Author's Notes:

Part 2/3 of the Changelings

Once everyone was back at the castle, Brian retrieved the drone and brought him back to the throne room.

“Good news, you're going home.”

“You're just letting me go? Nothing else,” the drone asked

Brian withdrew a needle with a much bigger shaft that contained a pellet with a special surprise for the drone. Brian also had a second needle with a small camera imbedded in a pellet.

“This first needle will make ensure your cooperation, while the second will assist me.”

“Anything else,” the drone asked

Brian pulled out a scroll and wrote a simple message before using a black candle and a plain seal to prevent the message from being opened.

“A letter for your leader only. Simply give this to Chrysalis.”

Brian accompanied the drone back to Ponyville and sent him into the Everfree Forest. Unbeknownst to the drone, Brian used his shadow-walking ability to watch the trip via the camera implanted.

The drone continued through the forest reaching a point at the end that sloped down into a chasm. Inside was a structure that contained various holes that was reminiscent of a hornet or bee's nest. Brian withdrew a small monitor to see everything that was transpiring.

“Chrysalis, I have returned. And I bear a message for you,” the drone said holding the letter

“Give me that,” she said taking the message

She took the letter and broke the wax seal to open it up. Inside was a simple message written in red ink.

You're dead.
Have a nice day

“What is the meaning of this,” Chrysalis demanded

“I was just told to deliver the message. That's all,” the drone said

Chrysalis watched as the drone immediately disintegrated due to the pill he was injected with. Brian watched from the injected camera and activated the acid at the right time. He withdrew a .50 caliber sniper rifle and used it to take out the two guards outside the hive, causing a green explosion from their now missing heads. A third guard arrived and stood over one of the bodies as it dropped from being sniped, ending the same gory way.

After eliminating the guards, Brian withdrew a gas mask and a smoke grenade from the pouch. Activating his altered vision, he put the mask on and used his magic to pull the pin to release the smoke and headed to the entrance to throw the smoke grenade inside.

“What's with this smoke,” a changeling asked

“I don't know. I can't see a thing,” another answered

In the confusion, Brian raced in and attacked everyone in sight just as the smoke was dissipating from the room. Throughout the carnage, he actually lost count of how changelings had their throats slit.

After clearing the room, Brian went and checked for additional side chambers. Finding one, he quickly marked the ground with an ‘X’ to denote its visit and headed down. At the end of the chamber was a door with a pair of guards in front.

“Hey assholes,” Brian called

“Is he talking to us,” one guard asked

“I think so,” the other replied

“Let's get him,” the first one said

Brian held out his blades and infused them with lightning as the two changelings ran forward and were cut down in seconds. He figured this was where the prisoners were kept, but planned on releasing them afterwards, so they didn't see the carnage left behind.

Once the chamber was cleared, he returned to the original where the door was and looked around for anything he missed. After the initial slaughter, many more changelings were waiting to stop Brian from reaching the top. Each of them were killed before he wiped his blades off and removed a machine gun to make things faster. The final room had twelve changelings inside along with a throne so he knew where he was.

“Before I kill you, how many of you are male?”

As two raised a hoof, Brian promptly shot the other in the face killing it automatically.

“You, go stand on the other side of the room. Now, I'm guessing the rest of you are female,” he asked as the rest nodded

Out of the remaining ten females, nine were executed before Brian threw the gun back into his bag.

“Congratulations, Adam and Eve. You two are the sole survivors. Do either of you know why?”

“I don't know who Adam and Eve are. Why did you spare us,” one asked

“So you aren't extinct. Get back together with Thorax. If I get word of you abducting others, you will be eliminated.”

“We left because of what Thorax wanted. I became Chrysalis to bring us back to our original glory. Who cares if we killed a few ponies? We deserve to live,” the other changeling said

“What happened to the previous Chrysalis?”

“She died of old age. Changelings have long lifespans, that's why the cause of her appearance. Once she died, someone had to take her place,” the female replied

“You do deserve to live. But there's a difference; you shouldn't become someone you're not. Get back together with Thorax. Even if you don't change, you deserve to be together.”

“Perhaps you are right. Replacing someone doesn't help us. We need to be ourselves, even if we change,” she decided

“I'll let him know about decision and help relocate you two.”

Discord popped up and simply snapped his fingers to remove the dead bodies strewn around the hive.

“By the way; your total is 250,” Discord said

“That counts the ones from town?”

“Yes. You had 25 there and 225 here,” he replied casually

Brian left the throne room and headed back down to the initial chamber he skipped and reached the door. True to his assessment, everyone that was abducted was tied up and seemed thrilled someone was there to rescue them.

“Thank you for rescuing us. We thought for sure they were going to kill us,” Lyra said

“Thank you Prince Dragnov,” Cheerilee said

“Why is there green all over you,” someone asked

“You're all welcome. The changelings have been killed. Your loved ones are waiting for you back in town. And as for the green; you don’t want to know.”

Brian led everyone back as they were reunited with their families. Luna and Celestia were there to congratulate him.

“Why are you covered in green ooze,” Twilight asked curiously

“That's changeling blood.”

“Before we have dinner at the castle to congratulate you. Get that cleaned off,” Celestia ordered

“Yes ma'am.”

He immediately flew to his castle and jumped in the shower. It took two complete rinses to get clean. With all the changelings he killed, he wasn't thinking about how much blood was spraying around. After finally getting clean, the others were going to take chariots to Canterlot as he elected to fly.

“You're sure about this,” Octavia asked before climbing inside

“Of course. I dried off after my bath, but this will help completely dry me off.”

It took him a little longer to get to the castle then it did the chariots. He wanted to relax and take his time, and making a couple laps around the castle did just that.

“Sorry it took so long. I needed to clear my head,” he said dryly

“It's alright. Thank you for rescuing everyone the changelings abducted,” Celestia said

“Oh, Thorax said he was on his way and arriving any time now,” Luna added

Right on cue, a multicolored changeling walked through the door. Noting his appearance, Brian assumed that was Thorax, as he differed from the others.

“Nice to meet you Prince Dragnov. I'm Thorax,” he said

“It's ‘Brian’. I may be a prince, but I dislike using the title. I'm guessing you heard about the problem we had?”

“I did. There were changelings that chose to stick to the old ways of changing into others to feed. After Chrysalis died, another took her place. I'm sorry for anything they caused,” Thorax answered

“I've eliminated all but two; Adam and Eve. I told them to rejoin your group. They do deserve to live, but many wanted to eliminate the original in order to take their place.”

“Adam and Eve; what's that? I'll gladly take the others back. Just direct me, and I'll retrieve them,” Thorax said

“When I was human, Adam and Eve were supposed to be the first man and woman created. Tomorrow, I'll direct you and you can take them home.”

“Do you want to tell us what happened with the changelings,” Twilight asked

“I can't.”

“Cannot or will not,” Twilight pressed

“Yes.”

“You won't tell us about it,” Celestia asked

“Not unless you want to have nightmares. What I did shouldn't be repeated.”

“That bad, huh? Maybe it's good not to tell us,” Dash said

Later that night, Octavia helped her husband prune his wings before they headed to bed. The next morning after having breakfast, a chariot arrived to take Brian and Thorax to the Everfree Forest where they picked up the two surviving changelings.

“They're down there.”

“Thank you. I'll head there to retrieve them,” Thorax said

After they returned to the castle, Celestia allowed them to use her airship to take the group home. As they flew, Thorax directed them over the open ocean to an island.

“Keep going in this direction. Down there is our home,” Thorax said

The island contained simple structures that resembled huts. Brian was surprised that so many changelings looked neon. They were given something to eat before heading back to Canterlot. That evening through dinner, Brian felt distant and was actually lost in his own thoughts.

“Excuse me. I'm going to head to the library for a while.”

“Have fun,” Celestia said

Brian grabbed a few books to read, but wasn't focusing on the text. Hours later after Luna raised the moon, he returned the books to their shelves and headed outside for some fresh air. He headed up to the same flat area that was used seventeen years ago. Once there, Brian sat down and got into a meditative state, without closing his eyes and began to pray.

“I'm not sure who I should address. Lucifer, or someone else. Thank you for granting me a second chance at life. I'm not sure if what I've done was for the best or not. I killed the people at the club due to their idea of using children as sex objects.

"The changelings wanted to be considered equals, although their method was not the best. I've killed a total of 300 people, but I don't consider myself a murderer. I'm at a loss on what I should do and could use some guidance. Amen.”

“Faust,” a voice said from behind him

“Huh?”

“Faust. That's who most ponies pray to,” Luna asked as he chuckled “What's funny?”

“At home, there's two different meaning of the name. First is Lauren Faust, the creator of My Little Pony. The other is a story about a man named Faust, who sold his soul to the Devil.”

“That is interesting. My sister may not tell you, but she and I know exactly what you're going through. I'll try and convince her to explain it to you tomorrow,” Luna said

The next evening he was called to Celestia’s room and saw her and Luna waiting for him. Celestia used her magic to prevent anyone from entering and also soundproofed it for privacy.

“Luna told me about your meeting last night. You might not know, but the two of us were warriors when we were younger. Equus wasn't always peaceful as it is now. One battle had Luna and I holding off an entire army,” Celestia said

“I actually read that when I was in Hell.”

“We were commanders, always leading from the front of the troops. Some called us warlords due to our rough nature. The battle with the two of holding off an army wasn't the entire truth. Everyone else was slaughtered, leaving us to fight. Somehow our enemy turned our own soldiers against us,” she said through tears as she started to cry

“You killed your friends before battling the enemy. I saw that, but must have skimmed over that area.”

“After that incident, we wondered if we were murderers, like you thought; with everyone we've killed. Both of us actually tried to kill ourselves over it,” she added
“Our bodies wouldn't permit us to injure ourselves in any way. We had just risen to become alicorns at the time.”

“I tried jumping off a cliff and landed on spikes, only to walk away uninjured as the holes patched themselves. Burning myself was the same. Even during my banishment, I tried some of the dark rituals to end myself and nothing worked,” Luna said

“With everyone we've killed, it doesn't go away. Every time I close my eyes, I see their faces and wonder if I failed them. You were granted a second chance at life, here. Yes; you have killed, and probably will kill others in the future. You have to move on and not let it eat at you,” she said wiping her eyes

“Thank you for the advice. I hope that I can push the thoughts from my memory.”

After that meeting when he went to sleep, he was transported to the dreamscape to visit Ignis for the first time in a while.

“Welcome back. It's been a while,” Ignis said

“It has. You seemed to take pleasure in killing those patrons at the club.”

“And I could say the same about you killing the changelings,” Ignis retorted

“Touché. I've been thinking about that these past few days.”

“You're a murderer. Celestia is right about not letting it bother you. When you live as long as she has, death comes rather easily. You'll always remember Dusk as that was the most traumatic of them. The others were for purpose,” Ignis replied

“It's that purpose that I've been thinking about.”

“What about,” Ignis asked

“Whether or not I made the right decision with the changelings. The club was the right thing to me.”

“Let's see: a group that kidnapped others to impersonate them. Said group wanted to eliminate the originals as ‘there can be only one’. Reasoning behind said group was to be ‘equals’. Not exactly a bad thing on their elimination. Besides, you did leave two living to repopulate,” Ignis suggested

“When you put it that way, perhaps it was for the best to eliminate them.”

“One last piece of advice. Looking towards the future is easier than looking at the past,” Ignis said

“Thanks. I need to focus on what can be changed ahead of me, instead of what's already set in stone.”

“Exactly. I'm glad I can give advice to myself for me to use. Damn, that really sounds confusing when it's put like that,” Ignis joked

“Just a little. But it's true.”

The next morning, Brian felt a little better about the meeting with Celestia and Ignis, but still needed some time to clear his head.

“Feeling better,” Twilight asked

“Sort of. Celestia gave me some advice, but I still have a lot on my mind.”

“What kind of advice,” she asked

“Personal. I'm going to use the portal for a little while.”

“Want me to come with you? I'd like to see our friends,” she asked

“Actually, I'd like to ask you not to let them know. I'll explain another time, but for now I need to clear my head.”

“If that is what you would like. I promise not to say anything,” Twilight replied

“Maybe some time, we can go to the Crystal Empire,” Octavia suggested

“Sounds good. Perhaps it will be fun to go.”