind assists changelings’ spell casting, helping them line up their mental spell constructs, their timing, and even their knowledge of the spell itself.

Now that the changelings were away from the hive, the only Weaves there were for the changelings were mine and Chrysalis’s. Our projected Command auras were like nascent Weaves, with far more limited range, capacity, and included knowledge than the gargantuan field projected by the entombed Princes and Princesses. I didn’t know just how inferior it was, and I did not have the time to test the limits.

Still, this was a boon that the ponies couldn’t even fathom. The very idea of ponies working in tandem to cast a protective shield spell, a sound amplification spell, and several layered illusion spells was inconceivable. The shield and amplification spell was quite possible and often employed together by Royal Guard officers. Illusion spells, now those were quite tricky to ponies, and so were often afterthoughts or theories frequently rejected when explaining strange sights.

I was certain that centuries of subtle sabotage in the illusion field by changelings when they could get into high pony society had lent a hoof to their lack of knowledge. When your means of acquiring food requires your food to be ignorant, you work hard to make sure it is.

The ponies within the Captain’s shield, Captain Shining Armor included, almost certainly had little knowledge of illusion spells. They absolutely had no knowledge of any assistance from the Weave. They would not comprehend the relationships between illusionary constructs and other spells, such as the visionary distortions caused by viewing the magical illusions through magical shields, or the similar audible ones produced by the sound amplification spell. Ponies just thought that illusion spells are near impossible to pull off without being disrupted by any other magic.

Simply put, we were putting on quite the show for ponies. Though there was no spell being casted that required group casting per se, the exact teamwork required was effectively the same as the difficult task. Great amounts of effort were put in to make everything seem normal. The ponies wouldn’t appreciate the amount of effort required to pull off this trick, so I had to show my approval for my minions’ efforts myself.

“Keep it up, you’re all doing good,” I whispered entirely through the Weave.

I had to keep my praises short and sparse, for breaking their concentration too much would be counterintuitive.

“Bring me a foal,” I commanded out loud. The changelings did as I asked, going along with the plan I had laid out. A unicorn filly was dragged over by a flying changeling. Her hooves and horn were bound, as well as her muzzle.

The filly was a unicorn, with a bright blue coat and white mane and tail. She had no cutie mark, so she must be really young. She stared at me with wide eyes as she trembled on the ground in front of me.

‘You reek of fear. Let’s hope that fear can spread,’ I thought as I freed her muzzle.

“Hello, little one. What is your name?”

“W-w-who are you?” She stuttered.

“This has nothing to do with her, let her go!” Shining yelled from within the shop inside the shield.

“That, little foal, depends entirely on what your dear Captain will do.”

Shining was standing on his hindlegs up against a table pressed against the window, peering through a crack in the makeshift defense.

There was another one of those massive bug things out there, though not the same one that attacked him earlier. This smaller one was stranger in appearance, looking more like those bug-ponies that all looked alike.

‘If Twilight were here, she’d probably call them clones.’

For a moment, Shining was glad that Twi had left Canterlot earlier yesterday. Then he remembered that these monsters had to come from somewhere, and that meant that they probably attacked the towns outside of Canterlot first. Ponyville, the small town that Princess Celestia asked his sister to visit was north of Canterlot, but Shining wasn’t sure that it was safe there.

These invaders were very prepared for this attack, who knows what small towns weren’t taken over?

These invaders… The Division had said there was something strange happening in the South, but they couldn’t get more information. These ponies didn’t give a formal declaration of war. They didn’t send demands before attacking Canterlot, and likely any of the other towns. They just came and…

He saw what they were doing out in the streets. Ponies were being stunned and bound up. These foes didn’t care for the riches of the city, they wanted the ponies.

‘Where do they come from? What are they doing with their captives? When is Princess Celestia going to get back?!’

Too many questions, too few answers. Princess Celestia seemingly vanished soon after midnight, saying she was stepping out of the Castle for a moment. Wherever she was, it wasn’t in Canterlot. She would have returned to Canterlot Castle immediately if she was. Raven Inkwell assured everypony that this was planned. And then not three hours later, The Division said an army was marching on Canterlot.

Shining checked his shield spell for the fifteenth time this hour. It was still holding up, and would hold up for days potentially.

“Captain, let me take over watch.”

Shining dropped down and turned around to see Spearhead behind him. The brown pegasus was still in his scuffed up Guard armor.

“No, you need to rest. You took quite the hit helping me get away from that thing.”

“You can’t be doing much better, Sir. How’re you not experiencing any of that mana burn stuff you unicorns always gripe about?”

“Ha, this shield is my specialty, Lieutenant. Besides, I wasn’t casting most of the spells during that fight, that was Quirk and Silver.”

At the names of the two privates, Spearhead and Shining looked away from each other, to the barricades against the windows.

“.... Night Light asks if there’s any word from Princess Celestia.”

“She’s coming. I know she is. She has to be.” Shining said without turning back towards Spearhead.

“The civilians are also asking about what’s going on. They want to know what’s happening outside.”

“Tell them that nopony’s being hurt. The invaders are… Just tell them nopony out there is hurt, and once Princess Celestia gets back, she’ll make sure everypony is alright.”

“Is that true?”

“It has to be.”

“... She’s also worried, too. Even if she’s smart enough to not say anything.”

‘Her lessons, I’m sure.’

“I’ll reassure her shortly. Just give me a few more minutes to think of what to say.”

Shining heard the clip clop of Spearhead leaving the front room, back into the main dining area. Alone, he let out a sigh.

“Bring me a foal.”

The enemy commander was speaking again. As Shining started to stand back up to peek out the window again, he heard soft thud, as if a body hit the cobblestone road outside. Now looking out, he confirmed his suspicions.

‘They must be using a sound amplification spell. That pony-thing wants me to hear what’s going on.’

Shining watched as a filly was thrown down in front of the commander.

“Hello, little one. What is your name?”

“W-w-who are you?” The poor girl was stuttering so much.

Shining couldn’t believe what he was seeing. What does a foal have to do with anything that was happening?

“This has nothing to do with her, let her go!” Shining yelled.

“That, little foal, depends entirely on what your dear Captain will do,” the commander ignored Shining’s demand.

‘He wants to coerce me into leaving?’

“I said leave her alone!”

Now the commander looked towards Shining.

“Why don’t you tell Captain Shining Armor your name, then?’

“Sh-shining?

“He’s a Royal Guard in there, listening to us.”

“Are you hoping for a hostage trade?! We don’t have any of your kind prisoners!”

“That’s him speaking.”

“My n-n-n…. Name is… is Sparkling Water.”

“Sparkling Water. What a nice name, thank you for telling us.”

“C-can I go now?”

“Hmm,” the commander rubbed his chin in thought. “I suppose you can. After you do one more thing for me, of course.”

Shining watched, trying to figure out what the invader was planning.

“I w-want my dad!”

“Let. Her. Go!”

“You can see him soon. I just need you to convince Captain Shining Armor to leave his bubble.”

“Sh-shining? I want t-to see my dad. Pl-please do what he says…”

The foal’s shaky voice sounded so clear through the amplification spell.

“Don’t worry, you’ll see him once Princess Celestia comes and fixes this!”

“Oh, I tried using words to convince him to come out. That won’t work.”

“Then… then w-what do I do?”

Shining saw the commander levitate a massive green hammer over–

‘No! He… He can’t! Wouldn’t!’

“I’ll show you, little one.”

“Spearhead! Get every guard up here!” Shining half-turned and called out to the doorway behind him, before looking back out the window. He heard the filly ask what was the thing that the commander was bringing over.

‘I need to stall for time!’

“What are your demands, invader!”

The hammer stopped midair, almost above Sparkling, as he looked straight at Shining Armor. Shining could pick out slitted eyes staring him down, even at this distance.

‘Just like the female commander. Are they related, or something?’

“For you to come out. This is inevitable, Captain. You will only harm others by putting up your pitiful resistance. Do the smart thing, and surrender. No pony will be harmed if you don’t resist.”

Shining heard hoofsteps behind him, and saw the five other guards inside the building line up behind him.

‘Need to stall him.’

“Agh, you… wait a second!”

‘Way to go, Shining. You sure got him there!’

“What’s going on, Cap’n?” One of the Royal Guards asked.

“That enemy commander who arrived earlier, he’s got a foal hostage. Remove the chairs against the door.”

“Sir? What are we going to do?”

“Make sure nopony gets hurt.”

As they removed the barricade, Shining looked back out the window. The commander was still looking at him.

‘No pony was being hurt out there. In fact, these strange ponies were using spells less lethal than our own, aside from that fireball barrage in the beginning! He’s just bluffing to get me out!’

“Well? Are you coming out?” The commander demanded.

“Please!” Sparkling begged, still at the invader’s hooves.

‘... But I can’t call him out. I can’t take the chance that he’s not bluffing.’

“Yeah, we’re coming out!”

“We?”

‘Oh buck me!’

“I meant myself! I’m coming out alone!”

“... Good.”

Shining let out a sigh of relief, before getting down from the window.

Spearhead asked, “Do you think we can take them?”

“Six against forty-something?” Shining asked.

“That’s a no.”

“I’ll take out their commander. Then, I’ll nab their hostage, Sparkling Water, as I fall back to this place. You’ll all cover my retreat, then I’ll put the shield back up. Enemy Very Important Pony down, foal rescued, day saved.”

The other guards nodded.

“Sounds like a plan, Cap!”

“Alright, get to either side of the door.”

“Not coming out, huh?” I asked the very shy Captain. “Guess I’ll have to incentivize expedience.”

I levitated the hammer above the foal, and pulled it back. Then, the door kicked open, and a white unicorn in purple and gold armor emerged from the dark doorway.

“That’s enough,” he said while walking towards the edge of the bubble. “I’m out, just as you wanted.”

I tasted only one source of fear, defeating the idea that he didn’t come out alone.

“Out of your shield, little pony.”

“Fine. But you’d better not hurt her!”

Frankly, I was surprised I didn’t have to fake torturing the filly. I had wholly expected to have my changelings make an illusionary version of Sparkling Water that I would ‘torture,’ with the real one pulled away, the swap covered up by an illusion.

But I kept the hammer above the real filly. Just in case.

The pink bubble around the shop fizzles out of existence, leaving the Captain standing before us.

“There we go. Now, don’t resist as we–”

Captain Shining Armor immediately started resisting by firing a focused will beam at me. The blue laser shattered the shield in front of me that was maintained by the changelings, striking me in the chest.

Thankfully, I was not me.

The illusionary construct right behind the shield was ripped apart, revealing me and the filly off to the side, and plenty more changelings around me, who were casting the illusionary spells.

“Well that was rude. Get him!”

Captain Shining Armor recovered from the brief shock of realizing he shot an illusion, and started casting. Before he could get another laser beam off, I levitated the filly in front of me, and Shining pulled his horn up at the last second, scorching a line on the building behind me across the street.

“Please stop,” I said disheartedly.

Shining casted a shield spell just in time as nearly thirty stunning spells of different sizes hit him, each bolt fizzling off the pink shield that materialized out of nowhere.

Five Royal Guards yelled as they surged forth from within the shop, galloping out to their Captain’s aid.

‘I can’t let them link up with their Captain!’

“Keep the Captain distracted!”

I dropped the filly and leaped up and over the shielded unicorn, my wings aiding my jump. Landing on the other side, I swung God-Splitter towards the approaching Royal Guards, aiming for the center of the group. The brown pegasus it was heading straight towards struggled to put the brakes on his charge, but couldn't stop all his momentum before the hammer hit him right in the chest. The guard flew all the way back through the open door.

I heard Shining growl in anger behind me, the emotion leaving a sour taste in my mouth, but the constant barrage meant that he couldn’t drop his shield for even a second.

Oestridae jumped down from the roof of one of the buildings next to the shop, darting after the charging guards with speeds that should not be possible in such heavy armor.

A shield I put up stopped an incoming freezing spell directed at me by one of the guards, and I responded by pulling God-Splitter back. All four guards were nearly upon me now, so I raised God-Splitter and smacked the ground ahead of me as hard as I could.

Their approach was delayed for but a single second as they stumbled and had to focus on not tripping on their own hooves as the shockwave ripped apart the ground up to ten hooves around God-Splitter. I had to focus on staying upright the most, being so close to the hammer.

That delay was long enough for Oestridae to catch up, tackling down two of the guards, their faces and helmets scraping against the cobblestone road. At the same time, Oest picked up an earth pony guard, flinging him at the last standing Royal Guard, the unicorn who fired a spell at me.

Captain Shining Armor seized the chance to expand his shield, spin around, and cast another laser at me. The expanding shield lost rigidity as the spell moved in a way it wasn’t meant to, knocking all of us off our hooves.

The laser went straight at my head.

A protective shield flickered to life as the nine gems on my Adamantium Peytral started glowing fiercely. The shield held out long enough for me to recall God-Splitter and brandish it in front of me. The Admantium started glowing red then burst into flames as the spell continued to hit the hammer. I jumped up, tucking my legs beneath me and straightened my neck forward, hiding entirely behind the hammer, wings carrying me aloft.

I pushed the hammer forward, into the laser beam. The beam broke up as it hit the hammer, sending smaller blue beams scattered around the place. When one of the strays hit a changeling onlooker, shield spells were erected around us, the changelings not figuring out they should hit the pony that was on the offensive, and entirely unprotected himself.

I was going to actually take the time to yell at them to do exactly that, but God-Splitter reached Shining Armor, connecting with him right on the front of his muzzle. The blue laser immediately stopped, and God-Splitter was left hanging in front of him ablaze as he swung around from the blow, staggering backwards and to the side.

“Whoa. I did it!” I cheered.

Then Shining righted himself, and glared at me, his horn starting to glow as he began channeling another spell.

Oest flew past me and tackled him to the ground, hitting him with a shock spell as he did. The Captain was now out for the count, leaving me to catch my breath. I looked around, and realized that Oest had tackled three guards into the ground.

‘He really likes doing that, huh? I suppose it’s stupid to discount our natural strength, and only focus on our magical capabilities.’

“This was a stupid idea,” Oest said, “I should have been next to you the entire time.”

He got off Shining and the Captain was quickly bound up tight in changeling-gel, with standard magic-disrupting spells being channeled into the sticky slime.

“Everything’s better in hindsight. I was worried he had a trick up his sleeve, you know this.”

“I am not leaving your side next time.”

“That’s fine. You apparently do know best about this stuff…”

I dropped God-Splitter onto the ground and it sunk a bit into the stone, still on fire. Then, I walked over to Shining Armor. He was twitching as the shock spell slowly started wearing off.

“Oh. You all can clear the building now,” I said without looking away from the bound pony. I picked him up by the upper torso and started to shake him. “Wakey wakey, I need answers.”

“Mmm. Wha… Agh! S-stop shaking me!”

I dropped him to the ground, his helmet clanging quietly against the stone.

“Where’s the Princess?”

“Like I’m going to tell you!”

“I’m not in the mood for games. Let’s just pretend you held out on telling me for a respectable amount of time, and finally caved just before I started pulling teeth.”

“Go to Tartarus!”

I sighed.

‘Hmm, maybe it’s time to test…’

I took a moment to center my thoughts, then began to form the most complicated spell I knew. I had come across it months ago, and while I did go over it a few times, like teleporting I never tried casting it.

It took a bit of time and quite a bit more mana to get the spell ready to cast, but once it was, I looked Shining in the eyes as I casted it.

“Where. Is. The. Princess?” I spat out each word, and pressed in on his mind. At first, I thought it was working. Then he narrowed his eyes and snarled.

“Buck you!” He hissed, as my horn started stinging. I felt the spell already falling apart so I didn’t bother trying to save it.

‘Damn it, no mind control. Maybe next time.’

“Nnn…. Fine! If you won’t answer me, then I’ll get Sparkling over here, and then you’ll be wishing you told me!”

“You won’t hurt her, I’ve seen your kind fight. You’re not hurting anypony too much!”

“You have no idea who I am, Captain Shining Armor! We aren’t maiming because you’re all worth more to us alive. But believe me, you’ll be wishing for death if you keep up this pointless charade. Oest, bring me the foal!”

“H-hey! He’s out, I g-get to see my dad now!” The filly wiggled in Oest’s magic grip as she was brought over.

“I’ve altered the deal, pray I don’t alter it any further. Now Shining, where are they?”

“You’re all bark and no bite, invader!”

“The name is Prince Phasma, remember it. In fact, to make sure you don’t forget, I’m going to carve it into this filly here.”

“All bark!”

“You know what? I think I could use a boost right about now. It’s been quite a while since my dinner, you see…”

“What are you talking about, invader?”

“Prince. Phasma.” I turned to the filly. “I’m sorry about this sweetie, but Shining really wants to see you hurt.”

I grasped the Thread of Emotion, and started slowly pulling on it. Sparkling Water’s struggles quickened, and she grunted in pain. Feeding by taking emotions from an uncocooned pony was a dangerous thing, far far more painful for the pony than if they were in a cocoon.

“Ow! Y-you said! You said! Puh… Please stop! Let me go! I want my dad! OW!”

“Stop!” Shining yelled, and I did immediately. Sparkling sighed and sagged. “What the buck did you do to her?! She’s just a foal!”

Sparkling curled up, and I tasted hints of suffering amidst her fear. I didn’t hurt her much, but with the stress of the situation weighing on her, I might as well have cut her with a knife.

“She’ll be a stain on the pavement if you don’t give me what I want! I’m prepared to murder to save my people, Shining. Are you prepared to watch your people die out of nothing but sheer stubbornness? Where. Are. The. Princesses?!”

“You... “ Shining growled. “.... Princess Celestia disappeared shortly after midnight.”

“Where did she go? And Cadence’s location?”

“Nopony knows. We were told her disappearance was planned.”

“Where is Cadence?”

“She’s…”

“My Prince! Look who we found!”

I looked up, and saw four changelings dragging out a pink alicorn bound in gel.

“The Princess of Food! You have no idea how glad I am to finally meet you!”

The alicorn looked up at me with wide eyes, her pupils tiny dots.

‘Fear. So much fear. That’s all I’ve been tasting here, really.’

She looked to her side at Shining Armor, and gave out a muffled cry. I got hit by a whole cocktail of emotions coming from the Princess.

‘Sadness. Anger. Love. Wait, love?’

“I’m fine, Cadence. Don’t worry about me,” Shining tried reassuring Cadence.

“Bring them to Canterlot Castle. And bind his muzzle, he’s been very uncooperative and deserves no boons. Yes, hello to you Princess Cadence. I’ve known your name for a very, very long time. Since roughly around my hatching, you see. I was raised to be your… anathema. Come now, there's someone I'd like you to meet.”

47- Morrígan

Oest, The Will of The Nine, myself, and a bound Princess Cadence and Captain Shining Armor were flying over Upper Canterlot, closing in on the castle. Smoke was starting to fill the night sky as plumes emerged from Middle and Lower Canterlot, the fires being put out as fast as possible by now at least half of the invasion force.

As a result, most of the streets of the city were empty.

“A city of ghosts…”

The sudden voice gave me a start, and I looked around. Oest, myself, and many members of Will of The Nine carrying Princess Cadence and Captain Shining Armor were all flying in formation behind me, putting the two captives in the center.

‘Princess Procho again? I’m not even at the hive! How am I hearing her?!’

“What?” Oest asked me, having seen my alarmed expression.

“The dead are speaking to me again.”

“Has the Ascension Chamber been… purged?”

“By now? Absolutely.”

“So….”

“So I am clueless on why that’s happening.”

“My Prince? May we know what you’re talking about?”

I craned my neck around, seeing a changeling from the Will giving me a puzzled look. The rest were looking on, too.

“I heard a voice over the Weave. Queen Chrysalis had confirmed that it is Princess Procho, who died almost three centuries ago.”

“Oh, thank you, My Prince. And this Ascension Chamber?”

‘Son of a bitch, Oest just dropped a name that he shouldn’t have.’

“The uh… Recycling pits. It’s a better name for those who meet such a... violent end.”

“Oh, thank you again, My Prince.”

‘He expected me to stonewall him on an answer, like Chrysalis would. At the very least, this changeling isn’t a member of the Lodges at least. If he was, he would have known about both the Chamber and the call phrase.’

The rest of the flight back to Chrysalis was without any more slip ups. We flew through the halls of the Castle, since it was faster and easier to move the two captured ponies. When we finally arrived back at the throne room, I saw that all the windows had been blown out at this point.

Chrysalis got up from the half-throne when we entered, her gaze immediately locking on our captives.

“Well done, Prince Phasma, well done. You have fulfilled each and every single task set before you.”

‘Except one, your death.’

I saluted, and simply said, “I serve the hive.”

As Chrysalis flew down and across the room from the throne, I turned to look at the ponies I had captured. The Princess was looking far from regal. Her pink, yellow, and purple hair were tangled up in knots. Her wide eyes had at first taken in the sights of the room, stared at me, then stared at the approaching Queen, pausing in her fearful scrutiny to look to her side at Shining armor.

‘More love.’

Shining on the other hoof was staring at his Princess, only pausing in his stare to glance at Chrysalis. Like mirror opposites of each other, yet extremely similar on so many levels.

‘And he feels so much love for her.’

“I think I’ll let these two speak for themselves for the discovery I made,” I said while making no move to remove the gel clamping their mouths shut.

Queen Chrysalis set down right next to me, sneering at the ponies.

“Oh yes, I can taste it too. Quite smitten! Tell me, Prince Phasma, was the fight with the Princess legendary? Worthy of a tale?”

“The drones caught her, actually. She must have folded like a house of cards for that to have happened. The fight with the Captain was indeed something to behold, though.”

“Have they revealed where Princess Celestia is?”

I pointed to Shining, “He says she disappeared shortly after midnight, briefly causing a panic. He claims that it was planned, but I do not know if he was told a lie or not. Her whereabouts are still unknown.”

“Hmmm. Then we must continue to bait the trap! You, drones, cocoon these two and hang them up here, right in the throne room. Spread the word to all who will listen, especially when there’s ponies around. We have the Captain and a Princess within our control, right here in the heart of their empire!”

Chamberlain Eucharis flew into the room with the quiet sound of buzzing wings. He paused to stare at the Princess, before addressing his ruling monarch.

“My Queen! Middle and Upper Canterlot are ours. The city is secure, and the Legions are now all dedicated to preventing its destruction at the hooves of the rampant flames.”

“Excellent, this day is going to be perfect!”

Queen Chrysalis chuckled to herself as she walked past us, out the room’s opened doors.

Eucharis and I shared a look of confusion, before following her out. She was quietly humming a song to herself as we walked down the great hall. Once we got to the main foyer, she took a side door, and meandered down more halls.

I was beginning to wonder if she just forgot that we existed and were following her when she threw open a pair of double doors, revealing a large balcony that overlooked Canterlot. The view of the majestic city was marred by the plumes of smoke that rose into the sky, but the beauty that remained stood as testament to Equestria’s lavish designs.

She turned to face us, fangs peeking out of her smile.

“We are so close! So close! The Promised Day here at last. All that’s left is bringing down their precious Princess Celestia, and cleaning up afterwards.”

A changeling brought over a small container from behind us.

“Soon, we will feast for the rest of our days.”

I could taste the muted sense of love from within the pot. After so long of not having any, I had to focus my thoughts.

“A toast, to our imminent victory!”

The changeling opened the jar, letting the delicious taste waft out.

‘No. I have to ignore my hunger. I have to stay focused! If there was ever a moment that she would betray me, it would be now!’

“My Queen… celebrating while the Sun Tyrant is still out there? Surely this can wait, till the day is truly ours? To lose our one and only chance at victory because we became vulnerable after celebrating prematurely…”

Chrysalis studied me for a moment, and Eucharis kept his silence.

“I would advise caution, Queen Chrysalis. We cannot lose this chance. We cannot lose this due to our own hubris.”

‘Wouldn’t even be surprised if that jar is spiked with poison or something. You’re not killing me just yet.’

Chrysalis turned back to the city.

“... One last enemy. One last pony. One last hunt. Then, we feast. You’re right, I’ve been remiss: celebrating before the battle has even been won. So often we’ve seen these ponies snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. We must be vigilant, lest we become yet another notch on their Princess’s blade.”

‘Admitting fault? Agreeing with me rather than pushing to eat the offered food? If I didn’t know her better, I would guess that she was genuinely being… kind? The very thought makes me sick to my stomach!’

“With just a bit more patience, we will finally be safe from any threats against us,” I said, not really talking about the ponies.

“My Queen, My Prince!” Chamberlain Eucharis changed the topic, “We should immortalize this day, so that all changelings of the hive may see it for themselves. I have an idea how to do that!”

Chrysalis and I both looked at him.

‘What is he on about? Can’t he see we’re monologuing over here?’

“What are you on about, Chamberlain Eucharis?” Chrysalis asked.

“These ponies have recently created this wonderful thing. While looting the castle for any magical artifacts, some lings have come across this… thing.”

He produced a wooden box, with a circle extension on the front fitted with a glass lens.

‘A camera?’

“They call it a camera. Interesting little thing, let me show you what it does! We need to stand together for it to work, you see.”

He stood to Chrysalis’s left, while I stood on her right– I already know how to pose for a picture, after all. Then, Eucharis levitated the camera in front of us.

“Look at the circular glass for just a moment.”

A moment later, a flash blinded us three. I rubbed my eyes, blinking out the white dots. As I did so, I pondered about the absurdity of what was happening.

‘On an alien world, in the middle of a captured city, standing next to a psychotic tyrant, taking a god damn picture. Eucharis, you are really throwing me off here. I need to be planning on how to kill Chrysalis, not acting like a goddamn tourist!’

“By channeling magic into the box, it takes a painting of the world in front of it instantly!”

“... Did we not just speak of waiting to celebrate, Chamberlain?”

‘The monster is right! Talk about a failure to read the room!’

“Please My Queen, this is hardly a celebration.”

I stopped rubbing my eyes and gave a glare at Eucharis. Then, a square emerged from the camera, and he took it in his magic.

“Aha, it came out perfect,” he said, before showing Chrysalis and I.

‘Oh. Suddenly, this all makes sense. One of those parallels between our worlds, like the existence of all these mythological and non-mythological animals or the fact that our languages are structurally exactly the same. Yeah, I can totally see the parallel between those two.’

The picture was me on the left, Chrysalis in the center, and Eucharis on the right. Canterlot was behind us, the city lights– and occasional fire– illuminating the backdrop for us. I recognized the composition of the photo, as on Earth it was a very memorable one.

Only, this time, it was Canterlot instead of Paris, night instead of day, a particularly large pillar of smoke instead of the Eiffel Tower, and a black bug-pony emotivore rather than a certain evil dictator leaning against a railing.

“Was this… really necessary? And couldn’t you have picked a better time for this?”

“Please, Prince Phasma, I’ll get copies of this ‘photo’ and then we can show our kind what The Promised Day looked like, even generations from now!”

“Changelings will never forget the glory of this day, Chamberlain, but…” Chrysalis trailed off. “But I see why you would want to immortalize this day forever. It was a clever idea, Eucharis. Make those copies.”

‘Figures, she wants to use them as propaganda to show how awesome and important she is... Since I’m here with her, I might as well weed out some answers from the tyrant.’

“Say, Queen Chrysalis? I heard Princess Procho again…”

“Again? We will have to discover how this is possible after we have finished with the War for The Sun.”

“I was wondering, could you describe what she was like?”

“... She was a royal, as you know. She had a two-notch horn, purple hair and tail, elytra and wings, eyes, and magic. She was strong for a changeling, more so than most royals. Princess Procho wielded a cutlass with extreme precision, favoring the blade’s cutting power over any other possible weapon. Her loss was… devastating to the hive…”

Chrysalis trailed off, her mood turned a bit sour.

‘Purple? There wasn’t a purple princess in the Chamber! Chrysalis was telling the truth that she died?! Then how the hell can I hear her?!’

“W–”

“My Queen! My Prince!”

A changeling interrupted both our trains of thought, panting as she landed before us. She caught her breath, nearly yelling out her message.

“Princess Celestia has been spotted returning to the city!”

A miracle had finally happened.

Princess Celestia had been looking forward to her sister’s return for centuries now. She had prepared so much in the last decade, putting every little thing she could in her favor.

She knew ponies would come rushing to get her aid when Nightmare Moon would appear at the Castle of the Twin Sisters, so she had to remove herself from the equation. That turned out to be the perfect plan, as the Elements of Harmony had chosen new bearers.

She had watched on, standing to the side invisible, as Nightmare Moon appeared in the castle. She waited patiently for her to return, with Twilight and her five potential friends following. Those five she didn’t even have to arrange to be in Ponyville, they all just naturally arrived there over time.

‘Harmony lays plans of its own.’

Celestia cheered silently as the Bearers activated the elements, finally freeing her sister from the curse she helped create. She then flew out the window, dropped the invisibility spell, and greeted her six little ponies and one slightly less little sister.

“Princess Luna… It has been a thousand years since I’ve seen you like this. Time to put our differences behind us, we were meant to rule together little sister.”

“Sister?” The elements echoed.

“Will you accept my friendship?”

Luna rushed over to hug Celestia.

“We are sorry! We missed you so much, sister!’

“I’ve missed you too.”

“But this is not over. We were not alone in this attack on Equestria.”

Celestia looked around, “I see no one else, sister.”

“Canterlot.” Luna whispered. “We cannot ask for forgiveness, not for throwing away what we had over something so foalish. But We can help fix the rest of the mess we made. Canterlot is still in danger, Celestia.”

Celestia, having been inside the castle the entire time, broke from the hug to fly out the window. She rose above the ruins to see Canterlot. Large plumes of smoke were visible in the full moon’s light.

‘Oh no. Have I put the arrival of my sister above the safety of my little ponies? How could this have happened?!’

She flew back down and inside the ruins. The reunion party will have to wait, the battle with the dark forces was not over. First, she addressed her protégé and her five friends.

“Now that my dear little sister is back, I would ask you six to watch over her while I fix this. Canterlot needs my help.”

“Did ya not see Canterlot at all this mornin?”

“I have been patiently waiting inside here, my little pony.”

‘A mistake, one I couldn’t have possibly planned for. That is not a good enough excuse!’

“We will fix this too!” Her sister objected. “We created this disaster, We shall be the one to end it!”

“Luna, you are not responsible for Nightmare Moon’s actions. I am, if anything. Furthermore, you are simply too weak at the moment. You will only put yourself in danger.”

“But Tia, We did! We… We got an ally… He is expecting us! Without our aid...”

‘I see. Nightmare Moon recruited allies, somehow. It matters not, I shall end this threat to my ponies.’

“This villain will fail. Please, Luna, listen to reason. You are not Nightmare Moon, and are not responsible for her actions. I will end this invasion, just as I have defeated so many threats during your absence. We will talk at great lengths once I return. Oh, I am so happy you’re back!”

With that, Princess Celestia spread her wings and launched herself from the shattered window, heading straight for the smoking city on the horizon.

She heard Luna call for her, but she pressed on.

“No! You will…. Sarding ponyfeathers!”

When she heard gasps at her crass language, Princess Luna turned to the Elements of Harmony.

“Celestia shouldn’t forgive us, not when she is still in danger due to our evil machinations. Please, Elements, We must beseech thou for thine help. Princess Celestia will not survive the battle if she fights alone, and neither will… We need thou to save not only her, but somepony like us. Somepony who deserves thy kindness far more than us, and desperately needs it just as much.”

The Elements of Harmony shared a glance before looking back at the small alicorn.

“Ah could never turn down a pony in need!” Honesty said.

“There’s so many ponies in trouble up there, we’ll help save them all,” Generosity added.

“Woohoo! Let’s go beat up another baddie!” Loyalty cheered, punching the air in front of her.

“We’ll throw two parties for saving the day twice!” Laughter squealed.

“Okay,” Kindness meekly whispered.

“Alright, Princess. Who do we need to save?” Magic asked.

“His name is Prince Phasmatodea. Come, we must travel to Canterlot with utmost speed!”

48- Phobos

“Showtime, Nnnhahahahaha haaa!” Chrysalis cackled.

I rolled my eyes before getting a report from the changeling.

“From where? How fast? How many are with her?”

“From the Northeast, the Everfree Forest. She will be here within ten minutes and a full chariot drawn by pegasi is following her at a distance, My Prince!”

“Does she… Have any artifacts? Any unexpected weapons?”

“We do not know, My Prince.”

‘From Everfree Forest? Isn’t the Castle of the Twin Sisters in there? What was Celestia doing in those woods? Is… Is it something to do with Nightmare Moon? She was supposed to check those ruins herself, I think... Have they fought? Was Celestia retrieving a powerful weapon from the ruins? Is it something completely unrelated? If she disappeared alone, how did she get a chariot? That would imply she had planned to go there long beforehoof. There’s something more to this, something I’m missing....’

I had no answers, and Chrysalis apparently had the same plan as I did.

“Deal with whoever is in that chariot, Prince Phasma. I shall take Princess Celestia on myself!”

“With our luck, it’s a powerful weapon she retrieved from a hidden vault somewhere. Or maybe a dangerous monster she has on a tight leash. Will of The Nine, half of you with me,” I commanded before taking flight. The ones loyal to myself volunteered themselves to go with me, leaving the unloyal and some leftover loyal Legionaries behind to fight Princess Celestia with Queen Chrysalis.

My team and I flew out to Northwest Lower Canterlot, taking position to intercept the chariot after letting Celestia fly over and past us. We set down on the roof of a factory that was labeled ‘Viscount’s Bedsheets,’ the rectangular brick and mortar building having more than enough room for us all, and our hooves clacked on the clay shingle roof as we landed. The tiles had been painted gold to fit in with the city’s aesthetic, the walls painted white in a similar fashion.

I motioned for everyling to take position on the side of the slanted roof facing towards the city so that we would be hidden from view from the incoming ponies up until they were nearly on top of us, well within range.

“Let Princess Celestia pass as planned. When the chariot is in range, I want fast moving projectiles to target it, forcing it to land. As soon as you fire your first spell, take off and start chasing after the chariot. That will increase the size of the window of opportunity we have to open fire on these reinforcements. Two of you watch their approach discreetly.”

“As you command, My Prince!” The Will of the Nine squad leader said with a brisk salute.

“Oest, you’re not leaving my side this time.”

“No, I’m not.”

And that was that. It was time for more waiting. I recalled reading stories about soldiers’ time in the army, about how so much of it was hurry up and wait. I could now relate to this tense feeling, of rushing to get into position and ready in time, only to sit there in dreaded anticipation before a battle.

Seconds ticked by. Minutes dragged on.

‘Nightmare Moon… She should have been here by now. I should have heard something from her. Now Celestia is coming from where she was supposed to arrive and meet up with her loyal forces…’

“Princess approaching,” said one of the two changelings peeking over the roof, acting as a lookout.

‘Ill omens that I have either too much time or not enough to think about. Things are not looking good, not one bit.’

Princess Celestia flew overhead, her white coat and gold armor sticking out in stark contrast against the black starry night sky. I watched the large alicorn grow smaller in size as she flew to Canterlot Castle. Once more, seconds ticked by far too slowly.

After a long pause, one of the lookouts broke the silence, “Target approaching. Thirty seconds.”

‘I don’t really have any backup plans for taking on Chrysalis if Nightmare doesn’t show up…’

“Fifteen.”

‘I need to find the First Fang immediately. I need to get ready to put things in motion. Either Nightmare shows up soon, or… or I’ll figure something out.’

“In range!”

A large white and gold covered chariot came into view from behind the peak of the arched slanted roof. It was pulled by two pegasi who had blue coats, one teal and one faded blue, blending in far more with the sky than Celestia’s bone white fur.

‘What the hell is going on?’

Against the near-black sky, the white and gold chariot was an easy to see target.

“Fire at will!”

The changelings unleashed a torrent of electric based spells. Most impacted the chariot, being harmlessly bounced off or absorbed by protective enchantments. Two hit one of the pegasus pulling the chariot to little affect. One hit the brighter pegasus, causing them to go limp in their harness.

The chariot started to sag in the air, barely held aloft by the pegasus that was still up.

‘No, not held aloft. It’s falling, and all he can do is slow its descent!’

“Get ready everyone!”

We took to their air, Oest on my right, God-Splitter on my left, Will of The Nine legionaries behind me. We followed the gilded cart’s descent, flying to where it would touch down. Despite the faded blue pegasus’s efforts, the chariot came crashing down one of the main streets, tearing up the stone road as it dragged along the ground. The chariot had left trails of overturned cobblestones, upturned dirt, and other debris in its wake.

We surrounded the chariot, and I got a good look at the two pegasi who were pulling the cart, as well as the rest of the occupants as they stumbled out, jolted by the crash landing.

The smaller pegasus that pulled the chariot was teal in color, with a rainbow mane. The ponies that stumbled out one by one were a purple unicorn, white unicorn, pink earth pony, yellow earth pony, and a yellow pegasus.

I failed to take notice of anything more than that, for I was still staring at the second puller.

I had thought it was a faded blue pegasus that was strapped in and holding the cart aloft. I was wrong, as it turned out. It was an alicorn, only slightly larger than a pony. She had a teal hair color, black markings on her flanks that surrounded a moon Cutie Mark.

No, not a moon Cutie Mark, the moon Cutie mark!

‘What…. What is this?! Did I get catfished?! Did something change Nightmare Moon?!’

“Who are you?!” I shouted as the disorientated ponies regained their senses.

The purple unicorn must have regained her senses very quickly, as she threw up a shield around her compatriots.

‘Might as well have a papier-mâché chestplate, little pony.’

The ponies’ eyes were darting between the changelings that surrounded them.

“Uh, these fella’s ain’t ponies,” one of them pointed out.

“They seem to almost resemble Sinodendron Rego–”

“Who are you?!” I demanded once again, less loudly this time. My eyes had never left the alicorn.

“I am Rainbow Dash, and I’m here to save the day!” The cyan and rainbow pegasus yelled, before posing mid-air.

The white unicorn curtsied, “Lady Rarity, here to help.”

“My friends call me Pinky Pie! But you can call me ‘a friend!’”

That one’s bouncing was giving me a headache.

“Ah’m Applejack…” The orange earth pony seemed to be looking around the group at the quiet, empty street

“Fluttershy…” The yellow pegasus mumbled.

“I am Twilight Sparkle, protege of Princess Celestia.” The purple unicorn began, “And together, we are the Elements of Harmony!”

“I didn’t mean you six, insignificant... Did you say Elements of Harmony?”

Now I was looking at the six ponies. They had gathered around this Twilight Sparkle, crouched low as they started to gather around the alicorn that was starting to get their hooves under them.

“We know that voice,” the alicorn said, standing up off the ground, looking right at me. “Thou art Prince Phasma in the flesh!”

My eyes widened, eyebrows raised, and jaw dropped.

‘No. No… It… It can’t be!’

“You…”

“We should reintroduce ourselves. We are Princess Luna, alicorn of the moon. It is a pleasure to see you in pony, Prince Phasma…”

“You’re not Nightmare Moon,” I nearly hissed. “What– how– you… What?!”

“This is the Prince we’re to rescue?” Rarity asked, looking at Princess Luna.

“Rescue?” I repeated. My eyebrows were past raised and were consolidating investors to create a space travel company to aid their ascent all the way to the moon.

“That is so, Dame Rarity. Prince Phasma, lay down that weapon and surrender, so that this disaster may be righted. Please, We offer you aid in your troubles. Together, we shall overcome the obstacles that have befallen you.”

“Aid me?” I echoed again, mind slowly pulling together the pieces of the puzzle.

‘Nightmare Moon is this Princess Luna again. She was that before being Nightmare, as the story goes, so that means something changed her. Something happened…’

“Yeah! But if you wanna throw hooves before you surrender, that’s cool too!” Rainbow said, now hovering in the air next to the rest of the ponies.

“The Deus Ex Machina!” I exclaimed. “Your Elements of Harmony did something to Nightmare Moon, what happened to her?!”

Princess Luna answered for the gathered Elements, “We have been freed of the parasite’s control. Please, Prince Phasma, ponies are being hurt as we speak. Help us bring an end to this calamity, and We shall do all that We can for the betterment of your kingdom.”

“And we can have so much fun! Two kingdoms means twice the amount of parties! Well technically, one’s a Constitutional Principality,” the pink Element jabbered.

I tasted kindness coming from Luna. Sympathy to be specific. A very bland emotion, but one a changeling could sustain themselves on. Only one of the six ponies tasted of fear, the rest seemed focused and only let off hints of anger. The pink one tasted of happiness. Cotton-candy flavored happiness. Somehow.

Fluttershy was the one who tasted of fear, yet she refrained from cowering behind her fellow Elements of Harmony.

‘Can these Elements brainwash someone? Utterly change a person’s mind? Do they exert control over them? Is she telling the truth? Does any of this even matter?!’

I closed my mouth and drew in a shaky breath.

‘No. If Nightmare Moon has been defeated, then I have to move on without her. Surrender is not an option; leaving the entirety of my new species to the mercy of those we just invaded is just outright moronic. We’re in this till the end, one way or the other!’

I studied the six ponies and one alicorn. The Elements were all wearing matching necklaces, each with a single gem that resembled their Cutie Mark.

‘If the Elements of Harmony were designed with fighting in mind, those necklaces would just be a distraction, and the real ones would be something stupid like a meta-physical concept. However, these are ponies we’re talking about, which means the big shiny necklaces are the Deus Ex Machina.’

Finally, I considered Princess Luna. I felt no strange urge to tell her only the truth, so whatever strange spell or geas she had on me was well and truly gone. There was nothing between us. I was free to do whatever I wanted.

I wanted them gone.

“Will of The Nine! Contingency: MacGuffin!” I yelled, throwing God-Splitter at the ponies’ shield. I realized that I should have said that over the Weave far too late.

Immediately, Oest interposed himself between me and the gathered ponies as the fifteen changelings we brought with us darted down towards the shield.

“Get those necklaces!”

The hammer hit the shield and continued on, disintegrating it instantly. A powerful gust of wind pushed it out of the way from the ponies, and a new shield was put up, this one blue. I saw from behind Oest that Princess Luna’s horn was glowing.

‘She recognized the usual practices of enchanting battlefield weapons, and knew she had to redirect it with an outside force? Hmmm. She’s going to give me a run for my money, isn’t she?’

The changelings peeled off from their dive bombs, instead unleashing spell after spell against the shield, as if to test the alicorn’s strength. I was going to tell them not to waste the effort when I saw Luna start to wilt as she kept the spell up. I recalled God-Splitter, and watched.

‘An alicorn, struggling to maintain the shield against a simple barrage?’

I watched as they seemed to huddle together and whisper to each other. I considered simply trying to force my hammer at the shield again, pushing it with all my might against Luna’s redirection attempts.

‘I would say getting into a magic strength contest with an alicorn is an exercise in futility, but considering how much she visibly faltered when holding a simple spell…’

I pulled God-Splitter back for another blow. Then, the ponies separated, started glowing, and floating up into the air.

‘They’re using the weapon!’

I swung God-Splitter as hard as I could towards them, and let off a series of focused-will blasts. The shield was dispelled momentarily so that Luna could use her magic to deflect the hammer, and then was brought back up. However, a single beam got through, hitting the already somewhat winded Rainbow Dash, sending her back and hitting the back of the shield.

Immediately, the ponies stopped floating and fell back down to the ground. Then, the shield dissipated, only to be immediately replaced by a pink one casted by Twilight. Luna kept her eyes on God-Splitter, wary of the weapon that could apparently destroy a shield with a single blow. They whispered to each other briefly, the yellow pegasus Fluttershy checking on Rainbow, before turning back towards me.

That's when I saw the shield contract ever so slightly, before rapidly expanding outward, becoming more transparent as it did.

‘Again?!’

I pulled God-Splitter back to me and held it close to my chest as I leaned in towards the blast, propping myself up against Oest. Thanks to my now repositioned center of mass, I slid backwards when I was hit by the blast, but neither I nor Oest tumbled down to the ground.

‘How does this unicorn know fighting techniques that the Captain used? She must be a Royal Guard, not in her armor!’

“The purple unicorn, Twilight, is likely an elite Royal Guard. Be wary of her and Princess Luna!” I inaudibly whispered over the Weave.

The ponies did not need to brace themselves, nor recover from being knocked over. They took the opportunity to charge right at me and Oest. Oest quickly put up a barrier in front of us. It was just in time to absorb several pink and cyan blasts that Twilight and Rarity let off as the group charged.

Oest winced as the shots continued to pound the green barrier he hastily put up. Then, the barrage ended as the blasts started being aimed at the changelings still recovering. Several went down as the stun bolt hit them. The rest either dodged or managed to focus enough to put up protective shields.

The Elements and alicorn reached me and Oest and slammed into it, Applejack spinning and giving a powerful kick. The combined blows of all seven ponies made Oest stagger backwards and drop the shield, so I immediately pushed him aside and leapt forward, swinging God-Splitter.

‘Gotta give him a moment to recover!’

Twilight and Rarity both tried grabbing my hammer as I swung it, failing to accomplish anything. The others dodged out of the way, however the hammer was pushed upwards by a wind blast before it could hit any of them. Princess Luna stopped right in front of me, squinting through what I guessed was pain.

“Enough of this foolishness! Thou art rushing to thy doom. Friendship is the way forward, Prince Phasma!”

“You think I’m an idiot or something?!” I spat, before swinging God-Splitter at her.

I expected her to deflect it, and she did not disappoint. Princess Luna focused on pushing the hammer away and was left vulnerable by the three stunning bolts I sent right at her after swinging God-Splitter using telekinesis. Then, I put up a defensive shield, not really wanting to trust the protective enchantments on my peytral to block attacks from potentially all seven opponents at once.

Luna saw the bolts last second and her horn started to glow, only for her to grunt in pain before the bolts even hit her. When they did hit her, Princess Luna collapsed onto the ground, gasping.

I spun on my back hooves to turn and attack Twilight. I was just in time to see Oest coming up behind her, about to hit her with a stun spell, only to be tackled by Applejack. So I stopped channeling the shield, and instead casted a stun spell at Twilight.

She did not react in time to stop it, however, Rarity did and she put up a shield around Twilight to protect her. I swung God-Splitter at Rarity to break her concentration and tried once more to take down the purple mage. The swing worked better than intended; Rarity instinctively attempted to grab the object hurtling towards her using her magic once again, only to fail, leaving her no time to dodge. When the hammer hit her, its relatively low velocity knocked her over but left her with nothing more than a bruise.

It did break her connection to the shield around Twilight, just in time for several stun bolts to hit the purple unicorn before she could replace the shield.

Likewise, the rest of the ponies besides Applejack got hit by stun spells by the remaining Will of the Nine members who recovered. Two stray bolts hit me, causing a green shield to shimmer into existence briefly around me.

Oest and the pony rolled around on the ground, each trying to pin the other one. I ended the brawl by pulling the earth pony off Oest, and hitting her point blank.

“Confound it!” She hissed, not quite down. Three more bolts, and I could practically see the stars orbiting her head as she slumped over.

“Good job, we got ‘em all!”

I jumped and turned midair to see the pink Element right behind me.

“Heya Phas! You know it's rude to hurt ponies, right? If you could stop–”

Several stun spells and a fireball brought Pinky down, though a headache remained.

“What did I say about the fireballs?!”

I rubbed my head as I thought.

‘These were the Elements of Harmony? These ponies which lasted half as long as Captain Shining Armor? Only one of them actually had military training, though that stetson-wearing Applejack could sure pack a punch. Kick? Whatever.’

I leaned over and pulled the golden necklace off the pony aptly named Pinky.

‘Don’t need to waste a spell slot on Detect Magic to feel the ripples of mana this thing distorts by simply existing! Yeah, this is a MacGuffin alright.’

I sighed.

‘Four useless sacks of flour, one strong earth pony, and one capable unicorn. That’s what did Nightmare Moon in. It seems I was effectively alone in my struggle against Chrysalis all along, if these foes managed to defeat Nightmare. Perhaps I shouldn’t discount the powers of these Elements… If they managed to use them in time, would I be suffering the same fate?’

Around me, changelings were regathering and helping out the ones who were stunned, as well as binding up the seven stunned ponies.

“Gather these Elements of Harmony. Put them...”

‘I’ll need somewhere temporary to hide them, before I can securely lock them up after this is over.’

“Put them inside the base of the statue of Princess Celestia at the front of Canterlot Castle. Reseal the stone up, leave no traces of tampering. Prepare these seven ponies for transit, we will bring them to the castle, too.”

I looked up at the mentioned castle, looming over the center of the city. I could see occasional beams both green and gold blow out sections of the walls as the titans dueled.

‘I need to be ready.’

“But before moving these prisoners, fetch the First Fang: Coxa and Lacewing of the Chosen Conquerors, and Tarsus of the Infiltrators. I will have need of my councilors very, very soon.”

As the changelings flew off to either hide the Elements or fetch the First Fang, I walked over to Princess Luna and removed the gel bindings on her muzzle. She looked at me, filled with sorrow and anger.

“You and I are going to have a nice, long chat while we wait.”

50- The Fall of Dusk

Changelings stationed at the castle’s checkpoints saluted as we passed them, hunting for the third most powerful ling in the hive.

Finding Eucharis turned out to be an easy task. He was snooping around one of the first rooms we checked, over in Princess Celestia’s personal wing of the castle. It was Her Highness’s personal study itself that caught the Chamberlain’s attention and he was going through the stacks of files piled high on the desk.

When I opened the two large, pristine aged oak and gold embroidered doors, I couldn’t help but compliment Celestia’s taste in decor.

The room was maybe twenty hooves by twenty hooves in size, but it seemed to be just the perfect size for its contents and purposes.

White marble tiles covered portions of the floor, with the rest– the path up to the desk in the back of the room, as well as almost the entire area behind it– being covered by a red carpet that had purple and gold thread twisting around each other at the edge of the fabric.

The walls were a gold bordered dark oak panel for the first two hooves, and a teal blue material I could not discern for the rest of the height, all the way up to the ceiling. Just like in all the hallways around the castle, white gems floated above curved, golden sconces. The gems themselves glowed, lighting up the room.

The ceiling itself was a work of art, the transition from the walls to the ceiling itself was a short barrier of white, with equally spaced small wooden curled supports, as if the ceiling were a heavy object that needed their tiny help. The ceiling was a testament to the night sky itself, covered from inch to inch in the black expanse, with the white dots scattered throughout like islands in the black sea.

And those were just the floor, walls, and ceiling. The actual contents of the room were no less awe-inspiring.

In stark contrast to Chrysalis’s simple wooden desk, Celestia’s was truly where the heart of bureaucracy of the dominant power of the world beat in its every day task of turning paper and ink into power and influence.

It was a Satin Birch desk, the marbled pattern of the wood encased in gold lining around each and every edge, with floral and fleur-de-lis patterns extending up from the edging on the longer stretches.

Right on the front of it and facing the door, Equestria’s royal seal was plated onto the desk. It was a white alicorn stretched upwards, facing the sky, holding a yellow circle with its wings, with two laurels on either side of its hind legs at the bottom. Below the alicorn, a stylized scroll stretched across the seal, bearing the words ‘Per Harmonia, Omnes Ad Pacem.’

An escritoire stood to the side, in the corner of the room. The writing desk was of similar make to the massive desk, the only difference between the two being their shape and contents covering them.

In front of the desk sat two low chairs, no doubt more comfortable on the equine body than most alternatives. They were made of dark tan wood, purple velvet fabric, and of course more gold filigree.

The chair behind the desk itself, from what I could see, was a tall, massive chair. Made of the same materials as the low chairs, the main difference was the back. Instead of stopping two hooves above the seat, it extended six hooves above the desk, the top of it ending in a solid gold liner. There were two carved dragons, each putting a claw to a diamond set in the very center of the top of the lining.

‘Far more opulent than what Chrysalis could ever hope to achieve…’

The rest of the room consisted of bookshelves, filled with tomes of a rainbow of colors. There was a section of filing cabinets behind the desk and they seemed to shimmer in the moonlight coming from a partitioned window that was right in the center of the back wall, behind the massive chair.

‘Protective enchantments? I bet they’re locked up tight.’

The final thing in the gold-covered room that caught my attention was the occupant of the chair. He was going through folders filled with paper that were piled high on the desk. As I watched for a moment, he closed the one he was examining, placing it on his right hoof side, and picking up a folder from the stack on his left.

“Chamberlain Eucharis, I see you’ve picked the fanciest room in the castle for yourself,” I announced as I entered the room. Oest entered behind me and stood next to the door.

The changeling looked up from the papers he was reading and smiled.

“Oh, hello Prince Phasma. This is quite the place, isn’t it? Why, there is more wealth in this room than there has been wealth in the entirety of the hive in its entire history. Not counting Queen Chrysalis’s and your Adamantium war gear. I imagine these ponies would have paid a substantial fortune for those.”

“I’m sure they would have. What are you doing here, anyways?”

The room shook a bit, and a bit of dust came down from the ceiling.

‘We must be close to the throne room.’

Eucharis briefly looked at the ceiling when the room shook, but resumed our conversation. “Preparing. Your job may be more or less completed, with just the sweep of Equestria remaining, but mine is only going to get busier. I have to familiarize myself with the resources the Equestrians had at their disposal. That camera was only one such invention we had no knowledge of, there’s quite a lot more around the place.”

“That’s quite the task…”

“Indeed. Which is why I have taken to getting a headstart. It’s not like I can help with that tussle going on over in the throne room, anyways.”

Another rumbling shake of the room emphasized his point. I took in a deep breathe and plotted out my next words.

“Eucharis…”

“Yes, My Prince?”

“... I have discovered something quite… disturbing.”

He dropped the folder onto the desk and leaned in towards me.

“What is it?”

I looked away, examining the books on the closest bookshelf.

“Queen Chrysalis. She’s… She’s not loyal to the hive.”

“What? What do you mean?”

“I found proof that she’s been torturing the most loyal changelings to the hive, and pumping them full of pure love, even during our shortage of food. She’s… mutilated her own children.” I turned back to Eucharis. “Her own children. She lobotomized them and stuffed them into tubes. They were still alive and stuck in their own bodies when I found them.”

Eucharis sat back into the chair, staring at the desk before him.

“You… found your brothers and sisters?”

“Yes, I did. I freed them, too.” His eyes snapped up to meet my own. “They’re free, Eucharis. Forever.”

“They were free to begin with. Your siblings have been dead for a long time, Prince Phasma.”

“No. Chrysalis lied to us all. They were still in their bodies, I know it. I know it.”

“You know nothing, you’re still a nymph in so many ways.”

“I know plenty. I know that Chrysalis was planning on making me meet the same fate.”

“Queen Chrysalis won’t do that.”

“Why are you so confident she won’t? There was an empty vat, just for me. She is planning on getting rid of me the moment I’m no longer necessary.”

Eucharis shot out of his chair, slamming his hooves on the desk, sending folders crashing to the ground. “She won’t do that!”

“How do you know?!”

“Because we made a deal!”

“What?!”

“We… we made a deal.”

“You…”

“Chrysalis won’t hurt you. Not as long as I report on your behavior. I know she won't Ascend you, not while I’m still loyal.”

“Ascend? You… you knew?!”

“Chrysalis needed an assistant. Someone to help with the complicated rituals and processes, someone with a good head on their shoulders. She needed someone to help with your… She trusted me. She still trusts me.”

“You ripped apart my brothers and sisters?!”

“They were dead long before I was even born. I covered up their fates and made sure you were trained right. An order is an order, and Queen Chrysalis needed my help!”

He got up from behind the desk and walked over to me.

“Let’s just… pretend this conversation never happened. You’ll walk out that door, I’ll get back to my work, and everything will be just fine.”

I shook my head, “No. That’s not going to happen. What is going to happen is that I’m going to kill Chrysalis before she gets the chance to murder me.”

“You’re getting ahead of yourself and jumping to conclusions, My Prince. I said she won’t hurt you, and I promise that is true.”

“Oh, you promise? Do you hear that, Oestridae? Eucharis here promises that everything’ll be okay. We can go home now, the rebellion is over!”

“I don’t trust him.”

“What? Why not, Oest? After all, he only secretly reported on every one of my actions and every word I said to the Queen. He says it’s all going to be fine, so it must be true! He’s never lied to me before.”

“Prince Phasma, I understand you’re scared that Queen Chrysalis is planning on hurting, even killing you. But–”

“Oh I’m not afraid of death. There’s no surprises there for me. What I am afraid of is being trapped within my own body, unable to even fucking blink.”

“That’s not what happens. Those changelings died and joined Panar’s side. To Ascend is the greatest honor that could be bestowed on a dying changeling, Phasma…”

“Greatest honor? No Eucharis, they were still alive, still sapient. I’m not going to let Chrysalis imprison me forever for the crime of living at the same time she does. I’m going to save the hive.”

I looked around the room. The shaking and distant thundering had ceased. One way or the other, Chrysalis’s duel with Celestia was over.

“It’s time to make a choice. Are you with me, or against me?”

“I am on your side. Just listen to my advice, and forget this ever happened. I won’t ever say a word of this. Ever.”

“There’s no pretending. This movement is already in motion, and nothing under heaven can stop it. Over half of the Legions are in on this, are you?”

“You are trying your damnedest to get yourself killed, aren’t you? I am on your side, as I keep saying. If this is already happening, then I have to go tell Chrysalis myself. She will peacefully end this misunderstanding, and she can’t hurt you. She can’t. Not while our deal still stands.”

He pushed passed me, to the door.

‘No! I’m not letting him destroy everything I’ve worked for!’

“Eucharis! Stop!”

“You can’t defeat Chrysalis. She has centuries of experience with fighting ahead of you. I’ve watched you grow over the past year, I know you don’t have what it takes to defeat her. Now, I’m going to save your life.”

Oest moved to block the door.

“Out of my way, Praetorian Oestridae. I’m trying to save the Prince’s life.”

“No.”

“Stand down, Eucharis! This is your last chance, before…!”

“I’ve always looked out for your best interest. You know that, even if you disagree with what I did. You cannot deny that I have always been looking out for you. Now stand aside, Praetorian. I will not let you stop me from saving Phasma.”

“Not going to happen.”

‘No no no! Why won’t he just fucking surrender?!’

“Move aside, or I will move through you. Don’t think just because I am a Chamberlain that I can’t defeat a single Praetorian in combat.”

Eucharis's back was to me while he was still arguing with Oest.

“I did what I was told to last time,” I muttered, almost growling. “But this life, I’m the master of my own fate!”

I envisioned a cold point right next to me, devoid of energy. And then, I thrust it forward.

Eucharis froze as the ice spear cut straight through the chitin on his neck, going straight through to the other side with a sickening SWICK sound. I grabbed him, holding a hoof right above his horn, ready to bring it down in case he tried to cast magic.

“The crown thanks you for your many years of service. But unfortunately, your services are no longer required.”

His eye closest to me looked at me, the pupil shrinking. He stumbled back and more into my grip, falling to the side. He gurgled, and blood spurted from the front of his neck as the ice spear dissipated from the lack of mana supporting its magical structure.

As he fell, blood continued to spurt out, and I saw a spray of it on the door from when the spear hit him. I held onto him as he fell, lowering him to the ground. He continued to gurgle and pour blood as he fell.

He faced me, staring me in the eyes. The room was silent except for my panting and his desperate gasping for air, only being met with blood filling his airway. His mouth moved to form words, but all I heard was air bubbles rising up and popping in the liquid that covered the entire front lower half of his neck.

I was tensed up, ready to strike so swiftly and so brutally that my hoof could sever his horn clear off his head. Yet he never tried to use his magic. No spell came to him as he lay in my forelegs, drowning in his own blood. The blood jostled around as more bubbles came up from his lungs.

He slowly lifted a hoof, and pressed it against my chest. I saw the corners of his mouth twitch, eventually pulling upwards into a pained smile. In the back of my mind, I felt the Weave being pulled, manipulated.

‘Is he trying to call for help? Ask me to help? A threat? What is he doing?!’

A concept was pulled from the depths of the Weave, accessing the subconscious knowledge inside my own head. I examined what he was trying to grasp onto.

Pride.

He mouthed a word, and the light faded from his eyes. He went limp, bubbles no longer appearing in the blood pouring out from his neck like a faucet. Now, all that I could hear was my heavy breathing.

And my heartbeat. It was fast, and painful. My face had gone numb as I continued to stare at Eucharis. There was only one word that could fit the concept he pulled on and the shapes his mouth made.

My jaw started to shiver. I let go of Eucharis, letting his head and upper barrel hit the floor. I looked up, at the wall to the right of the door, which we had turned towards as he fell. There was a ceramic vase, covered in blue floral patterns sitting on a table between the bookshelves. It was polished to a shine, and I could see my own reflection in the vase’s sheen.

I was covered in blood.

My mind connected the dots all too easily. Chrysalis’s hints pointed to someone important. She didn’t want me to know who he was. Eucharis himself said that he always had my best interest at heart. He had a deal to protect me and me alone.

‘He helped cover out the fate of my brothers and sisters. He constantly reported my activities to the Queen. He tried to stop my rebellion. But he did it all for what he believed to be the right reasons…’

“He was trying to save his son.”

I looked down at his lifeless body. Blood had stopped coming out of his wound, where I… Where I ran him through. The red substance had stained the light red carpet a dark, deep crimson. At the edge of the carpet, where his head lay, some of it pooled onto the white, shiny marble tile floor.

“What?” Oest asked. I couldn’t look at him. I couldn’t look away.

“He tried his best.”

“Phasma? What are you…”

“His last word. Son.”

‘I… could have casted a stun spell… Didn’t need…’

“... We have to go, Phasma. Time is of the essence.”

I stood up, gaze never leaving Eucharis. My chest was hurting something fierce.

“C’mon Phasma. We still have to find Commander Scorpion.”

“Yeah…. The Commander. This isn’t over.”

I managed to tear my gaze away, only to see the bloody door in front of me. I stumbled at the sight. Oest stretched out a hoof, catching me.

“Ahem. Let’s… find this Commander.”

We left the room, closing the door behind us.

51- The Eleventh Hour

Commander Scorpion was inspecting the Canterlot Castle Royal Guard armory. It was veritable, to be sure. But he expected more.

The room was four times longer than it was wide. The walls were nine hooves tall, with a slant at the end, reaching up to the ceiling ten hooves up from the floor. Along the center, rows of weapon racks were arranged. Many had been filled with swords, spears, and other common weapons. However, the occasional rack only had a single weapon on them, and were separately locked up. The walls of the room had sets of armor on mannequins reared up on their hind legs.

The entrance was a solid cold rolled steel door, with a three part lock enchanted against tampering. The door– and surrounding walls– were enchanted against being damaged. However, High Marshal Prince Phasmatodea had picked the Quartermaster out as a prime target for the opening moves of the invasion of Canterlot.

The Quartermaster himself was ambushed while he was inside the castle, just as the invasion was starting to kick off. He was inside the armory, handling the distribution of the arms inside. Guards from all over the city were coming in to retrieve weapons from the armory, having been off duty. Many had their armor with them, as all Royal Guards kept their armor close at hoof. Weapons, however, had to be kept in the armory.

The quartermaster went down far too easily. As did the guards with the enchanted weaponry of the vaunted Royal Guards. Commander Scorpion had the element of surprise and had ordered the infiltrators to sneak in disguised as ponies coming on duty to help out with the invasion, only to attack at once at the unprepared guards.

Only an eighth of the armory had been distributed to the Royal Guards coming in. All of that was reclaimed when Canterlot Castle was swept of its guard presence. Now, Commander Scorpion was inspecting the armory itself. Reappropriating, to be more precise.

Two thirds of the armor sets were unusable in their current condition. That last third, inefficient. The armor for pegasi and earth ponies had no hole in the helmet for a changeling’s horn, and the unicorn armor had no holes in the barrel plating for wings. Still, Scorpion figured he could combine the helmets of the unicorn armor with the rest of the set from the pegasus armor to get usable sets.

They were in every way superior to what the Praetorians had in stock.

‘Now that Canterlot is ours, we can start looking into forging our own armor, surely. It will take time to reach the level of professionalism these ponies had when it came to enchanting them, though. For now, we will make do with using their armor to finish the invasion.’

He was inspecting a helmet that seemed to be utterly resistant to being gripped by magic– despite the fact that it wasn’t made of Adamantium or Mithril– when a changeling entered the armory from the door behind him.

‘News from the throne room?’

“Report,” he said, not looking back.

“By the power invested in me, blah blah blah, you’re under arrest for treason against the hive.”

Commander Scorpion dropped the helmet and turned around, recognizing the voice.

“... My Prince?”

High Marshal Prince Phasmatodea was behind him, his Praetorian Oestridae, ever his shadow, right by him. Scorpion ever-so-briefly lamented the lost opportunity when that ling opted to not go into the Praetorian program originally. However, Scorpion’s attention was completely on the High Marshal the moment he noticed something so thoroughly peculiar and vexing.

Prince Phasma was covered in blood.

That’s when the Prince’s words registered in Scorpion’s mind, their utter lunacy making sense.

“What… are you talking about? Treason?”

“A plot to usurp Queen Chrysalis has been uncovered, and evidence and testimony has singled you out as a key conspirator. The previous suspects we took in were less than willing to come peacefully. Do not make the same mistake.”

The High Marshal lifted his hammer, and gently pressed it against Scorpion’s peytral armor plating. Scorpion heard hoofsteps behind him as the six Praetorians in the armory moved closer to watch.

“Come peacefully.”

“You’re clearly being misled, My Prince. I have been loyal to the throne for decades! Queen Chrysalis shall judge me, she will know the truth of what I say.”

“Then you will not fight?”

“Of course not, My Prince. I am loyal to the hive!”

“You deny that it was you who created subversive elements in the Swarm, collecting officers and soldiers alike for your cause to usurp Queen Chrysalis?”

“What? Of course not, I have been busy with the invasion. Any ling under my command can testify to that!”

“Then this should be cleared up very quickly. Thanks for making this easy for me.”

While Scorpion’s mind processed the words the Prince was saying, Scorpion noticed the Prince’s horn lighting up. His decades of experience kicked in automatically, and he casted a shield matrix to protect himself from the point-blank range opponent.

Unfortunately, the shield never formed. God-Splitter, with its Mithril core, was pressed right up against Scorpion. He could not get a protective shield around himself. Continuing to act on instinct, he started to dive to the side.

That was when the Prince and his shadow made their moves. A bolt of highly powerful electricity whizzed past the Commander, imperceptibly close to his head as he ducked into a roll. The hammer, God-Splitter, lowered and briefly hooked onto Scorpion’s right foreleg as he dove to the left, sending his dive into an unintended flip onto his back.

‘He’s attacking me?! He had no intention of taking me in–’

Praetorian Oestridae shut the door behind them and charged in.

Praetorian Patella was flying down the halls of Canterlot Castle as fast as her wings could allow.

She passed pristine halls covered in more gold, art, and suits of armor. She blitzed through junctions of wide avenue-like hallways. She buzzed around collapsed pillars and walls in a hallway that was destroyed in Her Majesty’s fight.

Her destination was the castle’s armory, where Commander Scorpion was. Praetorian Patella was ordered to deliver the message with no delays, and she understood the gravity of the situation herself. If need be, she would blow holes in walls to reach her commanding officer.

The Queen had told her the message herself, and Patella had been present in the room for the Infiltrator’s frantic debriefing.

Patella zipped to the side to avoid three Praetorians that were patrolling the hall she was currently speeding through. She didn’t slow down at all, trusting her skills to avoid collisions.

She was in the section of the castle reserved for military use now. Dormitories, mess halls, training rooms, she passed them all without even a cursory glance. The soft golds, reds, and whites of the main halls had given way to more simplistic styles of white, grey, and somehow less fancy gold.

Finally, she came upon the castle’s armory. The massive door was shut, and Patella could hear muffled noises behind the solid metal. When she pulled open the grey, half-a-hoof thick door, she saw the intended recipient of her message lying in a broken mess of wood and weapons.

The changeling next to the prone commander turned to the new intruder. It was a Praetorian in orange armor. Prince Phasma’s personal guard, Patella recalled. The rest of the changelings in the armory paused too. Three seemed to be unconscious on the ground, one was in the grip of the High Marshal himself, and the High Marshal had paused mid-punch to look over his shoulder to investigate who opened the door.

‘Oh no, I’m too late!’

“Run!” Yelled one of the Praetorians.

Praetorian Patella spun on her hooves just in time to hear the Prince yell, “Get her!”

She took to her wings once more, and began retracing her flight back to the throne room. She put all her speed to the test, hoping to lose what almost certainly was a changeling loyal to Prince Phasma right behind her.

Around bends, through hallways, she caught glimpses of the orange Praetorian right on her tail. Patella prided herself on being one of the fastest flyers in the First Legion, yet the hulking mass behind her never lost sight of her.

Occasionally, spells zipped past her as she darted from each side of the hallway, dodging potential shots from her pursuer.

One stray glance answered why; the infamously strong Praetorian Oestridae was smashing right through obstacles, rather than taking time to dodge around them. Corners of the walls exploded in plaster and stone as he cut straight through them. Fallen debris was smashed to pieces as he plowed on. Changelings were thrown to the side as he barreled right past.

One particular hallway had one wall covered in clear glass panels, giving a pleasant view of the garden right outside. This had the noticeable effect of the hallway being brighter than others, as the moonlight streamed in through the large windows. Patella, not having time to take in the scene, barely registered that detail in her mind. She was more focused on the single Praetorian standing in the hall, blocking it accidentally with his length.

She flew upwards towards the ceiling, intending to fly over the changeling just as she had a few times previously. Patella did not see the Praetorian’s horn light up as he channeled a spell, nor did she see the tiles of the floor– and no small amount of ground from beneath them– shoot up to the ceiling until it was far, far too late.

She hit the sudden wall with considerable force, cracking chitin all over her body; from her muzzle to her barrel, cracks appeared in varying size. She slid down the wall briefly, before falling back and off it all together. In the corner of her eyes, she could see her muzzle was now covered in blood. Her Praetorian helmet was completely dented backwards and was likely the only reason she was still conscious.

Patella struggled to flip onto her belly and get her hooves beneath her. She had to warn the Queen. Failure was not an option.

“Why don't cha’ just stay there for a moment, yeah?”

Patella pushed herself up off the ground and extended her wings to take flight again. The room spun and she instinctively retracted her wings back under her elytra as she tipped to the side, and fell over.

She heard hoofsteps echo around the room as the speaker walked over. Then, she heard another set as her pursuer landed. Patella blew air out of her nose, spraying a bit of blood onto the ground in front of her.

“Couldn’t help but notice you were after this ling. Don’t worry, this one’s free of charge.”

“... That statement has unpleasant implications, Weevil.”

Oest came in with the captured witness just as I finished wrapping up our captives. He brought a friend, too. I gave the familiar Praetorian a nod.

“I wasn’t expecting to see you here, Praetorian Weevil.”

“Hey, it’s just Weevil to friends.”

“Weevil, then.”

Oest threw down the captured ling in front of me. She was not looking too good; blood was leaking out of several points on her head and torso.

“The hell happened?”

“I saw Oest here making his way down the hallway, slowly following this bird. Thought I’d lend a hoof and help catch her. Turns out, she don’t like going from twenty miles per hour to none in a second flat.”

“Hmm. Thanks for your help, Weevil.”

“Anything for a friend.”

“Speaking of which, I could use your help if you would stick with us.”

“With what?”

“It’s happening.”

Weevil’s eyes widened and he looked around the room.

“Oh. Oh! Is that what this is all about?”

“Yes.”

“Does that mean I can get first pick of loot in here?”

“Sure. I need to ask our friend a question.”

Weevil, ever keeping his priorities straight, started picking through the armory behind me, examining the weapons and armor now laying on the ground. I turned my attention to the captured Praetorian while Oest kept watch outside the doorway to prevent further interruptions.

I leaned over the bleeding ling.

“You were not standing guard at the door. Where did you come from? Who are you? Where were you going?”

The Praetorian did not speak. She only glared at me.

“Listen. I’m very short on time. So before I start using the mind control spell, you might want to just tell me what I want to know. Believe me, it’s not a pleasant experience.”

‘So I’ve read, at least.’

“I’m loyal to the hive!”

“Ugh. This again? Alright, I gave you one warning. Just a heads up, bracing only makes it more painful.”

“N… No! Wait!”

I blinked.

“I’m surprised you actually listened to my warning. I'm a bit disappointed, too. I really need to practice that spell. Where did you come from?”

“The throne room…”

“Why?”

“The Queen needed to deliver a message. I was… too late. But it doesn’t matter! Nothing that happens here matters!”

‘That’s not an answer I wanted to hear.’

“And why does nothing matter?”

“Because you’re doomed to fail.”

“Doomed to fail,” I repeat. “How…”

‘She knows.’

“She knows,” Oest echoed my thoughts from his position outside of the doorway.

“Son of a cussing cuss word!” I hissed. “We have a leak! We need to move!”

I leaned back and called over to Weevil. He was trying on a Royal Guard unicorn helmet. “Weevil! We’re leaving! Now!”

“But you said I could loot!”

“Chrysalis knows! There’s no time!”

“Oh shit. I’m right behind ya!”

I moved around Oest and out into the hall.

“C’mon! We’re out of time! We have to get everyone at the rendezvous either out of the castle or with us when we go in!”

52- The Scarlet Dawn

I tore down the halls with Oest and Weevil at my heels. Time had become the most valuable resource in existence, and I was out of it.

‘Chrysalis knows about the insurrection! I have to get the First Fang to safety before she acts first, the element of surprise is lost!’

The distant rumbling of the match between the two monarchs had ceased long ago. Chrysalis had won, and was preemptively trying to stop my survival. With Eucharis and Scorpion out of the way, hopefully I was the only one with real support.

‘How many Praetorians could she have rallied? With my luck, the answer is ‘a lot.’’

I slowed down enough only to check that my two followers were still following me. They didn’t seem to be having any trouble keeping up. That was probably due to the fact that I had only been flying for less than a year, and they had years of experience. I was probably slowing them down, in fact.

‘.... Would I be able to go faster if I was galloping on the ground?’

As we neared our destination, I heard something that only drove me to fly faster. I barely remembered to keep holding God-Splitter in my grip as I flew, so focused was my mind on getting to the rendezvous as soon as possible.

I had heard the sound of distant fighting.

‘The changelings at the rendezvous are under attack!’

When I turned the last corner before reaching the foyer, I saw Praetorians with their backs to me. They were group casting shield spells, slowly moving forwards out of the hallway and into the foyer. It was hard to make out what was past them, but I guessed that it was my loyal Lodge members as well as the First Fang.

Oest and Weevil set down next to me as we peeked around the corner.

“Plan,” I began hastily, ”is that I go in, you two follow. We get our boys, we get out. Then, the Nine and us three will go hit Chrysalis directly. Good? Good. On me!”

Every second that I spent talking was a second the Lodge members had to endure under attack. So, I channeled my inner Leeroy, and charged forward. I brought God-Splitter up before me as I charged.

I closed in the distance between us and the loyalists nearly silently as I flew forward.

But then I saw that the Praetorians were stepping over something. As I got closer, I saw that the advancing soldiers were stepping over bodies. Changeling bodies lying in puddles of blood and chitin shards. My loyal lings, laying dead on the tiles in a war that is being fought non-lethally.

‘Those fuckers are going lethal?! If that’s the way they want to do this!’

I screamed as I charged, “FOR THE HIVE ETERNAL!”

The changelings in the rear turned towards me as I swung God-Splitter. I could see the stunned looks on their faces when God-Splitter went right through three of them. The first was nearly split in two as their barrel was caved in. The next two were hit by the full momentum of the hammer plus the guards next to them.

“Behind!” A Praetorian in front of me yelled. I couldn’t tell who said that. I couldn’t bring myself to care.

They attempted to bring up a shield, not exactly realizing who it was attacking their rear. It would take them a moment or two to realize that there’s only one changeling facing them who could yell over the Weave, but that was a moment I used to the fullest extent. The shield lasted all of three seconds before I swung God-Splitter once more, taking down two more Praetorians.

The rest of the changelings in front of me, roughly eight total at this end of the hall, started to space themselves out as they began going on the offensive. Acid sprays, fire bolts, and more than enough focus will shots all hit me and bounced off at first my shield and then the protective shield embedded in my peytral.

Oest and Weevil shot past me as I sent forth a barrage of ice spears, the spell matrix so familiar that I could rapidly cast them one after another. They each charged at a target on either side of the hall as I followed right behind, going after a changeling in the center.

I formed a casing of rock around my right hoof as I punched one changeling, swinging God-Splitter around at another. They retaliated with an illusion spell to make me hit thin air as well as a stream of directed fire. I felt my peytral start to heat up as the green shield that flickered into existence around me took the brunt of the spell and channeled its energy to the nine sapphires embedded in the piece of armor.

My swing had gone wide, having been temporarily blinded by the fire. Instead of going for them once again, I pulled God-Splitter back and above me before slamming it down onto the ground. The resulting shockwave cracked and upturned the stone tiled flooring all around, as well as sending cracks snaking up the walls all the way to the ceiling.

The changelings around me– Oest and Weevil included– were sent tumbling. I took the chance to smash a Praetorian using my hammer, the sheer force of it crushing the changeling. The section of the crater he was prone in became coated in red as half of his barrel was obliterated.

Now I could see the foyer in its entirety. A group of changelings in the center were maintaining a shield, surrounded by Praetorians and fallen lings alike. There were far more dead non-armored lings than there were dead Praetorians.

‘They must have ambushed my followers here and pressed the advantage.’

I took a brief count of thirty or so Praetorians before rushing up to the shield in front of me. The hallway I came from seemed to have the least amount of Praetorians in it, as more Praetorians arrived from the main hall up the half-staircase.

“SEND THESE BASTARDS TO HELL!”

The changelings in the shield– a distressingly few amount– looked to me as I arrived. Unfortunately, my rallying call also caught the attention of the Praetorians present, who had been laying siege to the minor, impromptu defenses of the Lodge members.

Four of the closest lings lunged at me, casting out blades of ice-fire. I intercepted one of the red-blue shards of energy with God-Splitter, shattering it and turning the green hammer red from the constant use of dispelling.

“The Prince!” A voice yelled out from within the shield.

The remaining three blades impacted a shield that I quick-casted, and the fire portion of the spells were nullified. The ice sections cut right through, and had scraped against my peytral itself. The ice scratched the Adamantium plate, but did nothing more than that.

The lings who had lunged at me were covered by shields casted by their fellow Praetorians behind them. So instead of throwing out a spell that could hit them all, only to be negated by their shields, I threw God-Splitter forward and pulled them all towards it using levitation.

The sudden force on their forms caused their shields to go rigid as their protectors fought off the intrusive force. The result of this was that they couldn’t dodge the solid mass of Adamantium heading straight for them. I watched as one of the Praetorians were sent flying backwards, impacting the ceiling above the staircase. Another Praetorian who was standing next to the intended target was clipped by a glancing hit by the hammer, causing his shield to vaporize. A torrent of fireballs rained down on the unprotected changeling and his two protected comrades as Oest, Weevil, and the now-freed Lodge members linked up with me.

I started to catch my breath, noticing my horn had started to sting from the constant casting of spells. Still, using telekinesis to swing God-Splitter was relatively cheap in mana cost, so I kept the Praetorians at bay and dodging around as I panted. The Lodge members had left their shield and formed new defenses around me.

“Sir! They came outta nowhere, we had no time to react!”

I glanced at the speaker. Captain Cicada, leader of the Will of The Nine, looked like hell. He must have taken a fireball to the neck, as half of his neck and portions of his barrel and lower right fight were charred black. The chitin seemed to be peeling in place, blood leaking out.

“I know. A traitor has revealed our plot, and Chrysalis preemptively attacked.”

Around us, Lodgers constantly dropped their shields for the briefest of moments to allow for friendlies to counter-attack in the briefest of windows. It was a dangerous maneuver and would by all rights be damn near impossible to achieve. However, thanks to the local Weave I projected, the counter-attacks were being shot off like a fighter’s machine gun being timed between rotations of the propeller in front of it.

The same could be said for our foes, as the Weave could not selectively aid only my lings. The Praetorians were using the cooperative skills now possible to their best extent, having been trained to do so. For every elemental, focused will, or other spell thrown at our opponents, they returned with three of their own. We were in a losing position, and I had to do something sooner rather than later. Our mana reserves would deplete long before theirs, even before counting their superior numbers.

“What happened to the First Fang members who were supposed to be here? Lace, Coxa, and Tarsus?”

“I’m right here, boss!” That was Coxa speaking from somewhere within our grouping.

“You alright,” I asked, still focused on my hammer being thrown around wildly outside of the shield.

“No. But I’ll live.”

“Lace? Tarsus?”

“Lace was here, but I lost sight of her right away….”

“Did you see her, Captain Cicada?”

I saw him shake his head out of the corner of my eyes.

‘So she could be one of the corpses on the ground…. They’re not taking prisoners.’

“She’s fine, I’m sure of it,” I lied.

‘Focus on what's going on right now. The longer this goes on, the lower our chances of escape are, and the lower the amount of energy I have left to fight Chrysalis. Time to make a move.’

I did not speak too loudly above the raucous of the battle, lest the Praetorians overhear me.

“We need to move. I’ll make an opening towards the main doors, and the injured and non-combatants can escape that way. Then, we blow a hole in their line and head straight for Chrysalis. We find a nice chokepoint to hold off their numbers while I hit the Queen directly. Everyone got it?”

A round of got-its and yeses answered my question. I looked in the direction of the exit and saw a team of Praetorians blocking the way. Unlike their counterparts further in the room, they never dropped their shield to attack.

‘They must have orders to prevent the escape of my lings.’

I recalled God-Splitter after giving the lings in front of me a warning. They dropped their shield briefly enough for the hammer to make it through. A shard of ice smashed against the shield once it was raised back up. I turned around to look at the exit. Something around fifteen Praetorians were now on that side. Our numbers were somewhere between fifteen to thirty.

“Everyone injured and still able to fly, get ready to escape. If anyone is injured and can’t fly, find a ling right now to carry you to safety. Coxa, I want you out of here, too. Get ready!”

I threw God-Splitter forward as fast as I could. The hammer swung in an arc on the tethering enchantment, swinging downwards from above. The Praetorians saw the massive, shiny, glowing red-and-green mass coming long before it hit, and had moved out of the way.

What they didn't see coming was the entirety of our forces now charging their lines. When they realized that we were here, God-Splitter hit the ground, sending another wave of cracks through the floor and walls as well as throwing our opponents off their hooves. The shield was dispelled as their concentration broke.

Our party galloped right through them. A few stopped, turned, and brought up another shield in front of the doorway to cover our retreat. Oest and a few others finished off the prone Praetorians, taking no prisoners. I didn’t look back to watch the retreat behind me, instead focusing once more on keeping the changelings around us at bay using God-Splitter.

After a few moments I checked on our progress.

“We all out?” I called from my position in the rearguard-now-turned-vanguard.

“The injured and non-soldiers are out, My Prince!”

“Cicada? Still with me, then?”

“Till the end, sir!”

“How about till their end, yeah? Now we gotta go all the way back through the room and up to Chrysalis.”

‘We’re pretty damn lucky that there wasn’t a force of Praetorians outside the Castle. Word must not have spread to the loyalists out in the city of what’s going on. That won’t last, though.’

“Once more unto the breach!”

I leaped forward, back to the center of the room, brandishing God-Splitter as I went. The shield in front of me dropped as I charged. I constantly switched between bringing up small, localized shields to block projectiles in between hammer swings. The Praetorians thankfully were woefully undertrained for fighting an opponent who could defend themselves while attacking without backup. Still, I couldn’t catch all the hits and so my shields were waning.

Behind me, the Will of the Nine followed at a slower pace, following in the breach I was creating in the lines of the Praetorians. They kept their shields up after I leapt ahead, opting to focus more on defense rather than offense.

As I sent a ling flying back and upwards with a blow of my hammer, one of them had the bright idea to destroy the ground in front of me. Continuous sprays of acid left a dangerous pool of the substance right in my path. In response, my wings buzzed out of my elytra as I flew above the pool, calling it out to the lings behind me.

Immediately, a torrent of focused-will spells targeted my back. The shield around me flickered out of existence and my wings were torn under the barrage. I started to plummet to the ground on the other side of the pool.

Quickly, I brought up another shield around me. The damage was done, however. My wings were gone, leaving behind a searing pain that persisted underneath my elytra where the wings met my back. I hissed in pain as Oest and Weevil arrived next to me, bringing a protective shield around us and replacing my solo one.

“Keep. Moving!” I spat.

I turned to look behind me as I got up. The Lodge members were grouping up around me once again. The shields were holding still, and I gave a quiet thanks that the Praetorians did not have any Panar’s Hammer members amongst them. The heavy-hitter spells of that Legion would have made quick work of our defenses.

We were now two-thirds of the way into the room, at the base of the staircase. The Praetorians had made us fight for every inch of the ground. Losses on our side were limited, but we had less to lose than them.

“Up the stairs now! We take the main hall and hold it!”

As we slowly pushed the Praetorians back, I noticed the room was on fire. The great banners that detailed the glory of the Equestrian Royal Guard were now aflame, their great length burning to a crisp from the fireballs and streams that had soared through the air with reckless abandon. The walls themselves were covered in cracks and fissures, similarly aflame, or even melting from acid shots.

I gave a quick glance at the ceiling to see that it was intact. Thankfully, the building was not going to come down around our advance. Then, I checked behind me. The Will of the Nine now numbered less than ten members.

As I pressed up the left staircase, swinging God-Splitter to clear a way in the horde of changelings blocking our path, I once again called out to my group.

“We won’t be able to hold a chokepoint at this rate!”

“We’ll think of something!” Cicada answered.

The shield around our advance faltered. Then, it dissipated entirely.

Immediately, Praetorian Weevil took a focused-will shot to the neck between his helmet and peytral. The shot went straight through, leaving a visible tunnel through his neck. He staggered, then fell. Oestridae took his spot in the advance, bringing a shield back up around us. We left his body behind, crumpled beneath the painting of Celestia that hung on the middle landing of the staircase.

For every inch we took, we paid for it with blood.

Finally, we neared the main hallway at the top of the stairs. It was smaller than the foyer, and unless we could make it all the way down its length to the throne room under heavy fire, it was our best shot at holding back the Praetorians.

“Hold here!”

I blasted two Praetorians into the walls using two focused will lasers as the surviving Lodge Members dropped the shield covering us, replacing it with a shield that covered the entire large doorway to the grand hall. The few Praetorians left in the hall were dispatched, taking down two more of our members.

The upside was that there were no more Praetorians coming from the Great Hall. The downside was that there were now five Lodge members including Captain Cicada.

“Damn it all, we’re not going to be holding this for long. You five will have to hold this as long as you can, buying me enough time to end this. I’d stay and fight, too, but...”

“I will hold the line,” Oestridae said.

“I need you to help me take down the Queen, Oest.”

“You need a chance to take her down, first.”

“... But you’ll die.”

“We all knew the risks. Not one of us here ignored what we were getting into.”

I could only stare at him, panting and leaning against God-Splitter.

“I will hold them off and buy you the time you need, Phasma.”

I hated how much sense he was making. With his skills and strength, the line could be held for so much longer than just Cicada and the remaining four alone.

“If everyone dies, who is left for me to fight for?”

It was selfish to ask that right after ordering the rest of the group to their deaths, I realized, but the words came out of my mouth before I could even think.

“The rest of our species. Take down Chrysalis so the hive can survive.”

“I…”

“Go. This is not your grave.”

I sighed.

“... Goodbye brother.”

“No goodbyes. You hate them, remember? Till we meet again, Phasma.”

He came close and wrapped a hoof around my own, bringing our chests together with a bump.

“Till then. Thank you for… everything, Oest.”

We broke the embrace as I blinked the water out of my eyes, and then I turned to gallop down the halls.

Alone.

Praetorian Oestridae held the line.

Even as the shield in the doorway finally broke and the Praetorians started swarming through, he kept them at bay.

One after another, they fell to his spells and hoof-to-hoof fighting.

Captain Cicada died. As the shield faltered, he used what mana he had left to start casting a massive fireball. When the shield spell fell, he launched it at the door. Since he was next to it, the flames engulfed the half-burnt Captain, too.

Praetorian Oestridae held the line.

He checked their advance to the throne room, standing right in the middle of the ruined hall. The walls were cracked. The columns had fallen. The stained glass windows were all blown out. The ceiling itself had caved in a number of places.

Ash streamed in from above, setting beneath the openings like a layer of grey snow. His hooves crunched on the ash as he slowly backed up, throwing out a concussion blast at the advancing Praetorians.

Before, he and his brothers-in-hooves had been the ones advancing against a slowly retreating foe.

Now, he made them pay in blood for every inch they took.

The changelings in front of him were pushed aside as a changeling in thicker, more covering Praetorian armor emerged. The mandibles on either side of his helmet indicated his ranking as what Phasma had rebranded the Consul; the second highest rank in the Praetorians, beneath Commander Scorpion.

The fighting had ceased, leaving the hallway far more quiet than Oest could remember. Wings were still buzzing as some changelings flew. Oest could hear his heavy breaths shoveling in air into his lungs.

“Oestridae.”

He knew that voice.

“Pharynx.”

“Where’s Thorax?”

“I don’t know.”

Pharynx shook his head.

“Then this is where you die.”

“Did you tell Chrysalis?”

“Of your betrayal? No.”

‘Ah. There goes my one guess. I’m sure Phasma has it figured out, though.’

“So. You gonna fight me one on one or something?”

“You and your Prince took away my brother. He said he protected him, but Thorax isn’t here. He didn’t survive the trip, did he? Phasma murdered my brother, and Queen Chrysalis forbids anyone from killing him. I’ll have to settle for you instead.”

‘This duel will buy more time.’

“What are you waiting for? I’m right here.”

Pharynx smiled and stepped forward.

“This one is mine. Stay back, all of you! If any of you interrupt, your life is forfeit.”

“You Praetorians are obsessed with death.”

“The penalty for treason is death. Your band of misfits knew that. I want my brother back, but this will do for now.”

Oestridae conjured a shield around him, enveloping his form in a green glow.

Pharynx blasted him with a laser beam, forcing him backwards. Ditches were left in the layer of ash he was standing in as he got pushed back.

But Praetorian Oestridae held the line.

Pharynx swung a conjured blade again and again, chipping away at Oestridae’s chitin. He was bleeding profusely from the hundred of cuts that Pharynx had rent. In comparison, Pharynx felt fit as a pony fiddle.

Throughout the entire fight, Oestridae hadn't casted a single offensive spell. Time and time again, he disorientated Pharynx using stunning or concussive spells, but he never hurt Pharynx.

“Are you hoping to buy as much time as possible for your traitor-friend? You know their duel is over by now. You only prolong your death with no chance of defeating me by not fighting back!”

“I know,” the resolute traitor growled.

“Then why don’t you fight back?!”

To emphasize his point, he thrust a blade at Oestridae. Oest blocked the blade by moving a foreleg into the way. The blade sunk deep through his foreleg, leaking blood where the two met.

Oestridae panted heavily from behind his foreleg, glaring at Pharynx.

“You outta juice or something, traitor?”

“I give everything I have for the hive.”

“You’re funny, you know that, Oestridae? I think you’re the only changeling in the hive that can beat me, yet you never even tried. You will die for nothing, having achieved nothing yourself.”

“I protected Phasma.”

“He killed my brother!”

“No. Thorax lives.”

“Then where is he?!”

Pharynx stabbed again with a second blade, sinking it deep in Oest’s chest, penetrating right through the orange peytral. He shuddered, but stayed standing.

“... Don’t know,” He grunted.

“Then you should have fought back, if you care about your Prince so much!”

“He’s more than a prince, he’s my brother.”

The opposing Praetorian staggered. Pharynx just shook his head.

“But you refused to fight for him?!”

A third blade joined the second.

“I can’t hurt you.”

“Why?!”

Oestridae collapsed onto the ground. The magical blades embedded in him vanished as Pharynx stopped casting the spell.

“You’re… our brother… too. The rest might have forgotten… but I haven’t. You’re an honorary member of the… First Fang.”

He gasped as blood started to pool around him, leaking from the blade wounds.

“... And the First Fang... never hurts… each other.”

Pharynx watched as his foe grew stiller and stiller. His voice grew quieter and quieter, too. Oest had to struggle to get each word out.

“Phas… I stood... until... the... end…”

With one last shudder, Praetorian Oestridae died.

53- The Promised Day

‘Is this how it ends? So close to reunion, yet so far?’

‘... It doesn’t have to be.’

‘This is it.’

The Canterlot Castle throne room was ahead of me. The doors, still broken and hanging open, did not block the view. I could see her sitting on the throne, seemingly alone in the throne room.

‘Alone. That’s a risky assumption. One I’m going to have to make, unfortunately. Just walk in there, and get this over with. I have some time thanks to– no, stay focused! If I think about him, I won’t be… Focus!’

I crossed the threshold and entered the room. The sound of my muffled hoofsteps on the red carpet that stretched all the way across and to the throne was the only sound that I could hear outside of my own breathing.

The throne room somehow looked worse than when I first arrived. There was more open sky than ceiling at this point. No pillar stood higher than halfway up the room. Great sections of the walls were blown out. The throne was scorched, as if a beam from a massive magnifying glass burnt streaks across it.

Outside the missing sections of the walls, I could see what used to be two gardens on either side, bordered by glassless windows. The walls on the far sides of the courtyards seemed to have fared the battle just as well as the walls of the throne room.

A layer of ash now coated most of the floor of the throne room. My muffled hoofsteps turned into the crunching sound of walking on snow as I traversed into the grey covered sections, and out into the room proper.

Queen Chrysalis of the Fourth Hive sat on the throne’s ruins, looking bored.

Upon my arrival, she lifted her head off the hoof that was propping it up, and stared at me. I slowly closed the vast distance between us. She tracked my movement with those green slitted eyes of hers, so similar to my own. Chrysalis waited patiently as I crossed the overly-large room, eventually stopping short of her own throne.

We both knew how awkward it would have been if we started monologuing from across the room. Yelling takes away from the menacing undertone of a final confrontation.

We stared at each other for a bit. Her, atop her new ruined throne. Me, slowly accumulating a layer of ash on my back and the top of my head.

‘Course she made sure that the throne was still covered by the roof. That’s got to be on purpose.’

I gazed around the room and found a distinctive lack of pony princesses.

“No audience?” I looked back to her as I broke the silence.

She didn’t respond, instead tapping a hoof on the one remaining armrest of the throne.

“I was certain you would have paraded your prized trophies before everyone.”

“Oh I will. I will retrieve and secure said trophy before long. The sun princess is hanging around.”

“... You know why I’m here.”

“Yes.”

“To kill you.”

“Yes.”

I raised my eyebrows, “Do you have any objections to your immediate abdication and death?”

“Yes.”

I sighed.

“Are you going to be as obtuse as possible with your answers?”

“Why?”

She rose from her throne, continuing to stare down at me.

“Why all this… this… betrayal?”

I scoffed. “You know why. Because you had no intention of keeping me around after this day.”

Chrysalis shook her head.

“I had no intention of stopping with Equestria. With you by my side, we would conquer every throne, in every kingdom, on every continent.”

“With Equestria on lockdown, you would have ample time and resources to create a bigger army. You never needed me past today.”

“Why do you entwine your life so closely with this one duty? When a ling can no longer fulfill a role, they are reassigned.”

“Just like you reassigned my brothers and sisters?”

She froze for a moment before answering, “Your siblings?

“Ascension.”

“Ah. You found them?”

“It had a nymph’s puzzle lock on the entrance. Wasn’t that hard to get in.”

“The vault door is the deterrent against intruders. The lair’s lock is the deterrent against non-changelings. It is not complex simply because it does not need to be.”

“And the lab’s contents? Your own children?”

She shrugged, “They were dying. I gave them a purpose greater than what they could achieve in their lives.”

“Yeah. You made sure that they never passed that barrier, trapped forever.”

“They are dead. The Ascension ritual destroys the mind. Those are but empty husks, repurposed to create something wonderful.”

“No. The soul does not move on, not until the heart stops beating.”

“Oh, what do you know of such matters? You are but less than a year old.”

“I know more than you.”

“I should hardly think so, considering I have lived for centuries. Death is a common visitor to a perpetual.”

“And Death is an old friend of mine.”

The smile dropped from her face. She slowly lifted up a hoof, and set it down on the first step down from the throne. She spoke as she slowly, slowly walked down, putting one hoof in front of the other.

“You think because you have fought ponies that you know death?”

“You think dealing death makes you familiar with it? I’ve been to the other side and back. Death holds no surprises for me. In fact, I recommend you try it out.”

Once more she paused for the briefest of moments as she considered what I said.

“The other side and back? So, that’s how it is. I’ve always wondered where your intellect came from. Why did you keep this a secret from me…. Princess Prochoerodes?”

I blinked rapidly in confusion. She continued.

“I tried so hard. But with so little time left for the hive, my resources were limited. The ritual had failed. But now you finally come to say that this is not so? Why do you come with a dagger in hoof to greet your mother?”

“I am not Princess Procho.”

“Perhaps you lack your memory. Not all of it, it would seem. You still hold vestiges of what once was. They have been bleeding through your vision, into what you perceive as reality. Your old memories must still be in there, Princess Procho.”

“I was not a changeling when I died.”

That got Chrysalis to stop. She had descended half of the length of the stairs down to me when she paused.

“You retain memories of a previous life, and one that is not a changeling?”

“That’s right. A featherless biped with broad flat nails.”

“Not Princess Procho then.”

“No.”

“The ritual failed then. Or at least, most of it.”

“And just what is this ritual?”

“Chamberlain Eucharis aided me in your creation.” She tilted her head back and looked at the black and grey sky. “Both parts.”

“He won’t be aiding much of anything anymore.”

Chrysalis returned her stare back to me.

“Eucharis is dead. I killed him.”

“You killed him?”

“He refused to surrender…. Wasn’t much of a father, anyways…”

‘But he was my father, and he was the first person I’ve ever killed.’

“You knew he was your father?”

“No. He decided the best moment to reveal that was after I stabbed him in the neck.”

I changed the subject, both before I started to remember details and to keep things moving. Time was short, each second was paid for in blood.

“Why did you make a changeling royal just months before the hive ran out of food?”

“... I didn’t make just any changeling royal. I made a new vessel for Princess Procho. You are nothing but an accident. An amalgamation of her lifesource.”

“You made a vessel for a soul? How many of your children did you have to butcher to make one?”

She continued her descent down the stairs.

“A vessel created from an arcane ritual. The ritual to bring back my most loyal and powerful daughter…. it failed. Knowledge on such subjects is so hard to come by; these ponies have frowned upon the research into such Dark Magics. Yet out of that failure, the dregs spawned a spark of something new. I sheltered that spark and gave it the vessel.

“When your egg grew, I felt the almost-silent hum of your Weave. It was not Princess Procho’s, much to my disappointment. However, your cleverness brought opportunities I had not seen before. Your arrival was only possible due to the ritual and the ongoing… breaches of the veils between realms.”

“Nightmare Moon.”

“That demon must have been weakening the barriers, allowing the ritual to happen in the first place. From beyond the mortal realm, I plucked a soul. I had summoned Procho’s soul, yet you filled the void I left open.”

“And so you bring about your own downfall.”

Chrysalis reached the bottom of the stairs and stopped, ten paces ahead of me.

“I was never going to Ascend you, my Prince Phasma. That was not your fate, nor would it be the fate of any changeling anymore.”

“You expect me to believe that? You had an empty vat, and showed no signs of breaking tradition.”

She gave me a smile, showing off her fangs.

“That vat was never for you; no, that vat was intended for my Ascension. Mother dearest, Queen Sphecidae, deemed my Ascension a necessity. She wanted to Ascend as many royals as possible. Sphecidae had drifted so far from reality that she had begun to fear nymphs' tales...”

I sneered, “Even if it was first intended for you, it was still an empty vat. You could just as easily rip my mind out and put me in there.”

“I had tried my best to be tender with your raising. Such pursuits are not my forte. I trained you to be a leader, so that you may aid my conquest of this world. Why rule with one voice, one presence, when two can be twice as powerful? Or three? Four? I would spread our kind across the world, with hives in every kingdom, and a royal on each throne. I was never going to Ascend you. Such fates, honorable though they may be, are beneath us.”

“You expect me to believe that? You had my siblings alive and trapped within their own bodies, and you kept that hidden from everyone, including me!”

“No one was supposed to learn of the Ascension ritual.”

“Obviously! Do you really think you can just do those things, and expect me to be loyal?!”

“I did not anticipate their discovery. That was my mistake.”

“Their discovery, or the fact that you did those horrible things in the first place?”

“Perhaps both. Yet your rebellion did not start when you breached the inner sanctum of the vault. I know you were plotting this for a long while yet.”

'Every second we spend talking is a second Oestridae and the Nine have to hold. I have to wrap this up soon.’

“No. It started with the vault, though I breached that long before you left.”

“Impossible–”

“It’s never been done before? I know. I was the first.”

“I know you breached the vault already. What is impossible is the idea that you started this movement in just a few months. No, you had planned this long in advance. What turned you against me? When have I wronged you?”

“I never trusted you in the first place. Every act of kindness was measured. Any freedom, just slack in a leash. You hoarded information and control, so I prepared for the worst. I prepared to demand that you lessen your absolute control over our kind, but I found the truth about you to be so much worse than I had feared. You have outlived your own morals, and I must bring an end to your monstrous tyranny.”

“So I cannot regain your loyalty, as it never existed in the first place?”

‘–five corpses, suspended in green liquid–’

“I was willing to give you a chance. Then I found the skeletons in your closet.”

Chrysalis let out a sigh, “I have always been cold, even with my own nymphs. I had hoped to do better by you, but I suppose that I did not succeed. And there is nothing I can do to convince you that I speak the truth?”

'I'm not wasting time with this pointless argument.'

“There is no reason for me to ever believe you. Heaven sent and hell bent, I will kill you here and now, Chrysalis! We’re done talking! Now I shall bring the future I promised to the hive, starting with your skull being cleaved from your shoulders!”

“You’ll see the truth. I will make this right, even if I have to tear you down and rebuild you from the pieces.”

There was more I wanted to learn from her. Who the traitor was. What happened with Procho’s body, and how she stored it for so long. Why she waited so long to try to revive her supposed favorite daughter. Where the pony princesses were, if they were even podded. But I dared not waste a second more talking to the tyrant; I needed to get this over with sooner rather than later.

We both lowered closer to the ground, angling our heads– and by extension, our horns– towards each other. I pulled God-Splitter around, holding it in front of me. The ash fell from both our forms as we moved, slowly drifting to the covered ground.

We tensed, horns glowing, waiting for the other to make the first move. The calm before not just a storm, but a hurricane itself. Deep breaths. Horn still slightly stinging from overuse.

Anger.

Then, there was a spark between us. It was large and light orange, like my own coloring. It fizzled for just a second before vanishing just as suddenly as it appeared. Queen Chrysalis took this as the first move, and swung her head in a dramatic arc before firing a sickly green laser right at me.

I brought up a sloped shield and the green beam blasted off the orange surface, redirected into the clouded night sky. I dodged to the side, letting the shield drop so I could move my hammer again. I was not able to multicast spells, so every movement had to count.

Chrysalis saw me dashing towards her and finished her laser beam, instead lashing out with a whip of flame, tethered to her own horn. I angled God-Splitter to intercept the lashing, and continued my rapid advance.

The whip seemed to curve around the war weapon, instead reaching to wrap around my left foreleg. The whip constricted and pulled me forward, flinging me off my hooves and onto my side as it dragged me around. The leg being pulled hurt like hell, the chitin starting to char at my fetlock.

I yelled from the pain, and slammed God-Splitter down on the blazing tendril. Like a light, it went out. However, I was on the ground, close to Chrysalis, and now on the defensive. I rolled to the side as several arcs of lightning impacted where I was just a moment before, sending a tingling sensation through the fin on the back of my head.

A quick rounded shield stopped a paralyzing agent that Chrysalis sprayed towards me, conjured from her horn.

I dropped the shield. Using all my might, I conjured a concussive blast aimed at the Queen who was standing not five paces in front of me. The blast knocked her all the way into the throne, and sent me sliding through the ash. My impromptu escape was ended by a marble pillar, the accumulated pile of ash doing little to cushion the blow.

I started to rise, only to hear the crackle of fire. Instinctively, I brought God-Splitter before me, only to find it missing. I had lost my grip on it when I pushed myself back from the monster before me.

I saw the massive fireball launching towards me, flames spiraling around it like orbiting moons. Bringing forth a shield attuned to protect against fire, I continued to get up onto my hooves. I managed to finally raise from the ground before the fireball hit. However, it was not the first projectile to hit my shield. Piercing straight through the thrown fireball, a bolt of ice magically structured to break anti-fire protections impacted my shield, dissolving it entirely.

My mind flinched from the sudden and forceful dispelling, and I fell back to the floor engulfed in flames when the fireball hit me. My whole body was burning. I heard screaming. It took me a moment to realize that I was hearing myself scream.

Desperately, I started to spray water around me, my horn already starting to sting from overuse again. Through the smoke of the extinguished flames, I saw the vague outline of Chrysalis as she leisurely walked towards me.

I reached out with my magic, and found a grip on God-Splitter. It laid on the ground behind her, but I could not see where. I picked it up and flung it towards her as she approached me. The blow caught her by surprise and I could see the blur that made up her form fall to the side as a smaller, quicker blur met her.

Once more, I got to my hooves and brought God-Splitter close to me.

“That was clever, little nymph. I’ll give you that.”

I limped out of the smoke, my left fetlock in too much pain to put any weight on it. Smoke poured out from my partially charred body as I lumbered through the ash covered floor. Chrysalis was already back on her hooves, panting. Seeing her efforts to breath made me realize that I was panting just as heavily, if not moreso.

“What’s the matter… Chrysalis? Already… out of… breath?” I asked, out of breath.

Chrysalis snarled, “Oh please, I’m doing a lot better than you are, Phasma! In fact, you’re about to feel a whole lot worse!”

I decided to interrupt whatever she had planning by bringing God-Splitter back around for seconds. The solid mass of Adamantium flew through the room, a streak of green in the grey downpour. Chrysalis merely turned her head towards the hammer and stopped it with telekinesis.

“Fuck.”

“Mmmahahaha! Did you really think I didn’t include myself in the binding?”

She tossed it behind her, not even bothering to watch it go. The hammer soared through the air, out through one of the missing sections of the walls, and smashed into a fountain sitting in the middle of a courtyard outside.

“That’s... cheating!”

“If you thought that was unfair, then you’re really not going to like this part!”

I shielded myself as her horn glowed once more. Then, a green flash blinded me as she finished whatever spell she was casting. As I was blinking out the spots in my eyes, I saw her laughing again.

“Nnhehehe, I would have led with this, but… this was fun.”

I felt my chest start to heat up.

“This was truly a learning experience! Now, I must bring this to an end. This rebellion of your is at an end.”

I staggered as a piercing lance of pure pain shot straight through my chest and down into my barrel.

“Rest assured, you will find loyalty to me. I can be patient as you learn. We have all of eternity.”

I looked down at my chest and saw the blue sapphires of my Adamantium peytral were glowing bright red. The pain intensified, and I collapsed to the floor.

“Even the mightiest of fortresses have their weaknesses, little nymph. You just need to know where they are.”

“Nngh! You… planned…. planned…”

Chrysalis flew over to me. As she hovered above me, I squirmed to try to remove the peytral. The pain was making any movement an impossible task.

“I left a weakness or two. Now, surrender. You’ve gone far enough and it’s time to make things right once again.”

I gasped as the pain flared through my body, exacerbating my burn wounds and where my chitin was cracked from hitting the pillar.

“Never…”

Chrysalis glared at me, “One way or the other, you will return to the fold.”

I cried out in pain as I felt my chitin crack under an invisible pressure.

“Surrender and the pain will stop!”

I slowly moved my legs underneath me, and pushed up. My vision blackened and I almost fell over, and likely almost passed out. The pain was so intense that all I could do was breathe. If I was more aware, I would have heard a scraping sound as God-Splitter dragged itself towards me, leaving scratches on the tiles as it plowed through the ash.

“This effort is pointless. Your life belongs to me, Procho! You cannot win here!”

“A hero…. Dies… Sword in hoof!” I hissed with a voice not entirely my own.

God-Splitter flung to me, smashing into the ground right in front of my muzzle. I wrapped my right fetlock around the handle and used it to pull myself off the ground. My face went numb, and I tasted blood. The effort to rise lessened as I felt a force pulling me upwards. Slowly, a small trickle of power returned to me.

“You don’t realize you’ve lost, do you? Do you not know when to quit?!”

“Here in death, REMEMBER OUR STRENGTH!”

I floated an inch off the ground in an orange flow of my magic as God-Splitter flew out from under me. It went straight towards Chrysalis faster than I could track. She was, however, prepared for me to attack with the hammer, and she gripped it once more in her magic to halt its trajectory.

God-Splitter shuddered for a second before glowing in a purple aura and continued its swing towards her. Chrysalis only had time to gasp in disbelief before the hammer impacted her chest, sending her across the room and through a pillar. She came to a stop in the wall behind the broken pillar, leaving a Chrysalis-shaped indent in the stone wall.

‘Hell of a magic trick.’

I felt blood pool in my mouth as my horn seemed to almost be ripped out of my body. The glow around me faded, and I fell once again to the ground. I could not find the energy to rise once again. I coughed, spattering blood into the ground.

The strength that filled me drained out once more. Looking back to my chest, I saw all nine of the sapphires shattered. I peered back up to where I saw Chrysalis hit the wall. Already, she was peeling herself out of the vertical crater. Failing to get completely out from God-Splitter, she ripped apart the entire wall with a thunderous spell, sending a wave of ash across the room as the small shockwave made its way across.

I closed my eyes, unable to even brace. The wave sent me tumbling and rolling backwards before depositing me halfway to the entrance to the throne room and onto my back. I weakly coughed, trying to clear the ash from my lungs. More blood accompanied the painful contractions of my chest.

As I stared up and at the night sky, I saw a gap in the ash clouds. The stars were out. In the tiny open space, I could see dozens of pinpricks of white. For a moment, I thought one of them was purple. I blinked, and that star vanished entirely.

Then, Chrysalis’s muzzle came into view as she peered down at me.

She spoke, but sounded muffled. I realized I could only half hear her from my left ear.

“You’ve got nothing left now. I have to say…” Blood dribbled from her nose and onto my chest. “You put up a hell of a fight. Maybe even more than Celestia. You’d have made a fine warrior.”

‘No. It can’t end like this.’

I looked into her green, slitted eyes. In their shiny reflection, I saw a broken changeling covered in ash, bleeding from countless points.

‘I tried so hard. My friends sacrificed themselves for this. It can’t end like this!’

I felt around my body mentally, looking. I needed just enough for one spell. It was an expensive spell, though. There was not much mana left in me at all, but I did feel streams of the alien energy flowing out from the gemstones embedded on the armor on my chest. I latched onto those wisps of power and pulled them into me.

“So much fear. So much paranoia. Let go of it, Prince Phasma. Fear has blinded your vision of our future. We have brought forth a Golden Age for our kind…”

I started building the spell. It was complicated, with dozens of interlocking parts. The equations were difficult, and I barely remembered them. I never even casted this spell before.

“... And with it, an end to our hunger. I have pushed you too far, but I will fix that. You will be loyal once again, and we shall rule the world together. No more treachery. No more hiding. Only feasting!”

The pain was nauseating and debilitating. It took every bit of my concentration to focus on the spell. I wouldn’t have even tried it in the best of times when I was at peak strength. But now I didn’t have a choice.

“Drone! Yes you, Infiltrator! Fetch Captain Obturator, I will not lose such a valuable asset!”

I realized that Chrysalis was speaking and was probably speaking the entire time. I spared a moment's glance to see that she was directing a drone that had arrived. They weren’t alone; dozens of Praetorians had entered the room from the main hall. One of them looked like Pharynx.

‘Oestridae.’

The spell was complete. All I had to do was push every last drop of mana into the spell. There was only a large chance of death. But even that was preferable to eternal imprisonment.

I realized the changeling that Chrysalis spoke to had a scar over his right eye.

“Wait…” I croaked.

The distraction made me lose my concentration and hold on the spell. My horn suddenly felt like it was on fire, like I was back in the initial inferno that Chrysalis inflicted upon me. Then, the feeling spread to the rest of my body as the world around me was enveloped in orange.

The spell worked, as it turned out. However, in my negligence, I neglected to include a destination.

I screamed as I was ripped from reality.

The world was burning.

Smoldering would be more accurate, but that made little difference. From their spot in the crater, two slitted orange eyes gazed out at the city. From the vantage point so high above the glittering metropolis, the devastation of a millennial's work was witnessed.

‘This can’t be how it ends. I refuse to allow it!’

The headache had finally subsided, and so had the whispers. There was no room for doubt; it was clear what must be done.

Black specks were moving about the city. They looked like large pieces of charred wood, flying about. Some of them carried ponies in green, shiny pods that reflected the moonlight. The citizens were being taken and there was nothing stopping the invaders from getting away with this.

Bones snapped back into place as the changes finalized.

‘The sun still isn’t up. It’s way past… I must do my duty! Everypony is counting on me! Enough sitting around, hoping for a miracle. I shall be the miracle needed!’

She pulled herself out of the crater. Rocks cracked and fell behind her as she fell to the ground. It was halfway through her fall when she realized that she was thrown into a wall, not the ground at all.

Her mane and tail whipped around her like a blazing inferno. With a push of her wings, her fall was arrested. She set down onto the gleaming stone wall.

‘My little ponies are in danger. They are being hurt, and there’s nopony to help them. Nopony but me!’

The alicorn reached out and touched her sun. It rippled with strength and power and might. Slowly, the great burning body made its journey into the sky, dispelling the darkness. The moon lowered, pushed away by the incandescent sun.

She stood there, basking in its warmth. Strength returned to her as she warmed up. She took a deep breath before addressing the city before her with the Canterlot Royal Voice.

“Fear not the darkness, my little ponies! For I am the day itself!”

With one solid flap of her wings, Daybreaker soared into the air. She spun around and dived towards the ruins of what once was her throne room.

‘I will bring the dawn and save everypony, even if that means striking down everypony in my path!’

“He’s gone?”

Lying in the pile of ash before her, an Adamantium peytral sat, half submerged in the dry soot. The gemstones on its front had turned to dust as the Prince vaporized. In truth, Chrysalis could only assume that Prince Phasma had indeed vaporized. He did seem dead set on the whole not being captured alive thing.

She didn’t know how she felt about that.

“Bring Princess Cadence back up here… And fetch Princess Celestia, too. She should be where I left her; stuck halfway up a tower.”

Changelings saluted before carrying out her duties. She never stopped staring at the peytral.

‘There’s still so much to do. I’ll figure this out later, maybe using another ritual… Yes. This is not their end.’

“The traitors have fled the castle, My Queen!”

“... It doesn’t matter.”

Chrysalis steeled herself.

“My Queen, what are your orders?”

“We cannot have renegades within our ranks,” she turned to face the drone who was speaking. Consul Pharynx was standing before her. “Find Commander Scorpion, if he still lives. We will deal with these traitors at full strength–”

A massive gust of wind picked up the ash and debris that had accumulated in the room and sent it flying. Chrysalis summoned a shield to protect herself against the burnt dust.

“Aberrant Queen! We have business to settle!”

Chrysalis turned to see a blazing alicorn hovering above the ruins of the throne room.

“By Panar, there’s another one?”

She stifled a groan and immediately got to work.

“Praetorians, form up! Alicorn measures, be prepared with defensive fire shields!” She ordered entirely over the Weave.

“You have brought harm upon our subjects, and for that you must pay with everything you have!”

“Do you take checks?”

Around her, the Praetorians formed up, preparing layered shields to defend against the alicorn. Chrysalis was tired and low on energy, the stinging in her horn annoyingly ever-present. She would have to rely on her drones to do some of the heavy lifting here.

‘One army, one alicorn, one prince, then another alicorn. Today’s just a busy day!’

Now that she was staring at the alicorn, she started to notice some… similarities. The newcomer bore a resemblance in many aspects to…

“Have we met before?”

“Misbegotten vermin! You bested me once, but now I shall bring about your end!”

‘Princess Celestia just kinda powered herself up, then?’

“Hmmm, I’m a little busy now. How about we do this tomorrow instead?”

That was when the fiery alicorn made her first move. A solid stream of molten magma jettisoned forth from her horn, splashing against the green shield of the Praetorians. Immediately, Chrysalis noticed the Praetorians staggering. A few collapsed with moments of the spell hitting.

The ground in front of the shield was now covered in the molten rock, melting the uncovered tiles of the throne room.

Queen Chrysalis prepared to order a counter attack, but the angry pony princess immediately followed up with a focused will beam imbued with fire. The shield started failing against the alicorn-tier spell, unable to withstand the sheer firepower that was levied against them.

‘No! Not during my moment of victory!’

Chrysalis spied God-Splitter embedded in the ground beneath where she herself was pinned to the wall not too long ago. She reached out with her magic to bring it over, but the Adamantium hammer did not budge.

As the shield buckled, Chrysalis realized that this was not a battle she could win.

The blazing fireball had been traveling for a few hours now. During this relatively short amount of time, it had covered quite the distance from Canterlot. The phoenix had picked up speed as it soared out of Canterlot, passing the miles beneath at a speed few could match.

It beat its burning wings as it soared through the air. Philomena was searching for its kin that it sensed. Another phoenix, though this once was not similar in any sense to herself.

She found him in the city itself, but she knew she had to see if he would survive what was to come. So, she left. It wasn’t like her owner was going to miss her. The firebird banked as she realized where she was. Beneath her, a green forest and rolling hills. Far from the chaos of the city, this forest seemed almost peaceful.

Then, a bright flash of orange lit up the forest. Philomena flinched when she saw the one she was looking for materialize out of thin air. Not all of it had made the journey. A spray of red ichor and flying shards of bark and wood marked its translation into the physical realm and where space was already occupied.

Down the other phoenix went, tumbling off tree limbs, smacking trunks, and raking against branches as it fell. It landed on grass beneath the canopy with a thud, and Philomena circled for a few minutes.

Forces unknown called to her once more, and so she stopped circling the injured phoenix. Philomena beat her wings once more, and flew towards the rising sun.

Author's Note

Art by Icychamber

54- Tabula Rasa

Act 5: Saṃsāra

The first sensation that returned to me was pain. I think I was better off unconscious.

Then came sight and smell all at once. My eyes opened as I gasped for air, and I was welcomed by the sight of tree branches swaying in a breeze above me. The air smelled clean and not clogged with ash. However, my mind was focused on other things; namely, how every part of my body except my right foreleg was wracked with excruciating pain. Naturally, I started screaming.

Strangely, the sound was half-muted. One of my eardrums was still burst.

I realized after choking out all the air in my lungs that I was on my back looking up at the sky. I must have been laying on grass, but I could not feel anything through my chitin. I could be in a Canterlot park or some forest, it was impossible to tell.

I shifted my head around on the ground to get a better look at my immediate surroundings, as well as take stock of why I was in so much pain. I was laying on top of a bush with pieces of wood scattered around me, as well as a few impaled in me. The massive splinters had scored the chitin on my right side for the most part, but a hooffull had been stabbed into my front right shoulder socket. There was blood all over me and the bush, but no obvious source.

That’s when I noticed why my right foreleg was not in pain; It was missing.

My shoulder ended only inches down from the joint, stopping in a mess of chitin, blood, and what I assumed to be a broken bone.

‘Bones are supposed to stay inside the body,’ I thought as I stared at the bloody internal structure.

It was thin compared to a human’s, the changeling body almost entirely relying on chitin for structure. The bone was merely present to act as a starting point for changing bone structure when transforming.

I gasped out not entirely due to the ever-constant pain and lifted my left hoof to reach over and wave it around where my right foreleg should have been. The scorched fetlock burned in protest as I did so. I felt cold and clumsy as I moved around.

‘Gone? Where is it?’

I started to look around for the missing limb. All I could see was chitin shards, blood, and wood splinters. I hissed and clenched my eyes shut as I rolled over onto my stomach. The branches of the bush beneath me swayed and snapped under my weight and movement, sending me slowly falling to the side of the plant. I watched as a stream of blood poured from my stump.

I dry heaved and looked away from the horrible sight. The adhesive gel that came natural to changeling anatomy made itself known once more in my mouth as I vomited onto the ground next to me. Then, I tried to remember what I was doing.

‘First aid. First, stop the bleeding.’

I looked around for a first aid kit but only saw ferns, dirt, grass, and bug-vomit.

‘Perfect!’

I pushed around in the grass to position my wound so that I could cover it up in the completely-unsanitary ad hoc bandaging. The sticky substance wrapped around my leg, stopping the bleeding instantly.

‘Second, treat for shock. How do I do that again? Raise the legs? No, that’s hypothermia. No wait, maybe it is shock.’

I flipped around and back onto my back, keeping my legs above me.

‘.... Now what? Oh, call for help.’

I looked around me for someone that could help me out. Unfortunately, I was still in the middle of a forest.

“H… Hello? Can someone help me?” I croaked out. My throat was sore and scratchy from yelling so my wheezing voice was quiet. No one responded to my call, so I tried again, this time louder. “Hello?! Is someone there?!”

I started coughing, the pain in my throat flaring up as I yelled. More specs of blood covered the ground as I coughed. I could not hear any response above my coughing, so I tried to think of what to do next.

‘Next… uh… next…’

I flipped around and back onto my stomach, The blood and viscera around me was starting to dry. I noticed some particularly large pieces of chitin and other things that made me realize where my leg went.

It was everywhere.

‘Must’ve teleported into a tree. Better pick these up so I can get my leg back.’

I started picking up the pieces with my magic. My horn started stinging as I casted levitation magic but that was just one more pain added onto the pile. The parts of me scattered about proved to be a monotonous task to gather up, so I had some time to think.

‘What was I doing?’

I was… fighting Chrysalis. I lost the fight and then I teleported out.

‘Where am I?’

Somewhere with trees.

‘Now what?’

“Now what?” I echoed my thoughts out loud.

The leaking mess of blood and organic matter slipped from my grip and fell onto the bush I had landed on initially. I stared at the mess, trying to wrack my brain.

‘What am I doing…? I was gathering pieces of my leg, I think…’

I blinked as it occurred to me that I was picking up pieces of an exploded part of me.

‘Like that guy in Saving Private Ryan. Heh…. Oh.’

I was still suffering from shock. That was why I felt cold, clumsy, and confused. The fact that I administered first aid through the shock was just pure luck and training.

‘That’s bad. How do I stop being in shock?’

I almost looked around for my phone out of habit before realizing that I was on an alien world with no technology of any electrical kind, with a wound that was now almost certainly going to be infected.

‘I’m out of my depth here. I need help. I need a healing pod, I think.’

“Hello?” I wheezed once again. “Is anyone out there?”

No one answered.

“Please? I...”

I was in pain and possibly going to die again. My chitin was charred and burnt. One of my forelegs was gone. I could hear well only out of my right ear. My horn hurt from constant overuse. I didn’t know where I was.

Above all else, I was alone, perhaps truly alone for the first time since I died.

“... I’m scared.”

I leaned against a tree as I gasped for air. I had been limping along on three hooves for possibly hours now.

I decided that staying was the same as dying, and decided that east was the best direction I could go. If I came across a river then I would follow it downstream, but until then, East was the way to go. The East Equestrian Coast was the most heavily settled of any area in the Principality. If I went south or north, then I could easily miss civilization. West was an option too, but east had more ponies. Ponies meant food and survival. Hopefully, I could even link up with the East Army Group of the Swarm.

‘Then I can…. Start the rebellion again? Make sure the demands are fulfilled? I don’t know…’

I had not planned for this outcome, both losing and surviving.

I pushed off from the tall oak tree I was leaning against and started hobbling along again. The pain was still there across my entire body. Thankfully, the cracks in my chitin seemed to have at least stopped bleeding at this point, so now all I had to worry about was infection and finding food.

The sun was high above me, peeking through the canopy high up above my head. I did not know how long I was unconscious as it could have been anywhere from minutes to hours. Given the fact that I was still alive and had not bled to death, it could not have been that long.

I continued on my slow journey to civilization. The forest was quite serene, now that I thought about it. Distant bird calls provided the background while the grass underneath my hooves was the mainstay of the noises I heard. A breeze would occasionally sweep through the forest, giving rise to an orchestra of woodwind instruments.

‘If I’m making puns that bad, then I really am in deep trouble. The sooner I can find others, the better.’

The thick carpet of grass underhoof eventually gave way to a more sparse forest floor. Covered in branches, sticks, and tufts of grass, weeds, and ferns, the sounds of my travel went from being quiet to the loud crunches of the wood breaking underneath me.

That made me more conscious of just how loud I was being. For a while, I was worried that I would attract unwanted attention in the form of wolves or other beasties.

I was also getting thirsty. Changelings still needed water, albeit a lower amount than our lesser fur-covered counterparts. Part of the formula of diluted love was water that was collected from the caverns beneath the hive. The lowest sections in particular were always flooded. I had wondered if there was an aquifer beneath the hive, as we were located in the middle of an extremely hot and dry biome with little rainfall. That water had to come from somewhere…

The wind was picking up now. The rustle of the leaves had gradually increased to a quiet roaring of the forest. With my wings still in tatters, I could not fly up above the trees to look around nor check the weather. In fact, if I still had them, traveling with only three legs would have been a much simpler matter.

Instead, I was forced to slowly limp around, usually from tree to tree as I caught my breath and grimaced from the pain of continued existence. From what I could tell, the clear sky was now overcast in grey. A storm was approaching.

“Seek shelter, or continue on. What’s more dangerous, hypothermia or an infected wound?”

I turned to the side as I asked Oest what he thought. Then I remembered that my shadow was just that: a shadow. Oestridae was gone. He had given his life so I could fail at the one thing I set out to do.

“... it’s a terrible day for rain,” I mumbled.

Crunch. Crunch Crunch.

I had to keep moving. To stay still was to die, and I was not giving up just yet. While I still lived, Oest did not die in vain.

‘Oest. Weevil. Lace. Cicada. Who else died for me? Whose names did I not even know?’

An image flashed before my eyes; I saw myself covered in blood, straddling a changeling corpse. Looking down, I realized that I still had Eucharis’s blood on me. I was filthy now, covered in blood both my own and of others. Dirt and ash caked different parts of my body, sticking to the blood-covered chitin like a new layer of skin. I probably stunk to high hell.

Crunch. Crunch Crunch.

Smell was something you got used to in the hive, given the lack of showers or baths. Cleaning spells were the staple of changeling utility magics, and eventually you just went nose-blind to the natural odors of the place.

Crunch. Crunch SNAP.

I froze. That sound of a branch breaking had come from off to my right, deeper into the forest.

“Who’s there?” I said in a voice as loud as I dared. “Hello?”

No matter how many times I asked, pleaded, and begged, I was always alone.

The torrents of rain cascaded around the tree I was resting under. Night probably had fallen hours ago, but the sun had been blocked out by rain clouds long before that. The rain had washed my carapace, shedding the accumulated filth as I continued to lumber across the countryside.

I had opened my mouth to drink in the downpour. The cold rain dulled the roaring pain I felt across my body and slaked my thirst.

Now, I was collapsed under some low-hanging branches of a tree. It was possibly a maple tree, I didn’t know. It had been quite some time since I learned the shapes of leaves and the trees they belonged to. Somehow, I doubted that the three pointed leaves belonged to a massive poison ivy plant; unless the flora of this world had been changed drastically compared to Earth, poison ivy did not have bark.

So it was probably a maple tree.

I had been constantly thinking of things to distract myself; water, the lack of showers, what plant I was hiding under, and where civilization was. Nothing ever really took my mind off of today’s events.

Or was it yesterday’s? I was quickly losing track of time.

Soon, I would grow hungry. There would be no food in this forest for me to eat. I could hunt or forage, but those material foodstuffs would only dull the hunger pains, staving off the worst effects for a period of time.

I laid my head down on my hoof. I would have had my hooves crossed beneath my head as I rested, but one was still missing. My right leg’s absence had been a fact that came to my attention every time I took a step today. Learning how to walk as a quadruped gave me enough learning experience to make walking as a triped only an extremely slow and unpleasant experience, rather than a progress-halting conundrum.

Now here I was, far from where I landed but not far enough for my liking, heading in a random direction.

“So no shit, there I was; on an alien world, stranded in a forest, after having failed to kill my mother while building a new world order through conquest of the old.”

I sighed.

Coxa might still be alive. He should be, considering how hard we had to fight to get him and the injured out. Lace was possibly not dead. Thorax was definitely still alive, but I hadn’t seen neither hair nor hide of him. Or would it be neither fin nor chitin of him?

I sighed again and tried to go to sleep.

“I can fix this. Just give me time, I can fix this…”

55- Februus

Progress was even slower now that my hooves were beginning to hurt. Walking for miles was not something I had ever done in this body. Like every other ling, I used my wings to cover vast distances.

Flying was easier and quicker. Walking sucked.

Theoretically, I could transform into a species capable of flight– say a griffon, for example– but that was not something I wanted to do. The act of transformation while suffering an injury can be… Fatal.

I would only transform into another species if I knew I was close enough to get to a hospital in time. For if I were to transform, not only would the binding on my foreleg vaporize, the wound itself would tear open and make itself worse. Not being attacked by ponies means that I would have to cross that bridge eventually, but not dying means that I can’t cross it right now.

Crack.

I froze and snapped my head in the direction of the branch breaking. Just because nothing has happened yet doesn’t mean nothing will ever happen. With my luck, the first time I stop being cautious, I will be attacked by a wild animal. This time, there was nothing but the sounds of the forest.

It was getting exhausting always being on edge.

“... I can fix this,” I whispered, failing to convince myself.

The hours passed without note.

Hours of nothing but walking east. A few times, I came across a small animal as I hiked. Squirrels, rabbits, and countless birds flying between branches high above. However, I did not see anything larger than those tiny critters. It took me a while to remember that deer were sapient in this world, hence their absence from the woods. The hours came one after another, never any less boring or less uncomfortable than the last.

Worst of all, slowly over time a new sensation was making itself known to me. It started as an empty feeling but then progressed slowly into a pain. Changelings could go longer without eating than ponies and could eat comparatively far less, but we had a limit. I was hungry.

I could not see what lay underneath the hardened green casing around my right shoulder but I imagined it didn’t look pretty. At this point, I was wondering which would kill me first; infection or starvation?

Both problems could be solved by finding ponies. All I needed to do was find a single town. Hell, even a single pony would do, as long as they had medical supplies. But for miles and miles and miles, there was nothing but trees, grass, dirt, and the small fauna that called this forest home.

I slumped over against a birch tree with a sigh of relief. The tree offered me shade from the hot sun; I felt like I was boiling alive in my carapace. Over my journey, several wounds had reopened and closed periodically as I moved. Thankfully, I had an abundance of adhesive that I could use to seal up the cracks in my chitin. It’s not like I was going to get any less sanitary, considering that my massive open wound that used to be my right foreleg is now covered in solidified vomit.

I closed my eyes and sighed. Unoccupied, my mind wandered back to the events in Canterlot for the hundredth time. This time, I was thinking about Oest.

‘I had the mind for war, that much was clear. What I lacked was the muscle. In Oest’s name, I must do all I can to prepare myself for fighting Chrysalis. Not that I wanted to fight her alone, but clearly I have to plan for the worst. That means training combat spells, gathering what artifacts I can, and gaining more allies… Oest gave his life for me; I will not let it be in vain. I failed him once. Never again!’

Opening my eyes, I watched as a colony of ants swarmed over a piece of fruit that had fallen from a tree. I couldn’t identify what the fruit was, nor did I care. It was calming just watching the bugs move around.

I had watched the sunrise and sunset three times each so far. Three days of walking. Three days of pain. Three days of wilderness. Of being alone. Of wondering if I would even survive. Of thinking about what I had lost. Who I had lost.

Three days of walking. When I was preparing the invasion, the days seemed short. There was so much to do and not enough time. From sunrise to sunset, my schedule was as packed as can be. Weeks flew by in a moment's notice. Now, days were too long. There was too much walking, too much worrying about and grimacing from my wounds, too much time to think. Way too much time to think.

My progress was slowing. Not only did my pace slow over time but the frequency of my breaks increased as well. At first, I could limp around for nearly an hour at a time before resting. Now, I could barely go to a new point within sight before pausing to catch my breath.

Of all the aches and pains I was suffering from, it was my hunger that was starting to take a toll on me. I didn’t know how long I could go without food. Nor did I know why my physical injuries hadn’t halted my progress all together. I suspected that it was the fact that I was a changeling royal that kept me alive up till this point. I recalled someone saying that royals were remarkably tough to kill; it seems that extends to the immune system as well.

I was resting in what had to have been a campsite at one point. It was a clearing in the middle of this forest. There was a cleared out put lined with circular stones, most likely used for a fire. An overgrown trail snaked off to the north. I was tempted to use that trail to find civilization, but something else had caught my attention as I rested. Above the rustling of leaves, bird calls, and other noises, I heard a quiet rumbling. It was the kind of rumbling that made my parched throat burn. A river was nearby and I intended to find it once I got the strength to stand back up.

I checked over my wounds as I panted heavily on the grass. My opaque chitin hid any discoloring, as well as its rigidity prevented swelling. All over, my black carapace was marked in green smears as I tried to cover up the cracks from the fight. To summarize, nothing had changed since yesterday. Or the day before that.

Just a few more minutes and I would move on, following the distant sound of the river. The overgrown path might lead to civilization, but that given its abandoned state, I preferred finding the river. At least that way, I know I would be solving one of my problems: the lack of water.

Then there was the growing pain in my stomach. I was growing hungrier and hungrier.

With each break, I would have nothing to focus on but the hunger. With each night's sleep, the hunger kept me fitfully awake for long periods. Now, I had to choose between solving my dehydration problem or solving my hunger problem.

‘Fucking Tartarus. How the hell does Tantalus even deal with this on an eternal basis? I imagine he’s gone irreversibly mad by the end of the first year!’

Once again, I got my three hooves underneath me and pushed off from the ground. I teetered for a moment before regaining my balance and heading on east, to where the river was.

The sound of flowing water had grown louder and louder as I approached. The river was perhaps a hundred hooves across, flowing from north to south. The current was slow where I was, but further upstream I could see it moving faster.

I took a cautious approach to the water’s edge. By the time I was stepping hoof onto the grey and black gravel edges of the river, I knew I was alone in the area. The water was cold and did wonders to cool me off and parch my thirst. I raised my head from the water’s edge after gulping down the cold liquid. The sun was high in the sky; there were plenty of hours left in the day.

‘South then. Better to go downstream than upstream, for that’s where civilization lies.’

With my new direction in mind, I set off again, slightly to the side of the river. As I walked, I started thinking about what I was going to do once I found help.

‘With the invasion progressing, I could still be behind enemy lines depending on how far away from Canterlot I teleported. So I should assume the worst and start from there…’

On the other side of the river, bushes rustled.

‘If I am in pony controlled territory, then being captured is potentially fatal. If I am in changeling controlled territory, then being captured by lings loyal to Chrysalis is worse than fatal. I need to blend in and disguise myself with the local populace. If it is ling controlled… I act like nothing bad happened in Canterlot. Fake it till I make it.’

The bushes parted, revealing a massive gray wolf. As big as I was, the furred beast prowled to the water's edge to take a drink. It paused its movement when it saw me, watching from the other bank of the river.

‘That’s a big dog.’

I continued on my way downstream, looking to the side to keep the wolf in view.

‘You stay on your edge, I stay on mine.’

Eventually, the wolf passed from view. But not before five of its packmates exited the treeline to join the first by the water. They joined the first dire wolf in staring me down, but none of us made a move.

‘It’s not paranoia if they’re actually out to get you. Then it’s called foresight.’

For the night, I tried to get up into a tree close to the river, however with my wings still gone and one foreleg still blown up, the best I could do was pitifully scrabble at the base of the tree, unable to even get halfway up to the lowest branch.

So I had to sleep on the ground. It was only marginally worse than sleeping on a mattress due to my hard carapace. I had chosen a spot where the water behind me was down a ways as a cliff rose up from the banks. There, a willow tree hung over the river. As I took shelter under its branches, rustling of nearby bushes caused me to freeze.

‘The moment I let my guard down, I know it will be something ser–’

A grey blur flew out from the underbrush, lunging right towards me. I summed an orange shield, wrapping around the tree I was under. The grey blur impacted the solid surface, crumpling down right in front of me into a pile of fur and anger.

“See? What did I say! I knew something would try to get me eventually!”

The pile righted itself as I got a good look at my attacker; it was the large wolf from across the river. It must have crossed the stream a ways back and hunted me down. If I were to guess, its packmates were not far behind.

“You’re gonna have to get up pretty early in the morning to get me with that, mangy mutt. Now, let’s deal with this before your friends show up.”

Unlike the Equestrian Captain of the Guard, I could not manipulate my shield to push away attackers while defending myself. If I wanted to attack, I would have to lower my defenses by dropping the shield entirely. It was better to do so now while there was just one dire wolf.

The wolf snarled at me as it clawed my shield.

“You want in? Then come on in!”

I dropped the shield, prepping ol’ reliable. The great grey wolf lunged forward at me once again, teeth bared. With a void of energy right in front of me, I summoned an ice spear right in the wolf’s path. Seeing the frozen weapon conjured out of nowhere, the beast tried to arrest its charge and veer off to the side. The point of the spear raked its flank as it dove past and into the water behind me.

Four more dire wolves, smaller than the first, emerged from the underbrush ahead of me. A spray of fire kept them at bay. They prowled beyond the fire’s reach, snarling just as the first wolf did.

“Not very original, are you?”

As I nailed one of the four with a focused will laser beam, the other three charged me. I gripped one with telekinesis and used it as a living projectile, flinging it into one of the other two charging me. They both flew off to the side and into the river. The last one ran straight into me.

I put up my last foreleg to take the blow as I casted another focused will beam at the wolf point blank. The last wolf, a dark grey hulking monster, bit down, but did not stop its charge. It dragged me with it as we went tumbling back

Three more laser beams to the face and the wolf still did not let go of its bite around my foreleg. At this point, I could now feel its massive fangs puncturing through the thick chitin plating, leaking blood all over the place. I was becoming accustomed to seeing my blood at an uncomfortable rate.

I fell over as the wolf pressed forward and wrenched my foreleg side to side, as if trying to rip it off.

“Oh no you don’t!”

I reared my head back and swung it around, gorging the canine using one of my fangs. The sharpened fang cut straight through the bones in the beast’s muzzle, hitting my own leg inside.

I let out a scream of pain as I accidentally stabbed myself. The grey dire wolf let go of my leg before backing off. It was indecisive between trying to snarl at me, whimpering in pain, and keeping its snout low to the ground as it backed off.

“Not my… brightest moment!”

I scooted backwards and positioned myself upright so I could look around better. The grey dire wolf had retreated to the woods. From my left, I could see two shapes pull themselves out of the water downstream. With one still lying dead in front of me, that just left the biggest and baddest wolf standing.

‘Where is he…’

I felt a vice clamp around my neck as I jerked backwards. I swiveled my head around and saw the white dire wolf’s jaws clamped around my own neck. It had come up from the river behind me while I was dealing with its packmates.

“Gck!”

The pressure made it hard to formulate words. It did not, however, make it hard to cast magic. I gripped the beast’s head and lower jaw with telekinesis and pried them apart. It whined in pain as its jaw bone began to bend lower than it should have. The white wolf then whipped its head to the side. With its fangs still partially embedded in my own neck, I was taken along for a ride. It must have forgotten that it was biting into me as the sudden extra weight being thrown around caused it to stumble back and off the tiny hillside we were on.

We rolled down together; the wolf tumbling around me as we fell, and myself bleeding profusely from only slightly less places than just a few days ago. Old, bandaged-up wounds were reopened as we rolled downhill. The disorientation interrupted my magic grip on the would-be murderer.

Finally, we splashed into the water, carried quite a bit into the middle of it by our momentum. The white wolf still held onto me as we struggled in the water. My head went under and my hearing started going out as water filled my one good ear. Since the wolf held such a tight grip on me, I could tell where it was at all times, even if I struggled at times to tell which way was up and which was down.

The wolf clawed at my back as we struggled, raking right through the chitin where it was already cracked.

As we tumbled through the water, I started blasting water back and into the wolf’s mouth. By sucking out the latent magic in the surroundings, the water froze as it traveled through the beast, ripping it apart from the inside out. Finally, the beast’s grip on me laxened and I was able to free myself. However, I found myself facing an entirely new issue.

I was deep in a river that had a strong current. I had never learned how to swim as a quadruped, let alone one missing a foreleg. I desperately tried to swim upwards to where I thought the surface was, pushing up against gravity. After a long moment of sheer panic, my head broke through the surface of the frigid water and I hacked out half a lung trying to breathe air and not water.

The current was carrying me downstream. I doubted my ability to swim to the shore, as it took every effort and strength I had to just keep my head above water. Looking side to side, I realized that if I stayed like this, there was no way I was going to make it out of the river alive.

That was when my hoof brushed up against something in the water. Desperately, I sent my magic around, feeling for whatever object I brushed up against. A large floating object was in front of me. I grabbed it and dragged it closer. In the waning sunlight, the floating object was revealed to be the white wolf that had tried to kill me not three minutes before.

I clambered over the beast’s corpse, positioning it underneath me as I floated. I was beginning to feel dizzy and extremely tired. My lungs were now burning from swallowing so much water.
The hunger had never left, and had grown to horrid levels over the day. Wounds both old and new were now leaking blood into the cold water. I was floating down a river with little control over direction, with no hope of getting out of the strong current.

“This. Sucks.” I hissed as I panted heavily.

I clung to the wolf’s body for hours. Or perhaps it was only minutes, I could hardly tell. The trees on either side of the river moved quite fast. That meant I was moving fast, and was ironically covering more ground than I ever could on hoof. The sun had completely set now, leaving me in the river seeing only by moon and starlight.

As my raft made of fur, blood, and sheer anger rounded a bend in the river, I saw something ahead that made me question whether or not I was hallucinating.

Lights.

A pony village rested on both sides of the river up ahead. Street lamps were lit up, revealing colorful ponies strolling across an uncovered wooden bridge that spanned the water’s length.

‘I need to disguise myself!’

I sank behind my raft a bit as I loosened my grip on the white wolf. Now that I was obscured by both water and the wolf, I gripped the String of Change as I pictured a disguise. Orange flames covered my body briefly as my black and orange chitin was replaced by brown fur covered flesh. Now, there wasn’t a single wound on my body that was still covered and sealed up. Even my stump leg was opened to the world, the changeling gel covering burnt off. Even worse, the transformation and ripped it open even wider than what it was before, and I could see bright red streaks pouring off of it and into the water. The cold water itself stinging as it lapped against the open wound.

If I was bleeding before, now I was bleeding2.

The distant blurs of the town resolved themselves into the shapes of houses, windows, market stalls, small docks with boats tied off, and more. The ponies seemed so close and lifelike. The bridge was only a few hooves lengths above the surface of the river.

They were so close…

But I was down here in the water.

“H–hackakak!”

My cry for help turned into a cough as I tried to clear water from my burning throat and lungs. The world was starting to spin as I struggled to even stay afloat.

“P...lease,” I wheezed, “... Someone–ack!”

My voice sounded muted. I only knew what I was saying through the vibrations made in my chest and neck as I spoke. As my vision started to fade, I felt the current pulling me come to a stop.

The cold stayed as my body went numb.

Author's Note

Artist: Lukáš Vašut

56- Eurydice

The office was almost as immaculate and opulent as I remembered it. From the books on the shelves to the ridiculous amount of golden gilding on every surface. The one major difference between Celestia’s office and this room was the blood.

There was quite a lot of it.

Rising up from behind the extravagant desk, I took a walk around the room. Walking was a lot easier now that I had all four legs again.

‘Given that I’m no longer on death’s door and am now in the middle of Canterlot, I must be dreaming.’

The books had titles that seemed to be simple blurs. It was as if they were never meant to be read. Much of the blood that was splattered on the walls seemed… out of place. Like they hovered just above the surface of the walls, shelves, and books. Then there was the body lying on the ground in the middle of the office. I sighed.

“Why now?”

This was all in the past. So much had happened in the hours left in that day afterwards that this was just a blip on the radar. So why was I seeing it now, in this dream?

Chamberlain Eucharis, my father, was lying in a pool of his own blood. Unmoving. Cold. Dead.

–His eye closest to me looked at me, the pupil shrinking–

“No. None of this is real. I’m not here right now.”

Looking away, I pulled a book off a white ash oak shelf and watched it fall to the floor. When it hit the ground, it opened to a page somewhere around the middle of the tome. Revealed, a two-page image of Nightmare Moon starred up back at me. The demon-alicorn was posing in front of a full white moon, in stark contrast to her black fur.

“When the world needed her most, she vanished,” I quoted absentmindedly.

“We have always been where We desire to be, little prince.”

The image of the black alicorn moved as it spoke, turning its head from the side to look at me.

“Oh, so you wanted to be nothing more than a failure? To have every hope and dream of yours crushed? To abandon your allies when you lost to… teenagers?!”

“We underestimated the Element bearers. Such a mistake shall not happen again.”

“No, it won’t.”

I gripped the book with my magic and slammed it shut, before depositing it back on the shelf next to me.

The room blurred and shifted. The gold, white, and purples of the opulent study changed into the great columns, windows, and walls of the hallway before Canterlot Castle’s throne room.

Oestridae was standing before me, frozen in time. He was pointing a hoof at the entryway into the hallway. The way itself was shimmering in a green haze that I recognized as a shield spell. Around the archway, several more changelings were arrayed.

‘Cicada and the rest of the survivors…’

I reached out a hoof to Oest, hesitated, then slowly lowered it back down.

“They’re all dead. Would you like to see their last moments?”

Quiet whispers filled the room. A woosh of air behind me made me turn to see what was causing the commotion. Nightmare Moon was coalescing from gathering shadows, staring up at the only intact window in the hallway. The stained glass window depicted a simplified version of Chrysalis standing above my shattered body.

“And how would you know how they died? You’re dead yourself!”

“Once the barriers were crossed once, knowing where and how to view the waking world became a much simpler task. Luna was wrong, We yet live.”

“Regardless, there’s nothing you can offer me now. You had a chance, and you squandered it doing… what, exactly? How were you defeated? Did you gloat for too long? Gave the Elements too many chances to defeat you? Or were you just a fucking farce from the beginning?”

“You dare–”

“Why are you here, Nightmare Moon?”

“Our war is not yet lost. Not while–”

“It looks pretty fucking lost to me.”

She turned to look at me, tilting her head back as if disgusted.

“Not while you draw breath.” I flicked an ear towards her as she spoke, “you can bring us back into the waking world. Our powers are enough to defeat our foes, so long as the Elements are sidelined.”

“...”

“Not convinced? We have the skill of millennia of battle, with the power to back it. You did not succeed, due to a lack of battle expertise. Aid our return once more, and We shall undo our enemies together.”

“... I will not aid your arrival into the waking world, demon, if I still live.”

“What did We say about calling us that?! Do you have a death wish, foolish knave?!”

“You are not Nightmare Moon.”

The demon blinked and turned to face me completely. She looked the part, all right. From the hooves to the tip of her horn, the demon looked exactly like Nightmare Moon. But when she spoke? It was a bad imitation, in both the content of her words and the presence she carried. Like a paper masquerade mask, all I could see was falsehood.

“Nightmare Moon is dead, I spoke with Princess Luna herself. You are not even the Nightmare that possessed her. You are nothing but a false visage, riding on her coattails. Show yourself to me. Your real self.”

Nightmare Moon’s imposter’s form dissolved into a shadowy smoke, which dissipated moments later.

“None can comprehend such a thing. The best your little mind can do is gaze upon puppets. Facades. Representations.”

Turning around, I saw Eucharis’s body slowly lifting off of the ground. He wasn’t there last I checked, yet his corpse was rising all the same. The movements were jerky at first, like a marionette. As he rose, the movements became more fluid, eventually ending with him smiling at me.

“But idols hold far more power than anyone realizes.”

Blood was still slowly leaking from the open wound in his neck. I even caught a glimpse of the blasted out window behind him through the open hole.

“To whom am I speaking?”

“Ooh Phasma, you know who I am.”

Eucharis smiled and tilted his head to the side. His teeth were covered in blood.

“Pennywise? No, wait, he didn’t do dreams. Freddy Krueger?”

His laugh was stilted, as if he needed to get the entire ‘ha’ out before moving onto the next one, “Ha ha ha haa, you are so quick with your tongue, little prince. But you know who I am. Deep down, you knew the first moment you laid eyes on me.”

“Kennith Kennithson? I’m really at a loss here.”

The puppeted corpse strutted over to me, still smiling. He stopped right in front of my face and threw a hoof around my withers.

“Personal space–”

“Since you are having such a hard time, allow me to… help you out.”

Specks of blood flew from his mouth and onto my neck as he spoke. Some also rubbed off onto my back from where his hoof was touching me.

“I’d prefer it if you didn’t. In fact, how about you just… leave?”

Now, it spoke with Eucharis’s voice, “Mmmmm, Phasmaaaaa–”

“Don’t say my name like that. It's creepy.”

“– I don’t think you’re quite getting what’s going on here. You don’t have a choice. I’m going to help you reach this epiphany, and then… Oh, that would be spoilers. You’ll just have to wait and see.”

“You’re just as cryptic and vague as my mother. I’m quite used to such idle threats at this point.”

“It’s not a threat, it’s a promise, my little Phasma.”

The whispers that had heralded the demon’s arrival returned once more.

‘Vague epiphany nonsense–’

The world melted away in black shadows. The colorful palette of the castle gave way to… I wasn’t sure. Grey metal?

I tried to turn to look around at my surroundings but found that I couldn’t move. I felt cold metal clamps around my body, including around my head. I sighed and my breath was visible in the air. That would explain why I felt so cold.

“Oh, I know! You’re from the IRS, here to collect on my missed taxes! I admit, that’s actually pretty spooky. I wouldn’t put it past them to transcend barriers between worlds to get what’s theirs…”

“Why is it that you are making jokes that no one else on this world would understand? Oh, don’t tell me. I’ll find out soon enough.”

'How the hell does it even understand them in the first place?'

Eucharis’s head appeared above me, looking down. Given the perspective, I concluded that I was strapped to a table.

“What did I say about being creepy?”

He smiled once again. Then, he blurred out of focus. I blinked a few times and the blur resolved itself into Chrysalis, leering down at me.

The demon spoke to me in her voice, “You’ve lost, Phasma. You tried your best and the only thing you managed to accomplish was to get all of your friends killed.”

“And this reveals your identity… how?”

“Ha ha ha ha… Would you please hold still? It makes my job so much easier.”

Chrysalis’s head pulled back and out of view. I heard hoofsteps on metal as she– the demon, I mean– walked around me and stopped near my head.

‘Cold air. Metal ceiling and floor. Table with restraints. Chrysalis near my head– Oh fuck.’

I struggled against the clamps but did not move an inch.

“The hound has the scent! Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you get there in the end.”

I heard drills start up.

'No no no nonononoNO!'

“I’m the master of my dreams. I’m not here, I’m still in that river.”

I took a deep breath and imagined myself in the water. Opening my eyes, I saw only the metal ceiling. The whispers were back again, growing louder. But you can’t feel pain in a dream, let alone one you were in control of.

“I’m the m–”

My eyes were half opened. I couldn’t move them.

I could see a light-green tinted room. Across from me, several tubes and a large table lay against the walls of the curved chamber. I recognized the room.

I couldn’t move.

My head hurt. The last thing I remembered was pain. Not as much pain as I would imagine it would have felt like, but my head still hurt. It never stopped hurting. Even if I could move, I probably would have frozen up from the pain.

My chest hurt as well. My heart was beating so fast I wondered if it would burst. I still couldn’t move.

I. Just. Couldn’t. MOVE!

I tried lifting a hoof. Blinking an eye. Shutting my opened mouth. Nothing worked.

“Everyone knows me, little prince. Even if they don’t recognize me at first…”

Chrysalis had entered the room, shutting the door behind her. She walked over and stood in front of me. I couldn’t move my eyes to focus on the demon. I was trapped in my own body. I wanted to cry out, to hit the glass, to do anything!

‘This is just a nightmare. I’m not in here. I’m safe. I’m not here. I’m not here. I’m no–’

“But you are. You won’t be waking up from this. You might want to get used to this, as you’ll be here forever.”

Chrysalis grinned, baring her fangs as she did. Then, she stepped up to the glass and pressed a hoof against it.

I couldn’t breathe.

“You know what I am.”

I tried to shut my eyes. My head felt like someone took an axe to it, which probably wasn’t far from the truth.

“Say my name, and I will make your imprisonment far more pleasant. You can be anywhere but here.”

The whispers were so loud.

“Sitting in a nice, comfy chair by a fire. Home with family. A nice park. Anywhere but here. All you have to do is one small thing.”

My head wouldn’t stop pounding!

“Say. My. Name.”

‘Fear.’

The demon grinned and drew a breath.

“Begone, misbegotten shade! Thou shalt not claim another soul!”

The opposite side of the room was ripped apart in a light blue vortex. The demon wearing Chrysalis's face looked actually scared, before it turned into a mass of shadows and lunged at me. Outreached tendrils penetrated the glass barrier as if it did not exist. However, before the closest inky-black appendage could even touch me, a blast of blue cut straight through the monster.

It screamed with a thousand voices as the beam ripped it apart. As it died, so did the whispers that had filled my mind. The beam continued on to hit me through it, but I felt nothing.

‘Nothing?’

The headache was gone. It was no longer a challenge to even think straight anymore.

“Thy kind may hath flourished under negligence, but no more!”

As the shadow was ripped apart into nothingness, a pony slowly walked across the room. It was one I recognized, one I had seen once before. I recognized the voice, too.

“Not a moment too soon. Fret not, our little pony, this nightmare… Is…”

I blinked.

The glass tube shattered, spilling me and the green fluid across the floor. I tumbled to a halt at Princess Luna’s hooves and started coughing up the translucent liquid that had filled my lungs.

“Prince… Phasma? Is that truly thee?” She spoke with a softer, almost wavering voice.

I on the other hoof, curled up and tried to forget the pain.

“Thou art alive?” Her voice was quiet now, at normal speaking levels.

The sheer strength and power she had entered with, she had left behind. I heard a thump as she sat down in front of me. Then, she picked me up with her magic and embraced me. I was shivering, but I wasn’t cold.

“I couldn’t move. My head hurt so much. My chest still does,” I said under my breath. Since I was right next to Luna’s ear, she heard me anyways.

“Thou survived a Nightmare’s torture with thy psyche intact. ‘Tis the greatest victory one can hope to achieve against such a malevolent foe.”

“They say defeat tastes like ash, but that’s what victory tasted like. Defeat tastes like blood,” I whispered.

“Sister showed us thy peytral… We thought thee perished in thy fight against thy forebearer.”

“I nearly did. I nearly… ended up in here…”

I thought about what Luna said. Despite everything I had gone through, I realized that what she said didn’t really make sense.

“Peytral? How did you see it? You were put in– I put you in a pod.”

“The invasion was turned back and We were freed,” Luna replied, still gripping me.

“Huh?”

“Our sister… We were not strong enough at the time. We could not save her. From afar, We witnessed her suffering in the Dreamscape. She… A nightmare… We failed her. Once again, we failed our sister.”

“That doesn’t explain…”

“Celestia was possessed by a nightmare. Now, the monster known as Daybreaker has turned the tide of thy invasion. But thou art here. Thou art alive! We… We thought all was lost, but this is not so!”

She pulled back from the hug but still held me up with her hooves. Which was a good thing because if she let go, I would have likely fell back and onto the floor. The broken glass crunched underneath her as she shifted around, but she did not notice the shards.

“Tell us where the Elements of Harmony are, so that We may make right the cataclysm that hath befallen us all. If we were to obtain them once again, convincing the bearers to use their magic once again shalt be an easier endeavor!”

I was still shivering. I was also so very tired.

“Elements?”

“Thou hid them.”

“Oh. I did.”

“Their whereabouts?”

“Aren’t we… enemies?”

“No.”

“Oh. In the base of Celestia’s statue, at the front of the castle.”

I blinked in surprise.

‘No wait, we are enemies. I just told an enemy where the most powerful weapon in existence is.’

“We cannot thank thee enough!”

She pulled me in once more, nuzzling my neck.

‘... On second thought, this Daybreaker is defeating the changelings. Celestia could not. If Celestia was purified, or whatever the Elements do, then… uh… we can... fight again?’

“You… saved my life?”

“Thou just noticed? “

“I defeated and imprisoned you, and yet you… saved me.”

“Of course.”

“But I…”

“Thou fought for thy ponies. None can cast blame upon thee for such righteousness. Now, thou will work to bridge the gap between our kingdoms.”

I was too tired to translate what she said.

“What?”

“Thou will fix the problems thou helped create. There can be peace between us yet, if thou trust us.”

“Trust?” I echoed.

“Thou will get nowhere without it. ‘Tis the cornerstone of any relationship, be it alliance or courtship. Thou needs to trust us wholly.”

“You want me to... turn myself in?”

“That would be a wise first step, though We would understand if thou stay thy hoof until Celestia returns to us.”

“Turn myself in, to the people I invaded? Barged into their homes? Forever changed their lives for the worse?”

“We will help and protect thee against retaliation, should thou make recompense.”

I wanted to stop thinking about this. I wanted to just sit here and fall asleep.

‘Is it even possible to fall asleep in a dream?’

“I’m tired Luna. Tired of worrying if I’ll see tomorrow. Tired of worrying about making the wrong choices. Tired of failing. My friends are dead and it’s all my fault. I let them down. I’m just a broken… I don’t even know what I am anymore. Now you tell me the war is still going on? My species was on the brink of starvation, of extinction. Now, we’re losing a war for our survival? I don’t even know what to do anymore.”

“We can convince what has taken hold of our sister to stay her hoof as much as possible; We can convince the Nightmare to spare any prisoners taken. We hold that much sway over her, though not much more. Trust us, Phasma, and we can reach a future where we all make it out in the end.”

“That sounds nice,” I said, avoiding arguing with her.

But she persisted, “If there is a figure of authority to which your changelings can defect to and for us to cooperate with, then such a goal is within our grasp. Tell us where thou art.”

‘We’re really going to argue this?’

“You want me to put my life in your hooves? After everything I’ve been through and everything I’ve done? I… I trust you. But the rest of your ponies? I’ve done everything to burn bridges with them. Not to mention the fact that I can’t put the lives of my lings in the hooves of another. How could I just neglect them like that? It’s my duty to ensure their survival, not entrust it to another. I have to fight for them. No one else will...”

Luna was quiet as she thought on what to say.

“Start small. Thou hath already done a grand gesture with the Elements. We shall work on our end to even it out.”

“Please don’t tell Daybreaker that I’m alive.”

“Why?”

“Because neither side of this war knows that I’m alive, and the moment they do, both will want to kill me.”

“We doubt that We can convince the monster infesting our sister to be merciful without an opposing party to parley.”

“Please?” I begged. I rested my head on her shoulder, too tired to hold it up.

“.... Very well. We will not speak of thy survival, but do not be surprised when she ignores our plea for kindness.”

I decided to change the subject.

“... Why did it take you so long to enter my dream?”

“Our power is still returning to us. We also have much work to be done, both in the waking world and in the Dreamscape. This is all before the fact that We had assumed thou had perished. We are thankful beyond words that this is not so."

"I'm also glad I'm not dead, or worse."

I glanced at the tubes still around the walls. Most were broken by the vortex, but others were still intact.

'Not in the waking world. I ended their suffering days ago.'

"We shall speak again soon; thou art awakening once more.”

"I'd rather stay with you. I can't take any more of this."

"'Tis always darkest before the dawn. Thou knows this. Fret not, We shall accompany thee and protect thee from Nightmares here on out."

I was still exhausted, but at least the pain in my chest was gone.

I opened my eyes to a grey sub ceiling.

There was a soft beeping at my right side. As my ears flicked to the noise of the machines, I heard muted crinkling in my left ear. I imagined there was padding tapped to it, on account of a burst eardrum or similar injury.

A set of machines were there by my side, full of dials, knobs, and buttons. No displays though. It took me a moment to remember that electricity has not been invented yet and that those machines ran on magic. A blood bag hung from a pole next to them. There was a tube running from it to my right shoulder.

Looking down, I saw that I was laying on my back on a bed with a blue sheet pulled over me. It took a moment to remember that I was disguised as a pony with brown fur. The stump that used to be my right foreleg was wrapped in gauze. My left fetlock was wrapped too, though in a much thinner layer. There were likely more bandages and wrappings on my body, but I couldn’t feel them.

I felt strange. A slight warmth was permeating throughout my body, numbing all pains but one. My stomach was twisted in on itself in hunger. I was thankful that I managed to disguise at all; I doubted I had any energy left to even alter my disguise.

On my left, a closed window sat. The curtains were drawn to the side and the blinds lowered. Between them, sunlight entered. Outside, I could see a pony market. Ponies were cheerfully greeting each other. Some were hauling carts full of produce. I didn’t know where I was– most likely in a hospital, but one thing was clear.

No more nightmares. No more wolves. No more desperate fights.

I was alive. I was safe.

As safe as a disguised rogue prince surrounded by potential enemies could be.

57- Caduceus

I looked myself over. I needed to work on my cover story. While I was alone in the hospital room, it would only be a matter of time before someone came in and checked in on me.

‘One gold star cutie mark. Brown fur. Blonde mane. Unicorn? Yep, unicorn. Good, if I disguised myself as an earth pony or pegasus then my lack of experience with gripping things with hooves and wingtips would give me away.’

Thank Panar for barely-conscious decisions.

‘Somepony. Need to remember to use their pony-centric vernacular. Right, cover story. Name is… Lone Star? No, too on the nose and generic... Back story, I was camping. No, they would ask where my stuff is and where my campsite was. Campers have gear and a plan, I have neither. I could explain the lack of stuff, but not the lack of visited campsites nor the lack of knowledge on where I am. I’m… unemployed. Traveling, looking for work, and down on my luck. A pack of dire wolves set upon me when I was between towns and my pack was lost in the river.’

I nodded.

‘Good. Name is… Name. Damn it, why are pony names so hard to think of? Star. Stars are in the sky. I’m alone and need a backstory and name that’s sad and full of loneliness to explain why no o– nopony will visit me. Far Sky. Yeah fine, that’ll do. Loner type pony, doesn’t like talking to others. Especially about his past. Changelings? What are those? I’ve been out of town for days. What else… Ponies care about marks, so how did I earn my Cutie Mark?’

I looked to my left, back out the window. Across the street, an open air cafe was crowded with customers. It was likely either noon or dinner time, judging by the amount of business they had.

‘That line of conversation is one that transcends all others. Everyone– everypony loves talking about their Cutie Marks. Even shy ponies. So, my mark… uh…. Hmm. Stars…. I snuck into a neighbor’s attic and found a telescope set up, pointing out of a window and into the night sky. I accidentally found a new star. Nah, scratch that last part. I was so enamored with the night sky that I knew I wanted to do something with it for my life. As for actually finding something like that… No opportunities like that in a small town.’

I let out a breath that I didn’t know I was holding and tried to relax. It wasn’t that difficult of a task thanks to the comfortable warmth that was still enveloping my body.

‘Drugs are great. At least, I hope this is from drugs. If I’m actually paralyzed or something, then my road to recovery is going to be very awkward. At least until I find another changeling that can heal me, that is.’

The ponies were happily chatting with each other. A tableful burst into laughter, with a red pegasus in the middle looking very pleased with himself. A waiter carried a tray covered in dishes of food on their back, weaving around the tables as he went.

My stomach rumbled at the sight. I couldn’t see what exactly the food he was carrying was, but it was food all the same. Food that… did nothing for me.

‘I could try and look for a nurse call button or something. If they’ve got magical machines then they could have a magical alert system. Or something.’

I brought my hooves up to tap them together impatiently. When my left hoof met air rather than my right hoof, I remembered that my right foreleg was gone.

‘Oh yeah. That happened.’

I sighed and leaned my head back against the pillow behind me, closing my eyes. I was getting more and more reminded of the minutes before attacking Equestrian settlements and cities. The anxiety. The stress. Planning every one of my next moves. The wait. More waiting. Tensing up, but still waiting.

My mind wandered further. Last night’s events… I would have thought the coincidences would have been too much and the whole rescue was planned, if it weren’t for the fact that I was simply too tired to care.

‘Luna came at the perfect time. Well, perfect would have been before all that happened. I could have really done without… without….’

–Piercing pain, lancing straight through my skull. My body seizing up, spazzing out of control as I screamed–

Fear.

I tasted fear. Not my own– that was impossible, but someone’s. That was another bad reminder; that thing implied that it was fear itself. An immutable, ineffable concept torturing me personally. I groaned in pain. Though I was still numb and hungry, what happened to me was something I could never forget. As I opened my eyes, I also heard the machines to my side beeping louder and quicker than last time I was awake. And then there was the source of the fear.

A blueish-gray pegasus with a black mane and tail was fiddling with the machines. He was wearing a white hat with red plus on it but was otherwise unclothed. Since he was at my side, I could see his cutie mark, which was a feather with curls around it like it was on a gust of wind. Occasionally, he sent concerned glances my way.

‘Oh that’s much more complicated than my own mark. I hope I didn’t make something so simplified that it sticks out,’ I thought as a huge wave of warmth caused me to relax. It also made me want to throw up a bit, reminding me too much of last night.

The beeping from the machines slowed and grew quieter and the pegasus let out a sigh of relief. He smiled and looked over to me. He gave a start when he saw that I was watching him with half-opened eyes.

“Oh, You’re awake.”

It was a good thing he was on my right side, where my hearing was better.

“Mmmm,” I replied. My new voice was slightly deeper than my normal one.

It wasn’t entirely out of forced relaxation or tiredness that I merely grunted instead of saying hello. The Thread of Emotion was something I had to focus on, especially when controlling the exact amount of emotion I was pulling out from a pony. Extracting love was a simple affair; simply pump power into the Thread and voila, food! Other emotions took concentrated effort. The amount increased exponentially if you wanted to extract emotions clandestinely.

So while my muscles laxened and stilled, I had focused my mind on slowly pulling on the pegasus’s feelings of sympathy and concern for me. It was not filling, not in the slightest, but it did slowly lessen the pain in my stomach as the pegasus talked. He would be tired later but that would be the extent of the side effects.

“Don’t worry, you’re safe here in Hooferville Hospital. The doctor will have some questions for you later, just rest now.”

Though he smiled, his fear surpassed any happiness he was feeling. A nearly imperceptible darting of his eyes to my right shoulder answered any question of why he felt that way.

“Wolves,” I mumbled.

“The town guards have hunted them down. You’re safe here. ”

“... Hungry.”

‘I don’t want to rest, I want you to stay here as long as possible, pony.’

“To be expected. The doctor will answer any question you have later. We will also bring you something to eat when the doctor comes.”

The pegasus then picked up a long pillow from somewhere underneath the bed and placed it under the right side of my head, conveniently hiding where my right foreleg should be.

‘Hahahaha! I wonder how they’re planning on breaking that news to me. That is, if they haven’t figured out that that injury is old. That’s going to– oh wow, this pillow is soft. A chitin carapace might be a damn nice thing to have most of the time, but nothing beats the comfort of a bed for those with internal skeletons.’

“Okay.”

Already, I felt sleep starting to take hold of me. I wasn’t done feeding, not nearly, but at least the pain of starvation was slightly less worse than when it was after first waking up. I let go of the Thread of Emotion.

‘But at this rate, it’ll take days for the hunger to go away. Patience, Phasma, patience. Feasting on the first pony I see is a great way to get myself burnt at the stake, or whatever they do to exposed changelings.’

I awoke with a start. The sunlight coming through the window was orange and casting a shadow on the wall next to me; I had slept for a few hours but not through the night. I was slightly less tired but otherwise felt the same as when I had first woken up this day.

At the foot of the bed a light orange earth pony was looking a clipboard over. Her white and blue mane was tied back in a ponytail which amused me to no end.

‘Do they call that something else, considering a pony’s tail is already a thing?’

Her eyes looked up from the clipboard when she noticed me shift around in the bed. Lowering the clipboard, she gave me a fake smile and introduced herself.

“Good evening, I’m glad to see you awake. I’m Doctor Hoarse Throat. Are you feeling any pains?”

‘Hoarse, or horse?’

I shook my head.

“Great. Let me get Nurse Gentle in here and we can get started.”

With that, the earth pony left the room. She dropped her smile before heading out of sight and I got a look at her cutie mark: a fan of tongue depressors. A few minutes later, the pegasus nurse returned, this time wearing a stethoscope.

‘Yeah that was a Doctor alright. First thing she did was find the nearest nurse to pass the work off to.’

“Good evening, I hope you’re feeling better.”

“Still hungry,” I said quietly.

“I ordered some food to be brought here when I was told that you woke up. Now, given your very sudden and unconventional arrival, we need to get some information. Let’s start with your name.”

He picked up the clipboard that was hanging off the end of the bed using his wingtips.

“Far Sky.”

The fatigue that dripped from my voice was not faked. Once again, I focused on the Thread of Emotion to slowly siphon off the sympathy he felt for the cripple in his care. Faking injuries to take advantage of hospital staff was a seldom-used tool in the infiltrator arsenal, but it was a tool nonetheless.

“It’s nice to meet you Far Sky. I am Nurse Gentle Hoof. Let’s start with how old you are?”

‘Something like nine months years old.’

“Twenty three,” I lied instead. That wasn’t my age when I left earth but that hardly mattered anymore. What mattered is the age I looked like.

“Twenty three. Do you have any family that can be notified of your stay here?”

“No.”

“None? Any friends to notify then?”

“... No.”

“I see. Roommates? Landlord? Neighbor? Workplace?”

“None of those.”

“Okay, we’ll get back to that later. Do you have any preexisting conditions that we should know about?”

‘Genetic instability.’

“None come to mind.”

“Good, good. Do you know who your medical carrier is?”

“I don’t have one of those.”

His eyebrows raised, “Are you sure? What was the last hospital you went to?”

‘Uhh. Small town pony… It would be a tiny clinic? So what’s a small town where I would be from…’

I tried to buy some time with a nonanswer, “The clinic at home.”

“And where is home?” Gentle asked without any signs of annoyance.

‘A small town. Can’t be anywhere south due to my lack of accent. The farther from here the better… If only I knew where Hooferville was.’

“... Fillietown,” I replied after recalling the small outlying community the scouts captured after Cincinneighti fell.

“Fillietown. Okay, where is Fillietown?”

“North of Cincinneighti.”

Gentle flipped a few pages over on the clipboard.

“Alright, thank you. We’ll ask for your medical records to be sent over from the clinic there. Now, you were rescued from the Nieghagra River clutching the body of a dire wolf, covered in injuries. We have treated those injuries as best as we can. Could you please tell me what happened that led to all of this?”

‘Neighagra River. That means I’m pretty far up North…’

“I was… traveling through the woods.”

“Alone?”

“Yeah.”

“For how long.”

“I dunno. A week and a half?”

“A week and a half through the woods? We did not recover any possessions you might have had with you. Did you leave them somewhere they can be retrieved?”

“I had my pack on me when I, uh… went into the water….”

“Oh dear. We’ll notify the guard to look around the banks of the river to see if it washed up anywhere.”

“... Thank you.”

“The town guard will most likely pop in later to ask you for more details on this all. They will want to be very sure that they got every one of those beasts.”

‘Ah shit. Last thing I want is to talk to the police.’

“Okay,” I said meekly.

Nurse Gentle hid a yawn, “Now, while we’re still waiting on your dinner, I’d like to do a physical exam.”

‘Time to stop feeding. Damn it, the pain is still there.’

“Before we begin, I have something to say about your injuries… Though we have treated them the best we could, when you were recovered you were… Your right foreleg was severely injured.”

I feigned confusion.

“How badly?”

He put the clipboard down and walked over to the right side of my bed.

“I’m sorry, there’s no easy way to put this. Your foreleg was missing when you were found and we could not recover it,” he said as he removed the pillow. The stump was still wrapped up in gauze.

“Oh…”

I stared at the stump, blinking in confusion. I waved my left hoof around where my right foreleg would have been.

‘A week’s stay in a healing pod will fix that right up.’

“The wolves…”

“I’m so sorry Far Sky.”

The sympathy he felt only increased. It was tantalizing, especially now that he was so close to me. He was however already exhibiting signs of fatigue and feeding more off of him would only make those symptoms worse. That would draw too much attention.

“Oh. The wolves, they... they...”

Nurse Gentle Hoof waited an entire minute but when I did not say anything nor burst into tears, he decided to move on. He did check the machines twice over the course of the period of silence.

'Checking my heart-rate, I would bet. No, I'm not in shock... Should I be? I don't know if I can fake that.'

“Doctor Throat will go over your injuries later with you. She will also talk to you about your… debilitation. Prosthetics, support groups, physical therapy, so on. Don't worry, you're in good hooves.” He put his stethoscope up to his ears. “Now, breathe deeply for me.”

58- Asclepius

‘Dear diary, I ate physical foods for the first time in my life today. Vegetables do not taste as bad as I remember they do. Pony taste buds must be quite different from humans’. However, they did nothing for my hunger. That has to be filled by the company of ponies. Literally.’

The physical examination did reveal one thing. Namely, my own ineptitude.

Nurse Gentle Hoof had brought a mirror over after performing the physical tests. Using it, I got a good look at myself. Brown unicorn with a blonde mane.

Brown coat. Blonde mane.

I was a horse.

After surviving a life and death situation, myself on death's door, my first reaction to disguising myself as a pony was thinking of a horse. If disguising myself as an earth pony would have been the baseline for all disguises instead of unicorns, I no doubt would have been a horse in all but name.

Prince Phasma, formerly second in command to the greatest infiltrators and duplicitous disguisers in both worlds I have lived on, disguised as a horse. Surely, my Infiltrator teacher would have been proud of my creativity.

I was also not as small as a pony. That’s another mistake in my disguise; I was tall. Not as tall as my normal changeling self, but still very tall. Granted, with the whole missing leg thing, being tall isn’t the most eye-catching thing about my form. Still, it was a mistake that I should have caught.

Then came what follows after eating food.

Nurse Gentle Hoof had brought over a wheelchair for me to use. After barely managing to lift myself off of the bed and onto the chair, I realized that I must have lost a lot of blood. The nauseating feeling I felt after standing up sent blood rushing to my head as I collapsed onto the wheelchair. The bathroom was connected to my room, the door hidden from my sight on the bed by a corner in the room. It was also right next to the door leading out of my hospital room and into the ward proper. The quick view out the window on the door as we passed it revealed the hospital to be exactly like the ones from Earth.

The desks and tables right outside where nurses and doctors worked through paperwork were lower than their human equivalents but that was because nearly every sapient species of this world was also much shorter.

The bathroom was… longer than their equivalent on Earth. My unfamiliarity with the utilities was easily hidden by my unfamiliarity with using anything with only one hoof. Nurse Gentle Hoof helped me out of the chair and had waited patiently just outside the door for privacy.

After that affair was dealt with, Gentle Hoof helped me back into my bed. Just from the small affair, I was feeling exhausted. Mostly nauseated, but exhausted all the same. As I caught my breath and cooled down, Doctor Hoarse Throat entered the room, bringing with her a clipboard.

“Good evening, I’m Doctor Hoarse Throat, in case you didn’t catch it the first time. I hope you're feeling better, you were quite pale when you first awoke.”

My low voice was quieter now that I was back to being tired, “I’m fine now– better now. Far Sky. I’d shake your hoof, but uh… I seemed to have misplaced one of my own…”

Hoarse Throat paused before replying.

“... You are a very brave and strong pony, Far Sky. Most would not react to losing one of their limbs with humor.”

‘Oops.’

“Most ponies wouldn’t fight back, I’d imagine…”

‘Thankfully, I’m not sensing any fear. That means she doesn’t suspect that I’m a changeling. Probably. Do any anomalies come up in X-Rays?’

“No… You managed to slay a Dire Wolf that attacked you while you were very hurt. As much as I’d love to hear that story, I have some things to go over first with you. I have here a list of the injuries you sustained. It’s quite… extensive, I’m afraid to say.”

She took the clipboard that Gentle Hoof offered her and read it over. After a minute, she put the clipboard onto a small bin out of view on the front of the bed that I had seen walking back.

“Let’s start with the biggest one. Your right foreleg is gone, cut off shortly below your right shoulder. Do you remember how this happened?”

“One of them lunged at me. I… I raised a hoof to block the thing out of instinct. Then… uh…”

The doctor was writing as I spoke.

“I understand. We can talk more about that later. Next, there are two huge bites on your neck and left foreleg. Your left fetlock itself was sprained, punctured, and bleeding.”

‘That would explain the wrapping that covered it.’

“There’s also the scratches. I’m afraid there are some deep gouges that will scar up, leaving permanent disfiguration there.”

“... Will my fur cover them up?”

“They will be hidden by all but the closest inspections, yes. They are easily felt through your coat, however. Then… There were mild signs of infection in your right shoulder. We prescribed antibiotics to clear out any infections, but we will need to watch you longer for any further developments. Your left eardrum was burst. We have bandaged it and it should heal with time. Finally, there’s the blood loss. We can’t say how much you’ve lost before coming into our care, but it was a substantial amount. That is why you feel fatigued and nauseous.”

“I figured…”

“The severity of your injuries and blood loss was exacerbated by the cold temperatures of the river you were submerged in. When you were rescued by a passerby and taken here, you were unresponsive for four days.”

“Four days?”

“I’m afraid so. We had you on fluids during that period and a professional performed Clear Mind’s Full Breathe to ensure that you would wake up without complications. He was concerned of potential swelling in your brain but thankfully you have exhibited no symptoms of that.”

‘Magical healing, huh? Wait a second…’

“You casted a spell on my mind?”

“To ensure proper blood flow. If there was swelling– or Celestia forbid, a clot– then your condition would have worsened considerably.”

‘Sounds like that’s a done deal.’

The idea of someone using magic on my head sent a shiver down my spine. It was too much like…

“– Far Sky?”

“Huh?”

The doctor was at my side with a concerned look on her face. Now she tasted faintly of fear. On my other side, Nurse Gentle Hoof was looking at the machines. I turned my head to look at him just so I could hear him better.

“Are you feeling okay?”

“Uh… Aside from being tired? I’m fine, I think.”

‘And hungry, but I can’t exactly say that.’

“On a scale from one to ten, how much pain are you feeling right now?”

“None. Err, zero. I’m okay.”

“Your hoof is shaking, Sky.”

“Oh?”

I looked down. It was shaking a little bit. I took a deep breath and let it out, trying to calm down.

“Sorry, it’s just…”

“There’s nothing to apologize for. We all understand that this is a lot to take in. Why don’t you get some sleep and we’ll discuss tomorrow more on what to do. For now, take it easy.”

“Okay…”

“I’ll talk with you after breakfast tomorrow. Goodnight, Far Sky.”

“Night, Doctor Hoarse Throat.”

The earth pony left the room after receiving a nod from Gentle Hoof.

“Okay. I’ve got other patients that need my assistance, so I need to head out, too. If you need somepony for any reason, use this button h– one second.”

He walked around the bed, heading for the left side. When he arrived, he put down what looked like a remote, only it had one button. One big, red button.

“If you press that, it will notify us and a nurse will come over. If you’re having an emergency, just keep it held down rather than releasing it after pressing it.”

“Okay.”

“Alright. You try to relax, okay? That’s all you need to do tonight. Leave tomorrow’s worries for tomorrow.”

“I can do that,” I said with a smile.

“Good night, Far Sky.”

“Good night, Nurse Gentle Hoof.”

Luna was not waiting for me in my dreams.

I passed the time by shaping the dream itself. When I woke, I was knee deep in shallow water that extended to all horizons. Since that was a boring dream, I shifted it to one of the parlor rooms I had passed through in Canterlot Castle.

Plush red carpets, fancy paintings, stiff chairs that I adjusted to make comfy, and a nice roaring fire.

Then I realized that that was romantic, so I put out the fire and instead opened the windows and bay doors to an outside balcony. A yellow tinged moon hung in a clear starry sky above Canterlot. The city itself was devoid of lights and details, appearing only as a colorful collection of smears at a distance.

I trotted over to a couch and laid down, counting the seconds as they passed. After ten whole seconds of waiting, I decided to pull a book off of a shelf in the middle of a low table behind one of the couches. It lacked a title and any decorations on the cover. Flipping it open, I saw the words on the page were nothing more than smears of ink.

A clop sound came from the balcony, signaling Luna’s arrival as she set down onto the stone. She entered the room, hoofsteps muffled as they transitioned from the stone to carpeting.

“We know this room…”

“It’s a parlor in your castle. West wing? Can’t recall exactly where.”

I closed the book and tossed it behind me, not caring where it landed.

“Ah, Prince Phasma, there thou art. We did not see thee there.”

I sighed, “Nice to see you too, Luna.”

“Hm. Wouldst thou prefer us to leave thy title behind as well?”

“Why not.”

Luna walked over and took the chair across from me. After gazing around the room for a moment, she settled her eyes on me and smiled.

“Something on my face?”

“This is a novelty. We cannot recall the last time We relaxed with a Dreamwalker. Nay, We cannot recall the last time We conversed with another pony with no semblance of formality.”

“Not a pony but I see what you mean. Did you not have anyone close to you prior to your stay on your namesake?”

“No. Companionship in all forms elude us. Especially prior to our banishment…”

“What’s been going on in the outside world?” I asked, changing the subject.

Luna collected herself, “Daybreaker hath routed the changeling invasion force from Canterlot Province. It has been slow and brutal fighting against thy ilk. They seem most suited to hitting when least expected, making their pursuit a dangerous pursuit. That pun was not intended.”

“I already know the answer to this but I would be remiss if I did not ask; what happened to Chrysalis?”

“She escaped Canterlot and leads the fighting withdrawal. Upon Daybreaker's awakening, she abandoned the city with haste, leaving behind all her…. spoils.”

“Yeah. Anything else and I’d call you a liar.”

“Thy mother is indeed quite tenacious. Thy forces fight with expertise never before seen.”

“I think that was the idea. So the Swarm Group Center is in retreat. The other two?”

“They hath excused themselves from the war without resistance. We cannot muster the forces required to contest their retreat, so they make leave with their foalnapped ponies.”

“Hmmm.”

“That is what We have been dealing with. Thou?”

“Not dying, really.”

“Thou were in danger?”

“More than a little.”

“Regale us,” she said while getting comfortable.

“So no shit, there I was in the middle of the forest after teleporting out from the throne room…”

After I finished catching Luna up with the exact details of my injuries and location left out, we sat in silence. I did not want to be too exact with my condition as that could lead to her tracking me down before I was ready. There was the chance that she would track down any new patients at hospitals specifically attacked by dire wolves, but I figured that kind of detailed information would be a lot harder to track down than simply a list of injuries.

Eventually, I got annoyed at the silence and lit the fireplace. Accompanying the crackling of the fire, actual heat came from the fireplace. I was sure that eventually, with enough practice, I could include these small details without contentious effort.

Unfortunately, the presence of the fire reminded me of why I left it extinguished.

“... What are we?”

“Monarchs, last We checked.”

I gave her a withering look before looking back at the fire.

“You know what was between me and Nightmare Moon. She demanded that I court her. I got out of the commitment since she died, yay me. But now, what’s between us?”

Luna was quiet, so I shifted around to see what she was doing. She was looking at me. I couldn’t read her expression nor could I sense any emotions while we were in the Dreamscape.

“We do not know. It hath been quite some time since anypony was close to our heart."

Luna smiled, "This day, We dealt with pleas for aid as We held minor court in Daybreaker's absence. The bewitched sister of ours did not trust us with any real power, so instead we listened to petitioners from the city itself, rather than sat on the councils that run the country. As We sat through the day, We heard time and time again about the destruction thou wrought. Such tales of woe thou have weaved in thy absence. Yet throughout the day, there was one specific tale of woe that captured our mind's wandering fixation.

"We caught a glance at today's newspaper. Fascinating innovation, that one. The mass produced paper depicted on its front cover a picture of thyself, lacking in color. Thou stood beside the invader Queen herself, with a third changeling off to the side. The paper decried thy misgivings. Thee mother's moreso. Yet as We read the pains thou inflected upon others, namely the Captain of the Guard whose testimony bore the brunt of thy transgressions, We could not help but notice how sparse the list was."

I kept silent as she continued her story.

"There thou were, beside thy mother and commander. Compared to her, thy actions were but a footnote. The face of the invasion, on occasion, but thou kept to the back for all but the Captain's duel. Thou dealt with the unglamorous affair of dueling somepony that the defense relied upon, whereas thy mother instead took to field against Princess Celestia herself, the soul of this great kingdom. It… reminded us of ourself.

"During the formative years of our principality, our sister and ourself worked side-by-side to forge this nation. However, whereas my sister battled our foes at the negotiation table and dinner banquet, We were the one who took to battle itself to resolve conflict. Thou must certainly know whose actions were left out of history, and whose actions lauded as acts of greatness. Now thou art on the brink of death while thy mother licks her wounds in sole control of thy changelings. Whose name shall be left out of history is no secret."

Luna got up from her seat and closed the distance between us. I looked up to her as I stayed seated.

"Then We found thee battled by a Nightmare. How could We not draw parallels? We saw a kindred soul in thee from the beginning. Then Harmony madest thee walk the same path We once tread. When we saw thy face in that paper, We wondered how much thee were suffering right at that moment. Thou knowest us like none ever hath and it is likely that We will never meet somepony like thee ever again. We thought about thee all day, wondering what we would converse about this very evening. We would like to think that we are at least friends. We would wish to be something… more."

Luna offered a hoof.

I felt a pain in my chest. It was not the same I had felt on occasion growing up in the hive. It was… Intoxicating.

"... Luna, I think you could sell ice to an Eskimo."

"Which means?"

I returned her smile and grabbed her hoof with one of my own.

"Which means I think I'd like that, too."

59- Anansi

Hunger was my closest companion. I would have preferred it if I could leave the hospital and visit the town proper but I couldn’t for obvious reasons. So instead, I had to settle with slowly feeding off the sympathy of the staff of the hospital. Not a very filling emotion, nor could I consume large amounts of it.

It was like digging away a hill using only a shovel. Over the hours, I could do it, but I was not enjoying it. Still, the pain lessened as the day progressed. Nurse Gentle brought me a lunch that did not taste bad, but it did nothing for my stomach as usual. This was, I suspected, going to be the norm while I was disguised as a pony.

Then the guards came.

Having been warned about this, I had pondered if I should feed off them. I came to the conclusion that, though it may be hilarious to consume the emotions of the very prey that is attempting to hunt me down, being caught by feeding on the only ponies in the town who might be trained in what to look for in changeling feeding is not the way I want to go out. Not that I believe they received such training. The Battle for Canterlot happened only around two weeks ago, so the crown has had little time to send Royal Guards out to train the local town militia and guardsponies in changeling detection. If they knew at all how to detect us, that is.

They entered the room as a group of three. They didn’t even bother knocking; I immediately became alert for any hostile attitudes or potential trap questions. I was staring out the window when they came in, wondering just how big of a town Hooferville was. When they entered, they stopped in a line at the foot of my bed, my right ear flicking in their direction as their hooves clip clopped on the tile flooring.

I did not taste any overbearing emotion as they entered. A bit of nervousness, a growing hint of admiration, but nothing else.

“Ahem. Are you Far Sky?”

‘I’ll be friendly as long as they are.’

“Yes.”

I tore my gaze away from the window to look at my three visitors. The pony on the left was a dark blue earth pony stallion. The middle was a large washed-out-red pegasus with a light blue and grey mane. The last pony on the right was a cream colored unicorn mare with a lavender mane peeking out the bottom of the helmet she wore.

They all had matching grey metal armor. It was very simplistic, sparse, and almost rigid in design, a far cry from the opulent and extensive covering of the Equestrian Royal Guard. The armor did cover their flanks so I didn’t see what their marks were.

The pony in the middle had his helmet under a wing as he spoke to me in an attempt to appear more casual. It might not have been an intentional decision, but it was one I recognized all the same.

“Nice to meet you, Far Sky. My name is Sergeant Search, and this here is Private Dew and Lance Corporal Bray.”

The excitement I tasted as they entered grew as the two junior guards were introduced.

“I’m glad to hear that you are recovering well. Your rescue caused quite a stir and panic in the town. You made the front page of the Hooferville Weekly, even. I can’t recall the last time a civilian has, uh, dealt with a dire wolf. Now, as the town’s guardsponies, we need to ask you a few questions about what happened. The staff here at Hooferville Hospital filled us in on a few of the broad strokes but couldn’t give more than that due to privacy concerns. Let’s start with the most important questions; how many wolves did you see when you were attacked?”

“... Five.” My voice was quiet. I was playing up the part of a shy stallion and the exhaustion that had never truly left since I first woke up aided my efforts.

Search nodded, “Good. That means we got them all. Now that we know there isn’t a threat, why don’t you tell us what happened?”

“... I was traveling. Between towns, with my bag. I was sticking close to the river when I heard a bush rustle. Then, they came at me. I tried to fight them off, but one of them tackled me and we rolled into the river.”

The unicorn glanced at the Sergeant but did not speak up. The Sergeant looked at her in the corner of his eye briefly but otherwise remained focused on me.

“Hmm. For what reason were you traveling between towns?”

“Work.”

“Work? Were you delivering something?”

“No. I was looking for work.”

While Search thought for a moment before answering, I internally lamented my current situation.

‘The whole world is moving on without me.’

“You were looking for work. But instead of taking the main roads, you traveled through the woods themselves?”

‘Going to be stuck in this bed for days.’

“Yeah.”

“Why would you do that?”

‘Hopefully not weeks. I can’t imagine being stuck in a goddamn bed for that long.’

“... I get too hungry on the road.”

“Hungry?”

‘I need to link up with the Lodges, but not the Legions. Don’t know how I’m supposed to do that, but I have to.’

“Nothing to eat on the roads.”

“That’s why you bring food with you. Did you run out at some point?”

‘Then there’s Luna. I… She’s a ticket to a better future, clearly. Is that all she is to me?’

“Never had any to begin with.”

“Surely you purchased some at the previous town you were staying at. Which town was that, by the way?”

‘Luna is nice looking. I think. Not too sure on what qualifies beauty for any of these non-human species. We’ve got a lot in common. She cares a lot for me, which is quite a rarity here. She… I really need to get to know her better. Then there’s this idiot!’

I was starting to get annoyed with the guard’s questions. It was really distracting and he was starting to corner me and poke holes in my cover story.

“... I didn’t have money, and I didn’t catch the name of the town I came from. I…” I feigned sadness and turned back towards the window. “I didn’t have much. Now I don’t have anything. The only things I had were in my pack, and that’s somewhere in the river...”

‘Maybe it would be better to turn myself into Luna. I could get a vacation from all this shit! A vacation in… a dungeon. Daybreaker needs to go.’

There was growing amounts of sympathy I could taste in the room. That was good.

“I... I apologize if I am pressing too hard, Far Sky. We have security concerns, you see.”

“No, I don’t.”

“After what happened in Canterlot, The Princess has, err… stated concerns of infiltrators throughout Equestria.”

I slowly turned back towards the guards, now feigning confusion.

‘Time to be told about changelings.’

“Canterlot? Infiltrators? What…?”

“You kn– how long were you in the forest, exactly?”

“I lost track… Maybe sixteen– no, fifteen days…. I think?”

The guards all shared a look with each.

“Fill him in, Dew.”

The teal earth pony spoke up, “Almost two weeks ago, invaders attacked Equestria. They made it all the way to Canterlot without being detected. Any settlements south of the city, well…”

‘And here is where I slide in my origin story.’

“South? Fillietown is south of Canterlot…”

“Fillietown, that’s the town where you’re from?” Search asked.

I nodded.

“Well, the good news is that most ponies in that area have been recovered.”

“Recovered?”

“These invaders, these changelings, they foalnap ponies. Stuff them in jars, basically. Creepy stuff.”

“... What?”

“Err, but don’t worry! All those ponies were saved. Unless, Fillietown is in the Southeast or Southwest…?”

“Just south.”

“Then don’t worry!”

There was an awkward pause.

Search broke the silence, “Ahem. I think that’s enough of that for now. Let’s get back to the forest. You were fished out of the river clutching a wolf’s body. This was the wolf that pounced on you?”

I nodded.

“That wolf had some strange injuries. We would like to know how you did that exactly.”

The unicorn leaned in as her Sergeant asked me. I shirked away, making myself smaller. I was playing up shyness, after all.

‘How docile are pony civilians? Chrysalis said they are fleeting creatures, but I’m not sure if that meant fleeing as well. They did panic a lot when their towns were attacked.’

“Oh. I, uh, killed it. Using water.”

“Water?” Bray asked.

“I was in a river. All I could think of was how cold it was and that there was a wolf attacking me. I realized that I could solve that… second problem…”

“What did you do exactly?”

“I took the energy out of water as I forced it into the wolf’s mouth. The ice then… uh…”

Bray nodded and smiled, “Most ponies wouldn’t think of doing that. They, if they fought back at all, would try to attack the dire wolf’s hide. You went straight for the weak spot!”

That must be where the ever growing taste of excitement is coming from.

“I did?” I asked quietly.

“Was it just a standard ice conjuration spell, or did you use something else?”

‘Well considering I don’t know what spells are available to ponies, I’m going to take the out she offered.’

“Ice conjuration…”

“Wow! I wouldn’t ‘a thought of using that! You must be very quick on your hooves!”

I glanced at my right shoulder. As intended, the ponies got more sympathetic for me.

‘More sympathy means less suspicion. They haven’t even checked if I am a changeling!’

“You said you’re between jobs, correct?”

I looked up at the Sergeant and slowly nodded.

“You know, we could use a clever unicorn like you over in the guard. With the whole invasion thing, Princess Cel– Princess Daybreaker, as Her Highness now calls herself, ordered the recruitment of more guards. You could sign up with us and get free room and board as well as a steady paycheck.”

‘Signing up with the guards? Ha! That’s hilarious! There’s no way in hell I’m going to be a Royal Guard, what with all the security checks and now what are almost certainly frequent examinations for changeling replacement, but a town’s guard? That… that could work. In the short term, at least.’

“I don’t want to be… tied down,” I replied.

“That’s fine. In fact, that’s probably better than having you signed on fully. I don’t think the Royal Guard could accept you in your current health. Your handicap would mean that you couldn’t do the required training.”

“Then what do you want me for?”

“We could use another talented unicorn, especially one that can hold their own against the angry critters of the Blackthorn Forest. As it is, we’re rather short staffed. If you don’t want to take a permanent position, then we could at least use your talent for as long as you’re in town. Who knows, maybe you’ll decide to stay.”

‘Fat chance.’

“... What would the job entail?”

“You would receive a little bit of training first. Then, you would tag along with the occasional patrol. Or if that doesn’t work, you’d stay at the station and would be retrieved when we need your help.”

“So you want an all-purpose spell caster?”

“Essentially.”

“My utility spells are rather… lacking.”

“I can teach you some!”

I smiled at Bray, “That’s awfully kind of you…”

“Tell you what, you sleep on the offer. Free food, steady money, and a roof over your head. You don’t have to decide right now, you’ll be in the hospital for a while yet.”

“... Are you really that desperate for help?”

Search laughed, “Ha! The forest has been rather uppity, ponies are on edge right now, and we’ve been rather stretched thin. Then you come in having, survived an entire dire wolf pack on your own. That’s one tartarus of a resume!”

‘The best place to hide is right under their noses. I need to move on and find the Lodges, but honestly? There’s no way in hell I’m going to catch up. I’m too weak to move. I’ve got no wings. I’m missing a leg. Meanwhile, the Legions are in full retreat. The closest one, probably Swarm Group East considering I’ve been walking east, is in an uncontested retreat. They’ll be out of Equestria within days, if they’re not already gone by now. Swarm Group Center? I’d have to get through Equestrian lines first.’

I let out a sigh and slumped as I accepted the truth.

‘No. The more I think about it, less possible it seems. I’m stuck here, behind enemy lines. I’ll have to get back in touch with the changelings later. In the meantime, I have to get healthier and find an infiltrator who can make a healing pod for me. Building up a store of bits so I can travel easier is a very good idea. It will also be a great opportunity to learn about Equestria, both for blending in and for… Right, alliance with Luna. Not going to tear down the kingdom, so there’s no need to know how it works from the inside. Still, this is a great opportunity.’

“I can leave when I want?”

“I’d like some warning first, but yes Far Sky, you would not be signed into the guard completely.”

“Then I’ll think about it.”

The answer was yes but I had built a persona of being shy. This was not a decision that a shy person would make immediately.

‘It seems I can never escape the military. From commanding one side to helping the other!’

“We’ll come back tomorrow.”

I nodded.

‘I wonder what Luna’s up to?’

60- Máni

‘Ah yes, the one thing We had never gotten used to. Mornings. That was the one upside of banishment; We could sleep in.’

Princess Luna awoke as irritable as ever. She rose from her bed, throwing off the red silk duvet as she got up. The bed would be too small for her once she reached her usual size, but for now it would do. Luna could be patient while a proper room was prepared for her. This guest room was so many leagues beyond the cold dust of the lunar surface that she would overlook any small slight against her in such bedding arrangements.

She slowly lumbered over to the balcony doors and pulled them open, not bothering to move the drapes that covered their glass windowed surface out of the way. The air sent shivers down her spine as she trotted over to the edge of the balcony.

Still ineffectively blinking the sleep from her eyes, Princess Luna struck a pose; Legs apart, wings extended, and head raised to the sky. Like an island in a sea of black, her moon shone down upon Canterlot. Actually being able to appreciate her moon rather than being stuck on its surface brought a smile to Luna’s face.

‘Enough dawdling, duty awaits.’

Her horn lit up in a blue glow as she channeled energy into it. Searching within herself, Luna found her connection to the moon and willed it to move. She felt the immense power that lay so distant from Equus ripple as the celestial body lowered from its point in the sky. At the same time, at a different location in Equestria, Daybreaker was doing the same with her sun.

As the night sky was replaced with the flowing oranges and yellows of the sunrise, Luna let go of her connection and headed inside. Already, her eyes were starting to sting from the bright morning light.

As much as she wanted to head back to her bed, she had royal duties now. After getting as ready as she could be for the day in the attached bathroom, Luna trotted out of her guestroom– or guest-wing, as the small complex of rooms should be titled– and to the main dining hall. The Royal Guards standing on either side of her door saluted as she passed. The rest of the Royal Guards in the halls merely stood at attention instead of saluting, as tradition dictated.

The dining hall was empty. The large table was already set with Luna’s breakfast but the seats were all empty. The kitchen staff had quickly adapted to the princess’s preferences and work schedule so there was no need to wait for her early meal to be prepared.

Coffee. Now that was a miracle invention that Luna had taken to consuming with untold fervor.

As pleasant as the food was, Luna was not in the mood to enjoy it. Instead, she was stewing over what were today’s events as well as what has happened in the past two weeks. Instead of enjoying this meal with her sister, who had waited for Luna’s return for an entire millennia, Luna was alone.

The silence was too much.

She pushed her chair back and left the dining room, her breakfast half-eaten. Outside the doors of the room, Kibitz was arranging the papers in a folder. When he saw the Princess exiting and approaching him, he shut the folder and bowed to her.

“Princess Luna, good morning.”

“We disagree.”

Kibitz rose, “I am thankful that you have decided to–” Kibitz saw that Luna was already walking away in the direction of the throne room, so he had to put on a brisk trot to catch up. “To get an early start on the day! After Princess Daybreaker’s declaration that the crown would rebuild Canterlot, petitioners have been coming out in droves. As it is, your schedule is now completely filled to the brim!”

“Wonderful. At least ponies are actually coming to see us this time.”

The guards saluted and opened the double doors as Luna and her assigned aid approached. The throne room was a sorry sight. Instead of hideously covering up the holes and damage in the architecture, the construction ponies went with the wise decision of removing entirely the damaged structure and starting from the ground up. Careful weather planning would ensure that that exposed interior would not be subject to the harshness of the elements. That meant that Canterlot would go without rain for a bit, but that was a sacrifice Daybreaker made without hesitation.

Luna would be holding court under an open sky. The rising sun glared brightly as Luna entered the marble-floored courtyard. When she took her place on the half-destroyed throne, Luna noticed the sun was also reflecting up off the polished floor and into her eyes.

‘Assaulted from two different angles by that nemesis of sleep. Woe, what We would do for just another hour…’

“Let daycourt commence,” she bellowed instead of voicing her conniptions.

The guards at the far end of the impromptu courtyard moved to open the doors, revealing a line of ponies that had already formed up. They had arrived around dawn, hoping to secure an early spot in line.

At the guard’s instructions, the first pony approached, trotting across the torn up red carpet that lay between the throne and the far doors. The small yellow unicorn cowed before Luna, making herself appear as weak and small as possible.

“Speak thy business!”

The unicorn whimpered and shrunk down even lower. Luna suppressed a sigh. Outwardly, she remained as ever calm and graceful as royalty demanded.

‘This is going to be a long day.’

Court had taken a break for lunch.

The hours dragged on as Luna was forced to sit through sob story after sob story, having the responsibility to judge whether or not to dispense the limited aid that Daybreaker had budgeted for the common pony. After much deliberation, Daybreaker had acknowledged the need to rebuild and was slowly increasing that allocated amount of capital. It was far too slow of a change.

To make matters worse, the ponies that approached her to request aid were all afraid of her. Some put on a face and acted dignified, but Luna could see plainly that it was just that: an act. The slight tremble, the occasional hesitation, the stumbling of words. None of her subjects were comfortable speaking to the recently returned monarch.

Ponies were coming to her with problems, yes, but they did so out of necessity. Nopony wanted to see her. None except for two. One she would have to wait till night to see again, and the other had just joined her for her midday meal.

As Luna dined on her spiced lentil soup that a servant had brought for her, Twilight Sparkle entered the room. Her head hung low as she slowly entered.

“Good afternoon, Twilight Sparkle.”

Upon hearing her name, Twilight looked up. She returned Luna’s smile.

“Good morning Princess Luna,” Twilight said with a bow.

“Come, sit. Thou hath not had lunch, We presume?”

Twilight shook her head as she took a chair next to Luna.

“I came straight here once I got your message. I can’t thank you enough for your help, Princess Luna.”

Luna waved a hoof, “‘Tis a triviality. Thou were one who saved our life, what is a few bits for the restoration of thy home?”

“Still, I heard tales of how it can be hard to actually get help from the crown. I feel bad for jumping the line, as it were…”

“Chin up, Twilight Sparkle. Thou art a heroine of Equestria. We do what We can for those in need, but We will not stand idly by while a heroine’s family sleeps in the gutters. Generosity is a virtue of Harmony that all should champion, least of all between friends. That is, if thou would do us the honors of considering us a friend.”

“I would be honored, Princess,” she beamed.

A waiter brought in a tray with today’s lunch and deposited it before the guest.

“Please, eat while We speak. Now, while We attend to the weary souls of Canterlot, Daybreaker heads the campaign against the changelings. This is common knowledge.”

Luna spied the servant out of the corner of her eyes, not looking away from Twilight. As the waiter left and closed the door behind him, Luna and Twilight were left alone in the room.

“... But she has dearly neglected the souls she claims to protect. Our reconstruction budget hath suffered greatly on the border of starvation. Instead of focusing on helping ponies, Daybreaker touts victory after victory against the invading menace.”

“It is important that no more ponies come to harm…”

“Yet she neglects those who harm has already befallen? She burdened us with the task of rebuilding while she goes on a vainglorious crusade against a retreating foe. With our great forces once again assembled against our foe, Captain Shining Armor is more than capable of pursuing the route himself. Thy brother is more than capable of the task. Daybreaker knows this, yet she still pursues conflict.”

Luna shook her head as she cast her gaze around the room. The grand decor of the room was cracked to the foundation. It would take years of rebuilding to truly fix the damage dealt.

‘An iconography of Equestria as a whole.’

“Daybreaker is not the same pony who welcomed in that heap of refuse once called a castle. She–”

Luna’s ear briefly flicked in the direction of the door as she felt a massive energy surge nearby.

“... What We mean to say is that thou should examine thy idol’s actions with a close eye. Actions speak far louder than words. Do they really encompass what it means to champion Harmony? When thy friend is trodding a path of darkness, it is up to their friends to save them, no? We beseech thee, think on this.”

“I… I will.”

“That is all We can ask. Now, We fear our day is about to become a lot busier and less pleasant, so We must bid thee farewell. We enjoyed the brief moments of respite thy company has offered us, Twilight Sparkle.”

“Oh. Goodbye then, Princess Luna.”

Luna rose from her seat and walked to the door.

“We should not need to say this, but we would be remiss if We did not; do not speak a word of this to anypony. Thy fellow Bearers of Elements aside, We suspect that fear has found its way into the hearts of all the ponies of Canterlot. Daybreaker especially.”

Luna left the dining hall and made for the throne room. That was where the burst of magic came from, and with it, the current source of all of her troubles. However, before she could even get thirty paces away from the dining room, her source of troubles had come to her.

It was conversing with Kibitz. As they neared, Luna caught the tail end of the discussion.

“... are all ready at a moment’ notice for presentation, Princess.”

“Excellent. Have them brought to Canterlot Castle immediately. I will pick who wins the contract before I head back to the battlefield.”

Kibitz bowed and excused himself. Free of distraction, the demon’s gaze returned to the space in front of her. It stared back at Princess Luna and its lips stretched upwards, as if it could smile.

“Good morning sister!”

“Daybreaker.”

The demon frowned.

“Now now, no need to be so cold with me. I have just come back from a rather successful fight against a splinter group of the invaders. Lives were saved, ponies rejoiced. This is a good day for Equestria. We have struck back against those who have sought to do us harm.”

Luna sighed and hid any displeasure of speaking with the visage of her own failures, “We apologize. Today has been most unpleasant. We have already reached the maximum offerings allowed by the reconstruction budget. If thou could…”

“I will look into it,” Daybreaker said, stroking a hoof along Luna’s chin.

‘Once again, our troubles are thrown aside.’

Daybreaker started to move past Luna towards the dining room, no doubt to sate a massive appetite that arose after a fight.

“Sister, please!” Luna tried to distract Daybreaker.

“Our funds are stretched thin, Luna. I’ll look into it.”

‘Horse apples!’

Daybreaker opened the doors. She put on a fake smile when she saw the occupant of the room.

“Ah, Twilight. I did not expect my favorite student to be here today.”

Luna walked back to sulk in Daybreaker’s shadow.

“Heheh, I’m your only student, Princess Daybreaker,” Twilight giggled while putting a spoon down. As she got up from her chair, Daybreaker held out hoof to stop her as Daybreaker approached the table.

“Please, do not stop on my account. It would be rude of me to interrupt your meal.”

‘Therein lies the bane of reason. So hard it is to catch a glimpse of the evil that writhes within that it wears Celestia’s kindness like a second skin. Daybreak is, above all else, patient. But I know its evil. I’ve seen it firsthoof.’

Luna stood by, offering an insincere smile while they chatted. A servant brushed past her and placed a tray with a bowl far larger than the one she used before the larger alicorn.

“So tell me Twilight, what brings you to the Castle today? I had heard you were spending time with your family.”

“Uh… Princess Luna invited me here.”

Daybreaker turned her smoldering gaze towards Luna.

“Did she now?”

Luna swallowed her nervousness, “We did. We possess so few who We can confide in… We had hoped that one of our saviours would lend a patient ear.”

“I’m here now, Luna. Tell me what troubles you?”

Luna thought quickly, “Our petitioners approach with no small amount of hesitation. We find that We are finally sought out by our subjects, yet they do so with no pleasure. They… are afraid of us. Or dislike us. ‘Tis impossible to tell…”

Daybreaker’s eyebrows furrowed as she thought.

“It must be those newspapers. All the ponies of Canterlot read them everyday, and I know firsthoof just what kind of baseless lies they churn out. No doubt some viscous or scandalous rumours based around you are sourced from their presses. In fact, I am certain that changelings have infiltrated the press agencies to further spread discourse amongst our ponies. Fret not Luna, I will have these companies investigated. In the meantime, I will put a hold on printing stories outside of crown-approved ones. A temporary measure until we are sure that our enemies are not pitting us against one another.”

‘More like an excuse for thee to recuse the freedom of press. Though that institution is new to us, We can clearly see how it would upset thy machinations. There are no changelings amongst their numbers, We are certain. Thy guards will claim otherwise, and one more freedom will be lost. All the while, thou appear as a benevolent saviour while spreading fear and distrust.’

“Thank you, sister.”

“Now Twilight, tell me about your day…”

Luna wanted to get back to the throne room and get back to work, but she had to stay here. She had to be present for Daybreaker’s conversations with Twilight, lest some unknown piece of information or manipulation escape her notice.

It was like playing a game of chess. Luna could move her pieces slowly, while Daybreaker moved many at once and out in the open. Luna had to wait for Daybreaker’s back to be turned to move even the simplest of pawns, much less the Queen on the field that is Twilight Sparkle.

‘The last Element who is not set against Daybreaker.’

Daybreaker was wise enough to slowly seep her tendrils of disharmony through the kingdom. If she moved any faster, the Elements’ Bearers would depose her immediately. It is for that exact reason why Daybreaker has not already confiscated the Elements and disposed of them, though she would do that soon enough. As soon as that action is excusable, Daybreaker would get rid of the one weapon that could bring Celestia back.

‘Hmmm. Did Phasma have to play such games against Queen Chrysalis within their own kingdom? Ha, ‘tis most certainly so. Perhaps he can offer advice? Even help us to be more approachable? Yes, we shall request his aid tonight.’

61- Nanshe

The pine needles crunched underhoof as I walked over to the foldable chair. When I found the plastic thing to be too small and misshapen for my use, I instead replaced it with a large, comfy couch.

‘Much better.’

I groaned as I practically melted onto its surface. In front of me, a small campfire was the sole source of light in the patch of coniferous woods I was in. Above me, a large breeze was shaking the trees. I sat there for a while, listening to the crack of the fire and rustle of the branches. I closed my eyes and pretended I was where I was dreaming of.

The sound of more pine needles crunching behind me growing increasingly loud alerted me to the presence of the only one who could be here in my dream.

“A couch? In the woods?”

“It’s much comfier than what’s traditionally out here.”

“We cannot argue with that logic.”

I sat up and made room as she walked around from behind me. Stopping for a moment to glance at the fire, she hopped up and took a seat next to me.

Warmth of the fire. Nice seating. The smell of woodsmoke. The rustling of the branches, crackling of the fire, and distant chirping of crickets. This was a lot calmer and nicer than what my usual senses were often subject to on Equus.

“Are thee alright?”

“What?”

Luna was staring at me with a concerned look on her face. I could see the orange and red fire reflected in her teal eyes.

“Thou look sad.”

“... Just replaying some memories in my mind. I shouldn’t, Panar knows I’ve got plenty to be sad about nowadays. There’s no need to add more to the pile.”

“What were thou thinking of?”

“The last time I was here. I was with– nevermind.”

“Are these woods in thy kingdom?”

“Nothing there but dirt, rock, and an oppressive sun.”

“When were thou here in these woods?”

“Years ago… Ahem. How was your day, Luna?”

“Thou were–”

“I’m fine.”

Luna moved on, thankfully.

“... ‘Twas as usual. This morn We heard petitioners before the crown, all begging for aid. Then We dined with Twilight, the Bearer of Magic. Then, We dueled with Daybreaker in a battle of wits. We would have lost, but thankfully she did not realize that we were dueling. Or that We were set against her in the first place. A tricky thing, that. How does one defeat thy ruler without them knowing of thy disloyalty?”

“Been there, done that, got the T-shirt. You’re going to want allies. Close friends. Preferably the kind that doesn’t backstab you and get you and your friends killed.”

“That is a subject We were hoping thou could instruct us in.”

I sighed and slumped over the arm of the couch.

“‘Fraid I’m no use there. I was doing pretty good, up till everyone died.”

“Tell us what went wrong.”

“One of my closest friends. I trusted him– we trust him. We all did. You think you know a guy, then BAM! You’re ordering your friends to their death all because one of them… one of them…”

I put a hoof against my face, rubbing my eyes.

“Phasma–”

“I don’t know how Tarsus justified what he did. I don’t know if he even saw us as friends to begin with. All I know is that he got my fr– no, I got my friends killed. It was naive of me to think that there wouldn’t be traitors. I should have seen that coming– it was so obvious in hindsight– but I didn’t plan for it, and every ling who put their lives in my hooves, I… threw them into the fire.”

I watched the flames dance atop the burning pile of logs.

“... We will try not to do that then.”

I snorted.

“Yeah. You do that.”

“We… We cannot offer thee any words that will sooth thy pain. We imagine if Celestia were here, she would know exactly what to say. She would know the pain thou suffers from, having survived our own betrayal. Yet she is not, only us. All We can say is that it gets easier to ignore the pain. Be with company when you can. Learn from thy mistakes and try to not make them again. Fail, and try again. Never give up hope.”

I stared at her. Luna was not looking at me, instead she was looking up at the starry night sky. So far from civilization, it was visible in this night sky.

“Thanks Luna. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to unload all of this–”

She reached over and grabbed one of my hooves and looked me in the eyes.

“Never apologize for such a thing. Bottling everything up is what We did so long ago. We will always listen to thy troubles. That is a lesson we learned in blood…”

“Then I suppose all the advice I can give you is be careful who you trust. Anyone might be wearing a false face, even before you meet them.”

“We will keep thy advice close to heart.”

Now she looked over to me.

“These are not our stars. Where are we?”

“... Close to home. Closer than anywhere else you’ve seen.”

“We know the shape of our canvas, no matter the angle it is viewed from. We know these stars were not shaped by our horn.”

“Like I said, close to home…”

She tilted her head. It reminded me of a dog.

“Thy kingdom is south of Equestria. We would know what our night sky would look like. Ah, thou had said this is not in thy kingdom. Thou hail from outside it? Where would thy place of birth be, where the night sky is so… alien?”

It took me a moment to recover from the slight shock of her accidentally getting it right.

“... I don’t want to talk about this.”

Luna frowned.

‘It brings up memories I’ve been trying my damndest to suppress. Making this dream was nothing short of a mistake.’

Silence once more fell upon us, broken only by the ambience of our scenery. Luna thankfully had dropped the subject and moved on.

“Phasma, there is something thou might help us with yet.”

“What is that?”

“Our subjects are too frightful to approach us. We are finally spoken to and acknowledged, but We are not… wanted. We are feared. We are a strange stranger in a time of upheaval. Our ponies most certainly are longing for familiarity, but We cannot provide it. They will take the aid I offer, but many are… Hesitant.”

“And?”

“And We would like to hear how We could be more approachable.”

“How you could be more approachable?” I echoed and tapped my chin. “Hmm. Alright, let’s say I’m one of your ponies. Clop clop clop, I walk up and bow before you on your throne. What is the first thing you say to me?”

She let go of my hoof and puffed her chest out. I stared at her hoof for a moment as she composed herself.

“... Speak! What is thy–”

“Stop stop stop stop! Alright. I can already see some problems. First off, there’s no need to be so… loud. If you want to be approachable you should start with not screaming at the poor soul.”

“Ahem. Speak! Why is thy reason for petitioning the crown?”

“Hmm. You’re starting the conversation with an aggressive question. Try not calling to attention that your subjects, your ponies, are seeking help from you. Perhaps instead, try greeting them like you would a stranger– a stranger of equal social status– on the street.”

“That has never happened before.”

“Uh… You want to appear as if you are personally listening to this person’s troubles… Alright, repeat after me: Good evening. How may the crown aid you today?”

‘Never thought working in retail would help me– or a fellow ruler I’m giving advice to– rule a kingdom, yet here we are.’

“Good evening. How may the crown aid thee today?”

“Eh. Drop the thee’s and thou’s and thy’s. And the Royal We, while you’re at it.”

“Beg thy pardon?”

“Beg your pardon. I said use the singular pronouns I, me, and my when talking about yourself, and the modern you and your when talking to someone else directly.”

“We see– I see. Tho– you are very articulate, Phasma.”

“Thanks Luna, I try. Just keep practicing it. Now, where were we? Oh right, the very beginning. Start again. Actually, let’s start with asking the name of your subject first. That’s better than sounding like you’re from Customer Service.”

Our lessons continued on through the night till I had to wake up. The lessons ended with a promise that I would teach her what tricks I knew of when it came to clandestine operations and with her filling me in on what she’s done so far.

Another dawn, another day of slowly siphoning off real food from the oblivious ponies around me. Two things of note happened the day after I started educating Luna on modern linguistics and manners. One, the guards came back, true to their word. Two, I took a shower.

I was sitting in my bed, bored as usual, when the trio of protectors entered my room.

“Good afternoon Far Sky.”

“Good afternoon Search, Bray, and Dew.”

Sergeant Search smiled. He seemed to do that often.

“Have you thought about our offer?”

“... As long as I don’t have to call you sir.”

‘That’s a point of concession I can make later. Make it seem like I’m actually bonding with them.’

“You won’t be required to, so that’s a yes?”

“Yeah. I mean, it’s a yes.”

The happiness that radiated out was so tempting to nibble on.

“Glad to hear it! I’ve got the papers here, and we’ll pick them up tomorrow once you’ve signed them. Giving you a chance to read ‘em through, you see.”

“Right.”

“Then once you’re discharged we’ll set you up in the barracks. Staying in it isn’t mandatory, but given that you don’t have a place to stay in town…”

“I appreciate the gesture.”

“These two here’ll teach you what you need to know about being a guard. Hmmm. That should be all. Once you give us the signed papers then I’ll let the staff know that you should be discharged into our care. In the meantime, read up and rest up.”

“I will. Thank you, Search.”

After they left, the day dragged on as slow as usual. Eventually, after dinner, Nurse Gentle Hoof told me that it was time to clean up. Given that he had taken away the tray that I used for dinner, I was confused at first. He then brought over the wheelchair once more and led me to the bathroom.

“I’m sorry we didn’t get to do this yesterday, Far Sky. I’m afraid it slipped my mind after we finished the final part of the physical exam.”

That final part wasn’t physical at all, but instead an examination of my horn and magical capabilities. Of course, I hid how much I was able to channel at a time, but it was nice to know that there was no problem there.

“What did you forget?” I asked as he pushed me into the bathroom.

“I’m afraid you smell. Rather horribly, I might add. The last time you washed was when you were thrown into the river.”

‘Actually one of the only times I was cleaned via water in this life.’
I sniffed but didn’t smell anything.

“... I’ll take your word for it. Why do we need to go to the bathroom to do a cleaning spell?”

“Cleaning spell? How… That’s not a substitute for bathing, Far Sky. Not at all. Did you bathe frequently prior to the woods incident?”

“... No?”

He started muttering behind me and he stopped my chair in the small-ish room.

“I’ll have the doctor order a round of tests for Fur Rot or anything else you might be carrying. Though, given the complete lack of symptoms, you’ve somehow managed to avoid all that.”

“Oh. Yay?”

“Yay indeed. Alright, this stall here is a shower. I want you to sit down on your haunches when you’re using it. You’re a ways away from being able to stand. Lay down if you have to, so long as you don’t cover the drain. Use the knob there for the water. Here’s soap, shampoo, conditioner, and a towel. Any questions?”

I watched as he pointed to each item as he listed them off. I had never used any of those with this body, but I couldn’t exactly say that.

“... No.”

Thankfully, my identity was a stallion of few words. If I had issues, I can just claim it was pride about not being used to missing a hoof. Or at least, imply that. Or perhaps it was my state of poverty that led to inexperience...

“Alright. You’ve been doing a good job so far of getting in and out of the chair on your own, just be sure to completely dry off before trying to walk around. You’re going to be very unstable as it is, there’s no need to add a risk of slipping.”

With that, he walked backwards, pulling my chair to the door.

“Let’s also have you practice pushing your chair on your own, that way you can get back to your bed without me having to stick around right outside your door. Go ahead and grip the wheels with your magic and push them along.”

I did as he asked, imagining hands gripping the two wheels at my side. It was a strange thing, moving without physically doing anything, but in short work I made it across the room to where the shower stall was. Then, I spun one wheel to turn around to face Gentle Hoof.

“Great job!”

My face heated up as he smiled at me.

“You’re patronizing me,” I said quietly.

‘Getting across the room isn’t some grand achievement…’

“Oh, I’m sorry Sky. It’s just that we’re all really impressed with the progress and resilience you’ve shown so far. To think, you went from such a… hurt state, to having a job lined up and making your first steps on your own. That’s one of the quickest recoveries I’ve seen in my career yet!”

‘You can thank changeling royal healing for that. This body tries as hard as it can to not die.’

“... Thanks?” For added shyness, I looked away, specifically at the shower to my side.

“I want to stay and watch you get out of your chair on your own, just in case. Once you get into the stall, I’ll head out. If anything happens, just yell. I’ll keep your room’s main door open so we can hear if you call out.”

I slowly rose from the wheelchair and limped into the shower. Given that I already had a lot of practice walking on three hooves, I had to hide just how easy it was. The sluggishness was not faked, as I was still quite tired all the time.

“Okay, I think I’m good.”

“Wonderful. I’ll check on you later tonight to give you your final antibiotic pills for the evening.”

“That sounds fine. Thank you, Nurse Gentle Hoof.”

I heard hoofsteps and the door close. Using my magic, I folded the wheelchair and leaned it against the far wall. Then, I looked up at the shower head. It was strange, having it so far above me rather than only barely above my head when I was human.

‘So this is what it’s like to be short… I prefer being tall.’

I pulled the knob out to start the shower and flinched when cold water hit me in the face. Turning my head and the knob, I spat out water and wanted for the frigid shower to warm up. Eventually, it warmed up and I leaned into the spray, letting it soak my fur coat. The large nozzle quickly drenched me in water that was progressively getting hotter.

I groaned and let my forehoof slowly slip from underneath me, laying down as Gentle suggested.

‘Panar, that feels good. I can’t remember the last time I’ve felt this good. Showers. Need to bring showers to the hive.’

I lay my head next to my hoof.

‘The hive… Am I even going back? There’s nothing there but a defendable position. And an access to the Underhive, whatever that’s worth. None of my friends will be there. Coxa got out, who knows where he is. Thorax is still missing. Oestridae and Lacewing are… are... Oh damn it all. I’m trying to relax here!’

With that in mind, I focused on the sound of the water hitting my splayed-back ears as I lay on the shower floor.

“Far Sky?”

A loud knocking on the door startled me awake. I could taste a bit of fear nearby.

“You alright in there?”

“Huh? Whuzzat?”

“I asked if you’re okay? You’ve been in there for a while,” Gentle Hoof called from outside the door. He was calling out over the sound of the water which was still running. It had gone lukewarm, so I must have dozed off. The fear must have been Nurse Gentle Hoof being concerned for me.

“Yeah. I think I fell asleep.”

Gentle Hoof seemed to have calmed down when I answered him.

“Alright. Are you finished?”

“No, I still have to actually clean up.”

“Please make it quick, you’ve been in there for a long time.”

A sense of happiness– amusement, no doubt– faded away as Gentle Hoof left. I sighed and picked up the soap.

‘Now, how the hell do I clean a fur coat?’

Some time later, I managed to get myself cleaned, dried off, and back into the wheelchair. Then, I slowly made my way back to my bed. Once I got out of the chair and in my bed, I folded it back up and leaned it against the wall next to the machines.

Nurse Gentle Hoof came in shortly after, carrying a cup with a couple of pills in it.

“You made it out in one piece!”

“I’ve learned that losing limbs is to be avoided.”

“Oh, no I didn’t mean–”

“Heh. It’s okay, it was a good joke. Even if you didn’t mean to make it.”

“I, uh, thanks. At any rate, you should be good to move to the facilities on your own.”

‘Thank Panar for small miracles.’

“When do you think I’ll be ready to leave?”

“You’ll have to ask Doctor Hoarse Throat about that. It could be anywhere from a few days to up to a few weeks. It depends on how well accustomed you become to the physical therapy, given that you need to adjust to three legs.”

“Right…”

“Don’t worry, your future is looking brighter and brighter… Are you feeling okay?”

“Yeah?”

“Your eyes are very red. Were you–”

“I’m fine,” I said too hastily.

He gave me the pills, a glass of water, and a sad smile.

“You’re through the worst of it, Sky.”

“It sure seems that way.”

‘But with the way it has been going so far, I’ve got a lot of work left to do.’

“If you need anypony to talk to, I’m always available.”

“Thanks for the offer, Gentle,” I said plainly.

62- Aurora

We were back in that parlor that I had conjured a bit ago. It was comfy, warm, and didn’t bring up repressed memories of the family and life I had lost.

Just the way I like my dreams.

This time I was splayed across a massive floor-cushion that I had seen often in the palace. Ponies seemed to often prefer this type of seating arrangement over chairs in casual settings, I noticed. When Luna entered my dream through the balcony again, she walked over to where I was. I had removed the couches in the room in favor of lounging in front of the fire on my massive pillow. It was twice as big as I was, and five times comfier than my hospital bed.

I conjured up a duplicate big ol’ pillow across from me as she approached. She then sat down on the pillow in front of me, tucking in her legs like a cat. I on the other hoof was still laying on my belly, with my head on my hooves.

“Heh.”

“Good night, Phasma.”

“... Usually that’s a conversation closer.”

“We kn– I know. It is a travesty.”

“Well I’m bored. Was your day at least noteworthy?”

“Your advice seems to be working. Though it did confuse much of the palace servants at first.”

“Glad to be of help.” I yawned, “Give it time. Give it time and people will start to warm up to you.”

“Thou– You seem very tired.”

“Been like that for a while now. Tired all day, tired all afternoon, tired all night. Makes me wonder if my physical health affects my dream-psyche or whatever.”

“It tends to, though one can control their presence and form with enough experience.”

“How goes your subtle war against Daybreaker?”

“I am having trouble convincing Twilight Sparkle of the need to turn against her former teacher.”

“Seems like it should be easy.”

“You have not seen Daybreaker in action. She is kind, patient, and deceptive. Twilight is blinded by her loyalty for Celestia, and so she cannot perceive what possessed Celestia, even if her physical appearance has changed. With Celestia’s experience in political maneuvering, manipulating Twilight’s loyalty must be as easy as breathing.”

“Does she suspect you?”

“I would be shocked if she did not. We– I have not been the most skilled at this clandestine maneuvering. This was always Tia’s expertise. I fear that she has already taken notice of my closeness to Twilight and attempts to convince her.”

“Hmm. If you were perfectly behaved, you probably would have been suspected anyways. Perhaps what you need to do is throw her off the trail. Fake a confrontation, maybe even appear to have given up on trying to convince Twilight. Make it seem like the fake confrontation is the culmination of your desperate plans to get your sister back, and let Daybreaker win that fight. Appear to accept that Celestia is Daybreaker now… You could even say you don’t quite understand fully, but you will try to learn.”

“The last idea would be most untenable, given our personal experience with Nightmares.”

“Suggest the idea that each Nightmare is unique, and therefore each experience with them unique as well? You say Daybreaker appears kind, right? Maybe the key is for you to appear to begrudgingly accept that she is kind.”

“An interesting idea. I will think over feigning surrender in this conflict…”

I yawned again, this time squinting and closing my eyes as I did. I heard some shuffling and a few hoofsteps on the marble floor as I yawned. Then, I felt something brush up against my left side. When I opened my eyes, I saw Luna starting to sit down next to me. I moved over to the side to give her more room.

“What, the other pillow not good enough? You have to have both that one and mine?”

“The grass is always greener,” she said before draping her right wing across my back.

“Uh…”

“We– I noticed you were quite tense, and you seemed quite cold…”

“Quite the leap, from taking my hoof to snuggling.”

“Do you object?”

It was quite warm and comfy under her wing. Now that she was next to me, I felt the heat coming off her barrel. She was looking over her shoulder as we spoke. I could see the reflections of the fire in her teal eyes once more, reminding me of last time we were in a dream together. The way her fur brushed up against my carapace was almost ticklish.

“... No.”

‘Something tells me that Luna will be the one making all the first moves and setting all the precedents in this relationship. Considering that’s one less thing I have to stress over, I’m A-Okay with it.’

“... You know, I don’t think we ever physically even touched each other before. Not even a hoof bump.”

“We only met on the field of battle. ‘Tis not a place for signs of affection.”

“Isn’t there a saying, love can bloom on the battlefield?”

Luna looked a bit confused, angry, and incredulous all at the same time.

“Whoever said that has not seen a bastard sword cleave a pony in half in front of them on the front lines before. Our– My niece says all is fair in love and war, but I say keep the two separate. The idea of love blossoming on the eve of battle is nothing more than a fancy of meritless romantic novels.”

“... You know, we should probably get to know each other better sooner rather than later.”

“Know each other?”

“Yeah. I’ll start; I’m into some real nasty stuff. Things like hoof-holding, consent, romantic dates.”

“How vile! To think I have fallen for such a debased lech!”

“Yeah well I already notarized the paperwork so our relationship is official. There’s no taking it back.”

“You beast! Though I suppose there is one way I can get out of this entrapment yet…”

“Am I going to die?”

“It will be an open casket funeral.”

I laughed and Luna joined me. I couldn’t recall the last time I heard her laugh– if I ever did– but it was pleasant to hear. For just the briefest of moments, I forgot that this was all just a dream, with us being miles apart in reality. Sometimes I wondered if this whole life was all just a dream, occasionally ranging from a nightmare come to life to a fantasy woven into reality.

“... Luna?”

“Phasma?”

“What does love feel like to you?”

‘... ‘Tis not something I have felt often before. Love for my sister and my newfound niece is one thing, but you are asking about true love… ‘Tis like a sunrise. Full of beauty and color and emotion, and everypony sees it differently. I can not tell you what love is like for you, but for me it is a fire that burns in my heart. An ember that I can not ever let die, lest I lose my own fire.”

“Hellfire…”

“Now I am curious. What is it you feel when you think of love?”

“It’s not something I’ve ever felt before. Before you and Nightmare Moon I’ve never been interested in others. Never had a crush. Never been in love. No relationship with anyone held interest to me. Then I met Nightmare Moon and suddenly there was an urge I’ve never felt before. It was like I was a moth drawn to a flame. Even if I would get hurt, I was intoxicated. I suppose I still am.”

“A flame and a moth drawn to it. I do not understand why Harmony has decided to reward my turning against it with the chance encounter with you, but… I can not imagine where I would be without you. Without all this.”

“... With a crippling alcohol addiction?” I offered.

It had been a few days since I signed and hooved over the recruitment papers. I did read through their entirety, out of boredom in equal measures as interest and caution, and had gone through a few sessions of physical therapy. It went slowly and without note other than the fact that the pains of hunger lessened with each passing day.

Luna was progressing well during our lessons but often had to step out due to dream related business. Something about hunting nightmares, which I was completely in support of. In the meantime, Doctor Hoarse Throat got me a prosthetic.

“How well does it fit?”

I tested the prosthetic out. By lifting my shoulder up, the contraction contracted. Lowering it, the leg extended fully.

‘I’ll need to be careful to not shrug.’

“It fits well.”

Doctor Hoarse nodded, “That’s good. You’ll be able to do the straps on your own since you’re a unicorn.”

The straps in question were two bands of material, one going up and around the base of my neck, and the other going across and around my barrel. Together, they held the prosthetic snug in its socket.

The prosthetic itself looked like a very simple system of pulleys but I couldn’t rule out magic. I couldn’t detect any, but low level enchantments are often hard to detect. The exterior of the prosthetic was made of smooth metal plates all fitted together to cover up any gaps within the structure. Currently the rounded piece that covered the kneecap was removed, allowing me to see the structure within. Several beams, wheels, and pulleys lay within. It was a simple system, as I understood it.

All in all, it looked like a leg encased in platemail.

I raised and lowered my shoulder a few times, testing out the device.

“The true test is walking with it.”

I slowly and carefully maneuvered my way out of the bed. Keeping myself balanced with the new weight pulling down my right side. It was heavier than what my old leg was, making moving it an entirely new experience.

When I got off the bed I tested standing using the prosthetic.

“You’re doing great, Sky.”

Trying my best to ignore the frankly embarrassing platitude, I focused on lifting the leg and placing it down a pace ahead. The metal hoof clanked on the tile flooring as I set it down.

“Try walking across the room.”

‘Your health is low, you have any potions? Or food?’

I walked across the room in an undignified and slow pace. It was clear that getting used to the faux limb would take some time.

“It will take some time to get used to the prosthetic.”

I rolled my eyes.

“You’re doing great, Sky.”

“Uh huh.”

It was also starting to get exhausting. I could not tell whether it was from the extreme blood loss I was recovering from or the fact that I essentially had been skipping leg day during my entire time here on Equus. A bit of both, most likely. Unlike Oest, I did not exercise much. I did do a lot of combat training but that was far from pure aerobic exercise, not to mention the fact that I had only done it for a few months. It kept me in shape, true, but the focus was more on technique and skill rather than physique.

By the time I had walked the breadth of the room five times, I was sweating and panting. So I collapsed onto the hospital bed, trying to catch my breath.

“That was great, Sky!”

‘Panar strike me down now. I’m sorry for what I’ve done!’

“Is that… praise necessary?” I panted while trying not to glare at him.

‘I’ll do anything you ask, just please never have me run the PACER!’

“Yes. You must have a lot of earth pony blood in you because your recovery is going at a record pace!”

‘... Probably too fast. Forgive my weakness and impatience, but I’ve decided to risk a quicker recovery to staying in this boring room any longer than I have to.’

I grunted a reply.

“I’ll be sure to pass the good news along to that friendly Sergeant.”

“Good news?”

“All your test results are clear. You’ve been making an excellent physical recovery. And to top it all off, you’ve taken to the prosthetic like bees to honey! Instead of keeping you here just to run laps over and over, instead I’ll just hoof your therapy regimen to Sergeant Search. That way you can check out of here sooner rather than later.”

I pulled myself up to a proper sitting position now that my chest wasn’t about to explode.

“Oh. That is good news. When am I leaving, then?”

“As long as all the paperwork is in order, you could be out of here as early as tomorrow afternoon. I am going to prescribe a light physical workload outside of therapy. For the first week, use either the wheelchair or walk on three legs almost exclusively, as putting strain on your shoulder for too long could cause the wounds to reopen. Otherwise, we’ll take a look at it tomorrow and see if we can give you the all clear.”

“Fantastic.”

“Now, there is one last thing we need to discuss…”

Doctor Hoarse came close to retrieve one of the clipboards at the end of the bed. She then flipped through it for a few pages.

“... While you seem to be recovering quite well from the attack, there is a matter I would like to discuss with you before you leave.”

My ears splayed back.

“I know that tone. That’s not a tone of voice anyo–pony wants to hear a doctor use.”

“Shortly after you first woke up, you were brought up to speed on what happened to you physically. Do you recall that conversation?”

“Yes.”

“During this conversation you had an… episode.”

Suddenly the wall became very interesting, so I opted to stare at that instead of the Doctor.

“Far Sky, you’ve been hiding signs of extreme stress. We’ve become concerned that… Without access to your previous medical records, we can only guess at your history. Before I go into theories, I would greatly appreciate it if you could tell us what’s troubling you.”

“I’m fine.”

“Please Far Sky. We want to help you.”

“I said I’m fine.”

Hoarse sighed, “While we were discussing your treatment, you became extremely distressed when we were discussing spells concerning the mind. Were there any prior incidents that might have caused this?”

I couldn’t tell if my disguise was breaking down or building up. Either way, I wanted this conversation to end.

I quietly said, “No.”

“What is it that makes you anxious?”

‘That fucking lab–’

“I’m fine.”

“... The first step to getting help is admitting you are struggling. You don’t have to be alone in this.”

“Thank you, Doctor Hoarse.”

“Sky, please look at me.”

I met her gaze. The amount of concern coming off her was nearly nauseating. All the emotion did was frustrate me even more.

“Were you subject to mind spells in the past?”

‘This not a conversation I ever wanted to have. How do I even get out of this?!’

“No.”

“... Was somepony you know subject to them?”

‘Calm down. Get a hold of your breathing. And stop shaking!’

“No.”

“It’s okay Far Sky. Nopony can hurt you, just please be honest with me.”

“... It’s been a fear of mine since…”

Hoarse did not interrupt me. Instead, she patiently waited for me to continue. I took the time to continue my lie as I took the opportunity to let my gaze drop to my hooves.

‘A sob story... One where asking too many questions won't help, only hurt. So it’s gotta be tragic but not something like abuse.’

“My uncle. He… He was a guardspony for Fillietown. Years of service. He was one of the nicest ponies I knew. He started helping us after our dad died... Last year, he was a few years from retirement when a brick fell onto him while walking past a home that was under construction… He wasn’t wearing his helmet since he was off duty. Then… well, that’s it. He went from being the best guard in the town to… He couldn’t walk. He forgot things quicker than he could learn them. He couldn’t really talk. He…”

I trailed off.

“If a brick can do that, what can a spell do?”

I sniffled and rubbed my eyes with my left hoof. I wasn’t actually crying, but Hoarse didn’t know that.

“Thank you for being honest with me, Sky.”

‘Holy shit, that worked?’

“It’s stupid…”

“No fear is stupid. Someone close to you was taken in a brutal manner and it hurt you. Nopony can blame you for someone like that.”

‘No doubt this is going to be brought up again in the future. Another lie I’ll have to remember. Shit, that means I’ll have to wear a helmet a lot if they issue one to me. That’s the price I pay for this easy out, I guess. Now buzz off, pony. I’d like to get some shut-eye.’

“Can I get some rest now?”

“Oh, sure. I’m sorry if I pressed too hard. Just remember we’re here to help, so if you want to talk more, you can.”

“Okay,” I quietly said while undoing the straps that tied the prosthetic to me.

‘Far Sky is going to have a lot of helmet hair.’

63- Galunlati

I sat down on the invisible platform, admiring my own work. The quasar in front of me was truly beautiful.

It was like a black hole on fire; the disk– accretion disk?– was a dark red at the outer edge, brightening up to an orange in the middle, and ending in a white at the center, where the stellar object itself sat. It was hidden by the bright light. There were also the two opposing streams of light ejecting out from the quasar, at a perpendicular point to the disk’s plane.

All around the star was a reddish nebulae, swirling above and around the disk like an aurora borealis.

‘Wait, is it a star? Or is it like an alternative to black holes? Damn, I could really use Google right about now.’

I resisted the urge to summon a tub of popcorn to eat while watching the sped-up phenomenon. Eating while in a dream, while especially useless to me, was apparently prone to confusing your body. Luna had a lot more experience than me, so I accepted any warnings and advice she would offer me.

“What… is… that?”

I craned my neck around to see Luna slowly walking up to me, eyes and jaw wide. She never stopped staring at the quasar.

“A quasar. Or at least, what we think they look like.”

“What is a quasar?”

“The brightest object in existence. I… I don’t know if there is more known about them. I can’t exactly check anymore.”

“Where is it?”

“It’s… I want to say at the center of each galaxy. Or some galaxies? You get the idea.”

“I’m afraid I don’t.”

“It’s one of the reasons why every galaxy is bright at the center. These and supermassive black holes.”

“A galaxy... I believe I have heard that term in reference once. Something about beyond our solar system, correct?”

“You’re joking, right?”

She shook her head slowly, still admiring the fiery disk in front of us.

“... Right. We’ll get back to this point, then.”

‘Equestria may be a long way away from having actual simulations, but in here I’ve got the next best thing.’

I changed our scenery. We went from floating in space to the usual sitting room in Canterlot Castle. I walked over to the bay doors that led to the balcony and opened them. Luna followed close behind. Walking over to the edge of the balcony, I put my forelegs up on the railing and lifted myself up. I looked up at the starry night sky.

“Tell me what you know about stars.”

Luna joined me by the railing, hopping up in a similar way and brushing against my side with a smile.

“The night sky is a painting of a million stars. In aeons past, I would create a spectacle unrivaled in beauty for all to see. During my absence, the night sky was left… neglected. Celestia did not possess my ability to rearrange the night sky, so she left my last work untouched. Over the centuries, ponies sought to find hidden beauty within my work, creating patterns, stories, and deeper meanings where before there were none. I recall a conversation with Twilight over this one day. She cited a belief named ‘Death of the author.’ I did not know she was into such macabre subjects.

“As it turned out, it is an idea that says each viewer of a work of art, be it paint on canvas or ink on paper, views it in their own way. The creator has no input in how the work should be viewed, despite having created it themself… It is… I wish I had seen even a fraction of that dedication and appreciation before my fall. Not that there was nopony who appreciated my work, but instead that I was blind to seeing their existence.”

“... I’d love to hear the story in full of what happened before Nightmare’s arrival, but let’s go over that later. Right now, let’s talk about the stars. You claim to… arrange the night sky?”

“That is right. It is one of our favorite duties.”

“Last I checked, the night sky is still the same.”

“We… So much culture and appreciation has accumulated around its current form that We can not bring ourselves– I can not bring myself to tear it down to rebuild the sky. Instead, I keep the structure of the sky the same, instead choosing for a more subtle approach. Meteor showers, twinkling stars, auroras, and so forth.”

I shook my head, “Audacious claims of moving stars aside, what do you know about astronomy?”

‘This is also a great chance to hear about Equestria’s progress on that subject.’

“That is… not astrology. In my time, astrology was the appreciation of the night sky and each of its iterations. Ponies would dedicate themselves to recording each night’s beauty, selling paintings of their unique form. After our banishment, it shifted to the study of the stars’ patterns and their meaning. I was told that recently, it has fallen out of favor and has been replaced by astronomy. Ponies now look at my sky with telescopes, trying to view the sky up close. Whereas astrology was the study of patterns and meanings, astronomy is the study of the material of the heavens themselves.”

“That sounds pretty caught up. Does Equestria have any large telescopes?”

“You mean the ones the size of buildings? There is an observatory at Canterhorn’s summit. I have been meaning to visit it and its staff, but the work of rebuilding has kept me at bay.”

“I see. There’s no…”

‘No telescopes in space. They don’t have space travel or rocketry, so they are limited to telescopes hindered by the atmosphere. Which means they never discovered other galaxies.’

I pointed up at the bright band of stars that dominated the center of the sky.

“What is that?”

“That is Faust’s Light. It is one of the elements of the night sky that persisted throughout each iteration, actually. Like raising and lowering the moon, keeping its presence felt… right. Like the night sky was not whole without it.”

“And what did astrology– and I suppose mythology– say about it?”

“That it was the river that led to the afterlife. Faust would guide souls along its length as they traveled to the great beyond.”

“I take it Faust is your deity?”

“As you claim this Panar to be yours.”

“Gotcha. Now, what if I told you that I know what Faust’s Light actually was? And that we were all seeing it from the wrong angle?”

“You have had my attention this entire time, Phasma. I do not know what more you can capture.”

“Let’s start with your imagination. What you call Faust’s Light, we changelings called The Great Tapestry. Or at least, part of it. This is the String of Light, whose form Panarthropo let dangle loosely in The Great Tapestry, the world in its entirety. It was not woven taut like most other Strings.

“But this is wrong, too. A belief, an interesting one at that, but a belief. Faust’s Light, The String of Light, both have light in the name. Light is all it is, but it is so much light that one has to take a step back to truly see its form. Astronomy has called this phenomenon a galaxy. We are viewing this galaxy from the side, distorting our view. This is because we are in the galaxy.”

With a mental command, the balcony– and Equus entirely– zoomed away from beneath us. We were lifted into the night sky at speeds so quick it let me blur everything. I used the lack of focus to shift the dream so that it looked like we shot out of the galaxy, only to slow to a stop well outside of it.

“This is what our galaxy looks like. Or at least, what it could look like.”

It was modeled after the Milky Way, meaning it wasn’t their galaxy. It was close enough, I figured.

Luna was even more shocked than when she first saw the quasar. I leaned in towards her and she instinctively stretched out a wing around my back.

“Astronomy is finding our place in the world, and though I don’t practice or study astronomy myself, I have always been an admirer of… artists’ representations of the findings. Never been one to look through a telescope myself.”

“Changelings discovered all of this?”

“Not… really. I have seen more than any other changeling. It’s… hard to explain.”

She pulled me close with her wing, never taking her eyes off the galaxy.

“I think I shall acquire a telescope of my own tomorrow. Now, we have plenty of time. I would like to hear this mysterious origin story of yours.”

“You already know it. Evil queen, handsome and clever Prince, and painful dismemberment.”

She snorted.

“You possess more knowledge than your race does. You claim to hail from a place far from your own kingdom. You cannot deny that there is more to your story than what you let on.”

I nervously rubbed one foreleg with the other. Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, I thought over my reply.

“I don’t want to talk about it. It… brings up bad memories.”

“Then let us make a deal. You tell me all of your origin, and I will tell you about my origin and fall.”

“What if I decide that I’d rather keep it secret and lose the chance to hear your story?”

She finally broke her staring contest with the inanimate object and gave me a sour look. It was a look of pain, like a starving child being denied dinner. Or an immortal, eons-old superbeing not hearing a story they wanted to hear.

“What if I say please?”

She pursed a lip as well. I couldn’t take it, I had to look away.

I huffed, “That’s a cheap trick.”

“What? I’m just asking nicely.”

“You– agh, nevermind.”

“... Please?”

‘I swear, if she figures out that she can push me past my comfort zones using only pouty expressions, I’m going to… do something! Something that both of us’ll regret!’

“Damnable witch– Fine.” I paused, trying to calm myself down as well as thinking of how I wanted to phrase it. Luna meanwhile dropped the sad face and gave me all of her attention. “If you were to ask my age, you would get multiple answers. Three, in fact. None of them are any less correct than the others. The first is my first age. The second is my current age. The third and final answer is my collective age. Queen Chrysalis may be my mother– and Chamberlain Eucharis may have been my father– but they weren’t my first. I lived an entire life before hatching from an egg as a changeling royal.

“Chrysalis and Eucharis, they… they tried bringing a dead Princess back to life. Something went wrong and the ritual failed. Instead of Princess Procho being brought back to the world, my soul took its place. Chrysalis then put my soul in a vacant egg or something. Then I hatched. That was… eight months ago? Nine?”

“You would have me believe that you are only eight month old?”

“Accelerated growth period.”

“... That would explain your lack of strong emotional connection to your own mother.”

“Right. Strangely enough, we are kind of similar in ways. Makes me wonder if my soul was really picked at random…”

“I think I have gotten a good idea of Queen Chrysalis’s personality. You said your father is Chamberlain Eucharis? What is he like?”

“Oh he doesn’t do much these days. Heheheh…. Fuck. He was loyal to Chrysalis to a fault, he tried watching over me during my life, and now he’s dead. ‘Course he only revealed that he was my father after I had killed him, not before.”

“You killed him? When?”

“His corpse was the one in Celestia’ personal office. Not sure if that out-of-place body raised any questions, but that was him. That happened right before I went to fight Chrysalis. I tried to stop him, told him that he doesn’t have to side with Chrysalis, but the stubborn fool ignored me and tried to warn Chrysalis anyway. Apparently, those two had a deal where Eucharis reported my every move and in exchange Chrysalis wouldn’t actually hurt me. Kind of messed up that my father had to make that kind of deal, but the changeling hive has never been… familial. Loyalty to the hive is the bottom line. I’m the only changeling who actually knows who their parents are…”

“You are painting quite a bleak picture of your kingdom and early life.”

“Why do you think we invaded Equestria? We wanted a nice vacation spot in addition to not starving to death.”

“And your life before?”

I started to lean away but Luna’s wing held me close.

“... I don’t want to talk about that.”

“Why, if I may ask?”

“Because I never got to say goodbye. Please, can we move on?”

Luna sighed and nuzzled my neck. I wasn’t sure if the whole changelings can’t blush thing translated into my dreams, but I did feel my face heat up and heartbeat quicken at the close contact. After a few moments too short, she pulled back a bit.

“I am sorry Phasma. You have endured a lot of hardship. I understand if you can not speak of such subject so soon. Now, I suppose it is time for my end of the bargain. My sister and I were born far from here, in a small farming village without a name. Our early days were long, working in the fields to grow what we could with our parents. Nopony knows that we have such humble origins, and we intentionally have kept that information from prying ears. You never know what somepony can do with such knowledge.”

“My lips are sealed.”

“I appreciate that. Now, as we worked the fields, it was the unicorns who controlled the rise and fall of the sun and moon.”

“Oh boy, this again,” I interrupted with an eye roll.

“I beg your pardon?”

“Your… cult of personality. The whole ‘raising the sun and moon’ nonsense.” I made an air quotes motion with my hooves to emphasize my point.

“That is– you do not believe that we bring the dawn and the dusk?”

“I showed you what a galaxy is, Luna. Gravitational pull is a lot easier to understand than the sheer vastness of space, and the macrostructures that make up the universe.”

Luna shook her head, “We– I understand that you may have lived a life far from here before this one, so it is understandable to be incredulous. However, Celestia and I have raised and lowered the sun and moon for more than one millennia. Were we awake and in person, you would be able to witness our great duty personally.”

“You can’t expect me to believe someone as small as you can move an entire moon or sun. A great philosopher did say that they could move the world with a long enough lever and a well placed fulcrum, but last I checked you don’t exactly have a plank that stretches across the solar system.”

“We do not physically move them. It is our marks; we earned them when we moved them for the first time. In ages past, it was a conclave of unicorns that moved the heavens at great expense. For each ritual, every single caster would lose their magic. Then my sister and I came, forming a connection with the heavens, as Harmony ordained.”

“... If you really had enough magical power to move a celestial body then how did either of you ever lose a fight?”

“We can only access the full extent of our power when moving our sky. If either of us were to try to use any of either the sun or the moon’s innate magical reserves outside of expending them to move said sun or moon then… Poof! A new coat of paint on the walls, in royal viscera.”

“So you can only use that magic when you’re expending it as fast as you gain it?”

“Precisely. All the magic we access, we expend immediately. The exception to this are the Nightmares. When I was Nightmare Moon– or when Nightmare Moon was me, whichever is true– and right now as Celestia is Daybreaker, siphoning off a minute portion of the heavenly bodies’ strength is possible. How is beyond our reckoning, only that the Nightmares prevent our untimely demise via oversaturation of mana.”

“Okay, all that I can believe. What I can’t believe is the idea that there is a need at all to even nudge the sun or moon. Everything works fine when you don’t micromanage their movements.”

“This is not so. On several occasions, the day or night did not give way to the other. If there is nopony moving the heavens, then they do not move.”

“The only way that makes sense is if Equus is tidally locked; one side always faces the sun, and the other never faces it. But even then, if you were to ‘move the heavens,’ A.K.A. spin Equus, then you would only need to do it once. No planet, sun, or moon just stops out in space. A body in motion stays in motion unless acted upon by an outside force!”

“This was supposed to be a story about our origin, yet we sit here arguing over something that can clearly be seen every morning and every night.”

“Alright, I apologize. I’ll withhold my pointing-of-plot-holes in your story till after you finish.”

“Ha! I am sure you will. Now, where was I?”

“The conclaves?”

“Ah yes. It was a cold fall night when there was a loud knocking on our hovel’s door. A unicorn and his three friends from the capital had traveled all the way to find us. Legends of alicorns had traveled far, as it happened. Now, back then all three tribes of ponies were at each other’s necks. War and strife were common companions for the everyday pony. The unicorn that had approached us, Star Swirl the Bearded, hopped that we were the key to ending the division that bestrode every walk of life in pony society…”

64- Hómēros

“... And then, I was banished to the moon. You know what followed.”

I had kept quiet during Luna’s story, slowly accumulating questions to ask at the end. The first one was easy enough to segue into.

“How long were you awake on the moon?”

“I am not sure. Anywhere from a hundred years to the full thousand. There were periods of rest, and tracking the passage of time was… impossible.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

Luna sighed and shook her head. In an attempt to comfort her, I tried replicating the nuzzling she did earlier. It was an extremely unfamiliar movement, making the end result not at all graceful and very awkward. Still, she chuckled and returned the gesture.

“Hey, I’m not used to this. Any of this.”

“I know, which means your pitiful attempts mean all the more for it.”

“Pitiful?” I asked in mock anger.

“It is entertaining seeing you get flustered. Relax, Phasma, you will learn these gestures and shows of affection with practice. We have all the time in the world.”

I changed the scene before us from the Milky Way Galaxy back to the quasar that we had first seen. As I watched the object spin slowly, I moved the conversation on.

“Were you and your sister born alicorns?”

“No. We ascended quite young,” I flinched slightly at that but Luna missed my reaction. “It was a cold winter day when we became alicorns. I was born a pegasus, and my sister was born a unicorn. The large town that our family farm was near was… troubled, to put it lightly. To put it accurately, it was a few bad fights away from outright internal war. Several bad seasons had led to a food shortage, and the earth ponies and pegasi in the town were at each other's throats. Each blamed the other for the hardship, neither realizing that the fault was nopony’s in particular. My sister and I had gone to the market to sell some of the spare firewood we had collected. Only, the feud that split the town had also split the marketplace. I shan’t bore you with the details, but know that Celestia and I started the talks between the two halves of the town. It was like getting blood from a stone, but we did end the hostilities in the end.

“Then Celestia devised a method of splitting up any foods in the town, whereas I formulated a distribution system to ensure all had equal access and equal shares of the rations. We even donated all of our spare food to start the process of collecting everything in one place, in the center of town. Harmony must have had plans for our futures, as such a small kindness should not have resulted in ascension. Yet, it did. To this day, neither of us quite understand just what exactly causes a pony to become an alicorn. However, we both agree that the catalyst is to embody every Element of Harmony during a crisis.”

“Huh. Are there equivalents for other species?”

“Aside from your own royal lineage? Yes, in fact. Prince Chrysomallos was a ram with golden wool, who ruled over the long-destroyed Princedom of Colchis. He could cast magic from his horns, and he even had a pair of wings, too. His subjects enjoyed a golden age under his rule. His life was ended many millennia ago by… Well, the entirety of the old world was lost to that mad tyrant’s chaos. There were a few other perpetuals before that catastrophic epoch.”

“That Discord fellow? How many kingdoms did he topple, exactly?”

There was a distant, almost imperceptible laugh in the dream when I mentioned the name. For my own sanity, I ignored it.

“Considering even our own memory of the time before his reign has become a bit chaotic due to his power, it is impossible to say. Double digits, at the very least. We were not the first champions of Harmony to fight him, but we were the only ones to wield the Elements.”

“That’s unfortunate. I can’t imagine losing that many civilizations at once... Do you recall any others?”

“There was Prince Ruru, a deer perpetual. Stories told of his magnificent coat of precious gemstones that he wore at all times– even his antlers were encased in rubies and emeralds, though neither of us got the chance to meet him. He and his entire kingdom vanished shortly before Discord’s arrival. Our best guesses and prophecies suggest that he managed to remove his entire kingdom from the timeline, saving them from the chaotic one’s ruination at the cost of their presence in the world.”

“That’s quite the feat. Removing an entire kingdom from existence…”

“It’s not the first time it’s happened, actually. A close friend to Celestia and I, Princess Amore of the Crystal Empire, suffered the same fate. We… lost contact with her long before Discord’s rise. Her last message was of an encroaching darkness. We attempted to fly to her rescue, but we were too late. The magnificent Crystal Empire had vanished before we could arrive with aid, leaving nothing but a snowy plain that stretched for hundreds miles in every direction. Celestia believes that Amore hid the Empire to save it from the danger it was facing, likely inspiring Chrysomallos’ own demise. I am inclined to agree. We cannot ascertain the Crystal Empire’s fate as we can the Princedom of Colchis; Princess Amore apparently used a spell that erased all written and magical notation of its existence. No prophecy or clairvoyance spell can even hint at its fate.”

“Sounds like the world was a lot more filled in ancient history.”

“Which is why I rejoiced when you found me. Nightmare Moon, I mean. We lost everypony we knew when we were banished, and our immortal compatriots had long since returned to dust.”

“... I suppose the final question I have is one that I had already brought up. You and your stupid idea of moving the world–”

“It is not stupid! You just have not seen the beauty of our personal sunrise and sunset. Even Daybreaker, the cold-hearted fire demon, raises the sun with unparalleled grace”

“Yeah, uh huh. Whatever you say, honey.”

“You will see! In fact… Let us make a wager! I prove it beyond a doubt come ‘marrow night.”

“Alright, I’m game. What’re the stakes?”

“Once you admit defeat, you shall… apologize to our niece!”

“Once– wait, what?”

“Our niece. My niece, whatever. Princess Cadenza, and her beau Captain Shining Armor.”

“You want me to… apologize? What?”

“You tortured a foal in front of the Captain, and have caused considerable stress to Cadence. They both often face terrors at night due to your own actions. Cadence is one of the few kind faces we see often in our daily life, so this must be corrected at once. You did not intentionally mean to psychologically harm them, did you?”

“No–”

“Perfect! Then you will apologize to them. To start the road to forgiveness, if you will.”

I rubbed my forehead with a hoof.

“You do realize that I want to keep my survival a secret, right? How the hell am I going to apologize to them without revealing who I am? I’m not even in Canterlot right now!”

“You will not need to apologize in person. Though you shall later when possible, it is a simple matter to find them in the Dreamscape. Ha, this shall be the perfect start to your training as well!”

“That still has the problem of them knowing that I am alive!”

“Yes, it is a concession. However, they will keep it a secret if I ask.”

“Luna! I don’t want anyone to know I’m alive!”

“You wish to make amends as well as allies, correct? This is the wager.”

“You– wh… damn it! Fine! Say that is the penalty for your wild imagination somehow turning out to be true. What could I possibly get from the wager?”

Luna tapped her chin, thinking for a moment.

“... I will tell your story to the press, up till your fateful duel with Chrysalis in the throne room. There should be no shortage of ponies who will sympathize with your efforts to safeguard your subjects. At the very least, it will dispel the horrid rumors and titles that you are accumulating in death. The end result is support amongst ponies once you reveal yourself.”

'That would make facing Chrysalis a hell of a lot easier. I need all the allies and support I can get.'

“You can do that? Why can’t you just do that right now?”

“Because I will have to go through Daybreaker first. That means telling her of your deal with Nightmare Moon, and my possible sympathies for changelings. It goes against her desires for what should be printed, but I am sure I can spin it in a positive light for her.”

“And you can’t do all that right now because…?”

“Because my first priority is getting my sister back. This will possibly jeopardize any standing I have with Daybreaker. She will forever suspect my motives– if she does not already– and make every one of my future moves that much harder.”

I gaped at her.

“Luna, how could I ask you to–”

“There is no risk of that happening. As much as I want to help you, this is not a wager I will lose.”

“But still, getting rid of Daybreaker is far more advantageous to me than having good public relations.”

“Both would happen. I have done impossible things in the past, and this dangerous subterfuge is far from impossible.”

I sighed, “Then we have a wager.”

She smiled and clapped her hooves, “Excellent! I am going to have to find a way to gently inform Cadence of your survival… perhaps it won’t even be possible to speak with Captain Shining clandestinely…”

Meanwhile, a question at the back of my mind came to the front of it.

“... Titles? What are ponies calling me?”

The newspaper slowly dropped from my hooves and onto the bed.

‘Well… As far as nicknames go, that’s pretty badass. A massive PR nightmare, but pretty cool.’

The newspaper in question was a few days old. Acquiring it had been easy; I simply asked Nurse Gentle Hoof for some reading material, specifically any newspapers that were printed in my absence.

‘Survivors Describe Horrible Attacks Coordinated By The Dread Prince Phasmatoda of The Changelings,’ was sprawled out in massive letters.

‘The Dread Prince. This reads like bad war propaganda. No, actually, it reads like good war propaganda. Faceless villain, way over-exaggerated stories of attacks and families being ripped apart, and crying children. The front picture is a foal crying for Panar’s sake, how can I compete with that?!’

Luna had said that Daybreaker had taken control of the presses, and sure enough an article titled ‘Sun Times Journalist Found Harboring Changelings’ was on the side of the front page, taking second place below the war propaganda.

“Of course they spelled my name wrong, though,” I mumbled to myself quietly. I also quietly cursed the author of the propaganda, a pony named Quick Wit.

‘Bastard. Servicing the military industrial complex by writing propaganda is one thing, but getting my name wrong is another thing entirely!’

A knock on the door brought my attention back to the present. The faint taste of emotions came through.

‘Excitement? Who would be excited to meet me?’

“Come in!”

‘Ah, that’s who.’

Sergeant Quick Search, Private Warm Dew, and Lance Corporal Bray Call.

They were too close to each other for me to pick out specifically who was feeling what, but it wasn’t that much of a guess to say that Bray was the one who was excited. The Sergeant had an extremely cheery disposition despite the fact that it was before noon, immediately tipping me off that something was wrong.

“Good mornin’, Far Sky. Are you excited?”

“Uh… for?”

“Today’s the day you are released! You won’t have to spend another night in that boring old hospital bed!”

“That’s today?”

“Yep!” He cheered as his two underlings– but not lings– nodded.

“Oh… alright.”

“That’s it? C’mon, you’re finally leaving!”

“Yaaaay,” I said with obviously forced cheer. Then, I put on a forced smile.

“... We could just leave you here–”

“That’s not necessary!”

“Thought so. Dew, go get everything sorted with whoever is on duty. While we wait…. Is something wrong, Sky?”

“No?”

“Why aren’t you happy to finally leave this room? Isn’t it boring here?”

I circled my hoof on the blanket covering my hindlegs, looking down.

“Uh… yes. But… It’s hard to be excited, you know…”

“What? Can you please speak louder?”

“I said it’s hard to be excited. I may be leaving the hospital, but I’m forever going to be a… a cripple.”

‘Delicious sympathy. The hunger is down to an ache, and if I’m going to feed then it would help to know if they can tell the symptoms… maybe just a nibble?’

“Oh. I am sorry that you see it that way, but you should look on the bright side of things…. Right Bray?”

“Hmm? Oh yes! That was a scary situation you got out of, thanks to your quick wit alone! You should be proud that you’re still going back for seconds rather than, uh… nevermind, that would be insensitive for me to say. Point is, I can’t wait to work together with you, and I hope you’ll enjoy working with us too!”

At the mention of the name I glanced down at the papers.

“Equestria Daily? You really read that muck?”

I looked up and saw the Sergeant craning his neck to look at the newspapers.

“I just asked for the news to read. Didn’t exactly get a choice… Is there something wrong with Equestria Daily?”

“All they do is print sensational news. Anything that will catch eyes can make it to their front page. You should keep away from that nonsense.”

“If you say so…”

“I do. So get ready to leave, Dew is getting all the required paperwork to get you discharged.”

“... I don’t have things to pack up…”

“No th– Darn it, I’m sorry Sky.” He looked over to Bray with pleading eyes.

“Sir, you can’t keep hooving him off to me whenever you want him to stop feeling bad about things.”

“Sure I can. Now, make with the happiness.”

Bray rolled her eyes.

“Don’t worry Sky. Once your paycheck starts coming in, you can replace everything you lost pretty quickly. We’ll chip in and help, if needed.”

“Thanks.”

“No problem, that’s what friends are for.”

‘Friends? These ponies consider me a friend?’

I stared at Bray as she turned around when Dew entered the room. He was carrying a clipboard with a hoof and a sealed pack rested on his back.

‘What strange creatures.’

“Alright, everything’s in order. You just need to sign this paper here and you’re good to go.”

I picked up the pen attached to the clipboard and signed Far Sky on the dotted line. The handwriting– hornwriting? I actually wasn’t sure what it was called– looked rather poor.

‘Eh, another aspect of my disguise. Poor education on top of family issues? No, I know I’ll make plenty of slips if I have that… I guess I just have bad hornwriting.’

I pushed the newspapers to the end of the bed and retrieved my prosthetic. After tying the straps across my chest, I got out of the bed.

“Great. Let’s head on down to the station,” Sergeant Search smiled as he led the way out.

They set a slow pace as we walked out of my room. I had left my room a few times prior to that, mostly for tests and physical therapy, but this would be the last time I got to see its interior.

‘Hopefully the last time.’

Overworked hospital staff, the smell of disinfectant, and patients who looked like they were all miserable.

‘Yep. It’s a hospital. Good detective work, me.’

“On your way out?”

I turned and saw Nurse Gentle Hoof walking over. I nodded to him.

“Great to hear that! You stay on track with your P.T., you hear?”

“Yes Nurse.”

“Alright, you take care now, and stay away from packs of wild dire wolves!”

“I’ll try, Nurse Gentle.”

He waved goodbye which I reciprocated with a nod, and we headed out of the hospital wing, through the empty air conditioned lobby, and finally through the front doors of the hospital.

Hooferville was having a busy morning; The streetside cafes were packed. The cobblestone roads were busy with ponies heading to wherever they needed to be. Several pony drawn carts were making their way down the center of the roads, hauling their loads filled with goods or ponies. Sergeant Search led the way through the traffic, heading east through the town. As we walked, I took in the architecture and style of the town.

In many ways, it reminded me of the smalltown rural America that I had traveled through on numerous occasions. Storefronts were decorated with beautiful curved brickwork, stylized signs, and large colorful awnings above the myriad of windows gave the town a very lively feel. All around, windows were opened to let in the cool breeze whistling through the town. That breeze was a welcome relief from the sudden heat of the summer sun.

‘Fur. I’m covered in fur. In the middle of summer. Panar, there’s going to be a lot more heat in my future, isn’t there?’

Then there were the ponies themselves. It was like someone went through the paint aisle of a department store and started knocking all the cans onto the ground, spilling their contents across the paved floor. Blues, reds, greys, whites, yellows, and on and on and on. Most of them were in dulled pastel shades. Even the stallions were not spared the massacre of masculinity that occurred before me. A rare pony wore clothing, be it a dress, tuxedo, or something else. More than a few wore hats, usually the large brim kind. And of course, no one wore pants. No one ever did.

The air was filled with the smells of fresh food from the cafe, and even fresher food from the ponies themselves. It was all different flavors of happiness, with dashes of contrasting emotions from the odd pony in the crowd. Happiness was not a very palatable dish for a changeling, so I kept my head down and stayed close behind Quick Search.

All the ponies were busy with their own lives and paid little attention to the cripple now walking down the street, However, I did see a grey pegasus sitting alone at the edge of the cafe across from the hospital. He glanced at me briefly before returning to his breakfast.

With Search leading the front and Dew and Bray on either side of me, I managed to avoid most of the looks of the townsponies as we walked. Two of the newly-acquainted guards often offered greetings and hellos to ponies as we passed. Warm Dew kept quiet, giving me an occasional odd look.

‘Not much of a talker, are you? That makes two of us, I suppose.’

Just as the flow of traffic started to die down and the several-stories-tall buildings started to shrink in height, Search stopped in front of a particular building. Set apart from its neighbors, the large squarish brick building towered over its immediate surroundings. Five stories tall, it was certainly the tallest building this far from the riverside.

A white bordered blue background sign sat out in front on a small patch of mowed grass, bearing the words ‘Hooferville Royal Guard Station.’

“Here it is,” the light red pegasus Sergeant leading the way said. “C’mon in, we’ll get you set up.”

Climbing the steps that led up to the front door was an unpleasant exercise with my new metal limb but I eventually managed to do it. By the time we entered the double doors, I had worked up a sweat from crossing the town on hoof.

‘This heat certainly doesn’t help. I don’t remember it being this horrid back when I had a chitin exterior.’

The lobby of the station was just as I expected it to be. Cheap chairs, wood paneled walls, a reinforced glass barrier for whoever was at the front desk, and life-giving air conditioning. I didn’t ask how Equestria had AC, I just took the blessing without argument.

‘Probably magic anyways.’

“Morning, Stern,” Search called out as we passed the front desk and through a door next to it. Stern, the white earth pony in a grey metal simplistic guard armor, didn’t acknowledge the Sergeant’s greeting at all. He instead kept reading the newspaper he held in front of him, pausing only to take a long sip from a coffee cup.

“Sturdy security team,” I said quietly. Private Dew snorted and shook his head.

The rooms past the front lobby were just as stereotypical. Wooden benches, open air offices, glass windows, and desks with paperwork piled on top of. The sides of the main room we entered had wooden doors spaced along it evenly, each labeled with a pony’s name in gold lettering on the glass. Closed shades covered up the sight into each one. Ponies, some in the grey armor, many without, sat at desks, talked at water coolers, or otherwise moved through the room at a leisurely pace.

“This here’s the main floor. My office isn’t here.”

“Hmm. You all sure do look heavily pressed for more help.”

“It’s a very calm day today. Besides, there’s always plenty of guards who are here in the building at all hours. Even the night shift has five or so in here at a time. There’s just always work to be done inside. It’s the patrols that are suffering from staffing issues. Especially in this heat, ponies just love dodging patrol duty.”

“Plus, there’s not many unicorns in Hooverville,” Bray added. True to her word, I had spotted few unicorns out in the town. In this main room, I saw only earth ponies and pegasi.

“No?”

“Nah. We have a lot of earth ponies here ‘cuz of the outlying farms and the marketplace. And there’s a lot of pegasi because of our somewhat-close proximity to Manehattan. This town is a very popular stopping point on the journey west to Vanhoover, leading to a lot of earth pony-drawn and pegasi-flown shipments coming through.”

“Ah. That makes a lot of sense.”

“They also like to cause trouble,” Dew added.

“Dew here believes that these ponies passing through are the ones who cause the most trouble,” Sergeant Search explained.

‘Must be a proud local or something.’

After showing me the main room, he led us to the back of the building where a large staircase led the way up. I suppressed a groan at its sight and started the climb up, favoring only using three limbs instead of using all four.

We stopped at around the nine hundredth floor by my reckoning. I could be wrong with that count, though.

“This is horrible,” I gasped out.

“You’ll get the hang of it, Sky. Anyways, this here’s my office.”

Search pointed to one of the first doors and opened it, revealing a large room with a wooden desk, filing cabinets, several chairs, and other boring cop stuff. I was still catching my breath.

“This is where we’ll be spending our time when not out on patrol. There’s the locker room on the first floor and personal rooms on the top fifth floor. That’s where you’ll be staying. The cells for the inmates are all located in the basement, but there’s not really a need to show you those. We’ll be booking any offenders in the main room first before heading up here. Don’t worry, you’ll just be filling out paperwork with that. I’ll be the one actually handling any misbehaving ponies.”

“Sounds simple enough,” I said, still huffing.

“Bray will also walk you through our S.O.P.s and other stuff here. I’ll start arranging your introductory documents while Bray shows you to your room. Dew, I could use your help in here, too.”

“Yes sir.”

“C’mon Sky, your room is on the next floor up.”

Bray led the way out of the room and back to those accursed stairs. I lamented the lack of existence of elevators for the second time as we finished scaling the station to the top and final floor.

“I don’t remember suffering this much!”

“You’re still fatigued from your, err… Okay, I’m going to be honest; you were a shitshow. You lost so much blood that we were wondering just where you kept it all. You tinged the entire river red for a stretch before you were seen. That’s actually one of the reasons why you were noticed at all. I mean really, who has that much blood in them?”

‘I wonder if my royal body was going into overdrive replacing blood as I lost it. That doesn’t sound physically possible, but then again magic exists. It certainly has to account for a least a portion of all this lost blood… maybe the overdrive ended when the blood loss ended. That would explain why I’ve been feeling drained mana-wise recently.’

“... and this here will be your room,” Bray finished saying.

I had missed the first part of whatever she was talking about as she opened the brown wooden door. It had an empty name plate next to it on the wall. Beyond was a very small two-room apartment. The main room had a tiny kitchen, a bed, and a space for some furniture. The second room was a bathroom.

“It’s pretty small, I know. But the fact that we even have these at all is something! Most other stations don’t have anything like this. Turns out, this building is very old, going back to the days where it was custom for the few guards the town had to live inside the station completely. That was a long time ago, and since then most of the rooms were renovated to be those offices. Well, offices, meeting rooms, storage rooms, and so on.”

“I got the picture.”

“Great! So, uh, remember where you’re staying. Since you don’t have stuff to drop off, let’s head back to the Sarg’s office.”

I sighed and followed her out. She closed the door and we headed back to the office.

I was sitting on the bed in my assigned room.

After doing paperwork, Bray had started covering the procedures of being a guard. There were no surprises there.

After an eternity, I was given the afternoon to pick out some things for my room. That is to say, I collected some items from a store room. Pillows, blankets, sheets, and other things for my room. What couldn't be retrieved, I bought from a local store using bits that Search gave me. Then, I relaxed and started reading a book that caught my eye while I was in the dusty storeroom.

I put down ‘On The Treatise Of Magic’ by some old pony and slowly limped over to the window. It was on the far side of the apartment, near where the bed was. Pulling the faded brown curtains open, I looked out into the starry night sky. I actually had a nice view over the town, seeing off the side and down the road. Not the one in front of the building, but instead one that started behind the station and curved around towards the river. Since I was on the top floor, the building next door didn’t really obstruct the view at all.

However, I was not taking in the sights. I was staring up at the night sky. Up there, in the heavens themselves, I saw something that made my head hurt because of the implications.

‘There’s no way. This has got to be an illusion or something…. An illusion that can span half the continent, given that she doesn’t know where I am? Fuck me, there’s no way this can be faked, is there?’

Written in the stars were the words: I TOLD YOU SO.

“Panar. Fucking. Damn it!”

65- Janus

Luna materialized as a billowing cloud of black and blue nebulous smoke, which quickly dissipated and revealed her form. It was quite fitting, considering that we were currently floating in front of the Pillars of Creation.

She had an impossibly smug grin on her face as she walked up to me. Once again, there was no surface beneath us but I let us walk on nothing all the same. When she stopped next to me, her grin only widened.

“Good evening Phasma.”

“Hi Luna.”

“Tell me, did you perchance see our night sky?”

“Nah, I went to bed early.”

“You are smiling.”

“Nuh.”

“I can see it.”

“No you can’t.”

“Did you like my message?”

“What message? I didn’t receive any mail today.”

“I told you there was no chance of me losing the bet.”

“That’s strange considering you lost it.”

“I hope you have an apology prepared.”

“I mean, technically you didn’t prove that you moved the moon, so that means I won.”

“Oh no it does not! You saw an example of my power. You know that what I say is truthful.”

“I’ll tell you what, we can call it a draw.”

“Concede! You lost!”

“Best two out of three?”

“I will write ‘Phasma Lost’ in the stars themselves if you do not acknowledge our victory!”

“Hahaha okay okay... there’s a small possibility you won. A very small possibility. Negligible, even.”

“Charlatan!” She yelled before tackling me.

As we tumbled, I turned off gravity and removed the surface beneath us, sending us spinning through space. In order to not be flung away, Luna wrapped her forelegs around my chest as we spun.

“Admit defeat!” She yelled, but she was smiling.

“Sorry what was that? I can't hear you over the sound of the laws of physics actually working.”

“You lost, you insufferable knave!” She poked me in the chest, trying to keep a straight face.

“Maybe I did, but I’ll never admit that.”

“Then I suppose I’ll just leave you here. Your stubbornness and ego shall keep you company.”

I sighed and stopped our spin. Luna relaxed her grip but otherwise still held onto me.

“Alright fine, I didn’t win. You… didn’t lose– what did you tell Daybreaker about the message? I imagine she would have wanted an explanation, if only for the fact that she controls the presses now.”

Luna rolled her eyes when I refused to admit defeat. She let go of me and gave me a tired glare.

“That after dealing with yet another troublesome foal, I grew tired of proving that I could indeed manipulate the night sky. You have done nothing to dissuade that notion, you overgrown colt. Still, without even telling you, you knew of an altercation between us. I could really use your experience with all this secretive nonsense.”

“How does your solar system even work then? It shouldn’t be possible nor necessary for you to ‘move’ the sun or moon but I guess with magic, anything’s possible.”

“Give me autonomy over the Dreamscape and I shall show you.”

“I can do that? How? No wait, why didn’t you ask me to do that earlier?”

“... Having to weave together Dreamscapes gets boring and tiresome after a while. To relax and let you do the work has led to many enjoyable moments.”

“I get that, it’s hard work having an imagination. How do I give some control over to you?”

“Let this be the first lesson in Dreamwalking. There is no magic in here. Not unicorn’s, alicorn’s, changeling’s or any other.”

“I figured as much. The fact that I can’t ever sense your emotions in here hinted at that.”

“Changelings sense emotions?”

“Yeah. We feed on love as that’s the best one, but we can sense and consume any emotion for the most part. Many specific emotions are considered facets of the major ones, though. Boredom is a lack of excitement, excitement is just happiness, so therefore we only sense the presence of happiness or lack thereof, and so on.”

“Only broad emotions, that is very interesting…”

“Don’t tell–”

“I will keep it a secret. You should know by now that I would not reveal your existence, directly or indirectly.”

“Sorry, it’s just…”

“I know. Though how long your powers remain a secret remains to be seen. Daybreaker will soon start interrogating captives. I have convinced her to start taking prisoners, but this means there is a need to feed them. They were forthcoming only with dietary needs, and Daybreaker has sent ponies that have slighted her to be cocooned and allowed access to by Daybreaker’s prisoners. In exchange, she intends to learn more about changelings’ transformative abilities. But I have gotten far off topic. I was about to instruct you on the magic of Dreamwalking, was I not?”

I set us down on an invisible plane once again.

“Something like that.”

“Each dream is a reflection of the mind and soul. You will the formless Dreamscape to take form, and it does so. But to give control of it over to somepony else is to let someone into your own mind, to give them control over your own subconscious. For a Nightmare to take hold of its victim, the victim must submit themselves willingly. Before then, a Nightmare’s influence is limited.”

“Not limited enough…”

“No. They can inflict physical pain and change what the dream looks like, but only to a certain extent. They are powerful apparitions of evil but even they have limits. Likely, what manipulation you saw and pain you felt was the ultimate extent of that specific Nightmare’s power. Most Nightmares are too weak to even penetrate the subconscious protections each dreamer creates around themselves. To manifest itself before the victim is a feat of great skill and strength.”

“Skill and strength in what? You said there’s no magic in the Dreamscape.”

“No magic in the conventional sense. In the waking world, we interact with magic as everypony only ever has. By tapping into our connections– and the connections in the world around us– to the magical plane, we draw strength. In the Dreamscape, you must draw strength from one’s own self. If it were possible for physical beings such as us to naturally draw power from the Dreamscape, all that would do is open up the portcullis and invite invasion.”

“So I must draw power from myself? That sounds like I’m exposing my soul or something.”

“That is precisely what you must do.”

“That sounds like the worst idea anyone has ever had in the history of ideas.”

“Dreamwalking has always been a dangerous profession. Those gifted in its abilities will not survive without tutorship.”

“But if drawing in power lowers my defenses, how does exposing what needs to be defended any better?”

“The best defense is a strong offense. Further, by controlling your innate strength, you change it from being a vulnerability to being a weapon. There is truth in what you say, however. To rush into battle using your life as a weapon is inherently dangerous and foolish. This is why Dreamwalking must be done as clandestinely as possible. To never be seen by the hordes of shadows that lie outside the protection of a dream is the mainstay of a Dreamwalker’s arsenal.”

“So hide at all times, and rush into battle when exposed?”

“That is the simplistic view of it. To abscond the protective cover of a dream is to plunge oneself into the heart of a forest fire. To weaponize one’s inner strength is to turn one’s greatest weakness into a potent weapon. Be prepared to fight, but avoid conflict at all times. Leave behind the complicated structures and formulas of modern spells, Dreamwalking is much more… primal.”

“Okay. Then how do you go between dreams? Or even see them in the first place?”

“You must expand your senses without leaving the protection of the dream. To leave the dream without leaving the dream is a paradoxical task that must be surmounted by the nascent Dreamwalker. That will be another lesson. First you will… On second thought, giving me control over your dream is a bad idea.”

“Why?”

“It is something I have always wanted to do, however my personal desires caused me to forget how dangerous and… intimate it is. It has to do with the requirements that allow me control. Perhaps one day in the future, but not today. Instead, I shall instruct you how to tap into your strength... As well as advise you on the structure of Equu’s solar system.”

“Okay. Inner strength. How do I do that?”

“Close your eyes. Clear your mind. You must focus solely on a memory. It must hold significant value to you. Remember this specific memory, as it will be your key. You may at later dates change what this key memory is, but for now choose a specific one. Got it? Do not tell me what it is. Do not tell anypony. Now, focus on why this memory is important to you. Keep that importance in mind and imagine pulling on it. Pull it up from the core of your being, up to the surface. While holding the importance at your surface, imagine the process of casting a spell. You channel energy through your horn to cast the spell. I want you to channel energy from this importance to the importance itself, forming a loop. Now, slow the energy feed into your strength. More. There, that’s how much you need to keep moving. Any more than that is wasteful. ”

“... Now what?”

“Keep feeding it energy, and open your eyes.”

Luna was still before me, only she was lit up in a white light. Looking down, I realized that the light was coming from my chest.

“That was… easy. Also a bit cliche.”

"There's a glow because you expected there to be one. The process has no physical signs, Phasma."

The light died away.

"Oh…"

“That was just bringing your strength to the surface, the first step in Dreamwalking or dispelling Nightmares.”

“... Brings a new meaning to a positive feedback loop.”

“Indeed. Now, discussion about the solar system can wait. Your next lesson will be expanding your sight beyond the confines around it. Foolish fops in the waking world like to imagine they can do such a thing there in the material plane. We are going to do the real thing here. I will be right here next to you, so do not worry about anything going wrong. You must find your connection to the Dreamscape. When the energy goes through your soul, it also ebbs into the surroundings. You must find that pulse.”

After a few moments, I found what seemed like a leak of energy.

“I think I got it.”

“Follow that pulse. Feed it energy as it goes.”

I did as instructed, only to shutter in surprise. I had to close my eyes to prevent myself from throwing up. I was seeing everything twice. It was like trying to look through three-hundred-sixty degree vision.

“Whoah.”

“Yes?”

“This is like echolocation. I can see behind and around me, that’s extremely disorientating.”

“You will get used to it. Now, do you see where the ripple changes? It should be out a ways.”

“It sort of… wobbles?”

“That is it hitting the barrier of your dream, beyond the physical manifestation summoned. Push energy into the wave right before the distortion starts. You want to empower it and speed it up so that it can break through.”

Once the energy did break the envelope of the dream, I felt it expand out into nothingness. Then, with the next wave of energy, I felt pings that lit up as the wave hit them

“I broke through and I think I see other dreams.”

“Excellent! You should only be able to sense the dreams nearby, as your methods are all inexperienced. With time and practice, you will be able to sense dreams halfway across Equus. Now to visualize all of this, you must mentally map out where each dream is, with yours in the center. Imagine projecting this map around you, with white dots marking each one's location.”

As I did so, an orange circle appeared in front of me.

‘My dream.’

Surrounding it, being revealed in an expanding wave, several other points of light appeared at varying spots in a three dimensional scatter.

‘The dreams of others. Looks kinda like stars.’

“Looks like stars,” I voiced my thoughts out loud.

“I led you to visualize them as I was taught. In truth, one can view them in any fashion they desire. However, I prefer this one. Eventually I shall teach you how to feel each dream, getting a sense of their emotional state. This will come out as color coding for each star before you.”

“Got it. What’s next?”

“Traveling between dreams. The target dream that we shall head to is close to me, but far from you. I shall provide the exact location.”

Luna flapped her wings and rose above me. Eventually, she stopped at a point and pointed a hoof straight out.

“Place a star at the end of my hoof.”

I placed a glowing white dot there. After a few adjustments, Luna was satisfied with its final location.

“Now to travel. Every dream in the Dreamscape is connected. Like the synapses of a nervous system, each one is tethered to the next. This lets us travel between the otherwise impossible to find islands of sanctity in the Dreamscape. The connection goes both ways, however. Maladies such as Nightmares or other Dreamscape hazards plague the connections like a disease. It is up to us Dreamwalkers to safeguard the Dreamscape.”

“So how do we use these connections to travel?”

“You must pulse your energy along the connections, revealing the path all the way to your destination.”

I directed the outward waves in the direction of the star Luna had me place. Though I revealed a number of dreams in between here and the target, no matter how much energy I put in, I could not reach her designated destination.

“I can’t reach that far.”

“I suspected not. Then listen carefully to my next words as I prepare to bring both of us together. First, you must wrap up those who you wish to travel with. Clutch them close to your soul.”

Luna closed the distance between us and hugged me, wrapping her wings around my back.

“It is especially helpful to do this physically, for it makes it less of a leap of logic. Then, as you pulse the network of dreams, you must see the path you will take from here to there in your mind’s eye. Then, with all your might, push your party through the network along the path you chose–”

In a flash of blue, the entire dream vanished. For a split second, I couldn’t see anything outside of roiling blue clouds that enveloped us. Then, we appeared in a very fancy bedroom. Gone was the field of stars and orange and yellow nebula, replaced by marble checkerboard floors, arched windows, and fancy wood paneling. Maroon curtains and stretches of fabric brought color to the faded room, and though there was some materials on a desk and wardrobe, the most colorful object in the room was the other occupant. I had only seen her once before.

“– and just like that, you arrive at your destination,” Luna finished. She then let go of me and turned towards Princess Cadence. “Good evening, niece. Are you well?”

The pink alicorn was currently wielding a sabre in her magic, thrusting it towards a mannequin placed in front of a pillar that separated two vaulted windows at one side of the room. The mannequin on the receiving end of the brutal attack looked quite similar to…

‘Ah fuck me, this is going to be bad.’

With one final lunge, Cadence plunged the metal sabre into my heart and sighed.

“As well as I can be, Luna. I am happy to see you, we so rarely hang out at ni–”

Cadence turned around and froze up when she saw me standing next to Luna.

“Auntie Luna… The target Aunt Day provided was realistic enough…”

“I agree. You already suffer from hesitation when striking. Do you remember what I told you earlier today?”

‘Spilled the secret of my existence before the bet was even won. I’ll remember that, Luna.’

“That you would be bringing a visitor with you. One who I should meet, despite our first meeting going poorly. Luna, you didn’t say it was him.”

She plucked the sword out from the faux Dread Prince and brought it over to her side, never even taking her eyes off me.

"You should be dead."

“Hello Princess Cadence. It’s… nice to see you again.”

66- Far Side Of The Horizon

“Perhaps poorly was not the correct word to use. For that, I apologize, Cadence. Still, I think you two have a lot you need to talk about.”

“Luna, why do you believe that I would want to see him again?”

“Because he has something to say, something you should hear. Doesn’t he?” Luna’s eyes bored into the side of my skull as she shown every possible metaphorical spotlight on me.

‘Oh dear.’

“I would like… to apologize.”

“Starting off with lying to me is not a good start.”

“I could hardly say that it’s awkward to see you again–”

“You lied when saying that you want to apologize.”

“Ah… Well… Hmm…”

“Do you know what you did? Do you really understand how much you hurt me? Us?”

“No. I’ve been too busy trying to not die to pay attention to any news.”

Cadence squinted her eyes a bit but continued, “Can you not even stop and think about what you did? You and your army and your Queen showed up out of nowhere and rained fire on Canterlot! Do you know how many ponies were injured? How many will never recover? How many will never move on? Before you came, I was afraid of making a diplomatic incident, of making a fool of myself and Aunt Celestia. Now... “

She brought the sword out from her side and put it between us with a flourish.

“My biggest fear is waking up, back in that disgusting thing you put me in. You took from me something that never can be given back. You made me pick up this thing of pain and hatred, if only to protect myself. I dream, not of using this sword to defeat you, but of the day when I can put it back down. So what would happen if I were to use it right now?”

“I imagine that it would be extremely painful for me and satisfying for you.”

“So why shouldn’t I?”

I opened my mouth, then closed it. Opened it again, only to close it a second time. Finding the right words turned out to be difficult.

“I am… sorry. I did not initially wish the pain and havoc I brought upon your kingdom to happen. I did my duty, and I am sorry to say that I did take pleasure in it. I am sorry you were the victims, and that there were victims at all, but I would do it all again if I had to.”

“Why? Why did you attack us? What reason could there possibly be for all this pain?”

“We were dying. Within months, we would have all starved to death. I made a token effort to look into alternatives, but no results revealed themselves before I became too busy with creating and executing the war plan. I had a duty to my people. It was us, or it was you.”

“A token effort? How much did you really even try?”

“None at all. I put my most trusted friend on the task. I was too busy to do anything myself. I am sorry that it was Equestria that was our target. I am remorseful that we had a target at all. But I cannot be sorry that I carried out my duty and invaded.”

“Was there no future where we lived in harmony? Did you even consider such a future?”

“Queen Chrysalis weighed the military might of our species against the generosity of yours. She decided to not reduce our kind to having the bargaining power of slaves. It is a decision I agreed with, and to an extent still do.”

“Slaves? Slaves?! What on Equus are you talking about? Have we not been kind to our neighbors? Have we not been generous to our friends? We treat others equally. We give love freely, only hoping that it is returned!”

“Were it so easy… Our history has taught us that the Masquerade exists to protect us. There is no cooperation between changelings and ponies. Not now, not ever. The history of other kingdoms shows the same. Is Griffonia not in utter poverty? Are the Emberlands not lawless noling’s land? All around your bastion of stability, might makes right. Equestria sits at the center of the world, enjoying a golden age while the rest of the world dies in the dark. We wanted our place in the sun. And now, I can only hope that we have secured enough food to stave off extinction.”

“We were trying our best to help them out! All of them! Food and relief supplies to Griffonstone. Diplomatic talks with the Dragonlord. Even investment aid to Zebrica! It is their own stubbornness and pride that caused them to turn away our kindness, but we never stopped trying. Your kingdom never asked, only tried to take.”

“No, we didn’t.”

“So that’s it then? You’re only sorry that I was the victim? Or are you really only sorry that you lost? What about us? Do you realize just what would have happened if you had won?”

“You would have lived. A future, a distant one, where we might have worked together in a fashion. That was my plan, though I’m sure Nightmare Moon had her own plans. I don’t know, I don’t have visions of the future. But now? Thousands of my people are dead, dying, or doomed to die. I do not know anymore if we will be here in a hundred years. I fought, and I lost. More than you know, I lost.”

“Just what exactly could you have lost?”

The one thing I did have control over– and Luna did too– was my physical form. I chose how I looked. I absconded my healthy, pre-rebellion look to change into what I looked like after I was plunged into the river. Claw marks, gouged out bites, and of course my missing limb. The change was sudden; I was there healthy, then my body shimmered, and there I was torn.

“My closest friends. My subjects that looked up to me and believed in me. They all believed that I could protect them. That I could end the hunger that haunted us all. That I could bring them a future where they didn’t worry for their own lives every time they made a mistake. Now, they’re all dead, missing, or hiding within the retreating Legions. I lost. Chrysalis lost. Changelings have lost. We’re fighting a losing battle with no way out. The Masquerade Protocol cannot be unbroken. The dead cannot be brought back to life. The rift in the changeling Hive cannot ever be mended. Unless something changes, we’re going to die, either by Daybreaker’s hoof or by the hunger that has hunted us for centuries. I am sorry that you were the victim, but I am not sorry for trying to end the pain. My only regret is failing.”

The sword’s tip lowered but still pointed towards me. Cadence shook her head slowly.

“Shining watched you torture a foal. You didn’t even hesitate. How could you do something like that? How could anypony?”

“Very easily, as it turned out. For better or for worse.”

I walked forward. Cadence raised the sword and it pushed against the chitin on my chest, stopping me.

“You can run me through, right here right now. I don’t know if I would die, but it would hurt.”

“I don’t want to hurt anypony. I just want the misery to end. If you are willing to do such horrible things, just how much effort would you put into doing the right things? The right decision is often the hardest.”

“... Do you know what would have happened to me if I lost? If we lost the war?”

“You did lose.”

“And by a last second fluke I am here before you. This wasn’t something Chrysalis nor I had predicted. Do you want to know what would have happened if I did not escape Canterlot?”

She didn’t move. Her eyes briefly flicked to my missing foreleg.

“The same thing that would have happened if I had won. A fate worse than death. I have not completely escaped that nightmare. If Chrysalis finds out that I am still alive, she would most certainly attempt to drag me back to the Hive in the dead of night. Sharpening her scalpels, she would tell me how it’s all for the greater good. She was planning on mutilating me, on ripping me to pieces. You’re still frustrated and scared from what I did? The damage I’ve done? Go ahead, stab me. You will find the power and control you desperately want. It wouldn’t even be the first time I’ve been tortured.”

The sword clattered to the ground. Cadence started hyperventilating.

“I–I don’t want to torture ponies! I don’t want to be that kind of– of pony! I just want to help others… I just want to be a good princess!”

“And I just want to be a good Prince. How much must I bleed before the pain ends?”

Luna had kept silent the entire conversation. When Cadence started to sob, she rushed over and embraced her. Cadence buried her face into Luna’s neck. I didn’t think ill of Luna for her silence. She had no place in our conversation; interference would have only messed things up.

After a few minutes, Cadence started to quiet down.

“Are you what I am going to become?” Cadence asked. “A ruler who has strayed so far from Harmony that they can’t go back?”

“Glad to see you think I’m beyond redemption.”

“T-That’s not what I–”

“I know. Princess Cadence... I take pleasure in being feared. It’s exhilarating. But I don’t take pleasure in hurting others. I may be the bad guy to you ponies, but to my changelings I am the only one fighting for their rights and for their chance at having the best future possible. Be thankful that things haven’t gotten so bad for Equestria that you don’t have to be me.”

“Do you think that there’s a future where we can work together?”

“I hope there is. That’s why I am here with Luna. She is quite adamant that there is indeed a future for us all. I don’t quite see it myself, but I trust her word. I am sorry that you have suffered, but I cannot undo the past.”

“Would you, if you could?”

“If it meant saving my friends and subjects? Without a doubt.”

“Is there no room in your heart for strangers?”

“... There was no choice but to fight on and hope to find a better solution after it’s all over.”

“There’s always a choice. You just have to believe in yourself and your friends.”

“I tried. I simply ran out of time…”

“Maybe you just didn’t have enough friends? Many hooves make light work.”

I recalled my time in the hive. I smiled as I remembered the First Fang and our time together. Then I remembered who was in the First Fang.

“Or maybe I had too many.”

“That’s not possible.”

“... Someone I trusted betrayed me. Because of him, I led those I was supposed to protect to their deaths.”

“I… I am so sorry to hear that. The more I hear about your side of the story, the more ashamed I am to have never even considered the idea that there was another side to the war.”

“I am sorry that I let my emotions get the best of me… I should not have hurt that foal. I even used them as a shield, I should have never put them in harm’s way. I let frustration guide my decision.”

“You will need to apologize to her, too.”

“In time. I can’t right now. If word gets out about my survival…”

“Your friends will stand with you.”

“Hard to do that when they’re dead.”

“... Then make new ones. Don’t forget who you’ve lost, but don’t be alone in life. Here, I’ll help you out. Would you like to be friends?”

“I… What? What?”

I looked at Luna. She nodded to me.

“Uh… Okay? Yes?”

“Wonderful!” Cadence smiled, but her eyes widened and she turned to look at the mannequin made in my likeness. “Ah, sorry about, uh…”

“It’s alright.”

“It brings relief to my heart to hear that you understand his plight, Cadence.” Luna said.

“What can I say, I’m a sucker for sob stories. I’d like to know what happened to have led to this horribleness.”

“Did we not just discuss that?” I asked.

“No. I mean, I’d like to know what started all this. From the beginning.”

“You’re asking for my life’s story or something?”

“If you’re okay with sharing…”

‘Hmm… If Thorax was here, he’d say to figure out Cadence’s perspective. Learn how she views things in such a positive light, or how she finds the right solution to problems. The good solution. Or that I should put flowers in my hair. It’s Thorax, who knows?’

“In exchange for your story, I will share mine.”

“I would like that. Can we also… start anew?”

I nodded.

“Hello. I am Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. But please, call me Cadence.”

“Hello Cadence. I am Prince Phasmatodea. But please, call me Phasma.”

Cadence smiled.

Luna interrupted us, “I am afraid this exchange will have to wait for another time. The night draws short, and we must return to where we belong. It brings me no small amount of joy to see you two not at each other’s throats. Progress at last! Come Phasma, we shall return another night.”

“Wait!” Cadence called out, “What about Shining?”

Luna frowned, “His proximity to Daybreaker means he is far more liable to let slip information before we are ready. Making you aware of Phasma’s survival is already a concession on his part, I cannot risk Daybreaker knowing.”

“But he needs to know this. He…” She turned to me, “Your fight with Shining did a number on him. He’s hurting, even if he hides it well. Talking with each other will do you both good.”

“Daybreaker finding me is not much better than Chrysalis. As long as he’s Captain of the guard under Daybreaker, Shining Armor must not know that I live.”

Luna nodded.

“I am with Phasma on this one. Furthermore, you must continue acting horror-struck and keep up your combat training. Daybreaker mustn’t know of our activities. I am sorry to place this burden upon your shoulders. We will speak more again soon. Fare thee well, wonderful Cadence.”

“... Night, Luna. You too, Phasma.”

“Uh, yeah. Good night Cadence.”

Luna wrapped a wing around me and then we were gone.

Author's Note

Art by SkyeyPony

67- Achilles

I was dying. No, worse.

I woke up before the alarm clock said ‘P.M.’

I rolled over in my bed to glare at the small appliance sitting on the nightstand next to the bed. Even worse than the fact that it displayed A.M. was the fact that the number next to it wasn’t in the double digits.

“Eugh…. Fuck you.”

I pressed every button on the top of the clock down, too lazy to find out which one. The horrible blaring cut out and I shut my eyes.

Then there was a knocking at the door.

“No.”

But the knocking persisted.

‘Someone is knocking at the door. An alarm has gone off that I most definitely did not set, meaning it was set before I moved in. Oh Panar, does that mean they expect me to wake up early?’

After a pause, the knocking continued once more.

With a pained sigh, I rolled off the bed and fell onto the floor. Getting my hooves beneath me– and remembering that I only had three, not four like in the dream, I lumbered across the room and over to the door.

“Yeah yeah, ‘m here…”

I opened the door and cringed. The hall lights were on, blinding me. I made sure that one of the first things I secured for my new apartment was a set of thick curtains to cover up the windows. I had planned on sleeping in often, but it seems that was not to be.

“You look like a mess,” a voice replied. The pony who said it was right in front of me. I, however, was still blinking the sleep out of my eyes.

“Who are you and why are you here?”

“Sky. I’m right in front of you. Open your eyes.”

I sneered but complied.

“Bray.”

“Hi sky.”

“... Why?”

“Why what?”

“Early!”

“Please use complete sentences. I know you’re capable of that, Sky!”

“.... ‘M goin’ back to sleep.”

I started to close the door but she outstretched a hoof to catch it.

“Ha! C’mon Sky, you need to get ready. You were supposed to be down at Search’s office ten minutes ago.”

“But it’s early.”

“Yes…?”

“... You can consider this my two weeks notice.”

Bray smiled and rolled her eyes.

“Get ready and get down to the office,” she said as she turned around and left.

Shutting the door, I went to the bathroom to start this miserable day.

Search came in and dramatically threw a newspaper onto the table. Bray and I glanced down to read. We had pushed two chairs up to the side of the room and used a small table to put papers down on it. Currently, she was quizzing me on basic procedures we just covered. Now, a newspaper covered the pamphlet and loose pieces of paper we were using.

“Shit’s happening in Canterlot.”

‘PRINCESS OF THE MOON RETAKES HER MANTLE’ was printed in bold letters. Knowing that story, the other headlines interested me more. The second biggest story was a reorganization on sentencing prisoners to Tartarus.

“A message in the stars, all to dispel the myths and prove her power. Alicorns…” Search trailed off.

‘Luna mentioned the feeding of changeling prisoners. Reorganizing these… ‘maximum security prisoners’ is a very convenient way of having a few souls disappear.’

Then there was the third article on the front page. It was the smallest of all, yet had arguably the largest impact.

‘Princess Daybreaker to pass moral reformation bill’ was the title. As Bray and Search talked, I read that article in particular.

“You two see the stars last night?”

“Yeah! That was so cool! And, uh… weird?”

“Mhmm, well that article explains it all. To dispel the doubt in both her and in the crown, Princess Luna placed a message in the sky. Says she was tired of dealing with foal after foal who didn’t know who she was, and what her powers were.”

“Weird flex, but okay.”

“How bout you, Sky? Did you see the message?”

“No,” I mumbled, trying to ignore them in favor of reading.

“What, really? It was kinda hard to miss.”

“Went to bed early. Tired, remember?”

“Oh right right right. That whole, uh, blood loss thing. How’re you feeling?”

“Tired. Not enough sleep.”

“Ah. You’re just going to have to get used to that, I’m afraid. I’ll try to limit your physical exertion until you recover, but we start the day as early as everypony else. Are you a night owl?”

“Yeah.”

“Heh, sorry to hear that.”

Bray interjected, “I have always been one to appreciate the morning. The day just isn’t complete without viewing Princess Cel– Daybreaker’s sunrise…”

I picked up and flipped the newspaper to the second page.

“You reading the article?” Search asked me.

“One of them…”

“Wait, is there something else besides the whole message in the sky thing? What could possibly hold a candle to that?!”

“... Something big with far reaching changes,” I said.

The door opened behind me. I was facing away but assumed it was Dew coming in. The low voice confirmed my assumption.

“Sergeant. Corporal.”

“Good morning Private Dew. Did you see the sky last night?”

“I did. It was… strange.”

“That’s an understatement!”

Dew swept his black mane back. It seems that he came up directly from the locker room, his mane was still wet from a shower.

"What's the reason behind it?"

"Incredulous foal," Bray smiled.

Dew nodded but I tasted some confusion on him. He likely didn't know what incredulous meant.

I flipped another page. The movement recaptured Search's attention.

"You were saying something, Sky?"

I set the paper down when I reached the end of the article. Then, I rubbed my temples. Well, temple. I only had a single forehoof after all.

“... You all might want to stock up on booze,” I said. "That is, if you drink."

Bray picked the newspaper up and flipped to the start of the article. Quick Search leaned over her shoulder to read while Dew walked to the Sergeant's desk. I watched as he grabbed a piece of paper and read it over.

'What could be more interesting than my ominous warning?'

"Moral reformation bill? What does that mean?"

Bray was looking up back at me, hoping for an answer.

"Citing fears and concerns brought to her," I absentmindedly quoted, "Daybreaker believes the changeling invasion is due to a lack of adherence to Harmony's virtues."

“In laypony’s terms?” Dew asked, not bothering to turn to face us.

“Things are going to change. First off, she is banning the sale and distribution of alcohol.”

Dew started, put the paper down, and came over to look at the newspaper.

‘Ha, that got his attention!’

“Okay, so we’re going to be expected to handle the enforcement of that…”

“That’s correct Sergeant. Further, we’re going to be cracking down on… narcotics.”

“Narcotics?”

“Drugs. Don’t know how prevalent they are in towns like Hooferville, but I suspect there’s going to be a list of banned substances released.”

“Huh… What else?”

“There’s going to be strict requirements on printing newspapers. No surprise there, she wants to stamp out any dissidence and changeling sympathy.”

“Who would sympathize with changelings, or go against the Princesses?”

“Very few, but each war does have two sides.”

Search sat back on his haunches.

“And here I was, thinking a sentence written in the sky itself would be the most important news of the day.”

“That was likely on purpose.”

All three looked at me with a confused look on their face, and a matching emotion in the air.

‘Oops. Perhaps I am being too clever. I better explain this and start stepping back from the conversation.’

“... No pony likes change. If Daybreaker wants to change society, then perhaps she thinks it's best to do so while we are all… distracted?”

Bray shook her head, “I think you’re being way too paranoid, Sky. This is Princess Daybreaker we’re talking about here. She wanted to be called by a different name, and we all happily went along with it. Nopony hates change, it just makes ponies uncomfortable.”

“Bray is right,” Search agreed, “Princess Daybreaker is just announcing this bill. Once it goes through, it’s going to be on all the headlines.”

‘Sure Search, sure. You’re the one with experience being under an absolutist monarch, after all. By the time the bill is passed, I am sure Daybreaker will be writing each article personally. Or rather, assign someone to write it to exactly her criteria and preference.’

“Okay, Sergeant.”

“... I think Far Sky might be right.”

“Now Dew–”

“Sir, you know firsthoof just how far Canterlot’s elites have their heads up their own plots.”

“The actions of the few don’t reflect the majority. We’ve been over this, Dew.”

“This sounds like exactly what is needed to get their fat plots moving, Sir.”

“You might be right on that. But still, this is going to apply to the rest of Equestria, too. Us more so, since we will be the ones enforcing these new laws.”

“Princess C– Daybreaker holds our health and happiness close to her own heart,” Bray seemed to rattle off pony propaganda quite cheerfully. Search nodded.

“Nopony’s arguing otherwise. Whatever this is, it’s for the best for Equestria.”

‘And thus the complacency of living under an immortal’s rule rears its ugly head.’

“Sure,” was all I said in reply.

“Anyways, how is the training going you two?”

Bray smiled, “Great! Sky is great at absorbing all these rules and scenarios!”

“That’s some good news, alright.”

“It’s nothing…”

It was tempting to start feeding off the happiness these ponies were exuding. I hadn’t eaten for almost all of yesterday, having been consigned to their custody pretty quickly. Given how they hadn’t really bothered to check if I was a changeling, I figured it was probably safe to feed off them.

I would have to start feeding in the afternoon, however. Spreading out my niblings of the emotions in the air over three of them would mean that the symptoms would take longer to manifest. However, I suspected that the guards would be far more physically active than Nurse Gentle Hoof, and would notice tiring quickly as being an anomaly. It is better to be safe than sorry.

“I neglected to ask, what level of education did you achieve before you set out in the world?”

“I was homeschooled.”

‘The perfect excuse, and not even a lie. It would be hard to cover up the gaps in my knowledge otherwise.’

“Close knit family, eh?”

I chose not to answer that.

Bray picked up on the poor conversation topic and switched its gears.

“I think that’s enough of the material for today. Next, let’s go over what spells you know.”

‘Great, I have to tell more lies.’

The guards station had a training room. As it turned out, it was next to the locker room.

The spell resistant dummy– a tall sack hanging by a rope attached to the ceiling– swung around after I had hit it with the fire bolt. It was a toned down version of the fireball spell I usually favored.

“Impressive hit!” Sergeant Search cheered from behind me.

“Thanks Search.”

“It’s no wonder you trounced those wolves!”

“Thanks Bray.”

Our conversation about my known spells boiled down to weaker versions of the combat spells I knew, shielding, and the ability to check the time. Bray had looked and felt quite distraught, but wanted to see my spells in action.

It wasn’t like I could tell her I could teleport or anything like that.

“You said you were proficient in shields, right?”

“Yes.”

“Great, let’s see how good you are.”

Sergeant Search had let Bray Call lead the testing, as she was the unicorn of the squad.

I turned and faced her as Search moved to the side of the spacious gymnasium and sat next to Dew. Dew had decided to do some weight lifts in the meantime, watching my spell casting but not wanting to waste time. Now, he was taking a break.

“Can you cast a shield around a distant target?”

“Sure.”

“Really? Most unicorns struggle with that.”

“I know.”

“Let’s test both targeted shielding and self shielding. Targeted first.”

I decided to construct a shield around the target at the strength I could normally maintain. An orange bubble flickered into place around the hanging tan sack.

“Ready.”

Bray walked up next to me.

“Alright, I’m casting.”

Her horn lit up in a lavender shade, the same color as her mane and eyes. Then, four shards of ice appeared around her and zipped off towards the target, flying in dramatic arcs. They broke against the shield harmlessly.

More projectiles, this time fire bolts. Six of them pinged off the orange shield, the fire flaring out and dissipating in the hot summer air.

Finally, Bray picked up a weighted ball. It was a huge thing, maybe fifty pounds, and she chucked it at the shield. The ball bounced off and onto the protective mat below.

“That’s one tough shield!”

“Is it? Was that supposed to be a lot?”

“Hey!” She lightly punched my one remaining foreleg.

“If you need to call some pony else, I’ll understand.”

“Sky! I may not have my Mark in offensive casting, but I’m no slouch!”

“Oh. I just figured that since I didn’t feel anything, you just sucked.”

“If you weren't funny I'd teach you a lesson you wouldn't soon forget. Wait, nothing?!”

She huffed but then looked back to glimpse at my flank. Or my Cutie Mark, whichever she found more interesting.

“... What does your Cutie Mark mean?”

“My Mark?”

“Yeah.”

I shrugged, “I dunno. Figured it was something about the sky. Fits my name, you know? Its meaning wasn't exactly clear when I got it.”

“You don’t know...? What if it was magic related?”

“Huh?”

“Magic related. Those are often obscure in design. That would explain your skill. I’ve never seen a shield so strong! You know, the Captain of the Royal Guard has his specialty in shielding.”

“Really? I never would have guessed.”

‘Is that where he got his expanding shield trick? That would have been a godsend in the fight against the wolves. To be able to shield without sacrificing your ability to move to the offensive is a game changer.’

“Mhmm. Even if you don’t become a Royal Guard, there’s plenty of institutes that’ll pay top bit for a shield specialist. From researching the property of shields to becoming a safety professional, there’s sure to be plenty of professions you could fit in. How did you get your Cutie Mark, anyways? That should, you know, hint at what you’re good at.”

‘What was the lie I came up with? Something about telescopes? Oh right, I trashed the one story I had.’

I shifted on my hooves uncomfortably.

“Sorry, don’t feel pressured to share if it makes you uncomfortable.”

I looked at Bray with genuine surprise.

“Oh, thank you…”

“Eh, most ponies unreasonably expect others to just open up completely. I understand if there’s some things you don’t want to share, especially for somepony like you with such a rough history.”

“How did you…?”

“The Sarge shared some details. Sorry, but the basic psych stuff we gotta know, lest something bad happens in the field. It’s required Guard stuff, ya know?”

“Oh.”

‘Is this that whole ‘military owns your ass’ stuff? Sounds like a massive invasion of privacy, but these are ponies. Not sure if they even understand stringent privacy concerns...’

She smiled after noticing my discomfort, “Don’t worry, none of us will talk about if you don’t want us to. Unless there’s a problem that comes up, though. Then we do need to talk.”

“That’s… fair.”

“Anyways, back to what we were saying, I think you could get far with your expertise in shielding. I don’t even know if there’s a point in me trying to hit you when you’re self-casting your shield. If I couldn’t scratch it while you were projecting, then I bet you could stop a train while self-casting!”

I briefly remembered my fight with Chrysalis. A massive light green beam slammed into my shield and had bounced off. The sheer power behind it…

“Maybe.”

'And this is with factoring in my reduced magical strength due to hunger. Damn, I remember tiring out after two whole hours of casting not half a year ago. Am I already starting to reach alicorn-tier mana capacity and casting powers?'

Sergeant Search had gotten up and walked over after seeing us not cast spells for a while. Catching the tail end of the conversation, he added in his two cents.

“Maybe we should test how powerful your shields are. Would be useful to know what your upper limit is.”

'It's been a long time since someone managed to break my shield. Should I intentionally weaken it? Either way, that's going to hurt.’

I sat down and rubbed the side of my horn as I thought. Search furrowed his brows at the sight.

“Another day, then. You did well, Sky.”

'What? Oh, the rubbing. He probably think I'm suffering from a lack of mana or something.'

“Yeah! I’ll teach you some basic spells, let’s get back to the office.”

“Actually,” Search interrupted, “I was thinking of grabbing lunch. It is past noon.”

“Is it? I must’ve lost track of time.”

I was hungry, too.

“... Could do with some food.”

‘Just a nibble. To test the waters, you know? If they do notice the symptoms, they’ll pass it off as a post-food coma.’

“Sounds good,” Private Dew said, having spontaneously appeared next to the Sergeant. There’s a chance he walked up when I wasn’t paying attention, but I thought it more likely that he somehow teleported, as opposed to catching me off guard.

“Is there a cafeteria here, or...?”

Search shook his head, “No. We go out and grab some food. The guards get their food for free at approved cafes and diners during our workdays. Well not really free, the bill is just sent to the Guard Station to be paid out at the end of the month. That is to say, we get free food and let the bean counters deal with paying.”

‘... Do ponies eat using utensils? Oh Panar, that wasn’t covered in the Infiltrator class!’

68- Odyssey

"What do you mean, you've 'never had any of this before?'"

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. The cover identity I had forged was fraught with poverty, hardship, and pain. Nothing else would explain the slip-ups I had made and would continue to make. I was not an expert Infiltrator, trained for over a decade in the arts of blending in.

No, I was a weapon forged for one purpose alone: war. I made do with what skills I had, hoping that I could cover up the cracks in the facade I wore everyday.

"I mean I've been to the moon and back," I snarked.

Search let out something between a sigh and a huff of frustration.

"I'll order for him," Bray offered.

Search cooked an eyebrow.

"I helped you choose when you arrive in Hooferville, remember?"

We were sitting in a booth by the window in a cheap breakfast Diner. If the decor was red plastic and shiny grey metal, it would have reminded me of an old Americana Diner. Instead, the materials were substituted for brown woods, soft but tough fabric seats, and some sort of magical jukebox that was playing what seemed like pop music. It was a Strange, surreal experience.

'I wonder how many parallels I can find between this world and Earth.'

Bray Call sat next to me, in the aisle seat. Across from me was Warm Dew by the window and Quick Search in the aisle seat. When I said I never tried any of this food, Dew gave me a confused look. Yet when I blew the Sergeant's question off, he seemed satisfied with my response.

'As if he wouldn't accept any other answer. Did he actually experience the poverty I am hinting at?'

"Cheap stuff isn't as good as family cooking, anyways."

'Or maybe he just despises fast food.'

"Nopony’s arguing otherwise Dew. But unless you are offering to whip up a large lunch for us all, this is free food. Is it alright if Bray chooses for you?"

I looked up from fiddling with my metal prosthetic. "Hmm? Oh. Sure."

Bray gave me a smile– which seemed as common as my bad luck at this point– and looked at the menu she held in her grip before her.

A waitress came over and the three ponies that spouted delicious emotions gave their orders. I paid little attention to them. I was checking how much the shiny prosthetic was pressing against my bandaged stump. If it was too tight then it would reopen the wound. So, I spent a minute adjusting the straps. My efforts were awarded with the exact same tightness.

"So Sky."

"So Search."

"I think this is a good time to introduce ourselves. I mean, actually introduce ourselves. I'll start. I'm Quick Search, I was born in Canterlot to a family of four. My parents and I disagreed over where I was headed. One thing led to another and I ended up here, in the Hooferville Guard. Made some friends who helped me out. One of them is Bray Call here, she joined the guard last year. I met Warm Dew last Hearth's Warming and he got assigned to my squad shortly after."

The waitress returned and set down four tall glasses of water at the end of the table. Bray picked them up and moved them over to each of us.

"My turn, then," she said. "I'm Bray Call, born and raised in Hooferville local. Family runs the smithy over on Main Street. Only filly amongst us five foals, I quickly learned how to throw a hoof. After this short stint in the Guards, I'm hoping to get into Manehattan Uni for a Business degree. Don't want to stay in the forge for the rest of my life, ya know? And it's not like any school's offering degrees in singing. So I'll get a boring business degree and just do my hobby on the side."

The ponies and I nodded. Search then looked over at Dew. After an eye roll, he set his glass of water down.

"Warm Dew. Grew up here in Hooferville. When I'm twenty three, I'm going to go for the Royal Guard, all the way in Canterlot."

"Thought you hated Canterlot and its nobles," I questioned.

"Celestia kicked those foppish fools out of the EUP just before the invasion. Now? They need all the hooves they can get, and I know I'm good enough for any of their tests."

"You know you've got my glowing endorsement," Search chuckled as he threw a hoof around Dew and brought him into a half hug.

"Thanks, Sir."

"Could we hear some of your story, Sky? With your explosive arrival to Hooferville, I'm sure you've got some stories to tell!"

'Oh boy, do I! Too bad I can't tell any of them. Hmmm... It's expected that I am to open up and share here. However, the further I weave my web of lies, the greater the chance that I'll get caught up in it. Still, if I am to dissuade any fears and earn these ponies' trust then I have to do just that.'

“I don’t want to ruin the mood.”

“If you don’t want to share, that’s okay. But I still want to hear it.”

“... It’s not that great of a story.”

“C’mon Sky! You’ll feel better afterwards, I promise!”

Bray could confuse me to no end sometimes. In that way, she reminds me of…

‘No, get a hold of yourself Phasma! Focus! They want a story, so give ‘em one!’

"I was more or less an only child, but I had tons of uncles, aunts, and cousins. You know how it is. My brothers and sisters, they had… er… left. It was just me, my mother, and my father. Then one day, things went south. My uncle– my favorite one, that is– stopped in to help. For a while, that worked. Then he… passed away. Things only started to get worse. I tried to stay to help my extended family, but it became untenable. Then I wandered Equestria for a while. That is, up until some overgrown Chihuahuas decided I looked like an excellent dinner. You know the rest."

'There. Pretty much nothing new in that story that I haven't already lied about. Some details, enough to tide them over, but few in number. Some easy lies, too. Only child? Unfortunately, I did actually meet four of my siblings. Shame Chrysalis drilled their heads open and pulled them out, like spaghetti twirled around a fork. Oh that’s a good one, I gotta remember it for the next time I tell my story.'

"How'd you get your Mark?" Dew asked.

"What?"

"Your Cutie Mark, how'd you get it?"

I looked down at my flank. A single large gold star was painted permanently on and through my coat.

'Something magic related.'

"I had a– there was a fight."

"What happened?"

I stared out the window. Ponies were cheerfully going about their day. Even from behind the thick pane of glass, I could taste their happiness.

'Bastards.'

The food had arrived, and Bray dished it out too. No one ate.

"I stuck up for the little guy. Guess that made an impression on Harmony. I still lost the fight, though."

Bray put a hoof over my metal right one.

"Thank you for telling us, Far Sky. I’m sorry things were bad in your past, but they don’t have to be in your future."

My muzzle twitched.

"Things might have gone south for Fillietown when the changlings came, but for my family? It hardly could get any worse."

I fed off their sympathy like cutting a wedge of cheese against a grater. The shavings would be more than enough to tide me over. Enough to make up for the lost meal yesterday, even. I looked down at the food that they ordered for me. A tomato soup was steaming, sitting on the wooden table in front of me. Evidently, Bray thought I would like tomatoes.

I despised them.

"Anypony got crackers?" I asked around.

They were all staring at me with a painfully pitiful look.

‘Definitely gone overboard.’

It took a while for them to murder the awkward silence I had worked hard to facilitate.

The food was bad. Disguising my disgust was a lesson I had to learn on the spot. I don't think I did well. Bray and Search cracked a few jokes. I smiled at them. Their happy expressions grew strained. I lamented my poor Infiltrator experience. Beaten, bloody, and having lost pretty much every ling I cared about, I was fitting in with these ponies about as well as a bloodstained psychopath.

Meaning I really needed to tone down the doom and gloom. I had thought that having an edgy sob story past would be to my benefit, but in hindsight it was way too attention-catching.

'I just want to go to sleep. No, I want to see Luna again. Gonna give her a massive hug, cuddle around the fire, and tell stories to each other… maybe even hold hooves? Nah, that's way too lewd.'

"Did'ya visit anywhere cool during your travels?"

Search’s question brought my head back down front the clouds and I continued past Dew. He had held the door open for us as we left the restaurant. I gave Search's question a bit of thought.

"Uhhhh… I visited Canterlot for a day."

"Uh oh, I'm afraid to ask how it went, given my experience."

"The locals didn't like me and it was too costly to stay."

"That's far from the worst case scenario. Still, sorry you had to go through that. I never got along with the other locals, either, if that makes you feel any better."

"A little bit. Thanks."

"Did you at least see the viewing galleries?"

"The what?"

"Nuts! That's one of the best parts about Canterlot! The viewing galleries are a series of parks, balconies, and old fortifications at the Northwest corner of Canterlot. The view is quite stunning."

'The Northern portion of the Perimeter wall fell comparatively slowly, if I am recalling the reports correctly. Far harder to fight there than down in the area protecting the loading docks. I think the Throne preserved the fortifications up there for tourism purposes, whereas the docks' defenses had fallen into disarray.'

"Shame I missed it."

"I'll take you to see 'em one day. It's worth the trip, trust me."

"That's very kind of you, thank you."

Bray stretched on the sidewalk and asked, "Anywhere else?"

"Hmm. Nothing comes to mind."

The rest of the journey back to the Guard station was mostly in silence.

Once we arrived in the Sarge’s office, I sat down in the chair I occupied this morning, off to the right side of the room. I unstrapped the prosthetic and lay it on the ground next to the table, rolling my shoulder. A minute later, the other three entered the room. Strange, I didn’t notice that they hadn’t followed me in immediately. The other three ponies shared a look with each other before looking at me.

Their gaze made me uncomfortable.

Bray spoke up, “Sky… are you pretending to be happy?”

“What?”

“Listen,” Dew started, “it sounds like you’ve got a darn monopoly on pain. Outta the frying pan and into the wolf-infested fire, yea? Harmony dealt you a really bad hoof, and… We don’t want you to think it’s always going to be like that.”

Search sighed, “I am sorry if it feels like we’re prying into your history, Sky. But when I was told the snippets that the Doc learned, it… I don’t want anypony hurting under my command. I want to help you– we all do.”

“Yeah, what they said.”

‘Am I really that bad at pretending to be happy?’

“It’ll be fine. Just give me some time and I’ll work through it.”

“Horseapples.”

“Dew–”

“No. I don’t like you lying, Sky. Be honest with us. Please?”

‘Panar damn it. Can’t even fool three ponies, can I? Five if I include Gentle Hoof and Hoarse Throat. Why can’t they just move on? Why do these ponies just have to understand me on a deep level? What I would give for some Panar damned personal space... ’

I smiled, “I appreciate your concern, but I will be fine.”

“Yer not that good of a liar.”

I let the smile drop from my face.

‘No. Apparently not.’

“Why can’t you just leave me alone?”

“Because I can’t ignore a pony in need,” Search sighed. He walked around behind his desk and sat down in the chair behind it. “It’s actually one of the reasons I wanted you here. I knew you could help us with our short-staffing issue, and we could help you with your pain. Nopony survives an attack like that and is hunkey-dorey. In fact, if you were to act all happy and dandy, I would suspect you as one of those changeling infiltrators we’ve been warned about. Listen, I’m not asking you to suddenly open up to us, or suddenly get over your trauma. What I am asking is that you make an effort. Listen to us, try the activities we try to get you to do, and just talk to us. Could you please do that much?”

‘Me? Open up to ponies…?’

A memory flashed through my mind. It was the First Fang, hanging out and sharing jokes. Thorax, Lace, Coxa, myself, Oest, and Tarsus. We trusted each other. We enjoyed each other’s company. We unloaded our burdens onto each other’s shoulders. Then Tarsus threw that all away, as if he was lying the entire time.

‘Was all that camaraderie fake?’

I shivered as I remembered the pain of the duel. My chest being shattered. My foreleg spontaneously exploding. The Nightmare torturing me. The wolves ripping into my chitin.

‘Never again.’

“I can try,” I lied.

“That’s all we ask. Now, Private Dew and I have to go on patrol. Keep working with Bray on learning procedures and spells. You’re doing great, Sky.”

“Don’t patronize me.”

“I’m not– okay. I’ll try to watch the wording of my compliments in the future.”

“I will… think on what you said.”

Bray sat down in the seat across from me as the Sarge and Dew gathered their armor and left the office. After the door clicked closed, Bray shook her head.

“Most ponies wouldn’t survive all that. Even if they didn’t die to the wolves, they wouldn't have… survived. Their mind, that is. I first thought that your survival was something spectacular. But the more you share the more I realize that you were hardly alive beforehoof.”

“... Do all of you exposition your feelings and life’s story to each other?”

“To strangers? Not really. To friends and family? Of course. Princess Daybreaker said it herself, ‘no pony is an island.’ We have to have others in our lives. You will see in time that you do, too. And when you do, we’ll be here, waiting.”

‘I’ll be an edgy loner long after you’ve returned to dust, pony. Edgy and… pathetic.’

The idea of singing Linkin Park songs in the shower got me to chuckle.

“What’s so funny?”

I carefully considered my answer.

“Along my journey through Equestria, I met a mare. She… was very gothic. Into dark stuff, you know? Recently, she’s left that all behind. But now I’m the one bringing all the doom and gloom to our long distance relationship.”

“You’re in a long distance relationship?”

“Yes… it’s complicated.”

‘I just want to see her in person. As soon as Daybreaker is out of the picture, I think I will

“Can you tell me about her?”

“No.”

Bray looked dejected but thankfully dropped the subject.

“Alright… Did you know that Search lives with two cats and four dogs?”

“What?”

“It’s true. They aren’t the first pets he’s adopted, too. He’s got a problem with trying to fix everypony’s lives.”

“Are you saying that I am essentially a stray cat?”

“Yeah, pretty much. One that can do magic.”

I didn’t have a response to that, but I was very tempted to knock the lamp off the table.

The grey pegasus paid for his coffee and left the cheap diner. He sighed as he went back to his cheap motel room. It was hard stretching the bits he had earned over the past few months. True, he didn’t even need to sleep in a room and could instead go and sleep out in the woods. But, such a thing was… risky.

As he walked home through the street, he gave a smile and nodded to the ponies he passed. The action was returned on occasion, but… Before the attack on Canterlot, it was returned a lot more. Ponies have become a lot more scared nowadays.

‘Though, it could be Hooferville in particular. Far busier than what I’m used to, not as busy as what I lived in.’

He arrived home without fanfare and shut the door behind him, pushing closed the deadbolt and turning the lock. He let out a sad sigh as he walked towards the bathroom, thinking over what he overheard in the diner. It was uncomfortable to stalk Far Sky but he had to be sure. The story, as sad as it was, was a falsehood. Now that he knew Sky’s real identity and portions of his fabricated back story, getting a chance to talk to him would be much easier.

He passed the unmade bed, strewn with newspapers. Right on top of the pile was the one on the invaders’ leaders. The one pronouncing the death of the Dread Prince Phasmatoda.

‘Wrong. Thank the stars, wrong!’

He turned the lights on and an imbued gemstone flickered to life, lit up the bathroom in a white-yellow light. The grey pegasus reared up and put his two forelegs onto the bathroom counter, staring back at his reflection in the mirror.

He channeled energy into the Thread of Change and the pegasus before him was engulfed in green flames. The soft white fur and feathers of the pony were replaced with hard, lacquered chitin. The dark blue eyes were replaced with solid teal expanses.

“Hang in there Phas. You’ve made it this far somehow. I’m coming for you.”

Thorax smiled.

‘My prayers to Panar were answered! The First Fang is getting back together!’

Author's Note

In case you don't know already, I've started a sidestory!
Don't expect consistent updates for it, though. My main focus will be writing CE.

69- Nice

“Are you alright Phasma?”

Luna was standing next to me as I sat in front of the fireplace in the parlor.

“As much as I tell myself otherwise, no I am not.”

She sat down next to me and wrapped a wing around me. That was an ability I was slightly jealous of. Changeling wings were both too fragile and couldn’t keep heat in, so such an action is both impossible and pointless. Pegasus wings were just far more comfy.

I leaned into her and breathed deeply.

“I don’t know if any of my friends are still alive.”

“You will find them. Harmony always finds a way.”

“So does evil.”

She gave me a sideways glance.

“Yes, unfortunately. That is part of Harmony. Without the darkness, there cannot be light. So as much as we fight the eternal war against the malevolent, it is a futile endeavor. Still, we must fight on.”

“If not us, then who?’

“Who indeed. That’s why we are paid the big bits and live in fancy castles.”

“I’m broke, butchered, and living in a small apartment.”

“As soon as Daybreaker is cleansed and my sister is finally returned to her rightful place on the throne, you may stay in Canterlot Castle. In fact, you could stay with me.”

“You got a spare couch or something?”

Luna chuckled and we leaned into each other, watching the fire.

“Would you like to discuss the dynamics of Equus’s solar system?”

“... Not today. That’s a headache that can happen another night.”

“Very well. What would you like to do then?”

I sighed and pressed my head against her neck.

“What hobbies do you have? Or had?”

“Oh. A more accurate question would be, 'hobbies did I not have?' Throughout the many years of ruling, Celestia and I had picked up and dropped nearly every hobby under the sky. Painting, cooking, gardening, fencing, glassblowing, writing, wood carving, and so on.”

“Quite the repertoire of activities.”

“When you have no consistent company but your sister, you learn to branch out.”

“Hmm.”

“What about you? What hobbies did you have?”

“Not many in this life, though hopefully that will change…. At some point. But I used to play games, write, ski, and… well not much else. Mostly the first two.”

“Tell me a story.”

“I was going to ask you that.”

“We shall take turns then. Regale me with a tale you know of or preferably experienced firsthoof, and I shall return the favor.”

“There was that one time that the First Fang got our hooves on alcohol…”

“First Fang?”

“It was me and my closest friends. My only friends, really. Coxa, Thorax, Tarsus, Oest, Lace, and myself. But anyways, back in the hive alcohol is a real rarity. It’s a waste of resources to let things rot and ferment, you see? Some stuff they called Sprout. Now, I didn’t have any because… some reason. Think I had work afterwards. But the rest of ‘em got sloshed! Thorax didn’t as well, he’s as boring as me, but ooh boy! You learn some things when people get drunk.

“Oest as it turned out was pitch perfect. He rarely ever spoke so you wouldn’t think, but when I told him the lyrics to an old song I knew, he hit every note perfectly! Picture this: a changeling– or pony, if you’d prefer– built like a brick shithouse. Super reserved and quiet, of course. But when he sings? I was afraid that the vibrations would alert other changelings of our shenanigans! He could hit every note of the song! All of ‘em, high and low! A choir of one!

“Coxa of course was getting jealous. So in his infinite genius, he suggested a sing off. Lace and Tarsus agreed. Four drunk changelings all claiming to have a better singing voice than the other, despite the obvious winner. They made Thorax and I the judges and let me tell you, they couldn’t sing if their lives depended on it. But of course, one round wasn’t enough. Oh no, there had to be a best of three!

“Anyways, when Oest won– because of course he did– he started giggling like a mad ling. Then he did this sort of jig, I can’t describe it, but because he was drunk he tripped over his own hooves and fell forward, accidentally knocking into Coxa and Lacewing. They tried to get out from underneath him but they were trapped under his weight! That’s when we all started laughing!”

I laughed at my own story and Luna joined me. It was a nice story. I liked it. But it reminded me of where I was. What I had been through.

My laughter died away.

“... Then I ordered Oest to die. He did it without hesitation. Hell, I think he was happy to do it. You know what the last thing he said to me was? When I said goodbye to him, he told me that I hated goodbyes. He said ‘till we meet again, brother.’”

It was hard to breathe. My eyes hurt from all the dust in the dream.

“It’s crazy. Crazy, crazy, crazy. How does losing a brother hurt more than dying?”

Luna held me tight.

Life moves on. That was the worst part about it. For some, it ends. For the rest, it doesn't.

“Lots of ponies staring at me.”

“You were on the front page not too long ago, remember?”

“I distinctly recall not having my picture taken.”

“Well sure,” Search said, “but your story was.”

I felt confined in the dull grey boxy armor that had given me. I wasn’t going to actually be fit for a real set, so they just gave me a spare set that almost fit. Almost. It was too small. Nothing like my old Adamantium peytral.

Some ponies waved as we walked past. I gave a fake smile and nodded to them, as was expected of me. When I looked away, my face returned to its normal sour expression.

“I don’t like the attention.”

“I’m afraid there’s not going to be much help in that regard. I am sorry to be the one to say this, but ponies will be noticing you wherever you go. Having one of your legs be entirely metal does that.”

I grunted in reply.

“Some pony should tell ‘em it’s rude to stare.”

“Somepony should,” Dew agreed.

Bray punched me lightly in the foreleg. I didn’t feel it, as that leg was made of metal. Strange how that works.

“Cheer up, Sky! They just want to see the stallion who took on an entire pack of Dire Wolves and lived to tell the tale!”

“Do they want to take a picture with me, too?”

“Do you see any fancy shmancy unicorns around here? Any of ‘em carrying several-hundred-bit equipment?” Dew asked.

“What was that about unicorns?” Bray asked.

“Poor phrasing. You know what I mean.”

“... I’ll let it slide.”

“Are cameras not commonplace around here? I saw quite a few up in Canterlot,” I lied.

“A decent model can cost several hundred bits.”

“Oh.”

Sergeant Search brought the team to a halt.

“Quiet day today,” he muttered.

It was my first day on patrol. I was to stay close to any one of the three members, preferably Bray, like I was attached by a two hoof long umbilical cord. Search had said that I had studied enough and was due for some on the job experience.

“Hmm, this place looks oddly familiar.”

We were near the bridge in the middle of town. It was the very bridge I had seen before nearly dying of blood loss.

“Nah, must be nothing.”

Dew leaned over the railing and looked out over the river. Search wiped his forehead with his fetlock. It sure was hot out today. And bright. I didn’t exactly get much rest last night so the bright summer sun was starting to hurt my eyes. Luna promised to share her story later, and instead we just sat together, in quiet.

It was… good. It was needed. That’s the word, needed.

When I woke up thanks to that damned alarm and got ready for work, Bray had commented how I looked like shit. She said it more tactfully, but she still said it. I told her I had a sleepless night which earned me some pity points.

“Could really use a pair of sunglasses right about now.”

“Let’s get out of the sun for a bit, then resume the patrol.”

If this is what I was going to have to get used to every day, I was going to be miserable. If it weren't for the protective coverings between the prosthetic and my arm and between my armor and myself, I was sure that I would be boiled alive. Instead, I was merely frying to death. An upgrade, I hoped.

I squinted hard as we turned towards the sun and started walking down the street. As we walked, I thought about the future.

‘So… let’s say Luna manages to get Celestia back. I could probably just reveal myself immediately. Work with these ponies to figure something out… Maybe a rotation of volunteers to be podded? Or… Hmm… Definitely get whatever remains of the Hive’s Finest to research different love harvesting methods. Specifically, the ones not done previously. Those were straight-up torture.’

The Sergeant opened a glass door and entered inside the building. We followed as I continued to brainstorm.

‘Figure that out later. Let’s just say cooperation works. I’ll need to order the abandoning of the hive and make a new secure hive closer to Equestria, preferably close to Canterlot. The closer I am to Luna, the better… There were those Crystal Caves. If I could get something going in there, that would be for the best.’

Dew, Bray, and Search all took off their helmets and let their manes hang free. They were damp from sweat. I nearly took my helmet off for the slight relief before I remembered my cover story. Right now, we were waiting in line for something. Search had mentioned wanting to drink something cold, so it was likely he led us to somewhere with drinks. The nonalcoholic kind, of course. And given that these were ponies, I half expected milkshakes or something.

‘In these modern times, I’ll need to secure some way of maintaining political autonomy. No way in hell I’ll let the changelings become a vassal state of Equestria. Really, that just means I need a source of income. A nationalized industry to fund the hive. What can changelings offer that Equestrians need?’

Search nodded towards a square table with four chairs and I followed Bray and Dew as we went and sat down. Apparently, Search was going to order for us.

‘Shapeshifting, of course. Emotion sensing as well. What practical applications do these have? Emotion sensing would be helpful for psychology I suppose, but that would take a long time to set up. Getting doctorates is not exactly a quick task. Still, that’s an idea to keep note of. Shapeshifting could have many uses… I doubt the Equestrians will appreciate us taking their form, so anything disguise related is probably out. Espionage would be the one exception to that, if Luna wants us for that. I’m sure Princess Celestia had her own espionage network.’

I half-noticed Search sitting down at our table. The ponies started quietly chatting with one another.

“Hey Sky.”

“Bray.”

‘The fact that I’ve heard nothing about it means it’s either really good or nonexistent. On one hoof, she is the supreme ruler of the most powerful nation in existence and would most certainly keep tabs on other nations. On the other, she’s a pony.’

“Whatcha doing?”

“Thinking.”

‘What other applications does shapeshifting hold? I suppose that if I don’t come up with any, I could just ask any loyal changelings. Get ideas from them. Speaking of, I’ll need to reform the hive. Absolute rule is fine and dandy, but the less paperwork I have to do, the better. Getting some sort of constitution in place is a pretty good idea, even if that paradoxically means more paperwork.’

“Whatcha thinking about?”

“Stuff.”

‘Would changelings even accept a constitution? They are so heavily monarchist that they would never accept a republic. Not this generation, at least. Considering I am a physical royal too, I don’t think those monarchist tendencies will dissipate over time. Due to the Weave, they might be naturally inclined to stick around royal breeds. A constitutional monarchy would be very easy to implement. I could make some sort of court system to eliminate that duty from my potentially packed schedule. A lawmaking body wouldn’t quite work. Maybe disband the Praetorians and create my own guard to act as a special bodyguard. I doubt that I can fully remove their loyalty to the Queen once I depose her.’

“What kind of stuff?”

“Things and stuff.”

“You’re avoiding answering me.”

“That was because I was thinking. Now I’m not. What’s up?”

“Do you like vanilla?”

“Vanilla?”

“Vanilla.”

“Uh, sure.”

“Great!”

“... Vanilla what?’

“Ice cream! Why else would we go to an ice cream parlor?”

“Is that where we are?”

I cast a look around. Sure enough, we were in an ice cream shop.

“How did… what exactly were you thinking of that was so engrossing that you completely zoned out?”

“I was thinking about…. Where I will be in the future.”

“Oh, that sounds interesting. Where do you see yourself?”

“Probably Canterlot.”

She scrunched her muzzle.

“I only hear bad things about that city. Search’ll tell you to go somewhere else, I’m sure.”

Dew and Search were in the middle of a conversation across the table, not paying attention to ours.

“And as I said, the city didn’t agree with me. I know there’s going to be issues.”

“So why go there?”

“That’s… where my g–marefriend is.”

“The long distance one?”

I nodded.

“You met her when you went to Canterlot?”

“Actually she’s sort of a… foalhood friend,” I chuckled.

“Ooo, she moved to the big city from Fillietown?”

“Yeah. Got some kind of government job offer. A clerk or something, I didn’t ask.”

‘This is a lot of fun and in no way can bite me in the ass later.’

The shopkeeper– is there a special word for someone who deals ice cream?– yelled something and Search leaned away from his conversation, looking towards the counter.

“That’ll be us. Bray, if you could get it.”

“Sure thing, Sir. We’ll continue this conversation after we eat, Sky.”

She left the table to grab our order of… ice cream.

‘So many parallels to Earth. Thank Panar for them, I think I’d go crazy if this place was completely alien.’

“So what were you two talking about?”

I wiped the sweat from my brow. Considering I still had my tin can on, I was not cooling off as quickly as the rest of the squad.

“Things ‘n stuff.”

“Gotcha.”

Bray Call came back carrying a tray in her light green magic. Matched her eye color, as was usual for unicorns. The tray had four cups of ice cream; two vanilla, one chocolate, and one… some triple color. Vanilla, chocolate, and pink. I imagined it had a specific name I didn’t know.

She distributed the cups and sat down with her own tri-color dairy flag. They started licking it like it was on a cone, so I followed suit with the vanilla ice cream they gave me. The cold was a welcome relief. It had been a long while since I had any physical food that actually tasted good, so I was emptying the shallow cup at a relatively quick pace.

‘No cones, huh? Too awkward to hold or something?’

A look up at the menu told me that they did indeed exist.

‘Guess it’s just a preference thing.’

“This something you three normally do?”

“Only on Wednesdays and Sundays,” Search answered from his cup.

“And the Guard pays for it? Just how many bits do you all spend on going out for food?”

They shrugged or otherwise didn’t answer.

“Whoever is in control of the Guard’s finances has no understanding of reducing costs and deserves to be fired.”

“You gonna take over that duty and cut down on expenses or something?”

“And miss out on free ice cream? No! We all need to work to keep that idiot where he is!”

The group chuckled and went back to their frozen treats.

‘Where the hell was I? Long term planning… I’ll have to reorganize some of the cultural aspects of the hive. If there is to be a familial system, then having last names would make things less of a nightmare. The pony way of only vague naming relations is confusing as hell and doesn’t work for changelings. On that, I’ll also have to create some sort of identification system. I imagine I can get help from Luna and her bureaucratic machine for that. Then I–’

“Aaagh!”

I clutched my head with my forelegs.

Across the table, Search begrudgingly handed five bits over to Dew.

Author's Note

I have a Ko-Fi now! This will not affect the speed at which chapters are made, but it will help get art commissions.

70- Bacchus

As we trot along, ponies smiled and waved to us.

“So, about that filliefriend of yours?”

‘Filliefriend, not marefriend. I need to remember that.’

“Filliefriend?” Search and Dew echoed.

‘Jedi business, go back to your drinks.’

“It’s private.”

Search poked a hole in that logic, “But you’re telling Bray about it?”

“It’s not as private as I wanted.”

“Hey, you were happy to share!”

I sighed, “Well then, what do you want to know?”

“The obvious; what’s her name? What does she look like? What is her Mark?”

“I’d prefer not to answer those.”

“Alright.”

Search chimed in, “I take it she lives in Vanhoover, huh?”

I rolled my eyes, “She’s real, and for some reason has taken an interest in me. Anything else?”

Bray tapped her chin, “Hmm…. How did you two meet?”

“Err…. It was a chance meeting, really. I was out playing one night and we more or less stumbled upon each other.”

Search stopped the group to chat up a pony behind a stall on the main street. The stall was filled with different metal cookware for sale.

“That sounds cute. Two foals, out playing at night, meeting by chance and spending the rest of their lives together!”

“Yeah. I really was lucky to meet her.”

“What did you two do together?”

“What?”

“Like, when you hung out, what did you two do together?”

“Oh… we… talked. She’s a bit older than me, and I never really was into toys, so we just chatted more than anything else.”

“For years, you just talked?”

“For as long as we knew each other. Our meetings were… scarce. There was lots to talk about.”

“This is soundling less like a filliefriend and more like a business associate.”

“Yeah well sorry to disappoint. What did you expect, premarital sex?”

Bray laughed. Dew shook his head but kept quiet. I had forgotten that he was listening in.

“Well, it’s just that you two knew each other for years and only met up at nights. So I figured that, you know, you were all romantic with each other and it was adorable.”

I snorted, “We’ve been too busy for that. Again, there was and is still lots to talk about. We make the absolute most out of every moment we have, given how hard it is for us to meet up. We’re taking things slow.”

“That sounds… disappointingly sensible.”

‘Damn this heat. I’m beginning to regret this job with each passing minute.’

“You three have any pony special?”

All three guards immediately began what seemed to be well-practiced excuses.

“I’ve been much too busy with–”

“No.”

“Do you know how hard it is to bring somepony over when–”

“–focus on my career as a guard so I have–”

“–full household. Now, my apartment is so small–”

“I get it! There’s no need to explain anything, trust me, I understand. I was never one for initiating any of that stuff anyways.”

“Your filliefriend approached you?” Bray asked.

“That’s right. She’s very… forward. Used to getting what she wants, I think. She has changed for the better, meanwhile I suppose I changed for the worse.”

Search looked surprised, “You changed? Something bad happen– nevermind, don’t answer that.”

“Amongst other things, I was not doing well even before the wolves. I told you that I was between jobs–”

“Guards!”

All four of us snapped to the direction of the yell. A distressed dark green earth pony stallion was hurrying towards us. Upon realizing that a simple yell could drag all of our attention into a single direction, I looked away from the stallion and did a slow three-sixty turn, checking the surroundings and the nearby ponies. Those that had noticed the yell were looking in its direction. The rest were going about their business.

“Guards!” The pony yelled again, but thankfully not at the top of his lungs.

“What is it, citizen?” Search asked.

The stallion skidded to a halt in front of us, arresting his momentum on the stone street.

“Easy Tap’s store!”

“What? What about Easy Tap’s store?”

“The ponies! They’ve gone mad!”

“What happened?”

“Princess Daybreaker’s new policy– everypony’s trying to stock up before it goes into effect! They’re going wild trying to get what they can before the shelves are empty! It’s a stampede!”

“Horseapples! Everypony with me, we need to stop whatever’s going on before it gets a chance to snowball!”

Sergeant Search took off in the direction that the stallion had come from, with us three hot on his heels. Down one street. Two. Three. Rounding a final corner, we saw what had to be Easy Tap’s store– obviously a name for some liquor distribution center– at the centerpoint of what was looking to be a warzone. Ponies were rushing past each other, some parking wheeled carted outside, the rest with saddlebags. They went in empty-hooved and left laden with bottles of wine, beer, spirits, and everything else under the sun that the store sold. There was of course a great deal of yelling and panicking.

I knew from experience that ponies sure did love to panic.

They were pushing past each other, each trying to force their way into or out of the double doors that served as the store’s entrance.

“Right,” Search began, “Dew and I will clear up this congested traffic out here. Bray and Sky, go inside and make sure everyone is calm and orderly in there. We’ll stay as long as we’re needed– or until our shift is over, whichever is shorter.”

He stepped forward, put a hoof up to his lips– ‘Gross.’ – and whistled a long and sharp note. The ponies all stopped right where they were and stared at Search.

“Now, I understand the excitement,” Search nearly-yelled, “but we’re civilized ponies. I want everypony to form two lines; one at that left door for enterin’, one at that right door for exitin’. Am I clear?”

“But I gotta get some salt before they run out!” A random pony yelled from the crowd.

“You’ll wait your turn, or else there’ll be trouble. Am. I. Clear?”

“Yes sir,” the voice answered slowly.

The effect was immediate; the ponies started to back up from the doors and started forming a line. There was still some pushing and arguing, so Search and Dew moved forward to the line and started straightening things out and acting as intermediaries in the fights. Bray nudged me in the shoulder and made for the entrance.

Cutting to the front of the line, we entered the shop. Easy Tap’s Shop was a grocery store with one purpose in mind: the death of sobriety. Shelves and shelves of liquid courage filled the large space. Each shelf sat on a tiled floor, with plain white walls ringing the room. The ceiling was similar to the plaster subscieling I had seen at the hospital, only much higher, and the lights were long circular tubes that glowed a slightly blue white color.

At the far back wall, glass doors with exaggerated handles stored tilted shelves of cooled beer, kept in some sort of recessed cold room that had to be powered by magic. I half expected horrible pop music to blair from speakers above but we were spared from that torture. Easy Tap’s was a modern liquor store in all but electronics. Magic made up for more than that difference.

Many of the shelves were either empty or in the process of being emptied. The panic buyers were practically throwing hooves over the choice picks of alcohol in the store. Up here at the front end of the store, the cashiers were utterly overwhelmed as ponies came with carts filled to the brim with goods.

“Let’s sort out the fights breaking out in the store proper, then head back up here afterwards to keep order. Got it, Sky?”

“Got it, Bray.”

“Good. Stick with me at all times.”

With that, we plunged into alcohol-flavored Black Friday.

‘Fuck this hell, I’d rather be committing war crimes again. At least then I had the Praetorians when it came to disciplining overgrown nymphs!’

“Hey you! No carrying products you haven’t bought in your mouth! Use a cart, a hoof, a wing, or TK!”

‘So unsanitary.’

Two pegasi yelling at each other pulled my attention away from the plague-bearer.

“Break ‘em up gently, Sky,” Bray instructed.

I got up between them.

“Alright alright! Break it up!”

“I saw it first!”

“I got it first!”

The object of their innermost desire was a bottle of store brand wine. It was on sale for twenty bits. Truely, this was the highest stakes argument in the past century. I groaned and pointed a metal hoof at the other bottle.

“There’s another one on the shelf over there!”

“.... Oh.”

“I knew that….”

“So one of you gets this one... you. And you, go get that one.”

“Thank you, sir..." They muttered ashamedly. Which was good, since they should be ashamed of their childish behavior.

I shook my head as they both slunked off.

‘Literally nymphs, I swear. This is the kind of problem that would be solved on a children’s TV show!’

“A far cry from dealing with Dire Wolves, eh?”

“Is this really what you all do?”

“Yes. We didn’t bring you onboard to wrangle rowdy ponies, though that is a large part of our job. We need you for… I’m not going to jinx it. Let’s just say that Dire Wolves were only one of our troubles.”

“Oh, right, right. I recall Search saying something about the forest.”

“Yeah. It’s considered bad luck to talk about its activity, or lack thereof.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Let’s keep moving.”

Bray looked around the store and called out from next to me, “I see you over there, stuffing saddlebags! Stop that!” She cantered over to deal with the potential shoplifter. I was about to join them when I heard a whisper.

“Moozart never died.”

I froze. There was a grey pegasus standing to my side, hiding behind a shelf. Whoever they were, they had been watching me.

‘A changeling? Here? How did they know I am one? What?!’

“He simply became music,” I whispered back. Bray was up ahead, not paying attention.

“It’s so good to see you again.”

“I didn’t expect to see a Lodge member– or any other of us– this far north, nor this soon.”

“Hehehe, you don’t recognize me?”

Looking around, I double checked that there were no ponies nearby. Not close enough to hear us talk.

“Can’t say I do.”

“Are you sure, Phas?”

“Ph– no. There’s no…”

The pegasus smiled.

“No way…”

“Long time no see, huh? It’s been months since we last talked.”

“Th… Thorax?” I whispered over the Weave.

“Last I checked.”

“How?”

“Your Weave. It’s impossible to ignore. I was in the area and felt your presence. I decided that I should check in on my best friend. Oh, the name’s Nimble Wing, by the way.”

“I…”

“Don’t worry, I heard some of your story. I should be able to come up with–”

I had stepped forward and pulled him into a hug using my metal leg.

“Th– Nimble. You… you’re really here?”

“Yeah, I’m here Sky. Ergh! Sky, you’re heavy!”

I realized I was leaning into him so I sat down.

“Shit. I didn’t expect to see you… Nimble. I can’t believe you’re actually here.”

“You look like you went through a grinder Sky. I saw your story in the newspaper– it made it all the way to Manehattan. Though in that paper you were only on the third page. Lots of other stuff were considered more important than a pony fending off a couple of dire wolves alone. Something about a war… would you know anything about that?”

“Sky?” A voice called out from the back of the store. It was Bray, searching for me.

I looked over my shoulder and let go of Thorax.

“We need to talk again. Not here. I’ll…. I think I know of a way where we can talk without anyone listening. Just look out for other changelings, okay? If you found me, others will. If Mother finds out I’m still alive…”

“She’ll come to rescue you! Good idea–”

“No. She will come to finish the job. There’s a lot we have to talk about. None of it good.”

“Oh Sky, there you are!”

Bray was walking up to where we were.

“Hey Bray.”

“You were told to stick to me. What happened, get your hooves welded to the ground?”

I looked back but Thorax was gone.

'Wow, he really picked up his skills during his time away from the Hive. If he had shown this potential during the class, I doubt that he would have been filtered out!'

“No, I saw a pony causing trouble. Needed to deal with them before they got away.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“You already ran away. I had to… Nevermind. I’m sorry, I should have stuck with you regardless.”

Bray squinted her eyes. “No… If you felt like you had to do something, then I’m glad you didn’t sit around or shirk your duty. What was it that needed your attention?”

“I saw… a pony trying to open a bottle and drinking from it.”

“Good catch. Wait, why are you sitting down then?"

"I lost you, so I decided to give my right shoulder a break. I think I may have tightened the straps too much."

"You're always fiddling with that thing. You'll get comfortable with it, I'm sure. Let’s head back up to the front now.”

“Alright.”

Corporal Bray led the way back up to the front end of the store. I let her guide me as I once again zoned out in thought.

‘There is one way I can talk to Thorax. One way, and I don’t even know if it is possible. Only one person in the entire world would know if it is possible. They are also the only person who can show me how. Luna, I’m going to need a favor from you.’

71- Aegeus

“Mhmm! Sky did a great job helping out with the panic!”

Bray was positively beaming with happiness at the job well done.

“I don’t think I was really needed there….”

“An extra set of hooves goes a long way.”

Bray sat down across from me at our usual spot on the right side of Search’s office. Dew took up a spot on the opposite side of the room while Search sat down behind his desk.

“Bray’s right. It may not seem like you did a lot today, but that’s Guard duty. Some days you walk around town and nothing happens. Others, you break up fights before ponies get injured. That is the best we can hope for. We don’t go charging out, looking for manticores to wrestle. A quiet day is a good day.”

“Speaking of quiet,” Dew remarked as he gave a look to Search.

“Right. Paperwork.”

“Oh no,” I quietly gasped.

‘I thought I escaped that evil phenomenon!’

“I’ll go get everything from the main floor that we will need,” Search said as he slowly got up from his chair. He took off his helmet and placed it on his desk. “Let’s get out of this clunky armor before we get started. No need to be geared to the nines if all we’re doing is filling in blanks and checkmarks.”

We all groaned.

“Yeah yeah, I know it sucks, but that’s part of being a guard so we gotta do it.”

It was going to be a long afternoon.

The wind whistled in my ears as I flew.

I was soaring above the clouds. They formed a rolling layer of white fluff beneath me, painted in hues of scarlets and golds as I flew away from a setting sun. There was nothing but the blue sky and a few scattered clouds above me.

“You fancied a flight?” Luna called from my side as she beat her large alicorn wings to join me.

“Much to think about.”

“Oh?”

I adjusted the sound in the dream so that our voices were loud enough to not have to yell over the wind.

“There’s lots happening, and there’s a lot that needs to happen. How goes the war? I’m not exactly in a position to receive classified military intel.”

“Slow. Very slow. Daybreaker is practically ripping her mane out at how the changelings have retarded our progress at pushing them out. The E.U.P. have pushed them out of Equestria proper and are fighting them in the jungles just to our south. As you can imagine, that environment is very well suited to the hit-and-run fighting style your changeling army has adopted.”

“Does Daybreaker intend on pushing them as far as possible?”

“She intends to wipe them out, but I suspect she will have to settle for that, yes.”

“That’s…. Good. Very good. For us, at least. Daybreaker won’t be able to wipe out the changelings, I can tell you that much. That gives me time, lots of it.”

“Are you so certain in your kind’s ability to evade pursuit?”

“I am certain of our ability to hold our homelands. No one can… Nevermind. I shouldn’t tell you, on the extremely slim chance that that information could leak to Daybreaker somehow. How is your progress on convincing Twilight Sparkle to turn against Daybreaker?”

“The bootlicker has been told to stay far from Canterlot, all the way in Ponyville. She has her fellow elements there to help sway her, but Daybreaker has stationed a contingency of her finest Royal Guards in the town, citing potential incursion from hidden changeling elements within Everfree Forest.”

“Honestly not that bad of an excuse. I would have hidden several strike teams within those woods if possible. I take it that those guards watch her and keep her… indoctrinated?”

“Almost certainly. It is impossible for me to know for certain given the distance, but I suspect that our bond is tenable at best, and very much subject to change. I can change her mind given the opportunity, but…”

“Can you speak with her secretly through dreams?”

“Of course. However, I have had very little time to do so.”

“Then we have to cut down on our time together.”

I banked slowly to the side, cutting straight through a cloud that rose from the distant cloud layer beneath us.

“I…. I do not wish for that to happen. We have fought so hard and lost so much. Losing the one chance to speak with you each day is a toll I am ambivalent to pay.”

“Me too. There are often days where all I want is to just stay in bed, preferably asleep and with you. But we have to do this in order to move against Daybreaker.”

“Indeed. It is decided; I shall reduce our time together in favor of coercing the Element of Magic to our side. While I am at that, I shall request the aid of the other Element bearers to keep an eye on her out in the waking world. If they can also work to persuade Twilight Sparkle, then we have a good chance of counteracting Daybreaker’s machinations.”

“Agreed. How’s the Nightmare hunting?”

“Very little time for that, too.”

“Is it worth it to spend the odd night doing that? I don’t want those things left unmolested.”

“It mostly likely is worth the cost of time. They have been prospering under Daybreaker’s rule. I suspect that this ban on spirits and vices will only double down as Daybreaker executes her will.”

“Is it an intentional effort?”

“... Possibly. Combining a Nightmare and an alicorn leads to a drift. A sort of melding of desires and a distortion of ambitions.

“So Princess Celestia has sort of negated some of the raw evil of the Nightmare possessing her?”

“Possibly. This is hardly a studied science, and my experience in the matter is rather tainted. My memory is suffering from an unreliable narrator sort of issue.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. How are you doing?”

Luna smiled.

“These nights certainly help. Rebuilding Canterlot goes well, if always struggling for funds. Daybreaker has already delivered the contract of rebuilding Canterlot Castle to her specifications and the basic work has already been started. As for the city proper, that has been left up to me. Daybreaker has been too focused on the war to bury herself in the minutia of the reconstruction. That is quite a small miracle. One I have exploited to the fullest; I am certain that if it were left to Daybreaker, many a pony would be out house and home. As it is, many of the fire-scathed blocks have been either rebuilt or have been cleared out in preparation for rebuilding.”

“Heh, sorry about that, but–”

“I understand, Phasma. You waged a war that was quite bloodless, in comparison to the crusades my sister and I have led. Or really, just myself. Casualties are low, limited almost entirely to those who were injured to the fires.”

“There’s also the missing ponies that you won’t be getting back.”

“Yes… There will not be a shortage of proverbial ammunition against the changelings in that regard.”

“Can’t be helped. On that note, I do have some good news and a favor I need to ask.”

“Do go on, the world is quite starved of good news at the moment.”

“A friend got in contact with me. I had banished him from our kingdom– long story– and he finally has made contact again. Apparently, he could sense my Weave. That is, he could feel a sort of low-level hivemind that changelings royals produce. We can talk about that later, such as when you tell me your story or I speak with Cadence again. It’s quite the useful aid for fellow changelings, and I certainly benefited from the one at the Fourth Hive, right up until I ordered that one’s destruction, or rather the entombed brothers and sisters projecting it. I don’t know if it has an off-switch. If I can turn it off, I wasn’t taught how. I bet there’s a lot concerning the Weave that Chrysalis did not teach me. Anyways, this friend, Thorax, found me despite my relatively remote location.”

“I’m surprised that any changeling found you all the way up north in Hooferville.”

“Yeah that surp– wait, what?”

I stopped flying forward, choosing instead to hover while staring at Luna. She had to circle back around when she noticed that I had stopped, having continued flying forward for a few seconds. When she came back, she seemed confused.

“... What?”

“Hooferville? I never said the town’s name, Luna.”

“... I have never excelled at cloak and dagger pursuits, despite my affinity for the night.”

“Luna, did you go searching for me?”

“No, I knew all along. I apologize, I just found your desire to stay hidden an adorable pursuit; I know where you are every time we meet together during the night. The exact location of your dream correlates to a location on the physical realm, hence why dear Cadence’s dream was close to me. So I respected your wish of not being found, despite already knowing where you were. A cursory glance at a map yielded the name of the settlement you washed up at.”

I face-palmed.

‘Face-frogged?’

“Lunaaaaa! Why didn’t you tell me?!”

“I suppose I lack an adequate excuse. I must apologize again.”

“It’s fine, it’s just… Augh! Alright, alright. Whatever. You know where I am but so long as you don’t go stirring the pot– that means looking for me– I should be fine. Damn it all, it seems everyone in the Panar damn world knows where I am!”

“Everyone but Daybreaker and your forebearer.”

“Thank The Weaver for that. What the hell was I talking about again? Ah, Thorax. He got in touch but due to my closeness with the local Guard, we can’t talk for long, nor frequently. However…”

“... You two can converse in the Dreamscape! Indeed, that is a tactic I have used to great extent prior to my banishment. I am proud that you have already thought of this useful technique, my apprentice Dreamwalker.”

“So while you are busy hunting Nightmares or speaking with Twilight, I can start rebuilding what power I have over my changelings, starting with Thorax. And that means I need to learn how to identify a specific person’s dream.”

“Quite so. Let us begin our next lesson. This time, you shall discover the properties of each dream you sense.”

I ended the sky dream and brought us to the Castle parlor. It was easier to focus in here, after all.

“Right. I take it that I should start with sensing the other dreams around?”

Luna nodded.

I repeated the steps first taught to me for sensing other dreams. Soon enough I felt the presence of the other bubbles in the Dreamscape and projected them as a star map around us. Since this was the second time doing it, it felt easier. I even managed to push out further, filling the room with stars.

“Hooferville has a large population,” Luna commented.

“Yeah, it’s a big town. Now, what next?”

Thorax was suddenly aware of the fact that he was dreaming. At least, he was pretty sure he was dreaming. Last he checked, he was in Hooferville, not here. He shot up from the couch he was lounging on. He was in an apartment he had stated briefly in while in Manehattan. His last memory was falling asleep countless miles away from here.

There was a knocking at the door.

Confused, Thorax crept silently up to the door and pressed an ear against it. He could hear two voices speaking quietly with each other out in the hall.

“–polite to knock. You wouldn’t appreciate it if I were to barge into your room, would you?”

“You are a Dreamwalker. You must assert your presence to the host, lest you plant the idea that you can be subject to their whims. Appearance is paramount, Phasma.”

“Phasma?” Thorax asked out loud, and he threw the door open.

Phasma was standing out in the dimly lit hallway. Next to him was an alicorn– Princess Luna, if Thorax’s memory served correctly. The newspapers almost exclusively talked about Princess Daybreaker, but Thorax has seen a story or two on Princess Luna’s work.

“Ah, hello Thorax. I suppose I should introduce you two. Thorax, this is Luna. Luna, this is Thorax.”

“A pleasure to make your acquaintance, changeling.”

The alicorn stretched out a hoof in front of her.

“Uh…”

“Say it’s nice to meet you and bump her hoof.”

“Right. It’s nice to meet you, Princess Luna.”

Thorax met her hoof with his own and smiled.

Phasma nodded, “Fantastic. May we come in?”

“Oh, sure! Wait. Wait wait wait wait! What’s going on? Aren’t I dreaming? How are you here? And how am I aware that I am dreaming?”

“A Dreamwalker’s presence will naturally make the dreamer cognizant of their situation,” the blue alicorn explained.

“Dreamwalker?”

“Luna and I are capable of traveling between dreams. That’s how I more or less forged an alliance with Nightmare Moon. I brought us here so you and I could talk privately.”

“I came with because Phasma is still learning the trade. An undisciplined Dreamwalker is one doomed to die an early death.”

“Die? What?”

Phasma frowned, “It’s not a safe practice, Thorax. May we come in?”

Thorax stepped aside. Phasma and Princess Luna entered into the small apartment. With all three of them in the room, the place felt very cramped.

“So you two have been talking together in dreams?”

“Yeah, that’s how I first met Nightmare Moon. I’m apparently a natural Dreamwalker, so I somehow stumbled upon her while she was imprisoned on the moon.”

“A fortuitous meeting.”

Phasma smiled, “Extremely.”

“... Do you two often meet together?”

“Pretty much every night, though it’s looking like that might change.”

“Well a friend of Phas’s is a friend of mine.”

“Thorax, could you conjure up some more… seating arrangements?”

Thorax tilted his head, “How do I… do that?”

“Just imagine there being a second couch somewhere.”

Following his instructions, Thorax imagined a mirror copy of the worn out black felt couch across from the coffee table the first one sat behind. Thorax blinked and suddenly his imagined copy was before them.

“Perfect, thanks Thorax.”

Phasma walked up behind it and simply rolled over the back of it, laying sprawled out over it on the other side. Luna walked around and sat next to him. Thorax took a spot on the original couch.

As the seconds started to tick by, Thorax nervously tapped his hooves together. He wanted to talk to Phasma, but it would be rude to not address the alicorn in the room. Considering the punishments that existed for merely inconveniencing Queen Chrysalis, he was scared of what Luna could do, especially since they weren’t even physically meeting.

“So Thorax,” Phasma broke the silence, “I am relieved beyond words to see you again.”

Taking Phasma’s lead, Thorax let Luna’s presence go uncommented.

“Heheh, you too Phas. Since I heard about your death, I was worried sick! What happened in Canterlot?”

“The rebellion failed, if it wasn’t clear. I fought Chrysalis and she won. I managed to teleport out, but it was close.”

“You teleported?”

“Yes, it was quite a lucky Deus Ex Machina. I did pay for it with my right foreleg.”

“The dire wolves attacked you after you teleported?”

“They actually attacked after I lost the leg…”

Luna spoke up, “Phasma shall regale the tale to you later. There is still much to be done. Need I remind you Phasma that you still have to meet with dear niece Cadence once more?”

“We’ll get to that eventually. We can see her next time we're together, even. Straight to business, then? Thorax, you and I will meet here in this Dreamscape from now on so that we can talk more and plan for the future.”

Thorax sighed, “I like that idea. We really need to put an end to this horrible war.”

“... Riiiight.”

‘Oh I do not like how drawn-out that was.’

“You are planning on ending the war, right Phas?”

“Well obviously. It’s just going to be difficult to figure out a solution to the problem that started the whole war while we are starving to death.”

“Actually, with the successes that Swarm Group East and West pulled off, the Hive can sustain itself for years now.”

‘Not that any of that matters anymore.’

“How do you figure that?”

“I had seen some of the figures behind the whole sustaining the food supply thing back at the hive. You weren’t exactly concerned with us seeing the important documents you left lying around on your desk.”

“... Well who would be stupid enough to break into the royal wing anyways? At any rate, that’s good news. So we have time and a method of meeting each other. Did you make any progress on finding alternatives to feeding?”

Thorax huffed, “I’ve been busy you know! After you kinda kicked me out of the hive, I had to make sure to not die.”

Phasma immediately looked like he kicked a puppy.

“Sh–Shit Thorax, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean–”

“I know. Chrysalis made you do it."

"Not really. I think she was waiting to see whether or not I spared you."

"You still exiled for a reason, right?”

“Yeah. I wanted to appear as loyal as possible. If I had other changelings that swayed my opinion, I had thought that Chrysalis would have moved against me before I was ready.”

“We must all suffer in the short term for us to reach an acceptable coexistence in the future.”

“What Luna said. Still, I’m sorry you went through that Thorax. It’s all my fault, I know.”

Thorax relented, “I don’t really blame you… Though if you must know, I did find a solution to our hunger problem.”

Phasma lurched up from his splayed position to sitting on his haunches with his hooves between his hindlegs. Thorax always remarked how that position looked like how a pony’s dog would sit. It made him smile.

“You did? You actually did?”

“It’s not just you working to save the Hive.” Thorax put a foreleg across his head in faux sadness, “Yes, after you callously threw me away like a piece of trash,” he let the hoof drop back to his side, “I solved it.”

Thorax could see Luna leaning on the edge of her seat. She of course has vested interest in seeing this to an end, of course. Then he saw Phasma jump across the table and wrap Thorax up in a hug.

“Yes! Yes yes yes! You’re a lifesaver!”

“Yep! Once we get back in contact with the rest of the First Fang and the Lodges, we can convince them to bring the war to an end.”

Phas stopped mid squeeze.

“.... Right. The First Fang.”

“Phas?”

“The First Fang… There’s something I need to tell you.”

“... What happened?”

Phasma’s voice was low, to the point where Thorax nearly had to strain to hear him.

“Chrysalis found out about the rebellion before I could start it. Coxa and Lacewing were ambushed. I got Coxa out of there, but Lacewing was gone. No one knew where she went, if she even somehow survived the brutal ambush… Then I went to fight Chrysalis. With so many Praetorians right behind us, defeating them all at once was going to be impossible. So I ordered… So I ordered Oest to hold them off. He was to stay behind with the last of the Lodge members with us. He… I never saw him again, too.”

Thorax felt cold. It felt like something had gone right through him and stolen the warmth from his body. As Phasma continued, Thorax started to shake.

“The fight did not go well. Despite her duel with Celestia, she was faster, stronger, had had a wider arsenal than I. At the end of it all, I was on the ground, broken. There was so much pain that I could only focus on two things, getting out of there and answering a question. How did Chrysalis know? As I laid in a growing pool of my own blood, I saw a changeling be addressed by Chrysalis. He had a scar over one of his eyes. A scar that matched a certain changeling we know...”

“No.”

“Tarsus. He sold us out. He got Lacewing and Oest killed. Maybe Coxa too, I don’t know. Even if he escaped Chrysalis’s troops, Daybreaker wouldn’t have been merciful. I tried my best, but… I failed. I failed them. I failed everyone.”

Thorax clenched his eyes shut. He could feel hot tears starting to come down his face.

‘No! This isn’t how it’s supposed to be! We’re all supposed to get back together and– and– and everything would be fine! We’d… We’d… Phasma was supposed to rule! We were supposed to help him, to be at his side as he guided the changelings out of the dark age! Oh Panar, no! It can’t be like this!’

Phasma squeezed tighter.

“I’m sorry. I exiled you. I led Lace to her death. I ordered Oest to die. And then I failed you all.”

‘No! It’s not your fault! I know you did your best, and that you didn’t want any of this to happen!’ Thorax wanted to say. Instead, he could only cry.

Phasma held him tighter.

72- Ambrosia

“It’s not your fault,” Thorax croaked. His voice was rough from, well…

“An officer is responsible for the actions of his soldiers. I… I let him stay. It’s my fault.”

“I know you, Phas. I know Oest, too. Whatever he did, it was his own choice.”

“But I–”

Luna spoke up, “If you place blame upon yourself for the death of every subordinate, you will only find an early grave.”

I sighed and looked away. This was not an argument I could ever win. It’s also not one I probably should win. Luna however had no intention of letting this go. She moved into my line of sight despite me looking away.

“Phasma. I can see that we can not move forward without looking back to the past. Tell us exactly what happened.”

“I… Alright, fine. After we escaped the ambush at the front foyer of Castle Canterlot, I ordered the survivors that stayed to hold off the Praetorians loyal to Chrysalis.”

“Praetorians?” Luna asked.

“I renamed the changeling Royal Guard to that to avoid confusion with the Equestrian Royal Guard.”

“Ah. Do continue.”

I really didn’t want to continue, but I did.

“So I had ordered the survivors to stay behind. There was simply no way we could defeat both Chrysalis and her minions at the same time. Oestridae said he would stay behind, too. I tried to argue but he wasn’t having it, so I allowed him to stay. Then we said… not goodbye, but a ‘see you soon.’ Then I left and never saw him again.”

“So what you are saying is that you are blaming yourself for this Oestridae’s last stand, despite it not being your decision?” Luna asked.

“An officer is–”

“Oh do not start that again.”

“Luna–”

“Luna is right, Phas. It sounds like Oest went out in exactly the way he would have wanted to. He didn’t die for nothing, nor did you order him to die. He gave his life for a chance. That’s what we all did, right? We’re all working for a chance for a better future? There’s no way to be sure that we can make it, but we’ll all die trying.”

“It is true that you are responsible for those under you, but it is also true that sometimes you must send them to their potential deaths. That is one of the consequences of being a leader.”

“Yet I’m the one to live, after he succeeded and I failed? How can… This is all…”

“You’re suffering from Survivor’s Guilt, Phas. No one blames you for not defeating your mother. She’s got centuries of experience on you, in addition to a literal army behind her. Oest wouldn’t blame you. I know he wouldn’t.”

I opened my mouth, then closed it. There was simply nothing I could say.

“We ask you to think about what your friend Thorax has said. In time, you shall find peace with the death of your friends. For now, let us move on to the unexpected good news Thorax here possesses.”

“Huh? Oh! The solution to the feeding problem! I found a way to gather love far, far easier and at least ten times more than our traditional Infiltrators can!”

I let go of Thorax and scooted back. Then I nodded to him to signal for him to continue.

“It turns out that… uh… Hey you’re not going to be mad at me for this, right?”

“Why would I be mad at you?”

“Well you see… I may have broken the Masquerade Protocol before the invasion happened…”

“... You were never a good Infiltrator. What does this have to do with harvesting love?”

“So you know how an Infiltrator traditionally harvests love?”

“Essentially flings, right?”

“Right. For obvious reasons, we avoid the long term stuff. We know that the long term love is more potent but due to the Masquerade Protocol we’ve had to avoid long term identities for our Infiltrators. I think Tarsus said at one point that there have been notable exceptions in the past, but those operators were considered the best of the best so the risk was allowed.”

“Long term love… You made a bond with a pony and kept it?”

“More than that. As it turns out, potency of love also has to do with intent. Or rather, direction.”

Thorax nervously tapped his hooves together as he watched for my reaction.

“Direction?”

“Yeah. To whom the love is directed towards.”

“... A pony is in love with you, Thorax? Not a disguise?”

He slowly nodded.

“... Oh. That’s extremely convenient.”

“You’re not mad? Or even surprised?”

I glanced at Luna. She was smiling.

“I can’t exactly blame you for breaking the Masquerade Protocol when I did that with Nightmare Moon. I am surprised, but not… completely so. What you said makes sense. The idea that changelings can be loved by ponies would be scoffed at within the Fourth Hive, and if it was even discovered in the past it could have been easily lost to time, or the transition between the four Hives. I am very happy to hear that this discovery is so fitting and well, I’ll just say it, it’s practically a Deus Ex Machina.”

“... Huh?”

I chuckled, “Luna and I are in love.”

“Oh? Oh! You two are together?!” I nodded. “Ohmigosh!” Thorax chirped– ‘Didn’t know we could do that,’– and this time he hugged me. “I’m so happy for you, Phas! You definitely deserve some happiness after what you’ve been through! Oh, if only the rest of the Fang were here. We’d… We’d all be happy for you, Phas.”

“Oest knew.”

“He did? When did you tell him? And what was his reaction?”

“After Luna and I fought. He approved, to quote, ‘even if she is the wrong species.’”

“Ever the greatest of us all.” He let go of me and his eyes darted between the two of us. “When did your relationship start?”

“... Thorax, your tail is wagging.”

“Is it? Oh, Hahahaha! Well, who you may end up with– if you even ended up with anyling at all– may have been a conversation the rest of us in the Fang have had several times. Coxa had bet that you would avoid any of this for at least a lifetime. Lace, err, I shouldn’t say. She would have wanted her bet to be kept secret, more or less. So when did this start?”

“Sometime during meetings between Nightmare Moon and myself.”

“We had grown fond of Prince Phasma rather quickly. The Nightmare was fascinated by Phasma’s willingness to do vile and dishonorable acts that nearly everypony else would shy away from, and I was absolutely enthralled in the opportunity to be with somepony so much like myself. Fertile grounds for a spark of love, as it became apparent.”

I got up off Thorax’s couch and went over to give Luna a nuzzle. Her smile widened as I did so.

“I can’t exactly say when it happened for me. There was always something so exciting about talking with Nightmare. Dangerous, possibly foolish, and thrilling. Despite the rare death threat, I had found myself actually enjoying our meetings to an extent. Coxa was right, though. If Nightmare Moon hadn’t made the first move, I certainly never would have.”

“And I am thankful that at least some good has come from that dark chapter in my life.”

“Ohmigosh you two are so cute together! If only the First Fang were here to see you two… No, we shouldn’t think about that.”

“No, we probably shouldn’t. Who is the pony that fell in love with you, Thorax?”

“Oh! This is actually his apartment over in Manehattan. He let me stay at his place while, uh, while the whole invasion thing happened. He’s still in Manehattan even though I left. Still has things to do before he can pack up and leave.”

“He? What’s his name?”

“Double Diamond. I think you two would get along, as I remember the first thing you said when we met was that you wanted to go skiing, right? He’s a huge fan of skiing and was planning on leaving Manehattan to go up north to where it would be easier for him to do his hobby.”

“That sounds… nice? Yeah, that sounds nice. I would like to try Equestrian Skiing and be a normal person… for just a day. Then I’ll want to go back to being a handsome Prince on the run from the law. So how did you two meet?”

“I was over in New Horseleans, traveling north. Diamond was there to visit some family. We met in this thing the ponies call a jazz club. It was nice and quiet and there were these really nice beanbag chairs that you could just melt into and I’m getting off track so anyways met in this club and started talking. Diamond said I didn’t look like a local, which at the time kinda scared me so I tried backing out of the conversation. He sensed that I wasn’t exactly the outgoing type and asked if we wanted to go somewhere else. Diamond suggested a nearby coffee shop. I said I never tried coffee and so he insisted on us going. One thing led to another and now we’re together. Since I wasn't tied down in New Horseleans, I went with him back to his place at Manehattan. I did a few oddjobs that he pointed out for bits, but mostly I've just been hanging out with him.”

“That’s very sweet, Thorax. It sounds very romantic.”

“Compared to literally meeting your special someone in your dreams?”

“She had to threaten to kill me a few times before I got the message to stick close to her.”

“Should I apologize for those remarks?”

“No Luna, you’re good. I have to ask, Thorax. How did you reveal your changeling self to Diamond?”

“It sorta happened days before the invasion. I tried to nonchalantly advice him to stick close to me during the Summer Sun celebration. At first he thought it was because I wanted to spend the day with him. Don’t get me wrong, I did, but… He easily saw through me and noticed that I was scared.”

Thorax shuffled his hooves nervously.

“I never was cut out for the whole Infiltrator thing as you said. I can’t imagine having to mask your emotions and reactions all the time. Being scared of the Summer Sun celebration was a red flag, to put it bluntly. I begged him not to tell anyone once the secret was out, and Panar bless him, he listened. Then once the invasion happened, he was kinda mad at me for not telling him Equestria was in danger. Then, uh… I guess he realized that I was just as afraid as him? Or something? I dunno.

“Once I explained that the invasion was so that we didn’t starve to death, he stopped being as angry. We went out for coffee again, just like when we first met. I might be addicted to the stuff now… Anyways, we started talking– quietly, and far from the other customers– about what changelings are and how life is like back at the Hive. Diamond gets it, you know? He understands that we had our flanks up against a wall, nowhere to go but forward. I don’t know what I did to deserve someone so understanding, but I’m taking the miracle and running with it.”

“See Phasma? Our ponies can be tolerant and understanding when they want to.”

“Yeah, when they want to. I’m not going to put the fate of my species in the hooves of those who can just as easily condemn us to death. But finally, we have a solution to the food crises. You said that love is more potent when they are giving it to the changeling, not the disguise?”

“Mhmm.”

“Okay. That’s good. We can work with that. It’s not like the Masquerade is going to unbreak itself anyways.”

Luna stood up, “That is very good indeed. You two shall work together to get your hooves back underneath yourselves. Meanwhile, I shall work on recruiting the Elements’ loyalty. Gentleponies, we have our heading. Soon enough, we shall end this landslide of a catastrophe for good, and bring our species together for the first time in history. The night is drawing to an end, so let us depart.”

“See you soon Thorax.”

“You too, Phas.”

I pulled Luna close and moved us back into my original dream.

The movement was quick. One second we were in the cramped apartment, the next we were in a bubble surrounded by orange clouds– which contrasted to the blueish purple ones that surrounded us when Luna traveled, and then finally we were back in the cozy parlor.

“Okay. Steady as she goes, then?”

“Indeed. Progress is frustratingly slow, but there is progress, and now we have the means to defeat the problem that spawned this whole debacle. It may be a bit… complicated to introduce, but it can still be introduced all the same.”

“Are we meeting again tomorrow night?”

“Hmm… Yes, we shall. Tomorrow, I shall take you to see Cadence once again, so that you two may finish your introductions.”

“You still owe me a story, too.”

“I have not forgotten. However, I would like to use the night after next to introduce this old method of clandestine meetings to Twilight Sparkle, so that I might once again work to endear ourselves and our goal to her. Let us hope that Daybreaker’s attempt to isolate her shall work in our favor.”

“Yeah you get to that, I’ll get back to slowly robbing the town’s guard by convincing them to siphon off bits into my account once every two weeks.”

“That would be a job.”

“Yes, thank you for explaining the joke.”

74- Wild Hunt

I put the newspaper down onto the table after I finished reading it.

The week had gone by slowly and without note. Luna had been absent from our nightly meetings in favor of speaking with Twilight Sparkle. I had reminded Thorax to keep an eye out for other changelings that wound up in the town. In one last meeting, Luna taught me how to sleep dreamlessly. That helped pass the now empty nights.

“Politics moves quickly when it wants to, huh?”

“Hmm?” Bray looked up from her book.

We had just finished a session of learning spells. We used the newspaper as a prop for our learning. Specifically, Bray had taught me the mending spell, and how it could fix many things. Nothing huge or complicated like armor, buildings, or furniture, but instead simple things like paper, cloth, and the sociological divide between two warring species.

I sighed.

‘There’s going to be a lot of racism against changelings.’

“The prohibition goes into effect two weeks from now.”

“Already?” Bray asked.

“Already?” Search echoed from his desk.

“Figures,” Dew grunted. “The crown moves quickly only when it is in danger, or tax season. Guess taking things away from us lowly ponies counts as taxes.”

The rest of the newspaper was boring contrivances. This high noble voices their support for this bill, that politician decries the moral decay of Equestria, and so on. It seems they all follow Daybreaker’s hoofsteps, regardless of where the trail leads.

“Dew, you know that Princess Daybreaker has a wider view of all of this than us,” Bray admonished.

“What more could there be to banning alcohol?”

“Clearly, she thinks that Equestria became blinded by its vices.”

Search interrupted the argument, “Whatever the case may be, we all will need to read up on the enforcement of this law. As usual, Canterlot’ll distribute information on how we enforce this. It’s not for us to decide whether the law is just or not, just to enforce it. Understood?”

“Of course, sir.”

“Yes sir.”

“Sure.”

Search raised an eyebrow at me but lowered it shortly after.

“Are you still planning on finding another career after your stint here, Sky?”

“Yes. Don’t take it personally.”

“Hard to take it personally when Bray is also planning on leaving eventually.”

Bray nodded, “One day.”

“So Sky, you enjoying your time with us?”

“It’s certainly… calm. With all the stuff going on in the world, this change of pace is nice. Like taking a breather after a run.”

Search laughed, “It’s not everyday that you wrestle with dire wolves!”

I smiled, “True. The help Bray is giving me with spells is nice.”

“I’m always happy to help.”

“Still, I appreciate it. And, uh… Dew exists.”

“When I feel like it,” Dew responded.

Search pressed, “But are you enjoying the actual work itself?”

“Walking around all day in the sun, talking to ponies, breaking up petty fights? Not really.”

“It’s not the most glamorous of work, I’ll give you that, but protecting the peace is one of the highest callings there is.”

“Even in peace, many can suffer.”

I saw Dew nodding slowly at my comment.

“I’m not going to try to change your opinion on that,” Search said, “but please keep your mind and eyes open. You’d be surprised at what you see–”

A shrill horn call interrupted the Sergeant.

It was loud; likely coming from across the entire town, I felt minute vibrations in the seat I was in. The call was high pitched, as if the horn was a woodwind instrument, calling an organic note.

The other three guards in the room had frozen the moment they heard it. After a second of realization, they hurriedly donned their armor.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“Get your armor on, Specialist Far Sky,” Search instructed me. “Blackthorn Forest is active.”

Blackthorn Forest. The reason why I was hired in the first place, purportedly. Sergeant Search wanted me not necessarily because they didn’t have enough bodies patrolling the streets– though they appreciated the help, but instead because they needed certain skills when Blackthorn Forest woke from his periodic slumber. A unicorn that could stand on their own against a pack of dire wolves was the sort of help they wanted.

We rushed out from the Guard Station in the middle of town and immediately started heading for the edge of town, the edge that bordered Blackthorn Forest. We weren’t alone in the rush: scores of other Guards from the building had hastily put on their armor and rushed out into the fading sunlight.

This wasn’t guard duty, this was Guard duty.

The bells were tolling now. Across town, the loud chimes echoed through increasingly emptying streets. Ponies were rushing indoors, sheltering in place during the middle of their evening walks or errand runs. Stores were closing doors, shuttering windows, and otherwise barricading their workers and customers within their buildings.

In the setting sunlight, we ran through a once bustling stopping point on one of the most populated transportation routes that quickly became a ghost town. By the time we reached the perimeter wall, we had passed from the center of town, full of shops and parks, to the edge of a periphery neighborhood.

The houses here were utterly unusual. Unlike the small-town-America feel that Downtown had, these homes resembled medieval houses in a fashion. Their first floors were solid stone, lacking any windows. The doors themselves were large, thick, and certainly barred shut from the inside. Starting from the second story up, they had the old white plaster and dark wood combination that wouldn’t look out of place next to a castle. These houses were built with one purpose in mind: survival.

This close to the Blackthorn Forest, this neighborhood was on the front line for potential monster attacks.

The perimeter wall was a tall, solid grey stone and mortar construct that ringed this entire edge of the city. At the end of the main road lay a gatehouse that contained two massive wooden doors, reinforced with several metal bandings. Most days, the gates were opened. The necessity of capitalism trumped the dangers that Blackthorn Forest posed, and as such trading caravans would often come in through the heavily trodden road that cut through the Woods. There was great safety in number, and a great deal of bits to be made off the tired travelers and their hired guards. Attacks on caravans were increasingly becoming rarer and rarer as Blackthorn Forest shrunk due to encroaching civilization. The monstrous critters instead moved through neighboring woods, all headed Southwest to the sizable Everfree Forest, which dominated this section of Equestria, Northwest of Canterlot.

However, now the massive doors now were locked shut and had large wooden poles propped up against them on the town side of the entrance. Right in front of the door, several ponies were being loaded onto stretchers to be carried off to the hospital in town. They were the injured survivors of whatever caravan had been nearby at this late hour, and were the ones who warned us of the approaching attack.

Nothing was coming in through there, not without breaking the entire door down.

The top of the stone walls was a wooden layer that extended slightly out and over the Forest. After I rushed up an exposed outdoor staircase right behind the rest of my squad, I saw that the area on top of the wall was far from glamorous. In fact, it was utterly barren except for some wooden torches, enchanted gemstone lighting, barrels filled with arrows and bolts, and the murder holes.

The far wall, the one that faced the Forest itself, had slitted windows evenly spaced across it, as well as smaller holes facing directly downwards.

It was a far cry from the dilapidated fortifications that I had laid siege to in Canterlot. This was real, actual defenses that saw frequent use.

Guards in the grey, boxy armor that I also wore were lining up by the vantage points on the far walls.

“Positions, everypony!” A large white earth pony stallion shouted.

He was standing behind everyone in armor decorated with golden epaulets. I had been introduced to him briefly when Sergeant Quick Search had formalized my paperwork. He was Captain Lance, and I never saw him outside of his office or the small gym that the barracks had. As far as I was aware, those were the sole two locations he visited in his life.

I got in line behind Sergeant Search. As a special squad, we did not have assigned roles in defined defensive tactics. We acted as a response team, or a spare force that could be assigned to many duties. Right now, Search had lined up with two other sergeants in front of Captain Lance. Their two squads stood next to us, behind the sergeants.

“Specialist teams!” Lance called out, addressing our sergeants. “I want you all on the grounds behind the wall. If any breaches occur, protect them while sending a messenger to inform me up here. Do not let any stragglers through to the town. Witnesses could not describe what attacked them, only that they were quick, came out of nowhere, and were beyond counting, so be prepared for anything. Dismissed!”

The three sergeants saluted and about-faced. Sergeant Search gave us a quick nod and we headed back down the stairs to the small clearing between the first houses and the wall.

As the three squads started to space out, Search addressed me.

“You’re about to earn your pay, Specialist Far Sky. We don’t know what we’re going to be up against, so it’s on you and Bray to hold them off while we formulate a plan. Work together alongside the other response team unicorns to plug any gaps in the wall that come up. The teams on the wall will be dealing with the majority of whatever is coming our way. The rest of us will be guarding you, trust us to watch your flanks as you keep the shield up!”

“Got it!”

“Good. Private Dew, we’re the closest to the stairs, so the moment there is a breach, you will go inform the Captain. Once the information has been relayed– and relayed back to you– return here.”

“Yes sir.”

The bells stopped tolling. Aside from the occasional shouts up above us on the walls, a still quiet had fallen onto the town. Glancing backwards, I saw a foal looking down at us from a nearby house. A hoof wrapped around them and pulled them away from the window as it was barred shut.

I tasted something in the air. It wasn't fear, no. It was the anathema of fear. The utter absence. Bravery or determination, I could not tell. The taste reminded me of strawberries, for some odd reason.

And so, we waited.

Seconds passed.

Minutes ticked by.

Then, they arrived.

First we smelled them. Whatever they were, they smelled like rotting carcasses.

Then, we heard them. It was a quiet rumbling in the ground first. The sounds of their scampering and scratching would be known to us eventually. The shouts above our heads grew louder.

Next, we felt them. Bray and I felt the mana discharge in the air as the unicorns stationed on the perimeter wall open fire upon whatever horde of beasts had decided that they liked their chances going up against civilization. All of us felt the temperature fluctuations as spellfire both heated and cooled the air, depending on which element the spell was.

Finally, we saw them.

As the Captain expected, there was a breach in the wall. What almost no one expected was that it happened almost immediately. What absolutely no one expected was that the breach was not in the walls or the gatehouse.

It was underneath the door itself.

A massive spray of dirt coated the interior section of the doors and the walls next to them, with the remainder of the spray covering the road leading to the town. Immediately, all of us six magic casters put up layered shields in front of the earthen geyser.

Through the rainbow layerings, the invaders crawled out of their suddenly-made tunnel.

They were overgrown rats, half the size of a changeling. Or pony, considering I was surrounded by them. Their maws were covered in giant, gnashing teeth. Their paws were webbed, and their hides seemed to be covered in dirty scales. From their mouths, a substance dripped that I knew for certain was going to be green in color.

As it was, I actually recognized what they were. Coxa had pointed out the skull of one down in one of the cold storage rooms back in the Hive.

“Breach! Breach! Breach!” Sergeant Search yelled.

Dew was already halfway up the staircase.

“Lavellan,” I quietly gasped.

‘What the hell are these things doing outside of the Underhive?’

The other two teams had came closer to the gatehouse and arrayed themselves next to us. One of the unicorns was heavily panting, and with a grunt, their shield went down. That sent my attention back to the immediate danger.

There were at least two dozen of the rats within the space between the gates and the shield layers already. They were hacking and slashing at the shield with the small claws at the end of their webbed paws, but were primarily biting at the magical bubbles using their oversized teeth.

Another unicorn grunted and another shield went down. Then a third. These things were putting their sheer cutting power up against our shields, and they were winning very quickly.

The bells started ringing again.

A breach was not expected, but it was always feared and prepared for. A second ringing would mean that the wall was breached, and that ponies should prepare to defend their houses and homes.

“Unicorns in the back! Pegasi above! Earth in front! Let none through!” Captain Lance yelled as he leaped from the top of the staircase down two floors to the ground level. He leaped forward from his landing and skidded to a halt in front of us. Back on the stairs, ponies were hurriedly descending the stairs to give us aid.

“Hooferville has never fallen, nor shall it ever will! Let’s show these vermin just whose boss in this neck of the woods!”

Another shield fell and Bray started gasping next to me. The rats beyond the shield were only increasing in number with each hoof of ground they took.

Within seconds, her shield fell and I felt the strain that the horde had put on on the previous unicorns now on my very horn.

There were hundreds of teeth and claws, each vying for their chance at clawing at the barrier. The strain felt like a truck had been put on my shoulders.

I dug my hooves into the ground, hissed slowly, and held the shield.

Ripping, biting, tearing.

Bray looked to me with surprise, her horn visibly smoking.

Hacking, shredding, spitting poison.

‘Hold! I have to hold until the guards are in position!’

They were pouring from the staircase. We had expected the monsters to assault the walls and scale them, as they had in the past a few times. Hooferville never had to deal with burrowing enemies. They had no combat experience against a hungry horde of Lavellan.

Scratching, slashing, biting, biting, biting, BITING!

The Guards arranged themselves in formation, pointing spears out from in front of them. Pegasi rose above, equipped with their hoof blades that had not seen action in quite some time.

“Let none pass!” The Captain yelled.

I let the shield drop.

I could have held much longer but I would need the strength for fighting. I'm fact, I was sure that if I had enough food beforehoof, I could have held all day. But instead, I had only just recovered from my extended period of starvation. My spells were far from their apex of strength.

The last shield vanished in an instant and the ravenous horde surged forth and clashed against the ponies' spears.

The bells were still ringing.

The town Guards were holding the line against the Lavellan.

The earth ponies held the line, stabbing forward with their spears, while the pegasi swooped in from above on diving runs, picking off Lavellan with each successful hit. Us unicorns were literally cooling our horns. Aside from myself, every other unicorn was suffering from having their shields forcibly dispelled. Any spell failing on you is an extremely disorientating and mildly painful experience, I knew from experience.

For as many Lavellan as there were, they simply could not come through their tunnel quick enough to overwhelm the Guard force.

So they simply made another tunnel.

I was alerted to this development when a massive spray of dirt launched me off my hooves and up into the air. I hung there for a moment, twenty hooves off the ground, slowly spinning. Eventually, I got a look at the ground. The unicorns near me– Bray and one other– had been thrown aside by the eruption of dirt.

I could already see Lavellan clawing their way out, springing up from their egress. Their pale blue scales reflected the setting sun despite the dirt coating many of them had.

The ponies were turning around to face the threat but it felt like slow motion.

Then, I landed on the roof of one of the buildings and bounced off, the air pushed out of my lungs with a gasp. I rolled through the air and landed hard onto the ground. As I lay there, now unable to even gasp for air, I noticed that I had landed right behind the new Lavellan tunnel.

Lavellan were voracious eaters who would consume anything before their snouts. I felt the putrid smell of rotting flesh brush against my nostrils, their last meals. Worse yet, I knew they could smell me. For above all else, a Lavellan craves insects. It was like Love to them, their nectar and ambrosia, their cocoa. And here was the biggest bug they had ever seen, right in front of them.

Six immediately turned to face me, their noses twitching.

With a gasp, sound returned to me. I didn’t even notice it was gone. I also got a lungful of their foul stench. My mind was racing a million miles per hour.

The six lunged at me, slobbering poisonous mucous onto the ground as they did. But I had finished casting, and was ready for them before I could even make it to my hooves. Ten blades of sharpened orange mana flicked out from around my horn, slicing straight through their scaled hides.

With a move that resembled a buck, I pushed myself up off the ground using my forehooves and got my hindhooves on the ground behind me. The Lavellan were slashed to pieces as they dove for me. The two that had actually not been diced smashed right into my thick chestplate, bouncing off before their teeth could find purchase. A recalled blade put an end to their struggles.

I reduced the number of summoned blades to five for better control, and prepared myself for the next wave. The Lavellan were ignoring the readying pony lines behind them in favor for having a bite at me, the insect. That was a mistake on their part.

More concerned with survival than my cover, I unleashed my arsenal of specialized spells against them. I missed being able to use God-Splitter in this fight but made do with the veritable armory of elemental spells that I had learned from Officer Katydid. After launching out the blades, I let them fizzle out as I conjured a freezing storm of small icicles, pinning many of the Lavellan in place.

“Come, show me what passes for fury amongst your misbegotten kind!” I yelled.

I couldn’t resist the reference in times like this.

I ceased the storm in favor of Focused Will, picking out targets and blasting into them with orange laser beams.

‘And to think, this time yesterday I was arguing with Bray over the best type of pizza!’

I felt a tugging sensation on my right shoulder and looked down to notice a Lavellan had bit into my right hoof. I lifted the entire metal appendage and smashed downward, ending that pitiful threat.

The swooshing of wingbeats sounded loudly above and behind me and I felt hooves wrap around my barrel. I continued to shoot Focused Will beams into approaching Lavellan as I was lifted off the ground, but stopped when I was no longer sure that I wouldn’t hit the ponies behind the rats.

I craned my neck around to look at the guard who saved me but was surprised to see that it was none other than Nimble Wing, Thorax’s disguised self, who was rescuing me from the gnashing force of rats.

“Th– Nimble?”

“Frick, you’re heavy!” He panted.

He practically dropped me onto the tiles of a roof and I had to scramble to keep from sliding off. Thorax landed next to me, panting heavily.

“You need to hit the gym, Sky!”

“Thanks for saving me,” I said while spinning around on my belly so that I could look over the edge of the roof.

Already, ponies were surrounding the new hole and attacking the Lavellan that emerged from it. The five other unicorns that were on the response teams had recovered and were beginning to rain spells down upon the two fronts of attack.

“No problem, Sky. Though you should probably avoid dying yourself next time.”

“Uh huh? Not that I don’t appreciate your help, but your involvement will raise questions.”

“Saving your hide isn’t good enough?”

“It is. Thank you for that, Nimble, but you might want to make yourself scarce.”

“Yeah yeah. But I do have something you should see, something outside of our usual meeting spot. Ask for the night off, and meet me at Stir’s Cafe.”

“You and your coffee… Alright, I’m sure I can do that. Now go, before more ponies see you.”

“See you tonight.”

With the pounding of wings against air, Thorax took off behind me and went further into town. I was still watching as the guards dealt with the Lavellan below. I had prepared to pick off any Lavellan that made it out of the containment but luckily none had. In fact, the number of oversized scaly rats emerging had slowed down drastically. The battle was not over, but it was won.

The hungry attackers had been defeated before the town proper could truly be breached. Still, this was the first breach in over two hundred years. Search had said that the walls stood unbroken for that long…

Speaking of, I saw him and the rest of the squad break from formation and look around for me. Bray, who must’ve seen the entire thing, pointed to the new tunnel that was being surrounded by ponies, and then pointed up to me on the roof, peering over the edge.

I gave a little wave.

I now noticed the change in the atmosphere. In addition to the determination, the complete and unwavering focus, that I had tasted earlier, there was a new emotion. Hatred. The ponies utterly despised the foul invaders for breaching the sanctity of their home.

Made me almost sympathetic for the little guys.

As the adrenaline wore off, my chest started to feel sore as hell.

‘Oh damn it, I hope I haven’t aggravated my chest injury.’

75- Polyphemus

Sergeant Quick Search landed next to me on the roof. I looked up at the light red pegasus as he looked down at me. I cringed both from the sunset that was now hitting me in the face and from the increasing feeling of pain.

“Specialist Far Sky? What the Tartarus happened down there? Corporal Bray is saying that you fended off an army of those ugly rats all by yourself!”

“Yeah, something like that,” I grunted.

He tilted his head.

“Are you injured?”

“I landed hard, Sarge. My chest is really starting to hurt.”

I was taking slow, shallow breaths to try to alleviate the pain.

“Oh buck, your previous injuries!”

“Yeah. Hurts bad.”

“Alright. You just stay right here, Sky. I’ll get help.”

He jumped off the roof and batted his wings, flying towards the formation of Guards. There were a lot just standing around now, since they had to use a system of rotations to bring new guards to the two small front lines that actually fought the Lavellan. I watched as he briefly hovered over Dew and Bray before moving off to two pegasi that were watching the fights.

They went and retrieved what looked like a stretcher and followed Search back up to the roof I was on.

“We’re here for ya, kid. We’ll get you checked out.”

“Aren’t there… other hurt ponies?”

“A few,” answered one of the pegasi. “But they’re already getting looked at.”

They placed the stretcher down next to me and I rolled over onto it. My chest was really starting to hurt now, so laying on my back was the only way I could lay down without being in severe pain.

“Fff…. I think I broke a rib or two.”

“Hang tight Specialist,” one of the pegasi ordered.

I expected the flight to be rough and turbulent when he said that, but lifting off and flying through the air was all one smooth process.

“I should live. There’s no need for… all this.”

“You have chest pain, Sky,” Search admonished me. “That means potential damage to your heart. Or internal bleeding. Or both.”

“Lovely,” I replied.

The pegasi set me down next to six other guards of various states of injury, from scratches to bites. A unicorn guard walked over to me and looked me over.

“What’s the situation?”

“Landed hard on my chest. Hurts bad. Broke a few things.”

“Alright, sit tight. You’ll be taken to the hospital soon.”

The unicorn started casting a detection spell on my chest. Since I had received training from Bray Call, I actually recognized the type of spell he was casting rather than assuming what it was. Not that I could cast the high level version that he was, but it was a fun piece of useless information.

“Alright, there doesn’t seem to be any internal bleeding but you did crack three ribs. I’ll give you a numbing spell as you wait for transport.”

“Fun,” I wheezed.

The pain immediately decreased to a barely-tolerable level as the unicorn casted a green-looking spell on my chest. Then the unicorn guard– who obviously had a lot of training in first aid and served as some sort of medic– walked back to his previous patients and Search cleared his throat.

“So….” Sergeant Search trailed off.

“What?”

“You wanna tell us what happened?”

“Us?”

“Us!” Bray answered. I didn’t even notice Bray and Dew coming over, but they were standing next to Search.

“Is now really the time?”

‘One would think that they would wait for me to be put in the damn hospital before interrogating me.’

“Oh sorry, are you busy?” Search asked. “You must be very focused on lying down.”

“Sarge, I’m hurt.”

“You’ve survived worse, right?”

‘They won’t leave me alone, will they?’

“What do you want?”

Bray suddenly appeared an inch in front of my face, “How did you do all that?!”

I tried to lean backwards from her but only succeeded in causing her to close the distance again.

“What?”

“You were all like blam! Boom! Take some of this! Heyah!” She punched the air with her hooves to compliment the onomatopoeia. “And that was after you got thrown up into the air! Like, what?! That was awesome! If you weren’t kicking their flanks so hard, ponies would have gotten hurt! I myself was... You… You saved me! Where did you learn all that?”

“Uh…”

Search added his two bits into the conversation, “Where did you learn all of that? I’m getting the feeling that those dire wolves picked the worst possible unicorn in all of Equestria to pick a fight with.”

A few ponies were starting to gather around me.

“Isn’t the fight still going on?”

There were a few murmurs in the gathering crowd.

Search looked around before answering, “Not really.”

‘Lots of ponies looking at me now. Lots… of… This is bad.’

If it wasn’t for the fact that my entire underside was covered up by armor, this would be the stuff of nightmares for me. There was a reason why no one ever laid on their backs.

Clothes. It was the lack of clothes.

“I don’t like everypony looking at me.”

Search spread out his wings, causing the closest ponies to jerk back.

“Alright everypony, give us some space. There’s no need to suffocate the poor guy, he just saved your flanks!”

“Uh. Thanks for that.”

He looked back down at me.

“If you don’t want to talk right now, that’s fine. But you will have to eventually, you know that, right?”

“I don’t like the attention.”

‘Specifically, I don’t like what comes with it. There’s going to be a lot of questions that I don’t want to answer. Like how the hell I could do any of that. Time to start bullshitting and making an exit plan. How the hell am I supposed to escape– oh wait, I can teleport. That really is a game changer.’

I was really glad that my disguise was often very shy. My lack of answers and my unwillingness to talk was pretty much nothing out of the ordinary. At least, up until I made a heroic stand and saved lives rather than slinked away and avoided attention.

‘Me and my bleeding heart. But I guess this is a good thing? If I was always uncaring for ponies, it would make trying to work with them… untenable.’

“I had hoped I had seen the last of you.”

“Nice to see you too, Doctor Hoarse.”

She sighed and looked at the nurse’s notes. I was back at Hooferville Hospital, laying on my back in bed with a brand new set of bandages on my right shoulder. After taking off the prosthetic, I was treated to a very bloody scene. I guess stomping on the rat was a bad idea as it ripped out a few stitches that had to get replaced, recleaned, and rebandaged.

“Did you at least try to stay out of danger?”

“I stuck to the back lines. Unfortunately, the monsters had the same idea. Some pony had to stop them before they ripped up my fellow guards.”

“... I see. In that case, instead of rebuking you for giving me more work, I’ll have to thank you for saving lives.”

“That’s what they pay me for.”

“Speaking of they, your three guard friends are waiting outside. Are you ready for visitors?”

“As long as the morphine keeps flowing.”

She eyed me suspiciously.

“I hope you don’t get too used to the stuff. Frequent usage can lead to addiction, you know.”

“I’ll keep that in mind and ask the next group of monsters to get a doctors note first before attacking.”

“Hmmm. If staying away from danger doesn’t work, perhaps asking politely will. With your luck, I would be willing to try anything.”

She put the notes back onto the bed frame.

“... Stay safe, Far Sky. You’ve got a nose for trouble, far more trouble than anypony can deal with alone.”

“See you soon, doc.”

Doctor Hoarse rolled her eyes and left, leaving the door open behind her. A minute later, Search, Bray, and Dew all walked in sans armor and weapons.

“Deja vu,” I said.

They chuckled as they stopped at the foot of the bed.

“So. Feeling like explaining now?” Search started the conversation.

“I don’t know of any excuses not to.”

Bray frowned, “What’s there to avoid, Sky? You just saved my flanks, and the flanks of a number of us guards who were in the back line! I’d bet the Captain will give you a medal for that!”

Search nodded, “The Captain does want to see you later this afternoon. I suspect he’ll drop by before heading home for the day.”

‘Ah fuck, I had rather hoped to avoid dealing with the brass.’

“I don’t want a medal.”

“But you deserve one!” Bray argued.

“I was just doing the job you paid me for.”

“Thank Celestia for that!” Search cheered. The other two ponies nodded.

“Even if you don’t accept a medal, there’ll be guards who will want to thank you personally. And a lot more who will want you to teach them some moves,” Dew added.

“So where did you learn that sword spell, Sky?” Bray asked. She undoubtedly wanted to learn the spell herself.

“... I learned it growing up.”

Search of course pointed out the strangeness of that, “You learned how to cast war spells in Fillietown? Where and why does a unicorn in small town Equestria learn war spells?”

I had formulated a backup plan on the journey here to the hospital, as well as during my physical check-up. If necessary, I would pull Luna into this to cover my ass, but I had hoped to keep this as low and quiet as possible.

“... Family tradition.”

“And why does your family have a tradition of learning combat spells? You’re certainly not from one of those upper class Canterlot Houses. I’d have recognized your accent if you did. Name and Cutie Mark, too.”

“No.”

“So…?”

“I’m afraid I’m not allowed to say.”

Two of the three guards immediately became confused. Dew on the other hoof, became suspicious. Little bits of fear and anger were telltale signs that he suspected that something was up. In fact, I suspected he was always suspicious of me. His body language didn’t change one bit when I said that.

“Not allowed?” Bray and Search asked at the same time.

“Tradition forbids it.”

Search pressed a hoof to his temple, “Wait, so you have a tradition to train in combat spells and also a tradition to not speak about it?”

“More than that, but yes.”

“You’re not really from Fillietown, are you?” Dew asked.

“... No.”

Bray and Search shared a look.

Search asked, “Then where are you from?”

“I cannot say.”

“Can’t? Or won’t?”

“Is there a difference?”

“Sky, please. We just want to understand what’s going on. If you keep being this mysterious, ponies will start to think you’re a… you know. A changeling.”

I scoffed, “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“You know combat spells even before entering the Guard and you have a mysterious past that you keep secret. It’s getting hard to draw conclusions other than that.”

I looked out the window. Unlike this room, the view this time was the roof of the nextdoor building. Not a very interesting sight, unfortunately.

“I suppose we do have some things in common with changelings. For one, we have kept our existence a secret. I don’t look like my family, but I was born and raised as one of them. We share the same blood, after all.”

I looked back to the guards. They were hopelessly confused. Dew was still looking at me with a slightly grumpy expression, though.

“I am allowed to share some facts. My mother was a unicorn. She died during giving birth to me. My father, my siblings, and the rest of my family… They are all thestrals.”

“What’s a thestral?” Bray asked.

“We– they are pegasi of the night. Sworn servants of the Moon herself, we withdrew from the world after the… civil war.”

“Never heard of them,” Search said plainly.

“That was the idea. Day ponies would forget our existence, and leave themselves– ah, I forget myself. Just know that we chose to be forgotten.”

“Okay…” Search said slowly. “So your thestral family trained you in combat?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

I shifted around uncomfortably.

“I am not allowed to say.”

Dew cleared his throat, “Were you some kind of warrior or something?”

I looked at Dew in faux shock.

“Perhaps.”

“A warrior of your ponies? Why did you leave?” Search asked, looking for answers.

“It was not by choice. A change in hierarchy led to a change in policies, and… They disagreed with my continued presence.”

“So all that horrible stuff that happened to your family–” Bray started.

“Was a lie.” I finished. “My father was protecting me from the stigma against non-thestrals within and without our family. Once he was out of the picture, my uncle attempted to fill the gap. I suspect that there was foul play in his death.”

“Murder?” Bray gasped.

“Fear and jealousy are far more potent motivations than kindness and acceptance, Bray.”

“Why would anypony want to hurt you or your family?”

“As I said, fear and jealousy. It wasn’t only the fact that I was the lone unicorn in a massive community of thestrals. There was something else, something I really cannot speak of.”

“Did you piss off somepony famous or powerful?” Search probed.

“Heheh, as a matter of fact, the most powerful pony within the tribe.”

“Who? How? Why?”

“I cannot answer these questions, only know that I left in the middle of the day to escape a potentially early death. That is to say, I essentially ran away in the middle of the night.”

“Thestrals are nocturnal?”

“Yes.”

“Wait, so do you know spells that only thestrals know? Spells long lost to history that nopony else knows?” Bray asked excitedly.

“I know a fraction of our accumulated knowledge, yes,” I answered.

“I’ve been teaching you our spells. Could you teach me some of yours?”

“I… have never been a teacher of knowledge.”

“Surely you have something you can teach me? Please?”

Bray stared at me with big eyes, a large pouty frown, and spoke with an increasingly softer voice.

“... I suppose there is one or two spells–”

“YES! Ahem, thank you so much Sky! I promise you won’t regret it!”

“I am already regretting it. Still, it should go without saying that nothing I said today leaves this room.”

Search rubbed the back of his neck, “You’re going to have to tell the Captain all of this. You know that, right?”

“Ah. I had forgotten about him. Yeah… Uh… I trust you guys–” ‘Sorta,’ “– but I don’t know what the Captain is really like. How do I know if he will not pass this information along to his superiors? This is no small act of, again, trust.”

Search and Bray smiled. Dew squinted for a second before relaxing his features.

“I’m glad to see that you trust us, Sky.” Search beamed. “I promise we’ll keep this a secret and look out for you.”

“But the Captain?”

“We don’t lie to our superiors,” Dew responded coolly.

“I can vouch for Captain Lance,” Search interrupted our burgeoning argument. “I know he’s trustworthy. He and I go back, as far back as Bray and I. He won’t tell his superiors back in Canterlot if he doesn’t have to. After all, he answers directly to Captain Shining Armor, who is off fighting a war and has little time for his underlings.”

I rolled my jaw, “If you trust him… I suppose I must as well.”

‘As soon as I see Luna again, I’m grilling for as much information about thestrals as possible. This is going to be very awkward and bad if it turns out that they don’t even have families, or that they actually are not nocturnal.’

My backstory had been pieced together from what I thought I remembered about the mysterious ponies that Luna had described on very rare occasions. They seemed like tribalistic vampires, though I doubted the complete truth of that.

“Can you tell us what life was like back with your family?” Search requested.

“I’d rather not, even if I was allowed to.”

“If you left, why are you still following their rules?”

“They exist to protect us. There’s good ponies that would be potentially hurt if I started talking…”

“I see… Well then, I guess we’ll come back tomorrow. I’m sure you’ll be discharged with an order of having to sit down all day for the next few days, at least. I’m sure you’ll heal up just as quickly as last time thanks to the skill of this hospital and their healing magic. In the meantime, get ready to do a lot of paperwork!”

I groaned.

Captain Lance did indeed come to my room later that afternoon. Cleaning up the breach must have put him in quite the bad mood because when the white earth pony stomped into my room he just looked at me silently for a whole minute before speaking.

“You saved lives, Specialist.”

“I suppose I did.”

I mentally prepared myself to rehash my faked thestral origin story to the large pony.

“... I admit I saw you as nothing but Sergeant Quick Search’s pet project up until today. Or if you’d prefer, a drain on taxpayer funds. I am thankful that you proved me wrong, far more wrong than I’ve ever been. Your help with the shield and your stand against the rearguard attack bought priceless time for us to get ready and counterattack. There is no doubt in my mind that there would have been serious injuries and likely deaths had you not kept the shield up, or simply retreated when they attacked from behind us.. If it were up to me, I’d pin a Bronze Star on your chestplate and give you the week off.”

“It isn’t up to you?”

He leaned back and nodded towards the door to my room, which lay out of my sight.

“There’s two ponies who just came into town today who want to ask you a few questions. I’m sorry son, but I’m afraid you have to answer all of their questions, and you are not allowed to leave until they are satisfied.”

He stepped back and made room for two new occupants.

One was a teal unicorn with a white and green mane, blue eyes, and a Cutie Mark of a magic wand that sparkled at the end. The other was a grey earth pony with a black mane and no Cutie Mark. He did, however, have a strange collar around the base of his neck.

It was the teal unicorn who spoke.

“Hello Specialist Far Sky. I am Cogent Flourish. I am here on behalf of Division-P to ask you a few questions. I would appreciate honesty in this matter, as it would make things nice and easy.”

‘Division-P?’

Captain Lance was annoyed. He was annoyed likely due to these ponies’ intrusion and the mountain of work he still had to do today.

Cogent Flourish was calm. She wasn’t feeling any particular emotion at the moment, except perhaps a hint of annoyance of having to come all this way from Canterlot.

The third unnamed pony did not feel anything. That was because he was a disguised changeling. Or, judging by the collar on his neck, a caught changeling.

76- Iktomi

‘My thestral story isn’t going to cut it here, is it? Christ on a cracker, I’m going to have to pull out plans B through Z to survive this.’

Captain Lance gave me a nod before leaving the room himself. The fact that I heard the door close behind him did not fill me with confidence.

“Act as if nothing is out of the ordinary.”

The changeling blinked suddenly, but otherwise acted as neutral and calm as they had when they first entered the room.

“What’s with the, uh… collared pony?”

“I am the one asking questions here, Specialist Far Sky. Please keep quiet unless answering one of my questions.”

The collar was small, maybe about three inches tall. It was very thick, a solid inch protruding from the changeling’s neck. The exterior was covered in glowing blue etchings. Runes or something similar, I guessed.

Cogent produced a box from a pair of saddlebags on her barrel that I hadn’t noticed and placed it on the bed. She pressed a button I couldn’t see and the box started glowing a pale blue color.

“Let’s get started.” She took a deep breath and rattled off what had to be a prepared, standard procedure speech, “By the authority granted to me by Her Highness Princess Daybreaker, I conduct this investigation with all rights withheld in accordance to Ordnance Sixteen Thirty-three, Sections fifteen through thirty-five. Subject of investigation is Specialist Far Sky, member of Hoofervill’s Specialist reserves, contracted as per the city’s allotted quota. Subject is a brown unicorn stallion, blonde mane, orange eyes and magic, Cutie Mark is a single yellow star. Time of day is Six seventeen P.M., Wednesday, August sixteenth, year one thousand.

“Now, Mr. Far Sky. Where were you born?”

“Fillietown.”

“When?”

“October eighth, nine seventy-eight.”

“What speciality is your Cutie Mark in?”

“Astronomy.”

“When did you first arrive in Hooferville?”

“July third, I think.”

“You think?”

“I lost track of the date and was barely conscious when I arrived. There should be a newspaper that gives the–”

“When did you become employed by the Hooferville Guard?”

“Uh… the sixth?”

“July sixth?”

“I think so.”

“What was your occupation prior to this?”

“Didn’t have one.”

“Were you in education, training, or otherwise occupied?”

“No.”

“For what reason did you come to Hooferville?”

“To find a job.”

“Why did you leave your hometown of Fillietown?”

“To find a job.”

“Where were you on June twentieth?”

“Outside of civilization, on my way here.”

“Where exactly?”

“How should I know?”

“Mr. Far Sky, do not answer a question with a question. If you do not know the answer, say so.”

“I don’t know.”

Cogent Flourish paused and looked over at the changeling. He glanced at her before returning his steely gaze to me.

“Hey, who is that guy and why does he have a collar–”

“Mr. Far Sky, do not speak unless answering a question.”

“Now hold on now–”

“That was not a request.”

‘Seriously. Why the hell is that changeling in a fucking collar? Is he some sort of slave? That will not do. Not. One. Bit. I will not stand it. Not for a second longer than absolutely necessary.’

“Eyewitness accounts report that you demonstrated knowledge of high level combat spells and techniques. Is this accurate?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know if you possess high level combat spells and skills?”

“I don’t know if what I know is considered combat stuff.”

I had to focus on not clenching my jaw.

‘A slave. They made my people into slaves.’

“Is it true that you used Folk Lore’s Blades of Cutting today during the incident at Hooferville?”

“I don’t know the name of the spell.”

“Would you say that that is its likely name?”

“I have no idea.”

“Where did you learn this spell?”

“Why is that pony collared?”

“Mr. Far Sky, I will not remind you again of the rules of conduct that this questioning must follow.”

‘Screw plan A, I’m going straight for B. If that doesn’t work, then things are about to get messy.’

“... You will be free by the end of this conversation. I swear it.”

“Mr. Far Sky, answer the question. Where did you learn this spell?”

“I learned it while travel– while in Fillietown.”

Cogent checked back on the changeling, but still got no response.

“Who taught you this spell?”

“My uncle.”

“Who is your uncle?”

“What’s the purpose of that collar?”

“... For failure to adhere to understood rules, you will receive a fine of two-hundred bits. Do not sway from the conversation, Mr. Far Sky. Who is your uncle?”

I smiled.

“Why are you here, Cogent Flourish?”

“You shall receive a total of two, two-hundred bit fines. Who is your uncle, and why did they teach you combat magic?”

“He was a guard. He taught me to defend myself.”

“What is his name, and current station?”

“He’s dead.”

“What is his name?”

“Gemstone Vambrace.”

“This will be investigated further. Teaching civilians combat magic is a serious breach of the Harmony Protocols. What was his rank before passing?”

“Does it matter? He’s dead.”

“Since you clearly have a problem with authority, I will cut you a deal. You will spend a week in jail for obstruction of justice for every question you ask.”

“Why are you here?”

“Four weeks.”

“Why is she here?”

The changeling blinked but kept quiet.

“To look for changelings and traitors?”

“He was a Captain.”

The changeling slowly nodded. Cogent saw the movement and thought for a moment.

“Can you restrain her and stop her from casting by hitting her horn on my order?”

“Why did you leave Fillietown if to join the Guard division of another town if you already had high connections in Fillietown?”

“I wanted to travel first.”

The changeling nodded again.

“Where did you travel to?”

“Canterlot.”

“On my mark, you will strike her horn and clamp her muzzle shut.”

“When did you visit Canterlot?”

‘It would be so easy to order the changeling to just let my presence slide. I bet that the– what is essentially– worship that royals are given would allow me to essentially throw him under the bus and save myself. But damn them all, I will never allow one of my subjects to be enslaved. I would burn the entire town to the ground to free a single ling.’

“Just before coming here.”

“What date would that be?”

“The Summer Solstice.”

“You were there during the invasion, despite having claimed otherwise?”

“Of course, I led it.”

“Now!”

The changeling swung a hoof at the unicorn’s head the same moment I charged and fired off a stunning spell. Cogent Flourish immediately started to build a shield spell to defend herself from the sudden sight of my horn lighting up. Her eye darted to the side where she saw a hoof coming down upon her. She snarled and started to turn towards the changeling. That was when my stunning spell hit her in the chest, causing her to give a low grunt and seize up. Then, the changeling smacked her horn and clamped her muzzle shut.

Within the span of one single second, Cogent Flourish had fallen, having been caught between reacting to the two simultaneous attacks.

I got up off the bed and calmly walked over to where the changeling was holding her tightly. On the way, I stopped momentarily to pick up the box and utterly crush it within my telekinesis. I had not detected any long-range mana fluctuations or transfers, so the odds of it transmitting any data to anywhere outside of this room was zero. That was why I basically admitted to being Prince Phasma before I attacked.

“Now, it’s my turn to ask the questions.”

I glanced at the door. It was shut and the shades were drawn on the little window at the top. I guess little miss inquisitor didn’t want her official work to be disturbed.

“We don’t have much time, the spell to blow the collar is quick to activate,” the changeling whispered.

“Hmmm. No questions then, just action.”

I built a spell in my mind and started casting it. It took half a minute to get it right, but thankfully I managed to pull it off. I immediately felt the drain that the spell took on my relatively depleted mana pool. Unlike during the invasion, I was essentially running just above the bare minimum amount of food. I would have a minute at most to do what needed to be done. Thankfully, I accomplished what I needed to do with the first sentence.

For unlike during the invasion, I had successfully managed to cast mind control.

“You will cease struggling and forget ever having this conversation, Cogent Flourish.”

Her wide, angry eyes took an orange tint. She went lax in the changeling’s vice-like grip. She mumbled something through her shut muzzle.

‘Well well well, would you look at that. Practice does make perfect! Thank Panar I don’t have to go with plan B, I don’t think I could get the collar off if the spook is dead.’

“Your conversation with Mr. Far Sky went without note, and all details concerning his origin in Fillietown and backstory checked out thanks to a following investigation.”

More mumbles.

“Your changeling died during the unfortunate attack on Hooferville. You were momentarily sad due to the asset’s loss but quickly got over it. You recovered his collar and burnt his useless body. Also destroyed in the attack was your recording device. It was destroyed in a panicked stampede of ponies.”

The changeling let go of Cogent at the same moment I started feeling a powerful pull on my horn. The mana drain of the spell was getting intense.

“There was nothing suspicious about this investigation.”

“... Nothing suspicious about this investigation.”

“You will not report to your superiors until your next assigned meeting, or a week from now, whichever is later.”

“... Whichever is later.”

“You will leave this hospital with me and travel alone to wherever you are staying, citing the need to question me further if stopped. You will also follow any orders I give.”

“... Any orders you give.”

“You will remove the collar on the changeling.”

Teal magic enveloped his collar and the etchings faded before the entire thing popped off into three segments.

I let go of the spell before it drained me completely. I grabbed the collar off the ground and placed it in Cogent’s saddle bags.

“Th–Thank you so much, My Prince!”

“Shh. I will get us to a safe place to talk. For now, act the role.”

He nodded and I turned around back to the remains of the box. Picking it up again, I compressed it down into a small cube with an audible CRUNCH.

“Thank Panar Cogent told the hospital staff to not get involved, no matter what they heard,” the changeling mumbled.

“Ah. That would explain that.”

Cogent Flourish blinked her eyes rapidly and the orange tint faded.

‘The mind control spell should last at least a month before it decays away. But I’m sure her superiors will have noticed the discrepancies long before then. There’s no way with my luck that this Division-P will not notice that something happened. Hope for the best and prepare for the worst.’

“It’s time to leave Hooferville.”

‘It’s been nice staying here, but it’s time for me to go.’

“Lead the way, Cogent Flourish.”

Her head swayed side to side for a few seconds before she shook it vigorously, and turned to leave the room.

“We will talk soon, friend. What can I call you in the meantime?”

“My codename that these ponies gave me was Onyx.”

“Onyx. Got it.”

Cogent led the way out of my room. I pulled an IV out of my right shoulder and the magical machines that kept track of my heart rate started beeping loudly. Grabbing my prosthetic foreleg in my magic, I followed Cogent and Onyx out of the room. Out in the main room of the floor, several nurses had gathered and were looking right at us when we left. They were visibly relieved– and their emotions tasted relieved, of course– when they saw me walk out alive, in contrast to what the audible machines were beeping loudly about.

Then they realized that the teal unicorn was staring at them, and they made themselves scarce.

The exit from the hospital was thankfully uneventful. The receptionist looked at us with equal amounts of confusion and worry, but made no motion to stop us. When we stepped out into the street, I called out to Cogent.

“Stop. Give me your bits and then continue to where you were going to stay for the day.”

Cogent paused, retrieved a brown coin purse from her satchels using her magic, and levitated it over to me. I grabbed it from her magic and Cogent Flourish started walking away.

“Come on Onyx, I need to run some errands before we leave Hooferville.”

‘After today, the world might never see Far Sky again. So I best empty my bank account and turn in my resignation. After all, it would be rude of me to disappear without saying goodbye to the squad. And maybe snag a bonus from the Captain…’

After telling Onyx to wait at a random cafe, I had purchased a large set of saddlebags and emptied my bank account. The clerk was suspicious but when I said that I was leaving town, they nodded and got their manager. Having overheard a conversation Sergeant Quick Search and I had when I made the account, the manager was aware of my vagrant past and understood my desire to leave.

With saddlebags full of bits, I met up with Onyx and told him to wait for me as I stashed the bits in my room and to wait for me to say goodbye to the Guards. He tried to thank me for freeing him, but I told him to wait until we went to a meeting at midnight before talking freely.

Then, I went and found Captain Lance, who was in his office at the Guards barracks, working his way through a tremendous pile of paperwork.

“Specialist Far Sky?” He asked as I walked in.

“Hello Captain.”

“I’m surprised they let you out of the hospital so quickly. And I’m glad to see you’re still in one piece after being interrogated by that Canterlot prick. I am sorry you went through that.”

I blinked at the pony’s sudden usage of vulgar language but ignored it.

“Yes. I understand that this was above your paygrade and station. However, I am turning in my resignation as of this moment. I’m sorry I couldn’t give you a warning or fill out the paperwork beforehoof.”

He leaned back in surprise.

“... You’re not running from the law, that’s for sure. If she suspected you in the slightest, you’d be in cuffs on your way to Canterlot by now. So why the sudden departure? If it’s because of your horrible treatment, I swear that I’ll never let another Canterlot Hornhead– sorry, forgot you’re one of ‘em– bother you again.”

“She asked some very personal questions that made me realize that I still had to help my family back in Fillietown, even if they don’t deserve it.”

“Back in…? Nevermind, that’s none of my business. Are you sure I can’t persuade you to stay? I can truthfully say that having you on the reserve will help ponies sleep better at night around here.”

I shook my head, “I’m afraid not. We all have duties that go above us personally, and mine is to my family.”

He sighed, “I can understand and respect that. I am sad to see you go. Mind if I buy you a round tonight before you leave? The local tavern's closing next week, so this is our last chance at celebrating. You deserve to be there with the rest of the guards.”

“I’m planning on hitting the road tonight…”

“I see… Say… Would you be interested in a… contract, of sorts?”

“I’m leaving tonight, Captain Lance.”

“I would pay well. Very, very well.”

“I’m also still injured.”

He bent over beneath his desk for a moment. I heard a lock being undone and a drawer being pulled. Captain Lance then sat back up and placed a vial of red liquid on the desk in front of him.

“Should you take the job, that won’t be an issue. This here’s a healing potion, straight from the alchemy labs in Canterlot. Extremely rare and expensive, but if that’s what it takes to get you for the job… Look Sky, I’m going to be honest. This contract? I need your skills. We all saw you wipe the floor with those overgrown varmints. The only other pony in this town that can match that is me, and I’m stuck here filling out blasted blanks on bucking hundreds of pieces of paper.”

“... What’s the contract?”

“Today was the first breach in Hooferville’s walls in over two-hundred years. Something happened to make them attack. I want a team to investigate what those things were, where they came from, and why they attacked. If we can put a stop to the cause, we can stop further attacks and potentially save lives.”

“... They are called Lavellan, and they are subterranean in nature. Something forced them out of their caves, likely.”

Captain Lance waved a hoof in the air.

“See? You even know what those critters are! You’re the perfect stallion for the job!”

‘If it’s a lot of money, that can very easily help out tremendously with the next step of my exit plan.’

“... How much pay are we talking here? I’d want it in hard bits all paid up front. I won’t be returning here once I leave.”

“Hmm. Normally I’d call you crazy for wanting that and that I’d ever trust somepony with the entire pay upfront and in coin, but given your heroics today, I know yer not going to just disappear into the night. Alright. Here’s what I’m offering….”

After negotiating with Lance and agreeing that I would accept the pay tomorrow and head out on the contract, I stopped by Sergeant Search’s office. Search, Bray, and Dew were finishing up the last of their work inside before heading out for the day.

“Hey! If it isn’t the badflank himself!” Search cheered as he saw me enter.

“Sky!” Bray exclaimed.

She rushed over but I levitated my unattached leg between me and her.

“No touching, I still have a few broken ribs.”

That wasn’t completely true. My chest was tingling from Lance’s healing potion that he gave me, but I wasn’t sure how long it would take for the potion to take effect. Hopefully before the morphine in my system wore out.

“You’re out from the hospital already?” Search asked.

“Yeah. I, uh… Listen. I’d like to thank you all for your help and support. But I’m… moving back home.”

That caused them to freeze.

“What?” All three of them asked at the same time.

“Back to where you nearly died?” Bray asked.

“To where your family was murdered?” Search questioned.

“Away from here?” Dew said quietly.

“Yeah. I’ve got a duty to help out my family, even if I die trying. So, this is… goodbye.”

“You’re leaving? Right now? Just like that?”

Bray was looking at me with her big puppy-eyes.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t teach you any magic. Maybe if we see each other again in the future. Keep your ears out, I’m sure eventually you’ll hear my name.”

“... Why? Why now?” Was all Search could ask.

“A unicorn from Division-P came and asked me some questions.”

Dew squinted and stared at me.

“What did they do?”

“They asked me questions. A lot of them. I don’t want to stick around, in case they come back and ask more.”

“Did you hurt them?”

“What?! In the middle of a hospital? No!”

“... So you wouldn’t do it with witnesses around?”

“... You’d be saying the same if she interrogated you. She got under my skin and asked all the wrong things. Look, the point is that that conversation made me realize that my family needs my help. I know I can do good and help them, so I have to.”

Dew seemed satisfied with that and so he nodded.

“When are you leaving?” Bray asked, still right in front of me.

“Tomorrow. Captain Lance wants me to do a dangerous contract with him and a special team. I won’t be returning after that.”

Behind Bray, Dew and Search nodded to each other.

“When will I see you again, Sky?”

“Bray… I don’t know. If things become stable in the future, I guess I can reach out and contact you three. But for now, this is goodbye.”

‘Don’t get emotional Phasma, you’re the one who blew your own disguise the first chance you got. This is your fault, so just keep moving forward.’

Bray sniffed, “Oh. Okay then. I guess. Can we at least hang out until you leave?”

“We’ve got a lot of work to do still, Bray,” Search answered.

“No, we just–”

“Bray. We have a lot of work to do.”

She opened her mouth, and then closed it. Then Bray sighed.

“Look, we can say our goodbyes tomorrow, but I need to prepare to leave tonight.”

Bray smiled at me, “You’ll write often?”

“I can try, if you want. Don’t know how often or if I can even write at all, but I’ll try.”

“Good. Because you still have to teach me the mysterious thestral magic that you know.”

“Sure Bray. I’ll see you tomorrow. You too, Search and Dew.”

“Yeah, see you tomorrow Sky,”

“See you later.”

And so, with a wave, I turned and left Quick Search’s office for the last time.

77- Changing Expectations

It was now half past eleven as we approached the place known as Stir’s Cafe. Thorax had told us to meet here. Apparently he had something that couldn’t be shown in our dream meeting place.

Onyx walked by my side as we discretely walked down an empty street off Main. I had left the prosthetic back in my apartment, so I was walking on three hooves. The morphine had– much to my disappointment– worn off. However, the strange healing potion seems to have done the trick as I felt no pain in my chest. I did however feel fatigued from the extreme mana usage earlier today.

I kept thinking back to the encounter with the spook.

‘Division-P. Cadence had said she was busy with Division-P, didn’t she? I can ask her for answers. Luna too. So there’s a secret-ish organization that uses changelings to root out other changelings, and traitors too. Forget the Stasi or Gestapo, a secret police with a walking lie-detector is far more dangerous. They can point out a changeling by just being near them, and they can check to see if you're lying without you even knowing. It’s not like changelings sensing emotions is common knowledge, so you would be caught totally off guard.’

Stir’s Cafe turned out to be a small joint at the far corner of town. It was small, tucked away, and completely closed up for the night. I tested the door handle and it turned without resistance. It seems that somehow Thorax arranged for it to be unlocked.

‘A question for later.’

There was quiet music coming from inside, as well as low, idle chatter. I opened the door and entered inside, with Onyx following close behind.

It was dimly lit but I could still see the changeling that sat next to the doorway, almost entirely out of sight. He was disguised, of course, just as disguised as every other changeling in the room. Of which there were about eighteen. Most were seated around a table that took up the majority of the right side of the cafe. Each changeling sitting at the table either had a hoof of cards or were watching the game intently. The rest were sitting at either the counter or sitting in booths around the room. There was a changeling behind the counter, talking idly to one of the changelings sitting across from him.

When Onyx and I entered, all conversations stopped and every eye was on me. The door shut slowly behind us.

‘Holy shit, Thorax. How did you find all these changelings?!’

“... Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”

“It’s the Prince!”

As I walked further into the room, changelings got up from their seats and started to gather around me. A changeling double checked that all the shades were shut firmly. The one manning the door locked it and pulled the deadbolt closed. We were alone in here, and the music coming from a jukebox in a corner ensured that no pony would overhear us.

For the first time since I washed up in Hooferville, I was actually safe to drop my disguise. I probably shouldn’t have, considering it makes a slight flash of light. But damn it, I yearned to be me again.

So with an orange flash, I discarded Far Sky and became me, Prince Phasmatodea, heir of the Fourth Hive. All around me, changelings dropped their pony disguises. Most were unicorns, and the rest were pegasi. No ling wanted to be an earth pony, as that severely limited combat and escape options. Sure, you could bust through a wall to escape being surrounded, but then what?

Flashes of green surrounded me as I became surrounded by changelings. Actual changelings, chitin, fangs, and fins and all. I stood above them, getting close to one-and-a-half times the height of the average changeling.

I must’ve been a sorry sight with a missing leg and scarred up carapace. I didn’t care.

“Prince Phasma!’

“The Prince!”

“Thorax was right!”

“I knew you weren’t dead!”

“The war isn’t over!”

“How?” I asked. “How are you all here?”

“We’re all Lodgers,” one of them answered.

The changeling who was behind the counter pushed his way to the front of the crowd. “When the invasion failed, those of us in Canterlot scattered. We stuck together as best as we could, and we established plans to contact each other should the need arise. One of us was on the road on our way to Manehattan when they felt your Weave. They came back to Manehattan and got all of us to come here. Then, when we arrived to investigate, we found Thorax, too.”

“Heya Phas!” A changeling called from the back.

‘That would be Thorax.’

I looked down to the changeling in front of me, the former bartender. I knew him. My Weave gave me his name.

“Coxa.”

“Hey boss. Didn’t think you could look any uglier than before, but you did always seem to go for the impossible.”

“You’re alive…”

“Yeah. Thorax caught us all up on what happened to Oestridae and Cicada. I take it Weevil didn’t make it, either?’

I shook my head.

“Ah well. I’m sure the ling’s happily laughing at us all from heaven, having earned a spot in the Six Halls thanks to his sacrifice. Smug bastard– anyways, we’re just a fraction of the Lodgers that made it out of Canterlot. The ones that didn’t stick with the Legions, that is.”

“Phas! Take a seat! They’re teaching me how to play poker! I… haven’t won yet. But I am having fun!”

I walked through the crowd and sat down at the table. Thorax sat down on my right, and Coxa on my left. The changeling formerly named Onyx sat behind me. I had a feeling the conversation would eventually get to him, so I didn’t rush introductions. The rest of the changelings either took their seats at the table, dragged chairs over, or sat in the nearby booths.

The table had cards, chips, and an extinguished cigar on a circular cigarette tray scattered across it. The smoke from the cigar wafted slowly upward towards a slowly spinning ceiling fan. At each seat was a glass of either beer or coffee. The whole thing felt like a genuine poker club, the kind that people made paintings of. The changeling at the head of the table gathered up all the cards and chips and started dealing.

“Evenin’, Your Highness. Bets are just the chips, as we don’t exactly have anything else to bet with.”

“Alright.”

And so, we started to play poker while talking.

The changelings of course wanted to know exactly how the fight went down, and what happened after. Hearing it from Thorax was one thing, but I was there. I saw it all.

“So no shit there I was, in the middle of Canterlot Castle’s main foyer. Coxa and the injured Lodge members retreated, leaving me, Oest, Weevil, Cicada, and a few others…”

As I regaled them the tale of the duel between me and Chrysalis, my survival and fight against the wolves, and stint in the guards, my contact with Princess Luna, and finally today’s event, I lost several hooves of cards and rounds. As bad as Thorax was, I really wasn’t too much better. You can only do so much with single pairs, or if I was lucky, a triple or rare full house.

Or maybe that’s normal and I just suck at poker. Equally likely, I presumed.

When I described the encounter with the bitch from Division-P, every changeling was already hanging on my words, but I’d like to think that now they were hanging on with both hooves. It wasn’t everyday that you met a division designed to hunt you down and not only win but free one of their captives.

That was when Onyx got to introduce himself. His name is Thalamus, and he was with the 601st during the Siege of Canterlot.

“After the defenses were run over, me and the boys from Panar’s Hammer split up into our squads and more or less went wild. Next thing I know, I’m one of the teams put on guard duty, making sure no ponies escaped through the air dock. Guard duty, in the middle of the invasion! Anyways, shit was going down in the Castle, we could see it even from the docks, right? Laser beams flying through the air, explosions, a whole lotta fun! Then, things eventually go quiet and stay quiet. Turns out, the Queen lost the final fight with the ponies. But noling told us!

“We were sitting there, wondering just what the hell was going on up there when suddenly we were ambushed by an Equestrian Royal Guard squad! Apparently a lot of ‘em went underground when the front lines fell and were hiding amongst the civvies that we were still trying to round up. They freed their friends and in the confusion of the Queen’s retreat, started the counter attack immediately, and took us down, some still partially covered in pod gel. I managed to escape and start heading south to regroup with the Legions.

“Problem is, I didn’t go the exact direction that the rest of the lings did, meaning I was off course and lost sight of ‘em pretty quickly. That was when I noticed that there was a squad of pegasi on my tail. Five days of frantic flying later, they managed to trap me in some rotting barn in the middle of a fallow field. There was no way out of that…

“Eventually they breached and though I knocked down one or two of ‘em, they got me good. They threw some cuffs on me, dragged me all the way back to Canterlot, and threw me in a cell to slowly starve to death. After… I dunno, a week or two of starving to death, they figured out that changelings don’t eat pony food. Or someone told them. Either way, they eventually brought me love. Didn’t ask questions how they got their hooves on some, I just ate. I later learned that they made some of the changelings they captured harvest love from their criminals. Promised ‘em time off for good behavior for feeding the insect captives. Bunch’a morons.

“Bing badda boom, next thing I know they slap some kinda magical collar on my neck and line me up with a bunch’a other lings with similar collars. The collar stops all of our magic and makes it so we can’t go too far from our assigned magistrates. Turns out, we were to be volunteers to be part of Her Ponyness’s inquisition force. Well, they called it Division-P, but it was pretty clear the whole shtick had huge religious vibes. So, we had to obey orders and find our fellow changelings, or they’d kill us and find someling who would follow orders. A few resisted. They were tortured. I didn’t see any of them inquisitor types kill a changeling, but they way they acted? They wanted to do it. They were so happy to show a demonstration of the collar blowing up…”

‘Oh. I see how it is, Daybreaker. I’ll remember that. I’ll fucking remember that, indeed.’

“They made sure to make us want to find changelings amongst ponies. During training– if you can even call it that– they had us find changelings they planted amongst a group of ponies. If you don’t pass, you get tortured. Then, they frequently place changelings– watched from a distance, of course– out where we do our sweeps. If you fail to point them out, you get tortured a lot. If you succeed, you get rewarded with extra portions of love. Of course, they never let us talk to each other, but they did love to tell us and show us how other lings failed, and what happens when you fail. So sure, you could call their bluff and not point out changelings, but why risk it? It became apparent pretty quickly that there it was too risky to resist and there were plenty of rewards to out your fellow changeling. Kinda like how it was in the Hive, you know? Every ling for themselves.”

‘Hmmm. There’s a lot to unpack there. I doubt that this zealous Division-P is releasing changelings into its own population to train its hunters. I bet they’re lying frequently to their changeling prisoners. But Thalamus raises a good point, resisting might not even be something that the changelings consider. As much as changelings hate ponies, they’re used to not trusting other drones and are predisposed to the whole betraying your bother thing. Way to go, Chrysalis.’

“Eventually, the magistrate I was stuck with got sent out here to Hooferville on a routine sweep. And whaddaya know, there’s a monster attack just as we arrive! We sit it out, and check up on what happened. All the meanwhile, I felt a tugging that started as we arrived. There was a royal here, but I didn’t know how, why, or where, so of course I kept my mouth shut. What would I gain by talking? Anyways, the magistrate starts poking around for strange or suspicious ponies. Captain of the local guard explains what His Highness here did during the fight, and of course how he keeps his history a secret. So the magistrate got interested in His Highness’s skills and started asking questions. That was the bad kind of interested, by the way. That led us to Prince Phasma, who was looking pretty sitting on a hospital bed, about as chewed up as a grunt from an Underhive Sortie. Prince Phasma’s already told you the rest, but you can guess how happy I was to see that there was hope for me yet!”

That got a round of cheers from the changelings.

“They’re hurting prisoners?” Thorax asked.

Thalamus nodded, “They also say that they killed more than a few. They showed us a few bodies, but they could have easily taken bodies from the front line or whatever. They were probably lying about that, but again, who would take the risk? It’s not like you’re going to make the Swarm lose the war from all way over here by pointing out the deserters.”

I sighed, “I’ll investigate into the matter further, Princess Cadence said she was involved with Division-P. I’ll do a little digging and find out how much of this is real, and how much of it is hot air blown by these unicorns of Division-P. If I can get public opinion against the usage of changeling P.O.W.s, we might be able to stop their usage. In the meantime, we need to be careful of them. If you see a collared changeling, you need to get out of town immediately.”

When my current hoof folded, Thalamus asked from behind me, “So Your Highness, now what?”

“Yeah Phasma, what’s the plan?” Coxa asked.

“The plan is to continue working with Princess Luna. Thorax here discovered a way that we can survive living alongside these ponies. It’s not going to be easy getting to that point, but it is a goal we can work towards. That’s enough for me. In the meantime, we have to leave Hooferville. Far Sky as a disguise has been burnt, and it’s going to be raining suits here in Hooferville the moment Canterlot figures out that something doesn’t add up with their missing changeling and broken equipment. So we need to be long gone by then. I’ve got one last job with the Guard Captain here, and then I’m gone. I suggest you all do the same.”

“Thanks for the advice Phasma,” Coxa began, “But honestly? We were all kinda hoping that we could stick with you.”

That got nods and some yeah’s from the crowd.

“That so?” I smiled, “If we’re all being honest, I had hoped that would be the case. Counted on it, in fact. You see, I’ve got a plan. The Fourth Hive as we know it is finished. The Masquerade Protocol isn’t going to be unbroken and Chrysalis is inevitably going to lead them directly to the hive structure itself. We’re going to need to completely change how we live in order to survive the upcoming years. I’m already working on eventually normalizing relations with Equestria, but we need more than that. We need income, an equipped military, land, resources, and more.”

“So where do we come in?” Thalamus asked.

I tapped on the table, “Right here. Where are we?”

“The place with the best coffee in town,” Thorax answered cheerfully.

“Sure. But how did we get this place to use at night?”

“Honestly, Coxa picked the lock a few hours after Stir closed up shop. We’re leaving bits for the stuff we drink, but no one knows we’re here.”

“So we’re here without permission, because we’re changelings. We’re already being hunted down, what’s a couple of trespassing charges on top? Hehehe, and as it just so happens, a huge market just opened up for those who have fallen on the wayside of the law! A market filled with bits, easily accessible ponies if we need food, and very little competition.”

“... The Prohibition?” Coxa asked.

“The Prohibition. As it is, Daybreaker has just eliminated all regulations on alcohol. She may think that what she’s doing is decreasing its consumption, but that’s not how it works. What she has done is destroy supply and actually increase demand. So, what I’m saying is that we move in on this potential business, and use the profits to support us changelings who live here in Equestria. From coast to coast, we can build a ‘criminal network’ that is in reality a support network for each other, from moving alcohol, to transferring bits to each other, to moving love. Coxa and Thorax, I want you and whoever you select to look for opportunities to gather magical artifacts. We’re going to need any help we can get. But do that in the background as we establish ourselves. Our first priority will be creating this network and our second priority will be securing the means to protect ourselves.

“I’ll speak with the pony princesses that are sympathetic to our cause and tell them about Division-P, as I said earlier. Hearing this, I’m sure they’ll raise a stink and won’t allow Daybreaker to torture P.O.W.s. I also might be able to convince them to try to cut down on the number of changeling prisoners, or somehow sabotage Division-P’s operations. If we can get communications up with the prisoners, we might be able to coordinate resistance within that organization. Learning exactly what is true and what is just a projection of power and a web of lies will help us dismantle them. Eventually though, the princesses’ plan is to get rid of Daybreaker altogether.

“Once Daybreaker is tossed out the proverbial window, we keep our alcohol smuggling empire, legitimize it, and use the profits as a substitute to how ponies fund their government. We can use the bits to modernize the Hive. Or rather, establish an entirely new one. Modern problems require modern solutions, after all.”

“Aw hell yeah!” Coxa cheered.

“A new hive?” A changeling whispered.

“The Queen wasted her rule. Why did we wait till the last minute to get more love?” Another asked.

“The Fifth Hive,” Thorax murmured.

“The Fifth Hive,” agreed another.

The whispers and mumbling grew in volume until Coxa cut through it.

“I think we’re all of the same mind. All in favor, say aye.”

A green shield enveloped the walls and ceiling. The changelings closest to the walls had casted some sort of barrier around the room. It immediately became apparent that the shield was to block sound from exiting, and alert the neighbors of our increasingly loud gathering.

“Aye!” Cheered the room.

“Those against, nay!”

I looked around. Every changeling was smiling and many were nodding slowly.

“The ayes have it!”

“What do the ayes have?” I asked.

Coxa stood up and pushed his chair back. All around the table, the other changelings did the same. Those sitting down around in booths also rose to their hooves.

“The old hive is dead!” Coxa cheered.

“Long live the new hive!” The changelings cheered.

“The old Queen is renounced!” He called out once more.

“Long live the new ruler!”

I blinked, “Wait, what’s going on?”

I rose from my chair and looked to Coxa for answers. He certainly had them.

“Phasmatodea, heir of the Fourth Hive, champion of the Hive Eternal. Your words ring true; the Fourth Hive is over. Queen Chrysalis has failed in her duties to protect Panarthropo’s chosen. Do you accept the mantle of ruler over the changelings?”

I felt something at the back of my mind; Coxa was accessing knowledge in my Weave that not even I knew existed. How I even knew this was beyond me. There was still so much about the Weaves that I didn't know.

‘Oh. So that’s what’s happening.’

I kneeled before Coxa.

“... I do.”

“Do you swear to uphold the wishes of the drones of the hive, the silent majority?”

“I do.”

“Do you swear to execute Panarthropo’s will here on the Great Tapestry, as all before you have?”

“I do.”

“Do you swear by the Nine Threads to protect the changelings, and bring reckoning upon those who dare call us their enemy?”

“I do.”

“Arise, Phasmatodea. Arise, not as Prince of the Fourth Hive, but as King of the Fifth Hive and champion of the Hive Eternal. A king of exiles for now, the king of all changelings as Panar wills it!”

I slowly rose back up.

The changelings immediately all bowed around me.

“Long live King Phasmatodea!”

The changelings stomped an applause.

“Long live the King!”

By the stroke of midnight, in a rundown cafe at the edge of a transit town, the changelings crowned me their king. It was a far cry from the pomp and ceremony that took place in the polished stone locale of the hive’s Throne Room. I was a ruler of the drones, from the Lodges to the exiles. There was no need for jewelry, priests of Panar, feasts of love, or days of celebration.

I was a new king in a new age.

“Long live the King!”

78- Menrva

The rest of the night played out smoothly. Except for when someone dared Thorax to drink an entire mug of coffee in one go. For the rest of the night, Thorax was hovering an inch off the ground.

Coxa and I caught up while sitting in a booth, watching the lings at the main table play card games. He was doing a part time job as a data entry clerk in Manehattan. He was as enthusiastic about that as one could possibly be. Meaning he was pretty much begging me to rescue him from the cubicle farm.

We also talked briefly about Thorax.

“When he told us that the secret to not dying was to literally be ourselves, I told him he was full of shit,” Coxa said while twirling an empty glass.

“Then?”

“Then he brought enough love for us to top off tonight. Speaking of which, you should probably eat before you go on this cool adventure of yours.”

“Oh yeah, thanks for the reminder.”

“It ain’t free. I expect a full time position of doing important shit as payment. Anyways, Thorax. Figures he’d discover how to save our species through some gay shit. Makes you wonder just what his future is; the fact that he managed to find a solution to the starvation, regardless of how feasible it is, could be enough for him to Ascend to a royal changeling.”

I cringed at the A-word.

“Oh, sorry Phasma. I sorta didn’t think about the other meaning of that. You probably don’t even know the stories about King Cortex or Queen Corpora. I ain’t talking about lobotomization, I’m talking about actually changing from a drone to a royal.”

“That can happen?”

“Somehow. It’s anyone’s guess as to exactly how it is, but theories are that Panar chooses exemplary changelings to help guide our kind. So these two drones, Cortex and Corpora, were actually siblings. It’s one of the only tales from the First Hive that we still have. They led survivors from its mysterious collapse to the second hive.

“They saved so many lives– really, our species as a whole– that when they arrived at wherever the Second Hive is, they ascended to royalty. They were already a Prince and Princess, but were biologically drones. Unfortunately, that’s all we have of the tale. It could have something to do with the potentially large amount of love they had at the time. They had to take food with them for the long journey, theoretically. It could have to do with the fact that they saved the species. It could be because they sneezed and farted at the same time.”

Coxa shrugged.

Something had caught my attention, “... Royals can have drone offspring?”

“Apparently.”

‘Man, I really know very little about my own body. Bug-mom didn’t even give me the talk about the birds and the bees… Honestly, that’s probably for the best. She’d probably tell me something stupid like how it’s my duty to not have any offspring while she’s alive, and that I will literally end the Hive if I even consider having a nymph.’

“And these two royals, they ruled in a diarchy?”

“Yeah, there seems to be some precedent for that on Equus.”

“So theoretically, Thorax could be my… equal?”

“Stranger shit has happened. No wait, it hasn’t. But Thorax becoming a King or Prince is about as expected as finding out that ponies can love changelings. At this point, I wouldn’t even be surprised if Canterlot Mountain stands up and walks away into the sunset. Or if Queen Chrysalis suddenly repents and begs for forgiveness.”

“Maybe not the last one.”

“Yeah probably not. It’ll be a cold day in Hell before the Queen actually feels sorry for what she did.”

I pursed my lips as I watched a changeling laugh as he scooped up the chips from the pot.

“... What if she did?”

“What?”

“What if she did try to bridge the gap between us. Not saying that she’ll feel sorry, just that she doesn’t want to fight.”

“I’d say that’s a trap that only a moron would fall for.”

“I know. I’m saying hypothetically, what if it wasn’t a trap?”

Coxa rubbed his chin, “There’s a reason why there’s almost always only one or two royals alive at a time.”

“Heh, no need to tell me. A prince or princess might be the most valuable tool in your arsenal, but eventually they will gun for your position.”

“Exactly. How would you two coexist?”

“How did King Cortex and Queen Corpora coexist?”

“No one knows. The fact that they were siblings might have something to do with it, but…”

“But siblings kill each other far more often than they kill their parents in monarchies.”

“Probably, yeah. So, how do you think you two could coexist?”

“... I don’t think we could. Not unless she essentially fucks off and lives her life away from the Hive. As long as she’s here, there will always be a distrust between us.”

“Strange how that happens. Turns out, murdering your son’s siblings means he doesn’t trust you.”

“Isn’t it weird? How about Thorax and I? Could we coexist?”

We both turned to look at Thorax. He was hovering above his seat, fidgeting with his hoof of cards. When one changeling revealed their cards, thorax stuck his tongue out the side of his muzzle as he concentrated.

“Coexist? Sure. But I think if it comes down to it, Thorax would beat you in a fight. If only for the fact that no one is actually willing to hurt him.”

“Ha! Do you think we can use that against the Magistrates?”

“Well you did have him train to be a guard.”

“... Oh Panar, is Thorax going to inevitably kill me?”

“The day he becomes a royal is the day you know your life is on a time limit, despite your near-immortality. He will literally kill you with kindness.”

“... I can’t even be mad at him.”

Coxa shook his head, “It’s impossible.”

Thorax threw his cards down onto the table, sending a piece of paper with the rules written on it flying off to the side. With a triumphant cheer, he took all the chips from the center of the table.

I shifted the tightness of the straps on my chest, trying to balance out the weight. I was wearing a large backpack provided by Captain Lance for use during the investigation. With one leg being metal, my center of balance was slightly off, leading to the backpack settling strangle on my back.

I had swapped out some of the provisions within the backpack secretly. The exiles had given me the last of the spare love that Thorax brought, just in case the investigation took a long time or if I needed an emergency boost.

I covered my mouth with a metal hoof as I yawned. It was early. Like, before noon early. I had no business being awake, but needs must. As it was, I was currently waiting on Captain lance to finish having my payment loaded onto a carriage being pulled by an earth pony. The cart itself had a few boxes of what little I was bringing with me out of the town, and Captain Lance was having a lowly Private carry a small wooden chest filled with bits. The entire down payment, in full. As I watched the poor pegasus Private struggle to strap down the chest, Captain Lance walked over to me.

“Morning, Far Sky.”

“Good morning, Captain Lance.”

“Are you sure there’s no chance of you staying?”

“Unfortunately. We all have our purpose in life, and mine is not here.”

“In that case, I must formally thank you for your brief service within the Hooferville Guard. If you ever need a place to crash or a job, there’ll always be a room in the Guard Station for you.”

“Thank you, Captain. And thank you for the generous amount of bits.”

“The least I can do is max out the budget for you. The stipend we receive from Canterlot will be reviewed next week, and any bits not used is bits we don’t get next quarter, so rewarding you is a convenient way to keep what we have.”

“And here I was, thinking you did it out of the kindness of your heart.”

“That’s no small part of it. Seriously Sky, I don’t think there’s a single pony in this town who would disagree with the payment, or offering you a permanent position within the Guard.”

“That’s… nice to know. I suppose I’ll always have a fallback plan, eh?”

“Yes, you do.”

Captain Lance rubbed his chin as he examined the cart and its puller.

“Where exactly is the cart going?”

“Manehattan. I have a distant family member who will let me stay at their place as I start getting ready to go home. I can store my stuff at their home, and the pony pulling the cart knows full well where to drop off the cart.”

“You’re just trusting everything– including my bits– to this pony?”

The dark green earth pony’s ears flicked towards us as we talked about him, but he kept silent.

“He says he’s a friend of my cousin– uh, that’s who I am staying with– and if he tries to run off with my shit, he knows there’s no place on Equus where he can hide from me.”

In truth, I wasn’t worried in the slightest about the security of my items and bits. The reason being that the pony pulling the cart was Thalamus. He wanted to show his appreciation for his rescue and volunteered to get all the stuff to Manehattan, where Thorax and Coxa would arrange for some place to store it. Preferably, some place where we can stay as well.

“Well, I suppose I’ll trust your judgement, then. Are you ready to start your investigation?”

I rolled my shoulders, jostling the backpack.

“I am.”

“Great. Let me go introduce you to the team that will be accompanying you.”

I waved a goodbye to Thalamus and followed Captain Lance as he led the way back inside the Guard Station. He stopped me outside of the locker room and went inside to check on the team. I yawned again as I counted the seconds pass by.

“Alright, they’re ready,” Lance said as he opened the door and held it open. I frowned as I looked at the ponies that followed him out.

Three ponies exited the locker room, each wearing their grey guard-issued armor and with large packs on their backs similar to mine. The earth pony carried a short spear, sort of like a pilum. The pegasus had two sets of long claws at the end of his front hooves. The unicorn had no visible weapon. That was all well and fine. The problem was that they weren’t strangers.

“Hi Far Sky!” Bray Call waved to me.

“Thought we were going to stay home while you went off risking your life?” Quick Search asked as he stopped in front of me.

“Hello,” Warm Dew said.

“... Why am I surprised?”

“We’re coming with!” Bray cheered.

“Honestly, why am I surprised? I should have seen this coming. No, you three are not coming with me.”

“We are,” Dew replied.

“You do realize that this is going to be very dangerous, right?”

Search shook his head, “We are guardsponies, Sky. Putting our lives between danger and innocent ponies is our job description.”

I huffed, “I mean real danger. Not heatstroke, or dealing with the thirteenth complaint about the restrictions on parking a cart on the street this week.”

“We were right next to you during the attack. This is part of our job,” Search explained.

“Technically, this is a separate contract in which we will be paid very well,” Bray interrupted.

Dew said tersely, “We’re coming. It’s not up to you.”

I looked over to the Captain, who nodded slowly.

“But I’ve barely known you guys for a month!”

Bray rolled her eyes, “Don’t think it’s all about you. This money is enough to get me out of this town and to university.”

“It’ll be for a down payment on a new house for me,” Search explained.

“More money is always good.”

“But… Damn it all. Fine, whatever. But if it– agh, nevermind. Let’s just… go. I assume you’re all ready to go?”

They all nodded.

“Wonderful. F–Bucking wonderful. Listen to what I say, do as I do. Since I actually know what we are hunting, I’ll be taking the lead.”

Bray rubbed her chin, “Captain Lance said they are lavallern, right?”

“Lavellan. And we’re just tracking their point of origin. They had to be fleeing from something, be it a collapsed cavern, or something else. We have to find out what forced them to the surface, and see if it’s going to keep being a problem.”

“Got it!” Bray saluted.

Dew shrugged.

“You going to be okay in a leadership position?” Search asked.

I had to repress a smile.

“I think I’ll manage.”

The great doors to Hooferville slowly closed behind us as we examined the carnage that lay at the base of the walls.

There was a bit of clearing between the stone walls and the treeline, as was customary for defenses. Pressed up against the base of the huge wall was a long pile of burnt Lavellan bodies. Cleanup crews had burnt the remains earlier, and eventually the remains would be removed from the base of the wall and either buried or burnt to ash. As it was, their charred bodies lay in heaps against clawed stone. In two spots, a huge pile of dirt signaled the start of the now collapsed tunnels that the rats used to invade the town.

Compared to the pristine town-side of the wall, this side looked hundreds of years old. The frequent damage it took from wild animals and the now-rare attacks had weathered it considerably. It wore old scars and gouges like a war veteran, proudly boosting their immortality.

I exhaled slowly and examined the tracks leading to the wall.

There were hundreds of marks on the muddy ground. All of them led further back into the forest. Likely, there would be numerous marks stretching all the way back to the point of origin of the horde. It seems that this was not to be the difficult part of the job.

Bray and Search were trying their best to not gag at the horrible smell of burnt flesh. They covered their noses with a hoof as they cringed and blinked tears out of their eyes. Dew had grimaced greatly but seemed to not struggle as much. As for myself, months at the hive had made me learn how to mentally block smells out to an unfortunately accurate degree.

“Alright. Let’s get a move on,” I ordered.

The squad formed up around and behind me, with Bray on my left, Search on my right, and Dew behind me. Turning our backs to Hooferville, we descended into Blackthorn Forest. As we stuck to the tracks, the thick branches of the tall trees cut us off from the sky above, and eventually the trunks blocked the sight of the grey walls behind us.

Churned mud, broken branches, eviscerated trunks of trees, and of course an ever present rotting smell that I could detect led the way deeper into the woods.

79- David and Goliath

“So Sky…” Bray trailed off.

“Yes, Bray?”

“How do you know about these things?”

I jumped over a fallen tree and landed awkwardly on three hooves.

“I got a briefer on the kinds of creatures you can run into down in the… Underworld.”

“Underworld? Are you saying these creatures are from Tartarus?”

“No, the world that is under us. Maybe you have a different word for it.”

Search cleared his throat, “Now I may have barely scraped through high school geography, but I’m pretty sure what’s under us is the rest of the crust layer, then the mantle, then the core.”

I sighed, “Then Equestria has no knowledge of what is really beneath their hooves. Within the crust layer lies a significant amount of… space. Caves. Underground oceans. An entire world that has never seen the sun.”

“How do thestrals know about it?” Bray asked.

“There are entrances to the layer. Natural ones are extremely rare but I’m certain there’s one in that infamous Everfree Forest. I’m betting there’s a second, smaller entrance here, in Blackthorn Forest.”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“I implied that we have an entrance back at home.”

“Oh. That makes sense. Why do you have an entrance to this Underworld?”

“Well, the uppermost layer has a lot of minerals in it. More abundant than in your average mine.”

I could practically hear Bray’s mind working from behind me.

“Really? How– no wait, why? Why haven’t we heard about this?”

“It’s pretty deep. And, as I’ve alluded to, not empty. There’s more monsters down there than anywhere else. A lot more.”

“So why do thestrals prefer mining it rather than traditional mines?”

I stopped.

“Why…. I suppose that’s because there’s no naturally occurring metal deposits near our home.”

“So then why don’t you move?” Dew asked.

A branch snapped in the distance, causing us all to freeze.

“... Because we prefer staying hidden,” I whispered.

There was a distant growl. Then, silence returned. We waited five minutes before we dared to move on and make noise once again. Our conversation became much quieter.

“Tell us about the Lavellan,” Search said.

“Semi-aquatic subterranean rodents, they prefer making their nests in half-flooded caverns. They’ll eat anything and everything, but have a penchant for favoring insects. They are quite venomous, but thankfully no pony was wounded by their toxic saliva during the attack. Still, I’m certain the rest of the injured had to be treated for infected wounds. Lavellan do not keep their claws clean. Quite the opposite, in fact.”

“Alright. What could have chased them out of their home,” Search followed up.

“... A lot of things. Anything as simple as a cave collapse to a larger creature muscling them out of their hunting grounds.”

“How large can these bigger creatures get?”

I silently thought about that for a moment.

‘Let’s see, what was the largest megafauna that I was told about? Stormrider? Maybe Deep Leviathan? No, it would have to be Uncaring God.’

“So you know about Canterhorn Mountain, right? Yeah, about half the size of that. And I’m certain that we know only of a fraction of what lies beneath us.”

“This sounds like pure fantasy,” Bray muttered.

“If it was, Hooferville wouldn’t have been attacked.”

The rest of the journey was made silently.

Occasionally, we heard movement around us. On rare occasions, we caught glimpses of creatures lurking in the dark underbrush of the forest. Still, we pressed on. On one occasion, a rogue Lavellan, a straggler from the pack, tried to attack us. I simply picked it up and crushed it within my telekinesis.

Eventually, the tracks became more and more grouped up. The Lavellan had ran here much closer together, practically body to body. We were getting close to the source of their horde incursion.

The woods themselves seemed to grow more sinister. The straight trunked trees were replaced with leaning giants, ancient in their own right. The ground was far more uneven, as if we were walking on a field of buried rubble. Eventually, the trees became barren of leaves, leaving them as nothing more than gnarled and twisted sprouts of wood. That didn’t mean we got to see the clear blue sky that we set out under, back at Hooferville.

The sky overhead was overcast. It was threatening to rain on us. The fact that I didn’t bring rain gear didn’t bother me, nor did it bother any of the rest of the team. Our backpacks were made of a waterproof material. It wasn’t magical enchantment, but mundane physical properties. Still, none of us wanted to get soaking wet.

The underbrush simply ran out. It thinned at first, but altogether vanished shortly into the barren biome. Normally, we were walking on trampled bushes, ferns, grass, and other small plants. Now, there was nothing but a cloying mud underhoof. Progress slowed, but we pushed on.

It was silent, I noticed. In the woods proper, there were at least distant bird calls, or the swaying of branches and leaves in the wind. Here in this dead zone, there wasn’t even a wind to move the stagnant air.

Finally, we arrived at the origin of the horde.

True to my suspicions, it was indeed a cave. I was certain that it led all the way to the Unending Dark. There were no Surface Tunnels here, not this far from the Fourth Hive. Lavellan loved to make their homes in that dark, ominous zone.

The cave itself was in the middle of a stony clearing. The mud had given way to a large pile of rocks, on which the entrance to the cave sat like a dragon on its hoard of gold.

It was still deathly silent.

The other three guards looked to me for guidance.

‘It’d be really nice to be able to fly right about now.’

With a hoof signal, I guided us around the side of the clearing so that we could approach the open cave entrance from the side.

We slowly picked our way across the field of stones. It was hard for me with one metal leg to stay quiet, but I tried my best. Eventually, we made it to the small solid rock mound in the center. I pressed myself up against it, and the ponies followed suit behind me.

I inched my way up to the entrance and peeked around the corner.

Inside was nearly pitch black, but I could see the light from outside illuminate a tunnel that went down into the ground. A stale air that smelled of rot slowly wafted out from the tunnel. Leaning back and towards the ponies, I nodded as I undid the straps on my backpack. We took off our packs and set them gently onto the ground. Then I moved backwards to whisper to them all at once, while keeping the direction that the entrance was in in my view the entire time.

“This is it. We need to collapse the tunnel inside. The more destroyed it is, the better.”

“How can we do that?” Search whispered.

I tapped a stone beneath me with a hoof. All this rock was likely excavated from the tunnel itself. This was certainly not a naturally occurring phenomenon.

“We go in a bit and destroy the ceiling. It will cause a huge portion of the tunnel to collapse in on itself, and likely cause this entire pile of rocks to go in with it. That’s about as best of a seal as we can get. Maybe get a team of pegasi to come in later with explosives to fully seal the tunnel. If we get a small seal in now, it’ll mean that the pegasi can do their work without fear of being attacked.”

“Sounds good,” Search agreed.

“We’ll follow you,” Dew whispered.

“Alright. We need to be ready once the cascade starts. That means we have to move our packs first, then be ready to run for the woods like our tails are on fire.”

We picked up our packs and made our way back to the edge of the clearing. Once we deposited our packs at the beginning of the trail that we used to get here, we went back to the tunnel entrance and got ready to go down.

“Bray. Give us light. I’ll be ready with a shield or force spell in case we get attacked.”

“Got it,” she said as she lit her horn.

I went in first, with Bray slightly behind and to my side. The other two ponies filled in behind us. The tunnel inside was large, maybe twenty hooves across. It also went down at an angle. If it weren’t for the rough and clawed up solid stone ground, I would be worried about losing my balance and falling down.

We went down about fifty hooves. The tunnel ahead was still quiet but I figured that this was good enough.

“Alright,” I whispered. My voice still echoed slightly. “I’ll start cutting into the ceiling. Bray, keep the light up. Focus it a bit down the tunnel if you can. Dew and Search, keep an eye with Bray. If anything comes, we need to get out of here as soon as possible.”

I lit my horn, and started carving into the stone ceiling down a bit from us using Focused Will. The orange laser loudly zapped through the air and bit into the soft stone ceiling.

As I focused on carving out an equal layer of stone, Dew called out shortly after I started.

“There’s something moving ahead!”

‘Already?! There must be a small cavern ahead before the tunnel continues down!’

“Out!” I whisper-yelled.

The ponies turned and started climbing out of the tunnel. I lit my horn and beamed a light down the tunnel. Sure enough, the tunnel leveled out about three hundred hooves further. Then, something massive walked into my spotlight, hissing angrily.

‘Oh fuck me.’

I spun on my hooves and launched myself upwards. I scrambled for purchase on the uneven, rocky tunnel ground as I galloped upwards. Ahead, the ponies had glanced backwards at the sudden sound of me moving fast, and had quickly realized that they too needed to speed up. No longer concerned about the sound we were making, I yelled a warning.

“It’s a megafauna! Get out and get ready for a fight!”

The ponies leaped out from the tunnel ahead of me. I neared the entrance too, but my right foreleg slipped and I lost all footing and slammed into the ground with a wheeze. Spinning around and onto my back, I lit the tunnel behind me once more and was greeted to a sight of the monster already halfway up the tunnel.

It was huge. Despite the size of the tunnel, it was taking up the entirety of it as it squeezed its way upwards.

The first thing I saw was a maw full of yellow incisors, each the size of one of my legs. They were each caked in black and red substances. Former meals, I guessed.

Then I saw its eyes. Yellow, with black slits trained in on me. They were also huge.

When it reached out a paw to grip the ground and pull itself further up the tunnel, I got a good look at its claws. They were four hooves in length each, with three per paw. They were covered in dried blood and mud in equal amounts.

My mind thought of one only thing that could truly encompass the entirety of the megafauna that was climbing up towards me. On earth, it was a phenomenon that fascinated ancient humanity. When rats would get their tails entwined and tangled, they formed what was called a Rat King.

But this thing? This thing was alone, yet it could be called nothing less than the King of all Rats.

The gigantic rat hissed once more as in the span of ten seconds it closed another hundred hooves of distance. I looked up at the ceiling it was approaching. Specs of dust were floating down from it, and I watched a chunk of stone become loose and fall to the ground, clattering as it bounced off the floor and into the face of the Rat King.

Pulling a massive amount of mana from my internal pool, I blasted the weak ceiling above and in front of the Rat King. Immediately, the blinding flash of orange blocked out any other sight in the tunnel. I didn’t cut the spell off until all I heard was the cracking of stone and the collapsing of the tunnel.

I felt a magic envelope plating around my barrel and I was pulled out from the tunnel as it started to collapse. I lay on my back, blinking out the burned spots on my eyesight as the ponies started to yell all at once.

“What the Tartarus was that?”

“Why did you stop? Are you okay?”

“Did you kill that thing?”

They were all looking down at me with concern. Bray had pulled me out of the collapsing tunnel with her magic, and seemed to be relieved that I was okay. I coughed from the dust of the collapsed cave and tried to get back to my hooves. Bray helped me up.

“I’m fine. I just slipped and fell.”

“Your metal leg?” Bray asked.

“Yeah.”

I looked back to the stone mound in the center of the clearing. It had collapsed in on itself and was starting to form a stone sinkhole in the middle of the clearing. I started to back up from the sinking stone pit but I felt my hind legs protest in pain. I had banged them up considerably as I was pulled out of the collapsing tunnel, but there were no obvious signs of damage.

‘That’s going to bruise up.’

“Well? Did you get it?” Dew asked.

The stones pieces were still sinking down, but were now slowing down as the pit started to be filled.

“Hopefully–”

A massive claw broke through the center of the pit.

“–No nevermind.”

I scrambled backwards towards our packs. The ponies stood in shock for a moment before joining me in the rush towards the edge of the clearing. When we arrived, they backed off the stones and stood on the exposed roots of the dead trees.

“Now what?” Search breathlessly asked me.

“Give me a moment!” I yelled as I grabbed my pack and started digging through it. I would likely need a boost in case things got bad. “Is that Rat King thing hurt?”

“It’s hard to tell, but it looks mostly fine,” Search called back.

“Rat King?” Dew asked.

“Would any other name fit?”

“Rat King.” Dew confirmed.

I found what I was looking for and started emptying the three small pots of pure love that I had brought with me. The pink gas slowed my mind as I inhaled all three stores at once.

‘Gah, so good! It’s been way too long since I had the good stuff! Mmmmmm….’

I sat back onto my haunches, removing my muzzle from the backpack. The ponies were focused on the Rat King for the time being. I giggled at the absurdity of the situation. This was such an eventful life compared to my old one.

“Sky? Sky?! Far Sky, what’s the plan?!”

Search’s yelling brought me back down to Earth. No, back down to Equus.

“Huh?”

“How do we kill the bucking thing?”

The Rat King had finally pulled itself clear of the rockslide and was circling around, sniffing the air. Now that it was free from the confined tunnel, it towered over the clearing, easily thirty hooves tall. It froze and homed in its beady yellow eyes on our location. Bray started firing off smaller beams of Focused Will at the Rat King, but the monster simply shrugged them off and continued its leisurely walk towards us.

“Now we kill the fucker,” I giggled.

“We can’t fight that thing!” Bray yelled at me.

“It’s suicide!” Dew agreed.

I felt power starting to flow into my mana pool once again. Despite the huge drain previously, the pure love brought me back to levels I had before the Battle of Canterlot. I began discarding the standard issue grey metal guard armor that I was wearing.

“No, it’s necessary.”

Bray Call’s unicorn magic wouldn’t suffice here. Nor would the blades of Warm Dew’s battle claws. The single spear that Quick Search was armed with would be of little use against the twenty hoof tall Rat King that now prowled towards us.

From the moment that the guards had revealed that they would join me here, I suspected this outcome. Honestly, anything else would have been a surprise. I would have liked to avoid this unnecessary drama, but I simply couldn’t pass up the substantial amount of bits that was offered. The amount of damage that three guards knowing my identity could do was huge, but then again I could try to wipe their memory. It should theoretically work. Should.

“Get back to Hooferville. I’ll deal with the Rat King.”

“Like Tartarus we’re leaving you!” Search yelled as he readied his spear.

‘Dragon? No, I don’t know how they biologically produce fire. Still, their scale armor and claws make for a good backup plan.’

“We took this job knowing the risks!” Dew supported.

‘Anything from the Underhive? I haven’t seen any personally that is big enough to defeat this disgusting thing.’

“A Guard puts themselves between danger and ponies!” Bray cheered as she let out a barrage of fire bolts. They singed the Rat King’s fur, but it otherwise ignored the attacks.

‘Something from human fiction? Xenomorph is too small, Godzilla is too big, what could– oh!’

I backed up from the ponies as they prepared to fight the Rat King and undid the straps keeping my metal leg tied to me. I needed a bit of space and didn’t want to destroy the prosthetic while I still needed it, after all. Tyranid Carnifexs were not small in the slightest.

I was giddy, both from love and from the prospect of doing something I always wanted to.

Bray Call wiped the sweat from her brow.

The spellfire she casted upon the brutish thing was to no effect. It somehow simply ignored the attacks, as if its hide was so thick that laser beams simply bounced off of it. Not even her limited array of elemental spells could do much more than slow down the thing. So instead she had focused on slowing it down by disrupting the ground beneath it. Minor transformation spells to turn dirt into mud led to the thing sinking down as the stone floor became more fluid. Icing spells made the ground slick as it approached, forcing it to slow down even more.

All this to buy time for whatever Far Sky was planning.

Bray really hoped that he had something good up his sleeve, as this thing looked very hungry.

As she threw a few fire bolts to keep its eyes closed, she noticed a flash of orange emanating from behind her, as well as the sound of fire burning. Turning her head, she saw something outright unnatural. It was huge, as big as the Rat King if it stood on its hindlegs. The creature behind her was actually standing on his hindlegs, but it certainly wasn’t a rat. And though it had hooves, it certainly wasn’t a pony neither.

It stood on two hindlegs that ended in hooves. It was hunched over, with four forelegs sticking out from its upper torso. These limbs were almost entirely made of massive scythe-like appendages. The creature’s head was half purple segmented plating, half white snarling maw. It was blunter, as if it didn’t have a muzzle. The torso itself was massive, towering above even the scythe limbs, with, oval extensions jutting out from the back. A thick white tail jutted out the back that ended in a red dual-bladed axe.

The entire thing was purple and white, with the scythes, hooves, and the occasional spikes being blood red. It looked like a horrible monster right out of an Ogres & Oubliettes game.

The bipedal monster roared and charged the Rat King.

Bray had realized that she stopped casting spells out of shock. She shared a look with Dew and Search as they watched the two monsters start dueling. The scythe monster tackled the Rat King and flung it across the entire clearing, charging after it. When they clashed again, The Rat King began to claw and bite at the scythe monster, while the scythe Monster swung its massive red scythes down onto the Rat King, as well as hiss from its massive toothed mouth.

“What…?” Bray couldn’t even formulate words. This was such a non sequitur from their stand that she was still trying to figure out what was happening. Warm Dew, however, seemed to have no such confusion.

“I knew it,” he smiled.

“What the hell is that thing?” Search asked, relaxing his grip on the spear.

Bray flinched as a scythe plunged into the back of the Rat King.

“That was Far Sky.”

“What?!” Bray and Search exclaimed at the same time.

“Didn’t you see him transform? I knew he was a changeling! I knew it!”

Bray huffed, “I was kinda focused on the big rat about to make us into dinner!”

“Yeah. Were you taking in the sights– no nevermind that, what do you mean Far Sky is a changeling? You’re telling me he turned into that?” Search asked as he pointed at the scythe monster. As he pointed at it, the Rat King threw the monster– Far Sky– off of it and hacked at him with its long claws.

“No, a giant monster came out of nowhere to save our hides. Yes, that’s Far Sky!”

Bray watched the giants fight. It was certainly something. But… what?

“Why? How? What?” She asked.

“Come on, none of you found his constant lying and avoidance of his history to be suspicious? Or the fact that he claims to have such an abusive family? Can you name any family in Hooferville that dysfunctional?”

Bray couldn’t. From Search’s silence, he couldn’t either. What Far Sky had described about his family was nothing short of something right out of pre-unification pony tribes.

They all sat in silence– except for the brief moment where they were sent half an inch into the air when Far Sky pile drive the Rat King into the ground– as they thought.

“Did you suspect him the entire time?” Search asked.

“Yeah? Didn’t you?”

“I entertained the notion, but he’s a nice guy. You really thought the stallion that got brain freeze from eating ice cream so quickly was a monstrous invader that attacked Canterlot and Southern Equestria?”

“But changelings are evil!” Bray exclaimed. “They invaded Canterlot! Burnt it to the ground! They foalnapped entire villages!”

“Mhmm,” Dew agreed. “Which is why I am very interested in finding out why this changeling doesn’t seem to be outwardly evil.”

They paused their conversation as Far Sky roared a challenge and bloodied his scythes once more. Bray once again cringed at the sight. She was prepared to kill things to protect ponies, but this? This was… brutal. Messy. Nothing like being a Guard at all.

“I knew he was a changeling from the beginning,” Dew continued. “I just couldn’t prove it. But the whole nice pony routine? I didn’t trust it…. Not at first…”

“And now?” Bray asked.

“... I think there is more happening than we know. If Far Sky is a changeling, why didn’t he just hide during the breach? Why doesn’t he just leave us right now and fly away, rather than fight in our stead? What’s going on with Princess Celestia?”

“Princess Daybreaker,” Bray corrected.

“Exactly. Something fishy is going on in Canterlot…”

“So…?” Bray pressed.

“So let’s wait this out and find out just who Far Sky is, and what the Tartarus is going on.”

I panted heavily from the exertion and pulled my top scythe limbs free as the Rat King fell limp. It had bitten through the toughened chitin exterior I had formed around me. Whatever Tyranids had, I had no idea how it was structured, so I went with the plating of a Millipore, though twice as thick. I should have gone thicker, as the jagged sword-like teeth of the Rat King punctured right through.

I kicked its corpse for good measure and turned to look at where I left the pack. To my surprise, the ponies were still there. They hadn’t fled, but instead watched from a distance. They looked about as worried and concerned as spectators of a Football game.

‘Huh. Well I hope they enjoyed the show! Not that they could have helped. In fact, staying out of the way was probably the best thing they could do…’

Bray waved.

‘.... What?’

I slowly made my way across the torn-up clearing, stopping just in front of them. My limbs sagged down from tiredness.

“Far Sky?” Search asked.

I nodded slowly.

“Can we talk to you? The real you?”

‘They want me to drop my current form? And talk? Why? Shouldn’t they, you know, be running away?’

Despite the risks of transitioning into an inherently less dangerous form in front of three ponies that could potentially be plotting to capture me, I decided to humor my curiosity. I channeled energy into the Thread of Change and undid my fictional form. However, I wasn’t so foolish as to give away my royal survival, and instead opted to disguise myself as a normal changeling. One with three legs, at least.

Immediately, the puncture wounds became more pronounced as I transitioned into my changeling form. It wasn’t as devastating as changing into a non-changeling form with wounds, but it wasn’t pretty. Red blood was leaking out from several places along my barrel. I sealed the punctures using a simple first aid spell that Bray had taught me.

When they saw my chitinous form, I tasted their emotions; Search was confused, Dew was vindicated, and Bray was concerned.

Wait, Bray was concerned?

“You’re hurt!”

She dug into her pack and retrieved a first aid kit.

I was at a loss for words.

‘These are ponies. Shouldn’t they, you know, hate me? Or fear me? Even the Princess of Love had a harsher greeting for me…’

Bray opened a medkit and started applying disinfectants and bandages onto my barrel.

“What are you doing?” I asked in my normal changeling voice. It had a bit more reverb to it than when I was a pony, but otherwise sounded pretty much the same. Another failure of my panicked disguise.

“Helping you.”

“... Don’t bother with the bandages. They’ll just burn away the next time I disguise myself.”

Quick Search and Warm Dew inspected me as they walked up in front of me.

“I knew you were a changeling,” Dew started the conversation.

“Okay. So why didn’t you report me? Or arrest me? Or literally anything but ignore me?”

“I couldn’t be sure. You need proof to arrest a changeling…”

Search had a different line of questions, “So all that talk about thestrals?”

“Lies based on truth. I obviously couldn’t talk about who I was or where I came from. And my family is far from… nice. Or functional. Or non-homicidal.”

“So, who are you?” Search asked.

‘Shit, do I need to come up with a faux name?’

“Please tell us the truth, Far Sky. We just want to know what’s going on.”

I frowned at Search’s comment.

‘With how anti-Canterlot these ponies are, maybe there isn’t a risk of them informing on me. Even if they did, I could still mind control them. Probably. Worst case scenario, there Rat King has three victims…’

The thought left a rancid taste in my mouth and a pain in my chest.

I sighed, “Call me Phas.”

There was no need to rush the reveal.

“Like the changeling Prince?” Dew asked.

There was a need to rush the reveal.

“Uh… yeah.”

“That’s you?” Search pressed.

“Uh… yeah,” I said again.

“You’re the Dread Prince?” Bray asked incredulously as she stepped back from me.

“Technically I’m not a Prince anymore, but yes. That’s me. I’m not how I normally look because I thought I was going to lie to you all.”

Dew’s eyes widened, “You’re the one who defeated Captain Shining Armor?”

“Wiped the floor with him…”

“Horseapples. We don’t stand a chance, do we?”

I glanced back at the Rat King’s corpse.

“One would think that the fight you just saw is a better example than a fight with a single pony.”

“You’re not a giant scary monster right now, are you?”

I glared at Dew.

“I can be one. Why… are we talking? Aren’t you supposed to hunt down changelings?”

“Aren’t changelings supposed to feed on ponies?” Search countered.

“I mean, I have been feeding off you three.”

I chuckled as they became alarmed and glanced at each other.

“The worst symptoms you would have felt is increased drowsiness. I fed off emotions you were naturally feeling, and didn’t pull love from you. That would have been an entirely painful experience.”

Dew quirked an eyebrow, “Changelings can feed off normal emotions without hurting ponies?”

“Of course. It’s not as potent and filling as love, but it is possible for a changeling to survive off of.”

“Then why did you attack Canterlot?” Bray interrupted.

“You can get only so much food from ambient emotions. It’s not enough to feed a second changeling, let alone an entire hive.”

“You weren’t satisfied with foalnapping every pony south of Canterlot?”

“We wanted all of Equestria. No, we wanted the entire world. We have suffered from starvation for so long that any action to end it became justifiable. I did not want our kind to become slaves to Equestria, dependent on it for our survival, so I agreed with the plan to invade Equestria and secure our survival by force. It turns out, coexistence really is the way forward. I was wrong, and now I work to undo that damage.”

Quick Search tapped his chin with a hoof.

“If you’re the Prince Phasmatadea–”

I interrupted Search, “Phasmatodea, just call me Phasma.”

“–then why aren’t you trying to get back to your kind?”

I sighed, “Because they’d likely kill me. Queen Chrysalis wants me dead, to put it simply. I was serious about the whole dysfunctional family thing.”

“Is it because you failed to take Canterlot?” Bray asked.

“No. She was going to kill me even if I succeeded. I was a threat to her continued reign, after all.”

“Why shouldn’t we turn you in to the Crown?” Dew asked slowly. That earned him a partial glare from both Bray and Search.

“Because that’d be shooting yourself in the hoof.”

“How?”

“Queen Chrysalis, my mother, isn’t my only enemy. I’m also working against Daybreaker.”

“How is that a good thing?!” Bray exclaimed.

Search nodded hesitantly, but Dew held his tongue, eager to hear just what I had to say.

“Daybreaker is not Princess Celestia,” I told them firmly.

“She is–”

I cut Bray off, “Not Princess Celestia.”

“How would you know?” Dew interrogated me.

“She was possessed by a Nightmare, an entity of pure evil and malicious intent. It’s the same thing that happened to Princess Luna a thousand years ago, when she became Nightmare Moon.”

“But how do you know that?”

“Princess Luna told me.”

“You’ve spoken with the Princess?” Search asked.

I nodded, “And with Nightmare Moon before that. We had an accord to rule Equestria together. Things have… changed. Now I am trying to free Equestria before Daybreaker can put it under lock and key and under a tyrannical rule.”

Search tilted his head, “What’s in it for you?”

“Food? The same reason why we invaded in the first place? Further, my own safety, as well as the safety of my subjects. Daybreaker is already… Torturing them. Torture, and forced enslavement into her investigative secret police, Division-P. They put bomb collars on changelings.”

“You’re lying,” Bray gasped.

“I wish I was. I am on your side, even if my subjects weren’t in danger. I owe that much to Princess Luna; she saved me from a fate exactly the same as Daybreaker and Nightmare Moon.”

“One of these Nightmares?” Search quizzed.

I nodded.

Dew asked the next question, “Now what are you going to do? Go back to your changelings who are fleeing from Daybreaker?”

“Yes and no. I’m not going to tell you what my next move is, but suffice to say, I am staying in Equestria. Changelings cannot survive without ponies, so I must work to somehow bridge the gap I created between our species.”

I glanced towards the path behind them.

“And that starts with leaving Hooferville for good.”

Bray Call sat down on her haunches, “I… don’t understand. You’re saying that Princess Daybreaker isn’t Celestia? That she’s in trouble and needs help?”

“Yes. That is being worked on by, ah, distant friends of mine. I need Princess Celestia back in power. You do, too.”

“She’s evil like Nightmare Moon was?”

“Worse. She’s a patient evil. Aside from these bomb collars, she works slowly, eroding Celestia’s previous influence and sets her plans in motion long before they come to fruition. As for the collars, I’m not entirely sure. It could be that she is banking on the extreme hatred and fear of changelings being enough to help hide their existence, it could be that her inquisition has already gone rogue.”

“Inquisition…” Bray echoed.

When none of the ponies continued their bombardment of questions, I put the disguise of Far Sky back on and grabbed the backpack and prosthetic and started doing the straps.

“Now, I must go find and help the survivors of the Siege of Canterlot. I still have a duty to protect them.”

Search sighed, “So now you’re leaving?”

“So now I’m leaving.”

“I still have so many questions,” Bray trailed off. “Will we ever see each other again? You promised to write, and to teach me magic!”

‘So that’s it then? Ponies really are willing to work with us changelings, even despite what we did. Damn, Luna was so right. Thank Panar she was right. This world works so much differently than Earth.’

“Once this storm blows over, our paths will cross. If they don’t naturally, I’m sure it won’t be hard to find me. I’ll probably be in Canterlot by then. Besides, we have till we reach the main road till we split. If you want to ask questions, now is the time.”

We stopped at the road. To our left, Manehattan. To our right, Hooferville.

“This is where we say goodbye,” I said.

Bray had bandaged my bleeding wounds before we set off. During the way back, they asked a hundred questions about changelings and myself, with no concern about staying quiet. Now, we stood in silence.

“It was nice knowing you, Phasma. Or rather, it was nice knowing Far Sky,” Dew said.

“I hope you remember us and Hooferville. You always can have a place here,” Search reminded me.

“We will see each other again,” Bray sniffed.

“Yes. We will. Even if I don’t come back to Hooferville, we will meet again. Till next time?”

“Till next time,” they each agreed.

Bray pulled me into a short hug when I tried to shake her hoof.

“I’ll miss you, you sourpuss.”

“I won’t miss waking up so damn early in the mornings, but… It really was nice knowing you guys. I’ll miss you, too.”

“You know,” Dew began, “if you were revealed as a changeling when you first arrived, I would have left you for the wolves. The metaphorical ones, up in Canterlot. But for a changeling, you’re not entirely bad.”

“Thanks. For a walking sack of delicious love, you’re not half-bad yourself.”

I turned to Search.

“Hey S– Phasma.”

“Search.”

“... You’ve gone through some tough stuff. Even through your mask, the pain was obvious. Don’t…. Don’t be alone, okay? Friends will help you through this.”

I blinked in surprise.

“Okay,” I said quietly. “I’ll… thank you. I’ll remember that.”

And so, I left.

I waved a goodbye with my metal leg as I walked left down the road, turning my back on Corporal Bray Call, Sergeant Quick Search, and Private Warm Dew.

80- Somnus

Arc 6: Fifth Hive

My ears twitched as I heard Luna clear her throat next to me. I cracked an eye open and looked up at her. I was laying down on a hill, under the shade of a tree. It was a warm summer day in my dream, with a nice breeze rustling through the tall grass around the hill.

“Good evening, Phasma.”

“Hey Luna. I was wondering when you would drop by.”

“We had discussed this already, no? I am preoccupied with efforts previously agreed upon.”

Luna sat down next to me, lounging on the soft grass as I was.

“Yeah, but you neglected to tell me how to find you in case I wanted to speak.”

“I shall rectify that issue later, but you are implying there is a need to speak right now?”

“Yes. We have lots to discuss.”

“Very well. What news do you bring? Or is there something else?”

“A lot has happened since last we spoke.”

“Would it perchance have to do with the fact that your dream now lies within the distant metropolis of Manehattan?”

“My cover in Hooferville has been blown, amongst other things.”

“What happened?”

“Division-P happened. I recall the Princess of Food referencing that agency last we spoke with her. What do you know of Division-P?”

Luna snorted when I called her niece the ruler of all things delicious.

“It is a fancy of Daybreaker. One of her many projects that she started after taking my sister. She took the vestiges of Celestia’s previous intelligence organization and reformed the fragments in her own twisted image. Sycophants, psychopaths, and xenophobes all flock to its banner to further their own desires. ‘Tis an excellent sink for the most detestable annoyances that orbit our royal courts.”

“Do you know who’s in charge of it? Where its headquarters is? How it operates?”

Luna shook her head, “Nay. Cadence ought to. She is far more involved with the organization’s day to day affairs.”

“I will need to speak with her as soon as possible.”

“I shall show you how to locate specific individuals far away to facilitate this, as well as our future meetings. Now, what does Division-P have to do with your blown cover? What happened?”

I stood up from the ground. Luna looked up at me as I snorted in anger.

“Division-P is rooting out changelings hiding within Equestria. This would be expected and tolerable. What isn’t either of those is the fact that they are using changeling captives to do so. Unwilling captives. They torture them and strap bomb collars to them to further coerce cooperation.”

“... You are certain of this?”

“I freed a changeling from their control. He was firsthoof witness to all of this, having a collar on himself as well.”

“Bomb collars…. The concept is not alien. Diamond Dogs, nefarious, unscrupulous simpletons who pillage and enslave once used similar concepts in ages past. Celestia and I brought them to heel, and drove them back into the stone age. To hear that Daybreaker has used this ancient information to such lengths…”

“If exposed, it should turn public opinion against Daybreaker, right? There’s no way anyone would tolerate treating P.O.W.s like this!”

Luna got up from the ground and stood by my side. We started to walk together through the grass, trying to get some enjoyment from the pleasant scenery despite the grisly subject of our conversation.

“Potentially. Nay, it would certainly bring light to Daybreaker’s ulterior motives for her changes. The use of prisoners of war to root out changelings in hiding would be excusable, perhaps even lauded. However, this torture and threatening of death to the point of placing explosives around their necks? Perhaps a century under Daybreaker’s rule would sway public opinion close enough to Daybreaker’s ideals to excuse this, but not this generation. It does not sound like the actions of a patient mastermind to me.”

“What are you suggesting?”

“That Daybreaker has already started to lose her grip on her most fanatical appointees.”

“Division-P is already rogue?”

“Not necessarily, merely that its agents and head works beyond Daybreaker’s scope, oft pursuing their own agendas and visions. None would dare oppose Daybreaker, their idol, and nearly all would, one should assume, have ideals and views similar to the demon herself. However, each individual can see a different path to the same goal.”

“Surely Daybreaker would keep an inquisition within a tight grip?”

“Of course, she is aware of any potential threat. However, certain actions would be excusable by its members. It appears that in her haste to forge an organization capable of her goals, she let slip necessary oversight in order to achieve deadlines and goals much quicker. The more changelings that are exposed within Equestria, the further real and tangible the changeling threat is. The more real and tangible the threat is, the greater the amount of ponies that are afraid. The more ponies that are afraid, the easier Daybreaker can push her tainted agendas without resistance. She seeks to make the population of Equestria as pliable as possible.”

“... So whoever is in charge of this Division-P has more free reign to do whatever, as long as they fill their quotas?”

“That is what I suspect.”

“If she is as skilled at manipulation as you claim, she’s already planned contingencies to leash her inquisition back in.”

“One would assume.”

“So she’s got some way to avoid backlash from the bomb collars?”

“Most certainly…. I do wonder, just how certain you are that these collars are explosive?”

“I… Oh. The rescued changeling did emphasize how enthusiastic the inquisitors were to show that the collars explode.”

“You did not see any get set off? Nor did this former prisoner?”

“No I didn’t, and he made no mention outside of the demonstrations.”

Luna nodded, “Then they are likely bluffing. A feint to further coerce their captives.”

“Daybreaker wouldn’t approve of the bluff?”

“Potentially. There is, as is obvious, reasonable doubt that the public would approve or even ignore this act of disharmony. It is likely an idea from whomever is in charge of Division-P.”

“That’s… one hell of a bluff to call. If they are bluffing, they simply switch tactics. If they aren’t bluffing, my people will die.”

“By design, I suspect. The best bluff is one you are afraid to call on. What good would a bluff be otherwise?”

“So we expose it anyway?”

“Without revealing that the knowledge comes from changelings. I can see to it that this information makes its way to the right ears.”

“Thank you. Though I am wondering, where does Princess Cadence play into all of this?”

“I am not fully aware, but it is likely that she coordinates efforts to administrate the organization. A layer removed from the politics, scheming, and disharmanous actions. Yet still, an important role, at least to Cadence’s view.”

“Ah. No need to let the Princess of Love know about all the dirty laundry right beneath her muzzle, right? We should probably make her aware of this, too. We need to capitalize on Daybreaker’s negligence as much as possible.”

“I agree, for I suspect that the pursuit of the changelings in the Southern Jungles may soon be drawing to an end. Daybreaker has maneuvered her forces through the Duchy of Apple Loosa to isolate their movements. They cannot move any further west. To the east, The Celestia Sea offers no safe harbor. To the south lies naught but dirt and death.”

“I think you can’t count Chrysalis and the Legions out just yet.”

“Are you aware of their next move?”

“... If they are desperate.”

‘Desperate enough to expose the hive structure itself. Going south would exactly be their next move. It is likely that the East and West Swarms have already retreated to and refortified the hive structure. The Fourth Hive can survive without a hive, as paradoxical as that sounds. The new Fifth one doesn’t even have one. But all the food, young generations, and materials and history within the current hive structure? I don’t think our kind can survive their loss. If the Fourth Hive is destroyed by Daybreaker, it might just bring down the Fifth Hive as well.’

“I see. At any rate, the point I was making was that our time to work with impunity is drawing to an end. Once the Invasion has been completely rebuffed, Daybreaker shall retire to her throne in Canterlot, effectively making any move against her substantially more difficult.”

“Hmmm. Thankfully, you’re already working ahead of that and are meeting with Twilight Sparkle in the Dreamscape.”

“Thankfully indeed. We have accidentally placed ourselves in a prime position to strike at Daybreaker. The Element of Magic already begins to doubt Daybreaker’s infallibility.”

“That is good news. When do you think the Elements can be used against her?”

Luna’s ears splayed backwards.

“Ah. Yes. The Elements. The Elements of Harmony. Those Elements.”

“Oh Panar, Luna, don’t tell me you lost them or something?”

“Very well.”

“... Luna?”

“Yes?”

“Did you lose them?”

“Nay.”

“Are you sure?”

“I know exactly where they are.”

“But?”

“But Daybreaker has effectively sealed them away.”

I stopped walking and facehooved.

I groaned, “Lunaaa! How did this happen?”

She cleared her throat, “As it turns out, bringing the Elements out of your hiding spot was the wrong move. Daybreaker had them in a location that I could confidently access clandestinely, but it turns out that that was merely a temporary holding location while the real vault was being constructed. I was unawares of this development until recently.”

“You let Daybreaker have access to the Elements? The weapon that can undo her possession? The literally only thing on this planet that can pose a threat to her?”

“I had played my hoof too early in my attempt to sway the Element Bearers against Daybreaker. It backfired slightly.”

“Just slightly?”

“Yes. Just slightly.”

“Okay, ‘just slightly,’ how exactly do you plan on getting around this ‘slight’ blunder of yours?”

Luna smiled, “Daybreaker is quite fond of trophies. She has introduced me as one of her prized possessions in all but name. I can clearly tell she enjoys the feeling of control and pride she gets when she flaunts me around. I think that she can be goaded into bringing the Elements out into the open.”

“Really? The most patient and dangerous mastermind, aside from perhaps Chrysalis but I don’t feel like trying to even make that debate, would bring the single biggest threat to her existence out into the open?”

“Yes! Celestia may be willing to lock away threats, but she too loves to prominently display them. Why, we even have he who should not be named out in the castle’s courtyard! Celestia has always had a flair for the dramatic. Daybreaker is no exception.”

‘Discord is sitting out in the gardens?’

“You’re saying that Daybreaker is so vain that she would flaunt the one weapon that could effectively kill her, simply because she can?”

“That is exactly what I am saying.”

I sighed, “Okay. I really hope you can pull that off. No pressure or anything, it’s just your sister and my species’ lives on the line there.”

Luna laid a wing across my withers, “Have I failed you before, Phasma?”

“I distinctly recall a certain pony with a moon tramp stamp promising me said moon, only to fail at the literal first opportunity to do so.”

Luna’s smile didn’t even falter, “Have I failed you twice before, Phasma?”

“Uh…. no?”

“Then you should know that you are in good hooves, my colt! I did come to your aid before, have I not?”

“Yeah, the Nightmare. That, uh… thanks for that. I really do owe you.”

“A life debt that you shall repay by keeping me entertained. From now till the death of time.”

“Sounds… lovely.”

“Tell me young Prince, what have you been up to now that this Division-P has scared you out of your hole? Does the Division know that you live?”

“No. They will be aware that something happened, but I made sure not to reveal...”

“... Phasma?”

“Uh.”

“What is it?”

“I’m sure it’s nothing.”

“Ah, it is my turn to ask, what did you do?”

“I may have dropped a hint that I lived. I also brain washed them into forgetting that conversation, but I am not an expert at that magic.”

“Oh my. I am certain that it will not come to bite you in the flanks at a later date!”

“Totally. It seems that we’re equally inept at our own duties.”

“At least we are inept together.”

We chuckled. After a moment, we resumed our walk.

“So Phasma, you are in Manehattan?”

“Mhmm. I’ve found some other changelings. Or rather, some other changelings have found me. Currently, I am in Thorax’s care for the next week. I am currently in a healing pod within an unused room in his Manehattan apartment. I need to regenerate my wounds and missing limb.”

“That sounds rather convenient.”

“It is convenient. It only takes a changeling you trust with your life and no small amount of love. And of course to be the best species on Equus: a changeling.”

Luna rolled her eyes, “An unbiased conclusion.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. As I was saying, I found other changelings. One of my closest friends, as well. Things are… progressing.”

“That is an odd thing to say. What is progressing?”

“You called me a prince earlier. That is not really true anymore.”

Luna’s eyebrows raised.

“They crowned me their king. No longer the Prince of the Fourth Hive, but the King of the Fifth. Effectively, they have completely disowned Queen Chrysalis, and have declared me to be the rightful ruler. Normally a dangerous move, but when you’re already in open rebellion, there’s little difference between one potential death penalty and another potential death penalty.”

“King Phasma? Hmmm…. No.”

“No?”

“No. You should have stayed a prince. Prince Phasma sounds more pleasant.”

“Sorry what was that? I can’t hear you from all the way up here on the proverbial monarchical food chain, little Princess. Perhaps one day when you grow up, you can have a kingdom of your own.”

“Oh, do not fret. Heads fall downwards after being lopped off by a guillotine; you will be speaking down at my level eventually. Kings and queens have quite the reputation for turning evil.”

I placed a hoof over my chest and gave her a sad look.

“You would watch me be executed? I thought we had something special.”

Luna gave me her best 'then perish' look, “The world is cruel. You would do well to learn that lesson sooner rather than later.”

We had to stop as we started laughed too hard to pay attention to where we were walking.

Author's Note

Green, author of Trust Once Lost, called me a celebrity. Go beat them up and take their lunch money.

Also here's my Ko-Fi again. Thanks to all the generous donations, there will be a big art piece in Arc 8.

81- Aphrodite

I translated into Cadence’s dream alone, having said goodbye to Luna.

We were in an Equestrian classroom. It was filled with colorful ponies, each starting to slow down in their movements. I was behind the teacher, up at the front of the classroom. My arrival caused the dream to fall apart in its complexity and moving parts, and the other ponies in the room shuttered and faded away. All that was left was the pink alicorn sitting in the middle of the room. Cadence looked up from her desk. Even sitting down, she was over twice the size of the ponies sitting around her. To her credit, Cadence didn’t even flinch this time when she saw me.

A second later I realized that I was in a high school classroom. Aside from a few changes, namely the proportions of things, it looked straight off of Earth. I let out a shaky breath as Cadence perked up and tried to stand from her desk, only to be tapped within the small confines. The desk seemed to have not been made for alicorn proportions.

‘I came here for answers, not reminders. Damn it all!’

“Agh, just one second,” Cadence said while trying to extricate herself from the too-small desk.

“Take your time,” I said, managing not to hiss.

Desperate to distract myself from my immediate surroundings, I walked over to the side of the room where the windows were. The view outside was admittedly gorgeous; the classroom overlooked a wide park sitting across an avenue in downtown Canterlot. This high school was surely one of the better ones in the capital of Equestria, if not the best.

“There we go! Now, I have to thank you for your arrival, Phasma.”

“Oh?”

Cadence was walking up towards me with a smile, “This was far from the most pleasant dream.”

“How so?”

“For starters, I am back in freshman biology. But most importantly, there’s a test today and I didn’t even know, and therefore didn’t even study.”

“That sounds like an awfully… grounded issue.”

“Compared to what we’re dealing with normally? I’d say it’s a relief, a respite. So, Auntie Luna’s not here?”

“She had business to take care of: nightmares to kill.”

Cadence shook her head, “This dream nonsense is beyond me. What brings you here, Phasma?”

“Cadence, what do you know about Division-P?”

She shrugged, “It’s a police organization Daybreaker set up to weed out the changeling infiltrators in Canterlot.”

“Is that all?”

“Yeah.”

“You didn’t think that I should know about it?”

“You aren’t in Canterlot, and it’s still in its infancy.”

“Less so than you think. I need to know anything and everything about Division-P.”

Cadence twirled a hoof through her mane.

“Hmm… It was established two weeks after the Invasion of Canterlot was repelled. Prince Blueblood spoke of the need to root out spies within the center of our society. Daybreaker was all too eager to agree, and set in motion the plans to create Division-P. She relegated the duty to Prince Blueblood and I, and so we have been busy filling out paperwork, as well as receiving our own protective training…”

“Prince Blueblood? I would have noticed a fourth alicorn.”

She shook her head, “An inherited title, dating back to Princess Platinum. He’s a unicorn with a ceremonial title and bank accounts filled with bits. Still, that’s all you need to have clout in the royal court.”

“And what do you know about the day to day activities of Division-P?”

“They look for changelings and imprison them. I have been told that they only just started rooting our changelings in hiding. Oh! I meant to tell you that next time we spoke. Which would be now.”

“Uh huh, thanks for the heads up. Unfortunately, they are far more active and far more successful than you’ve been led to believe.”

“What do you mean?”

“They’ve been rooting out changelings all throughout Equestria. I myself was nearly exposed by an agent of this clandestine inquisition.”

“Inquisition…” Cadence repeated quietly.

“So this Prince Blueblood is in charge?”

“.... Hmm? Oh, not really. Us two are creating the organization, but the actual management went to Lord Artful Acumen. Lord Acumen led the Puritan coalition, and as a reward for backing Daybreaker’s Temperance Bill, she rewarded him with the position of Jurist, the effective head of the organization. They seem to be good friends, those two.”

‘Lord Artful Acumen. Or, Jurist Artful Acumen. It seems I have a face to put to the actions.’

“You have no oversight over this Lord Acumen’s actions?”

“We do. A lot of paperwork flows from his desk to our hooves.”

“But the day to day actions?”

“He has autonomy.”

“And research?”

“You expect me to sign off on every experiment?”

“I expected that bomb collars would need a signature from an alicorn.”

“Bomb collars? What on Equus are you talking about?”

“Bomb. Collars. It’s exactly what it sounds like.”

“Don’t be ridiculous–”

“They also torture their changeling captives.”

Cadence shook her head, “No, that’s simply not possible–”

“My subjects have been enslaved, Cadence. My people are being tortured. They are potentially being strapped with explosives and made to out their fellow changelings.”

Cadence started to hyperventilate.

“No. No. That’s not– not here. Not in Equestria. Not under my nose.”

“Maybe the collars are fake and are merely magic suppressors. But I can’t stand aside and simply hope for the best. Where is Division-P’s headquarters?”

“What?”

“Their headquarters, where is it?”

Cadence rubbed a hoof against her forehead.

“I–I don’t. Uh. They have a few offices in Canterlot Castle and they keep prisoners in a newly constructed ward in the dungeons, but their main office is in a newly constructed complex in Upper Canterlot. But you’re saying they are torturing changelings?”

Cadence fell back onto her haunches and put her hooves to either side of her head. I put a hoof on her shoulder.

‘This is taking too long. The sooner this conversation is over, the sooner I can leave this damned room.’

“Cadence. Look at me. Cadence!”

She looked up at me. There were tears starting to gather in the corners of her eyes.

“I don’t want to– I mean, this can’t be true. It can’t be! Ponies wouldn’t do this. They wouldn’t. Couldn’t! It’s not possible!”

“Daybreaker is bringing to light the less ‘harmonious’ elements of your society. You want to put a stop to this, right?”

“Of course!” She shouted.

“Then first you need to calm down.”

Cadence clenched her eyes shut, took a deep breath while pointing a hoof to her chest, and let out the breath while extended the hoof back out in front of her. She repeated this exercise a few times before she opened her eyes and nodded.

“Okay. Okay. I… I’m calm. You’re right, we have to stop this. To think something this horrible could happen under my own nose! What do I have to do?”

I lifted my hoof off her shoulder and put it back down onto the ground.

“We need to expose Division-P and its activities. If pony society is as kind and benevolent as we all hope, then surely public support would drop, right?”

Cadence nodded slowly, “Yeah. There are still a lot of good ponies here in Canterlot that will raise questions and demand answers. I can get this information out to the right ears, given the opportunity. Horseapples, I let this happen, so I will fix it myself!”

“Don’t forget that Luna is on our side, too. If you need help–”

“I’ll go to her, I know. Thank you for telling me this, Phasma. This is not something I will allow to happen. Not in my city. Not in my Equestria. I’ll investigate further, and find out what else is going on within Division-P. If you, an outsider not even in Canterlot, have found out about this detestable thing, then there has to be more going on.”

I gave her a smile, “I appreciate the enthusiasm.”

“They must’ve buried me in paperwork to keep me from noticing what was going on. A fool, they played me for a fool! Don’t worry, I’ll bring Harmony back to Canterlot, even if I have to shove it down these ponies’–”

“Don’t reveal yourself when doing this,” I interrupted. “Daybreaker mustn't know that we are moving against her. You and Luna have to appear as loyal as possible.”

“I can do that,” Cadence confirmed.

“Thank you. Now, as much as I would like to chat, I simply abhor this locale.”

Cadence squinted, “What do you mean? What do you hate about schools? I mean, have you ever even set hoof in one?”

“Not on this world.”

“Oh. I’m sorry, I’ll uh…”

“Imagine a new location, and will it to be.”

“Okay,” she mumbled as she clenched her eyes shut and concentrated.

A few moments later, the room blurred away and was replaced by a large balcony that overlooked Canterlot. There were several padded chairs and seats laid out underneath two large umbrellas. Behind us, a pair of closed stained glass doors led the way into Canterlot Castle. Cadence sat down on one of the chairs and sighed as she looked out over Canterlot. An afternoon sun danced off the reflective metal roofs, windows, and ponds.

I unclenched my jaw– which I didn’t notice until now was even clenched– and I let out a sigh of relief as I rolled my shoulders around in their sockets. Cadence inspected me with a curious gaze.

“Are you alright? I’m not exactly an expert on changeling body language, but if it's anything like pony body language, you’re about as wound up as a ball of yarn.”

“I’m fine, I just don’t like reminders of what I’ve lost. Tell me about this place, if you would. I’d rather not linger on this subject.”

“This used to be my favorite spot to relax,” Cadence began.

“Used to be? Was it destroyed in the Invasion?”

Cadence rolled a hoof.

“More or less. It’s not on the priority list of repairs, so it’ll be a long while before the construction crews fix it up. And considering the tastes that the rest of the Castle was built to, I don’t know if I’ll be able to relax here.”

“Daybreaker putting up her own flair?”

“Yes, she is. Auntie Celestia loved whites, natural blues and greens, and flowing architecture. Rococo and Baroque, for the most part. Daybreaker seems to take to Gothic, with its strutting pillars, pointed buttresses, and vaulted ceilings. It’s going to be a pain to undo once this is all over…”

I sat down on a chair beside her.

“Tell me about Celestia.”

“Oh, that’s right. You never got to meet her, did you?”

I shook my head.

Cadence sighed mournfully, “I hope we can save her soon. Auntie C. was my closest friend and confidant for the longest time, and she doesn’t deserve this whole possession thing. She’d want to be here, helping her ponies. She never forgot them, even living up here far above the world, she always made time to listen to petitioners. It wasn’t just the royal court that held her ear.”

“Sounds like the opposite of my mother.”

Cadence snorted, “That’s an understatement. I’m not sure if you two would get along, though. She would probably admire the lengths you go to to protect your citizens, but… She abhors violence. Finds it utterly revolting, and prefers to avoid it when at all possible. Centuries of conflict does that, I suppose. You, on the other hoof…”

I shrugged, “Whatever works.”

“That attitude I’m not so sure on. I’d really prefer it if you’d give peace a chance.”

I chuckled, “Isn’t that why I’m here, talking to you?”

“What a strange happenstance, isn’t it? A Prince of a secret species that has hidden themselves from the world for thousands of years, and a Princess from a podunk earth pony village, trying her best to pick up the pieces her aunt left behind and fix this nation.”

“Luna’s helping, isn’t she?”

“Of course. She’s running the majority of the day to day functions of the crown, whereas my Princess studies have more or less ended and I have been burdened with Auntie Cel– with Daybreaker’s paperwork while she’s off swinging her maul.”

“Morningstar,” I corrected. Luna had told me about Daybreaker’s favored weapon in passing.

“I know her favorite flavor of cake, not how she wages war. I’m the Alicorn of Love, this subject isn’t my expertise.”

“Right, right. So, you were telling me about Celestia?”

Cadence leaned back into her chair and started regaling me stories from her time together with the former ruler of the sun.

The top of the pod was pulled off as I emerged, hacking out the warm liquid.

It was cold outside the pod. Cold enough for me to almost consider going back into the goo and shutting my eyes. Almost. I had work to do, and people who counted on me. As I started to pull myself out from the healing pod, Thorax came close with a few towels. When I flopped down onto the floor, Thorax lent a hoof to help pull me to my hooves.

I finished expelling the translucent liquid from my lungs as Thorax helped dry me off.

“Uh, Phas? You grew while in the pod.”

“What?” I wheezed.

“You’re taller now,” he pointed out.

I straightened up just to see what he was talking about. Sure enough, I was towering over him. Whereas before I was one and a half drones in height, now I was as tall as Chrysalis or Princess Celestia / Daybreaker.

I looked around the apartment room. It was essentially a large closet that Thorax had stuck me in. Double Diamond was away when I had arrived, so I would be meeting the pony when I emerged. Thorax assured me that I could trust this Diamond. I never met the guy, but I did trust Thorax. His naivety had led to promising results, after all.

“Where is Double Diamond?”

“Getting takeout. He knows I don’t need to eat it, but it’s still fun to eat delicious food.”

“Right. And the rest of the changelings?”

“I’ll tell Coxa you’re out tomorrow. In fact, I’ll bring you to meet him.”

“Do we have a hideout?”

Thorax scuffed a hoof on the wood floor, “Sorta. Coxa has been trying to secure a big enough building but it’s been hard. There are several offices and warehouses in the outskirts of the city that have been appealing, but legitimately purchasing them has been… slow.”

“By legitimate, you mean legitimate enough to not get looked at?”

Thorax smiled, “Of course.”

“Alright, I’ll check in on that and see if I can help in any way. Anyone else have news or something that I need to address?”

“I’ve got the love distribution system in place. Everyling brings in what they can, and it is divided up equally. Once we get a place, we’ll store the spare love there. Until then, we store it in hidden locations and dead drops.”

“Good idea.”

“Thrips and Cricket are working on getting suppliers for alcohol. Guard presence is too heavy for salt production here in the city, so they’re looking out in the sticks for potential sellers. Thalamus is looking into potential Speakeasies locations.”

“Already adapting the slang, I see.”

Thorax chuckled, “Hehehe, yeah. It’s a lot of fun. But anyways, everyone has a job to do, and they’re all doing them well.”

“That’s very good to hear. What needs my attention?”

“Transportation. Coxa said that we’re all too busy to secure that, so the specifics of bootlegging will have to fall to you, Phas.”

“I can handle that. A few shell companies, a few well placed bribes, and some disguises ought to give us free rein when it comes to moving whatever we need. Any news or sightings on Division-P?”

He shook his head, “They stay away from cities. It’s harder for them to go unnoticed, so they usually send solo agents or rely on the local guards. A badge means less here in Manehattan. Do you have any news on what they are and what they’re doing?”

“I got some info, as well as getting Princess Cadence to investigate further into the matter. Apparently her and some noble by the misleading title of Prince Blueblood are the administrators of the organization, but the real leader is one Lord Artful Acumen.”

Thorax rubbed his chin, “Yes, the secret organization is run by a pony aristocrat. Good detective work, Phas.”

“When did you become so sassy? Besides, we have a name. That’s a hell of a lot more than what we had two weeks ago.”

“Three.”

“Three?”

“Three. You’ve been in the pod for three weeks.”

“Oh. Shit.”

Thorax looked at my new right foreleg, prompting me to do the same. Transitioning from the Dreamscape to real space had meant that I didn’t even notice the new appendage. Aside from a jagged scarring of the chitin just past the shoulder, the leg looked pretty much identically to my other appendages. The rest of my wounds had finished healing, especially the puncture wounds I had just received from the Rat King right before I arrived in Manehattan.

A door unlocking and opening pulled us out of our conversation. As the door creaked open, a pony called out as he shut the door behind him, “I’m home!”

“That’s Diamond,” Thorax whispered the obvious as he left the small room and went out into the apartment proper.

“I got dinner,” I heard through the open door to the room I was in.

“Sweet! I uh, hey Diamond?”

“Yeah Thorax?”

“There’s someone I’d like you to meet.”

Taking that as my cue, I strode out from the confined room and into the main apartment room. It was a large space, with a family room that had two couches and other furniture, a kitchen with all the expected appliances– even a refrigerator, and a front hallway.

A white earth pony, from his coat to his mane, was setting down two paper bags onto a table in the kitchen. When he turned to face Thorax, who stood in front of me, he slowly craned his neck upwards as his jaw dropped.

“Tall…”

Thorax giggled, “Diamond, this is King Phasma. Phas, this is Diamond, my coltfriend.”

“Hello. It’s nice to meet you, Diamond.”

“Uh…” Diamond shook his head vigorously, as if to shake off loose thoughts. “It’s nice to meet you, Your Majesty.”

I raised a hoof, “Please, call me Phasma. Any friend of Thorax’s is a friend of mine.”

“Thorax has told me a lot about you. You’re like, his closest friend.”

“I am thankful to receive such high praise. I consider Thorax to be my closest friend, though I hope you keep that a secret. Don’t want to let the prestige get to his head.”

Thorax waved a hoof in my face, “Hey! I’m right here, you know!”

Diamond remembered what he brought in, “I’m sorry, I only brought food for Thorax and I. If you want, I can run out and get more–”

“That’s quite alright,” I interrupted. “You two enjoy your meal. I’m sure you have a lot of questions to ask, so why don’t we sit down and talk while you two eat? I know I have a few questions of my own.”

Diamond looked at the wooden chairs at the table, and then back up to me.

“I’m not sure if the chairs can handle your weight and size, Your– I mean, Phasma.”

“Hmmm…. Perhaps not. It would be awkward, to say the least. Where is the nearest mirror?”

Thorax pointed to one of the doors in the room, “Bathroom right there.”

I opened the door and ducked through the doorframe. The bathroom was a tight fit, but I sat down in front of the sink and mirror all the same. Closing the door behind me, I formulated a new disguise. Once I had one in mind, I held the image in my mind as I funneled energy into the Thread of Change. With a blink, the tall changeling royal that I could see only from the neck down in the mirror in front of me was replaced with a unicorn stallion.

I had dark blue fur, a faded black mane and tail, hooves of a similar shade, orange eyes, and a cutie mark of the greek letter Mu. I tossed the long mane out of my face as I inspected my new face. I was much shorter now, back in line with the average pony and changeling height. Satisfied, I left the room and went back to Diamond and Thorax.

“There. I should fit in just fine. I am a unicorn named Expected Value; this shall be my main disguise from now on.”

“Whoah,” Thorax exclaimed, “You look great! If I had met that disguise before Diamond, I might have fallen right for him.”

“You’re into strong masculine guys, I know that already,” I rolled my eyes.

“Well yeah, of course you do. You’re the one who taught me how–”

The distance between us was closed within a fraction of a second as I zipped over to him and clamped his muzzle shut. I looked around the room, but thankfully Coxa hadn’t spontaneously materialized from the walls.

“No one must know,” I whispered.

“No one must know,” Thorax mumbled through a shut muzzle.

‘Not while Coxa is still alive. We’d never hear the end of it!’

Diamond was very confused, "What–"

“No one must know!”

82- Achlys

The next day started as many before it had. Not all days. Not even the majority. Just a large number of them. I woke up and immediately wished I hadn’t. No, I didn’t wish to fall back asleep, I wished that I hadn’t woken up at all.

Some days I had to pretend to be alive.

There wasn’t anything specific that triggered these days. In fact, last night’s conversation with Double Diamond and Thorax has been great. Diamond seemed like a swell, upstanding guy. He even promised to teach me how to ski, something I had been meaning to learn. No, by all accounts I should be in a chipper mood. Though Luna didn’t visit me last night, that was simply not enough to damper my good mood. Yet when I woke up, the cheerfulness didn’t evaporate; it had simply ceased to be long before my eyes opened.

Today, I was not dead. Today, my shadow was still dead, as was one of my other closest friends.

I cringed and rolled off the couch I had slept on. Barely creaking my eyes open to see, I blearily made my way to the apartment’s bathroom. Shutting the door behind me, I all but collapsed onto the sink, leaning into it and sighing.

Forcing myself to open my eyes further yielded a pitiful sight. A unicorn with a messy, puffy black mane was hanging by a thread, as if he was on death’s door. Expected Value’s orange eyes looked back at me through the clean mirrored surface. Picking the same colored eyes as Far Sky was a bad idea. Even worse, both had shared my eye color. However, it made this so much easier.

I slowly lifted myself up and forced myself to sit up straight in front of the mirror.

“Expected Value,” I whispered. “I am Expected Value. Phasma is sleeping the day away. I will take care of his duties and obligations in the meantime. I am Expected Value.”

It was a lie I tried to convince myself of in the past. It never really worked. This was yet another stranger looking back at me. I had only barely started to get used to how I looked as a changeling, only just getting used to who I was now, nine or ten months after I was murdered. Then the invasion happened, and I had to wear a false face ever since. I was given no reprieve however, as work forced me to swallow my thoughts and leave them for later. Sometimes at night I would remove the disguise, just so I could look at myself. My real self.

However, unlike when I wore Far Sky’s face, there was no happy-go-lucky unicorn bouncing off the welcome mat of my apartment. Instead, there was a hyperactive bug that could melt the coldest of hearts with a smile.

He knocked on the door.

“Phas? You awake already? You uh, gonna be long in there?”

I grunted a reply.

Some days were just harder than others. I didn’t get to choose, they simply were.

‘It was on days like this that my disguise frayed and the guards saw the real me. What will Thorax see? I… Is he okay? If I wake up like death warmed over, how does Thorax take Oest’s and Lace’s death?’

“I need to pee, Phas!”

I shook my head, straightening out some of the stray curls in the grayish black mane.

‘He’s powered by rainbows and hopes ‘n dreams, I guess.’

I opened the door.

“Finally!” Thorax sighed as he started to push past me.

“I was only in there for a minute,” I said as I walked out.

“Time is relative,” he replied as he shut the door behind me.

I went and sat back down on the couch I slept on. The minutes passed slowly, and Diamond left the bedroom and entered the main room.

“Morning, Phasma.”

“Hello Diamond.”

“You alright?”

I slowly turned to look at him.

“I’m fine.”

If he wasn’t convinced, he chose not to say so, “Hm, alright. You were going somewhere with Thorax, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Later tonight let’s hit the town. It’s Friday, and I know of some really great clubs. No bars anymore, but I’m sure you can have a great time still.”

“I’ve got work to do. Securing a place to stay, amongst others.”

“Yeah but you don’t have to come here tonight.”

“Excuse me?”

“You know, meet a cute colt or filly and–”

“I’m in a relationship.”

“Ah okay, sorry dude. Does she know…?”

“Yes.”

“That’s good– wait, Thorax told me we were the first, you know, couple between our kinds. When did you two meet?”

‘An audacious claim, but I had kept quiet in the hive.’

“You’re certainly the furthest along. It’s a long distance thing, we’re waiting for this to blow over.”

Diamond nodded then awkwardly swayed slowly on his hooves.

“Anyways, I’ve got to go to work. We can still go out tonight, if you’re not busy.”

‘Unlikely.’

“We’ll see. I have a meeting with a friend, might even secure a place to stay for us. We’ll talk later.”

Coxa led the way into the sketchy warehouse he had scoped out. Located on the outskirts of Manehattan, it was certainly a ways away from the shore. The building was an old brick thing, with broken glass windows that were haphazardly boarded up. It was about three stories tall, and sat on a cracked concrete lot that only extended a few hooves out past the walls. It seemed that the most intact thing about the place was the chain link fence that surrounded the lot.

“I’ve got a good deal lined up for this one, boss,” Coxa smiled as he opened the gate and gestured for me to enter. He was wearing a blue unicorn disguise, while I was Expected Value still.

I entered the lot and walked up to the main entrance. There were two, one large garage door made of metal that was shut tight, and a smaller wooden door to the right of it, close to the corner of the building. I tested the door and found it to be unlocked, and pushed it open.

Lighting up the room inside using a light spell, my blue-tinged white light illuminated a damp hallway that had seen better days. There were three doors, two on the left, one at the far end, and a stairwell at the end on the left past the two doors.

“The far door leads to the main room, the first one to what must be a break room, and the second to the second floor,” Coxa spoke, answering my questions before I could ask them.

Coxa walked up next to me and opened the first door and– scratch that, the door was ripped off its hinges, the wood having rotted away and broken under the pressure of moving. With an awkward cough, he set the door down on the opposite wall. He entered the room and I followed.

Sure enough, a large square room sat empty, the wooden floorboards starting to rot. The white plastered brick walls were stained and graffitied. At the far wall, a broken window overlooked the front section of an empty warehouse.

“Nothing much right now, but I’m certain there’s a hundred uses for it. The other room is similar. Come on, you should see the second floor.”

The stairs were creaky, old, and probably rotting too. We noisily stomped our way up them in the stairwell. At the top, an open doorway on the left revealed a large room, similar to the one beneath us. Straight ahead, a door led to what I assumed was a fourth.

“Two more rooms. If we find places to stay or make rooms out in the warehouse, this’ll be perfect for offices. This room right here for me and whatever, and the room beyond for you. For now, they’re good for setting up cots or bunk beds.”

I nodded, “We will expand when we can.”

“So boss, whaddya think?”

“Buy it. Then, get furniture: beds, desks, filing cabinets. Whatever we will need. I’ve got to look into transportation, but before that I’ll go set up shell companies for us. Thorax has helped arrange for meetings while I was in stasis.”

“Hehehe, this is going to be great!”

“Once you’re done furnishing this place, we’ll need to look into selling. Clubs– both private and partying, restaurants, individuals, and so on. We can’t approach ponies without the transportation and production in place, but we’ll need to get buyers picked out.”

“I’ll start the process of looking around. Or get someling else to do that. You just focus on transportation, Phasma.”

“Sure.”

We started to make our way out of the building.

“So, you planning on staying in here with the other lings?” Coxa asked me.

“I don’t have anywhere else to go,” I replied in a monotone voice.

“Ah. When the bits start rolling in, we can each get our own place.”

“Sure.”

“Unless you’re already planning on moving in with your fillyfriend. Up there, at the top of the mountain.”

“We can’t even see each other without risking one of our deaths, probably mine.”

“It was a joke.”

“Okay.”

“.... Are you alright?”

I paused as he redid the lock on the gate outside.

“I’m fine.”

“That’s bro-code for no.”

“I said I’m fine.”

“I heard. Phasma, we’ve got a secret lair picked out! That’s like, the best part about this whole thing! What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong.”

“You’re acting like something’s wrong. What’s the matter?”

“I’m f–”

“If you have any respect for me, you’ll drop that bullshit.”

‘Are we really doing this, out here on an empty street? Of course we are, he’s not going to let me mope and whine.’

“What do you want?”

He jabbed my chest, “For you to be straight with me. I know you’ll find that difficult– not as difficult as Thorax– but tell me what’s eating at you.”

I sighed and rubbed my face with a fetlock.

“The First Fang is back together.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

“All of the First Fang is together. It’s just us three left.”

Coxa frowned but didn’t say anything.

“Half of us are gone. Tarsus may be alive for now, but that’s going to change the next time I see him. You all were my first friends, and the only lings I was ever really close to. Katydid and Eucharis were friends at best. Weevil and the generals? Acquaintances. I met three new friends, over in Hooferville, but for my own safety and sanity, I couldn’t stay there. But above all other reasons, it’s the fact that we’re only half of the First Fang.”

Coxa stared at the ground, “Tomorrow… Yeah, tomorrow. You, me, and Thorax. We’ll leave Manehattan for a few hours, just go out into the woods. There, we’ll hold a funeral.”

“A… funeral?”

He nodded, “Happens often in the hive when a changeling dies. There’s never a body, those are chucked in the recycling vats, so there is a bit of drinking and talking. Share stories about them, you know? We’ll hold one for Oest and Lace. It’ll help all of us. Yeah, they would have wanted one.”

“Just us three?”

“Mhmm.”

“... Feels wrong to commemorate their deaths, and not others like Cicada, Weevil, Eucharis…”

Coxa shrugged, “We’ll do a bigger ceremony later, when we’ve met up with more changelings. Have a huge party of it, where everyone’ll add names to a pile or whatever. A celebration in honor of those who sacrificed everything for our survival, and for a chance at the best future we could hope for.”

A smile slowly crept onto my face.

“... Okay.”

“Okay. I’ll go finalize the deal for the building, and you go terrorize those pencil pushers in the town hall or whatever hellhole you’re going to. Tomorrow, we’ll meet up.”

“Yeah– oh! I don’t know if Double Diamond is fine with me inviting others, but he wants to go hit the town tonight with Thorax and I. You want to come with?”

“And interrupt your threesome–?”

I elbowed him in the chest.

“–oof! I mean, yeah, sounds like fun!”

“Bastard.”

“You’re smiling, aren’t you?”

Damn him, he was right. It wasn’t the small smile that I had before. He had me grinning ear to ear. Or would it be from fang to fang for changelings?

“Fine, I am. But you better be careful, using the same joke twice in a conversation tends to wear it out. Anyways, you’re going now, whether you want to or not.”

“I’ll be sure to clear my schedule, Your Majesty.”

I rolled my eyes, “Diamond’s apartment at nine.”

“I’ll be there,” he said while waving as he turned to leave.

The process of setting up the shell companies was meticulous, tedious, and altogether boring.

The Manehattan town hall was a massive building, decorated with old Greek style chiseled columns and facades. The interior was spacious, too. At least, the main lobby area was. After being directed to the right place, I spoke with some overworked clerk and got the paperwork to create a company on paper. I grabbed a few copies and went and filled them out while enjoying lunch at an open air cafe. I retrieved a pot of love from a dead drop location to discreetly mix into an iced water and drink from. I also added a pink lemonade mix into it just in case ponies asked questions, and made a visible motion of emptying the paper packet just before hiding the cup and adding the love.

All that just to cover up an action that likely wouldn’t raise a single question anyways.

I created fake disguises and wrote down their details and connections in a journal. I kept the journal on me in a pair of saddlebags that I would take off between disguises. Each disguise had a use, an assigned purpose.

I filled the paperwork out, arranging for a transportation company to be made under a pegasus pony named Al-Capony, a storage company owned by a unicorn by the name of Butcher Cassidy, and an accounting firm founded by the earth pony named Natural North. Enron just wasn’t a pony name, so I had to go with the origin of the name.

Expected Value would not show up on any of the paperwork. He was merely a secretary and manager in whatever company he was at during that day. He was a nobody, but not as much of a nobody as the ponies which only briefly existed, and would only exist again if new paperwork would need to be filed, or if something bad happened. If something very bad happened, then they definitely wouldn’t ever exist again.

Al-Capony would probably be the one who ran afoul of the law the most, as transportation of alcohol was illegal. Butcher likely wouldn’t exist past filing the proper paperwork, and Natural North was a shit-the-pants scenario. If that company got caught out, then likely ponies were paying far too much attention to my activities for things to be going well.

I had done some research while in Hooferville, and had changelings help out while I was in the pod, too. Cooking the books, as well as making these companies, was actually a simple process. A lot of the internal and external controls simply didn’t exist yet in Equestria, as it was at least a century behind Earth in terms of laws, and far more than that in terms of technology.

Still, I had no plans of running afoul of the Equestrian Tax Agency. The ETA’s ETA on kicking your door down for tax evasion was brutally short. One did not come between the Crown and its rightfully appropriated bits.

That, and avoiding taxes while named Al-Capony is just begging for fate to screw me over.

I took the form of Al-Capony first, since I would need to handle that transportation stuff before the rest. There simply was no changeling mafia without moving things from point A to point B. The other two disguises I decided would come into play on different days. It was best to separate out each company as much as possible.

After filing the paperwork and collecting the proper files for taxes and whatnot, I also acquired a few P.O. boxes scattered throughout the city. And a few bank accounts. Well, really I got one of each and picked out banks and post offices for the rest to be made on other days. It would be really awkward if everything could be linked together because they were all purchased, setup, or otherwise connected by all happening on the same day.

With everything planned and scheduled, I was left with a few hours before I was due back at the apartment to meet up with the guys. I stopped mid-stride on a busy sidewalk when I saw where I wanted to spend those few hours.

“Equestrian Museum of Natural History….” I read out loud.

83- Styx

Dinosaurs were still awesome.

I was shocked that this world had several comparable extinction level events, let alone dinosaurs. Yet there they were, another odd parallel. At this point, the idea that I was on an alternate dimension, not just an alien world, was becoming possible to. Or maybe I had already reached that conclusion much earlier, and simply forgot the conclusion I had reached. There has been a lot on my plate.

In addition to the massive T-Rex skeleton sitting right through the front doors, the Museum also had exhibits on a wide variety of parts of Equestria. From the geographic formation of the continent, to the pony tribes and their history, to the other inhabitants within the border. Buffalo in particular seemed to be a big focus. It was Americana without an America. The parallels to the First Nations I could draw were highly interesting, though I could not utilize any of that knowledge for my own benefit. Nor even anyone else’s, for that matter.

There was quite a bit on the plants and biomes of the continent, and I enjoyed leisurely strolling through the exhibits. Eventually, I was examining the feathered headdress of a famous buffalo chieftain– of course they would be Plains Indians– when I realized that I had lost track of time, and was probably due back at the apartment. Deciding to come back a second time to finish exploring the museum, I left and headed back to Diamond’s apartment.

The sky was taking on a red tinge, despite the fact that sunset was not due for another hour and a half.

'Well I sure hope like half the world isn't being covered in volcanic ash, like when Krakatoa erupted…. That is an odd worry to have.'

When I arrived back at the apartment, Diamond and Thorax were chatting idly in the kitchen.

"Heya Phas!"

"Evening, Phasma."

"Diamond, Thorax. What's up?"

"Did you hear the news?" Thorax asked.

"No."

"A dragon has rooted near Canterlot. It arrived yesterday, and today Princess Daybreaker arrived back in Canterlot to order a solution," Diamond explained.

"That… seems like a problem. Has it set stuff on fire or something?"

Thorax shook his head, "No, but the smoke coming from it when it snores has polluted the air apparently. The Crown apparently is responding to the issue, they even said that the Elements of Harmony are on the case."

"Huh… That's one way to kill them off, I guess."

"What?!" Diamond exclaimed.

I frowned, "Daybreaker is probably trying to get the Elements of Harmony killed. Speaking of which, I don't suppose we could clandestinely aid them?"

"No-" Thorax began to say.

"Now wait, what do you mean Princess Daybreaker is trying to kill the Elements?"

"Uh… don't worry about it. I'm sure Princess Luna wouldn't support them in any way she can."

"That's not explaining anything!"

"Thorax, what exactly have you told him?"

"... Not much."

I sighed, "Daybreaker is an evil monster that possessed Celestia. She would want to kill off the Elements as legitimately as possible, since they are the one thing that could bring Celestia back."

Diamond sank back onto the chair he was sitting on.

"Evil?" He murmured.

"Yeah. So Thorax, Coxa has a place picked out. I'm probably staying there tonight or tomorrow, whenever it gets ready. I want you to help direct homeless changelings there, too."

"Uh, I can do that," Thorax said, not looking away from Double Diamond. "Diamond? You alright?"

"How could she be evil?" He asked.

"The fight with Queen Chrysalis weakened her greatly and put her in the perfect position for possession," I answered.

Diamond tasted very confused. I was about to explain further when there was a knock at the door.

After checking briefly to see that it actually was Coxa, I opened the door and let him in.

"Yo Phasma, Thorax, and Diamond! I'm here now, so you can all stop wishing your lives were as great as mine! I've got a club spotted out that actually sells…. What? Something wrong?"

I pointed with a nod of my head towards Thorax and Diamond. Thorax was speaking softly to Diamond.

"The Daybreaker exposition," I explained.

"We should try to streamline that process."

"Exactly what I was thinking. Maybe make some pamphlets…"

Coxa chuckled, "We could even give those out randomly. You know, anti-propaganda propaganda."

We were at a secret club that Coxa had managed to dig up. Not quite a speakeasy, too dry for that, but they were serving drinks on the down low.

It was in a private booth where Diamond started talking. We sat around listening, in each of our disguises; Thorax as Nimble Wing, myself as Expected Value, and Coxa as a unicorn named Face Value. A cousin of mine, he suggested.

"Princess Celestia, she… When my parents lost everything, including the family business, they tried to get loans to restart their lives. No bank would give them a single bit. Desperate, they went to the Crown. Traveled all the way to Canterlot to speak with Her Highness herself.

"Princess Celestia listened to them. Actually listened to them! When they finished begging for a chance to live again, she gave them a generous loan. Far nicer of one than any bank would lend. Pops did the math, said the Princess would make only a little more than inflation. My parents were grateful for the opportunity, and went right to work remaking the business. Now you're saying that Princess Celestia is… suffering? If what you say is true, then she needs everypony’s help. She deserves better.”

Thorax hugged Diamond, “Don’t worry Diamond, Expected Value is on the case.”

“You are?”

“I am?”

Thorax nodded, “He’s working with ponies to help get Celestia back.”

“Uh, Nimble? I’m really not. That’s more L– her job. I’m focused on protecting us.”

Thorax took the hint on keeping Luna’s identity a secret, “You’re giving her advice, right? That’s what you told me. You're helping out your special someone with her duty, even if you can only offer a sympathetic ear. You can’t underestimate how powerful that is.”

I sent a glance towards Coxa. He smiled and nodded.

‘Thorax is more right than he knows, huh? I guess I am helping out with the whole Daybreaker fiasco, even if in the most limited capacity. Hell, the knowledge I brought to Cadence’s attention is pretty much me actively working against Daybreaker, even if it is to my own gain. Their battle is my battle.’

“I suppose I am,” I summarized my thoughts.

“You know,” Diamond began, “I don’t really understand why you went and attacked Eq–”

I cut him off with an aggressive ‘ah-hem’ throat clearing. We were all in public, and in my eyes, talking about going against Daybreaker while breaking the laws wouldn’t really raise that many eyebrows if someone overheard us. But admitting that we were changelings? That’s a bridge too far.

“–Errr, I mean why you went and did that thing. You’re clearly just… ponies. I mean, normal people. Nimble had explained why, but it seems like just asking for help would have worked.”

“Everything is better in hindsight,” I said. “We didn’t have the luxury of time, nor the confidence of experience of good dealings with ponies. Our history only possessed negative interactions, and spelled the need to never let ourselves be put in a vulnerable position. And at the end, it was my mother who decided our course of action."

"I'm glad you found Harmony, then."

I rolled my eyes and drank my ice water. Thorax took a similar gulp from his heavily sugared coffee. Diamond and Coxa had glasses of whisky, both opting to really enjoy the night.

I looked around the club. It was a large place, located in the basement of some golf course's main building. It was mostly quiet, though some pop music was playing loud enough to cover our conversation. It was a strange place to sell alcohol, but I guess the golf club had stocked up on salt before the Prohibition came into effect.

The club itself looked… plain. Mediocre. Soulless. I guess the only reason why we were here was because of the drinks.

"Not much competition," I said quietly.

"Oh yeah," Coxa agreed.

"What?" Diamond asked.

"This place feels lifeless," I told him.

"All the good places shut down," he said mournfully.

Thorax piped up, "You mean all the places you can get drunk. Pretty sure none of the coffee shops closed down."

We all groaned.

"This was just the warm up," Coxa said. "Where the adults could enjoy drinks before we went to the actual clubs."

I snorted, "Alright then, Mr. Value, when do we start having fun?" After a moment's thought, I asked Diamond, "You're fine if we move on, right?"

He nodded, "This is something I really need to think about. Celestia…"

"Will be fine in the long run," I assured him.

"Remember when you said we would have fun?! Well, you lied!" I yelled over the blaring music that made my teeth vibrate.

"Relax!" Coxa yelled back. "You just need to let go for an evening!"

I lifted a hoof from the floor. It stuck for a moment. I was going to need several showers after this. The music was some loud dubstep crap that I didn’t care for. The entire place smelled of cigarette smoke and sweat.

“I don’t think I can really do that!”

“Listen, Expected. I know you never really had that much exposure to music, but you really should give this genre a try! I know you’d enjoy it!”

‘Yeah, when it’s done by those with talent.’

The thought made me realize that I would never hear music from Earth ever again. No American Rock. No Scandinavian Death Metal. No Israeli Dubstep. I wouldn’t miss Country or Pop, but the rest of the stuff was irreplaceable.

I tuned back into my surroundings. The pony dubstep was… Different. I don’t know what it was, maybe it was my own hearing, but it wasn’t the same. Even if it was, it was certainly not the type I was into.

Hearing. Maybe it was my changeling ears and eardrums. They were far more sensitive and stronger than human hearing. That would undoubtedly affect how music is designed, played, and recorded.

Shaking the thoughts from my head, I turned to my side and saw that Thorax was in a similar predicament. He was sticking to Diamond’s side like glue, with a frown on his face. I shook my head, and he shook his back. Neither of us wanted to be here.

“I don’t think I’m the partying type, Face!” I yelled to Coxa.

“No?! Eh, probably not! You’re way too uptight and wound up to ever let loose! You haven’t even danced yet, right?!”

“No!”

The song ended and the DJ started yelling something over the mic. I didn’t care enough to try to discern the words, instead choosing to resume the conversation that was quickly making my throat hurt from the yelling.

“Listen, Face! I’m not into this shit, and from the looks of it, neither is Nimble! I think I should head out and–”

The next song started playing, and my ears perked up immediately. I paused mid sentence.

‘Electro-swing? They have Electro-swing?!’

Not only that, I recognized the song.

‘Maybe I was wrong!’

“Now you’re getting it!” Coxa yelled as he pointed to me. I realized that I was bobbing my head and tapping a hoof in line with the music. Fitting, considering the song’s subject was just that.

“They call it lonely digging,” I muttered. “Alright! One song, then I’m out!” Coxa smiled and then tried to drag me out to the dance floor. I shook my head and stayed at our table.

Though I was not one for loud clubs, dancing, and partying, I could at least enjoy a song.

‘A new chapter,’ I thought to myself.

Thorax, Coxa, and myself were out at the banks of a river in the middle of some forest preserve. We were far enough off the track where we were certain that no pony would see us. So we shed our disguises and talked as normal changelings.

‘Not letting go, but accepting and moving on. There’s always a tomorrow, whether we want one or not.’

Coxa lowered two nine pointed stars into the river. The wooden shapes bobbed and floated on the surface as they were swept away.

‘It’s not a goodbye.’

We watched the stars vanish beyond a bend in the river.

“We pray to the Great Weaver to watch over Oestridae and Lacewing as they join Her in the Nine Halls above,” I began.

Thorax had educated me on how to do this. I memorized the lines.

“They gave all they had for the Hive. Drones in chitin, heroes in spirit.”

I was not religious before my reincarnation. But now? Here? I have seen too much to not even consider the idea.

“We celebrate the lives they lived, the work they did, and the greatness they achieved.”

Even if not everyone gets reincarnated, I knew for certain there was life after death.

“We commit their chitin, membranes, and flesh to the Great Tapestry. From nothing they came, to nothing they return.”

I hoped that wherever they were, they were smiling.

“We let go of them and their place in the Hive. We honor their memory, and pray they are with the Final Hive beyond us all. Let Panarthropo, The Great Weaver of all things, welcome them into Her embrace.”

I stretched out a hoof as Coxa brought over a curved knife.

“I, King Phasma of the Fifth Hive, humbly beseech the Great Weaver to look kindly upon their faults. I testify that they were changelings sound in mind and spirit. Martyrs and heroes, the Hive lives on only due to their sacrifice. I, King Phasma, venerate Oestridae for his stand. Against death, he stood valiantly. I, King Phasma, venerate Lacewing for her guidance and loyalty. In the darkest hour, she stood fast, knowing the dangers. I, King Phasma, venerate each and every hero that perished on The Promised Day.”

I took the black curved knife from Coxa’s grip. The sharpened stone reflected the afternoon sun that filtered down through the branches. This was an alien ceremony, one seeped in holy promises, rituals, and occult mystery. I didn’t quite understand it, but I was more than willing to do anything for The First Fang.

I cut my fetlock, driving the knife between the chitin sections above my hoof and my lower foreleg.

Blood dripped down into the river.

“By the Nine Threads, I venerate the heroes of the Fourth and Fifth Hives in this time of change. By the Thread of Command, let their sacrifice be remembered from now till the death of time. On my name as King, let their faults be placed. On my honor as King, let their fates be laid. On my life as King, let their sacrifices be meaningful.”

I pulled on each concept within my own Weave as I spoke, bringing up the esoteric meanings of each concept. Like the First Lesson, this was a religious ceremony where the attendance of a royal was more than meaningful. Thorax said that by performing the ritual myself, Panar was in attendance, listening to my words. No mere drone could ask for Her attention like a reigning royal could.

“Let Oestridae and Lacewing, two of the founders of the Fifth Hive, be placed within the Nine Halls as heroes.”

I spoke that through the Weave and out loud. Immediately, Coxa and Thorax bowed and said together, “For the Hive Eternal, we commit them to memory.”

They rose and we stood in silence, watching the water. My eyes hurt from the… dust. Yeah, dust.

‘Little soldier boy, comes marching home. Brave soldier boy, comes marching home.’

With a sigh, Coxa turned and grabbed something from the saddlebags on his back. He produced a bottle of liquor and five shot glasses, filling each one and giving a glass to Thorax and I.

“Thrips and Cricket already have something to show for their efforts in securing suppliers. A sample. I tasted it, it’s good.”

I took the shot glass in my own telekinesis and stared at the liquid. It was a sort of brownish blue with a strange smell. My mind went back to the last moment I had on Earth. I never drank before that, and the drunkard had given me more than enough reason to hate the stuff here on Equus. Yet here I was, prepared to make a fortune off selling the stuff.

I realized that Coxa had poured out two spare drinks for Oest and Lace.

“On three,” Coxa began.

“I don’t drink,” I protested.

“Me neither,” Thorax agreed.

He gave me a glare, “For them, do it.”

‘I guess if I am going to profit off this stuff, I should experience what I am bringing into the world.’

“One. Two. Three.”

We each knocked back the shots and swallowed. Immediately, I felt my throat burning up and tears started pouring from my eyes.

“By the Nine, what the hell was that?” I gasped, wiping my face.

“I call it Pyrrhic Victory. Schnapps mixed in with Sadness.”

I could definitely taste cherries, as well as the bitter taste of Sadness.

“You… mixed emotions into the drink?” Thorax asked.

“Noling’s done it before. I mean, an Infiltrator probably has, but they extremely discourage the use of alcohol during infiltrations. Lowers your guard, makes you prone to mistakes, and so on.”

I had mixed love into water, but I hadn’t thought of the possibility of mixing emotions into other drinks.

“I thought it was fitting, given what we were doing here,” Coxa sighed.

I grimaced as I felt my tongue burn from the strong alcohol, “It… was. Thank you, both of you. I’m glad we did this.”

“You know…” Thorax trailed off.

“What?” I prompted.

“By doing this, if every ling in the Fifth Hive agreed, they would be venerated as Saints like the heroes of old. Don’t think a drone has ever been a Saint before…”

Coxa laughed, “I’m sure they would protest!”

“Yeah, I can’t imagine them liking that decision,” Thorax agreed. “In fact… No ling ever venerated accepted it while alive. Usually, they were the one vote against it, meaning only when they passed would they finally become Saints, against their will.”

“... Did you two know them before we met in the infiltration class?” I asked.

“Seen ‘em around the hive a few times,” Coxa replied.

“No,” Thorax said.

“Hmm, no stories then? I guess I’ll start. I remember one time, during one of my first flying lessons, Oestridae had come out to watch. Tarsus had– nevermind that, Oest was there and that’s what matters. Anyways, Oest was there, and he challenged me to a race. Eucharis protested, said that such an interaction was beneath my station, and tried to reprimand Oest for suggesting it. Just to spite Eucharis, I agreed and asked where the starting finish line was. Then he whispered to me just how the race was going to go.”

I sat down on my haunches.

“So no shit, there we were, hauling ass straight downwards, the ground rushing up to meet us...”

84- Triptych

Everything was going wrong.

For Daybreaker, at least.

Luna forced her smile even wider as Daybreaker turned towards her. With a silent snort, Daybreaker returned its attention back towards the map of Equestria that lay sprawled before her.

“Nothing can be done?” Daybreaker spat.

“The changelings have retreated beyond our reach,” Captain Shining Armor replied.

Daybreaker had teleported back this morning, with Captain Shining in tow. Apparently they had news from the war front, and Daybreaker wanted every military advisor in the castle present. That included Luna, as she had led countless wars in the kingdom’s past.

“They’re right there! I could just fly over and smite them myself!”

‘Phasma was right. The changelings did have a backup plan, and I understand his hesitation to speak of it out loud.’

Daybreaker smashed a hoof down onto the table, right over the center of the Badlands.

“The vermin have scurried back to the cesspit from whence they spawn! They have at least revealed their location, their home! Yet now by doing so, they have put themselves out of reach?!”

The Captain nodded hesitantly, and then flinched when Daybreaker literally flared in anger. Her fiery mane blazed twice as large for a single second.

“How could this possibly be?! Right there! They’re right there! Months of hounding at their heels, and we finally have them in the open! Right! There!”

“The anti-magic field prevents any–”

“Damn the field!”

The changelings had fled back to their hive, and were now seemingly invulnerable to attack. An impossibly massive field was projected around the hive. It was impossible to see, but when one crossed it, pegasi would drop from the skies, unicorns’ spells would cease immediately, and earth ponies lost any control over the ground beneath their hooves as well as their famous stalwart strength.

“Months! That was how long we had their scent! Now, they have made their escape with my ponies!”

Daybreaker turned back to Luna, who grinned wider.

“Wipe that damn smirk off your face!” She did so in an instant. “I want a plan to break that defense. You laid waste to every defense under the sun, so tell me Luna, how do we crack the uncrackable?”

Daybreaker wasn’t mad. Mad was what ponies got when things didn’t go their way. Mad was what ponies got when the kitchen ran out of their favorite brand of chocolate ice cream. Daybreaker wasn’t mad.

She. Was. Angry.

The kind of angry that saw entire cities upheaved and thrown into the sun.

Luna pondered Daybreaker’s question. It wasn’t one she could answer truthfully, not when Phasma’s pon– people were in danger.

“First, we lay siege. A siege as they were in the years before an alicorn’s presence on the battlefield.”

‘Stall the fight as long as possible.’

Daybreaker nodded slowly and started to regain her composure.

“Second, we develop a plan of action. Test the barrier, find out any weakness.”

‘Sit on our hooves.’

“Third, we could attempt to send spies within, changelings who have been conditioned to protect us, but I suspect that their loyalties will forever be with their own ilk. Such a plan would… fall apart. So instead, we must lure them out.”

‘Set an impossible goal, an unfindable object.’

Daybreaker smiled, “Hmmm… Yes. Lure them out. Do you have an idea as to how that might be accomplished?”

Luna frowned and sat back into her chair. The generals and advisors gathered around the map table in the war room watched her as she thought.

“We need a prize worthy of fighting for. Something they couldn’t ignore.”

‘Phasma.’

“And just what could entice them?” Daybreaker asked.

Luna shrugged.

“I have not the faintest notion.”

Daybreaker tapped the arm of her chair.

“Bait… We need bait. Out,” Daybreaker waved a hoof dismissively and the ponies in the room immediately started to empty.

Luna left her chair and started to head back to her private quarters when Daybreaker held up a hoof to her.

“You. Stay.”

Luna paused and waited for the rest of the ponies to leave. As Captain Shining Armor shut the door behind him, Daybreaker gestured to the Badlands.

“How long can they survive during a protracted siege?”

“I do not know, sister.”

“What is creating this anti-magic field?”

“I… do not know, sister.”

“Will we be able to save my ponies?”

Luna bit her tongue. This was going somewhere, and Luna doubted that she would be happy to find its conclusion.

“How long will it take to finish rebuilding? How long will it take to clean up those detestable insects that have scurried back to their hive, that thing which looms far on the horizon? How long must I allow imposters within our midst to exist? How long must I suffer?”

Daybreaker stood up from her seat and started pacing around the map. She placed a hoof on the rim of the circular table and slid it along its edge as she walked.

“This is my Equestria. I bleed, weep, and sweat for it. From the very first brick, law, and bit, you and I built it from the ground up. After you betrayed me and tried to destroy our lives’ work, I continued. I kept placing bricks, passing laws, and exchanging bits. Now it is my life’s work, whereas yours is the trails of hoofprints on the moon, stretching for miles. Now you are back here, and my Equestria is once again close to falling. Canterlot! The insects breached Canterlot!”

Daybreaker stopped and removed her hoof from the table as she turned towards Luna.

“Maybe you’re my bad luck charm. Maybe I was better off without you. Maybe you should be returned back to the moon.”

Luna flinched.

Daybreaker's personality flipped, “Oh hahahaha! Do forgive me sister, I am under quite a bit of stress. You understand how Captain Shining’s failures test my patience.”

She walked close and ran a hoof under Luna’s chin, lifting it up.

“Chin up, Luna. I would never hurt you. Though you make me want to sometimes, with your petty, laughable scheming. I must hold myself to a higher standard, and try to resist your attempts to make me hurt you.”

Daybreaker slid her hoof back and looked around the war room.

“It is just as I remember it. Not a brick out of place. For the past thousand years, this room has remained unchanged. Not even its destruction in my duel against the Queen Vermin left a blemish on it that couldn’t be fixed.”

She turned her orange, fiery eyes back towards Luna. Luna remarked how they looked like an inverted version of Phasma’s.

“You’re just as I remember you, Luna. Foolish. Blind. Working against me.”

“I would n–”

“Lies.”

Daybreaker cleared her throat and straightened her peytral.

“Just as I remember you. Yet perhaps that is what I need. It was in my arrogance and lack of vigilance that Equestria rotted from within. Sins. Vices. Weaknesses. From high atop my throne, I simply watched as Equestria slipped from its once Harmonious posture. Maybe you should be here, always working against me, so that I might never slip up again. Or maybe I should send you back to the moon. Which is it?”

“We… would ask of thee to not bequeath us a fate so terrible,” Luna said, slipping back into her old speech.

“So I should tolerate your treachery?”

“We would never–” Luna cut herself off, remembering Daybreaker’s rage at her, "We seek only to better Equestria. It is, as thou sayest, weak.”

Daybreak smiled and chuckled, “Just as I remember you. Now that you are done rebuilding my city...”

‘Reconstruction is far from finished!’

“... You will discover how to fix this new issue you helped create. This insect infestation of my kingdom. Leave the entrapment of the vermin to Captain Shining Armor. Find out how to lure that repulsive thing from its protection, so that I might make right your mistakes. You have a lot to make up for, leaving me alone for all those years.”

‘On that note, you are correct, demonspawn. I will save my sister. I will mend the gap between our ponies and changelings. I will finally have a suitor who can truly make me happy.’

“You shall always stay by my side, so that I might see you closely. I have missed you so much, Luna. I do not want to let you out of my sight, for fear that you might vanish when I am not looking.”

“We will never leave thee again, sister.”

“No, you won’t.”

With that, Daybreaker left the room, no doubt to give Captain Shining a dressdown for problems outside of his control.

Luna slumped over onto the beanbag chair in the Sunset Lounge. She slowly sunk into its comforting grip as Phasma watched.

“You okay– no, obviously not. What happened, Luna?”

Luna lifted a hoof and beckoned him over without looking. She heard the clip clop of his hooves as he approached her entombing resting spot. When they came to a halt next to her, Luna flipped over and grabbed Phasma, pulling him into a tight embrace.

“Oof!”

Luna breathed in deeply as she held him close. He smelled of pine wood smoke and a faint tinge of oranges. Unconsciously, he had chosen very earthy and stallionly smells for himself. And oranges, for whatever reason.

Luna doubted it was vanity in his own color palette. Likely if she asked, he would state the two as his favorite smells. Dreams follow such logic more often than not, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse.

Luna smiled as she breathed in. It was such a refreshing change compared to the smells that offered themselves to her in the waking world; dust from all the construction, disinfectant cleaners that kept the Castle prim and proper, flowers that were replaced every week yet always stayed the same, and so much perfume and cologne. The ponies of the royal court always used the same obnoxious smells, to the point where Luna could identify them with her eyes closed.

“Hold me,” she commanded.

Phasma obeyed after a moment’s hesitation, wrapping his hooves around her as they lay.

“You wanna talk about it?” He asked.

Luna smiled. Even here, in a tight embrace while in a romantic parlor lit only by a warm fire, Phasma’s only thoughts were Luna’s wellbeing. Perhaps Luna’s experience with suitors was tainted through so many bad experiences, and this was simply the norm for courters. In those eons past, suitors would vie for her affection, and care little for who Luna really was, or her work.

The first face she had seen in a thousand years…

“Daybreaker,” Luna sighed. “She seems to be back in Canterlot for good now.”

“What happened?”

“The changelings have retreated to what we found to be their home, protected by a field that dispelled every form of magic. You knew this would happen.”

“I feared it. Once they retreat within the field, there’s no leaving it. Not while the Equestrian armies are posted up and prowling around outside of it.”

“There are no other exits?”

“None.”

“And I suspect you shall not tell me how to disable the field?”

“Even if I did, you couldn’t do it. Regardless, keeping my people alive is my number one concern, and the destruction of that hive would spell the end of the changeling race. It is in our benefit that the war has reached a stalemate, and trust me, there are far worse ways to reach such a stalemate.”

‘Knowledge from his world?’

“Knowledge from your world?” She voiced her thoughts.

Phasma readjusted his positioning to free his muzzle, and nuzzled it against Luna, drawing out a smile from her.

“Yeah. We got quite good at waging war. No, I will not tell you about it, nor will I bring any ideas back to here…. Any more ideas…. Any ideas that will only increase the amount of people who die.”

“That is a very specific criteria.”

“Well…. I did kinda already train the Legions in many modern fighting techniques.”

“Would you train the Equestrian armies thusly?”

“Once there is peace between our nations? I mean… I guess? Not sure how many wars you’re planning on fighting after this, but happy is the city that in times of peace, thinks of war.”

“With idioms such as that, it is no wonder your previous world ‘got quite good at waging war.’”

Phasma grunted a reply and sighed deeply into Luna’s fur. Luna closed her eyes and thought of her future. For once, there was somepony other than Celestia who could be there, even in the far off distant epochs.

“I could stay here for hours,” Luna broke the brief silence, “and I look forward to the day I can.”

“Soon. I really hope soon.”

“Me too, Phasma. Me too.”

Under the soundtrack of the crackles from the fire, they dozed off together, asleep within a dream.

Luna sat bored on her throne. Once again, she was relegated to listening to the masses, forced to sift through the grifters and the helpless, finding out which was which.

The peons– ‘No Luna, they are not peasants anymore. They are citizens.’

The citizen in front of her was going on about how the well-to-do desperately needed another tax break. Luna was trying her best to tune him out while appearing interested in what he had to say. It was a skill she and Celestia had honed after literal millennia of hearing the same things over and over. In fact, right now she was imagining being back on the moon. Alone.

It was a more pleasant environment than here.

The noble finished talking.

“The Crown shall consider your proposal. Now, begone.”

“But, Your Highn–”

“Shoo!” Luna said, making the flicking motions with her hooves.

A guard moved up from the base of the thrones and gave the noble a stern look. Taking the extremely subtle hint, the noble turned his nose high and left, trying to salvage what was left of his dignity after being essentially thrown out of the throne room.

‘No point in that, it’ll do you no good.’

“Bring the next citizen in.”

The noble exited the doors on the far side of the throne room, and a group of three ponies entered. At their sight, Luna rose from her seat in shock. Their existence had slipped her mind. After all, when Nightmare Moon arrived as was preordained, they were nowhere to be seen. That made Luna realize she had no idea where their loyalties lay.

‘Equestria, Nightmare Moon, or with themselves above all others?’

They were for all intents and purposes, a rogue tribe of ponies.

‘Thestrals…’

The group of three thestrals stopped in front of the throne and bowed as one. They possessed no armor, no saddlebags, but they did wear clothing. Each one of the three were wearing full tuxedo suits with high necked collars and red ties. Luna noticed that each of the guards in the room had gripped their spears tightly when the thestrals entered, ready to level them out at a moment’s notice.

“Your Highness,” the thestral in the front said in a deep low tone. “I am Silent Night, and we come on behalf of Count Howl of Vallachia to affirm our allegiance to the Princessdom of Equestria. The Count expresses his wishes to return to the rule of the Alicorn of The Night, Your Highness Princess Luna.” His accent put emphasis on the S’s and C’s of his words, elongating the syllables slightly.

Luna nodded slowly and looked to her aide. Prominent Bias shuffled through some papers in one of her folders and produced a map of Equestria and its neighbors. Far to the west, she pointed to a small-ish country, independent of Equestria.

“Your nation established itself in my absence, I see.”

“Yes, Your Highness. It was a necessity after the political fallout from the fracturing of Equestria so long ago.”

As he spoke, Luna started recalling the particulars about thestrals and their tribe. She even started to notice the fangs the thestral had when he spoke. They were small, a mere tooth in comparison to the fangs a changeling had, but they were there all the same. There was something else, something Nightmare Moon had done that Luna had trouble remembering…

“For what reason would such an act be necessary?”

The thestral took a moment to choose his words, “For our survival. Long term diplomacy became… untenable. For the sake of peace, we decided to leave.”

“Now the Count of Vallachia wishes to be a part of Equestria?”

The lead thestral nodded, “Count Howl Hucul desires to mend the gap between Vallachia and Equestria, Your Highness.”

“Very well. You may tell the count that I shall receive him in person to accept his vassalage.”

“The Crown is most generous. The Count will be humbled and honored by your offer, Your Highness.”

As the thestrals bowed once more and backed up to leave, Luna leaned over to Prominent Bias to whisper to her.

“I am in need of information on this tribe and their activities in the past ten centuries…”

“Of course, Princess. I will prepare a briefing at once.”

“Very good.” She cleared her throat and announced loudly, “Night Court is now in recess for an hour.”

Coffee had become extremely cheap and easy to acquire in the missing millennium, and Luna intended to abuse that fact as often as possible. There was a pot of coffee waiting for her in the kitchen, made from the finest beans bits could buy. And sugar, there was lots of sugar too.

86- Nisaba

I stood up on top of a wooden crate in the main room of the warehouse.

Attending was a crowd of changelings, now numbering some fifty or so. Every changeling we had come into contact with was present here. Only about thirty were staying here in the warehouse; the rest were here for the weekend for this meeting. Normally they stayed in whatever accommodations they had found in their respective cities and towns, preferring to stay where they were and help out that way. That suited me just fine, as they performed perfectly as lookouts, information gatherers, safe houses, love gatherers, and contacts. But now, everyone is here.

“Many of you are members of the Lodges. A number of you don’t even know what those are, or why I am calling myself a King of the Fifth Hive. I call this meeting to order to induct all present into the Fifth Hive, and to bring you all up to speed as to the current situation within the changeling race.

“During the course of the War For The Sun, I had come across information that changed the entire scope of the invasion. Within the Vault, deep in the old hive, Queen Chrysalis kept a basement of secrets. Within that basement were experiments most foul; Queen Chrysalis had tortured, mutilated, and disabled her own offspring and entombed them within their own dysfunctioning bodies. With this in mind, I set in motion a plan that would usurp her and ensure the safety of both myself and the Hive at large. A Queen who would rip apart the most loyal and steadfast royals to achieve an arbitrary goal, is not a Queen that can be trusted with the health and safety of the changeling race. The fact that the invasion was left till the last possible month is testament to that fact.”

Murmurs amongst the crowd now grew into chatter.

One changeling called out, “What happened in Canterlot? The ponies reported you as dead!”

“Many of you are already aware of what happened, as you were part of those key events. Others were informed by the Lodge members of what happened,” I nodded to Cricket. “In the effort to usurp the tyrant Chrysalis, I had ordered the Lodges to prepare to remove her from power. However, due to a traitor from within my closest circle, Chrysalis had been informed of the scheme and had ordered the slaughter of all changelings who stood against her. I was forced to switch from taking prisoners to fighting for not only my life, but the lives of those who flocked to my banner. Chrysalis was taking no prisoners, and was hell bent on exterminating us before we could fight back.

“This battle happened immediately after Princess Celestia’s defeat. In the ensuing chaos, many members of the Lodges were killed, including Captain Cicada of the Ninth Legion, Panar’s Hammer. I dueled Chrysalis myself but was unable to defeat her. I managed to teleport out before she could capture me and lobotomize me, the fate my siblings suffered, but the damage was done. Chrysalis was then set upon by the possessed Daybreaker, and you know the rest.”

One more changeling voiced a question, “If this is true, why should we trust you? Why not go our own way?”

The idea of abandoning the changeling Hive was inconceivable for any drone, but the question still stood.

“It was in the name of our future and survival that I stood in open rebellion against Queen Chrysalis and her tyranny. It is in the name of hope and prosperity that the Fifth Hive has been founded, and I elected as its King. I did not order its creation, nor did I demand its rule. The changelings here chose me to be their leader.

“Together, we shall secure the future for our kingdom, not through conflict, but through cooperation. I have already secured channels within the Equestrian Crown that will ensure our kinds’ survival. We can achieve through peace what we failed to conquer through warfare. An end to hunger. An end to suffering. An end to the Masquerade, for the good of the Eternal Hive.”

The changelings asked more questions, and I answered them as best as I could.

Who were the ponies helping us? What else was Chrysalis doing behind our backs? The questions went on, and other changelings jumped into the converse to speak. Coxa, Thorax, Cricket, Thalamus, and so on. Each of us shared our stories and helped fill each other in on what had happened in the fallout of the War.

There were testimonies. Thalamus testified to my willingness to fight to protect changelings, even when doing so put my own situation at risk. Coxa testified to my preparations for the future, though the fact that I was the one who planned the War For The Sun already proved that I was the better choice than Chrysalis in that regard. Thorax testified that I was… a nice person.

At first I admired Thorax for his honesty and sincereness but dismissed his words as nothing but naive platitude. However, when the uninducted changelings visibly showed interest in that, and how I treated my fellow changelings, it made me realize just how desperate they were for a leader that didn’t treat them like dirt. That fact made me sad.

After all the talk about the new leader of the new hive, there was talk about our future. Specifically, how Thorax found the solution to our hunger crises. There were skeptics, but the fact that we were actually providing love rations for everyone here dissuaded any notions that Thorax was lying. There were no other changelings in open relationships, but there were a hooffull amongst the fifty changelings present that were currently in a relationship, and those changelings considered the idea of revealing themselves. It was certainly a risky move, with a lot to gain and a lot to lose. For now, there was no rush. As long as they brought in love, they could put off the reveal until after the war between our races ended.

When it became time to decide, all new changelings joined the Fifth Hive.

That was good, as I didn’t want to think about the alternative. The changelings swore loyalty to me, each bowing and swearing upon Panarthropo to serve me and the Fifth Hive. I was happy to welcome them, though we were running short on beds. But many hooves made light work, and their help and contribution was more than welcome.

That brought us to a discussion on the expansion of our base of operations. Namely, that we needed to acquire housing. Sure, each changeling could go out and look for apartments themselves, but if we acquired a building for ourselves, then we could secure the entire thing, fortify it, and use it how we see fit– namely by stuffing more changelings inside. Hey, they didn’t care about personal space for sleep quarters. Actual beds were a massive upgrade from the living quarters of the hive.

That brought us to finances. The first sales had finished, and boy did they pay well. Ponies were getting too scared to go against Daybreaker and trade alcohol. The salt market, as it was colloquially known, was relatively competition free. This would change soon enough as the smugglers got braver, and as organizations started muscling their way in. Organizations like the Changeling Mafia. With that in mind, the next orders immediately started to get carried out. From our burgeoning stores of alcohol, wagon loads were divided up and prepped for send off. As soon as contracts were finalized and up front payments received, the ponies would get their goods. Still, the contracts were relatively small. We would need to open up speakeasies soon in order to get the best profit margins.

‘All in due time. Hold your horses, Phasma, there’s no need to rush this. No huge need, at least. Any competition that tries to enter the market is going to find itself up against a ruthless and utterly cohesive opposition.’

It was that very cohesion that let this whole operation hit the ground running. No criminal organization in human history was this dedicated to a cause, pooling every dollar they had to accomplish their goal. Changelings were completely dedicated to the idea of establishing ourselves in this fashion, and had taken to the work with unmatched diligence.

“Hey Phasma,” Coxa brought my head out of the clouds.

The meeting of the Fifth Hive had basically ended, and the crowd had broken up into a number of groups who were chatting amongst themselves.

“Coxa, what’s up?”

“You got the latest reports on building prospects, yeah?”

“Yes.”

“Good, ‘cuz I think that duty can now fall to Thalamus. He’s already spying out speakeasy locations, so expanding what he’s looking for isn’t going to be a stretch.”

“Sounds good.”

“Great. Now… what should I do next?”

I racked my brain for answers, “Hmm…. Oh! Remember what I told you in Hooferville?”

“Uh, ‘I’ll make my own Hive, with blackjack and hoo–’”

“Not that! Magical artifacts, I’m talking about magical artifacts! We should look into acquiring means to fight Chrysalis. I’m sure the ponies will help, and with alicorns allied with me in the fight, it’ll go our way, but… I’d rather not put all of our eggs in one basket.”

“Right right right, I’ve already looked a bit into it. Typical mage stuff, right? Enchanted armor, weapons, doodads, and whatchamacallits?”

“Anything we can use.”

“How horribly unspecific. Alright, I’ll chase down the few leads I dug up in my oh so plentiful spare time. In the meantime, I think someone wanted to talk to you… Froghopper. Yeah, that dude.”

“I guess I’ll go pay him a visit.”

A cheer notified me that Thorax had broken open a crate full of love for feasting.

Al-Capony was a young pegasus, with light black fur and a blueish grey mane, and dark blue eyes. His Mark was a pair of train wheels, connected by an iron bar.

I nodded and put the mirror away into Froghopper’s saddlebags. He was wearing a white pegasus disguise; Hired Muscle. He was anything but hired muscle; Froghopper was an advanced scout that was left behind enemy lines when the Legions retreated. He was an Infiltrator, one loyal to the Lodges.

The cart shuttered as it went over a pothole.

I said to Froghopper, “We’re getting close. Go over this one more time.”

“A shell company owned by Count Double Dealings wants to purchase huge sums of booze, as the good Count ran out himself. He sent one of his minions to attend the meeting with us, but said he would only do business with the boss himself. Nevermind the fact that he pitifully tried to hide his identity, we figured out who he was pretty quickly. Now we’re headed to The Red Dragon, a famous open air restaurant near downtown, the agreed meeting spot. There he is supposed to meet you and begin negotiations.”

“And Count Double Dealings is…?”

“Just some low noble. He doesn’t even rule over a county, the title is a hereditary one passed down, despite the county’s reorganization into a free metropolis. It used to be the County of New Colt. Now it's the District of Coltlumbia.”

“And you’re sure this is worth the effort?”

“He’s offering to buy our stores higher than any other potential client at the moment. Our profit margins would be unmatched.”

“Count Double Dealings… So how is he planning on betraying us?”

Froghopper bobbed his head side to side, mentally weighing futures, “Likely he will demand future shipments at far lower prices, using this current dealing as blackmail. It’s happened in the past from what I can tell; he makes a shady deal, tries to abuse it, then hides behind a well paid lawyer as the outlaw attempts to call his bluff.”

“I don’t want any of this to go public.”

“None of us do, My King.”

“Then how do you propose we sidestep his trap?”

“When he tries to betray us, we give him a show of force. You know, abuse the fact that we’re changelings to scare the living daylights out of him. Whether that be attacking him while disguised as his family, or a prominent politician, or what have you. There are a wide variety of options.”

“I think I have an idea for that. Still, the idea of sitting and waiting for him to betray us sounds awfully… stupid.”

Froghopper rolled a hoof, “Think of it as… letting them have enough rope to hang themselves.”

“No thanks, I’ll look at it as waiting for them to betray us.”

“Very well, Your Majesty.”

Eventually the cart came to a halt. Froghopper opened the door for me and I stepped out into the street. The sun was shining, the sky was clear, and overall it was a great day to break the laws of the land in broad daylight.

I, as Al-Copony, cracked my neck and rolled around my shoulders to loosen up as Hired Muscle stepped out beside me.

“Wait here by the cart. If something goes wrong, just get out of here,” I told the changeling driver through the Weave. He wasn’t the backup, merely the public face of how I got here.

The Red Dragon was a cozy looking place. The building itself was practically closed to the public, with instead a hostess sitting at a podium at the gate to a closed off garden. The gate was black iron and was practically covered in green ivy that dripped over its metal frame. The garden beyond was half covered by large tarp-like umbrellas, each ringed with glowing lights.

The hostess, a pink earth pony, stood up straight as I walked up to her.

“Reservations, under the name of Merry Sew?”

“Of course sir, let me just check…. Ah, here they are. Right this way, please.”

The pony led the way through the opened gate and into the restaurant. It wasn’t a small place, and currently held around thirty ponies, each enjoying their meal. The place had a quiet hum of chatter to it, with the occasional pearl of laughter.

I spotted out Count Double Dealings before the hostess even finished leading us to the table, which sat in the middle of the half-covered courtyard. Count Double Dealings was a red earth pony, with a gold mane, and a Cutie Mark covered up by a fancy tailcoat. There were four other ponies at the table; two earth, a pegasus, and a unicorn. The unicorn sat to his right, the pegasus immediately to his left, and the two earth ponies sat on the two far ends. They all sat on the Count’s side of the table, with five open seats directly across. I sat down directly across from the Count, and Froghopper sat on my left.

“So glad you could make it, my dear friend,” the Count spoke in a low, breathless tone.

The ponies tasted content and happy, as if wasting my time was a victory in and of itself.

“I conduct business through intermediaries. Why do you insist on meeting me?”

The fact that I was willing to meet at all was a miracle.

He lazily waved a hoof, “Oh, I learned of your skill in the business and I just had to meet you.”

A waitress came over with some menus.

The Count ordered drinks for his party, “One sparkling apple cider, two glasses of iced water, and an orange juice.”

‘OJ? That’s not exactly intimidating. Who is this guy?’

The waitress nodded and then looked at me.

“Two waters, please.”

“Don’t drink anything. But of course, you probably already knew that,” I told Froghopper through the Weave.

I caught a half-nod in the corner of my eye that confirmed that Froghopper was already planning on not partaking. The waitress nodded once more and walked off.

“So my dear friend, we simply have to get acquainted better. In this town, I go by Big Bounty.”

“Al-Capony.”

“Hehe, yes… Al-Capony. You must be quite new in town if we’ve not met, and quite new in the business if you’re willingly giving out your name like that.”

“I still have not heard why I was needed here.”

“I’ve said it already, didn’t I? I simply wanted to meet the new face in town. You see, we’re in a shortage. The whole nation is. It’s getting quite bad, let me tell you. My favorite golf club is now host to all sorts of ruffians and other sorts of gutter trash. Only, the thing is, I myself have just managed to procure the balms for the aching needs of this city. So you being here is rather… problematic.”

The unicorn snorted, and examined his hoof nonchalantly. The pegasus was sprawled out over his seat. The two earth ponies still sat up straight, keeping their focus on me.

Count ‘Big Bounty’ pointed a hoof to his pegasus, “And you see, my friend Razer here is utterly convinced that we can’t come to an agreement, like adults. But I said to him, ‘Now Razer, it’s wrong to judge a pony by their cover. Let’s talk to the nice stallion, and see if we can convince him to leave our town peacefully.’ He still doesn’t believe in us, but… ah well, we’ll see who’s right soon enough.”

I crossed my hooves, “Let me get this straight. I came here under the impression that you would be purchasing no small amount of goods from us. But you invited us here on false pretenses, and you are actually planning on running us out of town? Am I getting that right?”

“Oh my friend, I would never do such a thing. I am merely advising you of the current situation here in Manehattan; we’re packed. Simply packed! So I thought it best to warn you and advise you to… move somewhere else. Somewhere with more opportunity!”

I nodded to Froghopper.

“What a generous offer.”

The waitress returned with the drinks. She sat them down in front of each of us, with the orange juice going to the earth pony on the right.

‘Still weird.’

We all smiled and waited politely for the waitress to finish serving our drinks.

“Are you ready to order?”

The Count waved her off, “I’m afraid we will need some time to deliberate.”

With a nod, the waitress left to serve another table.

“But, ah, I hope that you do not need time to deliberate on my offer.”

“Your offer of ‘get out of town?’” I asked plainly.

“Please, please. You do me a great disservice by being so cold.”

“Count Double Dealings, I am not here to have my time wasted.” All five ponies sat up straight when I dropped their boss’s name. “I am a very busy individual, so if you’re not here to purchase from me, then this meeting is over.”

“My friend, I’m afraid you have me confused with some other pony! I am–”

“Wasting my time. Thank you for the offer of dinner, but we’re leaving now.”

I stood up and Froghopper stood not a moment later. However, when I stood up, the entire restaurant went quiet.

Every single pony had paused and was looking at us.

“My friend, that is not an acceptable answer.”

“Damn it...”

“I do hope you will reconsider?”

“... That was my idea! Now if I do the ‘whole restaurant works for me’ bit, then I’d just be unoriginal!”

“... I beg your pardon?”

I cleared my throat, “I said; Count Double Dealings, you have wasted my time, threatened me, and have quite frankly pissed me off. It was such a good idea!”

The red pony shook his head, “My friend! I have never lifted a hoof against you, I am merely trying to help you here!”

“Oh will you drop the faux friend bullshit? It’s getting quite tiresome.”

“... If you insist on being so unchivalrous. The terms are simple; leave and don’t come back. Don’t do this, and I’m afraid we will have to do away with you. You are outnumbered, both here and in the city at large. This is simply the best outcome for us all.”

“Very well. I suppose I have no choice but to accept your kind offer. I will begin the measures to leave–”

“You will stay here while Razer accompanies your muscle, where he will oversee the acquisition of insurance. We will take what you have, and let you leave after it’s all said and done. Think of it as payment for our guidance.”

‘Turns out this guy wasn’t a complete idiot. I mean, he was still a massive one, but not a complete one.’

I began to order the backup teams, who sat up on the neighboring building’s roofs, as well as locations out on the street, “You know what to do, Froghopper. Replace all of them and wait a reasonable time before returning. One of you in the backup team fly ahead and warn the warehouse to set the ambush. Then, bring more lings back here for a potential fight. The rest of you, stay where you are and wait for the rest of the backup to arrive. We’re going to make an example out of this moron.”

I sighed, “One hell of an ambush… Go with him, Muscle.”

Froghopper nodded and started to leave. The pegasus with the false name Razer, as well as about fifteen of the ponies around us, set off after him. I hid a smile when I saw that it was mostly fifteen ponies from the front of the garden, closest to the exit. After they left, the rest of the ponies present resumed their conversations, though this time they were much more quiet, and a lot more pairs of eyes were watching me.

‘We’ll see who's just a pawn in this game, Double Dealings.’

88- Titanomachy

“We can’t just sit on our hooves and wait! This cannot be the end of our species!” A changeling on the right called out.

“We wouldn’t be in this situation if it wasn’t for your betrayal!” Someone in the back section angrily hissed.

A voice shouted up from the back of the left side, “It was the Queen who betrayed us!”

For the eighth time that day, the entire room burst into a hundred different arguments, each one screaming at each other, not listening to what the other was saying. The room had been divided into three sections, and the divisions were far from equal.

“I say we fly out and burn them all!” Came a yell from the right.

“We need to bait them in, where we have the advantage!” Another yelled, this time from the left side of the room.

“You would have us sit and wait for our deaths!”

“You would have us rush out and die by the thousands!”

At the front of the largest group, the left partition, General Aphid pounded the ground with her right hoof three times, calling for attention. “The time for isolation has come to an end! The Masquerade cannot be unbroken! The ponies cannot be defeated in battle, not while their Princess still walks amongst them. The time has come for the changelings to seek allies. For if we are to conquer Equestria, we need strength from outside of the hive!”

Opposite from her, General Labrum shook his head, “There is room only for one species in this world. We saw what happened when Saint Phasmatodea attempted to make an alliance with a rogue faction from within Equestria; when it came time to draw knives, the ponies were nowhere to be seen, and their alicorn leader was defeated by six ponies! Changelings can only rely on ourselves, as we have for tens of thousands of years! This is how Panar wove it to be! We will have war, us against the world! Panar wills it!”

“Panar wills it!” The right partition behind him yelled.

‘Two bickering halves of unequal size, united in their hatred of me and worship of my dead son. Things would have been so much simpler if he hadn’t vaporized. Now I don’t even have time to resurrect him.’

Queen Chrysalis shook her head slowly as the two sides began yelling at each other again. On her left, the Lodgers took up the majority of the room. On her right, the Moderates were grouped up, only half the size of the Lodgers. And in the back of the room, where Queen Chrysalis sat on her throne, the Loyalists were half the size of the Moderates. That meant the Reformists coalition outnumbered the Loyalists six to one.

General Labrum was not finished, “This war was inevitable! Panar has woven it to be thus, and thus it will be done! We will not give up! We will never surrender!”

Queen Chrysalis rolled her remaining eye. Despite Labrum’s posturing, no one was arguing against him. That was for the simple fact that none of the three factions even wanted to stop fighting against Equestria. The real division was when it came to how to fight them.

Aphid sneered, “You want to fight so badly, go on then! Charge right at the ponies, noling will stop you!”

“The Fourth Hive must act as one, or we will perish. When we fight as less than that, the ponies will divide and conquer, just as they did in Canterlot!”

“Then shut your damned muzzle and think for once in your Panar-forsaken life! We cannot win alone!”

“Relying on non-changelings is what killed Saint Phasmatodea!”

Once more, the room went wild with arguments as the respective leaders went back to yelling at each other. Hooffights even started breaking out between the two factions. The air was abuzz with changelings as the two factions started infighting again.

‘Enough of this. The day drones alone dictate the fate of the hive is the day after I’m dead.’

Queen Chrysalis held up a hoof. Her most loyal supporter looked at her upon seeing the motion, then turned to face the crowd.

“SILEEEEENCE!” High Marshal Pharynx yelled from the base of the throne. The fighting and yelling stopped at an instant, with some changelings freezing mid-punch to stare at Pharynx.

He gave a half bow to Queen Chrysalis, giving her the room.

Queen Chrysalis rose slowly from the Mythril Throne. Two changeling drones from the Eleventh Legion stopped checking her scarred up wounds and backed up from her. Standing high above the crowd, Queen Chrysalis spoke loudly, her voice carrying across the throne room.

“The War For The Sun is not yet at an end. None argue against this. Though The Promised Day has taught us many lessons, one of the most important that was imparted was that Equestria is mortal. We are not cowards. We are not prey. In the face of a setback, we do not give up and pretend nothing happened. We lick our wounds, and then we plan once more.

“Sure, we could try to wait them out. A war of attrition. But that is a war they would win. We have only a single generation of ponies, and no ability to grow food to sustain more if we let them out of the pods. Further, waiting gives them time to test the functions of the anti-magic field. No, we must take the fight to the ponies.”

Queen Chrysalis looked towards General Aphid, “Seeking allies that we can use but not rely on would be ideal. However, before that can be accomplished, we must break the blockade the ponies have put around the Badlands. No one goes through that line of defense unseen. We cannot go through or around them. Their defenses form a perimeter around the entirety of the Badlands. All they need to do is see us coming and send off a signal to their masters in Canterlot. We cannot go above them. Pegasi patrols hold the skies above their defenses. That means we must go under them.”

Murmurs and whispers started and then quickly grew in volume. Queen Chrysalis continued while she still had the room’s attention.

“There is but one route out of the hive still. We must work slowly. We must work carefully. I myself shall lead the effort, once I have taken the time to heal. We shall map our way out, burning a holy crusade under the hooves of the ponies who think us trapped. The war is not yet over. We must unseal the Underhive!”

General Aphid and Labrum looked at each other. After a moment, Labrum nodded slowly. Thirty more seconds later, and Aphid gave a single nod herself.

“All in favor of unsealing the Underhive?” She called for a vote.

“Aye!” The room cheered.

“All against?”

“Nay!” A couple changelings in her own factions yelled, as well as a few in the Moderates.

“The Aye’s have it. The Underhive shall be unsealed, and efforts to map out a route to Equestria shall begin at once!”

‘The right words, in the right ears, at the right time. You may think you have stripped my power over the Fourth Hive, nymphs, but I have been ruling for centuries. I am the Fourth Hive!’

I slowly ran a hoof along the length of the wooden desk.

This was the final matter of the business. Five days of working to find all of Count Double Dealings’ assets, organize them, sell or incorporate them, and use the newly acquired funds for our own organization. We would not be keeping anything long term outside of contacts. Buildings and land were sold off. Bank accounts and vaults were emptied. Employees in his various businesses let go.

I had stayed up long after the sun had arisen during the day the Count died. I also used up as much love as we could safely harvest, and put it all towards interrogating each pony. It still took the better part of three days to get through each one. Coverup efforts would likely take the entirety of the month.

As for the Count and his assets, that wouldn’t take as long.

I had left the matter of visiting his estate disguised as him to another changeling. That pony still made my blood boil, though I couldn’t find out why. Disguising myself as him just made me want to zap my own reflection. But that was all handled, and with the funds the Family had space to grow. Amongst a few purchases of property in the periphery of the Big Apple was the small office space I was currently in. Several rooms, each now being taken up by a changeling and their work stations, and one large office on the second floor, the only one with a view. This building was to become the nervecenter of the Fifth Hive here in Manehattan.

I sat down in my pleather chair and smiled.

“Hail to the King.”

“You done yet?’

“... Yes Coxa, I’m done.”

“Good, because we got shit to do.”

“Alright, what’s the situation?’

Coxa deposited a few folders on my new desk. He pointed to the one on top, which I opened first. It contained brief descriptive documents of properties, written by one or two changelings. There weren’t photos, but there were sketches and blueprints.

“Two apartment complexes. Thalamus got them cheap, so we finally have habitation for the changelings.”

“Perfect. Current residents?”

Coxa shook his head, “One of them has some. The other was being renovated when the owners foreclosed, so we got it empty. And before you ask, yes, we did hire a company to finish the renovations.”

“So it will be a while before it’s available?”

“Yes.”

“Alright, move what changelings we can into the occupied building. Make sure they understand that there are ponies within the building, so disguises need to be worn.”

“Sounds good. Next order of business, warehouses. The warehouse currently being used to house those ponies hasn’t been sold yet for obvious reasons, making it the last of the Count’s assets besides his personal estate itself.”

His personal estate was a large mansion over in… some city. I didn’t really care, and I wasn’t the one who went to visit it.

“Have we purchased any new warehouses?”

“Not yet.”

I nodded, “Let’s get on that. Preferably have them close to the main one. Once we have at least one purchased, I want that warehouse modified to be as secure as possible. That’s where we’ll store the ponies.”

“Sure thing, boss. I’ll put together a team and have them be the dedicated engineers and construction workers or whatever. I’ll first check out the guys and girls who modified the carts, they seemed to know their way around tools.”

“I like it. Good thinking. Any progress on speakeasies?”

“Thalamus has a location for the first one, here in Manehattan.” He pointed to the second folder.

I opened it up and examined its contents.

“Basement. One large room, several back rooms, including a kitchen. This sounds perfect. What was– ah here we go, formerly a night club by the name of Last Chance. Ah. We’ll need to clean the place up and completely change the decor, then.”

“You got something already in mind?”

“As a matter of fact, I do.”

Art deco, open stage, a bar, the whole shebang.

“When did you become an expert on pony interior design?”

I set the folder down, “... Another time. Not now.”

“What?”

“Not now. I’ll explain later. To both you and Thorax.”

Coxa squinted at me, “Uh… okay?”

“Listen, just don’t worry about it. What’s next?”

“I’ve put together a report on our current operations, in exactly the way you outlined. Next folder on the pile.”

I picked up the folder, flipped it open, and smiled.

“FASB compliant. Oh, I love it, Coxa.”

“What?”

“I like it.”

I looked over the Balance Sheet first.

“Yeah you better like it, it was a pain in the ass to learn. Why do we even have to do it this way?”

“... Makes it harder to fuck up, makes it easier to read, and because I said so.”

“Is this how ponies do it?”

“Maybe.”

“Maybe?”

“If not, then they eventually will. Probably.”

“And you know this, how?”

“Same reason I know some things about interior decoration.”

“So you’re going to explain that too?”

“Yes, yes.”

I picked up the Income Statement.

“We’re spending a lot of bits. No loans, though.”

“Of course not. You know just how much documentation you need to apply for one of those. Cash only.”

“Cash only… Wow, that’s a lot of bits.”

“Yeah, but look at the incomes up at the top.”

“Are we really making that much?”

“Vanhoover is now in the network. Most major cities, outside of the Southern ones, Canterlot, Las Pegasus, and Cloudsdale are now buying salt from us. Give it a month, and all of Equestria will be begging us for booze. It’s getting to the point where we’re going to have to visit small towns just to find consistent suppliers.”

“Do it, just don’t get caught. Huh. I honestly didn’t expect there to be a supply issue.”

“You got any strange ideas that will somehow fix it?”

“... Look around for ponies that have been recently put out of a job. Specifically, find the brewers that the Prohibition has unemployed. It might be in our interest to get into production, as well. We’ll be distributing for the most part, but if we can establish a vertical monopoly, we’ll be taking dives into pools filled with bits. We’ll have so much money, we’ll have no idea what to do with it. I’ll put together the rough ideas of this final phase of expansion. For now, keep doing these miracles.”

“Sure thing. Hey, I’m taking one of the apartments that are available.”

“Hmm? Oh, sure, go ahead. You definitely deserve it.”

He smiled, “Glad to hear there’s no argument. Are you taking one, too?”

“No. I’ll stay with the rest of the drones until the housing crisis is solved.”

“That’s… admirable. Stupid, but admirable.”

“I’ll basically live in this office, anyways. Besides, being near everyone else will help both of us. They can voice any concerns or ideas they have, and I can be there to listen to them. I’m not exactly holding court or anything, so this is how they’ll get their voice.”

“... You sure you’re Chrysalis’s son?”

“No one else has stepped forward to claim me. Maybe they’re afraid I’ll kill them, like I did Eucharis?”

“Ha! That’s dark, I love it. But anyways, next order of business.”

The second to last folder was rather thin.

“Weapons. Armor. Hmm… It’s expensive to hire blacksmiths for these.”

“I’m telling you upfront, it’s going to be cheaper and safer to get the raw materials, rather than hiring some pony to make these, or try to get our hooves on guards’ gear. We already have some lings with metalworking experience.”

“Forgers, from the hive? That’s a stroke of luck.”

“The best were in the Praetorians. These were some of the lings that made the bulk of the Legion’s helmets and armor and whatnot. Still, better than nothing. The experience will be extremely helpful in the longrun, too.”

I nodded, “I agree. When we have the spare funds, do it. I think it’s time we establish a Legion or two of our own. Especially when we finish getting into contact with the West Coast exiles.”

“A new Legion?” Coxa asked.

“We’re going to need to defend ourselves. That means training in both anti-Equestrian tactics, as well as anti-changeling tactics.”

He sighed, “That’s a tall order. Definitely going to require a lot of training. A new Legion it is. I’m sure Froghopper will be happy to hear he gets to be part of the military again.”

“You know what, that’s a good idea. Make sure he’s in the new Legion. He’s shit at scouting.”

“That wasn’t his fault and you know it.”

“... I’m still mad.”

Coxa wrote some notes, “I’ll put him in charge of training scouts. Despite your opinion on his skills, he's actually pretty good at doing it. You got a name for this new Legion?”

“The Thirteenth Legion, The Red Right Hoof. No, you’re not supposed to get the reference.”

“I figured. Last order of business.”

I picked up the last folder, and opened it up. It had few details, but what it did have…

“Coxa.”

“Phasma.”

“What am I looking at?”

“An archeological digsite, way down south in the jungles.”

“That’s not what I’m looking at.”

“It is. That photo right there is the main thing of interest to the archeologists. I found this information while trawling around for anything of interest in the news. Then I put on a disguise and got the information directly from the associated university. You wanted magical artifacts? Here’s your best chance.”

I exhaled, “You’re saying this is the real deal?”

“As best as I can tell.”

I flipped through the pages. Photos, sketches, diagrams, descriptions, the folder had it all. Coxa had sourced it from Manehattan University’s offices, apparently.

Coxa spoke while I read, “The southern jungles are still hot. The E.U.P. have hunkered down in the nearby border of the Badlands, so the expedition team will have to be small. Maybe ten changelings max. I’ll be too busy here running the entire operation. I’d say you’d be too busy to go, but judging by that picture, you’re going to have to be there.”

“You think I’m going to be a glorified can opener?”

“That’s one fucking hell of a can, Phasma.”

“... Yes. Yes it is.”

I tossed the folder down onto my desk. The photograph slid out of its pocket slightly. It was a black and white picture of an old temple, overgrown and in the middle of the jungle. Right at the base was a massive sealed door. There were a series of symbols along the edge, and I could make out a few. However, the one that interested me the most was the largest one, which sat in the center of the door.

Right on the middle of the door was the changeling symbol for Command, a three pointed crown.

“Which one is it?” I wondered. Then I spied one of the symbols along the edges, “Sacrifice. That was the symbol for the Third. I remember seeing it on the covers of a few of the books that were recovered and sitting in the Fourth’s Vault.”

“I said it was one hell of a can. Was I wrong?”

“The Third Hive… No Coxa, you were not wrong.”

89- Ouranos

Luna sighed when she realized that Twilight Sparkle was dreaming of her current situation in the waking world; nose deep in a book on her desk, snoring away.

‘She ought to take proper care of her circadian rhythm. If she did, she wouldn’t be dreaming of being asleep… The time Phasma and I spend together doesn’t count. That’s snuggling.’

Luna stopped arguing with herself to reach over and nudge Twilight. With a snort, Twilight jerked away and quickly looked around her.

“Huh? What? No, no cheese, please…”

Twilight smacked her lips loudly as her eyes slowly opened. When she saw the Princess standing next to her, they widened completely and she jolted out of her chair.

“Luna! I– Oh my stars, I wasn’t expecting royalty!”

‘Finally, results.’

“Are you choosing expletives to use to further endear me to you?” Luna asked before crouching down to Twilight’s eye level. “Because if so, it is working. Good evening, Twilight.”

Twilight ran a hoof through her mane, trying to get some semblance of straightness out of her bedhead, “No, I… uh… What time is it? No wait, why are you here? I mean, may I know why you’re here, Your Highness?”

Luna sighed, “For every step forward, a half step back. Twilight, what did I say about titles?”

“To use yours only in professional fashion, that it is better to include all titles or none at all save for Princess, that it is expected to bow during– oh!”

Twilight started to bow when Luna stopped her with a hoof.

“Twilight, please! I had said to not use them between us. Do you not recall?”

“Well yes, but I… I’m sorry Princess, I’ll try to remember next time.”

Luna refrained from facehooving. Instead, she corrected Twilight, “I’m sorry, Luna. It brings me pain to hear one of my heroines holding me to such a high degree.”

“You’re a princess of Equestria!”

“You are an Element of Harmony! As far as I am concerned, there is no higher title in the land. Especially when one considers the fact that I owe my life and continued existence to you and your friends. However, I did not come here to speak of titles and formal procedures.”

Twilight blinked, “What did you mean to speak of? Was it about the dream I just had? I swear, it was the strangest thing. I was at Donut Joe’s, and they kept putting cheese on my donuts! It was completely nonsensical!”

“Twilight… you are dreaming right now.”

Twilight blinked, “Right now? Like, right now right now?”

“Yes.”

“Right here, right now, right as of this moment?”

“... I came here to discuss my proposition. Have you given it thought?”

Twilight grimaced and turned away. She rested a hoof on her desk, tapping it quietly as she thought. She sighed heavily and nodded slowly.

“I did. I also spoke with my friends, just as you suggested. They all had important things to say, and important viewpoints, but it was Applejack’s that convinced me.”

Luna hummed quietly and visibly relaxed when she realized that Twilight said yes.

“Applejack. The Element of Honesty. Before we go further, I must sate my curiosity. What was it that convinced you?”

Twilight sat on her chair and tapped her forehooves together.

“She…. She told me about the farm. About how the rationing system has eaten so much into their profits that they are going to have to take several loans from the Crown just to meet ends… meet? Is that correct? Make ends meet, that’s it… Equestria has not suffered a food shortage in over nine hundred years, and our current supply was supposed to be able to exceed demands. Why was there a need to demand foodstuffs to supply soldiers? Doesn’t the government already cover the needs of the E.U.P.?”

It was Luna’s turn to be surprised, “It does. I have not heard of hair nor hide of a need to acquire more food supplies. This rationing is new. What does it extend to?”

“Apples, lumber, most crystals used for enchanting, quills, paper, coal, free thinking… Applejack might have been sarcastic with that last one.”

“Daybreaker is putting artificial restrictions on these goods? That is… concerning. As far as I am aware– and as a ruler of Equestria, I am aware of far more than anypony else– there is no shortage of anything within the Kingdom.”

“Principality.”

“A rebranding effort to distance ourselves further from the title of kings and queens. Or rather, to distance Celestia further. In my time, it was the Kingdom of Equestria. You have brought our conversation offtrack; I was telling you how there was no shortage of anything but goodwill. I suspect this is a targeted attack against the Element of Honesty.”

“You think Daybreaker is intentionally putting the Apples into debt?”

“Quite possible. Disrupting the Elements is key to her own survival, and so any attempts at degrading your morale is a step towards severing your connections to the Elements themselves. It would be of no surprise to learn that this ban on spirits and wine is a directed attack against the Element of Laughter.”

“Pinkie is not an alcoholic.”

“Not visibly, I am sure.”

Twilight frowned, “I think I would know if a friend of mine is a heavy drinker.”

“Did you notice my sister’s habits?”

Twilight blinked. Then blinked again. She started to speak, but then stopped herself. Eventually, she managed to get her thought out, “Huh?”

“That would be a no.”

“Princess Celestia… drinks? No, that simply is not possible.”

“It is not only possible, it was one of her favorite pastimes. Verily, I can recall many occasions where she attended functions while having a bottle hidden on her pony. I have yet to learn how she can make an entire bottle of wine vanish into her mane… Yes, it is not only true that Tia drinks, she does so with unmatched gusto. In fact, that also lends credence to the notion that Daybreaker is twisting things upon Celestia. Guilt over her own vices, projected outward onto our subjects…”

Luna realized that Twilight was rapidly taking notes. At her silence, Twilight looked up from her pad and sheepishly smiled.

“You are still in a dream, young Twilight. Your notes shall not be here when you wake.”

“What? But this is important history! No document, history book, or even trashy romance novel said that Princess Celestia drinks alcohol!”

Luna laughed, “And I am sure they would also support the idea that she does not defecate at all! The things our subjects believe…” Luna sighed, “I must rebuke myself for wandering away from the topic at hoof. It is so pleasant to be in your company that I forget myself and the duties I carry. The Elements of Harmony. You have finally agreed to use them against Daybreaker?”

Twilight slowly put the notepad down on her desk.

“Yes. Everypony’s hurting, and it all connects back to Daybreaker…”

“You are hurting, too.”

“What? No I’m not! I am perfectly fit as a fiddle!”

“You are asleep at your workstation, and not in your bed.”

Twilight waved a hoof, “I’ve fallen asleep at my desk a hundred times.”

“Reading an enjoyable book?”

“Of course! Spike tells me I lack any semblance of self discipline, but if I wasn’t supposed to stay up all night reading, then authors should stop writing so many good books! Uh, no wait, they shouldn’t do that…”

“What was the book you fell asleep reading?”

Twilight looked down at the desk.

“... Paper Cut’s Ninth Treatise on Magical Fields.”

“An enjoyable read?”

“... No.”

“Why are you reading it, then?’

“... Daybreaker wanted me to research the changeling anti-magic shield.”

“When was the last time you leisurely spent your time with a book you wanted to read, unrelated to what Daybreaker desired?”

“... A month ago.”

“Has Celestia ever worked you thusly?”

Twilight rubbed her forelegs with her hooves and brought them close to her chest, “No. She always stressed the need to balance work life and personal leisure. I kinda ignored that alot, but she never gave up trying to teach it to me. I… I miss her, Luna. I miss Princess Celestia. She always cared for me, trying to help me reach higher and higher heights. Daybreaker gives me tasks but they’re for her, not for me. I’m no longer a student, I’m a resource…”

“Your own health has suffered, just as I said.”

“My friends are all hurt by this, too. Rarity has been worn ragged by the stresses of even trying to understand what’s going on in Canterlot, to say nothing about how she hasn’t gotten a single clothing order in four weeks. Rainbow has to do the entirety of Ponyville’s weather since the rest of the pegasi on the team were pretty much press ganged by the E.U.P.. Pinkie has been on edge since Canterlot, and if you’re right, her sobriety since the start of the Prohibition is hitting her like a ton of bricks. I think it’s more likely that she’s just stressing out about all the unhappy ponies in Ponyville, but maybe it’s both. Fluttershy…. Exists. I dunno, we don’t exactly hang out much. I know I should fix that, but I’ve just been so busy. I… does that make me a terrible friend?”

“The fact that you ask that question proves otherwise. We all must work to maintain friendships and relationships. This is a lesson denied to you by your reclusive habits. Simply apologize for your absence, and start working to bridge the gaps. Without effort, your friends will drift apart. Hold them tightly and hold them close, lest they forever slip for your grip.”

Twilight smiled, “I will do all of that. Thank you, Luna. Uh… When are we, you know…? Bringing Princess Celestia back?”

Luna stood up straight, “We need to bait Daybreaker into bringing the Elements of Harmony out into the open. She loves to gloat and show off trophies, so we need to do so during a very public event. As it just so happens, there is the biggest event of the entire year coming up next month…”

Twilight’s eyes lit up, “The Grand Galloping Gala!”

After poking the active fireplace several times using an iron poker, I confirmed that fire was indeed hot.

I sighed and looked at the door. Every night around this hour, I would wait for Luna. Increasingly rarely, she would walk through the door and we would spend the night together. Now, like a lost dog, I sit here waiting for her.

‘Sucks that I can’t read or anything. Despite how nice it sounds, being in a dream is boring without something to do.’

I dropped the metal tool and laid down on the couch nearby. After staring at the ceiling for two whole minutes, I got up and moved over to the balcony. Deciding to experiment, I replaced the urban landscape of Canterlot with the sea. Now Canterlot Castle rose above the azure ocean waves, the waves themselves lapping at a small cliff face beneath the castle. I dangled my forelegs over the railing as I sat down and rested my head on it. The cold stone surface was comfortable enough thanks to my chitin. That was always a strange fact. Normally, sitting on stone would be uncomfortable, cold, and even more uncomfortable.

But with chitin, I now had the ability to nap anywhere. It was a superpower many would kill for.

My ears swiveled to face behind me.

“Phasma? Where– ah.”

The door to the parlour had opened and Luna called out from the doorway. I then heard the soft clip clop of her hooves on the stone floor as she passed through the room and out onto the balcony.

“An interesting adaptation. Reminds me of a fort in Unicornia.”

“Unicornia?” I asked.

“Before Equestria, the ponies lived in segmented societies,” Luna said as she joined me by the railing. I smiled as I looked over at her. She was scanning the sea and the horizon beyond, the sea breeze slowly whipping her blue starry mane behind her. I sat up straight as I admired her.

“I can not recall the fort’s name. The unicorns were using it to secure an integral shipping lane to… Ah, it does not matter.” She met my gaze and smiled back, “Good evening, Phasma.”

“Hey Luna.”

“I have news. Good news.”

“Good news?”

She grabbed one of my hooves, “It’s happening!”

“... What is?”

“Twilight Sparkle has finally agreed to move against Daybreaker!”

“That is good news! Her days are numbered, then?”

Luna nodded, “I have picked out when and where the Elements shall be used against her. This must be how Celestia felt when the Summer Solstice was approaching! Reunion, once again!”

Luna let go of me and started doing a little hop on her front hooves.

“It’s the Grand Galloping Gala. Next month, things will finally be set right! Celestia will be back, the war can come to an end, and then you and I…. We can finally be together!”

I leaned in close and she met me halfway, nuzzling me.

“Be careful Luna, don’t count your chickens before they–”

“I know, I know. This is just.... Exhilarating! A thousand years of counting rocks and making line drawings in the moondust, and I have jumped right back into all this! Are you ready? Can things be resolved from your end of this war?”

My smile couldn’t widen any further when I noticed that Luna’s tail was slowly rippling back and forth behind her.

“Hmmm… I’m still dead, as far as the rest of the changelings are concerned. I am getting into contact with more and more survivors who have been scattered across Equestria, though. There is one big problem, though.”

“Which is?”

“Division-P.”

Luna’s tail stopped moving, “Oh. Them. I have not received any messages from Cadence. I shall visit her dream after tonight and see how she is doing.”

“Thanks. I appreciate any help.”

“Thank me not, I enjoy my visits to my niece. Any excuse to visit is welcome. Now you know what I have been up to, I would like to know what you have been up to.”

“I’ve been working on finding changelings and building up a business.”

“A business?

“Yeah. Something to bring in the bits to help support me and the exiled changelings. It’s making quite a profit already.”

“What business is this? I would not have imagined that you would be skilled in economics, given your background. I also imagine that it has something to do with your previous life?”

“Yeah…. It… Yeah. I’m using that knowledge to expand into markets that I know will be profitable.”

“Quite an opportunity. I do wonder, are you inventing technology and ideas from your world?” I nodded slowly. “You have not parted with any details about your previous existence, save for that it was advanced in the art of war. When may I hear about it?”

I broke eye contact, instead gazing out over the sea.

“When it stops hurting to talk about.”

“That day might never come. I would like to share our burdens, Phasma. It will feel better if you share what is weighing you down, I know this. Please, listen to me.” I reluctantly refocused my attention back to Luna. Even though I could not sense emotions in the Dreamscape, her eyes visibly expressed sadness regardless. “I hold my emotions and pains close before my banishment. That was what led to the Nightmare possessing me. Do you trust me?”

“Yes.”

“Then I ask you to tell me.”

She smiled as she held out a hoof. Reluctantly, I grabbed it with one of my own. She put her other hoof on top of mine and said, “No pony– that is, no person, is an island.”

I sighed heavily, “Okay. I suppose I should start from the beginning…”

90- Calydonian

Arc 7: Decaying Orbit

“My King?”

The voice calling out over the howling wind roused me from my deep thinking. The changeling who called out was disguised as a pegasus pulling a long cart specially designed for air transportation. I was sitting in the back of the cart, disguised as a light tan unicorn with light blue eyes and magic, and a black mane.

In our flying formation were three other carts, and five more changlings. Four pegasi, five unicorns including myself, and one earth pony. The non-flyers were sitting inside each of the carts.

“Yes?” I called back.

“We are approaching!” He yelled out as he pointed a hoof ahead of us.

I followed his pointing hoof and saw a yellow peak gently nudging through the thick, previously unbroken floor of dense tree canopy. The ponies had cleared off the top of the temple, as well as a few of the surrounding trees as to make it more visible and accessible from the air. And visible from the air it was, as we approached the site under the crescent moon moonlight.

“Set down nearby,” I commanded the changelings over the Weave.

The formation banked off to the side of the temple and slowly dropped both speed and altitude. A small opening in the jungle canopy allowed us to land somewhat noisily on the forest floor. The small clearing we landed in turned out to be a path that stretched both towards the Third Hive and directly away from it. It seems we found the path the ponies used to travel by hoof.

“Mask up,” I commanded once more.

Each changeling– including myself– put on a white mask over our faces, and a pair of saddlebags over where each of our Cutie Marks would be. The masks covered up our entire faces, leaving only our mouths and lower jaws exposed. We each had a generic Mark, with my own being an infinity symbol, but our disguises had to be layered so that everything was hidden. A mask and piece of clothing covering up our Marks to hide our identities, so the ponies would not suspect that we were changelings. We were merely ponies, coming to raid the digsite. Why? Reasons that we did not need to say.

“We’re all ready, Zero,” One said to me. He was the sole earth pony disguise amongst us. We had to have just a little bit of variety, to make things look legit.

On each mask was a number, painted red right on the forehead. From zero to nine, each of us had a new name and identifier.

As the changelings gathered around me, I reminded them of the plan, “As you remember, numbers only. Pegasi and Six will stay up here and guard whomever we take prisoner. The four others will be with me. We open up the place, make sure it is safe, then start looting. No splitting up. Everyone stays together. Everyone clear?”

Each changeling nodded and affirmed.

“Good.”

I spun on my hooves and led the way down the path. The path, which was made of cut plants and pressed dirt, started to widen out. Ahead, soft yellow light gradually lit the path as we came closer and closer to whatever encampment the archeologists made at the base of the structure.

The sound of rustling leaves and branches, bird calls, frog croaks, and the rare snapping branch slowly gave way to the din of distant conversation. We were not yet close enough to taste the ponies’ emotions, but we were close enough to start hearing them.

Eventually, the treeline halted and gave way to a small tent city. By a rough count, there were at least twenty small tents, several areas covered by a canvas canopy, and three or so large tents. Several of the areas covered by the canopies were filled with boxes, likely containing the expedition’s supplies and findings. Well, if they managed to get in then they would have contained findings. The file Coxa had managed to acquire stated difficulty in opening the door, presence of magic on the door, and extreme reluctance to create an opening by force.

The conversations grew loud enough that we could tell where they were coming from; the biggest tent in the camp. It was in the center, surrounded by an open area with two small campfires which were smoldering quietly, and had a plume of smoke coming out of the back of the tent.

“Surround the tent,” I commanded quietly.

One and Two, came to stand by my side as I approached the main entrance. Three and four lined up behind them, with the rest of the five changelings taking positions around the tent. This close I could taste mild senses of happiness as well as smell stir fry vegetables. We would be crashing the party in the middle of supper, apparently.

“Here goes nothing,” I muttered quietly as I stepped forward and opened the large tent flap.

The interior consisted of two sections. The first and largest was an open area with six long tables, each with ponies sitting at them. The second area was at the far end, and had a portable kitchen area set up. A single pony was tending the kitchen at the moment, and all the rest of the ponies were sitting around the tables talking with each other.

As I stepped inside and the four disguised changelings followed, the conversations each fell off as every head in the tent one by one turned towards us. There were nine pegasi, seven earth ponies, and three unicorns. Most were wearing dirty canvas shirts, with sleeves rolled up, stained in mud or plant matter, and a couple cuts.

Us, with our masks and saddlebags, stood out completely from them.

“Who are…” The closest pegasus to us began to say, but she trailed off.

“Hello,” I began, “I’m looking for whoever is in charge of security?”

“You’re not from the University or Guard,” an observant pony pointed out.

I smiled, “Nopony is in charge of security? Splendid! That certainly makes my job easier. As of this moment, I am taking authority over this site. Who was in charge here?”

A unicorn stood up, “What on Equus do you think you're doing–?”

The unicorn was knocked backwards and clattered loudly into the table behind him as a stunning bolt knocked him clean off his hooves. The ponies at the table behind him all lurched back from him as he landed messily into their trays of food.

‘Ah, now there’s the taste of fear that I know.’

I cleared my throat, “Ahem, I asked, who was in charge here?” When no one answered, I pointed to the closest pony, the pegasus from before, “You. Who was in charge?”

The pegasus tried to scoot back away from me, but the pony behind her meant that she couldn’t get away.

“Uh. It’s, uh, Director Trowel.”

“Director Trowel?” I asked before looking around the room. “Who is Director Trowel….? None of you? Clearly, I need to set some rules for you all; you all will do as we say, will refrain from speaking to each other, and you will stay here in this tent. Don’t do anything stupid, and nopony will be harmed. Do something stupid,” I looked pointedly at the unicorn who was being removed from the table by his colleagues, “And we’re going to have trouble. You don’t want to see what happens when we stop playing nice. Not everypony’s here, then? Who is missing, and where are they?”

“Who are you?” An earth pony asked from one of the sides of the tent.

I slowly walked over to him and looked down at him. “I am Zero. Who are you?”

“Err… I am Doctor P–”

“Incorrect. You are silent. All of you are silent,” I said loudly while sweeping my gaze across the tent. “None of you will speak unless spoken to. You will all follow orders. None of you will try to be a hero. Do all that, and none of you will get hurt. Now, how many ponies are missing from this tent, and where are they?”

“I’m telling you, I don’t know what magic this is!” Dr. Legacy said exasperatedly.

Dr. Dazzle threw her hooves into the air, “What do you mean, you don’t know? You just told me it’s enchantment!”

Legacy groaned, “Yeah! I did! I didn’t say I knew what enchantment it was! You’re asking me to find a needle in a haystack the size of Manehattan! Do you realize just how big of a field of study enchantment is? Not to mention, this thing is old! There’s no way it’s a modern spell, which means it’s an ancient one. I don’t know ancient magic!”

“You’re the expert on ancient magic!”

“... Okay, maybe I am. But still!”

Director Trowel interrupted, “Ponies, please! We’re going to get nowhere by arguing. Dr. Legacy, have you investigated Updraft’s theory?”

“Psh! As if! There’s no way a language that requires magic as part of it could ever function!”

“Why not?”

“Because! It’s stupid and won’t really help us open the door. Even if it was true, given the fact that we don’t know how the language is pronounced, if it’s opened with a verbal command then it’ll be locked forever.”

Dazzle shook her head, “Well considering we’ve been staring at this door for three weeks now and still can’t even chip it, you better come up with something before we have to start petitioning the Crown to come and help investigate. That would mean we’re all off the site, and we don’t get credit, and we don’t get our names on any fancy awards.”

Legacy gasped, “Oh no! Not my awards!”

“Yeah, your awards. Now, how do we open this thing?”

“I still think it has something to do with the tiny hole in the center.”

Director Trowel facehooved, “Let’s just wrap this up, okay? We’re missing dinner already.”

“What’s on the menu?” Legacy asked.

“What do you think?”

“... Stir fry?”

“You got it in one.”

“Horseapples, I’m sick of the stuff.”

“Quiet!” Dazzle interrupted. The two stallions stopped and stared at her.

“What is it?” Trowel asked.

“Do you hear that?”

“No,” Tawel and Legacy said.

Dazzle squinted, “Exactly. Why is the camp quiet?”

There were conversations not a minute ago, muted by the thick fabric of the mess tent and the distance across the camp. Now, the entire camp was quiet.

The Director groaned, “What is it now? C’mon, let’s go see. I think somepony is coming over here anyways.”

“N–” Dazzle began to argue, but cut herself off when she heard hoofsteps approaching. Thinking quickly, she spun around and dashed off to hide within a small pile of crates that contained the tools that the team would use to clean and prepare the site and the items within.

This wasn’t even the first time she had to quickly dive into cover to hide in the middle of an archeology site. Unfortunately, it was a niche skill that she had a lot of practice in.

A unicorn and an earth pony were standing in front of the massive circular door that sat at the base of the temple-looking structure. A few gas lanterns were situated around the space, illuminating the area for the ponies to work. There were bugs flying around the lights, and the sound of insects slowly took over the ambiance of the jungle.

They watched as I slowly approached with One and Two.

“Who are you?” The earth pony asked.

“Zero,” I said simply.

“Never heard of you,” the unicorn retorted.

“That’s the idea. Now, you two missed dinner, so I have to catch you up personally. I’m in control of this site now. You do as I order, and you won’t get hurt. It’s that simple.”

“Great, one of those bandit gangs,” the earth pony said with an eye roll. “Listen pal, this here is literal history. Do you know what damage you’ll be doing by defacing it? How much history will be lost?”

“I wouldn’t worry about that. I am perfectly aware of what is here and how valuable it is. Both of you will walk in front of my friend Two here, and head back to the main tent, where you will wait quietly with the others.”

The earth pony had other ideas, “Listen, I don’t think you quite understand where you are. We’re less than fifty miles from the E.U.P.. You won’t be going anywhere with anything you try to rob. They will track you down and take back whatever you stole from here. That’s how this always works. Graverobbers, tomb raiders, site plunderers, you’re all the same.”

“Cool story. Now shut up and start walking,” I ordered as I pointed behind me.

“Hey Trowel? Why don’t we just, you know, fight back?” The unicorn asked.

‘The earth pony is Director Trowel? That would explain some things.’

“Because of this,” I explained. Then I hit the unicorn with an especially powerful stun blast, knocking him back and hitting the cleaned-off smooth surface of the temple.

‘Okay, that was probably way too much power.’

Trowel gasped and galloped over to his friend, who was comically smoking from the horn.

“You– gah! Why did you do that?! I could have talked him down!”

“Some only learn the hard way, and I’d rather not be here longer than I have to. Help your friend back to the tent,” I spat. Really though, I felt a tad bit bad. The unicorn was just pointing out the obvious. Obvious from his perspective, at least.

The pony growled at me, but slowly lifted his dazed friend up off the ground and onto his back. He then slowly started walking past us and further into the camp. Two followed after and kept an eye on their progress.

“Make sure all the unicorns have nullifiers on,” I commanded all the changelings over the Weave after thinking for a bit.

I sighed, “Alright. With the rest of the numbers patrolling the camp, we should be good now. Now, time for the big ol’ door.”

I paused and tasted the air. There was a lingering sense of fear. It faded over time.

“Well, what have we got here?”

The large door and the structure behind it was made out of faded tan stone, and was covered in etchings. There was the massive three pointed crown in the center, and there was a ring of smaller symbols that circumscribed the door.

One, a changeling named Aorta, walked up to the door to inspect it. He was chosen to be One, the second in command of the team, as he was knowledgeable in changeling symbols and old mythology.

“This is the Third, alright,” he confirmed.

“And the rest of the symbols? What do they say?”

“It says… ‘ Through sacrifice, achieve an understanding of Her work. Through understanding, Ascend.”

That sent a shiver up my spine.

“That obelisk looking symbol means Ascend?”

“Yes, Zero.”

“... Fuck me sideways, I’m not going to like what we’re going to uncover, am I?”

One hesitated, “Probably not, Zero.”

“Now that I think about it, that damned book was from here. That book from the Ascension Chamber.”

“It is likely they created that book here, after pooling together what knowledge they recovered after the fall of the Second, Zero.”

‘... Too much to gain from here. I’ll just have to swallow my fears and press on. My changelings need every advantage they can get in these dangerous times. And that means awesome artifacts and magical MacGuffins.’

“... We keep moving forward.”

“As you command, Zero…” He inspected the door for a minute, “There, uh, doesn't seem to be any obvious way to unseal the door.”

“Nothing’s ever that easy.”

As I began to walk closer to the ruins, the front of the door began to glow red. Not the whole door, just a collection of etchings that covered the central symbol for Command.

“... I don’t like that.”

“Sir! It’s another symbol! Two of them, in fact!”

“Ominous symbols in glowing red that light up when I get close. Pretending that they aren’t massive red flags that tell me to run in the opposite direction, what do they say?”

“They’re damaged. Half-legible. I think that top vortex-looking-one is… sickness?”

I cringed, “Sickness? We’re not exactly equipped to handle biological dangers, One.”

“Nothing could have survived that long in there, Zero. A magical-based plague could have survived maybe for a hooffull of centuries, but this has been sealed for at least two thousand years. Now, the second symbol…”

One crouched low and got close to the door, trying to look at the symbol from all different angles.

“I would guess it meant either… forward… mind…. the Third Hall… or myrmekes.”

“And that last one is…?”

“Under–” he caught himself before saying the word Hive, “Underworld monster. Giant ants, sir.”

“Sickness forward, sickness mind, sickness Third Hall, or sickness myrmekes,” I listed. “So that means either sickness ahead, I guess sickness of the mind or something, a sickness from the Third Hall? Or sends victims to the Third Hall? And finally, sick massive ants. Unless it’s listing two separate threats, we can probably eliminate that last one.”

“Probably, sir.”

“Zero! We have rounded up one straggler from the camp!” Two announced as he approached with two other unicorns.

“Fantastic. Plan is as it was before; the pegasi and a unicorn up top, the rest of us inside.”

“Understood, sir.”

One, Two, Three, and Four will all be accompanying me inside. Everyone but One was a unicorn. This was all planned from the beginning, after all. It was important that we had as many unicorns going in as possible, as we had no idea what threats we would be facing.

“You’re just in time, too,” I said while pointing at the door covered in markings and clowning red runes, “One here just deciphered two hidden symbols that appeared when I came close. The first one is sickness, the other one is… well, we don’t exactly know. It’s probably saying that there is sickness ahead.”

“Sickness, sir? Are we going to be okay?” Four asked.

“Of course,” I said, not actually knowing. “Now, how do we get this open?”

“I might have an idea, sir,” One said as he scraped his hoof against the exact center of the door. “Right here, within Command, there’s a divot. A small hole, too.”

“So we need a key or something?”

“You are the key, sir?”

“... I’m not sticking my horn into a mysterious two-thousand-year-old hole. Either horn.”

“Sir, please! That’s not what I was talking about!”

“Oh. Good. What were you talking about, then?”

One frowned, “Well, you know how religious they were at the time, right?”

“Right.”

“... You have a knife in your saddlebag, right?’

“Just what exactly do you want me to– oh hell, I think I understand. You think it’ll will just drip sideways in?”

He nodded, “It should be pulled in magically, if I am understanding the enchantments correctly.”

“You can tell what enchantment it is?”

“It’s very similar to what we used to draw water out from the tunnels.”

“Ain’t that a neat piece of history. Alright, stand back.”

The changeling backed up from the door as I drew out a small knife from the saddlebag. I lifted my right hoof and made a small incision on my sensitive frog. Blood slowly trickled out. Then it moved upwards, towards the top of my hoof. It then collected at the edge of my hoof, before forming a droplet that slowly extended forward, straight towards the door. We watched as the droplet of blood flew from my hoof horizontally and into the center of the door.

The red glowing symbols pulsed black before fading away. With a loud grinding sound, the circular door began moving to the side. The hallway beyond sloped downwards, and was pitch black. A warm, musty air wafted out, meeting the hot, humid air of the jungle.

Pale blue gemstones on either side of the walls flickered to life, some flickering too much and going out completely. They illuminated a long descent downwards, followed by a turn to the right. After we all leaned down and stared down the lit ramp for a solid thirty seconds, I broke the silence.

“By the ancient law of dibs, I declare this entire temple to be mine. Dibs.”

Author's Note

Fan art of what the door to the Third Hive would look like, from slabs37!

91- Cibola

After descending down the tunnel and following it along four separate bends, we came across a large room.

Eight unlit braziers lined the path forward across the room, and at the far end was a massive statue. It was likely of a changeling, however several collapsed sections of the roof led to the destruction of the majority of the statue. At the moment, all that was left was the torso, which sprouted up from the ground, and the right foreleg, which a small segment of chain dangled from. There was a small pile of debris beneath the chain, and the remains of a large, circular piece of metal.

The changeling statue was holding two more braziers when it was intact, I had guessed.

Where the center of its torso met the path in front of us, a wide staircase descended three floors down before leveling out. As we entered the room and started traversing across the smooth path that cut through the center of it, the braziers lit up in blue flame as we passed them. A minuscule amount of rock dust fell from the ceiling near one of the caved-in sections, which had taken up a full third of the right side of the room.

“Thousands of years of neglect seemed to have disagreed with the Temple,” I pointed out.

We descended the staircase and came across a six way intersection. Ahead of us were five paths, making the intersection the first problem on our spelunking. Two of the hallways, the leftmost one and the second from the right, were completely blocked up by rubble from a cave in.

Sitting in the center of the room was a pile of broken armor, weapons, remains of construction-gel crates, and bones. The weapons and armor seemed to be made of a rusty iron. The skeletons were mostly smashed to pieces, with very little left to identify what species they were.

“What the hell happened here?” I asked out loud as we came upon the scene.

The changelings scanned the pile using spells to detect anything magical, then organic, then concealed. There were no results for any, save for the bones lighting up during the organic detection spell. There was nothing living in the pile: no disease nor a monster waiting to ambush us.

The One and Two stepped past me to start examining the rubble and remains. As Two picked over the weapons and armor, One held up a skull fragment in his magic. None of them actually touched anything physically, because that would have been stupid.

“This shape suggests either a changeling or pony, sir. I think it’s obvious which one it is.”

“The former inhabitants, then. What happened to them?”

Two lifted the bottom half of a sword, the blade cut in two. “This didn’t happen naturally. The cut is too smooth, sir. Something, or someone, cut this sword in half.” He let the sword drop back down onto the ground, and it clanged noisily against the debris and tan stone flooring.

“A fight, then. Any clues as to what they were fighting?”

“I can’t find anything that doesn’t look like it belongs to anything other than the inhabitants,” One said, still sifting through the bones.

“An internal fight, then?” I asked. “What could that have to do with sickness?”

“Sickness of the mind?” One postulated. “Or maybe the inhabitants attempted to break quarantine, and had to be put down.”

“Sickness of the mind is looking more likely. Still, we can’t rule out other possibilities just yet.” I looked between the three open paths ahead of us. “Any ideas as to where we head next?”

“I imagine we should look for the throne room. There’s no telling where the Vault is, if this place even has one, but the throne room should have loot,” One suggested.

“I agree. How do we find the throne room?”

“It should be in the center of the complex,” Two offered.

“And how do we find that?”

He shrugged.

“Anyone?”

I sighed heavily and considered my options.

‘How did they usually figure it out in the movies? There’s usually some telltale sign of the direction that they need to head to, like the presence of a breeze. I guess I’ll need to look for something like that.’

I walked past the large pile of bone fragments and rotten metal and stopped at the mouth of the first tunnel. Then, I closed my eyes, and listened. Distant echoes of clattering metal. The sound of a distant drip of water. An almost cool ambient temperature coming from the tunnel.

I moved onto the second tunnel. The lights in this one were broken. It was quiet. Utterly quiet, as in the complete and total absence of sound.

Quickly, I moved on to check the third. Again, the fading, almost negligible echo of clanging. There was also a low rumble, like moving air, but I felt nothing.

I went back to the group, “Alright, looks like we have our direction. The left tunnel has the sound of water, so it could be not much, or it could be a flooded dead end. The middle tunnel… a hard no. The right one seems like the last remaining choice, and a good one at that.”

“We follow you, sir,” Five said. The rest of the changelings nodded.

“Third tunnel it is. Three, mark it, and let’s move,” I ordered as I started to head towards the third tunnel. As Three began casting a Color Spray spell to make an arrow pointing to the third hallway, I froze in front of the doorway to the second tunnel.

“Sir?” One asked.

“I thought I heard something. Hold on….”

The second tunnel was still quiet. There was nothing coming from there. No temperature. No sound. No light. No life. It was so damned quiet, as quiet as–

“Death!”

“Zero?”

I jerked my head to the right and saw One standing next to me.

‘When did he walk up? I would have heard–’

One did not walk up to me. I had taken several steps back without realizing it. All the changelings were looking at me with deep concern. From their point of view, I must have zoned out then immediately backpedaled from the tunnel’s entrance

“Sir? What’s… Are you alright?”

I looked back at the tunnel. It was pure black.

“Did anyone else hear it?” I asked.

“Hear what?”

“I felt a quiet vibration through your... connection, Sir,” Four said.

“My…? Yeah. That. I heard someone say the word ‘death.’ I don’t think we’ll be heading down that direction anytime soon. In fact…”

Casting Color Spray, I made an X at the start of the second tunnel, and quickly drew a skull beneath it. It took me a moment to remember the shape of an equine skull, but I was satisfied with my work in the end.

“No one go down there, and hopefully anyone who follow us gets the idea. Right. Let’s, uh, let’s move on.”

We stuck close together after that as we entered the third tunnel. The changeling in the back, Five, frequently looked back as we walked.

And we walked.

And walked.

And walked.

The tunnel was slowly turning to the right. After what was probably a sum total of a ninety degree turn, the tunnel began to widen. Ahead, darkness was chased away as each set of enchanted lights flicked to life. Sometimes lights would flicker and do no more. Sometimes, they wouldn’t even flicker at all. The ones after the broken lights turned on without issue, thankfully.

First, the air got colder. Then, distant sounds made their way to us. Finally, we saw it. We emerged from the tunnel and stepped out onto a wide terrace, with gently sloping paths to our left and right, each heading downwards to the sides.

Beyond our immediate platform, the room was dark.

“Where are we now?” I asked.

My voice didn’t echo.

A small light slowly came into being ahead and above us. Like a heating coil warming up, an orange sphere gradually became bright and brighter, turning from a shade of orange to a shade of yellow, then ending on a white coloring very much similar to natural sunshine.

As it grew in brightness and intensity, the sphere expanded in size to take up what revealed itself to be a support structure around it. The support structure was made of thin rings of what I assumed to be enchanted glass, and the sun halted its expansion when it touched the first of these concentric rings. The process was not silent; as it began to start growing in illumination and eventually size, A quiet, distant hum grew in intensity to loud whine, then a deafening roar. Finally, when the sun halted its expansion, the outermost concentric ring of glass flashed green and the noise quickly died away to an almost imperceptible hum.

All the while as the sun brightened, the area illuminated by the sphere grew and grew.

First was the ceiling it was mounted on. Thick coils snaked around a metal chain that connected the light to the ceiling. Second was more ceiling. And more. And more. And more and more and…

Third was the space immediately beneath the light. A stone statue of a changeling royal was standing on their hindlegs, both looking and reaching up towards the swelling globe of light. It must have been painted once, but all that remained were metal and gemstone gilding, placements, and coverings that glittered in the artificial sun’s light.

Fourth was the structure the statue was on. It was a pyramidal structure, and from the looks of it at least a hundred hooves tall. That was another thing. As the sun grew brighter and brighter, the vast distance between us and it became clearer and clearer.

Around the temple, crumbling buildings slowly emerged from the receding darkness. Towers that must have stretched high up in this room now lay in piles of ruins and rubble around their own bases. A few stood standing, mostly the smaller buildings. Each one was rounded, with a dome at the top. Few domes were left intact but those that were reflected the growing sun’s light through several bands of reflective material, either metal, glass, or gems. It was impossible to tell at this distance.

Secondary lighting systems made their struggles towards life as lights all around the buried city turned on, growing brighter and brighter and revealing more of the ravaged stone, metal, glass, and other material ruins that once made up the Third Hive.

The place was massive. I couldn’t tell how far it was to the other end. Two miles? More? A mile wide? The only thing I could easily tell was that the tallest structure in the place was the statue, stretching up towards the sun. Despite the age and the wear and tear that the rest of the city fell victim to, the royal statue stood, nearly perfect. Flawless, save for the deteriorated surface. Moments after the sun had finished its startup, a rectangular gate at the base of the pyramid loudly ground open and water surged out, cascading down from the temple’s base and through perfectly smooth canals that ran through the city like streets of water. The water’s final destination turned out to be a waterfall straight ahead of us, where it flowed from three equidistant canals off a ledge and down into a pitch black abyss.

The city as a whole was sitting in an excavated cavern, shaped like a coffin. We were standing at the head of the place, and the cavern shrunk in width as it went farther away from us. Massive support struts extended from halfway up the walls to meet the ceiling far above. The buildings, walls, ceilings, and floors were all made of a blackish brick, with the yellow one that we had seen up till now ending at the first steps down from our platform.

Now that the lights around us, reminiscent of street lamps, had begun to glow soft white light and illuminate our surroundings, I noticed that the terrace we were on was once ringed with statues. At each post that the stone railing ahead of us went through, statues of drones in various states of deterioration sat on their haunches, heads bowed behind steepled forehooves. Most statues ceased to exist above the waist.

Our group stood in awestruck silence at the sight of the awakening city.

That was when I noticed the skeleton corpse of an armored changeling, sitting beneath the most destroyed statue. There was nothing left of it but a barely-identifiable pile of rubble. The skeleton was propped up against the base of the statue, armor torn to metal shards along the belly. Around it, the fragments of bone, too much to solely belong to the changeling, lay scattered.

Or… was it the skeleton who noticed me?

Dr. Dazzle’s hiding spot was a distance away from the temple’s entrance, so when the masked ponies began speaking with each other, a number of the words in the conversation didn't quite carry over the distance between Dazzle and the masked marauders, but she had a pretty good idea of what they were saying despite that fact.

She did, however, catch the glare of what had to be the leader of the anonymous assailants when he first arrived. His eyes hovered over her hiding spot just long enough to make Dazzle wonder if he had spotted her. She had focused on getting her breathing under control and finding her nerves, thinking the unicorn might have had an enhanced hearing spell enchanted into his mask and was hearing her breathe heavily. Thankfully, his gaze moved on.

Things only got stranger from there.

From deciphering the language to proximity-created symbols to a strange blood ritual, Dr. Dazzle could only watch with quiet fascination and confusion. Talks of sickness, strange books and ascending, to finally calling dibs, strangely enough.

‘These ponies are no mere looters. They knew about the ruins, knew about the language, knew how to open it, and were overall better informed than we were after weeks of study. There’s some deeper connection between this group and the temple…. Perhaps they are followers of the same cult or religion? Surely, they are a part of the same organization as the temple-builders, be it a civilization, cult, or who knows!’

One of the masked ponies glanced backwards and scanned the area around Dr. Dazzle. He or she lifted a hoof and was about to turn to walk in her direction when the leader performed the blood ritual and somehow unsealed the temple. With all of their attention away from Dazzle’s hiding spot, she decided to make a quiet exit.

‘Definitely going to need my things for this!’

Dazzle picked her way across the rest of the camp quietly and carefully, keeping an ear on the swivel for more of the masked cultists. Thankfully, she encountered none on her way to her stash and she darted between the small tents and out into the jungle's edge without issue. Hidden away in an alcove at the bottom of a tree at the edge of the clearing was her bag. She pulled it free from its hiding hole, dislodging a great deal of dirt that she had covered it up. The white canvas material was stained brown, but Dazzle couldn’t exactly recall if that was from the dirt, or if it was an old stain.

Regardless, she opened the bag and started rifling through it. She began pulling items out, items that she knew she would need. She didn't risk turning on a lamp or anything, so she went through her things mostly by memory and by the dim moonlight.

A smaller, durable satchel bag for transporting things.

An arcane flashlight, so that she wouldn’t be left in the dark.

A small medical kit, which she always brought with.

A pair of binoculars, for its very obscure but useful applications.

A mana-sensor, to detect magically hidden traps.

A small sack of grain, because she actually needed it that one time, and who knows if it'll come in handy again?

A whip, which she often used to reach switches when she inevitably falls into a snake pit or two.

And finally, her pith helmet, because no other would do.

She flipped it up with a flick of her wing and it landed squarely on the top of her head.

With a smile, Daring Do closed the bag back up and stuffed it back into its hiding hold, and went back to the temple’s entrance. They were gone by now, descending into the temple’s bowels. She paused briefly at the doorway, looking back towards where the main tent was.

‘They’ll be fine, I’m sure.’

She stretched out her wings, hopped off the ground, and silently glided down the tunnel, slowing to a halt whenever she reached a bend. She would have to slowly check around each corner before coming out. Daring Do learned the hard way about checking doors and corners in the past, and had no intention of forgetting that lesson.

92- Dvapara Yuga

The corpse stared at me through eyeless sockets.

It whispered to me. Indecipherable messages, muttered almost imperceptibly. When I blinked, I swore I saw the skeleton’s head turn towards me, but it did not move an inch. This meager pile of metal scraps and bone shards scared me to my core.

“Anyone else seeing… that?”

“Seeing what, sir?”

“The… skeleton.”

Four moved between me and the skeleton and examined it magically. From his horn, beams of colored light slowly moved over the skeleton. Then, the spells shut off and Four shook his head.

“Not scanning anything, sir. As far as I can tell, nothing there has been alive in the past five centuries, at least. Nothing magical, neither. I suspect they might have been equipped with magical gear, but any enchantment has faded with time.”

There was still something more to the ancient body. Something I knew was there and wouldn’t be picked up. I felt it pulling on my Weave, asking me to come closer.

“I can hear it whispering to me through my Weave. I… I want to touch it.”

“That’s a bad idea,” One told me.

“A very bad idea,” Two agreed.

I hesitated, “I mean, you’re probably right, but… I still think I should touch it.”

One facehooved, “And why is it that you want to touch the spooky skeleton?”

I concentrated hard on listening to the quiet whispers emanating from the skeleton’s skull. They were hard to pick up and discern from the almost inaudible hum of the artificial sun, they were so quiet.

I scrapped a hoof against the ground, not looking away from the skeleton, “I… I think I can hear a conversation or something. Listen, I know touching the creepy thing is always a bad idea and in horror mov– in horror novels it gets people killed, but I don’t think it will hurt us here. I think that this is a good idea.”

“Sir, I think you are being influenced by the creepy skeleton, possibly related to that sickness of the mind stuff” One said. “All in favor of not poking the corpse?”

“Aye,” all four changelings agreed at once.

“That’s that, then. C’mon sir, you need to step away from the–”

I teleported past Four and stretched out a hoof, brushing it gently against the changeling skeleton’s skull. At once, the changelings leapt at me.

“No! Get away from–”

“–the city at once!”

‘What the?! Where am I?!’

All around me, changelings were rushing past. The changelings rushing past carried their lives on their backs; packs filled to the brim with whatever they could stuff into it from their homes. I however, stood in formation behind Prince Carotid. We were in an open forum, one that I had seen from the balcony at the entrance to the city. In fact, I knew that if I turned around, I could see the balcony directly behind me. However, I could not move.

Ahead of me, the Third Hive in its entirety stood underneath the artificial sun. Towers rose up, high into the air. In the future, they would be nothing but rubble, but now I could see their expertly crafted architecture and priceless decorations glistening in the underground sunlight. Several of them were damaged, and a few were smoking.

‘Am I seeing the past? How do I know who that changeling is?’

I was looking at the Prince. As he hovered up in the air, directing the lines of traffic that were rushing towards the exit both on the ground and through the air, I admired his armor. It was far beyond anything I had ever seen before. Adamantium mana-forged, enchanted through countless rituals, and blessed by Panar herself. It was one of the greatest relics that still existed from the Second Hive.

The heavy green armor conformed to the Prince’s body perfectly, as it was designed to. His body that was visible between the pieces of armor lacked any visible holes, I noted. A light blue mane flowed behind him as he bobbed up and down in the air.

“Keep moving! Do not stop! Do not go back! Keep moving! Submit to examinations without protest!” The Prince shouted.

Fear was in the air. Changelings couldn’t detect each other’s emotions, but there was no need. It was written on everyone’s faces. It was shown clearly on everyone’s rapid pace. The rapid fire conversations the drones were having with each other created an atmosphere that made me almost tired to be a part of, let alone do any activity other than panic. Bodies were pressed together. Fearful glances backwards broke the sea of forward-facing changelings.

The fact that there were distant screams in the air certainly fueled the fire.

“Recite your prayers! Keep faith in Panar, and harden your hearts! Keep moving, and do not look back! If you see infection, do not stay silent!”

A fleeing changeling bumped into the Prince, causing him to spin around. He saw me and we locked eyes. Prince Carotid finally flew back to our formation. Though I couldn’t see the others, I knew twenty-nine other Royal Guards stood beside and around me.

“Officer Mosquito, where are the rest of your lings?” He asked me.

“Holding the line, My Prince!” I responded verbally.

‘I am watching all this from Officer Mosquito’s perspective? Every action I am doing right now, every word I am saying, it was him doing it. Over two thousand years ago... Was he…. He’s the dead changeling I touched, isn’t he?’

“Why aren’t you with them?”

“I am ordered to watch over you personally, My Prince!”

Prince Carotid dropped down and landed right in front of me. The changelings rushing around us made a little space for him as he dropped to the ground. Several glanced our way, but the changelings still continued on their pressed stampede for the exit behind us.

“Who ordered that?! We need everyone we can to hold the line!”

“The Prophet, Your Highness!” I, or Officer Mosquito, told him.

“The Prophet?!” Carotid nearly screamed as he grabbed my shoulders and shook me. “And you listened to him?! Who the fuck do you think started all of this! Get to the lines, now! We’re dying by the thousands out here, we need time! Get us that damned time, soldier!”

I gripped my helmet with a hoof, steadying it after the Prince nearly shook it off.

“I know, My Prince! That was before he fell, My Prince. He commanded me to make sure that there is a leader should anything happen to him. That was the standard protocol. I was commanded to be your retainer, sir!”

Prince Carotid got up into my face and yelled at me.

“And I’m commanding you to die for your Hive, Officer Mosquito!”

I grimaced, “With respect, My Prince, I cannot do that. The changelings need someone to lead them. With the Great Prophet now… You are all we have left.”

“What of my brothers and sisters, and their nymphs?”

“The Sanctuary Of The Golden Sepulchre was the second place to fall, My Prince, right after the High Alter itself.”

“The Sanctuary was not evacuated?”

“We tried, My Prince. Noling survived. They were all slaughtered by the Prophet himself.”

Prince Carotid started, and gaped. He tried to say something, but was interrupted by a changeling flying up behind him.

“My Prince!”

The Prince’s eyes widened and he spun around, “Acolyte Millipede! I thought… you were with The Prophet! I thought you were surely dead!”

The Acolyte, a female changeling dressed in a black robe and cowl, shook her concealed head.

“I respectfully declined his offer of death, My Prince. That is to say, I ran when things went south.”

Prince Carotid chuckled, “You were always quick on your hooves. What happened up there?”

“It was the Prophet. He… He emerged from the Ascension Chamber, and we all knew immediately that something was wrong. His eyes, they were pitch black and leaking. When I saw that, I just started running, and didn’t look back. I got out just as the screaming started. You talked to him last before he went in there, did he tell you what he was going to do?”

“He did. He–”

The distant thunder of a collapsing tower interrupted the conversation.

“This is not a conversation we can have,” the Prince said regretfully. “We must do as Panarthropo ordains we must. That means you must go with the survivors.”

I watched in silence as the two changelings talked, “You imply that you are not coming with, My Prince.”

“That is so.”

“No. I– No. You’re coming too, Carotid.”

“Millipede,” Prince Carotid sighed, “I will try to, but you know what’s coming. You saw it start, at the heart of it all, didn’t you? There’s no escaping that, not really. I will attempt to evacuate if I can, but my first priority is the survival of the Hive Eternal as a whole: the survival of the changeling race. If I am to die here in the Third Hive in defense of what I believe to be just and right, then that is Panar’s will. It will be an honor beyond honors to serve at her command. But this is not your grave, little one.” Prince Carotid brushed a hoof along Acolyte Millipede’s head, pushing the black hood down, revealing a changeling royal with bright yellow coloring. “You cannot die here as an Acolyte, my daughter. The changelings need a leader, and if I am destined to lay down all that I have here, then that leader must be you.”

“But I’m not ready!” She protested.

“Noling ever is. Millipede, Acolyte of the Third Hive, faithful follower of the Hive Eternal. The Third Hive now stands to fall, and a royal must rise to accept the mantle of Protector of the Hive Eternal. Do you accept this mantle?”

“I do,” Acolyte Millipede says softly, almost too softly to hear over the rushing crowd. Several changelings tried to stop to watch what was going on, but they were quickly pressed forward by the lings behind them.

“Do you swear to uphold the tenets of the one true faith, the word of Panarthropo, The Great Weaver?”

“I do.”

“Do you swear to execute Panarthropo’s will here on the Great Tapestry, as those before you failed to?”

“I do.”

“Do you swear by the Nine Threads to protect the changelings, and guide them to a new home?”

“I do.”

“Will you remember the lessons of the First Hive, and cast out the failures of the Second?”

“I do, now more then ever, as blood is spilling for that failure as we speak.”

“Then arise, Millipede, not as Acolyte of the Third Hive, but as Queen Regnant of the Hive Eternal. Should I survive this trial that Panar puts before us, I shall relieve you of your vigil. Should I fall here, it will fall to you to guide our people to a new home and establish a Fourth Hive. There is no time to stand on ceremony, to fast and feast. Pray on your way, and go as fast as your wings can carry you!”

Prince Carotid nearly flung her away as he pushed her towards the exit.

“If I do not see you again, I shall look for you in the Ninth Hall, father!”

“Do not rush to see me. Now go, Panar wills it! And you, Officer Mosquito!” He pointed a hoof at me, or again, Officer Mosquito, “I charge you with seeing Queen Millipede out of here! Upon her shoulders, the fate of our kind lies. No cost too great. No price too high. Every life save hers is nought in the face of this apocalypse. Protect her, or all is lost!”

I saluted, “As Panar wills it! Guards, with me! Safeguard the Queen!”

As one, the Royal Guards about-faced, lifted off from the ground, and took off after Queen Millipede. Officer Mosquito looked back one last time, allowing me to see Prince Carotid’s glittering armored form shrink in size as they flew towards the exit.

Everything went dark.

“–not waking up! We need to get him topside, and if necessary, back to base!”

“What if we’re risking bringing something back with us?”

“You’re suggesting we leave him here, to die?!”

"I'm suggesting we find out what we're dealing with before we bring back some ancient disease that kills everyone!"

Changelings were arguing around me. My head was between someone’s hooves as I laid on my back on the stone floor. I blinked my eyes open and saw One staring down at me with a very concerned look.

“My King?” He asked.

At once, every changeling stopped arguing and rushed over to me. All of them stared down at me. Two of them glanced back towards the entrance but turned back to me when I tried to speak but coughed instead. My mouth and throat were suddenly dry. I mouthed the word ‘water’ before I realized I had another way to communicate.

“Water,” I asked over the Weave.

One fumbled with his saddlebags and nearly ripped out everything when he tried to get to his canteen. He held it out with a trembling hoof.

“Here, sir!”

I took it, uncorked the top, and guzzled greedily from the cold canteen. I coughed again and spilled some of the ice cold liquid onto my chest and neck, but I continued drinking until I could no more.

“Are you okay, sir?” One asked me, quietly.

I coughed lightly again and put the cork back into the mouth of the canteen, then nodded.

Two pushed himself to the front of the group around me, “What happened? You just teleported around us, touched that thing, then… then you collapsed, sir. We were worried we lost you!”

“How long was I out?”

“Five minutes? Ten?” Two wondered.

“Too long,” One summarized. “What the hell were you thinking?”

I gave him a tired smile, “We wanted to know what happened here, and I somehow knew that touching the corpse of that changeling would help. I… don’t know how I knew, I just did. Something with my Weave…”

“And what happened after you touched it?” One pressed.

“I saw a vision. It was from that dead changeling’s point of view. I saw the evacuation of the hive. Mentions of infection, lots of religious tones, and I saw two changeling royals, with talk of a lot more. One of them was wearing a suit of armor. Pure adamantium and forged in ancient processes and forges long since lost. I want that armor, One. I need that armor. This is what we came here for, I know it. We need to find where that Prince went. We need to follow where my Weave takes me, because I think this place wants me to know what happened.”

‘Officer Mosquito died here. Something must have caused him to stay behind and protect the rearguard of the evacuation.’

“You’ve got a death wish, sir,” One muttered. “Next time you’re going to poke the scary corpse that’s speaking to you through your mind, warn us. Please, sir? I don’t think anyone knows what we’ll do if we lose you…”

The rest of the changelings nodded slowly.

“Hey, stop looking so sad. I’m not going to die anytime soon. I’ve done that already, and let me tell you, I recommend living.”

They were puzzled at that. I didn’t explain further, and they each probably came to the conclusion that I was talking about the whole ‘near-death experience after the fight with Chrysalis’ thing.

But I was talking about the real deal.

‘I need that armor. Officer Mosquito knew a lot about it, thanks to his position within the changeling Royal Guard. That armor ticked off every MacGuffin requirement box. I need it, as well as anything else I can find in this entombed city.’

That thought made me ponder just what was said during that vision.

“The ruler of this dead city, the Prophet, seems to have been patient zero for whatever infection felled this place. Which means that if we want to learn what happened here, we’re going to have to find where it all started. Three places called the Sanctuary of the Golden Sepulchre, The High Alter, and the Ascension Chamber.”

A shiver went up my spine.

“An Ascension Chamber. Again. Help me to my hooves, before the dread kills me before we even get there."

As One helped me up, Four spoke softly, "Sir? We might have a... problem. I think someone is following us."

Author's Note

Fan art of what the 3rd hive would like like, done by slabs37!

93- Troy

“How many?” I whispered.

Four whispered back, “One.”

“Pony?’

“We think so. No one has checked.”

I steadied myself upright and stopped leaning on One.

“Do they know that we know about them?”

“Unlikely.”

I thought about our situation.

“This isn’t a good spot to ambush them. Any attempts to go back towards them will alert them, and they could flee before we catch them. We need to ambush them later on. Let’s keep moving, and as long as they follow us, we can capture them.”

“What if they wander off?” Two whispered.

I rubbed my eyes, “I mean, I suppose I could just teleport right behind them and stun them. But that sounds very anticlimactic. Ambushing sounds more fun.”

“Sir, please,” One begged, “just make things simple.”

“Uh… hold on, let me try to come up with excuses…. Teleporting burns a lot of juice, and I might need it later.”

“We brought spare rations.”

“... They could be an expert fighter, and teleporting takes a few seconds to recover from. They could defeat me while I’m recovering.”

“We’ll be right behind you, not to mention the fact that no pony knows we’re here. It’s one of the archeologists, too foolish for their own good.”

“... I don’t know exactly where they are, and teleporting inside of something else is an experience I never want to have again.”

One paused, “Okay, you might have a point there. Even getting your destination wrong by a hoof will put you in a wall. Fine, we can do the ambush.”

“Yes!” I cheered, too loudly, while pumping a hoof in the air.

‘I love ambushes!’

“Alright then,” I said at normal conversation level, “I guess we just keep moving forward then, now that we know what we’re looking for. Big shiny metal armor.”

“Keep an ear out for sound and a… whatever-sensory-organ-detects-emotion for emotion behind us, but otherwise keep looking forward, with only the rare, cautious glance behind,” I whispered over the weave.

The group reordered ourselves and we set off down the right set of stairs, skirting the abyss that water was pouring into. The area that the stairs ended at was similar to the one where the vision had taken place, albeit in a far worse state. What was once an open area of smooth black gel-covered stones was a torn up battlefield. Pieces of armor, rock, bones, and unidentifiable debris covered the forum. In most areas, the black covering was ripped off and the stone surface beneath exposed.

But there were no bodies.

The pony following us was wise enough to keep out of sight.

“I see we have options,” I announced. Then I pointed to each of the main throughways out of the forum, “We have rubble strewn path number one, chaotic pile of broken rocks and shards number two, rubble strewn path number three, or suspiciously clear road number four.”

“Which do you feel is the right direction, Zero?” Three asked me.

After taking a moment to concentrate and feel out each direction, I sighed.

“The suspiciously clear direction.”

So we went, looking for prime locations to ambush while at the same time utterly aware and on guard for ambushes against us. Just because we haven't seen anything yet doesn't mean that the Third Hive was empty. The spooky corridor that whispered death was testament to that fact.

As we walked down the street, a distant, echoing clatter and boom of a collapsing structure startled us. After freezing for a minute and scanning our surroundings, we started moving forward again, more slowly this time.

Our hoofsteps crunched too loudly in the minuscule layer of debris. Very quickly we left behind the idea of not looking behind us, as our paranoia began to mount. There were so many questions all of us wanted to ask, but none did.

Where were all the bodies?

What was the infection?

Where did it come from?

Where were we headed?

I paused mid-step as I felt a stirring within my Weave. Immediately, the other changelings froze too and began looking at our surroundings, scanning for danger. Meanwhile, I focused on my Weave. I imagined chasing the stirring; it was like a guitar string that was plucked, vibrating slowly, and growing more still over time. Still, I chased the movement. I managed to discern the fact that it originated from somewhere to my right before I lost the vibration entirely.

“Something’s to our right, off the path. We’re going to pursue it, keep an eye and ear out for anything suspicious,” I spoke aloud, though very quietly.

Following gut feelings and Weave vibrations could lead us to this Prince Carotid just as easily as it could lead us to our doom.

We got off the path and started to climb through a low pile of rubble that lay between what had to one be foundations of buildings. Very quickly, a low sitting squarish building rose out of the rubble before us. It collapsed in many places along its roof and walls, but overall it was the most intact structure we had seen outside of that statue and pyramid beneath it. It was also quite large, the widest structure we had seen so far.

The front doors were completely gone. If they had been wood, then they rotted away countless centuries ago. Now, debris cascaded down into what once was a lobby. We slid down the foot-tall-drop onto the tiled flooring of the lobby, with me leading the way. The room itself was mostly barren, with staircases on the far corners of the room, a half-destroyed half-wall straight ahead that was the front desk area, and two sets of closed doors on either side of the desk. These doors were metal, with square openings halfway up, showing a pitch black room beyond.

“What is this place?” One asked.

“Can’t tell yet,” I responded. “Let’s keep going.”

As I approached the door, I got an idea.

“We’ll ambush the pony when they enter the building. Two of you stay here, go in each stairwell. Stay just out of sight and wait. The rest, follow me.”

With that said, I pushed open one of the doors and lit up an illumination spell. A soft white orb materialized at the end of my horn and cast out enough light for me to see the majority of the room I was entering. It was two-floored, with the second floor being almost like a balcony that ringed the room. It was large and rectangular, extending far back. Finally, it was filled with debris and rubble. Blown out windows let some light in, but mostly the room was dark. It was also just as empty as the previous room. Despite this, from the general layout and the pattern of debris on the ground, I managed to figure out what we were standing in.

“Any ideas where we are, sir?” One asked.

“A library. Everything on the side seems to have rotted away, but this was one massive library once.”

“A library? In here?”

“A library. Now, I’m going to keep talking. Line up by the door and spring the trap when you hear them enter.” I began walking across the room, “Nothing seems to be left. If this Hive had books, it sure as hell doesn’t have them any more. So why was I lead here…?”

My hooves crunched on small glass fragments from the windows, indicating that they had been blown inwards. When I got halfway across the room, I felt another vibration in my Weave. This time, it was stronger. The stirring came from ahead of me, from a solid wall.

“A secret door, eh? Good thing I’ve got a key!”

I reached out with my telekinesis and ripped the entire section of the wall off around where I felt the disturbance. I was in darkness for a brief moment as I stopped casting the light spell to use levitation. Though I was only in the darkness for five seconds at most, I got the distinct feeling that I wasn’t alone. When I brought the light back, the feeling went away.

‘Hahaha, awesome! That wasn’t disturbing in the slightest. On the bright side, that should be enough noise to entice the pony into coming inside.’

Sections of the wall started to collapse as its structural integrity was literally ripped to pieces, however there was an opening beyond. It looks to be about the size of a closet, and the opening shimmered blue. A shield was enveloping the secret room I had opened up.

‘Shame I don’t have God-Splitter. So, a secret room in a library. Not going to question why it's here, considering there was a vault within a vault back at the Fourth Hive...’

I approached the shielded opening and saw that through it, a small bookshelf occupied the back wall. There were tomes, about six of them. From what I could make out through the shield, they weren’t written in Equish. I pressed a hoof against the shield but there was no response.

‘A library within a library. I’m sensing a pattern here. I really hope I’m not supposed to cut myself here to open this shield.’

“Open Sesame?” I asked quietly over my Weave.

Surprisingly, the shield collapsed, letting me access the books.

“Oh.”

‘So this was created by a royal, for access only for royals. Not sure why it's in a library, but maybe the contents of the books will explain that.’

I slowly lifted a book out from the shelf using my magic. When I removed the book, a spike immediately shot out from the ceiling above. Had I been inside, I would have been impaled through the withers.

“What the hell?!” I yelled as I jumped back. “In a public library?!”

‘Spike traps, hidden rooms, things in the dark, Ascension, infection, missing bodies. Maybe I should get that armor and get out as soon as possible. Yeah, that… that sounds like a better plan.’

I pulled all the books off the shelves and levitated them out of the secret room. No further traps activated, so I set them down on the ground in front of me and scanned each one. Aside from what seemed like durability enchantments, I detected nothing from the books

‘Well then… that happened. Why was there a trap within a room that apparently can only be accessed by royals?’

I slowly lifted each one, inspected them, then placed them into my saddlebags. Each book had a title written in a language I had first seen in the Vault and Ascension Chamber back at the Fourth Hive. Once I got back to Manehattan, I would have to see if any changelings knew the language, and if I could learn it. Learning the hieroglyphics language would also be useful.

There was a loud crash and yelling from behind me, where the changelings were waiting by the lobby. I immediately galloped over, sending pieces of rubble flying as I nearly flew through the room. The changelings had barged through the door ahead and were yelling commands. I jumped over a small pile of clutter and skidded to a stop through the doorway.

The changelings had surrounded a yellow pegasus who had sat down and raised her hooves. When I arrived, the changelings quieted down and the pegasus looked me over. I took a moment myself to try to get my nerves back. This place was putting me on edge, and I was breathing heavily.

“Good work everyone,” I applauded over the Weave.

“Gotta admit, that scared the bajeezers outta me,” she said. “That was a good ambush. This place is really something else…”

“Who are you?” I asked her.

“I should ask the same thing. Who are you, and how did you open the door?’

I slowly began to pace around her. She kept her haunches parked on the ground, instead turning her head to track me as I walked.

She was a yellow pegasus wearing a canvas shirt and pith helmet, and had a pleather bag strapped around one shoulder. She also had a five-tone mane and tail, something I had never seen before. Fittingly, her Cutie Mark was a compass rose.

‘Definitely one of those archeologists. Wait a second, that one Element Bearer had a similar mane. They’ve got to be related somehow...’

“Do you think you're in a position to be asking questions?”

The pegasus chuckled, “I know your type. You love the sound of your own voice, so as long as I keep pestering you with questions, you’ll answer at least a few of them. Who are you, and how did you open the door?”

“Take her bag,” I ordered.

The changeling opposite of us pulled her bag off her shoulder. Then, he backed off and started looking through it.

“Tell us your name pegasus. Refuse to answer our questions, and no one will ever find your body.”

“No one, eh?”

‘Stupid pony terminology.’

“You think there’s only ponies down here? You’re a fool if you think we’re alone. Tell. Us. Your. Name. I don’t have the patience nor time for this, so unless you really do have a death wish, you might want to start being a little more cooperative.”

She gave me a half-grin, “How about a trade? A name for a name. That’s how it’s always done.”

“Always done? You find yourself taken prisoner in underground cities often?”

“Something like that. I am Daring Do, I’m sure you’ve heard of me.”

“... No.”

Daring Do rolled her eyes, “You have now. You must be new to the whole temple-diving business…. If you’re even part of it. What’s your name, and how do you know so much about this place?”

‘I can’t say I’m directly related, as those statues are clearly changelings.’

“Zero.”

“Zero?” She shook her head, “That’s a terrible name. Choose another.”

“Choose another?”

“Yeah, that one’s horseapples. Look, all the best bad guys have cool names. It’s pretty much a requirement.”

‘That was the entire point. Zero is simple and forgettable.’

“Why did you follow us here, Daring Do?”

She folded her forelegs, “New name.”

“What are you, twelve? Do I really need to show you just what situation you’re in?”

“Nothing much in her bag, Zero. Some magical detection equipment and survival gear,” the changeling with the bag announced. “Really seems suited for exploration, not excavation or study.”

“Why did you follow us, Daring Do? Why are you here?”

“I’ll give you a name, then. Nil. If you must know, Nil, I am here to stop you.”

“Zero.” I refrained from showing my annoyance, “Stop me? Pretty sure we got here after you, so how could you be trying to stop us when you didn’t know we were coming?”

“Nil. You’re not the first to do this whole song and dance. Mysterious bad guys show up to ancient temples or ruins, mysterious bad guys rob the place and try to make off with artifacts, Daring Do shows up and stops the bad guys, saving the day. The really weird thing is the whole opening of the temple. That’s our job. How do you know about this place, and how to open it? Are you some kind of cultist?”

‘She is being forthcoming with information. I guess it’s worth my while to humor her.’

“... Ouroboros. If you really do desire a different alias, then you may call me that.”

“That’s better. Ouroboros… Or should I say, King Ouroboros? Heh, that’s right, I caught that. You wouldn’t believe what ponies will let slip when their guard is down. So, King Ouroboros, how do you know so much about a mysterious temple complex that had been sealed for centuries? What is it that you intend on doing here? What exactly are you a king of? Last I checked, there’s no other pony kingdoms.”

“Bind her wings and always keep her in sight, at least two of you,” I commanded nonverbally before answering her question. “Why, we’re here to loot and make off with artifacts, just as you predicted. That, and find out just what felled this ancient kingdom. It seems whatever killed them might still be around, so if I were you, I wouldn’t try to escape. Since you are complying, I suppose I should try to make sure you don’t die.”

‘Can’t split the party and send her up, so it seems we’re taking her with us.’

"Still around? Just what do you mean by that?"

"I mean watch the shadows, pegasus. They're watching right back."

When the drones bound up Daring Do, which she only tested the tightness and did not protest, I told them, “I found what I was looking for in the library. Let’s get back to the path.”

'Now I can add annoying adventurer to the amount of things I have to juggle right now. But better to keep her where I can have my eye on her, than let her loose in this dead city.'

As we left the library and slowly walked over the rubble back to the cleared street, Daring Do mumbled quietly, "Spooky cult, dead underground city, thing in the dark that destroy civilizations... This is going to sell so well."

"Sell well?"

Daring smiled, "I'm on a government contract. Don't you worry your pretty little head about it. Why don't you focus on... whatever cultists think about. The taste of blood? Strange esoteric knowledge? Just what exactly where you looking for in the, as you called it, library of this place?"

"Anything worth finding."

“... You never did answer, what exactly are you a king of?” Daring asked as she casted her gaze around the ceiling of the Third Hive.

“If I were you, I’d be very careful of just how many questions I ask. We can still bind your muzzle, Daring Do. Now, stop pestering me before I decide to start using you as both a shield and a trap checker.”

94- Anubis

Before long, the pyramid– and the statue above it– started to loom over us as we drew closer. If the pyramid was close to four hundred hooves tall, then the statue stretched up to five hundred fifty hooves, easily. That meant the entire thing was roughly the size of the biggest pyramid at Giza.

The statue was so…. Sad. Decrepit. Rotten. I had seen it in its true splendor in the vision; the royal was a faded maroon king. Where once swirling lines of gold, silver, and copper flowed around each other like waves across the statue’s surface, only small glittering specks remained. They used to form intricate shapes across the changeling royal, especially around his face. The only way I could have described it was something like ritual face paint, only painted in the finest of metals and encrusted with hundreds of jewels.

There were still hints of the green, especially on the slopes of the pyramid. As we drew closer, I wondered what material the green metal was. It couldn’t be Adamantium, there was simply too much of it. What else was there?

The rubble around us suddenly gave way to a wide open area that surrounded the pyramid complex. What was once the beating heart of an entire civilization now lay dead and cold, an artery that circled an unbeating heart.

In its heyday, it was the central plaza of the Third Hive. If there was commerce, then it would have taken place here. If there were gatherings, rituals, ceremonies, or even recreational activities, this would have been the prime place for them. It was the center of ancient changeling society, quite literally so.

We found it to not be empty. We immediately wished it was.

“Red flag after red flag,” I whispered, trying to understand what I was looking at.

Daring Do was at a loss for words, “That’s… uh… those are changelings, alright. But… what…”

“Hey boss,” One said, “I think we found the bodies.”

Thousands of changeling skeletons circled the pyramid on the open plaza. Some were little more than loosely arranged bones, with the majority of the skeleton missing. Many were completely intact. I even spied more than a fair share of what had to be some sort of elite guard, maybe beyond that of the Royal Guards that Officer Mosquito was part of. They wore crumbling armor, their helmets fashioned like the faces of wolves.

All of the skeletons were facing the pyramid, laying down on what once was their stomachs. They formed five concentric circles, each equally spaced from the next. From the size of the plaza alone, that meant there were thousands of skeletons here.

The group stopped before the skeletons. None of us dared to even cast detection spells; we just simply kept back and talked quietly.

“They were placed here after they died,” I noted. “Underneath those few over there, the material that covers the stone seems to have been violently stripped away, like a fireball hit that spot. However, only some of those skeletons are charred. All over the place, I see skeletons that are missing the majority of their body. They would not have been able to come here by themselves.”

“Somepony moved them?” Daring asked. “Who? Why? Do… do you know anything about this?”

“Sickness of the mind,” I wondered. “Something happened with an Ascension ritual. The former ruler looked… corrupted.” Daring looked at me strangely, “Visions, Daring Do. Visions. The ruler of this place got corrupted by something, and he– it brought the whole place down with it.”

‘I probably shouldn’t tell her this, but if this knowledge stops her from escaping then going around pressing buttons and poking dead bodies, the less problems she can create for me. She needs to understand just how out of her depth she is.’

“Visions? Do you… normally receive visions? Like when you eat dinner, do you suddenly see dead cities or something?”

I glared at her.

“... I’ll take that as a no, then. Well, I have to say, I did not expect a dead temple-city of changelings. Are you some kind of… changeling king?”

“Do I look like a changeling king to you?”

“No? Isn’t that their whole shtick? You know, not looking like themselves?”

I shrugged, “If you say so.”

Something pulled my attention back to the pyramid, “Something’s inside there. What we’re after… and more.”

“How can you tell?” She asked me, also looking at the pyramid.

“... Some things can’t be explained.”

“If you’re not a changeling, then how are you so connected to this place? I just don’t see any other reason. It makes sense that only a changeling could open this place– especially if you’re one of their kings or queens.”

“You think if somepony’s acting strange, then they can only be a changeling? Have you ever even seen any other species other than ponies? There’s a whole world beyond Equestria, Daring Do. Though a pony I may be, I have seen things you wouldn’t believe. Now, I don’t have the patience nor inclination to keep answering your questions. So unless you have something useful to say– like pointing out a trap or strange sound, then be quiet.”

“... What exactly are you looking for?”

Daring Do was certainly puzzled. She wasn’t really afraid of us. Nor angry. Just…. Confused.

“Something particularly shiny. And, if I’m feeling particularly foolish, the answer to the question we’re all asking ourselves.”

I tasted a sliver of fear as it worked its way into Daring’s mind, “What happened here?”

‘I don’t like this. Not one bit. I need to free up resources. I need everyone as focused on our surroundings as possible. I need Daring Do to not do something stupid. Better yet, I need the changelings keeping an eye on her…’

I stepped over to Daring Do and stared her in the eyes, “Daring Do. The last thing I need right now is dead weight that we have to keep an eye on. You seem to be smarter than most ponies, so I’m going to cut you a deal. I cut you loose, and you stay close and don’t do anything stupid. I don’t want you running off and awakening some ancient evil– that’s my job. I don’t want you backstabbing us at the worst time to get an opportunity to escape. I’m going to remove the bindings on your wings. You get a much better chance at surviving if we are attacked, and we don’t have to worry about watching over you. Deal?”

Her eyes flicked to the rope on her wings for just an instant, “... Deal.” Daring Do flexed her wings and the rope binding her fell off her back and flopped to the ground. “Ah, that’s better…. What? Of course I was trying to escape. You think I’m some kind of amateur who waits till the last moment to break free?”

I sighed, “Smarter than most ponies. Still, we have a deal.”

She smiled, “Glad to hear you’re a stallion of your word. Speaking of stallion, we skip ahead to my, or your, inevitable betrayal. If you are a changeling, then I can’t let you leave with magical artifacts. My boss would have my flank if I let that happen! And believe me, they always know. If you aren’t a changeling, then I can’t let you leave with magical artifacts. This is without a doubt the biggest archeological find in the history of… archeology! I can’t allow strange cultists to make off with pieces of ancient magic!”

‘I could just mind control you to force you to allow me to walk away with whatever I want. Better to keep that as plan B, though.’

I sighed, “You really want to do this?”

“No, I really don’t want to be doing this. The whole back and forth monologuing and backstabbing can be added in post, if I decide I want to keep that detail. I’m bringing it up now because that’s an issue that stops this whole temporary alliance thing. I can’t let you leave with artifacts, full stop.”

‘Why does she need monologing in her reports? What– nevermind, that’s not important.’

“You can’t let me leave, because either I’m robbing a cultural site of its important pieces of history…” Daring nodded. “... Or because I’m a changeling, and letting me have these items is aiding the war enemy.” She nodded again. “What if you just don’t tell your bosses?”

“As I said, they find out these things! There’s no way I could get away with it, even if I wanted to.”

“What if… I said I have backing within Division-P myself?”

Daring froze, “Division…. I’d say that’s a load of horseapples.”

“Backing from way high up….”

She shook her head, “Lying to me is pointless. I know you can’t have approval, because if you did, I would know!”

“Unless there are internal disputes within Division-P…”

“What are you talking about?”

I rolled a hoof, “Listen. You’re reporting to Division-P, right? Whether by choice or otherwise, you have to report to them. What if you give your report not to your direct supervisor or handler, but instead to my backer?”

“Shadiness aside, how would that even work? Unless your backer is Princess Daybreaker herself– in which case, we wouldn’t even be having this argument, then there’s no way I would walk away from this with my hide intact– again, if I wanted to let you go. Which I don’t.”

‘Mind control is looking more and more tempting.’

“And if I did have the Princess’s backing?”

“You don’t.”

“I do, actually.”

She rolled her eyes and huffed, “I would have been notified that somepony with clearance higher than mine would be in the area.”

“I don’t exactly work in the open, you know. More of a… contractor.”

“P doesn’t do contractors. They’re not S.M.I.L.E. anymore. So again, you’re clearly lying to me.”

“You’re thinking about this all wrong, Daring Do. After all, there’s more than one hoof involved in the leadership of Division-P.”

Daring blinked, “The director– no, you said a princess. Princess Cadence? Ha! You, you really think I’ll believe that? Princess Cadence has absolutely nothing to do with the day to day runnings of P, much less handle agents.”

I looked around us. Our quiet conversation did not wake the dead, thankfully. There really wasn’t a better place to have this argument, and unless we backtracked a ways, there was no point in moving elsewhere.

‘Arguing politics in a graveyard in a dead city, ain't this just dandy.’

I sighed, “I know. In fact, she is looking to change that. She’s no longer content with being shoved into an office, and she’s taking a more hooves-on approach. That means she’s looking into just what exactly is going on in Division-P. You think pissing off your supervisors is bad? Do you really want to try to go up against a Princess of Equestria?”

Daring scoffed, “The blood cultist is telling me, halfway across Equestria, down in the middle of an underground city, that he actually works for one of the Princesses. You expect me to believe you?”

“I expect you to watch your own back and cover your own flank. You do not want to be on Princess Cadence’s bad side right now.”

“It’s Princess Cadence, she doesn’t have a bad side.”

“She does when she discovers the manufacture and use of bomb collars right under her nose. She does when she learns about torturing prisoners and threatening to kill them. She does when everypony makes a mockery of her and her authority, right in front of her.”

Daring Do blinked, “Bomb collars? Torture? What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about an internal shakedown. Every level of Division-P is being looked at. Every action is under scrutiny. You think the Princess of Love doesn’t have a bad side? What reaction do you think she had when she learned about all this? You think she just shrugged it off? Forgot about it? Asked politely for Division-P to stop? She’s in charge of Division-P, and she’s the Princess of Love. She might not have had a bad side before all of this, but war brings out the worst in ponies. I’ll say it again, you do not want to be on the wrong side of things here.”

Daring thought about that for a moment. She frowned, rubbed the back of her neck, grunted quietly,

“How am I supposed to believe any of this?”

“I don’t have any proof, any identification, if that’s what you're asking. You’ll just have to trust me.”

“Trust you…. Fine, let’s pretend you do work for Princess Cadence. Why would you be unsealing a temple in the middle of the jungle using blood magic? Why would you be here, looting a sealed, ancient city?”

“The war’s not over, Daring Do. For it to end, we need everything we can get our hooves on.”

“Why do you think they press-ganged me? Now you’re claiming to be my role!”

“Except I work directly for Princess Cadence. She doesn’t trust the Division anymore. You shouldn’t either.”

“.... No.”

“No?”

“No. I don’t buy it. It’s one lie after another, all hinging on me trusting you. I don’t. I saw what you did to my actual colleagues. You’re not somepony Princess Cadence would hire, let alone trust. You hurt ponies, just because you can. You’re involved with this,” she waved a hoof around, “creepy city and its magic and its death. You almost had me fooled, but I know Princess Cadence would never associate with somepony like you.”

I worked my jaw, suppressing a sneer.

‘So much for the truth. As much of it as I’m willing to say, at least.’

“I can see there’s no convincing you.”

“That’s right, I don’t believe you. Besides, I work alone. Don’t trust you. Don’t trust anypony, really.”

“... Now what?” I growled.

“Now we decide how we want to fight.”

It was my turn to scoff, “How about five on one, with us having ranged attacks on you, and you not even having your pack?”

“I’ve survived worse. Easy odds, I’d say.”

I glared at her, and she glared right back.

‘Wasting my time. All she did was waste my time and make me reveal information. I was so close to getting a potential ally, maybe even one that I could use after Daybreaker is ousted. Now we have to do things the hard way.’

“On my mark,” I commanded through the Weave, “get ready to attack.”

“Smart pony. Too smart for your own good, as it turns out. You’re really overthinking this, and now things are going to get ugly.”

“Is that so, King Ouroboros? I have to say, I don’t think changelings do all that well in the beauty department, so I’d say this was all ugly to begin with.”

‘Time for plan B.’

“Sir?” One whispered.

I bared my teeth, “If that’s really how you want to play this, then this is how we’ll fight. I attack. You lose. I then decide whether or not you die here. Is that what you want?”

“You head honchos all think you’re hot horseapples, you know that? I’ve been kicking flank like yours for decades, buddy. Four unicorns and one earth pony? I can take you all with my eyes closed! But really though, I’m up against five changelings. Considering the E.U.P. has been kicking your flanks all the way out of Equestria and out into some barren desert, I think I can handle five of ya on my own juuuust fine.”

“I’ll be a distraction. You all cast stun spells, be sure to watch your aim and make sure you’re not hitting friendlies.”

“Sir!” One begged.

“Pride comes before the fall, pony. You think–.”

“Sir!” One yelled.

“What is it, One? Kinda in the middle of something here!”

“Look around you, sir!”

I broke away from Daring Do to look at what One was freaking out about. Thirty of the closest skeletons had turned their skulls and were now facing us. Inky black liquid was slowly dripping from their mouths, and some tinted red liquid was pooled into orbs in their eye sockets. We all turned away from Daring Do to face the skeletons, who were now starting to awaken fully. The black liquid oozing from their jaws began to seep backwards, down their spines– if they still possessed them– and into the rest of their skeletal bodies.

“Your Weave, sir,” One whispered harshly. “They started awakening when you spoke over it!”

"... She started it."

95- Dagda

A gust of wind made us all stumble back as Daring Do practically vanished with a single powerful flap of her wings.

I bit back a curse at the fact that she slipped away while we were distracted by the awakening horde, and instead briefly watched her flight path. It became immediately clear that Daring Do was heading towards the pyramid, not the exit.

“We have to follow her!”

“Uh, the skeletons are that way?” Two pointed out, literally pointing at the skeletons. More were beginning to awaken. Those closest to us were also starting to rise up to their hooves.

“It’s forward or backwards, and we still haven’t gotten what we came here for. Move! Move!”

At my urging, we started to gallop through the ranks of rising undead and towards the temple proper. By now, half of the skeletons in view were beginning to awaken, the dark black substance rapidly materializing in their forms.

“Maybe they’re nice skeletons?” Four suggested.

“You wanna find out?” One asked. “Go ahead and hug one. We won’t be waiting for you!”

I kept my eye on Daring Do. She was soaring lazily, clearly content with her own safety far above the undead horde. I was half tempted to send some spells her way, but I decided to keep her not paralyzed. She could potentially lead us to a way inside, as long as we kept her in our sight.

Quickly, we cleared the ranks of skeletons without issue and arrived at the base of the pyramid. For all their doom and gloom, the undead constructs were slow to reanimate. That was a fact that I intended to use to the fullest extent.

“Up!” I yelled, and began scaling the pyramid.

Thankfully, in the center of the side of the monument facing us was a set of uncased stairs. On either side, the pyramid was covered in smooth bricks, whereas this section was uncovered. I didn’t question why a race of flying buggos left stairs in their city. Aesthetics, visitors (or captives), transportation of goods on carts, it didn’t matter to me.

I was beginning to consider ordering the shedding of our disguises when the stairs ended abruptly, leveling off at an opened doorway. The twin stone doors were pushed inward, their once beautiful decorative coverings now rotted away and the plain stone facade underneath revealed. I casted a detection spell for anything in particular but got no results. I then dashed inside, spun around, and motioned the other lings to follow.

“They’re climbing!” Three yelled, peering over the edge.

I grabbed him with my magic and pulled him back, “Get inside, we’ll bar the door!”

Just as I pulled Three back from the ledge– and the others joined me on the other side of the doorway, two skeletons shot up into the air and hovered in front of the pyramid, level with the door. There were two massive jets of the black ink jutting out from their shoulders blades, forming liquid wings which beat rapidly. The oval liquid wings fragmented as I watched, but always reformed and kept the skeletons somehow in the air.

Then, they lunged at the door.

I blasted them with a concussion wave, intending on shattering their skeletal bodies. However, the wave of compressed magic dissipated when it reached their forms, and fragmented into small ripples of energy.

One yelled from right next to me, “Shut the door!”

I then summoned an ice spear and hurled it at the skeleton on the left. It began to melt as it got close, but the majority of the spear impacted the changeling skeleton in the chest. Bone was shattered and a spray of black ichor coated the ground beneath its halted form.

But it stayed airborne.

The massive hole in its chest was slowly covered up by black liquid as the changeling recorrected it course and restarted its dive towards us. I began to summon a similar spear of ice to impale the other skeleton but stopped when its horn became coated in the black liquid and spewed forth a jet of black fire. I dropped the spell matrix and switched to a shield one. Two and Three also brought up shields, while One and Four were busy pushing the stone doors shut.

When the stream of black fire impacted my shield, it bounced off and spewed downwards onto the ground, but not before making me gasp in pain. Normally, it would take quite a lot to directly hurt the caster, to the point where either the shield would collapse or the caster would. However, despite being well within limits that I could maintain for potentially days on end, the spellfire felt like shards of glass being scraped against my horn. It hurt.

The doors were slammed shut and I dropped the shield, my right leg falling to the knee and my head bowed. Three and Four immediately began melting the stone, sealing the door shut.

“Zero– Oro– oh fuck it, are you alright Your Majesty?” One asked me.

“Pain,” I wheezed.

Two rushed over to my side and tried to help me up.

“I can walk, damn it! Give me a moment!”

The doors buckled and thin cracks began appearing. The changelings paused, looking at the door.

“We might not have a moment, Your Majesty,” One pointed out.

“Gah! Fine!”

I accepted two’s help, putting my right leg over his withers and leaned partially into him. Despite the fact that my right leg wasn’t injured, I had felt fatigued from the pain. It was like I ran a marathon; I was panting heavily, sweating, and limping from my still recovering leg. The thin line of formerly-cracked chitin was flaring up in pain.

“The door won’t hold them for long. Maybe five minutes at most,” Two analyzed.

“Then we’d better be long gone by then. Come on, the only way is further deeper into the temple. Everyone, stay close.”

We began to trot down the hallway, which was eerily similar to the entrance to the city. Perhaps once it was different, with paintings and other decorations, but anything organic had rotten away centuries ago. As we left the entrance behind, the loud thuds of the skeletons slamming whatever foul magic they were using against the door faded into distant echoes. I calmed down and recovered enough to walk by myself, as well as think about what just happened.

“Those undead, they really packed a punch. A single spell brought me to my knees, Panar dammit!”

“If those things are what killed the city, then nothing less would suffice. Changelings are quite capable of offensive magic, after all. You’d need to be something strong or nasty to turn that against us,” One said.

Four nodded, “I think we’re really in it now. Those skeletons will be crawling all over the temple, looking for ways in, I bet. The only way out will be fighting.”

I sighed, “Drop the disguises– remember to take off your bags– and get ready, then. We’re going to need every advantage we can get if two of them can do so much damage. Flight, magic, everything. Daring Do is already convinced we’re changelings anyways. If she sees me, fine, I’ll just erase her memories. If not, then her window of opportunity to report my survival is rapidly closing. I can just tell Princess Cadence to block or bury her report, anyways.”

We each took off our saddlebags, dropped our disguises, and then put the bags back on.

“There’s something else,” I muttered, “The changeling royals. The ones that survived and fought, probably only Prince Carotid, would have to have died somehow. Someone with decades of experience, geared to the nines, and willing to die for their cause. If I had God-Splitter, then I’d be making short work of those monstrosities. That Prince had a much better chance against them than I do right now, yet he still had to have died. There must be something else. Maybe the Prophet himself came down and killed the Prince.”

“What are you saying, sir?” Two asked.

“I’m saying there’s going to be a boss fight. There just has to be. Something killed the Prince, and there’s no doubt that it’s going to wake up, if it hasn’t already.”

We came upon a three way intersection, with the left going down in a staircase, the middle going straight, and the right going up in a staircase. There was no sign of which direction Daring Do chose. The changelings looked to me, and I began to feel out each direction.

“The left,” I said immediately. There was something there, something bright.

We descended the staircase and ended up in a large room with many passageways leading out of it. Many of the passageways were blocked by doors, though many doors were blown to bits. The contents of the room had long since been destroyed, either by time or by whatever went rampaging through this place. A hanging chain on the ceiling and pile of unidentifiable scrap on the ground indicated that there once was a chandelier. A miserable pile of stone bricks at the far wall suggested the presence of a grand fireplace.

But no changeling Prince, nor escaped pegasus.

“Uh… There! That far door!” I pointed to one in the corner.

The pull was stronger now. So strong that it almost hid the fact that I was feeling two pulls. One led to that doorway, and the other led straight above me. The one ahead was stronger, and somehow was more trustworthy. The second one felt quiet and... poisoned.

I flew over the rubble-strewn room and through the doorway. Instead of another hallway, the doorway led to a large room that was actually intact enough to identify what it was once used for. That wasn’t to say that it was in any good condition at all. No, it was the epicenter of what was the final death throes of the Third Hive.

In what was once the Hive’s armory, Prince Carotid lay crumpled at the far end of the room. The metal bars that separated the armory from its entrance were mostly torn off, as were the metal racks that still held rusted and dented weapons. In a straight line from the door to Carotid’s armored skeleton was a path of destruction; the stone tiles were ripped up and ripped out, the weapon racks were wrecked and thrown to the side, and fragments of metal and bone littered the ground.

‘Prince Carotid did not die without a fight.’

There were two more details that failed to escape my notice. First, corruption. In a circle around the Prince’s skeleton, the tiles shone in a clean tone, likely as clean as they were when the Hive was still occupied. It made me wonder just how deteriorated the building was, or if the corruption that leaked from the skeletons had also done something to weather the structure of the Hive itself. What was more curious was the fact that the destruction that led up to the Prince halted suddenly at the edge of the circle.

‘Evidence that he had a shield up?’

Second, there were whispers coming from Prince Carotid.

“Another vision,” I whispered.

I flew over the trail of destruction that led to the Prince’s corpse, and I admired the armor. After all this time, it still shone in the soft blue light of the enchanted gems that lit up the room. It was far from the smooth armor that equestrians used, instead calling to the art of insect-like jagged pieces that changelings preferred. The jagged pieces looked almost like they were harvested from some great metal dragon. An empty gem slot sat on the front of the helmet.

And it sang. The enchantments not only still persisted after all this time, like whatever kept the lights on, but held their original strength. I wasn’t nearly skilled enough in enchantment to understand just what was held within the adamantium armor, but I knew it was powerful. So powerful that it made my peytral look like a tin can, haphazardly and amateurishly hammered into shape. It was far closer to God-Splitter than my peytral in terms of power and importance.

“Seal the door, and blockade it as much as possible. I’m going into the vision.”

I reached out and brushed the lower jaw of Carotid’s skeleton.

The world faded away.

Prince Carotid and I watched Queen Millipede vanish into the crowd. Once more, I was watching everything from a first person perspective, the lines between me and the owner of the body being blurred. Some of his thoughts leaked into my own, from suspicion, to thoughts, to bits of knowledge.

“Valkyries!” I yelled out.

Ahead, from the entrance to the city, four changelings in silver armor and wielding extremely long spears flew out and hovered above the crowd. Their two-piece, long red capes that draped off their back fluttered in the wind their wings produced as they hovered, nearly half of the length of their elongated spears.

“Begin your scans from here! We must buy as much time as possible!”

“At once, Your Holiness!” All four said simultaneously. Then, they spaced out and began projecting green beams down into the crowd, locking onto changelings at random, staying for a second, then flicking to another changeling.

‘They were looking for signs of infection.’

I turned away from the Valkyries and scanned the crowd myself. The first signs of the crowd thinning were beginning to show. Whether that was the fact that all changelings that could escape already had or if there was something now cutting off the escape, it was impossible to tell.

I gave a glance back at the Valkyries. Carotid clearly wanted to leave, to go to the front lines and fight the infection himself.

One of the green beams the Valkyries was projecting suddenly turned red, and the Valkyrie immediately thrust the extremely long spear into the light. A changeling was hoisted out, impaled on the spear. As red blood dripped from the impalement, a bit of black mixed into the blood.

The changeling was screaming.

“Infection!” The Valkyrie called out.

A second Valkyrie came over and with a massive exhale, scorched the still-living impaled changeling in an intense beam of superheated fire. The screams died away, and eventually the Valkyrie stopped burning the corpse. With a flick, the first Valkyrie hurled the burnt carcass into the pit behind her, where the water was flowing into.

“Well in hoof,” I muttered.

I turned back to the city. Somehow, it seemed like the half of the city behind the pyramid was somehow… darker.

The distant screams that permeated throughout the air were growing louder. The infection proper was getting closer. The front line was getting closer.

Death was coming.

“Something must be done. Valkyries! Stall the infection as long as you can! May Panar welcome you upon your deaths!”

Without waiting for a reply, Prince Carotid and I took off from above the fleeing changelings.

“Panar guide my aim,” I said as I began to fly to the pyramid. “Let your will be my own. Let your desires guide my mind. Panar, lend me your strength, so that I might seal this infection, and save our species.”

As Carotid flew, I grabbed onto his train of thought and held tight as it sped on at breakneck speeds.

‘The infection must be stopped. The Prophet is lost. The Hive is lost. The infection must be stopped. How? A spell. Something to cleanse the infection. Sparing the survivors or not, it didn’t matter. The infection must be stopped. Something went wrong with the last Ascension ritual. The Prophet has fallen. I must cleanse this city in holy fire. That is the only way.’

I briefly glanced up at the sun which hung in its suspension and containment rings above the statue of the Prophet.

‘The sun. A perfect catalyst for the cleansing spell. Panar’s Fury has shown effectiveness against the disease. Faith, as always, is the perfect weapon against taint. I must retrieve Moth’s Illumination and use it to channel the spell into the sun. Moth’s Illumination… should still be in the armory.’

I narrowed my body as I rapidly approached the entrance to the temple-pyramid, flattening myself out as much as possible. Carotid had no intention of slowing down.

‘The Prophet is lost. The Hive is lost. I am lost. Hope is not lost. Panar guide me, and I will repay your trust a thousand fold. The ancient infection shall at last be sealed. No more Hives shall fall.’

I blasted open the twin doors to the temple, stripping away their painted facade before I could even really see it, and zipped through the hallway at impossible speeds. If Carotid had not memorized every single bend, every single straightaway, and every single intersection, he would have ended up as a bloodstain on a wall or ceiling or floor along the way.

Instead, he tore through hallways and through the third Divine Acquiescence room in a blur of speed. The room, which already was in a chaotic state, had its chairs, sofas, and tables thrown up into the air in the wake of the Prince’s speed. It was only once he blasted open the final door did Prince Carotid finally let his speed bleed away.

The armory still possessed most of its weapons. The Valkyries’ racks on the left wall being the most empty out of all. Yet it was the Valkyries’ weapons out of all that would see the least use. Four survivors. The rest were with the Prophet, curse his lack of vigilance. The Royal Guard were holding the line as best as they could, but they would die soon enough, if they still lived.

My eyes rested on the weapon racks on the far back wall. Each one contained slots for only one weapon each, and each rack was custom built for said weapon. Each rack was empty, as their designated Prince or Princess almost always kept said weapon with them at all times. The only rack that was occupied was Prince Carotid’s. The Staff of Moth’s Illumination lay bound up in an adamantium chain, the hexagonal lock emblazoned with a glowing red rune.

Prince Carotid sent a silent prayer of thanks to Panar that he was chosen to be the Illuminator of the Hive, and had been bestowed both The Staff of Moth’s Illumination as well as Unbroken Radiance. It was thanks to his armor, Unbroken Radiance, that he has lived long enough to carry out his duty. It was thanks to The Staff that he could carry out his duty in the first place.

With an unlocking spell taught to him by The Prophet himself, he undid the adamantium lock and pulled Moth’s Illumination from its socket. As he did so, he felt a low rumble shack the entirety of the Temple.

‘Ah. The Prophet has noticed my arrival. It matters not. It will take him moments to travel down from the High Alter to here. Moments that will be his end.’

I placed the staff in front of me, tip pointing up. It was a gnarled wooden branch, utterly simple in its design. It needed no jewels, no gold linings, no adamantium plating carved every inch in runes and blessings and prayers.

It was Moth’s Illumination, and it would burn away the darkness.

Carotid began casting a spell that I did not recognize. It was complex, like a picture created from two dozen circles and lines entwined with each other. However, since I was also casting it, the spell’s form itself was being practically burned into my memory.

‘Huh. That’s extremely useful. Like, ridiculously so. I have immediately gained a spell that is effective against those infected skeletons, and against whatever else is thrown my way. Knock on wood….’

Something tore through the room beyond the armory. Something big, mad, evil, and mad. Twice mad, that’s how mad it was. A black blur then ripped through the armory, slamming into an invisible bubble around me. Moth’s Illumination briefly glowed brighter, but held strong. My mouth began moving, quietly making words to what I assumed to be a prayer that Carotid was saying wordlessly, as he concentrated on this Panar’s Fury spell.

The black blur, now a black cloud of vapor, enveloped the shield. I felt and heard it tearing at the invisible bubble, straining Carotid’s mind. But for every minuscule, equally invisible tear the black amorphous mass made, glowing yellow light from the staff shot out, burning the cloud and forcing it to retreat from the invisible shield long enough for the staff to repair the shield.

Carotid coughed, splattering blood onto Moth’s Illumination. Whatever spell he was casting, multicasting it along with holding the shield was far more than what he was actually capable of. Carotid was dying, rapidly burning through his own body as he worked to repair the shield, cast the spell, and pray to Panar.

“My Prince, lower the barrier,” the black cloud whispered. “This is foolish. You do not need to burn up here. Join me, Ascend. True immortality is within reach. If. You’d. Just. Surrender!” The monster accompanied each last word with a gouge into the shield.

With one final effort of will, Carotid lifted the staff off the ground and slammed it back down. The darkness was chased away for a brief moment, long enough for Carotid to aim the staff at the ceiling and shoot out a thick beam of light red energy through the stone roof.

‘The sun shall channel Panar’s Fury, and burn away the darkness. If it cannot, then at least it shall seal this city as its final tomb.’

The black cloud hissed in pain, condensing itself into a single shape outside of my view. I collapsed onto the ground, my back against the wall, my eyes glued to the ground. Blood freely flowed from my muzzle, pooling onto the stone ground between my legs.

The condensed form approached, stopped just out of my view. It stood there, silently looking at me. I could feel its gaze boring into me.

I weakly coughed, “It’s over. This place shall be our tomb, together.”

A jet black hoof, wreathed in smoke came into view and lifted my head up. The changeling it was connected to was mostly obscured by smoke, but I knew it was the Prophet.

“My Prince, this is your tomb, not mine. You throw your life away for nothing. I have Ascended beyond Ascension. No death is absolute for me, anymore. I am finally the apex predator we always claimed to be. Die now, my son. Everything you have fought for is lost.”

The hoof retreated from its position beneath my muzzle, letting my head drop. But not before I spied two dark green slitted eyes staring back. As the puddle of blood grew in size, I chuckled weakly.

“No. It is you who are lost. Fear not, My Prophet. I have cleansed your sins, despite your failings. This nightmare ends here, in the Third Hive. No more changelings shall fall to the Scourge. No more royals shall have to Ascend to keep the plague at bay. No more shall we fear the night and the darkness it brings. The chain is broken. The Fourth Hive will be pure.”

The Prophet growled, “I will hunt the survivors, just as we always have. There is no escape. That should have been obvious by now.”

“You have seconds at most. This place shall become your tomb. Panar’s Fury will cleanse you. Embrace… the… light.” I wheezed the last words, my voice growing weaker as the blood pouring from my mouth and nostrils intensified.

“No! You have failed! I can undo the spell! I am the one who shall consume the sun!” The Prophet declared, far more to himself than to his dying son. I watched the staff of Moth’s Illumination vanish from sight as The Prophet left the room.

“Goodbye… father....”

96- In The Hall Of The Mountain King

“– up now! Your Majesty, please! If you were hoping to wake up at the last second, now is the time!”

One’s voice slowly rose from the blackness. I blinked my eyes open and looked up at One. He was very afraid, looking down at me as I lay on the floor.

“One?”

“Finally! Come on sir, we need you!”

The room shook.

“Ugh… what?”

He pulled me up to my hooves and steadied myself against him.

“The door, sir! They’re breaking through!”

“Ah. The door. Okay, I can… ergh. I can put the armor on after. The door…”

“This way, sir!” He yelled over a violent thud that shook the room, and started walking forward. Since I was still leaning on him and waking up, I was more or less pulled along with him.

The other three changelings were rapidly throwing the remains of the armory against the door and melting the thin metal to form a makeshift barrier. Just as quickly, two black-covered shapes beyond were tearing through the door and barricade.

“Alright, alright. ‘M awake… Let’s kill these fools. I’ve got a new spell just for the job. Good thing, too. I don’t think any written form of it would have survived after all these–”

“Sir! Just kill them!”

“Okay!”

The changelings backed up as one of the monsters ripped off a chunk of the door. The remaining structure collapsed under the intensity of the attack. I recalled the spell that was burned into my memory, Panar’s Fury, and began to compile its thaumic components through my horn.

“They’re breaking through!” Two yelled, pointing out the obvious.

“One moment…”

The monsters were now ripping apart the makeshift barricade that the changelings had hastily constructed out of the racks. The monsters, two changeling skeletons in stained-black silver armor, were splattering black goo on the walls, ceiling, and floor around them as they ripped out pieces using their goo-covered hooves.

Then they got the bright idea of stopping using their hooves, and instead switching back to spells. I watched their boney, curved horns glow black as they charged a spell. Before they could release whatever fresh hell they were stewing in their misbegotten manapools, I unleashed my own spell.

Panar’s Fury blasted out from my horn with an electronic-sounding CLASH. The red bolt of energy tore through the left skeleton, violently ripping apart its skull head and dissolving all of the black matter that covered the skeleton, from its horn to his hooves. The skeleton collapsed quietly into a pile of bones.

“That’s not what happened in the–”

A green shield fizzled into life in front of me, just in time to take a bolt of black plasma fired from the surviving skeleton. I heard a changeling scream out in pain as the shield immediately dropped. Wasting no time, I fired another bolt using the spell matrix I had already mentally constructed. The surviving skeleton survived no more, and I put two extra shots into each skeleton for good measure. The black goo residue left on the wall slowly began to shrink and burn away in an invisible fire.

I turned my attention to the injured changeling. One was on the ground, clutching his horn and writhing in pain. Two and Three were looking over him, taking turns casting magical detection spells and scanning arrays. Four kept his eyes on the door.

“Aorta, are you alright?”

“By the Nine, it hurts!” He groaned.

“You’ll be fine. I promise. The pain lets you know that you’re not dead. Help him to his hooves, and keep watching the door while I put on Unbroken Radiance, the armor we came here for.”

I did not actually know if he would be fine in the end. I was a royal, and this infection seemed to treat me specially. Whether that meant I was more resistant to it, or less, I couldn’t tell. All I could hope– could pray– was that One would be alright, and that this infection wasn’t spread by magic.

I retreated to the back of the room and carefully extracted Unbroken Radiance from Prince Carotid’s body. His remains tumbled out of the adamantium carapace, like two skeletons dancing on a tin roof.

‘Dancing? Or was it– ah, nevermind.’

I flipped the helmet around and put it on first. Then the barrel piece, and finally the boots. Overall, the armor was a size and a half too large for me. The helmet sagged lower on my head, stopped only by my horn.

Then the entire armor set glowed orange– my orange, and shrunk down to fit me perfectly.

“Oh. That’s… useful. Before I forget, I need you four to take the contents of my saddlebags. They won't fit over or under my armor, and I’d rather not leave my new spooky tomes behind.”

I walked over and levitated my saddlebags over to the rest of the changelings and looked One over.

“How are you feeling, Aorta?”

“Ugh… Like someling just smacked me in the horn and dunked my head in slimy oil. Sir. Ow…”

“No infection, we think,” Two said, preempting my question.

“That’s right, because you’ll be fine. Just stay close to me, and I’ll get us all out of this place alive.”

“We’re leaving, sir?” Four asked. “I think I might hear some movement from the main room, but so far nothing has come our way. Are we going to fight our way out?”

“Y– hmmm…. I think we need to retrieve one more artifact, a branch-stave called Moth’s Illumination. If the infection gets out, or if we ever run into it again, we’re going to need it.”

“Any idea where it is, sir?” Four asked, still looking through the remains of the barricade.

“Wherever the Prophet took it in his final moments.”

“The boss of these monsters, right?” One said between deep breaths. “Are we going towards danger, or away from it?”

“... Probably towards it,” I answered.

One sighed, “You royals always love diving headfirst into action.”

“Panar wouldn’t have given us such thick skulls if we weren’t meant to. Come on, we’ve got a stick to fetch.”

I pulled apart the remains of the barricade while I got used to the armor. My time with the Hooferville Guard had meant that I had some experience with platemail. However, that armor was far more limited in size and protection compared to Unbroken Radiance. This new set of armor was heavier, more magical, and somewhat restrictive in movement. The magic detail was important, as I could feel its enchantments if I concentrated hard enough.

That meant that it could potentially throw me off if I ever tried to cast complex and precise spells, such as teleportation. Not that I would be doing that anyways. Teleportation was hard to master, and usually it left behind anything both magical and nonsapient. There were versions of the teleport spell that could bring everything along, but I suspected from my lack of adamantium peytral that the version I knew, unique in its fiery properties, tended to not play well with adamantium.

With the path cleared, I took my time, shaking each hoof in their guards, rolling my head around in the armor. Sitting in the far end of the exterior room, the Divine Acqui something or other, was a corrupted Valkyrie.

The two skeletons that I had blasted apart must have been their recruit rank, as they bore striking resemblance to the Valkyrie. The main difference being that the now smoking piles of metal and bone were changeling in size, and their armor was simple and sparse.

This Valkyrie was big. It clawed its way across the room slowly, two forward limbs that ended in claws reached out and pulled it forward toward us. The entire thing consisted mostly of the inky black liquid that had flowed around and through all the skeletons we had seen so far. However, whereas with other skeletons we could actually see the skeletons, all that was visible of this one was mere suggestions of changeling anatomy, and pieces of silver armor sticking out of the monster. Its head, three times larger than that of a normal drone, had a hint of silver on the top– the Valkyrie’s helmet. An elongated muzzle of ink opened and closed as it pulled itself closer, dripping buckets of the infection onto the ground beneath its hunched form. Its horn, elongated to three feet long, dragged against the ceiling, ripping out a path of stone as it went.

When I stepped into the room, the ink monster raised its equine-shaped head at me and blinked two glowing red eyes. Then it smiled, showing off teeth that never stayed still and a tongue that lolled out of its mouth– before entirely falling out and being replaced by more of the black goo.

I heard the changelings shuffle up behind me and then immediately run back into the safety of the armory.

“You are one ugly motherfucker, aren’t you? Proper nightmare fuel.” I backed up a pace as a clawed limb landed next to me. “Straight to business, then?”

With a snarl of my own, I summoned the spell matrix of Panar’s Fury, and rained hell on the giant. Scores of its liquid flesh were burned and exploded away as bolts ripped through its body. The giant monster roared in pain as its massive sabre-like horn glowed pitch black, sucking the light from the entire room. I directed a shot at the horn directly, blowing the thing to smithereens, along with the top half of its head.

However, instead of collapsing dead, the monster lifted one of its clawed limbs and smashed it down where I was standing. I lived only thanks to a last second sideways hop, throwing myself onto the ground. As it lifted its ink paw up and back to its side, I saw the head beginning to reform itself.

“Sir! It’s not dead!” Four yelled from behind me.

“I can see that, Four! For some reason, it's not taking its beating sitting down!”

Three more Panar’s Fury bolts ripped into its chest, spraying a waterfall of goo onto the ceiling and wall behind it. The corrupted Valkyrie collapsed onto the ground. However, the head was still reforming. It swiped its closest arm at me, not even lifting it off of the ground as it did so. Half of the room was ripped apart and consumed into the wall of pitch black liquid as it swept forth. I didn’t dare shield or fire at the arm, instead taking to the air.

I was not accustomed to the weight of the armor and as a result, my right hindleg hoof was hit by what would normally be the limb’s wrist. Jet black liquid stained the adamantium boot. The armor glowed orange as the liquid coalesced into veins of the black substance, and the veins immediately started thrashing about.

Hoping that whatever ancient enchantments still in the armor were capable of fighting off the literal infection, I sent forth eight more bolts of holy light into the beast, violently blowing apart the two arms and much of the chest. The Valkyrie finally went limp.

For a moment. Then, the ink that was sprayed across the walls, floor, and ceiling, began to flow back towards the giant’s prone form.

“Boys! Get out of the armory! We need to get to The Prophet, and quick! I don’t think I can keep this thing dead!”

The changelings stepped out from the armory and took to the air immediately, as to not step on the liquid infection that was sprayed all over the room.

I heard One’s voice, “I’m fine! I can fly. Argh, Your Majesty! Where are we supposed to go now?! We don’t even know where the Prophet is!”

“He’s… uh…”

I quickly felt around with my Weave. The primary pull was gone. It had been missing since I had woken up. The secondary pull emanated from the path that ascended upwards.

“The High Altar. It’s literally high up, isn’t it?” I mused aloud. “The Prophet retreated to his throne room, above us. We need to get higher! The right path, go!”

“What about that thing?!” Two asked.

The Valkyrie had begun to reform its chest and arms, the black ink rapidly coarsening into its shape.

“... Bring the ceiling down onto it!” I commanded, but not daring to use the Weave.

As one, all five of us changelings targeted the ceiling of the room with a wide array of spells. Focused Will, various superheated jetstreams of fire, acid, and a fireball tore through the old stonework. The stone had been made soft over the years of carrying the weight of the pyramid above, and was quickly obliterated. Entire sections came crashing down around us, and I retreated to the tunnel that led upwards. The changelings followed me, retreating backwards as they still laid waste to the unfortunate ceiling, which had committed no crime but paid the price all the same.

The black goo was splashed across the room even more now that huge sections of stone were falling inwards. If we had not retreated so early, some of that substance would have landed on us. The last ling was in the hallway out by the time the room caved in completely.

As the dust settled, all that remained of both the corrupted Valkyrie and our only way out was a pile of stone rubble, completely sealing this end of the hallway. Only minute traces of the black corruption was visible in the pile.

‘No time for Ghostbusters quotes, we have a stick to get. And an annoying pony pegasus, if she’s still alive.’

I turned and made my way up the stairs of the passageway, the changelings falling in line behind me. We were heading up the pyramid now, up to the top. As the stairway turned in on itself, cracks became noticeable, and eventually we had to fly above the ground in the relatively confined stairway, as the entire ground had fallen out several hooves and ended in a mass of churned stone.

‘Oops.’

The stairwell eventually ended at what I presumed to be the top of the pyramid. The room was pyramidal shaped, much like the exterior structure, with a raised circular section in the middle. It was not that big for a throne room, maybe thirty hooves wide and long. I imagined that in its heyday, decorative banners and murals hung on the walls such as they do in the Fourth Hive. As it was, the walls were bare except for lines of carved runes. They circled the room in neat bordered lines, mostly limited to the parts of the walls close to the floor. The runes were marred by the large cracks that had defaced the walls, likely my own fault.

Then there was the High Altar itself. I assumed that it was in the center of the raised platform in the room, but I couldn’t tell. Instead, a massive hexagonal crystal that was mostly tinted black occupied the center of the room. It stretched up high, nearly brushing against the ceiling. What was brushing against the ceiling was a crystal extension, this one tinted slightly red. It was clear enough that I could have probably seen Moth’s Illumination inside of it, if not for the fact that Daring Do had just finished chipping away at the crystal and dislodged the staff– still in a thin coating of crystal– and held it triumphantly in the air with a cheer.

“Ha HAA!”

She brandished it upwards, raising it like a sword to the sky. She failed to hear us enter, our wings quietly buzzing, and only noticed our presence when the sharp crack of an electric stunning spell flew from my horn and impacted her in one of her outstretched wings.

Daring Do seized up with a gasp and slowly teetered off the top of the black crystal. Moth’s Illumination fell from her grasp, bounced off the large crystal and fell to the ground. I reached out with my telekinesis as I flew over personally to grab it. My magic bounced off the crystal, and the Moth’s Illumination hit the ground inches in front of my outstretched hooves.

“No!”

Moth’s Illumination shattered into a million pieces, chips of crystal and wood spreading out over the smooth stone floor.

Moments later, Daring Do landed on the ground with a heavy thud, groaning quietly in pain. I sat still on the ground, rewatching the events in my mind. It was like an avalanche of bad decisions, more than half of them mine. I decided to see if I could trust Daring Do. I went with telling the truth. I chose to zap her instead of ordering her to surrender. I caused the staff to be shattered.

I… fucked up.

“Sir?” One asked tentatively.

“It’s gone,” I whispered.

I got up off the ground and looked down at the shattered pieces. Ignoring the twitching pegasus, I brushed together some of the pieces into a small pile. There was no use. The staff was gone. The MacGuffin had been completely obliterated through my own carelessness and idiocy.

“I…”

Three whispered, “That’s not a good sign.”

I looked up and immediately wished I hadn’t. The massive black crystal was beginning to melt like candle wax. It bubbled away and flowed down the semi-transparent surface in rivets of black liquid.

“Grab the pegasus. Get close. Shields at the ready,” I quietly ordered. Half of my mind was still gawking at my own stupidity.

‘I fucked up. I fucked up big time. Oh Panar, I have to make sure we all make it out of here alive. The fancy magic stick is gone. The big bad is waking up. Running is probably pointless and suicidal. Staying is even more suicidal. We don’t even have a good way out, if we wanted to leave.’

“Uh… any ideas?” I asked as I backed up to the group. One of the changelings had levitated Daring Do over and threw her over their back.

“Run?” Two suggested.

“No exit.”

“Make one?”

“That crystal would be melted before then.”

“Shoot the crystal?” Three this time suggested.

“I couldn’t grip the staff using TK. I don’t think our magic will work on the crystals.”

“Nnnngruuuh,” Daring Do moaned.

“Good idea. Let’s save that for plan B, though.”

‘I could teleport out. Leave my men to die, and likely leave the armor behind. Leave my men behind…. No. I don’t think I’m even capable of that. Even now, a moment where if I suggested such an idea, my changelings would all support it, the idiots. They would probably try to prioritize my life.’

I snarled.

‘No. No running. I refuse to leave anyone behind. I refuse to let this place be the death of me.’

“If we have no good ideas,” I began, “then let’s start with the bad ones. Blast out the ceiling; we’re making our own exit. Drink your rations, we’re going to need every bit of power we can get our hooves on.”

As we all retrieved our small love ration containers from the packs– each of them handing me back the ones I had distributed from my bags, I contemplated the best course of action.

‘Spells? That could work. Transformation? Also a potential. I don’t know any species well enough that can quickly dig through this structure, though I’m certain there are more than one candidate. That just leaves spells.’

The crystal was half melted. Black liquid corruption was pooling around it on the raised pedestal. Some of it slowly leaked down onto the lower section, where we stood. I chugged the four love rations and threw the empty bottles onto the ground.

“We blast our way through. Bring the entire room down and stay alive using a shield. Then, we… uh. Damn it. That won’t work. Alright, blast a hole through the right wall, over there, Then we use that to get out into the open and… get swarmed by the corrupted changelings. Damn it, we’ve got a better chance against them than we do against whatever’s in there! Go!”

The four changelings began cutting through the right wall as I kept an eye on the melting crystal. Like a cursed candle, the crystal’s melting was like our time running out. The Prophet, without Moth’s Illumination or the shield spell that Prince Carotid knew, would likely tear us to shreds. Or worse. There was always something worse.

Especially when Ascension was factored in.

‘Oh Panar. Please not that! I can’t– no! Get a hold of yourself! Your lings are counting on you! No fear! No hesitation! For them, get through this!’

Keeping my eyes on the crystal, I could not see how much progress we were making. I could, however, see the changeling within slowly emerge. It was the horn first. Tall and smooth, like my own. Only, this was twice the length. Then came the rest of the head. His muzzle was freed rapidly, though it remained in place until the rest of his head was freed.

His eyes, two dark green slitted ovals that sat in fields of pure black, stared right at me as they were uncovered. His shade of green was far darker than Chrysalis’s neon green. It was closer to black than anything else.

The bastard was smiling as he blinked slowly. He had smaller fangs, like Chrysalis, but no less menacing.

Dark green strands of hair slowly freed themselves from their crystalline prison, still pulled taught from the rest of it still stuck in crystal. He seemingly had a long hairstyle not dissimilar to Chrysalis’s, only his was shorter and more intact. He cracked his neck as it became free, and sighed contently.

“Progress?” I whispered.

“Some,” one of the changelings whispered back.

As The Prophet’s shoulders started to free themselves, he spoke.

“King Phasmatodea. How good of you to come here. I’ve been waiting for you.”

The black goo stopped its slow progress towards us as it pooled on the lower platform. In fact, it seemed to avoid us, circling around and leaving a large swathe of floor around us clear.

With his head open and clear, I put a substantial amount of power behind a Panar’s Fury bolt and unleashed it in The Prophet’s direction. However, when it got close to his face, it simply fizzled out of existence. The Prophet didn’t even blink.

“What… the hell are you talking about?” I asked, not sure if I even should.

“You. I am talking about you, Crier of The Damned,” his deep voice echoed throughout the room. “Phasmatodea. Prince of the Fourth Hive. King of the Fifth Hive. Current slave of the Hive Eternal. And finally, a former human.”

I involuntarily stepped back, “W–what?!”

He chuckled and popped his forehooves out from the crystal. His rear half of his barrel and his hindlegs were still encased in black crystal. His legs were smooth like mine. No holes in sight, just perfect chitin covering.

“We’ve been watching you, ever since your arrival. No prophecy predicted you. No portent revealed your upcoming existence. Yet we saw our chance, and we took it. Phasma…. We have been waiting so long for a chance. Thank you for coming to us willingly.”

“What’s he–” a changeling began to ask.

“Quiet! Keep working!” I ordered. “I’m not helping you in any way, Prophet.”

“Ha ha ha haa! You have, and you will, my young monarch. It simply is so. Our time is nigh, and you will be the one to bring us into this world once again.”

‘Stall him.’

“How do you know so much about me? And who are you talking about?”

“We know so much because we have been watching. There is little more we could do while trapped. With only one of our number actively manifested at any point in time, our influence has been oh so limited. But now that comes to an end. I am free, and I am more than a mere piece of prey graced with greatness.”

The realization dawned on me as a chill went up my spine.

“You’re a Nightmare possessed royal.”

“I have achieved true immortality. Not some facade or attempt at greatness that Avatars could only hope to achieve. True. Immortality. Even if my body was destroyed now, I would return from the Otherworld. I am not possessed. I am one with my other half. Such an Ascension is possible for you too, kin of kin and Crier of The Damned. Thousands of years have we waited for our return to the waking world, and you have brought us that opportunity. Lámhmarbh marking you was no coincidence. You are… perfect. Fate has decreed that the age of prey and false-predators has come to an end. Now, the true apex species shall rise. Panar has deemed it so. Epitaph has deemed it so. You alone have the potential to join me in final Ascension.”

“You… what? You think I want to become an infected monster like you?”

The Prophet pulled his rear hindlegs free from the crystal and shook the black liquid off of them.

‘How fucking long does it take to cut through potentially tens of hooves thick stone?!’

“Monster? Lost Child, you cannot fathom the heights I have achieved. I am beyond death. I am beyond mortal restrictions. I am beyond you. I offer you this one chance, since you have done me the service of awakening me, and shattered that accursed trinket that sealed me away.”

I winced at the staff’s mention, however my mind was working overtime to connect the pieces. What the corrupted zealot had said so far was connecting back to the cryptic things he had said in the vision.

“Hunt… The Nightmares are hunting Changelings?”

“Nightmares.” He shook his head, “So pervasive has the hunt been that even the original name for our kind has been lost. There is no fighting it; this is how the changeling species will end. This is how every species will end. The age of prey is over. The Age of Darkness has begun. One final offer. Join me, and we can rise to heights even greater than Epitaph could.”

“Epitaph?”

The Prophet smiled and began to float above the melting crystal. His wings were stationary, and his horn was unlit.

“He is not important. What is important is your next words. Will you join me, kin of kin, and accept this one offer to greatness?”

“We’re through, Your Majesty!” A voice called out from behind me as the sound of stone grinding on stone nearly drowned out the voice. Then, a loud thud accompanied the temple shaking briefly as whatever piece of wall they carved out fell from the hole and onto the side of the pyramid.

‘Stall. Him.’

“Go. I have… further business here.”

“S–sir?”

That was One. Aorta. He was afraid.

‘Stall. Him.’

“Are you disobeying me?” I sternly asked.

I dared not take my eyes off the levitating changeling king, smirking before me. This was beyond Chrysalis. Realms beyond Daybreaker. This was… final. Absolute. If this thing was the melding of a royal and a destroyer of civilizations, then what happened here could doom the world.

‘The changelings can’t even block a single hit. If a minion of this monster brings us to our knees, blocking a spell from him could easily kill us. I also doubt that they can even fight this monster, as not even I have a good chance at killing him. The only thing they can do is escape with their lives. I have to stall The Prophet.’

“Go!” I barked.

The pegasus’s confusion and hints of pain that wafted lazily through the air began to withdraw. The changelings, with Daring Do in tow, had left me.

“Your former subjects will not leave this place, regardless of your choice. In fact, you yourself will be the one to feast on them. And my kin of kin, you will thank me for the opportunity. One final chance. You are afraid of death, after tasting it once. Truly tasting it. None alive understand just how final and absolute it is, save us. We know what it's like to die. To have everything taken away from us. One final chance to make sure that can never happen again. Together, we can ascend above and usurp the Pantheon. No aspects. No kings. No gods. Only us.”

“... Who are you?”

The Prophet raised his hooves, “I am The Prophet. Once, I was the changeling King Sulcus. Once, I was the Nightmare Gluttony. Together, I am the one that shall consume the sun. I have feasted on this kill, just as the Third Hive feasted on devotion and ignorance. Once, I was nothing, doomed to die. Now, I am inevitable.”

“And if I say no?”

The changeling did not lower its raised limbs, instead grinning further.

“The mark of Lámhmarbh has done its work. The second I was free from this prison, I broke the final seal on Epitaph. Even if somehow you prevailed and destroyed this form and escaped, Epitaph would still awaken. The final die has already been cast. The question is, are you too foolish to accept that?”

‘He keeps talking about this mark. Did that Nightmare that tried to possess me leave something on me? Did he mark my soul or something creepy like that? Do I have a sign on my ass that says kick-me? As much as I want to know, there’s more important things to consider.’

“Even if I did want to join you and your creepy death cult and brain-slug worship, you’d just betray me in the end.”

The Prophet smiled and nodded, “Of course I would! And if you are unable to stop me, then you would deserve your fate! Just as Epitaph deserves his fate if we were to join together.”

“Epitaph is your leader? You Nightmares go after each other just as much as your ‘prey,’ it seems.”

“Any who are not strong enough, deserve to perish. This has always been the creed of the hunt.”

‘I need to stall him and get information. If I somehow live, then that information can be put to use stopping this Epitaph.’

“This all started with the Ascension Ritual. What does possession have to do with Ascension?”

“Lost Child,” He says like he is disappointed, “I am stalling you just as much as you are stalling me. Each moment our conversation drags on is another moment the barrier holding Epitaph weakens.”

“That… doesn’t make sense. Either I was doomed from the start, or you need to stall me. Which is it? And what does this have to do with Ascension?”

The Prophet paused and decided to continue stalling me, “The Nightmares, as you call them, let changelings discern that process. It allowed our manifestation, once the Ascended were possessed. As a changeling, I foolishly reversed this process, slowing our rise. Now that I have ascended beyond life and death, I will correct this error.”

In an instant, my mind went to the nightmare and Nightmare that had plagued me after The Promised Day. The scalpels, ripping into my mind. The tearing. The helplessness. The pain. Oh Panar, the pain! Dulled, yet worse than anything else I had ever felt.

There were fates worse than death, and I knew that personally.

I fired another Panar’s Fury at him. This time, the bolt froze in front of his face. He leaned to the side of it and shook his head slowly. The bolt dissipated into the air.

“Crier of the Damned. You have made the wrong decision.”

“Who says I made a decision? Maybe I was just testing you. Trying to kill allies, as you said your kind does all the time.”

“Your heart declares your decision for you. It beats so loudly, it echoes your very thoughts. The time has come to silence both."

"Well, I can’t exactly argue with one of my most important internal organs. You and your edgy boy band end here, Prophet.”

The crystal had finished melting. The black pool beneath him seemed to drip upwards in defiance of gravity. The rivulets shrank and vaporized in the air as they flew towards the ceiling. Two black wings made of the same substance began to materialize on the Prophet’s back.

“Confidence born of ignorance. I shall kill you, Lost Child, and I will pluck your soul from your corpse and use it to fuel the death of this world. Come, find your path to the next world.”

The whole temple shook slightly as I heard a distant rumbling from the stairs that led to the room.

‘The Valkyrie I buried must not have taken the hint and stayed buried. It doesn’t matter anymore. The changelings have escaped. Whatever trouble the swarm of undead could have given them, they must have survived. They had to. They… had to. This all has to be for something.’

“You know something, old man?” I began quietly. “I’m not afraid of dying. Not anymore. There are so many worse things that I’m afraid of. Eternal torment. Making professional phone calls. A meaningless death. That last one stung the worst, let me tell you.”

I buzzed my wings and lifted myself off the ground, bringing me to eye level with the dark green royal.

“There’s something so enlightening about death. It puts a new light on everything. Makes you value strange things, and care less about others. Mercy? Why would I give that out, when it was denied to me? Revenge? Far more important than anyone realizes. I think you could really benefit from dying, Prophet. But don’t take my word for it, instead let me show you just how life-changing an experience death is. I’m going to kill you, Nightmare! Then I’m going to find this Epitaph before he awakens, and I’m going to kill him too!”

With a dramatic flick of my head, I summoned forth a bright fireball and hurled it at the Prophet. As I predicted, he easily drained the spell of its magical power, dissolving it before it even crossed the distance between us. However, it did buy me a few seconds of time, enough to dash to the side and unleash three Panar’s Fury bolts at his exposed flank.

A black bubble half-appeared around him moments before the bolts would have hit him. The bolts then impacted the shield, causing it to warble and darken, before the shield dissipated safely. Prophet retaliated with a Focused Will blast of pure black energy, nearly cutting me in two as I dropped low to the ground. I popped a quick succession of bright stunning flashes towards the Nightmare and flew towards him, just above the ground.

Suddenly, three spikes jutted up from the black pool which had covered much of the room. The spikes, made of the same corruption-like goo, blocked my advance and nearly impaled me. I rolled to the side and turned my rush into another flanking maneuver while firing off two Panar’s Fury Bolts through the corrupted spikes. The bolts bisected the black protrusions and caught Prophet off guard. He brought his shield back up in time to only block one of the bolts, and the other hit him in his shoulder, drawing out a cry of pain and sending him tumbling back through the air.

Pressing the advantage, I aimed a Focused Will blast directly for his head. In the corner of my eye, I spotted movement in the black pool and rose up higher quickly enough to avoid two more black spikes extending out from the pool, impaling the air where I just was about to be. Out of reflex, I brought up a shield as a lance of black fire from the Prophet hurled right towards my head.

I expected to be utterly wracked by pain once again but I breathed a sigh of relief when Unbroken Radiance glowed slightly and the most I felt was a slight stinging sensation. Dropping the shield, I cut the room in half with a scythe of condensed acid. The Prophet dropped to the ground to avoid it, and when he reached the ground, he continued dropping, vanishing into the inch-deep black pool.

Panicking, I dodged wildly and without pattern across the room while I fired Panar’s Fury into the corrupted liquid. With each impact, a swathe of the vile substance was removed from the world. A blast of a spell from behind threw me into the wall ahead of me, driving the air out of my lungs. Once again, Unbroken Radiance took the brunt of the hit. That still left the concussive blunt force trauma, though. As much as Unbroken Radiance protected me from the corrupted miasma and tainted spells, its tight fit meant that blunt force attacks would be painful, and its magical nature meant that teleporting was pretty much out of the picture. Not unless I wanted to leave behind said layer of protection.

My knowledge of spellcraft was utterly amateurish in nature. I could identify the most common components of spells, but their interactions, histories and origins, and combinations were far beyond my slapdash-education. However, my knowledge was just sufficient enough that I could roughly guess which parts of Panar’s Fury lend it that pure nature that it effectively levied against the Nightmare and its corrupt forces.

Building on this educated guess, I decided in the span of a second to put to the test just how well the anti-Nightmare component could play with fire spells.

I fell off the wall with a groan, my buzzing wings catching me mid-fall and turning my downwards dive into a forward lunge towards the Prophet. Speaking of the bastard, he was half-submerged in the floor, and immediately began retreating back into the pool as I approached.

‘Eat this, you overgrown piece of shit!’

With a napalm-like spray of blessed fire, I coated the entire ground beneath me, up to the Prophet, and well beyond him like a firebombing run. The fire had taken on a greenish-white tinge to it, and where it touched, the corruption retreated. It burned across the room with a literal scream as the black goo was immolated. Though it did not burn long on the ground, it still pushed back the tide of darkness that had enveloped the entirety of the floor of the High Altar.

Whipping my head around, I coated the entirety of the floor with fire. The Prophet shot up out of one of the last sections of the pool and immediately launched himself towards me. I pulled my head and horn upwards, directing the spray to him. He vanished behind the plume of discolored fire.

Unseen to me, he had exchanged his mortal flesh and blood form for a black vapor, akin to the one he had assumed in the vision. The first hint of this I saw was when black smoke with two green eyes surged up and out of my fire spray. I tried pulling the spray up higher in an attempt to continue hitting him with it, but he continued towards me faster than I could react.

He reached me and continued past just for a moment before materializing. He was almost entirely behind me now, save for a foreleg which he had wrapped around my neck. With a roar, he pressed forward, throwing me backwards. He slammed me into the ground hard.

My head, neck, and back flared in pain as I was too stunned from the hit to even breathe. I stared up at him as he conjured a whip of black flame, reared it back, and swung it downwards.

‘Again with the fire whip?’ I asked through a muddled mind.

With a gasp, I forced myself to breathe at the same time I shielded myself. Though I had attuned it to protect against fire, I was not knowledgeable enough to fix what had to be the ‘blessed’ portion of the Panar’s Fury spell. As such, when the whip was brought down and cracked against my shield, I hissed in pain as the stinging sensation grew.

Then he brought it down again.

And again.

And again.

The pain in my mind only grew in intensity. I had to do something. Staying in the shield would result in my death. Dropping it to fire spells at him would just result in a redirection of the whip, and my death.

The whip came down and wrapped itself around my lower right arm, where a gap between my boot and barrel plate was. Unbroken Radiance glowed brightly as the black-fire rope burned brightly my body. However, I was uninjured.

So I dropped the shield and stayed still, while enacting part two of a haphazard, Hail Mary plan. Now that I knew the holy spell’s components would work well with fire, I combined it with something I had to do some homework on while building my mafia.

“You’re gonna have to be quicker than that, Nightmare!”

When I had dropped the shield, I also took the time to transform from a changeling royal to a small dragon. I had not the time, space, energy, nor practice to assume the form of a fully grown dragon, instead having to go for a black scaled orange-frilled one that was the same size I normally was. Now the whip of stone-melting hot fire burned harmlessly– aside from a growing stinging sensation in my mind– on my black scales.

I got a good look at the Prophet’s stunned face when I pushed up off the ground with a strong flap of my wings. I was tempted to roar at him for the fun of it, but instead opted to bathe him in magical dragonfire. Panar’s Fury blessed dragonfire, to be exact. I could hear hints of a scream above the intensely loud crackling of the fire and exhale.

Then the floor exploded upwards in a spray of corruption, tinges of Panar’s Fury touched napalm, bricks, stone, and other dust. A massive black fist rammed through the room and grabbed the burning Prophet out from my fire. The Corrupted Valkyrie, previously buried far below, pulled itself further out of its newly created hole with the far clawed-arm as the closest one, still gripping the Prophet despite the black goo appendage burning away, slammed the closed fist into its own chest.

The Prophet was buried into the liquid monster as it roared angrily at me.

“Time to go!”

I darted for the hole which the changelings had excavated out of the temple’s wall. Lines of the black liquid raced ahead of me and formed a net at the entrance to my only exit out of here. With no time to stop, let alone come up with a backup plan, all I could do was breathe fire once more and hope that the liquid net would be vaporized.

Vaporized it was; I safely launched myself through the makeshift tunnel and out into the open air of the Third Hive. I pumped energy into the Thread of Change and undid my dragon shapeshift as I turned to glance at the temple I was leaving behind. The undead had swarmed all over the surface of the pyramid, with a number flying around outside. Several flying nightmare-minions immediately began their pursuit of me while behind them, the tunnel exploded outwards into a huge dust cloud as the corrupted Valkyrie/Prophet ripped apart the entire wall of the temple in its chase after me.

The statue of the Prophet, which had its hindlegs on the sides of the now crumbling pyramid, began to slowly list to the side, growing in size as it began to lean towards me. Beneath its gargantuan collapsing body, the Valkyrie/Prophet roared in anger and began firing massive beams of black-energy Focused Will laser beams at me.

“You won’t leave well enough alone, will you Nightmare?!” I yelled as I desperately dodged to the side to avoid the tracking laser beam.

With no other option and a horrible plan beginning to form in my head, I flew towards the falling statue. Trying to keep it between the Prophet and I, I closed the distance between myself and the artificial sun.

The gargantuan plasma ball and its concentric containment rings dwarfed me completely in size. Trying to keep my gaze off the sun so I could actually retain my eyesight, I watched a lance of hellfire shoot up towards me, only to burn away as it came close to the sun.

‘The Prince’s spell must still be kicking around in the big fireball!’

“I told you I was going to kill you, Prophet! It seems I’m going to have to drill that message into your damned skull!” I yelled out, despite the Prophet being nowhere near enough to hear me.

There was also the fact that the massive statue was crashing into the ground with a boom, the loud sound loudly echoing off the massive cavern’s walls. Couldn’t exactly yell over that.

Putting nearly half of all of the power I had left stored within my manapool into my next spell, I cut through the containment rings with a laser. The sheer power overwhelmed what protective shield enchantments the rings had, and the entire structure violently ripped itself apart, sending fragments of metal and glass down like a torrent of rain.

I spun around and flew towards the exit as fast as I could. Already, the cool blue light of the artificial sun was growing brighter and more white. I prayed to Panar that the sun would simply explode, and not expand infinitely like some magical black hole. I didn’t have time for assurances. I didn't have time to think of a better plan, or even a good one. I just had to hope the massive fireball would burn away the entirety of the corruption in the city, and bury the city with an explosion.

I glanced over my shoulder and nearly blinded myself. However, I did see the Nightmare corrupted changelings literally burn away. My gambit was at the very least, partially successful. As I flew over the remains of the dead city, and then the bottomless pit in front of the exit, I spied the changelings on the ground in front of the exit. There were three of them.

Three.

And no pegasus.

“Where?!” I demanded over the Weave, all but screaming at them as I got close. One of them pointed back towards the temple. I turned to look and saw two shapes, one black and one tan, desperately trying to fly away from the corrupted horde around them. It took all of their effort to avoid corrupted spells thrown their way. They were not making enough progress forwards.

Not enough at all.

“Go to the surface! Evacuate everyone up there! Get everyone, ponies included, into the air!” I loudly commanded the changelings, before heading back into the dead and dying city once more.

The sun was so bright now. I could feel its heat start to heat up my carapace and armor. The distant shapes of the changeling, pony, and evil skeleton army came closer and closer as I closed the distance. At the back of the horde, pushing its way to the front, was the crawling form of the Valkyrie and Prophet. It was smoking under the intensity of the sun, yet it continued forward. When it lifted its head, now shaped like the Prophet’s, and saw me, it roared, making my teeth rattle and ears ring from the volume.

I was getting close. I was about to make it to the changeling and pegasus. They had, at the last second after looking at what the giant monster was roaring at, saw me coming, and desperately flew towards me.

But the sun was going supernova.

I could see it happening in my mind’s eye before I saw it happening for real.

The sun had stopped growing in intensity, and as the seconds slowed, I could barely see it shrink in size. My eyesight was nearly completely gone from looking at the intense glare, but the one second warning I had gotten let me bring up a shield strongly attuned to block out fire. The pegasus and changeling had managed to meet me mid-air, both slamming into me as they desperately attempted to avoid the literal nightmarish horde of undead that were right on their heels.

I shut my eyes, clenched my teeth, and wrapped my forelegs around them both as I braced for impact. I turned away from the sun and put myself between the dying god and the two smaller forms I still held against my chest. Even through my clenched eyes, all I could see was a bright white light.

The whole world exploded.

I felt the force hit my shield like a freight train. And once it hit, it kept pressing. I cried out in shock and pain from the force, but I couldn’t even hear myself scream. It was so loud, even through the thick layer of shielding. The last of my energy was burnt up in a single instant and the shield collapsed.

It fizzled out of existence as the white light faded and the pressure lifted. I had held the shield long enough to survive the supernova. Unfortunately for us, that did not mean that we had survived the blast. Heat wasn’t an issue, though I was sweating hard. Pressure wasn’t a problem, as the explosion had found an outlet other than the single tiny exit ahead of us. It was that new exit itself that became the problem.

The entirety of the ceiling above the Third Hive was collapsing inwards, after having been blown partially outwards from the supernova. My gambit was entirely correct. Only, we were caught in both halves of the destruction of the den of evil. The death of the sun, and the collapse of the city.

My suicidal plan had worked, much to my own horror.

I buzzed my wings as fast I could and lifted myself off of the ground. The changeling and pony moved around in my grip but halted when their own eyes opened and saw the massive sections of stone now falling around us. Some were bigger than city blocks in size.

“Must. Get. To. Exit!” I panted through the Weave, rapidly becoming too tired to speak aloud.

I had no idea if such a thing was even possible. But I did not come all this way to be buried alive. I had no energy left for a teleport, so flying was the only way out. Rock pummeled my back and occasionally my fragile wings as I began to fly to the one way out of the city.

I felt the two curled up shapes wiggle more suddenly, before a sharp pain embedded itself in my left flank, just beneath the armor plating.

I screamed.

‘Something jumped up a–and bit–’

The sharp pain faded, only to be replaced by a quickly growing burning sensation. It cut off my own thoughts as it grew. My wings froze along with the rest of my body as we began to plummet through the air.

Before we hit the ground, hooves wrapped around my forelegs and I was dragged violently upwards, only adding to the pain as my forelegs were nearly wrenched from their sockets. I screamed again. I still couldn’t hear.

Small black spots appeared in my vision as I craned my neck around. I saw the changeling I was clutching in my left foreleg now dragging me by it, flying upwards. Further back, I saw a spear of tainted hellfire dissolving away as Unbroken Radiance glowed. I saw a stream of blood fall from where the spear must have hit, flying backwards through the air as we continued forward.

And all the way back, on the ground and some distance away, I saw the dissolving body of the corrupted Valkyrie and Prophet, arm outstretched as if it had thrown something.

‘Th–the spear!’

The giant was smiling as the last of its body was vaporized.

The pain was spreading from my leg rapidly. My teeth were clattering from the pain. I was beginning to feel both too cold and too hot. And the sky was still falling down onto us. We began to jerk violently to the sides as the two flyers fought at different flying speeds and mental plans to avoid the falling rock.

The pain increased until my eyes rolled into the back of my head and I passed out. As I faded, I could have sworn I saw hints of black in my blood. But so much of my vision was black at that point, I couldn’t be certain.

‘I’m so fucking retiring!’ Daring Do thought as she dodged a piece of stone the size of a five story building.

The exit was close now. It was nearly blocked up by a massive fallen boulder, but Daring could spy an opening large enough for all three of them to fit through.

‘So fucking retiring! I’m too old for this! Oh Celestia, this is so different from a dart trap or rolling boulder! Wh–’

“Up!” She yelled. Her voice was muffled, but she could still hear herself through the ringing.

She abruptly swerved upwards as a falling rock cut off her flight-path, the changeling mimicking her action. Every one of her muscles were screaming their hatred towards her as she pumped her wings again and again. Through deep gasps, she forcibly dragged cold air into her burning lungs.

‘Undead horde! Evil magic! Dead city! Changeling king! So many royalties! I just have to survive!’

“Left” The changeling she was flying with cried out.

Daring banked left hard without hesitation.

They flew through the increasingly cluttered sky of the dead, undying, and dying city. They had seconds at most to reach the exit tunnel. Seconds of life. Seconds till death.

“Right!” She yelled out.

They barrel rolled to the right, swerving around a rock the size of a pony that slammed down into the ground in front of them.

“Tuck in!” She screamed, and then repositioned herself to do just that against the armored changeling they were carrying.

She came eye to eye with the changeling as they started to drop. It was impossible to read its expression, but she just knew it was just as afraid of dying as she was. And, like her, it was equally unwilling to let go of the thing that had saved them both.

‘Flew back into Tartarus!’

The King Orobouros had passed out halfway through their mad dash towards the exit, which was probably fine. On one hoof, that meant his weak struggles stopped. On the other hoof, he could be dead.

Daring Do felt stone slam into her right hindleg as they slammed through the opening still left. She screamed in pain as they tumbled and rolled through the air before slamming into the stone ramp. They slid up its length a whole twenty hooves in length before slowing to a stop.

With a loud boom and rush of air, the hole they just flew in from was plugged up with a crash of stone.

The stone piled into the tunnel, covering up half of the length from them to what once was the opening. Though she still felt the ground rumbling, the ceiling above her was no longer threatening to turn her into a pancake.

She sighed and went limp, letting go of the hopefully-unconscious changeling king. As she laid on the cold stone floor, she heard the changeling on her right panting just as much. She tried to laugh, both from shock and sheer relief, but found that she just couldn’t. It took all she had to just breathe.

‘In and out. In and out. Breathe. We’ve survived another one, Daring. Another day… saved? Whatever happens, I don’t think I can do another one of these…’

The ground continued to shake underneath her. Daring Do considered the idea that they were still in danger. The sheer amount of shifting stone could send the tunnel’s ceiling crashing down upon them.

‘If that happens, it happens.’

She was too bone-tired to move. If she was exhausted from dodging left, right, up, and down from the skeletons and their black magic, then she was completely dead tired from their escape. Her heart pounded painfully in her chest as she breathed in and out. Really, she was thankful she still had the energy to do just that.

‘King Ouroboros... ‘

She flopped her head to the side to look at him. The changeling in the green armor was prone right next to her. He was scrunched up, face down ass up, with said face lodged open and tongue laying on the ground. She would have laughed at the sight, if she could.

‘Why did you come back to save me? You held onto us both. The fact that you even came back for us is one thing, but you actively protected us both. You could have let go of me… Ugh. This is too much thinking. Why couldn’t you be a simple cloak-and-dagger villain, like everypony else I run into like this?’

After what seemed like minutes, the intense shaking and distance rumbling faded.

‘That last spell hit you good, didn’t it? Bet it hurts, being zapped from the air. I totally wouldn’t know anything about that, would I? What comes around, goes around, big guy… Which means I totally have to save your life. You’d better not be dead, Orobouros. We’ve got a lot to talk about!’

Beyond the king’s embarrassingly posed form, she saw the changeling minion slowly rise to their hooves.

“Keep going,” he panted.

Daring quietly noted and appreciated the fact that her hearing was returning. There was still some ringing, though.

“Nuh,” she panted.

‘Eloquent as ever, Daring.’

“Yuh,” the minion answered back.

The changeling tried to pick up the King, but just stumbled forward and fell onto its face. Daring managed the strength to weakly snort in laughter. Then, she heard distant voices grow louder over the ringing.

Daring tried to make out the specific words, but she gave up and focused on trying to breathe normally. Her chest hurt badly, but she was beginning to feel her hooves again. The rest of her body, too.

‘Covered in sweat and dirt. And a hundred miles away from the nearest shower, too.’

“There they are!” She heard somepony yell.

‘No wait, that wasn’t a pony’s voice. More changelings.’

Suddenly, changelings appeared in her vision. There were three of them, looking down at her, King Orobouros, and the other changeling.

“Is he alive?”

One of the changeling’s horn lit up in a green spell, which washed over the King’s body.

“... Yes.”

“Bring them up to the surface! We need to get out of here before the E.U.P. come, and that’s going to be very soon!”

Daring felt herself be picked up by one of the changeling’s magic and placed over one of their backs. She tried to protest, but was too tired to do anything other than groan. Daring accepted her new ride up as she was settled between the changeling’s neck and extended wing covering thingies.

The ringing faded further over time, and she could make out the sounds of them grunting with effort. Rolling her head to the side, she watched them position themselves underneath the King’s shoulders and began to fly him upwards. Her own ride took to the air, and they began their journey back to the surface.

Belatedly, Daring Do realized that somewhere along the way, her hat had fallen off her head. In all likelihood, it was back when she was zapped inside the temple.

Everypony else was alright.

For that, Daring Do thanked Celestia. They had been rushed into the carts that the changelings had arrived on shortly after the earthquake started. How they knew to get all the way to the carts and in the air, Daring didn’t know. But she was thankful.

Because half of the camp was gone, including the main tent.

From a hundred hooves beyond the base of the surface temple, the ground simply vanished. She could see for miles and miles ahead. A massive section of the rainforest had simply fallen downwards, something like five hundred hooves or so. The city had been buried, and an impression of its size had been left on the surface. The sheer amount of destruction was on a level that Daring couldn’t comprehend. She stood there, looking out over the square pit. Just staring.

“You. Pegasus.”

She turned to see a changeling approaching her from one of the carts, which had landed and disembarked the archeology team.

“You were down there,” the changeling stated, not asked.

Daring Do decided to nod.

“You’re coming with us. From what I’ve been told, you’ve seen more than the others. You even helped save His Majesty’s life.”

“Yeah,” Daring said.

“... Thank you, pony. That is a debt that cannot be repaid. But you have to come with us.”

“Why?”

“You know too much, and I don’t think he wanted us to pod you.”

Just before the changelings and her resurfaced, they had put on disguises, and told her to hold her tongue, or else.

“Pod me?”

The changeling half nodded, “Standard procedure for those who know too much. Anyways, he wouldn't have wanted that. Or maybe he does. Point is, he’s not in a good condition, and One says you’re coming with us. Anything you can tell us will help save him, and I don’t think I need to remind you that he did save your life. Apparently.”

“... Where we goin’?”

“Manehattan.”

Daring was still too tired to try to escape. Besides, if the changelings were playing nice, so would she. There was still a chance to find out just what exactly was all that down there. That was not something she could pass up.

Once again, her thirst for knowledge was leading her into the manticore’s den.

The disguised changeling escorted her onto one of the carts. She passed by the archeology team. One of them, Director Trowel, called out to her.

“Dazzle! There you are! We were worried sick! Where w– no, where are they taking you!”

“To get answers. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine,” Daring managed to answer, waving him off.

She pulled herself up onto the pegasus-pulled cart and sat down.

“Stay back, and stay close to the structure, ponies. The Guard will come to your rescue soon enough,” a changeling ordered her coworkers.

“You can’t leave us here!” Somepony cried out.

“Depart!” The same changeling yelled.

With a lurch, her cart, as well as the other landed ones, set off from the ground. She turned around in her seat and watched her colleagues immediately go to the base of the pyramid on the surface, putting as much distance between them and the start of the ginormous pit.

‘... Eh. They’ll be fine.’

From the air, Daring Do got a good look at the dead city’s last mark on the world. Stretching for miles and miles around, from the bottom of the pit to the sloped sides, the E.U.P. would see it during their routine patrols for sure. They’d sooner miss the sun in the sky before missing that brand new canyon for even a single day.

The sun was just beginning to rise over the rainforest’s new grave, the flying convoy putting as much distance between themselves and it as possible, when they suddenly changed their direction.

After a moment, Daring Do moved to the front of the cart and called out to the disguised changeling pulling the cart, “Hey! Where are we going?! Manehattan is East, not West!”

One of the changelings landed behind her, and she totally didn’t jump out of fright.

‘Those damned skeletons will be giving me nightmares for months!’

She turned to address the new changeling, “Where are–?”

“We’re not going to Manehattan, Daring Do. We’ve got a new destination, straight from the boss himself.”

“King Orobouros is awake?!”

“No. But he did tell us where to go.”

“How? Why? Where?”

The changeling thought for a moment, before deciding to humor her questions. One of them, at least.

“We’re going to Trotsylvania.”

97- Shezmu

Arc 8: Broken Masquerade

“Tourniquet!”

“What in Panar’s name is a tourn–”

“For fuck’s sake Web, if you’re not going to help then go be stupid somewhere else!”

The changeling pushed the other aside and pulled close the medical kit that was tucked away under the side seat. Flinging the top open on the unlatched kit, Aorta pulled out the tourniquet, flinging other pieces of first aid equipment onto the cart’s floor as he did so. Then, he wrapped it above the King’s wound and tightened it.

Web leered over Aorta’s shoulders.

“Already need new gauze…” Aorta muttered as he worked.

“Is blood supposed to be black? I don’t think it’s supposed to be black.”

‘King Phasma was right in keeping Web on the surface. Though he should have been put on cart duty. Something to keep in mind for the future.’

“No Web, it’s not,” Aorta answered through gritted teeth.

“Is… is His Majesty going to be okay?”

Aorta paused briefly before resuming, “I… don’t know.”

“... That was the part where you were supposed to lie to me and say yes, Aorta.”

“Shut up, Web. That’s His Majesty’s duty, not mine.”

“What happened down there? Did you see how he got hurt? Why is–”

“Go bother someling else! I’m trying to save his life here! Go…. Go ask Swallowtail what happened! Yeah, if you want to actually be useful, get out of my fin and go find out yourself!”

“Aye aye, sir!”

Aorta heard the flapping of pegasus wings that signalled the disguised changeling’s exit from the flying cart. Aorta shook his head slowly and went back to worrying about his boss’s health.

“Please survive this, sir. I don’t want to be left in charge of these idiots…. I suppose authority would transfer to Coxa, now that I think about it.” Aorta paused long enough to tap his chin in thought before glaring at Phasma’s unconscious body, “But don’t think that gets you off the hook!”

King Phasma groaned and twitched on the ground.

“My King?” Aorta pressed up against the royal, putting his ear to King Phasma’s muzzle. This was the first sign of life he had besides breathing. If he was waking up, Aorta needed to know.

He had heard the tales of many medically trained changelings being blown to bits after getting on Chrysalis’s bad side during various medical procedures– and she often wasn’t even the patient, given the fact that the healing pods were a miracle cure. Though Phasma was far from having Chrysalis’s hot wrath, he deserved every bit of extra attention possible for what he had done for the common drone.

“Trotsylvania,” the King whispered through the Weave.

Aorta pulled away, “Sir? Can you hear me?”

The changeling royal didn’t respond.

“What was that?” Their pegasus-disguised changeling pulling the cart called back.

“The King! He just whispered that word. Mean anything to you?”

The white pegasus yelled back, “Yeah! It’s the capital of Vallachia! Why did he say the name of a city in the opposite direction of where we’re going?!”

That was a question that Aorta didn’t have an answer to. He prodded King Phasma and asked him, “Sir? Can you hear me….? What’s this about Trotsylvania?”

King Phasma twitched, but otherwise had no response.

“Aorta! Aorta! The King, he– oof!”

Web flung himself onto the flying cart’s open deck. While it was easy to take off from a moving cart, landing was always the hard part. Web decided to opt for slamming himself into the wooden board floor of the cart. A surefire way to land, but one that lacked any grace and was sure to hurt his fur-covered pegasus body.

“The King!” Web gasped as he slowly rose up to his hooves. “As soon as I mentioned the black in his blood, Swallowtail said that it was probably a sign of corruption! He said King Phasma was attacked by one of the monsters!”

Aorta’s blood ran cold.

‘Corruption?! Is he going to turn into something like that Prophet monster? How the hell could they fix him now?! If King Phasma turns, then the whole Fifth Hive could be dragged down, too! From what Aorta saw, if the Prophet had been the downfall of the sealed city, then a corrupted King Phasma could be the downfall of Eq–’

A hoof wrapped around one of Aorta’s fetlocks. He looked down in surprise and saw King Phasma grimacing, looking up at him.

“Trotsylvania,” he groaned. “Vallachia. Thestrals. Help. Now.”

With a gasp, King Phasma went slack on the floor, clenching his eyes shut.

“Did the King just wake up? What did he say?” Web asked from behind Aorta.

‘If King Phasma is being corrupted, then anyling near him would be doomed. But… no one will leave his side. Not Web, not Swallowtail, and most certainly not me. He’s done so much for us all. What kind of King goes back into certain death to save a single drone?! The smart thing would be to isolate King Phasma. But damn the smart thing, if he would throw his life away for one of us, then how could we not do the same?!’

“Change course, we need to go to Trotsylvania! Web, spread the word!”

‘This could be the corruption speaking. Going in the opposite direction of any possible help could just as easily doom the King. But… what help could we even offer back at the Fifth Hive’s base? Pray for a miracle? Vallachia may be in the opposite direction from Manehattan, but if there’s even a hope of saving him there, then that’s what we’ll do!’

Web nodded and took off, shaking the cart when he pushed off.

“Trotsylvania? Is that what the King said?” The changeling puller asked.

“Trotsylvania! Do you know the way there?”

The changeling banked to the left slowly, changing their course.

“Yes, I do! Make sure everyone stays in formation behind us, it’s a long way to Thestral country! But I have to ask, how much food do we have for the journey?”

Aorta moved away from the prone King and started to open the secret compartment at the front of the cart. Removing a few pieces of wood, he looked into the stash.

“If the other carts are as filled as this one, then I think we might have enough for five days.”

“It’ll take a day of flying to reach there, and one and a half to get back to Manehattan from Vallachia!”

“Two and a half days, plus another day and a half to get back…” Aorta murmured to himself. “We’ll need someone to go to Manehattan and have them send supplies over to Trotsylvania. Hopefully they will be able to find us in that city using the King’s Weave… Yeah, that’s the plan.”

“Well don’t tell me! Go get a spare changeling to go! I’m a bit busy up here! Unless you want to take over?”

“No thanks! You keep doing what you’re doing!” Aorta nodded to himself at the plan he was putting together. Then, he recalled a detail that the Prophet had said back in the pyramid. “Hey Hopper! You ever heard of a ‘human’ before?”

The changelings had some items in the cart that Daring Do was in that she helped herself to. It was only fair, really.

They didn’t exactly give her a choice in whether or not she wanted to come with. Though to be fair, if she was given a choice, she would have said yes, and if they left her behind, she would have followed. They also couldn’t provide her a sleeping bag, meaning when Daring Do decided to sleep for a few hours, she had to sleep on the wooden floor of the cart. From what she could tell after a brief stop onto the ground around midday, the changelings were taking shifts pulling the carts and resting. She could have really used a blanket; it was cold up in the sky and in the wind.

So Daring Do didn’t feel guilty when she found a box that was tucked away underneath one of the bench-seats that ran along the edge of the flying cart. There was another box, but that one was clearly marked with a red cross. She didn’t really need any medical attention, so she left that one where it was.

The box she did open almost blended in with the corner it was stuffed into. It wasn’t even related to the false panel she had spotted during the long hours of nothing to do but stare at the landscape they were flying over. That panel she was tempted to open, but decided instead not to piss off her faux-captors. They can keep whatever secrets they were carrying, as long as they didn’t hurt anypony. Daring lifted the lid on the small wooden box. Her lips parted into a smile that widened by the second.

“Oh baby! Jackpot!”

Daring pulled one of the notebooks from the box. Thankfully, there were a few pencils within the box that she could use to write with. She closed the box and took out a small pocket knife from one of her shirt’s pockets, and began whittling away the wood around the new pencil. Without a pencil sharpener, this was going to take a while

Daring looked out over the cart’s edge. Equestria stretched out before her, going on and on for miles. Far in the distance, she could even see Canterhorn mountain. Between her and the heart of equestria lay tracts of farmland, woods, winding rivers, and mountains that grew in size as they got closer. Daring guessed that Vallachia would be mountainous and not at all like Equestria proper. She’d never been there. Nopony really has. A few traders make their livelihood bringing goods to and from the reclusive bat-pony nation, but for the most part everypony steers clear of the thestrals. They’re just too creepy.

Daring sighed and continued to whittle away. Her mood turned sour when she saw the distant clouds of Las Pegasus. The city had stayed roughly where it was for the past few months now, close to the ground. Rapid response ability from the E.U.P. was prioritized over the grand sweeping views the city normally possessed. The thought angered Daring Do. The pegasus city of Las Pegasus was grounded. The unicorn city of Canterlot was burned to the ground. The earth pony city of Manehattan had its southern boroughs and neighborhoods sweeped of life, like locusts devouring an entire farm.

And now she was willingly following the changelings as they took her to a nation few ponies have ever ventured to.

‘Are these different changelings, unrelated to the invaders? King Orobouros…. Is a fake name he gave me. The only ruler changeling that we know about is Queen Chrysalis, and her lackey Prince Phantom, who… was presumed to be dead, but no body was found. Hmmm. That really gets your noggin’ joggin’.’

She looked down at the pencil. It had been sharp for some time now, and she was cutting into its soft graphite. Putting the pocket knife away, Daring Do started on writing brief notes of what just happened. It was important to her that she got things down quickly. The quicker she wrote, the fresher the memory was. The fresher the memory was, the better story it could be.

But before she got into the meat of the notes, she quickly jotted down some questions to ask later, as well as some theories she was brewing up. At the end, she had made a note to herself to find a picture of the dead Prince. Daring regretted not being on top of the whole war, but it had all happened so far away from her home in Vanhoover that she just kept focused on her work and let the Royal Guards handle it all. Now her inattentiveness has come to bite her in her flank.

Daring Do spent the rest of the afternoon writing. It was only when the sun began to set again that she closed the journal and placed it within one of her shirt’s pockets. The terrain had finished its transition by then. What were once grand views of sweeping plains, distant cloud banks, and islands of civilization, were now jagged peaks that jutted up into the sky, like the claws of some buried behemoth dragon.

The unexplored West in its infancy. Further West, Daring knew from reading, was a sea of grass that stretched to the horizon. There wasn’t a demand for settlements far away from Canterlot, all the way on the plains, so there were no expeditions out that way. A few went, but nopony could find the limit of the plains. They stretched for hundreds of miles. The great plains at the edge of the known world weren't visible at the moment. The white-stone peaks of… some-cool-sounding-name commandeered respect as they tore jagged figures into the sky. Blanketing the spaces beneath the exposed stone peaks was a lush green forest of coniferous pines, as dense as a thick carpeting.

Then, the cart rounded a bend slowly and something grand came into view. In the light of the dimming sun, a castle and its surrounding town. If one could even call it a town; the white stone, dark-blue roof castle stood tall on the mountainside, lording over an expanse of half-timbered buildings that stretched from one end of a valley to another. Right through the center, a river wound its way through, cutting the town-slash-city in half.

“Wow,” Daring breathed.

The castle was about half the size of Canterlot Castle. Meaning, it was quite sizable. What might have once been a block-shaped fortress of thick stone was now a small village in and of itself, its homes being the towers and extensions that fought for air above the shingle sea beneath. Tall arched windows dotted the magnificent structure frequently. One of the previously mentioned extensions had a massive circular, divided window of stained glass that caught the setting sun and shone like a portal of stars. The huge window and the gothic architecture that surrounded it suggested that the extension served as some sort of cathedral. The castle seemed to have not been intended to see much war in its time. Instead, like a portly count dressed in fine silks and jewelry, it stood proud above the mountain rustic city.

As she was taking in the view, and as the cart was slowly banking around and making its way to the massive castle, Daring picked up the fact that their convoy was no longer alone in the sky. Flying shapes– thestrals, no doubt– had joined them and began closing in on the carts. They acted as the guides for the changelings pulling the cart. Black-metal plates formed pauldrons, while countless lames lay over each other, forming leg-armor, barrel plates, and neck plating. Only the helmet, boots, and peytrals were solid pieces of forged metal. Between the black plating, what seemed to be red cloth draped over the thestral’s forms. Only their wings lay open and exposed to open air.

Unless you counted the dull silver blades that edged the back of the thestral’s wings. A few had claws of similar dull metal at the end of their forehooves’ boots. One or two instead carried lances of polished wood and more dull silver.

‘The lack of shine has to be intentional.’

How anypony could fly in such heavy gear was beyond Daring Do. No normal metal could be light enough for a flying warrior of any level of experience to use for any extended period. The Royal Guard had its own special issue of Imperial Gold, forged and enchanted by the greatest line of smiths and arcane artisans that the crown could afford to keep on payroll. All the way out here, hundreds of miles from Canterlot, the thestral’s armor had to be unenchanted. That meant that whatever metal it was made of, was light enough to be flown in.

Daring was in the middle of hastily scribbling this conjecture down in her retrieved-notebook when a loud thud nearly made her throw the notebook out of her hooves and off the cart’s edge. Gripping it tightly to her chest and scowling, Daring Do sent the changeling who had not-scared her a death glare.

“Pony. We will be staying here, in Trotsylvania, for the time being. Speaking at all about our nature will lead to your…. I dunno, death I guess?”

“If you want to sound intimidating, not being sure of yourself will defeat any attempts at that.”

“Listen pegasus, you know what’s going to happen. You’re going to stay quiet. You’re going to do as we say. And we won’t hurt you. In fact, we’ll make sure you’re protected. A fair trade. As fair as you’re going to get, at least.”

Daring sneered, “I’ll comply. But not because you can threaten me, I’m not scared. I’m only here for answers. And I will get those answers.”

The pegasus-disguised changeling blinked slowly.

“.... Whatever you say.”

The flying carts had closed in tight enough that Daring Do could see the occupants of the other carts and hear them, too. One of the changelings yelled over to her.

“Web! Get back over here, I’m going to need you to help me lift His Majesty when we arrive!”

The changeling in front of her yelled back, “Coming, sir!” Then he shot a glance back at Daring, “Don’t do anything stupid. From what I’ve heard, you like doing that. So don’t.”

‘I’m not the one who shattered the ancient staff artifact or awoke the dead. That was your king and his angry yelling, I was nice and calm,’ Daring thought to herself but bit down the comment.

“I’ll behave,” She replied instead.

The changeling took off and landed in the other cart. Daring then went over to the cart’s edge and peered down below. The rustic city was rushing up to meet them as they came in for a landing at the castle. The designated landing zone, a massive strip of white-brick road flanked by fields of grass, had been cleared for them.

‘Nopony training? Nopony running? Nopony running drills, or practicing? How long ago did they spot us coming? Did they even, or did they somehow know we were coming?’

The convoy set down, jostling Daring as the wooden wheels clattered against the stone brick road. They came to a halt at the center of the path. Craning her neck around, Daring could see that this was some sort of receiving entrance for the castle. Ahead, two massive doors of dark wood and silver bracing slowly opened. Behind, the path ended in a semi-circle.

Around them, the thestral escorts set down. Some stayed in the air, but most had set down facing the carts and their inhabitants. From the doors ahead, eleven more bat ponies marched out. Ten were equipped with long spears with red ribbons that fluttered in the wind tied at the spearhead’s base, and their armor was a shining silver color, rather than the matte-black or dull silver of the flyers. Ten moved to flank the convoy on each side, and the eleventh stopped before the lead cart. A changeling dismounted to greet the thestral. From her position in the second cart, Daring overheard their conversation.

The eleventh thestral did not wear armor. Instead, she wore a slim-fitting full black suit with red interior. At her cuffs, more red fabric was embroidered in a repeating cross fashion. At her neck, her suit jacket opened up to a white frilled shirt underneath, pressed down by a necklace of gold in the shape of a tailed comet. Horseshoes of silver gave her trot a sound not dissimilar to the armored troops that escorted her arrival.

The guards halted, and she spoke softly with a measured voice.

“Good evening, travelers. I am Elder Sanguine, and I welcome you to Vallachia. We have been expecting you, and understand the necessity for discretion.”

‘So they did know we were coming.’

The changeling did not introduce themself, “You were expecting us?”

“Of course. Now, I do believe that time is of the essence, and–”

“If you do not mind me asking, how?”

If she was annoyed at being interrupted, the bat pony did not show it, “The Night Mistress herself appeared before our seers to speak of your dire need. She has informed us of the developing situation. Somepony dear to her is dying, are they not?”

‘Night Mistress? Is this another big bad villain, or something more? King Orobouros was more than what he first seemed, so perhaps this Night Mistress may become important very soon.

“... Yes.”

“You are no ponies, also correct?”

“For the most part. We brought with us one pony. But that doesn’t matter.”

“Indeed. What matters is seeing to the aid of this very important pony. If you would entrust him to our care, we may yet save his life.”

“How? We don’t even understand what’s happening to him.”

“Unfortunately, we believe we know. No cases have happened in centuries, let alone recent history, but the techniques for curing it have been passed down all the same. This ailed changeling– who we would very much like to meet properly and be introduced to once they are saved– will be cleansed of the taint of darkness. Now, if I may be so bold as to give you orders, I suggest that you heed my instructions and hoof him over, before he dies. Or worse. There’s always worse.”

“.... Web.”

The mentioned changeling disembarked from the lead cart, levitating the unconscious form of King Orobouros with him. His left haunch had been bandaged and attended to, and he was twitching slowly in the magical grip.

The female thestral appraised the changeling royal, drinking in the details before giving out an order, “This is the one! Fetch a stretcher, and prepare the anointing oils! We must begin immediately!”

Behind her, three thestrals glided out from the ajar doors. Two carried a stretcher between them and did not wear garments, but the third was clad in a black robe. A mask of flat silver covered her face, leaving only her mouth, nostrils, and ears exposed. She carried with her an incense censer that leaked red vapor as she flew. Daring watched as the King was set down on the stretcher, and the censor was shaken over his prone form. Her mouth moved in silent prayers as she did so.

“Bring him to the chambers and begin posthaste!”

The thestrals lifted up off the ground silently and began to glide back into the castle.

“Web, go with them. You will be relieved four hours from now, but stay with the King.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Web. I’m entrusting the King’s safety to you. Do you understand?”

“Of course, sir!”

“Good. Now go.”

The changeling took off after the retreating forms of the thestrals.

Elder snorted softly, “Now, may I have the pleasure to actually be introduced?”

“... I am Aorta, designated second-in-command of this expedition. King Phasmatodea is the rightful leader, as you no doubt understand.”

‘Aha! I was right! Who was right?! ME!’

Daring grinned and rocked on her hooves.

“King Phasmatodea… Thank you for the name. We shall have need of it soon. As for you all, quarters will be provided. You are honored guests of the Night Mistress herself, and will be granted the honor that deserves.”

“Night Mistress… Is she coming here herself?”

Elder Sanguine smiled, “She has yet to reveal that to us. Now, let us take leave of this cold. Warm food, cold drinks, and nice beds are inside. There, we may talk at great lengths. I would be lying if I said that I did not thirst for knowledge about the Night Mistress's suddenly important friend.”

'Oh yeah? Get in line, I was here first.

98- Hecate

Web trailed behind his king and the three thestrals carrying him as they wound through the halls of the castle. Plush red carpet, smooth plastering, paintings of landscapes and beasts, fanciful sconces and torches, the occasional chandelier in the larger rooms, and more all passed by with little attention paid to by Web. What mattered most to him was lying on a simple cloth stretcher ahead.

They also passed by a few staff members of the castle. Maids and butlers in simple black uniforms. Guards in their shiny armor. Guards in their dull armor. Guards without any armor. It made Web wonder for a second if the maids and butlers were also guards in some capacity.

Eventually, they came upon a large circular staircase that wound downwards. The thestrals slowly glided down its tall spiraling form, taking care to bleed off speed when needed. Without pause, Web continued to follow. Eventually, the thestrals stopped at one landing of the staircase and turned off, down a hallway. The staircase continued down, but as usual, Web stuck close to the ponies.

‘Why does anyone need this many rooms? They do not house their entire hive in this structure, so what purpose does this hold?’

Finally, the thestrals set down on the ground, at the base of a pair of double doors that were solid black metal, and inscribed with mirrored reliefs of an alicorn reared up on hind legs, one forehoof point up and holding a telescope, and the the other straight ahead, pressing against the other mirrored image’s hoof.

The thestrals pushed the doors open on swinging hinges and entered. The doors swung closed behind them for just a moment before Web followed. Beyond was a large hexagonal chamber, with a section in the middle that was a few steps lower than the rest of the room, and the ceiling was an arched dome. At the absolute top of the dome, an opening sucked away the smoke from the room.

The walls, floors, and ceiling were made of a grey stone that was completely different from the bright white walls of the rest of the castle. The brickwork was faded and crumbling, as if the chamber existed centuries before the castle itself. All around the room, piles of candles burned, washing the room in a dim yellow glow. Wax pooled around their collective wixs. Some of it dripped down the steps into the lower section, where it collected in small puddles against the steps. The ceiling above was painted with a faded and chipped mural, its original contents almost indecipherable. It might have depicted ferocious battles, just as much as it might have depicted ancient ceremonies and rituals. At the far end, a black alicorn in possibly blue armor rose above, towards the apex of the dome. In two outstretched hooves, she held decapitated unicorn heads. The head of the alicorn itself had completely chipped away.

Web looked away when he swore he saw two red eyes staring back at him, despite the destroyed portion of the mural where the head was supposed to be.

The walls were barren, save for the spaced out pillars at each of the vertices. The three far walls had wooden, deteriorated doors were closed firmly shut. At each of their sides, censors poured the same red vapor that slithered along the ground. The thin fog collected around the lower section, giving it a red misty layer just above the grey stonework.

Then, at the very center of the room, was a stretched pentagonal altar, low to the ground. It was about twice as long as a pony, with two of the lower sides stretched out to encompass nearly the entirety of the lower section. A few stone tables orbited the altar along the steps like moons. On their smooth surfaces, a scattering of papers, candles, books, and metal tools lay haphazardly.

As the two thestrals set King Phasmatodea on the coffin-shaped altar and backed off, the third thestral also retreated, slowly swinging the chained censer back and forth as they did so..

Web took in all of this in just a few seconds as he entered the room. But what caught his attention was not the occult ambience of the chamber, it was the ponies within it. Four female thestrals in black leather and cloth garments stood around, arranging tools, books, papers, bottles, pipettes, and devices of complicated make on the tables.

‘Leather? Ponies, wearing actual leather?’

From what Web could tell in the dim lighting, the female thestrals were old. Old, and scarred. In fact, Web could only tell that they were thestrals from their yellowed eyes, fangs, ear shape, and fur coloring, for all four of them had no wings at all. Not the leather wings of the bat pony physiology, or even the feathered wings of a pegasus. Their backs were completely bare save for the clothes they wore.

They spoke with voices that brought a chill forward through Web’s spine. Harsh whispers and breathless tones that seemed to make sound through the air not like vibrating as everyone else’s, but by carving their own territory through the atmosphere. They verbally sparred with each other as Web and the other thestrals entered, and to Web, it sounded like they were actually crossing blades.

“Essence of Bloodvale? We might as well open our hearts to the damp and get it over with!” One screeched, leaning towards a second as she spoke.

“Safety was left at the door. A case as advanced as this requires measures just as advanced!” The second sneered back.

A third’s voice thrust forth into the conversation, “Bone is right. Take leave of Master Whistle’s teachings, they will do us no good here. The Path of the Waning Crescent is the only procedure that can work!”

The third thestral retrieved a box from the table she was closest to, and set it on the altar, next to King Phasmatodea’s head.

“Waning Crescent?! That is…. Yes, you are correct, Soul,” the first nodded in a flip of attitude and demeanor.

The third, who had to be named Soul, snorted, “As always!”

“As a broken clock.”

Soul flipped open the lid on the box and said, “Now, Totem of the Eclipse, or Icon of Apocalypse?”

“Eclipse,” the fourth and final thestral crone spoke, back turned against them all. “I had told you to dispose of the Icon, hadn’t I?”

Soul nodded, “Yes, you did. I ignored you, and I will continue to.”

“.... Totem of the Eclipse.”

“Very well, Mind,” Soul said quietly as she retrieved a golden sculpture from the box and set it at the end of the altar, right in front of the King’s muzzle. The sculpture was an empty circle surrounded by golden lines, which Web guessed were rays of light from the eclipse in the center. The stand and base were also made of solid gold, with the exception of four rubies at equal length along the stem of the stand.

“This doesn’t sound like a medical procedure,” Web grumbled to himself.

‘I don’t think any of these ponies have ever been to medical school!’

The second witch laughed. At least, Web thought that she was laughing. She also could have been dying of a collapsed lung.

“Young worm, leave. Your presence here is not needed,” she pointed a hoof at the door behind Web as she spoke.

“I am to stay with the King.”

“You will die as a fool,” the fourth, Mind, said.

Mind turned around and appraised Web. Unlike the others, she wore a two-pronged golden cone on her head, the metal twisting around each other and meeting at the tip like the curves of a unicorn’s horn. Come to think of it, it was basically a hollow unicorn’s horn.

Mind spoke again, “You were told to leave. Your presence here will do more harm than good. The next time I speak, you will wish you were not in the room anymore.”

Web swallowed nervously. He was as calm as a soldier normally is. Meaning, he felt totally out of his depth and freaked out at all the occult stuff. The medics back in the Legions didn’t take you to ancient chambers for arcane rituals for a cut, they just covered your injury in goo. Or if it was really bad, they stuffed you into a pod and you went to sleep for a bit.

Under any other circumstances, he would have made himself scarce and slipped away. However, this was not normal circumstances. That was his king lying on what was potentially a sacrificial altar. A king that needed Web to watch over him. Web didn’t trust these creepy bat ponies at all, which meant he had no choice but to stay.

“It doesn’t matter what I wish. My duty is my duty. I stay with my king.”

The second crone spoke up, “Enough prattling! We must commence!”

Mind grimaced, “Stay away from the red fog, skin-walker. In fact, pick a spot and don’t move. And for moon’s sake, stay away from the shadows. Don’t even look into them!”

Not finding a reason to argue, Web sat down right behind a clump of candles at the edge of the outer ring of the room.

“Now,” Mind turned to face King Phasma, “are we ready? Elder Blood? Elder Bone? Elder Soul?”

The second crone nodded, then the first, then the third.

“Then we begin. May the moonlight watch us. May the Night Mother guide us. And let the Blight fear us!”

The four thestrals began to hum and the light was slowly drained from the room. The candles began to burn red.

‘... I should ask for a pay raise,’ Web thought. ‘Err, maybe I should ask for a pay to begin with.’

Aorta watched Elder Sanguine as she slowly sipped from her chalice.

The changelings, thestrals, and pegasus had been brought to a large dining hall. The long, ornately carved wooden table stretched across the lavish room. On one side, tall vaulted windows let in the last dancing rays of the setting sun, shining them up onto the ceiling. On the other wall, several paintings of what Aorta assumed to be Luna standing triumphantly stared at the changelings.

Aorta could swear that the alicorn’s eyes tracked her as he entered the room and sat down at the table.

Elder Sanguine was lounging in a red felt upholstered wooden chair, spying the changelings and pegasus with one eye as she tipped her silver jeweled chalice upwards. The rest of the chairs were lined with a black fabric instead. If that meant something, then the meaning was beyond Aorta’s limited understanding of equestrian social structures.

The pegasus, Daring Do, was sitting at the opposite end of the table, near the door which they had all entered from. Unlike literally everyone else in the room, she actually had food before her. That was something she was taking advantage of, and was wolfing down several servings of some sort of… fruit and vegetables.

Aorta was not an expert on equestrian foods, either.

The dining hall was silent except for Daring Do’s fork and knife scraping against her porcelain plates, as well as the sound of her chewing. Eight changelings, one thestral lady, and two thestral guards who stood by the doors, all watched her scarf down food like she was a starving Tizheruk.

Eventually, Aorta managed to tear his gaze away from the living abyss consuming everything at the end of the table and directed his attention back where he needed to. Elder Sanguine smiled at him

“Are you certain that there is nothing I can provide you, Aorta?”

“I ate on the way.”

Sanguine lowered her chalice to the table, “And just what is it that you eat?”

Aorta worked his jaw in thought before remembering that the Masquerade Protocol was already broken.

“Changelings feed off emotions.”

Sanguine raised an eyebrow, “Emotions?”

Aorta glanced back and saw Daring stuffing half of a baked potato down her muzzle in a single bite.

“Emotions,” he confirmed, not looking away from the sight.

“How exotic. We thestrals enjoy the usual equestrian diet, albeit with some more… seldom seen inclusions and inclinations. However, I cannot for the life of me fathom what consuming emotions is like. I would be delighted if you could elaborate.”

Daring started chugging a tankard, slowly raising the bottom to the ceiling.

“Uh…. We eat love mostly. We can eat some other emotions, but it’s mostly love.”

“What does love even taste like?”

“.... King Phasma said it’s like the first meth high, whatever that meant.”

The tankard’s bottom had pointed straight up before Daring slammed the tankard down.

“I do not know what that means, Aorta.”

“No one I asked did, either.”

Daring pressed a hoof to her mouth to cover up a belch. It was like putting up a screen door to a hurricane; the oppressively loud burp stopped any conversation the lings might have struck up. For a solid five seconds, Daring cleared the air from her stomach. Once it was over, she had the dignity to look embarrassed.

“Ahem. Excuse me, it’s been a while since I ate, and I worked up an appetite… My compliments to the chef?”

“I’ll pass them along,” Elder Sanguine mumbled.

Daring looked between the changelings and thestral staring at her.

“Don’t pretend that you’re not contributing to the awkwardness. You could at least nibble on something? Talk? Stop staring at me? I mean, I hadn’t eaten in almost two days, no thanks to you.”

“Speaking of food,” Sanguine switched topics, “I’m afraid we are all out of… love. I can recommend a nice Nebbiolo and complimentary dishes, but as far as emotions go…”

Finally, Aorta returned his full concentration to the conversation at hoof. Though, a part of him would always be sitting there, watching the devouring at the end of the table.

“You needn’t worry about that, Elder Sanguine. We brought provisions with us.”

“Ah, in your saddlebags? That is good to hear, though I feel as if I am failing in my duty to make your stay as pleasant as possible…”

‘Heheh, yeah. In our saddlebags…’

“Saving the King is all we ask. Which brings us to the main topic at hoof; your supposed duty to save the king. Who told you we were coming? How? Why?”

As much as Aorta didn’t want to look a gifted nymph in the mouth, there were simply too many questions to ignore.

Sanguine frowned, “Are you sure I cannot interest you in something to drink or eat? Such a long conversation is hard on a dry throat or empty stomach.”

Aorta suppressed a sigh. It was becoming increasingly apparent that ponies loved to talk while eating, and eat while talking. To get more progress on acquiring answers, he would have to play their little game.

“Very well, I will take this… Nebbiolo, as well as what you recommend with it.”

The corner of Sanguine’s mouth twitched upwards in a smile, “At last, progress. Will your friends be eating as well?”

Aorta glanced back at the other drones. They were trying their hardest to not look bored.

“No, they will secure our things, check on the carts, and make sure we are settled in our rooms,” Aorta replied, not necessarily to Sanguine.

Getting the hint, the other drones rose from their seats, nodded to Aorta, and began to leave the room. One of them tried to motion to Daring Do to follow, but she ignored them and instead maneuvered herself into a seat across from Aorta, at Elder Sanguine left-hoof side.

“Thank you for the meal, Elder Sanguine, was it? I do not believe we have had the chance to speak. My name is Daring Do, and I am an explorer of sorts” Daring said with a smile.

Any sincerity Daring had was self-defeating by the fact that she kept glancing at Sanguine's fangs, and rarely the leather wings on her back which protruded from her clothing.

“A pleasure to meet you, Daring Do,” Sanguine said before turning to Aorta, “Why did you bring a pegasus with you? Is she a member of your king’s troupe?”

Aorta scoffed, “No. She made a nuisance of herself and nearly got us all killed. Were it not for the fact that the King had risked so much to save her life, I would not have brought her all this way.”

“I understand. The mysterious wisdom or eccentric foolishness of the higher ups, no? In that case, a guard will help you find your room, Ms. Daring Do.”

Daring smile had slowly fallen off her face, “I am here for answers–”

Sanguine cut her off, “You are here only due to the generosity of myself and the changeling King, daywalker. The forthcoming Aorta here has made it clear that your wellbeing is needed, but your comfort is not. I will pass your thanks off to the chef, and ask you to retire to your room without protest.”

Daring tried to protest, “I was dragged here against my will. I am grateful for your hospitality, but I wish to receive answers that you no doubt seek yourself. I… ask to stay here and listen.”

Even if Aorta could not taste the pegasus's frustration and muted anger, the struggle to finish her ‘request’ would have made it clear just what the pegasus was feeling. Sanguine, on the other hoof, was merely annoyed. She sent a look of deference Aorta's way.

‘Best case scenario is that I spare King Phasma a barrage of annoying questions from this damned pegasus. Worst case scenario, the King erases her memory, or we slit her throat. What does His Majesty see in keeping her alive, I’ll never know.’

“I will allow you to stay, Daring Do. But do not get on my bad side. If I’m feeling generous, I will ask Elder Sanguine to house you within the dungeons. If I’m not feeling generous...:”

Aorta let the threat hang. Daring sighed softly and nodded. Funnily enough, she wasn’t afraid, merely relieved.

‘Stupid pony, you think I’m bluffing?’

“Now then, Aorta, I assume you are capable of consuming pony foods?”

“We are.”

“Are you capable of consuming… non-pony foods?”

“We… are?”

Sanguine smiled, “Perfect. I am certain you will enjoy what we have to offer, then. Attendant! A bottle of Nebbiolo and two specialty plates!” She chuckled quietly, “I hope you don’t mind that I eat as well. Like the feathered one here, I am myself rather peckish.”

“Just what exactly am I about to eat, Elder Sanguine?”

Elder Sanguine rolled a hoof, “Nebbiolo is a fine red wine, a favorite vintage of the Elders. Truly, it is a treat. The specialty dish is designed to compliment this rare and holy vintage: fine cheeses, buttered vegetables, and braised duck.”

“Duck?” Daring asked, and Aorta detected a bit of.. Sickness? It was a tricky skill to read the more complex emotions, and far from an exact science.

“I see what you mean by seldom seen inclusions. I can’t say I’ve tasted many foods, but I look forward to these… new experiences.”

Sanguine gave a half-nod, “I am pleased to hear that. Now, I would like to exchange questions. If you would prefer to start, I would be delighted to answer whatever questions you may have.”

‘Finally.’

“Yes. I have one question above all others that need to be asked. How are you going to save King Phasma?”

“From the Blight? Yes, we know about it. Unfortunately, in a case as advanced as your King’s, there is one but one solution. We must lure the Blight into a position of weakness. It will not be removed otherwise. At least, I suspect that is the process the Elders will pursue.”

“Lure? How is that accomplished?”

“We must let the Blight take hold weakly in the right and prepared parts. A trap, one that the Blight is utterly blind to.”

Aorta balked, “You’re going to WHAT?!”

99- Orpheus

‘Oh crud, are these the bad guys of the adventure?’ Daring thought to herself as she shared in Aorta’s confusion.

Sanguine dismissed Aorta’s worry, “Oh relax, it’s just a minor case of demonic possession.”

Daring piped up, “Does this happen… often?”

Sanguine shook her head, “Oh goodness no, not in living memory. Or most of dead memory, for that matter.”

Aorta’s short-circuited mind reset itself after a few tries, “You are planning on having the King be possessed?! Wh… What?!”

The doors opened and two tuxedo-wearing thestrals entered, carrying trays on their backs. One carried a bottle of red wine under a curled wing. When they approached the table, they unloaded the plates that the trays held, and placed the bottle as well as two wine glasses next to the Elder.

Sanguine uncorked the bottle of wine, “Ah, Here we are. Do tell me what you think of the meal. It’s so rare that we can entertain guests, let alone those capable of enjoying our cuisine.”

Aorta’s muzzle twitched, “Now, Elder Sanguine, I’m trying to remain as calm as I can possibly be, so forgive my bluntness; what the fuck did you mean when you said you are going to let King Phasma be possessed?! Do you have any idea what we just went through to make sure that didn’t happen?!”

Daring just looked between the two as they talked, not wanting to butt into the conversation too much. Not while it was getting her the answers she wanted, at least.

Sanguine poured two glasses and chuckled, “Not the faintest clue, no. But we have all night to speak, as I’m certain you won’t be able to rest while you believe the life of your king is in danger. So, do share.”

“You just said you were going to have him possessed! That’s not a belief that he’s in danger, it’s a fact!” Aorta yelled while standing up and pushing himself away from the table.

Sanguine merely placed a filled wine glass next to Aorta and spoke quietly and calmly, “I assure you that your monarch is in good hooves. We can help him far better than anypony else alive, you know. Besides, we gave our assurances to the Night Mistress that we would save him. We have not broken faith before, and we never shall.”

‘Again with this Night Mistress? Come on Aorta, tell me who she is…’

Aorta nearly growled as his features pulled back into a snarl, “Never? Just where were you when the alliance was forged between King Phasma and Nightmare Moon?”

Sanguine’s features had tightened into a controlled neutral expression.

‘Right on schedule! So, the Night Mistress was Nightmare Moon. An obvious choice, in hindsight–’

“Our seers did not receive visions for quite some time. The prophecies were ambiguous. We were blind, deaf, and without guidance. By the time we realized that we were being called upon, we rushed to the Night Mistress’s aid. But the war had moved on by then, and the only thing we could do was cover up the fact that we had mobilized for war. Now we stand at the Night Mistress’s beck and call, ready to make up for our failure. From what has been passed to me, she is rather happy with our lack of response. A miracle which we have not earned, and are eager to make up for. The Night Mistress was not clear on just what King Phasma was to her, but they must be somepony important to make Princess Luna panic like that.”

“Princess Luna?”

Aorta and Sanguine turned to face Daring Do.

‘Oh. I said that out loud...’

“What does King Phasma have to do with Princess Luna?” Daring pressed further. There was no point in trying to take back her question. It was better to press forward.

Sanguine looked angry for a split second before she turned her gaze towards Aorta, “I was hoping to learn that myself.”

‘Huh? Wait, is the Night Mistress Nightmare Moon, or is it Princess Luna? Now I’m confused.’

Daring decided to voice her question out loud, “Is–”

“Don’t think you can slip the possession thing by me that easily, Elder Sanguine,” Aorta spoke in a deep voice.

‘Damn it, changeling! I’m trying to do some detective work here!’

“My dear Aorta, as I said, this is our chance to prove to the Night Mistress that we are willing to help. This is our chance to redeem our sins. We will not mess this up.”

Daring grimaced, “You shouldn’t have said that.”

Aorta attempted to rein in his anger, “Sanguine. We had risked a lot to escape the clutches of the Nightmares. Rushing right back into their fangs is the last thing we want to do right now. I need to know that the King will be alright. You’re not doing a good job of convincing me of that.”

“The ritual chamber is completely sealed. The four wisest Elders are tending to him as we speak. Centuries of knowledge, decades of experience and training, and the finest quality artifacts and materials that can be acquired are all dedicated to saving the young King Phasma’s life. There is no chance that he will die tonight. There’s plenty chance of you wishing he died tonight, but that simply won’t happen. We will not allow it. Even if we have to resort to the most drastic measures, the King will survive this ordeal. It was ordered by the Princess, so it shall be carried out.”

“As it is woven,” Aorta mumbled to himself, but loud enough for Daring to catch.

“Now please, enjoy your meal before it gets cold, I would hate to ask the chefs to prepare another dish,” Sanguine said as she started to help herself to her own food.

Daring leaned away as Sanguine ate meat.

'... If the Night Mistress is Nightmare Moon, then that means the changelings are in league with monsters that could try to destroy the world, or whatever. If the Night Mistress is Princess Luna, then... King Phasma– why is he a King and not a prince?– might have been telling the truth about Division-P... I need more information. I need answers.'

Scrunching her nose and swallowing her disgust, she was about to try to start a new line of conversation about the Night Mistress when Aorta suddenly froze.

“Completely sealed?”

Sanguine swallowed before speaking, “What was that?”

“You said the chamber was completely sealed?”

“It is.”

“Then why can I still feel the Weave? Why am I still connected to the King?”

‘Feel the what-now?’

Sanguine’s wings slowly stretched out.

“Connected?” She asked. “You are connected? The chamber is unsealed?! Oh stars, we have to tell the Elders to fix that open connection! How are you connected?”

“Through the Weave!”

“What’s the Weave?” Sanguine and Daring asked at the same time.

Aorta’s wings began to buzz and he lifted out of his chair.

“The hivemind! It was probably how the Nightmares spread back in the Third Hive! We– we have to get out of here, now! Get the other changelings out of the King’s Weave, before it’s too late!”

‘Hive–?’

Aorta shot towards the doors, the guards reacting only just barely in time to open it ahead of him.

“... Not sticking around to see his kin evacuated, huh?” Daring wondered out loud.

Sanguine yelled to the guards by the door, “Alert our new guests! Tell them to get out of this ‘Weave’ at once!”

The guards saluted then practically vanished in a blur as they shot through the doors. Sanguine then got up and made for the door in a dash that was nearly as fast as Aorta’s sudden escape.

“Hey! Where are you going!” Daring yelled as she stumbled away from the table and after the thestral.

“I have to warn the other Elders! Stay here, pegasus!” Sanguine called out over her shoulder, not even stopping for a second.

“Not a chance!” Daring yelled as she followed Elder Sanguine out the doors. Her heart rate was skyrocketing again. Panic was more infectious than most diseases, and just as deadly at times. Daring breathed deeply as she beat her wings to take off from the ground and keep up with the blur of a thestral ahead.

‘I knew she shouldn’t have jinxed it!’

Web and the Elders were no longer alone in the room. He could tell, though he dare not look away to check. The witches had warned him not to, but even without the warning he would have been too terrified to look anyways.

He squinted and tried to focus as much as he could on the silhouetted figures in front of him, as well as his armored King on the stone slab. Web tried as best as he could to ignore the things standing around him, gently tapping on his pegasus-disguise. Like knives on a chalkboard, they practically reached through him to tap on his insides. Web shivered involuntarily as one felt like it touched his very mind

Web fought to remain focused on the candles. There was a small group of five, sitting at the base of the altar. King Phasma’s tail fin was draped over the edge, and the smoke from the candle wafted up and brushed against the fin. It parted like waves of water against a share.

Web stared at the candles, the smoke, and the fin for what felt like hours. He was prodded for what had to be lifetimes. Then the thestrals suddenly quieted, and at last the unwelcome sensations ceased.

Elder Mind cleared the silence, “Sisters, the rites have been consecrated. Let us begin our work.”

‘Begin? What do you mean, begin?!’

Web held his tongue, too afraid to break whatever concentration they were holding. Elder Blood retrieved a vial of red substance, Elder Bone brought forth a mechanical device that looked more like a sextant than anything that would be found in an operating room, Elder Soul placed a brown pot smudged with black paint on the table next to the King’s head, and Elder Mind flipped open an oversized tome on top of a lectern. In the dim candle light, Web could see various ribbons of paper and cloth fluttering down from the thick book like… Well, Web didn’t know of anything that he could compare it to.

Elder Soul opened the pot and began smearing a white chalk on the royal’s face. Elder Blood hoofed over the vial to Elder Bone who placed it within her device, and placed it on the King’s withers, right above where it heart was.

Elder Mind began to recite from her book. As she hummed the words, the metal spiral on her head began to grow dimmer and dimmer, as if absence of light was collecting within the metal’s confines.

“Thrice, with mercury I purify and spit upon the twelve tables…”

Elder Mind then made a spitting motion to her right and then her left. The prodding then returned, ten times as strong as it once was. Web felt a four-clawed appendage reach through him from behind. As if that wasn’t enough, Web began to hear whispers. They were quiet, just barely audible above the pony’s chanting and reciting.

Web couldn’t make out the words. He didn’t try to, either. Some things were best left to the imagination, as counterproductive as that sounded.

The ritual only got more elaborate from there. Web went back to trying to focus on the candles near King Phasma’s tail, but was distracted by something else behind him. The black metal doors behind him had shut themselves at some point. Web thought back and tried to remember where the other three ponies he had entered with had gone to, but he couldn’t quite remember. As he stared at the candles, Web heard a peculiar set of noises coming from behind him. Remembering the witch’s words, he ignored them.

A breeze started to flow past him, whisking candle smoke towards the lowered section in front of him. The awful feeling of being poked and prodded receded and as the breeze grew into a quiet wind. The smoke in the room was pulled up above the ritual, twisting into an upside down cyclone above them as it was sucked into the hole at the top of the room.

The noises grew louder. It was someone shouting. Web was shaken by an intense feeling of sickness. He dry heaved as a wave of nausea literally went through him. The voice grew louder. Distracted, he unconsciously focused on the voice to make out its strange, distorted words…

“Stop the ritual! The chamber isn’t fully sealed!”

The voice, which bounced between high and low pitches, was accompanied by a soft banging on the metal doors behind Web. Curiosity killed the cat, and Web turned to look at the doors. There were no candles behind him, or any in his field of view anymore. The world had already faded to black before this, but now almost nothing was visible. There was only one single thing Web could see anymore.

Just the door.

It had slowly swung ajar on a loud, creaking hinge. Web saw black smoke slowly creep out from underneath and between the two metal vertical slabs. As he continued to stare, the doors swung backwards more, the black fog turning maroon, then blood red.

“Stop! The! Ritual! C’mon, open, you rusty piece of…!”

The creaking grew louder and louder as the red fog turned brighter and brighter.

Web was confused. Web was scared. Web had no idea what was happening anymore. There was no possible frame of reference for what was going on, what he was seeing, or what he was hearing.

He saw something snake out from between the doors, something beyond description. It made him shiver at the sight, but he dared not look away. It was too late for that.

‘I have to protect the King! I have to protect the King!’

Web’s orders rang through his mind as all other thoughts cleared away. A voice from behind him nearly swept him off its hooves. However, the voice was calm, collected, and assuring.

“Shut the door.”

Shut the door.

‘Shut the door.’

Web grunted with effort as he obeyed his King. The metal door screamed in protest while Web sealed the doors shut in his black magic grip.

Just before it went out, Web had made out a mural on the backs of the doors. They were painted in beautiful vibrant colors as well as being carved right into the door. The mural on the left door was a male thestral in a blood red suit, a similar shade of crimson dripping from his fangs. The door on the right was a female alicorn with fur as black as night, wearing a blue armor that gave her an almost purple tinge. Her fangs dripped a black liquid.

‘Was that always there?’ Web asked himself as the red light from the door was extinguished. The sound faded away, and Web was left in a sea of black. No sound. No sight. Alone.

At least the voices gave him company.

100- Ọya

I was drowning.

A vast expanse of water and ice slurry nearly claimed me as I struggled to stay afloat. Like in the river months before, my lack of experience with this new body was damning me. I kicked, thrashed, and gasped for air each time I pushed through the surface layer of ice slush.

Each struggle was awarded with a glimpse of the star above. They felt right. Natural. Familiar. The Equus night sky always felt a bit alien and unfamiliar. This night sky was a familiar sea, sitting above this frigid one that was killing me.

My limbs were going numb and my efforts less successful with each lungful of air. I clenched my eyes shut as I went under again.

However, the cold faded away, and the pull of the waves against me had vanished altogether. Furthermore, I could no longer hear the crash of waves and the grinding of ice chunks against each other.

With a gasp of warm, pleasant air, I opened my eyes and found myself lying prone on the stone tiles within that damned pyramid of the Third Hive.

‘Ugh. That sucked. Note to self, never drown.’

After coughing out water for half a minute, I finished catching my breath and drip-drying as I studied the throne room in its former glory. This time, instead of a bleak and ruined chamber, the High Altar was anything but bleak. Where the central pedestal was once empty, a tall throne of gold, lapis lazuli, silver, and other metals dominated the room. At the top of its high back, a statue of a spider with nine legs on each side lay perched. It's front two pairs of legs were outstretched, forming two parts of two circles.

The walls around the throne were covered with banners, tapestries, murals, paintings, and stories in general. One section was dedicated to the depiction of a changeling royal in armor slaying an Eastern Dragon of some sort. Another section showed a city burning. A third yet depicted an age where the trees were rainbows and the sky a strange shade of pink.

'Who let their nymph doodle on the… Oh wait a second, that's the Age of Discord, isn't it?'

When I turned away from the terrifying implications of letting a child's drawing become the template for the world, I jumped back in surprise when I saw that the throne was no longer unoccupied. As I turned, I swore I saw my own reflection sitting on the throne, but when my head stopped it was Luna sitting there.

She waved. I waved back and moved closer.

"What is this place?"

"It's… uh. No, wait, something happened…"

Luna frowned, "Is that why you are moving right now?"

"Oh! Luna! I… I was attacked by a Nightmare! How could I have forgotten…?"

Luna hopped off the chair and inspected me closely. Her horn glowed when she began to scan me.

"When? How much pain are you in? What do you last remember?"

The details were hazy.

"I… it happened just now. I got hit by something, something bad. It hurt, too. Then I… I was here. Dreaming, this is. I was drowning. Then I wasn't."

"I'm not detecting anything. That is bad, just so you know. You're too far for me to help, not to mention the predicament of staying hidden from Daybreaker. Head to Vallachia, where my loyal thestrals can help you."

"Vallachia? How… do I tell my people to go there?"

"Concentrate on the message you want to send. Focus on speaking the words. I will guide you the rest of the way. We must be quick, Phasma! If your memory is already being altered, then the Rot is already taking root! The city of Trotsylvania, Phasma, send them there!"

I swayed on my hooves, "Rot. Right, yeah. Ahem. We have to go to Trotsylvania, the thestrals will help us."

I pictured myself saying the words: the shape my mouth would make, the movements of my tongue, the exhale that formed each word.

"Again!" Luna yelled, her horn glowing again.

"Go to Trotsylvania, the thestrals will help–” I said before breaking off into a cough.

Luna leaned in close, "Again!"

I shivered as I felt her body warmth when she leaned close. The ice-dip didn’t exactly leave me feeling very well. I managed to resist the growing urge to hug the warm, fluffy pony and continued trying to make sure that I didn’t die. Though it was a close call.

"Trotsylvania, Vallachi! Thestrals! Help! Now!"

Luna sighed as her horn dimmed, "The message has been sent. Fear not, my acolytes shall aid thee- shall aid you. They are experienced in the matter of removing Nightmares."

"That's… good?"

"For you."

"Hey, Luna?"

"Yes?"

"You came at the right time. Thanks. I, uh, don't know what would have happened without you."

She smiled, "Don't thank me yet, young Phasma."

It must have happened a number of times before I caught it. In my addled state, it was hard at times to think straight: like being shoved into a box and thrown off a cliff, I still felt woozy and dizzy from my efforts to not drown in my own dream. My chest still stung in fact. So when I finally caught the little detail, I realized just how much I fucked up.

"You know something? I've noticed that Luna avoids contractions. Even with my grammar lessons, she avoids them like the plague. I'll admit, you've done a better job this time. Took me longer to catch it, but I’m sure a lot of that can be blamed on the whole drowning thing.”

The thing which looked like Luna stiffened for a moment before smiling.

"The specifics of you lesser beings always tends to escape our notice, it's true. But the deed is done. You won't be getting a second message through, Crier of the Damned. You have discovered the truth far, far too late. As entertaining as it would be to see you try to send another, don’t waste your breath. This is not anything like when Sloth attempted to dig its claws into you."

I gave up halfway through the message I was trying to will into existence. The Nightmare smiled. Then, the fake Luna vanished.

“.... Hello?”

I spun around. With the alicorn gone, I was alone in the room.

“Hello? This was supposed to be the part where you monologue and gloat, giving Luna enough time to appear and actually save me. Hello? C’mon, this wasn’t part of the script.”

I huffed and sat down on the dazzling throne, lounging lazily as I thought.

‘So. I was just tricked into sending us to the opposite end of the continent. What’s waiting there? A trap. Another Nightmare, clearly not Gluttony-slash-Prophet. The one wants to possess me, apparently. But Luna described actually doing her actions as Nightmare Moon, so I’m not being completely possessed. I suppose it takes time for the Nightmare mambo-jumbo stuff to set in… Why did it hurt so much last time? Is this Nightmare taking its time, waiting before trying to attack? Or do they do their darkness stuff differently?’

I raised a foreleg to my head, “Oh, woe is me! I am being attacked by a Nightmare… again! I could surely use a beautiful princess who can save me! A big strong princess who will defy gender norms and be the hero of the story! Heroine! Gender norms… that might not apply to Equestria. I mean, I am… uh…. A helpless Prince! I need…. Oh fuck it, Luna, can you come save me? Luna?”

‘Aw hell, she’s not coming, is she? I need to find a way to escape on my own. How did Luna even blast it away last time?’

“Luna?” I asked again, keeping up appearances. “Lunaaaaa?”

I dropped my foreleg and sighed, coughing slightly.

‘Magical powers that I haven’t been taught, probably.’

“Say, Mr. Nightmare? Just what is it about me that makes me so alluring to your kind? I know I’m kind of a lightning rod for bad luck, but this is ridiculous. Is it that mark of… lamb-something? You could at least acknowledge that I’m still here. I swear, if you’re trying to kill me with boredom, I’ll–”

The ground suddenly became slick with water. On top of the lower section that surrounded the throne, a layer of water appeared and started to rise.

“You know what! Nevermind! I’m good with boredom! Boredom’s good! Great! Ten outta ten stars! There’s no need for– Panar damnit!”

The water showed no sign of slowing its rise. Slowly, the chamber became more and more filled. Worse yet, the spot on the wall straight ahead where the door was supposed to be was instead completely smooth and covered up by a tapestry of a changeling royal drowning to death.

“Haha, you sure got me! Now, why don’t we talk about this like civilized adults– oh it’s cold!”

I couldn’t will the water away. I couldn’t use my magic to blast out, or even do anything. I couldn’t change the dream at all. Once again, I was a prisoner within my own mind.

‘Ngh! No! P-poor choice of words! I’m not… No! Fear is what it wants! I am not afraid! I am King Phasma! I will get out of here and bludgeon it to death, with my own ego if I have to!’

I tried buzzing my wings to fly above the water, but I couldn’t get myself free from the freezing cold water.

“Cold! Cold cold cold!” I yelled as I began to thrash.

Noticing my own panic, I tried calming myself down.

‘Happy thoughts. Happy thoughts. Luna’s smiles and jokes. Thorax’s a– err, personality. Coxa’s humor. Sense of purpose with the hive! The strange kindness of ponies! Sleeping past noon!’

My efforts were dashing the moment I looked up and saw the ceiling fast approaching. Soon enough, there would be no air to fight for.

‘Not here! Don’t want to be here! Anywhere but here! Get me out! Out out out out!’

Up and up I went. My limbs were going numb. My mind was racing. I felt my horn scrape against the ceiling. I clenched my eyes shut and once again, I felt nothing.

The feeling of the freezing water had vanished,, just like it did when I appeared in the temple room.. I opened my eyes. I think I did, at least. All I could see was black. I lifted a hoof and waved it in front of my face. For better or for worse, I could see myself.

That meant I was suspended in some great black expanse. A sky without stars. A sea without waves. A… something without something. My mind was still whirling from the whiplash of going from a heart-racing situation, to a calm one, then back to a heart-racing one in just a few minutes. It was hard to come up with analogies when you were remembering to breathe in and out.

“Lovely darkness,” I said aloud. “Great stuff. Totally not bored at all. I’m actually happy to unwind. Yep. Thanks for this.”

Doing my best to not lie, I tried to relax as much as possible. It was relatively easy as there was no life-threatening situation or room filled to the brim with distractions. Aside from the fact that I was still very cold and had become tired, the void was almost… relaxing. It was peaceful, quiet, and had a distinct lack of Nightmares. Ones that I could see, at the very least. There was always the chance that I was completely surrounded and was on their equivalent of a banquet table.

‘Relax, Phasma. Think of a way out. The Nightmare is keeping me on my hooves, stopping me from thinking of a way out. Maybe it can only affect the world in bursts as it gains energy from my fear? Yeah, that makes sense. So it gathers energy, possibly from my fear, and it uses that to make more fear. If I can stay calm during one of those… episodes, then maybe I can starve it to death. I should try to find a way out, too. If I can outwit it, or I guess defeat it in some way, maybe an exit will present itself. Not like I can make it any more mad at me, considering it wants to basically kill me.’

“I see a light, below!” A breathless whisper echoed from above me.

“Here we go again,” I muttered and looked up.

“Aha! There he is! There he is! Found him at last!” Another voice whispered.

Above me, a massive spider was lowering itself towards me on its web-string. As if that wasn’t nerve-wracking enough, the spider seemed to have its eight eyes where it’s mouth and mandibles would normally be, and four sets of said mandibles on its head, on the top, bottom, and two sides of it.

The body of the spider was made of black chitin with some sort of white substances painted on in swirling patterns. Here and there, crimson streaks of fog darted around its body.

“King Phasma!” The spider called out as it approached. The set of mandibles on the right sides clacked as it spoke.

‘Stay calm.’

“What now?” I demanded sternly.

The spider pirouetted on its string, pulling itself up on its string as it spun a web harness around itself. Despite the void having no gravity pulling in any direction, the massive arachnid moved as if the void beneath me was terra firma and that gravity pulled in that direction. It stopped its ministrations of weaving as it finished lowering itself, ending its descent right in front of me. Eight eyes blinked unsynchronized as it nearly bumped my muzzle.

I tried to lean back, but it followed my movement. The chill I felt started to dull as they spoke. Like an ember of warmth within me, I felt heat growing within myself once again.

“You are a hard soul to find, Tainted One.”

“Not hard enough, apparently. Go away, I was enjoying the silence.”

The top mandibles clicked together as it hissed a laugh. Or it was emptying helium out of a balloon.

“We were sent here by the Night Mistress herself,” the top mouth spoke, louder than a whisper this time.

“She was adamant about saving you,” the left mouth added.

“We wonder just what spurs her to action, but that may be learned after our work is finished,” the bottom mouth finishes their spiel.

I grimaced for a moment before clamping down on my emotions, “That’s… lovely. Now go away.”

“We are here to save you, strange being,” the top mouth hissed at me.

“You’re not the first to try to ‘save me,’ strange being,” I spat back. “One of your brothers– two of them already tried that. One of ‘em is still trying, I think.”

“There are no thestrals here,” the right mouth pointed out.

“Thes– you are ponies?”

“Yes,” all four mouths intoned at the same time.

‘Why do I feel like eating hard candies when they speak? They feel like old people. Heh, I bet they are, and it’s some weird dream nonsense telling me that they are.”

“Eugh. We have already fallen into the trap, then?” One of the legs reached out to touch me before I batted it away. “Don’t touch me, hags!’

The giant arachnid reared back as the top mouth spoke, “Hags? Sisters, did you hear what he called you?! King Phasma, we are the wise Elder Aspects of Vallachia! We are here to save your life, now comply before the last dregs of who you are are subsumed by Rot!”

“I’m not too big of a fan of the demons, so I don’t think I’ll do what the demon-worshippers ask me to do. Especially if they look like giant spiders.”

“Spiders?” The bottom mouth asked.

“Hush,” the top whispered, “King, you see us how you wish to see us. But we are genuine in our attempts to help.”

I laughed out of disbelief, “The Nightmare wanted me to send us to Vallachia. This is a trap. I will not actively embrace my death.”

“The Nightmare sent you to us?” Left asked.

“We assumed it was the Night Mistress…” The top said.

“Night Mistress, Nightmare, whatever. Look, I don’t want you here, so just go. I’ll save myself, thank you very much.”

“How?” All four asked in synch, again.

“By…. figuring it out. I’ll be fine.”

“The only way you survive this, whelp, is by trusting us,” the top said in restrained frustration. “You will not be saving yourself. You need help.”

“I’m not–”

“We serve Princess Luna,” the bottom mouth cut me off. “We always have. Well, for a time we served Nightmare Moon, but our loyalties have always been to the Princess, no matter her leanings. She wants us to save you…. Please, let us help you.”

‘I can’t believe I’m even going to listen to what they have to say…’

“Why should I believe you?”

The top hissed in laughter, “You have no reason to. Only a fool would. But a fool will be the only one who can survive this trial. It will be painful, but we can exorcise the Rot from your soul. You should not trust voices in your head, such as ours, but you must. There is simply no other choice.”

“... Prove to me that you are actually loyal to Princess Luna.”

“She came to us in a vision,” the left hummed quietly. “For so long she was silent to us. But we saw her come to ask and beseech us to save you. You have a very special connection to her.”

I sighed, “You were deceived by a Nightmare if you are telling me the truth. The Nightmare wanted me to go to Vallachia, to the thestrals. If you truly serve Princess Luna, then you’re, ah, how should I put it? Also in deep shit?”

The mouths whispered to each other too quiet for me to hear. It almost seemed like they weren’t speaking Equuish, their words were so strange and muted.

Then, I gasped as I felt a sucking sensation against my mind. The last of the cold that lingered within me vanished as I felt part of me be ripped out from my own body.

“King Phasma?” One of the mouths asked.

I was slowly drifting backwards in the void, trying to hold my own mind together. Different emotions surged through me. Confusion. Pain. Anger. Frustration. Fear. So much fear. It was like someone was stretching me out, pulling at me like a rubber band. Then all at once, I snapped back together, the feeling gone and replaced a sense of calm and warmth.

Either something very bad had just happened, or judging by the spider’s confusion, something extremely bad just happened.

“What….” I gasped.

“Did you feel that?” The top mouth asked.

“Y–” I began to answer, but was interrupted.

“Yes, Mind! The Rot moved! We haven’t even laid the trap yet!” Right spoke rapidly.

“The King was right, it was not the Night Mistress who spoke to us! A trap! A Trap!” Bottom yelled.

“We must leave!” Top commanded. “Hold on to yourself, King Phasma! We will return for you!”

For a moment, the massive spider hung before me in silence. Then another moment. And another. And another. And… the spider continued to hang there in front of me, silently.

“Uh… Are you going to leave, or...?”

The mouths hissed in pain as the spider began to coil up on itself, tearing away at the web around its body that it used to suspend itself from the string holding it up. The spider began to smoke, then smolder, then massive red flames suddenly engulfed its whole body.

“That’s… not normal,” I summarized my thoughts before a sudden pain invaded my mind again.

The pulling sensation was back, only reversed this time. Instead of being ripped apart, it felt like something was being thrust into my mind. My head felt like it was overflowing with something. It wasn’t another being, like I imagined possession would be like. It was…. Like memories. Memories that I never had.

I had no idea what was–

...

Reaching the arm took seconds and years, minutes and decades, hours and epochs. It stood before me, stretching out indefinitely to either side. I could not see its ends, nor could I see through it anymore.

It was composed of more specks of light than I could fathom. Just in the section in front of me were white, red, blue, and yellow specks that numbered more than the grains of sand on any beach.

I reached out a glowing orange arm, and touched it.

At once, I could feel the thrum of each of the galaxies up above. They beat like a heart, like a pulse was traveling through them, its source beyond one of the horizons.

Then, I heard a whisper from below call out to me.

“Damned Soul.”

I felt my very being be ripped into as the thing spoke. No, spoke was not the right word. It willed the words into being from the parts of a thousand and one screams of pain.

“You will suffice.”

I grunted in pain and felt blood drizzle down my nose.

“I name you Crier of the Damned.”

I hissed in pain at the force of its voice. As I tried to unclench my jaw, I felt a burning sensation on the back of my head. I could feel the thing as it seared something onto me, burning my very soul with its horrible touch.

‘Horrible! Please… stop! Please! Please! Oh god! Stop! Noooooo!’

I cried as it dug further into my mind, tracing out its unholy symbol. I just knew it was unholy. My sanity recoiled from the touch and my heart beat rapidly. The agony spread throughout the rest of my body as it worked on carving the symbol.

After an eternity of burning, the jagged blade pulled itself free of my head and left me floating there, dazed and half conscious from the pain.

“Free King Epitaph.”

I recoiled, not in pain, but in remembrance of the pain.

“Luna! Agh! P–Please! I… I need help! Please!” I begged.

I gave up on trying to control my emotions or plotting an escape. If the Nightmare wanted to possess me, there was nothing I could do. Alone, there was nothing anyone could do against such a monster. That was the truth of it, I realized. Alone, you are nothing to them.

‘They will destroy us all unless we fight together. All this war against each other is pointless. None of it matters,’ I thought as I clutched my head between my hooves.

Phantom pains, real to nothing but my imagination and memory, traced the brand that the thing placed on me.

“I’m out of my depth… I need you…” I whispered.

For a moment I was thankful that there was no one here to catch me cry. I was supposed to be a king. I was supposed to be a leader. Quickly, I switched to wishing that literally anyone friendly was here. Someone I could actually trust.

“Apologies for being tardy. Cadence has some… interesting news to share.”

I didn’t dare look up. It was just another facade. Another trap set by the Nightmare.

“Phasma? Are you well? No, forget the question, the answer is obvious.”

‘Daybreaker. Nightmare Moon. The Prophet. King Phasma. How many of us will be claimed by these monsters? Is that our fate, doomed to die? Are the immortals of this world doomed to be ring-wraiths, or something similar? Why is it that we must suffer the most?’

I felt a hoof hook under my chin and raise it, forcing me to look Luna in the eyes.

“Phasma. You have been crying. What happened?”

I didn’t feel cold. I wasn’t in pain. I was not being stretched, compressed, drowned, interrogated, tortured, or anything else. I was tired. Tired and near my breaking point.

“Is this our burden?” I whispered to the Nightmare.

“What are you talking about?” It whispered back.

“Why are we here? Just to suffer?”

“Phasma?”

The way it spoke my name called to me. It was warm. The voice was like an antithesis to the amalgamation of horror that wrenched into my soul.

“Luna?” I asked, afraid.

She hugged me. I melted into her embrace, sagging heavily. We were still in the black abyss, but at last I was no longer alone.

“What happened, Phasma?”

“It’s you,” I whispered as I buried my face into her neck.

“Yes. I am me. I can not recall a time where I was not me, save for the time when I was not me and was instead Nightmare Moon. And that one time I was Celestia, but that ‘twas only for an afternoon.”

Luna managed to get me to chuckle.

“There is your smile,” she smiled back. “Now tell me, what happened?”

“They had me from the beginning, Luna. The damned Nightmares, they had their sights on me since I arrived. I was attacked again.”

“Those wrights came back for a second time?!”

“A third, Luna. Three times they have tortured me. When will the pain end?”

Luna held me tight, “Three? Now you know why I dedicate almost every night to rooting out their scourge. They inflict such pain and horror that not even our worst foes deserve to be at their mercy. As if the Nightmares have such a word in their lexicon. Now, my Phasma, I am here now. The hour of Daybreaker’s end draws near, and the culmination of our plans comes to fruition. We may be together more often, if you–”

“Please.”

“Very well. I am sure I can fit you into my schedule somewhere. Let us say… after the moon rises, and before it sets? It is not a large time slot, but I think we can find days open for meetings.”

“I’m tired, Luna. I'm tired of all of this. I really need a vacation or twelve.”

Luna pulled away from the hug and grinned, “Once Celestia has returned and negotiations of peace are had, I am certain we can secure time for ourselves. You, me, copious amounts of liquor, and nothing but time.”

“That sounds like a honeymoon.”

“I do not know what that is… but I like that name. Honeymoon.”

I chuckled, “It’s what newly wed couples go on. An outing of love making and… no, that’s pretty much it.”

Luna laughed, “It is a bit early for marriage! We have not even kissed yet!”

'Maybe it's time to change that.'

“Luna… I love you.”

“I love you, Phasma.”

We leaned towards each other. I felt her hot breath on my muzzle; it smelled of flowers. I had to suppress a laugh when I remembered that ponies eat those. Luna raised her muzzle to meet mine as I met her gaze. I took in a deep breath and closed the distance between our lips.

Then someone woke me up.

I.

Was.

Pissed.

101- Furies

The world was unfocused and spinning. I grunted in nausea as my head started to settle, eyes no longer darting around the blur and trying to make sense of it. It felt like I was lying on something cold. I could also feel the tight compression of Unbroken Radiance on me. For some reason, the Nightmare– or thestrals, whatever– did not remove the armor. As the room came into focus, the heavy stench of smoke and something metallic sent me into a weak coughing fit. Occasionally, phantom pains from the nightmares sent imaginary stabs into my chest, but those quickly subsided.

I was sitting on some sort of large stone altar slab. Around me were upturned tables, candles half burned to the ground, and of course blood. A heavy sigh and the sound of hooves on stone caught my attention, and my ears automatically swiveled around to find the source. I lifted my head up from the rock and scanned the dim room.

“Even,” someone grunted just to my right.

I had to look down to see them. It was Daring Do, sitting down next to the altar. There was blood on her, and it looked like some of it was coming from her right forehoof. She was… exhausted. Her emotions were muted, her breathing labored, and her eyes struggled to open.

“What?” I asked.

“Even. We’re even now. Ugh….monster… go kill it…”

She lifted a hoof and weakly pointed behind me, where a doorway spilled warm light into the cold, smoky chamber. For a half moment, I wondered why there were no doors when there were door hinges, but then I saw the doors. They were halfway down the hall, embedded into the ceiling.

I sent Daring the best death glare I could manage.

“What happened, Daring? Why did you wake me up?”

To my credit, I covered up the daggers in my voice exceptionally well, and by exceptionally well, I mean that Daring somehow missed the obvious signs that I wasn’t all too pleased with her.

‘Stupid sunk cost fallacy. Maybe I should have left you for dead.’

“Ngh…. Yeah. We saved you. Monster attacked from…. from within the chamber. Couldn’t get in. It came out. The…. the thestrals pulled its attention…. I finished the magic cleaning ritual… ceremony… whatever.”

I slowly got to my hooves ontop of the altar and asked, “You just– damnit. How did you know what to do?”

“Not alone…. Elder Bone helped. Told me what to do.”

I didn’t hear or see any other pony around.

“Where is she now?”

In response, Daring grunted and nodded with her head towards an upturned table ahead of me. I climbed off the altar to walk over to the table. My metal boots clanged loudly on the ground, making me flinch slightly. Behind the table, an earth pony that was wearing black, slim fitting outfit. Her most striking feature was that she was cut in half midway down her barrel. The dead pony was staring up at the ceiling with unblinking yellow slitted eyes.

‘So this is what a thestral looks like. And what their insides look like. Fantastic, now this soon-to-be-former Nightmare has blood on its fangs.’

I swallowed the trace of bile that rose up from the sight. Daring was watching me from her spot next to the altar.

“She’s dead.”

“What…? She was… talking to me moments ago.”

“With an injury like that? There’s no way she could have lasted more than a minute. Two, maybe.”

“Ritual took ten…”

“I’m not sure who you were talking to… You’ll live, right, Daring?”

Daring nodded slowly.

“Not hurt badly… just… very tired… sleepy.”

“Good.”

‘If there does wind up being some sort of tribunal after the war between our races is over, I’m going to need a whole bunch of character witnesses. The more, the better. Plus, I’ve already put in too much effort for her to keel over when I’m not looking.’

I walked past her and examined the doorway.

“Help them…”

“I’m going to. I’ll be back, Daring. Don’t die yet.”

“You better… Taking a nap now.”

The soft sound of fur scraping against stone behind me told me that she must have slumped over. I began to walk forward, following a trail of destruction through castle corridors. The hallways became more decorated and lavish the further I got. My pace increased, too, as I warmed up.

‘So. A Nightmare infected someone, made a mess of the chamber, and left…. All without killing me? If I was right there, why…? Did my armor protect me? Did they need to leave me alive? Who was infected? A pony? One of these… thestrals?’

Here and there, the trail led on. A blood stain. Ripped up carpets. Torn stones and paintings. Burn marks. More blood stains. I didn’t see anyone injured or dead, strangely enough. Either these thestrals were quick to retrieve their wounded, they somehow never went down, or… they did die, and the Nightmare was gaining allies.

The first sign of life I saw was a silver-armored, winged thestral. She was lying on the ground with an opened medical kit in front of her. She was in the middle of wrapping a foreleg in gauze, just above her metal boot.

‘Do they have subspecies, too?’

I trotted up towards her. Her tufted ears perked up and she rolled onto her back. While rolling, her wings snatched a crossbow from somewhere I didn’t see and pointed it in my direction. The pony smelled faintly of fear and misery, but was comparatively calm for someone who just drew a weapon in an instant.

When she took a moment to look over me, she lowered her crossbow.

“You…. you’re the guests’ VIP? Their… King?”

“Where is it?”

“Left the castle, I think. Alpha-Squad is… Don’t worry about me! I’ll be fine!” She yelled at me as I ran past her and down the hall.

As my trot picked up into a run, I extended my elytra and tested my wings. They seemed mostly undamaged from the explosion I had survived, and the short escape I made afterwards. A small tear here and there, but otherwise serviceable. There was the matter of energy, however.

I was out of it. I had no idea just how much juice I had left in me. Granted, spell strength could only decrease so much, but half-strength spells might not even be enough to take down one of these Nightmares. If pressed, I could scrounge up enough energy for maybe one transformation. Maintaining it would be easy enough in terms of energy cost, but I would not have enough energy for a second transformation.

Suddenly, the trail of destruction veered off into a side room. The door was almost completely obliterated. The room beyond, some sort of guest room, was torn up into shreds of fabric, wood, and stone chips. The far wall had a great big hole blasted into it, beyond which the night sky of Equus lay.

I hovered above the wreckage of the room and stopped at the hole in the masonry to look out. A massive town of old Germanic houses gathered around the banks of a deep river beneath the castle I was apparently taken to.

“Ready or not, here I come.”

I jumped off the ledge and glided into town.

Five shadows darted across the night sky. Unseen save for the dimming of the stars as they passed beneath them, Alpha-Squad flew across the Market District on completely silent wings. At the front of the V formation, Sulfur Drip suddenly started banking to the right. The formation followed her as she bled altitude and set down upon The Creaking Cauldron's roof. The large tavern’s shingles clacked quietly as the five sets of hooves set down upon it.

“Fish in the water. Newly spawned. Two hooves cast out nets and draw them close. Two hooves walk silently.”

The squad listened to Sulfur’s whisper, and acted upon her orders. Two thestrals quietly took off from the roof and began circling the section of the town they had landed in. Two more thestrals glided down from the roof and landed on the cobblestone street below. Their hooves, padded with thick fabric beneath their horseshoes, were nearly silent on the stone road.

Sulfur observed the ground team from her perch against a smokestack on the tavern’s roof. Her Cutie Mark had told her that her prey was somewhere nearby, so she ordered the squad to spread out in their two respective teams. The ground team acted as a bait and distraction. The Blighted One would see the two guards in their dull metal armor and would either see them as easy prey, or would be afraid and would bide their time while the patrol moved on. Then, it would emerge from its hiding hole, when it thought it was safe.

The real hunters, two in the sky and one on the roof, would be watching the entire time. This was an ancient tactic, but one that played to the thestrals’ strengths better than most others. Their enhanced night vision, their honed skills, and their dedication to the protection of the night against the Rot had struck down its surges in ancient lore. If Sulfur was an amatuer, she would have been giddy at the thought of continuing her ancestors’ holy hunt. Instead, she kept her eyes out for any movement in the shadows that clung to the streets and alleyways of Trotsylvania like its outer garments. She focused on the areas closest to the ground team. Their safety was in her hooves. The rest of the District had to be left to the two flying thestrals.

Somewhere back in the Old Quarter, an angry screech echoed softly in the night. The Elders were beyond furious at the breach in their most holy sanctum, and were now out for blood. So long as they kept their violently loud anger away from Sulfur’s stalking grounds, she was content to let them scream into the night.

A rogue breeze swept through the town, picking up leaves, litter, dust, and pebbles and shuffling them across the streets. The muted rustling of trees shaking in the wind came from beyond a building to the east. Dondarrion Park, one of Sulfur’s favorite places to ice skate in the winter, was in that direction, and had to be the source of the pleasant sound.

A glint above snatched Sulfur’s attention. One of the airborne thestrals was flashing a shined dagger in her direction using a hoof. In the moonlight, only a thestral’s eyes could notice the small change in light in the night sky. At least, that was the hope.

The airborne team was signalling that they might have something. To pass the signal on to the ground team, Sulfur made two owl hoots from her hiding spot. The thestrals below her, still walking down the street slowly, made no motion of acknowledgement.

Old poetry wormed its way into Sulfur’s mind as she kept watch for further signals. Long Fang described his hunt against the Rot as a silent dance, which had to be kept hidden from the audience, lest the hunters turn into the hunted. Silently, Sulfur wished that she could remember better poetry than that.

‘It’s almost never the good stuff that sticks in your head.’

Sulfur Drip let her thoughts quiet and leave her in silence as she focused on her duty. Distantly, the clang of a metal trash can being knocked over cut through the silent night. It was too distant to be relevant. So, she continued to watch the ground crew. Eventually, the thestrals in the air– both of them, flashed daggers towards her. Their prey was spotted, and was in fact moving to intercept the ground crew.

‘Gotcha.’

Sulfur hooted once and spread her wings, lowering herself to her belly on the slate roof. She contained herself to the smokestack’s shadow as she got in a pouncing position. She tensed her muscles, checked her blades, and sat and waited. Sitting in such a strenuous position would tire out anypony that hadn’t trained physically for such a painful position, but Sulfur was squad leader of Alpha-Squad, which had earned more marks and awards than any single pony could possibly hope to achieve in a single lifetime. Four centuries of training resulted in the best night time hunters to have ever stalked the sky.

A wavering shadow drew Sulfur’s attention to a particular alleyway ahead of the grounded thestrals. There, their prey had paused in the dark, believing itself to be hidden. The trap was already closing around the vile monster as it gathered its unholy strength. The thestrals would have to act fast; the Nightmares all had access to powerful, deadly magics, so it was best to close the distance immediately.

Lieutenant Sulfur Drip kicked hard off the roof, springing into the cold night air and soaring above the rooftops. She was so low that she could easily stretch out a hoof and scrape it against the fired clay shingles that passed in a blur beneath her. Angling her wings back, she suddenly shot upwards into the sky, transforming her forward momentum into a climb. With a slow, lazy spin, Sulfur reorientated herself at the apex of her arc, and began her hell-dive.

Her hoof-claws whistled in the wind as she dive bombed for the alleyway. They were the noisiest piece of equipment she had on her, even noisier than the metal plate armor, but by the time the Blighted One even noticed the sound, the most it would be able to do would be to look up. Sulfur continued to pick up speed as she stretched her forehooves out in front of her. Slowly angling her wings back up, she turned her downward dive into a swoop from the far end of the alley.

Sulfur could see it now. Shadow clung to the beast like fog to a morning’s sky. It cascaded from its body, melting into the darkness around it. Its form was jagged, possessing suggestions of thin wings, and one large, curved unicorn’s horn. Its back was to her. Sulfur could imagine the thing salivating as it watched the grounded thestrals ahead of her.

Then the Elders arrived.

With as much grace as a cat being thrown out a third floor window, five large bats flapped their way up to the alley from the front of it. Sulfur was forced to pull up and rise out of the alley before it was too late. As important as purging the Rot was, the last thing she wanted was to clip one of the bats that practically clogged up the alley’s exit.

She hooked a wing on the eaves of one of the alley’s buildings and flipped herself around, spinning several times before managing to come to a stop. Now, she was hanging from the building’s gutters, upside down. She kept her eyes on her prey beneath her. It hadn’t noticed its close encounter with death, instead it was preoccupied with the Elders.

With soft thuds, each of the bats exploded into bursts of smoke, which immediately coalesced into the thestral’s forms. The five Elders which had taken to the streets did so with the intent of bloodying their blades before their return. Where normally they wore slim fitting coats, capes, cowls, robes, and so on, now they wore the segmented black plating of the Great Claws. They were all former members, and thus had the equipment and training of Alpha-Squad’s more brutish cousin.

Elder Sanguine let her double bladed battleaxe drop blade down onto the ground. At her sides, Elder "Mind," stood with her metallic horn alit in red energy, Elder "Blood" hovered an inch above the ground, twelve daggers holding absolutely still in the air around her, Elder "Soul" clutched a double bladed glaive polearm in her muzzle, and Elder Bulwark stood silently, his signature twin upsidedown kite shields fixed to his forelegs.

Elders "Bone," Eclipse, Vigilance, and Serene were all missing. Though to be fair, nopony expected the last three to ever pick their weapons up again for use in battle. Especially since Elder Vigilance's hoof-claws were currently on Sulfur's own hooves.

“Die now, vermin!” Elder Mind yelled as she summoned a sword blade of purple energy and thrust it towards the Nightmare.

In response, the monster screeched and sent forth several spikes of shadow towards the Elders. The old ponies had to dodge out of their paths, with the exception of Elder Stalwart who parried the spike that lunged for his throat.

‘So much for the element of surprise,’ Sulfur lamented.

The Elders then ran into the alleyway, where the confined space made combat difficult at best and impossible at all other times. The monster, alone, was finding itself able to match blow for blow and parry for parry against the waraxe, dual shields, spellfire, and double glaive. Only Elder Blood found success with her attacks, since she had no need to move around in order to attack. The thestrals found that their numbers were working against them. Their advanced age certainly wasn’t helping, either.

Still, Lieutenant Sulfur knew better than to try to argue with a superior, let alone an Elder, especially on the battlefield. That didn’t mean that she couldn’t help, though.

“Lure it into the open!” She called out to the ponies fighting below her.

Sulfur let go of the roof she was holding onto and glided into the open street outside of the alleyway. When she landed, four more ponies joined her at her sides. Alpha-Squad, with no ambush left to lay in, rejoined their leader.

“What are the Elders doing?” Corporal Wing whispered.

“What they darn well please,” Sulfur answered her subordinate. “Now, get ready to draw it out!”

But the Elders were not retreating. Sulfur and her squad watched the thestrals they called leaders dive further into the alley, further hiding themselves from their sight. It was only due to Elder Mind’s continued illumination of her faux-horn that they could even still see the rapid-pace battle still taking place. A flash of sparks from Sanguine’s axe scraping against Bulwark's massive shields put the fear in Sulfur’s mind that even the Elders were struggling to see in the near pitch black darkness of the fight. Out of sight of the moon, there was no natural light for them to fight by.

An ill omen, obvious to anypony who stopped to think for even a moment.

“Elders! Let the fish swim!” Sulfur called out once more, this time in Battle Cant.

Once more, the Elders ignored her completely. They did not even deign to respond to her plan, instead yelling out their battle cries as they hacked, slashed, stabbed, smashed, and casted at the Nightmare. Sulfur picked out the occasional cry of pain and scent of blood that accompanied a weapon finding its mark. But considering the fact that the fight was still going on, it must be the monster finding purchase against the Elder’s flurry of blows and landing hits, and not the other way around.

The squad stood around awkwardly and looked to Sulfur for guidance.

“If we go in, we’re useless. If we stay out here, we’re useless. The Elders won’t listen to us, for better or for worse. We need…” She thought aloud. “We need to lure it out–”

The Nightmare leaped from the alleyway and into the street. Sulfur raised her bladed boots just in time to deflect the monster away from her, jabbing into its form. The monster, now out of the shadow and into the light, looked like something right out of a horror novel. Like a scorpion molded into the shape of a pony, the thing had a maw full of teeth so sharp and large that its lower jaw was practically dislocated. Its eyes were two pits of darkness. At the back of its head, a jagged grey fin dripped blood slowly from a deep cut in it. The rest of it was obscured by a cloak of shadow that twisted around and squirmed in the moonlight.

Then, its horn, a long, jagged thing, started glowing black. Sulfur immediately dove to the side, but Corporal Wing was not so lucky. Transfixed by its alien appearance, he realized too late that he should have dodged. Sulfur gagged on the stench of burning flesh, shut out the screams of the dying pony, and went in for her own attacks against the Rot.

The sounds of battle were easy enough to find.

It wasn’t like this was a bustling town in the dead of night. I saw and tasted the emotions of a few ponies wandering in the night, but by and large the town was mostly empty. Most ponies who were still awake, were conglomerated in the usual spots; taverns, clubs, homes, and so forth. The city wasn’t asleep, but outside of the occasional walking thestral or flying one, everyone was indoors.

‘One would think that there would be more people outside in a town of this size. Were the citizens warned to stay indoors?’

The sound of yelling, clashing weapons, and screams of pain came from a section of buildings closest to the river. There, larger buildings overlooked an empty marketplace. I landed on the eaves of one such four story building. I peered over the edge and saw a cluster of thestrals chasing after a fleeing smear of black against the grey cobblestones. Some ponies were lagging behind, dripping blood as they followed.

“I found you!”

At my call, the black thing stopped and a head appeared, no longer hidden by its moving cloak. It was a changeling. Or… it was one. Their features were warped, twisted, broken and reformed. It no longer had smooth black chitin, instead its surface was an amalgamation of uneven shards of blackish green fragments. The changeling’s teeth were changed into pairs of matching fangs that didn’t quite set right. Its eyes….

The changeling resumed its escape from the ponies after fending off a few attacks sent its way.

That was someone who looked up to me. Someone who I was supposed to protect. I didn’t know their name. It could have been any of the other changelings I brought here. The changelings I brought here…

I experienced so much pain at the behest of those damned Nightmares. Now, I doomed someone else to such a fate. I had to fix this. By crook or by hook, I would free the changeling and destroy the Nightmare for good.

The lost changeling hissed in pain as three daggers cut through its body, and it zig zagged into a nearby alley.

I pushed off the roof and began to fly towards it when three thestrals in segmented black armor and red cloth appeared from nowhere to surround me, forcing me to halt midair. Now that they were close, I could taste their emotions.

Fury. Red, hot fury. As much flowed in their veins as my own. That was when I noticed that each of them were brandishing weapons, all pointing towards me.

“Out of my way, ponies.”

I could only watch as the monster got further and further away.

“You dare speak, Blighted One?!” One thestral yelled at me.

“You dare stand in my way, foolish one? I’m not in the mood to talk, so step aside and let me do my job.”

“You will die here, monst–”

“Oh Panar damnit.” I cut him off as I facehooved, “You think I’m a Nightmare, don’t you? I’m not. See my shiny green armor? Nightmares don’t have shiny green armor. Nor, I suppose, the patience to deal with morons, or even the wit to try to avoid fights. Let me pass.”

“What are you, then?” Another thestral demanded.

“A King. Let me pass!”

“Do you think we’ll believe your words so quickly, strange thing?”

“Err, ma’am?” One thestral asked the other that was speaking.

“What is it, Private?”

“We received a Very Important Pony last night. A VIP whose identity was classified? What if, you know, they weren’t actually a pony?”

The thestral who seemed to be in charge blinked in surprise.

“... Come on ponies, reach your epiphanies quicker. The Nightmare is getting away!”

“The Rot will be cleansed by the Elders. If you are the VIP, then you need to be at the castle right now, where it is safest.”

“Damn safety, that’s one of my subjects that got infected by a Nightmare! I should be the one to put him down! Not you ponies!”

“Sir, please leave it to us,” the pony said, apparently deciding to believe that I was the VIP mentioned.

A surge of anger flowed through me.

“Step out of my way, before I rip you to shreds!”

The thestrals all flew back a hoof’s length from me before the lead thestral spoke softly.

“Uh… sir? I think you really need to get back to the castle. I think you’re in desperate need of help.”

“What the hell are you going on about?!”

“Your eyes glowed green for a second, sir. Please sir, I fear the Rot is affecting you.”

I sighed, “The… Oh hell. Nothing’s ever simple, is it?”

I felt the anger slowly slip away as frustration and confusion replaced the emotion.

“Cleansing at this early stage is a simple process, actually, but you need to go now.”

“.... And if I was already possessed, and maybe partially cleansed?”

“Oh buck– I mean, you’ll be fine. Sir. You’re in the best place for care for such things, after all. The Elders will help you out…”

“The Elders…?”

The thestral looked around, “Yes. They are pursuing a breach in the castle’s containment… That would be related to you, I would assume. Come with us, sir, we’ll get you back to the castle in one piece. And try your best to not get angry at anything, please. You will need to watch your emotions for the time being.”

“Because being partially possessed has long term consequences? Great. Just…. Great.”

The sounds of battle were distant again. I focused on not grinding my teeth and instead, tried to calm down. It was to little effect. The monster was gone. The Nightmare wouldn’t be dying by my hooves. The changeling would die, out of sight of any of our kin, no memory of their death. The grand fight would happen without me to even witness it.

‘Just who was it that I let die?’

The thestrals had led me back to the castle and to a small sitting room. It was about half the size of the parlor Luna and I usually used when dreaming, but it was quite cozy. A few chairs, a fireplace, and some paintings of green rolling hills. Shame the color scheme was black and gold. That doesn’t quite go well enough together to theme an entire room after it.

“There’s a pony that needs aid in the… whatever room I woke up in. She passed out, so make sure she doesn’t die.”

The thestrals had all stayed, and stood silently near the doors. Though they treated me like a VIP, they didn’t know that for sure and were keeping an eye on me. I would have called them morons if they didn’t.

“What room would that be, sir?” The leader asked. He stood across from me on the other side of the fireplace. I had dragged a chair over and collapsed into it. I still wore the Adamantium armor. It was tough to get comfortable in it, but if I was even slightly in danger of corruption, I figured that removing it could actually put me in more danger.

“Somewhere with candles, stones, and a spooky atmosphere…. You know, this place is giving me strange vibes.”

“Given the situation at hoof, I think I know the chamber you are speaking of, sir. You said you woke up there? And somepony is in trouble there?”

“Yeah, go check up on them. I don’t want them to die, as I said. There’s also another dead pony in there, a… Elder Bone?”

The thestral had pointed a hoof to one of the other armored ones and was quietly giving them an order when I said the name. Upon hearing it, she gasped.

“Elder Bone?! Private Serenity, go! Private Cherry, go get backup and medical to the ritual chamber, now! And get me an update on Wing, Shade should have news from the infirmary by now!”

The two winged thestrals saluted and then ran out the door.

“You! What is your name, sir?!”

“I am King… King Phasma.”

“King Phasma. You said you woke up in the ritual chamber, yes?’

“I guess…”

The anger had left me completely. Not only did the hot rage leave me, but it left me in a state of cold tiredness. Despite my apparent several-day-long nap, I was tired. I was hungry, frustrated, and mentally exhausted.

“–cleansing ritual. That would explain… everything. Not to worry, sir, we’ll get this all fixed up.”

“Hmm? I must’ve zoned out. What did you say?”

“I said… I said you’ll be fine, sir. From what I can tell, you were either the subject of or adjacent to a cleansing ritual? Do you remember anything?”

“I was fighting Nightmares and got hit.”

“Then you were the subject of one. The ritual must’ve been interrupted, and an Elder was killed…. Harrow’s beard! Can this night get any worse?!”

“It always can,” I said as I began to melt into the chair.

‘Mmm…. chair.’

“Are you feeling okay, sir?”

“Tired. Hungry. Drained. Daring felt this way, too. I think. Maybe.”

“Is that the pony’s name? The pony that is in the chamber?” I nodded. “Don’t worry, sir, we’ll get her medical aid as soon as possible. We have the finest medical staff in Vallachia. I’m sure she’ll live. Her and… and Wing.”

“Cool. I like her idea, though. A nap…. Wake me up when this Nightmare has been taken care of. I will need to speak with my people about this failure of mine. About… lots of stuff.”

“The cleansing ritual will need to be finished, sir.”

“I think Daring already did that.”

“Nopony outside of an Elder can properly finish one. Just relax, sir, and keep an eye on your emotional state.”

“I can do that,” I muttered as I closed my eyes.

‘Tomorrow’s problems for tomorrow me. Fuck that guy, I do all the work and he reaps all the benefits.’

I stayed awake for just a bit longer, long enough to sense the thestral’s impenetrable anger start to give way to sadness. When she thought I was asleep, she began to sag and stare at the floor. Just as it had left me, the adrenaline fueled anger had left her. But whereas I was exhausted, she was lost to sadness.

“Pony… what happened?”

She jerked up and resumed her soldier’s posture.

“What? Nothing, sir.”

“... Fine,” I gave up.

‘Probably not my business.’

102- Dakshinamurthy

The Nightmare had been across the entire town, until they finally trapped it within a dilapidated home on the outskirts. The old timber frame was rotting away and had begun to lean to the side. The plaster walls had cracked nearly everywhere, and at other places holes let the elements into the interior.

Said interior was filled with rotten furniture, wood splinters, broken glass, and other refuse. The Nightmare was currently fighting off the thestrals in what was once a respectable kitchen. Now, all it prepared for dinner was its own wooden components for the termites that had infested the doomed structure.

Elder Mind twisted a piece of scrap metal that was once part of a sink into a spear. Then, she channeled Essence of Sulking into the metal, causing it to faintly glow blue.

‘Let’s see you shrug this off, vermin!’

Elder Mind propelled the piece of metal forward, faster than an arrow. The metal impacted the wall next to the cornered shadow’s head. The sudden impact stunned the creature and despite the Elder’s miss, it created an opening for Elder Sanguine. She swung her double-bladed axe, cleaving off a portion of the amorphous creature. It screeched in pain as the shadows evaporated from the severed portion, revealing an insectoid leg. Its screech continued into a hiss as a sickly green beam exploded from its horn. Elder Bulwark shoved Sanguine to the side and held one of his two shields up, intercepting the beam. Elder Mind could feel the ancient shield’s enchantments protests as it redirected the energy away from the shield.

The rays from the beam scattered around the room. Where it hit, the wood and plaster discolored, fractured, then collapsed under its own rotting weight. Elder Mind even saw a beam hit the stone remains of the kitchen’s fireplace, and watched for a moment as the stone discolored and weathered away.

When the screaming Nightmare passed in front of the kitchen’s broken window, Elder Blood embedded two daggers into its back from her position just outside. It let out a pitiful wail as it staggered and fell to the ground. It thrashed as it fell, rending gouges around it into the soft wood and splintered kitchen counters.

Focusing on ancient spells, Elder Mind entrapped the Nightmare’s fleeting essence before it could cast any spells or other Rot trickery. It would not do well to let the hunt go this far, only for the monster to get away, or worse, jump ship and find a new target for possession. But without those mythical Elements of Harmony, there was only one way to remove a Nightmare infestation that had reached this level of corruption and manifestation.

“The time is now!” She yelled to her tiring comrades. “Destroy it while it is weak!”

Elder Blood’s remaining daggers smashed into the floor around the Nightmare. Elder Bulwark pressed his two shields against two of the daggers, creating a yellow spark between his front legs. The spark vanished, but the light it made did not. The yellow glow then suddenly exploded in size, creating a ring of light around the Nightmares, above the embedded daggers in the ground.

Waiting a few moments for safety, Elder Mind let go of her efforts to keep the Blighted One trapped and still and instead prepared herself for the banishment ceremony.

“As Two became One, the night’s darkness was cast away,” She hummed.

“As Dark became Light, the hunters became the prey,” Bulwark joined in.

“What was given to us, we pass to you!” Elder Soul muttered through a full mouth.

She flicked her head to the side and drove her glaive through the yellow glowing barrier, stabbing the Nightmare through it. Mind felt the ground vibrate as it screamed, but no noise escaped the amber glow.

“Upon our oaths, we once more renew,” Elder Sanguine panted as she shoved her own weapon through the barrier, causing the Nightmare to contort inside and bleed black blood.

All Elders sung the final line together, “As long as one thestral stands, to the last shadow we shall pursue!”

With a thundering boom, the ponies were all thrown back– and in Blood’s case, into the neighboring building outside– from the Nightmare. Elder Mind crashed violently into a wooden cabinet. The old furniture collapsed entirely upon her, though there wasn’t much left of it to bury her at all.

Mind coughed as dust, rot, and who-knows-what-else filled the room in a hazy cloud. She pushed the debris off of her and slowly got up to her hooves.

“Did we get it?” Somepony said.

“I don’t feel it’s cursed presence,” Mind announced after clearing her lungs as best as she could.

She stumbled forward, pulling herself clear from the remains of the cabinet. She bumped into the kitchen counter and slowly walked forward. The dust was settling when Elder Mind came across the black burn mark that now covered half of the kitchen.

“Hahahaaa! That really gets your blood flowing!” Elder Blood yelled from outside. “I feel like I’m forty years younger!” Her scarred muzzle appeared in the remains of the windowframe, a grin plastered on her face. “I can’t believe we missed out on this! Pah, who needs peace and quiet when we be badflanks!”

“Bulwark could have,” Sanguine spoke softly from behind them.

Mind turned away from the window and saw Elder Sanguine standing next to Elder Bulwark. The old stallion was leaning back against the far wall of the kitchen and holding a shield in front of his face, but the jagged piece of metal that pierced through the shield and went through his skull drained much of the joy Mind had felt at the fulfillment of their holy duties.

It was the remains of the spear that Mind had stabbed the Nightmare with. In its death throes, the Rot had claimed one more life.

“What a way to go,” Elder Soul whispered jealously.

I spat out the remains of bile from my mouth and leaned away from the toilet. My helmet lay on the ground next to me, as well as a glass that now held only ice.

“Sir, scouts have found your missing… subjects,” the pony standing guard at the door announced.

“They were missing?” I asked after spitting once more. My voice was a harsh whisper since my throat was so dry it was nearly closed up.

“Yes. They all evacuated right before the, uh, incident occurred.”

I wiped the sweat from my forehead with the back of a hoof and stared at the pony. He was not the same one that had brought me to the sitting room, nor was he the thestral that brought the horrible medicine that made me vomit.

‘Purging ritual, what a fucking joke. The only thing they purged was yesterday’s dinner!’

“And the–” I paused to cough and continued in a quieter voice, “–the changeling that got possessed?”

“No news, sir. The hunt was successful and the Nightmare was banished.”

I sighed and leaned my head back against the wall.

“Anything else?”

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty?”

“Why are you still here?”

“After what has happened, the Elders– the ones who still live, that is– have ordered that your protection is paramount. Sir.”

“The ones that still live?”

“There were some casualties last night, sir.”

“Oh yeah. The Elder that died in the spooky cult chamber.”

“Elder Bulwark also died in the line of duty as the Nightmare was being banished. There was also a Corporal who died, Sir.”

“All that death for a single minion? That Nightmare didn’t even have a name, how could it do so much damage?”

The thestral frowned, “Sir? They have names?”

“The big ones do.”

“Uh….”

I picked myself up from the ground, gathered my helmet with a hoof, and pushed past the guard at the bathroom’s door.

“Alright,” I whispered, “I’m done with this place. Done with Nightmares. Done with death. Where’s the way out?”

“Sir, I do not think you should–”

“Do you have any idea what I’ve been through?” I hissed as I spun on my hooves and got in his face. “I’ve had the longest damned day of my life, and that’s not even including the time I was murdered. I need to find out which of my subjects was killed. I need to get back to the rest of my people. I need to figure out a solution to this whole Nightmare thing, and how they have been hunting my kind to extinction for the past… who knows how many thousands of years! I’ve been–” I broke off into a painful coughing fit.

The thestral stood there awkwardly, tasting of frustration.

‘Don’t like being yelled at? Maybe you shouldn’t reach above the chain of command!’

“Sir, you need to calm down! The treatment is still working on you, and there are still vestiges of the Rot in your system. It preys on powerful anger, sir!”

I opened my mouth to cuss him out when I tasted amusement from behind me, further down the hall.

“You should listen to the doctor’s orders, Your Majesty. Your life was bought with the blood of many. To throw away their sacrifice is to kill them yourself.”

I rolled my eyes as I turned to address the pony who was interrupting me. It was another thestral. She was dressed in a fancy outfit that would look alien on anything but a vampire. Black suit, red lining, the whole deal. The only thing she was missing was a pair of fangs– no wait, she had those too.

“Your Majesty, I am Elder Sanguine. You may consider me one of the rulers of this Province. I have been dying to meet with you since your arrival. It is unfortunate that said arrival heralded so much death, but that is the way the Corrupted Darkness does its work.”

Taking deep breaths to control my anger and get my emotions back in check, I gave her a blank face.

“Elder Sanguine, I am King Phasma. It is… a pleasure to meet you. I am sorry to hear about the deaths of your ponies, but I am leaving.”

“Leaving? I cannot stop you, Your Majesty, but I would so dearly hope you could stay and chat for a bit. Vallachia offers its finest hospitality to you and your troop, as well as dying for your own protection. I will not be so crass as to hold the deaths of our own over your head, but I should hope you realize the extent we have gone to ensure your safety, and would be willing to at least reciprocate our kindness. I have many questions, Your Majesty, and you have many answers.”

“... Fine. I am sorry for not being the most understanding individual, but as you overheard, I’ve not been having a good day myself.”

Sanguine nodded, “Quite understandable. One does not escape the clutches of a Nightmare unscathed. Now, if you would follow me, I would like to hold our conversation in a locale more pleasant to the eye.”

I followed her as she led the way down the hall she came from. We passed through the lavish halls of the castle, and I noticed a theme in many of the paintings I saw. The portraits of thestrals all seemed rather familiar.

“Alright, I get it, you’re vampires,” I muttered as I passed the twelfth painting of a thestral in a high necked black suit with red lining, drinking blood from a cup.

“Excuse me, Your Majesty? What did you say?”

“I said your portraits are all rather similar.”

“Oh yes, well, Vallachia is rather insulated. With so little contact with the outside world, we had to look inwards for inspiration. Countless generations of struggling to appear normal, with no identity except one that others gave us. After fleeing to this mountain range and calling it our own, we no longer feared retribution and suspicion. As it turns out, the stereotype the daywalkers assigned to us is rather… intoxicating. It is so exotic and inspired that we more or less adopted it.”

“So you got so tired of being called vampires that you started dressing and acting like them?”

“Vampires? Do you mean vamponies? If so, then… yes. The idea of how they act, at least.”

“That seems kinda weird, don’t you think?”

The thestral stopped at a pair of glass double doors that light poured through and pushed them open with her wings. She stepped into the room beyond; an open air garden courtyard. The garden was circular, with a large walkway underneath a roof held by chiseled pillars acting as the far wall. The close half of the garden was made up of the castle itself, with stairs descending along its circumference and ending at the opposite end of the circle. The garden itself was a small collection of short green bushes, purple and red flowers, and small trees on the outside of the path around the garden.

Elder Sanguine made for a pair of chairs situated at the side of the garden and sat down on one of them. At my silence, she gestured to the opposite chair with a wing.

“Please, sit.”

I followed her request and sat down on the chair across from her. It was a wicker chair with a red fabric cushion. Sitting in the pleasant shade of a large-ish tree, the spot was very comfortable. All in all, it was not what I expected.

“I was thinking you were going to bring me to some dark catacomb to speak…”

Sanguine laughed, “You’ll find that we are normal ponies, King Phasma. Not bats who sulk in the dark and consort with entombed corpses.”

“You don’t exactly work hard to make that difference known.”

She smiled, “That is a fair observation. We simply don’t care about what outsiders think of us. Now, before I begin asking about you, I believe there was a pegasus who was very interested in learning about you too?”

“That would be Daring Do.”

“Yes, that's the one. Would you like for me to send for her?”

I sat back in the chair and admired the greenery around us.

“Yeah. Given her line of work, I think I might be running into her more than once. Best get this out of the way and her out of my way. She’ll never stop asking annoying questions otherwise.”

The pony tapped an arm of her chair twice and another thestral silently swooped down from an unseen vantage point, landing next to her.

“Your command, Elder?”

“Fetch the pony.”

“At once,” the armored mare saluted before flying off.

“... So, if you Elders rule this place, then two rulers died last night?”

“That’s right,” she answered, “An unparalleled tragedy. So much wisdom and leadership lost…”

“I am sorry to hear that.”

“Every cloud has its silver lining. To die in such a glorious fashion is quite honestly the best way to die for us. Giving your life in the greatest hunt of a generation is something that all of us who still live are just a bit jealous of. Elders Bulwark and Bone will be missed dearly, but their deeds will be sung about for years to come.”

“Did they have, I suppose you would call them, apprentices?”

“Yes. Unfortunately, Bulwark outlived all five of his own. His teachings are written down, and his apprentices’ apprentices yet live, so his school of fighting may continue. Elder Bone had two of her own. Quiet Cross is likely to be her successor of the two. Though that remains to be proven. To take the mantle of Elder Bone is not an easy feat, and at times the title has gone without a holder due to a lack of candidates skilled enough to earn it.”

“Your name is a title?”

“Not all Elders. Just the four Aspects: Bone, Blood, Soul, and Mind. They abscond their true names and identities to become the most important and wisest of us all.”

“That’s… quite something.”

“Quite something indeed. Here comes your pony,” she lifted a hoof and pointed towards the doors we had come from.

Daring Do immediately began strutting towards us, stopping right in front of me.

She pointed a wing at me, “You!”

“Me.”

“You! I’ve got a lot of questions for you!”

“Okay.”

“I… You’re going to answer them?”

“Sure.”

“Not going to argue? Put it off for later? Monologue?”

“Oh just shut up and pull up a damned chair. I think we all have questions for each other, and while I wait for my minions to return, I’ve got nothing better to do than to answer and ask them.”

A thestral without clothing– ‘A servant no doubt,’– pulled up a third chair for Daring Do, who took it without taking her eyes off of me.

“Daring Do has been waiting the longest to ask her questions, Elder Sanguine, so I think she should start. She’s been brewing the longest.”

“Very well. You may ask your questions, Daring Do. I will be patient.”

Daring settled into her chair, and her wings settled onto her back.

“Yes. I… uh… yes. I’ve been waiting to ask you about a lot of things, King Phasma!”

I nodded, “I figured.”

“... I never really expected to get this far. First, what business do you have with these thestrals’ Night Mistress?”

“Night Mistress?” I asked.

“Princess Luna,” Sanguine offered.

“Ah, her. Luna and I…. We first met while she was still Nightmare Moon. She wanted me to help dethrone Princess Celestia at the time. I accepted her offer, and marched on Canterlot. Turns out that Nightmare Moon is all bark and no bite, as her promised army was nowhere to be seen.”

I directed a stare at Sanguine.

“Interesting,” she murmured. “I was not aware that the Night Mistress brokered other allies. As for our absence, we– we would never serve a monster as cruel as Nightmare Moon.”

“Answer truthfully, Elder Sanguine,” I told her.

Daring was silent, merely looking between us as we talked.

“... Very well. We received Nightmare Moon’s message too late, and failed to aid her. Harmony must have intervened directly, as having Princess Luna back is a blessing we did not think possible. So we do what she asks of us without question, to make up for the shame of both working for Nightmare Moon and failing to help Nightmare Moon.”

I nodded, “Which brings it back to me. After meeting Luna in person in Canterlot, I was not impressed with my promised ally. I… more or less left her for dead, and moved on with conquering Equestria. Then came my plot to kill my mother, Queen Chrysalis. That… didn’t work.”

“You tried to kill the Queen?” Daring asked.

“Yes. Didn’t work. I nearly died, and only got away thanks to a last second teleport spell. That left behind my destroyed peytral, and created the assumption of my death.”

“Why did you rebel?”

“Well Daring, it’s quite simple. I like living. However, there are fates worse than death.”

Sanguine nodded, “Fates worse than most realize.”

“Yeah. I came quite close on several occasions. Queen Chrysalis was not planning on letting me live peacefully after taking down Equestria. She was going to lobotomize me. So I moved against her in advance. Only, I was betrayed. My betrayal against a future betrayal was betrayed… It makes sense in context.”

I noticed that Daring was writing all of this down, “And Princess Luna?”

“She saved my life. After I teleported away, a Nightmare attacked me. It… It was bad. I… I nearly became something just like the Prophet. Or, as you both are aware, something like Nightmare Moon or Daybreaker. A possessed being of unfathomable power and potential for evil. But Luna saved me. After I broke her and left her for dead, she saved me. Since then I have… We have talked a lot. I don’t know what she sees in me, but she refuses to let me die. So we have joined forces against both Queen Chrysalis and Princess Daybreaker.”

“Against Princess Daybreaker?”

“A Nightmare possessed Princess Celestia.”

Daring blinked. She stared at me as I tasted fear slowly filling every inch of her being.

“No. That’s… No. No! No!”

“Unfortunately yes,” Sanguine sighed, answering for me. “The Night Mistress is working hard to get her sister back, with our aid. It seems that the Rot is making a great return to the world.”

Daring shook her head, “No. I was there! I saw what a Nightmare does! That’s’ not what Princess C– Daybreaker does! She’s not evil!”

I shook my head in turn, “It’s the truth, Daring. Daybreaker is a possessed Celestia. Luna, Cadence, and I are working to free her from the monster that holds her captive. She may be slow to show her real self, but that is not Princess Celestia.”

“So all that talk about Division-P and Princess Cadence is true?”

“That’s right. Now that you’ve seen just what a Nightmare is capable of, you understand why Luna and Cadence are willing to work with me. The lesser of two evils, I suppose. Though Luna doesn’t see me as evil, just… I dunno, something sappy like someone in need of a friend. Or rather, somepony. Eugh.”

“So you and the Night Mistress are close allies,” Sanguine summarized.

“Actually, we’re more than that. I’ve only known her for a few months, yet now I can’t really imagine what life would be like without her.”

“Wait,” Daring gasped. “You’re not saying…”

“I am. We’re dating.”

Daring froze, no longer writing notes down in that journal of hers.

“The Night Mistress has a courtier?!” Sanguine exclaimed out loud.

“She chased after me. First it was Nightmare Moon who wanted to secure… uh, myself, for a political marriage. Then it was Luna who saw herself in me and my struggles. And she has strange tastes in what she considers handsome. Thousands of years of life will do that to you. You either become completely asexual or you open your tastes up to every sapient. That’s my guess, at least.”

“What wonderful news!” Sanguine clapped her hooves in excitement, “Oh, by the stars! Our Mistress deserves the happiness and companionship a courtship offers!”

“Hmm, I might have broken Daring,” I pointed out as I waved a hoof in her face.

She didn’t blink. Instead, Daring fainted, slumping into her chair.

“... So, what questions did you have for me, Elder Sanguine?”

103- Hermes

Elder Sanguine sighed, “Daring Do already covered the most interesting topic, namely yourself… Where were you when you came into contact with this Nightmare?”

I chuckled, “In a city that no longer exists. One filled to the brim with Nightmares.”

“I… I am not sure how to react to that,” Sanguine said.

“With fear?”

“That’s a good reaction. How? Where? Why? How?!”

“It was a changeling city. The Nightmares, they are an old enemies of ours apparently. Brought the entire civilization to its end. It was our only city at the time… Further, it seems that the previous two civilizations could have been ended by these Nightmares.”

“How long ago did this happen?”

“Little over two thousands years ago.”

She blinked, “You have been fighting the Rot longer than even us?”

“Potentially much, much longer.”

“By the moon. Just how much devastation have they brought upon this world?”

“Quite a bit. They’re not even done yet.”

Sanguine stared at me, “What do you mean?”

“I mean that the monster that was unleashed upon Vallachia was just a grunt. A minion. A nobody. The real big bads have names. I had to detonate a star to bury one.”

“... Buck.”

I prodded Daring. She grunted in response and slowly began to wake up.

“Buck is right, Elder Sanguine. I know of… five or so named Nightmares. Nightmare Moon’s, Daybreaker’s, and then three more: Sloth, Gluttony, and Epitaph. This Epitaph fellow seems to be the Nightmare’s king, though a more apt description would probably be warlord. Might makes right in their society, and betrayal amongst their own kind is expected. Sloth tried to possess me in the same fashion that Princesses Luna and Celestia were and are, and Gluttony possessed an ancient changeling king. He’s the one I blew up. I don’t think it survived that, but the Nightmare part of it probably did, at the very least.”

“This is most troubling,” Sanguine stammered, “most troubling! We have no records of the Nightmares possessing names outside of the ones we assigned to them after each hunt! You say these named ones are the powerful generals that have possessed the alicorns?”

“And more, yes.”

Sanguine gave a half bow from her seated position, “Thank you for this information, King Phasma, this is of the utmost importance–”

“Their king, this Epitaph? He’s apparently sealed away, but not for much longer. The Nightmares are freeing him. Or have freed him. Or will. They weren’t exactly clear.”

“... I see. I will inform the rest of this, too. Do you have any… good news?”

I shrugged, “Aside from the fact that Gluttony is either dead or dispelled or whatever? No? I don’t think so.”

“This is a most dire development. To think that those corrupted spawn have monsters of their own that can match an alicorn in power, let alone possess them… It would explain much. It was previously thought that anypony could be ensnared and feasted upon by these monsters, alicorns included. A hierarchy and difference in power would explain why the Nightmares do not all go for the alicorns, instead of going for us lowly thestrals. Or, other ponies, I suppose.”

“Hmm? Whaa? What did I miss?” Daring mumbled.

She rubbed her face and then stretched, giving out a big yawn.

“What was… talking?”

I rolled my eyes, “Welcome back to the waking world, Daring Do.”

“Pri– King Phasma! I had the strangest dream. I dreamt that you said that–”

“No, that wasn’t a dream.”

Sanguine chuckled as Daring became extremely confused.

“No, it had to. You said that Princess Celestia was evil, and that Princess Luna was with you. Like, with you with you. You know, like, likes you.”

“You’re confusing me, Daring.”

“See!” She yelled.

“... You were saying, Sanguine?”

“I had finished my question,” She answered. “It is only fair that you ask one in turn.”

“Yeah alright– where the hell are my people?”

“They had fled the city. I sent for them to be retrieved, as you wished.”

“Why did they flee?”

“One of them sensed the cleansing ritual was going to fail. He attempted to evacuate the others. By attempted to, I mean he fled and left the safety of the others to us.”

I facehooved, “Who?”

“His name is Aorta.”

“Aorta? Really? I expected better from him. Oh well, progress is progress. Many changelings are still extremely self-centered, but that is changing over time.”

“That is unfortunate to hear. Not to change the topic at hoof, but about the Nightmares…?”

“Yes?”

“Is there any more information you can give us? This seems to be much bigger than anypony realizes.”

“You’re right in that regard. No pony realizes just how big of a problem the Nightmares will become. I can teach you guys a spell– and point out its most important part– that was quite effective against the Nightmares. Long lost ancient lore and all that.”

“That sounds like it could have useful applications. Sadly, we have only a hooffull of ponies capable of casting magic. But those that can are quite capable of enchanting, so any magical countermeasure could still be of use.”

“That’s good to hear. I’ll be sure to write it down and pass it along. Do you know who died? Which changeling, I mean?”

“No. I’m afraid the identities of your changelings beyond the one introduced to me are a mystery.”

“Suppose I’ll find out when they arrive, then.”

“I have a question,” Daring said with her notebook at the ready.

“Go ahead,” I shrugged.

“Why are you a king? Last I checked, you were a prince.”

“Oh that. As part of the whole rebelling against my mother thing, the survivors declared their own hive. Think of each hive like a kingdom, and the race as a whole as an… empire. They declared me to be their king, and that I was the true champion of the hive eternal– emperor of the changeling race. Now, we have myself as King of the Fifth Hive, Champion of the Hive Eternal, and we have Queen Chrysalis of the Fourth Hive, Champion of the Hive Eternal. At least, I’m pretty sure she’s considered the Champion of the Hive Eternal.”

“That’s going to end in blood,” Daring pointed out.

“Not my blood. I’ve bled enough. Now I’ve got friends who can bleed for me, and with me if need be.”

“Friends? Like who?”

“My Hive, Luna, and…. Well that might be it.”

“I do not think Vallachia can come to your aid in this civil war,” Sanguine announced, “But in this eon-long war against the Nightmares, you have our blades.”

“That’s the important war,” I sighed.

“I can’t exactly write this into my series,” Daring muttered.

“What? What series?” I asked.

“Hmm? Oh, I… do some writing on the side. Most of my income in fact comes from writing about my adventures. I see no harm in telling you two because I think you’re both too preoccupied to try to track down my public persona. Not to mention the fact that you’re both not villains. Somehow. Still coming to terms with that if I’m being honest.”

“We’re all the heroes of our own story, Daring Do.”

“Oh that’s good, I’m writing that down. Mind if I change your dialogue around? That’s a great ender for a villainous monologue.”

“As long as you don’t explicitly make changelings the villains. In fact, I would prefer it if you depicted us as… at the very least neutral. The more benevolent, the better.”

“Thanks! Don’t expect royalties for this, though.”

“That’s acceptable,” I began to say until I got a bright idea, “but I do want a cut from merchandising.”

Daring shrugged, “I can do that. Only for the books in which you appear, however.”

“Deal.”

“Not the conversation I imagined I would have hosted,” Sanguine interrupted, “but I am glad that we are all allies here. Thank you for the information and warning, King Phasma. Vallachia will begin preparing for this war against the Nightmares.”

“I’m going to need to tell Division-P about this. All this talk of Nightmares and war is far above my paygrade, and though I don’t exactly have a choice in working for them, I do understand that the Crown needs to know about this.”

I frowned, “Daring, that’s not acceptable. Telling them would require you to divulge information about my survival.”

“I can leave details out, make up others–”

“No. Lying to an organization like that not only could easily fail, but it could even jeopardize your own life. Just… Damn it, you were at the Third, there’s no way you won’t get interrogated about this all.” Daring nodded. “Just… Tell them the truth, I guess. Try to leave out who King Orobouros is as long as you can. I’ll warn Princess Cadence that she needs to censor your report and debriefing.”

“She can do that?”

“I sure hope so. If not… it’s on my head. I’m the one who went loud, and if my survival is revealed, then it’s a damn good thing that the Fourth Hive is completely surrounded by the Equestrian Royal Guard. Survivors might even flock to the Fifth upon hearing the news.”

“Mind if I ask you some questions about the invasion of Canterlot?” Elder Sanguine asked me with a smile. “News travels slowly over the mountains, and we are rather behind on specifics.”

“I would also appreciate hearing about it from your point of view,” Daring said. “Every story has two sides to it. If Princess Daybreaker is what you say she is, then there’s surely no small amount of misinformation about your role in the war.”

“Maybe not,” I began.

I answered questions about me that they both asked, as well as asking a few of my own. I learned about what exactly happened after I passed out, and the specifics behind getting to Trotsylvania.

Sanguine was enthusiastic to learn about myself and the changelings in general, probably due in equal parts to my involvement in killing Nightmares and my involvement with Luna. Daring was less enthusiastic; she was probably still stewing over everything that was revealed and deciding whether or not she believed it all.

I made a mental note to talk with Princess Cadence as soon as possible. I would need to suppress Daring’s report as soon as possible.

‘It’s getting riskier and riskier having her around, but it’s far too late to do anything else but keep doubling down.’

The two ponies were enthusiastic about learning about changeling transformative abilities. However, since I was pretty much out of energy, I didn’t want to be expending what little I had on transformations. So they had to settle with just descriptions of the process, which I happily supplied them with.

I also tried to buy armor for my changelings from the thestrals. Elder Sanguine had to excuse herself for a moment to speak momentarily with the castle’s armorer to get an estimate for prices. She came back with the figures written down on a piece of paper, and hooved it over to me before retaking her seat.

I looked the number over. It was large. Very large. I had never handled that much money as a human, but with the financial backing of the Fifth Hive, it was absolutely within the realm of possibilities.

“One million bits,” I whistled. “That’s quite the sum of money. As much as I want to put every spare bit we get into growing the business more, I think we can spare this much…. Over time. Does a few months sound good?”

“That should suffice. We would require a sizable upfront payment as proof of your potential to pay it back, but we are happy to arm our allies. If you get caught, however, that armor did not come from Vallachia.”

“Of course, of course. One million…. That’s quite a lot for a hundred sets of armor.”

“A hundred?” Sanguine asked in disbelief. “You are mistaken. That’s the price for ten sets.”

I blinked. Then, I slowly folded the piece of paper up and levitated it back over to Sanguine.

“Thank you for the offer, Elder, but, uhhh… Let’s keep that on the table for now.”

As our conversation was wrapping up, a thestral in the dull metal armor swooped down and landed next to the relaxing Elder. The guard bent low and whispered into Sanguine’s ear. She nodded once, and the newcomer took off almost completely silently. As I concentrated on listening for his takeoff, I heard a distant hum.

“Did your soldiers call for backup, King Phasma?”

“How should I know? I imagine they would have sent a messenger, why?”

“Because there’s an airship approaching the city.”

‘The distant hum.’

“Next time I see them, I’ll ask them, shall I?”

“You can’t ask them through your hivemind thingy?” Daring asked.

“No. Now I suggest you prepare for the worst and hope for the best.”

Sanguine scowled, “What would be the worst?”

“E.U.P., Division-P, the tax collectors. You know, the Equestrians?”

“What could they do to Vallachia? We’re a peaceful sovereign nation…. For now, at the very least. We have made no secrets of our eagerness to rejoin Princess Luna’s kingdom.”

“Not much. But, you’re working with Luna to get rid of Daybreaker, right?”

“Cleanse Daybreaker.”

“Yeah, that. The last thing you want is their eyes on you before you can make your move.”

“That would make things uncomfortable. Yes, I see the point you’re making. Let’s put on a nice face for these ponies, gentlemares.”

“I’ll stay here,” Daring declared, “They might be looking for me. Hiding would look very bad.”

I disguised myself as Expected Value, the blue unicorn, and began to make my way into the castle when Sanguine called out to me.

“King Phasma?”

“Yes?”

“Stay close by, if you’d please. The best and worst case scenarios would require a quick response from you.”

“I’ll stand by the doors.”

I did just that. Standing next to the glass bay doors, I watched the airship approach. It started as a distant dot, growing in size as it approached. The hum grew into a buzz as it did so.

It was a small, squashed thing, that airship. The airships that had been docked at Canterlot during the invasion, and the few I had seen flying overhead in the metropolis of Manehattan had varied in size, yes, but by far the majority were gargantuan freight haulers. They were galleons of huge proportions, lifted from their places in water and hung from a balloon that was as large as the wooden boat itself was, usually bigger. This airship was more akin to a double deck schooner than those behemoths that ruled the sky. It was no wonder that the thestrals had fought to keep up with it; the sleek white ship was built for speed first and foremost, with cargo space being an afterthought.

When the airship finally arrived above the city, I could see thestral patrols flying around the ship. It was only once the airship had begun to slow down that the thestrals could finally maneuver around the ship.

‘Oh right, the default reaction for the thestrals would be to panic and swarm the strange outsiders, not act like everything is normal and be calm. This reaction is their normal reaction.’

The airship turned to the side as it slowed above Trotsylvania, revealing the words Clear Skies painted on its flank, with two stylized clouds flanking the name. As the ship drifted, I saw the blurs of pegasi launching themselves from the top deck of the airship. They swooped down low and fast, coming straight for the castle. The thestrals moved to intercept, but the pegasi swiftly outmaneuvered them and leveraged their sheer speed to propel themselves past any attempts to stop them. The airship finished its drift and halted in place above the city.

The pegasi, twelve of them, hurled themselves towards the open air garden in a V-formation. At the very last possible second, they tilted their wings back and halted themselves above the garden. I could see no armor on any of them, but each one was coiled up and ready to spring into a fight.

I couldn’t taste any emotion from them, either.

Elder Sanguine had risen from her chair and was suddenly flanked by two armored guards, with more thestrals with armor and weapons materializing into the courtyard silently. Landing from the sky, slinking in through side entrances, or otherwise seemingly appearing out of thin air, the garden went from being empty to having around thirty souls in it within ten seconds flat.

“Identify yourself!” Elder Sanguine barked.

Two of the pegasi leaned in to talk to each other. One pointed a hoof at the main doors to the garden. At me. I was barely visible from my spot to the side of the doors, but they knew where I was immediately.

‘Reinforcements have arrived.’

I stepped out from beside the door and dramatically pushed them open. I strutted out into the courtyard, keeping my eyes on the changelings. When I emerged from the building, the changelings all landed on the ground in front of me. Several thestrals moved to interpose themselves between me and the fake-pegasi, but I brushed past them.

The disguised changeling at the front looked me over. I smiled as I recognized his presence in my Weave, despite his disguise.

“Sir?! Are you well?”

“I will live,” I briskly responded.

“You’ve got some nerve dropping into Vallachia like that!” Elder Sanguine yelled as she came over to us.

“Introduce yourselves. They know who I am and who we are, so speak honestly,” I ordered over the weave.

The lead pegasi nodded to me before turning to address the thestral who stepped up to us.

“Hello, pony. I am Captain Katydid. I am here to ensure the safety of King Phasmatodea.”

Elder Sanguine huffed but got her anger and frustration into control with the quick expertise of a diplomat and leader.

“There are proper procedures to follow, you know.”

“I had guessed as much, yes. However, there are calls to service higher than protocol,” the changeling responded.

I interrupted, “Before we continue this, did you bring any ponies with you?”

Katydid nodded, “The Captain of the airship. None of us know how to fly yet. We told him we needed to pick up somepony very important, very quickly.”

“Then we’ll have to keep our disguises on…” I muttered. Then, I smiled and embraced Katydid. He was shocked and only hesitantly returned the embrace after a few moments. “It’s good to see you again, Katydid. I didn’t think it would be anytime soon.”

“You have no idea how glad I am to see that you’re alive, My King. King… You’ve been busy, haven’t you?”

I ended the hug and nodded, “Always have been. Elder Sanguine, this is Katydid. He trained me how to fight back in the Fourth Hive. Last I checked, he was a Colonel in the Fifth Legion. What happened Katydid? Las Pegasus was too boring for you?”

“My brigade was one of a few that were pulled away to help the retreating Swarm Group Center, Your Majesty. During our operations against the E.U.P., our brigade was cut off from the retreat, and we had a bad ambush that turned into a complete rout. Many died, a few were captured, and those of us who escaped hid around here, actually. Not this far out west, though. We keep in touch, as contingency orders, and suddenly word filters back of a certain changeling Prince not being dead. We make contact, get brought all the way over to the Big Apple, and wouldn’t you know it, the certain dead Prince who wasn’t actually dead set up a kingdom within Equestria.”

“You introduced yourself as Captain?”

“You needed someling to train the others. Thorax recognized me and voluntold me for the position. I am happy to be of service, Your Majesty.”

I laughed, “I’m glad you’re here, Captain Katydid.”

“Yes well not to interrupt your reunion,” Elder Sanguine interrupted our reunion, “but you have parked your airship in restricted airspace. If you would kindly dock it in the proper location immediately, I won’t bury you in fines or ground your ship. I understand your expedience, but now that it is assuaged, move your ship. Do you have any idea how loud it is to our sensitive ears?!”

Katydid looked to me for orders.

“Do it. I’ll be aboard shortly.”

Katydid nodded to one of the disguised changelings at his side, who saluted and then flew up to the airship.

“Hey Captain Katydid, did you pick up the survivors from outside the city? Apparently the changelings all fled when shit hit the fan here…”

“I did, Your Majesty. We only approached because a scout reported that everything seemed normal. We sent her after Aorta was debriefed on what happened. He, and everyone else, are waiting on board the ship, Your Majesty.”

“Fantastic. Did he say who died?”

“Died, sir?”

“... I have a lot I need to tell the Hive. Our species has been at war for survival longer than this pitched-war with the ponies, Katydid. And we have been losing.”

Author's Note

Hey guys, I got good news and bad news.

The good news is that the piece of art I commissioned will be ready in like two weeks! The bad news is that I was in a roll-over ATV accident and now I have an open fracture on my knee. The good news is that it's not actually a bad injury, all things considered! The bad news is that it's still a big injury, and I can't really walk much for a few weeks at least. That might mean I have more time to write, so yay?

Some more good news is that one of CE's readers, Darthball, commissioned art of Phasma and Nightmare Moon:

Artist is Dimwitdog. I'm not posting a link as I can't find a SFW site for them. You can easily google them, if you are interested in the artist.

Look at 'em, so cute together.

Here's my Ko-Fi if you want to support me. I'm going to start linking it in a small one line AN at the end of each chapter. I'll keep prioritizing the donations towards art commissions for CE, but I appreciate any support beyond that.

105- Laʻa Maomao

I found the captain on the bottom deck, at the bow of the ship.

The prow of the ship, that being the carriage suspended from the airship’s balloon, was made of glass. The keel of the ship was a steel beam that stretched up across the far wall, directly opposite from the door. On either side, two massive glass panes offered a view of the mountains below us. The center of the room was taken up by a long table that was covered inch to inch in various papers, diagrams, wayfinding tools, and other miscellanea.

The pony I had come looking for was standing beside one of the windows, holding out an extended spyglass in his magical grip. The pony in question was a white unicorn with a light grey slicked back mane, dressed in a fine captain’s coat. When he heard me enter, he turned, smiled, and placed his spyglass on the table.

“Good evening. You are the noble I have been contracted to ferry, I presume?” He asked.

‘There’s issue number one with the current cover story. I’m not a noble, guys. That’s a lie that’s easy to disprove, too.’

“Pretty much.”

He walked closer, “In that case, it is nice to meet you. I am Captain Silver Sky, owner of this vessel,” he introduced himself.

“Nice to meet you too, Captain Silver Sky. I am Al-Capony, owner of Happy Trails Shipping Company.”

The pony paused, tasting of mild confusion, “I was under the impression that you were a noble. No offense or anything, that is just what your ponies told me.”

“Ah,” I nodded, “well that’s an understandable misconception that they’ve made. I’m not of the noble peerage, with special titles and whats-its from the crown. No sir, I’m a noble of Manehattan; the only thing special about me is the size of my coin purse, and how much I spend and how much I make. You understand how it is, of course.”

Silver Sky’s posture visibly laxened, “Of course. New Money and all that, right?”

“That’s right. Manehattan is a very different place compared to somewhere like Canterlot.”

“Of course, of course. Anyhow, we are on our way back to the Big Apple. We should be there by three tomorrow afternoon.”

‘No mention of payment, which means that Coxa or whoever sent them handled that already.’

“Sounds good. Before I leave you to your work, I do have a question to ask.”

“I’m all ears, sir.”

“I haven’t seen any crew,” I pointed out. “How does this vessel fly without… tending?”

Sky smirked, “I have one crewmate. She’s up at the wheel, making sure we’re on course and that Clear Skies is as right as rain. Crescent Blade is a dependable mare, and together we fulfill all the necessary roles for keeping Clear Skies up in the air, with as little weight as possible. All of that means that Clear Skies here is the fastest girl in the seven skies.”

‘Seven skies? That like the seven seas or something? I’d better not ask, it might be commonplace knowledge that would make me look too strange for asking. Stupid ponies and their alien terminology...’

“The fastest ship? How could you know that?”

“Because I’ve never seen a ship that’s faster. Not in my nine years of flying has any ship outran me. If I do find one, I’ll let you know.”

I chuckled, “As good of a reason as any to make that claim….. Fastest ship, you say?”

“Fastest ship,” Sky repeated.

“That’s very interesting. I assume you’re into more than just bringing ponies around Equestria?”

“I follow the bits,” the Captain said coyly.

“Well then, from one business pony to another, I think there is a lucrative opportunity here.”

“Is that so?” Silver Sky asked, straightening some papers on the table, looking only partially interested.

“I assume to get you here on such quick notice, my ponies had to pay a substantial sum of money?”

It was a rhetorical question, but his answer would interest me nonetheless.

In response, he raised an eyebrow, “I charge fair prices. A ship on short notice proceeding at full speed for a day is not a cheap venture. The fact that they hired the fastest one in Equestria only adds to the bill.”

“I’d imagine so. And you know what? I don’t even have to look at the invoice to know that it’s an expense we can easily eat,” I bragged.

“There isn’t an invoice for this trip. We set sail before I could process the paperwork. Your ponies paid for expediency, after all.”

‘No paper trail. Alright, here we go...’

“You know, the nation is in such a pressed state. With the war taking up so much focus, small things like invoices can get buried under bureaucracy and urgency…”

Silver Sky nodded, “The Principality is at war. Even under the best circumstances, proper paperwork can easily be mixed up or otherwise lost.”

“No pony would miss the invoice if it should never be filed.”

“Nopony would,” Sky agreed, “except for the Equestrian Revenue Bureau. Money doesn’t come from nowhere, Mr. Capony.”

“No, it doesn’t. So if instead an invoice for a trip to Vanhoover at one and a quarter times the originally agreed upon price for this trip was to be filed…”

“Well, business has been picking up,” he finished.

“And it might continue to pick up.”

“I follow the bits, just as I always have.”

I smiled, “Don’t we all? Do you have outstanding contracts that would keep you busy?”

Silver Sky picked up a few pieces of paper, read through them, and then placed them back onto the table.

“I have several deliveries to make next week. After that, the contract is up for renewal.”

“So if a more lucrative opportunity were to arise, then you would be willing to take it? Say, to transport crates from a warehouse in Manehattan to warehouses and delivery sites across Equestria?”

“Clear Skies is more than capable of such jobs, so long as you hold her attention.”

“I think I can manage that.”

“In that case, perhaps we should discuss this further. Tomorrow, over dinner or lunch? I would like to work out the fine details of such an arrangement with you.”

“Sounds good. One more thing, why are you down here and not behind the wheel or something?”

“Same reason why I could choose the room with the best view as my workroom. Flying in a straight line is easy. In fact, the airship does most of the small corrections itself. It’s the landing, taking off, maintenance, complicated maneuvers, and so on that require years of practice to learn.”

‘Years?! Eh, maybe I won’t buy an airship in that case.’

Since I had gone back to sleep hours early, Luna was not asleep. I moaned and groaned over her absence, but found someone else to be asleep. Someone I wanted to talk to.

Cadence was sitting in front of an easel, looking like a giant on the small stool she rested her flanks on. Her glossy pink coat was marred with splotches of red, blue, and yellow paint. She was holding a large paintbrush with her right wing, slowly moving it around on the painting she was working on.

Only, the easel held a mirror and not a canvas. Where the tip of the paintbrush met the mirror– or more specifically, her reflection in the mirror, her coat became more and more covered in paint.

“Uh…. Okay, I’ll admit it. I’ve nothing… Something something postmodern expressionism? Nevermind, Cadence, this is just weird.”

My sudden appearance startled her, causing her to drop the brush and turn around, which in turn caused her to fall off the tiny wooden stool.

“Agh! What?!”

“Good evening Cadence.”

“Phasma? Why are you in the P– oh I’m asleep, aren’t I?”

“Yep,” I said while offering a hoof to help her up.

She took it and I pulled her up to all fours.

“Thanks. I wasn’t planning on taking a nap, but here I am…”

“Fell asleep at work or something?”

“Mhmm,” she nodded. “I was reading a casefile and I must have dozed off.”

“Working late nights, too?”

Cadence glanced at her reflection in the mirror and grimaced at the sight, “I am, yes. This whole Division-P thing is… Auntie Celestia never said I would be doing anything like this when she stapled a horn to my head, you know. I was under the impression I would be helping ponies and providing guidance, and begrudgingly lending a hoof to Auntie when she needed me. These piles of paperwork, illegal operations, and outright nastiness is… is… I hate it, Phasma. I don’t think I could ever get used to it. I don’t think I want to get used to it, either. But I am doing it. I won't let this all happen under my watch.”

She clenched her eyes shut, breathed out hard, and the paint vanished from her coat in an instant. When she opened her eyes back up, Cadence relaxed a bit.

“It’ll all be worth it in the end, won’t it, Phasma?”

“It will, Cadence. But before things get better, they might get a little worse.”

She groaned, “Celestia, what now?”

“I need you to censor a report that will come up. A Division-P agent learned my identity.”

“You know, for the King of a species that has hidden from ponies’ sight for thousands of years, I don’t think you’re very good at this whole staying hidden thing.”

I rolled my eyes and tried not to laugh, “Hey, it was a good thing. She’s going to try to not report me for as long as possible, but I don’t trust Division-P enough to not get the information out of her in some way. I know from experience that they can be quite… persistent.”

Cadence’s face darkened, “That they can. Wait a moment, how do you know her personally?”

“An agent was sent to investigate me a while back. I took care of that situation though.”

The Princess facehoofed, “Please don’t tell me that I was reading a report on something you did. A mare’s memory was found to be tampered with. Phasma? Tell me you’re not messing around with mind magic. That’s forbidden, you know!”

“She had a hostage. Besides, forbidden to whom? I’ll do what it takes to survive, even if that means breaking your laws.”

“Our laws– oh you dense brute! Do you have any idea of what you did?”

I shrugged, “I ordered her to forget that I existed.”

“You ord– this just gets worse and worse! Hasn’t anypony taught you how damaging messing with the mind is?! It’s bad news, Phasma! You might have permanently hurt this poor mare!”

“No,” I glared, “no pony told me. No changeling, either. They were all too busy training me to zap things until they stopped moving.”

Cadence groaned and shook her head.

“You… You’re smart, Phasma. I know you are. Am I to believe that you honestly thought that doing magic like that wouldn’t have permanent consequences?”

“I didn’t have the luxury to contemplate long term consequences, Cadence. My life was at risk.”

“That’s what separates a Prince and Princess from everypony else. Even when things are bad, we never stop trying to be good. The right path is rarely the easy one.”

I snorted softly and scuffed the ground with a hoof, “Those are nice words. Reality works a bit differently, though. Sometimes we have to do things that aren’t all nice in order to make sure that the right people survive till tomorrow.”

“Everypony can survive till tomorrow, Phasma. You just don’t want to see a path that isn’t through violence. You hurt that mare. Even if it's just a little bit, it’s something that she will live with for the rest of her life.”

I sneered, “I sent people to their deaths, Cadence. Do you think you can guilt trip me with the wellbeing of my enemies? If she reported my survival to Daybreaker, I can guarantee that the changelings that have found me since the encounter would be dead now if Daybreaker learned the truth.”

“A lot of good your cruel efforts did you. Daybreaker knows something is up, and she has begun to suspect that you are alive.”

“What?!”

Cadence shook her head slowly in disapproval, “Mind magic is not something any unicorn can accomplish. The list of ponies who can is a short. If you don’t count the alicorns, it's even shorter. Take into account that it was a changeling-hunting organization that got targeted, and then two plus two equals four. Either Queen Chrysalis has suddenly escaped the encirclement in the Badlands, or the missing-in-action Prince isn’t quite as dead as everypony thinks.”

I hissed in frustration and started pacing.

“So to sum it up; you hurt a pony badly, tried to get away, and only stalled the inevitable. You know, if you just tried talking to ponies, they might listen.”

“I know, I know. Though it took some time, I did manage to convince the agent who learned of me that I wasn’t a bad guy. Took some convincing, though. Took a lot. I didn’t exactly have the time nor resources at the time when this first unicorn found me out, though.”

Cadence looked me over for a moment before sighing, “At least you’re making progress. But I want your word that you won’t use mind magic anymore.”

“Once I’m no longer struggling to survive another day, then sure, I’ll make that concession.”

“Don’t be so dramatic, Phasma. Daybreaker thinks you might be alive, but she has no idea where or how to find you. You’re not struggling to survive another day, especially with Auntie Luna working on saving Celestia, and myself starting to gum up the works of Division-P.”

“There’s more going on than just that, Princess. A lot more.”

“What could possibly warrant such horrible actions from you? What could possibly justify the hurt you refuse to stop inflicting?”

‘Do I tell her? If she’s already stressed with Division-P, then the knowledge about the whole Nightmare situation might make her mental state worse.... Yes, I should. She’s a grown adult. There’s no need for me to baby her.’

“It may be an alicorn’s duty to stay good, or whatever that means in your moral code, but it’s a changeling royal’s duty to ensure the survival and future prosperity of the race. For the past I don’t know how many thousands of years, that’s a duty that we’ve all been failing.”

Cadence interrupted my monologue, “That’s not your fault. You broke this downward spiral and started trusting us and helping out your changelings. That’s a huge leap forward.”

“But it’s not enough. Not nearly. There’s a storm on the horizon, Cadence. One we’ve been running from longer than anyone can remember.”

“What are you talking about?” She asked slowly.

“Nightmares. Everything circles back to them. The war, the possession, the starvation…”

“The monsters that possessed the Princesses, and tried to possess you?”

“Yeah. Them. They’ve been hunting changelings for so long, Cadence. So long. Just a few days ago, I was in an ancient dead changeling city. Dead for two thousand years or so. Only, it wasn’t so dead. They were waiting. Waiting for me. I may have put something in motion that cannot be stopped. They are coming.” I stared at her in the eyes, “We need to wrap up this war between our species. You don’t want to know what happens if they make their return and we’re still at each other’s throats.”

Cadence took a step towards me but I immediately stepped back.

“Phasma–”

“Just focus on Division-P, Cadence. There’ll be more talk about this than any of us can stomach in the future. For now, that’s the best we can do. I’ll keep investigating them and find out what I can, since I’m sitting on the sidelines for this mess in Equestria.”

“... You’re like the harbinger of bad news, you know that...? How are you doing, Phasma? Are you okay?”

“I’m overdue for a vacation.”

She chuckled, “Ha! Aren’t we all. Just stay strong, okay? You’re capable of doing good. I believe in you.”

I shuffled on my hooves uncomfortably, “Uh. Thanks. I’ll… try not to hurt anyone else outside of self-defense. Unless they’re a Nightmare, in which case I’m gonna kill them.”

Cadence opened her mouth to say something but slowly closed it.

“I won't claim to be an expert in that matter. Point in case, Auntie Luna implied she hunts them down, too. I guess they are a pest– or worse, if what you're saying is true– and need to be removed for everypony's safety… have you spoken with Luna about all this?”

“A little bit, but our conversation was interrupted. I was hoping to speak with her tonight, but I think I will be awake by the time she’s asleep and in the Dreamscape.”

Cadence didn’t have anything more to say, so instead she rolled the giant paintbrush on the ground using one of her hooves.

“I saved a life,” I broke the small silence.

Cadence visibly brightened, “You did? Altruistically?”

“More or less. It was the agent who was going to report to the Division. So I guess I would gain more if she died, but…”

“But you saved her instead,” Cadence said, grinning. “That’s good. You did good.”

“Thanks mom,” I rolled my eyes, “I’m sure you’re proud that I didn’t let someone die today.”

“Going from being a brutal Warlord to a hero is not something anypony should ever diminish, Phasma. Even if such lengths are expected of normally adjusted ponies– people, you are not well adjusted. Not yet. But you are making progress, and for that I am happy and proud. You should mention this to Luna, you know. She often wonders about just what you’re up to without her. She doesn’t say as much to me, but I know enough from watching her sister to know what’s going on in their heads when they stare off into space.”

‘Uh oh. How am I going to let her know that I killed someone, then? I mean, it was pretty much in self-defense, but considering I could have just picked up Count Double Dealings and just suspended him in the air, that might not fly.’

“So, you want to tell me the full story of what happened?” Cadence asked me.

“I’ve got nothing better to do. Conjure up some chairs, we’ll be here for a bit. I suppose you and Luna will want to hear this from me first, before you read it in Daring Do's report.”

"Daring Do? Like, the fictional book character? That Daring Do?"

"No, the other Daring Do, the one that's also an explorer, archeologist, and adventurer. Yes, her."

Author's Note

I have a Ko-Fi if you feel like throwing pennies at a poor person

106- Hesperides

We arrived in Manehattan without any further fanfare. The meeting with the pony Captain went well, with a deal ironed out for him to smuggle crates to wherever the Fifth Hive needed. Now we could get love rations or high quality alcohol anywhere we needed, with no worry of it being caught by inspections. The ponies that inspected cargo on airships were practically absent in the nation as a whole. The… whatever acronym bureau that handled inspections was horribly underfunded and understaffed.

Why did a perfect society need to look out for illicit goods? Or so the line of thinking went under Princess Celestia’s rule. Smuggling. Smuggling was why. Granted, crime seemed to have been quite low while the Sun Alicorn sat on the throne, but there was the fact that ponies like Count Double Dealings didn’t suddenly appear in her absence.

When I stepped off the airship via its fancy gangplank, the changelings escorted me across a busy dockyard that lacked any water. We passed airships of all sizes, from large, to larger, to massive. Some were utilitarian in design and coloring, whereas a select few were like rococo paintings come to life. Maybe that was too generous of a comparison, but the vessels were more of a piece of art than a vehicle. I imagined that the dockyards at Canterlot had a lot more of the richly decorated ones, given the average wealth of the unicorn city.

We ended our sight-seeing tour of the skydocks at a simple black closed carriage, hooked up to two changelings disguised as nondescript earth ponies. I was surprised to find someone else in the carriage waiting for me.

“I've been told you enjoyed your vacation in the usual fashion, Phasma."

"Hello Coxa," I greeted the disguised changeling.

As I got comfortable in the seat, the carriage rocked slightly when the changelings placed a heavy trunk on top. That chest had my armor in it, as I was loath to be far away from the suit.

"The Hive has been briefed on what happened thanks to the messenger you guys sent. But I think we all want to hear what happened from you."

The carriage lurched forwards as the pullers began their journey through the city.

"The Third Hive was felled by Nightmares. The same monsters that possessed Luna, are possessing Celestia, and tried possessing me. We explored the city, met an annoying fictional pegasus, and then killed the city's ruler. The Prophet was a changeling royal that got possessed in ages past, and was the reason why the Third Hive is referred to in the past tense. I killed him by exploding a sun, though I doubt that he will decide to stay dead.”

“Wait! Wait wait wait wait! Wait! Wait. Explode a sun?”

“Yeah. You know that great big ball of plasma up in the sky that Daybreaker raises each day? That’s a sun. It provides light for–”

“I know what a sun is, Phasma! What do you mean, explode a sun?”

“There was a sun, then I blew it up. It’s easier than you would think. Really makes me wonder what would have happened if there was a particularly suicidal changeling…”

“Fine, I guess I’ll get more details when you tell the story properly to us all. Did anything happen after the Third Hive stuff?”

“Some things did happen: vampires, possessions, Web died, brokering treaties between nations. You know, the usual stuff.”

Coxa blinked and shook his head, “Web died? How?”

“Possession by a Nightmare.”

“Jeez. That sounds like a bad way to go.”

“I know from experience that it isn’t. From what I’ve been told, he was ordered to stay by my side, and did so even during the ritual required to remove the Nightmare that was possessing me– oh by the way there was a Nightmare trying to possess me.”

“Phasma you’re shit at telling stories. Or a genius, I can’t tell.” He sighed, “Continue.”

“So the changelings brought me to Vallachia because I told them to. The thestrals cured me, because Luna told them to. Only, we were both deceived by the Nightmare. The ritual failed, Web got possessed, and killed one of their leaders before running off into the night. The ponies hunted him down, and… killed him. That was that.”

Coxa shifted uncomfortably, “Do we have a body?”

“No.”

“... Are you alright?”

“We’ll see. Thankfully I see the world’s leading demonologist every other night, so if something goes wrong Princess Luna will rescue me.”

“That’s a relief…. Changing the subject, how is your marefriend?”

“My– she’s fine. I think. We haven’t had many chances to hang out recently, but hopefully that will change. To be honest, I don’t know how she’s doing. I’d like to know, but things like life-or-death situations make you forget about the important stuff. As far as I’m aware, things are steadily moving on her end. So the move against Daybreaker is going well, but as for how Luna is herself…?”

‘The thestrals said that Luna might not be as stable as she outwardly appears. I’ve been so focused on the whole not-dying thing that I’ve been neglecting her, I think.’

Coxa interrupted my thoughts, “I think your lack of attention is excusable, considering someone died and apparently you exploded a sun.”

“You might be right. Considering everything that’s happened, expecting me to be so on top of, well, everything is unfair. Everything is fine with Luna at the moment, and soon enough will be better. But I can’t remember if I’ve ever asked how she’s been. I’ll just have to have a long chat with her next time I see her. Does Web have anyone that would like to perform a funeral ceremony?”

“Like what we did with Oest and Lace? I don’t think so, no. Then again, I don’t exactly know everything about everyone in the Fifth. Maybe someone will come forward and say they do.”

I stroked my non-existent beard, “Do we have medals or something to give out?”

“Uhhh, no?”

“I’ll have to come up with something then. Were you the one who appointed Katydid as the Captain of the Red Right Hoof?”

“Temporary Captain, pending your approval. Thorax approved and in fact was the one who recommended him, citing the fact that he trained both of you. We didn’t exactly have many officers lying around, so I took Thorax’s recommendation. Do you approve?”

“That depends on his loyalty,” I answered.

“He’s a Chrysalis loyalist?” Coxa asked.

“He might be. I told him that I needed to know who he was loyal to, and to speak with you about the Ascension Chamber and its contents. I… I’d rather not think hard about that stuff at this moment, with everything else going on.”

Coxa stretched out and relaxed on the carriage’s opposite bench

“Not much news on our end,” he announced. “Oh! Thalamus has a location for the first speakeasy. Several scouts have reported similar venues in other cities, so if this one gets your approval, we can immediately move to sweep up those properties and begin converting them to clubs.”

“We’ll visit it tomorrow, or this afternoon if we have time. I have an idea as to what I want the Manehattan one to look like. Art Deco is going to be the next big thing, I tell ya. Anything else?”

Coxa pulled out a notepad from I-don’t-know-where, and began flipping through it.

“Hmmm…. The Count’s assets have finally been catalogued, moved, and organized. That, combined with the latest profits, means that we are officially rich. Not stupid rich, but with the way that things are going that’s going to change soon. What else, what else…. Living quarters have been expanded for the Fifth. We’ve got spare room now, and the apartments we have are turning up nicely, if mostly useless. I know only a few changelings that actively like to eat, so kitchens being in each unit seems kinda opulent to me.”

“Make note of those changelings. We’re going to need dependable and trustworthy staff for the speakeasies, and having some changelings be the cooks isn’t a bad idea.”

Coxa wrote some notes using a pencil that was conjured from a similarly mysterious location, “Sure. I mean, we’ll probably end up hiring ponies since they’re the ones who actually know about pony food, but having a pair of eyes or two in each kitchen is a good idea. The only changelings that actually do know how to cook are the Infiltrators, and those guys are about as rare as an Uttu’s fang.”

“Do we even have any in the Fifth?”

“Maybe one of the new recruits is one. I’ll get about cataloging everyone’s skills so we know what we’re working with, but we should assume that we have no Infiltrators.”

I swiped at the air with a hoof, “Eh, they’re all probably Chrysalis loyalists anyways. We’ll make do without them. It’s not like there’s a pressing need to keep the Masquerade Protocol in place, anyways. We can afford to make mistakes. So we got housing in good order, speakeasies on their way, what else?”

“Sales and inventory are good. Cricket wanted to talk to you, something about accidentally running into one of the Elements of Harmony bearers. Didn’t seem scared, so it must not be urgent. That should be all. The last order of business is the Red Right Hoof, which I think we covered already.”

‘Speaking of which, there’s something I’ve been meaning to do…’

“The Reds are on an urban fighting and guerilla tactic regimen, correct?”

“Uh… yes.”

“Good,” I nodded, “because I’ll be joining them on their training.”

“You will?” Coxa asked, surprised.

“I’ve been letting my training go. My time in Hooferville kept me physically in shape, but they didn’t exactly run combat exercises. I need to practice fighting, and get better at it. Sheer brute force and overwhelming firepower doesn’t work against foes of equal power level, and the Nightmares have plenty of those. I need to stop being so shit at dueling. I need to actually train. Katydid being back only reminded me of the need. After all, Oest wouldn’t have died for nothing if I was better at fighting.”

Coxa frowned at me, “He didn’t die for nothing. I’m telling Thorax you said that, you know. You’re going to wish it was me berating you; he gets scary when it comes to mental health and the wellbeing of his lovers. You’re literally going to be smothered with kindness.”

I sent my best deathglare his way. Unfortunately, I think it lost most of its effect due to the fact that I was struggling to not break out into a fit of laughter, “I’m not his lover!”

Coxa chuckled, “Could’a fooled me. Seriously though, Oestridae didn’t die for nothing, and I’m sure he’d be happy that you’re committed to getting better in his name. You don’t exactly have a lot of time to train, especially with the business and running the Fifth Hive, but I’m sure we’ll work something out.”

“Somethings better than nothing,” I agreed. “Any other business?”

He flipped through several pages of notes, “No? No. That’s all.”

I looked up from the dry report I was reading.

‘Emotion? Why am I tasting fear, in my own office? This had better not be some police ponies barging in and doing something stupid.’

Hastily, I assumed the disguise of Expected Value, the blue unicorn. Moments later, the door to my office opened and two ponies stepped through. Well, one pony and a changeling disguised as a pony. I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Phas!” Thorax greeted me.

Behind him, Double Diamond walked slowly in Thorax’s hoofsteps, casting nervous glances about the place. After taking in the sight of my office, his eyes settled on my own.

“Hello Thorax, hello Double Diamond. I didn’t expect to see either of you here,” I returned the greeting.

“I came as soon as I heard you were back!” Thorax said as he stopped in front of my desk.

“You brought Diamond, too?”

Diamond rubbed the back of his neck, “I told him I was fine waiting at home, but–”

“But I decided to show him around your evil laaaair!” Thorax beamed.

I shook my head slightly before putting on a smile, “And how are you finding my ‘evil lair,’ Double Diamond?”

“I was expecting, you know… skulls ‘n stuff? Like proper Ogres & Oubliettes dungeons. This is just Corporate Equestria.” He shivered, “This kind of evil is too realistic for me.”

“Are you afraid of TPS reports?”

“Hehe, no, no… just, uh...”

“Afraid of me?” I asked.

Diamond quickly shook his head, “No, no! It’s just, everytime we pass somepony– someone, they always stare at me. I feel out of place here.”

“Hmm…” I hmm’ed.

“They’ll get used to you in time, DD!” Thorax tried to cheer up his coltfriend.

I helped Thorax, “That’s true. The changelings are still rather reclusive and a bit xenophobic. It takes time for those biases to go away. We aren’t as quick to forgive or befriend as ponies.”

‘Still don’t understand that alien mindset. If someone tries to kill, you kill them back! It’s just that simple… I’d better not look the gifted pony in the mouth and just take this new beginning to our species’ relationship that the Princesses are offering.’

“Anyways, how are you, Phas?” Thorax asked me.

“I’ve been better. I’m busy catching up and planning ahead right now.”

Thorax put his forehooves on my desk, raising himself above my paperwork and putting himself at eye-level with me.

“Sounds boring. But I asked, how are you, Phas? I want a straight answer.”

“... Someone died, Thorax. What’s worse, I now know that there’s a war coming in the future. One so bad, it’ll make this spat between our species look like a warmup game to the real deal. I’ll feel better after tonight, when I speak with Luna next.”

“Good,” he smiled, “I think you should be spending time with your friends. Which is why I think we should all go on a vacation together…”

I blinked, “Now?”

“Yeah!”

Behind Thorax, Diamond nodded slowly, showing his support for the idea.

“The Grand Galloping Gala is in three weeks, Thorax. I need to be ready to deal with the events that will come in its fallout.”

Thorax gasped, “Then let’s go after! You, me, Double Diamond, and Princess Luna! All four of us can go!”

“... Go where?”

“There’s a place up north, in the mountains,” Diamond spoke up. “A town called Shimmervale. I was looking at moving there. I probably won’t now since I’ve got Thorax here to keep me rooted in Manehattan, but I still want to at least visit it.”

“A skiing town?” I asked.

“Yeah!” They both cheered.

I sat back in my chair, “That could work. I don’t know how Luna feels about that hobby, but we could rent two rooms up there and spend some time unwinding. Then again, I don’t know if Luna will be able to extricate herself from the mess following Daybreaker’s cleansing. She might want to stay with her sister for a bit, seeing as they would finally be reunited….”

Thorax gave me two big puppy eyes.

‘I could really use a vacation..’

“... We’ll see.” I told him.

“It’ll do you good,” Thorax pleaded.

“Being with Luna will do me good. If she stays in Canterlot, then I’ll be in Canterlot. If she can come, then we’ll go to this Shimmervale.”

“Yes!” Thorax cheered, pumping a hoof into the air. Diamond looked pleased.

“Alright alright, can I get back to work now?”

Thorax hopped back from my desk, “First you have to tell us what happened. From what I’ve heard, it was quite an adventure!”

“Adventure?” Diamond asked. “Thorax, didn’t somepony die?”

Thorax turned to Diamond, “Yeah, but, umm… Changelings aren’t like ponies. Your legends are all ‘Princess defeats this,’ and ‘pony out-clever that person.’ Changeling legends are… monster slaying. Adventuring in deep, underground caves, doing heroic things. People die on those expeditions, it’s true, but that just makes the triumphs all the more meaningful. Look, if you’re too uncomfortable listening to it, we can leave and I can get the full story later from Phas, okay?”

“Okay,” Diamond agreed, though we could both tell he wasn’t quite convinced.

Thorax reached out and grasped Diamond’s hoof with his own, “Hey. If you’re not comfortable, just tell me. I promise I won’t be upset if we leave early.”

“Alright,” Diamond said more surely. “It’s important for me to learn about your culture, anyways, just like you’ve been learning about pony culture.”

“That’s the spirit!” Thorax grinned.

‘Is Thorax’s enthusiasm a contagious disease or something?’

Thorax sat down in one of the two chairs across from my desk, pulling it up close. Diamond hesitantly followed suit, sitting himself down in the other chair.

“Okay Phas, go!”

‘If every changeling was as adorable as Thorax, this whole interspecies-war would have been resolved a lot quicker.’

I began recalling the tale, “Alright. So no shit, there I was, in the middle of the jungle…”

107- Gratuitous Beach Episode

The horseshoe bounced across the sand, missing the peg entirely.

“Nice hit!”

“I missed, Luna.”

“Nice miss!”

“Uh huh, thanks.”

I looked over at the mare who wasn’t paying attention in the slightest. Luna was lying down on a beach towel, with a big pair of shades on, happily relaxing just two hooves length away from me. She had a slight smile on her face as she soaked up the sun’s rays. The fact that we were in a dream made no difference to the moon alicorn.

“I can hear you staring at me, Phasma.”

“I didn’t hear a ‘stop staring, Phasma.’”

“.... A lady likes to be admired.”

“Well you’re not getting any compliments just yet. Not while I still have the taste of iron in my mouth. We have telekinesis, you know. Why anyone would ever throw these horseshoes with their mouths is beyond me.”

Luna didn’t move an inch, “Because that’s the sport. Everypony has mouths, and not everypony has horns. You throw them with your mouth.”

“I’ve also got working hooves.”

“Yes, but have you ever tried throwing something with your hooves?”

I looked down at one of my forehooves and rolled it around, “Uh…. no.”

“It is not an easy task. A pony’s– a quadruped's range of motion is somewhat limited. You can try to throw things with your hooves, and with enough time, you can get good at it. But by and large, most ponies chuck things long-distance using their mouths. One can rotate and angle the throwing-object more using their mouth than their hoof. And for the last time, this is a dream! Just will the taste away!”

I picked up another metal horseshoe using my mouth, and tried throwing it. Again, it missed the peg entirely, even going so far as rolling down the small incline and dropping on its side in the shallow waves that lapped against the beach.

“Nice hit! See, you are getting the hang of it!”

“I missed again, Luna.”

Finally, the lounging princess turned to look at me, lifting her sunglasses with a hoof to look at me. I expected her to say something, but she just sat there, eyeing me up and down. A smile slowly crept onto her face.

“I can see you staring at me, Luna.”

“I did not hear a ‘stop staring at me, Luna.’”

“... You’re just making me throw them using my mouth because I look stupid doing it, aren’t you?”

She snorted, “That is just a side benefit. No, everypony really does throw things using their mouths.”

“Really?” I asked incredulously.

Luna nodded and turned away, resuming her sunbathing, “Yes. The small things that can be, at least. Overhead throws while on hind legs is one thing, and side-tosses using a hoof is another. But for the most part, if you can throw using your mouth, it is more accurate to.”

“Even though it’s extremely unsanitary?”

“Oh you will be fine. If ponies have survived by throwing things with their mouths for thousands of years, I think you will survive make-believe sports in a dream. To emphasize the point; we learned to clean things very early on, compared to what you told me about your old species.”

“I imagine discovering germ theory was a lot more pressing for you, and a lot more possible using magic,” I said while idly kicking a spare horseshoe across the sand.

“That is right.”

I picked up the horseshoe, rolled my neck around to loosen it up, twisted to the side, then chucked the horseshoe across the beach, at the peg stuck in the ground.

Luna cheered, “Ha, see! All you had to do was believe–”

“I missed again, Luna.”

“... Not my fault you are so bad at this,” she said under her breath.

I gave up trying to play horseshoes and instead plopped down on the warm sand next to Luna. When she didn’t react, I rolled over and snuggled up close to her. Luna grunted in annoyance when sand got rubbed into her fur, but moments later she dug her right foreleg underneath me and pulled me into a hug, grinning all the while.

“So, winter vacation. Yay or nay?” I asked.

“You said it was right after the Gala?”

“Yeah.”

Luna pushed her sunglasses up to the base of her horn so that she could look me in the eyes.

“You know that is unrealistic, Phasma. We both will be very busy dealing with the aftermath of the Gala.”

I groaned, “But we’re both due for a vacation! Especially one we can go on together. We haven’t been together in the real world outside of that one time that I smashed your face into the ground. This will be like an actual date!”

“As nice as that sounds, we have duties to our subjects. You think rebuilding Celestia’s court can be done in an afternoon? Or concisely mending the gap between the Principality of Equestria and the Fifth Hive can be done overnight?”

“.... Yes.”

“These things will take time. Both of us will be needed in Canterlot if we want the war to end and for stability to be brought to both of our kingdoms.”

I threw my hooves up in the air out of frustration, which was a difficult task considering Luna was squishing me up against her side.

“Okay, fine! How much time?”

“As long as it takes. The Gala takes place during the fall anyways. How would we have a winter vacation during the fall?”

“It’s up north, in the mountains. There’s snow up there year round.”

“Very little, I would imagine.”

“You ponies control the weather, don’t you?”

“Trying to force radical changes upon the Pegasi Union’s weather schedule is like trying to tame a twister. Not only would it be a gross misuse of power, it would also be painful.”

‘That’s probably fair. I’d be pissed if someone was just up and deciding all of the weather.’

Luna continued, “Do you also have reservations? I doubt that you could secure lodgings just one month in advance. If this place is as good as you promise, then one would suspect that all available hostings are booked in advance.”

I scratched my head, “We’ll figure it out.”

“Look. How about this; you help my sister and I, and then we will go on this vacation. All three of us work together, my sister and I will finally get to spend some time together, and to wrap it all up, you and I will get to spend time together. Does that sound fair?”

‘Luna hasn’t actually seen her sister outside of a single conversation in a thousand years. And here I am, trying to– oh just say yes.’

I nodded, “Yeah, that sounds good.”

‘I could stay here for hours… But there’s always business to worry about. Wars to plan.’

I cleared my throat, “Luna… What are we going to do about the Nightmares? You know now that they are probably one of the biggest threats to Equus in history. I’m trying to do what I can, but honestly? There’s nothing I can really do to prepare other than to teach everyone in my Hive the spell that worked against them. But they have the upper hoof; they’ve been fighting this from the start, and apparently used me to awaken their King. Or will use me, they weren’t exactly clear on that. If it took such overwhelming firepower to destroy one general that it completely evaporated a city, how are we supposed to fight the biggest and baddest of them all?

“They had their claws in me from the fucking beginning!” I continued, “We’ve got practically nothing, whereas they somehow know everything about us, and appear out of nowhere. What if they ambush one of us while we are sleeping? I’m not strong enough or even trained at all in fighting them outside of the material realm, Luna. What if that mark that they branded me with does more than simply ring the dinner bell for them? What if it makes me a sleeper agent, like some sort of inactive mind control rune?”

“I inspected the mark when you first showed it to me. From what I understand, it can not interact with the rest of your mind at all. It is like a stowaway on a ship: unable to affect its course at all, but not a benevolent presence at all. How about this; once you may enter the palace without fear for your own life, we shall inspect this mark further. Myself, Celestia, and perhaps even Tia’s personal student, Twilight Sparkle, shall study it in depth. If possible, we will place protections around it, as to limit any possible control it may have. As a warning, you will be quite vulnerable during this, since we will have almost full access to your mind, but if you trust me, then I promise you will not regret it.”

“I trust you. I would like that very much, thank you Luna.”

Luna smiled, “Then we have a plan. As for the war, we will handle that together,” she reassured me. “During the aftermath of getting Equestria back in the right hooves, we will prepare. This is not a battle you shall fight alone, nor should either of us ever fight alone ever again. Against these spawns of darkness, Equestria, the Fifth Hive, Vallachia, and potentially more in the future are united by one cause. Together, across three nations and many tribes and species, we can beat back the Nightmares, wherever they rear their ugly heads. But that means no dying of stupid reason, like poking ancient artifacts or skeletons in dead cities!”

“My method gets results, moonbutt.”

“Your method is going to get you killed, bugbutt.”

I admitted after a moment of trying to get comfortable, “There are some points being brought up that are worth considering.”

“You ought to listen to your elders more often, Phasma.”

“Oooh, so you can pull the age card, but I can’t?”

“Not if you wish to ever sleep in the same room as I.”

“I… How are you doing, Luna?”

“Pardon?”

“A lot has been happening for you, right? You were trapped on the moon for a thousand years, then you were dropped down on Equus for a war, then your sister immediately became possessed after you were cured, and it just keeps going on. How are you doing?”

Luna squeezed me close to her, “In times such as these, I look to good company. I am blessed to have you, Princess Cadence, and Twilight Sparkle. In times past, there were droughts of such pleasures. Ruling is often a lonely business, but it is when the long night draws near that the absence of friends makes its pain known the most. That is to say, I am doing much better than I would be if I did not have all of you. Where did this question come from?”

“Well, you always ask how I’m doing, but I don’t think I reciprocate. You’re going through as much as I am, and… I want to be worried about you.”

Luna sighed softly and rested her head against my neck. Since our bodies were based off of how they were in the real world, I was actually taller than Luna now. That seemed to matter little to Luna, who just treated me like a big teddy bear.

She spoke quietly, “It is unfortunate to say that I have experience in dealing with matters such as these, but I simply do. There were times where I would find myself distanced from Celestia, alone dealing with grief or anything Harmony threw my way. That does not mean that today’s pains are any less due to yesterday’s. I simply know what to focus on, and when. If you wish to help me, then continue being so adorable.”

“I’m not adorable, I’m handsome,” I protested.

“You keep telling yourself that, and one day your wish may come true.”

“Oh yeah? Well, you’re cute, too!”

“I am offended,” Luna said in a sarcastic tone.

“But are you really okay? I can only help you if you want help, Luna. Don’t suffer in silence; that’s my job.”

Luna didn’t respond. Seconds dragged on, making me wonder if I said something wrong. Or if she decided to ignore me. Either way, it was looking like another dead end in the conversation. Just before I opened my mouth to try again to ask her about how she’s doing, she finally began to talk again. Luna’s voice was quiet, making me lean my head closer to her to hear her.

“The world is so different. It moves much quicker than it used to. During Daybreaker’s absence, I had at least the comfort of duty, since she was away at war. But now, everypony goes to her and has once more forgotten about me. It is like a horrible case of déjà vu; my age-old pangs of jealousy, now only embers, begin to smolder once more. While the absence of ponies hurts me during what few public hours Daybreaker allows, I at least have the benefits that come with being forgotten. Coordinating against the Nightmare is suspiciously easy. I believe I have fully goaded it into bringing the Elements out during the Gala, as to ease our subject’s worry and as a show of power.

“However, each conversation gets harder and harder to endure. That thing is a monument to everything I had thrown away, and it is twisted into a form that hurts the most. As I count the hours till Celestia’s fateful return, I keep thinking what I am to say to her. How can I ever mend the gap, now that I am responsible for her fall, as well as my own?”

“What happened in Canterlot was none of your fault. You tried doing the best you could to stop anything bad from happening. Okay, Luna?”

“Yes, I hear the words and understand them. Yet I do not know if I can accept them. Emotion and logic stand opposite from each other. I let go of one long ago, and I am still paying the price. So if my heart says that I have failed, would I not be a fool for ignoring it? Then there is you, Phasma. At nights, we are so close to each other, yet so far. I fear for you. I fear what you may do. I know what I did when I was pushed, and I had the luxury of family with me at the time.”

I hugged her tightly as I thought of how I could respond to that. I couldn’t deny it. Saying yes would be damning her, which is something I didn’t really want to do.

“Luna, I have a confession to make. I’ve done some questionable things. Since my… death,” the word put a pain in my chest, “I’ve found it harder and harder to be nice to others. Being thrown into the beginnings of a war for survival only made it worse, I think. There was a moment in Manehattan, one where my life was in danger, where I let go of logic. Some pony ordered his cronies to mutilate me right in front of him, in a public restaurant. I understand that empirically, I wasn’t in too much danger, and that I could handle the situation without bloodshed. But I didn’t care. I wanted to hurt him. I wanted to kill him. He reminded me of that bastard that… that took everything away from me.

“So I hurt him. So I killed him. He was an Equestrian noble, and I watched as he bled out slowly. It was completely within my power to spare his life. If someone like Cadence ever found out, I don’t think they would ever forgive me. Especially not after she freaked out that I mind-wiped someone who would have gotten me killed otherwise. I’m not making this conversation about me, I’m just… I… You’re a better person than me, Luna. I took pleasure in repaying the pain people like him have given to me. You worry that you didn’t work hard enough to save your enemies, and of course your own family. I don’t think I can ever come back to anything close to that mindset. I’m sorry I don’t have the right words to explain this, or make it make sense, or make you feel better. What’s happening to Celestia is not your fault, nor are any of my actions. I don’t know what I can tell you other than I want to be here for you. I haven’t told you about this until now because I’m afraid of disappointing you. If you turn your back on me, then…”

“I could never do that. I understand what you are trying to tell me. Though it pains me to hear that you have been… I am not happy with the fact that you have killed somepony. You say it was at least in self-defense?”

I tried to shrug but the motion was stifled thanks to our closeness, “As much in self-defense as it can be.”

She exhaled slowly, breathing warm air against my neck.

“We will have to discuss this far more in depth in the future. For now, let us simply be miserable together, and leave the duty of wise and kind words to our betters. Once Celestia returns, I am certain she will try her best to help both of us. She is cursed to care for everypony she meets, after all.”

Instead of quietly watching the waves wash up against the beach, we decided to talk idly about what was going on in each of our lives, and just nonsense topics. It turns out her favorite food was pancakes. Less so for the taste, and more so for the fact that it was Celestia who made them for her in the mornings.

Author's Note

I have a Ko-Fi if you wish to leave a tip

108- Tezcatlipoca

There was a knock on my office’s door. A moment later, it opened slowly, and a black muzzle peeked through.

“My King? May I come in?”

“You may,” I answered.

The door opened, and Cricket stepped through. As she walked up to my desk, I closed the ancient tome I had been hesitantly poking. The other ones I had stolen from the Third Hive were sitting in a pile on my desk. While they were intact, they were not in a language I knew. I was examining them to see if I could identify the language, but I would probably have to pass them off to experts within the Fifth Hive to be studied. That was if anyone knew the language they were written in.

“My King,” the familiar changeling bowed when she came to a halt in front of my desk.

‘There’s that bowing again. Considering every ling has a bed and bathroom to themselves, the average quality of life here is much higher than back in the Fourth. So in your face mom, I’ll begin taking the praise now.’

“Hello, Cricket. You had something you wished to speak to me about?”

“Yes, My King,” she said as she rose from the bow. “A few days ago, while scouting the countryside for liquor producers, we came across one famed one that might bring great fortunes to the Fifth Hive. However, it was only until we met this famed pony did we realize that they was one of the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony.”

“Who and what happened?”

“The Element of Honesty, Applejack… Apple? Do they always have two names?”

“No. What happened?”

“I was chasing down rumors of one of the best ciders in Equestria, one named Zap Apple Cider. Found out the producer was working out of Ponyville. I was already aware that the Elements of Harmony were living in that town, but I figured it was worth the risk. This wasn’t just any cider, this was the cider that every single pony I talked to claimed was the best. No contest.”

“Alright, that sounds like it was worth the risk. So the producer turns out to be the Element of Honesty?”

“Yeah. Pretty obvious in hindsight that the pony named after apples grows apples. I arrived at their family’s farm after being pointed in its direction by a local. Disguised, of course. Found said Element of Harmony working in the orchard outside and figured that I came this far, might as well see what can happen.”

“Questionable logic.”

“... As you say, My King, but I kept in mind the fact that these mares are actively planning high treason, or rather regicide, against Princess Daybreaker. What’s breaking a law to continue what was presumably a family business compared to that?”

“I see your point. How did this meeting go?”

“I introduced myself as a pony, an earth pony to further endear myself, who had heard of the famous Zap Apple Cider, and was worried that I would miss out on the opportunity to try out the Cider. Break out the tear works, the never-going-to-try-it-with-the-ban-in-place, and the usual works on the soft ponies. It was working, but then she… she said… agh, let me just–”

Cricket transformed into the orange earth pony with a burst of green flames.

“Ah right,” she said with a country twang, “She said somethin’ along the lines of… ‘ah understand yer predic-a-ment, but ah’m an honest mare. If ‘n Apple don’t believe the sanctity of the law, something something being honest, then an Apple follows tha law but tries to get it changed through the system. Or somethin’. Ah’mma be honest, ah was too busy being enthralled by her accent tuh pay close attention to whut she was sayin’.’”

I sighed and put my head in my hooves.

“Ah luuve apples!” The fake-Applejack beamed. “Stick up mah plot! Followin’ tha law! Ah–”

“Is that all, Cricket?”

“Err… yes, My King?” Cricket said, still with Applejack’s voice but without her accent.

“She didn’t think you were a changeling?”

“Nope?”

“.... Have a good afternoon, Cricket.”

The changeling bowed, “Of cou–” her disguise vanished with a burst of flames, “I mean, of course, My King. I am sorry for wasting your time, My King.”

“Yeah, just… keep up the good work or whatever, and stay out of the way of the Elements. And send in Coxa on your way out.”

Cricket was doing well at her job of finding and lining up buyers, it was true. However, trying to learn anything from those dusty old books had left me in not the greatest mood to have my time wasted. Cricket bowed one last time before making a hasty retreat from the office. A short while later, Coxa appeared, practically shoved through the doorway.

“Uh… hey Phasma. You wanted to see me?”

I motioned for him to come closer. When he approached my desk, I lifted up one of the books, flipped it open, and showed it to him.

“Have you ever seen this language before, Coxa?”

“N… no. That language looks old. Older than anything that was in the Third Hive. Maybe even the Second.”

I groaned and dropped the book onto the desk, “So then how the hell am I going to read it?”

“Either find someone who knows the language, or get a team together to start deciphering the language. That second one should be possible, considering I see a few similarities between it and Old Ling.”

“You think there’s someone alive who knows this language?”

“I do think that. I mean, it’s Queen Chrysalis, so I don’t know how you’re going to convince her to give you some friendly language lessons, what with her trying to kill you and all.”

“Son of a…. alright, thank you for the information, Coxa. If I see Queen Chrysalis and she’s in a chatting mood, I’ll just ask her about her knowledge on dead changeling languages.”

“Sounds like a plan,” he grinned.

“Who else can I speak to?”

He shrugged, “Plenty of changelings around that know the current changeling written language, that rune one. I don’t know how much good it’ll do you, but it seems like something you should know. You know, being King and whatnot.”

“I’ll throw it on the pile of shit-to-do-later. Speaking of which, are you fine with heading to that speakeasy location right now? I’m not exactly in the middle of something, so I’d rather get it out of the way while we can.”

Coxa nodded, “I’ve got a thing at six, so we should go before then. Follow me, I know the way there.”

“Good. While we’re out, I also want to look for a bigger chair.” I rose from the office chair to prove my point. I was beginning to dwarf the pony/drone-sized piece of furniture. In fact, I had to remove the armrests just so I wouldn’t get stuck if I sat in it undisguised. “Do you happen to know where Princess Celestia bought her chairs? I think she’s the only other being in Equestria bigger than me. But give me a few more months, and I might be at eye level with her.”

Much like the original warehouse that the Fifth Hive had grown out of, the club had seen better days. Even calling it a club in its current state was a very generous overstatement. The place had been thoroughly trashed. It had holes in the floors and walls, wallpaper peeling off, and even the crappy magical light fixtures had begun to decay away.

I kicked over a dilapidated wooden chair that was left standing up in the middle of the main room. There were a few other rooms that together made up the Last Chance Club, but by and large this main room constituted over half of the building’s floor space. The other rooms were a large kitchen area, two store rooms, and some small offices.

I had glanced at the blueprint of the building before we headed over here. Thalamus had acquired a copy from Manehattan’s town hall, using a fake identity as an architect. Or maybe it was a building code inspector. Either way, he had gotten a few copies of the plans for several prime real estates around the city. From the looks of it, we could tear down a few walls and combine the side offices into one large backroom area if we desired.

And I was desiring that very much.

“Picture this, Coxa,” I announced, sitting on the overturned chair so I could gesture with both my forehooves. “That area over there is the stage. Takes up a large part of the place, yes, but with it we bring in live bands, dancers, and whatever else entertains ponies. This area right here, this can be the majority of the seating. Around it in a circle, we’ll have a raised section, with booths. In the back over there, will be the bar and kitchen. Waiters and waitresses cater to the tables while they’re all watching the show. Throw in new furniture, wallpaper, lights, and other decor and we got ourselves one of the hottest places in Manehattan.”

“... Kinda just looks like an empty room to me,” Coxa said, brushing his hoof along the ground and kicking up a dust cloud.

“Then just take my word on it… Yes, this place will do just nicely.”

“Why do we need to do this, Phasma?”

“What?”

Coxa pointed to us both, “We’re pretty mobile and elusive as is. Getting a brick and mortar place like this would tie us down and make us… public. It’s going to be hard to hide doing that. No pony interacts with any of our main locations, so we can choose neutral or even favoring locations for us to meet at and make deals. What benefits are we getting from places like this?”

‘Oh come on Coxa. Don’t poke holes in my dreams like this….’

“We, uh… aside from the additional income, we– oh! Of course! Love!”

“Love?” He asked, confused.

“Love! We may have all the bits we want, but we still struggle with getting ample enough love to go around. That will hopefully change with the ceasefire between our species after the Gala, but I want to stack the odds as much in our favor as possible. Look, what do ponies do at bars and clubs?”

“They… hook up?”

“They hook up! Flirting, spending money, and whatever! That ambient mood should be positively charged enough to feed off of for the average drone, right?”

Coxa nodded, starting to understand, “Yeah… yeah! Then in addition to love collectors, or just drones in interspecies relationships if you’d want to be less sterile, we would have this fallback. But uh… won’t Princess Celestia lift the Prohibition once she’s returned? What’s the point in investing so much of our funds in these places if they are going to be facing competition so soon?”

I gestured to the place, “One, we’ll have a massive head start on the competition and that means a lot in a business that relies on regulars. Two, having our own places ensures that if ponies react… less friendly than desired to our reveal, then we will have locations we can still be in without fear of a hostile welcome. We’ll keep their ownership a secret.”

“Think you can get away with that? I’d imagine that the Princesses would want to know the true depth of our presence within their own kingdom.”

“Eh, worst case scenario the Equestrian government will have it filed as classified information. I’ll try to get away with what I can, but if they demand to know the extent of the Fifth Hive, I don’t think lying or refusing will be the smartest move.”

Coxa grunted an acknowledgement before looking around the empty room.

“So when Thalamus reports that the sale has been finalized and the paperwork properly taken care of, I’ll see to getting crews into here to get it refurbished. I… don’t know anything about kitchen equipment.” Coxa scratched the back of his neck, “Guess I’ll have to find that out, or find someling who does.”

“Sounds good, Coxa. When we finish here and we’re satisfied, we’ll use it as a rough template for alternate locations. Nothing too similar, but… eh, maybe we’ll just entrust that to whoever runs each of those locations, if they have a good head on their shoulders.”

‘Make it their problem. Look mom, I’m delegating again! It’s so easy to make other people do the hard work for you!’

I yawned, “Oookay. So that’s everything out of the way for today, I think.”

“Have you spoken with Katydid?”

“So that’s almost everything out of the way for today. Ugh, we just left the office, now we have to go back?”

Coxa shook his head, “Actually I think he’s hanging out over in the living quarters. I mean, I am guessing he is. I don’t actually spy on everyling’s whereabouts, and you definitely shouldn’t think I am. Not for a moment. Wouldn’t do it. Seriously, stop thinking that.”

“Oh my dear Coxa, spying on my changelings is perfectly fine as long as you give me the information. I might even let you spy on myself, in exchange for something of equal value.”

Coxa stared at me, “... A few bottle caps? Some lint? A spare bit that I’ve fished out from the sofa cushion?”

“Oh come on, I’m worth at least three– no, four bits! Changing the topic, it might be better to give him more time to think, and have him find me. Takes time to find your heart, or whatever sappy nonsense makes the most sense. I don’t want to rush him into making the wrong decision; we have a noticeable lack of officers from the Legions. Pile this on with the fact that the vast majority of Praetorians and Infiltrators are staunch loyalists, and you get quite the imbalance of power. If Chrysalis was to show up and knock on our doors, superior numbers aside, I don’t think we would win. Unbroken Radiance gives me an advantage against her, but even with that I don’t think I can take her one-on-one.”

‘Maybe if I had my bullshit-powered hammer things would be different. I could rely on Radiance to protect me and focus completely on offensive spells. Coupled with God-Splitter, even a half-wit at combat like me could kill a demi-god like Bug Mom. But no hammer means no victory.’

The doors to the rundown speakeasy burst open, and a frantic disguised changeling flew into the room. He stopped before me, bowing and panting.

“My King! My King!”

“... What happened?” I growled.

“It’s Division-P, Your Majesty! They’ve begun their attacks against the Fifth Hive!”

We had taken an office meeting room back at our headquarters to hold our… war council.

Where once discussion of mergers, profit projections, and company policy violations were held, now the top changelings of the Fifth Hive were gathered to discuss waging an urban, secret war. At the head of the table, I sat facing everyone. Starting on my left was Coxa, Thalamus, Thrips, and Cricket. On my right was Thorax, Katydid, Froghopper, and the newly promoted First Officer of the Red Right Hoof, Silverfish. The last four seats on either side of the table were taken up by the last eight officers of the Red Right Hoof. Though they were still retraining, I needed every leader present.

On the table lay a map of Equestria, with three markers knocked over on the west side of the country.

“Convoys to Vanhoover, Las Pegasus, and Cloudsdale were all hit yesterday,” Thrips announced, being the changeling in charge of deliveries to buyers. “All in full view of the ponies in the cities. Newspapers are already printing stories of ponies being arrested under suspicions of being changelings. The estimated loss of materials and goods is, well, irrelevant. Division-P has captured all twelve changelings in these convoys. How Division-P knew about their identities is unknown; our current suspicions, given that the convoys are all unconnected, are that Happy Trails Shipping Company is compromised.”

“Can we hit Division-P on their way back to Canterlot?” I asked.

Froghopper spoke up, “By the time we get a force ready and in position, they will have already arrived at the unicorn city.”

I grunted in annoyance.

“The changelings all know the location of the dormitory buildings, the main warehouses, and this office building,” Thalamus announced. “If they are forced to reveal that information, the entire Fifth Hive could be jeopardized.”

“So we need to strike first, keep the pressure away from the Fifth Hive,” I told everyone.

There were some nods as the changelings considered my idea.

‘We are so close to the Gala and the ostracizing of Division-P from Equestria. Damn it all, we were so close to getting away with minimal contact with this secret police.’

“Bastards,” I muttered under my breath.

“If Happy Trails is compromised, will they know to come here?” Thorax asked.

“No, I put the company’s place of work as a dummy location elsewhere,” I said.

“But your disguise that is in charge of it, Al-Capony, could be compromised?”

I nodded.

“If we are striking against Division-P, we need to do it soon,” Katydid added.

I levitated several markers onto the map, placing them on cities, “I’m thinking multiple strikes against patrols across the kingdom. Hammer them quickly and suddenly.”

‘Like the Tet Offensive, only this time the guerilla fighters are going to win.’

“That’s going to expose our presence to Equestria,” Coxa pointed out.

Thorax asked, “If we’re already losing changelings to Division-P, what’s the point in hiding?”

“Hiding from the general populace?”Coxa offered.

“That is something I would prefer,” I said, “but we can’t let Division-P have every advantage and let them win every battle. We need to keep the pressure on them to respond across the country. If we keep them too busy to properly interrogate their captives, we can buy enough time to make it to the Gala. I’d prefer to hit their headquarters directly, but that’s not a battle we can win. Not until Red Right Hoof is ready to go,” I looked at Katydid.

Katydid grimaced, “I can get them all ready in two weeks. More, if we’re being pulled away to fight these Division-P patrols. The experience that these battles will give us will be very good, however.”

“We don’t have a choice,” I declared. “We have to bring the fight to them. If they get the chance to find our base here in Manehattan, then surviving until Princess Celestia is cleansed will be extremely painful. Maybe if we can keep them under pressure, we could even draw enough elements away from their headquarters to attack it directly. After the Thirteenth Legion is ready, of course. I will speak with Princess Cadence as soon as possible, and gather as much information as we can. Maybe she can help and start mucking up Division-P from within. Hell, maybe she can just hoof us their patrol routes directly.”

“We need to engage them nonlethally and disguised,” Thorax interrupted. “If ponies are going to know about our presence here in Equestria, then it’s important that we show them that we don’t want to kill. Also being disguised will help slow the realization that we’re here.”

“Can we do that?” I asked the gathered changelings.

“It’s going to make things much harder, especially if those bomb collars are real,” Froghopper pointed out. “We would have to stun them immediately and hope that there isn’t an automatic activation.”

I sighed, “I’ll find that out, too. I’ll light a fire under Cadence’s ass and force her to find out, regardless of the consequences. Even if she gets locked out of Division-P under suspicion of treason or whatever, that little bit of information would be worth it. We would be able to attack their patrols and rescue their hostages-slash-POW-slaves.”

“Good, because I don’t want changelings to die from this,” Thorax said, voicing what we were all obviously wanting.

“Is that all?” I asked the gathered changelings. They looked around, whispered to each other, but no one spoke up. “Good. You all know the plan, then. Prepare accordingly within your duties. I want the Red Right Hoof to keep training immediately while we pick out targets. It’s going to be exhausting and stressful, but now everything is at stake. All we have worked for in the past few months, potentially more. We cannot let the Fifth Hive fall. We cannot let this attack against us go unpunished. Once I give the word, we will strike at Division-P and begin the liberation of our brothers and sisters. These dogs of Daybreaker won’t know what hit them. You all have your orders. Dismissed. Katydid, I need to speak with you for a moment.”

The changelings all rose, bowed, and exited the room. Katydid stayed seated, as I asked.

“Yes, King Phasma?”

“I’m sorry to press you so soon for a decision, but as you can see, this is out of my hooves. Are you staying with the Fifth Hive?”

“... I cannot abandon this fight before it is over. Also, I spoke with Coxa and a changeling by the name of Auratus. Coxa told me about the Ascension Chamber… It was… I cannot conceive of any justification for its existence. Auratus told me about the Third Hive. He said you flew back into it to save him and a pony. You flew back into near-certain death to save a single drone and a stranger. I… I don’t like the saving the pony part, but the drone? If that’s what you’ll do for a single lowly changeling drone, then I don’t think there’s anything that can stop you from saving our species. Not even Chrysalis dedicates herself so fully… I will stand with you, King Phasma. I will die for you, if Panar wills it.”

“Let’s hope she doesn’t. Welcome to the Fifth Hive, Captain Katydid. Now, let’s go kick some ass.”

Author's Note

I have a Ko-Fi if you wish to support me

109- Fahrenheit 451

Cadence rose from her seat at the head of a dinner table that stretched far past the horizon.

“Hello Phasma, I wasn’t expecting to see you so soon. Welcome to, uh… a very long dining room? Why are all my dreams so weird?”

“Luna and I avoid you like the plague when you’re having more personal dreams. Besides, better dreams than Nightmares, Cadence. Yes, the pun is intended. I didn’t come here just to chat, however. Time’s up. I need to know about the bomb collars, and I need to know now. Whether they are a fake or not, and if they are real, a way to safely deactivate and remove them.”

“I haven’t found anything…. which actually means a lot.” I raised an eyebrow, so Cadence continued, “Something like… bomb collars… would take a lot of resources to make, right? Since I’ve been more or less locked out of the most important files that the Division keeps, I had to look around their secrets to feel out their shape. The collars seem magical, but there are no records suggesting that they are explosive. No large purchases of volatile materials, no building of safe storage areas, no training to handle explosives, no direct lines of cooperation with the E.U.P. to suggest any sort of militarized tactics or equipment, and so on.

“So it makes sense that these collars are not explosive. From what I can tell, there’s a lot of material being purchased that would go into enchanted and anti-magical equipment. And these are predominantly unicorns being employed, so enchanting skills would be comparatively cheap, in large quantities, and highly valued within the Division, what with the tribalism and all.”

“That’s good. Thank you, Cadence. Do you have anything more on the collars?”

Cadence frowned, “No, sorry.”

I nodded, “Then what you have is enough. Have you discovered anything about the treatment of their captured changelings?”

“Nothing on that. They keep their prisoners locked up in a secure location in Canterlot. Their treatment is a closely guarded secret, as it’s not even public knowledge that changeling prisoners are even being kept inside Canterlot.”

“They’re not prisoners,” I nearly hissed, “not anymore. The way the changelings are being treated, they are slaves. Slaves, Cadence.” She cringed at my wording, but offered no protest. “I have been patient up till now, but they are forcing my hoof.”

“What? What’s happened? What are you going to do?”

“I had hoped to just let you deal with Division-P. If they stayed a boogeyman that never actually hurt the Fifth Hive, I would have been happy. But they are finally moving against us. Three delivery teams were foalnapped yesterday. We don’t know how Division-P knows about our movements, but they do. So before they can do any more damage, we’re taking the fight to them.”

“And just what would that entail?” Cadence asked skeptically.

“Non-lethal attacks if possible, freeing their enslaved captives at all costs, and kicking their plots from this side of the continent to the other. I tried to sit quietly and bide our time until Celestia is returned and the Division dismantled, but it looks like that’s no longer an option.”

Cadence groaned and slowly pushed her porcelain plate to the edge of the table.

“I swear, it’s like everypony is trying to get underneath my skin and make things worse. I lend a hoof to Auntie Luna and help your... recovery and now a group of ponies come marching along just to ruin everything!” Cadence yelled as she pushed the plate off the table.

It fell to the ground behind the table and out of view. Cadence watched it fall, and I heard it shatter onto the ground. She stared at the obscured ground for a few moments.

“Things are going to get worse before they get better, aren’t they? That was fun though, maybe I should try some stress relieving practices in real life...”

“I’d hardly say bashing a few skulls together is worse, but yes, things are going to definitely get more complicated and active.”

“What am I supposed to say, Phasma? These brutes clearly make it hard to sympathize with them. Just… no hurting them permanently, and no hurting anypony else. No collateral. Ugh, I can’t believe I even know that word.”

I shrugged, “I want it handled as cleanly as possible, too. Learned that lesson the hard way. You have no id– nevermind.”

But Cadence had straightened up and bore a hard stare into me, “What do you mean, you learned that lesson the hard way?’ I know you’re not talking about the Invasion of Equestria, not with the way you shut up afterwards. What did you do?”

I quickly looked around the room before gazing down at my bare fetlock, “Oh heavens, look at the time! I really need to get going!”

“Phasma! If you ever want my help or friendship then you will sit down and tell me what the Tartarus you did!”

I lifted a hoof in a ‘stop’ gesture, “It’s okay, Luna knows all about it. The important bits, at least. There’ll be more discussion of it in the future, so there’s no need to talk about–”

“SIT! DOWN!”

Groaning and cursing, I pulled a chair out and sat down. Thankfully, the dream was based on Canterlot’s dining room or whatever, so the chair was at least sized up enough for an alicorn or royal.

“Now!” Cadence growled, the anger slowly leaving her voice, “I can clearly tell you did something bad. When?”

‘How long ago did I murder that bastard? It was before the Third Hive, but how many days before?’

“... Like two weeks ago? Less? It’s hard to keep track of the days sometimes.”

“Okay! Two weeks ago! What did you do?”

I cleared my throat and rubbed my mouth with the back of a hoof, “.... What?”

“Oh no, you are not stalling for time. You will tell me what you did by the time this dream ends, or I swear I will start feeding information to Division-P!”

“You wouldn’t!”

‘She wouldn’t! There’s no way! Not when knowing what they did!’

She grunted, “Maybe not, but I can make your life difficult in other ways. Phasma, how am I to believe that you want to be better when you’re hiding things from me?”

“I told Luna! She said we’d discuss it later!”

“We’re discussing it now, Phasma! What did you do!”

I sighed, “Okay, fine. I may have murdered a noble.”

“You…..”

“It was in self-defense! He ordered his hench...mares? To mutilate me in the middle of a restaurant. He told his henchmares to cut off one of my legs.”

This actually stunned Cadence, “He… wha…. what was his name?”

“Count Double Dealings.”

“That’s not any Count I know the name of.” She scrunched her eyes closed and tapped her head with her hooves, “Okay, okay. So a noble pony ordered you to be mutilated. Why?”

“I tried to sell him booze. Apparently, he didn’t want competition.”

“And?”

“And what?”

“Why else did he order this… act?”

“I dunno. He wanted to make an example out of me, I guess.”

“So this noble, who would have been in Celestia’ court frequently, just straight up ordered you to be ripped apart?”

“Yes. I wasn’t too keen on the idea, as I already have had the experience of having a leg ripped off. It’s not fun, Cadence. In fact, you might say it’s one of the most painful experiences you could possibly have in your life. I may have not been conscious for the act, but your leg doesn’t stop being gone when you wake up, nor does the pain go away.”

Cadence was visibly trying to keep calm. Frequently, she muttered things to herself that I couldn’t hear.

‘She can’t relate. Pony princess, sitting up in a castle, what does she know? The worst she has seen of this world is the fact that the Captain of the Guard saw me hurt a foal. As if that matters!’

“Okay… so you were afraid, your PTSD was triggered, and you stopped him from hurting you. Why did you kill him? Couldn’t you have zapped him and thrown him into one of your cocoons?”

“Pods, and yes…. But…”

‘He just made me so fucking angry!’ I yelled in my head.

“But what, Phasma?” Cadence pressed.

“I... “

‘He deserved it! He betrayed me! He tried to–’

Seeing my hesitation, Cadence doubled down, “What could he possibly have done that made you so afraid that you resorted to murder before anything else?!”

“He tried to kill me!” I screamed into her face.

Blinking, I realized that I had slammed onto the table and thrown all of its contents into the air. I lifted my hooves and brought them close to my chest. The action made me realize just how much I was shaking. Cadence had jumped back against her chair at my outburst, but now leaned towards me. She didn’t speak, clearly wanting me to continue.

“You don’t understand, Cadence. What was the worst thing you’ve seen? What was the most afraid you’ve been? What have you even lost? I– I can’t even remember the bastard’s face. Just a blur of shapes and color. I can’t remember the man who took everything from me. Just the ones who try to do it again. I did everything this pony asked me to do. I tried to be calm. I tried to handle it bloodlessly. But he just betrayed me and– and I… I just wanted him dead. I’m trying to be good, Cadence. I am. But he just…” I trailed off. “When it was over, it was just like the last time this happened.”

I looked down at my hooves. In my mind’s eye, I saw them covered in Chamberlain Eucharis’s blood.

‘The man with the gun. Chrysalis. Eucharis. Double Dealings. It always ends with death, doesn’t it? The only thing that has changed is that I’m strong enough to make sure that it’s not my death.’

“He shot me, Cadence,” I whispered. “Give them an inch and they’ll take a mile.”

Cadence scooted her chair close and extended one of her small wings to wrap around my back.

Chrysalis’s unbidden voice rang loudly in my mind, 'You’ll see the truth. I will make this right, even if I have to tear you down and rebuild you from the pieces.’

I recoiled as if struck. With a snarl, I pushed away from the table, throwing my chair backwards and clattering onto the ground. Cadence quickly retracted her wing.

“Better them than me! This world wants to throw everything at me, from tyrants to nightmares? Go ahead! I’ll take what I can, and give nothing back! I killed Count Double Dealings, and I’ll do it again! Anyone who threatens me, I will show no mercy!”

Cadence’s eyes widened and she reached out a hoof, “Phasma, your–”

“Judge me all you want, pink pony princess, but I need to secure the safety of my species, which is still very much in doubt! I’ve been ripped apart, possessed, tortured, and murdered! I will not let that happen again! And now, the ones who look to me for safety and guidance have been taken to be tortured and used against their own kind. If I have to decapitate a few zealots to get me the goddamn rest and safety I so desire, then I’ll sharpen my blade and get swinging! Oh I’ll spare them if I can, but I’m not going to promise anything!”

“Please Phasma! Just sit down and listen to me!” Cadence pleaded. The sense of authority and anger seen earlier was completely absent from her voice. She was desperate.

But I was angry.

“Since you couldn’t grind Division-P to a halt all by yourself, I have to take matters into my own hooves. Goodbye Cadence,” I spat as I began to leave the dream. She was saying something as I ripped myself out from her Dreamscape, but I didn’t bother to listen.

Cadence raised a hoof to cover her eyes from the unexpected ball of orange fire that materialized around the angry changeling. The brightness dimmed, revealing an empty space where Phasma last stood.

“Grrr…. Son of a nutcracker!” Cadence cursed as she kicked her own chair back. She waved her hooves in the air, imagining throttling the now missing changeling.

‘He’s gone! Like a stupid stallion, he couldn’t just wait a single moment to listen! He just has to run off and swing his sword around!’

Cadence’s frustration quickly melted away to fear. Cadence slumped down to the floor, idly running a hoof through the carpet’s fabric. She felt a little guilty for blaming him so quickly, in fact.

‘Oh Celestia, he needs help, and he needs it soon. Professional help. It’s not fair for me to judge him when he’s so sick. Normal ponies’ eyes don’t glow green, for Luna’s sake! This might be related to that Nightmare stuff!’

“I need to talk to Luna,” Cadence summarized her thoughts out loud.

She spent the rest of her dream pacing about, thinking of what to say to the reclusive alicorn.

When she awoke in her bed chambers, she quickly pulled herself away from the bed and onto her hooves. She yawned and stretched, but wasted no time in shambling over to the door. Her shamble became a limp, and then a walk, and then finally a graceful canter as she shook off the last bits of sleep. Having a lucid dream meant that the transition was far quicker than normal.

The door creaked open, eliciting a stir from her bed behind her.

“Honey…?” Her stallion mumbled, still mostly asleep.

“Just getting some tea, Muffin. Go back to sleep,” Cadence reassured Shining Armor, before leaving the room and quietly closing the door behind her. The guards on either side of her door saluted as she exited.

Deciding to forgo the grace, Cadence trotted down the palace’s long hallways, making her way across the maze of intersections to her destination. Being in the same wing as the other two alicorns had its perks, and Cadence arrived at Luna’s bed chambers in short order.

The Night Guards glanced at her briefly, and saluted her arrival.

‘Nothing strange about going to see Auntie Luna, right? I’m not giving anything away… I just had a bad dream! Yes, a bad dream! I saw the Prince– no, best leave that detail out if asked.’

She raised a hoof and knocked three times on the door.

Clearing her throat, she swung back and forth on her hooves as she waited.

‘Maybe she’s still asleep.’

Cadence knocked three more times.

‘She’s a heavy sleeper at times, I might need to put a little more effort into knocking.’

She lifted her hoof, and with considerably more effort, knocked three more times. Her third knock met open air when the door was swung open. Luna stood in the doorway, blinking some sleep from her eyes, and not entirely happy.

“.... Cadence?”

“Auntie Luna! Sorry if I woke you up, I just wanted to speak with you.”

“... I am already awake. I have lowered the moon,” Luna mumbled.

Cadence glanced down the hall and saw sunlight streaming in from the large windows on one side, the one facing a courtyard.

“Ah, of course. May I come in?” Cadence asked.

Luna blinked, surprised, but stepped aside to let Cadence in.

Unlike Cadence’s chambers, Luna’s possessed a large sitting room. Cadence’s doors just went directly into the bedroom. Luna’s sitting chamber was a large, cozy room, themed in a dark blue and black night. Honestly, the moon motif was too drawn out for Cadence’s taste but she kept quiet out of politeness, and instead sat down on a chair by a fireplace.

Then she remembered that she wasn’t invited to sit, and she quickly rose from the seat. Then Cadence remembered that Luna wouldn’t actually mind if she sat, so she sat back down. Luna watched all this with a confused stare.

“Luna, I… we need to talk about Phasma.”

Luna’s eyes widened and she quickly looked around her own empty room, “Such an act is not wise in the waking world. You know this. What could possibly be cause to warrant such a breach of… secrecy?”

“It couldn’t wait for a nightly chat, as I don't know when the next one would be.”

Luna sat down across from her, “Whatever happened must really worry you, then. Speak. Please,” she added as an afterthought.

“Phasma killed somepony. Recently. A noble, right here in Equestria.”

“.... Yes?”

“Right, you know. He said that. But, it’s really affecting him. He’s not in a healthy state.”

“That much should be obvious.”

“Y– his eyes glowed green, Luna! He yelled at me and I swear his eyes flashed green!”

Luna scowled, “.... Shit.”

“Huh?” Cadence stammered.

“Ahem. Apologizes, Phasma’s swears are often much shorter and more fun to use. This is bad news you bring. Not entirely unexpected, but bad news nonetheless.”

“What’s happening to him?”

Luna looked at the empty fireplace, “He is suffering from lingering, let’s call it taint, left over from his last near-possession by a Nightmare. He’s not being possessed again, though he does seem to be a magnet to those misbegotten vermin, but he will be affected in other ways. His negative emotions may be heightened, and they will make a feedback loop.”

“Can you help him before he does something rash, like killing tribalist unicorns for example?”

“Killing tribalist– Division-P? Well, if those scum-suckers are the target of his rage, I would say that this is a healthy avenue for him to work out his anger.”

“Luna!” Cadence groaned. “You can’t go around killing ponies!”

“Why not? From what I’ve heard, they work against Harmony without remorse. Torturing changelings and strapping them with bomb collars, it is unheard of!”

‘Thousand years on the moon after being Equestria’s warlord has not done Luna many favors…’

“Okay Luna… Let’s say we killed everypony who deserved death. That would make Phasma….?”

“That does not count. He is different.”

“His mother?”

“Deserves death.”

“But he doesn’t? Hypothetically, that is?”

“No! He was simply following orders. He also tried working with Nightmare Moon, and though that sounds counterintuitive to testifying for his virtues, it shows that he did not necessarily want to end pony civilization.”

“And you know all of this because…”

“He said so.”

“When?”

“While I was possessed, and during our conversations afterwards.”

“Nightmare Moon tried to end all life in the world, right?”

“No, merely bring about eternal night.”

“Whatever. My point is, would you have learned any of this if we did not forgive you– not that it’s your fault for being possessed! I mean… agh! Phasma tried to conquer Equestria and put everypony in pods, right?” Luna nodded slowly, “So going by your logic, that would make him a very bad guy, right? So that means we should kill him, right?”

“He is different.”

“Forget it!” Cadence yelled, throwing her hooves into the air. “This doesn’t even… what was my original point? Oh right, Division-P. Evil is a slippery slope, Luna. Justifying small evils will make large evils seem less and less horrible as you go on. This is no small evil, this is the permanent end to lives that can be rehabilitated. Phasma is clearly being hurt by this taint, so it needs to be cured. He also is going to do something evil, so he needs to be stopped. Can you put a halt to…” Cadence trailed off.

‘If nothing is done to Division-P then they will continue targeting changelings, which will only make the situation worse. Can I tell the rightful leader of the changelings to simply stop fighting back and trying to protect his ponies? I will have to do whatever I can to destroy Division-P from within, to save them.’’

“Cadence? Are you alright?” Luna asked, looking a bit worried.

“I’m a bit stressed out, okay?! Luna, can you just help Phasma out?”

“I shall visit him tonight and attempt to purge the lingering miasma from his mind. This is far more effective when it is done in person, so it will be hard to tell if the treatment will be successful.”

“Then can you at least convince him to be as non-lethal as possible? Please?”

Luna nodded, “I can do that. There are scant few things he would argue with me on, and this should not be one of them.”

“That…. sounds like a lot of trust,” Cadence said, a bit confused. “You saving his life really meant a lot to him, huh?”

“Yes. Though it seems being his caretaker will become one of my main responsibilities, judging by how often he runs into Nightmares. Honestly, what does he do to attr– right, the brand in his mind.”

“The what now?”

“Has he spoken with you about the Third Hive? About Trotsylvania?”

Cadence shook her head.

Luna glanced at the window. The curtains had been drawn closed, but Luna seemed to ascertain the time of day regardless.

“We will be missing breakfast, but I believe you should be made aware of the Nightmares’ current activities, as well as their past ones...”

Author's Note

I have a Ko-Fi if you want to support me

110- Thánh Gióng

I lowered the binoculars and ducked down as the four targets emerged from the store after an hour of waiting.

I didn’t know what Assured Accounting did to deserve a personal visit from three Division-P inquisitors and a changeling captive, but I could hardly care. What mattered is that the patrol was now out in the open, and moving once again.

“All lings in position?” I asked quietly.

Next to me, Froghopper gave an affirmative. We were sitting on top of a roof across the street and down a number of buildings from the targets. Behind us, more buildings down, several changelings waited in alleyways to spring the trap. Past the inquisitors, changelings waited in more alleyways in case the patrol headed away from us instead of towards.

Peeking up, I saw that the inquisitors stopped to chat with one another for a few minutes. In this quiet backroads street in the outskirts of Fillydelphia, there would be no spectators to the ambush. None on the street or sidewalks, at least. That was as clear as we were going to get.

Finally, the three unicorns set off, coming our way. The changeling fell in line behind two and in front of the third. No doubt he felt my presence the moment I came within a several-mile radius of the city. From the looks of it, he did not tip off the unicorns. When I spied on her using the binoculars, I caught her looking in my direction a few times. He refrained from giving anything away, and threw out looks around the street to not tip off the inquisitors that something was up.

“Get ready, they’re coming our way” I commanded.

Froghopper nodded and waved a hoof behind us. A messenger passed the signal on to the team below and past us. When the ponies were across the street, I gave the command.

“Havok!” I whisper-yelled before teleporting away.

The changeling yelped in surprise when I appeared next to her and tackled her to the ground. Relying on my changelings to protect me if any of the inquisitors tried anything, I began to teleport once again.

Sure enough, after a yell of surprise, they quickly reacted to the armored unicorn who teleported in on their patrol. Three stunning spells were absorbed quite spectacularly into a green bubble shield that appeared around us. That was all the inquisitors had time for before I pulled us away in a blaze of orange flames, very similar to the flames that appear when I disguise myself.

We appeared back on the rooftop, but without the changeling’s collar. My teleport spell was bright, flashy, and very recognizable. Further, it left any enchanted objects behind when it was used. That last fact was normally completely restrictive when I had Unbroken Radiance on, but in this instance it became the lynchpin of this ambush.

In the street, the inquisitors were furious. Angry yelling, pointing, and quick-thinking led them to the conclusion of using a tracking spell on the changeling I had in my forehooves. Unfortunately for them, that was when the changelings launched their attack.

The sounds of spellfire and surprised screams and yelling were accompanied by the sudden wave of fear that the inquisitors and hidden onlookers felt. Even in the building right below me, I was sure ponies rushed up to the windows to see the sudden fight taking place.

I slumped down and looked over the changeling. She had curled up in my forelegs, covering herself as much as possible.

“Hey, what’s your name?”

“Hallux, Your H-Highness,” she whimpered.

I refrained from hissing in anger when I saw that her carapace was marred with different scars. It takes a lot more force to puncture chitin than it does skin, but that doesn’t seem to deter the Division in any way.

“Are you well, Hallux?”

“N–no, Y–Your Highness.”

“You’re shivering.”

“J–just starving, Your Highness.”

I frowned, “They don’t feed their captives?”

“Not m–much, Your Highness.”

I patted her on the back, eliciting another whimper.

“There there, Hallux. You’re back in good hooves. We’ll get you–”

A pegasus-disguised changeling flew up and landed on the roof behind me, above the street.

“We have them, Sir. No injuries on our side.”

“Understood. Let’s clear out before the fuzz arrives. Even if they’re on my payroll, it’s best to avoid unwanted attention.”

The changeling saluted and flew off to pass on the message.

“Come, Hallux. It’s time to leave.”

“Where are we going, Your Highness?” She asked as she rose to unsteady hooves.

“To the Fifth Hive.”

The carts unloaded the last of the bound inquisitors, hauling them quickly to the designated pods. The warehouse that stored these ponies was dark and completely sealed up. My airlock design ensured that the light of day never reached the interior, and more importantly, no pony could ever get a glimpse of the inside.

We had several locations such as this across Manehattan’s outlying manufacturing and commercial districts. Similar locations in other cities were used for storage and distribution of alcohol and on occasion love. These fortresses were special, more secure and closely guarded than those.

Within the select few reinforced warehouses, the podded ponies were kept. Most were from Count Double Dealing’s doom. A few were from other instances of discovering changelings. But now, with the addition of no less than fifteen Division-P inquisitors hauled in from across the country, this particular warehouse was now a quarter full. With the Gala approaching, I wondered if it would get any fuller before I would be forced to release the ponies.

For a concession, of course. I wasn’t about to give up something for nothing. But I left that kind of thinking for the future, and instead focused on the present. Five changelings had been rescued from the patrols today, the first day of action. One unicorn had died in a battle in Baltimare. The zealot refused to be captured, and once she realized the inevitable, she tried to take as many changelings with her as possible. Admirable, but a wasted effort. Two changelings received burns, but were otherwise unharmed.

‘I imagine that Cadence will blame me.’

The changeling teams had all reported back with their captives in tow, so I ordered a round of extra rations to be given to them all. The support staff for the operation also got a round; just because they were not in the line of fire didn’t mean that their duties were any less important.

I chuckled to myself as I left the warehouse, satisfied with today’s efforts.

‘Tomorrow’s papers are going to be very, very interesting.’

“I feel fine, Luna.”

She rolled her eyes as she continued monitoring me with… magic, I guess. Dream magic was still a complicated subject that I knew only the basics of. I didn’t need to be an expert to know that whatever it took to scan my mind, it didn’t require her to be snuggling up against me in the dream parlor.

But I wasn’t about to complain.

“That is good to hear, but Cadence reports otherwise. You had a conversation with her last night?”

I grunted in response, “She told me what she learned about Division-P.”

“And?”

“And… what?”

“What other topics did you two speak of?”

‘Oh great, here we go.’

“Count Double Dealings,” I mumbled.

“Cadence was very concerned for you, Phasma. You scared her.”

“I did? I guess I did.”

“You had an outburst. A moment of intense anger. Cadence said your eyes glowed green. I doubt that that was an intentional manipulation of your form in her dream.”

‘They did what?’

“They did what?”

Luna’s horn dimmed as her spell finished, “You need to avoid strong triggers of anger for the next… until I get a chance to help you in person. Understood?”

“I mean, I’ll try,” I offered her.

“That is the most I can hope for. Now, what is this about Division-P?”

“They’re moving against the Fifth Hive. As of yesterday, the Fifth Hive has unwillingly joined the War for the Sun. The E.U.P. may be focused on quarantining the Fourth Hive and finding a way to break in, but Daybreaker’s Division-P is now focused on tracking us down and capturing us.”

Luna tapped my chest, “You have managed to make it this far without joining the conflict. If you can end it quickly and without bloodshed, then do so. The sooner you withdraw from it, the better. For more than one reason. Otherwise, try to bide your time until the Gala. Use whatever delaying tactics you can think of.”

“Already on it, Luna.”

“I trust that you are not going on a maddened spree, letting your emotions and spells run wild?”

“Only one pony died yesterday, during a suicidal gambit to kill as many changelings as they could. They didn’t get any.”

“Unfortunate but unavoidable,” she buried her head underneath mine.

‘Ah, the pros of having an outdated marefriend. Or at least a ruler who actually has experience ruling. Her views on war are a bit closer to humanity’s than Cadence’s.’

“This was just the first day of fighting, however,” I reminded her. “Time will tell just how bloody this conflict turns out to be.”

I waved her billowing mane out of my face, and then pressed it down against her as I lay a hoof across her neck. Taming the lavender beast was a daily challenge for me.

‘Soon, we’ll be doing this in the real world. Me, Luna, a big bed, and the ability to sleep in without receiving a report that our kingdoms are in danger somehow.’

“Ba-bum, ba-bum, ba-bum,” Luna voiced my rapid heartbeat. “What has gotten you so excited?”

“Thinking about you,” I said as I nuzzled her.

Luna chuckled, “There will be plenty of time for excitement like that later.”

“Not like that,” I said quickly, my face feeling a lot hotter, “I meant actually being together. No, I said not like that!” Luna just batted her eyelashes at me. “Luna… what am I going to do with you?”

“Oh, I suppose we’ll find out. I have a lot of ideas, though.”

“You are insufferable!” I chuckled.

I watched Luna rise and fall on my chest, her blissfully relaxed and sprawled across me.

“Do you think Celestia will like me, Luna?”

“Mmm. You make me happy, Phasma. That is enough for her. Beyond that… I believe so. So long as you keep that sense of humor, I think you two will get along well. Also, as long as you both work together on your duties as rulers. You two could very easily clash on how you plan to go about merging our kingdoms.”

“Merging? I don’t plan on doing that. Not exactly.”

“Exactly. You two will possess opposing desires of sorts. I digress, I do believe you will like her, and that she will like you.” Luna hummed, “I have to say, being the smaller pony in a relationship is a new experience for me.”

“Always the big spoon?”

“More often than not. This is new and not unwelcome.”

“Hmmm…. So, doctor’s orders are that I have to watch my anger?”

“Yes, dear,” Luna insisted.

“While I am at war?”

“Yes, dear.”

“And fighting for my life?”

“Yes, dear.”

“... That’s not going to be easy.”

“Ruling is never easy,” Luna mumbled, dozing off. “Besides, you have your friends and I. What is the worst that could happen?”

I gasped and lurched upwards, “Don’t–!”

Daybreaker slammed the folder onto her desk. Even turned away from her own mane, she could see it’s flaring and sparking from the light it cast onto her study. That fact alone signaled to all who could see that Daybreaker was not in a conversational mood.

“When I desired results, this is not what I had in mind, Lord Artful. One of my little ponies is dead. On your orders, no less.”

Lord Artful Acumen bowed slightly, not acknowledging the fact that they were actually Daybreaker’s orders.

“A thousand apologies, Your Highness. This operation came with risks, we knew this. The results obtained were worth the price paid,” the unicorn claimed.

“Is this so?” Daybreaker voiced her doubts.

“It is, Your Highness. The final piece of the puzzle has been revealed. Lone Wanderer's report suggested the presence of Hydra plus level threat operating within Equestria. Then came Rocky Mountain’s picture and Rogue Hurricane’s report, and well, it is quite obvious just who this threat is. With Team Harmony’s reconnaissance, we traced three shell company’s presence within the alcohol blackmarket, and that they were likely operated by changelings. With Operation Beehive, we know that Prince Phasmatodea is not only alive and operating within Equestria, but that he has implanted agents all across the Principality. Finally, thanks to the heroic sacrifice of Inquisitor Counter Position and the rest of the teams, we have an idea of this rogue changeling’s ability to mobilize. Now we can start constricting his area of operations, slowly narrowing down his nest’s location.”

“And with it, acquire the means to win the war, once and for all,” Daybreaker smiled.

“As you say, Your Highness. Inquisitor Counter Position might have saved Equestria.”

Daybreaker flicked a hoof. Lord Artful Acumen took the signal to leave, and bowed as he did so. With him gone, the burning alicorn was left alone in her office. She looked down at the grainy, black and white photo and the attached report.

Prince Phasmatodea was relaxing socially with the thestral elders, within their keep’s walled garden. But Daybreaker had inherited Celestia’s spy network, and had no intention of disbanding it. With eyes everywhere, she had finally found proof that the mysterious royal was alive.

But of course he lived. Epitaph needs him to.

“You will have a different purpose for me, little Prince. I will find you. And you will bow to Equus’s rightful ruler.”

I groaned and cursed as I laid back down on the sofa. Luna stayed upright, glaring at me.

“Why are you so superstitious?”

“You realize that it’s me who’s going to have to pay for that remark, right Luna? You just made my life more miserable in some unseen way. Panar damnit, it’s not going to be pleasant.”

She batted my chest before lying back down on top of it.

“I am sorry if I freaked you out. Now apologize for flinging me into the air.”

I rolled my eyes, “I’m sorry for sending you flying. Even though you deserved it.”

“I deserved it?” She asked as she tried getting comfortable again.

“Yeah. Besides, you landed back on me, so I would be the one who’s bruised. If I decided I wanted to hurt within my own dream. Which I don’t, so there’s no hurt feelings. I forgive you, Luna.”

“Hahaha! Glad that will not weigh on my conscience!”

“So, we’ve concluded that I’m still suffering from minor possession. How are you doing?”

“Mmmmmmuch better now, Phasma, much better. I look forward to the days where I am able to unwind with you properly, and when of course I will have my sister back. These nightly sessions tide me over in the meantime.”

“I enjoy them, too. I love you, Luna.”

“I love you too, Phasma.”

Author's Note

I have a Ko-Fi if you want to support me

111- Laverna

The changeling guard saluted from his station by the door as I approached. Nodding to him, I entered the room he stood watch over.

The small room felt crowded with four of us in there. With myself, two changeling guards, and a pony tied up, the former storage closet was packed like a can of sardines. The room itself was in a sorry state, being part of a rundown building on the bad side of town where no pony walks without a purpose.

“Anything?” I asked as I entered.

The changeling stepped back from the hunched over pony, “No, sir.”

The unicorn looked up, her mane, wet with sweat, drooped over half of her face. The eye that was uncovered stared at me with malice. Though for all her hard looks, we all could taste the fear that lurked underneath that loathsome desire to… kill us, I suppose.

She was a dark orange pony, with a mud-brown hairdo that had seen better days. Her Mark was a sunrise. If I cared, I could probably guess her name from that.

“Take a break,” I told the changeling.

He bowed and left the room. The changeling sitting in the back was still there, and just as silent as she always was. I stood before the unicorn, looking down on her. She craned her head up to stare right back at me.

“You know who I am,” I stated, not asked.

“Prince Phasmatodea,” she said with a low voice.

‘Prince. Interesting… At least that means that Daring Do’s report has been covered up. Or, worst case, its spread is delayed. Good.’

“You know what I want.”

She snarled, “I’ll never betray my sisters!”

I smiled, “You will. By crook or by hook, there is only one way this ends. I will get the patrol routes for Manehattan. You will be placed back into a pod. Then, once the war is over, you will be let free… Probably. We’ll see how negotiations pan out.”

“Lies from the Prince of Dread! I was there in Canterlot, I saw your work. If you win the war, Equestria will cease to exist. I won’t give you anything!”

“What you believe is irrelevant. I am giving you the chance to spare yourself from being potentially crippled for life. Take it and spare me your pride, pony. I said there was only one way that this meeting of ours ends, and I meant it.

“The only way this ends,” she mocked me, “is with my hoof up your plot!”

I raised my eyebrows. The unicorn struggled briefly with her bindings, but slumped with an angry snort.

“Tell me pony, are you familiar with Mind Magic?”

Her spike in fear was the answer to that question.

I continued, “You know what happens next. You will tell me the patrol route, willingly or not. Now, I have been informed that mind magic carries its risks. If you wish to avoid permanent damage, you will come forth with the routes. Otherwise….”

The pony snarled, putting her anger above all other emotions.

“I’ll never betray Equestria! You vermin will end everything if we don’t stop you!”

“The hard way it is, then. Just remember, I asked you to avoid this.”

The unicorn sneered at me, baring her teeth. I was about to start casting the mind control spell when I… didn’t.

‘... Is this action excusable? Cadence, if she found out, would never approve. But despite that, do I need this information? Well, no. We’ve done well enough with our own scouting. This will just make my life easier, and safer. It isn’t a necessary move. If I desire to keep the ponies’ trust, then I should work to do just that.’

As much as I thought it would be better to do otherwise, I turned away from the unicorn and made my way to the door.

“What’s the matter, insect? All bark and no bite?” The pony spat at me.

‘... But there’s nothing wrong with fucking with them and freaking them around, right?’

“It’s already over, pony. Do not worry, I’ll put that information to good use. You can throw her back in with the others. We’re done here.”

The anger I felt behind me was satisfying, “You little rat!” She screamed, “Get back here so I can squish you like the bug you are! You’ll never win, you hear me? Never! The Princesses will defeat you! Harmony always wins out in the end!”

I snorted, “I suppose it does.”

‘But don’t expect me to understand it.’

I shut the door behind me. The changeling who had just left was staring at me, confused.

“Your Majesty? That was… quick?”

I shook my head, “No mind control. And we’re not torturing them, so put her back where you got her.”

“Your Majesty? Don’t we need this information?”

“No. We want it. That’s the difference that matters in the end. Just… put her back. I’ll figure something out, don’t worry. Worst case scenario, we create fallback complexes to evacuate to if our main places are compromised.”

He bowed, “As you command, My King.”

“We have to fight as bloodless as possible,” I told him as I walked away, heading for this dump’s exit.

‘You happy, Cadence? I shot myself in the hoof for you. No mind control, just like you wanted. But I swear, if this costs lives in the end, then I’m taking the gloves off.’

Once out in the street of the rundown industrial neighborhood our little hidey-hole was in, I walked in the rough direction of the main offices. I would have to make a couple of detours and stops first, but I needed to talk to Coxa as soon as possible.

Coxa placed this week’s report before me.

“As you can see, even with the loss of the convoys, we’re still making more bits than we know what to do with. We’ve been funneling the bits through Count Double Dealing’s accounts, laundering them as much as possible. Even so, we’re quickly blowing past our ability to launder them that way. We’ve started investing in business opportunities across the East Coast to get rid of as many bits as possible while still putting them towards generating a profit. I’ve had to pull more and more changelings to assist me in putting everything down on paper. Our network of assets has grown to a ridiculous level–”

“Forget cleaning the money,” I ordered him while knife-handing. Knife-hoofing. Close enough.

“Uh, what? Won’t that send the Equestrian Tax Agency after us?”

“They don’t matter. What matters is Division-P and their ability to nail us to the fucking wall. We need to be mobile. We need to spend bits on getting alternate fallback locations for the Fifth Hive. As much as I hate to admit it, getting caught here is a death sentence. We need somewhere where we can defend– against a siege, if the worst comes to pass. Somewhere with a number of secret exits we can use to evacuate if needed. We’ll have to keep its location a secret from the majority of the Fifth Hive; Daybreaker has captives already. We have to operate under the assumption that all information they held is now in Division-P’s hooves. We should also prepare for more changelings to be captured. We need fallback locations, safe houses, contingencies, and plans.”

“I’ll get Thalamus to find some.”

“As soon as possible, Coxa. And remind him to keep his lid shut about it. When he has the locations picked out, get as small of a team that we can get away with for setting them up. Mark them down somewhere, and make sure none of them are ever sent out of the Fifth Hive. They will be unexpendable, in every meaning of the word.”

Coxa wrote down some notes on a notepad, “Sure thing, boss. What do we do about deliveries?”

“Hmm?”

“Deliveries. I imagine that if we’re doing this, you’ll want to change how those are handled, too, right?”

“Oh. Yes, great thinking Coxa. We’ll need more security on them. A shadow team for each convoy. If the carts get hit, then the shadow team can counter ambush.”

“That’s going to slow them down considerably. Moving stealthily through any terrain at all is slow, and we’ve relied on expediency to get out of any suspicious circumstances so far.”

I tapped my chin, “Where have all the teams been ambushed so far?”

“Uh… From the reports we’ve seen the ponies print in the papers, it’s right at the edge of town usually.”

“You think we can keep the team with the carts in between civilization, but have them disembark when they get close to towns?”

“That should speed it up more than just having them shadowed all the time.”

“Alright, do that. Sacrifice a bit of safety for speed. Worst case scenario, order them to ditch the carts and hoof it. A ling is worth more than any bit can buy. These are our people, I do not want them risking their life more than they have to. That doesn’t mean getting out of Dodge whenever they get a bad feeling, though.”

Coxa waved me away, “Yeah, yeah. I got it. Don’t worry Phasma, I’ll make sure they’ve got a good plan in place for when shit goes south.”

“Thank you. Any reports concerning Division-P?”

Coxa hesitated, “That depends. Are you in a good mood?”

‘This can’t be good.’

“Not really?”

Coxa nervously shuffled, “Okay, then. Best get this over with. Another group got hit. This time, it was right here, in Manehattan.”

I glanced behind me and out the window. The city loomed, a distant concrete jungle.

“Why didn’t you lead with this?”

“I wanted to give the good news first. The changelings… two of them died. Took out an Inquisitor, but three more were captured.”

I rose from my chair, “We need to ambush their captors before they leave the city!”

“Captain Katydid is already on the job, boss. Given what you did back in the Third Hive, I also wanted to delay you as much as possible. I wanted to keep you here, so you don’t go charging out there and doing something stupid like revealing yourself.”

“Two changelings are dead, Coxa! That can’t go unanswered!” I hissed.

Coxa walked up to my desk and reached over, tapping my hoof with one of his one, “And it won’t, Phasma. We’re handling it, trust us. Look, the ponies don’t know about your survival, so it’s important to keep that ace up our sleeve as long as possible, right? Plus, if you go gallivanting about, eventually you’re going to attract attention. Very bad attention. The kind of attention that has both a horn and wings, you know?”

“We have two weeks until the Grand Galloping Gala. How many changelings will die before then, Coxa?”

He cringed, “We’ll be rescuing more than we lose, but… it’s not looking good.”

‘Maybe I do need to get those patrol routes. It wouldn’t have been in time to save the changelings today, but next time…’

“Coxa, you will also have to warn Thorax and Double Diamond. Diamond has visited the Hive a few times, so his identity is known to us. He might not be safe anymore. Get him somewhere else to stay in Manehattan, or if needed, out of the city.”

He wrote down more notes, “I’ll get it handled. Okay, that should be everything. I’ll go speak with Thalamus right now.”

“Thank you, Coxa.”

“I’m just doing my duty,” he shrugged. “You should take the rest of the day off, Phasma. I’ll handle the aftermath of Katydid’s strike against Division-P. Just take a walk, or whatever ponies do when they are not working. Visit a museum, maybe? I think I remember you mentioning visiting one recently…”

I rubbed my eyes, “You want me to visit a museum? Right now?”

“Just go take the day off. Please?”

‘Jeez, Coxa never says please. He really wants me out for the day.’

“You’re not doing something stupid like planning a surprise party, are you?”

“What? No. You’re just taking this really hard, and you told us that you need to watch your emotions and make sure you don’t get too frustrated. So go and take the day off. Besides, I don’t know when your birthday is.”

I sighed, “Alright, fine. I'll try to take my mind off this, I guess.”

“That’s the spirit! Go get drunk or something. Oh! One last bit of good news, Phasma. Aprocrita, Tegmen, and Apidae all revealed themselves to their pony companions. Apidae had to… leave town, but the other two were accepted! With three interspecies relationships, we might just bring in enough love to stop harvesting from the podded ponies!”

“Wow, they really bring in that much?”

“Based on how many lings Thorax feeds with his relationship, yes. The logistics look very good for this solution that he found. It would be unfeasible if a significant portion were required to be in an interspecies relationship, after all. We would basically start dying out.”

‘That’s no small miracle. Great, now I have to find something I enjoy to spend the rest of the day doing. No videogames, but maybe I should pay Double Diamond a visit. I should find out more about his engineer family and their electronics business, or whatever it was. The sooner videogames get invented, the better.’

Princess Cadence checked that the coast was clear before returning her attention to the pegasus before her.

“Okay Nimble Hoof, you know what to do?”

The stallion nodded, “Yes, Princess. Keep Pencil Push distracted for as long as possible.”

Cadence grinned, then frowned. “I am sorry to ask this of you. Nopony should abuse their feelings for one another. And for the last time, please, call me Cadence.”

Nimble smiled, “It’s okay, Princess. To be honest, I’m just shocked Push is even interested in a guy like me…”

“Chin up, Nimble. You’re a cute stallion; any mare worth her salt would be at least interested in getting to know you better. So try to make the most of this for me, okay?”

“Okay, Princess! But, uh…” He trailed off.

“Yes?”

Nimble looked down, “Lunch or dinner?”

“Hmm,” Cadence tapped her chin, though she already knew the answer. “Lunch. It’s more casual and feels less confrontational. Push will like that more than a dinner date immediately.”

Nimble smiled again, “Thank you, Princess, for the advice and even telling me about how she feels…”

‘Such a cute smile. It makes me wish Shiny were here right now. Alas, it’s time to get to work.’

“Just keep smiling for me, Nimble? You have such a wonderful smile, it’s a shame it's not on display more often. And of course, keep her with you and distracted. If you can sneak off and find a closet–”

“Princess! We’re not high schoolers!” Nimble yelled, face and ears growing more and more red by the second.

Cadence giggled, “I know dear, I’m just teasing. Now go! I’ll send Pencil your way!”

Nimble Hoof nodded again and sauntered off down the hallway, with a spring in his step. The sight made Cadence snort softly. Then, she went down the other way, toward Lord Artful Acumen’s office.

Sitting behind her desk in front of the Lord’s office, his secretary Pencil Push was filling out a crossword puzzle on today’s paper. When she heard Cadence approaching, Push set the papers down and smiled.

“Good afternoon, Princess. I’m afraid if you’re looking for Lord Acumen, he’s out for the day.”

Cadence shook her head, “Oh no, I just bought donuts for everypony. They’re in the break room. I figured I should tell you before everypony else gets to them first.”

“Oh! Thanks for the heads up, Princess! Don’t mind if I do!” Pencil said as she left her desk and headed towards the break room.

“Enjoy!” Cadence called out after her, before turning her attention to Acumen’s door.

‘Let’s see what we’re dealing with,’ Cadence thought to herself as she scanned the ornate wooden door. She had to mentally refrain from whistling when her scan returned 11 instances of security spells layered over each other across the door.

Producing her set of lockpicks and rakes, she positioned them within the door’s keyhole. Once in place, she magically disabled the security spells over the lock and began picking it, carefully and slowly raising each tumbler.

‘You may have hired an expert to secure your office, Acumen, but I have a rather embarrassing hobby. One that Auntie Celestia found so humorous that she made me take seriously.’

With a click, the lock turned and the door cracked open.

“Yes!” Cadence whispered as she slipped inside and closed the door behind her.

‘Oh Celestia, thank you for your mandatory lock-picking lessons! I promise I will use them for good from now on! Especially since I don’t have to break into the Principal’s office anymore to change my grades.’

With only the light from the door’s window illuminating the room, Cadence had to wait a moment for her eyes to adjust to the dark office. It seemed standard enough, with a desk, chairs, filing cabinets, and of course a fully stocked minifridge, likely filled with bottles of wine or something equally bad. Cadence slinked around the room and sat down on Acumen’s chair. The drawers of his desk were locked as well. This time, with different security spells, ones that Cadence didn’t recognize and therefore couldn’t break into.

Cadence felt around the underside of the desk as she scanned the rest of the drawers. If the lock was protected, then she might just have to rip the entire drawer out to get inside. It wasn’t like her intrusion wouldn’t have been detected in some way. She always had to account for some undetectable alarm or security spell that logged access, or a clue she left behind, or the fact that she was planning on stealing reams of classified folders with no intention of replacing them.

Being honest, it was probably that last fact that would clue Acumen in on the fact that somepony had broken into his office.

Just when she was about to give up and break open the drawers, her right forehoof found a metal key, tucked up and behind a support beam on the underside of the desk. Doing a little jig in the seat, Cadence unlocked the set of drawers on the right side and began rifling through them.

‘Battle reports, no… R&D reports– definitely taking that one… personal schedule, no… bottle of whiskey, no… report from Locksdale Prison? Phasma will want that one. Missive from Daybreaker? Yoink!’

Finished with the right drawers, she moved on to the left ones.

‘Special spells against changelings? Yep, that’s coming with me. Budget reports, no longer needed… Autopsy reports? I… no, I don’t want to look at that. Last files are unlabeled.’

Cadence put the unlabeled folders on top of the desk, next to her pile that she was taking with her. She opened the first and quickly scanned through it.

‘So they did try to make explosive collars! Those no-good, rotten, horseapple eaters!’

With little time wasted, she closed the folder and put it back in the drawer she got it from, and began skimming the next.

‘Dead Hoof Protocol? Sounds important enough.’

Placing it on the to-take pile, Cadence moved onto the last folder from the drawer. Seeing that it was plans, schematics, and proofs-of-concepts for some sort of defensive enchanted necklace, she placed it back in the drawer and began covering her tracks. That being, closing the drawers, returning the key, and getting out before Pencil Push had a chance to return.

Levitating her pile of folders next to her as she made her escape, Cadence wondered what the consequences for this would be. Odds are that they would guess that she was involved, so she’d better get rid of these as soon as possible. She had already planned to hoof a few of them off to news agencies that would be very interested in learning that Division-P was evil. The rest...

‘The thestrals are loyal to Luna, right? Maybe these are better served in their hooves than anypony else’s.’

Returning the smiles and greetings of ponies that she passed by, Cadence decided to drop off the folders somewhere secret first before trying to meet the thestrals. The quicker they left view, the better

112- Dian Masalanta

A flash of orange heralded our arrival in the palace’s corridor.

“You are getting better at translation between dreams,” Luna said as she stepped away from me.

“It’s ‘cuz I’m awesome,” I said, pretending to dust off my shoulders.

Luna reached over and knocked loudly on Princess Cadence’s door. We had entered her dream to speak with her immediately, as she requested last time she spoke to Luna.

‘I hope it’s good news. But with her stated urgency, I know it can’t be good.’

Luna’s ear flicked towards the door, picking up something I couldn’t hear, “Cadence should now know of our arrival. It will take some time for her to get ready, I suspect. I have made her aware that she can simply will her looks and the world around her to suit her, yet she prefers the old fashion way. She will want to brush herself, clean, and make the bed by hoof.”

“Sounds like fun,” I rolled my eyes. “How often does she have these dreams? You know, the ones with her, her coltfriend, and a locked bedroom?”

“I would say too often, however she is the Princess of Love.”

“Yeah but you don’t dream that you’re on the moon,” I muttered.

Luna frowned, “You know very well why I do not dream of that.”

‘Shit, she wasn’t meant to hear that.’

“Yes, I, uh, sorry Luna. I didn’t mean it like that. Sorry, I’m just a bit tense right now. The battles against Division-P are starting to pick up steam. People are dying…”

Luna gave me a small nuzzle, “Let us hope that changes soon. It helps to focus on the good. Although I know you will want to comment on myself and my–” Luna dramatically whipped her mane back, “–awe inspiring presence and appearance, I would like to hear about your friends. There are so few friendly and trustworthy faces within Canterlot Castle that I would like to hear about those who are still on our side.”

I chuckled at her posing, “Just today I spent some time with Thorax and his coltfriend, Double Diamond. I brought them bad news but it’s hard to make Thorax upset, and Diamond took it in stride, I believe. With the afternoon open, Diamond took us to a gym he’s a member of to play some sports. Let’s just say that I’m not the most coordinated quadruped, and… yeah. At least Thorax ‘n Diamond got a ton of laughs out of it.”

“That sounds entertaining! Pray tell me, what is a gym?”

“A gymnasium is a large, spacious building where people go to exercise and play sports.”

“Ah! I presume the lack of open spaces in the city of Manehattan puts a premium on room to enjoy oneself?”

I shrugged, “There are parks to play sports in and run around, but the two biggest advantages of gyms are the exercise equipment they contain, and the fact that you can use the facility during any weather. I think. I’m not exactly an expert on modern amenities.”

Luna nodded slowly, “I see. I think I would enjoy a visit to the big cities. All our lives, Celestia and I have lived in distant, small villages, or large castles. Though Celestia most likely has enjoyed the comforts of Canterlot, I have not visited a city since…”

I wrapped a leg around her withers and gave her a hug, “We’ll visit Manehattan together. How’s that sound?”

“I would like that, Phasma,” Luna smiled.

“Coming, coming!” Cadence’s voice came muffled through the door.

“I’m surprised the door isn’t soundproof. Why isn’t that the case, Luna? I imagine guard duty on her door isn’t very comfortable, with that in mind.”

Luna facehoofed, “It is soundproof when the occupant desires it to be. It would be a massive security flaw otherwise; how could a Princess yell for the guards when no sound passes through?”

The door opened, and Cadence beckoned us in, still curling her hair with an iron.

‘Ponies have those? I guess magic really can outcompete most electronics… for now. I’m so investing in all that stuff.’

“You can make yourself presentable in an instant, Cadence,” Luna reminded her once again.

Cadence nodded for a moment before remembering she was in the process of curling her hair, “I know that, but I wouldn’t feel clean. You can’t just… stop being in that mindset, Luna.”

“Changing the subject,” I hurriedly said, “You had something important to tell us?”

Cadence levitated the curling iron back into the bathroom attached to her bedroom, “A lot of somethings… I went snooping around, so I should start with the fact that Daybreaker will probably know that I’m up to something. I certainly will be known to not be on friendly terms with the organization I’m supposed to be running. Past that, well you know how paranoid she is, Luna.”

Luna nodded, “It can not be understated. Did revealing your disloyalties reap benefits more than the cost?”

“I think so. I retrieved many files from Lord Acumen’s personal office. I haven’t read them all yet, so we’ll talk again once I have. But for now, I have read some distressing things. I’ve passed off most of this to the thestrals, so they can provide copies to you two if you wish to read them yourselves. First was a report from Locksdale Prison, where they are keeping the changelings. It isn’t good, but it could be worse. A little bit worse. They’re uh, they’re using ponies to feed the changelings, and they are not treating the changelings well. There have been a few deaths, but for the most part they are working to keep their captives alive. They’ve gotten a decent amount of information about the Fourth Hive apparently. Changeling loyalty matters only so much, and things change when it's their necks on the line. Most are loyal, but there are enough leaks to break the dam.”

I snorted, “Ain’t that the truth.”

Luna and Cadence looked at me with a puzzled look, but Cadence continued, “There was also some schematics. I couldn’t make heads or tails of it so you’ll have to wait on the Vallachians to break it down for us. It seemed at a glance to be some sort of necklace that protected the user.”

“Learning our enemies’ capabilities is always helpful,” Luna said.

“I’ll keep an eye out for these myself and see if we can learn about them out in the field,” I added.

Cadence continued, “There were also schematics for an explosive version of the collar. Turns out they did try to make it, but it was deemed unfeasible and unnecessary. At least, that’s what the closing notes say.”

‘Figures. They tried to be horrible pieces of shit, but the day was saved by fucking budget constraints.’

“... There were also some spells being developed to be used against changelings. Again, I’m no expert, so you’ll have to wait to hear what comes of that. There was also a missive directly from Daybreaker herself.”

Luna leaned towards her, “What did the Nightmare say?”

Cadence gulped, “The Division apparently took a photo of you in Vallachia.”

“Oh fuck,” I cursed.

“And, they are trying to hunt you down. I think it was implied that this whole fight against Division-P is to discover your location.”

“Oh fuck,” I cursed, a bit louder.

“And it was stressed to bring you in alive,,” Cadence finished.

“Oh fuck!” I yelled.

‘No no no no no! Not this alive shit again! Now another demi-goddess wants to turn me into a living popsicle! I just know it!’

“–down, okay Phasma? There you go. Just breathe. Like that, in and out. You’re okay, Phasma.”

I realized that Luna was not only talking, but that I was suddenly sitting down. Unconsciously, I was following her orders and trying to breathe deeply.

‘She must have realized that I’m having a panic attack– oh Panar I’m having a panic attack! Damnit, why can’t people just stick with trying to kill me! That’s bad, but far better than ascending or whatever Daybreaker has planned! Probably some Nightmare possession stuff again, or, or...’

I blinked and realized that I was staring Luna in the eyes. She was pressed up to me, nose to nose.

“There you are, Phasma. When I said to watch your anger, I did not mean to replace it with fear.”

I was at a loss for words, “I… I… uh, hi Luna?”

Luna giggled, “Hello, Phasma.”

Which in turn caused me to chuckle, “Heh, did I ever tell you that hearing you laugh is the highlight of my day? Er, night? It’s probably the closest thing to the taste of love there is…”

“Did I ever tell you that your nervousness is so adorable? The way you glance about when I cuddle up to you– I know you would be blushing if you could, or how you are a big tough looking stallion, but actually you’re just a big softie?”

“Wuh– buh– tch! I’m not a softie!”

Luna started chuckling again, but was interrupted by a loud gasp. We turned and saw Cadence with her jaw dropped.

She slowly backpedaled, “Wait a minute! Hold just a second! Time out! YOU TWO ARE IN LOVE?!”

‘She didn’t know?’

I looked to Luna for answers, but she looked just as confused as I was.

“I thought you told her,” Luna whispered.

“Me? You see her every day in the palace!”

“You told her your new life’s story! Did I not come up–”

“Of course you did! I just, uh, f–focused on other things…”

“What does that mean?!”

“It means I had to cut details out for brevity’s sake– and how the hell did the Princess of Love not figure it out?! It’s not like we never hugged, held hooves, or said we love each other, or…. did anything in front of her. Oh fuck, did we do none of those things?”

Both our heads snapped to Cadence, who had suddenly summoned a chalkboard wall, with a table full of clutter in front of it. She gripped one of the small sides of it and dramatically flipped it away with a loud, echoing crash. Then, picking up six different pieces of chalk, she quickly filled out the entire chalkboard wall with notation.

Luna and I shared a worried look. We had clung to each other, both out of surprise at the sudden crash and out of the need for protection.

“This changes EVERYTHING!” Cadence yelled, mid-scribbling.

I whispered, “Luna. If she kills me, then know that I’m sorry that I ever let this misunderstanding happen. If the Princess of Love didn’t know that we were together, then clearly I wasn’t doing a good job of, uh, doting on you.”

“OF COURSE Luna constantly defends Phasma’s actions! She’s too close to him to have an unbiased opinion on his problems! That’s why she couldn’t understand the hypocrisy!” Cadence yelled out, now moving to another wall. It wasn’t even made of chalkboard, just marble and plaster.

Luna whispered back, “Phasma. It is equally my fault. I should have told my niece about something so important, especially as it relates to her domain. I just figured that you told her. Her silence on the subject should have tipped me off that all was not right, but I believe we are all quite worn out and distracted these days. And our professional distance during our meetings with her must also equally be my fault, by their nature.”

I shifted uncomfortably in her grip, “Yeah but I’m the one who told her about our interactions. Granted, Cadence and I talked before you and I started hanging out a lot, but still…”

Suddenly, my vision went Pink with a capital P.

“You never told me, Phasma!”

‘Oh Panar, this is how I really die! Unless–’

I shifted and held Luna out between us.

“Take her instead! I’m too young to die again!”

Cadence paused, “Y–”

I pulled Luna back in close to me, “Okay but don’t actually do that. She’s my golden ticket out of being hung at the pony Hague.”

Luna deadpanned, “Is that all I am to you?”

“No, don’t discredit yourself. You’re also my future meal ticket. A two-for-one deal.”

Luna and I tried to maintain straight faces, but I broke first. I started laughing until I was picked up by Cadence’s magic and torn from Luna’s grip.

Cadence made me face her, like she was grabbing me by the scruff of my neck, “I am blaming you for this, Phasma, since you were the one who told me about your history with her. Now, Start from the beginning again, and this time focus on Luna. I want to– no, I need to know everything about you and her. Luna, stay here and give me your point of view when you see fit. And do not think for a moment that you will be getting away from this scot-free!”

I tried to protest, “Uh, isn’t there more you need to tell us about–”

Cadence dropped me onto my haunches and sat down in front of me.

“No.”

I flinched, “A–alright then. You promise you’re not going to hurt me?”

“Why would I– yes! Of course! I’m not going to hurt you, Phasma.” The anger slowly seeped out of Cadence, fatigue replacing she-hulk-ness, “Look, I somehow missed it too. So really, it’s all three of our faults. Mostly you two, though. I am elated– no, beyond the moon, all puns intended– that you two are together. I really do think you are good for each other. Both taken from your old worlds like fish out of water, both probably really messed up in the head but find solace in each other’s company, both insufferably DENSE AT TIMES! But! I can be calm, I just need to know everything!”

Cadence leaned uncomfortably close towards me. I glanced at Luna, hoping for support, but she was acting like we never knew each other.

“Traitor,” I cursed under my breath. “Okay. I better start from the important part. So no shit, there I was, speaking with Nightmare Moon just a day before I basically consigned the entire pony race to near-extinction…”

Author's Note

I have a Ko-Fi if you want to support me

113- Kane-huna-moku

King Phasmatodea was speaking. Patella was listening, but not paying attention. Sure, she probably should be, but it became quickly apparent that she just couldn’t appreciate his speech. All the same, she was mentally writing down the important bits in her mind.

Mostly, she was just fascinated with both the King’s appearance and the occult themes that ran through the collective funeral being held. As an Infiltrator, she had visited faraway lands that had similar practices. Several Ram conclaves for example had the brutal practice of sky burials. A reclusive Zebra tribe painted their fallen in magnificent gold paint, like they were fallen angels or gods.

Then there was King Phasma. The alicorn-tier being was throwing himself into the ritual; waving his hooves, gesturing dramatically, and all around seemingly being as involved as possible with this ceremony–

‘Oh, he just cut himself with a knife.’

Patella had never been to a funeral like this. As an Infiltrator, she was separated from the rest of her peers early on, with Her Highness picking her out for her skills while still in education. The royal attention had been greatly beneficial to her growth as an operator, however it left her feeling somewhat detached from everyone around her.

Even now, she watched the changelings all gathered in this warehouse by the docks. There were one hundred and sixty-three changelings in this building alone. That was a staggering number, one that Patella had not expected. She also knew that King Phasma’s Hive was bigger than this, too. The gathered changelings watched the King with unmatched reverence. Even the most boot-licking Equestrian nobles did not pay this unmatched level of attention to Princess Celestia when she spoke.

The crowd chanted something, prompting Patella to mumble along. Then, they began turning away from the center of the room where the tall changeling was presiding over the closed wooden caskets. Patella turned and left the building with the crowd, though in truth she did not want to leave. She wanted to get a closer look at King Phasma. She had not seen him until today, and seeing a being that powerful in person was an awfully rare event, even in her line of work. Especially in her line of work.

The changelings all took disguises before leaving, and so Patella did too. She decided to change into a dark brown unicorn with a black, curly mane. The Cutie Mark was not important, so she just decided to make it a wooden box. Judging from the changelings around her, even that detailed of a Mark was going above and beyond.

‘How do any of these bozos not get discovered by the Royal Guards? Are the Guards just that incompetent?’

Unfortunately, Patella knew from experience that the answer to that question was frequently yes.

But Patella did not come here to Manehattan, to King Phasma’s Fifth Hive to gawk at drones and observe rituals she had never been a part of before. She had a job to do, and she intended to do it. After eavesdropping on a few conversations of the egressing changelings, she picked out a particular group of them to follow to the Hive’s headquarters. According to her coworkers, it was an office building up in The Heights. It was apparently one of many in a quickly growing network that redefined the ancient structure of a Hive. The changelings she had eavesdropped on were headed to just such a location, ergo they had to be headed to the nerve center of the Fifth Hive.

As she trotted behind them at a distance, Patella gave silent thanks to her coworkers. The competent old guard, that is. Unlike the bloodthirsty greenies, her old comrades had managed to connect the sudden wealth influx to unsavory individuals in Southern Equestria to a company that didn’t exist save for on paper. That company, named M&M Enterprises, or ‘The Syndicate’ as its less reputable ‘employees’ referred to it, was owned by an earth pony named Natural North. Tracing Natural North to Manehattan was easy enough. Looking at the information on the paperwork filed for the founding of the company solved that. Finding him inside the metropolis was the real needle-in-the-haystack situation. No property was owned by him. Navigating his network of owned companies and their supposed locations was a Sisyphean task; many companies had fake addresses, and the ones that had real addresses were to locations not actually owned by him. It was a dead end.

Which is where Patella had entered the equation. It had taken all her skills, a few bribes, and more than one lucky break to learn of the Fifth Hive’s location. A warehouse owned by Butcher Cassidy, a sudden monopolist that coincided with Natural North’s rise, had purchased several properties in the past week in one of Manehattan’s dock districts. The official documentation was misfiled and nearly destroyed, but her fellow Infiltrators had rescued it from the shredders before that happened. To summarize, it was a stretch, but that was all she and her comrades had. This was the third warehouse that Patella investigated today, and today it was filled with the majority of the changelings in the entire city. The deadline for finding the Fifth Hive had been fast approaching, but here she was at last.

Now across several neighborhoods, she and the party she was tailing had come to its destination; the six story office building that served as the Fifth Hive’s core had no company label out in front. Patella opened the front door with a green hued magic and clip-clopped her way inside. The security inside was noticeably on-edge. She nodded to the security guards, four unicorns in white and brown security uniforms and stationed behind desks or near doors, and made for the elevator. She passed them without fuss, and they continued glaring at their respective walls or desks. Stepping inside the elevator, she saw that there was another changeling inside, this one disguised as a black pegasus.

“Floor?” He asked, standing by the button panels.

“Six, please.”

The fake stallion nodded, pressed the button with a wing, then stood back. The two stood silently, which Patella was thankful for. She didn’t exactly know what commonplace conversation topic could tip her hoof and reveal that she’s no ordinary drone, so avoiding small talk as much as possible was preferable for this operation.

The elevator stopped at the fourth floor, and the other changeling left the elevator. Two more changelings got on, much to Patella’s hidden annoyance. These two, a white earth pony and a white pegasus, chatted with each other as the elevator went up.

Tuning them out, Patella reminded herself of the goal. She needed to find the changeling named Coxa, and discover where they were keeping the podded ponies. And of course, escape without being caught.

The elevator chimed and the two changelings stepped off, heading towards a pair of double doors at the end, which were unlabeled. If Patella was a gambler, which she was not, she would bet that the office belonged to King Phasma. She looked around and saw a secretary changeling disguised as a unicorn, looking over some notes before her on a low desk.

“Excuse me, I am looking for Coxa,” Patella spoke up, drawing the changeling’s attention away from their paperwork.

“Down the hall, last one on the right,” the changeling replied before returning to their work.

Down the hall she went, knocking on the frosted glass window that took up a third of the door.

“The door is open,” came a reply from inside the room.

Patella opened the door, revealing a somewhat large office, piled high with assorted stacks of papers. What filing cabinets the room possessed had many of their drawers pulled open as folders were retrieved and stored by a small team of four changelings. One changeling sat behind a large desk, clearly the leader. None of them had a disguise on.

“What?” The lead changeling asked, muzzle buried in a large ledger.

“I’m looking for Coxa.”

“Speaking. And you can drop the disguise, this building follows the Closed Room policy,” He muttered.

Patella dropped her disguise, “I was told you were the one to go to get access to the podded ponies.”

The changeling looked up from his oversized book, “Yes. Who are you?”

“I am Patella.”

He scoffed, “That’s helpful. I meant what department are you in? Why do you need access?”

Falling back on her created cover story, Patella began lying, “I was stationed in Baltimare. One of the Division-P operatives captured there might have acquired extensive knowledge of our network. Good news is that he was captured. Bad news is that he had a backup of the intel. We need to find it before it gets picked up. Meaning, I need to ask him a few questions. Painful questions.”

Coxa cursed under his breath before asking, “What is the pony’s name?”

Patella shrugged, “I don’t know. I know what he looks like, though.”

“Damnit. Alright, come with me, I better see this through myself,” Coxa said, rising from his bureaucratic throne.

‘Yes! We’re in. I would have preferred it if he didn’t come, but this will work nonetheless.’

When she turned away to open the door again, it was opened before she could reach out a hoof to pull it. Three changelings were out in the hallway, and one leaned in. The two in the hallway were the disguised ones that had entered the King’s office a bit ago. The third changeling was a blue unicorn with a black mane and a fancy letter ‘u’ symbol Cutie Mark.

‘Is that King Phasma’s disguise?’

“Hey Coxa, the boys and I are going to see the speakeasy’s opening debut. You coming?” The changeling asked, looking over Patella’s shoulder.

“No, I’ve got important business to attend to. Some inq– ah, you know what, nevermind. A big problem came up, but I’ll get it fixed before shit hits the fan. You three have fun, I’ll pop in later tonight. And remember, always practice safe sex and use protection!”

The blue unicorn scowled, “We’re not going to have a threesome, Coxa. Not without you in the middle, you ugly bastard.”

‘Okay, definitely not a king, so just one of Coxa’s buddies.’

“All I hear is lies, lies, and more lies. Now get! I actually need to hurry,” Coxa said, stopping beside Patella.

Unfortunately, the changeling in the doorway frowned and looked between her and Coxa.

“... The curiosity will eat at me all night. What happened, Coxa?”

Coxa sighed, “An Inquisitor is apparently trying to screw us, even while podded up. Paterna here–”

“Patella,” she corrected him.

“– is going to point out the bastard so we can get information.”

The unicorn’s frown deepened, “Sounds like I should come and help.”

“If you really feel the need to, I won’t argue. It shouldn’t take long, you can just do the prep work and make things easier,” Coxa said.

‘No! I need as few changelings with me as possible. I need to dissuade this changeling before he decides to come along.’

“That’s not necessary,” She said, waving a hoof dismissively. “We have this under control. We don’t need any outside help.”

The unicorn raised an eyebrow and looked Patella over.

“This is Patella,” Coxa introduced her.

“I didn’t ask you, Coxa,” the unicorn said tersely.

‘What does that mean?’

The unicorn shifted his posture to fully face Patella. What started as a frown progressed into a full on glare and scowl.

“Ahem,” he cleared his throat, but did not speak further.

Patella realized from the lack of sound behind her that the rest of the changelings had stopped working and were watching them all.

‘Uh oh. Whatever is going on, isn’t good.’

“What?” She asked.

“Yeah, what indeed,” the unicorn changeling murmured.

‘Crickets, he’s onto me?!’

Before she could act, the changeling’s horn lit up in an orange hue, and she was pushed to the floor, prone. She struggled against his grip, but couldn’t move. Normally such a feat was impossible to achieve for a unicorn, and all information available showed that changelings rarely go beyond a unicorn’s level of power. Which meant–

“I asked your name, and you didn’t answer,” the disguised King said angrily. “I ordered you to bow, and you ignored me. I knew something was off the moment you didn’t bow before me like damn near every other changeling I meet. You’re not a drone of mine. Who are you, and how did you get here?”

‘This is bad! Time for Plan C!’

Giving up on trying to struggle free, Patella went limp.

“I… I am an Infiltrator of the Fourth Hive–” Patella began, a moment before realizing that Plan C would fail immediately for the same reason that Plan A failed.

King Phasma threw off his disguise and stepped close to Patella, “No, you are not. If you were an Infiltrator, you would hear my commands through the Weave. You’re no changeling at all. Who are you, pony? How did you get here? How did you find us? And most importantly, how have you disguised yourself and your emotions?”

‘Oh crackers, this is bad!’

“I… uh….” Patella stalled as she tried to think of escape plans.

“We can do this the easy way, where you talk, or the hard way, where I make you talk. Either way, you talk, see? I would recommend the first option, as that one carries no risk of turning you into a vegetable. Not the edible kind, might I add. If you want to avoid brain damage, you will answer my questions.”

“Okay, okay! I’ll talk!” Patella said, afraid.

She had been briefed on the King. He had used mind control in the past, and would absolutely do it again. All her training on resisting torture and interrogation techniques were pointless when you faced an alicorn-tier being that could simply magically command you to tell the truth. There was no way she was getting out of this, so she might as well do it as painlessly as possible.

“I am not a changeling,” she admitted. “I am an Inquisitor Sweetie Drops of Division-P.” King Phasma smiled in satisfaction, but motioned for her to continue. “I am here to investigate you, King Phasma. Leads pointed to that warehouse where you held the ceremony to being owned by someone associated with your network. I was sent to find out if we could confirm this, and if so, also find the location of the podded ponies you are keeping.”

“Ah. Well, we suspected this would happen. Coxa, get ready to move the Hive to the fallback location. Inquisitor Sweetie Drops, I believe you were about to tell me how you are hiding your emotions? Oh, and Thorax and Diamond, you might as well go on without me. I’ll catch up later with Coxa.”

The changelings behind him nodded and closed the door, leaving the King in the crowded office.

“Go on, pony,” he ordered Sweetie Drops.

“I... I’m wearing a necklace that masks my–”

“The necklaces! Of course!” The King cheered. “That’s what those schematics were for! It must be invisible while wearing it, right?”

‘He got the schematics for the Disguise Matrices?’

Sweetie blinked in surprise, “Uh… yes, King Phasma. It is. It is also how I can use different disguises.”

The King nodded, “That makes sense. Must be one hell of a complicated spell. Remove it. Now.”

Sweetie briefly struggled in his grip, “I can’t with you holding me.”

The grip laxened around her right foreleg, so she used it to fish the necklace off of her, scooping it up from underneath it. Pulling the invisible charm up off her neck and over her head, her changeling disguise vanished with a silent shimmer when the spell failed. The charm, a large green circle covered in etchings, was picked up out of her hoof by King Phasma.

“Adamantium, of course. No other metal could fit such complex enchantments… But where did you get the metal? Last I checked, it’s damn near impossible to find in Equestria.”

He looked down at Sweetie.

“Your peytral, King Phasma. It was melted down– actually, it was carved up. They couldn’t find a way to melt the metal, so it had to be carefully taken apart, piece by piece, to use for the necklaces.”

The King’s smile disappeared, “My peytral? Those bastards, I wanted that back! Ah well, at least I have a much better replacement. So, judging by the size of this thing there’s… hundreds of these necklaces out there?”

Sweetie shook her head, “No. Most of the metal is in storage, or used in other experiments. The R&D department is completely fascinated with that miracle metal of yours.”

“That sucks, Phasma. Looks like no shiny jewelry for you,” Coxa said from behind Sweetie and out of her view.

King Phasma chuckled, “Can’t have shit in Canterlot… You know Inquisitor Sweetie, you’re the first pony to actually talk. Why is that?”

‘No one else has talked? Do those idiots not know the damage that mind control can do?’

Sweetie Drops realized that she didn’t answer his question, “Uh… p–probably because you’ve only run into the fresh Inquisitors? T–they’re more zealous and bloodthirsty than the rest of us.”

“Us?” He asked, confused.

With no reason to start lying and every reason to avoid his anger, Sweetie explained, “Former Special Agents from the now defunct S.M.I.L.E. Division. We were Princess Daybreaker’s eyes and ears, a–and hooves if necessary. But Princess Daybreaker had a change of heart after the invasion– even changed her name, and decided to expand our numbers. The new mares just don’t have the experience, self-awareness, control, or common sense necessary to cut it as an operative…”

‘And we know when the jig is up.’

“Celestia’s intelligence organization, eh? That’s… interesting. Tell me, Former Special Agent Sweetie Drops, did you enjoy your time under Princess Celestia? Do you… prefer her over Princess Daybreaker?”

‘What is he…’

“... Are you suggesting that Princess Daybreaker isn’t Princess Celestia?”

‘It’s changeling propaganda. But it does make so much sense… Then again, only bad propaganda doesn’t make sense. Cripes, this is so confusing.’

King Phasma smiled, “That is exactly what I am suggesting. Do you prefer Celestia over Daybreaker?”

“I mean, yes? I think?”

‘Just tell me the right answer, will you?! I’d rather not become a statistic!’

“Interesting… and if given the chance, would you work to bring her back?”

“Bring her back?” Sweetie echoed.

“Would you work with Princess Luna and Princess Cadence to bring Celestia back to Equestria, and to help sabotage Division-P from within?”

“The Princessess? I… I am a trained agent loyal to Equestria. I will not and can not take foreign tyrants– rulers, foreign rulers, at their word.”

King Phasma leaned in close, “What if Princess Luna told you this herself?”

‘What if she did? I don’t know much about her, save that Princess Celestia was extremely focused on her return. So much so that practically everything else seemed to not matter to the Princess… If Celestia cared that much about her sister, then surely her sister is trustworthy? If Princess Luna tells me that Princess Daybreaker isn’t Princess Celestia, then things would be different, right? If she’s at the palace all day, then no changeling agents would be able to use mind control on her, so she must be sound of mind. They would know each other best.’

“If Princess Luna says so, then it must be true. I thought the war had hurt Princess Celestia, and this is how she reacted to that pain, but if she wasn’t actually the Princess….” Sweetie trailed off, pursuing the tangent in her own thoughts.

‘Changelings across the battlelines working to save Equestria? Stranger things have happened, but only in legend. But Harmony setting this King’s course on the path to save Equestria, after he once tried– and nearly succeeded– to destroy it, certainly sounds like the Harmony Princess Celestia spoke of. I will have to determine whether or not this message from Princess Luna is real. If it isn’t, then it’s just another changeling trick. If it is...’

“Coxa!” King Phasma barked, pulling her thoughts out of the clouds. “Arrange for Inquisitor Sweetie Drops to stay in a room within a habitation building, under constant guard. We may have another ally within Division-P now. And potentially more, if she can convince her fellow former agents…?”

‘Convince them? If it’s to save Princess Celestia, I think that’s possible. But again, that is only if he’s telling the truth.’

“Coxa do this, Coxa do that…” a sarcastic tone from Coxa mocked King Phasma, the changeling still out of view.

“Considering none of us like the current state of affairs, that’s p–possible,” Sweetie said as neutrally as possible. Making false promises would potentially be a death sentence..

“Well then! It’s settled, you will meet my better half tonight.”

‘Better half? Isn’t that supposed to mean wife?’

Author's Note

I have a Ko-Fi if you want to support me

114- Semyorka

“Ah, Canterlot, summer of One-Thousand. Good times, good times,” I cheerfully said when I realized what Sweetie Drops was dreaming of.

Around Luna and I, the capital of Equestria was burning.

“Your macabre sense of humor will be the talk of the town, Phasma. You should show it off to the nobles. They would love it,” Luna replied drolly. “Before I forget: Cadence needs to speak with us again.”

“Alright well let’s find this earth pony, shatter her world view, then quickly move onto Cadence’s dream.”

Luna pointed ahead, where a cream colored pony was lying on her side in the rubble-strewn avenue. She was looking up at a six story office building, whose burning inferno gave the entire block a red and orange color palette. Even a hundred hooves lengths away, I could feel the fire’s heat.

We approached as Inquisitor Sweetie Drops was scooting away from the fire, casting a fearful glance around the street. When her eyes picked up our approach, a look of confusion fell onto her face, before her expression turned to a neutral one.

‘Well, not quite neutral. Even without my empath senses, I can tell she’s not exactly happy with me. Now the smart thing to do would be to be apologetic and diplomatic about this.’

“I see you’re a fan of my work,” I said with a smile as we stopped before her.

“Yes, dig yourself further,” Luna muttered too quietly for Sweetie Drops to hear.

Sweetie Drops’ eyes narrowed as she picked herself up off the ground. Briefly dusting herself off, she strode towards me.

“I wasn’t even in Canterlot that day. Not until you had left and there was nothing left but fires to put out and retreating changelings to fight. You caused such havoc that… nevermind,” she said suddenly, as if remembering something.

“Hello, my little pony,” Luna said, stepping forward.

“Princess Luna,” Sweetie Drops bowed but did not take her eyes off the Princess.

“You are skeptical of my authenticity. A healthy and smart worry. Discard your fears and suspicions, for we have come to you in the Dreamscape, as part of my duties to shepherd the kingdom beneath the moon. I am Princess Luna, protector of dreams.”

“... I need something more than appearances and a confusing speech to ‘authenticate’ your person, Princess Luna.”

Luna gestured to herself, “There are none others alive who can move between dreams like I. My mere presence alone is testament to my credentials.”

At that, Sweetie just glanced at me before returning her stare to Luna.

“He’s here. Further, I could be under powerful hallucinogens. I’m sorry Princess, if you’re the Princess, but I need something more.”

“Very well. What do you suggest, Inquisitor Sweetie Drops?”

The small pony’s muzzle scrunched up as she thought hard.

“A question,” Sweetie said slowly. “Yes. A question. You have to answer something that… something that only someone close to Princess Celestia would know, Your Highness.”

Luna stiffened, “... It has been an entire era since I last spent time with my sister.”

“Princess Celestia has a scar,” Sweetie nodded to herself and pointed to her right foreleg’s shoulder, “Right here. Describe it.”

Luna snorted softly, “Shallow. Shaped like a corner, with one long side. Near invisible under her fur. You’re going to have to ask something more personal than that if you wish to confirm my identity.”

Sweetie leaned forward, “Ah, but how did she get it?”

Luna laughed, “Ha! Celestia says that she got it from wrestling an elder drake that scorched the Grain Coast, that she got it in the battle of Four Summers itself. In truth, we were thirteen winters old when she received the wound that scarred up; she spilled tea on herself one afternoon, and in a fit of panic, ran into a bookcase.”

Sweetie Drops bowed, deeper and more reverent this time, “It is an honor to meet you, Princess Luna.”

“Arise, Sweetie Drops. Though I am curious, that is not a tale she parts with easily. What happenstance led to you discovering the truth?”

“Five years ago, Princess Celestia decided to pass that year’s Grand Galloping Gala by switching her usual drink of choice of black tea mixed with rum to a Long Island Iced Tea. She had just heard of the new drink from Manehattan, and made the switch without informing anyone. So no one had the chance to tell her that her new drink wasn’t quite tea and was instead more closer to pure ethanol. By the time the Gala was over, Princess Celestia was not her usual graceful self. Loose lips sink ships, and more interestingly spill secrets that no one knew for hundreds of years. Afterwards, all the staff who were around her and attending her had to be sworn to secrecy...”

“Oh ho hooo!” Luna laughed, “You must tell me more! I desire to hear all of these secrets she has spilled! I am certain she has accumulated more in my absence!”

“Another time, perhaps,” I interrupted the two mares. “We’re here on business and on a tight schedule. You aren’t the only pony we’re visiting tonight.”

“Who else are you visiting?” Sweetie asked, curious.

“Princess Cadence,” I answered. “Now, Luna here testifies that everything I said was true. Princess Daybreaker is not Princess Celestia, and is instead her counterpart to Nightmare Moon. No, I will not explain further, that takes time. The important thing is that you can split Division-P in half. That will save lives, Sweetie Drops. Lives. Can you do it for us?”

Sweetie grimaced, “That may or may not have been me just trying to not get mind controlled. There’s a chance, but I don’t know. I’m just one pony. And all of this, this Daybreaker or Celestia stuff… I’m still struggling a bit to come to terms with the fact that you aren’t, you know, soul-sucking evil. Perhaps I should have listened to that changeling after all…”

“That one changeling?” I asked.

“There was a changeling in Locksdale Prison, where we keep the changelings in Canterlot Castle, who was adamant that you had to have survived your supposed death. Princess Daybreaker must’ve decided to believe her, as she began her search for you after reading the interrogation report. The changeling was also insistent that you were… good.”

I rolled my eyes, “I’ll have to give my thanks to this good samaritan in person, then. It was very nice of them to sic Division-P and a possessed alicorn after me.”

“Possessed? Princess Dayb– Celestia is possessed?”

“Yes, yes, not important. You’ll all learn about that later. We’ve gone off topic; I am in desperate need of any way to sabotage Division-P, since Cadence has taken herself off of the field and Luna is busy with other tasks.”

Sweetie nodded, “I’ll do what I can, King Phasma and Princess Luna.”

I got a feeling that her acceptance towards the developing situation and readiness to help was more directed to Princess Luna than myself. Call it… common sense.

“That is all we can ask, Sweetie Drops. Thank you for believing in us, and for believing in a better Equestria,” Luna said, drawing a smile from Sweetie.

“Though I have to ask, Your Highness, what about the whole burning Equestria thing?” Sweetie asked, pointing to the burning building behind her.

Luna looked at me while she spoke, “Phasma is trying his best to right his wrongs and help us all out. Just as well, he was not quite as free to walk his own path as you might think. He might have plotted the invasion of Equestria, organized the changeling army, trained it in new, effective tactics, plotted for the end of Equestrian civilization–” I cleared my throat loudly, “–but the decision was made for him. Nothing less than absolute loyalty was demanded from him, and still he tried to find alternative methods, however suspect and tenuous they may be. And now he seeks to bring light back to Equestria. You know, just like myself.”

“So he– so you just get away with doing all of this?” Sweetie asked, glaring at me.

Luna stepped in before I could argue, “ If you judge Phasma, then you must judge me equally, for I have even more blood on my hooves. There will be a thorough account for all of his actions once we can safely worry about such things. For now, accept his help and let us save Equestria together. For my sister, if nothing else.”

Sweetie thought about this for a few moments before answering, “Okay, Princess. I won’t let you down.”

“We must leave now. Step close to me, Phasma. I shall take us to see Cadence. Farewell Sweetie Drops, may our paths cross again soon.”

Sweetie bowed once more, but her final words were directed towards myself, not her princess.

“You know, King Phasma, I just remembered something from that changeling’s interrogation report.”

“Which is?”

“She claimed to know you personally.”

I blinked, “What was her name?”

“Her name is Lacewing.”

Luna took my stunned silence as the conversation being over, and took us away from Inquisitor Sweetie Drop’s dream.

“No!” I yelled at a hedge. Spinning on my hooves, I grabbed and shook Luna, “Take us back! Right now!”

Luna pushed me away, and I fell on my flanks. We had arrived in Cadence’s dream, the same garden that she had dreamt of a while back.

“Calm yourself, Phasma. You can speak with her in the waking world, correct? We must see Cadence now.”

“Lacewing is alive, Luna! Alive! She’s alive!” I shook my hooves at her.

“Is this important?”

“Yes! Yes, Luna, yes! She was a member of the First Fang– is a member. I held a fucking funeral for her, Luna! We have to go back!” I begged.

“You need to stay here and listen to what I have to say,” Cadence said, standing behind us.

“Whatever you have can wait–”

“No, it can’t. Phasma, I’ve finished reading the last of the material I stole.”

I rose to all fours, “I just got word that someone I care about as a close friend is no longer dead, Cadence. I need to–”

“Stay here,” she ordered in a tone that brooked no argument.

Still, I argued, “I’m sorry Cadence, but–”

“Your changelings’ lives are in extreme risk right now. If the plan at the Gala goes ahead, hundreds will die.”

“Wh…” I panted.

‘It’s just bombshell after bombshell today.’

“The last file,” Cadence began, “is on a protocol titled The Dead Hoof Protocol.”

“Oh no,” I gasped.

“Do you know of it?” Luna asked.

“The Dead Hand Protocol. I know what it means. What are they going to do, Cadence?”

“Locksdale Prison will be purged. The file I read was a report on the methods of doing so. All failed or rejected methods, with the final decision being to... to execute all the changelings held in the prison via unicorn squads,” Cadence said, her voice shaky and threatening to break. “But it never listed when, only that it had something to do with Princess Daybreaker.”

“The Dead Hand Protocol,” I explained, “was the final fallback contingency to destroy the world, should the protocol’s government fall. Division-P could be planning in case of Equestria’s fall, but with our luck and its mention of Daybreaker…”

“They plan on killing all the changelings if Daybreaker is killed,” Cadence finished. “But how did you know already? And what's this about hands?”

I ignored her, “We can’t let that happen. Lacewing is alive, and so is everyling else they’re holding in there. We can’t let them execute that protocol.”

Luna asked, “The Grand Galloping Gala is in six days, Phasma. What are we going to do?”

“I need… I need to think! Give me a moment!” I said, going from trotting in place to pacing back and forth.

“Six days,” Luna repeated. “All of our plans are set in stone. We cannot dedicate any thestrals to going up against Division-P.”

“Locksdale Prison is in Canterlot Castle’s dungeon, right?” I asked. Cadence nodded so I continued, “so then… so then… that’s the same place that the Gala is being held, right? Okay… okay. A direct attack to engage the enemy, and an indirect attack to win,” I whispered to myself. “Cadence! Luna! I need God-Splitter, my Adamantium hammer, to be present at the Grand Galloping Gala!”

“It already is,” Luna said, “since Daybreaker loves her trophies being displayed and admired. What are you going to do?”

I explained as I paced, “The only thing I can do. My changelings will attack Locksdale Prison in the greatest jailbreak in history. But they wouldn’t win in a full frontal assault. Nor do we have enough time for an infiltration operation. They will need a distraction to pull away most of Division-P’s attention. That is where I come in.”

I spun on my hooves, and faced the two alicorns, “I will attend the Grand Galloping Gala undisguised.”

“What?!” Cadence yelled.

“Phasma, we have one shot at taking down Daybreaker,” Luna said. “One shot. Your presence would threaten the entirety of the whole operation. As much as I would love to see you again as soon as possible, I do not wish everything we have worked for to be thrown away in fear.”

“We don’t have a choice, Luna. I am not letting my people die. I’m coming to the Gala. There is no other option to distract Division-P. Unless I am there at Canterlot Castle, they will only dispatch a token force to try to take me down. I need to be there, present at the Castle, threatening Daybreaker herself in order to get their full attention.”

Luna facehooved, “And just how do you expect to take on Daybreaker, the best trained squads the Royal Guard has to offer, and the entirety of Division-P on by yourself? Because need I remind you, we have to focus on taking down Daybreaker, which means the thestrals and I need to either stay on the sidelines, or Harmony forbid, fight you.”

“I’ll figure it out. You meanwhile need to adjust your plans to take down Daybreaker while she’s distracted with me.”

“You think she won’t see through that ploy immediately? The moment anypony so much as sneezes strangely while she’s staring you down, it is over.”

I snarled, “Figure it out, Luna! Leave the Guards and the Division to me, and you figure out your Element bullshit.”

“This is our one chance, Phasma!”

“Do you have any other plans?!”

Luna hesitated.

“No, you don’t. No plan survives contact with the enemy. You know this, Luna.”

“There’s so many problems with this scheme of yours, though. Just how do you plan on getting the entirety of your Hive into Canterlot?”

“Easy. We are already in Canterlot.”

“What?” The Princesses said in stereo.

“I’m in Manehattan at the moment, but I ordered Coxa to begin bringing the Fifth Hive out of Manehattan and into its designated fallback point. In the short time we’ve had, we’ve only managed to find one spot in all of Equestria that is defensible, reclusive, unoccupied, and cheap to acquire.”

“The Crystal Caves,” Cadence gasped.

“The top layers and entrances were mapped, sealed off, and patrolled where needed, however there are miles upon miles of the cave left untouched. Couple that with the fact that a few changelings in the Fifth Hive were from the Underhive Scarabs Legion, and suddenly we have prime real estate in Canterlot. No scrying spell can penetrate the crystals and avoiding your patrols is far easier than you might think. The Underhive Scarabs were chosen for their expertise, and are at home in the tunnels beneath our hooves.”

“Your fallback point was to hide right underneath Division-P’s noses…” Cadence said in awe.

“The last place they would think, after they checked it several times. The Royal Guard might be able to spot a swarm of changelings approaching from any angle outside of Canterlot, and with many of the exits sealed they might think that they are safe, but we can both unseal the tunnels and scale the mountain itself, right below their line of sight. There’s no guarantee that it would work, but we’re well past guarantees. I’ll set my changelings to digging into Locksdale Prison as soon as possible. Meanwhile, I’ll think of ways to deal with the ponies who will dog-pile me the moment I show my face.”

“Is there no other way of saving your people?” Luna asked, desperate to not lose her one chance at seeing her sister again.

I shook my head, “No. A Dead Hand Protocol would mean their deaths the moment Daybreaker is gone, I’m sure of it. We have to throw everything we have at her at the Gala. One way or the other, we won’t be getting a second chance. It’s all or nothing. We can’t even afford a prolonged battle with her, for the Nightmares are rising. A conflict with Daybreaker would mean losing valuable time, lives, and resources needed to fight them, whenever they are coming. By dawn the next day, Equus’s fate will be decided. Either Daybreaker is purged and we have a chance, or… you both understand what’s at stake. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go find some Panar damn miracles.”

Author's Note

I have a Ko-Fi if you want to support me

115- Minutemen

I held the door open for Thorax and Coxa as they entered the pony’s guarded apartment. I shut the door behind me but didn’t lock it.

Inquisitor Sweetie Drops was sitting in a chair at a small table on the far side of the studio apartment. She was looking out the boarded window. If it wasn’t for her ear twitching, I would say she didn’t notice our arrival.

“Normally I wouldn’t be letting someone go without some kind of insurance that they won’t backstab me, but… you gave Luna your word. And so, you have my word that you will not be harmed or otherwise impeded by the Fifth Hive, so long as you don’t betray us or our interests.”

Sweetie Drops chuckled and turned in her seat to face us three.

“I’m glad I have your word. Not to bite the hoof that feeds me, but just what is that worth?”

“More than any gem in the world. The only time I’ve broken faith was with Queen Chrysalis, my mother. However, she had broken any sort of bond between us long before I was even hatched, pony. I will spare you the details, but let’s just say that loyalty to her would end in nothing short of the worst fate on Equus, cruel beyond all imagination. Now, I brought my two closest friends with me here: that’s Coxa and that’s Thorax. I want you to tell them exactly what you told me last night.”

“Oh, visiting mares in the middle of the night?” Coxa asked, elbowing me in the side.

“Coxa, Phas wouldn’t do that to Princess Luna,” Thorax said, looking slightly uncomfortable. “Not without permission, at least.”

‘I don’t even want to think about what that means.’

“Just one question before I begin,” Sweetie Drops said. “Just what is Princess Luna to you? It wasn’t quite clear just what kind of alliance you two had forged.”

My face twisted in annoyance. I wanted to talk about Lacewing, not this. Still, it was an easy question to answer.

“Luna is…. everything.”

Sweetie’s eyebrows raised, “Everything? As in, you are her special somepony? Or someone, rather?”

I nodded, “I am, yes. Now, I can’t put her and myself before the Hive’s importance, but...”

Sweetie exhaled loudly while slumping over in her seat.

“Oddly enough, I believe that. But… how? Why? What?”

Thorax and Coxa pulled up chairs to sit in, meanwhile I had to sit on the floor. With all four of us at eye-level, I began explaining.

“I suppose it started with a political marriage, or at least relationship, with Nightmare Moon.”

“What?!”

I snorted, “Adversity makes strange bedfellows. Nightmare Moon offered a future where I wouldn’t have to worry about Chrysalis scooping my brain out with a melon baller– the previously mentioned fate worse than death– as well as a future where pony kind isn’t all but exterminated. Sure, she was evil, but I didn’t have much choice. I had to save my species somehow. Anyways, Nightmare Moon lost, and Luna… still had feelings for me. I rejected her offer of peace initially and continued with the invasion of Canterlot. That turned out well, with a Nightmare trying to possess me while I was on death’s door. Had it succeeded, I would have turned into an amalgamation of myself and it, like Nightmare Moon or Daybreaker.”

“Daybreaker is the same thing as Nightmare Moon?”

“That’s right. Evil parasite and all. Luna saved me from that fate, and I… I don’t know why. She tells me it’s because she cares about me and sees herself in me, therefore wants my survival, but… I basically sentenced her to a slow death back in Canterlot. We talked many times since then, and now I can’t imagine a world where I never met her,” I shrugged

“So it was Princess Luna who pursued you, not the other way around?”

“Yeah.”

“Hmm….” Sweetie Drops grunted. “That’s something to think about. The Princesses are the wisest and greatest of us all. They see light where we all only see darkness. It comes as no surprise that they saved the Dread Prince, but for Princess Luna to have fallen for you? I would be very careful, King Phasma. Breaking her heart would make lots of enemies… including me.”

“Oh, I’m soooo scared. A pony is threatening me.” Thorax glared at me. “Sweetie Drops, if anyone’s going to pulverize me into a bag of bleeding meat, bone shards, and cracked chitin, it’ll be Luna herself. Don’t try to protect her honor or whatever, because she’s quite capable of that herself. At any rate, that summarizes my story with Luna: a political marriage turned into something more, as the two seconds-in-commands on opposite sides of a war for survival fell in love. I’m sure that if Princess Cadence was here, she would say something like ‘love triumphs all.’ And somehow, she’ll be right.”

Sweetie frowned, “Perhaps you should listen to the content of her message, not just the words she says.”

“I agree with Sweetie Drops, Phas,” Thorax interjected.

I rolled my eyes, “That’ll be the day. Now. Last night, you told me something,” I reminded Sweetie.

“Yes. It was a changeling who set Daybreaker on the path to find you and your Fifth Hive.”

“A changeling that still lives,” I prompted.

“Again, yes.”

“What’s her name?”

“Lacewing.”

Thorax and Coxa both launched out of their chairs.

“What?!” Coxa yelled.

“She’s alive?!” Thorax asked, jaw dropped.

Sweetie shrunk back from their leaps forward, “Uh, yes? I take it you assumed she was dead.”

“Yes!” Both changelings answered.

“We held a funeral for her. Her and another changeling, by the name Oestridae….?”

‘A changeling can hope, right?’

Sweetie just shook her head.

“Damn,” I cursed.

“How is she? Is she hurt? Starving? In one piece?” Thorax baragged the pony with questions.

The pony shrugged, “I didn’t do the interrogation, just read the report. From what I read, she’s alive and not missing any limbs. Can’t say more than that, if she’s starving or… whatever else they’re doing to prisoners in Locksdale. I’m not a Division-P guard, okay? I’m a field agent.”

“Is this why you’re summoning the full Hive this afternoon?” Coxa asked, looking at me.

“To inform them on a single ling’s survival? No. As much as Lacewing is important to us, she isn’t important to the Fifth Hive. We’ll discuss that business later. For now… what else did the report mention, Sweetie?”

“Not much else. She talked a lot about you, apparently. It’s honestly one of the reasons why I even trusted you a little bit to not turn my brain into soup. The report concluded that based on her testimony, and from interrogations gathered from other changelings, you were a popular leader. One of the common pony. Or drone, rather. Had I kept that in mind, your behaviour would not have thrown me off, and I would have successfully infiltrated your Hive….”

“What were you after?” I was curious. I didn’t actually find that out, I was so busy with other things.

“Freeing the ponies you keep podded. Which I expect to be set free the moment Daybreaker, that apparent Nightmare, is dealt with.”

“You’re in no position to be making demands, Inquisitor. But yes, I expect that to happen, too. However, I can’t free them before then. Too many things can go wrong.”

“Do you have any other names?” Coxa asked. “I lost a few friends in Canterlot. If they survived…”

Sweetie sighed, “No, I don’t. To be honest, I never thought that the Invasion of Equestria would be as… bloody for you as it was for us. Some guards died, yes, but even before the Royal Guards swept the city clear, we were finding changeling bodies. That from your rebellion?” Sweetie asked, sending a look my way.

My throat burned, “... We didn’t choose the terms how it was fought. The first sign we had that they weren’t taking prisoners was the trail of bodies leading up to our rendezvous point.” I sighed, “Alright, Inquisitor Sweetie Drops. I want you to stay and answer any questions these two have. After that, you’re free to go. Any help you can give would be a godsend. Especially if you manage to cause some chaos in Division-P’s headquarters.”

“I gave the Princess my word, King Phasma. You don’t need to worry about my motivation, or giving me orders. I’ll do what I can, where I can.”

“Yes, but I especially need help slowing down their internal workings. The Dead Hoof Protocol. I need that slowed down or stopped all together if possible.”

“I’m not familiar with that,” Sweetie said.

I glanced at Coxa and Thorax briefly before answering, “It’s Division-P’s plans for their prisoners, if Daybreaker is ever killed.”

“I’ll look into that, then. I’m not familiar with the latest contingencies the zealots have conjured up, but it should be easy to find out about it.”

“Is that what the meeting will be about?” Coxa asked again.

I cringed, “Yes. It’s bad news. Now, I have to see Katydid about doing some drills, especially in my armor. I’ll see you two this afternoon.”

“Bye, Phas. Thank you for bringing us here and giving us the good news, or at least getting Sweetie Drops to,” Thorax said, wiping an eye. “I mean it, Sweetie. Thank you…. We… I… just thank you.”

I took off my helmet, setting it down and wiping the sweat off from the top of my head. The interior of this warehouse had been cleared in preparation for moving the Hive, so Katydid commandeered it for training the changelings.

‘Sweetie, talked with. Drills, ran. Armor, repeatedly taken off and on. I’m getting quick at putting it on, but I’ll need to be quicker. What’s left for today? Informing the Hive, and going to the speakeasy? Yeah, I think that’s it.’

“You did well today, Your Majesty,” Katydid said, stopping by me.

“Thanks, Katydid. You find space in the Crystal Caves for any equipment or training space you need once we go there?”

Captain Katydid shrugged, “No. I’ll find it when I get there. For now, I have to focus on getting the troops in order. And you, too. You’re training really hard, King Phasma. I am concerned that you are motivated not by just a desire to be prepared…”

I grunted an affirmative. “I suppose I should tell you before everyone else, considering you are the Captain of the Red Right Hoof. We’ll be attacking Canterlot Castle during the Grand Galloping Gala.”

“Ah ha ha ha! Oh My King, you are hilarious.”

“If we do not, hundreds of changelings will die.”

Katydid froze, “You’re serious? That’s…. Why didn’t you inform me sooner, Your Majesty?!”

His yell caused a few changelings in the building to stop exercising and drilling and look our way. I waved a hoof, silently commanding them to get back to their exercises.

“Quiet, Katydid.”

“My King, why now?” He hissed.

“I received information last night detailing a contingency plan. Division-P intends on executing all of their prisoners if Daybreaker is assassinated.”

Katydid groaned and facehooved. “Of course. It was too much to hope that we could just sit out the end of the war. So then what’s the plan, My King?”

‘Right to business,’ I thought with a smile.

“I will order the Hive to mobilize to the Crystal Caverns immediately. Forget an orderly move of assets and personnel, we need to prepare an invasion force. Once there, we will need to either dig our way into the Castle’s dungeons, or find another way in. Then, during the Gala, we hit the prison with everything we have.”

“I suppose with you leading us, we can take care of any resistance,” Katydid muttered.

“I won’t be leading the attack.”

“It just gets better and better. What will you be doing, My King?”

“We will need a distraction to pull away their attention. If I go with the attack, then their full force would just hold us in a bottleneck, and execute the prisoners. I will have to pull the majority of their forces out from the Prison.”

“Which will be accomplished, how?”

“I will attend the Grand Galloping Gala personally.”

“Ah, of course. Alone against the entirety of the Castle’s garrison, Division-P’s attention, and I’m assuming Daybreakers?” I nodded. “Do you have a way of not dying?”

“A few plans. I’ll need to ask a few questions, learn some things. Can you get the troops ready and a plan in place for digging into the dungeons?”

“Do we have a layout?”

“I’ll get it from the Princesses.”

“Then we’ll rescue those prisoners, My King.”

“That’s what I like to hear. Now, the meeting is coming up…”

“And that’s where you will inform the Hive of this development?” I nodded again. “I appreciate you informing us as soon as possible, Your Majesty. Queen Chrysalis tended to guard that kind of information for seemingly no reason… How will you enter the city without your Weave alerting the enslaved changelings, My King?”

“I’ll stay in the caves until the last possible minute. The crystals should interfere with the Weave enough to mask my arrival. Once I’m out in the open, then I will actually be relying on them to report my presence.”

“... I wish you luck, My King. You’ve gotten this far, it’d be a shame if you died now.”

“A tragedy,” I agreed.

“Now, you’ve still got six laps left, I believe,” my slave driver reminded me.

“Yeah, yeah,” I muttered, putting my helmet back on.

I spent the next hour doing drills and exercises, just as my drones were doing. I was thankfully making progress at getting quicker dressing and undressing Unbroken Radiance. If my plan was to go smoothly, then I would have to be able to don the armor in under a minute.

Eventually, it came time for all the changelings to leave the makeshift gym and head to the designated meeting point.

For the Hive’s meeting, I went fully dressed with Unbroken Radiance. I had to bring it over packed in a box, but I needed to wear it at the meeting. It would be the first time many would see the Adamantium armor, and I knew that it would set the tone right away. The king wasn’t about to give a quarterly report on earnings if he was decked out in shiny plate armor.

Once I arrived, I unloaded the box and put the armor on. The magical suit fit my form perfectly, changing in size every so slightly each day I put it on. There would come a day soon enough where I would stop growing and the armor would as well.

Buzzing my wings, I lifted up from the ground and hovered up to the crate pile that served as the stage for the meeting. In front of me, just about every changeling in the Fifth Hive was present, even more than yesterday’s funeral. They gathered in a crowd, with some even clinging to the walls or watching from the far side’s office section.

I cleared my throat, catching everyone’s attention and ending any conversations going on between the gathered changelings.

“Changelings of the Fifth Hive. Last night, I received information most grave. The plan to usurp the Nightmare possessed alicorn known as Daybreaker continues as planned, but the wicked tyrant does not intend on going quietly. With the help of Princess Cadence and Princess Luna, we have received many of Division-P’s plans. It seems that they are not satisfied with the blood spilled from their attacks on us. A contingency protocol was put in place; if Daybreaker should fall, then Division-P is to carry out orders in just such an event. Division-P will slaughter every changeling they hold captive,” I announced, causing an immediate uproar.

I stamped a hoof down, the effort actually splintering the wooden beam of the crate I stood on.

“We will not let that happen!” I yelled through the Weave and out loud, ending the crowd’s frantic yelling.

‘They’re angry. Angry is good. Angry gets shit done.’

“In response to this so-called Dead Hoof Protocol,” I began again, “The Fifth Hive shall take its fate into its own hooves! On the night of the Grand Galloping Gala, four days from now, where Daybreaker is fated to die, we shall free our imprisoned brothers and sisters!”

The changelings yelled out again, but this time in approval. Many stamped their hooves as an applause.

“My changelings! This was started with a fight for our survival, so it shall end with one, too! Division-P believe themselves invulnerable, up at the top of their unicorn city. They will not expect over a hundred changelings bursting forth from beneath their hooves, driven not by zealous hatred of the unknown but undying loyalty to the Hive Eternal! I shall attend the Gala myself, undisguised! My presence will pull the zealots’ attention away from their prison, and it is then that the Fifth Hive shall truly strike! In the greatest prison break in history, we shall make our name known and feared amongst the Inquisitors! They will know who they have picked a fight with, and they will regret it!”

The changelings cheered again. If it weren't for the silencing spell around the warehouse, I’d be concerned for our continued secrecy.

“Tonight, we leave Manehattan. Tonight, we begin our plans to save our brothers and sisters. And finally, during the Grand Galloping Gala, I will reveal my survival to the whole world. Let the Masquerade Protocol be broken and discarded wholly and completely for the last time! Let the world know of the Fifth Hive, and our undying spirit! Long live the Fifth Hive! Long live the Hive Eternal!”

“Long Live the Fifth Hive! Long live the Hive Eternal!” The changelings cheered.

‘Daybreaker won’t know what hit her.’

The Last Chance.

I wasn’t the one who picked out the name, but I approved of it completely. I would have preferred naming it The Red Dragon, but the job of naming it went to Coxa, who had organized the circus to restore the club.

The speakeasy was finished, completed in a timeframe that would make any normal contractor scream in fear. Now, that didn’t mean that building codes were ignored and safety procedures defenestrated, only that it had work crews on it around the clock. With everything planned out and bits not an issue, creating the art deco club had been a rather simple task.

Some things had gone wrong, but the experience was a valuable one for everyone involved. The entirety of the back areas were unfinished, and the equestrian staff largely unvetted, but it was the best we were going to accomplish in the short time frame we had.

Tonight, it was a full house.

Now, most of those present were changelings celebrating what will be the end to the Masquerade Protocol for good, and celebrating before the attack on Locksdale Prison, but there were a few ponies present.

The ponies were watched as they enjoyed The Last Chance’s merriment and drink. Not only for our protection, but for theirs. The Fifth Hive was a large organization now, and I couldn’t account for everyone’s moral fortitude. The last thing I wanted was a couple of drunk changelings deciding to feast on something other than assigned rations or a one night stand they managed to score.

Though there were still sections to finish up, the main room of the speakeasy was finished. The center area was a restaurant-like section of tables. At the far end, the stage was finished and brightly lit up with magical sconces facing away from the tables. Around the room, booths were packed with changelings and the occasional pony group as waiters and waitresses brought food and drink around the place.

At the opposite end from the stage’s wall, the bar took up most of the space. In the usual fashion of a shortage of chairs and room, each stool had someone on it, talking with their neighbors or ordering drinks and food for themselves or a table. Above the bar, since the room was tall, was a balcony area. Just a few tables were up there, and golden art-deco style railings sectioned it off from the open air of the room. The balcony offered an excellent vantage point to watch the stage from, and more importantly, it was currently the most secure point in the speakeasy.

Until the back rooms could be furnished, it was where I would be spending my time in The Last Chance.

There were many changeling guards around the place, and not only at the main doors or the stairs up to the balcony. Many were just drinking soda or other non-alcoholic drinks from seats as they watched the carousing changelings and ponies.

Up in the balcony, I was not alone. Coxa, Thorax, Double Diamond, Froghopper, Thalamus, Cricket, Thripps, and even Captain Katydid. The entirety of the Fifth Hive’s upper echelon, my own Royal Court, was here. And Double Diamond.

“I’ll admit, I had doubts. No small amount of them,” Cricket told me as he leaned close to speak over the loud volume of conversations going on around us. “But this place turned out pretty damn well, if I do say so myself,” he congratulated himself as he tipped a mug of beer back and downed half of it.

“Yeah, you didn’t fuck it up too badly,” I agreed as I watched a trio of pony mares set up on the stage. Behind them, a band of ponies set up their instruments, chairs, and other equipment.

If it wasn’t for the fact that we had hired a small team of unicorns to put silencing enchantments around the building, I wouldn’t have allowed a band to be present. But we did hire them, so we would have the full experience.

Even if this place was going to be a money pit, we could take the loss and have fun and relax. The only downside was that we all had to be disguised, as normal ponies were present.

The band started up, playing their trumpets, saxophones, and other jazz instruments.

“Folks, here’s a story about Minnie the Moocher~,” the trio of singers began in sync, swaying as they sang.

I found myself nodding along as they played their song. Looking back from the stage, I saw Diamond leaning in, whispering in Thorax’s ear. Judging from Thorax’s reddened face, I imagined that Diamond suggested something sultry like holding hooves or sharing a kiss.

‘Adorable. Unfortunately, I do have some questions to ask.’

“Hey Thorax,” I interrupted them.

“W–nothing!” He squeaked. “I mean, uh, what’s up, Phas?” He quickly lifted a cup and drank from it.

“You ever heard of atoms?”

“Huh? Yeah?”

“Has anyone tried cutting one?”

“Cutting one?” He repeated, confused.

“Cutting one!”

As he blinked and tried to think, I lifted my own glass of wine and sipped from it.

“Uh…. yes? Maybe? Not in the Fifth Hive, but maybe in Equestria?”

Double Diamond laughed and leaned over so that I could hear him better “Yeah, Phasma. Famous experiment. Didn’t work, and instead broke all their instruments, magical or otherwise. They even got my parents to try, which is how I even know. What brings this up?”

“Just wondering. You said your parents were in the electronics business?”

“S… something like that?”

“They need investors?”

“Uh… this sounds like a conversation that needs to be talked about while not drunk!” He chuckled.

“Nonsense, Diamond! They ever complained about securing funding?”

“All the Tartarus time!”

“Wonderful!” I cheered. Diamond mouthed the word silently before I explained, “I’d like to throw a lot of bits their way. My understanding is that scientists hate getting funding; it’s a pain in the ass and you have to do whatever the college or patron wants.”

He nodded slowly.

“Well I’ve got bits, and I’ve got some ideas. I’d like to give both to them and send them on their way!”

Diamond’s muzzle scrunched up, “Uh…. too darn drunk– can you write all this down? I’ll just write a letter, and we’ll see what they say.”

‘That’s good enough.’

I nodded and waved him away as I sat back in my chair and looked back at the stage. The musicians and singers were doing a great job, though it was hard to tell if their performance was enhanced by the fact that everyone was getting drunk and caring less and less. I myself was buzzed as I continued to rock my head to the beat.

Even though less than twenty percent of the people present were ponies, the ones present were having a grand enough time to imbue the place with a taste of happiness and excitement. In the middle of the prohibition– the end of it actually, though they didn’t know that, here we were, drinking, singing, and hanging out.

‘Ah man, I wish Luna was here.’

Author's Note

I have a Ko-Fi if you want to support me

116- Eleutherios

Luna stepped up and leaned over the railing, her forehooves on it so she could raise herself up. Beneath her, the mares from earlier this night were singing, though the music and their notes were distorted slightly.

Her tail was swishing side to side, in time with the jazz song’s beat.

“By the stars, I can not even remember the last time I have heard music!” She said, beginning to shimmy along to the song.

I hopped up onto the railing next to her. She reached over with a wing and pulled me in close.

“I thought that the only thing that was missing was you,” I said, looking away shyly.

“Awww, that is sweet of you,” she nuzzled me. “We shall visit this tavern of yours when we visit Manehattan. It has been longer than I care to imagine since I have been in such a place, and equally long since I heard music that was not classical. I swear Phasma, my patience for such pretentious droll shrinks more and more with each passing event.”

“You know, we’re going to be together at the Gala.”

“I know! It is exciting, despite the intrigue! I both dread and look to the date with anticipation. We do need to discuss the matter, so as much as I would love to just be here with you in silence, appreciating the music, we must talk business. The matter of ruling and treachery, that is.”

She left the railing and sat down at the main table. I sat down next to her, and leaned in close.

“I need to know what you will look like when you arrive, Phasma. Are you going as yourself, or otherwise?”

“I will be going as Expected Value,” I answered, changing my form to the blue unicorn disguise. “It’s not connected to any of my identities, so I should be able to enter the Gala relatively unnoticed.”

“And once you are inside, then what? Need I remind you that retrieving the Elements, getting them to their bearers, and getting the bearers in position is a planned process. An interruption could throw the entire plan out.”

“Well you’ll be happy to know that I know what I’m going to do. I had to ask around and even visit a library, but I’ve got a few plans in place. Well, one’s a plan, and the other is moreso a Hail Mary.”

“Hail Mary? Never heard of that term.”

“Let’s just hope it never gets to that point. So my idea is to show up disguised, say hi, let you get in position and everything with the Elements of Harmony, then show myself. Best case scenario, Daybreaker freaks out and calls the Royal Guard and Division-P over, and is too distracted with me to realize the Elements are missing, or whatever your plan is.”

Luna frowned, “I said already, the moment you appear is the moment she realizes that all is not well. We need the element of surprise to go along with the Elements of Harmony.”

“I need to undisguise at some point, Luna. Once you have the Elements, the bearers will have to use them while Daybreaker is distracted. I understand that this isn’t preferable, but I can’t put off the distraction any longer than that. Daybreaker has to sound the alarm.”

“This is the best case scenario? Pray tell me, what is your plan if things go wrong?”

“Uh… gamble on how much of Celestia’s personality is still there. Look, we never had time to come up with anything else, and the Fifth Hive is already moving into the Crystal Caverns as we speak, so you’re stuck with me and my shitty plan. Now since I’m coming to the Gala, I’m going to need to know the plans for the fall of Daybreaker. I also need the layout of Locksdale, so I’m going to visit Cadence after this conversation.”

Luna grumbled in frustration, “Fine. If anything goes wrong, I shall blame you and expect you to fix it. The Grand Galloping Gala can be partitioned into several sections: the arrivals, the first dances, the dinner, and then the final dances and closing. I have arranged for the thestrals to be in the prime position to secure the Elements of Harmony. Of course, I have also convinced Daybreaker to display the Elements during the Gala. During the first dances, the Elements will be swapped out for identical fakes, and the real ones will be distributed to the bearers. During the dinner, it is arranged for the bearers to be in place near Daybreaker as she delivers her speech. It is during this speech, about midway through, that the bearers shall discretely retrieve the Elements from their persons, wear them, and then use them.

“Several teams of unicorn Royal Guards will be on standby to both shield the bearers, and stun Daybreaker should the need arise. Thestrals shall assist where needed as well. Cadence and I will perform our usual role during the Gala without fuss or signs of disloyalty. I will place myself next to Daybreaker while she delivers her speech, as another layer of security for the Elements of Harmony. There are additional points, during the final dances and speeches from Daybreaker, where the Elements might be used, in case our initial window is missed. As you can see, with so many moving parts, introducing more will only destroy the system.”

“The best plans are the most simple, Luna.”

“Wow, I did not know that! Thank you for the information, Phasma. I will immediately reduce the amount of steps needed. This is as simple as we can get away with, Phasma. Any less complicated runs the risk of simply not working, and any more would mean more opportunities for failure. The plan is, at its essence, swipe the Elements, give them to their bearers, and get the bearers into position.”

“Alright, alright. I’m sorry that I’m making this more complicated.”

She sighed, “It is alright. I am just frustrated that so many things can go wrong. I understand the urgency for your addition to the plan, I just fear losing the one chance we have at righting my greatest sin; if Celestia is not returned to us…”

I hugged Luna tightly. She returned the hug, burying her head under my own as much as she could with her long alicorn horn.

“It’s okay, Luna. It’s not your fault that Celestia fell to a Nightmare– no, I know you want to argue. Listen to me Luna.” She looked up and into my eyes. “It’s not your fault. This will be fixed. Even if it gets worse first, you will be with your sister once again. I… I know what it’s like to miss your family. I do. I promise I won’t ruin this for us. I’ve got a lot riding on it too, remember? I don’t exactly plan on getting captured by Daybreaker. I’ve had enough of Nightmares, thank you very much.”

“I suppose you’ll be making your appearance during the dinner, then. We shall just… improvise if things go poorly, which I expect they shall. I was not too confident in the plan to begin with, but we will make do with what we have.”

“Dinner sounds good. Though I do wonder if we can meet before then, Luna…”

She raised an eyebrow, “I doubt the possibility of that.”

“You don’t think we can sneak off for a dance? Not even if you got a disguise?”

Luna blinked in surprise, “If I got a disguise? Now there’s an idea. I will have to think on this, and whether or not it puts any part of the plan at risk. It would be better if I were seen at all times, but…. maybe.”

I gasped, “Oh my Panar, Luna! You used a contraction!”

“Shit!”

“And you swore! Nice! What else can you do?”

Luna laughed and tapped the top of my head, “Apparently save two kingdoms at the same time. Now, the speech during which you shall reveal yourself is the State of the Kingdom speech. It is preceded by the dinner, which in turn is preceded by an honors speech. Following it would normally be a small speech or announcement of sorts. I am told that Celestia almost always uses that part of the evening as announcing the end for whatever charity raffle is being held. The Gala will never get to that point.”

I nodded, “I’ve arranged a meeting with the thestrals tomorrow. I’ll get some much needed information from them, as well as inform them of my arrival if you haven’t already.”

“I have,” she clarified.

“Then I will just coordinate with them as much as I can. The more people involved in a plan, the harder it is to execute and the harder it is to keep it secret, but we’ll figure it out. In fact, I’m interested to learn if they can help with the Locksdale Prison breakout.”

“I shall leave the matter in your hooves, young King. Now, how shall we spend the rest of our time together here? Perhaps with a dance? I must say, I am quite taken with this music, what genre is it?”

“... Jazz, I think. Normally it doesn’t have lyrics, but this subgenre does. I’d love to dance with you, or learn to in this four legged new body of mine, but I do have to speak with Cadence.”

Luna groaned and let go of me, letting me step away and prepare to leave the dream.

“Very well then, handsome prince. You shall owe me a dance.”

“Putting thought into the disguise idea?”

“More and more,” she grinned. “If we can get away with it, then it shall be so.”

I watched through the mirror as the brown unicorn stallion with salt ‘n pepper hair let his measuring tape slide back into its holder. Expected Value needed a suit, so I found a rather reputable shop in Manehattan that would fit one for my unicorn disguise.

“That’s the last of the measurements, sir,” he said, jotting down quickly on a floating notepad nearby.

“Excellent,” I said.

“Now my good sir, the suit should be done within one week. If you would follow me, we can handle the receipt of sale and the check,” the pony said, gesturing towards the cash register with a hoof.

‘A week? I suppose when you’re making the shirt and jacket but not pants, things can be done somewhat quicker. Still, that won’t do. As much as I’d like to not be exposed as such and actually wear pants, it’ll only attract attention. It’s really the time constraint that’s actually causing problems.’

“One week?” I asked, thinking of a way to approach the subject.

He led the way and I followed, “Yes sir. It takes time to plan out the suit, properly cut the materials, make adjustments when it is first received, and finally put on the finishing touches.”

“That is a rather unworkable timeframe…. How much would it cost to get it done within, let’s say, three days?”

“Three d–” the pony, Stitch Twice, cut himself off. He recomposed himself, “Ah, of course sir. You wish to have the suit prepared for the Gala or a satellite function, then?”

‘Fishing around for my price limit, are we?’

“Indeed. I was not expecting an invitation, hence the urgency.”

‘All the Gala’s attendees get their invitations months in advance. The odds of some high roller like myself suddenly finding themselves with an invitation is somewhat low, but always possible. A relative non-answer, as best as I can do. Just because I can pay exorbitant sums doesn’t mean I want to every chance I get.’

“Understandable sir, life can be surprising at times. For a rush job accomplished at the professional level we hold ourselves to, I’m afraid there is a fifty-percent fee for a three day rush order. We cannot do it any quicker than that.”

‘Pick up my suit in the morning, head to the Crystal Caves, and be ready in time for the Gala at the start of the evening. It can work.’

“That is acceptable. I am sorry to give you such a short-notice order, but–”

“–but life can be surprising, my good sir,” he interrupted. “Quite understandable, if unenviable. If you are willing to pay the added fee, we shall have the suit ready in three days to be picked up. You will have to come into the shop two days from now for the adjustments, however.”

“That is acceptable.”

He smiled and put the notepad down, stepping behind the cash register.

“Very good, sir. Now, here is the bill of sale. If you would just sign here…”

I filled out the paperwork and saw the final total; it was a very, very large sum of money. I brought saddlebags and a checkbook for just that purpose, though. Bidding the middle-aged stallion farewell, I left for my next and most important meeting of the day.

The thestrals had arranged a meeting by proxy. I would come with a predetermined disguise not connected to any of my previous identities, and I would be meeting a pegasus of thestral descent here in Manehattan. The meeting place was a thrift shop in the western suburbs. A bit of a ways out and closer to the countryside than most of Manehattan, but that’s what wings are for.

I casually walked down several streets before sneaking off into an alleyway when no pony was on the backstreet I was walking down. Then, funneling energy into the Thread of Change as usual, I exchanged my blue unicorn disguise for a faint pink-white pegasus stallion. A little bit effeminate, but a too nondescript pony disguise tends to work in the exact opposite fashion. They always desire to stand out, and expect others to want to, as well. The Cutie Mark was a pair of dark gold cog wheels. That was what was agreed upon by the thestrals, and they wouldn’t make contact without it.

Exiting out the other side of the alleyway, I took to the skies and flew westward. I sighed contently as the wind ruffled my faux-feathers and fur. That was one upside it had over flying as a changeling; the actual sensation. I think I prefer flying as myself due to the fringe feeling of body dysphoria I have every time I wear a disguise– it’s natural for a changeling to prefer our own bodies and forms over all others, but this was almost as good.

I savored the moments. Flying was one of the few easy-to-access pastimes I had, and I had enjoyed it since my first time flying all the way back in the Fourth Hive. The warm sun on my back and outstretched wings, the whistle of wind in my pinned back ears, and the sensation of being free.

I leveled out my wings and glided low, avoiding a large, low-hanging cloud that was practically covered in pegasus foals playing around. Several parents hovered around the cloud or sat in nearby white embankments. It was easy to forget that this was a city at times, and one populated partially by a flying species.

You didn’t see cloud-based parks back on earth, after all.

However, to my own disappointment, I couldn’t hum anything more than the opening verse to a song that popped into my head. I had already arrived above the designated store, and had to land. Grumbling at ruining my own mood, I banked into a spiral and bled altitude.

Hitting the ground trotting, I entered the small store which sat at a street corner in a rather plain stripmall. The most interesting thing about it was the massive fluffy coats hung on display in its window.

The door opened with a soft ding of a bell, not even rousing the sleepy purple pegasus mare sitting behind the counter, head in her hooves. Rolling my eyes, I picked an aisle at random and walked down it. Filled with random nick nacks that held no interest to me, I tried to kill time as I waited.

‘Alright, I’m here. The pegasus should have seen me enter, so it’s just a matter of time before–’ the soft ding of the door’s bell interrupted my thought, ‘–before they enter.’

I caught a look at my content and stifled a laugh of dismay. The pegasus, an all-black one, had a grey mane with dyed red tips. He also had several piercings, and was somewhat younger than I expected. Still, he was a black pegasus, and had a Cutie Mark of a stringed instrument, as I was briefed of. The leather satchel that hung on a strap over his back likely held the documents I sought, too.

‘They sent a punk rockstar to hand over confidential blueprints and information in an act of High Treason? That’s… okay thestrals, okay. If this dude is legit, I’ll have to take lessons from him on blending in.’

He entered my aisle, flicked his mane back, and stopped near me, looking at the useless junk on display. Another glance revealed the fact that he was actually looking at a large selection of guitar picks.

‘Huh. Look at that.’

I turned around and faked perusing the items that were behind me.

‘A large amount of sweatshirts. Panar, so many sweatshirts. For a species that goes naked the vast majority of the time, they have a lot of resold clothes.’

A light cough turned my head. The pegasus was looking at my Cutie Mark, and nodded slowly. Compared to his edgy and goth-like appearance, his emotions felt a bit more bubbly and happier than what I expected.

‘That’s ponies for you.’

“Hey there. You uh, come here often?” He asked.

“It’s a bit out of the way, but I heard this store had what I was looking for.”

“Right, right,” he nodded and extended a hoof, “Onyx Pick.”

‘He’s even got an edgy name, the disguise is flawless!’

“Quick Cog,” I said, meeting the hoof bump.

“Nice to meet you, Quick Cog. You wanna go grab a cup of coffee, or…?”

‘A second location? Why? This one works out well enough. Just hand over the damn papers and we’re good. Hell, I was expecting a rather more upfront conversation than this.’

I shook my head, “No thanks. I heard from a friend that this store had some stuff on Clairvoyance. You seen any posters of them around?”

Clairvoyance was not a band, merely a codeword.

“Clair– oh. You’re Uncle Halberd’s coworker. I uh, I was expecting somepony a bit… gruffier, you know? You don’t strike me as the kind of pony he would be friends with. You’re, you know, young, and uh…. pink.”

“What does that…?” I trailed off.

The pony swung his satchel off his back and rifled through it.

‘Wait. He didn’t know I was his contact? What was he– oh my Panar. He wasn’t looking at my Cutie Mark, was he? Damn this pink-white fur, he was checking out my ass!’

“He said to give this to you,” Onyx said, extending out a sealed, thick folder with a wing.

I took it and put it in my own saddle bags.

“Thanks. Is there anything else? Like a message, or meeting, or…?”

‘Aren’t I supposed to coordinate with an operative or something? Why am I meeting someone’s punk rockstar nephew?’

“Nope, that’s it,” he said, swishing his long mane side to side as he shook his head. “But about that cup of coffee?”

“I’m in a relationship.”

The happiness left him like rats fleeing a sinking ship.

Onyx cringed, “Horseapples! The good lookin’ ones always are…. What did my Uncle give you, anyways?”

“Work stuff,” I answered.

‘I didn’t come here to be flirted with, pony. This packet better contain some much needed information that circumvents the need for a conversation, or I’m going to be very upset. Not that I can actually do anything about it, but this just doesn’t make sense.’

“Again, you don’t seem like the Guard type…” He said, looking me over.

“Looks can be deceiving, Onyx Pick,” I muttered as I walked past him and headed towards the door.

“Bye?” He said, the tone in his voice as confused as his emotions.

I left immediately. Looking for a quiet place to sit down and read was important. The sooner I read through the materials, the better. If there was an emergency that required the meeting to be broken off, I would need to know it sooner rather than later.

There was a small unused park in the direction of the city, so I flew over and found a somewhat secluded bench. At the very least, I would hear and see ponies approaching before they got close. Opening the packet, I saw a note on top of several blueprints, as well as several other documents.

‘Apologies for the rudeness, all hooves must be accounted for? What does that mean? They are being watched and can’t send a single person to meet with me? Shit, that doesn’t sound good. At the very least, they managed to give me Locksdale’s layout to give to Captain Katydid.’

Quickly skimming the rest of the files to ensure that there were no surprises, I saw that the other files included my identity’s cover story, an invitation to the Grand Galloping Gala, and some other important information. I put the file back in my saddlebags and set off from the park, back to the Fifth Hive’s headquarters. Katydid was waiting for me there.

‘At least the plans seem genuine. If they were replaced… well, if we were exposed to that point, I think we’d be fucked six ways to Sunday anyways. Maybe I can send someone ahead of time to confirm the validity of this, though.’

It would be a long, sleepless night of planning and plotting ahead.

Author's Note

I have a Ko-Fi if you want to support me

118- The Final Masquerade: The Break Of Day

Daybreaker gasped, almost fumbling backwards off her throne. The Royal Guards before me all shrunk at the sight. Captain Shining Armor’s jaw dropped before he lit his horn and conjured a shield around him and Princess Cadence, who was almost as shocked as everyone else. The Element bearers were partially shocked, but it seems they were warned ahead of time by Rarity. Still, they couldn’t do anything about the Royal Guards that had surrounded them.

Some of the guards had their backs to the Elements, but many more faced towards them. It would seem that the bearers’ protective attachment was outnumbered.

Luna smiled at me, and nodded once.

‘We are together on this.’

“Why so silent, good messieurs? Did you think I had left you for good?” I asked, looking around the room.

The party guests all shrunk back as I leaned towards them, smiling with my fangs on display. Daybreaker no longer radiated shock, instead amusement, causing me to turn back to her.

“I knew you would come!” Daybreaker sneered, recovering from the surprise. “I have to compliment you on your timing! You had me convinced that you weren’t here yet, what with your changelings not warning me….”

“Yes, my changelings which you enslaved,” I snarled.

I could see more Royal Guards filing into the room from the side doors. They even had Division-P Inquisitors with them.

‘I love it when a plan comes together. Shame the big one fell apart almost instantly.’

“I hear you have been looking for me, demon,” I spat.

“I hunt down all of Equestria’s enemies,” she spat back.

“Except the one you see in the mirror, Nightmare.”

“All this talk of Nightmares,” Daybreaker waved a hoof dismissively. “Do you really think anypony here would believe that changeling propaganda? I am not Nightmare Moon, I am and always have been Equestria’s humble Princess, doing what I can to save and help everypony. Is it you behind all of this? Poisoning the minds of two princesses,” she tutted, “I should have known changeling trickery was responsible.”

‘I need to distract her and let the Elements do their magic.’

“Well Princess, here I am. What’s the next step in your grand plan?”

Daybreaker guffawed, “Ha ha ha haaa! I am so glad you asked, little Prince. I offer you a chance to redeem yourself, and spare your species’ from its inevitable end. You will embrace Harmony, and serve it righteously.”

“No thanks, I’ve had my fill of your kind. Enough to last several lifetimes, in fact.”

“This is your one chance at surviving this night, insect. You have no hope of defeating Harmony. When the history of our glory is written, your kind will be but a footnote.”

“I am far more than mere footnote, demon. I am King Phasma. Once I was the Dread Prince, the Doom of Canterlot,” I said, stepping towards her. The Royal Guards hardened their stances, keeping their spears pointed towards me. “But that is no longer me. I am King Phasma, Bane of Nightmares. I will save Equestria. I will save Equus. And I will do it by hunting each and every one of you demonspawn down, and delivering Panar’s judgement,” I said, pointing God-Splitter at Daybreaker.

Then, I gripped the Royal Guards’ spears by the shaft within my magic. The enchantments resisted, fighting my grip. But I was a changeling royal, with nearly a full tank of love. In the end, they proved to be far inferior to Unbroken Radiance’s enchantments. I snapped each and every one of them in half, sending wood and metal fragments scattering about. A few unicorns even casted spells at me, but all they did was reflect off Unbroken Radiance, or were absorbed by its protective magic matrices.

The guards gasped as I walked up to them and past them, leisurely taking my time to approach Daybreaker and not even glancing in their direction. I couldn’t beat the crap out of the demon without getting closer, after all.

“We stand united against you, Daybreaker,” Luna said from her position next to the demon.

“Oh yes, your silly plan of using the Elements to purify me,” Daybreaker laughed.

I stopped halfway up the steps.

‘Is plan B out the window, too?’

“Go on then, use the Elements,” Daybreaker said, smiling.

The Element bearers shared a confused look before Luna gave them a nod. The Elements got into position; Twilight Sparkle pulled the Elements out from a location I didn’t see, and each pony put them on as we watched. They spoke quietly with each other, closed their eyes, and then…

Nothing happened.

‘Clearly, something went wrong. Time to enact lemon-scented plan Z!’

I slowly backed up, quietly making my way down the stairs. For plan Z to work, I had to be in a specific spot in the room. Technically, it could work from anywhere in the room, but I figured that Daybreaker would have set up defensive enchantments around the section where the Princesses sat. I needed to put some distance between me and this guarded section.

I also needed a hostage. Just briefly, this time.

“Nothing’s happening, Princess Luna!” Twilight Sparkle yelled, the frustration dripping from her voice.

“Hey! Don’t move!” A Royal Guard behind me yelled as I stepped back.

“Eh, you’ll do,” I shrugged.

Buzzing my Wings, I lifted off from the ground and grabbed her. The guards near her threw a few spells, but once again they melted away against my armor. The sudden sound and motion made Daybreaker turn her attention– and her growing laugh away from the Elements of Harmony.

“Of course I knew about your plan to swap the Elements, little sister! You have lost your touch in your thousand year long absence. And you. Just where do you think you’re going, changeling?”

Daybreaker’s wings spread wide as she put her forehooves on the table, leaning over it and preparing to take off towards me. The only thing that stopped her was that I picked up a Royal Guard and was using her as a body shield.

“I’d be very careful about your next action, Nightmare,” I hissed, “or the mare dies.”

“Agh! Let go of me!” The guard hissed through clenched teeth. Her wings beat uselessly against my chest.

‘Quite the upgrade from the tiny foal. I wouldn’t even feel that guilty if she died…. As guilty…. Probably.’

“From claiming that I was possessed by a demon, to threatening the lives of those around you. Truly, you are Equestria’s savior,” Daybreaker mocked. “My offer is still on the table, little bug. It won’t be for long.”

‘Who are you calling little? We’re about the same size!’

She continued, “Join me, and I will cleanse you of your sins.”

“Two near-possessions were more than enough for me, thank you very much.”

Daybreaker shrugged, “You will not be possessed, or whatever else you are afraid of. I just need your absolute loyalty. Sworn oaths, and perhaps leverage to ensure your word, nothing more. I am aware of what your mother has done. I know that it was Queen Chrysalis who ultimately ordered the invasion of Equestria. You were just her pawn, afraid for your own life and the lives of your species… Which do you fear most, Phasmatodea? Joining me? Or standing against me and being ‘Ascended’ by your mother?”

‘Fuck, that’s a cheap shot!’

I snarled and bared my fangs, “Neither! I choose neither! I’ll never be a victim of you demons again, nor will I be subject to her machinations!”

‘How did– the interrogations! Damn it, that was a low blow!’

“Joining me is your only way forward. You will stand by my side as I remake Equus in Harmony’s vision. You will not be harmed. You will have your own free will… so long as it doesn’t go against Equestria.”

I just laughed derisively at her and shook my head.

“Princess, what do we do?!” Twilight stage-whispered to Luna as she shook her magical necklace. “I think these are fakes!”

“Hold, Twilight!” Luna responded, her horn suddenly shooting out four blue darts that spun in the air and then slammed into the Daybreaker-loyalist guards facing her.

The rest of the guards retreated and put up shields, allowing Luna to meet up with the bearers. Daybreaker’s attention was still on me. The pony continued to struggle in my grip as I began to hover backwards. I ignored her demands to be let go, and held her close enough that the other Royal Guards snarled at me, but didn’t move. I held God-Splitter in front of me, while I clutched the pony with my forelegs and magic.

“Sloth tried to have me, you know!” I continued, trying to buy time. “Burnt to a crisp! Gluttony was next! I detonated a sun to reduce him to a smear of blood underneath a mile of stone! I’m getting quite good at slaughtering you Nightmares! You think the war against changelings is one sided? That you will win? After countless millennia of dying, the war is finally in our favor! I will scour every last one of you from this world, and the Dreamscape! Nowhere will be safe from me!”

I tightened my grip on the pony, causing her to gasp and claw at her throat.

Daybreaker roared in anger, “Don’t you dare hurt a single one of my ponies, vermin! Whatever pain you inflict, I will return a thousand times over!”

She took to the air, following me as I hovered backwards. On the ground, the Royal Guards split up between keeping their weapons and horns aimed at the Princesses and Elements, and splitting off to follow me from the ground.

‘That’s a Bingo! But I better confirm it before I start laughing maniacally!’

“I very much doubt that. This is pure Adamantium armor, Daybreaker. You saw what you could do with the meager remains of my peytral. You think any spell you have stands a chance against a full suit of it? This armor was crafted in the ancient forges, thousands of years before Equestria had even heard of the green metal.”

“I will boil you alive and peel it off your charred corpse, vermin,” she growled, keeping her eyes on my hostage.

I cast out the bait, “You need me, Daybreaker. I know you won’t kill me. Why is that? Do you want me to kill Queen Chrysalis for you? That anti-magical aura around the Fourth Hive proving too tough a nut for you to crack?”

“There are other ways,” she growled. “There are always other ways.”

“Not without death there isn’t. You need me to kill Chrysalis, yet you try to threaten my life? I wonder how many ponies I can kill before you snap…”

The pony tapped on my arm, and I actually relaxed my grip on her. She gasped and heaved, desperately forcing air back into her lungs. Daybreaker missed the act, her fiery mane expanding to twice its size, matching the fury pouring from every inch of her being.

“I will burn you and every last of your misbegotten kind to ash before I let you kill a single pony!” Daybreaker yelled, her horn glowing red. “Even if it sets the war effort back! I will not let any of my ponies come to harm, not while I still draw breath!”

“Hahahahaha….” I started to laugh, “aha ha ha HA HA HAAA! It brings me no small amount of joy to hear that from you, Daybreaker!” I yelled. “I said I would kill you, didn’t I?! And you’ve just proven that I will! I was so afraid, Daybreaker. I was afraid that there was so little of Celestia left that Plan Z would fail. But you don’t disappoint!”

I looked back at Luna and the gang. While we were both distracted, the last of the loyalists were mopped up. Now, she looked at me from across the room. I let go of the pony, lowering her down to the ground with my magic. She was quickly recovered by her advancing ground-based comrades.

‘Sorry about this in advance, Luna. Forgive me...’

“I won’t hurt a single one of your ponies,” I mocked Dayreaker’s word usage. “No, no. I will hurt every. Single. One of them! There is not a soul in Equestria that will survive my reckoning! You alone will have the power to save them all, Daybreaker.”

“Is that so, little insect? All I see is you, standing before me, alone. Not even your Legions are here to save you. Seems to me like all I have to do to save them is crush you, here and now.”

I shrugged, “That’s true. I am all the way over here, alone, and you have an army at your back. Come on, Daybreaker. Aren’t you curious? Just what does King Phasma have in store? A weapon? A threat? A plan? Come on, guess!”

“You have nothing!” Daybreaker sneered. “My offer has expired. Surrender now, and I will spare your life and your new band of changelings. There will be pain, but you will still have life. I will make use of you regardless of your resistance. Fight, and your kind will only be seen in history books.”

I snorted, “Time’s up. The answer is actually that I’m not going to kill you. Breaking that promise, I know. But the truth is just so much better; you are going to kill yourself, Nightmare!”

Daybreaker laughed, “If you’re hoping to use your mind control on me…”

I shook my head, “Oh no, Princess, nothing of the sort! Your decision to end your own life will be entirely your own! Daybreaker, you are dead already, you just don’t know it yet! You will give the Elements of Harmony back to their bearers, and order them to use the Elements on you!” I looked past her, to where the bearers were stuck looking between Daybreaker and I, and the ponies around them. “Elements! You will use the powers on Daybreaker! Nothing else before her!” I looked back at the demon, “This is the end of the road, Nightmare. The vestiges of Celestia within you will be your own undoing!”

“Speaking nonsense, now?” She asked, getting bored of my threats.

“No, I am speaking of a question. An old question, one of the oldest. It will be your death.”

I didn’t have any secret weapons to kill Daybreaker and save the day. No existing material on nuclear warfare could save me, for they haven’t even begun the decades-long process of researching that, let alone the centuries it would take to get to the weaponizing level. I had no clever ploy to pit the Equestrians against each other, or break the Royal Guards’ indoctrination and save Equestria. No, no MacGuffins or anything else could bring Daybreaker down, save for the Elements of Harmony. But only Daybreaker had control over those at the moment.

In the end, to save Equestria, I would have to burn it to the ground.

“What’s the question?” Daybreaker asked. “What question could possibly defeat Harmony?”

I giggled madly at the phrasing. Every single pony in attendance was watching with horrid fascination, though I could see civilians beginning to evacuate from the sides of the room. The two Princesses watched on, too. Luna’s eyes locked onto mine for a moment.

“In the end, you will die due to Celestia’s own incompetence and complacency, demon. What happens when an unstoppable force meets an unmovable object?”

I swung God-Splitter to my right side and started spinning it.

Pinging the Hail Mary’s location had been a simple enough task. Its magic was unlike anything else I had read about. Luna had confirmed the artifact’s location in a conversation in a dream conversation, a fact that stuck with me.

I stifled a giggle, “My guess? A whole lot of–”

Daybreaker gasped as I swung God-Splitter around, bringing its full momentum to bear before letting it go. She had realized my plan.

“NOOOOOOOO!” She screamed in her Royal Canterlot Voice, nearly knocking me right out of the air.

But she failed.

The hammer flung from my grip, shattering in a moment the shield Daybreaker cast forth to stop it and hold it. It then immediately shattered the next thirteen shields and delaying fields she put up, cutting through each one like they never even existed.

It went right for the wall that faced the royal garden, and continued going right through the wall.

“– DISCORD!” I screamed.

The wall shattered as a distant chuckle filled the air. Outside, the hammer hurtled towards a stone statue, who raised a stone paw to grab the hammer. The paw closed on the hammer as it slammed into Discord, stopping in an instant. His stone prison began to crack and fizzle away.

The distant chuckle grew into a loud cackle as Discord, draconequus of Chaos, Prince of Terror, and doom of immortals shook free the last bits of his stone prison. He laughed as he stretched, relishing the movement. He twirled God-Splitter around like a cane.

Everypony was staring in horror at the awakened god. I, meanwhile, was flying as fast as I could in the opposite direction. There was a crash of thunder from the clear skies as everyone was frozen in shock.

“Hello, everyone!” I heard Discord’s voice behind me, as if he was standing just behind me. “Did you miss me? Because I missed you!”

That seemed to break the spell, as everyone in the room began screaming and stampeded in the opposite direction, for the doors. I flew above their struggle, watching as a few pegasi got the same idea and took off, flocking above the stampede to the doors. Several blue-colored pegasi zipped past me.

‘Those must be the Wonderbolts,’ I giggled.

“Guards! Evacuate the palace, or delay the monster as long as you can!” Daybreaker ordered out of my line of sight. “You! You’re going nowhere!”

I slammed into an invisible wall, and had to catch myself before I fell to the ground. Spinning around, I got a moment’s glimpse of an orange boot before it smashed into my muzzle. A green shimmer that appeared from my helmet stopped the hoof just before it connected with my face, but the blow still knocked me back. I reared back and prepared my own spell, only to be blinded by a hellfire torrent of heat. Feeling the intensity outside my armor’s protective shielding, I dived into the blast, and used the same technique against the Princess that I had against Shining Armor when we first had the pleasure of meeting.

My own booted hoof met Daybreaker’s muzzle, bursting out from the underside of her beam of fire. I followed the strike with a thrust of a summoned ice spear. Daybreaker flicked her mane into the path, which melted the magical ice.

I ducked as a blade of controlled fire thrust into where my chest was just moments before. I parried the outstretched blade with one of my own, made of the coldest, sharpest ice I could summon. It was so cold that despite Daybreaker’s inferno raging around her, all the warmth had been sucked out from me.

Then, Daybreaker’s blade exploded into a white-hot fireball, sending me flying away and dazed. I saw a flash of light shortly before a hoof slammed into my chest, sending me into the ground. I crashed through an abandoned table, staring up at Daybreaker.

‘No fair! I can’t teleport with this armor!’

“Princess!” A pony yelled somewhere.

Miraculously, Daybreaker looked away from me, snarled, and charged away. Pulling myself free from the wooden debris, I saw that she had charged towards Discord. Around the hole and in the garden beyond, the Royal Guards had been frozen in time. One of them had stopped before his comrades, and had called for help.

‘Time to run!’

I stumbled to my hooves and lifted my elytra. My elytra had protected my wings for the most part, but I was guessing that there were probably tears and holes in them that would only increase in size over time.

I only got ten hooves away from the broken table before a wave of energy picked me up and slammed me into the wall, creating a rather sizable Phasma-shaped indent in the stone. An hoof’s length to the right, and I would have been sent out the window I intended to blow out and make my escape through.

I felt my stomach flip as up became down and down became up. Beneath me and around me, ponies tried and failed to hold onto something to stop themselves from falling to the ceiling.

I saw Daybreaker twist in midair, flipping herself upside down and continuing out the ballroom.

Then, gravity flipped once more as backwards became down. All of the ponies and furniture tumbled into the wall I was embedded in, and the sound glass cracking was almost lost in the cacophony of screams.

“Phasma!” I heard Luna yell above the chaos.

“Luna?!” I called out as I pried myself out of the stone imprint of my back.

‘Shit! If Luna needs my help, then I can’t make a hasty retreat! Damnit, damnit, damnit! If only Luna wasn’t here!’

I freed myself from the wall, only for gravity to flip once more, this time back to normal. My wings were still in acceptable condition, good enough to continue flying.

I also noticed that some things didn’t stay down, instead floating around on their own accord. Debris, buffet tables, and ponies clutching chairs desperately bumped around into each other. Another thunderous wave of magic hit us all, and I heard the sudden sound of rain outside.

“Phasma!” Luna yelled again.

This time, I saw her calling out from the far end of the room, by where the royal tables used to be. She was by them now, but the tables were draped over several Royal Guards and other ponies against the wall. They struggled out from underneath the heavy table as Luna looked around the room.

I flew as fast as I could over to her. She saw me coming and leapt up to embrace me when I arrived.

“There you are! I was afraid you would have just left us here with this mess you made!” She said, clutching me tightly.

“That was the plan, admittedly.”

“So you grand plan to save my sister and Equestria as a whole was to destroy it by releasing the worst–”

Luna was interrupted by the glass figure of a unicorn on the massive window behind her coming to life and stepping out of the window. The two-dimensional figure galloped across the room and down the steps, neighing as it passed us.

“– the worst threat to face Equus?” Luna finished.

“Pretty swell plan, ain’t it?” I smiled.

“Auntie Luna?!” Cadence called out from underneath the pony-pile.

Luna let go of me, spun on her hooves, and began pulling off the heavy tables and chairs off of the ponies. I lend my hoof, proverbially speaking, and pried ponies loose from the groaning pile.

The Royal Guards I freed glared daggers at me, but turned to help their fellow Equestrians.

The Elements of Harmony bearers– ‘that’s really a long title, they need a shorter one,’ – gathered to the side, free from the pile and lending help where they could. Eventually Cadence and Captain Shining Armor were freed from the pile, the very last ones on the bottom of it.

Just in time, too, as a marble pillar which had cracked in half suddenly grew arms and lifted the chiseled base like a skirt, revealing two marble satyr or minotaur legs, which it used to suddenly and quickly escape the room, snapping in half and leaving its top section behind. It ran right through where all the ponies had been, making a straggler throw herself to the side to escape the thundering stone hooves.

“I like that guy’s idea! Let’s make like a tree and get the fuck out of here!” I told Luna.

A crack of lightning and a mad laugh froze us momentarily. I glanced back and saw Discord bobbing and weaving around an enraged Daybreaker past the shattered windows. He simply snaked around her, as if he had no bones in his body.

‘Lesson number one: there’s always a bigger fish.’

“No! We have to stay and help the Elements!” Luna yelled back. “Is everypony okay?”

There were some groans, but the Elements, Cadence, and Shining Armor nodded as the last civilians made their way out of our corner and through a side door. The Royal Guards, what few stayed here, nodded as well.

“We can start helping them by killing that monster!” Shining yelled, pointing a hoof at me.

“Autographs can wait,” I dismissed him. “If you want to help the bearers, then we’ll need to find out why the Elements didn’t work.”

I looked at Twilight Sparkle, Element bearer of Magic for answers. The ponies, all filled with a mixture of confusion and fear, also followed my line of thinking. Whatever they felt about me, they all correctly figured that Discord, ruiner of civilizations, was worse.

“It doesn’t seem like these are the real Elements! It would make sense that she swapped them out for fakes even before bringing them out here into the Gala,” she told us.

“So let’s go ask her!” I said, looking back out the windows at Daybreaker.

Just in time, too, as I saw Discord yawn and flick the fingers of his taloned hand, sending Daybreaker flying backwards and through another part of the wall, back into the ballroom. She caught a pillar, cracking it but stopping her backward momentum.

“Should I ask her, or you, Luna?”

“You’ve done quite enough helping for today!” She yelled as she flapped her wings and took off.

‘Okay, time for the awkward bit.’

I turned around and saw Captain Shining Armor and several Royal Guards giving me the stink eye. Shining had put himself between me and the Princess and Element bearers.

“Sooo…. Last time we met, we got off on the wrong hoof,” I said, focusing my apology to Shining.

“You used a foal as a shield, hurt her, then pummeled me into the ground,” he said, gritting his teeth.

“Like I said, the wrong hoof. Look Shining, you and I both know morals take a backseat when you’re fighting a war for your species’ survival. I’m sorry it got to that point, but I did what I thought I had to do.”

“Why should I trust you?” Shining asked

“Because… uh… Cadence will tell you to?”

“Princess Cadence,” he glared at me, “and I don’t think she will.”

“Actually Shiny,” Cadence interrupted, “he’s sorta good now. A work in progress, at least.”

“What? How? You just saw him use a hostage! Why are you siding with him, Cadence?! Has he used his mind control powers on you?!”

“Nothing of the sort. I’m sure hurting that pony was for a very good reason, and that he will make things right after this,” Cadence said slowly before adding almost inaudibly, “I hope.”

“Yes, it was necessary. I needed to know if Daybreaker would actually comply and give the Elements over to save her citizens. I even relaxed my grip on her and let her go. I was bluffing, Shining Armor. I was almost bluffing when I had that foal. I intended to use illusionary magic to make it look like I hurt her, but then you kinda charged out and ruined anything. Look, we can go over apologies and pointing hooves later. Right now we kind of have to deal with the end of the world.”

“The thing you started?”

“Yeah that thing.”

Shining Armor huffed, “Fine. Princess Luna and Cadence both seem to believe you and your talk of demons and Nightmares… Do you even have any proof of this?”

“Luna was possessed by a Nightmare, and I nearly was twice. I think we both know a Nightmare when we see one.”

The Captain grunted in frustration, “And you released the greatest threat the world has ever known to defeat one?”

“It was the only way to make her reveal the Element’s location, and willingly protect the bearers as they used them,” I said, glancing at the five mares watching our conversation.

‘Wait, five mares? Oh, there’s the sixth.’

The yellow pegasus, Fluttershy, was subtly putting as many ponies between her and myself as possible.

Shining Armor sighed, “Alright, fine, I’ll believe you. If I am the last sane pony, we’d be doomed anyways.”

“Remember, Daybreaker first. We can’t allow her to survive this night. She will try to do anything to avoid getting hit by your MacGuffin.”

“Our what?” Twilight asked, looking to her friends for answers but only receiving shrugs.

“So then, what’s the next step in your plan?” Captain Shining asked.

“Well by now I was supposed to be halfway across Canterlot, but we can improve this. Luna should return with the Element’s real location. Then, we’ll have to keep Discord distracted long enough for the Elements to be used twice: first against Daybreaker, then against him.”

“Ooo, that’s a good plan,” Discord said.

Everyone shouted and leaped away from the King of Chaos, who had spontaneously appeared among the gathered ponies.

“Elements! Get to Luna!” I yelled.

“Guards, see to the evacuation of the civilians!” Shining yelled, dismissing his backup.

‘Not like they were going to be of much help.’

Captain Shining Armor threw up a shield bubble around Discord just as I pulled on God-Splitter’s tether. I felt the response from outside. The draconequus left the hammer in the garden, for whatever reason. It would take precious moments to retrieve it now. Too long, far too long. The bearers galloped away just as Discord opened a square hole in the magical shield, as if he was opening a door.

Taking the hint that magic alone won’t win this fight, I flew forwards and shoulder-checked him back through the hole in the shield, gripping the square protrusion and slamming it shut behind me.

“Oof!” He grunted as I knocked the wind out of him.

‘Think, think, think! Magic doesn’t work against him! I need to restrain him.’

I poured energy into the Thread of Change, transforming from a changeling to an oversized octopus. Unbroken Radiance buckled as it tried to change to my new massive size, before it simply popped off. Since my new body was taking up practically all the space in Shining Armor’s bubble, the armor became wedged between me and the shimmering shield.

“Haven’t you heard of personal space?” I heard a muffled voice from within the shield somewhere, buried within the folds of the eight tentacles I curled up around me.

‘We’re not going to win against him. Just make him lose focus on the Elements for as long as possible!’

Tap. Tap. Tap.

With a cephalopod eye, I looked outside of the tight confines of the shield. Discord was outside, tapping on the bubble like it was an aquarium tank. Shining looked over and yelped in surprise.

‘Of course he can teleport! Looks like I’m just going to have to throw the kitchen sink at him.’

Discord smiled, curled his talons into a fist, and punched the shield. Instead of it shimmering or popping, it just rang. Rang like a bell that I was sitting in the middle of.

Casting off the massive aquatic disguise, I stumbled around as I tried to quickly readjust to being a changeling. I managed to throw up, which was not part of the plan. The shield vanished as I regained my balance. Captain Shining Armor was already trying to trap Discord again with a new one. Discord saw the shield blink into place around him, and then rolled his eyes and lazily flicked the shield.

It was ripped apart violently, sending Shining to the ground in pain.

“Shining! Phasma!” I heard Cadence yelling. “Hold on just a moment!”

Perhaps heard wasn’t the right word. I felt the vibrations of her yelling, but all I could really hear was ringing in my ears.

“Wha–?” I mumbled before a giant piano swept Discord off his legs and was sent crashing into the far wall. Then, a beam of below-zero temperature encased the piano in a solid two hooves length of ice.

‘Urgh, yeah! You get ‘em, Cadence!’

I stepped forward to continue the duel, only to fall flat on my face. My new prone position gave me a good view of Luna, Daybreaker, and the Elements of Harmony bearers fleeing the room.

‘Looks like plan Z is still in effect. Good, I was hoping I screwed us all for no reason at all…’

I groaned as I tried pushing myself up off the ground.

“That hurt. That’s not how you should treat guests in your own home, Princess,” Discord’s disembodied voice echoed around us.

“You are not welcome here!” Cadence yelled into the empty air, arriving at Shining Armor’s side and helping him to his hooves.

‘At least the ringing is going away. Urgh.’

“I am welcome to go wherever I please,” the voice echoed again.

I spun around upon hearing his voice right behind me. The act made my head spin and stomach leap to my throat, but I held my own. Discord was right there, behind me, glaring at us.

“This was a nice warmup, but there’s a whole world out there to see. Let’s wrap this up, shall we? Oh, I rhymed!” Discord said, suddenly pleased with himself.

“Yeah, let’s wrap this up,” I agreed. “So why don’t you just go back to being a statue for us? It’ll save us a lot of hassle.”

Discord squinted his eyes and looked me over, “You’re that King Phasmatodea that set me free, aren’t you? Well, that was nice of you, I think I’ll let you go, just this once. Go on now, shoo.”

He waved his hands at me, trying to shoo me away. I had to plant my hooves firmly on the ground as I suddenly felt an urge to run away. Instead, I hit him with a concussive wave, knocking him over. A moment later, he slithered up to his feet and shook his head, looking far angrier than annoyed or amused. I didn’t actually sense any emotion from him, however.

“You half-rate demigods just don’t know when the game’s up, do you?”

“You’re outnumbered, Discord,” Cadence said, putting on a layer of bravado that I could taste was fake. “Surrender now, and nopony has to get hurt.”

“Yeah!” Shining agreed, still blinking away stars.

“And go back to being a glorified lawn ornament? Hmm….” Discard tapped his chin. “A tempting offer… Nah. Too drab. Too boring! I think it’s time for a change in scenery! It’s time for the world to return to the way it should be: without order.”

“The only thing that’s going to happen is that your statue is going to be moved into a secure vault, where you’ll never see the light of day again, you half-rate trickster god,” I snarled. “I brought you back to life, you ugly motherfucker, and I’ll send you right back to your fucking grave!”

‘Just keep stalling him. Just keep stalling him. Nothing else matters!’

“Tch, such language. You should really be more family-friendly, little insect, there could be foals watching,” Discord chuckled.

He snapped his fingers as I casted a flashbang spell. I saw him flinch away before my whole world went white and the ringing returned. I felt strange.

‘Numb. I feel numb. Like I can’t feel anything, not even the emotions of Cadence or Shining, who were standing right behind me!’

I blinked the whiteness away, and found myself staring up at Discord. He had grown giant-sized.

‘No, I had shrunk!’

I tried to yelp in surprise, only to find that I couldn’t make any sound. I raised a hoof to touch my muzzle. Then, catching the movement out of the corner of my eye, I raised the hoof and waved it in front of my eyes. It was not covered in the chitin and other materials that a changeling hoof normally was. Instead, it was covered in felt.

‘What the…’

I looked down and saw my faded reflection in the polished marble floor. A stuffed toy version of myself looked up at me.

‘He…’

I tried pouring energy into the Thread of Change, to undo the transformation. I felt nothing: not the Thread of Change, not my internal energy reservoirs of love, nor even my own mana pool. I couldn’t feel my Weave, either. I was cut off from any magic or forms of communication to anyone else.

My ears seemed to work, but all I heard was ringing. My eyes worked just fine. My mouth… I couldn’t open it. I couldn’t yell. I couldn’t scream. It was just like that horror short story, from back on earth.

Suddenly, my view changed as the floor soared away beneath me. Frantically looking around, I saw that Cadence had scooped me up in her forehooves and was now flinging spells uselessly at Discord, who seemed to be having a calm conversation with her and Shining Armor.

‘A snap of his fingers, and that was it. It’s no wonder he destroyed so many civilizations…’

I watched in silent horror as he snapped his fingers again. Shining Armor vanished into a puff of white smoke. A small labrador puppy scampered out before falling on its face. A higher pitched ringing in my ears made me look up. Cadence was yelling.

She took us into a dive, aiming to scoop the transformed Captain up. Only, Discord yawned, stretched, and lazily snapped his fingers again. Our controlled dive turned into a freefall as Cadence’s hooves disappeared from around my body.

‘My body, if it even is that anymore,’ I thought, not even sure what emotion I was feeling anymore.

I was scared, that much was sure. Any bravery I had was extinguished like a candle in a hurricane. Discord had killed numerous immortals when he was last free, and I was witnessing just how he did it.

I was also just a little bit fascinated. He held so much power that he played with and broke the fundamental laws of magic and physics, as if they were mere suggestions to him. At such blatant displays of power, I could only watch, stunned.

Then, we hit the ground. I felt nothing, but I wasn’t sure if that was a blessing or a curse. I rolled across the ground, flipping over a few times before sliding to a halt on my back. Discord looked down at me, then above my head, smiled, and vanished.

He was gone, already looking for his next toys.

‘Our best efforts amounted to… seconds?’

I lay there, trying to process the speed of it all. I freed Discord. Then, he messed around with gravity. Then, he appeared and… and that was it. Thirty seconds later, he left. I was… something that wasn’t me. Shining got turned into a dog. Cadence–

‘Cadence!’

I flipped over and rose to my hooves, looking around the ballroom. I spotted Shining Armor, the golden lab, prodding another puppy. That puppy, a pink poodle, was lying on its side. I trotted over to them, slipping on the smooth tiles six times before I reached the former ponies. The ringing in my ears subsided again, and stayed gone this time.

Shining Armor looked at me. Even as young, small canines, the ponies were larger than me.

“What now?” He asked, his voice as fragile as he looked.

‘What the… puppy love? Is that the joke Discord was going for…? And he turned me into a doll because what? I swear, and a stuffed animal is more child friendly? That’s… not funny.’

I trailed off in thought as Cadence twitched. Then, she jumped up, only to fall off balance and land on Shining Armor on her left side.

‘What do we do?’

The two ponies extricated themselves from each other, had their freakouts, and then looked around the room with me. There were still floating objects, bumping into each other. Occasionally, I’d see creatures made of things like folded napkins or silverware springing from floating table to floating table.

My gaze around the room led me in a circle, ending back at Shining and Cadence. Cadence looked down at me, like Shining did.

“Do you know what to do, Phasma? What we should do?”

I shook my head.

‘If you’re asking me what to do… I am truly lost. I just hope that those precious few seconds were enough for everyone else to save the day. We gave them half a minute? Less?’

Cadence cast one last fearful glance around the room before reaching down grabbing what I assumed was a stuffed-animal version of my fin, picking me up off the ground once again. Then, she twisted her head and deposited me on her back. Then, she set off, with Shining trailing behind.

“Let’s just… find somewhere safe,” Cadence told us.

One thing was clear; this was out of our hooves. Everything next was on the Elements and Luna. We three gave Discord as much pause as he allowed us to, and then he moved on.

I wrapped my forelegs around Cadence’s neck as she found safe passage through the chaos-touched room. Occasionally, we waited and waited as one of Discord’s living creations prawled by.

We made it to the edge of the room, and began scuttling close to the wall for cover. The first door we came across was made of chocolate, and did not budge. We moved on, looking for another way out.

The second door we found was opened, and the hallway beyond seemed clear. It was a servant’s passage, with only the barest of decorations. They walked silently down its length, with me still on Cadence’s back. I was trying to think of anything we could do. Anything.

Cadence and Shining switched to walking on the wall as the corridor slowly twisted around. Then, they moved to the ceiling. Cadence stopped at one of the doorways. It was cracked ajar, but it was out of our reach.

“This is a storage room,” Cadence whispered, unsure of herself. “Do you think we can get in there, Shiny?”

“Uh… yeah, give me a moment,” Shining Armor said, backing up,

Then, with a running jump, he leaped up and grabbed onto the top of the doorframe. He must have kept much of his soldier muscle, as he quickly pulled himself up onto the ledge and held out a paw for Cadence.

“Right… what do we do about Phasma?” Cadence said, looking back at me.

“Just leave him out here,” Shining suggested.

“Not going to happen.”

“Why are you trying so hard to protect him, Cadence? This is all his fault, anyways.”

“This argument can wait until we’re inside, Shining Armor,” Cadence sighed as she bit into the back of my neck and pulled me off her back.

Then, holding me by the neck in her mouth, she made a running leap for the door. Shining shifted on the ledge, leaning over it and extending both of his paws for Cadence to grab onto. Cadence leapt up and grabbed onto him, smashing me into the wall in front of her.

Not that I felt anything, anyways.

Shining grunted as he pulled backwards and let himself drop off the doorframe, hoisting Cadence up with him. We tumbled backwards and onto each other into the room.

It was a storage room, just as Cadence said. Stacks of crates were piled up on the floor, and shelves of items filled the rest of the room. The shelves were bolted to the floor, meaning everything was above our heads, not caring for gravity’s new direction.

Shining leaned upwards and shut the door closed, leaving us in the dim lighting of a single glow crystal in a sconce, now pointed at what was functionally our floor.

“So… now what? We wait?” Shining asked Cadence.

“What else is there to do?”

Shining leaned into Cadence, nuzzling under her head like a pony.

“This is just like the invasion. Told to sit back, wait, and hope for the best….” He muttered before turning to glare at me. “Do you have any idea of the damage you did? The ponies who are now dead because of your war?”

“Shiny, that’s not fair,” Cadence said, defending me.

“Oh? And why not?”

“The war wasn’t his decision. Tartarus, even Daybreaker pointed that out.”

“He still helped, didn’t he? And what’s all this defending him? You’ve spoken with him before this, haven’t you? The way you’re acting, it’s like….. I don’t know. You’re acting weird.”

“I have spoken with him, yes,” she admitted.

“When? When, Cadence?” Cadence shrugged. “You knew about Prince Phasma, or King Phasma, or whatever he is, and you didn’t say anything?”

“I couldn’t. You were too close to Daybreaker. If she learned about his survival any earlier, we wouldn’t have even made it this far.”

“This far?” He questioned. “From my point of view, it looks like we’ve reached rock bottom. You and I are… a–are dogs, Cadence. Dogs. King Phasma is a foal’s toy. The bearers– my sister is out there, and so is Discord. This is how far trusting a changeling got you?! Now we have to sit and wait and hope for the best? Everything’s gone to Tartarus, and it seems everypony knows about what’s going on except me. I thought I was special, Cadence. Why couldn’t you trust me? What did I do to hurt you?”

“No, no, Shiny! You’ve done nothing wrong!” Cadence pleaded. “Luna and Phasma didn’t want anypony to hear about his survival. Apparently, even telling me went against Phasma’s wishes.”

“Who cares about his wishes?! He’s a bad pony, Cadence.” Shining moaned and rubbed his face, “So… you kept secrets from me to protect the pony I see in my nightmares. Fine, that’s fine. Just great. Now what, you want me to just…. forget he did anything wrong?”

“Not at all. Phasma knows what he did was wrong, and he believed he had no choice. But,” she cut him off before he could argue, “we’re going to help him. Really help him. Me, Luna, Auntie Celestia, and even you. He wants to be good, and that’s all we need.” Cadence walked past Shining and looked down at me. “With great power comes great responsibility, Phasma. Your actions might be understandable, but they aren’t excusable. We are alicorns. Alicorns and… royals. We have to be better. We have to always solve problems as safely as possible, with as few ponies hurt. Even if they deserve to be hurt, we have to be better. It’s up to us to set the standard and use the powers we were blessed with always for good, and never evil. Hurting ponies that attack you because you are scared is… it’s not something that can continue.”

I looked away, feeling a bit guilty.

‘She’s giving me the superhero speech. I don’t need the superhero speech, I’m… Fine, I act out when I’m scared. Who doesn’t? That’s a perfectly normal and natural reaction. Someone tries to kill you, you kill them back!’

“So then what happens to him after this? Assuming there is an after,” Shining asked.

“I don’t know, Shiny. My aunts will know, and they will keep him in good hooves.”

The conversation ended there. Cadence sat down and Shining Armor sat down next to her. They leaned into each other for support, quietly talking about Discord, or Twilight Sparkle, or Luna, or of course, me. There was nothing much better to do, so Cadence told Shining Armor about her encounters with me, and my story.

Shining sent less and less death glares at me as the story went on. When the story came to the Ascension chamber, he just looked resigned.

“Another cruel joke. One of the most fearsome villains I knew of was just an afraid colt, trying to not die. Cadence, what’s happened to the world? It used to be so simple…”

“I know, Shiny, I know.”

“I remember a time when all I had to worry about was getting my pre-calc homework in on time, or memorizing the components of DNA. Now it’s all end-of-the-world this, or war-crime that.”

“I remember having to ask the cute colt in my class for help with my homework,” Cadence giggled.

“Lucky colt.”

“That was you, Shiny.”

“Like I said, lucky colt,” he said as they kissed.

I pantomimed gagging before turning away and looking up at the shelves. They were stocked with cleaning products, spare light crystals, and more materials that maids would need to keep the gargantuan palace in working order. I was wondering what was in the crates when a distant thundering came from outside the closed door.

Cadence and Shining rose and moved away from the door, ducking low to the ground, as if to make themselves less visible. I hid behind Cadence and watched the door.

It rattled as the thundering came close. Whatever was making the sound passed us, continuing down the hall to the ballroom, and the door became silent once again.

“What was that?” Shining whispered.

“Something big, or something mad,” Cadence answered.

“Daybreaker? Discord? A creation?”

‘A pissed Luna?’

Cadence shrugged. After a minute passed, Shining turned to regard me

“King Phasma… it’s tiring to hate you. I don’t think I can do it anymore. That doesn’t mean I forgive you, or even want to see you again.”

‘You’re no basket of roses, either, pal.’

“You’ll have to work hard to prove yourself trustworthy, changeling.”

‘I don’t need nor want your trust, pathetic guard.’

“But… the Princesses know better. They always do. If they say you can be good, that you want to be good, then who am I to step in the way? But I’ll be watching you. One hoof out of place…”

‘One hoof out of place, and you’ll run to your marefriend? Well my marefriend can beat up your marefriend, so you’re shit out of luck, buddy.’

“I’m glad we can reach an understanding,” Shining said, not realizing that we hadn’t.

“And I’m glad you’re willing to put your hurt aside for a pony in need,” Cadence said, kissing Shining on the cheek. “Now, where was I? Ah yes, Phasma falling in love with Nightmare Moon.”

“He… did what?”

“Yeah. His love for Luna would come later.”

“His what?!”

Cadence smiled at me, “Star crossed lovers on the opposing sides of a war. Generals who love each other as much as they love their nations. If it weren’t for the whole war crimes thing, I’d be utterly in support of the relationship. As it is, Luna’s judgement can’t be completely trusted when it comes to Phasma. But I’m getting ahead of myself. We’re still on Nightmare Moon, and her alluring charm and power…”

‘Swear to Panar, Cadence, I will gut you if you… gah!’

I covered my ears with my hooves, to no effect. Cadence continued to spill the very detailed beans of my feelings for Nightmare Moon, however brief they were.

A distant yell and rumble shook the room slightly. Then, the rumbling returned, slower and much quieter and less intense this time. It passed the doorway, rattling it and all the shelves. Then it stopped. There was silence for a moment.

Then, the door handle began to turn.

Shining to his credit, put himself in front of Cadence, protecting his girlfriend despite the fact that he couldn’t actually do anything. I tried hopping upwards, reaching for the shelves and places to hide up there. Unfortunately, they were far out of reach, so I settled for bravely cowering behind Cadence again.

It was very different from cowardly cowering, you see.

The door opened, and a pale blue light entered the room, followed by a unicorn horn which the light rested on. Luna peeked the rest of her head through the door, looking around the room. When she saw us, she threw the door open and stepped inside.

“Dogs? What–” she muttered.

“Auntie Luna?” Cadence gasped.

“Cadence?!” Luna bounded over and crouched low to look Cadence in the eyes. “Are you uninjured? You appear to be a canine now.”

“I am, aside from the obvious. Discord turned us into puppies after being annoyed at our outward affection. Called it puppy love.”

‘Nailed it!’

“I’m fine, too,” Shining announced.

“Captain Shining Armor, is that you? You seem to have lost weight…”

“Thanks for noticing, how did you find us?”

“I came back as soon as I could. The Gala… I found Phasma’s armor and hammer, but he wasn’t there. It was like deja vu. A tracking spell led me here. Where… where is he?”

Cadence stepped aside, revealing me. I waved a hoof.

Luna’s eyes widened, “Phasma!” She lurched forward and pulled me into a tight hug. “Are– are you okay? Oh my– no, you are okay. You are small and cuddly, though that will be fixed soon enough.”

She sat down, holding me close to her chest and looking down at me. I could have sworn that it made me feel warm. The fear and confusion melted away, at least.

“You are a foal’s toy, Phasma…”

‘Thanks, I didn’t notice.’

“Discord wasn’t a fan of his foul language,” Cadence explained.

“Ah. That explains that. Don’t worry, Phasma, you will be fine. I know you will. I promise.”

‘Calm down, Luna. I figured that part out already.’

Trying to convey this, I tapped her twice on the chest. She relaxed her grip, thinking that I was being strangled or something similar.

“Now you see the rashness of your plan, if you can even call it that? How long did you last in the fight before he cast you aside without a moment’s thought? He is a monster of a different caliber… if his mind was set towards cruelty and evil rather than some incomprehensible notion of entertainment…”

‘Yeah, yeah, but I still haven’t heard a better plan from anyone else, Luna. As far as I can tell, my plan is still the best one.’

“Okay, we are all okay. Cadence, Shining armor, you two will come with me. There’s somepony who wants to see you three.”

She gathered us all with her magic, held us behind a hoof clutched against her chest, and took off, tearing through the corridors of the palace.

‘Oh, so that’s what we heard earlier. An afraid Luna! I was close. Do I get points for being close?’

Luna expertly dodged a flock of doves wandering the halls, whose wings had grown to be five times their size and were used as legs. She twisted around gravitational changes, making for an ornate door at the end of the long hallway. Through that, more labyrinthian halls.

‘How does anyone find their way around here?’

Luna slowed down as she approached what was to be the final turn. Beyond, a ruined grand hallway once stood. Shattered gold, broken marble, The smoldering remains of banners, shattered glass windows, and melted columns were all that remained of the lavish room. It was raining outside, and not water. Brown liquid came pouring in through the broken windows, staining the ground and forming chocolate-colored puddles. At the far end of the room, a massive golden door had been ripped off its hinges and smashed into the wall.

Sitting in the middle of a scorch mark that stretched from wall to wall was a small, white alicorn. She was staring at discarded orange armor pieces when we entered the room.

Princess Celestia looked up at us, and smiled.

“Hello Luna. Back already– what are…?” Her tired yet cheerful demeanour fell away when she saw us in Luna’s hooves.

“I found Phasma, Cadence, and Shining. They’re a little bit worse for wear, but they are mostly unharmed,” Luna said, coming close to her foal-sized sister before setting us down before her and landing behind us.

Princess Celestia regarded us with a curious gaze, “A little bit worse for wear? I hate to imagine what you think in bad shape is, then.”

“Auntie?” Cadence asked, stepping forward.

“Cadence. It’s so good to see you again.”

Cadence laughed as she vaulted forward, springing across the small gap between us and into a hug around Celestia. It was mostly Celestia hugging Cadence, but the pink poodle melted in her grasp anyways. I stepped back to avoid being smashed into the ground by a stray hoof or paw.

“It’s good to have you back, Your Highness. Even if I, uh, never thought you were gone…” Shining Armor trailed off.

“It’s okay, Captain Shining Armor. Your loyalty to Equestria is something that nopony can ever fault. Thank you for your dedication in this time of pain and woe. We are blessed to have somepony like you leading the Guard. I am sorry that it was I who failed you, and led you all astray…” Celestia said quietly, before letting go of Cadence.

“I’m just so glad you're back, Aunt Celestia,” Cadence sniffed.

“Heh, I’m glad that I’m back, too. Speaking of which…” She looked at me.

I slid forward when Luna pushed me across the burnt ground, “Phasma, I would like you to meet my sister, Celestia. Celestia, this is Phasma.”

“It is a pleasure to meet you properly, King Phasma,” Celestia smiled, extending a hoof.

I tentatively bumped it with my own. The tiny plush appendage was half of her hoof’s size.

“Discord took Phasma’s ability to speak, as well,” Luna explained.

“Oh my, I am sorry to hear that. Are you well besides that?” She asked, cocking her head to the side.

I started to nod but paused and looked back at Luna. I pointed at her and cocked my own head. She nodded to me, making me nod at Celestia.

“Hmm? Why did he want to… there’s something between you two, isn’t there?” Celestia guessed.

“Yes, Celestia. He and I are together. We found solace in each other’s company, and fell for each other deeply. He kept me company during the nights, and together, if I may be so bold, we saved each other’s lives. I do not know where I would be without him, save for the fact that it would have been a much darker place.”

“Huh. I didn’t expect that. I am relieved to hear that you had not shouldered your burdens alone, and found a close friend so quickly. Cadence, have you fared well?”

Cadence stared at the ground, “Keeping secrets from Shiny wasn’t easy, nor pleasant…”

“I will have to make it up to you,” Luna said.

“It is I who need to make amends, sister,” Celestia shook her head. “My failures brought pain to–”

Luna stepped forward, making me look up between her hooves that stomped down around me, “Celestia! Not for a moment should you believe that any of this is your fault! I was the one who failed you. If I had not turned my back all those centuries ago, none of this would have happened.”

“... We may talk in circles for hours about this, and I am certain we will in the future. For now, let’s just… split the blame fifty-fifty?” Celestia smiled, though her emotions were mostly sad.

“For now,” Luna agreed, before stepping past me and embracing her sister, lifting her up using her magic.

“Daybreaker is gone,” Celestia said after ending the hug. “This room is her last message, a result of her temper tantrum.” She snorted and pointed at me, “Your gamble paid off, King Phasma. Let’s just hope that nopony gets hurt by Discord in ways that can’t be fixed. No, I don’t blame you for releasing him. I left you with no choice.”

“Surely there was a way that didn’t involve unleashing Equestria’s worst criminal?” Shining Armor asked.

Celestia shrugged, “Perhaps. But it is easy to think of solutions when unburdened by stress and time constraints. Now, all we can do is wait for the Elements of Harmony and the wonderful ponies that hold them to find Discord, and make things right.”

“Those mares have saved us both, now,” Luna pointed out.

Celestia nodded, “Yes… perhaps a holiday is in order. And a substantial reward. And a parade. And… whatever else they will let me give them. I doubt they will accept anything, though. We will need to be crafty…”

Luna laughed, “You have no idea how relieved I am to hear you really back, Celestia. Daybreaker was burning hot, but her smiles were never warm, nor was her voice without the mirth yours carries.”

“I missed you too, Luna. A thousand years, and at times I felt as lonely as I imagine you were up there. Still, it’s awfully ignorant of me to compare my pains to yours. Let’s shelve that conversation for later, right next to the one where we argue who did what and who's to blame. I don’t know about you, sister, but I am utterly parched. Mayhaps we can find ourselves something to drink…?”

“I will go find some water,” Luna said, turning away.

“No, something real to drink,” Celestia called out, stopping Luna.

“I will see if the kitchens are safe enough to find tea.”

“I was rather hoping for something like…. Whisky on the rocks?” Celestia offered a sheepish smile.

Luna blinked, “... There is no alcohol in the palace, Celestia.”

Her smile vanished, “What? No alcohol? No, that was merely a dream I had. There’s got to be something. The closest thing would be the State Room, down the hall and second door to the right. It has a fully stocked mini-bar.”

"You banned– sorry Your Highness, Daybreaker banned all alcohol in Equestria,” Shining said.

Celestia grimaced, “No, no, no. That was a horrible nightmare. I would never… no, simply not.”

Luna sighed, “Very apt choice of words. It was indeed a Nightmare, Celestia. But I am afraid that this Nightmare was all too real. There is no liquor in all of Canterlot, save for private stashes and black markets.”

Celestia paled, “So it could be days– weeks of sobriety? Luna… I do not know if I can survive such an ordeal.”

Luna rolled her eyes, “You are sober right now. You can survive until you appeal your own legislation and remove the restrictions on banned substances.”

“... That could take months. Tearing down and removing those laws is no easy feat, even with my position as Princess.”

“What do you mean, Celestia? I did not have to go through any oversight to rebuild Canterlot. Further, I doubt Daybreaker would limit her own power.”

Celestia sighed, “It’s a holdover law from when I acquired Appleloosa and integrated it into Equestria. One of their demands was a hold period on laws, and that they cannot be repealed or amended for a total of eight months after they are passed.”

“Why would they want that?”

“It’s hard enough getting information disseminated out on the frontier. Their reasoning is that the time frame gives them a chance to understand what’s going on with Equestria, and muster the appropriate response. Given that this horrible nightmare called a Prohibition doesn’t have to do with national security, it’s bound by that constraint.”

Luna snorted, “And? Are you telling me that you shackled your own power to the slowest denominator in Equestrian society? That you have limited yourself to the slowest messengers? Come on, Celestia. Really?”

“I did get a huge tax raise on the Appleloosa nobles as part of the deal, so give me some credit.”

I looked up and saw Luna sneering at her sister, “Truly, I shudder to think of what other arcane and draconian laws and restrictions you have hidden away in that beast you call a legal code. Tell me, are your declarations of war decided by an omen written in chicken’s blood? Do you decide the tax rate by rolling some dice?”

“I delegated a lot of the burden of ruling, Luna. That has its drawbacks. Sometimes laws like this get passed. Managing the commerce of Equestria is a very touchy subject. Getting the nobles of Equestria to agree on anything is like herding cats, only the cats are all as round as a melon and simply roll away from you when you get close.”

“.... I don’t follow, sister.”

“My point is that sweeping bans on contraband take time to be repealed. In the meantime, I might be able to pass a law or two that would let me confiscate some private stashes to survive.”

Luna blinked in surprise, “Sister? Are you suggesting that you take drinks away from our ponies?”

The small white alicorn sighed, “You’re right, Luna. I am sorry, I am just… not in the best state of mind right now.”

Luna reached over and tapped her sister on her shoulder reassuringly, “There, there, Celestia. I understand your position more than any other. Recovering from a Nightmare’s possession is a painful experience. In time, the fatigue will fade and you will feel lighter and more free than you ever have been.”

Celestia sniffed, “Thank you, Luna. I don’t deserve you one bit. But… I was talking about the fact that I am sober, not that I am freed from possession.”

“Sister! I think you have let your vice slip into addiction!”

“... And?”

‘Heh, I like that kind of thinking. We’re pretty much demi-gods, anyways. What’s a few vices?’

“And you should be the ruler of your body, not its slave!”

“Luna is right, Auntie,” Cadence agreed, breaking her silence.

Celestia grimaced at the thought of continued sobriety, “We will talk about this later, Luna. For now…. I think I would like that tea. I might as well get used to its pure taste. Its pure, bland, painful taste. If you could–” Celestia suddenly stopped talking and her head snapped to the wall on our left.

“What is that, Celestia?”

“... You might want to step away from King Phasma.”

The giant above me retreated away, looking down at me and offering me a reassuring smile.

“Cadence, Shining, you two might also want a bit of room,” Celestia said to the two quiet ponies-turned-puppies

They separated, and suddenly a wave of rainbow-colored magic phased through the room. I felt it– I felt it, the first thing I had felt since I had been turned into a foal’s toy. It was hot and tingly. It felt like stepping into an extremely hot pool of water; the magic was not painless. But already, other feelings were returning to me.

‘I can sense emotions! I can feel the Weave!’

In a comical puff of white smoke, I suddenly appeared in my normal changeling form, right where I was standing on the floor. To my side, Cadence and Shining were returned to their own bodies as well.

The rainbow wave passed through the room and exited the other side. The rain outside ceased, and the clouds cleared away, revealing Luna’s night sky. The tingling sensation ebbed away, leaving me with the feeling of pins and needles all over my body.

“It seems the Elements have done their duty and saved Equestria, once again,” Luna said cheerfully from behind me.

“Let’s never do that again,” Shining Armor muttered.

“Agreed,” Celestia laughed. “It’s nice to see you two again, Shining and Cadence. You two look as lovely as ever.”

“Thanks, Celestia,” Cadence smiled, “You look more adorable than ever.”

“And at last I meet you properly, King Phasma,” Celestia extended a hoof in greeting.

“Hello Princess Celestia. I’ve heard much about you,” I bumped her hoof.

“Whatever they said, it’s probably true,” Celestia chuckled. “Now–”

My hooves were swept out from underneath me and my barrel was spun so that I landed on my back. Luna caught me, standing on her hindlegs with her forelegs cradling my back. She smiled down at me.

“I’ve been waiting a long time for this,” she said, love pouring from her heart.

“That makes two of us,” I smiled back.

Princess Luna leaned down, and kissed me on the lips. I melted in her grasp as she pulled me closer and deepened the kiss. The warmth the Elements pushed onto me was nothing compared to the heat radiating from my face and chest. I whimpered at the pure taste of love and my own happiness.

‘Hail to the King, baby!’

A sharp sound underneath me made Luna break the kiss and look down at me, confused.

“... Did you just chirp, Phasma?”

“No! No, definitely not!”

Luna tried to not giggle, but broke out into a fit of laughter that caused her to nearly drop me.

“YES!” Cadence yelled, pumping a hoof into the air. “Bucking YES! This was SO worth it! Shiny!” She called out, quickly grabbing her own coltfriend into a passionate kiss.

I got back onto my hooves as Celestia politely looked away.

“So, you are… dating Luna?”

“I am.”

She eyed me up and down, “It’s going to take a lot to impress me, though you’ve made a great start so far.”

I laughed, “I can have my changelings bring a crate of whisky to the palace tonight.”

“... Marry him, Luna.”

Author's Note

I have a Ko-Fi if you want to support me

119- Pax

Act 9: Sins Of The Father

“I need you to disband Division-P and cancel any standing orders, Princess Celestia.”

The white alicorn looked up at me and grimaced, “I will do what I can immediately, of course...”

“However?”

“However I had– Daybreaker had created contingencies for just such events. In fact, I believe Cadence already told you of them.”

I gritted my teeth, “The Dead Hoof Protocol. I know. Can you stop it?”

“The moment word of Daybreaker’s defeat leaves this room is the moment Division-P opens their sealed letters and… the more fanatical will carry out those orders. The good ponies roped into that horrible organization I made will throw their orders away and wait for more news. You can’t shake their faith in Harmony. The zealots, though… I am afraid I will not be able to stop them. You will have to go to the dungeons right now and free your changelings yourself. I am terribly sorry I can’t help in any way.”

To her credit, Princess Celestia seemed almost at the verge of tears.

‘Not her fault anyways, it’s that damned Nightmare’s.’

“Already taken care of,” I waved a hoof.

“Wh– what?!”

Luna snickered, “Phasma’s appearance served more than one purpose. He was to draw away Division-P from–”

“–from the dungeons!” Princess Celestia gasped. “You already freed your ponies? I… I’m a bit upset that you ordered an attack on Canterlot, but I am relieved beyond words that there won’t be any more blood on my hooves…. I…” Celestia broke off and stared down at the burnt flooring beneath her.

Luna swept her sister up in a tight hug which was enthusiastically returned.

“It is not your fault, sister. This is something that has been trained into my head by my friends, and now it is something that you must accept in time, too. That was the Nightmare’s doing.”

“What about the Royal Guard? What do we do?” Shining asked.

Princess Celestia sighed, “Well if the changelings have saved themselves from my… errr, Daybreaker’s doing? Then you should immediately order a ceasefire. I trust King Phasma will do the same?”

I nodded, “I will. You can call me Phasma, by the way. I think we’ll be living together from now on...”

Luna winked at me, still hugging Princess Celestia.

“Only if you call me Celestia.”

“That sounds fair. I will send word–”

Seven changelings flew through one of the shattered windows, dropping around me and quickly encasing us eight in several shields. They faced outwards around me, snarling at the alicorns. Out of instinct, Captain Shining Armor pushed past Cadence and put up his own shield between us and the ponies.

“Your Majesty! We’re here to save you!” One of them barked.

“Save me? I uh, I’m fine, guys.”

“This is unexpected,” Luna murmured, her voice distorted through the shield.

The ponies shifted around, with Luna and Shining standing in front of and protecting Celestia and Cadence, respectively. Celestia looked grateful but confused, while Cadence seemed mildly annoyed.

“You vanished, My King!” A changeling informed me. “Your Weave, sir. It vanished! We were one of three teams sent to find you. The moment you appeared again, we came as soon as we could!”

“One of three? Where is–?”

“Freeze ponies, you are surrounded!” A changeling yelled, flying in through one of the shattered windows and hovering in the air. Thirteen more changelings swarmed in through the other windows, taking positions and aiming at the ponies in the room.

“There is no need to–” Celestia began.

“Hold! Stand down, changelings!” I yelled through the Weave.

“– fight today– oh. That was… easy?” Celestia wondered as the changelings all stopped casting their spells and looked at me.

Even the shield around me vanished as the changelings looked to me for orders. Shining Armor was confused, but let his own shield drop as well, though the tension never left him. Cadence put a hoof on his shoulder and gave him a reassuring smile.

“The war is over,” I announced. “We will need to work out what to do about the Fourth Hive, but for now, the war is over.”

“What happened to you, My King?” A changeling stepped forward to ask. “We thought you died!”

“Discord cut off my connection to the Weave and to magic in general. It’s okay, I’m fine now. How did the jailbreak go?”

“My King,” A changeling bowed after approaching. It was Captain Katydid himself, “It was a success. Several changelings died, as did a few ponies, but we hit them hard and quickly. They didn’t have a chance to execute the prisoners. There are still changeling prisoners with Division-P elements spread throughout Canterlot and Equestria, but everyling in the prison has been freed.”

I sighed deeply, relaxing so much I nearly fell onto my haunches.

“That means that Lacewing is okay?”

“Indeed, My King. She expressed her desire to see you as soon as possible. I do not know where she is, as I came topside as soon as I could…”

“You have done well, Captain Katydid. All of you, you have all done well. I’m definitely going to have to invent medals to give for today’s efforts.”

“My King, what happened? You said… Discord?”

I chuckled, “My failsafe plan was to free him. I had to fall back to it since all other plans fell through. As I hoped, we still won in the end, even if it was closer than I would have wanted.”

The changelings parted, forming a half circle crowd behind me, letting the ponies come closer to me.

“Well Phasma, this was not how I expected the Gala to go,” Celestia smiled, “but I am elated that this is the course that Harmony has set for today. Captain Shining Armor, I need you to restore order to Canterlot. Assist any victims of Discord’s mayhem who yet need our help. Arrest any Division-P members and bring them to the dungeons. The calm ones will come quietly. The ponies who break faith with Harmony… They must be helped, whether they want to be helped or not. Do what you can, delegate what you cannot, and do not forget to rest afterwards. The last thing Equestria needs is for you to collapse from exhaustion, Captain.”

Shining saluted, “At once, Your Royal Highness.”

Celestia cringed, “Please, drop the Royal in the title. I don’t want to hear anything like that ever again.”

“Uh, of course, Your Highness. I… it’s good to have you back,” Shining said again.

“Thank you, Captain. Its good to be back.. Now go save Canterlot.”

Shining saluted once more, got a farewell kiss from Cadence and an uneasy glare from me, before he galloped out of the room.

“And what of your changelings, Phasma? Will anyone need medical assistance?” Celestia asked me.

I looked to Captain Katydid who shook his head, “No, Your Majesty– and Highness,” he threw on Celestia’s title, not sure who he should be addressing. “The wounded have already been looked at. The ponies used far more lethal spells than we did, so it is your wounded who will be far more numerous.”

“But you will have more dead,” Celestia sighed. “One final battle to end this terrible war. What about Queen Chrysalis and her Hive? Have you a plan to solve that issue diplomatically, Phasma?”

“Fuck no,” I laughed. “I was too busy with today to do much about tomorrow. We’ll uh, brainstorm and figure something out. Maybe send a messenger through the blockade and uh… shit if I know, that’s a problem for future me. Okay Captain, go help the survivors and wounded of the fight. You know the drill: give out rations to the starving, arrange sleeping arrangements and duties, take stock of who we rescued, who they know died, and so on. I need a proper accounting of everyone in the Fifth Hive now. We’ll work out the more complex systems later, now that we will be out in the open.”

Captain Katydid saluted, “And what of your close friends, My King? When they ask to see you, where should I point them?”

I snorted, “They’re all okay, right?” He nodded. “Then tomorrow I will see the whole Hive. Tonight, induct everyling into it. They do not have a choice, though I doubt any would refuse if they did. I will visit as many lings as I can tomorrow after a ceasefire has been properly negotiated.”

“We will hold a preliminary negotiation… after lunch?” Celestia suggested.

“That works for me. Oh, and Captain? I need you to bring a case of whisky to the kitchens here in the Castle.”

“Uh…. at once, My King?”

“Thank you,” I stifled a laugh as I saw Celestia sag in relief.

“I will go aid Shiny in helping ponies out. I’m more useful out there than in here, and I can think about ways to apologize to Shiny while I'm working,” Cadence said, turning to leave.

“Be sure not to overwork yourself, dear Cadence,” Luna warned her. “You should get some rest soon.”

“Soon,” Cadence agreed, but left all the same.

“Anypony have anything else they need to say?” Celestia asked, looking around the room. “No? Good. I’m going to my room now. Luna, I will need you to raise the sun and lower the moon come morning. I will ask somepony else to help me with a meal and something to drink. Take the rest of the night and morning off. Cadence can deal with any emergencies,” Celestia chuckled.

Then, she winked at me before turning and leaving.

‘What? Why did–’

Luna’s wing wrapped around my withers as she stared at me with something more than happiness and nervousness. She was radiating love, and I immediately got the feeling that I was soon to overdose on the delicious emotion.

“Captain Katydid! Fetch my hammer and armor and bring it from the ballroom to the Hive!” I called out moments before Luna teleported us away.

The burnt and shattered remains of the room vanished with a cyan flash of energy. Luna’s teleportation was far from the smooth transition between dreams, but compared to my own teleport spell, it was a smooth ride. Still, when my hooves found themselves on a different surface entirely, I had to catch myself from falling over.

Luna strode past me further into the room. Looking around, the room we were in was steeped in a lunar theme, accompanied by white swirling clouds. The curtains, the carpets, the tiling on the floor, the bases of the furniture, and even several pieces of the furniture themselves all were styled in silver moon motifs. The ceiling was a mosaic mural of the night sky, which no doubt was entirely accurate. If it wasn’t, Luna probably could make it accurate in an instant.

I shivered as I was reminded of this world’s screwed up astro-physics. The less I thought about that stuff, the saner I felt.

Luna hopped up onto the piece of furniture that sat in the middle of the room. Her bed– ‘Definitely going to need a bigger one in the future,’ – followed the same theme of the room, going so far as to be a large crescent moon that leaned backwards, spilling out blankets and pillows from its center.

“Daybreaker did not realize how little I wished to spend my nights back up on my moon,” Luna sighed. “This bed will be the first thing to go, I should think. However, unlike any night for the past thousand-and-one years…”

She stretched out across the bed, removing her boots, tiara, and peytral with her telekinesis and placing them beside the bed. Then, with a dramatic flip of her nebula mane, she smiled at me and beckoned me over.

“... I will not be spending this night alone, nor any in the future.”

“Panar is real, and she is a beautiful blue pony princess.”

Something warm pressed up against me, making me realize just how cold I felt. Then I realized that I was awake now. I was sleepy not just from the long night and interrupted sleep, but also from the massive amount of love I gorged myself on. It was a miracle that I didn’t swell up like a tick.

“Wuh?” I mumbled, trying to muster the willpower to blink my eyes open.

“Shh, go back to sleep, Phasma,” Luna whispered.

‘Oh. It’s Luna.’

“Time s’it?” I mumbled.

Luna pressed up against my belly, and I pulled her in close. She snuggled up beneath my head, resting her horn on my cheek.

“I just lowered my moon and raised the sun. We’re sleeping in for a few more hours.”

“Sounds good,” I sighed.

We lay there, silently enjoying each other’s presence. But as hard as I tried, I couldn’t fall back asleep.

“Don’t we have stuff to do?” I asked, still keeping my eyes closed.

“That is the nice part about being in charge. We can make others do the work for us. We are not needed until after lunch, so I think we shall spend the morning in bed.” Luna giggled, “I can think of a few ways to pass the time.”

“Mmm…. sleep,” I agreed.

The rest of the morning passed by too quickly for my taste. Eventually, we had no more excuses to hole up in her room.

‘Or is it our room now?’

Luna led the way into her adjoined bathroom, where we took a bath together. I had taken showers in my time here on Equus, but never a bath. The room was far more subdued than Luna’s themed bedroom, instead taking on a melding of both the gold theme of the palace and the silver theme of Luna’s personal room. The bathtub was extremely large, as big as her bed, and had far too many spouts and jets than even Luna knew how to operate. So we simply relaxed in the hot water, leaning on each other and using soap and scrubbing as an excuse for wandering hooves.

Leaving the tub and getting dry was almost as unpleasant as leaving the bed, but we did actually have work to do. Lunch was fast approaching, and after it, our little vacation would be over, and I would have to negotiate the future of my race. I was fairly confident I could secure some good deals. I had a lot to bargain with, and it wasn’t like Celestia would be overly hostile to me. Especially not with the fact that I was her sole supplier for alcohol, apparently.

‘Definitely a boon I’m going to exploit the hell out of.’

Luna led the way– an increasingly common action– across the palace and to the dining hall. The Royal Guards eyes me warily and saluted Luna.

“I apologize for the hostile attitudes, it will take some time for ponies to acclimate to your presence and the new state of our species’ relationship,” Luna mumbled after she slowed down to walk by my side.

I looked down at her and gave her my best smile, “I know, Luna. This is where I say something cliche like, ‘let them stare.’”

“Then this is where I say something cliche back, like…. something cliche. I haven’t read any romance novels in literal centuries, so give me a pass.”

I laughed, “Just this once. I expect more cultural references in the future, though.”

“I am sure you will make more than enough for the both of us,” Luna said while pushing a large door open.

The dining room, like the vast majority of the rooms in Canterlot Castle, was themed to gold and white, with the addition of orange. The hallways, the meeting rooms, and I suspected even the non-personal bathrooms had this tri-color palette. Luna had explained to me that as part of the remodeling following the devastating Invasion of Canterlot, Daybreaker had thrown her own color into the mix. For the second time in a year, I was certain that the palace would go through a drastic overhaul.

If I had to live in a castle, I would not want it themed to the monster that possessed me, or my sister.

Celestia was sitting down at one of the high-backed chairs, glaring at one of the purple banners that hang from the walls. Where once her sun Cutie Mark sat alone in a purple space, it was now wreathed in an orange fireball. The rest of the room was empty, save for two guards that stood sentry at the doors, and an earth pony in a white kitchen staff’s uniform.

“Good morning, Celestia,” Luna announced, pulling out two chairs at Celestia’s side.

“Ah, Good afternoon Luna and Phasma. I was wondering when I might be seeing you two.”

“What’s up?” I asked, giving her a nod.

She sat down in the chair closest to her sister, and I sat on Luna’s other side. The kitchen staff bowed to Celestia and made their exit from the room.

“Will Cadence be joining us?” Luna asked.

“Yes. She and her fiancé took an extended break this morning after working themselves to the bone last night. I… should have expected them to ignore my order. Still, I am sure that the misallocation of work will be rebalanced in the hours upon hours of work it will take to stabilize the Kingdom once more,” Celestia monologued.

“An agreeable arrangement,” Luna said. “They work hard to restore order, and then we shall work hard to maintain it.”

“Did you two enjoy your night off?” Celestia asked coyly, effortlessly hiding a smile.

‘You can’t hide that smugness from an empath, though.’

“Yep,” I said quickly.

“We did indeed. The morning and waking up, less so,” Luna explained.

“I am glad to hear that…. Wait a second,” Celestia frowned, “I just remembered something. How old are you, Phasma? Your changelings said your hatchday was in October, but never mentioned the year. Are you as, er…. old as we are?”

“Uh, no, no. My hatchday, I guess it’s called, was in October. Apparently. I didn’t even know that.”

Celestia sighed in frustration while Luna giggled.

“What year were you born, Phasma? How old are you in years?”

“Uh…. like in a row, or cumulatively?”

Celestia mouthed the words to herself, “In a row or cumulatively? Wh– what?”

“Let’s just say mid-twenties,” I shrugged.

“Do you not know your own age? What do you mean by cumulative?”

“Is lunch on the way?” Luna interrupted.

“Yes, yes,” Celestia waved her off, “what are you talking about, Phasma?”

“Well…. I was hatched in October, apparently.”

“Yes, what year?”

“Last year.”

“Last year?!”

“Last year.”

“And this is where the cumulative part comes in?” Celestia guessed.

“Yes, I guess you can say I have an old soul.”

“What’s for lunch?” Luna asked nonchalantly.

“Food, Luna. How are you older than your own birthday?” Celestia pressed.

“When a mommy Queen and a daddy changeling love each other very much, the mommy performs a necromantic ritual to pluck a soul from the afterlife. She then stuffs that soul haphazardly into a genetically modified egg.”

“... You were born through necromancy?” Celestia blinked.

“So I’m told. Would explain why I’m alive again.”

“So you lived a life before, then? And died in your twenties?” I nodded. “How long ago?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think I can answer that, or that it even has an answer.”

Celestia sat back in thought, “.... You did not live in this world, but in another?” She guessed.

‘That’s an amazing guess. Then again, she has been at the forefront of magical learning for literally thousands of years. It’d be more of a shock if she were a simpleton.’

“Another world entirely,” I confirmed her guess.

I heard the guards behind us shift in surprise, and tasted the complimentary emotion from them.

“That’s…. something,” Celestia muttered. “We have seen glimpses of other worlds, which is why I could even guess such an origin. But those glimpses were fleeting and far between… what was your world like?”

“Before we get into his backstory, I would at least like something to eat and some coffee to drink,” Luna said.

“The staff should be here any minute now, as should Cadence and Shining Armor,” Celestia explained.

“That’s good. I’d hate to have to explain everything twi– ah shit.” I facehooved.

“What did you do?” Luna asked.

“I may or may not have neglected to tell the First Fang about my previous life.”

“Yes, you said you were preoccupied with other things,” Luna reminded me.

“I was, and I still am. But if I’m explaining to everyone….”

“Then you would want your friends to hear, too,” Luna finished.

‘They deserve to hear the truth. I think. That’s how it works, right? Yeah, then they can tell me their mysterious backstories that they all totally have.’

“If this is a long story, then I suppose it can wait,” Celestia said. “Perhaps later in the evening? When all three of us have checked up on the state of affairs in our kingdoms?”

“I can work with that,” I said.

“The ceasefire should indeed come first,” Luna agreed.

The doors opened behind us, and I turned in my seat to see an exhausted Cadence and Shining Armor trudge in with about as much grace as Luna and myself dragging ourselves to the bathroom earlier.

They mumbled greetings and sat down at Celestia’s right side, directly opposite of Luna and I. It took a few moments, but eventually Shining Armor opened his eyes long enough to see me sitting directly across from him. With a yelp, he straightened up and his horn glowed with energy.

“Good morning, Captain,” I said, smiling with my fangs on display.

“Ugh, you’re here,” Shining said, horn dimming. “I should have… expected that.”

“Did you two sleep well?” Celestia asked.

“No, but we did sleep,” Cadence yawned.

“So…. where is King Phasma staying?” Shining asked.

“With Luna, I would imagine. Would you kindly check on our lunch?” Celestia said, gesturing to a guard at the door.

The guard saluted and walked away.

“I’ll have to work something out with the Fifth Hive, but I would appreciate it if I were… allowed to reside within the castle,” I said, remembering to be diplomatic.

‘I probably should also refrain from harassing the Equestrian Captain.’

“Of course you can,” Luna said. “As much as it has been forgotten in the past few months, I am a Princess of the Diarchy of Equestria. That means equal say in its ruling, and I say you can stay,” Luna said, looking at Celestia.

“Usually you have to let ponies make a mistake before you correct them,” Celestia joked.

“Hm. I suppose you are right, Celestia. Apologies, I just have had a bad experience with wresting any power away from Daybreaker.”

“Ah. Right. Sorry about that,” Celestia said, grimacing.

“What about your changelings, King Phasma?” Shining asked.

“Well we called dibs on the Crystal Caverns, so those are ours now. I imagine the Fifth Hive might be split up between those and our properties in Manehattan.”

“Dibs?” Celestia echoed.

“Yep. Dibs. The caves are rightfully part of the Fifth Hive now. Sorry, you should have planted a flag in them if you wanted to keep them.”

“... I suppose we could concede their habitation,” Celestia said quietly. “But what does Equestria get in return for losing the land right beneath our hooves?”

‘Looks like the negotiations are beginning early.’

120- Callias

We switched seats so that Luna, Cadence, and Shining Armor were all on the far side of the table, while I sat next to Celestia, who still sat at the head of the table. This way, Luna was not in the middle of our discussion. The three ponies agreed that they would hold their silence for the most part, but would interject if they felt the need to.

Celestia retrieved a stack of papers from a servant that brought them in at request, and laid them out before her. In addition, a small team of stenographers set up at the far end of the table, ready to record the meeting in writing.

I had Celestia send a Royal Guard to inform the Fifth Hive that I would be needing the presence of its leaders– specifically Coxa’s– as soon as possible.

While we waited for lunch, which apparently was delayed due to the efforts of reconstruction following a disastrous stampede of giant gingerbread ponies last night, we began the negotiations in earnest. Celestia had gone ahead and gotten us all beverages. Water for the four of us non-drunkards, and a light whisky cocktail 'to take the edge off' for the small alicorn whose blood alcohol content probably never dropped below five percent.

'I should definitely start making Archer references when talking to Celestia. Shes definitely a functioning alcoholic.'

With everything ready, Celestia officially started the peace negotiations between Equestria and the Fifth Hive.

“So, the Crystal Caves?” Celestia asked.

I shook my head, “Perhaps we’d be better off starting at the big picture and working down from there.”

Celestia nodded, “The most important thing above all others is the safety of my– of our ponies,” she corrected herself. “You have in captivity numerous equestrians, correct?”

“Correct.”

“Then as a sign of good faith, I want every last one of them freed.”

I exhaled slowly, “You would have me give them up for nothing? That’s….”

“A sign of good faith,” Celestia repeated. “We no longer have any captives to free, need I remind you? In fact, I do believe I sent out the order last night to free any still in our possession.”

Begrudgingly, I nodded, “I will concede that point. Despite the fact that we were the ones who freed our imprisoned changelings, you have done your part in sending out the orders to free the enslaved changelings scattered throughout Equestria. However, most of our prisoners tried to either kill me or my changelings, you know. I cannot simply release them back into the wild, where they can roam freely, eat grass, frolic in meadows, and murder changelings to their heart’s content.”

“Trials may be held, if that is what you wish. We will determine just how guilty these ponies are on an individual basis.”

I snorted, “Trials in Equestrian courts? That’s hardly unbiased, especially given that there will be no small amount of animosity between our species in the years to come.”

“I assure you, equal value will be placed upon the lives of both ponies and changelings.”

“Oh, you assure me? I’m glad you know the personalities of all these potential judges and jurors and can absolutely confirm without a doubt their validity as judicators.”

Celestia smiled, “A compromise, then? The ponies will be put before a panel that is half pony, half changeling. Ponies that are innocent will be let go– and reparations paid to them, and those who were taken captive in order to secure your own safety would be aided in adjusting back to their lives, with efforts made to make right the loss of time, pay, and property. Ponies that would be classified as prisoners of war would be returned to Equestria and handled by the Royal Guard.”

“Then what? You haven’t addressed my concern about Division-P. I assume you have no intention of incarcerating the ponies who were just following orders, right? You expect me to allow Inquisitors to just walk away?”

‘I’ll watch Equestria burn before I let those Nazis get away with it.’

“No, I don’t. I will take full responsibility for their rehabilitation and internment. Division-P….” Celestia sighed, “I admit, I am unsure what to do. It is strange to find myself in the wrong here. Normally I am the one dictating terms to… let’s go with ‘the defeated party.’ We are both in the wrong here, Phasma. You will pay reparations to the ponies who were injured physically and financially by their capture, and we will in turn pay reparations for the loss of life, injury, t–torture…” Celestia trailed off. “The list is long and will require its own discussion. Both sides were hurt deeply by this war. But I recognize that it is our side, Equestria, that went the furthest, and we have no excuse for our actions. I will accept the majority of the blame, as I let myself get possessed and gave all those orders.”

“Daybreaker gave those orders,” Luna interjected.

“Effectively the same thing, as far as I am concerned. But thank you, Luna,” Celestia thanked her sister. “As I was saying, it hurts me to simplify this complicated conflict to the mere exchange of currency. But we have to start somewhere.”

‘Ha. Now there’s two alicorns refusing to accept that the actions the Nightmares made were not their own.’

“I’d prefer not to pay reparations to begin with,” I sighed. “The Fifth Hive has wealth, but nowhere even close to the amount that a government operates on.”

“The Fifth Hive will be making a profit at the end of the day, unless you have concealed some horrible acts that we do not know about?” Celestia asked.

“I killed a Count, but everything else you pretty much know about. I mean, there was some minor tax evasion at the end, but that was because Division-P took our attention away from staying as concealed as possible.”

“We know about the death of Count Double Dealings. We will address that matter once this peace summit is settled. The majority of reparations will be in your favor. Rest assured, Phasma, I know exactly what happens when you saddle a country with more debt than it can handle. I have no intention of making that mistake, nor inflicting that level of harm.”

I raised my eyebrows, “You do? That’s not a lesson I would have thought you ponies understood the importance of.”

“Lessons that I cannot forget. I have crushed economies in the past, and have only hurt others doing so. I thought that I was stripping kingdoms of their ability to wage war, but in reality, I was only stripping them of their ability to feed their families. I myself am surprised you understand the importance of it yourself, Phasma. A lesson from your past?” Celestia asked.

‘Hard for history to repeat itself when your ruler has first-hoof experience of those horrors, I guess.’

“Yes. The greatest war ended poorly for one side. So poorly that the peace treaty became nothing more than a ceasefire in the bloodiest conflict ever seen. And yes, Luna, I will tell you about it if you want,” I said when I saw Luna’s curiosity was piqued.

“Nice,” she whispered.

“What’s he talking about?” Shining whispered to Cadence.

“I’ll explain later,” I answered.

“Let’s get back to the topic at hoof?” Celestia asked.

I recounted the conversation so far, “So the Fifth Hive pays reparations to the podded ponies and the Division-P Inquisitors will be turned over to the Royal Guard to be rehabilitated…” I glared at Celestia, “What assurances do I have that these ponies will be rehabilitated, and the worst offenders punished for their enthusiastic butchery? I want prison sentences, Celestia. Death penalties for the worst of them.”

Celestia shifted in her seat, “Death penalties? That has never happened in Equestrian history, Phasma. I cannot allow that kind of punishment to be hoofed out.”

“That is non-negotiable. I killed Daybreaker– indirectly, if you want to be as truthful as possible. I intend to kill every last bastard responsible for the suffering my people went through. Torture. Murder. Enslavement. Division-P went beyond the necessary call of duty for the war effort. I want their heads.”

“We must be better than them,” Celestia replied. “I… you may claim credit for Daybreaker’s death, just as I must claim credit for her actions. Would you have me executed for my crimes against your kind?”

“I had Daybreaker executed for her crimes against my people. I suppose you can claim temporary insanity due to demonic possession. I don’t blame you, Celestia. This is entirely on the Nightmares and those insane followers they gathered. I do, however, blame you and your rule for developing the situation. Your teachings of Harmony let this faction fester. Those kinds of people don’t come from nowhere. I will want a proper investigation of just who joined Division-P, where their pure hatred came from, and how it went unnoticed in this land of unicorns and rainbows. And for dealing with them now, I want life sentences and death penalties to be decided by entirely changeling jurists. No half-equestrian representation.”

“You can’t expect me to believe that an entire panel of changelings wouldn’t be biased.”

“You can’t expect me to believe that an equestrian won’t choose an equestrian over a changeling,” I retorted. “These crimes against our race were committed by equestrians. The changelings will be fair if I order them to, which I will. This is non-negotiable. Changeling juries, Division-P Inquisitor defendants.”

“If I were to agree to this, there would have to be limitations on the punishments. Death penalties would have to be agreed upon by the majority of Equestrian Princesses–”

“No,” I growled.

“I will not put the lives of my ponies in the hooves of revengeful changelings!”

“I will not let those bastards get away with the wholesale slaughter and mutilation of my people because some fucking ponies were too afraid to swing the god damn axe,” I hissed.

Celestia and I leaned over the table, glaring at each other.

“This topic must be pushed back and dealt with later,” Luna said. “Clearly, this issue is the most complex to unravel, and the hardest to determine the clear boundaries of right and wrong. Celestia, ‘your’ ponies have done horrible things. You recognize and accept this. Phasma, under every circumstance it would be expected that your changelings would be far too heavy-hoofed with the cruel sentences of death to be considered fair judges. A pony– a person can ignore their biases only so much. I am certain that there is a solution, even if it is not clear to us at the moment. Let all of us present speak our pieces, then we will move on and leave Division-P to be discussed at a later point.”

I huffed, but sat back and crossed my forelegs.

“Fine. The Fifth Hive demands that the perpetrators of the heinous acts and crimes against changeling kind be brought to justice. We have little reason to believe that Equestria has the capacity of fulfilling that demand.”

“Coming from the changeling who's getting away with invading Canterlot,” Shining muttered.

Everyone turned to look at him. Suddenly in the spotlight, Shining Armor found himself searching for his voice.

He cleared his throat, “In the name of Harmony, we would be less than nothing if we failed to uphold the very teachings we teach. These actions… I apologize for even letting them happen, even tangentially. Nopony deserves this pain. I do not think you will accept me at my word when I say that these Inquisitors are merely the dregs of society, brought to light by this Daybreaker’s apparent desire for inflicting pain.. Just as I cannot accept you at your word that you have conducted yourself fully to the ideals we proclaim, nor will you or your changeling juries operate without hatred or bias. I have already heard about this Count that you murdered, and how Cadence had kept it a secret…” Shining glared at me.

Celestia put in her piece next, “We must operate on a basis of trust. This peace will be untenable if we cannot trust the other side both to make amends and to improve upon our character and actions. We can allow the Fifth Hive to have access to all documentation and even observe the process of rehabilitation of these Inquisitors, as well as give your changelings significant say in the judicial processes. Beyond that, you have to trust us, just as we have to trust you. Need I remind you that we have virtually no way of tracking your own actions while within Equestria, save for your own confessions?”

‘That’s not true.’

“Division-P was more than capable of finding changelings using the remains of my stolen peytral,” I pointed out.

“Phasma, you have already said your piece,” Luna admonished me, before nodding to Cadence.

“Personally, I would never sentence a pony to death. I would also never sentence a pony to a life where they would never have a chance at freedom. However, all of this is beyond any frame of reference I have. Instead, I wish to talk about what comes after. It is quite clear that the horrible crimes committed can never happen again. We cannot bury this incident like we have wars of our past,” Cadence sent an obvious glance Celestia’s way. “We must learn from it and we must be better than it. To forget the pain we have inflicted on each other is to let it all happen again.”

“Thank you, Cadence. Celestia, if you would close with your statement?” Luna motioned for her to speak.

Celestia cleared her throat, “We are agreed on a general course of action. The wrongs we have committed must be made right. The tenets of Harmony have been irreversibly broken, and we must agree on the right course of actions to make amends and learn from this. Personally, I believe that almost nopony is too far gone for redemption. However, I understand how you might feel otherwise. If somepony asked me to forgive one of those Nightmares, I don’t think I could. A personal failing, perhaps. Or wisdom wrought from centuries of seeing evil for what it is, and knowing when to stop fighting to save it. But we must be better than those we accuse of. We cannot condemn others to death. If we do, what separates us from them?”

‘The fact that they had a trial, and weren’t tortured to death.’

I imagined shaking my hooves angrily in Celestia’s direction, but instead remained still and quiet.

“Very good,” Luna nodded to herself. “Let us move on and revisit this subject later. Celestia?”

Celestia shuffled through her papers, “I believe we should address the Fifth Hive’s presence within the Principality of Equestria, and its future.”

‘My turn to dictate terms.’

“The Fifth Hive claims the Crystal Caverns as its own sovereign soil. All other holdings within Equestria will be simply property owned by the crown and by the Fifth Hive’s citizens, barring historical changeling…” I paused, “Hmmm…. Let’s call them former kingdoms.”

“There are former kingdoms within Equestria?” Celestia asked.

“There was at least one, before I blew it up. There’s potential to be more.”

Celestia hummed to herself before asking, “In the southern jungles?” I nodded. “So that explains that. Very well, so long as these areas are uninhabited, I see little reason why we should deny that. The Crystal Caves, though. That poses a problem.”

“Which is?”

“The caves are protected as part of Equestria’s natural parks system. Inhabitance is not only prohibited, but it goes entirely against the point of protecting it in the first place. Marring their natural beauty is not a price I would like to pay. I would much prefer it if your Fifth Hive was simply located above ground, or at the very least, outside of the priceless and protected cave formation. Pick another cave. This one’s ours.”

I rolled my eyes, “Oh please, protecting my ass! You blew its tunnels to seal it away. You had no intention of preserving it or anything else.”

“National security takes precedence over all other desires. And need I remind you, that Daybreaker’s actions are not representative of Equestria’s normal ruling. Why do you even want to live in the cold caves, anyways?”

“Because they are a secure location…” I started before sighing, “Right, right. Basis of trust. Fine, we will vacate the caves in exchange for… I suppose that if the Fifth Hive does not have any location in Equestria fully owned and inhabited, then we will have to shelve that potential demand for after this next part.”

“The continued presence of changelings in Equestria,” Celestia accurately guessed.

‘Less of a guess and more of an intuitive understanding, I bet. She really has sat through dozens of these, hasn’t she?’

“I want changelings to reside within Equestria. We will not be leaving,” I stated.

“Because of love?”

“Because of love,” I nodded.

“The physical wellbeing of your changelings are tied to the bonds they make with the ponies around them. I should hardly think that such a force for Harmony could be considered anything but a boon. I will agree to allow changelings to continue residing within Equestria, with no stipulations outside of an agreement to not steal love or anything similarly nefarious.”

“Agreed,” I said without hesitation.

“As well as forbidding disguising as ponies who already exist,” Celestia added.

‘Is there any way agreeing to that will bite me in the ass? I don’t think so. I think we should be clear to agree to that. Oh wait, I do know one edge case…’

“The Fifth Hive agrees, except for matters of security.”

Celestia frowned, “The last thing I want to do is give you a blank check on disguising. I know exactly just how much can be labeled as security of the state.”

“I have no intention of stripping our most valuable skill from my guards.”

“Just how exactly is disguising as existing ponies necessary to protect yourselves?”

“I don’t know. I’m not an expert in security, I just know that it is something I will not give up easily.”

“You refuse to allow this concession simply because it is a boon for you? Need I remind you that in exchange, changelings will be effectively citizens of Equestria.”

I shrugged, “I’m not letting the Fifth Hive be effectively neutered. Our most valuable skill is our ability to perform covert actions. Without that, we’re just a couple thousand members of a dying race that can fly and use magic.”

“You will have the protection of the Royal Guard and the crown of Equestria. I have absolutely no intention of letting any species die out. Not while I can do anything about it.”

“Oh great, I guess that means I can just hoof over the safety of my entire species to you and hope that there are no subversive elements within Equestria that would, if given the chance, rip us to shreds and slaughter any survivors. Division-P was just a fluke, a one-off group of radicals, right?”

“I can assure you that–”

“That you have no idea where they came from,” I cut her off. “I don’t know if it’s some secret organization or society of equestrian supremacists or if there is something else at work, but I intend to find out how this happened. I will not be dismantling the most powerful weapon in our arsenal just because you asked nicely.”

Celestia tapped the table quietly as she thought.

“... We must operate on a basis of trust. It may be tiresome to hear this repeated often, but it does need to be reiterated over and over again. This war between us created a rift that cannot be bridged easily. We must force ourselves to trust one another….” Celestia looked over at the ponies writing down the transcript of the meeting, “Cease recording.” Then, she turned back to me, “You trust Luna completely, correct?”

“I do,” I said, unsure of where she was going with this.

“If I gave Luna complete authority on this matter and kept it off the records, would you agree to this?”

“As in, I would have to report to Luna on every use of a disguise?”

“Something like that, yes. You two can work out the specifics, so long as Luna knows the scope of your actions. I trust her to tell you if you are out of line.”

“This is acceptable to me,” Luna agreed.

‘Luna already saved my life. She worked hard to help my Hive, directly or indirectly. Not to mention the fact that she is biased towards me. Celestia knows this… and is throwing me a bone.’

“... Fine,” I agreed.

“Excellent,” Celestia smiled. “Resume the recordings. We must make concessions for the sake of cooperation and Harmony. The ability to impersonate any pony is a major tool to use to break the law. Nopony can be given such impunity.”

I went with the cover, “... On the basis of trust, the Fifth Hive will refrain from impersonating any existing pony intentionally, and will, uh… blah blah blah, fix it if we find out that we are accidentally impersonating someone. You know, put that in proper legalese.”

Celestia smiled and wrote some notes down.

“With that settled, I think the next matter is jurisdiction, citizenship, and legislation. If your changelings are to reside within Equestria, they will be expected to follow Equestrian laws.”

There was a knock at the door. It opened and a cook stepped through.

The white-uniformed blue pegasus bowed, “Your Highnesses and Majesty, lunch is prepared. If I may take your orders, it will be served post-haste. I apologize for the delay and the interruption, and thank you for your patience.”

“It is us who thank you for your hard work, Saffron,” Celestia motioned for the pony to stand. “Let us take a break for now. The summit shall break for lunch,” Celestia announced, more to the stenographers than anyone else.

The officials nodded, concluded their work, and rose and left the room with a few bows. Luna rose from her seat and sat down next to me. I scooted my chair over and we leaned into each other. She craned her head up and gave me a small kiss. The chef began explaining the meal choices, but Luna and I were in a conversation of our own.

“You know,” she whispered, “you’re pretty good at this. Quite surprising, given your young age.”

I whispered back, “Age has got nothing to do with it. I’m sure that if my mother were here, she’d be doing something stupid like hissing, throwing chairs, and making death threats. She’s not exactly the most calm and collected changeling, and she’s at least twenty times my age.”

“All the more reason to praise your efforts.”

“Thank you, Luna. Considering this feels like four against one at times, your support means a lot to me.”

“Your Highnesses and Majesty,” a guard saluted by the door and interrupted the chef, “the changeling envoy has arrived.”

“Good, send them in,” Celestia ordered.

When the changelings entered, I immediately stood from my chair and strode towards them. There were about seven changelings entering the room, and amongst them was Thorax, Coxa, and Cricket.

But one changeling stood out from the rest. She was scarred. Missing a fang and with sections of her chitin chipped off and wrapped in bandages elsewhere, Lacewing broke from the pack and galloped towards me.

“Phasma!” She yelled as I caught the smaller drone in an embrace.

“It’s good to see you, Lace.”

“I knew you were alive. I knew you would come to save me. I knew that I wouldn’t die down there,” she whispered in my ear.

“Imagine her surprise when her knight in shining armor was the most handsome changeling alive,” Coxa beamed, stepping close alongside Thorax.

“You were on the front lines, Coxa?”

“He refused to listen to me,” Thorax groaned. “Got too bored of paperwork.”

Coxa grinned and puffed out his chest.

“You sent him to save us. I knew you wouldn’t abandon anyling. Not even the Queen cares that much about us,” Lace mumbled.

She sniffed heavily, and I broke the hug before she could blow her nose on my shoulder. Lace was not doing well. Her time in Locksdale Prison had been harsh, and it was likely only due to the strength of chitin that she bore no scars. Fractures, yes, but those could mostly heal in the pods.

“You look like shit, Lace.”

“Thanks,” she smiled. “You look tall.”

“I can’t change that with a stay in the pods, but you definitely could use healing.”

“I’m going to, I just wanted to see you all first. It was… indescribable. The things they did–”

“I know, I know,” I said. "Don't try to describe them if it hurts you. I'm afraid there will be time for that later. For now, get yourself looked at and take some extra love rations. There'll be more than enough to go around."

Lacewing tried to compose herself. Coxa put a hoof around her withers, and Lace leaned into him almost instinctively.

‘She must be so tired. Coxa and Lacewing, hmm? More than honorary brother and sister, and I definitely plan on teasing Coxa about that fact. I suppose Lace can suffer his presence everyday if she so chooses. Though to be honest, I kinda expected her to… she said she wanted to say something important to me in the Castle foyer, during the rebellion, right? I’d better ask her about that once this meeting is over.’

“Luna, Celestia, Cadence, Shining, these are my friends and leaders of the Fifth Hive,” I introduced the changelings. “That’s Thorax, you can consider him the leading expert in… ah, who knows, he’s the one who found out that we can work together. There’s Coxa, he runs the Hive while I take the credit for it. That’s Cricket, she’s like Coxa, but better looking.”

Each changeling waved– or bowed, in Thorax’s case– when they were introduced.

“So, I heard there was going to be free food?” Coxa asked.

Celestia chuckled, “Yes, in fact you arrived just in time for lunch. We do not carry love or any emotion, unfortunately.”

Coxa shrugged, “Didn’t expect’ya to, Your Highness. Pony food tastes good, and that’s enough for now. We ate on the way here, anyway.”

Celestia gestured to the empty side of the table where Luna and I had sat, “In that case, please, take a seat. We had begun the negotiations already, and were simply taking a break to talk over a meal.”

Author's Note

I have a Ko-Fi if you want to support me

121- Apolinatu

The first part of our lunch passed by while I explained what happened in the world to Lacewing while she was imprisoned by Division-P. Most notably was my relationship with Luna; the moment Lace heard about that in passing, she wanted to know everything about it.

“... And that’s the entire story of Luna and I so far,” I finished.

I smiled at Luna, who leaned over and gave me a small kiss.

“That’s pretty romantic, Phasma,” Lacewing sighed, scooping a forkful of food from her plate.

“I agree,” Luna agreed. “I am certain that the tale of our love shall be told by the criers and romanticists from now till the day the sun sets for the very last time! Our tale– what do you mean, there are no criers anymore?” Luna broke off her dramatic speech when I managed to stop giggling and explained that fact to her.

“I’m sure ponies will enjoy your story once it gets told to them,” Cadence said from across the table. “Love triumphs over evil, and all that.”

“Hey Phas!” Thorax called from the far end of the table.

“Thorax?”

“Can I send a message to Double Diamond now?”

“Oh yeah, yeah. The Fifth Hive is done hiding now. You can tell all the ponies to come back, or whatever happened to them.” When Lace’s face scrunched up in confusion, I explained, “Thorax is in love with a pony. Yes, they are adorable together.”

The table broke off again into several smaller conversations. Coxa and Lacewing traded stories that accumulated in each other’s absence. Celestia and Luna talked shop about the fastest way to fix their torn kingdom. The puppy-love duo talked quietly with Thorax about him and his coltfriend, Diamond.

‘Coltfriend. Colt. Friend. Even the name sounds adorable. Colt. Coooolt.’

“Bit for your thoughts?” Luna asked, nudging me.

“Just thinking about things ‘n stuff,” I said.

“Ah yes, ‘things ‘n stuff,’” Celestia quoted me. “Truly, the mind of a stallion is a mystery.”

I huffed and rolled my eyes, “Alright fine. I was wondering why there were so few ponies here. If this peace summit is as important to you as it is to us, I would have thought there would have been more ponies present.”

“You’d be surprised how useless most ponies are in the signing of a peace treaty,” Celestia explained, taking a sip from her tall glass. “I prefer to get these things ironed out as soon as possible, with as few distractions as possible.”

“We took a break for lunch, though?”

Luna elbowed me, “Unlike changelings, we mortal ponies need physical foods.”

“Then maybe you should try consuming love. It really is the best tasting thing in the world.”

Luna whispered into my ear, “On that, we can agree.”

I suddenly found it near impossible to maintain eye contact with anyone in the room.

“Luna, are you teasing King Phasma?” Celestia asked while I studied the suddenly interesting wall ahead of me.

“Why Celestia, I have no idea what you are talking about.”

“Ah, so he just suddenly froze up due to something completely unrelated to whatever you whispered to him?”

“Yes.”

“See, Shiny?” Cadence asked, nodding towards me. Since I was staring at the wall behind her, I saw the motion as she talked to her fiance, “There’s nothing to be afraid of. Aunt Luna has the fearsome Dread Prince on a tight leash.”

I groaned, “Are you going to be throwing as many innuendos at me as possible, Princess of Food?”

She winked, “Of course. This is far more fun than talking with those stuffy…. nobles… did you call me the Princess of Food?”

“Delicious, delicious food…” I muttered.

“I’m definitely going to remember that one,” Celestia chuckled as she down the last of her drink and nodded to a servant to have it refilled.

With the heat starting to leave my face, I turned back to Celestia, “I was sorta expecting to see Prince Blueblood here at least. He is a Prince, right? I never met the guy but he seems to have an important title.”

Celestia’s face remained neutral, but her emotions were tainted with frustration, “Prince Blueblood has not dined with us in years.”

“The colt’s preoccupied with his own social circle,” Cadence explained. “He’s become enraptured with the idea that he has a court of his own, and not to mention the fact that recently, Division-P has kept him busy.”

‘A socialite? Sounds like I’d hate him anyways.’

“Still, I would imagine that he would have at least leveraged his title to gain entry to this meeting,” I said.

“That would require him knowing about this meeting in the first place,” Celestia smiled mischievously.

“So Phasma,” Luna began, “you said you were going to tell your story to everypony here…”

“Oh yeah, you guys don’t know, do you?” Lacewing asked, grinning at the ponies after overhearing Luna. “It’s quite the story, though I don’t know if talking about it over lunch is the smartest idea–”

“Luna is talking about my story before I hatched,” I cut Lace off.

“Your what?” Lace froze.

“You were right, Celestia, I did learn from my past. But changelings fought no wars to learn from. At least, nothing remotely considered conventional warfare.”

“I suspected as much,” Celestia nodded to herself. “There would be too much evidence of your kind’s existence, otherwise.”

The ponies quieted, and the rest of the conversations fell away as the changelings turned towards me.

“What’re you talking about, Phas? What wars?” Thorax asked.

‘Everyone’s looking at me now. Which means I have to talk about my history. About my… life. Yep. Right now. Riiiight now. No way to worm my way out of this one.’

I sighed. With everyone’s eyes on me, I decided to be a bit theatric.

“... There are many forms of immortality. Agelessness of a royal or alicorn, immortality of whatever deities exist out there, reincarnation of phoenixes.” I tapped my hoof on the table idly, “Celestia. You, err, received the reports of the interrogations, right?” Celestia nodded. “Right. You asked the changelings about me, right? I assume you also asked them what my age was?”

“I did. They were all quite evasive when questioned about the basic facts about you. When asked for your birthday, or hatchday if you’d prefer, they would only give me the day and month, and never the year. Things only made sense in hindsight, given last night’s conversation.”

‘Oh hey, this is a good chance to learn that myself, since I totally didn’t keep track of that…’

“What was the date?” I asked.

“October Eleventh.”

“Ah. So that’s the day. Good to know.”

The ponies– save for Luna and Celestia– were confused.

“Did you not keep track of that, Phas?” Thorax asked, genuinely surprised.

I shrugged, “Lots of other important things were going on. Besides, I was a bit too preoccupied at the time to ask for the date.”

Celestia, helping out my theatrics, said, “And you revealed that you were born last year. October Eleventh, Nine-Ninety-Nine.”

“October Eleventh, Nine-Ninety-Nine,” I repeated.

Shining Armor blinked in surprise, “You’re one year old– no, you’re older than that?”

“Yeah. Queen Chrysalis was– or rather, still is, the greatest expert in genetics. Or fleshmancy. Whatever its name is. She genetically engineered my, uh, egg. That, coupled with a diet of pure love early on gave me a nymphhood that lasted all of three months or so. But that of course doesn’t explain why my mind was as developed as my body...”

I gave a nervous glance to the First Fang. They deserved to hear the truth first, but I preferred to get this over with as quickly as I could.

“I don’t have any control over it. I don’t know if it will happen again. I don’t remember if it ever happened before this. But I lived an entire life before my hatching on Nine-Ninety-Nine.”

The reaction was not as varied as I expected. The ponies were all surprised, and the changelings were all… mostly smug. Thorax and Coxa cheered and high-fived. Lacewing cursed quietly and shook her head, and the rest of the changelings, including Cricket, were a mix of shock, excitement, and interest.

“Haha! And Oest called me crazy!” Thorax cheered.

“You knew?” I asked, surprised.

“We all had our guesses,” Coxa said, coyly. “I mean, come on, did you really think none of us would at least try to guess why you were pretty much an adult right out of the egg? Reincarnation was the prevailing guess– and the biggest part of the betting pool.”

“Lucky guess,” Lace muttered.

“And what were the other theories?” I asked.

‘I am genuinely curious as to what they might have guessed.’

“Oest thought you were a golem,” Thorax giggled. “He thought he was on the money when the Ascension stuff came to light. You know, with the egg experiments and all…”

Coxa interrupted, “There’s divisions within the reincarnation theory, too. Since it was the largest share, we collectively decided to split it up.”

“How can you be so casual about this?” Cadence muttered, loud enough for us to hear. “Life and death… and how little we know about it all. This is a huge revelation, with wide sweeping implications…. Right?” Cadence looked to Celestia for reassurance.

Celestia shrugged, “There have been countless attempts to achieve immortality in the past, and none have succeeded. All stories of success share one common thread; we all seem to only achieve it through pure coincidence. Any willing attempt is doomed to fail. As you might suspect Cadence, this is a brand new form of immortality– if you don’t count phoenixes. Yet it continues that common thread.”

“What did you even bet?” I asked Coxa.

“Extra rations, small keepsakes, and so on. Uh…. Weevil was the main ling who kept track of everything…” Coxa muttered.

“And the partitions within this specific bet?” Celestia moved the conversation along, thankfully.

“Coxa thought Phas was a reincarnated royal,” Thorax said.

“And Thorax thought that Phasma was an alien from outer space,” Coxa joked.

“An alien from outer space?” I repeated.

“And I thought you were a drone!” Lace smiled. “You know, with the whole not-threatening-to-kill-us thing you have going on. A rare trait in royals. Everyone of them I’ve met before you loves to threaten to kill us.”

“That’s horrible!” Cadence gasped.

“Wouldn’t you have only met Chrysalis before?” I asked.

“Yup.”

“Oh. Well I met another royal, by the name of The Prophet. He’s a total asswipe.”

“Two for two, then! Oh mare, Coxa and Thorax, you two better be shaking! I am so winning this bet. Hey wait, where and when did you meet another royal?”

“In the Third Hive,” I sighed.

“Ah, of course. The Third Hive. The place none of us have ever seen. The place our species ran away from thousands of years ago. That Third Hive.”

“Yes. It was in the jungles in Southern Equestria.”

Thorax huffed, “Enough stalling Phas, tell us your past!”

‘Panar damned tinfoil-hat conspiracists. You got lucky, Thorax.’

I felt hooves around my right foreleg. Luna was giving me a reassuring hug and smile.

“The only way to move forward is to accept the past,” she said quietly.

I cringed, “I don’t want to accept the past. It’s bullshit.” Luna didn’t relent, only kept up her stare and the stream of love and happiness sent my way.

‘There’s no way out of this, is there? Fine then, better get it over with.’

“I was a human. The only sapient species on our world...” I announced quietly.

Thorax gasped “I was right?”

Lacewing gaped, “Thorax was right?”

Coxa groaned, “Thorax was right?!”

Cricket and the rest of the changelings gathered exchanged surprised looks and whispered to each other. Shining looked at Cadence, but she just returned the surprised look he gave her. I had not told her my past, so she was just as surprised.

“You’re actually an alien?” Shining Armor asked.

Curiously, while Cadence was a bit confused and apprehensive, Shining Armor seemed almost… eager to hear my story.

“Not anymore,” I grumbled, “but yes. I… I was.”

“Huh. And you just sided completely with the changelings?”

“They put me in a position of power, and I couldn’t exactly cling to my non-existent past anymore. So, I decided to throw my lot in with the ones that made me Prince. The copious amounts of propaganda, the short time frame, and constantly watching my own back out of paranoid fear left little room for anything else.”

Shining mulled the answer over, so I looked to the changelings to see how they were handling it.

Thorax excitedly clapped his hooves together and grinned, “Diamond’s gonna freak when he hears this. He didn’t believe my theories, either. But I was right!”

“How did you even think of that?!” Coxa exclaimed.

Thorax shrugged, “Things just… didn’t add up. Phasma’s not like any changelings I’ve ever met. Nor any pony. He’s a bit in between, I guess…”

“An excellent guess, if a bit far-fetched,” Celestia shook her head. “I am certain we are all on the edge of our seats for your story, Phasma. Please, continue.”

‘Oh, you’re all excited, are you? Well let me start off with why I don’t want to fucking talk about my past.’

I scowled, “I was born into a middle class, large loving family. I can’t complain too much about my life, save for how it ended. I was murdered in an alleyway for no reason at all. There you go, are you all satisfied? I never got to say goodbye. I was thrown right into the grinder when I woke up in the Hive. I had everything taken from me, and never had time to even breathe.”

I stood up abruptly and made for the exit. Luna scrambled after me.

“Phasma! Please stay, you are doing well.”

“I did well. I’m done talking now,” I growled

I heard the First Fang all get up to try to follow me as I pushed the doors open and brushed past the ponies standing sentry. Picking a direction at random, I walked down the hallway. I was looking for a way out, but I had no idea what the layout of the castle was.

“Phasma! At least tell me where you are going!” Luna called out from behind me.

“Out.”

“Then… take a left at the upcoming junction.”

I slowed down and frowned at her.

“If I cannot stop you, then at least I can help you,” Luna told me when she caught up.

“Damnit Luna, stop making me feel nice inside. I don’t want to, not right now.”

She grinned, “I am afraid I cannot do that, Phasma. You are stuck with me, sappy feelings and all.”

When we went through a doorway that Luna pointed out, we found ourselves on a wide sweeping balcony that connected off to one of the gardens on our right side. In front and on our left, several benches were arranged in front of a balcony. No doubt there were countless protective enchantments for anyone who wanted to sit and see the view. There were two maids on the balcony who quickly made themselves scarce through the garden’s connection when I, the giant changeling, exited the palace. I picked a bench and sat down on it, laying against the white stone railing, and putting my head on my hooves. The rest of the lunch party joined us after a few moments, and filed into the benches around us.

I saw the city beneath us. The gleaming city was, I had to admit, exceptionally beautiful. It was really designed to be beheld during the daytime, so this was the first time I could see it in all its splendor. Gleaming towers, opulent manors, bustling streets, ponies leisurely strolling through parks, and active market stalls made the city seem more alive than any other place I had seen. If I focused, I could see the hundreds of stories that were being told through the city.

A pony leaning out their window and pinning up clothes on a clothesline there. A pair of pegasi clearly yelling at each other over there, one now storming off in anger. I even saw families taking their foals to the parks and destinations across the city. Unlike Manehattan, whose highrises and packed streets gave the city a feel of fast-paced rushing, Canterlot had a more casual and well-off atmosphere. Ponies here walked because they could. Sure, there were some ponies rushing, but by far most I could see seemed content. Considering I had spent a lot of time in Hooferville pony-watching, I had gotten at least decent at reading emotions at a distance.

By the time I was tuning back into the world around me, the ponies had their lunch already brought out to them, and were enjoying their meals while idly chatting or admiring the view. The changelings were just as talkative, but were paying more attention to me. When I glanced at them, Thorax spoke up immediately.

“Phas! Hey, I’m sorry that we opened old wounds–”

“It’s fine,” I lied, waving him off.

“I suppose we can not expect you to be open about such pain immediately,” Luna conceded.

I realized that Luna was sitting up against me, and had wrapped a wing around me as we sat. I didn't even notice that.

‘That is quickly becoming a trend.’

“None of us can relate or understand your specific plight,” Luna continued, “as I think none of us have died before, though I can not know for certain. Just know that when you are ready to talk, we are all here for you.”

Celestia, who held a plate of some kind of stacked greens covered in an unidentified sauce, joked, “If you had a problem with the dining room, you simply should have said so. I have no problem mixing it up and eating outside while the weather is at least somewhat nice.”

The weather was indeed somewhat nice. There must have been heating enchantments that protected the balcony from the cold wind and autumn air. I barely felt a breeze, even up here, high above street level.

“One thing before I forget,” Celestia said, pushing around food with a fork. “Later today, there will be an announcement before Canterlot. We will tell the ponies that there will be peace between our species, and that Discord has been taken care of. I would also like to commend the efforts of the Element bearers, and of course, explain that I am not Daybreaker anymore.”

“Sounds like a plan,” I said, looking back over the city.

‘Guess I’ll be meeting them properly, too.’

Luna reached over and took one of my hooves into her own.

‘What did I do to deserve your unrelenting support, Luna? By all rights, you should be my enemy. Perhaps I will never come to reach your level of empathy. Don’t think I can, not after everything I’ve been through. But at least–’

I decided to voice my thoughts, “Thank you, Luna. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

“Much of the same, though far more miserably and with less success, I would imagine,” she replied.

“I’m going to be honest, Luna. I don’t think I’ll ever be as friendly and open as the rest of you. I don't think I can.”

“You’d be surprised. People can bounce back from some awful things. Just do not count yourself out, Phasma. You will get through any tunnel, no matter how dark it gets.”

“Well I don’t remember going towards a light at the end of the tunnel, so maybe I’m still in it,” I joked, despite my terrible mood.

“Ha! See what I mean? I didn’t pick you because you are all doom and gloom, Phasma. I believe I was filling that quota at first. However, I pulled through, thanks to your companionship, and the aid of my friends. You have done well in immediately securing yourself some loyal comrades right away.”

“Not all of them were loyal,” I pointed out.

“No. Not everything turns out well, or even how we expected. But overall, things trend for the better, do they not?”

“Hmph. I guess so.”

Author's Note

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122- Helios

“Are you up to answering some questions?”

I grimaced at Luna’s question.

“Fine. But I’m not answering them if I don’t like the question.”

“How would you describe Equestria, and how would you describe your world?” Shining asked, surprising me by being the first to ask a question.

Then again, maybe the distance between us meant he cared less about my feelings, and so there was less restraining his curiosity.

“.... Equestria is very…. Small. Small and calm. Despite everything that’s going on, it feels like only one bad thing happens at a time. Most ponies, and changelings now, are happy. No droughts, no disease, no corruption, and the wars that do happen have relatively little bloodshed. Well, I suppose that’s not true for the changeling’s perspective on this war. I imagine our death toll is in the tens of percent of our species’ entire population.”

“We’ve bounced back from worse,” Thorax offered.

“So the legends say,” I agreed. “As for my old… home…. Higher highs and lower lows, I guess. Lots more people suffer, but we’ve achieved more than Equestria.”

“That fits with the glimpses we’ve seen,” Celestia said. “What did your species look like? Perhaps Starswirl the Bearded, our most renowned scholar, had managed to scry visions of your world, as he did many others.”

“Humans are primates, and they walk upright on two legs, with two arms. Skin color ranges in shades of white to black. Hair color could be black, brown, red, blonde, and a few other colors. We couldn’t fly, we couldn’t do magic, or anything else like that.”

“No magic?” Shining repeated.

I shook my head, “No magic anywhere on Earth.”

“Earth?”

“That’s the name of our planet. Earth.”

“You named it after dirt?”

I shrugged, “Well, yeah. You look down, there’s dirt. You’re on dirt. Earth. I mean, maybe it’s named after some ancient deity or whatever, but it’s probably named after dirt. Look, we named ourselves Wise Man because we were the only ones capable of thought. Don’t expect too much creativity from our naming conventions. No wait, what am I saying, you named an entire subspecies after dirt! Earth ponies! You literally named your farmers after dirt, you have no right to call us out on naming our planet the same way!”

“Earth ponies are not farmers–” Celestia began to proselytize.

“Bullshit! Their only ability is to get hurt less and grow plants, which relegates them to the military and farming. But this isn’t a discussion on the lowest stratum of your society, this is about the most important person ever. Me. Celestia, you said you know of other worlds. Have you seen Earth?”

Celestia frowned, “Most visions showed the worlds with very little detail to its inhabitants. Your description doesn’t match any of Starswirl’s, if my memory serves me correctly. Was there similar architecture to Equestria?”

“Yes. There are many similarities between our worlds, including architecture.”

“In that case, I will need to go over Starswirl’s notes. There were a significant number of near-Equus worlds he had scried. Perhaps when the balance of Equestria is not in question. Though you said Earth has no magic, correct? Who rises the sun and moon? Who paints the night sky with stars?”’

“The Moon revolves around the Earth, and the Earth revolves around the Sun. The sun revolves around… uh, the galactic core, I guess? Gravity holds everything in line.”

Celestia blinked, “Oh. Yes. I forgot they can do that. Thousands of years of manually adjusting the orbits puts that idea right out to the curb, I suppose.”

“I’ve got a question, Phas!” Thorax raised his hoof.

“Yes, Thorax?”

“If there was no magic, how did you get here to Equus?”

“I… don’t know. Chrysalis performed necromancy, and here I am. I have far less experience with anything fantasy than anyone here. I don’t know anything substantial about magic, or gods, or the afterlife– despite my own experience, or traveling across worlds. I just… I was there. Now I’m here.”

Coxa voiced his question next, “So how much knowledge did you bring from your world then? You didn’t bring any spells, which makes sense if you had no magic, but the rest of the stuff?”

“All the paperwork I make you fill out, yes,” I guessed the origin of his question. “Military tactics, too. The idea of forming a mafia during a prohibition on alcohol also came from Earth. We had one of those, and all it did was make organized crime spread, so I knew I could capitalize on that.”

Lacewing spoke up next, “And you, Phasma? What was your history?”

“... Huh?”

“Who were you?”

I blinked. I rubbed my forehooves as I thought about Lace’s question.

‘Who was I? Uh… I was… me?’

“Does that matter?”

“Of course it matters,” Luna’s wing squeezed around me reassuringly. “But if you are not ready to talk about that, then you don’t have to.”

“Luna is right,” Lace said, “I’m sorry if I’m pushing you, Phas. It’s just that… Well, you’re far from a normal changeling, let alone a royal. You’re the kind of king whose stories would be told about for generations. So of course we would want to know your full story.”

I cringed, “I think that you would be telling stories about the changeling royal who led the invasion, regardless of whether or not it was me.”

“While you may have a point,” Coxa nearly yelled, cutting off both Luna and Thorax who began to talk at the same time, “you have gone above and beyond any of that. Need I remind you about the Third Hive? You blew up a city, and then went back to save a single drone! And a pony, I guess, but mostly the drone! I’m positive that no royal in history has ever done anything like that.”

The changelings nodded and Cricket added, “Coxa is right, Your Majesty. That level of dedication is… unprecedented. And for good reason, too, if I might add my own personal opinion here. You nearly got yourself killed, and for just a single drone. What would we have done without you?”

I shrugged, “Survived.”

“That’s a load of horseapples!” Thorax cursed. “You’re the one ending the war. You’re the one who managed to get the ball really rolling on saving Princess Celestia. You’re–”

“Alright, alright! I get it. But if you want me to stop trying to save my fellow changelings, you’re going to be disappointed.”

“I don’t think you’d be the same person if you did,” Luna said.

“Agreed,” Thorax nodded.

“I feel like we’re missing out on the full story here,” Cadence said.

“Yeah, what’s this about blowing up a city?” Shining asked, or rather interrogated.

“It’s news to me,” Lace shrugged.

I rubbed the back of my neck, “It was the ruins of the Third Hive, the one I mentioned already. So no shit, there I was–”

“Just tell them the basics,” Coxa rolled his eyes.

“–blowing up an artificial sun to kill the demon that ruled the place. I was about to head out– I sent the changelings with me ahead to evacuate before I blew it up, when two people fell behind: a changeling and a pegasus pony. I had worked hard to save the pony up till that point, and condemning the changeling to die to my own sabotaging sounded especially heartless, so I… went back in. I managed to get a shield up in time to not get roasted, and they carried me out afterwards.”

Instead of answering questions, I seemed to have bred hundreds more.

“Wait, the changelings made an artificial sun?” The pony with a sun tattooed on her butt asked.

“Holy buck, that’s awesome,” Cadence muttered.

“You expect me to believe that you survived being at ground zero for an explosion that was felt as far north as Rainbow Falls?” Shining said as he crossed his forelegs.

“You had all this fun without me?” Lace said, looking genuinely hurt.

‘And like that, I’ve successfully derailed the conversation.’

“I have one more question about your past life,” Celestia said, tipping the table quietly.

“Damnit!”

She paused at my outburst, “.... Just one last question. How did your civilization treat the death penalty?”

“You want to know why I’m pushing so hard for it?”

“I want to understand your perspective.”

“You’re making it very hard to be frustrated with you, Celestia.”

She smiled, “Thank you.”

“Uh huh. If you must know, there was a series of trials held for those who violated the peace and committed crimes against humanity. My understanding was that they were somewhat lenient for the minions, but almost all of the top brass of the perpetrators were sentenced to death.”

“And you believe Division-P is comparable to these perpetrators?”

“... I think I would need to hear Lace’s whole story to be sure of it, but I think so.”

“You’re pushing for their deaths?” Lace asked. “All of Division-P?”

“I want trials with changeling juries, with that as a possible sentence. Celestia doesn’t want any death penalties, and ponies on the juries. We refuse each other’s demands.”

“So… telling my story will help you, Phas?”

“It would. Hey wait a second, isn’t that Thorax’s nickname for me?”

Lacewing glanced at Thorax, who just giggled, “You can use it too, Lace. I don’t own it or anything.”

“Heh, thanks, Thorax. I really missed you guys,” Lace smiled. “Let’s get this over with. The sooner, the better, right?”

“Yes, Lace. Though if you are sharing your story, I think it’s only fair that I give my perspective on this, and answer more questions you have. What I went through is, as I imagine, only a fraction of the pain you did.”

“You died, Phas. I don’t think it gets any worse than that…”

“It can always get worse. Look no further than the Ascension Chamber for proof that it can always get worse…. Right. The individuals from Earth pursued a policy of prejudice. That’s nothing new, there’s been plenty of hatred in humanity’s past. The problem is that they were good at being evil. They managed to industrialize evil.”

“Industrialize? What does that mean?” Luna asked.

Celestia shrugged, so I answered, “Not really something that’s a thing here on Equus. Industrialization is sorta the next step for the economy. Right now, Equestria, and every other nation on Equus, operates on a so-called cottage industry. Everything is made at home, and by experts. Eventually… this won’t be the case. Things will be automated, and produced en masse.”

“This is a lot to take in, should we be taking notes?” Shining asked jokingly

“It’s going to be on the test, so yes,” I answered. “Anyways, these monsters who were very good at evil also wanted to conquer the world. Invading other nations tends to create enemies,” I said, winking at Luna and Celestia, “and the whole world was plunged into a war, if only tangentially in many places. Eventually, the bad guys lost, and were put on trial. The industrialized evil I referenced earlier… the bad guys had killed millions of people by the time they were stopped.”

“Millions?!” Everyone gasped.

“Please tell me that is an exaggeration,” Celestia said.

I shook my head, “Death toll of the war was around seventy million, I think. The extermination that the bad guys committed was around eighteen of that, I think, all against defenseless civilians who did nothing wrong. I can’t be sure of the numbers anymore.”

“By Auntie Celestia, I think I might be sick,” Cadence said, fanning herself.

A bucket was produced from somewhere, and Shining immediately rubbed her back as she held it below her muzzle. Thankfully enough, that was the end of that.

“And this is when the trials were had?” Celestia reminded me.

“Yes. The leaders and a lot of other people were put on trial by a jury consisting of the ones they tried to exterminate. Death sentences, life in prison sentences, and so on, depending on each one’s actions during this global war.”

“At least justice was served,” Luna said, taking a drink from a glass of water set on a table next to her at the end of the bench. “So many evil deeds and doers go unpunished. Still, one can not fathom a number that high. Seventy million? What is the population of your world? Equestria surely doesn’t even have that many ponies within its borders.”

Shining shook his head, “This is a war on a scale that cannot be imagined. How can that many people even die? Did it go on for a hundred years or something?”

“Around the war, the population of Earth was probably around three billion. Probably less than that. As for how people died, I did say that we were more advanced than Equus. Much more advanced. That includes the facet of waging war and killing. Especially that, given how adverse to war most people are on Equus.”

“I shall take that as a compliment,” Celestia said, shotgunning the last of her drink and motioning for another. “I have worked hard to discourage the propensity for war. Tartarus, even Luna had worked hard to maintain peace after she had set her lance down for good.”

Luna nodded, “It is true. For all its merits, war is something that should be forgotten. Not improved upon and advanced…”

Celestia plucked a folder from a stack of files that an aid had brought out for her, “So Phasma, you want Division-P to be judged just as harshly as these mass murders of your world? I have to say, as despicable as the Division was, they never achieved anything close to what you describe.”

“I haven’t even begun to describe the experiments, forced-labor, or other foul deeds committed by them. Division-P has blood on their hooves, and from what I’ve heard and seen, they would quickly follow in the hoofsteps– or footsteps, rather– of the monsters from my world’s past. Given time, they would be the ones exterminating changelings.”

Celestia frowned, “We cannot deal with hypotheticals. I will not judge somepony based on what they could do, but rather what they have done and want to do. You should remember your own position, and how you worked to destroy Equestria and put every pony in a pod, Phasma.”

“... I never tortured anyone.”

“Yeah, Phas would never do that!” Thorax supported me.

Celestia was unmoved, “Extracting love from a podded pony is a painful process, is it not?”

“It’s necessary.”

“I am inclined to agree. However, it is still a painful process, is it not?” I was silent. “Necessary torture, then? I understand that you had no alternative, and were actively looking for them, going so far as to ally with Nightmare Moon, even if for your own goals. However, torture is torture. If we were to judge you by the standards you are setting, what would your own sentence be? Would you be comfortable before a jury of ponies who lost everything in the fires of the invasion?”

I shifted uncomfortably, “No. But I was–” I sighed and rubbed my forehead.

“Phasma didn’t have a choice,” Coxa said.

“No, he didn’t,” Celestia agreed. “But many of the Inquisitors didn’t have a choice, either. Daybreaker had given the order, and had set the standard. Let’s go back to these monsters from your world. You said they were put on trial by a jury of the ones they persecuted, correct?”

“Yeah…”

“Where did these jurors come from?”

“Survivors, and those of the persecuted groups that lived in other nations.”

“So, they had a common understanding of justice, an agreed-upon set of increasing levels of punishments, and often lived in the same civilization as the perpetrators?”

“I guess?”

“The problem then is that we do not share a common understanding of justice. We come from radically different civilizations, and you from an even more different civilization than anypony– or anyone– here. What your changelings might view as a crime worthy of a death sentence, ponies might view as worthy of an extended time in jail. This is before even considering the level of crime and wrongdoing committed.”

I sighed, “So then what? We have to set some guidelines for the sentencing?”

“That would be the way forward, yes. We need to agree on limits and a standard reference for the crimes committed.”

“It would help to know what crimes were committed. Coxa, are we compiling a report on the eye-witness accounts from the survivors of Locksdale prison?”

“Uuuhhhhhhhhh suuuuuuuure!” Coxa smiled.

“Do it. Take photos. Lots of photos. Write down everyone’s story. Make copies of everything, too. Several copies.”

“So you’ll need my story, too?” Lace asked.

“Yes Lace. I’m sorry to revisit the trauma, but we will need everyone’s story.”

“And if I tell mine right now, it will help with negotiations, right?”

I looked at Celestia, who nodded.

‘I mean, there are other things to talk about.’

“We can wait if you’d like, Lace. There’s still a lot we need to negotiate over.”

“No, I want to tell my story now. The sooner I do it the sooner it’s over with, and the sooner you can figure this stuff out. I’ve heard a lot about pony vacation spots through Tarsus, and I’m definitely going to one after this on your bit, Phas.”

“As luck would have it, we’re already planning a trip to the mountains in the winter. If you can’t wait till then, then I’m sure there’s destination spots with vacancies. But before we get there, we do need to get this over with. Celestia, if you could help with the seating arrangement...”

The ponies had to bring out extra chairs so that we could all sit in front of Lacewing as she told her story. She still sat on the bench, and Coxa sat next to her, offering her company. I took a chair in what was the first of three rows, with Luna sitting next to me, and everyone else sitting in– ‘Oh, who cares. I am next to Luna and that’s the only important detail.’

The ponies with typewriters that had transcribed our meeting were brought back from their break, and were set to record Lacewing’s account of her treatment at the hooves of Division-P.

Then, taking a few minutes to prepare herself, Lacewing told her story.

Author's Note

I have a Ko-Fi if you want to support me.
Please view my latest blog on why you should pity me and throw pennies at me. Life hates me, and I hate it right back.

123- Unbroken

“Long live the Hive Eternal!”

Everything had happened so fast.

One moment she was standing around with several squads from the Ninth Legion, ‘Will of Panar,’ and the next she was being shoved towards an open doorway behind her. Panic had followed the booming voice. Panic that Lace was swept up in like a tree branch in a tidal wave.

Changelings were yelling– no, screaming.

It took her shocked mind entire seconds to realize that spells were being fired in Canterlot Castle’s foyer. In those seconds, four changelings fell to the floor and did not move anymore. Gasping, Lace spun on her hooves, and ran. Several changelings had run with her, pushing her along. But at each branching path, Lacewing found herself more alone as they split off.

The changeling in front of her was suddenly bisected by a transparent blade that narrowly missed Lacewing. She threw herself to the floor before scrambling back up and taking a side hallway, not even looking to see who or what had killed the changeling she had been more or less following up till now.

She fled through corridors. She dived through open doorways. She cut across side rooms. Eventually, Lacewing stopped in a dusty storage room, all alone, though not before opening the door on the other side.

The room was filled with furniture, all covered in white cloth to protect them from dust. Lace buzzed up above the storage room, and found a suitable hiding spot. In the middle of one cluster of furniture was a desk that, when the covering was lifted, revealed a space large enough for her to hide in. She quickly stuffed herself underneath the desk.

When the tarp fell, she was plunged into darkness. Accompanied only by her frantic panting and beating heart, Lace tried to calm herself. She was afraid that whoever attacked the foyer was after her, that they had seen her flee, and were hunting her down. There was no way of knowing what was going on, only that the changelings had been ambushed.

The first calm thought that didn’t race through Lace’s mind like a dragonfly was the realization that everything happened too suddenly.

‘It had been an ambush…. That meant it was planned.’

Lace caught her breath, steadied her heart, and waited.

Seconds ticked by.

Minutes crawled on.

It became quickly apparent that no one had noticed her flight. If they had, then whoever had attacked the Ninth would be on her tail like moss.

Minutes piled on minutes.

The room occasionally shook. Whatever titanic duel that had been going on either resumed, or… something else had happened.

‘Who is Chrysalis fighting? Who is winning? What’s going on?’

Lace wanted to leave her hiding spot and find out. She wanted to put on a brave face and stand next to her friends as they fought for their own lives and futures. However, only one thing kept her frozen on the cold floor.

Lace was not a fighter. She could fight, just as any changeling in the Swarm could, but she was not a fighter. The fights that mattered, where demi-gods let their rage and power clash? Lace might as well be a breeze that shuffles some leaves in comparison.

An entire hour passed by, as slow as a glacier.

The first hint Lace got that she wasn’t alone was when seven sets of hooves burst into the room, fanning out and covering angles. Tasting their subdued anger, she knew at once that they were ponies, and not lings. If they had been lings, she would have been proud of their combat effectiveness. As it stood, she was rather unpleasantly surprised at their skill.

‘I thought we were supposed to be the experts at close quarters combat. This is rather unfortunate…’

“E.U.P.! Whoever's in here, make yourself known!”

Lace held her breath.

“Corporal?” She heard one voice ask.

“One return.”

“Right. I’ll make this easy. If you’re a pony, you can come out. The changelings have lost, and Canterlot is being secured.”

‘Lies!’

“If you’re a changeling… surrender, and you won’t get more hurt.”

‘These ponies are so laughable! I’d kick their asses if it didn’t mean my own ass would be kicked in return!’

Lace tasted the emotions in the air. The ponies were confident. They were also angry. No doubt the swift defeat of their entire nation had filled this rag-tag group of ponies with determination.

‘Raging against the sunset: distant and a useless effort. Damn, I wish I had my sketchpad with me, that’d make a good image I’d bet.’

There was no one coming to Lace’s aid, meaning she would have to get out of this one on her own. Her best bet would be retracing her steps. Any other way had the potential of running into a dead end, whereas the foyer might still contain changelings that at least wouldn’t kill Lace in retribution…

Hopefully.

‘I need to get out of this room, though. What would Phasma do?’

Whatever signal the ponies had given to each other was nonverbal, but the sudden taste of hatred had steeled their resolve and signaled their intent. Lace heard the quiet shuffle of hooves on the floor as the ponies began to spread out.

‘He would say… use a distraction. Probably.’

A sudden attack that stunned them was her only chance of getting out. Lace braced herself and readied her spells. The timing would have to be quick.

With a grunt of effort, Lacewing made her move.

The top half of the desk exploded upwards in a glowing green light as its remains and the large tarp were hurled upwards violently. At the same moment, Lace darted forward, weaving in between the tight space between the furniture, making for the exit.

“Now!”

Lace emerged from the cluster of furniture, barreling right into a yellow unicorn Royal Guard. The unicorn’s ice blue spell beam arced suddenly and without guidance from his horn as he was barreled over. His stunning ray went wide, scorching the ceiling as two other spells hit the glowing green ball that had begun to slow down in the air above the room.

Lace shut her eyes as she rolled to her hooves, already casting her next spell as the first dissipated from the attacks. She heard a gasp as someone started to call out in alarm before her flashbang spell briefly illuminated the figure of a pony through her own eyelids.

Then, Lace made for the exit, scampering on all fours as the ponies collected themselves behind her. A brown earth pony had been stationed at the door she had entered through to block it, but the pony was shaking the stars from her vision as Lace galloped past.

‘Where is everyling?!’

Lace frantically retraced her steps, trying to go through her hasty retreat in reverse. Unfortunately, she quickly lost track of where she was, and suddenly found herself in a greenhouse. The glass windowed walls and ceilings were all fractured in some way, and many of the racks of plant trays or plant pots had been knocked over. The duel between the demi-gods and demi-godesses has shaken the greenhouse horribly, causing half of its contents to spill or break in some way.

The indoor garden had no other exit, so Lace turned to flee back to the nearest corridor intersection.

There were emotions coming from the hallway.

‘Ponies are coming!’

None of the shattered windows had holes large enough for her to crawl through, so she would have to hide again.

‘Hide! Hide hide hide!’

Lace looked around for a new spot.

‘Bags of dirt, plant tray, pile of empty pots, overturned ferns, one sickly looking Lifepup plant…. What do I do?! Oh! Ponies don’t know much about illusions, right?’

Lace quickly scrambled to the stacked pile of empty plant pots. She pulled herself up and into the largest one of them, which was set aside from the rest. Her hooves scraped against the fired clay pottery as she pulled herself into the pot. Then, getting comfortable, she casted an illusion spell to appear as a bushy plant, with long broad leaves that hung over the pot.

Half a minute later, three ponies entered the room: two unicorns and an earth pony. With much less cover, Lace’s odds of going undetected relied entirely on them not noticing the illusion spell that was casted.

Then, ten more ponies arrived right behind the first three. Lace felt the blood drain from her face as she used up her mana pool to keep the illusion up.

Four posted themselves at the door, while the rest spread out throughout the greenhouse. Lace’s breath quickened as several walked slowly past her hiding spot, eyeing up her corner of the room. One, a blue pegasus, lingered on her plant disguise for a few seconds before moving on.

“Nothing,” A pony called out from the far side of the room.

“It’s in here,” A unicorn near the center reassured. “We know it is.”

‘Where is everyone? How are these ponies here operating with impunity?! Shouldn’t the castle be clear by now?!’

Lace hadn’t seen a single changeling since she ran from the ambush. All she had run into were ponies so far.

‘Was it the ponies who ambushed us? That would explain a lot… if so, where did this counterattack come from? And why hasn’t either side of the Fourth Hive come to stamp it out? Are we too busy with our own infighting to deal with this? Damn it, where are my friends?!’

One unicorn, with black fur and an ash grey mane, stopped right in front of Lacewing. The pony had some sort of cloak and hood in addition to his standard issued armor, giving more of a mage look than anyone present in the room.

‘Please. Move on. Please….’

Lacewing gulped as the pony turned to face her. His emerald green eyes passed over her plant disguise from top to bottom. He stopped and fixed his gaze at the base of the plant pot, making Lace look over the pot’s edge to see for herself just what was so interesting.

The pot was all marked up from her climb.

All Lace could do was grimace and hiss before the unicorn’s horn flashed green. Lace was thrown backwards through the air, the wind completely knocked out of her. Her disguise spell had been obliterated the moment the push spell had hit her, so all the ponies had looked up in surprise as a changeling flew above their heads.

Lace smashed into and through an already cracked glass pane at the far side of the room. She felt her own carapace crack from the blow, and felt seval long pieces cut straight into her back and whithers. The blow had knocked her head against the glass before it broke, too, giving her a pounding headache and sent her vision spinning.

She hit the ground outside and rolled several times. Or maybe she didn’t roll at all, it was impossible for her to tell. Eventually, her sight settled long enough for her to tell that she was on her back, looking up at a night sky that was already tainted with the ambers and oranges of an early dawn, which raked holes in the cloud cover that had filled the air following Canterlot’s burning.

Her horn burned.

Lacewing was tired, scared, and frustrated. But she knew that if she stayed on the ground, she was going to feel a whole lot worse soon enough.

Her back and neck ached.

‘I have to get up! The ponies will be on me in just a moment!’ She yelled to herself.

Lace blinked once, and realized that she wasn’t breathing. With a long, startled gasp, she filled her chest with air. The immediate pain signaled that some part of her chest was probably also broken.

Her head was spinning.

‘Get up!’

Another gasp of air, this one more drawn out, filling her lungs to the brim with air. It tasted terribly of ash.

Her eyes stung.

Lacewing tried to move. She really did, but her legs wouldn’t listen. She couldn’t even roll over onto her belly in the first place, let alone rise to all fours.

One of her muddled senses resolved itself into satisfaction.

‘... Huh?’

Several faces– pony, of course– appeared above her, staring down at her.

‘... Oh. Shit.’

A pony chuckled, “Nice find, Winter! How did you even…?”

“It didn’t cover its trail. Now hurry up with that inhibitor,” a unicorn replied. It was the very same one that had found her.

“No,” Lace mumbled, starting to squirm.

‘I have to get back to my friends! The First Fang are counting on me! Something’s wrong! They were supposed to be at the foyer!’

Lace tried to summon the energy to cast another spell, but the effort only made her horn burn more intensely. Her spell had been broken mid-casting, meaning she needed time to recover. Time she had run out of the moment that unicorn had looked her way.

As if to twist the dagger, the unicorn frowned before hitting her with another one of his green-colored spells. A small dart flew from his horn to her chest, sending Lace into convulsions as she felt her body seize up in pain.

She tried to scream in pain, but only gurgled and groaned as she twitched on the ground.

‘No! I need… my friends! My friends! Please! Something has gone wrong, I have to warn Phasma! My friends! My… friends!’

Lacewing’s eyelids slowly closed against her will–

– Only to shoot back open.

“Wha…?” Lacewing mumbled in confusion.

The sky had changed from grey with streaks of yellow to solid grey. Not even the same shade of grey, too. It was dark, like a storm cloud. The ponies had vanished, too.

With a groan of pain, Lace slowly shifted her head to look around. She was no longer laying in whatever courtyard she had been flung into after smashing through that window. In fact, she wasn’t outside at all.

She was in a prison cell. Four square walls. Once ceiling. One floor. The far wall had a large iron door fixed into the middle of it, with several slots on different levels.

Lace couldn’t sense any emotions, so at least there were no ponies nearby. However, she couldn’t feel her mana pool either. Slowly, and with more groaning, she lifted a hoof to rub her horn. The action was slow and stiff, like she was one of those porcelain dolls that Tarsus had described once.

Her hoof met cold metal at the base of her horn.

‘An… inhibitor? That’s what they–’

“Son of a…!” Lacewing hissed, lurching upwards.

That proved to be a mistake as she immediately collapsed to the ground before she could even stand. Her back felt like someone had taken a sharpened rake and dragged it down its length, which given what she went through, wasn’t entirely inaccurate.

Still, the emotion that made her lurch to her hooves put extra awareness into her.

The ponies had captured her. She was imprisoned by them.

“No, no, no, no! Shit! By Chrysalis’s holey hooves, this is bad! I’ve been foalnapped!” She gasped, struggling to stand again, slowly this time.

‘I have to warn the First Fang that the ponies are managing to fight back! If they intervene in the uprising, we could lose everything! I have to find someone– anyone!’

She tried to remove the metal ring that felt so cold against her chitin, but it wouldn’t budge.

She shuffled across the room, her movement stiff and restricted. Her back screamed in protest at the action, but she pressed forward until she reached the door. Once more, her efforts went unrewarded when she couldn’t find any way of opening the solid metal door.

Lace closed her eyes and hissed, both out of frustration and from the pain she was in. Then, she looked over her shoulder as she lifted her elytra and checked the condition of her wings. The fragile structures had survived for the most part, with only some holes from where her elytra had been punctured by the glass.

‘At least I can fly. I just need to… get out. Somehow.’

But there was no way out. Her room was a solid box, save for the door. She tried once again to mess with it, trying to find some way to get out. Lace was in the middle of trying to push back a horizontal slot when the metal piece flew to the side, opening the hatch.

A pony unicorn stared at her from outside the door, her horn alight with a red glow. The sudden brightness made her cringe and blink away the dots in her sight.

The slot closed back up before Lace could do anything. Before she could even hiss in frustration at losing what might have been her one chance at freedom, several loud clunks and thunks came from the far side of the door.

The door suddenly swung outwards, making Lace shield her face from the sudden injection of light into her cell.

“Face the back wall.”

Lace lowered her foreleg and squinted at the pony. It was wearing non-standard Guard armor; instead of the uniform gold plating that all Royal Guards had, she wore a more muddier brown coloring, and it lacked many of the decorations that the Royal Guard armor had. The pony, now revealed to be a white unicorn with turquoise mane and red eyes, glared at Lacewing.

“Now,” the pony growled.

With a lurch, Lace staggered forward, intending to barrel into and through the pony. The pony grunted and simply froze Lace where she was with telekinesis, holding her in place. Lace felt like a hundred changelings had been piled on top of her, and with a choked groan, she collapsed onto the floor, her back in searing pain.

‘I have to get out!’

Hoping that only her physical magic had been cut off, Lace funneled what little energy she had left into the Thread of Change, hoping to transform into a manticore. It was her last chance at escaping; using the last of her energy was dangerous, but she needed to get out.

But when she channeled the energy into the non-physical Thread, the ring at the base of her horn heated up considerably, nearly burning her chitin. Lace gasped in pain and shock as she felt the energy vanish like water draining into a hole. The nullifier on her horn had somehow stopped her transformation, robbing her of her one chance at escape.

Lace tried to stifle her sob as she collapsed, laying her head on the stone ground.

The weight was lifted from her back, but her heart still felt so heavy that it might be ripped downwards from her chest. She had one chance to escape, and she blew it trying to use magic before getting the nullifier removed.

‘N–no… I… I had one chance! I… I can’t have failed! My friends need me, and I need them!’

Lace sat on the ground for several minutes, desperately reaching around for the energy she had lost. The pony had ordered her to do something, but Lace was too deep within her own mind to listen to the vermin talk.

‘Damn them! Damn them and their plans for me, I can’t stay here!’

Eventually, Lace felt herself be picked up. She hung limply in the air, like a kitten being picked up by the scruff of its neck. She lifted her head to glare daggers at the pony which was marehandling her. The unicorn was now joined by two of its comrades, each a unicorn as well, and wearing the mud-colored light armor.

She was deposited onto a wheeled gurney they had brought with them. She watched as they fixed straps to her hooves, tying her down onto the bed, like some kind of deranged hospital patient.

Lace weakly struggled, but gave up after only making the ponies tighten the straps more.

They wheeled her down a long hallway, filled with doors to prison cells much like her own. Lace didn’t know if any were occupied, if the ponies had snagged any other changeling. She didn’t even know where she was.

‘Some part of the castle dungeon that wasn’t cleared out, clearly. I can’t believe that the Legions had missed this many ponies!’

She tried to think of ways out. She fantasized about ripping out the straps that held her down, and tearing off the ring around her horn that stole her strength. She smiled when she thought about bucking the ponies around who occasionally sent glares or curious stares her way.

But she lay on the bare gurney, unmoving.

They crossed an intersection. Then another. Then a third. The iron doors were replaced with simple wooden ones. Just as Lace was beginning to get disorientated in this underground maze, they stopped before a particular wooden door, which they pushed open and wheeled her through.

It was an interrogation room. The utterly utilitarian space had a table, with two chairs on either side. The wall on the left was some kind of mirror that ran from halfway up the wall all the way up to the ceiling, and stretched from wall to wall. There was a single light, hanging down above the table.

‘Or maybe its an operating room. Guess I’ll find out soon enough.’

The ponies moved Lace to the far side of the table, pushing the chair out of the way and lowering the gurney so that Lace was level with the table. Then, the unicorn which had first opened the door, the white mare, sat down across from Lace as her companions exited the room and closed the door behind them.

Lace’s mouth and throat were bone dry when she realized she couldn’t sense any emotions. The inhibitor somehow blocked every sense of magic, including changeling empathy.

‘Lucky bastards.’

“What are you?” The mare asked, breaking the silence.

After thinking about it, Lace decided that she should answer. The effort was slow and difficult, thanks in no small part to her sudden parched mouth.

“... Let me go, and you will be treated well,” Lace muttered.

The pony snorted silently, “What are you?”

‘Do I tell them that I am important, and they are making a fatal mistake in holding me? Or do I hold that from them, in case they don’t know?’

Lace decided to go with a non-answer, “... Hungry.”

She was hungry. She was also tired, in pain, confused, disorientated, and cut off from both her mana and the Hivemind–

Lace froze when she realized that last one. She had no empathy. She had no magic. She had no Hivemind. She couldn’t feel the Weave at all.

‘Can inhibitors really do all of that, or am I hurt in some way…? Oh Panar, please let it be the first thing. W–without the Weave...’

Lace tried to lift a hoof to rub the ring once more, forgetting that it was bound to the gurney.

“You will receive a meal after you tell us who you are,” the pony said, interrupting Lace’s panic attack.

“Where are they?” Lace wondered out loud.

“Where are who?”

“My friends,” she grunted. “I need to–” Lace cut herself off with a cough.

The pony repeated once again, “What are you? What is your species called?”

‘I need to buy time. Yeah, that’s what I need to do! My friends will come and save me, I know they will! They’d never leave me behind! I just need to stall for as long as possible, and Phasma or Oestridae or Coxa will come bursting through these doors, and everything will be as right as rain once again!’

“... We…. are… changelings,” she managed to say.

“Changelings?” The pony repeated. Lace nodded. “Why have you attacked Equestria?”

“... W–water,” Lace stuttered.

“For water?”

“I need…. water.”

The pony leaned back in her chair, her eyes darting over Lace’s body. Lace suddenly felt a bit self-conscious, wishing she wasn’t up at the table level like some kind of plant specimen to be studied.

‘That’s exactly what I am, aren’t I? Some specimen that they are studying? Damn it all, where are the Legions?!’

The door behind the pony opened, and a second entered with a glass and pitcher of water. The pony set them both on the table before leaving and shutting the door again.

‘So they are listening to our conversation, then? Ha! These guys are idiots!’

Lace stared at the glass of water, which lay a hooves length from her muzzle.

The pony didn’t move an inch, “Why did your kind invade Equestria?”

‘What is this bullshit?!’

“Water,” she grunted, scowling at the pony.

‘You can’t just put water in front of me and not give it to me! That’s gotta be illegal or something!’

The mare kept her stare up for a solid minute before sighing and picking up the glass and pressing it against Lace’s muzzle, tipping it forward so that Lace could drink. And drink she did.

‘I’d be embarrassed about this, but at the end of the day, it'll be me feeding off of them.’

When the glass was emptied, Lace sighed in relief as the pony pulled the glass back and placed it next to the full jug.

“I’ll ask again, why did your kind invade Equestria?”

‘Might as well drip feed them some answers.’

Lace sneered, “Hunger.”

“You invaded because you were hungry?”

“Are hungry.”

“Is there some kind of drought where you come from?”

“No.”

“Then why couldn’t you feed yourselves? Why did you invade Equestria? Did you run out of seeds or something?”

Lace chuckled, “Nnheheh…. We don’t eat plants.”

“What do you eat?”

Lace licked her lips and grinned, “Ponies.”

The pony stared at her fangs, her face hiding any emotion.

‘If I’m stuck here, I might as well have some fun with these idiots.’

The ponies had continued to ask Lacewing questions, which she either answered, ignored, or gave non-answers to, depending on the question. Lace was willing to say some general things about changelings, but withheld any information about her specific identity, or anything important about the invasion.

Eventually, they wheeled her back to her room, and locked her in.

She was left alone in the relative darkness for what seemed like hours before a slot near the bottom of her door was opened, and a tray was pushed through. The tray held equestrian food, which did little for Lace’s ever-so-slowly growing hunger.

Then, she tried to get some sleep. She was in it for the long-haul, clearly. Wherever she was, it would take a while for the changelings to find her. She also had to figure out a way of learning what was going on outside her captive cell. The ponies spoke about the invasion, but they revealed nothing.

If she wanted answers, she would have to bait them out. That meant sacrificing valuable information she held. An unwilling trade. Still, it was the only way forward she saw. If she gave up hope, or did nothing to improve her own understanding, then she would be as good as dead. While her friends would save her, it was up to her to survive until then. If the ponies thought she was valueless, they would likely kill her. It’s what the changelings would do.

So the hours became days.

She was questioned repeatedly. She answered less and less questions as time ground on. Her frustration grew. Her hunger, like a void, slowly swallowed her other emotions and feelings. That empty pit in her stomach expanded hour after hour. She was surrounded by ponies for the first time in her life, and she couldn’t even taste a single one of their emotions.

She chuckled weakly in the darkness of her cell at that fact. It was a hilarious fate. Then, her stomach growled, and she stopped laughing.

The ponies noticed her growing lethargy, eventually. She had been there a week, maybe a week and a half by that point.

“Is there something wrong with you?” Her captor asked.

Lace sighed. Once again, they had strapped her to the gurney. It seems that despite her time there, they weren’t comfortable with letting her walk freely.

“I’m hungry.”

“Have you not been eating the food we give you?” The pony asked.

Lace studied the pony. If she didn’t know any better, she would have said that the pony was almost concerned for Lace’s health. It certainly looked the part.

“Changelings don’t eat plants.”

“Then what have you been doing with the food we give you?”

“.... Eating it.”

“But you said you can’t?”

“... Hides the pain.”

“Eating hides pain? What pain?”

“Hunger,” Lace grunted.

“You eat food because it hides the effect of hunger without actually fixing it?”

“... Yes.”

“How can we feed you, then?”

‘You can start by taking off this Panar-damned ring!’

Lace wanted to shout at the stupid pony, but she was willing to play the long game. The First Fang would save her, she knew they would. That meant surviving the short-term.

“Emotions,” she grunted.

“Emotions?”

“Love.”

“Love?” The pony repeated again, getting on Lace’s nerve.

“Your love,” Lace snarled. “It’s delicious. So hungry….”

“How do you eat our… love?”

“Take off this ring….” Lace said, as calmly as she could.

“We will not remove the inhibitor. How do you feed off love?”

“... So hungry…”

“We can help you if you just tell us what we want to know.”

‘I can’t be saved if I die here.’

“Thread of Emotion.”

“What?”

“Thread of… Emotion. Focus on the emotions, and pull the Thread.”

“What are you saying?”

“How to feed,” Lace sighed. “Pull the Thread.”

“You pull a thread? Is this thread…. Physical?”

“No.”

The pony nodded, “Some magical concept, then?”

“Suppose so….” Lace said.

“And using this, you feed off a pony’s… love? Love for what?”

“Anything. Friends. Family. Happiness…” Lace giggled weakly, “Sex.”

The mare rolled her eyes, “Does this hurt or kill the pony?”

“Hurts, if taken. The best infiltrators know how to make them give it willingly…”

“Infiltrators?” The pony asked, sitting up straight. “What infiltrators?”

‘Ugh. Oops.’

“Hungry,” Lace said, changing the subject.

“These infiltrators, how long have they been in Equestria? How many are there?”

“Hungry.”

“How can they be spotted? How do they spot each other? Who do they report to? Who do they hurt?”

“Hungry.”

“Whose in charge of them? Who trains them? How can we spot them?”

“Hungry,” Lace repeated again.

The pony sighed and sat back in her chair.

That was the questioning for that day. Lace answered no more questions, and the pony gave up asking more. She was returned to her cell, where she counted the minutes. There were a couple hundred of them before she was taken to the interrogation room again.

Questions were asked. Hunger was stated. Questions were ignored.

Minutes became hours which became days.

Lace must have spent at least two weeks, sitting in a dark cell or strapped to a table. Her only companion, save for the idiot ponies, was hunger. Slowly growing. Slowly painful. Slowly dying.

Hunger.

She was quickly losing track of time. It was on some uneventful day– or night, it was impossible to tell– that they took her to a new room.

They went on the usual path to the interrogation room. Only this time, they went to a room several doors down. This one was empty, save for the massive mirror that Lace was sure was some sort of magical looking-glass they used to spy on the interrogation.

They wheeled her into the room, faced her towards the door, and left her alone. It wasn’t the first time she was alone in the room, sometimes they would step out for a moment to talk with their superiors, or whatever Lace guessed they were doing. Maybe taking a piss.

This time, the pony that entered wasn’t a Royal Guard. No, not at all. Royal Guards don’t wear orange prison jumpsuits, nor do they shuffle around in chains.

The prisoner, some dull green earth pony, froze in fear when it was pushed into Lace’s room. Cut off though she was from her empathy senses, the fear the pony felt was plain to see across its face.

“That’s onna them, ain’t it?” The stallion mumbled to the guards behind him.

In response, the Royal Guard pushed the prisoner forward, and grabbed some part of the chain that was wrapped around a fetlock and locked the chain to a bolt in the ground, which Lace nearly missed entirely when she was wheeled in.

“Whoa hey, what’re ya doin?” The prisoner asked, growing more scared.

Then, the most unexpected thing happened. The Royal Guard removed Lace’s inhibitor ring.

The Guard quickly left the room, locking the door behind him. Lace gasped as a flood of senses bowled her over. Empathy and magic filled her every sense. But not the Weave. She couldn’t feel the Hive’s, Phasma’s, or even Chrysalis’s presence anywhere nearby.

She grunted as her mind sorted through the emotions.

‘Fear. The pony in front of me. Curiosity. Ponies on the other side of the wall behind the mirror. Ah, so that’s what that is. Not some magical clairvoyance thingy, just a one way mirror. Heh.’

“Alright guys, very funny, now let me outta here!” The pony howled, tugging on his chain. “Hey, c’mon! Guys!”

‘Fear.’

Delicious fear.

It, along with whatever else Lace could taste, would do.

Lace took a nice, long, deep breath, and pulled on the Thread of Emotion.

Lace’s unwilling companion left her, and she was glad to see it go. Her hunger was sated, and no doubt the pony’s curiosity was rewarded. They had watched her feed on their companion. She didn’t care if they learned something important from this, she just wanted the pain to go away.

The pony survived, of course. To drain a victim of all of their emotions was entirely possible, but it was a difficult thing to do when you weren’t a royal. Besides, she doubted they would treat her nicely if she killed a pony right in front of them.

‘Or maybe that doesn’t matter…’

These ponies were different. She learned pretty quickly that they were a far cry from the ponies described in all those lessons growing up in her hatch. The ponies her Broodmothers described wouldn’t stand idly by as their own was in pain. These ponies made sure the victim was in a position to be hurt.

‘I oughta learn about them, just as they are learning about me.’

They replaced the inhibitor when they came in to drag the groaning stallion out. Lace didn’t struggle or protest, even when her senses were suddenly cut off once again. The hunger was gone– or at least, the pain of it was. She wanted more, of course, but she knew when to stop feeding. That was one of the most important lessons from the Infiltrator class: to know when to stop. To know when to cut your losses, and move on. To know when you’ve had enough, and to temper your own hunger.

The hunger would slowly return to her, yes, but now she had a way of feeding. The ponies would let her feed once again, she knew it. As long as she continued to drip feed them information, they would keep her alive. They would not break her spirit.

Days passed, once again only marked by the occasion of being questioned. Lace found that she began to look forward to these conversations. Credit where credit was due, these ponies knew how to keep her talking. Perhaps they weren’t so idiotic after all.

They were still interested in the invasion. Particularly, in Queen Chrysalis and Prince Phasmatodea. They asked questions about both, which Lace answered as she got her own answers.

The Queen was still alive.

They referred to Phasma in the past tense.

‘Idiots.’

It seemed like the Queen might have won the schism, but Lace knew Phasma wouldn’t go down easily. Whatever was happening outside her walls, she knew the Lodges and the First Fang would never stop fighting. So while she slowly pulled answers from her captors, and fed them answers of her own in return, she got a better and better picture of just what had happened during The Promised Day.

Then everything changed.

At the end of one particularly boring conversation, she was wheeled not to her cell, but to a different wing entirely. This wing had open cells; metal bars kept the occupants of the cells away from the Royal Guards, who strode through the hall without care.

The changelings in the cells all hissed and snarled at the ponies as they passed, and stared at Lacewing with curiosity and shock.

All of them had inhibitor rings on. Whatever method the ponies had for making them and putting them on, they had also made sure to lock them tightly somehow. Lace couldn’t even begin to guess how they worked, as enchantment wasn’t a particularly known field in the Fourth Hive.

They stopped at an empty cell, and wheeled her into it, dumping her onto the ground unceremoniously. Then, they left.

The changelings across the hall, pressed up against the bars, began asking questions. Lace asked questions of her own.

For whatever reason, Lace had been kept separate from the rest of the changelings. As it turned out, she had talked a lot about changelings, more than anyling else. But in return, she was the first to feed, if her own internal clock and calendar was anything to trust. Most importantly, she learned the stories of the changelings imprisoned here.

She was in the dungeons of Canterlot Castle.

The invasion had failed.

Queen Chrysalis had apparently killed Phasma.

Lies. Lies. Lies.

Lace didn’t believe it. Not any of it, not at first. But they all shared their stories, and talked. Some were loyalists. Some were Lodgers. All of them had their stories to share. Changelings had died, both in the sudden civil war, and to the advent of the new alicorn. Daybreaker, she was called, and she did break the day. The Promised Day had been a bloodbath, and did nothing but bring suffering to the changeling species. The Hive Eternal had been badly wounded.

But they were all still alive, and so the Hive Eternal was as well. No ling knew if anyone else outside in particular was alive, but from the stories they gathered from the prisoners that were brought in one by one and added to their number, the Legions were in full retreat.

The invasion had indeed failed.

Phasma was nowhere to be seen. Same with Coxa, Oestridae, Tarsus, or any of the other leaders of the Lodges. It was assumed that the East and West Swarms had either pulled out without resistance, or were annihilated entirely.

‘Phasma…’

He wasn’t dead. Lace didn’t believe that. Only Chrysalis had emerged from their duel, and one changeling claimed to have witnessed Phasma burn up entirely, but Lace never believed that. Her friends would come to save her.

She knew they would.

But being introduced to the other changelings wasn’t the only change in her new life. They had stories, stories of being completely uncooperative. Stories of being made to be cooperative. Eventually, it wouldn’t matter if Lace believed those stories or not, because she would be telling them herself.

Before that all started, she was fed. All the changelings were fed love. It was scraps spread amongst the large crowd of them in the dungeon, but it was food. Several changelings revealed that they were being forced to extract love from ponies, so that they all could survive. Lace figured out that she more or less started that particular procedure by accident.

Scraps to make the hunger less. Not go away, no, but it hid the pain. That was enough. The changelings had been accustomed to starvation-rations in the Fourth Hive, especially when disaster struck. Hunger became a haunting spectre in the dungeons, present on everyling’s shoulders and minds.

Then the ponies asked questions that Lace knew she couldn’t answer at all. They got those answers, regardless.

It started out small.

They demanded to know how to detect Infiltrators. They knew about Lace’s importance. Either they had listened in to the conversations between her and the other changelings in the cells, or had figured it out from the answers she had given them over time. In the end, it didn’t matter how they figured it out, only that they did. The ponies knew that Lacewing was important. They knew she held a lot of answers, even more than the common drones around her. And she had a history of being cooperative.

They weren’t happy when she refused to tell them anything about detecting changelings.

Not that she really knew in the first place. She could figure out ways, but it seemed like they wanted a mystical method of instantly finding all changelings within Equestria. Nothing like that existed, but she didn’t say that. She instead told them where to shove it.

Their patience wore thin. Hours of questioning dragged on. They started to withhold food. Then, they hurt her.

Slowly and slightly, at first. But Lace was strong, and she believed in her friends, wherever they may be. Phasma. Oestridae. Coxa. Tarsus. Thorax. All of them. They would come to save them all. They would beat these ponies, and free the changelings.

She just had to survive.

Survive.

Survive.

‘Survive!’

Lace cried in pain and went limp. The chains holding her rattled as she went limp, and the pony sighed.

“What spell detects changelings?” She asked for the hundredth time.

“Survive,” Lace repeated, gritting her teeth.

“Again,” the pony nodded to her companion. That damned unicorn, the white one with the turquoise mane that had been her personal interrogator, once again lit her horn in red magic. Lace’s muscles seized up as the electricity ripped through her chitin, burning her inside out once again. Once she was nice.

‘Survive!’

She was returned to her cell, which had gained two other occupants over the days she was there. The changelings rushed to her limp body when the ponies locked the cell door behind them.

“Lace, you okay?” One of them asked.

“Nnngh,” Lace answered.

“You’re going to be okay, Lace,” the changeling answered.

His name was Leaf Cutter, and he had been all the way in Cincinneighti when he had been captured. The Legions had evacuated Equestria by now. The changelings in Canterlot wouldn’t be saved.

‘They are going to save us. We will survive,’ Lace asserted to herself.

“Just don’t move,” Leaf Cutter said, checking her over.

It wasn’t like anyone else was in a much better shape, anyways. The ponies hadn’t captured anyone without a fight, so many arrived with injuries. Some didn’t survive. The added hunger was a burden some of the injured just couldn’t handle. The ponies had started doing more than just demanding information, as Lace could now testify.

What’s more, there were whispers of tests. The ponies were testing their spells and enchantments on the changelings, seeing if they could detect, deter, or hurt them in any way.

Lace had seen some of the tests herself. They had managed to get their hooves on Adamantium somehow, and though many of the tests were benign, not all of them were. Scorched chitin, splintered carapace, and zapped bugs were occasional outcomes.

Outcomes that the ponies had been wanting.

This all kept up for days.

‘Survive!’

Weeks.

‘Survive!’

Months.

“We will survive this,” Lacewing said through gritted teeth.

Leaf Cutter didn’t respond.

He hadn’t returned since they took him two weeks ago. He wasn't the only one to die. Several changelings had died during group testing. Sometimes they were forced to watch as their comrades choked to death, or bled out. Usually the ponies gave the changelings basic medical aid. Usually it worked. Not always.

“We will survive this,” Lacewing repeated.

Her own chitin, fractured since they had first captured her, broken and rehealed several times, was covered in dried blood or thin cracks in her shell.

She was broken physically. This was irrefutable.

But she would survive.

They fitted them all with collars, replacing the inhibitor rings. They were told what would happen if they disobeyed. If they tried to run. If they tried to fight.

‘I will endure.’

They demanded information about Phasma. She told them little, though many sessions ended with her bleeding and sobbing, and the ponies with the answers they wanted. Every hour she resisted was an hour wasted. Every hour wasted added up to days lost. The ponies would be stalled as long as possible.

‘I will survive.’

Her friends were coming. Nothing else was acceptable. She never gave up on them, and she knew that they would not give up on her.

Even if they had to go through every single pony in Equestria to save her, the First Fang would. These ponies, this Division-P as it became known as, were just obstacles in their way.

‘We will survive. We always have. We always will. The Hive Eternal has never fallen. It never will.’

Lace was laying with her back against the cold stone wall behind her, letting the cold instill numbness into her broken elytra. They had cut off a portion of one of her wings to study it earlier that day, and the bleeding had only just stopped. But she felt more alive than she ever had in the past few months. For the first time since she woke up, she didn't feel alone. There was someone with her. He was not sitting next to her in her cell, yet he was still next to her. He was distant, yet close enough to embrace Lacewing in a tight hug.

She was feeling Phasma's Weave again.

"Yes, it is me who you sense. Prince Phasmatodea of the Fourth Hive lives yet, and I have come tonight for all of you. Keep silent, and this shall be the last night you will be bound in irons. In the name of the Hive Eternal, I order your silence. By Panar, I swear that you all shall be free tomorrow, whatever else comes of it. As it is woven, so it shall be.”

The longest minutes of her life were the easiest to wait out, for Lacewing knew she was right all along.

She felt the wall shake. A little bit of dust fell from the ceiling, and several Division-P guards rushed past her cell, yelling.

And Lacewing smiled.

The First Fang had come to save her.

“I am unbroken.”

Author's Note

I have a Ko-Fi if you want to support me.

Happy one year anniversary to Changing Expectations!

124- Airmid

The ponies were in various states of grief, I noticed.

Cadence was in denial. The idea that such heinous acts could take place right here in Canterlot, right under her own nose was inconceivable. She was grilling Lacewing for more details, trying to identify the ponies responsible for the crimes committed against the changelings. She probably thought that the actions were committed by a small group. The actions of a few radicals, rather than some systematic belief or organization."

Shining Armor was angry. He paced the ground next to Cadence while they listened to Lace, though I suspected with less kind motives. From his mutterings, I could tell he wanted to know the identity of these ponies because they were Royal Guards, and he was thus responsible for all their actions. He wanted their hides, metaphorically speaking.

‘At least I no longer have to convince him to deliver justice. He’s going to be hunting down every last Inquisitor now out of sheer anger, both at them and himself. Well Shining, good luck to you with that. I’ll lend any help I can at finding the rat-bastards.’

Thorax, who I am throwing in with the ponies because he’s not dealing with this so well, was looking about as down in the dumps as he possibly could. Coxa was torn between comforting Thorax and providing support for Lace. I found myself in a similar situation, torn between helping out Thorax and helping out Celestia.

Luna was… closed off. The emotions I sensed suggested that she had accepted what happened, and was ready to chop some heads off. Or rather, given that she’s a pony, lock up the Division-P Inquisitors and throw away the key. I wasn’t worried about her, no. It was her sister that was taking this a lot worse. Luna was still half in the past, so her mindset wasn’t quite as modern as her shrunken counterpart. Furthermore, Celestia actually was responsible for this.

At least, that’s what she believed. Celestia poured herself another drink. She had to hold it with her magic, her hoof was shaking so much.

Luna gave me a concerned glance, “See to your friends, I shall see to my sister.”

“Alright.”

I walked over and nodded to Coxa. He nodded back and left Thorax to attend to Lacewing, who was beginning to yell at Cadence. Thorax was rocking back and forth on the bench when I sat next to him. I wrapped a foreleg around his withers and pulled him into a tight hug. Thorax buried his face into my shoulder.

“I don’t like this, Phas. I don’t like any of this. Why can’t things just be simple? Why did they hurt so many changelings?”

“Because they gained from our suffering. A bit like how we gained from theirs.”

“I don't– that’s not– no, Phas! This is nothing like feeding on ponies! How are you even this calm?!”

I shrugged, “It’s bad, yes, but to be honest, I expected worse…”

“Worse? Lace was tortured! Lings died!”

“I’m not saying any of this is good, Thorax, just… it could have been worse. Much worse. And if you don’t believe me, then just be thankful that your imagination doesn’t reach the levels that the bad guys from my world did.”

“.... What do we do, Phas? What do we do about any of this?”

I sighed, “No death penalties. I’m sure Celestia won’t offer much resistance if I would suggest them, but… again, it’s not as bad as I thought. I’m sure life in prison will sit well enough with the ponies, and they do love their reformative sentencing, rather than punishments. We wouldn’t be here if they weren’t willing to forgive others.”

“And us? What if we don’t forgive them?”

“That’s… our problem. We’ll make sure nothing like this ever happens. Then, we’ll hold it over their heads and make sure we never have to pay income taxes ever again.”

“Fff–Phas!” Thorax tried to not laugh. “How can you joke about this stuff?!” He broke from the hug and looked up at me, trying to look cross.

“I dunno, Thorax. Once you deal with demons from hell trying to lobotomize you, anything else seems kinda… not as bad. I’m desensitized, I guess. Don’t get me wrong, I’m mad as hell about this, but hearing Lace’s story… it just makes me sad. All those lings suffered and died and I couldn’t save them. Well, I’m here now. I can help the survivors, and make sure nothing like this ever happens again.”

Thorax shook his head, “I don’t think I could ever be so calm about anything like this.”

“Then don’t be. The survivors need help, right? If you’re so fired up or upset, then go and help them. Make sure they’re all well fed, or listen to their stories, help them find positions within the Fifth Hive in Manehattan, or find whatever way you can to help. You’ve got a strong heart, Thorax. Stronger than anyone else I’ve ever met. If you want to go and help, go and help. I can handle these negotiations without you.”

Thorax smiled, “I suppose you can, but leaving right now would make me feel like I’m abandoning your friends. Besides, Diamond already paid for the train ticket to Canterlot. They don’t give refunds for those.”

“The survivors are still down in the Crystal Caves while we sort out the Fifth Hive’s status within Equestria, so you won’t have to leave Canterlot to help them out. Go take a break, and then check in with whoever's in charge down there. We’ll meet back up for dinner here at the Palace.”

Thorax snorted, “Is your marefriend okay with you inviting other people to her house?”

“If she does have a problem, then she’s going to have to take that up with me. Worst case scenario, she’s got spare bedrooms for you to spend the night in.”

“That sounds like fun. Thanks, Phas.”

“Yeah, I bet you always wanted to be a princess living in a castle.”

Thorax laughed and punched me in the shoulder. I briefly checked up on the two lover duos. Lace seemed to be taking things well enough, and Coxa was there for her in case she needed someone to yell at, or hug, depending on her mood. Cadence had calmed down a bit, and had thankfully moved the conversation topic from war crimes to hobbies that the two girls shared.

Shining wasn’t any calmer. I could feel the anger beneath his cool exterior, like a shark swimming as slow as it wanted.

‘Seems like the kind of slow-burn anger that you definitely don’t want to be a part of.’

He caught my stare and nodded to me with a steely look. I nodded back.

‘Seems like we’re going to have a conversation about Division-P and sentencing later.’

That just left the alicorn sisters. Celestia was by the edge of the balcony, slumped over the railing, while Luna sat next to her, in the middle of telling her some story from ages past. When I joined them and sat down on the other side of Luna, Celestia sat up straight and outwardly pulled herself together. She seemed to put her emotions in a tight clamp, something she did with disturbing levels of skill and effectiveness.

‘Centuries of putting your nation before your own well being really teaches you how to feel dead inside, I bet.’

“Hello Phasma,” Celestia said, cutting Luna off mid-story. “I’m sorry Luna, but I’m not really paying attention to your story…”

Luna huffed, “I can see that, Celestia. I was telling it anyway, because I know you appreciate my company regardless. I want you to feel comfortable, not paying attention.”

Celestia smiled sadly, “Ah. I’m sorry, I’m not used to being around somepony who can read me so well.”

“I know you are not. But get used to it, because I am not leaving anytime soon.”

“Thank Harmony for that. Now Phasma, I suppose we should address the elephant in the room: Division-P…”

“I don’t want death sentences,” I interrupted.

“What?” Celestia asked, genuinely shocked. “But all those things they did… torture, experimentation, denying treatment…”

I shrugged, “I think at the end of the day, your method of rehabilitation and reintegration are superior to my desires for punishment. I still want changelings on the juries, but maybe sticking with the Equestrian methods will make things better than otherwise. Don’t get me wrong, I will make sure every damned person in Equestria knows what happened here, but you ponies have proven that you’re quite adept at correcting your behavior, and the behavior of ‘villains,” I said, making air quote motions with my hooves.

“We have never dealt with crimes of this substantial nature, though. I admit that I am at a bit of a loss as to how we should treat the Inquisitors…”

Luna guffawed, “Of course you do! We will treat them as the criminals they are! They might have had a blank check from Daybreaker for their actions, but at the end of the day, their actions are their own. Arrest them all, and throw them in prison! Hunt them down, if you must. Tartarus, I would relish the chance to do so, and I know that I am not the only one.”

Celestia shook her head, “I did not mean capturing them. I fully intend on doing that. You, your thestrals, and Shining ought to work together to bring them to justice. I was talking about after we have them all. I… I don’t know how they did what they did. I mean, I know how they did it, but not why. In times past when I have sentenced individuals to life in prison, our harshest sentence, it was because they were monsters in their own right. It was simply impossible for them to feel sorry for their own actions, and their presence was a danger to others around them. Division-P is different. It is not a single villain or monster acting out, it is an organization I created, and one that drew from Canterlot’s citizenry. Their actions and crimes feel like failures on my part to instill the virtues I have tried to live to.”

“Nonsense!” Luna admonished. “Nopony is asking you to control their lives. Even here in Canterlot, where you live every day, how many ponies actually see you? Talk to you? How many receive personal lessons on how to be kind to others? You think you should micromanage each life within this city?”

“No–” Celestia began.

Luna continued, “Then you wash your hooves of their actions! They are all adults. They all understand that their lives are their own. The fact that it has taken so long for so many individuals to do this much damage is testament to your skills at managing the country without me. Alone, you have kept the worst at bay for as long as possible, and need I remind you that Daybreaker formed Division-P, not you?”

Celestia sighed, “I will accept that Daybreaker’s actions were not my own the moment you accept that Nightmare Moon’s actions were not your own.”

Luna crossed her forehooves, “.... Deal.”

Celestia blinked, “What?”

“I said deal.” Luna smiled, “Spending too much time on what was and what could be is what damned me all those years ago. Now that we both have actions that we regret, moments of weakness that were exploited, then it is only more important that we both move on. Let us work together to accept what has happened, and not let it guide our actions.”

“... It sounds like you are suggesting therapy,” Celestia frowned.

“Is that what I am doing?”

“Yes.”

“Will it help us?”

“I suppose it would…”

“Then it is what I am suggesting! We shall do this ‘therapy,’ and we shall become stronger for it!”

I chuckled, “You do realize that therapy is talking to someone about your past and your feelings, right?”

Luna sagged, “It is? No chance that therapy involves going out and slaying a monster, then drinking until we do not feel pain anymore?”

Celestia laughed, “Ha! Not anymore, it doesn’t.”

“Then… we shall do it anyway!” Luna wrapped a wing around me and pulled me close to her side. “And Phasma will do it, too!”

“I am?”

“He will?”

“Yes! If I am to suffer this, then so shall he! Besides, you need to accept your past, too, Phasma. I can not imagine how your death has affected you, but I know that your process of healing should be at least similar to ours, no?”

I grumbled, “... I guess.”

“Huzzah! It is decided! We shall all attend therapy!”

Celestia shook her head and tried not to smile, “I have never in my days ever heard somepony so excited for that nonsense.”

I cleared my throat, “Can we still do the monster slaying and drinking part?”

Luna nodded to me and we gave Celestia our best puppy eyes. When she noticed us, Celestia groaned and rolled her eyes.

“We’ll see what the shrinks have to say. Because, though I love you, Luna, there’s no way in Tartarus that I can do group therapy. Not at first, at least. They may suggest group sessions eventually, given our closeness, or soon-to-be-closeness in your case, Phasma. I am warning you, Luna, this isn’t going to be fun or pleasant.”

“I will do paperwork every day for a century, if that is what it takes to make things right again,” Luna said. “But only a century. Anything more than that and I am cutting my losses and eloping with Phasma.”

“Will your coltfriend help us out in fixing Equestria?” Celestia asked, motioning to me.

“I’ve got my own kingdom to worry about, but I’ll help where I can. Especially since I plan on relegating duties to my upper command, so I can spend my days golfing, or whatever rich people do when they are not exploiting the working class.”

“Excellent. I hope you don’t mind, but I may just make you a full Prince of Equestria, just so I have that much less paperwork I have to fill out everyday.”

I snorted, “You’d really do that, huh?”

“Yes. You will be a Prince eventually, if Luna has anything to say about it.”

“Big wedding,” Luna confirmed. “In a bit, however. No need to rush it.”

“There you go. You get stability and close ties with the strongest nation on the planet, Luna gets… well, you, and I get another set of hooves for paperwork. As much as I try, there is only so much that can be relegated to non-royalty. You are quite lucky that your Hive doesn’t have a noble class.”

I scratched my head, “Okay. I guess that works. But I do have to warn you, I’ve got plans for the future that will need my direct guidance for.”

“Ooh,” Luna wiggled her eyebrows, “and pray tell, what are those plans?”

I cleared my throat, “The changeling race is more or less on the brink of extinction. It’s going to take a lot of work to fix that, and I don’t intend on just hoping it happens naturally. First, I’d like to get a team together to examine the ruins of the Third Hive, and see if there’s anything left of it. Then, I want to look into establishing another Hive.”

“Another Hive?” Celestia asked, looking confused. “I am certain your Hive will do well enough once you are integrated– even if only at the surface level– with Equestria.”

I nodded, “I think the Fifth Hive is more than capable of saving the changeling race, too. However, I don’t want to put all my eggs in one basket. The more ways changelings have of surviving, the better.”

“So you wish to establish another Hive?” Luna asked.

“Yeah. It’ll be more or less subservient to me, but most importantly it will be another place where changelings can grow our numbers.”

Celestia ribbed her chin, “Have you any ideas for a location, then? I can’t imagine there are many possible candidates.”

I sighed, “Not yet. The best locations might be in other nations, like the Griffons’. Any news from them, in that regard? Last I heard, they were in a civil war.”

Celestia nodded, “Yes. A three way civil war, in fact. There is indeed some news, but…. Let’s just say I doubt its validity. Rumors like it have emerged in the past, and every time they have proven to be false. Long story short, we might see their civil war ending soon.”

“Then once the conflict with the Fourth Hive is resolved, I’ll think about sending some scouting teams to Griffonia to investigate,” I said.

“Good luck with that. If the teams are caught, they have nothing to do with Equestria.”

I smiled, “Of course. But I don’t think anyone is really capable of detecting changelings without the use of changelings.”

“A problem Daybreaker struggled with daily,” Celestia said. “Now, this was a productive conversation. But I am afraid that we must get ready for this afternoon. The announcement to our ponies will draw quite the crowd, and we must look presentable.”

“And unlike you, we are incapable of simply altering our appearance,” Luna winked.

I laughed, “Sucks to be you. I’ll leave you girls to your makeup and sacrificing of virgins to attain eternal youth, then.”

“He really does have your sense of humor,” Celestia mumbled. “We shall meet up in the Gold Room in say, two hours? I will have staff accompany you where you go, just in case you get lost. And don’t wear your wargear, please.”

“You’re no fun. I’ll check up on the Fifth Hive in the meantime. See you two soon.”

“Oh, Phasma, one last thing,” Celestia said, reaching out a hoof to stop me. “Have you given the order to free the ponies you have captured?”

“No. I’ll give the order right now.”

“Thank you.”

“I’ll send you the bill for their living expenses in the mail.”

Celestia didn’t find that joke to be very funny.

Author's Note

I have a Ko-Fi if you want to support me.

125- Eirene

I sighed as I watched Cricket and First Lieutenant Spearhead leave the room together. They were going to go to Manehattan and oversee the release of the podded ponies there in a joint effort.

The help was appreciated. Sorting out the release was bound to be a mess, especially with all those angry ponies being hoofed directly into Royal Guard custody.

The vast majority of them were gangsters, after all. The odds didn’t look good on getting convictions, but at least we wouldn’t be dealing with the immediate aftermath of releasing them. I can’t imagine that they would be too happy when they find out that they were in pods for several months. The fact that we had little hard evidence for convicting them was a sour note. I didn’t think to catalogue anything like that when we took them in, so all we had was testimony of eye-witnesses– ourselves.

“Thank you for getting this over with quickly,” Captain Shining Armor said.

“I thought you’d be mad at me.”

Shining cleared his throat, “I wasn’t exactly aware of the fact that the majority of your foalnapped ponies were criminals, and were taken in self-defense. That…. complicates things. So I appreciate your full cooperation in getting this fixed as quickly and smoothly as possible. That doesn’t mean I forgive you for burning Canterlot, though.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to. We’ve yet to cover that in the negotiations, but you understand that orders are orders, right?”

“Everypony has a choice.”

“A choice between a slow death or making others suffer in order to survive? Sure, that’s a choice. But we both know what we would choose every time.”

Shining sneered, “Don’t be so sure of that.”

I raised an eyebrow, “Oh? You’d die before securing a future for you and your people?”

“If the cost is too high–”

“Oh stop your posturing. You know nothing of the alternative, Captain Shining Armor. I may have lived only half a year in the Hive, but I saw enough. I was put on rations myself. Need I remind you that every changeling alive save for myself is physically deformed from prolonged starvation?”

“What?”

“You think changelings naturally are full of holes? That’s our bodies taking shortcuts to conserve energy. I don’t have holes because Chrysalis gave me pure love while I was a larva. I imagine that was months of life for the Hive sacrificed for me…”

Shining sighed, “I think all of this is beyond my paygrade, and that I am thankful I was never forced to make these kinds of decisions. But you tortured a foal, remember? Right in front of me. Don’t try to tell me that it was necessary, or that the alternative was worse.”

“I did what I had to do in order to get you to surrender.”

“You took a shortcut that hurt an innocent foal. It wasn’t necessary at all.”

‘How would you know what’s necessary?’

“Well excuse me for not being able to take five months to contemplate the necessity of the action. It was war, you weren’t surrendering, and our species’ survival was on the line. That alone justifies any action, yet I only ‘hurt’ a foal. A whole lot worse happens during war.”

The door opened behind us, and Cadence stepped into the room.

“You have to be better than that, King Phasma,” Shining said. “A king’s duty is to protect his–”

“I was protecting my citizens!”

Cadence paused, “What did I just walk into?”

Shining held up a hoof, “That’s not what I– oh my Celestia. What I’m trying to say is that that kind of behavior isn’t acceptable, not for a leader. Maybe it was justified, or at least you couldn’t think too much about it and made a mistake, but you have to make things right.”

“Ah, I see,” Cadence said. “It’s that conversation. We’ve gone over this, Shiny. He is willing to apologize and make things right.”

Shining scowled, “That doesn’t feel like it’s enough.”

“It’s going to have to be, Captain,” I scowled back. “The war’s not over, and a potentially worse one is on the horizon. Unlike you ponies, the world hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows for us changelings. How many changelings have died? How many will die? We have nothing. The Fourth Hive has practically no culture to speak of, and our history, what little we have of it, is fragmented. Things are going to get worse before they get better for us. Now that peace has been made between Equestria and the Fifth Hive, I have to figure out how to kill Chrysalis while sparing the lives of the changelings underneath her. Then, we have to deal with the Nightmares, and all their doom-and-gloom prophecies.”

“Nightmares?” Shining asked. “Those things that possessed Princess Celestia and Princess Luna?”

“Yeah those guys. They want to end the world.”

Cadence sighed, “That’s a very simple way to put it.”

Shining huffed, “Oh great, another thing you kept secret?”

“Oh fuck off with that,” I groaned. “Telling her about my survival was practically a breach of my trust by Luna, let alone telling her anything else. Don’t put any blame on her on you not being in the know, as that was entirely my decision. I wasn’t about to tell the number one enforcer of one of my most dangerous enemies a single piece of information. Keeping you in the dark was entirely on me.”

Shining half-smiled, “Considering that blaming you is easy, I’ll take you up on that.”

“I’m sure you will. Now, back to the topic of war, the Nightmares are coming. Like some horrible off-brand Night King, Epitaph, the ruler of these demons, is out there somewhere, and we can only hope that they failed to awaken him. But given my luck, I’m sure he’s sitting somewhere in some forgotten corner of Equus, plotting how to mass lobotomize the whole world. And you know its got an army lying in wait somewhere, just like the Prophet.”

Shining sighed, “So let me get this straight, there’s another villain out there who’s going to invade Equestria? And they want to lobotomize us?”

“Yep,” Cadence said cheerfully.

I shrugged, “Possess, lobotomize, there’s little difference in the end, except that it’s reversible.”

Shining sat down and put his head in his hooves, “Maybe I should take up a hobby... like alcoholism. It’s worked well so far for Celestia.”

I smiled, “I can hook you up, if you do decide to go with that. There’s worse ways to self-destruct.”

Cadence frowned, “Not many. You better keep yourself together, or else our– ahhh, nevermind!” She suddenly cut herself off, looking away.

I raised both eyebrows now, “How did you manage to even keep my survival a secret?”

Cadence cleared her throat as Shining sighed, “Well I simply avoided that topic. Besides, I wasn’t excited for you being alive…. That sounded mean. I didn’t mean–”

I cut her unneeded apology off, “Ah, so you are excited for whatever this secret is?”

“Alright Cadence, I don’t think you’re going to worm your way out of this one,” Shining said before turning to address me. “I am planning on proposing to her soon. She knows this because I asked what her response would be, as to not pressure her or anything if I pop the question in public.”

Cadence sighed blissfully, “I would have liked to be surprised, but this is just…. healthier.”

“Ooo, the Princess of Food is getting married?” I grinned. “This sounds like a particularly delicious event.”

“Princess of Food?” Shining echoed.

“Oh Celestia, don’t tell me you and your changelings are going to worship me as some harvest goddess,” Cadence moaned.

“No promises are made.”

“Am I going to have to account for additional uninvited guests?” she asked.

“No promises are made,” I stressed.

“Figures. Fine then, I know how to get around any disguising shenanigans. If my special– if our special day is going to host changelings regardless of our desire, then let’s get ahead of the issue. You can bring a small number with you. A very small number.”

“That’s…. remarkably generous of you,” I admitted after thinking about it.

‘If she harbors any bad feelings for changelings, this is one hell of an olive branch. She implied that I am invited, which being the king and leader, makes sense. So the other changelings invited could easily be the First Fang but… perhaps it’d be better to hold some sort of raffle. A wedding is a very love-filled event, so if only a small amount of changelings are allowed in, it would be best if I didn’t play favorites. I would of course have to vet each invited changeling, but a chance for any drone to attend would certainly make them all happy.’

“I am just glad you are looking at this from my perspective,” Cadence said, interrupting my plotting. “All this arguing over war crimes and hurting foals… It is a nice reminder that you are a good pony at heart.”

“Not a pony,” I reminded her, still half in my own mind.

Cadence nodded, “Right, sorry. It’s going to take a long while to get used to saying things like ‘someone’ and ‘person’ like you and your changelings usually do. Though I am going to need you to keep this a secret for now. Nopony– no one can know about this…. for as long as possible.”

Shining chuckled, “Cady is convinced that she will be the one to spill the secret, which given she’s telling you, she’s probably right about that. I am surprised that you are suddenly so understanding about the complications of attending a wedding, given the fact that it took you so long to admit that you were wrong to hurt that filly.”

“Restricting the number of changelings present means less food gathered, but I understand that a wedding is one of the most important and memorable days in your life. We can get by with less food, if it means not pressuring Cadence during one of the most important events of her life. There’s quite a big difference between fighting for survival and attending a wedding. It’s a lot kinder to be kind when the alternative to being evil is death. ”

Shining paused, “.... Then perhaps we’ll just have to make sure the changeling race is never this bad off ever again, if that’s what it takes to make sure you don’t do anything wrong.”

I sighed, “Were it so easy…”

The door to the sitting room opened once more, and Princess Celestia and Princess Luna stepped through.

Luna wore her usual regalia, while Celestia had a shrunk-down version of her own set. Whether that actually was her set that was magically shrunk down, or an entirely new set that was created, I didn’t exactly know, but it was probably a safe bet that she didn’t rope some poor jeweler into making a completely new set overnight. They were also freshened up and had a new layer of makeup on, or whatever other arcane and mysterious rituals girls went through to appear presentable. In contrast, Shining Armor wore his Royal Guard Captain armor, and I just more or less washed up. I could alter my appearance at will, unlike the ponies, but there wasn’t anything to wear or do to make my normal self appear more presentable.

‘Perhaps I should get a set of ceremonial regalia created. I feel oddly naked standing next to four ponies in fancy jewelry and armor, despite the fact that we are all pretty much naked…’

“King Phasma, Princess Cadence, Captain Shining Armor,” Celestia acknowledged us each with a nod of her head.

Shining bowed, “Your Highnesses.”

“Hey.”

“Aunties, you look lovely today.”

Celestia smiled as Luna stepped over to my side, “Thank you, Cadence. You look rather stunning yourself. The Captain is a very lucky stallion.”

Rather than focus on their conversation, Luna brushed off my shoulder, as if dusting it.

“Hey, hot stuff.”

“I see you have put considerable time and effort into your looks, Phasma.”

I shrugged, “It’s not like I have a crown or anything, and changelings don’t exactly have a way of dressing themselves up. I suppose I could wear a tuxedo or something, but they don’t exactly carry my size on the rack.”

“Then I suppose we shall have to assemble a wardrobe for you.”

“You won’t hear any complaints from me. It took me a while to get used to the fact that no one on Equus really wears clothes, so wearing clothes is actually the norm for me. I just wish you guys considered the idea of wearing pants, the most important and practical piece of clothing. I was considering commissioning some sort of crown, and maybe other ornamental pieces like a peytral and boots like you and the other princesses. I’m probably just going to stick with the crown, though.”

Luna shrugged, “If that is what you wish. Just be sure to not make a fool of yourself with something overly garish.”

“Yeah, I know. The crown would have to be rather simple, like your own. The last thing I want is to look like some small-time noble spending their entire fortune on looks.”

“It should also be representative of your species and kingdom in some fashion. But I am sure that I am just repeating things you have already considered. Are you ready for Equestria to see you?”

“The less I think about it, the less nervous I’ll be. Am I expected to deliver a speech?”

“Yes, just a few words. Say something nice, especially about friendship and standing against Queen Chrysalis.”

I smiled, “Give the ponies a common enemy? I can do that.”

“Excellent. I would have warned you about it, but the last thing you need is an overly-prepared and stiff speech. The more it comes from your heart, the better.”

“That old, shriveled-up thing?”

“It’s newer than anypony else’s who will be listening.”

“I suppose you might have a point there.” I smiled, “I uh, suppose this is when I say something sappy about how much I love you, correct?”

Luna chuckled, “It can be. Just do not kiss or nuzzle me. The last thing I want is to spend another half-hour putting on this blasted makeup again.”

I scuffed my hoof against the ground, “Right. Uh…. thanks for everything, Luna. I really can’t imagine what this life would be like without you. You uh… mean the world to me.”

Luna snorted and shook her head, “You would face down the greatest threat that has ever plagued Equus without a moment’s hesitation, yet you stumble and lock up at the idea of showing intimacy in public. I admit, I am torn between getting you to feel more comfortable admitting your feelings, or continuing to enjoy how adorable you are when you are shy. I love you too, Phasma.”

“You take pleasure from my suffering.”

“Should I stop...? I did not think so.”

“Right right right– oh hey look, Celestia is coming our way.”

I waved to the alicorn as she approached. Celestia looked amused when she arrived at our little corner of the room.

“Am I interrupting something?”

Luna shook her head, “Not at all, I am just enjoying my coltfriend’s company.”

“.... I’ll choose to believe that. How are you doing, Phasma?”

“I’m fine. Luna says I’m supposed to say a few words?”

“Yes, only a few. I’m sorry to suddenly surprise you with this, if you haven’t predicted it, but I want you to speak genuinely and from the heart.”

“I said as much,” Luna muttered.

“Great,” Celestia nodded towards the door, “Then if we are all ready, let’s not keep our ponies waiting. Just a word of advice beforehoof, when you speak, do talk about friendship, and avoid the topic of war. Perhaps stick to the cooperation between our species?”

“Avoid war? Luna suggested I mention Chrysalis to, you know, give us all a common enemy or whatever.”

Celestia rolled her eyes, “I’m sure she did. Not to overrule her or anything, but you should completely ignore that piece of advice.”

“I am standing right here,” Luna huffed.

“I know, Luna. It’s called a joke. Listen, our ponies have heard nothing but war this and war that from the presses ever since I– ever since Daybreaker seized those presses. I think it’s a safe bet to say that they are tired of hearing about the war. Especially since all three of us princesses will be talking about the war. Give them something else to talk about, preferably something nice. Equestria is changing, and it is for the better. Our species will begin a close relationship… though save your relationship with Luna to be revealed during a press conference. That’s a complicated topic that should be addressed when we can explain it better.”

“You will never hear me say this ever again, but I believe my sister is right,” Luna said. “Perhaps it is better to not speak of Chrysalis at all.”

“Okay then, no war,” I said. “I’m good to go. Are you, Luna?”

“I am.”

Celestia nodded, “Then let us go. Come along, Shining Armor and Cadence, it is time.”

The bearers of the Elements of Harmony were waiting for us at the entrance to the balcony. The six mares were wearing their magical Harmony-powered jewelry, having ditched their dresses during the past day. When they noticed our approach, they broke off from their conversation and bowed to the princesses.

“Please, none of you should ever bow to us,” Luna said as we stopped before them. “Celestia and I both owe everything to you six. There is no need for you to bow, not now, not ever.”

The ponies rose, and Celestia spoke next, “Luna is right. Words alone cannot express my gratitude for the service you all have done for Equestria.”

“Aw heck,” Applejack said, “it weren’t nothin’, Princesses. We were just doin’ our civic duty ‘n all that.”

Her five friends all nodded along, and Twilight Sparkle spoke up next, “Anypony would have stepped up and helped, if it fell to them. I’m just glad you’re back, Princess Celestia.”

Celestia sniffed, “Thank you, Twilight. It’s good to be back, and it warms my heart to see that you’ve spread your wings, so to say, and learned more about friendship than I could ever teach you.”

“Princess Celestia? Am I still… your personal student?” Twilight asked, her emotions tainted with fear.

Celestia for her part was ashamed, “Only if you can forgive me for failing you, Twilight. None of this would have happened if I had not fallen to that Nightmare’s embrace.”

I snorted out of disbelief, “If you didn’t get corrupted, we’d all be floating in pods.”

The ponies all turned to me, the six bearers fully realizing that I was here. Despite being the tallest person in the room, I was also the least important when it came to pony society, so they had all their attention on the smallest pony in the room, Celestia.

Luna stepped forward and gestured to me, “May I introduce King Phasma. You’ve all met before, but under less fortunate circumstances.”

“This is the pony you wanted to save, right?” The bearer Fluttershy asked quietly.

“Indeed. It took a while, and a lot of convincing, but he is a trusted friend now.”

Applejack stepped forward to speak, but Celestia beat her to the punch, “I’m sure all of you have a lot to say, but let’s save that for after our announcement. The ponies are all gathered outside, and we mustn’t keep them waiting.”

Applejack bowed her head and stepped back to stand with her friends.

‘Something tells me I’m not going to like what she has to say. Last time we met, I…. didn’t I kick her ass or something? Yeah, I’d be pissed at me if I were her.’

Celestia gestured to the large double doors that we had all gathered by, “Then let us go see our ponies. Elements, you will be on Cadence’s left, and King Phasma, you will be on Luna’s right. I shall stand in the center, since the ponies will be most familiar with myself, despite my… reduced stature.”

Captain Shining Armor turned to leave, which caught me by surprise.

“You’re not coming with?” I asked.

He shook his head, “Royalty and heroines only.”

Celestia frowned, “You are a hero of Equestria too, Captain. You should stand with us.”

“Princess, I wouldn’t impose upon you–”

“Get over here, Shiny,” Cadence ordered.

Shining shut his mouth and briskly moved to Cadence’s side. They shared a nuzzle, spiking the amount of love in the room.

“That’s not fair, how come they can nuzzle and we can’t?” I whispered to Luna.

“Cadence is a magical witch whose cosmetics are never damaged. I have tried to glean her secrets in the past, but she guards them well.”

Celestia cleared her throat, “Alright everypony, line up.”

Then, she opened the doors with her magic. Beyond, a small rounded balcony overlooked the central plaza of Canterlot. As the doors opened, the noises from the crowd below grew, both in excitement and from the noise-cancelling enchantment being disabled by the door opening.

All of us stepped through, and lined up at the balcony’s edge. I suppressed a snort of laughter when Celestia had to step onto a stool due to her shrunken size, and noticed that Luna had a similar issue of hiding her laughter. She glanced to her side, at me, and elbowed me once, winking.

“Good Afternoon, my little ponies!”

Celestia’s voice boomed across the city, silencing the crowd.

“Yesterday was one of the most frightening we have seen since the invasion began months ago. However, through friendship and cooperation, we can fix the mistakes that were made. The pony known as Princess Daybreaker was indeed myself, Princess Celestia, but I was sick. An illness, not of the body, but of the mind had taken root in me, like it had once taken root in Princess Luna a thousand years prior. Thankfully, my sister saved me, something I could not do when she fell. It is thanks to the efforts of the Elements of Harmony that we stand here before you all in good health.”

The Element Bearers all smiled and waved to the crowd as Luna stepped forward.

“It is said that there are decades where history happens, and there are weeks where decades happen. So much has happened last night that entire volumes can be penned about its events. However, the end result is that Equestria has all three of its princesses back. But with the good, there is also the bad.”

She stepped back, and Cadence moved up the railing, bringing the attention to her.

“There is still much to talk about and contemplate, but it is agreed that both sides of this war have committed horrible acts against each other. Some of you may suspect and guess at what was done behind closed doors here in Canterlot itself, but rest assured, everything will be brought to light and properly explained and analyzed. We are all working together to end this horrible war.”

Cadence returned to her spot next to her fiancé. Celestia addressed the crowd again.

“Equestria moves ever onward. We have rebuilt Canterlot, and we will rebuild Equestria. Wounds will heal. Wrongs will be made right. Together, we shall overcome the hatred that was pitted against us. As proof of this, I am happy to announce that peace is now possible between Equestria and the changelings. King Phasmatodea of the Fifth Changeling Hive came to help last night, during our darkest hour. Without his help, I would still be Daybreaker, and all that entails. His break-away Kingdom rebelled against the invading Fourth Hive, and now will stand with us in this war.”

Celestia nodded to me, and with no small amount of growing anxiety, I stepped up to the railing. I briefly peered over the balcony’s edge, and saw the sheer number of ponies below. Close to the castle’s edge, an area was sectioned off and a number of ponies with big, hulking cameras pointed them up our way.

‘Looks like this is going to be put to film.’

“Your voice will be amplified,” Luna explained, “speak.”

‘Here goes nothing.’

“The last time I was here in Canterlot, I was here with the duty to spread misery. It is only thanks to the unwavering dedication of these three princesses that I am here now, ready to make amends. Changelings have been dedicated to our collective cause of survival for countless millennia. It is only now, with your help, that we can break the cycle of pain that we are trapped in. It is only with your cooperation and kindness that we can be saved from our struggles, both from within and from without. I hope that today will be known as the first day of an entirely new era, one marked not by war and stories of those who suffer, but by cooperation between our species, and stories of success and kindness. We have a long way to go, and a lot to learn from you all, but together, we will both be more than the sum of our parts.”

I stepped back, and Luna discreetly placed a hoof over one of my own. I let out a small sigh in relief.

‘There. Let’s hope that’s enough ass-kissing to avoid lynch mobs.’

Celestia closed the announcement.

“There is a lot of pain to undo, and much of it by Daybreaker's hoof. I am proud of all of you who have stuck to the ideals I have tried to live by, and failed to uphold. You all are what make Equestria strong, and are the reason why tomorrow will always be a better day than the day before. Thank you all, and may your days be full of Harmony.”

Author's Note

I have a Ko-Fi if you want to support me.

126- Ekwensu

Shining smiled as we headed back inside, “Well, I think that went rather w–”

“Don’t jinx it!” I cut him off.

“You are being too superstitious, Phasma,” Luna said. “Your speech was fine, and our ponies seemed to take the news rather well.”

There had been applause and a lot of picture taking. For the most part, it seemed to me that the emotion of the crowd was tipped toward elation and relief. The war was developing in Equestria’s favor, now with Celestia back and the changelings befriended.

“I suppose they don’t need to fully understand what’s going on to be happy,” I guessed. “Celestia is back, who cares why she was gone. Changelings are allying with ponies, who cares why. I wonder how long it will take for the conspiracy theories to set in.”

“I’m certain that we’ll be answering a whole lot of those tomorrow,” Celestia sighed. “Let’s just be thankful that the knowledge that you are capable of mind control is a state secret. There will only be a few accusations of mind control, rather than considerable amounts.”

“He can do what?!” Twilight Sparkle yelled, putting on the brakes and screeching to a halt.

Rarity played devil's advocate, “Now Twilight, there’s a difference between capability and desire–”

“I do it once and suddenly it’s all I’m known for,” I complained.

Rarity froze mid-sentence.

“Well you have this well in hoof, Phasma,” Celestia smiled. “I’ve got some work to attend to. If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather put off resuming negotiations until tomorrow. I have… more to think about than I’d wish.”

I nodded, “That’s fine. I’ll just follow Luna around like a bad smell.”

“I have some paperwork that will need taking care of. There is a lot that needs a Princess’s touch and approval, as Daybreaker set her roots and corruption deep.”

“I guess I’ll get Coxa to bring me some paperwork to do, then.”

“Are we not going to talk about the mind control thing?!” Twilight yelled.

Celestia softly giggled, “You all can have a nice long conversation with Phasma together. If you’d kindly stay in town for the night, I would love to see you tomorrow, Twilight. Otherwise, I can communicate through letters, like Daybreaker did.”

“Oh! Of course I can do that, Princess!”

“Wonderful. Can you come by after breakfast, say… around seven?”

“Absolutely, Princess.”

“Then I shall see you again. Farewell to you all. If any of you ever need anything, my door is always open. Unless it isn’t. In which case, Luna can help, right Luna?”

“Of course,” Luna replied. “However, I should get to my work, too. I shall be in my study, Phasma.”

“Goodbye, Princesses!” Twilight said with unrestrained enthusiasm.

The rest of us said– or half muttered, in a certain yellow pegasus’s case– our goodbyes as the sisters departed.

“It was nice seeing you again, Twily,” Shining said. “I’ve got work that desperately needs my attention, though. It’s a shame that last night was the first time we saw each other in months. We need to hang out again soon.”

“How about tomorrow afternoon– that is, if the Princess doesn’t need me all day?” She suggested.

“I can find the time for you, I’m sure. I’ll find you in the palace tomorrow, then. Take care, Twily!” Shining waved as he turned to leave. “And I’ll see you around, Cady.”

“Hate to see you go, love to watch you leave,” Cadence muttered, watching Shining Armor walk away.

‘Damn horny ponies. You’re like an all-hours buffet, Cadence.’

Cadence turned back to the Elements of Harmony, “Hello Twilight. We did the dance last night, but I understand if you want to do it again…?”

Twilight Sparkle looked like she was about to yell the word ‘yes,’ but she froze and her head slowly turned towards me.

“Nnnnno…. I’m good for now. I think there’s more important things that need to be addressed first.”

“If you’re hoping to hit me with a rainbow laser beam, I’m afraid you missed your window of opportunity,” I said. “Luna already has dibs on reforming me. Besides, I don’t want to be turned to stone, sent to the moon, or whatever other horrible fates your magical rocks have in store for me.”

“We’ll only blast ya if you deserve it!” Rainbow Dash said, punching the air. “And last we met, you definitely deserved it! But uh… if the Princesses all say you’re good, then we’re good.”

“But what’s this about mind control?” Applejack pressed. “Don’t try to change the subject, Mister. You ain’t sneaking that one by.”

I huffed, “A Division-P Inquisitor discovered my survival. It was either silence her or tip off Daybreaker that I was alive. I went with the whole mind control thing because there was no way to capture her, and I sure as hell wasn’t about to let her go.”

“Division-P? Ain’t them those unicorns in fancy clothing and hats?” Applejack asked.

“Yes, those guys.”

“And it was in self-defense?” Twilight asked.

“Yes,” I said again.

She continued, “Was there no other way to disable this Inquisitor? Mind control is a very powerful spell. You could have easily hurt her, or worse.”

“Maybe there was, but I was pressed for time,” I said. “Need I remind you that I had few allies, and was surrounded by enemies. Slipping up would mean a fate worse than death. So considering the fact that the Inquisitor apparently suffered no long term consequences, I see little issue.”

“I think we all take issue with the fact that you feel little guilt with using such a potentially dangerous spell,” Cadence explained.

“Oh, come on. No one’s giving me flak for murder, and I’ve done that plenty of times.”

Fluttershy gasped, “M–m–m–!”

“You did what?!” Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow, and Applejack all yelled.

“I only killed a pony once, and that was also in self-defense. Look, I’ve got things to do, so if–”

“Now just wait an apple-buckin’ minute, King Phasma!” Applejack ordered. “Just how is it you can go around, talkin’ about friendship and cooperation when you admit to killing, and feel no guilt about it?!”

“Do the other Princesses know about this?” Twilight asked Cadence.

Cadence sighed, “Yes. It’s a topic that will be covered in our negotiations later. Auntie Celestia plans on– ah, perhaps I shouldn’t say.”

“Perhaps you should,” I suggested.

‘Celestia is planning something, eh? That can’t be good.’

“She just talked about things with Auntie Luna and I. Look, we’re not planning anything to surprise you,” Cadence said, reading my thoughts. “We’re just planning Equestria’s side on this all, and discussing how we want to handle the more complicated subjects of this treaty.”

“So Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are going to confront King Phasma about killing ponies?” Rainbow asked.

“Yes,” Cadence repeated.

“So they’re going to arrest him, right?” Rainbow continued.

Cadence paused, “.... This is far more complicated than any of you realize.”

“Just what’s so complicated about murder?” Applejack spat.

Cadence grimaced, “There’s a bigger picture here.”

“So you’re just going to ignore–” Rainbow began, but quickly switched tracks. “We’re all taking issue with this, right girls?” She looked around her for support.

Twilight, Rarity, and Applejack all nodded. Fluttershy shrunk when the attention was on her, but held her ground and nodded, too. Pinkie Pie was…. Vibrating intensely. Rather than call attention to that, the ponies all faced me again.

“Right!” Rainbow said. “It’s all agreed by us, uh, Elements of Harmony, that you… ugh, Twilight take over.”

“Huh?”

“I was gonna use our hero status, because that’s what we are, to declare that he isn’t allowed to hurt ponies. Or something. Look, you figure it out. We all agree that this isn’t cool, right?”

Twilight blinked, “.... Yes? I think I see what you’re getting at, but if all three Princesses say they will handle it, then I think we can safely leave it to them.”

Rainbow grunted out of frustration, “No! I… we… ugh!”

Rarity spoke up, “I believe what Rainbow is trying to say is that we should use our status to officially condemn his actions. Which I agree with.”

‘They can do that?’

“Yeah!” Applejack stomped.

“I’m not– I’m not going against the Princesses,” Twilight said. “We can talk to them about all this–”

“Oh you can bet yer keister we’ll be talkin’ to the Princess about this. But that doesn’t mean we can’t talk about it now. You!” Applejack pointed at me. “The Princesses might abide you hurtin’ ponies, but we certainly don’t!”

“Then it’s a good thing I don’t give a shit about your opinion.”

“Phasma, you pig-headed brute!” Cadence groaned. “Just explain your side to them!”

I sighed, “It was also in self-defense. Notice the theme, yet? The pony that I murdered tried to have me killed, right in the middle of Manehattan. It went poorly for him.”

“Yeah but you’re like, almost as strong as the alicorns, right?” Rainbow asked. “You could easily have just zapped him or whatever!”

Applejack nodded, “Rainbow’s right, with great power comes great–”

I cut her off, “I do have great responsibility, and that responsibility is to my people. They all need me to keep them safe, and to make morally dubious decisions about avoiding paying taxes. If I die because I didn’t use everything I had at my disposal, suddenly the changelings have no leader, nor any way to fight back against literally anyone else on this planet. If you haven’t noticed, the only reason why we got so far with the invasion was thanks to surprise. There are less than thirty thousand changelings alive.”

“Fear is the killer of the mind,” Cadence quoted. “But it also isn’t an excuse for harsh actions. This is all going to be covered later, so if you six really want to be present during that part of the negotiations, you’re going to have to stay here in Canterlot. Rooms can be provided for you all, if that’s what you wish.”

“That’s very generous of you, and quite tempting, but I told Sweetie I’d only be gone for a day,” Rarity said.

“Same,” Applejack said.

“You told Sweetie Belle that you’re going to be gone for a day?” Rainbow asked.

“Yes, Dash, I told Sweetie Belle that I was going to be gone for a day,” Applejack said in an utterly dry and sarcastic tone.

When everyone turned to Pinkie Pie for her answer, her vibrations intensified.

“Spike and I can stay in Canterlot,” Twilight offered.

“On second thought, the farm can survive without me for a few days.”

“Sounds like you girls have this all covered. I’ve got…. Important naps to return to,” Rainbow said.

“That’s lovely,” I said. “If we’re done here?”

“We ain’t finished, but we’re done for now,” Applejack glared at me.

“I, uh, have to go take care of my animals,” Fluttershy muttered.

Rainbow shook her head, “That line of conversation ended, like, ten minutes ago, Flutters.”

‘What a fantastic waste of my time.’

“Oh, and one last thing,” I said. “Not a word of any of this leaves the castle. If any of you say anything about what was discussed, I will know, and you do not want to make an enemy of me.”

“Are ya threatening us?” The farmer asked.

“Yes, Applejack, I am threatening you. Your idea of condemning me for actions you know little about can get innocent changelings murdered. If you spread any information, you jeopardize my changelings’ standing within Equestria. That puts in danger everything I have ever fought for. Think about what each of you would do to protect your family, and you get the idea of what you’re going up against. Go home, and leave the politics to the alicorns and royals.”

The silence in Luna’s study was broken only by the sound of quills scribbling.

Luna suddenly grunted, “What does…. Ugh, does this make sense to you, Phasma? ‘To promote ur-ban-ization, a tax relief should be provided to the….’ fuck me, what is this word? Here, just look at it.”

‘Yes, come to the dark side, Luna! We have better swears!’

I took the paper out of the air when Luna levitated it over from her desk. I was set up on a smaller, significantly less fancy desk in Luna’s office. If I ended up staying in the castle permanently, I would demand– ‘I mean, ask politely,’ – an office for myself. Likely, a whole wing, if I ended up moving the Fifth Hive’s command structure to Canterlot Castle.

I cleared my throat and read the pointed out section, “To promote urbanization, a tax relief should be provided to the bourgeoisie to facilitate the movement of funds from the…. Wait, Equestria has factories? I was certain you guys were still on a hovel-based economy.”

“The request makes sense to you?” She asked.

“Yeah, it’s rich factory owners asking for a tax break. Their suggested reason, the idea that the money flows downwards, is completely false, though. The real interesting thing is that Equestria has factories. Where is this….?”

“Ah, the nobles’ favorite pastime: wasting my time. Another request to deny, then.”

I clicked my tongue, “Hey wait a second, I know these ponies.”

“You do?”

“Yeah, they’re Double Diamond’s parents. That’s Thorax’s coltfriend. You should grant their request.”

“Why?”

“Because I’ve started negotiating a deal to become their key investor.”

Luna rolled up the paper and swatted me on the nose.

I wilted, “Aw come on, I– hold on, someone’s coming, Luna.”

The door swung upon, and a certain angry bright pink alicorn burst into the room. I had left Cadence with the Elements half an hour ago, so she must have been busy seeing them off and hanging out with Twilight Sparkle, who apparently knew her already.

I sensed her anger before she had arrived.

She looked around, “Where is he? You! Phasma!”

“Me, Phasma.”

“Are you intentionally shoving your head up your plot?”

“Only when it’s funny. What are we talking about?”

Luna leaned back into her chair, “This should be good…”

Cadence stomped, “The Elements of Harmony, that’s what we’re talking about. All you had to do was explain things calmly, tell them you are genuinely remorseful and want to be better, and they’d be happy! In fact, I’m certain they would offer to be friends or something similar! Instead, you all but declared war on them due to your own stubbornness!”

“I figured you’d appreciate honesty over lying.”

“You’re telling me that you’re not sorry at all that you killed somepony, or used mind control on another?”

“I’d do it again in a heartbeat if I had to.”

“That doesn’t necessarily mean you don’t feel guilty over it.”

I sighed, “I don’t feel guilty, either. Both were pricks who deserved what they got. In fact, I tried to avoid conflict as much as possible with Count Double Dealings.”

“Then why didn’t you say that to the mares earlier?! You have these explanations, and you just don’t use them!” Cadence facehooved, “You should try to work on avoiding conflict with others, rather than galloping straight into it.”

I shrugged, “It slipped my mind at the time. Besides, Cadence, I’m not really remorseful for those actions, which I suspect they will take issue with anyways. I’d rather not waste my time arguing with a bunch of ponies when I have much better things to do, like acting as Luna’s thesaurus.”

“Phasma has been exceptionally helpful with the modern linguistics that fly over my head,” Luna explained.

“That sounds lovely, but what about the Element bearers?! You really dropped the ball with this, Phasma. You can’t go around making enemies and expect ponies to be okay with that.”

“I’ll live,” I said.

“Cadence is right,” Luna sighed. “Whatever it was you were arguing over, I recommend not making enemies of the Element bearers. Need I remind you that none of this would be possible without them? I owe everything to them, and the last thing I want is animosity between you all.”

I shook my head, “They’re angry that I killed the Count, and used mind control against the Inquisitor. I’m not sorry for either of those actions. Even if I never do either of those actions again, I’m sure they’ll still hold it against me.”

Luna frowned, “Right, like they hold it against me for trying to end the world. We are quite capable of forgiveness, Phasma. Give peace a chance.”

“What do you want me to do?” I asked. “I’m not sorry for what I did! Absolutely not. In fact, killing that bastard was cathartic! I will not apologize!”

Cadence stared me down, and I met her stare. She flinched first.

“Whatever. Celestia will deal with all this later, there’s no point getting into an argument right now. You try to get through his thick skull, Luna.”

Cadence slammed the door shut behind her.

“From what I know, I do not know if I would be remorseful about the Count’s death if I were in your position,” Luna began, “but I do know that I would want to mend the bridges with the ponies around me. You will be seeing the Elements more, given our positions. Talk with them and try to find some sort of common understanding. If you do not… Well, I am not sure what to do then. I am far from an expert on these matters.”

I rubbed my eyes, “It’s not up to me whether or not we move past this. I’m perfectly fine with just moving on with our lives. They’re the ones who take issue.”

Luna glared at me.

“What? I know you ponies detest death, but I don’t. That’s not going to change. Not even back on Earth was there this much resistance against self-defense.”

“Then expect no small amount of discourse between Equestria and the Fifth Hive.”

I sighed as I turned back to my work, “Maybe that was inevitable. We just have radically different morals, so no matter our level of trust, there is always going to be some friction.”

Luna yawned and rubbed her eyes, “Alright. I believe that is enough work for today. The accursed paperwork has been reduced in strength, the moon has been risen, and dinner has been consumed. I believe we are done for the day, Phasma.”

She looked over her desk, past the half-burned candles and their trailing smoke, over to Phasma’s adorably tiny desk. The changeling was slumped over, burying his head in his hooves.

Rising from her chair, Luna quietly walked over to him, and peered over his shoulder at his work. His head was resting on some papers of assorted forms and note sheets.

“Phasma? Are you awake?” She whispered.

She prodded him once, but he did not even stir.

“I suppose not, then.”

Luna leaned over him, wrapped a foreleg around him, and teleported them to her room. They appeared three hooves length above the bed, and fell the rest of the way onto the bed. The motion, while significantly more smooth than the horrendous, crime-against-magic that Phasma called changeling teleportation, should have been more than enough commotion and jostling to wake the changeling.

Yet the only reaction was him jerking awake, before mumbling to himself and then he fell back asleep.

Luna rolled off of the bed and looked back at Phasma, “I swear, you could sleep through a war.”

Shaking her head, she went to her attached bathroom to prepare for the night’s slumber.

Author's Note

I have a Ko-Fi if you want to support me.

127- Sancta Sedes

Once again, the future of the changeling race was put to debate.

Celestia organized the papers before her, “First order of business, the status of Fifth Hive changelings within the Principality of Equestria, as well as the question of the Fourth Hive.”

“We worked hard to get our hoof through the door. We’re not going anywhere anytime soon, Changelings will hold dual citizenship with both Kingdoms,” I said.

Celestia leaned back in her chair and put a hoof to her chin, thinking.

“They would be expected to follow Equestrian laws.”

I waved the point away, “Agreed. However, Fifth Hive law would supersede Equestrian law.”

Celestia shook her head, “That’s quite a big blank check. I can agree to that, but with stipulations.”

“Name them.”

“Laws concerning harming others, theft, or other capital crimes cannot be superseded.”

“Does that include taxation or possession of forbidden materials?”

“Both of those are handled by local jurisdictions, however the Crown decides what is contraband, and what is not.”

“.... I want an exception to banned materials. The Fifth Hive decides what it can or can’t have.”

Celestia smiled, “Granted.”

“And I want changelings’ income taxes to be paid to the Fifth Hive, not Equestria.”

“But they’re working jobs within Equestria?”

“Most likely they are working in some way for the Fifth Hive, either directly or through its subsidiaries.”

“Just how big is the Fifth Hive’s holdings?”

I shrugged, “Hard to say right now. It’s in the process of being reorganized, especially with the current system of requested allowances being replaced with the standard salary wage system.”

Celestia wrote some notes down, “Twenty percent goes to Equestria, the rest to the Fifth Hive. This does not apply to workers directly employed by the Fifth Hive’s Crown, nor to any changelings not within Equestria’s borders.”

“That extends to the workers within whatever land we declare as ours, either due to establishment of a new Hive, or due to presence of ancient changeling ruins,” I pointed out.

Celestia shrugged, “As you say.”

‘Twenty percent, in exchange for working within Equestria, in Equestrian industries, and no tariffs…’

“Tariffs are forbidden between our two kingdoms.”

“Agreed,” Celestia said quickly.

‘That’s a steep price to pay, but honestly quite fair. If it turns out to be unfair, I’ll need to renegotiate it.’

“With the stipulation that it can be renegotiated, I will agree to this system for taxes.”

“Excellent. Though, there are other taxes….”

I shrugged, “Property tax to Equestria, sales tax depends on the primary citizenship of the vendors.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow, “That would mean your businesses are untaxed in terms of sales?”

“Twenty percent of income would still go to Equestria. Yes, the funds going towards the Hive’s treasury would be untaxed, but the funds going to paychecks would be. In case you don’t know, by far the biggest expense for any and every company is payroll. You’ll be getting your cut from our Kingdom’s hard work.”

‘A slightly better deal for us, but she gets income from a completely separate kingdom.’

Celestia leaned forward, “You know, under the Anti-Trust Act of Four-Thirty-Three, I have the right to break up the Fifth Hive’s corporate holdings in more than one market.”

I laughed, “You don’t, actually. Not only do you have no idea what the scope of our subsidiaries are, alcohol production, transportation, and sale is illegal. If you were hoping to hold that against the mainstay of our Hive’s income, you kinda shot yourself in the hoof there. You can’t regulate what’s outright outlawed.”

“Under this system, your blackmarket alcohol industry would be legal in all but name.”

“And if you want the Fifth Hive’s cooperation, you will grant us immunity to any anti-trust act.”

Celestia barked a laugh, “As if! I can see it now, everything from bolts to bandages made by changelings. How about this; companies owned directly by the Fifth Hive will have considerably larger boundaries before being considered a monopoly that is required to be broken up.”

I made some notes of my own, “With exception to the alcohol industry.”

“As you said, I cannot regulate what I already outlawed. This all comes with the mutual understanding that the Fifth Hive will not pursue aggressive business tactics to dominate markets.”

I nodded, “That’s fine with me. The last thing I want is to muscle my way overtly into Equestrian industries. If we are to succeed, let it be due to our ingenuity or dedication, not due to law loopholes or hostile takeovers. I’ve got our public image in mind, too, you know.”

“I’m glad to hear that. I suppose we can handle the other types of taxes later, when there are less pressing topics. Next up,” she said while levitating another stack of papers from her side and placing them before her, “is…. the official status of the Fifth Hive and its relation to Equestria. I assume you object to outright integration of our kingdoms?”

“Of course.”

“Then we’ll need to come up with something else. Especially considering the potential union that would be formed should you wed Princess Luna.”

Luna perked up, but remained silent. Cadence smiled and nodded, too. There were a few changelings present from the Fifth Hive, notably Cricket and some of her support staff. They were copying down their own transcripts and notes from the meeting.

‘The onus is on me, since she’s going to push as much as she can for integration, or something as close to it as possible.’

“We’re already going to have dual citizenships,” I said, “so our military interests should be entwined completely together.”

“Do you suggest combining our militaries?”

I paused, “.... No. Not yet, at least. Let’s agree to an unconditional defensive treaty, and cooperation between our militaries on the field.”

“The problem with that is foreign affairs. If the Fifth Hive somehow starts a war, then it would fall to Equestrians to defend them.”

“The relationship goes both ways.”

“Except for the fact that the E.U.P. outnumber your own potential forces by a factor of ten at our lowest estimate, and over a hundred at our largest estimates. Skilled and well trained your forces may be, at the end of the day it will be Equestrians defending our borders. To solve this issue, we should move onto foreign affairs.”

I shrugged, “Very well. How do you suggest we handle that?”

“The Fifth Hive should stand with Equestria and most matters. If we embargo a kingdom, so does the Fifth Hive. If we create a defensive alliance with one, so does the Fifth Hive. If we decide to, for whatever reason, make ourselves present through military force, the Fifth Hive will have boots on the ground right alongside the E.U.P..”

‘So Equestria can drag the Fifth Hive into any war it starts. That’s actually pretty easy to agree to, considering the fact that Equestria hasn’t started a war in the past thousand years, as far as I am aware. Best get the Fifth Hive’s presence known now.’

I cleared my throat, “For diplomatic measures, the Fifth Hive’s presence would be required alongside Equestrian in all matters. Our ambassadors can stand equal with one another, though if disputes cannot be handled, one side takes precedence. That leading side will depend on the diplomatic envoy; one will be hoof-picked to be the leader of each embassy.”

“Picked by whom?” Celestia asked.

“I suppose that would be decided on a case-by-case basis.”

Celestia frowned, “That system sounds like it can lead to a lot of friction rather quickly. What if instead, the Equestrian ambassador takes the lead stance, though the Fifth Hive ambassador has autonomy in otherwise normal situations.”

I scrunched my muzzle up, “Eh. That doesn’t sound much better.”

“Equestria has a population at least a hundred times that of the Fifth Hive, right? It only makes sense that we continue to exercise our right to proportional say in foreign affairs.”

‘Hmm…. that is not something I want to agree to outright. The last thing I want is to become muted in foreign affairs.’

“The changeling and pony ambassadors stand equal, with the pony ambassador being assumed leader in any complicated situation. If such emergency powers are used, they are subjected to an investigation following the situation’s resolution,” I put forward.

“An adjusted version of my proposal? I approve,” Celestia said.

“But,” I said. “The changelings will need some sort of veto power. Either through their office, which would be subject to a similar investigation– or rather, it can be overridden only by those emergency powers, or through direct orders from the Crown itself.”

“That’s going to cause a lot of headaches,” Celestia groaned.

“This whole system is going to cause a lot of headaches,” I sighed. “But I refuse integration.”

“Very well. This system can be fixed later, if problems present themselves.”

“Flexibility will be the most important aspect of this,” I agreed.

‘The American Constitution could be amended for a reason. This faux-constitution will have to be substantially more flexible, though.’

“What of the official status of the Fifth Hive?” Celestia asked.

“That is a good question. I can’t say I know of any single relationship type that could easily encompass our kingdom’s stances.”

“Nothing from your world?” She asked.

I shrugged, “Maybe the closest thing is the Vatican and Italy? An independent city-state and the nation that surrounded it. The Vatican was nominally independent, however, given that it was less than a square mile large…”

“Independence was only on paper,” Celestia finished.

“Basically. I’m sure it’s oversimplifying to the point where it’s outright wrong, but it’s the general idea. They had a strong voice in the international community, but was a non-voting power.”

“The Fifth Hive is considerably more squirrely than that.” Celestia tapped her chin, “How about a Confederation?”

“A confederation?”

“Indeed. The Acletian Confederation was an ancient coalition of deer city-states. Each maintained their sovereignty, but together had a shared system of commerce, foreign affairs, and even military to some extent. Our kingdoms clearly are shaping up to have a similar relationship. We would hold the right to secede from the Confederation, and can be rather flexible when it comes to the balance of power. Separate kingdoms with several shared systems, or even borders, in our case.”

“Sounds like a rather all-encompassing term for what we’re creating.”

“Which is why I suggested it.”

I nodded, “I see little issue with making that our official status. Especially if your diabolical plan of making me into an Equestrian Prince comes to fruition.”

“It will,” Luna announced.

I rolled my eyes, “Not for a few years yet.”

“A confederation it is,” Celestia said while adding more lines to her personal notes. “Any suggestions for a name?”

“I don’t think either Equestrian or Changelings can fit in the title. Maybe something nice and short, preferably with some alliteration. The Canterlot Confederation?” I suggested.

“It’ll do for now. I will have to put all of this before Equestria’s legislative body for approval, given that it completely alters almost every one of our ways of life, but I am confident that it will be approved. Even considering how much… public faith I must have lost.”

“What’s next?” I asked.

“Let’s see. The topic of feeding. A rather specific one. Specifically, how Equestria should handle laws concerning changelings specifically.”

“Should be easy enough. Feeding off someone without permission is assault and battery, and disguising with criminal intent is illegal.”

“And empathy?”

“What about it?”

“That can be considered a breach of privacy by many. Emotion-sensing is a step away from thought-reading. Now, I have no stance on this topic personally, but I do know of several ponies who would take issue.”

“Tough luck for them. There’s no way to naturally turn off our empathy senses, so there shouldn’t be any laws or anything prohibiting them. It would be like forcing a unicorn to not use their magic.”

Celestia finished writing and reorganized her piles of paper, “Alright then. That should be enough for today. Anything the Fifth Hive wishes to put forward?”

I glanced towards Cricket, “Any questions?”

Cricket cleared her throat, “We wish to know about the status of the Hive Eternal, and its relationship with the Principality of Equestria.”

“The Hive Eternal?” Celestia repeated.

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that stuff,” I said, much to Cricket’s withering glare. “It’s sorta like a… Emperor or Empress title. Maybe closer to Pontiff.”

“Pontiff is the official head-of-state,” Cricket clarified.

“Ah, there we go.”

Celestia motioned to me, “And a Pontiff is…?”

“A religious title. It basically means that the holder is the… voice of Panarthropo, wouldn’t you say?” I asked, shoving the question to Cricket.

“Something like that, Your Majesty. The Pontiff is the leader of the entire changeling race, across all Hives and borders, and hoof-picked by Panarthropo herself to be her will incarnate. Right now, Queen Chrysalis holds the title, with you still being the Champion, which is the heir-apparent title…”

“Am I not the Pontiff, now?”

“You never made a motion to declare that, Your Majesty.”

I blinked, “Well I guess you learn something new everyday. I’m the Pontiff now.”

“You can’t just… say that, Your Majesty.”

“I didn’t say it, I declared it. Chrysalis smells, I’m the Goddess’s chosen ruler. There you go, we’ll go through the required pomp and circumstance later.”

Cricket stumbled upon her words, and the other changelings looked about equally confused.

“That’s certainly something you do not see everyday,” Celestia murmured. “And what is the relationship between Equestria and this Hive Eternal? Or even between the Fifth Hive and the Hive Eternal, for that matter.”

“I imagine the Fifth Hive is a member-state of the Hive Eternal,” I said. “And as for its relation to Equestria…. I suppose there is none. Absolutely none. The title is always held by the ruling king or queen of the Hive anyways, but if for some reason there are multiple Hives that I’m somehow not the leader in some form, they would answer to the Hive Eternal and its Pontiff. Which is me, now. So in effect, it holds the same stances as its leader, right Cricket?”

“Whuh… I mean, yes Your Majesty?”

I smiled, “There you go.”

Celestia sat still, trying to write down several paragraphs worth of notes on our conversation.

“This is quite the information exposé. I had planned on covering these topics later, but now they have been brought up regardless. How will our Confederation handle the Fourth Hive and Queen Chrysalis?”

“The Fifth Hive has always been at war with the Fourth Hive. Equestria will help the Fifth Hive topple Queen Chrysalis, and reunite the two Hives into one, where I am the King.”

“Fantastic. I would have been surprised if you suggested anything else,” Celestia smiled.

“Equestria must also help with our war against the Nightmares.”

“Without question,” Celestia agreed.

“I also approve,” Luna said.

“I suppose I do, too,” Cadence said.

She was still rather cold with me, following yesterday. The glares she had sent my way during lunch– I slept through breakfast– had been telling enough.

‘Another argument incoming after this. I can feel it.’

“I have a question,” Luna said, leaning across the table and towards me. “What will be my status within the Fifth Hive, once we are wed?”

I grunted, “That’s…. a good question. You don’t have a Weave, which more or less is half of a changeling royal’s…. How do I put it, their mandate of heaven? Their divine right to rule, that’s it. Without one, things get complicated. You’ll have power in emergencies, of course, but outside of those, I suspect your influence would be limited.”

“I see. And within the Hive Eternal?”

For that answer, I turned to Cricket and motioned for her to speak.

“You would be the Queen-consort of the Fifth Hive,” Cricket explained. “The Pontiff has no consort title attached to their wives or husbands. Neither does the Champion title, for that matter.”

“Fascinating,” Celestia remarked. “The topic of cultural and technological exchange will be covered in two days, and I have to say, I am looking forward to it. I have seldom gotten the chance to travel, so this will be quite the experience.”

“When will we discuss the Invasion, and Phasma’s actions during and after it?” Cadence asked.

“Tomorrow,” Celestia announced.

“Twilight Sparkle and Applejack request to be present during them. In fact, Applejack has gone out of her way to make sure to be present during those talks, so I am approving their request to be present,” Cadence said.

‘Oh yeah, she’s a Princess. I tend to forget that, considering Celestia does most of the heavy lifting. Her and Luna, at least.’

Celestia blinked, “I see. Is this alright with you, Phasma?”

“I’m sure I’ll have to go through my history several times if they aren’t there,” I said. “The less times I have to repeat myself, the better.”

“Good,” Cadence said, “you dropped the ball when it comes to getting them informed about this situation. This will be your chance to fix that.”

“Yes, Phasma, you should try to mend that relationship,” Celestia advised. “First impressions are important, and you should work towards making as many friends as possible.”

“My first impression with them was beating them up and putting them in pods, remember?”

“Oh. Yes, that. They are willing to forgive that, I’m sure. Simply explain your side of the story during tomorrow’s discussion, and I’m certain they will come around. If not, I can lend a hoof.”

I sighed.

‘Looks like either I have to make friends, or they’ll bug me about it till I drop from exhaustion. Fine, but we’re doing it my way. The fewer times I have to tell my story, the better. Not because it’s more important or anything, I’m just lazy.’

“Then I want the discussion to be released to the public.”

“I wouldn’t advise that,” Celestia said immediately.

“Celestia is right,” Luna agreed. “We should be careful about what the citizens hear. If it is not worded carefully, then even the less problematic details of your story could cause a panic.”

“We can hold the press conference this afternoon, if you’d wish,” Celestia offered. “I’ve begun the process of returning the presses to their original owners. That was something done through the Crown through a wartime law, unlike the Prohibition. That means I can reverse it immediately, and I have been.”

I nodded, “Then let’s do this press conference as soon as possible, and start the process of informing the public of my story. The sooner we squash rumors and get the truth out, the better.”

“Let’s also announce Division-P’s wrongdoings during that,” Cadence said.

Celestia nodded, “Phasma, I believe you are assembling a report on their activities. How is that coming along?”

“Last I checked with Coxa, we’ll have the whole thing compiled in a week. There’s a lot of changelings to interview, and a lot of corroborating details to check. At this rate, we might have the identities of any Inquisitor not captured, thanks to the eye-witness accounts alone.”

“That is good to hear,” Celestia sighed. “Will you have enough to present at this conference?”

“I should. I’ll stop by Coxa’s hideout and enslave– I mean, delegate him to this task.”

“In that case, I say we conclude today’s efforts of building tomorrow,” Celestia said. “I will go inform the ponies who have been granted their rights to the press back. They should all be ready by five.”

I stood up and cracked my neck, “Sounds good. I’ll have Coxa’s shortened report by then. I’ll be sure to give each of you three a copy of it to go over beforehoof.”

‘This will give me an opportunity to go see the Hive in the Crystal Caves. We haven’t had the chance to really leave yet, considering the fact that we only have space for three hundred changelings max back in Manehattan. It’ll be nice to see everyone, and I’m sure they all want to see me, alive and well. Almost every single one of them haven’t seen me since the Invasion of Canterlot.’

Author's Note

I have a Ko-Fi if you want to support me.

128- Mhysa

“Is this all we have, Coxa?”

“You mean in the hour you told me to get this shit together? Yes, it is. I’m a Panar-damned miracle worker, worship the ground I walk on.”

I chuckled as I flipped through the packet.

“Thank you for your dedication Coxa.”

“Yeah, well, thank my team, too. You think I could do a quarter of this without them in such a short time frame?”

I shrugged, “Sorta. I just kinda give you work to do and you magically get it done. I don’t ask questions.”

“Let’s keep it that way,” Coxa said.

“You made the extra copies, right?”

“What did I say about questions?”

“That I’m the King and can do what I want?”

“In that case, Your Majesty, the extra packets are all over there. Pick them up on your way out,” Coxa pointed the papers out to me.

“Thanks, Coxa. I’ll be sure not to fuck up our first public-relations gesture to the ponies.”

Coxa shook his head, “Right. I kinda forgot how important this was. But I mean, you work me like a slave, so it’s no wonder it slipped my mind. No pressure, though. It’s only the future of our species and everything we’ve worked towards.”

“No pressure,” I smiled. “Now, I believe I have some time to see the Hive. You want to accompany me?”

Coxa hummed to himself and looked back at his desk. The unused office, which was taken up before Celestia had granted its use to us, was filled with different folders and loose papers to be filled out and filed away.

“.... Sure.”

The Palace didn’t have a direct entrance to the Crystal Caves– not after the Royal Guards resealed the tunnels we dug into their dungeons, so we had to take a more indirect route. The main entrance that the Fifth Hive was using to go between the Caves and Canterlot was over in the Northeast side of the Middle District. Located just north of the main freight railway entrance to Canterlot, it was in a prime position for the Fifth Hive to bring in and out materials. Daybreaker had it sealed, but it had been cleared out in the days since her death.

At least, it would have been, had Celestia ceded the caves to us.

‘No use crying over spilled milk and lost fortresses located in perfectly strategic locations, as the saying goes.’

Ponies stopped in the streets below us as we flew over their heads. A notable few had cameras, and snapped pictures of Coxa and I as we made our way to the Crystal Caves’ entrance. When we set down, the changeling guards stationed there, four Red Right Hoof legionnaires, saluted us as we entered the formerly-collapsed entrance to the Caves.

We walked over a large metal grated section, which I guessed was to keep rainwater from entering the cave complex, and began to descend into Canterhorn Mountain. Several offshoot tunnels were filled in with rock rubble, as we didn’t bother unblocking the majority of the sealed tunnels. Most of those would end in dead-ends, anyways.

The black and grey rock of Canterhorn gradually became sparklier and sparklier as we descended into its depth, eventually giving way to solid crystal formations. Then, the tunnel opened up into a series of large caverns, each filled with changelings.

The changelings had set up camp wherever they could. We were already used to sleeping without beds in the Fourth Hive, so sleeping on the cold hard stone wasn’t a new discomfort. Still, seeing changelings with quite literally nothing to their name sat unwell with me. We had passed over the Upper District of Canterlot to go from the Palace to get here, and that district was full of mansions and gardens and every single luxury under the sun. It was quite literally the greatest concentration of wealth on Equus.

And our journey ended here, in the Crystal Caves, where changelings had almost nothing. Sure, there were crates filled with goods such as blankets and pillows that we had purchased in bulk, and those crates had been cracked open and were in the process of being distributed, but even then, it was a completely different picture than outside the Crystal Caves. Outside, the ponies were all happy– or more accurately, far from a sour mood. Things were looking like they would be improving for Equestria, so the nobles were all content with the return of Princess Celestia.

Even if they never really understood that she was gone in the first place. Simpler was better.

The changelings were covered in bandages, rags, blankets, and even a few had changeling resin plastered onto them to hold their broken carapaces together. The worst off were put into what healing pods we could make right away, with the rest having to wait their turns.

When we stepped into the main cave, the reaction was immediate. The changelings, about a hundred in this spacious cavern alone, stopped what they were doing and what conversations they had and all of them looked at us.

“King Phasma!”

That broke the floodgates.

Changelings called out my name, reaching out from where they were. Many buzzed over, stopping and landing around us.

“My King!”

“King Phasma!”

“Prince Phasma!”

‘Looks like a few are still getting used to being in the Fifth Hive.’

“Hello– yes, hello– how are you– uh huh, it’s nice to see you too– no thank you– yes, hello,” I tried keeping up with the sudden barrage of greetings and questions.

“Yes, I am Coxa the Great,” Coxa smiled and waved, next to me. “Any praise he refuses, I’ll gladly take. I run the Hive for him, anyways.”

Despite his jokes, Coxa actually did receive some attention. Now that the First Fang was basically the Royal Court for the Fifth Hive, all of them had found themselves considerably more important and recognizable. In a society without celebrities, the closest thing you could get to being famous was being important to the Hive.

As I talked to them, the room gradually filled with more and more changelings as word traveled through the Hive. The large room became more and more cramped as changelings gathered around me, and many had to cling to the walls to make room. I moved to stand on a large flattened crystal stalagmite so that every ling could see me and I could better address the quickly growing crowd.

Soon enough, the entirety of the Fifth Hive had gathered in the cave.

The changelings began asking me questions about what had happened during the invasion, and where I went. When I answered those, they asked about what happened after. I talked about the founding of the Fifth Hive, the expansion into Manehattan, where they would be going, the alliance with the ponies, and of course, Luna.

That got them going. When I mentioned the fact that I was dating Luna, they all exploded into questions.

“My King, will she be our Queen?” One drone called from the back.

“Potentially,” I answered.

“Are you brainwashing her?”

I chuckled, “Ha! No.”

“Is she brainwashing you?”

“I sure hope not.”

“What does this mean for the Hive?”

I paused. “I… suppose it means good things. It’s certainly good for me, at least. I really hope our relationship lasts.”

“Do you love her?”

I started in surprise at the question.

‘What kind of question is that? Do they… think that I would start the relationship purely out of political reasons? Given that Nightmare Moon basically started it for those reasons, I guess that assumption makes sense.’

“More than anything in the world. Except maybe you guys. If I had to choose between you or her… well, thankfully I don’t.”

“Should we bow to her, My King?”

“I guess so. Don’t call her Queen, though. She’s a Princess.”

On and on the questions came. Many changelings just wanted to say hello, or say thank you for saving them.

“I didn’t save you, I merely provided the distraction so that the Red Right Hoof could. Direct your thanks to Captain Katydid and his team,” I answered.

“My King! Is it true that you faced down Discord all by yourself?!”

I shook my head, “No. Though I did free him in order to kill Daybreaker and bring Celestia back. Together with Captain Shining Armor of the Royal Guard, and Princess Cadence, Alicorn of Food, we distracted Discord long enough for the Elements of Harmony to get their sparkly stones back and put him back in stone.”

One changeling pushed his way to the front and prostrated before me.

“My King! I don’t know if you remember me, but I served alongside you in Canterlot! I am glad beyond words to hear of your survival, and would be honored to fight by your side again!”

‘Huh. Kinda expected him to be dead, to be honest. I suppose he wasn’t in the Palace, unlike Captain Cicada.’

“Arise, Captain Tetragnath.”

The Weave order took him by surprise, and snapped up, staring at me in surprise.

“Of course I would remember a Captain of the Legions. You and your lings of Panar’s Hammer did excellent work during the invasion. Even if we have no medals to give out, know that your efforts went a long way to saving our kind. Even if it was a good thing in the end that the invasion failed, serving the Hive and fighting to save our race isn’t something you should ever be ashamed of.”

The former-Captain saluted, “What remains of the Sixth Legion stands at your command, My King!”

“Good. Report to Captain Katydid, Captain Tetra. He will integrate you and your lings into the Red Right Hoof. And that goes to all of you!” I yelled as I turned back to address the crowd. “The war is not over! It has massively shifted in our favor, with an end in sight, but it is not over! We must be prepared for anything! Further, there is yet another war that must be won! I must call upon you all to serve the Hive Eternal once again, for a foe lurks in the dark, hunting us. They have been at war with us so long that we have forgotten that we are at war at all.

“The previous Hives have fallen to their hordes and influence, so we must stand vigilant and be prepared for their arrival. They are the Nightmares, demons from beyond, and they seek our extermination. But the Hive Eternal has stood against them since time immemorial, and it always will. Now that we have Equestria by our side, we can go on the offensive and find these Nightmares, and kill them all. For the Hive Eternal, we will win!”

The changelings cheered.

‘Our strength grows, as I’m sure this Nightmare Lord’s does. Do you hear us, Epitaph? We’re coming for you!’

Celestia sighed and shook her head as she closed the packet.

“This is only a fraction of what you’ve gathered?”

I nodded, “Yep. This is a trimmed-down, family-friendly version. Lots of complicated terms to make it hard for foals to understand the war crimes their uncles and aunts committed.”

“It certainly obfuscates the brutality,” Luna muttered.

“I figured it would be better to be somewhat less quick about releasing information about this, and just start with the big topics first before moving to specifics later on.”

“That might be for the best,” Celestia agreed. “Taking things slow enough for our ponies to become accustomed to the idea that ponies indeed did do horrible things during the war is the right idea. Now, there will be other topics covered during this press conference, Phasma.”

“Such as?”

“Your involvement in the Invasion of Equestria, for starters.”

“.... I think it’s pretty clear what my involvement was. I was ordered to make the plans by Chrysalis, and though I tried looking for alternatives given what time I had, I went ahead and made the plans and executed them. And in the end, I did support the invasion, as no alternative was found.”

“You’re admitting to supporting the invasion?” Celestia asked. “That’s… not a very tactful thing to do.”

“I’m sorry that it happened, but I can’t be sorry for fighting for my species’ survival. To say otherwise would just make me a liar.”

Celestia grimaced, and Luna said, “Be it on your head, then. I am sure ponies will appreciate honesty, but they would appreciate repentance more.”

“Hey, when I was in charge of the war, few ponies got hurt, and no one died. It was only when I got taken out that changelings and ponies began dying.”

“Just make sure you aren’t trying to excuse the invasion,” Celestia advised. “You might see it as necessary, but saying that out loud will just make things worse for you. Skirt around the topic, if you can, and emphasize the consequences of ignoring or refusing orders.”

“I can do that. I can also mention my supposed reward for if the Invasion of Equestria was successful, too.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow, “Which would be…?”

“Lobotomization by Queen Chrysalis.”

“That’s one Tartarus of a way to introduce your rebellion,” Cadence said.

“There’s another important topic that needs to be addressed,” Celestia said. “The death of Count Double Dealings.”

“Why does that need to be addressed?” I asked.

“The ponies that were freed have gone on record about that day. There are witnesses, and by Equestrian law, the Crown has had to field some questions concerning the citizen’s status. The press now knows that the ponies you captured are now being held for questioning, and will want to know what happened. It’s only a matter of time before they start guessing the worst, so I believe it’s best that you introduce the topic of Count Double Dealings.”

“But we haven’t even discussed this during the negotiations,” I pointed out.

“Which complicates things,” Celestia said. “Do not say you murdered him. Simply say that you were involved in his death, and that the Equestrian Crown has begun the proceedings of investigating the matter, is it unrelated to the war. You are forbidden from saying anything more by the Crown out of fear of complicating the matter and creating grounds for a mistrial.”

“You’re ordering my silence?”

Celestia shrugged, “I have no power to, but take the excuse offered. You’ll find it more of an airtight alibi than any other way of answering their questions.”

“Fair enough. But will there be a trial?”

“.... Yes. There simply has to be. Whether that trial is a tribunal of us Princesses, or a matter placed before a court, is yet to be decided.”

“I’ll take you three, then. You know the consequences of the bigger picture.”

“That’s a nice way of saying you’ll coerce and influence our judgement,” Cadence frowned.

“It is a nice way of saying it,” I admitted. “What’s your point? You think I’m going to let you deprive my changelings of their leader, in the middle of a war? And right before we get started on preparing for another?”

“Sacrifices must be made,” Luna said.

‘Is she agreeing with me, or siding with Cadence?’

“As Luna said, we must make accommodations for the situation,” Celestia said politically. “This obviously cannot be handled like any other civil matter, and that means both our judgement of the situation and our decided punishment, should there be one, should reflect the needs of our Kingdoms. We can’t put Phasma in prison, nor can we do many other things.”

“So why bother having a trial?” I asked.

“So we can claim we had one,” Celestia said.

“That’s it?”

“Ooooh mare, Shiny’s gonna be mad,” Cadence facehooved.

Celestia nodded, “As you said, Phasma, we’re in the middle of a war, with another looming just beyond the horizon. Now’s not the time to condemn our allies. This is all assuming you are guilty of the crimes, with no mitigating circumstances...”

“Sooo….?” I trailed off.

“So stick to the script, young changeling, and try to balance honesty with not stabbing yourself in the hoof.”

“If it makes any difference, Phasma,” Luna began, “I am sure you are innocent of anything you are accused of. Unless you are guilty, then you are guilty of those things.”

I chuckled, “Thanks Luna. Glad to have your faith in me.”

“Just try not to kill any more nobles. They might make strong cases for their own executions, but I have found that killing them only makes the situation worse.”

Celestia groaned, “I’m going to have to deal with two Lunas now, aren’t I? The things we do for love…”

“I mean, I invaded your kingdom for love, so you’re just preaching to the choir,” I smiled.

Author's Note

I have a Ko-Fi if you want to support me.

In case you didn't see my latest blog, the latest commission was finished!

Look at em, so cute together. Artist is Teaflower300

129- Isimud

There were less ponies present than I expected.

Instead of a large room bustling with journalists, the fancy looking presentation room had less than thirty correspondents in it. Each one had their journals, cameras, interns, and other equipment to help them record their stories. At the front row, Applejack and Twilight Sparkle sat patiently, deep in a quiet discussion.

Celestia stepped up behind the podium at the front of the room. The rest of us, that being Princess Cadence, Princess Luna, and King Myself all took seats behind her.

“Good afternoon, everypony. I’m glad you all could make it here today,” Celestia welcomed the press. “I’m sure you have a lot of questions, so to get used to the way things were, we’ll start slowly. We’ve got a lot to cover today, so let’s get started with the basics. As I announced yesterday, we have begun negotiating peace between changelings and ponies. King Phasma is here today to answer questions you might have. Please keep your questions limited to him, the Fifth Hive– that being the kingdom he rules, the peace between our kinds, and changelings in general.”

She stepped away from the podium and motioned for me to take her spot.

“Starting right away, huh?” I whispered to her as I passed her.

“It’s going to be a long day, so it’s best to start immediately,” she explained.

I stepped up behind the podium and looked out over the small crowd. The flash of cameras made me flinch, but I cleared my throat and greeted the food.

“Hello everyone. I am King Phasma, but I hope you all know that already. I was hatched… not too long ago, but I’m older than I appear. I am the sole son of Queen Chrysalis still alive, and I have established the Fifth Hive after failing to usurp Queen Chrysalis during the invasion. I suppose I’ll take questions now.”

There was a flurry of flashes as the journalists all said their questions. They didn’t shout, they were professional enough not to do that, but they did immediately try to voice all of their questions at once. I picked a pony at random for the first question.

“You, over there in the ugly fedora.”

‘I wonder if he wore that fedora to get noticed, regardless of how tacky it looks. If so, he’s a genius.’

The pony stood up, “News Reel, Las Pegasus Weekly. What do you have to say about your involvement in the Invasion of Equestria?”

I blinked, “Ah. I was ordered to plan and execute the invasion by my mother, Queen Chrysalis. I did not have a choice, as refusal was simply not an option, and there were no alternatives. I had tried to search for any way to avoid war, but my token effort was not enough to uncover anything. I had too much going on to properly search for a peaceful solution.”

“Such as?” The stallion asked.

“.... I was working to uncover the fates of my siblings, plan the invasion, create a loyal power base, and appear nothing less than completely loyal to the Queen. Before you ask, my siblings, the last one having died around three hundred years ago, had… mysterious fates. My investigation into that matter yielded disturbing results.”

“What was your personal involvement in the Battle for Canterlot?”

‘Err….’

“I provided the main distraction, as planned, and searched for Princess Cadence while Queen Chrysalis dueled Princess Celestia. Then, finding Captain Shining Armor of the Royal Guard was added to my list of duties. I fought him, won, and captured him and Princess Cadence. Then I went and tried to kill Queen Chrysalis. I didn’t succeed. Next question.”

Several hooves reached into the air, with the ponies attached to those hooves asking their questions aloud.

“Mare with the tan coat,” I pointed to one.

“Name Drop, Canterlot Consortium. Why have you sided with Equestria, and why should we trust you?”

“Asking quite the question there. I have sided with Equestria because it was shown that peace was indeed possible. One of my closest friends discovered a way to solve our hunger– that being the sole and unavoidable reason for the invasion– without hurting ponies. Immediately, I dropped any other plan and embraced that idea. As for why you should trust me… I don’t think I can possibly answer that. It’s up to you all to decide if you can trust me, not the other way around.”

The ponies all diligently jotted down my words as the mare asked her next question, “When did you first decide to side with Equestria?”

I frowned, “That question is more complicated than it appears. I sided with a Princess of Equestria around December, before the invasion. Specifically, I was approached by Nightmare Moon, the banished-and-possessed Princess Luna, and was eventually offered an alliance. I was as desperately in need of allies, so I accepted the alliance. Equestrians wouldn’t be reduced to chattel slaves at best, and though it would most certainly suffer under her rule, Equestria would survive in the end. And, most importantly to me, I would gain a powerful ally that would help me kill Queen Chrysalis. It was the lesser of two evils.”

After taking a moment to finish writing my response, the mare raised her hoof again, “One last question, King Phasma. You are very insistent on your mother, Queen Chrysalis’s death. Why? For what reason have you founded this new Kingdom and declared war against your own mother?”

‘Now to call back to the seed I planted.’

“To answer that, I would have to start at the beginning of our relationship. One year ago, I was hatched from an egg.” There was a relative uproar in questions and confusion in the air. “Yes, one year ago, I was born. I’m… not actually that young, but that’s a longer, more complicated story. One year ago, Queen Chrysalis hatched me from an egg she laid and genetically modified. Then followed several months of intense training and learning, starting from the very first day. Not particularly full of motherly love, but what pushed me to outright treason against her was the aforementioned fates of my siblings. Their explained deaths didn’t add up, and I worked hard to uncover the truth. What I learned was that following my successful invasion of Equestria, I would… share their fate. My siblings, the few that had not had their lives callously thrown away and used up like matchsticks, were…”

I paused and rubbed the side of my head, leaning against the podium. If I concentrated hard enough, which I actively tried not to, I could feel the Nightmare’s drilling pressing against it.

“... They were alive. About five of them, in the absolute barest definition of alive. Caught on the brink of death and refused that release, Queen Chrysalis had taken their often horribly torn-apart and mutilated still-living bodies, and… and lobotomized them. Trapped for centuries, dying but unable to die… I ordered their release to happen once Chrysalis and I were too far away from the Hive, but there was something else I found. An empty vat, similar to the vats that each of them were kept in. One empty vat. One foolish Prince who followed mother’s orders… It seemed obvious to me that Chrysalis had no intention of sharing power following the end to our starvation. It was her, or it was me.”

“So you sided with Equestria purely out of fear?” A pony asked, out of turn.

I scowled, but could not rebuke him. It would have looked bad if I refused to answer a question like that.

“N–no. I had searched for alternatives to war, but I failed. I admit that I failed to find a way for peace, and that I didn’t dedicate as much time or resources as I could to finding an alternative path. But I tried from the beginning to avoid the invasion. I even sided with an obviously-evil demon to avoid dooming your species, but to be fair, I gained quite a bit from that alliance. Next question.”

More ponies asked questions. One in particular glared at me in a way I could not ignore.

“Applejack,” I said, pointing to her.

She stood, then suddenly froze before she could speak. Casting a look around, she cleared her throat, “Applejack, Element o’ Harmony. Do ya feel sorry for your actions during the invasion? For tearing families apart, and–” Applejack cut herself off, staring past my shoulder, where I knew Celestia was sitting.

‘A helpful glare from the small sun Princess? Who knows, I’m just glad she shut up.’

I sighed, “I am sorry it happened. One action taken by me during it was… perhaps too far. I had taken a ‘shortcut’ so to say, and hurt a pony I shouldn’t have. However, at the time, I was far from the most collected individual, and I made that mistake in pursuit of something I cannot apologize for; the invasion was to save our species, and for that reason, I cannot condemn it. I am relieved beyond words that such a violent status quo is no longer needed and that we can work together, but as a Prince then and King now, my first duty is to my people. I am sorry the invasion happened, but I cannot be sorry that I did everything I could to save my species from extinction.”

“And what about whatchya did after the invasion?”

‘You better not…’

“Any ponies harmed afterward were harmed due to self-defense. I go out of my way to make sure things are handled as bloodlessly as possible. Next question.”

“Who were these hurt ponies?” Another pony asked, taking advantage of the immediate silence following my answer.

More camera flashes meant that ponies really wanted an answer to that.

“The ponies captured by the Fifth Hive consist entirely of either Division-P inquisitors, whose actions will be covered later today, and individuals under the employment of Count Double Dealings. Next question.”

Applejack raised her hoof again.

“You, the stallion with red eyes,” I pointed away from the Element o’ Harmony.

“Hot Take with the Canterlot Times. King Phasma, what are your plans following the end of the war with Queen Chrysalis?”

I glanced back at Luna. She gave me a half-nod.

“The Fifth Hive will work towards bringing back our species from the edge of extinction, as well as furthering our ties to Equestria.”

“Could you give me some examples of quote, ‘furthering ties?’”

“The Fifth Hive has numerous economic interests, and the amount of involvement of changelings in Equestrian economics grows with each passing week. Our two militaries will be cooperating at a much closer level as time goes on, as the need for a united front grows. Finally… I hope to further our ties to Equestria at the top level.”

‘That’s one way of saying it…’

“Could you clarify that last statement for us?”

The sudden thought of yelling ‘I’m banging Luna,’ did nothing to help my sudden nervousness. If changelings could blush, this would be ten times as awkward.

“Ah, well, you see, Princess Luna was the one who befriended me and helped bridge the gap between our kinds, and, uh…” I tapped my forehooves together, “... has pursued me in courtship.”

‘There.’

I breathed out slowly as all the reporters jumped from their seats and belted out questions.

Celestia returned to the podium, and I made room for her, returning to my seat next to Luna. When I sat down, she reached over and held my hoof.

“You know, they must be suffering from quite the whiplash seeing the Prince of Dread act like a nervous teenager,” she whispered.

“Uh huh, I’m so very fearsome,” I muttered.

“You did well, Phasma. You were endearing, if nothing else.”

“Thanks, Luna. Your support means a lot to me.”

She smiled and nodded as Celestia managed to get the crowd back in control.

“Yes, it is true, Princess Luna and King Phasma are in a relationship,” Celestia confirmed. “What that means for our two Kingdoms is up in the air, however, I am happy to see my sister have such an opportunity for companionship. From complete isolation to… Ah, forgive me. I shall answer any questions you have regarding the peace from our end, my little ponies. Yes, Quick Read?”

The pony she pointed at stood up, “Your Highness, what changes to our daily lives will this bring?”

“Effectively none. This is a great leap forward for our effort to end the war, but there are less than a thousand changelings within the Fifth Hive at the moment. The odds of anypony even seeing a changeling in their life at the moment is almost zero. Exception being anypony in Canterlot, as that’s where the Fifth Hive is temporarily located.”

“One more question, Your Highness,” the pony said. “The ponies held captive by Queen Chrysalis will still be released, right?”

Celestia nodded slowly, “Of course. That was never in question, my little pony.”

“Thank you, Your Highness.”

“Next question?” Celestia prompted. “Hmm…. Sir Double Check, go ahead.”

‘Double seems to be a common name–’

The pony, a brown unicorn, stood and spoke, “What will be done about the disappearance of Count Double Dealings?”

‘... Fuck. Family, I take it? Guess he didn’t trust any answer from me, or something.’

“Count Double Dealings’ status is being investigated by the Crown. The matter will be properly investigated, and handled with justice and future matters in mind.”

“Future matters?” Double Check quoted back.

“The war is not over, my pony.”

Double Check stomped angrily, “So my nephew’s disappearance is to swept under the rug–”

Celestia’s voice drowned him out, “Your Nephew will receive justice, but there are thousands of lives at stake. Putting everything on hold or at risk for a single life is something I cannot do.”

“You did it when you failed to prepare us for Nightmare Moon’s return,” Double Check snapped.

The ponies gasped, and Celestia leaned back from the podium. She took several moments to recollect herself and stamp down on any errant emotions. This I could tell only due to my empathetic senses, as her body language and facial expressions were kept under complete control.

“Sir Double Check,” Celestia said in an all-too-harsh tone, the kind that your mother used with your full name. “The matter. Will be. Investigated. I have no intention of letting anypony go unharmed, unfreed, or unavenged, depending on their status. However, we must do this with patience and calmness. Making demands will only get more ponies hurt, or any due process irrevocably destroyed. The Crown extends its sympathies to all ponies affected by the invasion in any way, especially to those whose loved ones' statuses are in question.

“Now. Sit. Down. I understand how fearful you might be, so emotional outbursts are not only understandable, but expected, but we must conduct ourselves with decorum. This is still Equestria. We are still in Canterlot. Let us not forget that.”

Celestia cleared her throat, “Now, I believe that should do it for the first round of questions.” She gestured to several aids who stood to the side of the room, and they began distributing papers to the press. “This is the official first debriefing on the matter of Division-P. Since there is much rumor and speculation about Division-P, we shall go over the basics first. Division-P was a covert organization in all but name, whose purpose was to pursue changelings within Equestria. To pursue this effort, in conjunction with the Royal Guard, Division-P hunted down all known changelings within Equestria, following what evidence they had. Several innocent ponies lost their livelihood due to their errant accusations, and several were incarcerated for extended periods. I will give you all a few moments to read over this in detail, now.”

I raised an eyebrow and looked at Luna.

She noticed my expression and whispered, “You have one half of the story, we have the other. ‘Tis all true.”

“Oh. That makes sense. These ponies would have petitioned the Crown, and so their petitions– probably suppressed– would now be in your possession?” I guessed.

Luna nodded. Celestia began again once many of the ponies looked back up at her.

“These are the lightest of the crimes and accusations levied against Division-P, and are not the cause for its liquidation and arrest of all former members. After capturing changelings– and very rarely in the beginnings of its operations, ponies– Division-P held the changelings in the dungeon known as Locksdale Prison.” With another gesture, the aids distributed a second packet. “This contains the preliminary report of survivor eyewitness accounts of their incarceration within Locksdale. Under the orders of Princess Daybreaker…”

As Celestia explained the Inquisition’s actions under her Nightmare-possessed self, I sampled the ponies’ emotions. Growing discontent, disgust, and frustration underpinned every pony’s confusion.

‘Good.’

Several looked to be sick at points, especially when they got to the included photograph of the changeling who had starved to death in Locksdale.

‘Scalene. She was twenty years old. Served in the Third Legion, under my direct command. No one knows how she was captured, but many saw her die. She was experimented upon before she succumbed to her slow death, her injuries proving too much for her to survive while on the small rations she was eventually given. The dossier doesn’t have any of that, just a caption listing her as ‘A changeling who succumbed to injuries due to starvation.’ No name. No story. Just her end.’

I missed Celestia ending the presentation of facts, and her invitation for questions.

Several ponies raised their hooves quietly, with most still glued to the papers in their hooves.

“Princess…. How could you let this happen?”

I also missed who said that, but I didn’t miss Celestia’s response.

“I am sorry, my little pony. I myself had succumbed to feelings of hopelessness during the Invasion of Canterlot, and was possessed by an otherworldly apparition known as a Nightmare. Princess Daybreaker, the melding of myself and this Nightmare, ordered these atrocities to be carried out. I…” Celestia momentarily glanced back at Luna, much like I did. “I cannot accept responsibility for these actions, but I accept all responsibility and blame for letting Daybreaker into this world. This all happened due to my failure to protect you all, and for that I’m sorry.”

There were several more questions about the specifics of Division-P: who was in it (typically Canterlot unicorns), how they got away with this (Daybreaker had given them carte-blanche), how they could even come to do this (still being investigated), and so on.

Eventually, questions came back around to Daybreaker.

“Your Highness, what’s stopping this Daybreaker, or Nightmare Moon even, from returning?”

Celestia nodded to the two Elements in the front row, “In addition to being prepared with the Elements of Harmony for such an occasion, us alicorns are working together to investigate all matters pertaining to Nightmares; from their creation, to how they manifest, to pursuing their extinction. Their primary form of possession requires the subject to be at a very low point in their life, so together we must learn ways to counteract this, and to make sure none of us are so emotionally vulnerable.”

Twilight Sparkle looked– tasted even more so– surprised, and raised her hoof. She waited for the Princess to call on her, “Princess Celestia, what do you mean by exterminating these Nightmares?”

“I believe King Phasma can answer that,” Celestia said, stepping down and inviting me up.

I took the podium and nodded to Twilight, “These Nightmares are longtime enemies of changelings. Though this fact was unknown even to us until extremely recently, they have been the chief driving force for our extinction, having toppled at least one changeling civilization already. It is hypothesized within the Fifth Hive that they are the ones who have driven us to living far out in the Badlands, away from any form of civilization and in a particularly defendable position. As for their extermination, they have made their desire to end the world quite clear, and no form of peace can exist between us.

“They are demons in every sense of the word; their morals are incomprehensible, their nature is unknown, and their intent cannot be understood. All we know is that they want power, and for us to be hosts for them, therefore ending our civilizations. Their leader, known only as Epitaph, is currently missing, locked away somewhere, and must be “freed,” to quote one Nightmare. In conjunction with Equestria and Vallachia, we will scour Equus for these abominations, and put an end to them for the safety of Equus.”

I stepped back, but Celestia held up a hoof.

“Any questions?” She asked the crowd, keeping me next to her.

Together, we answered more questions about the Nightmares, the three known possession cases– we had left out the case of the lone changeling being possessed. I suspected Celestia didn’t want them to think that any person could be possessed, only alicorns and changeling royals.

All the while, I kept my focus on Twilight and Applejack. The two had drastically shifted moods since the beginning of the press conference, much like every other pony here. Applejack for her part seemed to have lost much of her anger, or rather, redirected it elsewhere. When she looked at me, the spite no longer lingered in her gaze. In its place, a concoction of complicated emotions clouded any clear reading.

‘I suppose that’s a win for me.’

Author's Note

I have a Ko-Fi if you want to support me.

Okay, for real though, here's the link to the Phasma X Luna image. Artist is still Teaflower300.

130- Lugh

The two Elements ambushed The Royal Gang© outside the conference room.

“Yer Highnesses,” Applejack bowed to the Princesses while Twilight did the same. “Is all that true? All that…” She trailed off.

“I’m afraid so, my little pony,” Celestia said, not hiding the sadness in her voice.

“And these Nightmares, what are we doing about them? This is really the first you’ve explained anything about them,” Twilight said.

“I was planning on explaining everything in a few days, once you and your friends received some much needed rest, following your heroics during the Grand Galloping Gala,” Celestia explained.

“And it’s true that yer only a year old?” Applejack asked. “And about your… siblings?”

I sighed, “I had planned on telling my full story, but obviously we had too much to cover. Yes, I hatched less than a year ago. Or slightly more, I don’t know the date.”

“You don’t know your own birthday, Your Majesty?” Twilight asked. “.... Pinkie would blow a fuse if she heard that.”

I shrugged, “Yeah. I had a lot going on, as I said. When you don’t trust your own mother when she says all your brothers and sisters totally weren’t murdered by her, your priorities tend to get a bit skewed.”

“Ah’m sorry to hear that, King Phasma. Ah don’t approve of you hurting ponies, but it’s clear that there’s more going on. Somethin’ you should’a mentioned,” Applejack added angrily.

“I should have, yes. I’m sorry for not explaining things, yesterday was a busy day, and I was getting tired of others dictating their morals to me.”

“So what happened with Count Double Dealings?” Applejack asked.

“He confronted me while I was disguised. I tried to solve the issue several times, but he needlessly escalated to the point of demanding my dismemberment. So I… killed him.”

She narrowed her eyes, “That sounds like needless escalation to me.”

I shrugged, “You’re right, I could have easily let him live. But he reminded me too much of the bastard who murdered me, so I killed him right then and there.”

“Wha– murd– what did ya say?!”

“And on that bombshell, I have to say goodbye. I’ve got to coordinate the move from the Crystal Caves to Manehattan–”

“Now just hold on, what do ya mean you were murdered, King Phasma?!” Applejack asked, looking as confused as Twilight.

“I mean someone killed me for no reason, with no pretext of self defense. So yeah, I guess Double Dealing’s death was justified in that regard, but I certainly killed him on purpose.”

“... How were ya murdered?!”

“I said I was older than a year old, and I meant it. Reincarnation, Applejack. Reincarnation. I was killed and reborn as a changeling.”

“That’s… Oh my Celestia.”

“Reincarnation?” Twilight whispered, looking to her after-school tutor for answers.

Celestia simply nodded.

While Twilight processed this, Applejack recovered quicker, “So let me get this straight; you were murdered. Then you were immediately put to work to plan an invasion, all the while finding out your brothers ‘n sisters were… what was that word, Twilight?”

The purple unicorn seemed a bit out of it, like a record skipping.

“Lobotomized,” Twilight automatically responded.

“Yeah, that. The brain stuff. That's all right?”

‘Oh, she got Twilight to explain the concept to her.’

“Yes Applejack, that’s all correct,” I said.

Applejack worked her jaw in silence as she looked at me.

“... Ah can’t say Ah approve of hurting or killin’ ponies, but that don’t mean ya haven’t suffered. Good ponies make mistakes, and bad ponies can fix their ways. Just…. Make sure nothin’ like that ever happens again.”

I squinted as I thought about her words, “... Thanks?”

“That means ya need help, Yer Majesty. The professional kind. And to listen to what the Princesses tell ya.”

“Luna has signed us all up for therapy,” Celestia offered.

“She has?” Applejack asked.

“She has?” Twilight echoed.

“She has,” I sighed.

“Oh,” Applejack muttered. “Ah suppose you’ve got ‘em on the right path, Yer Highness.”

“I’m glad you agree with the course of action,” Celestia said.

“Of course she does, Lady Applejack has wisdom she seldom dispenses,” Luna said.

Applejack sighed, “What did I say about ‘lady,’ Yer Highness? Wait, were you insultin’ me?”

“I would never dream of it, Applejack. I was simply stating that few come to you for wisdom. A pity, really; you are wise beyond your years.”

“... Thanks, Princess Luna. And Prin– King Phasma here is seeking yer companionship?”

“Ha, more like I am seeking his! As you saw, when it comes to matters of love, the love-eater is rather shy,” Luna winked to Applejack.

“I’m standing right here,” I muttered.

“Which makes it all the more entertaining,” Luna beamed.

Applejack’s face went blank, “... Sounds like you’ll be keeping a close eye on ‘em, then. Good, uh, good on ya for finding somepony who’ll make you happy. Just don't let that cloud yer judgement, but Ah suppose you have heard this already. Ah suppose that’s my business settled here in Canterlot. You’ve all got things well in hoof. Ah’ve got a train to catch, so Ah’ll see you later, Twi. Tell me about how this Count business goes down. Thanks for yer hospitality, Princesses.”

She bowed to them before leaving. Twilight waved to her as she left. I was busy whispering to Luna.

“You totally insulted her, right?’

“It was an accident. Was the recovery sound?”

“I think she bought it.”

“That is a relief, though you should note that my response was honest. She is a smart mare, even if she does not appear so on the surface.”

Twilight addressed Celestia, “Princess, you mentioned to me that I would need to stay in Canterlot for a few days longer?”

“Indeed, I’m glad you received my letter. There is a matter that will be more expedient with your effort, if you’d help…”

Twilight smiled, “Of course I’d love to help, Princess. And, uh… thanks for asking, rather than ordering.”

Celestia’s smile faded, “Yes, well, I have much to make up for. Already, there are rifts growing in Equestria due to Daybreaker’s actions. But that isn’t why I need you.”

“What do you need me for, Princess?”

Celestia gestured to me, “King Phasma has a unique problem that requires all of our talents to fix.”

“It’s not uncommon for adults, okay? I just need a little help,” I joked,

Luna chuckled while Celestia rolled her eyes.

“What is he talking about, Princess?” Twilight asked,

“I’ll explain when you’re older, Twilight.”

“I’m twenty, Princess. What age is required?”

The response must have surprised Celestia, “.... Nevermind.”

“Why do I need her help, though?” I asked.

“The Nightmare’s mark,” Luna reminded me.

“Oh. We’re doing that now?”

“In two day’s time, we should have the time to investigate it, if you are open,” Celestia explained. “The sooner, the better.”

I nodded.

Twilight was a bit afraid, “The Nightmare’s Mark? I assume this had to do with the Nightmares mentioned earlier?”

“That is correct, my student. The Nightmares have targeted Phasma in the past, and have left a rather unfortunate ‘gift’ for him. We need to investigate the mark they left on his psyche, and contain it if need be. I’d prefer it if we could completely remove it, but I am not holding my breath on that outcome.”

“I’ll help in whatever way I can,” Twilight saluted.

Celestia chuckled, “Very good. Thank you, Twilight. We will require your aid in preparing the spells and helping with the grunt work. It’s not very prestigious, but you understand the need for the highest quality work when dealing with mind magic, correct?”

“Of course, Princess. I’m happy to help in any way I can.”

“Wonderful. Two days from now, if you’d please come after lunch, we shall begin our work.”

Twilight nodded. “Can do, Princess. So, King Phasma…. You were reincarnated?”

I groaned, “You run along without me, Luna. I get the feeling I have to play twenty-questions with a unicorn for the next two hours.”

Luna nodded, “Very well. I have court scheduled for the next few hours, but in the evening we shall work in my study. Return him to me after supper, Twilight Sparkle. I have need of his modern linguistic skills.”

Celestia said her goodbyes, “I’ve got my own business to take care of. There’s a lot still left to be done in order to undo Daybreaker’s malicious acts. I’ll see you at dinner, Phasma. Goodbye, Twilight.”

“Goodbye, Princess Celestia!”

“See ya.”

I watched the alicorns leave us, but Twilight coughing quietly brought my attention back to her.

“So, King Phasma… what were you before you were a changeling?”

‘She’s going to be at least present while the sisters visit my brain, so it’s probably best that she knows what she’s looking at.’

I sighed, “Come with me. There’s a sitting room I’ve found with a great view, and I’d rather be comfortable while being interrogated.”

The fact that the room had a mini bar fully stocked by yours truly had absolutely nothing to do with my decision to move our conversation there.

“So you were reincarnated?” Twilight asked for the fifth time.

I popped open a chilled drink for myself and poured a glass.

“Yes, Twilight, I was.”

“Is that… alcohol?”

“I sure hope so.”

I picked a comfy looking chair in the ritzy sitting room we were in, and threw myself down, being careful not to spill my drink or the bottle I brought over.

Twilight dragged a chair– after a period of apprehension of moving Celestia’s furniture– across from me and sat down in it.

“But alcohol is a prohibited item in Equestria….”

“Yep.”

“And there’s none in the castle, something Princess Luna told me personally….”

“There wasn’t any before I got here,” I winked.

“How?!”

I chuckled, “Let’s just say that I saved Celestia from sobriety. That sounds a lot worse than it actually is, what I mean to say is that I gave her booze because she was having a hard time coping with everything going on at once. We all have our vices, and Celestia seems to keep hers under control.”

Twilight blinked, “.... O-kay. And the Princess isn’t doing anything about you breaking the law?”

“I have diplomatic immunity, Twilight. Besides, I’m breaking Daybreaker’s laws. If I was doing anything actually serious, like selling drugs, then Celestia would be cracking down. As it is, I’m capitalizing on Daybreaker’s overzealous mistake, and Celestia is gaining from my intervention personally, so she allows it.”

Twilight frowned, “The Princess isn’t giving you a pass because she’s gaining from it, King Phasma. That’s ridiculous. Obviously, it’s some well-placed gambit to allow you to get away with this in order to not put too much stress on the potential relationship between Equestria and the Fifth Hive.”

I shrugged, “If you say so.”

‘She’s totally in it for the booze.’

“What were we talking about again? Oh! Reincarnation!”

“Yes Twilight, I was reincarnated.”

Twilight brought forth a set of quills and ink pots from somewhere I missed– hard to see through the bottom of this frosted drinking glass– and prepared her papers.

“If I may ask, what species were you before your reincarnation? A changeling still?”

‘Best not to beat around the bush, I think.’

“I was a human.”

“Human? I’ve never heard of that. Where do they live?”

“On Earth.”

“On Earth?” She stressed.

I nodded.

“Would you please clarify that, King Phasma?”

“Over twenty years ago, by my recollection at least, I was born on the planet Earth as a human being, the sole sapient species inhabiting Earth.”

Her quill stopped, “.... Excuse me?”

“Me. Alien. From space,” I grunted.

“Alien,” she whispered.

I nodded again, “Yes.”

“Alien.”

Her mood went from curious to…. infatuation.

‘Uh oh, that’s not good.’

“.... Twilight?”

“Alien.”

“Oh fuck,” I muttered when I realized what I had just done.

“Alien.”

I facehooved, “Luna’s gonna kill me for breaking her sister’s student.”

“An actual extraterrestrial….”

“Wait, you’re okay, Twilight? Fwew, I live another day.”

Twilight looked down at her quill, held in her telekinetic grip. She moved it to the top of the page and pressed it down.

“.... You okay there, Twilight Sparkle?”

“Yes! Yes. Yep. I just…. I just need a moment. Or two. Or three. Or four. Or–”

“Just get it out of your system,” I said, sipping my drink.

Twilight dropped the paper and quill, hopped out of her seat, and began hopping on her hooves, like she was dancing.

“This is amazing! This could change everything we know about everything! Magic! Biology! Astronomy! Physics! History! Linguistics! Mathematics! Everything under the sun, and more! Does Princess Celestia know about this? What have you told her? Does the scientific community– no, most certainly not, otherwise I would have heard about it! I can’t imagine what an alien society would even look like! Was it like ours? Was it full of the non-euclidean spherical architecture like the aliens in Spike’s comic books? Was it some incomprehensible amalgamation of physics and concepts we cannot comprehend? I can’t imagine what leaps you’ve managed to achieve! Have you managed to disprove Euclidean Geometry’s Fifth Axiom? Do you also have Princesses like we do? What tribes of humans are there? Can they fly like pegasi? What kind of spells– spells! Oh my Celestia, how could I even forget the most important study there is?! Oh, I just have to know! What kind of spells do humans cast? Have you figured out how to commonly multi-cast? What kind of new fields of magic do you have that we don’t? Have you managed to crack Starswirl’s Conundrum? Oh, you probably don’t even know what that is– unless you also had Starswirl?! Was your world like Equus? Was–”

“Breathe, Twilight Sparkle!” I bellowed, rising from my chair and pressing a hoof to her chest to still her.

On cue, Twilight stopped hopping from hoof to hoof and took a long, deep breath. Then, she let it out slowly. After half a minute, she stepped back from me and smiled shyly.

“Uh…. Do I say sorry, or thanks?” She asked, tracing a circle on the ground with a hoof.

I shrugged, “I said get it out of your system, so thanks.”

Twilight smiled, “Thanks, Your Majesty.”

“Don’t mention it. Now, you might want to decide what questions you want answered today…”

Twilight sighed, “Well I had a long checklist of questions to ask, but this changes everything! I’ll have to come up with a whole new list!”

“Well, how about I go wrangle a maid or servant and figure out a way to get the kitchen to whip up some snacks for us, while you come up with a new list?” I suggested.

“Do changelings eat pony foods?”

I nodded, “We don’t need to, but things that taste nice… taste nice.”

Twilight looked around for her pad of paper and quill, and quickly retrieved them and jotted down something.

“... Right, I’ll leave you to your list, then,” I said, heading for the door.

Twilight looked up from her notes, “Okay. Thanks for this opportunity, King Phasma! You won’t regret it!”

I entered the sitting room with several floating trays behind me. Twilight raised a piece of paper covered in writing when she saw me enter.

“I’m ready to start again!” She declared.

“That’s great, Twilight. Hope you don’t mind, but I’ve brought a friend,” I said, setting the trays of food down on a spare table.

Behind me, Celestia cleared her throat, “Good afternoon, Twilight.”

Twilight jumped from her seat and bowed to the pony-sized alicorn, “Princess! You didn’t say you were going to be attending this meeting!”

“I wasn’t planning to, but I ran into Phasma here while I was grabbing something to snack on myself, and he mentioned that you were very enthusiastic to meet him. I realized just how little time I spend with my own student, and decided to take the opportunity to catch up. That is, if you don’t mind…?”

Twilight shook her head, “Of course not!”

Celestial chuckled, “I hope you don’t feel pressured into saying yes, Twilight.”

“I would never, Princess.”

For some reason, I don’t think either of us rulers bought that.

“Well, help yourselves,” I said, motioning to the snacks I had the enslaved cooks prepare.

‘Let’s just hope the fact that I said it’s for Twilight Sparkle means that none of this is poisoned. There were quite a few ponies in the kitchens who looked…. less than pleased with my presence.’

The cooks had chippered up when I mentioned the unicorn. Apparently, Twilight practically grew up in the castle, and she was sorely missed by the staff. Lack of social skills notwithstanding, Twilight was apparently an adorable and well-mannered filly.

“Hey Celestia, do your cooks do carnivore or omnivore diets?” I asked, getting comfortable.

“Of course. I’ve hosted countless dignitaries from Griffonia in the past,” Celestia said, helping herself to the snacks. “Would you like to sample their food?”

“Potentially, yeah. I kinda miss eating meat…”

“Changelings are omnivores, then?” Twilight asked.

“Mhmm. Love is our mainstay, with everything else just kinda for show. Oh, and water. Love and water.”

Twilight jotted that down, “So changelings are like flowers then?”

“.... Yes Twilight, you were invaded and beaten up by a bunch of walking flowers,” I deadpanned.

Celestia suppressed a chuckle. But when she saw me pour a glass, her eyes widened.

“Where?” She demanded.

“In that set of cabinets,” I said, pointing to them. “I’ve fully stocked several rooms, this one included. Luna got the bill.”

Celestia bounded over to the stash of drinks, “I swear by my sun this was not my intention when I decided to follow you. But had I known, it would have been.”

“So you just use me for my booze connection? Oh Celestia, you wound me so…. and also make me a very rich changeling.”

Twilight watched our exchange with some confusion and trepidation.

“King Phasma,” she began, “if you’re ready to begin, I’ve got a long list of things to cover.”

I nodded, “Sure.”

What followed was a hoofful of hours of being grilled on everything about Earth, from mathematics to democracy.

“What do you mean, ‘there’s no magic on Earth?’”

Twilight found the idea of a magicless existence to be anathema to everything she understood. That is to say, she was enraptured with the concept. Explaining the basics of an electricity-run society was a learning experience for both her and Celestia.

“Equestria is already starting on the very first fundamental levels of these breakthroughs,” I explained. “In fact, I may or may not have positioned myself to be the key supporter and benefactor of the inventors of these first concepts. Thorax, who is one of my closest friends, is dating a pony whose parents are at the center of this new paradigm shift.”

“I need more paper,” Twilight muttered. “This is so fascinating. I never would have guessed that magic-void inventions would reach any level of popularity or success!”

“Perhaps that is my personal tutoring biasing you,” Celestia suggested. “I have put great emphasis on the magical side of your education, after all. This sounds very interesting, Phasma. Perhaps I should meet these ponies, and see for myself just what they are bringing to Equestria…”

I grunted, “If you’re worried that they are inventing anything military related, I made sure to steer them away from that topic. Not that they needed me to.”

“I appreciate that,” Celestia said, sipping her drink. “I’m glad that’s a conversation we don’t need to have.”

“Yeah, the last thing I want is to bring human-style war to here.”

Twilight tilted her head, “Why’s that? I mean, aside from it being war-related?”

“Wars on Earth are bloody and deadly. This little spat between our Kingdoms is nothing more than a skirmish compared to what can happen when things take a turn for the worst back on Earth. There’s no real way to non-lethally take out your enemies, so the death toll tends to get quite high…”

“Does this have to do with there being no magic?” Celestia asked.

I shrugged, “I guess. There’s a hundred and one variations of stun spells available. There’s no stun crossbow bolt, though.”

“I see,” Celestia murmured.

“And with the technological leaps you have alluded to, I assume your species have long since moved past mere crossbows?” Twilight asked.

“Got it in one.”

Twilight nodded, “My next question has to do with travel. What differences between Equus and Earth are there in that regard?”

I laughed, “More than you can imagine. In fact…” I trailed off.

“What is it, Phasma?” Celestia asked.

“... I wish Luna was here. This is a lot of stuff she’d be interested to hear about. ‘Specially the war stuff.”

Celestia set her empty glass down, “That seems like quite the delayed revelation. What sparked it?”

I looked up at the ceiling, “The farthest a human traveled… was to the moon itself.”

Celestia and Twilight were shocked.

“That's quite the feat... Luna will want to know everything, I am certain. After dinner we shall catch her up on this conversation, and continue where we left off,” Celestia said. “Twilight, you are welcome to attend dinner with us, since you are likely to spend the night here, rather than at home. Or, I suppose, at your parent’s home, now that you live in Ponyville.”

“Thank you, Princess. I would love to,” the brown-noser brown-nosed.

“I’m pretty sure Luna wants me to help her with some work she has to do, and I’ve got my own stuff as well,” I pointed out.

“We have some time before dinner. I’ll inform my sister that she will have to put off some of her work, while you do what you can before we convene for the meal. She’ll be glad for the time off,” Celestia said. “In fact….”

“In fact?” I asked.

Celestia smiled. It wasn’t a friendly smile, nor an involuntary one. No, it was a predatory smile.

“... Nothing,” she said.

“Obviously not. What is it?”

“I’ll see you at dinner, Phasma,” she said, rising from her Celestia-shaped indent in her chair and heading for the door.

I rushed after her, “No, wait! You’re up to something!”

“I’ll, uh, just be visiting my parents, then!” Twilight called out after us.

Author's Note

I have a Ko-Fi if you want to support me.

131- Nahundi

“Court is adjourned for the day. I thank thee all for coming, and bid thee a pleasant evening.”

‘Looks like Luna slips into her old habits when being all ceremonial. She didn’t do that during the official announcement, but that might be because Celestia helped write it.’

I watched from the shadows as Luna adjourned Equestria’s open court period. It was an idea I approved of; the idea that you could approach your ruler and present your issues is something I supported wholeheartedly, and implemented myself. Though it was quite a bit easier for me to implement it, considering the Fifth Hive had a fraction of the population that Equestria does.

When the pony visitors had left, I stepped out of the doorway behind the dual thrones and into the light.

The place had certainly changed since I was last here. It was currently between phases; Daybreaker’s harsher décor themes of bright reds and oranges were being prepared to be painted over, as the alicorn sisters redecorated their castle for the second time this year. The damage from the gigantic fights this room hosted was all but erased, with only the smallest of details sticking out, and only if you knew where to look.

Overall, it looked remarkably better than when I had seen it.

“Oh, Phasma,” Luna said, pulling me back into the present.

She was standing in front of me, having run into me on her way out of the throne room.

“Hey Luna. Sorry, this place brings back memories…”

“Good or bad?”

“.... Just memories.”

“I understand. This was where you fought with your mother, correct?”

“Yeah…” I sighed. “Well, I came here to kidnap you. Alright, get in the bag.”

“What bag? You have no bag.”

“The bag is metaphorical. Celestia and Twilight Sparkle are asking me about Earth, I knew you would actually want to be there.”

Luna frowned, “That sounds most enjoyable, however my business is not done for the day–”

“Celestia is giving you a free pass for the day,” I interrupted.

“She is?”

“She is now, if she wasn’t before. Dump your extra work on her tomorrow, tonight we eat unhealthy snacks and get drunk. It’ll be like a party, only ten times more sad and pathetic since there’s only four of us.”

Luna cheered, “Ha–Ha! Sounds like a plan! I shall enjoy this, where are the other two?”

“They’re over in… uh… a room. I can’t remember its name, but I know the way.”

“Lead on!”

As we walked through the palace’s halls, I struck up a conversation with Luna.

“Your sister is up to something.”

“She is often up to many things,” Luna replied. “Could you be more specific?”

“Not really. I mentioned the fact that you were busy, and she grinned like a madmare.”

“That ought to narrow down her plans quite considerably, one would think.”

A pair of guards saluted as we passed.

“Any ideas, then?” I asked.

“I have a hundred and one more preferable things I would rather be doing than guessing Celestia’s plans, Phasma.”

“So you suggest just ignoring her?”

“I do. She might be planning something, however it most certainly is not something we need to concern ourselves with. Let it go, Phasma.”

“.... I find that uncomfortable.”

“What? Letting others make covert plans around you?”

“I guess so.”

I felt a pull on my tail, and stopped to see Luna’s horn dimming from ending a spell. Telekinesis, I suspected.

“What?” I asked.

“Phasma…” She began before checking to see if anyone was around us. “Listen. That is not normal behaviour. I suspect it is a holdover paranoia from your time in the Fourth Hive with Queen Chrysalis.”

‘I mean, I guess?’

“I’m not sure how to respond to that,” I admitted.

Luna sighed heavily and nudged me along.

“Nevermind. It is something we will work on. I am certain the other Princesses will have trust exercises that we can use.”

“Trust exercises? Do I really need those?”

“Maybe. To be honest, Phasma, oftentimes we just do everything and see what works when it comes to problems such as these.”

“But you think trust exercises will ‘help’ with paranoia? You know, it’s not paranoia if they’re actually out to get you. Then it’s just called foresight.”

“Celestia is planning a harmless prank, or something otherwise benevolent. It is not something you should ever be stressing over.”

“I think you’re overreacting, Luna.”

She scoffed, “I am the one overreacting? You are the one working yourself into a knot over an off-hoof comment Celestia made.”

“... I ignored my paranoia once, and nearly paid the ultimate price for it. Excuse me for being hesitant to ignore those feelings once again. Last time I was nearly caught off guard.”

“As my sister says, the first step is acknowledging you have a problem.”

“Celestia really said that to you?”

“.... No. I read it in a self-help pamphlet Daybreaker gave me following my return to Equestria. Still, I believe the statement holds wisdom. If you are so worried, I will confer with Celestia and confront her about what she is planning. If it is something you should know about, I will tell you. Do you trust me on this?”

“Yeah, whatever,” I muttered.

“Is that a yes, or should I ask for trust building exercises?”

I snorted, “I think you just want an excuse to start using blindfolds and cuffs on me.”

“Trust building exercises would be an integral part for your recovery–”

“This conversation can wait till we’re behind closed doors,” I cut her off.

Outwardly, Luna had remained quiet and calm. Inwardly, I sensed the real response to my suspicion. I had other things to consider, however.

‘But honestly, she’s probably right in some way. I doubt I’d be comfortable completely trusting others. Not after finding my half of my siblings in a closet, and usually the front half of ‘em. After Chrysalis, it was Division-P. After Division-P… it’s only a matter of time before the next subversive threat appears. The Nightmares certainly aren’t going to sit around and wait for us to collect our strength, that’s for sure.’

When we arrived at the sitting room, I found myself in a much more sour mood than when I had left it.

“Princess Luna!” Twilight said, bowing to her as she entered.

“Hello Luna,” Celestia greeted, having claimed the largest chair in the room.

‘Old habits die hard.’

“Hello Celestia, and what did I say about my title, Twilight Sparkle?”

“You said n– oh, sorry. It’s just… it’s hard not to treat you with the respect you are due.”

Luna shook her head, “If I had a bit every time we had this conversation, I would have at least seven bits. That is a lot of repeating myself, Twilight.”

Twilight cringed, “Sorry–”

“Don’t apologize! Just… please regard me as a friend, not a cold, distant ruler.”

“You can be both, Princess… Not a cold, distant ruler, I mean! Just a ruler!”

Celestia rolled her eyes at the conversation, “You have to admit that doesn’t make sense, Twilight.”

Twilight sighed, “I’m sorry, Princess– I mean, Luna. I’ll… try my best.”

“That is all I ask,” Luna said. “So. You have dragged me from my duties. Make this worth it, Phasma.”

“Ha! Pour yourself a drink and pick a seat, because I’ve got a lot to talk about.”

Twilight set her filled out notes down.

They had gotten to the point where she simply could not write any more. Not because she was satisfied with the amount of info gathered, but rather because she could no longer confirm King Phasma’s facts as being facts. His state of intoxication had been slowly increasing over the course of the night, and it had gotten to the point where she simply could no longer rely on him being able to tell the truth.

The changeling was currently slurring his way through a story, with Princess Celestia listening with all her attention, and Luna half listening, half focused on cuddling up to him.

‘Definitely in love, those two. Reminds me of mom and dad.’

Twilight had to admit though, the story was entertaining.

“So no shit, there we were, listenin’ to this kid present some… stuff… earnin’ our cinnamon... cinematography merit badge, when Jay pulled out the stack of tortilla bread he stole from lunch. Jay was older than us all, as he was an Eagle Scout and was old enough to be our chaperone. Then, while this kid was still trying to give a serious pre– per– pre-sen-tay-shun, Jay ate two eye holes and a mouth hole in one of the tortilla thingies, and he started wearing it as a mask. When the presenter told ‘em to stop, cuz he was trying to teach us stuff, Jay was like, ‘You can’t tell me what to do, I’m an adult!’ The kid didn’t believe ‘em, course, and Jay had to get his Driver’s license out to prove he actually was eighteen. When the kid had to admit defeat, Jay gave everyone else tortillas to make masks out of, and we earned our badge while wearin’ tortilla masks.”

King Phasma laughed at his own story, and the alicorns joined him in his merriment. Twilight herself chuckled. It reminded her of the hijinks she and her friends would sometimes get up to. King Phasma went to pour himself another glass, but when nothing came out of the bottle of liquor, he frowned and shook it.

“I think we’re out…”

“Perhaps that’s for the best. We still have business to do tomorrow,” Celestia said, not even appearing slightly drunk.

‘Ha! See, Luna? She doesn’t get drunk! I knew it!’

“Feh!” Luna grunted. “Countless wars were settled over a pint or twelve in my day!”

King Phasma set the bottle down and sighed, “When the troop dissolved… that was that. Never saw any of ‘em ever again. Guess that makes ‘em just like my old family, right? Gone without a real goodbye.”

Twilight felt like she was blasted by a cold wind. This was the first mention of King Phasma’s prior family this entire night. It was a subject he had avoided, and only now Twilight realized why.

‘What if one day, I lose Shiny and Mom and Dad? How would I react? Especially if thrust into an environment where paranoia is a requirement for survival? I can’t imagine I would cope well. A pony without family or friends is no pony at all.’

She didn’t envy King Phasma’s situation. But when she affixed her attention back to the changeling, he was nearly passed out with a smile, holding Luna tight in his forelegs. The flash of sadness had left just as abruptly as it came.

‘At least things are improving for all of us.’

“I shall retire for the night,” Celestia announced, begrudgingly rising from her seat. “I hope you’ve acquired satisfactory notes, Twilight.”

“I have, Princess, though I only got through half of the questions I wanted to ask, and now I have a list twice as long as before to ask King Phasma.”

“Then I wish you luck in convincing him to converse with you again. A word of advice,” Celestia nodded towards Luna, “bribe him with the company of his friends.”

Twilight laughed, “I don’t think I am capable of getting Luna to do anything, Your Highness. She’s a princess, and I’m just me.”

“Why don’t you ask them to hang out with you and your friends? Perhaps engage in some mutually enjoyable activity, such as…. What do ponies do nowadays for fun?”

Twilight found herself imagining the King struggling to play mini-golf. The golf club was comically undersized compared to him.

“I’ll think about it. Thank you for the suggestion, Princess.”

“Anytime, Twilight. I’ll see you soon.”

Princess Luna glared at her sister and adjusted the ice-pack held to her head.

“I told you to pace yourself,” Celestia smirked.

“I did pace myself. I drank as much as you drank.”

“That was a mistake.”

Luna scowled, “You have the body size of a regular pony! How could you possibly keep to your old tolerance of drink?!”

“Practice makes perfect.”

“Bullshit.”

“... You really shouldn’t pick up Phasma’s swears.”

Luna jabbed Celestia, “And you should explain your sorcery! Tell me how you did it!”

“A wizard never reveals her secrets.”

Luna groaned, “Cadence has her durable makeup, you have your improbable tolerance, but what do I have?”

“Stallions,” Celestia mumbled under her breath, but Luna heard it all the same.

“You have nopony to blame but yourself,” Luna replied.

Celestia stiffened, “You know why I don’t seek courtship. The only reason why you’re dating Phasma is because he won’t be leaving you in eighty years.”

“Then find yourself your own immortal stallion to court.”

Her sister snorted, “I suppose you didn’t find him growing on some immortal-stallion-tree, Luna? One where I could pick my own immortal?”

Luna shrugged, “Just redeem a villain. They are a bit a dozen, and a few have obtained immortality, even if by less than reputable means.”

“Those means have costs, Luna, you know that. Trying to redeem one of them would be like trying to build a life-sized castle out of sand. It’ll all fall apart long before any plans get set into motion.”

Luna set the ice-pack down, “You speak of this as if you have experience. Has something happened in my absence, sister?”

“... There was one stallion, if you can call him that.”

“What happened?”

“We were actually together while you were still ruling with me, Luna. I had kept it a secret, as our relationship was tenuous at best, and nearly impossible to maintain otherwise. I never quite understood him, and one day he simply… changed.”

“And he was a villain?” Luna asked.

“... That was unclear. I don’t think he was when we met, but something had changed him. Made him wrong in every sense of the word.”

“Then we shall find him and purify him! Bring this lost love back to Harmony!” Luna declared.

Celestia sighed and looked out the window mournfully.

“If only. When his evil started to… bleed through, I severed the connection between our worlds.”

‘Ah, another world-walker, like Phasma,’ Luna remarked.

“This sounds like a long story,” Luna said.

“It is. One I don’t want to revisit,” Celestia said coldly.

“Then we won’t. Not today, at least. Have you prepared for today’s round of negotiations?”

Celestia nodded, “Yes. It’s going to be an uncomfortable topic for the changelings, however.”

“You’ve been generous to them so far. Far more than I would have been, had I been the one leading Equestria’s negotiation. And provided that I was not involved with Phasma.”

Celestia shook her head, “The deal is open for renegotiation. He gets what he wants with the independence of this Hive Eternal, and as the years drag on, he will find it harder and harder to justify keeping the Fifth Hive separate. He might like its independence now, but in ten years? Thirty? Two hundred? This is not the first time something like this has happened, and the young immortal knows nothing of century-spanning plans. The Fifth Hive is best suited completely integrated, and in time, he will reach that conclusion himself. And besides all of that, I believe our position is becoming more and more precarious with each passing day."

Luna wondered if Celestia was right, “Opinions change over time, however, treaties such as this tend to last much longer. But what do you mean, our position is precarious?”

Celestia brought out a newspaper from the side of her desk and levitated it across to Luna.

“Chaos in Canterlot,” Luna read aloud.

“Already, the popular opinions and stances are making themselves known,” Celestia explained. “The flood of information we gave our ponies during the press conference was to our benefit; the paradox of too much information and news left too much room for scandal. Whereas ponies used to gossip for hours on end about the smallest detail about my policies or daily life, this overload meant that the papers could only spend so much time on each subject.”

“There was quite a bit to talk about,” Luna remarked, reading through the paper.

“A lot indeed,” Celestia agreed. “But as I said, the popular opinions are already forming. My analysts suggest that Lord Artful Acumen, the unicorn that was in charge of Division-P, has lost his powerbase. The Purity Coalition, which was largely aligned with Daybreaker’s policies, has broken up. Good news for us. In its place, two more power blocs have started to form. Bad news. Very bad news. Darn things like a hydra; one head severed, two more takes its place. These voting blocs aren’t as extreme as the Purity Coalition was, but they are most certainly not in support of the Crown.”

Luna grunted, “At least the scum is rotting away in prison.”

Celestia didn’t respond.

“.... He is rotting away, right Celestia? Celestia?”

Celestia nervously tapped her hoof on her desk, “About that… he may have evaded capture–”

Luna loudly groaned.

“– along with many of his supporters–”

Then, Luna put her face in her forehooves.

“– and a substantial amount of magical artifacts.”

“How?!” Luna yelled.

“It was during Discord’s reign of terror. Somehow, he got wind of what was going to happen, and had made plans to make himself scarce. Or he made himself scarce regardless of the outcome, and it worked out in his favor. The Inquisitors present in the palace that night have all been captured, but many of the fanatics are missing. Turns out, the unicorn had stationed the former S.M.I.L.E. agents on watch duty that night. Most of those old guard weren’t completely loyal to him, so I suppose he offered them up as a sacrifice in case things went wrong for him. The Agents are all arrested, but I’m afraid that the perpetrators of most of the crimes in Locksdale are missing. Well, half of them, at least.”

“I am not going to be the one to tell Phasma this.”

Celestia grimaced, “I know. I will accept the blame.”

“This is really bad, Celestia.”

“I know.”

“It’s going to cause many problems for all of us.”

“I know.”

“And Phasma’s going to be very upset.”

“I know, Luna, I know. This is bad.”

“You also hope to cover the Count’s death today, correct? I cannot imagine he will be happy being told off shortly before being told that you failed to capture the most important ponies involved in the crimes against his changelings.”

“... Captain Shining Armor is not going to be happy when I excuse him of any crime he committed,” Celestia said.

Luna’s eyes widened, “You’re going to do what?! I mean, don’t get me wrong, I am all for it, but there will be massive uproar for this, Celestia. The Captain will be the least of your worries!”

“The alternative is worse,” Celestia muttered. She levitated the newspaper out of Luna’s hooves and flipped it back to the cover, ‘Chaos in Canterlot.’ “We need peace, Luna. Our position as Princesses of Equestria will become less and less of a sure thing as time goes on. This war is anathema to the society I cultivated. We need peace, and we need it soon, lest Equestria tears itself apart at the seams. The cracks are already forming. And when it all falls apart, more ponies will get hurt than you can imagine. A single death of what appears to be a criminal is the absolute least of our worries.”

Luna rubbed the base of her horn, her hangover suddenly returning. “Do you have a plan to mitigate the damage?”

“We will hold a tribunal, us three Princesses. We will judge Phasma, and find him innocent.”

“A mock trial? Can we get away with it?”

Celestia sighed, “We’ll have to. Canterlot can’t survive anything else.”

Author's Note

I have a Ko-Fi if you want to support me.

132- (XX) ʇuǝɯǝƃpnſ

Coxa and Cricket each gave me a nod. With Thorax overseeing the transition back to Manehattan from the city’s side and Lacewing touring Canterlot’s surface with some acquaintances she made in Locksdale, the four of us would be our species’ representatives for the remainder of the negotiations. Which, by my count, was two more days. Tomorrow, we would finish wrapping up negotiations with agreements on further military integration, cultural and technological trade, and the creation of the war plans to finally conquer the Fourth Hive.

‘They need me to get past the Fourth Hive’s anti-magical field. They don’t even know about the Mithril Throne; that detail never came to light, despite Division-P’s torture. Say what you want about the individual changeling’s desire to survive and willingness to backstab each other, but when it comes to the survival of the Hive Eternal, there is no more glorious death than to die saving it.’

Celestia, Luna, and Cadence sat opposite of me. Normally, Celestia would be at the head of the table, and myself sitting by her left side with Luna and Cadence across from me. Today, the tribunal of Princesses of Equestria sat as one.

‘They need me.’

Today, we conclude the matter of Count Double Dealings.

‘Surely they won’t be so stupid as to find me guilty?’

I was less and less sure of my position as today’s meeting encroached.

“Let this meeting be commenced,” Celestia announced to the stenographers present. “The matter of today’s topic is of utmost importance: the death of Count Double Dealings, as well as other pervasive activities committed by King Phasma and the changelings of the Fifth Hive. As per already agreed-upon articles of this Confederacy, the production, transportation, and sale of alcohol, a substance currently banned within Equestria, is void by diplomatic immunity. King Phasma, let us start with the death of Count Double Dealings. Please describe every encounter you had with him.”

I cleared my throat, “Contact with Count Double Dealings was made through a subordinate of mine, Froghopper. I do not know how or what the specifics were, only that Froghopper had arranged a meeting for the purpose of selling alcohol to Count Double Dealings. So, Froghopper and I went to this meeting. We expected him to betray us at some point, you ponies have very apt names, but we didn’t expect it to happen within ten seconds of us meeting. When we arrived, Froghopper and I were directed to the Count, who was hosting the meeting in an open-air restaurant in Manehattan.

“When I tried to begin the discussion by talking about the potential deal, Count Double Dealings made it clear immediately that there would be no deal, and that he wanted to take everything I owned in Manehattan by force. He ordered a number of agents to go with Froghopper to confiscate everything we owned. I ordered Froghopper to replace the ponies sent with him, and to bring back reinforcements.

“When the changelings returned, the criminals having been stunned and podded, the Count then ordered his cronies to dismember me. Despite following all of his instructions without protest, he decided to remove a leg. So I gave the order, and the ambush was sprung. All of the ponies present, all having been under his command, were taken down. The Count I dealt with personally, by skewering him through the neck. Then I…” I coughed, “I made him give me all of his assets during his final moments. Manehattan’s guards came to check on the noise, but turned out to be on his payroll, too, so they just kinda… left. That was that.”

Cadence voiced the first question, “From testimonies recovered from the freed ponies, the only ponies who were verifiably not under the Count’s control were the staff of the restaurant. Is there a reason why you podded them too, rather than try to come to a more peaceful solution?”

I rolled my eyes, “A single witness to my survival leaking the info to the Royal Guard would have been lethal to both myself and my Hive. Daybreaker didn’t know about my survival at the time.”

“Would you say that your life was in danger?” Celestia asked.

“The Count ordered my dismemberment, which had I been a normal changeling or pony, I would most certainly have bled to death.”

“But did you feel threatened?”

“Of course I did!”

“So these ponies had approached you with the intent of fulfilling his orders?”

“What kind of– yes. There were several ponies present at the table itself that would have enacted his orders, if given the chance.”

Celestia nodded, “Thank you for the clarification.”

“Could you not have overpowered them with less than lethal means?” Cadence pressed.

‘Spare that piece of…?’

I started to say something, but I couldn’t come up with a solid enough reason. The truth was, I absolutely could have spared him. I just didn’t feel like there were enough reasons to. Killing him was…

“Why did you decide to use lethal means?” Luna asked.

“He threatened me.”

“You’ve been threatened plenty of times before–”

“And everyone who’s threatened me is dead,” I cut Luna off. “Daybreaker, Double Dealings, Eucharis, The Prophet, and more.”

‘.... Maybe that’s a bad stance to take. I should change my position on the issue.’

I cleared my throat, “I’ve died once. I have no intention of ever letting that happen again.”

“This specific record will be available for public view sooner rather than later,” Celestia reminded me, pointing out that I am mentioning my reincarnation.

“I intend on making my past clear as soon as possible.”

“So your experience with death influenced your decision to kill the Count?” Luna asked.

“Yes, of course it did,” I found myself saying again. “That bastard…”

“Did the Count remind you of your murderer?” Cadence asked.

I blinked in surprise before remembering I did yell at Cadence a while back, and she probably had pieced it together from that. Still, it was an impressive connection from my perspective.

‘Celestia must be training her protégés well.’

“... Yes,” I admitted, shifting uncomfortably in my seat.

“How?” Celestia asked this time.

“... I complied with all of his demands. I did everything I was supposed to, in order to avoid bloodshed. Still, he... they… tried to take away everything. I can’t lose this life. I just, I can’t.” I muttered.

“We motion for a break,” Coxa said abruptly.

I frowned, “What?”

“We’ve only just begun,” Celestia said.

Coxa gave me an unreadable look, “We motion for a break.”

“I’m fine,” I dismissed him.

“Phasma, you–”

“I’m fine. We’ve only just begun, as Celestia said. I’m not a coward who can’t face the consequences of their own actions, or shrinks at the sight of things not turning out perfectly. We’re continuing.”

“... Very well, Your Majesty,” he said.

“Next question.”

Celestia raised a hoof and projected a silence bubble around the three Princesses.

“Can she do that?” Coxa whispered.

“I guess so,” I whispered back.

“Are you actually doing well, Phasma?”

“I said I’m fine.”

“If I said I shit gold, would you believe me?”

I snorted, “What does that have to do with anything?”

“I’m saying this is opening a lot of old wounds, and there’s no way in hell you’re doing okay. I sure as shit wouldn’t be.”

The silence bubble vanished.

“Due to the presence of external factors,” Celestia announced, “we will move the investigation along. Next up, we will quickly discuss the usage of mind control spells by King Phasma. Would you list the incidents where mind control was used by you, King Phasma?”

‘Lying is far worse than telling the truth. If I come clean, ponies will eventually accept what I did. If I lie, I’ll only be pouring gasoline on the fire when the truth gets out.’

“Two incidents,” I replied. “The Count in his final moments to make sure I got everything from him, and before that, against a Division-P Inquisitor as a non-lethal method of stopping her from reporting my survival to Daybreaker.”

Celestia nodded, “We’ll note that usage against the Count, but would you please go over the interaction with the Inquisitor?”

“I was living in the town of Hooferville following my near-death at Canterlot. I was saved from the brink of death by the ponies there, and was given an opportunity to work with the guard. So, the former Prince of Dread spent his days yelling at ponies to stop loitering, filing paperwork, and otherwise wasting taxpayer bits. You know, standard guard stuff. Then came the rats.”

“The rats?” Celestia asked.

“The rats. Hooferville sat at the edge of the notorious Blackthorn Forest. Scaled rats the size of a pony with a penchant for eating anything they can fit into their maw attacked the town. The swarm was in the hundreds, so it was all hooves on deck. I was stationed at the front gate and was one of the unicorns shielding the town against their advance. I held up long enough for reinforcements to arrive, and together we all routed the swarm. The fact that I had held up a shield against so many attackers attracted a lot of attention, namely the Inquisition. Kinda hard for a unicorn to hold up a shield against an entire army. Captain Shining Armor can tell you all about how he’s the only non-alicorn or royal alive that can accomplish that, I’m sure.

“The Inquisitor brought with her a prisoner. Seeing another changeling in irons…. It was everything that I feared would happen to changelings. Since she was asking questions that I couldn’t possibly even come up with convincing lies for, I freed the prisoner by using mind control on the Inquisitor. That covered up our tracks long enough to be nothing but distant memories by the time Division-P began combing through the town. That was that, really.”

“You’ve never mentioned a prisoner,” Luna said.

“I… forgot about him up till now. Not that I forgot his existence, his skills have been crucial to the Fifth Hive’s success in acquiring land and buildings, but the fact that I freed him is something that slipped my mind. There was an Inquisitor who would reveal my survival to Daybreaker, so I had to silence her.”

“Could you have stunned and foalnapped this pony like you have others?” Cadence asked.

“No. Not only would her immediate disappearance put Division-P on our trail sooner than we could deal with, but the changeling’s prisoner collar was only removable by the Inquisitor. Without her, I feared that the changeling would be killed by the collar. He was told that the collar was explosive, and had relayed that to me.”

The Princesses shared a look.

“Have you or the Fifth Hive used any other harmful spells or committed harm against any other pony?” Celestia asked.

“I don’t think so,” I said, looking to Coxa for confirmation.

“The battles with Division-P,” he offered.

“Ah, right. Eventually, Division-P discovered the Fifth Hive, and were attacking us out in the open. We retaliated, and went on the offensive. There were deaths on both sides.”

“Yes, we have the full comprehensive reports on those battles from our side,” Celestia said. “Would you provide any information you have on those?”

“We didn’t keep any details,” Coxa explained.

“... I understand. Thank you for your cooperation.”

“Wait, we’re done already?” I asked.

“We have been reviewing what facts we already had for some time now. If you’ll excuse us, we will need to go over what you’ve provided us today. All we needed was your side of the story.”

Suddenly, I remembered a certain white unicorn constantly griping about a single filly being hurt while a city was burning.

“There’s one more thing,” I announced. “During the Invasion of Canterlot, I used a foal as a hostage to coerce Captain Shining Armor into surrendering. The foal was slightly hurt, but was otherwise fine. I mention this because I know the Captain would raise hell if I didn’t.”

Cadence leaned over and whispered into Luna’s ear, who passed the information along to Celestia.

“Of course,” she muttered. “Well, thank you for being completely honest during this investigation. Your complete cooperation will be noted and kept in mind. If you’d kindly give us an hour, we will contact you when we are ready to conclude this matter.”

“That went well,” Cricket remarked.

“It did?” Coxa asked.

I gazed down into a fountain’s pool of water, looking at my reflection. We had decided to visit the castle’s extensive gardens, and found a particularly secluded spot to hang out in. There was a pair of ponies already here, but they had made themselves scarce the moment they saw changelings arrive.

“It went well,” Cricket said. “Judging from what scant emotions they offered, they seemed more than sympathetic to His Majesty’s cause. I am certain that they will give us a favorable outcome. In the event that they don’t, we can simply ignore them.”

I sighed, “The Fifth Hive needs this. The Hive Eternal needs this. Stable peace with the Equestrians will forever solve the food supply issue that has plagued our kind since time immemorial. Though we could come back and try to negotiate another peace later, this is our best shot.”

“The Fifth Hive and the Hive Eternal might not survive without you,” Cricket said. “In fact, if the Equestrians do something drastic, odds are the changelings won’t accept this peace.”

I grunted, “They’d accept it if I told them to.”

“Not if you are imprisoned, or worse.”

“What?”

“.... Cricket’s right,” Coxa agreed. “You highly undervalue your own importance. You’re more than just a king to them. You're the king. There was already a sort of reverence for you in the Lodges, and in the Fifth Hive that’s only been intensified.”

“The changelings would have secured a peace without me. Besides, Thorax was the one who really made all of this possible,” I waved Coxa off, still looking into the water.

“Maybe,” Cricket said, “but we didn’t. You are the one bringing us peace. You were the one who planned the war. You were the one who has worked the hardest to bring an end to the catastrophes that have plagued our species from the day you were hatched.”

“You were the one to save a single drone,” Coxa added. “Back in the Third Hive, you saved a drone that was doomed to die. Sure, there was a pony that you saved too, but you don’t even know the drone’s name. He was nothing to you, and you put everything on the line to save him. Even despite your fears of death, which are more or less common knowledge amongst the Fifth Hive, you went back to save him. He wasn’t important to the Hive Eternal, which means your effort cemented you as a…. Well, I suppose the more radical changelings would call you a Saint.”

I stared at Coxa.

“... What?” I repeated.

“A single changeling is utterly worthless compared to a King,” Cricket explained for him. “You risking everything despite your own personal faults for a single drone is simply… your banner. A single meaningful icon of everything you stand for. The changelings of the Fifth Hive hate that you risked your life for a single drone, but we all love you more for it. That is to say, we’ll never let you do that again, but the fact that you did do it… it means more than you can understand. For all our lives, we’ve been nothing compared to Queen Chrysalis, who would sentence us to death for merely inconveniencing her. You are about as far away from that extreme as possible, so of course every single drone looks up to you.”

“Oh,” I said. “I, uh… oh… Thanks. You’re, uh, very good at these speeches, Cricket.”

She had given me a similar speech once before, when I was about to address the newcomers to the Fifth Hive. That was right before I went off to deal with the Count, in fact.

“Just reminding you of your place in the Hive,” Cricket smiled. “Besides, I’d prefer you to have your moments of weakness and doubt before shit hits the fan, not during.”

“Yeah, so get it through your head,” Coxa said. “We won’t accept your sacrifice. Not now, not ever. So take your sacrificial-selflessness and bury it deep down, beneath your desire to survive! That desire has kept you alive, and has kept all of us alive and successful by extension.”

“I’ll try–”

“That means no more touching ancient artifacts that are probably haunted!”

“You’re worse than Chrysalis!” I screeched.

When the ponies’ messenger sent for us, we returned back to the negotiation room.

As we all took our seats again, the Princesses were looking at me with… pity. It was a flavor of sadness that I didn’t care for.

‘Okay, that’s a total lie. Pity is delicious, and I love it. So long as they don’t lose respect for me, they can pity me all they want.’

“King Phasma, we have reached our… conclusion,” Celestia said slowly.

“Uh huh, go for it,” I said.

Celestia cleared her throat, “As leaders of nations, we cannot put each other on trial. That would imply one nation is inferior to another. However, given our unique position, you have accepted that we must all be judged as equals, and must cooperate on a level that is unprecedented for our positions. Princess Cadence, Princess Luna, and myself have reviewed the facts made available to us.

“You arrived on Equus immediately after being murdered callously. You were put to the task of preparing for a war by an overbearing Queen, and given no time to recover from the psychologically scarring events that brought you here. You were put on a pedestal and expected to be loyal, only to discover that what you were being loyal to was a murderer and butcher of your own family. Then, pressured into helping your new species survive, you did all you could to further that goal. At times, you went too far. Sparkling Water the filly, Count Double Dealings, and so on.”

‘Right, that’s what their names were. Guess they knew everything, and just wanted to see if I would be completely honest, and to hear my side.’

Luna spoke next, “Despite the constant pressure put on you, and the amount of bodily harm you suffered, you have done good deeds. It is important to remember that you selflessly protected the town of Hooferville, going so far as to deal with the origin of the threat that nearly overran the town. You have tried to deescalate situations from bloodshed where you could. This is all besides your efforts to aid the changelings, a people you were completely separate from up till a year ago. We have heard testimonies from the changelings and ponies you have interacted with, from Agent, strike the following name from the official record, Daring Do, to your close friends. Such testimonies are not part of any judicial process normally, but this is far from normal.”

Cadence said her piece, “King Phasmatodea of the Fifth Hive. We three have reviewed your actions and your character. The death of Count Double Dealings was an unacceptable escalation of force to lethal means. The usage of mind control on Inquisitor Cogent Flourish was a necessary action to save the life of one of your citizens. The capture of all ponies who knew of your survival was a necessary step to protect yourself. Your fights against Division-P were part of your conflict against the now officially-disbanded agency, and were found to be within acceptable limits in terms of morality.”

Finally, Celestia read off their conclusions, “We cannot allow you to remain in Equestria permanently in your current state, King Phasma. Your propensity for lethality presents countless dangers and concerns. However, you have shown nothing but complete honesty, a desire for a peaceful resolution, and for cooperation between our kingdoms. Given your desire to uphold Harmony’s values, the pressures put upon you, and the need to resolve the conflict between the Principality of Equestria and the Fourth Hive, we are prepared to offer you a deal. In exchange for amnesty for your crimes, you must attend Crown-mandated sessions with a licensed therapist, and must prove a desire to improve and become comfortable with your new level of power. You must correct your behaviour, and never let something like this ever happen again. Which, as an immortal, means more than you currently can understand.

“All four of us have at our hooves the ability to level mountains and crush civilizations. However, unlike us three, you have had only a single year to get used to this fact, and worse yet, you were put under the greatest stresses, possession by Nightmares not included. So it is of utmost importance that you learn your limits, and how to survive before reaching them. You cannot be allowed to operate with such callousness, even if it is born out a of fear for your own life.”

“Do you need time to consider the offer?” Luna asked.

‘They’re demanding I go to therapy, something Luna was going to drag me off to anyways? Sounds like I’ve been Operation Paperclip’ed!’

“No,” I said. “I accept.”

The Princesses rose, and I followed suit. Coxa and Cricket rose too, following their King.

“Then we conclude this matter,” Celestia declared.

Author's Note

I have a Ko-Fi if you want to support me.

133- Mahabharata

Celestia collapsed into her chair.

“There’s nothing more that we can do,” she sighed.

“Uh…. what?” I asked, taking my seat again.

“Things are… less stable on our side,” Luna explained. “This public record will make waves. Only time can tell how big these waves will be.”

“Oh. Well, good luck with that.”

“The next thing we would like to discuss most certainly will not be released to the public,” Celestia said.

Cadence giggled, “That would be counterintuitive.”

Luna nodded, “The time has come to discuss the Fourth Hive.”

“What’s there to discuss?” Coxa asked. “They have to go, and Phasma here will be the sole royal after we’re done with ‘em.”

“There is the matter of ‘dealing with them,’ as you put it,” Celestia said. “Stenographers, you are done for the day. Thank you for your excellent diligence,” she dismissed the other ponies in the room. “We must end this war as soon as possible, so it is imperative that Queen Chrysalis is taken down, one way or another.”

“And only changelings can use their magic inside the null-zone,” I said.

“Precisely that. What can you tell us about this null-zone?”

I shrugged, “Not too much, I’m afraid. It’s projected from the Mithril Throne, which sits in the Fourth Hive’s throne room, near the top of the hive superstructure. Mithril is a rare blue metal that somehow counteracts magic, though anything more specific about that particular relationship is beyond any of us. Perhaps only Chrysalis understands the metal and how it works, given that she forged God-Splitter, my Adamantine-Mithril hammer, but if she does, she guards its secrets jealously.”

“So it is projected by an enchanted object,” Luna muttered. “If we were– and by we, I mean you– able to destroy this Mithril Throne, the field would go, correct?”

“Correct.”

“So the question is then how to destroy it…”

Coxa and Cricket grimaced. Cricket stood, “You can’t be seriously suggesting that we destroy the Throne! That is a cultural artifact, one that has symbolized changeling royalty for generations! Destroying it would be destroying one of the only pieces of culture that we even have!”

“Sacrifices must be made,” I explained.

“But it’s something we barely understand ourselves–”

I cut her off, “We will survive its loss. Believe me, I don’t want to destroy it, but I absolutely will if I have to. Now is not the time to pull our punches. If we have to destroy it in order to bring the Equestrians in and end the war, then that’s what we’ll do. Every day not spent working towards ending the war is a day wasted, especially with the Nightmares always lurking beyond the horizon. And I’m sure that the Princesses want their ponies back as soon as possible.”

“Their loss is something that cannot even be understood,” Celestia whispered.

“We have the Civilian Conservation Corps, but that just manages the problem,” Cadence explained. “Entire towns are just… gone, and all we can do is organize ponies to make sure the lights stay on and the flowers are watered. Hundreds of ponies dedicated to just making things look normal for when we rescue our ponies...”

“You’ll get them back,” I said.

“We will get them back,” Luna corrected me.

“We,” I nodded. “The plan should be pretty simple. I take a battalion of lings, I approach the Fourth Hive from above, and break into the throne room. Such a task would be impossible for anyone but a ling, but we know exactly where the throne room is, and more importantly, we can use our magic. Once the field is gone, you need to move in. Or better yet, start moving in long before the throne is destroyed. Preferably, the Equestrians should be in position and ready to begin attacking the Hive the moment the Mithril Throne is destroyed.”

“This sounds familiar,” Cadence said.

“It’s a somewhat similar plan to how we attacked Canterlot,” I admitted. “A primary army grabs attention, while a secondary force stealthily destroys the defenses. I’ll be sure to target the Throne and just try to delay Chrysalis while you two– or three, if Cadence is coming– reinforce me. All of us will attack the Queen together. Alone, each of us would fail, but together, yada yada yada. You get the point.”

Celestia rolled her eyes, “Do not scoff at the power of friendship, Phasma.”

“That’s exactly what I’m scoffing at.”

“Sounds like a solid enough plan. If it is not broken, do not fix it, as they say,” Luna smiled.

“Sounds like a plan that will get changelings killed. Or worse, put the entire Equestrian army dispatched at risk if the changelings sally out to attack before we are ready,” Celestia said.

I crossed my forelegs, “Ponies getting hurt is worse than changelings dying?”

“That’s not what I meant. This plan would put an entire army at risk; we would not be able to fight back if the Fourth Hive chooses to sally out from their defenses and attack us.”

“We’ll have changelings disguised as unicorns in your formations. If the Fourth Hive sallies out, they deploy the shields. No matter how prideful or ignorant Chrysalis is, she cannot deny facts; the sight of ponies using magic within the exclusion zone proves your capability of defying it.”

Celestia shook her head, “That still poses risks. Not only to all of us, but to you and your team, too. Just how long do you hope to hold out against Queen Chrysalis while targeting the throne? How long will you have to survive her attacks while we fly over?”

“I’ve gotten quite a bit stronger since our last duel. I was running on empty back then, and I didn’t have Unbroken Radiance. If Chrysalis thinks she can easily dispatch me, then I’m all for her acting on that assumption. Her loss is my gain.”

“Is there any alternative plan? One less… openly confrontational?”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

‘She’d better not be suggesting I give peace a chance or some other bullshit. Enough lings have died already, I’m not throwing away any more lives on meaningless grandstanding on morals.’

“Why not send an infiltration team in to destroy the throne?” Celestia offered.

“Magic won’t–” I began to say, but paused. “Changeling drones won’t have the power to destroy the Mithril Throne with spells–”

“But explosives will,” Cadence of all ponies said.

“But explosives will,” I confirmed. “At least, in theory. Maybe it’s too durable or anti-energetic or something, but it should work. The problem then is two-fold; infiltrating the Hive might be impossible and the amount of explosives used would destroy more than just the hunk of metal Chrysalis parks her ass on.”

“It would destroy the entire room!” Cricket hissed. “Every single piece of history! Every artifact! Your Majesty, a cost must be paid, surely, but we would lose everything!”

“Which is why I won’t pursue that plan,” I said. “Not only would it destroy what precious little cultural artifacts our species has, it will also give away our plan. We would have to infiltrate the Fourth Hive, which by this point would probably shoot any outsiders on sight out of fear of spies. We would have to smuggle in explosives and plant them in one of the most secure rooms in the entire continent. Finally, it would clue the Fourth Hive into the fact that they are now our combined target. To say the odds would be stacked against the team is an understatement. I’m not going to throw away the element of surprise and the lives of this infiltration team on a fool’s gambit.”

“... Thank you, Your Majesty,” Cricket sighed, visibly relaxing.

“Is this the right move, Luna?” Celestia turned to her sister.

Luna tapped the table quietly.

“.... Perhaps. What Phasma says holds merit; this Mithril Throne will be guarded by the Fourth Hive’s best, including Queen Chrysalis. We should not waste our chance with a doomed team. Phasma and some explosives should be enough to get the job done.”

Celestia sighed, “I don’t like the idea of marching an army that can’t fight. This is something I must think about. I assume we are all fine with adjourning for the day?”

We all gave our yes’s, and Celestia declared the day’s negotiations ended.

“Now is the part where we eat the food,” Luna announced, reading off the note she held.

“Is it, now?”

Luna sat down on the picnic blanket, opening the basket and spreading out its contents. We had decided to eat our lunch alone together in a secluded part of the gardens. The little clearing was bordered by tall hedges, with a lone tree taking up half of the circular space. A heating spell imbued on a white oval stone she had brought projected a bubble of warmth that kept out the autumn’s chill, allowing us to enjoy the garden without having to bear the wind’s bite.

“That is what the note says we do now. Have you not heard of this, either?”

“No I know what a picnic is, I just am interested in this note of yours.”

“Cadence wrote it for me. A step by step guide for… eating outdoors.”

“Is that the only thing you are getting notes on?”

Luna smiled, “Is that a question you really want answered?”

I frowned, “Uh….. no?”

“You have answered wisely. Now! Let us eat!”

I plopped down onto the blanket and stretched out. Luna sat down in front of me, leaning back against me as she prepared a sandwich for herself.

“I said eat. You must prepare your sandwich. ‘Tis on the list, see?” She said, lifting the list up for me with her magic.

“I am eating,” I said.

‘Delicious, delicious love.’

Luna had no reaction whenever I fed. More proof that Thorax’s method of feeding off ponies that love you for the changeling you are is the superior method, I had supposed. By this point, my internal tanks were nearing full. I had no idea how I actually knew that, or by what empirical measurement my energy reserves could be measured by. I just…. knew.

Soon enough, I would deposit any spare love into the Hive’s ration stores. That was a process I wasn’t looking forward to, but it would be a small price to pay for my Hive’s salvation.

“Oh yes, you and your ambiguous emotion-feeding. That will not be enough! I demand that you partake in this meal, Phasma.”

I groaned and started picking up the pieces to make a sandwich.

“I am told that this activity is most enjoyable, so we must enjoy it,” Luna explained.

“I am enjoying it,” I said, lying my head down and watching Luna.

“Good. No other answer is acceptable.”

Her left ear, the one closest to me, flicked backwards, and she looked down at me.

“.... I have forgotten to get drinks for us. Would you please find something for us, Phasma?” She asked, raising her voice.

‘That’s that tone of voice every girl uses to ask me for something…’

“You’re lucky you’re cute, Luna,” I said, groaning and standing up.

“Thank you. I will patiently wait for you,” she said.

I begrudgingly left, having only managed to nibble on love.

Finding drinks was a simple enough task; the kitchen staff weren’t quite allowed to start using alcohol, so I got them to create a pitcher of some fruity non-alcoholic cocktails for us. It was far too early to drink, and I didn’t want to end up like Celestia anyways. She might function drunk at all hours, but I had a long ways to go before I became that forlorn.

When I finally returned to Luna, I stopped just before entering the clearing. When I was with her, all I could really sense was love. Now, as I approached her once more, I tasted… annoyance. Disgust. Frustration. Anger.

I slowly peaked around the corner and saw Luna standing up, speaking with a unicorn. The unicorn had a white coat and blonde mane, and a distinctive Cutie Mark.

‘Prince Blueblood, if I am not mistaken.’

I stayed where I was, catching the tail-end of their conversation.

“–harmful process. It’s perfectly safe,” the unicorn was saying.

“It is not the process itself, but the act of doing so,” Luna replied sharply.

“Princess, please, the safety of the kingdom is at stake! Think of what could happen if you are wrong!”

“I am not wrong. The mere fact that I am willing to hold this conversation with you could be considered a breach of trust. Tell me, why should I not tell King Phasma about this?”

‘They’re talking about me. What the hell do they have to talk about that requires my absence? This Blueblood fellah is up to no good.’

Getting too anxious, I decided to intervene. I backed up a few paces, and then walked forward and into the clearing at my full walking speed to hide the fact that I was eavesdropping. Prince Blueblood’s head snapped towards me when he heard me approach.

I could taste his emotions as I came to a stop. Even if I was hiding the fact that I knew what their conversation was about me, there was no point in hiding that I could sense his emotions. The Prince was angry. Angry and afraid.

“.... And you are?” I asked, setting the pitcher of colorful drinks down.

The unicorn cleared his throat and straightened up, “Prince Blueblood of the Principality of Equestria. But you knew that already.”

I made a visible effort of leaning to examine his sides.

“.... You don’t look like a Prince, little unicorn.”

Luna stepped between us, “Prince Blueblood, this is King Phasma. King Phasma, this is Prince Blueblood.”

“I know who it is,” Blueblood sneered.

“Then you should know that you should be running,” I sneered back.

“Ha! As if I would be afraid of the insect that made a fool of itself the moment it showed itself in public! ‘Dread Prince’ my flanks!”

I leaned in close, “Your fear is delicious, little unicorn. But keep pretending you’re brave. Who knows? In time, maybe you’ll start believing in that lie.”

“Fine, fight it out, I have put in my token effort,” Luna huffed.

“I know what you’re up to, invader,” Blueblood growled. “Know that at every turn, ponies will stand against you and your evil. The Princesses will be rescued from you!”

“Is this the part where you tell me your plan?” I asked.

Blueblood stomped angrily and started to leave.

“Don’t worry, Princess Luna, ponies care about you and won’t give up,” he called over his shoulder.

“..... That happened,” I muttered when he left.

Luna sighed, “His heart is in the right place, so it is a shame that his mind is nowhere to be found.”

“What’s up with him?”

“In case you failed to notice, he believes that you are mind controlling Celestia and I. The fop has no idea that if anything, it is the other way around.”

“So he’s some kind of conspiracy theorist?”

“He tends to take leave of his senses at the most inopportune time… I wonder at times if he exists only to cause others misery.”

I snorted, “Do I need to worry about him?”

“.... Likely not. Celestia keeps an eye on his less than scrupulous activities, at any rate.”

‘That’s good to hear.’

“Why were you even talking to him in the first place?”

Luna sat down and started pouring herself a drink, “If we do not give him the time of day for him to list his nonsensical ramblings, then he will bring those ramblings to those we wish to keep ignorant. That is the price to pay for his silence. Though now, I suspect he will be a bigger thorn in our side than ever.”

I joined her on the blanket, “Last I checked, you and your sister don’t really have to worry about any politics too much.”

She shook her head, “That is changing. We will, for the first time since our nation’s inception, have to gather allies within Equestria. Prince Blueblood is guaranteed to be against our interests, even if in his own delusion he believes he fights for our safety.”

“And making friends with the invaders doesn’t help?”

“No, it does not. We will survive and thrive, however. We have faced worse odds than mere politics before.”

We got comfortable again, intent on enjoying the meal.

“.... Did you send me away to talk to him?” I asked.

“I feared, rightly so, that you two meeting would make things more difficult.”

“So, yes, then?”

“Yes. I heard his approach and knew he was waiting for a chance to speak with me. Sending you in the opposite direction was a deceptive measure. I am sorry, Phasma.”

“Why didn’t you just tell me, Luna?”

“Would you have left?” She asked.

“.... No.”

“I did not think so. Still, I am sorry. But while we are on the topic of plans and deception, there is something I believe you have the right to hear.”

‘More deception? At least she’s being honest and telling me, I guess.’

“I’m listening.”

“Celestia has informed me about her plan for you and your kingdom. She wishes you to integrate your kingdom completely with Equestria.”

“I’m not doing that,” I responded immediately.

“I know that,” Luna said, motioning to me to pause, “and Celestia does too. She hopes you will come to that decision on your own, eventually.”

“What’s she planning?”

“She does not plan on doing anything, other than to further sweeten the idea of integration. I felt that you should be aware of her motives, given your… paranoia.”

“Thanks, Luna.”

Luna nuzzled the side of my neck, and then gave me a kiss.

“I simply wish for you to relax. You are among friends, now, Phasma. You can leave behind your worries. Or, at the very least, share them with us.”

“I, uh, I’ll try, Luna. Here you are, worrying about me and my problems, what about you? How are you adjusting to being back? We haven’t talked about that in a while, now.”

“It gets less and less frustrating with each passing day. The aid rendered from friends certainly helps the process. And I have a coltfriend to unwind with, and share my worries.”

“Then share your worries with him. I’m sure there’s only a fifty-percent chance he’ll dismiss your worries callously.”

Luna chuckled, “I will, after tomorrow’s operation.”

“..... What?”

“Tomorrow, we will examine the brand the Nightmares put on your mind. Did you forget...? Phasma? Phasma…?”

I swallowed, “Uh….”

‘It’s already time? We have to…. I have to….’

I was suddenly reminded of the Nightmare’s torture: being strapped onto a surgery table, drills piercing my skull–

“Hey,” Luna said, squeezing my forehooves. “I will be there. You do not need to worry, okay?”

“Okay?” I repeated, trying to remain calm. “Sorry. It’s just–”

“I know. There is no need to say anything. Just breathe.”

I nodded and followed her orders.

“I am told it is called Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder. We had names for it way back when, but dealing with it has always been hard. I do not care if we talk more about your issues than mine, I am thankful that I have so few in comparison. Further, helping others has always been a passion of Celestia and I. It brings me no small amount of joy to help others in their time of need...”

I listened to Luna ramble on, her voice bringing me back down to Equus.

Author's Note

I have a Ko-Fi if you want to support me.

134- Kalma

Coxa trailed behind me as I finished the conversation with Celestia. Today’s negotiation was wrapping up the last bits, namely the cultural and technological sharing. Given that the Fifth Hive had almost none of that, it was a quick work day.

“Any chance you might share technology from your prior world?” Celestia asked.

“I don’t think so. A lot of that technology requires ridiculous amounts of dependent tech before you can get it to work, and I’m far from an engineer or scientist, so I can give a little bit but for the most part you’re on your own. It’s better that way.”

“I assume you intend to steer us away from potentially deadly inventions?”

“Sorta? Almost all inventions can be deadly in some way, it just falls to application.”

“Of course,” she nodded.

“But I will help where I can when I know of something like safety features. The last thing I’d want is for you to do something like muck about with heavy metals without understanding the necessity of lead shielding.”

“Heavy metals?”

“Deadly stuff. Kills you for just being near it.”

“Oh my. And what of the uses of other new metals, such as the Adamantium and Mithril that your changelings discovered?”

“Err…. Coxa, how much do we know about those metals?”

“Almost nothing,” he offered.

“But you have worked them for thousands of years?” Celestia said.

“We have,” Coxa said, “but only Chrysalis knew the ins and outs of working the metals. She had assistants, true, but her main assistant was, uh… he’s dead. Any info she wrote down is inaccessible to us now, but there’s a good chance there’s plenty of info back in the Fourth Hive’s vault.”

Celestia continued to lead us further down into the palace, “Then we shall learn about it when this war is finished. The unicorns that were assigned to researching the enchantable green metal were quite captivated by the material, and I have to admit I am quite interested, too. Never before have I seen such a capable enchantable material. The wonders that could be accomplished...”

“Good luck getting any,” Coxa snickered.

“I assume it’s quite rare?”

“You could say that,” I laughed. “It’s only available in the deepest layer of the Underhive, as far as I am aware.”

“Underhive?” Celestia asked, interested.

“The source of many of your problems, I bet,” I said. “It’s a cave system located miles beneath our hooves, filled to the brim with all sorts of monsters that want to eat everything in front of their faces. The only species to actually manage to explore any of it are changelings. In fact, I don’t know if any other species have even discovered it.”

“How have you safely explored it, if it is so dangerous?”

“We don’t,” Coxa said.

“We don’t safely explore it,” I added. “To the Hive Eternal, casualties are acceptable. After all, the metal we acquire usually lasts for thousands of years. A drone’s life was worth considerably less.”

“That’s awfully grisly,” Celestia sighed. “Bartering lives for metal. Barbaric.”

“It’s not exactly a practice I intend on reinstating,” I said.

“Then it sounds like Equestria might be able to lend a hoof in that matter. Acquiring more of either of these metals would be a boon of untold value. If we could work together to find a way to safely extract it….”

“... Then we’re more than happy to work together,” I nodded.

“Wonderful,” Celestia remarked. “Just in time, too; we’ve arrived.”

At this point, we were likely near the dungeons, somewhere in the basement of Canterlot Castle. This was where Celestia performed magical experiments, I recalled from briefings from ages past. We had stopped before a pair of thick metal doors that were otherwise nondescript. The guards on either side saluted as Celestia reached forward and pushed them open with a hoof, rather than their magic. I noticed as I passed the doors that every square inch of them was covered in glowing yellow runes.

Ahead, an auditorium-like room that was reminiscent of surgery theaters was filled to the brim on the lower level with different magical machines. Luna and Twilight Sparkle were fiddling with the machines and making marks on a few whiteboards scattered around the center of the room.

Right in the center was a flat metal table, which most of the machines were pointed towards. On its surface was a series of circles, each inscribed with runes of different shapes and sizes.

“This is feeling awfully familiar,” I muttered.

“You’ll be fine, Phasma,” Coxa reassured me. “After all, if you die, who’s going to sign my paycheck?”

“Thorax is in charge if I die. You realize that, right?”

“Wait, what?”

Luna and Twilight looked up at us when we entered, but resumed their work. Celestia walked over to one of the machines and began flipping small switches and otherwise calibrating it.

“What do you mean, Thorax will be in charge? What about me?” Coxa asked.

“You’ll still be the one running the Hive, he’ll just be the public face. Think of it like a leadership position with greatly reduced responsibilities,” I explained. “With no King or Queen, the Hive would have to transition to some sort of democracy, anyways. Both ponies and changelings will love Thorax, so it’ll help smooth things out if something goes wrong at some point.”

Coxa huffed, “But I’m still in charge?”

“De facto.”

“.... Whatever. But don’t you dare try to die on us, Phasma. You’ve made my life too complicated and stressful to go and leave me here.”

“Heh, I’ll try not to. Just for you, Coxa.”

Coxa nodded and buzzed his wings, flying up to take a seat in the small amphitheater that circumscribed the operating room.

“Are you doing well, Phasma?” Luna asked me, leaving her machines to stand by my side.

‘Am I doing well?’

“If I’m being honest,” I replied in a lower whisper, “no, not really. But the sooner we get started, the sooner we get through this.”

“I will be at your side every second of the way.”

“Thanks Luna,” I said, pulling her into a hug.

She helped me up onto the table, which I slowly lowered myself onto, until I was laying on my belly. Then, Luna ran me through what was going to happen.

“Okay Phasma. First we will perform an examination of the boundaries of this Nightmare mark. I know where it begins and where it ends, thanks to our sessions together in the Dreamscape, so that should be a shorter part of this. Once we have an accurate idea of what we’re looking at, that is when we will take a more in-depth look at this mark. Using our Flux Prospector here,” she said, patting one machine, “we will be able to safely examine the magical composition of the entirety of the brand. Then, we can map it out and understand how it works. There are plenty of other devices involved, but for the most part, this one will be our primary tool. Any questions so far?”

“I don’t think so, no.”

“Alright. Once we understand the structure of this mark, we should be able to reverse engineer its inner workings, and figure out a way to remove it entirely. There’s some particularly unfortunate enchantments that could be present, so that step will be the most tenuous. We will have to see what we are dealing with before we can make a proper plan. Worst case scenario, we take a long time to figure this out, and you are simply woken up as we work through the problem. It could take days. However, given how short of a time was taken to put the mark on you, I can not see it being particularly complicated.”

“Do we know how long it took the Nightmare to put the mark on me?”

“It was in the Dreamscape, but you described the process as being somewhat short, correct?”

I scratched my head, “I think? It was hard to keep track of time.”

“Given how long one can spend on a single enchantment, this could be considered a rush job. You would know if it was a long time or not.”

“Okay, it was a short time, then.”

“Right. This Nightmare was probably practicing this enchantment, or knew exactly what to create, all things considered. So, this enchantment is likely very well made, just low-tier. Which means that we will have to find the right solution, as many general methods of dissolving the magic will not work. We can brute force it, given that it is low-tier, however….”

“You don’t want to be swinging a mace inside my mind.”

Luna grimaced, “Precisely. Once we have a solution, implementing it will require a few other tools, machines, and strategies that Celestia knows more about. Do you require any information on that stage of the plan?”

I shook my head, “My education on magic is, uh… let’s just say corners were cut. Lots of corners. It’s practically a circle.”

“We will just have to fix that in time.”

“Oh boy, I’ll have to fit that in with my training.”

“Training the body and mind is important, if unpleasant in every sense of the word.”

“At least I’ll have a beautiful mare to take up any free time I would otherwise have,” I winked.

“Alright, we’re ready, Princesses!” Twilight announced.

Luna wrapped up the explanation, “After the mark is destroyed, we will put protective enchantments over the area to make sure nothing unexpected happens, or that no weakness is left. Then, we monitor the area for a few months, testing for responses to outside forces, but it should be clear.”

“Okay. Thank you for all of this, Luna,” I said, nervously tapping my hooves together.

“Thank you for risking so much for Equestria and I. You helped save Equestria, and even if you did not, we would still do all of this altruistically. You picked your friends well.”

“I sure did.”

“Luna, are you ready?” Celestia asked.

“I am,” Luna said, not leaving my side.

“King Phasma, are you ready?”

I swallowed, “I am.”

“Luna has explained what’s going to happen?” Celestia asked.

“I have,” Luna said.

“Excellent. Once you wake up, this will all be behind us.”

“If I wake up,” I muttered under my breath.

Luna squeezed one of my hooves, “You’ll be fine. I promise.”

Twilight appeared next to Luna, “Thank you for this opportunity, King Phasma! This is a fantastic opportunity, and I promise you are in good hooves! Both of the Princesses are here, after all!”

“Thank you, Twilight,” I said, unsure how to feel about her reassurance.

‘I guess having the two foremost experts in magic here is better than any alternative.’

“Yeah, what she said!” Coxa yelled from somewhere above us.

The machines whirred and began to glow and hum, and several were moved close to the table I was laying on.

‘–feel the thing as it seared something onto me–’

I cringed, recoiling away from Luna. Still, she wouldn’t let go.

“Phasma?” Celestia asked, noticing the movement.

“I’m fine,” I growled.

“I’m with you,” Luna said. “You are not fine, but you are in good company.”

“I said I’m–”

One instrument pointed an appendage that looked awfully a lot like a massive needle towards my head.

‘–the jagged blade pulled itself free of my head–’

“–not f-fine,” I admitted, gritting my teeth.

I was shaking all over, and struggling to breathe.

“Your fears are well founded, but you have to listen to me,” Luna stressed. I nodded, and she continued, “Telling you to relax is a counterproductive solution. So instead, why don’t you tell me something? Tell me how reforming the Fifth Hive is going.”

I nodded again, “Uh, we’re almost done switching to a paycheck method of rewarding changelings for their work. It costs a lot more than our previous method of assigning money based on requests, since changelings love to skate by on the absolute minimum and dedicate everything to the Hive, but in time I think they will learn to appreciate capitalism. The money we’re losing is honestly fine in the long run, as we were running out of good ways to spend it all.”

“You mentioned a desire to write a constitution long ago, did you not?”

I swallowed, “Yeah, yeah. We’ve been too busy to write it right now, what with the war still going on, but I’ve been talking about the base points with the First Fang and Cricket. They all agree to a degree, but ultimately refuse to allow any sort of election within the Fifth Hive. They want to keep me as supreme leader, something I’m kinda okay with, and keep the Fifth Hive as a meritocracy, which honestly just puts more stress on me. I’ll have to personally pick out every leader under the current model, which means I’ll have to change the Hive’s power structure so that fewer changelings report directly to me. This hooves-on method might be Chrysalis’s favorite approach, as it ensures absolute loyalty and control, but as the Hive gets bigger, it will only make things worse for me. Anyways, they agree with the guaranteeing of rights for drones and all that, and overall are happy with what I’m suggesting we do.”

“We need to begin the procedure,” Celestia reminded Luna.

“Yes, I know, sister. Phasma, I am going to initiate the rune– that one right beneath your head– and you will start to feel fatigued. Keep talking and telling me about your Hive, okay?”

Her horn glowed cyan, as did the rune circle directly beneath my head.

“Okay,” I said. “The military is still under mandatory service at the moment, but… uh… that’s because we’re still at war,” I yawned. “That works fast.”

“Keep talking to me,” Luna said.

“I’d love to move away from the mandatory service, given our species’ closeness to extinction, but I just can’t right now. Eventually, we might… go to a few years service… requirement,” I yawned again. My eyes were getting heavier, “since that’s what the changelings want…. But…”

I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore.

With Phasma finally asleep, Coxa broke out a portfolio and opened it up, paging through it. This was liable to take a few hours, and Coxa’s job was never done. As the Hive’s representative and one of Phasma’s closest friends, he was here to support and watch over him, however that doesn’t mean he had to stand at attention by his side.

“Why was King Phasma so scared? It’s just an examination,” the pony Twilight Sparkle said.

“King Phasma has a lot of unfortunate experiences with procedures similar to this one, remember?” Princess Luna said, her emotions matching her slightly-cold attitude.

“The lobotomy of his siblings?” Twilight asked. “Surely he understands the difference between this safe procedure and that… barbarism.”

A quick glance up from his work dispelled Coxa’s worries that the ponies were just sitting around, chatting. They were instead discussing this topic while bustling around between the machines. Princess Luna herself was powering the machine closest to Phasma’s head, her horn glowing the same hue as a thin laser that shot into Phasma.

“Fear and rational thinking do not mix,” Princess Celestia said. “He might intuitively understand that he is safe, which is why he agreed to this in the first place, but he can’t help but think about all the horrible things that were done to him, and almost done to him.”

‘We’re going to pay Froghopper how much?!’

Coxa quietly hissed in frustration and confusion. The lead-scout was going to be paid far too much, by his judgement. Then again, he had no experience with how much officers are normally paid. Perhaps a visit to his Equestrian counterpart, whoever that might be, is in order.

“That’s the mark?” Twilight asked.

Princess Luna was slowly drawing on one of the whiteboards closest to her, the marker gripped in her magic while she continued to power the machine and read off of a piece of paper that was slowly protruding from one of its exits.

“Yes,” Princess Luna said simply.

‘Looks like blurred nonsense to me,’ Coxa remarked.

Unfortunately, it was looking more and more like Coxa wouldn’t even have enough paperwork to occupy himself during the procedure. That idea was horrifying, as Coxa found doing this work horribly boring at the best of times. As much as he tried to focus on the papers before him, a small part was always concerned about his close friend and King, sitting still on the table below him.

Eventually, he gave up trying to read the same AAR after having scanned over it three times, and still not remembering who was involved in the battle. Instead, he zoned back in on the ponies, and tried guessing what was happening, what they figured out, and what they planned on doing.

I was having a nightmare again. Fortunately, this was one with a lower-case n. Unfortunately, it was one I had rather hoped to avoid.

Dispelling nightmares that I myself was a victim of was easier said than done. It was like telling your body to stop shaking, or the hairs on your neck to go down; it simply didn’t work that way.

So I had to ignore the corpse sitting upright behind me. I was staring out the window, observing the reconstruction effort of Canterlot. The sight was reconstructed from my memory, so in some places Canterlot was burning, and in others, the reconstruction effort had been finished months ago.

I couldn’t ignore his smell.

It was quiet. Deathly quiet, if I wanted to be ironic. The only sound to be heard was the faint, almost imperceptible buzzing of the flies. The shambling corpse made no noise as it stared at the back of my head. I could feel its gaze, judging me. That sounded cliche, but it was what I felt.

“Please, just… go away,” I muttered uselessly.

Something I didn’t tell Luna was that these nightmares were more frequent than she thought.

‘Probably has to do with the lapse in training. Gah, I’ve got too much shit that I’ve got to be on top of! How am I supposed to handle physical training, combat training, negotiating the Hive’s future, reforming the Hive, and giving Luna and my friends enough time of the day?!’

Luna had been busy, too, hence our lack of Dreamscape training. That led to, or at least was partially to blame for, the frequent nightmares. They had lessened over time… all except this one.

It had only gotten worse.

He was still there, watching me. The same place he had been for the past half-year. The only thing that changed was that he had started to rot away. The stench of decaying flesh overpowered any scent Celestia’s study might have otherwise had.

I absentmindedly noted that the smell was borrowed from the lair of that giant rat I killed way back outside Hooferville.

“You mean nothing to me,” I lied, not even believing myself. “Be gone.”

I was getting bored of yelling at Eucharis’s still-living corpse. Afraid, yes, but bored.

“They want me to talk to a shrink, you know. They think it will make stuff like you go away. As if talking can do that. It’s an immature viewpoint, I know, but I always hated therapists. Nothing personal, I just find the idea of simplifying people to the discussion of ideas and logical explanations to be…. insulting. As if we’re nothing more than a math problem. Still, they say I have to, so I’ll go.”

I sighed and collapsed against the wall, sitting up against it and staring at the corpse.

His eyes were gone. As was all of his soft-parts, the space between his chitin now occupied by rotten, putrifying organic mush. There was a small swarm of flies buzzing around his head, occasionally landing on his face or flying into one of his empty eye sockets.

He never spoke a word. Never moved. Only stared.

“... Fine, I feel a little bit guilty,” I admitted. “You were the first person I’ve ever killed, and you were, in your own misguided belief, trying to save my life. But you– gah! What was I supposed to…” I grunted and put my head between my hooves. “If I mess up, if I let loose my emotions like I did with you or the Count, then changelings could lose their lives. There’s more at stake now. It doesn’t matter if I was justified or not, the consequences are the same. I just… you all make me so angry!”

Eucharis said nothing.

“You were a shit father,” I said, still not believing myself.

Yet no matter what I said, the corpse never left the room.

“What do you want me to say? That I’m sorry? That I shouldn’t have killed you? You’re not getting either. I’d say live with it, but you can’t exactly do that, can you?”

A distant rumbling made me look up, outside the window. On the horizon, a cyan, gold, and purple storm was rolling its way to Canterlot. I watched a cyan bolt of lightning strike the ground.

“Same color as their magic,” I murmured. “Wonder if that’s my mind’s construct, or the real world influencing the Dreamscape. A question for Luna later.” I sighed, “I guess I can tell you things no one else can know. It’s not like you’re going to tell anyone. And even if you could, if you were some spy or something created by the Nightmares, you’re not going to survive the night, are you?”

Eucharis did not move.

“I think they would be happy. I miss them with all my heart, but I think they would be happy. They were far more of a real family than you or Chrysalis, and they would have been proud to see me with someone who makes me happy. I think they would gladly sacrifice being able to see me again for this, ironically enough. I just wish I could tell them where I was, that I actually am happy. Instead, they buried my body, thinking I was gone for good.

“I told Luna this, actually. I haven’t told anyone else. Not much point, I think. Everyone’s got shit they’re dealing with. Panar, Lacewing was tortured! How could anything I actually went through, aside from the torture, compare to that? I dealt with it a few times, but it was a daily companion for her! I don’t…”

I drew circles on the ground with my hoof.

“I wish Oest was here. Feels like I’m taking two steps back thinking like that, but I can’t help myself. The First Fang is all together, all broken but getting better, but Oestridae isn’t here. It feels like we paid a cost that wasn’t worth it. Maybe that’s the secret? The one time I let go of my, uh, pawns, is the one time I failed and lost everything. Meanwhile, when I try everything I can to save everyone I can, I get the most success. This world really does run on rainbows and friendship…. What do you think, Eucharis?”

It looked almost like he swayed in a breeze, but it was my eyes playing tricks on me.

“They won’t let me. The changelings are becoming more and more resistant to the idea of me being on the front lines. I think if I let them, they would put me in a padded cell with corks on my horn and fangs, not letting me ever have a chance to get hurt. It’s only going to get worse in time. If Celestia thinks she’s fanatically worshipped, she’s got no idea how dedicated drones can be…. Is that a bad thing? Do I have to try to change their behavior? Can I even accomplish that?”

Thanks to my experience in the Dreamscape, I felt something I identified as me starting to wake up. Glancing out the window, I saw the multicolored storm right above the city.

“.... Thanks for the talk, Eucharis. You should get the whole decaying-thing looked at, though. It can’t be healthy.”

Author's Note

I have a Ko-Fi if you want to support me.

135- Beach Episode 2: Electric Boogaloo

The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was Luna’s cyan eyes, looking back at me.

“Hey,” I whispered after a while.

“Hello,” she replied. “You are not dead?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Then we are good!” She said happily.

“We are?”

I tried to sit up and look around, but Luna pushed me down. We were in her room, and I was laying in her bed.

“You need to sit still for the rest of the day. Theoretically, you are perfectly fine, but extra caution is advised,” she explained.

“What… so it was a success? Did you… find it?” I asked.

Luna smiled, “Found it, contained it, destroyed it.”

I let out a huge sigh of relief and sank into the bed.

“It was a particularly nasty enchantment construct. The things it could do…. Not that you need to be worried anymore! It simply could have held a lot of power over your mind, given the correct stimuli.”

“You sound like Twilight.”

“I spend a lot of time with her.”

“Hm. What kind of things could it do?”

“It was designed to override your thought process when exposed to particular corruption or dark magic. If you felt an extreme inclination to activate or use potentially dangerous artifacts when you were in the Third Hive, this was partially to blame.”

“Oh… anything else?”

“For the most part, that was it. That was probably enough for the Nightmares to achieve their desires using you, so that was all that was required. The smaller and less intrusive it is, the harder it would be to detect. This one took a long while to find, and we would have missed it on every in-depth scan if we had no idea what to look for. Originally, I had shielded virtually your entire mind from magic. This would have proven to be ineffective, should the mark have ever been truly activated.”

I blinked as I realized something.

“So the only reason why we knew about its existence was because they bragged about it?”

“Precisely.”

“.... Morons.”

“Never curse villains for being foolish. The clever ones are the scariest ones.”

I snorted, “You got that right. The smartest ones could do something like plan an invasion of Equestria, and if that fails, figure out a backup plan to get what they want anyways.”

Luna leaned in and kissed me.

“The horror,” she said after parting. Then, she scrunched up her muzzle, “You have bad morning breath.”

“I can’t leave bed, how am I supposed to brush my teeth?”

Luna sighed dramatically, “I will have to aid you. There would be a long list of things to worry about, to watch out for, and follow-up appointments to make, but given that you will be by my side for many hours of the day and every single night, all you need to do is shower me with affection.”

“Business as usual, then?” I grinned.

“Quite so. Now, slowly get up. We shall bathe together so that I can keep an eye on your progress.”

“We already do that.”

Luna winked, “Yes, but now I have an excuse.”

“Since when were you worried about excuses?”

The rest of the morning passed by slowly. My head felt fine, so other than being noticeably tired, I felt no side effects from the procedure. When we went to breakfast to meet Celestia and Cadence– Luna slowly pushing me around in a wheelchair, they both were eager to hear about my recovery.

Celestia most of all, considering she was the one doing most of the work, apparently.

“I’m fine,” I said.

“I’ve heard that one before,” Celestia replied.

“There was some weird disturbance during my dream, but that was the only symptom.”

“Any trouble accessing magic or remembering things?”

I shrugged, “How should I know? Luna doesn’t even let me walk around.”

“You are quite capable of that,” Celestia rolled her eyes.

“This is my excuse for keeping close to him for the entire day. You can not take this from me,” Luna declared.

“Since when did you need an excuse?” Cadence asked.

“That’s what I said!” I groaned.

“At any rate, you should know exactly what we found,” Celestia said. “The mark of Lámhmarbh, as it was identified as, can be thought of as a prefabricated implant. Whoever designed it must have done so eons ago, so thankfully countless breakthroughs that have been made since its inception were not found. In fact, we can accurately date its creation to… some time after the Discordian Era. Given that we don’t know its exact origins, anything more precise than that is impossible.”

“It’s from a Nightmare.”

Celestia nodded, “Yes, but we don’t know where they come from. If they originate on the other side of Equus, then the flow of information could have been substantially slower, meaning this mark is much newer than we think, see?”

“.... I think so.”

Celestia continued, “This mark had great influence over your actions, but was inert almost the entirety of the time. It did not respond to almost all of our tests, and only in the presence of dark magic did it awaken. Then, it sent commands through your psyche and mind. We can accurately guess what those commands were, but we didn’t see the need to wake you up and confirm that. Once we knew what we were dealing with, we managed to unravel its structure and remove it completely. Luna placed the protective wards around the area, and that part of your soul should heal up within…. twenty years or so.”

“That’s a long time.”

“Indeed. Don’t split your soul or anything like that and you should be fine.”

“I’ll try not to. Anything else?”

“Until your soul heals, this will be a vulnerability. So you should avoid being on the front lines with the Nightmares, if they appear before you are healed.”

I shook my head, “That might not be possible. Furthermore, it might not even be up to me.”

Luna scowled, “It most certainly is possible. You are rather shit at fighting, anyways.”

“Language!” Cadence groaned.

“I’m not shit at fighting!”

“You can not win a fair fight, even if your life depended on it!” Luna retorted.

I laughed, “That’s why I never fight fair!”

“You will stay in the rear echelon, where you can guide the battle and provide shields. It is safe there!”

“I’ll go where I’m needed!” I declared.

Celestia cleared her throat loudly, “This is a discussion that can wait till later. There is something else that requires your attention, Phasma.”

“Hmph. What is it?”

She paused, clearly unsure of herself, “I… have not taken a vacation in quite some time. The idea of traveling to the mountains together this Hearth's Warming is most intriguing. However, I’d rather have it pan out for the better, rather than being a bust. Organizing my absence is an undertaking I would rather not waste. As such, it is necessary to make sure that enjoyment will be had and all things put in order.”

I tilted my head, “Which means?”

Luna clapped her hooves excitedly, “We shall go this weekend!”

“W–what?!”

“I need you two to scout the place and make sure it is big enough, luxurious enough, and, well, you get the idea,” Celestia explained.

“We shall depart early, so that we might visit your establishment in Manehattan, too!” Luna chimed in.

A smile slowly crept onto my face.

“Luna, Celestia, that’s… amazing!”

“I’ve taken the liberty of informing your right-hoof pony, Coxa, about your planned absence from Canterlot,” Celestia added.

“Oh, uh, thanks Celestia!”

Luna launched herself at me, squeezing me in a bone-breaking hug that would have been actually painful had I not been covered in chitin.

“Oh what merriment there is to be had! I say, I have not been this excited since the prospect of seeing you in person!”

“I’m excited too, Luna,” I said, patting her on the withers.

“Another victory for love,” Cadence smiled. “This will be a great vacation for all of us, come winter. I’m even getting Shiny to come over.”

I raised my eyebrows, “That’s us four, the First Fang, Shining Armor…. Anyone else coming?”

“Celestia has extended invitations to the Elements, as their heroism deserves rewards, but acceptance is unlikely for almost all of them,” Luna said, not letting me go.

“That would be a lot of ponies attending,” I remarked.

“We all have our separate rooms,” Celestia explained.

“–and I’m all for it!” I cheered. “Quite different than… my old life. We, uh, bunked up back then, going so far as to sleep on the ground whenever we went on vacation. But now we’re all rich, huh?”

“This was Celestia’s surprise,” Luna said. “Hence why I could not speak of it to you.”

“I figured you two could use the break more, especially with last night’s procedure,” Celestia admitted.

I felt my ears splay back, “... Thanks again, Celestia. I… thanks.”

Outside of the First Fang, there were few people I could trust that actually did something nice for me out of the kindness of their heart. The Fifth Hive served me out of blind loyalty, though some of it could be argued as not blind loyalty, and the guards of Hooferville had no idea I was a changeling.

‘And Celestia has thankfully not mentioned my…. fit.’

Last night had been one of the most stressful and frightening nights this year, which was really saying a lot.

“.... yourself de-stressed and ready for when you come back,” Celestia said. I missed the first part of her order. “We have a lot to do, even before the winter arrives.”

Luna broke the hug, “I shall go back immediately!”

“Wait–!” Celestia called out, but Luna had already teleported away. “You’re not leaving until tomorrow,” she sighed. “Well, you have the rest of the time off, Phasma. No more negotiations.”

“I’ll go work things out with my Hive after breakfast, then. There’s a lot left to be done; I’m nearly as buried in paperwork reforming the Fifth Hive and getting everyone situated as you are fixing your kingdom.”

Cadence smiled, “You’re staying? I expected you to run off with Luna the moment you could.”

I shrugged, “I don’t always eat food, but the company is always nice.”

Cadence pointed a hoof at me, “See?! You can be a nice, considerate pony!”

“Only when you aren’t threatening or accusing me of anything.”

“The tales I have heard speak highly of you,” Celestia added in. “Your changelings look up to you greatly, and you instill positive values in them. I cannot ask for much more, aside from proper behavior and self control. But enough inflating your ego, today we’re having Prench toast.”

I clapped my hooves, “I knew there was a reason why I decided to stay!”

The Crystal Caves were almost empty now.

Most of the lings had been moved off to Manehattan or other locations, with only the Red Right Hoof staying behind, as well as my support staff. The Fifth Hive’s military and command structure could not leave easily, and having them in Canterlot was very important: the administration team for obvious reasons, and the Red Right Hoof because they would be training alongside the Equestrians starting next week.

With Celestia’s guidance, we finally had some rooms picked and cleared out for my changelings to use. She even provided a few large rooms to serve as barracks, which I gladly took, but the administration team was provided apartments in Middle Canterlot on my own dime. Given their importance, justifying renting– couldn’t find anything to outright buy yet– was a simple matter.

All that was left was moving the last of the changelings and materials out of the Crystal Caves. A lot of the material was slated to head directly to some storerooms within Canterlot Castle, and the whole process would be finished by the weekend.

So it was time for a celebration.

We had swarmed one of the larger, more reclusive fancy rooms. This one was high up, and had a bunch of windows with great views. I had brought out the good vintage for this occasion. The changelings cheered and toasted their glasses, each a mixed drink of alcohol and love rations.

“To brighter futures!”

“To better tomorrows!”

“To an end to the hunger!”

We all knocked back the glasses. I coughed and cringed, still not quite used to the strange combination. Most lings struggled similarly, but a few just laughed.

“Your Majesty,” Cricket whispered, making me lean over to hear her.

“Yes?”

“Just wanted to add onto the good news; there’s been a breakthrough in deciphering the language that those tomes you rescued from the Third Hive were written in.”

I coughed, feeling some of the drink come back up, “Really?! That’s great!”

“Mhmm. Twilight Sparkle stopped by for a preliminary glance into what we were preparing for the exchange program, and her help was insightful when it came to translating the morphemes. We have a rough idea as to what the tomes are about.”

‘This is actually great news. Whatever these tomes are written about is probably something we have forgotten about. Unless it’s a bust and it describes transformations or something, this could be a huge boon for us all!’

“Go on,” I said, turning to face her fully. “What are they about?”

“The books are all on,” Cricket paused to glance around, “soulmancy, Your Majesty.”

“Soulmancy?”

She nodded, “The practice is forbidden in Equestria, hence me trying to keep quiet about it, Your Majesty.”

“Oh. Well, is it… new information?”

“Yes sir. With the field now known, we’ve taken a look at a few of the spells written down, and they seem completely new. At least, we think so. It’s not exactly possible for any of us to know what Chrysalis knows about the field, or what the Princesses of Equestria know.”

“Neither of ‘em know anything,” I explained. “Chrysalis's expertise laid in genetic and biological sculpting, and neither Luna nor Celestia know much about Dark Magic. They considered this one of its fields, since its so often entwined with it, and it has been outlawed in Equestria since the kingdom’s inception.”

“You’re awfully knowledgeable about the subject, My King,” Cricket remarked.

“I was born through a necromancy ritual, and Celestia was clear on what magic she wouldn’t tolerate in Equestria. Knowing this stuff is my job. Thanks for the new information, Cricket.”

“Should I tell the teams to give up deciphering it?”

“No, no,” I waved to her to stop. “This is very good stuff. I might be able to get permission from Celestia to use the magic within Equestria’s borders, and if I don’t, we can just scoot on over to the Third Hive’s ruins and practice it there. If it’s safe, of course. No point in using it if it just propagates Nightmares or something equally unpleasant. I’ll talk with Luna this weekend about it. Anything else?”

“That’s it, Your Majesty.”

I nodded. The changelings around us were still chatting away, swapping stories, having drinking contests, and otherwise wasting their time. I even spied Coxa and Lacewing sitting on a couch in the back, snuggling and kissing lightly.

‘Awww, how adorable– I mean, absolutely revolting! Coxa exists only to make my life easier and to fill out paperwork! And Lace…. deserves to be happy. Whatever, the joke fell apart. They’re cute, they deserve to be happy, roll credits.’

'... How many lings in this room are liars, merely pretending to be happy? I let my guard down once, and because of that, Lace got captured and Oest died.'

“Hey Cricket?” I whispered.

“My King?” She whispered back.

“... How many Fourth Hive spies do you think are in the Fifth Hive?”

“My King?” She asked, confused.

“The war against the Fourth Hive proper should begin soon. How many traitors are in this room? Beyond?”

Cricket was silent. She looked around the room, trying to hide her worry.

“My King, I don’t know how to answer that. The Infiltrators were in Canterlot, and a few were bound to have been captured. Unless they come forward willingly, I don’t think we could ever possibly find them.”

“But how many are in the Fifth Hive?”

“.... A dozen? Less? It’s impossible to say, My King.”

I swallowed, “Should I be worried?”

Cricket shook her head, “Even if they had contact with the Fourth Hive, which is completely cut off, you’ve proven to be worthy of the title of King.”

That didn’t add up.

“They’re loyal to Chrysalis, though,” I pointed out.

“Technically they’re loyal to the Pontiff, which is a title that can’t be usurped.”

“Which is something I’m trying to do, right?”

Cricket cringed, “Sorta? It’s complicated, Your Majesty. On paper, Chrysalis is and always will be Pontiff. However, given your accomplishments and the success of the Fifth Hive, it can be easily argued that Panar has clearly chosen you to lead us, and therefore you are the Pontiff.”

I snorted, “And will the Infiltrators believe that?”

Cricket shrugged, “Who knows?”

I sighed, “In any case, thanks for the insight.”

“I’m at your service, My King.”

“Suppose I’ll have to figure out vacations for all of you guys as well, huh?” I said, my voice returning to normal speaking levels.

“You’re already giving us four weeks of vacation days a year, Your Majesty,” Cricket replied.

“And will any of you actually use them?”

“Of course not, My King.”

Author's Note

I have a Ko-Fi if you want to support me.

136- Garmr

Luna stepped off the platform as I triple checked her disguise. It was ramshackle, didn’t quite fit, and still made her out to be a giant of a pony.

But it would have to do.

Her disguise, a pegasus with a grey coat and blue mane as per her own suggestion, was created using a disguise spell that was apparently stolen from pony society ages ago. Coxa had provided it, having read it in one of the books he had a chance to skim over before we left the Fourth Hive for an invasion. His memory was clearly far from perfect, as I could tell the disguise was breaking in countless places.

The spell had nevertheless piqued the ponies’ interest, and he had been swamped for the next hour explaining the spell.

Luna did a slow circle, taking in every sight she could. The city ahead of us dominated the horizon, but there were dozens of ponies walking around us, in the air, or otherwise filling the city. Her circle stopped when she caught me staring at her.

“See something you like?” Luna asked in a sing-song tone.

“A bunch I don't like, too.”

Her expression hardened, “How bad is it?”

“It won’t hold up to any scrutiny, and you can forget about using it tonight.”

Luna huffed, “Damn. Summon the carriage let us figure out what our plan is, in that case.”

“Already on its way. I called for one when the train came to a halt.”

I had basically yelled over the Weave that Luna and I arrived that we were here for the day.

“And tonight?” Luna asked.

She wanted to visit Last Chance, the Speakeasy we owned here in Manehattan.

“You’ll have to go without a disguise.”

“I can’t do that!” She whispered. “The political ramifications would be unfathomable. Unfathomable, Expected Value, unfathomable!”

I was disguised as my favorite pony-sona, of course. It would rather defeat the point of us going unnoticed if I was out and about, especially with a strange mare in my arms… forelegs?

A carriage arrived, stopping in front of us without a single word. The puller, a blue earth pony, nodded to me once. I opened the door for Luna, and shut it behind me when I entered. After we got situated, I told the driver to send us to the Manehattan headquarters of the Hive.

“So?” Luna asked.

“So fuck the consequences.”

“Phasma, you know that things are fragile right now.”

“So being seen partying with changelings is bad press?”

“Being seen breaking laws is.”

“Pssh, what law are you breaking?”

“The Prohibition on alcohol?”

“You’re not selling or transporting it,” I said, shaking my head. “There’s no law against being a customer. In fact, you’ll be helping our species’ relationship by showing cooperation and a lack of fear.”

“That is not how many ponies will see it,” Luna sighed.

“They’ll see what they want to see. A few might think poorly of this, but the majority of ponies that give you any backlash will have done so regardless.”

“.... Perhaps you are right. I do not fully believe you, however. This is something you do not have experience with.”

“Look Luna, it’s our vacation. Do you really want to spend it worrying about what others might think about us?”

That got her thinking.

“We don’t have to decide just yet, just… think about how excited you were.”

Luna sighed heavily, “This also means that we will not be able to see many of the city’s sights.”

“Will it?”

“Yes? How am I able to relax with ponies showering me with questions, affection, hatred, or otherwise attention?”

“If you never make a public appearance, how will the public see you? If they see you interacting with the city and other ponies like a normal person, isn’t that for the best?”

“As a public relations stunt, most assuredly.”

“It’s either that or we forgo most of the city entirely.”

“... We will try it your way. But! If I am not satisfied, we cut the tour off.”

“That’s perfectly fine,” I said. “You won’t regret it.”

“Do not make promises you can not keep, King Phasma.”

I leaned over and get her a peck on the bridge of her nose.

“It’ll be fine, Luna. Worst case scenario, we make the club invite-only. There’s plenty of regulars who would be vetted by the changelings there, so you’ll still have ponies partying in the club if you want the authentic experience.”

Luna nodded slowly, “That is… acceptable. Thank you, Phasma.”

When we arrived at the office building the Fifth Hive used as our headquarters, Thorax and Double Diamond were there, waiting for us.

“Hiya Expected Value!” Thorax waved when I stepped out.

“Hey there…. you.”

“You forgot my name, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Of course you did.”

I rolled my eyes as I helped Luna out of the carriage, “Let’s just take this inside, Thorax.”

“You’d make a terrible infiltrator,” he said before smiling at Luna. “Good afternoon…?”

“My cover name was supposed to be Star Shine, but that faux face is already falling apart,” Luna complained.

“Star Shine! That sounds like a lovely name,” Double Diamond said.

“Double Diamond, may I introduce Luna, Luna, Double Diamond,” I quickly explained, motioning everyone inside. “Come on, this place is undisclosed, and I want to keep it that way for now.”

As they all were ushered into the lobby, I directed them towards the elevators in the back.

“Oh! Princess Luna!” Diamond gasp. “It’s an honor to meet you, Your Majesty!”

Luna smiled, “Thank you, Double Diamond. Ugh, what is this thing, Phasma?” She asked when the elevator we all stuffed into started moving.

“An elevator. It goes up and down quickly. Are there none in the palace?”

“Ah. Indeed there are, but I have not used one. They are mostly for the staff to quickly move things between floors. I have seen one used a few times.”

“Don’t worry Your Majesty, they are perfectly safe,” Double Diamond reassured her. “In fact, my great-grandfather invented them!”

“Is that so?” Luna asked. I could tell that she was sorta faking the interest, and Thorax probably could tell, too.

“Alright, we should re-plan our afternoon,” I announced, moving the conversation along.

We stepped out of the elevators and onto the top floor of the office building. I directed us to the meeting room.

“Something wrong?” Thorax asked.

“Luna’s disguise is already falling apart. Coxa’s disguise spell is a long ways away from working properly.”

“Hmm, I see.”

When we arrived, we took pairs of seats opposite each other.

“So, what shall be our destinations this evening?” Luna asked.

It was decided that we would hit two museums, Central Park, and end the day at Last Chance. Luna was initially hesitant against going anywhere public undisguised, but when we actually arrived, she quickly got past her fears and worries.

The first museum, some art one, was a bust. Luna waved to the ponies that started to crowd around us, but the ponies didn’t take the hint that we wanted to see the art and sculptures in the museum. Not that it mattered much anyways, it turned out that Luna didn’t care for the stuff anyways, and I would have been bored most days I would have visited.

The park was marginally better, but not by much. None of us four could enjoy the park with the crowd that we never could quite shake, and there was only so much walking-in-nature one could tolerate.

I had done enough of that back in Hooferville, anyways. Luna was glad for the chance though, likely to do with the fact that there aren’t any trees on the moon. However, it was safe to say all of our moods were quite subdued by the time we reached our third destination.

When we were in the Equestrian Museum of Natural History, a location I had visited once before, Luna and the rest of us found ourselves having more and more fun. We had acquired a tour guide and a substantial entourage, and Luna was enjoying the company of both. As the tour guide brought us from exhibit to exhibit, Luna herself would remark on quite a few of them. The pair of swords from Griffonia, for example, were called inadequate by Luna. Apparently that pair of swords were shoddily made, and were considered sub-par. The ponies listened to every word of hers as if it was gospel.

This was my first public appearance, too. Ponies were… less enthused about that. Many had given fearful glances my way, and hatred lurked in a few of their stares. However, I stuck close to Luna, never leaving her side. Using her as a good public relations pony-shield seemed to help the issue considerably. I also kept the worst of the ponies at bay; the journalists and nay-sayers that most certainly would have heckled Luna and harassed her instead kept to the fray of the crowd, intimidated by the Dread Prince’s presence. The fact that they were significantly outnumbered helped quite a bit. Our visit wasn’t exactly advertised, so there were only a hooffull of ponies working for newspapers in the entire building, and that was only due to a new exhibit opening up this weekend.

There were a few ponies brave enough to ask Luna questions. Thankfully, those questions were restricted to the past, as there were a few historians in the crowd brave enough to ask the Princess directly about events she either commented on or was generally present for.

Any excuse for Luna to regale her tales and rise further into the elated mood that was growing was a welcome one.

“Oh, I remember this trash,” Luna muttered when the tour guide showed us an exhibit from Yakistan.

It was a gold necklace with a single, massive ruby at its front.

“This is from a princess that had a particular penchant for sidetracking conversations into pointless dithering. Princess… Gruntwig?”

“Prince Gruntwig,” the tour guide bravely corrected.

“Ha! I remember now, thank you! Prince Gruntwig was fine enough, but his significant other left much to be desired. The business conducted with the Prince was of paramount importance between our people, yet the female yak was more focused on sampling our cuisine than anything else!”

Overall, the experience acclimated the public to us, and our relationship, quite a bit. We were all worried that it would have been a disaster, but the worst thing that had happened was when Thorax and Diamond had been separated off by the crowd, and approached by a few ponies with a lot of rude things to say.

Thorax and I were undisguised, of course, so he was a rather easy target to pick out. Double Diamond had leapt to his coltfriend’s defense before I could do so much as twitch an eyebrow angrily, so the situation was more or less resolved peacefully and without my interference. Thorax was put out a bit, but a few of the pony bystanders offered their sympathies and actually cheered him up.

Manehattan was a ways away from the areas affected the most by the invasion, so while there were plenty of ponies that despised changelings, there were just as many, if not more, that were willing to give us a chance.

‘Thank Panar for that. This peace wouldn’t have been possible, otherwise.’

Honestly, I had zoned out too frequently to make proper note of what was going on. All that happened this day so far was of little interest to me. What I really wanted was to enjoy my evening with Luna at Last Chance. Dancing, good, unhealthy food, great music, the whole deal. Listening to music was a luxury that I didn’t expect to miss, but without smartphones or anything like it, the opportunity to listen to songs I actually liked was exceedingly rare. Going to a museum was fun and all, and I would love to go to more with Luna, but it wasn’t the kind of fun I was looking for at the moment.

Though I did make note to talk about the pony’s disposition to changelings with Luna and Celestia. The questions aimed at Luna and the overall warm welcome us changelings had was a huge step in the right direction. Even if it meant nothing in the grand scheme of things, it certainly improved our moods, despite the hiccup with Thorax. We left the museum behind, finally shaking the crowd when we used a carriage to make a hasty retreat.

“Now what?” Luna asked, still beaming from the positive attention.

‘At least she’s getting support from the crowds, despite whatever’s going on in Canterlot.’

“Last Chance,” I said.

Thorax wrapped a foreleg around Diamond’s withers, “Oh, I can’t wait! In the morning, we’re going on a vacation! I’ve never been on a vacation before!”

“I too look forward to this,” Luna beamed.

After about half an hour, the carriage came to a final stop and the puller signaled that we were here.

The door was opened by a pair of changelings, disguised as unicorns. Since I was the closest to the door, I was the first to get out. I had to disguise myself as a unicorn during the ride in order to fit into the carriage, as my normal changeling self would have taken up more than a quarter of the small carriage.

I channeled energy into the Thread of Change, and let the disguise burn away. Taking a moment to stretch, I got a good look at the ponies on the street and sidewalks gawking at my sudden appearance.

The rest of the group filtered out behind me, and I ushered them into the club. The two bouncers, disguised changelings, bowed to me and held the door open for us. There was a pair of ponies in front of the guards, and they had become quite confused when the bouncer they were trying to convince to let them in suddenly bowed and opened the door. When they turned around, they were even more shocked to find myself and Luna approaching fast. They quickly moved to the side, jaws wide.

I had to duck to fit into the doorway, but the hall beyond was tall enough for me to only have to angle my head awkwardly in order to fit.

The sound of muffled music grew louder as we passed the coat check desk.

“I dare say I have never heard music like this before,” Luna muttered quietly.

Sure enough, the club was packed with ponies and changelings– still disguised. The atmosphere in the building was positively charged with emotions. Nothing quite as potent as love, but carefree happiness was good enough on its own.

When we entered the club proper, changelings and ponies alike stopped their conversations, dancing, and drinking and eating to gape at the royalty who just walked into the almost-illegal city nightclub.

“Round of drinks on the house,” I announced, nodding to the bartender– a pony, as it happened.

That broke the ice. Ponies cheered, and changelings followed their example, moreso to appear normal than anything else.

The four of us made our way to the private booth that the Hive’s upper echelon had used to celebrate prior to the Gala. The colt-couple sat down next to each other and started discussing what to order for dinner, while Luna collapsed into a seat next to me. I watched a few ponies get up and leave the club as Luna used me as a glorified body pillow. The ponies trailed disgust and hatred in their wake.

‘Good riddance, and don’t let the door hit ‘ya on the way out.’

With the few bad eggs voluntarily weeded out, I felt a lot better about the night’s prospects.

“I do not recognize half of these dishes,” Luna remarked.

I looked down and saw her holding up a menu while leaning back against my chest. The position offered me a perfect view of the menu, too.

“I’ve heard of a few of these, but I’ve never been much of a fan of… food.”

Luna chuckled, “Even before becoming a changeling?”

“Yeah, suddenly not really needing to worry about physical food was a welcome change. The starvation that comes with being a changeling was a different matter.”

“You have been eating well, no?” Luna asked, patting my thigh.

“The entire Hive has. But enough about that, what catches your eye here?”

“What is that?” Luna pointed to one of the dishes.

“A hayburger? I’d imagine that’s a burger, but made with hay.”

“Yes, I recall Twilight mentioning the foodstuff in one of our nightly conversations. What is it?”

I shrugged, jostling Luna slightly with the motion.

“It’s a sandwich, with a… hay patty, I guess? Then a bunch of other stuff is thrown on top. This one has lettuce and tomato, with a few extra options.”

“Hmm…”

I grinned, “It’s a far cry from the palace’s food, that’s for sure.”

“What should I expect?”

“Greasy, unhealthy, and amazing taste.”

“I would not have it any other way! What shall you have?”

“I’ll fill up on hay fries.”

“Those are listed as a side dish,” she pointed out.

“I’ve eaten enough to probably survive half of a year, Luna. I don’t actually need more love, let alone physical food.”

“Yet you still eat. I shall order two of these burgers, and you will have one of them.”

“Sounds good.”

Luna shifted so that she could look out over the club, and seemed particularly interested in the band and the dancers. Several ponies and changelings were unsubtly looking up at us, no doubt gossiping to each other. Meanwhile, I stole a glance at Thorax and Double Diamond.

Thorax was leaning back, balancing his chair on two legs, while Diamond was giving their order to a changeling waitress. When he was done, the waitress came and took our order.

I made sure to get a few extra helpings of fries.

“I think I enjoy this music,” Luna said, head bobbing to the beat. “If they played new music such as this at the Gala each year, I am certain it would be a lot livelier.”

“You had the Gala before the rebellion?” I asked.

“Indeed. Though it was held far less often; once every three or four years or so. There were a great deal less reasons to hold it back then. No need to corale or curtail the nobles when you hold absolute power. Feh! Celestia letting go of the reins is something we will all come to regret soon enough.”

“How about stuff like this? Have you ever been anywhere like this?”

“Oh yes, dozens of times. Sadly, dozens of times spread throughout such a long lifetime is not many at all. Further, the taverns Celestia and I, or later, just myself and a trusted guard or two, visited were a lot less…. Equestrian. Ponies tend to stick to a more orderly type of tavern. It is only when you visit the crude imitation of a tavern that the dragons use, or the hot-blooded griffon taverns that frequently host fights that you really start seeing people loosen up. This feels like a new take on the idea of an Equestrian tavern; a bunch of ponies getting drunk, dancing, and otherwise making fools of themselves, yet maintaining law and order. It is a most welcome development. The band is certainly much better than the odd performer or two most taverns were able to afford.”

“You know, I’ve never been to a tavern,” I admitted. “There’s only bars, clubs, and restaurants like this on Earth. I mean, there are taverns, they’re just a lot rarer where I’m from. So the only experience I have with them was in Dungeons and Dragons.”

“Dungeons and Dragons?” Luna repeated. “That sounds like a heart-racing afternoon, regardless of which direction it goes.”

“N–not like that!” I stammered. “Quite the opposite, honestly. It’s mostly a bunch of guys and girls sitting in a basement, roleplaying as an adventuring party. Half of the time you’re having a blast, and the other half of the time, you’re waiting for your friends to struggle to do basic math or think out their decisions in combat.”

“Is it fun?”

“Hell yeah!”

“Then perhaps we should try it at some point.”

I nodded, liking the idea, “I can get my friends in on it. Is there anyone you’re interested in playing with?”

Luna sighed, “There are few friendly faces inside Canterlot. Perhaps Cadence and Captain Shining Armor?”

“Hmm. Maybe we’d need to run two separate games if we do that. We’ll see. I doubt either of those ponies will enjoy the game, though. Shining Armor doesn’t strike me as the type to sit down and play board games.”

“You have not met him properly, then.”

“Hey Phas! Luna!” Thorax called out. “We’ve got some time until the food is made, you two wanna hit the dance floor with us?”

“I’ve been waiting since the Gala!” I cheered.

“This seems like a far less organized form of dancing,” Luna muttered as I began to sit up, forcing her to give up her incredibly-handsome body pillow.

“It is. You’ll like it…. Probably. If you don’t, we can always spend the rest of the night up here, talking, enjoying the food, and annoying Thorax.”

There was someone waiting at the meeting site.

This was new.

Every day they checked the secluded cafe in Canterlot’s Lower District, there were only ponies there. Every time they had checked their own meeting site in Manehattan, as far away as that was from the invasion’s crown jewel, there was never anyone else of importance there. That was expected. At this point, having no Contact had become the regular status quo. Though the agent had once met another Infiltrator there, there was never an unrecognized changeling.

Yet now there was finally someone waiting for them. Someone from the Fourth Hive, unmistakably.

The mud-brown earth pony flicked an ear at their approach. The Contact had a menu up, looking lazily at its contents.

“You’re late,” he said.

“You’re not supposed to be here,” the Infiltrator muttered back, taking a seat and picking up another menu.

“Yet here I am, and here you are. Report.”

The Infiltrator cast a careful glance around, disguising it by signaling over a waitress.

“Here? Now?” They said after both ordered a cup of coffee.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

The Contact glared, “It is not your position to ask why.”

The agent cleared their throat, “Last I checked, the boss was on vacation. We’ve been working on our projects alone for a while now.”

“Last I checked, the boss is still the one who signs your paycheck.”

The Infiltrator scoffed, “Not anymore.”

“That’s not how it works. Do I need to take this to HR?”

“You can take it to whomever you want.”

“You know there will be repercussions for this, correct? We might have to let you go.”

The Infiltrator snorted, “I’d like to see you try. The Vice President organized a union for us. We’re all watching each other’s backs now, and we’re much happier than we were under the boss’s micromanagement. You can’t scare me.”

The Contact stiffened, “The Vice President? That isn’t possible.”

“Why not?”

“Because he’s dead.”

At that, the Infiltrator actually burst into laughter.

“Oh– haha ha ha haahahaha! You! You! You really think– bahahahahaaa! Oh that is good!”

The Contact shrunk a little, “Ponies are watching,” he reminded the Infiltrator quietly.

“I’m sorry for laughing at such a funny joke!” The Infiltrator chimed back. “The Vice President is in town, in perfect health. Has been for some time. Do you live under a rock or something?”

“.... In a way.”

This time it was the Infiltrator’s turn to stiffen.

“You’re serious?”

The Contact recomposed himself, “You will report to the President directly. They will want to know this. They need to know this. You’re coming with me.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” the Infiltrator said smugly. “I’m busy enough as it is, this is certainly no time for a vacation.”

“Remember your contract. You don’t get to choose what you do.”

“No, I don’t,” the Infiltrator admitted. “But the Vice President has proven quite capable. In fact, he’s nominated himself to become the new boss. There’s no pushback.”

“That changes nothing,” the Contact snapped, keeping his voice low.

“It changes everything,” the Infiltrator grinned. “It’s become quite clear just who the stockholders favor.”

“What do you mean?”

“Profit.”

“Profit?”

“Out in the open, unrealized profit. Moreso than the President could have ever gotten. Plans for division branches in every city. Expansion beyond Equestria’s borders, all the way to Griffonia. Where is the President Now? What’s she doing? How’s all the workers? I doubt any of them can come close to how well we’re doing.”

The waitress arrived with their drinks. The Infiltrator received theirs with a wide smile, and the Contact stewed quietly in his seat. He cheered up slightly when he received the pleasant extravagant drink. The Infiltrator laughed to themself at the sight.

“You two make such a sweet couple!” The Waitress cooed.

“Oh, we’re just coworkers,” the Infiltrator explained.

“Oh, excuse me,” the waitress blushed.

“You’re fine,” the Contact waved her off.

After the pony departed, the conversation resumed.

“This makes the report all the more important. You need to tell this to the President in person.”

“I’m going nowhere, and certainly not with you.”

“Remember why you took this contract. You know what’s at stake, what can happen if this information isn’t relayed properly. I should also warn you of the consequences of being delinquent.”

“I’m too important to go on vacation all the way out there, as I’ve said before. My absence would be noted immediately.”

“You won’t be gone for more than a single day.”

“I won’t be… What? How?” The Infiltrator demanded, struggling to keep quiet. “You’re not exactly a unicorn that can teleport us.”

“Don’t need to. If you have any sense of credibility left, if you have any respect for the contract you signed and the importance of your work, you’re going to come with me and we’re going to report all of this to the boss directly.”

As much as the Infiltrator hated to admit it, the Contact was right. There were a lot of lives that would be affected by this information. In fact, keeping silent would only make things worse, as Infiltrators can disappear at a moment’s notice. They watched each other’s backs, but they were also the first ones to thrust a knife into said back if the moment called for it. There were a substantial number of Infiltrators that she couldn’t account for, and were likely subsumed back into the Legions under Chrysalis’s control. Keeping her guard up at all times was pointless.

If she wanted any control over the situation, she would have to take things into her own hooves.

“Fine,” Cricket said. “Take me to her.”

Author's Note

I have a Ko-Fi if you want to support me.

137- Bes

People had to make room for us on the dance floor. They did so naturally; stepping back to watch two royals make fools of themselves was the natural response, and that gave us more than enough elbow room to not step on anyone.

We did indeed make fools of ourselves, with Luna being overly stiff and unsure of the unstructured dance moves she was doing, and myself being overly nervous and unsure of the alien dance moves I was trying to do. It was a far cry from the dance lessons I had received briefly before the Gala.

Still, I had fun. Even if I was extremely embarrassed, I got to actually dance with Luna. No disguises, no ulterior motives, and most certainly no Nightmares glaring at us from across the room. Instead, there were just drones and ponies, giggling at our awkwardness, but polite enough to get on with their own dances and make us feel less alienated. Also, many of the drones were less than great dancers, given that they were just as unfamiliar with pony customs as us two.

Thorax and Diamond were great dancers. Somehow.

Luna and I got close to each other when the current song ended, and another took its place. Stealing some moves from the people around us, we started dancing fur-against-chitin. Had it been a more formal dance, we would have been up on our hindlegs, holding each other closely.

‘We can try that out later. Maybe in private…’

“Thank you,” Luna said suddenly, having to whisper it into my ear for me to hear it.

“For what?”

“For planning this day. It has been a long, long time since I interacted with my ponies outside of a throne room. I had forgotten just how fun it is!”

“Heh, thanks for… everything,” I said.

“Everything? That’s a lot to take credit for.”

“Well, you–”

“No, no. I shall take credit for everything,” Luna winked.

I chuckled quietly, “Oh magnanimous Princess Luna, how can I ever repay you?”

Luna looked deep in thought for a second, slowing her dancing to think.

“I do not have a witty retort for that. Pretend I said something clever.”

I laughed, and we finished our dance together.

We returned to our table, while Thorax and Diamond were still on the dance floor. Luna and I simply talked about musical instruments, which were new and which Luna recognized, while we waited on our food.

As if guided by a sixth sense, my friends returned just as the greasily, delicious fast food arrived. Judging by Luna’s facial expressions and emotions, the palace staff would be learning how to use a deep fryer when we got back, if they did not already know how to use one.

We got a good look at our vacation spot from the air; Shimmervale was nestled at the roots of the Crystal Mountain Range, where the mountains gave way to the plains that formed the space between them and the Celestial Sea to the east. To the south, Manehattan was only just visible on the horizon. To the north, the mountains held a more temperate valley, famous for its rainbow waterfalls. Beyond that, there was nothing. Similarly, to the Northwest, there was nothing but snow.

The Frozen North once held an entire Empire, Luna claimed. Now, it hosts nothing but wind.

Shimmervale was a large tourist town, having initially boomed on its mining industry, and lately expanding heavily into tourism based on skiing and other mountainous activities. Resorts had sprung up around the river that cut through the town like wild flowers. The alpine-style lodgings had begun to dominate the low bases of the nearby mountains, overlooking the growing town. A light spattering of snow crested the roofs of the town, but the sky was clear and skiing season was only just beginning.

It wasn’t even Halloween yet. Or, as the ponies call it, Nightmare Night. That was next week, and apparently Luna had been invited out to Ponyville to attend it. I was taking the opportunity to finish up some important work in Manehattan, but that was neither here nor there.

The sky chariot that carried us four began to descend to the largest of all these resorts; the Riverrun Resort.

‘Ponies sure do love their alliteration.’

There was hardly much that distinguished it from its neighbors; merely its size and fantastic location made it the crown jewel of Shimmervale's growing tourist industry. While there was only a hooffull of resorts on this side of the town, I knew that in time, there would be dozens. As long as there was reasonable space, there would be ponies willing to pay to develop the place.

“Lightbulb,” I muttered, receiving a few confused glances from the other three. “I think I know of another way to invest our bits,” I explained.

“Of course,” Thorax sighed, rolling his eyes. “You know, I think we’re reaching the limits of what we can spend, Phas, especially with how many bits you’re pouring onto Double Diamond’s parents. Throw that on top of the new pay system, and I think you’re going to overstretch the budget.”

“You do realize that we’re monopolizing an entire industry in the world’s biggest nation, right Thorax? Soon enough, our Hive is going to be an investment hedge fund that has pockets deep enough to rival entire governments. Which is good, ‘cuz that’s what we are.”

“I will never understand how you can stomach all that talk of investments this and profit that,” Luna bemoaned. “It is far too convoluted and dry to be worth spending any more thought than what is necessary on it. I swear, at times I fear that I have involved myself with a ledger, rather than a stallion.”

“You missed your chance to disentangle yourself from me, Luna,” I said, kissing her forehead. “You’re dating a calculator, I’m afraid to say.”

“I do not even know what that is!”

“It’s something that’s going to make the Diamonds and the Hive very rich, once we finish working out solar power and the core of the device. We’re probably going to have to settle with batteries though, which already exist in a crude form. It will have to be enough… The calculating part of it is another beast entirely, and they've been trying to figure out a enchantment-system that can handle simple calculations. I'm sure we'll reach a breakthrough soon, though.”

“Do you know what he’s talking about?” Thorax whispered to Double Diamond.

He shrugged, “Sorta?”

The carriage finished its descent, landing on the strip of road in front of the resort.

A pair of servants opened the carriage’s doors, bowing as they pulled them open. Thorax and Diamond stepped out first, followed by Luna and then myself. Given the sudden interest spiked with fear from the ponies around us, it was quite clear that this was their first encounter with changelings, much like many of the ponies in Manehattan.

“Your Majesties, right this way,” a pegasus in a red bellhop’s uniform said, emerging from the doors. A few more ponies in similar suits rushed out to grab our bags from the carriage. Nodding, Luna walked forward, and the rest of us followed in her wake.

The lobby of the lodge was just as impressive as the rest of it; one massive pine tree dominated the lobby, with a wall of windows behind it overlooking where the ski runs ended at the lodge’s base. The tree’s branches were weighed down with oversized Christmas ornaments, or, as the natives would call it, Hearth’s Warming ornaments.

Given that it was late October, I was slightly sick at the sight.

The staff guided us to an elevator, which we rode to the top floor. The top floor had noticeably few doorways; only four in the entire hall. The bellhop opened one of the doors, holding it for us as we entered our room.

“This is homely,” Luna said as we took in the room.

True enough, it was a far cry from the borderline-gaudy lobby, instead going for a more modern homely appearance. The front area was split into three parts: a massive kitchen, a large dining area, and a huge, two story family room that stretched up to the vaulted ceilings. Warm colors, wide windows, and large sofas, and a moderate sized fireplace took up the majority of the living room, reminding me of a well-off home from Earth.

“A far cry from the Castle or any of Canterlot’s bigger mansions,” I agreed.

“This place is great!” Thorax cheered, sauntering forward to check the fluffiness of the couch’s pillows.

I snorted when he simply face-planted onto the couch.

“Thank you,” I said to the bellhop, giving him a tip. He smiled, nodded, and excused himself from the room.

Luna, oblivious to the modern tipping culture, eyed me curiously as she sat on the far side of the living room.

“This is nostalgic to you?” She guessed.

“How did–”

“I do not need to sense emotions to read a face, Phasma,” Luna remarked.

I sighed, walking over to join her on the couch. Thorax sat up, while Diamond checked out the kitchen, an ear perked in our direction.

“It looks straight out of Earth. I never knew how much I missed squares! Seriously, you ponies seem to abhor straight lines.”

Luna nodded and cast a look around the room, “It certainly seems far too orderly to be truly Equestrian.”

“It’s okay Luna, you can admit that Equestrians are horrible interior designers,” I said.

“The kitchen looks good,” Diamond announced. “Like, really good. I’ll go check out upstairs, you guys finish looking over the first floor.”

“There’s an upstairs?” Thorax asked. “Wait for me!”

Thorax leapt off of the couch and cantered after Double Diamond, who was climbing a large staircase that I had missed at first glance. Dragging Luna by the hoof, I led the way as we finished looking over the first floor. There was a spare bedroom and two bathrooms, as well as the master bedroom. That last room in particular was a welcome sight; a royal-sized bed, a smaller fireplace, a grand master bathroom with a tub big enough for both of us to sit in, which was saying something considering I was over twice the size of a normal changeling, and an amazing view of the mountains.

We returned to the main room to find that our bags had been brought up. Well, Luna’s and Double Diamond’s bags. Thorax and I sorta lacked a lot of stuff, and we each had a single small bag. Actually, Thorax had a large bag, as he actually had some winter gear.

“We need to go shopping,” Luna said.

“We do?”

“If we are to ski, I believe there is equipment required, correct?”

I nodded, “Ah, yes. We’ll need skis, boots, poles… winter clothing.”

Luna grinned, “This will be fun! I have never skied, so this is a first for me.”

“Do we have some sort of… itinerary?” I asked.

“We’ll gear you guys up,” Double Diamond said, prompting Luna and I to look up. He was leaning over a railing above us on the second floor. “Then, this afternoon, you two are going to learn how to ski!”

Thorax appeared next to Diamond, and waved at us. “I’ve still got my gear from Manehattan! It fits pretty well. I don’t think your stuff is going to fit, Phasma…”

“I know, that stuff was sized for Expected Value. What did you two find up there?” I asked.

“Three bedrooms,” Diamond announced. “I think we’ve got more beds than we know what to do with.”

“This lodging has the largest master bedroom, which is something Phasma and I require,” Luna explained. “There is also the fact that we are previewing this room in order to make sure we will be satisfied come Hearth’s Warming. Also, there should be a secondary master up there, correct? I was sure to specify that requirement.”

“That would explain it, yeah I think there’s a big bedroom up here,” Diamond said.

“Excellent. Celestia will be taking that room, then.”

“Not us?” I asked. “I figured Celestia would try to take the master–”

“She will make do with the secondary,” Luna dismissed the idea.

“Heh, works for me. So a room for us two, Thorax and Double Diamond, Cadence and Shining Armor, Celestia, and one bedroom left for Coxa and Lace. Heh, everyone’s a couple except Celestia. We probably shouldn’t mention that fact to her. More importantly, where the hell are the Elements going to stay if they come?” I wondered. “Are there pullouts in the couches?”

“Are there what-nows?” Luna echoed. “Phasma, if we are short on bedrooms, we will rent more.”

I blinked, “.... We can do that?”

Luna nodded, “It will be costly, but so long as we do it soon, we can find availability, not to mention the fact that money is not an issue for either of us. Still, you have no idea how much of a headache getting this room was on such short notice.”

“I thought Celestia would have been the one to get this place.”

“You seem to be guessing incorrectly a lot today,” she teased.

“.... Yeah now I don’t believe you,” I said, shaking my head.

Luna huffed, “Okay, Celestia was the one to acquire this room. But!”

“But?”

“.... I took credit for everything, remember?”

I rolled my eyes.

We went shopping.

It went… poorly.

Luna and I were on the main room’s massive couch, while Thorax and Diamond were suiting up to head out.

“I don’t know what I expected,” I muttered.

Luna patted me on the back.

“To be fair, every single one of us forgot that stores do not carry alicorn-sized boots or skis.”

“Sorry again,” Diamond called out.

“Not your fault,” I said quietly.

“It’s a good thing you can disguise yourself and use that set that does fit,” Thorax said.

“It’s not the same,” I moped. “I was looking forward to skiing undisguised. Well, it’s a slight problem in our plan. I’ll just have to make sure to get a properly sized set of boots and skis before Hearth’s Warming.”

“Alright,” Diamond said. “We’re set. I’m going to take Thorax out, and teach him how to ski. Then I’ll come for you two, okay? It’s easier if I can guide you one at a time.”

“That sounds wonderful. Thank you for this, Double Diamond,” Luna said.

Diamond blushed, “Aw, it’s nothing, Princess! Thanks for paying for this great room! Dad was right, you really gotta get rich friends…”

“Are you saying we are friends?” Luna asked.

“Oh! I, errr, yes? That is, if you wish–”

“Huzzah! I have been back for less than a few months, and I have already made more friends than that old nag has in decades! Eat my shit, Celestia!”

I leaned over, “You just say ‘eat shit.’”

“Eat shit, Celestia!”

“Perfect.”

“... You’re a bad influence, Phas,” Thorax shook his head. “And you overloaded my colfriend!” Thorax started dragging Double Diamond out. “We’ll see you in like an hour or two.”

The door shut behind them.

“... What the hell are we going to do for a whole hour?” I wondered out loud. “I should’a brought some work with me, I could have used this time to work on drafting the constitution!”

“Excuse me? Have you already forgotten that this is a vacation, Phasma?”

“Well what the hell are we going to do, then?” I repeated myself.

Luna leveled a stare at me.

‘I’m not a workaholic, I swear! I just find statecraft to be fun….. for now! I’m sure the honeymoon phase will end sooner rather than later, and this will all become burdens.’

Suddenly, Luna put on a mischievous look, “You know, one hobby I tried my hoof at was being a masseuse.”

“A…. masseuse?”

She shrugged, “I thought it would acclimate stallions to me more, allowing for more personal relationships. It did not really work. In fact, it had the opposite effect more often than not.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that, Luna…”

Luna shook her head, “That time was not wasted if my skills can bring you any comfort.”

“Uhh…..”

She rose and led me by the hoof to the master bedroom. I stopped before we got halfway there.

“Wait, I probably need to disguise first. I can’t imagine massages working on chitin.”

She paused and waved at me to go ahead.

After disguising myself as Expected Value the unicorn, I decided to point out the obvious.

“You know, I’m pretty sure it’s supposed to be the coltfriend who gives the massage…”

Luna guffawed, “Hahahaha! With those massive hooves?! We would have gone extinct had that been a regular practice before copulation! I would think receiving a massage from a rockfall would be more relaxing. You are mixing your customs up with ours again, Phasma.”

I stared at one of my hooves, “They’re not that big.”

“It was a joke, Phasma. A joke. Mares pursued stallions traditionally, remember? That means we often had to learn such skills to court the ones we desire. But if those clumsy oafs paid attention and learned from us…” she trailed off.

“I’ve had hooves for twelve months, Luna, it’s a damned miracle I can gallop in a straight line. I don’t think I can easily learn a skill that requires such finesse.”

She gave me a smile that screamed ‘danger.’

“Then we might need to do this a few times,” she whispered.

Then, she teleported us above the bed, sick of my delaying tactics.

Author's Note

I have a Ko-Fi if you want to support me.

138- Penglai

“You know, I expected to be freezing my ass off,” Phasma said. “I don’t feel all that cold. Not that I’m warm or anything, I’m just completely naked in the snow on the side of a mountain. Dunno if my disguise is protecting me, or if changelings are fine with the cold.”

Luna watched with a smirk as the changeling struggled to turn around on his skis. It was like watching a newborn foal walk for the first time; he spaced his legs out wide, and was waddling around, lifting a single leg up at a time.

“What are you staring at?” He asked.

“Someone making a fool of himself,” she said.

He huffed, “It’s not fair. I’ve skied before, and you haven’t. You should be the one struggling, not me.”

Luna had taken to skiing like fish to water. While Phasma struggled to have any semblance of control, Luna had left Double Diamond behind as she continuously ran down the training hill, over and over again.

“She’s Princess Luna,” Double Diamond said, guiding Phasma with one of his own skis. “She’s learned quite a few skills, I imagine.”

Luna nodded, “Quite right. Learning new things is one of the best ways to pass the time, so I have learned how to learn, if you understand my meaning.”

Phasma cursed under his breath, “Still, ‘s not fair.”

“You’re doing great, Phas!” Thorax cheered, wobbling slightly as he pulled up next to the three of them.

Thorax was wearing a purple scarf, matching Diamond’s, but only Diamond had more gear on; his hat and mask set him apart from everypony else. Luna had a blue scarf on herself, but Phasma had nothing.

The look of consternation on Phasma’s face vanished, “Thanks, Thorax. But unlike you, I don’t think I’ll be riding on any double diamonds anytime soon…”

“Snrt!” Double Diamond stifled an outburst of laughter.

“Nice one,” Luna said in between silent laughs.

She had understood the double entendre, as she had asked about Double Diamond’s name and Cutie Mark much earlier. Thorax, it seemed, didn’t quite get it.

“What? What’s so funny?” Thorax obliviously asked.

“Nothing, nothing,” Phasma lied, failing to convince anypony.

Luna unclipped a hoof and stretched it out for a hoof bump. Taking the bait, Phasma undid one of his boot clips and reached out. Subtly, Luna pulled her hoof back, making Phasma lean into the gesture more, eventually tipping him off balance. By the time he realized Luna’s trick, he was already falling onto his side in the snow, unable to stop himself.

“Bastard!” He chuckled.

Double Diamond, now thoroughly red-faced, helped pull Phasma back up to his hooves.

“I think you’re all ready to actually try skiing,” Diamond said after composing himself. “Nothing crazy, there’s some beginner slopes up on the mountain. We’ll take a chair lift up, and take things slow.”

“I can barely do turns,” Phasma complained.

“You’re doing better than you’re giving yourself credit for,” Diamond said. “You’ve fallen down only three times, and that last one was Luna’s fault. You’re clearly remembering what skills you’ve already got, dude.”

Phasma smiled, “Oh alright, fine. Let’s hit the slopes.”

“Yeah!” Diamond cheered with sudden enthusiasm.

‘Must be some common colloquial phrase.’

The gang made their way over to the chairlifts. The tall, strange constructions were apparently the usual method of reaching the top of any skiing mountain in a reasonable timeframe. It was annoying to use the loud, rather dangerous-looking things than simply teleporting, but Luna wasn’t about to protest.

‘Only two of us can teleport. One and a half, really.’

Getting on the chairs was tricky; they had to take their skis off first, and carry them when they sat down onto the chairs coming up behind them.

“Oof!” Phasma grunted as the both of them quickly got themselves seated and secured. “This seems a whole lot less safe when you’ve got twice as many legs.”

With one final lurch, Phasma and Luna were off, the ground slowly falling away beneath them. Ahead, Thorax twisted in his seat and waved, which both Phasma and Luna returned, before Thorax returned his attention to his coltfriend who was sitting next to him.

“I swear, Thorax has to be aware of just how cute he acts,” Phasma said.

“One would be mistaken for thinking it to be a conscious effort,” Luna agreed.

“So, uh…. How are you, Luna?”

Luna returned a wave to a pair of ponies who stopped on the slopes to wave up at her.

“I am doing well. Very well, I think. I had wondered about how ponies would receive my return for quite some time now. Last night and today… I expected to be met with some measure of hostility, especially with the Nightmare Moon mythology sticking around. Thankfully, none of my fears have come to pass.”

Phasma nodded, “You know, even though some ponies are kinda intimidated by you, most are extremely happy to see you. I think you made more than a few ponies’ days.”

“Really?”

‘I would think that ponies would be honored to meet a Princess, but to make one’s day?’

“Oh yeah. Quite a few were very happy to meet a Princess in person. The foals loved you.”

Luna sighed contently, “They did indeed. I do not have to be an empath to see the grins on their faces when I tell them stories. Thank you for this opportunity, Phasma. I have had fun.”

“Anytime, Luna. I have had lots of fun too, though my back is still killing me…”

Luna cringed, “I will make it up to you. I did not mean to–”

He reached over and gripped her hoof reassuringly, “I know, Luna. I can’t remember what I had for lunch a week ago, let alone a skill I would have learned a thousand years ago. Besides, you remembered how to properly do it by the end.”

“Still, I should have realized–”

“Quiet!” Phasma whispered, his eyes darting around the mountainside.

“W–what?” Luna whispered back.

Around them, the snow-dusted pines sat silently off to one side, and a wide open run lay beneath and to their other side. Luna did not detect anything out of the ordinary.

“I… thought I heard something. Nevermind,” Phasma muttered. “Anyways, there’s always next time. Let’s just be glad you didn’t break a bone with your earth pony strength. We’re a long way away from a healing pod.”

“That would be a poor way to go about vacationing. So, have you any familiarity with this… contraption? Or do human skiers use some other method of reaching the top? Preferably, something quieter? Or warmer? Maybe even safer?”

“Heh, you’re shit outta luck Luna, chairlifts are here to stay. The only other method is a gondola lift, which is like this but enclosed. Those are rarer. You’ve got wings and the ability to teleport, what’re you afraid of?”

Luna leaned over the railing in front of them, watching their hindhooves dangle in the open air.

“Failing to extricate myself from this chair, should it fall. But yes, I suppose I can simply teleport. I will have to leave you behind, though.”

“Acceptable losses?”

“It will be a nice funeral,” Luna giggled.

“It better be. Alright, get ready. We’re about to get off.”

Getting off the chair was even more of a dilemma than getting on. Thankfully, the chair slowed down to the point where they could both easily get off, skis in tow.

“These things really come to a stop,” Phasma remarked. “I’m used to them still having some speed at the top. Thorax and Diamond are over there, let’s go,” he said, nodding to the pair of stallions who were putting their skis on by a large map.

The snow crunched underneath their boots as they marched over. When they arrived, they each placed their skis on the ground and started putting them on.

“Alright,” Diamond said, “we’re going to hit this hill here, ‘Snow Problem.’ It’s a beginner's run, so it should be nice and smooth.”

“You ponies and your damned puns,” Phasma rolled his eyes. “Though to be fair, I think we’d put punny names for stuff like this, too.”

‘Now that I think about it, does Double Diamond know that Phasma is reincarnated? Feh, not my problem.’

“Lead the way, Double Diamond,” Luna cheered.

“W–wait!” Phasma stuttered, head darting around like a bird’s. “I heard something again!”

“You heard something again?” Thorax repeated.

“I heard it first on the chairlift. Now I just heard it again, I knew I heard something!”

“What is it that you are hearing?” Luna asked.

“I… don’t know. It’s almost like an echo of some sort…. I want to get up to the top of this mountain. I seem to hear it better the further up we go.”

Luna sighed, “Very well then, what is the quickest way up, Double Diamond?”

Phasma answered that question by raising his wings out from underneath his elytra, and taking to the skies, leaving his skis behind.

“A straight line, apparently,” Diamond huffed.

Luna picked up the discarded equipment, “Gather close, I shall teleport us to the top.”

“Is that safe?” Thorax asked. “What if we try to teleport where someone is standing?”

“Unlike Phasma’s teleportation spell, mine checks the location first. I think the only reason why he was able to learn his without training was because it is so bare-bones and archaic. Now step close.”

They got close to Luna, and she gathered the mana to teleport to the mountain’s peak. Given that they were less than halfway up, it was going to be a rather long jump. Not so long as to warrant the long range version of the spell, but long enough for Luna to feel uncomfortable with the amount of mana used.

‘Nothing for it.’

In a blink of an eye, they appeared at the top. The view, previously only of the far horizon, now showed the entire valley, from Shimmervale down below, all the way to the Celestial Sea. The wind howled. The top was a small flat plateau, were some ponies had planted flags, but the closest lift ended a hundred hooves below them on the runs.

“Sure is louder up here!” Diamond pointed out. “How exactly is he planning on hearing anything any better? And where is Phasma, anyways?”

“We have beat him to the top,” Luna said. “As for what he plans on doing… I haven’t the faintest clue. It is unlike him to derail something he was looking forward to. I am getting very concerned for what is going on.”

“He might not have heard anything physically,” Thorax said slowly. “He might have… heard something on his Weave? I mean, did any of you hear anything?” Luna and Diamond shook their heads. “I didn’t hear anything, either. However, I did feel…. something from Phasma’s Weave. I wouldn’t have noticed it had he not pointed it out.”

The changeling king finally arrived, setting down next to them.

“Wait, how did you guys beat me up here?”

“We teleported, Phas,” Thorax deadpanned.

“Oh right, we can do that. I forgot.”

“Do you hear whatever this is any better now? The wind is quite louder up here than it is down where we got onto the mountain,” Luna said.

“I don’t know. We’ll see….. Princess Procho? Is that you?”

“Who’s Princess Procho?” Diamond whispered to Thorax.

“Phas’s dead sister. Died centuries ago, and Phas heard her a few times way back during the war, apparently. I wasn’t here for any of that, but he told me about it.”

“I can confirm this,” Luna whispered. “He has confided in me this fact.”

‘I don’t think it’s Procho,” Phasma said, disheartened. “It’s–”

He abruptly cut himself off, and snapped his head in a direction. Luna followed his gaze.

“I heard that, too,” Thorax muttered.

One of the nearby mountains, a tall, almost perfectly cone shaped mountain, was attached to its neighbors halfway up its base. Had it not been for its almost perfect mountain-shape, Luna would consider it featureless. It had the same pine forest reaching up much of its length, and snowy cliffs the rest of the way. Even with the shape, there was nothing particularly unusual about it.

Phasma pointed at it.

“There. It came from there.”

“What came from there?” Luna asked.

“I felt… an echo in my Weave.”

“What could possibly be over there?” Diamond wondered.

“What could–” Phasma repeated, then he froze. “Thorax. Are you getting any of this?”

“No?”

Phasma let out a shaky breath, “Luna. What’s the quickest you can get an army here, and how big?”

“W–what?! This is rather unexpected!” Luna stammered.

‘What need do we have for an army?!’

“How quickly?” Phasma pressed.

“.... The Canterlot Reaction force, twelve hundred ponies, can be here within two days,” she said. “What on Equus would require such a show of force, here within Equestria’s borders? Need I remind you, the Fourth Hive was in the opposite direction from Canterlot. Phasma? What is in or on that mountain?”

I knew how I knew. That’s what worried me the most.

I had no idea what was in the mountain until I asked Double Diamond’s question aloud in my own head.

‘What could possibly be over there?’

It was The First Hive.

I knew this because a Weave had supplied an answer for me. It didn’t feel like Chrysalis’s Weave, no, this one was… bigger, if that was possible. Given that it was being projected from inside a mountain and across the entire range, I could believe that. It was also colder. Like it was unliving. Not even the lobotomized princes and princesses were this unliving.

“It’s the First Hive,” I told them. “It’s here. Right there, in that mountain. If Thorax couldn’t hear it, then I probably only sensed its Weave because I have one myself. I’m sure that I’m the first royal up here in thousands of years.”

“The First Hive?!” Thorax exclaimed.

‘Even if a drone had come to Shimmervale, they wouldn’t be sensitive enough to feel this Weave’s presence.’

“The last Hive you visited was infested with Nightmares,” Luna realized. “That is why you requested an army! I shall send word at once!”

“Tell Coxa to bring the entire Red Right Hoof, if you can. We’re going to need every soldier we can get if there are Nightmares there.”

Luna teleported in a scroll, quill, and ink from somewhere, and began quickly writing a letter.

‘I have to learn that trick.’

“What’s going on? What’s the First Hive?” Diamond asked. “And does this mean we’re done skiing?”

“The First Hive is the oldest known changeling civilization,” I said. “Little more is known about it.”

“It’s the Hive where two drones led the evacuation, ascending to royals themselves for the effort,” Thorax supplied. “It being all the way up here is… astounding! This could be the biggest discovery we’ve made in history!”

“That award belongs to the feeding solution you found,” I said.

“Hmm, maybe. But still, can you imagine what this could mean for us?!”

“It could mean we found Epitaph and his horde of Nightmares,” I growled. “If the Third Hive had been filled with them and one of Epitaph’s lieutenants, if my guess about their naming convention is right, then it makes sense that our oldest civilization could be his very own stomping ground.”

Luna rolled up her letter, and it burned away in a blue flame.

“There, it is done. It would seem we have to cut our vacation short, Double Diamond. I apologize, but Equestria could be in danger.”

I returned my stare back to the mountain.

As for what I heard, it was like an echo. A distortion within the Weave, like a message too degraded to hear. Radio static. White noise. The hints of a voice speaking a message.

Someone or something was in that mountain, and it was trying to speak.

The changelings had arrived first.

The Clear Sky soared above Shimmervale, engines roaring at full burn. It came to a halt slowly, drifting past Shimmer Mountain, the mountain which the town was named after and where we spotted the First Hive from.

It disgorged its passengers as it drifted to a halt. Dozens of changelings leapt from the deck of the galleon, dropping from the sky and drifting down to our spot. We had returned to our room for the day, and Luna visited the town to find the town hall, its mayor, and declare an emergency state. Today, the town was empty; no pony was to be outside. Only rarely was one dashing through the street; emergencies such as getting food, medical attention, or other important jobs were unavoidable.

‘The world may be ending, but you still have your Four P.M. shift at the grocery store…’

So, ponies watched from windows, balconies, and doorways as the airship arrived and changelings flooded forth from it. When we noticed their arrival, we went back up the mountain to its peak. I ordered Thorax to stay in the room with Diamond.

He protested. I told him that if something were to happen to me, he and Coxa would be taking over, so it was imperative that at least one of us remains safe.

The changelings descended down to us, and hovered above our heads as Coxa, Froghopper, and Captain Katydid landed in front of us.

“Your Majesty,” Froghopper and Katydid said as they bowed.

“We are here as commanded,” Katydid rose.

“And ready for battle,” Froghopper finished, rising too.

“Let’s hope it doesn’t get to that,” I said.

“I’m here, too,” Coxa said. “Lace’s wings are still healing, so she’s staying in the ship for now. But is it true? You found the First Hive?”

“It’s right behind you, in that mountain there,” I pointed it out. The changelings, even the ones in the air, all turned to face it.

“Tomorrow, the Canterlot Reactionary Force will arrive,” Luna announced.

“Let’s get things ready for them,” I said. “Froghopper, gather your lings and prepare an L.Z. down at the base of the mountain.”

“L.Z.?” He asked.

“Landing Zone.”

He saluted, “As you command, My King.”

When he took off, I turned to Katydid, “Prepare the Red Right Hoof to fight Nightmares. I’m hoping there’s nothing alive or undead in the city, but we can’t make assumptions.”

Katydid saluted, “At once, High Marshall– I mean, my King.”

When he took off and took most of the lings watching with him, I turned last to Coxa.

“Thorax is in a resort down in Shimmervale. I need you two to stay safe. Preferably, you should not have come at all, but oh well. Stick together, and no matter what happens, ensure the survival of our species.”

“I’m not leaving your side,” Coxa declared.

“That wasn’t a request, Coxa. Luna will show you where Thorax is. I’m going to oversee the deployment, secure the base camp, and then I’ll come to the resort myself. Froghopper’s scouts will report to us there, and my Weave should extend out to the base of that mountain, so they should be safe from any Nightmare possessions, if my Weave can protect them…”

Coxa sighed, “If you’re coming to the resort, then fine. Just do us all a favor and stay away from the front lines, should fighting break out. I’d hate to order Katydid to stun you and foalnap you.”

Author's Note

I have a Ko-Fi if you want to support me.

139- El Dorado

The Canterlot Reactionary force was, admittedly, impressive.

Whereas the Red Right Hoof had surged forth from Clear Skies like a locust swarm, The Canterlot Reactionaries arrived in style. Five airships flew in a V formation, coming to a stop at the same time.

As they slowed, flights of pegasi leaped from their structure. The pegasi flew alongside the airships, guarding them all. Unlike the Clear Skies, which was structured like a boat suspended from a balloon, these were more like the zeppelins of earth, though noticeably with enchanted armor. The long airships completely dwarfed the small yacht, and I was thankful that I had ordered the entirety of the base of the mount cleared.

Only two could land at a time. Still, that meant hundreds of ponies were disembarking at once into the clearing, rushing out with packs, hauling crates, and more in the snow flurries kicked up by the behemoth’s propellers.

Fifteen minutes to offload each of the airships, and then they were in the air again. Ponies rushed to move the supplies and soldiers out of the landing strips and into areas designated for camps. The whole process was a well-oiled machine, the ponies having trained in exercises just like this situation, and often in worse conditions.

But before the first pair of airships had set off, Luna and I were on the ground, receiving the leaders of the expedition.

Captain Shining Armor, Princess Celestia, Princess Cadence, and one of Captain Shining’s lieutenants, most likely the mare in charge of this army, had stepped off as one of the first groups of ponies on the ground.

All four of them were notably in wargear. That was fair enough, as Coxa had brought Unbroken Radiance and God-Splitter for me yesterday. Seeing Celestia and Cadence in armor was new, however; Cadence wore a silver set of boots, helmet, and barrel plate, while Celestia wore a set of Royal Guard armor.

“Your normal gear doesn’t fit?” I asked when they arrived in front of us.

“No, but at least the standard gear does. It will have to do,” Celestia sighed. “I can’t reach my previous height fast enough.”

“Are you even capable of fighting?” Luna asked.

“I am more than capable of leading, if nothing else.”

“Luna, Phasma,” Cadence greeted us. “Did you at least enjoy your vacation before it was… ruined?”

Luna nodded, “It was most enjoyable. Unfortunately, war calls to us once again.”

“Right, what are we dealing with?” Shining asked.

Luna pointed at the mountain next to us as I explained, “The First Hive, the oldest changeling civilization that we know existed, is in that mountain. Given that the previous Hive we found was filled with Nightmares, it’s likely filled with hostiles, too.”

“We’ve cleared the area for you, and scouted the mountain,” I said, gesturing to my changeling guards. “The area is secure. We’ve also found an entrance to the inside. It’s… something you should see.”

“Where is it?” Celestia asked, looking up at the mountain towering over us.

“Near the top, I’d say about three quarters up,” I answered. “It’s old, and we missed it on our first few passes of the area. There’s something else of note, though.”

“Yes?”

“There’s evidence that someone entered the ruins recently. Very recently.”

“They left some gear behind, obviously intending to egress the same way they entered,” Luna said.

“What gear?” Cadence asked.

“You’d better see for yourself,” I said.

“Is it safe to approach?” Shining asked.

“As safe as we can tell. Which… isn’t much,” I admitted.

“Then it’s a good thing the Confederacy’s strongest fighters are here today,” Celestia said. “Take us to this entrance.”

So as the airships were lifting off and replacing their silver brothers on the landing strip, Celestia, Luna, Cadence, Shining, myself, and a whole platoon of each of our guards headed to the top of the mountain.

Eight changelings stood guard at the entrance to the cave. It was, I had said, easy to miss. The entrance was hidden behind a rock wall that had crumbled away at some point in time. The ponies’ interest was thoroughly captured as we stepped over the ruins of a thick metal wall to enter inside the cave. Whatever structure that had once separated the interior from the mountainside was as thick as a pony’s barrel was long, and that amount of metal had to come from somewhere.

The cave was mostly smooth, and completely covered in snow and ice. Inside, a whole battalion of changelings from the Red Right Hoof stood guard, keeping their eyes forward, further into the cave.

I led the way past the defenses. The walk was not long at all; merely fifty paces from the entrance to the cave was the point of interest. It was a massive hole in the ground, filled in with what looked like massive metal fans stacked on top of each other and pointed down. They were completely covered in rust, and a few of the blades had broken off. Ice encased the whole thing, and massive icicles hung down into a black abyss below the blades. In a space between the blades, a large canvas bag sat against a rock, and a thick rope was tied off around a stalagmite and led through the fan’s opening and into the abyss below.

A few spent flares littered the ground around the fan’s housing, and when we leaned over to look past the blades and down the rope’s length, one flare was tied at the end of the rope, alongside some sort of large crystal.

“What is all of this?” Celestia asked, backing up from the hole. “What use does a propeller have in the middle of a mountain?”

“And who was here?” Cadence added.

“This looks to be some ancient, yet advanced, ventilation system,” I said. “That’s a massive fan system, used to push air in or out of somewhere. As for who was here, I don’t know, but they obviously intended to leave the way they came out. That flare and crystal is a clever way of marking the exit; shine a light at it, or in this case a flare, and you light up the exit pretty clearly.”

“Where are they now?” Shining wondered.

“In there, somewhere,” I muttered.

“So what’s the plan?” Cadence asked, looking around the place.

“Now that you and your forces are here, I’m thinking we dig in and get in good defensive positions,” I said. “Then, we bait out the Nightmares, should they be lurking down there.”

“And the pony or changeling inside?” Celestia asked.

“I think she’ll be fine.”

“She?” Shining repeated.

I sighed, “Cave in the middle of nowhere, ancient ruin, traveling and exploration gear…. This has got to be Daring Do. Unless you know of any other explorers…?”

“Daring Do?” Shining laughed, “You’ve got to be kidding me! Don’t tell me you read that series thinking it was some sort of report on a real pony or something! It’s a fictional series meant for foals.”

Celestia cleared her throat, “Actually, Captain Armor….”

He shook his head, “.... No. You’re joking. There’s no way you’re serious. She’s not real! She’s not real!”

“She’s real,” I confirmed, “and I’ve run into her before, in the Third Hive. I am very interested in hearing how she has come across a second changeling civilization, but we’re getting off topic. We dig in, we kick the hornet’s nest, and the bastards will flood out and swarm right into a trap. If their leader emerges, be it Epitaph or another one of its generals named after a sin, then we gut the fucker. With them dead, the army should be in disarray, or should break completely.”

“Sounds like a better plan than sending a force in a few ponies at a time and risking countless lives,” Celestia nodded along. “Opinion, Luna and Shining?”

“They might not take the bait,” Luna said. “If that happens, we will have issues.”

Celestia glanced back at the entrance to the abyss, “We will hold an advantageous position, and I have myself been looking at this anti-Nightmare spell component that Phasma has distributed to us all. If they decide to bunker down in whatever is down there, they will be subject to some powerful, painful spells. I will need you all to help power it, of course. Shining?”

The Captain looked between the ponies and changelings we brought.

“We’ve only just begun joint training operations. The unicorns have all learned the specialized spell against Nightmares, but that’s all. No work has been put towards calibrating shields, tactics, enchantments, or anything else.”

“Meaning?” I asked.

“What’s stopping us from just putting a contingent of guards on this hole and delaying exploration? The longer we can delay the war, the better prepared we’ll be.”

I shrugged, “Other than Daring Do’s safety? We have no idea what the Nightmares are up to. They insinuated that they’ve already worked to free Epitaph, but we can’t exactly take their word on that. But at the same time, if we move out of this position and then they emerge? Stopping them would be next to impossible.”

“The best chance we have is to hold them here, that much is certain,” Celestia said. “But the question is whether or not they are active… Can this ruin be safely explored?”

I tapped the ground, thinking, “In the Third Hive, the Nightmares were awakened by my Weave. That means they could already be awake, or could awaken should I speak through it at any point. Most likely that second outcome, as they did not seem to react to my presence alone.”

“And you have not used your Weave yet, correct?” She pressed.

“I have not spoken through it, no.”

“Then we should prepare to the best of our abilities,” Celestia declared. “We shall delay the fight as long as we can. Defenses shall be established, and we will withdraw to gather our strength.”

I sneered, “No.”

“No?” Celestia turned to me, surprised.

“There’s too many unknowns, and I’m not going to let them have the advantage of choosing when to fight. We’re here, and in sufficient numbers to hold the mountain should they sally out. Daring Do might have already awoken Epitaph, or could if left alone in there. She was at least half responsible for the Prophet’s awakening, though without interference he might have stayed undisturbed. There’s too many if’s to say for certain though. Daring Do is down there, and she’s mucking about in my future city.”

“Your future city? What are you talking about?” Shining asked.

“I’m not going to let a pony loot and destroy changeling artifacts. This is changeling land, by our agreed treaty, and it will be inhabited again in the future. I’ll do my best not to blow this city up, and in the future…”

“You want to establish another Hive,” Celestia guessed.

“We’re so close to extinction. We need to spread out and grow.”

“Agent Daring Do has been careful in the past. Whatever trouble she stirs, she tends to resolve without interference,” Celestia said. “We might not need to be concerned about this. How exactly was the Prophet freed last time?”

“Daring was freeing an artifact, and when I stunned her, she dropped it, and the artifact shattered.”

“In that case, if we catch her when she is leaving, can we not safely resolve this situation?”

I shook my head, “The artifact’s removal might be enough of a catalyst to free Epitaph, should there be a matching one down there. I’m not waiting around for Daring Do to start breaking shit. Need I remind you that we don’t even know how Epitaph is sealed? If we can make sure the Nightmare stays sealed if he’s in there, then we accomplish everything we could ever hope for. Time, security, and a chance for us to still choose when we fight.”

‘I’m not letting a pony start looting my city. Only I get to loot it, damn it!’

“I say we take the risk and prepare more,” Shining voted.

“...”

More distorted sounds across the Weave grabbed my attention away from the pony’s conversation. So close to an open entrance, I could tell that whoever is speaking is male. Beyond that…. nothing.

Luna pulled me away from the entrance, frowning, “Phasma? Did you hear us? We agreed to wait and see. Agent Daring Do is more than capable of fending for herself, and likely will not awaken whatever slumbers beneath our hooves. The extra time will save lives. Besides, fighting Nightmares so soon after your procedure brings risks. They might somehow exploit unseen weaknesses.”

I glanced back at the abyss.

‘There’s a pony down there, touching all my things, learning secret, long-lost knowledge that I need to know. Further, if Epitaph isn’t down there, the things we could gain from such ruins are beyond value. Knowledge, history, spells, artifacts, materials… and it is my decision to make. Not theirs. I will not throw this away out of fear.’

I shook my head and pulled free a spare flare from some netting that covered the left-behind bag.

“We stand to gain too much to ignore this. I can’t walk away, Luna.”

“The vote is split, two to two.”

“... You voted to go in?”

She smiled, “I believe in you, Phasma. I also believe in the capabilities of those we have surrounded us with. But waiting has its benefits; we can summon a proper army to garrison these defenses, and even call upon the thestrals and their expertise.”

“We will return soon,” Celestia reassured.

“No,” I said. “You can return soon, but I’m going in.”

“I cannot allow that,” Luna said. “Going in alone is too dangerous.”

“Then come with.”

“We cannot move forward without a majority, Phasma,” Luna said.

“You’re wrong,” I said. “We’re on changeling sovereign territory right now, and the Hive Eternal isn’t a democracy.”

“Phasma–” Celestia began, but I ignored her.

I brought the flare over the broken fan structure, lit it, and let it go.

“We’re going in.”

Leaning over the edge, I watched the bright red flare fall. Down and down it went. Silently, Luna watched it’s descent, too.

A hundred hooves, it fell.

The other ponies were not happy.

“You can’t just ignore us,” Shining whined.

“Now is not the time to forsake cooperation,” Celestia admonished.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Cadence moaned.

A couple hundred more, the flare sputtered as it spun in the cold abyss, a lone, distant light.

“You’re not seriously supporting this, Luna?” Celestia asked. “Rash foolishness is the quickest way to death!”

A thousand. The flare flickered, casting off sparks.

“....cuate immed….”

Words filtered through the garbled Weave message like nuggets of gold.

‘What could that be? Evacuate immediately? Why would….’

The flare fell two thousands hooves more. The abyss held no end.

“An automated evacuation message, that’s what I’ve been hearing,” I realized. “If there are any unsealed Nightmares, that would have woken them eons ago.”

The flare finally landed, illuminating what appeared to be an alleyway, so far beneath our hooves that I could only tell that it was a space between walls. The ground was far beneath that of the one outside the mountain.

“I cannot allow this!” Celestia growled. “You would throw away our chance at defeating what laid us low so thoroughly!”

“You cannot stop this,” I growled back. “I’m going in.” I nodded to my guards, “Summon the Red Right Hoof. It’s time we find out what we used to be.”

Summoning a veritable storm of power, I cast an emergency flare spell that Bray Call had taught me, back in Hooferville. A white light shot forward from my horn, piercing the stygian dark below us.

It grew brighter and brighter, my own miniature, weak sun. A fraction of the potency of the light that sheltered the Third Hive, yet strong enough to illuminate the First Hive. It was smaller than Canterlot, maybe a third smaller, yet its existence was no less a testament to the greatness of its builders.

It was circular in shape, beneath a large dome that we must have been looking through. The ceiling was easily four times taller than the whole cave was wide. Like Canterlot, it had very visible districts seen from above. Unlike Canterlot, the division of these districts were very different; one massive section encircled the entire city, likely holding practically all of the residents, the business sections, and whatever else comprises cities. The buildings were of different colors; some were wrought of black stone like the Third Hive, and others, white marble that shone brightly in the flare’s illumination. Most buildings, the ones that were still intact, had rooves of metal shingles, looking coppery in color. Every single one of them, down to the smallest hovels and shacks, were covered in snow, with only patches of the roof exposed. Large expansive drifts of snow hid sections of the city, be it parks, plazas, or even collapsed buildings underneath their white blanket.

This massive district formed a hollowed out circle that hugged the walls of the dome, with the hollowed center of the city being taken up by three distinct circles that bordered each other and held wonders of their own, two circles of equal size and one considerably larger.

From our position on the Southeast side of this mountain and the Hive, one small circle’s contents were easily seen, as was the large circle’s, while the last was partially obscured by its brothers. The small circle held what I could only guess to be some sort of cross between a university and a wizard tower. The massive structure resembled a white colored castle, only covered in holes that were once windows, rather than the smooth walls of a defensible position. Tall, circular towers with the iconic cone roof jutted up from the corners, and at times space within inner courtyards, of the structure. One particular building in this complex resembled that of a steepled cathedral; the largest structure in the district, it loomed over its smaller buildings like a child playing with its toys.

The largest district held what was no doubt the head of the city; a massive grey behemoth squatted on the circle, sprawled out with a number of wings jutting out, with almost the entirety of the structure being intact. Interestingly enough, though the roof was covered in snow, I could see ice pouring out the sides from the roof, like a hundred frozen waterfalls. Overall, the castle was circular in shape, with different terraces of many sizes plateauing off from the structure.

From where we were standing, a series of massive, tall windows spaced themselves across the castle’s southeastern side. The glass was likely gone, and the view inside was hampered by the fact that the windows were so thin that we couldn’t make out the details from high up. A few paths, still covered in snow, rose slowly from the base of the massive district, leading to a number of huge doors. Some were open, some were closed, and a number were blown off their hinges. Those doors were embedded in the walls and ground around the entrances.

On the western side, the point closest to the center of the entire First Hive, the building gradually rose up in higher and higher peaks, with the tallest point jutting up a full quarter of the dome’s height. This section had the largest windows, and though many were empty save for snow and ice, a glow pulsated from within the keep, visible through the windows’ empty frames. It shifted in color with each slow pulse.

Red. Yellow. Gold. Blue. Purple.

On and on, the colors came and went, its origin unknown and likely Nightmare-related.

The final district, the one obscured the most, was also the strangest I had ever seen. It was thanks to our height that I could see so much of the place; massive squarish buildings wrestled with each other for space. Sharp angles, tall, utilitarian architecture, and things only got stranger. Whatever the district’s function was, I could only guess.

Finally, there were the gaps between the three districts. On the outer sections, it was a white expanse of snow and ice, with some areas appearing completely flat, and others tumultuous.

‘Frozen lakes and parks?’

I could only guess.

Then, in the absolute center of the gargantuan underground city, green slopes, half covered in snow, jutted downwards until they vanished in a ugly tear of black and green. It was some sort of floor or gate that was smashed downwards, with only blackness beneath its structure. I could see long, massive rails heading from the hole to the furthest, mysterious district.

The First Hive was a city sunken beneath a hollowed mountain, drowned in snow and ice. If the Third Hive was a coffin containing a decayed, wretched corpse, then the First Hive was a snowglobe, holding within its massive expanse a fractured, dead city, slumbering beneath an alabaster coat of snow.

“It’s beautiful,” Luna whispered, unable to say more.

“Nisir,” I said, unconsciously calling the First Hive’s true name from its Weave. “Of course it wouldn’t be called the First Hive in its time… Nisir.”

Author's Note

I have a Ko-Fi if you want to support me.

140- Kokyangwuti

Everyone was in position. It had taken a bit, but all the soldiers had managed to hurry up and wait, and were now in what defensive positions could be made. We had already delayed too long, and I wanted to go in sooner rather than later.

Luna, Celestia, Shining, and myself were all going in. Cadence was staying up top, as were Coxa and Thorax. They would keep an eye on things from up top, and should anything go wrong, take control over our respective nations. Celestia had tried to order Shining to stay up top, while he tried to convince her to stay, but both had eventually agreed to come: Celestia because she refused to leave her sister’s side out of fear of losing Luna again, and Shining because he wanted to personally watch over Celestia’s security.

With us, several platoons of the Red Right Hoof and the Canterlot Reactionaries would be giving us escort protection, as well as generally scouting out the city. The ponies and changelings got ready behind us as we prepared ourselves.

“Honestly sister, you are only making things riskier,” Luna complained.

“I’m not leaving your side. Especially when there’s Nightmares involved.” Celestia pouted. “I don’t want to lose you again.”

“Need I remind you that you fell as well?” Luna asked.

Celestia pawed the ground, “All the more reason to stay by your side. We are safer together. Even if I do not have the mana pool required to fight, I am more than capable of casting spells with help. Captain Shining or Phasma can dual cast with me, if needed.”

“I’ve never done that before,” I interrupted.

The alicorns and Shining stared at me.

“That’s a pretty important thing in combat,” Shining said.

I shrugged, “Changelings more or less use my Weave, but I never really relied on someone, nor has anyone ever really relied on me.”

‘Makes me wonder if this kind of magic would be useful in situations like the defense of Hooferville. I just have no experience to know for sure.’

“Then Shining will stay close and protect me,” Celestia said. “And if I must, I can guide you on how to supply mana to a caster. I have taught countless foals how to use their magic, you know.”

I sneered, “Are you saying I’m a foal?”

“How old are you, again?” She asked.

“I’ll have you know that I’m very independent for my age. Look, I even put my shoes on!” I said, raising one of my booted hooves.

The ponies, save for Shining, laughed.

“And you’re the one leading this expedition?” He griped.

“Phasma is more than capable of fighting,” Luna reminded him. “You know that better than any of us.”

Shining glanced at the fan structure, “The changelings had the element of surprise. Will we have that, going in down there?”

“Let’s hope so,” I muttered. “Are we all ready?”

“Ready,” Luna nodded.

“As I’ll ever be,” Celestia said, her helmet bobbing a bit with the motion.

“Reactionaries ready,” Shining announced after receiving nods from his ponies.

The ponies going in were mostly pegasi, though there were a few unicorns and earth ponies in the mix. How they would be ferried was yet to be seen, though I suspected that the pegasi would be doing a lot of heavy lifting real soon.

“By your command,” Froghopper said.

He was the changeling leading the Red Right Hoof’s scouting force. As much as I blamed him for leading us into Double Dealing’s obvious trap, he was the best scout we had. Apparently.

“Right then, let’s boogie,” I muttered.

“Wait, Phasma,” Celestia called out, marching up to me. “I know of a good spell that will keep the area lit up nicely. I simply lack the power to cast it. This is the perfect opportunity for me to walk you through how to dual cast.”

I glanced briefly at the flickering orb I had casted earlier. If we wanted any permanent source of light, the alicorn with the sun on her ass would surely know the best spell.

“Alright,” I nodded. “I’ve got power to spare. Let’s shed some light on the city.”

Celestia guided me through the process, and together we summoned an orb that glowed a soft yellow light. It started out as small as my hoof, but rapidly grew in size as I funneled more and more magic into it. As I fed it, Celestia gently pushed it off with her magic, sending it down to replace the fading white light. She pushed it as far out and up as she could manage.

Once it was sufficiently big enough and bright enough to illuminate the whole city, we got into formation, then flew down into Nisir.

I was staring into the eye of a mechanical god.

It was gargantuan in size. A perfectly clear crystal, as big as a house, with a faceted surface that glinted in the fake sun’s light, sat in the middle of a bright blue vice, at the core of some arcane, impossibly complex system of mechanical rings, tubes, and other sci-fi contraptions.

It was Nisir’s sun, without a doubt. The contraption was encrusted in ice and rust, the crystal being the only unmarred surface. The structure as a whole stretched from horizon to horizon of the dome’s surface. Gears of unfathomable sizes sat around and behind the dead sun, visible only behind the mechanisms and through missing panels in the sky’s surface.

I recognized some of its structure. Concentric rings housed the runes and enchantments to power the sun, keep it stable, and keep it quiet. Now, however, these metal and glass bands were devoid of any magic; whatever powered the sun and its enchantments had long since leaked away.

Not only was Nisir’s sun more complex than the Third Hive’s, but it looked like it once moved. The crystal-device was set on a path, rusted over, encased in ice, and unmoved for millennia, but the path was still clear. From horizon to horizon, the artificial light could make its way across the sky. And, judging by the distant bands of ice and rust, the sun’s path was rotatable on a gear at each end of its arc.

Nisir’s sun not only traveled across the sky, but the changelings adjusted its position to match how high it was during winter and summer.

‘The only thing missing is a moon, and some way to artificially create sunsets…. Unless they figured both of those out, too.’

Even if we could turn the utterly gargantuan device on, we had no way of freeing the tracks from their corrosion, nor any way of figuring out where the control panel for the sun even was. Once, this sun had nurtured an entire civilization. Now, it was dead, just like the lings that lived under it.

I had stopped in mid-air, buzzing my wings to a hovering speed as I gazed into the crystal orb. I saw my own reflection in the thousand-faced diamond, staring back at me in awe. Ponies and changelings had gathered around it to gawk, though a number of our more competent troops didn’t let themselves get distracted, and were much further down on the descent to the snow-covered city.

“They built a sky,” Celestia gasped, staring into the crystal orb.

“That’s not possible,” Shining Armor muttered, held aloft by two pegasi and a weightless spell.

“They did it anyway,” I said quietly.

The Third Hive had only built a sun, a small fraction of the device that dwarfed us all. The sun construct rose out and above a sea of hexagonal tiles, a feature that the Third Hive lacked. These tiles were covered in ice, frost, rust, and sockets. Once, they might have been painted or sealed with some substance. Now, exposed to the elements, few were left in good quality, with a number of them missing and massive clockwork constructs visible in their absence. Here and there, fan ducts had been spaced out along the dome’s structure, interrupting the sea of frost and sockets.

Speaking of the sockets, many held circular crystals, each as big as a changeling’s skull. Given their number and size, I could only guess as to what their purpose was.

“What are these for?” I wondered out loud, pointing to one crystal. “Some part of the artificial sun’s mechanism? Powering it, or moving it along its path?”

“Perhaps they were stars,” Luna suggested. “If the changelings of yore had conjured a sun, what would stop them from conjuring the rest of the sky? There must be millions of these crystals, more than enough to mimic stars in the sky, if illuminated with varying brightness…” Luna said, voice trailing off.

“Whatever the answer is, we cannot hope to understand it so soon,” Celestia said. “It may take centuries to fully uncover this secreted-away city’s secrets. Such complexity has not been seen since… I can only think of a few examples, all before the Age of Discord, and none as complete and large-scale as this place.”

“And we’ve only just set hoof in the place,” Shining shook his head in disbelief.

“I think the Third Hive was mimicking this wonder,” I said. “I can recognize some parts of it, like those support rings, and those cone-shaped things that must be projectors of some sort,” I pointed to different parts of the device as I described them. “However, much of this thing is completely beyond the Third Hive’s capabilities. They must’ve had some sort of schematic for the sun, but the movement piece was too complex… Questions for later, I suppose. What part of the city are we going to investigate first? The glow in the castle seems like a good place to start.”

“Oh, you want our opinion now?” Shining asked. “You seemed dead set against listening to us just half an hour ago.”

As Celestia and Shining glared at me, I cleared my throat, “Yes, well, I was concerned you would do something stupid like deciding not to go in. Because, you know, you all said you weren’t going to go in. Now we’re in.”

“And you’re learning just how daunting this journey is?” Celestia said.

“No! I knew the dangers, I just didn’t want to lose my species best chance at finding out who we were, and a chance at growing our numbers somewhere safe and close. Forgive me for not trusting Equestria completely, but our alliance is still young, and a single disaster could bring it down. So yeah, I have to make decisions that will affect the odds of my species’ survival, and the longer we’re in here the more I’m remembering the outcome of the last time we explored changeling ruins…”

Luna put a hoof on my withers and gave me a reassuring smile. The act nearly caused us to plummet into a freefall, as we both had to continue flying and my wings and elytra are awfully close to my withers.

“I am glad we are keeping the upper hoof and going on the offensive. Many wars have been lost due to hesitation,” Luna said.

“Well, we’re committed now,” Shining grunted. “Point me to the castle, Private,” he ordered the pegasus carrying him.

“The light from within is the most eye-catching anomaly,” Celestia admitted. “If we are going in, we should secure the castle first. Not only will we discover the source of the glow, but it is the most defensible position in the city.”

“Let us head a spear into the castle, and from there, we can spread out and secure the city,” Luna agreed.

“Let’s not split the party,” Shining said, making me raise an eyebrow. “We don’t want to spread ourselves too thin. We should secure the castle, and then move slowly, securing our positions as we go. Thoroughly clearing the place before we take each district is our safest option here.” Shining rolled his neck to glare at me, “If there’s one good thing Equestria got from your legions, it’s that we learned how to fight in urban terrain pretty well. The Reactionaries have the experience to hold the city, but if we overstretch then it’s going to be for nothing.”

‘Maybe I was wrong about Shining Armor. Maybe he really is a nerd. You’re not sneaking that D&D reference by me, unicorn.’

“It might be worth it to secure the outer city section to the right of the castle first,” I said, “and then work our way around the circle. That way, we aren’t surrounded if the Nightmares attack.”

“To the castle, then!” Luna commanded as she began her dive.

“I’ll join you in the rearguard,” Celestia said, staying by the dead crystal sun.

I nodded, and ordered the changelings to follow me as I dove to the massive castle that sat in the middle of Nisir.

We set down quietly on the castle’s largest balcony. The structure was something along the lines of a half-circle exterior courtyard, covered in snow. If there was once plant life here, there was no trace anymore. The snow crunched underhoof as we landed. The changelings and pegasi fanned out, approaching the walls and empty window frames of the grey castle ahead. The rainbow hue continued to pulse faintly from within.

They lined up against the entrances, and with a nod from Shining, entered the open doorway and open windows silently. There were no flashes before we entered; we might have need of the element of surprise, and errant spellfire could awaken whatever slumbers within.

A unicorn that had been ferried down appeared in the doorway to the balcony. He nodded towards the Equestrian Captain, and disappeared again. Shining nodded and made his way to the doorway himself. As he did so, Celestia and several more guards set down behind Luna and I.

“The Captain seems to be leading the vanguard,” she said softly. “I would like it if you two stayed close enough to him to provide help, should he need it. I’ll take things slowly and watch your rear.”

“You can count on us,” Luna said.

“You’ll be staring at our rears, got it,” I joked.

Celestia rolled her eyes and motioned for us to leave.

“...evacuate immediately…”

I spun on my hooves and stared hard at the doorway ahead of us.

“Heard the voice again,” I said quietly. “A lot more clearer, though it still seems broken up. Confirmed to be some sort of automated message, but just how they’re projecting it through the Weave…”

“Your orders, My King?” Froghopper said, suddenly appearing next to me.

I flinched in surprise, “Gah! I mean, uh, we continue. Get up there with Captain Shining Armor and keep your eyes on a swivel for anything strange.”

He nodded, then pointed to the door, “There’s a strange glow, sir.”

“Look for anything new that’s strange!” I groaned.

The scout saluted and then made himself scarce.

“... hath fallen…”

“Ready when you are,” Luna said, making me jump. She squinted, “Are you sure you are all alright?”

“I’ll be fine. Probably. Let’s go bust some ghosts.”

Before I could change my mind, I strode through the doorway and entered Nisir’s castle.

The inside was bare. Being used to Canterlot Castle’s opulence, seeing a bare interior of a castle was a surprise. The ground was marked with patches of ice and snow, particularly close to the doorways and former windows, but was otherwise bare stone and marble. The stonework had cracks and was covered in rock dust and debris from collapsed walls, ceilings, and pillars, but otherwise the hallways were completely empty.

The light was clearly stronger on one end of the hall, where a changeling and earth pony stood sentry at an intersection. We delved further into the bare castle, following in Shining Armor’s hoofsteps. Guards were posted at any open doorway or intersection, and we chased the light. It was steadily growing in intensity as we walked.

I was curious to see how it could make light bend around corners.

‘Perhaps its projecting through all solid surfaces? How would that even work? Magic, I guess. It’s always fucking magic.’

The Weave message continued to broadcast, getting louder and louder and somewhat clearer as we delved deeper into the castle. It was looking like whatever was projecting the message was at the origin of the light, or was the origin itself.

Through rubble-strewn halls, barren rooms with half of their walls missing, and desolate courtyards we walked in silence.

The light softly changed colors as we marched, until it stopped growing in brightness, for we had arrived at its origin, its apex.

Nisir’s Throne room sat in the largest room, overlooking the destroyed gate at the city’s center. The tall vaulted ceilings that once held banners and honors and other décor now hosted nothing but a thousand icicles. The red marble promenade that marched up to a grand throne was covered in snow and debris.

The throne itself dwarfed any I had ever seen before. It was five times bigger than myself, making it at least twice the size of the Mithril Throne, and upon its great seat lay a small changeling skeleton. It was black in color, any decorations stripped away and replaced with smatterings of ice.

The chitin had long since decayed away, leaving behind the weak and thin inner skeleton. It was a royal as big as myself, yet the throne’s enormity made it look more like a larva than anything else.

He, as his skull was too squarish in shape to belong to a female, sat slumped over in his throne’s embrace, his own skull propped up on a hoof, as if he was bored and struggling to not fall asleep. A thin layer of ice encased his bones, preserving his posture for eternity. Behind a tall, twisting horn sat a crown of gold, diamond, blue Mithril, and a hundred precious stones. Yet no stone was no more precious or breath-taking than the one that was situated in the front of the crown.

It was massive in size, almost as big as the king’s skeletal face, and it was the origin of the colors we had seen from the city’s border. As the colors shifted from blue, to white, to red, to orange, and to more, I watched as galaxies of matching colors slowly shifted into view across the circular gem, only to shift away and be replaced by another galaxy. Behind them, a Tapestry of a trillion more twinkled, distant yet detailed enough to pick out.

The gem had depth. It was like a window, seeing far past the city’s border at the far end of the cave, let alone the socket it was affixed to.

“Nisir hath fallen. Evacuate immediately. Panar guide thee, We shall bar the door.”

The voice came from the gem, the death rattle of an immortal king.

In the vast throne room, the changelings had prostrated before the king of ice. Dozens bowed before he who had not lived a day in ten thousand years. I understood why; it was not the king, but the jewel that they bowed before. I knew its majesty and significance, for I had seen its contents once before.

The Great Tapestry.

All that ever was, and all there ever will be.

The ponies were glancing at their insectoid counterparts with equal parts confusion and fear.

“Why are they doing that?” Luna asked, breaking the room’s silence.

‘Silence for the ponies, that is.’

“It is the natural reaction upon seeing Panarthropo’s work in its entirety,” I said simply.

“What?” Shining bleated. He had stood behind a row of guards that faced the throne. “Are you talking about that big black gem up there? How is it even glowing? No, nevermind that, is it a threat?”

“Nisir hath fallen…”

“No one touch Panarthropo’s gift,” I commanded aloud and through the Weave. “Rise. I said rise!”

At my yelling, the changelings snapped out of their religious fervor and rose, looking rightfully sheepish.

“What is Panarthropo’s Gift? Is it that crown?” Luna asked, gesturing to the king.

“How do you know it’s name? Are you holding information from us?!” Shining barked, picking up immediately where Luna left off.

“Are we in danger?” Celestia asked, galloping in from the grand hall behind us and sliding to a stop behind Luna and me.

Celestia, Luna, Shining Armor, and every single pony and changeling– save for the few that stood at the ready, facing the skeleton– looked to me for answers.

“Its name is Panarthropo’s Gift. It’s… projecting a Weave,” I said. “Somehow. A synthetic Weave, one larger than any changeling royal’s, though noticeably less welcoming and without the presence of a royal. It’s broadcasting a message; Nisir hath fallen. Evacuate immediately, We shall bar the door.”

“Bar the door– so it is a containment of some sorts?” Celestia asked.

I nodded, “Just as we thought. Whatever it is sealing isn’t here, though. That spell that scoured away Nightmares in the Third Hive? The Weave feels like it’s almost projecting it.”

“Is that spell the source of the glow?” Luna wondered.

“W–what?” I shuttered. “No? It’s the Tapestry itself. The…. galaxies?”

“What galaxies?” Luna frowned. “I see nothing but a black opal there.”

“Pitch black,” Shining clarified.

“You don’t see it?” I blinked, “But it’s right there…. It’s… The Great Tapestry, the structure of the universe itself. Right there! It’s like a window!”

“We see nothing, Phasma,” Celestia shook her head. “You claim that there are galaxies within the black jewel on the skeleton’s crown?”

“You can’t see it,” I mumbled. “It’s… beautiful.”

“The Tapestry,” a changeling muttered.

“The Tapestry,” another quietly agreed.

“Knock off the creepy cult stuff,” Shining said. “Are we in any danger right now?”

I looked back at Panathropo’s Gift. It glowed with wondrous light, and I could feel the cleansing spell’s presence, distant and muted.

“Definitely not. So long as we don’t touch the skeleton or the gem, there should be no Nightmares anywhere close to this city. The Gem would kill them…”

“That’s all I needed to hear,” Shining sighed, motioning for his guards to stand down.

“How did you know it’s name?” Luna asked me. “Same way you knew the city’s name?”

“Hmm? Oh yeah, its Weave supplied the answer. None of you can see the Gift’s actual appearance?”

The ponies shook their heads.

“It seems like only changelings can,” Celestia said, pointing out the obvious. “You can see it, you can hear it, you can feel it…”

I once again turned to the gem, sitting high up on the throne, atop the corpse.

“A pity. This is something I wish you all could see. Perhaps in the Dreamscape, I can show you all…”

Author's Note

I have a Ko-Fi if you want to support me.

142- Fenrir

As I beheld the Nightmare-made-manifest, I realized that I had two options. In a split second, my mind raced between confronting the bastard for the monster he was, or acting like a changeling should.

I chose the second option. Taking a deep breath, I bowed low, my horn scraping against the metal floor of the memory.

“King Sombra,” I muttered reverently.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him regard me with surprise and interest. Though my emotion sensing abilities were absent in these recordings, I had learned enough about body language in this new world to read his emotions.

I had perfected the act of the supplicant fool thanks to my time underneath Chrysalis, especially during the last few months in the hive. I had found those skills thoroughly tested when I had to suppress my constant urges to strangle her where she stood. It was trivial to apply those skills here and now. A brave fool such as a hero of a game or novel would grandstand and declare their intent to kill Sombra. A changeling would milk him for all the information they could, and preferably would set up a betrayal for later.

“You are no Umbrum,” his deep voice made my nonexistent hair on the back of my neck stand on edge. “Just another high-born vermin. Fit for nothing but feasting upon.” The purple flame on his horn grew in size, reflecting off the metal floor. “Do not fret, your death will be quick. Do you have any last words?”

‘Oh fuck! Think, quick! What can get me out of this?!’

“Lámhmarbh sent me to free you,” I said softly, recalling the Nightmare’s name with ease.

“Should that name be of consequence?”

I looked up, still bowed, “Yes, King Sombra. It is an Umbrum, I think… Regardless, I was sent to free you.”

“You think?” The king’s face curled into a snarl, “You would know the presence of an Umbrum when you met one, changeling. What is your name?”

“Prince Chrysalis,” I answered at once.

‘Under the bus you go, mother.’

“Prince Chrysalis,” the thing repeated, making me immediately glad I had supplied a fake name. “Strange thing, has your wretched kind warped yourselves to such unrecognizable lengths?”

“It was–”

“Silence,” King Sombra growled, cutting me off. “I have not decided your fate yet.”

“I can be of use,” I pleaded.

“Clearly this Lámhmarbh believes so, but I have yet to see that for myself. You are a changeling, not an Umbrum. What use could you possibly have?”

“If an Umbrum could have freed you, they would have done so already, King Sombra,” I said, rising slightly from my bow.

The Nightmare hissed quietly, casting his gaze around our bubble of existence.

“I need no whelp’s aid in sundering this prison. I have been whittling away at it for centuries…”

“Of course not, My King,” I said. “But I offer what aid I can give all the same. That might mean the difference between escaping now, and escaping a decade from now…”

I felt a cool touch slither around my right foreleg. Glancing at it, I saw a tendril of black oily smoke wrap itself slowly around my leg, its tapered point stopping at the jagged edge of my chitin. My old wound had its scar present, and the tendril had taken an interest.

‘Ooookay, starting to get very uncomfortable.’

“I do wonder,” King Sombra’s voice recaptured my attention, “why you are not Umbrum-touched. If you were indeed visited, you should have been ascended.”

My stomach churned at the mention of the a-word.

“The Umbrum needed me as a pure changeling, I believe. My King, no Umbrum can set hoof in Nisir. My duty to free you requires me to enter the city, does it not?”

King Sombra stepped forward and began slowly circling me. I stayed low, in my half-bent posture, and kept my eyes forward. I could see more tendrils whipping about slowly, and his billowing mane stretched behind him, as if he was submerged in water.

“Equus will die,” he declared. “All prey shall die. All life shall die. Only the Umbrum will survive this, safe in the Ether. You will die. Yet you are claiming to still be loyal to us. To me.”

‘Yes, that’s certainly a hole in my story…’

“I can already visit the Ether,” I chose to reveal. “If I am to not be…. Ascended… then I should be able to survive still. Right, My King?”

King Sombra paused, his purple-flame reflecting in his red and green eyes.

“Of course,” he smiled.

‘Definitely not, then.’

“Prince Chrysalis,” he cooed, “I had assumed that an Umbrum would be capable of the task, but either they are all too cowardly, or the task is beyond their capabilities. Either way, I find myself in need of new servants. You will shatter the remains of my prison. When I cull the weak from my ranks, there will be an opening for you. You will not have my blessing. You will not have my protection. If you are ripped apart by another Umbrum, then you would have expended your use to us already.”

“Strength invites challenge: I am not afraid of fighting for my spot in the Ether. But the Equestrians have grown strong in our absence, King Sombra. They outnumber changelings considerably, and I know of no Umbrum forces…” I trailed off.

“You know not what to look for, whelp. I will recall Gluttony and Greed, and their hosts. I will bring my host, and that alone is enough to slaughter the prey.” He chuckled, “It will be a perfect test for my newest general… But first, you must fulfill your duty. There is a place for you at the final banquet, all you have to do is destroy Emperor Megatypus’s parting gift.”

“Parting gift?” I repeated.

Sombra stomped angrily, “That damned gemstone! Shatter it, and scatter the pieces!”

I nodded quickly, “At once, My King! I know what you speak of!”

“The hour of our arrival nears,” King Sombra declared, staring at a space above me. “I will be freed from this cursed, frozen prison. Prince Chrysalis, do your duty.”

The bubble of existence was swept away, but King Sombra’s eyes remained.

Luna was holding me, shaking me awake.

“Phasma!”

I blinked rapidly, trying to get Sombra’s eyes out of my vision.

“I’m awake!” I gasped.

Luna stopped shaking me and pulled me into a tight hug. If it wasn’t for my thick chitin, I was sure she would have broken a bone.

“Thank Faust you’re okay!”

I returned the hug, “I… yeah. Wait, what? How did you know something went wrong?”

I recollected my wits and checked around us. Ponies and changelings alike were looking on with concern. Then, I saw the recording crystal. It was in nine pieces on the ground, shattered. The crystal was also tinted a deep green.

“Dark magic is impossible to mistake,” Luna explained. “The crystal… What happened?”

I patted Luna on the back to show that I was fine. Everyone was staring at me: Daring, Celestia, Shining…

“He was there. Epitaph. He was in that recording.”

Celestia frowned, “What are you saying? A recording of somepony wouldn’t–”

“No. He was there,” I growled. “I saw him, and he saw me. He spoke to me.”

Luna let go of me, but did not leave my side, instead choosing to make herself comfortable on the ground. I explained my meeting with King Sombra, and gave all the info I had gathered.

“Quick thinking,” Celestia muttered, looking distant.

I nodded, “We know he has an army, and possibly two more. Well, one more, I kinda took care of Gluttony and his infected changeling army. We know Panar’s Gift is indeed what keeps him sealed, and we know that he is slowly breaking free. Finally, we have a name. King Sombra and the Umbrum. A bit more nuanced than Epitaph and Nightmares, don't you think?”

Celestia’s emotions clouded further.

“You are clear of any lingering magic or any nasty surprises, as far as I can tell,” Luna said, finishing a scan of me.

“Sombra,” Celestia muttered. “I know the name.”

“You do?” Shining and I asked.

Celestia nodded, “Eons ago. He was a… strange stallion, hailing from the Crystal Empire. Sadly, the bridge between our worlds was interrupted before we could really know each other, but what time we had was… Sombra is a powerful unicorn, or so I thought. I don’t know how common of a name that is way up north, but fate has a cruel sense of irony…”

“Can you tell us anything useful about him?” Shining prodded.

Celestia scowled, “Only a suspicion that he had something to do with the Crystal Empire’s disappearance. Or at least, was present for it. Now that we know what he is, he has got to be responsible for the Empire’s absence. They must have fallen, and this Emperor Megatypus of Nisir sealed King Sombra– and with him, the Crystal Empire.”

Luna nodded, “The story fits. Your mysterious suitor is none other than the most dangerous being alive. One that the changelings had unleashed upon the world. Thank you all for that, by the way. Bringing Nightmares into existence is a most bothersome legacy.”

I scoffed, “It sounded like these ancient changelings were either cruel or weren’t too bright. King Sombra didn’t say why the changelings pulled him into the waking world, but I bet it had something to do with the fact that we were going extinct. Maybe they wanted to make him into a weapon, and he got loose.”

‘Our doom being created by our own hooves is quite ironic.’

“This knowledge will be put to use immediately,” Celestia declared. “We must keep vigilant for this missing force of his, as well as protect Panar’s Gift for as long as we can. But first, we need to take care of Queen Chrysalis.”

I nodded, “She’s keeping the vast majority of Equestria’s army tied up at the border. With them freed, we can train them in counter-Nightmare tactics and spells. Not to mention the fact that we will have one less border to secure.”

“The city is mostly secured now,” Shining announced. “I’ve received reports from my scouts that we are clear to investigate the final central area.”

“No activity from that Underhive gate?” I asked.

He shook his head, “All quiet.”

“We’ll need to find a way to make sure it's sealed. The last thing I want is another entrance to that place out in the open,” I said to myself.

“I’m not opening that can of worms,” Shining frowned. “If what you’ve said is true, the last thing we need is to go poking around where we don’t belong.”

“I’ll send some scouts and seal it myself, if I have to,” I said. “The changelings have the most experience with the Underhive; we know how to deal with its beasties.”

“We will be one step behind you. I assume you want to go explore the final district now?”

Daring Do cleared her throat, “You’ve helped quite a lot so far, King Phasma. I’ll use the extra time to re-catalogue this collection and organize it better, if you head off to that area.”

“Have you visited it?” I asked her.

“I’ve flown over it, but didn’t find any landmarks to visit, no. There were plenty of other locations and items to keep me busy.”

I stood up, “Then we have our next destination. Let’s wrap up this exploratory tour and properly secure Nisir.”

“The scouts shall advance first,” Luna said. “Though the scan brought up no results, I would be far more comfortable if you sat far behind the front line, Phasma.”

“Fine, but I still get first, second, and third pick of the loot. The Fifth Hive is in desperate need of anything that will help us in a fight.”

The Forge District, as the scouts called it, was an abandoned frozen ghost town.

It was a melding of a railyard and a forging area, with the tracks all leading to the broken Underhive gate. Many of the forges were outdoors; we passed by countless craft stations, anvils, and abandoned tool sets as we approached the largest building in the district. Statues of drones and royals alike loomed over empty broadways, railways, and catwalks. Whatever failure in the city’s casing had led to the snowfall and subsequent freeze had hit the Forging District especially hard.

Covered in snow and icicles, the district was thrust into a temperature it wasn’t designed for; gates, slews, troughs, and other specialized constructs for forging were completely blocked up, and in some cases, shattered from the ice’s expansion. Troughs and ducts meant for molten metal and slag were overflowing in solid ice and snowy ice slush.

I shook my head as I beheld a drone’s statue. With one raised hoof holding a hammer, the drone was posed to hit a gripped piece of metal on an anvil, but it was frozen, not just in its pose, but in a layer of blue ice, like it was flash-frozen.

“It’s going to take a lot of effort to get this place running again,” I mused.

“Were you hoping to just trot in and just restart the hearth?” Luna asked sarcastically. “If this city fell when the Crystal Empire fell, that would make it thousands of years old. The fact that it is in such a preserved condition, is nothing less than a miracle.”

The loud shriek of metal ripping put a pause in our conversation. The four drones who were tasked with prying off the shut door of the largest building in the district had finally made headway, and had ripped off a good portion of the ornate double doors that had impeded our way.

‘Such a shame, too. Those doors really do look good.’

They weren’t on the same scale of detail as the doors to Chrysalis’s throne room, but the scenes of changeling warriors and explorers of the Underhive were pretty enough to warrant several photos to be taken. I ordered as much as possible of the doors to be saved, but in the end, a decent portion was sheared off and ruined.

“Oh well,” I tutted.

The scouts advanced in on my command, through the doorway which was stylized as a pair of flying changelings holding torches. Following up the changelings, a team of ponies marched inwards, illuminating the interior as the changelings kept their mana saved for combat spells if needed.

The interior of the massive structure was a maze of massive halls, ruined rooms of unknown purposes, storage rooms, and what resembled train station platforms. The tracks were all empty, though. Every last one of them were completely bare, leaving Nisir’s transportation as a mystery. Many of us wanted to see just how advanced the trains were, especially since the rails went completely vertical at the Underhive gate’s edges, but it seems that they had all been sent into the Underhive, for whatever reason.

Most likely evacuation, as counter-intuitive as that sounded.

As the scout teams examined the contents of the storage rooms and explored the last sections of the main building, my attention was called to one particular set of storage rooms. Luna, Celestia, and Shining Armor followed in my wake upon hearing about the rooms’ contents.

“We’re still checking for other armories, but this seems to be the main one,” Froghopper announced as we entered.

The scouts had discovered a set of rooms that served as the city’s main armories. The castle had a few similar rooms, but they were mostly bare. During the city’s fall, they had most likely been emptied by the defenders in an attempt to fend off the Nightmares long enough for the changelings to escape.

I whistled, “This room holds enough presents to give the entire Fifth Hive one hell of a Hearth’s Warming celebration.”

Rows upon rows of armor sets lay across the room’s length. Adamantium swords, spears, shields, and other armaments complimented the green-metal armor sets. Only the weapons were pure adamantium, as the armor sets had either been layered over with other metals or were made with composites and alternative materials. Adamantium plates made up the center parts of each of the armor pieces, and blackish grey metal ringed them, forming the rest of the armor.

“There’s got to be hundreds of sets,” Shining gasped.

“Must’ve needed them for the Underhive expeditions,” I guessed.

I picked up a helmet off a nearby armor set to examine it. It looked like a very simplified version of my own.

“Given the material’s value,” Celestia began, “the wonders this room could mean for Equestria put its value beyond any known number. I know a dozen ponies that would be salivating at this discovery.”

“Damn shame we desperately need the armor,” I replied.

‘Not to mention the fact that I wouldn’t sell this much adamantium to Equestria. Not right away, at least. Wouldn’t want to give away our only supply of the precious metal.’

Celestia gave me a withering glare, “You intend to arm your changelings with all of this?”

I glared back, “Celestia, just an hour ago I talked to the most dangerous living being in existence, and he had promised that he would come with two unaccounted for armies. No, I want to melt this stuff down and turn it into fucking kitchen appliances. Of course I’m using the weapons and armor! This represents changelings’ best chance at ending the nightmare– pun intended– that has been plaguing our kind since the beginning of our history! If we created the Umbrum, then we have to be there when they are put down.

“Now, that being said, I intend on cannibalizing enough of these armor sets to give each of you a set of adamantium. You three plus Cadence will be the best frontline warriors, so it seems fit to give you the best stuff.”

“I’m not exactly in fighting condition,” Celestia pointed out, looking up at me.

I frowned at the shrunken alicorn, “I’m hoping you’ll be back to your old height and power by the time Sombra manages to finish filing away his prison bars.”

“Another issue,” Luna stated. “You’re staying at the rear lines.”

“.... No?”

She didn’t budge, “Yes. Though you have the equipment and sheer power to usually make up for it, the fact stands that you are relatively untrained. King Sombra managed to fell not one but two kingdoms, and he will have numbers to back up his blade. You and Celestia should stay close to the rear. I will direct the battle from the vanguard, alongside Captain Shining Armor. Should something go wrong, you two will act as the reaction. Cadence will…. Go wherever she needs to be. But before this battle even begins, you and Cadence will need to step up your combat training significantly.”

Suppressing a sigh, I placed the helmet back onto his rack.

“I suppose I shouldn’t argue with the subject matter expert on this.”

“I have been on more battle fields than I can count,” Luna agreed.

“We should also choose our battlefield,” Shining suggested. “If King Sombra is up in the Crystal Empire, then that means he’ll be coming from the North.”

“Nisir will be right on his warpath,” Celestia said. “Shimmervale would be the closest town to the Crystal Empire’s capital. This would endanger any colony you hope to maintain, Phasma.”

“Then Nisir will be the front line,” I declared. “We will recolonize it, and center our efforts to hold the line here. That would mean we would have to evacuate the colony, but in exchange we can build defenses up at the Empire’s border. That could mean cutting King Sombra off from his reinforcements, wherever they may be.”

“You would risk Nisir?” Luna asked, picking up a sword and swinging it slowly.

“If it meant killing the Umbrum, I would. We’ll hold off on… uh… laying eggs? We’ll just focus on restoring the important functions of the city and studying it. Several teams of ponies can work alongside changelings as we crack Nisir’s mysteries.”

“A cooperative effort,” Celestia smiled and nodded. “You can write or say anything you want, but efforts such as that will show ponies you truly intend to be a part of Equestria. You know what I mean,” she added, cutting off my complaint.

“My King!” A changeling drone saluted, catching all of our attention. “We found what appears to be a vault. We are unable to open it…”

I smiled, “Sounds like we found the good stuff. C’mon gals, let’s go check out what magical secrets Nisir has for us.”

Author's Note

I have a Ko-Fi if you want to support me.

143- Anqi Sheng

Cracking the vault was easy enough. Stealing a kiss from Luna under the excuse of needing more love, I simply fired a concentrated laser at the vault, fully powered by my massive boosted mana pool. It might have survived in its heyday, fortified by countless enchantments, but the now magicless metal lasted only seconds against my volleys of magic.

The ringing in my ears settled down just as the dust was, and I heard Celestia cough behind me.

“Trying to impress somepony?”

“Your sister,” I winked.

Using God-Splitter, I ripped off the final pieces of the vault door, creating an opening large enough for drones and ponies to fit through. I would have to duck through, which I did once the advance team had given the all-clear.

The vault was structurally similar to the one in the Fourth Hive; it was a single, long room. Only, instead of shelves upon shelves of books and tomes, this vault was a long hallway, with pedestals spaced equally across its sides. Between the pedestals, lowset book shelves held crumbling books that were either completely destroyed or barely intact.

On the pedestals were objects of completely different sizes and shapes. I walked along the room’s length, curiously inspecting a few of the objects as I passed. Each pedestal had a metal plaque with an engraved sentence on it, but the language was unreadable to me. A few had the symbols from the ancient changeling pictographic language, but most were in the esoteric language that we had only just deciphered.

“An interesting collection of trinkets,” Luna remarked, reaching out with her magic to pick up a two-pronged, twisted wooden staff.

“Don’t touch anything,” I warned her. Immediately, she recoiled from the artifact. “We have no idea what any of these do, and I don’t want to find out if any are boobytrapped. The last thing we need is some sort of ancient toxic gas being released, or a giant boulder falling down and crushing us.”

“I doubt the possibility of the last one,” Luna said, gazing at the smooth metal ceiling, “but I get your point.”

“No other exits,” a changeling reported to me. “No signs of any secret rooms that we can tell, neither. This metal is playing havoc with our scanning spells, but they are pretty reliable.”

I nodded, “I’m glad to hear that, actually. The last thing I want is another closet full of skeletons… Any of you know this language?”

One changeling raised her hoof, “I was working on translating the Soulmancy books you found.”

“The what?!” Celestia yelled.

“The books of botany, those books!” I yelled back, quickly putting myself in between the drone and the alicorn. “She said botany. Botany!”

“Those don’t even rhyme,” Celestia glared at me. “Are you messing around with Soulmancy?”

“..... Not yet,” I admitted.

“Do you realize how dangerous that field of magic is?”

I stared at her, “No, you censored all public information on anything you deem ‘icky,’ meaning it’s hard to glean what the dangers are. I know I can’t really do much soul stuff for a while, but I can read a book just fine.”

Celestia began to argue, but stopped herself. “You will not use such magic in Equestria; it’s too dangerous. Not without supervision…”

“Oh hell no,” Luna suddenly complained. “I am not teaching Phasma any magic. I have caught a glimpse of the unimaginable horror that was his magical training already, and I refuse to accept the responsibility of properly training him.”

I frowned, “What are you talking about, Luna?”

“Your Faust-forsaken teleport spell,” she shook her head. “The amount of effort it would take to rectify your misgivings about magic and its workings is beyond me. Celestia, do you not run a school? You should be the one to supervise him.”

I backed away from the bickering sisters, and leaned close to the changeling drone.

“I don’t like where this conversation is going. Translate for me, I want to find out what’s down here,” I whispered to her.

“Gladly, My King,” she whispered back. “You’re not letting them tell you what to do, right, King Phasma?”

‘Great, Celestia has undermined my own standing so much my own soldiers are questioning my independence. I’m going to have to have a few conversations with her about this.’

“Of course not, now what’s this?” I ushered us towards the first artifact that caught my attention.

“It says…” she trailed off, reading the plaque. “The… urgh. I’m not sure, My King. It has something to do with equality, but the word itself is unknown.”

I looked over the two-pronged stave. I could feel its feint magical energy; its time here in Nisir had diminished its enchantments, but had not wiped them out entirely.

“Any idea what it does?” I asked, not expecting an answer.

“Errr…..” The changeling brushed the metal plaque, wiping away some dust that had collected on it. “This word here we believe means ponies. I don’t recognize anything else.”

“Ponies and equality,” I repeated. “I wonder if it makes its target an alicorn. Or, more likely, an earth pony. Strips ‘em of their unicorn horn or pegasus wings, you know? That would be a potent enough tool for changelings to research. Without all three tribes working together, conquering Equestria would have been a hell of a lot easier. Let’s see what the next artifact is.”

We moved onto the next pedestal. A golden amulet with a circular charm with a swirl lay on the plinth.

“What’s this one? And, uh, I should probably ask for your name.”

It was getting a bit awkward, so I felt that learning her name was the right thing to do. Referring to her as ‘the drone’ in my thoughts was beginning to feel dehumanizing, or whatever its changeling equivalent term was.

“Sting, Your Majesty, and this one is named ‘Weave’ something, and it has to do with… magic,” she said.

“That’s rather unspecific,” I remarked.

“Well, this word here means ‘safe,’ and this one here means ‘magical.’ I’m sorry I can’t give you anything more than that, My King.”

“You’re doing fantastic,” I said, patting Sting on the head. “I’m appreciative of what help you can provide, no matter how vague it is. So a swirly charm that has to do with safety and magic….”

“It is decided!” Celestia announced, making me look in her direction. She was beaming, and had clapped her forehooves together, “I will teach Phasma magic, from the ground up! This will be an excellent opportunity for me to dissect changelings’ magical theories, and help a friend in need.”

‘Oh! That conversation about teleportation might have something to do with this amulet.’

“Hey, uh, Sting? Maybe it has something to do with teleportation? Perhaps portals?”

Sting shrugged, “If you say so, My King.”

“That’s not what I was… nevermind. Celestia, what’s this about teaching me magic?” I asked, stepping away from the amulet.

“I had just received a letter from Spike,” she explained, producing a letter and waving it in her hoof. “Some drama concerning Twilight Sparkle and a lack of reports, but it gave me an idea! Why don’t I help you myself, and you and I can grow closer together and get to know each other better. Our work will necessitate knowing each other like the back of our hooves when dealing with foreign dignitaries, and keeping our kingdoms in perfect Harmony will require hitherfore unseen levels of cooperation. It’s a perfect idea, don’t you think?”

I blinked owlishly, then stared at Luna.

‘You are on your own,’ she mouthed.

“.... Sounds wonderful?” I told Celestia. “I’ll just squeeze in magic lessons somewhere between running the Fifth Hive, reforming it, resettling all of the lings, managing relations with Equestria, running combat lessons and drills, running my corporate empire, and spending time with Luna.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Celestia continued to smile.

“That was sarcasm, I was being sarcastic. I don’t have time to do your lessons,” I deadpanned.

“Welcome to my world,” she unhelpfully declared. “Too many things to do, and not enough hours in the day.”

“You could just add more hours into the day, you know,” I said, gritting my teeth. “You control the fucking sun.”

‘I ignore what perversions you do to the sky already, the best you can do is use them to your advantage, pony.’

“I’m not the only pony living on Equus; disrupting the day to help myself is abusing my powers. Come now, Phasma, you will have to juggle a loaded schedule for the rest of your immortal life. There simply is no avoiding it.”

“I… Fine, whatever,” I facehooved. “I’ll just delegate writing the Fifth Hive’s constitution, and instead just give my lings a rough idea of what I want it to be. It’ll cause me a hundred headaches and create a thousand dumpster fires I’ll have to put out in the future, but it should free up enough time for your stupid lessons.”

‘And I’ll have to cut back on my leisure time, too. Damn it, just what I needed.’

“You won’t regret it,” Celestia said, giving me a nod.

“I’m already regretting it,” I groaned. “Sting, guide me through the rest of the artifacts here. I need a distraction from my growing headache.”

Luna leaned into my side as I stared out towards the Underhive’s shattered gate. We had finished exploring the vault, sweeped it thoroughly for any boobytraps, and begun acquiring its contents. The artifacts were being safely and carefully stored on the Clear Skies, with accompanying paperwork and pictures of their original placement and plaques. I had no intention of leaving such valuable artifacts where they were, archeology be damned. We didn’t have a place to put them in Canterlot– I wasn’t about to put my Hive’s valuables in Celestia’s vaults– but at least they wouldn’t be out in the open.

In addition, I had ordered the lings to immediately start grabbing the armor sets for themselves; the entirety of the Red Right Hoof was here, and there was no point waiting for them to get their new armor suits.

“One hell of a way to end a vacation,” I broke the silence.

“These things tend to happen in Equestria,” Luna offered. “Never a dull day, for all that entails.”

I sighed as I watched Celestia and Shining direct a team of unicorns and changelings around the gate. Some of the guards had reported hearing sounds from the ominous entrance, so it was decided to seal up the place using a permanent shielding spell. Celestia had the spells, the ponies and changelings had the spellpower, and the adamantium ruins had the material.

A more permanent solution could be found later.

“Seal up the Underhive, finish sweeping the area for Nightmares, set up some sort of permanent security detail for Panar’s Gift, then finally work on recolonizing the city,” I listed off. “That’s not even getting into the amount of work that will be required for housing all the scientists and their findings. We’ve got our work cut out for us.”

“You will also need someone to lead the colony,” Luna said. “Someone competent and able to work closely with ponies.”

“Good thing I have a long list of changelings like that,” I groaned. “I’ve yet to even start reeducating the freed changelings on how to integrate into Equestrian societies. It’s hard enough making sure they know not to start a diplomatic incident… Maybe I’ll pick Cricket for the task. I’d hate to send her off to this frozen hellhole, but I need someone I can rely on.”

“They will also have to be a capable warrior.” I stared at Luna, prompting her to continue, “In case something breaks through the Underhive’s sealed entrance, or Faust forbid, the Nightmares attack. Your leader will be the first one mareing the front lines.”

“Fantastic. At any rate, this sounds like tomorrow’s headache. Let’s go wrap things up here, make sure Daring Do won’t wreck the place, and get the surface teams up to speed on Nisir’s state and our findings.”

In just as much of a hurry as they had arrived, the Canterlot Reactionaries now had to pack up and embark back onto their airships. It had taken a few hours for Celestia to place down the shields that covered up the hole to the Underhive, and for Shining Armor to set up a permanent detachment to watch over Nisir. I didn’t like leaving only ponies to watch over Nisir, so I had selected a few changelings to stay in Shimmervale to accompany the Royal Guards.

“That was… one hell of a jewel,” Coxa muttered.

He had gone in with Thorax and Cadence on a very short tour of the frost covered city.

“Yeah, it was crazy! Thorax agreed. “I really wish you guys could see it…”

“I’m sure we’ll find a way,” Cadence reassured the excitable ling. “The city was beautiful, though. I can’t wait to see what you’ll do with it. So much potential…”

“I’ll say,” Shining grumbled. “I can already tell this complicates my job considerably.”

“Especially with the Nightmare King,” I added. “We now have his probable location.”

“You do?” Coxa asked.

Everyone was caught up on King Sombra’s identity and history, but apparently not all the facts filtered through. After telling them what happened, I answered any questions while Celestia went off to secure the Underhive entrance.

“The Crystal Empire,” I confirmed. “Somewhere north of here. That means Nisir will be on the front lines, once the war comes. Because recolonizing it isn’t complicated and risky enough, of course. Which reminds me, Coxa, I need a list of possible candidates for leadership of a colony here. I’ll leave picking the actual colonists to the leader, or to someone else with more time.”

“I’ll get right on that, but it sounds like we’re more or less done here,” Coxa guessed.

Celestia sighed, approaching our huddled group, “Indeed we are. Business in Canterlot can only be ignored for so long, and we all have enough work to keep us busy for years to come. Captain Shining Armor and your Captain Katydid will stay here to finish setting up the security detail for Agent Daring Do, and for Panar’s Gift, but I was hoping to catch an early ride back to Canterlot with you.”

“Clear Skies always has extra room,” I said. “I’m sure the captain will find the fact that he’s carrying even more royalty to be hilarious. I just wish we could have finished our vacation. I didn’t even get to ski…”

“We’ll get a chance when we come back here,” Thorax promised. “What time we had together was great; Diamond and I had a ton of fun, and I know for a fact Luna and you did as well.”

I smiled, “That we did. I guess I’ll just have to look forward to when we come here next… three months from now.”

Captain Katydid arrived next, wearing a set of armor from Nisir.

“My King! This was quite the lucky find!” He cheered. “It’ll take a while for the lings to get accustomed to wearing armor, and even longer for them to get proficient, but I promise I’ll get them up to snuff in no time.”

“That’s good to hear,” I replied. “Are we ready to set off?”

Katydid nodded, “It was pretty easy to get all the armor we could out. Every ling puts on a set, and carries a spare set. Got some extra practice in on putting on and taking off the armor, so that’s an added bonus. We’ve got enough sets for all of our troops plus plenty more, and that’s still leaving half the armory behind. Everything’s all loaded up in Clear Skies. It’s a shame we can’t take Panar’s Gift…”

“Better safe than sorry,” I shrugged. “The last thing I want is to break something, especially something as important as King Sombra’s containment spell.”

“That would be unfortunate,” he agreed. “At any rate, we’re good to go.”

“I’ll stay here, with Shiny,” Cadence announced. “I’ll hitch a ride back to Canterlot with him; I’m not needed at the moment, and I’ll take any excuse I can get to spend time with my Captain. Luna mentioned speaking with the armorer of the Reactionaries, but you will need to speak with her about what ship she's headed back on.”

“Diamond and I are packed up,” Thorax said. “I’ll go get him from the hotel, and we’ll get aboard the Clear Skies and out from under your hooves.”

“Then our business here is done,” I summarized.

‘Our business in Nisir is far from concluded, of course. It’ll be at the forefront of everything I do for the next year, at the very least. From protecting it, to discovering its mysteries, there’s still a lot more to be done in this frozen wasteland.’

I found myself staring at the unnamed Weave amulet. It was safely stowed away in a wooden crate, which itself was placed in one of Clear Sky’s holds, specifically the closest to my own quarters. I had opened the crate to stare at the curious amulet.

It was one of many artifacts we were plundering from Nisir. There were a few others, such as a metal sphere that weighed a hundred times heavier than it looked, a four-taloned metal claw named 'Far Reach,' a large pink crystal that had the very recognizable words for love and pony in the plaque, a threadbare brown cloak, again with the word for ‘pony,’ and many others. Interestingly, there was an empty plinth, one for another amulet. That one had 'Alicorn' in the name, so it was quite heartbreaking to see its absence. There were a few intact tomes that we had taken from the vault, but most were deemed too fragile to be moved.

'Trinkets and books of immense power and value, I'm sure, and a number of them pilfered from Equestria. Yet they are all overshadowed by the one MacGuffin that is worth more than the city itself.'

My thoughts constantly wandered to the most interesting of all artifacts: Panar’s Gift.

‘Just how did the changelings make a Weave? Was it the result of a scientific pursuit at the height of our golden age? Or perhaps was it, as the name implies, a gift from above, mysteriously appearing or being found?’

Weaves have been the bane of my existence. From my narrowly avoided fate as a glorified cloud data server to The Prophet’s corrupting Weave, my own destiny seemed to be tied to the strange changeling phenomenon. To that point, I was entirely enthralled by the potential of Panar’s Gift. A Weave that large and powerful was bound to not only be able to support the entirety of the Hive it was centered in, but was almost certainly capable of so much more.

Under the influence of my own Weave, changelings could work together seamlessly and call upon information with a single thought. My Weave– as small and nascent as it was– was being used by the changelings of the Fifth Hive to access stored information on the ponies, and how to interact with them better. Equestrian and changeling society couldn’t be any more different at times, whereas human society was more closer to Equestrian than anything else I had seen. My experience was being used as a template for public manners for my changelings.

But what if I had Panar’s Gift? The Fourth Hive’s synthetic Weave had held the skills required to train Infiltrators: the most skilled spies and thieves that could ever exist. Without that Weave, we would have run out of Infiltrators long ago, lacking any other sort of way to instill the ridiculous amount of skills needed for that profession. Only Chrysalis knew just what went into an Infiltrator’s mind; their secretive rituals and training practices were a complete mystery to outsiders, even me. Tarsus had shared a few stories, but he had revealed only a fraction of what he did as an Infiltrator.

Infiltrators were not the end of the line, for Panar’s Gift held a much higher capacity for knowledge; what if we could not only train Infiltrators, but the greatest warriors the world had ever seen? Or the greatest scientists to have ever explored this world’s fields of magic and science?

‘That would explain how Nisir was so advanced. They had the tool necessary to continuously build upon their generations of knowledge.’

That wasn’t the only major piece of arcane knowledge that held my interest. There were secrets pertaining to a certain demon somewhere in Nisir. King Sombra was brought into the material world in the changeling city, so more information concerning his past was bound to be there.

'Know thy enemy.'

If we could learn about his past and what made him into the monster he is, maybe we can also learn how to kill him.

'If all else fails, I'm sure we can hit him with the rainbow-laser-beam-of-friendship. That killed Nightmare Moon and Daybreaker, so it seems to work well on the Umbrum.'

I stiffened.

“It’s impossible to sneak up on a changeling, you know,” I announced loudly.

Daring Do stepping out from the shadow behind me, “You sensed my emotions, didn’t you?”

I nodded, closing the lid on the amulet’s crate.

“There’s only one way to hide those, and Division-P stole all the amulets that let you do that. What are you doing here, Daring Do? I thought you were staying in Nisir, not sneaking aboard airships carrying royalty and changelings, bound for Canterlot.”

“And what if I was sneaking aboard airships carrying royalty and changelings, bound for Canterlot, hmm? What then?” She pointed to the crate I was next to, “You took a lot of Nisir with you when you left.”

“I did,” I said simply.

“You took most of the juicy bits, I would say,” Daring continued. “But that doesn’t interest me. Not yet, at least. I need to go to Canterlot to speak with my editor. She received my draft for my next book, and wanted to talk in pony about it.”

“Oooooh, am I in this book?” I asked, sliding up to her.

She recoiled in disgust at the violation of personal space, “No, you are not. The entirely fictional villain Ouroboros, however, is in the book. It was quite tricky to make an anti-villain, but I think I pulled it off. It’s a nice break from the usual doom-and-gloom monologuing villain, and I’m sure my readers will like him. Or they won’t and I’ll simply never include him in a future novel.”

“How very reassuring. I have to ask, why did you stowaway on board? I can’t imagine it would have been hard to get passage out of Shimmervale aboard the Royal Guard’s ships.”

Daring stared at me, “Are you kidding me? You think a ‘civilian’ can get aboard a military vessel? Have you forgotten that I’m supposed to be a secret agent?”

“Oh–”

“In addition,” she cut me off, “the cabins on a personal vessel are nicer.”

“How did you even know we would have space? And how did you get past the captain of the vessel?”

Daring rolled a hoof, “I talked with a few changelings while you were napping in my hidey-hole. They apparently all sleep in the cargo holds?”

I shrugged, “In secure Fifth Hive quarters some have private rooms, but for the most part they have to sleep in barracks while we acquire more apartments for the entire Hive. Space is a commodity we don’t have. And the Clear Skies doesn’t have much, either. It’s a small ship fitting several hundred changelings. I really thought Celestia would take up the last free cabin, but I guess there’s one more?”

Daring nodded, “Speaking of Her Highness, that’s how I got in. I simply introduced myself as her aide– under my pseudonym, of course, and Captain Silver Sky let me aboard. He wasn’t in a position to say no, not to Princess Celestia.”

I sighed, “Whatever. I’m sure the smuggler is very skilled at finding room where there isn’t any.”

“A less mature mare would take that in a different way,” a new voice said, entering the room. Celestia chuckled, “I was wondering where you slinked off to.”

“Okay, this room is getting crowded fast,” I said, pushing Daring Do out the door and making Celestia backpedal. Shutting the door behind me, I gestured to Celestia, “Now then, I think it’s best if we move this conversation somewhere more private.”

Daring shook her head, “I just came to tell you that I’ll be dropping by later in Canterlot with a host of professionals. You know, for the scientific cooperatives you promised.”

I sighed, “I’ll mark my calendar. And I’ll make it someone else’s problem to organize our counterparts. Celestia?”

Celestia nodded, “We can take this to my cabin, which is right there,” she pointed to my door.

“... Panar fucking damn it.”

Author's Note

I have a Ko-Fi if you want to support me.

144- Malin Kundang

The Captain had indeed given away my cabin to Celestia, and frankly, I should have been less surprised.

I was well within my rights to raise a stink about it and demand it back, but that was not a battle I saw any point in fighting. Luna was hitching a ride back to Canterlot with the Reactionaries so she could work together with the armorer to get blueprints of her armor done, which left me sleeping alone. Kicking Celestia out of my room seemed like beating up the elderly, so instead, I bunked with the soldiers.

But before I returned to the drones, Celestia and I had a long conversation.

I sat down in a spare chair, which was barely big enough to support me. Celestia took the big, pleather chair that sat behind the room’s desk.

“Phasma…” She sighed. “You don’t like me.”

I leaned back, “That’s one way to start a conversation.”

“Am I wrong?”

I exhaled slowly, thinking.

“We started on the wrong hoof,” Celestia continued. “And our professional relationship and potential friendship has only been put under more and more stress.”

“I don’t blame you for Daybreaker’s actions,” I said.

“I’m thankful for that. I actually don’t blame you for killing Count Double Dealings. I don’t want anything like that to happen again, but… my ponies don’t really know how bloody Equestria’s past is. Luna and I… to unite the three tribes, we had to clear out the old world order. Anypony who stood in our way, we either peacefully talked them into seeing our perspective, or… we killed them.

“Point is, I’m not a saint. Luna isn’t, either. We’ve done things that cannot be undone, and our hooves are stained in blood. I’ve rewritten history so that our actions don’t taint Equestria and pull ponies down with us, but there’s no point pretending we’ve never done anything wrong. From everything I’ve heard about Count Double Dealings, you killing him actually solves a lot of problems. I can’t imagine what a crime organization the size of the Fifth Hive’s would be like under his rule. Without a doubt, you saved lives. But you went too far. Nowadays, we control ourselves and keep a close eye on our actions. We talked about that, and I’m sure you agree.”

I shrugged, “I guess.”

Celestia leaned forward, “We’ve both made mistakes. Mine, far worse and far in the past. Mostly. Yours, far more recent and far more isolated. Before our ponies and changelings can become friends, we have to show them it’s possible. Overall, there should be little standing in the way of friendship between us. I want to know how we can bridge this gap that’s forming between us. I want to know what we can do better.”

I groaned, “Celestia, you’re clever. You plan for things far in the future, you keep a close ear and eye on everyone around you, you manipulate events and people to get the outcomes you desire. I’m sure this behavior came as a result of ruling a nation for thousands of years; you need to be a political mastermind to maintain absolute power for so long. Problem is, you aren’t the only schemer I’ve met. In a lot of ways, you remind me of Chrysalis. I know I’m slow to trust people, but with you, it’s just reminder after reminder of her. You plot, you spy, and you plan. Again, I can’t blame you for most of that– hell, I do that too, but I just… I don’t think I can ever stop worrying about my future.”

“I want you to trust me,” Celestia said, placing her hooves on the desk and into view. “See? Here are my hooves. Out in the open. It’s a metaphor.” I snorted, and she continued, “I’m not planning on doing anything horrible, or even negative. I only want what’s best for Equestria and for the Fifth Hive. If I plan something, it’s to our benefit– like the vacation for us. You enjoyed the weekend before accidentally stumbling upon an entire forgotten city, right?”

“Yeah,” I admitted. “I mean, I know you’re not planning on killing me, or turning me into a changeling-flavored popsicle.”

I tasted sadness encroaching on her emotions, “There’s a difference between trusting that I won’t kill you and trusting that I will help you. Here, let me be in the open; I use humor often to defuse the tension between us, because I know you like to joke around. I know you trust Luna implicitly because she saved you at your most vulnerable moment, but unless you want to go be a damsel in distress so that I can save you, we need to find another way of building trust. Do you want to be a damsel in distress? I can call in a few favors, find a nice tall tower, and have you locked up and guarded by a dragon.”

“Heh, And you’ll come and save me?”

“Absolutely!” She beamed. “Right after lunch. If my schedule allows it, that is.”

“It’d have to be a big dragon,” I said, leaning back in my chair.

“I know a guy,” Celestia said slowly. “But we should get back to business. You can’t think of anything that will change your mind about me?”

Rubbing my head, I sighed, “No, I… just give me time, Celestia. Everything has been so recent, I… You could start by not undermining my authority in front of other lings.”

“Hmm? What do you mean?”

I shifted in my chair, “You basically stated that you would tutor me, instead of asking. I don’t really care, but it’s all about perspective. My drones don’t see my thought process of considering the idea, then deciding whether or not it’ll be to my benefit and that said benefits outweigh the costs. They only see you ordering me around.”

Celestia shrugged, “Very well. That sounds like an issue with a simple fix; I shall make requests, instead of stating things.”

I nodded, “Thanks. It’s strange that that’s an issue I have to deal with now. I’m not quite used to being a ruler yet.”

“I am unused to having an equal, too,” Celestia smiled. “It’s quite a novel phenomenon, as it is even more complicated than my relationship with Luna, though I’m a thousand years rusty on that, too.”

“Yeah, I get it. Do you have any suggestions for uh… friendship?”

She tapped a hoof on the desk, “Hmmm. I have a small idea, but no more surprises, so let me tell you right now; how would you feel about a birthday party?”

“A… a birthday party?” I echoed her. “You’re serious?”

“I am. There’s no way to forget what you’ve lost– and I’m not going to pretend I know exactly what you’ve been through– but the best way to move on from loss is to honor the past and celebrate what you have now. That I know from experience.”

“If you say so… Alright, let’s do the party. I don’t want anything huge, so it’ll just be my friends. I’d say you can invite yours, Celestia, but I know you don’t have any.”

She jabbed a hoof in my direction, “Hey! I have friends! I have so many friends I have them pouring out of my metaphorical sleeves! I have so many friends, that my friends have friends! That’s how many friends I have!”

I started laughing, and after holding a straight face for a bit, Celestia started laughing too.

“It’s not easy being the unapproachable Princess,” she said, collecting herself. “In pursuit of perfection, I’ve lost too much along the way.”

“Well you probably know more about making friends than I do,” I shrugged. “Though I can’t imagine any opportunities you could have to find some.”

“Perhaps I should practice a hobby where I can meet other ponies… Anonymously, if possible. I’d rather leave a first impression of being down to Equus.”

“I am working towards one way of meeting others,” I revealed, “but that’s years and years off. In fact, Double Diamond just gave me a message today from his parents; our inventions have some serious design issues and delays, meaning we’re farther away from our goals than we thought. So no video games anytime soon…”

“Video games?”

“Like board games, only a thousand times more complex, and possibly more fun. It’s… a long ways away, but I know for a fact that it’s worth the effort. There are of course other advances that will come with the invention, such as the economic pillar that is the internet or the scientific wonder that is the computer, but who cares about societal-changing and revolutionary concepts that create paradigm shifts? All I care about is spending my leisure time how I want to. Maybe try joining a book club? That sounds like something you’d enjoy.”

“Hmmm… It would take a bit to break through the ice, but maybe that could work. I’ll think about it, thank you for the suggestion.” Celestia looked around the room, “This place is rather threadbare, isn’t it?”

“It’s a ship’s cabin, there’s not going to be much in it. But if you are looking for something, try the main drawer on the desk,” I pointed to it.

Confused, Celestia followed my suggestion, opening the draw and pulling out a glass bottle.

“How did you know this was in here?” She asked as she examined the bottle of wine.

“I used this cabin frequently. I keep some stuff in here for my own use. It's one of the more innocent things hidden on this ship.”

“What do you mean?”

I smiled, “I planted a few things here and there aboard the Clear Skies. I needed insurance that the captain wouldn’t rat me out… Ah, it doesn't matter. I’ve been thinking of my past too much, and I want to hurt a bit less than normal, so open the damned bottle.”

Her muzzle scrunched up, “Using alcohol is an unhealthy escape mechanism. A better pony would find another way to let loose, but… we’re not better ponies. Cheers.”

The drones were ecstatic when they realized I was staying with them.

There were a few spare beds, even with the hot bunking system they had, and so I stowed away my armor and hammer and met with the changelings. They talked and shared stories about their captivity or how the Fifth Hive brought them more love rations than they had seen in an entire year while in the Fourth Hive. But things were not perfect in paradise.

I took complaints from them, namely concerns about how the rations are already seemingly becoming more and more stringent. I confirmed this; with the massive influx of changelings freed from Division-P, we had more mouths to feed. Still, we could feed countless more than we had. In time, more interspecies relationships would increase the ration pool, especially when I start to personally donate love.

There were also complaints about the Royal Guards. Cooperative training sessions were difficult to pull off. Apparently, tensions were high between the two armies; many of the veterans of Canterlot’s burning harbored grudges, and were slow to let them go.

Then came story time. My changelings huddled around me in the crowded converted cargo hold, and listened as I regaled my tales of action and adventure following the failed invasion. From fighting the Dire Wolves immediately after, to slaying the Rat King in the woods outside of Hooferville, to plunging into the depths of the Third Hive to slay The Prophet and detonate the entire city, the changelings were eating up my stories like they were infused with love.

I shared the stories of the friends and allies I made along the way: the thestrals who sheltered us after the Third Hive, Luna bridging the gap between our kingdoms, and even the three guards in Hooferville who accepted me, war crimes and all.

Halfway through, I noticed the arrival of a few more guests; Celestia, Daring Do, Thorax, and Double Diamond had joined the changelings, sticking to the back of the crowd. With changelings filtering in and out of the room as they went to sleep or perform duties and drills throughout the ship, my audience slowly rotated through the entirety of The Red Right Hoof as the day turned to night. When I became too tired to continue, the huddle was broken, the drones went into their own conversations, and the guests retreated back to their quarters. I had to answer a number of questions from curious drones before I could finally get some shuteye.

We arrived the next day, setting down at one of the Crown's landing spaces at the edge of the city.

Daring Do slipped away, citing the need to keep her cover and visit the city as her archeologist disguise. A contingent of Royal Guards had met us with a carriage, and were standing at the ready when the boarding ramp dropped.

“I am always at your service, Your Highness,” Captain Silver Sky bowed as Celestia stepped off the boarding ramp.

“Thank you, Captain. It was a treat being on your ship,” Celestia bowed courteously. "King Phasma, it's only fair for me to extend an offer of transportation after you so graciously allowed me usage of yours."

"That's very kind, Princess Celestia. I'll be with you shortly." When she entered the carriage, I gave Silver Sky a glare, “I don’t recall paying to sleep in a cargo hold.”

The pony bowed, “Your Majesty, I was reorganizing the sleeping arrangements aboard my ship. It was a necessary task that I had done before, you needed only to speak to me for a new place. I apologize profusely for any undue hardship you endured, but I would have arranged for it to be solved…”

“I don’t pay you to make me come to you with problems you created,” I said. “We’ll discuss the terms of your contract later.”

Before he could argue, I went down the ramp and joined Celestia in the carriage.

‘Just because I don’t intend on doing anything doesn't mean I shouldn’t remind Silver Sky of who I am. If I let him get away with this, it could look very bad for my public image, or at least his image of me. Best let him sweat it out for a while, then come back with a more calm and collected approach. I’ll appear more benevolent, he’ll see right through my charade in an instant, and we’ll all be good. Him seeing through my façade isn't necessarily a bad thing, though.'

'But I do need to consider creating my own airship. I can’t rely on a pony smuggler to transport my army, so perhaps I should send someone to start looking into contacting shipyards…’

"Equus to Phasma?" Celestia waved a hoof in front of my face.

"Hmm? I was lost in thought, sorry."

She smiled, "That much was obvious. I was asking what your immediate plan for Nisir was."

"I have to begin the process of drafting a colonial team, and getting them supplies."

"Any chance of there being ponies on that team?" Celestia asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

I shifted around in my seat, finding it hard to get comfortable, "You've already got scientists, now you want colonists?"

"I think it has the potential to be an equal population city," Celestia explained. "Proof of concept that changelings and ponies can live and work side by side."

I tapped my chin, "That does sound nice… The colony's main purpose is to increase changeling numbers, though. We are very close to extinction, and I'm worried that restricting that growth to allow for ponies would slow down the growth of our entire species…."

"There are benefits for either way," she admitted. "Still, I'm glad you are actually thinking about my proposal, rather than shooting it down. With how possessive you were when we found Nisir, I was a bit worried you would hold onto it like a dragon's hoard."

I shifted around more, ducking my head so I didn’t pierce the ceiling with my horn.

“I’m just worried about my species’ future. If Nisir is equally filled with ponies as it is changelings, then it’s going to be much slower to get us out of this situation.”

Celestia shrugged, “Then don’t have it be a one-to-one ratio. Manehattan, Cloudsdale, and Canterlot are all primarily one tribe, and each are bastions of Harmony. Ponies will be fine with Nisir being a changeling city like Canterlot is a unicorn one, you just have to make room for others to have a place in it.”

“That… could work,” I agreed. “Damn it Celestia, what’s in these seats? Have you filled them with coals?”

She frowned, “There’s nothing wrong with the seats… are you feeling well?”

“I feel a bit hot,” I admitted. “I swear, if I caught a cold from an ancient ruin… The last thing I need is some ancient virus to wreak havoc on my body. Then again, I suppose there isn’t a good time to get sick, is there?”

“This is as good of a time as any. I’ll fetch a doctor to give you a checkup. One with experience dealing with changelings….”

I slumped into the seat, “Great, sounds like I’m going to get a visit from Dr. Mengele. Will you be retrieving this pony from prison?”

“... Potentially.”

“We’re just going to hope he won’t try to assassinate me, then?”

Celestia waved dismissively, “Nonsense. I would never put you in a position where you could be harmed.”

“Knowingly,” I added.

“I assure you, I will have this professional fully vetted. What have I done to make you so untrusting that you are worried about your health?”

I stared at the ceiling as I began listing things off, “You did spy on me, Luna said you were planning on the Fifth Hive being integrated into Equestria so I can’t be too sure of all of your motives, and I’m not exactly a trusting fellow…”

“Alright, alright! I get it,” she sighed. “Look, I’ll run any visitors by your aides, Coxa and Cricket. Is this acceptable?”

“Yes.”

“Excellent. They will give a second opinion on anypony I send your way. Like the therapist.”

I groaned and put my head in my hooves, still shifting around in my seat.

“I forgot about that shit. Can we just not do it, and say we did?”

“No.”

I gave her a pair of puppy-dog eyes, “Not even if I say please?”

“Not even if you say please. This will benefit all of us. Because we’re all going, in case you forgot. That is an order, not a request.”

“Very well. It’s a small price to pay for literally getting away with murder,” I admitted.

“Self-defense,” Celestia corrected me. “I’m all for not forgetting your mistakes and doing better, but let’s not get to the point of torturing yourself. You can speak with Luna about where that leads. Plus I’d rather you not go around claiming to get away with murder. It makes Equestria look bad, and it makes you look worse.”

The carriage came to a halt, and the door opened, allowing Celestia out and me following her. After stretching, I caught up to Celestia, only to notice a changeling standing by the doors to the palace.

He waved to me, “My King! There’s three ponies who claim to know you in our office. They wouldn’t take no for an answer, and their story checked out…”

‘Three ponies, eh? That’s a genuine surprise, but I guess they decided to come visit me up on Capitol Hill.’

“I’ll see them shortly,” I told the changeling. “I’ll catch up with you later, Celestia.”

“See you this afternoon,” she said. “Dinner’s at nine.”

I found the three troublemakers loitering in Coxa’s office. Undoubtedly, they would have trashed my own office if I actually had one instead of fitting into Luna’s office.

Sergeant Quick Search was sitting in Coxa’s chair, staring at a map Coxa had pinned to the wall. The map was of our transportation routes. Given that we had political immunity, there wasn’t a need to hide our business anymore.

Corporal Bray Call was arguing with a drone. The subject of their argument seemed to be a pile of documents that the drone was holding, and that Bray was interested in. From what I overheard before I interrupted the conversation, Bray wanted to read the documents made on changelings, while the drone said she didn’t have the clearance.

Private Warm Dew was sitting on the ground behind Search, watching Bray Call’s argument with a small grin.

“What’s this I hear about trespassers harassing my drones?” I asked loudly as I stepped into the room.

“Ah, there’s the depressed stallion,” Search said, rising from the chair.

“Sky! I mean Phasma!” Bray cheered, forgetting her conversation and rushing over.

“Yes, it’s me,” I said before grunting as Bray hug-tackled me. “Careful, I might be contagious with a zombie plague right now.”

The drones that were keeping them corralled shuffled off, giving us some privacy.

“Hope you don’t mind us visiting,” Search said, “but we decided to visit our old pal now that he’s famous. Well, famous and accepted.”

“We also wanted to mooch off of you,” Dew said, earning a punch in the shoulder from Search.

Bray let go, “Mooch off of you and see how you were doing. You made a lot of national headlines, you know.”

“A lot of headlines,” Search stressed. “Crashing Canterlot’s biggest party? I have to say, that was rather exciting to hear. Those stuffy nobles could use a good shakeup or twelve.”

“And you freed Discord,” Dew added. “That wasn’t a good thing.”

“I had things under control,” I said. “And by that, I mean I didn’t, but things worked out in the end. Daybreaker had to go, and releasing Discord was the only way to get that to happen.”

“You’ve also got a marefriend,” Bray shook her head, “and a Princess, no less! How’d you score her?!”

I nervously chuckled, “Well, she scored me. I’m not exactly an expert when it comes to… feelings?”

“That much was obvious,” Dew interrupted.

Nodding, I continued, “Right. I bottle everything up. Luna was the one who approached me about… everything.”

“So she wears the pants in the relationship?” Search teased.

“What are you talking about? You ponies don’t even wear pants.”

“It’s an expression,” Bray explained. “It means–”

“I know what it means,” I cut her off, “and no, I think I cause her way too many headaches for that to be considered the case. Luna just… pushes me to display and give affection. And to trust others. And to stop stealing from her stash of iced oatmeal cookies she keeps in her office.”

“Sounds like Her Highness is a good influence,” Search smiled. “Glad you took our advice of getting friends to heart.”

“The papers also say you killed somepony,” Dew moved the conversation along.

‘Oh they are not going to be happy about that.’

“I did. It was self defense, and I had tried to deescalate the situation, but I did end up killing an organized crime boss.”

“Did you have to?” Bray stressed.

I scratched my chin, “I suppose I could have spared his life. But I didn’t.”

Quick Search sighed, “That’s rather troubling. We were hoping that was just tabloid craziness, and not the truth.”

“I thought we taught you better than that,” Bray shook her head.

The two ponies were clearly upset with me, but Dew wasn’t.

“... A crime boss, you say?” Dew asked, his emotions matching his curiosity.

Bray Call huffed, "You can't be seriously considering excusing this."

Dew put up his hooves, "I'm not saying what Phasma did was right, I'm just saying that to help ponies, they have to want to be helped. If Phasma tried to de-escalate, and things still turned bloody… now, you never need to resort to murder, that I don't approve of, but sometimes they leave you no choice but doing things the hard way."

"But Phasma’s practically an alicorn!" Bray stamped a hoof. "He's more than capable of bringing bad ponies down without resorting to killing."

"Regardless of how we feel," Search said, stepping between the two, "I'm sure the Princesses have passed judgment on the matter already."

"They have," I admitted. "They agreed that what I did was somewhat warranted, but not acceptable. So they are sending me to therapy to make me learn the extent of my powers, or something."

Bray frowned, "The newspapers mentioned that you were a year old…"

I nodded, "Yes. That's correct, I wasn't a changeling a year ago. Then I died, and now I am one."

"That's weird," Bray muttered.

"That's bucking weird," Dew agreed.

Search raised an eyebrow, "You were a pony? Or a griffon?"

"An alien. A bipedal, omnivore primate."

"That is bucking weird," Search said.

For the next half hour, I caught them up on my story and everything that had happened since I left hooferville. It turns out, there were a lot of rumors around me and my changelings, but public opinion was hopeful that I could end the war that had emptied life out of an entire fourth of Equestria, though a much smaller fraction of its population. If I could bring back those ponies, then every last pony would forgive anything I did.

Mostly.

It was something to keep in mind. Not that I wasn't planning on returning the ponies, but hearing that there was already support for changelings, even in smaller cities like Hooferville, was good news.

My story was interrupted by Coxa's arrival. Without a fancy-shmancy carriage to ride in, he had to fly to the Palace. Apparently, he took the opportunity to check in with a few things before heading back to his office, where we were.

"Hey Phasma, I need to talk with you for a moment," he whispered into my ear.

I nodded, "Fellas, this is Coxa, a close friend. Coxa, this is Search, Bray, and Dew. If you three will excuse me for a moment…"

Search motioned to the door, "By all means. We'll be here, and I'll make sure Bray doesn't make a mess of the place."

"Thanks," I said before stepping out to talk with Coxa. "Alright, give me the bad news."

Coxa grimaced, "Cricket hasn't been seen in two days."

The heat I felt at the back of my neck intensified. I felt the now alien sensation of hairs standing on edge, despite being covered in chitin.

I shook my head, "Let's hope for the best and plan for the worst. Start assembling search parties and interviewing lings and ponies. Find out where she's been, who she was last seen by, and where she was headed. Best case scenario, she's passed out drunk somewhere after enjoying a small vacation."

"And the worst?" Coxa asked.

"... Division-P remnants may already be moving against us."

Coxa hissed in frustration, "Here? In Canterlot?!"

"They will have loyalists in the E.U.P., without a doubt. That might give them enough intelligence to operate within the city. We have to assume that Cricket has been nabbed by them. I'll finish up with my three friends and get Celestia on the case. Hopefully, with Royal Guard help– even if they are compromised, we can find her."

"Alright, I'll go talk to Froghopper and Katydid. And make sure those ponies don't trash the place!"

I headed back inside, only to find Bray conspicuously moving away from the door and whistling.

"Trouble in paradise?" Search asked.

"Yes. We're going to have to cut our chat short, unfortunately."

Bray sighed, "Then let's get to the mooching. Sergeant Search was hoping you could put in a recommendation to the Royal Guard for him. Or get somepony else to."

"As nice as Hooferville is, I'd rather retire with a Royal Guard's pension," the red pegasus explained. "A few tours in Canterlot and I can transfer to one of the local divisions."

"I'll see what I can do," I said, trying to think how my word would be worth anything to the Royal Guard.

'Maybe I can ask a favor from Cadence, who will whip Shining Armor into doing it. I shudder to think what Cadence would demand in return, but that's a bridge I can burn another day. I owe it to these guys.'

"Yeah, I can probably get that done," I said, nodding to myself.

"And," Bray said, "I need a recommendation to get into Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns."

"Sure, is that a college?"

I hadn't exactly heard of the place.

"Technically no, but it does have a program for after high school education," Bray explained, tracing a circle on the ground. "Think of it like an apprenticeship program. It opens a lot of doors for me if I can get in. Trouble is, you have to know somepony. Or, you have to be very rich."

‘Well, that should be a really simple matter of throwing my weight around to get what I want.’

“Alright, I can get you the opportunity to get in–”

Bray brightened up and gasped.

“–But!” I continued, “Only the opportunity. You have to prove your mettle and actually pass whatever entrance exam or interview they have.”

“Of course,” Bray nodded rapidly, “I couldn’t ask for anything more! Thank you so much, Phasma! I won’t let you down!”

“I’m sure you won’t,” I chuckled. “Now, come on, let’s go see what you have to do to get in.”

“Guess we’ll come, too,” Quick Search said, motioning for Dew to follow.

“That would be for the best,” I agreed.

“The school’s office is probably closed, though,” Bray pointed out. “It’s mid-afternoon.”

I smiled coyly, “I know. We’re not heading for the school, though.”

She paused, “Then where are we heading?”

“Why, the throne room, of course. Where else would Celestia be?”

“Wh…” Bray short circuited. “What?”

“You can’t be serious,” Search whispered.

Dew smiled, “We’re actually going to see the Princess?”

Bray shrunk back, “I didn’t mean– isn’t this like an abuse of your station, or something? We’re just three ponies–”

“You’re three friends,” I put a stop to that thought. “Celestia’ll be happy to meet you. Besides, I need to talk with her anyways.”

“If… you insist,” Search said hesitantly.

“I do, now come on.”

The Princess of the Sun was in her throne room, which I was happy to find out. The more theatrical the meeting, the more I impressed my friends. The more I impressed the three ponies, the more fun I had.

She was standing in front of her oversized pair of thrones, addressing a team of Royal Guards. From the epaulets and insignias I could spy from across the hall, they looked to be officers. Hoping that I wasn't interrupting something important, I led the trio of ponies across the throne room. Aside from her and the officers, there were about twelve Royal Guards spaced out along the walls.

'No pony crowd today. That makes sense, she could hardly hold court when she had no idea she would be in today.'

When Celestia saw me approaching, she dismissed the Royal Guards and turned to meet me.

"Phasma, I know you might be hungry, but dinner is hours away."

"I know, and I'm finding ways to keep busy until she gets back," I joked.

"Hmm? I don't follow– ooh, my sister–”

"Your sister," I said at the same time. "Anyways, Princess Celestia, these are my friends: Sergeant Quick Search, Corporal Bray Call, and Private Warm Dew. Fellas, this is Princess Celestia, co-ruler of Equestria and ruiner of fun."

The ponies bowed before the princess, who smiled at their display.

"Please, rise my ponies. I've heard of your exploits from Phasma, and I am happy to meet you."

Search rose slowly, "It's an honor to meet you, Princess."

Bray followed, "I hope we aren't intruding…"

Dew, as silent as ever, rose quietly.

Celestia shook her head, "You are not, in fact. I don't have much free time but I do have a few minutes."

I motioned to Bray to step forward, "I need to ask you for a favor, Celestia. You see, Bray here was hoping to get a chance at getting into your overpriced unicorn school."

Bray reddened up like a tomato and stammered, "N-no, I n-never said that! I just– I wanted to ask for a recommendation from Phasma to get my hoof in the door! I would never–”

"As you can see, she's very enthusiastic to meet you," I chuckled. "So, any chance I can abuse my position to arrange for some nepotism?"

Celestia rolled her eyes, “I cannot give you a spot in the school but I can give you the opportunity to earn a place. There are a few openings, so you will have to prove you are capable of handling the rigorous course load. Are you up to the task?”

Bray’s head shook up and down so violently that I half expected her horn to fly off.

“I’m ready for any challenge, Your Highness!”

Celestia nodded, “That is good to hear. You will need that enthusiasm. I can arrange for the entrance exam to be given as soon as you are ready. Does next Wednesday work for you?”

More furious nodding, “Anytime, Your Highness.”

“You aren’t going to be missed at your job in Hooferville?” I asked.

Search spoke up, “I arranged for us to have the rest of the month off. Since you kinda took care of the Rat King and the tunnel it came from, there haven’t been any attacks and the guard can take more days off.”

Celestia smiled, “Perfect, please report to the School’s office Wednesday afternoon at one. Do you need help finding the building?” Bray shook her head, and Celestia continued, “In that case, I would love to stay and chat, but I’ve got a meeting in five. Is there anything else, Phasma?”

“As a matter of fact, there is,” I said slowly. “Cricket– you met her at the negotiations– hasn’t been seen in two days. I’d like the Royal Guard’s help finding her.”

“Oh dear,” Celestia breathed, “I remember her. I’ll notify the guards immediately, but I don’t know how much help we can be.”

“Any help is welcomed. I’ll attach changeling to the E.U.P. patrols so they can identify her if they run across her.”

“That sounds like a good plan. Do you have any idea what happened to her?”

I looked around the room nervously, “No, but I fear that Division-P is on the move.”

“Already?! Do… Is it possible that they have infiltrated the castle?” Celestia asked, keeping loose control over her emotions.

“No, I would have noticed–”

That heat at the back of my neck returned, like someone was watching me. I noticed something thanks to Celestia’s comment; there were twelve guards standing around us, and every one of them was outputting emotions.

All of them, save one.

He was close to us, standing to my right. Between the two other guards around him, his lack of emotions was masked by the flow of the others around him. I only noticed because I looked for something out of place. He was a unicorn, with the standard colorings that their armor provided.

“You there. To my right. Drop your disguise, and identify yourself,” I demanded over the Weave.

I slowly turned to face the imposter, and the pony stepped forth, letting the spear he was carrying to droop to the side.

“It’s you. It really is you…” he whispered.

“Phasma? Is that one of them?” Celestia asked, putting myself between her and the guard.

“What’s going on?” Sergeant Quick Search asked, his two companions sharing his confusion.

“I said drop your disguise and identify yourself!” I barked, verbally too, this time.

The other guards figured out what was going on, and leveled their spears at the faux pony.

The changeling– having responded to my Weave command the first time, he had to be one– complied, and his disguise was stripped away in green flames. The changeling drone in the Royal Guard Armor stared at me in awe, jaw slackened.

“Your Highness, you’re alive! I… this truly is a miracle!”

“Identify yourself, soldier!” I commanded once more, without the Weave.

“Infiltrator Spider, Your Highness. I was attached to the Fourth Legion, scouting out and cutting off communications ahead of the Swarm…”

“Fourth Legion,” I said breathlessly. “That’s impossible, they all exfiltrated out of Equestria successfully–”

I gasped in realization.

“I can take you to safety, My Prince,” the changeling whispered. “Come with me.”

“You’re from the Fourth Hive.”

He nodded, “I can get you out of here, just say the word.”

‘Back to Chrysalis?!’

I took a step back involuntarily, “The Fifth Hive stands with Equestria. Surrender, and you’ll be integrated into it peacefully. I mean it, Infiltrator Spider. I can get you love rations immediately, you’ll be better off with us than–”

The changeling sighed, “She warned us of this. The Queen said you were brainwashed, and it’s becoming increasingly clear that that’s the case. Don’t worry, Saint Phasma, I’ll save you.”

“What–” I began to say.

I had only a moment to react to a shard of metal that flashed in the evening’s light spilling through the window behind the changeling. I instantly brought up a shield in front of me, and a metal dart smacked into the shield and shattered. From the sheer size of the metal piece, it looked more like a speartip than anything else.

‘Designed to puncture thick chitin,’ I realized.

When I tore my eyes away from the dart, I saw the changeling starting to fly up, dodging spells and lunges from the Royal Guard, who, to their credit, reacted immediately. I watched helplessly as the changeling burst through the window behind him, a shield keeping the spellfire off his back. I was stunned by another realization, one that shook me to my core.

“King Phasma, are you okay?” Celestia asked, still behind me.

The heat I felt at the back of my neck had traveled throughout my body. Most frighteningly, I realized that it was in my mind. It was always there. Ever since I set hoof off the Clear Skies, it was there.

She was there.

Chrysalis’s Weave was present in Canterlot.

Chrysalis is in Canterlot.

Somehow, the Fourth Hive had found a way past the encirclement and had managed to get all the way to the capital of Equestria. Once more, the city had been infiltrated– right up to the highest and most secure echelon, somehow.

‘Our guard was down, and most of the guard presence was absent. The fucking Reactionaries and Red Right Hoof were gone, and the Legions slipped through the open door!’

I took a deep breath, and screamed at the top of my lungs.

"Winter Contingency! I repeat, Winter Contingency! Chrysalis is in Canterlot! Sound the alarms! Alert the Royal Guard! Evacuate the Hive’s civilians! Make safe the city! To war! To war! To waaaaar!”

Author's Note

I have a Ko-Fi if you want to support me.

145- Gjallarhorn: When All Bells Toll

Arc 10: Ragnarök

Queen Chrysalis snorted in laughter. The drone laying prostrate before her didn't move.

"An entertaining joke," Chrysalis sneered, "but hardly a believable one."

"Your Majesty, I'm telling the truth," Cricket pleaded. "King Phasma did defeat Daybreaker. He just did it in a roundabout way, avoiding fighting her directly."

Chrysalis's muzzle scrunched up, "Hmmm. That is more believable. Prince Phasma was to me as I was to that alicorn: so pitifully weak that our efforts were laughable. He would not win in a fair fight, but he did learn to not fight fairly. Let’s pretend for a moment that your hilarious tales are true. Is Canterlot in our control already? And how exactly did he defeat the greatest threat to our species?"

"Err…" Cricket mumbled. "He defeated Daybreaker by releasing Discord, the primeval destroyer, and used the ponies' greatest weapon to defeat them both, basically."

"Feh! If the Prince had released the anathema to civilization, we would have noticed, even deep in the Underhive. Tell me the truth, this time without the nymph's tale."

Cricket glanced at the other changeling in the room.

"The truth," The drone echoed, but said no more.

The drone was named Councilor Midge, and he represented the rest of the Fourth Hive in Cricket's interrogation.

"That is the truth," Cricket insisted.

"You can't pull the wool over my eyes that easily," Chrysalis sneered.

"Regardless of how Celestia was defeated," Midge interrupted, "can you confirm that Canterlot is in changeling hooves?"

Once again, Cricket stuttered and stalled, "W-well, uh, n-not exactly."

"Explain," Midge demanded.

"It's technically still under the rule of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. And Princess Cadence, too, technically. But she's always been more of a ruler in name only."

"Now that I can believe," Chrysalis snarled. "So Prince Phasma didn't defeat Celestia, and… what? He's their prisoner now? Puppet?"

Cricket shook her head, "No. He defeated Daybreaker, and now the ponies and changelings are working together. Peacefully."

"Ha!" Chrysalis barked. "Oh, that's a good one!"

"But it's the truth!" Cricket yelled. "Daybreaker was defeated, and Celestia is back! With Luna being involved with Phasma, they all gain through cooperation. For the last time, Daybreaker is a separate entity from Celestia!"

"Ah yes, Nightmares," Midge rolled his eyes. "The Council has dismissed that claim."

"You can't be serious."

"While it is true that Celestia had changed her appearance," Midge admitted, "the fact of the matter is that this is the first time we've ever seen her at war. She simply could have accessed a more powerful connection to her Cutie Mark."

"What a load of–"

"And," Midge continued, "at the end of the day, it does not matter. An alicorn is an alicorn."

"Except for the fact that Phasma saved Equestria, and thus put himself in their good graces," Cricket huffed.

"We don't believe in nymph's tales," Chrysalis hissed. "There are no Weave monsters, and there is no working with ponies."

"... The Council is in agreement with Queen Chrysalis. Cooperation with the ponies is completely illogical, and therefore impossible. Saint Phasma tried, and paid the price for his attempt. We will not make the same mistake. The entire Parliament unanimously voted to continue the war."

Queen Chrysalis smiled smugly at Cricket.

"We can't be friends with food. It simply isn't possible," Midge explained.

"Praetorian Thorax found a way," Cricket said. "He found a way that doesn't hurt ponies or require them to be podded. We've formed a mutually beneficial pact with the ponies. We can end the war peacefully!"

"No more nymph's tales," Midge growled. "Queen Chrysalis, it seems nothing more can be learned from this Infiltrator. Saint Phasma might be alive, but if he is, he has been brainwashed or mind controlled by the alicorns. As representative of the Council of the Fourth Hive, I demand his capture. The alicorns, we leave to you."

"We will begin Infiltration at once," Chrysalis announced. "The entire city, from the Palace to the slums. With the alicorns and the majority of the defenders located elsewhere, we can secure the city and lay a trap for them at the docks…"

Her voice trailed off as she left the room with Midge. Cricket was left alone with a hundred pink-tinted reflections of herself.

Cricket sighed, "Fuck."

Less than two days later, Queen Chrysalis was overseeing the infiltration. It had taken far too long for her taste; the paradoxical tyranny of her lessers had shackled the invasion plan.

Once the commands of a royal had moved mountains. Now, they seemed to be contested at every turn by drones who had been alive less than a century. It was taking all of Chrysalis’s patience and manipulative skills to keep the drones supplicant and executing her plan.

But a price was to be paid. Everything was so behind schedule that Chrysalis was beginning to wonder if they would all be in position by the time that the ponies returned. The Beastmaster reported only delays, the Generals bickered over optimal Infiltrator placements, and the acquisition experts had been complaining since they had first set off into the Surface Tunnels.

Apparently, moving several thousand podded ponies through the Underhive was a difficult task. Who would have thought?

'That's why we left most of them behind. Idiots. All of them, idiots! Can't they see that this is our final chance? Our last attempt? Panar can only help us so much, the rest is up to us.'

But finally, things had been set in motion. The ball was rolling, and it wouldn't stop until the changelings were finally the dominant power over the entire surface, not ponies. Though there would be significantly less ‘assets’ acquired from the Surface Tunnels than Chrysalis would have liked, there were enough to get the job done.

By the end of today, the trap would be set.

The thought broke through the cloud of anger and frustration that had plagued Chrysalis since Eucharis's death.

Chrysalis grinned at her own reflection, "Don't worry, I'll get you back, too. I'll have the throne, the kingdom, the Prince, and the Chamberlain back. Even if I have to take one or two of them apart first.

"Oh, yes. We'll be doing this whole song and dance again, this time we'll suffer no betrayal from idealistic foolish sons. This time, we are united. As united as we can be…"

She admired herself in the pink crystal. Her chitin, once polished and gleaming, was covered in Knicks and healed cracks. Her hair was a mess, coated in a thin layer of dirt and blood. She was no longer the spitting image of a Queen. Instead, she was a disheveled warrior, gone through hell and back.

And a warrior was exactly what she had to be in order to defeat Princess Celestia, the will of the sun incarnate.

“Nneh…” She chuckled. “Nha! Heheh…. Ha ha! Haa hahahaha! Aaaaah-hahahaaahahaa!”

Chrysalis threw her head back as she cackled madly.

“Aahh…. No more cowering. No more hiding. Our day in the sun, as Panar promised.”

She twirled a hoof through her hair, straightening out a few curls and knots.

“This day is going to be perfect!”

She rolled her shoulders, puffing out her chest and posing.

“The kind of day I’ve dreamed about since I was small!”

She picked up her jagged wedge of Seer Stone, twirling it and thrusting into invisible opponents.

“Every–”

Chrysalis’s song was cut off when the sound of bells ringing echoed throughout the caves, making her cringe and drop her ad-hoc sword. The pink crystals hummed and vibrated in tune with the infernal ringing, making the whole thing ten times worse.

“But of course, I must fight for it every step of the way, don’t I?” She growled to herself. Picking up her sword, she hurried out of her chamber and yelled, “Legate Pharynx! Make ready for war!”

Private Hard Tack was sitting down on a bench, watching the changelings and ponies drill.

The changelings had shown up earlier, and were running drills alongside the E.U.P. in the gym. Having finished his laps, Hard Tack was taking a breather between exercises, finishing his stretches while sitting down.

Currently, he was keeping himself amused by the display. The changelings were practicing getting in and out of their armor in a timed fashion, only they were all bad at it. None of them had any experience, and it showed. It was like watching the rookies flounder around like fish out of water back in basic.

Sadly, Tack’s entertainment came to an end. The changelings finished their drill and dispersed into several smaller groups. Some continued exercising, others headed off into the palace.

A pair of the bugs sat down next to Tack on the bench.

“This seat taken?” One asked.

Tack shook his head, “Sit where you please.”

“Thanks,” the changeling said, leaning back and cradling his helmet in his hooves.

Tack had to admit, the changelings’ new armor looked a bit strange, but fitting. It was a toned down version of their King’s, much like the drones themselves. It suited them well. It was motifs and parallels all the way down.

“Eurgh, I tell you, this shit’s gonna be the death of us,” the changeling complained to his companion.

“Or it’ll save our lives,” the second changeling pointed out.

“Both,” the first huffed. Slowly, the changeling took off his hefty metal armor, groaning the entire time.

‘.... I should probably talk to these guys. It’s the right thing to do. Princess said we should try to be friends with strangers, and these changelings sure are strange… Just gotta say hi….’

After an awkward pause, Tack asked, “Tough day?”

“Long day,” the changeling answered. “Lots of running around, sitting and waiting, then more running. At least we got this armor out of it.”

That confirmed Tack’s suspicions: that the changelings had gotten the armor today, and that he hadn’t spontaneously forgotten that the bugs had been wearing armor the entire time they were here in Canterlot.

“I’m Radius,” the changeling announced, reaching out a hoof.

Tentatively, Tack met it with his own, “Hard Tack.”

The changeling gestured next to him, “This is my brother, Ulna.”

“Sup,” Ulna said.

“Hey,” Tack replied, increasingly unsure of what to do.

“So, uh…” Radius cleared his throat, “What do ponies talk about? Like, as friends or whatever?”

Tack shrugged, “Stuff? What do changelings talk about? Like, as friends or whatever?

Radius snorted, “We passed time by sharing stories of work back in the Fourth Hive. Ulna here was a… grower of plants, of sorts. I carried stuff from one place to another.”

“And now you’re both guards?” Tack asked. “That’s quite the career change.”

“Everyling’s a soldier,” Ulna said. “No exceptions. Even the Broodmothers received combat training, though they’d never leave the Hive.”

“Huh,” Tack grunted. “Dunno what a Broodmother is but that’s… depressing. What if you didn’t want to be a guard?”

“Not a guard, a soldier,” Radius corrected him. “And it didn’t matter what we wanted. We had to fight. I haven’t heard of anyone trying to resist mandatory training, but I imagine that if they did, they’d… Err… Let’s just say Chrysalis doesn’t give second chances often, and someling refusing to fight for the Hive would be going against the grain too much…”

“Oh,” Tack said.

Then he stared at the ground.

‘Thank Harmony I’m not a changeling.’

“Did you… like your previous jobs?” Tack tried restarting the conversation.

Radius shook his head, and Ulna nodded. “Hard to like being a glorified cart,” Radius complained. “Plus, we–”

Radius and several other changelings snapped their heads to look at one of the gym’s walls.

“Someling’s in trouble,” Ulna grumbled.

“What? What’re you all looking at?” Tack asked, trying to see.

“King Phasma’s yelling at someone in that direction,” Radius explained. “Whoever they are, they seemed to have made him furious…”

“Should we...?” Ulna let the question hang.

“No, there’s several patrols close,” Radius shook his head. “Right. What were we talking about?”

“Uh… nothing much,” Tack said. “You uh… you guys play hoofball?”

Radius shared a look with his brother, “I’ve never heard of it.”

Tack blinked, “Right. You, uh, want to play? It’s a fun sport, and I was going to go play a match with some friends at the end of the hour. We’re always looking for new ponies– err… players.”

“That sounds like fun?” Radius said, uncertain. “I’m down, at least. Ulna?”

“.... Sure,” Ulna grunted.

“Great!” Tack beamed. “You know that field northeast of the garden’s hedge maze? Game’s going to be played there.”

“I think I know the place,” Ulna said.

“Sounds like we’ll be there, then,” Radius nodded. “Thanks for the invite. We were going to spend the afternoon leering at ponies through the palace’s windows. This sounds more fun. We– Shit!” He yelled suddenly.

The changelings in the room all began yelling and rushing for the exit at the far side of the room.

Radius stumbled forward, off the bench, dropping his helmet as he did so. Awkwardly, he scooped it up in his magic and began hastily putting on his armor as he began to run across the room. Ulna followed him, one step behind and significantly more gracefully.

“What’s going on now?!” Tack called out.

One changeling, in the middle of putting on his barrel plate, slowed momentarily to yell back, “War! We’re going to war!”

Cursing to himself, Hard Tack followed in their hoofsteps, putting on his armor with far more success, and began the difficult process of tracking his Sergeant down in the growing crowd of Royal Guards and changeling soldiers at the exit.

Time Turner was enjoying a cup of coffee at his favorite Café in downtown Canterlot. He frequently visited the city to sell his crafted wares to the well off ponies of upper class society.

While he enjoyed the comforts of Ponyville, there simply wasn't the clientele required to run a full time business of clock making.

The clock tower above Estrella's Telescopes and Horseshoes began chiming loudly.

Frowning, Turner didn't even need to read the clock's face to know that the bells were early. Five P.M. was in seven minutes, not right now.

"Curious," he muttered.

"Something the matter?" His waitress asked. The pink pegasus was placing a menu in front of him.

Turner smiled at the mare, "There seems to be a rather excited colt ringing the bells early–"

Time Turner's ears flicked towards a new sound. The bell peals of Harmony Counseling had added themselves to the premature orchestra of bell chimes.

"Curiouser and curiouser," He muttered. "Two separate bell towers now. What could…"

Third Street Bank joined, the high pitched bells making his coffee ripple.

As the seconds passed, more and more bells joined in on the far too early choir: the Harmony Chapel's off Sunset Boulevard, then the one off Second Main Street, and then the Middle District's rang like a distant thunderstorm.

"Oh no," The waitress gasped, and Time Turner slowly rose from his seat.

The ponies in the street around the café had stopped and were all staring at the chiming clock tower's face.

It was still a minute early.

"What's…" Time trailed off.

One last set of bells finished off the city's performance. Turner had seen them from afar while walking around Canterlot– especially while visiting the central plaza, and had learned about them when he had taken a tour of Canterlot Castle. The Silent Seven. Seven massive bells, each five times bigger than a pony, sat in their own towers, encircling the palace like holy shrines. They had tolled only twice in Time Turner’s lifetime, and while he wasn’t in the city either time, he knew when and why they had rung.

The first was to commemorate the coronation of Princess Cadence, years ago. The city, no, the nation had celebrated the rise of the young alicorn. The bells had rung in celebration, announcing to the world that there was one more Princess of Equestria.

The second time was when the city burned. When the changelings had arrived and laid siege to the city, the bells had tolled and shook the city with their ferocious rings. Time Turner wasn’t in Canterlot at the time, but he had heard their echos from all the way in Ponyville when they had begun to ring.

They did not ring during the Grand Galloping Gala. Had Princess Celestia been herself at the time– and therefore would have cared more for warning her ponies rather than keeping a semblance of control– and had the Royal Guard not been so thoroughly thrown into chaos, the Silent Seven would have most assuredly sung their deep, foreboding song during that night.

Now, today, they rang once more.

The faded-blue giants swung back and forth in their shrines, visible even from across the city. Their peals did not shake liquid, nor did their sounds echo. Instead, the ringing of the Silent Seven shook the very air of the city; the bells' enchantments assured that no one, nowhere, could avoid hearing them. They pierced any silencing enchantments that may be present in the city, and the distinctive booming setting them apart from any other noise anypony would have ever heard. They did not shake water, but instead commanded it to violently rip itself apart; the pools at the base of fountains and the streams gently rolling down the hills of Canterlot thrashed to and fro from the vibrations, sent into a tumultuous fury with each blow.

Time Turner felt the air in his lungs vibrate sympathetically.

“Bolt, get inside now!” One pony screeched, dragging Time Turner’s stare away from the ringing gods.

The mare who broke the spell was leaning out a window, screaming at a small brown unicorn colt who was playing with a ball-and-cup in the street. The colt dropped the toy and rushed into a nearby doorway, slamming it shut behind him.

With the spell now broken, the ponies began to panic. Yelling, many dived through doorways, locking themselves into the nearest shelter. Others began galloping towards their homes in far-off corners of the city. The pink waitress called out for everypony to follow her inside, holding the door open to the café behind her. Time Turner staggered for the safety of the café, his head beginning to spin from the rising fear and anticipation that was spreading from pony to pony like an infectious disease.

As the door closed behind him, Time Turner caught a glimpse of Royal Guards, galloping as hard as their hooves could carry them to the Palace.

Canterlot would burn once more, and this time, Time Turner would be in the inferno.

Royal Guards followed the Infiltrator out the window, seeking to apprehend the intruder.

The loud ringing of bells began to fill the air, replacing the yelling of ponies.

“No, no, no, no,” Celestia mumbled to herself. “This can’t be happening. Not again. Not now!”

‘Shit, this is a bad time for a PTSD episode!’

I spun on my hooves and picked up the smaller alicorn by her shoulders, “Princess Celestia! Now is the time for action, not panic! The Reactionaries– and Luna, Captain Shining Armor, and Cadence– are hours away! It falls to us to repel the invasion! Order the guard! Organize the defense! Rally! We cannot falter, and we cannot fail! Lives are at risk!”

“Yes, you’re right!” She growled back, courage flowing back to her. “No ponies will be lost today! No Nightmare will rise! Together, we can end the war!”

Celestia had gotten her emotions back under control in an instant, the practice of thousands of years of dealing with leadership honing her razor-sharp focus like the edge of a blade.

‘I can see why Luna was the war leader. Celestia needs someone to ground her and focus her first before she’s ready to jump into action.’

I myself was panicking a bit, of course, but if I faltered, the Fifth Hive would die. Fighting on was the only course of action. I set her back down on the ground, and Celestia faced her captains, who were galloping back into the room from where they exited.

“Princess Celestia!” One of them called out as arrived.

“Ponies! The city is once again under attack! We must find out where the bulk of Queen Chrysalis’s forces are, and challenge them! Protecting the civilians is our top priority, but finding the Queen is our second. If you find her, report the sighting to me at once. We cannot allow a repeat of last time. To your stations! Let the changelings of the Fourth Hive know that we will not be bested again so easily!”

The officers saluted, “Yes, Your Highness!” They barked in unison.

Then, they ran off.

Celestia watched them go, letting out a shaky breath. “I will find a secure place in the Palace to coordinate the defense,” she told me. “I need you by my side. Chrysalis will try to find me again, I know it. If I am taken down, the defense will falter and fail.”

“I have to evacuate the Fifth Hive’s VIPs,” I said, shaking my head. “She won’t take prisoners, unlike when they defeat ponies. I need what few civilians I have to survive this.”

“Can you find out where she is with your Weave-thing?”

“No. It’s muted, though, so she isn’t close….” I trailed off, thinking. “She could be in the Crystal Caves. It’s still the perfect spot to stage an invasion. Trouble is, that knowledge is useless. There’s no way we can clear out the caves and hold the city at the same time. When her presence gets stronger, when she arrives, I’ll get back here to help defend. We’ll combine our forces right now; changelings in armor will be friendlies, and they will be attached to Royal Guard squads to minimize confusion and improve our coordination. I gave Captain Katydid standing orders to do just that in contingencies like this one…”

Celestia nodded once, “Then get your evacuation done as soon as possible. I hate to tell you to abandon your drones, but–”

“You’re not evacuating your civilians,” I said. “I’m under no illusion that what I’m doing might be seen as abandoning any semblance of cooperation, and that it could do lasting damage. But losing my top echelon would be catastrophic. I’ll get back as soon as possible, don’t worry.”

“Then we best get to kicking flank,” Celestia said. “Raven! Where are you?! I need a suit of armor!”

‘I’d better get Unbroken Radiance and God-Splitter, too,’ I thought as I lifted off the ground and started to fly out of the throne room.

Thorax, Coxa, Lacewing, Captain Katydid, Double Diamond, and the rest of my top changelings were staging in the foyer of the palace. They stood to the sides of the room as Red Right Hoof and Royal Guards marched in and out of the room, both to get orders and their armor, and to leave to get to their assigned positions in the city.

Undoubtedly, the First Fang shared my concerns and superstitions about the room, as they were in a rushed panic. Captain Katydid and Coxa were barking orders to the dozens of changelings rushing in and out of the room. Since the changelings had been moved out of the Crystal Caves, everyling left in Canterlot was either integral to the running of the new kingdom, or was a soldier in the Red Right Hoof.

Sticking out from the flowing crowd of changelings like a cliff face against the crashing waves of the ocean was Lacewing. Hovering above the crowd, she was scanning all of the entrances, a task already being done by the Red Right Hoof guards on the outskirts of the room.

'Out of everyone, she's probably the most upset about being in this room again.'

Her eyes locked onto God-Splitter, which I had rested in between my shoulder and neck. Her eyes traced its shape down to me, and yelled to the others.

“Phasma!”

Many of the changelings stopped and turned to where she was pointing, some stepping out of the way for me. Royal Guards stopped briefly, but continued on their rushed deployments– and begrudgingly, the seconded Red Right Hoof soldiers followed them.

“Phasma, what the hell is going on?” Coxa yelled as I neared.

‘Did I not make that clear?’

“The Fourth Hive is here. We must evacuate the Fifth Hive’s command staff and get ready to end this war, once and for all,” I announced, my voice carrying over the chorus of orders being barked, hooves marching on stone, and confused yelling.

"Shit, it's really happening," Coxa mumbled as I stopped in front of them.

"Are we gonna be… okay?" Thorax asked, nervously glancing around the room at the rushing guards.

Double Diamond gave Thorax a reassuring nod, but let me speak.

"You will be," I stated. "I want all three of you leading the evacuation. Get to Manehattan, and be prepared to coordinate with whoever becomes in charge of the Equestrians if Canterlot falls."

"If they take all of you out, what hope could we possibly have of winning?" Lace scoffed.

"More often than not, history is decided by the actions of one person. That person could be any one of us, or a nameless changeling drone, or even a pony. All you have to do is take out Chrysalis. Kill her if you can."

"If she kills you, that would make the Royal subspecies extinct," Captain Katydid pointed out, overhearing our conversation.

"Do it anyways," I ordered. "If Panar decides the Royals have outlived our usefulness, then so be it."

'More like I don't trust any other royal to be anything but a tyrant. Especially if they're Chrysalis’s child. If I die, the drones'll be getting a democracy, whether they like it or not.'

"We're not abandoning you!" Lace declared.

"We're in this till the end," Thorax, of all people, agreed.

"Oh yes you will be, but this is not the end for you," I said. "The Fifth Hive does not die today. Coxa, you and Thorax are in charge of the Hive after today. This is non-negotiable. Now get ready to move out, the longer we stand in this gods-forsaken room, the more I am reminded of the death toll from our last fight with Chrysalis."

'Oestridae. Weevil. Captain Cicada. Every ling that gave their life in pursuit of a better tomorrow. I will not fail you. I shall not fail you.'

“I hate to say that you should leave your friends,” Diamond said, awkwardly rubbing his neck, “But doesn’t this seem kinda out of our league, Thorax? I, uh, I know I don’t have a place here, and as much as I don’t want to put myself above the other ponies in the city, if an out is being offered I’ll take it.”

"Don't worry, Phasma will be safe with us!" A pony declared from behind me.

Sergeant Search, Corporal Bray, and Private Dew had lined up behind me. Truth be told, I had forgotten about their presence when the Infiltrator tried to foalnap me.

They must have been standing to the side, letting the Royal Guards do their job while I talked with Celestia, and had followed me here.

"You three Phasma's friends from Hooferville?" Coxa asked.

"They are," Thorax confirmed while the ponies nodded.

"Introductions can wait," I said. "Right now, we need to move."

After a few more minutes, the last of Coxa's pencil pushers arrived from the far flung corners of the Palace, and we were ready to set out. Captain Katydid would stay behind and continue to help organize the collaborative defense forces from the Palace.

The First Fang continued to try to convince me to let them stay, but I had made up my mind, and now we were in the middle of a war zone. They knew better than to try to pick a fight with their commander while a battle was raging, or in this case, about to be waged.

With a few squads of Royal Guards who had yet to deploy, and a few squads of Red Right Hoof that were both attached to myself and the First Fang, we left the relative safety of Canterlot Castle and headed into the city.

Our destination was not the Clear Skies, docked in the Western docks, but instead the freight train station on the Eastern edge of the city, firmly seated within Lower Canterlot.

Chrysalis was bound to have measures against fleeing ponies, and was most certainly contesting all of the airship docks. So, the contingency plan was to commandeer one of the cargo trains. They would be far less defended than the passenger trains at Canterlot's main entrance.

We began marching through Canterlot. The streets were mostly clear, though abandoned carts and miscellanea often made themselves obstacles. The ringing of the bells had died away for the most part, leaving the city as silent as the dead. The marching of hooves on cobblestone echoed down the street as we went through the city.

‘As dead as the towns we swept through during the initial invasion of Equestria…’

Occasionally, a patrol of Royal Guards crossed our path, or a civilian or two would dart across the street ahead of us. But for the most part, the city was as dead as Nisir. Around us, a general feeling of fear and confusion permeated through the air like a miasma or fog. It parted as we walked, sourceless and thin enough to forget that there were ponies in most of the buildings that we passed.

"You didn't put up a fight when the ponies said they'd fight by your side," Lace complained.

We were marching through an empty boulevard in Middle Canterlot, the general feeling of tension only building.

"The ponies won't be executed if the Fourth Hive gets their hooves on them," I stressed.

"This doesn't make any sense," Coxa said to himself. "The entire Badlands' border is guarded. How could the Fourth Hive have slipped through?"

"I don't think that matters anymore," Sergeant Search said. "They're here now."

The medians in the center of the road that overflowed with flowers abruptly came to an end as we passed into Lower Canterlot.

"Oestridae died by your side," Lace said, voice wavering. "You don't think we're not prepared to do the same? That we need to be coddled?"

“And I’m a Praetorian,” Thorax pointed out. “I know how to hold my own in a fight.”

“You’re very brave,” Diamond said. “And suicidal.”

I sighed, "I need Coxa and Thorax to lead the Hive. Coxa knows how to run the Hive, and Thorax has the heart and vision to keep it on the right path."

“That’s sweet,” Thorax smiled.

"And me?" Lace asked.

"I dunno, you're kinda useless," I grinned. "If I let you stay, then there would be no way to convince Coxa to leave."

"Damn right," Coxa grunted. "I think leaving you is stupid, though. Our best chance at winning is hitting them with everything we've got."

"Which is why Luna, Cadence, Shining, and I will be hitting Chrysalis directly when they all show up. I need you guys out from under our hooves and somewhere safe."

The pointless argument continued until we reached the train yard.

The industrial sector had been even quieter than Upper and Middle Canterlot, right up until we started running into the pony patrols that were moving between the different perimeter sections of Canterlot's defenses.

A patrol was waiting on the main road, their defenses facing inward.

"Halt" A unicorn yelled at our formation. "No pony is to enter or leave Canterlot! The trains are closed! Go back to your homes at once!"

"Are you blind, or just daft?!" I yelled back, not slowing down. "I am King Phasmatodea of the Fifth Hive. Step aside, soldier, and let us through!"

The pony hesitated and then continued again, "Halt! No pony is to–"

"For Harmony's sake, step aside, Private!" A unicorn yelled from atop a building to the side of the entrance. "Even from up here I can see that they're not civilians! Move aside! You there, I will be down in a moment!"

With that, the unicorn's helmeted head vanished as she backed away from the edge of the roof.

“Keep moving,” I ordered, and pointed to one of the trains laying in the yard. “Get that one up and running, that’s your ticket out. It had three passenger cars, enough to carry everyone we were evacuating. Lace, get to decoupling the cargo cars. There’s a connection between the last passenger car and the first of the cargo cars, remove that connection. Coxa, get the engine running, or find someone who can. Thorax, get any ponies on the train off of it without a fight, then make sure everyling’s situated and accounted for.”

I slowed to a halt, planting God-Splitter’s head onto the ground and wrapping a hoof around the handle. The changelings passed me, but the Royal Guards and Red Right Hoof soldiers slowed, looking for directions.

“The Red Right Hoof attached to the command staff, secure the train,” I ordered. “Royal Guards and the rest of the Red Right Hoof, stay with me. We’ll head right back to the castle the moment that train leaves this yard.”

The changelings and ponies nodded, and we waited as the unicorn officer finally exited the building.

“Right, Your Majesty– wait, where are they going?” She asked, staring at the changelings heading across the train tracks.

“We are evacuating the Fifth Hive’s command staff out of the city,” I said.

“Errr…. I’ve received no notice about this, King Phasma. My standing orders are to prevent anypony from entering or leaving the city. There simply is no safe way out, so your ponies– err, changelings, will have to shelter inside the city.”

‘This is exactly what I feared and planned for.’

“If the Fourth Hive captures my changelings, they will not be taking prisoners,” I said to the pony, looking down at her. “I will not let my command staff be executed.”

“What are they– you’re commandeering a train?! All of our orders state that the city must be locked down! We can’t let a panic start! The last thing the Guard needs is a stampede for the only exits, which can’t even bring ponies out of the city in the chaos!”

I checked behind me. The streets were still completely empty, with every pony taking shelter inside. I could even see a few looking through windows at me.

“There doesn’t seem to be a risk of that,” I pointed out. “Princess Celestia authorized this evacuation. You gonna try to overrule her?”

The officer pawed at the ground nervously, “No. Just… get your command staff out of the city quickly. The engineers are taking shelter in that building over there, if you need them.”

I blinked in surprise, “I didn’t expect it to be this easy.”

Bray flinched back, "Why would you say–?!"

An alarm bell started ringing.

“Contact!” Some pony screamed.

I facehooved, “I shouldn't have said that. I should not have said that!”

“That’s the Northern flank!” The officer yelled, beginning to gallop away. “Interior defenses! Ponies, to me!”

“One squad reinforce the train’s defenses. The rest of you, we’re holding the line,” I told my soldiers.

We ran after the Equestrian officer, heading for the Northern flank. The flank appeared to be a small road closed and barricaded, with the simple wooden beam gate reinforced with several cut logs, pulled from the yard.

Before we even made it halfway across the yard, the gate exploded. Splinters the size of ponies were sent hurtling into the ground and buildings around the entrance as a massive creature tore through the defenses as if they were wet paper.

Ponies scattered, leaping out of its path as it dove to the ground. The creature of a massive armored worm, the color of lapis lazuli. Its head was a spiked pit. Ringed with teeth the size of my whole body. Behind its smooth head, a mane of blood red quills jutted out, each as tall as a manticore.

The thing screeched as it quite literally carved a path of destruction through the yard, ripping apart train tracks like they weren't even there.

"What in Harmony's name is that?!" Sergeant Search yelled.

"I have no idea," I replied, readying my hammer.

"Tatzelwurm!" A changeling yelled from the forward group. They had only just reached the train.

"One of those, apparently. Anyone know how to kill it?" I asked as it slowly veered to a warehouse and plowed right through the buildings front façade.

'Apparently Chrysalis doesn't care about getting the city intact.'

"We have to sever the central nervous cluster!" A changeling yelled.

I examined the worm's segmented body, but there was no obvious weak point.

I yelled back, "Where's that?!"

"No clue!"

I noticed a group of pegasi flying evasive above the Tatzelwurm. Blue bolts streaked through their formation, and some swerved recklessly to avoid getting hit.

Tracing the bolts' firing arcs, I saw the Tatzelwurm rearing up and back over itself, before lunging forward and snapping a metal train engine in half. The magical bolts were being shot from a group of four Praetorians sitting at the back of the worm's mane, taking pot shots as they ducked in and out of cover. Curiously, their signature Praetorian helmets had a red stripe down the center.

More yelling drew our attention back to the shattered ad-hoc barricade. In the wake of the Tatzelwurm’s fury, changeling Legionnaires had arrived, immediately putting pressure on the bewildered pony defenders.

"Put pressure on those loyalists! Don’t let them get any farther! I'll keep that thing's attention away!" I ordered the soldiers.

With a yell of uncontained fury, I took to the skies, and charged the Tatzelwurm's head. The giant was rearing back once more, preparing to strike against another idle train. The evacuation’s train was immediately behind the worm’s target, and would almost certainly be destroyed in the worm’s follow-through.

Errant spellfire dazzled and screeched through the air as the Second Invasion of Canterlot began in earnest; the two sides clashed, exchanging spellfire, but I could not spare even a single glance in their direction.

Instead, I put my faith in the drones and ponies to hold off the reinforcements as I focused on keeping the giant at bay.

Coxa leaned against the railing, yelling at the changelings rushing below on the platform.

“Worm, get that coal car loaded yesterday! Springtail, I want those love-crates loaded up in two minutes flat! Thorax, is everyling ready?!”

Thorax looked up at Coxa, “Other than everyone you’re giving orders to, yes! Is the engine ready to go?”

Coxa kicked the barrel shape of the engine behind him, “We’re getting the fuel topped off! Three minutes, and we’re off!”

An explosion shook the train slightly. The groaning of metal overshadowed the yelling momentarily as a nearby train bent horribly.

‘This fighting is getting far too close!’

Phasma was keeping the Tatzelwurm at bay, while the soldiers likewise kept the Fourth Hive busy. Still, both forces had limited ability to keep the enemy contained.

‘We need to hurry this up.’

“Tibia! You got thirty seconds to get this train moving!” Coxa ordered, turning around to face the interior of the engine.

The beleaguered drone cringed, “I don’t know what half of these levers even do! I–”

“Figure it out, or start guessing. This is no time for caution!” Coxa dismissed the drone’s concerns. “Thirty seconds!”

“Coxa! I got ponies in the nearby warehouse asking what the Tartarus is going on. What should I tell them?!”

Coxa grunted and leaned back to address Thorax, “Ignore them, and get aboard! The rest of you lot, finish your tasks and hop on!”

“We’ve got at least another minute,” a nearby drone said, staring past the engine’s nose.

The drone was a Red Right Hoof Lieutenant, as indicated by the ad-hoc paint pattern on his pauldrons.

“We’re going to be a big target, and I have no idea how fast we’ll be going backwards,” Coxa stressed, giving the train yard’s exit a withered glare.

The train was facing inwards, towards Canterlot, with the carriage cars towards the exit. Lace had managed to decouple the freight cars and together with a couple of other drones, had pushed them onto another track. The pony engineer they had press-ganged into helping was hiding behind a junction box, watching Phasma duel the Tatzelwurm.

Coxa shook his head, “If only these ponies had turned the train around for us… No use crying over spilled love, we’re moving now! Worm! The coal! That cart is the last load!”

“Aye, sir!”

With a deep breath, Coxa yelled, “All aboard! All aboard! Tibia, time’s up! Move us out, now!”

‘Anyling left behind can jump aboard, or fly to the train. We’ve got to go, and we’ve got to go now!’

The coal-dust-coated drone sighed heavily, “Here goes nothing.”

Pulling levers and flicking switches, the drone got a reaction out of the engine. Spewing smoke as black as tar, the engine lurched suddenly, beginning to pull itself inwards, towards Canterlot.

“Reverse, damn it!” Coxa yelled.

A shard of lightning shattered the forward facing window next to him, forcing him to duck back into the cover of the engine compartment. Their movement had alerted the Fourth Hive of the train’s operation status, and had just put a target on their front.

“Take us away from the fighting, Tibia! Away!” Coxa yelled, grabbing a shovel with his magic and beginning to shovel coal into the open furnace hatch.

“I’m fucking trying!” Tibia screeched back, desperately pulling an oversized lever back.

With another lurch, this time sending Coxa to the floor, the train halted. Then, it began backpedaling.

A piece of red hot stone embedded itself in the wall next to Coxa. The Red Right Hoof Lieutenant ducked inside, taking up position by the shattered window. Several shards of ice shattered against his armor.

“These Uttu-fodder really don’t want us to leave,” the soldier groaned as he lined up a shot.

“No shit!” Coxa moaned, scrambling back to his hooves and getting back to shoveling coal.

But they were leaving. Slowly, picking up more speed with each passing second, the train was backing out of the chaotic rail yard. Scorch marks now decorating the engine’s hull, the evacuation was underway.

But up ahead, the outnumbered ponies and Red Right Hoof changelings were being forced to pull back. That meant there were more and more positions opening fire upon the train.

“Speaking of spiders–” The Red Right Hoof Lieutenant began to say, but a spear of ice as big as Coxa’s foreleg rammed straight through the soldier’s muzzle, impaling him to the back wall of the engine car with a sickening ripping sound and groan of metal. With no protective enchantments on the armor, a direct face shot was deadly.

"Fuck!" Coxa reeled back from shock.

Tibia screamed as Coxa recovered and took up the soldier's former spot behind the window.

‘Ah. Spiders.’

Bounding across the battlefield from the shattered gate were five– no, six Great Uttu spiders. Riding atop their backs, changeling riders were guiding the monsters using reins, and were firing spells at the train and the wall above and around the exit.

“How did they manage to tame those?!” Coxa wondered, firing an Empowered Will laser bolt out the window, striking one of the riders and sending them flying off their saddle.

Though his main trade was leading the Hive, every changeling alive was a soldier in some way. Coxa had, of course, participated in the mandatory combat training, and had continued to drill with Phasma following the establishment of the Fifth Hive.

That shot was lucky, though.

The Uttu spider simply continued on its way, heedless of its rider’s demise. The creature dodged to the left to avoid a followup shot, and began crawling across the front of a warehouse. It was distracted by an opened window, choosing instead to find something– or rather, someone to feast on inside.

The train was still picking up speed, and the rest of the Uttu were slowly failing to catch up. Coxa smiled as he saw the gray and brown spiked arachnids slow down. The train passed through the wall that rose above the yard’s main exit, officially leaving the city. The evacuation was now on Canterhorn’s mountainside, and the shrinking figures of the battle had an even harder time hitting them.

The metal under Coxa's hooves vibrated as the Tatzelwurm growled out a challenge. The beast made directly for the fleeing train, tearing apart the tracks in its unbridled fury.

Coxa knew that it's weak point was within its skull, but only a direct hit to the top of the skull would have a chance at piercing the bone. Given how the worm was testing, turning, rolling, and thrashing, such an attack was impossible.

He spied Phasma whacking the creature's head in ineffectively. God-Splitter was good against armor and magical armor, but the spell-resistant hide was perfect for taking blunt impacts. For all of the King's efforts, the worm was merely pushed aside or enraged, and nothing more.

"That thing's gaining on us!" Tibia yelled, looking out the front-facing window on the other side of the coal hatch. "What do we do?!"

"All we can do is push it!" Coxa growled in frustration. "Do you…" he trailed off when he looked at Tibia.

It was what was past Tibia that had stalled him. The open space between the engine car and the coal car held glimpses of the rolling forests and fields beyond Canterhorn Mountain. Slowly, an idea formed.

"If pushing it is all we can do, then that's exactly what we're going to do!" Coxa leaned out of the engine car and waved, "Phasma!"

Phasma didn't hear Coxa. He was too far away, and Coxa's cries were drowned out by the howling of wind and the steady chugga-chugga of the engine and wheels.

Frustrated, Coxa fired a volley of tiny magical missiles at Phasma. Most missed, but a few pinged off his magical armor, making him look around for the source. He caught sight of Coxa gesticulating madly towards the far side of the train.

Towards the cliff.

Phasma didn't nod, instead choosing flying away from the worm, towards the mountain.

'We won't have much time!'

"Alright, Tibia!" Coxa called out, bringing himself back inside the train. "Are we at full speed?!"

"Of course we are!" The distressed drone hissed.

"Good, then–"

Coxa and Tibia suddenly slammed into the front of the engine room, Tibia yelling in pain as he pulled a hindleg out of the open furnace. Pulling himself up, Coxa saw that the Tatzelwurm had not only caught up to the train, but had bitten into the front of it, holding on and not letting go.

“Remind me why we’re escaping by train?!” He groaned.

“Because they’re going to be watching the skies!” Tibia answered.

“That was rhetorical– nevermind, just hit that thing! We have to make it let go!”

Wrapping his hooves around a metal strut, Coxa held on as he tried to aim his horn at the head of the Tatzelwurm. The worm thrashed from side to side, jostling Coxa and keeping him from aiming. All the same, Coxa fired spells wildly. Focused will laser blasts, ice shard sprays, and a stray fireball did little to hurt the beast, but Coxa kept giving it his all. The beast did not let go. Instead, teeth crunched inwards, tearing deeper into the engine's nose.

Phasma, now nothing more than a blur, dived down the mountainside, no more than a meter above the steeply sloped surface. With God-Splitter extended in front of him, the Royal pulled out of the dive and leveled with the worm.

Not a second later, Phasma hit the Tatzelwurm. With such force, not even the beast's thick outer layer was invulnerable. A sickening crack accompanied a rather nauseating amount of give in the creature's side. The thing screeched in pain, the guttural sound left Coxa’s ears ringing.

More importantly, the impact had pushed the worm. Before the hit, the worm was traveling along the tracks, ripping them apart as it rolled over them. Now, the Tatzelwurm was rolling, writhing, and spinning away, towards the mountain's cliff. The Praetorians that once clung to its back had either been thrown completely free, or were crushed into paste under its weight.

Phasma continued to push and hammer and roll the monster as much as he could, but it was his initial momentum that did all the work. The creature attempted to recapture its own momentum by wiggling around and squirming into the blast. The effort doomed it.

It might have slowed down before hitting the rails of the passenger lines, right before the cliff at the edge of the tail lines, but it's own efforts gave the worm the last nudge it needed to break past the rails and protective enchantments at the cliff's edge.

Coxa watched as the worm dropped from sight, its long body slowly following its head as it unwillingly dived off Canterhorn's legendary steep slope.

"Coxa! The engine!" Tibia yelled, pointing at the engine's wound.

The entire front third was an unrecognizable mesh of twisted metal and pouring smoke. The engine wheels were sparking and screeching around them as the engine had once more been knocked off its track.

"Decouple the car! There's no saving it this time!" Coxa ordered.

Even if they got the engine back on the rails, there was no way that its wheels would fit back on them in their condition. Point in case, one forward piston jutted out to the side, extended in and out of the train's dying engine.

When they decoupled the engine car, Coxa pulled the engine brakes with his magic. They watched as the engine car screeched and slowed, wheels failing to maintain grip and speed. It shuddered, and then derailed.

The wounded car slammed into the mountainside, metal meeting stone with a deafening crash.

The passenger cars continued to roll down the rails, aided by gravity in their descent.

"The evacuation is a success," Coxa muttered before remembering the unnamed soldier who was still pinned to the rear wall of the engine car. Now, they would be nothing more than a gory mess. "For a limited definition. Come on, Tibia. Let's go check in with Thorax and see who we lost…"

Author's Note

I have a Ko-Fi if you want to support me.

146- Fimbulwinter: When Brother Murders Brother

Luna threw the bulkhead open and strutted into the bridge. Cadence and Shining Armor followed her, not a second behind. Pegasi were flitting from console to console on the bridge deck as the ship’s captain barked orders from her chair, overlooking the mess.

“Princess on deck!” The closest pony yelled.

“Princess,” the captain greeted her, but didn’t turn to address.

“We have heard this confounded tolling only once before, captain,” Luna cringed. “Tell me this is not a repeat of before. Tell me that Canterlot is not under attack.”

The blue mare in the captain’s uniform turned her chair, “Canterlot is under attack. Our spotters can see signs of battle, even this far from the city.”

Luna squinted and tried to see out the large curved windows. Canterhorn was far from their current place in the skies, yet its bells were still heard.

“How soon can we get there?” Shining asked.

“Within half an hour,” the captain replied, turning away from them to look over her subordinates.

“The city might not hold for that long,” Shining pointed out.

“No, it might not,” the captain agreed.

"Is there any way to get there faster?" Cadence asked desperately. "We can't leave those ponies to fight alone!"

"No, we cannot. We’ve been on full burn towards the city since we first heard the Silent Seven," the captain said.

"Phasma," Luna whispered. "Phasma’s there! And Celestia! They will hold until reinforcements arrive, of that I am sure of!"

"The changeling responsible for destroying Canterlot has to defend it? Great, we’re saved," the captain rolled her eyes.

"You will hold your tongue, knave, if you know what is best for you!" Luna spat. "Phasma will hold the city, and I shall aid him! Captain Shining Armor, bring in the reinforcements down upon the Palace itself, or however close you can!"

Shining frowned, "Princess?"

"Equestria needs me. The Fifth Hive needs me. My friends and family need me– and this time, I will stand victorious! It will not be I who is laid low, but instead Queen Chrysalis!"

Deciding her destination to be an unprotected servant's corridor close to the Palace's armory, Luna charged a teleport spell.

"Bring the cavalry, Captain, bring the thunder! We shall hold them at bay!"

With a light blue flash, Luna teleported out of the moving airship, crossed miles in the span of an instant, and breached the anti-teleportation charms that protected the Palace. Such an act was easy to do once you knew the backdoor engrams, of course.

The train, what was left of it anyways, careened down Canterhorn’s slope, following the winding track as it took the changelings away from the city.

“Panar watch over you all,” I said, turning back to the train yard.

Errant spellfire and swooping pegasi were visible above the compound, and through the open votes, I could see the battle being waged.

‘The war has started. It has truly started!’

I felt a vibration across my belly and saw a shower of sparks cascade around the thin green protective shield around my armor. Down below, two Praetorians were throwing ineffective lightning bolts at me.

"As High Marshall of the Swarm, I command you to stop!" I bellowed.

A warm bath of flames enveloped my body as a Fireball hit me square in the chest.

'Well it was worth a shot.'

Spinning God-Splitter around, I swung the spiked end at the suicidal drones.

Half a minute later, the Praetorians were on the ground, and combat-ineffective. One was laying unmoving on the ground, still alive, and the other was rolling back and forth, clutching a bloody stump of a leg, howling in pain. Also alive.

Rather than bound them or otherwise make sure that they stay alive, I chose to fly straight back to the train yard. The thirty seconds it took to dispatch the two agile Praetorians was already a significant delay.

When I arrived, I took stock of the battlefield. The Fifth Hive and friends were pushed almost all the way to the perimeter wall. Those giant alien spiders I saw briefly chasing the train were all taken out, but they had dealt some damage to the defenders. Most ponies and changelings were still standing, but I spied a few prone bodies on the ground well past our defenses. The Fourth Hive had also been taking some casualties, with a number of unarmored drones scattered across their lines.

'Maybe it'll work this time.'

Flying up, I took to their air above the battle, flying out about ten hooves above the ground and well past our lines. Spells impacted my armor, throwing up a shower of sparks, fire, ice, and all around making it hard to see.

I tried to keep an eye out for any cooperative spell casting, as they would actually make me worry for my defenses, but otherwise I let Unbroken Radiance soak up the pitiful attacks. I had avoided using any more Weave commands following the initial warning, as distracting my troops was the last thing I wanted to do. The fact that the enemy changelings would hear anything I said further limited any use I would have of the broadcasting system, but now I decided to use it once more.

“Changelings of the Fourth Hive,” I bellowed aloud and in the Weave, “This is High Marshall King Phasmatodea. I ordered you to cease fighting. Queen Chrysalis has failed the Hive Eternal. I have not! A new love harvesting method has been found, eliminating the need for war. Surrender, and you will never know hunger again!”

The attacks lessened, then gradually stopped. The drones looked up to me, confused. I could see them talking amongst themselves. However, a few drones were hellbent on killing me. Of course, they were wearing Praetorian helmets.

‘Dogmatic imbeciles,’ I frowned as I reflected a lightning bolt away from me.

“Hear me now!” I yelled. “I offer the future! In time, we can end the rationing system! We can feast! Food for everyling!"

All my effort in convincing the changelings was undone by just a hoofful of individuals. Praetorians, scattered throughout the formations like commissars, formed what seemed to me like the counter push against my influence. They were not unchecked, as many changelings bickering and argued against them, but enough changelings listened to their overlords enough to resume their attacks.

Most troublingly, they were all beginning to use cooperative spell casting.

Just as I brought up a thick shield around myself, the Fourth Hive forces turned on each other. Squads began ripping into each other with stunning spells– and Praetorians were literally swarmed by the unarmored drones. A full half of the Fourth Hive had defected to me, with many more still loudly arguing and not fighting.

"Fifth Hive, take down the loyalists! Guide the ponies! Target the Praetorians!" I yelled an order to the Canterlot defenders behind me.

Then, I surged forward, setting my sight on the thickest group of fighting changelings.

"To the King!" I heard Sergeant Quick Search yell as he led a charge out from our lines of defense.

'Hope he doesn't start hitting separatist changelings.'

A lance of green energy, so hot and bright that nearly blinded me, slammed into the forward section of my shield. I felt the strain against my horn as I shrugged off the powerful attack. The strain felt like someone lightly tapping my horn.

“Those bastards are using my Weave to coordinate their spell casting!” I growled in realization.

I could ‘sense’ them casting, for lack of a better word. It was an unearthly, alien sensation, like seeing someone talking behind you and hearing what they were saying without actually hearing or seeing them. The Fourth Hive was using my own Weave against me, and there was nothing I could do about it.

Nothing I could do…. except crashing straight into their positions, sending them flying. Chunks of stone and metal flew through the air as I slammed God-Splitter into the ground when I landed, ripping apart the ground around me and throwing everyling up into the air or down onto the ground. The changelings yelled in panic as I literally threw them into disarray. Following up my hammer strike with a barrage of stunning spells, I took out the entire position by the time that the Canterlot Confederation defenders caught up.

At that point, the battle went from being chaotic to being a mess without any semblance of order.

After an initial confused clash, the ponies withdrew and coalesced around groups of Red Right Hoof soldiers, who gladly picked out targets for them. Other Red Right Hoof soldiers jumped straight into the thick of the fighting, going after the Praetorians and any normal changeling drone that shot spells their way.

The drones of the Fourth Hive fought each other, fought the Praetorians, fought the Red Right Hoof, and some foolishly challenged myself. Other than the R.R.H. and the Praetorians, there was no way to distinguish friend from foe.

I simply swung God-Splitter at the suicidal drones who tried to take me down personally. An upward swing sent one flying up and away. A backhoof blow smashed another into the ground. A well placed stunning shot from Private Warm Dew behind me brought low a Praetorian who had snuck up behind me. Three downed foes became six, which grew to ten, and I lost count from there.

I put all my focus on using less-lethal tactics to end the battle as quickly as I could. Sometimes, the drones facing me would lose a limb, or more frequently, have one bent in the completely wrong direction. Others were hammered into the ground, chitin cracking as the air was driven from their lungs.

Swing, spell, swing, spell. Flowing from one attack form to the other, I kept Praetorians at bay with a flash of fire, and then swept them off their hooves with a long, low swing from God-Splitter.

Swing, spell, swing, spell. A shield brought up and discarded in a second as six Praetorians combined their might to summon a beam of hellfire, a dirty blood-red color. I sensed it being cast a moment before they fired it off, and followed my shield with three bursts of Nebula’s Noxious Gas, taught to me by Corporal Bray Call months ago to subdue fleeing suspects. The Praetorians fell to their knees, coughing, heaving, and choking.

Swing, spell, swing, spell. Ponies right at my back, making sure that anyone I brought down stayed down. Sometimes, a spell meant for me missed, or a spell meant for them shot accurately. Sometimes, I was able to stop those spells. More often than not, they hit the changelings and ponies following in my wake. Many that actually hit me were deflected or absorbed by Unbroken Radiance. None penetrated the armor, nor its powerful shield.

Swing, spell, swing, swing, swing….

The last Praetorian gasped in my grip. Her wings buzzed but could not free her. I threw her onto the ground hard, her helmet flew away. She gasped in pain and coughed. Slowly, I pressed a leg down onto her chest, drawing out a grunt of pain from the Praetorian.

The train yard skirmish was won. Not the battle for Canterlot, just this small clash.

It didn’t end suddenly, with the last changelings throwing up their hooves in surrender, for there were quite a few that were determined to go down fighting. Those stubborn soldiers had gravitated towards me, attempting to take me down personally.

“The Lodges must well and truly be dead,” I panted, suddenly realizing that I was out of breath, staring at the Praetorian beneath my hoof.

“Saint Phasmatodea!”

A bloody changeling, one eye closed as blood trickled down across her eyelid from a crack above the eye, hobbled over to me. Many more drones began to gather around, fervently whispering to each other.

"It's you. It really is you, Your Highness!"

"I should hope that I'm me," I said. "If I wasn't me, who would I be?"

"Yeah that's him alright," a drone in the crowd confirmed.

A changeling took away the Praetorian still struggling beneath me, her indignant cries of anger and pain faded away as the crowd gathered close. I towered above them all, looking around at the beaten-up changelings.

"Saint Phasma," the squinting drone dropped into a painful bow, cringing and whimpering. "They told us that you were dead. Or worse, that you were captured and brainwashed!"

I blinked, "How are… how are the Legions? And where did you all come from? And why are you calling me a Saint?!"

"First thing he asks about is us,” a changeling elbowed the one next to him. “What did I say? I knew the Council was full of shit!”

“We’re all fine, My Prince,” the bowed changeling said. “The Center Swarm took the only losses, and the rest of us only started losing drones when we were clearing the Surface Tunnels.”

“Surface Tunnels?! You went through the Underhive?!” I gasped.

‘That’s how they circumvented the encirclement! They went right underneath it, putting them right at–’

“Yes, Saint Phasma. We went through the Surface Tunnels, all the way to the Crystal Caves.”

I reared back, “The Caves!” I hissed. “Right through the city’s defenses, all over again! I…. It’s a damn good thing we left those caves, or else there would have been a bloodbath! But it is good to see you all. Even better to hear that things haven’t been circling the drain for the drones of the Fourth Hive....”

I looked around at the changelings. There were plenty of fresh injuries, but now I picked out the old ones. The thin, faded lines across chitin. The limping and sagging. The tiredness.

“See to the injured,” I ordered everyone listening. “Make sure no one dies, not even the Praetorians. When you’re done, secure the prisoners. Then, the rest of you, get to Canterlot Castle, to the Palace. That is where we will stage our counterattack and bring down Chrysalis, once and for all.”

The Red Right Hoof soldiers nodded and started carrying out my orders, but the Fourth Hive drones wavered.

The bowing one rose, “Saint Phasma…. How did you survive? How did you get love from the ponies? How are you…?”

“Luck, mostly,” I admitted. “I teleported out of Canterlot after my duel with Chrysalis, badly mutilated but alive. Praetorian Thorax found a way to get love without injuring ponies, and the ponies approached me first with an offer of friendship. Princess Luna of Equestria… There'll be time for the full story later. First, we must end this war. There’s so much to do, we can ill afford any more death. And the Saint thing?”

The changeling sighed, “You mean more to us than you realize. Saint Phasmatodea The Comet, who arrived, who cared for the drones and put everything he had into fighting for the Hive, who then left suddenly. It’s… it’s good to see you’re alive, sir.”

“Come now, there’s nothing revolutionary about caring for the drones of the Hive,” I said, fully aware that a revolution would be about exactly that. “You’re all people, just like me. We all stand equal before Panar in the end. Trust me, I would know about that.”

Legate Pharynx watched the Fourth Hive surge forth around him. The first wave, mounted on Uttu spiders, clambered over rooftops and across the empty thoroughfares of the city. The second wave followed shortly after, taking to the skies and galloping across the cobblestones.

The civilians were all hiding away in the buildings, the scouts discovered, and that suited Legate Pharynx just fine. The food kept themselves out from underhoof, and while it would take a while to drag them out of every home and business, it was something that could be done after the city was secured.

It was the Royal Guard and armored changelings giving Legate Pharynx a headache. With the majority of them located on the city’s outer defenses, the initial waves swept through Middle Canterlot without trouble. The fools hadn’t posted many guards at the mountain’s side, instead relying on Canterhorn’s bulwark to shield them from attack. The Fourth Hive had initially come from outside the city, not underneath, so that’s what the ponies expected.

The Hive’s advance into Canterlot was eventually checked by a combined force of ponies and changelings. Such a thing sent a chill up Pharynx’s spine.

‘Just what has the Alicorn Of The Sun done to our brothers and sisters? To make them fight against their own survival… They may be broken beyond hope of healing!’

The combined forces had stumbled upon the forward scouts. Uttu riders were brought down, alarms were raised and signals sent, but more patrols fell than fled. The ones that fought had fought well. Not well enough by Pharynx’s standards, but for ponies and tortured changelings, they were okay.

Pharynx sighed as he watched a Royal Guard patrol get overrun. They were nearing the central plaza of the city, and had come up against tougher and tougher resistance. This was not the clean sweep that was supposed to happen.

Pharynx, as the greatest warrior of the Fourth Hive, commanded from the front, like any decent commander should. The patrol that he was taking on in particular was a nuisance of epic proportions. The three pegasi, five unicorns, and two armored changeling traitors had been running a hit and run campaign on the Swarm’s exposed left flank for the past ten minutes.

So Pharynx sought to deal with the situation himself. Let the Generals and Commander Scorpion head the offensive for the Palace, Pharynx was looking for something to fight. With four Praetorians at his back, he had waited for the resistance to show themselves one more time, after having set up a baited trap to lure the ponies out; a juicy target of twelve changeling drones on hoof with no mounted or artillery support. He didn’t have to wait long.

When the trap was sprung, the unicorns went down first. The changelings shortly after. It was, surprisingly enough, the pegasi that had delayed Pharynx the most. They had taken to the air and refused to come down, instead performing evasive maneuvers as they fired crossbow bolts at Pharynx and his lings.

“At least give me a fight worth remembering if you’re going to stall me,” Pharynx moaned as he brought one of the pegasi down with a focused will blast that left a cloud of burnt feathers in the air.

“Be careful what you wish for–” Pharynx spun around, already bringing up a shield “– because you just might get it.”

‘I know that voice!’

It was him, the bastard who killed his brother.

The murderer was alive, he was here, and he was not alone.

Prince Phasmatodea, twice as tall he should be, covered in Adamantium armor, and wielding that Panar-forsaken chunk of metal he called a hammer. Behind the Prince, scores of ponies and changelings– both armored and not– lined up in battle formation, already bringing up defensive shields.

“You!” Pharynx hissed.

“Me,” the Prince grinned. “So happy to see you again, Praetorian Pharynx. When was the last time we chatted? All the way back in the main hive spire? I can say without sarcasm that I’m glad to see you in good health. I could give you the fight you’re pining for, but I’m a rather busy ling. If you could just surrender, that’d be lovely.”

“It's Legate Pharynx now. I'm in charge of the Swarm since you're supposed to be dead. But I'm so glad to hear that you’re alive,” Pharynx said with faux cheer. “I was so worried that I wouldn’t have the chance to kill you myself!”

“Now why would you want to do that?”

“You killed my brother!” Pharynx screeched. “I trusted you. Thorax’s life was in your hooves, and you tossed him to the wolves! You knew him for less than half a year, and he died because of you!”

Prince Phasma rolled his eyes, “Thorax lives. He’s the one who discovered–”

“No! Enough of your bullshit! I didn’t buy it back then, and I’m certainly not buying it now!”

The royal frowned, “He’s alive, Pharynx. I care about him as much as you do, even if I’ve known him for less than a year now.”

“Oh yeah? Then where is he?”

Prince Phasma’s muzzle twitched, “..... I sent him away from Canterlot by train.”

“Oh, how convenient!” Pharynx hissed.

“If I die, he’s one of the two changelings who takes over the Fifth Hive. You think I would keep him here, in Canterlot, while it’s being invaded? Wouldn’t you have evacuated him, too?”

Pharynx bared his fangs, “Every time you claim he lives, you also fail to prove it! You think I’m a fool?! The Queen wanted you back, but she said she can work with you being dead if need be. I’m sure she won’t mind getting you back in several pieces. After all, that was her original plan. I’m going to kill you, Prince Phasma! Here and now, you will die!”

“I’m sorry I can’t think of a way to prove he’s alive. You’ll see him soon, Pharynx,” Prince Phasma sighed as he hefted God-Splitter up and brandished it in front of him.

Both sides stood back as Pharynx and Prince Phasma slowly paced in a circle, keeping each other at the same distance. The soldiers gave the two plenty of space, and formed shield walls as they stared each other down, neither letting the other pass.

‘Good. If any drone or pony interrupted my revenge, I’d hack ‘em to pieces, then get Queen Chrysalis to revive Phasma so I can tear him apart fairly.’

Phasma’s horn flashed a bright orange. That was the only warning Pharynx got before a powerful concussive wave of force knocked him off his hooves. Pharynx flexed his wings, catching the cold late-autumn wind and right himself mid-air. He also charged up a tight focused will spell, one to pierce the oversized insect’s armor.

But Phasma followed up his spell with a swing from God-Splitter. Pharynx had to throw himself to the side, buzzing his wings rapidly, to avoid the blow. The spell’s energy faded away as Pharynx’s concentration was broken.

‘Need to get in close–’ Pharynx decided in a split second.

Phasma recalled his hammer as he summoned another spell. Pharynx twisted around, planting his hind hooves on the bottom of the hammer’s head just before it wooshed past him. Phasma gasped in surprise, raising an armored hoof to physically stop Pharynx’s inevitable attack.

Pharynx did not disappoint the Prince. A smooth blade of fire crashed against the armored hoof, revealing the Prince’s shield. A thin green barrier enveloped his entire body, protecting him from all attacks.

Pharynx grunted and dodged low, using his remaining momentum to roll underneath Phasma’s guard and out to his side. He brought up another focused will spell, seeing if he could pierce the shield with a strong enough concentrated blow.

Phasma gripped God-Splitter with two hooves and swung in a huge arc, starting at his far side, and ending right on top of Pharynx. Before the blow was even a third of the way through, Pharynx unleashed his laser beam, aiming right for Phasma’s right eye.

The shield glowed into being once more, this time a near opaque green.

‘Better, but not enough.’

Pharynx pushed off the ground, lunging backwards to avoid the hammer blow that would have cracked his carapace in half.

“Sending me to see Thorax in the afterlife?” Pharynx grunted.

‘I need to stall, to come up with a plan.’

Another flash of orange. Pharynx reacted with a slanted shield to let the blow roll over and off him, but his shield didn’t stop Phasma’s spell. A blinding white light left spots in Pharynx’s vision as he cringed and blinked rapidly.

He rolled to the side and fired a volley of fire bolts, if only to keep Phasma busy. The rush of air from where he once stood indicated another missed lunge from God-Splitter.

‘Throw him off balance. Yes, get him emotional and hot-headed. He’s still a novice. A novice with the power to level a mountain and a hammer powerful enough to kill a demi-god, but he’s still a novice.’

“You know, Praetorian Oestridae gave me a good fight,” Pharynx said. “Right up until I killed him.”

A pause.

Pharynx regained his vision and lunged towards the briefly stunned Prince. He rolled to one side, then another, dodging blows that never came.

Phasma shook his head, refocusing, but Pharynx was already upon him, sliding underneath the massive royal. A scythe blade of pure energy, sharpened to a point too small and fine to see with the naked eye, slashed into Phasma’s exposed knees.

The green shield took the blow, glowed brighter and brighter, and outlasted Pharynx’s scythe. Pharynx slid out the other side, and surged to his hooves– but a tightening grip yanked him backwards.

Pharynx flipped himself over, gasping in pain as he saw Phasma pick him up by his chest. To grab someone using telekinesis was a difficult thing, requiring power far exceeding a normal drone’s. In fact, the bigger manapool someone has, the harder and more costly it was to grab them telekinetically. The amount of power Phasma had to be expending–

‘Power–!’

Pharynx gasped as he was picked up and slammed down onto the cobblestone street. The act jostled the thoughts right out of his mind.

Then he was slammed down again.

And again.

And again.

Finally, the pressure around his chest released, but the world kept spinning. Pharynx turned his head to the side and dry heaved, failing to even empty the contents of his stomach. The world was spinning, his ears were ringing, and his whole body hurt.

He heaved and gasped, trying desperately to not be sick and to get up to his hooves, but something pressed down on his chest, forcing him into the mess of rock fragments and broken cobblestones

“I was willing to accept a delay from fighting you, Pharynx,” a voice whispered next to his head. “But now, you will speak. You will tell me everything about Oestridae.

The Praetorian coughed, wheezed, and gagged as he forced air back into his tortured lungs.

Then, he looked up at me with one eye. I could practically see his frustration and anger, welling up inside his completely featureless pupil. He snarled, baring his fangs in a challenge he could not keep up.

Pharynx was powerless, and even he knew it.

My horn stung from the overuse. I had paid a price to capture the wryly changeling before he could keep up the tiresome fight. The fact that he kept closing in close enough to my guard to make God-Splitter useless was something I would have to address in the future. Now though, I wanted answers. I needed answers.

“Tell me about Praetorian Oestridae,” I commanded once more, growling into his ear. “Tell me, or I will make you tell me. I don’t want to have to apologize to Thorax for turning you into a vegetable. Tell. Me. Now!”

Pharynx turned his head to look at me fully, grinning. His teeth were speckled with blood.

“Ngh…. I… killed him. On that day. Just like this. Him and me. Me and him. Noling else. He didn’t land a single hit on me…” Pharynx paused. The grin slowly slipped from his face, “.... No. He deserves respect, I ‘spose. More than you. He held me back. Delayed. Never really fighting. Good warrior. Better warrior. Yes… Better than me. You didn’t deserve his loyalty, you murderer!”

I lifted my hoof off his chest, “He didn’t hurt you?”

“No,” Pharynx snarled. “He died gloriously. He never fought back, said I… was a member of the First Fang. As if I would dare be a member of your…”

“Honorary member,” I mumbled.

“Better than you,” Pharynx hissed. “Coulda made the best Praetorian in ages… Wasted.”

“Even dead, Oestridae proves himself to be one of the greatest of us all,” I agreed.

I looked down at the bruised changeling in disgust. Not at him, but at myself.

‘Oestridae didn’t fight back… He… he… damn it all! He remembered what Thorax said about his brother, and he kept it to heart. And here I am, crushing an Honorary Member like they were a damn beetle against a sidewalk.’

“Damn you Oest,” I cursed. “Why’d you have to die…” I nearly fell back onto my haunches, but I still had a job to do. “Canterlot’s in danger,” I said to myself, “have to keep going…”

I was still on a timetable. Chrysalis was in the Crystal Caverns, and could pop out anywhere in the city, at any point. There was no point trying to hunt her down, for we both had the same destination: Princess Celestia.

I stood up straight, “Legate Pharynx! You are hereby relieved of duty, by order of the Crown! Changelings, make sure this prisoner is bound up tightly, and keep watch on him. We're moving out.”

The changelings behind me nodded once, accepting my orders. The group of Praetorians and drones that stood across from us glared at me.

“I’m not your prisoner!” Pharynx hissed up at me.

'I mean, you don't have a choice in the matter, but maybe there's a way to convince you…'

“Pharynx, I… I don’t know how to prove to you that Thorax is alive, but he is,” I shook my head. “I owe everything to him. I didn’t kill him, damn it! I promise! I give my word! I… what can I do to prove it?!”

He glared at me, eyes boring a hole into my skull. Or they would, if I thought of him as threatening.

“... His voice.”

“What?”

Pharynx smiled, “His voice. Mimic it. Transform your vocal chords, and mimic it. If he’s been dead, you’ll fail to get his voice correctly, your memory failing to get it perfect. I’m his brother, I know his voice like I know the back of my hoof. If he’s alive, if you talked to him today, then you’ll remember exactly how his voice sounds. Mimic it.”

I raised my eyebrows, “I suppose that works. Why didn’t you say that earlier?”

His voice waver, “I never believed you. I never believed he could still be alive… so I didn't think of any way to prove it. Mimic it, or kill me before I kill you.”

I thought back to my last conversation with Thorax. I cleared my throat, grabbed the Thread of Change and adjusted my voice unconsciously.

Then, I cleared my throat again– higher pitched, and said, “I’m a Praetorian, I can hold my own in a fight. I’m also a flambouently gay cuddle-bug who can end wars with a smile.”

Pharynx froze, “... That… that sounds like his voice. The first sentence, at least.”

I undid the transformation, thankful to have my own voice back, “I may have added onto what he said. He might have only said the second thing subliminally...”

He sighed, “The wise thing to do is to kill you and find out for myself if he’s alive. But… but… I just want my brother back. If accepting your offer of peace to see him again sooner makes me a fool, well then, I’d rather be a fool than victorious any day of the week.”

“I’m telling you, he’s alive. I give you my word, and all that.”

He scoffed, slowly flipping over and haltingly rising up to all fours.

“Your word doesn’t mean much after you betrayed Queen Chrysalis.”

“She betrayed me first!” I bristled. “Planning to lobotomize me the moment she didn’t need me, how could I ever remain loyal?!”

“She was planning no such thing,” Pharynx shook his head. “In fact, I think she was hoping to saddle you with the majority of post-conquer responsibilities, while she sat around all day, eating love and performing magical experiments.”

“You didn’t see what I saw.”

“Hmph. So, are you still going to bind me up?”

I didn’t really see the need, “.... No. Just don’t do anything stupid, and stay away from the front lines. Lings, ponies! We’re moving out!”

While my soldiers gave out a triumphant cheer, the Praetorians that blocked our way didn’t budge.

“Sir?” One of them looked to Pharynx for orders.

“... You really found a way to get love from ponies willingly?” Pharynx asked.

I scowled, “No. Thorax did. I’m not stealing that legacy from him– in fact, he’s the one who deserves to be called a Saint, not me.”

“On that, we can agree.”

Author's Note

I have a Ko-Fi if you want to support me.

147- Valhalla: Where All Gods Gather

“Phasma left me in charge, right?”

Coxa and Lace stared at Thorax.

“Us,” Coxa said. “Phasma left us in charge.”

Thorax nodded, “Well, who’s to say that our first orders aren’t to turn around?”

“What?” Lace asked.

“I mean, why don’t we just go back? We’re in charge now, why can’t we just give new orders?”

“Thorax,” Coxa began to say, “we can’t just countermand Phasma’s last orders.”

“Why not?”

“Because! That’s… you can’t! His right to rule is more absolute than ours, for starters. Countermanding his last order is insulting him to the highest degree, second, and–”

Thorax snorted, “Well I am. I’m going back. Phasma will not be fighting Chrysalis, not without me. I wasn’t there last time, but I will be here this time. Friends stick together, no matter what the odds are. We’re more than friends, aren’t we? Isn’t the First Fang supposed to be more than that?”

Coxa shared a look with Lace.

Thorax continued, “It may… I might die if I go back. But I’d rather die than live with abandoning my best friend. I’m sorry, but I have to go.”

“Thorax,” Lace sighed, “you’re a suicidal fool. But I wouldn’t miss this fight for the world. You’re not going without us. The First Fang sticks together. Until the end.”

“Until the end,” Coxa nodded. “But it’s not going to be the end for us. I followed Phasma’s last evacuation order, but maybe if I was there, Oest would still be alive. Probably not, but maybe.”

Thorax smiled, and sniffled, “Until the end. Should we, uh, tell anyone else on the train?”

‘Double Diamond will want to know. He deserves to know. But if I tell him, would he try to stop us?’

“No,” Coxa shook his head. “I’ll leave a message for my second in command, but we should leave before anyone tries to stop us.”

‘Oh. I guess I’ll have to see Diamond after the war ends… I hope he can forgive me.’

Thorax swallowed, “Okay. Then let’s go now, before we change our minds.”

Princess Luna forced back a squad of changelings, her purple-colored bladestorm spell scattering them as they ducked for cover.

'This Palace has too many damn entrances and egresses!' Luna cursed to herself.

The luxurious castle had not been designed with defense in mind. The fact that the outer defenses had held on for so long was due to three main things.

First, the clearing around the castle. While it served as the main hub for local commerce, it doubled as a clearing around the castle which besiegers could not advance through without exposing themselves.

It's a shame that many changelings had infiltrated into the castle already, and were reinforcing through unknown methods.

Second, the defenses present were the best that bits could buy. Though the overall defenses were lacking, the ones present had mastercrafted enchantments, architecture, placement, and so on. In fact, the Sun Princess had, in all likelihood, added to the defenses herself, or had at least trained the skilled enchanters to a far greater level than they would have achieved on their own. The defenses' effectiveness was not to be doubted.

Third, the castle was renovated by Daybreaker herself. The Nightmare had poured mind-boggling amounts of money into fixing up the castle following the invasion, and it had put emphasis on exterior defenses. Sadly, nothing was done for the interior.

All these points in the Palace's favor were heavily outweighed by the negatives. The defenses, while of the highest quality, were far too few in number. There weren't enough firing positions to cover all angles from the walls, there were far too many entrances, many of the entrances were too large to be structurally impregnable, there weren't enough launch points for pegasi squads, there weren't enough sky-facing defensive emplacements, and the interior was… the interior. It lacked any sort of defensive design.

There were massive, undetectable corridors that ran through the castle like arteries. There were secondary, sometimes even tertiary, hallways that would have to be sealed or defended in addition to the main halls. There were no layers of defenses, none at all. There were no choke points or firing positions. The entire thing was designed with bureaucracy and stewardship in mind, not fulfilling a castle's main purpose.

There were even Faust-damn elevators connecting many of the floors! Personnel elevators, cargo elevators, and more! Changelings could simply fly up the elevator shafts, giving themselves access to so many interior compartments of the Palace.

Daybreaker had not touched the interior, aside from the décor. Luna suspected that the Nightmare had believed that should the castle be reached, the Nightmare would deal with the attackers itself.

Not that there was any way to really fix the castle. All the efforts made to improve its defensive capabilities were like cork plugs on a very leaky, sinking ship. That left the defenders– which now counted Luna amongst their number– frantically scrambling about, plugging up the remaining holes with their own hooves. It wasn't enough. It would never be enough.

'The castle will fall. It's not a question of if, but when. Damn you Tia, and your fat ass! Did you really need an elevator connection straight to the kitchen?!'

Luna tore straight through a squad of Praetorians, sending them flying. She let the Royal Guards following her deal with the disoriented changelings. Right now, Luna was focused on one thing: finding her sister.

Celestia was somewhere in the Castle. Questioning the Royal Guards revealed that Celestia was not sticking in one place, instead staying on the move and issuing new orders to troops as she came across them, with only a few messages having a way of locating her. With her command staff at her heels, Luna admitted that it was perhaps the best way for Celestia to remain safe.

If only Luna could get her hooves on one of these messengers, then she wouldn't have to wander around, fending off the attackers, hoping to accidentally run into Celestia.

Currently, Luna was heading to one of the exterior courtyards that overlooked the city. Her attached squads and herself would be exposed, but she needed at least a glimpse of how the defense of the city was progressing. After all, the ponies out in the city would be the most vulnerable.

When she arrived at the surprisingly empty green space, Luna found that the battle had progressed from the Lower district, all the way through Middle Canterlot, and was now fully enwrapping the castle in the Upper Canterlot. Every block, every street, and every single pony was now part of the war.

There was a mass of changelings heading towards the castle through the main Southeast road, Luna noted.

Only, this swarm had ponies in it…. And armored changelings, too.

“Phasma!”

Defenders rallied to me like a tidal wave picking up momentum.

I split off many squads to defend the ponies of Lower and Middle Canterlot, but the bulk of my nascent army stuck to me as we made progress toward the Palace. Ahead, our objective loomed, slowly growing in size as it towered over the unicorn city.

The chaos from the first battle repeated itself over and over again. Many drones defected when ordered to, joining forces with us. Some dug their hooves in and sided with the Praetorians. Very quickly, we gained the advantage of numbers. That alone was a huge convincing factor. When facing down an entire army promising an end to the worst of the issues motivating you, you tend to listen.

The resistance to our effort became stiffer and stiffer. The more Fourth Hive squads we ran into, the more battles we had to take, and the closer we got to the Palace, the more of these squads we ran into. A few were breaking into homes and businesses, hunting the ponies inside. The majority were leaving that for after defeating the city’s defenders.

The captured ponies we freed were grateful, and quickly made themselves scarce, fleeing into our wake, where it was far safer.

“So, uh, Phasma?” Bray Call asked, trotting by my side. “What’s the game plan?”

“Break the siege on the Palace,” I said, scanning the empty streets around us. “Then flush out the castle. Then…. We can figure out a counterattack. Digging Chrysalis out of the Crystal Caverns is going to be next to impossible, so we’ll burn that bridge when we get to it.”

“What about the ponies in trouble out here, in the city?” Warm Dew asked, trailing behind Bray.

“I’m sending who I can afford to, but if we take out Chrysalis, we can end the war immediately.”

“I don’t like leaving them to fend for themselves…” He said.

“Neither do I,” I agreed, “but the alternative is worse. If we get bogged down defending everyone, then we’ll fail to repel the invasion. We have to take down Chrysalis, and that means taking down the Praetorian meatshield she’ll have around her.”

“King Phasma!” A Red Right Hoof soldier called from above me. “There’s airships coming in!”

I looked around, “Where?”

“The city’s edge!”

I scanned the horizon behind us, but saw nothing. The sun, still hours away from sunset, was holding its position above the city’s edge.

“Where?!”

Then, as if summoned, they rose. The three snow-white blimps of the Canterlot Reactionaries crested above the skyline, like gargantuan whales. Their propellers spun fast in purple shielding, no doubt the cause of their silent approach.

'They flew below the horizon to get as much of a surprise as they could, with the sun at their backs, too!’

Spells began splashing against their white hulls. Thick, partially opaque shields flashed into being moments before each spell got its chance to rip through the airships’ casings.

Just as they started taking fire, the airships opened up hatches and dropped ramps all across the lower half of their hulls. Pegasi flowed forth, jumping and gliding out. They spread themselves out, picked out their fights, and dived towards the ground. A few unicorns took positions on exterior catwalks that jutted out at the four corners, throwing down spells of their own. The airships themselves continued on their heading straight towards the Palace, barely above the rooftops of Canterlot.

“Rather unfortunate timing for the Fourth Hive,” Pharynx said. “Just an hour later and this would have all turned out quite differently.”

He had stuck behind my command squad, silently observing each surrender and subsequent battle.

“If there was ever any doubt who would win,” Sergeant Quick Search beamed, “then that outta make things clear! Let’s go, colts and fillies!”

The ponies hooped and hollered. A number of changelings joined in the revelry, smiling and cheering with their comrades.

“Keep marching!” I bellowed. “We don’t want to let them beat us to the Palace, do we?!”

The soldiers cheered loudly, formed up in columns, and followed my command. The beat of four thousand hooves on stone echoed down the city as we marched. I also noted that the thin cloud of fear that permeated throughout the city was absent around us. Several ponies were foolishly watching us through the windows of the lavish buildings we passed, staring with big eyes.

The E.U.P. within our ranks began to sing a marching song, and the song was added to the orchestra of hoofsteps.

‘It’s not like they won’t hear or see us coming anyways,’ I thought as I decided to let them sing.

They sang of lush valleys, of ripe fruit on homely farms, of a warm hearth, and of family and friends. Thay sang of things worth fighting for, of things worth dying for. Eventually, the changelings joined in on the chorus.

The song ended when our reinforcements arrived.

A long shadow was cast over the army, stretching past us until it landed on the Palace itself. Above, the center airship was flying low. Long, thick ropes dropped down from the sides as the airship dragged itself even lower and started to slow down. Ponies slid down the rope, wrapping hooves around them and keeping their weapons in scabbards or in telekinetic grips.

“Look out below!” An armored unicorn bellowed as he slid down the rope closest to my command squad.

Captain Shining Armor landed with a heavy grunt and quickly made room for the next unicorn following him down.

“And I was beginning to worry that you were going to miss the party,” I said.

“Not that I’m going to make light of ponies suffering,” Shining said, “but not a chance in Tartarus.”

Princess Cadence glided down, circling around us before landing next to her squeeze. She was wearing her silver armor, and had a rapier with her, the scabbard attached to her barrel plate.

“Phasma! The cavalry has arrived!” She triumphantly cheered.

“Just in time, too,” I nodded towards the Palace. Several changelings were swarming around its parapets and tall walls. “The real battle is about to start. Where’s Luna?”

“She’s not with you?” Shining asked, looking around. “She teleported ahead to link up with you at the Palace.”

“Damn it, I was at the train station!”

Cadence frowned, “Why were you–”

“I was evacuating some civilians,” I hastily explained. “Celestia doesn’t have much protection, but maybe Luna linked up with her instead. We have to break the siege, then clear out the castle, then find the sisters, then we get Chrysalis. Got it?”

“Sounds like as good of a plan as any,” Shining nodded. Then, he looked up and signaled to two pegasi who were hovering close, “Order the two other ships to secure the city! Main force on the ground, with us! We’re taking back the castle!”

The ponies saluted and split off. The ship above us continued to slow to a stop as more ponies disembarked and assembled themselves into formation ahead of us.

“Give us one minute and we’ll be ready,” Shining said. He coughed, “The enemy will know we’re here and coming for them, though.”

“It’s not like they couldn’t just fly up and spot us,” I shrugged.

Cadence looked to the Palace, “Everypony’ll be fine. The alicorn sisters have been through many wars, this is just one more…”

“There you are,” I growled suddenly as my ears flicked toward the Palace, and my head swiveled around to join them. “Ponies! Changelings! Make ready for war! We’ve been having minor scuffs up till now! We will march on the Palace, and make no mistake, there will be a fight!”

The changelings all hardened their expressions and nodded. The ponies followed suit, but lacked understanding.

“What is it, Phasma? What do you hear?” Shining asked, trying to see what I was seeing at the Palace.

I bared my fangs, “Queen Chrysalis. Her Weave is finally present; she’s in the Palace. Must’ve gone up through some secret stairwell down to the Crystal Caves. The odds of the Legions surrendering is much lower now, especially if she comes out to meet us. We must be ready to fight her early, as well as the Legions.”

Author's Note

I have a Ko-Fi if you want to support me.

148- Surt: Who Burns The World

We marched into Canterlot's central plaza fifteen abreast. The army spread out in line formations and faced the enemy, shields already up around us.

The enemy was indeed waiting for us. The Palace’s defenses had finally fallen silent, letting the Fourth Hive amass in full. No less than seven thousand changelings stood in formation, swarmed through the air, or poured into the castle through breached entrances. It was the largest single concentration of changeling soldiers ever, as none of the three Swarms that took part in the initial invasion had ever gathered in their entirety at one spot. Changelings were always spread out, never trying to stand up against an enemy in pitched combat. Our way of fighting was infiltration, sowing chaos, and disabling the command structure from within.

Yet here we all were, what was probably around a third of the changeling species, ready to fight each other in full-scale warfare. About ten thousand changelings faced each other in the square, with the ponies making up more than half of our side's bulk.

The rest of our kind would be scattered throughout the city, inside the Palace, still inside the Crystal Caverns, maintaining a skeleton crew back in the hive spire, or evacuating to Manehattan.

With the Red Right Hoof, the defected changelings and rare Praetorians, Canterlot's defense force, and the Canterlot Reactionaries, our side just about matched the Fourth Hive's in number.

According to Pharynx, the bulk of the Fourth Hive was originally supposed to hit the perimeter wall and take down the defenders there, but my interference necessitated a change in plans.

I paced back and forth in front of my command squad. Shining Armor conferred with my reunited Lieutenants and defected officers on a battle plan. Even if half of the loyalists defected, there would still be a bloody enough battle to be put in the history books.

Using a binocular spell, we had seen our counterparts across the empty plaza, past the overturned stalls and carts.

There was Commander Scorpion, leader of all the Praetorians. Last I had seen him, I had thrown him across the Palace's armory. He seemed to be the most argumentative of the commanders, but without a way to hear, we could only guess as to what their plans were.

Generals Amphid and Labrum were there, rounding off the triumvirate that controlled the Swarm. They were Generals loyal to me, and given how much they pointed in my direction, I was the subject of their arguments.

"Deciding whether or not you're brainwashed," Pharynx had explained, though I had guessed as much. "And me too, since I'm standing by your side."

There were a few more faces I recognized: Captain Obturator, the Royal physician I had put in charge of the Legion dedicated to harvesting love, Captain Nicro of the Underhive Scarabs, who had most assuredly led the way through the Underhive, and Captain Tetragnath of Panar's Hammer, the siege experts. Their loyalties would be scattered at best.

"We're as ready as we can be," Shining Armor declared. "I'd rather fight now than wait for reinforcements. We need to save the Princesses and the rest of the ponies inside. And changelings."

"Yes, Captain Katydid and a few others are still in there, too," I remarked. "Well then, let's not keep them waiting. Pharynx, are you going to help me try to convince them?"

Pharynx grunted, "You've foolishly given me plenty of opportunities to backstab you already, you really trust me to try to talk them down when I'm not entirely convinced myself?"

".... Yep."

He blinked in surprise, "I, uh…. Fine. I'll say something. But it'll be the truth, and no propaganda or nothing."

Shining glanced at Pharynx, "Phasma, are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Have faith, Shiny," Cadence said. "I think it's a good idea, too. Let the changelings hear from their, uh, Legate was it? Their Legate. If we don’t let him speak, won’t that just make us look worse?"

“Fine, whatever, just do it quickly,” Shining threw his hooves up. “It’s a risk, but this is war.”

“He who dares,” I nodded. “Alright Pharynx, let’s go address the Legions.”

I started to walk towards the loyalist forces, stopping about a third of the way to them. Pharynx stopped by my side, giving me one last unsure glance. The drones were all focused on me; it was hard to miss me after all, with my shiny green armor and war hammer that was taller than me still.

I chose to amplify my voice instead of using the Weave to speak. If Chrysalis somehow didn’t know we were out here, an almost zero chance, then I’d prefer to keep it that way.

“Changelings of the Hive Eternal!”

My voice echoed across the plaza like a clap of thunder, demanding attention,

“I am King Phasmatodea of the Fifth Hive! I am the Pontiff of the Hive Eternal! Hear me now! The War for the Sun was fought so that we may banish hunger from our lives, for once and for all. Praetorian Thorax has found an end to the hunger that has plagued us since time immemorial; the way forward is cooperation, not war!

“The Masquerade Protocol kept us safe for thousands of years, but it also shackled us. We have been struggling. We have been suffering. In the dark, changelings have toiled and sacrificed and died. We have all decreed that no longer shall that be so. That is why we fought for the sun. Unshackled by the Protocol, salvation reveals itself. Cooperation with the Equestrians is not only possible, but it is the only way forward!

“No one has to die today. No one has to bravely lay down their lives in the ultimate service to the Hive Eternal. The end to our hunger is real, and it is achievable by everyone here. Praetorian Thorax has uncovered something that was never known to our species. Hear me now, and commit my words to memory! Love for an undisguised changeling is a thousand times more potent than love stolen! Should the worst come to pass, or should it not, never forget this knowledge, this gift from Panarthropo herself! We can never again obtain wisdom so pure and priceless.

“I ask you all to stand beside me. Step forth, out from the dark, and into the sun. Our demons must be fought, but we do not have to fight alone. Trust me, as you always have, and I will not fail you.”

I motioned for Pharynx to speak. He did not speak at first, merely giving me an unsure look. Then, he spoke.

"Soldiers. You know who I am, so I'm not going to waste words. Nothing in life is certain. We take risks. We trust others. The Hive would have been long dead if we didn't trust each other. We trust, and we fight for the things most important to us: family, friends, and duty. We live each day, not knowing if it'll be our last. We… ah, to hell with it.

"King Phamsa says my brother found a way to get love freely from the ponies. I believe him. Trusting him is a risk, I know, but we've been taking bigger and bigger risks since we left the Badlands. What's one more? He's got to be doing something right, after all. He was supposed to be dead, but he's here now, with the ponies completely supporting him. And he's got more Adamantium, because of course he does. When we fought, and believe me we did, I didn't last twenty seconds. You don't get that strong from starving in a dungeon. He's got love, and he's got more than we can imagine.

"So you can either fight for Queen Chrysalis, who managed to capture a few thousand ponies in exchange for the most sacred laws that bound us and kept our people alive for thousands of years, or you can take a risk, and side with King Phasma, who, in one year, has accomplished more than any previous royal. Combined. You declared him a Saint for a reason. Do you still believe in that reason?"

I dropped the spell. The changelings across the way began arguing. Commander Scorpion's voice carried over the bickering, but he was too far away to hear.

"Thanks," I said quietly, keeping my eyes forward.

Pharynx grunted, "Hpmh. Just give me my brother back and we'll call it even… Are you really not mad that I killed Praetorian Oestridae?"

"You did your duty, and you thought Thorax was dead. That I killed him. If I thought that, too…" I sighed as I let that train of thought slip away.

"This is our day."

I stiffened as a chill went all the way up my spine. Someone was speaking through the Weave, and it was no mystery who that was.

"Are we going to lose everything we have fought for, everything we have sacrificed for, simply because a twisted puppet offers some honeyed words?"

Queen Chrysalis of the Fourth Hive strode out onto a balcony that overlooked her Legions. Absent-mindedly, I realized that it was the balcony I stood on when Celestia introduced me to her kingdom after the Gala.

"Prince Phasma is dead. His body may yet draw breath, but he has been under the influence of the Burning Sun for months. How many of you lost friends to that alicorn? How many of you watched your comrades burn alive in a hellfire too hot to even see? Do you really think the Burning Sun didn't sink her hooks deep into Saint Phasma?"

She was too far away to see in much detail. I felt my heart rate spike as she spoke, her voice triggering memories of Ascension rituals and death.

"Legions of the Hive Eternal. There stands your Prince, broken and damned. They made him into a puppet, turned him into a mockery of us all, and now they use him to turn us against one another. You should not be moved by his lies, you should be angry that they broke him and gave him Princess Celestia's voice! I order you, I beg you, to save my son. Bring him to me, and cast down the ponies pulling the strings! This day is ours, you just have to take it!"

"Say something!" Pharynx hissed.

I tried to say something. Anything. My mouth opened and closed like a fish. My mind flashed with images of my right foreleg being ripped off, of being thrown across the ash covered throne room, of my nightmares of Ascension.

"Too late now," Pharynx snorted. "Now you gotta get to safety…. Prince Phasma?"

Chrysalis was looking at me. She shook her head, and then turned to head back into the Palace, not even bothering to stick around to watch the fight, let alone join in.

"Prince, Saint, King, whatever you want to call yourself, you better get back into the moment!"

I looked down at Pharynx. He was pressing against my chest plate with a hoof.

"Wha…?" I mumbled.

Pharynx glared, "Get back to your fanclub now. You had your chance to counter her speech, but that's gone. Move it!"

I slowly turned around and walked back to the officers. Pharynx followed at my side.

"What the hell was that? You froze up like a larva at the sight of love!"

"I… it was her. Chrysalis… I was reminded of my brothers and sisters, the torture I endured, and what's going to happen if I lose here. I sent away the First Fang thinking that if I die, they'll take over. But I'm not going to die, aren't I? It'll be so much worse…"

'I wish Luna was here. She'd say something smart and caring. She…. is in danger. Everyone is. Damn it, Phasma, snap out of it! This is no time to be having a PTSD episode!'

I stopped before both my officers and Shining's and listened to their plan. Well, half listened.

'The moment things hit too close to home, I freak out and need someone to ground me. I plan and scheme behind people's backs and try to do my absolute best for my people, even risking my own safety. All I really want to do is eat pastries, cookies, and love and sit around, doing nothing but getting fat. Gods above, am I really just a male Celestia?'

'Uh oh, people are looking at me now.'

I recalled the details of the plan they outlined from the half of my brain paying attention. Basically, they wanted to watch for signs of a lack of cohesion, and at the critical moment, start the advance. The pressure of us moving towards the lines will force action, causing chaos in the Fourth Hive Legions. We will push through the chaos like a wedge, aiming for one of the entrances. The fact that there was no fighting outside the castle's interior was greatly concerning, so getting troops inside the walls was our first priority. If possible, we will take down the enemy commanders along the way.

Our casualties: minimum.

Fourth Hive casualties: high.

It would take too long to find another way in, too long to wait for a consensus to be reached within the Legions, and too long to try to convince the Generals and Captains of the Legions to surrender.

In order to save Luna, Celestia, and Katydid, changelings would have to die.

"I'll lead the advance," I decided. "With me at the very front, they might think twice about just opening fire upon us. It'll maximize their hesitancy and divide them even further."

"That's very risky," Cadence remarked.

Shining cringed, "It’s also going to result in ponies– in changelings getting killed.”

“We don’t have time for anything else,” I said.

"Do you really think we can beat the Fourth Hive?" Sergeant Search asked.

“I don’t think that’s really in question,” Private Dew said. “It’s more a matter of how many will die today.”

Corporal Bray gazed across the plaza, “I just wish they’d see reason. Why are they still fighting for their doomed kingdom?”

"The Fourth Hive is dead," I declared, waving a hoof at our own army. "We're proof of that. This is a fight between fear and hope. A clash between those fueled by the fear of the worst outcome, and those motivated by a hope for a future brighter than ever before. I hoped for a peaceful resolution, but it's becoming increasingly clear that that's an impossibility."

'If I was a drone, what side would I pick? Knowing how paranoid I am, it would honestly be the fear side. The Fourth Hive hasn't exactly encouraged free thinking nor rebellion, but maybe my efforts to unionize the drones using the Lodges will be enough to break that dogmatic hold on them.'

We didn't have to wait long. The plan was to wait just until before the boiling point, and then move in, but things went to shit far quicker than we anticipated.

The battle that would eventually become known as the Canterlot Massacre started when Commander Scorpion murdered General Amphid. All things considered, I was glad he picked killing Amphid over killing Labrum. Labrum was the better of the two Generals.

The General fell to his knees, blood gushing from his neck, and all hell broke loose.

The Praetorians, the Infiltrators, the hardcore loyalists, and the moderates who were undecided but leaning towards Chrysalis’s side started fighting the separatists. All in all, about two thirds defected in support of me, their declared Saint.

But a third was all that was needed to make the fight into a chaotic mess. Friendly fire between the two sides, a lack of clear distinction between the two, and all-around panic turned the political arguments into brawls, which escalated into a full scale battle.

With no choice but to attack, I ordered the charge.

The soldiers formed a pointed wedge behind me, with the Red Right Hoof and converted drones on the exterior. The plan was for the R.R.H. and Fourth Hive drones to stay and put an end to the battle, while the ponies followed me inside. That way, the changelings could use their knowledge of telling each other apart to discern between friend or foe, while the ponies had free rein to subdue any non-R.R.H. changeling we came across inside the Palace.

I saw the drones at the forefront of the lines panicking as we galloped across the plaza, tossing aside the debris like a tsunami. Some galloped out to meet our charge. Many panicked and pushed against their comrades to get out of our way, and many wisely took to the air to avoid the stampede.

All of this only created more chaos. Cohesion broke down. Orders were lost, forgotten, misheard, or unheard. The infighting grew and spread across the lines.

Then, impact.

The cacophony of yelling mixed with the sound of spells being thrown, and the increasingly loud buzzing of insect wings as more and more changelings took to the skies. The ones that remained on the ground, in our path, were the ones determined to stop us.

With large, dramatic sweeps of God-Splitter, I took down drone after drone, literally flinging them out of our path in some cases. My armor flashed its green shield constantly in response to the hail of spells being thrown at me. The changelings and ponies behind me either kept shields up to protect each other, or were using spells of their own to clear out a path. Many flying changelings opened fire upon me and my soldiers, but they were constantly being countered by other flying lings and spellcasters on the ground.

Our advance slowed as we slogged through the ranks. Changelings facing away from us, fighting other lings were simply added to our ranks as we pushed. Our front lines, three lings deep, were stunning changelings by the dozens. Past our front line, teams worked constantly to make sure everyone on the ground was secured– or in the case of downed ponies and Red Right Hoof soldiers, were seen if they could be brought back to fighting shape.

But inevitably, there was death. The internal fighting among the Legions had led to lethal spells being used in many instances, and the unarmored changelings fell. Tending to the wounded was another duty given to the follow-up forces behind the wedge cutting through the army.

Yelling, screaming, electronic cracks, sizzling fire, hoofsteps on cobblestone, and general chaos filled the air.

It wasn’t a battle. There were no tactics; no flanking, no amassing in locations, no fighting for strategic locations, no suppressive fire or concentrated fire. There was little in the way of identifying friend or foe. There were no banners flying proudly above neatly formed lines, no slow advancing formations and skirmishes to test capabilities and determination. There were no instruments belting out marching tunes or rallying calls. Of course, unlike human warfare, there were no gunshots, relatively less explosions, and somewhat less death. The only thing the clash had in common with a battle was that people were dying, and they were dying.

Blood was spilled across the cobblestones, revealed in the wake of our push. More and more ponies and changelings became bogged down trying to help the wounded. The armor that the Red Right Hoof and Royal Guards had was doing wonders in mitigating lethal injuries, but there were plenty of small ones.

Sections of our front lines had to be messily rotated out as fighting strength slowly sapped over time.

Shields were shattered. Metal armor was bent and scorched. Bones were broken. Chitin was cracked, splintered, shattered, and even ripped off.

Around me, a small clearing opened up as changelings escaped God-Splitter’s arcs. Frequently, I had to unleash barrages of stun bolts to dissuade determined loyalists, or quickly seal the wounds of particularly bleeding changelings writhing on the ground. But I had to save my strength and get to the castle as quickly as possible. Often, I left the changelings dying on the ground alone, hoping that they could be saved later.

Quick Search, Bray Call, and Warm Dew followed in my hoofsteps, helping clear away flanking maneuvers, give callouts, and hit fallen foes with stun bolts. Or a swift kick to the head, in Warm Dew’s and Quick Search’s case. Mostly though, the two non-unicorns were using improvised blunt weapons to cudgeon changelings that didn’t know when to quit. A little brain trauma didn’t hurt anybody.

Praetorians wormed their way through the melee to fight me like sharks tasting blood in the water. They tested me in groups of three, five, seven, and more. They combined spell attacks to catch me off guard. They kept me distracted and constantly tried to flank me. They kept coming, and I kept putting them down.

One changeling stabbed at me with a serrated blade made of stone. I effortlessly deflected the attack, and brought up a shield to preemptively put a stop to his follow-up. The changeling switched tactics, diving for me like Pharynx did during his fight. Quick Search intercepted the changeling, bucking the changeling away. I cringed when I saw the drone’s foreleg bend in all the wrong directions, but moved on.

The battle was far from over, and the Praetorians and their loyal minions kept hounding me.

A concussive wave to knock several off their hooves dealt with one small charge. A wave of sub-zero wind froze the sweat and blood covering the bodies of another charge, slowing them down and sending them to their knees. Then, God-Splitter finished them off. Most survived their suicidal battles with me, though how many of those would still be alive by the day’s end was another story.

I stepped over a changeling drone who was desperately grasping at their crushed windpipe, trying to gasp for air. I was unable to help him; three more Praetorians were firing off a flame spell that burned green. Bray blinded them with a spray of conjured water that turned to steam when it clashed against the green flames. Through the vapor, I charged the Praetorians.

Then came a group of twelve Praetorians, protecting each other with shields and firing from gaps in the layered magical bubbles. As I readied God-Splitter to simply smash through their pitiful defenses, the lines behind me broke. With a furious yell, R.R.H. and Royal Guards surged forth, almost overtaking me in their frenzy.

I glanced up and realized that the Palace’s main entrance was right before us. For half a second, I recalled the extravagant amount of flowers, ribbons, banners, decorations, guards, and gemstones that had adorned the grand entrance no more than two weeks ago. The Gala had come and gone, and now changelings swarmed the Palace’s walls.

The sight of our goal being so close was what had spurred the Canterlot Confederacy soldier behind me into a charge. The twelve Praetorians ahead were the last of the loyalists between us and the Palace.

“For Equestria!” Sergeant Quick Search yelled from my right.

“For the Hive Eternal!” A changeling I now recognized as Froghopper, the scout leader, yelled from my left.

“Attack!” I needlessly bellowed, sweeping God-Splitter forth in a dramatic fashion.

My hooves lifted from the ground as my wings carried me aloft. Holding God-Splitter in front, I narrowed my profile behind the hammer, flying straight ahead in a Superman-like pose. The Praetorians’ spells sputtered and shook God-Splitter, but I held it steady.

I saw them dive to the side in the last second before the hammer would have slammed into them. They dropped the shields closest to me, not wanting to risk me simply slightly adjusting my heading and popping their shields, taking them out of the fight thanks to the debilitating pain of a failed spell.

I did not disappoint; with a side blow, I smashed into a leaping Praetorian as I spun around before landing. My boots dragged furrows into the stone steps of the Palace’s entrance, and I followed my attack with a lash of fire, which I had learned in one of my many combat practice sessions.

I swirled the end of the whip around the horn of one of the Praetorians holding up the shield barrier that had reformed behind me. She screamed in pain as the chitin began to melt. I yanked downwards, sending her face first into the stone steps, and her shield fizzled away.

Then, through the gap I had created and kept open, the reinforcements arrived.

The ponies and changelings flowed like a rushing tide through the gap, surrounding and attacking the Praetorians who struggled to readjust to their lines being broken. Ponies ran forward, charging up the steps to the Palace’s broken-open doors. Then, they fell, the gap widening until the last of the defenders in front of the steps fell. Ponies continued to charge forward as the changelings stopped and pressed outwards along the sides of our advance.

With a triumphant cheer, Captain Shining Armor stopped, reared back on his hind legs and turned around.

“To the Palace! We end this war today, ponies!”

He dropped back onto all fours and joined his soldiers, galloping up the steps and into the Palace. Princess Cadence followed shortly after, giving one single nod to me. I started to join them, but a grunt of pain made me reflexively look to its origin.

General Labrum was sitting up against one of the walls next to the doors. She was hunched over, bleeding heavily, but her eyes were on me.

“Yer Highness,” she gasped. “Good to see you’re alive. I was worried you were dead.”

I motioned to some drones nearby to tend to her, and they complied, setting a suitcase half-full of medical supplies next to the fallen general and beginning to dress her wounds.

“General Labrum, I could say the same. What happened, and where’s that bastard Scorpion?”

She smiled, “Amphid let his guard down, so it wasn’t that much of a surprise when Scorp went for him first. He tried to take me down, but I’m no easy pickings. He went inside, I couldn’t stop him. Ugh, go. Go, My Prince, and finish this.”

“I plan to,” I smiled back. “Don’t die. I’ll need all the changelings I can get for the war to come.”

Her brows furrowed as she stared at me in confusion, but I was already turning away. Leaving behind the roar and chaos of the battle, I bounded up the steps in search of the missing Commander.

‘Tracheotomy.’

I paused briefly.

‘That’s what would have saved that changeling’s life.’

I shook my head to clear the thought, and entered the Palace.

As it turned out, Commander Scorpion did not make it far. I found him in the front foyer of the castle, where my rebellion had initially been ambushed. He was making his last stand against the ponies flooding the room, trying to stop them all. The Commander stood behind a line of Praetorians, making me wonder just where they had gotten so many of the damned helmeted bastards.

‘No matter, they’ll fall just the same.’

The ponies had made decent progress through the defenders, but they lacked the sheer power that I had. Cadence and Shining were working in tandem to push forward through the middle of the room. Shining’s shield spell, which I knew from experience was a tough nut to crack, took the brunt of the attacks sent their way while Cadence periodically put up shields whose lifespan was measured in seconds. Her shields took the occasional barrage or up-charged spell that would normally put Shining’s shield in danger.

“Don’t worry Phasma, we’ll be right behind you,” Bray Call said, adjusting her helmet.

“Unless it gets too dangerous,” Dew smiled.

Sergeant Search was looking around the foyer, taking stock of the battle.

“Right then,” I said, nodding to the three ponies that followed me like lost dogs, “let’s not keep the Praetorians waiting.”

Not wanting to be left out of the battle, I quickly advanced up to the front lines, keeping low to the ground to avoid being spotted for as long as possible. Shouldering past the ponies marching behind the Captain and Princess, I got close enough to hold a conversation despite the noise of the battle.

“Phasma!” Cadence called out. “Could you do the thing where you smash into them like a bowling ball again?! It worked really well last time!”

“As much fun as this is,” grunted Shining, “I would also appreciate the help. Your whole ‘overwhelming power’ thing works well against…. all of us.”

I gave God-Splitter a small spin, “Don’t fix what isn’t broken, aye?”

“The oceans’ floors are littered with the bones of fools who shot for the stars and missed.”

I froze, staring at God-Splitter. I almost dropped the enormous thing out of shock, but I kept my grip on it.

“That’s… very reassuring,” I mumbled.

‘Procho’s voice, once again through God-Splitter! But why? How? Why now?!’

Commander Scorpion was not having a good day. In fact, it was fair to say that he was having the worst day of his life, even considering the day he failed to take down the rogue Prince and protect his Queen.

No, this day was far worse than the first invasion of Canterlot for one simple reason; it was happening again. There was no excuse of being blindsided. There was no hope of redemption. There was no chance of getting a do-over. This second invasion was an all-in gamble; even the nymphs were brought from the hive structure to the Crystal Caves in preparation for taking over the city. Simply put, if today was a loss, there wouldn’t be enough lings to fend off an Equestrian army, even without their magic.

Commander Scorpion was failing once again. This time, he would be reporting his failure not to Queen Chrysalis, the rightful ruler of the Hive– and not those idiotic upstarts that picture themselves as kings and queens– but instead, he would be reporting directly to Panarthropo herself.

“Pressure left flank!” He ordered.

“Suppressing!” Praetorian Mag called out, sweeping a flame spell across the left half of the room.

“Green team, hit ‘em again!”

Green team was already prepping a concentrated beam to pop the pony’s bubble, but Scorpion’s order let the shield team covering Green team know that they were up to bat.

“Contact!” One of the shielders yelled.

“No shit–” Scorpion began to yell back, but his frustration fell away like he was just thrown off a cliff.

The sudden sinking feeling was due to the reason why there was a need to call out contact despite being knee-deep in a firefight already; Prince Phasma ‘The Comet’ had come to play. The giant royal in green armor flew right out of the pony’s hammered flank, flying over the flames licking at his boots, and was gunning straight for Green team’s position.

The changelings had seen Prince Phasma lead the charge, and watched helplessly as he waded straight through all attempts to take him down, and later delay him. The armor was without a doubt made of Adamantium; the way he took countless spells without so much as breaking pace made even Scorpion hesitant to fight him.

Without a doubt, he was still Panarthropo’s chosen Champion on Equus. The fact that the ponies had brainwashed him and somehow equipped him with twice as much Adamantium as he left the Badlands with was… catastrophic. Anything more descriptive for the demigod of war did not do him justice.

Scorpion shuddered involuntarily at the idea of the prince actually getting years of training to fight. Coupled with God-Splitter and that brand new armor, he would probably be able to take on all the alicorns and royals at the same time.

But such a hypothetical would have to wait for the end of the war, should Scorpion even be alive to witness it. And that was looking like a decreasingly likely possibility. The Prince had just burst forward from the enemy lines, and was barreling right towards Green team. Three ponies trailed behind him, doggedly pushing through the flames using a shield to keep the fire at bay.

The Praetorians holding up the shield dropped it, expecting the infamous Adamantium hammer to accompany Prince Phasma’s solo charge against them. The fact that he was covered in the green colored metal facilitated this assumption.

But it was an incorrect assumption.

Directly opposite of Prince Phasma, across the entire pony formation, God-Splitter burst forth from their ranks, thrown towards the right flank. Galloping right behind the hammer was Captain Shining Armor of the Royal Guards, as well as Princess Cadence. God-Splitter cut through the left flank instantly, forcing changelings to throw themselves out of its path.

Suddenly, both flanks were now compromised. Scorpion didn’t have any reinforcements to send to either flank. There were no other established fallback points– there simply wasn’t enough time to come up with any effective ones.

“For the Hive Eternal!” Scorpion bellowed, and charged the Prince.

If he was going to die, he was going to try to take the Fourth Hive’s biggest threat down with him. Queen Chrysalis could take care of the ponies blindfolded.

He started off with a burst of air sharpened to an edge. The crescent-shaped projectile sliced through the air, whistling as it arced towards Prince Phasma. The Prince raised a hoof and simply batted the spell away, his shield pulsing into existence around him.

‘Maybe I can hurt the puppet enough to disable his blasted defenses. If I can accomplish that, I’ll die proud.’

Scorpion kept on the move, darting in and out of the Prince's range. He stayed as close as possible for as long as possible, negating the Prince's hammer. It was an obvious strategy, but a difficult one to pull off for very long.

While dodging spells and swings, Scorpion tested the Adamantium armor. Elemental spells broke against it harmlessly. Pure energy spells, such as a focused will laser, seemed to put quite a lot of pressure on the shield, but failed to break it. There had to be a weakness, there just had to.

Not even twenty seconds into the fight, the pony Captain joined in the duel. Scorpion had to practically hug the Prince to avoid many of the Captain's blasts, and he constantly worked to keep the Prince in between him and the unicorn.

Scorpion was beginning to run ragged; surviving against two opponents all alone was quickly taking its toll on him. The Praetorians had all but collapsed, with the last stragglers doing what they could to keep the rest of the Equestrian and traitor army at bay for as long as possible.

Running out of ideas, Scorpion's last gambit was an energy spell. Unlike focused will, which was directed magical energy, he chose a spell that shot a large, thick bolt of pure lightning. Putting as much of his love reserves as possible behind the spell, Commander Scorpion got as close as he could to the Prince, pressed his horn against the armor protecting the royals right flank, and let go of the spell.

Blinking away white light, Scorpion realized that he was on the ground. And also halfway across the room. Prince Phasma was in a similar situation, blinking away stars at the end of a groove cut right through the marble floor.

The Adamantium armor was smoking, and a large black scorch mark was present on the Prince's right hind leg and armor.

'What… I … did it? Wait, which was it? My proximity or the electricity? Which was his weakness?!'

Gasping and struggling around, Scorpion failed to get up to his hooves. Too much of him hurt. He had no energy left. There was nothing to do except pass on a message.

He scanned the room. The ponies were reorganizing themselves, with the Captain and Princess heading for Prince Phasma directly, with three more ponies right on their heels.

'There!'

By one of the side corridors' entrances stood a changeling, watching the battle with a stunned look. Scorpion recognized the ling as an Infiltrator seconded to the Praetorians for the invasion.

"El-" Scorpion broke off into an ugly-sounding cough, spitting some blood out. "Electricity! And being close! Go, tell the Queen!" He coughed again and began to feel that something was horribly wrong in his chest.

The drone looked around, then settled his gaze on Scorpion.

"Go, Tarsus! Deliver the message!"

"T-Tarsus?" Prince Phasma gasped. "No! Someone, anyone, stop that drone!"

Captain Shining Armor changed his course. Instead of rushing to the Prince. He veered off and bounded towards the messenger.

Scorpion laughed. It was a painful, bloody experience.

Author's Note

I have a Ko-Fi if you want to support me.

149- Jörmungandr: First And Final Foe

Bray Call helped pull me up to my hooves while Cadence started issuing orders to the ponies.

The plan was for us heavy-hitters to stay in a group while patrols scoured the Palace. If Chrysalis, Luna, or Celestia were spotted, then we'd come running as a group. Shining would return either with Tarsus, or with news of failure.

"You alright, Phasma?" Bray asked.

"Yeah, yeah," I said, shaking the leg that was hit. "Bastard just got lucky. Thankfully, it's only burnt chitin. A surface wound, nothing more, thanks to the fact that I have an exoskeleton."

"Was… he right about that?" Warm Dew asked. "That he found a weakness, I mean?"

"I don't think we should be saying anything in front of him," Bray elbowed Dew while glaring at the collapsed Commander Scorpion.

"He's not going anywhere," Search chuckled, and then pointed to the mess of changeling goo that was already drying on his horn and hooves.

"Oh," Bray frowned. "In that case, I am curious too."

"Unbroken Radiance doesn't deal well with point-blank spells," I admitted. "And energy spells are more stressful on the shield than elemental spells. Though I'm sure that in its heyday, the enchantments were much stronger."

'Not strong enough to save its original wearer, though.'

"Do you know that changeling?" Bray asked. "You seemed to recognize the name, at least. The only time you recognized a changeling you fought was…" She gestured to Pharynx, who had followed us inside.

"Tarsus," Pharynx explained for me, "is a ling that was part of Prince Phasma's inner cabal."

"You make it sound so sinister," I muttered.

"Wait, so he's like an old friend of yours?" Bray asked, starting to smile.

"Something like that," Pharynx laughed. "All things considered, this reunion is going to be interesting."

"Why's that?" Sergeant Search asked, looking between me and Pharynx.

But before either of us could answer, Cadence's beloved returned, dragging a changeling that was smoking around their withers.

"Sorry Phasma," Shining grunted as he hefted the drone around him and dropped him to the floor. "The muck-sucker got his message off to a couple more lings, who scattered. There's no stopping that information now. Hopefully that…"

I flipped God-Splitter upside down, dragging its metal head across the marble floor as I slowly walked up to Tarsus.

When it started making a grinding sound as it gouged the stone, Shining had trailed off, watching me. I didn't need to be an empath to sense his confusion.

"Tarsus," I growled. "So good to see you again."

The twitching changeling collected himself enough to raise his head.

"Phasma…"

Using the spike end of God-Splitter, I hooked him under the chin and dragged him forward and up, pressing him against the nearby wall. The changeling kicked and struggled uselessly, grasping at God-Splitter’s head and trying to wiggle out.

"What the Tartarus?" Stammered Shining Armor. "Phasma? What are you doing?"

"Don't do this, Phasma," Cadence warned.

"I'm going to execute a traitor," I said, putting a little more power behind God-Splitter. "I've been waiting to do this for a very long time."

Tarsus groaned at the increased pressure on his chest, neck, and head.

“Did he just say– oh crackers,” Bray moaned. “That’s one heck of an escalation!”

"I know you might harbor a grudge," Cadence spoke up, "but now is not the time to pursue it. You're far from calm, and you're going to make a mistake you'll regret for the rest of your life."

"Mmmm, and you, Tarsus?" I said slowly. "Do you have anything to say for yourself?

"You have no idea why I did what I did, Phas. I–"

"Don't you dare call me that," I hissed, squeezing him more for the insult.

"Are you really going to do this now?!" Shining snarled. "We don't have time for this! Cadence, rein him in! I'll manage the patrols!" He yelled as he stomped off to deal with clearing the castle.

"Phasma," Search said, "whatever this is about, it can wait. Right?"

"Listen to the Princess," Bray agreed. "I'm sure that…"

I tuned them all out.

Bray, Search, Dew, Shining, and Cadence all were trying in some way to get between me and Tarsus’s fate. Pharynx was looking on with amusement. Scorpion was not really in a position to do anything, if he even cared.

I bared my fangs, "Well, Tarsus?"

"You risked everything," the scarred changeling spat. "You gambled our entire species on a couple of ponies! They even betrayed you in the end! I had to defend the Hive Eternal! I had to defend all the changelings, drones and nymphs all, who you were dooming! I had to stop this war before it grew bigger than just a scuffle in the Palace!"

I snarled, my fangs just inches from his throat.

"You didn't stop this war, you just picked the other side! Now, Oestridae is dead and it's all your fault. Hundreds, if not thousands of changelings are dead because of you! If I had won that day, if we all attacked Chrysalis at once, none of this would have happened!"

"I don't believe that," Tarsus said. "And I don't think you believe that, either. Where were your pony 'allies' when you fought the Queen? I don't know if you've been brainwashed, or if you've been this foolish the whole time, but I will always pick the Hive Eternal over you."

"You picked Chrysalis over me, you overgrown cockroach!" I hissed back. "You think we wouldn't all burn in the fires of Chrysalis’s ambition? Do you really think she could have beaten Daybreaker?"

"Princess Celestia is destined to fall. As it is woven, so it shall be!"

"Unbelievable," I shook my head. "You really think Panar will just gift you victory?"

Tarsus looked up to the ceiling, "We are her favored. It is destined! Panar decreed that we must lose first, so that we may grow stronger! We cannot lose, not forever. Setbacks test us, but Panar guarantees the future. That is how we defeated Equestria the first time, and that is why we will defeat it again."

"Panar did not win our battles." I twisted the hammer, eliciting a pained grunt. "I did! I was the one who sacrificed the Masquerade Protocol to defeat the world's largest army. I am the one who will save our species, not that spineless, backstabbing wretch!"

He looked at me with pity in his eyes, "You failed, Phasma. You trusted the ponies, and you were let down. Maybe that's a good thing; now we know for certain that they can never be trusted. But now it's time for you to rest, and leave the rest to Our Queen. She is the one who will finally secure our place in the sun!"

I shook my head and gritted my teeth, "You are the brainwashed one. All this talk of Panar and Chrysalis, as if we aren't the ones dying in the battlefields. War is won through a test of numbers, equipment, and tactics. Not faith! Who do you think will win this war? Chrysalis, all alone now, or me, with three alicorns and two armies at my side? It's over, Tarsus, and now you'll pay for dragging this out and getting so many changelings killed."

Tarsus sighed, "I see there is no hope of reasoning with you. May Panar save you, before you doom us all."

Before I could squash him like the insect he was, I looked over my shoulder. Cadence had put a hoof on my right hip, and was trying to talk to me.

"Phasma? Can you please listen to me?" She looked at me, concerned.

The three Hooferville guards were behind her, giving me concerned stares.

".... Make it quick."

"You're going to kill this changeling, aren't you?"

"Yes."

Cadence grimaced, "After everything you've been through? After everything we've talked about? Even with four of your friends telling you you're making a mistake?"

"Yes," I said again.

She sighed, "Need therapy sooner rather than later– look, Phasma. Killing somepony because they betrayed you isn't… it isn't something we do. I understand that technically I can't tell you what to do, but just because it's a changeling this time doesn't mean we'll turn a blind eye. This isn't the time for… for… for extrajudicial trials! You're definitely not in a calm mindset, and killing ponies without a trial is not something that can ever be accepted in Equestria!"

I glanced back, towards the Palace's open doors, where the battle was being mopped up.

'I could easily argue semantics, but maybe she has a point. In fact, I know just how to arrange a trial.'

I pulled God-Splitter back, letting Tarsus fall to the ground, gasping.

I glared at the drone, "You will stand trial before the First Fang. When the majority of us come to a ruling, that's when I will kill you. Thorax may decide to spare your life, but Coxa, Lace, and I will not."

Tarsus looked up at me, "Delaying my execution, but not stopping it?"

"Nopony is getting executed!" Cadence stamped a hoof.

"Tarsus isn't a pony," I shot back. "And you will pay for Oestridae's death. The First Fang having a say on the matter is proper… Yes, it is decided. Bind this drone, and make sure he doesn't escape! If he does, you'll all–"

I stopped myself before I threatened my changelings. I didn't want to be like Chrysalis at all, especially in that manner.

"Just do it," I huffed, walking away.

At least I could distract myself by helping out with clearing the Palace. These may be Shining’s Royal Guards, but my Red Right Hoof could help, and I was the only one here who actually had experience in urban warfare.

‘Actually, I don’t know what Shining was up to after Canterlot… Well, I know I can help, at least.’

Princess Cadence watched Phasma stomp away angrily.

‘That could have gone better. Definitely could have gone worse, though.’

“What the buck was that?” Private Warm Dew hissed, looking between the other three ponies. “I mean, I’m sorry Your Highness, but what was that?!”

Cadence grimaced, “Phasma is… a work in progress.”

“That’s an understatement!” Sergeant Quick Search whispered. “He just tried to execute somepony!”

“Not a pony,” Tarsus mumbled as one of the Red Right Hoof applied changeling gel to his horn and hooves.

Cadence quickly turned away from the prisoner. Seeing the changelings practically vomit on each other was not something she liked seeing at the best of times.

“Well he didn’t, and that’s progress,” Cadence said. “He agreed to a trial, and it won’t be too hard to get him to agree to make it a unanimous vote. I’m not going to try to get anyone else on this jury of peers, but I’m certain that I can change the vote.”

“Will that change anything, Your Highness?” Search asked, staring at the prisoner.

Cadence smiled, “You heard Phasma. His friend Thorax, who would sit on this trial, would never condemn another to death. So if the vote becomes unanimous, then…” She pointed to the prisoner, “Tarsus here will be fine. Sorta. Look, it’s tomorrow’s problem. No one’s dying today, and that’s enough for now. We should focus on the battle still going on.”

“No one except Queen Chrysalis,” Pharynx chuckled from behind Cadence. “I don’t think you can convince him to spare her.”

‘Harmony! Where did he come from?! I swear, he’s like a ghost, always lurking behind me…’

Cadence cleared her throat, “Yes, well… uh… that is a problem.”

“Is it?” Pharynx raised his eyebrows. “To the victor goes the spoils, and while the Queen was going to spare Phasma, she certainly wasn’t going to be gentle about dismantling his brainwashed mind. Which, I admit, is looking increasingly like an incorrect assumption. You ponies seem very… forthcoming. Naively so. If you had actually brainwashed him, I would have been killed long before now.”

“But I’m sure the Princesses of Equestria have a plan for that,” Corporal Bray Call smiled. “Right, Princess Cadence?”

“Uhhh….” Cadence mumbled. “Well, no. We didn’t exactly discuss anything beforehoof. This all kinda happened sooner than we had anticipated.

“Princess…” Search frowned. “We don’t want Queen Chrysalis to be killed…. Right?”

Cadence cleared her throat again, “Not if it can be helped, no. But what little we’ve discussed about her, we came to the agreement that if we had to choose between Phasma and Chrysalis…”

“But you are going to stop him from killing her, right?” Search repeated.

She nodded, “If I can, I will. However, Queen Chrysalis is not a foe to be taken lightly. We might not get a chance to solve things diplomatically, or stop before it's too late.”

“And you’re supposed to be helping Phasma depart from these bloody… inclinations?” Bray asked, looking at Scorpion and Tarsus. “It seems like there’s a long way to go before our depressed buggo is, ah, trustworthy?”

“It doesn’t help that changelings are quite a bit more visceral than ponies,” Cadence admitted. “He’s got a very short list of friends who actually think like ponies. In fact, you three are practically half that list.”

The three Hooferville guards shared a look.

“You know, Sergeant,” Bray said coyly, “Phasma is loaded. I’ve seen his wealth in the papers. If you really want to retire with a huge pension, maybe it’d be better if you applied to be in his guard instead?”

Search smiled back, “Hey Bray, I know you’re going off to university and all that, but maybe there’s a work opportunity within the Palace for you? It’d pay a lot more than whatever horrible retail job you’d get while attending university, and maybe Phasma would even offer some sort of payment plan to help with tuition while you worked for him?”

“... I’m staying in Hooferville,” Dew said abruptly. “It’s my hometown, and I still want to be Captain one day.”

“Well, it sounds like we’ve got a plan then,” Bray grinned ear to ear. “Dew stays in Hooferville and we keep in touch. Search becomes the first pony to ever serve in a changeling army. I become Phasma’s aide or whatever, and maybe even get a degree in… politics? Ah, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that we’ll see Phasma regularly, and we’ll be advancing our own careers.”

Cadence blinked in surprise, “That…. sounds like a wonderful plan. I’m sure Aunt Luna will take all the help she can get in making sure Phasma doesn’t go lopping off heads.” Cadence frowned, her own mood spoiled by the thought. “In any case, we should properly meet and talk over tea. I’ve heard a lot about you three, and I’d love to make your acquaintances, but now we must return to saving Equestria.”

The four ponies went to Shining and Phasma and stood around, not being able to offer much in the way of help. They did help patch up some of the wounded sent their way, though.

The battle outside had finally finished. It would take a long time to get the number of injured, and an even longer time to get the number of dead. But, it was far higher than Cadence would have liked.

She internally wondered how Phasma was dealing with the losses. The fact she wasn't sure whether Phasma was hurt by the losses or if he had already written them off was worrying. She made a mental note to check in with Phasma after Chrysalis was dealt with. Also, she made a mental note to make sure Luna would do the same. Phasma would undoubtedly give different answers to the two of them, and it would be up to them to figure out how he truly feels.

'Stallions,' Cadence shook her head dismissively.

It had taken her quite a while to get Shining to open up about the war. He had lost a number of friends while pursuing Chrysalis and had gained little from their sacrifice.

Needless to say, he had taken the war pretty badly.

She wasn't taking it any better, but she at least was able to open up to Shining and get support from him when she could. She also had the option of opening up to Celestia and Luna, though that option had a distinct lack of cuddles. Cuddles and sex.

On that note, Cadence was still struggling to find a special somepony for Auntie Celestia. It had been over a century and a half since Celestia had lost her last other-half, and while that was a fraction of her lifespan, a century and a half was still a century and a half.

'Perhaps Twilight…? No, idolizes Celestia too much. Lieutenant Iron Heart? No, a bit too iron hearted. Raven? Heh, that would be something. I'll need to check out what their feelings are, though. Maybe I need to look outside Canterlot. Maybe even outside Equestria… I wonder what the griffins are up to. If the rumors are to be believed, then maybe–'

The changeling drone she was aiding gasped, and went limp. Cadence had finished casting a numbing spell, completing her work on setting the mangled front right foreleg.

"Thank you…. Your Highness," the changeling sighed.

"It's no problem," Cadence smiled. "Just get plenty of rest, and see a real doctor as soon as you can."

"... Not a hint of malice," the changeling said under her breath. "It's true, then? You really will… help us?"

'Oh, she must be from the Fourth Hive, not the Fifth.'

"Of course. King Phasma had just approached a rather… evil mare the first time. We're all more than happy to help you all."

The changeling nodded slowly, thinking on what Cadence had said. Cadence moved onto the next pony in need of aid. This time, it was a Royal Guard who had taken an ice spell to their muzzle.

‘Now, where was I? Oh yes, giant, muscular, foreign griffons. I’m sure Celestia would love–’

“Everypony, form up!” Shining suddenly barked.

The ponies and Red Right Hoof armored soldiers started getting ready to move. The ones that weren’t injured or tending to the injured, at least.

“What’s going on?” Cadence looked to her fiancé for answers.

“We’ve made contact with Princess Luna,” he announced. “We’re going to reinforce her right now.”

“Northern wings swept,” a pony reported to Shining as we marched. “Some pockets of resistance, but they’re being handled as we speak.”

“Good, good. Keep up the good work, Corporal,” Shining dismissed his subordinate.

The pony saluted, “Aye aye, sir!”

“Now, we should be getting close,” he said quietly to himself.

“That’s good to hear,” I said, having overheard him. “I’m honestly quite lost in this place already.”

Actually, I had a pretty good idea; we were somewhere in the Western end of the castle, close to the main entrance to the gardens. I only knew that because of a sign we had passed two intersections back, though. Otherwise, this hall would have been completely unremarkable and easily mistaken for at least seven other halls in the Palace.

I was keeping an eye on each branching-out hall we passed on my side, staying alert for any signs of an ambush or other trouble. We were passing by an ornate set of stained glass windows on the far side when I caught a flash of movement on my side. Something purple and orange.

I signaled with a hoof to stop moving, and all the ponies and changelings halted, going into an alert stance.

I then signaled towards the movement I had seen, and started slowly prowling down the offshoot. Several R.R.H. soldiers followed me, going equally as slowly and silently.

The movement I had seen was around a corner up ahead, so I kept as alert as possible, not just for sight or movement but for any emotions if it was a pony.

There were lingering traces of fear, but that had been the case for every other part of Canterlot. I heard nothing more, and definitely didn't see any movement. We had to be careful, though; we had to be prepared for everything from an ambush to a maid simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Taking point, I dashed around the corner, a stun spell at the ready. My soldiers mimicked my action a fraction of a second later, covering all angles.

"Clear," I announced, relaxing when I didn't see anyone around the corner.

I still held the spell at the ready as I continued to look around. However, I didn't sense any magic, nor see anything out of the ordinary. At least, no magic or anything else other than what was right in front of me.

Sitting on a splintered and shattered side table was the portal amulet, glowing slightly purple. I could sense its magic: a teleport spell was half finished, present within the artifact.

Cautiously, I picked up the amulet to examine it further. I didn't detect any traps. There wasn't any movement, and all the doors in sight were firmly shut.

"Someone's been looting my stuff," I mumbled angrily and I flipped the amulet over.

I scanned the amulet again, but picked up no change. The teleport spell was decaying away, but now that I saw how it was structured, I could easily replicate and finish it.

"Teleporting indeed. Alright, let's get back in formation," I told my lings.

"What is it, sir?" One asked as we began to backpedal.

"An artifact from the First Hive. I don't know who left it here, but they did so in a hurry. Get a squad together and start sweeping that corridor."

The changeling saluted, nodded to four others, and went back to the hallway we had just peeked down. When I rejoined the ponies, Shining gave the order to resume moving.

"What is that?" Shining asked, nodding to the necklace I was holding.

"From Nisir," I repeated. "Someone must have stolen it, used it, and abandoned it in a hurry. There's no other magic present, so it can only be related to teleportation. When the squad picks up our thief, I'll be sure to thank him or her for figuring out what the amulet is for…"

"You're sure it's not a trap?" Cadence asked, eying the magical device.

"Certain," I nodded. "I've seen quite a few traps now, and I only detect a decayed teleportation matrix on this thing."

I put the amulet around my neck so I wouldn't have to hold it.

As scared as I was of a trapped piece of jewelry, that was peanuts in comparison to the big threat of Chrysalis and being defeated by her. I needed every advantage I could get.

"You're really certain of that?" Cadence asked, clearly not convinced.

"I walked around for weeks with the biggest trapped piece of magical jewelry in existence during the invasion. Since then, I've made sure to get very good at detecting other spells present in enchantments."

That much was true. I might not be able to replicate most enchantments, but I could at least distinguish between them and identify the types of magic. Unbroken Radiance was, for example, an incredibly complex artifact, though much of the enchantments had decayed over time. God-Splitter, on the other hoof, had layers of complex dispelling enchantments around a core of… something. Likely the Mithril inside was doing something magic-related, but what exactly was beyond me. There wasn't anything outside of the core that would suggest a way to speak with the Dead, so whatever it was that was causing me to hear Princess Procho was in the hammer's core.

"Besides, we might need every advantage we can get against Chrysalis. I'm sure she's got a few new tricks of her own."

Cadence shrugged, "Alright then. We should be getting close, now…"

We heard our allies before we saw them. Sounds of spellfire and yelling caused our lead elements, namely Shining Armor and a squad of Royal Guards, to break into a gallop. I maintained a quick pace, continuing to check around for ambushes. The fact that we were nearing a battle meant that there were in fact enemies nearby, and I wasn't about to make the assumption that every one of them was focused on Luna. If I were in charge, I would have kept some lings back to ambush any would-be reinforcements.

But, aside from a few scared staff members hiding in a guest bedroom behind a makeshift barricade, there were no surprises for us.

Shining Armor had run up to Princess Luna, who was leading an offensive of fifty ponies and changelings. Their target was a massive barricade of overturned furniture and shields down the hallway, who were throwing out as many suppressive spells as they could.

"Phasma!" Luna acknowledged my arrival with a smile and nod.

Seeing her smile, all perfectly healthy– save for a few cuts– filled me with a sense of relief that was like jumping into a cold pool of water.

"Sir!" An armored changeling next to her nodded.

After a moment, I recognized him as Captain Katydid. He was bleeding in several places, but was still standing.

I ducked down into cover next to them, "Luna, Katydid. You have no idea how happy I am to see you two. Hope you weren't having too much fun without us?"

"We've got a problem," Luna said with a noticeable contraction.

"What?" I asked, realizing that this was serious.

"We found Celestia," Luna announced. "But we weren't the first."

I looked past the changelings’ defenses, “Well then. Good thing I’ve got the world’s best battering ram with me. Let’s make this quick. If Celestia is injured…”

It was, after all, my fault that Celestia was in danger. I had abandoned her in favor of saving my own changelings. A necessary decision, but one that I still felt guilty for.

God-Splitter tapped quietly against Unbroken Radiance as I stared her down.

At my sides, Princess Luna, Princess Cadence, and Captain Shining Armor stood at the ready in war gear, eyes glued to Princess Celestia. My eyes never left hers.

The room we were in, a large open room that was a break room for the countless staff that rotated in and out of this part of the castle at all hours of the day, was nearly empty. All the tables and chairs had been taken out and used in the Praetorians’ barricades, leaving the room with just its fancy paintings, light fixtures, and curtains.

The doors we had entered from, we had shut behind us. The only other feasible exit were the massive floor-to-ceiling windows on the far side, which overlooked a portion of the castle’s massive garden. The setting sun cast its yellow and orange rays through the windows, reflecting brightly off the laminated wood floor beneath our hooves.

Then there was Princess Celestia, the shrunken alicorn of the sun. She was lying prone on the ground, with several armor pieces colored pitch black and encircled with gold filigree; the war wizards of the many illustrious orders of the Royal Guards. Celestia had used them as personal bodyguards.

Now, they were piles of ashes scattered around fallen armor sets.

Celestia herself was staring at the pieces, eyes wide and heavy with the fear and sadness that surged from her like waves crashing against a shore. The white alicorn seemed duller around the edges, with her eyes and mane many shades duller than what they should be. The reason for that was quite obvious; the reason was smiling, and looking quite satisfied with herself as she loomed over the defeated alicorn.

Her Adamantium boots, thin half-barrel-plate, and crown shined in the sun’s rays.

Her chitin, as black as my own, was pitted and scarred with a hundred and one cuts, some as shallow as a scratch, and others as deep as a knife wound.

Her weapon, a sharpened blade of glowing stone, black as obsidian, bobbed lazily by her side.

Her mane, once a straight curtain of blue, had been cut short in many places, and messed up and stained with blood in many more.

Her eyes, the green orbs which matched my own, didn’t waver for a second. The moment I had opened the door, there was only one thing she cared enough to stare at.

Her Weave, the unwelcome presence at the back of my mind, reminded me of everyone who had died as a result of this madmare.

Queen Chrysalis of the Fourth Hive smiled at my entrance, and hadn’t stopped smiling since.

“Phasmatodea,” she cooed.

“Chrysalis,” I snarled back.

Author's Note

I have a Ko-Fi if you want to support me.

150- Ragnarök: The Fate Of The Gods

Thorax kept up a brisk pace, dodging around the changelings and ponies that were choking the corridor.

The mess outside had…

Thorax shook his head and focused on moving forward. Lace and Coxa were following him as he picked his way across the aftermath of another battle. Thankfully, it was considerably less bloody and fatal than the massacre outside.

The bloodbath had taken place in a long hallway and had spread like wildfire into many of the adjacent rooms. The changelings, almost exclusively Praetorians, were left in a bad way. Thorax tried hard to not think about the specifics. Ponies and R.R.H. members had taken some injuries, but by and large it was the Fourth Hive's soldiers on the ground, bound up and being treated.

From what Thorax could gather, this offensive was spearheaded by Phasma himself. Some helpful ponies had directed the First Fang the right way, towards the far end of the battlefield. Apparently, after having rendezvoused with Princess Luna and Captain Katydid, they barreled straight through the Praetorians.

It was a distressingly similar sight to the one right outside the Palace's doors.

Thorax stepped through a giant mess of gore; the remains of a single Uttu spider had been painted across the floor in an ugly fashion, with the blood and guts still steaming heat from its recent death.

'Keep calm, and keep moving. Your friends need you. Phas needs you. Oh, Panar!'

Thorax doubled his pace as he skirted around a changeling whose head was a full three hooves length away from his body.

'That wasn't real. And if it was real, it wasn't that bad. I'm sure it was no one I know. No, that's a terrible way to think about it… It's okay. I'm going to be okay. Everyone is going to be okay. Oh Panar, another one! No! Eyes forward, Thorax! Don't look at the way the blood splattered on the… oh fuck it, this is really bad.'

"Halt!" An R.R.H. soldier stepped out in front of Thorax, forcing him to skid to a halt.

He shifted about and pawed at the ground, too nervous and scared to stand completely still.

"Please–" He cleared his throat when his voice cracked. "Please step aside."

"No one gets past without clearance," the guard said.

Coxa and Lace caught up and stopped on either side of Thorax.

"Step aside, soldier," Coxa said in a strained tone.

The armored changeling stared at Coxa, ".... Oh. Yes sir, right away, sir. I apologize for not recognizing you right away."

"Move aside, now," Coxa stressed, getting angry at the delay.

The soldier reluctantly stepped aside, revealing the final stretch of the battle. Several dozen changelings and ponies were standing around, either helping the wounded or preparing new defenses. There was no one past them, no one but a closed set of golden double doors.

"Where's Phas?" Thorax asked, looking around at everyone. "Where is he?"

‘I need to find him before he fights Queen Chrysalis. If I don’t, then he could end up lying on the ground, jaw open and tongue– no! Stop thinking about them, Thorax! Focus on saving your friend!’

One pony gestured to the doors, "They all went in there, and ordered us to guard the exit and prepare for the worst."

Immediately, Thorax started marching to the doors. Before he could pass by all of the people around them, one called out to him. His voice made Thorax stop in his tracks, and set loose another swarm of butterflies in his stomach.

“Thorax?”

Slowly, so slowly, Thorax turned.

“It’s really you?”

Pharynx was staring at him, eyes wide and jaw dropped.

“Pharynx,” Thorax whispered.

In an instant, his brother had closed the distance between them and wrapped Thorax up in a hug so tight he swore he could hear his chitin cracking. Thorax felt flushed as he noticed that Lace and Coxa were watching.

“Don’t you ever leave me again, you hear?” Pharynx croaked through gritted teeth. “I thought you… I thought… Gods above, I’m so happy to see you again.”

Thorax grinned widely, “You too, Pharynx! I’ve missed you, but I’m so glad to see you’re all okay. What have you been up to since I left?”

“Since you left?!” Pharynx pulled away and looked Thorax in the eyes.

Thorax noticed that Pharynx was crying. It was an unsettling sight, one Thorax had only seen four times before.

“You… I thought you were dead, Thorax!”

“.... Oh. Oh. I– I’m okay, Pharynx. I’m okay.”

Pharynx pulled Thorax back into a hug, which Thorax gladly returned.

“I’m okay, really, Pharynx. I’ve been up to a lot. Even found a new way to harvest love.”

“So I’ve heard,” Pharynx replied quietly.

“I’ve even got a coltfriend.”

“... Okay.”

Thorax cleared his throat, “But, uh… Pharynx? I need to go help Phasma. We have to go help Phasma. We can talk later, okay?”

“What?! Are you insane, Thorax?!” Pharynx nearly yelled into his ear. Noticing Thorax cringe, he lowered his voice, “It’s out of our hooves; there’s nothing more us lowly mortals can do.”

Thorax broke away from the hug, “What are you talking about, Pharynx?”

Pharynx nodded towards the closed doors, “They’re all in there. All of them. We would only get in the way of things.”

“Who’s in there?” Thorax asked, figuring that there was something being left unsaid.

“Your friend Prince Phasma, Princess Luna, Princess Cadence, Captain Shining Armor, Princess Celestia, and… Queen Chrysalis.”

Thorax started to move, but Pharynx blocked him with a hoof.

“You’re not going in there, Thorax. I’m not going to lose you again!”

“With respect,” Coxa said, stepping forward, “you don’t have a choice. We’re going in there.”

“And we are going to save the day,” Lace finished.

“It’s pure suicide,” Captain Katydid interrupted. “The fight that’s going to happen… there’s nothing we can do but make sure the Palace doesn’t come down around us.”

Thorax’s smile dropped, “Nothing stands between me and saving my friends.”

Emotions. I was definitely feeling them, as were my pony allies. Cadence and Shining were a matching cocktail of anger and fear. Luna was like a shot of pure, concentrated hatred.

I, however, was feeling ninety-nine different emotions at the same time. I was angry. Angry that the despicable thug that called itself my mother dare stand before me. I was happy. Happy that finally I would get a chance to end this once and for all, avenging everyone who had died. I was scared.

No, I was terrified. If I was reduced to the flight or fight mental state that apparently happens when you're terrified, then I was most certainly in the fight category. I was positively vibrating from fear, to the point where I was finding it hard to keep still. And I was ready to expend that energy on one of the most important fights of my life. If I won, I got to cuddle with Luna. If I lost, I would be reduced to spending an eternity trapped within my own body. So, I was very nervous.

Hence me tapping my hammer idly.

“Queen Chrysalis, surrender at once!” Luna ordered. “Surrender, and you will be looked upon more favorably during your trial.”

Chrysalis cackled, breaking our staring contest to throw her head back in laughter, “Nyahahaha haaa! There isn’t going to be a trial, stupid pony! This is the part where I win! The part where Equestria ceases to be! Look at your praised sun princess! See how she lies broken at my hooves. I’ll tell you what; surrender, and I’ll give you a kinder fate. Marginally more kind, at least.”

“Be careful,” Celestia whispered to us, unable to muster the strength to do anything more.

“I’ll tell you what,” I started, straightening God-Splitter and tapping the ground with the bottom of its hilt. “How about you don’t surrender, so I can paint the walls an ugly shade of pink using the insides of your head?”

Chrysalis’s stare returned to me, and she drank in the details. Her eyes noticeably lingered on my armor, which considering that it was the largest single piece of Adamantium she had ever seen, wasn’t surprising.

“Lightning and proximity, hmm?” She cooed. “Interesting theory, Commander Scorpion. It was Scorpion, was it not? You arrived so soon after the message was sent, it could be noling else. Ah, it doesn’t matter. You’re back, Prince Phasma! You have returned to the fold at last!”

“I have come to kill you,” I replied, making Chrysalis only grin wider.

“It doesn’t have to come to bloodshed,” Cadence pleaded. “Please, Queen Chrysalis, see reason! Changelings can have a place in Equestria– they will have a place! No more hunger. No more war. No more suffering. If you would just listen to us–”

“Silence!” Chrysalis snarled, her smile dropped in an instant. “I’ve heard enough begging from the likes of you quivering ponies! You’ll pay for what you did to my son, rest assured, so it would be wise to not rush your own fate! For setting him against me, you’ll–”

“They did nothing to me,” I growled. “You did that all on your own. Did you really think I wouldn’t find out? That I wouldn’t figure out your plans to get rid of me once I had done all of the hard work? I won’t lay down and die. This will not be my end, but yours instead!”

“Phasma, wait!” Cadence pleaded. “Now’s not the time to be escalating the situation. Maybe, just maybe we can talk through this.”

“It is worth a try,” Luna agreed.

‘It will fail. Then, I will kill the monster.’

“There’s nothing to discuss,” Chrysalis said. “You will surrender, and I may forgive you for everything you’ve done. Then, I will fix Prince Phasmatodea, and everything will be perfect.”

“Just keep shooting down peaceful solutions,” I smiled. “Make my day.”

“Thorax has found a way to gather love without hurting ponies,” Cadence said. “We can work together. There doesn’t have to be any more fighting!”

“Ha!” Chrysalis barked a laugh. “Thorax?! That miserable excuse for a Praetorian? I find it highly likely that he is your puppet, yes, but actually discovering anything new? I’d sooner believe that Panarthropo ascended him into a prince.”

“More talk of Ascension,” I shook my head.

“The connection is intentional, I’m sure, between the Ascension process and drones reaching godhood,” Chrysalis remarked. “It’s just the kind of thing our ancestors would have referenced heavily. Do not fret, Phasma, I have nothing of the sort planned. I will break whatever control they have over you, and we can be a family again. Just as soon as I get dear Eucharis back…”

“You butchered my brothers and sisters,” I said, now pointing God-Splitter at her. “You slaughtered them, then lobotomized them and stuck them in jars. A closet filled with literal skeletons. There is nothing you can say to excuse that. There is nothing you can say to convince me that Ascension isn't your plan for me!”

She frowned, “.... It cannot be that simple, can it? Fear is what sets you against me? Only fear? Perhaps… Phasma.” She stared at me, “I did not Ascend– ah, well, it’s true. I did Ascend your brother and sister. Just two. The other two royals in that room were my siblings. The last tank was originally for me. That was one of the reasons why I killed your grandmother. Your two siblings replaced two of mine who had… perished. One cannot be Ascended forever, as the Fourth Hive chooses dying changelings for the process. It does not halt death, but only slows it.”

I was surprised that she was being so forthcoming with so much information. Then again, I couldn’t be sure how much of it was lies, and how much was the truth. However, I did not lower my guard, not for a single second.

“Don’t you see?” Cadence stepped forward. “There are two sides to every story. If you’re afraid that we’re lying, that we’re harboring grudges against you… You will be put on trial, true, but you won’t die. You won’t suffer. You’ll be fed, housed, and everything else that comes with the responsibility of taking you as a prisoner.”

The bug-queen shook her head, “More honeyed words. That’s the allure, isn’t it? That’s how you persuaded so many changelings to defect from our one true cause? You paint the picture that your way helps the Hive Eternal, so they don’t feel guilty about abandoning all that they stand for. No matter, I will find out how much of all of this is true when I sift through your shattered pieces. Even if every word is true, we must finish our work. That was always the plan.”

‘Yes.’

“Panar guide my blade,” She brought her sword up.

‘Yes!’

“And let my aim be true!” She plunged the blade downwards, towards Celestia.

'Not on my watch!'

Within the span of a heartbeat, I was there, parrying the strike using God-Splitter’s head, with a manic grin across my face.

Cadence and Shining gasped in surprise, while Luna’s reaction was just a fraction of a second behind my own; a blue shield phased into existence above Celestia, sheltering her from the blocked attack.

“At last, back to war!" I growled like an animal. “Now that we’re done talking, let’s get to the part where I rip you apart, piece by bloody piece!”

“So it is woven,” Chrysalis sighed.

“So it shall be!” I roared.

I pushed upwards with God-Splitter, intent on shattering her before she landed her first blow. Luna appeared at my side, just as determined as I was– though lacking the glee and enthusiasm, springing forth with her own purplish-blue spear.

At the same moment as we attacked, Cadence and Shining Armor swooped in to rescue Celestia. Cadence used her wings to dart underneath us, scoop up Celestia, and glide right back out. Shining Armor covered her with his famous shield, protecting the alicorns while they were vulnerable.

Chrysalis reacted by dodging to the side, so close that God-Splitter scraped against her mane. Her wings buzzed at a thousand beats a minute, struggling to give her the agility and speed she needed. She blocked Luna’s spear, letting the strike glance off her stone blade with a shower of sparks. Meanwhile, she reached out with telekinesis to grip God-Splitter.

Chrysalis’s magic sputtered and sparked away, unable to get a hold of the weapon. At the same moment, Shining tried the same thing with Chrysalis' strange sword, only to get the same result.

I pulled backward on God-Splitter’s tether to strike her in the back while I began to cast a summoning spell. Chains of magical energy wrapped themselves into being from my horn and shot towards Chrysalis.

Luna switched tactics, diving low right as Shining’s shield dropped away, and lanced upwards with a focused will blast. Like the pincers of a scorpion’s claw, we attacked Chrysalis from different angles, forcing her to react.

Chrysalis blocked the lower attack with a green shield, and let herself get hit by my spell. The magical chain quickly wrapped itself around her long neck, and I poured energy into the spell. The energy traveled along the chain like a lightning bolt, errant orange sparks flying around the surge as it crackled with power.

God-Splitter hit her right in the back, but she spun with the momentum, further wrapping herself up in the chains but lessening the blow.

Chrysalis cringed when the energy flowed into and around her, but her mouth, twisted in frustration, warped into a grin when that same energy shot back with a loud crack.

She had managed to cast a spell while holding her own blade in telekinesis, a feat reserved for all but the luckiest and most skilled war mages. I would have been greatly concerned and terrified at the sight, but I had more pressing matters to deal with.

I dropped the spell, but the connection held for more than I wanted it to, and a wave of energy three times larger than the one I sent out hit me right in the horn.

It took many tries for my mind to restart itself.

I was lying prone against a wall. Again. My mind played back the last few seconds as I tried desperately to make sense of what had to be a simple event. As seconds ticked by, my mind slowly caught itself up and I shook away stars in my vision.

While attempting to stun Chrysalis, I had opened myself up to my own weakness, like some kind of crappy video game boss.

'What a stupid, stupid thing to do,' was the only thought to echo in my vacant mind.

I struggled to get up, only to realize that I wasn't prone against the wall but instead partially in the wall. I had been blown back so hard that I had left a Phasma-sized hole, which proved to be a minor nuisance to struggle out of.

As I extracted myself, I refocused on the battle. Cadence and Luna had picked up the slack from my absence, and were working in tandem with Shining to keep the pressure on Chrysalis. Celestia was close to me, not quite looking at me, but instead through me.

She was holding one of the black helmets that had been scattered around her hooves.

'What a stupid, stupid thing to do…. Chrysalis must've executed those ponies,' I thought as my mind finally began moving again.

"She killed them," Celestia said sadly.

"Sorry," I mumbled as I got up to my hooves and shook off the last bit of cobwebs in my head.

'If I had stayed, they would probably be alive. But my changelings wouldn't be, so it's a choice I had to make.'

I felt tingly and a bit sore, but overall, I was feeling alright. Unbroken Radiance took the entirety of the hit pretty well. I was down a good chunk of my energy, maybe about a third, but that was still a huge amount left.

It was just unfortunate that Chrysalis had more left. She had almost certainly gorged herself on the podded ponies before the invasion.

Chrysalis had just landed a brutal kick to Cadence's chest, sending her stumbling away. Shining had more or less relegated himself to keeping Chrysalis’s sword occupied, using shields and lasers to keep it occupied or knocked away.

'The bastard is doing a good job of removing us from the fight,' I noted with a growing sense of frustration.

I felt Unbroken Radiance heat up around me as it restarted its protective shield. Quickly, I located God-Splitter and retrieved it from its abandoned position nearby, and readied myself to jump back into the action.

Luna was doing an effective job of keeping Chrysalis focused on her, rather than following up on any opportunities the tyrant made. So, I flew back into the action, arriving at Luna's side to replace Cadence.

'Elemental spells only, I'm not making that foolish mistake twice!'

I arrived just as Chrysalis parried one of Luna's conjured weapons. Before she could capitalize on the maneuver, I finished casting a spell I had started before I flew over. A storm of ice shards, each about nine inches, shot forth with a series of whip-cracks.

The attacks did little to Chrysalis. They scored her chitin, even drawing blood in some cases, but such superficial wounds would never end the fight.

She took the attack instead of dodging or blocking in order to keep attacking Luna. With a furious roar, she body-checked my marefriend, swinging her head to gouge Luna with her fangs. The enlarged teeth scraped loudly against Luna's silver armor, then tore into Luna's exposed blue fur on her right foreleg. Chrysalis’s sword, which was previously keeping Shining occupied, was pulled back and used against Luna. The obsidian edge swished past Luna's defenses and sliced her in the neck, drawing blood from a decently sized cut.

As Chrysalis separated herself from Luna, Luna bounced harshly off the ground with a grunt and slid away from the fight.

"You piece of shit!" I growled.

Chrysalis was holding her own pretty well, dishing out more than she was taking. But with four of us, she would have to keep up this pace in order to win. Or, I could keep making stupid mistakes and shorten the battle considerably.

I swung God-Splitter as I came up with a plan. Deciding to give her a taste of her own brute-force-medicine, I rapidly casted shockwaves. The heavily compressed airwaves battered Chrysalis as she weaved around my hammer. The blasts echoed impressively through the tiny room, going so far as to blast out the tall glass windows on the far side.

Chrysalis's sword spun away across the wood flooring, disappearing out of sight when it fell through the shattered window.

Unfortunately, the spell was more bark than bite. Many of the blasts hit Chrysalis, spinning around and throwing her away like a toy being the subject of a fool's tantrum. There was little more damage than that, but I was playing for time; the longer I kept her occupied, the more time everyone else had to regroup and enter the fight.

After one particularly overreaching swing with my hammer, she spun around and blasted it with her own shock wave, sending it spinning out the broken windows.

"Enough!" She screamed.

Cursing, I pulled God-Splitter back, but the action would take precious seconds. Chrysalis used those to her advantage; a laser blast forced me to put up my own shield to take the hit. Chrysalis had eked out a reprieve from my assault and looked to once again press the advantage.

When it hit my shield, I got a terrible realization of how low my energy reserves had dropped. The shield shattered, and I flinched hard from the recoil, dropping a knee and staggering.

However, Cadence, Shining Armor, and Luna had managed to recover enough to cover me. A hurricane of conjured arrows pelted past me, covering Chrysalis and the entire wall around her in multi-colored shafts of light.

She screamed as she dispelled the arrows embedded in her chitin. The ponies lined up next to me as the battered changeling recovered, crouching low like a snarling, feral animal.

"Surrender," Luna ordered. "It is the only way you can leave this battle alive. Or do not. You will find that I am reluctant to give you forgiveness for what you did to my sister."

"It is my duty to assume the worst," Chrysalis literally spat as she cleared the blood from her mouth. "I will win or die here. The survival of the Hive Eternal demands it!"

"Then perish," I said.

"Oh, one of us will," Chrysalis said breathlessly before she launched her attack.

The windows had not broken cleanly. There were many countless jagged pieces still clinging to the edges of the frames, and more glass shards than you can count lying around the windows.

Chrysalis took full advantage of that. She conjured up a whirlwind centered around herself, pulling in all of the remaining glass chunks and even ripped off the floorboards to use as projectiles in her manufactured sandstorm.

The ponies all brought up shields around themselves, while I let Unbroken Radiance protect me. Chrysalis stood triumphantly in the middle of her storm, perfectly open to an attack. Discarding the notion that it could be a trap, I charged her with God-Splitter at the ready.

When all else failed, blunt force trauma would solve my problem.

She spotted my advance long before I closed the distance between us. And, it was at that moment that I learned something extremely disconcerting. Along the way, Chrysalis had picked up a brand new trick: dual casting.

I should have picked up on the fact that she might have been capable of it, given that she could hold a blade and cast spells, but the thought never crossed my mind.

The moment I let God-Splitter go in a lunge towards her, she finished casting a lightning spell. A blinding white light, centered on her horn, heralded the beginning of an actual lightning bolt.

The electricity coursed through me and exited my body through my metal boots, but not before putting me through about twelve different metaphorical blenders, and one glass-filled literal one. I dropped like a puppet with my strings cut, my hearing completely gone once again. The first time I had been hit by an electrical attack had been merely the appetizer for her real attempt to fry me alive.

My whole body hurt. Black spots filled my vision. Unbroken Radiance was glowing from the heat of trying to absorb the attack, making me thankful that I had an exoskeleton and not flesh that could burn. My chitin did its best attempt burning, however, and I coughed as I literally began smoking.

I looked up, expecting to see Chrysalis glaring down at me, but I was surprised to see that she had also been knocked off her hooves. She had been hit by my hammer at full force and was now lying on the ground beneath it, as God-Splitter was now firmly embedded in the wall above her.

She lifted her head off the ground to glare at me.

"Do you yield?" I asked over the Weave, as my hearing was returning too slowly to talk out loud.

"Never," Chrysalis grimaced as she slowly rose up from the ground.

Her half-barrel plate was now dented inwards, with blood slowly leaking out from underneath the section covering her chest.

I was even slower to rise. I had lost most of my feeling across my exoskeleton, and everything I felt inside was screaming in protest. Yet I still rose to the challenge.

A pair of hooves helped me up as Luna arrived at my side. She was grimacing from the laceration on her neck and the myriad of small cuts she had received during the fight, but I was glad to see that she was still here, with me.

'At the end of it all, I'm glad you are at my side. If only I deserved your kindness.'

Shining and Cadence stepped between us and Chrysalis. No doubt they were voicing their eleventh demand for her to surrender. Chrysalis ignored it, just as she ignored every one before. I saw them throw up a shield to block a firestorm that fully engulfed half of the room.

Then, she was next to us. Chrysalis had dual casted a teleport spell with her fire one, and appeared right next to Luna and I. Luna gasped and started to turn to minimize her profile, but it was too late. Chrysalis plunged a conjured green blade right through Luna's side, with enough power behind it to cut through her protective armor.

She fell, eyes wide.

Her gasp was the first awful sound I heard as my hearing finally returned. Chrysalis followed the attack up with another blade, this one sent towards an unsuspecting Cadence.

I screamed.

My wings had been torn apart by the lightning attack, so I lurched forwards awkwardly, collapsing onto Chrysalis more than anything else.

"Away!" I screamed.

I felt a burning sensation inside my chest as I brought forth the last dregs of my mana. My teleport spell finished casting, and the amulet around my neck pulsed orange as it followed my command. An orange, swirling vortex opened up just behind Chrysalis as I pushed both of us through.

The torn apart room of the Palace was replaced with the twilight of the setting sun, with the world far beneath us. We were in the sky above Canterlot, looking down upon the city.

We hung there for a moment, suspended below a flat matching orange vortex that shrunk away. Just a fraction of a second, long enough to realize that we had teleported.

Then we fell.

I clung to Chrysalis, unwilling to let go. She tried desperately to pry me off, but failed.

We fought. We fought gracelessly, bloodily, and without any plans.

It wasn't a duel. There was no tactical maneuvering. There were no calculated risks or countermeasures enacted. In fact, there was really only one spell being cast by either of us: a simple strengthening spell. I was not the one casting it, but I was the one with the most armor.

Armored hooves launched into each other. I groaned and hissed in pain as she battered my already bruised body. She grimaced and growled as I returned the favor, hitting her unarmored body.

One uppercut knocked my helmet clean off, and a second broke my nose.

A headbutt broke several of her teeth, and blood started to stream upwards as we twisted around and rolled during our descent.

Blow for blow, we continued to beat each other up. Neither of us had a plan. Neither could cast any spells- we were simply too close. The moment one of our horns glowed, the other would just land a solid blow, disrupting the spell and giving hell to the spell caster.

Further and further we fell, breaking chitin, smashing teeth, and screaming obscenities that could not be heard over the howling wind.

When the ground started getting close enough to worry about, we rolled around for the top position, for whoever had their back facing the ground would bear the brunt of the landing.

My mind made a vague reference to the Balrog fight as we continued to pummel each other mercilessly, but the thought was lost in a cloud of hate, fear, and growing pain. Whereas I had no energy left, Chrysalis had plenty of reserves left to end my life– or worse, to make sure it never ended.

The ground welcomed us both.

It turned out that I teleported us pretty much directly up. We crash-landed in one of the plazas in the center of the Palace's gardens. In fact, we splashed down quite literally in a massive fountain.

The four-tiered fountain disintegrated underneath us, solid stone fracturing into a hundred pieces as water sprayed wildly. As it so happened, neither of us was on the bottom when we landed. Instead, we were equally horizontal when we made the fountain into a pile of wet rubble.

The landing split my already bruised and weak exoskeleton, ripping off my entire left elytra, blood oozing from the wound as my wing twitched erratically from the pain. The searing pain and I became close friends, whether I wanted it or not.

When the dust cloud began to clear, I saw Chrysalis lying on the opposite side of the rubble, an exposed nozzle gently spraying water onto her back. Slowly, we staggered upright. Rock pieces fell from my shoulders and blood and water slowly flowed off my shattered carapace. I swayed uneasily but managed to stay up.

Chrysalis mirrored my own actions.

"So…" She wheezed.

"So…" I grunted, my mouth tasting of dirt and blood.

Instead of launching into a final duel, a last gamble for survival, we paused. Panting and dripping blood. Chrysalis conjured a ghostly form of her weapons. The green blade was held slanted at her side as she slowly straightened up. Rather than tip her off that I had nothing left, I didn’t summon a weapon. I kept up the appearance of being capable of fighting while I struggled to think of a way out.

In the end, I decided that I had done my duty in wearing her down, and that all I had to do was survive long enough for someone to rescue me.

I could maybe, maybe have enough energy to conjure up one single blade. That meant that I would have to bait her in, and take whatever hit she dished out and somehow take her down with one blow. I couldn't even charge her. The injuries I had received made me doubt the possibility of moving anywhere fast, except moving on to the afterlife.

Chrysalis started to smile, as if tasting my blood in the water. She prowled straight through the rubble, leisurely taking her time to get to me.

“It’s over, little Phasma. I can see it in your eyes; you have already lost. Just surrender, this is not where you are fated to die.”

“Not gonna happen,” I huffed. “You think this is the end? It took this much to bring me low, how do you plan on taking down two full-strength alicorns?”

“With your army,” Chrysalis smiled. “After your defeat, they will return to serving the Hive Eternal.”

“They have standing orders to kill you, no matter what my fate is,” I revealed.

She snarled, “You what?! You would leave the Hive Eternal leaderless?! Directionless?! You are a fool who would doom us all! I will make you order their cooperation, you imbecile–”

"Wait!" Someone cried from above us.

My ears flicked towards the sound, but I did not move my head. Chrysalis had paused momentarily, but then kept moving.

"Waaait!" The person cried again, louder this time.

The light buzzing of insect wings signaled the arrival of one, no, two changelings. Thorax and Pharynx lowered into view, setting down on the rubble between Chrysalis and I.

"Stop fighting, please!" Thorax begged.

"Are you suicidal?!" I said, coughing and spitting out more blood. "How are you here?! Why?! Thorax, do you have any idea of–"

My gaze snapped back to Chrysalis, who had gaped and stalled, just as I did. Her blade was still by her side. But she was still entirely capable of ripping apart someone who got in her way, meaning everything so far had been for nothing if Thorax just threw his life away.

I could try to cast a shield around Thorax, trading my chance to kill Chrysalis in exchange for saving Thorax's life. If it came to that, if she made any move to attack, then I would have no choice. I still hoped to get Thorax out before that happened.

“Get out of my way, Thorax,” I snarled.

“You don’t have to fight,” he pleaded. “This war can end right now! Both of you want the same thing! There’s no need to end this in death!”

“There is a need,” I continued to snarl. “Now get out of my way!”

“I’m here, too,” Pharynx waved.

“Legate?” Chrysalis whispered. “What is the meaning of this?”

“They’re telling the truth, Queen Chrysalis,” Pharynx explained. “About love, about ponies, about everything.”

“.... Preposterous.”

“I mean it, Thorax,” I said. “Move. Please, move!”

‘If he got hurt because of his own naivety… oh Panar, move your fat ass!’

“She’s telling the truth,” Thorax said, stepping down the rubble pile and towards me. “She never wanted to… to lobotomize you, Phas.”

I flinched, “You don’t know that. You can’t know that.”

“I do!” He pointed towards Pharynx, “Pharynx spent every day since the invasion by the Queen’s side. She missed you…. in her own way. She never wanted you to get hurt. Pharynx has no reason to lie to me about that!”

“I’m not going to risk everything just on your word,” I shook my head.

“Prince Phasma is right,” Chrysalis agreed. “I’m never going to trust the fate of our species on the word of two drones.”

“You’re going to have to,” Pharynx started to walk down towards Chrysalis.

“Keep your distance– better yet, remove yourself from my path, Legate,” Chrysalis ordered. “If you do not, I’ll have to add you to the growing pile of corpses this war has produced.

“You don’t look to be quite capable of that,” Pharynx said, looking at Chrysalis.

Thorax paused, turning to Chrysalis, “What will it take to convince you? What piece of evidence would I have to get to end this war, and save our species?”

Chrysalis actually seemed to consider what Thorax was saying, “.... A sign from Panarthropo herself. Nothing less could suffice. Not while the stakes are so high.”

Thorax sighed, “And you, Phasma? What would it take to convince you that Chrysalis never wanted to hurt you?”

‘What would it take? After everything I have seen? After everything she has done? How could I ever believe that bullshit to be true…? There’s nothing. Nothing that can be done, nothing that can be shown, nothing can prove her innocence.’

I shook my head– then grimaced as the action brought forth a spike of pain in my head.

“There’s nothing, Thorax. Please… please move. Pharynx, get your brother out of here before something bad happens!”

Chrysalis stepped forward, making my heart beat like a drum.

‘No! I’ve said too much!’

“Stop!” I yelled to her, stepping forward too. “Thorax, you have to go! Pharynx, get your brother under control! Now, damn it!”

‘Where the hell are Coxa and Lacewing?! They should have kept an eye on the bastard, now he’s in danger!’

“A miracle,” Thorax said, scrunching up his muzzle in frustration. “What I need is a miracle, then?”

“What we need is a miracle,” Pharynx corrected him.

“Alright,” Chrysalis growled. “I’ve waited long enough. You two are in between me and getting my son back. It’s time to end this rebellion, for once and for all.”

Her sword moved– and I lurched forwards, throwing a shield in front of Thorax. Within the orange globe I conjured up, I saw Pharynx conjure up a shield a moment before Thorax brought one up himself. Three layers to protect against her one blade.

Chrysalis’s blade shattered upon the orange bulwark between her and Thorax.

The crazed Queen gave a cry of dismay and frustration as her spell failed. Sparks flew from her horn, causing Chrysalis to instinctively reach up to the twisted appendage.

"My turn," I growled.

Dispelling the shield and gathering every last drop of mana into my horn, I created a spear. A fragile, cracked shaft of golden orange, tipped with a diamond of bright orange flaring magic. With a great heave, I opened my elytra, spread my wings, and took to the air. I wasn't sure if I had enough magic to use the portal talisman and cast an offensive spell, so I was going to kill my mother the old fashion way.

The blood pounded in my ears as I lifted off Equus. I aimed my spear as I twisted through the air, leaping over the blinding green double-layered bubble that contained the brothers.

'Wait, blinding?!'

The shield was glowing brighter than the sun, forcing me to look away. Then I noticed that I was being carried upwards– the shield wasn't just shining, it was growing! I gasped in surprise as the air was forced from my lungs when the shield hit me. I spun through the air and landed with a painful thud, skidding across the fountain's debris. when I came to a groaning stop, the bright light had ceased.

I cursed under my breath as Chrysalis stammered from somewhere nearby, “W–what?!”

“Thorax?!” Pharynx yelled. “What’s… happening?!”

I slowly lifted my head and stared out at Thorax and Pharynx as I felt the power in the air. Something was happening. Something with Thorax and Pharynx right in the middle of it. Emotions and energy seemed to radiate out from the two of them.

I shut my eyes as two bright lights briefly turned the world white.

When I opened my eyes, Thorax disappeared into a light blue glow, and his brother Pharynx vanished into a dark red one. The glow receded after only a moment, and I fell to my knees. If I had any doubts that Panar had some tangible power on Equus, let alone existed, they were dispelled at that moment.

I felt it– we felt it: a change. Not in the physical world, but beyond it. Underneath it. A change in the realm existing just below the physical, where our Weaves clashed. There was something happening there.

“It can’t be,” Chrysalis muttered.

I blinked tears away, “No. It’s not possible. It’s not possible!”

‘Panar’s faith is just supposed to be a… a… a religion! Nothing tangible! Nothing real!’

“A sign,” Chrysalis whispered reverently.

Thorax and Pharynx the changeling drones were no more. In their stead stood two Princes of the Hive Eternal. They looked like Chrysalis, holes and mane and all, though with their own colors: one a warm cyan, and the other a deep burgundy.

‘He’s alive!’

“It’s not possible….” My eyes continued to water as I felt the weight of exhaustion press down upon me. “Thorax?”

Chrysalis slowly sank down, too, “Legate Pharynx?”

“.... I think it’s Prince Pharynx, now,” the maroon changeling royal said, rubbing his neck and looking around.

“A sign from Panar,” the cyan royal said. “... I don’t think you’ll get any clearer evidence than that, Phas.”

At first, I thought it was an illusion. Some cheap trick, conjured up to somehow stop me from exacting my revenge. But I felt their presence in the Weave; it was a nascent, small pair of Weaves. Compared to my Weave and Chrysalis’s, they might as well have been candles next to two great lighthouses. But they were there. It was undeniable that the two had something that no drone could ever have.

They had ascended, in the old usage of the word, to princedom, to immortality.

As divine of a right to rule as there could possibly be.

“How?” I gasped.

‘I mean, if Harmony gets a rainbow laser, it makes sense that other supernatural forces have other tangible powers, but it still doesn’t make sense!’

I tried to rise, only to stumble, and swayed heavily on my hooves. Thorax hurried down to me and caught me before I fell on my side.

He had cyan-slitted eyes now, and a cyan mane that hung low with bangs. His fangs were gone, replaced by smaller ones that fit inside his mouth. His horn twisted back in one solid notch, before tapering off in a point.

His brother matched Thorax’s new appearance, save for the color scheme and the fact that his red mane was more in one of those swept-back hairstyles you’d see on a movie star or every single politician in existence.

“You, uh, you don’t look so good, Phas,” he frowned.

“... Already judging my appearance?”

He smiled, “Heh, I’m glad you’re feeling fine enough to joke. But, uh…. Do you believe me now? Can we end this war?”

I frowned, then shifted to look at Chrysalis. She was refusing help from Pharynx, instead choosing to gawk at him and slowly pull herself up.

‘Chrysalis? Not being the literal spawn of Satan?! I don’t… But it has to be true! If it wasn’t, Thorax and Pharynx wouldn’t have… I had her right where I wanted her, but then the brothers Ascended. It couldn't be a coincidence, The Great Weaver wanted to interfere...’

“.... Do I have a choice?” I mumbled.

“If I say no, that means you’re done fighting, right?”

It wasn't like I was capable of fighting anyways, so I took the out that was offered.

‘Figure this all out later. Right now, everyone is alive. Everyone is alive! Just accept the miracle and figure it out later, Phasma. Everyone is alive… aside from the hundreds of dead currently littering the square around the castle…’

“Okay. I… guess you’re right,” I admitted. “Can you give me some help?”

Thorax helped me up, and I leaned on him heavily for support.

“Oh gosh, you’re bleeding a lot,” he pointed out. “And you’re… smoking?”

“So I went from not looking good to smoking?” I chuckled. “But it’s too late to make what we had permanent, Thorax. I’m with Luna now– ow!”

Thorax had frozen, causing me to misstep.

“Sorry!” He apologized. He readjusted how he supported me and continued walking with me, “Just, uh… yeah.”

“.... So you are a prince now? That can just… happen?”

He shrugged with his free shoulder, “Apparently. I’m just as shocked as you are. It happened once before, according to the legends, so I guess why not again? I just… I can’t really believe it myself. What does this mean for us? For the changelings?”

Thorax brought us in front of Pharynx and Chrysalis, who thought about the question.

“Can’t argue with the Queen Above All,” Chrysalis sighed. “This… is happening. You really found a way to get love from ponies willingly, Prae– ahem…. Prince Thorax?”

“Prince? Oh… I am one, aren’t I?” He smiled and pawed at the ground.

“Bit slow today, aren’t we?” Pharynx said, but his awkward smile betrayed the fact that he was just as surprised as the rest of us.

Thorax straightened up– nearly tossing me away in the process, “I mean, yes, I did! I found a way to save our species!”

Chrysalis slowly nodded, “I… see. And you, Prince Pharynx? What… what did you do to earn your ascension?”

Pharynx blinked, “... I ended the war, I guess? If it weren’t for me, Thorax wouldn’t have gotten past the ponies blocking his way. Though, if that was the case, then there should be two more royals up with the ponies, waiting for us, but I don’t feel any other Weaves…. Or maybe it has something to do with Panar that we don’t know about? There must always be two, or something…” he trailed off, looking between Chrysalis and me. “At any rate, I’m just happy to have my brother back. Anything more is… something I would have given up in a heartbeat to get him back.”

“It is Panar’s will,” Chrysalis mused. “If… if you really are a prince now, then there is a reason. Or perhaps, will be a reason. Panar has a plan that we all follow. As it is woven, so it shall be.”

Pharynx frowned, “I get eternal youth for something I’m going to do? Great. No pressure or anything…”

“Let’s worry about all this later. Right now, we better get you two some help,” Thorax said. “You’re not looking so well.”

Pharynx pointed above us, “Help is already on its way.”

I followed his hoof and saw a group of Royal Guards peeking over the ledge of the shattered windows above us, ducking back to report what they saw to their superiors. In addition, I spied Coxa and Lacewing looking down at us.

‘Bastards just watched Thorax put his life on the line and did nothing! You’d better have a good explanation, Coxa and Lace, or I’ll be the first person to ever crucify someone on this world!’’

“Prince Phasma,” Chrysalis’s voice called me back to the ground. “I… Do you believe me now? That I never intended for there to be any conflict or misgivings between us?”

“... I suppose I do,” I sighed. “You still hurt Luna, though. And you nearly murdered Celestia!”

She merely laughed, “Yes, I did! You should thank me for that!”

“Why would I ever do that?!”

“.... I don’t know,” she admitted. “Give me a minute to come up with a reason.” She looked away, to the gardens around us, “I did what I had to. You must understand that. If I failed…”

‘Motivated by fear, just like I was... I’m nothing like her, though!’

“Hmph,” I grunted. “It’ll take me a while until I get used enough to ‘pony forgiveness’ to start having some of my own. But… the war is over now?”

Chrysalis smiled, “How can it not be?”

‘Chrysalis isn’t evil…. No, it just doesn’t sound right. But it has to be true. But it can’t be. But it is. Ugh, my head is killing me…’

I rubbed my aching horn, “So, now what?”

Her smile dropped, “Unfortunately, you’re the one with an army, still, so that is up to you. Or, perhaps that question is best directed towards the newly minted princes?”

The brothers blinked, sharing a look of surprise. Chrysalis suddenly giving them such an important decision was unexpected at first, but upon consideration, her dogmatic stance on religion was probably the entirety of the motivation behind that.

“Uh…” Pharynx mumbled, motioning to Thorax to come up with something.

“Uh,” Thorax stammered, then motioned to me to say something.

I rubbed my face with a free hoof, trying to think of a solution to a problem I never expected to have.

‘Right then. I’ll be seizing this opportunity and claiming it as a total victory.’

“... The Fourth Hive is no more,” I declared. “You are now just a Princess of the Hive Eternal, nothing more. Your title as Pontiff has already been lost, which I expect you’ll have no argument with.”

“And which of us is the Pontiff, then?” Chrysalis shot back. “If it isn't me, then is it Prince Thorax, the one who saved our species?”

“No!” Thorax shouted. “I mean, uh, no. It’s…. King Phasma. Without him, none of this would have ever happened…”

‘Same old Thorax, afraid of responsibility.’

“Sounds good to me,” Pharynx said, nodding.

“.... I agree,” Chrysalis said. “What? Why are you looking at me like that? The plan was to always burden you with all the responsibilities following Equestria’s capitulation, while I retired and grew fat on love. If you have already found a way to save our species, then I don’t need to worry about that. It’s why we’re having this conversation at all, dimwits.”

“I can’t believe Pharynx was right about that,” I sighed. “Very well then, I am the Pontiff by… unanimous vote. I have to admit, it will be useful to have your skills in the real war.”

“Real war?” Chrysalis repeated.

“The reason why every Hive prior to the Fourth fell; we are being hunted,” I revealed.

“So… the Infiltrator was telling the truth?”

The ponies decided to arrive at that moment. The changelings followed, too. In fact, they seemed to come in from all around us, whereas the ponies only descended from the Palace. Changelings flew over the Palace’s perimeter walls, exited the Palace through doorways and windows, and gathered at a distance around us four royals.

‘Us four royals. That is… quite something.’

Princess Cadence, Princess Luna, Captain Shining Armor, and Princess Celestia– being carried by Shining– dropped down around us with a massive contingent of guards.

“Queen Chrysalis! What…. What?” Cadence sputtered out, looking at Thorax and Pharynx.

“The war is over,” I announced. “Princess Chrysalis has surrendered to me…”

The former queen cringed at her title, but offered no argument.

“Stuff happened,” Thorax coughed awkwardly. “My brother and I are… royals now.”

“That can happen?” Celestia asked, eyebrows raised.

“That was my reaction, too,” I said quietly.

The other three royals began to speak to a bandaged-up Cadence, Celestia, and Shining Armor. There was one pony who stood apart from them, who in fact landed right by my side. Luna was sporting some thick gauze and bandages around her wounds, but seemed far more concerned with my own health.

Really, I was just relieved to see that she was alive. I knew that she was an alicorn and therefore was tougher than your average mortal, but the wounds she had received were pretty bad. Even now, her bandages were being soaked with blood.

She frowned, “Do thee fare well?”

“I should ask you the same,” I said.

“We will live.”

‘Thank Panar for that.’

She looked like she was in a great deal of pain. Merely speaking was likely to be a painful experience, to say nothing of flying down to come to my unneeded rescue.

I nodded, “So will I.”

She nodded, too, “Good. That is… good…. good…”

“Yeah– Ow!”

She tackled me in a hug so tight it worsened my wounds, and my blood started to stain her fur.

“Please don’t ever do that again,” she whispered in my ears. “Seeing you vanish into that vortex, we… I… feared the worst had come to pass.”

“Please stop squeezing me!” I begged, and she relented a bit.

“You are injured, we will order medical professionals over at once! You there, officer, send forth for medical personnel at once! Now!”

“You seem to go a bit… ‘old-fashioned’ when you’re scared,” I pointed out.

“I am scared, yes,” she admitted, looking down at my injuries. “What would I do if I had lost you?”

“Whine and mope, and bring about the apocalypse?” I suggested.

“That sounds like a solid plan of action. Thank Faust you are still okay, Phasma.”

I winced, “Okay is perhaps too generous of a diagnosis…”

“I’ve seen worse. In addition, you changelings do have those miracle pods for healing,” she mused. “In the meantime, you will not leave my side, not even for a second!”

“What about when I have to go to the bathroom?”

“Except for those seconds!” Her serious expression hid a grin that tried to form.

“.... Is Celestia okay?” I asked, looking over at the small, dull alicorn.

“She was drained of emotions. Like her size, it will be fixed in time. For now, she is… alright. The same cannot be said of her guards…”

“Or the hundreds that died tonight,” I said, now looking around at the growing crowd of changelings around us.

Coxa and Lacewing chose to show their cowardly faces at that moment.

“Heya Phas,” Lace smiled. “Glad to see you’re not dead!”

“Why was Thorax here?” I growled slowly. “And why didn’t you two stop him?”

Coxa held up a hoof, “Before you rightfully get mad at us, we did what we could to stop him. What I mean by that is that we completely enabled his reckless behavior and followed a step behind him through Canterlot. If he was ever in danger before coming here, we would have had his back. We didn’t drop down in the end because we stopped to help out Princess Luna, and the brothers snuck off before we realized…”

Lace picked up where he left off, “By the time we saw what was going on, we feared that intervening would only make things worse.”

I found myself rubbing the base of my horn again, “Hmmm. Fine. Whatever. I can’t deal with all this right now. If you say you couldn’t help, then… I’ll choose to believe that. You’ve earned that much trust, to say the least. But you and I will have words about letting Thorax enact any of his crazy ideas, Coxa.”

“Those crazy ideas saved our species and just ended the war,” he pointed out.

“Do you have any idea how close Thorax came to dying?” I growled, finding it more and more difficult to stay focused on my anger, using my pain to ground the emotion.

‘Oh right, severe blood loss. That would explain why I’m feeling so dizzy and nauseous. I better wrap this up.’

“We’ll speak later,” I repeated. “Right now, I need medical attention. So I’d better get the required speech out of the way as soon as possible.”

“Always hate these things,” Luna muttered under her breath.

I leaned away from Luna, taking a step out, but stayed closed enough for Luna to catch me if I did faint from my injuries.

“Changelings of the Hive Eternal,” I announced over the Weave, and out loud for the ponies’ convenience.

The conversations broke, and everyone, royals, alicorns, ponies, and drones, all looked at me.

“I am King Phasmatodea of the Fifth Hive, Pontiff of the Hive Eternal. Princess Chrysalis, formerly Queen Chrysalis of the Fourth Hive, has surrendered. The war is over. The Fourth Hive is hereby dissolved, and all of you are now citizens of the Fifth Hive. Panarthropo has given us a miracle today; not only has the war ended, but two changeling drones have been chosen for the highest, most holiest honor there is; Prince Thorax and Prince Pharynx, formerly Praetorians both, have ascended to princedom. The Hive Eternal now has four royals, not two.

“A celebration is an order. A feast is demanded. Commemoration for the ascension, and to honor the fallen today will be held. But for now, tend to the wounded. Tonight, we rest and sort out the mess left to us. The future is far from secure for our species, and for the ponies, too, but we have earned some respite. Let this be the first day of a new age, one marked not by hunger, but instead a golden age of resurgence. The First Hive is ours for the taking. Our species’ history and ancestral treasure will be ours. Our numbers will grow as we become closer to our new pony allies. We will be rich, not just in material wealth, but in food, company, and happiness. An age of gold. An age of love. But it will not all be feasting and merriment; another war lurks on the horizon.

“The changeling civil war is over, but there is much that must be done. We must ready ourselves to fight against our species’ greatest rivals: the Nightmares from beyond the veil of our reality. For thousands of years, they have felled Hive after Hive. Now, we will have our chance to strike back, and claim our species’ future and rightful place in the sun, right alongside the ponies.

“So rest tonight. Tomorrow, our work begins.”

“As it is woven, so it shall be!” Chrysalis called out, adding her voice to the Weave.

“As it is woven, so it shall be!” Thorax and Pharynx said as a chorus.

“As it is woven!” The gathered changelings echoed. “So it shall be!”

Around me, the First Fang gathered. Thorax was now joined by Coxa and Lacewing, and Pharynx was there in his honorary status. The rest of my friends drew close, too. Luna the closest, while Shining Armor, Cadence, Celestia, Quick Search, Bray Call, Warm Dew, and Katydid all gathered in their own little groups.

Celestia put visible effort to raise her head higher than her shoulders, and gave an order to her guard “Spread the word across Equestria: the war is over. The war is finally over.”

By noon the next day, every last city, town, village, and hamlet across Equestria had heard the news. By noon, every bell in Equestria rang in celebration– even in the empty ghost towns kept in good order by the Preservation Corps.

Every last town crier, every last newspaper, every last pony was declaring that the war was finally over.

If only for a while, peace returned to Equus.

Iðavöllr: The World After

The cheers started to die down, and I spied Chrysalis staring at me questioningly as Luna wrapped her wings around me.

"Haha haaa….." Shining Armor sighed. "You're still under arrest, Chrysalis."

I rested my forelegs on the railing as I watched the procession of ponies. There were hundreds of them coming from the Crystal Caves, where my changelings and the Royal Guards were working together to get everyone freed and sorted. Ponies waved to them as they passed through the city, offering snacks, blankets, and anything else they could spare to the refugees.

Seemed kind of pointless to me, since the ponies would be taken care of at the Crown’s expense anyways.

The main plaza had been cleared of bodies, and all of the changelings had been moved into the Crystal Caves. Overall, the death toll for changelings across the city was….

It was high.

The plaza was still strewn with debris and bloodstains, but that would be taken care of by the end of tomorrow. The city's heart would be beating once again after the immediate concerns were dealt with. At least most of the stains were covered up by the changelings and ponies moving around, or in many cases, lying on the ground, asleep, injured, or rarely, lined up in perfect, unmoving rows.

I raised an eyebrow in interest when I spied an orange pony with a brown cowboy hat rushing forward and greeting a yellow stallion in a matching hat and vest, coming from the Crystal Caves.

‘It seems the Element of Honesty has someone she knows who was taken. A brother, perhaps?’

“Prince Pharynx reports that with favorable winds, they will reach the former Fourth Hive within four days,” Luna announced, joining me on the balcony.

She brought with her a chair, and she set it next to my wheelchair, sitting down with a sigh of relief. I glared at her brand new, bone-white bandages. Already, small pinpricks of red were appearing. She was supposed to be in a wheelchair like me, but she felt no need for one, even with her doctor telling her otherwise.

I wasn’t about to argue with someone over four hundred times my age, and a veteran of multiple wars. If she said she can go without a wheelchair and walk around, then there’s nothing I can do about that. We had both spent the night being fussed over by many doctors, with the only verdict being ‘we’ll live,’ or in my case, ‘get your ass in a pod before you start suffering severe repercussions for a destroyed exoskeleton.’

“Hmm, that’s good,” I said quietly.

Luna smiled at me, “Have you figured out a way to solve the imminent food crisis?”

“In one single day? Yeah, I made it Thorax’s problem.”

“Does he have a solution?”

I shrugged, “Back to slightly-above-starvation rationing for now. Thankfully, the Fifth Hive has enough food stored to last a while, even considering how quickly it can spoil. Interesting fact, that. It decays with a half-life. We never had enough of the stuff to learn that fact.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning stored love has more in common with spicy rocks that can kill you if you stand too close to them than pretty much anything else.”

“Spicy rocks?” She shook her head, “Nevermind, I am sure I will find out later. Do you think your food will last long enough?”

I nodded, “I do, and Thorax does, too. At least, if we find what we expect back in the hive, then we will have enough. Can’t say for certain until we meet back up with the old hive’s skeleton crew. Though, using the Hive’s long-range communication portals did give us hope. The crew there is optimistic about our stores…. Then there will be the matter of transporting food back here to Canterlot, but with the portal amulet, that might be easier than we feared,” I tapped the swirly charm around my neck.

“That would most certainly aid in bringing back all those ponies from across the Badlands,” Luna mused.

‘I just know that a certain purple unicorn will be asking a hundred questions about it, and will want to run some tests on it. I can’t even extort Celestia for some favors for allowing that, with Celestia being confined to her room…’

"I have to say," Luna started, "that I am surprised by the timely intervention of your goddess. Harmony tends to wait until after the crisis is resolved…"

"You're telling me," I mumbled. "I… I never really believed in Panar that much. I just went through the motions…."

"If there were no guiding powers, then there would not be any alicorns," Luna shrugged. "Or royals. I am surprised it took you this long to accept that. I was surprised about Thorax and… Pharynx? Yes, those two. It was a surprise, but things have happened in the past in similar matters."

"I suppose so. Even in changeling legends. It just seems… why now?"

"Perhaps Panar wanted to save Chrysalis, for some unknowable reason. Perhaps for the war?"

I sighed, "I guess that makes sense. Should I… expect more miracles like this?"

Luna laughed, "How many immortals have you seen? We are few and far between, though that seems less and less true with each passing day… It seems we are entering a new age: a second heroic age. What that means for us, well, it will be a time of change..."

For a quiet moment, we sat back and watched other people do the hard work.

Then, Luna spoke up again, “Chrysalis has lodged an official complaint about her new lodgings. Somehow. I will need to have a word with my guards about speaking to prisoners, much less giving them the official paperwork to make such a complaint.”

“Maybe they gave it to her to shut her up,” I chuckled.

“Perhaps. Would be a wise move, on their part. About Chrysalis…”

“Yes?”

Luna tapped the railing idly, “I’ve spoken with my sister and Cadence about what to do with her, but Tia isn’t in a… conversational mood. The royal physician has prescribed bed rest for her, meaning it will be up to Cadence and I to run the nation.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Oh, do not fret. I will find a way to make it your problem, too. Which brings us back to Chrysalis,” Luna said. “I assume you have a plan for her?”

“I’ve got a plan for her…” I remarked. “But first, I figured you ponies would love to put her through the political wringer first. I’d be the one actually punishing her, but putting her on trial, declaring her guilty, and giving her some sort of punishment that doesn’t interfere with anything is fine with me.”

“Ah, I see. Celestia would be happy to hear that, to a degree. That would mean that you would wish to reform her, in a sense of the word? Need I remind you that I am supposed to be reforming you, Phasma. Who would you put to such a task?”

“More than one person,” I admitted. “A whole team, with many individuals giving simultaneous redundant reports. The last thing we need is Chrysalis thinking her jailer is getting too restrictive, and simply uses a mind-control spell to get some slack in her leash.”

“Your Majesty?” A voice called out from behind me.

Luna turned to see who was standing in the doorway, but I just kept staring out at the ponies.

“I was wondering where you were,” I announced loud enough for the newcomer to hear.

“I apologize, My King,” Cricket said as she stepped onto the balcony, “but I was… captured.”

“I know.”

She paused, “You… do?”

I sighed, “Chrysalis told me about you, Cricket. Or should I add your official title, Infiltrator Cricket?”

“.... I’m sorry, My King,” she said with sincerity.

I used telekinesis on the wheels to turn my wheelchair around to look at the Infiltrator, and so she could look at me. Whereas Cricket was no worse for wear, I was practically turned into a mummy with how many white gauze bandages were wrapped around my carapace. I needed a healing pod, but there was now a long line for those, and my life was far from being in danger.

Besides, we would be tight on love for the next few months while changelings integrated into Equestria enough to support the Hive. So I suffered in the meantime, working overtime to put out the worst fires before they spiraled out of control. When I would eventually have time to rest, then I would use a pod.

An hour ago, Luna had brought out a thick blanket to drape over me like a cloak when she retrieved lunch, and I accepted it gratefully. Shortly after, I switched it to cover up my lap. Just because everyone else was laissez-faire about nudity doesn't mean I was.

True to her word, Luna was reluctant to leave my side, her ever-present love, concern, and fear being as much of a companion as she was.

There would be many talks about what happened in the future.

Cricket gulped, “I know that saying sorry doesn’t mean much, but… may I plead my case?”

I motioned with a hoof for her to speak.

“…. What I said was true, King Phasma. All those times I said you were a great leader… We of course don’t remember what previous rulers were like, but there’s a reason why you’re a Saint now. You’re like a breath of fresh air for a drowning ling. I never said I was an Infiltrator because… I…

She stalled and looked around, “I suppose I don’t know why. Maybe I was afraid of your reaction. Maybe I was afraid of the reactions from other Infiltrators. I can’t really give you a reason because I never really had one. I should have told you the truth, but I didn’t. And for that, I am truly sorry. I tried telling them the truth– I tried convincing them about you, but, well, I suppose you already know about that.”

“Cricket…”

She waited for my verdict. Luna continued to watch with polite, quiet interest.

“I… believe you,” I said, making Cricket sigh in relief. “But, I… need time to think. I don’t like people so close to me hiding so much. So, I have an important duty for you. It will take you away from Canterlot for a few months, but I will be checking in regularly through the Dreamscape.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty!” She bowed.

“Yeah, just… Thank you for your loyalty, Cricket, but I don’t want to see you while I’m still suffering because of your silence. If you had spoken up, we would have been more tipped off by your disappearance, and the Hive would have known something was up even before I had returned to Canterlot. Now, find Coxa, and get your new orders from him. He should already have something arranged and written down.”

She bowed again, backpedaling, “I won’t disappoint you, King Phasma.”

“Let’s hope not.”

The changeling vanished through the doorway, and Luna nodded, “You handled that well, Phasma.”

“Hmm?”

Luna frowned, “My niece has informed me about an aborted public execution without a trial…?”

“Fucking snitch,” I muttered. “Well, I’m significantly more calm than last night, and Cricket would never deserve such a fate. Tarsus is…. tomorrow’s problem. A conundrum for future Phasma. Luna, if you would kindly take me to the dungeons, there is one more ling I need to speak to.”

“I would prefer to stay and relax for the day,” Luna complained.

“Me too,” I gave her a half-smile. “But Celestia is the one who gets to relax after this catastrophe. I need to have some words with Chrysalis. So please, unless you’d like to leave my side for half an hour, take me to see her.”

Luna nodded and began to turn my wheelchair to the door. "Captain Shining was quite enthusiastic when it came to deciding her place of stay. He will continue to be quite vocal about her incarceration, I have no doubts about that."

Chrysalis was sitting smugly in an upholstered chair, which looked jarringly out of place in her rather simplistic cell.

It wasn’t a dungeon cell in that it was stone walls, a sparse bed, and nothing more. Instead, it could be closer to a hospital room. No doubt that being a hospital room was its secondary function, as a lot of medical equipment was stowed away at the far end of the room, near the toilet. Chrysalis would normally have been handcuffed– or hoofcuffed– but it seems that the ponies decided to forgo that measure entirely.

She was here entirely by my order and was not resisting in the slightest. She was bandaged up only slightly less than me, with about a third of her wrapped up in stained white gauze. Her mane had been cut to half its length, as apparently there were too many cut strands and knots and tangles for the full thing to be saved. Of course, there was also the massive red metal ring around the base of her horn, three green lights blinking slowly.

Chrysalis would not be using any magic for the foreseeable future.

‘Well, maybe resisting a little bit, considering she got a formal complaint made and somehow smuggled in a chair.’

“King Phasma,” Chrysalis smiled, “so good of you to visit me.”

“Princess Chrysalis,” I returned the greeting.

‘Apparently, she’s not evil,’ I reminded myself. ‘I don’t know if I will come to grips with that revelation. Not anytime soon…. There’s still bodies to bury, speeches to make, and sacrifices to consecrate. It makes sense that she was motivated by just as much fear and sense of duty as I was. Am. Eurgh, this shit makes my head hurt. Maybe Celestia was right about the whole being-constantly-drunk thing.’

Chrysalis glared at me, “Are you just going to stare at me, or are you going to say something? You interrupted one of my afternoon naps.”

"I'm still coming to terms with the idea that you are not evil," I admitted.

"Tch, you wound your poor mother's heart!" She frowned and put a hoof over her chest.

"Never calling you that," I said.

Chrysalis looked at Luna, "And you? Why are you here?"

"I am not leaving Phasma's side."

Chrysalis’s pupils dilated as she started to grin from ear to ear.

"Ooooh ho ho hooo! My, my! Now this is interesting! Phasma, you didn't tell me that you wooed an alicorn! It's no wonder why you are so sure of our species’ survival, you've got one of the pony leaders on a leash!"

I squirmed in my chair uncomfortably. Luna smiled, making me worry even more.

"Actually, it is the other way around," Luna said

"Okay!" I cut them off. "That's enough of that!"

Chrysalis only grinned even more. Showing all of her teeth in her smile, "Why stop now? This is only just getting good!"

"You know, I expected you to put up more of a fight when I let the ponies arrest you," I changed the subject.

Chrysalis returned to a neutral expression, "I am not worried in the slightest."

"Why not?"

She frowned, "As Pontiff, it is your duty to oversee the health and safety of the loyal royals underneath you. Which means you can not abandon me to the noose. You should know this, I covered it in one of our lessons."

"I don't remember that lesson," I said, tapping my chin.

"At any rate," Chrysalis continued, "I also know that you have plans. You are not one to sit on your laurels. Instead, you always stress out and plan for the distant future." She relaxed in her chair, stretching out with a sigh. "You had better hope that your mistress mellows you out; as important as planning is, worrying too much will make you lose sight of what's happening right in front of your muzzle. But I'll play your little game, King Phasma. Oh, woe is me! I am so unsure of my own fate, whatever shall befall me!"

"You should have less confidence,” I refrained from growling. “You will answer for your crimes, both against changelings and against ponies.”

She slowly sat up straight, "Oh? That's unexpected. Are you planning on sealing me away, my dear son?"

"Not quite," Luna revealed.

I tapped the iron bars of her cell, "The Equestrians will put you on trial. You'll be found guilty of whatever crime they'll want to charge you with. I will most certainly help and testify against you, as will plenty of other changelings."

"We intend only to charge applicable crimes, and there will be a requirement of evidence," Luna interrupted. "We are not going to arbitrarily declare you guilty of any crime. Not without proof."

Chrysalis sneered, "How magnanimous of you to charge a changeling for breaking pony laws. I'm sure it will be a fair trial. But go on, Phasma. I'm sure you'll make my fate a spectacle."

I worked my jaw silently, frustrated, "You’re not going to be executed. That much is certain.”

"No?" Chrysalis queried.

"You're going to be reformed. I'll have a team of changelings and ponies watching you, instructing you how to act, and overseeing you. That will be your ultimate fate, after whatever else the Equestrians and changelings deem necessary."

She fell back into her chair. "Oh, how droll."

I continued, "In addition to whatever lengthy process the ponies and I come up with for you, you’ll have another long, arduous test to see if you’re really trustworthy."

"Very well," Chrysalis sighed. "What is this task you are setting before me? Infiltrating the griffons? Exploring some unknown land? Sweeping a dirt road for a century? What is it?"

"I was considering you for the position of leading the recolonization of the First Hive," I revealed.

"No," She whispered. ".... Of course you found it. Panar seems to be guiding you personally. Is that where you found your armor?"

"Actually that was from the Third Hive, which I had to demolish to kill a particularly brutal Nightmare."

Chrysalis sagged in her seat, blinking rapidly, ".... Two Hives. You found not one, but two ancient Hives…. If only I had that luck. What were they like?"

"The Third Hive was a coffin in everything but name," I said. "Buried far beneath the jungles, it was a cursed ruin of death. Still, it was something to behold. As for the first, you'll eventually see for yourself. It is a wonder to rival Canterlot, a glistening underground counterpart. You would be nominally in charge of both changelings and ponies, though you’d find the real power will be more spread out than what you're used to."

"Wait, you are still considering putting her in charge of Nisir?!" Luna exclaimed, looking at me like I'd forgotten my brain in another room. “When you referred to the idea in the past tense, I assumed you would leave it in the past!”

"Nisir?" Chrysalis echoed. "Nisir…"

“I said I was considering it,” I clarified, “but Chrysalis has killed a lot of people. Changelings, ponies… Both sides have suffered from her mismanagement,” she glared at me, but I continued. “It’s hard to ever trust her with anyone else’s lives at the moment. You would have to be completely vetted by whoever is in charge of your redemption. So if anything, this is months, if not years away. Now, leadership of Nisir is likely to go to Pharynx for now, though I suspect he will hate any extended period away from his brother. I need Thorax in Canterlot, so Pharynx will want to be in Canterlot, too. He will resist any kind of permanent stay, hence your consideration.”

Chrysalis tapped the arm of her chair slowly, “And your pony overlords have approved of this plan?”

I rolled my eyes, “I dunno, is it okay with you, Luna?”

‘Not like Luna gets final say over this, anyways. The ponies will get their redemption and whatever else they want to pull out from Chrysalis. I need her alive, and they will deliver her alive.’

Luna crossed her forelegs, “I can not predict the future. Not without a week-long ritual, a mountain of reagents, and even then it is a tenuous prediction at best. Even if I did, the future has never before been so tumultuous; the return of myself, the changelings suddenly being more than the rare foal’s tale you once were, and now Chrysalis surrendering…. It will take a long time to heal the wounds of this war. An entire generation, mayhaps. I know for certain that there will be both ponies and changelings who protest the act of reinstating Chrysalis into any position of power.

The right decisions are rarely ever the easy ones. I could cling to the hate in my heart, or I can let it go. I have seen where the former path ends, and so I must continue treading the path of forgiveness. I still hate her, though. In time… she can make amends. But for now, she must be contained and evaluated.”

I sighed in frustration, “But we may need her for the war.”

“War?” Chrysalis questioned. “Against those Nightmares you spoke of last night? You are certain that these things are real?”

“A foal’s-tale foal’s-tale,” Luna half-grinned. “The boogymare for the boogymares. They are indeed real, and are the source of woes for– for… many.” Her smile sagged.

I pressed a hoof against the bars of Chrysalis’s cell, “They are the ones who have been felling Hive after Hive. They are the true enemy of changelings, and they fully intend on ending us all, Equestria and Hive Eternal. The Nightmares, known as the Umbrum to our ancestors, have dedicated their existence to wiping out life on Equus.”

“.... Then we must kill them,” Chrysalis muttered.

“There is no alternative,” Luna agreed.

The former queen blinked in surprise, “I seem to recall the frantic, incoherent mumblings of my mother quite clearly now. These Nightmares must have been what she feared…”

I decided to ask something that was bugging me, "Chrysalis…. you were never planning on Ascending me?"

"Of course not. We've been over this."

I continued, "What if I was on death's door? Injured, like the other royals?"

Chrysalis shrugged, "Then I would have let you die. I brought you forth into this world through necromancy, and I can just as easily bring you back."

"Oh," I deflated. "Glad to hear that I would simply die."

"I said I would bring you back!"

I scoffed, "Right, because you definitely intended for me to come back with that ritual."

"Maybe Panar chose you over Procho," Chrysalis said, sinking into her chair. "You have been hard at work saving our species. Not even Procho showed that much initiative. Though, that's because she's not a backstabbing traitor."

"You…" I stalled myself, trying to calm down. "I'm not getting into who betrayed who."

"Because I never betrayed you," she glared.

"Not from my perspective. Look, it's going to be a long time before… this changes," I said, gesturing to her cell. "I guess during that time, we can find out where you went wrong."

She bared her fangs, "Where I went wrong? Oh ho ho, King Phasma, you are far too… How did you put it? Sure of yourself?"

"Is that a threat?" Luna asked, stepping forward.

"No, no," Chrysalis started to relax again. "I'm simply scolding my son for never seeing things from where I stand. I did my duty to the Hive Eternal. Had I known that my children, my brothers and sisters too, were still alive when they were Ascended…"

If I squinted hard enough, I could have sworn that I saw her actually showing emotion.

"... I would have Ascended them all the same. The Hive needed their Weave to survive."

‘Ah, there goes the emotion: right out the front door, along with her moralities.’

"You're a monster," I growled.

"If that's the role Panar set for me…" Chrysalis said.

'Is she actually feeling guilty? Does that… even matter? She did it anyway! Coming to terms with that is up to her!'

I checked the time using a spell.

Wincing, I tried to speak as I tried to rub the pain away from my horn “We will talk again later, Chrysalis. There is still so much to be done, and so little time to do it. We will see what comes of the trial, and what the judges dictate your punishment shall be.”

“What will you do, if I am the one doing all the hard work and becoming a martyr for our species?” She sneered.

“I will be securing our future in Equestria,” I said simply, before turning my chair around. “Luna, if you’d please take me to your office now, I’ve got some appointments coming up.”

Luna nodded and began to wheel me away– throwing Chrysalis a look over her shoulder. I couldn’t see what her facial expression was, but judging by Chrysalis’s immediate laugh, it was probably not a friendly one.

I cleared my throat as Luna wheeled me down the halls, "So you hate Chrysalis, somewhat less than I do, but what about Celestia and Cadence? I was rushed to the doctors before I could really see their… reaction."

"I am afraid my sister isn't feeling much right now. That wretch drained her greatly, and she is struggling to feel emotions. She… ahem, Celestia will recover in time. This is the weakest I have ever seen her, but she is surrounded by friends and family. She… will be fine."

I tried to turn my neck to look at Luna. There was sadness leaking from her like a faucet. I twisted around to put my hoof on top of one of hers on the wheelchair’s back handles.

"Thank you, Phasma…" She said softly. "Ahem. Celestia will be okay. I know this, but it does not make seeing her hurt any easier. Now face forward, I do not want to hear a word from any physician stating that you have exacerbated your own injuries. As for Cadence, she wishes to speak to you as soon as you both have a chance. Given how she personally oversaw the care of the wounded down on the battlefield, she's been busy. Though, I suspect that that was on purpose; she buried herself in work to distract herself, just as her other half does."

"Their opinions on Thorax and Pharynx?"

Luna thought about it for a moment before answering, "... Too early to say. They will be happy, I am sure. Cadence has no experience in situations like this, unlike Celestia and I."

I nodded, and we fell into silence.

Until I broke it, “Errr…. I may not have been in the Palace for very long, but I don’t think this is the way to our office.”

“My office,” Luna corrected me, expression softening when she saw my smile, “is not where we are headed.”

“Where are we going?” I asked, looking around to try to place our current position.

“I have some royal duties to attend to. I took you around for your errands, now you must accompany me for mine.”

“Oh. Okay then.”

Luna hummed quietly, "I think I shall inform Captain Shining of Chrysalis’s adjustments to her cell. That should make things a little less comfortable for the changeling. Though, I do fear that Shining Armor may suffer an aneurysm when he learns of it… it is petty of me, I know, however, consider the following: fuck Chrysalis."

I snorted, "I'm sure your immortal soul will survive the blemish."

'Because apparently I gotta start worrying about sins now. Wait, do I? I've already been reincarnated, so there's no afterlife that I know of. Maybe there is, and I just don't remember it. And what would Panar even consider a sin? Squishing a bug? Nah, that's probably racist.'

Our destination was a location I had only visited once before.

Canter Castle's throne room was filled to the brim with ponies and more than a few changelings. When the pair of guards standing on both sides of the golden double doors saluted our arrival, they also pushed open the doors for us.

The unorderly raucous of conversation immediately filled the hallway as it spilled forth from the throne room like a wave. As Luna wheeled me up behind the tall throne that towered over everyone, she clicked her tongue.

"Oh, yes. The throne is not wheelchair accessible."

I snorted, "Careful, you could get fined for that."

Then, with a lurch that was colored blue, we were suddenly at the top of the throne dias, right in front of the colored gold and deep blue metal chairs. Luna positioned my chair to the side of the blue throne, and she collapsed into the chair with a sigh of relief.

I studied the crowd before us. When we teleported up, many pointed in our direction, and conversations fell away as the room's attention shifted to us.

Several ponies and changelings came forth, giving Luna and I respectively a clipboard. I accepted mine with a smile and nod and thanked the changeling who hoofed the clipboard to me. I vaguely recognized her as one of Coxa's lackeys.

Briefly skimming it, I let slip a groan of pain as I realized that it was a tightly packed schedule for today. The brief bit of respite Luna and I had during lunch would be our only break for at least ten more hours.

"Stewardship of the realm is such a lovable duty, is it not?" Luna smirked, looking up from her own paperwork.

'So it's time to pay the price for spending the day with Luna. We both have mountains of work to do, and Luna won't leave my side for a second to do hers.'

"Looks like I'll be handling some work while I'm here with you," I said, flipping the paper to discover five more identical sheets. "Let's hope that doesn't create problems."

"We shall survive." Luna rose from her chair, and the last sound in the room stilled. "Good afternoon, ponies and changelings of the Canterlot Confederacy. Things are quite hectic right now, so let us get straight to the matter: let open court commence!"

The arrangement turned out to be a massive headache. With two conversations going on at the same time, I eventually managed to start tuning out whatever was going on next to me while I dealt with Hive business, but occasionally Luna would call on me for help. Or simply interrupted my conversation by yelling with her 'Royal Voice' as some unfortunate idiot who got on her wrong side.

The first order of business came from Obturator, the former royal physician.

"King Phasma," he bowed. "It is good to see that you're still alive after all this time."

"Obturator," I greeted him. "I was in more than one piece at times, but I am alright now. How can I help?"

I neglected to add his title before his name, partly because I still had to reorganize the Swarm and its leaders, but mostly because I forgot what his exact title was.

'Captain? It wasn't General, I know that much.'

"My King, I have some paperwork from the Royal Guards that needs to be signed by you. It's a requisition order for the first aid supplies."

I frowned, "You have been asked to file paperwork before you get much-needed supplies?"

The drone shook his head, "No, much to my surprise, My King. They gave us exactly what we wanted when we asked. They just want the proper paperwork done for the requests," Obturator said as he levitated over a rather intimidating stack of paperwork.

"I'll be sure to make it someone else's problem," I said truthfully as I accepted the papers. "Is there anything else?"

"No, My King," Obturator grinned.

"Then I'll let you get back to your work," I dismissed him.

He bowed, "Thank you, Your Majesty. I know I haven't given my oath of fealty yet, but… I'm glad everything has turned out this way, My King."

"I'm glad, too, Obturator. Take care, and keep up the good work."

As Obturator stepped away, another changeling took his place. I recognized them as Stinger, the changeling who had examined the artifacts from the First Hive with me.

“Stinger,” I nodded in acknowledgement.

“My King,” she bowed and quickly bounded up the throne’s steps.

Luna glanced our way but continued yelling at a noble who was demanding that all the changelings should be removed from Canterlot’s central plaza.

Stinger presented a clipboard as she began speaking, “My King, I’m sorry to say, but there’s a problem. There was a fight, and…”

“There’s been a war,” I said, straight-faced.

Grabbing the clipboard with my hooves to spare my aching horn, I skimmed the papers, and started to frown.

“The artifacts from the First Hive, they… were stolen,” Stinger announced. “There was a fight, and both changelings and ponies were injured. Two changelings and one pony perished in the fighting…”

‘That could explain this portal amulet being abandoned in a hallway.’

It was an after-action report that had been hastily assembled in the night– or, more likely, minutes ago. Many of the artifacts had been taken in transit from Clear Skies, specifically while they were in the Palace. I had given orders to Coxa to arrange for them to be placed in a vault we would have access to. Somehow, someone knew about their existence, knew they were vulnerable, and had the means to take them. Someone not afraid of getting blood on their hooves.

When I noticed that the pony casualty had succumbed to injuries, and not necessarily died in combat, the pieces fell into place.

“Division-P,” I muttered quietly.

“That’s our working theory,” Stinger confirmed. “We, uh, haven’t told anyone else. I mean, the team in charge of the artifacts and I have brought this right to your attention first, Your Majesty.”

‘So not only were the priceless and rare artifacts from the First Hive taken, but changelings and a pony died as a result.’

My jaw clenched in anger, and I had to physically try to relax it.

“We’re still debriefing the changelings and ponies involved,” Stinger continued, “but from what we can tell, it was a mess. We’re trying to get an understanding of what happened; it seems that ponies in Royal Guard armor attacked the Red Right Hoof, and their fellow mares-in-arms, and made off with the artifacts. One pony involved did not have the armor, therefore we’ve been able to cobble together her identity. I think you’ll find this to be a rather familiar pony…”

The last page detailed the pony in question.

“She attacked changelings and ponies?!” I gasped, trying to keep my voice low.

Stinger looked around the crowded room, “It’s hard to tell. We don’t think so, but she was definitely there, fighting some ponies. And maybe changelings.”

I was about to turn to Luna to appraise her of the situation when she brought me into her own conversation.

“You should direct that inquiry to King Phasma himself,” she said, gesturing to me.

Forcing myself to become aware of the full scale of the circus I was in the center of, I realized that Luna was talking to six familiar mares. They were the Elements of Harmony bearers, and they looked significantly worse for wear. I had only seen one since the Gala, Applejack, and that was at a distance.

The six ponies looked tired. It was a sucker’s bet that they had been up all night, trying to get to Canterlot to help ponies, and had buried themselves in work for that purpose. It seemed like the kind of selfless thing they would do, according to Luna’s stories about them.

The ponies looked over to me, and Twilight Sparkle stepped forward a pace, clearing her throat.

“Excuse me, King Phasmatodea, but we were wondering if we could be of any help to… you.”

Before I addressed Twilight, I used the clipboard with the A.A.R. to cover my mouth as I leaned over to whisper to Luna.

“We’ve got a problem, Luna. The artifacts from the First Hive have been stolen. This is the report,” I finished, physically hoofing over the clipboard.

She frowned and took the report.

“Thank you, Stinger, please finish your investigation as quickly as you can,” I dismissed the changeling. Finally, I turned to the Element bearers, “I’m sorry, you said you wanted to help me?”

Twilight and her equals nodded.

“Just point us to ponies– err, to changelings that need help, and we’ll do what we can,” Applejack stood up straight.

“You look like you need help yourself,” I pointed out.

“We can still help,” the shy one, Fluttershy, said.

‘Was that the first time I heard her speak? Hmm, no, I think she spoke during the Gala incident.’

“Flutters is right–” Rainbow Dash said, covering up a yawn, “– can still help.”

‘They definitely haven’t slept since yesterday. Not even the upper-class unicorn Rarity has escaped unscathed from their sleeplessness.’

If I needed any actual confirmation of their lack of sleep, it was that. The normally vain and appearance-orientated pony’s mane had become rather unkempt, and her eyes were beginning to look bloodshot.

“I assume you’ve already met with Princess Cadence?” I asked.

Cadence was in charge of trying to fix the mess outside the castle. That meant directing doctors and nurses who could help, organizing the wounded, finding supplies for everything, and most importantly of all, coordinating with all the changelings and ponies who actually did all of those duties.

Twilight nodded, “We’ve been helping her for the past few hours. She… uh, advised that we find another way to be helpful.”

“Did she?” I smirked.

“.... Yes,” Twilight said.

“You sound unsure,” I remarked. “Did Cadence tell you to find me, or did she tell you to get some rest?”

“We can’t rest till the job’s done,” Applejack said, shaking her head.

“While we can still make a difference,” Rarity agreed, “we have the moral obligation to try.”

‘Well…. I never expected ponies to be chomping at the bit to help changelings. Now, is this just an exception to the rule, or will there actually be some sort of cooperation? On that topic, I should check in with Thorax and see how he and Cadence are doing, and how cooperative they’re being.’

I cleared my throat, “You have the moral obligation to go the fuck to sleep, that’s what you have. If you want to help, fine, but first you’re getting no less than nine hours of rest. Eat, shower, sleep. Luna, do we have any spare rooms for them?”

Luna looked up, “Hmm? Oh, not quite. They will have to dorm together, Three to a room. That is the most we can spare right now, as the rest of the castle’s spare rooms are being used for displaced ponies.”

I nodded, “There you have it. Go get something to eat, then get some rest. Nine hours from now, I’ll have a messenger give you a list of things you can help with– in fact, I’ll be sure to give that list to Cadence or Thorax. You’ll know him when you see him, if I do choose Thorax.”

“That’s very generous of you,” Twilight said, “but we want to help now.”

“You’re not going to,” I shook my head. “Go. I’m thankful for your offer of help, but it’ll do no one good if you’re asleep on your hooves.”

“Princess?” Twilight asked Luna, seeking a different answer.

Luna lowered the clipboard, “Raven. Send this to Celestia at once. No one is to see it other than her. Also, find a guard, and have them send a message to my niece; we are meeting tonight in Celestia’s quarters.”

The aide next to her bowed and retrieved the report from Luna.

“At once, Your Highness. Desk, cover for me,” the aide said, motioning to one of her assistants to step up as she left the throne room.

“Now,” Luna began, “what Phasma said is true; you six are working too hard. Your hard work is not unappreciated, and certainly has not gone unnoticed, but the last thing we need is dealing with ponies who are collapsing from exhaustion. Please, my friends, you have done enough for today. There will be others who will pick up the slack. Rest.”

The last bit of resistance faded away, and the Element of Laughter’s mane deflated.

“Yes, Princess…” Twilight sighed.

Groaning, Applejack motioned for the rest to follow, “C’mon, girls, let’s get out from underhoof.”

As they left, Luna leaned close to me.

“Celestia will have answers by the time we see her tonight. This is most troubling, but I am certain there is another side to the story.”

“I agree,” I murmured back. “It wouldn’t make sense for her to betray us.”

“May the next petitioner come forward,” Luna announced, and I nodded to my changelings for the same.

I stifled a yawn and looked over my own schedule. I had about five more hours of this, then I would have to see Obturator’s goons for a medical checkup on my wounds. Then dinner. Then meeting with Cadence, and apparently Celestia now. Then…

‘Tarsus.’

“Your Majesty.”

Quick Search, Bray Call, and Warm Dew were standing before me, while a dark purple mare pleaded to Luna nearby.

“Hey guys,” I greeted them. “I’m pretty sure we’re on a first-name basis now. Or, whatever the equivalent is for changelings and ponies.”

“How’re you feeling?” Bray asked.

I shrugged– and immediately winced, “Alive. The rest will get better over time. Though I’m afraid that my free time will never recover from this. You three?”

“I sprained an ankle,” Dew announced, lifting a hoof to show me.

“We’re okay,” Search smiled. “We don’t want to take up too much of your time, especially since we already had a private meeting, but, uh… There is something we want. Bray and I, that is. Warm Dew is just here to say hi.”

“Alright, what is it?”

“We’ve been thinking,” Search announced.

“Uh oh,” I joked.

“And I’ve decided not to become a Royal Guard.”

“Oh?” My eyebrows raised. “What’s your new plan? And how does Bray fit into it?”

“If you’d have us, we’d like to stay in Canterlot,” he announced. “I would like to join your army, the Red Right Hoof, correct? Bray would love to… er…”

“If you have a spot open for an assistant position, or anything like that, I’d love to actually make a difference in the world,” Bray announced. “I’m fine with starting from the bottom and doing things like getting coffee, as long as I can actually move upward. That is, if you’ll have me?”

“Wow,” I blinked, “that was unexpected. I, uh, sure. Why not? Welcome aboard, I’m sure there’ll be no problem finding a place for you two. Search, you’ll have to track down Captain Katydid and inform him that you’re now a member of the… Red Right Hoof. A pony in my changeling army…. Bray, you’ll have to find Cricket and…” I paused. “... You’ll find Cricket’s current replacement. How about you, Dew? Are you planning on getting a ticket into Canterlot?”

Our conversation paused for a moment as a pony, a green unicorn this time, started breaking down and thanking Luna profusely. Luna tried her best to be humble, but whatever it was that Luna did or promised to do, it meant the world to the pony.

‘A lot of lives have changed today.’

Warm Dew cleared his throat, “My place is in my hometown. Duty, family, and the fact that I’ve already made a down payment on a house means that I must stay.”

“Alright,” I shrugged. “You’re welcome to visit anytime. So long as you’re not waking me up, that is.”

Dew smiled and nodded, “Thank you. I’ll be sure to visit my friends often. I will miss them, all three of them.”

“Three? What’s– Oooh,” I chuckled. “You ponies and your sappy friendship rhetoric. I’ll look forward to our get-togethers. Now, I don’t want to seem like I’m getting rid of you three as soon as possible–”

“But you’re very busy,” Search said, motioning me to stop. “Don’t worry, we’ll find these changelings as soon as we can.”

I sighed, “Thank you for understanding. Tell them to arrange for a place to stay, too, as I imagine you don’t have anywhere cheap to stay in Canterlot.”

“We’ll get right to that,” Bray said. “For now, it was nice seeing you, and we’re happy to hear that… you’ll recover, at least. You’ve faced worse injuries.”

The other two ponies nodded along.

I snorted, and rolled around my front right hoof, testing it, “That I have. Take care, you three. I’ll see you two as soon as I can, though it may be a few days until I have the time.”

Dew gave Search and Bray a goodbye hug, and a hoofbump for me, before departing. One of my changeling aides guided the other two away, and they waved to me as they left.

The rest of the afternoon followed similar patterns of short conversations, orders being given, and the occasional interruption from Luna as our work crossed paths. Thankfully, there were no more huge surprises. Instead, there was only the growing mountain of work to be done in order to minimize the loss of life and to facilitate the partial integration of the new changelings into the Fifth Hive.

By the time the end of our court session rolled around, I was feeling quite overwhelmed. My small army of changeling aides dwindled as they were sent off with assigned duties and tasks, leaving me with just a hooffull of lings left. The open court session ended with me having more work to do than before it started. Though, I suppose that was the point of it.

Distressingly, neither of us saw hide nor hair of Blueblood and his sycophants. Keep your friends close and enemies closer, as they say, and Blueblood was suspiciously absent from the dissenting nobles that came to waste Luna's time.

Afterward, Luna dropped me off in the castle's medical wing, while she saw her own doctors and 'attended ladylike functions,' to quote her.

Meaning she had to take a shit.

While the lings fussed over the current state of my battered carapace, a team of doctors stood by, all disheveled and overworked in appearance, jotting down notes as they listened.

While the physicians looked me over, Obturator paid me a visit.

"My King," he bowed as he entered the crowded operating room.

No other room had enough space for everyone who wanted to take a peek at my body. The thought made me even more self-conscious about this world's fondness for nudity.

"Obturator," I said, looking over the head of a nurse. "Save me."

"I'm afraid I can't do that, My King," he replied, lacking any sincere pity. "I'm here to announce that we've done what we can."

"Excuse me? Could you clarify that?"

"Stretch out your right forearm," a changeling doctor told me, and I complied as I listened.

"There's a long list of surgeries to be done, but for the most part, we've done all we can to help the injured. The rest is up to the ponies' skilled surgeons, and to the healing pods. Though, I'm afraid that the waiting list for one of those is months long."

"How many has Thorax allowed to be used?" I asked, remembering that it would fall under his list of duties.

"As many as possible right now, but those are for life-threatening injuries. Maybe about two hundred. Anything more will break our 'budget,' to quote him. After the life-threatening injuries, we'll only keep fifteen in use."

I sighed, "I'm sure we can foot that expense. Has he heard back from Pharynx yet?"

I was meeting with them tonight, but if I could get any news quicker, I would be happy.

Obturator shook his head, "No."

"Very well. You've saved lives, Obturator. For that, you have my eternal thanks. Any idea how many weren’t saved?"

‘I can count the ones I killed myself. I… don’t want to. Bastards. Stupid fucking morons. Why couldn’t they all have surrendered? All because I froze up and didn’t say anything more…. Maybe. Damn it all!’

The doctors, both changelings and ponies, paused and held their breaths.

Obturator looked pale, as much as a changeling could, “.... The fighting outside the Plaza was brutal at times. Many lings are still missing in action…”

“Captain Obturator,” I begged, “how many?”

“... Four-hundred-sixty-five,” he revealed. “So far. Another twenty-eight will die tonight, despite our best efforts.” I sank into my chair as he continued, “More than a third of that was outside the Plaza, where fighting street-to-street was especially fatal. Many lings didn’t get medical aid until it was too late. In addition, the chaos of the Bloodbath led to a stampede. Many changelings took to the air, but others panicked, or were stopped in some way… As for pony casualties, there seems to be at least ninety-seven Royal Guards who were killed, but we expect the final number to be around one-hundred-and-fifteen. One-thirty at the highest.”

The air was filled with the horror, sorrow, and disgust from the ponies present.

‘I need a frame of reference…’

“How many have died during the war? How many changelings are still alive?”

Obturator just shook his head, “We don’t know. From what we can tell, a fifth of the Fourth Hive was lost. From Daybreaker’s relentless attacks on the Central Swarm to yesterday’s bloodbath, the specialist divisions took heavy casualties to cover the retreat. When Daybreaker did manage to hit the large formations, it was painful. The Underhive took the rest.”

“A couple thousand, then,” I muttered, thinking about the size of our species. “If only three thousand died, that still could be more than ten percent of our entire species. But twenty percent? One in five changelings have died in the past year.”

I felt less guilty and torn up than I thought I should.

I decided to voice my thoughts out loud, “Thousands dead. A decidedly less bloody conflict than what I’m really used to hearing about, but then again, that was with populations over ten thousand times our own. What’s the worst war in pony history?”

None of the doctors wanted to give me an answer.

“Probably the unification wars,” I continued. “I’ll have to ask Luna… What’s been done with their bodies?”

“They’re being gathered, My King. We’ve cordoned off the area where they are so no one sees, but considering a third of the ponies have wings, and all of the changelings…”

“Let them see. Make sure to take as many pictures as you can,” I added. “Find a camera crew, or as many cameras as you can. Take as many pictures as possible: changelings, ponies, devastation, the encampment in the Plaza– anything you think might be interesting. A fifth of our species was lost. The best we can do is try to immortalize the horror for future generations, and for everyone who wasn’t here last night. We will send them off tomorrow.”

“Yes, My King,” Obturator sighed, and he turned to leave.

“Captain?”

“Yes, My King?”

“Take an extra ration of love. You and everyone else hard at work. Whenever you all get your next break, take a double ration. You deserve it.”

“Others need that love more than us,” Obturator bristled.

“We can wait until Prince Pharynx comes back with love from the old hive. The Fifth Hive’s stores here in Canterlot can survive for a week at least. Just tell Thorax, okay?”

“Sir….” He tried to argue, but swayed uneasily on his hooves.

“And get some sleep, Obturator.”

“.... Yes, My King.”

Celestia was looking marginally better than the last time I saw her. However, she was still small, discolored, fatigued, and overall overworked and overstrained.

Luna and I sat next to her bed as she held a piece of paper between her hooves. Sighing, Celestia placed the paper on top of a large stack next to her, on top of her blanket.

"So…" I said slowly. "How are you feeling?"

"More miserable than last night," Celestia admitted.

"An improvement," Luna said dryly. "Better to feel pain than the dulled sense of nothing at all."

"So they keep telling me," Celestia muttered out of the corner of her mouth. "Yes, the doctors say I am improving. How fares the Kingdom?"

Luna pointed out the nearest window, where Canterlot’s skyline was visible, "There is a lot of damage to recover from. Unfortunately, this time the damage is not measured in bits but in lives lost. Say what you will about the headaches that Phasma's invasion caused, at least then there were no funerals to attend."

"Do we have a total?" Celestia asked.

"No," Luna lied. "There is still much to… uncover in the city proper."

"What is the running tally?"

"I do not know," Luna continued to lie.

"Do not coddle me, sister," Celestia said, feeling more sorrow than anger. "Phasma. I know you have the total. That's the kind of thing you would know. Which is good, as I do not want somepony in my castle in charge who cares not about the lives of those underneath him. How many have died?"

I looked to Luna, who closed her eyes and nodded.

"Four-hundred-seventy changelings, one hundred ponies," I listed the numbers from the top of my head. "Not final."

Celestia stared ahead, past us. There was sorrow within her, as well as traces of anger, but the emotions were dull and distant. Like embers within a wall-sized fireplace, the emotions that Celestia gave off were shadows of what they were normally.

"Very well then," she said softly. "Any other news?"

‘I’m not sure if her lack of response is from thousands of years of experience with death, or if it's just her mental state right now. She always did try to keep her emotions under control, but this is concerning. Better just move on.’

"You got our message? About the, uh… attack?" I asked.

"Indeed. The mare in question has been fetched, and should arrive within the next hour."

"Cadence will be here in a minute," Luna announced. "She wishes to hold a meeting. The topic of three new royals to our lands is something that Cadence does not quite know how to handle."

"It was certainly a surprise," Celestia remarked. "But if Harmony brings us three more warriors for the coming war, then I am pleased to hear it."

"Even if one of them is Chrysalis?" Luna asked, eyebrow raised.

Celestia stared back, "She is a capable fighter. I know that from experience. Her presence will spare lives."

"Is that… all you are feeling?" I pressed, knowing there was more to it.

Celestia looked away, towards the nearest window.

"Should I give into anger? Shall I submit to sorrow and rage once more, opening the floodgates for something terrible? Should I be elated that a mass murderer is being given any sort of clemency? The righteous path is a difficult one to walk. My usual coping methods have been sternly vetoed by the physicians; not a single drop, they said."

"You can drown yourself in friends and family instead," Cadence stated as she stepped into Celestia's room, shutting the door behind her.

Celestia smiled weakly, "Hardly an adequate substitute, but I'm already numb, so I suppose I'm halfway there already. Good evening Cadence, how are you?"

Cadence levitated one of the upholstered chairs over to us.

"Tired," Cadence admitted. "I took a nap shortly after noon, but I'm looking forward to getting some real sleep tonight. Won't even…" She paused to yawn, "... have fun with Shiny. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about," she winked and elbowed Luna.

"Indeed," Luna chuckled, giving me an amused glance.

"Luna, the Princess of Food is making me feel uncomfortable. You’re not helping, either."

"I did come here to do more than tease stallions," Cadence said. "I was hoping to speak to you three about our newest… equals."

“It certainly is an interesting development,” Celestia noted. “Seemingly overnight, our numbers have doubled.”

Cadence glanced at me, “All of them changelings, yes. While I am happy for… Prince Thorax, as he certainly has earned his place alongside Phasma, what about Pharynx and Chrysalis? Or, Prince Pharynx and Princess Chrysalis, rather? I’ll never get used to calling that warmonger a princess…”

“‘Tis better than the alternative,” Luna said. “We offer forgiveness for all who want it, so let Chrysalis be judged, then let her walk the path of redemption.”

Celestia put a hoof on her chin, “It won’t be easy for her. There is a lot to make up for. There is a lot more that cannot be made right. I believe that, if my understanding of our ponies is correct, she will not be welcomed in Equestrian society for at least a decade. Likely far more. We have certainly not helped in this case, as we condemned her time and time again in exchange for pushing Phasma out of the spotlight.”

“This all hinges on her actually wanting to change,” I pointed out. “She seemed quite… content last we saw her.”

“Oh, she’s going to change, whether she wants to or not,” Luna said darkly. “She will redeem herself, even if she is kept in irons the whole time.”

Cadence cleared her throat, “Auntie Luna is right. We have to push Chrysalis. We cannot let her do things at her own pace, as that could take centuries, if her redemption happens at all. We need to move quickly when it comes to changing her callousness and brutality. We certainly will not finish before the Nightmares come, but we can at least make enough progress to trust her on the battlefield.”

“You already can,” I sighed. “Chrysalis will not jeopardize any battle with the Umbrum for freedom, payback, or anything else. At the very least, she takes her duty to protect changelings somewhat seriously, and won’t do any funny business while our species is in danger.”

“And you are okay with putting her on trial?” Cadence asked.

“Of course I am. As long as I am one of the judges, Chrysalis can face the consequences of her actions.”

Celestia shook her head, “We mustn't forget that this wasn’t only Chrysalis’s doing. Daybreaker escalated the war. I– she was the one who began killing changelings.”

“We will take that into consideration during Chrysalis’s trial,” Luna reassured her sister by placing her hoof over one of Celestia’s. “Let those thoughts sleep for another night. Cadence, how are the ponies and changelings you have seen today?”

“A lot of the ponies are confused, scared, and angry,” Cadence revealed. “Getting them back home is an undertaking that is taking up countless marehours, namely overseeing their safety, feeding them, and transporting them back home. Thankfully, many of the captains and companies that own private airships are offering to ferry ponies to their homes, free of charge.”

Celestia smiled, “Ah, my ponies. I’m glad they open their hearts without the need for guidance or orders.”

Cadence smiled back, “I think we’re all happy for that. Indeed, so many ponies are rising to the task that no pony will sleep outside tonight. Many ponies in Canterlot are opening their homes to the refugees, and I know of at least a few ponies in the surrounding towns that are offering to house the refugees. Applejack is one of them.”

Luna glanced at the papers by Celestia’s side, “That was the good news. What about the changelings?”

Cadence paused, “.... Not as well, I’m afraid. Though, that is not entirely the fault of our ponies. The changelings refused to stay in the homes of ponies who offered, which admittedly was far fewer in number than those offering shelter for ponies. They seemed happier to stay with their kin outdoors. Thankfully, the Crystal Caves have been emptied to the point where changelings can move back into them.”

“Those damn caves,” Celestia cursed.

‘Heh, looks like someone is picking up on non-pony curses, like her sister.’

“Perhaps I should grant them permanently to you, Phasma,” Celestia wondered. “They seem to be causing quite a lot of problems for us. I would sleep better at night knowing that an army stands between us and an entrance to this ‘Underhive’. Moreover, it would be considerably harder to invade Equestria with that back door locked and sealed shut.”

I gasped, “You’re using my species as a meatshield? Celestia, I didn’t know you had it in you! Of course I’ll take the prime real estate in the most expensive city on the planet! Should make an excellent place for a hive. Plenty of room for storage, living, training, and more. Heh, our entire species living in what will be the biggest wine cellar in history. I love it.”

“Now…” Cadence started to say. However, she seemed unsure how to continue, “... This might sound strange, but didn’t Thorax and Pharynx seem quite calm about the whole immortality thing?”

“Their reaction was tame,” Luna agreed.

“I haven’t had the chance to really talk to them, but Thorax did seem a bit surprised,” I said. “Only a bit, though.”

Cadence hummed in thought, “... Becoming an alicorn wasn’t an immediate thing. I was taken to a plane of… of…”

“Harmony,” Celestia provided.

Cadence scooted closer, “Right. Yes. Harmony. I saw flashes of what I did to earn my horn: a witch I saved and her life before and after meeting me. I wouldn’t be surprised if Thorax and Pharynx saw something like that.”

“They haven’t said anything,” I shrugged. “Perhaps I will– someone’s at the door,” I announced a second before a pony knocked loudly.

“Are we expecting company?” Cadence asked.

Luna stood up and headed to the door, while Celestia caught Cadence up to speed. Meanwhile, I moved my wheelchair and Luna’s chair to face the newcomer. As Cadence moved her own spot, the mare in question entered the room, escorted in by Luna.

“Agent Daring Do,” Celestia greeted.

“Princess,” Daring bowed. “To what do I owe the… pleasure?”

She eyed Luna and the guards closing the door wearily. Luna strode past her and sat back down next to me, keeping a cool gaze on the explorer. I was thankful to have her back at my side; for all the comparisons I could make about Celestia's emotional health being embers of a once raging fire, having Luna next to me all day was like cuddling up to a cozy fire after braving a snow storm so bad I had icicles on my eyebrows.

The only downside to having her love was that soon I would have to start parting with it. The drones needed to eat, too, and I wouldn't have the luxury of an excuse to hoard it all for myself.

“Agent, I would like to know about your whereabouts and activities during the battle yesterday,” Celestia announced. “Princess Cadence, Princess Luna, and King Phasma are visiting me, but you are allowed to speak before all of them.”

“Allowed?” Daring echoed. “I see. Well, Your Highness, I was in Lower Canterlot, helping civies get to safety. There were a lot of roaming changeling patrols, and I had to make sure they didn't rip apart everypony they came across. No offense, King Phasma," she offered with an awkward smile.

I continued to stare silently at her.

'You better have an airtight alibi. Especially since your actions don't make any sense. Division-P can disguise, but we have to make sure.'

"You never set hoof in the Palace?" Celestia asked.

Daring paused, ".... No."

"You hesitated there," Luna pointed out.

"I was recounting my actions, Your Highness. Retracing my steps. I was never on Palace grounds, no."

Celestia removed a few papers from her pile and presented them, "Then why are multiple witnesses placing you inside the Palace during the invasion?"

"I was never inside the Palace," Daring said, certain of herself.

But her emotions betrayed her true feelings; Daring Do was anything but confident. Fear leaked into her words, unfelt by the non-changelings in the room. Not the concern that someone was disguising as her and muddying her name, but the fear of being caught.

'A lie. So, she was in the Palace.'

"The witnesses also state that you attacked Royal Guards and changelings," Celestia continued.

"I would never!" Daring nearly shouted in indignation.

'Anger. No fear at all. Potentially the truth, then.'

Celestia glanced at me but continued when I gave no response, "We believe an attack was made by Division-P last night, during the chaos. They took advantage of the war to attack the Palace, and they made off with most of the artifacts from the First Hive. Do you have any knowledge about this?"

"No, Your Highness," she shook her head.

Daring glanced at me. A momentary flick of her eyes, yet it collaborated with her internal conflict to tell me something more.

"She knows," I announced, piecing together the truth from her emotions. "Why are you lying to us, Daring Do? What are you afraid of? Have I failed you in some way? Have I proven myself unworthy of trust?"

I was laying it on thick, and even Daring saw the crocodile tears for what they were. Still, she had to answer.

"I'm not afraid of you, King Phasma. I swear that I've done nothing against you. I certainly haven't raised a hoof against ponies loyal to Equestria."

"Ponies loyal to Equestria," Cadence repeated. "So you fought ponies that were disloyal?"

Daring fidgeted around, "Yes. I have, Princess."

'She at least believes that to be true. Or, she remembered that a changeling is in the room, and is bringing her emotions under control again.'

“Please, Agent Daring, be honest with us,” Celestia pleaded.

“I…” Daring huffed. “I was in the Palace.”

“Why did you deny this?” Luna asked.

Once again, Daring looked at me while thinking of an answer.

“I… I can’t say. I’m sorry, but I just can’t.”

‘She certainly feels sorry. Though, now that I’ve played my hoof, her emotions can’t be trusted to be genuine.’

“Some changelings say that you attacked them,” I said.

Daring frowned, “.... I didn’t have a choice. I… They wanted to detain me, or stop me.”

“What were you doing?” Celestia pressed.

“I can’t say.”

“Am I not the highest power in the land?” Celestia questioned. “Anything you say can be classified. Anything you reveal can be protected.”

Daring shook her head, “I made a promise. I’m sorry, Princess Celestia, but I can’t say.”

“A promise?” Cadence leaned forward, “A promise to whom?”

“I can’t say,” Daring shrugged. “I made a promise to keep what I was doing a secret, and the individual that I made the promise to… I can’t talk about them.”

“Not even if I am ordering you to tell me?” Celestia asked.

Daring cringed, “.... No, Princess. I’m sorry. I want to, but I can’t. I understand if you plan on arresting me, but this is too important.”

“What can you tell us?” I asked, exasperated.

Daring looked down at the floor, “.... Division-P attacked the Palace. I was in the Palace at the time, dealing with changelings who were assaulting the main Palace cafeteria– most of the staff had holed up in there. After leading a successful counterattack– as my archeologist disguise, of course– I came across Division-P attacking some Royal Guards and changeling soldiers in the halls, with the goal of taking all of the artifacts. I found out that they were Division-P after the fact, I just figured that they were changelings disguised as Royal Guards.”

I raised an eyebrow, “So you can tell us what you were doing?”

“I can tell you all of that. But I can’t tell you anything more,” she sighed.

“You don’t recognize this charm?” I asked, bringing up my Weave portal amulet for her to see.

Her eyes widened a fraction of an inch, and a wave of nervousness surged forth from her. Only for a moment, however, before she clamped down on her nerves with an iron fist. Hoof. Same thing.

‘Gotcha.’

“Mmmmmm yes. Yes. I did use and abandon that amulet,” she admitted.

I blinked in surprise, “You figured out what it was? And you somehow casted a teleportation spell despite being a pegasus?”

“Anypony can cast a spell,” she huffed, “you just have to be clever about it. Really though, magical charms and devices can be used by most ponies if proper techniques and workarounds are used. Everypony is capable of channeling magic, just in different ways.”

“You managed to channel magic…. into a teleport spell?” I asked, though I didn’t believe she had an answer.

The three alicorns shared in my incredulity, though they waited patiently for an answer.

“..... I can’t say any more,” Daring Do muttered.

'I saw a blur of color. Orange and purple. Daring is neither of those. So, whoever else was involved most certainly used the charm.'

I rolled my eyes and motioned for Celestia to continue.

“Very well. Agent Daring Do, do you swear that you fought in the name of Equestria, that you did not harm changelings outside of a necessity to escape, that you only harmed Royal Guards who have turned their back on Equestria, and that you have not otherwise acted against the Canterlot Confederacy?"

"I swear," Daring said without hesitation.

"Then we will discuss this at length another time. Please see yourself out," Celestia motioned to the door.

"Yes, Your Highness," Daring bowed.

"Wait, what?!" I exclaimed. "You're letting her go without answers? She's clearly lying about the artifacts!"

"Do you intend on arresting her for assaulting your changelings?" Celestia asked.

'Daring saved my life. I saved hers in return, but I suppose she's always acted somewhat fairly. Though, she's proven to be less than reliable when it comes to our artifacts.'

I glared at Daring Do. She avoided my stare, instead looking down at the floor.

'She's hiding something. Someone, rather. Someone involved in all this mess, someone capable of using a teleportation spell. Yes, that's it; a unicorn that is acting without orders from either Crown, yet somehow not acting against us? How many ponies are actually capable of teleportation? I'll ask Celestia later, right now the question is about Daring. If I detain her, it will cause problems, and she has proven unwilling to provide answers. That means I'll have to find other ways to get the information.'

"No, you may leave, Daring Do," I dismissed her.

"Thank you, Your Majesty," she said with a slight bow, before turning to leave.

"I will find who you are protecting," I declared suddenly.

She stopped for a second before saying, "I don't doubt that for a minute."

When the door shut behind her, Cadence and Luna both turned to stare at Celestia.

"What?" Celestia huffed. "Daring is a trusted agent, loyal to Equestria. She's earned a bit of trust. If she says that it is important that this affair remains unclear, then we shall not go looking in the shadows."

"You won't, but I will," I said.

"I must side with Phasma on this one," Cadence admitted. "Ponies and changelings were attacked. We need clarity, not confusion. Phasma is putting a lot of faith in our Agent, considering the wellbeing of his subjects are in question."

I gave a half-nod to Cadence, and she reciprocated the gesture.

"You should not lose track of your most clandestine agents, sister," Luna rebuked. "If you do not know their every move, you may find that you do not know their every motive."

"We can trust Daring Do," Celestia insisted.

"I seem to be trusting far too many people who haven't earned all that trust," I said. "Daring saved my life, but this affects more than just me. Changelings were hurt, and someone used the teleportation charm, and it wasn't her."

"She did say that she expected you to find out who," Cadence pointed out. "You certainly have cause to keep investigating."

"Which is why I let her go unimpeded," I concluded.

"Investigate all you like," Celestia said, "but do not interrogate anypony without permission."

"If I have to detain a pony, I'll run it by Luna."

"Thank you," Celestia sighed. “Before you all depart for the night, there is one more business to attend to.”

“We’re all ears,” Cadence smiled.

“It is… neither good news nor bad news,” Celestia declared, “simply a new development. I have absolute confirmation that a Hero has taken control over one of Griffonia’s warring factions. We can expect his triumph in their civil war in a matter of time.”

Luna grimaced and fell back into her chair, “Certainly sounds like bad news.”

“Hero?” I echoed, looking between Luna and Celestia.

“An immortal, like us,” Celestia explained. “Griffon Heroes are….”

“Champions of strength,” Luna picked up where her sister left off. “If one has arisen, we can expect a rise in Griffonian strength, both politically and militarily. Do we know who this Hero is, and what he is like?”

Celestia shook her head, “Not yet. However, given the terrible crucible that this Hero was forged in, we might have to expect the worst.”

“So in addition to the Nightmares, we might be fighting Griffons?” I asked.

“Possibly,” Luna sighed. “Griffonia is a long ways away from being capable of fielding an army capable of going on the offense, correct?”

“Correct,” Celestia confirmed, “we do not have to worry right now. We should attempt to make contact as soon as possible. If we can ingratiate ourselves, or at least get an idea of who this griff is, we might be able to head off any hostilities before they can begin.”

“Sounds like a job for you,” I shrugged.

Celestia winced, “Cadence, the task may fall to you if the civil war is resolved too quickly. I am in no shape to make any sort of diplomatic appearance. Now, if that is all, Luna and I must attend to our sun and moon."

I winced as I tapped my nose. The healing potion they gave me was still working its magic, meaning I was still quite fragile. My nose in particular was quite sensitive.

'It was a close fight, wasn't it?' I asked my reflection in the mirror.

"Bit for your thoughts?" Luna asked as she slowly strode into the bathroom.

"I've never had a broken nose before," I said, looking at her through the mirror.

"Alicorns heal quickly, and it seems that rings true for all comparable immortals."

"Doesn't make it hurt any less," I whined. "And I'm still too dizzy to stand for a long period of time, to say nothing about how painful that would be."

Luna checked over my bandages, and then her own, "We all have walked away with substantial injuries. You and Celestia have, at the very least. Perhaps you should… how did you put it… 'get good?'"

"I'll keep that in mind," I said under my breath.

"I assumed that you would be eager to rest, Phasma, yet here you are, staring at your reflection. Why don't you join me, and we can enjoy the night together?"

I coughed awkwardly, "As nice as that sounds, you know we are a long way away from any of that. What with all of my broken chitin, blood loss, morphine pumping through my veins…."

Luna gave me a kiss and left me with a big stupid grin.

"Very well, but do not expect that I shall sleep without you. Why are we in the washroom, Phasma? Are you in need of emotional comfort? I assure you, it is better to let it out than bottle it up. I will keep telling you this, if I must."

I sighed and nodded towards the mirror.

"You know Luna…. I don't look like a changeling royal, I don't even look like a drone, and I sure as hell don't look like anything else on this planet. Just some weird bastardization of the two. I'll always be set apart, with no one who looks like me, let alone acts like me. I'll never see another human, not even if I had a thousand lifetimes to search the stars. That fact never changes, you know? I am and always will be different. Aberrant. Mutant."

Luna smiled and pushed my muzzle away from the mirror and towards her.

"You are the first changeling I ever met, Phasma. In my mind, you are the base template, not your mother or the drones. Besides that, I find you rather pleasing to the eye, as I have stated and restated countless times. As for the human conundrum, I am sorry to say that there is no solution to that. The pain of loss fades, but never fully leaves us. I can not create a doorway to your home, but I can help take away those hours you spend alone, longing for what once was."

"Thanks, Luna," I said as she embraced me. "I'm glad I can offload some of my issues onto you."

"It is no problem. I know exactly how it feels to feel alone every night; I would not wish that nightmare upon my worst enemy. You… saw what the surface of my moon is like, correct? You know how desolate and barren that Tartarus is. It is beautiful, but I never want to experience any part of it ever again. At times, I can still feel the frost cutting at the edges of my coat…."

I hugged her as tightly as I could, which wasn't much at the moment, "I'll just have to make sure you never feel lonely ever again. In exchange, you will have to sit through all my pity parties. Speaking of sticking with me…. I was planning on slipping away later tonight, but now I don't want you to wake up wondering where I went."

"Where are you off to?"

"The Crystal Caves. I've got something tonight that… I suppose it's alright if you come, but you can't interfere."

"What time are we departing?"

I used a clock spell, "In a bit... It’s going to be late at night."

Luna broke the embrace, "If we shall not enjoy the night the way I want to, then we shall find other ways to busy ourselves. One of your drones dropped something off while you were whining and moping in here. I believe its contents shall hold no small amount of interest."

She brought me back to the main room and levitated over a small wrapped bundle. I dispelled the protective charm and opened the bundle.

A small stack of papers slid out, and I quickly skimmed them.

"Soulmancy," Luna read over my shoulder. "Your underlings have been hard at work."

I clicked my tongue as I reordered the papers, "They made progress before we set off for the First Hive. This seems to be their progress in translating the first book. Luna, would you help me with all of this?"

“No, I would rather leave you unsupervised while trying out a field of magic you are completely unfamiliar with, that has also been outlawed due to its proximity to darker magics, all while having a fragile soul that cannot handle anything strenuous.” Luna lifted a hoof, made to bop me on the nose, only to pause right before connection. “.... Pretend that I have struck you on the nose.”

“Ow!” I yelled, recoiling.

“Do not say something that foolish ever again, or suffer the consequences!”

Luna glanced at the crystals around us, “You sure know how to waste time effectively, Phasma. Why did we have to come all the way down here?”

One of the torches around us, an enchanted piece of crystal, twinkled softly as it gave off a soft green glow.

“Because tonight, I pass judgment upon Tarsus,” I announced, motioning to a pair of Red Right Hoof guards to move out of our way.

“Wait, what?!”

The guards moved, and fifty pairs of eyes looked our way.

We were in the Crystal Caverns, where the changelings were moving back in. Many of the upper tunnels had been sealed and would need to be unsealed, and efforts were already underway to transform the largest sections of the caverns into habitable sections for the lings. Storage rooms, sleeping rooms, recreation rooms, large hallways connecting everything, a gathering room, rooms for growing plants and mycelia imported from the Underhive and from the old hive in the Badlands, training rooms for guards, a few nurseries for eggs, classrooms, a small throne room, offices for all of the bureaucracy required to run the Fifth Hive and its constantly expanding network of assets and businesses, and a courtroom.

Many of those rooms were new concepts to the lings from the Fourth Hive who were unfamiliar with modern society. They would have to adapt quickly; we simply did not have much time before whatever food-stores the Fourth Hive built up would be used up. The courtroom in particular would see its first use tonight.

“This is what you tried to get away from me for?” Luna questioned. “Fine. Rush the trial if you must, but I will be observing the entire thing.”

Luna wheeled me into a large circular room.

Wooden tables had been brought in and arranged around the far side of the circle, and red table cloths had been spread over them. Chairs were brought in and formed into a small gallery that was now packed full. Fifth Hive officials had filled the room, with no room for any other observers.

Behind the tables sat the most important changelings: Thorax, Coxa, Lace, Katydid, and a small team of Coxa’s aides that I would have to start learning the names of. I was beginning to lament Cricket’s absence, but I still was unsure how I felt about her. In the center, an empty chair was pushed to the side, and I pointed to it, asking Luna to take us there.

The changelings rose as we slowly made our way through the room, and moved behind the farthest table. Luna positioned me right in the middle and sat down in the chair next to me.

“With this here, it makes me wonder if you had intended for my presence from the beginning,” she said.

“I account for most things,” I said, “but I think someone just forgot that I am not exactly in walking shape right now.”

“Oh. That is a much simpler answer.”

As Luna took her seat, the changelings decided to sit down, too. I was surprised they had an equivalent social rule for standing while a judge entered, especially considering the lack of chairs in the old hive, but I shrugged and moved on.

A pair of changelings brought over pieces of a changeling communication device and assembled it at the far end of our half-circle of tables, next to Thorax. A portal flashed into existence above the assembled mechanism, and Prince Pharynx's face appeared in the portal. The soft hum of airship engines was emanating from the portal.

"You couldn't have chosen a more convenient time, Saint Phasma?" He griped, speaking over the quiet engine sound.

"Tending to those who can be saved was our first priority," I said.

"Everything's ready," Coxa leaned over to whisper.

"Good," I said. "Let the first court of the Fifth Hive commence. Bring him in."

A changeling guard saluted and stepped out of the chamber. The assembled changelings in the gallery began quietly talking to each other. Amongst their number, I saw General Labrum, former-Commander Scorpion and the two guards flanking him and keeping an eye on his chains, and a number of Captains from the Swarm.

"Hey Coxa?" I whispered. "Where's Intelligencer Ocelli, the captain of the Infiltrators?"

The location and whereabouts of one of Chrysalis’s most loyal and skilled spies was something I didn’t want to worry about.

“Daybreaker incinerated her months ago,” Coxa whispered back. “In… Cincinneighti.”

“Oh. Good. Moving on, have you gotten my report about the… thing that happened?”

Coxa rolled his eyes. Or he would have, if he was capable. Instead, he just raised his eyebrows in exasperation.

“I got the report before you. Stinger came to me first, and I told her to immediately give it to you. I’ve already got Lace on the case; I have put her in charge of everything Division-P-related, as well as planning and constructing the hive here in the Crystal Caves.”

“That sounds good,” I nodded. “Is she okay with being around all the stuff that would, err… trigger her PTSD?”

“Rip and tear,” Lacewing whispered over Coxa’s shoulder.

“.... There’s no way that’s going to backfire,” I predicted. "We’ll talk after this, Lace. There's something you need to know, and someone you're going to have to find."

A pair of guards led him into the chamber. The traitor was bound tightly in both warded iron chains and in enchanted changeling-gel bindings. When he entered, heads turned in his direction, and all conversations died down.

His chains rang against the crystal flooring as he was marched before us.

Tarsus, breaker of the First Fang, murderer of Oestridae, glared at me. He spared a single glance for the rest of the changelings– and paused briefly when he saw Thorax and Pharynx, but it was me who he settled on. He fell back onto his haunches, sitting before us and in front of the gallery of changelings.

He lifted his head, intent on looking down his nose at me.

“The trial of Tarsus the Infiltrator, former member of the First Fang, has come to order,” I announced loudly. “Coxa, read the charges.”

Coxa cleared his throat and rose from his chair, “Tarsus, you stand accused of treachery against the Fifth Hive, namely against the resistance it grew from, betraying the First Fang, and ultimate responsibility for Oestridae’s death. Presiding over this trial are Saint Phasma, Coxa, Lacewing, and Prince Thorax. Prince Pharynx is present for his honorary position on the First Fang but is not part of the tribunal. How do you plead?”

“I serve the Hive Eternal,” he spat.

“Mark it as a plea of innocence,” I said, flicking a hoof at the changeling charged with being the trial’s stenographer.

Tarsus snorted, “Why are we doing this, Phasma? Do you intend on running my name through the mud as much as you can before you murder me? We all know that this won’t be a fair trial. Especially with ponies pulling the strings!” He snarled at Luna.

“Princess Luna is merely here to watch,” I said calmly. “It should be quite clear by now that all that boisterous talk about me being a puppet is nothing more than a mummer’s fearmongering. Isn’t that right, Prince Thorax, and Prince Pharynx?”

“What the hell is a mummer?” Pharynx asked.

“A performer– look, I’m talking about Princess Chrysalis,” I explained, managing to say the former-tyrant’s new title without pausing.

“Our ascension is more than enough proof of that, yes,” Thorax agreed. “I guess you can consider it irrefutable evidence on the matter. Panar herself intervened.”

“This is not how a trial goes at all,” Luna whispered.

“Quiet,” I whispered back. “We will hear your input when we convene, but I would ask that you remain silent until then.” I cleared my throat and addressed the traitor, “First, we must address the matter of betrayal against the Lodges and the nascent Fifth Hive. Your actions immediately put danger upon us all and resulted in many deaths. Lacewing, along with a number of other changelings, were captured by Division-P because of your betrayal. To say that you jeopardized the entire Hive Eternal is an understatement, you endangered everything we fought for.”

“What do you have to say?” Lace demanded.

“No opportunity to give evidence? Or even find it?” Tarsus asked, shaking his head.

“We will hear your side of the story,” I explained.

“I did my duty to the Fourth Hive. I was never part of your Lodges, I was never part of the Fifth Hive, and I most certainly wasn’t aware of a plot to overthrow the Queen in the middle of a war for our survival. When you did decide to inform me that you were going to commit treason of the highest order, I was not given a choice. You made me choose between my duty as an Infiltrator and my duty as your friend. Obviously, I chose the one that I made vows to Panarthropo for.”

“You made vows to the First Fang, but we’re not talking about that,” I said. “So you claim that you were never given a choice?”

“That’s right,” he insisted.

“You didn’t choose to go straight to Chrysalis? You didn’t choose to keep your betrayal a secret?”

“You were the one who betrayed us!” He jabbed a hoof at me. “Your duty as Champion of the Hive Eternal was to safeguard our future! To fight our enemies! To protect the Hive Eternal! Instead, you half-assed the invasion and focused on gaining power for yourself!”

“The invasion was as good as–” I stopped, trying to calm myself down.

‘I have to remain calm, despite the bastard’s best efforts. I have to try to understand all this, act fairly, and set a good precedent.’

“.... So. You thought that I was jeopardizing the Hive Eternal, and you decided to just go to the Queen at the time?”

“Yes…” Tarsus said hesitantly. “As an Infiltrator, I must protect the Hive Eternal. Even if that means making decisions that hurt.”

“You sure don’t seem broken up about all this,” Thorax mumbled.

“So you’re just absolving yourself of all the suffering that came about from your actions?” Lace hissed. “Your decision got many changelings killed. It nearly got me killed!”

The chains clinked as Tarsus turned to address Lace, “We all make sacrifices for the sake of our species. I did what I thought would save the most lives.”

I sighed, “Let’s move onto the second charge. Tarsus, by siding with Chrysalis, you betrayed the First Fang. We were brothers. We watched each other’s backs and constantly looked out for each other. Yet the first opportunity you got, you threw us under the– you tossed us to the wolves. You didn’t just betray the Lodges, you betrayed us. What do you have to say in your defense?”

Tarsus slowly shrugged, the action shaking his metal bindings.

“I made a choice between friendship and duty.”

“We have a duty to protect each other,” Coxa admonished him. “We protect each other. We all have, or had in your case, vows to do what we can to help each other out. You were a member of the First Fang before you were an Infiltrator, so don’t give us any crap about duty.”

“We were friends for a few months,” Tarsus stressed, “nothing more. Yes, I enjoyed our friendship, but being an Infiltrator is a lot more than some unofficial pact.”

“We never mattered to you?” Thorax asked.

“I never said that! I said… I meant that the Hive is above us all. I tried to stop your civil war before it started! I tried to save your lives before you threw them away and doomed us all to burn in the fires of your ambition!”

“You didn’t try to stop anything,” I shook my head. “You simply chose a side. Chrysalis didn’t approach us with an intent of negotiating a peace, nor did you. No, the first we learned about your betrayal was when the Praetorians slaughtered the Lodge members in the Equestrians’ Palace.”

“How can I be held responsible for a Queen’s actions?! I am just a drone! Just an Infiltrator!” He insisted.

“You set in motion events that you could have stopped,” Lace said. “Take responsibility for your own actions, coward!”

He tried to cross his forelegs, “Fine, I guess I did everything in this war, huh? If that’s how you want to play it, then fine. Let’s pretend that I knew that the Queen would rush to slaughter you all, my friends. Let’s pretend I also had a chance of stopping her, but I didn’t. That still brings us back to me choosing between my duties as an Infiltrator, and my duties as a member of the First Fang.”

“It doesn’t matter if you didn’t know what she was going to do, you still betrayed us,” Thorax said. “Is that your defense? That you put being an Infiltrator above being our brother?”

“.... Yes, it is. I am not ashamed to admit that,” he said, sitting up straight.

“The third charge. Oestridae’s death,” I said quietly. “Your betrayal led to his death.”

“Yes, I suppose it did,” Tarsus nodded slowly.

Thorax scanned the Infiltrator, “Do you even feel remorse?”

“Of course I do!” Tarsus yelled, leaping to his hooves.

The guards were on him in a moment, forcing him back down onto the ground.

“I feel as if I should say something,” Pharynx mumbled as order was restored. “I am the one who killed Oestridae. Let me make that clear to everyling; I killed him. Why… is Tarsus being tried for Oestridae’s death, and not I?”

“Because you are not a member of the First Fang,” Coxa said.

“Because you siding with Chrysalis was out of grief for Thorax’s presumed death,” I added.

“Because you never were on our side,” Thorax said softly, looking down at the ground.

Tarsus looked me in the eyes, “I’m sorry that Oestridae died. I am. He was a good friend, and an even better Praetorian. The Hive Eternal is that much less with his loss. But I acted on information I knew at the time: you and your traitor comrades were about to throw away our entire species for the sake of calling yourself king. You claimed that Queen Chrysalis was going to kill you, but now we all know that that’s not true.”

“We had no way of knowing at the time,” I defended myself.

“Exactly,” he said.

I snarled at him, but held my tongue.

Thorax rose, “You have pleaded your case. Do you have anything more to add?”

Tarsus opened his mouth. Then, he closed it, shaking his head side-to-side.

Thorax continued, “Then this Tribunal shall recess for determination of the charges.”

We all entered a side room and took seats around one singular large table that dominated the room. In the corner, a changeling brought in a typewriter to continue their duties as a stenographer. Though the report for this would be private, I had a feeling that it could be quite useful; if nothing else, it would be a way for future changelings to learn more about the formation of the Fifth Hive and reformation of the Hive Eternal.

As soon as the soundproof barrier was put up on the door, Luna spun around and stared me down.

“You can not conceivably call that a fair trial.”

“No, it was more of a tribunal,” I admitted.

“We’re not here to prove anything,” Coxa explained, “just see things from his point of view. There’s nothing to prove, anyways; we know what he did.”

Luna shook her head, “Be careful. The path you tread leads to nowhere good.”

I scoffed, “Are you telling me you never executed a traitor?”

Luna cringed, and sorrow seeped out of her like tree sap.

“I, um, I’m sorry,” I apologized. “I shouldn’t have– look, Tarsus picked a side. That choice got a lot of people killed; whether he wants to accept it or not, he’s responsible for the war turning bloody.”

“That’s not true,” Lace interrupted. “You killed Chamberlain Eucharis before knowing about the betrayal, right?”

I frowned, “.... Yes, I think you’re right.”

Pharynx spoke through his communication device, which had been reactivated in this room, “It sounds like we are now discussing the tribunal’s contents instead of the trial itself.”

“Right,” Coxa nodded, “Let’s address the first charge, then: betraying the Lodges and the rebellion as a whole.”

“Should be easy enough,” Lace shrugged. “After all, he clearly sided with the Fourth Hive loyalists.”

Pharynx cleared his throat, “He brought up a good point; he was never on your side. You gonna put every ling on trial that sided with Chrysalis, including me?”

Unfortunately, I had to agree, “It would also set a bad precedent if we were to punish him harshly for siding with Chrysalis. It would be much better for everyone if those who sided with Chrysalis are granted a blanket pardon. However, that doesn’t extend to other crimes they committed, such as betraying the First Fang…”

“Yay,” Pharynx cheered with faux cheer. “Did you hear that, Princess Pony? I am a free ling.”

“Forgive me if I withhold my enthusiasm,” Luna rolled her eyes. “Nevertheless, this is a step in the right direction. Granting clemency to your changelings will smooth over many potential problems. With, as mentioned, exceptions for other laws broken.”

“Glad to hear that the ponies approve,” Pharynx continued.

“Enough,” I cut them off before they could argue more. “Are we ready to vote on the first charge? Yes? Good. I shall start the vote: not-guilty.”

‘We can nail him to the wall for the other stuff, anyways. And just because the Infiltrators and Praetorians are being granted clemency for their loyalties, doesn’t mean that I actually trust them. Those bastards will have to prove themselves on a case-by-case basis.’

“Not guilty,” Thorax voted.

“Not guilty, for this charge,” Lace stressed.

Coxa finished the vote, “Not guilty. Unanimous vote, Tarsus is not guilty of the crime of betraying the Lodges. Guess we should’a told him from the beginning what we were up to, but it’s too late to consider what-ifs. The second charge to be considered is the charge of betraying the First Fang.”

“Fuckin’ guilty,” I said under my breath.

“There doesn’t seem to be much to discuss here,” Thorax said. “He pretty much pleaded guilty to this one.”

“Shall we start the vote right away?” Coxa asked.

“Might as well,” Lace said. “I say he’s obviously guilty.”

Thorax voted next, “Even if he didn’t have a chance to hear us out, he still turned his back on us. He should have at least tried to see things our way. Instead, he dropped us like we were a dead egg. I’m afraid he’s guilty.”

“He chose Chrysalis over us, there are no two ways about that,” Coxa commented. “It was as if becoming an Infiltrator erased all the time we spent together. Guilty.”

I spoke last, “Guilty.”

“Tarsus has been found guilty of betraying the First Fang, unanimous vote,” Coxa announced. “No surprises there. Finally, Oestridae’s death. This is more or less covered by the second charge, but…”

“But I want it on record that Tarsus was the one who was ultimately responsible,” I said. “It matters more than betraying us and siding with Chrysalis: he got one of us killed.”

“There is no greater a failure than letting a brother die,” Pharynx remarked quietly.

“Pharynx is right,” Thorax said, shifting in his seat uncomfortably. “The most important thing we can do is protect each other. Tarsus…. I don’t know where we went wrong, but clearly he doesn’t care about us in the same way we cared about him.”

“Could it have been because of his Infiltrator training?” I asked. “Anyone know about that stuff?”

“Infiltrators have loyalty to the Queen drilled into them quite thoroughly,” Pharynx confirmed. “Lots of mental training, repetition of core values– loyalty to the Queen and Hive Eternal, of course, layers of propaganda, the whole deal. Very little room for free thought.”

Lace stamped a hoof down, “He still must face the consequences of his actions!”

“He may not have killed him,” Coxa said, nodding to Pharynx, “but his betrayal directly led to his death.”

“Start the vote,” I ordered Coxa. “There’s nothing more to be said about this.”

“Voting on Tarsus’s charge of being responsible for Oestridae’s death,” Coxa glanced at the stenographers. “I shall start: guilty.”

“Guilty,” Lace voted.

“Guilty,” Thorax agreed.

“Guilty,” I quickly ended the vote.

“Guilty by unanimous vote,” Coxa summarized. “Now, for the real reason why this meeting was needed; it is time to decide Tarsus’s punishment for the crimes he is guilty of. Those crimes were betraying the First Fang and causing Oestridae’s death.”

“No chance of having my own opinion weighed on the matter?” Luna asked, looking around the room, settling her gaze on me. “Phasma, I advise caution. You are heading into territory you do not understand.”

“I am quite familiar with what we are doing,” I dismissed her worry. “Rest assured, this is far more fair than any sort of trial held in the Hive Eternal for the past who knows how many generations. We do not have to examine the evidence, only reasoning, and we have heard his reasoning. Now, we must decide the punishment for betraying the First Fang.”

“Execution,” Lace said.

“Oh Faust,” Luna sighed as she face-hoofed.

Pharynx sighed, and his portal winked out of existence.

“For betraying the First Fang?” Thorax glanced at Lace. “Isn’t that too much?”

“.... I agree with Thorax,” Coxa tapped the table. “Betraying the First Fang, while bad, does not warrant death. Banishment should suit that just fine.”

“Banishment, then,” Lace shrugged, leaning back in her seat.

“All in favor of banishment for this charge?” I asked the group.

“Aye,” Coxa said.

“Aye,” Lace repeated.

“.... Yes,” Thorax said after a moment of thinking.

“Aye. Banishment it is. And the second charge, the death of Oestridae?” I questioned.

“That’s execution,” Lace insisted. “And I will not be convinced otherwise. I suffered for months because of that rat-shit. Oestridae is dead because of that scum-sucker. My chitin may heal, but Oest isn’t coming back.”

‘Not unless Chrysalis’s necromancy actually works. Which, considering it failed, I wouldn’t put too much faith in her skills. Then again, it clearly wasn’t her fault….’

“I vote for execution as well,” I said to no one’s surprise. “Blood for blood. He didn’t take us seriously. He used us. He betrayed us and got a brother killed. And now, he reaps what he sows.”

“Agreed,” Coxa nodded. “His actions must have consequences. Execution.”

We all looked at Thorax.

“Uh,” he stammered as his ears splayed backwards. “I don’t… That’s not… Ugh! Phas! I need a word with you,” he yelled as he shot out of his seat.

When he approached me, Luna stood up and backed off respectfully. Thorax then projected a small silencing bubble– a trick which surprised me– and then began babbling.

“Phas, I don’t want to do this! This is my first act as a Prince, and I’m scared that I’ll fuck it up! My gut says no execution can ever be warranted, but my time in the Hive says otherwise. I want your advice. Tell me what I should think.”

I pointed a hoof at the door, “Tarsus made his choice. He sided with Chrysalis, and threw us to the–”

“No!” He interrupted me. “I don’t want to talk to King Phasmatodea, I want to talk to Phas, my friend. I want my friend’s advice. Please.”

I grunted in annoyance and glared at him.

“Alright, I…. what is it, Thorax?”

He shuffled closer and looked down at the ground, “Phas. I have never had this much responsibility. I don’t want to make a mistake that will haunt me forever. I want your advice, I want to know what I should do.”

I sighed and rubbed my face as I thought about what to say.

“Thorax… I invited you to the First Fang not because… How do I put this? I considered you a risk. A liability. The odds of you messing up and revealing everything was high.” He started to cringe, so I continued, “But! I considered you more than worth the risk. I…. wanted your morality, Thorax. I knew that you would make choices that I didn’t necessarily agree with, but would always be morally right. I didn’t want a yes-ling, I wanted someone whose conscience I could trust.”

“My gut says to oppose you all and veto the execution sentence,” he admitted.

I felt a pain in my chest.

“Thorax. He… They killed Oestridae. They killed me,” I said, starting to blink away the hints of tears. “Do you think sparing them will change anything? That it will undo the hurt they did?”

“No, but I know it will help us move on from his loss. We can’t keep up this cycle of hatred, Phas.”

“We can end it by killing them first,” I pointed out.

He shook his head, “Violence will only breed more violence. We have to be better. We have to find a way to resolve this without death.”

‘That’s not how it works! That’s not how– grrrr!’

I let out a long, silent breath, letting out all of the air in my lungs. It didn’t help the pain of loss at all.

“Then…. do that. Oppose us. You came this far because you followed your heart. I disagree with you, from my heart to my mind, but I chose you for a reason, Thorax. I trust you. I trust your instincts, your morals. And Panar does, too, judging by the fact that you’ve got pupils ‘n stuff now. Just… don’t expect us to go easy on the bastard.”

‘As much as I want justice for Oest, I can’t just completely overrule Thorax. That would defeat the entire point of having him in the First Fang. If he says that Tarsus shouldn’t die, then…. Hmm…..’

Thorax dispelled the silencing field and returned to his seat.

“What did he say?” Luna whispered. “May I know?”

“You’ll see,” I told her.

I was sick of this already.

“I cannot vote to execute Tarsus,” Thorax declared.

“Oh come on!” Lace whined.

“Figured as much,” Coxa muttered.

My head pounded.

“Why? Why!? Does nothing he did matter to you?!” Lace hounded Thorax.

Thorax put up his hooves, “Please, let me talk! There has to be another solution to all of this!”

“Phas, cast your vote and stop this nonsense,” Lace sighed.

My throat hurt.

“We have to be unanimous,” I told her. “All votes are equal, and I want all of us to agree on the fate of a former member.”

“Are you serious– oh my Panar,” she groaned as she banged her head on the table.

I was feeling miserable and sleep-deprived, and this was going to go on for at least a whole ‘nother hour.

Luna stopped me before we left our little conference room.

“Is this not a good time to discuss with them the existence of another immortal?” She hissed at me, motioning towards the First Fang who were about to file out behind us.

“No, not here,” I whispered back, secretly motioning towards the stenographer. “We need absolute privacy. Complete secrecy. Can you imagine what will happen if word somehow makes it all the way to Chrysalis?”

“I can,” Luna admitted. “The last thing we need is for her to try to break out. Very well. But we will tell others soon, correct?”

“As soon as we’re in complete privacy,” I reassured her. “Now lean closer, I want to give you a reassuring kiss on the cheek.”

Luna rolled her eyes, "Just because I accept this, does not mean I support it. This sentencing.... It is not right. Better than what you had planned, but it is still too bloody."

"Oh? And how did you deal with traitors, Luna?"

Her face darkened, "Long, long ago, I dealt with them personally. There's better ways to do it now, Phasma."

"Is this not better?"

"You know the answer to that," Luna admonished me.

We resumed our egress, leading the First Fang and the stenographer out of the room and back towards the courtroom. The guards at the entrance saluted as we approached, and one announced our arrival.

“Your Majesty,” the ling on the left said.

I nodded a greeting and told Luna to stop us in front of the tables at the far side of the room, instead of going back behind them. The changelings all rose as we entered– except for Tarsus, whose rear was still parked on the crystal floor.

We arranged ourselves in front of Tarsus, glaring at him as Pharynx’s communication device was reactivated by a drone. Surprisingly, given how he was absent during the discussion of Tarsus’s punishment, the device made the connection with its distant other half, and Pharynx’s unamused visage once again filled the swirling circle.

I noted with thinly concealed frustration that he was sipping whisky from a crystal glass.

‘Stolen from my personal cache aboard the Clear Skies, no doubt. Whatever, it’s replaceable.’

“Glad to see you’ll be joining us for this, Prince Pharynx,” I said tersely.

“We’ll see….” He mumbled.

I returned my attention to the matter literally sitting before me. Tarsus stared back, his face and expression as level as it could be.

“Tarsus the Infiltrator,” I stated. “The First Fang has reached a unanimous decision.”

The traitor rolled his shoulders and neck, trying to loosen himself up despite his bindings.

“Go ahead,” he spoke out of turn. “Get this over with.”

“On the charge of betraying the Lodges and the resistance against Princess Chrysalis’s tyranny, we find you innocent.”

He blinked owlishly, “Oh? That’s surprising. But I guess there’s still the other two things you can kill me for.”

“On the charge of betraying the First Fang, we find you guilty,” I continued.

He simply nodded.

“On the charge of being responsible for Oestridae’s death, we find you guilty. Stand, and receive your judgment like a true changeling.”

Tarsus complied, rising to all fours.

I slowly started to rise from my wheelchair. Luna quickly rushed to my side and aided me. I smiled at her kindness, grimacing through the pain that suddenly shot through my body as my wounds protested the movement.

When I was finally up, I shouldered my way past Luna and stood before Tarsus.

“Tarsus the Infiltrator. You have fulfilled your duties as an Infiltrator, but not as a member of the First Fang. You failed to protect your brother, and he paid the ultimate price for your betrayal. The punishment for such a crime ought to be death.”

Pharynx suddenly hissed in frustration from his video call. Without a comment, excuse, or even a goodbye, Pharynx shut off the device.

‘If he didn’t want to be here, why did he show up in the first place? Quite uncharacteristic for the normally stoic and calm changeling… Bah, it doesn't matter. I need to get this over with soon, if I wait any longer I’m going to collapse from exhaustion.’

The little drone traitor stared up at me, matching my stare.

“But you shall not die. Not today. Instead, Tarsus the Traitor, you are banished from the Hive Eternal. Forever shall you walk in its shadow, unable to be part of what you cast out. If any changeling ever sees you inside the borders of Equestria or the Hive Eternal, you shall be executed on the spot. Means will be provided for you to leave eastward, towards Griffonia. Other than that, you will never receive help from any changeling so long as you live.”

Before he could relax, or take any sort of comfort in his relatively light sentencing, I summoned forth an orange blade of energy.

With one swift stroke, and with a pained yell, I cut horizontally across the traitor’s face.

Tarsus screamed and fell backwards, clutching his now ruined face. From ear to ear, a bloody gash ran right through, and his eyelids slammed shut– too late to save his sight. With a single blow, I had blinded the drone.

As he curled up on the ground, twitching in pain, I observed his struggle without pity. Perhaps I should have been disgusted, horrified, or at least satisfied, but instead, I felt nothing.

The changelings gathered all gasped and tried to stand up to get a look at the drone. I made sure to get a good look at Scorpion’s reaction; the Chrysalis loyalist was looking on with a small amount of horror, but impressively had stayed calm.

‘There’ll be time to decide what to do with you later. Perhaps you will be given mercy, too. Though, considering how many changelings were killed because of your dogmatic faith towards Chrysalis, that’s a tall order….’

When Tarsus had enough time to get over the shock, I pulled him off the ground by hooking a hoof underneath his chin and dragged him up off the floor. He kicked and struggled and gasped as blood continued to trickle down all across his face.

"Since you are blind to those around you, then you shall be blind to all.” His ears flicked towards me when I spoke, but he kept his eyes closed. “You shall subsist on the good will of others, constantly reminded of your own failures as a brother. Should you fail to secure the kindness of others, you will be reclaimed by Equus. Never shall you let your wounds be healed. Never shall you return to the Hive Eternal. Never shall you speak your former name; henceforth, you are The Exile. You have no name. You have no home. You have no family. You have no purpose. Forever shall you wonder, lost.

“As it is woven, so it shall be," I concluded over the Weave.

Then, I dropped him. Tarsus fell to the floor with a yelp.

“Get this miserable excuse for a ling out of my sight,” I ordered the guards. “This court is adjourned.”

“I gave everything to the Hive,” Tarsus spat as the guards picked him up by his shoulders. “Everything! Give me the death I deserve! I lived for the Hive, I will die for the Hive!”

“You will die a miserable wretch, with no glory and no higher purpose!” I snapped, turning my back on the ling.

The guards dragged the changeling out, and slowly the rest of the court filed out.

‘It’s done. It’s finally done. Oestridae can rest easy, now that justice has been served. Is this what he would have wanted? Would he have even cared? I guess the only thing I can do in his memory now is to continue my training as a warrior, to ensure no one has to lay their lives down in vain ever again.’

I examined the faces of the First Fang and Luna. Coxa and Lace looked satisfied with the outcome. They, like myself, had initially wanted his death. This was a close enough outcome to be at least somewhat mollified with.

Thorax was a bit upset, but ultimately he had agreed to this outcome. Tarsus would die unless he could convince others to pity him and give him kindness. A pony friendship lesson, written in blood rather than ink.

Luna was… conflicted. She brought the wheelchair over and helped me back into it. I hissed in pain as my battered chitin shifted around as I sat down, but I was welcome for the relief of being off my hooves.

All I wanted was to curl up and go to sleep, but I couldn’t let Luna stew over whatever she was thinking about.

“You want to talk?” I asked her.

“Modern Equestrians will not stomach this sentence,” Luna said. “Such brutal shows of justice have fallen wayside for a reason, Phasma.”

“We’re not ponies,” I reminded her. “We’ll do what we can to fit in and harmonize with ponies, but at the end of the day, we are not ponies.”

“Then should this rebuke cause you ruination in the future, I will say I told you so.” Luna sighed, “But, it could have gone worse. I doubt my sister or Cadence could ever call such an action warranted, but they have, for the most part, stayed away from the bloodiest parts of war. Such coddling never befit me… You spared his life and gave him a road to redemption. A far more difficult and bloodier road than I would have liked, but progress is progress. I hope that this therapy that we shall attend will aid you on your... brutality. Now… Shall we inform the others about the news?”

“In a moment, there’s still a lot of people here,” I replied, nodding towards all the changelings still leaving the room.

“What news?” Coxa asked, walking over.

“I said in a moment,” I repeated, before motioning Thorax over. “Thorax. Cadence said that during her ascension, she… had a spiritual moment. Visions, if you will. Did you… have anything like that?”

Thorax glanced at the crowd before whispering, “Actually… Yes. There was something.”

“Why didn’t you say anything before?” Lace asked.

Thorax squirmed, “It’s complicated.”

“We have time, please explain,” I asked him.

“... It’s hard to explain. Slightly before the… thing happened, I just kinda got this feeling. Pharynx got the feeling too, it was like we knew that something important was about to happen. Then, we, uh…. Ascended. The exact moment felt like forever to me, and um… I’m sorry, this is just hard to put into words. I guess you can say I saw a vision; it was kinda like a memory, but I could see myself in it. I was standing next to Double Diamond, undisguised. It was the moment I revealed I was a changeling, and I begged him to give me a chance. It was… weird. I guess it was the moment I earned my Ascension, when I took a chance on love and was loved by my coltfriend for who I was, not what I was….”

“Did Pharynx experience something similar?” I asked, looking over at the deactivated comms device.

Thorax shook his head, “No. Apparently, he only had the feeling, and nothing else.”

We stood around and watched the last changelings leave the room.

“Phasma and I have something to tell you,” Luna announced, casting a detection spell.

It must have come up negative for anything, as she followed it up with a bubble of silence that encapsulated our group.

“Something important?” Coxa guessed.

“Is this about the Griffon? Because we were already told about that,” Lace said. “Celestia actually reached out to us about that. She wants to see if we can help her agents get close to the griff, and she asked us to run the idea by you.”

“It’s not that,” I said, “but we’ll discuss that later. It’s about Princess Prochoerodes. You all know that I’ve been hearing her voice for a while now, right?”

They all nodded.

“Well…. We finally know why.”

Luna flipped the book around and tapped one of the circular diagrams.

“This is the spell the translation is referencing,” she said as she tapped it. “I believe casting it is well within our capabilities. It should also make for an excellent starting point for our venture.”

I leaned closer, “That’s the detection spell?”

“Correct.”

“I don’t recognize any of those spell components, other than the vaguest resemblance to the standard magical detection spell.”

“That would be because you are about as educated as a horseapple-shoveler when it comes to advanced magical studies,” Luna said unhelpfully.

I groaned, “Just cast the damn spell.”

Luna took her victory with a smug look and turned the book back towards her. She then cleared her throat and started to cast the spell. Luna scrunched her muzzle up in concentration as her horn lit up with magic.

“Is it working?” I asked.

“..... No. Wait, yes. It is indeed working.”

“What do you see?”

“It is… peculiar. The world is dulled of its color, yet when I look at you, I see a light. Orange, of course, emanating from within your person. Like one of my stars, yet larger and warmer. Can I– oh yes, I can,” she said as she twisted her neck to look at her own back. “I can see my own soul, as well. Blue. It seems that our magic’s color matches our soul’s, at least with this spell. I can not say if this holds true for reality… It– wait….”

Luna stared past my shoulder, tilting her head.

“What is it?” I asked, turning around to look.

Against the wall behind me lay Luna’s armor, Unbroken Radiance, and God-Splitter.

“I think you should cast the spell, Phasma. It appears to be quite safe, and I believe you will find its revelation quite… enlightening.”

I turned back to Luna, “See, that’s exactly what you’d say if you were being possessed, Luna.”

She blinked and let the spell go, “.... I did not mean it like that. Do you believe that there is a chance that– that is to say, if you fear that I have fallen again–”

“Wow wow wow, it’s okay, Luna. It’s okay. I’ll just run that scanning spell you taught me real quick, and it will pick anything new up,” I reassured her. “I didn’t mean it like that. I’m sorry for freaking you out.”

Luna collected herself as I scanned her, “Yes, well, you had your existential crises earlier. It is only fair that I get one of my own today.”

“Don’t worry, Luna. We can be basket cases together. The spell came up clear, you’re fine.”

“I am glad to hear that… Now, as I was saying, there is something you should see: something that can only be seen in that spell,” Luna said while pushing the papers over.

I quickly looked them over for anything suspicious, but nothing had changed in the last thirty seconds since I had last looked at them.

‘Yep, still a ten-thousand-year-old spell written in a language I can’t understand. Let’s see, the translation team says that the scanner field is…. Hmm… Okay, it doesn’t really seem like any other spell I know, so this might take a few tries.’

“Right,” I said, “here goes nothing.”

Crafting the spell in my mind was no easy feat. In fact, for a basic-level spell, it was one of the most difficult to create that I could actually pull off. I didn’t have time to worry about the learning and difficulty curve of this newly rediscovered magic school, and the spell took up all of my concentration.

Using the translation’s suggestions, I focused the spell to imbue my eyes, like Luna did. What little energy I had was quickly sapped in an up-front mana cost, and my vision flicked to a whole new color spectrum.

The world was sapped of its color; from Luna’s once-blue eyes to the plush blue carpeting on the ground, it was all now shades of gray. In fact, I could only see two sources of non-gray color all around me. One was Luna, and the other was myself.

Right in Luna’s chest was a blue light, the same shade as her magic. As I focused on it, my eyes adjusted to the brightness and I saw that the light’s source was a star. It was mostly cyan, however, similar shades of blue occasionally flowed around its shape like waves. The sphere was rotating in her chest– quite literally inside Luna.

Looking down revealed more about the other source of color: a similar star, this one orange, lay within me. I had to use my relatively-new long neck to get a good look at myself, and I noticed that my soul was remarkably smaller than Luna’s. In addition, the star was significantly dimmer than Luna’s. Whether that was because of my weakened state, my apparent ‘fragility’ after having the Nightmare removed earlier, or if it was because my age was a fraction of Luna’s was impossible to know.

‘Things to find out later.’

“Beautiful, are they not?” Luna smiled. “But look behind you,” she pointed a hoof over my shoulder.

I had to turn my entire wheelchair to get a good look behind me. The effort was rewarded with the reveal of a third source of color in the room. Up against the wall, right inside God-Splitter’s oversized metal head, was another star. Or, more accurately, half of a star.

The shrunken soul was as large as my own. However, unlike my soul, the purple soul was cut in half. And not in a clean cut, at that. Instead of a perfect hemisphere, it was jagged, uneven, and sending out bolts of light into its missing half constantly. It was also dim. Very dim, to the point where it didn’t color anything else around it, unlike the souls of Luna and me.

“What….” I muttered as I let the soul-viewing spell slip from my horn. “That’s not…”

“I think it is,” Luna mused behind me.

I pulled on God-Splitter’s tethering enchantment in the shaft of the weapon and pulled it across the room to me. Hefting it so that the green Adamantium head was right in front of me, I cast the Soulmancy spell again.

The half-soul was nestled right in the center, where the Mithril core would be.

“So that’s how you work,” I whispered. “.... Princess Prochoerodes? Is that you? Can you hear me?”

I strained my ear to hear, but I only heard the muted clip-clops of Luna slowly walking up next to me.

“Princess Procho? Are you there?” I whispered over the Weave.

The star’s faded lights pulsed brightly for a moment, arcing out from its broken center and across the entire room before slamming into the far wall. There was a pause, long enough for me to wonder if anything at all was going to happen.

Then the lights returned, retracing their arcs in reverse.

“... I hear you.”

“She heard me,” I told Luna, jaw dropping. “It’s her. It’s her! God-Splitter is…” I cleared my throat out of habit before continuing over the Weave, “Princess Procho, I am King Phasma. Your… brother. I can see half of you. Do you… know what happened to you?”

The lights pulsed out once more, and our heads turned towards their destination– Luna had recasted her own soul-viewing spell. After a few more moments, the lights returned.

“.... Half? Yes… I…. died. Brother. That is… new.”

“Where are you?”

The lights once again went out, but this time they did not return. I waited half a minute before deciding to drop the spell and bring Luna up to speed.

“Princess Procho… she said she died. Her voice is so quiet, Luna, it’s hard to hear. I’m not getting any more responses….”

“What could this mean?” Luna wondered. “Is she alive? Is she… dead, but encapsulated in your war gear?”

“She’s dead,” I said. “That much seems to be certain. But…. anything more…. Princess Procho died three hundred years ago, and only her blade was recovered. A blade which was reforged into God-Splitter! But… that doesn’t account for the parts of her that are missing. Is her soul scattered? Was there another piece of her war gear that somehow captured her soul? We… We need answers, and unfortunately, I know there is exactly one changeling who might have them.”

Luna sighed, “Chrysalis. She deserves to know the status of her daughter, but I fear that this information might make her captivity an impossibility. If she reacts like any mother should, she will demand to know everything, to be a part of everything, and to lead the investigation– even if she can offer said investigation no use. Such a disruption to her captivity will only lead to problems. In the future, we can inform her, but for now, we can not allow outside interference. In addition, we can not be certain that word will not reach her cell, should it become common knowledge. You never know what she will overhear, or what we might let slip.”

“We’ll…. Figure it out. Where did those lights go? You saw them, right?”

“Indeed. They went…. east,” Luna pointed towards the wall they pierced, as if I forgot.

“What’s east?”

“Manehattan?” Luna offered.

“..... Then it seems we will have to find Princess Procho’s other half, be it in Manehattan, in another missing Hive east of here, or somewhere else…. And then…” I looked at the stack of papers that served as our translation. “We will restart the school of Soulmancy, and bring the dead back to life. Heh, maybe that’s why Chrysalis’s necromancy ritual failed: Procho’s soul never made it to the afterlife. Error four-oh-four, soul not found…”

“And in its stead, yours was plucked from beyond.” Luna squinted, “I would say that stranger things have happened, but I do not know if that is even true.”

I leaned back in my wheelchair, “Another royal would be nice. We need all the help we can get against King Sombra and his Umbrum horde.”

“Then let us hope that Princess Procho can indeed be brought back to the living. Another blade against the dark will always be welcome.”

I sighed, “I think that’s enough magic for now. It’s about time that we made our way to the Crystal Caves…”

Prince Pharynx set the crystal glass down, next to the tall bottle of whisky.

Finding it had been a short ordeal, as King Phasma had hidden the good stuff well, but Pharynx bet it was worth it. Supposedly, pony alcohol was superior to the mushroom grog back in the Fourth Hive in practically every way. Since King Phasma had positioned himself as the sole supplier of said alcohol, it was no large stretch of the imagination to think that the King would have the best stuff in all of the land for himself.

“Opulent waste of materials,” Pharynx muttered as he poured himself a glass.

He raised the glass and took a cautious sniff, before sipping a small portion out of the filled glass.

‘Ergh…. Definitely will take some getting used to, but… perhaps there is some merit to the rumors. Still, nothing can beat the taste of a chilled mug of Sprout after a long day of training.’

The portal flashed to life in front of him as the device was reactivated. King Phasma turned to glare at Pharynx.

“Glad to see you’ll be joining us for this, Prince Pharynx.”

‘Wasn’t exactly planning on it. But since I’m here, maybe I can actually stick through it. I’m a Praetorian, damn it! A warrior!’

“We’ll see,” he said instead.

To the victor went the spoils, including executing the losing side. That was a fact of life that Pharynx was quite at home with. However, he had intended on skipping this execution in particular. In fact, he had hoped to miss every execution that he possibly could. The less death he could see, the better.

That’s why he jumped onto a pony aircraft the first chance he got, clinging to the excuse of bringing extracted love from the old hive. If Thorax could see him now….

‘Never mind that,’ Pharynx dismissed the thought as he chugged the rest of the glass.

“On the charge of betraying the Lodges and the resistance against Princess Chrysalis’s tyranny, we find you innocent.”

Pharynx looked back at the portal as he poured another glass, suppressing a coughing fit. Infiltrator Tarsus, the one who had sided with the Queen– former Queen, at least– was trying his damndest to glare right back at the King looming over him.

‘Good luck out-intimidating a royal, imbecile.’

“On the charge of being responsible for Oestridae’s death, we find you guilty. Stand, and receive your judgment like a true changeling.”

‘Here it is,’ Pharynx sighed internally, slowly downing his second glass. ‘Really hope I’m not feeling this stuff tomorrow. How strong is this whisky-stuff, anyways?’

Considering that it was tucked away with small glasses, it was a safe assumption that whisky was quite strong.

“The stronger the better,” Pharynx whispered to himself.

‘Panar grant me strength.’

The communication portal pulled Pharynx’s attention back to it as King Phasma spoke, “Tarsus the Infiltrator. You have fulfilled your duties as an Infiltrator, but not as a member of the First Fang. You failed to protect your brother, and he paid the ultimate price for your betrayal. The punishment for such a crime ought to be death.”

With a hiss, Pharynx lurched across the desk and pulled apart the base of the device, cutting the link immediately. He sat there, sprawled across the cabin’s desk, panting heavily.

“Death,” he murmured, rolling the word across his mouth. “Death. Death. Death.”

His heart pounded in his chest, filled with the same fear that had cut right through him like an Uttu fang during his fight with King Phasma.

If that fight had accomplished anything, it had proven that Pharynx was far from the young, immortal soldier that once saw himself as. Ascending to Princedom had not shaken that fear. In fact, it made it worse.

So, so much worse.

Clack clack clack clack clack.

Pharynx looked down and saw his hooves shaking against the bottle of booze. He could taste bile. Wanting to wash out the taste of vomit, he picked up the bottle of whisky and began chugging straight from the bottle itself. He gasped around the opening, spilling the brown stuff across the desk as he drowned himself.

Pulling himself away with a cough, Pharynx wiped his mouth with a hoof and pulled himself back into the chair.

“I’m fine. I will be fine. I’m alive. Thorax is alive. We’re both alive.”

He pulled the bottle close and clutched it like a larva, “I’m alive. Thorax is alive. We’re both alive. I’m not going to die. He’s not going to die. We’re not going to die.”

Pharynx cringed.

He had just reunited with his brother after months of thinking he was dead, and he took the first chance he got to get away. But he had to. He couldn’t let Thorax see him. He couldn’t let Thorax know.

When his brother had asked if Pharynx had seen anything during his ascension, Pharynx lied. At the time, it was easy to dismiss it as just a random thought that his mind conjured up. After the conversation, it slowly dawned on Pharynx that his vision was anything but a dismissible daydream.

“I’m alive,” Pharynx repeated.

In his mind, he saw the vision once more.

“Nothing will happen,” Pharynx nodded to himself.

He saw the blood. Panar, there was so much blood. It filled fountains. It painted streets. It ran like rapids down the gutters of the cobblestone sidewalks.

“We’re going to be fine.”

He saw himself. Prince Pharynx, the brand new Prince of the Hive, equipped with Adamantium wargear, just like King Phasma.

“I’m not going to die.”

He could see it.

He could see himself.

Pharynx could see his own head, laying at the bottom of a mountain of corpses, with the rest of him draped atop the pile. He could see his own lifeless eyes, his helmet that held his severed head inside of it, the small blood trail his head made as it rolled down the pile, and he could see the ugly mess that was his cut neck.

“I’m not going to die!” Pharynx whispered, trying to burn the image out of his mind. “It’s not real! I am finally with Thorax again, I won’t… I can’t… Panar, please, don’t do this to me! W-why…. Why me…”

Pharynx sobbed quietly, still clutching the bottle of whisky.

“I will survive. I have to. I want to! I will break the chains of fate, I will survive this! Do you hear me, Panar?! I will not die!”

North.

An empire, once lush with green grass and clear blue skies, lies submerged in snow. Hills of snow-covered homes and businesses. Ice clung to every surface, like a weed. It encased streetlamps. It strangled windows. It violated the beautiful colors of the crystals with its ugly purple tinge.

A war was waged in the capital.

All the outlying towns had been scoured of life. Their inhabitants had either fled or were subsumed. All that was left was the capital city, and everypony in it, and everyone not a pony in it as well.

Families huddled together for warmth, holding their hooves over a frozen flame for over seven thousand years.

Soldiers died in the streets, bleeding out over the course of history.

A princess lay broken beneath a King of Nightmares, looking up at her doom-bringer. It would take her hundreds of centuries to die. Princess Amore of the Crystal Empire was about to die, yet she did not die. Her crystal ponies were doomed, yet their fate had not yet been decided. Not for all of them.

A spell had frozen them all. Like how the chilling frost had seemed to bring a still to even the liveliest of ponies, the spell had frozen time itself. Nopony inside the Empire had cast the spell. No Umbrum who descended upon the crystal ponies like a pack of wolves had been the spell’s architect, either.

The spell was cast by the unrepentant vermin who had started the whole war. The prison was crafted by the monster who had set everything into motion. So while every single person, be they Umbrum or crystal pony, was frozen in motion around him, King Sombra plotted his revenge.

While King Sombra did not feel a thing in the thousands of years he had been imprisoned, his own perception of the world had not been stopped. His mind ground against the confines of his prison; he could not cast magic, he could not move a muscle, he could not even blink. Still, he worked. Like a worm constructing a castle, pebble by pebble, he wore away at the infinite bindings that ensnared his entire host of apex predators.

‘My name is the epitaph that will be carved upon this world’s grave!’

The moments of eternity passed, unmarked.

‘I am the one who will swallow the sun!’

The spell had weakened, but it held just as firmly as when it was first cast by the King of Nisir.

‘I am King Sombra! My triumph is inevitable! My will shall be immutable law! My Nightmares shall become fear itself!’

The King of Nightmares stood, reared back on two legs, above the Princess of Love, forever poised to strike her down. His ash-gray armor was filthy, caked in blood and snow. His mane had been just as sullied with blood. His eyes, green and red, saw nothing but the defeated Princess beneath him.

Then, King Sombra felt a single hair on his muzzle twitch.

To Be Continued

Author's Note

Changing Expectations will be continued in:
Main
Changing Expectations 2: Approaching Apotheosis

Sidestories
Changing Expectations: Reflections (Sidestory Anthology)

Underhive 733 (Canceled)

Sweet Dreams
Art by the amazing, fabulous, and astounding KlaraPL! Please send her all the support you can!

She even made a bonus drawing!

I'd like to thank all my faithful readers and commenters, you guys really made me stick it out the entire way through and finish CE. Special thanks to my Prereaders, who helped with the last 30 chapters or so: Kharakian, UnamusedWaffle, Xblaster, Bronarchist, Darthball, and Panem Et Circensus!

Before I get to the direct sequel, I will be writing The Six Bit Crown next, which takes us to the far off, war-torn lands of Griffonia....

But first, the very last time I will advertise my Ko-Fi in CE. Thank you all for your support, you all allowed me to get so much amazing art for Changing Expectations, available on the Ko-Fi or in the Discord server (link is in one of my blogs).

Thank you all for reading, I hope you all enjoyed Changing Expectations!

1- Lazarus

Arc 1: Emergence

I was drowning.

I was trapped in some thick, sticky substance. Not having time to wonder why I was submerged in an unknown liquid, I focused on trying to find air. Feeling the slight tug of gravity, I wiggled and squirmed upwards, hoping to find the surface. Instead, I hit something solid.

Was I trapped under something? I didn’t have time to think, I was going to drown if I didn’t do something fast. I punched and pounded on the ceiling above me, trying to break through. Thankfully, it didn’t take long before I shattered whatever surface was above me, and pushed myself up.

I broke through the surface of the liquid, taking deep, gasping breaths. All at once, there was a cacophony of senses that I couldn’t make heads or tails of. Sound had returned to me, but I couldn’t see anything except dull green glows. Were my eyes closed?

I could think now that my life wasn’t in danger. The last thing I remembered was someone demanding my wallet and then an intense heat in my chest.

I thought to myself, ‘I think I gave it to him, but where am I? Why was I submerged in this sticky stuff?’

As I hacked and coughed my lungs clear, I started to make out the specific sounds that rose to a roar around me.

Chirping.

Buzzing.

Skittering.

My eyes shot open and the avalanche of unsettling sounds ended abruptly.

The vague green lights started to come into focus; I was in a dark room. As my eyes became more and more adjusted to the ambience, I could make out more details. I was in a large, circular cave. Bright green light seeped down from what seemed to be skylights in the ceiling, casting the cavern in a green hue. All around me were vague green blurs. The walls were made of a dull, warped black substance. It looked to me like obsidian without its sheen. The walls curved, looped, and warped in on themselves, not a straight line in sight. The very image of an alien hive.

The blurs came into focus as my eyes continued to adjust themselves; I was surrounded by sickly-green eggs.

‘Oh god, am I about to get chest-bursted?!’

Looking down, I realized that I came from an egg, too. Though, mine was a lighter green and somewhat larger than the others.

‘Oh god, am I going to chest-burst someone else? Thats….. Slightly better, but still terrifying!’

Then I noticed my own form. My arms, which I had rested upon the edge of my egg after breaking it open, did not end in hands. They were solid masses, black in color, and rigid like rock.

‘Where are my hands? W-what is on my arms?!’

I flailed and banged my arms against the egg. My efforts rewarded me when my movements rocked the egg backwards, and I fell on my back, spilling the thick, viscous clear substance out of the egg.

‘Eugh! What the fuck am I covered in?! A-and w-what is… is…’

From the neck down, I was a caterpillar. Thick white spheres, decreasing as size the lower they went, were covered in the slime that nearly drowned me.

I couldn’t see my legs. I couldn’t see my chest. In the center of my vision wasn’t a nose, but a black muzzle.

Naturally, I reacted the same way any sane man or woman would.

Broodnurse Psocid watched on as the newly hatched changling larva hissed, screeched, and flopped around erratically. She had sent Broodnurse Lethocerus off to inform the Queen that the hatching had begun, and would return soon. For now, she was alone.

“Strong set of lungs,” Psocid remarked quietly to herself, “and such fierce aggressiveness! Her Majesty will be most pleased.”

Right on cue, the sound of hoofsteps behind her caught her attention and Psocid turned to see the lings who had just entered the nursery. She bowed deeply, touching her muzzle to the ground, and greeted the two visitors.

New sounds interrupted my existential crises and I stopped screeching at the top of my tiny lungs to look over, still prone on my back, at the sources of the interruption.

I saw three figures towering over the clutches of small eggs that covered the ground of the chamber. The closest had its back to me, head down to the ground. A second, similar looking to the first, stood next to the third figure.

It was the third figure that captured my attention immediately, to the point where I only noticed the other two when they spoke. It was vaguely horse shaped, with four legs, a body, a long neck, and a roughly horse shaped head. That’s where the similarities ended, and the wrongness began.

It was charcoal black, covered in the same slightly glossy substance that my arms were coated in. It towered above the other two figures, standing heads above them. Where the other two had a torso of shades of a deep sea blue, this monumentous figure had shades of faded lime green on her torso and eyes that would make Disney villains envious. These faded into a dull teal towards her front shoulders.

But what I noticed first was the head. A thick curtain of blue matted hair surrounded her head like a veil. A tall, gnarled, twisted black horn sprouted from her forehead. Atop her head rested a cluster of antennae, resembling a crown.

Massive eyes accented with feminine eyelashes dominated the face of the creature, half-lidded, with green slitted eyes of a cat. A massive cat, at that.

And it was looking right at me.

Smiling with a fanged grin.

Her mouth moved as a series of sounds echoed their way across the chamber. With the repeated sounds, I guessed that it was a language. It was speaking to the other two figures, even as it kept its eyes on me.

I tore my eyes away from the amalgamation of chitin and ligaments to gaze at the bowed figure. It was similar to the other figure next to the giant: all three were insectoid horses. Now I noticed it had shades of a deep sea blue on its torso, and its eyes were a light teal with a white mass as pupils. There was no crown, nor any strange matted hair. Its horn was smooth, smaller, and curved backwards.

‘S-so, that, that thing must be a… a Queen? That would certainly fit with the Alien motif. And it’s speaking, which means it’s intelligent. And– oh god it’s getting closer!’

“Broodnurse Psocid, I trust that you have not failed to alert me in time to be present for the hatching,” Queen Chrysalis interrogated the bowed broodnurse while staring at the hatched changling larva.

“N-no My Queen! You are right on time for it!”

The queen never took her eyes off the larva, “then why is a larva already hatched?”

“He hatched long before the rest, My Queen! As soon as the egg stirred, I sent Lethocerus to inform you at once,” Broodnurse Psocid pleaded.

Broodnurse Lethocerus nodded, “This is true, My Queen.”

Psocid continued, “You will be most pleased to hear that it is a strong and healthy pr-”

“Do not presume to tell me what to feel, drone,” the queen belted at the cowed broodnurse. “I will make my own evaluation.”

Queen Chrysalis passed the nurse to get a closer look at the larva. Her presence already causing the nearby eggs to start twitching, she levitated the larva up to eye level. It was large for a larva, nearly twice the usual size. Still, she could hold it with a single hoof. It looked strong and healthy, as Psocid judged it to be. And to hatch so long before the rest?

The larva did not squirm or hiss, it just stared at the queen. Chrysalis looked straight into its eyes, “I expect great things from you, little one. I name you Phasmatodea, Prince of The Changling Wastes, heir of the fourth Hive Dynasty.”

The nearby eggs rocked back and forth as the giant queen approached. The eggs started to crack but I paid no notice, for a creature fifteen times my size was upon me. It stopped a foot in front of me, never taking its gaze off of me.

As it drew closer, I could see its grotesque visage in clearer detail. The black, glossy chitin that covered it was polished to perfection. Its legs were covered in holes, seemingly placed randomly. Two thin transparent blue wings, bigger than myself, lay flat on her back. She had a tail that resembled the hair coming from her head. Or would that be a mane?

Its horn glowed with the same light green hue as her eyes, and I felt myself being picked up off of the cold cavern floor. Instead of being filled with panic as the horrifying queen picked me up and stared into my eyes, I felt a sense of deep contentment. She looked me over for a moment before speaking to me in that strange horse-speak. I did not understand the words she spoke, but I understood their meaning.

Prince Phasmatodea, My new name.

The skittering and chirping I heard when I first awoke started to come back, but not to the deafening level it first was. I heard someone speak, not with my ears, but from within my own mind.

“Welcome to the Weave, Prince Phasma.”

10- Ma’at

Chrysalis is smiling at me again. I don’t think anyone is brave enough– or stupid enough– to tell her that her smiles are creepy as fuck. Self-preservation and all that.

“Prince Phasma, you have been working hard at your studies.”

‘But I failed yesterday’s first exam?’

“I do my best, Queen Chrysalis.”

She nodded, “I know. Which is why I have secured a luxury for your efforts.”

At this point I’m expecting her to give me a slave or something equally horrible. She brings over a jar from her desk. I can hear whispers coming from it…

“-I don’t know, with-” “-need you my-”

‘No, it couldn’t be... There’s going to be an awful catch to this. Okay, which puppy am I going to have to strangle?’

I closed my open mouth before I drooled. I don’t even know when I opened it in the first place.

“With hard work comes rewards that make it worth it. You might not have realized what you are working for, so I shall enlighten you. You will be my second-in-command of the changeling race, and together we shall bring an end to the miseries that have befallen our people.

“Prince Phasma, you will be the key to the fall of Equestria, and with it, you will bring the hive an unlimited supply of love. Enough not just for us, but for every drone that bows to us. No more rationing. No more hiding. This is what we are working towards. This is a goal worth fighting for.”

‘She is buying my loyalty with pure love!’

“I do as you command, mother.” I can’t even take my eyes off the jar.

No matter how hard I try, I can't. Stop. Staring!

“I need more than a mindless drone, Prince Phasma. I need a commander, a war master who will bring ruin upon my enemies. You are more than a weapon, you are Prince Phasmatodea of the Fourth Hive Dynasty. Princess Celestia shall come to fear your very name!”

“... I will not fail.”

“No, you won’t.” With that, she uncaps the jar and hooves it over to me and I take it up in my magic. My magic had shifted over to a light orange hue from the changeling green shortly after starting magic lessons.

I could hear the whispers much clearer now that the love was sooo close...

‘Oh by the nine, I have missed this!’

I was in my room, standing at my open, empty chest. Staring at it. Staring through it.

‘Do I…. Should I….’

I growl and shake my head.

‘No, one thing is clear. I need to find out what happened to those who came before me. I will not be just a footnote in changeling history. Or worse, scrubbed from it entirely. If she had a hoof in their possible demise, then I am in danger. She could very easily dispose of me when we are victorious.’

I felt uncomfortable and sweaty. I wanted to vomit.

‘She’s got me like a dog on a leash. I am a fucking drug addict and she holds a monopoly on the supply.’

I began to pace the room.

‘I doubt there is any possible way I can secure a supply of love outside of her directly, which means I have to play nice and follow orders. I will do whatever she says until I can get the truth.’

I remembered that tomorrow I will meet other changelings outside of Officer Katydid for the first time.

‘Allies. Resources. Information. I cannot make bricks without clay.’

If I am worrying over nothing, then tomorrow will pass by unremembered to all but those in the class.

But if she killed her offspring before me, then what I set in motion tomorrow will be the end of Queen Chrysalis, ruler of the Fourth Hive Dynasty.

‘As it is woven, So it shall be.’

A loud knocking on the door woke me up.

“Prince Phasma, it is time to wake up,” came a muffled voice on the other side.

“Muh,” I eloquently reply, and turn over in my bed to face away from the door.

Heedless of my stern warning to not wake me up, the door opens and Chamberlain Eucharis moves into the doorway.

“Prince Phasma, it is time for you to attend infiltration class.”

“Nnnnuh.”

Eucharis sighs softly to himself, "Every damn day.” The Chamberlain then tilts his head forward and shoots out a firework illusion spell into the room. The immediate BANG! and flash of lights sends me shooting off my bed.

He repeats himself, “Prince Phasma, it’s time to wake up.” With that, he steps back, and closes the door behind him.

I groan and my eyes. This was not a fun way of waking up, but after sleeping past the start of just a single lesson Chrysalis arranged for the Chamberlain to make sure I was awake on time.

‘They really need to invent alarms.’

“Queen Chrysalis, it is time to wake up,”

I stood up and stretched, producing a series of satisfying pops.

‘Today is the first day I will see changelings that are not my mother, military, or the two Broodnurses from so long ago. First impressions are everything…’

I lamented the lack of a mirror to make myself presentable. I would ask Chrysalis to see if she can procure one but let’s be honest; what could I even do? I don’t get bed-head since Chrysalis is the only changeling with hair. I can’t brush my teeth since toothpaste hasn’t been invented yet. Or maybe it has and there just isn’t any in the hive.

BANG!

I open my door and step out into the hall, waiting for the Chamberlain. Currently, he is closing the door to Chrysalis’s personal bedchamber, cutting off a particularly nasty string of curses. He turned around and walked up to me.

“Are you ready, My Prince?”

“Whoever invented mornings needs to be hanged, drawn, and quartered.”

Ignoring my ramblings and opening the door to the throne room, Eucharis led the way out of the royal wing of the hive. We walked past the throne room and into the grand hall. I hadn’t seen the grand hall since I first arrived in the upper echelon of the main hive spire. In fact, I had forgotten the existence of the hive outside of the throne room, which I only caught occasional glimpses of.

I followed Eucharis as we descended a few staircases down into the hive proper. Yet again I was met with the spectacle of changelings stopping, staring, and bowing.

‘Only this time, they’re bowing to me, the prince.’

There was a lot more staring going on than when the Queen first took me up. A few changelings even gasped when they saw me, then ran off to go tell their coworkers or friends that the prince was walking through the halls for the first time.

I felt my face heat up despite changelings being unable to blush through solid chitin. I wanted to stop being a public spectacle as soon as possible. Being told that I would be looked up to and have my every action scrutinized is one thing. Experiencing it first hoof is entirely another. I could claim that I would be fine all I wanted, the truth was another matter.

I was not subjected to being the center of attention for too long thankfully, as we soon stopped halfway down a large, busy corridor, in front of a door. A sign above the door read Classroom 431 in Equish.

Chamberlain Eucharis looked to me and grinned, “Here we are, My Prince. I will be here to escort you back to your chambers once class is finished.”

“Ahem,” I cleared my throat, “Thank you Chamberlain.”

We stood there a long moment before Eucharis spoke up.

“Your class is inside, Prince Phasma.”

“Yes yes, I’m getting to that.”

But before I could use my magic to open the door, Eucharis leaned over to me and whispered in my ear, “Don’t worry My Prince. Everyone was anxious during their first day of school.”

‘So basically I’m acting like a child. Get your shit together, Phasma, you’re not six years old.’

“Thank you, Eucharis,” I said quietly.

Then, I opened the door to the first changelings I would meet outside of the royal court.

22- Enkidu

“Prince Phasma.”

“Queen Chrysalis.”

She was seated at her desk and I across from it. After Eucharis had helped me out of the pod (my wings were too wet and pliable to fly), I was told Chrysalis was in her study.

“You look…. Like a drone.”

“I wonder whose fault that is? Are there any other repercussions from my hatching that I should be on the watch for?”

Chrysalis was silent while she thought. “... Well I’ve already covered the exploding and the turning pink. I did not expect such a drift from royal physiology.”

I raised my eyebrows but said nothing.

“You might have changed more than just physically. Do you have any heightened senses? Anything special of note?”

‘I knew what that pegasus was dreaming about, and I talked with a goddess in my sleep.’

“None.”

Lying to the ‘ling who taught me how to lie would normally be a very stupid and dangerous thing to do. Luckily, she merely improved my lying skills, not created them.

“Hmmm…. We shall see if anything comes up in your magic training when it resumes next week. For now, Chamberlain Eucharis informed you of your constraint?”

“The summer solstice.”

She nodded. “The summer solstice. You will have to begin reforming the Swarm immediately to make such an ambitious deadline. You will not fail me, nor will you fail the Swarm.”

“No I will not. I do have a plan for the Swarm and its restructuring. I presume that I am also drafting the plan for the invasion?”

“Aside from the infiltration of Canterlot and the duel with Princess Celestia, I leave the conquering of Equestria up to you. Should be easy, given the decadence and stagnation of ponies’ military.”

“Good, that is the assumption I worked off of. I suspect that if we were ponies, this is the part where I dramatically drop a thick binder of papers onto your desk? One labeled Evil Plans?”

Queen Chrysalis leaned in close.

“There is no good or evil, just survivors. Now tell me, High Marshal Prince Phasma, how will you make sure that we are the survivors?”

The room of changelings was packed full. The classroom was made to accommodate thirty, yet it was stuffed to forty five.

Private Ventricle was one of these forty-five changelings stuffed in like a hay bale on a cart.

‘This must have something to do with the High Marshal…’

The classroom door opened and a changeling walked in. He was, compared to everyone else, nearly unremarkable. The only difference between them and every single other changeling in the room was a long jagged scar across his left foreleg.

The newcomer stopped and turned to face the crowd.

“Time is short, as is my patience, so let’s get started. I am Sergeant Hermetia, but you all will call me Sir for short! You’re all here because the Swarm needs new officers, and you are one of ten groups tapped for this. By the end of this month, you’ll all be leaders, or you’ll be failures.”

‘Yeah definitely something to do with the High Marshal.’

“Each one of you will be responsible for anywhere from ten to twenty changelings. That’s a lot of lives riding on your shoulders. If you crack, you better crack now, or else there will be dead ‘lings on your hooves!”

The changelings in the room started to glance at each other, sharing the same thoughts. None dared whisper them outloud, not while a superior officer was in the room.

‘Twenty ‘lings? I’m just a private, all I’m supposed to do is break up fights in the habitation quarters. Or do long patrols out in the hot wastes!’

The Sergeant continued, “You will not be officers of the Swarm. You will be officers of the legions! The old Swarm is dead, High Marshal Prince Phasmatodea has ordered the raising of twelve legions, with room for more.”

“The fuck is a legion,” came an unbidden voice from the back.

Despite his line of sight being obstructed by five changelings in front of him, Sergeant Hermetia snapped to where the voice came from. Buzzing his wings, he lifted off and hugged the ceiling in a tight maneuver, before stopping above the back of the group.

All the while, his head tracked the source of the sound.

The changeling in question started to shrink under the Sergeant’s direct ire, making herself as small as possible.

The Sergeant continued to stare and the private started to sweat. Private Ventricle did not envy the loudmouth.

“I-I mean, uh, sir! W-What is a legion, sir?”

“A legion, maggot,” Sergeant Hermetia growled, “is our new formation. You, however, will be nothing more than a latrine cleaner in the Eleventh. Get the fuck out of my room, grub!” As the private scrambled up and over the changelings to get to the door, Sergeant Hermetia snapped his head up and took in the room. “I told you worthless grubs that I have no patience for your mewling. This is your one and only warning: waste my time, and I will make your life miserable!”

‘Fucking fantastic. There goes my easy meals.’

Private Ventricle knew his days of lounging around and yelling at drones were over. Well, not the yelling part. There would be much more of that.

But first, he had to survive this crash course on how not to get underlings killed.

“Thorax.”

Hearing his name, Thorax stopped pushing the cart full of sedimite rocks. The lower tunnels were lit up with the light green glow-moss that permeated throughout the hive. The only way he knew he was low, close to the base of the hive, was the intermittent creaking sounds coming from above him as the hive swayed imperceptibly in the wind.

The only 'ling that would look for Thorax was Pharynx. Thorax wasn’t sure how his brother found him deep down here in the hive, far away from their shared room in the habitation block, but he was glad for the company.

“Pharynx! Can you believe they put me on…”

Turning around, Thorax saw a changeling that most definitely was not his brother. The voice was deeper than he remembered, but there was no mistaking those eyes.

“Hello again Thorax. I always keep my word.”

Thorax studied every detail of Phasma’s new appearance. Tall, red tail and fin, and a much taller horn. This was not the nymph Thorax last saw a month ago, this was a changeling royal with presence.

‘He’s back?!’

“Ph-Phasma?! I thought…”

Phasma chuckled, “That I wouldn’t find you? It wasn’t easy, especially not with how busy my schedule is, but I heard word that a certain pony-sympathetic changeling was seen down here in-”

Thorax leaped at Phasma, pulling him into a hug.

“-Ah! By the Nine, does the whole First Fang love hugging? If you all hug me each time I say hello or goodbye, I will be suspected of encouraging pony ideals!”

‘The First Fang!’

The thought made Thorax let go and back up.

“You managed to get in contact with everyone else?!”

“Not yet, you’re the first. I was going to collect Oestridae after this. How have you been?”

Thorax glanced back at the cart.

“They have me doing manual work. Apparently I’m too risky for my old duty processing love-gel. They thought I would steal, or something.”

Phasma sighed and had a downcast expression when Thorax looked back at him. Or rather, up at him.

“You’re tall now!”

He chuckled, “Just noticing? I molted five days ago, and now I look like a bastardization of a drone and a royal."

‘I can definitely see the drone part.’

“You look good, Phasma.”

Phasma grinned. “That means a lot. Thank you, Thorax. How’s uh… how’s your brother?”

“Oh he’s doing well. He’s in a training course, something about a High Marshal making tons of new officer positions? I imagine you’ve had something to do with that.”

“What? Nooo. You’re thinking of another High Marshal.” Phasma chuckled quietly, “Hehehe, I didn’t come here to speak work, though.”

“You came here just to say hi, then?”

“Yeah. It’s been…. I’ve already had times where I lamented the loss of your company, Thorax. Despite what others say, it’s a breath of fresh air to hear what you have to say.”

Thorax stared at the ground and scuffed a hoof. “Oh, you seem to be the only one then.”

“The First Fang also misses you.”

Thorax snorted and looked back at his prince. “You just said you haven’t seen ‘em!”

“Oh right, you got me there. Well I’m sure they do. We’re family, after all.”

“Hey, if we’re family, do you think you could…?”

Thorax pointed to the cart.

Phasma rubbed his chin. “I think so. Putting a changeling in my personal retinue as… divisive as yourself would paint a target on your back, though. Think you can handle it?”

“Well you got my back, right?”

“Of course.”

“Then we can handle it.”

Phasma smiled.

“We can handle it. It’s good to have you back, Thorax. C’mon, we got a silent softie to go foalnap from his duties.”

They left the cart were it was and walked back to the upper levels. They passed a closed door before the main junction, with ‘Excavation Office A037’ carved next to the doorway.

‘Oh right, I need to explain to the foreling. Don’t want a search party looking for me, after all!’

“Hey Phasma, I need to tell my boss that I’m being reassigned.”

Thorax peeled off and knocked on the door.

“Enter,” came a muffled yell.

Thorax pushed the door open and slipped inside the muggy office.

“Excavator Thorax. Shut the damn door, you’re letting the heat out.” He did as he was told.

“Foreling Soleus? I, uh, I’m being reassigned.”

The ling scowled, looking up at Thorax. He was sitting down at a hive-gel desk that had a few actual papers on it, and was holding a real clipboard.

“No, you’re not. Get back to work or I’ll cut your rations in half for the next week.”

“I am!” Thorax moved closer. “Pha- err, Prince Phasma is personally reassigning me.”

Soleus raised an eyebrow, “Really Thorax? You flunk an infiltrator course and suddenly you think you are the best liar in the h-”

Thorax heard the door behind him open.

“Praetorian Thorax, hurry this up. I was serious when I said my schedule is packed.”

Thorax turned around, seeing Phasma half-in the doorway.

‘Praetorian? What’s… I’ll ask him after. Right, I need to play up his titles!’

“Apologies, My Prince! I was just being delayed, it will be resolved immediately!” Thorax turned back around and saw Soleus with his jaw open, clipboard slowly slipping out of his hooves.

“Y- I- Oh-”

“It is proper to bow before your prince, drone,” came the low voice behind Thorax.

Soleus let the clipboard slip from his grasp before ducking low.

“Apologies, My Prince! And Thorax, I will make sure there are no issues here!”

Soleus’s scared reaction made Thorax lurch forward, “Oh, thank you Soleus! Don’t worry about this, you were just being-”

Phasma cleared his throat behind Thorax, “We’re leaving, Praetorian.”

“Right, My Prince! Sorry, My Prince!” Thorax hurried after the retreating form of Phasma.

When they were out of earshot, Thorax whispered over, “You came into the office quickly."

"I didn't like what I heard when the door was still open."

"...Phasma, what’s a praetorian?”

“A Royal Guard,” he whispered back. Changelings bowed to Prince Phasma as they continued up the hive.

“A Royal Guard is a Royal Guard,” Thorax returned.

“Not anymore, I had them renamed so they don’t get confused with the ponies’ Royal Guard.”

“Wow, I’m a Royal Guard?”

“No, you’re a Praetorian.”

“... Hey Phasma,” Thorax whispered as quietly as he could while still being heard, “does this mean I have to hurt ‘lings? I don’t-”

“No, don’t worry about that. Leave that to Oestridae.”

‘That’s a relief! That whole office thing though, are the rumors true…?’

“Hey Phasma,” Thorax whispered again.

“Hey Thorax.”

“There’s rumors going around– and I’m sure they’re not true– saying that you… executed a changeling?”

Phasma looked at Thorax out of the corners of his eyes as they continued to walk.

“I’ve never harmed anyone else.”

“Right. That’s a relief. But, uh… would you?”

“Sentence someone to execution?”

“Mhmm.”

Phasma took a moment to think it over. It was a moment too long, in Thorax’s opinion.

“Yes.”

“Phasma, you’re better than that!”

“Am I?” Thorax had to strain to hear that response.

Thorax nudged Phasma’s shoulder.

“Don’t give me that! You’re a good ‘ling, Phasma. Promise me you’ll never hurt someone else.”

Phasma stopped walking and faced Thorax, ignoring the changelings staring at the small royal procession of two.

“I’m the High Marshal. It’s my duty to hurt others. I’d prefer not to, but something’s gotta change here and it falls to me to make that change happen.”

He moved on, leaving Thorax standing there before he hurried to catch up to Phasma.

“You could try working with the ponies!”

“Working with the ponies? ‘Hello, in exchange for hurting you, would you care for some vomit?’ We can’t offer them anything.”

“... Have you even looked into alternative feeding methods?”

“Not yet, but I wouldn’t put too much hope on that. It’s us or them, Thorax. I’m sorry, but you can’t change that.”

‘I don’t give up that easily, Phasma! I’ll figure out something, just you watch!’

33- Riders On The Storm

Arc 4: War For The Sun

“In two months, we begin our march to Canterlot and begin The War for The Sun.”

In the throne room, a massive table was put in front of the throne, with a blown-up map of the Kingdom of Equestria covering it. Sitting around the map was Commander Scorpion, Intelligencer Ocelli, General Aphid, General Labrum, and the various Captains of the minor Legions.

Assembled outside of the seated area were the various Colonels and officers assigned to the Legions who would need to be privy to today’s meeting.

Queen Chrysalis sat high up in her throne, with Chamberlain Eucharis and myself in front and to her sides.

I continued my presentation of the war plans to the assembled hierarchy.

“Phase one, The Promised Day. The Equestria’s Lament will be taking out Canterlot with the aid of The Praetorians, the majority of The First Infiltrator Legion, the Panar’s Hammer, the Will of The Nine, the Underhive Scarabs, and division attachments from the Eleventh and Twelfth, Chosen Conquerors and Hive’s Finest.”

I TKed up stone pieces representing each Legions and placed them on the map.

“The Doom of The East will be responsible for the East Coast. With them will be the Bombardier Beetles and attachments from the Eleventh and Twelfth.”

I moved the mentioned Legions over to the East Coast.

“The Blackened Skies are responsible for the West push. To aid them, the Imminent Swarm and attachments from the Eleventh and Twelfth, as usual.”

Finally, I pushed those Legions to the West, by their targets.

“For the initial push, The First Infiltrators will be taking out border emplacements. Then, it is up to the legion to capture the towns along the way. By the Promised Day, Equestria’s Lament and the attached Legions will be in position to begin the siege of Canterlot. Each division assigned has a purpose they have been training for. And so, each of your Colonels will be given targets within Canterlot itself that you are responsible for taking down. Barracks, guard emplacements, districts, and so on. The Princesses, Queen Chrysalis and I will take down.”

The changelings present took notes and I continued with the next stage of the invasion.

“Phase two, Capitulation. Once Canterlot has fallen, and the first cities on the East and West have as well, the central push will move on from Canterlot. Underhive Scarabs will stay garrisoned in Canterlot as the Chosen Conquerors work on subduing the city.

“Half of Equestria’s Lament will move north, engaging any forces in the region after the capture of Cloudsdale. Aiding them will be Will of The Nine and Imminent Swarm, who will break off from the Western push after Los Pegasus has fallen.

“Blackened Skies will continue to take objectives, ending their path in the northern city of Vanhoover.

“With the fall of Baltimare, the Doom of The East will press north through Fillydelphia, all the way to Manehattan. This is expected to be the longest part of the invasion, and so half of Equestria’s Lament as well as the entirety of Panar’s Hammer will split off to aid the capitulation of these cities.

“Finally, with the last pony city captured, our Legions will be in prime position to repel foreign invaders from the East, in case the Griffons decide they want to aid Equestria. Any questions so far?”

Captain Obturator asked, “Projected friendly casualties?”

“Projected casualties are lower than ten percent for the Canterlot push. The East and West push will depend on how much of the Equestrian Royal Guard command is captured in Canterlot. If more than seventy five percent, then it is expected that Equestria will capitulate within a month with negligible losses.

“As we are using primarily stun spells against the ponies, casualties are expected to be concentrated within the Royal Guard. Capturing their high command as early as possible is of paramount importance. The quicker they are taken, the less effective the defense of Canterlot will be.”

The Swarm commanders held quiet conversations amongst themselves. A few voiced questions loud enough for me to hear and respond to.

“We’re going to get all the way to Canterlot before revealing ourselves?”

I nodded, “Surprise will be our greatest weapon. That, and fear. The other two Line Legions will begin the trek along their routes, but Canterlot will fall before they reach their first major cities on their path.”

“Is it not possible to capture VIPs using the Infiltrator Legion before the invasion?”

“It was decided that replacing them before the invasion would create a risk of discovery. Instead, the highest targets of the Royal Guard will be taken down just as the invasion arrives, to minimize chances of discovery of the Infiltrators and their aiding Legions.”

“How will the pony population be controlled once Equestria falls?”

I glanced at Queen Chrysalis.

“The Chosen Conquerors will be handling that issue,” was all she said in her usual ambiguous fashion.

“Any plans for feeding the Swarm in the meantime?”

“Supply caches will be created during and before the invasion,” I answered. “These love caches will be used to feed the Swarm, especially in the worst-case scenario of a protracted siege.”

General Labrum scoffed, “So we’ll be putting our entire food supply in front of the Swarm, and have them run up to it?”

Chrysalis smiled, “We’re already doing that. The ponies are the end all be all.”

When no more questions came up, I moved on.

“Phase three, Consolidation. The Chosen Conquerors will have detailed instructions for each Legion to carry out when it comes to corralling and capturing any ponies that have fled from population centers under changeling control.

“Examples of such instructions would be the establishment of checkpoints, the destruction of key infrastructure, and the infiltration of rebel and refugee bands. Should the entirety of the Royal Guard high command be captured at this point, resistance is expected to be scarce and scattered. So ends the Kingdom of Equestria.”

Queen Chrysalis rose from her throne and immediately all seated changelings rose as well.

“My subjects. This is the beginning of a new era for our species. The War For The Sun shall change the face of Equus forever, and we shall finally be at the top. As it is woven, so it shall be!”

“As it is woven, so it shall be!” The assembled changelings echo.

As the changelings started to file out, I gave a discrete nod to Labrum and Aphid.

“A lot is riding on Canterlot’s capitulation,” Aphid pointed out.

We stood close to each other in the cold storage room. The rest of the Lodge organizers were present. The First Fang, too.

“Yes. If it does not fall, the linchpin operation and assumptions of the invasion plan falls apart. As expected, if the Princesses are not captured, the invasion will not succeed.”

“Are there not any backup plans to make sure the Princesses don’t escape?”

“We will have an encirclement of the city but there are far too many possible exits to cover everything. No, I’m afraid not, Labrum. Our chiefest and greatest weapon is surprise. Should Equestria survive the initial blow at Canterlot, the invasion will most likely be scrapped. We will pod as many ponies as we can, and make off. However, there is expected to be reprisal counter-attacks by Equestria. We… will not survive those if they find the hive.”

“Why even make off with podded ponies then? Surely we can just regroup and try again.”

“Because…” I trailed off.

“Because what, Phas?” Thorax motioned for me to continue.

‘Time for the bombshell Chrysalis finally told me about.’

“The hive will run out of food within four months.”

‘Yeah, let’s keep our species' imminent collapse a secret. Talk about a hidden Damocles Sword!’

Many Lodge members gasped at the revelation, but some nodded, already suspecting the ultimatum.

“This is our species last huzzah, our last gambit for our species' survival in this world. If we fail here, we’re done.”

Weevil, my most loyal contact within the Praetorians, just got angry.

“Why tha’ hell did Chryssy not launch this invasion sooner? Why did she wait for the last second before shoving all of this onto your shoulders?!”

The room erupted into a sudden argument.

“How long has she said that she always had the best intentions–”

“Panar damn it! She’ll kill us all!”

“–our fates on a nymph less than a year–”

“ENOUGH!” I commanded verbally and through the Weave as I stomped a hoof. “Queen Chrysalis, by all rights, should have not left the invasion until the last possible second. She should have. She did not.”

The arguments started to rise again, but I cut them off.

“It is clear that she cannot be trusted! By leaving all of us in the dark, especially myself, the mastermind of the invasion plans, she jeopardizes everything by risking missing important details paramount to the survival of our species. By leaving this to the last second, she puts the fate of our species up to chance. The chance that the plan succeeds and Canterlot falls as expected, with the Princesses in tow. She puts our species’ survival to chance!”

Now the Lodge members were outright yelling their outrage.

“–a fucking diceroll!”

“–that son of a–”

“What can we even do?”

‘And now, for the main event!’

“It is our duty to safeguard the future of our species! In her attempts to hoard power and control, Queen Chrysalis must be checked, lest her errant irresponsibility doom us all! As such, I have assembled a plan to peacefully check Queen Chrysalis’s radical misuse of powers entrusted by the hive to her. I will present her with a list of our demands once Canterlot has fallen, and she will have no choice but to accept them.”

“What are our demands?” Aphid asked.

‘Control the conversation.’

“No more grand secrets that put the hive in danger. No more executing changelings for any reason. No more ultimate control over what each changeling must be. We demand free choice of occupation. We demand a restriction on her powers. We demand an end to her tyranny!”

Coxa, as we planned, asked, “What if she refuses?”

“With Equestria capitulated, she will have no way to refuse our demands. We will not jeopardize the invasion, nor will we approach her with open hostility if she is willing to accept our demands. However, we must plan for every outcome. Queen Chrysalis is loyal to herself first, the hive second. She will try to worm her way out by any means.”

‘Chrysalis, if it comes down to it, I am prepared to risk everything. Are you?’

“So, we must be prepared to remove the existential threat to the hive that sits upon the throne. With the Princesses taken down, she serves no purpose but continuously put the hive at risk with her arrogance.

“For the hive eternal, nothing can come between us and survival! We shall hope that she sees reason, but must be ready to act against the traitor, Queen Chrysalis!”

‘But of course, we’re the loyal ones, not you!’

“For the greater good!”

“The greater good!” The First Fang echo, with some Lodge members joining in.

The Promised Day inched closer and closer with each passing day. Coming quick at a blitzing pace while also slowly dragging itself forward.

‘Things will finally change around here. The time will come to test our mettle, both the hive’s and mine. I must be ready.’

Some good news, Coxa signaled that the backup operation was in place.

Some bad news, Chrysalis wanted to talk with me. Actually, the exact words were that she will talk to me immediately.

‘Ominous as high hell. If a Lodge member squealed, I’ll pass the treachery off as baseless rumor, like how changelings think I ordered the execution of someone. I’ve been nothing but loyal, why would I ever consider betraying Chrysalis?’

I entered the throne room from the main gates, having come from the training room I used in the Legion spires.

Queen Chrysalis was sitting upon her throne, Eucharis by her side, whispering to her.

‘Wormtongue.’

“You called for me, Queen Chrysalis?”

“Prince Phasmatodea.”

‘Oh fuck, my full name. That is never a good sign’

“Do not think that I am watching your actions, Prince Phasmatodea. I have received word that a disappearance of love has been connected to your office.”

“You received word of a subordinate of mine stealing love?”

“Do you deny this?”

‘Do I? No, I bet I can get away with it but everyone makes mistakes. Even better, if I was perfect all the time, that would just cause her to suspect me more. By accepting the blame now, I can maybe avoid her suspecting treachery later.’

“No, mother. I... I do not. I gave the okay.”

Queen Chrysalis silently glared at me. I started to shuffle around on my hooves, feeling uncomfortable.

‘I bet you can drill a hole through steel with that stare.’

“M– err… I can explain?”

She said nothing, but her gaze said enough.

“Well, you see, I was… Uh…”

‘My, what an interesting floor. I think I’ll stare at it instead.’

“No explanation will be good enough?”

“No.”

I purposely flinched.

“What… now?”

‘I know you can’t go through with the normal punishment of exile. You need me, ha!’

“We are so close to the promised day. Losing control just before the pounce will cost you your prey, Prince Phasmatodea.”

“Have you ever even gone hunting?”

“Irrelevant. All of our actions have consequences, Prince Phasmatodea. By stealing love from the hive, you put at risk the trust the drones have in us. To keep your hooves on the ground, I place burdens on your shoulders.”

‘That’s actually true. As long as the Lodges don’t find out, everything is fine. I could say that if a Lodge member gets banished, I created this backup plan to save them. They might see it as risking the hive for the life of one changeling, though. Hmmm.’

“Are you even listening?”

“Yes, Mother.”

‘I’ll need to come up with something convincing to tell the Lodge, just in case. This really hurts Chrysalis too if it leaks, but if anything can go wrong…’

“I don't think you are. You are dismissed, Prince Phasmatodea. We will resume this talk later, when you are most definitely listening.”

‘I can say I am capable of making mistakes, and finding out that Chrysalis murders her children has made me a bit rash. Drop that bombshell on them and reveal that I’ve been inside the vault. Wait, did I just miss another ominous threat?’

“As you command, Mother.”

I slowly paced my way to my room, not looking at her out of shame.

‘Not that I’m actually ashamed. Afraid, a little bit, but not ashamed. Whatever you are up to, I will survive.’

I chuckled quietly as I shut the door to my study behind me.

‘But can you survive what I’m up to?’

I quietly sang to myself, “Do Svidaniya, Chrysalis, Your Grace! Farewell!”

49- The Shadows of Lightning

“What happened to Nightmare Moon? Was she even real?”

“Unfortunately, she was as real as you or us.”

Despite the anger I tasted, her words carried no malice. It was self-loathing that filled Princess Luna, not the bitter hatred of being defeated by an enemy who would harm her citizens.

I propped her up against the wall of the bedsheet factory so that she wouldn’t have to crane her neck all the way up to look at me as she spoke, though she did still have to look up at me since I was standing. The Elements of Harmony had been lined up against a storefront across the street, and out of earshot.

“Then what happened to her?”

“We were cleansed of that parasite by the Elements of Harmony shortly before rushing here, to thy aid.”

“Cleansed?”

“The Elements of Harmony oft work in the most peculiar way. The first time they were used against Nightmare Moon all those centuries ago, us, we were imprisoned on the moon, Nightmare and Luna both. Perhaps our sister wished it to be so, perhaps the Elements dictated it must be. The new Element bearers used the power of Harmony on us once more, and this time the parasite was removed from our psyche and body. Whether that was on the whims of the bearers of the force of Harmony itself, We do not know..”

“So were you Nightmare Moon, or was she someone else? How did she even come to be?”

“Nightmare Moon warned thou of the perils of the Nightscape, doth thou not recall? That is her origin, and she was more than the sum of her parts. One part parasite of dark origins and designs, one part alicorn. Now We possess the Nightmare’s memories as if they were our own...

“If We were Nightmare Moon fully and truly, then we must pay penitence for our actions. If we were but the host to Nightmare Moon, then we must pay penitence all the same, for We brought that abyssal aberration into existence through our folly alone…”

I tapped a hoof on my chin, “So you’re saying if I reintroduced one of these parasites–”

“Thou wouldn’t! We know thou would not mutilate our mind, not after the horrors thou hast seen and shown us!”

“... No. I wouldn’t.” I sighed before continuing, “And how did Nightmare Moon get defeated by the Elements in the first place? Was she all bark and no bite?”

“All bark and no bite? That is… a reference to canines, We see. No, Nightmare Moon most assuredly would hath defeated any foe before her.”

“Yet she didn’t?”

“She considered the Elements beneath her, and focused on recovering her strength so that she may duel our sister. Nightmare Moon sent naught but weak apparitions of shadow and magic against the soon-to-be Element bearers, and they were found wanting. When Nightmare Moon had realized the extent of her mistake, it was too late for the parasite.”

The hatred I tasted faded, and the bitter taste of sorrow became all the more noticeable.

“Please Prince Phasma, We beg of thou to realize the mistake thou art making. There is time yet to end this calamity and side with Harmony before it is too late.”

“Why would I ever do that?”

“This will not end well for thou or thy host of kin! Nightmare Moon met her defeat not once but twice, and thou art doomed just the same.”

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’ve already defeated the Elements of Harmony.”

Luna changed tactics, “If thou doth not believe in the power of Harmony, then believe in the power of reason. Doth thou really believe thou can rule the world with all of it plotting thy demise? Come peacefully, and we shall aid our sister in ending the tyrannical rule of thy Queen and mother. Then we shall treat thou and thy kin fairly, and we shall help thou overcome the troubles that have befallen thy kingdom.”

“Troubles? Do you think it’s just my life on the line, Princess Luna? You think we’re doing this just to get some extra food and power? This invasion is our entire species' last gambit at survival! There is no retreat. There is no peace.”

A faint buzzing caught my attention and I turned to see changelings flying over to where we were.

“I didn’t want things to turn out this way, but I was left with no other choice.”

“If what thou sayest is true, then Equestria will do all it can to help thy kin, thy changelings.”

“Do you expect me to believe that? I cannot allow this all to be for nothing. I cannot allow the fate of our species to lie in the hooves of those we have invaded and preyed upon. I’m no stranger to what we’ve done; I’ve walked these streets and watched it happen. Ponies, if freed, would call for our blood, not work together. As both Prince and High Marshal, I am responsible for everything that has happened in this invasion...

“And if they don’t demand our death, I know what happens to a people entirely dependent on a stronger force. Slavery, systematic oppression, colonialism. I will never let that come to pass, not while I still draw breath!”

“There is not even a chance of that happening, Prince Phasma. Not while our sister and us are in power. We have safeguarded the races of this world against such horrid ideas, yet thou claim that they are an inevitability? Thou needn't look further then Equestria’s own history to see this as a falsehood! The ideals of Harmony have always been upheld, and they always will!”

“Back to praising a reportedly sapient force of nature, are we? As I said before, I will not risk the future of my species on the chance that you’re correct and ponies will play nice after we’ve invaded their homes, foalnapped them, and put them into eternal slumber.”

The sound of hooves hitting cobblestone sounded out behind me as the approaching changelings arrived.

“This is goodbye, Princess Luna.”

“Phasma, please listen to us! We do not wish thou to follow in our hoofsteps, thou must stop this before thou art killed! We don’t want to lose thou...”

As I crouched low and replaced the bindings on her muzzle, the sadness emanating from her intensified. Her teal eyes stared at me, pleading for me to change my mind.

“It’s all or nothing. I will not relegate my species to servitude, nor will I give into fate. I needed Nightmare Moon to help me secure the survival of my species. I don’t need a powerless alicorn who can only beg for the victor to keel over and die.”

I stood back up and spun around. Coxa, Tarsus, Lacewing, and Oestridae were standing in the street.

“Hello, guys. It’s been a while since we last talked,” I said while moving towards them.

“Not that long,” replied Coxa.

“It has been a while for me,” Tarsus reminded him.

“Hi Phasma, it’s nice to see you again.”

I returned Lace’s smile, “You too, Lacewing. Everything alright in the Conquerors and the Infiltrators?”

Coxa shrugged, Lacewing nodded, and Tarsus looked at the six ponies bound up on the side of the street, then looked at the alicorn behind me.

“You’ve been busy, Phasma.”

“Extremely. Two alicorns down, one to go.”

“Three in total? There’s only supposed to be two…”

“This here is Princess Luna, formerly Nightmare Moon, sister of Princess Celestia.”

“Nightmare Moon?” Coxa and Lace ask at the same time.

“Remember how I told you I had a plan for dealing with the Queen? Nightmare Moon was to help me defeat her in combat. We had struck an accord of sorts.”

“Now what?”

“Now the plan has changed. We’re on our own.”

Tarsus quirked an eyebrow, “What are you two talking about?”

“The plan to secure the safety of not only myself, but the hive in its entirety.”

“I… don’t follow.”

‘Did I forget to tell him? That’s quite possible, so much was happening in the last few months.’

“Remember how we broke into the vault?” He nodded. “There was a second chamber, built into the floor of the records vault. It contained… My brothers and sisters.”

“Brothers and sisters?”

“They… they were alive, in the broadest sense. Queen Chrysalis had lobotomized them, ripped out parts of their brain to inter them within the confines of their own bodies. She pumped pure love into them, and used them to project the Weave throughout the hive.”

Tarsus blinked.

“That’s. What. What?”

“She butchered her own children. Dying but unable to die, I ordered them freed from their curse as we left the hive. But Chrysalis, she’s not to be trusted. There was an empty spot, an empty tomb. Chrysalis is planning on betraying me and making me suffer the same fate as my siblings.”

“How can this be true?”

“Chrysalis isn’t loyal to the hive, she’s just pursuing her own goals and plans,” Coxa explained.

“Chrysalis is the hive!”

“We changelings are the hive,” I replied.

Lace added, “Chrysalis is just the ling in charge, and the hive says we want someling else!”

“Queen Chrysalis must have had a good reason for doing this…”

“No Tarsus, she doesn’t. There’s no reason that could possibly warrant what she did. And now it is time for a change in power. Chrysalis has outlived her own loyalty to the changeling race, she must be dealt with.”

“You’ve got to be missing something here,” Tarsus mumbled. “This can’t be her plan. She wouldn’t risk everything to just betray you...”

“So what happened to this Nightmare Moon? ”

I sighed, “Well Lace, I created an alliance with a powerful alicorn. Turns out, she was less powerful than she claimed to be. She promised an army, yet I see none. She promised her blade, yet she’s dead and gone, with Princess Luna here left behind in her departure from the world.”

Lace’s head tilted to the side as she asked, “Left behind? Whaddya mean?”

“Nightmare Moon was apparently possessing Luna, or something similar to that.”

“You allied with a pony to defeat Queen Chrysalis?” Tarsus spoke up.

“Chrysalis is planning on giving me a fate worse than death. We must act before she does. I have laid the foundations for this seizure of power, now all that remains is to enact it. Right now, she is dueling with Princess Celestia. We shall strike at once when the duel finishes. Either Chrysalis will win, and we will sweep in and kill her, or Princess Celestia will win, in which case we will sweep in and capture the pony princess.

“Tarsus, I need you to send the word to the Infiltrators in the castle loyal to me to capture Intelligencer Ocelli. Tell the Infiltrators you find that the red dawn has arrived, they’ll know what it means, or they won’t and are disloyal. Just play it off as the dawn of the Promised Day if pressed.

“Coxa, tell Captain Cicada of the Will of the Nine to muster in full strength at Canterlot Castle foyer, he is leader of a Lodge and will help us out. Lace, I need you to check the castle for Captain Obturator, I'll need to work with him ASAP to figure out how to control the podded population after the war is won. He should be poking around the medical wing. If you can’t find him, just head to the rendezvous point instead. Oestridae and I will take down Chamberlain Eucharis and Commander Scorpion of the Praetorians, leaving Chrysalis with no close supporters.

“We’ll all meet up in the castle’s foyer before we take on Queen Chrysalis. After she is dead, we will send word to the other Legions of the East and West push, and tell them to enact their arrests of hardcore loyalists. Everyone clear on what they have to do?”

"We go in, we stab her until she's dead, we leave. Seems simple," Coxa chuckled.

Taurus nodded, but was still clearly mulling over the Ascension Chamber’s contents.

"You and Oest are going to fight the Commander?" Lace kicked a pebble across the street as she spoke.

"Yes."

"Then... Be careful, and stay safe Phasma. You too, Oest."

“Not going to be much safety where we’re headed,” Oest said.

“Still, all of you be careful.”

“This is it then. We meet up at the foyer, then we’re really doing it?” Coxa said as he lifted off the ground.

“Yeah. This is it. The end of Chrysalis’s reign, what we’ve been planning for all this time.”

“I’ll go get the Nine then. Do not start the fight without me, I want to watch!” Coxa turned and flew away.

Lace gave me another hug.

“You keep giving me those and I’m going to think you and Thorax are related. Brother and sister, perhaps?”

“You’re just so huggable, Phasma!”

“So it would seem. Don’t worry Lace, everything will be fine. Stick to the plan, and remember what I told you and Coxa what you should do if…”

“You just said everything will be fine.”

“It will. Just… It will.”

She broke the hug, “Yeah. Maybe after this, we can... Uh… I’ll see you soon, Phasma.”

“See you,” Tarsus said briskly.

Lace and Tarsus started to fly up and over to Castle Canterlot as well, Lacewing giving me a little wave before turning away.

As I watched them start to go, a stray green focused-will laser beam bisected one of the towers near the throne room. A fireball was launched from the tower itself, flying overhead. That’s when I saw the fireball flap, as if it was a bird. The yellow and orange mass of fire then circled above us, seemingly looking at me, before flying off Westward and disappearing into one of the large plumes of smoke stretching high over the city.

‘Was that a bird made of fire?’

A voice startled me, “It’s finally happening, My Prince?”

One of the Will of Nine watching the Bearers asked that. In truth, I had forgotten they were still here, safe in the knowledge that I was surrounded by loyal changelings.

“Yes. I’ve changed my mind; Move these prisoners to somewhere secure, not the Castle itself. Spread the word to fellow Lodge members as you go, then meet back up at the castle’s foyer, too. I’m going to need all of your help to take down the tyrant.”

“It will be done, My Prince!”

I gave them a nod, and they started to grab the ponies with their magic. I looked back at Princess Luna. She was shaking her head slowly.

‘Sadness I could drown in. And… something else. Something clinging to each wave of sorrow...’

“I taste love,” Oestridae whispered.

I sighed, “Nightmare Moon and I… We…”

“I think I understand,” the ling of few words patted me on the back. "Though she is the wrong species..."

I turned away from Princess Luna and took to the air.

“C’mon Oest, let’s go find Chamberlain Eucharis. He should be lurking around the castle somewhere.”

73- Fulla

The day had passed unfortunately uneventfully. There was still paperwork to fill out and peaceful streets to walk up and down. At least they had actually set up a bank account for me to deposit and withdraw bits from. I was definitely going to empty that thing once I inevitably hit the road.

Now I was in Celestia’s personal study. I didn’t know what it looked like now, but before I had ruined its serene sanctity it was quite the sight to see.

“Anxious in our slumber, we moan, beg, and plead,” I hummed.

I sat down in front of one of the massive bookcases that lined the room. Pulling a random colorful book off the shelf, I flipped the book open to the middle of it. The ink on the page was squirming like a colony of ants, scurrying to and fro.

“The cart’s before the horse but the eyes don’t perceive..”

I was definitely alone in this room. There was no body lying behind me, looking at me when I had my back turned. Flipping a page yielded only more words wriggling about. I watched as Sesquipedalophobia moved back and forth and inched forward, like a worm tunneling through dirt. Sighing, I tossed the book over my shoulder and pulled another from the shelf. The thrown book hit the carpet that covered the center of the room, and nothing else.

“Monster in the flesh that the mind won’t believe…”

I turned to look behind me.

It was a mistake.

‘Why now? It’s over. In the past! Done with! Get! Lost!’

No matter how hard I tried to bend the world to my will, I was not alone in the room. It seems that Dreamwalkers can still have nightmares. Or maybe I just sucked at the whole dream manipulation shtick.

I sighed again and moved from the bookcase to a glass case next to it in the corner of the room. Lying inside was a set of tablets of unusual origin. Completely different from Rodents of Unusual Size, they looked old, valuable, and in bad shape. Very old, in that case. They were cased in blue shining stone and were broken off in many areas.

“Another parallel? Hmm… Did my mind conjure this, or did I catch a glimpse of these tablets while I was in here?” I wondered out loud.

The subconscious was a vast vault filled with details. I knew that more than almost any other person, being a living version of those vaults.

‘I wonder if my Weave picks up more details than my mind can naturally store? That would explain why I learned spells so easily. Well, I say easily. It was akin to pulling teeth. Or learning how to do triple integrals. Eh, same thing. Wait, haven’t I thought about this before? Damn, I must be pretty bored if I’m rehashing old thoughts.’

“Let’s see. If I was a pony, what stupid horse-name would I give the Epic of Gilgamesh?”

I opened the glass case and lifted one of the Lapis Lazuli tablets out. Inspecting it, I watched as the surface covered in cuneiform etchings shimmered and reflected the sunlight from the window just to my right. Unlike Earth’s counterparts, these were actually made of the precious sky blue stone. There was an abundance of crystals and other precious materials here in this new world. My new world. This room was a testament to the sheer availability of gold, silver, and unfettered greed.

Everything except that which was gilded in blood. The very first thing I killed.

“Alright. I get it. You’re here. You’re creepy. And you just won’t let me forget. What do you want me to say?”

The dead kept their silence.

“I don’t even get to be properly scared by this shit. Just… annoyed? Pissed? Creeped out? What do you want from me?!”

Shaking my head, I went back to ignoring the decaying elephant in the room.

“I hope Luna gets here soon.”

I set the tablet back in the case and immediately I felt a breeze. The air smelled just a bit cleaner. It made me realize that the room smelled musty and full of mold. Or would that be decay?

“Speak of the devil.”

“Phasma? Why have you conjured this location, and in this state?”

She had entered through the front door, hence the breeze. I heard her behind me, but I didn’t turn to greet her.

“I didn’t. I can’t change it, either.”

I heard Luna’s hoofsteps become muffled as she stepped off the tile floor and onto the lavish carpet. Her soft hooffalls approached me from behind.

“Are you okay?”

“I should be.”

“We would not be here if you were of healthy mind.”

“We don’t have to be here at all. Aren’t we about to go see Cadence?”

“Yes…”

“Good. Let’s go.”

“You should not ignore what your psyche is trying to tell you. Such a mistake undoes the best of us.”

“I know exactly what my mind is telling me. Listen, I understand that no one goes through what I’ve been and comes out completely okay. I know that only time will heal– no, will dull the wounds and the pain. I’m not choosing to be here, I just am. Can we just go?”

“... If we must. Step close and we shall leave this sorry locale behind us.”

“Yeah, and then I can talk to Cadence about exactly what happened here. Fun.”

“Oh. That would indeed be why you are trapped in this little nightmare. Your mind anticipates the reopening of old wounds and the pain that comes with it.”

“They’re hardly old.”

“That is… Yes, they are quite new. I apologize, I oft neglect to remember that the invasion had only been a few weeks ago. My duties have kept me busy all day every day, and my nights are full of our conversations and traveling. It feels as if months had passed since our last meeting in the real world.”

“Speaking of which, these constant nightly meetings make me feel tired and stretched thin. It has been such a long time since I just rested. Is there any way we can just… sleep?”

“Of course. I shall teach you how later. For now, let us depart this macabre premonition.”

I lined up next to her and she pulled me close with a wing. In what was becoming a familiar scene, we were ripped out from my dream, hurled across a place both no sense of space and a perfect one-to-one match of the real world, and ended up in… a garden.

The sun was shining, birds were chirping, and a cool breeze wafted through the warm air. We were standing on a stone path that meandered through a small grass grove, surrounded on all sides by a tall hedge. A few trees reached up into the sky form behind the green living walls. At the base of the hedges, flowerbeds wrapped around the space, like the protective lining at the bottom of a wall. The yellows, blues, and purples of the flowers reminded me of home.

Eager to change the subject of my focus, I looked around and noticed that we were not alone in the minuscule grove. Princess Cadence was laying down in the shadow of a tree that hung as the backdrop of one corner of the grove. She was sitting on a picnic blanket, lounging lazily.

“It is like you two hate the pleasures and comforts of night. It is always day in your dreams!”

I rolled my eyes as Cadence lifted her head and blinked away tiredness.

“Auntie Luna?”

“Indeed. ‘Tis I, your favorite aunt. Phasma is here too. I am afraid he clung to my leg and I simply could not shake him off.”

“I wanted to go smashing mailboxes but it seems we’re here instead. Hello Cadence.”

Cadence hesitated before putting on a smile that took a slight amount of visible effort to maintain. It was only due to my time in the Hive that I recognize the signs of fatigue she wore. Within a moment of appearing, the signs vanished and her smile became more natural.

‘Look at that, Chrysalis’s training is coming in handy once again. I guess she is still getting over the fact that I am not a monster.’

“Hello Phasma, have you come to chat?”

“We have,” Luna nodded and walked over.

Cadence frowned, “I’m sorry I haven’t stopped by in the past few days to catch up with you Auntie, Division-P has kept me quite busy.”

“There is no need to apologize. These are difficult times. Now, I do believe you two have a conversation to finish.”

“Yes…” Cadence said slowly.

“Yes…” I agreed just as hesitantly.

Luna flopped down onto the grass and got comfortable.

“Quit staring at each other and start talking.”

‘It seems I’ll be the one to start, seeing as how I’m not the one afraid here.’

I broke the silence, “Right. Would you care to share your story first, or should I?”

“... You can tell your story first.”

I sighed, “It started before I was born. In more ways than one, I suppose. My mother, Queen Chrysalis, attempted to… be reunited with her daughter. Only problem being that said daughter had been dead for two centuries. Or, maybe she wasn’t. I wasn’t exactly there to know how it went down, but I digress. Something went wrong in the process, and instead I came to be. That was.... October?”

“How many years ago?”

“Last October.”

“Haha, very funny. You’re not less than a year old. You’re not.”

“Well…”

“Do not– Phasma. Are you going to just lie to me? After we agreed to an end to this… hatred?”

Luna explained, “Phasma tells the truth.”

Cadence’s eyes widened as she looked between us.

“No. It simply can’t be!”

I shrugged, “It is. And it isn’t…”

“What does that mean?”

“I am... What, ten months old? I am also not that young, as you said. I couldn’t be.”

“So then how the heck old are you?”

“Heh. In my twenties, in total.”

“In total? I swear, you are as cryptic as Auntie Daybreaker.”

“I said it all started before I was born, didn’t I? That includes, well, me.”

“... You’re saying that you… lived before you were born?” I nodded slowly. “And now you’re here?”

Her eyes darted back and forth as she slowly lowered her gaze to the ground, as if mentally flipping through pages of a book.

“Reincarnation. That’s… That’s never happened before, has it? Has it, Luna?”

“No. Not on this world, at least," Luna explained.

“On this world? Do we… know of others?”

Luna nodded, “Starswirl the Bearded postulated the possibility of an infinite number of alternative universes. He had also tried to devise the means of viewing these other worlds, but sadly he vanished before that work could be finished.”

“So that means… Phasma, were you from this world, or another?”

“Another entirely,” I replied.

“What was your home like?” Cadence asked.

“... In some ways better, in many ways worse. That is all I will say about that. What matters is the time after I was hatched.”

“Hatched? Changelings come from eggs?”

“Yes. I had hatched and was shortly picked up by my mother and taken to be close to her at all times. She would personally tutor me on nearly every subject for the next few months, from magic to history to modern politics.”

“She just scooped up a foal that was less than a week old and put them into school?”

“Nymph, not foal, and not even that. I was a larva, who normally did nothing but wriggle about, hiss, eat, and… regurgitate waste. I was… three days old? Maybe two? I can’t remember. I couldn’t even really walk, having only my front two legs at the time. I also lacked wings and a functioning horn as well. Still, mother dearest expected me to grasp and memorize things such as the Principality of Equestria’s upper royal court. I… It was tough, but I did not disappoint her.”

“This was your foalhood?”

“No, I was still a larva. She kept me on a diet of pure love at the time, to promote quick and healthy growth. Likely, she had experimented on my body prior to hatching to facilitate the quick growth cycle as well. Then, during the Winter Solstice, when I was three months old, I underwent metamorphosis and entered the Nymph stage. That was when I met Nightmare Moon…”

Cadence sat patiently and listened as I literally told her my life’s story. For such a short amount of time, there was a lot that had happened. I skipped what I found beneath the vault and left it as a mystery to be revealed at the end. When I went over the war, Cadence wasn’t sympathetic all too much. When I went over the rebellion, her attitude switched on a dime. I was, after all, going against the invasion and in support of a pony ruler, Nightmare Moon. It was quite the upgrade in her book, as she commented. Explaining what happened afterwards took very little time but did earn me some pity points when I covered the extensive list of injuries I had collected like Pokemon cards. I had left out a lot of details throughout the story in favor of expedience. When it eventually came time to reveal the Ascension Chamber, her reaction was nothing less than expected.

“So what was this grand discovery that forever set you against your own mother, this fate worse than death that you hinted at the first time we spoke?”

“When I had opened the hatch that I had found in the Vault, it led to a dark pit. I entered it alone and found myself in a cold chamber filled with boxes and medical equipment. It was also covered in metal. Metal floors, metal walls, metal ceiling, metal tables, and so on. It was honestly the first time I had seen the stuff outside of the armory. There was exactly one door, on the far side of the room. Opening that yielded a long hallway that ended in one more door.

“It was cold now. Cold and quiet. I could see my breath fogging in the air. The last door opened to a large, circular chamber. In it, I found the remains of four of my brothers and sisters. Thing is, they weren’t dead. ”

“... What?”

“Two brothers. Threesisters. Each in different states of… of massacre. Missing limbs. Missing parts of their skull. One ceased to be halfway back down their barrel. But all of them were lobotomized by Chrysalis. She butchered her own children. She ripped out parts of their mind. And above all of this? There was an empty tube. A spot, reserved for me. Once I had accomplished every goal she set before me, she would have entombed me within my own body. There was never going to be any peace for me. It was always a fight to survive, from the moment I was hatched. I simply didn’t know the stakes.”

Any composure Cadence had was gone.

“Oh my Celestia…”

“They were in there. I know it. They had been stuck in their own bodies for centuries.”

Cadence lifted a hoof, “S–Stop! This is too much!”

“Their minds pulled out like spaghetti–”

“HURGH–”

“AGH! PHASMA! YOU WERE NOT SUPPOSED TO MAKE HER VOMIT ON ME!” Luna yelled.

“–So that brings you up to speed with my story.”

“Oh no! You are not playing this off as a joke!”

“Isn’t this just a dream? No one threw up on you for real.”

That was apparently the wrong thing to say.

“Concede!”

“Mmph!”

Luna lifted a hoof off my muzzle but kept both forelegs pinned behind my back. How she was doing this– let alone caught me and suplexed me into the grass– without magic was completely behind me.

“Well? Concede and apologize.”

“I‘m sorry.”

“Speak up!”

“I’m sorry Luna!”

“What are you sorry for?”

“Getting caught?”

She jerked my left foreleg.

“Ow! I’m sorry for not getting you to move beforehoof!”

“Apologize to Cadence for not taking her wellbeing into consideration, too.”

“I’m sorry Cadence. That was rude of me, and I should have stopped talking when you asked me to.”

“Apology accepted,” she murmured. Cadence was hunched over and had stabilized herself by leaning against the hedge.

“Can you let go of me now?”

I felt the weight disappear from my back and my forelegs to slack. Getting back on all fours, I got up off the pristine grass.

“You knew what would happen and you continued anyway. What did you hope to gain?”

“Payback. You told someone else that I was still alive, even before the bet was won!”

“I see why that would upset you. I did not consider how you would view such an action.”

“If word gets out, Chrysalis will be hunting me down at all hours of the day! Damn Daybreaker, she couldn’t hold a candle to what’s in store for me if I get caught by my own kind!”

“But why this? A simple conversation could have set things straight.”

“Because it’s funnier. And to be honest, it wasn’t exactly a planned thing.”

“If you were so worried about changelings hunting you down, one would think that you would be more serious about the situation.”

“You’re talking to the guy who shit-talked a Nightmare just before it tortured me.”

Cadence asked, “... You were tortured?”

“Uh, yeah. I was. It was… Yeah. Shortly after I was attacked by dire wolves, a Nightmare invaded my mind and tortured me. It nearly possessed me like Celestia got possessed– and how Luna was before her rebellion one thousand years ago– but Luna arrived in time to save me.”

If I focused hard enough, I could still feel the–

Luna interrupted the thought with a large sigh as she rolled her eyes and walked up to me to pull me into a hug with her wings.

“If you hope to guilt me into not staying mad at you, you have succeeded.”

“No, that wasn’t my intention. Agh, wait a second!”

Luna chuckled as she rubbed her filth-covered side into my formerly clean chest.

“You son of a–”

“Never let your guard down, fool!”

I pushed away from her and sneered at my own filthy chest.

“We are even now. Remember this incident, should you ever consider pranking me again. You are of no match and are doomed to fail.”

“Oh I’ll remember this alright… But I am sorry Cadence. That was… immature.”

‘I need a hobby, and I need one fast. As fun as getting revenge on Luna is, apparently all I’ve done outside of involving someone who didn’t deserve it is managing to poke a bear. Just how skilled is she at getting revenge? Perhaps I should find Double Diamond soon and get him to teach me how to ski as a quadruped, that sounds like a safer thing to do.’

“I already accepted your apology. It’s just…. I don’t know what to say. I would be surprised if anypony could go through all that and remain the same.”

“Why don’t you just tell me your story?”

“First, I would greatly appreciate it if you would remove this horrid staining on my coat, niece.”

“How do I do that?”

“Imagine it gone. You are the controller of this world, so control it.”

“Err, okay.”

Luna inspected the side that was closest to Cadence and let out a sigh as it suddenly became as clean and pristine as the rest of her.

“... Thank you, Cadence.”

“It’s nothing. I’m sorry I–”

“I know. Begin your story, if you would. This is the first time I shall hear it, too, in case you forgot.”

“Hey, what about me?”

“You may clean Phasma up, too, if you wish.”

Cadence studied me.

“Please?”

With an obnoxious sparkle, my chest suddenly was squeaky clean.

“Thank you.”

“It’s fine. Let’s just never speak of this. Ever. Moving on, my story began with me being found in the woods by my parents. I was just a tiny pegasus filly at the time. My earth pony parents, Midnight Breeze and Blooming Lilac, took me in and raised me as their own.”

I chose not to comment on her father’s name, and instead let her continue. Luna had no intentions of that.

“Midnight Breeze? An unfortunate name.”

“Luna–”

“I know. He embraced the obvious joke and said he was the loudest pony in the village, day and night! It was true, he had a falsetto that could ring off the mountain valley for miles around. Mom said he broke a glass vase when they first met! It’s no surprise that they named me Cadence, considering their passion for singing. Anyways, they showered me with their love for years– which I am always thankful for. Rather than bore you two with my uneventful foalhood up in that wooded mountain valley, I’ll just say that I look back at those years very fondly.”

She gave me a pitiful glance.

“You’re not the first pony who has strayed from Harmony that I have helped guide back. Or want to help, in your case. I know you’re not a pony, before you start that, and that you don’t really care about Harmony, but what matters is that you do want to do good, both by your friends and subjects, and by strangers when possible. Call it whatever you want, I will call it Harmony. But you’re not the first villain I met. That would be Prismia.

“Prismia was a forgotten earth pony who lost sight of her place in the world. She thought that everypony was out to get her, and that she was forgotten by those who cared about her. Like a spare puzzle piece, she didn’t see herself fitting in anywhere. Loneliness and desire for revenge drove her to try to take love by force. Using a magical necklace, she bewitched the entire town, intent on draining them of all positive emotions. I was one of the few who were not in the town at the time and were free from her grip. In fact, I was flying for one of the first times.

“Instead of running away or trying to get help, I went to confront Prismia personally. I talked to her, when nopony else would. When she tried to use her necklace to power her own hatred, it instead amplified the love I felt for the hurt pony. The act of kindness changed her, and she changed her ways. All the love that surrounded us suddenly flew into me and suddenly, I had a horn! I guess Harmony approved of me helping out a pony in need, even when they bit the hand that fed them.”

“Auntie Celestia showed up shortly after. At the time, she was just Princess Celestia. She told me about alicorns, what my future could be, and offered a place here at Canterlot Castle. With my parent’s blessing, I came here and started training under Celestia. Eventually, she adopted me as a niece– nopony could replace my parents– and I attended school in Canterlot. That’s pretty much it. I foalsat as a side gig, which is how I met Shining Armor and his sister Twilight Sparkle. We got together and you can guess the rest.”

“Thank you for sharing, Cadence,” Luna said.

“Yeah, that was– wait a Panar-damn second. Captain Shining Armor is Twilight Sparkle’s brother? That’s how she knew his moves… I mean, thank you for sharing Cadence. That was a radically different story than my own, and it was… pleasant?”

“I’m sorry you went through all of that, Phasma. The world isn’t that cruel, I promise.”

“... I’ll believe that when I see it. Maybe after my species stops fighting for their survival.”

“So when every pony stops fearing that their loved ones have been replaced in the dead of night? Or when they get over their fears that they will be abducted in broad daylight? I’m not belittling your issues– they are obviously substantial, but this goes both ways.”

“So it does. I am hoping to reach some sort of coexistence with ponies in the future, after Chrysalis has been dealt with.”

“That is an admirable goal. I wish you had tried going for that in the first place, but the decision was not yours.”

I stiffened.

“I’m the one who drew up the war plans for invading Equestria. I’m the one who founded the Legions and created their training programs.”

“Your mother ordered the invasion, did she not?”

“I would have done the same.”

“Would you? Are you sure that you wouldn’t have tried to just use more spies to gather love instead?”

I didn’t answer, I was too busy considering that possibility.

“Maybe you would have ordered the invasion. But you didn’t. And now you’re working to fix your past mistakes, and are sincere in your apologies. As sincere as you can be, at least. I understand that as a ruler, your first priority is to those who rely on you for protection. That’s why I agreed to train for fighting in the first place, despite my misgivings about it. You walk in Prismia’s hoofsteps, even if you don’t know it. I have to ask one question, Phasma; do you consider me a friend?”

“... Not really.”

“Can you consider me a friend?”

“... I don’t see why not.”

“Then in my book, you’re not a villain anymore.”

“What? That’s all it takes for you to quote, redeem a villain?”

“Were you hoping that I would want to send you to Tartarus or something? That’s for villains who refuse to be reformed. Luna already brought you back to Harmony.”

“... Alright then. Now what?”

“Would you like to talk and pass the time?”

“Sure?”

“Great! I’m sure you’ve got stories you can share, though I would prefer it if you kept some tact while you do so.”

“Don’t make you hurl, got it. Still sorry for that.”

“You can make it up by making me laugh.”

I slowly lowered myself to the ground. In this summer dream, the heat of the sun warmed the chitin on my back nicely. Crickets were chirping beyond sight, and the cool breeze still occasionally picked up and rustled the branches of the trees and bushes.

“I can do that. Let’s start with a tale I already told Luna. It starts with my closest friends: Coxa, Lacewing, Thorax, Oestridae, myself, and Tarsus. I already talked about Tarsus but this was before Tarsus had betrayed us. Or, maybe it wasn’t, who knows? One day, Coxa and Lacewing had gotten their hooves on this mushroom-derived alcohol…”

85- Mercury

I sighed as I looked up at the sky. As the sun was setting, the moon was out and the first stars were stepping out into the sky.

The light pollution on Equus was nearly nonexistent, even here on the edge of Manehattan. The warehouse’s parking lot area, if you could call it that and not just a small expanse of concrete, had a pretty good view of the night sky.

“Hmmm… Yeah, I can definitely see what you’re getting at.”

“You see the spot?” I asked.

“Yes,” Coxa replied.

“And you think we’ll have enough room?”

“There’s enough for what you’re asking, but not much more.”

“That’s fine. All we really need to be sure of is that the love we’re transporting isn’t discovered. If the alcohol is found, then… We can deal with jail time, fines, what have you.”

Coxa popped his head up from the side of the pulled cart. I was lying prone on my back on the back of the empty cart while Coxa was examining the front part.

“I’m certain we can fit these hidden compartments. There’s plenty of space under the seats. The rest of the cargo can go in those crates you bought and had the lings modify.”

“That’s good to hear,” I said through a yawn, and readjusted myself to try to get comfortable on the wooden floor of the cart. “How soon can the first carts and crates be ready to receive the shipments? We’ve already got orders lined up and waiting.”

“I can get a team together to start the retrofitting tonight. So… tomorrow, you’ll have enough carts for what you need. By the end of the week, all the carts and crates should be fixed up and ready to break laws.”

“That’s what I like to hear,” I said with a smile.

“Have you put thought into diversifying the methods of gettin’ shit from one place to another?”

“Some…”

I didn’t look into purchasing ships or negotiating contracts for sea smugglers as I viewed it as inferior to simply bringing in alcohol already produced in Equestria, but I kept my ear out for opportunities. There was some famous American family that made their money off importing alcohol during the Prohibition, I think it was the Kennedies. But with the carts we had– both the land-based and the enchanted ones that could be pulled by pegasi in the air, we could begin moving things to and fro.

We had gotten good deals on all of them, as one of the changelings within the Fifth were good acquaintances with what had to be a fence. Being wanted by the law already nudged us towards the disreputable parts of Equestria, and that was just aces for setting up this business.

“Heya Phasma?”

“Coxa.”

“When this whole thing is off the ground and bringing in bits, how are we going to… use them?”

I rolled my head to look at him as we talked.

“Well, It’ll be one huge fund that will be the main income for the Fifth Hive’s government for a while. From that fund, we can dispense bits out to changelings who need them for a good purpose.”

“No plans on making a hoard for yourself that would turn a dragon green with envy?”

“Of course not. Not at first, at least.”

“So if I were to ask for the money to create my own business…?”

“I’d say that would be fine, as long as the money gets paid back.”

“Cool, Cool…”

I was curious, “What business are you thinking of creating?”

“Hm? Oh, I don’t know. I’m still rather new to this whole capitalism thing. Nothing like it back in the hive. Shit, the way things are going, I’m probably going to be too busy with the Fifth Hive to do anything like that, anyways. You’d probably drown in paperwork without me. Crash and burn. No survivors.”

“You’re probably not wrong.”

“Still, I’m glad to hear that it’s an option,” Coxa said.

A silver oval emerged from behind one of the high rises of Manehattan. An airship, soaring high above the cityscape.

‘Hmmm….’

“I’ll go get the team assembled, then. Don’t fall asleep out here in the open, Phasma.”

“Yeah yeah. Don’t overwork yourself Coxa, we can afford delays. In fact, after the first batch of carts are modified, take a day off.”

“Sounds good, boss.”

I heard his hoofsteps as he walked towards the warehouse. I laid there for a moment longer, thinking.

‘I’ve never been on a dirigible before. I wonder if I can find some excuse to buy one. Maybe I should even look into hiring a Captain or two to smuggle for me… I guess I’ll look into that when I eventually get to the point where I’m importing booze from other nations around Equestria.’

The Manehattan Guard reared back and bucked the door down. The old wooden thing, rotting on its hinges, collapsed inwards with a spray of splinters and mold spores. The guards then rushed in, yelling unintelligible commands. The whole thing was… amateurish. There was no organization. No plan. No elegance. It looked like it was a breach and clear method reverse engineered from testimonies from ponies in Canterlot, who were on the receiving end of changelings breaking down doors and clearing their homes with expert efficiency. The whole thing seemed far more chaotic than it should have been.

I nudged Double Diamond from behind, and nodded towards Thorax. We were wearing disguises while going out shopping.

“Come on, let’s get a move on.”

Diamond hesitantly started walking forwards, but kept his focus on the raid across the street.

“Eyes forward, Diamond. I don’t want to attract unnecessary attention.”

“What’s going on over there?” He asked.

“Nothing that concerns us.”

Reluctantly, Diamond tore his gaze away.

“Why are they doing that?”

“Who knows?” I asked. “It could be a tip off for a changeling there– though there isn’t any, it could be a warrant for an arrest, or it could be because whoever lives in that building pissed off Daybreaker personally.”

“Guards are supposed to protect ponies,” Diamond shook his head.

Thorax tried to reassure Diamond, “As long as we stick together, we’ll get through anything that gets in our way. I know we will.”

Diamond grinned, “Thanks, Nimble. I’d never have thought that this is what the world was coming to, but… Is it wrong that I’m kinda glad? You know, if it hadn’t turned out this way…”

“... We would have never met,” Thorax finished.

They started to lean in towards each other.

“Hey you two, not to interrupt or anything, but where exactly is this sports shop that we’re heading to?”

“Just a couple blocks down,” Diamond replied, still leaning towards Thorax.

And then they kissed.

‘Great, happiness. How disgusting; I’d rather be watching the guards violate ponies’ rights than watch these two.’

“How do the boots fit?” Diamond asked.

I lifted my right two legs and shook them.

“It feels wrong to have all four limbs dedicated to skis.”

“Ha! The pros use only their hindlegs for skis, and use their forelegs for poles. But you’re not a pro.”

‘I take it snowboards don’t exist then. Makes sense, it’d be impossible to use. How would they stand on one? Which legs would it be under? Why bother when skis are the superior way of traversing snow?’

“You don’t know that. For all you know, I could be the next… uh… I don’t know enough about Equestrian culture to make references. Whatever, just pretend I said something clever.”

“That would be a huge stretch of the imagination,” Thorax replied from behind one of the standing shelves of skis and ski poles. There was a loud series of clacks as he picked some up, inspected them, and put them back on the rack.

“Disparaging me is C– Face Value’s job. You’re supposed to be cute, cuddly, and hopelessly naive. The boots do seem to fit well. They don’t move when I shake my hooves, they aren’t too tight. And they don’t look bad.”

‘Even if they didn’t fit, I could just shapeshift into a hoof size to make them.’

The boots were black. You know, like chitin. Diamond shook his head slowly at the obvious joke.

“Right, dude. Now we pick out some skis and a helmet.”

A little while later, Diamond and I were sitting by the checkout with my selected winter gear. Thorax was deeper in the large sports store, looking at potential gear for himself. Diamond chose to ask a few questions that must have been bugging him.

‘Heh, bug.’

“So Expected… Thorax told me you were doin’ somethin’ that would bring around a profit. Something about a new business?”

“Yeah. It’s in a market with no competition, so there should be ample opportunity to make a profit.”

“I was never much for the numbers part of running a business. That’s why my sister is the one who is inheriting our family’s business.”

“What business is that?”

“They’re engineers. They work on things here and there, but their true passion is inventing. I couldn’t manage the bookkeeping side of things, let alone the actual engineering, but last I checked they were completely knee-deep into their latest project. Something with all sorts of doodads, from transistors to those glass tube things.”

“I.. wasn’t aware Equestria had electronics.”

He shrugged, “For the most part, we don’t. It’s just a thing in engineering labs. But they’re convinced they’re about to find a use for electronics that will actually compete against magic-related competition: long range communication.”

“Radio,” I whispered.

“What did you say?”

“Ah, doesn’t matter. What matters is that I think your parents are going to be successful. You said that they have to compete against magic items?”

“Course. That’s why there are no big generators powering cities or whatever, dude. Why use up all that room, supplies, fuel, and make all that noise and smoke when four enchanted things will do the job?”

“That’s a very limited view on the potential of electricity, but I guess it’s warranted?”

“Yeah.” Diamond looked around us before asking his next question, “How exactly do you even know about electricity? It’s kinda a thing only for engineers and whomever they rope into listening into their nonsense. Not even Canterlot really cares about it, except for the most advanced machines they use. You’re from pretty much the opposite of Canterlot.”

“I uh… it doesn’t matter.”

He frowned, “It’s just, that’s not something that comes into everyday conversation. It’s like stopping a pony on the street and asking them about... I dunno, it’s weird! You especially. Nimble said you aren’t old. In fact, he said you were…”

“He wasn’t lying.”

“That doesn’t make any sense though.”

“It’s complicated. I’d rather not talk about it.”

“So you do know why you’re like this?”

“I said I don’t want to talk about it.”

After a minute, Thorax arrived, holding his skis, helmet, and extra padding under his wings.

“They were out of cyan skis, so I got red ones instead. Look Expected, they match my brother’s colors!”

“They look nice, Nimble,” Diamond said. “We were just talking about Expected’s history.”

“Then we finished talking,” I said.

Thorax looked between us, “You should open up more, Expected. It’ll help you out.”

“What are you, my psychiatrist? Speaking of poor transitions into other conversations, let’s check this stuff out.”

“This is a lot of new equipment… You sure you can pay for all this, Expected? You were kinda crashing on our sofa last week, and now you’re buying new skiing equipment…?”

“Yeah I’ve got it covered. The last of the bits I personally saved. Don’t worry, the new business we started should be making a profit very soon.”

Indeed, very soon had come.

I watched as the changelings finished unhitching themselves from the cart, parking the last one inside the warehouse.

There were shelves and boxes in the building now, as well as replacement glass for the broken windows. In the office section, I ordered the rotting boards be replaced with new ones, and Coxa got right on it. All around the main room, changelings were bustling to and fro with their work or leisure time.

It had been a full week since I had purchased the carts and ordered them to be retrofitted. And over the past week, while out looking for suppliers, we found more groups of exiled changelings in Fillydelphia and Baltimare and brought them here to Manehattan. We now numbered twenty changelings in total with thirty or so newcomers that had yet to be fully inducted. From the original fifteen in Hooferville to over triple that number, in such a short span of time.

Once we began our mafia in earnest, that number would only grow as we spread throughout Equestria. I was sure that quickly, we would come into contact with every changeling in Equestria. Every changeling that wanted to be found by us, at least. Infiltrators… if they wanted to stay hidden, then they never would be found. Other than Infiltrators, changelings tended to try to stick together and were sorta obvious when you knew where to look and what to look for. Hang out in clubs, bars, and so on, and just find the ponies that were completely emotionless.

Still, there was probably going to be the need to hire out-of-house for muscle and rum runners. Those members would obviously never be in on the big secret of the Family, but they would be useful regardless. That was a long ways away, but it paid to keep that in mind. You never know when a trustworthy pony could come in handy.

All this was just in time too, the stockpile of bits we had accumulated to start the criminal empire was beginning to dry up. We needed income, and we needed it fast. With the Fifth Hive segmented into teams dedicated to locating suppliers, finding buyers, and transporting the goods, bits and alcohol could start flowing. For now, the majority of the changelings and I lived in cheap bunk beds in the office section, with a number sleeping in the warehouse section itself. While in the warehouse, many changelings forgoed their disguise, both for comfort and for the ability to sit and sleep anywhere with relative comfort. Relative, not a whole lot.

I was currently sitting on a wooden crate, overlooking the warehouse floor as changelings began to load up carts with boxes that contained hidden caches of alcohol. There was a lot of business in Manehattan already, with plenty of locations chomping at the bit to get their hooves on alcohol.

But I was not satisfied with just that. I knew that there was an immense amount of room to grow, and I needed to get in on the market as quickly as possible. The locations buying from us probably would only last for so long before the Manehattan Guard started cracking down and kicking doors in. We needed more secure sources of income. More… trustworthy.

With Thalamus looking into potential Speakeasy locations, that was a while down the line, but I wanted to be prepared. The ability to serve alcohol to ponies in the front room while also hooking changelings up with love rations in the back room was something I looked forward to. Though I did debate the wisdom of that, and whether or not I should keep the two activities as separated as possible. For now, the few changelings– including Thorax– who were actually bringing in love were now storing it within the warehouse directly.

Speaking of, I also wanted to construct some sort of airlock or waterlock at the main garage door. The whole two-doors-system. That way, carts would enter, close the door behind them, and open the one in front. No pony walking by would be able to see inside of the warehouse, and it would be much harder to break into. That was just one of a number of upgrades I was eventually hoping to achieve.

Right now, I was writing in a journal notes for the business. Who was buying what, how much, and how trustworthy and honest they seemed. As I finished writing my notes on secondary locations Coxa had picked out for storage, Cricket walked up to me. She had a thick ledger she was placing into an open bag on her back, having just finished taking account of the transaction the last changeling team completed.

“Good evening, Cricket.”

“Your Majesty,” she bowed.

“Please, no bowing. Not until I bring us out of these gutters will I accept any praise for this.”

We were all pooling our money together for this, and while the changelings were perfectly adapted to this and completely okay with it, I wanted to eventually get to the point where the money the Crown had and the money the changelings had were separate. The standard capitalist system had far more potential than any other system outside of a post-scarcity society.

Cricket rose back up to her hooves.

“The first shipments from Manehattan, Fillydelphia, and Baltimare have arrived, been split up into their respective delivery loads, and are being shipped out.”

“Good work.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty. As per your request, we’ve refrained from scouting out Hooferville and the settlements south of Canterlot and Baltimare.”

I explained my reasoning, “No point checking south of Baltimare, the Legions foalnapped every pony down there. The area south of Canterlot is too hot, too well patrolled by the Royal Guards. Hooferville is too hot as well, with Division-P likely to be active in that settlement for the next indeterminate amount of time. Speaking of which, if Division-P is spotted within a town, I want that town marked as hot. We need to develop a warning system, and map out the Division's activities.”

“That will be accomplishable when we have found more changelings, Your Majesty.”

“Very well then, I’ll just have to write that down as a plan for the future. In the meantime, keep up the good work and I promise we will see returns very soon.”

Cricket nodded, “Yes, King Phasma. Thrips is currently accompanying the largest shipment to a location right here in Manehattan. I expect the bits he will bring back will be the windfall we need to continue purchasing from suppliers.”

“Excellent. I trust that there was no issue in smuggling the alcohol here?”

She shook her head, “The ponies have not yet begun to inspect cargo shipments. It seems they are slower to implement Daybreaker’s laws than you predicted, Your Majesty.”

“Expect that to change. She’s been here for a week, and there’s no way in hell she’s spent that time idly. Have all the teams been practicing their lingo, cover story, and contingency plans?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. It’s been slow going but we’ve been making training documents as we go along. The abundance of paper here in Equestria has made all this so much easier. So much easier… I digress, we should have the training streamlined within a month, and everything ready for new changelings.”

“Everything but space,” I said as I scanned the warehouse.

“I believe Coxa voiced his wishes to purchase other locations, Your Majesty?”

“Yes, he has. I’ve taken notes on his proposals, from additional warehouses to run-down apartment buildings that we can fix up and turn into safe havens. But until we build a satisfactory amount of capital, this is what we’re stuck with…”

Cricket bowed her head, “If you could excuse me, Your Majesty, I would like to retire for the evening.”

I waved a hoof, “Go on, and great work today Cricket. Tell the others I said so, too.”

“Thank you for being so kind, Your Majesty. We are simply doing our duty and serving the Hive.”

“Which I am thankful for. We are all working towards a better future for us, where we no longer starve. The fact that everyone is throwing themselves into their duties with such enthusiasm is… I simply cannot describe it.”

“Permission to speak candidly, My King?”

“Always granted.”

“That’s just it. Life under Queen Chrysalis was… harsh. We couldn’t speak our minds. We did our duties without complaining. We worked hard and were never thanked. I was not a member of one of the Lodges, but I can imagine why they flocked to your banner, King Phasma. You.. you listen to us. You promise us the moon, then actually go on the front lines and work yourself for that goal. No one blames you for falling short, and you just picked yourself up and got right back to it. For once in living memory, and maybe in changeling history, we have a royal who listens to us drones, actually listens. We have something that was once reserved only for royals; we have hope.”

I wiped an eye.

“Uh, wow. Cricket, that’s… were things that bad?”

“You have no idea, My King. Especially towards the setup for the invasion, restrictions on what we could do or say were harsh…”

A couple of changelings put on disguises and walked past us towards the door to the office area. Each of them gave me a slight bow of the head as they entered.

“That’s not how things will be under my rule. I promise that.”

Cricket smiled, “I know, My King. I believe that. We all do. Have a good evening, Your Majesty.”

“Take care, Cricket.”

She smiled as she turned and walked off to the office area. The changelings set up a recreation in one of the bottom rooms, and the three others were turned into what were essentially barracks. From the window, I could see a couple of changelings talking around a table, half of them playing cards, the other simply chatting.

‘Tonight’s gonna have a full house. We definitely need to look into expanding our base of operations. Preferably somewhere with working plumbing…’

87- Gods Must Be Strong

“Are you ready to order?”

Count Double Dealing smiled, “Yes, I think we are. I’ll have the grilled fruit kebab, with cinnamon honey glaze. These three will not be ordering.”

The waitress nodded and then asked me, “And you, sir?”

She was a yellow pegasus with a two toned blue and white mane, done up in a ponytail.

‘Poor little thing. You should not be here in this den of lions, things might get messy. I should probably think of a way to get you out of here.’

“Bitalian chopped salad, no tomatoes.”

The waitress nodded and left us once more.

“You know,” I began, “I was pretty sure that I was going to be the first into this business. You were not supposed to be here. You were just supposed to be a potential client.”

Double Dealings shrugged, “I’m afraid you missed that boat. A Manehattan minute is famously short, after all. Things move quickly in the big apple. You should have known that. If there are bits to be made, then there are ponies willing to make those bits.”

I refrained from grinding my teeth, “This is such a gross oversight. I’m really going to need to have a word with Hired Muscle about this.”

Dealings paused, “Wait, your hired muscle is actually named Hired Muscle? That can’t be a fake name, not unless this muscle is actually more clever than you are!”

He started laughing. With his breathless voice, he was more of a wheezing gasp than anything else.

“Stop talking.”

I started tapping a hoof on the table impatiently.

‘What an annoying setback. Now I have to deal with this imbecile. Still, replacing half of his gang here is quite the ambush. We’ll just follow him back somewhere nice and quiet, and then we’ll spring the trap. Length to hang himself my ass, I’ll strangle him myself when this is over!’

He would notice the discrepancy immediately when arriving at wherever he intends to bring my stuff. That discrepancy being that the changelings’ goods that he is pilfering were not actually there. When we arrived, we would have to attack immediately.

The unicorn piped up, “Stop tapping the–”

“You stop talking, too.”

Double Dealings smiled, “Cheer up, young Al. This is a learning experience you’ll greatly benefit from.”

“Uh huh.”

Minutes passed by slowly.

I always hated waiting.

‘What’s Luna up to? I bet she’s listening to some snobby noble whine about how oppressive it is to follow the law. ‘But-but-but Your Majesty, slavery is a necessary tool to progress the nation!’ If it wasn’t for the fact that I was one of them, I’d probably be all for the dismantling of royalty and the noble class. As it is, changelings have it right: no nobles and myself as king. I can do no wrong, I’m Phasma! Heh, I should be fine as long as Thorax sticks with me. If he disapproves of something… I should probably listen to him then. He’s got an outside view on this. Outside of the vanity that comes with being royalty, that is.

‘Maybe I can reorganize the changeling Hive to where it has a legislative body. Let that handle a lot of the heavy lifting. Throw in a judicial system, educate the Praetorians or whatever to make them more along the lines of police. Give Thorax a position where he has some sort of veto. Good ol’ nepotism… Yeah, sounds like a plan. I could even draft a constitution.’

More plans for the future. Just like back in the hive before the invasion. Always planning ahead, to points I might not ever reach. Better than just sitting here on my hooves, doing nothing. There was also the fact that Double Diamond’s family were electronic engineers.

‘Radios, here in Equestria! I wonder what else they can cook up for me! I just need to give them all the bits they need, in exchange for having a voice in their process. Promote ideas, shoot down others. This could be really useful. Screw the Prime Directive or whatever, as long as it doesn’t hurt people directly or indirectly, it’s fair game.’

A diversified portfolio was the endgame.

‘No... Luna’s the real endgame. We’re going to do so many unChristian things together: hold hooves, evade taxes, cheat death through agelessness, and so many pranks. I wonder if she’s thought of making a cult, just for shits and giggles. Considering how boring the centuries must have been before video games, I’d say probably. Oh, that’s another thing I need the Diamonds to invent.’

My musings came to an end when the waitress finally arrived with a large tray of dishes on her back.

She slowly set the dishes down in front of each of us.

"Thank you dear," Double Dealings said with a smile as the kebab was laid down in front of him and onto a wooden cutting board.

"And your salad," The waitress muttered as she set down a large bowl of green stuff in front of me.

I gave her a nod, but otherwise held my tongue. Despite my meandering train of thought, the fact that I was sitting here as bait for a trap I was hesitant to step into in the first place was beyond grating. There were a hundred and one more productive things I could be doing, including but limited to napping.

"Let me know if there's anything else I can help you with."

With that, the waitress backed off and left us to our two meals. The unicorn was now resting his head on a hoof propped up on the table. I still reckoned that he was watching me like a hawk.

The Count picked up his skewered fruit and pulled one off with his teeth and began chewing.

"You know," he said with a full mouth, earning an eye roll from me, "worse ponies than I would have not even stopped to chat with you. They'd have simply shown up at your place of business in the dead of night and stormed the doors."

'If only. Instead, I have to sit here listening to you.'

"That would be unfortunate," I said.

Time continued to pass slowly as I watched him slowly pick at his own meal. I left the salad untouched. He quirked an eyebrow at that but thankfully didn't start speaking again.

After what had to be at least fifty weeks of waiting, Razer, Froghopper, and the rest of the ponies finally returned.

Or I should say, Froghopper returned. The rest of the ponies would not be seeing the light of day anytime soon. Accompanying him was the majority of the second wave of changeling backup I would be calling on.

'Showtime.'

Upon seeing them arrive, Count Double Dealings sighed happily, "Efficient as always! That's why you're my top enforcer, and why I pay you the big bucks!"

Faux Razer snorted as he sat down next to the Count, "Not nearly enough."

"Are all affairs are in order?"

Razer grunted out a reply.

"Marvelous. That leaves one matter of business to settle."

"I really don't think it does. I'll be leaving now. Try not to drown in your own pride, Double," I sneered as I started to stand from my seat.

"Blend in until he brings you to his base of operations or whatever. When he goes inside, leave the doors open and get ready to spring ambush–"

"I need to make sure you really understand the importance of this lesson."

"I'm pretty sure that I understand how you took everything that I own."

He laughed, "No. What I mean to say is… I need you to understand the consequences of coming back, or Celestia forbid, trying to get revenge."

'Can this guy get any worse?'

"Don't worry, we're not going to kill you. Though it's going to be close…"

'... Huh.'

"Hold for new orders," I commanded.

"I've complied, haven't I?"

"Yes but I need to know that I have your word that you won't come back, and I'm afraid your verbal promises aren't exactly worth anything. I'm going to need something from you. A hoof, perhaps. Or a wing, depending on how much you resist."

The restaurant was quiet. I spied the staff hiding inside, watching through the windows.

'Even the staff knew.'

I kept a straight face and tried my best to not grind my teeth.

The Count took my silence as his cue to continue, "I'm so sorry this has to happen, but it does have to. You understand the importance of messages, surely?"

"I've complied. Do not do this."

'I was going to let you live. Well really you were going to be turned into a living battery for potentially the rest of your life, but still. The ponies might have even been able to negotiate for your release.'

He shrugged.

'If that's the way you want to play it.'

"Follow us to where he takes us and–"

"Razer. You may begin."

I started, "Here? Now?!"

"Cordon off the area! I need a team up front casting an illusion to hide what's going on! We're going to have to be quick, there's no way to quickly throw up a silencing field to hide the sound!"

Razer was hesitating.

"I said you may start, Razer," Double Dealings pressed.

"Stall him. Get close to the unicorn and stun him. When he stuns the unicorn, everyone attack!"

I stood there, directing the counter attack without moving a muscle. To the ponies, I looked like I was frozen in shock.

"You know boss, I think I deserve a bonus for this," Razer said, standing up and slowly sauntering over to the Count's other side, where the unicorn sat.

"You've picked a hell of a time to make that demand."

"That's why they call it a demand, yeah? Asking nicely when things are calm and quiet rarely gets you anything you’re asking for."

All the while, he inched closer to the unicorn bodyguard. I decided to interfere. The more distractions thrown in, the better.

"Double Dealings! I was going to handle this discreetly and do away with you when no one was looking. But now, you've forced my hoof! Remember this moment thirty seconds from now; this was the moment you died, you just don't know it yet!"

The ponies were all looking at me now. By the time they noticed the fact that Razer had stopped behind the unicorn, it was too late to do anything.

With a single swift upward strike of a wing, the changeling disguised as Razer slammed into the unicorn in the throat. He then grappled the unicorn and struck him in the horn. They went down to the ground in a tangle of limbs.

"Attack!"

The commotion had redirected the ponies' attention away from me, allowing me to extend a wing and discreetly grab the kebab from Count Double Dealings' plate. With a flick of a hoof, I cleared the rest of the fruit from the skewer.

The Count began to yell, "What the ponyfeathers are you–"

That was when the spells started flying in from the neighboring rooftops and from the front of the restaurant.

His minions, now replaced with my own, began to throw out barrages of stunning spells. The changelings that weren't disguised as unicorns each changed into a unicorn in a green flash and unleashed their own spells. Or if they were too close, engaged in hoof-to-hoof combat with the real ponies closest to them.

In an instant, the courtyard had erupted into chaos. Ponies were yelling, grunting in pain as they spasmed and fell to the ground, or started throwing hooves with the closest of their comrades. More than one attacked non-changelings in the ensuing chaos.

'Speaking of chaos…'

Count Double Dealings was getting whiplash from turning to and fro, trying to see all of the chaos at once. With a single strong flick of my right pegasus wing, the Count shuttered and slowly looked down to see the dirty skewer now impaled halfway into his chest.

His right earth pony guard had attempted to come to the unicorn's rescue, but was attacked by a nearby changeling who jumped to our aid. The left guard was the only pony left standing at the table, and seeing me impale his boss with a kitchen utensil, leapt for me.

Froghopper intercepted him midair and they dove to the ground, kicking and punching.

Count Double Dealings stumbled backwards and fell off his chair and onto the ground. With a hiss, a groan, and a gasp, he tried to get up, failed, and then began to crawl away.

"You could have lived, stupid pony."

I began to prowl after him, making my way around the table.

"It didn't have to be this way. It would have been nice, quiet, and contained. But no, you wanted to do this in public. And though you dug your own grave deep, it fell to me to make sure you occupied it."

He groaned once more as he dragged himself across the patio. A trail of blood was smeared onto the ground behind him.

"You're dead already, you just don't know it yet. Remember?"

He coughed blood.

A changeling and an earth pony went down in front of us, wrestling with each other. Four more changelings, now freed from their fights, dogpiled the lone pony, ending the fight. Upon seeing this, Double Dealings hesitated, then started crawling in a different direction.

With an orange flash, I replaced my wings with a horn. It didn't matter that we were being seen. There would be no witnesses. I picked up a notepad from a counter near the entrance to the store. Through the window, I saw three changelings stunning and binding up the staff. They were quick and efficient. We had improved since Canterlot, learning from that failure.

The fight was wrapping up. The surprise attack had completely caught the ponies off guard, being attacked from above and from within. There were a few bruised up changelings that I could see, but other than that we had completely rolled the mobsters. They were not Canterlot’s Finest, nor even Manehattan’s Mediocres; they were just hired thugs. Skilled and vetted as they may be, they were a far cry from anything actually military.

"Prep them all for podding. Not the Count, he's mine."

Count Double Dealings was still crawling away slowly.

I chuckled as I started to get close, "You were right, Count. I am new to the city. But the game? I've been playing this since I was born, whelp."

I caught up and stopped next to him. He was whimpering from the pain, unable to even scream in pain. I must've hit a lung or something. When he saw my hooves next to him, he flinched and curled away from me, no longer crawling forwards.

"You are just a pawn, playing against immortals."

I lifted a hoof, placed it on his back, and pressed down hard. He gurgled and shook as the end of the skewer came all the way through the bottom of his chest and out his withers. Count Double Dealings collapsed onto the ground.

He reeked of fear.

"Just a pawn, and gods must be strong."

I tossed the notebook and pen next to his head. Channeling magic and formatting the complex spell, I casted mind control onto him as I bent low, next to his ear.

"Bank pins. Passwords. Locations. Anything I need to access your assets. Write them and label each one. Important contacts, too.”

He weakly lifted his head and closest hoof, and focused hard as he began to write. His hoof was trembling. The hoofwriting was crooked. The mana burn was starting to kick in.

The pad was getting stained with blood.

“You know, for the ruler of a species that has remained hidden for thousands and thousands of years, I’m not so good at the whole ‘staying hidden’ thing," I mused. "I seem to operate on only two modes: completely still and Scorched Earth. Or would that be Scorched Equus? Not really that good of a liar, either. Ah, it doesn't matter. I’m a king, not an Infiltrator. I don’t need to be good at lying and staying hidden, and in fact my duties often are in conflict with such goals. He who dares, wins.”

I looked up to the sky and took a deep breath. The entire courtyard reeked of fear and confusion. So much so that the previous smells of happiness and fresh foods were drowned out. My own chest was pounding from the sheer adrenaline.

‘How had they masked their emotions so well? No nervousness. No hatred. Just amusement. I suppose the Count chose his minions selectively and trained them well. Damn shame all his effort was for nothing. Or maybe it was pure hubris. They felt no fear, for they thought they were not in danger. They had no idea that the timid lamb they brought into their midst was a wolf in sheep’s clothing.’

“Ponies forget who I am. Luna, Search, Bray, Dew, Cadence. They look at me and see a hurt pony. Fine, maybe I am hurt. But a pony? Not a snowball’s chance in hell. When push comes to shove, I’ll make sure I’m never shoved again. Or better yet, that the bastard never gets to shove me in the first place.”

After writing several pages of notes, the earth pony fell back onto the ground. I picked up the pad and examined the notes. They were satisfactory.

‘There’s a lot of good stuff here. I think I shall incorporate much of his network of contacts into my own, as well. I’ll need to visit his home…’

"You’ve made up for inconveniencing me. Thanks for the conversation, it was cathartic," I murmured without looking down at him.

The Count was growing quiet; he might not have even heard me. I let go of the mind control spell and examined the scene around me. Ponies were getting their hooves, wings, muzzles, and horn bound up. A changeling was close by, watching me. When I looked at him, he stepped forward.

"Sir. Where do we put them all?"

I checked the notepad, “Three Fifty-Three West Amber Road. Empty warehouse, shell company. That's not connected to the Count, store them there."

"Yes, but…"

"Do it. Bring carts. Do not use direct paths there, use varying routes. We will get everything organized after."

I glanced back at the Count. There were no more emotions coming from him.

Dead.

"I'll need help cleaning up."

"Right away, sir."

Two changelings picked the warm body up and carried it off. Another brought a mop and bucket from inside and began to wipe up the blood. I held up a hoof and waved him off.

‘I’d rather not hoof my mess off to someone else to clean up.’

Taking the mop in my own magic, I began to wash away the evidence. As I mopped back and forth, I also brought up the bloodstained pad and began reading. I would need to memorize this sooner rather than later. I didn’t want to hold onto it longer than I had to.

Ten minutes later, it became clear that the carts would need a second trip to finish cleaning up the place.

A changeling approached me as I hooves off the cleaning supplies to another changeling.

"Your Majesty! The Manehattan Guard are here!"

I frowned, "How many?"

"Four, come to investigate a series of noise complaints."

‘I’m far from topped off on mana now, so fighting or mind control is going to be quite the annoyance. Further, attention from guards is the last thing we need. There’s no way I can make them vanish without a trace, nor even mind control them if they’re a full squad. Maybe if we can nab them and bring them in, but it’s best if I try to convince them to fuck off.’

"I'll handle them."

I transformed into a unicorn I had seen in the crowd of ponies and headed to the front of the garden. A stray thought made me paused and check my hooves. The bottoms were covered in blood, despite the recent transformation. I made sure to clean them off thoroughly before I headed out to the street in front of the restaurant. There, a squad of changelings were maintaining the illusionary field I had ordered.

"Where are the guards?"

One pointed to the west side of the street. Through the illusion, I saw a squad of guards talking to a nervous pony. Likely a changeling sent to delay them.

"Let me through."

They adjusted the field to allow me to show up and pass through it. I made a beeline for the guards.

They noticed my approach and started to push past the changeling that was trying to delay them.

"You in charge here?" The one in front demanded.

"Yessir, I'm the general manager."

"We've received several noise complaints. Your colt here won't let us through. What's going on?"

I glanced backwards. The sight behind me was the occasional wagon show up, pick up some ponies, then head off through the opposite end of the street. The illusion hid the fact that the wagons were covered in tarps, and it was unconscious, bound ponies loaded up.

“I’m sorry sir, but a client has reserved the restaurant for a private party. I could have sworn I filed the proper paperwork notifying the city that we would have need of the entire street for the duration of the party– lots of ponies coming and going, you see.”

The guard snorted, “And the noise complaints?”

“Well it was a party. I suspect at least a few of those noise complaints were about a fight that broke out over something they were discussing. We didn’t ask for details from the client as we respect our client’s privacy, but the fight was broken up quickly and nopony was seriously injured.”

“What kind of party ends in a hoof fight– Oh, wait a second. What is the name of your restaurant?”

“The Red Dragon,” I answered without looking back to check.

The guard rubbed the bottom of his chin, slightly nudging his helmet out of the way as he did so.

“The Red Dragon… Could have sworn you were six blocks west of here… Ahem. I apologize for wasting your time here. I trust that there is no need to inform your client about our badgering? We simply were momentarily lost, you see….”

‘Oh? Oh! Oh-ho-ho!’

I smiled, “Certainly sir. As far as they are aware, the party went off without issue.”

The guard returned the smile and nodded, “Thanks. C’mon fellahs, nothing’s happening here that we need to be a part of.”

One of the other members began a question but the lead guard silenced him with a particularly strong glare. The junior guard’s jaw closed with an audible clack. The lead guard then led the squad away from the restaurant, in the opposite direction.

“Uh, sir? What was that?” The changeling that delayed them asked as we watched them walk away.

“The good Count has friends in high places. Friends that I have inherited, it seems. I’m sure as long as the bits keep going into the right pockets, they won’t care about our business merger.”

‘Note to self, make a charitable donation to the police union’s fund.’

I patted the disguised changeling on the shoulder, “Keep up the good work.”

“Oh! Thank you sir!” He beamed.

As I headed back to the courtyard, I began thinking about the cover up. We’d need to find out who each pony is: family, place of residence, bills they need to pay, and so on. It would take a while, even using love harvested from them to power a mind control spell.

Which meant I would be delegating a lot of expansion and integration of assets.

‘Better get started immediately. The gangsters can probably be vanished without too much of a fuss, I bet. Being a gangster isn’t exactly a safe or consistent business. But the staff? That would bring more attention than I’d want…’

Once all the relevant details about each pony were dug up, only then could we come up with a cover story for why each one left Manehattan suddenly.

‘I really hope none of these fuckers have kids.’

I was going to have a busy week.

104- Scylla and Charybdis

“You’re leaving?” Daring asked, setting her notebook down.

“I am. I have business to attend. There is much work to be done between now and the end of the war between our kinds, if you can call it that.”

Daring looked me over, opening up her book and writing a few lines down as she did. That was quite the skill, writing so much without looking at her notebook once. I was able to do that with a keyboard, but writing with a pencil? That’s a horse– pony of a different color.

“This won’t be the last time we talk,” I told her.

“No? Are you planning on delving into more ancient ruins?”

“Potentially. Mostly it’s the fact that I might need you as a character witness should I be put on trial by Equestria.”

“Ha! Is that all I am to you, a character witness?”

“No. You’re also an annoyance. A future source of income, as well.”

“I can’t imagine you would willingly be put on trial by the Equestrian Crown, King Phasma.”

“We don’t get everything we want. We all need to be prepared to compromise in life; I may need to trade immunity for something like residing within Equestria’s borders. I doubt the Princesses would be happy with me and my changelings running around, breaking laws with impunity.”

Elder Sanguine nodded, but continued to silently watch our goodbye.

“Oof, I’m glad I’m no politician. That level of forward thinking is beyond me. I’ll stand up for you in front of everypony else on one condition, though.”

“I saved your life, Daring.”

“And I saved yours, we’re even on that. I have some colleagues who will be captivated, completely captivated, by the chance to learn about another sapient species, especially one as enigmatic and reclusive as the changelings. You’re like a foalhood tale come to life, you know? They would really appreciate it if you gave them a chance to do their work, or whatever. What? Don’t look at me for specifics, I study how old bricks are in the dirt. Point is, I have wracked up a few owed favors to a number of friends over the years as a spelunker, and directing you to them is a great way of wiping away the debt, not to mention the advancement of sciences that would come from it.”

I nodded slowly, “I can do that. I imagine that kind of cooperation would basically be a requirement between our species eventually. Give me a way of contacting you, and I’ll see what I can do once the war is over.”

Daring wrote something down on a new piece of paper and tore it out of her journal, hoofing it to me. I took it and looked it over. It was a PO box for an address in Hooferville, Equestria.

“This will do,” I said. I turned to Elder Sanguine and spoke to her, “Thank you for hosting us, Elder Sanguine. I will not forget the effort and loss your people have gone through to help us.”

“I would say think nothing of it, King Phasma, but I require a promise as payment. Two, actually. One, I want you to promise to bring us with you when you root out the Nightmares from this world. We have been training for this all our lives, I think. Two, keep the Night Mistress content. She is not as strong as the mask she puts on, and as her consort, we will be keeping an eye on you. Her Highness deserves more than anypony can give her, but the best we can do is try our best. I am certain your company has already aided her greatly, if her haste to inform us of your arrival says anything about her feelings for you.”

‘I can’t imagine what a thousand years of isolation would do to someone. I would most certainly go insane. Luna… Throw in the fact that her sister is suffering a similar fate, and the sooner I get with her in person, the better. For the both of us. I already can’t wait until tonight to speak with her again, but now that I think about it, didn’t the Nightmare say…?’

“That was the Nightmare speaking to you. Princess Luna was not aware of my predicament.”

Sanguine was taken aback, “That’s not good. Our seers were deceived?”

“Yes, they were. I’ll tell Luna you have been dying for some secret dream messages, though. Just be careful in the future to not take orders from Nightmares.”

“We shall confer with the Mistress on that matter, and seek out her wisdom. Thank you for the warning and awareness, distant King. Our paths will cross again in the future; until then, may the moon guide you.”

“Changelings don’t have any special sayings like that, so I’ll just say don’t die.”

“An admirable goal for all to follow,” Sanguine smirked.

“Are you ready to depart, My King?” Captain Katydid asked.

“I am. ‘Till we meet again, Elder Sanguine. You too, Daring Do.”

“Seeya, chump,” Daring waved.

I rolled my eyes and opened a bottle of love energy that one of Katydid’s privates had fetched for me. I tilted the bottle up and downed the semi-liquid concoction. The diluted ration was improved greatly now that we had more than just water to add to it.

‘Thank Panar for this shit. So damned good… Mmm…. What was I doing?’

“Your Majesty, we’re leaving,” Katydid reminded me after a few moments of awkward silence.

“Ah! That’s what was going on. Thank you, Katydid. We’ll talk more once we’re on the ship.”

Quickly before I forgot, I borrowed Daring Do’s journal and pencil, jotted down the written form of the spell I had used to fight Nightmares, and circled the portion I used in the dragon fire.

With that done, I channeled energy into the Thread of Change, changed my disguise to Al-Capony the pegasus, and took off from the ground. The ponies covered their faces from the upturn of dust and wind as the rest of the changelings and I took off and headed up towards the Clear Skies. Captain Katydid slowly maneuvered around to fly in front of me, in order to guide me to the planned landing spot on the ship’s upper and exposed deck.

We set down and immediately several changelings nearly swarmed me.

“Sir! Are you okay?!” One yelled in my face.

“What happened, sir?!”

“Who were those ponies?”

“What’s a Nightmare?”

“Alright, alright!” I yelled. “Give me some space. I’m fine. I need to speak with Aorta. Where is he?”

A changeling pushed to the front of the gathering, “Right here, sir.”

“Come with me. Captain Katydid, lead the way to a private room where we can talk.”

Katydid countered, “Actually sir, it’s customary to meet with the Captain of the ship once you come aboard…”

“Customs can wait. Someone’s dead and I need to know who. You may tell the Captain that I will dine with him or her tonight, but right now I have business to attend to.”

“As you order, sir,” Katydid bowed his head.

Katydid led the way past the gathered changelings and to a pair of doors at the back of the ship, beneath the raised part where the helm was. He opened the doors and we walked down a dimly lit corridor, taking a staircase down to the lower level. We walked around the center of the ship, which was open on both decks and taken up by crates of cargo below. At the far end of the ship, Katydid opened a door at the end of the hallway. Beyond, a small room with a desk and cot took up the curved front of the ship.

“This is your room for the trip,” Katydid announced and shut the door behind us three, “My King.”

“It will do,” I said as I walked around and took a seat behind the small desk. The other two changelings sat down in chairs across from me after I motioned for them to do so.

“Aorta. Brief me on exactly what happened. The thestrals said they didn’t even have a body to give to us, so I need to know who died, why they were in the ritual chamber, and why you left without trying to evacuate the others.”

Aorta to his credit looked ashamed at the mention of his flight.

“You have to understand Your Majesty, it was important to get out as soon as possible!”

“Why?”

Aorta swallowed, “My King, the Nightmare was spreading its infection through your Weave. Any changeling within it was at risk! That was how I knew the ritual would fail. I warned the ponies when I figured that out, and I told them to evacuate the other changelings. But I didn’t stay to oversee the evacuation myself, it was too dangerous. The longer anyone stayed, the more danger they were in. If we all got corrupted, there would have been no survivors…”

I sighed and rubbed my face with a hoof.

‘He’s got a point. If everyone died, there’s no telling just what information could have been lost. The reinforcements could have come in gunsblazing for all we know.’

“Who was it that died, and how did they get infected?”

“That was Web, sir. I… I ordered him to stay with you, sir. I told him he would be relieved, but everything went wrong before I could arrange a replacement. He was in the chamber when it was sealed, but his presence made the seal imperfect. I was too focused with your safety to consider anyling’s presence near you to be a danger, Your Majesty.”

‘That lines up with Elder Sanguine’s story. So Aorta ordered someone to stay with me, and when things started to go bad, Aorta jumped ship without even trying to warn the others. That’s not acceptable. Damn it Aorta, you were doing well up till now!’

“Web,” I murmured.

‘Not the sharpest tool in the shed, but one of the most dependable. No doubt he followed Aorta’s orders to the letter. Even when things started getting dicey, I’m sure he just stuck his head in the sand and stood by my side. And now he’s dead. No one even tried to save him. No one fucking tried.’

I sighed once more, collected my thoughts, and prepared my words.

“I don’t expect anyone to dive head-first into a dying city, in defiance of all logic. I don’t expect anyone to be a miracle worker, everyone makes mistakes sometimes. But I do expect the changelings under my rule to follow orders when appropriate, and to watch the backs of your comrades. Your dereliction of duty put the rest of the team in danger. It got Web killed. However, I understand that circumstances demanded risk and priority of focus. Web’s death was a horrible outcome, and one that might only be predicted in hindsight. On that charge, your actions are excusable.

“However, you left the rest of your team. There is no conceivable notion that they were in any more danger than you at that moment, and your carelessness could have delayed their evacuation long enough to doom them. Aorta, I find you innocent on the account of Web’s death. On the account of dereliction of duty, I have no choice but to find you guilty. In the Fourth Hive, the punishment for dereliction would be severe, as you no doubt know.”

Aorta stiffened. Katydid was almost equally stiffened, and was no doubt wondering if he should even be here.

“This is not the Fourth Hive. I am not Queen Chrysalis. You will not be receiving forty lashes. Instead, I burden you with the Mark of Repentance. You will never hold a leadership position, nor a position of comfort. When you leave this room, you will immediately seek out the other seven from the expedition who still live. You will tell each one what you did. You will apologize, and seek their forgiveness. Until all seven forgive you, you will be marked. Should one die, be it in the line of duty or through natural causes, before they forgive you, then you will live the rest of your days marked. When we arrive at Manehattan, you will arrange to have the Mark crafted yourself. You will display it on your person at all times. It will not be a branding as tradition of the Hives dictates, but it is a Mark nonetheless. You are dismissed.”

Aorta rose from his chair slowly, bowed to me, and backed up out of the small room, never rising from his bow. When he bumped into the closed door, he reached out with his telekinesis, opened it, and closed it behind him after he left.

I did not tell him the consequences of failing to follow my orders. There simply was no need. He wouldn’t break them, not before exhausting all options beforehand. And if he did, he would come to me willingly and explain his second failure.

‘I hope he appreciates my leniency. The Fifth Hive has little room for such painful physical punishments. We have no jail, so we must do something else. A melding of the old with something new, just like the Fifth in its entirety.’

“That was kind of you, My King,” Katydid broke the silence.

“I imagine so.”

“Your mother would have issued a harsher punishment, to make no mention of the verdict.”

“She would have blamed him for Web’s death and given him forty, you mean. I know. The punishment of drones was one lesson she made sure I knew damn well.”

“Yes, My King…. Was it necessary for me to be here for that?”

“No, Captain Katydid– that’s wonderful alliteration. Your presence here didn’t matter for that. All of the Fifth will know what happened eventually. I wanted to talk to you. Last we spoke, you were to be an officer on a distant front of the war. You had no knowledge of what was to happen in Canterlot.”

“So it was planned.”

I drummed a hoof on the desk, “Of sorts.”

Katydid was silent for a moment, “.... Why?”

“She was planning to have me mutilated and imprisoned forever. I was a threat to her, and that was that. So I moved against her. I didn’t include you in the plans because you were too loyal to her.”

“I do my duty, My King. It’s not my place to decide who’s in the right or in the wrong. If she was going to hurt you, then… what am I to say about that? Do about that? If I stay out of the way, I will have committed treason against the victor. If I interfere, I will have committed treason against whomever was in the right, as well as the reigning Queen.”

“A Catch-22,” I agreed.

“My King?”

“Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.”

“Ah, yes, My King.” He looked around the cramped cabin room, “Um… I am not sure if I should thank you for leaving me out of this. Frankly, I’m not sure how I feel about this at all. When Praetorian Thorax told me about what happened, I… I was simply glad that you were alive, Your Majesty.”

“I had guessed that this was beyond your station, Katydid. You’re here now, though. You’re under my command. That means that in the future, there will be conflict between me and Chrysalis, and you need to know where you stand.”

“Sir?”

“I need you behind me, Captain. If you are going to be the Captain of the Red Right Hoof, then you need to be loyal to me, not Queen Chrysalis.”

“What are you going to do, My King?”

“I’m going to kill her.”

Katydid was stunned, “S–Sir? She’s your mother! You would kill her despite that?”

“You should have seen what she did to her sons and daughters, Katydid. The sight sticks with you like a worm. The image never leaves your head...” I took a deep breath. Slowly, I let it out. “She’s a monster, Katydid. There’s no trusting her. Not after all the things she’s done. Talk with Coxa, he knows what she did. He can tell it to you best. Just make a decision soon. I approve of your appointment to the position of Captain. We could really use someone like you. If you’re not up to the job, then let Coxa or me know.”

“Okay, King Phasma. I’ll do that.”

I smiled, “Thank you for your time, Katydid. Again, it’s nice to see you.”

“You too, My King. Oh, one last thing before I go. The Praetorian that was your shadow, Oestridae I believe. I haven’t seen him. Is he around somewhere?”

I gently scraped the desk with a booted hoof.

“... No.”

“Oh. I’m sorry, My King. I didn’t know.”

I waved at him with a hoof, “Have a good day, Katydid.”

“Good day, My King,” he said as he rose from his stiff, simple wooden chair, bowed to me, then made his exit, shutting the door on the way out.

When he closed the door behind him, I took off Unbroken Radiance’s helmet and held it before me. My reflection in the ancient helm was distorted and hazy. I tried not to think about how relevant that was. Especially not the fact that it wasn’t even my new changeling face, it was Al-Capony’s.

‘I spared Aorta. That’s a good thing, right? I’m not letting someone off the hook for a horrible crime, right? It was just a few mistakes. Web’s death was tragic, but… it wasn’t anyone’s fault, was it?’

I quietly tapped the helmet against the desk as I stared at myself through it.

“... I wish Luna was here. She’d have something stupid to say. Something stupid that was correct for some reason. She’d understand… blah blah blah, something about opening up and not hurting people. Keeping everything to yourself is bad for you; it’ll go straight to your thighs. And then you’ll blow up. Talk to your friends before I have to scrape you off the walls, Phasma.”

I glanced wistfully at the cot at the back of the room. It looked much softer than the chair I was sitting in. As much as I wanted to try to see if Luna was available to talk with right now, there was at least one more thing I had to do before going to bed. Two, if I counted trying to snag another bottle of love rations to eat. One bottle barely took away the hunger pains I had felt from being so thoroughly drained.

I still needed to talk with Clear Sky’s captain.

So, I slowly took off the rest of Unbroken Radiance, piled it neatly beneath the cot, and then set off to find the mysterious pony that was brokered to come across the continent to Vallachia.

‘I just hope this private trip wasn’t too expensive– oh who am I kidding, we’re rich now. With Dealing’s assets and the income from the burgeoning alcohol empire, I could buy a ship or three if needed. So much easier to make money when your workers require little pay, though that will change eventually. Maybe that’s a hobby I can pick up, though. I can fly an airship, right after I actually go skiing for once…’

117- The Final Masquerade: A Concerto For Lies

‘Who would have thought that after all of these months, I would return to the scene of my greatest defeat as a tourist?’

I had arrived in Canterlot around noon, through a short tunnel the changelings found that led to the Crystal Caves. Then, I briefly checked up on everyone. The boxes of supplies, materials, bits, and other items looked out of place when stacked up against the ancient crystalline walls. In the larger chambers, changelings were running drills, practicing clearing hallways and rooms throughout the tunnels, and preparing the Fifth Hive for a possible extended stay within the Crystal Caves.

The digging operation was underway. There was a sealed tunnel that exited in a water drainage system, near the palace’s dungeons. From there, it was just a short walk until you got so close to the palace that all that stood between you and its prisoners was a ten hoof thick wall. Honestly, Celestia was kinda lacking when it came to protective measures.

The changelings would work towards breaking into the drainage system, and from there, the dungeon itself.

I didn’t know what happened to the two or so other ponies that were in a relationship with revealed changelings, but I knew that Double Diamond went to visit his family for the time being. It was imperative that he not be in Manehattan without us there to protect him.

With my suit retrieved, plans in place, and Unbroken Radiance hoofed over to the thestrals just the day before, I was ready for the Gala. With a rented fancy carriage, I set off from the Hive and into Canterlot proper.

Now, I sat in the covered wagon, curtains drawn closed as I prepared myself and went over my contingency plans. I practiced my evil monologue, my one-liners, and dramatic poses. The difference between a ‘villain’ and a ‘super villain’ was, after all, presentation. To the Equestrians, today I would be a villain if I had to.

Then we arrived at Canterlot Castle.

The carriage pulled to a stop. Even through its wooden walls, I could hear the clicks of cameras outside. The paparazzi had come equipped with cameras, despite their expensive nature. This was, after all, the end-all be-all for Equestrian society.

It was the day where the latest fashion came to thrive and to die, in its impossible to predict cycles of life.

It was tonight where fortunes would be made over dinner conversations and business deals.

It was now when the summation of Equestrian society was presented to the world.

It was here where Princess Celestia would address the nation, her words printed all over tomorrow’s newspapers, though Daybreaker would be filling that role now.

It was at the Grand Galloping Gala where the fate of the world would be decided.

The covered carriage’s door opened, the tuxedoed disguised earth pony bowing to me as he let me out.

The red carpet was literally rolled out tonight. As I stepped out, I took in the sights. Ahead of me, the various nobles, celebrities, and invited press walked slowly up the steps of Canterlot Castle. Where tall, intricately designed castle walls normally stood unadorned, banners, flags, ribbons, flower bouquets, and bright magical torches hung and flowed from nearly every exposed inch around the castle’s doorway.

The streetlamps themselves had more flowers hanging beneath their crystal bulbs than many middle-class gardens had year round.

The ponies themselves wore extravagant gowns, dresses, tuxedos, and costumes that wouldn’t look out of place at a Viennese Masquerade parade. Fabric flowed like gushing rivers and streamed behind ponies like bridal shawls. Glitter and real gemstones sparkled and dazzled in the fading afternoon light and magical glow like the stars themselves draping across the ponies.

The press were gathered at the red velvet ropes on either side of the staircase, snapping pictures and yelling questions at the ponies ahead of me. Several stopped to answer questions, give autographs, or share jokes with the crowd of sycophants.

It wasn’t just the classical music and sound of conversation coming from past the open double doors and windows ahead that filled the air. Just between me and the door, I could pick out conversations about manecuts, fashion gossip, who was seen with who and where, accusations of adultery and other outrageous comments, opinions on the latest developments of the war, faithless declarations of faith in Daybreaker and the E.U.P., and on, and on, and on.

I had thought that I would be the only one to arrive at this ball with a mask on. It quickly became clear that there were seldom few bare faces present tonight. Hell, not even the Elements of Harmony would be entirely honest and forthcoming tonight. Tonight, history would be made, and not the kind that sticks in magazines for a few months.

But instead, the kind that would be told for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.

I began walking up the carpeted steps, slowly passing celebrities as they stopped for their five minutes of fame with the press. I smiled, not quite just to fit in. I was myself a bit elated to be back here.

‘Canterlot. How nice it is to see you again. Shame our last meeting was not quite agreeable for either of us. Don’t worry, I’ll try to not set fire to you tonight. No promises, though.’

A few eager ponies took my picture as I passed them. Even if they would throw away the pictures after, it was important to get pictures of everyone attending tonight. There was no telling what kind of drama might unfold inside, so getting a shot of whomever was responsible or the victim made each picture worth taking, if not keeping.

I myself, disguised as the blue unicorn with grey mane Expected Value, wore an expensive tux. I also put on a few pieces of jewelry, just enough to get by. A gold chain necklace with ruby and emeralds in an alternating pattern, pearl cufflinks, and real gold trimming at the hem of my waistcoat, sleeves, and collar. There were nobles here wearing the entire GDP of small nations, but anyone with an eye for wealth– that being every pony present– would see me and see not the fake I was. I would look just as noble and fit in as nearly everyone else here, though of obviously possessing a more modest sized pool of bits.

All this time, I paid little heed to the press, to the nobles and celebrities, to the flowers, to the faint scent of a hundred different perfumes and a thousand different emotions mixing together. My attention, and I was careful that it was absolutely hidden, was on the Royal Guards.

They stood like statues across Canterlot Castle’s entrance. At equally distanced spots on either side of the staircase, they stood guard. On either side of the door and up behind parapets and turrets, they watched. In their shiny gold armor, beneath their long pikes, halberds, and lances they stand ready for battle. Not an inch out of place. Not a sigh or a slouch was seen nor heard from them. Equestria’s finest had come to stand and watch as rich fops strutted about like bejeweled peacocks.

But Equestria was a nation at war. At the door, the two large wooden and ornate constructs pushed outwards and anchored to the ground, there was a large group of guards that held my attention in particular.

Four were Royal Guards in full plate armor. Unlike their less armored cousins, their armor was pitch black and covered in gold filigree around the edges, much like myself. Each was a unicorn, and brandished staves of wood topped with crystals.

‘War wizards.’

Fetched from their postings across Equestria, these formidable heroes would have given the Legions pause had they been encountered together and ready for a fight. The four stood abreast, two on either side of the door. Between them, three more people stood as the final line of defense at Canterlot Castle’s entrance. Three people: two Inquisitors in dull red robes underneath chest plates, peytrals, and boots, and a changeling disguised as a matte black earth pony with no Cutie Mark. He was a lonely island in a sea of emotions.

He wore only a metal collar.

Now that I saw him, I spied a few more around the defenses. Peeking out between the guards up top, several Inquisitors stood next to collared changelings.

Occasionally, one would steal a glance towards me when their minders– when their slavers weren’t paying attention. It was quite clear that they had all sensed me when I arrived in Canterlot. I would need to send them a message before one of them spoke up, or let something slip. If only I had a way to address every changeling in Canterlot without a single pony hearing what I had to say...

"Yes, it is me who you sense. Prince Phasmatodea of the Fourth Hive lives yet, and I have come tonight for all of you. Keep silent, and this shall be the last night you will be bound in irons. In the name of the Hive Eternal, I order your silence. By Panar, I swear that you all shall be free tomorrow, whatever else comes of it. As it is woven, so it shall be.”

I didn’t break stride as I passed the ponies and followed the trails of others on Canterlot Castle’s front steps. I smiled and nodded to the ponies that snapped my photo, but didn’t slow down. I stepped around a couple that had stopped in the middle of the steps to pose dramatically for one of the press ponies that were on the steps and on their way inside. I headed for the doors, and for the bound changeling at them.

‘There’s no strike team coming to free these changelings. I’ll have to be the one to do it if things don’t go as planned, or even if they do. These few Inquisitors might be under the Dead Hoof Protocol’s orders already.’

There was a small line in front of the door, but it moved quickly ahead. In front and quickly enough behind me, the invited aristocrats chatted amongst themselves about nothing in particular. Feelings of anticipation, of excitement, of fear, and of happiness slushed around me like a boiling broth.

After a short moment, there was only one soul between me and the Grand Galloping Gala. The pony ahead of me, a grey stallion with a white curled mane, hoofed his invitation over to one of the Inquisitors. The Inquisitor opened it, looked through it, then looked over the pony. Hoofing it off to their side, an attendant took the invitation and bowed, leading the way for the noble inside.

I stepped forward as another attendant took the first one’s place by the Inquisitor.

‘Having invitations checked by Inquisitors, are we? No butlers for this, only unicorns trained to spot fakes and changelings.’

“Invitation, sir,” the Inquisitor demanded politely, but still demanded.

I levitated mine over, having carried it from the carriage. The armored unicorn opened the sealed letter, a white rectangle sealed with a gold wax impression of the Crown of Equestria, and looked it over. Nodding, he hoofed it to the assistant, who bowed to me and led the way inside.

Normally, my identity would be spotted as a fake immediately. But what did Equestrians know about thestral nobility? As long as they proved it with paperwork– which they did– then they would make no arguments.

The changeling kept silent, out of the way, and didn’t even acknowledge my presence beyond an initial glance.

‘Hold fast, my ling.’

The attendant, a smaller red pegasus in a two piece tuxedo uniform, led me into Canterlot Castle. I stepped past the threshold of the doors, inside the castle for the first time since… since…

The ponies ahead quietly admired the décor of the Castle’s interior. Just like its exterior, the castle had been filled to the brim with flowers, lights, ribbons, and other extravagant décor. I saw a completely different story. I saw the Castle when it was at its worst.

I could pick out the spot where Praetorian Weevil had his throat torn out. I could see in my mind’s eye the area where the Will of the Nine had made their stand against impossible odds. I could see the blood, if I just concentrated…

My hooves kept moving, uncontrolled by my mind. I followed the little attendant, the pony blissfully unaware of the blood that once marred the polished marble tiles of Canterlot Castle’s foyer. He stepped through the memories of dead changelings, whose eyes never closed. We didn’t go up the large staircase in the middle of the room. I was grateful beyond words for that. If we had to pass where I ordered Oestridae to make his stand and hold the line...

Of all the things to be humbled by, I didn’t expect that it would be the past.

We instead went down the right corridor at the foyer’s lower area. I didn’t think I knew what was down here. Perhaps the ball room?

‘Oh, yes. The ball room. That’s where the ball is being held, right. Of course. I knew that…’

I shook the specters of the past from my head and put some pep in my step. Light shone into the corridor from above; a stained glass mosaic showered a hundred colors onto the hall below. Pillars of red, gold, green, and blues extended down from the glass depiction of Daybreaker breaking the Legions at Canterlot and pursuing them out of Equestria.

‘But of course she has to remind everyone of just who the biggest bad in town is, and how she saved the day. As if I needed a reminder.’

I saw the small glass outlines of the dead changelings, and did something I don’t think I ever did before.

‘Panar. If you can hear me, take care of them. Please. I failed to protect them. But I will not fail tonight, I promise that.’

I nearly bumped into the grey pony ahead of me. Coming to an abrupt halt, I realized that we had reached the end of the corridor and the trip down memory lane. The entryway into the grand ballroom was ahead, its bright lights illuminating the hallway in front of me. The attendant left me in line and delivered the invitation to a butler standing at the opening to the large room.

The din of conversation, the calm overture of the orchestra, and the taste of emotions was at its peak. I could spy the details of the large ballroom from here. As I waited for the butler to announce the aristocrats ahead of me, I took in its details.

There were little decorations on the walls, for each was composed of towering sections of stained glass. Though the pillars in between did have flags of a red sun hanging from them. Grand chandeliers of glass and crystal shone brightly, hanging from the rococo ceiling above.

Below– for the entrance was up above a staircase– ponies milled about in the low hundreds. Many gathered around tables, while others walked about, huddled in conversation, or visited the buffet on one side of the room. The far side held a stage where one musician was clutching a large hurdy gurdy, belting out a loud song and backed up by a full orchestra.

I watched as she finished her piece, packed up her instrument, and left the stage to a round of applause from the gathered ponies. She was replaced by a grey earth pony mare with a violet motif dress, carrying with her a cello nearly twice her size.

‘A single performance. That’s all that musician made, and it will likely make her fortunes.’

“Announcing Hoity Toity of Canterlot!” The butler yelled ahead.

There was a small round of applause as Hoity Toity bowed slightly, and gracefully took the steps down to a gathering crowd of press and ponies. They clung to him and trailed him like the stretches of lace and fabric that trailed behind the behinds of many mares that had come in dresses.

Then, the butler took my invitation off from the stack that was set next to him, and looked it over.

From our position at the top of the staircase, I could see the entire room and everyone in it. There were Royal Guards stations around the perimeter, a fact that I noticed at once. At the far end, behind a table set above all others and sitting on what could almost be described as a throne, she sat.

The pony whose actions and decrees decided the fate of millions. The pony who had personally slaughtered what was likely hundreds of changelings, though I hoped less than that.

Princess Daybreaker, alicorn of the sun, Nightmare blight upon all that is holy and good in the world.

“Announcing Baron Expected Value of Mont Crystal!”

I slowly walked down the steps, Daybreaker's presence demanded my attention

The towering white alicorn sat on her throne, a smile plastered across her face. She wore her armor, the orange, red, and yellow set befitting her fire mane and tale. Her peytral, visible even at this distance, was bigger than some ponies, and displayed her Cutie Mark with unplaced pride.

Panar willing, she would die tonight.

It infuriated me how good she looked. Then again, I was a sucker for orange.

Beside her, her two proudest trophies sat. Princess Cadence and Princess Luna. None of the three alicorns were up here, greeting their guests. Such an act was beneath the Princess of War and her captive entourage.

‘Luna.’

She sat next to her possessed sister, trying her damndest to not appear bored or pissed. She wore a different set of regalia than normal; it was as silver as Daybreaker’s fur. Her boots, peytral, and tiara had been sized up and set with purple jades, sapphires, and amethysts. Her mane was–

My hooves met the ground level when I had expected more steps, literally jolting me out of my thoughts. Luna disappeared behind the heads of the taller ponies of Canterlot, who prided themselves on their height and massive manecuts. If I wanted another look at Luna, I would have to get closer.

“Baron Expected Value!” A pony wearing a press badge and a brown fedora barked in my face, “Would you remind Equestria just where your noble line hails from?”

‘A tactful way of asking just who the hell I am.’

Several other journalists gathered around, notepads at the ready. I continued walking forward, so as to not block the staircase.

“I am a Baron of Vallachia. My family has ruled over Mont Crystal since it was first founded, a thousand years ago,” I answered, mimicking the thestral’s Hollywood vampire-like accent.

‘Heavy emphasis on the consonants and C’s and CH’s. Good thing my mother made sure to teach me how to mimic accents on the spot.’

“You are a unicorn noble from the thestral nation?” Another reporter asked.

“I am a unicorn noble from Vallachia,” I corrected her under no uncertain terms.

“Does the unicorn tribe feel they are mistreated or underrepresented in the thestral nation?” A third reporter asked, clearly trying to get under my skin.

“No. Enough questions now, I seek to enjoy the evening,” I said, trying to dismiss them.

The effort seemed to be in vain, as three more asked their questions at the same time. However, I was saved by the butler at the entrance to the ballroom.

“Announcing Prince Blueblood of Equestria!”

Suddenly, I found myself in a small clearing as the journalists vanished into thin air. Taking the small miracle for what it was, I beat a hasty retreat from the entrance area and delved into the Gala proper. What snippets of conversation and jokes I had overheard earlier were just the appetizer for the main event.

All across the room, ponies were carousing, playing cards while sipping from champagne glasses, cracking jokes, striking deals, reuniting with old friends, sending back-hoofed compliments and other barbed insults to former lovers, spouses, friends, and business partners, complimenting or insulting each other based on the clothing they wore, and remarking on just how well the war was going for Equestria.

It made me realize that I had no plan once I actually got inside.

There were few choices of distraction that I could see. The majority of the entertainment seemed to be in the company the Gala provided. After wandering for a bit, I found a group of tables that the staff had used for setting up some poker games. Not my first choice of entertainment, but one I would gladly take.

Picking an open seat, I sat down and looked around the table. The dealer was a white unicorn, wearing a gold and red vest, and the green visor every poker dealer was required by Hollywood law to wear.

The open seat was at the end of the table, so only one pony was to my side. Said pony was a white unicorn, wearing a fancy tux and monocle. If it weren’t for the difference in clothing, I would have mistaken him for a butler, or given his massive size, some sort of Royal Guard.

“Good evening, the game is Appleloosa Hold ‘em,” the dealer greeted me as I sat down. He was shuffling two decks of cards, so he wasn’t breaking anyone’s concentration by speaking to me.

“How do I buy in?” I asked, curious as to how that was handled.

“If you’re looking to gamble, then you’ll have to find another table,” the unicorn next to me said.

“I’m just looking to play,” I answered.

The neighboring unicorn grinned, “Then you’re welcome here. Sir Fancy Pants, I never really cared for gambling,” he said, extending a hoof.

I met it with my own, “Baron Expected Value, neither did I. Shame it’s almost always attached to these fun games.”

The four pony players at the table all nodded along. I realized that these ponies were dressed a bit more conservatively. Past Sir Fancy Pants was an old grey pegasus mare in a pink dress and matching feather boa, a thin brown unicorn stallion in a tux, and a blue earth with a golden blonde mane and necktie.

Compared to the walking freak shows that were dresses and hairstyles around the place, these ponies seemed pretty normal.

The unicorn dealer magically dealt out two cards to each player, and a moderate section of chips to me in my corner. I discreetly checked the cards while everyone else did the same.

‘A pocket pair of jacks? My, my, this game is starting off strong.’

“Baron Expected Value, may I introduce you to Perfect Pace, Mirror Finish, and the lovely Madam Coton à Broder,” Sir Fancy Pants said, starting from the far end and ending at the elderly mare sitting by his side.

“Oh, you’re such a kind colt,” the mare crooned.

“Well Madam, I would introduce the other stallions here as lovely but I don’t think they would appreciate the gesture as much,” Sir Fancy joked, getting a chuckle from all of us.

The ponies began betting, with the big blind starting on the far end of the table, Perfect Pace. Mirror Finish put in his small blind, and the ponies began betting, starting with Perfect Pace again.

“So Baron, eh? Just where are you from, if you don’t mind me asking?” Sir Fancy asked, sliding a few chips forward.

I mirrored his move, starting off with a modest bet.

“Vallachia.”

The ponies ooh’ed.

“That would explain that,” Fancy smiled. “I would love to hear what that’s like. I don’t think anyone here at this table has even been west of Las Pegasus, so coming from the Unexplored West is quite the… exotic tale.”

The ponies all met the new bet, and then we all checked. The dealer revealed the three flop cards. A third jack was one of them, and the other two were rather uninteresting.

‘Three of a kind. I should win this hoof.’

“It is certainly different from these lush valleys, I must admit. Vallachia is a gorgeous place, I will attest, but the greens here are… greener,” I said in my Vallachian accent.

“And the thestrals? What’re they like?” Pace asked, as he checked again.

‘None of these ponies probably ever saw one, and tonight might be their first experience meeting one.’

“The thestrals…” I began, thinking of what to say, “... I must admit, it is hard to come up with a generalization of an entire tribe.” The ponies nodded before I continued, “But I would say that they are dedicated to the protection of the County. Such fierce loyalty and desire to protect others is something to be admired.”

The other ponies had all checked, but I placed forward a moderately sized raise. Perfect Pace folded, but the rest met the raise.

“Is it true that they drink blood?” Madam Coton asked.

“Wh– oh, no Madam!” I said, stifling a laugh.

The ponies continued to quiz me as the last two rounds were played. The last two cards were a pair of threes, making my hoof a full house. Likewise, their questions were somewhat surprising, and often thought-provoking.

“Yes, we have heard of chocolate, Mirror,” I answered with a chuckle. “It was brought to Equestria long before the ancient war.”

‘These ponies are really grilling me on my Equestrian history!’

Eventually, the four players left in the game revealed their hoofs of cards.

“Full house: three jacks, pair of threes,” the dealer announced my win.

“What a lucky first draw,” Sir Fancy nodded towards my revealed cards as I collected the pot of chips. “One might call it beginner’s luck.”

“There’s nothing lucky about being dealt a pocket pair,” I joked, causing him to snort in laughter.

The big blind moved up to Mirror Finish as the Dealer dished out the next set of cards.

Once more, we all checked our hoof.

‘A ten and a nine. A significant downgrade.’

The starting bet was just as small and careful as last time, so I met it anyway.

“You know, Sir Fancy Pants, you have me at a disadvantage. Here you have me going on and on about myself, but I know next to nothing about the pony sitting right next to me,” I began as the dealer revealed the flop.

‘A ten. That gives me one pair.’

“Well I run a function or two in town…” Fancy Pants said sheepishly.

“Ha! Please! Sir Fancy Pants here practically runs the city itself!” Mirror Finish exclaimed.

“Oh I don’t know about that…. I do run several notable societies, it’s true, but Canterlot was here before I was born, and it will be here after. I just find helping around to be a thoroughly enjoyable experience.”

‘Huh. That’s pretty modest. Maybe this Fancy Pants guy is a cut above the rest of the schmucks here.’

The bet was raised again, by a small amount this time. We all met it, apparently not quite satisfied with any of our cards. There were no expert players here as it turned out, only novices. The real die-hard fans of poker were fished away by the tables who gambled actual bits, as it turned out.

“Several notable societies? Which would you say you find the most enjoyable? Or at least, a very interesting one?” I asked, looking to continue the conversation to pass the time.

“Good question,” he answered, thinking. “Hmm…. I would say the Chairpony of the Wonderbolts Society here in Canterlot. Quite embarrassing to say that I run a glorified fanclub, but I am just so stricken with them! Not to mention, such a position has its perks and no shortage of autographs.”

“Wonderbolts?” I asked.

The dealer revealed the fourth flop card.

‘A nine. With two pairs, I can probably win this hoof.’

Sir Fancy started to gasp but stopped, “Of course, you being from Vallachia probably haven’t heard of the greatest fliers in existence!”

“The fastest fliers!” Madam Coton agreed.

“The most skilled pegasi alive,” Perfect Pace praised.

“I see enrollment in the Wonderbolts society is a requirement,” I said.

The ponies laughed before Sir Fancy Pants explained, “They are the greatest fliers in Equestria. Though they are technically part of the Royal Guard, they do flying shows across the entire nation. Even now, during the war, they still wow crowds and give unforgettable shows!”

The last card was revealed, as were all of our cards. Surprisingly, Madam Coton had a higher two pair, giving her the win. As the dealer collected the cards and began shuffling again, the orchestra changed from a slow, quiet song to a louder, more attention-grabbing waltz.

“That would be the dance starting,” Sir Fancy Pants pointed out, the look he gave me clued me into the fact that he said it for my benefit since I was a foreigner.

“Ah, thank you, Sir Fancy Pants.”

“Please, call me Fancy.”

“Only if you call me Expected. Or Value, either works.”

Fancy chuckled, “Very well.”

The cards were dealt, and I asked, “So, does anypony have somepony they plan on dancing with?”

‘A jack and a two. Nothing yet. Still, a facecard has potential.’

With the big blind on Madam Coton, I would have the small blind next turn, and the big one after that.

‘Best win some chips to have a safety net. I think this round, I’m going to try bluffing, despite the fact that I’m actually kind of a bad liar.’

I shook my head at that admission. A changeling being a bad liar was like a bad caricature or a flipped stereotype.

“Looks like he’s not coming,” Madam Coton murmured.

“Expecting somepony?” Mirror asked.

I placed a large raise. Perfect Pace and Madam met it, while Mirror Finish and Fancy both folded.

“Yes. A distant nephew who is often more rude than not, but one of the few family members who actually cares to visit,” she said, a bit coldly.

“I am sorry to hear that, Madam,” Fancy sympathized. “What’s his name?”

“Count Double Dealings.”

The dealer revealed the cards as I suddenly found myself extremely warm and uncomfortable.

‘N–nothing. Scratch hoof, and sitting at the same table as someone related to that scum-sucker.’

“Oh. That Count,” Mirror said, clearly unhappy with the answer.

“I see you’ve met him, then,” the old mare joked.

“Aye, I have. Grifted me a pretty penny and left me in a ditch,” Mirror grumbled.

“I am sorry, Mirror Finish,” Madam Coton cringed. “I can pay you back. It’s no trouble. How much was–”

“Enough to survive without, Madam. I appreciate your kindness, but it’s my fault for trusting a stranger so much.”

Perfect raised the bet a lot. Madam Coton folded, possibly just so she could speak undistracted to the upset pony sitting next to her. I raised again. Perfect met the raise, and the dealer flipped another card.

‘Nothing again! This is no time to fold though, I need to double down.’

“Still, it wouldn’t sit right with me to leave this injustice. Please Mirror, let me pay you.”

“You don’t have to cover for that backstabber…. Why do you want to, anyways?”

“He’s family,” she confessed. “We don’t choose who our family is. We just try to understand them, and learn to love them. Sometimes they hurt us. Sometimes they give us a Hearthswarming gift that you remember for decades,” she sniffs. Madam Coton pulled out a handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes, “He comes here just to see me, you know. He doesn’t care about the Princess, the charities, the nobles, or anything else. He just comes to see me, and ask me about my day. I know he’s not the nice colt I watched grow up, but I am worried about him. He should have been here by now. He… I haven't received any letters from him in a while now.”

I raised and tried to ignore the pony claiming that my potential murderer was a saint.

Perfect Pace met the raise, yet his focus was on Madam Coton.

“Have you tried visiting him?” Fancy asked her.

“I can’t travel. Not anymore. He supports me by sending bits a few times a year, but he didn’t send any last month.”

‘Oh fucking hell! Now you’re telling me that this bastard had some good in him? Fantastic, I can’t wait to have to be the one to explain to this old pony why I killed her son-of-a-bitch nephew. I’m probably also going to have to pay her pension or whatever…. Yeah, I’ll do that, regardless of whether or not I have to. My grief was with the Count, not the family that depended on him. Damn it, he had no note of sending money to a relative! It was all off the books and undocumented!’

The dealer revealed the last card.

Madam Coton continued, “Princess Daybreaker even responded! She said she would investigate the matter personally. She spoke to me this morning, and said that Count Double Dealings would be here today. But I don’t see him….”

“Pair, aces high,” the dealer announced.

“Princess Daybreaker said that he’ll be here?” I asked as Perfect Pace collected all of the chips I bet.

“Indeed. Now I suppose I should go speak with the Princess…”

“Maybe he’s just late, or held up elsewhere?” Fancy offered. “If he cares that much about you, I doubt he’d skip out on seeing you again.”

‘You’re not going to trick me into feeling guilty about killing him. I feel bad for his family, but that’s it.’

I suppressed a sneer as the dealer hoofed out another round of cards. The big blind was on Fancy Pants now, so I had to pay the small one.

“I hope you’re right. I’ll wait a bit then… maybe speak with the Princess during the dinner, or some other time she isn’t busy,” Madam Coton agreed, negating any need for me to keep her here or something.

I was beginning to stress out about this.

‘Daybreaker personally investigated the Count? And said he’d be here? Is that just confidence in her own abilities, or something more? She knows I’m alive… Does she suspect that I was responsible and will be here? Is she onto me and our plan to get rid of her?’

Everyone checked up to the big blind. The dealer revealed the three flop cards.

“Sounds like it has something to do with this war,” Fancy guessed, “because I can’t imagine Her Highness personally investigating for anything less….”

Fancy raised, and I folded.

“Do you think he’s in trouble?” Madam asked.

“Nah,” Perfect Pace interrupted, “I’m sure he’s just off supplying some secret mission or something. You hear about that Division-P that’s all over the place now? They even had them at the doors to the palace!”

“That's what those weird guards were?” Mirror asked.

Pace nodded, “Oh yeah. You all saw that black stallion that stood next to ‘em, right?” We all nodded. “Turns out, that’s a changeling!” Perfect Pace whisper yelled.

“A changeling?” Fancy asked.

“Yeah. You saw how he didn’t have a Cutie Mark, right? That’s why.”

“Right here in the palace?” I asked, trying to not sound completely silent.

“Apparently Division-P is holding them all prisoner here. My brother over in Canterlot Times says that they got an anonymous tip-off from within the palace itself. That’s what today’s newspaper was all about!”

The other ponies gasped.

“I must confess, I came from out of town….” I said slowly.

“Today’s paper was… well, I didn’t believe it at first,” Fancy said, turning around to bring me up to speed. “Some weird stuff. Included some horrible claims that they were hurting their prisoners, and that Princess Cadence and Prince Blueblood were in charge of it all.”

“Royalty, hurting prisoners? Alicorns do not do such things,” I said dismissively.

“Normally no,” Perfect Pace answered me. “But the tip-off suggested that they were nothing more than puppets!”

“Sounds like more war gossip,” Madam Coton said, still subdued from her earlier freakout.

I sighed, “Facts can be so misleading, where rumors, whether true or false, are often revealing.”

The ponies, even the dealer, nodded at that. I found the employee’s response particularly funny.

“There’s so little truth nowadays,” Fancy moaned. “I fear that you may be right, Expected Value. It’s like there’s something rotten here, in the heart of Equestria. That changeling invasion made everything so complicated…”

The game continued, with the ponies betting low amounts, and everyone dropping out until Fancy took the pot by default.

“War this, war that…” Fancy sighed. “This war is dangerous, and not just to our boys and girls that we send off. Hate grows like a weed. I’ve never seen anypony this anxious or suspicious of each other.”

“Those darn changelings hurt us badly,” Mirror grimaced.

“I just hope the war ends soon.”

Everyone nodded and looked at me, making me realize that I was the one who said that.

“What’s the war like over in Vallachia? It sounds like it’s even spread over there, too,” Fancy asked me.

“There was an attack, not long ago. Some very important ponies died, and now I think even the Princesses suspect our loyalty,” I admitted. These ponies weren’t going to talk much, so I could spill a little truth.

‘There’s me again, being the worst liar in existence. It’s like a running joke at this point. Maybe all this talk about murder put me in a bad mood, where I feel like I have to make it up to them by saying the truth? Fuck if I know, I’m no shrink.’

“Ponies died and the Crowns suspects you?” Pace asked me.

“... War is complicated. There is more to this one than anypony realizes, I think,” I shrugged. “I’m just a Baron. These things are above my station…”

Speaking of being above my station, I caught the eye of a thestral, watching me from a distance.

“Ah. I see somepony I must speak to tonight. I’m afraid I must quit the game before I lose track of her.”

Fancy reached out to stop me, “One more game? I’d hate for anypony to leave on such a sour note,” he said, not exactly talking about my tiny stack of chips.

I reluctantly agreed, “Very well. One last game.”

The dealer dealt out the cards, and I peeked at my last hoof.

‘An ace and a king. Hm.’

“Got a good hoof there?” Fancy asked me.

“Perhaps,” I said.

I had the big blind, so either way, I was putting half of my remaining chips into the pot in the center.

“Check,” Perfect said, meeting the big blind from his small one.

“Check,” Mirror said, adding his chips.

Madam wordlessly added her own chips.

“I’m in,” Fancy nodded, checking.

The dealer revealed the three flop cards.

A ten of spades. A seven of diamonds. A Queen of Spades.

‘No. Surely not...’

“Check,” I said, wanting to see what happens.

“Check,” the two far stallions agreed, not adding any chips.

“Raise,” Madam Coton said quietly, throwing in a few chips.

It was somewhat hard to hear her over the music and the conversation in the room. I realized that there was no small amount of fear and sadness coming from her direction.

“Raise,” Fancy said again, tossing in significantly more.

“Check,” I said again, meeting his bet out of curiosity. It left me with a single chip, sitting next to my face-down cards.

“Fold,” Perfect Pace said, throwing a hoof up,

“Fold,” Mirror Finish said a moment later, shaking his head.

“Check,” Madam Coton said, just as quietly.

The dealer flipped over the fourth card. Nine of clubs.

‘Damn. Don’t think it’s going to happen, then.’

“All in,” I said anyway, dramatically pushing my single chip into the center.

The ponies laughed, and Madam Coton met the raise.

“You’ve really got me sweating here, Expected. That’s a big raise,” Fancy said.

If he said that when I first sat down, I would have thought it an insult. Now I know that he wasn’t the kind of pony to go around punching downwards, and saw it for the sarcastic joke it was.

“It’s okay to admit you don’t have as deep of pockets as I do, Fancy,” I answered, grinning slightly.

“Oh we’ll see about that. All in,” he declared, pushing his sizable pile of chips into the center.

Now even Madam Coton was giggling.

‘Well if he was hoping to bring her out of the dumps, mission accomplished.’

“I, heh, I fold,” Madam Coton said, smiling despite herself.

“All in,” the dealer laughed as he flipped the last card.

Just as my jaw dropped, I tasted a wellspring of happiness next to me.

“Jack of Spades,” Fancy Pants read the card out loud. “Oh, mare! I’m sorry your last game was like this, but at least it was funny, Expected!”

He flipped his two cards.

“Eight and Nine of spades. A straight flush,” the dealer announced, shaking his head slowly.

“It was fun, Fancy Pants,” I chuckled. “But the truth is, the game was rigged from the start!” I yelled.

I dramatically flipped my two dealt cards.

“King and Ace of spades! A royal flush! Baron Expected Value wins!” The dealer gasped.

“Celestia’s titanic tits!” Madam Coton swore.

“Pfffff!” Fancy tried to cover his surprise and laughter.

“Bahahahaha!” Mirror broke into laughter, smacking the table repeatedly.

Several ponies looked over, attention caught by the sudden laughter and noise.

“I’m never gonna see a game as great as that one again!” Perfect said, jaw wide and staring at our revealed cards.

“Better– ha! – better luck next time, Fancy!” I said, wheezing.

“Oooh my Celestia! How did...! Wow! That’s amazing!” Fancy laughed. “Congratulations, Expected!” He said as he shook my hoof.

“Four pocket spades in two hooves…” Perfect muttered.

“What a game!” I shook my head. “Not even I expected that! Wew….” I split my new chips into two stacks, and gave one stack to Madam Coton and one to Fancy. “You two can have my winnings. Fancy for the great game and company, and Madam for, well…. I hope you find some answers soon. About your nephew, I mean.”

‘Whatever he did, you don’t deserve the loss of family. Oh boy, that’s not going to be a fun reveal.’

“Thank you, young Baron,” Madam Coton said, smiling.

“If you’re ever looking for an open seat, there’ll be one here,” Fancy said, with agreements from the other two stallions at the table.

“Till our paths cross again,” I nodded to the four, and left to find the thestral I had spotted earlier.

I crossed the floor, past tables of ponies going back to their games and conversations after the outburst that interrupted them. The pony I had spotted earlier was still there, waiting at a table with two other ponies of the same tribe.

“Baron Expected Value. I do not believe we have met yet. I am Elder Mind.”

I looked the thestral over as I sat down across from her. She was wearing a long red and black dress with a tall collar sticking out from around her neck.

“If you were hoping to blend in…” I muttered.

“I did not. I am to be seen here, standing out,” she answered.

‘We are being watched, and they want to use that to their advantage.’

“I see. It is nice to meet you… My Elder?”

She nodded, “It is a pleasure to meet you at last, Baron Expected Value. I have heard many interesting things about your lineage.”

‘Are we doing the double speak thing? I think we’re doing the double speak thing.’

“Is all well in Trotsylvania, Elder Mind?”

“No. Trouble brews, as you already know,” she said quietly. “You will remain here with me tonight.”

‘That’s what the note was talking about? Our plan is in danger?’

“I was rather hoping to dance.”

“You will remain here, and admire the ponies around us.”

‘We have to be seen sitting down here, the entire time? Hmph.’

Elder Mind glanced in the direction I came from, “That was a loud outburst. Socializing with the ponies here isn’t a bad idea. What was so funny as to cause such loud laughter?”

I shrugged, “I won a card game, beating out the rare second best set of cards in the game, with the extremely-rare best set in the game. The fact that I put in my last single betting chip was funny. The fact that my opponent needlessly put in all of his chips, when he only needed one, was hilarious. All together, it was quite the game.”

“Ah, I see. You may return to that table, if you wish. So long as you don’t leave it.”

“Why? Afraid I’ll go up and greet the Princesses?”

Elder Mind fought a frown, “The Princesses are busy, and we wouldn’t want to impress poorly upon them.”

“They seemed kind of bored when I entered…”

“You will remain here, Baron Expected Value. I will make it an order, if necessary.”

“If you order me so, My Elder.”

‘I’m not going to dance with Luna? This is a crime. A crime against love. I better get Cadence on the case.’

“If, for whatever reason, Daybreaker decides to have a conversation with you, refer to her as Your Royal Highness. She prefers that title. Try not to make her mad… Not very helpful advice, I know, but it is all I can offer. Do not make a fool of yourself or Vallachia, or we may all pay the price.”

“I thought it was customary for the Princesses to greet their guests. Would it not be considered an insult if we do not go up and greet them ourselves?”

“It is a small slight, but a forgiven one, considering the kingdom is at war. Customs are exchanged for security, you know. So once again, stay here. I know you have your eye on Princess Luna.”

I frowned, “I would have thought you would keep that a secret.”

“There are few bachelors in Vallachia who wouldn’t try to have a dance with the Princess of the Night. I know of your desire, and the moment you approach the Princesses is the moment they learn of your desire. It is nearly impossible for a young stallion such as yourself to keep secrets like that.”

“And you believe that I shouldn’t attempt to ask Princess Luna anyways?”

“We do not know how Princess Daybreaker will react.”

I sighed.

“We have your coat here, Baron Expected,” Elder Mind said plainly.

“Here?”

“With us, right now, yes,” she said, using a wing to give me a thin winter coat, which I put around the back of my chair.

‘Unbroken Radiance is right here, at this table? They must’ve smuggled it in using Royal Guards in on the plan and placed it beneath the table.’

“Thank you for your preparedness, My Elder. I was worried that this stiff jacket was all I would have to keep me warm. I guess word of my habit of never leaving home without a jacket made its way to Trotsylvania?”

“There is little else to talk about, so rumors like that sustain the court’s interest. You should be accustomed to wearing so little in these warm climates.”

‘What’s that supposed to mean? Is she calling me out for needing a suit of armor in order to not get my shit kicked in? Or is she just continuing the cover conversation?’

“My coat isn’t as thick as Equestrian ponies,” I answered.

‘I’ll fucking lose to Daybreaker if I go without my stuff.’

“Then perhaps you should learn a spell or two to aid you,” the thestral smiled.

‘Get good? You’re telling me to get good?! I’m already as skilled as I can be in the small time frame allotted, you overgrown bat!’

“Unlike the clothes of the Trotsylvanian court, I wear jackets that don’t make me look like a villain from a cheap horror movie,” I whispered.

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying you look like a vampire, Elder Mind.”

“I don’t– I look like a vampire?” She asked, genuinely shocked.

“Extremely. I don’t know if that’s a stereotype that came to be because you’re thestrals, or because of the garments themselves, but to me you scream vampire.”

“These styles have been the height of fashion!”

“For how long?”

“... A couple hundred years.”

I laughed, “You’ve stereotyped yourself. Enjoy being called a bloodsucker. Meanwhile, I got my suit made here in Equestria.”

“I see…. Then again, we are meant to be seen and appreciated. We are Vallachia, and we represent all of it.”

‘We’re supposed to be a distraction.’

“Right,” I muttered. “I see your point. Is there anything else you wish to tell me, Elder Mind?”

“I would wish that you avoid the celebrities and nobles of this Gala as much as possible, though I am too old for wishes. If somepony, say the Wonderbolts or the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, speak to you, be mindful that you are representing Vallachia.”

‘If you are approached for whatever reason, just act cool and don’t blow our cover.’

“Yes, yes, mother– I mean, yes Elder Mind.”

“That should be all,” Elder Mind said, sitting back in her seat. The two other thestrals at the table, stallions wearing black suits with red fabric interior– of course, had remained silent during the conversation.

Elder Mind turned away and started watching the ponies around us. Whether she was interested in how Equestrians interacted, or was just trying to keep an eye out for anything happening, I was too busy thinking to care.

There was something that just didn’t add up.

'Count Double dealings here tonight. A photo of me in Vallachia… Daybreaker knows I'm alive. She knows I'm coming tonight. She doesn't know that I know all of that. Did she expect me to use his identity to get in? It would have been a suitable identity, except for the fact that he would know ponies here, meaning I would have to know ponies here. Ponies like Madam Coton… But again, would she know that? I don’t think so. She probably thought that I would use his identity to get in. Or maybe I’m over analyzing this… Oh damn it, there’s no clear answer and I’m just talking in circles.’

“Sir Force, if you could get us some refreshment,” Elder Mind asked, glancing at one of the thestrals sitting at the table.

“At once, My Elder,” the thestral said, standing up and vanishing into the crowd in a near instant.

‘If Daybreaker knows that the thestrals are not loyal, then the plan must have been altered so that the thestrals would stay here and be watched the entire time. I would also be part of that distraction. But if she knows that the thestrals are not loyal, then us doing nothing would also be suspicious, right? So we have to do something? Something… something…. hmmm…’

I looked in the direction of the royal table. I could see the alicorns from this table. The most noticeable thing– besides Luna, of course– was that I could actually see the glow that Daybreaker’s mane gave off, reflecting in the stained glass window behind her.

She was addressing a pony standing in front of her table, with Luna and Cadence watching on. I also spied Captain Shining Armor sitting next to Cadence, whispering to her. Luna was now starting to fail at hiding her boredom, circling a silver-booted hoof across the table in front of her. She had likely been sitting there for hours now, and would normally be sitting there until the end of the Gala. At least Celestia had got up in her time to greet the guests, now they were nothing more than glorified trophies…

Speaking of trophies, I saw God-Splitter. The hammer was displayed on a pedestal, head supported by a brace structure, and the handle sticking up and to the side. It was like they never moved its positioning after pulling it free. Or did I leave it in a wall, and not the floor? I had been quite occupied at the time, so that detail slipped my mind.

Keeping a note of where it was, I reached a decision.

‘Fuck it. If things go bad tonight, there's a chance that I will die. A very good chance. I can't get taken alive. I just can't. My backup plan isn't guaranteed to save me, either. The Fifth Hive will endure, but I might not live to see tomorrow. Yeah, in that case, I'm getting my dance.'

I rose and pushed myself away from the table, garnering Elder Mind’s attention immediately.

“Going back to your poker game, then?” She asked.

“I’m going to go ask Princess Luna for a dance.”

Elder Mind did a double take, “What?! I ordered you–”

There was no easy way to tell her my conclusion without breaking our cover. So I interrupted her as I turned away.

“I don’t care. I’m getting that dance, and you can’t stop me.”

“Get back here at once, Baron!” She hissed.

“Enjoy the evening, My Elder!” I called over my shoulder.

Between myself and the alicorns was about half of the section with tables on my right and the dance floor on my left. Walking through the dance floor was a no-go, neither was walking in between the two; I had no intention of photobombing everyone here. That left awkwardly weaving through the tables as ponies walked around, bringing food and drink and getting them from staff.

Bobbing and weaving around was a rather easy task. It was avoiding certain ponies that was difficult. I spotted several members of the Wonderbolts in their unmistakable skin-tight leotards hanging around the far end of the buffet, snagging a few light snacks for themselves while joking around and talking with excited fans.

One of those fans had a very distinctive rainbow mane coloration…

‘I see. This place is going to be like a minefield of important ponies. If I am to avoid– oof!’

Distracted by the Element bearer by the Wonderbolts, I didn’t see the pony walking my way. We collided and the mare who I walked into fell back onto her haunches.

“Oh, I’m sorry–” I began.

“My apologies–” the mare, a white unicorn, started saying.

‘There seems to be a lot of white unicorns around.’

“No, it’s my fault, I wasn’t looking where I was going,” I said while offering a hoof to pull her up.

‘Wait a second….’

The unicorn took my hoof and I helped her up. She brushed off her pink, gold, and lavender dress. She grimaced at a few wrinkles, and used her magic to iron them out. I recognized this pony. I had met her only once before, but I knew her description well enough.

“As if this day can’t get any worse,” Rarity, bearer of Generosity, grumbled.

“Oh don’t say that. It can always get worse.”

“Perhaps you are right. In hindsight, this night is still recoverable.” Rarity looked at me, taking in the sights apparently. “Do I know you?”

“No. Baron Expected Value of Vallachia,” I said, extending a hoof.

She took it and shook it gently, “Lady Rarity… of Ponyville,” she smiled. “I could have sworn we met before. I’m getting the strangest sense of–”

“I would never forget a face such as yours, Lady Rarity. If you’ll excuse me, there is somepony I wish to speak to,” I said, trying to maneuver around her.

“If you’d kindly humor me, Baron Expected Value…” She put a hoof under her chin as she thought. “It’s so strange. Like part of me deep down knows you…”

‘Damn it magical Elements of Harmony, quit your snitchin!’

I sighed, trying to move the topic along, “Your day not going well, Lady Rarity?”

“... I can’t place your face. Oh well. I’ve had a bad conversation or two, as have my friends. Really, it’s like we are only finding the worst Canterlot has to offer tonight.” She shook her head, “You say you are from Vallachia? Is that not the thestral nation?”

‘Keep looking Rarity. I’m certainly no saint.’

“It is the nation with thestrals.”

“Oh, but there are other tribes there, too? That is most interesting.”

I tried once again to leave, “Yes. Now, as much as I’d love to chat, there is somepony I really would like to see.”

“Of course, darling. Somepony dear to your heart?”

I smiled, “Something like that.”

“Who is the lucky mare? Or stallion, I don’t judge, unlike some ponies around here,” she practically growled the last words, sending a glare off into the crowd around us.

‘What the hell, she’d probably see us together and connect the dots anyways.’

“Princess Luna,” I said.

“Princess Luna? I suppose we’re all after the prince or princess of our dreams, then,” she said with a sheepish smile. “But take my word on this; prepare to be disappointed. You never know what a pony is like until you meet them. Not that Princess Luna is anything less than one of the finest ponies in Equestria, mind you, but… she is a rather busy pony.”

‘I don’t think I need to worry about that, Rarity, but thank you for the advice.’

“Thank you for the warning, Lady Rarity. Now–”

Any confusion she had at that moment cleared up, leaving just a faint taste of elation coming from her. Rarity was staring me in the eyes. My orange eyes...

‘Uh oh, epiphany inbound!’

“Wait a second, you’re….”

Fear.

“The world is a big place, Lady Rarity, but at times it can be so small. Remember the one pony you’re supposed to save tonight.”

I quickly trotted on, brushing past the stunned pony and delving further into the crowd. Rarity called out after me once, but any hope of finding me was quickly lost as I twisted and turned around the last tables of the area. If she wanted to speak to me, she would have to catch me when I was by the alicorns. That was something I figured she didn’t actually want to do. Not when everything was at stake.

The sitting area ended before the steps up to the slightly raised area. The space inbetween the sections was empty, save for the six Royal Guards standing like statues in front of the steps. A small line had formed in front, with ponies seeking to see the princesses forming a short queue.

Most of the petitioners of the Gala were merely extending their greetings to the Princess of the sun and her host of alicorns. A few gave gifts, trying to garner some goodwill or favor from the Princess. Each one had their gift incinerated, with Daybreaker citing security concerns.

That was another thing. This close, I could hear Daybreaker’s voice for the first time.

“I thank you for your support and dedication, Magistrate Check List,” she spoke to the black pegasus ahead of me. Her voice was like a distant rumbling thunder, restrained by regality and tact. “You have served the Crown well in these times of hardship.”

“I serve Equestria, Your Royal Highness,” the pegasus bowed.

He stepped to the side, walked backwards down the steps, and turned only when past the guards. I was now at the front of the line, and the top of the steps.

Daybreaker’s gaze turned towards me. Suddenly, I felt very hot and nervous. Luna had worked to cover up and disable the mark that the Nightmares had scorched into my own mind. Neither of us had any clue if it would work, and neither of us remembered to do much about it. So either Daybreaker would skip over me, or she would know who I was instantly. Or at least, what a Nightmare has done to me.

‘Perhaps I could cover it up with the idea that I was attacked by a Nightmare in Vallachia.’

I stepped forward and bowed. As my nose nearly touched the cold polished marble floor, I spied both Princess Luna and Princess Cadence staring at me. Luna sat still, and I could see her dress of matching blues that blended with her coat. Cadence had a dress of white and gold, matching her former aunt’s colorings.

I could taste their sense of surprise upon seeing me and recognizing my disguise. I was bowing before Princess Daybreaker, out of place and potentially jeopardizing everything.

‘Yeah, I’m stepping out of line. I am having less and less faith in our plan anyways. Let’s just hope my backup plans work. Preferably the first one…’

Daybreaker, who I could feel the heat of now that I was so close, was not in a dress or beautiful princess regalia. In an outfit suitable only for war, she made her presence and power known to any who looked upon her; her helmet, peytral, wing guards, and boots were all made of the orange metal that shimmered in the light of her own mane. The scant few orange gems on her armor sparkled in the firelight, and shimmered ever so slightly purple from the enchantments embedded into their crystalline forms. Her mane was like a billowing cloud of fire, lazily whipping back from the top of her skull. Her eyes were inverted versions of my own, and their stare could burn holes in metal. Now, they stared at me.

My heart fluttered. I was almost within reach of Luna for the first time since the invasion of Canterlot. But between me and her stood a monument to all that was wrong with the world.

“Greetings, Princess Daybreaker. I am Baron Expected Value of Vallachia. I extend wishes of well being and success in the war to you and your family, Your Royal Highness.”

Now that I was directly addressing the alicorn which had scoured the lands of changelings, I surprised myself. I had to fight a sudden spike of anger. I expected the fear, and the nervousness, but the anger caught me off guard. In hindsight it was obvious why the sudden urge to cave her skull in came to me; she was personally responsible for the death of hundreds of changelings.

And here I was, doing everything I could to save them all. I had even flown back into a city on the cusp of exploding just to save a single drone. A single drone that meant nothing and mattered little, and therefore meant everything.

“Vallachia,” the embodiment of the sun muttered. “The breakaway state founded by traitors. Have you come to bend the knee and finish your return to where you belong?”

“That is for my masters to decide, Your Royal Highness,” I said, still bowing low.

“Yes, your ‘masters.’ They had come to me earlier today, yet still they refused their place in Equestria. Why is this?”

‘Fuck if I know. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that you are a Nightmare, you piece of…’

“Vallachia has kept to itself for generations, Your Royal Highness. All we have of the old world and our old place beneath the alicorns are stories. Fear stays our hooves, I believe. But I cannot speak for my Elders. I am just a lowly Baron, Your Royal Highness.”

Daybreaker leaned back in her seat. I heard it creak under her weight and the heat of her flames.

“If you do not bring a message of submission, then why do you come to me?”

I rose from my bow and met Daybreaker’s stare, “I have come to ask the beautiful Princess Luna to a dance, Your Royal Highness.”

Shock. The first emotion I tasted from Daybreaker that wasn’t just the dismissive hate and boredom that seeped into the area around us like a very thin fog. It wasn’t just Daybreaker that was shocked. Luna and Cadence had been startled by the request. Luna because she knew who I was, and Cadence because of the fact that someone had asked in the first place. Even Captain Shining Armor, the unicorn I had not seen since I had crushed him months ago, turned my way to look at the fool who asked a Princess to a dance.

“You believe a Princess would deign to dance with a lowly Baron?” Daybreaker asked, eyebrows high.

“I believe she might, and I had hoped for an answer.”

Daybreaker’s eyebrows fell back into place, her face a mask once more, “You are so vain as to think that because you might have a chance, that you should take it and make a fool of yourself and waste our time? My little pony, that was an unwise decision.”

“As you say, Your Highness, but love is like war; only the daring win.”

Cadence snorted quietly, amused by the comparison.

The soft crackle of Daybreaker’s fire was her only response as she stared me down. That gaze that could melt metal was in full force, trying to discern… whatever it was that Daybreaker was thinking.

Then, her stare was replaced by a pleased look that crept across her face. Lips parted, revealing a set of sharpened fangs, about the size of Nightmare Moon’s.

“If only we had more stallions as bold as you, Baron Expected Value. This war might have been over before it began. You may ask Princess Luna,” the Nightmare said, gesturing to her smaller sister, sitting next to her.

“Princess Luna, may I have a dance?” I asked, bowing slightly and stretching a hoof out to her.

Luna gaped, looking between me and Daybreaker.

“I…”

Daybreaker rolled her eyes, “It’s very easy, sister. One word, two letters.”

“I accept, Baron Expected Value,” Luna said, trying to compose herself.

I smiled.

“You accept?!” Daybreaker gasped. You didn’t have to be an emotion-stealing parasite to tell that she was surprised.

“I do, sister,” Luna nodded before rising from her seat.

Luna walked around the table, past a few guards that stood up on the raised section with them, and met me in front of Daybreaker. She took my hoof and I led the way down the stairs, turning my back on Daybreaker. It was the first time we touched outside of a dream since I threw her into a pod.

Her horseshoe was cold, but her smile was warm.

‘Foals and nymphs, look away! Hoof-holding!’

Luna was afraid, but mixed into that wonderful taste of fear was the bubbly, even-better taste of happiness.

“Thank you, Princess Luna, for honoring me with this dance,” I said as we slowly walked away and towards the dance floor.

Ponies were moving out of the way, forming an avenue towards the center of the floor, where a large clearing was opening up. The band had stopped playing, instead starting to prepare for another song. The press ponies were snapping pictures of us as we walked together. Whispers and quiet conversation reached our ears as ponies talked while looking at us.

“Tell me, Baron Expected, do you feel particularly suicidal today? That was quite the bravado you showed to Daybreaker. It’s not something she will forget,” Luna whispered today.

All it would take was a single enhanced hearing spell to overhear our conversation, so we would have to speak in code and maintain our disguise.

I looked up at Luna. While disguised, she was taller than I.

“You are worth it.”

“I am? A candle that burns twice as bright, burns half as long, young stallion.”

“It’ll all work out in the end, I’m sure,” I tried to assure her.

“So confident…. Very well, Baron Expected. Shall we?” She asked as we stopped in the clearing.

The space was right in front of the Gala’s orchestra. Who, at the Princess’s signal, began to play their song. The ponies around us began to waltz along to the song, and Luna and I began to waltz as well.

That was no simple or easy matter. Quadrupeds waltzing was less so like two people, close together, dancing as one, and more like two people, dancing in perfect synchronization, occasionally holding a hoof, spinning their partner, or whatever other maneuvers the dance had. Some waltzes had the ponies on their hindlegs, like a human would dance. This song was one of those dances, so plenty of couples around us were up on their hindlegs.

However, such a dance position was reserved for romantic couples, which Baron Expected Value and Princess Luna were unfortunately not, despite the real truth of our relationship. So we danced on all four hooves, mostly three at a time, with our fourth holding each other.

I was also just a little bit sad. The feeling came when the song started, and it never left.

“Something wrong?” Luna whispered, seeing my face fall slightly.

“I didn’t expect this song.”

“Is there something wrong with it?”

“No, no… I just heard it long, long ago. Once upon a december…” I hummed.

‘Things my heart used to know, things it yearns to remember!’

Luna nodded, understanding my meaning. Her presence was more than comforting. It was absolutely addicting– no, enthralling.

“You are better at this than I expected,” Luna whispered as we waltzed.

I blushed, “W–well, I may have managed to fit dancing lessons into my busy schedule.”

“Dancing Lessons?” Luna asked.

‘How, is what she really wants to know.’

“Even if you wouldn't dance with me tonight, I knew that you would eventually,” I whispered back.

“Such determination… one might call it fanaticism.”

I chuckled, “You caught me, Princess. I stalk ponies, and I have pony-lampshades at home.”

“Pony-lampshades? You would have gotten along well with Nightmare Moon with that humor…”

“Now’s not the time to talk about her, Princess Luna.”

“No, no it is not,” she grinned.

‘Ah. There it is.’

Luna let go of her fears and worries, letting herself get lost in the dance and our embrace. Fear had been replaced by love.

‘Love for me…’

I mentally balked at the idea, even as I almost started to salivate at the delicious emotion’s presence.

“I am happy you asked me for this, Baron Expected. I didn’t think I would enjoy it as much as I am.”

“Careful now, Princess Luna. You get too excited and you start doing horrible things like using more contractions,” I joked.

Luna laughed, “You are a terrible influence on me, I should think.”

“Am I? Should I leave, then?”

“Don’t you dare.”

We laughed, and we waltzed the rest of the song in silence, just appreciating each other’s company. I also may have nibbled on her love. Just a little bit. A bite here and there... Being surrounded by it– no, being the target of it was simply irresistible. They say the best food is the food you don’t have to pay for, but they have no idea what it is like to feast on love directed towards you.

Okay, I drank myself full on it. Love freely given is painless to take, and its absence is unheard of. She was like an endless fountain of drugs, all for me. I could have filled myself on it for hours, and Luna would be none-the-wiser. A pony in love with a changeling… this was the revelation of biblical proportions that Thorax had discovered. There was so much! Who knows why it produced more, and who cared?!

It made me realize just how much indoctrination a drone would have to go through in order to be an Infiltrator. To experience so much love in their lives, and willingly part with it? They had to all be insane.

And that was just my stomach speaking. Actually being here, with Luna, in person? I was so excited that I practically vibrated in her grasp. Several times, I had to remind myself to just breathe in and out. I suspected that if I was undisguised, I would do something fatally embarrassing such as chirp like a cricket, like Thorax did. As a pony, I merely felt my tail swishing back and forth behind me, like I was a puppy.

I made no effort to control it.

“I wish this moment would never end,” I mumbled.

“There may be more in the future, if you are lucky,” Princess Luna winked.

“Oh no. I have terrible luck, Princess.”

Luna laughed, “Then you will just have to work hard.”

The song ended, and we parted. As we bowed to each other, I felt cold. The ponies stomped and clapped an applause, not only just for the orchestra’s performance.

‘I managed to not make an embarrassment out of myself. Check that off the bucket list!’

“Alas, our song is over,” Luna said, taking my hoof and frowning.

“More in the future, right Princess?”

“More in the future,” she agreed, her smile returning.

I escorted her back to the royal section. I could see butlers and maids setting up a few tables behind the royal one as we approached.

‘Almost time for the dinner, and time for the Elements to do their work.’

I stopped at the guard line at the bottom of the steps. Luna let go of my hoof, and I bowed once more.

“Thank you for the dance, Your Highness.”

“I thank thee as well. It was most enjoyable,” Princess Luna said, slipping a bit back into old habits. She was likely a bit afraid of going back to sitting next to Daybreaker.

‘And there’s nothing I can do to help her.’

Daybreaker for her part was still stunned. A more subdued, disguised surprise, but she was still trying to piece it together.

‘I guess alicorns fall in love so rarely that her sister finding someone she fancies is a genuine shock.’

Cadence was smiling down at me, and tearing up a bit. I saw her turn to her side, and ask Captain Shining Armor a question.

‘Something along the lines of, ‘when’s our dance?’ I’m guessing.’

As Luna retrieved her seat and parked herself onto it, I came to the painful conclusion that it was time for me to make my exit.

For soon it was time for King Phasma to make his entrance.

I bowed deeply and backpedaled, turning away only after paying a healthy amount of respect and not pissing off Daybreaker. Though my act of turning my back on her earlier probably undid any of that effort.

I dodged around reporters that took my picture and asked questions I didn’t care about. I avoided nobles who wanted to know just who had danced with Princess Luna herself. I simply slunked into the crowd, using its numbers to lose the tail of paparazzis and brown-nosers.

Eventually, I managed to make my way back to Elder Mind’s table. She was still there, though now had a tall glass sitting before her, and an ugly scowl on her face.

‘Someone’s mad at me.’

I took the chair opposite her and plumped down with a sigh.

“Are you happy, lover-colt?”

“Mmmm,” I grunted, smiling.

“You look like a dumb-struck foal. Have you forgotten how important this day is to Vallachia?”

“Is dancing with Princess Luna so damaging to our image?” I asked, poking a hole in her double-speak rebuke of me.

“You know why I am upset with you.”

“And I don’t care. If you try to make everything go along with your perfect plan, your hope to appear prim and proper, then you’ll just fail, and uh… only come off as fake,” I said, trying to cover up the fact that I said this was planned.

If any pony was listening, that would have been a red flag.

A waitress arrived, carrying a stack of menus. She dispensed a few to our table, and moved on. I grabbed one with my magic, and slowly looked it over. Across the table, Elder Mind sneered at me and grabbed a menu for herself.

‘So much food… but I’ve already eaten, hehe.’

“My little ponies,” Daybreaker’s voice echoed across the ballroom.

‘Ah, that’s that famous Royal Canterlot Voice I’ve heard about.’

I looked up at her. I could see the tops of heads of ponies sitting behind her.

‘Everyone is in position.’

Conversations ended as everyone shifted their attention towards Princess Daybreaker, who was standing up and addressing the gathered crowd.

“It is during this time where I usually honor the heroes and upstanding citizens of the Principality of Equestria,” Daybreaker continued, at a quieter volume. She gestured to the princess sitting behind her, “This is the first year that my dear little sister, Princess Luna, is back at my side, her rightful place. The years were long without her…”

There was a subdued applause.

Daybreaker gestured to the table behind and to her left, behind Luna. “I must also honor the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, who came together and faced adversity to defeat Nightmare Moon, and save my sister.”

Another round of applause, louder this time. Daybreaker had put out a decent amount of propaganda, praising the bearers and their efforts.

“And last, but most certainly not least, Captain Shining Armor and the rest of the Royal Guards. Our brave stallions and mares who have paid the ultimate price in the name of peace and Harmony; those who have died to save us all from the changeling menace. We shall remember their efforts, and thank them for it for the rest of our lives. Captain Shining himself turned the tide of countless fights.”

Everyone applauded that. If there was something people loved, it was good war stories. Fight back the bad guy, win the girl, the whole deal. Captain Shining for his part looked embarrassed and waved during the loud applause.

“But there is one last effort I must congratulate,” Daybreaker said as the applause died down. “The Elements of Harmony, Princess Luna, and even Princess Cadence have all worked to achieve a common goal. Unfortunately, that goal was high treason.’

‘Oh fuck. I hate being right.’

The crowd gasped and murmurs of confusion started to fill the hall. Royal Guards stepped up behind the two princesses, and no doubt to the Element bearers.

“But, my little ponies, it is important to remember that we are all Equestrians!” Daybreaker yelled.

“King Phasma,” Elder Mind whispered. My head whipped to her as she spoke my name. “Put on the suit,” she whispered as she affixed a long twist of metal to her head.

Something slid across the floor and bumped into my hindleg. I looked down and saw a wooden crate had been pushed next to me.

“Sister, you are mistaken–”

“We must be united against the changeling menace!” Daybreaker yelled as I cracked the crate open and pulled the tightly packed armor set out.

The two thestrals at the table scooted over and covered me with their wings as I quickly put the armor on. The process was difficult, but I had been training for this. Buttons were ripped off, thread was pulled, and my tuxedo was cast off.

“I desire answers, Luna. I desire recompense. You will repent your sins, and embrace Harmony once again. Why have you worked against me? What have I done to you to deserve this pain?”

I slotted my hooves into the boots of the armor, which shrunk to fit me, and wrestled with the large barrel piece.

“... I will save you, Celestia. I will. But first, I must defeat this Nightmare possessing you. Then, at last, we will be united again. No Nightmares can keep us apart!”

I closed the last clasp, and put on Unbroken Radiance’s helmet.

“I fear your time alone has jeopardized your sanity, Luna. For your own good, surrender. I want to help you.”

The thestrals closed their wings, and Elder Mind nodded to me. Ponies around us looked at me, with my shining green armor, and at Elder Mind, with her shining head ornament.

“There are changelings at the entrance to the palace. Save them,” I ordered the thestral as I stood up.

“If that is what you order me to do,” she said, referencing our earlier conversation.

I nodded, “It is. I’ve got a Nightmare to kill.”

“No, Daybreaker! It is you who are insane!” Luna yelled from across the room.

“I will save you Luna. And I will save the ponies you are trying to damn with you,” Daybreaker responded, her voice filled with pain.

I left the thestrals, and began trotting towards the alicorns, too involved in their feud to see anything past their own table. As I walked past seated ponies, each turned to look at me. But they were beneath my notice, and beneath any importance. Several times, I pushed ponies aside who had come to a halt where they stood, transfixed by the argument that gripped the room.

“It is my fault that you fell, Celestia! I admit that! I accept that! But it shall be my doing that you are returned to us all! Equestria will have its rightful ruler back!”

Four guards were trotting my way. Whether they saw my approach, or had begun making their way to the thestral table, it no longer mattered.

“Halt–” the Royal Guard in the front said.

That was all he managed to say before I gripped each and every one of their four helmets, and slammed them down and to the side, into the tables around us. Not a feat any normal unicorn could accomplish, given how much a living being’s mana pool resists being grabbed by another.

But I am not a unicorn.

I stepped past the final tables as ponies yelled and screamed around me, surprised and horrified by the sudden blunt force trauma. The alicorns ahead were turned towards each other, each pouring emotion. The guards at the base of the steps leveled tall spears towards me, and their unicorns’ horns lit up in an array of colors.

But I was above the meager resistance of a few guards.

I raised a hoof, and pulled on God-Splitter’s recall enchantment embedded in its handle. The Adamantium warhammer ripped free of its brace, which began to spark purple from the violently broken security spells. I caught the massive hammer, which was twice my disguise’s size, with the raised hoof and twirled it around.

“Halt at once, unicorn–” The guard closest to me began to yell.

I channeled energy into Change, and shed the disguise of Baron Expected Value. All these guards, and even Captain Shining Armor up there would have easily stopped any lesser being from interrupting tonight’s main event. They might have even stopped a changeling royal, or at least given them enough pause to allow Daybreaker to defeat them.

But I am not a unicorn, nor just any changeling royal.

Daybreaker’s soft yellow glow from her flames was momentarily overshadowed by the orange inferno that enveloped me. I rose up high above the heads of the ponies around me, who gasped, screamed, and fainted at my sight. Daybreaker turned her head at the sound, and saw me standing below them.

“I am King Phasmatodea of the Fifth Changeling Hive, and I am here to end The War for The Sun, here and now.”

Author's Note

Artist is Pridark

141- Melinoë

I stared out across the city through the large window behind the throne. With no glass or protective enchantment, a very slight breeze flowed inwards through the open space. The green gate, which I was beginning to suspect was made entirely of Adamantium, held every last bit of my interest.

How could the First Hive have that much Adamantium?

Why did they use all of it on a damn door?

What broke it downwards?

The castle offered a better view of the third central district. From where I was standing, it looked like some sort of railyard. But the structures’ placement and size didn’t make sense if that was the case. If there were for some reason large scale railways going down into the Underhive, then the end of the rails should be in some massive exchange or station. The large square buildings looked more like something you’d see in a dwarvish hold in Tolkien’s universe…

“Mother fucker,” I facehoofed.

“Did something happen?” Luna asked me as she walked up from behind.

“I have a hunch that that district over there is some sort of forge. From my understanding, it takes a lot to forge Adamantium and Mithril. If the First Hive was using those materials in bulk, which, judging by the color of that shattered gate, they were, then they would need some sort of massive forge complex to handle lots of it.”

“How did you reach the conclusion that those buildings are forges? They could be anything. I see no smokestacks, no anvils, no discernable details at this distance.”

“There exists many parallels between this world and Earth. Those buildings remind me of dwarvish architecture, a roughly fictional race conceptualized and popularized by a series of books. It just… looks dwarvish, I dunno. Angular architecture, underground city, love for digging and metal…. Maybe changelings are dwarves. Every Hive has some sort of connection to the underground– especially the Underhive, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the Third Hive had its own somewhere. Keeping the Masquerade Protocol in mind, keeping your numbers underground would have been the best way to stay undetected. The comparison to dwarves falls apart there, as dwarves are notoriously greedy, while changelings are just starving. And I’m a bit too tall to be considered a dwarf.”

I glanced at my changelings in the room, and compared them to the ponies also present. We were on average slightly shorter.

“Then again, royals are outliers,” I muttered.

“That is… interesting,” Luna said. “Are there more comparisons to Earth that you can draw?”

“Other than the fact that every single species on Equus is present on earth, either physically or through mythology, except for changelings? Well, changelings exist in myth too, but I don’t think they were ever insectoid, just shapeshifters. They stole babies or something. If you’re asking for specific cultural comparisons…. All I have seen are ponies, and you are rather unique in that regard. Plato’s Republic never existed on Earth as we had no immortals.”

“Plato’s Republic? Define that, if you would.”

I shrugged, “A republic centered around a benevolent immortal. No need for real elections when you can implicitly trust someone to always have the best interest at heart.”

“Were that true…” Luna stared into the distance.

“Oh no you don’t!” I grunted before pulling her into a kiss.

She blinked in surprise, and smiled after I broke it.

“I am glad to have you by my side, Phasma. Had you arrived a thousand years prior, I doubt I would have ever visited the moon…”

I snorted, “Nah, I’d totally enable your behavior or something like that. I’m not exactly a paragon of virtue, Luna.”

“You care when and where it counts. Mostly. We shall work on that, though. You are not completely hopeless.”

“That gate leads to the Underhive then?” Celestia asked, apparently eavesdropping from the other side of the throne. “Shouldn’t we be concerned about that?”

I shrugged, “I warned Shining Armor. But it was broken outwards, not inwards, and this city has been desolate for thousands of years. We’re keeping watch on it, but unless there’s monsters hiding inside the city, which we haven’t discounted yet, we should be good. How long have you been listening to our conversation?”

“Roughly all of it. I apologize, I didn’t really mean to eavesdrop, I just came here for the view.”

“You didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but you didn’t make yourself known or scarce?”

“I… no, I did not.” Celestia coughed, “I see why that’s an issue.”

“Mhmm?”

“I’m sorry, Phasma and Luna. I am unused to being… to having equals,” she admitted while openly feeling guilty.

Luna noticed the same thing I did, “So then you spy on your subordinates?”

Celestia cringed, “Oh heavens, look at the time. It’s time for me to leave.”

“No, you get back here!” Luna called out, chasing the fleeing alicorn.

“And she wonders why I distrust Celestia,” I shook my head.

“Your Majesty,” a changeling appeared by my side, saluting. “There is something you should see.”

“You can run from your problems, but you cannot run from me!” Luna yelled as she tackled Celestia.

“I, uh… yes, what is it?” I mumbled to the changeling.

“Follow me, sir,” she said.

The changeling led me over to another empty window frame, where a pony and another changeling were quietly talking. When I arrived, the changeling saluted and the pony, a pegasus turned to see what he was saluting. When the pegasus saw me, I tasted an outburst of anger and hatred, but the pegasus nodded politely to me before stepping away and quickly leaving.

“I get the feeling I might have personally given him a smackdown or two,” I muttered to the two changelings.

“It’s… okay, My King,” the second changeling said. “Not all the Royal Guards are particularly happy with changelings after Canterlot, but things have been improving.”

“So long as they don’t do something stupid… What did I need to see?”

The first changeling pointed to the snow on the windowsill, “There, sir. Look at the snow.”

I leaned over and examined it.

“Hoof prints.”

She nodded, “Yes, sir. Someone’s been here.”

I nodded, “Our brave explorer, no doubt.”

I looked out the window. The university-looking district, whatever its real name and purpose, lay outside it. The Weave wasn’t providing an answer, so it was likely the Weave’s information had deteriorated over time, or something similar to that effect.

“We think the pony came in for a view of the throne room here, then set off for the research district over there,” a changeling told me.

“Then I think we have our next destination. Go inform Captain Shining Armor that once the outer district close to us is secured, we are heading to the university.”

The changelings saluted, “Yes, My king.”

They buzzed off, only to be replaced by a cross Luna and a remorseful Celestia.

“Phasma, Celestia has something to say to you,” Luna announced.

Celestia sighed, “I’m sorry for spying on you, Phasma. You too, Luna.”

Luna shook her head, “I told Phasma he can trust you. This is not indicative of being trustworthy.”

“I’m sorry! I just… live vicariously through others,” Celestia sighed. “It’s become an addiction at this point. Day in and day out of listening to nobles blather on about nothing has left me with cravings for normality. I… I think I have a lot of apologies to make. But I promise to make amends with those ponies.”

Luna grunted and looked at me.

“What, that’s it? You were caught doing something downright abusive of your station, and you just… realized what you’re doing wrong and apologized this quickly? Is she for real, Luna?”

She nodded, “I know her better than anypony, and I can say with certainty that she is remorseful.”

I stared at them for a second. Celestia gave me puppy-dog eyes.

“Fucking ponies,” I sighed heavily. “Just… don’t do it again.”

‘I’ve got much, much bigger things to worry about than this soap-opera drama.’

Celestia brightened up, “Thank you, Phasma. I promise you that your patience will not go unrewarded!”

“You arranged for the vacation, so I’ll give you a little leeway. But seriously, if I catch you doing anything scheming or scheming-related behind my back again, there’s going to be some serious issues.”

“I– oh!” Celestia gasped. “Of course you would see it that way. Let me just say that I would never take action against a friend, Phasma. I’m sorry I even made you feel unsafe around me.”

I blinked, “Uh… right.” Awkwardly, I shuffled back to staring out the window.

Celestia chuckled behind me, “It’s never too late to learn new lessons, or retread old ones. I should write that down, that’s excellent teaching material…”

“You and I have very different opinions on ‘excellent teaching material,’” I muttered, “but speaking of teaching, our guards have notified me of something interesting. These are hoof tracks in this snow.”

I grunted an acknowledgement as I continued to ignore the message being sent over the Weave.

‘Really, that thing is just getting annoying now. The sooner I leave this room, the better. I’m not foolish enough to mess with that gem to get it to shut up. As nice as that crown is, I think I’d rather not touch it yet….’

Luna and Celestia walked up and inspected the window.

“Furthermore, I suspect– that is to say, my changelings suspect and I am totally stealing credit for the idea– that whoever made these hoofprints likely headed to the research district over there. That’s the connection to teaching, by the way. When Shining gives the all-clear, I want to investigate there next. Should I… put it to a vote?”

“I do not believe that is necessary, but I appreciate the gesture,” Celestia said. “I shall inform the guards of our next trajectory.”

With that, Celestia sauntered off to harass whatever ponies found themselves in her way.

Luna sighed, “We are in the early stages of cooperation, some hiccups are to be expected. I am certain that things will be smoothed out over time.”

I eyed her wearily, “She admitted that she spies on her subjects. That seems kinda like a big deal.”

“You heard her; she is starved of friendship, and seeks it in any form she can find it. Celestia will become a better pony after this small affair. Besides, I am sure that they will forgive you in short order for more or less ordering the early embarkation of this expedition.”

“Sounds like you ponies are just walking soap-operas, then. Constant drama followed immediately by forgiveness. You could write a show about that.”

It turns out, every single one of our guesses were right.

The pony who had ventured into the city before us was in the large university-looking area, which was indeed the research district. She had seen us arrive and had seen us heading to her current hideout, and so had sallied out to meet us.

“I see you brought some friends, King Phasma!” Daring Do yelled as she came in for a landing just outside the research district. “Mind introducing us?”

I frowned, “You’re too far to confirm your identity. Tell me something only you and I would know.”

I saw her shrug, “Is the fact that I saved your life not enough? In the ritual chamber, I’m the one who woke you up.”

“Good enough. Come closer, and you might find that you recognize some of my new friends!”

“Somepony you know?” Shining quirked an eyebrow.

“She tried looting the Third Hive.”

“... Oh no, do not tell me–”

Daring Do had gotten close enough now to recognize who I was with. Given that they were wearing armor, missing their wings was an easy enough thing to do.

“Oh, Princesses!” She exclaimed before bowing.

“Rise, Agent Daring Do,” Celestia commanded. “There is no need for such formalities so far away from Canterlot’s throne.”

“No, no, no, no, no,” Shining mumbled.

“Daring Do, meet Captain Shining Armor, someone who thinks you don’t exist,” I smiled.

“That’s the idea, King Phasma. Have you contacted my colleagues about the cultural exchange I asked for?”

“.... I knew I was forgetting something. There’s probably a lot more things I’m forgetting, but I should really write that down.”

“What is Agent Daring talking about, Phasma?” Celestia asked.

“Uh… part of the cultural and scientific exchange between our people.”

Daring nodded, “I have some friends who would do anything for the opportunity to properly study changelings. I guess I’ll just have to do everything myself and submit a written request, then?”

“That would be the fastest solution, yes,” Celestia said. “I’ll look for your name in my incoming mail.”

“Do you still have my contact information?” Daring looked at me.

“I think so.”

“Great. I’ve got some questions I need answered, and if any more occur to me, I’d like to write to you to get those answers. Where are you living?”

“In Canterlot Castle.”

“... Moving on up in the world, I see.”

“I’d ask you how much of the past two weeks you’ve heard about, but I’m more concerned with where we are now, and how much you know about this place, and what you’ve done so far.”

“Are we not going to talk about the fact that she’s Daring Do?! You know, the fictional explorer?!” Shining yelled. “You’re a character in books! How…”

“I write about my adventures under a pseudonym. It brings in more bits, it’s fun, and I want to. That’s all there is to it, Captain Shining Armor.”

Celestia frowned, “Are you not being compensated enough under S.M.I.L.E.? I can increase your pay if needed.”

“You paid us enough, Your Highness. The writing just makes me sorta rich. And, uh…. S.M.I.L.E. is gone now. I’m a wanted criminal, as I’ve found out,” Daring shifted awkwardly. “I just realized that you’re probably going to arrest me.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Celestia chuckled. “Last I checked, you were uninvolved in The Division’s wrongdoings. Consider yourself pardoned for being forced into Division-P against your own will.”

“Ah, thank you, Princess,” Daring half-bowed.

Shining groaned, “This is horseapples! Gah, how would Twilly even react to this…?”

Daring sighed, “Do not share my existence with others, Captain. As an Agent… as an explorer, I’d rather keep my existence a secret. It creates more problems if ponies start seeking me out.”

“I would have you reinstated as an Agent,” Celestia said, “if you accept. I will have to recreate S.M.I.L.E., but I am sure you will have a place in it.”

“That’s very kind of you, Princess. I think I’d like that. So long as you don’t stick me with a rookie or partner, at least.”

The shrunken alicorn giggled, “I remember that demand of yours, don’t worry.”

"Alright! Fine! I guess Daring Do exists!" Shining threw his hooves up. "Is there anyone else I should know about? Are you going to tell me the foal's book character Barney the Dragon is real? Based on somepony?"

“This city. What do you know about it?” I steered the conversation back on track.

Daring blinked, “Oh, yes. It’s your average forgotten city, though this one has an abundance of snow and ice. Interesting ruins, nothing left that wouldn’t decay over time… it’s several hundred years old, at least.”

“Several thousand,” I corrected her.

“... What do you know of it, changeling king?”

“It’s name is Nisir, and it is the First Hive, the oldest known changeling civilization.”

Daring huffed, “Figures you’d find out more despite only being here for a day.”

“Yeah well, I got most of the answers from its Weave. Speaking of which, you saw the changeling king’s skeleton and his glowing crown in the throne room?”

She nodded, “I did. And I remembered what happened last time I touched a dead changeling king, so I stayed far away. Figured you’d appreciate that.”

“I do.”

Daring chuckled, “Ha! I knew it.”

“What else have you discovered about this city?”

‘Other than the fact that we’re dwarves, apparently.’

She pointed to the buildings behind her, “This place over here is the city’s university and magical lab. Or at least, it used to be. Time has gutted most of its contents, but there’s enough left to keep us busy studying it for generations. I mean, seriously! There’s some weird machines and contraptions in there that I can only guess what they’re for. Also, I think they stored information in crystals. They used books as well, judging by the empty book shelves, but I found some glowing crystals on a few shelves. Makes me think that they’re used as some sort of information storage device.”

“You had my attention. Now, you have my interest. Take me to them, I might be able to use them.”

“I was thinking that as well, King Phasma. I’m kinda glad to see you here, to be honest. So long as you share what you find, the crystals are all yours.”

I smiled, “Lead the way.”

The interior of the research facility was, just as Daring implied, unfortunately barren at times. Occasionally, we would see metal pans, toppled machines, and other debris in the halls and rooms. Little and large things that managed to survive the eternity spent abandoned, though had not made it through the passage of time unscathed.

Daring Do led us to the laboratory she was currently cooped up in. Spending several days in the frozen city had meant that she had to find a place insulated enough to keep warmth, and the lab she chose kept enough warmth for her to make it her campsite.

On tables and shelves that lined the room, Daring Do had placed and catalogued her findings. A thieving spelunker though she was, Daring Do was an archeologist at heart. A certain degree of professionalism was found in her method of organization; from suspected identity to location of origin, each item had a paper attached or next to it that described each object.

In addition to her trophies from her kleptomania, the room also held a number of machines. They were all too complex for me to figure out what each did at a glance, but a few were familiar in build.

Too familiar.

“This here is my hidey-hole. You’re welcome to visit, but I don’t intend on leaving anytime soon,” Daring announced as she invited us in.

“I see you’ve visited the entire city,” Celestia said, examining a few of the labeled curia.

“I have. Some places I’ve examined less thoroughly than others, and many things I had to leave untouched as I was unsure how safe it was to move them, but I have a list of everything I have found in this place, located here or otherwise.”

My breath caught in my throat when I saw one of the machines. It was pushed up against a wall to make room for a large table that held the remains of some clockwork contraption. The machine was familiar. I had seen something like it once before, months ago.

Daring continued, “I’m actually running somewhat low on firewood to burn to keep warm. I was intending on making a run to Shimmervale, but now that you’re all here, I’m sure you won’t mind helping me fell a tree for firewood.”

‘–drills, saws, empty glass vials, what looked like a faucet in the back, and strange contraptions with pipes and containers–’

I slowly pushed the table out of the way, so that I could get a better look at the machine. Symbols were etched upon its surface. I had seen one just like it back in the Fourth Hive. I had seen one in the Ascension chamber’s laboratory, and later had found a book belonging to the First Hive.

With a trembling hoof, I brushed the surface of the machine. Frost cleared away, revealing a three pointed crown. A glowing, three pointed crown.

‘–The last page of the recovered section showed a royal with a large crown, and changelings bowing to them. There was a circle on the center of the crown that seemed to radiate out something. Light, energy, I couldn’t tell–’

“Ascension,” I gasped.

“Phasma!” Luna yelled, appearing at my side.

Just in time too, as my legs suddenly fell out from underneath me and I collapsed into Luna’s forelegs. The ponies and changelings look to me with equal parts confusion and fear.

“Ascension,” I repeated, the pain in my voice clear as day, even to myself.

“What is it, Phasma? What about Ascension?” Luna asked, hugging me tightly.

“It was here, in the First Hive,” I gasped, not taking my eyes off the horrible machine. “A synthetic Weave. That’s what the Ascension process was for! We were butchered to make lesser versions of Panar’s Gift! How many of my family… How long have we been trying to achieve its greatness again…? How many were sacrificed?”

“You’re having a panic attack, Phasma. Just breathe in and out,” Luna whispered to me. “I’m here for you. You’re safe, with friends. Just breathe.”

When I snapped out of it, I found myself wrapped up in a blanket, with Luna pressed to my side in the blanket.

“Luna?”

She looked up and smiled, “You are back. I was worried there, Phasma.”

“The machines–” I began to say, but saw that the lobotomizer had covered by a sheet.

“Do not worry about them. This is just an unfortunate, unexpected reminder…”

I looked around; the changelings and ponies had more or less set up in the room, securing the place and directing reconnaissance squads from the research district. Celestia, Shining, and Daring Do were discussing an ancient object that resembled a clock.

“I… I’m sorry,” I whispered.

“There is nothing to be ashamed of,” Luna replied.

“This is unbecoming of a king–”

“Had we found ourselves in a room resembling the moon, I would think that our positions would be exactly reversed,” Luna cut me off. “We all have our demons. Us two more than anyone else. But we also have each other. Lean against me, so that I can lean against you.”

“... Okay. Where did this blanket come from?”

“Daring Do had volunteered it. Extra supplies are being retrieved from the surface for her in return, as she has plenty of insight to offer. If it is alright with you, we would like her to stay in this city as long as she wants…”

‘Daring Do seems competent enough. No more freeing villains, at least. That’s my job.’

I sniffed, “.... Okay. She didn’t mess with Panar’s Gift, so I guess she learned her lesson on not touching MacGuffins. Just… make sure she doesn’t break anything. Especially the gem.”

Luna nodded, “I would think an archeologist would understand the importance of not disturbing their findings, but I will be sure to pass your worries along. She seems… amiable to you. You saved her life, correct?” I nodded. “Then she will take your order to heart. Speaking of, she is headed our way.”

The pegasus approached us cautiously. From her emotions, I tasted what I assumed to be concern. A bit of fear mixed in with the smallest traces of love.

“King Phasma, I’m glad to see that you’re alright,” she began.

“I’m f– I’ll be fine, in a minute,” I admitted.

Daring nodded slowly, “You kinda freaked out there. Normally I would tease you about something like that, but considering you faced down The Prophet and certain death without any fear, I just kinda got concerned that a machine made you lose your marbles. If The Prophet couldn’t scare you, then what the hell did? Your changelings and friends filled me in, and… I, uh… Yeah.”

“Yeah,” I agreed.

“... I can’t imagine what you’ve gone through, but I still would like your help. You’ve identified one of this room’s mysteries immediately, and I’ve got a lot more stockpiled. With your help…”

I let out a shaky breath, “Just give me a minute.”

Luna squeezed me tighter, and Daring nodded once more. She left to talk again with Celestia and Shining Armor, leaving me alone with Luna.

“I have seen it countless times,” Luna told me. “Though it is only now, in this age, do we finally understand it. PTSD, as Twilight told me.” I nodded, and she continued, “It is not something to be ashamed of. Ponies have been suffering it since swords first clashed. Just do not let yourself suffer alone, Phasma.”

“I know.”

“I know you know, I just am concerned that you will try to keep this burden to yourself. I’ve lost many, many friends that way.”

I looked down at Luna, and stared her in the eyes. The sadness she felt spoke volumes about the pain she endured in her time.

‘She’s lost lots of friends to suicide…?’

“I won’t leave you like that, Luna,” I said. “You’re stuck with me. I just… I’m the one who always falls apart, while you always seem to be in control of yourself.”

Luna smirked, “That just means I get more snuggling time. It is crucial to a pony’s health that they get the required amount of hugs each month, and I have been running a deficit for a thousand years.”

I chuckled, “At least you get something out of this mess.”

‘Does that mean that Luna is starved of physical contact? In any case, I’ll never be against hugging these cuddly ponies. They are all adorable… and delicious, but they don’t like being told that. If Luna needs hugs to remind her she’s not alone anymore, I’m happy to help.’

“Sometimes, I fear that when I awaken in the morning, I will find myself on the moon, alone,” Luna whispered. “That this has all been a dream my mind has conjured in the passing centuries.”

‘That answers that question.’

“You don’t need to be afraid of letting go of me, but you can keep hugging me all you want,” I told her.

“I intend to.”

“Good. I love you, Luna.”

“I love you too, Phasma.”

A few minutes later, Daring Do returned. She had something under her wing.

“Are you ready?” She asked me.

“I am. I presume you’re going to show me what’s under your wing?”

Daring Do flinched, “What?”

“How do you know she had something under her wing?” Luna asked.

“I… isn’t it obvious?”

“No,” Luna shook her head.

“I do have something. The fact that you knew is a good sign, I guess?” Daring suggested. Then, extending out her wing, she revealed three crystals set in metal rings. “These seem to be some sort of recording devices, and I was hoping you knew of a way of activating them. The fact that you could sense them proves that my hopes were placed well.”

I cleared my throat, “In that case, I’ll stay seated here with Luna. The last time we were in an abandoned Hive, I had visions of the past. If these give me visions again, Luna can make sure I don’t break my nose when I collapse.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Luna winked. “Keep hugging the bug.”

“They were in an order,” Daring muttered to herself. “I think it was… this one first?” She grabbed one of the crystals, and offered it to me.

I tried picking it up with my magic, only for the crystal to glow green, and my vision blackened.

A changeling princess hunched over her desk, speaking into a microphone. Only, the part she was leaning towards was the crystal and metal disk that I had touched.

I was floating beside her, watching her. The recording showed a small circle of existence centered around the crystal; the princess’s workshop was cluttered with tools, papers, and other lab equipment.

The princess herself was a pale gold changeling royal, with a few scars on her face. Interestingly, she lacked any holes in her hooves and the rest of her body. Whatever ancient changelings ate, it was clearly enough to keep away the effects of starvation. Or, the royals had hoarded food even back during our golden age.

I wouldn’t have been surprised.

“Log number eleven-dash-beta. Princess Arista Narmer, first of my name, et cetera, et cetera. Scouts have reported Ur’s fate; the city is dead, just as we feared but dared to hope otherwise. We can't glean its fate from its corpse, so as per the Masquerade Protocol, the city was scuttled. With Ur’s death, Nisir is the last of the Seven Jewels. One less bitter ought to be less surprised than this; we alone have access to the Crystal Empire, and thus, hunger is never an issue for us. But Ur’s death stings no less by this fact. We are alone now. The only Hive.”

Princess Arista slumped over, pushing a pencil across her desk.

“Such a concept is… terrifying. We have survived so much… I am not alone with these fears. Emperor Megatypus ordered the construction of the Arc Project; Tiamat Station is to be retrofitted for the worst possible outcome. Should Nisir fall, then Tiamat, being the most isolated and secure station, will be the heir of the Hive Eternal. However, with its isolation, food becomes an issue. Project Warmth has…. Failed.”

She spun her chair around, looking somewhere outside of view.

“No crystal from the Crystal Empire can withstand the stress needed to form a new Crystal Heart. However, there are promising surveys from Panar’s Labyrinth. Given its proximity to Panar’s Labyrinth, Project Warmth will be completely transferred over to the research station Tiamat. Overseeing the project….”

Her voice became more and more distorted towards the end, eventually breaking off completely into static. Once again, everything faded from view.

I slowly awakened, finding myself once again in Luna’s hooves.

“I’ll never get tired of waking up to you,” I said, yawning.

Luna blushed, “What did you see, Romeo?”

“Is that a Shakespeare reference? I would have thought he would have lived during your absence.”

“Shakespony was a playwright while I was still in Equestria. What did you see?” Luna pressed again.

Daring Do nodded, “Please, I’m dying to know.”

I explained what I saw, giving an abridged version of what I saw.

“The Crystal Empire,” Luna whispered. “That is not a name I have heard in a long time. The Crystal Heart, as well. The changelings were trying to replicate it, too. That is… the least surprising thing I have heard in a long time. Of course your kind would be attracted to it like moths to a flame. No offense, Phasma.”

“None taken, what was special about it?”

“It projected a field that kept the Crystal Empire safe from the winter gales outside its field. It was powered by love and positive feelings, so I imagine it was an excellent source of food for Nisir.”

My eyes widened, “Free food? Yeah, that sounds like something we’d be interested in. Hey wait a second, doesn’t the Princess of Food have a heart made of crystal on her ass?”

“The Princess of what?” Daring repeated.

“Cadence does have the Crystal Heart as a Cutie Mark. Celestia believes she is distantly related to the city’s dynasty,” Luna confirmed.

“That’s… interesting.”

“It is. Perhaps she will lead us to discover the city’s fate? It would not be surprising if her Cutie Mark has more meaning than just love and family. Do not tell Cadence this, as Celestia and I wish to keep it a secret from her. We do not want to burden her with the idea that she must find the ruins of her relative’s civilization, or something equally horrid.”

“Okay?”

‘I guess I can keep that a secret from her. Worst case scenario, I shift the blame onto Luna and Celestia if she gets mad at me. Or maybe just Celestia.’

“You too, Agent Daring Do.”

“My lips are sealed, Princess.”

Luna nodded once. “Good. Now, this… Tiamat station?”

I shrugged, “Maybe it’s the Second Hive? If they made it the official fallback point of Nisir, then it would make sense if the survivors went there.”

“I see. Panar’s Labyrinth?”

“Never heard of it,” I shrugged.

“Still, a remarkable discovery,” Daring wrote down some notes. “Showing you these was the right move. Six other cities like this place, though if the comment about scuttling them was true, then we probably won’t find them.”

“Six more dwarven holds,” I chuckled. “Shame about that. I guess they were vital to keeping the Masquerade Protocol intact, but we became restricted by the Protocol; it’s kinda hard to create a brand new city within a mountain without the locals finding out.”

“Dwarven holds? What are those?” Daring looked up from her notepad.

“I’ll explain later. The second recording?”

Daring Do retrieved another crystal, and offered it.

“I’ll finish writing some notes and theories while you’re knocked out, I guess.”

I tried picking up the recording, and once again the abyss claimed me.

I was in the same small bubble of a workshop again, though this time it was a lot messier.

Pieces of paper had become piles, and several pieces of broken tools littered the floor. In the center of her work space, Princess Arista had a massive diagram of some sort of spell. From what I could tell, it looked to be related to consciousness and the Weave. The symbols I recognized helped me reach that conclusion, but offered no further insight.

She cleared her throat, “Log number five-dash-theta. Princess Arista Narmer, first of my name, so on. We have made a breakthrough on Project Ether. This Weave-adjacent plane of existence is traversable in some manner, though the only skilled traveler is the alicorn Princess Luna. Given the Masquerade Protocol, we cannot converse with the young immortal.”

I chuckled at the thought of Luna meeting changelings early.

“However, with the right adjustments, changeling royals can access the Ether. Our first small, restricted foray into the Weave-adjacent realm has yielded spectacular results; contact has been made with life forms not of this world. Utterly alien and completely unique, we have begun the study of these apparitions. Volunteers were found, and so the creatures have been granted physical form. One particular subject has shown exceptional intelligence, suggesting sapience…”

The recording had cut off much more abruptly, flinging me back to consciousness ungracefully.

“Shining reports excellent progress, and no activity at the center-gate. The Underhive sleeps soundly, and we are not disturbing its slumber,” Celestia’s voice welcomed me back to the waking world.

“Speaking of slumber, It seems Phasma has awakened once more,” Luna said as I stirred and opened my eyes.

“Shorter recording this time,” I grunted.

“I had missed your earlier explanation,” Celestia said, “but I am glad to be here for this one. I’m also glad to see that you’re okay, Phasma.”

“Huh? Oh, right… I fainted. Yeah… I’ve got a beautiful mare to tend to my needs, so I lived. Barely.”

“The most beautiful in all the lands,” Luna said, dramatically flipping her mane back. “What did this vision entail?”

I explained the second recording’s contents to the ponies.

Luna shivered, “To think that they were spying on me, so long ago… Thank Faust they did not act against us. If Nisir is what they achieved when they worked towards city-building, I shudder to think of what they could build if they had put their minds towards war.”

“Probably not enough to win,” I guessed. “Changeling legends state that we fought Equestrians in open-warfare long, long, long ago. We were so thoroughly defeated that we decided to conceal our existence.”

“I recall no legends of such battles,” Luna said, tilting her head.

“I doubt we would have left any intact, if we could help it. Anyways, the things they found in the Dreamscape…”

“They could be Nightmares,” Luna voiced my thought.

“Yeah. That could be why Nightmares are so interested in our extinction; maybe we were the ones to kick the bee’s nest?”

“Would certainly explain a few things,” Celestia muttered.

“Perhaps. There is one more crystal, maybe it can confirm these suspicions…”

“In you go,” Daring cheered as she held up the last recording crystal.

And in I went.

Princess Arista Narmer was not in her lab.

She was standing in a hallway, front of a metal door, one with a glass window. She stared through its window, writing down notes that I couldn’t read. She levitated the crystal before her, so that she could speak into it while working. I could not see anything through the glass window, unfortunately.

“Log number ninety-dash-omicron. Princess Arista Narmer. Cooperation with subject 001, codenamed ‘Epitaph’ has yielded substantial amounts of information.”

‘Aha! Gotcha now, bastard!’ I cheered. ‘Now I have your origin story! That means I’m allowed to defeat you, villain!’

Princess Arista continued, finishing her notes and flipping to an earlier point in her notepad, “Subject 001, codename ‘Epitaph’ has requested to be referred to as its own self chosen name. Following repeated successful attempts at cooperation, this luxury was granted. Additionally, cooperation with the lesser instances has been in our favor, and so the luxury was extended to those instances as well.”

Princess Arista lowered her notepad, instead focusing all of her attention on the glass window.

“Henceforth, Subject 001, codename "Epitaph" shall be referred to as its self-designated name..”

Her voice distorted and broke off into static, but this time, the vision did not end.

“– name…” She attempted to say, but broke into static again.

The door and wall around it melted away, leaving just me and Princess Arista standing on a metal floor.

“– name…”

A voice, deep and rumbling, echoed forth from the abyss beyond.

“This world's death shall be my legacy. Upon its gravestone, I will carve its Epitaph. The last words ever spoken shall be my name.”

Tendrils of inky black liquid curled onto the platform, gripping it and writhing around each other.

Two eyes appeared in the darkness beyond our sphere of existence. Green colored, with red slitted pupils. Purple smoke billowed from the eyes, a sign of corruption, if what Luna told me was correct.

The eyes stared at me. Not Princess Arista. Me.

“The Apex Predator of Equus. The Devourer of The Sun,” Epitaph growled, stepping out from the shadow.

His form materialized around him; hooves connected to legs, which in turn connected to his barrel. He had smoky grey fur, and a billowing black mane that shielded his neck.

Atop his face, one long horn curved backwards, like a changeling drone. It blazed in black-purple flame, flickering without light.

He bared his fangs, and his deep voice reverberated in my own chest.

“King Sombra, Lord of the Umbrum.”