Chapter Text
Chapter 16
Breyta Mitos
“I can only imagine the mysteries the world holds. Who knows what secrets remain yet undiscovered?” —Comet Dust
The seven friends grew more anxious as they drew closer to their destination over the five days since they set off from Astros. Heart Shield and Twilight had to camp out in the wheelhouse to keep Rainbow Dash from sneaking in to activate the jets in her impatience to reach the island. The two friends had to laugh at the irony of Heart Shield being the one to hold someone else back from acting on their impatience. The change in their treatment of each other was not lost on their other friends, who were grateful to see the two of them finally getting along again, even if neither of them shared with the others what caused them to start healing their relationship.
Heart Shield continued his meditation with Rarity and Fluttershy, but now it was by his own choice rather than being forced to in order to keep him from lashing out. He was calmer than he had been for a while, even if he had a pit of anxiety in his stomach when he checked their progress towards their destination; it was as if everyone had the version of him back from before he ever asked Twilight to come with him to the Everfree Forest. Both he and Twilight made sure to keep Princess Luna aware of their progress when they slept, as their usual mode of communication continued to remain unusable. Occasionally, Luna would connect them with Princess Celestia, who was pleased to see the two of them working together once more.
Twilight poured over the books she’d taken from the island, and had managed to decipher several new spells in them, though she was still learning how to use them properly. It was challenging to have to learn a brand new kind of magic, one that required precision when transcribing the runes that made up each varied spell as the various sigils could be combined in a multitude of ways to create the framework for each spell. She did her best to recall each iteration when going over the magic with Princess Luna at night, though a handful of times she did need to have Heart Shield brought in to provide more details with his odd level of recollection. It did frustrate the unicorn that she wasn’t able to fully grasp several more advanced spells as quickly as she wanted, but her friends were there to help support her through it all.
Everyone thought they were as prepared as they could be for what lay ahead.
They were not.
* * *
The waves churned wildly, slamming into the Fate’s Winds violently as the deafening thunder rocked the boat so hard, the ponies worried it would fall apart from the noise alone. The storm clouds outside made it seem as if they were sailing through a black void, only lit by the lightning around them. The lightning was the only reason they were able to navigate the otherwise vast expanse of darkness as the ocean seemed to fight the ship every step of the way. The pegasi couldn’t take to the skies without risking getting struck down by the very same lightning that lit their way to the island in the distance. The seven ponies had been lucky so far with their slow progression towards the island, but their luck soon ran dry. Two massive whirlpools formed in the violent waters on either side of the ship, each pulling the water in a different direction. The magical protections on the ship held long enough for the friends to realize the futility of any further attempt to get closer and to grab what supplies they could after Twilight’s quick thinking, but only just.
It started as a low groan as the magic failed and the ship strained against the force of the storm. The groan grew to a loud wailing screech before a terrifying series of sharp, snapping pops ripped through the air as the Fate’s Winds was violently wrenched apart. A violet flash of light was all that remained as the wheelhouse split in half, the wood and metal splintering as the whirlpools tore the ship in opposing directions. In a matter of mere seconds, the once sturdy Equestrian vessel was ground into unrecognizable debris before sinking into the churning waves; the last remnant of the ship that had carried the seven ponies from their homeland for so long was the ivory alicorn masthead, peeking above the waves for a few moments before the water filling what little remained of the hull dragged it under the ocean surface and into the dark depths below.
The seven friends appeared in the air not far from where they’d fled the ship and plummeted into the violent waters before Twilight was able to cast another teleportation spell. She had to cast the spell multiple times to bring them closer and closer to the island in the distance, struggling to keep the island in sight each time they teleported above the ocean. By the time she managed to get them close enough to land for them to swim the rest of the way to shore, she’d exhausted herself to the point where Applejack and Rainbow Dash had to help her stay afloat even as they all fought to keep their heads above the water. Surprisingly, the waters closest to the island were calm, as if there wasn’t a terrifying storm surrounding the island’s borders, a small mercy the ponies were grateful for.
Soaked, exhausted and chilled to their very bones, the seven ponies managed to swim to the island’s shores where they collapsed on the sand. Heart Shield hoped more than ever that he’d been right about the decision to come to the island, especially now that their only way back home was lying in broken pieces at the bottom of the ocean. Of the seven packs they had fled the ship with, only four of their waterproof saddles of supplies survived the swim. Rarity’s bag, which contained emergency rations, cooking supplies and blankets for each of them, had nearly dragged her down and needed to be abandoned to the waters. Fluttershy hadn’t finished attaching her saddle before they were teleported so it and the food, maps and sleeping bags were all ripped off her back when they landed in the violent waters. Then there was his bag. Heart Shield had stuffed several of the books from Astros that Twilight had gotten translated, a compass and some of the spare sails and rope that he’d grabbed in a hurry in case they could manage to find materials on the island for a raft, all of it gone because it was caught in the violent waves as he swam, pulled from him with almost as much ease as Fluttershy’s pack as it wasn’t a saddle custom make to fit over his wings.
They took stock of what they had remaining once everyone had caught their breath. Rainbow Dash and Applejack had recovered some tools, a couple of tents that were now soaked through, rope in Applejack’s bag, and a handful of their perishable rations. Twilight had her partially translated books on various spells, a nearly fully translated one on flora found around the world, and a randomly grabbed fully translated copy of magical gems. Pinkie’s pack somehow contained a full-size bed, paint supplies, a cannon, her party cannon, a fully decorated cake complete with twelve lit candles, a fridge with nothing in it, and an absurdly large novelty balloon of herself that defied all forms of logic and physics by already being fully blown as she struggled to pull it out. Rainbow Dash promptly took the stopper out of the balloon so that their location wasn’t telegraphed from the complete opposite side of the island and they all watched as the giant pink balloon shot off into the sky with a cartoonish PBBBBBBBTHHH.
“Aww, there goes the special decoy I had planned for our grand escape next chapter,” Pinkie whined.
“Pinkie, what the actual he-!” Rainbow Dash began to shout before Applejack shoved a hoof to the cyan pegasus’ mouth to silence her.
Applejack shook her head and pointed to the storm above them. When lightning lit up the clouds, they could see a small group of changelings flying high overhead, headed towards where the balloon had just vanished. The friends didn’t need to exchange words, hurriedly stuffing their supplies back into their surviving packs before rushing further off the shore to the start of a small forest, taking cover in some rather large bushes. Twilight decided using magic was worth the risk and hastily hid their tracks, hoping that if the changelings decided to inspect the area where the balloon came from, they wouldn’t think about trying to detect magic. The seven of them held their breath and tensed for a potential fight as the trio of changelings did indeed fly down to inspect the beach after finding the balloon suspicious.
“There’s not really a point in checking, we saw the wreckage of that ship,” said one of the changelings, a female by the sound of her voice, and set apart from the other two with a pair of deep-green insectoid wings. “Clearly it was just a leftover from the flotsam.”
“You’re too lax, Clover,” snapped one of the others, a larger male, though Heart Shield noted he was not nearly as large as the ones from Ponyville. “They have two magic users with them, teleportation is not out of the question.”
“Please, even if they were able to teleport, getting all the way here from the edge of the Maw would be impossible without leaving them completely exhausted. You heard the scouting reports from the Ponyville incident –only one of them has teleportation capabilities and group movement left her winded and out of magic after a few short hops. The distance from the confirmed ruins of the ship to here is much larger than that and through the waters of the Maw too,” the one named Clover shot back. “If they tried, we’d have seen their bodies on the shore by now.”
“Careful with your tone, mite,” the large male growled, turning to get in Clover’s face. “Bodies have not been detected in the waters-.”
“Probably because they sank with their ship and their belongings, which have been detected,” Clover replied calmly and defiantly, standing her ground against the male.
“Okay, enough you two, break it off,” said the third changeling, pushing his way between the two as the larger male readied his horn to cast some sort of spell at Clover. “We don’t have time for bickering right now. If the ponies made it to shore, they’re clearly not here right now, and if they didn’t make it then we’ll have time later to do a thorough search of the ocean to confirm. Either way, it’s out of our hooves and we have our orders to make it back to the Hive for his announcement. And I don’t think either of you want to upset him by being late.”
This seemed to snap the two out of whatever conflict they had with each other. They gave the beach a casual sweep and took to the sky once more, flying further inland in a rush. Heart Shield thought he saw Clover’s eyes dart to where he and his friends were hidden before she took flight, as if she had a guess about where they were, but if she did know, she kept that information to herself for some reason. They waited a few minutes to make sure they were all safe before finally leaving their hiding spot and slinking a bit further into the forest to keep their cover.
“Well so much for the element of surprise,” sighed Rarity.
“At the very least, they didn’t fully confirm that we’re here,” Twilight replied, trying to sound hopeful.
“Yeah, but they’re going to be on alert,” Heart Shield said, still distracted by the weird look from that Clover changeling. “Then again, we knew this wouldn’t be easy when we decided to come here rather than return to Equestria.”
“Alright then, smart guy,” snapped Rainbow Dash, unable to keep her frustrations and fears under wraps any longer, “then how about you tell us what we’re going to do now?”
“Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy chided.
“No, I’m not going to keep quiet about this. You’ve seen all the danger we’ve been in so far. Dragons, ghosts, an island that puts everything to sleep; we’ve been in life threatening situations more often than not and now we’re stranded on an island where we’re being hunted, we have maybe a day left to stop an army, most of our supplies are at the bottom of the ocean and we have no way to get back home or get help! So I want to know what exactly we’re supposed to do now? How are we supposed to save Equestria, let alone ourselves?”
She whirled on the stallion as she spoke, punctuating each concern with a hoof to his chest, ending with a rougher shove to him than she’d meant to give. While her other friends got between them and tried to calm her down or demand that she apologize, Dash refused to look away from the other pegasus as he picked himself off the forest floor and brushed the dirt and grass out of his coat. She knew she wasn’t being fair to him, it wasn’t his fault that any of this had happened and fighting amongst each other at this point would do nothing but tear the group apart, but she was scared. This wasn’t a situation they’d ever experienced. She and the other mares had faced Nightmare Moon, Discord, Queen Chrysalis and her changeling invasion, and King Sombra; they were heroes who had saved Equestria multiple times, several of which were even without the Elements of Harmony at their side! But somehow all of that paled in comparison to the threat of war with no way back home, no Elements at their beck and call, stuck in enemy territory, a deadline quickly ticking down, they didn’t even have Spike with them to either be a hero again or help them reach the Princesses if they really needed to. She was scared, and she was scared to show how scared she was. She wanted Heart Shield to push back, to say she was wrong, to show that things were going to be okay.
When his eyes met hers, she saw none of that. His eyes mirrored hers; the same fears, the same concerns. He was scared too, and yet he was forcing himself to stifle all of that and not let on just how scared he really was.
As he picked himself back up, Heart Shield had to swallow back the retort he wanted to snap at her. Lady Celestia had put him in charge of this mission and he’d already seen some of the consequences that awaited if he were to let his emotions get the better of him. He was scared, frustrated, angry, heck part of him wanted to just turn tail and run right now while another part wanted to charge in blindly to rescue Chrysalis, but as much as he wanted to give in to it all, he needed to keep his cool and maintain a level head so that his friends wouldn’t let their fears and other emotions get the better of them.
“I know it’s not what you want to hear,” he replied, doing his best to keep his voice level, “but right now we don’t have much choice but to press on. We’re already here, and as you pointed out we don’t have a way back home anymore. Our options are to either give up and let that army take over Equestria and the world, or we keep moving forward with what we have and stop that from happening. Our backs are against the metaphorical wall right now, that’s true, but we aren’t helpless. We have the smartest and strongest unicorn, the fastest and most loyal pegasus, an earth pony who’s not only the most honest pony ever but one of, if not the physically strongest ponies in Equestria, a pegasus who’s kind and caring and able to help and understand any animal she meets, a unicorn with a generous heart and a keen eye for even the smallest of details-,”
“Don’t forget the most fashionable,” Rarity chimed in.
Heart Shield nodded and continued, “and we also have the party master, Pinkie Pie, an earth pony able to make anypony laugh and smile no matter what. There’s pretty much nothing that the six of you can’t do.”
“That’s a nice speech and all, but I don’t see how it helps the fact that we’re stranded here with no useful supplies, no contact back home and no plan,” Rainbow Dash said stubbornly.
Heart Shield didn’t have much of a rebuttal, he knew just as much as the rest of them that they were not prepared for what lurked ahead, especially with their ship now at the bottom of the ocean. They were stuck in enemy territory with a timer ticking down to the worst case scenario by the second.
“And how often have we ever had a real plan we didn’t have to come up with on the fly, Rainbow?” Applejack said, coming to his rescue. “Now come on, ah say we at least try to find our way around rather than flap our gums like Granny Smith tryin’ to haggle at the store.”
“Ideally, an aerial view would give us the best chance to find landmarks and locate where the changeling stronghold was,” Twilight mused, “that is assuming that they aren’t subterranean at least.”
“Wait, why would they be underground?” Pinkie asked.
“Well, apart from it being a hypothesis from when Queen Chrysalis kept Cadance in the crystal caverns under Canterlot,” Twilight began and rubbed her head sheepishly as she felt silly for voicing the thought that had crept up, “it’s hard to deny that a lot of their biology seems to be very similar to some insects. They have some form of chitin on their bodies, and their wings, especially Chrysalis’s, are similar in structure to dragonfly wings, for starters. And when you look at the eyes of the smaller ones, they seem to be close to what you’d find from species that live mostly in cave depths —no visible sclera and they seem to practically be a solid iris, I almost can’t even spot their pupils.”
Heart Shield and the others were left nearly speechless as Twilight went further into her discussion about changeling biology. The pegasus was wondering how his friend had come up with this research when they had spent so long just trying to find their way to this island. It wasn’t like he hadn’t also noticed the similarities to insects either, he’d even made note of some of those same points back when he first discovered Chrysalis in the Everfree Forest all those months ago, but Twilight had apparently made much more detailed observations than he had. A black and green dragonfly buzzed up to his left as he mused, bringing his attention to the sounds slowly returning to the forest they were hiding in.
“I mean, I can kinda see your point Twilight, but don’t folks like that Diamond Dog g-,” Heart Shield started to say before a crushing headache washed over him. He gripped his head as he felt the scratching and faint whispers in the back of his mind start up again.
Duck.
He was already sprawled on the ground even as he registered the word in his head, barely making it down in time before something shot from the edge of his periphery right to where his head had been moments before. His friends let out cries of surprise as some vine-like tentacle shot out of a nearby rock to strike the dragonfly with precision. The appendage dexterously snatched the insect out of the air and withdrew back to the “rock”, which split open in the middle to reveal a dripping mouth with dozens of sharp teeth lining the interior of the stone and chomped down on the poor bug.
“Wh-what the heck?” Rainbow Dash stammered, backing away from the rock as it let out a belch and resumed its previously unassuming appearance, seemingly satisfied with the snack it had snatched. “What was that?!”
“Are y’all okay sugarcube?” Applejack asked Heart Shield as she helped him to his hooves.
“I-I’m fine,” he replied, feeling his heart pounding in his chest. “Just a little shaken up, I suppose.”
“I can imagine so,” Rarity said, giving the rock a wary glare. “Anypony would be if they were almost hit by something so… so… uncouth!”
Heart Shield wanted to agree, but her assumption as to why he was so shook was only half-correct. Yes he was startled by whatever that rock was almost making a snack of him instead of the dragonfly, but he was more alarmed by the voice he heard. He knew it would sound insane if he spoke up about the warning, for that’s surely what it was, though as he scanned the forest to try to spot anyone that was spying on the seven friends he couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d “heard” the voice before. He thought back to Astros and Outset when he’d felt a similar sensation. At those times, the whispers in his head were so faint that he couldn’t make out any words at all. The whispers and scratching had slowly become more and more frequent, but never audible; always on the edge of his attention, unable to make anything out over the uncomfortable feeling of the scratches or the voices that seemed to constantly change from a single voice to multiple, nor the faint undertone of wind blowing through leaves and grassy fields. He couldn’t tell if what he’d heard was from those same whispers or if it was someone observing him that gave him a warning, or even if it was simply his subconscious picking up on the movement from the rock before he’d fully registered it.
“Everypony, make sure to keep your eyes and ears peeled,” he said eventually, shaking his head to clear it of all these thoughts. “We don’t want any more surprises like that. Rainbow, let’s follow Twilight’s suggestion and see what we can see from above these trees.”
Just breathe, Heart Shield. Focus on trying to find Chrysalis.
“Are you sure that’s safe?” Fluttershy asked. “What if those changelings see you two?”
“I can cast a minor invisibility spell on them,” offered Twilight, horn already glowing as she gathered her magic. “As long as you both don’t get too far away, it should work. I don’t want to risk using a more powerful spell only to not have the magical reserves in case we run into trouble, so you only have about ten minutes, and if you spread out too much I won’t be able to keep you hidden, so be careful but be quick.”
Rainbow Dash looked like she wanted to make some snappy retort at Heart Shield giving her an order, but a look from her friends made her bite back her words for the time being. She gave a curt nod and took to the sky once Twilight had cast her magic on them both. Heart Shield saw Applejack give an apologetic smile to the space he’d just vanished from and followed the other pegasus into the air.
The first thing he noticed was how dense the dark clouds surrounding the island seemed to be, like a darkness hungry to consume everything, ready to come crashing down without a moment’s notice. He then looked around at the forest his friends were hiding in and was glad to see that it was almost impossible to see them through the tops of the trees and foliage. This meant that a cursory look from any scouts in the air would be for naught unless they knew exactly where the group was, but it also meant that he and Rainbow Dash wouldn’t be able to spot any scouts in the woods from the sky for the same reason.
“Any idea what we’re even looking for?” Dash said when she felt the gusts of wind from his flapping wings.
“Landmarks? Anything that looks like a town or settlement?” he replied. “Heck, at this point I’d even take a giant sign that said ‘Secret Home of the Changelings Here!’”
The other pegasus couldn’t stop her snicker at that.
“So you’ve got no clue at all, do you Large-Wing.”
“None at all.”
Rainbow Dash sighed and turned her attention to the shore they’d washed up on. The waves near the island were as calm as Saddle Lake back home, while the water in the distance was as violent as ever. The rain continued to pour down on them from overhead, but much like the ocean past the calm waters, it seemed like the actual threat of lightning was at the edge of the storm and not over the island itself. At the very least she was grateful to see that there weren’t any changelings flying around nearby. She gave a light shove with her forehoof to where she sensed her friend’s shoulder was to signal they should look further before they ran out of time with the invisibility spell. Without waiting for a response she flew off to the south, followed soon after by Heart Shield as the two of them made a mental note of where they came from so they wouldn’t get lost on their way back.
Twilight hadn’t given them any indication as to how far from her “too far” was, but they found out as they flew near what looked to be a dark lake that flooded a massive crater from some kind of impact into the island far, far in the past. There was a fizzling sound and soon after the pegasi flickered into view. Thankfully, they couldn’t see any enemies for the moment, but they had to move a lot more carefully from then on. They checked out the lake, but other than the thick, black, viscous water in the lake, almost tar-like in nature, they couldn’t find any clues and soon took back to the sky to head east this time.
* * *
It took a few trips of scouting as far as they could and returning to their friends to guide them around safely before flying ahead again, without any invisibility so that Twilight could keep her magic saved up for if they really needed it, before they’d managed to cover what seemed to be barely half of the island nearly thirty minutes later. As the pegasi reached the latest edge of the range they felt safe being away from their landlocked friends, it happened again.
Before you.
Heart Shield gripped his head as the voice returned, binging yet another wave of scratches and whispers in his head along with a painful headache, and dropped from the air, crashing roughly into the deep red grass below.
“Large-Wing!” Dash cried out, rushing down to him in a flash, her signature rainbow streak left in the air behind her as she sped over, completely abandoning any attempt to not bring any attention to their location.
Heart Shield didn’t respond as the pain in his head grew. The whispers and scratches increased in volume, but he wasn’t able to make out any words. Regardless, he could feel like something was trying to grab his attention and he forced an eye open as he struggled to raise his head in the direction he could feel he was being called to. He barely registered Rainbow Dash trying to talk to him, and didn’t notice when she’d hurried off in the direction of their friends. He thought he saw a faint, pale blue glint in the distance near where he could feel the scratches were trying to guide him, but he wasn’t able to make out what the glow belonged to or if it was his mind playing tricks on him through the pain.
Your friend attracts too much attention,came the faint brush of words over his mind through the pounding in his skull. It’s like you want to get caught with all those colors.
The glow vanished and the scratches and whispers pushed the pegasus’s attention to where he’d thought he’d seen the light. If the pain didn’t let up soon, he felt like he’d pass out. It was already a struggle to keep himself from yelling due to the pressure in his head.
At least you have some sense of self-preservation to keep quiet. If you’re able to stand before you’re caught, head straight. She’s waiting for you.
Heart Shield struggled to his hooves, wanting to ask who this was, what they were, but a sharp stab of pain kept him quiet and forced him back to the dirt. The scratches, whispers, the voices like wind through leaves, seemed to grow more frantic, but he couldn’t make anything out anymore. Just as the pressure threatened to knock him out, he felt a wave of calm wash over him as a subtle warmth spread over him like slowly lowering oneself into a pool set to just the right temperature to escape the heat. The reprieve allowed him to finally focus his eyes in the direction everything was pulling him to just as his friends made their way to where he lay.
Twilight used her magic to surround the group in an unseen bubble to block their voices from anyone nearby as Rarity tapped her horn to her fallen friend’s head as she noticed he was in pain. Applejack and Fluttershy ran over to help him to his hooves, concern flooding their eyes while Rainbow Dash looked in all directions to make sure no one was about to jump them in case Heart Shield had been hit with some kind of attack that made him fall. Heart Shield could vaguely make out Pinkie trying to ask him what happened through the continued noise filling his head and pointed straight ahead as he tried to force all the extra stimulation out of his mind.
“O-over there,” he said, struggling to catch his breath as if he’d just finished a marathon. “We need to go there…”
His friends looked in the direction he indicated, eventually spotting the same thing his attention was drawn to: a jagged, dark mountain in the distance, just barely visible from above the treetops.
“Now hold on a minute,” Applejack said. “What makes ya so sure that’s where they are?”
“Nevermind that, what the heck happened?” Twilight interjected. “Rainbow Dash came speeding over to us yelling that you collapsed out of the air all of a sudden. What happened?”
Heart Shield shook his head, rubbing his forehead as the pressure faded just as quickly as it showed up. He could still feel like he was being pulled in that direction even as the scratching and whispers slowly decreased in volume, though they remained just at the edge of his awareness. He didn’t know how to explain what was going on, especially when he didn’t know himself. All he did know, somehow, was that he was correct. They needed to make it to the mountain.
“That’s the place, I know it is. I can’t explain how, but that’s where Chrysalis is, that’s where the changelings are. There’s a cave at the base of the mountain… that’s the entrance,” he murmured, gently using his wings to push Applejack and Fluttershy’s hooves off of his shoulders as he stumbled forward.
His friends looked at each other, worry for their friend’s wellbeing clear on their faces, but the pegasus paid them no mind as he felt his strength starting to return. He broke into a gallop, keeping as low as he could as his friends had no choice but to run after him. The sensations still plaguing his mind seemed to be pulling him around as he rushed forward; throwing himself blindly into it all, he directed his friends through the red grass and under the cover of the trees, more than once calling out in such a commanding tone as one of them would nearly step into the marshes that spread out ahead of them that they couldn’t help but listen, even as all of them, himself included, questioned how he knew where it was safe to run when he’d never been to the island before.
It wasn’t long before the seven of them stood at the base of the mountain, and his friends couldn’t help exchanging uncertain glances as they saw there was indeed the mouth of a cave at the base just like he’d said there would be. As Heart Shield tried to take a step into the cave, violet light surrounded him and held him in place. He turned his head, an annoyed look starting to come over his face as he was about to demand what Twilight thought she was doing, until he saw the look of hesitance in her eyes.
“What’s the name of the dragon that gave us the map to the island,” she said sternly.
The pegasus blinked in confusion at her odd question.
“Twilight, what are you talking about? We don’t have time for Twenty Questions,” he replied.
“Answer me. You were alone in that field until we made it to you and you’ve been acting weird ever since we found you. Before any of us set a single hoof into that cave, you’re going to answer my question. There was enough time where you were alone that you could have been replaced with a changeling to lead us into a trap,” she retorted, keeping her voice cool and calm. “So I’ll ask again, what was the name of the dragon that gave us the map to the island?”
“Just go and answer the question, sugarcube,” Applejack said softly. “We did the same when Rainbow came back without ya. Need to make sure everypony is who they say they are when we’re here, y’know?”
Heart Shield wanted to roll his eyes, but he held back. As much as he wanted to hurry up and save Chrysalis and stop whoever was in charge of the changelings, he knew they had a point, Twilight more than anyone else after her own experience with the changelings at her brother’s wedding. And he could see what she was trying to pull with her question too.
“Æundrïl and some of the other elder dragons gave us their old maps, but Breyta Mitos wasn’t on any of them. We only found out how to get here because of the maps and puzzles we found on Astros,” he said. “Is that good enough?”
Twilight’s horn stopped glowing as she let out a sigh of relief and released him from her spell.
“Yes, I’m sorry for having to do that,” she apologized as she and the others joined him at the entrance to the cave. “I needed to be sure. We still don’t know how they can know certain things, but when Queen Chrysalis impersonated Cadance, she didn’t have a perfect recollection of our history, and she’d had Cadance trapped for weeks. If you were trying to trick us, I figured no matter what method was used you wouldn’t have had enough time to get exact information.”
“I kind of guessed as much, there’s no way somepony like you would have made a mistake like claiming we had the location since Dragon Isle, not with that steel trap for information you call a mind,” Heart Shield replied. “Even if it was mostly a technicality. What would you have done if I just said we got the map from Æundrïl without remembering we got the full location from the library, or vice versa?”
“Oh that’s simple,” she said, giving him a genuine smile that sent a chill down his spine. “I’d have blasted you through the mountain until you told me where my friend was and ensured he was safe!”
Mental note: Always make sure that you give Twilight Sparkle nothing but factual and accurate information to any question she asks, Heart Shield thought to himself.
The seven friends ventured into the cave, following the downward path into the darkness of the unknown. Rarity and Twilight lit their horns so that they could all see as they followed Heart Shield through the depths. As they walked, Twilight held one of the books she’d recovered and used her magic to flip through it as she read the pages, murmuring to herself under her breath. Pinkie shared that while Rainbow Dash and Heart Shield had been scouting ahead, Fluttershy and Applejack had discovered that the mystery rock creature wasn’t the only thing on the island that wasn’t what it appeared to be. Plenty of the natural flora of Breyta Mitos seemed to be some form of creature or acted wildly different than how they would back in Equestria. In fact, the fauna all followed suit in one way or another. Apparently there had been a bird Fluttershy tried to speak with that opened its beak and shot out a torrent of spores like a mushroom being smacked, meanwhile a pebble actually replied to the question she’d asked the bird, though Fluttershy had trouble figuring out exactly what it had been saying.
“It’s like everything with the island is pretending to be something else, like the world’s biggest and bestest game of Pretend!” the pink mare giggled.
“Well that makes a little bit of sense,” Rarity added, carefully stepping around a section of moss on the floor for more than just to keep her carefully manicured hoofs from getting dirty, given the cautious look she gave the patch of green. “One would assume that the homeland for the changelings would be similar to them, if only to have given a reason for them to turn out the way they did. Er, no offense towards your royal friend, darling.” The last bit was directed at Heart Shield, who shrugged it off.
“I suppose you’re not too far off,” he replied, leading them down a branching tunnel as he felt that scratching and heard those faint whispers at the edge of his mind. Something told him the island wasn’t like this from any natural kind of evolution, but he had no idea what the true cause would have been. He noticed Twilight glance at the wall and saw a faint, glowing violet symbol etch itself into the wall before fading completely and raised an eyebrow at the librarian. “Marking our way in case we get lost or something?”
“Something like that,” was her only reply as she flipped to another page of the ancient tome levitating before her eyes.
He figured it was best not to ask further, she’d tell him what was up if and when it became necessary for him to know. Besides, the more he lingered, even for a second without moving forward, the more insistent the noise in his head became. He hoped that finding Chrysalis would put a stop to it, and further hoped that he wasn’t starting to go crazy, as it was very clear only he was subjected to the nagging sensations.
I swear, if this is somepony trying to reach me or manipulate me, I just wish they’d use their damn words, or at least get some kind of better signal so I can make out what’s being said. It’d be so much easier to know what I’m supposed to be doing than this game of blind charades.
The air started to get colder the deeper they went into the tunnel system, but thankfully the ground was soft enough to muffle the sounds of their hooves. They weren’t sure how long they’d been underground before they were met with a massive cavern of softly glowing crystals growing from the walls and roof. It wasn’t as bright as outside, but the light emitted from the crystals was enough to make it so Rarity and Twilight didn’t need to waste magic on their light spells anymore. Still, the group proceeded cautiously through the tunnels until Heart Shield began to feel the scratching build up almost like it was in panic, making the whispers grow louder and speak over one another until his head felt like it was going to burst again from the pressure. His friends saw him grab his head in pain, but before any of them could run to him, he flung his wings out to their full length and hissed for them all to stay quiet and follow him before he quickly ducked behind a dense fence of stalagmites. His actions didn’t leave room for argument, and one-by-one his friends joined him, hiding in the shadows this small wall cast from the crystals on the other side.
Pinkie stretched her neck out, her eyes seemingly extending out cartoonishly like a periscope as she tried to peer around the stones, but Heart Shield yanked her back by her tail and clapped a hoof over her mouth to keep her quiet. A few seconds later, four changelings strode past where the ponies hid, having come from the direction where Heart Shield had been leading them initially. It didn’t seem like the changelings had noticed them, as the four continued onward without so much as a twitch of the ear in their direction. Once the buzzing had made it out of sight and the sound of their hooves could no longer be heard, the seven friends let out a collective sigh of relief.
“Well that was closer than I would have liked,” Rarity said, brushing some cave dirt off of her tail.
“We’re lucky there was a place to hide nearby,” agreed Applejack. “Though ah’d prefer if we didn’t have to run into any of them nasty varmints before we find that queen of theirs.”
“Aw come on, where’s the fun in just sneaking around?” Dash protested. “We outnumbered them nearly two to one, why couldn’t we just have snatched them and-”
“Because we don’t want to risk them setting off whatever security system there is in the caves,” Heart Shield interrupted. “Only two of us can use magic, while all four of them can use it freely. They know the layout much better, so if even one of them got away from us, we face the risk of the entire swarm showing up and leaving us the ones outnumbered.”
Rainbow Dash grumbled quietly at the logic, but relented to her friend’s reasoning.
“Whatever the case may be, it’s a good thing you noticed them when you did,” Fluttershy said to the colt. “How’d you know they would be right around the corner?”
Heart Shield shook his head, the pressure was gone but the scratching and whispers were as impatient and insistent as before.
“I’m not sure, I just knew we needed to hide right then or we’d be in danger,” he replied.
“Perhaps you just heard them coming from the echoes of their hooves?” Twilight suggested.
“Not likely, the floor here makes it hard to hear anything echoing off of it until you’re almost right on top of whatever’s making the sound, see?” he denied, demonstrating his point by stamping his back hooves on the ground as hard as he could, resulting in a dull thud that Twilight, who was a few feet away, barely heard before the sound faded. “They weren’t talking either, so it’s not like I heard anything from them. I just… it was just a sudden feeling that we needed to hide.”
“Kinda like how my Pinkie Sense lets me know when something’s about to fall by my tail getting all twitchy!” Pinkie exclaimed, which made all seven of them immediately lock eyes on her tail to make sure not a single hint of a twitch was running through even one hair.
Heart Shield rubbed his head exasperatedly, getting a headache from this conversation.
“Maybe, but we don’t have time to figure out the details of this-,”
“Shield Sense!” Pinkie offered, then clamped her hooves to her mouth at the look he gave her.
“-of whatever this is,” he finished, gritting his teeth as the tugging at his mind started up again now that they’d been still too long. “We’re on a deadline in case everypony forgot.”
The other six nodded, not wanting to risk getting caught in case the changelings from earlier wandered back down the tunnel, and they all resumed following their friend as he continued down the path the changelings had just come from. Twilight hung back and used her magic to etch another rune into the wall like the others she’d left along the way. The book she had talked about an entirely different school of magic than she was used to and with the basics she’d already grasped, she’d deciphered a variation of her usual teleportation spell. These runes would allow her to bring any number of companions with her to any of the locations she’d marked with the runes, with no stamina cost other than the small amount needed to plant them. The runic magic the book spoke of seemed to be nearly self-sustaining once etched; as soon as a rune was placed, the magic to keep it active was drawn from the world itself rather than the caster it seemed.
“Truly fascinating. Princess Celestia would be so excited to learn of something like this when we get home,” she said to herself, already imagining the praise she’d get for discovering a lost path of magic.
* * *
The seven friends stood in front of a large fork in the caves, splitting into eight different paths, and tried to discuss which path they needed to take. Heart Shield felt the pressure building from the scratches and whispers again, wincing as he tried to make out which direction he was being tugged in.
Right.
“It’s the right-most path,” he spoke up.
The others started to protest, but he didn’t wait up to argue his decision, so they had no choice but to trust him and followed after the retreating form of the blue pegasus. So far, he’d been making correct choices, though no one was sure how he was doing so. As they pressed on, the group found the tunnel they were in slowly start to grow larger until they no longer needed to bother walking in single file like they had been since entering the mountain. The tunnel continued onward into a section of cave where the ceiling and walls were as far apart as the entrance for Sugarcube Corner, though it still stretched on almost endlessly before them.
Careful. Danger.
Heart Shield gripped his head again as the pain grew worse and that “voice” spoke up again. He flung a wing out and ordered the group to stop as they neared the center of the room. Startled by the intensity of his tone, they all did so, Pinkie even seemed to be frozen in the air mid-bounce as they watched the colt find a large stone on the ground and knock it into the air before kicking it in the direction they’d been heading. The rock flew through the air until hitting something invisible with a loud CLACK and falling through the ground. The air where the rock hit began to have cracks run from the source of the impact and rapidly spiderweb to the ground before they heard a sound akin to glass shattering. The illusion before them broke apart and revealed a now smashed statue on a pillar jutting out from a massive, deep pit, filled with sharp spikes at the bottom.
“Be careful, there’s illusions hiding traps like that all over the place, and some more classic pressure plate traps too. Don’t step anywhere that I’m not walking until we’re at the other side, unless you feel like finding out what it’s like to actually live inside a Daring Doo book —and notin the fun way,” he said, directing his last words at Rainbow Dash who looked positively excited to be experiencing her favorite novels firsthand.
“Heart Shield,” Twilight spoke up hesitantly, “how do you know this? You’re starting to scare me.”
Heart Shield was silent, lightly thumping the side of his head with his hoof to try to quiet the damned scratching and whispers now that the pain had gone again. Twilight placed her hoof on his shoulder, bringing his attention back to her.
“Tell me the truth. Did… did she tell you anything about this place when you were taking care of her? Is that how you know where all of these are?”
Her tone and her eyes pleaded for him to settle her fears by confirming that. He looked at her, then to the rest of their friends who all had similar looks in their eyes. It would be so easy to just lie to them all, to say she was right and that he’d kept this secret from them and the princesses all this time. It was a hell of a lot more believable than if he told them the truth, that he was hearing someone or something whispering in his head, that there was something that spoke in a way that could only be described like a vortex of wind swirling fallen autumn leaves around, a way that made no sense outside of the insane claim of hearing something utterly primeval. He could just go with the easy out Twilight just provided him…
“No, Chrysalis didn’t tell me anything,” he admitted at last. “Twilight, I wish it was as simple as that, but the truth is that I don’t know. I have no idea how I know any of this, I just… do.”
Come. Further in lies all that you seek.
Heart Shield winced and grabbed his head as pain shot through him, nearly making him collapse to the floor. The scratching and whispers faded until they were barely noticeable, but the new words had sent a wall of pressure inside his skull, causing him to feel as if something was trying to break out of his head even while it also tried to push into it at the same time. When he recovered, the world in front of him swam for a few seconds before his vision returned to normal, but he could feel something… calling him. It wasn’t like the tugging in his head he’d felt before. It was as if something had latched onto his core with a sturdy fishing line and was pulled taut to drag him to the source. It was a terrifying sensation, but what scared him more was the feeling that whatever was calling him to it was not lying nor trying to trick him. It would bring him directly to what, who, he sought. An offer with zero strings attached.
And that shook him to his core more than if he knew that he was being tricked.
“Heart-,” Rarity began to say, but he raised a hoof calmly to quiet her.
“Don’t worry,” he said, forcing his voice to not shake as much as his knees wanted to. “I… I’m fine. Come on, we have work to finish…”
He turned away from his friends and started walking the path through the room that he was being tugged to.
“Remember, walk exactly where I walk if you don’t want to be a victim to any of these traps,” he said without looking back.
His friends exchanged more worried looks, but complied and followed his directions. Twilight couldn’t help the growing feeling of dread that threatened to swallow her completely as she walked behind her friend. Something wasn’t right, but he was unfortunately right. They didn’t have the time to waste solving this puzzle.
I just hope whatever is happening to him won’t cost him, was the thought that echoed in her head.
Heart Shield slowly led the group through more tunnels and corridors, gripping his head as if he was in intense pain before each and every time he suddenly directed them around a trap or avoiding another changeling patrol just in the nick of time. Each time this happened, the mares could see that their friend was working under some kind of immense stress that sapped more of his energy each time. Twilight could swear that several times after this happened, her friend’s coat seemed almost desaturated until he’d grounded himself once again, but she never had the chance to try and see if any of the others noticed the same thing. Eventually, the seven ponies found themselves standing outside the entrance to a massive cavern, the glowing lights from the crystals lit the inside of the cavern as brightly as if they were lights back in any of the buildings in Equestria, revealing hundreds of other entrances to the cavern and illuminating just how deep down the rest of it led.
“This is it,” Heart Shield told them, doing his best to catch his breath. He felt as though he had been competing in a triathlon for the past week without rest, and could feel the sweat matting his mane and coat, though he tried his best not to let the others see just how ragged he was feeling. “This is where we need to be, I can feel it.”
“About time,” said Rainbow Dash, punching her hooves together as she flexed her wings. “I’ve been itching for some action after all this sneaking around.”
“Y’all ready?” Applejack asked Heart Shield as she walked up beside him. He nodded to her as Rarity took Applejack’s left.
“It may be utterly improper for a lady to resort to brutish tactics to solve a problem,” she said, tilting her head to the side to look him in the eye from where she stood, “however I shall personally make sure that the ruffian that put all of this in motion is… is… I-I’ll make them eat their own teeth!”
Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but snort at the unicorn’s declaration, which earned her a friendly glare from the mare.
“I’m sure she’ll be happy to see you again,” Fluttershy said to him as she joined Dash. “We’ll make sure that everypony is able to get out of this.”
“I can’t wait! What do you think we should make that just screams ‘RESCUE PARTY!’ when we’re back home?” Pinkie said thoughtfully, bouncing eagerly in place next to the yellow pegasus. “Shoot, I think I left my back-up confetti cannons on the ship when it broke…”
Twilight placed a hoof on Heart Shield’s shoulder as she stood on his right, bringing his attention to her. She gave him a smile and nodded.
“Listen, I know the last time we saw her face-to-face, things didn’t go how you’d planned… I’m sorry for how I reacted back then. I hope you know that I’m completely with you this time, all of us are. We’re not leaving until she and everypony that was captured are safe and whoever is behind all of this is defeated. I promise.”
He nodded in understanding, for once he fully grasped the unspoken meaning behind her words. He was grateful that she was willing to put her personal history with Chrysalis aside and help save her, something that meant far more to him coming from her than any of his other friends, as she was the one that had the most pain caused by Chrysalis’s previous actions. After everything they’ve been through, she had come to see the tip of the iceberg of what he’d seen from the queen of the changelings and how much she had changed since the attack during the wedding at Canterlot. For right now, all seven of them shared the exact same goal.
“Alright, if everypony’s ready then it’s time to go stop a war,” the colt said, turning his attention back to the cavern before them and steeled himself for what lay ahead of them.
The herd of friends took a brave step into the cavern and slowly made their way down the steps inside that lined the walls and reached down, down, down into the depths below. They kept an eye out for any other changeling patrols that might spot them, for if they were discovered here, there would be no other choice but to fight. Heart Shield led the charge, surrendering to the whims of the scratching and whispers in his head and the pull to his core that urged him forward. It was almost eerie how empty the cavern was as they descended, with not a single changeling wandering around.
“Where do you think everypony is?” Rainbow Dash asked, a hint of fear breaking through her tough, confident demeanor.
“The changelings back at the shore mentioned something about a final meeting, probably with whoever is actually behind this and whoever’s keeping Bug Snooty locked up,” Pinkie mentioned as they finally reached the bottom of the cavern. “Maybe they’re still going over some plans?”
“If that’s the case, then our first priority is to find where she’s being kept and break her out, then trying to find the ponies that they’ve been kidnapping,” Twilight mused. “We don’t want to have any of them be used as hostages, and the more ponies that join us the greater our chances are when it finally comes time to clobber the mastermind behind all of this.”
Just as they were about to head into the base of the massive hive they found deep in the cavern, a bright light from behind them grabbed their attention. Everyone whirled around, prepared for a fight as they faced a pillar of emerald flames. As the fire died down, out from the pillar stumbled a battered and bruised Chrysalis, who nearly collapsed before them. She looked as if she had barely had any nutrients since the last time Heart Shield had seen her within arm’s reach, her chitinous coat looked cracked in several places and she showed clear signs of physical harm, including another broken wing like when he’d first discovered her. Chrysalis tried to find the energy to lift her head and look around, jerking back as she noticed the ponies standing before her. In her surprise, she stumbled back and let out a sharp cry as she placed her weight on a clearly injured rear leg. However, once the shock faded, her eyes lit up with disbelief and utter relief as she recognized the young stallion at the head of the group.
“Chrysalis?!” Twilight cried out, moving to help the injured queen to her hooves. “What-, when-, how?! I thought you were supposed to be locked up!”
“H-he has called every changeling to the great hall to finalize the plan of attack,” the queen replied weakly, giving the unicorn a grateful smile for her help. “The foolish guards that were supposed to keep an eye on me thought I hadn’t yet recovered enough magic for an escape and joined the rest.”
She turned her gaze back to Heart Shield and smiled warmly.
“I knew you would make it here you silly foal,” she murmured, walking over to him with Twilight’s help. “You’re so stubborn for one so young, but you always seem to find your way to what you’re after if you barrel your way through all the obstacles in your way. You have no idea how good it is to see you for real again… I’d nearly begun to believe that connection two weeks ago was all in my head —some form of desperation given life after everything I’ve had to endure…”
Next to Heart Shield, Rainbow Dash pretended to gag until Applejack elbowed her hard in the ribs.
“Well, ah’m glad to see yer alright after all,” the orange mare said to the queen with a smile. “Or, as alright as ya can be given the circ*mstances.”
“Are you certain you’re well enough to be up and running?” Rarity asked, nodding to the injuries the changeling was suffering.
“I may not have enough magic to have made it all the way to Canterlot to formally request aid from Equestria, and to give my sincerest apologies to the princesses, but I have enough to at least help us if we make our way to the surface. I dislike the thought of having to harm my precious drones, but if it must be done to escape with our lives then I have no other choice,” Chrysalis replied, and they could see that despite her fear and injured state, she still had a small rebellious fire in her eyes. “I don’t know how long we have before he’s done with his monologue of a speech to my former forces. As much as I’d love to be able to blast him straight to Tartarus, I suggest we try to flee instead; right now he’s far stronger than any of us here, especially when none of you have the Elements with you. Please, let us hurry to the surface. I can take you up my usual path. Nopony else knows the shortcuts like me.”
She stood tall despite her injured leg and beckoned them to follow her to one of the hollows in the cavern wall. The six mares turned to follow her until they heard a hard stamp from the colt who had yet to have spoken a single word to the mare they’d come to save.
“No pony is going anywhere yet,” he said, narrowing his eyes at the injured Chrysalis.
“Heart Shield, please,” she begged, looking at him with pleading eyes. “What is the matter? He’s away with the entire swarm right now, but there’s always the chance some of the smarter drones decide to check on my cell on their patrols. If we get out now, we can make it to Equestria and with the Elements of Harmony we’ll have the power to put a stop to him and his plans. Please, let’s go.”
“I said no. There’s no reason to leave right now,” he retorted.
“Heart Shield, darling,” Rarity said, giving him a look that sweetly yet coldly said he had better shape up, “I understand a colt has his honor to consider when somepony… dear to him has been harmed, but now is not the time to be bullheaded and charge in to get some retribution. Especially when we need to make sure she doesn’t get hurt any further.”
The pegasus felt his cheeks burn at the implication and stamped his hoof into the floor again stubbornly. He shoved the annoying scratching and whispers in his head and strode over to Chrysalis, looking her directly in the eye.
“What’s the first thing you ever said to me?” he demanded.
Chrysalis blinked, stunned by the ridiculous question.
“Really, is now the time for this sort of thing?” she asked him.
“What was the first thing you ever said to me?” he repeated, standing his ground.
The changeling queen rolled her eyes and groaned at his stubbornness.
“I told you my name right before you went to fetch Twilight. I might have been injured and delirious at the time, but I still remember that. It’s me, Heart Shield, happy?” she said, stamping her injured hoof out of habit before letting out a yelp of pain.
Heart Shield’s shoulders relaxed and he nodded to her.
“Of course it is, I’m sorry, I’m just on edge. You’re right, let’s get out of here,” he said softly, waving a wing to indicate for her to lead the way.
Chrysalis rolled her eyes and shot a look to Twilight Sparkle as if to ask if she puts up with the colt’s attitude all the time like this, to which the unicorn gave her an apologetic smile. Chrysalis sighed and shook her head, trying to hide the small smile at how things had changed after so long, and turned to lead them through the passageway she’d indicated. Before any of them could take a step forward to follow her, a blur of blue rushed past them and slammed into the changeling queen. Chrysalis let out a cry as she was sent flying into the stone wall from the impact, her head smacking hard against the rocks. Heart Shield landed where she’d been standing moments before, ignoring the looks of shock and horror from his friends.
“What in tarnation is wrong with you?” Applejack demanded, poised to wrestle him should it come to it as the unicorns lit up their horns in preparation to restrain their friend. “Ah thought y’all wanted to rescue her from this place!”
Heart Shield ignored them and stalked towards Chrysalis as she shakily got to her hooves.
“Thought you could fool me again huh?” Heart Shield said, stepping towards Chrysalis, his eyes narrowed and full of rage. “Do you really think I’m so stupid that I’d fall for the same trick twice?”
“Heart Shield, stand down! What the heck is your problem?!” Rainbow Dash yelled, the first to act as she bolted over to him in an attempt to tackle him, but had to make a sharp correction as he stepped aside without looking back which nearly caused her to slam headfirst in the wall.
“Drop the damn act and show us your real face,” he snapped at Chrysalis.
Chrysalis’s entire demeanor changed in an instant. She let out a “Tsk!” of frustration and stood up, brushing her chitin clear of the dirt and debris from the impact in the wall before fixing her cold glare on the pegasus. As they all watched, her dual-colored emerald eyes began to morph into an all-too-familiar solid violet. Her mane and tail exploded into bright green flames that seemed to almost grow in intensity with the anger clear on her face, as the mangled horn on her head shrank into the flames while a horn like a white fang grew from her snout. Her wings buzzed angrily before a flash of green melted them together to form a single, tattered dragon’s wing on either side of her back while teal plating slid into place to guard the softer flesh from her neck down the rest of her unprotected underside as steel-like armor appeared and covered her chest, back, hips and shoulders. Soon, instead of the towering changeling queen that had stood huddled before them, stood the familiar figure of the same changeling that had impersonated Chrysalis during the attack on Ponyville.
“I took those memories from the queen herself, how could you have seen through it!” she snarled at the colt, revealing the sharp fangs her lips hid.
Danger. Surrounding.
“Chrysalis’s name was the second thing she said to me,” Heart Shield replied, slowly circling the changeling, ignoring the pounding in his head as the scratching and whispers rose to a nearly deafening level. “The first thing she said was asking me not to bring anypony to her. Now, where is she?”
The draconic changeling laughed, her voice filled with icy venom. As if on cue, dozens upon dozens of pillars of emerald flames erupted in the room around the seven ponies. As each flame died one by one, it was clear that not only were they surrounded by a small squadron of changelings, but more draconic ones like the one before them also emerged from the flames, slowly circling the group of friends. Heart Shield forced himself to ignore the pressure slamming into his head and keep a collected look on his face as he backed up to join his friends. Soon the seven ponies were huddled back-to-back, braced for a desperate fight with the forces that encircled them the moment they were given the signal. Heart Shield could feel that he wasn’t the only one putting on a brave face in the midst of danger as he felt Applejack’s leg jitter next to his. He brushed his wing subtly over her back to calm her as he continued to glare at the Chrysalis imposter now that her mask had been ripped off for a second time.
Just as he was about to open his mouth and give the command to rush the swarm, the scratching and whispers in his head ripped his attention away.
Danger. Arrive. Danger.
The tugging sensations from before combined and drew his head to the side before the sound even reached his ears. Calm, confident and foreboding hoofsteps clacked along the hard floor of the cavern from the entrance behind them. It wasn’t the sound of any other approaching forces like the ones that already surrounded them, and Heart Shield felt as if the very breath in his lungs was ripped away. His fur stood on end as an icy chill ran up his spine as his ears twitched, both turning fully to the approaching noise. It was a shock he could even hear the sound of those hooves over the roaring pounding of his heart in his ears. Every part of him screamed that he and his friends were about to be swallowed whole by a primal predator.
“So, Chrysalis didn’t tell me everything after all. I’ll give her one thing, she’s always been a tenacious little minx. I’ll have to make sure she remembers her place when we’re done.”
The voice was cold, cruel and vicious, despite the darkly amused chuckle from the figure that slowly began to emerge from the dark entrance. The various changelings all immediately dropped to a knee, the clang of the armor on all the draconic ones echoed as one throughout the cavern. Before any of the ponies could react, a harsh, almost acidic, green magic wrapped around all of them. Against their wills, the seven young friends found themselves forced into a kneeling position by the magic, and Heart Shield felt a faint sense of relief as he found he wasn’t the only one crying out in pain as the magic fully engulfed each of them. The changelings that stood before the entrance shuffled to the sides to create a path as the figure slowly emerged from the darkness.
A towering stallion, dark as onyx, stepped out to stand before the captured ponies. The holes splattered throughout his legs and horn marked him as a changeling, that much was certain. His horn was a mangled, bent mess similar to Chrysalis’s. Like Chrysalis, he had dual-colored eyes, though his were violet gradients unlike her green ones. At the end of his snout was a second horn, much like the ones the draconic changelings had, though his was a deep black rather than the white they sported. The similarities to the new changelings didn’t end there however. Like them, his mane and tail were naught but solid green flames that cast ominous shadows over his face, which made his violet eyes seem to glow even colder. His wings flared out as he relished the looks of fear and pain on his captive’s faces, showing off the powerful, yet tattered dragon wings sported by the newer changelings. Unlike theirs, however, his wings had a boney, curled, spiky protrusion that jutted out from where the folded joint of the wings was. As he grinned at the helpless ponies before him, revealing his sharp fangs, the flames on his head parted to reveal a black, spiked crown with teal jewels topping the various spikes from the crown.
“Welcome to Breyta Mitos, little ponies, the glorious home of all changelings, and my kingdom.”
