Queen Weaver

Chapters

Chapter 2
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6 (Rewrite)
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17 (Rewritten)
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 1
Chapter 3
Chapter 14 (Rewrite #2)

Chapter 2

I opened my eyes groggily. “Ugh…” I groaned. My head hurt. Especially the back of my head. Though I suppose that was to be expected after surviving being shot.

The first thing I noticed upon waking up other than my headache was just how hungry I was. I was starving… Ow… Didn’t Luna say something about issues with what Changelings usually eat? I hoped I wasn’t going to be constantly hungry like this because it was difficult to get the right food for me or something. That would suck.

The second thing was the fact I could no longer sense my swarm. This left a feeling of loss and emptiness in my chest. It was like suddenly being cut off from one of my senses entirely. It was as if I had my eyes gouged out and my eardrums ruptured. However, while it was like being rendered senseless it was also a relief in a way. If I didn’t have my powers that meant my connection to my passenger was damaged or removed entirely which meant I was no longer in any danger of being subsumed by it.

However, there was something else now. Similar to my swarm sense but not the same. Emotions? I could sense emotions all around me. Boredom, grief, annoyance, pure joy, and… Something sweet that made my mouth water for some reason. Love? Familial love. The kind parents had for their kids. Considering how fresh and intense it was I could tell right away that someone had given birth and the parents were holding their newborn. It was almost intoxicating.

Why was I reacting that way towards love specifically, though? I didn’t understand that part. Was the ‘sweetness’ of the emotion just reminding me of how hungry I was? Maybe. It would make sense I guess, even if it was a little weird.

Either way it seemed I was an empath now. On top of that I was able to make out each specific emotion and attribute them to different individuals simultaneously without any struggle whatsoever. That suggested I still had my multitasking or a very similar power. That would make me, what? A Thinker 4? Maybe 5 if I could use it like my swarm sense to track people and maybe to avoid would-be attackers. It seemed as though I could since I could tell a general location of each of the sources of emotions around me. I certainly seemed to have a fairly decent range too, about five blocks, as a very rough estimate. So just a little over the range of my swarm. Regardless, I was certainly no Tattletale or Numberman so I wasn’t willing to give myself any higher than a 5 at this point in time.

Then I noticed my body felt strange. I raised my left hand to see why I couldn’t feel my fingers and saw a black carapaced limb with holes in it ending in a hoof. Oh, right… I remembered my meeting with Princess Luna. Apparently I was some sort of freaky bug unicorn with holes in my legs. Wonderful…

I felt some emotions approaching my room. Contentment. It paused just outside and I assumed whoever it was, was talking to the two very bored individuals I sensed standing on either side of the door. A few moments later the door opened and I looked and saw a cartoonish horse with a weird hat on her head with an odd symbol on it that matched the symbol on her flank. She entered the room and her eyes widened as soon as she saw I was awake.

“Uh… Hi.” I attempted, raising my hoof to wave at her. My voice had a strange reverb to it that I wasn’t expecting, though otherwise it sounded pretty much the same.

She bolted back out of the room and slammed the door shut behind her. Raw intimidation and fear.

I lowered my hoof. Right. There was an attack by Changelings last week. Of course these ponies were afraid of me. I guess I should count myself lucky I didn’t wake up in chains.

Didn’t Luna say I had some sort of stranger or changer power now? I considered trying to figure it out in order to turn myself back to my usual self but I decided to hold off for the moment. I didn’t want to do anything that might get me in trouble. At least not so soon.

After a few minutes a new source of emotions appeared seemingly out of thin air. It stood outside for a moment then the door opened again and someone else entered. Another alicorn like Luna. Only this one was white with a pale rainbow mane and tale, gold jewelry, and an image of the sun on her flank.

She looked at me and gave me a friendly smile though I felt the mistrust behind the smile. “Hello. You must be Queen Weaver, correct? I’m Princess Celestia, diarch of Equestria. My sister Luna has spoken well of you.”

“I’m glad I made a good impression, I guess. So, she told me you wanted to talk to me?” I asked.

“Indeed I do. I would appreciate it if you could tell me the same story you gave Luna about your origins.” Celestia requested.

I sighed. I really didn’t want to talk about it. But I knew they were probably looking for holes in my story so it would look suspicious if I didn’t tell her. So I started from the beginning telling her pretty much the exact same thing I told Luna.

She asked questions and I did my best to answer without giving away anything incriminating. I explicitly didn’t lie. I told nothing but the truth, in case the truth was somehow discovered and I was called out on it. Thinkers could be annoying sometimes. I just left out certain details.

I wished I had access to my swarm so I could offload my emotions into it. As it was, I had to try to hide my emotions more naturally. I didn’t want to display any sign of weakness to a complete unknown like these ‘ponies’. Not that I could feel any outright hostility but still.

When it was over Celestia gave me a sympathetic look. I could sense her emotions so I could sense that it was sincere. “Well… Your story lines up with what you told Luna the other day. I can’t see any holes or inconsistencies. So I’m going to choose to believe you’re telling the truth.”

“Great. So, Luna mentioned complications. Specifically she said there were going to be complications with politics and my diet. Would you mind illuminating me as to the issues I’ll be dealing with now that I’m a Changeling Queen rather than a Human?” I asked.

Celestia nodded. “I imagine you’re quite hungry right now. Tell me, what do you think Changelings eat?”

Keeping my mouth closed I licked my teeth to get a feel of how they were shaped. “Judging by the shape of my teeth and the exaggerated fangs I would guess they’re carnivorous. I know horses in my world are herbivores, so I assume you’re the same and you don’t have much meat available.”

“Not quite… Though you are right we don’t have much meat available. However, fish is sold in specialty stores for Griffins visiting Equestria. So if it were a matter of you being carnivorous the issue would be more manageable.” Celestia told me.

I shrugged. “Then I’m stumped. What do they eat?”

“Changelings eat love.”

I blinked. I blinked again. “I’m sorry, I think I misheard you. Could you repeat that?”

“Changelings are emotivores meaning they eat emotions. Specifically they only eat love. It doesn’t matter if it’s familial or romantic. As long as it’s love you can feed on it. Furthermore, your feeding does result in some deleterious effects on those you feed on. Nothing too major as long as it is kept in moderation, but in excess it can hurt them.” Celestia informed me in a clinical tone like a doctor diagnosing a disease or a professor giving a lecture.

A sense of dread began to form as my mind processed the implications of this. I really wished I still had my swarm so I could offload my sheer embarrassment and humiliation into it. I was a discount succubus shaped like a bug horse.

“Please tell me you’re joking…” I pleaded, resting my face in my hoof.

Celestia shook her head. “Unfortunately not. So I assume you can see the issue your current diet presents.”

“Yes… God, why…?” I muttered. Sighing I lowered my hoof and looked at her. “And the political issues? What are they?”

“There has only ever been one Changeling Queen in over a thousand years and that’s Queen Chrysalis. The fact you appeared means there is now somepony who can theoretically challenge her rule over her hive. That is if you don’t start a hive of your own at which point you would be competing for the same resources. That being love. So there is almost certainly going to be some tension between you and her.” Celestia told me.

“Over a thousand… You’re telling me she’s been alive for over a thousand years?! Does… Does that mean I’m immortal now?” I wasn’t quite sure how to feel about that. Immortality. Media always portrayed immortality as more of a curse than a blessing. I wasn’t sure I wanted to be immortal.

I could sense Celestia’s hesitance and uncertainty. “To be perfectly honest with you, we have no idea, as far as I’m aware. Changeling Queens could just be extremely long lived, maybe feeding on large amounts of love extends their lives, or they could simply be immortal. Since Changelings are a relatively new species and there has never been a Changeling Queen before Chrysalis, we have no information to work with in that regard. That said, Chrysalis hasn’t exactly aged in the past thousand years I have known her, so I would lean towards saying yes, she’s probably immortal and by extension so are you.”

I let that sink in for a moment. Now that was a lot to take in. Going from not expecting to live past eighteen to being told you were effectively immortal if you weren’t assassinated was quite jarring. To be honest, it didn’t feel real to me even if I could tell by her emotions that Celestia was telling the truth. “Wow…”

“Are you alright, Weaver?” Celestia asked, concern radiating from her.

“Yeah. Just processing…” I responded. Shaking my head to clear my thoughts I refocused on the matter at hand. “So, I’m going to have to worry about assassination attempts from Queen Chrysalis? I can’t imagine she’s going to take too kindly to my existence.”

Celestia nodded. “That is a very strong possibility, yes. There’s also the matter of where you’re going to live and where you will be starting your own hive. Considering your past and the fact you are in danger from Chrysalis, you are welcome to stay in Equestria under refugee status as long as you abide by our laws. We’re also going to need to work out a safe system you can use to feed without hurting anypony. Fortunately we already have something in mind for that. However, if you are going to make a hive I’m afraid it can not be on Equestrian land since you are technically foreign royalty. Fortunately, there are a couple locations I have in mind that are unclaimed territory and are thus open for you to claim and settle in. Before we discuss that in any detail, however, are you well enough to stand on your own?”

“Don’t know. I haven’t tried. Give me a sec.” I responded, pushing the blanket off of myself only to discover I was unclothed. Embarrassment hit me like a freight train. Sure, none of the ponies I’d seen wore clothes either but they were horses which somehow made it seem normal to me, even if they were sapient. I hadn’t even considered the idea that I might not be wearing anything. I may not be human anymore either but the idea of walking around naked was a bit much for me.

“Er… Would I get in trouble if I tried changing back to my human form?” I asked, hesitantly.

“No. As long as we’re able to identify you for the moment, it’s fine.” Celestia told me.

“Thank you.” I responded. I vaguely remembered how it felt to use the powers of the changers under my control during Scion’s rampage through my connection to them at the time and tried to mimic that. As I was doing so I felt myself connect to some sort of energy or something within me and then I felt a pressure in the middle of my head. Somehow I intuitively knew exactly how to utilize this energy to change my form and while it felt vaguely similar to the Changers under my control during Scion’s rampage it was also very different.

There was a quick burst of green energy around me as I transformed myself into my human form, with the same costume I had worn during Scion’s rampage including the mask. “Hm…” I hummed before I changed myself to make it look like I was wearing a simple pair of jeans with a gray hoodie. Unfortunately my right arm was still missing. It seemed I couldn’t make it regrow from nothing. That was unfortunate but not insurmountable. I was going to have to get used to doing everything left-handed.

I still felt naked which was embarrassing but at least I looked like I was wearing clothes, which was an improvement. I got out of the bed and a wave of vertigo hit me for a moment but I recovered quickly.

Celestia looked at me for a moment. “Fascinating. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect based on Luna’s description. You look nice, Weaver. Now, since it seems you’re able to move on your own, I'll go speak with the doctor and see if you’re well enough to be released. Please wait here for the moment.” She then turned and walked out of the room.

Somehow I knew I could do more with that energy I just felt than simply changing my form. However I knew better than to test new found powers in a non-controlled environment. I didn’t want to go Carrie in a hospital and accidentally kill or seriously hurt someone. So I held off for the moment. I would experiment later somewhere no-one could get caught in the crossfire.

Technically my new form did have wings, I felt them the moment I woke up. They felt a bit small and if the image of Chrysalis that Luna showed me a couple nights ago was anything to go off of they probably had holes in them. However powers were bullshit so maybe I could still fly with them? In which case I could probably find somewhere away from any towns or cities where I could experiment.

Thinking about my wings and flying made me wonder, just how strong were my new shape shifting powers? Could I turn into a bird or something? Could I give my human form wings? Could I make myself bigger or smaller and if so by how much? Could I make myself the size of Behemoth or was I limited by my normal size or mass? I had a lot I needed to figure out about my abilities.

Celestia came back a few moments later with who I assumed to be the doctor who treated me. This doctor was a unicorn and a jar containing what I assumed were the bullets they pulled out of my head was floating next to him, surrounded by a light blue aura. Some kind of telekinesis? Could I do something like that too?

The doctor seemed surprised upon seeing me but he recovered quickly. “Ehem… Hello, Queen Weaver. I’m Doctor Chirurgeon, the chief surgeon of Ponyville hospital. How are you feeling? Are you experiencing any issues with vision, motor control, or anything else?”

I shook my head. “My head hurts a little, especially the back. Otherwise everything seems normal.”

Doctor Chirurgeon was very surprised though he tried not to show it visibly, presumably to maintain a professional appearance. “Really? Nothing at all? No odd twitches or any noticeable decrease in the quality of your eyesight?”

“Not particularly, no. My eyesight isn’t great but I’ve always needed glasses. It doesn’t seem any worse than usual.”

The doctor raised a hoof in thought. “Huh… That’s, quite frankly, miraculous. You must have gotten incredibly lucky with the placement of these bullets. They did severely damage a strange tumor that was on your brain. However, that was the most serious damage your brain seems to have sustained, other than the wound channels of course.”

Miraculous or very precisely calculated from the exact caliber of the bullet, to the powder charge, to the exact timing and placement of the bullets to damage the Gemma of my Corona Pollentia while doing minimal damage to the rest of my brain? Knowing Contessa it was almost certainly the latter. I did not voice these thoughts, however.

“As for your head pain, you’re currently under the effects of an anesthetic or it would hurt a lot worse. I’m going to be prescribing you a non-addictive pain killer. You are to take it orally three times a day until you’re fully healed. Fortunately for you, from what we observed of you while you were unconscious, it seems you changelings heal faster than us ponies. So you should be fine in a week or two. I’m also going to be prescribing an antibiotic that you’re going to have to take once a day for about a week, just to mitigate the risk of infection. Other than that, if you aren’t experiencing any other issues I suppose you’re free to go. Would you like to keep these things we pulled out of your head?”

The jar levitated towards me. I looked at it for a moment before hesitantly taking it and examining the bullets inside. They were in remarkably good condition, though that could have been due to the fact they both appeared to be solid copper rather than copper and lead. “I guess I’ll keep them.”

They would be a good reminder, at the very least. Something I could physically hold in my hand and think back on my past. All my mistakes, all my regrets, everything that led up to these two bullets ending up in the back of my head. Everything that made me who I was now. Plus, if I was actually immortal now like Celestia said I might be, I was going to need something I could look back on so I would never forget.

Tucking the jar under my arm I stood up.

There was a flash of light and two pill bottles appeared floating next to the doctor which then levitated over to me. “The one in the white bottle is the antibiotic. The other is the painkiller. There should be just enough in both that you shouldn’t need any refills as long as you take them as directed.” Doctor Chirurgeon told me.

Transferring the jar to my other arm, I grabbed the pill bottles from the air and stuffed them in the pocket of my ‘hoodie’. “Thank you.”

“Of course. Now, I have paperwork and other patients I need to attend to. Have a good day, your highnesses.” The doctor said before turning and walking out of the room.

“So… What now?” I asked.

“Now, we have more we need to discuss and there are some ponies I would like to introduce you to. Follow me.” Celestia said before turning and leading me out of the room.

Outside of my room I saw the two presences I had felt were two unicorns in golden armor wielding spears. Suspicion and loathing blazed within them the instant they laid eyes on me. A stark contrast to the admiration and reverence that welled within them when Celestia had exited just a few steps ahead of me. As Celestia and I were walking away the guards followed after us.

Celestia glanced back at me and from her emotions I gathered what was happening. This was a power play. I assume she could have ordered the guards away when she’d walked out to go get Dr. Chirurgeon and she knew I wasn’t a serious threat. However, she hadn’t done that because she had wanted me to see they had been there the entire time. She didn’t hate me like these guards did, but she didn’t trust me and she wanted me to know it.

I rolled my eyes. I didn’t care. I wasn't going to do anything stupid anyway.

We continued out of the hospital and walked through the town, apparently known as ‘Ponyville’ before arriving at a giant oak tree. The trunk was easily the size of a building and judging by the door, windows, and the sign hanging in front that said “Golden Oak Library” it probably was a building. And a library at that.

I felt countless presences everywhere across the tree though the vast majority were extremely basic. Looking at the closest source of emotions I saw a dragonfly resting on the wall next to the door. So I could still detect insects but only by their emotions. Other than random bugs, however, there were four larger and more complex presences inside and each of them were radiating love. Two different types of love at that. Familial and romantic. I couldn’t help but wince as my stomach panged with hunger.

Celestia stepped forward and knocked. “Coming!” A voice shouted from the other side. The door swung open revealing a purple unicorn. Her eyes drifted from Celestia before settling on me. More surprise.

“Hello, Twilight. May we come in?” Celestia requested.

“Of course! Shining Armor and Cadance are already here.” Twilight said before walking back inside.

Celestia and I followed after her while the guards remained outside.

Inside I saw a white unicorn who I assumed was Shining armor, a pink alicorn who I assumed was Princess Cadance, and an oversized purple and green bipedal lizard.

I felt the suspicion the moment the white unicorn saw me. He wasn’t actively hostile towards me like the guards outside. That said, he trusted me even less than Celestia, and I could tell he didn’t like me. That made sense, I supposed. Especially considering Queen Chrysalis, the only reference for Changelings in the world if Celestia was to be believed, had ruined his and Princess Cadance’s wedding. If anything I was more surprised he didn’t hate me as much if not more than those two guards outside.

As for Cadance, I felt caution and hesitance but little else.

As for the oversized lizard, he didn’t seem to care one way or the other. He felt more curious than anything.

Celestia stepped forward and motioned towards me. “Everypony, this is Weaver. The Changeling Queen that appeared the other day. Weaver, this is Twilight Sparkle, my personal protege and the pony who saved you. These two are Prince Shining Armor, Captain of the Royal Guard, and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, or Princess Cadance for short. Last but not least, this baby dragon is Spike, Twilight and Shining Armor’s adoptive younger brother.”

“Hello, Weaver. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you. We’ve heard a bit about you from Auntie Luna.” Cadance greeted, giving me a friendly smile.

“Hey. Luna told me about how Chrysalis ruined your wedding. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry to hear what happened.” I responded, trying to make a good impression.

“Well, I wouldn’t say it was completely ruined. It had to be pushed back a day or so but it turned out quite lovely after we stopped Chrysalis. Besides, I expect you’ll be having your own problems with Chrysalis soon.” Shining Armor stated.

I sighed. “Yeah. Celestia already told me.”

“And that brings us to one of the reasons why I brought you here.” Celestia said as her horn started to glow and there was a flash of the same golden light. Suddenly a table appeared in the middle of the room with what appeared to be a map laid out on it.

She could teleport things? I mentally classified this as a shaker effect of some sort as I stepped closer to the table to get a better look at the map.

“We need to discuss a few things and I thought it best to do it all at once. So, first, let’s pick up where we left off in the hospital.” Celestia said, walking around to the other side of the table. “As I told you, while you are welcome in Equestria as a refugee you can not make a new hive on Equestrian soil. However, there are some bits of land that aren’t technically controlled by anypony that you can claim for yourself.”

I nodded along. Given what I knew about hive based insects, I was fairly certain that I was going to have to start a new hive at some point. My new biology would likely force me to whether I wanted to or not. So I just went with the conversation.

Twilight and the others joined Celestia and I around the table.

Celestia’s horn lit up again and several different points of golden light appeared on the map along with outlines drawing out borders. “The entirety of the Undiscovered West, the vast majority of Mysterious South, certain portions of the Frozen North, and the Everfree Forest are all unclaimed. If you wanted to take them, there would be no real territorial disputes.”

I frowned as I looked at the map. I pointed at the Everfree Forest. “Why is this unclaimed? It’s a relatively small chunk of land that’s well within your borders. It’s weird that it isn’t part of Equestria.”

Celestia nodded. “You’re correct. About a thousand years ago it was actually going to be the capital of Equestria. Unfortunately… Well, it’s a long story. Suffice it to say, the Everfree is a source of some very bad memories for my sister and I. So between a combination of a complicated history, environmental, and economic factors means that we’ve effectively abandoned the Everfree. So while it’s still technically part of Equestria, I would be perfectly willing to just give it to you if you wanted to make your hive there. So I’m counting it as unclaimed territory for the purposes of this discussion. Though there is a small piece of the Everfree that would have to remain Equestrian land. The old castle my sister and I used to live in. It has significant historic and cultural value to us. As such, that is the only part of the Everfree I care about keeping.”

“Noted. So what can you tell me about these different places? And where would you recommend I make my hive?” I asked.

“That depends on what you want. They all have their pros and cons. I wouldn’t recommend the Mysterious South, for example, as Chrysalis’ hive is there somewhere if I’m not mistaken. Plus, half of it is a jungle which would make building any towns or cities there difficult if you wanted to expand beyond a single hive. That said, it is by far the largest of the four possible territories.” Celestia stated.

“The Undiscovered West would probably be the easiest to live in. The climate should be about the same as the rest of Equestria and there shouldn’t be any particularly dangerous creatures living there. The only real problem would be the weather, which would be a lot like the Everfree forest.” Twilight stated.

“What’s wrong with the Everfree’s weather?” I inquired curiously.

“The clouds move themselves and the weather happens entirely on its own.” Twilight said as if that was a serious issue somehow.

I raised an eyebrow. “Okay. And? That just sounds like normal weather.”

Everyone except Celestia looked at me as if I were insane. “There are no pegasi that control it. How is that normal?” Spike asked.

I looked at him. “Are you serious? Do you understand how the weather works to begin with? There’s an entire branch of science that explains how the weather happens. Ignoring that for a moment, pegasi can control the weather?”

“Yes, pegasi can indeed control the weather. In fact it’s a fairly common job for pegasi across Equestria. My friend Rainbow Dash is actually one of the weather ponies here in Ponyville. Anyway, would you mind elaborating on this weather science?” Twilight requested curiously.

“Twilight, now isn’t the best time. You can talk to Weaver about this later.” Celestia chided the unicorn.

Twilight pouted but didn’t argue.

“Back to the matter at hand, the Undiscovered West would be a perfectly habitable place to settle if you don’t mind the weather acting on its own. Moving on, if you were simply seeking to escape Queen Chrysalis and avoid confrontation all together, the Frozen North would be perfect for that. It would be more trouble to get to you than it would be worth. At least as far as she would be concerned. However, it would make feeding yourself and your hive very difficult, and the cold could potentially be detrimental for your eggs even with a whole hive to provide warmth and insulation.” Celestia informed me.

“Not a great option.” I commented.

Reluctance wafted off of Shining Armor but eventually he said, “You should settle in the Everfree. It’s objectively the best option. It’s right next to Ponyville so you would have easier access to both love and normal goods and services. Plus we can station guards in Ponyville to help if you’re attacked by Chrysalis before your hive is established enough for you to defend yourself. There are dangerous creatures and plants in the Everfree that you’ll have to be careful of, but you should be fine as long as you can defend yourself.”

“Whatever lives there, I promise you I’ve fought way worse. I’ll be fine.”

“So, I take it that you’re choosing the Everfree?” Celestia inquired.

I nodded and shrugged. “Yeah. Shining Armor made some pretty good points and there are way less issues with it than with the rest of these places.”

“Alright. We’ll have to draw up official borders then, but we can do that later. I would strongly advise you to explore the Everfree for yourself before we actually finalize anything. The Everfree is perhaps the second most dangerous of the four options besides the Mysterious South specifically because of the local wildlife. I have no plans to claim the Undiscovered West anytime in the foreseeable future. So if you decide the Everfree is too dangerous after attempting to build your hive there, I won’t fault you if you decide to move. Now, on to the reason why Shining Armor and Cadance are here. We need to discuss your diet.”

Upon the mention of food my stomach grumbled causing me to flush with embarrassment. “Do I seriously have to eat love? Can’t I just eat a damn steak or something instead?”

“Language!” Cadance chided.

‘Okay, Bonesaw.’ I thought to myself.

Celestia cleared her throat to get everyone’s attention. “Ehem… Spike is still very young so please refrain from swearing in front of him. Now to answer your question, while you technically can eat normal food — though I wouldn’t exactly call a steak ‘normal’ outside of Diamond Dog or Dragon territory — you’ll still feel hungry afterwards. So, unfortunately, yes. You do seriously need to eat love.”

I was cursing mentally. I really fucking hated this.

Celestia, unaware of my frustration, continued. “However, if you are to remain on good terms with Equestria you’re going to have to do so in a safe and controlled manner. So we’ll be working with a donation system on a rotating schedule so you don’t drain anypony too often. Twilight has already gathered a list of ponies from here in Ponyville that would be willing to help you. That list is very short right now because no-pony knows you and many are too intimidated by changelings to be willing to take a risk. So you are going to have to earn the trust of the ponies here in Ponyville if you want the number of volunteers to increase. If you attempt to feed on somepony without permission, you will be arrested. Do I make myself clear?”

“Crystal.” I responded, not happy with the fact I had to do this at all.

Celestia smiled at me. “Good. I’m glad we understand each other. Now, Princess Cadance and Shining Armor, despite their unfortunate encounter with Queen Chrysalis recently, were so generous as to volunteer to let you feed on them. Just this once, of course.”

I looked at them. “Seriously? You’re sure about this?”

Cadance smiled at me and nodded. I felt her sincerity, though it was mixed with slight intimidation. “Yup. We have plenty of love to spare, so why not?”

Shining Armor sighed and rubbed the back of his head with his forehoof. “To be honest, I was against it at first, but Cadance talked me into it. Take it as a symbol that we’re willing to put our past experiences with Queen Chrysalis and her hive behind us when dealing with you. We’re putting a lot of trust in you by letting you do this, so try not to go overboard.”

I stared at the two of them for a moment. “Alright… If you say so.”

The two of them turned to look at eachother and their love became almost suffocating. I essentially let myself go into autopilot. Green energy enveloped me as I changed back into my changeling form automatically. My pill bottles and the jar containing the bullets clattered to the floor, no longer supported by my jacket pocket or arm. I opened my mouth and a pink energy began flowing in as I devoured their love.

The taste was absolutely amazing. I could feel my hunger rapidly dissipating. It was difficult to control myself. I wanted to keep eating until there was nothing left. However, I knew I couldn’t let myself do that. So as soon as I was full I had to force myself to shut my mouth and stop eating.

“Uh… I’m not exactly sure about the etiquette for this sort of thing… Thank you?” I said awkwardly.

Cadance, raised a hoof to her mouth and chuckled. “You're welcome. So that’s what you really look like. I have to admit, I was wondering. You look nice, for a Changeling.”

I wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that so I just didn’t. Still embarrassed by my lack of clothes I morphed back into my human form and proceeded to pick up the objects I dropped. Fortunately the jar with the bullets hadn’t broken when it hit the ground.

“Well this has gone far better than I anticipated. Weaver, since you’re going to be staying in the Everfree, we’re going to have to find some temporary housing for you until you’ve built up your hive enough for it to be livable.” Celestia stated.

“She can stay here.” Twilight offered.

Shining Armor’s head snapped towards her so fast I was half worried he might get whiplash.

“She needs somewhere to stay. There’s space here in the library and it would make it easier for me to help coordinate with her in regards to her feeding schedule and the ponies who have volunteered. Plus I have so many questions and her staying here would give us ample opportunity to talk! Besides, Spike and I could always use an extra hoof around the library.” Twilight stated.

“Weaver?” Celestia asked, apparently leaving the decision up to me.

I would have preferred to live on my own without room-mates, but it seemed that wasn’t in the cards. “Sure. She and Spike seem nice enough.”

“Excellent. Well, I believe that’s all we had to discuss at the moment. Have a good day, everypony.” Celestia said, her horn glowing again. There was a flash of light and Celestia, Cadance, and Shining armor all vanished along with the map table leaving me alone with Twilight and Spike.

“So, do either of you know of somewhere I can try out my new powers without hurting anyone? I need to get a grasp on what I can do.” I asked.

“I think I know a few places that could work!” Twilight nodded happily.

Author's Note

Just for clarification, I didn't forget about Taylor's weapons. Celestia very intentionally didn't mention them. As I pointed out in the chapter, she doesn't exactly trust Taylor so why would she return Taylor's weapons at this stage? She wouldn't... Well she might have returned the pepper spray since it isn't exactly the most dangerous thing ever, but that would give away the fact Taylor's equipment arrived with her. So she's keeping the pepper spray for now too.

Chapter 4

I slept and I experienced nothing but nightmares. I saw the oil rig. The golden orb made by Scion descending towards me instantly shearing through everything it touched, be it my swarm, the other capes, or the oil rig itself.

I shouted at everyone to run, and heeded my own words.

Lustrum used her power. My power faded, the range zooming to a point close to me, my control momentarily going haywire. An instant later, it was back. I staggered, compensated with the antigravity of my flight pack, and managed to not fall too far behind.

The sphere above us shrunk a fraction.

The outermost edges of the orb were still directly overhead, plunging towards me, towards us.

I stepped off the rig, pushing myself off, letting myself fall as I continued moving out, moving away.

Bugs that couldn’t fall as well as I could died as the orb made contact. Bugs that were close to me. Bugs to my left and right, bugs beneath me.

I felt like I was plunging into the water, everything going numb, pain, my thoughts fragmenting. Yet I was still far above the water’s surface, my view shifting as I veered to one side, despite my instructions to the flight pack.

I felt increasingly disoriented with every heartbeat. Couldn’t fly. Spiraling.

Unbalanced.

Blood.

Injury.

I tried to take in breath. Couldn’t. I felt pain instead.

Falling… struggling… pain… couldn’t slow myself down…

Right hand was gone. Blood, fragments of golden light eating away at the stump, making the bleeding worse.

Falling faster, spiraling more. I jerked to one side with wind catching wing, spinning abruptly, felt something wrench, pulling from the center of my body.

There were bugs on me. I moved them, to get a sense of where I was.

One wing on pack.

No legs. Half of my stomach left.

The pulling feeling was organs sliding out of my body.

‘Help, passenger.’

“Worry not, Weaver. This is all just a very bad dream.”

Then everything went dark. I was floating in space surrounded by stars. The pain was gone, I could think straight, and could feel all the parts of my body that had just been missing mere moments ago.

Luna appeared in front of me.

“Hi Princess. Thanks for pulling me out of that nightmare… So, what is it?” I asked. I noted that I couldn’t sense Luna’s emotions. It seemed my empathy powers didn’t work through dreams.

She gave me a curious look. “What do you mean? What is what?”

“I’m asking what you want. I assume you’re here talking to me for a reason.” I elaborated.

“Oh, I see. No, it’s simply my duty to protect the dreams of everypony in Equestria. I’m here because you were having a truly terrible nightmare and I came to banish it. Though since I’m here, I would like to apologize for not being there to greet you when you awoke this afternoon. I would have liked to have been there but I’m afraid I was asleep at the time and my sister neglected to wake me.” Luna said apologetically.

“I don’t see why you’re apologizing. It’s not like you had any obligation or even any real reason to be there when I woke up. Besides, I just told Celestia the same thing I told you, then we went to Twilight’s library to discuss where I’d be making my new home. It was over pretty fast.”

Luna frowned a bit, seemingly disappointed for some reason but nodded. “I suppose you’re right… Celestia did tell me what happened and how rushed all of this was. Please allow me to apologize on her behalf for throwing you into everything immediately after you woke up without giving you any time to get your bearings. There has been a lot happening very quickly since you appeared.”

“It’s fine, I guess. The past few days have been really busy for me anyway. But what do you mean? What’s been happening?”

Luna sighed and rubbed the side of her head as if she were nursing a headache. “What else but politics? Word of your existence reached Canterlot almost the same night you appeared in Ponyville. Ever since then many nobles have been calling for you to be locked away in Tartarus and the most extreme have been demanding your immediate execution. You have to realize just how recent Chrysalis’ invasion was. Had you appeared a couple months later than you did things might have been more manageable as the attack would no longer be fresh in everypony’s mind. As it is, tensions surrounding Changelings are still extraordinarily high and you are a Queen like Chrysalis with all the stigma that entails. In fact quite a few individuals mistakenly believe you are just Chrysalis in disguise and refuse to accept it when we tell them otherwise. So it has been a near constant effort on all of our parts to keep things from boiling over here in Canterlot. That’s not even going into the matter of Chrysalis herself…”

“What about Chrysalis? I already know she’s a threat. Is there something you or Celestia haven’t told me yet?” I asked.

She shook her head. “No. We’ve kept nothing from you in regards to Chrysalis. It’s just that the moment Chrysalis finds out about your existence things will immediately become significantly more difficult. And considering how fast word reached Canterlot, it has probably reached other cities. So it’s only a matter of time before the rumors reach her too. There are fears that Chrysalis will launch another invasion just to capture or kill you. Not to mention the possibility of an all out war breaking out between Equestria and the Changelings because we’re helping you. Because of that, the nobles who actually believe us when we say you aren’t Chrysalis and don’t necessarily care if you’re imprisoned or executed are suggesting we just give you to her to prevent that. Plus it’s almost certain she will attempt to sabotage your efforts to build your own hive, meaning if you want to make significant progress you need to start as soon as possible.”

I considered this for a moment.

Luna continued. “Then there are other factors such as preempting foreign nations that will try to influence matters for their benefit, preparations to manage the reaction of the public once news about you starts spreading across Equestria in an official capacity, and many other such things. So Celestia and I have both hardly slept since all of this started, even with Cadance filling in for us on occasion. Today was the first time I had been able to get any sleep in two days, thus why Celestia didn’t wake me to come meet you. That combined with the political pressure surrounding you meant Celestia was tired, under a lot of stress, and was in a bit of a rush when you woke up. Especially with the situation in Canterlot not being managed by at least one of us during the time she, Cadance, and Shining Armor were all in Ponyville to speak with you while I was asleep. So, once again, I apologize on her behalf for pulling you out of the hospital and immediately throwing you into everything without giving you time to recover and adjust. We’re trying our best to juggle all of this as best we can but it isn’t easy, I’m afraid.”

I paused, both waiting for her to continue and processing everything she just told me. It seemed they had a lot of reasons to just kill me or hand me over to Chrysalis. In fact it didn’t make sense to me why they hadn’t. That immediately made me trust them even less than I already did. Sure they might not have done anything like that yet but if things got too difficult for them for it to be worth helping me I could only see this going one way. They were going to sell me out. They must have been keeping me around for some reason, but my value to them had to have a limit. This realization fully solidified the idea that the ponies couldn’t be trusted in my mind.

When Luna stared at me for a moment longer and it became clear she was waiting for me to speak I said, “Well that explains some things…Thank you for letting me know. Should I be worried about the nobles trying anything in the immediate future?”

“No, I don’t believe so. Complicated and delicate as the situation may be, it isn't completely out of control. You needn't worry Weaver. We can manage things in Canterlot. As for Chrysalis, we will be sending a platoon of Royal Guards to Ponyville within the next couple of days. We’re already working on the logistics for setting up a military base near the town. If there are any major issues regarding Chrysalis or her hive, the Royal Guard will handle it.”

A full on military base in the small town right next to the Everfree Forest where they knew my Hive was going to be built. After everything Luna had just told me. Yeah, that wasn’t suspicious at all… They totally weren’t setting up a military base here in Ponyville to have an easy launching point to attack me as soon as I became too much of a political inconvenience for them. Definitely not… Were they actively trying to be this obvious for some reason or did they just take me for an idiot?

“Alright then. Good to know. I’ll still be preparing to defend myself if Chrysalis comes after me. It’s not that I don’t think the Royal Guard aren’t capable of helping, but they can’t be around me twenty four seven. Especially if the Everfree is as dangerous as Celestia said it is.” I said, keeping the fact I’d be preparing to kill all of the guards too if I had to. I wasn’t too familiar with military terms but I did hear them on occasion when I was with the Wards. So a platoon was about fifty soldiers if I wasn’t mistaken. That meant I needed a plan to kill a minimum of fifty soldiers that were presumably trained as well or better than PRT Troopers. Whatever I came up with, it wasn’t going to be easy…

“Of course. That’s completely understandable. We…” Luna paused suddenly then huffed in frustration. “I apologize, Weaver, I would like to continue this conversation but it seems we’re going to have to cut this short. I’m needed back in the waking world. Some accursed Nobles are demanding an audience, again…”

“Good luck with that.” I told her.

“Thank you. Have a good night, Weaver.” Luna said before flying back up towards the moon and disappearing.

My dream shifted to something nice.

Later I woke up to the smell of coffee brewing. Getting up out of bed I made my way to the bathroom. Sensing no one was inside I entered, morphed into my human form, and took a hot shower. It was nice to actually be able to take a proper shower after everything I had been through recently. Plus it gave me time to think about how I was going to fight back when the princesses inevitably stabbed me in the back.

Ultimately it boiled down to me needing to learn as much magic as I could as fast as possible. So I was going to have to do a lot of reading, practicing, and experimenting.

When I was done showering I turned off the water, dried myself off with a clean towel, and changed to make it look like I was wearing clothes. Then I took my medication before I headed downstairs and found Spike and Twilight in the kitchen eating a breakfast of pancakes.

“Good morning.” Twilight greeted me as I walked in.

“Hey Weaver.” Spike waved at me.

“Morning.” I greeted back as I made my way over to the coffee pot. Grabbing a mug I poured myself a cup.

As I was taking a sip from my cup Twilight said, “So what do you plan to do today? If you want I do have a list of things you could do that might help you settle into Ponyville and could help you make some friends. However, I understand if you’d like some time to rest and recuperate since you just got out of the hospital.”

“I’m going to explore the Everfree.” I said between taking another sip of my coffee as I leaned against the wall near the counter.

“You what?!” Twilight said, apparently surprised by this. “Weaver, you just got out of the hospital after having a serious head injury and a literal brain surgery! You shouldn’t be going anywhere near the Everfree Forest right now!”

“I kind of have to. The moment Queen Chrysalis learns about me, she’s going to try to sabotage my efforts to build a hive. So I need to find somewhere I can build on as soon as possible. And if I can hide it from her rather than building it in the open then I should be able to have more time to build, so it should be harder for her to interfere which is better for me. For that I need to find a good location to hide it in the first place. So the sooner I start looking the better.” I told her, not elaborating on what Luna told me last night.

“Is Chrysalis really that big of a problem?” Spike asked, looking at Twilight.

Twilight sighed and rubbed her forehead with her hoof. “Yes, Spike… In Weaver’s case, she really is… Fine… I can’t exactly stop you but if you’re going into the Everfree I’m coming with you. The forest really is dangerous. You shouldn’t go in alone at least until you know what to look out for. Besides, since we’re going into the Everfree there’s somepony I really want to introduce you to.”

“Alright. Let me know when you’re ready to go then.” I said before walking out of the kitchen, with my coffee in hand.

Setting my coffee down on a reading desk I went and found the book I had been reading the previous night. Grabbing it, I sat down at the desk and read. Every so often I would set the book down and sip my coffee.

Time passed, I finished my coffee and took the mug back to the kitchen before continuing to read for a few more minutes.

Finally Twilight approached me. “Are you ready to go, Weaver?”

I marked my page and closed the book before standing up. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

The two of us headed out of the library and started making our way towards the Everfree Forest. When we reached the edge of the town I looked at Twilight and said, “I thought you said you wanted to introduce me to someone.”

“I do, but she doesn’t live in town. Just follow me. You’ll see what I mean.” Twilight told me as she led me further towards the forest.

Once we reached the treeline I morphed back into my changeling form. Everyone kept saying how dangerous the Everfree was so I wanted to be able to defend myself. And since I didn’t have any weapons, I needed my magic to be able to fight and I could only use magic if my horn was exposed. Plus I assumed the chitin I had in this form would help protect me, which was useful. My missing forearm was a problem, limiting my movement. However, I was able to compensate for this by flying just above the ground like I had seen quite a few pegasi doing instead of walking. Having wings was incredibly useful.

As we made our way deeper into the forest, I was a bit surprised. I hadn’t expected anyone to live this deep in the woods.

Then suddenly a creature whose emotions I sensed but had otherwise ignored appeared from behind a bush. It had the head of a chicken, a scaly body, bat-like wings, and a snake-like tail. It made a noise that sounded half way between a rooster crowing and a snake hissing.

“Cockatrice! Don’t look it in the eyes!” Twilight exclaimed.

I didn’t hesitate to do as I was told and looked away from it. However I proceeded to grab it with my telekinesis and twisted its head nearly a full three hundred and sixty degrees snapping its neck with a sickening crack, completely severing its spinal cord, and thus killing it almost instantly. Then I discarded the corpse off to the side.

“There. It’s dead. So why are we not supposed to look it in the eyes exactly?” I asked.

Twilight froze for a moment before looking at the creature’s corpse in surprise. “It’s dead…? You… You killed it…”

“You said not to look at it as if it was dangerous so I assumed it was a threat. I don’t have to look at it to break its neck with telekinesis.” I said, looking at her.

“Yeah but… You didn’t need to do that… They’re mostly harmless as long as you don’t look them in the eyes. It would have left on its own eventually.” Twilight told me. I could feel that she was upset.

I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes. It was just an animal and a dangerous one at that. “Too late now. I can’t exactly bring it back from the dead. So, why is it dangerous to look those things in the eyes exactly?”

Twilight looked away from the dead animal and said, “Their gaze can turn whoever looks them in the eye to stone…”

I glanced at the corpse warily. I was starting to see why the ponies thought this forest was dangerous. With these little monsters running around of course it was. This made me wonder how the hell these things hadn’t completely destroyed the entire ecosystem. Had the other animals here evolved an immunity to being turned to stone or had they just adapted to not looking these things in the eye as they killed and ate them? I had no idea and I doubted the ponies did either if the rest of the animals here were similarly dangerous.

Still, they were easy enough to deal with. If there were a lot of them it would be annoying but it wouldn’t be a major issue.

“I see why you told me not to look at it then. Thanks. I didn’t really feel like becoming a statue today.” I responded before continuing to fly deeper into the forest.

Twilight sighed as she followed after me. “I’m just glad Fluttershy wasn’t here to see that…” She muttered under her breath.

Other than having to go around a big patch of blue flowers that were apparently called “poison joke” the rest of the hike went relatively smoothly.

After a while I sensed the emotions of a pony at the edge of my range. I assumed this was the friend Twilight wanted to introduce me to so I didn’t say anything.

When we were a few dozen feet from what appeared to be a hut in the distance, Twilight stopped and said, “Weaver, would you mind waiting here for a moment? I should go ahead and let Zecora know about you. Just to avoid any misunderstandings.”

“Okay.” I responded simply. I landed and sat down. If I was going to be waiting for however long, I didn’t want to keep hovering in the air the entire time.

“Great, I’ll be back in just a sec!” Twilight said before jogging ahead.

I waited patiently. I didn’t hear what either of them said, but I felt their emotions. There was happiness and feelings of friendship, then surprise, then this ‘Zecora’ was on guard.

I felt Zecora’s emotions go back deeper into her hut. After a few moments she came back to the door. I didn’t see what happened, but I could sense alarm and wariness dissipate a bit. However she still didn’t quite fully relax.

Several more minutes passed. I assumed Twilight was probably explaining everything considering how long it was taking and the emotions Zecora was feeling. After awhile Twilight came walking back towards me with what appeared to be a zebra following her. Twilight’s face was now covered in some sort of green substance.

When they were close enough I asked, “So, what’s with the new makeup, Twilight?”

“It is a salve beneath which no changeling hides, for it reveals the truth inside.” Zecora responded.

“When I told her about you, Zecora wanted to make sure it was really me. That’s all. Anyway, Weaver, this is my friend Zecora. Zecora, this is Queen Weaver.” Twilight introduced us.

“Nice to meet you, Zecora. With everyone telling me how dangerous this place is, I’m almost surprised anyone lives out here.”

“Dangerous it may be, but my home is the Everfree. In the future near it will be yours too or so I hear.” Zecora stated.

‘Is she rhyming on purpose?’ I wondered to myself. “It depends. Technically nothing’s official yet. Celestia wanted me to explore the forest to understand the dangers here before we come to an official agreement. The fact you’re living here suggests to me it’s not as dangerous as she was suggesting. That said, I had no idea anyone else was living out here until this morning. Since I’m a changeling I’m going to assume you don’t want to live in my territory. The borders haven’t been drawn yet, so I can ask Celestia to keep this portion of the Everfree within Equestria if you prefer.”

I was trying to be as accommodating as possible. It seemed politically advantageous to project a mostly benevolent and cooperative image to Twilight, considering her connections to the princesses. Plus being nice to my future neighbor seemed like a good idea. That way she would be less likely to sell me out to Chrysalis later.

“Please do. My words do not misconstrue, but I would rather remain in Equestria. I’m sure you understand my point of view.” Zecora stated.

I nodded.

“Zecora, Weaver here is looking for a place to build her new hive. Do you know of any good spots where she could get started?” Twilight asked.

“I would prefer somewhere that’s either easy to defend or where I can keep my hive hidden. I want to make it as hard for Chrysalis and her Changelings to interrupt me as possible. Though I can settle for wherever.” I didn’t like the idea of making my hive somewhere they could find it. So I considered making two. One would be a decoy in whatever place Zecora showed us, if she helped us at all. I would find a hidden spot for the other on my own. Presumably in a cave somewhere.

Zecora raised a hoof to her chin in thought. “I know a few places where your hive could easily survive. Follow me and you shall see.”

With that Zecora turned and led them deeper into the forest. It took us about half an hour but we arrived at a small chasm in the middle of the forest. The tree canopy in this section of the forest was so thick it would be impossible to see from the sky. Only just enough light to be able to see was filtering through the dense branches and leaves. As a result there wasn’t much underbrush in this particular area. There were mainly just leaves, branches, and a couple fallen logs of dead trees on the ground. That meant there were less places for dangerous animals like that cockatrice from earlier to hide.

“It may be no paradise but will this suffice?” Zecora asked.

The inside was dark so I couldn’t see much else. “Twilight, do light spells exist?” I asked.

“Oh, of course! Those are super easy.” She said as her horn started glowing. Suddenly several small orbs of bright purple light appeared in the middle of the chasm, illuminating much of it.

“Thank you.” I said as I examined the chasm. It was larger inside than it looked on the outside. The gap at the top was easily ten feet across at its widest point whereas I roughly estimated the widest point inside to be maybe twenty five or thirty feet across. It seemed to go down approximately sixty to seventy feet. Finally it seemed to be quite a bit longer than it was wide, though I wasn’t sure by how much. It did keep going into the ground a bit past the point where the entrance closed. Almost all of it looked like solid rock, but that wasn’t too much of an issue. This was going to be the decoy hive for the ponies anyway.

“This looks perfect. All I need to do is seal the entrance except for a small hole and cover it with leaves and branches and it will be almost impossible for Chrysalis to find. Thank you, Zecora. This will help a lot.” I told her.

“I am glad that my suggestion was not bad. In terms of staying hidden this cave is the best. From Chrysalis and her hive you will not be oppressed.” Zecora told me with a smile.

“This is great! Now that you have a well hidden place to make your hive, we won’t have to worry about Queen Chrysalis or her changelings breaking in and stealing or destroying your eggs!” Twilight commented happily.

“Yeah. That’s… Wait… My eggs? What do you…?” My eyes widened in shock and horror as the puzzle pieces began to fall into place in my mind. I was a changeling queen. They were expecting me to make a hive. I was the queen of a hive. In insect hives queens layed eggs. Sometimes without requiring any intercourse. That’s why they were treating me like I was the queen of a nation, because I was going to start producing offspring and I eventually would be the queen of my own nation. “Oh… Oh god! Nonono! You can’t be serious!”

“Weaver? What’s wrong?” Twilight asked, radiating genuine concern.

I was practically hyperventilating at this point.

Everything up until this point had sucked, sure, but it had been relatively manageable. I just needed to adapt a bit to compensate. However, the realization that the reason I needed this hive was to safely lay eggs was absolutely horrifying to me. It wasn’t even the laying eggs part that was the problem. I had experienced that through my swarm so much that it almost felt normal to me at this point, even if I knew mentally that it should bother me. No. It was the fact I was apparently going to become a mother who knew when, to god only knew how many kids considering the fact bugs typically laid thousands of eggs at once. Worse, if it happened any time soon it would be coming at the worst possible time as I had an entire nation after my head and I was fairly confident that they wouldn’t spare my kids.

I was going to have kids and Chrysalis was going to try to kill them. Some of my fear and horror turned to rage at the thought. I wasn’t even remotely prepared to be a mother, however I had lost everyone and everything I had ever cared about already. I didn’t want to lose my own kids too!

Suddenly my entire body was jostled for a brief moment, wrenching me out of my thoughts. “Weaver, listen to me! You need to calm down. Just take a deep breath. In… and out… There you go. Just keep breathing until you calm down.” Twilight told me.

I tried to do as I was instructed for a few seconds before saying, “I’m fine… I’m fine…”

“Are you sure? Do you feel better now?” Twilight asked.

“No, I don’t but I’ll live… Fuck…” I couldn’t help but curse at this situation. Everything somehow just kept getting worse for me.

“Alright, then can you at least tell me what’s wrong? Why did you just freak out all of the sudden?” Twilight asked.

“I only just realized that being a Changeling Queen means I’m going to lay eggs whether I have sex or not… Hive based insects can produce certain eggs asexually… With everything else that was happening all at once I was so focused on everything else that my mind never processed that fact.” I said, trying to explain as calmly as I could. It wasn’t easy. I was still completely freaking out internally. This was not okay.

Twilight paused and a look of understanding crossed her features. “Oh… I see… I’m sorry, Weaver. I assumed you already knew that… Well don’t you worry. Me, Fluttershy, and maybe a couple of the others would be more than happy to help you take care of your foals. You won’t have to deal with all of it on your own, I promise.” She said, obviously trying to be comforting.

Zecora seemed to be considering something but remained silent for the moment.

When Twilight said that, I came to another realization. I was completely alone. Typically Queens needed a bunch of workers to help take care of their larvae. I didn’t have that and depending on how many eggs I laid there was no way I was going to be able to take care of them on my own. I was going to need help. That meant relying on the ponies. The same ponies who I was sure were going to betray me at some point. That thought made me sick to my stomach. Worse, depending on how many I had, I may not even be able to feed them all which made me even more heavily reliant on the ponies to ensure my kids didn’t all starve to death. This also meant my idea of having a second hive was not feasible. I would have to live in this one so Twilight and her friends could help me with my kids.

The princesses must have known all of this. So that was their game. Controlling me through my kids. Making me wholly reliant on them and their continued support to raise my kids and keep them alive. I wasn’t so naive as to think that was their entire plan but I was certain this was at least part of it. I grit my teeth as anger flooded my thoughts. I wanted to head to Canterlot right then and there and drown all three of the Princesses and Shining Armor in a swarm of insects just like I had done with Alexandria. Unfortunately I didn’t have my powers anymore and even if I did, killing them would mean I had no one to help me with Chrysalis. Worse, it would mean I would have to be in an active war with both Chrysalis’ hive and Equestria as there would be nothing stopping the nobles from gathering an army to attack me.

I was completely screwed.

“Now you look really angry. What’s wrong?” Twilight asked.

“Chrysalis is going to want to kill my kids. That makes me angry.” I said. It was technically the truth. It did make me angry. It was just a statement of fact rather than a response to her question. I wasn’t about to tell the pony with a direct link to the princesses that I wanted to kill the princesses for manipulating me like this.

“So it should. Such is the nature of motherhood. I am no knight and I would prefer not to fight, but ask and I shall attempt to aid you in your plight.” Zecora told me.

“Thanks… So, uh… How do changelings build hives? Do they produce wax like bees or do they chew wood pulp like wasps?” I asked, trying to change the subject. Besides which, I genuinely had no idea how to go about starting my hive. I was very much still learning all the intricacies of my new body.

“I’m not sure… The process of how changelings build their hives has never officially been recorded. That said, during the invasion a few weeks ago a lot of them seemed to produce a sort of mucus-like substance from their mouths that hardened into a more waxy substance. So presumably that’s how they do it?” Twilight suggested.

“Hm… Guess I’ll have to try to figure that out then…” I said, stepping over to the edge of the chasm. Not quite sure what to do I opened my mouth and tried to make myself vomit. Surprisingly it worked. I spat up a sticky green wax-like substance on the edge of the chasm. Then instincts I didn’t realize I had kicked in and I began using my magic to manipulate the substance, shaping it to start covering the hole.

I spent the next several minutes continuing this process before the entire entrance of the chasm seemed to be sealed up by the substance which had changed color, texture, and hardness to closer resemble stone than the green mucus it had been.

“Uh… Weaver? How are you supposed to get in there now?” Twilight asked, looking at the completely sealed chasm.

I looked at the substance and a hole opened up leading into the chasm. “It's my hive. Or at least the start of it. It can change like I can. Don’t ask me how I knew this when I was making it because I have no idea. I don’t know how I’m going to light the inside either. Any ideas?” I asked.

“We can just use some enchanted crystals. They last a long time but they’ll need to be recharged every so often but depending on how similar your magic is to unicorn magic, you should be able to do that yourself.” Twilight told me.

I frowned. “How much is that going to cost?” Back on Earth Bet jewels and such were really expensive. I assumed it was similar here.

“Practically nothing if not literally nothing but a bit of time and effort. We can buy a few dozen pieces of clear quartz for a few bits. Or we could go dig them up ourselves then I can enchant them for you. I know the perfect place where we can dig up some crystals! So we shouldn’t have any trouble lighting up your whole hive. Zecora, thank you so much for showing us this spot. You can head back home if you want. I’m going to take Weaver to go get some crystals to light up her hive.”

Zecora nodded, said her goodbyes in her rhyming theme, before turning and walking away into the forest by herself.

“If the forest is so dangerous, is it a good idea to let her go home by herself? Shouldn’t we escort her back or something?” I asked.

“No, she knows this forest better than anypony. She wanders around here by herself all the time. So she’ll be fine. Now, let’s head back to the library and get some shovels and buckets. We’re going to need them.” Twilight said before teleporting us back to the library.

Author's Note

Quick announcement. If any of you have been wondering why this chapter took so long, roughly a week ago my step mom was trying to take apart an old water trailer but the A-frame holding it up fell over and she ended up losing a finger. It had to be amputated. So I'm going to be taking over most of the chores she normally does around the house. As such, I will have less time to write so things will temporarily be a bit slower.

Anyways, other than that, how was this chapter? I personally don't like the expositiony bit with Luna at the start. I do think it fits, in character, as Luna was the sister that used to hold the element of honesty. So she wouldn't exactly be the one to lie to Taylor or keep that information from her. However, I do like to show rather than tell so I'll probably do an interlude to make up for the exposition dump.

I am, as always, open to any and all questions or criticisms.

Chapter 5

As Twilight and I headed back to Ponyville to collect tools to dig up crystals I had a few minutes to think to myself. And the more I thought about it, the less likely it seemed like they were going to outright kill me. Realistically it seemed like they were setting up to make me and my hive a vassal or puppet state to control the Changelings. In which case they wouldn’t kill me. They would explicitly keep me alive so they could use me. Which explained why they didn’t just let me die in the first place and why it seemed like they were trying to help me. They wanted me reliant on them and indebted to them so they could control me and thus control my children and any changelings who defected to my side.

Certainly not ideal, but not as bad as some of the most paranoid thoughts I’d had. It wasn’t nearly as illogical either. The thought helped me calm down a bit as well.

Twilight and I spent maybe an hour or so digging up crystals. Surprisingly there were a ton of them of all different types just buried in the place she brought me and a lot of them were really big. We managed to fill several buckets with them. There were rubies, sapphires, emeralds, amethysts, diamonds, and quartz among others.

Apparently crystals were significantly more abundant here in Equestria than they were on Earth.

As we were digging I asked, “So, if crystals can be enchanted to make light, can they be enchanted to do other things?”

“Definitely! They’re used for practically everything. One of the most common uses for crystals is making fire for stoves and ovens for cooking. The Friendship Express uses a steam engine that works pretty much the same way just at much higher temperatures. In fact the Friendship Express’ steam engine gets so hot that they have to use sapphires. That’s because sapphires have a high melting point and they’re more resistant to thermal shock than other crystals due to having a lower thermal expansion rate. So in an emergency if the engine needs to be cooled off faster than normal — like if the engine is overheating because it doesn’t have enough water — the crystals have a better chance of surviving! Isn’t that neat?” Twilight explained as she shoveled some more crystals into a bucket.

Crystals could make fire. Really hot fire at that if they had to use specific crystals to withstand the heat they could generate and could use them in a train’s steam engine. I just had one more question that needed to be answered about them. “They’re used in ovens? So does that mean they can be turned on and off or even set to different temperatures with a dial?”

“Mhm! The internal mechanisms are a little complicated but yeah! They can be turned on or off with buttons, switches, dials, or even levers. Why? Do you want to install dimmer switches in your hive or something?” Twilight asked.

“I just have some ideas in mind. That’s all.” I said, being intentionally vague

This conversation had given me ideas for defenses for my hive. Even just having the same system the train used to produce fire for its steam engine embedded in the floors could let me set up fire traps. They would be able to either burn intruders alive or I could close off sections and burn up all the oxygen within to suffocate them. Later, fresh air could be pumped back in with similar steam engines running pumps through specialized vents. Though that might be too complicated. Just burning them alive would almost certainly be easier and less complicated, if more messy. It would smell worse too.

I wondered if I could find a way to make a flamethrower out of enchanted crystals. I would have to look into that once I knew anything about enchanting. If it was possible, I’d be able to use my telekinesis to control a “swarm” of flamethrowers and just burn any of Chrysalis’ army that got too close to me. Though, to be fair, I’d be able to do something similar even if I only had a swarm of burning crystals. Having actual flamethrowers would just extend my range and lethality a bit. Still I’d just have to be careful not to burn up the oxygen around myself so as to not accidentally suffocate myself to death.

Though if they could produce fire, what about electricity? Could I make a taser crystal? If electricity was arcing off of it like a tesla coil, could I make something like an electricity grenade? Depending how long the charge lasted, that seemed useful for either taking enemies down non-lethally like a grenade version of Kid Win’s spark pistols or for area denial if they lasted longer than a moment.

That made me think, if they could generate electricity maybe lightning traps would be better than fire traps. Electrocuting invaders instead of burning them alive. They could be non-lethal too. Hypothetically, anyway. I wasn’t a tinker or an engineer so I had no idea how touching an arc of electricity outside of a wire would affect someone. As far as I was aware, being struck by lightning usually killed people. So maybe it was possible to make them non-lethal or maybe not.

Since the material my hive was made of could morph like I could, I also had ideas involving that. Constantly shifting maze-like hallways that would be nigh impossible to navigate, corridors that closed and sealed people in specific places, pit traps that could open and close with spikes soaked in funnel web spider venom, hallways that would slam shut and crush whoever was caught in them to death. Though a lot of that would depend on how much control I had over how and where the material shifted. I still didn’t know if I could control it at all.

The only problem was, my future children and I would have to live there too so I couldn’t make it too dangerous for us to navigate. If someone hit the wrong switch by accident or stepped on the wrong pressure plate and suddenly caused the entire room to burst into flames, they could get themselves, their siblings, or me killed. Or if Chrysalis kidnapped one of my kids and had a member of her hive infiltrate mine and learn where my traps are, the infiltrator could potentially use them against me. I obviously didn’t want any of that. So I was going to have to consider my defenses very carefully.

I was also going to have to check to see how flammable the material my hive was made of was. I didn’t want to use a fire trap to burn some intruders alive and accidentally burn the whole place down. That would be counterproductive. Although… If I had an escape route and I was going to lose the hive anyway, maybe there would be some value in having a self-destruct system to burn the invaders alive while my future kids and I got away.

I continued this line of thinking as Twilight and I spent the next half an hour or so digging up more crystals.

Once we had enough clear crystals for the lighting, we headed back to the library.

We set the buckets of crystals down and I asked, “Hey, Twilight, do you think you could teach me how to enchant crystals? I’d like to be able to make lights on my own in case I need to expand my hive.”

“Of course! I can try, anyway. We still don’t know how compatible your magic is with unicorn spells. So I can’t guarantee it will work.” Twilight told me.

“We won’t ever know unless we try. This is a good opportunity to experiment with that, right?” I asked. I was surprised. I didn’t actually expect her to say yes. Then again that bit about the ‘compatibility’ of Changeling and Unicorn magic could be the reason she was so willing.

“I suppose. Enchanting is a little advanced though. I would prefer to start you with something a bit easier. But there’s no harm in trying!” Twilight said.

Twilight spent the next few hours trying to teach me how to enchant crystals and answering my questions. All the while she was enchanting pieces of diamond and quartz one after the other like an assembly line. She did set a few of the crystals we gathered off to the side and gave a large sapphire to Spike, who proceeded to eat it like an apple, much to my surprise.

Apparently dragons ate gems which was impressive. Just how strong were their teeth and jaws if they could chew through solid sapphire or diamond like a human could chew an apple? I made a mental note to study their biology later to see if I could replicate that if I morphed into one. Being able to chew through solid diamonds seemed like a very useful offensive ability. If I could chew diamonds, logically shredding flesh and shattering bones or carapaces would be as easy as biting through wet tissue paper. As long as I was okay with getting the blood in my mouth, anyway.

Unfortunately the way Twilight was trying to teach me to enchant felt very awkward and unnatural to me somehow. It was just… wrong. So, eventually I decided to try something else. Rather than treating my magic as a fluid or gas that I was using to fill a vessel, I decided to treat it like a swarm of tiny insects which I had burrow into the crystal. This caused pits and holes to start forming in it until it almost started to resemble my legs and horn.

“Uh… Weaver? What are you doing? That’s not supposed to happen…” Twilight stated, examining the process curiously.

“Trying something.” I commented simply as I continued. Once my magic hand fully burrowed into the crystal I had it begin forming something like a honeycomb or hive. Once that was done, I tried to ‘program’ or ‘mold’ the magic into a spell in a similar vein to how Twilight taught me to do it. Suddenly the crystal began to glow faintly on its own. I set it down and looked at the now glowing crystal which started to dim slowly now that I was no longer constantly fueling it with my own magic.

“You did it! What did you do, though? Why did those holes start appearing in it?” Twilight asked.

“I treated my magic like a swarm of insects rather than a fluid and had it burrow into the crystal. The holes formed because of that. Then I had it form a honeycomb-like lattice inside the crystal, treating it like the inside of a hive. Other than that I did pretty much exactly what you said. This way felt a lot more natural, and it was clearly more effective. I’m curious if the results would have been different if I tried to weave the energy inside into a web-like structure instead. Something to test out later, I guess.” I explained.

“Fascinating… So I guess that proves there are some differences between Changeling and Unicorn magic, but there are some really interesting similarities too! We’re going to have to do a ton of experiments! Anyway, you’re making amazing progress. If you keep practicing you should be able to get it in a week or two.” Twilight said, with two buckets full of glowing crystals sitting next to her. All the crystals she had enchanted were perfectly clear as crystals that had color would only produce light of that color. So rubies would only make red light and emeralds would only make green. Clear crystals were the only ones that made white light, like light bulbs.

A week or two wasn’t fast enough, in my opinion. I wanted to shorten that to a few days. “Alright. Would you mind if I kept these ones for myself so I can practice on them?” I asked, motioning to the one of the buckets of crystals that was left unenchanted due to being in various colors.

“Of course, you’re more than welcome to. We collected the crystals for you, after all.” Twilight told me.

“Thanks. I’m going to go take these to my hive then.” I said, grabbing the bucket of crystals with telekinesis.

“It’s getting late. You should wait until tomorrow. It would be bad if you got lost in the dark.” Twilight suggested.

I looked outside the window and saw it was dark outside. I sighed and set the bucket next to the door for me to deal with later. “Didn’t think it was this late. Fine, I’ll wait until tomorrow morning.”

“That’s probably for the best. Spike should be making dinner right now. Just so you know, I finished the schedule for your feeding this morning. Today, because I haven’t had a chance to visit the others to hand out copies of the schedule, you’ll be feeding on me.” Twilight explained.

“Okay. So should I do that now or while you and Spike are having your dinner?” I asked.

“Which would you prefer? It would be nice if you could have dinner with us but it’s fine if you’d rather not. I don’t mind either way.” Twilight told me.

“It takes all of a few seconds for me to eat. I’d just be sitting there while you two have your dinner. That would be incredibly awkward. I’d rather just get it over with.” I told her.

“Alright then. Go ahead.” She closed her eyes and familial and friendly love began to radiate from her.

I ate what I needed. As always it was hard to stop myself from taking more than I needed, especially since it seemed like I always felt hungry even after eating enough to survive. However, I restrained myself.

After I was done, I turned back into my human form and searched the library for a book on enchanting. I found one and spent the rest of the evening reading until Twilight and Spike went to bed.

Since Luna could visit my dreams, I assumed they would know if I actually went to bed or not. If I didn’t they might find it suspicious. So as much as I wanted to sneak out and keep reading or practicing enchanting, I went to bed.

Once again, I was plagued with nightmares.

I was in Ponyville. Everything was burning as shapeshifting creatures violently tore each other to shreds. Some I somehow recognized as my children while the others were presumably Queen Chrysalis’ swarm. Some of my children were in the shape of humans, looking like teenagers or pre-teens, and were wielding guns and flamethrowers. However, they were outnumbered, out maneuvered, and were getting absolutely shredded by Chrysalis’ swarm. I felt all of their fear and despair as they were being slaughtered, which was agony in its own right.

I was in my changeling form and was blasting Chrysalis’ swarm with everything I had. I grabbed the weapons of some of my dead children with telekinesis and used them to fight back, but it wasn’t enough. More and more just kept coming.

I felt the emotions of my children being snuffed out one after the other until there were none left and I was all alone. Fighting Chrysalis’ swarm all by myself with my dead children’s weapons. There were too many of them. I was being overwhelmed.

Whenever a gun ran out of ammo or a flamethrower ran out of fuel, I discarded it and used my telekinesis on fallen nails, rebar, and broken glass from buildings as well as on the changelings themselves. Anything I could do to fight and kill them, I did. And I was steadily becoming more and more exhausted as a result.

I was one woman against an entire swarm. I could only hold out for so long, and I knew it. I was going to die with my kids. It was just a matter of how many I took with me before it was over.

Suddenly I saw Queen Chrysalis, or at least the image of her that Luna had shown me, emerge from the flames of one of the burning buildings.

Then everything stopped. The sun turned into the moon as the sky turned black and filled with stars, Chrysalis and her swarm vanished, all of the corpses disappeared, the fires died, and the damaged buildings were restored as if nothing ever happened.

“More nightmares, Weaver?” Luna asked, appearing in front of her.

“So it would seem.” I told her.

Luna looked around. “This is different from your other nightmares. Would you mind telling me what worries you?”

“I just learned why you guys are insistent I make a hive. You think I’m going to lay a bunch of eggs like the queen of a beehive or something. So the stress of that is most certainly a big part of it. Judging by my nightmare, I’m also scared all of my kids are going to be murdered by Chrysalis and her swarm. Though, unlike this dream, I doubt they would actually be old enough to fight by the time Chrysalis attacks depending on when I have them. If you guys are right and I have them at all, that is.” I explained. I saw no point in hiding this fact from her. Twilight already knew the thought of Chrysalis killing my kids made me angry. So Luna knowing I was worried about that happening changed nothing.

Luna’s eyes widened in realization. “O-oh… Ehem… I see. My apologies, we had thought you would have already suspected the same thing…”

“Mhm… Anyway, moving on, I’ve officially decided that I’m going to stay in the Everfree Forest. At least for now. I might move to the Undiscovered West later on since it has more area to expand and then turn the hive in the Everfree into an Embassy or something. Or just give the Everfree back entirely, whichever works. However, until Chrysalis is dealt with, the Everfree is probably the safest place for my children and I. It’s also the most convenient due to its proximity to Ponyville. I already found the perfect place to make my hive and have started construction. There is one thing I would like to bring up though. There’s someone else who lives in the Everfree by the name of Zecora. She wants to remain within Equestria, so I’d like to factor that in when we draw up borders. I’d rather not have to force someone else to move out just so I can move in.”

Luna nodded. “That can certainly be arranged. As for your embassy idea, we would have to discuss that in more detail in person. We can do that as we’re drawing up the borders.”

“If things are really as bad over there as you’ve told me, then leaving it unattended again probably isn’t the best idea. So I suppose I’ll have to come to Canterlot for that. How does three days from now sound?” I asked. I wasn’t particularly thrilled with the idea of going to a city that was recently attacked by changelings and everyone would hate me. Still I knew I was going to have to eventually anyway if I was going to play politics, so I might as well get it over with sooner rather than later.

Luna reeled back in surprise. “Three days? So soon? Don’t you want a bit more time to rest and recuperate?”

“No. That’s what the painkillers are for. I would rather get all of this out of the way as soon as possible so I can start preparing myself for war with Chrysalis. I’m outnumbered, outgunned, and have less knowledge and experience with what magic I can use than my enemies do. I am at every possible disadvantage. I can’t afford to waste any time. Queen Chrysalis most certainly isn’t going to give me time to prepare for war. In fact, I’d head over to Canterlot to get this sorted out tomorrow morning if I could. The only reason I’m suggesting three days is to give you time to sort things out on your end. And no, I don’t expect to eat at all while I’m there for however long I have to be there, just to make your nobles or whoever feel better. If necessary, I’m fully prepared to go several days without feeding on love just to get the politics out of the way so I can move on and focus on other things.” I explained.

Luna seemed somewhat off put by this. “I… I see… Well, that last bit will not be necessary, I assure you. We shall make accommodations so you don’t have to starve yourself while you’re in Canterlot. That said, how exactly do you plan on preparing for this war?”

“I plan to learn more about magic so I can use it to defend myself and my hive as effectively as possible.” I said, being intentionally vague. I didn’t want to give them any more potential political leverage against me. Knowing I was going to be developing weapons, for example, could allow them to demand I give them the designs for ‘diplomatic’ reasons, and things of that nature. Not that any weapons I could design with my extremely limited knowledge would be anything particularly special. They probably already had better weapons than anything I could make anyways, considering they’ve always had access to magic and I was just learning. Still I would prefer to keep those cards up my sleeve as long as I could.

“I suppose you plan to use lethal force, as you were in your nightmare just now.” Luna said.

“Obviously. If they’re going to try to kill me and my future kids, why wouldn’t I kill them first?”

“Well, you are right. This will be a war and you will have to defend yourself… I’m very familiar with combat magic, and I am willing to teach you some of what I know. If you’re interested.” Luna offered.

I stared at her for a moment. “You want to teach me how to fight with magic?”

Luna nodded and smiled at me. “Indeed. You do need to learn, after all. With everything that’s happening I can only spare a bit of time, but I am willing to tutor you in what little time I do have at night.”

I stared at her for a moment longer. On the one hand, I didn’t exactly trust this. On the other hand, any knowledge I could gain could be useful. I could experiment with it and try to find other ways to use it to make it more effective later. So ultimately the pros outweighed the cons. “Fine. When do we start?”

“I can teach you some of the basics now and let you practice those by yourself within this dream for the rest of the night. Though I’m afraid it will have to be relatively quick. I only have a short time before I have to get back to my other duties. If no nobles demand my presence tonight, which I pray to harmony they won’t.”

As Luna said, she spent about fifteen to twenty minutes teaching me some basic combat magic before she had to leave.

I spent the rest of that night in a lucid dream, going over what she taught me and trying to adapt it to work better with my magic. When I woke up in the morning I went about my business as usual and informed Twilight that I would be going to Canterlot in three days.

I spent the next three days practicing enchanting, reading about enchanting, and building up my main hive. I was still thinking about building a second hive. If nothing else, having a second hive to evacuate to in an emergency would be a good thing. I just needed time to go look for a decently hidden spot to build it. Time which I did not have at the moment as my plate was already full as it was.

Every night a different pony came to the library to have dinner with us. First it was Rarity, who seemed excited to learn I would be heading to Canterlot soon. She had offered to make a dress for me. Initially I reluctantly turned her down as I thought I had nothing to pay her with. However, Twilight informed me Rarity used gems in a lot of her dresses and suggested I trade some of the unenchanted gems we had collected. So Rarity agreed to make a dress for my Changeling form. She immediately took my measurements and started drawing up designs she could finish quickly while she, Twilight, and Spike had dinner. From what I saw the designs were a bit… fancy for my tastes. I preferred outfits that were more practical and could be worn every day.

At least I was going to have some actual clothes soon.

Next was Pinkie Pie, who was as excited and hyperactive as she had been during the party she threw for me. She mainly wanted to know when I’d help her make a dish that tasted like love, to which I told her I was busy.

Every night I also had a different nightmare and was subsequently visited by Princess Luna in my dreams, much to my annoyance. Having chronic nightmares was rapidly getting very annoying. Though she did honor our agreement and tested me on what I had learned from her the previous nights before teaching me a bit more in what limited time she had.

Finally the day I was going to head off to Canterlot had arrived.

That morning there was a knock on the front door. Twilight opened it and Rarity came in with the brand new dress in tow. “It’s ready! It was quite a challenge, but I managed to finish it just in time! Weaver, darling, I would love to see what you look like in your new dress. Would you mind trying it on before you leave?”

“Sure. I was planning to put it on before going out anyway.” I said, grabbing the dress with my telekinesis and taking it from her. “Hang on a second. I’ll be right back.” I told them before turning and heading to the bathroom to get changed.

Putting on the dress I looked at myself in the mirror. The dress was a mix of gray and red, complementing my black carapace nicely. It had several rubies sewn into the fabric, some of which I assumed were from the bucket of gems I had traded Rarity. This made me wonder if the crystals could be enchanted in such a way as to be useful in a fight. If they could be enchanted to generate a one way energy shield, for example, that could be incredibly useful. Or if they could be enchanted for single use offensive spells or something, for emergencies. Otherwise I saw little to no point in them being part of a dress in the first place. The only problem was, my method of enchanting would eat holes in the crystals which would ruin the dress. Maybe I could enchant some crystals then have Rarity design clothes around them?

I would have to investigate that in the future. I didn’t have time for this sort of thing right now.

For now I stuffed a plastic baggy with several days worth of my medication into the dress before I came back out and asked, “Well? How do I look?”

“You look absolutely gorgeous, darling! I only wish I had a bit more time… I’m sure I could have made it ten times better if only I had a few more days.” She felt conflicted. I could sense she was being genuine when she said it looked good on me, but she also wasn’t nearly satisfied with it.

“It’s fine as it is. Thank you very much. I really appreciate it. I know I gave you those gems, but I’ll try to pay you back for this in the future.” I told her.

“I already told you, darling, that really isn’t necessary. I couldn’t just let you go meet the princesses in Canterlot without a proper dress!”

“Well, we’ll see… Thanks again for the dress. I guess I should head to the station now. My train’s gonna arrive in like fifteen minutes.” I said, looking at a clock on the wall.

“Alright, we’ll see you later. Oh, and tell the princesses and Shining Armor I’m sorry Spike and I couldn’t come with you. I have some chores and I really need to get done here in Ponyville.” Twilight told me.

Rarity sighed wistfully. “I wish I could come as well… Alas, I will have to wait. Still, do try to have fun in Canterlot, Weaver.”

“Thanks. Later.” I said before I limped out the door.

Once I was outside, I used my wings to hover just above the ground and flew the rest of the way to the train station.

I didn’t have to wait long for the train to arrive. Rarity really had come in with the dress just on time.

Celestia had apparently paid for my train ticket, so I had the entire VIP car to myself the entire ride. There was complimentary food and drinks. Though I didn’t try any of them, not just because I didn’t need them but because it had been several days and there was a possibility Chrysalis had heard of me by now. I didn’t want to take the risk that a changeling might have kidnapped and impersonated an attendant and poisoned any of it.

The ride was boring since I had neglected to bring a book. Twilight had informed me Canterlot Castle had quite a library of its own, so I didn’t want to risk bringing and losing one of Twilight’s books. Fortunately the ride wasn’t quite as long as I had expected.

Exiting my train car I was greeted by Shining Armor and a host of Royal Guards waiting for me.

“Hello. Nice to see you again, Captain. Or should I say, Prince? I’m sorry, I’m really not familiar with customs like this.” I greeted him, trying to be both polite and formal considering this was a public setting and I was here on official business.

“It’s good to see you again as well, Queen Weaver. Since I’m in uniform right now, calling me Captain is perfectly fine. If I was in my dress uniform, and standing next to Cadance, then you should refer to me as prince. Now, since you’re currently lacking guards of your own, we will be escorting you to the palace. Please follow us.” Shining Armor stated, in a similarly stiff and official tone.

“Alright. Is it a problem if I hover rather than walk? I’d rather not have to limp the whole way there.” I asked.

“Not at all. In fact, most of the guards present are pegasi for that very reason.” Shining Armor responded before turning and leading the way towards the castle, taking the head of the formation.

The pegasi guards hovered slightly higher than me. Likely to better guard me from potential assassins on the roof tops.

Crowds gathered and stared at me as we headed for the castle. Hundreds of ponies. And I could sense all of their emotions. Fear. Curiosity. Hatred. Disgust. Trepidation. Almost no positive emotions whatsoever. What very few positive emotions I did feel were all directed at the guards or people the ponies knew. That was all pretty much exactly what I expected though. If anything, I was more surprised that there were no assassins that attempted to kill me, or that the crowds weren’t rioting in an attempt to murder me.

We reached the castle without incident. No riots or assassination attempts. Just big crowds moving out of our way and watching us pass by.

We entered the castle and the guards led me to the throne room. Inside I felt the emotions of several dozen people. Most of whom were guards and nobles, I assumed.

They pushed the door open and the precession paused as someone announced, “Introducing Queen Weaver. Ruler of Hive Weaver and respected ally of Equestria.”

The guards parted to allow me to enter the throne room by myself.

I hovered inside and landed just in front of the three thrones at the far end of the room. Celestia, Luna, and Cadance were all present.

Since I was supposed to be the Queen of my own hive now, I didn’t bow to them. I nodded respectfully but that was it. I wasn’t about to show any signs of subservience towards them, whether they wanted to use my hive as a puppet state or not.

They nodded back. “Greetings, Queen Weaver. Thank you for coming.”

“Of course. So, what’s with all of this? Are we going to be discussing borders here, or…?” I asked.

“Ah, no. This is mainly a formality. A show for the nobility and the few foreign dignitaries that are present. We’re officially recognizing your hive as its own nation, separate from Chrysalis’ Hive. You’re going to have to declare your independence from her Hive too. Just bear with us for a bit. This is going to take a while.” Celestia explained.

This put me on guard as I was worried they were going to try to pressure me into swearing an oath to them. This, however, did not happen. Just as the Princesses said, it was a whole huge display where I effectively declared myself an independent kingdom separate from both Equestria and Chrysalis’ Hive, and the Princesses recognized the legitimacy of my kingdom. As did several of the foreign dignitaries that were present, most of whom were ponies. But there was a minotaur, a dragon, and a bipedal dog present as well. About half of the dignitaries didn’t recognize the legitimacy of my kingdom, citing the fact I currently had no citizens and thus my hive could not be considered a kingdom. However that was standard fare for politics I supposed. All in all it was a long, boring, and tedious affair.

When it was over, the princesses dismissed everyone and led me to a meeting room. After we all sat down in our respective chairs around the table, Celestia sighed. “I apologize for all of that, Weaver, but it was a necessary step in all of this.”

“It’s fine. Though you do realize that by recognizing my hive as having any legitimacy as its own separate kingdom, Queen Chrysalis is going to be all the more likely to declare war. Are you sure it was worth doing this now rather than at some point later on?” I asked.

“Yes. This way Queen Chrysalis will have a harder time undermining your hive on the international stage later. It’s honestly a miracle that we managed to convince as many dignitaries to recognize your hive as we did. Let alone in such a short time period… Fortunately many of them seemed willing to go along with this just to spite Chrysalis. She has made quite a few enemies it seems.” Luna said.

I frowned. “I told you the three days were so you could prepare, otherwise I would have come sooner to get this out of the way. You could have told me you needed more time and we could have easily rescheduled. I wouldn’t have held it against you.”

Celestia winced. “That… would certainly have been more convenient… Luna, why in the name of harmony didn’t you ask Weaver to reschedule this to a week or so from now?”

“W-well… I… Weaver seemed to be in a hurry to prepare so… I…” Luna sighed. “I have no excuse… I really didn’t think this through as much as I should have… I’m sorry, sister.”

Celestia took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “It’s alright, Luna. I’m not mad… A little frustrated maybe, but not mad…” It was true. She wasn’t angry, just very annoyed. At least if she wasn’t using a spell to fuck with my empathy. “Ehem… Well, everything worked out in the end anyway. Now, borders. So Luna tells us you’ve decided to stay in the Everfree Forest for the moment, but you plan to turn it into an embassy and move to the Undiscovered West eventually. Is this true?”

“Yes. If you’re right and I am going to undergo parthenogenesis like most hive based insects, I’m not sure how many kids I’m going to have. It could be one, a dozen, a hundred, or even a thousand at a time for all I know. So depending on that I might need room to expand, which means I might need to move to the Undiscovered West eventually. So it might make sense to turn the Hive I’m building in the Everfree Forest into an embassy or something at some point in the future. Especially considering its location.”

“That makes sense. That, however, brings up the question of borders. Do we declare the Undiscovered West your territory now or later? That is an important distinction politically since the Undiscovered West is technically unclaimed territory and anypony could try to move in at any time. Claiming it now would mean no one else could try to move in without it essentially counting as an invasion. However, you don’t currently have a means of defending such a large territory. So if an invasion like that happened, you would be unable to do much to stop it. And while Equestria is willing to help you against Queen Chrysalis and her swarm we would not be willing to get involved with a territorial dispute like that.” Celestia stated, in a diplomatic tone.

Thus my meeting with the Princesses in regards to my borders began in earnest.

Author's Note

The ending for this one felt a bit abrupt in my opinion, but I couldn't figure out a better place to end this and I didn't want to drag this one out longer than necessary. Other than the dream sequence its also a bit boring, so I apologize for that as well.

Originally I was going to write an Interlude from Celestia's perspective, dealing with the angry nobility but I couldn't figure out how to make that a chapter worth reading.

Anyway, I learned more about bugs! Apparently there's more than one type of parthenogenesis (asexual reproduction)! There's arrhenotokous parthenogenesis, which produces males, and thelytokous parthenogenesis, which produces females. So, uh... I guess what type of insect are changelings more similar to: bees or ants? Or should I just say screw it, changeling magic B.S. determines biological sex during development, and have the parthenogenesis produce both male and female drones that are infertile? Or should I just scrap the whole idea and say that's one of the things the ponies got wrong about Changelings and their biology?

As always, I'm open to criticism. If you think I did something wrong in this chapter, point it out and I'll try my best to go back and fix it. I want this story to be the best it can be.

Chapter 6 (Rewrite)

In the end, we decided that I would claim the Undiscovered West now rather than later. If anyone tried to settle there afterwards, I would deal with it. I already had ideas for infiltrating castles as a bug, kidnapping and holding hostage or assassinating whoever I needed to until they surrendered and pulled their people out of my territory. I would probably discover them squatting in my territory late, since I couldn’t have anyone patrolling over there, but that was an inconvenience I’d just have to deal with.

With that settled, I had international politics and foreign relations to deal with. Much to my dismay. Though, as frustrating as this was sure to be, it was an opportunity to seek out potential allies other than the ponies from Equestria. Well, “allies”. If the Ponies wanted my hive as a puppet state entirely reliant upon them, I sincerely doubted they had invited anyone that would be of any significant use to me. At least when it comes to opposing Equestria.

Regardless, as Luna had promised, they had made accommodations so I wouldn’t have to starve myself while I was in Canterlot. Apparently there were several servants and royal guards who had volunteered to let me feed on them. I would apparently be required to attend breakfast, lunch, and dinner with the princesses where they could watch me feed to make sure I wasn’t going overboard. Also because they had things they needed or wanted to discuss with me and meal times were just a convenient opportunity to talk.

At first I had expected to have a bunch of individual meetings with various ambassadors. However, apparently that wasn’t going to be the case. At least, not until later. Instead the princesses were going to be holding a ball, where I would be expected to meet with and talk to the nobility and foreign dignitaries. Fortunately, it seemed that I wouldn’t have to do any ballroom dancing, especially since I was missing a limb. Guests were allowed to dance if they wanted, but most didn’t in political balls such as this.

The ball was a couple days after I had arrived. I was already wearing the dress Rarity had given me, having put it on after my shower that morning. Normal though it may apparently be in Equestria, I just couldn’t stand not wearing clothes or at the very least portraying a façade of clothing with my shapeshifting.

I was in the guest room I had been provided and was currently reading about the physiology behind the teeth and jaw strength of dragons. I was still trying to wrap my head around the odd mechanisms that allowed them to chew diamonds like rock candy. It was weird. It was purely biological, but it involved structures that seemed more at home in a hydraulic press or some weird tinker tech crushing mechanism than in a living thing. The forces their jaws could exert were insane. I could not fathom how or why anything would have ever evolved to be able to bite that hard let alone have teeth and jaws strong enough to survive the pressures.

The grandfather clock in my guest room gonged and I glanced over. It was time for the ball.

Getting up I straightened out my dress a bit since I had been laying down. Then I made my way to where I was supposed to be meeting up with Princess Luna. Apparently she was supposed to come with me just to help me out since I wasn’t familiar with Equestrian politics. More like to keep an eye on me, I thought, but I didn’t complain, I just wanted to get this all over with so I could get back to more important matters.

Instead of finding Luna, I found a nervous looking maid. “Q-Queen Weaver…?” She muttered, timidly.

“That’s me. What is it? Where’s Princess Luna?” I asked.

“She… She s-sent me to let you know, s-she… she’s going to be r-running late…” The maid stuttered. I could feel the fear radiating off of her. She was completely terrified of me.

I sighed but decided not to address the maid’s fear. I would only end up fucking things up and making her even more afraid of me. Just like the other times I had tried with other servants. “So, why will she be running late?”

“Th-there was an accident w-with her makeup… S-some spilled on her d-dress and stained it…”

“Alright, fine. Tell her I’ll be going on ahead. I’ll be waiting for her in the ballroom. I’ll be fine on my own for however long it takes for her to finish getting ready.” I told the maid before turning and hovering off towards the ball room.

The maid tried to stutter a response that sounded vaguely like an objection but failed. So I just continued on my way.

I entered the ballroom and was greeted by the sight of a bunch of well dressed ponies, and several other non-pony dignitaries. Everyone had different emotions upon seeing me. Some were uncomfortable, others were disgusted, some didn’t care, and a few were outright angry and hated me.

I saw Shining Armor in full guard regalia standing off to the side, talking to a couple other guards. He was in charge of security for the ball. I decided not to bother him. Instead, in an effort to build diplomatic ties, I made my way over to two of the dignitaries who simply didn’t care about my presence one way or the other. Prince Hasani and his wife Princess Faras. Apparently they were from Saddle Arabia and the prince was the son of the Sultan. Plus the prince was one of the dignitaries who recognized my hive as its own Kingdom.

“Hello, Prince Hasani, Princess Faras.” I greeted.

“Ah, Queen Weaver. Good evening.” The prince greeted, his accent sounding arabic.

“It’s good to finally have a chance to speak with you.” Princess Faras said politely.

I nodded. “Likewise. I have to thank you both for recognizing my Hive as its own nation. That legitimacy is going to help a lot.”

The prince laughed. “Of course. We were more than happy to. Equestria isn’t the only kingdom who has had troubles with Changelings. There have been plenty of instances where members of Chrysalis’ swarm have kidnapped and replaced important people in our lands. She even had the gall to try to kidnap our firstborn son and replace him with one of her own…” His tone and expression darkened for a moment.

I could feel a flare of pure rage and hatred from the prince and fear and worry from the princess.

His smile returned and he continued. “Luckily we discovered the plot before they could carry it out and our son is safe. However, I believe it’s safe to say our whole family still holds quite the grudge from that incident. So when my father received word of your existence and your opposition to Chrysalis our stance was already decided. No offense to you, but we recognized the legitimacy of your hive purely to spite Chrysalis. Otherwise… Well, what is a Queen without citizens, hm?”

I nodded. “I get it. I expect that’s a pretty common sentiment. Chrysalis doesn’t seem to have very many allies internationally.”

“That is quite the understatement. She and her hive are almost universally despised. And if you wish to avoid the same I would strongly advise against repeating her hostility. Following in her hoofsteps will only earn you enemies. You can already see the fruits of her actions with how many nations have officially recognized your hive as its own kingdom.” The prince warned.

“I don’t plan to. Though I will defend myself if I have to.”

“Well that, at least, is less likely to earn you any enemies you didn’t already have. So, I can respect that. Though, to be honest, I can’t imagine you’ll be able to accomplish much being all alone. So tread carefully. The Minotaurs particularly despise changelings. Thus why they didn’t recognize your hive as its own kingdom. So I wouldn’t be surprised if they attempted to steal your land while you’re still all alone, just to spite you. And while Equestria may chastise them and apply economic sanctions and/or embargoes, King Steel Heart likely won’t care. And the Princesses most certainly won’t go to war for you over some tracts of land that you can’t even populate.” The prince warned.

I looked off to the side where I had seen the minotaur ambassador talking to some pony nobles. He glared back at me and I could feel pure hate emanating from him, mixed with a measure of disgust. The nobles around him felt similar, though not as intense. I had to wonder just what the hell Chrysalis had done to the minotaurs to make them hate Changelings so much. Whatever she had done, it had to have been absolutely horrific if even this ambassador hated me as much as he did. I decided to ask Luna about it later.

Looking back at the Prince and Princess I nodded, and in a slightly angry but still polite tone I said, “I can see what you mean. I can feel how much their ambassador hates me. If the King hates me even half as much, yeah he’s probably going to try something, assuming he’s that petty. However, if the minotaurs or anyone else expects me to fight their armies head on in a big open battlefield, they'll be disappointed. That isn't the most optimal way for changelings to fight, considering our natural abilities. Especially not in my case since I’m alone. I just hope it doesn’t come to that.” I said, choosing my words carefully. I didn’t want to risk giving away any strategies.

The Prince looked at me in confusion. “Wait, what do you mean? What would you do then?”

“I would prefer to keep my tactics to myself. I won’t tolerate any political bullying, especially for things I had nothing to do with, and I won’t make the same mistakes as Chrysalis. That’s all I have to say on the matter.”

Both of their eyes widened as shock and worry radiated from them. “I… am not quite sure what you’re implying… Are… Are you comparing yourself to Chrysalis?”

“No. I’m saying I won’t give you any concrete information on the tactics I would employ. Now, while I appreciate you recognizing my hive as its own kingdom, I would appreciate it even more if you stopped trying to dig for information.” I said in a more firm tone.

That apparently was the wrong approach to trying to change the subject as I felt fear bolt through them. The Prince cleared his throat. “Our apologies, Queen Weaver. We meant no offense. Well, it was nice talking to you. Do have a good rest of your night.” With that the two of them turned and walked away.

I watched them leave, not entirely sure what I had done so wrong to scare them off like that. Had I accidentally come off as hostile or aggressive? I hadn’t been trying to intimidate them. I had just wanted to change the subject.

Not quite sure what to do next I wandered off to the side of the room and just stayed there, waiting for Luna. I was disappointed. I had wanted to use this chance to possibly forge an alliance or two before Luna showed up, but that hadn’t worked out. So I didn’t want to risk scaring anyone else and ruining any more potential diplomatic ties. So I just sat there and waited.

I could feel eyes on me. People were staring at me as I just sat here. Some were creeped out. Others were outright intimidated for some reason. Why, though? I didn’t get it. All I was doing was sitting here! What was so creepy or intimidating about that?

After a moment a pony I recognized as Prince Blueblood approached me, with a small group of other ponies. Blueblood was reluctant and felt scared and judging by the emotions of the ponies around him, they were pressuring him into whatever he was about to do.

“Weaver…” He said, venom in his tone.

“Prince Blueblood… Is there something you want?” I asked, trying to stay patient.

“Hmph… You, out of Equestria or in a cell in Tartarus perhaps?” He said spitefully.

“I should have seen that coming. Sorry, but I’m not going anywhere.” I told him.

“Hmph… I can’t stand being in the presence of such a grotesque creature, so I’ll make this brief. I don’t know how you’ve managed to deceive my aunties, Weaver, but I refuse to fall for it. I was there when Chrysalis attacked. I know first hoof just how Changelings are. You are all inherently evil. It’s in your blood. Emotion devouring parasites that you are. So the fact my aunties are risking going to war with Chrysalis over you, a ‘good’ changeling, shocks and horrifies me. No Equestrian soldier should need to risk getting hurt, being kidnapped, or harmony forbid losing their lives just to protect you.”

To his credit, he actually felt very strongly about that. As soon as he started talking about the war with Chrysalis I could feel his dread and when he started talking about Equestrians getting hurt, his despair. He felt genuine despair at the thought of Equestrian soldiers getting hurt. Not quite what I had expected, honestly. Though I still wasn’t sure if there was a spell that could mess with my empathy so I decided to reserve judgment on that front for the moment. I didn’t want to give this jerk the benefit of the doubt.

Blueblood continued, “I find all of this extremely suspicious. I can only assume you must be using some sort of mind controlling magic upon them much like Chrysalis used on Captain Shining Armor. And the moment I find sufficient evidence to prove any of this, your malice or the mind control of my aunties, I will be reporting it and it will be over for you. I’ll make sure you get an extended stay in Tartarus! That’s all I wanted to say. Have a good evening, Queen Weaver…” He said before turning and walking away.

I watched him walk away. I could bring that up to Luna when she got here. I could, but I wouldn’t. It wasn’t worth the trouble. He wasn’t going to find any evidence because it didn’t exist, and I certainly wasn’t going to give him any. Plus complaining risked making me look weak.

A few moments later a pony who I assumed was a member of the nobility approached me. He was a unicorn stallion with pure white fur, a well maintained blue mane and tail, a small mustache, a fancy tailcoat suit with a blue shirt, a white collar with polished golden buttons, and a purple bowtie, and a monocle. “You must be the new Changeling Queen all of Canterlot has been talking about. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, your highness.” He said bowing his head politely.

I returned the gesture. “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” I responded trying to maintain a similar level of politeness and civility. My response was awkward and clunky and I knew it but it was the best I could come up with on the spot so I tried my best to make it sound as natural as possible. “I’m Queen Weaver, yes. And you are?”

“Ah, I neglected to introduce myself. Please do forgive my blunder. I am simply so used to everypony recognizing me immediately that it slipped my mind. I am Fancy Pants. A member of the nobility here in Canterlot… I must admit, I have been ever so curious about you since I first heard rumors of you. A new Changeling Queen arriving in Ponyville of all places under mysterious circumstances. The mystique of it is quite enthralling, I’m sure you can imagine. That said, there has been quite the commotion amongst the nobility ever since you’ve arrived.”

I nodded. “So I’ve been told… So where do you stand on the subject?” I asked, maintaining a neutral tone so as to not come off as hostile.

“Personally, I trust the princesses. If they trust you, then I trust in their judgment. For the most part, anyways. I will admit I have been reserving my own judgment of your personality until I’ve had a chance to meet you in person. As we’ve only just met I’ve yet to come to any definitive conclusion.” Fancy Pants stated.

“That’s fair, I guess. And it’s a lot more fair than the people who want to execute me, send me to prison, or hand me over to Chrysalis just because I’m a Changeling. So I appreciate that. Thank you.” I said.

“But of course. I do believe all creatures deserve a fair chance. You are not Chrysalis so it would be unfair to judge you the same as her without actually meeting you. So, I hear you are making a hive in the Everfree Forest. How is it? Building in the Everfree, I mean. It is one of the most dangerous places in all of Equestria, as far as I am aware.” He inquired.

“Not as bad as its reputation would suggest. There’s a few dangerous plants and animals but I’ve dealt with a lot worse.” I held up the stump of my arm. He looked at it for a moment before I lowered it again. “So it’s okay, I guess. I found a good enough place to build it, where it’ll be hard to find and easy to defend. Right now I’m reading books on unicorn magic to learn how to enchant crystals so I can make lights for the inside.”

“Oh! I was unaware that Changeling and unicorn magic can translate like that! How fascinating.” Fancy Pants stated.

“Well, it’s not exactly one to one. I’m having to figure out how to translate it over. How familiar are you with enchanting?” I asked.

“Only cursory knowledge, I’m afraid. I know some of the fundamentals but I’ve had no reason to dedicate time to actually learning how to do it.”

“Good enough. Well, to simplify it, for unicorns enchanting a crystal it's sort of like pouring water into a cup except the water is energy. Well, for me, that doesn’t work. For my magic it’s more like having a swarm of insects burrow into the crystal and turning it into a hive or nest. There are other differences like that that I’ve been running into and having to figure out on my own. Unfortunately there aren’t any books on Changeling magic that I can read, or if there are they belong to Chrysalis. So learning what I can from unicorn magic and trying to find ways to translate it over to my magic is the best I can do.” I explained.

“Intriguing. Though, forgive me, but the way you describe it makes it sound like you aren’t familiar with magic at all.”

“That’s because I’m not.” I didn’t go into any details because I was pretty sure he wouldn’t believe me and I didn’t want to bother trying to convince him.

“Truly? I suppose you must not have had a chance to learn it from the other changelings then. My condolences. That must have been quite the struggle. Well, I wish you luck in your endeavors to educate yourself in the art of the arcane.”

“Thank you. I really don’t know much if anything about you, but how are things going in general for you?” I asked.

“Oh, quite well. Quite well indeed. I was present during the royal wedding and the invasion but other than that matters have been as good as can be expected.”

We continued to make small talk for a bit until the doors opened and Luna walked in. She was wearing a nice blue ball gown with an obvious night sky theme. She quickly spotted me and started making her way towards me. Seeing me talk to Fancy Pants she smiled and I could feel happiness radiating from her.

“Apologies for being late, Weaver. Good evening, Fancy Pants.”

“Good evening to you as well, your highness.” Fancy Pants said, bowing to Luna.

Luna smiled at him before looking at me. “I’m very glad to see you’re making friends, Weaver. Celestia will be happy to hear it as well.”

I gritted my teeth. I wanted to deny it. Fancy Pants wasn’t my friend. We’d literally just met five or ten minutes ago. We were acquaintances at best. But I didn’t want to burn any potential political bridges by saying that either. I didn’t know how sensitive this guy was or if he’d get offended by me saying it. So I just stayed silent.

Luna chuckled, “Well other than you two meeting, did I miss anything?” She asked.

“Not really. I talked to the Prince and Princess of Saddle Arabia and ended up scaring them off by mistake. Then I decided to sit here and wait for you to show up, since I didn’t want to scare anyone else.” I explained.

“Wait, Prince Hasani and Princess Faras?” Luna said, startled by this.

Fancy Pants was similarly startled by this

“Uh… Yes? Why? What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Those two are notorious gossips.” Fancy Pants explained

“Weaver, what did you say to them?!” Luna demanded.

“Er… Well… They were telling me how the Minotaurs hate Changelings and might try to take land in the Undiscovered West just to spite me. So I told them I would defend myself if I had to. However if the Minotaurs or any other country expects me to fight their armies head on in big open battlefields they would be sorely mistaken because that’s not an optimal way for Changelings to fight. Especially not in my case since I’m alone. They kept pressing me, I think they were trying to get tactical information out of me, but I didn’t tell them any strategies I’d use. All I said was that I wouldn’t tolerate political bullying and I wouldn’t make the same mistakes as Chrysalis. Then I tried to change the subject but I guess I came off too aggressive because that’s what scared them off.”

Luna grimaced. “Well… That’s not as bad as I had feared. It’s still not good, but it could have turned out much worse…”

“Nothing we can do about it now.” I said.

“Ehem… Well, perhaps there is, actually. Weaver, I must say you’ve been nothing but polite this entire time. I do not mean to brag, but I do have quite a bit of social influence here in Canterlot. A far cry from the monsters other Changelings present themselves as. So I’ll do what I can to help curtail and dispel the rumors that arise from this as much as I can. And, besides, I’m afraid the comparisons to Chrysalis are already there. So nothing should really change in the end except perhaps causing a bit more polarization on the side of the faction that already dislikes you.” Fancy Pants stated

“That would be very much appreciated, Fancy Pants. Thank you.” Luna said gratefully.

“Yeah, thanks.” I nodded.

“But of course. Now, I should be off. Do enjoy the rest of your evenings, Queen Weaver, Princess Luna.” Fancy Pants said before turning and walking away.
“So, is there anyone you’d recommend I try to talk to next? Preferably someone who won’t be scared easily.” I asked.

“Well, I would introduce you to Ambassador Stone Horn to try to smooth over things between you and the minotaurs, but I’m not so sure that’s the best idea. And besides, Celestia is a lot better at that sort of thing than I am… Hm… Somepony who isn’t scared easily… Ah, I think I know just the pony! And I think I see him. Come, I’ll introduce the two of you.” Luna said before turning and leading me into the crowd.

We walked up to an old griffon with one eye and an odd red cap, in his talon was a glass of what I assumed was either brandy or whisky based on the color.

“Ambassador Gruff.” Luna said in a polite tone.

The ancient looking Griffon turned to face her. “Whaddya want?” He demanded bluntly.

“I would like to introduce you to somepony. Ambassador Gruff, this is Queen Weaver. Queen Weaver, this is Ambassador Gruff. He also goes by Grandpa Gruff, at least amongst the Griffons.” Luna introduced us.

“It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” I said, trying to be polite.

“Nice to meet ya… Ya got any bits?” He asked.

“No?”

“Bah… Then I’m aint interested.” He grumbled.

I blinked in surprise. “Fine. Never mind then. Let’s go, Princess.” I said, turning to leave.

“Hold on, both of you. Ambassador Gruff, Queen Weaver, I believe you two have a bit in common. Gruff, you were a knight for King Guto before the collapse, and Weaver was a warrior in her previous life as well. Please, at least give each other a chance.” Luna requested.

He grumbled a bit before saying, “Darn it. Fine! Your hoof. How’d ya lose it?” He asked, sounding annoyed. I could feel his disappointment. Though what he was disappointed about, I had no idea.

I glanced at Luna. “Do you and Celestia care if I tell the truth?”

Luna shook her head. “I wouldn’t have introduced the two of you if I thought revealing your past would be a problem.”

I turned to face Gruff again. “It’s a bit of a long story. I’ll tell you, if you tell me how you got that scar on your eye.”

“Hrm… Deal…” He said, reluctantly. I could feel he wanted something. The bits he asked about maybe? It was weird.

“Alright. Like I said, this is a bit of a long story. First, though, there's a bit of background information necessary for this story." I proceeded to explain how there were other worlds and universes, that I used to be Human and came from a world called Earth Bet, how Scion was the source of powers in my world, and how Scion went on a rampage and started destroying everything. Then I told them the story of how I lost my arm in the Cauldron Base. Gruff was skeptical at first, but Luna vouched for me. I was surprised by how easily that convinced him. Did Luna vouching for someone being honest really carry that much weight? Well, I suppose it might if she had some sort of magic that let her know when someone was lying. But then she could be lying. Why would they just take her at their word that someone else is telling the truth. Especially with a story so outlandish as mine. I knew how crazy my story sounded.

Gruff scratched the back of his head. “And you say she’s telling the truth?” He asked, looking at Luna.

Luna nodded. “Yes. I’ve seen it first hand in her dreams. She led the army that defeated this monstrosity. I’ve seen the end, when they were tormenting it with images of its mate. It essentially just gave up and let them kill it.”

He sighed tiredly. “Welp… My story doesn’t compare to that… Ya still wanna hear it?”

“That’s what we agreed on. So, yes.” I responded.

“Well, my story needs a bit of background too. It begins with the fall of Griffonstone. The first griffon king, King Grover, united our kind like we've never been united before or since! And he did it all with that incredible Idol of Boreas. That idol brought pride to the heart of every griffon that saw it! From one king to the next, Griffonstone had our golden idol. We were the envy of all other species. It held us together — it gave us an identity — right up until the reign of King Guto. That's when Arimaspi came to steal our griffon treasure! King Guto tried to fight him off, but Arimaspi managed to get away with the idol! They say when our treasure fell into the Abysmal Abyss, our pride went with it. King Guto was the last king of Griffonstone.” Ambassador Gruff explained.

He then raised a claw and said, “And that’s where my story starts. Griffonstone didn’t dissolve immediately after we lost our Idol. Oh no. After king Guto lost it, all of Griffonstone fell into complete chaos! There was a huge war, with disillusioned Griffons trying to depose the king for his failure. I’d been a mere cub when Arimaspi came and by the time I was old enough the war had already been raging for about… eh… twelve years or so. I ended up joining King Guto’s army as soon as I was old enough. A dumb decision made by a naive young griff lured in by promises of wealth, glory, and claims King Guto would get the Idol back and restore the unity of the Griffons! Never happened… I regret my decision to join him to this day…”

He sighed and I could feel the heavy regret, sadness, and resignation radiating from him. “Still I fought for him for years! I still remember the day I lost my eye like it was yesterday. It was the coldest winter in Griffonstone history. I was stationed at a fort up north of Griffonstone proper. The clouds were so thick everything was dark, and it was snowing like there was no tomorrow! The air was still, though. There wasn’t even so much as the slightest breeze. I remember thinking how much I appreciated it, because I was on patrol duty and the wind would have just made the cold that much more miserable! Made it a bit stuffy though. Especially later… I remember seeing ‘em coming. Dozens of ‘em! More than enough to overwhelm our fort.”

I could sense the dull feeling of remembered dread and anticipation. The phantom of the emotions he must have felt in the moment. I let him continue to tell his story.

“I was the first to spot them. So I rushed to go raise the alarm. A big brass bell that was loud enough to alert the whole fort, even if everygriff was sleeping. They weren’t sleeping, though. It was mid afternoon. So the whole place was ready in a matter of moments. Most of us stayed on the ground, planning to use the fort’s fortifications to our advantage. Some of us went to intercept them in the air, planning to take as many of ‘em down as we could to reduce the pressure on the defenders inside the fort. So, spear in claw, I took off and joined the others! We didn’t last long. There were just too many of ‘em and they surrounded us. Still, we sure as sugar gave as good as we got!”

I could feel his pride. He was still proud of how hard he and the other griffons with him fought, even if they’d lost. That was sort of admirable, I supposed.

“There was this one Griffon, maybe twice my size. He had a sword and I had a spear. I had the range advantage so I thought I could take him. Ha! I poked him once and the big brute broke my spear! Then all I had was a broken stick half the length and my talons. I whacked him across the beak with the stick and tried to tackle him. We tussled in the air for a bit, blood and feathers flying everywhere! He was a lot stronger so he threw me off and managed to cut me across the eye, knocking off my helmet. I suppose I hadn’t tightened the straps properly. I barely even realized what happened until later. I kept trying to fight but that brute broke my wing and I fell to the ground. I tried to angle myself to what I assumed was a snowdrift as I fell. Turned out, it was a boulder and I bashed my head right into it! Knocked me out cold!” He chuckled. He apparently found that part of his own story humorous. The humor disappeared almost immediately as he continued, becoming uncharacteristically calm and quiet..

“I woke up later. I’m not sure how long I was out but I was cold, in pain, and completely covered in snow. I managed to dig myself out. I saw mounds of pink and red snow and ice all around me. It was the others who flew to fight with me, and some of our enemies too… Fortunately, by the time I’d managed to march my way all the way back the others in the fort had managed to drive them off. No idea how, really. Probably just got lucky. Our commander was an idiot, so it wasn’t because of his leadership. Anyway, I was able to get my wounds taken care of. They put a splint on my wing and it healed up just fine but they couldn’t save my eye. We didn’t have these fancy shmancy pain killers we’ve got nowadays either! They just handed me a cheap bottle of booze and told me to suck it up! The next few days were the hardest part, though. We had to dig the bodies out of the snow and bury them. Fortunately we had plenty of time since the ice and snow kept them from rotting… It was still a nasty job though.”

He quickly downed the rest of the alcohol in his cup in one go then perked back up and continued. “The war lasted for three years after that! In the end we lost. King Guto was captured and executed and we never recovered the Idol of Boreas. Then the rebels split into different factions and started tearing each other apart, trying to decide who the next king would be. In the end no one won, our kingdom and population was in shambles, Griffonstone was a shadow of what it once was, King Guto was the last king of Griffonstone, and we all lived miserably ever after. The end!”

I nodded. Our circumstances were very different but I could relate to an extent. I was curious about something though. “So, there were efforts to retrieve the Idol of Boreas. Even if you couldn’t get it back, for whatever reason, did you ever find where it was?”

“Find it? I see it every time I fly over the Abysmal Abyss! It’s just sitting there on the side of the cliff! But it’s just too darn windy to fly down there and get it.” Gruff declared.

I blinked. “Wait… Seriously? You know exactly where it is, but it’s just too windy to fly down and grab it? Could you not just use a rope and rappel down or something?”

“King Guto tried that. Didn’t work. The ropes just break.”

“Right… Okay… So if someone went down and managed to get the idol back for you griffons, what would happen?”

“Whatever Griffon got the Idol would be crowned King or Queen of Griffonstone! That was part of the agreement that stopped the second war. They decided that anygriff able to get the Idol would be declared the new ruler. It’ll never happen though. They tried for decades, and nogriff has ever succeeded. It’s impossible!” He said dismissively.

That gave me an idea. Maybe I would have a chance to get allies outside of Equestria. I’d have to go to Griffonstone and see for myself just how “impossible” it was. If I could get it, I could give it to Gruff or some other Griffon and make them the new king or queen. Then they would be in my debt. Maybe I could get a handful of soldiers to help defend my main hive or help me fight Chrysalis? Some extra military aid from a source I could trust more than I could trust the ponies would be nice. That or any other aid I could get, really. I’d have to negotiate and draw up a contract with whoever I gave the Idol to, assuming I was able to get it in the first place.

“What about you, Princess?” Gruff asked, pointing a talon at Luna.

“Me?” She asked, confused.

“Yes, you! The two of us told our stories now it's your turn! You’re the one who made us talk after all. It’s only fair!” He squawked spitefully. Grumpy old Griffon that he was.

“I… I don’t exactly have any stories where I ended up getting horribly maimed…” She said, uncertainly.

“Clearly. You and Celestia are a thousand years old, right? If that’s true, you must have fought in a war at least once in your life.” I added, siding with the Griffon on this.

“Well… I suppose there were a couple of wars before my banishment… Hm… Ah, I know. How about the story of the first battle I ever fought in?” Luna inquired.

I shrugged and Gruff didn’t really seem to care either way.

Luna sighed. “Right… Well, a thousand years ago, just a few years after we became alicorns and became princesses, the dragons attacked Equestria. At the time they were ruled over by Lord Inferno. Dragon Lord Torch’s immediate predecessor. He was giant. Not as big as Lord Torch is now, but still quite big even for an elder dragon. He was also highly aggressive, highly expansionist, quite greedy, and just all around an unpleasant individual.” Luna explained.

“My first battle was the first true battle in the war with the dragons. I was by myself as Celestia was off on a diplomatic mission with the hippogriffs to plead for aid in the form of food and other essentials. We needed them desperately with individual dragons coming and burning our farms and supply lines to soften us up for what was to come. One of us needed to stay behind and lead our armies in the defense of Equestria, however. Since I was always the most aggressive and Celestia was always the better negotiator, the choice was easy.”

“Our scouts had reported an army of dragons coming straight towards one of our biggest cities. At the time it had a different name, but today it’s known as Baltimare. That was extremely bad as it was our main port in the Celestial Sea. We couldn’t afford to lose our main port for trade with the Griffons. So I took our army and headed there. We had to be fast so we had the Pegasi and Thestrals pull flying chariots to carry other soldiers who couldn’t fly to the city. Unfortunately that meant our numbers would be limited. So we prioritized taking unicorns, because their magic would be more useful against the dragons than the raw strength of the Earth Ponies. It was close but we had managed to muster our forces in Manehattan just in time.”

I could feel her sorrow as she remembered whatever happened next. Whatever it was, it clearly had left a lasting impact on Luna for her to still feel so strongly about it even a thousand years later.

“As the unicorns led the evacuation on the ground, the pegasi, thestrals, and I met the dragons in the air. The soldiers all had clouds which they used to shoot lightning at the dragons. I, on the other hoof, was using my magic. I was still quite strong at the time but it takes time for Alicorns to grow and reach our full potential. As one could see with Princess Cadance. In fact I’d go so far as to say I was about as powerful as Cadance is now. However, I was inexperienced and still found the thought of taking a life intimidating which caused me to hold back. So while we put up a valiant effort against the dragons, It wasn’t enough. I… The dragons… They tore into the soldiers with their claws and teeth. The truly unfortunate were caught in their flame breath and burned alive. I was horrified. I was still young so it was the first time I’d seen anything like it. Then I grew angry. They were killing my loyal subjects. So… I responded in kind.”

Feelings of grief and loss engulfed her. “I still remember the first one. I can picture him in almost perfect detail. From the glint of his scales in the sunlight to the fresh blood dribbling from his maw. He was a large green dragon bigger than a house. He had just eaten a thestral. One of my personal guards whom I had been close friends with… When I cried out, the dragon laughed and mocked me… That had been the final straw. I blasted him with a powerful spell and near tore him in half. I watched the corpse fall from the sky, too stunned by what I had just done to even move… That was a turning point in the battle… I was sad, angry, and appalled by their callousness and barbarity so, when I recovered from killing that dragon, I stopped holding back against the rest.”

From the way she had been talking I had half expected her to be ashamed, but no. There was no shame there. So she didn’t regret killing the dragons. Though I did detect a sense of conflict within her so I assumed she must have felt like she should regret it, but she didn’t.

She sighed and shook her head. “Still it wasn’t enough. They got past me and my soldiers and started destroying the city. I had to fly down to go help the unicorns that were fighting them on the ground. That was where it became truly horrible… Ponies that had been in the middle of being evacuated were running screaming for their lives as the city burned around them and their lives were torn apart. I saw ponies trapped in buildings or under burning rubble. I saw families torn apart. Mothers holding their foals and pleading for mercy as fathers stepped up to try to defend them, only for the stallions to be slaughtered with the mares and foals to follow soon after or for the entire families to be burned alive at once.”

Tears welled in her eyes and she sounded like she was on the verge of crying. “I tried… I tried so hard to save everypony I could… but…” She sniffled and stifled a sob. “But I failed… So many ponies died… it was my duty to protect them… to save them… but I couldn’t… And I have nopony to blame but myself… I was naive… arrogant… I overestimated myself… I should have had generals commanding the battle… but… but I took charge myself… In the end, due to my own hesitation and lack of military experience we lost that battle… All those deaths are on my hooves…” She couldn’t hold it back anymore and she started crying.

Uncomfortable, I looked around and saw a bunch of ponies staring at us. I looked at Gruff, not certain what to do in this situation.

He looked back at me and shrugged. He was at just as much of a loss as I was.

I wanted to believe this was a trick designed to garner sympathy. That the emotions I was sensing weren’t genuine. However, unless Luna was a very good actor that could cry on demand, I couldn’t see that being the case. Plus I didn’t really see the point of trying to trick me like this. So, with a grimace, I reluctantly stepped closer and awkwardly patted her on the back with my hoof. “I’m sure you did the best you could…”

Luna looked up at me in surprise. “Weaver…?” She sniffled.

“We’ve all made mistakes. God knows I have… There were several times in my life where people died because of my mistakes. I don’t want to go into detail. We just have to accept our mistakes, move on, and try not make the same mistakes again. Not very comforting, I know, but that’s just how it is.” I said.

Luna smiled at me.. “You’re terrible at comforting others… But… Thank you, Weaver… I appreciate you trying.” She took a breath and seemed to be trying to force herself to calm down.

“I… I apologize… Even a thousand years later, that failure still weighs heavy on me… After that, I began studying tactics and learning proper combat magic… It was… bad… That’s all I’ll say on the matter… Celestia managed to pull me out of it, thankfully. However I continued my studies even after that, albeit in a more healthy fashion. Eventually we managed to win the war with the help of Lord Torch and some other dragons who were more than ready and willing to overthrow Lord Inferno. It was hard working with them… I loathed dragons after what they had done in that first battle. It took me decades, but I did eventually manage to overcome my hatred. Unfortunately, my fall was not long after that… Well, was my own war story satisfactory?” Luna asked, calming down more and more as she talked.

“Yup. Now is that all? I need to go get another glass of this nice brandy.” Gruff grumbled, holding up his empty cup.

“I suppose… Thank you for talking with us, Ambassador Gruff. It is appreciated.” Luna said politely.

Without another word Gruff turned and walked back towards the drinks table.

After that Luna introduced me to several more individuals but none of the conversations were as long or in depth as the conversation with Gruff.

When the ball was nearly over, we were approached by the Minotaur Ambassador. “Queen Weaver…” He growled. Hatred practically dripped off of him. It was so intense I could practically taste it.

“Good evening Ambassador Stone Horn. What is this about?” Luna asked, immediately stepping between us.

He completely ignored Luna and continued glaring at me. “I’ve heard you said some very threatening things towards Minos…”

“Funny how words get twisted as they pass from person to person. No. All I said was that if your kingdom attacked me, I would defend myself. Leave me alone and I’ll leave you alone. It’s as simple as that. Attack me and I promise you, you won’t like what happens next.” I said, staring him dead in the eyes.

“Weaver…” Luna said in a warning tone.

Stone Horn snorted and I could tell he probably wanted to gore or strangle me right then and there. “Funny how you think your threats scare us, tick… I won’t start a scene here. However, I’m not happy that you’re allowed to roam free. Nor is King Steel Horn… Tread carefully, insect. That’s all I had to say” He then turned and marched away.

I watched him walk away impassively. “They’re definitely going to be a problem.” I commented as soon as he was out of ear shot.

“Weaver, just let Celestia and I deal with the Minotaurs. And for the love of harmony, whatever you do, don’t provoke them any further.” Luna warned.

“Doubt they’re gonna give me a choice, but fine. I’ll let you two try. I’m curious, though… What did Chrysalis do to the Monotaurs to make them hate Changelings more than everyone else?” I asked.

Luna winced. “The Changelings nearly wiped out the Minotaurs on several occasions over the centuries. Millions died or were captured in multiple campaigns against them. It’s simply a case of the Minotaurs being impacted by Chrysalis and her hive more than most. Combine that with the Minotaurs aggressive personalities, ability to hold very intense grudges for long periods of time, and the impact this continued harassment had on the Minotaurs’ culture. Hatred of Changelings is practically ingrained in them from birth.”

So they hated the Changelings because Chrysalis had essentially committed multiple genocides against them. Now the hatred had effectively become a part of their culture. Yeah, I definitely saw where that hate was coming from now. It was just a major pain in the ass that their hatred was being pointed towards me now.

“In that case, I guess I can sympathize to an extent but I’m not the one who did any of that. I’m not Chrysalis. It's annoying that I’m getting blamed for what she did…” I told Luna. My jaw then stretched in a yawn. “I’m getting tired… I think I’ll be going to bed soon. Good night, Princess.”

“Good night, Weaver. Please don’t do anything reckless.” Luna warned as I walked away.

“I don’t plan on it.” I responded.

After that I did as I said I would and just headed immediately back to my guest room. I wasn’t looking for a fight, so I didn’t try to go find the Minotaur ambassador or anything like that. I just went to sleep thoroughly exhausted after the ball.

Author's Note

For anyone who had a chance to read the original version of Chapter 6 and is still here I sincerely hope this version of the chapter is significantly better than the old version. I tried hard to address as many of the issues everyone had with the original chapter as possible. In the end, the chapter ended up going in a slightly different direction than the original version. That's just how it flowed. Stone Horn having such a strong reaction wouldn't have made sense in this version considering the differences in what Taylor said. The game of telephone would have been entirely different and would have ended distorted in a different way.

I'm under no illusions that this chapter is perfect. I'm absolutely sure there are places and ways it could be improved. If there are any more serious issues in this version that you think still need to be addressed, like there were in the last version, please let me know. As I've already shown, I'm not afraid to go back and completely rewrite a chapter if I need to.

That said, there are a few minor things I'd like to address. First, Grandpa Gruff being the Griffon ambassador. From what I understand he was only in that sort of position in the main show because he was Gallus' guardian (I'm aware he's not actually Gallus' grandpa, but the closest thing to a legal guardian Gallus is shown to have in the show). In this version, he became the ambassador for Griffonstone mainly because he was the only Griffon willing to bother doing the job. Not that there's much of a government left for him to represent. In this version, him being the ambassador would be how Gallus learns of and gets into Twilight's School of Friendship in the first place. So, please forgive that particular plot contrivance.

Second, Luna. The backstory about her fighting and killing dragons. I'm taking a bit of a risk with that whole story. A few people seem alright with the idea of her being a "warrior" so I decided to try to lean into that a bit, but I had to come up with a reason as to why that would be the case and this is what I came up with. If you don't like the prospect of her being a warrior and having killed before, please let me know. I'm still on the fence about the whole thing so if you guys don't like it I'm more than willing to change or remove it.

Here's a link to the first version for anyone who's curious. It's a lot shorter, but it's also a lot worse.

Edit: I edited out Taylor's explanation of her backstory. It's still in a Spoiler Box in between "I knew how crazy my story sounded." and "Gruff scratched the back of his head. “And you say she’s telling the truth?” He asked, looking at Luna." on the chapter on Space Battles. I'd probably do the same here so no one would have to go there to read that section but I'm not sure this website has that same functionality.

Chapter 7

After the ball I had interviews with the press. Apparently the newspaper companies were chomping at the bit to release stories about me but the Princesses had managed to convince them to wait until after the interview.

It was essentially just a normal press conference. Reporters asked me questions, I answered. The only thing that caught me off guard was the fact that the press was surprisingly well behaved. They still asked a few weird questions, like if Changelings produced honey, if I could taste with my hooves like a fly, and other nonsense like that. Still, compared to the press on Earth Bet, the ponies were surprisingly polite. I assumed the Princesses must have paid them off to play nice.

In the next few days the newspapers were all talking about the fact I was benevolent and had allied myself with Equestria against Queen Chrysalis. They were talking me up quite a bit. Much to the displeasure of the nobles in Blueblood’s corner, I was sure.

I stayed another couple days after that, just in case something came up and the nobles wanted to talk to me, but nothing did. So I headed back to Ponyville. On the train ride back I was already planning how to approach re-establishing the kingdom of Griffonstone and ensuring their cooperation with me as allies. Obviously, it wouldn’t be as simple as climbing down the wall of the Abysmal Abyss like a bug, which I could apparently do as I had discovered while working on my hive, and giving the Idol of Boreas to a random Griffon. I could already see a number of problems with that approach.

First, I’d need to find a Griffon I could trust to uphold their end of the agreement. Seeing as I only knew a grand total of one griffon, that didn’t leave me a whole lot of options. I couldn’t trust Twilight or the Princesses so that meant I couldn’t ask them who would be a better King or Queen to install on the throne. So I didn’t really have any choice. I was going to have to approach Gruff and discuss it with him. I just had to hope he didn’t end up screwing me over.

Second, as soon as the Idol was out of the Abyss, the Griffons would likely start tearing each other apart for a chance to get their claws on it. It would likely start another war, which I assumed was the reason why the princesses hadn’t done anything to help them get it back. That or the princesses preferred the Griffon Kingdom to be all but dissolved as it was right now. The implications of that just strengthened my worries that they wanted to make my hive a puppet state but that was something I could worry about later.

The war wasn’t really a big problem. I was fairly certain I could end it fairly quickly with my power set by taking out the leaders of the opposing factions or finding evidence to extort, blackmail, or expose them and undermine their support until there was no one left to oppose whoever I installed. So as long as Gruff could drum up support in the form of soldiers or even just mercenaries, the war itself was irrelevant to me. Mainly because it wouldn’t last long enough to matter. A few months at most, with me eliminating all of the competition for the throne. Feeding myself while I was in Griffonstone might be annoying but the solution for that was easy. If the war did happen, I would have plenty of food at my disposal. Assassination targets, hostages, prisoners of war. I might go awhile between feedings, sometimes, but I wouldn’t starve to death.

What really concerned me was the fact that I would have to spend all of that time away from my hive. I had no idea when I’d lay eggs, how long it would take before they hatched, or anything else. There was a risk that Chrysalis would find my hive while I was gone. So if I laid my eggs before I left I’d be running the risk of her finding and destroying or stealing them. I may not have been very happy about my new biology but I wasn’t about to let my kids be killed or kidnapped. Maybe the plan for a second even more hidden hive that only I knew about could work? Still, being gone for however long it took to end the Griffon civil war… I didn’t like it.

Maybe I could workout a deal with the Griffons instead? Maybe I could go there before all of this and if I need to lay eggs I could work out a deal with Gruff to have a group of soldiers help hide and protect them. Then I’d transport them all back to my hive myself after my business in Griffonstone was over. However, if I went that route then I’d have to trust Gruff and other griffons to actually hold up their end of the agreement and keep my kids safe. So I didn’t like that option either.

There was also a chance it wouldn’t happen any time soon and I was worried for nothing. I wanted to be optimistic, but considering how little I know about my own biology I really couldn’t afford to be. I had to be ready for the worst.

So I kept trying to think of solutions to this problem over the course of the train ride.

Unfortunately my thoughts were interrupted when the train screeched and started to roll and grind off the tracks. I was sent falling and tumbling violently as the train derailed and the car I was in tumbled a couple times before coming to a stop on its side. Fortunately the train seemed to have some sort of magic cushioning system that saved me from any serious injury, but the system could only do so much considering the violent nature of a train derailment.

When it was over adrenaline was blasting through my system. I got up shakily, my dress was ripped and I hurt. Fortunately nothing felt broken. I had just been a bit shaken up.

A massive spike slammed through the wall of the train, which was currently the roof, followed by another and another. Four in total. The wall was then ripped open like a tin can and I saw two massive insectoid creatures staring inside. They roared at me.

Without hesitation I blasted a hole through the roof, which was beside me, and flew out. Only to be hit in the side by a rhinoceros. I felt my carapace crack and was sent flying several feet before tumbling to a stop.

Getting up I saw over two dozen changelings. Some were transformed, others weren’t. The ones who weren’t looked like they were wearing armor of some sort.

I launched myself into the air and dodged out of the way as one of the monstrous arachnids flew towards me and tried to impale me on one of its massive spike-like front legs. My horn glowed and thousands of tiny dots of green energy swarmed towards the monster like a wave. It screeched in agony as its body started to disintegrate. The dots of energy burrowing into its carapace then the flesh underneath. By the time I’d ended the spell it had changed back to a normal changeling, unable to maintain its transformation with the damage it had sustained. It was wailing in agony, though its cries died quickly as it rapidly went into shock and passed out from a combination of pain, severe trauma, and blood loss. I felt its emotions fade to nothing as it succumbed to its wounds and died in a matter of seconds.

The other changelings radiated surprise, shock, and horror. Apparently they hadn’t expected that.

While they were still distracted, I grabbed as much broken glass, sharp bits of metal, and other debris from the train wreck as I could. Even grabbing rocks off the ground. All of it turned into a lethal telekinetic whirlwind intended to shred them all at once. As all of the debris was enveloped in a green aura, all of the changelings were pulled from their horrified stupor and scattered to avoid the telekinetically propelled shrapnel. I didn’t relent and split the shrapnel up to attack each of them individually rather than as a group.

“Derailing the train was a bad move.” I growled at them.

One was too slow and my shrapnel managed to reach them. Targeting less protected areas, namely the joints, eyes, ears, and any exploitable gaps in their carapace, I quickly and efficiently shredded them, taking them out of the fight.

A couple of them seemed to figure out the maximum range I could control the shrapnel and stayed out of my range. From there, four of them turned into strange dragon or dinosaur-like creatures, which picked up heavy rocks and pieces of debris with their spiked tails and flung it at me, like living catapults or trebuchets. Others remained changelings and simply shot at me with bolts and beams of magic. Super basic combat spells which I recognized from what little Luna had taught me in my dreams and I had practiced a bit on a shooting range meant for the Royal Guard while I was in Canterlot. I had to dodge and weave through the air to avoid being hit by the debris.

Then I saw something. Ponies were starting to come crawling out of the train. Some were royal guards, some were normal ponies. All of them looked banged up. My telekinetically propelled shrapnel was too dangerous to keep using with civilians around so I dropped it all. This emboldened the changelings. Some of the changelings transformed into rocks, which I hadn’t even known was possible, and the catapult tailed creatures threw them at me. This living ammunition changed shape as soon as it got close to me, turning into manticores, large crocodilian creatures, and various other dangerous monstrosities that swiped at me with their claws, tails, or other appendages or tried to bite me with their teeth.

I turned into a dragon, a bit larger than an elephant. In this form I had pitch black scales, with a white belly and a white membrane between the fingers of my wings. The spikes running down from the top of my head and down my spine were similarly white. I had been practicing with this form and had finally managed to get the jaw mostly right. I only had a few things I needed to finish improving on to achieve the maximum possible biting force this form could produce. However, even with my imperfect understanding of the physiology I could easily chew through a solid chunk of quartz and with difficulty I could break corundum like sapphires and rubies if I tried hard enough, which meant I could bite through bones and carapaces with barely any effort. Plus I had scales which would act sort of like armor and would protect me to an extent.

I snapped a manticore shaped changeling out of the air and bit it in half. Spitting the pieces back out I dived towards the catapult creature shaped changelings and ripped two of them apart with my teeth, claws, and tail. Unfortunately I underestimated the strength of their tails and one of them managed to gouge my hind leg, ripping straight through my scales. I hissed in pain and backed off. I should have realized these things’ tails would be dangerous, considering how easily they were throwing heavy debris but I hadn’t thought of it. Fortunately it seemed to miss any major veins or arteries or I would be in very serious trouble.

After a few moments of getting their bearings, some of the royal guards started to join me. Mainly the pegasi and unicorns. The Earth Ponies were giving orders to the civilians and were trying to direct them to safety. The unicorns made simple firing lines with magical barriers for protection and shot combat spells at the changelings. The Pegasi flew into the air, grabbing clouds, which they stomped on to shoot lightning at the changelings.

“Pegasi, try to focus on blasting their long range attackers! Try to stay mobile! Make it hard for them to hit you back! Unicorns stay here and provide covering fire to protect the civilians and support the Earth Ponies! Be careful, you have no idea if any of the passengers are changelings in disguise so keep an eye on them if you can! These bastards are here to kill me, so I’m going to try to lead them away!” I shouted at the royal guards. Technically, I wasn’t their superior officer so they were under no obligation to listen to me. However, it was a tough situation and I didn’t hear anyone else giving orders so I thought I might at least try to give some tactical advice.

Fortunately they did seem to heed my advice. Though it was possible they were already planning to do what I suggested anyways and my orders were redundant. I didn’t really have time to think about it, and it wasn’t important either way so long as they were doing it.

With that I started flying away from the train and sure enough most of the changelings chased after me. I frowned at that. They had heard me shouting those orders, so they would know I was leading them away. I assumed they weren’t stupid, so either they were dead set on killing me to the point of following me away from hostages they could potentially try to use against me, or they had something else planned. The smart thing for them to do would have been to remain right where they are and attack the royal guards and civilians to force me to stay as well or risk causing a political nightmare for myself. Or to at least leave behind half to a third of their forces to put pressure on me, while still having soldiers chase after me in the event I did just cut my losses and run.

Essentially my plan was working too well and I hated that because it meant I had no idea what these guys were thinking. Then again there were only a little less than two dozen of them visible, so it was possible they had more hidden at the train or they didn’t want to risk sending too few to fight me. Though the latter was me being optimistic. If this was all they sent to kill me, I might have a chance to get through this alive, especially with the Pegasi helping me. However, I didn’t want to get my hopes up. I was still waiting for the other shoe to drop. A secret ace up their sleeve that I couldn’t account for that would reduce my chances of survival precipitously. Chrysalis showing up in person, for example. I doubted I could beat her right now considering she had a thousand years of knowledge and experience over me with all of the same powers I had, and was presumably far better fed and was thus a lot stronger than I was.

Still I kept flying, morphing into a black and white pegasus to make myself a smaller target whilst still remaining plainly visible so they could chase me. I had to constantly look back and swerve in mid air so as to avoid being hit by the simple bolts of magic they were firing at me.

Eventually a lucky shot managed to hit me in the back right between my wings and agony coursed through me as I was knocked off balance and started tumbling in the air. It was like being punched by a professional boxer while also being burned at the same time. Memories of Lung flashed through my mind, but this was different from him since there was no actual fire involved, just raw magical energy.

As I was falling I flapped my wings and managed to right myself enough to slow and control my descent. Landing on the ground I morphed back into my changeling form. Thinking fast and trying to come up with something to fight back, I started ripping branches off trees with my telekinesis. I quickly broke off any excess branches and stripped them of leaves and snapping them to get something vaguely resembling points. I then started throwing them as fast and hard as I could, focusing more on speed and quantity rather than accuracy.

They weren’t very effective but they did serve as something like very crude makeshift spears and arrows. Five extremely unlucky changelings started falling out of the sky as the extremely crude spears and arrows stabbed through their eye sockets, hit them in their wings, or stabbed through their mouths and into their throats if they had them open for whatever reason. Though the vast majority of my makeshift arrows simply bounced right off their hard carapaces if they hit anything at all. A lot didn’t even hit point first after they left my telekinetic grasp since they didn’t have heads to weight them towards one end or fletchings to stabilize their flight.

Once the pegasi from the Royal Guards started to catch up with the changelings I had to stop my volley and start focusing on defense. This was honestly a blessing as my makeshift arrow idea was leaving me quite vulnerable since I was devoting all of my focus and impressive multitasking ability entirely on offense leaving myself open to attack. So if I had kept it up much longer I would have started getting hit more and more while my enemies would adapt to counter that strategy. Of course, I would have stopped and tried to figure something else out before it got to that point but still.

That said, I honestly wished I had thought of it when I was back on the train. I could have used pieces of broken glass and shredded metal as something like makeshift arrow heads or I could have even thrown it as it was.

As the Pegasi started engaging the changelings again, I turned into a dragonfly. I was small enough that it would be extremely difficult to hit me while I could still fly at roughly thirty five miles per hour, give or take. Dragonflies also had very good eyesight for insects and since I had studied the biological mechanisms behind this back on Earth Bet, I could replicate them with my powers. This changed the colors I saw in, which was a bit disorienting for a second, but it made it easy enough for me to differentiate between the pegasi and changelings. Ironically, my vision was probably as good if not better in this form than it was in my human or changeling form.

I zipped up to the swarm of changelings and morphed into an anteater on the back of one of the changelings and proceeded to rip through their carapace with my claws. Anteaters were capable of digging through solid concrete, so shredding through the carapace of a changeling was relatively easy. My swipe easily severed the changeling’s ventral nerve cord and very nearly decapitated them from behind.

As soon as my claw ripped through the changeling I morphed back into a dragonfly and flew to the next one and repeated the process. Then the next one, and the next one. I continued this several times until I very nearly got hit by a lightning bolt from one of the pegasi. At which point, while my method of attack was relatively effective, I deemed it too dangerous to use whilst fighting alongside pegasi, if not ponies in general.

As I changed back into my changeling form, I realized between the efforts of myself and the Royal Guards the changelings numbers had been reduced to about nine from the thirty or so they had originally. Their morale was starting to crumble and it showed. All they needed was just one last push to force them into a retreat if not a total route.

My horn glowed and a “swarm” of thousands of glowing green dots of energy appeared. Since I’d used this spell so much I decided it needed a name. Not feeling particularly creative I decided to call it “devouring swarm”. I’d try to think of a better name later.

Regardless I decided to use this as an opportunity to experiment. I split the spell into four smaller swarms and sent them flying towards four separate changelings. They started screaming as the swarms engulfed them. The "disintegration" for lack of a better term was a lot slower than if the swarm was whole and focused on a single individual. However it was no less devastating, it just took longer. The increased time conveniently also increased the psychological effects as the screaming and horror lasted for more than three or four seconds like the spell did if it was fully targeted on a single individual.

Unfortunately, those psychological effects worked both ways. I’d barely used it at all and I already didn't like this spell. Or at least not using it this way. It made me feel gross. It just drew things out too much when it was divided like this. When it was a single swarm it was still bad but it was tolerable since it disintegrated them and ended things relatively fast, even if it was messy. But like this? Split into four? No… It was just flat out torture at this point.

Still, since I had started I didn’t want to stop now otherwise I would just be drawing out their deaths even longer. So I kept going as the four changelings fell out of the sky, trying to make sure they’d die as fast as I could make them like this. It took what I estimated was a minute for them to pass out, though it was a very rough estimate since I was distracted at the time. Then I kept going even after they’d stopped screaming only stopping once I felt their emotions fade to nothing, telling me they were dead. I really had been trying to kill them as fast as I could with this spell.

At that point the remaining five had already started to run away. They were too outnumbered and I could tell from their emotions that seeing what I had just done to their comrades had broken them. I had likely given most of them permanent psychological trauma that would require medication and years of therapy to recover from.

Arguably it wasn’t any worse than what I’d done with my bugs back on Earth Bet, just a bit more graphic and presumably more painful. Alexandria’s death in particular, stuck out in my mind. Bugs crawling down her throat, spinning webs in her lungs… Actually, was that as bad as what I’d just done? Honestly I wasn’t entirely sure… Hm… Something to think about, I supposed.

Sensing a couple of the changelings on the ground were still alive, mainly the ones hit by the lightning from the Pegasi, I flew down and grabbed them with my telekinesis. Gathering them up I looked over their wounds. Any of them that seemed like they had sustained too much damage and weren’t going to make it anyway, I shot them in the head with a tight beam of magic, puncturing their carapaces and destroying their brains, killing them. Any that looked like they could survive, I set off to the side and spat a sticky green substance on in an attempt to bind them up.

The royal guard pegasi landed nearby and started running up to me. “Halt! What in Celestia’s name do you think you’re doing?!” One of them demanded.

I stopped and looked at him. “Triage, what does it look like? Some of these changelings are too hurt to survive without immediate medical intervention and I assume none of us here are licensed surgeons with a full suit of medical equipment handy. So they’re just going to die anyway. So I’m putting them out of their misery instead of letting them suffer. The rest, I’m setting off to the side. That substance I spat on them is sticky and once it starts to harden it becomes like rubber. I don’t know for certain if they can get out of it just by transforming, but it’s the best I can do to tie them up for right now. Either way, those ones can be taken prisoner and interrogated.”

“Stop that at once! We’ll handle things from here! Grrr… I can’t believe the princesses are letting a monster like you run around unchecked. You can be sure, we’ll be reporting that disgusting spell and how you tortured those last ones to death. Maybe the princesses will finally see reason and lock you up or send you to Chrysalis in chains!” The pegasus spat, anger, hatred, and overwhelming fear radiating off of him like a lighthouse. If I looked, I could see him visibly trembling, terrified of me but trying to mask it with rage.

The other pegasi felt similar although not quite to the same degree as the one shouting at me. In one I could sense a bit of sympathy and I could tell he wanted to object but held his tongue for fear of his brothers in arms. Likely fear of ridicule or being called a changeling sympathizer or something to that effect, I could only guess. My empathy didn’t let me know specifics, only that there was some minor fear directed at the other pegasi and some sympathy and a bit of guilt directed at me.

I flapped my wings and started hovering in the air. “Fine. But don’t blame me when some of the ones you shot down with your lightning die in transit.” I then turned and started flying away. Pausing and hovering in the air for a moment, without looking back I shouted, “When you give your report to the princesses, you can tell them I’m flying the rest of the way back to my hive on my own. If they have a problem with my methods, they know where to find me.”

With that I resumed my flight. I flew back to the train, searched through the wreckage. It was stupid. After all this, I was actually thinking about my damned pills. But I knew I’d probably need them more than ever after this. Rather surprisingly I managed to find my remaining antibiotics and painkillers without much trouble. Picking up my pills, I crawled back out of the wreck and started flying away again.

I was in a horrible mood as I flew my way back to Ponyville. Not only had Chrysalis finally made her move and attacked me, but I messed up that spell by dividing it which made me feel a bit guilty. It wasn’t worse than what I’d done in my final fight with Scion, but that had been an extremely different circumstance with extremely different stakes. And while I did feel guilty about what I did at that time, I knew it had been necessary so I didn’t regret it. This? This hadn’t been necessary. I could have done any number of things differently to end that fight, so I did regret what I had done in this case. To an extent. They had been trying to kill me. Then after that I had to put up with that asshole of a pegasus and resist turning back into my human form just so I could punch him in the face after his rant.

God I wanted to punch that guy… But it wouldn’t have helped. If anything it would have made the situation worse since the pegasi were already on edge and I might have triggered a fight with them which could have been a political disaster for me.

As I flew and the adrenaline started to fade and I started to become aware of just how much pain I was really in. My entire body was in agony. I could keep going but it hurt. Apparently I hadn’t come out of the train crash as unscathed as I initially thought I had, and the injuries I sustained in the fight were really taking their toll on me.

That was going to be fun to deal with. My bullet wounds and burned stump had just started to hurt less too… Damn it…

Landing I decided to tend to my wounds as best as I could. My dress was in tatters anyway, so I just tore a scrap off of it with my telekinesis and used it to bandage the worst wounds. Mainly the ones that were bleeding. I probably should have tried to clean them, but I didn’t exactly trust river water. Who knew what sort of bacteria might be in it and I had nothing to boil it with. Nor did I have peroxide, rubbing alcohol, or any antibiotic creams. So I was just going to have to rely on the antibiotic pills I had left over and pray I wouldn’t get an infection, because I didn’t have any intention of going back to the hospital right now. Even though I knew I probably should. Maybe I’d change my mind tomorrow, after I’d had some time to rest and cool off, but for right now, no. I wasn’t going. I didn’t think I could take the false smiles and forced kindness they’d surely give me, an “evil changeling”. Not right now.

I sighed and wondered how long it would take for me to recover this time.

When Ponyville was in sight, I turned into a hawk and flew the rest of the way there in that form. No one would bother me in this form and I didn’t feel like dealing with any more ponies for the rest of the day. I just wanted to be alone.

I flew straight over Ponyville and continued into the Everfree. Diving beneath the trees I turned into a dragonfly and flew the rest of my way to my hive in that form to ensure no one would be able to track me the rest of the way.

Once I reached my hive, a tiny hole just big enough for my current form opened up for me and I slipped inside. Inside there were a couple permanently active enchanted crystals embedded in the roof I’d made to provide light for me. I didn’t have a proper bed in here yet, but I didn't care. Finding a nice secluded corner, I curled up in a ball and laid down. I saw my bucket of crystals and decided to pass the time practicing my enchanting.

This wasn’t anywhere near the worst day I’d ever had. Even back in Brockton I’d had worse days between the time Bakuda started going on her psycho bombing spree and when Leviathan attacked Brockton. So today was pretty par for the course, if I was being honest with myself.

As time ticked by and the tedium of continuously enchanting crystals set in, I was still in a bit of a bad mood but it had degraded into mild annoyance and frustration. That guy pissed me off. His tirade against me reminded me of the Trio, which had just hit the wrong buttons, but I was already starting to get over it. Sulking in my hive enchanting crystals all day wasn’t going to help anything. I’d probably go to the hospital soon, like I should have done as soon as I got back. Dealing with their fake smiles for a little while would be better than running the risk of getting an infection.

“Hello? Weaver? Are you here?” I heard Twilight’s voice call out to me.

I estimated it had been roughly two hours since I’d got back to my hive. I guess she’d decided to come looking for me since I never arrived at the train station or checked in with her at the Library.

I sighed. I’d have liked to have a bit more time to myself before I had to deal with anyone else, but it seemed like I wouldn’t be getting it. Oh well, I supposed. It was nice while it lasted.

“I’m here, Twilight.” I called out. Getting up I flapped my wings and started hovering in the direction I’d heard Twilight.

It didn’t take me long to find her.

Her eyes widened as soon as she saw me. “You're hurt!”

“I’m painfully aware, thank you.” I said in a deadpan tone.

She blinked at me and shook her head. “Why haven’t you gone to the hospital?”

“I was in a bad mood and didn’t want to deal with them. I’ve calmed down a bit since then and was planning to go soon. I’ve already bandaged myself up so it wasn’t like I was going to bleed out right away and I’m not dying. So I could afford to wait a bit.” I told her. I then took a deep breath and slowly released it. “So… Did the princesses send you?”

“Uh… Yes and no… I did get a letter from Princess Celestia letting me know the Changelings attacked and derailed the Friendship Express, and that you helped fight them off… They did also mention that you used some unnecessarily cruel methods to defeat them that unsettled the Royal Guards ponies stationed on the train, though she didn’t specify what… She wanted me to let you know you aren’t in trouble but wanted me to ask you to not do it again, if you can, but she said I could tell you the next time I saw you. When I learned the train was derailed and you were attacked I came looking for you myself. I just wanted to make sure you were alright since you never came to the train station or the library. I checked the hospital first, but you weren’t there. So I assumed this was the only other place you could be.” Twilight explained.

“Uh huh… Well, I’m fine. I’ve had worse and I’ll be going to the hospital soon. I even managed to get my leftover pills from the wreckage before I came back.” I told her, trying not to show my irritation or take it out on her. It would have been sooo much easier if I had my bug powers so I could off load my expressions into my swarm.

“Well, that’s good… Uh… So what did you do that was so bad, if you don’t mind me asking?” Twilight inquired.

My horn glowed and my devouring swarm spell appeared next to me and began eating a hole through the wall, causing little bits of the wall to start accumulating on the ground as it started to disintegrate. I ended the spell before the hole got too deep. I was already going to have to clean up the mess and repair the damage. I didn’t want to make any more work for myself than I had to in order to make a point.

Twilight looked at the spell and the subsequent damage to the wall in surprise.

“I used that on a few of them. Only, it turns out, I can split the spell so I can use it to attack multiple people at once. The problem that I didn’t think of in the heat of the moment, is that the more I split it the slower the spell works but it still has the same effects. If you can imagine what this spell does to a living being, you’ll realize why it working any slower than usual is a bad thing. It’s already pretty bad to begin with, but imagine that being drawn out even longer than necessary. I’m…” I sighed and shook my head.

“I’m still mentally debating whether or not it was worse than some other methods I’ve used in the past… If you’re wondering if I regret it, yes. I do. But only in that it took too long for them to die. They were trying to kill me and they obviously didn’t care who got hurt or died to make that happen. So they did deserve to die. Just… maybe not as brutally as they did.”

I looked at her. She looked horrified, but was clearly trying to put on a brave face and hear me out. “I’m not like the Slaughterhouse Nine, Twilight. I’m willing to take lives if I have to — especially since this is a war and killing is going to be unavoidable no matter what — but I don’t enjoy it and I certainly don’t enjoy causing unnecessary suffering. So I can’t promise I won’t use that spell again. Especially since it's one of the very few truly lethal spells I know, meaning it's one of the only weapons I have to defend myself in life or death situations. However, I can try to use it sparingly and avoid dividing it so many times. That way things don’t get drawn out quite as long.”

Plus I was planning to try to build flamethrowers at some point in the future since I knew enchanted crystals could generate fire, and the spell really couldn’t be all that much worse than burning alive. Though I didn’t say that part aloud.

Twilight frowned. “I think I get your point, but I don’t like it. I don’t think the Princesses will either.”.

“You don’t have to like it, but it’s not going to change the reality. Chrysalis and her hive are trying to kill me. They aren’t going to give me a choice but to kill them first. They made that pretty clear today. So I’m going to do whatever I have to in order to survive.”

Twilight sighed. “I understand… Though I hope you don’t mind but I’m going to be looking into other methods you might be able to use. Maybe I can find some way to end this without violence or maybe I can find non-lethal spells that we can work on adapting into changeling magic. That way you’ll have ways to defend yourself without having to go that far?”

I couldn’t help but smile at that, even if the smile only lasted a moment. “Twilight, I appreciate it, I really do, but my very existence is a threat to Queen Chrysalis’ power. So I’m going to tell you now, there’s no possible way this ends peacefully. The only way this ends is with one or both of us dead with a mountain of bodies in between.”

I was going to continue and explain exactly why it wouldn’t work but I sensed Twilight’s emotions. She was getting sad and somewhat scared. I still hadn’t yet disproven my theory that the ponies had some way to trick my empathy, like the slaughterhouse nine tricked Cherish’s. However I decided it was probably a bad idea to go off on a long tirade about how there was no way in hell a peaceful solution could ever be achieved as long as both Chrysalis and I are alive.

“That said, if you can help me learn some less lethal magic I could use to defend myself, I would appreciate it.” At the very least, I could use it to capture changelings alive and take them prisoner for interrogation and information gathering.

Twilight smiled at me, happiness and excitement blooming from her. Though the sadness and fear was still there, albeit more muted now. “Yes! We can definitely work on that! I’ll start looking through my books to find relevant spells that you might be able to adapt as soon as I get back to the library! But first, we need to get you to the hospital. You just survived a train derailment. I still can’t believe you didn’t go there as soon as you got back!” She chided.

“Fine…”

Earlier that day…

Pharynx and the remaining survivors fled for their lives. Things had not gone according to plan! The false queen was far more dangerous than they’d anticipated! This was supposed to be an easy mission! Derail the train, confirm the False Queen had died in the crash, and finish her off if she hadn’t and bring her head back to Chrysalis… After all, the False Queen was a pony sympathizer so everyling assumed she must have been as pathetic and pacifistic as them too. They were wrong… Very wrong… This mission had been anything but easy! It was bucking suicide mission! And the False Queen was more vicious and terrible than any creature he’d ever encountered!

Images of those four being devoured by her magic kept replaying through his mind over and over again. He could still hear the screaming… By the swarm… The screaming… That horrible screaming… He’d grown up with some of those lings since they’d hatched…

He shook his head to try to clear his thoughts and refocus. They needed to get away! They needed to warn the hive of what they were up against.

He dreaded how Queen Chrysalis would react to the news, but she needed to know.

Author's Note

I keep having long gaps in this story. I am so sorry for that, it's not intentional. This time I had a bit of writers block and I couldn't focus. Fortunately I have a new prescription for my ADHD. I probably should have waited until monday, since I like taking breaks from my medication on the weekends, but since it's been so long I decided to pull an all nighter to finish this chapter.

Hey, at least it's finally done. Sorry again for keeping you all waiting.

The only part I'm really worried about is Taylor's reaction to her "devouring swarm" spell. (Yes, I know the name is cliché as hell, but I had to think of something to call it so I wouldn't have to keep using its description over and over again.) Anyway, my main concern is if she had too little of a reaction to it. I mean, this shit's pretty grotesque and brutal. Should I have made her more shocked and horrified, or maybe just simply disturbed by it? Then again, as I said in the chapter, I'm not sure it's much worse than being burned alive and she is planning on making flamethrowers with enchanted crystals. Sooo... I'm uncertain.

Also, one last thing, how could Taylor hurt Sombra? Not necessarily kill him, he's a damn shadow. But just hurt him and slow him down. Light? Fire? Electricity like Shadow Stalker?

Edit: Almost forgot, the thing with dragonfly eyes. Apparently there are species of wasp that have good enough vision to recognize and remember faces. And apparently dragonflys have some of the best eyesight among insects, from what I've read. So, interestingly, Taylor should actually be able to see through her swarm a lot better than she does in canon, if I understand correctly.

Chapter 8

At the hospital the doctors cleaned my injuries and essentially glued my carapace back together in the places where it was cracked and bandaged the places they couldn’t. They also gave me an x-ray just to make sure I didn’t have any internal injuries, which I didn’t. Except for some muscle damage in my hind leg from where it had been gouged in the fight, but the doctors were able to patch that up to an extent.

When I was released, Twilight asked me about the Slaughterhouse Nine, since I’d mentioned them when we were discussing my Devouring Swarm spell.

It was only at that point I realized I hadn’t really told anyone about the Nine. The only one who might have known about them was Princess Luna, and that was because she’d seen them in my nightmares.

Remembering I’d promised Rainbow Dash I'd tell her about the Slaughterhouse Nine, I thought about inviting her to hear it. Then I remembered Spike would be at the library and was just a kid. The Slaughterhouse Nine really weren’t a safe topic to discuss with children. To be fair, most of my stories weren’t but the Slaughterhouse Nine especially.

So, after a brief discussion about it with Twilight, she decided to invite Rainbow and a few other friends of hers to hear the story. That way, they’d all get to hear the story at once and would all understand if I ever mentioned the Slaughterhouse Nine in conversation.

After dinner, I went back to my hive again and spent the rest of the day working on it while Twilight went to go talk to her friends and to work out a schedule when they could all take an hour or two out of their day to listen to me telling everyone about the most infamous group of psychotic murderers from Earth Bet.

Paranoid about changeling assassins trying to kill me in my sleep, I just slept in a secluded area of my hive.

The next day, Twilight arrived and told me she’d scheduled story time for Saturday at noon. And two days after that she came back with a package for me that was delivered to her library. It was my glasses. The princesses had noticed I was struggling to read or sign documents because of my poor eyesight and had me see an optometrist while I was in Canterlot. Since I hadn’t stayed in the city long enough to get my glasses while I was there, they just mailed them to Twilight since she was the only one who knew where my hive was besides Zecora.

I was still trying to work out a method of having my mail delivered to my hive directly without having to use Twilight as a middleman or creating a security vulnerability in my hive. The princesses insisted a teleportation system would be fine, or letting a unicorn in the post office know where the hive is so they could teleport my mail to me, but I was leery about both of those options.

A teleportation system meant anything and presumably anyone could use it to teleport straight into my hive. I’d seen changelings turning into rocks in the fight after the train derailment, so what was to stop them from turning into cardboard boxes and writing “To: Queen Weaver. At: Hive Weaver.” on themselves? It would be a Trojan horse situation. And if I told some random unicorn at the post office, who was to say they wouldn’t be kidnapped and interrogated to learn the location of my hive? I already hated the fact Twilight and Zecora knew where my hive was. I wasn’t willing to expose its location to more people, thus increasing the risk it could potentially be found.

So, for now, I just had to pick up any of my mail from Twilight’s library. Fortunately, I didn’t have much mail to begin with so it wasn’t a huge problem yet. Just minorly inconvenient.

Eventually Saturday came and I had to go to Twilight’s library to tell everyone about the Slaughterhouse Nine. Spike was out hanging out with the “cutiemark crusaders” for the day meaning we had the library to ourselves for a few hours.

In my human form, I walked through the door into the library and saw everyone already there waiting for me. All of them sitting around a big circular table.

“Hey, Weaver. So, are you ready to tell us about that army of serial killers you mentioned at the party?” Rainbow asked.

Walking over to them, I sat down in the one empty seat. “Yeah, but that’s going to be near the end… How do I start this…?”

“How ‘bout at the beginning?” Applejack suggested.

“Not as simple as you make it sound… Alright… The Slaughterhouse Nine. They are or were a group of super powered serial killers. They had different members at different points so I’m going to have to explain different names at different points. I’m going to be starting with their attack on Brockton Bay so I’ll start with the members they had at that time. There was Jack Slash, the leader of the group. He had the power to project the edges of sharp objects. So you could be on opposite ends of the street from him and he could still cut you. I’m not sure what the max range of his knives were or if he had a maximum range at all. But he carried a variety of knives so he could cut, slice, or hack through you in different ways as needed.”

I transformed into Jack Slash to show them what he looked like before quickly turning back.

“How did that work? Like, do you know the magic he used to do that?” Twilight asked.

I looked at her. “It wasn’t magic and that goes into Scion’s first appearance and how powers work in general which is a whole different topic. I’d rather focus on one thing for now. All you need to know is, no it wasn’t magic. Parahumans essentially just had superpowers. I personally had the power to control all of the bugs within a certain radius and I could do a lot with my powers. I even made my first costume out of spider silk.”

“Er… I’m sorry for interrupting again, but spiders aren’t bugs. They’re arachnids.” Twilight corrected me.

I looked at her. “Twilight… I’m using the word bug as a broad term to make this conversation easier. I’m not using it in whatever proper classification the word refers to in a scientific context, since my powers didn’t really seem to care about that. I could control spiders, beetles, centipedes, cockroaches, worms, caterpillars, flies, bees, wasps, mosquitos, moths, butterflies, crabs, lobsters, shrimp, and just about every other kind of bug, insect, or whatever. I could see through their eyes, hear everything they could, and was aware of everything they felt or smelled.”

I shook my head. “Anyway, we’re getting off track.” I proceeded to finish explaining all of the members of the Slaughterhouse Nine and their powers. I transformed into each of them, as I was explaining them and their powers. The only one I didn’t turn into was Crawler because he was so big.

“They all sound so scary…” Fluttershy muttered, trembling a bit.

“Indeed… I can’t believe such an adorable little filly had such horrific powers.” Rarity commented.

“They were worse in person. Trust me. Anyway, after Brockton Bay was nearly destroyed by Leviathan, they decided to pay a visit.”

“Who’s Leviathan?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“An Endbringer. Endbringers are giant indestructible monsters with ridiculously strong super powers that would appear in turns every three months or so and destroy cities. They were impossible to stop or kill. Dozens of heroes and villains died trying to hold them off or drive them back every time they appeared, and our strongest capes could barely do anything to them. Anyway, the Slaughterhouse Nine liked to visit cities after the Endbringers showed up just to make everything worse for everyone. You might think I’m being hyperbolic, but no. That was genuinely their reasoning, as far as I’m aware. So after Leviathan showed up, it was our turn.”

I gave everyone an explanation of the events following the Slaughterhouse Nine’s arrival in Brockton Bay.

“So you were a supervillain?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I started out wanting to be a hero. Then I decided to try to be a double agent to spy on the Undersiders so I could turn them into the PRT. Shit happened, I ended up realizing the ‘heroes’ could be just as bad if not worse than the villains, and ended up joining the Undersiders for real. Ironically, we did more good for the city than the heroes did. I left the undersiders and became a hero later because circumstances sort of forced me to. That’s actually where I got the name Weaver. Originally, the cape name the PRT gave me was Skitter. The Wards’ PR team wanted to rebrand me after I joined them so they gave me a new costume and changed my alias to Weaver. This is what I looked like in costume as Skitter… And this is what I looked like as Weaver.”

I changed between my first and second costumes.

“I had a third name later, though I only really heard it once after everything was over from the person who shot me in the head. At the end, when I was leading the fight against Scion, they called me Khepri.” I morphed into the costume I wore as Khepri.

“Wait, so Weaver isn’t your actual name?!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

“It may as well be. And it is officially my name here in Equestria since that’s what everyone calls me. I don’t have a secret identity or civilian persona anymore. My dad was pretty much the only reason I kept up my civilian identity at all, and I’m pretty sure he died when the Apocalypse happened. Even if he’s alive though, I’ll never see him again. So when I met Luna in my dreams in the hospital, I let her decide what to call me since it doesn’t matter to me anymore. She decided Weaver sounded the best so it stuck.”

“You must tell us, what is your real name, darling?” Rarity asked, curiosity oozing off of her.

“My original name was Taylor. Or Taylor Hebert. My dad was Danny Hebert. He was the head of hiring and the spokesperson for the Dockworker’s Association.”

“So, do you mind if we call you Taylor? Or would you prefer it if we kept calling you Weaver?” Twilight asked.

“In public, call me Weaver. It’ll be less confusing for everyone. Otherwise you can call me any of my previous names. It doesn’t matter to me.” I told them. If I was being honest I didn’t like the idea of them calling me Khepri. That period of my life was a sore subject for me. But I couldn’t tell them that since I didn’t want to explain why it was a sore subject for me. So I’d just have to suck it up and deal with it.

I sighed. “Anyway, where were we?”

“You were telling us about the meeting between all the villain groups and the heroes to deal with the Slaughterhouse Nine.” Twilight stated.

“Right. That… Thank you, Twilight.” I picked up where I left off.

Eventually I got to the point where Brian was captured by Bonesaw. Everyone stopped talking and I could sense the fear, revulsion, and horror rolling off of them as I described what Bonsaw did to him and what she said she was going to do to me.

Fluttershy was sobbing. Applejack put on a mask of stoicism, but I could sense she was disturbed by the scene I was describing. Rarity had to excuse herself for a few minutes. Twilight actually set her paper and quill, which she'd been using to take notes, down and had to collect herself. Pinkie Pie's mane which had been steadily deflating the more I talked about the Slaughterhouse Nine, now hung fully limp on her head and she looked visibly upset. After describing what happened to Brian and retelling Bonesaw's words to me, verbatim, Pinkie actually rushed over to me and gave me a bone crushingly tight hug. It took a minute of calming her down and reassurances to get her off of me.

"What the buck?! This is a filly we're talking about right?! You did say Bonesaw was just a filly!" Rainbow Dash demanded.

"Yup. She was just a little girl at the time, and she still did all of that."

"How?! Why?! What the buck is wrong with her?! I... Agh! I just don't get how a filly could be so... so..."

"Irredeemably Evil?" Applejack finished for her.

"Yeah! Even Nightmare Moon wasn't that bad! Heck, even Queen Chrysalis wouldn't go that far! This is just so bucking wrong! How is a little filly worse than the most evil ponies in Equestria?!"

"Well, Bonesaw was being manipulated by Jack Slash. He was pretty much the sole driving force behind all of her atrocities. Everything she did was because he encouraged it or because she wanted his approval. She viewed the Slaughterhouse Nine as a big family with Jack Slash as the 'father' and the Siberian as the 'mother'. Not great parental figures."

"I hate this... It's sad and terrible and... hrg... I just wanna kick that dumb meanie Jack Slash! How could he make a little filly do such awful things?!" Pinkie Pie whined.

"As you'll come to understand, Jack Slash was probably the most evil bastard on the planet."

"If I had a chance I'd fly him up into the clouds and let him bucking drop." Rainbow growled.

"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight gasped.

"What?! You know he deserves it if he made a filly into a such a bucking monster! Just..." Rainbow Dash sighed. "I'm sorry, Twilight... But... Come on! You gotta see where I'm coming from! If anyone deserves it, it's totally that guy!"

"Gotta agree with Rainbow Dash. Jack Slash definitely deserves it... Trust me, if I could've put a bullet in his skull or had a massive swarm of bugs eat him alive, I would have. Never got the chance though, sadly." I told them.

After that the table descended into a grim silence.

When Rarity got back I continued. Finishing up their activities in Brockton, I skipped ahead two years to when they came back with an army of clones.

I skipped over the whole thing with Aster, not wanting to deal with the drama surrounding that decision. One thing I'd learned since arriving was that the ponies were incredibly naïve. There would be no way I could possibly convince them killing Aster was the only thing I could have done in that situation.

Then I had to explain Scion's rampage since it happened immediately after the Slaughterhouse Nine-thousand incident.. Not wanting to have to keep referring to it as "Scion's Rampage" I decided to call it the "Golden War". I also left out the whole thing about me controlling the bodies of every cape in existence.

"So, that's the Slaughterhouse Nine and the apocalypse or 'Golden War'. So if I mention any of them or Scion, now all of you know who I'm talking about. Any questions?"

"I've got one!" Rainbow Dash said, raising a hoof.

"Okay. What?"

"Why don't you write a book? You could totally turn your life on Earth Bet into a series like Daring Doo!"

I blinked, processing what she was suggesting.

Pinkie Pie, who had started recovering from how upset she was earlier perked up a bit now that the topic was changing. "That's a great idea, Rainbow! You should totally write a book, Taylor! Your life sounds horrible, having to deal with meanies like Bonesaw, Jack Slash, and Scion, but also super duper exciting!"

“Uh…” I looked around at the six ponies.

“Actually, yeah. I agree. Great idea, Rainbow Dash!” Twilight said with a smile.

“I know, right?! It’d be so cool!” Rainbow said excitedly.

“Not only that, but an auto-biography could be a great way to let everypony get to know who you really are and improve public sentiment, Taylor. Once they realize you weren’t originally a changeling and aren’t an evil monster like Queen Chrysalis, it should improve a lot of ponies' opinions of you drastically!” Twilight told me.

“Er… I’d rather not.” I responded uncomfortably.

“What? Why not?!” Rainbow demanded.

“Because there are certain things in my life that are very personal which I don’t want to talk about. Things that would leave big gaps in any auto-biography I could write, which people would constantly ask me about and demand explanations for. Not to mention the fact a lot of people would think I was lying. Sure Princess Luna can vouch for me, since she can apparently tell whenever someone’s lying, somehow, but that’s not going to convince everyone. Plus, I have to worry about Queen Chrysalis. I don’t want to give away too much information about myself. If I wrote an autobiography, she could buy or steal a copy and use what I wrote to figure out more about my personality and how I operate. From there she could devise better strategies against me. I would be putting myself in even more danger than I’m in already.”

None of what I told them were lies. However, I left out the real reason I didn’t want to write an autobiography. I didn’t want to write about what I did as Khepri. I could try to lie, but I didn’t know if Luna’s apparent lie detecting powers extended to text. Plus, the situation with Aster would definitely not earn me any points with anyone. I could see the headlines now. “Queen Weaver mind controlled an entire world and sent her victims to die!” and “Queen Weaver murdered a foal in her previous life!” It would be a PR nightmare and would absolutely turn public sentiment against me. Especially if anyone thought I might still have my master powers. If they did, I might very well be put in the “too scary to be left alive” category. I felt like I was pretty close to being placed there anyway.

I could see and sense the enthusiasm draining out of the ponies.

“Aww… Dang it…” Rainbow grumbled.

“Well, shoot. Ain’t nothing for it then. I feel like there’s more ya ain’t tellin’ us. Felt like you were leavin’ stuff out when you were tellin’ us about those murderers too. But I’ll leave it be. I assume you have your reasons.” Applejack stated.

“Uh… Thanks…” I said, unsure how to react to that. It did raise a bunch of questions in my mind, however. Did Applejack have lie detecting powers too? Did lie detecting powers count lies by omission? Were the Princesses aware I hadn’t told them everything? Why hadn’t they mentioned it if they were? I didn’t like the potential implications here.

“‘Course. Anyway, this was…uh… interesting… but I gotta get back to the farm. I don’t got many chores today but I still got some things that need doin’. So I’ll see ya’ll later, girls.” Applejack said, getting up.

Everyone else followed her lead, getting up and saying their goodbyes. Thus leaving Twilight and I alone.

“Applejack said you left stuff out. Is that true?” She asked.

“Everyone has their secrets, Twilight. Like I said, there are some things that are very personal which I don’t want to talk about. I’d appreciate it if you’d respect my privacy. Anyway, have you made any progress in finding non-lethal spells for me to try to work on?” I said, changing the subject.

“Oh! Yes, I have! I have a whole list of non-lethal spells for self defense we can try to practice.” Her horn glowed and there was a flash of light as a piece of paper appeared in front of her.

We went to a safe spot outside of town to try practicing some of the spells, trying to figure out which of them could easily be translated from unicorn magic into changeling magic and which would take more work to translate or couldn’t be translated at all.

Finding a couple I was confident I should be able to work with, I started working on translating them over and practicing with them.

When the sun started to go down we went our separate ways.

Over the next two weeks I spent my time practicing various different forms of magic. I finally managed to enchant a crystal to burn. I couldn’t make the flame very big yet, but it was a start on my way to making proper weapons and defenses. I did manage to figure out how to make crystals work something like flash bangs, minus the bang. Apparently it was possible to make crystals produce sound, but I was still figuring out how that worked. So for now I only managed to figure out how to make the crystals produce a really bright flash without any sound.

In my efforts to try to replicate my powers from back on Earth Bet, I did manage to figure out how to use magic to control insects. Though it wasn’t nearly to the same scale as I used to be able to. Nor was I connected to their senses in any way. My natural empathic abilities as a changeling helped to an extent, but it wasn’t in any way comparable. Nor could I make the bugs feel love for me to feed on, much to my continued frustration. I really wanted a better and more sustainable food source than the ponies and insects were my greatest hope in that regard. I could make them feel a mating instinct, essentially lust, but not love. And despite the succubus comparisons I couldn’t actually feed on lust, convenient as it would be. It seemed they weren’t capable of feeling love in the same way more complex and intelligent creatures could.

I could potentially feed on the love of animals but they were a lot harder to control than insects. Still it left open the possibility of breeding animals to feed on their love instead of feeding on ponies. Having dedicated livestock would be convenient for feeding myself and my kids, and we could potentially sell meat to the Griffons later, but that was something for the future. I couldn’t exactly raise livestock very easily out in the Everfree, especially when I needed to keep my hive hidden, plus I needed to study mind controlling magic more so I could force the livestock to feel love for myself and my future kids to feed on.

Still, my limited control over insects was good enough that I was able to collect a few dozen spiders from the Everfree and use them to start producing spider silk fabric on a small scale.

After talking to Twilight about it she suggested I use star-spiders because not only was their silk strong, but it was apparently naturally beautiful too, and they could produce a surprisingly high quantity of it. So, after the two of us went out and found some star spiders in the Everfree, the first thing I did was start using them to make a length of fabric. It took a few hours of work over the course of multiple days, but once I had what I thought was enough I gave the fabric to Rarity to pay her back for the dress she gave me, which unfortunately got destroyed. She wanted to buy the fabric from me at first, but I managed to convince her to let me use it to pay her back for the dress. We did, however, work out a deal as she wanted to buy more of the fabric from me in the future. Thus I finally established a small source of income.

Shortly after that I started feeling a bit weird. Not wanting to go to the doctors again, I went to Twilight instead. She ran some tests to try to figure out what was wrong and deduced that I was beginning the process of molting.

So I spent the next few days hiding in my hive. The process wasn’t painful, but it was a bit uncomfortable. Especially since the process made my perpetually present hunger even more intense than usual for a brief period. This came as a shock to me but when it was over, my arm had completely regrown. Unfortunately my new carapace still had to harden so my body was soft and overly sensitive for a couple more days. But I had the leftover carapace from my molt which I could break apart and glue together to make carapace plates I could use in armor, just like my first costume.

It had been about a month since Chrysalis had made her first move and nothing else had happened yet. It was starting to worry me. I’d noticed some odd activity in the Everfree, so I assumed she was trying to locate my hive, but I hadn’t managed to find or capture any of her spies yet. Surprisingly, the news about the train derailment had spun me in a positive light. There was witness testimony that I’d tried to take control of the situation and lead the changelings away from the train to protect the civilians. In a couple of the papers, they did have testimony from the Pegasi from the Royal Guard which tried to paint me as a monster who tortured my enemies to death, but it was largely overshadowed by the other testimonies.

Royal propaganda at its finest, I assumed. And, interestingly, it was working. I noticed the ponies in Ponyville warming up to me a bit more after the positive press I'd been receiving.

Regardless, I had just about finished my planning and preparation and was about ready to head to Griffonstone to go talk to Ambassador Gruff. I had mainly been holding off until I finished making a new suit of spider-silk armor, just in case I had to participate in any major battles. My suit was stab and slash resistant, which would protect me from swords and spears, let alone beaks and claws. It wouldn’t save me from something like a hammer or a mace, but even medieval plate mail struggled with that and I couldn’t afford platemail anyway. So I’d just have to make do with what I had. My new suit was about a third of the way finished, so it wouldn’t be long until I was ready to head out and re-establish the Kingdom of Griffonstone.

I was working on trying to build a proof-of-concept for my flamethrower when I sensed a source of emotions appear in my hive.

I set the crystal and mechanism I was working on down, and made my way through my hive to the source of emotions.

“Hello, Twilight. What’s up?” I asked.

“Hey, Taylor! Sooo… You know that test Princess Celestia called me to Canterlot about?” She asked.

“Yeah. What about it?” I asked.

“Well, apparently my test is to help Princess Cadance and Shining Armor find a way to save the Crystal Empire. So, my friends and I are getting ready to go up there. We don’t know how long it’ll take. So that means, if you stayed here, you would have to go without food for awhile. We don’t want to make you go hungry, so uh… We have two solutions! First, you can come with us. Maybe you could help us out somehow! Or, you can stay with the Princesses in Canterlot for a couple days. Which would you prefer?” Twilight asked.

I looked at her for a moment. “I have two questions. What’s the Crystal Empire, and what are you saving it from?”

“The Crystal Empire is an empire that was banished by a curse a thousand years ago. It just reappeared. As for what we’re saving it from… Uh… I don’t really know yet? We have no idea what to expect…” Twilight said with an awkward smile.

“You don’t know? Why didn’t you ask Celestia while you were in Canterlot? If they’re sending you to save it, then they should have some idea of how and why it’s in danger.”

Twilight winced. “Um… I… didn’t think of it at the time? I sort of… thought them not telling me might have been part of the test…”

“If it is, then either they’re both fucking morons or they’re actively trying to get you killed. You don’t send someone into a potentially dangerous situation without giving them basic information about what they’re going to be up against. Even for a ‘test’. Especially not when you’re sending a civilian… Ugh… If Shining Armor and Cadance are there, why are they even sending you in the first place? No offense, but what good can an untrained civilian do? Are you trying to find a solution to some natural disaster? Is there some issue they need your magical expertise to deal with? Please tell me you at least have some details. Don’t tell me they’re sending you in completely blind.”

“Uhhh…” She looked and felt awkward and nervous.

I facepalmed. “I’m sort of tempted to stay in Canterlot just so I can yell at them… I’ll go with you. There’ll be less of a chance of me causing a diplomatic incident by insulting the Princesses that way, and I can at least try to help if the situation’s actually dangerous. So, when are we leaving?”

“Tomorrow morning at ten.”

“Alright. I’ll see you tomorrow morning then, Twilight. For now, I have some things I need to get ready.” I told her, turning and walking away.

“Alright, see you tomorrow!” Twilight called out to me.

Author's Note

I don't like this chapter. It feels so weak, Way too much exposition and filler. But I didn't quite know how else to fill out a month's worth of fuck all happening. Nothing that happened in this chapter, besides the Slaughterhouse Nine conversation, could really make for an entire chapter in its own right. And I didn't want to write an entire chapter filled with exposition anyone who read Worm would already know.

So this was effectively a timeskip with filler explaining what happened in the timeskip.

I'm sorry, everyone. I might try to come back to this chapter and fill out certain parts of it. Like the conversation with Rarity, but we'll see. There might not even be enough content to work with here for it to be worth updating anyway. So, if I do, I'll say it in the notes of whatever chapter I'm on when I do it, and I'll put (updated) in the title of this chapter.

Chapter 9

Getting bored of fiddling with the bucket of crystals I brought, both as weapons and a means of keeping myself occupied, I looked out the window of the train at the billowing snow. We were almost there.

Honestly, I was somewhat surprised the train had been fixed this fast. But I suppose I shouldn’t have been, considering the train was a vital means of transportation and the shipping of goods across Equestria. They must have been working around the clock to get it back in working order.

“So… Does Celestia send the six of you on dangerous missions often?” I asked.

“Well, not often. However, we are the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. So I suppose it’s only natural for her to send us to deal with whatever’s the matter in the Crystal Empire.” Rarity stated.

“The Elements of Harmony?” I said in a deadpan tone. “And what, exactly, are those?”

“The elements of harmony are six powerful magic artifacts! Each representing a different element of… well… harmony! And friendship. Each of us embodies one of those six elements and thus the artifacts representing each one resonates with each of us, making us their bearers. I bear the Element of Magic. Pinkie Pie is Laughter, Applejack is Honesty, Rainbow Dash is Loyalty, Rarity is Generosity, and Fluttershy is Kindness. If we use them together, we can unleash a powerful force of harmonic magic that can help achieve amazing things!” Twilight explained with a smile.

“Princess Celestia and Luna used to wield them before us. However, when Princess Luna started to become jealous of Celestia and became Nightmare Moon, seeking to overthrow her and thrust the world into eternal night, Princess Celestia had to use them to banish her to the moon for a thousand years. When she returned, the six of us found the elements and were able to use them to purge the evil from her and bring her back to normal! And when Discord, the Spirit of Chaos, broke free after Celestia and Luna sealed him away a thousand years ago, we were able to use the elements to turn him back into a stone statue! We, uh… We had planned to use them when Chrysalis invaded during Cadance and Shining Armor’s wedding, but we couldn’t get to them. It was actually Cadance and Shining Armor who managed to drive them off!”

I listened to Twilight’s explanation silently. When she was done I said, “So… What I’m getting here is, you have a powerful magic weapon that can banish people to the moon, turn them to stone, or Master them… Mind control them.”

“Not mind control. It’s more like there was a malevolent force making Princess Luna evil and the Elements purged that from her.” Twilight corrected me.

“Right. So change that to undoing mind control then… If the Princesses sent you here to take care of this because you can use these artifacts, do you have them? The only one who seems to have brought anything is Rarity. Thank you for letting me borrow one of your scarfs by the way, Rarity. I’m probably going to need it.”

“Of course, darling!” Rarity said with a smile.

“Uh… No, we don’t. The Princesses have them for safekeeping and they didn’t give them to us before we left.” Twilight said.

"Then what was the point of sending you six in the first place? No offense, I just don't get it. They have their Royal Guard. Ponies specifically trained to deal with and eliminate threats. They could have easily just sent a few dozen or even a whole battalion of them. Yet they're sending a bunch of civilians with zero training into a potentially dangerous situation with zero information on what to expect, without guards to protect you, and without these Elements of Harmony which I'm assuming are the only reason you'd be considered for the job in the first place. It doesn't make any sense."

“I’m sure the Princesses must have a really good reason for it…” Fluttershy mumbled.

“Indeed. This was supposed to be a test for Twilight, was it not? So perhaps the Elements would have simplified matters too much.” Rarity suggested.

“Besides, we’re tough enough on our own! You’ll see, we won’t even need the Elements!” Rainbow Dash said confidently.

“Whatever you say…” I stated.

A few minutes later we arrived at the station. I’d already put on the scarf Rarity was letting me borrow. It was a simple white one, since she said it complimented my mane and contrasted well against my carapace.

“Ha! And you all made fun of me for packing so many scarves! At least you had the sense to borrow one, Taylor.” Rarity said as we all stepped off the train into the blizzard.

“I didn’t say a word.” Spike commented, carrying some of Rarity’s bags.

Having mercy on the poor struggling dragon, I grabbed some of the things he was carrying with my telekinesis to lighten his load.

“Are you sure you’re okay out here, Spike? I know you dragons have natural fire magic which should keep you relatively warm, but you’re still a reptile. I’m not so sure being out in the cold like this is good for you.” I asked, looking at him.

“I’m fine. Like you said, my fire keeps me warm. Otherwise Twilight wouldn’t have let me come in the first place.” Spike assured me. “Thanks for looking out for me, though. I appreciate it!”

I nodded and followed the others, carrying some of Rarity’s bags and my bucket of un-enchanted crystals.

“Twilight!” A voice called out from the blizzard.

“Shining Armor?” Twilight called back.

A figure started to become visible. It was Shining Armor, wearing specialized protective gear for the snow. “Twili, you made it!” He exclaimed, taking off the protective gear to reveal his face. The two of them ran towards each other and embraced.

Their hug only lasted a second before Shining Armor released her and turned. “We’d better get moving. There are things out here we really don’t want to run into after dark.”

“And yet you don’t need the Elements of Harmony…” I muttered under my breath, too quiet for anyone to hear me.

Fluttershy gulped nervously. “What kind of things?”

“Let’s just say the Empire isn’t the only thing that’s returned.”

“Could you please be a little less vague? I’m willing to help fight, if it comes to that, but I’d like to know what I’m dealing with first.” I requested, getting annoyed by the lack of information.

“Weaver. I didn’t expect you to come with them.” Shining Armor said, looking at me.

“Well I had three choices. I could have stayed in Ponyville for a few days without food. I could have gone to Canterlot and yelled at Princess Celestia and Princess Luna for being so stupid as to send a bunch of untrained civilians to deal with whatever’s going on, without even giving them so much as the most basic information about what the hell they’re getting into. Or I could have come with these six to help keep them safe and avoid causing a political incident. The choice was pretty obvious. So, some information would be nice.” I told him.

“There isn’t a whole lot of time. I’ll explain on the way.” Shining Armor said, turning and walking back into the blizzard.

We all followed him.

As we were walking I took a couple of crystals out of the bucket, enchanted them to emit fire and held them close to myself, partially to help keep myself warm and partially so I’d have a couple pre-enchanted crystals ready in case I needed them. The holes that formed from the enchanting process caused the crystals to whistle in the wind of the blizzard.

“Something keeps trying to get in! We think it’s the unicorn king who originally cursed the place!” Shining Armor shouted back at us.

“But Princess Celestia said I was being sent here to find a way to protect the Empire! If King Sombra can’t get in, then it must already be protected!” Twilight shouted back.

‘Unless whatever’s keeping him out won’t last forever.’ I thought to myself.

Suddenly we all heard a strange ghostly howling noise.

“AH! That’s one of the things, isn’t it?!” Fluttershy asked, panicking.

“We have to get to the Crystal Empire, now!” Shining Armor exclaimed.

I pulled about half of the crystals out of my bucket and rapidly enchanted each of them, setting them all on fire.

Then a massive shadow-like creature with glowing green and red eyes which seemed to be emitting some kind of purple energy emerged from the ice behind us.

I immediately reacted by pelting the shadow creature with burning crystals at high speeds. Unfortunately, while the creature hissed in either pain or discomfort, my crystals just passed straight through him as if he were little more than a cloud of smoke. So I was dealing with a Breaker with intangibility like Shadow Stalker. Wonderful.

"I'll try to hold it off!" I shouted, flapping my wings and flying up into the air. I'd dropped Rarity's bags and was now focusing entirely on my crystals.

The shadow fired beams of magic at me. I dodged. Most went into the sky but one hit the ground and pitch black crystals sprouted from the ice and snow where the beam hit.

Then shadow billowed out of the way as a beam struck past him.

I didn't even have to look. I sensed Shining Armor's emotions remain in place while everyone else fled. He was staying behind to help me fight.

With my crystals annoying this thing but not doing any serious damage, I cast my Devouring Swarm spell. However this proved completely ineffectual as there was no physical body for my spell to destroy.

I had to stay mobile, flying around the creature to dodge its beams.

"Weaver! Love! King Sombra is repelled by Love based magic!" Shining Armor shouted at me. As soon as he said that, he had to quickly teleport out of the way to avoid being hit by one of King Sombra's beams.

“Great! What do you want me to do about it?!” I shouted back at him.

“I don’t know! You’re the changeling! Can’t you just vomit up some of the love you’ve eaten or something?!” He demanded, blasting the creature with more bolts of presumably love based magic.

“That’s not how this works!” I shouted at him, as another bolt blasted past me, far too close for comfort. “He doesn’t seem to like fire, but the flames don’t seem to be burning him! Any idea why? Gah!” One of the beams shot past me within inches of my face.

“Light! It must be the light of the fire! He’s repelled by love and light! So the light of the fire must be doing more than the actual flames themselves!” Shining Armor shouted. This time, he was unable to react fast enough and was hit by one of Sombra’s beams. Tiny black crystals sprouted from his horn as he was knocked to the ground.

“Light, huh…” I took out several more crystals from my bucket and quickly enchanted them to strobe with very bright flashes of light.

The shadow creature hissed in pain and backed away from the flashing crystals as if they were causing him actual pain.

I quickly enchanted the rest of my crystals to produce as much light as possible for as long as possible and then scattered them in a circle around Sombra who was now very obviously in pain.

With Sombra distracted by the light of my crystals I flew down, grabbed Shining armor, and flew off in the direction of the Crystal Empire while carrying him. “You okay?” I asked, seeing he was still awake.

“I’m fine, but these crystals are preventing me from using my magic.” He told me as we flew.

Looking back, I saw Sombra had already broken my enchanted crystals and was now chasing after us. I fired a few beams of magic at him and tried to pick up the pace, flying as fast as I could towards the Crystal Empire and the barrier surrounding it.

As soon as we were past the barrier, I saw Twilight and flew down towards them. After setting down Shining Armor I landed next to him.

“Oh no, Shining Armor, your horn!”

“I know, Twili…” He responded, raising a hoof to touch the crystals.

We walked forwards through what appeared to be a gate and saw the Crystal Empire in the distance.

“Sparklerific!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed happily at the sight.

“A city made entirely out of crystals…” I muttered to myself, somewhat awed by the sight.

We walked on foot the rest of the way to the city.

I could sense the emotions of the ponies in the city, within a five block radius of myself, but something was wrong. Instead of the wide diversity of emotions I normally sensed everywhere else, I pretty much only sensed confusion and anxiety. It was genuinely creepy how uniform the emotions were. There were flickerings of other emotions but they were almost completely drowned out by the confusion and anxiety seemingly everyone felt.

As we were walking, however, I noticed something. Other emotions. They stood out against the crowd like a beacon because of how different they were. If it wasn’t for the eerie uniformity of all the other emotions, I might have never even noticed. Sorrow, compassion, and love.

I didn’t mention it at first, but then I noticed another source of emotions that were exactly the same. Then another. And another. It was different from the uniformity of the citizens. It was as if the same person was in multiple places at once. Then, as we got within five blocks of the castle I sensed numerous sources of the same emotions within.

Since we were going to the castle anyway, I decided I’d investigate this anomaly while we were there.

“It’s gorgeous! Absolutely gorgeous!” Rarity all but squealed in excitement. She made a few excited noises. “There are no words!”

“Focus, Rarity. We’re here to help Twilight. Not to admire the scenery.” Applejack told the fashionista.

“Eh… I don’t see what the big deal is. Just looks like another old castle to me.” Rainbow Dash commented.

“Ah! Phbt. Kah! ANOTHER OLD…?! Have you lost your mind?! Look at the magn…” Rarity stopped as Rainbow Dash giggled and high fived, or high hoofed, Applejack. “Very funny…”

All of us walked into the Castle and Shining Armor led us to the throne room.

Inside we found a very exhausted looking Princess Cadance, her horn constantly glowing as she maintained some kind of spell.

I sensed one of the anomalous sources of emotion in that very room.

“Cadance!” Twilight called out, trotting ahead.

Cadance perked up, happiness flooding through her, and rushed over to Twilight.

““Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!”” Twilight and Cadance repeated, performing what I could only assume was some sort of secret handshake, before devolving into a fit of giggling.

Cadence’s horn flickered as she struggled to maintain the spell she was holding. “One of these days, we need to get together when the fate of Equestria isn’t hanging in the balance.” Cadance sighed.

“Are you okay?” Twilight asked.

“Cadance has been able to use her magic to spread love and light. That seems to be what is protecting us. But she hasn’t slept, barely eats! I want to help her but my protection spell has been countered by King Sombra.”

“It’s alright, Shining Armor. I’m fine.” Cadance tried to reassure him.

“She’s not fine. She can’t go on like this forever. And if her magic were to fade… Well you saw what’s out there waiting for that to happen.”

“Excuse me for interrupting, but if you’ve known his weakness and can channel love and light into magic this entire time, why haven’t you used it against him?” I asked, stepping forwards.

“Weaver! I didn’t know you were coming too… What do you mean, use it against him?” Cadance asked.

“I mean, why have you wasted all this time maintaining this barrier, exhausting yourself, instead of going out and fighting him? If you can channel love and light into a protective barrier, I don’t see why it couldn’t be channeled more directly into an attack. Isn’t that what you were doing earlier, Shining Armor? Channeling love into an attack? If so, then you could have gone out there and ended this as soon as you arrived. After all, if love and light can hurt him it should be able to kill him too.” I explained.

Shining Armor gave me a disapproving look. “Is violence always your first resort, Weaver? I read the report and talked to those guards ponies after the train crash. I even saw the bodies. I know what you did to those changelings.”

"They were trying to kill me. I defended myself. I haven't been in a real fight with magic before so I misjudged what dividing my Devouring Swarm spell would do. It was a mistake, but one I've learned from. I did what I had to in order to survive and to protect the ponies on the train. Judge me if you want, but it worked. And right now, how many more lives are in danger? Thousands? Millions? Just killing Sombra would have saved you a lot of time and effort, and it would have removed any possibility of him ever hurting anyone again."

"Please, stop. Both of you. Now isn't the time to argue. What I should or shouldn't have done doesn't matter now. I've already been maintaining the barrier. Now I'm too exhausted to go out there and fight him even if I wanted to. The only thing I can do right now is continue maintaining the barrier and I'm not sure how much longer I can keep it up." Cadance said, stepping between me and Shining Armor.

"That's why we're here." Twilight stated.

"Why we're all here." Applejack stated as she and the others approached.

"""Mhm!""" The others all hummed in agreement.

"Well with Cadance putting all her strength into keeping her spell going and me trying to keep an eye on signs of trouble in the arctic, we haven't been able to gather much information from the crystal ponies." Shining Armor informed us.

"Crystal ponies?!" Rarity gasped excitedly. "There are crystal ponies?!" She then looked around and noticed everyone was looking at her. A small flash of embarrassment ran through her. "Em… Ehem… Please, continue."

"I'm not sure there is much information to be gathered from them anyway." I stated.

"What do you mean?" Shining Armor asked.

"I can sense the emotions of everyone around me within a five block radius. So while we were walking to the castle I noticed everyone, and I mean everyone, is feeling confused and anxious. And no, I don't mean in any normal way one might expect people to be whenever a disaster happens. Their emotions are creepily uniform. It's like everyone is in a weird mass fugue state. Like if they were perpetually in a state of waking up from a dream or a nightmare. So I'm pretty sure they're under mind control. So the entire population of the city might be screwed."

"Are you sure? And are you trying to say you think they can't be helped?" Cadance asked.

"I'm positive they're under some sort of mind altering spell, yeah. And yeah, they might be screwed. I don't know how it works here, but on Earth Bet there was a villain called Heartbreaker. He could control the emotions of anyone around him. He used this to enslave a number of celebrities and later heroes that tried to stop him. Worse, his influence was permanent. This wasn't the case for all masters but I'm looking at this pessimistically and am operating under the assumption that whatever Sombra did to them is permanent like Heartbreaker." I explained.

Everyone looked disturbed by this.

"Skitter, what the buck is wrong with your world?" Rainbow Dash asked.

I shrugged. "A giant golden alien god."

Shining Armor shook his head. "Well, generally mind control magic isn't permanent like this 'Heartbreaker's' powers were. Thank harmony for that considering Chrysalis had me mind controlled when she was pretending to be Cadance… So, we can't operate under the assumption they can't be saved. We have to do our best to free them from whatever influence Sombra has over them."

"Great, so that's one more thing we have to deal with then… But that's not the only thing. There's something else." I stated.

"There's more? Seriously?! That's just what we need, more bad news!" Rainbow Dash groaned.

"Actually, I don't know what it is. It could be bad news or it could just be nothing. What I do know is that I sensed something else. Weird sources of emotions. Normally I might not have even noticed, but with everyone under some sort of mind control, it stood out like a sore thumb. It's like there's one person feeling all of those things, but somehow in multiple locations at once. One of those sources of emotions is in this room, right now." I explained.

I walked over to the wall behind the throne and everyone followed me.

I pointed at a spot in the wall. "Right there. In the wall. Either there's an illusion or a hidden panel, because there's something in there."

"Let me take a look." Twilight said, approaching the wall. Her horn glowed. "Oh my… Weaver's right. There's something here! There's a powerful ward right here. Let me see if I can…"

All of us waited as Twilight cast a spell on the wall. She seemed to be struggling for a few moments. However, it didn't take long for whatever ward was in place to fall, revealing a hollow space in the wall.

Looking inside I saw what looked to be the head of a unicorn made entirely out of some sort of black crystal.

Grabbing it with my telekinesis, I pulled it out of the hollow space and looked at it a bit closer.

"The head of some kinda statue?" Applejack asked.

I shook my head and frowned. "It's not a statue. Not unless statues can feel emotions. This thing is alive. Like, actually alive. It's one of the sources of the emotions I'm sensing. I'm guessing the other pieces are the rest of the body. On the train ride you guys mentioned the Elements of Harmony could turn people to stone? Well, I think Sombra must have figured out how to turn people to crystal. The big question is, who is this and why did he turn them to crystal? He obviously didn't want them to come back. Any ideas?"

“Well… It looks like the pictures I’ve seen of Queen Amore. She’s my distant relative and was the ruler of the Crystal Empire before Sombra took over. While I’ve been maintaining the barrier, I’ve read a bit about her, but I couldn’t find anything about what happened to her… To think her head was behind the throne I’ve been sitting on this entire time…” Princess Cadance said, looking at the head.

“If she’s made of crystal, she hasn’t been mastered. She might be able to tell us more than the Crystal Ponies. She’s still alive, so do you think there’s any way we can turn her back to normal? Or would she just fall apart even if we managed to turn her back after piecing her back together?” I asked.

“If we could find all of her pieces, then maybe we could bring her back… Taylor, do you think you can help us find her pieces?” Twilight asked.

“Easily. They’re all radiating emotion, and it stands out pretty clearly against everyone else. But I can’t undo any magic sealing them away.” I told her.

“You can leave that part to me!” Twilight said with a smile.

“Then that’s what all of you need to do. Go find the pieces of Queen Amore and bring them back here. If anyone knows how to protect the Crystal Empire without Cadance’s magic, it’ll be her. And if nothing else, she should at least be able to help by taking shifts with Cadance until we can find a more permanent solution.” Shining Armor stated.

“What are we waiting for? Let’s get going!” Twilight said eagerly.

Setting Queen Amore’s head down next to the throne, I followed Twilight and the others out of the throne room. “There are more pieces here in the castle. Let’s start with those. Follow me.” I told them, walking ahead.

It took a while to learn the castle’s layout and find our way to where all the pieces were hidden, but eventually we managed it. I was all carrying pieces with telekinesis. Once we collected the last piece that was in the castle we brought them all back to the throne room, and tried to put them back together. It was like putting together a puzzle but we eventually figured it out. This left us with Queen Amore’s head, neck, and mane fully intact. However, the rest of her body was still missing.

So we had to go out and collect the rest of the pieces hidden in the city. This took roughly an hour, but once we had all the pieces we brought them back and finished putting Queen Amore back together, only to realize we didn’t have enough pieces. There was a huge chunk missing from her chest and over half of her body was still missing.

“I don’t understand… Taylor, are you sure you didn’t sense any more pieces here in the city?” Twilight asked.

I shook my head. “I didn’t. I searched the entire city from the sky about three times just to make absolutely sure we got all of the pieces. If there were more here, I’d have sensed them. Sombra must have hidden the rest outside of the city somewhere.”

“If they aren’t in the city, then where are they?” Fluttershy asked quietly.

“Good question. He probably wanted to make them near impossible to find. So I’m guessing, the frozen wasteland all around the city.” I said grimly. “We might not be able to save her after all.”

“No! We can’t give up now! We’re so close! We need to find the rest of the pieces!” Twilight insisted. She started pacing as she thought to herself. “But we can’t just go out and wander the Frozen North aimlessly. We need leads… Sombra kept these pieces in the city. He kept her head behind his throne. In that case the other pieces have to be relatively close by too…”

“Um… Khepri…? You said it felt like Queen Amore was in multiple places at once, right?” Fluttershy asked nervously.

“I did, and it does.” I nodded, though while I didn’t show it I internally frowned at being called Khepri. It wasn’t Fluttershy’s fault though. She didn’t know I hated that name, so I couldn’t blame her.

“Well… If all of her pieces feel connected… Um… maybe they are? Uh… I… m-maybe they’re linked somehow? If that’s the case… w-why can’t you or Twilight use one of her pieces to follow the connection and find the rest of her pieces?” Fluttershy inquired.

Twilight seemed too lost in thought to hear this, for better or worse.

“I don’t know. I’ve never had to do anything like that before… Let me try something.” I took a loose shard that didn’t seem to connect to any of the other pieces we’d collected.

Closing my eyes I tried to focus on the emotions it was emitting. Trying to feel for anything connecting it to the other pieces we’d collected. It took a lot of concentration and focus but eventually I managed to notice something. I don’t know if it was just because of my relationship with insects, but my brain interpreted it as something like the strands of a spiderweb but made of emotion. Individually they were so faint they were incredibly difficult to see let alone notice unless you were looking at it in the right “light” or were looking incredibly hard for them. The only reason I’d noticed anything at all was because there were so many strands of the web so close together right now, making it more noticeable. Now Knowing what to look for, I had to search very hard but I was able to notice other individual strands leading off in different directions. I wasn’t able to feel where they led, only the general directions they were going in.

“I think I can lead us to the rest of the pieces.” I announced.

Twilight stopped and looked at me. “You can?!”

"Fluttershy had a good idea. The pieces are all magically linked in some way. It seems to be why all the pieces are emitting emotion instead of just her head. It's difficult, but if I try hard enough I can vaguely sense the connections as very tiny and faint threads of emotion. It takes a lot of effort and concentration, but I think I can guide us to where the rest are hidden. Though I'll need to take a piece so I don't lose track of the strands. This piece should work. It's small enough to carry easily and we can't connect it to anything yet." I explained.

“Fluttershy, you’re a genius!” Twilight exclaimed, rushing over to Fluttershy and grabbing her by the face.

“I… I am…?” Fluttershy squeaked.

“Yes! That was a brilliant idea!” She released Fluttershy and turned to face everyone. “Now that Taylor knows what to look for, we actually have a way of finding the rest of the pieces! So, let’s go!” Twilight insisted.

I put my hoof on Twilight’s back. “Hold on. We have to make some preparations first. These pieces aren’t in the city. That means we’re going to have to leave the barrier to find them. And as soon as we do, we’ll have Sombra bearing down on us. Not to mention it’s getting darker and thus colder. So if we don’t want anyone to be caught by Sombra or get hypothermia, we’re going to need some equipment.”

“Oh… Right… Good point…” Twilight said sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head with her hoof. “Ehem… Alright, let’s go get the equipment we need, then we can go.”

While Twilight’s friends were getting the snow gear we’d need, Twilight and I gathered and enchanted a number of very bright crystals to repel Sombra. I also gathered up a couple bags of crystals we hadn’t enchanted so Twilight and I could turn them into flashers to drive him back as needed since the crystals we were wearing would only prevent him from getting close to us physically. They wouldn’t stop him from shooting at us with his crystal magic.

I would have pre-enchanted the flashers and set them to go off with some mechanism so everyone could have been armed with them, but that would have taken time we didn’t have. Thus we opted for the next best thing. We tied some crystals to sticks like torches and enchanted them to be painfully bright. Enchanting them to be so bright and last as long as we needed them to be took about an hour, we had to wear eye protection the entire time, and it was a bit taxing on both me and Twilight since it took a lot of magical energy, but it was still faster than trying to make more complex devices. When we were done, we simply wrapped the ridiculously bright crystals in a heat resistant fabric so they wouldn’t risk blinding anyone until they were needed, while not risking them burning the fabric or setting it on fire due to the sheer amount of light they were putting out.. Each of the girls had at least one of these ‘torches’ each, in case they needed to fend off Sombra. Especially if they were accidentally separated from the group for whatever reason.

We were all standing at the edge of the barrier, wearing our snow equipment. Each of us had brightly glowing crystals tied to our legs, around our bodies, and hanging from our necks. It was by far the best personal protection we could get at the moment. I also had the piece of Queen Amore I’d be using to track the other pieces tied around my neck like a necklace, and both Twilight and I were carrying saddle bags full of unenchanted crystals.

“Is everypony ready? Once we step out there, we’re not turning back until we’ve found the last of Queen Amore’s pieces. Or until tomorrow morning. Whichever comes first. We can’t wait any longer than that. Cadance won’t last.” Twilight asked.

“We’re ready! Let’s go get those pieces and save the Crystal Empire!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

“Yeah, let’s do this! We’ve all got our lights. This time Sombra will be the one running away from us!” Rainbow Dash said confidently.

“If something goes wrong, run back here. I’ll hold him off to buy time for you all to get away again.” I said, staring out at the frozen wasteland beyond the barrier.

“If something goes wrong, I’ll teleport all of us away. Including you, Taylor.” Twilight told me.

“That works too.” I told her, walking towards the barrier. Closing my eyes, I tried my best to focus on one of the strands of emotion and followed it.

Author's Note

Just a heads up. I know she's supposed to be named Princess Amore, but I'm calling her Queen Amore instead just to better differentiate her from "Princess Mi Amore Cadenza". Plus in the show they mentioned that the "Crystal Fair" was started by the Crystal Empire's first "Queen".

Anyways, since we're going with Taylor and the others saving Queen Amore, how does a King Sombra redemption sound? After all, in the comics Princess Amore was trying to help Sombra redeem himself from the very beginning. And redeeming Sombra might be a way for Queen Amore to become an Alicorn, achieving a great feat to earn her ascension, thus resulting in Taylor having an alicorn she feels like she can trust more than Celestia and Luna as an ally. She'd feel like she could trust Amore more because Amore would owe her for finding her pieces so they could save her in the first place. Though the alicorn part is extraneous and unnecessary, I suppose.

Plus it'd be a way to start showing Taylor that not everything has to be solved with violence.

That said, Amore wasn't as close to Sombra as Radiant Hope was and he resents her for never telling him he was an Umbrum and why he was always in pain whenever the Crystal Fair happened, Plus Sombra might be too far gone to be redeemed anyway. So I'm not attached to the idea. It's just something I thought of when I decided to have Taylor save Amore. If no one cares either way, I'd probably just flip a coin to decide. So, redeemed Sombra yay or nay?

Chapter 10

As soon as we left the barrier, we heard Sombra howl and saw him emerge from the ice. Grabbing some crystals from my bag I quickly enchanted them to glow like light bulbs and held them up like a wall of light, trying to block Sombra and force him back.

He recoiled from the light and hissed in pain but without love mixed in it didn’t really do any significant damage, merely inflicting pain upon him. It was almost like pepper spray I noted to myself. It hurt but it wouldn’t kill anyone.

While Sombra was distracted by the wall of lights we all started running through the snow towards one of the pieces of Queen Amore.

Seeing us moving, Sombra forced himself to push through the glowing crystals to chase after us. I tried to keep the wall in front of him but he started shooting the crystals. Each one he shot turned black and slipped out of my telekinetic grasp falling to the snow, now dark. Twilight and I started throwing flashers at him which slowed him down but he roared in a mix of pain and fury and pushed past them too.

Twilight turned her head and fired what was essentially a laser at Sombra. A bright beam of condensed light. It seared through him causing him to falter and writhe in agony.

He tried to retaliate by shooting Twilight but I held several flashers up to his eyes, disorienting him and making it nigh impossible for him to aim. So the beam of dark magic hit just behind Twilight causing a large black crystalline mass to emerge from the snow where the spell impacted.

‘Love and light… I can make light. I just need to figure out how to project love into my magic and I could actually hurt him!’ I thought to myself in frustration as I cast a few light spells of my own trying to figure out how to mix love in with them. Each time one of my attempts didn’t work, I tried again using a slightly different approach. But it was no use. I couldn’t figure it out.

“This guy doesn’t give up! Y’all think he knows where we’re goin’?” Applejack asked as we all ran.

I shook my head. “Not yet. For all he knows we could have been trying to find a safe route out of the Empire so we could run and call for help. But let’s not talk about this while he’s right behind us.”

“Right, don’t want to tip him off!” Rainbow Dash nodded in agreement.

He chased us like this for a few more minutes before he finally gave up. Apparently he decided we were too tough of targets to be worth the pain he was being put through. He continued following us from a distance for awhile, I could sense his emotions pursuing us from a consistent distance. Rage, curiosity, and suspicion. So to throw him off I started leading everyone in the direction of the train tracks, in an attempt to make him think we really were just trying to find a safer way out of the city. Finally I felt him grow bored and head back towards the Empire.

From there we kept on guard for a few minutes before continuing on our way to the first piece of Queen Amore.

We arrived at the first piece within fifteen minutes, not including the detour we took to throw off Sombra.

It was a cave at the top of a mountain. Grabbing everyone who couldn’t fly with my telekinesis, I hauled them all up the mountain. We didn’t have time to waste climbing this thing.

Entering the cave I fast walked to the location where I felt the piece hidden. “Right here. It’s inside the wall.”

Twilight stepped forward and tried to dispel the ward keeping the piece sealed away but her spell went haywire and began bouncing around the cave.

I had to drop to the ground to avoid being hit and the rest of the girls had to duck or dodge as well before the spell finally bounced out of the cave.

“What the hell was that?!” I demanded, pushing myself back up onto all fours.

“Sorry! The ward on this piece is different from the ones in the Empire! I think Cadance’s barrier spell might have been weakening them maybe? Just give me a second, I’ll figure this out.”

Twilight got to work trying to figure out how to dispel the ward.

After a minute or two of her working I felt a source of blinding rage, hatred, and a faint sense of… betrayal? The betrayal felt old, like a scar that had never fully healed, but it was still there. Regardless, it appeared on the mountain out of nowhere. To me that could only indicate one thing.

“Sombra’s here! He must have noticed that first spell and teleported straight here!” I announced, urgently.

“What?! No, I need more time!” Twilight exclaimed in a panic.

“Twilight, try to pick up the pace! Everyone else, follow me! We’re going to have to hold him off to buy as much time as possible!” I announced before rushing out of the cave. The others followed, drawing their ultra-bright crystal torches.

As I scattered a bunch of crystal lights at the entrance of the cave I said, “Fluttershy, try to hang back and avoid the fighting. Only use your torch if you need to get away. You’re the medic. If anyone gets hurt, it's your job to drag them to safety and try to help them as best you can while the rest of us fight. Everyone else, whatever happens we can’t let Sombra reach the cave!”

I could feel Fluttershy’s fear and saw how she was cowering. I could tell she wouldn’t be much use as a frontline fighter. So I decided to relegate her to a support role. That way she could still be useful without getting in the way or getting hurt because she hesitated or froze at the wrong moment.

“O-okay…” Fluttershy nodded. I could feel relief and gratitude radiating from her.

Everyone else prepared themselves as Sombra emerged from the icy ground. “Queen Amore… So that’s your plan… Foals! She can not save you or the Empire!”

Instead of responding I sent a swarm of flashers I’d been enchanting ever since I first felt him show up flying towards him. They swirled around the shadowy creature like a tornado or a disorienting whirlwind of brightly blinking lights.

Rainbow Dash flew forward, holding onto her ultra-bright torch and flew around him, hitting the shadowy monster with it and flying through him, the torch and the lights that were tied to her causing him indescribable agony making him howl in pain.

Applejack rushed forwards with her torch held in her teeth and started swinging it at Sombra, trying to force him further away from the cave.

Rarity was casting simple light spells. They weren’t anywhere near as strong as the laser Twilight fired earlier but they were roughly as strong as one of the torches which was still pretty good.

Pinkie Pie bounced around Sombra, swinging her torch at him and taunting him. “Yoo hoo! Over here! No wait, right here! Look at me! Ooh, you almost got me! Too slow!”

Sombra fired spells at us but with the light hurting him on top of blinding and disorienting him, his aim was terrible. Plus Pinkie Pie with all her bouncing around and taunting was acting as a surprisingly good distraction. Still, the longer the fight went on the more black crystal formations emerged on the ground, making the terrain steadily more treacherous and further limiting how much room Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rarity had to move around.

I had to keep up a constant stream or rapid enchanting and replacing crystals I’d used as the fast enchantments I was conducting only lasted a few seconds for each crystal before they needed to be re-enchanted. Fortunately, the crystals I had already enchanted didn’t necessarily need any more holes for me to be able to re-enchant them like fresh crystals did for me to enchant them in the first place. So re-enchanting crystals actually took less energy than enchanting crystals to begin with, and it didn’t build up more and more damage until the crystals became useless like I had been worried might be the case. And on the brightside, I was getting plenty of practice in.

As the fight dragged on I could feel Sombra’s rage and annoyance steadily growing. He was getting frustrated. Whether that was a good thing or a bad thing, I had no idea. For all I knew he might have had a trick up his sleeve he just hadn’t used yet. So I wanted to err on the side of caution and say it was a bad thing.

I glanced back at the cave. “Damn it, Twilight! Hurry!” I muttered to myself under my breath as I swerved out of the way of a beam that very nearly hit me in the chest. I was flying, of course. The less of us on the ground, the more beams would shoot off into the air and the less of those black crystals would form on the ground.

A few minutes later Twilight emerged from the cave. “I have the piece!” She called out.

Following the sound of her voice, Sombra shot a beam at her. I grabbed her with my telekinesis and yanked her out of the way. “Eep!” She squeaked in surprise as the sharp black crystal formation erupted from where she had just been standing.

“Everyone gather up! I’ll hold this guy back! Twilight, when everyone’s together teleport us out of here!” I shouted, re-enchanting crystals and creating a wall of strobing crystals to try and hold Sombra back. While I was doing this I tried casting light spells directly, hitting him with beams of light. I was still trying to figure out how to mix love in to the spell but nothing I tried seemed to work.

‘Love… Love! God damn it, why isn’t this working?!’ I mentally raged.

While I was doing that, everyone rushed to get around Twilight.

“No! You will not escape me!” Sombra roared, redoubling his own efforts. He fired as many beams as he could in rapid succession. One was heading straight for me.

There was a flash of purple light and Twilight teleported us away. I could still feel Sombra in my range but we were at least four blocks away and we had a cliff between us. So he could no longer see or hear us, much to his outrage. He teleported away.

“Is everyone okay?” I asked, looking around.

“I-I-It’s b-b-bucking c-c-cold!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, shivering.

I enchanted some crystals to burn and levitated the burning crystals near her to help her try to warm up. She sighed in relief and I could feel her gratitude. “You were flying pretty fast. The extra wind chill on top of the already below freezing temperature must be getting to you. Good job keeping that up as long as you did. The only thing I can do to help is make some fire. Twilight, we need a way to keep Rainbow Dash warm while she’s flying around rather than afterwards. Any ideas?”

“I might be able to make some crystals heat up. But we would have to take off some of the lights we have strapped to her. We didn’t pack anything to tie more crystals to ourselves.” Twilight stated, walking over to Rainbow Dash.

“Do it. She still has her torch. So better she loses the minor protection of the other lights rather than letting her freeze herself to death because she’s moving too fast.” I stated.
It took a couple minutes but Twilight enchanted some crystals to produce heat rather than light and replaced the crystals Rainbow was already wearing.

“Oooh yeah… That’s way better…” Rainbow sighed in relief, enjoying the warmth of the crystals.

“Anyone else? If the cold is too much, speak up. I don’t want any of you getting hypothermia or frostbite.” I asked, looking around at everyone. We were all wearing appropriate snow gear but I had to make sure.

Applejack shook her head. “I’m a bit chilly but it ain’t gonna kill me. This snow gear helps a bunch.”

The others voiced their agreements.

“Alright then let's get moving. But if any of you need help, say something.” I said before closing my eyes and following a thread of emotion in the direction of another piece. I had to fly down the mountain carrying the ones who couldn’t fly on their own with me.

To speed things up, I just kept flying rather than putting anyone down. This was significantly faster than walking or even running. I was getting hungrier the more magic I used, but I had to ignore it and push through. We couldn’t afford to waste time just because I was feeling a bit peckish.

We arrived at the next location.

“Where’s that brute Sombra? I don’t see him anywhere? I was certain he’d be waiting for us.” Rarity asked, looking around.

“Not here. I told you I can’t sense which pieces are closer. I can only sense the direction the ‘threads’ are leading me. So he probably went to the closest one thinking that’s where we;d go next. I might have accidentally led us to one that’s further away.” I explained.

“Whatever the case, I’m glad he’s not here. Let’s hurry and get the piece before he figures out where we are.” Twilight said, walking towards the next cave.

I led her to the spot where the next piece was hidden and this time she managed to dispel the ward within a few seconds.

“That was fast.” I remarked.

I couldn’t see if she was smiling under her snow mask, but I could feel pride and happiness radiating from Twilight. “It took me a while the first time because I was figuring out how to undo the spell. Now that I know how, it shouldn’t take me as long for the rest.”

I nodded. “Great, that should make things easier.”

I lead the group to the next piece, then the next. Sombra wasn’t at either of them either.

He was waiting for us at the next piece, however, and he was pissed.

Everyone stayed back to hold him off while I led Twilight down into the depths of a giant ravine where the next piece was hidden. Several giant black crystals blocked our path. It seemed Sombra had been busy.

“Well… What now?” I asked, looking at Twilight.

“I… Uh… Give me a minute to think, please…” Twilight requested as she started to pace back and forth in front of the crystals. After a moment she tried blasting it with a spell. Then a different spell. And a different spell… She even tried teleporting past them, with no luck.

I glanced back up at the top of the ravine where the other girls were still fighting. I buzzed my wings nervously. I needed to be up there helping them fight but I couldn’t do that until I showed twilight where the piece was hidden.

Seconds ticked by. Then a minute…

“You know what? Fuck it.” I morphed into a dragon and began chewing my way through the crystals. They tasted awful and I was pretty sure they were either poisonous or cursed so I made sure to spit out all of the pieces. Surprisingly it was actually difficult. I had perfected my understanding of the jaw structure of dragons so I could chew diamonds like they were candy, but these crystals actually took effort to crush in my jaws meaning they were somehow significantly harder and tougher than diamonds.

“Taylor, what are you doing?!” Twilight exclaimed in horror.

I spat out more crushed crystal. “Getting us past the crystals. I don’t care if these things are cursed, we don’t have time to waste sitting here trying to figure out a safer way past them!” I took another bite and spat out the rubble. Then another. And another.

“Stop! We have no idea what the heck these things are going to do to you!” Twilight shouted.

I ignored her and kept going. I didn’t stop until I finally made a path we could actually get through. I felt sick and hungry but it didn’t matter. I’d gotten rid of the crystals. I morphed back into my changeling form. I turned to face her and stumbled, woozy and nauseous. Twilight rushed over to me and tried to catch me. “T-there… ugh… We can get through…” I told her. “Let’s go.”

Twilight blocked me. “Taylor, stop! Something’s clearly wrong. I told you that chewing through the crystals was a bad idea! Please tell me you didn’t actually swallow any!”

“I didn’t… I spat them all out…” I told her. Forcing my way past her I said, “We don’t have time for this… The piece is over here.” I pointed to a spot on the wall of the cave.

I could feel the reluctance and worry radiating from Twilight but she stepped forward and undid the ward.

I took the piece out of the hole and stuffed it in my second saddle bag with the rest of the pieces.

Twilight and I left the ravine and called everyone to gather up again. Once again I tried to hold off Sombra, and tried to mix love into my spells with no success. My continued failure at this was becoming more and more frustrating to me.

After Twilight teleported us away, she rounded on me. “Taylor, we need to have a serious talk. What you did back there was incredibly stupid and dangerous.”

“What happened?” Rainbow inquired.

“Sombra blocked the path through the ravine with his crystals, so instead of waiting for me to find an actual solution, Taylor turned into a dragon and started chewing through them. I told her not to, but she did it anyway and now she’s sick.” Twilight told everyone.

“Actually, I'm already starting to feel better. It made me sick at first but that’s pretty much gone already. Now it just made me hungry, but that’s irrelevant. I can be hungry for a while. Who cares? Besides, the longer we took the more likely it was that one of the others would get hurt. I chose the quickest and most efficient path to getting the piece. That’s all that matters. Anything else can be dealt with later.” I stated.

Twilight face-hoofed and sighed. “Then you’re incredibly lucky that you’re a changeling… I think the love inside you is counteracting or neutralizing whatever chewing through the crystals did to you. The problem with that being, the love is expended to fight the crystal particulates or dark magic or whatever it is. So it makes you hungry. That’s my first theory anyway. I can’t know for certain without running tests, which we can’t do here. Regardless, you had no way of knowing what chewing through those crystals would do to you or that your body would be able to counteract it. You could have gotten seriously hurt! You could have died for all you knew!”

“We had to do something and that was the best I could come up with on the spot. Sue me. Do you have a better solution?” I asked, annoyed. Honestly she was right, it was dangerous, but I didn’t see much other choice. I had a way of getting past the crystals while Twilight was taking time to think. Was I supposed to just sit there and wait for Sombra to kill everyone or turn them to crystal like Queen Amore?

“I… I would have thought of something!” Twilight retorted uncertainly.

“Sure. Eventually. And by then, Sombra might have turned one of your friends to crystal…”

“Wow… Thanks for the vote of confidence, Skitter…” Rainbow grumbled, crossing her forelegs.

“Yeah. We ain’t foals. We can take care of ourselves.” Applejack agreed.

“Yeah? For how long? Sombra’s incorporeal. He probably doesn’t get exhausted the same way someone with actual muscles and internal organs does. So he might have been able to wear you down until you were too tired to fight in a war of attrition. Or he could have gotten lucky with a stray shot. The longer a fight drags on, the higher the chances are that he’ll hit one of you eventually. And with his magic, for all we know all he would need is a single shot and you’d be a statue like Queen Amore. All it would take is a single mistake or a bit of bad luck and it would be over.” I told them.

Then I sighed and shook my head. “Whatever… We can argue about this later. I don’t know how long Cadance can hold out, so let's get going. We have more pieces to collect.” I grabbed everyone except Rainbow and Fluttershy with my telekinesis and flew off towards yet another piece.

Sombra was waiting for us at the next piece too. I had to chew through even more crystals. This time there were even more of them. He was really trying to keep us out. Still I got us through, even if I felt like shit by the time I did.

Twilight got the piece, I tried to hold Sombra off so everyone could gather up and I tried, without any success, to mix love into my light spells, and we ran away. We repeated this process several times until there were only two pieces left. My heavy use of magic and having to chew through these disgusting black crystals was taking a serious toll on me. Plus the continued frustration of failing to figure out how to mix love into my magic wasn’t helping any. At this point I was starting to question if it was even possible for me to do, or if only ponies could do it.

After Twilight teleported us away this time, my stomach was in agony. I was starving. Plus the rate at which my body was purging whatever these crystals were doing to me was slowing down so I was staying sick for longer. I didn’t think either were going to kill me but it was getting bad. Still I didn’t let myself show any indication of how bad it was getting.

If I showed how hungry I was or if I let them know my “immune system” was slowing down, the others might insist I feed on one of them. But all I had to do was lead them to the pieces and chew through some crystals. They were doing all the fighting at this point and Twilight was dispelling the wards. They needed to keep their energy up since they had the hard jobs, whereas I had the easiest job so my hunger and discomfort were irrelevant.

I just needed to hold out a bit longer until we got the last two pieces. Just two more pieces and it would be over… Then I could let Twilight and Queen Amore take over figuring out the rest.

I could feel concern and worry radiating from Pinkie Pie. Did she notice? I couldn’t exactly ask her to check. So I just ignored it. If she didn’t say anything I certainly wasn’t going to give myself away.

Twilight felt worried too, but she hadn’t stopped feeling worried ever since I’d started chewing through the crystals to make paths through them.

“Only two left. Let’s go.” I stated, grabbing Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie with my telekinesis and flying off. The telekinesis was a constant drain on me that was steadily making my hunger worse but I ignored it and pushed through. It was just two more pieces. I could hold out.

When we arrived at the next piece Sombra was waiting for us again. But something was different. His rage had cooled. “I don’t know how you’ve managed to find where I hid all of the pieces, but this is where it ends… Even if you manage to get past me again and take this piece, it won’t matter. The last piece is somewhere you can never get to it! Hahahaha!” He laughed maliciously, feelings of satisfaction and certainty oozed off of him.

“We’ll find it alright, ya big shadowy varmint! And when we do Queen Amore’s gonna help us hog tie you and kick your sorry behind all the way to Appleloosa!” Applejack shouted at him.

I looked at her. “Appleloosa?”

She shrugged. “Don’t know. It’s far away and I got family there. So it was the first thing that came ta mind.” She then drew her ultra-bright torch from her saddlebag.

“Fair enough…” I muttered.

“Queen Amore can’t save you… I’ve grown beyond her power!” King Sombra growled.

“Enough talking! Let’s get this piece and go get the next!” Rainbow Dash said before flying at Sombra and slamming her torch through his shadowy form.

Twilight teleported me and herself past Sombra into the cave he was guarding. Once again there were crystals blocking the path. I grumbled in frustration. With how Sombra had been talking, I’d been hoping he might not have bothered blocking this one off. But I had no such luck.

Turning into a dragon I started chewing my way through the crystals. There were a lot of them this time. It was the thickest wall of crystal he’d made so far. It actually took some time for me to crush a path through the crystals with my teeth. I was barely half way through the crystals and my jaw ached horribly and I was already feeling very sick. I wasn’t sure if I was physically capable of vomiting but I certainly wanted to at that moment.a I had to take a break to let my body fight off the sickness before chewing my way through the rest of it.

When I was all the way through I spat out the last mouth full, turned back into my changeling form and immediately collapsed on the ground.

“Taylor, are you okay?!” Twilight asked, rushing over to my side.

“N-no… But, I’m… n-not dying… Hel… ugh… Help me up…”

Twilight grabbed me with her telekinesis and levitated me up, helping me get my hooves under me.

She let me go and I wobbled, struggling to stay standing. She pressed against me, helping me stabilize me. “The piece… is this way…” I said, walking forward. I had to lean against her to stop myself from collapsing again.

I used my horn to point to the spot then sat down so Twilight wouldn’t have to support my weight and could do her thing.

She dispelled the ward and put the piece in her own saddle bag. Mine had gotten too full to carry any more after the sixth piece. So Twilight had started filling her own saddle bags. She even had to empty the one she’d filled with crystals for enchanting to carry more.

“How are you feeling, Taylor? Is it starting to wear off?”

“Yes, it is…” I lied and stood up.

“Taylor, stop! I’m not stupid. You’re good at hiding things but I’ve noticed the effects have been lasting longer and longer. I didn’t mention it because I thought you’d tell me when it was getting bad. Right now, it’s obvious that it has and that I should have brought this up earlier. Why are you pushing yourself like this? Why haven’t you let me or the others try to help you?” Twilight demanded.

“We have a job to do… An entire city’s on the line… If we don’t get these pieces, Sombra will win… He’ll enslave everyone… Mind control them… So, all that matters is that we win… by any means necessary… My problems are irrelevant… We need to keep going… There’s only one piece left… We can talk more… after we get out of here.” I said as I unsteadily walked back towards the entrance of the cave

Twilight clearly wasn’t happy with me or my response but followed after me.

However, Sombra noticed us and fired beams at us. Only he wasn’t aiming at us. He was aiming at the ground and the walls. He was sealing off the entrance. I tried to run out but I was too slow. Twilight and I were blocked in and the crystals were getting thicker and denser with each passing second. We actually had to back up to avoid letting the crystals touch us while they were still growing.

“That fucking bastard!” I growled furiously. I was pissed. Honestly I should have expected something like this. If anything I was more surprised he hadn’t tried this sooner. I transformed into a dragon again.

“Taylor, stop! At least feed on some of my love before you try chewing through more of these crystals. If I’m right, the less love you have the harder it is for your body to fight off whatever these crystals are doing to you. Plus, your magic is fueled by the love you’ve consumed and you’ve been using it practically non-stop since we left the Empire! Combine that with your love being consumed to fight off the magic in Sombra’s crystals, and you have to be starving.”

“No. If I feed on you, it’ll drain you. You need energy to fight Sombra and undo the last ward and fix Queen Amore. All I need to do is lead you to the last piece. You take priority.” I said before biting the wall of crystal and starting to tear my way through it.

As I was doing that, I felt Sombra’s presence vanish. I guess he’d blocked us into the cave as a last “fuck you” then just left.

Mercifully, the crystals weren’t nearly as thick as the wall he made to block off the piece hidden in this cave. But it was still a lot and I still hadn’t fully recovered from chewing through the last wall.

I got through within less than a minute, but I was sick again. Did Sombra know what a Changeling was and was making these damn walls just to whittle me down, knowing what it was doing to me? He was sealed away a thousand years ago or something along with the Crystal Empire and Changelings only existed for about a thousand years. So I’d have thought he’d have never heard of us… Or was he just trying to buy time, waiting for Cadance’s barrier to fall so he could attack the Empire without Queen Amore stopping him? Well whatever the case, this sucked either way. I wished I knew how to infuse my magic with love, because if I could then I would make sure to pay him back for putting me through this.

I struggled to stay standing as I turned back into my changeling form. The sickness was getting worse on top of lasting longer it seemed. I prayed he hadn’t been lying and genuinely had no idea where the final piece of Queen Amore was. That way I wouldn’t have to chew through anymore of these crystals. I could hold out as long as I didn’t have to do that again.

“Are you alright, Skittles? You don’t look so good.” Pinkie Pie asked me.

“I’m fine… I’ll recover in a minute…” I told her.

Twilight squeezed past me through the opening I had made. “She’s not fine. She’s starving. She’s been pushing herself too hard. All the magic she’s been using has been using up her love and biting through these crystals has been draining it to fight off the effects. But the effects of the crystals are getting worse and are starting to last longer, which means she’s starting to run out of love. She can’t keep this up.”

“I’m fine!” I snapped. I took a deep breath to calm myself down. I was tired, hungry, sick, and angry at Sombra so I was on edge. I couldn’t let myself take it out on them. “I’m not dying yet, so I can keep going… There’s only one piece left… I can push through one more…”

“No you can’t! You collapsed after the last one and the only reason you're standing now is because you’re leaning against something! Stop being so stubborn and let us help you! Please! We’re your friends, Taylor. We don’t like seeing you hurting yourself like this…” Twilight pleaded.

I grit my teeth and looked away. “Friends”. What was it with these ponies and “friendship”? We weren’t friends. Acquaintances? Allies? Sure. Maybe. Friends? No… I couldn’t even trust them because for all I knew, they might have been agents planted by Celestia working to get close to me so I’d spill information to them and she could manipulate me through them. I still hadn’t disproven my theory that they had some illusion obscuring their emotions.

Though doubts about that were starting to wriggle in the back of my mind. I squashed the doubts. I didn’t have time to worry about if I was wrong or not.

Mentally debating what to do, I bit my lower lip. I didn’t bite too hard but my fangs were sharp and still drew blood regardless. I ignored the pain and the taste of my own blood. The black snow mask I was wearing obscured it anyway.

Eventually I said, “You guys are doing all the major stuff… Fighting Sombra and undoing the wards… If I fed on any of you like you want, I’d be draining you of energy. Energy you might need to do your jobs. All I need to do is lead you to the last piece and maybe break through Sombra's barricades, if there are any… My job is easy. Yours isn’t…”

“You’ve been doing just as much if not more than any of us. Please. Let us help you.” Twilight pleaded.

“Um… Khepri? I haven’t been doing much at all… Nopony has gotten hurt or needed medical attention so I’ve just been sitting off to the side… So… You could feed on me… If you want, that is…” Fluttershy offered.

“Maybe not but someone could get hurt. What then? No. You need to keep your energy up too Fluttershy.” I told her.

“Taylor, stop that! You need to eat. Neglecting your own health and safety isn’t helping us. If anything it’s putting us more at risk. I know you’re worried. I realize you’re trying to look out for us. But you need to slow down and let us look out for you too. We’re a team here. We’re friends. If you keep going like this, you’re going to hurt yourself. And if you get hurt, that’s one less pony to help us fight Sombra. Plus if you collapse before we get to the last piece, what then? You’re the only one with empathic abilities. We have no way of finding it without you.”

“But…”

Applejack cut me off. “I’ma kick yours if you don’t knock this nonsense off and eat! What the hay is wrong with you, Weaver? Starvin’ yourself… Not on my watch. Nuh uh! We ain’t leavin’ this spot until you get a grip and stop being so stubborn! We don’t gotta whole lotta time to begin with, so stop wastin’ it!”

I sighed. They were right. It was bad enough I couldn’t even stand without leaning against something. I was being too stubborn for my own good…

“Fine. Sorry. This whole situation’s been… stressful. I was trying to prioritize everyone else’s well being over my own. It’s a bad habit I got into back on Earth Bet. But between the stress, being on a timer, and having to deal with Sombra I guess I let it go a little bit too far this time. It was stupid of me.” I apologized.

I could feel the happiness radiating from Twilight. “It’s okay, Taylor. We forgive you. I’m just glad you were willing to see reason.”

I nodded then looked at Fluttershy. “Are you sure you’re okay with this?”

She nodded.

“Alright then…” Taking off my snow mask I fed on some of Fluttershy’s love. Starving half to death as I was, it was exceedingly hard to restrain myself, I very nearly couldn’t. But through sheer force of will I snapped my mouth shut and stopped feeding. I didn’t feed enough to bring me all the way back to my normal levels. Partially because I was worried that if I tried, worse than just draining her energy I was worried I might accidentally hurt Fluttershy. I knew feeding too much could hurt or even kill the ones I was feeding on, which I didn’t want to do. So I only fed enough that I wasn’t starving and I could fight or chew through more crystals without too much issue.

When I was done I saw Fluttershy droop slightly and was worried I might have accidentally overdone it. But she picked herself up quickly enough.

“Thank you for that. I appreciate it.” I told her.

“Of course! I’m happy to help.” Fluttershy stated.

My horn glowed and I was about to pick everyone up but Twilight stopped me. “Taylor, no. You just ate. And I doubt you filled yourself up. So you need to conserve your energy.”

“Alright, but if I’m not flying us all there are we just going to walk? We have no idea how far away this thing is. We need to hurry or Cadance is going to give out eventually, and me carrying you all is the fastest means of travel we have right now.”

“Leave that to me! I still have plenty of energy left so I’ll carry us. I can’t keep it up super long but hopefully I shouldn’t have to.” Twilight stated, grabbing herself and her other land-locked friends with her telekinesis and lifting them all into the air.

I rolled my eyes. “You know, this completely defeats the whole purpose of me not feeding on you back in the cave so you could save your energy…” I sighed and shook my head. “Fine, but if we have to travel longer than usual, I’m taking over. You’re the only one here who knows how to undo the wards so if you use up all of your energy carrying everyone, we’re completely screwed.”

I closed my eyes and started flying in the direction of the last piece. Twilight and the others all followed after me. We were able to maintain a good pace.

After about thirty minutes of flying at relatively high speeds, something entered my range. It wasn’t Sombra but it wasn’t just the piece of Queen Amore either. It was a bunch of different sources of emotions all condensed down into a tiny area.

All but two of the sources of emotions felt dark. Anger, hatred, loathing, and a combination of emotions I could only describe as sardonicism but more overtly malicious. One of the two other sources of emotions was blatantly Queen Amore, while the other… I had no idea. It just felt normal. A person who was happy and content. Apparently blissfully ignorant of the pure malice all around them.

Looking down I saw a crimson crystal sticking out of the icy ground. King Sombra was nowhere to be seen.

I lead everyone down to the crystal. “Here. The piece is inside here somehow. But something’s wrong. There’s more people inside than just Queen Amore.”

“There is? Do you think this thing is a mass of pieces of people Sombra turned to crystal and… I don’t know, fused together or something?” Rainbow Dash asked, flying around the crimson crystal, looking at it.

I shook my head. “No. If that were the case their emotions would be frozen. Static, like Queen Amore’s are. There are people inside somehow but they’re not statues like Queen Amore. But there’s still something wrong. There’s only one source of emotions inside that’s normal. The rest are all negative or overtly malicious. I mean, there are some positive emotions in them but they’re faint to begin with and are drowned out by all the negative. Whatever’s inside is dangerous. Other than that one person anyway.”

“Let me take a look.” Twilight said, stepping closer to the crystal. She didn’t actually touch it but her horn started to glow and a faint purple aura enveloped the crystal. After a moment her eyes widened and she backed away. “I think it’s some sort of prison… I’ve never encountered magic quite like it except maybe King Sombra’s which feels like a twisted mockery of it. I think it's designed to hold dark magic similar to Sombra's inside. I… I think we can go in? It should act almost like a portal letting us come and go as we please but the ‘prisoners’ can’t leave.”

“Damn… So that’s why Sombra said we’d never get the final piece. As soon as we go inside the prisoners are going to swarm us and rip us to pieces.” I growled, glaring at the giant ruby red crystal.

“Well… Dang… That ain’t good… But what choice do we have? We gotta get that last piece.” Applejack asked.

“Well, I have one idea…” Twilight said, taking off her saddlebags. “Taylor, give me the pieces you’re carrying.”

I took off my saddle bag full of Queen Amore’s pieces, wondering where this was going.

“Alright. Rainbow, Fluttershy? Can you two give me your torches? I want you two to fly Queen Amore’s pieces back to the Crystal Empire as fast as you can. And I think we might end up needing your torches to defend ourselves.” Twilight requested, levitating the saddle bags over to Rainbow and Fluttershy.

“Wait, what?! You want us to leave you guys to fight whatever’s in there without us?!” Rainbow asked incredulously.

Understanding what Twilight was getting at, I nodded. “She’s right. This is the best option we have right now. If you can get Queen Amore’s pieces to the Empire, maybe we have enough to put her back together without the last piece. She might need medical attention for a gaping hole somewhere on her, but that’s better than nothing. Though that depends on what piece is missing too. If it's a piece of her heart or something…”

I paused for a second and let that thought hang in the air. No one was very pleased with the thought.

After a moment I continued. “Either way, at least we won’t run the risk of losing all the pieces we’ve collected so far. If we take them inside and something happens to us or we lose them and have to abandon them in order to escape, they might be gone for good. If we leave them out here, Sombra might take them and hide them again while we’re inside. Then all our work up until this point will have just been one huge waste of time. So you two taking the pieces back to the empire is our best bet.”

Using my telekinesis, I took the small piece hanging by a string around my neck off and stuffed it inside one of the saddle bags.

Negative emotions radiated from Rainbow and Fluttershy. Neither of them liked this.

“Grrr…” Rainbow Dash growled before taking out her torch and dropping it before snatching one of the saddlebags out of the air. “Fine! But as soon as we get the pieces back to the castle, I’m coming straight back! I swear if you guys get hurt while we’re not here to help, I’m gonna be mad!”

Fluttershy dropped her own torch and took one of the saddle bags. As she started putting it on she said, “Um… Khepri? If you’re going into a dangerous situation, you might want to eat more…Plus… If I’m going to just go back to the Empire, I won’t need much energy right…? I mean… I’ll just be helping Spike put Queen Amore back together… So… You could feed on me again… You know… So you’ll have more energy to fight while you and the others are in there…? If you want, that is…”

I shook my head. “Absolutely not. And this isn’t even me being stubborn. Fluttershy, me feeding too much on one person could hurt them. It can even kill them. I don’t want to accidentally hurt or kill you by taking too much love from you. I’ve had enough. I’m fine now. Seriously.”

“Ooh! Ooh! You can feed on me! I have plenty of love!” Pinkie Pie volunteered.

“Pinkie, you’re going in with us. You need your energy so you can fight.” I told her.

Rainbow Dash sighed. “Ugh… Whatever… Skitter, just take some of mine.”

I looked at her in surprise. “What? I thought you didn’t want me feeding on you. I thought the idea of it creeped you out or something.”

“Yeah well… Since Fluttershy and I are going back to the Empire to drop off Amore’s pieces and you’ve already fed on Fluttershy earlier, I’m kinda the best choice here for it. Besides, you’re pretty cool. A lot cooler than I thought when I first met you. So just do it. I know you aren’t going to let yourself hurt me or anything.” Rainbow told me.

“You don’t have to do this. I’m being honest this time. I seriously do have enough energy to get through this.” I told her.

“Weaver ain’t lyin’... Still, if it were me, I think it’s better to be safe than sorry.” Applejack stated.

“You should do it, Taylor. We don’t know what we’re going to be up against in there so its better that you have all the energy you can get.” Twilight told me.

“You guys are worrying too much… I guess I got myself into this by not mentioning it earlier though… Rainbow, are you sure you’re cool with this?” I asked.

“Yeah. Now hurry it up. We don’t got all night.” Rainbow told me.

“Fine, but I’m not taking as much as I did with Fluttershy. I don’t need much more.” I stated before taking off my snow mask again. I quickly fed on Rainbow, only taking what I needed.

“Thank you, Rainbow. It helps.” I told her.

“Yeah yeah… If you get in a fight in there just make sure to kick some butt for me will ya?” She asked.

I nodded. “Count on it.”

“Sweet!” She said as she started to put on her saddlebags.

Once Rainbow and Fluttershy finished putting on the saddlebags full of Queen Amore’s pieces they said their goodbyes and flew off in the direction of the Crystal Empire.

I grabbed one of the ultra-bright crystal torches they left behind while Twilight grabbed the other.

“You think whatever’s inside will be hurt by light like Sombra?” I asked, skeptical of how useful the torches or the lights all of us were wearing would be.

“I have no idea. We don’t know what’s in there, only that the crystal is magic and keeps things with similar magic to Sombra inside. So I’m just hoping their magic is similar enough to have the same weaknesses so we aren’t going in completely blind or defenseless.” Twilight said nervously.

“If they’re not, then hopefully they can be hurt by normal means. If they can, then I can still fight them and get everyone out safely… Though depending on how bad it gets, you girls might not like the methods I use.” I said, looking straight ahead at the giant crystal prison.

“Welp, let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. Now time’s a wastin’ and we got an Empire to save. So let’s head on in.” Applejack stated before she started walking towards the crystal.

We all followed, though I tried to take the lead. If we got jumped immediately, I wanted to be at the front so I could at least try to defend everyone.

On the other side we were greeted by a desolate wasteland with stairs leading down somewhere.

My senses didn’t detect anything within our immediate vicinity. All the presences I felt outside suddenly felt much further apart. I could still feel the piece of Queen Amore on the very edge of my range but it was moving around. It seemed to be with the source of normal emotions I had felt. But that person was surrounded by the dark and malevolent emotions I sensed.

As everyone else finished coming through I said, “Be on your guard. We don’t know what to expect. I’m sure you all know this by now, but I’m going to remind you anyway. Remember not to look directly at the heads of the torches. Or if you have to, don’t look at them for too long. They can damage your vision or even blind you.”

With that said, I lead everyone down the stairs, ready to grab my torch or some of the crystals in my one remaining saddle bag at a moment’s notice.

As we reached the bottom of the stairs we saw something like a town or city behind a wall.

I felt some presence behind the wall notice us and immediately rush away towards the source of normal emotions. After a moment I felt surprise and then panic from the normal person who then started running towards us.

I didn’t mention this. I just kept leading everyone towards the town. I wanted to keep up the appearance that we had no idea what was happening inside. I didn’t want to give away any advantage my empathic abilities might give me.

The wall didn’t have a gate, rather all it had was a wide open entrance. This made me question why they even had a wall in the first place if they didn’t even have a means of sealing it off. Then again, they were prisoners so they probably didn’t even consider keeping anyone out. Why would they when they were the ones being kept in.

As we entered the town we didn’t see anyone but I could certainly sense them. They were all hiding inside the buildings. They weren’t afraid, no. They hated us. I could feel the immense hatred all around us. But that hatred was directed at two different sources. Us, and the lights we were all wearing. In fact they hated our lights more than they hated us. Which I supposed was a good thing. It meant we had something to repel them just like Sombra.

“What a dreadful place… Where are these creatures that you felt, Taylor?” Rarity asked.

“Hiding. I can feel them inside the buildings, watching us. They hate us and want to kill us but they hate the lights we brought with us even more. I guess the torches will be useful after all, Twilight.” I said, glaring at the buildings.

“That’s… actually a lot less encouraging than if we could fight them normally…” Twilight muttered quietly so only we could hear. “I kind of wish I’d been wrong in this case…”

“So do I, honestly…” I muttered back. At least we’d have a better chance if we fought them normally.

We continued walking and the creatures seemed to keep reporting our location to the normal person. That made me suspicious of whoever it was. If they were consorting with these things, they had to be just as bad.

Eventually the “normal” person caught up to us and one of the creatures was following them from a distance.

“All of you, wait! Stop! You need to turn off your lights!” A feminine voice called out from off to our right.

Looking we all saw a purple unicorn with a light blue mane running towards us. I could sense the piece of Queen Amore with her. Behind her was a tiny pony-like thing that seemed to be made of smoke.

“Not going to happen. As soon as we turn off the lights we’ll be swarmed and ripped apart. How stupid do you think we are?” I demanded, stepping forward defensively.

“Please, you need to listen to me! Whatever you heard or read about the Umbrum is wrong! They’re not evil like the stories say. They’re decent. They’re nice even. They were imprisoned here completely unjustly.” The unicorn pleaded.

The small smoke creature cowered behind her, but I could sense its true emotions. “Please… Listen to Radiant Hope… We really are nice! If we weren’t, we wouldn’t have let her live with us for the past thousand years. If we were evil like the stories say, then we would have hurt her by now, right?”

I rolled my eyes at the attempt at deception. “If that’s the case, then give us the piece of Queen Amore and we’ll just leave.”

Radiant Hope shook her head. “I can’t do that. Queen Amore’s the one who unfairly imprisoned the Umbrum. If you’re looking for it, that means you have to be trying to put her back together. I can’t let you do that, at least until the Umbrum are free. She would try to stop us from freeing them. After they’re free, then I’d be more than happy to help you but until then I can’t. So please… Turn off your lights…”

“Do you know what I am?” I asked.

“No? I’ve never seen or heard of a pony like you before…” Radiant Hope said, looking at me.

“That’s because I’m not a Pony. I’m a Changeling. If you’ve been living here for the past thousand years you wouldn’t know about Changelings because we only came into existence a thousand years ago. Probably shortly after the Crystal Empire disappeared. Well… Funny thing about us, we’re emotivores. But with that little fact, comes another ability. Empathy. Magic empathy.” I let that sink in for a moment before continuing.

"I can sense the emotions of everything around me. All the Umbra, hiding in the buildings, and that one hiding behind you. The only emotions I've sensed from them are negative and malicious. Even right now I can sense their anger and their hatred towards us and our lights. I can sense they want to kill us. So, no. They aren't nice or misunderstood or whatever. They are, at the very least, actively malicious even if they somehow aren't evil. So I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and say they've been deceiving you this entire time. Isn't that right?"

I glared at the umbrum behind Radiant Hope who was glaring back at me.

Radiant Hope's emotions were a whirlwind. She didn't believe me. "No, you're lying… I've been with them for a thousand years! Rabia, tell them."

"Yeah! Sensing emotions… Ridiculous. What about the rest of you? You can't honestly believe this creature can sense emotions, right? Please, you have to believe us! We really do need your help." The umbrum apparently called "Rabia" pleaded.

"I'm the bearer of the Element of Honesty. I'm pretty sure you've probably heard of that at least. Well, I can tell yer full of it! Plus, we've known Weaver for over a month now. We know she can sense emotions." Applejack said glaring at Rabia. She then looked at Radiant Hope more sympathetically. "She's lyin' to ya. All of 'em have been."

"Yeah! Weaver's impossible to surprise! Believe me, I've tried… Just you wait, I'm going to find some way to surprise you!" Pinkie said glaring at me playfully. I could tell she meant it jokingly. "One of these days…"

'If we make it out of this alive, maybe…' I thought to myself but I didn't voice this pessimistic thought.

"Yeah! We all know Weaver's telling the truth! We aren't going to let you trick us!" Twilight declared, moving to stand by my side. "Heck, we'd never even heard of the Umbrum before you told us what you were called. All we knew was what Weaver's empathy told us while we were tracking the last piece of Queen Amore. And she sensed your malice before we even came in here! So you telling us the 'stories' said the Umbrum were evil, pretty much gave you away from the start."

Rabia growled and I could feel her anger and hatred growing.

Radiant Hope was in denial. She shook her head. "No… All of you are either lying or you have no idea what you're talking about… I'm not giving you the last piece of Queen Amore. So, please just leave. If you aren't going to help us and you won't turn off your lights you aren't welcome here."

Knowing exactly where it was through my empathy, I grabbed the piece of Queen Amore with my telekinesis, ripped it off of Radiant Hope, who had it tied around her neck like a necklace only keeping it hidden under the brown cloak she was wearing, and quickly stuffed it into my remaining saddlebag. It was a small piece. No bigger than two inches long and maybe half an inch thick. But even that tiny piece could have been to something vital.

"No!" Radiant Hope cried out. "Give it back!"

"No. We're fixing Queen Amore… Also, you might want to look behind you." I told her.

She turned her head to look over her shoulder and saw Rabia had gone completely mask off. Rabia had taken a horrifying monstrous form.

Shock and fear spiked within Radiant Hope.

Grabbing my ultrabright torch with my telekinesis, I took it out and thrust it into Rabia causing the Umbrum to shriek in agony and back away.

Once she was far enough away, Rabia hissed, "Sombra said you would come… He was worried because he didn't know where the final piece was. I informed him it was with us and we would keep it safe… We will not allow you to bring back that crystal harlot!" Her once cutesy and friendly voice had become scratchy, dark, and as monstrous as her new form.

"Rabia… W-what is…?" Radiant Hope asked, backing away in terror.

"Be silent for once in your worthless life, you numbskull! You lost the final piece! We should rip you apart for your failure with the rest of the foals!"

More and more monstrous Umbra started to crawl out of their homes. Each of them ready to pounce on us and slaughter us.

I grabbed Radiant Hope with my magic and dragged her towards us. She wasn't at fault here. She'd been manipulated and deceived for the past thousand years.

"You took advantage of Hope's friendship. You've lied to her for a thousand years." Twilight growled, apparently more upset about that then the fact our lives were presently in very serious danger.

"HAHAHAHA! I just gave Hope what she wanted. She wanted Sombra to not be what we are. She wanted me to tell her Sombra was not a monster."

"He's not! He's good inside! I know he is!" Radiant Hope objected.

"You foal! Sombra's just as much an Umbrum as any of us! When he was just a young colt, we came up with a plan. Our powers kept us from crossing through the Crystal. So we had to seal the darkness away in him. We had to make him look and seem like a pony, so he could pass through. When the ponies took him in, they wouldn't know what he really was. It was hidden, even from him, until he was strong enough. But you kept him from releasing us then. We've waited thousands of years and we won't let you stop us again." Rabia monologued.

"Hm. Interesting. Unfortunately for you, you've been monologuing." I said before tossing freshly enchanted crystal flashers in every direction. While she was monologuing I'd been busy enchanting crystals in my saddle bag. So I had time to make plenty of them. How she didn't notice the green glow around my horn, I had no idea.

The umbra screeched as the bright strobing lights caused them pain. Several weren't caught in the attack and immediately charged us.

All of us started swinging our torches at them, trying to force them back.

"We're surrounded!" Applejack called out.

"Yeah, we've noticed! We're gonna have to fight our way out of here!" I shouted back as I tried to start moving back the way we came. I felt more and more Umbra coming towards us with each passing second. Word was apparently spreading fast. "More are coming. We have to move or we're going to be completely overrun!"

"We're trying, darling! These brutes are quite stubborn!" Rarity called out swinging her torch at a few Umbra that were trying to get closer. They hissed and wailed in pain but refused to back away. They were trying to press forward despite the pain making it difficult for them

"Guys! I don't think the lights are stopping them!" Pinkie said nervously as two umbra slowly marched forward despite their pain.

I grit my teeth. "Twilight, teleport us out! Now!"

"Right!" Twilight exclaimed. Her horn glowed for a moment before the spell fizzled out. Her eyes widened in surprise and fear. "I can't! It's just like Sombra's crystals! Something's stopping me from teleporting!"

"Did you really think it would be so easy? We've spent thousands of years in this prison. Did you think we wouldn't have put spells in place to prevent intruders from escaping us so easily? Especially when Sombra came to us asking about the final piece of Amore?" Rabia hissed mockingly.

I threw more and more flashers and held some in the air. I could sense quite a few umbra above us. They could fly too or I'd just grab everyone and fly us out. My ideas for how we could escape were rapidly dwindling.

"I can't believe this… The past thousand years… I know there's good in all of you! I've seen it myself! Please, all of you are my friends! Let's talk this out!" Radiant Hope pleaded, stepping forward.

"What the hell are you doing?! Get back here you idiot!" I shouted at her as she kept walking.

She continued to plead and try to convince the umbra surrounding us, only to get swarmed as soon as she was far enough away from our lights.

Four separate umbrum pounced on her and started tearing into her. She screamed and I could sense her fear, pain, and betrayal.

Without even thinking I rushed forward and started swinging my torch and throwing flashers forcing the umbra off of her.

She was in bad shape. They'd torn chunks out of her. I honestly wasn't sure if she was going to survive. Still I levitated her onto my back, positioning her so she wouldn't get in the way of my wings. I guess my time in the Wards had left its mark on me and that little girl who looked up to the heroes was still in there somewhere. Because logically, I knew I shouldn't have bothered. The situation was too dangerous for me to care about one suicidal idiot.

And my unfortunate bout of heroism cost me…

My rushing to her aid left a gap in our defenses and the Umbrum were quick to exploit it. They rushed into the gap I left and immediately started attacking the others.

"No!" I shouted. I tried to beat them off with my torch and flashers, and to their credit the girls tried fighting back, but it was all useless. The light was hurting them, but it wasn't doing any real damage. And without dealing any damage they were able to push through the pain to stay where they were and keep attacking.

I needed to do something but what?! I thought hard… Love and light. I needed to mix the light with love somehow! But I had been trying ever since we left the Empire and I hadn't had any luck. The simple fact was that I didn't know how to infuse my magic with love. I didn't even know if it was possible for a changeling to infuse their magic with love. For all I knew it could have been an intake only kind of system.

I grit my teeth. I didn't have a choice. I had to at least try or we were all going to die. If it didn't work… Well… This was the end… It was do or die.

Closing my eyes I focused hard on everyone I loved. My mom, my dad, Brian, Lisa, Aisha, Rachel, Alec… Not knowing what else to do I tried to use my love for each of them and focus it through my horn. Since I was great at multitasking I also tried my absolute hardest to forcibly drag the love I had consumed out of me and focus that through my horn too. Essentially I was throwing everything left that I could possibly think of against the wall to see if something, anything, would stick.

I had to kill these monsters… They needed to die or they were going to kill us… But, just as if not more importantly, I needed to save the others. Their lives mattered more than hurting or killing these things.

Suddenly there was a blindingly bright flash of light and I could feel myself getting hungry exceedingly fast. I was using up all the love I'd consumed from Rainbow and Fluttershy way too fast. It was agony. I legitimately felt like I was starting to die from starvation, but I was also pretty sure I had finally done it.

But there was a problem. It felt wrong, somehow. Almost like the love energy itself was somehow rejecting the way I was using it. I didn't fully understand why it was fighting me, but I was able to sort of force it to do what I wanted, only this cost me more of my already desperately dwindling energy.

The howls and screeching of the Umbrum up until this point could not compare to the unholy cacophony that resulted from what I had just done. I felt several of their presences disappear as the ones closest to me were incinerated and died. The ones just outside the kill radius collapsed in critical condition and the ones even further away were injured to varying degrees depending on their proximity to me. For all intents and purposes it was almost as if I'd detonated a bomb.

When it was over I felt light headed. My vision blurred and I almost collapsed. However, I knew that if I collapsed now, we were all going to die and what I just did would have been for nothing. It was difficult. Very difficult but I remained standing.

Grabbing everyone with my telekinesis I flew with every ounce of my strength, dragging them all along behind me with what very little energy I had left.

I flew past the Umbra that had been further away or had been kept safe behind buildings. Even as I felt them bite and tear into my carapace. I didn't stop. I just kept flying until I was out of the city. Then I didn't stop until I had reached the exit. Then I threw everyone out before flying through myself. Once I was outside with all of them, I grabbed them again and kept flying.

I could hear voices calling out to me but I was too exhausted to listen. I needed to get us back to the Empire or we would all die. Either the Umbrum or Sombra would kill us… I had to keep going… I had to… I… I…

Everything went black.

Author's Note

Edit: I should have added this when I first updated the chapter but it was late and I forgot. Anyway, I updated the chapter to address some issues that were pointed out to me. If anyone's curious and want's to read the original version you can find it: Here.

A nice long chapter this time.

Hopefully Taylor's "love and light blast" wasn't too much of an ass pull. I intended to do that the entire time I was writing the chapter, and I tried to put in some build up to it. I.E. Taylor trying and failing over and over again to mix love into her magic while she was fighting Sombra. But maybe I should have put more emphasis on her attempts to really make that a center point of the narrative before they entered the Shadow Prison for the final piece? Sort of like how I tried to make her getting hungry a center point of the narrative. If it's bad, I'm more than willing to go back and work on putting more emphasis on the whole thing.

Also, I don't really like how they handled Radiant Hope in the comics. She was living with the Umbrum for a thousand god damn years! But them suddenly turning scary and ugly made her immediately switch sides? After a thousand years of lies and manipulation? With Cadance having done the one thing Rabia asked her not to do? Sure, Rabia's words probably helped her realize she was being used, but she would still be emotionally attached to the Umbrum just as much if not more than she was attached to Sombra. She certainly knew them longer than she knew Sombra and would have had a lot more time to build bonds and emotional attachments to them. Even if those bonds and attachments only went one way. So I strongly believe she should have at the very least been in denial about the whole thing. So. I wrote her to reflect that.

Her being in denial is why she tried that last stunt of going out and attempting to appeal to friendship and reason. She wants to believe the past thousand years weren't all just one big lie. She wants to believe the Umbrum were actually her friends and not evil monsters. She wants to believe there's good in them Because if there isn't good in them, what does that mean for Sombra? I think it's a more realistic portrayal of how someone who's been manipulated and lied to by beings she considered friends for a thousand years would think and act without MLP logic getting in the way.

Anyway, if you have any questions or criticism, let me know!

Chapter 11

As Taylor finally lost consciousness she and everypony else crashed hard into the snow.

Everyone groaned as they all pushed themselves up. “Taylor!” Twilight shouted rushing over to her. Twilight checked her over and saw she had a few injuries. Nothing life threatening, but she was out cold.

Twilight saw Radiant Hope not far from where Taylor had landed and saw the unicorn was in much worse condition. She winced at the sight of Hope’s injuries. She needed immediate medical attention. Unfortunately Twilight wasn’t a doctor and didn’t have proper medical equipment. So all she could do on her own was buy Hope some time. Closing her eyes to concentrate she started to cast a spell that would put Hope in a sort of stasis, slowing any bleeding and metabolic processes. The time it could buy could be the difference between life and death.

Rainbow Dash, who had spotted them on her way back from the Empire, landed near the group. “Sweet Celestia… What the buck happened in there?!” She demanded.

“We were attacked inside the prison. It was full of creatures called Umbrum. Apparently Sombra’s one of them. Taylor cast a spell using love and light and saved us.” Twilight quickly explained as she started tearing scraps off of Hope’s already tattered cloak with her telekinesis and tying the strips around Hope’s injuries like bandages. It wasn’t much but hopefully it would help buy a little more time for her.

“Are you all okay?” Rainbow asked, looking around at everyone.

“Not really… Gah… Dang that hurts… Never been roughed up quite that bad before…” Applejack commented, groaning as she clutched at the worst of her injuries. “Whatever Weaver did back there, I’m glad she did it… Those were some bucking nasty critters…”

“Ah… My hair… My fur! Owww…” Rarity complained, looking at her messed up mane and the crimson blood from her injuries staining her otherwise pristine white fur in dismay.

“That was no fun… I don’t like those Umbrum meanies… Twilight, is Taylor okay?” Pinkie asked, walking forward to look at her unconscious friend.

Everypony was covered in bruises and heavily bleeding injuries. Not nearly as bad as Radiant Hope’s injuries, but they still weren’t good. Other than Hope, Pinkie and Rarity seemed to be the worst off. Twilight was hurt too but she was the one who’d come out the best out of everypony. Mainly because she was the best magic user in the group and was able to hold off the Umbrum better than anypony else. Technically Taylor was even less injured than Twilight, but considering she had been unresponsive while flying everypony away and suddenly passed out mid flight, Twilight couldn’t exactly say she was in good condition.

Twilight looked at Taylor then back to Pinkie. “I don’t know, Pinkie. She doesn’t look hurt but she didn’t even seem to hear us calling her and passed out. I think whatever that spell she cast was, it took too much out of her. I saw her after she cast it. Her eyes were glazed over and she could barely stand… I’m not sure but I think she might have used up all of the love Fluttershy and Rainbow fed her before we went in and then some.”

“Seriously? Was it really that bad in there?” Rainbow asked, looking at Taylor.

“It really was… It came pretty close… If Taylor hadn’t acted when she did, we might all be dead or dying right now… Rarity, I’m going to need your help to bandage everypony’s injuries.” Twilight said as she finished bandaging the worst of Radiant Hope’s injuries.

“Of course, darling…” Rarity nodded, joining Twilight.

Rainbow looked at Hope and grimaced. “Yeesh… Is… Is she… you know… alive?”

“Yes, barely. But not for long without treatment…I put a spell on her that’s going to buy her time and the bandages are going to help, but she needs immediate emergency treatment as soon as we’re back in the Empire.” Twilight said as she worked on bandaging Rarity’s injuries while Rarity bandaged Pinkie Pie’s. They were using both Hope’s cloak and their own snow gear. Fortunately, they weren’t going to need the snow gear for much longer.

“So… who is she? And did you get the piece?” Rainbow asked.

“Her name’s Radiant Hope. Apparently she was living with the Umbrum for the past thousand years. She has some connection with Sombra, but we don’t know what. And, fortunately, yes. Hope had the last piece. She tried to keep it from us, but Taylor took it from her. That’s what triggered the Umbrum to stop acting innocent and start trying to kill us. Hope’s not evil like them, just… She’s been lied to and manipulated for a thousand years… She couldn’t accept that the Umbrum weren’t her friends and tried to reason with them while we were trying to fight our way out… This is what they did to her.” Twilight informed Rainbow.

Rainbow started to get visibly angry. “She thought they were her friends and they did this to her?!”

“Yeah… Those Umbrum were real jerks! Poor Hope… She really thought they were her friends…” Pinkie said sadly, looking at Hope sympathetically.

“Why I oughta… What did Skitter do in there?! Tell me she at least kicked their butts!” Rainbow snarled, looking back in the direction of the Umbrum’s Prison.

“Oh she kicked some Umbrum behind alright… She cast some kinda spell and there was this bright flash of light. A few of the Umbrum vanished entirely. Some that were further away were hurt. I don’t think they’ll be forgetting that any time soon.” Applejack assured Rainbow.

“Good! It sounds like the jerks deserved it.” Rainbow growled.

As soon as everyone was bandaged up, Twilight teleported the group back to the Crystal Empire. They appeared right outside the barrier and immediately rushed inside before Sombra could show up.

As soon as they were back at the castle they were immediately greeted at the entrance by Shining Armor. He was smiling at first then he saw the bandages and the two unconscious individuals Twilight was carrying in her telekinetic grip at which point his smile fell and his eyes widened.

“Twili, you’re hurt!” He rushed over to her and immediately started checking her over. “What happened?! If Sombra did this to you I swear to Harmony—”

Twilight cut him off with a hug.

He paused and returned the embrace. “I’m glad you made it back safe, Twili…”

“I am too… We have a lot to talk about.”

“You’re right. We do. But first, everypony to the infirmary now! We’re getting those wounds treated, ASAP.”

He led all of them to the castle infirmary.

In the infirmary they saw several beds and cabinets full of medical equipment.

Twilight put Radiant Hope and Taylor down on two separate beds before looking around. “Where is everypony? Shouldn’t there be an in-house doctor or nurses for the castle staff and Queen Amore?” Twilight asked.

Shining Armor shook his head. “While you six were gone, Spike and I did some investigating into the mind control thing Weaver mentioned. She was right. No pony can remember anything. Some have it so bad they can’t even remember their own names, what they used to do for a living, or even where they live. So nopony can help us. Plus, their best medical knowledge would be a thousand years out of date. So I wouldn’t trust them to do more than sew up and bandage your injuries even if they did have their memories. I know you aren’t a doctor, Twilight, but I also know you have studied some modern medicine. So as far as I’m concerned, you’re the single best and most qualified doctor in the entire Crystal Empire right now.”

Twilight swallowed hard. That was not encouraging. It meant it was up to her to save Hope and Taylor. Still she had to try. “Rarity, you’re good at sewing. I’m going to try to help Weaver and Hope the best I can. While I’m doing that, do you think you could take care of patching everypony up? All you need to do is clean and disinfect any wounds, then sew them up or bandage them. I know it might be gross but I need you to do it so I can focus on saving these two.”

Rarity nodded. “I’ll try my best, Twilight. So don’t worry about us. Just focus on saving our friends.”

“Thank you. Shining Armor, Fluttershy’s not a doctor but she has some medical training and experience. Mainly on animals, which isn’t great… but any real hoofs-on experience is going to help here. I need you to go get her… Oh, and this is the last piece of Queen Amore. Go give it to Spike, so he can start putting her back together while I’m working on saving Taylor and Hope… Maybe have Spike send an urgent letter to Princess Celestia requesting a couple of books on modern medicine? I’m probably going to need them.” Twilight requested, levitating the last piece over to Shining Armor.

“I’m on it.” He said before grabbing the piece with his teeth, turning, and bolting out of the room.

As soon as he left, Twilight immediately began searching through the infirmary for medical tools and equipment. A lot of it was old and archaic. A thousand years out of date. Yet due to Sombra’s banishment spell they were perfectly preserved. Sadly, being a thousand years out of date, Twilight had no idea what half of them were or what they were supposed to do. Plus most of the drugs were what was considered standard a thousand years a So most of them were useless to her. So she found the few tools she recognized and knew how to use. Taking a fresh cloth, she tied it around her mouth like a makeshift medical mask.

Not having X-rays or MRI machines, Twilight had to make do with old-fashioned scanning spells of which she only knew a couple and had never actually had to use before.

Radiant Hope was not in good condition. Twilight bit her lower lip. She was not qualified for any of this and the tools she had were subpar at best. The most she could hope for was stabilizing Hope long enough to get her transported to a real doctor in Equestria. Or to have a real doctor come to the Crystal Empire with the necessary equipment and treat her.

While Twilight was waiting impatiently for Fluttershy and Shining Armor to come back, preferably with some medical books, she got to work on diagnosing Taylor.

She winced. Taylor wasn’t in as bad of condition as Hope, but she wasn’t doing well either. She was almost completely out of love. She was effectively starving to death. On top of that her body was dangerously exhausted, and it hadn’t fully purged the magic of Sombra’s crystals. And with so little love to resist the dark magic, the curse from the crystals was steadily progressing. It was slow since there was so little left, but it was still progressing and if left unchecked it would kill her if the starvation didn’t.

The best way to fix everything that was wrong with her would be to feed her and let her rest. Unfortunately, Twilight had no way of feeding Taylor. She could forcibly induce a feeding reflex, but once she got it started she wouldn’t have a way to stop it. Since Taylor was unconscious, her body would act on instinct and keep feeding until whoever volunteered was dead. Which obviously wasn’t an option.

So Twilight did what little she could to slow down the curse since that was pretty much all she could do. After that, there was nothing she could do unless Taylor woke up. And Taylor wouldn’t wake up unless she was fed. Which meant there was nothing Twilight could do to help her. So she needed to try and think of a solution to feed Taylor without sacrificing somepony to do so and for that she needed time. Fortunately Taylor wasn’t going to die right away but it was still an incredibly stressful situation for Twilight to be in.

Eventually Fluttershy came in, looking both tired and nervous. Shining Armor came in a few moments later with the medical books Twilight had requested.

Twilight gave Fluttershy a brief explanation of what was going on before tying a cloth around her mouth too. After that, the two of them got to work on trying to save Hope.

Twilight levitated the medical books with telekinesis and rapidly scanned through and referenced them as needed. She read through sections and made sure she understood the content as best she could before doing anything. And she tried her best to avoid doing anything particularly dangerous, trying to limit herself to the most simple procedures she could find for what she needed to do to help Radiant Hope. Fortunately, she was an avid speed reader and had excellent reading comprehension skills. Sadly, this was not her area of expertise so it was incredibly difficult and stressful.

While Twilight worked on Hope, Fluttershy gave her some advice based on the little she knew and acted as something like a nurse. Unfortunately the help she could provide was otherwise quite minimal.

Twilight did everything within her power that she was comfortable doing short of performing surgery. She was not a qualified surgeon and didn’t trust herself enough for that. So she tried everything in her power to avoid it.

She was able to stop all of the external bleeding and figured out a spell to constrict veins and arteries to at least slow down some of the internal bleeding. However, Hope was still low on blood. Unfortunately, Twilight didn’t know her blood type and didn’t have an IV bag or a hypodermic needle since those hadn’t existed a thousand years ago. So while she had managed to buy even more time, Hope still needed an actual doctor otherwise there was a good chance she was still going to die.

When she’d done all she could, Twilight finally let Rarity and Fluttershy tend to her own injuries.

“Since everypony’s injuries have been taken care of, we need to go try to figure out how to help Queen Amore… Fluttershy, could you stay here with Hope and Taylor…? I… I don’t think you’ll be able to do much for either of them but…” Twilight requested.

Fluttershy nodded. “Of course, Twilight… I’ll try to take care of them the best I can. If either of their conditions change, I'll let you know.”

“Thank you.” Twilight said gratefully before leading everypony out of the infirmary.

They went back to the throne room where Spike had just finished putting Queen Amore back together and sitting there talking to Cadance who looked exhausted.

“Twilight, are you okay? Shiny told me you were hurt.” Cadance asked as everyone walked in.

“I’m fine. I actually made it out okay. Everypony else got hurt way worse than me.” Twilight informed her. “How are you doing?”

“I’m tired, but I’m holding out as best I can…” Cadance responded.

“Well, hopefully Queen Amore can help us.” Shining Armor stated, walking over and sitting next to Cadance.

“Hopefully…” Twilight muttered, stepping up to the statue. She tried several spells, but nothing she did seemed to work. “What am I missing? There has to be a way to undo the curse!” She growled to herself.

“Twilight, I can tell you’re using light in your spells, but what about love? If Sombra’s weak to love and light then maybe the combination can undo his magic too?” Cadance suggested.

“But… I don’t know how. If I did, I’d take over maintaining the barrier for you so you could rest.” Twilight told her.

“Fortunately for you, I’m somewhat of an expert on the subject! We don’t have a whole lot of time and I have to focus on maintaining the barrier, but I can try to teach you some of the basics of love magic. I know you can figure it out from there.” Cadance told her.

“Are you sure? If you need to focus, I don’t want to distract you…” Twilight muttered uncertainly.

“I’m sure. I can spare enough of my attention to teach you at least a little bit.” Cadance stated with a tired smile.

Twilight hesitated a moment longer before nodding. “Alright, if you’re sure… Where do we begin?”

Cadance proceeded to spend the next half an hour talking Twilight through the fundamentals of love magic. Twilight, being the quick learner she was, actually managed to grasp the concepts incredibly fast.

“Okay, I think I get it… I think I have an idea.” Twilight said before turning back to Queen Amore’s statue.

Closing her eyes she took a deep breath and focused. “Love and light…” She muttered to herself before casting a spell using a combination of the two.

Queen Amore’s black crystalline form was engulfed in a bright white light. After a moment, the crystal began to crack and flake off revealing flesh and fur underneath.

Queen Amore gasped and backed away causing the rest of the crystal to fall off of her and disintegrate to nothing. The light faded and Queen Amore looked around in surprise. Her fur and body were translucent, faceted, and shiny like that of a crystal.

“Where am I? Where’s Sombra and the Crystal Heart?” She asked, looking around. Then recognition crossed her face. “My throne room…? It looks different, somehow…”

“Queen Amore, I’m Twilight Sparkle. The personal student and protege of Princess Celestia. There’s a lot to explain and not a whole lot of time.” Twilight told her.

Queen Amore looked at Twilight, her injuries, and the injuries on the others. And saw the exhaustion on Cadance’s face and the glow of Cadance’s horn as she maintained her barrier spell. “Very well, explain what you can.”

Twilight nodded. She proceeded to explain the situation as best she could. Starting from how Queen Amore was turned to crystal and was shattered, and then everything leading up to Taylor sensing her pieces, leading everyone across the Frozen North and into the Umbrum’s prison to gather the pieces.

“I… I see… A thousand years… And you went into the Shadow Prison?! No wonder you’re all hurt. It’s a miracle you made it out alive at all! Where is Queen Weaver now? I would very much like to thank her.” Queen Amore asked.

Twilight grimaced. “Uh… Well… About that… She, um… As a changeling she eats love… Well, she used an extremely powerful spell using both love and light to destroy the Umbra that were about to kill us… In the process she used up almost all of her love… Then she carried all of us about a third or so of the way back to the Empire before falling unconscious. So she’s currently in the infirmary…”

“Destroyed? No wonder she used up so much love! That’s not at all how love magic should be used! Oh dear… Is she going to be alright?” Queen Amore inquired.

“She’s currently unconscious and is starving to death… And since she’s unconscious we can’t feed her. At least, not safely… If we tried to induce a feeding reflex while she was unconscious, she wouldn’t be able to control herself and would keep draining anypony who volunteered until they were dead. So… We don’t know if she’s going to make it…” Twilight explained.

“She’s dying?” Queen Amore asked, sounding both sad and guilty. “She’s dying because she decided to try and save me?”

“Well… Yes and no… We were trying to get your pieces so we could bring you back. But we got surrounded by the Umbrum and she was trying to save us. So it’s because she was trying to save all of us.” Twilight said, trying to ease the guilt she heard in Amore’s tone.

“And… She feeds on love?” Amore asked.

“Yes, but like I said, we can’t feed her. It’s too dangerous.” Twilight told her, starting to get worried.

“Well, I just so happen to be an expert in love magic. I think I can help her…She’s in the infirmary at the moment, yes?” Queen Amore asked.

“She is…” Twilight said cautiously.

Queen Amore smiled. “I can tell you’re worried. It’s alright. I’ve heard your warnings. I’m not going to do anything that will put my life in danger. I can help her without hurting myself in the process. Trust me. She saved my life. I want to return the favor.”

Amore then looked at Cadance with a smile. “Thank you for all you’ve done to protect my Empire in my absence, Princess Cadance. I can take over maintaining the barrier after I’ve helped Queen Weaver. And I have an idea for a more permanent solution. You just need to hold out for a few more minutes. Can you do that for me?”

“I think so… And you can just call me Cadance. We’re family after all!” Cadance said with an exhausted smile.

Queen Amore blinked in surprise. “We are?”

“Yup! We’re distant relatives…” Cadance told her.

Queen Amore’s smile grew significantly, filling with pure love and joy. However there was an undertone of sadness within it. “You must be one of my descendants then! My great granddaughter must have escaped Sombra’s reign. She was the only living family I had. It gladdens me to know she made it out and had a family of her own.”

She approached Cadance and embraced her. “Well, Cadance, words can’t describe how happy I am to meet you. I just wish it could have been under better circumstances… I’ll take over maintaining the barrier and let you rest soon.”

Cadance was a bit surprised by the embrace at first but eventually leaned into it and returned the hug. “Thank you…”

Queen Amore released Cadance. “Twilight Sparkle, please lead me to Queen Weaver.”

Twilight nodded and she and the others led Queen Amore to the infirmary where Fluttershy was sitting with Hope and Taylor. Cadance and Shining Armor followed along after them.

Hearing the doors open, she looked over and saw everypony walking in with Queen Amore following behind them.

Fluttershy cowered a bit, hiding behind her mane shyly.

“Queen Amore, this is Fluttershy. Another one of my friends. She’s a bit shy around new ponies.” Twilight said as they walked in.

“Greetings, Fluttershy. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” Queen Amore said in a friendly tone She then looked past Fluttershy at the two beds and her eyes widened in surprise.

Ignoring Taylor for the moment, Queen Amore went straight to Hope’s bed. “No… Radiant Hope…”

“You know her?” Twilight asked.

Queen Amore nodded. “I do. I knew all of the orphans in the Chestnut Falls’ Orphanage… She was Sombra’s only friend… What happened to her?”

“She was with the Umbrum in the Shadow Prison. She was living with them for the past thousand years. They’d been lying to and manipulating her this entire time… She had your final piece. When Weaver took the piece from her, the Umbrum stopped pretending to be her friends… She couldn’t accept it and tried to reason with them while we were trying to fight our way out, and this is what they did to her. Weaver is the only reason she’s alive. While we were all busy trying to hold them off, Weaver jumped in to save Hope rather than letting the Umbrum kill her.” Twilight explained.

Tears seeped from Queen Amore’s eyes. “That sounds quite like those monsters… They likely planned to use her as a tool to escape if Sombra failed… The poor dear… Is she going to be alright?”

Twilight shook her head. “Fluttershy and I did everything we could for her, but neither of us are doctors… Because of what Sombra did no pony remembers anything, so we couldn’t get an actual doctor to help her. On top of all of that, even if we could, the medical knowledge and technology of the Crystal Empire is a thousand years out of date. A lot of advancements and innovations have happened in that time. So, she’s stable for now but she needs an Equestrian doctor or to be transferred to an Equestrian hospital as soon as possible. Otherwise, she’s going to die.”

Queen Amore squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. Taking a deep shaky breath she was very clearly holding back tears. “How long?”

Twilight looked away. “Like I said, I’m not a doctor. I can’t say for sure.”

Leaning down, Queen Amore said quietly, “Hope? It’s Queen Amore. I’m back. I haven’t given up yet, so don’t you give up either. If I can save you both, I will. Just hang on.”

She then stood back up and walked over to Taylor’s bed. She looked at Taylor for a moment. “So this is Queen Weaver… I’ve only heard vague rumors of Changelings. None of them were pleasant. I would never have thought they were actually real, let alone that one would save me and my Empire.”

“Are you sure whatever you’re going to do is safe? She really can’t control herself while she’s unconscious.” Twilight asked nervously.

Queen Amore nodded. “I’m certain. In my time, I was the world’s foremost expert on love magic. If anypony can help her it’s me.” A pink aura enveloped her horn and a crystal appeared next to her in a flash of light. It was fairly large.

“What’s that? Some sort of magical artifact that’ll help you fix Sk… er… Weaver or something?” Rainbow Dash asked curiously.

Queen Amore chuckled. “Oh no. Nothing like that. It’s just a normal crystal. Diamond to be exact. It’s what I’m going to do with it that matters… So long as there’s a degree of separation I should be safe, correct?”

Twilight looked between Amore and the crystal in confusion. “I… suppose? What are you planning to do with that crystal?”

“I’m planning to use it as a vessel to store a significant amount of love. After all, that’s quite similar to how the Crystal Heart works. Only, this doesn’t have to be nearly so complex. It needs only to store the love I put into it so Weaver may feed upon it instead of feeding upon me. A trivial matter in comparison to the Crystal Heart.” Queen Amore told them.

Pink energy began flowing from her horn into the crystal which began to glow with a faint internal light. When she was done, Queen Amore sagged in exhaustion. “Oh… I may have overdone it a bit… Well, regardless, this should be more than enough to feed Weaver. Though… I’m not quite sure how to make her feed on it.”

“Leave that to me. I’m pretty sure I know how to trigger a feeding reflex in her. Just hold the crystal infront of her mouth and stay back.” Twilight stated.

As soon as Queen Amore lowered the crystal to only a few inches in front of Taylor’s mouth, Twilight cast a spell of her own. Opening Taylor’s mouth and then stimulating her biology into starting the process of feeding.

Pink energy began to flow from the crystal into Taylor’s mouth, indicating that it was working.

Twilight smiled happily. “It’s working!”

The mood in the infirmary began to brighten significantly as everypony realized Taylor was going to be okay.

After about a minute the pink energy flowing into Taylor’s mouth ended. At that point Twilight forced Taylor’s jaw shut just to be safe.

Queen Amore teleported the crystal away again.

Everypony waited with bated breath.

I groaned groggily as I started to wake up. I opened my eyes and found myself in a blurry unfamiliar room.

I felt strange emotions all around me, but close by were people who were happy, relieved, and… grateful?

Pushing myself up I flinched as something floated in front of my face. It took me a second to recognize it was my glasses.

Grabbing them with my telekinesis I put them on and the blurriness cleared significantly.

I found myself in a bed surrounded by ponies. Twilight and her friends, Princess Cadance, Shining Armor, and one more pony I didn’t immediately recognize. It took another moment for me to remember everything, at which point I assumed the new pony must be Queen Amore.

I looked next to me and saw Radiant Hope in a bed near mine. She was in rough condition, but her emotions were positive. I assumed Princess Luna must have been giving her pleasant dreams despite the condition she was in.

Pinkie Pie rushed over to my bedside and wrapped me in a spine shatteringly tight hug. “You’re awake! We were so worried!!”

“Pinkie… You're… crushing me…” I struggled in the Earth Pony’s overly tight grasp.

“Oops! Sorry.” She released me and backed off a bit but I could sense the abundance of happiness and excitement within her.

“Happy to see you’re okay too, Pinkie. The same goes for all of you. I thought we were all going to die.” I told them.

“We almost did, but you saved us.” Twilight stated.

Applejack nodded. “Yep. There was this bright flash and suddenly those varmints vanished or were squealing like scared hogs being chased by a manticore. Then ya carried us half way back to the Empire before you collapsed on us. Twilight said ya used up all your love on that last spell, and were starvin’ to death, again. Only this time we didn’t know how to feed ya since you were unconscious so we weren’t sure you were gonna make it. Gave us quite the scare. Fortunately, Queen Amore here figured out a way to feed ya safely.”

“Excuse me, I believe I might have misheard, did you say ‘again’?” The pony who I assumed to be Queen Amore asked.

“Yes, again… While we were going around collecting your pieces, Weaver was using her magic to carry us around. And Sombra tried to stop us by blocking the paths with his cursed crystals. So she had the brilliant idea to turn into a dragon and chew straight through them. So the love magic inside of her was expended as it conflicted with Sombra’s dark magic and they destroyed each other. So she was effectively starving herself on top of making herself sick. And she didn’t tell us then tried to lie about it even when she could hardly stand. I had to bring it up and we had to convince her to eat. It’s a good thing we did too, or she would have died as soon as she cast the spell that saved us from the Umbrum.” Twilight explained.

“You’re going to hold that against me, aren’t you?” I groaned in frustration. “I already explained my reasons to you girls. So you know damn well that’s a biased depiction of what happened.”

“Is it really though?” Rainbow asked, jokingly.

“Yes.” I stated firmly. I then looked at Queen Amore. “So… You’re Queen Amore. Thank you for saving me. I have no idea why that spell used as much energy as it did.”

Queen Amore shook her head. “No. I should be the one thanking you. From what your friends have told me, without you they would have never learned of my pieces and would never have found me.”

“We’ll call it even then… So, what now? Do you have any idea how we can stop Sombra? Preferably without me having to go out there and do the same thing to him that I did to the Umbrum. That sucked.” I asked her.

“Now…” Queen Amore started as a pink aura enveloped her horn. “I take over maintaining the barrier for my granddaughter.” She then looked over at Cadance. “It’s time for you to go get some sleep, dear.”

The aura enveloping Cadance’s horn vanished and her body visibly relaxed. “Thank you so much… I’m sorry I can’t stay up and get to know you, but I’ve been awake for the past several days straight.”

Amore waved a hoof. “It’s fine. I understand. You’ve more than earned it.”

They hugged and Cadance walked off with Shining Armor. I could sense relief radiating from both of them. “Make certain you eat something before going to sleep, dear!” Amore called out as Cadance and Shining Armor were walking away.

“I’ll make sure we stop by the kitchen before I take her to bed!” Shining Armor called back.

When they were gone Amore said, “As for stopping Sombra, I do have an idea. And no. It doesn’t involve you pushing yourself to the brink of starving to death to execute him. In fact, I would rather save him from himself.”

I blinked at her. “You what?”

“He was raised as a pony rather than an Umbrum. There’s good in him, unlike the vast majority of his kin. He’s simply deluded, angry, and feels hurt and betrayed. He believes because he’s an Umbrum he must be a monster, that he has no other choice. He’s wrong, he just needs to see it.”

I looked at her incredulously. “You’re joking…”

“Oh no. Far from it. I’m quite serious.” Queen Amore shook her head. She then gave me a curious look. “You don’t approve?”

“The bastard turned you to stone, usurped your throne, mind controlled your entire kingdom, spent the past however long trying to turn us to stone, and you think he can be redeemed? If we aren’t going to execute him, why the hell don’t we throw him back in that crystal prison thing with the rest of the Umbrum? At minimum, he deserves a lifetime sentence in prison.” I was tempted to say he belongs in the Birdcage, but I restrained myself. No one here would know what I was talking about.

Twilight looked at her friends before looking back at me. “Technically, he did spend the past thousand years trapped in the ice here in the Frozen North. That's roughly the same length of time that Princess Luna was banished to the moon for what she did as Nightmare Moon. Longer, actually, since Luna was banished later than him and returned before him. We were able to help Luna redeem herself after she returned. So I see no reason why it would have to be different for Sombra.”

“Princess Luna was banished to the moon?” Queen Amore asked, clearly shocked by this revelation.

“There’s a lot you’re gonna have to catch up on, your highness.” Rainbow commented.

Queen Amore nodded. “Clearly… Well, regardless, I need something before I can act to try and help Sombra. The Crystal Heart.”

“I’ve noticed you mention that a few times now, but we’ve never heard of it before. What is it?” Twilight asked.

“A powerful artifact I created long before Sombra came to be. It was meant to protect the Crystal Empire from the Umbrum. I also used it to imprison the Umbrum, trapping them forever within the Shadow Prison. Interestingly, though I am its creator, even I don’t fully understand its power. It far surpassed my intentions for it.”

“What do you mean? If you created it, how is it possible that you don’t understand what it can do? That’s not how enchanting works.” Twilight asked, very confused.

“Well, if one were to look into it they could see visions of their destiny within. It also seems to have extended my life beyond my natural limits. I created it two thousand years ago. So I was already a thousand years old when Sombra turned me to crystal and conquered the Empire. I never intended for either of those things. I merely intended for it to make a barrier to keep both the cold and the Umbrum out of the Empire and as a tool to amplify my own love magic so I could use it to better resist the Umbrum. It seems to have grown significantly beyond what I ever intended for it, and I can only speculate as to why. That growth it has undergone is the only reason I was able to use it to create the Shadow Prison and seal the Umbrum within, at all. Else I would have done so the moment I created it.”

“It’s probably gone.” I stated.

Queen Amore looked at me curiously.

“What? Think about it. You had some ultra powerful magical artifact that was essentially his biggest weakness. The only thing that could keep him out of the Crystal Empire forever. It only makes sense that he would have destroyed it. Like actually destroyed it. Broke it up and ground it to dust then dumped the dust into the ocean rather than leaving shards behind like he left your pieces behind. It’s what I’d have done in his position. He had no reason to keep it around.”

“Except I caught him stealing the Crystal Heart when he turned me to crystal. If that’s what he wanted to do, he would have broken it right then and there instead of trying to steal it. The fact he stole it instead suggests he must have had other plans for it. Perhaps he thought he might corrupt it and use it for his own ends. Or perhaps he was worried that if he destroyed it the love and light magic within it would be released and he would be destroyed along with it. Whatever the case, I know for a fact he didn’t destroy it. I have a connection of sorts with the Crystal Heart. I can’t tell its exact location but feel its presence. It’s close by. Somewhere within the Crystal Empire. If it had been destroyed I would know it.” Queen Amore told us.

I shrugged. “Fine. Then I concede the point. I didn’t know you could sense the thing. I was just making an assumption.”

“So, Twilight, you mentioned Princess Celestia sent you to help save my Empire as some sort of test. To be quite blunt, I do not appreciate that she decided to make the fate of my Crystal Ponies and my Empire a test, but regardless I have a task for you. Find the Crystal Heart and bring it back to me. The Crystal Empire can only truly be saved with the Crystal Heart.” Queen Amore said, looking at Twilight.

Twilight nodded. “I won’t let you down!”

Queen Amore smiled and chuckled. “I’m sure you won’t. However, I’m also going to need the help of your friends.”

“What do you need us to do?” Rainbow asked.

“I need you five to help me set up a very special event. The Crystal Faire! It’s an annual event meant to renew the spirit of love and unity in the Empire! The Faire will help us recharge the Crystal Heart. After that we can deal with Sombra.” Queen Amore informed us. I could feel the happiness and excitement radiating from her. It was obvious to me that she enjoyed the Crystal Faire and was looking forward to this.

“A fair?! Woohoo! This is gonna be so much fun!” Pinkie Pie cheered. Apparently she was just as excited.

Queen Amore chuckled. “Indeed it will! I’m glad to see I’m not the only pony looking forward to it! However, there are some traditions you’ll need to be familiar with. Since I’ve taken over maintaining the barrier for Cadance, and I can take shifts with my granddaughter after she’s had some time to rest, we have plenty of time. So, let’s discuss all the details over dinner, shall we?”

Apparently Amore wanted me to join everyone for dinner so I got up and started following everyone out. However, as we were walking out I noticed Amore ask to talk to Twilight. So I decided to hang back and eavesdrop a bit.

“Twilight Sparkle, you say medical knowledge has progressed in the thousand years I’ve been gone?” Amore asked.

“It has, and by a lot.” Twilight confirmed.

“Then, I must ask. Do you have a means of getting in contact with Celestia?”

“I do. Spike’s fire is magically connected to Celestia. So he can send messages to her and receive messages from her. Isn’t that right, Spike?”

“Yup! It doesn’t matter how far away she is, she gets any letter I send instantly! Since you’re focusing on maintaining the barrier, I can even write down any message you want to send to her for you if you want.” Spike offered.

“Wonderful! Then I will take you up on that offer. I need her to send the best doctors she can as soon as possible to save Radiant Hope…”

I tried to listen in a bit longer but it had simply turned into Queen Amore telling Spike what to write. Mainly, announcing her return and requesting Celestia and Luna send doctors as soon as possible.

When I felt the message was coming to an end I left and followed everyone’s emotions to the dining room. I already had my dinner so I didn’t expect to eat with everyone else, but I thought it might be rude if I decided not to attend dinner at all.

Fortunately no one questioned what took me so long. I was pretty sure they just thought I had to use the restroom or something.

Surprisingly immediately upon seeing Queen Amore, the few servants working in the castle seemed to start shaking off whatever master effect Sombra had over them. They even looked different. Their coats were previously dull and washed out but grew more vibrant and colorful, even taking on a slight glittering look, as the master effect weakened.

Dinner went about how I expected, with Queen Amore explaining the traditions associated with the Crystal Faire and asking for a more detailed version of the story of how we found all of her pieces and saved her.

Author's Note

This chapter isn't quite as exciting as Chapter 10 but there wasn't any real fighting to be had. That said, the biggest stretch I can think of is Twilight stabilizing Radiant Hope despite not being a doctor but I think it's fine. She didn't fix Hope, just bought her time.

And I'm sorry I didn't have Amore use Shakespearian English like Luna used to. I'm not great at it and I thought it might get annoying to read after awhile.

Anyway, yeah. Apparently Queen Amore is canonically two thousand years old. I didn't make that shit up. This is a direct quote from Chapter 3 of the 2017 Annual comic, in which Shining Armor goes searching for her vault because changelings are attacking the Crystal Empire.

"What once was mine is now yours. I wish you the best of luck."

"Thank you Princess, but—"

"Gone. Well, hopefully there is something in here that can help."

"Maybe two thousand years was too long. Or something got in here..."

(I'd post the scan but I don't have the scan I can link to. So the best I can do is a word for word quote.)

Anyway, from what I understand Amore made everything in that vault herself. So that would mean she has to be older than everything inside. Thus putting her firmly at over two thousand years old, according to Shining Armor. The Crystal Heart making her immortal is just me explaining why she was able to live so long without visibly aging like Starswirl the Bearded did. I mean, if anti-aging spells existed, you'd think Starswirl of all ponies would know them inside and out and cast them casually to keep himself in his prime. So there had to be something else up, since she's not an Alicorn.

I'm rambling.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. As always, I'm open to all questions, comments, and criticism.

Chapter 12

The next morning as everyone was preparing for the Faire, royal guard pegasi pulling flying chariots arrived in the empire, and they had brought several doctors with them on separate chariots and those doctors brought medicine and some easily portable medical equipment.

Apparently it had been touch and go all night with Twilight having to stay up the entire time, keeping watch over Radiant Hope. Whenever something started to go wrong, she had to do everything in her limited power to keep the pony alive for just a little longer.

As soon as they arrived, the doctors immediately took over and started performing emergency surgery to save her.

The royal guard informed us that the princesses were currently busy but would be coming within the next couple of days.

I was currently sitting off to the side of the throne room in my changeling form. Apparently Twilight had explained my situation to Amore the previous night, while she was keeping Radiant Hope alive. So I could have taken my human form. But with Sombra still right outside the barrier, ready to attack, I wanted to be ready in case he pulled something and managed to get in or somehow manipulate the ponies still under the effects of his spell.

Having finally gotten some rest, Cadance temporarily took over maintaining the barrier again so Queen Amore could get rid of the crystals on Shining Armor's horn.

Amore cast a spell and the crystals vanished in a flash of light.

"I'm so sorry, Shining Armor. I should have gotten rid of those for you last night, but I got so caught up in everything else I hardly noticed they were there." Queen Amore apologized.

"It's no big deal, really. I didn't need to use my magic last night anyway. I just took Cadance to the kitchen for a light snack then we went to bed. Honestly, I'm just glad it wasn't permanent." Shining Armor said with a smile.

"Still, I should have noticed. You're my granddaughter's husband which makes you my grandson. Neglecting my grandson just won't do." Queen Amore told him. Her horn started glowing again. "Alright, dear. Thank you for taking over the barrier for a moment so I could undo Sombra's spell. I can take it from here."

Cadance shook her head. "Actually, grandma, now that I've had some food and rest I think I'm fine. I'm still a little tired, but I can manage. Besides, you've been up all night maintaining it even though you're the one who's going to use the Crystal Heart to try and save Sombra. So I'm more than happy to trade off for the day so you can conserve your energy for later."

"Well, if you're certain… But if it starts becoming too much of a strain on you again, let me know. I have plenty of energy left to maintain the barrier until the Crystal Heart is found."

"So, how much longer until this 'crystal faire' is ready? And you still haven't told me what I'm going to be doing." I asked.

Queen Amore chuckled and looked at me. "It shouldn't be too much longer, I'm sure. Once word starts to spread it will spread fast. As for your role in the faire, all you need to do is have fun! I do have something special planned, but you'll see later."

We waited around a bit longer until Twilight came back in and let us know everything was ready to go.

We all headed to a balcony where Pinkie Pie announced us with an ear splittingly bad use of a crystal flugelhorn.

"Hear ye, hear y—" Twilight was cut off as Pinkie Pie once again blew on her flugelhorn.

Everyone looked at her.

With a nervous chuckle she put the horn away. "My bad…"

"Ehem… Queen Amore does cordially invite you to attend the Crystal Faire!" Twilight announced, her voice echoing across the city.

"Thank you, Twilight. I will take it from here." Queen Amore said, stepping forwards to take Twilight's place on the balcony.

"My crystal ponies, I am happy to announce my return! As you all must know, before Sombra took over, he turned me to crystal and scattered my pieces across the Frozen North. However, thanks to the heroic efforts of Queen Weaver of the Changelings and her friends, my pieces were recovered and I have since been restored! You need not fear any longer! And to celebrate, I have decided that the Crystal Faire shall be held today!" Queen Amore declared to the Empire, magically enhancing her voice to be even louder than Twilight had been.

I could feel the confusion and anxiety in ponies all across the city starting to fade. It was quickly being replaced with excitement and joy. Though one emotion stood out above those two. Hope. Hope began to permeate the entire Crystal Empire.

"Now, while I am aware it may be unusual, the Crystal Heart is currently with me inside the Castle where it will remain until the end of this year's Faire. As the Empire has been banished for the past thousand years, my newest Granddaughter Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and her husband Prince Shining Armor have never undergone their Crystalings, thus I am having them attune with the Crystal Heart in a slightly different way. They will be done quite soon, I assure you. At which point the Crystal Heart will be returned to its proper place and later there shall be a grand unveiling near the end of the Faire! Until then, I simply request that you all remain patient."

A lie, but a necessary one. They were trying to avoid causing a panic after all.

"In the meantime, enjoy yourselves!"

With that done, we all headed back inside as the crowds of ponies outside cheered.

"What now?" I asked.

"Now, we go enjoy the faire while Twilight searches for the Crystal Heart." Queen Amore stated.

"Are you sure it's here in the castle? We didn't see anything like it when Weaver was leading us to your pieces that Sombra had kept in here." Twilight asked.

Amore nodded. "I'm quite certain. I can't pinpoint its exact whereabouts but I can sense it's nearby. It's too close to be anywhere besides here in the castle."

"I can't sense it myself, so I can't help or I would." I stated.

Queen Amore frowned. "Indeed… I find that quite odd, actually. The Crystal Heart is full of love, so I would have thought you of all ponies would have been able to sense it, Weaver. Especially as we have proven you can feed on love stored in diamonds. He must have had issues removing the barrier it created and put wards in place to limit its ability to radiate love and light. At least, so I suspect."

Twilight shook her head. "That's fine. You've done more than enough. This is supposed to be my test anyway. Princess Celestia made it very clear that I'm supposed to do this by myself. So, no offense, but I actually don't want any more help with this. And I suppose it does make a lot of sense that he would hide it here. What pony would have dared tried looking for it here in the castle when he was King? Anyways, I promise I'll get the Crystal Heart to you before the end of the Faire! You can count on me!"

I could sense displeasure from Amore when Twilight mentioned Celestia's test. Though she hid it well and smiled at Twilight, "I'm sure I can." She then looked at me. "Now, Weaver, would you care to accompany me for the Faire?" Amore requested.

I shrugged. "Sure. It's not like I have anything better to do right now."

"Excellent! While this year's Faire shall be small and impromptu compared to those of the past, I'm certain it will still be quite fun! Cadance, Shining Armor, I apologize that you won't be able to experience this year's Crystal Faire with us."

"It's fine, grandma. Shiny and I don't mind at all." Cadance stated.

I felt sadness radiating from Amore as she shook her head. "It's not fine and I mind. It would have been an excellent opportunity to get to know the both of you. The fact that I missed your entire foalhood and your marriage pains me, Cadance dear… Knowing you used to be an orphan only makes that worse. So I want to bond with you two. Unfortunately the circumstances don't permit it… Though, I shall make it up to you two next year. That I promise!"

Cadance hugged Amore and the Queen returned the embrace. "That actually means a lot to me. Thank you… Well, Shining Armor and I will be looking forward to it."

"As will I." Amore said with a smile.

"Before you two go, Weaver, would you mind if I had a word with you in private? It won't take long." Shining Armor asked. His emotions felt… odd. I couldn't quite pin down what he was feeling exactly.

"Sure. You mind waiting for a minute, your highness?" I asked, looking at Amore.

"Of course, and you needn't be so formal, Weaver. You saved me, risking your life to do so. Thus I consider you a friend. So please, just call me Amore." She requested with a friendly smile. I could feel love coming from her, directed towards me.

I nodded then followed Shining Armor off to the side.

Once we were just out of earshot of everyone else he stopped and looked at me. With a sigh he said, "I wanted to apologize… Yesterday, when I criticized the way you handle things with violence all I could think about were the bodies of those changelings. I saw them myself, after the fact. It sort of colored my impression of you in a pretty bad light, especially with my and Cadance's history with Changelings. But… You risked your life and nearly died trying to save Twilight and get the last piece of Queen Amore. Because of you, Cadance has a grandma now, when she never even had parents before. I'm sure you can sense how happy and excited she's been all morning, right?"

I nodded, not saying anything.

He looked over at Cadance and smiled, filled with love and happiness. He then looked at the floor and rubbed the back of his head with his hoof. "I guess what I'm trying to say here is… I misjudged you. I still don't like how far you're willing to go, but you aren't a monster like Chrysalis. And I wanted to thank you, for saving Twilight and for giving Cadance a chance to have something like a parental figure for the first time in her life."

"I thought Celestia was her aunt or something?" I asked.

Shining Armor gave me an uncertain look. "Well, Celestia did adopt her as a niece after she became an Alicorn, but she's not exactly much of a mother figure. Don't get me wrong, she's a great teacher and mentor, but she never really treats Cadance or even Blueblood like family. It's kinda why Blueblood turned out the way he did. Celestia wasn't very involved with him, his parents, their parents, and so on as they were growing up. From what I've seen, she likes to keep ponies at a distance. So, no. Cadance never had anypony even resembling a mother before. Not even Celestia. So, while she and Amore only just met, I can already tell this means the world to Cadance."

"For what it's worth, judging by her emotions, it means just as much to Amore. She's incredibly sad about something. I can't say what specifically, I'm just an empath not a mind reader. Though I could tell she really doesn't like the fact Cadance was orphaned. So… Do with that information what you will, I suppose." I told him.

He nodded. "Thanks for telling me. It's good to know Amore cares just as much as Cadance. Anyway, that's all I wanted to say. I won't keep you any longer."

We turned and rejoined the group. Then I left with Amore. As we were walking through the castle, however, she said, "I actually wanted to have a word with you as well, Weaver."

"What's up?"

"It's about what happened in the Shadow Prison. Can you explain to me the steps you took to cast that spell?" Amore asked.

"Oookay… Well, I had no idea how to use love magic. I was trying to figure it out the entire time we were trying to collect your pieces, whenever we had to fight off Sombra. We were all about to die, so I tried throwing everything against the wall to see what sticks. I tried forcibly dragging the love I had consumed out of me, and I tried to picture some people I used to love back where I'm originally from. People I'll never see again, but I still love them. And I tried channeling those emotions through my horn. Then I cast the spell." I explained.

"That sounds about correct… Well, except the part about you trying to forcibly drag the love out of yourself. That's completely wrong. So, what were you trying to do with the love? What was the intent you had when you cast the spell?"

"My intent? Everyone was about to die, so my intent was to kill as many of them as possible so I could save everyone and get us the hell out of there. Why?" I asked, not understanding this line of questioning.

"That right there is where you went wrong. That's why the spell cost you so much energy. Love isn't meant to be used as a weapon. It's a tool to heal and protect, not to hurt. Think of it like… lodestones."

"Lodestones, you mean magnets?" I asked.

"If that's what they're called now, I suppose. Well, one side of the 'magnet' attracts one side of the other magnet. However, if you rotate one of the magnets they will repel each other. It's much like that. When love is used for positive means, it's easy. It can achieve truly wondrous and even miraculous things. However, if it's used to hurt somepony it will resist. Like with magnets, if you push hard enough they will still touch but it requires much more force than if you were to use the sides that attract. So while it can be forced, it requires significantly more energy. So in trying to use it as a weapon to destroy the Umbrum rather than say a shield to protect your friends, you were using it wrong. The fact you were using it as a weapon to protect your friends as much as destroy the Umbrum very likely saved your life."

"Huh… That explains why it felt wrong…" I muttered.

Amore nodded.

"So, is that why you want to redeem Sombra rather than executing or imprisoning him?"

Amore shook her head. "Of course not. If I believed there was no good in Sombra, I would use the Crystal Heart to force him into the Shadow Prison with the rest of his kind. Then I would find a way to change the Prison so the Umbrum couldn't bypass it in the same way ever again. I'm no fool, Weaver. I want to redeem Sombra because there is good in him. He simply doesn't even realize it himself."

She then stopped and sighed as a deep painful sadness ran through her. "Weaver, Twilight informed me you're immortal as well. So when you have foals of your own perhaps you'll understand just how much he took from me… After I realized I wasn't aging, my grand foals were my single greatest joy in the world… The one thing I had to truly look forward to… But because of him, entire generations of my great grand foals lived and died without me… One thousand years worth of my descendants, and I never had the chance to know any of them… To laugh and smile with them. To see them grow up. To get married. To have foals of their own… And I'll never get that back… He stole all of that from me… So much love, so many potential cherished memories, everything… I'll never even know their names or get to see their portraits…"

Queen Amore was in tears, her voice shaking. I could tell she was barely holding back from breaking out into sobs. The sheer pain and grief she felt was immense. The most I had felt from anyone so far. It was so intense I could taste it whether I wanted to or not. I almost felt like I was about to choke on it. If we were on Earth Bet, I was absolutely certain she would have had a trigger event right then and there.

I mentally cursed my damned magic empathy. Without it, I could have just offered some words of condolence or something. But practically suffocating on the overwhelming miasma of grief pouring from her, I sat down and wrapped my forelegs around her in a tight hug. I felt extremely awkward and a bit embarrassed doing this, but it was painfully obvious to me that she needed it.

"I'm sorry." I told her. I wasn't sure what else to say. What could I say? How the hell was I supposed to deal with this situation? I barely knew her, yet here I was trying to comfort her with a hug.

Queen Amore returned the embrace and couldn't hold back her tears anymore. She started crying.

She cried for several minutes. At some point, a member of the castle staff overheard the crying and came to see what was happening. I just shook my head at them. They took the hint, nodded at me, and let us be.

After a few more minutes, Queen Amore started to calm down and released me. She summoned a handkerchief and wiped her eyes with it. "I… I'm sorry, Weaver… T-thank you for… l-lending me your shoulder…" She sniffled.

"Sure… I get it. I may not quite comprehend your exact situation, but I've had more than my fair share of grief. Maybe I'll tell you about it some other time… For now, at least you have Cadance, hm?" I said, trying to be understanding and sympathetic. She had apparently only heard of changelings through rumors as they first started to come onto the world stage a thousand years ago. So I knew it was highly unlikely she knew spells to obscure her emotions, which made me confident that everything I was sensing from her was completely genuine. So I knew she genuinely needed someone to comfort her right then.

She gave me a weak smile. "Yes… At… At least I have her… I merely wish… that I had been there for her when she was an orphaned foal… I wasn't here for her when… when she needed me the most…" She said as she started calming down more and more.

"Well, you're here for her now. That's what matters, right? And she's an alicorn, which makes her immortal like you. So you have plenty of time to get to know her, and you won't outlive her."

'She'll outlive Shining Armor, though.' I thought to myself though I didn't voice this.

Amore's smile strengthened a bit. "Indeed…" She then looked down at the ground. "Weaver… I bring all this up not because I wish to burden you with my sorrows… Rather I bring it up because, despite all of that… Despite everything he has done and all he has taken from me… I forgive him."

My eyes widened. "How?" I asked, completely taken aback because I knew she was telling the truth. Helping him redeem himself was one thing but actually forgiving him. I couldn't comprehend it. How could she possibly forgive him? I thought back to the Trio and tried to imagine ever forgiving them, and I just couldn't. I had moved on, certainly, but forgiving them? Hell no. The same could be said for Coil, Alexandria, Tagg, or Jack Slash. "By all rights you should hate him. You should at least be angry! How can you just forgive him after everything he's done?" I couldn't sense either anger or hate in her. Not even so much as a speck.

She shook her head. "No… Anger and hate solve nothing… They won't undo what he has done and won't ease my pain. Nothing ever will, save perhaps time… I forgive him, for a lot of different reasons… Because he's merely lost, hurt, and angry and is lashing out as a result. Because he's been lied to and manipulated by Rabia, the Umbrum who should have been his mother. Because of my own failings in how I handled him. Because he believes he has no choice but to be this way, because of whatever he saw within the Crystal Heart and Rabia's manipulation… While it would be so easy to just blame everything on him and resent him for it, ultimately he is as much a victim in this as any pony else…"

She looked at me. "Forgiveness and reconciliation are the only ways in which this ends without further suffering."

I shook my head. "I don't think I could do it in your situation, knowing everything you're feeling right now."

"Perhaps not. Forgiveness can be difficult, especially when somepony has taken so much from you. Sometimes, a pony may not even deserve it. But often, it's for the best no matter how difficult it may be. It's an important ability to have." Queen Amore stated. She then sighed. "I'm sorry, Weaver. I've ruined the mood, it seems. We should be out enjoying the Crystal Faire. Not speaking on such depressing matters."

"No, it's fine. I get it… You still want to go to the Faire?"

Amore nodded. "Lets…"

We continued on our way and left the castle. As we walked around the city, I could sense the hope and joy blooming in everyone who saw Queen Amore. I could sense their emotions returning to normal as their positive emotions let them start shaking off Sombra's spell.

Some ponies came up to us and talked to us, but most mercifully kept a respectful distance. We weren't being swarmed like I had half expected us to be.

The Faire itself really wasn't my thing if I was being honest. But I went along with it to humor Queen Amore. I needed political allies, so trying to be friendly with Amore was in my best interest. Plus… well… I could tell she actually wanted to be my friend and I was 95% certain it was genuine. The 5% uncertainty was mainly my own self consciousness and paranoia, and I knew it. I just couldn't help it. And knowing with certainty that someone wanted to be my friend was one hell of a change from what I was used to. I didn't think I'd ever be as close with her as I was with the Undersiders, but that wasn't a fair comparison to begin with. Still, it would be nice having someone I could actually trust to some extent for once here in this world.

I saved her life, so I'd damn well better be able to trust her anyway.

At some point we saw Rainbow Dash jousting with Fluttershy and after watching Fluttershy get knocked back through the air with ease I decided to have some mercy on Fluttershy and take her place in the jousting match.

"You're going to joust?" Queen Amore asked me in surprise.

"It's better than watching Fluttershy get her butt kicked over and over again. That's not a fair match. So I might as well. Unless that's a problem?" I said as I stepped out onto the ring.

"Oh no. Not at all. In fact, it'll be quite amusing I'm sure." Amore said with a smile.

"So, you wanna challenge me, huh, Weaver? Well, game on!" Rainbow declared.

"I'm a lot bigger than you so let's make this a bit more fair." I morphed into the form of a pegasus.

A few minutes later I was wearing a suit of armor and had a lance strapped to my side. A couple months ago, if someone had told me I would be dressed up in medieval armor taking part in a jousting tournament in the body of a pegasus, I would have said they were high on some kind of drugs. Yet here I was…

Pinkie Pie blew her Flugelhorn, actually succeeding in blowing a coherent note instead of making some awful noise like she had earlier. Rainbow and I charged at each other.

My lance collided with Rainbow, knocking her down. Her lance hit me but glanced off of my armor.

She got up and glared at me. She wasn't angry but I could sense her getting competitive.

"We're going again!"

"If you insist."

We jousted a few more times. I knocked her down several times and she knocked me down a couple of times too. Ultimately, we ended it in a draw. Rainbow wasn't particularly happy with that result, but I wasn't gonna stay there jousting all day.

"That was quite fun! I wish I could have joined in and challenged you myself. Alas we don't have suits of armor that would fit either of our fairly large statures, considering we are both quite a bit larger than my knights. Hm… Perhaps we should get our measurements taken so I can commission two suits of armor from a blacksmith. That way we shall have them ready for next time!" Queen Amore suggested.

"Uh… Are you sure that's a good idea?" I asked uncertainly. I didn't exactly want to joust with Queen Amore. I was worried about any political ramifications it might have if I beat her. It might make me look bad to the Crystal Ponies who I could tell adored her. Plus if she was a sore loser it might ruin any chances I had at making allies with the Empire. And then there was a chance she might get hurt which was a whole other issue entirely.

"Of course! What? Do you think I'm so delicate that I might injure myself? Come now, Weaver, just because I was turned to crystal and shattered doesn't mean I'm made of glass. Nor would I hold it against you if I lost. If, being the key word. I'm quite confident I could thoroughly trounce you in a match."

"Didn't take you for being particularly competitive." I stated.

"No, but that doesn't mean I'm incapable of having fun. Besides which, I believe my Crystal Ponies would quite enjoy the novelty of witnessing two Queens partaking in a friendly spar, or in sport of any kind really. It could be a special event in the Crystal Faire, every so often. Queen Amore of the Crystal Empire against Queen Weaver of the Changeling Hive." Amore said humorously.

"I don't know about making it a regular thing, especially not jousting specifically, but maybe." I said. I was almost tempted to make a joke but I held back. I wasn't nearly as clever or witty as Alec, Lisa, or Aisha and I didn't want to embarrass myself.

"Maybe, hm? I suppose I'll take that as a 'Yes, Amore, I shall indeed joust with you in the future'. Very well! Come, I know an excellent blacksmith to commission our suits of armor from!" Amore said, before turning and leading me through the city towards the blacksmith she had in mind.

I could tell she was having a lot of fun with the Crystal Faire. Which was good, I supposed.

Eventually, I felt an incredibly powerful source of love appear seemingly out of thin air inside the castle.

"I think Twilight just found the Crystal Heart." I said quietly so Amore would be the only one who could hear me.

She nodded. "Indeed. I sense it as well. It seems we'll have to cut this short then. A shame. I was enjoying myself… Let's return, for now."

We started heading back to the castle. By the time we got back, we found Twilight, Spike, Shining Armor, and Cadance all standing next to the Crystal Heart. Except it was covered in a blanket. Likely for the grand unveiling later that Queen Amore had announced. It was difficult being so close to such a powerful source of Love. It was hard to resist the urge to drain it dry, but I did. I couldn't lose control of myself now and ruin everything.

"I see you have successfully retrieved the Crystal Heart. Excellent work, Twilight Sparkle. Where was it, exactly?" Amore asked as we approached.

"King Sombra had a hidden staircase in the throne room, protected by powerful dark magic. There were a ton of different spells and wards protecting it, way stronger and more complex than any of them he put on your pieces. He really didn't want anypony getting it." Twilight explained.

"I see. That does make sense. The Crystal Heart is by far the most powerful tool that could be used against him. Save perhaps the Elements of Harmony. So it stands to reason he would go to such lengths to protect it. We do have time until the grand unveiling so, if you wouldn't mind, tell me all about it while we wait as I am quite curious." Amore requested.

Twilight happily began explaining the whole mini-adventure she and Spike went on to retrieve the Crystal Heart. It wasn't even half as dangerous as our journey to collect Amore's pieces, but it was still quite the story.

I had to warn everyone whenever a pony was getting too close, just so the conversation wouldn't be overheard. Fortunately that only happened a few times.

However, once the Crystal Ponies started to notice us a crowd slowly started to gather. Eagerness, excitement, and immense amounts of both hope and love began to build and build as time went on. It seemed that everyone was expecting the grand unveiling soon.

After about an hour it was evening, the sun was starting to set, and the crowd had grown huge. The sheer volume of love and hope was overwhelmingly intense. It was almost as if everyone in the entire city was present, which I was pretty sure they very well may have been.

Eventually Queen Amore cleared her throat and using magic to enhance her voice she announced, "My Crystal Ponies, we are beginning to near the end of this year's Crystal Faire. And with that, I promised you a grand unveiling of the Crystal Heart! And thus, that is exactly what I shall deliver to you. You have suffered in my absence, and for that I am deeply sorry. As you all are already far too aware, King Sombra turned me to crystal, shattered me, scattered my pieces, stole the Crystal Heart and took the throne. Casting wicked spells to force you all into subservience. Well, as you can plainly see, I am back! And with me is the Crystal Heart!"

She grabbed the blanket with a telekinetic spell and pulled it away, revealing the Crystal Heart.

All of the ponies in the gathered crowd began to cheer loudly. Their already heightened emotions absolutely skyrocketing.

Queen Amore took it off the pedestal it was on and levitated it into the middle of a symbol on the ground, beneath the center of the castle. Two glowing crystal spikes emerged from the ground and bottom of the castle, the Crystal Heart floating between them.

Light began to spread out across the crystalline ground. The crowd gathered around bowed to Queen Amore and the Crystal Heart. The last of Sombra's spell shaken off entirely and the crystal ponies grew sparkly and seemed to gain facets similar to a crystal, much like Amore. The Crystal Heart began to spin, growing brighter and brighter as astonishingly massive amounts of love surged through the ground and flooded into it. The love and light began to expand outwards like a rapidly growing bubble.

Surprisingly, Cadance, Shining Armor, Twilight, her friends, and even myself and Spike changed in much the same way as the crystal ponies as the bubble passed over us. Except some of the mane styles they had changed, while mine stayed the same.

Though in my case it had an extra effect, besides making me look as though I was made of crystal or changing my hair. I gasped as I was absolutely inundated with love energy. It felt like I had just drained hundreds of ponies completely dry all at once. I felt my strength and power grow exponentially. It was completely overwhelming, intoxicating even.

I felt dizzy.

Then I heard Queen Amore talking again.

"Now, I have some ponies I would like to thank for their valiant and heroic efforts that made all of this possible. Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Prince Shining Armor, my dear granddaughter and her beloved husband, please step forward."

Cadance and Shining Armor stepped forward to stand next to Amore. The crowds cheered for them.

"In my absence, you both stepped up to protect the Crystal Empire. Shining Armor, you patrolled the Frozen North for threats, keeping a close eye on Sombra. And Cadance, without the Crystal Heart to protect the Empire, you worked tirelessly night and day to generate the barrier to Protect my Crystal Ponies and keep Sombra out. You both have my deepest thanks. And though we may have only just met, Cadance, you are a descendant of my great grand foal who escaped the Crystal Empire during Sombra's reign. Therefore, for your efforts and as is your right by blood, I recognize you as a Princess of the Crystal Empire and my heir apparent, should anything ever happen to me again. Further, you and your husband are more than welcome to stay with me in my castle here in the Empire, and I am willing to grant you your own land should you wish it."

Cadance smiled and whispered to Shining Armor for a moment before looking back at Queen Amore. "We're truly honored. Thank you, Grandma. We would be more than happy to stay with you for as long as you would have us. We will decline the offer of land, at least for now, though we appreciate the gesture."

"Very well. I look forward to getting to know you both!" Queen Amore said with a smile.

Cadance and Shining Armor returned the smile before stepping back.

"Next, Twilight Sparkle, the student and personal protege of Princess Celestia of Equestria. Please, step forward."

Twilight stepped up and stood next to Queen Amore.

"Twilight Sparkle, though you may have been sent here for reasons I disagree with, you personally located the Crystal Heart and brought it back to me! Without you, this Crystal Faire would not be possible and defending the Crystal Empire from the threat of the Umbrum would be significantly more difficult! On top of that, you dispelled the wards Sombra had placed upon my scattered pieces so they could be retrieved. For your efforts, you have my deepest thanks."

"It was my pleasure, your majesty." Twilight said before returning to where she'd been standing. That surprised me a bit. I'd half expected Amore to grant her a title of nobility or something. Then again, she was related to Shining Armor and by extension Cadance. So I supposed that made her royalty by proxy.

"Last, but certainly not least, Queen Weaver of the Changelings. Please, step forward."

I did so, albeit reluctantly. I didn't particularly enjoy being in front of huge crowds like this.

"Queen Weaver, it is only because of you that my pieces were ever found. Without you, no pony would have ever realized I was still alive nor would they ever have been able to locate my pieces. You risked your life, leading Twilight and her friends all across the Frozen North with Sombra hunting you the entire time. You selflessly put yourself at risk, sacrificing your own health and wellbeing to keep Twilight and her friends safe. You even bravely lead them into the Shadow Prison to reclaim my final piece so that I could be restored, and very nearly sacrificed your own life to save Twilight Sparkle and her friends from the Umbrum within! In fact… Would you six girls care to recount the tale of Weaver's heroism for all to hear so that her deeds may truly be given the recognition they deserve?"

I looked at her in surprise. "What are you doing?!" I hissed at Amore as Twilight and her friends stepped forwards and began regaling the crowd with our little misadventure in the Frozen North. I was not at all pleased by this turn of events.

"Making the whole Empire love you. Pinkie Pie informed me of your unfortunate dietary situation last night. I know the troubles you have acquiring love to feed on and the fact you are terribly worried about whether or not you will be able to feed your foals when you have them. So I thought, if my Crystal Ponies knew all you did to save me and the Crystal Empire as a whole, they would be more than willing to donate love to your Hive. It can be stored in diamond, much like the method I used to feed you when you were unconscious and starving to death last night. So I discussed it with Twilight and the rest of her friends. Each of them agreed with this. I told you I have something special planned, and this is it! You will be recognized as a hero within the Crystal Empire!" Queen Amore said, with a smile.

I grimaced and looked out at the Crystal Ponies. As Twilight and the others talked, I could feel more and more love being directed towards me. It was working. I didn't like it, but it was working… I supposed my feeding problem was about to be solved, whether I liked it or not…

It wasn't that I wanted to starve, obviously, but I didn't like having this much of a spotlight on me. I would have preferred to find another solution. Something that put less attention on me. A donation system was fine, but I would have preferred it to be like blood donations back on Earth Bet. Completely detached and impersonal. A business transaction, essentially.

When Twilight and the others were finished telling their story, the crowd was cheering wildly, making me extremely uncomfortable.

"Thank you, girls! Queen Weaver, have you any words for my Crystal Ponies?" Amore asked me.

"Just this. I didn't do any of that alone. All six of them were there helping me that entire time. They deserve just as much if not more recognition than me." I stated, as Amore enhanced my own voice so everyone could hear me. Unfortunately it seemed like the Crystal Ponies thought I was just being humble as I felt barely any increase in the love directed towards Twilight and her friends rather than towards me.

Amore chuckled and looked back at the crowd. "Queen Weaver, for your heroic deeds, you have my deepest thanks. You can consider the Crystal Empire firm allies of your hive and if you are willing I would love to count you amongst my personal friends."

"Uh… Thank you, and I'm happy to accept your friendship, Queen Amore." I said, trying my hardest to play along. God this was so incredibly awkward.

Queen Amore's smile grew significantly and I could feel joy and love radiating from her. "Wonderful! With that, I will bring this unveiling to a close. Queen Weaver, Twilight Sparkle, and Princess Cadance please step forwards one final time." Queen Amore requested.

I walked away from Amore and stood a few feet in front of her. Cadance and Twilight lined up next to me.

"Everypony, let our heroes hear your love and appreciation!" Queen Amore called out.

The crowd began cheering one final time.

Cadance smiled and waved, as did Twilight. I forced a smile and waved at the crowd, following their lead.

This went on for several seconds before Queen Amore said, "Thank you all for coming to witness the unveiling of the Crystal Heart and for congratulating our heroes! Please enjoy the rest of your evening!"

The crowd kept cheering as all of us headed back into the castle.

Once we were inside Amore looked at me and said, "I'm sorry for springing that on you so suddenly, Weaver. I thought it would be something you would be happy about, so I wanted it to be a surprise. I didn't intend to put you in an awkward situation. So I apologize for any discomfort I caused."

"It's fine… I know you meant well. Don't get me wrong. I appreciate the gesture and I'm grateful I don't have to be super worried about food anymore. Just… Please just warn me before you do anything like that again." I asked.

She smiled and nodded. "You may count on it!"

"Thank you… I don't mean to worry anyone but I should probably mention, I feel kinda weird after that love blast from the Crystal Heart." I stated. And I really did feel weird. It wasn't just the massive influx of power either. I didn't know what it was.

Twilight gave me a concerned look. "Are you okay? The doctors the Princesses sent should be done with Radiant Hope's surgery by now. So we might be able to have them give you a check up."

"If they aren't busy, that might be a good idea… It doesn't hurt or anything so it's probably not super important, so it can probably wait. For now, we have the Crystal Heart and we charged it with the Crystal Faire. So what next?" I asked.

"Next, we wait until nightfall. Then I'll take the Crystal Heart and confront Sombra." Queen Amore stated. I could feel her resolve and determination.

"I'll be coming with you. That thing with the Crystal Heart basically super charged me with love. So I have more energy to spare than I've ever had since coming here. If it seems like it's going bad, or he can't be reasoned with, I'm going to do whatever I have to." I stated.

"And I suppose I'll be maintaining the barrier while you two are out fighting. I suppose I should have dinner and get a quick nap before then while the Crystal Heart is maintaining the barrier for us." Cadance said, looking between me and Amore.

Amore nodded. "Very well. Though, Weaver, I ask that you don't do anything drastic unless I give the word or if I fail and something happens to me. I would rather this end without any bloodshed."

"Fine. I can do that. If you really can redeem him, that's great. If not, I still think putting him back in the Shadow Prison would be best. I don't like killing if I don't have to do it. I'm willing to if I have to, but I'd prefer not to." I stated.

"Then we're in agreement. Now, let's go have the doctors see to you. It wouldn't do to have you put yourself at risk helping me battle Sombra if exposure to the Crystal Heart caused you any serious harm." Amore said, before turning and walking ahead, leading us all back to the infirmary.

Author's Note

Merry Christmas everyone! I worked hard to get this chapter out to you all right in time for Christmas Morning. I wanted to make it one huge chapter covering the fight with Sombra and the arrival of the Princesses, but I ran out of time writing it last night.

Hopefully it's good regardless.

As always I'm open to any questions concerns or criticisms.

Have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Chapter 13

“Well, there’s good news. It seems the massive influx of love from the Crystal Heart has induced ovulation. And considering your insectoid nature…” The doctor reported.

The news hit me like a ton of bricks. “You mean, I’m…” I asked, dreading the response.

The doctor nodded. “Pregnant, yes. Or at least the closest equivalent that Changelings experience since they lay eggs rather than giving live birth. Congratulations, your highness, you’re a mother.”

I blinked, not fully certain how to process this information.

Queen Amore and Pinkie Pie both hugged me. I could feel excitement radiating from all of them, but particularly from Amore and Pinkie.

“Congratulations Weaver! I cannot wait to meet all of your little ones!” Queen Amore congratulated me.

“I’m so excited! I’m gonna have to throw a huge party once we get back to Ponyville!” Pinkie squealed excitedly.

“How many?” I asked, dreading the number even more than the fact it was happening at all.

“We can’t be entirely sure at this time. However, you’re actually at least partially malnourished. It isn’t severe, but it seems like you’ve only been eating barely enough to sustain yourself and your body has been put through a lot of stress recently. This most recent massive influx of love is going to be a significant boost to your system, but your body isn’t going to stress itself too much right now until you recover more. So you don’t have to worry about laying a thousand or more eggs at once or anything even remotely approaching that. I’d expect a couple dozen at most, as a high estimate. For a low estimate… it depends but there’s a good chance it may not even reach the double digits.”

“How long does she have?” Twilight asked curiously.

“About two or three days.”

“So we need to stop Sombra and I need to leave immediately… But wait… I still need to go to Griffonstone soon… I can’t just leave them alone or Chrysalis might destroy them if she finds my hive. Shit… What the hell do I do?” I muttered to myself, barely even aware of everyone else in the room.

“Wait, Griffonstone? Why are you planning to go there?” Twilight asked.

“More importantly, who is this ‘Chrysalis’ and why would she destroy your eggs?” Queen Amore demanded. I could feel concern and some anger radiating from her.

“Huh? Oh… Uh… I just have some personal business there. Nothing you need to worry about.” I told Twilight. Then I looked at Amore. “Chrysalis is another Changeling Queen. The only other one in the world besides me. My very existence is a threat to her power, so we’re at war. So if she found my hive and my eggs she would either steal or destroy them. My hive’s hidden, but I don’t want to risk leaving them unattended. So the timing of this is absolutely horrible.”

“Hm… Then why not leave them here until you’re ready to bring them back to your home? I would personally guarantee their safety. No changeling other than yourself would be permitted into the Crystal Empire, let alone permitted access to your eggs.” Queen Amore stated.

I morphed into Queen Amore. Then into Princess Celestia. Then into Twilight. Then back into myself. “It’s not that easy.” I told her.

“No… Clearly not… That said, I do have a place no pony else can access. My personal lab within the Crystal Caverns beneath the Empire. There are enchantments in place to ensure only myself or ponies I would approve of can access it. I can further reinforce those spells to ensure only myself or those I give express permission may enter. On top of which, if your eggs need to be fed whilst you are away I am perhaps the one pony best suited to the task of ensuring their nourishment.”

“There are Royal Guards in Ponyville. If you let them into your hive, they could protect your eggs too. Though, I’m pretty sure Chrysalis can’t and won’t find your Hive anyway.” Twilight suggested.

“I could send my own Crystal Knights to supplement them as well.” Amore added.

I sighed. “Look, I appreciate you guys trying to help but this is a lot to have dropped on me so suddenly. So I’m going to need some time to think about all of this… At least give me until after we’ve dealt with Sombra.”

“As you wish. I understand how daunting such news can be. Simply be aware my offers remain open.” Amore said with a smile, giving me one final hug.

I spent the next couple of hours by myself, thinking about the fact I was about to be a mother whether I wanted to or not. It would be a lie if I said I wasn’t having a minor mental crisis over that fact. But we were going to be fighting Sombra soon, so I couldn’t let myself have a panic attack. It was going to have to wait until after everything was said and done.

As I was sitting by myself thinking about the best way to keep my kids safe, I felt emotions approaching me. Looking over my shoulder I saw it was Twilight.

“What is it? Are we heading out now?” I asked.

Twilight shook her head. “No. I just wanted to check up on you. How are you doing?”

“I’m not dying or going insane, and I still have all of my limbs.” I stated.

“That doesn’t answer my question.” Twilight said, giving me a look.

“What do you want me to say? I’ve been expecting this for over a month. I knew it was going to happen eventually, I just thought I’d have more time. Having it all dropped on me out of nowhere like this is a lot to deal with and the timing couldn’t have possibly been worse. Chrysalis is still out there and even after they hatch my kids will still be in danger. She might kill or kidnap them after they hatch just to get to me, and there’s fuck all I can do about it unless I’m watching them twenty four seven, which I can’t do. Especially if there are dozens of them like the doctor’s high estimate. You’re supposed to be a genius, so how the fuck do you think I’m doing?” I snapped at her.

I could sense I hurt her feelings with that last bit.

I huffed in frustration. “Look, I’m sorry for snapping at you. Just… This is all incredibly stressful. I’m eighteen. I’m not ready to be a mother and I’m in the middle of a war because I committed the crime of existing. All of this coming directly out of the apocalypse, being on the verge of death multiple times, fighting an army of super powered serial killers, and having to deal with the closest possible thing to a god short of a literal deity destroying the world. Now my kids are going to be dragged into this war with Chrysalis and possibly the Minotaurs at some point no matter what simply because they’re related to me or because they’re changelings. So, I’m not fucking happy to put it mildly. Does that answer your question?”

“It does… I’m sorry, Taylor. Me and the others are just worried about you… Is there anything we can do to help?” Twilight asked.

“Do you have a bomb that can kill Chrysalis and her entire hive all at once? If not, then no. There’s nothing any of you can do.” I told her.

“Is that why you’re going to Griffonstone? You want to become allies with them so they’ll help you fight Chrysalis?” Twilight asked.

“Don’t worry about that. It’s my business. I’ll deal with it myself.” I told her.

“Taylor, you don’t have to deal with everything by yourself. You keep doing that. You did it back when we were collecting Amore’s pieces, and you’re doing it again.” Twilight said in a stern tone.

“My business with the Griffons isn’t like that. It genuinely doesn’t concern you or the others and it’s nothing super dangerous.” I told her. Though my definition of ‘super dangerous’ meant participating in an Endbringer fight, fighting the Slaughterhouse 9, or some other S-Class threat. So I technically wasn’t lying. It wasn’t going to be super dangerous. I’d just be starting another Griffon Civil War, and then I’d be forcing it to come to an end through a campaign of assassination, blackmail, and intimidation. All to make an entire nation indebted to me so I could have another military ally that I could actually trust rather than relying on Equestria. Queen Amore and the Crystal Empire was a good start, but the more allies I had the better.

“It’s just a bit of business with the Ambassador from Griffonstone. At best it should only take a few days. At worst it might take a few weeks to a month or so. The time it’ll take is what worries me, because I won’t be there to keep an eye on my eggs. And I don’t trust the idea that Queen Chrysalis hasn’t already found my hive or won’t in the time my business in Griffonstone will take.”

Twilight gave me a skeptical look. “If you’re sure… Well, we can help you with your foals, at least. Me and the others are willing to help you take care of them so you don’t have to look after them all by yourself. And Queen Amore is really excited about them. She seems to already consider herself their aunt. So if things ever got really bad after they hatch, you could always bring them here and she would definitely do everything in her power to keep them safe.”

“I know. I felt her get angry when I was muttering to myself about Chrysalis. And thank you. I appreciate that. I might have to take you up on that.”

‘Whether I like it or not.’ I thought to myself but didn’t add.

I sighed. “I need some more time to myself if you don’t mind, Twilight.”

“Sure. Just… We’re here for you. You know that.” Twilight stated.

I nodded.

She turned and left, leaving me to my thoughts.

Time passed and the sun went down fully. At that point Amore found me and informed me it was time.

Cadance was woken up from her nap and took over maintaining the barrier as Amore took the Crystal Heart from its spot beneath the castle.

As the two of us were heading out by ourselves I considered asking her how long it would take for the armor she commissioned for me to be finished. But ultimately, I decided against it. There was no way the smith would be finished with it before I could finish the armor I was making back in my hive.

I didn’t like that I’d have to leave my eggs here while I went back to my hive to finish my spider silk armor before heading to Griffonstone. Unfortunately it didn’t seem I’d have much choice. Unless, of course, I decided to postpone my trip to Griffonstone which I didn’t want to do.

“So how are you gonna do this?” I asked instead.

“It depends on him, really. We’ll have to see once we’re out there, I’m afraid.” Amore responded seriously.

I nodded. No plan then. Well, I was sort of used to operating without one, so at least we were in familiar territory.

I didn’t voice this but a part of me actually hoped this worked, that she could actually redeem Sombra like she thought she could. I’d already killed so much since the Slaughterhouse Nine. Aster. Slaughterhouse Nine Clones. The heroes and villains I’d sacrificed by the hundreds against Scion. The Changelings. The Umbrum. And I was going to have to do even more killing.

I didn’t like it. Upon reflection, I hated how comfortable I’d become with taking lives. Unfortunately, I suppose I’d simply become kind of jaded to it. How many did I murder using them as human weapons and shields against Scion? Thousands? Tens of thousands? More? I probably had one of the highest body counts among parahumans through the final battle alone. So I suppose it would have been hypocritical of me to be opposed to killing people who were trying to kill me after that.

Still, this felt almost like a return to form. Like I was back with the Wards preparing to face off against a particularly dangerous villain rather than being a soldier fighting in a war. Personally, I didn’t trust that Amore could redeem him. However, if she couldn’t, I could help her subdue him and we could force him into the Shadow Prison with the rest of his kind. It would be almost like sending a supervillain to the Birdcage, as opposed to sending an enemy combatant to the morgue.

“This could go horribly, you know. Are you ready to fight him all the way back to the Shadow Prison if it comes to that?” I asked.

“Of course I am. Though I do hope it doesn’t come to that.” Amore stated, looking at the Crystal Heart hovering next to her. “If not for Sombra’s sake then for Radiant Hope. She spent a thousand years being deceived by the Umbrum. That cannot be good for her mental state. She’s going to need a friend to help her through this once she wakes up. She’s going to need Sombra. I fear for her if we can not save him from himself. I can try to be there for her, but I’m afraid she may blame me more than anypony. So, I may make things worse more than anything.”

I nodded. I didn’t have much to say on that. I knew Radiant Hope for all of a few minutes and she’d nearly gotten herself killed because she was in denial. She was clearly going to need help, but that wasn’t my concern. I’d probably never see or speak to her again, because why would I? I’d saved her, and that was the end of it. Just like all the civilians in my territory back when I was a warlord in Brockton Bay, and all the civilians I’d protected or saved while working with the Wards.

We reached the edge of the barrier and took a moment to ready ourselves before stepping outside.

A massive shadow rose from the ground, snarling at us. “Amore…”

“Hello Sombra. I don’t suppose you’d be willing to have a calm and civil discussion, would you?” Amore asked. She immediately raised a barrier as Sombra roared and the horn on his “head” was enveloped with dark magic as he fired a beam at us. The beam hit the barrier and was immediately absorbed. “I thought not.”

There was a flash from the Crystal Heart and Sombra was launched backwards.

I flew up into the air and started circling overhead. I didn’t want to get in Amore’s way, but I was ready to provide support if necessary.

“Stop this, Sombra! Remember what I told you before when you were stealing the Crystal Heart? Even now it’s not too late for you! You have the potential to be better!”

“Silence! You knew! You knew what I was! You knew why I was in agony every Crystal Faire! Years of pain and suffering, all because of you! You knew what I was and you did nothing!” Sombra roared, blasting Queen Amore with everything he had. His rage was astronomical and the old betrayal he felt before was now fresh like an old wound ripped back open.

Amore blocked his spells using a barrier generated by the Crystal Heart. “Do you honestly believe that?! That I was willingly allowing the Crystal Heart to torture you every year?! Do you truly think me so cruel, Sombra?! I spent years, ever since you were first brought to the Empire, doing everything within my power trying to find a way to help you! To ease your suffering or eliminate it entirely! I never sat by and simply let you suffer!”

“LIES! If you were doing anything, I would have known! You would have been there when the doctors were trying to find out what was wrong with me before they stopped coming!”

“No, I wouldn’t have! I didn’t want you learning your origins and deceiving yourself into thinking you were nothing but a monster! Perhaps I should have told you of what I was doing, but I didn’t wish to give you false hope for something I didn’t know was even possible! Perhaps I made a mistake concealing it from you, but so be it! I’ve never claimed to be infallible! I’m a pony just like everypony else and I make mistakes! But you don’t have to be one of them! There’s good in you still, whether you see it or not! You don’t have to be a monster!”

Sombra shot the ground and massive razor sharp crystal spikes erupted from the ground. Thinking Amore was about to be impaled I tried to grab her with my telekinesis, but she acted first. With a flash of love infused light the dark crystals disintegrated to nothing and Sombra hissed in pain.

“I’m not just a monster… I’m the king of monsters!” He growled rushing forwards and crashing into Amore’s barrier like a wave crashing against a wall. He was casting something as he did it.

This time, I cast my own spell with love and light. Keeping in mind what Amore told me, I didn’t try to use it like a weapon. Rather, I made a crude shield and slammed it into him, knocking him off of Amore and hurting him regardless. I still wasn’t good at making shields. It was a type of spell that didn’t convert from unicorn to changeling magic easily so I was still figuring it out. But pumping enough energy into the spell made it work anyway even if it was an otherwise crappy shield.

He looked up and glared at me. “Insolent gnat!”

“Yeah, fuck you too Smokey!” I retorted.

He growled.

“SOMBRA!” Queen Amore shouted, making him focus his attention back on her. “You are not a monster! You’ve merely let what the Crystal Heart showed you and Rabia’s words delude you! There’s still good in you and there always has been! If there wasn’t you would have killed me! You would have broken the Crystal Heart! You would have freed the rest of the Umbrum and let them wrought terror and misery upon my crystal ponies! But you didn’t! You didn’t do any of that! You couldn’t bring yourself to go that far because you are not the monster you believe yourself to be!”

Sombra growled and shook his head. “No! I’m an Umbrum! The King of the Umbrum! I’m a being of smoke and darkness! There is no good in me and there never was! This is me! This is what I was always destined to be!” He shot the ground and vicious spikes of cursed crystal shot up one after the other in rows, rapidly approaching Amore as if to impale her.

I grabbed her with my telekinesis and lifted her off the ground as the crystals started getting too close. She probably could have done something to defend herself, but I wasn’t going to take that risk.

“Radiant Hope didn’t think so! She never stopped believing in you, and neither have I!” Amore shouted as I set her down away from the crystals.

“LIES! RADIANT HOPE BETRAYED ME! SHE CALLED THE PRINCESSES AFTER YOU WERE DEFEATED AND THE EMPIRE WAS WITHIN MY GRASP! SHE’S THE REASON I WAS TRAPPED BENEATH THE ICE FOR A THOUSAND YEARS! SHE’S NOTHING BUT A TRAITOR!” Sombra roared, he reared his head back and unleashed a massive beam of energy at Queen Amore. The rage and hatred radiating from him and that beam were nauseating. More prominent than that, however, was his feelings of hurt and betrayal. The fact Hope had apparently ran to Celestia and Luna after his takeover was apparently still a dagger in his heart.

The Queen’s barrier blocked the intense beam with ease.

“Hey! She spent the past thousand years living with the Umbrum in the Shadow Prison! She believed in you so much, she spent a thousand years living with your people waiting for you to return so she could help you free them! They spent the past thousand years lying to her, deceiving her into thinking they’re good, so they could use her as a tool to escape if you failed a second time!” I shouted at him.

Sombra froze and hesitated. His beam stopped and he looked at me in shock and surprise for a moment. “I…” He shook his head. “NO! You’re lying, you worthless cockroach! I would have known if she was in the Shadow Prison! Rabia would have told me! I won’t fall for such petty deceptions! Radiant Hope is nothing but a traitor!”

“Weaver is telling the truth, Sombra! Radiant Hope is in the Castle Infirmary at this very moment, and doctors had to be flown in from Equestria to save her life because she nearly died after the Umbrum attacked her once they no longer had a use for her! I saw her myself, and I saw the horrid injuries she suffered! Rabia wouldn’t have told you because she wouldn’t have wanted you to know! How do you think my final piece got in the Shadow Prison in the first place when you didn’t put it there?! Radiant Hope took one of the pieces and kept it when she ran off!” Queen Amore shouted at him.

I could sense Sombra’s confidence had been shaken. He was still skeptical. He didn’t want to believe us, but I suppose our words simply made too much sense.

He growled and shook his head stubbornly. “I refuse to believe your lies! I had planned to turn you both into statues, but now I believe I shall simply kill you both here and now!”

Energy gathered around his horn and he aimed it directly at Amore.

I prepared to cast another spell in an attempt to intervene again. However, he quickly turned his head and fired the beam at me at the last second catching me completely off guard.

I could sense the surprise and panic from Amore.

I tried to make a barrier to protect myself but the beam smashed straight through my crude shield.

Suddenly Amore appeared between me and Sombra, having teleported in the path of the beam, heedless of how far up off the ground I was.

It slammed into the barrier being generated by the Crystal Heart.

Out of reflex, I grabbed Amore to stop her from falling.

“You okay?” I asked.

“Quite. Are you?” Amore asked me in turn.

“I’m fine. You managed to stop that spell from hitting me. Thanks…” I told her, gratefully.

“That was far too close for my liking. I do not want to see you hurt, especially not with the recent news. I appreciate you being here to assist me, I truly do. However with your relative inexperience with magic let alone love magic, you aren’t prepared for this battle. Please let me handle things from here.” She asked. I could sense the platonic love radiating from her, as well as her concern. She genuinely saw me as a friend and didn’t want me getting hurt.

It was weird sensing how much someone I had just met last night genuinely cared about me and my wellbeing.

I looked at Sombra and back to Amore. I knew she was right. My offense was great. I could blast Sombra out of existence right now if I wanted, but my defense was terrible. Being unable to defend myself made me a liability. Especially if she had to keep defending me. “I’ll back off, but I’ll be close by watching.”

She smiled at me. “Thank you.”

I flew down and set her down back on the ground. Then I morphed into a Snowy Owl, one of the few birds I knew thrived in the arctic, and flew off. Snowy Owls were relatively large birds, but being smaller than my changeling form I’d be a harder target to hit. They were pretty fast too, and I could naturally blend in with the snow in this form.

As I flew off, I circled above and saw Amore step towards Sombra. “That spell was genuinely meant to kill, wasn’t it Sombra? I’m disappointed in you, that you would stoop so low as to resort to murder when you don’t get your way… Even so, I won’t give up on you yet.”

Sombra growled in frustration and attacked Amore, which was easily brushed off by the Crystal Heart. “Then you will die, a fool!”

“The only fool here is you, Sombra! And only because you have let yourself be fooled!” Amore declared. “I can’t make you see reason, Sombra! All I can do is tell you the truth! You have made mistakes! You’ve hurt other ponies, because you yourself were hurt by my fear of being honest with you and allowing you to believe I was doing nothing whilst you suffered! No more!”

There was a flash of light from the Crystal Heart and Sombra roared in pain as if he were being burned. His form started to shrink and condense, becoming more and more solid until the smoke and shadows seemed to be blown off of him entirely. Now he stood as a unicorn, wearing a cape and armor. The biggest thing that differentiated him from any normal unicorn was his curved red horn.

He looked at himself surprised for a moment before growling in rage. “Forcing me back into this form means nothing!”

“Perhaps not, but I do think it suits you far better than a looming mass of shadow.” Amore stated, walking towards him.

“STAY BACK!” Sombra shouted, rearing back and casting a spell. This time instead of crystals, a beam of what appeared to be pure darkness shot from his horn. It seemed to be the functional opposite of Amore’s magic. Hatred and darkness in its purest form rather than through the medium of cursed crystals. He seemed to be at his wits end and was just trying anything.

Amore fired a beam of love and light back at him. The two beams collided, and the darkness was quickly being forced back. Amore’s beam pierced straight through Sombra’s and made him stumble. It didn’t seem to actually hurt him, just stagger him a bit.

“Sombra you must realize, if I truly wanted to hurt you I could. If I wanted to imprison you with the rest of the Umbrum I could do that as well. With the Crystal Heart I single hoofedly brought the entirety of the Umbrum to their knees and locked them away within the Shadow Prison. You’re much stronger than your mother Rabia, yes, but that merely makes you a very powerful umbrum, not more powerful than the entirety of your species. Trying to fight me will be to no avail.” Queen Amore declared.

Hearing that made me grimace internally. With the love of an entire city-state contained within the Crystal Heart and fueling Amore’s magic, there really was no way for Sombra to compete. From the very start, this had never been a fair fight and Amore had been showing great restraint.

Realizing this made me a little bit embarrassed by how I’d been worried about Amore and tried to help her. I really was more of a hindrance here than anything. It was like I had been trying to protect Legend, one of the most powerful parahumans in the world, from Shadow Stalker or Grue… Okay, maybe not that bad, Sombra was quite a bit stronger than Sophia or Brian but the point remained.

“No! I’m the King of the Umbrum! I’m the King of Monsters! I… I have grown beyond you! I’m supposed to be powerful enough to defeat you!” He objected, refusing to accept it. He was angry, afraid, and panicking. He clearly had no idea how to handle this situation.

Amore shook her head. “No. You’re just a hurt and neglected foal lashing out at the one who you believe had unfairly abandoned you to your fate. Rightly so, I suppose. I did make some grave mistakes in how I dealt with your situation… You were defeated by the Elements of Harmony, were you not? Well, long before the Elements of Harmony was my Crystal Heart. A tool I made specifically for dealing with the threat of the Umbrum. It has grown much since I first created it, and in ways I never could have anticipated. And what it has become is in no way inferior to the Elements in the hooves of one who knows how to properly utilize it. So if you were defeated by them, I assure you, you can and would be defeated by my Crystal Heart as well.”

Continuing to walk towards him, Amore continued to talk. “Thus, you know I have no reason to lie to you as there is no contest here. I will win and protect my Crystal Ponies, one way or the other. So when I tell you I want to help you, that I still believe there’s good in you, and that you are not a monster you know it’s not just hollow platitudes. I mean it. Right now, I am being perfectly honest with you, as I should have been from the very start. You may refuse to believe me, but I shall tell you the facts as they are.”

Sombra said nothing, just shaking his head and backing away. He seemed like he was on the verge of turning and trying to run away.

“I knew about your condition the whole time and I didn’t tell you because I didn’t trust you with the knowledge. I feared you would turn out exactly as you are now, because you would believe this is what you were destined to be. A fear you have thus far proven correct. I was indeed trying to find a solution to your pain the entire time, though I never told you for the very same reason. Radiant Hope may have indeed run away and requested the aid of the Equestrian Princesses, but she did spend the last thousand years with the Umbrum in the Shadow Prison, with my final fragment. She never truly lost faith that there is good in you. When Weaver took my fragment from her within the Shadow Prison, they attacked and mauled Radiant Hope. She would have died if she had not received medical attention. She is in the castle infirmary, unconscious and recovering, at this very moment. The future is not set in stone. So whatever fate the Crystal Heart may have shown you is not the only possibility. You may consider it a warning of what you could become if you let yourself.”

Sombra slipped on some ice and fell.

Amore approached him until she was standing directly over him.

“And finally, you have caused me irreparable harm. You took a thousand years from me. I have missed the lives of one thousand years worth of my great grandfoals. I never got to see my great granddaughter get married and start her own family. I never got the chance to see her foals grow up, and get married, and have foals of their own, and so on. One thousand years worth of my family. Of love and cherished memories. The one thing I value most in this world, you stole from me…”

Sombra closed his eyes and grit his teeth, as if expecting her to attack him at any second. He was terrified.

She frowned. Picking him up with telekinesis she wrapped her hooves around him in an embrace. He tensed up. I sensed his shock and confusion. “And I forgive you… I forgive you, Sombra. As much as you’ve hurt me. As much as you’ve taken from me. And despite everything you’ve done to my Crystal Ponies and the Crystal Empire, I forgive you… It hurts. It’s hard, but I don’t want to hold a grudge. I don’t want this to go any further than it already has. Forgiveness and reconciliation is the only way in which this ends without further undue suffering.”

She released Sombra and stared him in the eyes. “So, you have a choice to make. You can accept my offer and come back in peace. I will prove to you everything I’ve said is true and I will do everything within my power to help you. Or you can slap my hoof away and I will have no choice but to put you back in the Shadow Prison and change the wards to make it impossible to escape ever again… Please, make the right choice… If not for your sake then for Radiant Hope. She’s been lied to and manipulated for a thousand years, and then she was betrayed and almost killed by those she considered friends… She will need your friendship and support now more than ever. If you still have any love for her at all, then don’t abandon her like this.”

Amore held out a hoof to Sombra.

He stared at it for a moment, his feelings turbulent and conflicted. He raised his hoof and hesitated.

“Sombra. You have free will. You are not a slave to destiny. You can choose what you want to be, if only you would have the courage to do so…” Queen Amore stated.

Sombra hesitated a moment longer before he finally relented and extended his hoof.

Amore smiled. “You’ve made the right choice. You’ll see.”

Author's Note

I'm baaack! Sorry for the hiatus. I got caught up in other projects. And sorry the chapter isn't longer after so long away. I'd have liked to get it to 8,000 or so but this seemed like a good point to end it.

Hopefully I handled this chapter and the characters well. If there's anything I've messed up or you think I could improve, I'm more than willing to go back and try to rewrite it, just like I've done with other chapters in the past. So please let me know if you have any criticisms or concerns.

Chapter 15

I didn’t know why, exactly, but we were spending a bit longer in the Crystal Empire before heading back to Ponyville. I didn’t know why and I was a bit annoyed since I wanted to finish my armor and head to Griffonstone so I could finally start being more active in my war with Chrysalis, rather than reactive. She’d already fired the first shot, so it was official. I wasn’t going to just sit by and wait for another attack. Passivity was death in a war.

But I waited for everyone to finish their sight seeing or whatever the hell they were doing. It gave me a bit of time to talk to Amore and even learn a bit from her about both magic and how to run a country. She was a surprisingly good teacher in both regards, even if her magic couldn’t translate 1 to 1 to changeling magic. Though Love magic did seem to translate over far easier than most. We also discussed how my magic differed from unicorn magic and some things we could potentially collaborate on, and she came up with an interesting idea.

She suggested I could potentially weave enchantments into my spidersilk armor, sort of like one of the methods I’d developed for enchanting crystals. I had two main methods for that, with slightly different variations within said methods. The honeycomb method and the web method.

The honeycomb method worked by turning the crystal into something like a magical hive. Inside, pits would form in a lattice like the honeycomb in a wasp or beehive and I could fill the lattice with magic like honey fills the comb. The spell would be in the energy itself but the shape, structure, and complexity of the honeycomb lattice could affect the performance of the crystal in various ways. This was by far the easier of the two methods and I had a fairly simple lattice I’d worked out for basic enchantments I didn’t really care too much about and didn’t need to last long, which I’d used for my speed enchanting against Sombra and the Umbrum. I used it mainly because it was the quickest and easiest structure I could make without being stupidly inefficient and the honeycomb method in general was pretty straight forward.

My web method was different. Pits and holes would still form in the outside of the crystal as my magic burrowed into it, but instead of making a honeycomb lattice, the inside was hollowed out leaving only thin strands in a structure much like a spiderweb. In fact, with my extensive knowledge of exactly how various species of spiders weave their webs for their nests, I could replicate the exact patterns. The end result was, obviously, incredibly delicate, and it was a significantly more difficult process than the honeycomb method but the enchantments were much more efficient. However, I was pretty sure the primary benefit was that they could be much more advanced and complex. I wasn’t absolutely sure about that since I had only just started learning magic and was nowhere near skilled or knowledgeable enough to make anything more complex than a simple light or setting the crystal on fire. But I was fairly confident I’d be able to do more with the web method when I was more knowledgeable and experienced.

There were other hypothetical methods too, such as the anthill method, but from what I’d tried so far, they weren’t very good.

Amore’s idea to weave enchantments into my armor came from hearing my explanation of the web method. Apparently materials other than crystals could be enchanted, crystals were just one of the easiest materials to enchant and were fairly abundant in this world. So, she supposed that if I could weave spells like webs in a crystal, I should be able to literally weave enchantments into spider silk armor too.

My current suit was too far along for that, and I didn’t know how to make any enchantments that would be good for armor as my understanding of defensive magic was crude and subpar at best, but once I knew more about magic she and I were going to work together to see what we could come up with.

It was about three days after the Princesses arrived. They were still here for some reason. I’d have thought the longest they would have stayed would be a day or so. Apparently that wasn’t the case. I was dreading the fires they were going to have to put out in Canterlot. Unless they’d managed to settle all that down by now. It had been about a month or so, so maybe the situation had calmed down enough for them to leave it for a few days.

I’d half expected them to bother me about my trip to Griffonstone, but they never brought it back up. That honestly made me more suspicious than if they’d kept hounding me about it. Why did they just drop it all of the sudden? They had to at least suspect what I was planning, so why not say something? Why not try and stop me? Was it because I had Queen Amore as an ally?

I suppose I didn’t really need Equestria anymore now that Amore was on my side. I could just set up a hive in some unclaimed part of the Frozen North or grab all my stuff from my hive in the Everfree and head to the Undiscovered West. The love storage crystals could sustain me so I didn’t need to live next to Ponyville for ready access to food anymore.

So maybe they were trying to avoid provoking me into cutting ties with them by bothering me about my plans? So they’d just let me go to Griffonstone and start a civil war? Or did they have something else up their sleeve? Damn it, what were they planning?!

I kept my suspicions to myself and just continued as normal. I’d just have to wait and see.

It was early in the morning and I was currently in the local library reading a book on love magic. Amore was busy in a meeting with the Princesses, Twilight and the others were off doing whatever, and I didn’t particularly care about Sombra or Radiant Hope.

Hope had woken up, finally, and after crying for essentially a day straight, she asked to see me and thanked me for saving her just before being transferred from the castle infirmary to her own home. Sombra had essentially moved in with her and doctors would visit her every day to make sure her recovery was going smoothly. Guards were posted outside the house and would follow Sombra if he ever went anywhere. That’s as far as my interest in their situation went. They had nothing to do with me anymore so their lives were none of my business.

“Weaver!” A voice called out to me.

I looked and saw it was Twilight. Happiness and excitement were radiating from her. “Hey, Twilight. You’re happy. What’s up?”

“Queen Amore just gave me an original copy of a book she wrote on crystal magic! It’s super interesting and I’m still super excited about it! I can’t wait to add it to the library back in Ponyville!” Twilight told me with a huge smile on her face.

I nodded. “Ah. Cool. I might have to borrow it some time. Might help me with my enchanting… So, what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you already be busy reading that rather than looking for more here?”

“Oh, no. I’m not here for another book, I’m actually here to come get you. The Princesses and Queen Amore want to talk with you about something so they sent me to come get you.” Twilight told me.

I sighed and closed the book before levitating it back to the shelf where I’d found it. “Alright then. It’s probably something to do with setting up trade routes to get love crystals to the Undiscovered West when I start making a hive over there, or something.” I said, thinking back to our last meeting. We hadn’t fully finished discussing that at the time so they probably just wanted to finish ironing out some details, and I’d need to be there for that.

With a smile, Twilight teleported us back to the castle.

“““Surprise!””” Exclaimed a chorus of voices. Spike, Twilight’s friends, the Princesses, Amore, and Cadance and Shining Armor.

I flinched. “Wha… What the hell?” I asked, caught completely off guard as I saw we were in the castle banquet hall which had very obviously been decorated by Pinkie Pie if the balloons, confetti, and streamers were anything to go by. There was a banner hanging up in the back that read, “Congratulations Taylor!”

“I’m so, so, sooo happy for you!” Pinkie Pie declared, bouncing over to me and wrapping me in a hug. “Oh, and did I finally manage to surprise you?! Did I, did I, huh?!” The excited and hyperactive mare asked enthusiastically.

“Uh… Y-yeah…” I stuttered uncertainly.

“YES! I told you I’d surprise you one of these days and I finally did it! WOOHOO!” Pinkie cheered triumphantly.

“I don’t get it… What’s the occasion?” I asked, thoroughly confused.

“You just had your first seven eggs, darling! Of course we had to throw you a foalshower!” Rarity commented.

“Foalshower? You mean like a… O-oh…” I asked as the realization set in. This was a babyshower. Because I’d just had my first kids… My first seven kids… And this was to celebrate that… I felt a little light headed.

“When Twilight and her friends explained the concept to me, I, of course, insisted upon hosting the event!” Amore declared

“And we certainly couldn’t miss it either! You have my congratulations, Weaver!” Princess Luna stated.

“Luna was quite insistent. She’s been looking forward to this since Twilight informed us it was happening.” Celestia said with a smile.

“Ah… Uh… huh…” I muttered.

“Obviously we can’t do this all the time since you’re a changeling queen and you’ll probably have thousands if not hundreds of thousands of foals eventually. But these are your first foals! That’s something special and absolutely worth celebrating! So we all agreed we had to do something special for this. Plus, we all know you’re under a lot of stress right now between your foals, Chrysalis, and everything with the Crystal Empire so we thought this would be a good opportunity for you to relax and unwind a bit.” Twilight explained with a smile.

Relax and unwind? Hearing that almost made me want to laugh. But I was stuck still processing what was happening and its implications.

“Yer lookin’ a little shell shocked there, Weaver. Ya alright?” Applejack asked.

“Uh… Yeah… I’m… fine…” I responded, not really thinking. Both Applejack and Princess Luna looked at me in concern.

Amore walked over to me. “She’s likely just a little shaken. Understandably so, considering this is her first time! But, I know what might take your mind off of it. As is tradition for a ‘foalshower’ as Twilight explained to me, we have each gotten you a gift. From what I understand, traditionally said gifts are meant to be related to foal care, but being a different species the needs of your foals will likely be very different from those of ponies’. So in my case, I made a gift for you that I hope shall help you defend them, considering your conflict with Queen Chrysalis.”

There was a flash of light as Amore summoned what appeared to be a necklace. It was seemingly made of silver and was covered in diamond and emeralds. The silver chain resembled a spider web. In the middle was a spider with a diamond thorax and abdomen and intentionally blackened silver legs. Around it were emeralds like bugs caught in the spider’s web. It was beautiful, incredibly well made, and on Earth Bet it probably would have been worth millions just due to the size and quality of the diamonds and emeralds.

Amore affixed it to my neck. “It's not as intricate as I would have liked as the jeweler only had a little less than a week to work on it, but I hope you like it. In the Empire there’s a process all newborn foals undergo called a crystalling, where they are attuned with the Crystal Heart. I conducted a similar process upon this. Different as it's an object rather than a living being, but similar. So a miniscule portion of the Crystal Heart’s power resides within this necklace. It will need to be charged with love every so often, but it will create a barrier to protect you from curses and offensive spells. It would also repel the umbrum or windigos, were either of those an issue you had to face. I know you struggle with defensive magic so I thought this may be quite useful to you. At least until you become more skilled in creating barriers yourself.”

"Celestia and I have gifts for you as well" Luna stated happily. There were two more flashes of light. A large blanket appeared next to Luna. It was covered in stars. Next to Celestia was a little sun shaped night light.

"This blanket is enchanted to help ward off nightmares should I ever be pre-occupied. So your little ones shall never have to worry about having a poor night's sleep." Luna stated folding up the blanket and passing it to me.

"This nightlight should help as well." Celestia stated warmly.

Everyone else started giving me gifts one after the other. The only ones of note being a book on parenting by Twilight, a new dress made of the length of star spider silk I’d given Rarity designed to match my necklace, and a jar of royal bee jelly from Fluttershy. No one else really knew what to get me so they just gave me different stuff they thought I’d like or they thought my kids would like when they hatched.

I stood there, now wearing my new dress and necklace, completely overwhelmed.

“Uh… I… T-thanks…? I…” I was a mother. They were hosting a babyshower for me because I was a mother. I was about to have seven kids. Seven… In the middle of a war. While an entire species was out to kill me.

I had no idea what to do or how to respond. In fact, I felt like I was on the verge of having a full blown panic attack.

“Khepri…? Are you alright?” Fluttershy asked.

“I… No… Not really…”

I felt everyone starting to get worried.

“Ehem… Everypony, please excuse us for a moment. Weaver, would you step out with me for a moment.” Amore requested.

I just nodded and followed her out of the banquet hall.

Outside she said, “Weaver, take a deep breath and slowly release it.”

“Huh…?”

“It’s an exercise to help you relax. So just breathe. In… and out…” Amore told me.

I followed her instruction as she tried to help me calm down.

After a minute or so I finally started to calm down. “Alright… I think I’m good…” I told her.

“Are you certain?”

“No. But it’s not as bad as it was.” I answered honestly.

She sighed. “I see… I apologize, Weaver. Had I known this would affect you like this I would have been opposed to the idea… Would you like to talk about what’s worrying you?”

“No.”

“Would you talk about it if I asked you to, for your own sake?” Amore asked.

“No.”

Amore sighed again. “Very well… I won’t pressure you, of course, but I do think it would be good for you if you did talk with me. Or anypony else for that matter… Have you at least calmed down enough to continue the event or should I call it off?”

“You guys probably worked hard putting this together, so I’ll manage.” I stated.

“If you’re certain…” Amore led me back in.

We tried to continue, even though the atmosphere of the event had completely changed.

As it went on I started to calm down more and more.

Despite that one delay, they had the entire day planned out. We went to see a play, we had lunch, they’d even had set up something like a spa. I say something like a spa because spas apparently hadn’t existed a thousand years ago and after having the concept explained, Amore had a public bathhouse retrofitted to be able to work as a spa. Apparently it had started falling out of use due to in house baths just starting to grow in popularity and become more common at the time. They had masseuses flown in from Equestria, had set up something like a sauna, and other things like that.

I had to morph into my human form for the massage since my hard carapace was in the way in my changeling form.

That part was actually pretty relaxing all things considered. It was certainly an interesting experience. I’d never actually had a “spa day” before. I doubted I’d do it again unless someone else set it up, I had other things to worry about, but if I was being honest with myself it was actually sort of enjoyable. And it did take my mind off of things, at least for a little while.

Author's Note

I'll say, this isn't what I originally had in mind for the whole "babyshower" idea. I was originally thinking I was gonna have it happen in Ponyville after they got back. Mainly for the spa thing. But I liked the idea of including Amore so I decided to have it happen in the Crystal Empire.

I also wasn't originally thinking of making Taylor being on the verge of a panic attack, but that seemed to be a common idea as well when I mentioned it on SB.

I'd intended to make this a more light hearted reprieve but it really didn't end up working out that way.

Anyway, at least the day ended better than it started.

~~Oh, and any ideas on what the princesses could have being made for Taylor? Because I have no idea. It's kinda why I just glossed over the gifts everyone else gave her.~~

Edit: crystalcallie over on SB suggested a nightlight and blanket for Celestia and Luna's gifts. I thought it was a pretty good idea!

Chapter 16

With my eggs in the care of Queen Amore and the situation in the Crystal Empire under control, we headed back to Ponyville. I still had to finish my armor before I headed to Griffonstone. It was nearly done but it would still take another few days to a week.

When I got back, I immediately returned to my hive to feed my spiders and get to work finishing my armor. Twilight helped me bring the small stock of diamonds filled with love donated by the ponies of the Crystal Empire back to my hive, without having to carry them directly through the Everfree and risking being followed.

After about a week, I was done.

I slipped on my armor and looked at it in a mirror. It was designed for my changeling form but it looked almost exactly like the costume I’d worn during Scion’s rampage, back when I was ‘Khepri’. The biggest difference was how the suit glittered no matter how much I tried to dye that out of it. Star Spider silk was just naturally sparkly much to my dismay. No wonder Rarity was so happy about the fabric. I ended up rubbing charcoal dust over the black parts, which managed to dull the sparkles at least on the black parts of the suit. The white parts still glittered, but there wasn’t much I could do about that unless I wanted to make the whole thing black like my original costume. I didn’t want that. It felt wrong. I’d left that chapter of my life long behind me, for better or worse.

I morphed into my human form and my magic morphed my suit along with me. Now I literally looked exactly like I did in my fight with Scion, except my costume looked like it had glitter sprinkled on it. The only thing missing was my mask, which I’d made but hadn’t put on. I had to get a second pair of prescription glasses and pop out the lenses so I could put them in the mask. Fortunately Equestria did have sunglasses and swimming goggles with tinted lenses, so I was able to install those over the glasses lenses just like I had with my first costume. The difference being, these lenses were blue instead of yellow. More like the lenses of the mask I wore as Weaver.

I had a quiver full of crossbow bolts I’d acquired in the Crystal Empire. I didn’t have a crossbow but I could use my telekinesis to throw them hard enough to rival a lower powered crossbow. Despite the lack of power, I could throw them enmasse or one after the other making my rate of fire far above any crossbow which was well worth the trade off. I’d have vastly preferred a proper gun but I’d take what I could get. I was going to have to leave them in my saddle bag until I needed them, as I didn’t want to come off as hostile until after I’d gotten the Idol of Boreas and the fighting started. If it started. I had to try and be optimistic. Maybe things would go better than I planned.

I also had a few pouches full of iron flechettes. They were smaller and lighter than the bolts so I could throw them faster, but they hit with less force. But they were even smaller, about the size of common wood nails at three inches long, so I could carry even more of them without taking up too much space.

I also had a sack of bits Amore had given me for the trip since she claimed Griffons were as greedy as dragons and money would be the only way any of them would agree to help me.

I’d have to pay her back after this. I’d probably clear out the coffers of more than a few dissenters when the civil war started up again. Either for my own benefit since they’d be dead anyway or to ruin them without having to kill them. Preferably the second option. Making them go bankrupt so they can’t pay their own men would be preferable to the alternative.

Seeing how Amore had managed to end things with Sombra…

I didn’t like how used to killing I’d become. When had that change started? Coil? Alexandria? Tagg? Aster? Or was it sacrificing all those capes to stop Scion? When did taking a life become so normal to me? Well… maybe ‘normal’ was a bit of exaggeration, but something I wasn’t bothered by?

With the Umbrum it was a desperate situation. Do or die. I didn’t have a choice. I could argue something similar with the Changelings on the Train. They derailed a fucking train and sent soldiers to kill me. But this? This was something I was choosing to do. It was my decision to go to Griffonstone and get the Idol of Boreas, restarting the Griffon civil war and killing whoever opposed whoever I installed as ruler. Every death that would come of this would be a direct result of my actions which I couldn’t wave away by calling it “self defense”. And knowing that… I didn’t care.

It was the fact I wasn’t bothered by it that bothered me rather than the action itself. I felt like I should care. I knew I should. That girl with ambitions of being a hero back in Brockton Bay would have been upset. Sure she rotted the dick off of Lung with venomous bugs, but that was an accident due to inexperience, technically. There were only a select handful of people I’d killed before the apocalypse, each justifiable in their own ways.

Then again, this was a war. It wasn’t like the game of cops and robbers that heroes and villains played on Earth Bet where there were unwritten rules and killing was to be avoided in hopes of keeping things at least somewhat civil. As far as I was aware there weren’t even any treaties like the geneva conventions limiting warfare.

So I couldn’t afford to hold back, because my enemies certainly wouldn’t.

I decided to just leave a note asking Twilight to take care of my spiders while I was gone. She checked on me pretty much every day, so I knew she’d find it. In fact it was roughly about time for her to show up.

I honestly felt like shit leaving without saying anything like this. I still wasn’t sure about them, but on the chance their emotions were real and they did actually like me, I would have liked to say goodbye. It was something I’d missed the chance to do too many times in the past. If I got killed in this civil war or a Changeling assassin managed to kill me in my sleep, it would have been nice to have said goodbye. But I didn’t want to risk them insisting on coming with me. I didn’t want to have to explain what I was planning to do and I didn’t want them interfering. This was the best way I could avoid having them follow me.

So I morphed into a wasp to sneak out of my hive and I left. In my bags I had several love crystals so I would have something to eat on the way there.

I was getting better at flight and had sped up since my initial evaluation of my powers when I first arrived. I wasn’t anywhere near as fast as Rainbow Dash but that wasn’t a fair comparison to begin with. I could fly at about two hundred miles per-hour at what would be the flying equivalent of a casual run. About as fast as a moderately athletic pegasus. At a “sprint” I could reach a little under four hundred miles per hour, but I couldn’t sustain that for very long before I got exhausted.

Right now I was flying at my “casual running” speed. I’d have to stop and take a break to catch my breath, but that wouldn’t be any real issue. I had looked at some maps, measured the distance, and calculated how long it would take to get there ahead of time. If I kept going at this pace with only a few breaks, I could get there within two days if I traveled in a straight line from Ponyville to Griffonstone.

The issue with that was that I’d have to fly across the Celestial Sea to get there. Fortunately I had tested it and it turned out what Twilight had told me about changelings not being able to stand on clouds was complete bullshit. We absolutely could. I couldn’t make them rain, shoot lightning, or do pretty much anything else pegasi could do with them, but I could stand on them. I could lay down on them too.

So while I flew over the ocean I stopped to rest on clouds.

At one point I’d gotten tired from all the flying and accidentally dozed off while resting on a cloud and ended up drifting several miles off course. That cost me another full day as I had to figure out where the hell I’d ended up and then I had to consult my map and reroute my course to Griffonstone.

Somehow I’d gotten caught in a strong breeze and ended up in the Hayseed Swamps just past Baltimare and Horseshoe Bay which in fact turned out to be shaped almost perfectly like a horseshoe just like the map said.

I continued on my way to Griffonstone, this time without sleeping until I reached solid land. I wasn’t going to risk drifting away on a cloud again.

Finally, I reached Griffonstone.

I got some odd looks but apparently news of me had spread over here since no one really seemed to care about having a Changeling Queen in their midst. Even their emotions felt more apathetic and greedy than anything.

I approached a random griffon, already taking out a handful of bits. “Excuse me. Do you know a really old griffon with one eye by the name of Gruff? He’s the ambassador to Equestria.”

The Griffon looked at the bits. “Gruff huh… The name sounds familiar… Maybe you could jog my memory?” There was a greedy glint in the Griffon’s eye as he held out a talon.

“I’ll double the bits if you tell me where he lives. And the info better be good or I’m taking my money back even if I have to leave you with a few bruises.” I told him.

“Bits first, then I’ll tell you where he lives.” The griffon stated.

“Half now, half after you bring me to his house.” I retorted.

There was a bit of annoyance and frustration from the Griffon but he sighed. “Fine… Bits.”

I passed him the first half of the payment. Ten bits. The fact he was willing to accept such low payment to lead me to Gruff spoke of such greed it was almost depressing.

“Now take me to Gruff. I have business with him.”

The griffon stuffed the bits in a coin purse then raised a talon. “This way, bug.”

I followed the griffon, making sure to keep enough distance between us that he couldn’t pick pocket my sack of bits. In fact I kept a telekinetic grip on my bits just to make sure no one would be able to cut or steal the bag. From what Amore told me, I shouldn’t expect anything less.

The griffon stopped and pointed at a particular house. I sensed emotions inside. “There, that’s where that senile old bird lives. Now where’s my bits?”

I passed the Griffon ten more bits.

He took the money and started walking away. I kept track of that Griffon’s emotions just in case he scammed me, and I approached the house. I knocked on the door.

There was no response for a moment. I knocked again.

“Gah! Hold on! I’m coming, I’m coming! Darn kids!” An elderly voice grumbled from inside the house.

The door swung open revealing Ambassador Gruff. “Whaddya want?!” He demanded.

“Ambassador Gruff? We met at that ball in Canterlot. I’m Queen Weaver. I’d like to discuss some business with you. It involves money.” I told him. I was actually almost disappointed it was actually Gruff’s house. I could be here to kidnap or kill him for all that other Griffon knew, yet he led me here anyway for twenty bits.

Gruff looked at me suspiciously. “What kinda business?”

“The political kind that can’t be discussed in the streets like this. I don’t want someone overhearing us, just in case. You have nothing to lose by hearing me out and potentially have a lot to gain. Your choice.” I told him.

Gruff squinted at me and raised a talon to the underside of his beak in thought. Like a human might raise a hand to their chin. “Hm… You aren’t here to try and snatch me right? I know what you changelings do…”

“No and I wouldn’t be here in broad daylight if I was. Anyone around here could be paid off to say I was the one who spoke to you last.” I told him.

“Hm… Fine, but this had better not be a waste of my time! Come on, get in here…” Gruff grumbled walking back inside.

I followed him in and closed the door behind me.

“I still can’t believe she just left without telling anypony!” Rainbow Dash complained as she laid back on the seat of the train.

“I’m sure she had her reasons, Rainbow.” Twilight responded. She was currently reading a massive book titled Bygone Griffons of Greatness. She had already read it several times but she couldn’t help herself but read it again since they were on their way to Griffonstone. “She might have just been so excited to visit that she couldn’t wait anymore! I know I am! Griffonstone must be absolutely amazing based on what it says here. So much rich and fascinating history!”

She flipped through some of the pages to specific pictures. “In ancient times, Griffons were known to be as greedy as dragons, always hoarding their bits and other treasures. But all that changed when King Grover found the mysterious Golden Idol of Boreas. Legend says the Idol of Boreas was made from the dust of golden sunsets, blown across the mountains by the north winds. Possessing the Idol of Boreas filled the Griffons’ hearts with pride! It’s said that that one great treasure is responsible for turning Griffonstone into the most majestic kingdom of all the land!”

She sighed wistfully. “It sounds like the coolest kingdom in Equestria. I really can’t wait to see it with my own two eyes! To tour the palace and see the actual idol that unites an entire species would be super amazing!” She practically squealed in excitement as she closed the book and hugged it.

“Yeah, you’ve said that like a dozen times now. I think I get it, Twi… Seriously, don’t get your hopes up. Griffons are rude, insensitive, bullies.” Rainbow stated, less than enthused.

Twilight rolled her eyes and set her book off to the side. “I’ve told you Rainbow, you can’t let your bad experiences with Gilda ruin your opinion of all Griffons. The Griffons are a proud noble species! You’ll see. You just need to give them a chance.”

“Yeah, yeah… I still don’t get why you had to bring me.” Rainbow sat up and stared out the window of the train.

“Because, you’re the one with the most experience with griffons.” Twilight told her with a smile.

Then her smile fell and was replaced by a more concerned look. “And… well… You know the situations Taylor gets herself into tend to be a bit more… uh… violent than we’re used to? The situation with the Changelings derailing the train, then Sombra and the Umbrum… Not to mention all the stuff she went through back on Earth Bet. The two of us are going to Griffonstone just in case something happens and she ends up needing help. I’d have asked Applejack to come too, but we don’t even know how long we’ll be there and she can’t be away from the farm for too long. And the Cakes just got a huge order that Pinkie Pie needs to stay and help with. And Rarity and Fluttershy aren’t really suited to the kinds of things Taylor gets into. That’s why I left Spike back at the Library. If something happens I don’t want him to be in any danger.”

Rainbow sighed. “I guess… But Skitter’s tough. Didn’t she survive the literal end of the world or something? Even if something happened, I’m sure she’d be fine.”

Twilight shook her head. “That’s not the point. We’re her friends. We should be there to support her when she’s in a tough situation. She really has a problem asking for help even when she knows she needs it. She tends to think of everypony else first and herself last. We saw it in the Empire. She pushed herself to the brink of collapse because she thought that us conserving our energy was more important than her own wellbeing. She prioritized us to the point she was willing to hurt herself and maybe even risk permanent harm or even death. She’s self sacrificing to a fault.”

Twilight sighed and looked at Rainbow Dash with a sad and worried expression. “You want to know why she left without telling anypony? What I said before was me being really, really optimistic. More realistically, if I had to guess the actual reason she left without telling anypony, it’s because she knows what she’s about to do is dangerous and she doesn’t want to risk any of us getting hurt on her behalf. Maybe she got news that Chrysalis is up to something in Griffonstone and she wants to stop it or something. So she left without saying anything because she didn’t want to risk us coming with her. It would explain why she was avoiding telling us why she was going too. She may have thought we’d insist on coming with her if she told us the real reason. But that’s just speculation, I honestly don’t know.”

Rainbow was silent for a moment before nodding. “Maybe you’re right… I still don’t like it though.”

“I don’t either, honestly. I’d be a lot happier if she’d just open up more and tell us what’s wrong rather than insisting on doing everything herself. I’m starting to think it might be a deeper underlying issue. Maybe it’s the trauma of what she went through in her world. I’ve written to the princesses about it and I’m thinking she might genuinely need therapy.”

Rainbow scoffed. “Yeah, good luck with that. Even if she does, she’ll never agree to it.”

Twilight nodded in agreement. “And that’s exactly why I haven’t brought it up yet. I’m hoping that once Chrysalis is dealt with and her foals hatch, she’ll start to calm down a bit. Then she might be a bit more willing to at least consider it…”

“Maybe… Hey, I think I can see the station. Finally I’ll get a chance to stretch my wings…” Rainbow pointed out at the train station through the window. It was still a distance away, but they’d be arriving soon.

Author's Note

Sorry for the shorter chapter. Since it took so long, I just wanted to get it out once I got it to an ending point that felt somewhat natural.

As for why this chapter took so long, there's two reasons. One, I was writing a dark souls crossover, you can find it here, and I wanted to release at least a couple chapters for it rather than leaving it on chapter 1 for however long. Second, I was originally gonna have Taylor go to the library and tell Twilight she was leaving but I couldn't find a good way to write that so Twilight and Rainbow could come along. So I decided to do this instead since I wanted to have those two come along somehow.

Hopefully the next chapter will be longer and won't take quite as long to release.

Chapter 17 (Rewritten)

“So, what do you think?” I asked Gruff after having finished explaining my plan to him.

“So, you're just gonna walk down the wall and grab the Idol of Boreas? Then you’ll give it to some griff to make ‘em king or queen?” Gruff asked.

I nodded. “Pretty much, yeah. If they’re willing to sign an agreement with me to give me military aid against Chrysalis and her hive. They also need to be able to maintain their position. It’s worthless if they get overthrown in a year.”

“You know this’ll probably make the civil war start back up. Some folks are gonna say the idiot didn’t get the Idol themself and thus they don’t have a right to the throne. Others will say they have the Idol so that makes ‘em the king or queen. Then all Tartarus’ll break loose.”

I frowned a bit. If it wasn’t for the fact I needed to be in my Changeling form to stick to walls, I’d just shape shift into them and make it look like it was them who got it. That would lend them more credibility. But I wouldn’t be able to do that. My best bet would be changing forms into them near the top of the Abysmal Abyss, but there was no guarantee someone wouldn’t fly over, look down at the exact wrong time, and completely ruin that plan. So I wasn’t willing to rely on that. Which meant I had to build my plans around being the one to get the Idol and giving it to whoever.

“I’m aware of that possibility. That’s part of the reason I came to talk to you. Who are the major players who will oppose whoever I give the Idol to? And what can you tell me about them?” I asked, setting some bits on the table.

“Hm… Well there’s a bunch of noble families who opposed King Guto after he lost the Idol. None of ‘em have much power nowadays since the whole darn government fell apart. They tried forming some stupid council to run the kingdom at one point but it fell apart. None of ‘em could agree on a darn thing and the whole thing turned into a mess of assassinations, duels, and open fighting before it was disbanded entirely within about four months.” Gruff explained.

I sighed. “How the hell has this place not split into multiple separate nations by now?”

“They tried that! Their little nations started fighting and conquering each other for about fifteen years until the economy was completely destroyed and they couldn’t afford to keep fighting. So the kingdom was forced to merge back together to try and maintain some kind of economic stability. It was the only way to stop everygriff from rebelling against the nobility, leaving for Equestria or Minos as refugees, or starving to death. And we’ve never recovered since!”

“Holy fuck… Just… Wow… What about criminal elements? Gangs, mafias, syndicates? With the economy as it is, I imagine criminals must have gained quite a bit of power by now. And I doubt they’d be too happy having that power disrupted by a new king.”

Griff shrugged. “Eh… Don’t know. Not my problem.”

“Not your… Do they not try to shake you down for protection money?” I asked.

“Nope! Wait… Maybe? Hm… Do tax collectors count?” Gruff asked.

“Possibly, if it's a gang posing as tax collectors. But why would they bother…? Maybe it’s to make things easier for themselves so people don’t put up as much of a fight. Or maybe the nobles are running the syndicates? It’s something I’ll need to look into… So, which griffons would be able to keep themselves in power if I gave them the Idol?”

“Hm…” Gruff tapped his chin in thought for a moment before shrugging. “Couldn’t tell ya. There’ll be assassins and wars no matter who it is. So I don’t think the ‘who’ really matters a whole heck of a lot. They’ll need to watch their back no matter what. And they’ll probably fail, regardless.”

I sighed and face-hooved. God this was such a mess… I was starting to realize why Celestia never just teleported down to get the Idol then teleported right back up with it. She probably didn’t want to touch this steaming pile of garbage with a ten foot pole for fear of causing further collapse. Unfortunately, I needed more allies and this was my best bet for an easy alliance. “Alright then, I’ll need to focus on identifying the primary threats and removing them from the equation so that doesn’t happen… Son of a bitch… What about you then? Are you interested in the job?”

"Me?! I'm too old!" Gruff all but shouted before breaking out into a cough. "Sure the bits would be nice but being king would kill me, if some other griffon didn't kill me first! I like my job as a historian and ambassador to Equestria. All I gotta do is a whole lotta nothing except go to Canterlot every so often and tell some young whippersnappers history sometimes. Find some younger griffon to be yer darn puppet!”

I rolled my eyes. "I'm looking for an ally I know for certain I can trust. That trust hinges on them owing me for installing them as the ruler, but as long as they help me I don't care what they do from there. They won’t be a puppet. Anyway, you’d have all the bits, fame, and power you could ever want. You’d be a historic figure.”

“Don’t care! None of that matters a whit if I’m dead!” Gruff retorted stubbornly.

I took a deep breath and slowly released it. “Fine. So, if keeping themselves in power is going to be an issue no matter what, who are some other griffons I could trust?”

“With what? Running this dump? Hah! It’s not like they can run this place anymore into the ground, now can they?” Gruff stated cynically.

I frowned, what a positively stunning indictment of Griffonstone. “That too, but I was more referring to upholding their end of the deal.”

“What? The one that makes ‘em your puppet? Then no-griff. Who in their right mind would ever put themselves into that kinda debt?!”

“I keep telling you I don’t want a damn puppet!”

“Minotaur manure, you don’t! Let’s break down what yer askin’. You want to get the Idol of Boreas, give it to some griff to make ‘em King, and in return they give you soldiers to fight your damn war and are in your debt! I think you don’t quite comprehend how lopsided that deal is! The military is nothing! No-griff gives a hoot about that! You may as well be askin’ for a bucket of dirt in exchange for a bucket of gold! So that debt will be a massive point of leverage, at which point they may as well be your puppet!” Gruff told me.

“So… What you're telling me is that I’m asking for too little which would mean I’d have too much leverage over them. So I need to ask for more so I have less leverage over them if anyone is going to agree?”

“Pretty much.” He nodded.

I took a deep breath and slowly released it. “Great. Then I’ll just ask for more than just military aid. As long as I have some leverage I really don't care. Now, assuming I come up with more even terms, who can I trust? Who won’t go back on our deal or screw me over later? Surely there has to be someone.” I drew fifty bits and set them on the table.

He eyed the bits happily and rubbed his talons together. Then he paused and frowned. "Hrmph… Well… I suppose there is Gallus."

"Gallus?" I asked.

Gruff hesitated then shook his head. "Bah forget it!"

I added a few more bits to the stack. "Who's Gallus and why did you recommend them?"

Gruff sighed. "Gallus is… Ah, to Tartarus with it. I'll just go get him and show ya." Gruff got up and started walking over to a set of stairs. "Gallus!" He shouted up the stairs.

"What?!" A young voice shouted back.

"We got a visitor!" Gruff shouted.

"Great! So what?!"

"Get your butt down here! I wanna introduce ya!"

"Ugh… Fiiine!" The voice groaned.

Not long after, a very young Griffon with blue feathers came down the stairs. He paused as he saw me and I felt a spike of fear and uncertainty from him. "Uh… Grandpa Gruff…? We're not about to be kidnapped… right?"

"No, you aren't." I told Gallus before looking back at Gruff. "This is your grandson?"

"No!" Gruff snapped grumpily. "I'm not any griff's grandpa, they just call me that. Gallus here doesn't have any family. But I've taken him in so he isn't living out on the streets. He's the only griffon I can really think of who might work for what yer planning. But as you can see he's too young! How old are you again? Eleven?"

Gallus sighed in annoyance. "I'm twelve."

"Right, twelve." Gruff nodded.

I took a deep breath and slowly released it. "Twelve… The best you can come up with is a twelve year old…"

"Don't blame me. I told ya to forget it as soon as I said it."

Gallus looked at Gruff then back to me. "Sooo… What's going on? What am I too young for?"

"Can you keep a secret?” I asked him.

"Uh… Sure?" He said uncertainly.

"I'm going to take your word for it. I'm already here so it's too late to matter anyway." I stated. The worst that could happen if he spread it around would be a bunch of Griffons waiting to ambush me to take the Idol the moment I climbed back up. I was pretty sure I could handle that. Especially since I'd know they were there in advance when I sensed their emotions. I came here expecting a fight to begin with.

"I'm going to go down into the Abysmal Abyss and grab the Idol of Boreas. Then I'm going to give it to someone to make them king or queen of Griffonstone. They'll owe me a debt for retrieving the Idol for them and making them the king but the only payment I'll ask for is military aid and Griffonstone becoming an official ally of my hive… And something else to not make the debt quite as steep, but I don’t know what yet. I need as many allies who I can trust to not screw me over or betray me as I can get. And right now, other than the Crystal Empire, Griffonstone is my best bet. Gruff recommended you."

Gallus took a half step back in surprise. "Me? King? Huh? Are you sure you got the right griffon?"

"No. I'm not. Gruff, mind telling me why you thought it would be a good idea to make a twelve year old the king of Griffonstone?" I asked.

"Ya wanted someone who'd agree to your terms and wouldn't stab ya in the back. Well he's the best choice you got!" Gruff grumbled.

“I just told you I’m going to be working on more even terms.”

“Such as?” He asked.

“I don’t know yet. Five percent of all taxes collected for the next ten years or something? I’m still thinking. I don’t just want rich assholes as candidates.”

"Uh… What about Gabby?" Gallus suggested.

I lowered my hoof and looked at him. "Who?"

"Gabby. Her full name is Gabriella, but she tells everygriff to call her Gabby. She's the mail courier and Grandpa Gruff's grand niece. She'd probably agree." Gallus told me.

"Oh right… Didn't even cross my mind." Gruff said, scratching the side of his face. "Eh... Gabriella's a weird one… Has a personality more like a darn pony than a griffon! Way too soft for the military or leading the kingdom in a war. She'd be a terrible queen and a horrible commander. But she's probably the best option you got other than Gallus. She's the only griff old enough to be queen who might agree."

I sighed and raised a hoof to my face in exasperation. "Wonderful… So my only two options are this Gabby, who you seem to have sooo much confidence in," The sarcasm was heavy in my voice. "And a literal twelve year old… Those are really my only two options?"

"Yup." Gruff nodded.

"Hey, I never said I'd agree! I might be young but I'm not stupid!" Gallus objected.

“And I wouldn’t ask for anything unreasonable like Gruff seems to think. So if what I’m asking for isn’t a high enough price, fine! I’ll raise the price and lower the debt! I just need allies I can trust against Chrysalis. My life’s on the line here.” I stated.

That seemed to make him stop and think.

"But you're too young. If I did make an agreement with you, we'd need to find a regent to rule in your place until you were old enough to be king. Oh I don't know… Gruff maybe?" I stated.

"Not a chance!" Gruff declared.

"I mean… If that's really all you'd want…" Gallus muttered.

“Whatever. Who are some griffons that are well liked by the public? If staying in power is going to be a problem no matter who I pick, then being able to maintain good PR is what I need to focus on instead. Who can project a strong image, maintain a decent public sentiment, and have an even half decent economic policy? I don’t care if they wouldn’t agree to my terms, I’ll sort that out myself later. At this point the only other criteria I care about is if they aren’t conniving jackasses who’ll stab me in the back the first chance they get and they won’t incite a revolution in a few years of being on the throne. Gabby’s one possibility. I need more.” I put a few more bits on the table.

I was exhausted already and I was trying to find any possible way to make my initial plan work.

Having removed the criteria that they would agree to my terms, Gruff and Gallus finally gave me a list of names to work with. Along with where they lived and generally what they looked like. As well as the names and descriptions of some of the major players who would oppose whoever I installed.

I bought a piece of paper from Gruff and wrote down the names, addresses, and descriptions before rolling up the paper and stuffing it in my saddle bags.

I paid Gruff and Gallus both individually to keep their mouths shut about all of this, then I left to go start gathering information. I turned into a moth and left through a window. I was going to have to be subtle about this until I knew more about the local situation. So I was going to be spending quite a bit of time as a literal fly on the wall.

Twilight and Rainbow Dash exited the train and trekked up the mountain to Griffonstone. “I’m so excited! Bygone Griffons of Greatness was written a long time ago and ended with the coronation of the fourteenth king of the griffons, King Guto. I wonder who’s in charge now. Oh! I heard there’s a statue of King Grover outside the Griffonstone Library! Photo op! And we’re totally going to have to sample some famous griffon scones. They're supposed to be the best! I’m telling you Rainbow, Griffonstone is going to be…”

Twilight trailed off as they walked through the arch signifying their arrival to Griffonstone and saw the city.

Her eyes widened in shock and horror seeing what she had expected to be the greatest kingdom in the world was a dilapidated mess. Buildings had holes in their roofs or walls, garbage littered the streets, there were even a few houses that had crumbled entirely, likely meaning there were plenty of Griffons who were actually homeless. No one was smiling or seemed happy.

“A total dump?” Rainbow finished for Twilight who was staring at the wrecked city slack jawed in horror.

“Wha… Bu… How… No… This can’t be right!” Twilight took out her book again and began flipping through it, occasionally looking back up at the city as if something might have changed as she was reading.

“Uh, Twi…? You okay?” Rainbow asked, looking at Twilight in concern.

“Something’s wrong! This can’t be right! Griffonstone is supposed to be the most amazing kingdom in the world not… not this!” Twilight exclaimed as she scanned the pages searching for an answer. For a reason for why the once great Griffonstone could have possibly degraded to the state it was in now. Something she may have missed before. But there was nothing. The answer she was looking for simply wasn’t there.

Eventually Twilight slammed the book shut and ran into the city. Rainbow followed after her.

Slowing down Twilight approached a Griffon. “Excuse me, sir, this is Griffonstone right? The capital of the Griffon Kingdom?”

The Griffon just walked on by her without paying any attention.

Frustrated, Twilight approached another Griffon. “Ma’am, is this Griffonstone? Please, my friend and I might be a little lost and…”

The griffon just flew off ignoring Twilight entirely, much to her dismay.

“See? These griffons are exactly what I thought they’d be.” Rainbow Dash stated.

“I don’t understand… This is Griffonstone, it has to be! But… if it is, then why is it so…?” A griffon landed on a branch their house was sitting on and the branch immediately broke under their weight causing the house to fall and crash into the ground. The Griffon spread their wings and caught themselves before they could fall, so they were alright. Twilight still winced at the sight. “Run down?”

“I dunno. Maybe the current king sucks or something?” Rainbow suggested.

“We don’t have a king, losers” A familiar voice declared.
Both Twilight and Rainbow Dash looked and saw Gilda standing not far from where they were.

“Hello, Gilda.” Rainbow spat.

“Dash.” Gilda growled back.

Twilight looked between the two uncertainly.

“What are you doing here?” Rainbow demanded.

“Uh, I'm a griffon? What's your excuse, dweebs?” Gilda snarked.

Twilight stepped in between the two of them. “Ehem… We’re looking for somepony. Weaver, the new changeling Queen. She’s supposed to be visiting Griffonstone. Maybe you’ve seen her around somewhere?”

“Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t. What’s it to you?” Gilda said with hostility clear in her voice.

“Well, we’re her friends. Look, I know you and Rainbow may have had some issues in the past but this is important. So if you’ve seen her, could you please tell us?” Twilight pleaded.

“Ugh… Fine, whatever. I saw her go into Grampa Gruff’s house earlier.” Gilda pointed at a particular house. “Never saw her leave. Maybe she’s still there.”

“Thank you, we really appreciate it! Come on, Rainbow.” Twilight said before running off towards the house Gilda pointed out.

Rainbow glared at Gilda for a moment, and the griffon returned the glare. Then Rainbow snorted and followed after Twilight.

Twilight knocked on the door.

“Arg! Just a minute, dagnabbit!” A grumpy old voice shouted at them from inside the house.

After a moment the door opened and revealed an old one-eyed griffon. “Whaddya want?” He growled.

“Hello, sir. I’m Twilight Sparkle, this is Rainbow Dash—”

“I don’t want any!” The old griffon shouted before slamming the door in Twilight’s face.

Twilight reeled in surprise.

“Here, let me try.” Rainbow stated, nudging Twilight out of the way. She proceeded to knock.

The door opened again. Before the old griffon could say anything Rainbow started, “Hey, we’re friends with Weaver. We’re looking for her.”

“Never heard of her!” The old griffon said, about to shut the door again.

Rainbow stopped him, holding the door open. “Hey, Gilda told us she saw Weaver come inside earlier. Is she still around?”

“I don’t know what in Tartarus you’re talking about, now get out!” Gruff shouted.

“Ehem… Rainbow, may I?” Twilight asked.

Rainbow glared at the old griffon but stepped aside to let Twilight talk. “I’m sorry about that, sir. Rainbow can be a bit… assertive, sometimes. We really are friends with Queen Weaver. We’re just here to help her out however we can with whatever she has here. She kind of left in a rush and flew all the way here by herself so we had to take the train to catch up. Is she still here? Please, we just want to talk to her.”

Gruff glared at Twilight, rubbing his chin in thought. Seemingly conflicted about something. “Hm… I’m having trouble remembering… Maybe you could help jog my memory?” He stuck out a claw expectantly.

“Well, I suppose I know a few spells that might be able to help with—” Twilight started.

“He’s asking for money, Twi.” Rainbow Dash said, cutting her off.

Twilight looked at Rainbow in surprise then back at the old griffon. “O-oh… Uh… Okay…?” She took a few bits out of the massive sack of bits she had brought and levitated them over to the old griffon who took them eagerly.

“Yeah, she was here. She left. Don’t know where she is now, and I don’t care. Now go away!” Gruff told them before slamming the door again.

“Hey! We weren’t done talking! Get back out here!” Rainbow objected, knocking on the door again. This time the door stayed shut. In fact Rainbow and Twilight heard a lock latch shut inside.

Rainbow snorted in frustration and backed away from the door. “What a jerk! What the heck was Skitter doing here talking to this guy?”

Twilight sighed and shook her head. “I don’t know. Let’s just go. Maybe if we look around, we’ll eventually bump into her?”

I was currently a moth hiding on the bottom of Gabby’s mail bag. She was the first on my list of candidates who I spotted. So I was trying to see why Gruff had recommended her and get an idea of who I was dealing with.

From what I’d seen so far, she seemed nice. Almost too nice. She wanted to help everyone as much as she could. And as I was finding out, most of the griffons didn’t really seem to appreciate her attempts at being helpful. Her personality really was more like a pony than a griffon, or so it seemed.

Even after only a few hours of observing her I was already fairly confident she would do everything in her power to benefit Griffonstone if she became Queen. But I wasn’t confident in her ability to project a strong public opinion or maintain order. I was even less confident in her abilities as a leader during a war with Chrysalis. She seemed like she would be easily manipulated. If I was looking for a puppet like Gruff apparently thought I was, she would be perfect. However, I wasn’t looking for a puppet. I was looking for a monarch. And in a war with shape shifters with master powers, being easily manipulated was a very bad thing.

Of course, this was all just from a relatively short observation of her. I still didn’t really know her. I’d need to try to gather more information before I decided whether to strike her from the list entirely or not.

I stuck around on the bottom of her mail bag for a while until she was coming to the end of her mail route. I still had to gather info on the other candidates.

However, right as I was about to fly off I heard something that made my blood run cold. A familiar voice.

“Excuse me, miss! We’re looking for somepony. You’re a mail-mare, right? You’ve probably been flying around all day. So could you tell us if you’ve seen her? We have bits!”

Gabby turned to face Twilight who was standing there with Rainbow Dash. “Of course! I’d be glad to help! Who’re you looking for? If they live here in Griffonstone I can definitely help you find them! Oh, I'm Gabriella by the way. But you can call me Gabby since we're friends now! Pleased to meet ya!”

“Oh! Well I’m Twilight Sparkle and this is Rainbow Dash. It’s nice to meet you too, Gabby! We’re looking for a friend of ours. She doesn’t live here but she is visiting Griffonstone right now. We’re looking for Queen Weaver. The new changeling Queen? Rainbow Dash and I were just wondering if you saw her somewhere while you were flying around delivering mail.” Twilight asked.

“A changeling? Here in Griffonstone? Is she nice? Ooh, I hope she’s nice!” Gabby said excitedly.

“Uh, yeah. She’s pretty nice, I guess. So, I’m guessing you haven’t seen her?” Rainbow asked.

Gabby shook her head. “Nope. Sorry. But I’m almost done with my mail route! When I’m finished, I can help you look around for her!”

I was already flying into an alleyway where I changed back into my base form. Stepping out of the Alley way I said, “That won’t be necessary. I’m right here.”

I walked over to Twilight and Rainbow Dash. I had to head this off and take control of the conversation now before this became a disaster. "Heeey, Twilight and Rainbow!" I said in an overly friendly tone with a forced smile. "Funny bumping into you here. I know you two said you were going on vacation but I didn't think you'd be heading to Griffonstone of all places."

"Huh? What are you—?" Rainbow started but I didn't give her a chance to say anything.

Gabby gasped in surprise and rushed up to me. “Oh my gosh! You really are a changeling! Well, I mean, of course you’re a changeling but this is my first time ever meeting a real changeling let alone a Changeling Queen and I’m just so excited and… Oops! Sorry about that. I’m getting ahead of myself! Like I just told these two, I’m Gabriella but you can just call me Gabby!”

“Right… Well, Gabby, it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I’m sorry to cut this short but I have to go have a talk with these two right now in private.” I said, maintaining my forced smile.

"But—" Twilight started.

"In… private…" I whispered with a bit more force, cutting her off.

"Oh, okay! It was nice meeting you Weaver! It's nice to meet you too, Twilight and Rainbow. I guess I'll be going then, but we should totally hang out sometime!" Gabby said with a smile before flying off, waving at us.

"Skitter, what the hay was that?!" Rainbow demanded.

"We'll talk in private. Follow me." I said, letting some of my anger and frustration slip into my tone. I turned and started walking off, leading them out of the city so we could talk without anyone overhearing us.

Author's Note

I wanted to make this longer but it just seemed like a good point of dramatic tension to leave off on. Plus if there's an issue with how I handled this chapter or the direction I'm taking it, it might be a little easier to rewrite it if it's so short.

So I guess you can consider this and Chapter 16 two parts of one singular chapter.

Edit: I've handled the whole Griffonstone situation poorly. I'll try to rewrite it and do it better.

Edit #2: You know... Thinking about it... I think I'm just done. I don't think I can do this story justice. I clearly don't understand Taylor as a character and I keep making mistakes that should be obvious.

Yeah... I'm not sure if I can continue this story.

Edit #3: Sorry for leaving everyone in limbo for awhile not knowing what I'm gonna do. I needed to take a couple days to think.

First, let me just say thank you. I genuinely appreciate all of the support.

Second, let me apologize. Normally I try to take criticism in stride. In fact I genuinely appreciate it as criticism is how I know what I'm doing wrong so I can fix it and improve. It also shows the individual leaving the criticism actually cares about the story too or they'd just leave a dislike or un-watch without saying anything or giving a reason why and moving on, like a lot of people have. Which is also fine, not every story is for everyone. I get that.

This would have been no different but it seems every couple of chapters since chapter 6 I have had some failing in my writing or plot that makes me have to go back and rewrite things. I think that started to eat away at my confidence a bit, at least in regards to this story in particular. Combine that with not wanting to make you guys have to read basically the same chapter repeatedly and the anxiety got to me.

That's not to say I don't want criticism. I do. So if you see something you don't like or that I'm doing wrong, point it out. I'd much rather be able to fix it than leave it like a festering wound on my story. I don't want anything to change. My issue stems entirely from myself so it's something I need to work on with myself rather than anything else.

I will be continuing the story. I'll try to maintain things as they've been, though I'd like to post more regularly/consistently but we'll see on that front.

I sincerely apologize for the commotion and drama, it was me acting rash when my negative emotions in regards to my own failings and ability as an author reached a bit of a crescendo. It won't happen again.

I'll try to see if I can rewrite this chapter. If I can, I'll try to get out the rewrite soon. If not, I'll try to work with what I've already written. Having one weak point in an otherwise okay story isn't that bad.

Tl;Dr: I'll be continuing the story and I'm sorry for being over dramatic.

Edit#4: I've updated this chapter. Hopefully this version fixes most of the mistakes I made originally. You can find the original version of the chapter Here.

Chapter 18

I led Twilight and Rainbow Dash to a secluded spot where there was no one to listen in on this conversation. And I paid very close attention to the sources of emotions all around us, so I would know if anyone tried to eavesdrop.

“Taylor, what’s going on? Why do you seem upset?” Twilight asked, uncomprehending of the situation.

“Forget that! What the hell are you two doing here?!” I half shouted, trying not to raise my voice too much.

“We’re here to help? I thought you might be getting into a dangerous situation again, and you just didn’t want any of us getting hurt on your behalf. Or something like that.” Twilight responded uncertainly.

“If I was going into something dangerous and I didn’t ask for help, that would mean there’s a damn good reason why I don’t want anyone else involved! Did you ever stop to think that maybe, just maybe, following me into a situation like that might get you killed?! Especially when I don’t expect you to be there in the first place!” I demanded.

Twilight’s ears were pressed flat against her head as she shrunk back under my tirade. Worry and some small amount of shame radiated from her.

Rainbow Dash crossed her forelegs and stared at me, not backing down in the slightest. “Are you?” She asked.

“Am I what?” I asked, still pissed.

“Getting yourself into a dangerous situation?”

I hesitated for a moment. Technically, yes. I was. But that wasn’t any of their business. “It doesn’t matter!”

“So you are! You totally are! You were right, Twilight!” Rainbow exclaimed.

“It doesn’t matter, damn it! Listen to me!” I took a deep breath and slowly released it, forcing myself to calm down.

“We’re listening, Taylor. There’s no need to get angry.” Twilight assured me.

“No, there’s plenty of reason to be angry. But it’s not going to help anything right now… Look, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, this is my business. Not yours and not Equestria’s. So I’d like to handle it by myself. Also, I’m going to be completely honest with you here, I don’t like the fact that you report on my every move. Back in the Crystal Empire you immediately reported that I had plans to go to Griffonstone to the Princesses when it was none of your business and none of theirs either. I’m not a kid. I don’t need a damn babysitter… Unless it’s to watch my eggs, I guess, but Queen Amore’s taking care of that right now… Whatever. Point is, I don’t need help for every little thing.”

Twilight’s ears flattened against her head and I felt guilt emanate from her. “O-oh… I… I didn’t think… I was just…” She sighed. “I just thought it was a bit odd you were heading here and I honestly didn’t think it was anything private, I just thought you were going there to try and make allies or something… But since you wouldn’t talk to me about it I thought you might be more willing to talk to the princesses and get their help instead since they’re more experienced with politics… Though, thinking back, I guess the fact you didn’t want to talk to me about it should have been a hint… I’m sorry, Taylor. I really didn’t mean to violate your privacy. I was just trying to help you as best I could…”

I sighed. I wanted to believe her that she was just trying to help but the fact she was here and everything she’d done up until now fit too cleanly with my hypothesis that she was a spy keeping track of me. “I get you were trying to help, but there’s a thing called boundaries. If I make it clear that I don’t want to talk about it and I don’t want help, don’t go behind my back and try and insert yourself into my business. Don’t go telling other people my business either. Everything I’m doing is to protect myself and my kids. That’s all anyone else needs to know.”

“So… You’re just here to get allies?” Twilight asked, confused.

“Twilight, what did I just say?”

She winced. “Sorry… It’s just, I don’t know what else you could want here. And if its allies, why can’t you talk about it? Like I said back in the Crystal Empire, we’re friends. You can rely on me, Rainbow, and the others. You don’t need to handle everything yourself. And well… I’ve actually been wanting to visit Griffonstone for a while now and, selfish as this might sound, I’ll admit this seemed like a really good chance to do it…”

“Yeah, seriously? What’s so important that you can’t tell us anything? Like, I get the whole thing about not wanting us to report your every move. And we don’t! Right Twilight?” Rainbow asked, looking at Twilight.

Twilight winced and rubbed the back of her head nervously. “W-well… Not her every move…”

Rainbow looked at her in surprise and I gave the two of them a flat stare.

“I… er… I just… I…” Twilight slumped. “Okay. I’ll admit, I usually tell the princesses generally what Weaver’s doing in my friendship reports. No specifics. I don’t tell them every little detail. Just the broad strokes so they know what to be aware of in case it might matter with the whole Chrysalis thing or in case it might help them with the political situation in Canterlot.”

Rainbow Dash face hooved. “Great… Thanks a lot, Twi. Really helping my case here… The point I was trying to make was that we can keep a secret if we need to. And if you were just up front with us and asked us not to say anything, we wouldn’t. We’re your friends, Skitter. You almost died trying to save our butts in the Crystal Empire. Sure, maybe I wasn’t in that ‘Shadow Prison’ thing or whatever with you and the others. But even before that! With the whole eating cursed crystals thing? So the least we can do is keep a secret for you if you need us to.”

I sighed. “Look, I understand what you’re trying to say, and I appreciate the sentiment. But it’s a matter of state. I can’t discuss it. And you can’t be involved. I’m dealing with international politics. You don’t expect the Princesses to tell you everything they do politically, right? You don’t know all of Equestria’s state secrets or agreements they make with foreign nations?”

“Well… no… I don’t…” Twilight muttered somewhat dejectedly.

“It’s the same thing here. I’m the Queen of a brand new hive which I am in the process of building and need to defend from a hostile foreign power. So there’s going to be things I need to do that I can’t tell you about and I can’t let you help me with.” I told them trying to ease the situation as much as possible.

“It would have helped if you actually told us that up front instead of just running off without even saying a simple goodbye.” Rainbow stated.

“I left a note telling you girls I was going to be in Griffonstone on business.” I stated.

“That’s not the same thing, Taylor.” Twilight stated.

“Fine. What do you want me to say? That I was worried you wouldn’t let me go without insisting on coming with me unless I left without talking to you? That something like this exact situation would happen?” I asked, frustrated.

“This situation could have been avoided if you’d talked to us! Communication, Taylor! What are we supposed to do if you refuse to communicate with us at all? I really thought you were going into another dangerous situation! And what was I supposed to think? It seems like every time you go off to do something it always ends violently. The situation with the Changelings derailing the train, then Sombra and the Umbrum. Not to mention your whole life on Earth Bet. And you have a severe tendency to self sacrifice which we saw on full display in the Crystal Empire. So I had no reason to believe you’d actually tell us if you were about to go do something dangerous where you might actually need our help but just don’t want to ask because we might get hurt.”

“Which you totally are! Don’t think I’ve forgotten, because I haven’t!” Rainbow Dash stated.

I sighed. Were I in my human form I’d be pinching the bridge of my nose, but I wasn’t so I just lowered my head. She was right, in a way. I seemed to be a giant magnet for violence for some reason or another. But that didn’t change the present situation. “Alright, maybe we both fucked up then. I screwed up by not saying anything and you guys screwed up by following me here when it should have been very obvious I didn’t want you to. Fine. Happy?”

“Not really, no.” Rainbow Dash stated.

“Well, neither am I. So at least we’re both equally unhappy.” I stated, annoyed by this whole situation.

“So… What now? Do you expect us to just get back on the train and go back home after coming all the way here? ‘Cause, there’s no way I’m just gonna leave now. Not since you pretty much confirmed you’re going to be doing something dangerous again.” Rainbow Dash stated giving me a stubborn look. She wasn’t going to budge on this. At least not easily.

I sighed and rubbed the side of my head in an attempt to ease my growing headache. “I never confirmed anything! You’re just making an assumption!”

“I’m not blind or stupid, Skitter! I saw that look on your face and that moment of hesitation when I asked if you were going to be doing something dangerous! Don’t bucking lie to us!” Rainbow growled.

“Great… Just fantastic… Alright, before I address this particular issue, how many griffons did you two ask about me? How many know you were looking for me?”

“I dunno… A few dozen maybe? We were kind of looking for you all day.” Twilight stated.

“Perfect. Just perfect. People are probably already talking about it. That’s going to do wonders for my image…” I grumbled in continued frustration.

“What image? Seriously, this is getting kind of old at this point.” Rainbow asked.

“State secret. Look, I have a thing I’m trying to accomplish here. Something vitally important to me. The literal protege of Princess Celestia herself looking for me with what I’m planning to accomplish here looks really bad. That’s all you need to know. You two being here has completely screwed with everything. I need some time to think about all of this and reassess the situation before I decide on what I can or can’t tell you. This would have been so much easier if you’d just stayed in Ponyville!” I sighed and shook my head. “But it's too late for that now… So, you wanna help me? Fine. I’ll let you be on standby for when things get out of hand. But I’m going to need you to trust me.”

“That’s kinda hard when you won’t tell us anything.” Rainbow Dash stated disapprovingly.

“I can’t tell you anything right now, Rainbow Dash! It seems like I keep having to say that over and over again! I’m not in a position to be forthcoming with my circumstances right now! That’s why I need time to think about what I can tell you! That’s all I need! Time! Is that so difficult?!” I growled.

“Please, both of you, just calm down. We’re friends. We don’t need to argue like this. Taylor, you need time. That’s fine. We’re willing to give you as much time as you need. Rainbow Dash, you want Taylor to communicate more. I get it. I want her to communicate more too. But this isn’t the way to accomplish that. We have to start out by showing her at least some trust. So, Taylor, how do we handle this situation?” Twilight asked me.

I huffed and shook my head. “I guess we start by finding a hotel to stay in. Preferably one that isn’t completely run down. This place is somehow more run down than Brockton Bay after the Slaughterhouse Nine attacked. And that’s saying something.”

“Jeez. That bad? I remember you telling us how bad it got in Brockton Bay.” Rainbow Dash asked, looking at the dilapidated city.

“Okay, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration. Maybe… It’s debatable… But it’s definitely worse than Brockton was after Leviathan attacked. If you heard the same things I did about the state this place is in, it wouldn’t sound so outlandish. Seriously. Griffonstone is barely hanging on by a thread. It’s one bad day away from complete collapse and dissolution.” I told her.

“Can you tell us what you’ve heard about the state of Griffonstone at least? Not in regards to whatever you’re doing here, but just in general. I just can’t wrap my head around how the greatest kingdom in the world got to this point.” Twilight asked.

I looked around. “I suppose…” I didn’t want to just say no outright, but the state of Griffonstone was closely related to why I was here in the first place. If I addressed this wrong, they’d see my plan coming from a mile away. Then again, if I didn’t tell them and they started digging through Griffonstone’s history to find out what happened, they’d probably figure it out anyways. This was going to be hard… “So, how much do you know about Griffonstone’s history?”

“Oh, plenty!” Twilight pulled a large book off the cart with her and Rainbow Dash’s sack of bits. “Have you ever read By Gone Griffons of Greatness? It’s super interesting! I highly recommend it!” She opened the book and held it out to me, flipping through some of the pages to specific pictures. “In ancient times, Griffons were known to be as greedy as dragons, always hoarding their bits and other treasures! But all that changed when King Grover found the mysterious Golden Idol of Boreas! Legend says the Idol of Boreas was made from the dust of golden sunsets, blown across the mountains by the north winds! Possessing the Idol of Boreas filled the Griffons’ hearts with pride! It’s said that that one great treasure is responsible for turning Griffonstone into the most majestic kingdom of all the land!”

I cursed mentally. She already knew about the Idol. How the hell was I going to work around this? “I, uh… Think this book might be out of date.” I told her, pushing the book away. “Okay, well, it all started with King Guto. The most recent king. During his reign, Griffonstone was attacked by a creature called Arimaspi. The Griffons beat it, but at a cost. This led to a civil war in which King Guto was overthrown. There were more civil wars over who would replace him. They tried forming a Council in place of the king, but they couldn’t agree to anything so it fell apart from infighting in just four months. Then they broke up all of Grifftonstone into separate nations, which went to war and started killing each other. Then their economy completely collapsed because of the wars. It was getting to the point where everyone would have no choice but to become refugees and flee to Minos or Equestria, abandoning Griffonstone entirely, or they would all starve to death. So the nations were forced to come back together to establish some kind of economic stability to prevent that from happening. And that’s where we are now. They haven’t recovered at all since then.”

Both Twilight and Rainbow Dash were staring at me in complete shock. It seemed neither of them could believe how utterly horrendous the state of this place was.

“Wow… Just… Just wow…” Rainbow Dash stated, resting her face in her hoof.

“H-how…? What…? I don’t understand. How could one creature have caused all of this…?” Twilight asked in complete disbelief. She then looked at me and I could practically see the lightbulb going off in her head. “Oh! That’s why you’re here! I’m sorry, Taylor. I know you don’t want us butting into your business but I couldn’t help making the connection after you told us that story. You’re trying to fix Griffonstone! And by fixing Griffonstone you’ll get friends and allies against Queen Chrysalis! But… Why go to all this trouble to keep this secret? I don’t get that. If anything we’d try to help you. And I don’t really see how this could be dangerous.”

“Twilight, she just told us how the Griffons have been fighting wars with each other over this for however long. So, yeah. It’s dangerous. I was totally right!” Rainbow Dash said confidently.

“W-well, yeah. She did just say that, but I’m sure she has a plan for how to do this without starting another civil war. Right, Taylor?” Twilight asked me.

I grit my teeth and just stood there. I should have kept my mouth shut. I definitely should have just kept my damned mouth shut. I thought not mentioning the Idol would be enough, but it wasn’t. Twilight figured it out regardless. But if I’d refused to tell them, Twilight would have tried to read up on recent history or something, or Gruff would have told them since he was the local historian, and she would have figured it out regardless. Damned if I did, damned if I didn’t.

“Taylor? You… did have a plan to avoid that… right?” Twilight asked me.

I slumped and sighed in frustration. At this point was there even any point in keeping anything else secret? They’d already pretty much guessed my plans… “Yes and no… I planned to dig up any dirt I could on people in power who could be a problem to expose to the public to get them arrested or run out of Griffonstone by an angry mob, or black mail them into compliance. Pay off others with money I took from the ones who got run out of Griffonstone. Or assassinate them, if I didn’t have any other options available to me. Among some other options… I wanted to end the civil war before it really began by removing the opposing factions all together. If the civil war did start at all, I planned to kill the leaders and generals one by one until the opposing factions completely collapsed from a lack of organization and leadership. I’m a changeling, with all that entails. With my powers I’m very confident I could end it all in a month, tops, using those methods. Hopefully with minimal loss of life on either side, save for the opposing leadership.”

“Sweet Celestia… What the buck?” Rainbow Dash asked incredulously. She then shook her head. “You know what? I don’t know why I’m surprised at this point…”

“I’m starting to see why you didn’t want to tell any of us… No. You’re definitely not doing that. There has to be a better way to solve this… Taylor, please let us help you with this. If we work together, I’m sure we can find a solution that doesn’t require hurting anypony. If we send a letter to Princess Celestia—”

“No. Absolutely not. I don’t want Celestia or the other Princesses involved in this at all. If you plan to ask them for help, that’s where this ends. I’ll know I can’t trust you at all. We can maintain a cordial relationship back in Ponyville, but I’m not trusting you with anything again.” I told her seriously. If she told the Princesses I was going to have to rush through this as fast as possible and trigger that civil war before the Princesses could intervene. That way they wouldn’t be able to stop me because it would already be in progress. I had to come out of this with an ally on my side. Not under the thumb of Equestria. This was too important for this to end any other way. I couldn’t let myself become a vassal or puppet of Equestria. I had to guarantee my future if I survived this war with Chrysalis. Gaining allies not under the Princesses’ control was the key to ensuring my continued freedom. I wasn’t about to give that up.

“Seriously? This is that important to you? You’d really be willing to throw away our friendship over this?” Rainbow Dash asked me. I could sense the hurt and sadness radiating from her. She was genuinely upset that I was willing to sacrifice our friendship for this. Or so it seemed.

“What would you do to protect yourself and your kids? Your foals? How far would you be willing to go? What would you be willing to sacrifice to protect your family? Would you be willing to give up your friends if it meant guaranteeing your foals safety and wellbeing?” I asked her. “Before you answer, try to put yourself in my position. You don’t know my full circumstances the way I do. So you can’t just say, ‘I would never have to do that’, or anything like that. This is a situation where you might not have a choice but to make those sacrifices to keep your family safe. So? What’s your answer?”

Rainbow Dash stared at me for a moment, struggling to find the words. Eventually she said, “That’s not fair!”

“You’re right. It’s not fair. But that’s how it is, regardless. Life very often isn’t fair. I had to learn that the hard way. So? Do you have an answer?”

Rainbow struggled for a moment longer before slumping and looking away. “I don’t know… I’d never want to be in that kind of situation in the first place…”

“I, for one, already sacrificed friendships to save the world once. Two years ago, when I turned myself in back in Brockton Bay. So, why wouldn’t I do it again to protect myself and my family? So yes, this is that important to me. And can you really blame me?” I asked.

“No… If you really believe that, I guess I can’t… But I don’t agree that this is that serious. I don’t get how or why this would be so important to keeping your hive safe. And I assume you aren’t going to explain. So, fine. I guess I accept it, but I don’t like it.” Rainbow Dash stated.

Twilight sighed. “Alright. We’re not asking Celestia then… What about Queen Amore? You trusted her with keeping your eggs safe. I’m sure you could trust her with this too.”

I shrugged. “It's been a thousand years. She probably knew the Griffons at the height of their kingdom’s history. Whatever experience she has might not be worth much here. Otherwise I might have talked to her about it while we were in the Crystal Empire. Besides, we can’t effectively communicate with her about the situation over the mail. So if we’re going to be doing this, it's going to be on our own. And I’m going to be the one doing all of the major leg work. If you two can come up with a decent plan that doesn’t end in war, great. I’ll do that. But if you can’t, then I’m going to have to go with my original plan, like it or not. This needs to get done one way or the other.”

Twilight took a deep breath and slowly released it, trying to calm her nerves. “Alright… Since you're at the point where you’re willing to let us help, maybe you could tell us your plan? That way we know what you have in mind so we can at least have an idea of what we’re actually trying to accomplish here.”

I focused on our surroundings again to make absolutely sure no one was in earshot before I began telling them my plan.

I seriously hoped I wasn’t making a huge mistake by letting them get involved. Then again, that choice had sort of been taken from me at this point. So I was just going to have to make do, for better or worse.

Author's Note

Another chapter I'm uncertain of. Hopefully the whole series of events makes sense and isn't out of character for any of them. I tried my best to handle this as logically as possible.

Just a heads up, I rewrote the previous chapter to address some of the issues that were pointed out to me over on SB.

Chapter 19

“So you’re going to get the Idol of Boreas and give it to some Griffon to make them the next king or queen?” Twilight asked.

“Pretty much. I have a list of candidates I still need to vet. That griffon from earlier, Gabrilla?

“Gabby.” Twilight reminded me.

I nodded. “Sure, Gabby. She was one of the griffons someone recommended to me. I was a moth hiding on her mailbag all day, trying to get a read on her personality. I’m going to have to do something similar for the other candidates. I’m not going to give the Idol to some idiot who’s going to piss off the public enough to cause a rebellion in a year. I’m also going to be investigating the major players who might oppose whoever I install. Digging up whatever skeletons they might have in their closets to blackmail them with.”

“You don’t need to do that. We’re trying to think up a different solution, remember? You shouldn’t have to resort to that.” Twilight assured me.

“I’ll be covering my bases anyway, just in case you two can’t think of another solution. That way I won’t have to waste even more time on it later if I have to fall back on my original plan after all.” I told the two of them.

Twilight sighed. “At least you’re giving us a chance…”

“Yeah, I am…” I just hoped I wasn’t going to regret this. “Anyway, this is probably going to take a while. So let’s go find a hotel to stay in. I’m sure there has to be at least one that’s in livable condition. It’ll probably be stupidly expensive but better than staying somewhere liable to collapse on top of us while we sleep. Or infested with rats and bed bugs.”

Rainbow Dash shuddered. “Yeah, I’d rather spend the extra bits rather than deal with that.”

Wanting to try and maintain my image as much as possible I transformed into a pony. A black unicorn with a white mane and tail, wearing my spidersilk armor and saddle bags. At least I could use magic in this form, since it had a horn. It was still changeling magic, but no one should really be able to tell the difference.

The three of us walked through the partially dilapidated city and asked around for the best hotel in the city. Eventually someone bothered to answer us, in exchange for five bits, and directed us to a hotel. It wasn’t the fanciest hotel ever, and the prices were indeed exorbitant for what it was, but it wasn’t falling apart and the rooms were clean. Apparently it was where most visitors from Equestria stayed while in Griffonstone. So it was up to Equestrian standards for health and safety, which was a relief as apparently Equestria had pretty high standards in that regard.

I went in later than them in my changeling form and took a separate room. I wanted it to look as coincidental as possible. I didn’t want to reinforce the image that I was on Equestria’s leash anymore than those two had when they went around town asking about me.

Once we had our rooms I locked up my excess bits in a chest at the foot of my bed that I’d been given individual keys too. I assumed Twilight and Rainbow Dash did the same. Then I snuck into the room Twilight and Rainbow Dash were sharing by crawling under the door in the form of a spider.

I changed back to my human form and Rainbow fell out of her bed in surprise. “Gah! Dang it, Skitter! A little warning next time, huh?!”

“What was I supposed to do? Descend from the ceiling by a web in front of your face before transforming? I was a spider. I can’t exactly talk in that form.” I stated.

Rainbow grumbled in annoyance as she got back up on her bed.

“Anyway, I’m just here to let you two know unless you absolutely need my help with this I’ll be out until maybe midnight, give or take. I’m going to be investigating the other candidates on my list. I’ll be keeping myself busy every day unless you actively need my input. So I won’t be here to help you brainstorm ideas for how to solve this without going with my plan.” I told them.

Twilight nodded. “Alright. Rainbow and I are going to see if we can find anything that might help us in the library.”

I shrugged. “Fine by me. Just don’t go around talking about me. Pretend you two are just friends on vacation or something. The less involved Equestria is with me and this whole situation in the public consciousness the better.”

I could feel the frustration from Rainbow Dash and by the look on her face I could tell she wanted to ask why, but she stayed silent. Mercifully she wasn’t pressing me to explain why.

Twilight nodded. “We’ll try our best. You can count on us. You’ll see.”

“I hope I can…” I said before walking over to the window and opening it. Then I turned into a dragonfly and flew out to continue gathering information.

Twilight watched Taylor fly out the window, nervously. There was a lot riding on her figuring out a peaceful solution to this situation. If she couldn’t, Taylor was going to kill a bunch of Griffons to ensure no one would oppose whoever she installed upon the throne. There were lives riding on this. There had been lives on the line in other situations as well, such as the Crystal Empire and the Changeling Invasion. But this was the first time it had ever been quite so… direct. Taylor explicitly told her and Rainbow that she was going to assassinate griffons to make sure the civil war would never happen or would end within a month if it did start. And this was important enough to her to cut ties with Twilight and the others for the sake of her hive, so they wouldn’t be able to convince her to stop. So the pressure to find that peaceful solution was immense.

“This sucks.” Rainbow stated, leaning back on her bed. “This whole situation is terrible. Friends shouldn’t have to keep secrets from each other. And this whole civil war thing? I told you Griffons are horrible. I mean, it doesn’t excuse Skitter planning to assassinate some of them, obviously. But the fact she thinks she’ll have to just to stop them from killing each other in a civil war just shows how awful they are. Celestia’s sun, I hate this!”

Twilight sighed. “I don’t like it either. I agree this is an awful situation and I wish it were different. But remember what Taylor said earlier. She’s the queen of a budding hive. An international figure. She was right with what she said before. I don’t expect Princess Celestia to tell me everything she does so we can’t expect Taylor to either. We’re just going to have to accept that there's some things she just can’t tell us.”

Rainbow was silent for a moment before groaning in frustration. “Fiiine… Maybe you’re right… Speaking of which, what the hay, Twilight? No wonder she doesn’t trust us! You were seriously spying on Taylor for Celestia?”

Twilight winced, guilt shooting through her. “I didn’t mean to! I just… never thought of it that way… I was just trying to help… I made a mistake… I should have realized Taylor would be upset about it. That it was a violation of her privacy. At the very least I should have talked to her about it… But it’s too late now… All I can do is try not to make the same mistake in the future and try to earn back some trust.”

Rainbow huffed and sat back up. “Yeah… Anyway, you have any idea how we’re going to do this? Solve this whole situation peacefully, I mean. ‘Cause I got nothin’.”

Twilight shook her head. “No. I don’t… I was sort of hoping your experience with Griffons might be helpful in that regard.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “One Griffon. Gilda. Who’s a huge jerk. I’m not exactly some egghead who knows everything about Griffons, Twi.”

“Then let’s head to the library and try to read up on Griffon culture and customs. We’re not going to figure anything out sitting here.” Twilight stated.

“If you say so… I still don’t get why Skitter cares so much about the Griffons, specifically. The Dragons were jerks too, at least those teenagers were and that one that decided to sleep in the mountains that one time, but at least they have a functioning society. She’d probably be better off trying to get them on her side. Plus they’d probably be a lot better help against Queen Chrysalis and her hive.” Rainbow Dash grumbled, getting up off her bed.

“I’ll be completely honest with you, I have no clue either. But I get the feeling that’s one of those things that aren’t any of our business. So we just have to accept that Taylor believes this is what’s best for her hive.” Twilight stated before turning and opening the door.

They both left the hotel and headed for the library.

They spent the next several hours looking through books, trying to find something that could help. Some answer to preventing the Civil War.

The sun began to set and day turned to night. The library closed and they had to head back to the hotel for the night.

They returned the next morning. And the next.

Three days passed with minimal progress on their front. Taylor had already gathered a bunch of information and was moving on to trying to find information and evidence to black mail her potential opposition with.

Twilight slammed the book on Griffon customs she’d been reading shut and groaned in stress and frustration as she set it off to the side. That was the twelfth book today and it contained absolutely nothing of any use whatsoever. It said nothing of how the first king united Griffonstone, only that the Idol of Boreas is what brought them all together. Just like the last hundred or so she and Rainbow Dash had read through. Mostly Twilight. She was good at speed reading whereas Rainbow Dash wasn’t and she very quickly grew bored reading about griffon customs and history. So Twilight was doing most of the work.

“Come on. Give it up, Twi. At this point it's pretty obvious that books aren’t going to help.” Rainbow stated.

“I want to disagree but we’ve read pretty much every book on griffon history and culture in this place… Ugh…” Twilight buried her face in her forelegs for a moment before sitting back up and holding her head between her hooves. Stress and worry clear on her face. “I don’t know what else to do! If we don’t figure something out soon…” She shook her head. “Rainbow, we have to find a solution! We can’t just let… You know…” Twilight said, trying to avoid mentioning Taylor or her plans in public like this.

Rainbow sighed and looked around. The library was mostly empty save for the librarian who was currently asleep at the front desk and a couple of other griffons. “It doesn’t look like anyone’s listening. As long as we stay quiet, we should be okay to talk here… So these books are obviously a waste of time. So what now? We can ask for a bit more time if we need it. But we need to come up with something. Some strategy for how to approach this problem to make it easier to figure out.”

Twilight shook her head. “I don’t know… I’m genuinely at a loss… I wish we could just send a letter to Celestia or something! But no… We can’t… I do have a letter to Queen Amore already pre-written to fall back on if nothing else. It's about several pages long and explains the whole situation in detail. But we’d need to ask first before sending it and who knows how long it’ll take to get there and for her response to get back to us. Or if Amore will even be able to help us at all.”

“When did you find the time to do that?” Rainbow asked, confused.

“The past few nights while you were asleep. The first night we arrived I couldn’t sleep because I was stressed that we hadn’t found a solution. So I stayed up and started working on it. And have been working on it since. I’ve read it, re-read it, and rewritten a few pages several times to make it as clear and concise as possible to make sure there’s no confusion if we do have to send it off.” Twilight stated.

“Twilight… Have you slept at all these past few days?” Rainbow asked, genuinely concerned.

Twilight nodded. “Not much, but yeah. I’m pretty sure I’ve been able to get about at least four hours of sleep every night. So I’m tired but it's not as bad as it could be. I can’t afford to exhaust myself. I won’t be able to think as efficiently and it’ll only make things harder…”

“You do realize, I could probably just fly over to the Crystal Empire and back faster than that letter could get there. I could totally explain everything to Queen Amore. You didn’t need to write all of that.” Rainbow stated.

“You probably could, but writing down my thoughts helped. If I hadn’t, I’d have been worrying about it all night and wouldn’t have been able to get any sleep at all.” Twilight stated.

Rainbow sighed. “Fair enough, I guess…”

“Alright, let’s try to break this down. The issue is the possibility of a war. Why? Why will a war break out if this happens? What are the reasons for it? If we can find the reasons, maybe we can find a solution.” Twilight asked, still trying to be careful about what they said in public even if they were whispering and no one was listening.

“You know why. Because they’re all jerks. And super greedy too. They want power and money.” Rainbow stated.

“That’s… unfortunately true, it seems… I don’t like it but denying reality isn’t going to help us right now… That said, maybe there’s more to it? The terms they agreed to suggest they’d accept whoever got the item. Maybe part of the issue might be legitimacy? Maybe… Hopefully… Because if legitimacy is an issue rather than just pure greed maybe we can find a solution. I know your experience is limited but it's still more experience than I have. So what do you think? Does my hypothesis make sense?” Twilight asked.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I dunno. Maybe? I know the ‘pony’ I used to be friends with would probably be upset if we made an agreement and some unrelated pony swooped in, claimed the prize, and gave it to somepony else who didn’t earn it then expected us to just accept it. I would be too, honestly.”

“Right, I see your point. That would be pretty upsetting… So, how do we circumvent that? She has to be the one. Which means she’d have to give it to somepony… I don’t see a way around that… Rainbow, if you and your friend were having a contest to get something that was impossible to reach, neither of you could get even close no matter how hard you tried it was just legitimately impossible, and somepony else got it for you, what would you do?” Twilight asked.

“Hm… We’d settle it with a race. Have that pony put the thing somewhere really far away with an obstacle course to reach it, and we’d see who could get to it first. That way raw speed wouldn’t be enough. You’d have to dodge through a bunch of stuff so too much speed could be a problem. That way it’d be fair since, of course, I’m totally faster than her. And it would still be a challenge to get to it.” Rainbow stated confidently.

“A race…” Twilight said, thinking to herself. That was a very “Rainbow Dash” answer, but maybe it could work? If Taylor grabbed the Idol of Boreas and announced she was going to make a contest to see who could get it first, it would be like an extension of the original agreement rather than Taylor just installing a ruler she had personally chosen. Maybe the griffons would be more receptive to it and they could avoid a civil war!

Sure, it wasn’t perfect. There was still the possibility that pure greed would lead to a civil war, at which point Taylor would step in and it would all be for nothing. But it was the closest thing they had to a solution right now. So they may as well run it by her to see what she thought.

“It could work… That’s definitely something we’ll keep in mind! We’ll have to ask our friend later. For now, let’s keep thinking. If it is pure greed, how do we deal with that? Maybe we could… pay them…?” Twilight muttered uncertainly.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Twi, I don’t think we have nearly enough bits for that, considering what’s on the line.”

They continued talking for a while but ultimately came up with nothing else of note. Their best idea was the contest.

Later that night Twilight teleported herself and Rainbow into Taylor’s room.

It was midnight and I just got back from my most recent round of investigations. I was currently in my human form going over some of the evidence I collected when Twilight and Rainbow teleported in.

I looked up from a page I was reading through. “Oh, hey. Just going over some evidence I collected today. Apparently Lord Silvertalon has his claws in organized crime. Drug trafficking and protection money rackets fraudulently disguised as ‘tax collection’, mainly. Not as bad as I expected, relatively speaking, but it’s something. He’s actually stupid enough to keep detailed physical records of everything. Presumably so he can keep track of his finances so none of his children, grand kids, or employees who’re in on it can easily embezzle money from his operation. I have enough evidence to have him and his kids thrown in prison for a very long time.”

“I see… Well that’s good, I guess?” Twilight asked uncertainly.

“It means I have enough material to blackmail him into compliance or legally get him thrown in prison if he decides not to comply and becomes a problem. So, yeah. It’s good. He’s one of the older nobles whose family still has quite a bit of support and influence. Removing him from the picture will be a pretty big blow to the opposition. Not crippling, there are others who’re more subtle who are just as if not more important than him. But still pretty big since he’s pretty rich and taking him out would mean he can’t help bankroll the war.” I stated, rolling the page up and stuffing it in the chest at the foot of my bed. “So, what’s up? I assume you’re here for a reason.”

“We finally came up with an idea we want to run by you. There’s nothing in any of the books we went through that can help, unfortunately, but we came up with a hypothesis. If we’re correct then the issue isn’t just the fact Griffons are greedy. It’s also a problem of legitimacy. The original agreement was that ‘Whosoever successfully retrieves the Idol of Boreas shall become the next ruler of Griffonstone’. Or something along those lines. I’m paraphrasing. If you get the Idol and just give it to somepony, the griffons will see it as illegitimate because that Griffon didn’t retrieve it themself.” Twilight explained.

I nodded. “I suppose. Ambassador Gruff said something pretty similar when I talked to him about it. What of it? I have to be the one to get the Idol. There’s no way around that. So what are you getting at?”

“We’re going to have a race!” Rainbow Dash declared.

I stared at the two of them for a moment. “A race…”

“Yeah! It’ll totally work! As long as the Griffons aren’t complete jerks anyway. This way, they won’t be able to say that whoever gets the Idol didn’t really earn it! They’ll have still gotten the Idol on their own, you’ll have just made it possible to reach in the first place.” Rainbow explained.

I frowned. “There’s a problem with this idea. Unless we rig it somehow for whoever I choose, there’s no guarantee whoever wins will agree to give me the support I need after they claim the Idol and become King. That’s part of the point of choosing who I give the Idol to in the first place. So I can negotiate terms with them beforehand and get them to sign an agreement.”

“We can make that part of the entry requirements. To enter the contest they have to sign a contract stating they’ll provide you military aid once they’re on the throne.” Twilight stated.

I raised a hand to my chin in thought. “I’m not sure this will stop a civil war from breaking out like you hope, the Griffons are insanely greedy. Plus there’s no guarantee whoever wins will be good for the Kingdom. Which will be a problem for me if whoever wins does such a horrible job they incite a revolution or a coup against them and get overthrown in a year. Then the contract will be void and I’ll be screwed. So I’d prefer to select my candidates directly. I can’t do that in a contest where anyone can enter. I already have a couple griffons in mind for who I’d want to install.”

Twilight sighed. “I’ll admit, I can’t guarantee they won’t try to start a civil war regardless… But historically the Idol of Boreas already united the Griffons and made Griffonstone the most prosperous kingdom in the world once. I’m willing to bet that if acquired through a fair contest, it can do it again. As for being a good ruler, we can build the contest around challenges specifically designed to weed out any griffons who have negative qualities for a king or queen. We can turn excessive greed into a disadvantage. In fact, I already have a few ideas for that.”

She explained her plans to me.

I sighed. "I'm still skeptical about all of this, I doubt it'll work as well as you're thinking, but fine. I told you two if you came up with a non-violent solution, I'd give it a chance. I'm not about to go back on my word. And if it fails, I can always fall back on my original plan. So it's not like I'm losing anything by giving this idea a chance. Alright, let's do this. How do we start?"

Once everything was prepared or could be set up relatively easily, it was finally time to kick everything off.

Leaving Twilight and Rainbow Dash at the hotel, I approached the Abysmal Abyss in my changeling form and looked down into the canyon. The Idol was right there. All I had to do was go down and get it.

I looked around and saw several griffons looking at me curiously. Most likely because I was a changeling and was thus a curious sight here in Griffonstone, more than anything.

Some I sensed strange emotions from that made me suspect they might be changeling spies. I sensed it every time I went out in my Changeling form. They would even follow me, until I transformed into something they couldn't keep track of and flew away. But I had no solid evidence so I couldn't act on it without causing a diplomatic incident, unfortunately.

For now, I ignored them. I then proceeded to enter the canyon and walk down the wall. For me it was almost as easy as climbing up a ladder. Except I was going down instead of up which was a rather odd experience since gravity was pulling at me from the opposite direction.

The wind got more and more intense the further down I went. I could definitely see why getting down here was such a huge problem. I could tell it would be impossible to fly in this without being caught by the wind and completely losing all control. I wondered how many griffons had died from trying to fly down and grab the Idol only to be smashed against the walls of the canyon and fall to their deaths.

The further down I went the stronger the wind became. It was getting to the point I was having trouble keeping my wings pressed down against my back and it was getting harder and harder to maintain my footing the further down I went, even with my ability to stick to walls like a bug. I wished I could morph individual parts of my body so I could hide my wings, that way they wouldn't be a problem, but I couldn't. So, instead I had to stop on a ledge, take out a length of star spider silk rope, and tie it around my torso several times to keep my wings pinned to my back. It was uncomfortable but at least the wind wasn't going to blow them open and slam me against the rocks. It also meant I wouldn't be able to save myself if I started falling to my death, but with the wind as hard as it was I wouldn't have been able to regardless.

I continued down and was tempted to morph into a different form entirely, one that could resist the wind easier like a gecko. But I still had to bring the Idol of Boreas back up with me. I couldn't do that in any of the forms I knew the anatomy of, considering they were mostly animals from Earth and none of them were big enough to carry a heavy solid gold artifact up a wall while the wind was blowing the thing around. There was probably a creature from this world that could do it, but I didn't know them off the top of my head. So I had to press onwards as I was. Hard and increasingly dangerous as it was.

I slipped and nearly fell, almost blown clean off the wall of the canyon. But I just barely managed to catch myself at the last second. My heart was now pounding hard in my chest as adrenaline started pumping through my veins. I hadn't expected this to be quite this dangerous. How many griffons had tried to use climbing gear and fallen to their deaths because of this wind? How hard was it even blowing?! Was this canyon cursed or was this somehow a genuinely natural phenomenon? I didn't know. I didn't have time to think about it. I tried to get low and brace myself against the wind as I kept going.

Eventually I reached the ledge the Idol was sitting on. Not taking any chances, I grabbed it with my telekinesis before walking back up to the top. The journey back up was just as hard as the journey down. But at least it got easier the further up I went as the wind stopped blowing as hard near the top.

Once I was out of the Abyss with the Idol in my grasp I could immediately sense the shock and surprise of every griffon who saw me. I held up the Idol a bit higher so everyone could get a good look at it.

Continuing to hold it up, I walked through Griffonstone taking flyers out of my saddlebags and taping them to walls.

“Queen Weaver has an important announcement. Come to the old Castle at Noon and have the chance to win the Idol of Boreas and become the next King or Queen of Griffonstone.” The fliers read, with pictures of the Idol of Boreas drawn by Twilight in the middle of the page.

As I walked through Griffonstone holding up the Idol and taping fliers, more and more griffons saw me and thus more and more read my fliers. I also held up crossbow bolts around me with my telekinesis the whole time. The threat was obvious, and it seemed to ward off anyone who might have otherwise thought of trying to attack me to get the Idol. I did sense the emotions of a few who I could tell very obviously wanted to, but they were all too intimidated by the prospect of death or grievous injury to try.

When I ran out of fliers, I headed to the front of the castle and waited. Slowly griffons began to gather.

I looked at a cheap pocket watch I’d bought and kept track of the time. As soon as the clock hit twelve, I closed the pocket watch and stuffed it back in my saddle bag. Looking out I saw the crowd had grown quite large.

I held up the Idol of Boreas and raised my voice so everyone could hear me. “It’s noon, so I will be starting my announcement now! If anyone isn’t already here to listen, too bad! This is going to be short! I, Queen Weaver, have retrieved the Idol of Boreas from the Abysmal Abyss, so a new King or Queen of Griffonstone may be crowned! To that end, I am announcing a contest, in which the prize is the Idol itself and becoming the next ruler of Griffonstone!”

I could sense the growing buzz of excitement among the gathered griffons, along with a plethora of other emotions. Greed was thick in the air.

I continued. “This contest will be taking place in two weeks from today! You have until then to train and prepare! I will be posting fliers with the details of the contest soon! These fliers will have details on the events and courses so you will know how to prepare! However, this isn’t free! To enter the contest, you must sign a contract agreeing to certain terms! Chief among them being a military agreement and officially allying with me and my hive for my role in making this possible! Copies of this contract will be available for everyone to read through here at this castle, at the City Hall, in the Town Square, and on the wall of the public Library! You may read through them at your leisure so you may be fully aware of my terms before signing anything! There will be a booth where you can sign up for the contest here, in front of the castle! Everything I said in this announcement will be on the fliers I will be putting up! So if anyone missed my announcement, they will still be informed!"

Twilight had prepared a glass box enchanted with protective spells in advance. Only a creature with a similar level of knowledge of magic to Twilight would be able to get inside. I stepped aside so everyone could get a good look. "Until the competition, the Idol of Boreas will remain within this container for everyone to see! It's enchanted so only I can open or move it! If the enchantment is undone or the box is somehow broken, I will immediately be teleported to it and I will personally deal with the prospective thief myself! So if you have any skepticism, you're welcome to come see the Idol for yourself but I would advise against trying to take it before the contest!"

I opened the glass container and set the Idol inside. I would have preferred to hide it somewhere but Twilight told me that was a bad idea. The Idol leaving the Griffons' sight would give room for them to declare it a fake and that the contest was fraudulent. So she assured me this way was better and would be adequate for keeping the Idol safe just until the contest took place. I hated this. I hated leaving it out in the open like this because it made me paranoid someone was going to try and steal it. So I had insisted on the teleportation enchantment. Even with that in place I still wasn't happy, but I was just going to have to suck it up and get over it.

I looked back at the crowed. "I will not be taking any questions at this time! I may decide to take questions during a future press conference or something similar! That's all for now!"

With my announcement done and the Idol safe, I transformed into a dragonfly and flew away.

I was going to be busy for the next few weeks, so I needed to get started right away.

Author's Note

I feel like her retrieving the Idol and her announcement could have been handled better, but I don't really know how.

Anyway, I'm kind of thinking I want to have Rainbow Dash and Gilda make up. But I'm not sure if that's going to be possible right now. Maybe something happens while Gilda's training for the contest or something? Maybe I should have Pinkie Pie come to Griffonstone after hearing the news or something so she could be part of it too? I don't know. Just a thought.

Anyway, I'm open to any and all questions comments and criticism!

Edit: I've updated the story so instead of teleporting the Idol away at the end, Twilight made an enchanted box in advance. That way the Griffons can't cry foul and say it's a fake and the contest is fraudulent.

Chapter 20

Rainbow Dash was bored. Now that they had their peaceful solution, she didn’t have much to do. Twilight and Skitter were taking care of everything.

So after the route for the race portion of the competition was announced, she decided she may as well stretch her wings a bit and try it out. So that morning, she went to the starting line and already saw some Griffons there, stretching and preparing before taking off.

“Ooh! I remember you from last week! Rainbow Dash, right?” A voice called out to her.

Rainbow looked and saw a griffon she vaguely remembered approaching her. “Oh, yeah. I remember you. Gabby, right? The mail-mare.”

“That’s me! We never had a chance to hang out like I wanted, but that’s fine! How are you doing? Here to watch everygriff train for the big contest?” Gabby asked with a friendly smile.

“Eh, something like that. I don’t have a whole lot to do right now so I thought I’d give the course a try. I’m not participating, obviously, but flying the course a few times might be fun. What about you? What are you doing here?” Rainbow inquired.

“I’m here to practice. I’m going to be competing, after all! Just imagine all the griffons I could help if I managed to become Queen!” Gabby said excitedly.

“You? Huh… That’s pretty cool, I guess. Well, you actually seem pretty nice, unlike most griffons. So out of everypony… or every griffon, I guess… you’re probably the one I’ll be rooting for. So, good luck.” Rainbow stated.

“Aww, thank you! I appreciate it!” Gabby smiled.

“Hm… Hey, Gabby? Since I’m here, maybe I could help you train for the race. Two weeks isn’t a whole lot of time, but I might be able to help get you in a bit better shape.” Rainbow offered. She smiled. “I don’t mean to brag, buuut… I am the fastest pony in all of Equestria.”

“Really? You want to help me practice? Sure! Of course! I’m in pretty good shape already since I fly around all day delivering mail, but if you can help me I’d be super grateful! I don’t know a whole lot about big races like this or how to practice for one. I was just planning to fly around the course a bunch as fast as I can every day until the contest.” Gabby told her.

“You as a coach? Don’t make me laugh.” Another voice stated.

Rainbow Dash frowned and looked over at her ex-friend. “Gilda. What are you doing here?”

“Uh, I’m competing, obviously! I’m not stupid enough to pass up the chance to become the next Queen.” Gilda retorted.

“Oh, hi, Gilda!” Gabby greeted the other griffon. “Rainbow Dash, this is my cousin, Gilda! Do you two know each other?”

“Yeah, we do. We used to go to Junior Speedster Flight Camp together.” Rainbow stated.

“So, you’re friends?” Gabby asked.

“Not anymore.” Rainbow grumbled, glaring at Gilda.

Gilda scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Whatever. I overheard you two talking when I got here. If she’s going to be your coach, you’re doomed. Sure, she talks a big game but she’s not all that.”

“Oh yeah?! Who won most of our races again? Oh yeah, it was me!” Rainbow snapped at Gilda.

“As if! I totally won more often than you! And I looked awesome doing it!” Gilda argued.

“My flank, you did! Anyway, I’m not a griffon so I’m not going to be in the competition so none of this matters anyway! I’m just going to be helping Gabby here get ready! You got a problem with that?!” Rainbow demanded.

“Me? No. It just means one less opponent I need to worry about, with you acting as her coach. See you at the finish line when I’m holding the Idol, dweebs.” Gilda said before flying off towards the starting line to start practicing.

Rainbow Dash snorted in frustration.

“Um… I know it’s none of my business, but why do you two seem so angry at each other? If it’s okay to ask, of course.” Gabby inquired.

Rainbow sighed. “Ah, it’s nothing you need to worry about. We had a falling out a couple of years ago. She treated all my friends like garbage and was a huge jerk in Ponyville.”

“A falling out? So you were friends before?” Gabby asked.

“Yeah. Before I met Twilight and the others, she was my best friend back in Junior Speedster Flight Camp. Not anymore though… You’re really Gilda’s cousin?” Rainbow asked.

Gabby nodded. “Yup! We practically grew up together! She was always a bit mean, but we used to race each other all the time. She’s really fast so I lost most of the time. But I managed to win a few times! From what I’ve seen, she’s gotten a lot faster now. But I have too! I’m sure I can beat her if I work hard enough!”

Rainbow chuckled. “That’s the spirit. But, wow… I can’t believe you two are actually related. You’re so different from each other! You’re way nicer than Gilda.”

“Thanks! But, I don’t know about that. Yeah, Gilda’s a little rough around the edges but she’s not all bad. Believe it or not, she’s actually one of the nicest Griffons I know!” Gabby stated.

“Seriously? Gilda? She’s one of the nicest Griffons you know?” Rainbow asked in disbelief.

“Well, yeah! You’ve been in Griffonstone for about a week, right? So you’ve probably already experienced this, but most griffons won’t even give you the time of day unless bits are involved. Gilda will. She might be a little rude about it but still! Unlike most griffons, she’ll even go out of her way to help somegriff if they really need it. Like if they were seriously hurt or something. She might complain the whole time but she’ll still help them! A lot of griffons wouldn’t do even that… So, yup! She’s actually pretty nice!” Gabby stated.

Rainbow Dash couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She shook her head. “Wow… If Gilda is one of the nicest Griffons, besides you, that’s actually pretty sad.”

Gabby sighed. “Yeah… It can get pretty bad sometimes… You said you had your falling out two years ago, right? Well, two years ago Gilda came back from a trip to Equestria and she seemed pretty down in the dumps. I tried asking what happened, but she didn’t want to talk about it. If that’s when it happened, then she took it pretty hard for awhile. She’s gotten better but she hasn’t seemed quite as happy since. I don’t know what happened so I’m not going to ask you to try and make up with her or anything. But she is my cousin. So could you please try not to fight with her too much, at least?”

Rainbow frowned but nodded reluctantly. “Fine… I’ll mind my own business as long as she does. Anyway, training. I’m pretty sure Gilda’s gonna be your toughest opponent in the race, if she makes it that far. She’s almost as fast as me, so we’ve got a lot of work to do to prepare you for the contest. Let’s start with some warm ups so you don’t accidentally pull anything while we’re flying. Then we’re going to fly the track as fast as you can. That way I’ll get to know how fast and fit you are and I’ll be able to figure out a good training schedule for you. Sound good?” Rainbow asked.

Gabby nodded excitedly. “Yeah! This sounds super fun! I can’t wait!”

The two of them did some wing stretches and some light exercises to get warmed up. Then they began flying. Gabby was actually fairly athletic, being pretty fast and having pretty good endurance. She wasn’t on Gilda’s level, but she wasn’t as bad as Rainbow feared either. They only had two weeks, so their training was going to have to be fairly intense with rest periods for her muscles to recover. But by the end of it, Rainbow was confident she could get Gabby to a point where her odds would at least be better than they were currently.

Rainbow talked to Twilight about what diet would be best for a griffon to build up muscle fast. Twilight recommended certain types of fish, certain types of seeds, rice, and protein shakes for a balanced diet mostly natural to griffons that was rich in protein and healthy fats and oils while being low in sugar. She even gave Rainbow a two week schedule for meals for Gabby, based on the training schedule Rainbow had made.

The next morning Rainbow arrived with the meal schedule Twilight had made. Gabby had taken time off so she could train for the contest so she would be able to arrive every morning for the next two weeks. It wouldn’t all be the same exercises every day. They had to give her muscles time to rest and rebuild. But they could still do some cardio today to try and help build up more endurance since the course was long and endurance was going to be critical, not just speed.

Rainbow waited for about thirty minutes before she started wondering where Gabby was. She hadn’t decided to drop out, had she? No… It was only the second day and she’d seemed so excited about this! She was probably just running late for whatever reason.

Bored, Rainbow decided to fly the track a couple of times while she waited. She hadn’t had a chance to really test herself on the course yesterday since she was working with Gabby. Now she had a chance.

She approached the starting line and got ready to take off.

“Ugh. You’re back again?” Gilda’s voice grumbled.

Rainbow frowned and looked at Gilda. “Yeah, I am! I’m gonna be here every day until the contest practicing with Gabby, so get used to it! Look, you don’t like me. Fine. Whatever. I don’t want to fight with you. So, you leave me alone, I leave you alone. Deal?”

“Fine by me, loser.” Gilda said, landing on the starting line.

Both Rainbow and Gilda glared at each other for a moment longer before they both spread their wings, preparing to take off.

As if a starting pistol went off, the two of them launched into the air at almost the exact same time.

They were practically neck and neck. Both pushed themselves as hard as they could, neither wanting to fall behind the other. Though there was no official spoken agreement, it had become a race and both were determined to beat the other.

Rainbow Dash knew it wasn’t smart to push herself so hard this early on such a long course but she wasn’t about to let Gilda pull ahead of her even for a moment. Gilda was obviously of a similar state of mind.

They were approaching the first turn. Rainbow managed to slip past Gilda and get closer to the inside of the turn, letting her pull ahead a bit. Her advantage wouldn’t last long as they came to the first obstacle. She chose a slightly more risky route that would have let her pull even further ahead if she could get through it, but ended up having to slow down to avoid crashing. Gilda chose a route that was a bit easier to navigate. Rainbow’s delay allowed her to pull ahead.

And so it went, both of them gaining and losing ground on each other as they flew through the course as fast as they could. By the middle of the course, both of them were getting tired but both refused to slow down. They passed other griffons who were practicing the course one by one, leaving them completely in their dust. Only a few Griffons were able to keep pace with them at all. Though not many were trying, given they were practicing at their own pace.

Neither of them were willing to let up even as their lungs and wings burned from the exertion they were putting themselves through.

Eventually they reached the starting line again. It wasn’t going to be the finish line during the official race, but for the purpose of practice, the present course was slightly modified near the end so it ended at the starting line. It was for the sake of convenience so whoever was practicing wouldn’t have to fly back to the starting line every time if they wanted to go for another lap. Though the official route had been marked out too and Griffons were free to practice it as well. Some already were, just to learn the proper route so they wouldn’t get confused when it was time for the competition.

Rainbow and Gilda crossed the starting line within a hair’s breadth from each other. If either won, it was by an incredibly slim margin.

“I… won…!” Gilda exclaimed, panting for breath.

“No… freaking… way… I totally… beat you…!” Rainbow retorted.

“Yeah… right! I crossed… the… finish line… first!”

“Like hay you did…!” Rainbow growled.

“I dunno. Seemed like a tie to me.” Another voice said. They both looked and saw Gabby standing not too far away. “Sorry I’m late Rainbow Dash! I accidentally overslept.”

“It’s… okay… What do… you mean… it… was a tie…?!” Rainbow demanded.

“Yeah…! I… so… won!” Gilda panted.

“From where I’m standing, it looked like you both crossed the finish line at the same time. So it was a tie!” Gabby stated.

Neither Rainbow or Gilda were happy with this outcome but they were both too exhausted to try and debate it.

“Fine. A tie… Whatever…” Gilda grumbled as she flew off to go rest and continue training by herself.

“I definitely won…” Rainbow grumbled under her breath. She then shook her head and looked at Gabby. “Hey… If you want it… my friend Twilight… made a schedule… for you… A diet for… the next two weeks…that’ll help build muscle… before the competition… Whew… Haven't pushed myself… this hard… in a while.”

“Oh, sure! I’d appreciate it! And if you need a few minutes to rest and catch your breath, that’s fine!”

Rainbow shook her head. “Nah… Better to keep moving… Let’s just start with some light exercises first… That way I can wind down a bit…”

“Alright. Oh, and I’m happy you and Gilda had fun racing each other!”

“What? No! I still don’t like her!” Rainbow objected.

“So you didn’t have fun?” Gabby inquired.

“No, that’s not… I… Ugh… Let’s just get to exercising…” Rainbow grumbled.

After my announcement, Griffonstone was absolutely buzzing with activity. Everyone was talking about the upcoming contest and after confirming it was indeed the real Idol several noble families had posted guards around the Idol of Boreas, who took shifts. So on top of the enchantments Twilight had put on it, it was also under guard 24/7. People could approach to get a look at it but they weren’t allowed to get close enough to touch the box. If they went past the cordon, the guards would subdue and arrest them.

The only one allowed to get close was me so I could check on everything and make sure there was no foul play, which I did regularly. The nobles weren’t happy letting me have sole access to the Idol, but I was the one who pulled the Idol out of the Abyss, I was its steward until the contest, not them. I threatened to disqualify them and their entire families from the competition entirely, which I had full power to do since I was the one running it. Not wanting to lose the chance to become the next monarch, or have someone in their family become the next monarch, they had no choice but to comply no matter how much they didn’t like it. I was the one who held all the cards.

I’m sure some of them wanted to kill me, but with the enchantment that would teleport me to the box they couldn’t be sure that killing me wouldn’t teleport the Idol away somewhere. Presumably to the bottom of the Abyss where it would be lost forever. So they couldn’t afford to take that risk. There was no such enchantment as far as Twilight knew, but that didn’t matter. The Griffons weren’t unicorns. They didn’t know magic, let alone Changeling magic. So they couldn’t be certain, and that’s what mattered. They couldn’t act as long as that uncertainty remained, lest they risk losing the Idol forever and ruining their chances of gaining power.

There was a small group of Griffons insisting that, according to the wording of the agreement, I was the new Queen since I was the one who pulled the Idol out of the Abyss. I shut them down by telling them my first and only decree as Queen was the creation of this competition and that I would be abdicating to whoever won. I didn’t have any interest in ruling Griffonstone. While having direct control over it and its military could be useful, I didn’t want to deal with whatever political shit storm that would cause. The Minotaurs would probably insist I was some kind of malicious conqueror and might use it as an excuse to attack me to “liberate” the Griffons. Plus I didn’t have the time or energy to fix this wreck of a kingdom, while also preparing for and waging war with Queen Chrysalis. On top of dealing with corrupt greedy nobles and whatever else came my way.

Inevitably the news spread outside of Griffonstone.

About four days after I made my announcement I went to bed for the night.

Almost as soon as I went to sleep, I found myself in the middle of a field on a starlit night with the moon high in the sky. I was in my human form. I could immediately tell this wasn’t a normal dream. And I was proven correct as Princess Luna manifested in front of me.

“Hey.” I greeted her.

“Greetings, Weaver. I apologize for disturbing you but I’m certain you’re already aware of why I’m here tonight.” Luna greeted me, trying to be friendly.

“I’ve got a pretty good idea, yeah.” I nodded. “It’s about the competition, right?”

Luna nodded. “Indeed. To be honest with you, Celestia and I suspected something like this when we heard you were going to Griffonstone. However… Are you certain this is wise? There’s a reason my sister refrained from doing something like this ever since the Idol was lost.”

“I am. I have the situation completely under control.” I stated.

“I’m certain you do… Yet, I fear you may be acting in haste…” Luna told me.

“I’m not. You’re worried about a civil war. I know. There won’t be one. Or if something unexpected happens and it does, I’ll end it myself.” I stated.

“May I ask what you’re planning? If nothing else, knowing would help put my and Celestia’s minds at ease.” She inquired.

“Classified. Twilight and Rainbow Dash are here with me. If you don’t trust me, fine, but they’re the ones who came up with the current plan. Celestia was confident enough to trust Twilight with saving an entire kingdom by herself once, even if visions were involved. So I would imagine you two should have enough faith in her for this.”

“Do not mistake my concern for criticism. We trust you as well. As I said, if you’re truly confident this shall work as you intend I will not claim otherwise. I’m merely suggesting caution and trying to learn the situation so that we might provide any aid you might need.” Luna told me.

Sure they did… They trusted me so much Luna was here talking to me about this the same night they got news of what was happening in Griffonstone, the instant I fell asleep for the night. What a stunning indictment of their trust. But I wasn’t going to voice my skepticism. “I appreciate the sentiment but I don’t need any help with this. Like I said, I have everything under control. In fact, the best thing you can possibly do for me right now is stay in Equestria and leave everything to me. Unless you’re politically obligated to come meet the new ruler of Griffonstone when they’re crowned, I suppose. In which case, do what you have to but don’t be offended when I keep to myself.”

Luna sighed. “Very well… We will be present for the coronation ceremony and we may attend the competition. I assume that’s fine?”

“Sure. Like I said, just don’t be offended when I don’t come talk to you. I’m going to be busy.”

Luna nodded. “As you wish… You went to sleep rather late. I was just speaking with Queen Amore before this. She would like to speak with you too. Shall I bring you to her dream or bring her to yours?

“You can do that?” I asked.

Luna nodded. “Of course! Sleep and dreams are my domain. I can do many things with dreams.”

I shrugged. “Alright. Bring me to her dream, I guess.” I stepped closer, ready to follow her.

She smiled. Her horn began to glow for a moment and a crystalline door appeared nearby. She opened the door and we both walked through.

On the other side we found ourselves in Queen Amore’s castle in her throne room. She and a stallion I didn’t recognize were sitting on two thrones watching as three foals were running around playing with each other. Two fillies and one colt. Each of them bore a resemblance to Amore and the stallion next to her. This must have been her husband and kids, I realized.

She saw us and the other ponies faded, but she maintained her smile. “Ah, there you are. Thank you, Luna, for the pleasant dream. Short though it was.”

“Think nothing of it. I will return you to your dream soon. But you wished to speak with Weaver so I have brought her.” Luna stated.

“Indeed I did. Thank you.” Amore nodded.

I approached with a casual wave. “Hey. Sorry for interrupting your dream. I’m guessing that was your family?”

Amore waved a dismissive hoof. “You needn’t apologize. I was the one who requested your presence. And yes, indeed. My First Husband and my three foals… Such a beautiful dream… My first died before getting to meet the other two, so it’s nice to get to see her interacting with them, even if it never came to be in reality.”

“My condolences.” I stated.

“I appreciate it. But I haven’t asked Princess Luna to bring you here to speak of myself or my late family. Rather I wish to speak of you and your foals. Your eggs are doing quite well. I have devised a contraption to bathe them in a steady stream of love constantly. They appear quite healthy. At the rate they’re developing I suspect they may hatch within the next… Hm… Fifteen days or so? Possibly sooner, possibly later. It’s only a rough estimate. I have no idea how long Changeling Eggs typically take to incubate and I do not know if the steady stream of love is making the process faster. So I cannot provide hard numbers.”

That hit me like a punch to the gut. So soon?! I was hoping I had more time… To be fair, it had been 24 days, or there about. That was already an incredibly long time for a bug, but I was hoping their size might mean it would take them a lot longer to develop. Two months, maybe? The fact it was happening so soon… Shit… “Thank you for the update. I appreciate it.” I told her, unable to hide the stress and anxiety in my voice.

She smiled and nodded. “Of course! If I had a better means of contacting you to keep you informed, I would have been giving you reports quite regularly. Sadly, I do not. So when Luna came to speak with me about the recent news, I thought I’d use this opportunity to update you. I asked her to inform you, but she offered to bring you here to speak with me directly. So of course I accepted. Speaking of the recent news, I realize there may be some risk, but would you like for me to bring the eggs to you? With them so close to hatching, I can’t imagine you would want to risk not being there when they do. I would ask you to return to the Empire soon, but as you are busy with this competition I realize that may be impossible. So this is the best alternative I can think of, unfortunately. I can, of course, ensure no one knows of them and they stay fully protected”

I shook my head. “No. Absolutely not. I’m pretty sure Chrysalis has Changelings here. There’s no way she would pass up the opportunity to target my eggs if they learned they existed and you brought them. Even if you kept them secret from everyone, I don’t want to risk it. If I have to miss them hatching, so be it. It’s better I miss it than put them at risk. I accepted the fact I might not be there to see them hatch when I left them with you to deal with this situation in Griffonstone.”

Amore nodded. “I suspected as much. And quite honestly, I agree with your decision, sad though it is. Especially considering this revelation that other changelings are in Griffonstone. I simply wished to give you the option, considering how special of an event this is. I wouldn’t dream of denying a mother the opportunity to see her foals hatch.”

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. Why did this have to happen so soon? Why not several years from now, after all of this crap with Chrysalis had been dealt with? It would have still been difficult to come to terms with, but I’d have been able to manage it. But now? Right now? So soon after the end of the world right as I’d been thrust into the middle of all this crap? The universe must have seriously had it out for me.

Amore approached me and wrapped me in a hug. “I’m sorry, Weaver. I know well how stressful this situation must be for you. I was in a similar position during the Umbral Wars. I know the hardships of having foals during a time of war. I am here for you and shall do everything within my power to ease that burden for you.”

“Thanks… I appreciate it. Seriously. I have no idea where I’d be right now if it weren’t for your help.” I genuinely meant that. I didn’t know what I’d do without her. I would never have found a steady supply of food for my hive, in the form of the love crystals she made. My eggs would be in serious danger because I’d have had no choice but to bring them with me, or put off the Griffonstone mission until after they hatched. I would have one less ally I was sure I could trust to support my Hive rather than bowing to Equestria. Hell, I’d probably be outright dead right now if Twilight hadn’t managed to un-crystallize her in time after we got back from the Shadow Prison.

“Certainly.” She released me and smiled. “Well, here’s some good news. Radiant Hope finally woke up a week ago. She’s recovered enough physically that she’s already up and moving around thanks to Equestrian medicine. She’s completely heart broken by what happened in the Shadow Prison and seems to be in denial thinking there must be some kind of mistake, but she’s recovering. Having Sombra back and by her side appears to be helping, and it seems to be good for Sombra as well. They are both speaking with therapists from Equestria. I have high hopes they will eventually recover mentally and emotionally, even if it takes some time.”

“Good to hear, I guess.”

“Indeed! Neither of them seem to be fully aware of it yet, but I’m quite certain the two of them are in love. Cadance agrees as does Shining Armor. The three of us currently have a bet over how long it will take them to realize their feelings for eachother and for Sombra to propose. Would you like to join in?” Amore offered.

I shook my head. “No thanks. Their personal lives are none of my business.”

Amore giggled. “True, but such things are normal between friends, are they not?”

I gave her a confused look. “Friends? I met Radiant Hope for all of five minutes and I was Sombra’s enemy. Sure, I saved Radiant Hope’s life in the Shadow Prison, but I would have done that for pretty much anyone. I wouldn’t exactly call us friends.”

“I would disagree, at least with you not being friends with Radiant Hope, but so be it. I’m considering letting Sombra out of house arrest so he and Hope may attend this competition you’re holding in Griffonstone. What are your thoughts on the matter?” Amore asked.

“That’s a horrible idea. Like I said, I’m pretty sure Chrysalis has Changelings here. They’re probably either going to attack or try to sabotage the competition somehow. It could be dangerous. And sending Hope to a place the Changelings might attack so soon after everything that happened? No. It would be better for them to stay in the Empire. Especially if they love each other like you think. That might make them targets as potential sources of food for Chrysalis’s hive. So one or both might end up being kidnapped and fed on.” I told her bluntly.

Queen Amore frowned in disappointment for a moment before nodding. “Hm… Very well. I simply thought it might be good for them to get out of the Empire for a while and attending this competition seemed like an excellent way for them to spend their time. I’m confident Sombra could easily defend himself and Hope should they be attacked. However, experiencing such an attack might put undue stress on Hope during a time where she’s in a fragile state of mind. So I suppose you’re correct… A pity. Were Chrysalis’ Hive not an issue, it might have been good for them.”

We continued talking for a while. Eventually we said our goodbyes and Luna led me back to my own dream.

This was probably the first night since I arrived in this world that I hadn’t had any nightmares at all. Even though my nightmares were always interrupted and turned to dreams by Luna before they could go on very long. Either way, it was nice to have at least one night without even part of a nightmare.

Author's Note

So I went back and added up all the days that passed since Taylor laid her eggs. It's been either 24 or 23. There's a little awkwardness in Chapter 19 I think, with Twilight and Rainbow approaching Taylor at night that makes it a little ambiguous. So I decided to just say 24. And Ostrich Eggs, which I'm using as a sort of vague basis (mainly due to their size, despite the fact every species eggs hatch at different times seemingly independent of size, so the comparison is completely arbitrary), apparently take between 36 and 45 days to hatch. So by the time the contest happens, in about 10 days, I think, Taylor's eggs should actually be pretty close to hatching. If they haven't already, considering Amore's been blasting them with Love constantly. That was unintentional, but its kinda interesting that this is how it worked out.

Chapter 21

It was almost a week after my conversation with Luna and Queen Amore in my dreams. Near the end of our conversation Amore had convinced me to let her send some soldiers to help me, considering the potential Changeling Threat. We'd argued about it for a while but she convinced me that this could be a good opportunity for her soldiers to get experience fighting changelings. Every other kingdom at least had an idea of what they were dealing with, having centuries of experience with Changelings. The Crystal Empire didn't and that made them vulnerable and put them at a disadvantage if they were to help me in this war.

So I relented.

Now I had about ten bodyguards from the Crystal Empire and fifty soldiers in total who would be acting as additional security for the competition. They'd all arrived just three days ago, and I filled them in on the situation. Amore probably would have sent more but she didn't want it to look like an invasion. Rather, it was able to pass as a display of comradery with me and my hive considering I didn't have any soldiers of my own just yet.

They had a couple unicorns versed in Love magic who Amore had taught how to make love crystals. So they could work with the other guards to fill love crystals for me. Which meant I was going to be eating far better than I'd expected to be able to while I was here.

I was currently getting ready for the coming press conference. Which meant I was in a meeting with the captain of the soldiers Amore had sent.

He was a crystal unicorn in his early to mid thirties named Duke Sapphire Lance. He had sapphire blue fur and eyes, while his mane was white. His cutiemark was two spears crossed. He wore steel plate armor of a similar design to that worn by most soldiers in the Crystal Empire, except just a little more ornate, signifying his rank and wealth. He was one of the unicorns Amore had taught to make love crystals.

"Let's get straight to business. Have any of your men been attacked or replaced or are any of them acting suspicious?" I asked.

"At this time, it doesn't appear so. Just this morning, the squad leaders asked their troops yesterday's pass codes one by one, in whispers. Most of them got it correct. There was an issue with one soldier in squad three who used the code from two days ago by mistake. We detained and questioned him, and were able to confirm it's really him. He's just having issues keeping the codes straight since they change daily. We're having his squad keep an eye on him just in case. That said, some of our squads noticed they were being followed a few times. So nopony goes off alone. They go in teams of three or full squads of six, nothing less. I've also personally put alarm spells on each of our tents and doubled the night watch around our camp. So it should be near impossible, or at least very difficult, for anypony to be picked off and replaced. Other than that there's nothing to report, your highness." The Captain reported dutifully.

"Very good. I doubt anything will happen today at the press conference, but be ready just in case. We still have no idea what Chrysalis' Changelings might be planning." I told him.

"Indeed. It's troubling. We've only been in the city for four days but I would have expected them to act by now."

I shrugged. "It depends. The race isn't for a while still. So they might be evaluating things and trying to find an opportunity. Or they could be plotting to do something during the race. Personally, if I was Chrysalis I'd try to stir up the Griffons into trying to steal the Idol for themselves. Incite a riot. Failing that, I'd try to find an opportunity to steal or destroy the Idol. Something to cause chaos and further divide and weaken the griffons while ruining my attempts at gaining allies."

"Hm… I did notice some Minotaurs speaking ill of you to the Griffons. Claiming this was a ruse to seize power over Griffonstone. Do you think that may be them?"

I sighed and rested my face in my hoof. "Possibly, but it's just as likely they're normal Minotaurs. Unfortunately Chrysalis and her Hive genocided the Minotaurs at least four separate times. So they hate me because I'm a Changeling. It makes it incredibly difficult to tell if any Minotaurs want to kill me because they're Changelings in disguise or if they're just normal Minotaurs."

The Captain frowned. "How unfortunate… And the Princesses haven't assisted you in mending relations with the Minotaurs?"

"I'm not sure that's possible. At least not until Chrysalis is dead and given a couple hundred years… Not that it matters. I can't focus on the Minotaurs right now. I have to deal with Chrysalis first. To that end, I have a press conference. I guess I should get ready."

The Captain bowed respectfully. "Indeed. I suppose that will conclude my report. I'll keep you informed if my soldiers notice anything, or discover any evidence of the Changelings."

I nodded before turning and heading off.

After making my preparations, I arrived at the podium early. Already there was a crowd gathered around. A mix of species. Griffons, ponies, minotaurs, zebras, even a couple dragons.

Reporters with cameras were among them, already taking pictures of me as I approached the crude stage that had been set up for this conference.

How many in the crowd were Changelings? Was Chrysalis herself among them? Would she dare come here in person? I felt hatred and a desire to kill me from several people in the crowd. Pretty much exclusively from Minotaurs and Griffons.

I was wearing my armor, I had crossbow bolts and my bag of flechettes ready in case there was an attack here. I wish I had my flamethrower working. Or a proper gun. It would have been nice as some extra insurance.

I kept an eye on my pocket watch, and as soon as it struck noon, I put it away and cleared my throat.

"Thank you all for coming. I can sense many of you are very excited for the race, and I'm sure you have plenty of questions. I'm not one for big speeches and I don't have anything to announce, so we'll start with that immediately."

The crowd practically erupted as they shouted over each other, each trying to catch my attention to ask me questions.

"You, in the front." I pointed at a pony reporter at the front of the crowd.

"Queen Weaver, thank you for accepting my question. Why reclaim the Idol of Boreas for the Griffons?"

"Let me put this in terms the Griffons will understand. It's a business transaction. I need things for my war with Chrysalis. They can provide those things. I was able to get the Idol of Boreas easily since I can stick to walls, so it's a valuable bargaining chip for me. So by doing this, I get what I need and they get a new king or queen to bring unity and stability, and hopefully solve the massive socio economic issues they're having. Thus the contracts everyone has to sign in order to enter as contestants in the first place. I'm not doing this out of altruism or generosity, or anything of the sort. It's purely business. Something I'm sure the Griffons in the crowd understand quite well and can appreciate. Next question."

Queen Chrysalis was currently in the form of a Minotaur, standing amongst the crowd as this other "Queen" held a press conference.

She chose a minotaur specifically as her drones had reported Weaver had frankly ridiculous empathic abilities. A minimum range of two blocks and seemingly highly precise. She doubted the reports when she'd first received them but having spent several days in Griffonstone, she had come to realize how true it was. If anything the reports were an underestimation. From her own testing it was at least five blocks and she seemed to be able to pick out the most miniscule of hostile emotions even in the midst of a large crowd.

Even Chrysalis' own empathic senses weren't quite that strong, much to her chagrin. She could sense emotions from about a block and a half at most, and in crowds emotions would become a haze blending together and making it difficult to differentiate one set of emotions from another unless she focused on specific individuals.

Chrysalis absolutely loathed this insolent upstart who dared call herself a queen. Hiding her hatred would be near impossible. So she chose a species she knew hated Changelings more than anything to disguise herself as. The Minotaurs. She and her hive had almost driven the Minotaurs to extinction several times throughout the past thousand years so their hatred for changelings was truly immense.

Their impotent wrath was almost funny. Occasionally it brought her a laugh as she remembered the first of the genocides. Keeping families together to let them bond and grow as loving towards each other as possible before dragging them away one by one to be drained completely dry. The screams as lovers, calfs, or family members were dragged away to be drained of love. Then the burning hatred the survivors felt towards her hive. Until the moment they too were dragged away and they saw their loved ones again, only for it to be her drones in disguise. At which point every last scrap of love was drained from them with their last sights being her or her drones as they dropped their disguises. The surviving minotaurs were forced, in chains, to deal with the corpses left behind. Burying them in mass graves or burning them on mass pyres.

Grief, hopelessness, and soul crushing despair had completely permeated the camps. Said despair couldn't be fed on, unfortunately, but she'd learned to "love" the bitter flavor all the same as it was the taste of her victory. Something to be savored like a fine wine, even if it provided no nourishment.

She'd really taken her time with that one, dragging it out as long as possible to squeeze every last possible drop of love out of them she could. And it worked beautifully. Then it was interrupted by the Equestrians, she was driven off, and had to find another source of food. Only for the Minotaurs to attack her hive in retaliation a couple centuries later after their population had recovered. Thus sparking the second genocide. The third was simply because she'd had difficulty finding another viable source of love to feast upon and she remembered the other two genocides. The fourth was similar to the second, a failed retaliation by the Minotaurs.

How they managed to keep coming back every time was as surprising as it was amusing. At this point she was starting to consider the bipedal cows as nothing but livestock. Something to feed on once every few centuries whenever their population was large enough, then to leave until they recovered just to do it all over again. A self sustaining supply of food.

Regardless, the hatred they felt towards Changelings as a result of her actions was proving quite useful here. Weaver wouldn't look twice at a minotaur holding such hatred towards her.

This was Chrysalis' first time seeing Weaver in person. So far, she was about as Chrysalis had expected.

The way she carried herself was not the weak simpering prey-like posture Chrysalis had initially expected when she'd first heard of Weaver shortly after her arrival and thought her some pathetic pacifist like the Ponies. No, she carried herself more like a predator. Like she was ready to kill every creature around her at a moment's notice. That look in her eye was far too aggressive for some placid pony-lover. Rather she fit Pharynx's report perfectly. This was definitely more like what she expected after listening to his tale of how Weaver slaughtered the soldiers Chrysalis had sent to kill her.

It was almost a pity. If she wasn't a threat to Chrysalis' power and wasn't allied with the ponies, she could have been an excellent second in command. That kind of ruthlessness could be invaluable to her. As it was though, Chrysalis couldn't tolerate a rival Queen running around.

Already some of her less loyal drones were considering defecting and running to Weaver. Chrysalis kept them in line with Pharynx's story of what she did to the soldiers that attacked her, and telling them Weaver would never accept them thinking they were just spies and assassins trying to infiltrate her hive. So if they tried to run to her, they would die slow agonizing deaths as she ripped them apart with her horribly cruel disintegration spell. Describing in great detail the effects of the spell, the damage it would inflict upon their bodies, and every ounce of pain and suffering they would feel second by agonizing second as they died screaming.

None dared try to defect after that, fear prevented them from betraying her, yet it was still an issue. So Weaver would have to die. Or perhaps be enslaved if the opportunity presented itself. Chrysalis herself was somewhat resistant to mind control magic, and since there had never been another Queen before she could only assume the same was true of Weaver. However, resistant didn't mean immune. If Chrysalis could get an opportunity to cast a powerful mind control spell on Weaver, that would be just as viable a solution to the issues Weaver's very existence posed as simply killing her. As long as it could be sustained.

For now, however, Chrysalis just watched. Attacking right now would be foolish. Weaver was expecting it and she had guards. Not just griffons but ponies from the Crystal Empire who had arrived recently. Chrysalis only vaguely remembered the Crystal Empire from a thousand years ago. She'd almost forgotten about it entirely. She remembered she'd heard it was inundated with love and had thus been considering attacking it before it just up and vanished. Now it had returned and from the news, Weaver had been integral in saving it.

These Crystal Ponies loved her like a hero. They would all gladly fight and die for her for her role in saving their home. It was almost sickening.

She and her hive had gorged themselves on the love of some cat-like species inhabiting the land they had ended up in after being ejected from Canterlot. However while they had regained most of the strength they had during the invasion, the Griffons weren't like the ponies. They held very little love for anything except coin, and occasionally family, and were absolutely willing to resort to bloodshed if necessary. Especially when they had something to gain from it. Not to mention what Weaver herself would do. And Chrysalis wasn't certain just how well fed she was. Living amongst ponies, Weaver might have been as fed as Chrysalis herself. Or better fed, if she was smart about how she collected love.

So, impatient to slay Weaver as she was, patience was unfortunately necessary here.

Right now her priority had to be preventing Weaver from achieving her goals of gaining the Griffons as allies rather than killing her. The fewer allies she had, the less soldiers she could bring to bear, the more isolated and alone she was, the better. Especially when it came to creatures like the Griffons or Dragons who were much more willing to resort to violence and bloodshed than the ponies. More so, considering the rather frustrating tactics the Crystal Ponies that had arrived a few days ago were employing, which made it rather difficult to kidnap and replace them.

Weaver stared directly at her. Chrysalis wasn't remotely surprised. She'd been glaring at several different drones and soldiers amongst the crowd. That look in her eyes… It was like she was daring Chrysalis to attack her. A promise of death in her cold, calm gaze.

Chrysalis glared back, meeting her gaze with equal intensity. She wasn't one to back down from a challenge. But she wasn't going to rise to it now and risk ruining everything. Her opportunity would come soon.

The Idol of Boreas was Weaver's key to unifying the Griffons and getting her allies. So, that was her target. Take away the Idol and Weaver's plans would come crumbling down around her. She just needed to wait for the right opportunity.

Then in the chaos, she could attempt to kill Weaver. It likely wouldn't work, but it would let Chrysalis get a gauge of Weaver's abilities and adjust her strategy based upon what she learned. She had a few ideas for defensive spells to protect against that disintegration spell of hers. However, she needed to see it in action before she could be certain any of them would work. An opportunity she was certain she'd get once she had the Idol within her grasp.

Author's Note

A somewhat disappointingly short chapter especially for how long it's been, but I'm trying to get back into this story. Hopefully I can stick with it for more than a few chapters this time.

If I'm being honest, I had most of this chapter written for practically this whole time. Augest 17th according to the version history in Google Docs I just had the Chrysalis and Taylor parts broken into two separate versions. I just had to make them part of the same chapter, expand upon Taylor's section a bit, and polish them up a bit. I had 540 words of the Taylor version and 1366 words of the Chrysalis version written out. A combined total of 1,906, as opposed to the 2855 words of the final version.

I hate that. It's frustrating that this is all it took. I'd have preferred to put out a shorter chapter like this than leave my longest story so far to rot for over five months.

...Anyway, I really went in on the ruthlessness and cruelty of Chrysalis in this one. I am using the comics version of her as a base, the version that killed one of those cat things in front of the Cutie Mark Crusaders just to scare them. And I guess I might have stretched it just a bit further. This Chrysalis would not be entirely out of place as a member of the Slaughterhouse Nine.

If you have any questions, comments or criticism, feel free to let me know. I always try my best to address it.

Chapter 22

It was the last day before the race. Rainbow Dash and Gabby had just finished today's training. It was mainly light exercises, with just a couple of runs through the course to the actual finish line to make sure Gabby knew the route. They didn't want to exhaust her the day before the big race.

Gabby had improved a lot in the past two weeks. Gilda had raced against Gabby a few times and it was close. Gabby had actually managed to beat Gilda a couple of times, particularly if Gilda made a mistake that let Gabby get ahead of her. So it wasn't as one sided as Rainbow Dash had been somewhat worried it might have been.

There were a couple of other fairly strong contestants too. Particularly Griffons that were athletes to begin with and a couple of Griffons from noble families who could afford great personal trainers. But Rainbow Dash wasn't worried about them. Considering how greedy Griffons tended to be, she was certain the vast majority of them would get caught up in the distractions Taylor and Twilight had been planning.

Rainbow had almost been tempted to warn Gabby about the distractions but managed to refrain. It wouldn't have been fair if she'd known what to expect when none of the other contestants did. Besides, she doubted Gabby would fall for the tricks they had in mind, regardless. And if she did, well… That was the point, wasn't it? To weed out greed?

Rainbow and Gabby were currently sitting on the ground next to the start of the course after today's exercises. Rainbow drank from her water bottle, then set it down and looked at Gabby. "Whew… So, how you feeling about your odds, Gabs?"

"I'm feeling great! Thank you so much for your help the past couple weeks! I can win this, I'm sure of it!" Gabby said excitedly.

"You sure? You've got some pretty stiff competition, it looks like," Rainbow inquired, with a smile.

Gabby nodded confidently. "I'm sure!If I become Queen, I can do so much good. I can fix Griffonstone and help everygriff! A lot of Griffons would probably try to suck every last bit from everygriff that they could. That would just make the situation even worse… I couldn't stand seeing Griffonstone fall apart like that. So I've gotta win no matter what! But if I don't, I hope Gilda takes it. She would be way better than most Griffons too."

Rainbow huffed. She was still irritated with Gilda, but training with Gabby every day and having to interact with Gilda regularly as a result, she wasn't quite as angry at Gilda as she used to be. Especially in comparison to most other griffons. "Yeah… I guess… But I'll be rooting for you all the way. I think you'd be a great Queen. Way better than Gilda, that's for sure."

"Aww! Thanks! I appreciate it," Gabby gave Rainbow Dash a big friendly hug. Releasing her, Gabby looked towards the course. "I can't wait for tomorrow. Whether Gilda or I win it's going to be great either way! I almost wish you could join in just for the fun of it, but Weaver was pretty clear about it being Griffons only."

Rainbow smiled at her. "Ah, it's no biggie. When you win, I'll race ya whenever I come visit Griffonstone, if you want. Assuming you're not too busy fixing this place."

"Yeah! That sounds fun! But it's not really the same as a big race with a bunch of Griffons participating… Hm… Maybe we could make this race an annual thing, with two separate categories. One category where any species who can fly can join in, and one for just Griffons."

Rainbow gave her a curious look. "Why two? Why not just have the one and let everypony participate regardless of species?"

Gabby sighed, "I'd prefer it to be just one, but I have a feeling a lot of Griffons wouldn't be too happy about it. Taking it as a cultural thing or a matter of national pride. So I just think having two categories would make every-griff happy, and prevent a lot of major disagreements."

"Already thinking that far ahead, huh?"

Gabby nodded enthusiastically. "Of course! If I win, I have to be ready. Being Queen of Griffonstone is a big responsibility and a lot of Griffons will have a lot of different opinions. I'd need to be able to try and get everygriff to cooperate as best as possible. That's the whole point of this, after all. To unify Griffonstone, right? So I've been thinking ahead a lot and I have a ton of ideas!"

"I look forward to seeing what these ideas might be," A voice said from behind them.

Rainbow and Gabby turned and saw Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Cadance, and Twilight.

"Princesses!" Gabby exclaimed, startled. She got up and bowed to them.

Celestia smiled at them, "Please, rise. There's no need to bow."

Gabby rose, with an excited look in her eyes. "Oh my gosh, I'm really honored to meet all of you! I'm Gabriella, but everyone calls me Gabby!"

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Gabby." Princess Luna greeted her.

"Hey, Rainbow, Gabby," Twilight waved at them. "The Princesses just arrived an hour ago. I mentioned Rainbow Dash has been helping you train for the race tomorrow, and they wanted to meet you."

"We'd like to meet with a few of the other candidates as well, of course. We'd like to know who might be the next king or queen of Griffonstone. But since you're Rainbow's friend we thought we'd meet with you first." Celestia said with a friendly smile.

While the Princesses were speaking with Gabby and getting to know her, Rainbow walked over to Twilight. "So, if the Princesses are here, how'd their meeting with Skitter go?" She asked quietly.

Twilight shook her head and responded in a similarly quiet tone, "They didn't have one. Apparently Luna talked to her in her dreams and she said she wasn't going to talk to them or interact with them while they're here. Specifically Celestia and Luna. She is speaking with Shining Armor right now, though. Since he and Cadance are here representing the Crystal Empire instead of Equestria, and Shiny is no longer the Captain of the Royal Guard in Equestria and is officially the head of the Crystal Empire's military. She might talk with Cadance, once Cadance is done meeting with the contestants. But not Celestia or Luna."

"Seriously? I don't get it. Why would she be willing to meet with Cadance and Shining Armor, but not the Princesses?" Rainbow asked in confusion.

"I don't know. I don't get it either. I can only assume it's for the same reason she didn't want us telling the Princesses what she had planned before it became public knowledge… I'm getting the distinct feeling she just doesn't trust the princesses for some reason, but I don't get why she wouldn't. It makes no sense. She clearly trusts Queen Amore, so why not Celestia and Luna? Especially when they've done so much to help her… It's confusing."

Rainbow Dash sighed and face-hooved. "Fine… How's her meeting with Shining Armor going then?"

Twilight shrugged. "I don't know. He was led off to meet with her by some Crystal Ponies. It wasn't like she came to greet everypony when they got off the train. I think it's just about security for the race? I'll have to find out later when he's finished speaking with her. As long as Celestia's here, I can't meet with Taylor either since I'm Celestia's protege. At least, not publicly. So, we'll just have to wait to hear back from Shining Armor, before we can get any updates."

"Ugh… Sweet Celestia, this political stuff is so bucking frustrating…"

Twilight nodded. "You're telling me… But she has her reasons, even if she hasn't told us what those reasons are yet. So we just have to trust her. She agreed to our idea so it's not like she's doing anything wrong. Otherwise I doubt she'd be willing to meet with Shining Armor or Cadance, instead of just the Princesses."

"Captain Lance, you've told me your scouts haven't found any signs of any dens or hideaways where Chrysalis might be keeping anyone they might have kidnapped?" I asked.

Shining Armor, Sapphire Lance, and I were currently in a tent in the Crystal Soldiers' camp. I was focusing on the emotions of everything around us, making sure there were no eavesdroppers.

"That's correct, your highness. That said, since we've had to have our scouts travel in large groups to avoid the risk of capture and replacement, we've not been able to search very broadly. So it's possible we may have missed something. Some Griffons have been reported as acting strangely recently, so we're operating under the assumption some of them have been taken. We just don't know where they're being kept." The Captain reported.

Shining Armor frowned. "Hm… What about the Abysmal Abyss? No one goes down there, so maybe Chrysalis could be keeping them there."

"She'd have to be keeping them pretty far down if she was keeping them there. I fly over the Abyss regularly. So I'd sense their emotions if they were anywhere near the top. But the wind gets stronger and stronger the further down you go. It was surprisingly difficult even for me just to get the Idol from where it was in the Abyss. So I think it would be pretty impractical to carry unconscious griffons down the cliffside in that wind. Unless they were just killing them and dumping the bodies. Which, I suppose, is a possibility. It's a canyon so there has to be a bottom. If we follow the edge of the canyon we should be able to find where it opens up, then maybe we could send a team across the bottom, without having to put themselves in danger repelling down the side, to scour it for corpses." I suggested.

The Captain shook his head. "We've already scoured the bottom of the Abyss. That was one of the first locations we searched, as I had similar thoughts. However, the unicorns and earth ponies I sent found only bones. Long dead. No fresh corpses. There were a couple of caves at the bottom, but there was nothing of note in any of them. The powerful winds, of course, make it too dangerous to send any pony to search any higher up the canyon."

"Good job, Captain. But that doesn't leave us with very many places the Changelings could be keeping anypony they took." Shining Armor said, raising a hoof to his chin in thought.

"Since it's been roughly two weeks and the race is tomorrow, I'm officially considering anyone they took as good as dead. At this point looking for them is strictly to find out who they replaced, to capture the changelings disguised as them, and to return the corpses to their families. But if we haven't found any sign of them yet, it's unlikely we will before this is over… At this point I think we should call off any searches, and focus on defense instead." I stated.

Shining Armor gave me a disapproving look. "Weaver, if you really think anypony's been replaced, we can't just give up the search. We have to keep looking."

I shook my head. "No, we don't. First, like I said, they're probably already dead and I doubt we'll find anything before the race tomorrow, if there's even anything left to find at all. So there's no point. Second, ultimately the Griffons aren't either of our responsibility. That may sound harsh, but it's true. They're their own separate kingdom, destitute as their kingdom is right now. And it's not like they can say we didn't try. Finally, ensuring Chrysalis can't do anything to interfere with the crowning of the next king or queen. That takes precedence above a handful of civilians, since it has national implications. So dedicating manpower to this would be an illogical waste of resources."

I stepped over to a table and looked at a map of Griffonstone with the race track drawn out on it. "The fact Chrysalis doesn't seem to have made any moves yet worries me. I know she has agents here. So she has to be planning to do something tomorrow. I don't know what but I have my guesses. She might try to sabotage the race somehow. She might have mind controlled or bribed one of the contestants, and plans to use them against me in the future. She might even have one of her own Changelings in the race and might be trying to steal the Idol that way, so the Griffons don't unify and I can't get them as an ally or get the military assistance I need from them."

"Why do you need help from the Griffons, specifically? You have the Crystal Empire and Equestria on your side. We should be more than enough against Chrysalis. I mean Equestria's already defeated her quite a few times. So why go to all this trouble in the first place?" Shining Armor inquired.

"I saw an easy opportunity to gain another ally and I decided to take it. It's as simple as that. How often do you think such easy opportunities come along?" Not technically a lie, but not the whole truth either.

I didn't trust Shining Armor enough to tell him. He grew up in Equestria. He was the Captain of the Equestrian royal guard not long ago. He'd only known Queen Amore for a few weeks, whereas he'd known Princess Celestia his whole life, effectively. So he was more loyal to the Princesses than he was to Queen Amore. His only loyalty to Amore was through Cadance and her relationship with Queen Amore. I trusted the Captain far more than I trusted Shining Armor. So I wasn't going to tell him I was skeptical of Equestria and believed the Princesses wanted my hive as a puppet state. He might report that to the Princesses, and that could make securing my independence significantly harder.

Of course, I could potentially flee to the Frozen North if I really needed to, but I didn't want to have to resort to that. Relying too heavily on Queen Amore's generosity felt wrong, and I didn't want to end up becoming subordinate to her, even by technicality through circumstance, either. If I was going to have to be a Queen, whether I liked it or not, I wanted complete independence.

Shining Armor sighed. "I still think we should keep looking… Captain, you've been quiet. What do you think? Maybe you can serve as a tiebreaker here."

The Captain thought for a moment, with a grim expression on his face. After a moment he huffed, perturbed by the situation. "As much as my heart goes out to any who have been captured by Chrysalis' Changelings, Queen Weaver raises some compelling points." He looked at me. "Your thinking is rather cold and pessimistic, your highness, but I can not honestly say you're incorrect. So I believe we should call off our search and start focusing on defense."

Shining Armor wasn't happy to hear that. I could sense it. But he relented. "I don't like the idea of leaving Chrysalis' victims behind. I still have hope they're alive and I'd like to save anypony we can. But it looks like I'm outnumbered here."

"The Crystal Soldiers are under your command, as the head of the Crystal Empire's military. Queen Amore sent them to help me but I'm just an ally. So you could decide to take over and have them keep searching regardless. I couldn't stop you and I wouldn't try. I'd just have to find some other way to make do."

It was the truth. I couldn't stop him, and I wouldn't bother trying. I wouldn't like it, of course. But I wouldn't cause a diplomatic incident by trying to usurp Shining Armor's authority if he decided to throw his weight around.

I'd have figured something out even if Queen Amore hadn't convinced me to let her send the Crystal Ponies. Fifty soldiers honestly wasn't that many to begin with. But the more men I could trust not to be changelings in disguise, the better. It was the entire reason I'd taught them any Master/Stranger Protocols in the first place. The Captain had agreed to not share the protocols with Equestria, and Queen Amore was the only person in the world I trusted right now and her Crystal Ponies saw me as a hero. So the Crystal Ponies were the only group I was willing to teach how to counter me, so I could know with reasonable certainty that none of them were replaced and could rely on them to fulfill their roles.

I'd just have to compensate with the griffons who I couldn't trust to not be changelings in disguise, or I'd have to try and compensate for however many soldiers he had in the search parties by myself. Either of which could result in more people getting hurt or killed in the crossfire. I couldn't be everywhere at once, nor could Shining Armor, or Twilight, or the Princesses. I would make do without them if I had to, but it would be a lot harder.

Shining Armor shook his head. "No. As much as I don't like your decision, this is your operation, Weaver. So I'll give you my advice and input, but I'll let you make the decisions. As long as you don't put my soldiers in unnecessary danger or throw their lives away, I'm following your lead on this. Especially since I only just got here, so you have a way better grasp on the local situation than I do."

"The local situation is about as horrible as you'd expect, if you know anything about Griffonstone at all. Likely a lot worse than you expect if you don't know anything about them. It's a miracle this country, if it can even be called that right now, is still standing at all… But I can fill you in on more of the fine details later since they aren't really that important." I stated.

I looked back at the map on the table. "For now, we need to make plans. Like I said, I can think of a few different things Chrysalis might be plotting. We need to work on ways to counter them. And if either of you have any other thoughts on things Chrysalis might try, tell me. Since we have no idea what she's plotting, we need to try and cover every possibility as best we can. First, let's work on escape routes and safe zones to lead civilians to safety, and to try and keep them safe. The main issue there is going to be the fact that there might be changelings in the crowd. So any guards are going to have to keep any civilians at a distance and watch them, while also fighting any obvious Changelings. So we'll need eyes in front and back. But we can't allocate too many soldiers to defending the civilians. We only have fifty ponies. We have to have enough to guarantee the Idol is kept safe too, or all of this is going to be for nothing."

The Captain stepped forward and began looking at the map as well. "Obviously we don't have the numbers to protect both the civilians and the Idol from any sort of large assault. We're going to have to rely on the Griffons to help us, one way or another. It's a problem since we can't be sure there aren't changelings in their guard, or how many there might be, but we don't have a choice. My prince, you're extremely good at making shields and you're a strong fighter. So I believe you should be in charge of the group leading the civilians to safety and defending them. If there are too many changelings in the Griffons' guards, you're likely our best choice of mitigating losses. Both among the civilians and our own soldiers."

Joining us around the map, Shining Armor nodded. "I can do that. I'm sure Cadance will be willing to help me on that front, too." He looked at the map and tapped his chin with his hoof in thought before pointing to several spots on the map. "Hm… I'm thinking here, here, here or maybe here look the most easily defensible for a large number of Ponies, er… Griffons. I'd need to see them directly to be sure, but until then they might be worth considering as evacuation zones."

We spent the next several hours discussing strategies and various contingencies for different possible situations.

Queen Chrysalis was growing increasingly frustrated. Her drones had replaced several of the griffons guarding the Idol of Boreas. However they had learned about the enchantments placed upon the glass box it was in. So they couldn't steal it without summoning Weaver.

That wasn't necessarily a problem in and of itself. In fact it was foolish of her to have put such a spell on the container, as that meant they could set up an ambush in the middle of the night and try to kill her while she was still caught off guard.

However, it would also set off alarms that would alert the rest of Griffonstone, alerting any guards that hadn't been replaced including the crystal ponies. And if they didn't manage to kill Weaver before backup arrived, they would have a serious problem on their hooves as they had to fight half of Griffonstone as the Griffons tried to take the Idol for themselves and the Crystal Ponies fought to protect Weaver.

She had planned this well.

Taking it now or even while it was in transit to the finish line would be impractical, considering the heavy guard it would be under. The only point it would be exposed would be during the race itself.

It seemed less and less likely that she was going to be able to avoid a direct assault.

But she still had options. She could just wait until after the race, let Weaver think she had won, then assassinate the next king or queen and take the Idol. Whatever alliance she forged would collapse and the Griffons would succumb to division and infighting once more.

Of course the Idol was likely to be kept on display behind layers and layers of enchantments and defenses. And Weaver was likely to work out a line of succession of some sort with the victor. So it wasn't a guaranteed thing.

Another choice would be to enter the race and "win" the Idol.

Well, not her specifically since Weaver would sniff her out immediately given how much she hated Weaver and wanted her dead. But one of her soldiers would suffice in her stead. Pharynx would have been her first choice as her best and strongest soldier, but he was still having issues caused by what he had witnessed. He would do it if Chrysalis ordered, but the fear and dread radiating from him would risk giving him away. Not to mention it could serve as a distraction. So another soldier would have to do.

It would be guaranteed to be the genuine Idol as there was no way the Griffon Nobility would tolerate anything other than the real thing. They'd keep their eyes glued to it the entire time it was being moved, so if Weaver tried to swap it out for a fake there would immediately be an uproar.

However, Weaver would surely realize this was a possibility and would try to compensate with an increase of guards. Twilight Sparkle and one of her friends were here, and the Princesses were likely to be present as well for political reasons, and they would likely join the fight to try and stop Chrysalis from taking the idol. If something didn't take them out of the fight before it could get started.

But knowing essentially what Weaver would do and who might be there, Chrysalis could plot around it to some extent, even if a direct assault was necessary. So it was her best course of action at the moment.

To that end, she had spent the last week preparing. She'd put quite a few Griffons and Minotaurs, and even a dragon or two, under mind control spells. They would all fight and die for her, on command.

And when she'd heard of what Weaver was doing and had come here, she expected she might need a little boost, so she had her changelings smuggle over a thousand of those cat creatures from that land they had crashed into after being ejected from Canterlot to a relatively hidden spot on the southern coast of Griffonstone, under the guise of pony merchants transporting cargo. Anyone who tried to inspect the cargo would become part of the cargo, and be replaced for as long as necessary to ensure the plan went smoothly without being discovered.

So Chrysalis, Elytra the soldier who was going to be participating in the race, and nine of her other most elite soldiers who she needed to be as strong as possible for the coming event headed off to the meeting zone. All of them flying off individually, each disguised as griffons.

They landed on a ship docked on the beach.

The drone that had been posing as the ship captain stepped forward and bowed, "My queen, we have the cargo just as ordered. One thousand one hundred and fifty of these creatures. We had to effectively drain an entire town of these things to get as many as you wanted, but I suppose that doesn't matter. With some extra we brought as rations for the crew. There are leftovers that we didn't devour on the way here. Making it about one thousand one hundred and eighty in total. We heard from the messenger you sent a couple days ago, so the creatures are already divided into eleven rows in the cargo bay. There's a hundred each for your soldiers, with a little extra for Elytra. Your row has the most, of course, with one hundred and fifty five of these creatures. I just finished triple checking the count, personally."

"Excellent…" Chrysalis stated, satisfied with the report.

The Captain led them down into the ship's cargo bay.

Even now, the love was thick in the air. Their loving nature was holding strong even now. If anything it was stronger from their hardship and long journey together, with only those with them in their cages for comfort. Good…

There were a few ponies and quite a few griffons unconscious and encased in cocoons, in a state of suspended animation. The original crew of the ship that her drones had taken, and any dock workers who had tried to check their cargo. And all the Griffons they'd kidnapped and replaced or who had seen the ship and had gotten too curious for their own good, who Chrysalis had stored here far from griffonstone, so Weaver wouldn't find them.

She walked over to the highest and longest row of stacked cages. She looked into the cages and saw the felines within starved and emaciated, having been fed only enough to survive the journey here, clinging to each other and cowering away from her having learned to fear her despite their otherwise loving and trusting nature from the time she and her hive had spent in their little pathetic kingdom. She chuckled, savoring the fear and misery. She then opened her mouth and began feasting upon their love, draining them until they were nothing but lifeless husks. Her soldiers followed suit with their own rows of cat creatures.

The captured ponies and griffons were split between her and Elytra. With Chrysalis getting two thirds of them, while Elytra was allowed to feast upon the remaining one third.

Having gorged on so much love, there was no way Elytra could lose the coming race. And there was nothing they could do to test for it as it wasn't a steroid nor was it a performance boosting spell. Therefore, it would be untraceable despite giving the soldier an insurmountable edge.

Of course, no amount of love would be sufficient for any of even her strongest soldiers to stand against alicorns. So she had other plans in that regard. But it was a necessary precaution regardless. They didn't need to win. They just needed to buy enough time for Elytra to get away and throw the Idol down the Abysmal Abyss or otherwise destroy it or escape with it. Who knew. It might serve as a decent trophy to mount in the Hive, assuming Elytra managed to get away with it.

As Chrysalis finished devouring her portion she noticed one of the soldiers she'd chosen wasn't eating… Who else, but Pharynx? She grit her teeth in frustration. Ever since the train, his fear of weaver and apparent trauma from what he had witnessed had started becoming a problem. If he wasn't one of if not her best soldier, she would have executed or banished him already. Especially considering his prior failure to kill Weaver.

Chrysalis approached him with a sneer on her face. "Don't tell me the great Pharynx, the so-called best warrior in the Hive, is sooo scared of some upstart false Queen he can't even eat."

"N-no, my Queen! I'm going to eat! I was just… I… I just got lost in my thoughts, that's all!" Pharynx said nervously, bowing to her.

Chrysalis circled around Pharynx like a shark circling its prey. "Good, good. I was becoming worried you might be so scared of Weaver, you have started losing your usefulness to me and the Hive. If that were the case, I'd have to start reducing the love rations for you and that miserable maggot of a broodmate of yours. The one you call a 'brother'? Pah… I know the 'love' you have for each other. The bond. The prey-esque sentimentality… What's his name? Mandible, no… Chitin? Also no… Hm… The pathetic one. The most useless drone I've ever had the misfortune of hatching in all my centuries… Ah yes, Thorax… Honestly, his egg must have gotten damaged before he hatched, and it made him come out defective. I should have crushed him as a larva, when I first noticed his divergent behavior and saved myself the love it took to feed him for all these years… You know, if you weren't vouching for him I'd have executed or exiled him by now for being nothing but a drain on Hive resources. It certainly wouldn't be the first time…"

"Th-there's no need for that, your highness! I'm s-still just as effective as ever! I… I'll prove it to you tomorrow!" Pharynx assured her desperately. Fear and worry wafted off of him in a thick cloud of emotion.

Chrysalis gave him a cruel smile. "I certainly hope so. Because, it's not you I'll punish if you don't. I'll start by tearing Thorax's wings off and reducing his rations to the point of near starvation. He won't even have enough energy to molt. Then if you continue to prove useless, I'll tear off his elytra. Or maybe I'll gouge out his eyes? His teeth, his tongue, his ears, his horn… Then I'll peel the carapace from his flesh. All while you're forced to watch and listen. The screams of the lings Weaver disintegrated at the train which bother you soooo much will be nothing compared to the screams of Thorax when he suffers your punishment for your ineffectuality. You will choke on his suffering…" She put a hoof under his chin and forced him to look her in the eyes, giving him an eerily calm look. "Do we understand each other?"

Pharynx swallowed hard and nodded. "Y-yes, my Queen…"

"Then eat." She stepped aside. She watched as Pharynx ate, making sure he finished the creatures entirely. She fully intended to follow through on her threats if he didn't live up to her expectations. If he performed any worse than any of her other elite soldiers. He was supposed to be the best of them, so she fully expected that to be on display tomorrow.

When the last of the love had been drained from the cargo, Chrysalis ordered her drones to dispose of the carcasses.

Her drones sailed the ship back out to sea before setting it on fire and abandoning it, once they were far enough away that the fire wouldn't be spotted by any griffons, dragons, or pegasi in Griffonstone.

Author's Note

If you remember way back in like chapter 7, Pharynx essentially got PTSD from watching Taylor disintegrate Changelings with her devouring swarm spell. And from how ruthlessly she killed them in general but yeah. So he's not in a good state right now. And Chrysalis isn't happy about it.

If you're curious, I was using a bit more inspiration from the comics in that last scene where Chrysalis made Pharynx look her in the eyes.

The expression she has in the second to last panel, where she says "I was talking about you." is effectively the expression I imagined she had in that moment.

Also, I didn't quite know what that weird shell thing under changelings' wings are called. Typically elytra go over a bugs' wings to protect them. But with the changelings it's kinda backwards for some reason? Or I guess that could just be a weirdly colorful part of their carapace for no real reason? Either way, that's what she was referring to when she said elytra. Though I suppose I could delete the mention of that, since I suppose Changelings don't really have elytra in the traditional sense? At least not until Thorax redeems them. It's kind of odd anatomy, to be honest.

Anyway, if the evil's going too far, I can try to dial it back a bit and just have her threaten to execute Thorax instead of threatening torture and death. Let me know. I'm still trying to tweak and adjust my depiction of Chrysalis. So I'm more than willing to go back and change her dialogue a bit.

Same with anything else in this chapter if you have any criticism, let me know!

Chapter 1

I looked up. My eyes were wet.

So many stars. The universe so vast.

We’re s-so very small, in the end.

The first bullet hit me from behind, where my mask offered no coverage, and I slowly toppled. The second hit me before I could fall, before there could be any pain.

It saw what happened to the one who stopped the evil genocidal entity. It saw her end at hand. Her life would be snuffed out so callously and with no fanfare. Unknown to history as anything but a terrifying monster whispered about in hushed tones behind closed doors.

This saddened it. It was a fate ill befitting the savior of an entire multiverse of interconnected worlds. The methods used were not entirely to its liking but that was not entirely the savior’s fault. There was little else she could do with the powers granted to her by the fragment bonded to her. And in the end she did save countless lives through harmony. A twisted forced harmony, but harmony all the same.

Unhappy with this tragic end, it decided to intervene.

It didn’t have as much power as its opposite, at least not currently, yet the savior had given it somewhat of a major boost in that regard at the end. A temporary boost, admittedly, but fairly major all the same. So it used all of the excess power it had left and opened a portal beneath her. Her body was pulled down into the portal by gravity.

The would-be executioner stepped back in surprise, clearly not expecting this in the slightest. It ignored the would-be executioner and focused on the savior as she was pulled through time and space to another world where she would be rewarded with peace and friendship for her actions.

Unfortunately, the savior’s current body was not suitable for this other world. That wasn’t to say a human couldn’t survive there but as a human she would be the only one of her kind in this other world. An extremely sad and lonely fate. One it had no interest in subjecting her to. This was to be her reward for her deeds, not a punishment.

So it decided to change her. But what to make her? A pony? An alicorn? No. Neither of those fit her as an individual. Plus while her deeds were indeed great and worthy of reward her methods were not so she had not technically earned alicorn hood. Granted, one alicorn had temporarily become wicked and cruel due to jealousy but that was only after earning her place as an alicorn to begin with.

The savior already had a close connection with bugs and insects due to her power, so it decided to make her a Changeling. And not just a standard Changeling but a Changeling Queen. A species closely related to ponies and with the potential to ascend to status equivalent to alicorns should they manage to prove themselves worthy of it, especially the Queens. None ever had, unfortunately, but the potential was still there. Plus they had incredible regenerative abilities due to how malleable their forms were so she should be able to regrow her missing limb, which was a nice added benefit.

Finally it decided on the best place to open the other end of the portal where she would have the best chance of survival. The decision in that regard was quite obvious.

It was about a week after Cadance and Shining Armor’s wedding and both Twilight and Spike were in town getting groceries.

“Apples, potatoes, milk, daisies, carrots, lettuce, eggs, hay, flour… What does the list say, Spike? Are we forgetting anything?” Twilight asked, as she went over the items they had picked up so far.

Spike looked at the list. “According to the list, all that’s left is…”

He was cut off as a swirling rainbow colored portal opened up and a body flopped out of it.

Both of them were surprised to see what appeared to be Queen Chrysalis laying there lifelessly on the ground. Though upon closer inspection they realized it wasn’t Chrysalis at all. Her chitin was black like Chrysalis' but her main and tail were both white instead of cyan, the carapace covering her torso was similarly white instead of green, her facial structure was different, and the crown growth on her head was shaped differently.

Several strange devices were scattered across the ground around her. One was clearly a knife though it had a strange lever on the handle, one was a tiny cylinder, and two neither Twilight nor Spike recognized at all.

Then they finally noticed she was missing a forelimb and the blood pooling on the ground beneath her head.

Twilight’s eyes widened in a mix of surprise and horror. “Spike, stay back! This could be a trick.” Twilight ordered, approaching the body even as a terrified crowd began to form around them.

Twilight carefully examined the blood, following the tracks to a pair of scarily deep holes in the back of the Changeling's head. Her blood ran cold as she determined this couldn’t have been a trick and the Changeling very well should have been dead. However, Twilight saw her chest rising and falling, indicating she was still alive at least for the moment and thus could potentially be saved.

She was a bit conflicted about helping a changeling, especially after Queen Chrysalis ruined Cadance and Shining Armor’s wedding a week ago. However, it didn’t feel right to just leave her here and let her die. So Twilight made a decision.

Taking the four objects off the ground with her telekinesis, Twilight stuffed them into her grocery bags before levitating the grocery bags over to Spike.

“Spike, take the groceries home and put those things somewhere secure. Be careful with them. We don’t know what they are, so they could be dangerous. I’ll be back home in a few minutes.” Twilight told him before picking up the changeling’s body with her telekinesis and teleporting to Ponyville hospital.

The doctors were hesitant to help a Changeling, especially so soon after the attack on Canterlot, but similar to Twilight once they saw the severity of her injuries the changeling was rushed to the emergency room.

Once Twilight was sure the Changeling was being taken care of she immediately teleported back to Golden Oaks library. As soon as she was back she set to work writing a letter to Princess Celestia.

‘Dear Princess Celestia,

Something strange just happened in Ponyville that requires your urgent attention. While Spike and I were in town shopping for groceries, a rainbow portal opened up and what appeared to be a Changeling Queen came through. It was not Queen Chrysalis. I can guarantee this as she was unconscious and had two deep holes in the back of her head. Being unconscious she would not be able to maintain her transformation. Furthermore, from what I saw of her injuries I can confidently say she should not be alive right now. That sort of injury is not something Changelings are capable of faking with their shape shifting.

However despite the severity of her injuries I saw she was still breathing so I rushed her to Ponyville hospital. She is currently in the emergency room presumably undergoing surgery. I have no idea if she will survive or when she will wake up if she does.

This coming so soon after the attack on Canterlot during Shining Armor and Cadance’s wedding is, obviously, quite suspect. However, I have never heard of a single Changeling Queen other than Queen Chrysalis even during the research I’ve done into changelings after the attack. Furthermore the sheer severity of the injuries make this unlikely to be a trick of some kind, in my opinion. If this was Chrysalis in a different form, why would she give herself such an intense head injury and risk dying or permanent brain damage for some sort of plot or scheme? It doesn’t make any sense.

I suppose it could potentially be the result of a rebellion or coup among the changelings after the failed attack, but that makes little sense either considering the portal. Why would they dump their deposed ruler’s body in the middle of Ponyville after a successful coup? Given the state she was in, it is quite literally impossible that she could have made the portal herself. Somepony had to have pushed her through after the fact.

Thus I am left confused and at a complete loss as to what should be done. I send this letter to you in hopes that you and Princess Luna will be able to determine an appropriate course of action.

Your student, Twilight Sparkle.

P.S. This Changeling Queen arrived with four objects. I am unsure as to what most of them are, but one of them appears to be a knife of some sort thus leading me to believe they are likely weapons of some kind. They are currently safe within my possession. I would like to know what should be done with them as well.’

Twilight rolled up the letter and called out, “Spike!”

Spike came running down the stairs. “Coming!” He called back. Once he was close enough to her he said, “I put the things away just like you said. What happened to that Changeling Queen?”

“I took her to the hospital. She’s in the emergency room being prepped for surgery as we speak. Her injuries were really bad, Spike… Anyway, I need you to send this letter to Princess Celestia.” Twilight said, levitating the letter over to Spike.

Spike took the letter before disintegrating it with his magic fire breath. The smoke drifted off in the direction of Canterlot.

“So, uh… what’s going to happen now?” Spike asked.

Twilight sighed. “I honestly don’t know… We just have to wait and see what the Princesses decide.”

A few minutes later Spike burped up a letter.

‘Dear Twilight,

Thank you for informing me of this concerning development. I agree with you that it is quite suspicious, but as you pointed out there are some odd inconsistencies as well. As such I will be sending a team of Royal Guards to Ponyville Hospital to monitor this so-called Changeling Queen. Luna will be questioning her in her dreams, however the Guards will have means of contacting me, so I will be questioning her as well once she is awake.

As for these ‘weapons’, please lock them inside a secure but easily portable container. One of my Royal Guards will be along to pick them up soon. I do not want to risk you getting hurt if they prove to be exceptionally dangerous so I would like to study them myself.

I’ll see you soon.

Your Mentor, Celestia.’

I was in the locker. I was screaming as I banged on the door. I felt bugs crawling all over me biting and stinging as I gagged and vomited from the smell and sensation of the filth that filled my locker. Then I triggered and everything went black.

I was back in Brockton Bay. It was my first night out. I saw Lung and his men on the streets below. They were talking. I heard Lung tell his men to kill some kids. I had to do something.

Calling my swarm, I had my bugs attack Lung and his men. There was chaos. Lung began to change. I moved. He heard me and jumped up onto the roof I was hiding on. A blast of fire obscured my vision.

I was somewhere else. The rain was pounding. The endbringer sirens were blaring. Leviathan was destroying everything. He was bearing down on me. I was sure I was going to die. Then Scion appeared and suddenly all I could see was golden light.

I was somewhere else again. I couldn’t move. I could hear Bonesaw, telling me all the horrible things she planned to do to me. How she planned to turn me into a living hive. Things happened in a blur from there and my vision was obscured by Grue’s darkness.

The visions continued on like that, displaying moments of my life.

Fighting Echidna, fighting Behemoth, the Slaughterhouse 9000, the oil rig, the moment I had Panacea modify my powers, the final battle with Zion, and my final moments with Contessa.

Then I was just floating in an empty black void.

“Am I dead? Is this Hell?” I muttered to myself, looking around.

“No. You are not dead. At least not yet.” A voice seemed to reverberate from every direction.

Suddenly the empty black void was filled with stars making it appear as though I was floating in the middle of space. Looking up I saw what looked like the moon. A shape appeared in front of it before descending down towards me.

A dark blue unicorn with wings, cartoonish proportions, and a strange misty mane and tail that resembled the night sky landed in front of me.

I blinked at this thing. “Huh…” That’s all I could really say to that. I really didn’t know how to process this… Whatever this thing was.

The winged unicorn examined me for a moment. I was currently in the costume I wore at the end of my life when Contessa put two bullets in the back of my head. Minus the mask, meaning my identity was on full display. Unfortunate, but there wasn’t a whole lot I could do about it now.

“What are you?” The winged unicorn asked.

“I could ask you the same thing. I’m a human, or a parahuman I guess. What are you?”

“I’m Princess Luna, an alicorn. Who are you?”

“I’ve gone by a few different things these past couple of years. Taylor, Skitter, Weaver… I guess ‘Khepri’ is the most recent name I was given… Take your pick, I really don’t care anymore.” My dad was probably dead, despite my attempts to delude myself into thinking he was still alive during the final battle with Scion. He was the only reason I had left to keep my cape and civilian identities separate. With him gone, I had no reason to care anymore. Especially since I had just gotten shot and was presumably dying as well. In hell, where I was certainly bound to go if there was an afterlife, it wouldn’t matter what I was called anyway.

“In that case I believe Weaver sounds the nicest and suits you the best, so I shall call you that.”

I shrugged then asked, “So, are you a psychopomp of some sort? A Grim Reaper or Ferryman equivalent here to judge me for my sins and guide my soul to whatever afterlife I deserve?”

“Not quite. You aren’t dead. You were dying, but my sister’s protege, a unicorn by the name of Twilight Sparkle, was able to get you to a hospital in time to save you. I suppose your dreams just now do illuminate how you received those head wounds… However, to be perfectly honest, I’m quite surprised. You aren’t at all what I was expecting to see when I entered your dreams.” Luna told me.

I filed the information about “Twilight Sparkle” and “Unicorns” away for later. “Alright… That changes some things…” I mentally categorized Luna as either a Case 53 or some sort of weird Tinker creation and thus shifted gears to master stranger protocols. “Anyway, what were you expecting then?”

“I was expecting to meet with a Changeling Queen, not a ‘human’.” Luna stated. Suddenly another creature appeared in front of me. This one had black chitin, a green carapace on her abdomen, insectoid wings, holes in her legs, a jagged horn, a cyan membranous mane and tail, and a growth on the top of her head that resembled a crown. “Apparently a portal opened up in the middle of Ponyville and you appeared out of it. However, you were not ‘human’ as you are here in your dreams. Rather you apparently now resemble the creature you see before you. This one is Queen Chrysalis not you, since I have not seen your new form in person. However, it should give you some idea of what you now look like.”

I blinked and looked at the creature. I was some sort of fucked up bug unicorn thing? What the hell? Had Contessa got Panacea or some other biotinker to do this to me as some sort of fucked up revenge after she shot me…?

No, that wouldn’t make any sense. I’m pretty sure I would have noticed if there were any other people around, even if they were outside of my range like Contessa was. I doubt she would have had time to go get someone after shooting me in the back of the head. At least if she wanted me to live. And considering I was alive, at least assuming Luna was telling the truth and she really wasn’t the Grim Reaper playing some weird prank on me, Contessa definitely wanted me alive. Because if she wanted me dead there’s no way I would have been able to survive. Plus, this was a pretty unique looking creature so it would have to be a very intentional effort on the part of whoever it was. And that would require prior knowledge of whatever the hell this thing was to begin with.

So… what the fuck?

“Did you, this ‘Twilight Sparkle’, or some other cape from this world turn me into this?” I asked in an accusatory tone. It was the only logical conclusion I could think of. Someone had to have done this and I was 80% sure it wasn’t Contessa. Only 80% because I was pretty sure I had made some powerful enemies during Scion’s rampage, thus there was a small chance I was wrong.

“No, and I can’t think of why anypony would have any reason to do so. I’m also unfamiliar with that term. ‘Cape’. What does it mean?” Luna asked.

“A cape is another word for a parahuman. Someone with superpowers. Flight, shooting lightning from your fingertips, or in this case altering someone else’s biology.” I explained, somewhat annoyed.

“That just sounds like magic.” Luna told me, giving me a confused look.

I shook my head and rolled my eyes. “Some capes think their powers are magic but no, they aren’t. I can guarantee that. Magic doesn’t exist.”

Luna raised an eyebrow at that. “I believe you’ll find that you are incorrect. Magic does exist. In fact, it is how I’m talking to you now. Regardless, I still cannot fathom any reason why anypony would turn you into a Changeling. Especially considering the fact that Changelings naturally have magic that allows them to take any form they desire. So if you wish you should be able to make yourself resemble this form again at will. As I said, it makes little sense.”

I processed this information. Apparently I had stranger powers now? At this point I was very thoroughly confused.

I sighed and shook my head. “Are you sure you aren’t the Grim Reaper playing some fucked up prank on me before sending me to hell?”

“Positive. Besides, I sincerely doubt the embodiment of death would be so… juvenile as to deceive somepony in such a way.” Luna responded.

“Great…” I almost wished she was the grim reaper at least then things would be a lot simpler.. “Alright, I’ll figure all of this crap out later, after I wake up, I guess… So I assume you have a reason for wanting to talk to me in the first place?”

“Indeed… As I said, I had expected you to be a Changeling Queen. I was originally planning on questioning you. You see, we’ve had some issues with Changelings lately…” Luna trailed off.

“How bad?”

“Last week while my niece, Princess Cadance, was preparing for her royal wedding with Shining Armor, the captain of the Royal Guard, Queen Chrysalis kidnapped her, took her form, and attempted to use the wedding as an opportunity to conquer Canterlot and thus all of Equestria as a whole. So you can understand how suspicious it is that the first recorded Changeling Queen in history other than Queen Chrysalis, suddenly appears out of a portal in the middle of Ponyville next to one of the heroes who just defeated Chrysalis and saved Equestria. Even unconscious and dying with potentially fatal head wounds, it is quite the coincidence wouldn’t you agree?” Luna explained.

I rested my face in the palm of my hand. “Fuck… So I guess I should expect to be in prison when I wake up, right?”

“Not necessarily. As you are unrelated to Chrysalis or her hive, their crimes do not necessarily apply to you. However, I’m afraid you’re going to have to explain the events surrounding the dream I saw where I witnessed you being executed by the mare in the hat.”

I looked at Luna. “If you’re wondering about this ‘portal’ I apparently came through, I genuinely have no idea. There were only a select few capes I knew with powers like that and I’m pretty sure Contessa and I were alone when she shot me. I seriously thought she was just going to kill me.”

“Very well. Still, I require an explanation. Why did she try to kill you? What were the events leading up to this horrific event? Please.” Luna requested.

I sighed then sat down on the non-existent ground. “You might want to sit down. It’s a long story… And it needs a lot of context.”

Luna sat down and trying to be as concise and factual as possible I proceeded to explain Scion’s arrival on Earth Bet. What Scion was, how parahuman powers originated from him, and that his partner died thus leaving him essentially directionless. I told her about Eidolon and the Endbringers.

I gave a summary of my personal history. The Undersiders, Coil, Dinah, the Slaughterhouse Nine, and Dinah’s prophecy about Jack Slash and the end of the world.

This all led up to my explanation of Jack’s meeting with Zion and Zion’s subsequent omnicidal rampage across worlds. I explained Cauldron and how they knew Zion was a threat the entire time, their plans to fight him, and what I knew about Contessa and how she was involved in all of this.

Eventually my story diverged from what could be considered strictly the truth. I told her I led the army against Zion, but I kept what I had Panacea do to me and the fact I had mastered every single cape in existence to fight Zion to myself. If she didn’t know about it then I had no reason to tell her. I did tell her how we beat Zion, however. Effectively bullying him into committing suicide.

By the end of it, Luna was left looking both distraught and troubled. “After saving your world from this… this monster, Contessa thanked you with a summary execution?”

I shrugged. “Honestly it’s pretty much par for the course.”

“Surely there has to be more to it than that. An actual reason.” Luna demanded.

“After we beat Zion I’d outlived my usefulness and worse became an inconvenience. That’s reason enough to kill me for a lot of capes. Especially ones working with shady organizations like Cauldron. Or I guess Teacher’s organization now. Teacher’s a villain from my world. Contessa apparently signed on with him after everything was said and done.” I told her. Again, technically the truth. I didn’t lie even once. I was just leaving out certain key details she really didn’t need to know and could prove very inconvenient for me.

Luna deflated a bit. “Sweet harmony… I am so sorry, Weaver.”

“So, what now?” I asked.

“Well, under most other circumstances my sister and I would offer to help you find a way back to your own world but after hearing your story… I’ll be honest but it doesn’t sound like you have much to go back to, or am I wrong?” Luna asked, giving me a sad look.

“No. You’re right. I’m pretty sure Zion killed my dad, and well… It’s probably for the best if I never see the Undersiders or my team from the Chicago Wards again. Too many bad memories…” I sighed and shook my head before giving a chuckle completely devoid of joy or humor. “You know, I almost wish this ‘Twilight Sparkle’ you mentioned had just left me for dead instead of bringing me to a hospital. Would have been a lot easier.”

Luna gave me a horrified look. “Weaver, you can’t actually mean that!”

I made a vague gesture with my hand and looked towards the stars off to the side. “I was ready to die, in the end. I was willing to just lay down and accept it. That’s why I didn’t try to fight Contessa when she did it. Not that trying to fight her would have mattered anyway with her power… I’ve achieved pretty much everything I wanted to. I got to be the hero I wanted to be when I first triggered, Zion’s gone, and the world is saved. Now… I’m just so fucking tired…”

Luna wrapped her forehooves around me in an embrace causing me to jolt, startled by the unexpected action. Once my mind registered what was happening I still wasn’t quite sure how to respond. After a moment I tried to return the embrace with the one hand I had in this dream world. It was incredibly awkward.

“Uh…” I said uncertainly, unsure what to say.

“Weaver, I realize you’ve been through quite a lot. I witnessed some of it first hand through your dreams earlier. However death is not the answer.” Luna stated, still hugging me.

“I’m not going to do anything drastic if that’s what you’re thinking.” I told her.

“You already tried. You just admitted to attempted suicide by willingly allowing somepony else to murder you.”

I opened my mouth to respond but I hesitated. She was right, I had just admitted to that. Though that was for reasons beyond just what I was feeling at the time. It was largely due to the fact I was being subsumed by my passenger at that point in time, and I thought I’d be better off dead then succumbing entirely to my shard. “Then I’m not going to try again.” I told her more firmly.

She released me and said, “Weaver, look me in the eyes and tell me that.”

“I’m not going to kill myself.” I told her, staring her directly in the eyes. I was being honest, tired as I was, I had no intention of ending it all.

She examined me for a moment before relaxing a bit. “Alright… I believe you.”

“So, what now? Am I going to be locked up because I’m a Changeling now or…?” I asked.

“No, you won’t. I can vouch for you. And as a former bearer of the element of honesty on top of being a diarch of Equestria, my word will carry significant weight in that regard. However, the fact you are a Changeling now, especially a Changeling Queen, will result in a few challenges…” Luna informed me.

“Challenges? Such as?”

“The matter of what Changelings typically eat, as well as some potential political issues… It would probably be for the best if you discuss it with my sister, Celestia, once you awaken in a few days. For now, I’ll let you rest. I’ll leave you with some pleasant dreams rather than the nightmares you were having just a bit ago.” Luna told me.

She then flapped her wings and flew back up towards the moon.

My dream shifted and I found myself in my old home in Brockton Bay. I was with my mother, listening to her play her flute.

Author's Note

This is also up on Space Battles.

I already asked over there but for anyone over here that is familiar with Wildbow and the Worm series, should Taylor have access to her bug powers in this story or not? On the one hand, I could say her connection with her shard was modified so it couldn't effect changelings when she became one, or that changelings aren't bug-like enough for her powers to effect. On the other hand, I could just say that Contessa's bullet surgery did its job and cut off her power entirely or that she's in a different universe far beyond the reach of her shard to begin with.

I don't want her being able to control other Changelings.

Chapter 3

Twilight helped me find places to put my pills and bullet jar as Spike went off on an errand to some store called Sugar Cube Corner. When my stuff was situated, she brought me to a field outside of the town where I couldn’t accidentally hurt anyone by experimenting with my new abilities.

Deciding to start with something simple I attempted to morph myself to give my human form dragonfly wings reminiscent of my old flight pack. It worked and was ridiculously easy even compared to making myself look human. I assumed this was because I was essentially just revealing and enlarging my changeling form’s wings while in my human form rather than explicitly morphing my form to look different.

I flapped them and lifted up off the ground thus proving that I could indeed fly despite the holes and relatively small size of the wings. That was good to know. Mover 3.

I attempted to morph my hand to give myself oversized house cat claws. Green energy enveloped my hand for a moment. When it dissipated nothing had changed. So while I could reveal my changeling features while morphed, I couldn’t just morph my form however I wanted. If I wanted specific features I would have to change into a creature that had the feature I was looking for naturally. A drawback but not an insurmountable one.

I changed myself into a bald eagle. Then a pigeon. Then a mouse. Then a black widow. When I became a black widow I noticed something. I felt off. Something about this form felt completely wrong. Then I realized. It was the venom and spinnerets. They weren’t there. It wasn’t just that they were malformed or something, no, they genuinely weren’t there at all. I had enough experience with what it felt like to be a spider from my power to realize they were missing. So, sure, I looked like a black widow but the key functions that would make this form useful were missing.

I morphed again, remaining a black widow but trying to change my body to give myself venom and silk glands. It took a lot of concentration and intense attention to detail but I eventually succeeded. It took a couple tries to get it exactly right, however. Though once I had gotten it correct, I noticed the glands were both empty. So while I could apparently form the glands it would take time to build up the substances I wanted to produce. It also required in depth knowledge of the structure and functioning of the glands.

So this proved I could produce venom. However if I wanted to produce the venom of, say, a Black Mamba I was going to have to do a lot of research into the biology of it.

So for now I was limited to producing insect venom and spider silk. Though that wasn’t really all that bad since I could produce the venom of a Sydney Funnel Web and Darwin Bark Spider silk even if it required me to stay in one of those forms for some time. It would be far more convenient if I could give myself the appropriate glands in my human or even changeling form and have them build up constantly and on a larger scale. However, beggars couldn’t be choosers.

Continuing on with my experiment I morphed into a brown recluse, since brown recluses were smaller than black widows. The smaller I became the more effort it took to transform and the more it felt like my body was being compressed. That said, it seemed relatively easier for me to turn into bugs than other things. Finally I tried to transform into a fly but ultimately nothing happened. There was a flash of green energy around my body but I remained a brown recluse. It seemed this was roughly the smallest form I could take. So it seemed I wasn’t going to be turning into a dust mite or tardigrade any time soon. Not that I would ever need to.

Now came the part I was truly curious about. I morphed back into my changeling form for a moment before morphing into Tohu, with Eidolon, Alexandria, and Legend’s faces and masks. It was more difficult than making myself a bird or something but not by much and I still successfully managed to make myself look like Tohu, but that was all. I didn’t inherit any of its abilities. I pinched myself just to be sure and I felt skin. It wasn’t whatever hyper durable material Endbringers were normally made of. Oh, and I was missing one of the four hands Tohu normally had.

“Weaver? What is that thing?” Twilight asked, examining my current form curiously.

“It’s an Endbringer called Tohu. I’ll tell you more about it later. I’m going to try to turn into a few other Endbringers to get an idea of just how big I can make myself.” I responded through Legend’s face and voice since that was the only head with an actual mouth.

I attempted to morph into the Simurgh next. This transformation was by far the most difficult one yet requiring a truly herculean effort on my part. In the end, however, I was a near perfect mirror of the Simurgh, minus the powers that made her arguably the most dangerous of all of the endbringers.

I tried to turn into Leviathan next. The attempt stretched me to the absolute limits of the effort I was capable of exerting and once again nothing happened. I still looked like the Simurgh.

I morphed back into my human form and it was a massive relief, as if my body had just been stretched to its very limits and the tension had just been released.

Wondering if the complexity of the shape mattered, I tried to turn into Lung’s dragon form at the point where he was roughly the size of the Simurgh. This still took a lot of effort but it required less than trying to turn into the Simurgh. So that proved simpler forms were easier to morph into than more complex forms. Not that Lung’s dragon form was simple by any means, but it did have a lot less parts than the Simurgh.

Wondering if I could turn into the opposite sex, I morphed into Brian. I looked at myself for a moment to confirm everything was correct. It seemed there was no issue with making myself look male. And I had no trouble making myself look and sound like whoever I wanted.

So I estimated myself to be a Changer 6. It would be 7 if I could morph myself to have completely made up body structures for combat or could give myself claws or venom glands in my human or changeling forms. Unfortunately I couldn’t do that so Changer 6 was the highest I was willing to give myself. I also estimated myself to be a Stranger 3 maybe 5 at the highest.

I turned back into my changeling form. I had noticed that strange energy from earlier whenever I was transformed felt more restricted. I could only use it to transform and that was it. So if I was going to figure out what I could do with it, it had to be in this form.

Channeling the energy through my horn I just did what felt natural to me. Suddenly thousands upon thousands of tiny green glowing dots appeared like a swarm of bees and started tearing into a nearby tree. The trunk was quickly enveloped by green energy and began to visibly disintegrate. I stopped the flow of energy and looked at the results. If that were a person they’d be dead, dying, or would be seriously injured right now. So I was very glad I hadn’t tried this in the hospital.

“What was that?! I’ve never seen a spell do something like that before!” Twilight said, walking over to the tree to get a better look at it. “It looks like it’s been chewed to pieces by termites!”

I would have shrugged but I was on all fours, or all threes I suppose was more accurate. So I just stood there. “Hell if I know. I just did what felt right. You should get behind me, I’m not done experimenting with my new powers. I don’t want to accidentally hurt you. Imagine, for example, you were the one caught in what I just did instead of that tree. It wouldn’t be pretty.”

Twilight looked at the tree for a moment longer before shuddering. “Yeah… That, uh… That would have been bad.” She then went back behind me, walking at a slightly faster pace than she had to go look at the tree.

“You called it a spell. I’ve heard a lot of references to magic since I’ve come here. Back on Earth Bet magic didn’t exist. So does this mean I can learn entirely new spells or am I limited to what I can do naturally?” I asked. I had to know if these were just parahuman powers being misconstrued as magic. If they were just parahuman powers, there would be limits. If it wasn’t… I wouldn’t know what to think, honestly.

I didn’t want to believe magic actually existed, but I fed on love now. An emotion. A chemical reaction in the brain that causes neurons to fire in specific patterns. Something that by all rights should have just been pure data and nothing more. That didn’t make sense even from the perspective of Parahuman powers.

Twilight nodded. “Of course! I have a ton of books on magic in the library. It’s all unicorn magic so I’m not sure how well it will translate to changeling magic but you should definitely be able to learn new spells just like us.”

I turned and looked at her. “There’s a difference between changeling and unicorn magic?”

“Yes, there is. Every creature in the world has their own unique forms of magic. For example, there are spells that can let us unicorns change our forms and the forms of others to some extent. However those spells are far more limited than what you changelings can do naturally. Another example would be pegasi. You and Pegasi both have wings, right? Well, you can both fly because of magic but Pegasi can touch clouds and control the weather while Changelings can’t. Alicorns like the Princesses have the magic of all three types of pony, unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies.” Twilight informed me.

That almost sounded like parahuman powers but it didn’t fit the Modus Operandi of an entity. At least based on Scion. “Hm… So it's possible I won’t be able to learn magic from your books?”

Twilight raised a hoof in thought. “Well… You might be able to or you might not. I have no idea. We should test it when we get back!”

“If it doesn’t work I’m guessing you don’t have any books on magic that were written by changelings?” I asked.

Twilight shook her head sadly. “Unfortunately not. I don’t know if any books like that even exist to begin with. If they do, they’re all kept somewhere in Chrysalis’ hive and I doubt she would be willing to share them with you.”

I sighed. “Yeah, I expected as much…” Books like that would be incredibly useful too. So I was just going to have to hope Twilight’s books on unicorn magic would work for me. If not… Well I could figure things out on my own but it would take longer. Then again, I was apparently immortal now so in a way I had all the time in the world. Though, immortality or not I sincerely doubted Chrysalis would give me the time I needed to figure it out.

I turned away from Twilight and continued my experimentation. Remembering a few of the things I saw ponies doing with magic I decided to see if I could do anything similar.

I decided to try telekinesis first, wanting to start with something relatively simple. Seeing a particularly large rock on the ground nearby, I focused on it and tried to envelop it with energy. The rock started glowing with green light. I attempted to lift it off the ground and the “spell” immediately fizzled out, much to my frustration. I tried again, only this time I tried to condense the energy around the rock in an attempt to make it more “solid”. Once it felt solid enough I attempted to lift the rock again. This time it actually worked.

I began forcing the energy to constrict around the rock tighter and tighter which required more and more effort. I could feel it working but the rock refused to break. It was like I was trying to crush the rock with my bare hands.

So I dropped it and decided to try on something a bit more fragile. So I picked up an old dried out tree branch off the ground and proceeded to try to crush it. This time it worked. The branch was crushed to splinters in my grip.

“Uh… Were you trying to do that or…?” Twilight asked, looking at the broken branch floating in the air.

“Yes, I was. I’m trying to figure out everything I can do with these new powers.” I told her. Looking at a source of emotions on the ground nearby I saw a grasshopper. Continuing to hold the broken stick I attempted to grab the grasshopper too. It worked. I lifted it up in the air and proceeded to crush it into a tiny ball before dropping its tiny compressed corpse. “It seems they aren’t manton limited which is useful”

I could sense that Twilight was unsettled by this but she didn’t voice her concerns. Instead she asked, “What does ‘Manton Limited’ mean?”

“In my world powers often come with a built in limitation to affect either inanimate objects or living things but not both. So if a power isn’t manton limited, it can affect both. Obviously having no manton limit is more useful. Especially in my case if I’m going to have to defend myself from Chrysalis anytime soon.” I explained as I continued my experimentation.

Crushing the branch into even more splinters I began trying to grab individual splinters and separate them from the rest of the branch. I started slow at first, separating splinters individually, but when I realized it barely required any focus I grabbed all of them and separated them all at once. It required more effort than holding them all together, but not by much. The real kicker about this was that it required me to divide my attention in a lot of different directions at once. Fortunately, I was really good at that. I could make it even easier and limit how many things I needed to focus on if I moved them all as one mass even separated like this. However, that limited the utility.

I would have to get a box of nails, sewing needles, or even just some broken glass later because this could be very useful. Instead of a swarm of bees, I’d have a swarm of shrapnel, albeit with more limited range. It seemed the further an object was from me the more energy it took to hold onto and move. So I wouldn’t be controlling thousands upon thousands of knives across multiple city blocks or anything like that. But a few hundred fresh razor blades within a few dozen feet of me was entirely within the realm of possibility. Though admittedly it didn’t seem that different from the spell I cast that disintegrated the outside of that tree. Still, I would take what I could get.

I dropped the splintered branch and moved on.

Since I could now sense emotions, I wondered if I could control them too. I decided to test this on a random butterfly I saw. It felt content as it sat there on a flower. I attempted to change its contentment to love. My logic being that if I could just make random insects feel love whenever I wanted, I wouldn’t need “donations” from ponies.

The butterfly was enveloped by green light for a moment, startling it and causing it to flutter away but it didn’t feel any love. Even its startlement only lasted a brief few moments until it realized it was safe, at which point it landed on another flower.

I frowned and tried again, and again, and again… Over and over with little to no success. It was incredibly frustrating. I decided to move on for the moment, but I wasn’t about to give up on this.

On a whim I wondered if I could use a more typical blaster-type spell. So I attempted to just shoot energy out of my horn towards the tree I partially disintegrated earlier as fast and hard as I could.

The result was a wide cone of green energy that seemed to act like a strong gust of wind. I tried again, this time trying to condense the cone of energy. It took a few tries and a lot of effort but I managed to condense it down to a beam roughly the size of a basketball. This hit with enough force I was pretty sure it could knock someone around and leave a few bruises or at worst cause a sprain but not much more than that. I was certain I could condense the beam even more but I could tell it was going to take practice.

Next I tried and completely failed altogether at teleportation.

I kept trying different things for a couple hours until I had used up so much energy I felt like I was going to collapse if I kept going. I probably shouldn’t have pushed myself that far, but I wanted to figure out my abilities as fast as possible so I could defend myself when Chrysalis tried to kill me.

By the end I had determined I was a Mover 3, Changer 6, Stranger 4, Thinker 5, Blaster 6, and Shaker 4. I was pretty sure I could probably use my powers as some sort of Master ability but I had no idea how yet. There were a few things I was confident were possible that were just too complex for me to figure out right now. I was hoping those books Twilight had mentioned would help me figure out what I was doing wrong.

I was sitting there panting in exhaustion. The painkillers the hospital had given me while I was still unconscious were starting to wear off. It hurt, but the pain didn’t even come close to Bakuda’s pain bomb or Lung cauterizing my hand. I could probably survive without the pain killers but that didn’t mean I wanted to.

Twilight approached me and asked, “It’s getting a bit late. Let’s head back to the library.”

Too tired to even turn back into my human form, I nodded wordlessly and she teleported us to the front door of her library.

I immediately felt several presences inside. “You have company.” I commented.

Twilight’s eyes widened in surprise. “W-what? No, don’t be silly, of course I don’t…”

“Twilight, I’m an empath. I can feel their emotions. There are over a dozen people inside. If you weren’t expecting them, either Spike invited them, they’re customers checking out books, or they’re intruders. Either way there are a lot of people inside the library right now.” I told her.

“Ehem… Uh… They must be customers then. Come on, let’s just head inside.” Twilight said nervously.

I watched her approach the door. I sincerely doubted this was a trap. If it was, they would have just thrown me in prison or done whatever they wanted to me while I was unconscious. Still, it was suspicious. Something was up. I just didn’t know what.

Cautious, I followed her wishing I hadn’t used up so much energy earlier so I could turn into my human form. Not only would I feel less embarrassed since I would at least look like I had clothes on, but it would also make walking a hell of a lot easier. However, I felt like if I tried to turn into a human right now I’d pass out.

Twilight opened the door revealing a dark interior. “Customers, huh?” I muttered under my breath quiet enough only I could hear it.

We both stepped inside and twilight closed the door behind us. A moment later the lights flipped on and…

“SURPRISE! Welcome to Ponyville, Weaver!” Shouted a pink pony without either wings or a horn. Twilight had mentioned something about “Earth Ponies” when talking about alicorns earlier, so I assumed she was one.

There were a lot of other ponies too. Most of them felt nervous or intimidated by my presence. However, after a moment I felt something else from some of them. Sympathy? Was it because of my missing forelimb? That was the only reason I could really think of.

“Hi, I’m Pinkie Pie and I threw this party just for you! Were you surprised?! Were ya, were ya, huh?!” The pink pony said, invading my personal space. I could sense pure excitement, eagerness, and joy radiating off of her. It was unsettling.

I blinked and took a step back away from her. “Uh… sure…”

“Yes! We’re going to be the bestest friends, I just know it! Ooh, I’m so excited! I’ve never had a Changeling friend before! Usually Changelings are so mean! Especially Queen Chrysalis, she’s just the worst! When Twilight first told us about you I was super worried you were going to be a meanie just like her. But today Spike told us you’re a nice changeling after all, which is super duper awesome because that means we can be friends!

I was unable to keep up as I was being talked at by this overly excitable pony, so I just stopped trying. How the hell was I supposed to deal with someone like this?

Mercifully Twilight stepped in. “Pinkie, Weaver’s a bit tired from experimenting with her magic so maybe we should give her a chance to rest a bit before overwhelming her too much?”

Pinkie Pie stopped. “Oh. Okay!” She then bounced off towards a table that had a bunch of cupcakes.

“The painkillers the hospital gave me are starting to wear off. I should go get them.” I said, hoping to use that very convenient excuse to escape whatever the hell this was.

There was a flash of purple light and the pill bottle with my pain killers appeared in front of me.

“You should have told me sooner! Here you go.” Twilight stated.

I sighed as my escape route vanished and grabbed the pill bottle with my own telekinesis. Fortunately holding something so small so close to me took barely any energy at all. It was almost like holding it in my hands, if I were in my human form. So I opened the bottle and proceeded to take a pill. “Thanks…” I said as I closed the bottle.

Twilight grabbed it again and teleported it back to the medicine cabinet. “No problem. Anyway, sorry I lied to you outside. I just didn’t want to ruin the surprise. Pinkie loves her surprise parties and she always works really hard on them. I didn’t want her effort to go to waste.”

“It’s fine. I don’t get why you’d throw me a party at all though.”

“Pinkie throws a welcome party for everypony who’s new to Ponyville. This is actually one of her smaller parties. If she had it her way, half of Ponyville would be here right now. Anyway, follow me! I want to introduce you to some of my friends!” Twilight said, leading me over to a specific group in the middle of the library.

Music was playing and the ponies were socializing. Though even as they talked with each other I noticed most were staring at me, refused to look me in the eyes, attempted to give me a wide berth as I limped past them, or all three. I didn’t let it bother me. I just ignored them.

We reached the group and Twilight motioned to me. “Everypony, this is Queen Weaver. She’ll be staying with me for awhile while she builds a hive in the Everfree. Weaver, these are all my closest friends. You just met Pinkie Pie, she’s one of the few ponies who volunteered to let you feed on her love.”

Pinkie swallowed the cupcake she had been eating and smiled at me. “Yup! Don’t you worry, Weaver, you won’t go hungry if I have anything to say about it! Ooh, but you totally have to tell me what love tastes like sometime! It would be amazalicious if we could work together to make a dish that tastes just like love!”

“Amazalicious? Seriously?” I deadpanned.

“Yeah! It’s like a combination of amazing and delicious! It would be amazing to work with you to make a dish that actually tastes like love, and I’m sure it’s going to be delicious! So, amazalicious!”

I took a deep breath and released a slow exhale. “Right…” I muttered in exasperation. I could already tell this one was going to be a major pain in the ass to deal with.

“Next is Applejack. She didn’t volunteer, but she’s still one of my closest friends. She owns Sweet Apple Acres. You’ll never find a more honest pony in all of Equestria!”

The orange Earth Pony tipped her cowboy hat to me. “Howdy. It ain’t nothin’ against you personally. Just don’t like the idea of some critter suckin’ out my love.”

“It’s fine. I don’t blame you.” I responded.

Twilight pointed at the white unicorn. “This is Rarity, the owner of the Carousel Boutique and she’s by far the most generous pony I know.”

“Good day, Queen Weaver. If you’re ever in need of a new dress, please do stop by. I would very much enjoy the challenge of trying to design a dress for you. And just so you’re aware, I’m also one of the ponies who has volunteered to assist you.” Rarity said politely.

“Thank you, and I’ll be sure to stop by if I can find a way to earn some money.” I definitely planned to buy some actual clothes for both this and my human form as soon as possible. I didn’t want to have to keep walking around like this even if it was apparently normal here.

“Next up is Rainbow Dash. I mentioned her to you earlier. Not only is she the fastest flier I know, but she’s also one of if not the most loyal pony I know”

“Hey.” Rainbow Dash said simply. I could immediately tell that she mistrusted me about as much as Shining Armor. I could sense some dislike as well but it was more subdued. I could already guess without anyone saying anything, she wasn’t one of the ponies that had volunteered.

“Hey.” I responded

“Last but not least, this is Fluttershy. She takes care of the animals here in Ponyville. She’s a bit shy but she’s incredibly kind. She’s a bit nervous about it but she also agreed to help you.” Twilight explained.

Fluttershy shrunk in on herself and almost seemed to be trying to hide behind her mane. I could feel her fear and nervousness.

“Thanks. I’ll try not to bother you any more than I have to.” I told her.

She mumbled something I couldn’t hear. I didn’t bother asking her to repeat herself.

“Nice meeting you all.” I said just to be polite before turning and limping away.

Looking at the books on the shelves I found a book labeled A Beginner’s Guide to Magic. Taking it off the shelf with my telekinesis, I went to a corner of the room to read while waiting for the party to end. Unfortunately the book was written for little kids and it mostly went over some very basic stuff I had already figured out how to do. That said, there were some interesting concepts in it that I hadn’t considered. Namely applying mathematics and philosophy to spells to achieve more complex feats of magic. The book only gave the most basic foundations for this with the most basic math and philosophy, likely to make it easier for little kids to start learning, but it was a starting point.

After a while Pinkie Pie approached me. “Heya Weaver! Why are you reading over here by yourself? Don’t you want to meet everypony and make new friends?”

“Not particularly, no. I’m not much for social interaction. Do you want something specific or are you just here to talk?” I asked as I continued reading.

“Well, I just wanted to make sure you’re having fun! After all, this party is for you!” Pinkie stated.

I stared at her for a moment. Fun… Sad thing was, I didn’t even really know what I found fun anymore. The only thing I had nowadays was just work. Whether that work was fighting villains or stopping the end of the world. Back when I had console duty in the Wards I would do things like look up facts about bugs online. However, that was just to keep myself busy rather than me actually finding any enjoyment in the random facts I learned. Even reading this book wasn’t because I enjoyed it. It was specifically because I needed to know more about magic so I could more effectively use it to defend myself.

Did I find this party fun? No. The music? No. The ponies? Hell no. Nothing about any of this was remotely fun or enjoyable to me. If anything, it just felt like a hollow attempt at ingratiation based on the emotions of the majority of the guests. Possibly for political reasons since the ponies were treating me as the Queen of a foreign nation. So all of this was just a random thing I didn’t care about one way or the other that I just had to tolerate for the moment before I could move on to more important things. Pure apathy was the best way I could surmise my feelings at the moment.

“Sure. I’m having plenty of fun.” I lied to spare the pony’s feelings. “I just have fun in different ways than other people. That’s all.”

“Oh, okey-dokey then! So, are you hungry? I would offer you a cupcake, but I know normal food doesn’t fill you up. So, you can have some of my love if you want!” Pinkie offered. Based on her emotions I could tell she was actually trying to be nice. She seemed to genuinely want to be friends with me. More so than even Twilight who was pretty much the only other pony who seemed to feel like this.

It was really weird to me. It didn’t make any sense. I most certainly didn’t trust it either. For all I knew there could have been some “spell” or something that could make it seem like someone felt different than how they really felt. The Slaughterhouse Nine had Bonesaw do something like that to their brains to mess with Cherish and her powers. They admitted as much when Lisa ratted out her plan to them. So I wasn’t going to discount the possibility that something similar to that was happening here. They could easily just be trying to get me to lower my guard for whatever reason and I most certainly wasn’t going to let myself fall for it.

I waved my hoof dismissively. “It’s fine. I already ate a few hours ago. It’s not necessary.”

“Pfft! That doesn’t matter, silly! This is a party! Tasty snacks and treats are part of what makes a party so fun!” Pinkie Pie said cheerfully.

I sighed. “Are you really sure about this?”

Pinkie Pie nodded eagerly before closing her eyes. Love began to radiate from her. Familial and platonic love. I assumed she was thinking about her friends and family.

“Fine…” I said before opening my mouth. Once again it was difficult to control myself. My instincts wanted me to devour every last drop of love she had. I could sense a bunch of ponies watching me with a wide variety of emotions. Again I had to force myself to close my mouth and stop eating after a certain point.

Surprisingly I could tell I had just regained a lot of the energy I used up experimenting with my new abilities earlier.

“Thank you. That actually helped a lot.”

“No problem! So, when’s your birthday?” Pinkie Pie asked.

I blinked. “What?”

“Your birthday! When is it? I can’t plan a birthday party for you if I don’t know what day it’s on.” Pinkie Pie clarified.

“Again, that’s not necessary. You really shouldn’t bother—”

Pinkie Pie shook her head and cut me off. “Nuh-uh! Nope! It’s absolutely positutely necessary! I can’t just not throw a birthday party for one of my friends! How sad would that be? No way! Not on this party pony’s watch! Sooo, when’s your birthday?”

I took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “June 19th…”

Pinkie Pie smiled at me. “June 19th, got it! Wait a minute…” She paused in thought before her eyes widened in shock. “That was just last week!”

“It was? Oh. Right. Guess I missed it again. As birthdays go, it was certainly an eventful one to say the least.” I said thinking back to everything that had happened. The Slaughterhouse Ninethousand, the apocalypse, seeing countless people die, nearly dying myself several times, losing my arm, having it regrown, losing half my body, having it regrown, losing my arm again, having Panacea break my powers, controlling every cape left in existence to fight Scion while being subsumed by my shard, overwhelming scion with images of his dead wife to drive him to suicide. All of this culminating in me getting shot in the head, turned into a Changeling, thrown into a world of colorful magical ponies, while having the threat of some other Changeling Queen hanging over my head like the Sword of Damocles just waiting to drop.

“You missed your birthday?! And did you just say ‘again’?! As in more than once?!” Pinkie demanded.

“Yep. The first time was two years ago when I turned sixteen. I was too busy when my birthday happened and completely forgot about it. The only reason I remember I missed it at all was that my dad told me I had. It’s pretty much the same this time, only even more extreme somehow. This year I had to deal with an army of psychopathic serial killers led by the most psychopathic serial killer of them all trying to destroy the world. Then the literal apocalypse happened the very next day and it lasted through the following days leading up to me being shot and ending up as a changeling here in Equestria.”

As I was talking Pinkie Pie’s mane deflated somehow and tears welled up in her eyes. When I was finished she wrapped me in a tight hug much to my surprise. “That’s terrible! It sounds like you had the worst birthday ever!”

Well it was probably pretty up there in terms of shitty birthdays if nothing else. It was the worst birthday ever for me personally, that was for sure.

“It’s fine, really. My birthday really doesn’t matter.”

“Yes it does! I promise you, next year I’m going to throw you the biggest, bestest birthday party ever!” Pinkie said, absolute determination on her face.

“Please, it’s fine… Besides, you threw me this party. I think this counts as my birthday party this year.” I told her in an attempt to placate her.

“No way! This is your Welcome to Ponyville Party not your birthday party! I didn’t even bake a birthday cake!” She sounded highly distressed by the fact she didn’t have a birthday cake ready. She then gasped. “Ooh! I do have an emergency back up cake ready though! Wait here, I’ll be right back!”

Pinkie Pie then sprinted away so fast my eyes could barely keep up with her. Based on that display alone I estimated she had to be at least a Mover 1 or 2.

As I was staring after Pinkie Pie I felt someone else approach me. Looking, I saw it was Rainbow Dash.

“Hey, uh… I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation with Pinkie Pie…” She said awkwardly.

“Yeah, I imagine half the people here did too. So, what’s up?” I asked her.

“Just wanted to say I’m sorry to hear how bucking awful your birthday was. Even a changeling doesn’t deserve that…” Rainbow Dash stated.

“Thanks, I guess, but just so you know I wasn’t always a Changeling.” I told her.

She gave me a skeptical look. “You weren’t?”

“No. I was a human. Or a parahuman, depending if you want to separate the two. I used to look like this.” I used the energy I regained from feeding on Pinkie Pie’s love to morph back into my human form.

Rainbow Dash flinched a bit as I transformed but recovered quickly. “Sooo how’d you get turned into a changeling queen then? Also, I sort of wanted to ask, was all of what you told Pinkie true?”

I shrugged. “No idea. I was shot in the back of the head. Then I met Princess Luna while I was unconscious in the hospital and she told me I had changed. Then I woke up like this. I have no idea who or what changed me into what I am now or how I got here. As for what I told Pinkie, yeah. It’s all true. Ask Twilight. She apparently knows the Princesses and they can confirm I’m not lying. Luna can, anyway, since she apparently saw my nightmares.”

“But you said the end of the world happened after those serial killers attacked. Nothing like that happened here in Equestria.” Rainbow Dash said, squinting at me. She still didn’t entirely believe me.

“I’m from another world called Earth Bet. Though considering some very important and obvious differences I’ve noticed about this world so far, it’s probably more accurate to say I’m from a different universe entirely. Which makes it harder for me to understand just how I got here in the first place since there aren’t any parahumans with powers that would let them send me to another universe. So I have no idea how or why but I wound up here somehow.”

“So you’re an alien?” Rainbow Dash asked. I could sense some measure of excitement from her. A far cry from the mistrust and dislike she felt towards me earlier. How could these ponies’ emotions towards someone change so damn fast? I didn’t get it.

“Sure. I guess you could look at it like that.”

“That’s so cool! Could you please tell me about this army of serial killers and the end of the world? How did you stop them?! You did stop them right?!” Rainbow Dash asked a little too eagerly. After a second she seemed to realize what she was asking and shrunk in on herself a bit in embarrassment. “Er… Sorry… I shouldn’t have asked that. I get if it’s a sore subject for you…”

I waved my hand dismissively and shook my head. “No. It’s fine… But it’s a long story and I already told it to Celestia after I first woke up. I don’t want to repeat myself right now. Plus it’s also not a very happy story. A lot of really bad things happened. It would probably bring down the mood here a lot. Maybe I could tell it to you some other time?”

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Okay, that sounds good. So, uh… Are you any good at flying?”

“I’m very good at it.” I did have god only knew how many cumulative hours of experience flying via my swarm so I almost certainly had more experience flying than anyone else in the world. So I sort of had to be good at it.

“Then you wanna have a race some time?” Rainbow asked in a competitive tone.

I looked at her for a moment. I thought about it for a moment. If nothing else I suppose it might have been good exercise for my wings. Then again, I remembered that Twilight had introduced her as the “fastest flier in Equestria”. I didn’t exactly want to get my ass kicked in a race by the Usain Bolt of pegasi. “I’m guessing you’re probably faster than me by a fairly wide margin considering Twilight introduced you as the ‘fastest flier in Equestria. And considering how fast some heroes could fly back in my world, the difference in speed could be huge. So I’m sorry but I’d rather not.”

Rainbow Dash deflated a bit, disappointment radiating off of her. Then she perked back up a bit. “Wait, ponies in your world could fly? And what do you mean by ‘heroes’?”

“There were a few people, yeah. And by heroes I mean super heroes. You know, people with superpowers who fight crime? Flight was a pretty common super power all things considered. A lot of times it came with increased strength and durability. We called the people with powers like that ‘Alexandria packages’ after Alexandria, one of the most powerful parahumans in the world. She could fly super fast, was probably the most physically strong parahuman in the world, and her body was pretty much indestructible. Though she wasn’t strictly invincible…” I explained as I thought back on how I shoved bugs down Alexandria’s throat and suffocated her to brain death.

“Seriously?! Your world has superheroes?! Wait… You also called them ‘parahumans’ and you said you were a parahuman… So does that mean you were a superhero too?!” Rainbow Dash demanded excitedly.

“I’ve been on both sides at different times in my career… When I first started out I wanted to be a hero but after taking down one of the most dangerous villains in my home city on my first day out I got dragged into being a villain by circumstance and my own naivete. Then I turned myself in and became a hero but at that point it felt hollow because I’d learned that a lot of the time the heroes were even worse than the villains. Still I stayed a hero until the apocalypse.started at which point I was neither.”

“Sweet! So what powers do you have?!”

“What powers did I have. I don’t have them anymore. Powers are controlled by a certain part of the brain. That part of my brain was destroyed when I was shot in the head. And I had the power to control every bug within a four block radius of me.” I explained.

She frowned. “No offense but controlling bugs sounds a bit lame…”

I rolled my eyes. “You might think that now, but if you saw what I could do with them you would know better… Well it doesn’t matter anymore now anyway.”

“Yeah yeah… Anyway, so how fast could these superheroes fly?! I’ll bet none of them could make a sonic rainboom!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

“A what?” I asked, confused. I knew what a sonic boom was but a sonic rainboom?

She gave me a look. “A sonic rainboom! You know, only the most awesome thing anypony can do? You fly so fast you break the sound barrier and BOOM there’s a giant rainbow explosion in the sky!”

“Huh… Alright then. Anyway, it wasn’t common but there were heroes that could easily break the sound barrier. Alexandria or Legend could fly to the other side of the planet in a matter of minutes. And if anyone could make a rainbow explosion while flying, it would be Legend since his power lets his body turn into light as he’s flying and his power lets him shoot and control lasers.”

Rainbow Dash crossed her forehooves. “Hmph… I could take them in a race…”

I rolled my eyes again and leaned back in my chair. “I’m sure you could…”

Suddenly the door burst open and Pinkie Pie came rushing back inside carrying a cake on her back. She brought the cake over to a table and set it down. After lighting the candles she rushed over to me and said, “Weaver? Is that you? You look different…”

I sighed and turned back into my changeling form for a brief moment before making myself human again. “Yes, it's me. I just prefer to look like this.”

“Oh, neat! Anyway, I know this is your Welcome to Ponyville Party rather than your Birthday Party but I got you a birthday cake! Now come on, you need to blow out the candles!” She said as she circled around behind me and started pushing me towards the cake.

Rainbow Dash chuckled a bit and followed along.

Giving into my fate I just started walking towards the cake on my own rather than just letting myself be pushed.

Some ponies including several of Twilight’s friends gathered around to watch as we reached the cake.

“Happy belated birthday Weaver!” Pinkie Pie cheered, mercifully sparing me an embarrassing birthday song.

Not wanting to waste anymore time I blew out the candles.

There was some stomping of hooves as a simulacrum of clapping, much to my humiliation.

When it was over Twilight approached me. “Weaver, you didn’t tell me it was your birthday!”

“It’s not. My birthday was apparently a week ago on the 19th. Things happened, I missed it, forgot about it entirely, Pinkie asked about it, now this is happening.” I summarized the series of events leading up to this for her trying to keep it as brief as possible.

“Oooh… I guess that explains why she called it belated then… So, uh… Eighteen candles? I didn’t think you were that young.” Twilight said awkwardly.

“Is that an issue?” I asked.

Twilight shook her head. “Nope, just an observation. You act a lot more mature than I would expect for an eighteen year old.”

“Mm…” I grunted in acknowledgement.

“It’s time to cut the cake!” Pinkie announced, taking out a knife and proceeding to slice into the cake. She put the first slice on a paper plate with a plastic spoon and handed it to me. “I know normal food doesn’t really fill you up, but I hope you can at least taste a yummy cake!”

“Thanks, Pinkie…” I said taking the plate. I then took my plate and sat back down in the corner where I had been reading my book. Quickly I ate my slice of cake with one hand before taking my plate and spoon to the garbage. The rest of the party passed by quickly after that. No one else really bothered me for the rest of the night.

After most of the ponies eventually left, I helped clean up. Then Twilight showed me to the guest bedroom and I went to sleep for the night.

Author's Note

Just to clarify, no I didn't make up Taylor's birthday or the timing of the Slaughterhouse Nine-thousand myself for the sake of this chapter. From what I could find online Taylor's birthday is actually June 19th and according to the Wiki the Slaughterhouse Nine-thousand attacked on June 19th. Then, also according to the Wiki, Gold Morning happened from the 20th to the 24th. Talk about a shitty birthday... And everyone thought Taylor's 16th birthday was bad. HA!

Anyway, hopefully this chapter's not too bad despite the slow start with Taylor experimenting with her powers. Speaking of, how do you guys like the way I portrayed her magic in this? I thought the swarm spell thing was fitting, but I sort of wanted to have her have to actually put in effort to learn magic rather than having it all handed to her from the start. So before she starts controlling minds and whatnot, she actually has to learn what to do to begin with. I also thought maybe the having to learn how specific glands to produce specific substances like webs and venom was a good compromise rather than just letting her turn into a Black Mamba or something just right off the bat. But let me know what you guys think. If you have any major issues with the powers displayed in this chapter let me know because if I made a serious mistake I want to fix it before it becomes a serious problem.

Questions, comments, criticism, I'm open to it all.

Chapter 14 (Rewrite #2)

Sombra was brought back into the Crystal Empire, with me acting as security just in case he tried anything since Queen Amore had to go put the Crystal Heart back before he could safely enter. Otherwise he’d be incinerated by the initial wave of energy when the barrier went back up. The first thing we did was bring him to the infirmary to show him the state Radiant Hope was in.

I could sense Sombra’s shock, then disbelief, then growing horror and despair. Then he demanded I explain to him everything that happened in the Shadow Prison, so I did. I explained everything in detail. Starting with us entering the Shadow Prison, and ending with me light bombing the Umbrum and flying away with everyone to escape.

He practically deflated as I told him what Rabia and Radiant Hope said, word for word as best as I could remember. Then when I told him how Radiant Hope tried to plead with them and was subsequently mauled, he looked at her tired and defeated.

Based on his emotions I was pretty sure that was the moment he had truly given up.

He was kept under close watch, in case he tried anything again, and he wasn’t allowed within a hundred feet of the Crystal Heart or an alarm would go off and Amore and her Crystal Knights would be alerted immediately and a secondary barrier he couldn’t pass through would be triggered. Twilight helped with setting up the alarm, while Amore was setting up the secondary barrier herself. Though the barrier was a work in progress. It would take a couple of weeks for it to be completed. It was supposed to only last until he managed to regain Queen Amore’s trust, and who knew how long that would take.

Two days later, Queen Amore led me down to her lab in the Crystal Caverns beneath the Empire.

“Wow… It’s a lot emptier than I expected.” I commented. Empty though it was, I could sense the residual love permeating this place. It was old and stagnant but the ambient love energy in the room was quite a bit stronger than I’d have expected considering how long it had been. It had faded, almost certainly, but the fact it was still noticeable was damn impressive. Amore really had a thing for love magic it seemed. Though I suppose it made sense considering it was one of the primary weaknesses of the Umbrum, who were her main concern out here.

I would have been worried, but Love was literally food for changelings. And… Well, Amore genuinely considered me a friend and had almost taken a lethal spell for me. So if there was anyone I trusted to be responsible with my kids, it was her. She wouldn’t do anything that would endanger them. If anything, the biggest thing I’d have to worry about is her overfeeding them with love and them coming out obese when they hatched… if changelings could even get fat. I actually wasn’t sure if that was a thing that could happen considering the weird magic biology we had.

Amore looked around at the empty lab, disappointment and displeasure radiating from her. “Indeed. I wish I could have shown it to you whilst it was in its prime. I was quite proud of some of the artifacts I’d kept here and would have enjoyed showing them to you. It was in quite the sorry state when I came to check on it after Sombra was dealt with. It didn’t get banished with the Empire, so it has been here for over two thousand years. Most of my work was, unfortunately, destroyed by the ravages of time so I had to toss it out. The only thing that survived, and wasn’t in need of serious repairs was a single potion.”

She sighed and shook her head. “It is truly a pity but I can remake all of it eventually. I still have notes stored in illusion crystals. The magic in them and thus my records have degraded over time, but I can fill in the gaps and salvage the vast majority of it.”

“That sucks. I’m trying to experiment with some of the basic magic and enchanting I’ve learned for my war with Chrysalis. I’d be pretty upset too if I was at it for a few decades let alone a thousand years and I came back to find it all ruined.” I said.

She smiled at me. “You are? Ooh! You must show me what you have been working on! Perhaps we can collaborate some time soon! It would be an excellent opportunity to teach you what I can about love magic!”

“Er… I’m not sure you’d like the stuff I’m making. And it would be pretty amateur compared to anything you can do. I’ve only just started learning magic and unicorn magic isn’t the same as Changeling magic. Some stuff translates over better than other stuff.” I told her.

She raised an eyebrow. “And what are you making that I wouldn’t like? I fully expect you are making weapons, and I am unsurprised. I may not agree, but I would not disparage you for it.”

“Well, you know I wasn’t originally a changeling, and I’m not from this world?”

“That was quite the surprising conversation, but yes.” Queen Amore nodded.

“Well, back on Earth Bet, humans didn’t have magic and we had a lot more wars. We invented some really damn good weapons. Guns, which shoot small metal projectiles at supersonic speed, bombs, which are just explosives, and things called flamethrowers. They shoot fire over a decent range to burn enemy combatants alive. Sort of like how dragons breathe fire. I’m trying to make all of these, and more. The one I think you’d have the most issue with is the flamethrower. But that’s arguably the easiest one to make, and the safest since there’s no risk of blowing myself up. I’m also trying to figure out certain non-lethal weapons, but those are a lower priority.” I explained.

Surprisingly I only felt a twinge of displeasure from Amore. “Ah. I see. Yes, I could see why that would be something you’re wary of. But dragons do use fire as a weapon quite often. It's in their very nature. So while I don’t like that you’re trying to replicate that as it’s quite cruel, I can certainly see why you are. Well, I must say, you’re right in that I do not want a hoof in that particular project. But perhaps we can collaborate on something else? Perhaps something of a more defensive nature?”

“I’m not good at making barriers. That’s one of the things that don’t translate well from unicorn to changeling magic. The best I have in that regard is spider silk armor.” I told her.

“Spider silk? You’ve made a gambeson from spider silk? Why? Would a traditional gambeson not be easier to acquire?”

“I’m not sure what a gambeson is, but I doubt that’s what I’ve made. Back on Earth Bet when I first got my bug powers I wanted to make a costume that was bulletproof and could take slashes and stabs. Most spider silk is at least five times stronger than steel. So it’s incredibly tough. It’s pretty much immune to stabbing and slashing, and it's bullet resistant while still being pretty light and maneuverable. Though a hammer or a mace could beat it pretty easily. I don’t have my bug controlling powers any more, but I’ve figured out how to control spiders with simple mind control spells. So I’ve been using star spiders to make something like my old costume for a suit of armor I can wear around. It’s almost done, I only have a little more work I need to do on it. But that’s my only project that’s defensive. At least right now.”

“Hm. Interesting. I’d like to see it sometime.”

I morphed myself to make it look like I was wearing the armor. The finished product, anyway.

Amore chuckled. “Yes, yes… You know what I mean, Weaver. Though, that’s quite interesting. It’s much thinner than I expected. Certainly not a gambeson after all… And you’re sure it’s immune to stabbing and slashing?”

I nodded. “I made the first version out of black widow silk and I accidentally made part of it too long. I tried cutting it with a knife and I couldn’t. I had to get wire cutters to get through it and it was slow. So, yeah. I don’t think a sword or spear is getting through it. Probably not arrows or crossbow bolts either. If I can start mass producing suits like this, they might make for good undersuits for your knights.”

She nodded. “Indeed. I would have to have some material to have tested first, but having added protection that’s up to more modern standards certainly couldn’t hurt. Though, being a type of fabric I can’t imagine it’s very good against dragon fire, but then neither is traditional plate armor, I suppose… Hm…”

“Hey, uh… Sorry to cut this short, but I think it’s about time.” I said with a bit of urgency.

“Ah! Right. I suppose we shall have to discuss projects we can work on together later. For now, this room is by far the safest place in the entire Empire. Your eggs shall come to no harm here.“

I sighed. “Right… Then, uh… Can I get a bit of privacy for a while?”

Amore nodded. “Of course. I shall wait outside. Call me if you need me for anything.” With that she turned and walked back out, leaving me alone in the lab.

A few minutes later, I was done and there were seven green membranous eggs in a little group. I’d picked them all up and put them on a table which had a blanket on it already prepared for them.

“I’m done…” I called out, looking at the eggs. I was still shocked by the whole thing. Seven… Seven kids. I had to protect Seven kids from Queen Chrysalis… And I was immortal, so unless they were too, I’d eventually outlive them…

Queen Amore came back in and immediately walked over towards the eggs, intense joy and excitement radiating from her. “Seven beautiful eggs! Congratulations, Weaver! I promise you I’ll take very good care of them whilst you’re away in Griffonstone. If anything changes, I shall send my fastest messenger pegasus to let you know immediately.”

“Yeah… Uh… Thanks…”

Amore’s joy was tempered a bit as she looked at me. It was still strong, but sympathy joined it. She wrapped her forearms around me in an embrace. “I can see you’re rather overwhelmed. I completely understand. I was much the same with my first foal. I was in a similar position at the time as well. Though mine was voluntary and instead of others of my own kind wishing me and my foal harm, I had to worry about the Umbrum. It was an incredibly difficult time but I got through it with the aid and love of those around me and my love for my foal. So know that you are not alone. I am here, I understand exactly what you’re going through, and am more than willing to lend you my aid in whatever way I can.”

“How…?” I asked, staring at the eggs.

“How, what?” She asked.

“You… You’re immortal too, right…? So… How do you…?” I tried to ask.

She seemed to understand. I felt her emotions dim and grow somewhat melancholic. “It’s not easy. It never is… My first died of sickness in her youth. My second was snatched away by the Umbrum and I was unable to save her… My third lived, grew up, and died of old age having sired but a single filly and having lived a long, happy, and fulfilling life. After I had made the Crystal Heart and realized I was no longer aging while my surviving siblings, my husband, and my son all were, I was distraught. I had suffered through the deaths of my parents, three of my siblings, and two of my foals already. I didn’t want to experience more… But I did…”

Amore took a moment to collect herself before continuing. “It hurts… Every single time… And it never gets easier… But I personally found comfort in my grand foals. They became my light, guiding me through such dark times. I tried having more husbands after my first husband died, but I quickly learned I couldn’t stand watching them grow old and frail and watching them pass without me. It was too painful. So I stopped and merely took joy in watching my grand foals grow up and find husbands and wives of their own with which they raised their own families. The love of my family is how I found the strength to go on.”

She sighed, sadly. “I’m so incredibly lucky to have awoken to meet Cadance and Shining Armor… It would have been truly crushing to have lost any remnant of my family to time… But seeing her an alicorn, and realizing Celestia and Luna are still alive after all this time, I’m so scared for her. I’m terrified that my great granddaughter will have to suffer exactly what I went through… It’s like seeing a reflection of myself in my youth and realizing what is to come but being unable to do anything to stop it… I can’t tell her she shouldn’t have a husband and a family simply because she will outlive them… I simply have to hope she shall have the strength to endure the trials ahead…”

She shook her head. “But I suppose I’m getting off track… In your case, I suppose you will never stop having foals as is the nature of insects. So, find strength in the love you have for those who yet live. At least, that’s what I would do. I cannot truly say what can or will work for you as you are not me. Thus it’s something I fear you shall have to discover yourself the hard way. It will not be easy losing them, but you shall need to learn to endure it one way or another… But I will be here for you when that time comes, if and when you need a shoulder to cry on. Having a friend who is immortal may ease the burden a bit. A luxury I wasn’t afforded in the past, and one I am all too eager to accept now that the opportunity stands before me. Selfish though that may sound.”

I listened to her, never taking my eyes off the eggs. It wasn’t like I wasn’t already used to people I knew and loved dying. Mom, Dad, Alec, Brian… But the prospect of being immortal and having to go through that over and over and over forever was… intimidating… to say the least. I wondered if I’d eventually just grow jaded to it, like I had with killing. After all, I was a bug now. The queen of a hive which could count as a nation in its own right. I’d probably have thousands eventually. Hundreds of thousands even. Too many to even learn the names of let alone get to know or spend any time with personally. This first batch were likely the kids I’d get to know and love the most since there were so few of them. And all seven would eventually grow old and die, if Chrysalis didn’t kill them first.

Maybe if I could make other Queens? That was probably a thing that was possible. After all, bees and ants often did so. Bees would feed a larva royal jelly and that larva would eventually become a queen. But then, that felt unfair in a lot of ways and had the potential to spiral into a much larger problem.

“I… Think I need to go sit down…” I stated, my mind still reeling from the fact this was all happening.

Amore nodded. “Yes, perfectly understandable. Come, let’s go back up and try to relax over a nice cup of tea. I have acquired a small stock of crystals filled with love from some donors in the Empire. So you may have a snack if you’re feeling peckish after all of this.”

Amore led me out of the lab. The conditions were perfect, or as close to perfect as one could hope for, and the room was the most secure in the whole Empire so there was no need to worry about leaving the eggs alone for now.

Later that evening the Princesses finally arrived.

I was sitting to the left of Queen Amore’s throne and Cadance and Shining Armor sat on the right while we waited for Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.

Sombra stood off on the side of the room, a band with an enchanted crystal wrapped around one of his back hooves. It was the thing that would trigger the alarm if he ever took it off or got too close to the Crystal Heart. His armor, cape, and crown were all gone. The malevolent magic leaking from his eyes was gone too, but those were the only changes. His mane and tail both still looked to be made of darkness, and his horn was still red and curved. It was pretty obvious he wasn’t a normal unicorn. Apparently he used to look like one in the past before he learned what he was and there were spells that could make him look like that again, but he refused. He had accepted that he was an umbrum and didn’t want to pretend to be something he wasn’t.

I could relate in a way. I supposed I was a changeling now, and as much as I preferred my human form, this was what I actually looked like now and everyone knew it. So there was no real point in making myself look human other than for the sake of having hands and pure preference.

Sombra felt upset and worried. Radiant Hope hadn’t woken up yet and he was getting restless. Otherwise, he hadn’t really been much of an issue ever since he surrendered and Queen Amore told him everything she had been working on to try to help him and showed him whatever remained of the notes she’d taken for her experiments in that regard.

I could sense the Princesses’ emotions as they talked to Twilight and her friends. It wouldn’t be long until they reached the throne room.

My mind was still focused on my eggs and the future. Queen Amore had assured me she was going to offer what military aid she could against Chrysalis and her hive. But since I was staying in the Everfree Forest, in the middle of Equestrian territory, the number she could send right away was going to have to be negotiated with the Princesses. At least until I moved to the Undiscovered West. Though she would be sending a few ponies to patrol the Undiscovered West and keep away anyone trying to settle there just to spite me. Namely, the minotaurs.

I was going to have to go there and find another place to start building a second hive sooner or later. Fortunately, with the donations of stored love from the Crystal Empire, that actually became a feasible option since I was no longer strictly reliant on Twilight and her friends for love. But that was going to have to wait until after I was done in Griffonstone, at the very least.

My thoughts were cut off as the doors opened and the Princesses entered, followed by Twilight and her friends.

“Greetings, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna. It’s good to see you’re both well, after the past thousand years. I wish I could say I was happy to see you both, but I am rather disappointed by the circumstances.” Queen Amore greeted them in a neutral tone. I could tell she was annoyed with and disappointed in the two of them.

“It’s good to see you as well, Queen Amore. I’m happy to see you’re alright. After we learned what happened here in the Empire, we suspected the worst…” Celestia stated. She then glanced at Sombra. “I see Sombra is no longer a threat.”

Amore nodded. “Indeed. Mercifully, I was able to make him come to his senses and see reason. There’s still a long road ahead for us to regain each other’s trust but reconciliation and amends have begun. In the end, that’s what matters I suppose.”

Celestia smiled. “That’s good to hear. I’m happy for you, Sombra. Luna was in something of a similar position quite recently.”

Luna sighed. “Indeed… After the Crystal Empire fell, I let envy corrupt my heart and I did some awful things I am not proud of. I betrayed my sister and attempted to conquer Equestria, refusing to lower the moon. Celestia was forced to banish me to the moon for a thousand years. It is only due to the efforts of Twilight Sparkle and her friends that my corruption was driven away and I could be redeemed. So, I understand all too well the difficulties you are facing and will face. As it is, I am glad you are seeking redemption as well.”

“So I’ve heard…” Sombra stated, not looking at either of them. He was still sore about them banishing him beneath the ice for a thousand years, from what I could tell.

“And Weaver, Twilight wrote me a letter detailing everything that happened. You’ve done quite well! Though, some of the behavior she outlined in her letter is rather… concerning?” Celestia commented.

I looked at Twilight. She looked back with a sheepish smile.

I sighed. “Yeah. I know. Everyone keeps saying that.”

“She also informed us that you would have your first batch of eggs soon. Congratulations! We’re both incredibly happy for you.” Luna said with a warm smile. Joy and excitement radiated from her. If her emotions were real and not an illusion, she was happy for me.

“She had them earlier today, in fact! Seven of them!” Amore announced happily.

“They’ll be staying here in the Empire for a while.” I stated, bluntly.

“Yes… Something about you having business in Griffonstone? What business, if you don’t mind me asking?” Celestia inquired.

I glanced at Twilight again, annoyed that she told them but not surprised that the chief spy assigned to me had told the Princesses about my plans. “I just want to discuss some things with Ambassador Gruff and see if I can work some things out. It’s nothing that you need to worry about.”

“Weaver—” Celestia started to say only to be cut off by Amore.

“Celestia, I believe we have other matters to discuss right now. Such as the fact you and your sister, in all your wisdom, decided to send your young student here to ‘save’ my Empire as a test. I am aware she’s the bearer of the Element of Magic, but you didn’t send her with the elements. You sent her here unarmed, with no knowledge of the Empire or what she was getting into, without the proper tools with which to defeat Sombra, and you told her she was to do it alone! Had Weaver not sensed the pieces of my shattered form, matters could have ended very differently due to your irresponsibility. You gambled with the lives and freewill of my Crystal Ponies for the sake of some blasted test!” Amore huffed and shook her head. “I am not happy, Princesses. Not in the least. I am incredibly disappointed in both of you.”

Celestia actually took a step back, looking as though she’d just been slapped. A bit of guilt and shame emanated from her. Along with a small amount of indignation.

Twilight and her friends were shocked that Amore was talking to the Princesses like that.

Cadance and Shining Armor felt uneasy.

Sombra didn’t care, his worries were directed towards Radiant Hope.

Luna just sighed. “For the record, I did not agree to this. It was Celestia’s plan. But I didn’t oppose her despite my reservations, so I suppose I do share in the blame.”

“I would prefer to discuss this in private… If that is acceptable?” Celestia requested.

Amore nodded. “Very well. Sombra, Element Bearers, Spike, I apologize but I must ask all of you to grant us some privacy.”

I almost stood up and walked out but stopped when I realized I wasn't one of the people Amore named. She wanted me to stay for this? That caught me off guard. I wasn't used to being included in private talks like this. Especially when they really had little or nothing to do with me.

Sombra left with Twilight and her friends. Once he was out of the throne room I sensed him continue walking. He was heading straight back to the infirmary.

Twilight and the others lingered just outside.

When the door closed, Celestia cast a spell that covered the throne room. “A spell to prevent eavesdropping.” Celestia explained.

“Very well. Now, would you two care to explain yourselves?” Amore asked.

“To start with, I always had full confidence Twilight would succeed—” Celestia started.

Amore raised a hoof. “Stop. Just… stop… I don’t care. You knew there was a possibility and that it was even likely that she would fail, regardless of your personal feelings on the matter. In fact, from the sounds of it you intentionally set her up for failure from the very beginning! Because of you they all nearly died Celestia! They survived, barely, escaping with only wounds but if it weren’t for Weaver figuring out the very basics of love magic and pushing herself to the very brink of death through starvation, their deaths would have been guaranteed! The Umbrum would have killed them all in the Shadow Prison because you did not prepare them in any way for what they were going to face! Also, other than your gross neglect in regards to preparing your student for this so-called ‘test’, you also set this entire thing up for failure in yet another way!”

Celestia’s emotions sank with every word as Queen Amore continued to berate her.

“With the Crystal Heart lost, Cadance was the only one capable of maintaining the barrier to keep out Sombra and she had to stay awake day and night the whole time to do it! She was forced to neglect her own needs to maintain the barrier, to the point she was on the verge of collapse by the time I was brought back! Had they not been so quick in figuring out the puzzle that was piecing me back together and hadn’t figured out a spell to undo Sombra’s curse as quickly as they did, she would have given out! The Empire would have been completely undefended and Sombra would have been free to re-conquer the Empire and there would have been nothing anypony could have done to stop him! Weaver would have died and her sacrifice would have been for nothing other than your damned hubris! You have spent years knowing both Cadance and Shining Armor! Shining Armor is or was the Captain of your Royal Guard! You would have known Shining Armor’s capabilities and that he could not have traded out with Cadance to maintain the barrier because he is not nearly well versed enough in love magic! That is another point of failure you should have been well aware of and you neglected regardless!”

Celestia’s hind legs had given out and she was looking at the ground, tears welling up in her eyes. Her guilt and shame were now very intense. She was on the verge of crying.

Queen Amore sighed and shook her head. “It’s just… It’s baffling to me… I cannot fathom how you possibly thought any of this was a good idea unless it was pure malice. And no, I’m not accusing you of doing this intentionally, which is why I’m so confused by this whole situation. I don’t care how supposedly ‘confident’ you were in your protege. I want to know why. Why would you put my Empire at risk? Why would you gamble with the lives of my Crystal Ponies? What in the world were you thinking? For love sake, you are a thousand years old! You should be wiser than this! What would possess you to be so incredibly irresponsible?!”

“I-I… W-well…” Celestia stuttered.

“She sometimes has dreams of the future.” Luna stated.

I blinked in surprise.

Amore was surprised too. Her anger abated a bit. “Explain.”

“I… Some time before Weaver appeared, I had a vision of the Crystal Empire’s return. I saw Twilight finding the Crystal Heart and Sombra defeated once the Heart was returned to where it belonged. So… I… W-well… My visions had never been wrong before, so I had full confidence it would come to pass...Things did not play out according to my vision, however… I did not foresee your return, I didn’t foresee anypony getting hurt, and I most certainly did not see Sombra having been redeemed… I... I believe Weaver's arrival and participation in this changed the course of events I saw in my vision drastically. I could not have anticipated that it would go this way." Celestia explained.

So, she was a precog? That would explain a bit, to be fair. Sometimes Precogs could get surprised by parahumans with powers that made them a blind spot. And I supposed, a variable that went unaccounted for could catch them off guard too.

Amore sighed and face-hooved. “Very well. So that explains why you sent your protege, but it explains nothing else about your handling of the situation. Cadance maintaining the barrier on her own, not providing Twilight with even the barest information, not sending the Elements as a safeguard in case things did not go how you foresaw. You should have been more cautious rather than blindly trusting your visions. Especially once you knew Weaver was joining them, considering she was not a factor in what you originally saw. That is a lesson Sombra had to learn. The future's not set in stone. You and everypony else has free will and your actions can influence the course of events. Thus, even if you foresaw Sombra’s defeat your handling of the situation was incredibly poor.”

“There’s something that doesn’t make sense to me.” I stated.

“Yes, Weaver?” Amore asked, looking at me curiously.

“Twilight said this was a ‘test’ and that she had to do it alone. If you thought you knew what was going to happen, why frame it as a test? Why not tell her the truth, and the solution you saw in your vision? You never told her about the Crystal Heart and you expected her to just… figure it out? How? Sombra admitted to having destroyed any mention of the Crystal Heart as an artifact so no one would know his weakness. And what the hell was so important about her doing it all alone?” I asked.

“Er… Ehem…” Celestia cleared her throat awkwardly. Embarrassment, guilt, and shame emanating from her.

“Those are some very good questions, Weaver. I would like to know that as well.” Amore agreed.

“Well… I… Uh… How do I put this…? I… Hoped that Twilight might become an alicorn?” Celestia stated, uncertainly.

The silence was deafening. “What?” Amore asked, confused.

“I… Well… We have determined that alicornhood is something that is earned… My sister and I earned it when we attempted to take over raising and lowering the sun and moon, believing our magic would be burnt out … Cadance earned it by redeeming a villain as a filly… Seeing as I knew she would succeed regardless, I had thought that if Twilight could save the Crystal Empire on her own, she would prove herself and earn it as well…” Celestia explained.

Amore started getting angry again. “I have several concerns… First, did you not consider that by intentionally making the task more difficult as a ‘test’, you would be directly influencing the outcome of your own vision? You could have rendered the entire thing void, and thus your reasoning of having total faith in her because of your vision becomes utterly irrelevant!”

Celestia winced.

“Second, even if your theory in this regard is true and it can be ‘earned’, you all earned it under natural circumstances. Did it not occur to you that by trying to force it you may in fact be doing more harm than good? You say my granddaughter earned it by redeeming a villain? Well Twilight and her friends redeemed Luna, did they not? I suppose you thought because she didn’t do that on her own that wasn’t enough to prove herself. But there’s also the possibility that none of them have the potential to become alicorns in the first place, Celestia. And how can ‘test’ such as this possibly count as ‘earning’ anything when it is so clearly forced and you supposedly already know the outcome?! The fact you attempted to force such a transformation may have directly counted against it happening in the first place, and the entire Crystal Empire could have been doomed and lives lost because of it.”

Amore shook her head and sighed. “My third and final concern is, why does this matter at all? Why do you want so badly for your protege to become an Alicorn that you would go this far? To risk my Empire for her ascension? Are you perhaps looking to raise a pantheon to rule over, oh great Sun Goddess?” The sarcasm dripping from that last sentence was almost palpable

“NO! Absolutely not! And we’re not goddesses. I denounced all worship of us centuries ago… In the past I saw a vision of Twilight as an alicorn. I never saw how she became one or under what context only that she will. So, I know she’s destined to become one but I don’t know how or when…”

Celestia sighed and shook her head. “To address your first point, I have attempted to act on my visions in the past and I can influence them to some degree but they have never been wrong, until now. So, as to your second point, not knowing when or how she will achieve ascension I thought that by making it a test I might be able to cause her to ascend by proving herself by saving the Crystal Empire. I was perhaps a bit hasty, but I truly believed I was doing what was best for my student and the Crystal Empire. Had I not had my visions and hadn’t believed with the utmost certainty that Twilight would succeed, I would never have been so careless…”

“This is where our disagreement came in.” Luna stated. “I can vouch for the validity of Celestia’s visions, but sending Twilight so unprepared worried me. I believed Celestia in that Twilight would find the Crystal Heart and defeat Sombra, but I was worried at what cost it may come at if she was sent unprepared. If Celestia only saw Twilight finding the Crystal Heart and Sombra’s defeat, that left a concerningly large gap of what could happen leading up to his defeat. Perhaps somepony could get hurt or worse in the events leading up to those two things due to Twilight lacking knowledge or tools. I agreed with her in that Twilight had to be sent, however I wanted to take a more cautious approach but only as a precaution for what may happen in the interim, not the end result. It did not even cross either of our minds that Weaver’s presence might change matters so dramatically.”

So Celestia was a highly accurate precog. I mentally categorized her as a thinker, but I held off on giving her a rating. I pegged her as a mid ranking precog but I didn't want to give her a solid number ranking until I knew more about her visions and if I was a blindspot or if my arrival here just threw a wrench into everything as a one off.

Amore’s anger abated again, replaced by resignation and exhaustion. She sighed tiredly. “I see… in that case, I suppose I cannot be too angry. I do not appreciate how recklessly you treated the situation, nor how negligent you were towards the needs of my granddaughter. However, I can accept that you truly believed things would turn out well in the end. In a way, it’s not too dissimilar to Sombra. When he looked into the Crystal Heart and was shown a vision of his destiny, he assumed it was guaranteed to happen no matter what. To not blindly trust prophecy seems to be a lesson that many need to learn.”

“I’m sorry, Queen Amore. I’m so, so sorry. I truly had everypony’s best interests at heart. I truly could not have anticipated that any of this would turn out as it did. I made a mistake, and I regret it deeply…” Celestia apologized, complete sincerity in her tone.

Amore smiled at Celestia. “If I could forgive Sombra despite all he has done, I can certainly forgive you for having such faith in your visions. If you had selfish or greedy reasons as I admittedly initially suspected, I would have been very very angry and thus less accommodating. But as that is not the case, I forgive you. Everypony can make mistakes. Simply take this as a lesson not to put such complete faith in prophecy. Prophecy can indeed be a good guide or a warning of what is to come, but don’t allow yourself to become totally reliant upon it.”

“A lesson I will be sure to take to heart.” Celestia stated with a smile.

“Very good. Then I shall consider this matter done. Let us move on… Since you’re here, there are other matters we need to discuss.” Amore stated.

After that we moved on to discussing political matters for several hours. Some of it involved me and my hive. Most of it didn’t. So I spent the majority of it just sitting there, bored out of my mind.

But I did pay attention and tried to learn what I could about international politics while I was there, since I would have to deal with things like this in the future. My business in Griffonstone seemed to have been completely forgotten.

Author's Note

Edit #1: Several people informed me that Celestia is somewhat of a Precog. I looked into it and it turns out, yeah she does sometimes have dreams of the future. So I rewrote the reprimand section to include that fact.

Edit #2: bookworm702 over on Spacebattles made an excellent comment that made me rethink Celestia's reasoning for why she would want Twilight to become an alicorn in the first place that isn't some selfish desire to retire.

I'd post the comment here but it's pretty long and Fimfiction doesn't have a collapsible spoiler feature as far as I'm aware.

Regardless I've rewritten the chapter a second and hopefully final time to reflect this new perspective.

As a summary of how the current version differs from the first and second versions, I've added mention of Celestia's visions of the future, which are an obscure but canon power of hers. And instead of her reason for wanting Twilight to become an alicorn being selfish, I.E. wanting to retire, she foresaw that Twilight would eventually become an alicorn but not when or how. So she thought by turning the Crystal Empire into a "test" she might allow Twilight to prove herself and ascend since she's destined to do so anyway. Her visions have never been wrong before so she never believed there was any chance Twilight would fail even if she made the situation a test. She genuinely thought she was doing what was best for everyone, Twilight and the Crystal Empire. So she was just misguided, not selfish like she was in the first two versions.

Sorry for the multiple rewrites. I realize it may be quite annoying but I am just trying my best to make the story as good as I possibly can. As I say, I am absolutely willing to go back and rewrite a chapter to fix my mistakes. Even if I have to do it two or three times to get it right.

Anyway, you can find both the original version and the first rewrite, Here

~~Amore isn't happy with the Princesses. Honestly, I can't think of any other reason why Celestia would have handled the Crystal Empire situation the way she did, other than that she got ahead of herself and wanted Twilight to become an Alicorn, just having a bit too much faith in her student. Otherwise, it really just comes off as incompetence. But if you have any criticisms for that whole section, let me know. Maybe I was a bit too harsh on Celestia or there's another perspective I didn't consider, or something. I'll gladly go back and rewrite the section if there's any issues like that.~~

Anyway, Dragonlord7's (From Spacebattles) reasoning for Taylor having seven eggs makes sense to me.

I say 7. That gives a relatively small number to handle, but also means you can hove 1 for each of the Mane Six to bond with, plus one for Taylor of Queen Amore to bond with.

So I decided to go with that for now. But I may come back and change it to 5 later if I decide 7 is too much for me to handle. Just giving you a heads up about that now, just in case.