Surreality had become the norm for most of Glitter’s dreams once she evolved into a Royal changeling; it was something that had, at one point, caused Princess Luna no end of distress and worry that she was perhaps prone to discordant thoughts and potential madness. The panicking pony princess had been assuaged by Chrysalis eventually admitting that, for most changelings, sleep would put their mind more into the Hive Mind than usual, allowing them to congregate and de-stress while sleeping.

As explained by the elder Queen, the presence of all these minds would give the dreams some rigidity and cohesion, and the Queen could mould the collective dream to some extent. In Chrysalis’ case, the dreamscape would appear as an opulent ballroom that included minor amusements such as a pool with water slides, game boards, and duelling facilities for those wanting to de-stress aggressively, though she did note that that last option typically went unused by all but Shred after a particularly bad day with recruits.

Glitter, as a Royal who rarely joined into the Hive Mind, would be instinctively attempting to create this sort of environment in her head as she slept, Chrysalis posited. Without the presence of other changelings, or the overriding mind of a more experienced Queen, it would be disjointed and confusing to most, filled with things to allow Glitter momentary relief from stress before her mind thought up something else to entertain her on a random whim.

Discord, who had been present during the explanation - mainly because Luna was covering her bases and concerned that he had had something to do with it - had feigned offence at the thought that, because he had promised not to mess with the grey matter of ponies he had decided that this meant changelings, and therefore other species as well, were free game. He had found the truth to be jolly entertaining though.

He had also, upon departing himself, left the meeting room with a small flock of narcoleptic ducks that were given safe roosts in the castle gardens, but that was neither here nor there.

Her dreams that night included something that she couldn’t seem to shake, though. Every time her dream would shift to some new flight of fancy entertainment, there would be a… sensation. She noted that it felt slightly alien, yet at the same time familiar. A scratching sensation at the back of her mind. She felt it was reminiscent of when she would join the Hive Mind but more… forceful? She wondered if her mother was attempting to connect forcefully to talk, or perhaps her grandmother wanting to peep in on her thoughts after the admittedly depressing discussion they’d had just before going to sleep.

Groggily she awoke the next morning, her eyes bleary and not focusing on any one thing in particular, swirling in their sockets. She felt motion, and initially assumed that she’d slept through the train moving on to their next destination until she yawned and stretched, scrunching her eyes and forcing them to behave, finally seeing the spacious pearly room around her.

Wait, pearly and spacious?

She jolted upright, swinging her attention to and fro fretfully; this wasn’t the train carriage she went to sleep in! She recalled the walls in there had been a dark tan and hardly spacious enough to turn around in, and instead of the wall lantern of the train compartment above her head, she was greeted by a skylight showing clear blue skies.

She bolted from the bed, thudding to the ground having momentarily in her panic not realised she was on the top bunk of the bunk bed she had been sleeping in. Ignoring the new ache in her left shoulder and running on adrenaline, she rose quickly and bolted for the door, slamming it open despite her worries that it might have been locked and bumping face to chest with her grandmother.

Chrysalis, being both the elder and sturdier of the two, hardly moved as her granddaughter who was only just over half her height and under half her weight bounced off her and crumpled to the ground.

Chrysalis arched her neck to look down at her heavily breathing granddaughter with mild amusement, “I was just on my way to wake you for breakfast, but it seems you have done half my task for me,” she chortled as she held out a hoof to help Glitter back up, “are you alright, dear?”

Glitter stared up at her, wide-eyed panic meeting the cool headed cheeky smirk of her grandmother and starting to calm down, “Where are we?”

Pulling her granddaughter to her hooves, Chrysalis tittered, “We’re in the carriage that is to be our shared living quarters for the duration of our expedition to the Old HIve,” she calmly informed, “you were sleeping so heavily when the night guards woke me for our relocation that I had one of them simply levitate you here. We’ve been in flight since about four in the morning, three hours or so. Currently we are high above the badlands.”

“I thought we were heading down to Appleloosa before we took the flight?”

Chrysalis shook her head, entering the room and closing the door behind her for privacy, “With the probability that there is somepony amongst us coming with us with less than noble intentions, we thought it most prudent to change plans abruptly and act as if this were the plan the whole time;” she explained, “we were to pick up a slight change in our guard roster in Appleloosa as well, and Aegis decided that we could not risk adding more potential traitors to our expedition.”

Glitter nodded, “I… I guess that makes sense.”

Nodding with a smile, Chrysalis tapped her lips with her hoof before opening the door, a gesture to denote the need for discretion on that topic, “In any case, let’s head down for breakfast; Twilight’s dragon assistant, Spike, has cooked up some waffles and pancakes and, if the smell of them is anything to go by, his cooking is not something to miss.”

Following her grandmother with a nod, Glitter sniffed at the air, “That does smell good…” she muttered, “who else is going to be riding with us here, Granna? Princess Twilight and Spike obviously, but who else?”

“Princess Twilight’s friend Fluttershy will be accompanying us, as well as both of the First Lieutenants and Shred. We also have four guards, two rostered for the day shift and two for the night shift. They, as well as the First Lieutenants and Shred, are our guard retinue,” was her curt reply before a sarcastic roll of her eyes, “Spike wants to cook for us all, at least for our breakfasts and dinners. Shred has allowed this as he’s the Princess’s lifelong ward and is trustworthy. Apparently my cooking isn’t good enough for him.”

Glitter gave her grandmother a cheeky sidelong look, “No Coltorina Reaper Chili then, Granna?”

“I will torture Shred’s tastebuds and remind him why he should respect his Queen if it’s the last thing I do.” She huffed, “And as such I’ve had some of said meal cooking discreetly in my Saddlebags of Holding since last night.”

Glitter giggled, “Oh no, you’ve been plotting again. Should I be worried, Granna?”

“I’m going to keep it cooking as long as possible; look forward to it in a day or so,” Chrysalis cheerfully boasted, “Hopefully I’ll even get Spike begging for something to stop the pain.”

“You can be cruel when you wanna be, Granna.”

She initially responded with a vindictive-sounding cackle before following up by saying, “Quell rebellions before they start, spice your subjects into submission!”

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Finally sat at a table with a white tablecloth spotted with little red hearts, Glitter gave her nearby travelling companions a few worried sideways glances. At first she’d merely chalked it up to still needing to wake up, but now that she was fully awake, she could deny what she felt no longer.

That scratching in the back of her mind hadn’t gone away. If anything, it seemed to be becoming stronger. Particularly so after Chrysalis left the room to collect their breakfasts.

It was starting to worry her a little now, the thought that something was going on inside her head that she knew nothing about, but she couldn’t find the words to voice her concerns should it be nothing important.

“Um, are you okay, Glitter?” Fluttershy asked timidly from across the table, cringing down in her seat when the albino turned her attention across to her, “I mean, you look worried about something?”

She shook her head and mumbled a reply, “I… It’s nothing,”

“Are you sure?” Fluttershy asked before squirming, “I mean… sorry, you just look like something’s been bothering you? I might not know as much as your mother does, but I did read those medical books she published, if something’s wrong that is,”

Glitter gave a reassuring smile, “I’m fine, Fluttershy, honest; I think I’m just feeling the magic that is enlarging the interior of the carriage, perhaps I’m just not accustomed to something so pervasive.”

Shred glanced at her sidelong, “Lady Fluttershy has the right of it, Glitter; you look like something is nagging at you. As the one charged with the wellbeing of both our Queen and yourself, the latter of which is accompanied by the threat of prolonged suffering from your mother should you come to harm, I insist on knowing if something is wrong.”

Glitter’s ears dropped back at this and she whined, “I… sorry uncle Shred…”

His head shook and he narrowed his eyes at her, “That's not an answer, Glitter; I don't let my fellow guards, nor our Queen, pull the apology card on me; you aren't getting a free pass just because you're young. If something is wrong, I need you to tell me.”

Fluttershy wrapped a wing around the young changeling reassuringly and Glitter huffed, “I dunno, uncle, I just… while I slept there was a feeling in my head, like when Granna tries to force me into the Hive Mind, and it hasn't gone away,” she scratched at her left temple nervously, “if anything it's gotten worse.”

Shred stared sternly, mulling over this little revelation in his head while Fluttershy put a hoof to her chin, “Maybe you're developing your own Hive Mind?”

“No, she has yet to go through the rites for that;” Chrysalis cut in as she strode back into the room pushing a cart carrying their breakfasts with her chest, “and we lack enough Changelings to perform them in any case,” she paused to stare confusedly, “Wait, what’s going on?”

“Something is bothering Glitter,” Fluttershy replied softly, “Oh, let me help,” she added, standing and assisting Chrysalis in placing breakfasts before their respective diners.

“We number but ten; the rites require dozens,” Shred huffed, “the only Hive Mind that will exist for now until the day, through anything other than old age, we become truly extinct, is what we already have.”

“Granna and I would both have to die for that to happen,” Glitter huffed, “and with how protective you’ve been, Shred, I don’t think that’s likely to happen any time soon.”

“There needs to be somepony keeping your grandmother in check,” Shred groused before taking a large bite out of a waffle and humming appreciatively.

Chrysalis huffed, watching as Glitter slathered her pancakes in syrup, “You don’t trust Princesses Celestia or Luna to do that? They’ve already collared me, what more do you want?”

Shred growled as he hastily chewed and swallowed his mouthful, “Mare, I saw the aftermath of your pillow fight with Princess Celestia over Booker’s wedding. You’re all terrible influences who are going to send my recruits through therapy.”

“Back to the monarch bashing first thing in the morning, do you two ever give it a rest?” Spike snarkily cut in as he wandered into the room, “I don’t think Mom would approve if you brought down the carriage by fighting amongst yourselves.”

“Collaring will be the least of your worries should you get into your head to plot something foolish again, Chrysalis.” Twilight added as she strode in and sat next to Spike, “you keep acting like it’s some great imposition against you, but we both know that your only real complaint about it is that it wasn’t implemented sooner.”

Chrysalis fiddled with said peytral almost absent mindedly, “That and the inability to levitate,” she grumbled.

“Wait, I had to vent excess magic into Royal Jelly after my, uh, ‘transformation’ because my reserves were full,” Glitter began while raising a hoof, “won’t Granna have the same issue?”

Twilight and Chrysalis blinked at her owlishly for a moment before Twilight shook herself out of it and cleared her throat, “Well, potentially yes,” she began as she moved into a stiffer pose and Spike rolled his eyes, “which is why we had her convert most of her reserves into Royal Jelly before it was fitted onto her. It will take quite some time before her reserves will fill to the point that an emergency vent would be required. The possibility was considered when Celestia first proposed this punitive measure; it’s one of the many reasons that the unlocking phrase was imprinted into the peytral along with the regular, physical lock,” she gave Chrysalis a somewhat withering glare at this statement, “as well as the alarm that will notify both the Princesses and myself of it being removed.

“As you know, any removal of the collar will need to be explained in great detail to both Princesses Celestia, Luna, and myself; we’re taking this very seriously, Chrysalis, so any removal deemed to have been in violation of the rules we’ve given you will come with heavy punishment, up to and including imprisonment.” She narrowed her eyes at the changeling monarch while taking a deep breath, “Don’t try our patience on this, understood?”

“Yeah, thanks for the lecture, but can we get back to breakfast before it goes cold, Twilight?” Spike snarked.

“I would agree with Spike on this,” Shred rumbled before nodding to Aegis as she entered for her own breakfast, “despite wanting to get to the bottom of whatever it is that Glitter is trying to keep secret from us, it would be quite rude of us to let food which smells this good go to waste.”

Mutual agreements rang around the table as the gathered ponies, changelings, and lone dragon, dug into their breakfasts with gusto. Despite the impressively delicious food, however, Glitter found herself unable to thoroughly enjoy the meal to its entirety. The buzzing in the back of her head droned out much of her thoughts, feeling more insistent than ever.

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After breakfast was thoroughly defeated, Chrysalis joined Spike in the kitchenette for the task of cleaning up after themselves, despite his protests. It seemed that, even after all these years, the young dragon was still leery of the now dethroned monarch.

Twilight had only insisted that Chrysalis assist him after realising the reason for his reluctance; the number one assistant to the Princess of Friendship should have no such potential hindrances to any of her potential future diplomatic duties after all, and this would help him to get over his hangups.

Provided that Chrysalis didn’t go overboard with any of her more playful behaviour, of course.

Glitter sighed embarrassedly as she dawdled away from the dining room, hearing her grandmother toying with Spike playfully much to his annoyance from the far doorway. “I feel I need to apologise in advance for any mental anguish that she may inflict on your ward, Princess,” she huffed to the alicorn as she approached.

Twilight waved a hoof dismissively, “Don’t worry about it, Glitter, she’s under control and I doubt she’d do anything to really upset him.”

“Granted,” Glitter shot back quickly, “but you’re the one who will have to put up with him complaining about it later.”

“And I’ll deal with that when it comes,” Twilight nodded.

Glitter sighed and shook her head, “How long until we reach the Old Hive, do you think?”

Twilight hummed, tapping her left forehoof against her chin in thought as she sat down, “At the rate we’ve been flying, factoring in the three hours we’ve been flying for already… likely another two and a half hours?”

With a nod, Glitter turned towards the bedrooms, “Two and a half hours, alright, I’ll have to find something to entertain myself with for that long; I suppose I’ll get one of my novels, since Granna didn’t let me pack my knitting stuff.”

“Ooh, which books, I might have already read them?”

Glitter shook her head, “No spoilers, Princess; you wouldn’t like it if I did it to you,” she shot over her shoulder.

“Fair enough,”

Pushing the door open, Glitter moved through into the corridor between the living and sleeping areas, noting that this felt similar to her trip through the train the prior day. Four doors to her left and four to her right, each marked clearly for the individuals who would bunk within them, except, of course, for the bathroom which was clearly marked as such and what appeared to be a storage closet she guessed for spare bedding and cleaning supplies.

The gentle noises of Thunder sleeping sounded faintly from one of the doors at the end of the corridor, and the faint smell of armour polish wafting from the two doors alongside it told her, even without the door signage, where the guards had been bunked.

Before she could continue to the room she shared with her grandmother, the door directly to her left marked ‘bathroom’ opened and out stepped a unicorn stallion in Day Guard armour, adjusting the straps around his midsection. He paused as he noticed her, blinking in momentary confusion before his expression turned professional and he nodded.

“Ma’am,”

“Carry on, corporal, don’t mind me.”

Nodding, the corporal waited for her to pass before moving to and entering the room next to where she could hear Thunder’s snoring, the door clicking shut behind him. Thinking no more of it, Glitter entered the room she shared with her grandmother, leaving the door open whilst she located and fetched her saddlebags.

Tossing them halfheartedly across her back, Glitter wandered back out of the room, closing the door behind herself as she returned to the hallway. She gave the doors around her another appraising look for a moment only to huff dismissively and retrace her steps back to the main room.

Closing the hall door, she took note of the Princess sitting on a plush tan lounge looking through a stack of papers with a stern crease furrowing her brow. Following a mental shrug, Glitter dawdled over and sat on a similar couch across the table from Twilight, plopping her bags on the floor and flipping one open to scrounge through it.

True to their enchanted purpose, the bags were considerably larger on their inside. She managed to get her whole head inside the opening, sans her horn in case she accidentally punctured it, to root around. She gave a dissatisfied huff at not finding what she wanted within the left satchel, it being filled with several weeks worth of food supplies and water in enchanted preserving containers.

Though she remembered having taken them out to read the night before, she assumed that they had been tucked away into a pouch at random when she had been transported into the carriage in the middle of the night.
Clearly her grandmother had simply put her books in the pouch on the other side.

Pulling her head free, she switched sides and dove head-first into the other side, finding her books almost immediately. They were sat alongside a stack of binders she didn’t recognize. Confused, Glitter took hold of a binder and pulled it out, staring at it bemusedly as she read the label on its cover.

Irritation filled her face and she felt her left eyelid twitch and her voice loudly cut the silence in the tan and brown room,

“Granna, what the buck is your paperwork doing in my saddlebags?!”

Spike’s snark could be heard from the kitchenette as he commented, “Sounds like you got caught,”

“It needed to go somewhere, Glitter,” Chrysalis called back with amusement filling her tone.

Glitter’s eye twitched again, “So we couldn’t bring our knitting needles and some wool, but we can bring your paperwork for this expedition?”

“It’s not for this expedition, that work is for the Grand Galloping Gala later this year, and I brought my knitting things in my bags,”

Again her eye twitched and she heard Spike hiss through his teeth and felt Twilight’s gaze lingering on her horn as angry black, purple, and green-tinged magic built up.

“That was not the right answer,” Spike snarked openly, “and you know it. I’m going to just stuff myself under this sink, I might get out of the line of fire”

“This is why you didn’t want me packing my own bags; not because you thought I’d forget something important but because you wanted to make me carry your stuff, potentially for miles,” Glitter snarled, grinding her teeth, “instead of just getting a second set of your own bags, or just asking me, you decided to scheme again!”

Shred sighed from where he sat polishing his own armour, “You’d think she’d have learned,” he muttered.
His worried eyes, however, never left Glitter’s horn.

“Glitter, are you okay?” Twilight probed worriedly as she sat up a little, raising a hoof as smoke started to rise gently from where the angry magic made contact with the albino,

“I don’t know, princess; I’m a moody teenager thousands of miles from home and my special someponies on an excursion I didn’t particularly want to be on, have something scratching at the back of my mind that won’t relent even when I’m asleep, have saddlebags full of some paperwork instead of half of the recreational stuff I wanted because somepony tried to be sneaky and clever - do I look okay to you?!”

As she shouted her last line, Twilight rose to her hooves and reached across the table, rapping the end of Glitter’s horn with a dull grey stone she held in her hoof and causing the building, roiling, rage-filled wild spell to burst as if being snuffed like a candle.

With a squeak, Glitter passed out, her head thudding heavily to the table.

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“... think she’s waking up.”

Glitter groaned, twitching a little at the voice as the world slowly returned to her. Weakly she opened her eyes, her fog-addled mind attempting to get her bearings but finding her vision filled with the concerned faces of Fluttershy and Twilight.

She smacked her dry mouth and slurred a barely coherent question, “Wha’happn’?”

Twilight sighed and shook her head sadly, helping Fluttershy in assisting Glitter in moving into a more upright position on the couch she had been lying on, “A moody teenager,” she said sharply, “I think your grandmother has something to apologise for, but for now she’s in time out.”

Glitter blinked at Twilight with a lack of comprehension, earning a quiet titter from Fluttershy.

“Your grandmother, Glitter,” Shred interjected from across the room, “did something stupid once again.”

“She hid her paperwork in your bags while packing for your trip out here,” Twilight said, “and instead of disarming what I’m fairly sure was the mental snap of a granddaughter long having found her last nerve with other ponies conspiring her direction through life without consulting her, Chrysalis decided to try and be funny,”

With a groggy groan Glitter rubbed at an eye, “Okay, I get that she did something stupid again, but why am I waking up?” Now properly awake a dull throbbing made itself known and the hoof she’d been rubbing her eye with rose to poke at her horn only to be gently grabbed by Fluttershy who shook her head, her gaze lingering on Glitter’s own with concern.

Twilight shifted and straightened her back where she was sitting, “Don’t touch that, Glitter, I’ve only just finished applying some horn cream,” she snapped, “You’re suffering from magical backlash,”

“Rage casting,” Shred said as he moved into view and gave the teenager a glass of water which she began to greedily drink, “A not unknown phenomenon, even to you, Glitter.”

Twilight nodded affirmatively, “In your understandable anger at your grandmother, your body began to subconsciously channel magic. This, of itself, is not a problem. It happens to unicorns if angry enough, though admittedly this is the first time it has been observed in Changelings;” she shook her head disappointedly, “negative emotions, such as anger, taint magic, Glitter. It becomes dangerous, to target and caster alike. It’s not widely known for what it really is, commonly confused with Wild Magic. If angry enough, my own rage casting usually turns my coat white and my mane and tail into ethereal flames.

“The proper term for it, however, is Dark Magic. It takes a lot of power to make proper Dark Magic, so most unicorns won’t be able to cast it during rage casting. You, Glitter, are a half-ascended Changeling Royal; your mana reserves are deeper and you can utilise it more efficiently, much like an Alicorn, meaning that you can form proper Dark Magic,

“The problem, Glitter, is that Dark Magic needs strict concentration to control; without that, it becomes extremely dangerous to everypony involved, especially the caster.” She huffed the remainder of her breath and eyed Glitter’s horn, “The magic you were channelling has caused serious burns to your horn. Not enough to render your magic totally inaccessible, but I have put a ring on your horn to cut off much of your magic as a precaution.”

“It will hurt to try to use magic until your horn has healed, Glitter,” Shred interjected, “so for now, at least until her Highness says otherwise, the ring is to remain on. I will brook no argument on this. Your mother would be very angry if I were to allow you to harm yourself more through negligence on my behalf; she’s already all but frothing at the mouth over this.”

Glitter nodded numbly, the feeling of chastisement making her eyes drift to the floor at his hooves.

“You’re not in trouble, Glitter,” Shred softly spoke, “your grandmother has scurried off to your shared room to mope after we drilled into her, and for now she can stay there until she feels like apologising properly for her idiocy;” at this he shook his head and growled, “she’s such a sook.”

“This doesn’t answer why I’m waking up on the couch, as comfortable as it is,” Glitter grumbled.

Twilight held up a round, flat, grey stone with her hoof, “Nullstone backlash,” she stated firmly.

“Part of any good first aid kit,” Shred nodded, “you know what nullstone is, Glitter.”

She nodded in return, “Yeah, it can completely disrupt any spell used on it, something about it splitting spells back into their original elemental mana wavelengths and dissipating them through the air?”

Shred smiled, “That’s right, however did you also know that if put to a unicorn, alicorn, or changeling’s horn it completely cuts off any magic use for the individual involved? It’s used by medical professionals as a temporary safety should a pony hurt their horn until a Ring, carved from nullstone reinforced with gold amalgam, can be applied. I insisted that we have them in all of our first aid kits and a ring in each carriage under strict control of those we have deemed trustworthy.”

“So… it broke up the magic that I’d been channelling, okay…” Glitter mumbled, “but I’m still not hearing why I’m waking up.”

“Because, Glitter,” Twilight spoke as if educating a somewhat dim pupil, “the more magic it breaks, the greater the impact against the caster. If a pony channelling magic has it disrupted by nullstone, the spell both breaks apart and causes negative feedback, commonly referred to as a backlash or recoil. When I tapped it against your horn, the magic it disrupted wasn’t just uncontrolled, but strong. If I could liken it to anything, it would be similar to being kicked in the head by an adult earth pony.”

Glitter blinked at the comparison, “... yeah that’d do it.”

“For now, no magic and no touching your horn,” Twilight advised before standing and returning to her own paperwork on the other side of the table, “in two hours or so I’ll take a look at how you’re healing and decide from there.”

With a nod, Glitter shifted where she reclined on the couch to better access the book she’d managed to retrieve from her bags before everything had kicked off, “How’s Granna taking this?”

“You let me worry about your grandmother, Glitter,” Shred snapped curtly, “but for your information, she is very worried and upset, though like we said before she has scurried off to her room to brood and mope.” He sighed and shook his head, “Your mother already knows what has happened thanks to the Hive Mind, and a few very choice words were had which will not be repeated in the company of a child nor royalty.”

His eyes became icy and hard, “Neither your mother, nor I, want you to just outright forgive your grandmother over this, Glitter; that would only be enabling her. She has done wrong. I know she is your grandmother and you love her, and that is fine, but while you should forgive family when they make mistakes, this time she too needs to learn. She has caused you physical harm, and that needs to sink in for her. Let her be hurt by this.”

She nodded numbly in return.

“Spike has very kindly offered to relay between ourselves and Princess Celestia a package or two, and through Shred your knitting supplies have been requested. Due to the distance between us and Canterlot, it may take some time for them to arrive.”

Glitter blinked across at Twilight as she finished speaking, giving Glitter a firm nod and turned her attention back to her paperwork. Shred, too, turned away after giving her a reassuring nod, using his magic to grab the royal guard who seemed to be patrolling through the room and drag him closer to an irritable growl of “Surprise inspection, colt,” and beginning to drill into the quality of his armour’s polishing.

Fluttershy smiled warmly before dawdling to a soft chair on one side of the room and climbing on. She reached beneath her right wing and pulled out one of her magazines, opening it and beginning to read.
Its cover read ‘The Cuddly World of Extremely Venomous Snakes”.

Finding herself no longer the centre of attention, and wondering faintly what was wrong with Fluttershy’s mind, Glitter looked about awkwardly, wondering when the horseshoe would drop. Finding no answers, she huffed and opened her book with her hooves, returning to where she’d been reading.

Curious as to what was being said in the Hive Mind, if anything, she idly let her mind connect. The first voice she heard was her mother’s.

“Glitter? Are you alright?”

“Yes, mother, I will be fine,” was her grumbled reply.

She felt her mother relax, “Thank goodness; when Shred told me what had happened I was so worried!”

“I only have some minor magic burns. It’ll go away soon enough, Princess Twilight said,”

Chrysalis’s voice timidly tried to speak, “Glitter, I’m so-”

“Saying you’re sorry isn’t always enough, Granna,” she interrupted, “sometimes you have to prove it. You can’t just keep apologising for the same thing and then keep doing it.”

She felt her grandmother’s presence recede significantly, giving her the impression of somepony struck about the cheek.

“I’ve sent your knitting things to the castle with some wool, a royal guard came by and requested them to be sent to you by Princess Celestia earlier and I sent them with him.”

“Thank you, mom; I’m sure Spike will bring them to me before too lo-”

Glitter and Shred both twitched, lifting their heads to stare at one another as a foreign voice yelled, echoing through the Mind, “Let the fallen sleep!”

It had bellowed deep and furious, all but deafening those in the Mind even as it echoed into silence. Dumbfounded, Shred and Glitter stared at one another, eyes wide. The door to the sleeping areas slammed open with a burst, and the dishevelled, tear-faced form of Chrysalis stormed in to stare between them, her sudden appearance gaining stares of her own from Twilight and Fluttershy.

She shook her head to get her bedraggled mane from her eyes in an attempt to get it to dislodge from the streaked green mascara caking her cheeks, her breath heavy as she stared at them with the silent question and answer being sent between them without words.

“What the buck was that?!” Glitter almost shouted,

“What was what?” Twilight asked, turning her attention to see her and ignoring Fluttershy scurrying over to Chrysalis with tissues and starting to help her with her ruined makeup.

“An… an intruder…” Shred breathed,

The alicorn stormed to her hooves and looked around worriedly, “What, where?!”

Shred’s thousand-yard stare met her own and she recoiled from the sight of a seasoned battle-hardened warrior staring at her in such a manner, “In the Hive Mind.”

Chrysalis shook her head a little, making Fluttershy pause, “That’s… not possible,” she almost whispered, “the Mind is a link only Changelings share. There can be no intruders! I can’t feel any extra beings other than us ten!”

“Discord?” Twilight queried worriedly, “Can Discord connect?”

“As a being of pure chaos, Princess, he can do whatever he wants; he’s joined before, but only to tell terrible puns,” Shred mumbled, “But that was not his voice. It was too…”

“Angry,” Glitter finished for him, “whoever that was, she was furious,”

She blinked and looked up to the ceiling, speaking into the Mind again, “Is everypony okay? Did anypony recognize that voice?”

“We’re okay, but no,” Crackle replied timidly, “we were just asking that here and none of us know who that was.”

Glitter nodded, “There couldn’t be another Changeling we didn’t recover, could there?” She asked aloud, eyeing her grandmother and suppressing a giggle as Fluttershy began braiding her mane.

“Alone for all these years? Extremely unlikely. One in a million, if that.” Chrysalis huffed, “Being separated from the Hive Mind after full integration is extremely detrimental to a changeling’s mental health; you, Glitter are the first I’ve ever had not stay connected to it all the time.”

“You’ve said as much before, but million to one chances have a bad habit of cropping up nine times out of ten,” Twilight grumbled,

“It would take substantial mental fortitude to have lasted this long alone, and considerable resourcefulness to have survived physically; there’s nowhere to get food out here, Princess. Rainstorms are few and far between, and water was almost impossible to come by otherwise.” Shred informed, “‘Badlands’ is a bit of a misnomer, really; it’d be more accurate to call where we came from a desert or barrens. We had a dedicated supply line that would trek about three hours just to collect water for drinking. The land itself is all but completely infertile.”

Twilight sighed, “This expedition becomes more and more complicated by the day,”

“I’ll do what I can to see if I can find out where that voice came from,” Chrysalis voiced, “Else there’s not much that we can do but wait until we arrive.” With a shrug she looked over her shoulder, finally noticing that her hair had been done up from its usual style into a tight and neat prench braid. Warily she eyed the butter yellow pegasus who was brushing out her tail with a smile and humming a gentle tune to herself, “Well, at least you’re having fun, I suppose.”

“Relay anything you find,” Shred snapped, “the safety of everypony here could depend on it.” He nodded in the ex-queen’s direction before returning to the corporal he’d dragged over, “Now, where were we? Ah, right, the helmet…”

~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~

Two hours had passed slowly, bringing with them the arrival of Glitter’s knitting equipment and an inspection of her mildly battered horn by the princess. The alicorn had been distracted for the first expected checkup an hour earlier, so belated as it was, she was being more thorough. Glitter had squirmed timidly the entire time that Twilight had been holding her head in place, looking at her horn from multiple angles.

“I see no lasting burns, only superficial damage to your outer chitin,” she muttered matter-of-factly before tapping their horns together.

The feeling of someone inside her horn made Glitter squirm harder, “Princess I hate this,”

“I know, Glitter,”

“It feels like you’re twirling a stick inside my horn,” she said, giving a squeak as Twilight’s magic probed an apparently sensitive spot inside.

“I know it does, Glitter, but we need to be sure that your mana channels haven’t been damaged. Any internal damage could cripple your ability to use magic forever,”

Glitter tried and failed to nod against Twilight’s hold, “I know that, princess, but it’s still really uncomfortable!”

Twilight only sighed sympathetically, “I know, Glitter,”

“Will the outer burns be permanent?” Aegis asked as she watched from nearby, pointedly ignoring Shred trying to find any flaw in her armour’s polish.

“Minor injuries heal, the burn should be gone within the week,” Shred commented with a scowl as he found that even her belt buckles had been polished, “hive be damned, mare, you must have missed something!”

Aegis shifted irritably, “Shred, you get any closer to my belly and you’ll get a swift kicking, I ain’t a recruit and don’t appreciate-”

“I’m performing an inspection of the armour, Aegis,” he snapped.

“I’m married, Shred,”

“And you ain’t my type,”

“That doesn’t stop you from looking,”

“If I were so desperate to pretend to perform an inspection just to sneak a peek, you’re the last pony I’d bother,”

“You sayin’ I’m not good enough for you?”

“I’m sayin’ that I have a job to do and unlike our idiot underlings I can be professional.”

“Will you two just kiss or go away already, I’m trying to perform a medical scan and you’re throwing off my concentration!” Twilight snapped.

Glitter all but thrashed to get out of Twilight’s grip and squeaked, “Princess, calm down, that hurts!”

With a start, Twilight ceased her channelling and took a step back from the young albino, before stepping forward again and gently taking her head into her hooves, “Ah, I’m sorry, Glitter, I lost my focus, are you okay?”

Glitter groaned and carefully pulled Twilight’s hooves from her face, “I think I’m okay, your presence in my horn, that twiddly stick feeling I complained about, felt like it had gone from a stick to a small branch,” he shook her head uncomfortably, “didn’t feel good.”

Twilight sighed and nodded gently, “Sorry, Glitter; thank you for telling me, I could have seriously hurt you.” Her ire turned to the two guards all but cowering sheepishly from her, “And you two, you’re supposed to be professionals here; show some decorum! For Celestia’s sake, where did that argument even come from?”

Aegis shifted and mumbled, “He had his head under my belly…”

Twilight’s firm gaze turned to Shred who grit his teeth, “I was inspecting her armour, nothing more,”

Aegis stamped her left hind hoof angrily, “I’m First Lieutenant, I’m one of the ponies who do the surprise inspections on others, you don’t need to check my gear to see if I can polish it!”

Shred growled, “For me to get a better idea of what I should be seeing on the ponies I’ll be training I should get a decent look of what I’m looking for, I can hardly do that with the louts we’ve brought with us! Ponyfeathers, the colt I inspected earlier had scuffs on his helmet so blatant that even Spike could see them!”

“If you two want to fight, I suggest that you wait until we’ve landed so everypony can enjoy the show,” Glitter grumbled, “and not in here where there’s an enlargement spell that could be disrupted and collapse the inside of the carriage in on us,”

Evidently deciding to ignore the now cowed guards, Twilight turned back to the youngest in the room, “Now, Glitter, despite unintentionally hurting you I did manage to complete my inspection of your pathways,” she stated in a stern tone reminding Glitter of when her teacher would all but command the attention of her class, “and while I did find some very minor damage, you appear to be in near perfect health. I’d recommend a horn filing when you next have time to arrange one, however; you’ve built up a bit of magic residue which if left untreated could make spell casting more difficult.”

Glitter blinked across at her, “So no more null ring?”

Twilight nodded, “No more null ring,”

With a sigh Glitter smiled, “Big thanks for small mercies, I suppose,”

A heavy knocking drew all of their collective attention to the sole door leading to the outside of the carriage as it swung open to admit a single pegasus stallion in royal guard armour. He saluted curtly before speaking, “Your Highness, we are nearing our destination landing zone; estimated time to land five minutes.”

Twilight blinked at him in confusion for a moment before turning to give Shred a mildly confused glance, “Thank you for notifying us, sergeant; but I did not expect us to reach where we were going to land for another hour yet?”

“Favourable winds and good thermals, Princess; we’ve had a strong and steady tailwind for the last two hours, and sunlight baking the badlands has provided us with strong thermals,” he stated firmly before saluting again, “I must inform the other carriages as well, by your leave, Highness.”

“Of course, thank you sergeant,”

The stallion flapped his wings once as if to stretch them before turning and leaving back through the door he had entered from, closing it with a snap. He could be seen extremely briefly through the window alongside it, his wings outstretched as he flew to the carriage behind their own.

“Well,” Twilight began cheerily, “I suppose I should go make sure Spike is ready and see if your packages have arrived yet,”

Glitter nodded as she connected to the Hive Mind, “And I-”

“You will not,” Shred snapped, cutting her off mid-thought, “I will go and let your grandmother know; you will relax.”

Glitter huffed, “Uncle, I’m not so upset that-”

“Don’t care and neither would your mother,” Shred growled, “she broke promises and physically hurt you with her conniving; you are not your grandmothers’ keeper nor are you to simply forgive her because you’re physically fine.”

“I… Uncle.”

“No!” He shouted, stamping a hoof, “She won’t learn a damn thing if you keep coddling her! I was tasked with keeping you and your grandmother safe, and if I have to keep you safe from yourselves and each other I’ll tie you down myself!“

“Uncle, neither of us are so fragile that a little tiff like this is going to-”

Shred glared, his whole body almost flaring out as he snarled, clicked, hissed, and buzzed his wings angrily.

Glitter, Aegis, and Twilight stared at him in worried confusion as he huffed furiously, not backing down.

“That,” Flitterwing’s voice echoed to Glitter and Shred through the Mind, “was not a nice thing to say to my daughter, Shred.”

Twilight sighed, “I get the impression that that was your old, native language?”

“Ancient Changeling, actually,” came the voice of Chrysalis from the hallway door as it swung open to admit both Fluttershy and herself. She glared at Shred disapprovingly while she strode over to Glitter and shifted the younger changeling’s saddlebags from her back down to Glitter’s own, “and that was not something that you should say in even impolite conversation, Shred; especially to a foal.”

“Translation?” Aegis asked curiously.

“Multiple expletives which lack proper direct translation, the closest would also be something not to be said in even impolite conversation.” Chrysalis huffed, “I’ll leave it to Flitterwing to decide how to respond to it. As Glitter has no idea what you just said, I’ll just advise you not to do it again.”

Shred huffed, “Poor choice of words, but I refuse to take back my intent; you are constantly doing stupid things that risk Glitter, her friends, or the rest of us changelings getting hurt or worse, and she’s too easy to forgive you for it! How in Tartarus am I supposed to keep you safe if one of you keeps poking manticores and the other merely encourages it?!”

“Not an exact analogy, but your point is taken,” Chrysalis grumbled.

“Captain,” Aegis interrupted sternly while poking Shred’s shoulder, “I am fairly certain that this is why your particular branch of the Guard is being expanded.”

Twilight nodded as she pulled some paperwork from one of her saddlebags, “The other branches of guard have noted your high tension and stress, and you have been punished for assaulting your fellows more than almost any other guard,” she pointed to these reports in what turned out to be Shred’s personnel file.

“Why do you have that?” Shred growled.

“I have a copy of the relevant information of every guard on this expedition, Captain,” Twilight hissed, “there are things that as a princess I need to know when I leave the safety of Equestria proper,”

“You keep starting fights,” Aegis pertly snapped, “over minor slights, typically things said about the Duchess. Captain Shining Armour might have found this mildly amusing and not officially punished you for it, but Captain Bulwark won’t put up with it; the only reason you were given new recruits and an expansion to your division instead of being punished this time is because Captains Hammer and Anvil stood up for you, and Princess Luna took your side due to the nature of the insult you snapped over,”

“You’re so high-strung all the time, uncle,” Glitter gently pointed out.

“You and your grandmother don’t help that,”

“So you decided that, instead of telling us, you’d just persevere and put up with it? Stress kills, uncle.”

Shred scoffed, “I don’t need some wisp of a filly telling me that,”

“Then I will, Captain,” Twilight snapped, snapping Shred’s personnel file closed and sliding it back into her saddlebags, “when were you going to reveal that you’ve never gone on leave?”

Shred growled and turned his face away, “And leave some pony to guard Chrysalis? Somepony from a different regiment?”

“I’ll pretend to not have heard the xenophobic implications, Captain,” Twilight snapped with her eyes narrowing at him, “and instead focus on informing you that those different regiments are not simply there as eye candy for lonely stallions and mares to gaze at and feel lovestruck. They are just as qualified as you are, some likely better equipped for diplomatic or VIP protection duties than even you.”

Aegis huffed, pushing Shred’s shoulder, “Look, I get it, you have pride on the line here, but you’re working yourself to death, Captain;” she shook her head as he refused to look anywhere but the distant wall, “I look at you and see what I see when I look at Thunder, you’re not guards.”

“What?!” Shred snapped as his head whipped around to glare at her furiously.

She smirked at him, “You’re not guards, sir, you’re soldiers. Fighters. Need I remind you of the Ice Hydra you fought in the Kitsune Blackspot? That you fought something that normally takes a platoon to combat to what was essentially a stalemate, if only because you hadn’t the means to properly kill it?

“That’s what the Monster Hunter division is for,” she stated proudly, “ponies like Thunder who are better at offence than defence. Have you read the reports that come from their missions? That stallion fought a maul of Owlursus on his own!” She chortled, “Though he’s rubbish at guard duty. Can’t sit still for love nor money, probably explains how Captains Hammer and Anvil managed to dupe him into spilling durian on Princess Luna’s dress,”

“Yeah,” Spike spoke up from the kitchen as he dawdled in, a plate stacked tall with sandwiches in his claws, “he told me stories to help me make my O’ and O’ fights more realistic; if not for healing magic and potions, he’d basically just be one big scar.”

“Shred, if you’re not enjoying your duties protecting me, or are actively suffering from it, there’s no shame in admitting it. I certainly won’t be offended,” Chrysalis spoke gently.

“I…” Shred breathed, hesitating as the carriage rocked heavily from landing and shaking off his indecision, “I don’t have time for this, there’s work to do setting up a perimeter.”

Glitter took a step, “Uncle…”

“Later.” Shred growled before pulling open the door leading outside and slamming it shut behind himself.

The gathered ponies, changelings, and dragon all looked amongst one another worriedly before following him out, stepping beyond the doors into the harsh barren wasteland beyond.

Glitter paused as she stepped out, looking across the dry land that stretched to the horizon in almost every direction, “I knew the Badlands were desolate, but this…” she muttered before letting her gaze stop and stare at the ruins likely only a kilometre to her right and taking a short gasp.

Chrysalis slid in next to her, her own gaze never leaving the same structures and almost moaning beneath her breath, “My home what hath become of thee..?”

Glitter looked up at her grandmother worriedly, going to speak only to note that she had closed her eyes and grit her teeth. A slight quiver seemed to rock her form, and Glitter’s gaze drifted to the ex-monarch’s chest as it heaved in a barely held sob.
‘My home is dead,’ her form said.

Glitter shook her head and turned her attention back to the ruins, only to stare at a figure that sat a short distance from them, staring back. Glitter blinked.
And they were almost in her face.

She shrieked and dove back, alerting others to the intruder who merely stood and glared at Chrysalis in particular. Chrysalis shook her head, reeling her head back in shock-horror at what she saw before her.

Guards were there in an instant, spears hefted in the newcomer’s direction and angry shouts warning of sudden movements coming with serious repercussions, and Shred himself moved between them in what appeared to be stunned disbelief, brushing a spear aside to sit before the stranger.

She turned her arctic blue face in his direction, glaring at him as well with her cyan eyes. The light breeze that blew through the camp did little to the mud, dirt, and grime that covered her almost to her chest.

“You should not be here;” she spoke with a soft, broken voice that creaked from disuse, “let the past, the dead, sleep.”

She turned to leave, only for Chrysalis to choke out, “Ocellus?”

She paused, turning to glare at the ex-monarch over her shoulder and past the muddy pinkish fin on her neck, “You have nerve coming here,” she hissed, “you of all creatures;” she physically turned to give chrysalis her full attention, spreading her dirty elytra and wings aggressively, “you took us to war, feeble and desperate, an army on the brink of starvation, and threw us at the greatest power in the lands. How many died on the way? Hundreds? Thousands? Were we anything but pawns to you?!

“Of course you survived,” she growled, “but how long has it taken for you to return here, to the site of your failures?” She coughed before continuing, “I remained, a lone Witness still fresh from her training, to perform my duties for those you left behind, those already dying from starvation or illness. Their lone sympathetic presence to stand by their side and mourn their passing, to perform the last mercy they would receive and bury them.

“Your voices going silent, beyond my reach, spread to the winds and dying without family nor Witness… I have had to learn to be alone.” She shook her head as she coughed again, shifting her horrifically malnourished body to sit, “Learned to grow meagre food alongside the closest river, barely enough to survive on, hid from monsters in the dark and the desert… hid from a monster of your own making. He’ll come, and you’ll have to face the consequences of your actions, of how truly desperate you made him.

“Who knows,” she shrugged, “maybe you’ll manage to bring him to his senses. I doubt it, though. More likely you will merely give me one final remnant to mourn and bury like so many others.” She tossed something from her back at Chrysalis’ hooves while she hissed and clicked something at the taller changeling, making her reel back as if struck and Shred to wince, “I’ll pass into the Elysium Plains barely recorded, Ocellus the last Witness.”

Glitter shoved past the guards herself, sliding up alongside her grandmother and gazing worriedly at the strangely colourful changeling. Ocellus, for all the rage she held, looked genuinely shocked at Glitter, rising to her hooves and moving to get a better look at her.

“An albino? The last, I would imagine; born barely before the start of the invasion. You were but a foal when last I heard of you; so more survived the extinction of our species than this witch and her lapdog?”

Glitter nodded, “A few of us, not many though,” she muttered, “but what about you, you look dreadful, please,” she opened her saddlebags with her magic and lifted out a bottle of water, uncapping it and holding it out, “take some water; I have food as well.”

Ocellus stared as if in shock before sitting and gingerly taking the bottle, giving it a cautious sniff before taking a long desperate draught.

“False alarm, everypony; she’s a survivor,” Aegis shouted, “stay alert, though; she spoke of another. Set up a perimeter, watch for anything, there may be monsters here as well.” She turned her head to the guards who hadn’t rushed over, “We need a medic over here, one versed in changeling anatomy!”

Glitter offered Ocellus some of her granola bars, which were taken with great enthusiasm as Fluttershy, carrying a medic bag, hurried over and began to inspect her, “Ocellus, is it? I’m Fluttershy, if you tell me if you have any injuries or infections I can treat them for you.”

“Try not to eat too fast,” Glitter softly advised, putting a hoof onto Ocellus’ shoulder and earning an incredulous look, “eating too much too fast could make you sick, I learned that the hard way once.”

“She’s right,” Flutterhsy said as she put a stethoscope to the newcomer’s chest, “especially if you’ve not been eating right for a long time; you’ll just regurgitate it again. Slow down, Ocellus; the food’s not going anywhere.”

“She looks worse than you all did during the invasion,” Twilight softly pointed out, “she’s so thin.”

Fluttershy nodded, “Um, on the body score scale she’d be classed as a two, maybe even a one. During the invasion the worst we saw was a three; that you’ve survived out here so long is remarkable.”

“The other changelings said that being disconnected from the Hive Mind after being in it for a long time drives changelings insane,” Glitter muttered, “Ocellus, how-”

“I did,” Ocellus stated flatly, “for a while. There were so many voices only to be suddenly surrounded by utter silence. It was jarring. Terrifying. I don’t remember much of it, only that I wandered alone through the Hive for days. Maybe a couple weeks. I remembered my body wanting water and I think I snapped back long enough to head for the river.

“After drinking enough to quiet my stomach I remember seeing myself looking like… this,” she gestured with a hoof at herself, “in my reflection.” She shook her head viciously, “I broke down crying and just lay there for I think a day before getting back up with my senses again. I don’t know, I wonder if the grim role I took in the Hive, a Watcher, just… girded me against the mental fatigue.

“There were some wild carrots and other edible vegetables along the riverbank that I ate and began to carefully grow, never enough to fully sate my hunger, but enough to stave off starvation, I think.”

“Was that you, I saw?” Glitter asked, “Watching the train out in the plains?”

Ocellus nodded, “I felt the Hive Mind as you drew nearer and figured I could maybe deter you from coming out here. When my initial attempts with the train didn’t work, I tried again all night and today while you were flying over. I just couldn’t connect, no matter how hard I tried, until a little while ago when something just… clicked.”

“So you were the one to shout at us,”

“And you didn’t listen to me!” Ocellus snapped, “Do you have any idea the danger you’re all in? There’s no way he didn’t see you all landing!” She curled into a ball and shook back and forth, “And I just walked out here, he’ll know I’m here too… oh stars he’s going to kill us all!”

“Who, Ocellus?” Shred barked, “Who are you talking about, what’s going on?”

“I’ve seen him kill Maulwurf, we are in so much danger no, no, no, we have to leave!”

Shred grabbed and shook her shoulder, “Ocellus, who? What?”

She shuddered in a breath before speaking, “There was a second changeling with me, a male. He’d stayed behind because he didn’t want to go to war, didn’t want to fight. We kept each other's spirits up. Talked and became friends, distracted ourselves with silly stories and by just being there for one another. Never once did we think of just going into Equestria and blending in with the ponies; I think at one point we figured there would be disguise-breaking spells and we’d be captured.

“H-he found something one day, it looked like a shard of unicorn horn, but it was red and black and curved strangely. Made me feel bad just to look at it,” Ocellus whimpered, “but he just… he was so hungry, and I hadn’t found the river yet…” she shook her head, “The madness set in so quickly, and he changed; became violent, aggressive. Black crystals cover walls he hits with magic. I ran because he attacked me, and I’ve hidden from him since, lurking in shadows and just out of sight. He’s been eating things he kills, scorpions and Rocs and the Maulwurf he killed.”

The whole camp flinched as a screeching roar echoed through them and Ocellus all but froze up her eyes wide, “Oh Tartarus he’s coming.”

A beam of purple-green magic lanced through the camp, nearly striking Chrysalis in her chest only for Shred to shove her aside and take the blow himself across his left shoulder in a spray of superheated blood. Fluttershy was on him in an instant, pulling bandages from her first aid pack and attempting to staunch his bleeding wound.

A translucent dome surrounded their camp and Aegis shouted, “Defensive perimeter, protect the VIPs!” She flinched as something struck her shield.

Prowling outside the shield, pawing at the ground and all but foaming at the mouth was a figure that drove Glitter to hide behind her grandmother. One of the two jagged orange antlers on his head dragged across the bubble, causing a screeching sound not unlike claws down a blackboard, and she could smell the decaying gore that almost covered his green carapace.

Both eyes, blood red and billowing black smoke, glared in their direction in a way that reminded her of the hydra that had attacked years ago; feral and hungry. Dark, almost black crystals also sprouted up around him, growing a foot tall only to dissolve into dust after a moment before reforming once again.

“This,” Chrysalis whimpered through the din of the guards readying, “this is the Hiveless.”

Ocellus could only wheeze out, “His name was Thorax,”

“He’s using black magic,” Glitter squeaked, getting a nod from her grandmother,

“I’ve seen those crystals before,” Twilight stated, “they seal non-dark magic, acting like a mithril ring,”

“Like that Sombra guy could do?” Spike asked.

Twilight nodded, “Right, like… Sombra…” She blinked as wheels turned in her head and she turned her attention to the creature trying to claw its way through the shield, “a red and black curved unicorn horn.”

“What’s that, Twilight?” Spike asked.

She shook her head and cast a spell and a faint purple glow surrounded the crazed changeling momentarily, “Sombra,” she hissed, “he’s partially possessed by King Sombra.”

Spike shook his head, “But he’s dead, the Crystal Heart destroyed him!”

“Something must have been missed, a small part of his horn that held just enough of his spirit to do… this.” Chrysalis spoke breathlessly, “Thrown here by the force of whatever magic did the deed.”

Rolling Thunder stepped heavily into the group accompanied by the rustling jangle of his heavy armour and thumped the head of his hammer into the dirt. At everypony’s confused looks, he shrugged, “Heard the roar,” he stated, “Shred, you want me to deal with this?”

Shred shakily stood, pushing away Fluttershy’s fussing over the new bandage on his shoulder and shook his head, “Ugh, no, but keep your dragon-bone hammer close,” he grunted, before grabbing a sword and scabbard from a nearby guard, “Pitiful quality,” he hissed as he tied the sword securely inside its scabbard, “but it will do,”

Thunder smirked, “I get t’ have front row seating to a Captain showin’ his stuff? Good; these wet-eared doorstops get to see what it takes to be on top.”

“We saw Captain Armour in action at the end of the wedding,” a corporal commented, only for Thunder to laugh.

“Armour’s a guardian, his job’s to shield and he’s stupid good at it;” he snorted, “I ain’t gotta see him in action to know Shred ain’t like that,”

“Whatever you’re going to do, it’d better work, because this guy is draining my shield,” Aegis snapped.

“If he can’t manage, I’ll swing me hammer,”

“Dragon bone, Sergeant?” Twilight asked curiously.

“Tooth, gifted by an old friend of Princess Luna’s, but same thing.”

“If you’re done talking, can someone do something about him before he completely bursts my shield?!” Aegis shouted.

Shred nodded, hefting the sword before strolling forward, “Little prick was the pacifist that made his trainers grind their teeth and humiliated those around him, especially his brother, and thinks blocking magic will help him now that he’s showing a violent side,” he snarled reached the edge of the shield, “so I reckon I’ll beat the stupid out of him. Aegis, on his next charge, lower your shield. Thunder, be ready if things go pear shaped,”

“You got it,” Thunder affirmed amusedly.

As ordered, when Thorax reared back to headbutt the shield again it vanished, making the enraged changeling stumble when he struck nothing only for Shred’s left hoof to clock him across the face hard enough to send him tumbling to the ground to his assailant’s shout of, “Pathetic form, did you learn nothing?!”

Thunder chuckled, “Every shield needs a good sword,”

Thorax rose again, snarling furiously, and another beam of dark magic lanced from his horn towards Shred, who sidestepped to his right and harshly jabbed the sword he held in his left hoof directly at the end of Thorax’s horn with enough force for the echoing clack to reverberate throughout the camp.

Thorax’s yelp of pain made everypony with a horn wince.

“Wide open, foal,” Shred snarled, before blocking a swung hoof with the sword, rebalancing, and using it to sweep Thorax’s hooves out from beneath him, “gave up on us, on your own kin,” he ducked Thorax attempting to gouge him with his horn as he rose, slamming the hilt of his sword into his gut and winding him, “did something stupid in desperation, I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

Chrysalis flinched.

Shred took a hard blow to his face, spreading blood from his nose across the ground, and countered with a deadbutt between Thorax’s eyes that sent the physically larger changeling staggering, “Your great-great-grand aunt is standing right there and this is the shameful display you give her? After all the training you went through? Your trainer must be rolling in his grave.”

Thorax lunged to bite, his fanged mouth leaking a stream of blood and spittle, only to catch a mouthful of the sword and be wrangled to the ground and given a swift kick to the barrel which rolled him half a dozen metres with the crack of a broken rib.

“Not even fighting like a changeling, I guess that thing you ate went right to your foalish head,” Shred spat, sidestepping another lunge and striking Thorax on his back with the sword, “attacking like some feral cornered animal,” a black crystal burst from the ground at Shred’s hooves aimed at his throat only to be smashed as he used his sword like a club and spread it across the ground, but not before it could leave a deep cut up his chest. Shred flinched at the pitch black crystals that spread up his throat, across his face and over his horn, “filthy remnants of a unicorn long dead desperate to add to his body count; the Princess will sort that out, but I’ll be left with the dregs,” Thorax shot another lance of magic, but this one was deflected by Shred with his sword into a nearby boulder that exploded into gravel, “a creature that is currently more animal than changeling, if there’s even anything of you left in there!”

Thorax struggled to attack, but when he once more attempted to impale Shred with his horn, the guard struck him under the chin hard enough to lift his forequarters off the ground, “I’m versed in showing others how to take out things like you,” he snarled prior to dishing out other blows that violently shook Thorax’s body as he called out their targets, “plexus, kidney, croup!”

The blows having landed, Thorax collapsed to the ground wheezing and twitching in pain, eyes wide and panicked. Finally Shred huffed down at him, “I missed you,” he sighed before slamming the sword into the back of Thorax’s head, knocking him out cold.

Breathing heavily, Shred turned away and strolled over to the other guards, “Get at least two rings on that idiot boy,” he snapped as he roughly shoved the battered sword back into the hooves of its owner, “bathe and chain him, I don't want the smell to make anypony sick! Princess, if you could find a way to remove that… thing from him, we’d be much safer. Who knows, he might come back to lucidity.”

Fluttershy took some disinfectant from her medic saddlebags and stopped Shred from walking past her, “Your wounds need looking after,” she mumbled, “i-if that’s okay.”

He sighed and sat, breathing heavily as she began to apply the stinging balms to his wounds. “How long until these crystals go away, Princess? I can hardly do my whole job without my magic, and they itch.”

Twilight shook her head, “Not sure, possibly a couple of hours? My brother never mentioned itching, but he was stuck with them until the Crystal Heart purified him and that was most of a day.”

“Isn’t that powered by Love magic, Twilight?” Fluttershy meekly asked.

“Well, yes; the Crystal Heart gathers, amplifies, and spreads the love and happiness of the Crystal Ponies across the Empire. That’s the magic that removed the crystal infection from my brother’s horn.”

“Royal Jelly may work,” Chrysalis suggested, “but if it doesn’t, it may be a long time before Shred gets his magic back; he’d had to travel to the Crystal Empire, or at least nearby.”

“Or we’d need a powerful burst of Love magic,” Aegis interjects, “And I don’t know about you all, but I am not versed in casting that.”

Glitter tilted her head, eyeing the crystals that partially covered her adoptive uncle’s chest and face, before pulling her magic up and brushing it across them. Much to her surprise, and that of the others around her, some of the smaller crystals dissolved away. When the others turned to look at her askance she shrugged, “Changelings consume love passively to fuel our magic, it just made sense.”

“Good news, then, Royal Jelly should fix the problem,” Twilight started with an annoyed tone, “and it looks like somepony volunteered to provide it. In the meantime, I want somepony to take Miss Ocellus here to the bathroom in our carriage and help her bathe.”

Fluttershy held a hoof up, “I-If she's okay with me, I'll help her,”

Twilight nodded, “Thank you, Fluttershy. Lieutenant Thunder, go back to bed; you’ll need your rest for the night shift, thank you for being out here on such short notice, however.”

Thunder bowed before hefting his hammer across his back and motioning for Fluttershy to take the lead to the carriage, following behind her and Ocellus. Spike rummaged around inside Twilight’s saddlebags for a moment and lifted out a glass beaker.

Twilight nodded to him, “Thank you, Spike; Lieutenant Aegis, see to the camp’s setup and the researchers, try not to let them get out of hoof. We may go for a brief expedition into the ruins once everything is set up.”

Aegis saluted and barked, “At once, Princess,” then promptly spun on her heel and marched over to several guards milling about, “you heard the princess, move! Get this set up yesterday, foals!”

Glitter groaned as the glass beaker was put into her hooves, “Don’t give me that,” Twilight snapped, “you showed that this has a good chance of working, and with your grandmother unable to produce Royal Jelly at the moment, this is up to you.”

Shred chuckled, “It’ll be alright, Glitter. Take your time, I’m not going anywhere,” he intoned reassuringly.

With another nod, Glitter set to work slowly filling the beaker with her magical essence.

“You seemed familiar with that monst- changeling,” Spike spoke up and caught his words before he could upset anypony, “did you know him before?”

Shred nodded, “I did, yes. As I said, the great-great-grand nephew of Chrysalis herself.”

Chrysalis chuckled, “I still remember the nicknames,” she said wistfully, “‘Butterfly’ was mine. He only used it in private, I couldn’t really be seen taking favourites in public back then.”

“Was Thorax his nickname?” Spike asked curiously, his eyes coming to rest on where the so-named changeling was being securely bound to a post with heavy chains. They could hear somepony talking about a bucket and rag as they wandered away to one of the carriages.

Shred shook his head, “No, that’s his name,” he said quietly with his own eyes resting on the same sad sight, “we sometimes called him Squeaker as he had… has a bad habit of chirping his wings when he laughs.”

“With any luck Royal Jelly will cure him of this… madness,” Chrysalis sighed, “and we’ll hear that laughter again.”

Glitter grunted and stopped her channelling, breaking into heavy breathing and holding the beaker out for Twilight, “Here, I don’t think I can make much more for now; maybe after a good meal?”

Twilight took the jar and eyed it, “Just over half full, good work; this should be enough for both of them,” she said. Her magic lifted a rag from her saddlebags and dipped it in, soaking up some of the jelly and then rubbing it onto the crystals that clung to Shred’s hide.

Where she wiped, the crystals dissolved and vanished, crumbling away into nothing. Shred sighed, “That’s feeling better already, thank you,”

“What was yours?” Glitter asked.

Shred tilted his head in her direction with his eyes closed as the rag wiped up along his ailed cheek and temple, “What?”

“Your nickname, what was yours?”

He visibly considered her question, but instead of answering he instead took the jar from Twilight’s magic with sad eyes and wandered over to Thorax, ignoring the rag that hung from his now crystal free horn. He gestured at the guards standing watch, “Lift him, open his mouth; we need to get this into his stomach without him throwing up.”

“With him out cold, this is a bad idea, Captain,” one of the two said as she saluted with her wing, “we could drown him.”

He glared at the ground before huffing and giving the jar back to Twilight, “Fine; the moment he wakes. Find a way, bind him down and muzzle his jaw open if you have to. No excuses.”

Without paying the group he’d just been talking with any mind, Shred stormed off to where several other guards were mingling around a tent in an apparent half hearted attempt to put it up.

“He doesn’t like talking about it much,” Chrysalis murmured, “his life before the invasion. He doesn’t like the memories, so he makes himself mad and gets things done,” she shook her head, “we were all broken a bit by the invasion, some of us more than others. It hurts to talk about sometimes,” she prodded Glitter’s chest, “in here, where the hurt doesn’t go away,”

Glitter blinked sadly up at the elder changeling, who now looked and sounded melancholic, “Granna…”

“He was good at singing,” Chrysalis huffed with a smile, “could bring smiles with song. Incredibly talented at combat and just being in the guard in general, but he could sing. Used to keep Thorax happy, help him sleep at night. Practically inseparable, except for training; Thorax couldn’t keep up. Too gentle of a heart.”

“Who were they? Together?” Twilight asked softly.

“Shred’s nickname was Pharynx,” Chrysalis spoke mournfully while a tear rolled across her cheek, “and he’s Thorax’s brother.”

Author's Note

I'M NOT DEAD, BUT THE WRITERS' BLOCK IS!