In The Doghouse

Chrysalis had spent most of the day searching Senpaga for any sign of a mysterious magical item, presence, or being. She had disguised herself in a diverse number of ways, from young pups and old ladies to rubbish bins and bushes. The changeling had investigated some of the seedier parts of town. A bit of enquiring at what was obviously a shop selling illegal black magic books and artifacts had led to a rather interesting tidbit of information. According to the proprietor of the shop, a grizzled old dog missing his left eye, some strange folk had been spotted coming and going from one of the poverty stricken sections of the city. They were described as dogs wearing thick, dark cloaks with hoods covering the faces, so as to make the breed indistinguishable, though most were around medium size.

It was around midnight and Chrysalis was in that poverty stricken section of the city, sitting on a rooftop, her legs curled underneath her. A laughably simple illusion spell kept her shielded from unwanted eyes, with the exception of a tabby coated cat that was currently sitting to her right, grooming itself. Cats were one of the few creatures that were rarely affected by illusions, for whatever reason.

Right now the changeling had her eyes closed and was focusing magic into her horn, not to cast a spell, but to try and divine any strange and out-of-place magic in the area. Nearly every creature had some form of inherent magic sense, and Chrysalis had always been more adept than others. It came with being a creature that fed off of the energy released by emotions. Even before she had become a changeling it had been her special talent.

Presently she felt sadness and sorrow radiating from the tiny conclaves of homeless dogs that occupied alleys and streets, a chilling and humbling feeling. A few had given up any hope. Something felt off, though. Intertwined with the despair of their situations was a heavy, almost inordinate amount of fear. One would expect this from a prisoner on the chopping block, not the homeless. Chrysalis presumed it had something to do with those cloaked dogs that had been spotted, but she couldn’t be sure.

Oh, what was this? A tiny dot of apprehension and curiosity was flitting among the wall of negative emotions. And what was more was the amount of ambient magic it was putting off! Dogs didn’t put off anywhere near that much magic unless they were casting a powerful spell, and judging by the way it didn’t appear to have any shape or form it was just flowing from whatever was down there.

Chrysalis opened her eyes and cut off the sensory spell, standing up and turning in the direction she had felt the anomalous magic. Everything below her was dark and drenched in shadows so thick it bordered on the impenetrable. It was impossible to actually see anything, but once again changeling anatomy helped remedy the problem. A changeling’s eyes were more sensitive to light and had better night vision, and with a quick application of magic the pupils in her eyes grew until there was no longer any green but a solid black. Chrysalis observed the streets for any sign of movement. A moment passed before she heard a crack, the noise of something being broken, and followed it.

She jumped from the roof and fluttered her wings, buzzing in the sky like a night-dark bee against a tattered black quilt. She gazed below at the labyrinth of streets and side-streets below, crisscrossing in neat, geometric and sensible patterns at one point but twisting and bending like a snake fleeing from an eagle at another. Part of her wondered what exactly had happened to make this neighborhood become so poor in comparison to other areas. It couldn’t exactly be called a slum. Most houses present looked to be able to hold a small family, and very few seemed like apartments that the disadvantaged would live in. Maybe some form of economic woe that struck hard and fast, like a bank going under. Whatever happened here was none of her concern.

From her vantage point the entire city was lit up like jack-o-lanterns on Hallow’s Eve. Increased night vision turned a candlestick on the edge of a window into a roaring bonfire. Miniscule dogs could be seen moving in some places; guards and drunkards and lovers taking a stroll. All bipedal. All except one.

Prowling at the border of a two story house was a quadruped of some sort, low to the ground and appearing wary of any that might be spying. It certainly was interesting to the changeling. During her jaunt as Shale she had seen nothing but dogs, and none that walked on four legs. Chrysalis couldn’t quite make out what it was as it scrambled into a window. Perhaps a griffon, but to her the shape wasn’t leonine enough, nor were there any signs of wings. Other possibilities would be a zebra, or maybe a donkey. That fit the bill nicely, but to be sure a closer look would be needed.

She landed lightly on the roof, her perforated hooves barely making the slightest of sounds, hardly audible to any unless they stood by her side. Flat, cracked shingles littered the roof of the abode, making for dangerous footholds. At any moment one or all could come tumbling off due to the changeling’s extra weight. Luckily she managed to find the bare wood underneath that made up the skeleton of the roof and stuck her hooves to them. Changeling hooves were spider-like in their make-up, covered in millions of microscopic, sticky hair, perfect for climbing on any and all surfaces. Just one more advantage of being an emotion sucking, parasitic entity.

Now Chrysalis would need a way to see inside, or at the very least gauge what the silhouette potentially was. A bit of pondering and she decided on an X-ray spell. Once cast she was given a good, three dimensional look at the inside of the building. What she saw made her knees buckle and her heart beat faster.

On the first floor, wandering around with a methodical trepidation was an equine, but not a donkey or a zebra. No, she had a clear view of the skeletal structure and what separated it from those two was the horn jutting out from the skull, about four inches in length.

“A unicorn.” The changeling’s voice was low and choked.

That was impossible. There weren’t any left. They had all died thousands of years ago. Chrysalis had been there.

***

The little unicorn filly shivered in terror, shielded from the frigid wind by her mother’s body. Her mother had wrapped her in the thickest cloak possible and covered her hooves with leather. Chrysalis pressed up to her mother’s right side, near the wall of the mountain, away from the edge that dropped down into the darkness below. Hundreds of unicorns trekked down the mountain path, away from the fortress-city that had been their home for eons. All wore clothing suited to the cold and desolation of the environment. Wagons laden with goods from personal effects to what little food could be found were hitched to strong stallions. Skilled mages scattered among the ranks cast constant heat and shielding spells to no effect. The Eternal Winter had seemingly broken their magic, and their spirits.

Supposedly everything was going to change. The citizens of Unicornia were fleeing south from all the ice and darkness to better lands where they would be free. Chrysalis wouldn’t have to go hungry ever again. She glanced up at her mother through the thin slit between her hood and the cloth covering her mouth, pushing a strand of her unruly green mane out of the way; it was more like a spider web than anything else. The mare noticed this and turned to smile, her auburn mane dusted with tiny particles of ice.

“Don’t worry, Chrysalis. We’ll be out of this storm soon.”

Her mother, the kindest mare in the entire world, was named Autumn Dusk, for the time of year she was born in. She was a constant, a solid rock, always there to reassure her daughter, just like now. Chrysalis, however, wasn’t so sure of those words. They were strained and hollow, more to console the mother than the filly. Dread and despair radiated from her mother. Chrysalis could feel it. It was her special talent, after all.

From the time she was born Chrysalis had always been able to read ponies. She picked up on subtle cues early, and soon could actively tell who was feeling an emotion in excess. The scholars from the Mage Tower had told her she was an empath, a rare breed of unicorn that had a sixth sense for emotion. It made her popular for a bit during school when all the fillies and colts would ask about whether or not a certain pony liked them, but as time wore on she became more of an outcast. It wasn’t really possible to lie to the filly, and her ability to simply know how you were feeling became more of a burden. Any anger directed her way made the poor thing break down in tears.

Her talent had even started to become painful. Too much anger or hate caused physical distress, aches in her horn and so on, and to say that there was much anger in Unicornia and the other pony tribes was an understatement. After Princess Platinum had returned from her meeting with the other three tribes the amount of malevolence dripping from their ruler sent Chrysalis into a spiral of pain that lasted for two days. Luckily morale had been up after their ruler gave a speech about finding a new land, and she had pulled through. Now it was a different story. A dull, throbbing pain was ever-present at the very tip of her horn, though she was thankful it hadn’t gotten worse. Still, she wasn’t holding out much hope.

A sharp cry from the back of the caravan startled the filly, and soon more voices were speaking up or shouting. Unicorns pointed skyward, and the various mages charged up their horns or hefted weapons. Chrysalis turned her eyes up and squinted against the white that made up the world before gasping at the sight of pegasi flying a few hundred feet above. Hundreds moved in v formations, pulling chariots or swaths of clouds. A rare sunbeam burst from the clouds and glinted off their armor.

Chrysalis snuggled even closer to her mother. For her entire life she had been told stories of the evil, war-like pegasi that lived high up in the clouds, abducting precious unicorn foals during the night and eating them. While she didn’t believe the part about them eating foals, she was still frightened.

More and more passed overhead until the sky was so thick with them it blotted out what little sun shambled out from behind the clouds. It was the equivalent of a new moon without any stars. The voices of the unicorns rose to a fever pitch, shouting obscenities to the fliers and promises of retribution for some slight or another. Of course the prideful pegasi lobbed insults back, a few of the braver ones flying low and sneering at the unicorns, only to be rounded up by the elders of the warrior race.

Soon the pegasi were gone, just tiny dots on the horizon. Autumn Dusk placed a hoof on her daughter’s back, an act meant to calm the filly. It worked, if only for a bit. She stood on her tippy-hooves and nuzzled her mother, the constant solid rock of her life.

In three days, however, her mother would be dead.

***

It had been quick, so quick Chrysalis had barely had time to notice the shock and fear on her mother’s face before the rock gave way beneath her and she was sent tumbling down into the valley below. Her mother hadn’t even screamed.

Since then Chrysalis had lost all will to go on. For the past several days she had been carried on the back of some other unicorn mare. A mare that wasn’t her mother. She hadn’t eaten anything, despite the pleading of her caretaker to try some of the stale, rock-consistency bread they called food. She was hungry, but she didn’t want to eat. A void had taken over where her heart had once been. The storm had ceased during the migration and now the land had become green. Grass could be seen once more along with trees. Not the tall, dark, gangly pines that survived in the ice up north, but leafy, cheerful trees. Yet to Chrysalis the world had never felt colder.

Cries of happiness and joy soon gave way to more hate. The short-lived ecstasy of a new land had been decimated by the realization that both the pegasi and the earth ponies had wandered into the same stretch of fertile and staked their own claims, conflicting with one another. Word had spread that war would soon be upon them. The unicorns had braved a mountain and made camp halfway up, raising walls of hastily cut stone with their magic. Pegasi once more began construction of a cloud fortress. Earth ponies had retreated into the unknown wilderness and formed guerilla strike forces. Animosity once more permeated the air like a miasma, and the pain in Chrysalis’s horn had only gotten worse.

She didn’t care for any of that. She just wanted her mother.

Chrysalis was hunkered down in an out-of-the-way corner, a broken gaze focused on the ground of the impromptu fortress. Tall, thick walls had been built around the mouth of a rather impressive cave. It was around one hundred feet high with mighty stalactites gripping the top like bats. Surprisingly it was rather dry. Torches were stuck to the walls, casting a flickering light in the farther-back passages. Foals ran round in circles, chasing one another and playing games. A few had tried to involve Chrysalis, only to receive a blank stare in return.

From what she could gather from snippets of adult conversation the skies had once more darkened and the temperature was dropping, almost like the winter was sapient, intent on devouring them.

A sudden furor and cries of fear managed to break Chrysalis from her depression, and for a moment she raised her weary head, her filthy bangs obscuring her view. Guards had gathered spears and were pointing them at the sky. A pegasus landed within the fortress walls, lacking any form of armor. It was obviously a mare, judging by her short snout and curvy body. Her mane was a light red, bordering on pink and her coat was a buttercup yellow. Her cutiemark was a bright red pansy. A tall wooden pole bearing a white flag had been tied to her midsection with a strap of leather. She was soon surrounded by armed unicorns, pointing both weapons and horns at the intruder.

Chrysalis watched with mild curiosity as the pegasus spoke. They were too far away for her to make out the words, but from the reactions of the unicorn guards it seemed she had said something shocking, though a few seemed less hostile to her.

A few hours later pegasi began filling the cave chamber, taking up residence away from the unicorns on the other side. A few of the important-looking pegasi, specifically a rainbow-haired one wearing a set of cold, grey steel were in a heated talk with some unicorn nobles, including the esteemed Princess Platinum in her regal purple dress. Finally they came to some accord, and another hour or two passed and earth ponies, clothed in raggedy cloaks and pulling wagons trudged into the cave, casting fearful and suspicious glares at the unicorns and pegasi. During all this Chrysalis felt the pain in her horn increase to a constant, sharp stabbing, making her wince with every heartbeat. The cavern was rife with hatred and had grown even colder despite the fires and the massive stone wall that had blocked off the main entrance.

Chrysalis didn’t know how much time passed before she felt hungry. Not the kind where her stomach rumbled, but something else, deep down in her soul. Emptiness, total and complete, a dark chasm like the one her mother had fallen in. She wanted her mother. She wanted love.

She wanted love.

She wanted love.

She wanted love!

Her horn glowed with a green light and she felt with the magic her teachers taught her. Her sixth sense expanded and covered the entirety of the massive cave, probing and searching for any flicker of love she could find. It was scarce, very scarce, almost unnoticeable, but it was there, hidden deep down beneath the veneer of hatred for the other pony races and fear for themselves. Chrysalis reached out with pure instinct and desire, gripping any fragment of love possible and pulling. Ponies shrieked as their loved was forcefully pulled away, collapsing on the ground in sobbing heaps as nothing but negative emotions was left. Chrysalis became vaguely aware of ghostly, chilling neighs and giant white equines flying around the cavern. Her awareness started to fade as the love wrapped around her, a warm, comforting hug, just like her mother’s. Soon everything went black.

***

Outside the cavern the windigos had fled, their food source extinct. Their eternal winter had ended. Snow was melting and animals emerged from dens and burrows, confused at the sudden blizzard but relieved it had passed. Up on the side of a mountain there stood a massive stone wall, a ramshackle fort. There was a sudden crack and a flash of green light and part of the wall was vaporized, a cloud of smoke choking the air. Out from the smoke stepped a figure, an equine, taller than a filly but not quite a mare.

Chrysalis eyed her new body with some disdain and a bit of delight. Her fur had hardened into a carapace, thick and black, and her legs and hooves were riddled with holes, though they caused her no pain. Her mane was the same green color, only it had taken on the qualities of a strand of spider silk. Two iridescent butterfly wings, a completely new addition, buzzed feebly and unfamiliarly on her back. She lifted a hoof and poked at the twisted and tortured thing that had once been a properly straight unicorn horn.

She wasn’t a pony any longer, that much she knew. Chrysalis had wrapped herself in the stolen love, like a caterpillar transforming inside her namesake. She wasn’t a beautiful butterfly, not really, but she was no longer a pony, either. All of that love had changed her.

She had changed.

Change.

Change… ling.

Yes. A changeling. That was what she was. A changeling.

***

Chrysalis pulled herself from the tide of tumultuous memories and shook her head. A cold weight, one equal parts guilt and shame had settled in her stomach. Even after all those years ago she forced herself to not think of her birth, and of her actions that doomed an entire species. Even now she regretted her actions that had resulted in the destruction of an entire species. But that had changed, as all things inevitably do. A unicorn was apparently alive and well, snooping about the city.

After many centuries of life and learning the art of disguise and infiltration Chrysalis had learned a number of marvelous and useful tricks to gather love and information. One of her favorites was creating a golem made of her own exoskeleton. Information would be streamed from the golem to Chrysalis, although the range was rather short. With a grimace and a bit of magic a rather wide chunk of the changeling’s chitin was ripped off with a wet crack. She examined it for a moment before molding the already malleable material into various forms, discarding one after another before settling on a fetching Diamond Dog doll, complete with a faux preservation spell to throw off any trace of magic one might find on it.

Chrysalis scampered on the side of the building and inspected one of the boarded up windows, discovering a small enough gap to squeeze the doll through and set it down on the floor. She then flew away and landed on an adjacent building, settling down against a chimney. Chrysalis closed her eyes and activated the far sight spell, her senses shifting to what the golem could see and hear.

After a time Chrysalis heard the sound of hooves on wood and watched with baited breath as an honest-to-gods unicorn carefully walked into the room, her giant purple eyes flitting about. She was absolutely beautiful. Her coat was colored a pleasing shade of lavender and her mane was black with two streaks of purple and pink set in the middle. A purple horn about four inches long jutted from her forehead. On her flank was a cutiemark of a starburst with five other stars orbiting around.

The unicorn spotted the doll and stopped, turning her head for any sign of an intruder. Seeing none she picked the doll up with a bit of magic and scanned it, finding nothing but an apparent enchantment to keep it preserved. That seemed to stop the unicorn’s worrying. She hugged the doll, and then paused for a moment before naming it Rosemary.

“Come along, Rosemary,” the unicorn said, setting the golem on her back and trotting from the room. For the next hour the lavender unicorn cleaned the rundown house and chatted to the doll about her life in a place called Ponyville. Chrysalis nearly snorted at the ridiculous name.

Finally the house was cleaned to the unicorn’s standards. She then went about, casting ward and shield spells; incredibly strong, but simple. The unicorn walked to the second floor and stood in the middle room, breathing slowly and widening her stance. Her horn glowed with a bright, blinding light and the space in front of her began to shimmer. Chrysalis wasn’t completely positive but she thought the unicorn was crafting a teleportation anchor. It was a very difficult spell to pull off and judging by the way the unicorn was wobbling she wasn’t sure the unicorn could do it. Suddenly Chrysalis felt the space before the unicorn coalesce and warp. In a flash the spell was completed and the unicorn collapsed, completely drained.

Chrysalis counted to one hundred before she decided it was safe enough to move the golem. The magical doll stood and teetered on two legs before regaining its balance and prodding the unicorn on the flank with a paw. It leaned down and pressed itself against the unicorn’s side, relieved to find that it was still breathing. Chrysalis was lucky that it had just been magical exhaustion and not magic backlash that caused the poor thing to pass out.

Outside the warded residence the changeling stood and severed the connection with the golem. She buzzed over and landed on the roof, gently prodding the magical defenses for any sign of a weak spot. The shields were expertly crafted, designed to absorb impact from physical forces and prevent magical attacks; Chrysalis was also certain that there was a spell designed to send both astral and arcane missiles back to the original caster. Tricky.

Fortunately the unicorn was comatose and wouldn’t be able to respond if the shields were destroyed. Bracing herself the lone changeling created a sphere about the size of a baseball from her green magic. Inside she began heating the air particles rapidly until they became white-hot. She strained and forced the sphere to become smaller and smaller, soon reducing it to the size of a marble. Chrysalis aimed and released all the pent-up energy at the roof, a crack resounding through the night like thunder and a plume of powdered debris filling the air. Under the wood the shields buckled under the force and shattered like glass, dissipating into nothingness. Swiftly she dropped down and seized the unicorn and the golem with telekinesis. A quick flash of light leapt from her horn and impacted the unicorn’s, sealing off any potential magic.

With a hasty teleportation spell both were gone, no sign of them having been there besides a giant hole in the ceiling.

***

Twilight was getting sick and tired of waking up in strange beds with terrible headaches, and this was the second time it had occurred in a twenty-four hour period. She groaned and rubbed her temples with her hooves in circles before opening her eyes.

She lay on a soft, white blanket, though it did a poor job of cushioning the obviously wooden pallet she was lying on. Her head and horn throbbed and her mouth tasted like copper. She smacked her lips. They were dry and cracked.

“Water?” a voice asked from behind the mare.

Twilight weakly sat up and turned to the voice, coming face-to-face with none other than Queen Chrysalis, holding a glass of water with her magic. Twilight shrieked and flailed her limbs, falling off the bed and onto the stone floor below. Quickly she stood and tried firing off a barrage of concussive magic blasts only to find that not a single spark came from her horn. All the while Chrysalis stood with a rather unimpressed look on her face.

“What did you do with my magic?”

The changeling shrugged. “I sealed it, just in case you wouldn’t cooperate. And don’t bother trying to attack me. It won’t work.”

Completely ignoring the changeling’s words Twilight ran and jumped into the air with a mighty battle cry, extending one of her hind legs out in a karate pose she had seen Rainbow Dash use once. She only made it a few feet before crashing into a magical barrier. She slid down the side like a bird that had hit a window.

“That was rather pitiful.”

Twilight rubbed the attacking leg and glared at Chrysalis. While the changeling had expected hostility and anger she was sensing enough hatred to feed a windigo for a month. It was surprising, and Chrysalis wondered if it was because of what she had done to the ponies all those years ago.

“So are you going to stop or not?” she asked the unicorn.

“Never!”

Chrysalis sighed and watched as the unicorn ran around the out-of-the-way supply closet of Senpaga castle they were currently in, kicking and bucking at the force field and the walls, screaming for help at the top of her lungs.

“Screaming won’t help either. I’ve soundproofed this room, so nobody can hear you but me. I’d appreciate it if you would be silent.”

The mare gave a smoldering look. “So was all that stuff with Nokto and the Diamond Dogs a dream, then? Did you kidnap me for revenge and force me into a coma, filling my mind with weird, crazy dreams?”

Chrysalis blinked in confusion. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. What revenge?”

“Don’t play dumb with me! Revenge for when my brother banished you and your changelings from Canterlot!”

“Okay, I think you may have confused me with someone else. I’ve never been to a place called Canterlot, nor have I met any brother of yours. In fact you’re the first pony I’ve seen in several thousand years. I thought they all went extinct.”

Now it was Twilight’s turn to look confused. “Wait. Did you just say that you thought ponies were extinct?”

“Yep,” Chrysalis said with a nod. “I was there. All the ponies were frozen by the windigos.”

Twilight sat in thought for a moment. “Are we currently located in a nation primarily made up of Diamond Dogs?”

“Yes. I think it’s the Second Diamond Dog Empire. Or maybe the third. I have a hard time keeping track of the years while imprisoned in a cave.”

Wrapping her head with her forelegs Twilight curled up on the ground and made a sound crossed between a growl and a sob. “Great. Just great. I end up in another dimension and encounter one of my sworn enemies what, two days in? Why does the universe seem to hate me so much? I’ve always been good. I always turned in my homework on time, always tried to be a good pony. But no! The world just can’t cut me any slack! First Nightmare Moon, then Discord, then the changelings, then the alternate world, then more changelings!”

Twilight continued with her ramblings while Chrysalis stared. Was this pony crazy? Because she honestly seemed to be.

“So, uh,” Chrysalis said, trying to break the unicorn’s increasingly erratic tirade, “Do you want the water or not?”

Twilight lifted her head and gave a slow nod. “Might as well.”

Chrysalis phased the glass through the barrier and set it before the mare. Twilight placed both hooves on either side and picked it up, knocking back the water in long gulps. She placed it back on the floor and sighed.

“So this is the part where you suck out my emotions, right?”

At that Chrysalis smiled. “So forward. I don’t even know your name and you’re already propositioning me?”

Twilight blushed and sputtered indignantly. “What? No, I didn’t mean that! You’re a changeling! You feed on emotions. That’s what you’re going to do, isn’t it?”

“As tempting as it may be I want some questions answered and my master will wish to see you as well,” Chrysalis said, sounding a bit annoyed at the last part.

“Who’s this master of yours?” Twilight asked.

“Emperor Dorgath Forge, ruler of the empire, Chrysalis said. “And the one that keeps me imprisoned and my powers shackled with this collar,” she added, motioning to the steel circlet around her neck, the runes glowing slightly.

“You’re kept as a slave?”

Chrysalis gave a sad nod. “Terrible, isn’t it? As long as a member of the Forge family lives I’m bound to serve them, something I’ve been doing for the past thousand years or so. And all I did was kidnap some out-of-the-way villagers and drain them until they were lifeless husks, then use the husks to make an army of changelings and take over the continent. Life really isn’t fair, is it?”

Twilight didn’t know how to respond to that so she kept her mouth shut.

“So anyway,” Chrysalis asked, “ What was that about another world you mentioned during your rambling?”

“You might find this hard to believe but I’m from an alternate dimension where ponies didn’t go extinct. We’ve built an entire civilization where we cooperate and live in peace and harmony. Unlike here Diamond Dogs don’t have any civilization and are incredibly unintelligent, and I’m fairly certain they’re going extinct. Also an alternate universe version of you impersonated my brother’s fiancée, locked her away in some cave, turned all of my friends against me, locked me in a cave, injured my mentor and ruler of my country, and then got your flank hoofed to you by my brother and his real fiancée.”

Chrysalis chuckled. “Yeah, that does sound like something I would do. Though I’m confused as to how I became a changeling in your timeline.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Became a changeling? Weren’t you born one?”

“No, I wasn’t, but that’s not important right now. I’ve completely forgotten to ask you your name.”

“Oh. I’m Twilight Sparkle, personal student to Princess Celestia and wielder of the Element of Magic.”

“Hello, Twilight. I’m Chrysalis, the once Queen of the changelings, and general scourge to everything peaceful.” She lay down on the floor and crossed her forelegs, laying her head on them. “If you would be so kind as to tell me the circumstances of your arrival, I’d be most pleased.”

So Twilight told her story, starting with her brother’s wedding and the party, then waking up in Nokto’s bed, recounting the events all the way up to now as best she could remember. Chrysalis interrupted a few times with questions on certain events and aspects of the story but stayed silent throughout most. Chrysalis felt that the mare had the habit of being unstable, judging from her reaction at the wedding and at Nokto’s home, but at least she had the dignity to feel guilty for injuring the dog.

Once she was finished Chrysalis told the mare of all she about the supposed phenomenon that had brought her to Senpaga, as well as her orders to bring the mare to Dorgath.

“As much as I’d like to deny that infuriating dog, I’m physically unable to. I was given an order to bring you to him within a three day time period and, when that time is almost up, the collar will activate and I’ll have no choice.”

Twilight swallowed. “What do you think he’ll do to me?”

“I have no idea. He might have just imprisoned you until he thought you could be trusted, but due to your actions with Nokto I can’t say anything for certain.”

Twilight was silent for a minute, mulling over the consequences of her actions. She was in a tight spot with no way out. No plan, no magic, and no friends.

“Chrysalis? Can I ask you a favor?” Twilight’s voice was low and morose.

“What is it?”

“Can I see Nokto? I want to know that he’s all right. I feel awful for hurting him.”

Chrysalis scratched her chin in thought. “I suppose I could, but he’s being guarded and it’ll be difficult to sneak past with two of us.” She paused and smiled down at the mare, a bit disconcerting considering her fangs were long and sharp. “I think I have an idea.”

***

Something was up, and Lapis was going to find out what.

Her daddy had been grumpier than usual. There were more guards patrolling the palace, looking nervous. And she had heard that some poor Diamond Dog had been injured and was under heavy surveillance. He was the key, Lapis knew, of this whole thing.

Years of observing the behavior of her father, the guards, and the servants had given the little blue dragon an uncanny ability to manipulate others, and Lapis had come up with a brilliant plan to get into the hospital room and see the dog.

It was the middle of the night, so most assumed that she was asleep. She tiptoed to her door and pressed an ear fin to the side, listening for any chattering voices or footsteps. Hearing none she slowly pushed the door open, wide reptilian eyes scanning the hallway. It was quite dark despite the torches and the moonlight streaming in from the windows. Lapis wiggled out from the cracked door and closed it behind her before scurrying down the hallway, a paper card clutched in a claw.

Lapis snuck through the hallways, her back pressed flat to the wall. A few close calls were had but she remained unseen. Finally she glanced around a corner and spied one of the medical rooms, two guards standing resolutely in front. Lapis took a deep breath and put on her most ‘I’m absolutely adorable’ face.

Immediately she was spotted by one of the guards. “Princess Lapis,” he asked, “What are you doing up this late? You know you should be in bed.”

“Well, earlier I heard that some poor dog had been hurt, so I made a Get Well card,” she said, holding up the folded paper with a colorful ‘Get Well’ written on the front in crayon. “But I wasn’t able to give it to him, and I couldn’t sleep knowing that I haven’t given it to him.”

“I apologize, Princess, but we’ve received orders not to let anyone besides designated medical personnel or a high-ranking member of government into the room. I’m afraid you’ll have to ask for permission from someone else, but I’m sure you’ll be able to give it to him tomorrow.” The guard smiled at her. “Now I think it’s best if you turn around and go back to bed.”

Oh. The guard was good. But that wouldn’t stop Lapis. She possessed one formidable weapon that had never failed her before.

Lapis averted her eyes and started sniffling, scuffing the floor with a clawed foot. A whimper rose from her throat.

“But, but what if he wakes up before I can give it to him, and, and he thinks that nobody cares about him because he doesn’t have a Get Well card?” Lapis turned her gaze up to the guards, her eyes incredibly wide and filled with tears. The guards glanced nervously at each other. Making the emperor’s daughter cry put you on the fast track to dead.

“Um, all right, you can give him the card, just please don’t cry, okay?” one guard said, trying to placate the dragoness.

“Okay!” Lapis said, turning a complete one-eighty and putting on a cheerful grin. She skipped into the room as the guards opened the door, humming a made-up tune. Inside Lapis saw one of the biggest dogs ever, second only to her daddy. He was covered with bandages and lay on a bed encircled by a whole bunch of those glowy rune thingies. His coat was a deep black and Lapis wasn’t sure what breed he was, though she thought he was a Shepherd. Carefully the dragoness placed the card on a bedside table containing a lamp and a clipboard.

Ah. Just what she was looking for. Clipboards always had official and important papers on them. Checking to make sure the guards weren’t watching her she picked up the clipboard and fanned through the papers. Hmm. His name was Nokto and he was one of those eggheads at the college. Injured due to some magical accident that destroyed his house. Aww. Where was he going to stay now?

Lapis continued reading, skipping the boring medical stuff and the big words she didn’t understand. A sudden shout from outside broke the turquoise dragon from her concentration.

“Who are you? Identify yourself!”

Another shout echoed from outside, then a scream. Lapis saw one of the guards drop, blood pouring from a gaping wound in his chest. The second had locked swords with a figure swaddled in a black cloak, hiding its face. The cloaked figure twisted the giant blade it wielded and pressed through, the smaller sword the guard held shattering like a chicken bone. A spray of crimson erupted from the dog as he collapsed.

Lapis didn’t know what to do, so she did the only logical thing and crawled under the hospital bed, covering her eyes and waiting for her daddy to come. She heard heavy footsteps enter the room and winced with every one, whimpering in terror. The steps got closer and closer with each passing moment until they finally stopped. Lapis counted to ten under her breath and opened her eyes…

…to find the cloaked figure on his knees, staring directly at her. It thrust an arm underneath and tried to grab her, just catching the hem of her sleeping dress. Lapis shrieked and instinctively exhaled a gout of bright blue fire. The figure cursed and pulled back a burned paw. Lapis shot from under the bed and ran to the other side of the room, the figure quickly following. She watched as it stalked towards her, sword in paw, two eyes staring down at her with a sick hatred. It approached within a few feet of her and raised the sword. Lapis curled into a ball and sobbed, expecting the worst.

It never came.

A pair of black, bandaged arms wrapped around the neck of her would-be murderer and lifted it off the ground with a quick, powerful movement. A sickening crack followed and the cloaked figure went limp. The arms dropped the corpse to the floor with a thud.

Lapis slowly looked up at her savior, the giant, rather confused Shepherd named Nokto. He squatted down and smiled at her.

“Hey. You don’t have to worry anymore. He’s not going to hurt you. You’re Princess Lapis, right?”

Lapis didn’t bother with an answer. She ran forward with her arms outstretched and jumped into Nokto’s chest, burying her head into his soft fur. The tiny dragon sobbed and whimpered as he hugged her, stroking her spines. Nokto stood, grimacing a bit at the sudden use of his muscles after being hospitalized for a day. He observed the scene; the room and the now inactive rune circle, the two dead guards near the door and the mysterious cloaked figure. He had no idea what was going on, and he didn’t think the dragon was in the best shape to be asked questions. Something hadn’t felt right when he killed – what he thought – was a Diamond Dog.

Kneeling he lifted the hood of the figure and gasped at the face. It wasn’t a dog, but something that looked much like one. Pointed ears, a sharp, long muzzle, and rough, scraggly fur. He was looking at a coyote.

Truth be told, Nokto had no idea what that signified. Diamond Dogs and coyotes were of a similar species, but coyotes were savages in comparison. They lived in the southern wastes, past the borders of the Imperium, traveling in small, nomadic bands and raiding settlements or caravans. Coyotes weren’t very smart, either. Even those that had been raised by Diamond Dogs in the past never showed any intelligence beyond that of an eight year old. They simply were unable to comprehend higher thought.

“What the hell happened here?”

Nokto swiftly turned to find two nurses, both bitches. One was a Retriever and had startling green eyes while the other was a mutt of some kind and had lavender fur. The latter stared wide-eyed at the guards before bending over and vomiting.

“Both of you need to find some guards, now! I have no idea what’s going on but it’s bad.” He gestured to the quivering dragon in his arms. “I need one of you to take her some place safe.”

A sudden explosion rocked the castle and sent all three dogs tumbling down. Windows in the hallway shattered as a shockwave of some kind ripped through. Flashes of light could be seen outside and Nokto sensed the presence of powerful magic. His eyes widened in surprise as the strangely colored bitch hit her head on the floor and was suddenly surrounded in green flames, transforming into a unicorn.

“You!” Nokto shouted at the pony, who realized her disguise was dropped and gave him a sheepish grin. “You’re the one who broke my staff and nearly killed me!”

The other nurse was wreathed in green flames as well and transformed into some kind of quadruped bug thing. “Yes, she destroyed your house and nearly killed you, but right now I think we’ve got some bigger problems to worry about!”

There was another explosion, stronger than the last. Nokto braced himself against a wall while the two equines were sent tumbling down once more. The black one scrambled up and grabbed the second with telekinesis. “We have to get out of here! Now!”

Not willing to argue Nokto turned and ran, Chrysalis following hot on his heels, carrying Twilight in her magic. Nokto had been in the castle before and knew the basic layout. At the end of one hallway he opened a door and nearly flew down a flight of stairs. At the very bottom he spied a group of cloaked coyotes locked in combat with guards, and the guards were losing badly. They were heavily outnumbered and outclassed, the greatswords the coyotes carrying cutting through armor like a knife through butter. One guard used a combat spell of some kind only to have it fizzle out as soon as it touched the hem of a cloak.

“Put me down and give me back my magic!” the purple unicorn shouted, flailing her legs in the air. Chrysalis dropped her roughly to the floor and simultaneously unsealed the mare’s magic. Twilight quickly stood began throwing everything she had at the collection of cloaked coyotes, loud bangs echoing in the air as enemies were knocked back by the sheer force of her magic.

More coyotes flooded in, overwhelming the guards and turning their attention to the dog, two ponies, and one terrified baby dragon. They let loose battle cries and charged, swords at the ready.

“Oh screw this!” Chrysalis shouted. In a split-second she grabbed her new allies and teleported, leaving a hundred confused coyotes looking for enemies.

***

Senpaga was in chaos. Less than an hour had passed and already the cloaked forces had rampaged through the city, killing whatever they saw. Guards had created barricades out of carts and whatever they could find, lining up at the top and firing arrows or whatever spells they knew. A few had gathered jugs of oil or kerosene and lit them on fire before throwing it at the invading force. The mages of the Imperial College had created a monolithic force-field around the campus, like a giant blue shell. The guards had been totally unprepared; the force had apparently come surging from one of the poor areas.

At the very edge of the city there was a flash of green light and Twilight, Chrysalis, Nokto and Lapis appeared behind some trees, well-away from the main road and any potential enemies. They sat there for a moment, breathing heavily. Nokto quietly whispered calming words to Lapis, who was shaking harder than ever. He gave his two new companions a piercing glare.

“What exactly is going on here? First I help you, Twilight, if that is your name, then you break my staff and nearly kill me, then I wake up to find a coyote about to kill Princess Lapis, then you show up with that bug thing, and then the city is besieged by more coyotes.” Nokto’s voice was filled with anger and he was baring his teeth.

“First off,” Chrysalis replied, pausing to catch her breath, “I’m Chrysalis, a changeling, not a bug thing. Secondly I have no idea what’s going on any more than you do.” She stopped for a moment and lifted a hoof to the collar that was wrapped around her neck. It glowed a bright blue for a moment before crumbling to nothing. The changeling’s eyes widened considerably, as did her smile. “And thirdly, if there are no more blood members of the Forge family alive, this little shackle turns to dust. Which means Dorgath’s dead and I’m free!”

“Daddy’s dead?”

The tiny voice that spoke up seemed to be louder than everything else. Three pairs of eyes turned to Lapis, one sympathetic, one disbelieving, and one apathetic. The little dragon was still held in Nokto’s arms, her claws resting on his massive forearm.

Chrysalis nodded. “Yes, I’m afraid so. Such a horrible tragedy. Now if you’ll excuse me I’m leaving. Goodbye!” Once more Chrysalis teleported away, leaving a stricken dragon in her wake. Nokto immediately pulled her into a hug as Lapis let out an anguished cry into his fur, muted by the sound of battle taking place a few hundred feet away.

Tentatively Twilight walked forward, her ears folded back in sadness. She really didn’t know what was going on, only that a child had apparently lost a parent. Still, there were other things to worry about at the moment.

“Um, I was just wondering, what are we going to do now?” the mare asked.

Nokto scowled at the pony. “What do you mean ‘we’? All you’ve done is cause me trouble after I found you. I’d prefer it if you’d leave me alone. Right now I need to get Princess Lapis somewhere safe and I can’t have an insane member of an extinct species following me. Personally I’d prefer it if you’d just go die somewhere.”

Twilight reeled back like she’d been struck. She cowered and faced the ground, tears appearing in her eyes. “I know that I’ve hurt you and that I really screwed up, but I’m sorry. It’s not enough, I know, but right now you need me. At least, I think you do. Have your injuries healed yet?”

Instead of answering Nokto lunged forward and swiped at her with a massive paw, cuffing Twilight on the side of the head and sending her rolling into a tree. She stopped with a loud thump. Pain shot through the right side of her face. Her mouth tasted like crimson and something hard was rolling around on her tongue. Twilight opened her mouth and spit out a tooth and a generous helping of blood.

By the time Twilight lifted her head up Nokto had already stomped off into the woods, leaving her alone once again.