The rest of that day went by with little-to-no interruption. Feather refused to explain what she meant in the throne room.

Getting to sleep was hard, the bed was completely level. It didn't have the crater created by Dan. It didn't have his love. It didn't have him. Though, after some effort and a lot of tossing and turning, I fell into unconsciousness's embrace.

***

I stretched open my eyes, my body was stiff and I felt... cold.

I rolled myself over, falling off of the bed and hitting the floor with a harsh 'thud'. I flipped myself onto my stomach and began to sluggishly drag myself to the bedroom door, pulling myself along with my front hooves. I felt the icy chills creeping their way up my bag legs, into my spine.

I eventually reached the base of the door.

I exerted a wavering hoof, in an attempt to reach for the door handle above me, no use. I looked to my hoof. It was no longer it's healthy dark color, it was a cloudy grey like a snake about to shed its skin. Unfortunately for me, changelings didn't shed their skin. In fact they keep the same skin throughout their life, barely even heals. Scars well though.

The fact that my whole body was an unnatural color was at the forefront of my mind however, as I attempted to use my wings.

I only managed to flap them once or twice over the span of a couple seconds, nowhere near fast enough for them to carry my weight.

I flopped limply onto my back, staring at the ceiling exhausted. As I laid there, I found myself becoming short of breath, soon I was gasping just to remain conscious. My field of vision was narrowed and the sharp chills had spread across most of my body when I heard a knocking at the front door.

There was a distant voice. "Hey, Eb'ster you up?"

I could not identify the voice as it seemed to echo around me.

I opened my mouth to answer, but no words came. I listed a hoof slightly, with much effort, then dropped it. It hit the carpet silently, there was no chance of them hearing that. I lifted my head slowly, peering around the room with clouded eyes.

I spotted the mirror.

I closed my eyes. "Huh, guess he's still asleep." I heard echo from the front door. The ambient noise around me seemed to increase in volume as I concentrated what little magic I could and took aim.

The deafening sound of shattering glass encased the room as the thin sliver of a laser hit its mark and sent reflective shards about the room. I laid back down, now completely unable to move. As I stared at the ceiling, I felt a pulling sensation and my vision began to narrow around me.

Some echo-ey crashing sounded from behind the door. After a couple seconds of incomprehensible yelling later, the door handle above my head turned and retracted out of my view.

My eyes slowly slid shut as Dawn stood over me, I could hear her shouting, but I couldn't make out what was being said. I fought to keep my eyes open but it didn't seem to slow their process at all. My eyes fell shut as she lifted me onto her back.

I felt myself slipping away as she ran.

I tried desperately to siphon any and all love I could form the air as it rushed past me. I did it more out of instinct than anything. There was a very small amount coming from Dawn, a tiny flicker of love that represented friendship more than anything. I had to stop myself from taking every last whisp of love she contained, but I probably still took too much.

My hearing returned slightly and so did my vision to some degree. But I didn't have the energy to keep my eyes open and I still couldn't move. The icy feeling had spread up to the base of my neck.

I heard the, now familiar, sound of the throne-room doors being charged open. There were dozens of gasps as she ran into the room, clearly visiting hours were active again. She tumbled me to the floor in front of her, I rolled onto my back, breathing heavily through my nose, I was still fighting to remain conscious. I could hear one of the royal sister's metal shoes clicking rapidly over to us, the sounds of the crowd either side of us seemed to become distanced. There was a little bit more love in that room, needless to say; I took every last bit I could without leaving noticeable damage.

"What happened?" Celestia asked very seriously, perhaps even protectively.

Dawns hooves rapped against the floor, trotting on the spot. "I don't know! I found him like this, he was in his room an-"

"Okay, okay." Celestia silenced her. "Dawn, thank you, but now is not the time for explanations."

There was a pause in the conversation I assume Dawn took that time to collect herself, probably giving a stern nod to the princess when she was done. Meanwhile, i could practically hear the wheels in Celestia's head turning. By the subtle twinkling sounds of her horn, she cast multiple spells during this silence.

After a couple seconds the spells stopped and her voice took a tone I had only heard rumors of during my years servicing as a guard. The 'I have a plan and you will follow it' voice.

"Dawn, go and get Steve. Now. My ponies, exit this room and remain against the walls unless you have training or skills that could help. Guards, make sure the ponies who leave this room do not crowd the halls, we will likely need them." She commanded. Everyone in the room complied in unquestioning obedience.

Celestia leaned down to me as the ponies all rushed to do their given tasks. "Ebony." She said in a soft voice. "Ebony, can you hear me?"

I cracked one of my eyes open, she smiled at me, but kept waiting for a response. I tried to nod but my neck wouldn't respond and I couldn't smile. I opened my mouth to speak, but not only did my lips barely part, no sound came. I reluctantly resorted to huffing in response. I could not turn my head, so she recoiled and blinked rapidly for a second as my breath hit her face.

She stared at me. "...Can you move?" She asked, clearly able to tell I would never simply blow into her face in any other situation. Her eyes widened as I remained motionless. "Oh dear... that's not good." She stood back up and paced slightly. "Come on Viss, where are you..." She mumbled.

Queen Vicissit! I had completely forgotten. As soon as the thought hit me I attempted to contact her.

"My Queen?" ...

...

Nothing.

I sighed. Then regretted it immediately, I had emptied my lungs... and I couldn't fill them.

I suffered in silence for a full minute. I know that because I counted. Each second was like an hour, silently pleading to Celestia, who continued pacing back and forth mere meters from me, completely ignorant to the oxygen-starved changeling on the floor.

The tightness in my chest quickly turned to pain. I kept trying, but my chest would not rise, the muscles would not respond. The chills had, by then, encompassed my whole body and had began descending into my flesh like icicles.

The ground rumbled under me.

My vision began to fade again.

Again, the ground shook, I heard screaming from behind the door.

Celestia gasped as the door's flew off their hinges and landed a couple feet into the room, dust erupted from the doorway and slowly began settling onto the floor.

A green bubble formed around me as a blurred figure towered over me. It knelt at my side, and placed a familiar glowing horn on the top of the bubble. I was cast in a green hue.

It was as if a fire had started in my body. The icy chills were quickly replaced with a burning pain that spread rapidly around my body. Despite the unholy amounts of pain, I began to feel... better. My vision returned. My hearing returned to normal. I began to re-gain control of my body. As soon as I could, I took in as many breaths as I could.

Celestia rushed over to my Queen's side as she poured more and more magic into the force-field which surrounded me. As she did so, the barrier disappeared. Queen Vicissit slumped, gasping for breath as I rose to my hooves, even when lying down, like she was, Vicissit was still taller than me and only eye-level with Celestia.

The pain faded and I felt... awake, for the first time that day.

I peered past my Queen, to the doorway. Through the doorway, I saw a very large hole in the wall behind it... and a hole in the one behind that one... and... well, basically, my Queen had seemingly added another hallway to the palace trying to get to me faster. Guards crowded the doorway, but didn't dare come any closer.

I embraced my Queen as soon as I got my bearings. "It's okay... Ebony, I've got you." She said, pressing her neck into me and placing a hoof across my back, she didn't place its weight on me though since it would likely crush me.

It was very rare for my Queen to show such tenderness, but... as the last of her hive, I guess I was everything to her, and by the looks of things, she almost lost me.

"I'd... hate to interrupt..." Celestia said from our side. I felt Vicissit shift her neck to look at the princess. "But... what did you just do?"

My Queen was still catching her breath. Her voice was lacking its impressive and honorable tones, such things are a sign of authority and class in the hives. But in her fatigued state, she spoke in only one tone, sounding a lot like Celestia. "I began making my way here as soon as I heard your message Celestia. But... as soon as I received my scou-.. Ebony's message, I realized what had happened and cut a corner, so to speak." She said, taking a glance at the carnage behind her. "I do apologize for any ponies I may have cost you."

Celestia blinked and shook her head slightly. "We'll talk about that later. What did you do? As in, right here a couple seconds ago?"

Vicissit pushed me out of our hug gently. She stood and regained her composure, towering over Celestia who only looked a little intimidated. My Queen dismissed Celestias worries with a sad smile. "Once I got here, I fed Ebony a large fraction of my love reserves. He was starving, and close to death."

I looked down at myself. My color was coming back, returning to my usual darkness.

Celestia tilted her head and gave me a questioning glance. "But... he's been eating meat every day!"

Vicissit shook her head. "As I said, it's not a very effective source of energy. Ebony will be okay for a few days now, living off of what I gave him. You are feeling okay now, right?" She asked, looking down to me with caring eyes I had missed incredibly.

I nodded. "I think I'm just a little... shaken."

They both smiled. "As anypony would be." Celestia said. She turned to my Queen. "So, what does this mean for Ebony? What happens now?"

Vicissit sighed, having finally caught her breath. "It means Ebony will need to find a source of love within the next couple of days. I could give him the last of my reserves, but even I can't live on pony-food alone. As it stands I will need to find a source of love within the next year or so, lest I begin to starve. If I gave him my reserves that time would be cut down to a couple months and to find a source in that amount of time..." She looked at herself, then to Celestia. "Well... I doubt that'll happen." She shook the frown she had acquired off of her face, and replaced it with a stern expression. "Anyway, there are bigger concerns right now. Much bigger."

Celestia mirrored her stern expression. "What is it? I would happy to help."

My Queen nodded. "I believe I will need it, we will discuss this in private. For now, Ebony..." She turned to me and leaned her head down, meeting my eyes. "Please, go find a source of love but... I know it must be hard, but don't use your disguises. We need to keep our reputation as high as possible. Just... find a pony, okay?"

I blinked. "But... what about Dan?"

"Oh... yes, Dan. Well, I'm sure since it's your life on the line, I'm sure he won't mind." She lifted her head back up to its lofty height. "Now, please, let us speak in private."

I smiled to her as I walked past. "Thank you, my Queen."

She returned the smile, but it was forced.

Celestia called for the guards to leave the room as I walked through the now doorless doorway.

I was on my way back to my room when I was tackled to the ground. Now on top of me was... "Steve?" I asked, honestly confused.

Steve looked rather flustered. His feathers quickly puffed out and his wings shot out. "I- I'm sorry!" He rushed as he scrambled off of me. "She pushed me!" He pointed to Dawn, who walked up beside him. "Why are you doing this?!"

Dawn rolled her eyes. "Celestia told me to go get you, you refused to wake up, I dragged you out of the room and half way to the throne room, but then Celestia used her freaky mind-talking magic and told me Eb needed love. So..." She put a hoof on the back of his neck. "Love him!" She shoved him forward, in a collision-course with me.

Steve sat, extended his wings and beat them several times, trying to stop. I stepped out of his way and he slid impotently along the floor, still in a sitting position, like a hockey puck. Eventually, he stopped, but only by hitting a wall. Steve seemed content to just stare at the wall for a bit, so I turned to Dawn.

"I don't think I'm okay with you tossing your fiance at me, Dawn." I said, slightly concerned for Steve's health.

Dawn rolled her eyes. "Eb, you need love, and he gives me plenty, I'm sure he has spare!"

"Dawn... that's... that's not it works." I said, giving Steve a worried glance. He was prying his beak from the wall.

She huffed and walked over to Steve. "Fine. Well, I hope you find... somepony." She grunted the last word as she heaved Steve's face out of the wall it was embedded in. Somehow, he didn't seem damaged.

Steve shook the fine dust from his beak, looked to me and sighed. "You okay? Dawn's being... Dawn."

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine now. I just need to find a love-source in the next couple days. It can't be... that hard."

***

I got back to my room without being tackled again, thankfully. I was equally thankful that my room was not one of the ones included in my Queens... shortcut.

I used my new-found energy to continue practicing with the guitar.

Half an hour or so later, there was a knock at my door. I leaned the guitar on the side of the couch I was using and walked over to answer it.

"Who's there?" I asked, leaning an ear to the door.

"Celestia."

"Oh." I opened the door, and sure enough, there she was. And She didn't look too happy. "Sorry." I said, walking back into the room, allowing her entrance. I sat on the couch I was sitting on prior.

"No no, it's not your fault I'm in a... bad mood. It's more the fact that the entire city just got sent what equates to a death-threat." She said, sitting the in the couch opposite me, which surprised me sightly.

I blinked. "What?!"

She nodded. "Yes, your Queen told me of a transmission she got this morning, just before I beckoned her with magic. She states it was from another hive, the one who imprisoned her. Basically, they demand that she exit the city immediately and hoof herself over to them, or they will attack." She waved a hoof at my shocked expression. "Don't worry too much, we'll protect your Queen, she refused and they are on their way. Now. But luckily, as you may remember, their hive is very far away, so it will take them a few days to get here. We have predicted they will get here at around ten in the morning in two days time."

I shifted nervously. "Can you... beat them?"

Celestia's shift in confidence didn't help mine from fading slightly. "Well... let's just say we'll be tested. From what information we have, they are sending everything at us. Everything. Even the non-military changelings." She pointed to me. "Like you."

I blinked. "What... What are we going to do?"

She narrowed her eyes and her voice took on a very menacing tone. "Return the favor. They send everything at us, we send everything at them. Or at least have everything we have waiting for them. All civilians without training in either military or medical fields are being evacuated to Ponyville."

I thought for a second. "Wait... does that mean..."

She nodded. "I'm sorry, but even you, Dawn, Rosewood and Feather are being caught in this mess. We need everything we get, we can't afford to leave any trained personal without a use. Even your Queen will be amongst the fighting. And so will... a friend of yours, if he agrees."

My eyes widened. "Wait... Dan? You're getting Dan back?"

She nodded. "He has shown a talent for combat, and serving in this battle will likely make the ponies placing charges think twice about his intentions. So he'd be let out, probably."

I grinned and pounced the alicorn into a hug, she was like a wall, but accepted my hug. "Thank you Princess!"

She patted my back. "...No problem Ebony... No problem..." ...She didn't sound that happy.

Update: 29/11/15
-I forgot to format it... whoops

Well, it's been a while since the last one huh?

That's cus I made half a chapter, then decided it was the next one, so yeah, that happened.

Have a chapter. There. Happy now? Next one will take a bit, cus thinking is hard.