Chapters Prologue: Death and Rebirth
Scythe slashed through the humid jungle flora, the darkness of the night hiding him from the eyes of predators. Then one of the beasts of the forest leaped at him, then fell to the ground without its head. "Cats, sentient or not, always jump from behind, like dating an desperate mare." He looked at the head and saw it had something green stuck to its fur, and once he saw its finger paws. "An Abyssinian; this makes it the fifth." He turned to see glowing purple eyes blinking.
He formed a shield around himself and pulled several long needles from his saddle bag. "What are you going to do? Knit a net around me?" a female voice with buzzing in the back of her throat spoke. He launched one of his needles at full speed, piercing multiple trees and a frog. "Ok that was impressive!" she yelled. Scythe looked around, The eye spell was his best spell work, his shield always had a small hole from which he launched his needles like knives.
Scythe glared into the two glowing purple eyes in the darkness. "Are you the Formless?" The glowing eyes widened, then squinted at him and it spat a green substance that hardened instantly around his shield. She jumped onto the hardened substance and looked at the contained unicorn.
She hissed. "How do you know of it?" Scythe looked around, saw that there was no opening and he had to play ball after lowering his shield. "So, tell me!" she yelled, bringing him images of his mind.
He covered his ears and saw that the thing went silent. "I got the information as partial payment; once the queen of those fish ponies died, I would get the full payment of 50,000 bits and a book to lead me where I can find to the Changing Ones." She glared at him.
She changed her form into a dragon. "You want to know this?" She smirked and shape-shifted into her changeling queen form. "Sorry, but you can't learn it." He raised a brow, hiding a smoldering rage about to explode and devour the jungle. "Though there is one way, but it would mean giving up your pony being and becoming a being of darkness and who can devour the emotions of lesser beings!" She grinned showing 5 rows of teeth.
Scythe smirked. "I'm wanted dead or alive, but what would you get out of it?" She broke the hardened substance and walked in.
"A mate for life, muscle strong enough to guard me and my larvae." His eyes widened and he blushed. "So, the black maned stallion does have some emotions." she spoke flirtatiously.
He coughed. "W-why didn't you just do it to the cat?" He blushed heavily as she started spinning around him. Her legs were long and her horn the shape of a crystal carved into a dagger.
Her mane color was a psychedelic purple and black carapace, and she had only one fang, on her right side. "Because I need someone willing and strong," she teased, and his blush became deeper. "They need be able to kill, and well." She looked to the headless cat man.
He concentrated. 'It's either live my life on the run or become this things body guard and gain the ability to change my form to any I wish.' He looked at her. "Fine, how does this work do you-" She pushed him to the ground a released and breathed a cloud of black smoke into his mouth. "*cough* What was that?!" He stopped and felt his hoof melt. "Aaaaaah!" He screamed trying to pull his hoof back together. "What did you do to me?!" he demanded as the world darkened around him and she built a chrysalis around him.
She looked into the chrysalis, smiling, as the liquid form of the pony went through his metamorphosis.
Vehemence laid in a cave, taking the emotion from the metamorphosing unicorn."So much anger; where does it come from?" she asked, watching the newly forming changeling punching his chrysalis. "How do you have so much hatred in you?" a Scythe's newly formed horn ripped through the chrysalis, and the a his long scorpion like tail ripped the rest. As he fell to the ground, shaking his head, he looked through his new compound eyes, the first image he saw was the queen changeling. "Welcome. I hope you can hunt for us, since I have been watching over you for the—" He placed a hoof to her mouth.
He took it out back and looked at his body and saw the holes in his hooves and his horn, which looked like a curved sword with the tip splitting into two. It felt odd, having no coat or mane. "What am I now, and why does the world look like a moving mosaic?" he said, moving his head around. Then his new wings jumped out. "Now I know how pegasi feel." He started flapping and moving faster, trying to fly, but couldn't move his wings synchronously so as to cause lift.
Vehemence laughed. "You're like a fly that got hit with a scroll." Scythe glared at her, he then flapped his wings faster and flew into the wall. "Wait no, a fly knows when to stop after getting swatted." He glared at the queen, his horn stuck in the wall. "How about I tell you what you got out of our deal? You're a changeling now, you can shape shift, as promised, and you have a venomous blade on the tip of your tail that sends people into hallucinations. That way you can feed of emotions without wasting magic." His eyes widened and used said his tail to break the stone around his horn.
He laid on the floor and looked at Vehemence. "Do you have any bread, or some peppers?" She chuckled and used her magic to make him stand up. She opened her mouth, releasing a pink cloud, which flew into Scythe's mouth. "That had some punch, like drinking cider! How did you make that?" He looked at his hoofs to make sure he wouldn't melt this time.
Vehemence chuckled, blowing a kiss at him. He breathed the kiss in and felt a rush of intoxication. "The first cloud was pure joy; that kiss was love." He had a greedy smile; he wanted this hunger to stop. "You gain it from the emotions of others. I guess your rebirth must have melted your brain as well." He thought for a brief moment.
His memories were cloudy: ponies were all faceless, voices all deep echoes. "I still remember how to fight and use my magic." His horn lit up as and every pebble in the cave floated; he moved them into a row and used it them to cut a tree in two. "Don't think I'm your puppet," she smirked, taking a boulder and transmuting it into a stone sword. He smirked as well, and tried to change his shape, and but then saw his hoof's exoskeleton crack. Yellow magic erupted, causing him immense pain.
Vehemence came to Scythe, rubbing his back. "Must be a side effect; I didn't know this would happen." He panted heavily, then pointed at her. "Now! Don't start pointing fingers! That pun wasn't intended." He took a pebble from the ground and scratched into the wall: change your form now. It said the former pony glared at the changeling queen. She sighed, a spiral of magic surrounding her taking as she took on the form of an orange unicorn mare with a pink mane that had a blue stripe going through it. "Happy? Now stop getting angry; It tastes like I ate ghost peppers!" she said, waving at her tongue with her hoof trying to ease the pain.
He growled. "How about you point me to the nearest pony, I can release this aggression from the fact I had to grow a claw instead of just having magic spiral around me!"He took the stone sword with his magic, walked out "I'm starving!" Vehemence smiled at the fact her investment payed off: not only did she have a mate with which to start a hive, but one who had enough power to stop anyone who could threaten her. She closed her eyes, sensing for any sentient creatures, and raised her hoof toward some explorers or grave robbers looking through some the ruins of an ancient civilization that used to live there.
He started walking, then taking up speed as he ran, slashing the stone sword, destroying any and anything that got in his way. He saw the grave robbers, grinning at them because the moment they saw him, they screamed. "UNDEAD!" He screeched causing them to freeze in fear. His first taste of emotion outside of queen vehemence, was amazing, even if it tasted a bit bland. "Please, do not punish us! We didn't want to disturb your resting place!" They all bowed, by Luna it was an ego boost! He shot the five ponies with his magic, paralyzing them. He levitated them and brought them to Vehemence. She looked over the five with a smile, and encased them in a cocoon.
He pierced the cocoon with the blade on his tail, filling the robbers with venom. The emotions of Joy, fear, love, anger, disgust, greed, and sadness leaked from them. "I hate greed, it tastes bitter and empty," Vehemence said, taking a cloud of magic from the pods.
He nodded, trying the same before spitting it back out "It's because they're grave robbers; I bet they're imagining themselves swimming in gold!" Vehemence nodded, absorbing more emotions from them. "What will we do now?" She finished drinking and then looked at Scythe.
Months later.
A hollow tree with no leaves stood, smooth to the touch; not even a spider would be able to climb up the structure. Inside one of the many floors underneath the tree Scythe lay next to Vehemence. Not wanting to miss his first child hatching, he hadn't left the nest in a week. "They will be strong," she, said, rubbing his cheek. He uppercase nodded, imagining training the first generation of drones.
Then an idea came to him. "Are there other hives?" She nodded and he smiled. "Could we conquer them?" Vehemence smiled, and so did Scythe.
Then the first egg hatched, its horn stabbing through the shell, and it screeched. Vehemence cried looking at the little larvae and Scythe offered his hoof and the larvae climbed onto it. He breathed out a red cloud and the little changeling breathed it in and it became silent. "You're going to give him a bellyache; he will be a strong soldier." She gave the little grub a kiss and he purred, smiling.
Scythe smiled and gave the grub to the queen. "Do you see any foolish adventurers?" Vehemence closed her eyes and then looked toward in the direction of the closest creatures. "After a month of disappearing grave robbers, no one thinks it's a dumb idea to go here?" he asked, his wings buzzing as he flew through the twisted pathways of the nest to his next victims.
Author's Note
I thank my beta reader wh1msy, because I wouldn’t publish any of these if she didn’t give it a good polish.
A cloaked pony walked through Canterlot. After getting past the guards and, he smiled at the statue in front of him. "Oh my little filly, you had such talent in magic, so much ambition, yet sadly you didn't inherent your mother's intelligence." His horn lit up and a black aura surrounded the statue, shrinking it down. He placed it into his saddlebag; the next thing he knew two guards pointed their spears at him. "Pedestrians at best." He breathed out a cloud of black ash, covering the two guards. Once it cleared the two guards had disappeared.
Then he jumped out of a blast of magic. "You're under arrest for theft of public property and assisting criminals!" a purple alicorn told him, which he answered with a shrug before he started running toward the edge to jump off. Twilight flew after the falling pony and so did two pegasi guards, trying to save the insane unicorn, but once close enough the unicorn breathed out the same black ash, making them disappear before said unicorn unfolded dragonfly-like wings. Twilight then realized he was dive-bombing as it he changed directions mid-air upward using the speed he had built up to out-Speed Twilight, and she stopped. "I need to call the girls," she said before, dodging a black aura of magic.
The cloaked pony landed, following the track to Appleloosa, and then to the Badlands. He stopped and jumped out of the way of a rainbow blur, a Magic blast and finally a Party Canon. He look at the five mares all of them with determined expressions, except pinky.
He then dramatically gasped. "Oh goodness, how did you find me? You truly are the mage of mages! Princess of magic and savior of the world!" He spoke in an authentic, yet dramatic tone that made Twilight blush a little. "A member of the apples! The best farmers this side of Equestria, and, Rarity, the world's greatest couturier!" He then looked toward the little Fluttershy. "Oh, how does an innocent thing like you have that much chaos around you unless—oh, so you're Discord's friend! You're prettier than any description." He grinned showing his fangs.
Fluttershy "eep!" She hid behind Rarity. "U-um, thank you mister?" He lifted his cloak, revealing a stallion with a tanned coat, a gray beard, and a light blue mane.
He smiled. "My name is Maxilla Scythe! The first in a line of emperors and—" He caught rainbow Dash with his magic and placed her next to her friends, after taking his saddlebag back. "I'm a millennium and 203 years old, and I'm taking my daughter to her trial."
They all gasped, shocked. "You're Cozy Glows dad?!" Pinkie asked. He shook his head slowly as his right eye cracked open and revealed a dark brown compound eye, just like the one the changelings had. "You're Chrysalis's dad? Do you have baby pictures of her?" He looked at the pink pony, confused for a brief moment at the fearless smile, while all the other ponies there were in shock and trying to calm down.
Twilight was going through her knowledge of changelings and she had never read, heard, or seen a changeling shape shift physically. "H-how and WHAT?! Chrysalis has a father?!" Pinkie placed her hoof around Twilight's neck. "Pinkie, I know where foals come from." She then took her hoof away. "You're planning on freeing Chrysalis and—" His horn lit, making Twilight and friends perceive their mouth's disappear.
He smiled as they panicked. "No, I mean I will free her, then put her and her hive on trial for breaking our laws. If they're found innocent, they and Chrysalis will be freed, if they're not, they will be restored, or as I like to call it, reborn." They gasped, and Twilight's horn lit as she figured out it was an illusion spell. "You will stand as witnesses, and witnesses must be protected." He breathed out a dust cloud of multiple colors.
Once it cleared, Twilight found herself in a room full of books held in golden shelves. "Is this paradise?" she asked, trying to take one out, but sadly, there was a protective charm on it, and then she noticed her friends weren't there. "GIRLS?! Fluttershy? Applejack?" She heard hoof steeps, and then saw a changeling queen the same height as Chrysalis, and whose mane was a golden color shining in the torch lights around them.
She took on a fighting stance, "Who are you? What did you do to my friends?!" The changeling queen stared at Twilight before Holding up Spike. "Spike?!" He chuckled awkwardly.
The changeling queen with the golden mane spoke. "That vermin was sent to the Treasury; lucky I was hungry enough to devour the greed from him before he turned into a giant pain in my flank!" She said, annoyed, throwing him to Twilight's hooves.
Twilight remembered the last time Spike went on a greed-fueled rampage, but then looked at the queen. "WAIT!" The queen's pupils narrowed. "U-um where are my friends?" She summoned a mirror, showing each of Twilight's friends with each of them in a changeling hive, except Fluttershy, who was combing the white mane of a small puffy looking changeling queen with moth-like antenna ears; she still had the black carapace and the holes on her hooves. "Rainbow Dash! Applejack! Pinkie Pie!" None of them reacted as the mirror turned black. "Who are you!" She demanded from the changeling queen.
She smiled. "Golden Spindle. Any other questions?" She spoke calmly, waiting for the next question.
Twilight gulped. "You said you feed off greed, just like Chrysalis with love?" Spindle ate the greed from Twilight.
She looked at Spike. "Question: why do you think there are few dragons who mindlessly raid and steal?" Twilight's eyes widened with understanding. "We also own every casino in Equestria, but you can't feed off a sleeping dragon forever." Twilight tried to teleport, but it didn't work. "Sorry, magic doesn't work in the hive, and I know you would love to know more about my kind." Spindle smiled, knowing she was right.
Twilight stayed silent then spoke up. "Are you related to Chrysalis?" Spindle frowned and nodded. "Where is Maxilla going?" She sighed, floating the mirror again, and showed the jungles near the badlands, showing a gigantic black dead tree.
Spindle had a smile of nostalgia. "The grand hive, where I and my sisters were raised. Where my mother will punish Chrysalis and her hive for showing our existence!" She growled and then one of the changelings threw a bucket of water on her. "Thank you, brood." She used her magic to pull out a book that had a picture of a carved crystal blade on it.
Twilight tried to use her magic to take a book again, but the runes stopped her from touching them. "Sorry, could I read one of these books?" Spindle opened her mouth and a wave of orange escaped from Twilight. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Spindle rolled her eyes as she blocked Twilight's magic attack with her own shield.
"Simple, I ate your greed for Knowledge. It's more of an obsession, isn't it?" She asked Spike and he chuckled and Twilight glared at him. "My father was hoping to fight you, sadly you're a witness. Pity, he has been so bored since mother went into hibernation." Twilight looked at Spike, and sadly he didn't have a quill or paper.
Twilight then looked inside her saddlebag and pulled out a note pad. "Why did she hibernate?" Spindle looked at Twilight, amused that Scythe wanted to fight her.
Spindle tapped her chin. "Well, my mother is ancient, and she needs to rest or else she will overwork herself. My father, on the other hoof, has one duty, which is to be her muscle when needed, and when she sleeps, he travels the world for knowledge, and my non-queen siblings guard her. If anyone dared to place a hoof in her chambers he would teleport and destroy them." One of the changelings came and gave her a glass of sparkling cider. "So, he decided to give me his scroll collection for safe keeping. Some are ancient, some are recent, and a few he said he stole from the future, but I don't trust that. We have dark magic, normal magic, music magic, Kirin magic, Deer magic, changeling magic, first issues of lost or known spell books, and a few first issue Comics, because my changeling found out they cost a lot after a few decades." The princess and Spike stood frozen; changeling queen took in the greed from the two before they got out of their trance.
Twilight tried again to take one of the books but she activated a trap causing her to float, hit the ceiling and come back down. "I just want to read one! Is that so bad?" Spindle shrugged and took a sip from her glass. "Wait if, there are more hives? Why didn't you help Chrysalis during the attack on Canterlot?" Golden Spindle sighed.
"You see, my sister has the ego of a dragon with a hoard the size of a mountain! I'm not interested in conquest, who is?! It's just having to tell ponies what to do, and stopping rebellions isn't fun after ponies get angry about having to be ruled by am insect pony." She drank from her glass. "Better than the old times when changeling queens would go to have never-ending wars with each other." Twilight wrote it down.
A scarred male changeling entered the library, his carapace a dark crimson and his eyes a dark copper color. "That was when we were predators, instead of the mutualism we practice today."
Spike had a bored Expression. "You are?" He asked, and Twilight held the dragon's shut.
"Mandible saber, first hatchling of emperor Maxilla Scythe and Empress Vehemence, slaughterer of the northern hives, and best cook in Equestria,"he said with pride.
Golden Spindle nodded. "Yeah, that's true, his strawberry pie is to die for! You're making your special today, right?" He nodded. "Good, Hopefully father won't be too full after eating that Thorax—" Twilight jumped at Spindle, panicking.
Twilight and Spike yelled at the same time. "What?!" As Mandible raised his stinger-like tail, hissing at Twilight who slowly stepped off the queen. "What do you mean, him eating Thorax?" The changeling soldier calmed down.
Golden Spindle sighed. "Eating his emotions. Though my father might actually destroy Thorax." Mandible nodded.
Twilight then tried to use her magic to teleport again and was met with two portals opening under and over her which led to her falling endlessly for a few minutes. "Um, when does this stop?" Spike asked, seeing Twilight scream.
Spindle sighed. "When she figures out she can fly." Twilight then did so and looked at Spindle.
She took on an attack stance. "You will let me out or I will..." She didn't have any threats. "Ok, I have nothing! But you can't restore the changelings or free Chrysalis or kill thorax!" Spindle rolled her eyes, then had an idea.
She gave Twilight the book on changeling laws. "Then you figure out how to save your friends and keep Chrysalis imprisoned! Because my father's laws are annoying! Mandible will help you with the stuff you can't understand." She teleported away.
Twilight started reading to find a loop-hole.
She wrote eight letters and gave it to Spike to see if she could send a message to the outside. Mandible ignored the dragon, because his job was to explain anything Twilight didn't understand, not act as a guard; even if his sister was a queen he didn't have to listen to her every word.
In the bad lands
The changeling emperor caught the burned message and reformed it partially as he wasn't the intended recipient. One word, however, made him grin like a foal on Hearth's Warming Eve. "Pillars." He then set the letter on black fire and headed to the reformed changeling hive with one intent: have some bucking fun!
Author's Note
Yeah, what happens when a person who enjoys fighting doesn't get to fight for nearly eight hundred years?
Again, thanks to wh1msy, for making sure this isn't Horrible!
"The broken laws are: The law of secrecy, unauthorized declaration of war, the law of disguise, the law of alteration, and lastly, being a living eyesore," Mandible told Twilight as she looked through the book.
Twilight saw that being a living eyesore wasn't in the book. "being an eyesore is not a criminal offense." He turned a few pages to a section on annoying your rulers/parents. "Oh...why is there an entire section dedicated to this?" she asked as Mandible pulled out a photo of a young Spindle painted in gold color and a full grown-changeling with a purple mane laughing her plot off.
Mandible sighed. "Emila got jealous after dad called Spindle his lucky star, so a bucket of gold paint landed on Spindles head and it wouldn't wash out for three months." Spike burst out laughing and Twilight snorted into her hoof.
Twilight cleared her voice. "Ok, the law of secrecy states that no changeling is to reveal their existence to ponies. It doesn't have anything subjective about it that could be argued in a courtroom." She hit her head on a bookshelf, which caused a trap to activate that gave her body spots. "Argh! Ok, unauthorized declaration of war! Who did Chrysalis need to ask to declare a war?" Mandible pointed at himself. "What?" He nodded.
"I'm regent when my mother is asleep and when father is absent; meaning, I have to make decisions, but that's the limit. I mean, I can't order my sisters around like father or mother, but making sure they don't declare wars is fine." Twilight then had an idea.
"Wait, Equestria never got a declaration of war or nor did we declare any! Which means Chrysalis didn't break that law!" Mandible sighed, using his magic to get a notebook and a pencil to remove it off the list. "Ok, we just have the law of disguise, aaand it's also literal and has no subjective meaning." She said rubbing her eyes. "Do changelings even have lawyers?" Mandible shook his head. Twilight rubbed her eyes and hoped the other girls were having a better time.
Meanwhile, with Rainbow Dash
Rainbow dash sat next to the changeling queen, whose eyes and mane were crimson, sitting on a throne made of iron. The changelings watched a pegasus with a yellow coat and strawberry red mane fighting a diamond dog. "What is he doing?" Rainbow asked, watching the fight. The gladiator dodged the dog's attempts to grab him and then flew over the beast as it tried to catch the warrior and then he flew and in front of a wall. The diamond dog ran with an open jaw towards the gladiator, but before it could eat the pegasus, he flew out of the way, leaving the dog stuck to the wall. It struggled to escape but it was no use, as the warrior dive-bombed into the dog's head, knocking it out. "That was awesome!" Rainbow said, and the queen smiled.
The queen stood up. "What does the hive wish?!" They all cheered. "May this beast live to fight again?!" They cheered and the gladiator nodded, accepting the audience's decision. The queen of the stadium looked at Rainbow Dash. "I Myrmecia, the Queen of Rage, declare the next game to be a combat between the element of loyalty and Gladius!" Rainbow Dash tried to fly away, but the guard held her down.
Dash struggled. "I'm not playing your games!" The queen ate the rage from Rainbow Dash which calmed her down. "W-what did you do?" Dash asked, all her anger disappearing and being replaced by fear.
"My hive and I don't feed off of love, remember? We feed off anger! Luckily for us, somecreature invented buckball; one lost game can produce enough rage to last us two years!"
Her horn glowed red, pulling shards of a mirror out of a box. They formed a square and it showed a buckball bar with the visiting team winning and one pony with bloodshot eyes sitting in the middle of the chaos.
A changeling in disguise with bloodshot eyes smiled. "This is the life," he said, dodging a cup. "Hey!" The mob turned to the changeling in disguise. "He said Celestia is best princess!" He pointed to the pony who had thrown the cup at him and the bowl turned to a screaming match. "Get me two more pints of cider!" He said with their eyes losging their blood-shot feature.
The queen returned the shards into a box next to her. "Well, that was your last bit of relaxation."
The warrior changelings threw Rainbow Dash into the arena "Because of this, we like to have these games to entertain us and punish those who wronged us. Now you're next for the arena!" Rainbow Dash glared at the queen.
The stadium cheered as the gladiator took off his armor, leaving only the helmet that had the symbol of Mars and Caduceus on it.
Rainbow looked at Gladius "Alright, how about you take a dive and—" The gladiator unfolded his wings, which were twice the size of the warriors body length. "Show off." She smirked.
She did the same, remembering the only history lesson she listened to —because it was about a gladiator from legends— that the pegasus gladiators would unfold their wings as a show of dominance. They stared at each other, then the gladiator unsheathed one of his blades and threw it to Rainbow Dash "Consider it as an act of kindness," the warrior said, smiling , and she took the sword with her wing, and held it in front of herself.
Fluttershy
She was in a living room drinking tea. "Thank you, Cocoon for the tea and cookies, but could you tell me where my friends are?" Cocoon sighed.
She sat in front of Fluttershy. "I'm sorry, but even if I told you, wouldn't be able to free them. They're with my sisters, and they won't let you take them away." Fluttershy looked disappointed and cocoon offered her a plate of cinnamon pie. "I'm sorry; I wish chrysalis didn't attack your friend's brother or kidnap you and your friends or try to conquer Equestria, three times." She started to tear up; Fluttershy placed her wing around her and the changelings sniffed.
The yellow pegasus gave her a few tissues and cocoon took them, blowing her nose. "It's not your fault what your family does." Cocoon sighed.
"I wish my siblings would understand; they feel so much pain and frustration from letting Chrysie take this path of madness! I just left the hive and the only worker I have is Pupa." At the mention of his name the little grub crawled out his mother's mane to give kisses. "I know, my little grub, I love you too." The grub purred before crawling back into his mother's warm mane.
Fluttershy smiled. "Do you know if my friends are fine?" The changeling nodded and then a chaos spirit teleported in, shocking Cocoon onto the ground unconscious. "Discord! You scared Cocoon."He looked at the changeling queen with her grub popping its head out of her mane. "Don't worry, your mommy will be awake soon, Discord, could you help bring cocoon to her bedroom?”
"Fine." He simply snapped his fingers, teleporting the grub and queen into her bed. "May I ask why you're here, Fluttershy? Normally we have tea at this time of day," he said as his eye turned into a clock, showing the time. "What is that?" He flew around Fluttershy. "Hmm, rare to see a Changeling King use magic." Fluttershy gave a confused look. "Where are the other members of your friend group?"
Flutter took a breath and said as quickly as possible. "Twilightcalledusbecausethevilliansstatuegotstolenandwefollowedachangelingnamedscythe. Thenscythewhobreathedoutacloudofash, nextthingiknowi'mhereandbeingservedteabyaverynicechangelingqueen." Discord nodded, understanding the frame of this story. "Could you get us to them?"
He snapped his finger and teleported to closest hive underground outside of the entrance. "Discord, I don't want to bother but—"
Discord explained himself. "This hive seems to repel magic, instead of absorbing magic like Chrysalis's. We have to go inside and see what horrible architecture it has." The first room was a normal house where ceiling and floor were swapped. "Odd, why would she copy my decor." It startedleaking a red liquid. "Oh, that's surprising," he said with Fluttershy hugging his head, not wanting to touch the red stuff. Discord placed a claw in and tastes it to find, "It's cranberry juice, Fluttershy, no worries, but it would be better if you didn't step in the juice." She nodded,the terror from thinking that blood was leaking from the ceiling still in her mind.
Discord opened the next room which was filled with green glowing spiders. "Um, this isn't bad." Discord stepped on one which turned to smoke. "That's not normal." Discord looked around then poked a random the walls to reveal it was a changeling standing at a corner of the room creating the illusion spiders from his horn. "Hello?" The changeling opened his deep green eyes and jumped into a wall but was caught by his tail by the spirit of chaos. Now the changeling was hanging by his tail, shaking in fear. "Could you lead us to our friends?"
The changeling gulped. "There are over a hundred ponies here; I wouldn't know who your friend would be unless they're the witness." Fluttershy's eyes widened at the mention of the word.
"Yes! My friends and I are all witnesses!" The changeling sighed, cursing under his breath.
Discord held the changeling's tail as he walked through a wall to a room filled with slugs, the next one was a room where the walls were nothing but eyes just staring at them. After being creeped out they jumped through to another one where there was nothing but hip-hop music playing while a changeling break-danced to it. "His Bill, he's just like this." He said, frustrated as the changeling stepped through another wall.
Back to the arena
Rainbow Dash ran at the gladiator who stepped aside and tripped the element of loyalty with his free wing. Rainbow Dash rolled around over before standing up and facing the warrior. "I'm guessing you're a racer?" She nodded "I have fought many racers. After an accident they think they could join the gladiatorial arena." He unsheathed his blade and ran at Dash but unlike her, he used his wings to build up speed for the blade to have a stronger strike. Rainbow Dash ducked before the blade was able to cut her head off; she got punched across the chin, flying a few feet away.
She looked into his eyes; there wasn't any smirk or over-confidence like would be seen on Spitfire or any other Wonderbolt having a new recruit; his eyes were complete concentration and calculation planning the next attack and the final strike. Rainbow Dash was going through her head as she blocked the his blade with her own as it was swung at her. She had never held a sword in her life and this guy is was a gladiator who had trained his entire life. She was certain he was going easy on her.
The stallion continued to attack, blocking all of Rainbow Dash's attempts to hit him; he was toying with her, and he was enjoying it to a degree, as he hadn't fought a real pony in years! Rainbow threw the sword down and flew upward since a pegasus can't hold a sword and fly. The pegasus picked up the sword Rainbow Dash thrown and flew to Rainbow like an arrow; he was fast, but Rainbow flew out of the way.
It turned into aerial combat as each tried to hit the other midair to the ground. The issue was Rainbow was fast, but the gladiator was more experienced, as he easily dodged the member of the Wonderbolts.
Meanwhile, During the Adventures of Discord and Flutter in the Hive of Disgust.
They entered a new room where the walls were constructed like a hornets' nest. "Um, why does each room look different?" The changeling raised a brow at that.
He groaned. "Disgust isn't an easy emotion to produce from ponies, unlike joy or anger or fear. We place their dream forms into these rooms and milk all we can."
"That explains the techno Music." The changeling nodded, passing through a wall into the Grand Galloping Gala. "Is this Celestia's room?" Discord asked, walking past the illusions of nobility. Fluttershy looked around to see a tired stallion in a cowboy hat. The Pony, screamed, then started eating all the cake and throwing it at the guests. "I thought Celestia would be the first to do that." He was laughing like a maniac before poofing out of the room.
Fluttershy looked shocked, holding her hooves in front of her mouth. "W-why?" The changeling sniffed the room as the Illusion disappeared showing the changeling secretion walls.
"Because at some point the pony has enough, this so disgust turns either to rage, madness or just whatever that was." He then walked through another wall.
Discord was impressed with the operation and the design of the hives' chaotic architecture. It would be hard to travel through if it wasn't for their guide. "Ok, warning; Mom hasn't slept in a month because of a fungus outbreak and she had to help clean the larvea so she is a bit tired." He jumped through the wall and the pony and spirit of chaos followed.
The queen Archania, the creator of nightmare rooms, the ruler of the sixth largest hive! was asleep with her grubs crawling on her while Rarity was trying her best to take a ugly baby poop green jacket off.
"Fluttershy, Discord! Get something sharp and rip this thing off! Discord use that talon! I don't want to wear the most disgusting color there is!" she screamed, using her hooves but that lead nowhere.
"Suggestive, but I will offer a helping claw." The being of chaos used his talon, ripping the jacket apart.
Rarity sighed with relief. "Now burn it," she said, looking at the remains with pure hatred and disgust which the grubs took from Rarity like little sponges. This calmed Rarity down a little as the little grubs fell asleep. "Huh, that's odd." Fluttershy started taking the grubs and placing them on the queen or in the queen's hoof holes as she remembered pupa liked crawling through them to make sure no creature steps on them.
The Queen opened her eyes to see two elements of harmony and Discord. "How did—" She then noticed the grubs on her body, asleep. "Well played," she said, then saw the worker changeling. "What happened?"
"I followed protocol, lead them to the kill room... we should've had a meeting about this" No one was surprised about the planned betrayal except Fluttershy and the queen sighed.
She looked at the intruders. "Fine, you can leave; it's not like they won't try to free their friends." She looked at the destroyed jacket. "Thanks for that now, I have a reason why I don't wear it." She charged her horn and they were teleported out of the hive. "I hope mother awakens soon and the same with my grubs. No, they're too precious to wake up." She said, enjoying the warmth and the adorable snoring of her children.
The next location was a foggy swamp. "Um, this place—" Undead ponies pulled them down scaring their souls out as they reached the bottom.
Twilynanas
"Ok, the hive uprising doctrine says the crimes of the queen can't pass on to the hive members!" She pointed and Mandible looked at it.
He looked at the barely sane Twilight, questioning if he should tell. "What should I do if she's like this?" he asked Spike who pointed at a spine of a book that said: Run From Madness .
He summoned a shield around himself. "That doesn't work because they revealed themselves before revolting against Chrysalis." Twilight's eye twitched.
The gladiator dodged the screaming element of loyalty but the angry pony did a quick U-turn, causing the warrior to hit the ground. The warrior stood up. "Wait, what if I don't want to fight?" She had that her question answered with a lightning bolt shot by one changeling in the crowd. "Ow! I got it!" One said fight! and the crowd slowly joined.
The queen formed a lighting net that went from top to bottom slowly. The gladiator glared at Rainbow Dash. "Now fight like a pegasus or you're fried like a chicken!" Rainbow Dash landed and started with a hoof to the face blocked by a wing from the gladiator and who retaliated with a kick to the mare's stomach.
Rainbow answered with a kick to the knee, causing the gladiator to trip. The show pony tried to do a wrestler move of flying high and landing hard which was crushed when the gladiator spun out of the away, leading to her left lower hoof being stuck in the dirt. The gladiator walked toward the wonderbolt. "I just need to get my hoof out and then I will clean the floor with you—" He helped her out, surprising Rainbow Dash, but he then punched her across the stadium. "You need to figure out if you're on my side or you're just a jerk!" He walked toward her with the same calculating eyes.
She prepared for lift-off and then flew at the gladiator, catching him off guard, and then crashed into the wall. Rainbow panted, she looked at the warrior as cracks formed on his body revealing dark grey compound eyes. "I haven't had such a good fight in my centuries... to be honest I was being fair, what fun would there be without some limitations," the gladiator cracked his neck and caught one of Rainbow dash's hooves with his own and the hoof came which caught and the final strike was a headbutt from the gladiator.
Rainbow fell to the ground unconscious.
Author's Note
authors note: Well, two of the main six and Discord are dead, Twilight is insane, Scythe is going to kill all the reformed changelings, and I to celebrated my birthday on the 14th. Oh, and Dash has a concussion. Two of these are lies.
Thanks wh1msy again for beta reading this, seriously I wouldn't even be allowed to post this if it wasn't for them.
~wh1msy: No problem, dude :)
Four changeling queens in different parts of Equestria were having a screaming match at speaking mirrors. "YOU CAN'T USE ICE CREAM AS SHAVING CREAM!" Spindle, Archania and Cocoon all looked at Meryria.
"What?" The red-eyed queen asked, completely thrown out of her element.
Cocoon blinked at the odd phrase.
Spindle was going over it.
Archania just sighed, relieved the screaming match had stopped.
Meryria continued. "So what? We lost two out of six, right? Big deal! Cocoon doesn't have any form of spell protection and it was Discord! I mean, could any of us stand against him without protection?" The queens shook their heads.
Archania was the next to speak. "What happened to your captive? The only way get through your maze of a hive is with pheromone trails, and unless Discord has the nose of a changeling, they shouldn't have been able to find the captive and escape." Myreria chuckled and laughed.
"Oh, I sent them off to Emilia's hive." All the queens stared in shock except the youngest.
Cocoon was the first to speak. "Sorry, but how is Emilia dangerous? I remember her being very kind."
Spindle answered that. "You're too young to remember the time when she lived with us. When she was still a princess she would prank us and a few workers who angered her, and her pranks drowned the hive in paranoia and fear. Father then made a decree that only once a year may one be pranked, and that date was her hatching day."
Archania nodded. "Yes, she would always prank us or and scare the horns off us. We would always smell of fear during her hatching day, like the time she filled the hive with cups of water and hexed us, so we couldn't fly." They nodded, remembering that horrible day. "May the formless be merciful and may Emilia not be high on sugar."
Meryria then had a question. "Did you know Emila thinks reformed changelings are made out of candy?" The mirrors all turned black.
In the Underground
Our three adventurers were laying on the Floor after being pulled down by a few undead. "Those roughlings! Don't know how to handle a mare." As she stood up a coconut pie launched at her, and after that a banana cream fire pie and then she got back on the floor.
Discord looked around to see gems, and if he had had a bag of flour, they could have seen the pink lasers. as well he raised a lions his paw and it got coated in maple syrup and featheres. "Seems like this queen likes to prank ponies." He snapped his fingers but the poof that summoned items or altered the world just was removed in the place. "Of course this place has a protection against spells too," he said as a cherry pie landed on his head.
Snakes started slithering and mice were freed from openings in the wall. Then those snakes ate the mice and went back to their dens in the wall. "This place is odd." Discord then crawled, keeping his entire body close to ground; Fluttershy followed his example, getting closer to a door. Rarity, on the other hoof had run after seeing the snakes, and was at the door after having been blasted by paint balls and water balloons filled with pudding, finally ending with her being sprayed with water.
After opening the door they were swarmed by bees. "Aaaaahhh!" Rarity screamed, running to the next room which was filled with whoopee cushions and no lights. Pfffff! "That wasn't me!" Rarity said, and Fluttershy saw the bees were actually flies that looked like bees.
Fluttershy walked into the room and pffff! She blushed before asking the flies to leave the poor Rarity. They continued with Discord snorting at the fact that every step lead to a fart noise.
Then came the next room filled with skeletons, each having a name plate hammered into their skulls. Discord floated to a unicorn skeleton with blade like teeth and bull like horns whose name plate said: horunculus subject #5-success. “Hm, I thought it was forbidden to create life." He floated to another one with eight legs. "Chaos magic exposure subject #12-success.” I don't remember creating a spider pony." He touched the skeleton and saw multiple images, one of which was the skeleton walking on wind and clouds.
Then he saw Scythe speaking to the now dead pony. “Chaos magic can't be learned, only gained from birth; you ignore laws of the world and sense probability. Sadly you're not immortal, yet I'm happy to have had you as my friend."
Discord let go of the skeleton, looking at another skeleton with the same description but with lower numbers ending with "minor success" instead of "success." One earth pony skeleton, once touched, showed it carrying a massive boulder on its back without a sweat. "I wish I could have met them." Then he looked at the recreation of himself.
Rainbow dash woke up in a room filled with weapons and a pegasus training with a spear. "So you're awake?" The pegasus placed the spear on a rack. "I haven't had that kind of fun in two centuries; I can't remember the last fool who broke my outer skin." He looked the pegasus. "But don't even hope that this form and my changeling form have anything to do with my strength! Even as an old stallion I can beat you!" he yelled, fire burning in his eyes, his voice full of confidence and joy.
Then he brought Rainbow Dash a warm meal. She started eating then noticed a framed picture of him and a young pegasus colt. "Who's that? Your son?" she asked, taking a closer look. She noticed the pegasus was missing a wing.
"Yes and no. He was a descendant of mine, lost his parents in an weather factory accident and broke his wing. Back then they just cut wings off. So I took him under my wing, taught him how to use a bow, and he was known as Shooting Point." Rainbow Dash spit out her apple juice, coughing. "What's wrong?"
"The Shooting Point?! The one who holds the title of Equestria's greatest archer!" He nodded, not showing his emotion. "He was a changeling?" The gladiator’s eyes burned with anger.
He hit Rainbow Dash with his hoof, on the top of her head. "No, he was a pure blooded pegasus with the heart of a hundred storms! So were all my descendants! They carry the love of my Oculus tempestatis!" He started calming, he chuckled. "I bet I sound like an old stallion talking about my grandfoals, Sometimes I watch my grand foals when they're about to make great achievements or just to pull them out of a bad spot."
Rainbow Dash only thought, ‘This guys creepy’ A second thought came to her. "Were you a pony?" He nodded, pointing toa clay pot with his image on it.
"You might know me better as Impetus Gladiorum or Storm of Swords in modern tongue." Rainbow Dash's mind had crashed; her jaw was on the floor and her eyes were the size of dinner plates. "You're not a frog, close your mouth." He had a changeling push her mouth shut.
"What?!" she yelled, causing the changeling to hide under the bed. Rainbow ignored that and continued to interrogate him. "How are you a changeling?! In school they told us you were born in Cloudsdale, to cloud sculptors!" He nodded, taking one look at Rainbow.
"A friend of mine had the same mane color, well, colors." He took one of the swords and turned on the grind wheel. "To become a changeling you need a changeling king or queen and a high pain tolerance and so you may keep your sanity." He took a chair, sitting in front of the grinding wheel. "As your flesh melts and being burns as it turns to liquid, losing your sense of touch your organs dissolve, your stomach eating itself as every cell pops like a firecracker. Once that is over, your bones will shatter into thousand pieces and you will have the worst headache of your life as your brain burns with the heat of Celestia’s sun,".he told Rainbow Dack as the sparks flew in front of him and he looked at the blade. "Like this sword I was sharpening, by breaking it dull edges." He looked at the shocked wonderbolt. "No more dumb questions, got it?" She nodded slowly seeing the Pegasus with the sword.
The two ponies and the mix of animals awoke in a closed room and then the floors opened.
The three jumped to the edge of the room as it rained firecrackers. "Does anyone remember how we got here in the first place?" Fluttershy asked with her sweet soft voice.
Rarity "Hmm, I remember a show of dancing skeletons, after which they screamed and I fainted out of shock...please tell me I'm not the only who remembers that," she asked, worried she was losing her sanity.
"N-no, I remember that. Null must've placed us here after we were knocked out." The edge closed and the firecrackers stopped raining.
Discord frowned that when the chaos ended. "I wish I came up with half of this." The ceiling opened and the ground rose to the throne room with over hundreds of changelings and a queen with pink eyes looking at the three. "Is this where you do an evil monologue?" Discord aske, and Applejack was thrown in front the three, then she exploded into confetti. "Are we related?" She chuckled as the real Applejack came out of a room that smelled like bananas.
A changeling emperor stood in front of the two changelings. "Are you kings or princes?" Scythe asked the only two reformed changelings left who weren't encased in a green secretion.
Thorax glared at the emperor of the changelings. "Why are you doing this?" he asked as his brother jumped at Scythe who teleported in a millisecond. "We didn't do anything wrong!" The former unicorn glared, rage irradiating off from him.
Thorax prepared a shield spell, while Pharynx turned into a giant insect monster. "You revealed your existence to the world and risked the species to being found and hunted down! You and Chrysalis broke a few simple laws excessively! Revealing our existence to the entirety of the royal family?!" A shield formed around the emperor, a single opening as he moved a ice arrow into position. It flew at rapid speed creating a shock wave; once the dust settled, the ice arrow pierced the shield spell, while the outside of the shield the ice that formed looked like a massive fire had been frozen in time. "So will you surrender peacefully, or do I have to be a strict father?" He flew, pulling up multiple ice arrows; he waited and the answer was a giant angry insect beast.
He fired the arrows at once at Pharynx. Luckily, his brother was able to create multiple shields to protect him and this led to an opening for Pharynx to slash at the emperor’s head, making Scythe hit the ground with a broken horn. "I didn't know my strength—" Scythe threw a stone sphere to the groun, which after sinking into the dirt, rose out of it. "What is that?" the King asked as the earth monster formed.
Scythe smirked. "That is an earth golem, have fun!" A green liquid oozed out of his mouth, moving around him into a sphere, hardening instantly. The golem sat near the emperor and when pharynx tried to break one of their changelings out the secretion, but he was stopped by a ball of mud being launched at him.
He dodged and looked at the spheres making up the earth golem. "Pharynx, we better call for help." The earth golem started growing, taking more from the ground, until it was twice the size of the two changelings.
It opened its mouth.
The orange pony ran, hugging her friends. "Y'all still here?! But she said..." she smirked. "Y'all lied to me!" The queen nodded.
"And you punched me the first second you were here; none of us are innocent,” Queen Emilia said, giving each of them a glass. "Drink! Or the poison I injected will melt your organs." They instantly drank every drop and then Discord breathed fire, panting. His face turned red as and everyone else did the same, except the fire breathing. "There was no poison and you all drank ghost pepper oil." She laughed as the three ponies and Discord were in a lot of pain.
Discord melted his tongue off and grew it back. "Oh, it looks like my magic works, bye." He snapped his finger and they teleported.
The queen smiled chuckling to herself. "Mother why are you laughing; they escaped."
"I know. I let them; but look at the ground." The changeling did so and saw the runes carved into the floor. "A second identical one is carved in a landfill four hours away from here and—“ She summoned shards of a mirror, showing the image of a landfill. "It's hilarious." She told the one changeling which caused all those hiding in the shadows to join them to watch as the screaming was heard and changelings around her laughed at the ponies.
The golem started spitting thousands of balls of hardened earth at the two kings. "We need help on this one,” Thorax said as he summoned a shield at the last second. But from the back of the golem hoof steps were heard as a speeding pegasus with a shield hit the golem’s head off and used a shovel separate the golem’s legs in twain.
The golem started to reform but stopped as the sphere was pulled out of its body with magic and then shattered by the two who attacked the golem.
The other pillars came, following behind "The pillars have arrived!" Flash Magnus announced.
Rockhoof smiled. "And we have defeated the villain!" he announced with his friend helping the changeling king. They started freeing the other changelings, Mage Meadowbrook helping anyone injured, that being the kings, and Starswirl watching over the chrysalis of the emperor. He prepared a sealing spell which wasn't a normal choice to handle such a villain.
Starswirl started the spell, yet it was broken in an instant. "Odd. Mistmane, Meadowbrook, I need some assistance." The chrysalis cracked. "Quickly everycreature!" The pillars and the changeling started writing a spell formula around the emperor‘s chrysalis. "I seal you to a timeless existence locked in an endless dream!" The pillars rose from the ground, the magic starting to take effect. "Your hopes of evil will be stopped as well as your dreams of conquest!" That is when a scorpion tail broke through the chrysalis and a magic burst was released, destroying it completely.
Starswirls stared at the changeling king, a head taller than Thorax and has vertical eyes, yet he had no mouth. All the changelings were frozen with their eyes the same shade as Scythe's. "I don't need conquest." He spoke through Pharynx and Thorax fighting against him until his eyes turned the same color. The changelings all started walking toward the pillars. “Because I already have won.”
Mandible watched as twilight was being held back by spike from the bookshelves. "This place is made to protect the books and if an angry energy surge is detected well..." Red energy hit; she fell to the ground paralyzed. "I'm starting to feel like we're doing rehab for a book addict." Spike nodded.
Spindle came and saw the paralyzed Alicorn. "Let me bet she got angry?" The two nodded. “The books can’t be read without approval from the emperor and empress.” She tried to take one book only for it to teleport back to the shelf. “See?” One book fell from its place and twilight opened.
We walked through the small village of Equestria and the rumors were true, the pillars was gone. I spent eighty years in a war against the other queens and kings. I and vehemence were the only changeling monarchs left. “Will it just repeat itself?” Vehemence looked at me while eating an apple pie.
She looked around. “What? Ponies dying? Of course, I mean unless you have an immortality spell.” She said taking a bite out of the pie. “We need to figure out how to make pies like these!” She said smiling as she chewed her pie. I smiled at my wife's nativity when she’s not planning conquest.
I sighed and looked at the ponies. “No, I mean another war, another conquest, and this time with Equestria.” She stopped and shakes her head shocking me.
She took another bite. “The next step is spreading our little ones and just enjoying the fact that other changelings won’t rip my heads off while I sleep. Taking the emotion from every little creature living their normal days and make sure they take only from one emotion so they don’t get into arguments.” She took another bite. I looked at the ponies a single colt walking the streets. “What’s wrong?” I sighed the colt’s mother pick him up and place him on her back.
I looked at my love. “I never had parents and now I will have to actively raise daughters.” She held me close reassuring me and I decided to change the topic not wanting to worry about the future. “I was hired to kill the queen of the sea ponies, but I failed because of the pillars and now I can’t take revenge on them for ruining my reputation.” Vehemence nodded taking another bite.
She swallowed. “We could travel the world, the hive will run its self and I want to see some sights before I have to go into hibernation.” He nodded. “Plus, what if they return? You would have a second chance.” She drank a cup of tea. “You wouldn’t want to be dull when you face them again.” I laughed the dead don’t return only their memories.
I used my magic to take a piece of the pie. “The crystal empire is beautiful this time of year.” She took the pie back and stuffed it in her mouth. “We should talk about table manners first though.” She smirked and started choking then cough after I hit her back and started breathing. “Chew first! You have enough teeth.” She laughed and scoffed a pie in my face.
I licked her face smiling at my empress. “Ready to see another empire?” She nodded and after walked far enough to change to Pegasus and flew to the crystal empire.
She sighed. “So free, so filled with love.” She said as we kissed. “It’s intoxicating, isn’t it?” I smiled at her.
“We should send chrysy here, she would be fed and hopefully stop her overambitious wishes.” I sighed.
Vehemence blew him a cloud of love. “Don’t fear, she will be satisfied here.” We embraced each kissing, a cloud of pink magical mist released from each other and— (“skipping this” Twilight said blushing heavily, but the book did as wished as the pages changed to show a different time. )
87 years after tour visit.
My oldest daughter and my oldest son looked at the remains of the crystal empire. “Sad, my daughter's place has been taken by a mad stallion—.” Spindle tried using her magic to create a dome of golden magic melting ice, but no matter how deep it melts nothing was there.
“Chrisy is mad! This was the only place that could have contained her ambition!” Mandible yelled before scanning the area, looking for where the empire was. “What will we do?”
I stood solid now a century-old I was tired and my love, my empress hibernating for the last fifty years. “We give the safest and most fruitful of lands, to rule. Her offspring will be able to feed and multiply, but if she disobeys our laws, she will be punished.”
Twilight read the diary and was shocked. “So he was going to place chrysalis in the crystal empire?” Twilight asked Mandible who nodded. “Then Sombra. If he didn't make the crystal empire disappear, chrysalis would have—“
Spindle came to them. “Ben Satiated, her ego pleased knowing she was the Queen of the crystal empire’s hive but sadly that wouldn’t happen.”
“I curse his name, I painted him so that he will never be freed!” He pointed at the mural Sombra in chains.
Spindle summoned a mirror that lead to a mirror watching Scythe with the pillars. “Oh, my father seems to have got his wish.” Twilight walked to see the pillars being surrounded.
“WHAT?!” She yelled as all the Changelings charged their horns and fired at them. “NOOOOooo!” She yelled before they all appeared in the library except Starswirl the bearded.
Maxilla stared at the magician he would smile now and now he had the opportunity to defeat his old target. “How I have waited for this! Defeating a fool like yourself.” The changelings spoke to in unison.
“Mind control is lazy, you’re nothing impressive.” The emperor’s horn glowed and in an instant, the changelings teleported to an unknown location. They both stared at each other, two being from the same era; one lost from history and forgotten from the minds of Equestria; the other remembered, honored, and celebrated by the citizens of Equestria.
There was no jealously or hatred for one another, yet there was an air of frustration. “Master of levitation. ” Starswirl’s eyes widened, blasted at the emperor changeling which was blocked with a shield. “So you remember me? ” The bearded pony heard Maxilla’s voice in his mind again.
The bearded pony stared. “How are you alive? You should also be—“ He froze and realized that the Changeling emperor was true thousands of years, he started walking around him the scars and damage of a thousand years burned into his flesh. “So you turned yourself into this?” Maxilla shacked his head, showing his memories to the bearded wizard. “My fellow wizard, then a grand assassin, now emperor of the Changelings. Your life is odd as mine isn’t it?” Maxilla nodded the brown eyes showing no emotions. “Your greed for all forms of magic was your undoing.” Maxilla suddenly rushed in front of the Wizard, inches away from his face.
The library’s books started floating and pages flying and letters were removed from the books. “Twilight,” Spike Said worried as the letters moved freely through the air.
Mind world
It was a glowing world of glowing books and floating some falling like stars, as he forgot about something insignificant. Starswirl gaped at this world and then turned to a dark gray pony with a black and brown main and light pink eyes. “So showing your true form?” Maxilla chuckled as he teleported next to him and put his hoof around the grumpy wizard's shoulder.
“I have to say I lived a great life, While you were sealed in a different world; I learned magic that was beyond your understanding.” shadows formed around them before it turned into Licorice. “I was the lesser student but I was more devoted.” He said smirking as he summoned multiple beasts created through chaos magic despairing.
“True, but even then your greed fed into your current state! Your obsession with understanding, magic led you to become an abomination!” Maxilla laughed and that confused star swirls.
“Stygian the poor fool, I wasn’t as foolish I don’t see magic as power! I see it as a tool, not as power, he didn’t understand the magic whispering to him; control is power, the focus is the blade that leads to strength! Because of you, I lead a life for which I am ever grateful, I found love, I have a family, and all this because I wanted to make myself the ultimate well of knowledge. So please find a way to save my daughter.”
Starwirls opened his eyes to awaken in the greed hives library. “What is—” He saw that the other Pillars were being served snacks. “What are you doing? Shouldn’t we try to escape?” He then saw the near-endless library filled to the brim runes and books. “Whereas this place been hidden and— is that the dark collection, by Mythos the lord of Skia?” He said seeing the forbidden books and then turned to a different collection. “The chaotic writing star watcher the mad?” He tried to take it, only to be hit with a flash of light.
Twilight sighed understanding completely the feeling of having a good book rejected. “More hooves the better! We need to prove chrysalis innocence or else.” Spindle said before mandibles answered.
Mandible answered. “They will be reused in an acidic pool.” They all gaped horrified at the sentence. “Yes, so keep trying to find some kind of loophole!” He yelled before pulling out a few law books.
The discord team walked to a Traveller who looked extremely tired, she headed toward him. “Good day, could you.”Rarity said before suddenly the pony walked through her. “Aaaahhh!” The traveler looked around disappeared as a Changeling soldier teleported him.
The soldier Changeling glared with bags under his eyes “You’re within the territory of queen Dopamina, she doesn’t approve of—“ He suddenly fell to the ground snoring.
Fluttershy looked at the spirit of chaos. “Um, discord could you look for the hive entrance?” He flew upward to find the requested location.
Discord found the hive’s entrance a circular platform and they stood on it to have the platform float down slowly. “Huh, this was—“ The crew saw the nearly endless amount of Changelings on the dome-like entrance.
“In tarnation.”
Discord changed to wear the gear from Aliens, but what was weird was that all the Changelings were all asleep and seemed to be dead. He pulled out the scanner from ghostbusters. “With over 5 hundred thousand Changelings and a pony?” They looked at discord. “This Place has weak magical protection.” The platform stopped and they continued and then one of the Changelings of fell and rarity made a shield.
The crew saw the nearly endless amount of Changelings on the dome-like entrance. “Wait what?” Rarity said seeing time repeating. As Discord transformed to wear the gear from alien. “This happened before!” The Changelings all awoke, growling their white yellow before the fire. Fluttershy grabbed applejack and tried to fly away but time repeated.
Rarity was about to yell in shock again but was stopped. “This Happened before.” Flutter shy said looking at the sleeping changelings. “Sorry.” Rarity nodded as they continued she stopped everyone before a Changeling fell on them.
Rarity pointed at the sleeping Changeling. “Um, that happened already.” She said worried about her next step. One Changeling screamed which caused all of them to scream; awaking the other changelings as their subconscious didn’t know who these screaming creatures were and all eyes opened flew at the origin.
Apple bucked at the wall causing the ceiling to collapse and block the entrance; she blinked and she was back on the platform. So it continue but this time apple jack held Rarity and Fluttershy. “This Happened last time and what have y’all have seen?” They started talking with each other recounting their experiences.
All noticed an inconsistency and discord chimed in. “It seems we’re in a time loop at least in this hive.” He turned into a groundhog digging through the wall to the surface to find the sun had continued to move enough that he could say an hour had passed. He teleported back only to find himself back on the platform and he flew out to find that an hour had passed outside.
After the events repeated, he started to explain “Ladies, we’re stuck in a trap.” They all looked at him. “Time is here repeats if we— I don’t know, this place is made to punish and stop anyone, but I know that only the caster, knows in full when time repeats.” That turned out to be true when a Changeling queen with a mane of white looked tired. “Oh hello.” Discord said before fell on her stomach crying, a buzzing sound was heard in her voice.
“Well that is odd, darling are you alright?” Rarity asked not getting close as her experience with Changeling queens, Fluttershy petted the queen.
“Why’re a crying?” Applejack said suspiciously and bluntly.
The queen sopped. “Your friend has so much joy! It’s like hundreds of foals waking up to hearth's warming eve!” She returned to sobbing.
“Why is that a bad thing?” Fluttershy asked confused as the others.
“Do ponies get tired after eating too much?” They nodded. “That’s why! And your friend is just adding more and more!” Another Changeling fell and groaned rubbing his belly and many joined the first. “Take her or else I will turn her into a beetle!” Her voice turned venomous buzzing turned from a mild to that of a hundred wasps.
They all gulped Fluttershy pitied the queen and her children. “Ok could you bring our other friends.” The queen's horn glowed and brought a pinkie pie frozen in yellow Changeling extract only that she was in a solid block.
“After an hour of time repeats, I had to put her on time out!” She said. “I threatened her with my entire army and guess what! One said he knew her from clown school and the joy went back up! Isn’t that right rudo?” She said glaring at one with a clown nose who pressed it even when he was about to explode. “Oh no!” Pinkie exploded from the crystal.
“Ooohhhh!” The queen stuffed her hoof into her mouth.
“ALL AWAKEN! TELEPORT, CHARGE FIRE HIVE OF MYRMECIA! THEM TO THE STADIUM!” They all fired at the ponies and one creation of chaos.
Twilight and Starswirl going through the law book which had some laws but one was the oddest. “The law of brood.” They read out loud.
Spindle sighed. “It’s a law saying that if a Changeling reproduces a being that doesn’t look or act like a Changeling, then they should be left when the drone returns to the hive, as they’re not part of the hive anymore.” Starswirl eyes widened.
“This is the clause! The reformed Changelings aren’t like changelings anymore! They don’t need to feed on love; so they’re not changelings!” Spindle transformed to look like a reformed Changeling.
“Oh, I’m removed my shell is gold and my main is like silk! Yea the problem is the ruler charm.” They looked at her.
Spindle explained by showing, as every Changeling in the room dusting or serving eyes took a gold tint. Mandible was the only one who didn’t show this. “The ruler charm is a last option defense charm, which the queen or empress takes control of the hive, though it is hard to use, I mean my father can take control of everyone and his eyes turned brown turn it into a dance party!” And slapped himself and started to dance before falling on his stomach.
Meadow was the first to say. “So that’s what happened to the Changelings?” Mandible stood up rubbing his head.
Spindle. “Yes, though that only worked because chrysalis was unconscious, otherwise she could have fought against it.”
Mandible laughed. “Not like chrysalis can even use the charm! Father took a year and her best was one Changeling.” Spindle glared at him. “Even then Changeling from each hive is different. The hive Freia of joy, her Changelings breath out laughing gas, Myrmecia the rage; her Changelings are armored to the teeth and can stand dragon fire. Emilia's offspring have venom that can cause creatures to have horrible nightmares, mine all have a mane that looks like gold, and glistens with a golden shine. Archana's offspring look rotten and their body is covered in an antibacterial smile, Cocoon she’s adorable and defenseless causing pity so will her offspring once they’re grown. I don't have holes in my legs nor does Meryria but the rest do because of genetics.
Twilight growled. "Then how are we going to stop the reformed changelings from being turned into soup?!" Mandible shrugged.
Spindle summoned a chair and sat down. “Why are you showing so little for your fellow Changelings?” Meadowbrook asked not understanding apathy.
Spindle closed her eyes trying ignore the ponies, Flash Magnus joined. “Yea, they’re your brother and sisters! You should show some kind loyalty to them.” Spindle screamed at Magnus launching him off his feet and a Portal formed behind him sending him to a different place.
All the pillars looked shocked. “Why should I show loyalty to traitors?! Why should I worry about a sister who separated herself completely from us?! She betrayed us and I am ecstatic that the brat was stabbed in her back.” Her voice dripped venom, her lips trembled before he breathed out a fog of golden dust and disappearing to her Chambers.
The stadium cheered, some whistling at the newly arrived lovely mares. “Dance for us!” One dumb change said before hit with lighting from the queen.
Discord snapped his fingers still haven’t learned his lesson, to have his hand explode and his mouth was on the other side. “You’re desspicable!” The entire hive burst laughing so did the queen and the guards.
Discord and the others looked at a open door. “Let’s run gals.” Applejack whispered and they did as told running to the door to find a gladiator who chopped discord’s head off. “Aaaaahhh!” He carried the head.
“If you need some rest follow me, My duals are over.” He said tired. “You’re lucky, to have one of my descendants with you,” they looked at other confused at his statement. “Our family always knew how to make friends with monster!” He laughed keeping discord from getting his head back.
“Um sir may you explain which one of us is your—“ he pointed that Fluttershy. “Oh mr.shy—“ He burst out laughing.
“Oh no! My name is Impetus Gladiorum.” He grinned while fluttershy was in complete shock the non-pegasus ponies didn’t understand, Discord was screaming.
Fluttershy shy remembered her history lessons. “Impetus Gladiorum, the pony who flies by muscle alone! Cursed to never be touched by magic.” She said her mind racing remembering the battles recounted by their teachers; time before the tribes united he would raid castles and battle unicorn knights to get his curse, the best they could do were shoes that allowed him to walk on clouds.
“I beat that wizard a hundred times!” He said growling. “And I threw my walking stick into his eye!” He threw the head back on the body. “Now, rainbow dack is in the resting area.” They all followed the gladiator, mostly cause he seemed to be nice.
Author's Note
See next year! Haha no I will try to write the next chapter a little faster but his one wasn’t beta read. So yea grammar errors are all mine don’t be angry. Also rainbow dack is intentional, both times.
Spindle sat on her bed with tears of gold leaking from her eyes. She looked at a Mosaic of her family, mandible standing in the middle between his mother and father with Vehemence holding Cocoon. Spindle and Freia stood in the middle in front of their parents, next to Freia stood Myrmecia next to the joy eater cheeks puffed having to stay still, Chrysalis stood next to spindle with a soft smile and finally Emilia who was grinning; after the artwork was done they were all covered in maple syrup and sparkles, which delighted Cocoon, but everyone elsewhere annoyed.
She chuckled at her memory. “What happened to us?” She summoned her mirror to her father now in ponyville but everyone was frozen with some kind of shield around them. “When will the trial be?”
He shrugged, carrying a lantern with Ocellus inside it and other reformed Changelings; some weren’t, there was Derpy, who got caught by accident. “I need to capture some stragglers and your mother needs to wake up.” He looked around closing the box in the middle of town that was keeping everyone frozen, teleported to the edge of town
“Father, I thought that box doesn’t work on magical beings.” He sighed.
“No it doesn’t work on powerful magical beings—“ He was hit with a magic beam and launched into a tree. “Ow! For the love of the formeless.” He said and then saw Starlight Glimmer, he formed a shield around him and levitated a needle it zipped around, while the unicorn teleported trying to not get stabbed. “Oh it will take a second! You won’t even feel it!” Starlight teleported in front of him and the needle followed; she got out of the way and once the needle touched the shield, it exploded.
Starlight had a smug smile, she looked at the smoke disappear to see he was gone and before starlight knew it she was hit with a ice arrow, now encased with a shocked expression. “Now where is Trixie?” He then saw the stupid wagon and simply knocked on it, after which Trixie opened and looked at the fancy lantern that looked like a cage, which sucked her inside of it. “That was easy.” He then turned to starlight and did the same, only leaving the block of ice.
Spindle sighed. “Father, don't we have all the witnesses?” He looked at his lantern. “Oh right, the royal family.” Spindle sighed as the mirror turned black.
In a jungle at the outskirts of Equestria most detailed map wouldn't give where you were, stood a massive black tree, the outer layer polished and unless you could fly or had hooks that would pierce the enchanted stone you could never enter. There sat the princesses being fed and waited on by Changeling of Vehemences hive. “This was a surprise.” Said Celestia, her entire body encased in Changeling secretion, before being fed cake.
On the other hoof Luna was getting massaged and pedicure/manicure. “This is life.” Celestia smiled as she was released from the empress treatment. “For unreformed Changelings, they do know how to treat royalty.” Celestia nodded as her body felt like jelly.
Maxilla was walking through the frozen north if he was simply walking through a meadow. He turned into smoke and flew toward the palace breaking through both Shining and Cadence's shields. There he stood in his pony form, a false form as he looked like a thin skeleton of a pony with a white coat and pink mane. “Who are you?” Shining asked.
“I gave the seed for the one who stole your love.” He released a fog of smoke through his entire body and once it faded Shining, Cadence and their offspring were in the spa. Luna drinking a blue drink while Celestia was being massaged and had her Hooves done.
Myrmecia watched at a hydra and minotaur fighting, yet this bored her.
She started having flash backs.
Two princesses stood in front of each other, their horns charged and fired at one another jumping, dodging, chrysalis did cartwheels and creating a wall of magic shocked Myrmecia; then from one side of the wall blasts came knocking her to the ground. “Enough.” Said the deep voice.
Myrmecia stared at Chrysalis being praised and stood up running at the love eater stabbing her in the stomach; when she saw the green on her horn. Chrysalis stared in shock, Myrmecia cried as her horn was cut with a single strike. Her father brought Chrysalis to their mother while she cried with her brother staring down at her. “You know we are not to have our food control us.” She nodded, tearing up. “Still well done, taking that opening.” He healed her horn easily.
Myrmercia awoken
She touched her cheek, the tears burning like acid.
Emelia had scores of Changelings guards surrounding her, all stingers ready. She didn’t fear much but what she feared was her as the teleportation started.
In her hive ten years ago.
Emelia was beaten. “How?” She asked as Chrysalis sat on the black throne. “Father gave me that to—“ Chrysalis stepped on her head.
Chrysalis smiled. “Because I’m better, dear sister.” Thorax stood next to his queen. “I’m better at what you do.” She knocked Emelia out.
Current time
They teleported to the grand hive with the statue of Chrysalis and her friends standing in the middle of the courtroom, she gulped before taking her place and placing a few Whoopi cushions on the others' seats.
Cocoon was dressed as a green maned pony in a coffin remembering the last time she saw her sister.
Several years ago.
She was looking over the flowers, then a brown stallion with a brown coat and blue mane came to her. “You’re lively today.” He told Cocoon as she prepared the flowers, her current form was a blue earth pony with yellow mane.
“Your flowers make my day shine.” She blushed and he smiled at her.
“You make mine.” He whispered. “I wanted to ask if you would go to the heart dance.” Her ears turned red. “I know you’re—“
“Yes! Of course I would!” She smiled and kissed him on the cheek.
That evening she stood up worried about why he didn’t tell her anything and as the sun continued to move as normal a week passed, her worry turned to simmering rage as she stomped toward the ocean harvest flower shop and her eyes widened. “Oh good da—.” He stood there but she knew more.
“Where is he?” She demanded keeping her voice down, yet it was filled with venom.
“I don’t know what you mean, I didn’t see anyon—“ She raised the earth pony and used her magic to shock the earth pony.
“Where is Blue Harvest?” She is said to keep her voice calm. She took a few roses with her magic and turned them blue, the steams into spikes. “Pretty isn’t it? Now where is he?” The changeling returned to his form.
“How did you know?!” He demanded and Cocoon locked the door, pulled the window folds. She revealed herself as a queen even though for a queen she was the smallest, she was still taller than the worker. “I-i-i.” He shaked in fear and in her rage she opened her mouth and started drinking not only emotion but his life force until he fell to the ground unconscious.
She was going through the memories, she threw Changeling into the basement.
She changed the open sign and teleported far enough to turn into a cloud of smoke, heading to the badlands slowly walking inside. Guards tried to stop her; she easily swatted them away and broke the doors. “Sister, where are you?!” She screamed as the buzzing of the hive stopped as the aerie silence took hold. Cocoon was almost hit with a blast of magic, a shield formed and Cocoon stared at Chrysalis, her eyes blue as hard ice. “Oh there you are.” She said glaring in sullen rage. “Where is he, you Brewer of love and poison?” The Normally timid queen said, bringing out her fathers determination and her mother’s demonic glare.
Chrysalis stood towering over her little sister and honestly it was like a kitten glaring at a big German shepherd. “Why are you here?” She demanded, her guards surrounded her and Cocoon answered with a magic surge launching those guards into the walls.
“Good, the grubs are in their nests.” Chrysalis was shocked, having spent little time with her youngest sibling; Chrysalis didn’t expect her to have such magical power. “Father had one grub left to teach and I was forced to learn every ounce of his knowledge, so where is my special pony?” She said the demonic eyes of their mother were shining like an exact copy.
“Special pony?” Chrysalis raised a brow. “What’s his name?” Cocoon continued to glare and launched chrysalis into a wall.
“Where do you keep your captives?” The Changeling guard tried to stand up to her ,but one look made them swivel up and lead her to the harvesting cell and she instantly knew in which pod was containing her colt friend. “Blue harvest!” He panted his eyes glassy, he coughed seeing Changeling for a moment he was shocked but when he realized who she was.
“Cocoon?” He asked weakly and seemed to have aged centuries. “Why didn’t you tell me you’re such a cute moth?” He touched her check.
“I can save you, but you wouldn’t be a pony—“ He stopped her.
“As Long as I’m with you I don’t have to worry.” She teared up, teleporting out of the hive.
Present.
She got kissed on the neck. “You got off work early?” She asked as Harvest nodded.
“Yes, though meeting your family will be interesting, my queen.” She kissed him. “I hope your sister will be fine.” She nodded.
Dopamina sat groaning and cursing the name Pinkie pie! Archania teleported to her. “Sister what happened, who caused this much damage?” She asked, looking at the groaning changelings.
Dopamina stood up. “Pink one evil! So much Joy, Chaos and madness with explosions of confetti!” She fell down again.
“She couldn’t have been that bad, I mean you were fine a few hours ago.” Dopamina summoned a flask.
Took the flask with her magic, “Liquid joy?” Archania took a swig and burped a pink smoke of rainbows and a party balloon. “Yea, that explains why you all look like heart warming being on repeat for a moon.” She nodded. “Well I’m taking you! Changelings teleport us to the prime hive pronto!” They charged and fired only to appear a few feet away from their original location.
Dopamina sighed, “They were never at the prime hive, and for them this is the prime hive. All power to me!” They fired at their mother charging her and both queens teleported. They sat on their familial throne, the whoopee cushions were destroyed once ether appeared. “Now that’s how you teleport.” She relaxed on the throne. “Emilia, I’m not paying for those whooping cushions.”
Violet changeling pouted. “No one pronounces my name right.” Archania was removing the rest.
“I know how that is.” Archania said. “Did we come early?” She asked at the empty courtroom, except the Elephant sized spider on the ceiling.
Dopamina shrugged. “Bonny is here, aren’t ya Bonny money?!” The spider screamed in response.
Twilight was reading through the diary of the Changeling emperor, after going through six books saying each of his daughters names and to find they were filled with flasks of each emotion. “So your dad really hated the pillars and desire.” Mandibles nodded. “Why?” Mandible sighed.
“Desire is what he called the most toxic form of love, Chrysalis was addicted to it. He tried to feed other forms, but the formless she wouldn’t take no for an answer; he tried everything, he loved her and no amount pleased her.” His voice was somber and slow; he didn't show his emotions but everyone could hear them. “There is one way you can save Chrysalis.” He studied the pony’s gaining a more positive demeanor. “Is to blame the reformed Changelings and say that they were being too dependent on chrysalis.” They all stared and he looked at twilight.
“What?” She said, confused.
“If a hive is unanimous, the hive can veto the queen.” Twilight’s mind was doing a tailspin.
“So they could have gone against chrysalis?”
“Not so innocent huh?”
“But thorax didn’t want to—“
“One bad apple doesn’t make the orchard.” He said if he was blaming the Changeling. “Listen here princess, I believe in many things, the moon and sun moving because of two ponies, dragon fire clearing wasp acne, and yes it is as bad as you think. Changelings can give emotions to each other, but soon it starts getting diluted and sooner or later it will start poisoning us, it’s like sharing one brush for an entire nation, someone will have a cold.” He looked her in the eye. “Blame the reformed Changelings, their punishment will most likely be imprisonment for a decade and spare us the time.” He teleported out of the room.
She stared, her eyes frozen at the idea.
Author's Note
Well mandible is one cold hearted monster! Yea, I planned Cocoon to be more magically powerful and the opposite to chrysalis, while chrysalis has a large yet authoritarian hive which leads her to ruins. Cocoon on the other hand has small and intimate hive that brings her happiness. I hope you enjoyed reading this.
Twilight fell to the floor crying. “I can’t take this anymore, why do I keep being the one to save everything? I just wanted to unite everyone and be friends!” A hoof rubbed her back. “What should I do?” When the pony spoke that shocked her.
“Look from a different angle.” She saw up and turning around to see the ancient warlock. “The formless you scared me there.” He said looking over the books and taking a flask filled with liquid joy.
“Why now? Why not before the canter lot attack or any other time! Why now?!” She demanded tearing up, he gently removed a tear, she stared in to his eyes.
His eyes currently were like no other pony, the whites were black and his pupils a amber color. “Because this is the only time, where I was able to find my baby grub; her hive is a joke now, I could have taken them anytime.” She pulled away.
Twilight sighed looking for an angle. “Is that why chrysalis ran away?” He didn’t show any emotion.
“Yes, if it meant more power, she would have stayed and had reformed herself; sadly she let herself be driven by desire.” Twilight interest peaked.
“Don’t you mean greed?” He chuckled.
“Yes, greed is intense and selfish desire for something. Again desire is the word, she desired power, she desired to take what was not her’s. She took the black throne and she wanted to rule, ponies that were not hers.” Twilight stared not understanding what this even meant.
Starswirl stared. “You’re worse than discord.” He said glaring at the warlock. “If we can convince that chrysalis didn’t give her changelings a choice,” he paused waiting for the rebuttal, that luckily never came. “Or that she is simply insane.” He said and Maxilla shrugged drinking a bottle of sadness.
He then smiled. “We’re all insane in some form, yet those who know when to show are called geniuses or to use that madness creative expressions.” His horn glowed teleported out of the hive.
Flash and Impetus stared at each other. “The beast of the stadium.” Impetus grinned. “I was a big fan, I would bring my nephew and niece to your fights.” He chuckled remembering them.
Impetus laughed. “The past was a more dumber time.” Flash laughed. “Remember when foals used to throw snow balls down, the clouds to hit earth ponies?” Flash burst out laughing when he was remembering his foalhood throwing snow balls from clouds like evil cupids.
The B team and rainbow dash looked at them. “It’s kinda weird.” Dash said. “We have two pegasus legends sitting together and they’re talking like Granny Smith talks to her cousins.” They nodded, apple about to add something but stopped realizing rainbow was right.
He sighed. “So you’re a witness.” Flash nodded. “Yea, there was talks of revolution and queen Myrmecia threw one her generals was getting bribed by chrysalis, Myrmecia threw her out of the window, pulled him back inside broke his horn and used it to stab him in the chest. The Changeling who told her got a promotion.” Flash nodded understanding completely, if it was common practice but the other ponies were horrified.
“So do you know how we can save the reformed Changelings?” Impetus leaned on his chair.
“Having your soul sealed, thrown into a hole where you have to climb out, turned into a statue, being mummified, eaten by beetles, to work at a demeaning job for one bit a day.” He took a breath. “Wearing a steel helmet during a thunder storm; have puppies lick you to death that sounds cute but both seeing and experiencing it before apologizing, and finally being beaten with carrots and banishment.” There hung the question. “Those are the mild punishments, don’t even ask what they can do with a boat and honey.” Flash looked horrified.
“What rotten brain dead squirrel wrote these punishments?” One Changeling gently hit apple jack with a carrot. “What was that?” She asked before the Changeling ran out of the room.
“Bad talking the Empress of the Changelings will get hit with a carrot. I think she just wanted Changelings to hate carrots as much as she does. Seriously that mare will throw you into a hole filled with spikes, if you offer her carrot soup.” He said eating a carrot. “She eats a lot of apple pie, I think she has an addiction.”
“She has some taste.” Applejack smiled since her family almost monopolized all forms of fruit.
Flash jumped. “So what kind of punishments are there when a hive revolts and the queen is unable do their duty?” Impetus pressed his lips together.
“Remember that hole thing?” Flash groaned, Fluttershy had to ask.
“C-couldn’t they just fly out?” Impetus nodded.
“Yea, but the spell just pulls you down, the gravity turns any flying object into a bowling ball, better climb or be turned into a pancake.” They all looked horrified. “Yea, it was surprising how shallow the hole is, three ponies high, but it’s wide like a dragon.” He shrugged.
Cocoon came in and screamed. “What kind ugly thing is that?!” She said hiding behind Blue harvest, in his Changeling form.
“Hmm, do you mean your sister or the filly who looks like sugar gained a sentient form?” Emilia and Freia laughed at that.
“The filly, I mean what’s with the bows? If we have princesses no bows, they’re my babies not gift wrapped toys,” He nodded and Cocoon took her place. “Freia, Emelia and Archania.” At the last she whispered.
“Is this because of what I said at your wedding?” Archania asked guilt pressing on her.
“Oh, that thing about not have kids for at least a decade or else it will start sucking the joy out of your marriage.” Dopamina said recounting the event.
“No, you said that and then you laid under the table, because your nymphs were looking for you.” Blue harvest explained.
“No, I said that it was a fling... Why wasn’t chrysalis invited?” She asked, trying to change the subject.
“I sent her an invite, she sent it back in a baggy shredded.” Cocoon said disappointed. “It was a peace offering, she didn’t want to take it.” Freia was trying to defend her, but pressed her lips together.
“Does anyone know who will defend the monkey head?” Emelia asked and they all looked perplexed. “Wait none of us is defending her right?” They all thought about and shock spread across their faces. “It couldn’t be.” Mandible came in smiling.
A orange pegasus with a blue mane entered. “Good day sisters.” They stared at him if he had just called them all pig faces.
“What are you planing, you spineless, mass killing, destroying.” Dopamina stopped once he raised his hoof.
“I have been doing my job, guarding the Royal family and now I will prove my sisters innocence.” They looked at him suspicious.
A magic surge was felt as the Changeling empress started appearing, sparks of fire floating toward the throne slowly reforming into the massive and gorgeous Vehemence the Breaker. “It’s been a long time my loves and— Son remove that, what is that forms name?” She asked standing twice the height of Celestia, with two horns the bottom growing into the top; six pair of eyes blinking at different intervals and where her leg holes should be was filled sacks of violet liquid.
“Flash Sentry mother, I needed to check on the copies father left in the royals place.” He returned to his normal form.
“I’m thinking about trowing chrysalis into the hole and cursing her so that the sun burns chrysy.” Vehemences said before her daughters nodded.
“It’s symbolic, it’s cruel but teaches her to stop trying to grab the sun; in this case almost literally.” Emilia nodded. “Wait would the sun kill her?” Vehemence shacked her head.
Dopamina thought about it. “Wait the deep hole or the wide one?” They gave her a look. “Oh the deep one..”
“When is the trial?” Blue harvest asked and Vehemences looked at him.
“Cocoon you chose a handsome mate, and to answer your question. When my husband returns and that stallion knows better than to make me wait.”
At sweet apple acres Maxilla bought a pie, put in a bag and gave the bits to Granny Smith. “See you in another eighty years.” Granny nodded taking the bits.
He then continued to walk out of ponyville.
Spindle was in her pajamas with a candle‘s lights, through a crystal that slowly span projecting a image of a much better time. “Oh chrysy was so cute.” She said with a picture of chrysalis Biting scythe in the head. “In hindsight we should have expected her turning into a tyrant.”
Explosion came and there stood, “It is I, Queen of—“
Spindle interrupted. “Bla bla bla! Sister that speech is a waste of time, also that explosion teleportation is too loud.” Myrmecia pouted.
“At least I’m not acting like I’m going through a break up and wearing pajamas that has gold fish on them.” Spindle sighed took it off. “Our trial is ready, so get the witnesses.”
The court room Exploded. “It’s me, Myrmecia let’s move on, I want ice scream once we’re done and—.” She looked at the reformed Changelings and looked back at their mother. “Seriously?” The empress nodded.
Spindle teleported in with Twilight and Starswirl “Where are the witnesses?”
As the main six appeared and twilight falling feet down. “Ow! Ohh,” were heard from the pony pile.
Discord didn’t even try to use his magic as he helped Fluttershy up. “So what kind of anti magic torture does this place have?” He asked before taking another step.
The Empress though for a moment. “non actually, though there is a teleportation ward here and there, oh I also have two million Changelings sleeping in the walls!” They all gulped the idea even horrified them. “We get all our emotions from the resort at the edge of the jungle, a metropolis of guinea pigs in the middle of the jungle and some from my lovely daughters, especially Freia.” Said daughter blushed a bit.
Spindle raised her hoof. “Bring the Royalty.” Royals comes to the court room looking the most relaxed in years.
Cadence waved at them. “Oh hey girls, how are you? You should go to the spa here it’s soooo.” She fell asleep and so did shining.
“They needed it.” Luna said still in a bath robe and holding hot cocoa with her magic.
Then a black smoke flew through the room screaming like it in a constant state of death and life. “Oh dear I told you to not use that too much!” She breathed out a smoke of multiple colors and he flew toward her taking as much as possible, before the two Changelings were engulfed in the black smoke, before it cleared and they sighed.
The monarchs of the Changelings stood with Maxilla in his most powerful form, a mouthless monster with empty brown eyes that had nothing but the void within them, no matter who looked the void stared back.
Flutter shy hid behind discord as he moved his head around getting a good view. Maxilla took control of the guard stationed there in armor made of steel and spears tipped with obsidian. “We should take our grand forms before this trial begins, bring in the prosecutor.” Twilight and Starswirl stepped out of a door.
“Girls!” She yelled hugging them and then they were pulled back by Freia.
“LISTEN! That pink cupcake has been producing enough joy to feed my entire hive for a hundred moons! My second stomach is close to exploding! Do you really want to go to war with my hive after this cotton candy of joy kills me? Because Unlike my baby sister, my hive—“ She was shut by her mother’s violet magic.
“Just less joy please Dopamina is very close to bursting.” She explained as the Freia threw up Rainbows and Butterflies.
Maxilla summoned a gigantic diamond from the ceiling. “Oooohhh! It’s so beautiful!” Rarity said at the amazing sight.
The guards spoke again. “For the defendant, my son Mandible.” He teleported into the room shocking both of the prosecution Twilight and Starswirl looked worried.
“Let’s begin this trial before Freia has a stomachache and our grandchildren starts a war over it.” Maxilla’s eyes glowed, the diamond started moving and pointed toward the statue, as crown of the diamond toward maxilla and he released his power into the diamond as it cut the edges of where chrysalis connect to the other two and she was released.
Chrysalis fell hissing. “What the—“ She froze seeing the court and hundreds of Changelings of different hives on the ceiling. She took one breath looked at her siblings. “Well it’s good to see you, worthless.” Blue harvest shot lighting from his horn hitting chrysalis.
“If you dare speak to my wife like that again, I will rip your horn off and push it into your unfeeling heart!” He said staring right into her eyes.
Maxilla laughed while everyone else was shocked. “Ha! If I knew he was this loyal I would have shacked his hoof personally! Oh, that was good.” He calmed down.
Vehemences giggled. “Good to know she inherited my taste huh?” Maxilla nodded. Cocoon blushed while her sisters smirked at her.
Mandible sighed. “Enough, this isn’t a family reunion! It’s a trial, so stop with this and you!” He put a muzzle and made her horn disappear. “That should keep you from starting another war.” Chrysalis glared at him.
Maxilla sighed through a guard. “Daughter Chrysalis! You broken the simplest of laws how do you protest?” She shacked her head. “Not guilty? Really? The canterlot attack, the kidnapping of the royals and the elements of friendship! Not to mention the mole rebellion that planed to sink all of Manehattan.”
Twilight and Rarity screamed. “WHAT?!”
But maxilla continued. “And you plead not guilty?” They all laughed. “Throw her and her entire hive into the tiny hole.” He started standing up.
“Wait! Shouldn’t she a get a trial?” Mandible asked and Maxilla sighed sat down.
“Fine, but if you can’t prove some form of benefit I will have Tiger cubs Lick them to death.” The queens all gasped in horror while, only Rainbow dash looked scared.
“The defendant may speak.” A Changeling walked to front of the court
“YES, Tell me what did our sister do?” The Changeling queens looked annoyed at him. “She did what changelings have done for centuries, conquer and expand! It’s our nature—“ Fire engulfed him, turning the Changeling into a ladybug.
“What’s with these traditionalists, Spoiled brats honestly. Rebuttal.”
Twilight stood up. “Well, I think that you shouldn’t judge the reformed changelings based on your laws.” Vehemence raised a brow and twilight shrank the empress of the changelings had a off aura of fear, respect and control around her.
“Defendant?” Asked Vehemence.
He sighed. “Dad, does the hive spell still work?” Maxilla nodded. “I rest my case.”
Starswirl. “I call Pinkie pie to the stand.” Pinkie hopped to the stand and stood smiling.
“Now miss pinkamena diane pie, are there large differences between the changelings and the Reformed changelings?”
“Yea, they’re less scary, don’t hiss at creatures, none of them tries to put you in pods anymore.” Starswirl nodded and mandible walked to pinky pie.
“miss pie, tell me can the so called “reformed” Changelings still change forms?” She nodded. “So they are still Changelings ?” He smirked and pinkie nodded while all the ponies face hoofed.
“WAIT!” Vehemence said shocking everyone. “Who the buck are reformed changelings?” The guard being controlled smirked as Myrmecia whispered into her ear and after a second of silence she burst out laughing. “Oh That! And they?!” She looked at her husband who nodded and she laughed even louder.
“Is there an issue?” Cocoon asked as she looked at her mother.
“Oh sweet children, you’re all too innocent, yea those forms are not new the hives nectures had the same form.”
Mandible’s eyes widened. “Oh yea, didn’t they end up starving because they feed off eachothers emotions?” She shrugged and looked at twilight.
“Let me explain, for a Changeling to each other’s emotions weeel it’s disgusting honestly it’s not like me and my husband, we give our love all the time. How can I explain this, sweetie do you have any ideas?” He nodded and the gaurd cleared his voice.
“Imagine an hour glass going down each time a Changeling feeds on love or any other emotion, it is like adding sand to said hour class. However when we feed off each other, it stops adding sand from an outside source and instead is taking from someone else’s hour Glass.” Twilight’s eyes widened so did Starlight’s.
The queen smirked. “Question did they release a large burst of magic before being reformed?” They all gulped. “Exactly! It’s a suicide technique! Last bombing before the hive falls but the more hilarious thing is, they have been taking your love all along.” They all gasped.
Vehemence smirked. “Well yes, simply said each changeling hives are designed to win off a different emotion more than others. Like for instance the Changelings of Dopamina who all produce laughing gas from their mouth, they don’t look threatening, no fangs, no forked tongues unlike me, my dear cocoon who looks comforting and innocent. The changeling queen’s offspring are born to feed off one emotion their body are usually supposed to show this!”
“What does this have to do with the reformed changelings still feeding off love.” Starlight demanded.
“They feeding of your Devotion to something. To your relationship and to your trust in each other.” There and then twilight realized it.
“They’re feeding off our friendship.”
The queens all spoke in unison as if they all knew from the start. “Yes, they are feeding off your Devotion to friendship .”
Mother’s Love and daughter’s regret.
Twilight all of her friends just stared. Many emotions were going through the hall, and cocoon licking her lips looked around the court, Myrmecia was drooling as the rage marinated in trust then spiced with betrayal was one of the rarest and tastiest of anger, Archana sweating heavily the disgust that some felt at being betrayed was seen by her easily from them in the eyes of the queens!
“Ok calm down!” Vehemence yelled as Twilight spoke up.
“How can we calm down?! We just found out our friends have been—“ The queen raised a brow and twilight shut up.
“I didn’t mean you, I meant my daughters, they're ready to pounce on your mixed emotions that you’re releasing. Honestly, these idiots didn’t even know that they were harvesting your emotions.” She sucked the feelings from the room causing everyone to feel numb. “Anyway, they harvest your ambient emotions not directly as I did.” The main six and the pillars all just stared dead-eyed. “Um, thirty-minute break.” They all left with vehemence taking chrysalis to her room.
After removing the gag from Chrysalis, Vehemence stood over chrysalis. Eyes burned into her soul and started sucking all emotions from the love-eating queen. “Disgusting! It tasted like rotten fish. You have obsession, desire, and greed.” The former Changeling queen was shaking as if she was detoxing from a horrible drug. “Nothing left but your weakness my dear daughter.” She gulped and shook, holding on to her mother as the empress of the changelings held her close.
The weakened queen breathed heavily. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I, please, please." She cried into her mother's hair. "I was an idiot." Her mother brushed chrysalis' hair.
"Shhh, My little cricket. I know my dear." She said in a warm tone as her child cried and Vehemence smiled as her horn lit up and started combing her hair. “We wash away all the nastiness from you and bring my little cricket out.” Chrysalis just hugged tighter.
“Please I don’t want this anymore!” Chrysalis continued to cry into her mother’s chest. All her siblings for the first time in centuries felt some form of sympathy for their sister. “End this please.”
Mandible drank from a flask filled with liquid pride, he then saw twilight walking toward him and he sighed. “Did you know about this?” He teleported his flask away and nodded, wiping away the last drops. “Why didn’t you tell us?” He smirked.
“Because, you were annoying me.” Her eyes widened. “Think about it, you’re trying to save the reformed changelings, yet my sister you are happy to let her be punished.”
Twilight stuttered thinking up a rebuttal. “I know she has done a lot of idiotic things, but she is still my little sister and I’m not letting her be punished without fair a trial.” He looked at twilight. “So are you going to drop the trial and have my sisters judge the reformed Changelings and her former hive, now that you know they are feeding off your trust?”
Her devotion grew, a burning in her eyes rose. “They didn’t hurt anyone by taking our emotions, unlike chrysalis who actively attacked Equestria.”
Mandible stared twilight down. “They’re called parasites twilight, you better figure out a way before Mother gets bored and calls for the trial to end with the deaths of all of the altered changelings, Sorry I mean reformed.” He mocked as Twilight was filled with rage as for the first time in many years she didn’t have a solution.
He closed his eyes speaking through the Royal hive mind communication “I have bad and good news, My sisters have decided that they don’t care about the reformed changelings and they’re going perform Turritopsis dohrnii on chrysalis and all the reformed Changeling will devoured by Archania’s hive.”
Twilight grabbed Mandible and both teleported out of that room. “You said you would help now you’re doing this?!” Mandible sighed as he took a page from the law book, after twilight’s gasps over a possibly damaged book, he explained.
“I want you to take on a trial by combat and then you can decided the next action of the court.” Twilight looked at him untrustingly. “If it all works out we will both get what we want.” Twilight sighed and stepped away. “Ok what should we do after one of us wins?” Mandible smirked. “We will get a advisor to the courtroom.” Twilight nodded hesitantly. “Just don’t betray me.”
Twilight was offended by that statement. “What?!” She would never do anything like that! She wasn’t like discord or grogar or chrysalis or or. “You’re feeding off my hate.” Mandible nodded with a smirk. “So you defending chrysalis and making us feel betrayed is also feeding you.”
Mandible sighed. “I and a few of my siblings were specifically made to be hatred eaters. Made for war and conflict, though in the last centuries most of my siblings either died out or became critics.” He chuckles, his grin disappearing. “This entire court and everything, I learned one thing, you aren’t some clean little princess who wants friends and rainbows. You hate chrysalis and those two, You hated that our laws had no loopholes. Hatred is complex, an emotion of not only anger but disgust but motivation. Your hatred of chrysalis motivated you to save what in your view is the only good thing she has produced.” Twilight just stared in shock, rage completely gone and now in complete confusion.
She pulled out the book of Changeling laws and then she read the last page. “Call the judge of all if the judges can’t be trusted .”
Author's Note
Sorry for disappearing but after this I’m planing on a fic where the gang are requested speak with barbarian ponies of the centrals steppe. Mongol pegasus archers, unicorn shamans and heavy earth pony spear stallions babies!
Villains, heroes and gods
Twilight sighed, this was frustrating, then Starswirl had an idea. “A character reference, if we can convince them that the reformed Changelings are truly good they will be more lenient on their punishment or even a quit them.” Twilight perked up.
The court continued though Starswirl took the stage. “I would like to ask Queen Dopamina to the stand.”
The queen with stomach issues growled. “Only if that pink explosion of joy l-leaves the room.” They did as asked and she took to the stand.
“Queen Dopamina is your sister, morally imperfect.” He spoke trying to not use anything to be used against them later.
Dopamina sighed with relief, mostly because Pinky wasn’t there anymore. “Who is morally perfect? I mean you banished your friends into Limbo because you didn’t consider his feelings.” Starswirl looked shocked at the for-knowledge the queen had. “Even then my sister was always a bit mentally unstable. She’s ambitious and views the world as her candy bowl to take.” Chrysalis didn’t show any emotions, just paranoid shaking in what seemed to be a cold spell or worse.
Starswirl nodded. “I would like to have starlight glimmer to the stand” She took the stand after getting out of the elaborate lantern and then explained the situation, she took to the stand still looking around. “Can you confirm that you offered chrysalis to be reformed?” Mandibles interrupted.
“Excuse me ,May I inform the witness that this wouldn’t have any effect on chrysalis.” Archania nodded yet turned to the pony in question.
“You May continue starlight.”
“I did offer my hoof to accept her back to the reformed changelings.” Starlight spoke calmly. “As someone who has reformed and learned from my actions, I know how hard it can be. Even then I would have gladly helped her.” Vehemence nodded and so did the other Changeling queens.
Mandible sighed. “I would like to miss, apple jack on the stand.” She did and took her hat off.
“Now miss apple, did you trust the changelings before their reformation?” He smirked as both Starswirl and twilight looked worried, knowing applejack who sighed.
“No I didn’t.” Twilight sighed and Starswirl bit the bottom of his beard.
“Do you trust them now?” Twilight knew exactly why he was doing this and Applejack.
“Trust has to be earned. The only one I do trust is Ocellus, every other Changeling I trust as much as I trust my brother in a porcelain store filled with spiders, it took five months to get rid of that debt, I had to work at a maid coffee that the owners five managed.” Rainbow dash's wings flew up, like rockets.
Mandible nodded as twilight stood up and chose her next witness. “I want to question Spike the dragon.” Mandible gave a distant look and returned to his seat. “Spike, how would you describe thorax for me please.”
“Of Course twilight, Thorax is a kind, friendly, honest, a friend you would never want to lose, his sort of a pushover but his brother covers for his weaknesses and his a true leader.” Twilight looked at the Changeling queen only to see them all rather annoyed.
Mandible “I would like to call Cadence to the stand.” She walked to the stand and looked around. “Now could you tell how your experience with chrysalis changelings have been?” Mandible smiled.
“They invaded my wedding, kidnapped me, threw into a mine shaft, then attacked my family.” Mandible smiled again if he was just loving the description. “But now they’re all fine, they good Allie’s to crystal and empire and equestria.” Again the queens looked rathe annoyed, if they knew some else.
“Now I ask, is this entirely visual?” Now the queen's interests peaked. “Is that Equestria simply judged by the biases of the appearances, over the many crimes and that because chrysalis didn’t accept the Enlightenment of friendship. They blame all the crimes of the hive on CHRYSALIS ?!” Multiple muttering came from the courtroom and Starswirl and Twilight panicked. They tried to object but a silencing spell covered their mouths “From the many villains that attacked Equestria in the last years only two were invasions by armies. One the storm king and the other, Chrysalis hive. Yet they’re attempting to push all the crimes on to one singular entity instead of punishing the hive, who could have opposed this yet whole heartedly joined.” Mandible sat down.
Chrysalis started screaming and was scratching her hoofs as if there was something crawling underneath it. “Recess now!” She flew toward Chrysalis and teleported away.
Twilight and Starswirl got thorax to question him. “PLEASE for love of Celestia, please tell me all of the changelings didn’t agree to incase Canterlot!”
Thorax gulped. “It was only me and another. Everyone else agreed completely.”
Starswirl sighed. “What about the other one?”
“He was eaten by the rest when he let his opinion out.”
Spindle stepped behind him. “I wonder how juicy he was.” Thorax jumped behind Twilight terrified of the giant of a queen.
“Why do you want to eat him?” Twilight asked, confused. “I mean you would be cannibalizing your nephew.” Spindle sniffer at Thorax.
“No, I don’t smell any relation to me or my siblings.”
“What?” Starswirl asked. “So you can’t trace even a small amount of relation to you?” Spindle shaked her Head at the wizard. “How much do you share with ants?”
Spindle scratched her chin. “Well I have to say fifty percent. Our structure is similar and so is some of our hierarchy.
Starswirl nodded. “Does your sisters show the same appetite for your children?” Twilight looked at Swtarswirl with concern.
"Ofcourse not, my sisters wouldn’t dare have the to urge eat my children. They’re all my blood and flesh I lay them hatch them and raise them.”
“WAIT, that’s not how our colony works, usually chrysalis laid a clutch while other females produced as they pleased.”
Spindle looked absolutely disgusted. "You breed with in your own hive?" At moment Thorax nodded and she took a step back easily to see she was disgusted. "No wonder I want to rip and tear you apart. To us you look like a rival hive and don't tell anyone else they just throw this out of the courtroom and banish them to the sun. I mean purge them from existence." Spindle left and starswirl sighed hoping to have found a loophole.
“We need to figure out how to get out of the mess, our only option is trial by combat.” They all looked shocked. “Or we call a different Judge.”
Vehemence held Chrysalis close as she continued to go through her withdrawals. “Please listen to me.” Chrysalis shook, screaming as the room moved around her and demonic voices cursed her. “Don’t listen, follow my voice. There is no one here but me and you. Breathe in and out slowly.” For Once in her life she followed her mother’s orders. “There, it’s just desire withdrawals. I told you, no matter what, I love you my little cricket.” Chrysalis cried into her mother’s chests as if hiding from a hundred demons screaming at her.
Vehemence left and locked the door only leaving a stress ball. “Mother is she alright?” Emilia asked, actually worried.
The empress shook her head. “No, she’s terrified, I mean I have thrown creatures off cliffs and made them unable to use magic and this kind of terrors never has happened.” Chrysalis screamed like a banshee in a cave.
Vehemence jaw clenched as she heard her little grub in pain and absolute suffering. They opened the room to find tha she entirely shed her skin and was now in an actual chrysalis. “Well this is not what I expected.” Emilia looked at her mother for advice. “The heightened stress and low resources caused her to molt and adapt.” Emilia just looked confused. “She reverted back to her chrysalis so she can take on a more advantages form.”
Emilia oohed realizing. “So what will be an actual love bug instead of a heartless desire eating demon?” Vehemence just looked at her daughter disappointed. “Sorry, what really happened now?” Vehemence sighed.
“She either dies or gets out of her shell and finally takes her place as the queens of the crystal empires hive.”
Emilia nodded. “Is it bad if I imagine a lot of modals and stocking shops?”
Vehemence sighed. “No, I did the same. Also infiltrating, replacing dead family members, starting a speed dating group, just turning into beautiful ponies and flirting with the most desperate ponies in Equestria. Companionship is also a form of love, Emilia.”
The Changeling queen shrugged. “I know, why do you think my nymphs infiltrate schools, I mean seriously exam week is my autumn harvest. Especially that purple princess, anxiety is one potent meal.” She did a chef's kiss.
The waiters all seemed different as they didn’t look like changelings. More or less they looked like ponies except from their eyes and darker shade of coat color they exactly looked like ponies. “Today we will be serving tofu steak with mushroom sauce and a side of rice.” Said one Changeling wearing shades. One bite and they were already hooked but they noticed unlike the other changelings they had irises. Twilight just continued observing them.
Starswirl was hesitant at first until taking the first bite. How hasn’t he never tasted such paradise before, oh by the ancients this was true paradise in his mouth.
After having the meals only gods of a different world could enjoy. The pillars and main six met up. “What are we going to do?” Spike asked as twilight was thinking.
Dash groaned in frustration. “Usually we just take the elements, friendship or some other harmony’s thing and done! We are saved. Why can’t we do that?”
Apple decided to add her two cents. “Because rainbow dash, we can’t use our friend rainbow blasts on all of Equestria! I mean we saw millions of them! They would overpower us in a day!”
Starswirl drought about it. “Maybe if convinced them to a certain type of punished.” They got closer as Mandible started to look suspicious at their next steps.
All queens waited. “We already have our verdict. Do you have anything else to say?” Twilight and spoke the words on the last page.
“I wish the formless to judge them!” All the Changeling gulped as their eyes turned black and they screamed light escaping from them as it formed a sphere of black meanwhile in The Peaks of Peril the same happed the Kirins first turning into niriks and then their fire flying toward the prime hive burning through the walls as all over Equestria the changelings screams falling unconscious, those outside their hives fainted yet still in their pony forms.
Vehemence fought back, biting back against the powers attempting to escape. “You fool! You doomed yourself.“ A massive light erupted out of the empress like a bullet out of a gun.
The ponies all closed their eyes as a black fire finished taking in every Changeling and Kirins power as the one known as the entity took its form with eyes of swirling rainbow colors, mane of onyx fire and a body of stars constantly moving if attempting to escape. “You dare summon the formless.” It spoke with a voice made out of millions of voices in unison.
Author's Note
Well twilight does the wrong things when desperate. We’re coming to the end game, now you just have to wait another year and it will be done, possible, if I don’t start writing a interlude between the next chapters.
The formless glared at the ponies who were still conscious and in their purest words they were terrified especially Luna who flashbacks to her creation a few years back. “Ok, listen here, FIRst discord HoW lonG HAS IT BEEN? Secondly, why in the name of Tartarus did you summon me?” Twilight cleared her throat and spoke up, swallowing all her fears.
“I wanted to be judged fairly.” Twilight explained then the Eldridge being appeared behind her having tea discord. “What how?”
“You’re Self righteous and you have anxiety issues, they’re judged and done. So BroTHEr how has being free bEEN treating yOu?”
Discord smiled. “It has been fantastic Clay, it seems you have made a mess haven’t you?” The formless pony shrugged and stretched.
Twilight spoke up “No the reformed Changelings, and chrysalis, I need you to judge them.”
The formless floated toward twilight. “guilty for the hive and innocent for the queen.” There was silence as time itself seemed to have stopped. “Punishment, banishment from all hives sired by Vehemence and the queen will be placed in the custody of the Vehemence hive.” Twilight stared for she had done it, yet it felt like a wasted opportunity not to ask more, if this being is the god of changelings.
The formless snapped its fingers creating a replica for the statue floating back to discord. “Anything interesting hAppens sincE my LaSt return iN tHis RealM?” He looked Fluttershy.” I P-p-p-px pResume that creature with a drop of Yxyxyxyyxyour power is YOoooooour—“ Twilight cleared her throat and it turned toward her.
Took in all her courage. “Did you create the changelings?” The formless floated mid air.
They were all teleported to ancient equestria. “Many millennia ago, discord, I and Harmonious forged the world. Harmonious agent of order, I agent of change and discord you already know.” Time shifted. “Once harmonious finished the creation of all things, discord placed chaos into the world, they argued until harmonious became darked with his wish to destroy the corruption in his paradise.” The being of pure rainbow pony started attacking the other two, slowly turning black and roaring gaining ten times its original size.
It yelled, launching dark dark magic at every corner and screamed. “Only through death, will there be ORDER!”
The two fought against him until the final blow destroyed. “The pony of shadows.“ Twillight speaking shocked, “Well of Shade.” From there the simulation shows how Luna, Sombra and Stygian being corrupted. First crawling into their ear whispering their fears, jealousy, anger and greed.
“Each one different yet similar, each of the strains from the same evil creature.” Formless one explained, as he showed the hatching of the first Kirin from hundreds, from of eggs. “My first attempt at purging of the great evil by creating warriors who would simply burn away the evil if they ever reached that point. Sadly this wasn’t a successful method, even if they were to fight the shadow they weren’t warriors. So I looked toward the natural world, I found a species that itself is at constant war and battle, ants and swaps.” He showed millions of species of ants, wasps and multiple other insects.
“So they’re an army to fight him, why didn’t they do anything against Nightmare moon, or—“ the formless changed the scenery. A necromancer ruling an army of undead ponies marching out of a destroyed village. “What are those?” She asked a swarm of changelings attacking the undead turning into dragons and other beasts burning the undead like roaches and the final killing blow given by a Changeling with a spiked head and multiple horns. The necromancer fell to the ground turning to dust and the dark features disappeared turning him back to normal pony.
The imagery changed back to the courtroom. “That one was long past redemption, the Changelings were designed to hunt them. Each emotion producing a specialized cast for the armies when the worst were to happen, disgust produced the medics, sadness the therapists, rage the soldiers, greed producing for the builders, Joy the mages, fear the saboteurs, love the caretakers of the grubs and last hate for the super majors, the berserker those filled with enough power to become gigantic beasts of war, all are still workers. The king converted from a pony or other creature producing the emotions for the founding hive and later from outside the hive, all to infiltrate the entirety of Equestria for the darkest day, when the shadow ponies attack. The ancestors and relation of Sombra. So you ask why? the difference being Stygian ,Luna and Sombra were sentient, they wanted to rule not destroy the world. What is better start a war with every mild case or wait until a real threat happens, those who wish to destroy the world?” His voice deep commanding was oddly attractive as twilight listen unlike Discords tricksters voice, that with each voice somehow hid a chuckle or laugh his was stoic confident and somehow hypnotic.
Twilight stared, but she noticed he was repeating from a practiced speech. “Then explain Chrysalis. If she is from a diplomat class, why did she turn in to this.” The formless looked at Twilight, her skin crawled and his eyes changed multiple times.
“DEsi#rE, Is PPpOtent YYYet ToXIc, It is Aa-a-axa-a-ax a wish for CEtians EveNt to TTTAke place, GrEEd is COMmon All want YeT few DeSire. CHrysAlis REEEEEEE Removed me FroM hErSELF and h-h-h-h Her B-B-Brood! ONCE thE ThoRax RETURned to MY Influence. Hehehehehe HE! ReconnEcted to me THE HIVE.” He went silent, now the voice sound like thousands of voices fighting to get a word in edgewise, each combating for power.
Discord flew in front of his brother. “I apologize, my brother isn’t as articulate as you or I, but what My brother means, he was able to reconnect with the chrysalis hive after using that rainbow love blast.” The formless nodded, as some of the faces changed to look like thorax and the other Changelings queens. “Looks like he won’t be here any longer. His unstable since he is a being of change, time is his domain, so existing in our world.”
Fluttershy finished his sentence. “Stops Time.” The formless made a claw.
He looked at discord. “Fragments will be born from chaos.”
“Wait” they all looked at twilight. “You said nightmare and Stygian were created by this shadow. If you knew it was happening, why not stop it?”
He stared at twilight for a brief moment until everything stopped. “BECAUSE I’M NOT OMNISCIENT!” He snapped and twilight blinked, returning to before she requested the Formless one to appear.
Twilight just stayed silent. As vehemence completes her judgment. “The reformed ones will be Banished from all hives I have sired, for chrysalis she will be held in our custody.” Everyone erupted against this but twilight stayed silent.
Later in the day twilight teleported to Maxilla and locked the door behind them. “What do you know about the formless?”
Maxilla sighed, if he had gone through this game before and again. “Nothing, you can only call him once in your existence and even then most of her spoken words are messy.”
Twillight nodded understanding yet she still had questions. “How did you learn of it?” Maxilla smilled.
He spoke now with nostalgic joy. “Back in the era before the Pillars and even hearts warming, I wanted to master all forms of magic, even chaos. One day a faction in the merpony nobles wanted me to end their monarchs life. The payment was a map and a tome of the formless, only thing I got however was the map that led me to my beloved Vehemence.”
“He broke all laws of magic, existence wasn’t moving. Yet I could still breath and I have traveled through time before but never frozen time and space not only that but reversed reality.” Maxilla nodded
“Because it’s change magic. Not Changeling, change magic, unlike all other forms it’s control over reality it changes reality, time and space.”
Twilight finally understood at least parts of it. “So even when I use a spell. It’s changing something.” Twilight froze. “If he controls everything that changes.”
“Every action taken, he can control everything, yet doesn’t .” Twilight looked flabbergasted. “It is a being of the present. Order is the past, change is the present and chaos is the future. So far both discord and the formless seem to have an agreement that mind control is to never be used, even when you fought against you and your friends he didn’t control you just corrupted you and your friend.”
“I always wondered why he didn't just take control of everything. Under this logic discord can see the future.” Maxilla smirked at twilight. “No, unless.” Then she had a lightbulb moment. “He can view all branches of the future.” Maxilla chuckled. “That’s why he's like this, if he knows everything but nothing at all at the same time!” Maxilla sighed joyfully. “So the formless don't just erase the shadows and the ponies of shadow because their wish to preserve free will?”
“It’s equal to eating tainted mushrooms and swimming in a pool made of rainbows. Insanity, yet I can’t argue with them. Without free will what would we all be, Harmonious wanted ultimate order. Yet both the formless and discord wanted freedom of everything. Like how I wanted to learn all magic in peace.”
“What will you do now?” Twilight asked with concern and fear.
“Travel Equestria, maybe the rest of the world. Do things only Mares and Stallions can do in their bed rooms.” Twilight blushed. “Even as an empress she rarely cares about the current state of the world, as long as nothing stops our trips. She shows little worry, I wonder how Kevin is doing these days?”
Twilight and the rest were teleported out of the hives, even their memory of the hive's location were erased from their minds. Yet twilight still had questions “was the formless the end of all magic?”
a Decade later
“Bye miss crystal swirls!” Flurry heart waved to her foal sitter before running to her mother, as miss crystal swirls cleaned up the play area for the staff's children during daycare.
Then a purple alicorn stepped in surprising the daycare pony. “Your highness, what brings you here?” She spoke with a warm and caring voice. Everything about her seemed radiate love and caring, her baby blue mane with pink stripes to her completely white body even her horn had two different stripes swirling two colors. “Are you here to bring your dragon?” Spike crossed his arm muttering about not being a baby.
“No, I just wanted to ask how you’re doing chrysalis.” The pony was mildly surprised and smiled warmly, while Spike looked shocked even panicking. “It was surprising to find you working here of all places.”
She nodded, already using her horn to move around the toys and seats in their place. “I already had a talent for taking care of hatchlings and nymphs so, I guess this was just natural.” Twilight nodded while spike looked absolutely confused and honestly stupefied.
“Wait, are you really chrysalis?”
Chrysalis chuckled. “Nowadays people call me crystal swirls, though my sisters still call me by my hatching name.” She finished her last chores. “It’s flurry’s birthday, better late than sorry.” Twilight nodded.
After the celebrations they came out of the palace and sat at a coffee shop. “So, I have to ask. Is there a hive here.” A waitress brought iced coffee and a few gemstones for spikes. “Oh thank you, but I—“ she looked into the waitress eyes and saw them fade in and out as she gave a quick blink showing pink compact eyes.
Chrysalis took her hot coffee and nodded. “Yes, but currently they’re only ten.“ She sipped her drink and sighed. “I had forgotten how love actually feels, honestly I was in a cloud of rage and power hungry. But now it feels great.”
Twilight and gulped. “I’m here to apologize.” Chrysalis looked surprised. “I was being what I shouldn't be, I’m the princess of friendship and I was actively trying to make sure you stay in stone. Especially after seeing you now! I mean you’re completely reformed!”
Chrysalis laughed. “If it wasn’t for my family, the old chrysalis would have tried to strangle you using your own hair, right about now.” Both twilight and spike sat scared. “I’m happy I’m longer that creature, I hope she stays dead and buried.” Twilight nodded, hearing the regret in her voice clear of day. “But how did you find me? I know that your spells would have found me or my new hatchlings.” Twilight blushed in embarrassment.
“Well it was your brother.” Chrysalis looked, not impressed. “Mandible, he told us when a queen creates their, what he called persona, they usually have a special marker. Like if you were a pegasus, your outer feathers would be a different color from your inner.” Chrysalis sighed.
“Of Course that Super Major would tell us.” Twilight's eyes widened. “What?”
“Wait, he's a super major? The ones that can turn into the size of the old dragon lord? That feed off hate and runs into swarms of enemies?” Chrysalis nodded while Spike was shaking; he couldn't imagine another dragon the size that Ember's father had.
“I’m surprised you didn’t know this, but honestly he took off his diplomatic form, his true form is the size of the pony of shadows.” She gulped again imagining an army of shadow ponies. “Sadly most of them died during the hive purges. I think one of them still lives as a warrior in the barbaric steppes, another is a food critic.” She shrugged.
“So, uh how are your sisters?”
Chrysalis smiled at that. “Oh well Archania keeps doing what she loves, beating up Minotaurs as a wrestler. Cocoon has a few grubs now, though still very few, Dopamina she kinda made Ponyville a no go zone for her lings.” Twilight already knew why. “Emilia has been basically running nightmare nights now. Spindle, I’m in contact with her regularly, do you know that famous modeling family, who has nearly eight generation streak of most beautiful mare in Equestria running?” Twilight just looked shocked. “Yes, though the ‘family’ is made up of her oldest lings.” Twilight nodded only now realizing the sound shield around them.
“Well, I guess I better prepare.” Chrysalis eyes perked up with interest. “I have been thinking since you have had such a great development, maybe the other will too.” Twilight said with confidence.
Chrysalis looked surprised before turning into a soft smile. “That sounds great.” They said their goodbyes and went on their way.
In the east the Dromedary empire collapsed with armored horses walking in the fallen capital. “General Przewalski! The last of the resistance have been beaten” The dun-colored horse looked at the throne and threw a spear at it, it broke through the throne and the wall behind it.
“Then we will return to our khan!” The Dun colored earth horse galloped out of the capital hundred of earth horse and ponies following him including a storm of pegasi behind them.
Author's Note
Hahhahaha! It finished! After two years! I finished in it! Happy New Years everyone and a happy new year!
