Every Prince Deserves a Princess

"You are sure the cave is down there?"

I squinted at the surface of the water, standing at the edge of our destination in the morning sun. At my sides were Moss and Shining, both wearing oxygen tanks affixed to harnesses, their rebreathers hanging loosely around their necks and goggles upon their foreheads. Moss' tank looked bigger than him, and I was somewhat concerned that he wouldn't be able to carry the weight of the metal cylinder once we got underwater. Shining, in contrast, was almost comically big compared to his tank, and looked as though he could suck down the contents in a singular breath. He, too, stared down into the water, his puffy, sewn cheek somewhat healed over, though still obviously unnatural. I really did feel for him, seeing him out of bed and with a small amount of his muscle mass missing. The sight was somewhat sad.

"Yeah. What, ya don't believe me? If the sunlight hits the water juuuuuuuuuust right, ya can see straight to the bottom of the lake, and there's definitely a cave, in the side of the mountain." Moss pointed to the large, sheer cliff face before us that made up a chunk of the mountain's base, an impossibly tall monument of stone and plant life reaching up into the sky. Shining nodded, walking along the water's edge before dipping a hoof in and pulling back to shiver.

"He's right. I looked into what little info we have on the area, and there's documentation of a cave system below these mountains. It'd make sense for an entrance to be underwater. Water's a good 50 feet out in the middle, so there's no full confirmation, but... it's all we've got to go on."

"If you're sure, sweetie. You three are more than capable." Cadenza walked forward from behind us, her foal clutched tightly to her chest in some sort of harness. She gave me a warm smile, before nuzzling Shining and receiving a kiss for her efforts.

"Vivian's not up yet?" he asked, and a small feeling of pride swelled up in my chest. He had kept his word, after all.

"No, she's been asleep all morning. Thank you so much, Aunt Luna. Her screaming at night was getting out of hand." Cadenza turned to the taller alicorn beside her, who offered only a curt nod. The Princess of the Night and I locked eyes, the tension between us thick enough to smother somepony. Why she had insisted upon coming, I would never know... and the lack of Celestia at her side was not exactly reassuring. I had warned Cadenza of my suspicions before we set out, but she refused to hear a word of it, confident that Luna would do no such thing to us. I was not one for prayer, but I may have said something along the lines to myself that willed her to be correct.

"Shame." Shining leaned in and kiss Vivian's forehead, before taking the lead, with Moss at his rear. I followed last, giving a silent nod to Cadenza before I went.

"Good luck!" she called from the shore, where both alicorns waved to us. I looked back with a smile, somewhat disappointed that the pair had turned and already begun walking back toward the palace. I wished that I could have watched her make it home, just to be sure...

"So, Vlad. When'd you learn to swim, anyhow?"

I opened my mouth to answer, but was beaten to the punch by the World's Most Obnoxious Stallion.

"About a month and a half ago. Bought himself some floaties and spent a couple days in the pool in the East wing. Made me swear not to tell anyone." Moss allowed himself a wry grin, leaning quite close to my face. "Oops."

I simply sighed as Shining laughed, and Moss... pulled out a cigarette.

"...are you seriously smoking while wading into a lake?"

"Well yeah. Twenty bits says I can hit the filter before we have to dive." Moss brought the stick to his lips, before asking Shining for a light. The larger unicorn acquiesced, and I gave myself a very wet facehoof. Wonders never ceased.

"Man, I missed that smell," Shining said as he began to tread water. I soon followed, beginning a basic doggy paddle while Moss fought tooth and nail to keep his neck up and the smoke trail billowing while he swam.

"You used to smoke?" I asked.

"Yeah, I did. Not exactly proud of it, but it's the truth. Cadie made me quit. Thought it was absolutely nasty." Shining cracked his neck, maintaining his position at the head of the pack as we made our way closer and closer to the cliff.

"Well... it is. Very much so. I never would've guessed someone like you would have such a filthy habit."

"Yeah, well... there's a lot you don't know about me. Maybe I'll fill you in once we get back, over a beer. You too, kid." Shining turned to watch Moss struggle, until the small earth pony dropped the cigarette from his mouth, the little stick falling down into the dark blue water.

"Fuck!"

"Twenty bits," I chimed.

"Hey, you never took the bet! That was the only one I brought..." he mumbled, looking crestfallen.

"I'm sure, that with you skill set, you'll find something to put in your mouth upon our return home," I replied, trying to lift his spirits. It certainly worked, though I had a sinking feeling that Shining may have caught my meaning as he shook his head.

"Look alive, fillies. Cliffs just up ahead." The large unicorn paddled his way up to the rocky surface, bracing a hoof against the stone as we reached the end of the journey. "Alright. I'm gonna dive, see if I can find the thing. No sense in all of us going down at once, if we have no clue what we're dealing with. I don't find it, you're up next, Vlad." I slowly nodded, hoping against hope that Shining would find the entrance. He pulled on his goggles and rebreather, gave us a nod, and slipped beneath the surface of the water.

Minutes passed. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Moss and I waited, the two of us looking for some sign of life below us as tensions mounted. I took a deep breath, and let out a small whimper against my better judgment. Moss most certainly noticed.

"...hey. He's fine. Golden said those tanks'd hold an hour's worth of air, if not more. Ya trust him, don't ya?"

"I do, but... he's all alone down there. I don't know if I'll be able t-"

My statement was interrupted by a shrill, piercing scream, coming from my own mouth. Shining had surfaced just in front of me, bringing up a spout of water with him as he did so, a shocked look upon his face as I clasped a hoof over mine.

"...dear god, man. I think your testicles just reascended."

"Nah. I can see 'em from here," Moss helpfully added.

"Why would you... oh, never mind, of course you're looking. Any luck?" I asked, utterly relieved to see my 'bro' once again.

"Didn't need luck. The water's only about 20 feet deep here, and the entrance is huge. As long as we dive right around... here," he said, lighting his horn to scour a large 'X' in the cliff's surface, "you guys can find it with no problem. I took the liberty of heading on in, and the place isn't flooded. There's a pretty long tunnel that goes back up above the water's surface. Looks like there's a shelf at the top that leads further in. It's definitely pony made."

There it was again. That leaden, crippling sensation of fear took hold of me, and I found myself doubting whether or not this idea was at all sound. There was only one thing to do.

"Let us make haste, before I back out. I will, if we stall for too long." I slipped the apparatus into my muzzle, before pulling down my goggles and watching Moss do the same. With a round of silent nods, we slipped below the surface of the water.

Down in the deep, the situation was just as Shining had said. Due to the rising sun, the water was a much lighter blue than it had been for the duration of our swim to the cliff face, and the three of us made it quite a distance downward on our initial kicks. I stuck quite close to the cliff's wall, using the smooth stone as a guide to prevent myself from being disoriented. Shining stayed close to me, while Moss, who was a much more agile swimmer than I'd imagined, took the lead, headed straight for a gaping hole within the rock, quite easily the width of five ponies standing rump to snout. My partner slipped inside the rock and began to swim upward, just as Shining and I pulled ourselves under and into the cave.

The vertical climb inside was exhausting, but I managed the feat by staying at Shining's side and looking upward at Moss as he lead the way. Moss surfaced first, and immediately pulled himself over the rock wall and onto the wide shelf. I followed, as did Shining, and pulled off my goggles and rebreather to get a look around as quickly as I could. The shelf turned into a gentle slope, heading down into a massive, unnatural chamber, filled with nothing but rock.

"...what is this place?" I asked, not expecting an answer.

"Your second big adventure, apparently," Shining replied while clapping me on the shoulder, his own equipment removed.

"Ugh, god, this shit is heavy!" Moss whined, immediately undoing his harness and letting it drop to the floor of the shelf. "I'm leaving my tank here."

"What if we need to exit on the other side?" I reminded him.

"Other side's probably out in the mountains. Won't need an oxygen tank... but I'll keep the kinky mask, for now." Moss shuffled out of his soaked vest, leaving it beside his discarded tank to dry as the three of us continued to survey the area.

Shining squinted, and was the first to begin stepping down the gentle slope toward the other side of the room. "Looks like there's a tunnel over there. I'm not seein' any of this Bloodlet stuff you guys were talking about, so that might be our best bet."

Moss gestured toward the opening, dipping into a polite bow. "Lead on."

Shining did exactly that, breaking into a canter as he headed for, and subsequently, slipped into, the low tunnel, having to duck his head down a bit to fit. Moss followed directly behind his flank, to everything but my surprise, and I brought up the rear, whining slightly as I struggled to fit.

"As if this couldn't get any more undignified. I'm soaked and cramped!"

"If I had a bit for every time someone said that to me..."

"The two of you, cool it. I see something ahead!"

Our leader emerged into yet another wide chamber, the ground floor of which was coated with a thin, green goo in various places. Shining's face hardened as he leaned down to sniff the substance, and took a deep breath. "...I know this. Changelings."

"I'm out," I said immediately. "I'm done. I am not walking directly into a changeling hive, in pursuit of a few clumps of moss. This is not happening."

Moss whirled on me, uncharacteristically angry as he walked straight up to my chest, his face alight with fury. "You pussy! You faced down a chimera, talked a good game about fixing this bullshit situation, we probably just found the source of the problem, and now you're out? What the hell's gotten into you!?"

"Whoa, kid, lay off!" Shining rushed to my defense, putting his hoof upon Moss' shoulder. "If he wants out, let him go. I'm going farther in, and we're going to settle this. Are you in?"

"You're god damned right I'm in," Moss snorted while whirling around and heading for one of two tunnels at the opposite end of the room. I sputtered as Shining turned as well, and desperately held out a hoof.

"Wait!"

The pair turned, Moss looking impatient, and Shining, sympathetic. How I wished I'd brought my rapier.

"...I'm sorry. I'm not letting you two do this alone."

I puffed out my chest and chose a tunnel, the one on the right, before forcing myself to proceed onward. My two companions followed at my rear, the amount of light dimming as we walked farther until it got to the point that I lit my horn for simple visibility's sake.

"...there's a light up ahead," I warned the pair. A good twenty feet past me, a ray of sunlight filtered into the next chamber through a crack in the rocks.

"Keep moving forward, Vlad, you're doing great," Shining reassured me. As I stepped out into the room, Shining lit his horn as well, making a small, bulbous area of light around our party as we spun in all directions, surveying the area.

"I don't understand... this place is complete empty. There's no slime, or... whatever that was. It seems like a dead end." I swung my horn this way and that, finding that the chamber was about the size of two palace bedrooms fused together, much smaller than the last cavern we had entered.

"Yeah, well... caves are funny like that. Full of twists and turns, tunnels and caverns. I've seen my fair share of 'em. Huh, that's interesting," he stated, as he trotted toward a decent sized slab of rock. He knelt low and made a show of trying to pick it up, the chunk far too heavy. "This type of granite ain't normally around these parts."

"Is that a sign? Do changelings use granite, or something?" Shining asked, taking a cursory glance at the slab before walking past Moss and back toward the tunnel we had emerged through.

"...on occasion," Moss answered with a grin. Time seemed to slow as the events played out in front of me, the cone of light from my horn just barely affording me a view of what was going on. An out of place, but incredibly familiar purple glow swept over Moss' eyes as he stood upon his hind legs, the slab of granite flying upward in a magical aura of the same color. Moss gripped the edges as Shining turned toward him, and smacked the taller unicorn across the back of the head with the chunk of stone. Shining went down instantly, bleeding badly as Moss dropped his weapon and turned toward me with a hiss.

"What the fuck are you doing!?" I cried, horrified. My legs froze up momentarily, before I began to back away, looking for something, anything to help me out of the situation. Moss stood, unmoving, as he seemed to grow taller in the fading light, deadly fangs poking down and past his lower lips. Without warning, he disappeared completely, his rebreather fell to the floor, and my heart stopped.

There was no sound. No movement, even in my chest. I had forgotten how to breathe, how to make my lungs expand and contract, until my gaze once again traveled to the fallen soldier on the ground, his outline at the edge of my vision. I panicked, debating between self preservation, trying to avoid... no, it wasn't Moss. Was there ever a Moss? Had we been played for foals, this entire time? I took one more glance at Shining before running over and scooping the fallen male into my hooves, streaming tears as I checked for signs of life. He was breathing, thank god, and so I tried to awaken him. He would know what to do.

"Shining! Shining Armor! Please!" I cried, my heart racing to make up for lost time. "What is going on!? Moss, what... where are you!?"

"Right here," came a reply from the darkness, in a heavy, menacing, feminine tone. That voice. The very demon I had been running from had lead us here, directly into her trap. I looked on in horror as the tunnel leading back to where we came from was sealed off by a violently purple aura, and my only hope of escape disappeared. "Or at least... what you thought to be Moss is right here."

A distinctly frightening, high pitched laugh followed, accompanied by the flittering of insect wings from what seemed like all sides. I had no idea what to do, and so, I simply clung to Shining's body, bawling my eyes out as I looked around in the darkness. For what seemed like so long, there was absolutely nothing... until those two, dreadful magenta eyes appeared to me once again, looming just behind the pillar of light filtering in from the cavern's roof.

"Tell me, little prince," the beast began, as the sharp sound of delicate hooves walking across rock began to ring out. "Did you suspect nothing from me? Did you truly think your 'auntie' had set you up?"

I only managed a whimper in reply, most definitely soiling myself as I felt a rush of warm liquid beneath me.

"Does this smell familiar? It should."

Once again, that intoxicating scent wafted toward me, and the only thing that came to mind was simply to scream.

"Why!? Why, you bitch! Why would you do this to me!?"

"Why?" came the punctuated reply, the eyes pausing just shy of stepping into the light. "Why, is an answer you may get in time, if you play your cards right. This doesn't need to be the end, little morsel. I chose you. I told you once- everything is a game. Now, is the time when we either set the pieces for another round... or clear the board."

My heart sank as she reminded me of Moss' words from weeks ago. It had all been a lie. Our entire relationship, the closeness, the intimacy- all part of some sick, demented game...

"W-who are you...?" I stammered, pulling Shining closer into my chest.

There was no reply for a good while, the judgmental, unnatural, insect-like eyes simply staring at me, before she finally blinked. A single, long, slender grey hoof, riddled with holes, stepped out into the column of light. The movement was almost dainty, the limb looking both fragile and menacing at the same time as the creature advanced toward me. A long, sleek, burning orange mane came next, its length reaching halfway to the floor. The mane framed a face... the face of a changeling. All at once, the creature stepped into the light, and stole my breath. She was alien, terrifying... beautiful.

Her skin was a mottled grey, her coloration entirely different from that insufferable queen that had invaded Canterlot so many years ago. The creature's mane and wings were a light, bright orange, her eyes and crown a deep magenta, and her build slender, but tall. Despite her height, at least one and a half times mine, she looked quite young- a proud, victorious expression painted her face, her mouth opening only slightly as two long, snake-like tongues exited her maw to caress along her lower lip. She buzzed her wings once again, leaning her neck lower as she locked her piercing eyes with mine.

"I am Princess Instar... and I am going to finish my mother's work."

The changeling princess unhinged her jaw, opening her mouth to an impossibly wide degree before letting out a loud, menacing shriek, her twin tongues writhing before her. I opened my mouth and began to scream as hard as I could, before she darted forward, her body impacting mine like a missile coated in a magenta aura of magic. My back impacted the rock wall hard, and I let out another scream, this time of pain. The beast angrily buzzed her wings, taking my muzzle in her hoof as she pulled my face to a mere inch from hers.

Her slitted eyes narrowed as she snarled, her eyes burning with an intense hatred.

"What's wrong, Blueblood? Don't you know that I still love you?"

My mouth quivered as the tears silently flowed. I couldn't respond. There was nothing I could do to fight her off, nothing I could say to alleviate my terror.

"After all," she began, leaning her fanged muzzle up to my ear as she whispered, "every prince deserves a princess.

The changeling thrust the back of my head into the rock with incredible force, and everything went black.