Author's Notes:

Thanks to Jinzou for reading over this chapter.

Gympis’s eyes, crusted down with toxic from the changeling prince of the same namesake and the shock of his betrayal, cracked open. Feebly, the changeling looked around for her savior, but Goldilock was not present. This did not mean that Gympis was alone, however. Doc Top and Dr. Hooves were right by her sides, and so was the purple unicorn Amethyst Star. “Huzzah, she’s up!” shouted the latter.

“Then I should like to know how I got here,” replied the changeling. Her hooves still felt as if they were buried in rock, her head like it was submerged in water, and her eyes…

“Well, I can get right down to it if you want both.” Doc Top said.

Gympis blinked.

“The good news and bad news, of course,” continued the doctor. “Thanks to your recovery, I can safely confirm that all of your injuries are… nonlethal!“

The changeling painfully blinked, the slowness of the action taking her back to her first awakening. Goodness, it felt so far away, and yet so much had happened since. Perhaps she could tell someone of it all one day, like Viscera, or… “I.. think that report would be a bit obvious doctor,” replied Gympis at last.

“I knew it!” Dr. Hooves sprang to her feet. “The changeling that learned civilization one week ago can see it, and you can’t!”

Amethyst Star's eyes turned to the door leading into the other room - the kitchen that Viscera had been laid up in. “Um, guys?!”

“And we let that other pony Withers into Snowheart’s custody before you came! A decision I adore more and more by the second, may I add!”

“I’ve gotten Viscera back on four legs, haven’t I?”

“No, Everfree has! And I’ve seen better supporting wood on a -”

At this point, the doors to the dining room opened wide to allow in Viscera. Indeed, a splint was upon Viscera’s injured forehoof as she entered the room. Regardless, her expression bore no pain. The emotional heft was better spent elsewhere, now that the thief had two ponies she had to keep as far away from the Queen and her cohorts as possible. And the only one of them not traumatized by the Ponyville Massacre that same Queen had exacted – Withers – was now in Ponyville Hospital., one of many visiting spots of that very cyan pegasus by the various photos she was studying. “Withers had better not be in that spot, Doc!”

“Because of Dash, yes, I know! “ Doc Top said. His gaze then shot to the front door of the house. “We have a sub-basement we’ll get him treated in! He should be stable by the end of the next day!”

Dr. Hooves snorted in indignation. “Or be fit to clean one after you’re finished babbling over his dying body! Now, will you back off before you hurt yourself? Because if this pony dies, I’ll be hurting yo-”

“BOTH OF YOU! Perhaps the matter at hand can be better driven to something more important!” Minuette reminded them both sharply.

Gympis had a million different things that could fill that gap, but she preferred to hear it from a four-legged being whose tongue did not swell against the roof of her mouth for three words or more. “Such as?”

“That monster just took my dragon away from me! And she still dares call herself an Element of Loyalty! To whom or what, beyond that purple alicorn’s plot?!”

Rappid was too busy trying to ensure that Spur was safely in her hooves to hear this. A pity, due to her misguided affinity toward the treacherous Princess Dash. But Mayor Mare’s response filleted back to her as she flew back with the brown filly in her hands regardless. “We’ll find out where it is, don’t worry! Rappid, have you got-?”

“Here Spur is.” Spur furiously nodded in response, still cradled in Rappid's shirt-covered arms. “I can have her settle out with the Rich family… if they have space.”

“I did not think the Rich family was up for accepting strays…” Mayor Mare nodded. “But If you have the counsel that says otherwise…”

“Here to say otherwise.” Lucky Clover ran up to Rappid, saddling Spur on his hack with Rappid’s help. His eyes went gracefully over to meet Rappid, the white pegasus nodding in response. “We’ll make it there fast.”

Rappid turned to Rarity and Cori again. “And I’ll make sure we have a way to find out a way to stop this madness. I’m sorry you had to return to this, Cori, it’s way too much for a Junior Ambassador to face so early.”

“ Actually…” Cori presented a golden badge at her side, a yellow jewel standing around in front of the black juts of her flowing dress. “Princess Cadance decided I needed more independent motion to continue here. Said I wouldn’t leave all of you to the Princes, so she and Shining did the next best thing!”

“You’re … a full ambassador now!” Rappid moved to hug her. “I’ll find a way to celebrate this for you.”

“You could.” Rappid sniffled in joy at Cori’s words, her head still buried in the Crystal Pony’s shoulder. “Or we could make sure our latest interest of the Princes and the Queen isn’t facing the wrong end of them.”

The Cloudsdale mayor nodded. “Works. I’ll try to figure out our stuff with Rarity, but until then,-”

“No! The Boutique is too compromised for this now!” Rarity made her way between the two ponies, pointing towards southern Ponyville. “We’ll head to Fluttershy’s house! Lucky, do gather the rest of their group together at this point. I will ensure the transfer is properly compensated… and time is of the essence here.”

“You can count on me.” Lucky was bounding ways before Rappid and Rarity turned to make tracks.

This time, within the comforting embrace of Fluttershy’s cottage, the group had re-collected to process a plan to free Spike. Viscera herself was the worst of the bunch, her left forearm still tightly bound by heavy bandaged and her head was up. Her gaze did not leave Fluttershy, however. Mainly because of the lumbering minotaur buzzing around her. But it would take only one offer from Fluttershy to give them their own. “I… um. I may know what caused this.”

“You do? What is it?” Rappid was almost through Fluttershy’s face at this point.

“Hey, back up! Iron Will’s patients need time to compose themselves!” Iron Will’s below nearly sent the mane on Rappid back, her coat jacket and pinstripe shirt almost glued to her body from the impact.

“Well. Yes. But, the reason that Spike’s been taken to Canterlot is…” And then Fluttershy needed a packet of notes out of her cubby’s stand by her muzzle. “Because we’ve been called there too.” The note that the buttery pegasus had given to them from among that packet was short but potent.

Tomorrow evening. Come with Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie. Make sure A.K. Yearling is here too – I know she’s in this town. Don’t give me a reason to find you all myself. Or think that I CAN’T.

My amulet proves this wrong.

Queen Twilight Sparkle

“A.K. Yearling?!” Rappid yelled. “What could the Queen possibly want with her?”

“The Queen’s inner circle has had problems abound with golden mythical creatures; why would she demand the best archaeologist in all Equestria help her?” Cori explained.

“Focus on the important stuff! So we know that the Elements and the Queen are present in the same room! I think we may have a way to get Spike.

“And. Um. If I could, I could suggest getting some other things,“ Fluttershy prodded. “That is if you’re free.”

“We always are.” Viscera’s words startled the entire group. With one forelimb still in a splint, Viscera turned to the Element of Kindness “Tell us where this is and I’ll find a way to get them.”

“Well. Um,” “The first thing is the book that The Princesses had. I think its well, still in the vault. The one at the center of the castle.”

“Is there anything else?” added Cori.

“Only one. Yes.” Flutters’ related, her voice a still-too-quiet stutter in her evening-shrouded enclosure. “It is the only thing of the Princess I… I had…. I tried to take care of one of her pet birds once. Its name was Philomena. And, um. Well… I’m so scared. I think they may do to it what Twilight did to..”

Gympis had a sinking feeling she knew of which pet the Queen that the Element of Kindness would prefer Philomena’s fate not mirror. And the thought of such an innocent thing possibly being hurt brought to mind her strongest link in this city – and what might happen if she led her on.

“There is something I have to do.” Gympis hopped to the windowsill. “I will not be long. In fact, I owe this next move to you both, Viscera and Fluttershy.” Then the changeling was gone, a blackened blur in the night speeding at ground level.

Five minutes later, Gympis had perched on the roof into Octavia’s tenement. Turning into DJ Pon-3, she would soon behold the violinist startling herself at viewing the white unicorn suddenly just outside her balcony. Opening the door was next. “Vinyl. Of course, I should expect you’d want to stay close by. “

“Are you trying to tell me…?” Gympis gulped.

“Yes.”

There was no turning back now. If Octavia was to throw this intoxicating mix of emotions at her, let her at least know what truly called it. “I am truly sorry, but-”

“No. This time, the fault lays with me.” Octavia took her hooves in her own. “I’ve been a fool, as I said before. But as I’ve never said what it was before that I was sorry before, I… do not think it counts.”

“I apologize, truly and wholly, for calling you a bloody bitch.” “I have never thought of you as beneath me, and my lowest point in life came when I tried to pretend you were. You try to operate in this world, chaotic as it was, and I should have been there for you. Well no more.” The black-maned earth pony nestled her cheek to Gympis’s, the cool sparks of sweat settling into ‘Vinyl’s’ white coat. “I am so sorry, Vinyl. And I wish to make it up to you.”

“You have… already done more than enough for me.”

“For too long, I have leaned on you as a crutch to avoid having to deal with the situations in front of me. And I have been… harshly reminded of how little my place in this world might be if I continue as I’ve been. You have nothing to worry about from me. But for that to remain so, I… need to contribute more.”

“As I thought you might. However, there is only one way. And knowing that trollop Twilight could come and kill this town at any time, I would think you’d agree it must be done.” Octavia left it at that.

Gympis could have said so much more. About how it might not be necessary. About her being the one more in need to give an apology. About anything before she’d come to this town. But words soon found a touch job in escaping her maw – as well as oxygen - when Octavia turned and pressed her lips to it. Gympis would have stopped. Intended to, surely. But Octavia was so warm, after all of today either being too hot or too cold. From betrayal and fire, from icy revelations and stress.

And so Gympis’s inner changeling, protesting as she was that this sudden influx of indelible infatuation would only lead her to go deeper into her pit, was ignored. Gympis turned her head, her tongue rolled in, and it battled lightly with Octavia. With this, there was no war. No twilight, or (Queen) Twilight. No worries of somepony telling too much, or Gympis knowing too little of how those close to had changed.

So yes; her pink muscle flicked out, tangled, broke into Octavia’s wet cavern of a mouth. And ‘Vinyl’ meeped oh-so-softly as Octavia’s hoof curved around her blue locks and shoved her in closer. Why wouldn’t she, when her soft coat trapped the heat between their bodies to her soon after? Even now, so considerate of every little part of her, from her touch to her temperature!

And then. the soft tug behind the head of ‘Vinyl’ pulled her forward, straddling that bed with Octavia and suddenly, all that rushed through her mind was the need to nestle down, l=[in those hooves to her, this grey mare. Gympis needed, craved, obsessed to crush her to her pearl-white body. To feel Octavia and ever part of her rush in, by her hooves and tongue and her fucking-!

Gympis had to stop. She was panting, but she stopped. “Octavia. We have to stop! What if-”

“No. No more ‘what if’s’, Vinyl.” Octave pulled her into another soul-searing kiss and why am I not stopping her? Gympis was supposed to be accustomed to having voices run through her head; what made Octavia’s so impossible to ignore? “I said it before. I have looked down on you for too long. This only ends properly with you returning the favor.”

Gympis thought of her other friends in this town, still several streets away. And then Octavia’s furnace of a mouth sunk lower and suddenly every part of the room beyond the four-poster bed dissolved away.

“A.K., how are you doing?” Rappid accommodating the pegasus author in the increasingly crowded cottage was an act that sent Viscera’s lips curving downward.

“I assume you’re here for a good reason,” Viscera asked.

“No – in fact, that is exactly why I’m here.” A.K.’s front forehoof revealed a copy of the same note Fluttershy bore.”And whatever plan you’ve summoned, revise it.”

“We’re just on the cusp of one,” Cori was sifting through reams of papers with Rarity, likely of the formation of Canterlot. “But why should it be changed?”

“Because despite what the Queen or anyone within the power of my voice may believe, I will not spend a second alone with that monster.”

Rarity was next to speak. “This time, I must concur with the author. I do have a plan to possibly help you evade danger, but for it, we’ll need assistants and time.”

Cori said. “Thankfully, we’ve got two on the way here, thanks to the ponies holding down the fort at Carousel.”

“I thought it was Saddles?” Viscera asked. Her hood was drawn further around her head as she studied the room, still not completely trusting. cramped areas fully just yet. Even now, Shroud’s <Gotcha> flew

“Not with the focus on task number two.” Rarity pointed out.

“And on that topic of two…” The min-maned Lyra Heartstrings finally came down from the upper levels of Fluttershy's house. Bon-Bon was two steps behind her, nearly falling down the stairs entirely with the heavy saddlebags she was toting. “You’ll need a unicorn, right? One who can teleport, in case one of you is in real trouble. Likely the one keeping Queen Homewrecker busy.”

“And I’ve got enough from my pastry business to snag a uniform template – I heard one of you was good with cloth?” Bon-Bon produced a dress forward from one of her cloth bags.

Cori grinned. “Guilty.” Turning to Fluttershy and Iron Will, the Crystal Pony unraveled the collection of frills and lace. “Gonna need your help with this to finish it by tomorrow morning. Would like to beat any Guards incoming to take away the Elements to Canterlot.”

“Of course, the main operative force is one member short of full power.” Yearling turned to Viscera. “Mind telling me where the Changeling went – like her wannabe handler?”

All eyes settled on the thief this time. “Look, I don’t know where Gympis is, but she said she’d be back, and given the times she had to escape before, I’m not .” Viscera sighted. “Celestia knows we’ve made enough issues for other ponies in this city without harping on the one quadruped that hasn’t.”

Morning bled its way through the shadowed sky. This time its first rays caught the eye of the white unicorn sprawled beside Octavia in the bed. Her rise to her feet- and stretching of her delightfully tortured. Only the rise and fall of her chest interrupted the dawning light.

This time, her move from the bed involved a comical flailing of limbs. She envied how rich Octavia had made ecstasy look, her rich tone begging her on the pilled, into the headboard, into the crook of her maw. She wanted to be rutted into the sheets, then the floor, into the earth until they broke through the gates of Tartarus itself. I still wished to talk of this too: the geologic elements alone would pulverize this pony long before we managed a foot in this ground, not to mention the movement would not be enough to make such an impression.

But considering the vast field of splinters occupying what once were four legs on the bed, Gympis believed she had mimicked the necessary depth in spirit.

The face of the sun, however, brought another obligation. One to the crimson pony and the fires she had faced on the first time orange-flickering light had splashed across Ponyville’s horizon. That, and the changeling she had… once thought was every bit a victim as the ponies suffering in those riot-raised flames.

Leaving, though? To do it felt like sacrilege. A changeling could only dream of so carnal an arrangement.

“I want to stay. So much.” Gympis said. Her power, once fluctuating and frail in this fear-filled village, finally felt stable again. Leaving it so soon… leaving Octavia so soon…

But she had to see through her investigation – and her friend’s safety. All of them. Or life would be so terrifyingly worse for all of them.

Three seconds after the changeling left through the window, the doorknob to Octavia’s bedroom softly tinkled open and another quadruped slowly paced in. Lowering her fuchsia glasses, she offered the bundle of blankets and sweat-stricken coats a gentle kiss on the forehead. Octavia responded by pulling her closer to her. Trying to free herself from her uncomfortable spot half-on the bed, Vinyl eventually gave up and crawled onto the bed, along the pompadour-maned mane.

Her last thoughts before sleep overtook her were that she should have gotten back from Canterlot earlier. If Octavia had been leaving the sheets this crumpled and wet in her nightmares, who knows who might have been on her mind during her fits!

“Don’t worry; we’ll get you something nice from Canterlot today. Something untraceable. And valuable. Definitely valuable.” The next day brought forth Viscera to the house of the inventor stallion Dr. Hooves, talk with the mystery mare just beyond Dr. Hooves’ lab felt like an all-too-common ritual for the thief. But… she had to make sure someone besides her saw the progress of efforts. Now more than ever with one of her legs so injured.

“On this subject, Viscera, I have information of that caliber I must share with you.”

“Shoot, Gymps, shoot your shot.”Viscera turned to the magenta changeling. “Between the Fiery Goldrush, the running of the Elements-”

“Sonic Goldrush?” Cori asked.

“Our resident insipid thief things someone needs to name my phenomenon that occurred tonight.” The speckled-white pegasus shook her head.

Viscera chuckled. Suddenly, things felt normal-ish again. Not enough to suppress the sprained-an-arm-running-into-and-old-friend-and-nearly-got-killed-by-two-homicidal-princesses-in-the-same-night feeling. But close. “Some Thestrels have all the luck, don’t they Rappid? And now Fluttershy is asking us to pull a classic heist, Gympis! I’m not sure you could surprise me.”

“It involves shots, yes.” Gympis gulped. “But not in any way you are used to, Viscera. I… have lain with Octavi… with Miss Melody.”

“Not a problem, really – I’d reckon you’ve already had deception going into this, just say it didn’t mean an-“ The thief then stopped. “Y-you were saying ‘lied’, right?”

“The other reports are right; Spike is being contained in the royal bathroom as Thestrel radar.” Rappid’s sudden arrival kept Gympis from confirming her statement. “So we’ll need to – I’m sorry, did I interrupt something?”

“You have not. Miss Fires,” Gympis said. “I have slept with Octavia at her request as Vinyl, and I must now know what to do from here.”

Viscera burst into a fit of laughter at hearing this revelation escape his when she realized a total of nopony else was joining in her laugher, her eyes shot as large as her mouth. “You’re serious.”

“As the heart attack Octavia claimed she nearly had when I lowered my head and-”

“Stop, stop right now! I don’t believe this!” Rappid’s jaw looked ready to occupy the floor below her.

“Neither do I, Rappid!” But before Rappid Fires could thank Viscera for finally sharing the same sense of… well, anything… with her, the thief cut her off with. “A changeling disguised as DJ-PON-3 rutted in this town before I did?!”

“…I’m sorry, what!?”

Ignoring Rappid’s startled face, Viscera continued. “No playing coy for Gympis’ sake this time, Rappid – that unicorn’s music is murder on the ears! I’ve heard Diamond Dog threesomes more tolerable on the ears than that horse–“And Viscera’s eyes flitted to the door behind her once more. “-apples!”

“Your focus is on what the changeling was rather than what she did.” Rappid’s words – in the form, but not the intent of a question - dropped like paving stones.

“Also, how do you know what a Diamond Dog th-”

Rappid shut up instantly upon seeing Viscera’s face.

“Yes, they were all dogs, and no, the thirty-thousand-bit mirror I stole from them was not worth seeing it.”

“Now I’m wishing you’d shut up right now.” Rappid’s hooves went into her temples, massaging away her utter stress at just how depraved all her allies were showing themselves to be. “

The ambassador then spread a map over the workbench in the lab again. “Only because we have a mission to get to. I’ve got the plans ready, so take Rappid’s advice and save the sex talk for after we’ve gotten Spike off in the royal bedroom.” Rappid’s hurt eyes traveled to Cori at the double entendre, too shocked to say anything further. Viscera was too busy stifling her chortles in the next room to address them any further.

This left Cori as the only pony left to take Gympis’s next question. “Am I to return to Miss Melody before we leave?” Gympis asked.

“NO! Not right now!”The Crystal Pony clasped her hooves onto Gympis’ face. “You’ve gone into thoroughly unseen territory with her, we’ve got a heist to plan for, and I’d rather we not blow your cover in the worst way now!”

“Especially when she spent all last night blowing Melody’s covers!” came the cackle from the room next to her. Rappid’s shot of flames from her Thestrel-altered mouth fulfilled the job of cutting the thief’s leery diatribe short.

“Tell Viscera later. Relay the plan now.”

Cori already had the main map of Canterlot laid out before her. “So, everypony - I call this Operation: Queen of the Hill...”

As the Friendship Express pulled into Ponyville Station, the appearance of three griffons had Cori nestle further into the tree overlooking that very building. It had taken them the entire afternoon to get everypony in place, but making their way to the Queen’s capital would require approach on multiple fronts. Cori couldn’t bet the farm on one solo trip.

“How many there, Vis?” asked the ambassador.

One branch above her, Viscera’s visor eyeholes narrowed. “Two Night Guards and three griffons. Knew the dragon alliance wasn’t holding.”

Cori smiled. “And since the griffons can hit a higher altitude. That means we can proceed as planned. Proceed at about five feet behind the one with the gold collar, he’s the scout and none of them look behind a scout.”

“Five feet?” Viscera said to Cori. “You sure you got those meas-?”

“I ALWAYS have my measurements right.”

Viscera sighed. “Right, silly to ask.” Her look returned to the train’s overseeing party. “Do you mean on your body, too? Because I’m positive your balls just got bigger from the last time we met.”

Cori flushed vividly. “I got to meet… pretty much the best of the Crystal Ponies on my visit. I’m… a lot more confident in how I can handle this now. Get ready.”

As the train left, the three-griffon part was accompanied by yet another. Three minutes later, she and the Crystal Pony she was carrying took even heights than the griffons did. By the time the Canterlot Ceremonial Guard met them past the mountain tunnel, Viscera and Cori were out of sight.

Until they touched down just above the spires of the Canterlot Palace. “Holy hell, these air currents are beautiful.”

“Been in the air often?” inquired Cori.

“On the run often, more like. Being in the air just allows me more ways to.” Her eyes swung to the arriving Friendship Express, looking like it was an eternity away in the…weirdly –shaped golden gates. “Cori, you got eyes on this Too far ever for me, but I think some other changes happened to this city.”

“May be right, I’ll start up the magic checks. With hope, they won’t alert anypony at this altitude.”

Several hours later, Cori’s enchanted probes started resounding back, and the sun hung low in the blacking sky. “Think this all might be in order. “The Guard’s following the schedule right, the normal barriers seem in place. But I’ve been to Canterlot before in getting Sassy, so I should be

“Never did tell the rest of the plan to me though.”

“Hoping I wouldn’t have to since we’re trying not to get caught –or catch anypony else out.” Cori suddenly chuckled. “But even for you, you’re quite the escape artist. Feel safe enough to tell, but only once.”

The ambassador’s hoof swung to the Friendship Express, again steaming in just a couple dozen meters from the Canterlot station.

“Bon-Bon and Lyra are sneaking in on the incoming Express, with the other Main 4 and the guest of honor. Lyra’s gonna be part of the literal welcome wagon: Pinkie brought a cake tray and she’s underneath it. And while Rarity keeps the Guard’s attention Bon-Bon’s gonna maneuver through the main castle disguised as a maid. The second she confers with me, we’ll make a run for the safe's book.”

“Wait, did you say with you?”

“Yeah.” And Cori suddenly revealed a tucked collection of black silk and white frills in her saddlebags. “Gonna be meeting her from above one of the towers, an-ohholycrapNO!” One of her monitors was pulsing a sickly green. “I was worried about this!”

Viscera paled. “What is it?”

“I knew Shining had left something here for changelings, but I didn’t think it was this powerful! I think Gympis is in trouble!”

“Might wanna start flying off then, because here they come!” Sure enough, the progression moving to the gates of Canterlot. For some reason, several of them stooped and wildly shook their heads looking at the arches of gold.

Viscera, however, was weirded out by how Cori’s shoulders sagged in apparent relief. “Wait… didn’t go off! Brilliant. I have to thank her later for her bypass!”

A splutter escaped the crimson pony next to Cori.

“Trust me, it’s either down or our changeling found a way around. Speaking of which, I found the bird!” At long last, the bright plumage of Philomena was present as it flitted from tower to tower. However, its aura seemed to be flickering as it traveled, and a further look showed why. “A-are those stones?”

Viscera’ slip curled as she saw those very shards fly through the air. One scraped off the side of Philomena’s leg, blood pumping down the leg and turning it as harsh as the cry from its throat. “They have magic, the fuck is this barbarity?”

“Would rather not find out. The others are going in; we need to be as well. Ready?“

But Viscera was already pumping legs down to Cori, her next leap nestling her forelimbs around Cori’s barrel and her contraption of glider struts and weight-bearing feathers gliding them to Casa del Canterlot. Cori was already swathed in her maid’s outfit, and the incoming visage of Philomena burned bright in her mind. So did a dreading realization, however. “Drop lower, the Guards will see you too!”

Viscera, cursing under her breath drove in her fake wings and they barreled down the tower’s side. Cori’s tapping of a hoof against her own made her switch bat to a level glide at an incision three floors down. “Into the window!” Viscera had to draw in the wings hard to prevent them from snapping against the stone and brick of the window frame, but the ambassador was in, right in the middle of the spiraling staircase.

Cori straightened up and turned to Viscera, still braced in the arched opening. “I’ll move up and draw the Guards. You have a way to scale the walls?”

Eight flashing diamonds in her forehooves answered Cori’s question in the affirmative.

“Do it and wait for me, then grab Philo. Get her to Goldilock, she should be able to handle the rest, and we’ll need as many hooves on board to bail out our VIP if necessary.” With Viscera’s claws finding purchase in the white mortar, Cori allowed her trip up the winding steps until ebbing evening light peeked through the doorway once more. So did the sound of voices.

“Damn it, didn’t think the Queen needed this much effort for a meal!”

“She doesn’t, Private Point. We need the effort to keep from disturbing her talk with those four cunts by blasting away! You trying to get us like that Sailor Squad?!”

“Persim, we are up here for that reason alone – I can’t imagine what she’s thinking having them in the foyer like that. “Knight-Private Iron Monger, this sort of act is crude enough, stop using the roof tiles!”

“Feel free to bring the bird down closer and save me the trouble! Another voice joined the other three. “Now, aim better Point – you managed to wing that fowl, now actually hit a wing!”

Bile fought its way down from the Crystal Pony’s throat, but Cori remained calm. Making up the last few steps, she finally got the “Hell are you doing here?” came the same voice from before, coming from an earth pony in black-on-gold armor. In fact, save for the apparent oldest of them all - a wizened batpony in lavender plates with one folded wing sticking from him at an odd angle – all of the Guards here were earth ponies.

“Am I not supposed to be?” This could go sideways in a hurry, though Cori.

Knight-Private Point leered – immediately identifiable from the accent he threw out before. “Not unless you’re here to warm me up from the cold, blueberry buns.”

The ambassador gulped. She could only hope that this treatment of the phoenix was not the only one of Twilight’s depravities the armored ponies shared. And that her plan worked before she could find out what treatment was coming her way.“Well…. I might be. Did the Queen say anything of a relief shift?”

“Relief comes when we’re dead, my fair maid.” Persim pointed out.

“Then… And Cori’s black tail rolled up, curing under Point’s maw as it did so. “I don’t think we can have that.”

Knight-Private Point looked ready to fly out of his armor. Persim, however was of a different mind, “I’m afraid I’ll have to check this over with one of the Princes.” Cori paled at this.

“Hell no, Persim, he always just kills the fucks for not sharing.” “Remember Knight-Private Catchfly?”

“All too well, Private Forward.” Persim shuddered in a way that had nothing to do with the cold. “But I still must come with you, to at least try and talk you out of-”

Point snorted. “Don’t listen to him, he loves watching.” Trotting closer to Cori, he whispered in her ear. “But I love doing. Pick a position, love.”

Cori stammered harshly, improvising as only she could. “Sound travels and these banisters are too thin.” She then offered, “Maybe downstairs?”

“Queen did have that new torture chamber fitted in near the study… Not gonna lie, sticking it to a maid’s always been a secret fancy of mine.” Forward, that black-and-gold coated Royal Guard, pointed to the stairwell. “You know where it is – after all, sound travels.”

The trip downstairs ended too fast for Cori, but as she turned down a hallway at random, the lack of complaints told her she was on the right path. And with luck, the hall was lined with armor, the mannequins within each holding axes.

Moving down that hall, Cori quickly picked one without such a weapon in its arm, waiting until the main group passed it. Then she shot a spark off towards its front end with her igniting horn. The top-heavy and gigantic ornament tipped over and crashed onto Iron Monger and Point’s noggins, and Cori’s buck sent Knight-Private Forward into it like a dark to follow it up.

Persim, however, being fast enough to dodge and pertinent enough to not roll into Forward’s flight path, tried to raise his voice. “Knight-Commander! Se-”

Then a cream-colored hoof struck him in three points. One forehoof to his rearleg buckled them. A back-spinning rearhoof hooked under his raised jaw and crashed him into the rug-laden floor on his back, and the other rearhoof looped around to hit his knockout switch just under his chin. Bracing her arms to steady herself from the assault , the rich blue-to-pink locks of Bon-Bon bobbed as she faced the jaw-dropped Cori.

“What? I attended Iron Will’s seminar with Cractus.” The excuse didn’t sound as strong as it could be, but Cori would soon have other issues besides contesting it –like being met with Viscera again, floating to them notably Philomena-less.

“Viscera, did you get -?”

The thief shook her head. “Couldn’t. Bird got to another tower I couldn’t glide to from here. Think I can follow you for a bit till I get to another vantage point.”

Bon-Bon shrugged. “Well don’t worry. I’ll get these idiots out of the way – better if we don’t worry about them being up in someplace they remember. Meet you at the main bedroom.” The candy-flanked earth pony started lugging off Forward to the distant hall.”

Cori turned to Viscera. “Fine. We’ll swing by the foyer; one of them mentioned some ponies called the Sailor Squad. We gotta hurry, we could free them. Might make the rest of our trip easier to execute.”

“You executed them!?”

The reason for the main (well, Mane 4’s) procession’s sudden halt before the gates of Canterlot was due to a rather eye-catching slightly name due to very little else below them of the scalps shoved onto the new spokes over the burnished gold. Iron Standard’s violent twitch, however, hinted at more to the story. “These were of… several ponies who tried to kill the Queen on her first night here.”

Applejack already had hooves over Pinkie’s eyes, the pink party pony thankfully too busy bounding past the open gates to see, or hear, the reason for the Element of Generosity’s concern. And Fluttershy, after staring open-mouthed at the grisly scene, had her hooves over her face, being gently guided past it by A.K. Yearling. This left Rarity, pushing Pinkie’s cart of goods and the mint-green unicorn underneath the dinner tray, as the only pony left to continue her question.”

“Sure you could have kept her from this if you’d protested, sir.”

Iron Standard wearily turned back to face her. “That I and my family still breathe is because of my reluctance to test this theory.” The Knight-Commander turned back from her. “I plead for you to leave me to it if you will not follow it. It is… already haunting enough to me as is.”

The group of ponies was then led along a side road, purposely avoiding the center of the cliff-clutching capital. Applejack was about to ask why, having pulled her arms down from her fellow earth mare’s face a while back, but the sound of what was clearly the Princess and far too many other ponies in synchronic bliss had her clap them over Pinkie’s ears again.

“Ooooh, I know this game! Does this mean the mouth’s next?” Pinkie as Fluttershy tried to ask Rarity what it was she was hearing. The fashionista did her level best to lock eyes with every other restaurant on the way through instead of answering Fluttershy.

It was not too long, however –barring a trip past the Royal-Guard-thick courtyard that got more than a few unappreciated jeers in Rarity’s direction –before the finally happened upon Canterlot Castle. Thankfully, it had remained mostly unmolested by its new ruler’s presence, though the front doors were notably shut and there was a giant star braced over it, of the same purple tint and configuration as that on the balloon during Iron Pony.

“This way. Inspector Kibitz will take your effects, to be returned to you when the meeting is over,” Iron Standard instructed. The old assistant was with the Elements and A.K. a second, four pairs of hand-and-saddlebags floating toward him with a twitch of power from his horn. With a nod to Iron Standard, the unicorn turned and paced away without a word.

“Whoa, what happened to him? He was always so swell!” bubbled Pinkie.

“It is… not just these bags he has to inspect these days.” Did a tear fall from Knight-Commander Standard's eyes? thought Rarity. “We are here. I shall be conferring with Photo the second you are all… settled in.”

Even in this tense situation, A.K. marveled at the scene before her. The room was high-ceilinged, a glass chandelier’s light tinkling off the similarly-transparent material of the long table before them. Chairs surrounded this precious slice of furniture, enough to seat six ponies. Rarity’s hooves drove the cart home to the side of the table nearest to the door, A.K. sidling into the seat to it worriedly.

But at the end of the table facing toward that night-shrouded balcony, however, was the malevolent matriarch Herself. Gone was the netting, at least as far as they could see from her position just over the table. Everything else on her –from the golden tiara with a six-sided gem set within it to every one of the sparkling teeth in her spreading smirk, betrayed the rotten heart beating beneath the breast of Queen Twilight Sparkle.

“Welcome, my fair-weather fucktards! I am your goddess and hostess for this evening, for so long as I decide it is evening.”

Behind Queen Twilight – and one of her outstretched forelimbs - the stained-glass windows swelled with light as the formerly-setting sun rose between them. Its harsh, peach-tinted glow made it look more like a bird-eye view of a roiling volcano than a celestial body.

Then again, much of Twilight’s infamy had come from what she’d done to previous Celestia-l bodies.

Iron Standard was galloping out of that room so fast the pegasus author slammed a hoof over the dinner tray’s cover by instinct. Thankfully, Fluttershy’s loud eep at the Queen’s display masked it. Slowly, each of the Elements took seats at the table, lastly pursued with Queen Twilight herself. However, her leering eyes did not focus on the grey-haired pegasus author across from her at the table, but to a different yellow pegasus instead.

“Now that we’re all gathered, let’s start with some small talk about the weather. Fluttershy, the clouds your head are so often stuck in look lovely. Tell me what you’ve done lately for the ponies that brought them to you.”

~~~

After several encounters with Royal Guards that Viscera either had to drop down and subdue or yank up Cori to her spot on the ceiling to avoid, the two ponies finally reached the back entrance to the foyer. Well, one of two of them, anyhow. On a lone sloping archway connecting them and crossing over each other in a metallic infinity sign over the spacious hall behind them was a gigantic silver safe, nestled snugly in a nook behind stairs circling it. Likely, this room was at the base of another tower.

And if it was any indication…. “We’re not the only ones trying to pry,” whistled Viscera. That very safe was still closed, but not for lack of trying to open it. Violent jagged scars lined the walls surrounding it. Burns from likely cutting tools crisscrossed the floor beyond it, purple pulsing through the cracks like angry rashes.

As Viscera studied it from above, Cori had no choice but to look beyond the door. The thief’s voice tinkled back to her as she struggled to move the heavy piece.

“Two different types of locks and a double key lock too. Think that’s one of Standard’s ponies watching over it. And I don’t think we’ll be cheat-sheeting our way through.” Viscera’s scout report was not promising.

Just then, another hoof found its way to Viscera’s face, a crumpled note in it. “Found this on the batpony you took out first, by the way.” Whispered Bon-Bon as Viscera read it. The front part of the letter had been torn, likey from unmooring from a nailed spot on a wall.

-amn it, the lock burst two of the keys and no amount of magical or pegasus power is budging this! The last pair of keys are in Sentry’s office; get the other locks open BEFORE trying this shit! The Queen’s already stewing over hunting down the Sailors and losing half the archives; she finds out we blew our last chance to get into the Sisters’ vault, we’ll be Princess Dash buttplugs within the hour!

“Wonderful. Which means one of us has to swing back by their offices. I’ll check the ma-”

A shocking eep rang through as Viscera turned to Cori. The Crystal Pony had gotten the door open a crack, but did not venture further, too transfixed by the scene before her to move. It also got the Guard’s attention, and before Bon-Bon could tell Viscera to move, the crimson pony’s claws were taking her up the pillars until she was out of sight of the approaching armored pony.

“Is there something…” His attention then fell to the open door. “Oh goodness, we had barred this place to the maids for a reason! I’m sorry, Miss…”

“Nevermind her!” Bon-Bon said, rushing up to her. We got sidetracked on the way to Sentry’s office, maybe you can-“ And then she got a peek of the foyer of Canterlot Castle. “Oh noooo…”

Lining each of the ceiling-high cubbies lining the room's walls, four on each side, was the headless body of a pony, all clothed in torn dresses and skirts of different bright and blood-caked hues, all strung into position by thick chains and signs of the same stars as the one over that castle’s main door. It was quite clear, however, that these were likely the Sailor Squad Cori had mentioned. But where were the other two?, asked Cori, her tear-stung eyes and stricken face buried into the Guard’s neck so as not to give him a good look at them.

“Then Prince Shroud likely has them; he stated… a need to prepare them for the Queen tonight.”

Bon-Bon looked sick. “Prepare?”

“I could not stand to ask how; they were headless as well...” The Guard shook his head. “Come on; let’s get you both to Sentry’s office. After that’s done you’ll both have the rest of the night off. I’m leaving tomorrow anyhow.”

Viscera ended up following them to the collection of offices three hallways down, her travel on the chandeliers both silent and spirited as she scanned the corridors for anything that could impede them. Upon coming to a trio of doors, however, Viscera noticed a small opening in the cured archways above them.” “Sentry’s is on your left,” The Royal Guard asked. Be quick with it, for your sake and his.”

Flash Sentry’s empty office did look quite luxurious, full of gold and polished oak as a contrast to the white mortar of the castle, though whether it was because of how it was beforehand or what he contributed was unknown. Viscera’s attention as she slipped in through the ceiling’s crevice, however, was drawn to two things. First up was a set of sparkling white-and-black keys on the wall next to where Bon-Bon started dusting the shelves to get the Royal Guard to close the door on them, satisfied.

Secondly, however, was the note on the counter next to a pair of crossbows, in the form of a likely general notice to the Guard.

You’re fucking kidding right? It wasn’t enough what you did with those outlaws I sent Hel, now you use poison darts on a BIRD!? I’ll handle this Philomena issue by the end of today; we’re not frying that thing up for the Queen, no matter what she says to me! I’m a step away from walking out and you do THIS behind my back. Learn something from this, idiots, getting sick of keeping one eye on you.

- Commander Flash Sentry

It should have made Viscera feel better that there was worse that phoenix could have gone through. Somehow it didn’t. “So yeah, we need a way up to Spike right the fuck now.”

Bon-Bon chuckled. “Surprised Cori didn’t tell you.”

“Tell me what?”

“That we’ve already got Spike covered.”

Viscera whirled on Cori. “Relax, again: we’re in the belly of the beast, I wanted to lower the risk of having to go gold as much as possible, so we’ve got somepony breaking into the master bedroom as we speak. And that reminds me…” A swift jingle signaled Cori flipping the keys to Viscera. “I’m heading there to back her up.”

“A her, huh?” Viscera smirked. “Whoever it is, I do like there being hidden stuff working in our favor for once.”

“Yes, well… get to the vault.”

Seconds later, Viscera had beaten the Guard back to the vault, Ear to the lock as she ran the tumblers. 12-12-6 and the first keypad lock was open. Spinning out the reverse of that combination on the disc-like tumbler surrounding that keypad was a bit hard to the scars making turning difficult, but that worked too. And finally, the two keys on each of them opened its contents wide.

Inside were several immaculate pieces of golden armor, likely sized out for the taller of the two alicorns that once occupied this castle, as well as two rolled-up maps and a giant book. Everything went in either Viscera’s pockets or clipped to her belt. And she only managed to get the vault shut again just as the Guard turned the corner.

Flipping out of eyesight and below the platform, the thief fought down the urge to ascend the stars and see just who Cori had employed to get at the dragon. She’d know in good time anyway, possibly as soon as she got that damned bird from the next building.

Rolling back to Sentry’s room, notably for the absence of one light-blue ambassador, Viscera dumped the keys and book into Bon-Bon’s hooves. “Hold these for me – the less I have on me as I get Philo, the better.”

~~~

“…a-and… well, um. I’ve finally seen that Tank’s gotten the best of care. I d-don’t think filling out the rest of Ponyville’s bedding is – um – necessary,” The buttery pegasus gulped. “I-if that’s okay.”

“Did you hear that, A.K.? Such touching concern!” The smile on Queen Twilight’s face lasted three seconds before melting off. “Now I almost feel sorry over how absent that fucking concern was for me! I was willing to cover for every shit thing you did! Mismanaging Whorestia’s pets, siccing animals on me in parties, letting me get turned to stone – but at least you kept the green quadrupeds safe!”

“I would not think you needed a cockatrice to be a cold, unmoving force.”

Twilight’s eyes narrowed at A.K. “Do repeat that, bitch.”

“There are many other ways to elicit the effect of such an animal.”A.K’s head tilted in what would have been a very un-A.K. like maneuver if not for her level tone of voice. “However, very few would work on an alicorn, especially one of your power. Regardless, they exist, though I know not of which.”

Queen Twilight slowly blinked. “You’re serious.” It wasn’t a question.

Gympis could have sworn that she saw Applejack bite back a curse. However, it was Pinkie Pie who took point in verbal rebuttals. “B-but that party Fluttery crashed was already going south! And it was at least attempting to be something better – why can’t you? Twilight, you were okey-dokey-lokey before, there’s no-”

“-shut up, Mudpie, or we’ll be finding out how well the Pinkie Sense protects against a busted cherry.”

Pinkie’s hair deflated immediately. Under her breath, she tried to mutter. “..but what does my sister have to do with this?”

“Now A.K. before we get to your report, I would like to know if you’re good for another copy of your book! Seems some usurious dead mares made off with the copy I had from Iron Pony II.”

A.K. slightly wilted. Beside her, still hidden in the cart, Lyra Heartstrings’ teeth barred through a sliver in the satin. “I do not have it. But maybe with time…”

The Queen chuckled. “So modest, Yearling? You can just say that seeing my sexy Prince Shroud made you wet the copy you did have!” Her eyes then swiveled to the orange coated cowpony two seats beside her, eyes burning a hole in the near-empty plate before her. “Oh wait, I forgot – that was Fritter.”

A good thing Applejacks’ tongue was in her mouth as the last word dropped from Twilight’s or she might have bitten clear through it. “We were led to believe that was before those two met you.” “But if you are that far gone then…”

“No, Applehick, you’re right. I was that far gone. Because your idiocy kicked me there! Thankfully, I no longer care about you falsely thinking of me as a monster…” Twilight’s left rear hoof slipped its way onto the table, the malevolent monarch using the long glass-lined structure as a recliner. “…Because I love being the stuff of nightmares now. Especially yours.”

“If that’s your goal, then leave the rest of Ponyville out of this!” Applejack’s eyes burned into her, only slightly covered by her Stetson’s brim. “I’m not afraid to surrender myself to you to keep everypony else safe!”

“Safe.” Queen Twilight deadpanned. “Since you’ve enough recognition to not need me to remind you why you’re not a part of Iron Pony – waking up on the right side of the cousin and all…” A rumbling growl emanated from the Element of Honesty. “…perhaps you’d like to know why Princess-and-soon-to-be-co-Queen Dash wasn’t as well?”

Before Applejack could answer, A.K. did. “We would, please.”

A slow snipe of light came from Queen Twilight’s horn, sizzling a hole through A.K.’s hat. “Reason that didn’t go through your eye was that you remembered to say please.” Ignoring the shudder that went through A.K.’s form, the Queen turned back to the insolent cowpony.

“And the reason for your Princess not being present is because my Dash has already won the last one, and has nothing to prove to you or anypony in Ponyville.” Another of Twilight’s hooves, this one holding a long sprig of broccoli, slipped under the table. “Besides, she spent both this event and last slipping on sap – only this time it was from the only alicorn that matters.”

Between Applejack's green face and scrunched-shut eyes, she could be mistaken for Granny Smith.

“The contest also had you placing fifth if I recall, ma’am.”

Queen Twilight rolled her eyes at A.K. “Because I wasn’t trying – which says everything for all but one pony that finished behind me.”

“Having several ponies finish behind you seems like it’s a regular practice for you now, your Highness.”

To Rarity’s disgust, Twilight laughed at her retort. Her titillating tenor ricocheted off the marble walls. “I know, isn’t it so hot?”

Cori was all too quick to ascend the stairs, careful to keep from alerting the guard by racing to them as he nodded. How he could with so much carnage and wrongness in the room facing his gaze was beyond the Ambassador of the Crystal Empire, and in several flights, so was the unknowingly breached vault beyond her.

Before her was a set of double doors, and it didn’t take long for her to realize the Queen likely resided here. The very purple star was on the left end of the odors, and the last two of the Sailor Squad – Cori could tell they were Aqua Mist and Burning Heart, if only by the utterly crude plays on their names that she dared not spend another second on visualizing thankyouverymuch.

Rather, her attention was brought to the windows on each side of that door, ending out of the tower. Shrinking one into pocket-carryable variety, she took it into her mane. After a quick re-check of the map, sidled out on the ledge connecting to the windows inside the bedroom. It took some edging out, but she efficiently each the first pane of glass-

-and promptly fell headrest through the large hole cut in it. Turning to their right, the last of the metal bonds on that bed was severed. The sharp smell of blood and viscera (the substance, not the thief) hit her nose with such a punch that she nearly gagged. Thankfully, the only two in that room were the purple dragon and the pegasus with the last bond between their teeth.

“Decided to just take Spike with the last one, didn’t have enough material to handle all of these chains.”

Cori scrambled to his feet and took a further look at the dragon. Despite being clearly awake, he hadn’t made a sound. By Tartarus, he’d barely even blinked, despite his eyes bugging out of their skull.“Is he okay?”

“Yes, but apparently shell-shocked. Small wonder, I got the scent of the room, I’m guessing one of the Princes did some sick shit in front of him. “

Cori wince. “He’s out of here now, then. Slinging the last chain around the pegasus’ back, Cori beckoned to the window. “Gotta get back and help Bon-Bon out of Flash’s study.” To Spike, the ambassador said, “Don’t worry. You’re… well about to be safer now. Both ponies went out the window, the latter snapping out her wings and floating to the ground far beyond the castle. Cori ended up settling back into the main barrister outside the bedroom, turning around/ and newly smacking headfirst in a cream-coated maid. “BON-BON?! You’re-“

“Good at giving a Guard the slip? You could say that, yeah,” Bon-Bon replied. “We’ve got more complications, though.”

“How… so?”

“It’s Vis. I heard one of the Guards report the missing tower shift, they’re sending more ponies up and searching the castle. We have to get out now!!”

Cori’s brow wrinkled. “Then going down has too much risk I’ll blow down from here, Come onto the balcony, I’m sur-” But when Cori’s hoof settled on the doorknob to the room the lock gave slightly with a click.

“Wait –we were busy sliding onto aisles and using windows when the door was unlocked?” Cori asked. “Come on, let’s go through and strip the sheets we’ll need to parachute down with!”

“Wait…no!” Bon-Bon nearly cried.

“What’s the matter?” Cori, with a slight push, knocked the door open. “It’s unlocked, Bon-”

BRIIIIIIIIIING! BRIIIIIIIIIIIIING!

“Burglar alarm’s what’s the matter!” Bon-Bon yelled.

“But this is too low for anypony to catch, even Twilight – who could it be!” And the windows of the bedroom imploded inward, the twin visages of Knight-Commander Hel and Prince Shroud filling the void.

“…ok, maybe run.” Both mares barreled down the staircase, only just above a barrage of tendrils chasing them.

“Told you it’d work,” came the monotone of a growl behind them.

“I’m not certain how finishing is possible here- there is not enough room in this city for a race.”

Rarity smacked a hoof down her face. Queen Twilight, after stealing one look at Rarity, turned to A.K. “You really need to come down from that mountain more often,” Shifting in her seat, the Queen crossed her rearlegs, still propped on the table. “Especially since my darling Dash is a fan of your work.”

“So you’ve often said.” A.K. tentatively pointed out. “Which is why I wonder why you think I know of a way to stop these… gold ponies.”

“You don’t. But the pony you’ve written so much about has.” Queen Twilight said. “And since I cannot call Daring Do here, I’m going to have you tell me of every concoction, every death trap, and every single countermeasure any villain has used against Daring. Then I use it on those piss-pones until one sticks.”

“Look Twilight, if there’s anything you have to ask of her, I’m sure I could do better!”

“You are about thirty-eight teeth and four limbs too short to do anything for me that I’d like, Two-in-the-Pink.” Hissed Twilight.

“Um…” Twilight herself quirked an eyebrow at Fluttershy. The Element of Kindness was almost invisible from the table’s sightline, but her voice traveled all the same. “I… um. Remembered you said that Dash was about to be a… co-Queen? I. Not sure that’s… um. Possible.”

“Righty-o, Flutttershit. In all cases but one. One I liked so much…”

And her left forehoof raised to reveal a vivid golden circlet wrapped just above the hoof.

“… I put a ring on it!”

“WHAT?!” Applejack was fully alert now.

“I don’t believe it, you managed to get him out okay?”

Goldilock was an entire city away, but the vantage point from the Canterlot Palace was more than enough for the rescuing pegasus to unload her draconic cargo right at Goldilock’s paws. “Believe me, I’m surprised my end of this op has been this quiet.”

“Yes, I know – working alone and all that.” Goldilock nudged Spike on her shoulders, her white mane tickling his nostrils. “I’m at least grateful to see that you found a way to get up there alright.”

“What can I say?” And the figure. “The minute that dolt Viscera gets something right, she gets it right.” Now to-

It was at this point that they were nearly bowled over, by a shuddering screech coming from the building next to them – from the barracks, in fact. “That an alarm?”

“None I’ve heard of. Who tripped it?” Goldilock responded to the pegasus beside her.

“Never mind who did, we have to stop it – Celestia knows who that might put on our heads!”

“Right, that’s what I’m scared of – that Celestia specifically knew ‘em before she died to ‘em.” Goldilock braced her claw-tipped forearms forward, “Now stand back, I’ll be back in-”

Immediately, a bolt of white-hot fire shot from one of her paw-tips and crashed into the bright red klaxon atop the barracks, knocking if off the building in a flurry of sparks and ending the dreadful droning. “W-wait… you can do that?” asked the pegasus next to her.

Goldilock shrugged, hoping the maneuver would make her feel as confident as she looked. “I-I mean apparently. But right now that’s’ good, the alarm’s back down, they might think it’s a fake.”

“Don’t think that the arson report’ll be!”

Both the winged Thestrel-hybrid and the pegasus that rescued Spike shot their eyes to him in surprise, but that attention was soon drawn to the fickler light from the row of rose bushes stretching around the building.

“Wouldn’t be too much to hope either of you has a rain cloud handy?” asked Goldilock.

Receiving no further answer, from either the scared drake or shrouded pegasus, Goldilock suggested one herself.

Without another word, Goldilock took the knotted reins nearby in her may and with a mighty wrenching of muscle, the golden four-poster bed it was attached to scraped against the cobbled floor, before rising with its owner as she cut toward Canterlot’s center –and closer to the castle becoming thicker with flying forms.

“And here I thought that we wouldn’t be going loud today…”

“You’re marryin' Rainbow Dash?!” Applejack's statement came out as more an accusation than a question.

Queen Twilight nuzzled the golden band into her neck, tongue creeping out to slide down its surface in twisted bliss. “Between finally stomping out those Sailor cunts and battering up Luna, I finally had the time to do what I should have ages ago!”

The whispers over at Flutrershy’s part of the table were faint, but it was likely around the lines of “pleaseletitbeprivatepleaseletitbeprivatepleaseletitbeprivate.” Twilight would give it no concern.

“And best of all, it’ll be private!” The buttery pegasus’ head finally peeked over the counter at the Queen’s words. “Since I clearly cannot trust any of you with stopping the disharmony those gold-shits are sowing in the town that I made relevant, you’re all restricted to your homes until the ceremony that day is finished.

But don’t worry; I’ve decided to make cards for you anyway! So you don’t feel left out!” With a fizzle of magic, four slips of paper were before each of them.

Pinkie Pie was the first to take hers up, and a genuine smile crossed her face upon reading it. “Carrot Cake?” she asked. “Woohoo, you’re finally going to attend the party I put together! I mean, I thought Devil’s Food or velvet would be the cake of choice, but I think I could do that too! Though I’d need to know the type of frosting. Oooh, maybe I could do half-and-half! Rarity, what dessert did she suggest fo-”

“m-mine says Pumpkin Cake.” Fluttershy had to push the card to face the others to see.”

“Welll…. I’m not sure if we can do two cakes… and I’m not sure Fluttery’s good with baking.” Pinkie Pie was looking between both place cards rapidly.

“Pinkie…” Rarity showed her card. It simply read Cup Cake.

“Oooh, so this’ll be a full range of bakeries! I’ll have to-”

“This ain’t a dessert list.”

Four pairs of eyes were on the Element of Honesty. “How do you mean?” started A.K. “The only other commonality they have is…”

“Tell me: exactly why is it that this obsolete mule got to the point before the rest of you? Actually no. If you could, I wouldn’t have the pleasure.”

Twilight cleared her throat.

“Newsflash, fucknuggets: I don’t trust a single thing any of you would make that going in or on me. Not in the least because that duty is for the Princes and Dash only.” Her wicked smile returned at full mast. “So Rarity – you’re on with drapes and only drapes, I know where your carpet’s been. Applejack, you’re on gift-wrapping. I’ve already ensured everypony worth their bits in Ponyville’s going to make them shine. Fluttershy: doves. I’ve even saved you the trouble of mistaking them for other birds by having Hel and her Guard kill all the cockatrices in Everfree. And Pinkie? You get to handle flower arrangements! Only the best from Rose and Junebug – and I’d suggest you save some for yourself. Just in case.”

“What for?” Pinkie asked, even as Applejack’s jaw was clenching in fear over Twilight’s next words.

And her fears were well-founded.

“Those cards before you are your collateral,” Twilight concluded, her voice turning shrill with sadistic intent. “For each of you that don’t bring their share of wedding material to Town Center by 4 P.M. tomorrow, the Cake family member you’ve been assigned will be taken, gift-wrapped and delivered back to you!”

Queen Twilight’s next two words dropped the ambient temperature in the room by a hundred degrees.

”Organs first.”

Viscera was up to the second tower within seconds, but Philomena had again moved. For Viscera, however, a stroke of luck emerged. Since the tower she’d gone to was of a lower position than her current perch, one bound got Vis’ wings spread and brought her to the ledge next to the phoenix.

Even here, she could see the faint light from that ballroom the Elements were in, and the rise of the spire that housed her catch. I hope this isn’t taking too long for you, luv. Viscera knew she’d likely go check on them after bringing the battered bird to Goldilock, but it still felt good to assuage her own fears every once in a while.

Reaching out one clawed hoof, the thief finally managed to reach Philomena, taking the bird into her embrace. The pained coos of the animal as it nipped at one of the golden bands still around Viscera’s chest brought her heart at ease again. “Well, hello, Lil’ Red. Ready to fly over a cuckoo’s nest again?”

Not sure if the bird could understand the answer, the crimson pony heart fluttered anyway when it chirruped happily. Nestling it more carefully to herself now that she noticed the weight-bearing feathers were bent in several areas, Viscera took off for the front of the castle. The arrival of armored figures both above and beyond, however, had her shoot for the ballroom’s long balcony instead. She wagered they wouldn’t be so quick as to disturb somepony like the Queen without concrete evidence of a foul pony in play, and they’d be careful to ensure that wouldn’t be.

It even gave her time to unroll one of the scrolls, hoping it could lead to some new avenues of incursion for the next time. However, the first map was of Baltimare itself, with a notice next to it that had this to say:

Sister, burn this after you read it. It should likely not be necessary, but if I fail to stop my former student, this is the only way anypony can locate the statue I moved.

Even now, at first, I had originally regretted not having the Elements work towards unsealing this statue before. But with Chrysalis’s latest growing danger, I could not risk it.

Now the knowledge of him being here is the only thing likely holding back an apocalypse. No matter her intent, Twilight - the way she is - can never know where I have moved –

A vicious squawk erupted from Philomena’s beak and sent the notice flying – though Viscera was good enough to catch the map with her teeth as it was dislodged. Turns out, the phoenix noticed a certain armored pony calmly trotting up and down the staircase as if waiting for somepony in anticipation. With a rent cry, it shot out toward that Guard, dragging Viscera along for the ride by the hoof still wrapped around her frame.

It wasn’t until the incoming strike, the freeing of its non-bloodsoaked talons out toward its target like a field mouse in the open, that Viscera could even recognize the peachy fur and bright blue eyes of Flash Sentry. The Guard was too busy studying the doo to recognize them hurtling towards him, but his vision would soon turn to them after Philomena’s crooning chirp of rage.

Then the phoenix’s claws buried their way home in a very vulnerable part of Sentry’s face.

“GWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGH!”

“N-NO! You’re lying!” Rarity’s composure was fleeing her, her voice nearly cracking in its intensity.

Sparkle slammed a hoof on the ground. “Lying?! LYING implies I either respect or fear you, and I outgrew both when I outgrew Whorestia!” Seeing Rarity recoil in her chair, her fight thoroughly stifled, Twilight leaned back in her seat and concluded. “So again for the dragon dumpsters in the back. You have twenty hours to dazzle me before I drizzle you in their entrails! And best of all, since they’re Pinkie’s employers, she’ll know exactly which one of you are cowards! After all, my two sexy boys will have lots of time before the ceremony to check on each one of you!”

Pinkie’s eyes widened on the first bars of Twilight's song, her cruel voice sinking into her like liquid nitrogen. “They’ll know with whom you’re sleeping-” Twilight’s eyes flashed dangerously toward Rarity. “-they’ll know when you awake, they’ll know which ponies you talk to – if you do, their necks’ll break!”

“Twilight, you monster! You can’t think you’ll get away with this!” yelled Applejack,

Twilight threw back her head and laughed again. “Think? I know I will, Applehick. This is my Sparklequestria. Here thar be me.''Her eyes narrowed to slits. “And it always should have been. After all, your task is what it’s always amounted to, before, and after I flew the coop you left me to rot in: to sit back, play to your tunes like puppets, and wait for me to come.”

A.K.’s eyes flitted cautiously to Lyra Heartstrings’. The mint-green unicorn’s horn softly lit in preparation, but a wave of A.K.’s youth made the glow back down again.

“Which reminds me...” A wet splat from the stalk she had lowered beyond the table as it crushed into the wall rang out. The following bright flash from her horn had everyone before her reeling. But when it cleared, nothing seemed to have occurred. Even Rarity’s vivid search of herself revealed nothing amiss.

However, the ebbing squeak of terror from Fluttershy, having condemned herself to lie so low in her seat she was under the table, proved perilously prophetic.

“You’re right, A.K. You’re not Daring Do.”

A.k, after a minute, breathed a sigh of relief.

“Which means I don’t have to worry about spoiling anything special for Dash today.” And with a bound, all four of Twilight’s s hooves slammed home, perching her at the edge of the long table. Her legs, however, stood at a very visible, voluptuous five. “The papers. Now.”

The pegasus author couldn’t shove them to her fast enough. “By the stars! T-take them!”

“Oh, Yearling, I always was. This next part of the show, however, is about me taking you.” With another flash of amethyst light, Twilights four Elemental guests were bound to their seats, the cushiony velvet threatening to swallow them whole. Rarity herself had fainted in her seat seconds earlier, her head lolling between the purple padding. “Don’t worry; I’ll need time to go over your notes, so your other holes will remain perfectly ripe for my precious little Rainbow.”

Clip. Clip Clip. Clip.

“In fact, I’m going to read them on your very head.”

“But y-you said that I would recite these to you!” A.K. was hyperventilating at this point.

“No. Iron Standard did because both he and Sentry labor under the illusion I need dictation. All I command from you is to know when I’m choking you.” Both of the Queen’s forehooves braced themselves on either side of the chair looming above Yearling’s head. “So I know to delve DEEPER.”

At this point, however, several things occurred at once – each leading to the true climax of the night.

First, a violent cacophony of squawks finally belted out from the door behind Yearling, the room quiet enough to hear the screams of a Royal Guard just beyond the stairway leading out of the room. Clambering down it, however, was the crimson-swathed pony Viscera. Philomena was straining on her left forehoof, one of her bloodied talons still madly clutching at a ball of leaking silver and red threads.

“Okay…” Viscera started, voice hoarse and hesitant. “Would any of you believe the bird did this?”

Fluttershy’s scream this time could have been mistaken for knowing just what thing it was that the battered phoenix was holding in her claw. But her eyes were in a completely different direction from the others, and it was for good reason – the hallway at the opposite end of their dining room revealed the flash of two running ponies. One of those fleeting equine’s coat was a glittering sapphire, the other a rich cream with three wrapped candies peeking out from the maid’s skirt over it. And one of them was holding a thick leather book, the visage of a sun with curling rays and a moon with columns of scars stamped on it.

Viscera, saw it too. “Nevermind, go loud, the both of you! We’re all outta here!”

Could Queen Twilight have stopped the thief with her telekinetic binds? Certainly, but it ran aground of two issues – one, the hold she’d already had over her ex-friends and the flash of green flames around Yearling that sent her head shooting upward to avoid the blinding light.

Pinkie Pie’s shout of “A CHANGELING?!” underlined the obvious, as Gympis’ clambering over her seat sent it tipping back. The Queen’s hooves had to wrap around instead of into the lacquered silver wood to keep herself over the new gap between the table and chair.

Gympis was not staying to see Twilight’s readjustment time. Her mouth clamped over a mouthful of green tail and Lyra Heartstrings was yanked from her spot below the table. Half out of pain from the sudden yanking of her tail and shock of being exposed with the Queen barely inches from her, Lyra’s horn ignited and shot out a bolt to try and take the tray table with her. However, her shot went wide, and hit the table, the force of driving it across the marble floor as it surged toward Twilight, pulverized the arms of the chair she was still gripping….

And came to a stop when it hit pliant flesh, crushing it between the two pieces of furniture. ‘It’ was not any of Twilight’s legs.

The Queen’s jaw dropped open and a silent shriek bubbled forth. Beside her, Applejack and Rarity winced. Fluttershy’s forehooves swept to her maw in terror. And Pinkie, well…

“Wow, I didn’t think any part of an alicorn could bend that far!”

“Everybody move!”

Cori’s magic chucked a standing suit of armor’s royal helmet down the hall at the window leading outside. Almost immediately, it was filled with the snarling face of Knight-Commander Hel Gaulle, only for Bon-Bon – safely ensconced in the rest of the armor – to come charging out towards her. “Fucking come on!” shouted the sinister squad leader as Bon-Bon collided into her, the flight down into the bushes serving as a break for Bon-Bon’s fall.

Cori followed suit out of the window, though her landing was altered by two things. The Rug she was billowing over her head like a parachute and the tendrils that flew out of the window and tore the fabric in half as she was a foot from the ground. Scrambling to all fours again, Cori made it five paces before the tentacles could up to her again, but several errant green bolts severed them neatly. Second later, Viscera bounded by hoisted Cori on her pack, and trammeled on the head of Hel as she was snagging Bon-Bon by her tail.

Two twinned cries of “Damn it!” rang out as this maneuver occurred. Neither came from the invading party.

The pumping feet of Gympis soon joined them, the changeling throwing Lyra next to Bon-Bon, both of their horns still smoking. “That’s for wrecking my house, you sick-!” Lyra was immediately silenced by Gympis pointing to Bon-Bon.

“Take Bon-Bon, teleport, and alert Goldilock and Daring! We need transport!”

“Sorry, got it!” Lyra took the slightly limping Bon-Bon into her hooped and ollied out. Seconds later, the pavement on which they had been standing was turned to rubble by a blast from one of the Royal Guards. Gympis’ three returning horn blasts shot off, off, and then through his armor, the dead stallion tumbling the rest of the way down the stairs.

There were far too many Guards incoming, though, and Viscera needed a distraction. Yanking something out of her pocket and another item next to the golden horseshoes she’d clipped to her pelt, Viscera finally turned gold again. “Cori I’ve got a plan!”

“I’ve got a better one! Duck through the hedges!”

Seeing the wave of rolling back-tipped fury that was Prince Shroud, Viscera was quick to de-ass the area, weaving her way through the bushes of the incoming maze. Viscera could only take relief in how the whipping lashes following her did not touch her. She still remembered the tavern crash.

Then, at the last instance, Cori while around, brought up the helmet she’d used to break the window open and threw it at the ponies behind them. Her ignited horn then ballooned it to the size of a boulder. Shroud elected to bat the helmet into the air with his tendrils - only to find that Viscera and Cori were now charging right at him. “GOTCHA!” Two hooves into the solar plexus later, Prince Shroud was reeling. One re-shrinking of the helmet later, and Sor wedged it on his head the wrong way, blinding the sinister Shadow Pony. And a well-placed buck sent him crashing into one of the statues.

Turning to bolt into the central rim of Canterlot, however, got Cori blasted off Viscera’s back in a shower of green light and split blood. Holding the nasty gash just under her rib cage shut, Cori moaned weakly as the other of Twilight’s princes stepped to confront Viscera, two buildings away from the thief’s cutoff point. “

“Say that’s well done Crystal Pony,” Prince Toxic said. “How about medium for you? Not like Canterlot won’t need one to contact what’s left of you both.“

Viscera’s heart skipped a beat at this. “Options?” she asked the Crystal Pony behind her.

“One, and it’s helped us last time too.” Coir gasped as she yanked a bead of the dangling handing of her saddlebags and slammed it into Viscera’s paw. “Throw it at him, then hit it with something sharp in midair.”

The revelation of Cori’s spark as Viscera threw her newest payload at the changeling prince was closely followed by Given that it hit the engine of a full-on incoming delivery truck, however…

KA-BLAM!

Canterlot itself lit up from the rocketing blast, Viscera having to dig her hooves into the pavement to keep herself footed and aggravating her splinted leg even further. Whirling back to burn a hole of her own through Cori, the ambassador could only shrug.

“I was told the gas tank was empty.”

As Viscera disbelievingly eyed the blaze again, Cori leaped onto Viscera’s back before she could retort about the obvious contradiction in Cori’’s assumptions. Coir was quick to point to the distant gates of the capital. “Come on, let’s go – I’m a bit too out of sorts to walk.”

Silence again took over the dining room. The Queen’s hold over the other Elements had stopped some time before, but non dared move, the events transpiring before them and the state of the malevolent matriarch next to them too jarring to allow them to.

Rarity’s forehoof tapped on the table, the fashionista intending to stand up.

With a violent shove of the alicorn’s rear legs, the table before Rarity and the others rocketed across the room’s length and shattered into splinters in the wall Cori and Bon-Bon had run past moments ago. Queen Twilight, still facing the chair she was wedged in, looked unaffected by the episode, but even Fluttershy could see how gingerly she repositioned her rearhooves on the marble tiles.

Naturally, Fluttershy’s first instinct was to offer relief to the ravaged. “Q-queen Twilight! A-are you o-“

“-the Queen’s Express has encountered some slight issues, everypony. Please keep calm, place something over your mouths before I do, and most importantly, stay in your fucking seats. Your goddess has an infestation to tackle – do be careful to not impede Her duties in pest control, lest I discover some little shit was responsible for letting them in.”

A flash of light brought the Queen’s legs to a slowly re-straightening four again. Another far harsher one burned the violet insignia of a swirling sun into the marble floor as Twilight Sparkle disappeared.

Gympis was only minutes behind the moving Viscera and Cori, only to lose them in the hedge mazes. An explosion in the distance put her back on track though, and as she buzzed to the blaze, her voice rang out. “Is anypony hurt here?”

“Aww, Gym-Glam.” And Prince Toxic Haze flew his way out of the blaze, slightly singed but otherwise undeterred. “Didn’t know you cared.’

“Haze?!“ Gympis stopped once. This time, however, she kept her distance. “I… well, I still do!” said the magenta –eyed changeling. “I cannot comprehend what has got into you!”

“It’s what I’ve been getting into that matters now, brat. And velvety smooth as Queen Twilight’s is, I've got a Crystal Pony to try out on next.”

“You speak of love so thoughtlessly?” Gympis’’s voice turned shrill. “The Queen Twilight’s reign is draining it from all Equestria, drop by drop! You’ll drive our race to starvation! Does this mean nothing to you?!”

Prince Toxic laughed bitterly. “No, actually, it doesn’t! Because I never meant anything to them! No ability to absorb love like your so-called ‘glorious’ queen meant I got wrecked by any group they come across! But not to worry, as she can just rape her way into prominence again, right?!” A raping chuckle slipped free from his throat. “Well, could.”

Gympis’s eyes widened. “In the Badlands…!” she said before realization set in.“Wait, were you there when Chrysalis was killed! And what is this about her… violating the Queen?!”

“Oh, I wasn’t just there, I helped Twilight snuff that oversized cunt out myself!” yelled Prince Toxic. “My only ‘kin’ now are those who know just how hot, how satisfying, how proper it is to take out stupid little weakling shits like her, and anypony else who’s crossed us! And all that gold skin you’ve shown me proves is that we should have gone a step further and torn the hive down around your pretty lead head.”

Gympis gasped. Goodness, what had Prince Toxic done?! To her, to this land, to all changeling-kind with his ignorance?! And not even a droplet of remorse for it all!

“So run back to your hive and vomit out a room to sob in, you brainless waste of eggs! This is Twilight’s world, little fuckdoll. And all of you just live to get bent in it.” A disturbing flick of his tongue complemented his words.

Gympis could feel her heart tear in two, so small and tender in her chitin-covered chest. By the stars, this… this thing had so willingly condemned her hive – All changeling-kind? Just to kill and pillage across this land? Despite herself and her despair, she tried one last time. “This was supposed to be our way out of the wastelands, not to make all Equestria one! Stop this madness, out-”

“I’M NOT STOPPING A DAMN THING!” shouted the changeling prince, foam flying from his muzzle. “Except those piss-ponies who dared step foot in our capital. And I’m starting with the blueberry munchkin first. You can exactly watch me, or warm me up for her. Because there’s nobody here to save your death now but your stupid flapping tongue.”

Tears streamed down Gympis’ face for several long seconds. Then, the changeling dropped to her knees. “You… are correct. I do not know of where my friends are now. They… cannot save me.”

Princes Toxic closed the distance to her with a hiss of “Then shut up and stay still.” reared up his forelegs, moved to brace them on the wall behind her…

...and suddenly got beam-blasted back into the side of the Arcane University, nearly a mile away. Gympis’ horn was still smoking as she said, “So I will save myself for them.”

Even then, Octavia’s voice before her… wondrous last teachings… strummed through her mind. <Home is where your friends are… and they are your heart yearns to be.>

A snapping of light brought forth Bon-Bon and Lyra to Gympis’s side again. “We couldn’t find Daring and Goldi at the rendezvous – whole load of Royal Guards putting out a fire, though!”

“Then it has been compromised.” Gympis finally stood for her painful crouch. “Follow me.”

And with a flex of her fibrous wings, the changeling took off for the gates, certain either she would make it there, or her new allies would. They would have to. After all, Gympis was running short on ways out of this, and ‘this’ was no longer restricted to Canterlot itself.

Viscera had hoped her flying knees, front dropkicks, and dodges through the barricades would finally teach the Night Guard swooping in on her meant instant defenestration. However, she soon came upon a contender less cowed by her athleticism. Namely, the scene she’d walked upon and the one brewing behind her held her newest issues.

The first came when Dash yelled “Shit, it’s those ponies again!” upon seeing Viscera. Where the cyan pegasus lay upon, however, sent Viscera’s mind reeling for precious seconds.

Cori’s second response hinted at the other issue at hoof, and it even got everypony else’s attention Given that she was facing behind the golden galloper, her shout of. “Holy hell, it’s Queen Twilight!” finally brought the world back into focus for Viscera –and how fast they could both be wiped off the face of it.

Another Night Guard flew in. Cori’s magics caused the joints of his winds to bend out of the socket from his colossal backplates. Viscera’s incoming claws painted it ruby red with his rent maw. The ambassador screamed again.

Violet lasers soon filled the sky above them both, cutting through four of the ponies present in a spray of blood. Viscera cut a hard right through the sprawled-out and others in the likely-orgy – and good god why was an orgy taking place just minutes from Canterlot Castle’s front door?! Her inner pony rent her short mane at the thought. Behind her, Princess Dash had to yank Luna out of the way – no hard feat, since her arms are around the broken alicorn’s barrel – to avoid the Queen's hunting of Viscera.

However, the crowd cover gave Cori all the advantage she needed in keeping the blasts at bay this time, her previous trepidation around the mad monarch gone as she matched her beam for beam. While Cori’s were not even close to matching them in power, they shrank them small enough to where they only pricked at Viscera’s golden pallor instead of cleaving it apart.

Until they came upon the gats, being yanked open by an all-too-familiar pegasus. “Daring Do’s here too?!” Viscera would have had more invective to pant out had Cori’s next words not shocked her to her core.

“Jump! Hurry!”

“For what? We’re almost home free; just shrink the Queen’s blasts!”

“I did! Three times! Now jump!”

Viscera took one look behind her, saw the still-wrecking-ball-size sphere of roiling light behind her, and leaped. The sphere came crashing into the ground and gouging out a hole in Canterlot’s plaza would only send them flying. Viscera, tumbling through the air, realized the speeding visage of Shores’ studio rushing to meet her face, and with the fear of crushing Cori, rolling off her back and tucked her in close on the third attempt.

It was just in time for both ponies.

A horrible rending of wood and glass signaled Viscera’s trip, though the façade of the studio, and her form drooped, her intending to use the wings and fly up. But her body was so weightless and crumpled upside down to sprawl out onto the floor in front of her. From this vantage point, however, Viscera could see everything.

The corner of her eye caught a rainbow blur flickering back through the sky and toward a golden-red one with a bed whistling toward her position from below. There were two ponies – Lyra and Bon-Bon - turning to reach her only to be telekinetic, haunted. And Hel had recovered fast enough to corner two beings herself on the street opened up to her right-– Daring on the floor nearby under one lavender-plated forehoof and Philomena by another.

But Viscera’s eyes locked on something far more terrifying than all those situations –even more than the half-bars of lumber painfully pinning down her left legs, and the blood seeping through a dozen cuts in her back and head from the glass littering her. for above them all, floating lower nad lower with each wing beat- was the cruel grinning face of Queen Twilight. For the first time, they were face to face. And Viscera’s mind availed itself of every thought, every plan, every thought of victory upon seeing the malice in her face, the slow whip of her tongue as it drew across her lips, the narrowing of purple slits as she eyed up them both.

Like she’d erase her.

Like she owned her.

Like she wanted to feel Viscera die.

Only one other time had Viscera known this feeling, and it was long before she’d even known of a ‘Queen of Equestria’. But still, the mantra pumped through her head as claret red did from her wounds.

IwannagetoutIwannagetgoutgetmegetmeoutGETMEOUT-

Twilight’s moved lowered to speak. But with a sickening screeeeeeeeee, Viscera’s vision turned black.

The world, as it felt before in her visions, swam and twisted horribly as her gut did, but it didn’t stop this time. It was a centrifuge that pulsed around her, around everyone in her sight but Twilight that rainbow blur and Hel.

Then they were gone too.

Viscera was suddenly floating in a large antechamber.

And large in this instance meant that the pillars to each side of her shot into the pitch-black gulf above and below. Everything felt utterly lifeless. But still, Viscera swam in the center, sole orphan in an inky sea.

It took several seconds for her to realize that she was not alone. Apparently, something titanic was in the room with her too. At first, Viscera was scared again, panic thrumming through her veins.

But alas, the folded wings and layered head did not make it the Queen. It was sleeping. She was, actually. The figure was very female, and about at eye level. Dusty golden bands wrapped around her neck and the bicep of one of her forepaws.

But Viscera could not see the rest of the area, and suddenly, she really wanted to know. Where her (allies?) friends were, where she was, why that figure had opened her golden eyes, and wait she had opened her eyes.

“You have returned.”

And now it was rising above her.

“I shall follow.”

And now this being, with such an alluring voice, was opening its sharpened jaws TOWARD HER-

Viscera came back to with a startling gasp, then a near-cardiac after finding herself back in here. The dilapidated curves and awnings of the trunk the blank unblinking eyes of that skinned zebra, the-

Viscera blinked again. Yes, she was in that Everfree Hut… but there was no one here. The place had been immaculately scrubbed, and it was then that she remembered that yes, Spearhead and had been tasked before with retrieving bodies from the Forest, likely that of the zebra and-

“What in Tartarus just fucking happened!?” That shout came from Goldilock – well, Rappid Fires again, if her white wings were any indication - of all ponies. But outward Viscera paced anyways, to see Rappid Fires, Cori, Bon-Bon and Lyra sprawled in the Everfree glen outside the tree-hut. Daring would soon pop out from a bush behind them, gingerly trotting over to them.

“Does anyone else have moss in their-!”

“ABSOLUTELY!” came four replies.

“Well thank goodness you didn’t land in Everfree’s only rosebush, then!” Daring said.

“... those are not roses, Daring,” Rappid replied.

One look at the pile of not-a-rose-but-definitely-fruit-bats next to her and Daring Do was scrambling away from them. Viscera, however, had a different reason for the panic rushing through her. “Okay, what are we all doing here?!” she yelled.

“Think we’re… not near the Queen… so whatever we’re doing can it involve celebration?” Cori helpfully added.

Daring Do stomped past them, heading for Ponyville. “Perhaps not when we’re in the middle of place teleportation can track! Let’s move!”

“Jeez, killjoy, you already sound like…” Viscera stopped, re-tallying the headcount. “Wait, where’s Gympis?!”

‘”… so will them narrowly escaping with their lives hold the same amount of impact?”

“It is not the same my prince, no.” Gympis crouched down further in her cubby behind the banister overlooking the mini courtyard. She’d been thrown back so far by a blast that struck the walkway that separated her from Lyra and Bon-Bon, and now they and the others she’d seen placed in the studio by the blast were gone again! If Lyra had teleported them!

“Damn it!” yelled Dash, racing up to catch later. “I had that winged wannabe this time, I had her!”

“That shouldn’t be too hard to follow, just because they had a unicorn teleport them means…” Twilight stood stock-still. “The unicorn didn’t do this.”

Prince Shroud was next to the malevolent monarch in seconds. ““How can you tell?”

“Because there would have been a signature that I could track if they did!” Queen Twilight finally managed to compose herself. “Fine. The wedding goes as planned, but I want contingencies – let my so-called friends know and punt them back home!”

Prince Haze was next to arrive. “Yeah, sure. I can start on those two in your room, right?”

“That what fuck-pillows are for, love,” cooed Queen Twilight. “Just be sure Spikey-Wikey gets a look-see before he goes back to Rarity.”

Gympis had already buzzed out by the start of Queen Twilight’s diatribe – back into the lower annals of Canterlot Castle. She could not afford to be seen by them. Already her heart pulsed dangerously at the very thought of seeing Prince Haze again. She had done the unthinkable! Placed feet into a fellow drone. A loneling! But… such an utter monster now. All that and yet…

And then her travels into the room at the bottom of the castle and her backing out just as fast as three unicorns burst into the room. Thankfully, Gympis avoided detection. “Goodness, they’re returning early! I heard that explosion from here, it could have woken the dead!”

“You had best hope that is not the case, considering,” The second unicorn muttered, studying the room warily.

The final unicorn, far more put-together than the others silenced them both with a raised hoof. “Nevermind that. We need to find a way out of here soon! If the Queen is willing to use this much power now – we must go before she sees me. We may be in a room full of corpses and skeletons, but if we don’t craft a better story, we’re boned.”

The Queen! Gympis was quick to rush out before them, startling the three unicorns. Even now, Gympis could cut an impressive figure against the three unicorns, too surprised to aim spells at her.

“A changeling!” This statement of the blindingly obvious is brought to you by the center unicorn. “What are you doing in the Royal Mortuary! Changelings are not supposed to be present here!”

“I did not think defiers of the Queen were either.” Gympis had to get her breathing under control. She was not in the mood to have to fight her way out of the city again. The operative term being ‘mood’ and instead of ‘’. “I have already spent time fighting Princes, you will see me to a way off of this city and back to my friends.”

“You fought a Prince…?” The leftmost unicorn – a blue stallion with a white mane and a top hat – studied Gympis quickly. “My goodness, you’re not with Haze! What hive has you then?”

“Why would a unicorn care of me and my hive..?” Then it struck for Gympis. “You’re changelings, too! But Thorax said we had fled this place!”

“You know of Thorax.” The center unicorn - white with a tailored suit jacket pressed down over his shoulders and back – raised his head in surprise. “Then you are from Chrysalis’s hive. And we may be able to salvage our operation.”

This was the first the violet-gossamer changeling had ever heard of an ‘operation’. Curiosity demanded she pry further. Danger outside demanded she find a way out of this city. For now, with the knowledge of them being of the same mind as her rebellious friends, the scales tilted toward fact-finding. “What are you doing here?”

“It is more of what we are still doing here.” And with that, a trio of fire pillars swallowed up their three forms, the chitin and green-to-blue highlights of their tall female changelings. “And that was formerly setting the ground for Chrysalis’ takeover. But now, this… ‘Queen Twilight’… has so thoroughly ruined the love in this capital we must take these forms, in this castle’s cellar, just to…” her voice tapered off as the indignity of the situation caught up to her, the other two changelings nuzzling her neck as she attempted to hide her tears by staring into the naked diamonds of light illuminating the morgue.

“I… have been appointed to find out about Chrysalis’ murder and tackle the ones responsible1” Gympis tried to reassure them. “But I feel it is not enough now, and I…”

“What is it, Gympis?” The center changeling stepped forward. “You are among fellow kin here, even if it is only I, Yabaus, and my sisters Shotis and Furellus.” Her motions went to the other two changelings at her side, and it was only on the second inspection that Gympis saw the first differences. Shotis had curved wings, a crown of three points on her short-cropped head of green gossamer and a stodgy figure, while Furellus had a scraggly green field of spikes falling from her scalp and a singular green spike as a tail.

Gympis still could not bring herself to fully explain the event, but words escaped her all the same. “I cannot remain as I am. Not after attacking a loneling, odious as he may be. Our most precious objective is ones, and our hive is suffering without it. Even with the power from a Thestrel, this mysterious gift that has kept me from magical harm, I have failed – as an investigator, an avenger, and a loyal drone.” Her eyes shot to the floor. “Please, reprocess me as you will.”

“You mean to say, child…” started Shotis, and she looked back to the closed door. “That you have found yourself a new power to use?”

“And have utilized it to countermand the actions of a Prince of Changelings? One that has killed our own queen?” Furellus finished.

Gympis nodded. Her head still hung low but she was slightly bolstered by the fact they wished for detail instead of decapitation. “He has told me as much, and he has the ability to contend as the same level as the other Prince and Princess. I cannot stop him as I am, and despite his madness, I cannot further violate our directive to try further.“

“We see.” It took far too long for Gympis to stand waiting for a response. So she thought, at least. “Well then, child, we shall reprocess, Starting from this moment, Gympis, you are no longer an investigator of your hive as of this moment.”

Gympis stood fully upright, ready to accept her dire verdict.

“You…. are their princess now.”

Perhaps ‘dire’ had undergone a change during her time away from the hive, but… “How does what I have done warrant such an honor!?” Gympis asked, her eyes widened and pose faltering before the triumvirate of shapeshifters.

“Because it preserves the hive against the larceny of love that the Queen has ensured.” Yabaus pointed out. “And we shall oversee your hive until you have subdued the threat… with any allies you may find. Your discretion is now the directive of all remaining changelings within Equestrian limits.”

Shotis then presented one of the pearl-like bulbs on her crown-like head ornament and pressed into Gympis’s offered palm, the material shuddering into a silver dot on her underside of the magenta changeling’s foot. “And this brand shall ensure no other city-bound changeling shall harm you. Bring them to us, and we shall see them all sequestered from this court’s wrath.

Furellus smiled broadly. “We shall take to the skies above, Princess Gympis, while you leave from the ground. Your new brand should see you through the changeling’s true form, even if augmented, as… the rogue Toxic Haze has. May the Hive grant you speed.”

“I… then I will accept your offer.” Gympis did not have much of a choice. Her current path was untenable, even without her friends having vanished. But now, she had enough authority and backing to continue with every hive! This was wonderful, wonderful news!

Furellus concurred. “Then rise, in your new role. We will depart behind the arriving Wonderbolts after the wedding tomorrow, then separate and make haste through the Horseshoe Bay, to be out of you and your allies’ gossamer.”

“But – but, my ladies, through the air?” Gympis stammered. “The non-changelings I have aligned with engineered a successful theft here only minutes ago – you may be caught!”

“Haha! It is our intent, little one,” the squat Shotis chortled. “We will be in disguise, but any eyes on us are one less pair on you as you make your way through the grounds – after all, a herd on the rush is worth one on the land.”

“O… okay. If that is what you wish.” Gympis made for the steps leading outside, then stopped. “Though… I am still not sure if I can do as you have asked.”

“Your passing of the barrier in this town under form shift already proves your prowess: it is a technique only Chrysalis and us have learned.” said Furellus, her wings extending. “Your efforts to subdue the Queen Twilight – and report on the state of this new Equestria - will be what determines if you become queen.”

“May you soon prove worthy of Queendom, as this current one has failed to,” Shortis said, as she and her two companions took to the air. Gympis still stayed in the room for a few seconds, feeling like there was so much left to comprehend. Still, the pain of hitting a loneling radiated through her, a stinging doubt that clung to her soul like a barnacle. But It was soon overtaken by a new alien feeling, one she’d had ever since that peculiar mar that dressed as a bird and talked of ‘luv’ almost as much as she did.

Accomplishment.

She had found others that shared her goal that had been around for a while.

Her hive had a chance of survival, slim as it was.

She was a Princess.

She was estranged from all of them and yet Canterlot was fuller of royalty than it was before and she was a Princess. I will return to Ponyville, relocate my friends, continue my efforts, and meet the Princes and Queen on the new front as a Princess.

Even saying it felt alien to her.

She had only been active in the world for a month, only been within the center of Equestria for a week? Yet now she was the hope. Gympis thought the pressure would be devastating, outright crippling, but now?

Well, now, she had to leave now, before it took her over like wildfire. The Princes and the Queen, of course.

But she needed to start now. And with a flap of her clear wings, Gympis went low and circled around the city. Thankfully, she evaded the smoking hulk of the Night Guard barracks. She only noticed the hint of peach-fuzz fur and black-gold armor next to the Commander Hel, decided against trying her luck against them as a Princess by Tartarus’ taint she was a Princess and it was barely a week from her leaving her hive.

The high perch around the mountains allowed her to escape much of the tracks. And as the Friendship Express leaving the cliff-clutching capital went through the tunnel, the Night Guard overshadowing it took above it as the griffins had at last light. They also reveled in the fact that a new addition had come to help ensure their shift went smoothly from the invaders of Canterlot upon cresting that peak. Even so far as to take them to their homes single-handedly to them from slipping and tilling anypony about their meeting.

It took returning Fluttershy to her cottage and deforming for Gympis to complete her duty. (“Um. Thank you, Mister Guard. I-I would think that I could work well from heeeeeeeeeeeeee! It’s a changeling! Oh. Oh. It’s Gympis. Sorry.”). Profusely apologizing to the pegasus, Gmypis started her journey to find the rest of her four-legged friends.

Such a journey (possibly as a part of her new Princess-dom), was completed in all of 0.2 seconds when she opened Fluttershy’s wooden door and found the faces of Viscera, Rappid, Gympis and Daring in front of hers. Gympis did not respond as her buttery-furred escort had. Viscera was of a different state upon seeing the wayward shapeshifter. “Gympis, I’m so glad you’re okay how did you get back from there I don't know how to tell you I don’t even know how to tell them and I already did tell them because now I can teleport and I don’t even know where it took me and… and… !”

The changeling could not think of anything to say during Viscera’s blubbering tirade. Mainly because there was so much information to process and even more to deliver. And also because of Spike running past the others and into Fluttershy’s arms as he bawled himself into the pink mane of the pegasus.

And then even more mares came. “We heard of where you were from Bon-Bon, and-Viscera! Are you okay?” Berryshine’s hooves were under the wobbling Viscera so fast even Gympis stumbled back in shock, as they both lugged her further into the house of the Element of Kindness.

Berry’s eyes stinging with tears, flashed to Gympis. “Thank you. Thank you for keeping her safe. For keeping them all safe, Gympis. I… I never should have been so scared of you.”

Gympis opened her maw, closed it, took a deep breath and –

Whoa. What is this? Not a question, nor spoken. She had once noted how the love in this abode seemed to be only limited to Fluttershy, nestled deep in her bosom and surrounded by a sea of doubts and pain and anticipation. But this new well…. This was freshly opened, the spritz of the cocktail dancing across the changelings’ synapses.

It could not be towards here, though. It only showed when – Gympis looked back to Berryshine and Viscera. It may have been mostly from one direction, but…. Perhaps there was hope after all. If she, as a Princesss, could help them keep it together, there might be a way out. After the wedding, the possible attempts to get into Canterlot would go far easier than most when revised, and –

Gympis’ legs suddenly buckled in light of her terrible realization. “THE WEDDING!” And her bellow brought light back into the room, the eyes of everypony locked on her.

Ten minutes later, Rappid Fires took her first step back into the kitchen. The process of the report had told her had found a new way to shock her to her core. That and to show why Fluttershy, the only other pony in the house with knowledge of the travesty, was taking an early retreat to bed. Goodness, how much happiness must she rip from everyone!? Dash would never agree to this under any circumstances!

Needless to say, it had to be stopped. If Dash was bound by oath to her as well as blackmail (She HAD to be! Had to!), it would be near-impossible to break for an Element of Loyalty. But they had no idea! Queen Twilight had covered all the exits this time, siloed all information! Where would they even start to find out where they’d had gone, or eve-

“Where in the world are you GOING, Viscera!”

That too. Wait, was that Daring? Talking to Viscera? “The Queen is coming here, the Elements’ houses are about to become monitors for the Guard, and we have no idea where they’re gonna be after four tomorrow – meaning every building we hide in here is a risk. The better question is, why aren’t YOU going?”

“You think I’m leaving in light of all this?” Daring Do’s retort came fast and furious. “And there is a building they won’t go near that we’re relocating to in the morning. One which you would know about if you weren’t trying to book out with Berry halfway through planning!”

“Who I trot out with is none of your business! And may I add that Berry asked?” Viscera’s voice sounded full of disgust, even now.

“I suggested a relocation would be okay… but,” Berryshine paused. “Look, Vis might be right. It might be too dangerous to keep the five of us together, even if we do find a new place.”

Daring ignored Berry’s disquieting revelation, eyes still locked on the crimson pony. “We are in this too deep to back out now, Viscera! I expected this from you a week or so ago, not now! You’re telling me why, or you’re leaving alone.”

“How dare you!” Viscera’s sudden outburst-rather than snide conjecture or dueling retorts – finally surprised the yellow-coated pegasus. “It wasn't enough that your fan A.K. put out that slander about me fleeing from the Tower, but you then bring it up after what I’ve been through?!”

One beat followed. Then another. Finally Daring Do said, “Fleeing.. wasn’t the right word for it?”

“Damn right it wasn’t. The reason I was out of that tower is because… it was the actual first time I’d seen a look like that Queen had on her when she closed in on us.” Viscera shivered. “And like that time, if I hadn't left when I did… you woulda never heard of me after then, either.”

Several tense moments passed. Gympis’ heartbeat played a steady metronome over the scene before her. Then Daring Do bent down and removed her thin-brimmed hat, revealing a shower of grew locks that sent Viscera’s hooves and back colliding into the bedding in shock. “No fucking way, Daring-you and A.K. are the same?!”

Daring Do – well, A.K. – responded as if she hadn’t heard the thief’s diatribe. Between them all, Berry’s jaw had dropped. “ I revealed. Now you return the favor. What exactly happened in that Terrifying Tower?”

Viscera looked to her left, noticed Gympis, and her shoulders saddled. “I saw a pony die. Long before Blueblood and Fleur, long before all of this… I saw somepony get murdered.”