“Answer me, Silth.” Aldus pressed, now growing impatient, “Where is the hatchery?”

Several droplets of water began to form in Silth’s eyes. She glanced over at the melted harvesting pod and began to weep. “You can’t! No, no not my babies! You can’t kill my babies!”

Aldus put his hoof under Silth’s chin and lifted her head, “I can do many things, Silth. I have done many things, terrible things, things you won’t find in your books.”

“You really are a monster, Aldus.” Silth said, the tears now flowing.

“So I’ve been told,” Aldus said with a neutral expression, “I can see you are going to be stubborn, that’s fine. I’ll just have to find it the old fashioned way.”

Aldus stepped back and began to dissolve into a puddle of tar. Silth looked on as the puddle pulsated and grew on the floor before slipping out through the entrance of her chambers.

“No...” Silth whimpered, thinking of the thousands still in eggs and incubation pods, “NO!!!!”

---------

In the air above Darkmire Moors, it was chaos. Black and Silver specks raced through the sky attempting to gain the advantage over one another. Rigel flew in a wide arc and let loose a pair of bolts from the enchanted crystals on his sides. In air combat, a situation like this was commonly known as a “furball”. Hundreds of pegasi and changelings racing through the air in one tight space, however it wasn’t just a battle between the two. Air combat and dogfighting always came down to several small engagements, one vs one, two vs one, three vs two. These could last several minutes or several seconds. To Rigel, it was never anything more than a series of smaller engagements fought consecutively over the course of a larger battle.

Glancing behind him for a moment, Marigold veered away from him and targeted three changelings going after one of the AA airships in the silver fleet. In an aggressive and bold move, she rapidly gained speed and fired on the two lead changelings, striking them both in the back of the neck, killing them instantly. When the third changeling saw her and began to turn, Marigold waited for just the right moment before accelerating to shocking speeds. She closed the distance quickly and clicked her shock gauntlets into place before slamming into the changeling. She stabbed it in the neck and sliced off a wing before pushing away and returning to formation with Rigel.

Rigel grinned at the skill displayed by his wingmare but felt a tingle at the back of his neck. He quickly bolted upward and arched his neck to find at least thirty changelings barreling toward the nearby flak frigate. He returned his gaze to Marigold and saw two black specs bearing down on her from above and to the left, her blind spot. Rigel cursed and sped off to aid his wingmare. Marigold saw him speeding toward her and noted his trajectory, she instinctively felt a tinge of fear and investigated her blind spot. What she saw were two sleek black changelings, one rapidly closing, the other practically on top of her. The one nearest bared its fangs and opened its mouth preparing to bite when a red streak zoomed by slicing through the changeling like a knife through butter. Due to the adrenaline, Marigold perceived the event in slow motion before reacting and recovering. Rigel had closed the distance between them so rapidly he was able to use his retractable blades to dispatch the first changeling. It had no idea what hit it, its expression of anger and anticipation of the perceived kill never leaving its face as the blade liberated head from body.

The other changeling reacted quickly and turned into a steep climb to get away. Rigel did not pursue it, instead he flew up alongside Marigold.

“There is a large enemy formation approaching the flak frigate and carrier its guarding, I want you to make sure no changelings get near it.” Rigel said as he pointed to the large carrier disgorging silver pegasi into the battle.

Marigold nodded and flew off to join the two airships. Rigel quickly turned to spot changeling that got away and soon found it. The changeling tailed three silver pegasi and engaged them. The first two it hit with green bolts of magic causing their wings to seize up and fall miles to their deaths, a common tactic for magic users. Rigel sped toward the changeling as it brought another charge to its horn preparing to down the last pegasus. As he approached, the changeling glanced behind and spotted him. The bug turned around and fired on Rigel, who spun into a barrel roll at the last second, evading it. The changeling flew by Rigel at alarming speed and began to bank into a tight turn to come around behind him.

Rigel felt the familiar surge of adrenaline begin to kick in, it tended to happen whenever he sensed he was truly in danger when facing a skilled opponent. During their brief flyby Rigel noticed a large scar on the changeling’s face and gash in its carapace right above the chest. These injuries, coupled with that little stunt of turning into him when he was spotted were all Rigel needed to guess that this changeling was experienced. It was a common tactic in aerial combat known by all sentient creatures who could fly, if you are being attacked you must turn into your opponent and attack as well, putting them on the defensive. However, it was the speed and execution of the attack that told Rigel he was facing a veteran.

Rigel spun around and dodged more green bolts as the changeling flew by again, but this time he was ready, with a mighty flap Rigel turned tightly and got right on the changelings tail. It took seconds for Rigel to catch him as he opened his retractable blades. Before striking, Rigel saw the changeling glance at him from the back of a green eye as it disappeared in a flash of light. Rigel cursed as he checked behind and in his blind spots. A look of shock played across his face when the changeling reappeared in directly in front of him. With conservation of momentum, the changeling drilled a hoof into Rigel’s face causing him to black out and plummet from the sky.

Near one of the silver carrier airships, Marigold circled the area and assessed the situation. She landed on the deck where more pegasi were being fitted with their weapons and preparing to take off. Some wounded fliers were returning for medical attention as well. Marigold trotted over to the flight officer and introduced herself.

“Sir, I’m Rigel’s second in command, you have a big problem.” Marigold said while moving out of the way as ten pegasi trotted past her preparing to take off.

“Problem? What problem?” The greying officer asked.

His answer came in the form of green magical bolts that strafed the carrier deck as twelve changelings flew overhead.

“Damnit!” The officer roared, “How did they get that close?”

An explosion of severe force shook the ship from its port side. Marigold and the officer witnessed the flak frigate lose altitude and fall out of the sky. The two ducked as the flight of changelings came around for a second pass. After they had gone, Marigold looked out at the mountain and saw several changelings flying in tight formation toward the carrier. Each carried some sort of large green crystal.

Marigold wasted no time in reacting. She quickly took command while the deck officer ran to the bridge. “Open fire on those changelings!” she shouted to the gun crews on deck, “Don’t let them get close. You three!” she pointed at three silver pegasi, “Join the pegasi screening the air for this carrier and take out those changelings!”

As they were readying themselves, the changelings carrying the crystals broke formation, making them more difficult to hit. The two closest ignited their horns and charged the crystals, with a flash of green light, the crystals broke free from the changelings and raced toward the carrier.

Marigold’s eyes almost popped out of her head, “OPEN FIRE! SHOOT THOSE CHANGELINGS DOWN!”

The ship they were on was the sister ship to the fleet’s flagship. This carrier, the Radiance, was bristling with anti air weaponry. The entire port and starboard sides were lined with rows of triple A crystal cannons and beam weapons. To supplement them, several guns powered by enchanted gems could lob exploding crystals as shrapnel if fliers got too close.

The weapons sprang to life as a hail of crystals and beams ripped into the changelings. Several were downed in the first volley but some managed to get through and launch their crystals. “Flak cannons, intercept those crystals!” Marigold shouted.

The captain of the carrier saw the crystals closing on his ship, “Evade!” she shouted, “Hard to port!”

The carrier slowly turned in the air as the rudder swept to the side causing the ship to slowly turn. The flak cannons destroyed all the green torpedo crystals except for two. The ship turned just enough to avoid one, but the other struck the stern belowdecks causing a violent explosion. Marigold jumped into the air to save an earth pony gunner who fell off the side. He screamed as Marigold grabbed hold of him, “I’ve got you!” she said while pulling him back up.

“Report!” the captain shouted as she picked herself off the floor.

“The engine rooms been hit!” a unicorn mare shouted from her control console. “The port main power crystal is damaged, we can remain airborne but our mobility has been severely impaired!”

“Get a team down there to repair it immediately, we can’t afford to go down until we have significantly weakened their presence in the air!” the captain barked as she helped the CIC officer up and healed a bruise with her magic.

“Already on it ma’am!”

Outside, Marigold commanded the gun crews to fire on the remaining changelings that were harassing the carrier. The pegasi who were protecting the carrier were doing an excellent job keeping away the enemy until one different changeling showed up. It was slightly smaller than the rest but significantly faster. In what seemed like moments, it downed half the flight of pegasi protecting the carrier and drew the rest of the flight away. Marigold cursed as more pegasi flew after the remaining changelings and away from the carrier.

She trotted over one of the gunnery officers and snatched away his crystal communicator, “Captain, you need to get those pegasi back here right now!”

Marigold heard the captain shouting orders from the communicator, but her voice began to fade as Marigold’s fears were realized. Several larger changelings flew in from the starboard side and landed at the bow of the ship. Many of them were heavily armed and armored, some attempted to transform into silver isles gun crew or pegasi, but the distortion effect caused their disguise to shimmer and ripple, giving them away.

Marigold locked her visor into place and banged her shock gauntlets together as she and the rest of the pegasi and gun crew charged the changelings.

“Marines and all available pegasi belowdecks report to the flight deck immediately to repel boarders!” the captain yelled as she donned her own armor.

Rigel opened his eyes to see ground rapidly rushing up to meet him. In an immense show of strength, he angled his powerful wings and pulled himself out of the dive. This would have broken the wings of most pegasi, but thanks to the power in his lineage, Rigel was able to pull it off. Rigel zoomed across the battlefield and observed the carnage, he also spotted a hulking figure in gleaming silver armor wielding a gigantic greatsword. As he flew by, he could just barely hear the cheers of the Silver Isle warriors. He smiled and performed a quick corkscrew before ascending to the air battle once again.

On the ground, Polaris watched Rigel cut across the sky flying in such a way that for a brief moment, his wingtips drew sharp red contrails. The warriors around him cheered as he flew by. Pfft showoff, Polaris thought to himself with a chuckle before returning his attention to the battle.

Rigel raced up through the clouds to find the Radiance in dire straights. Marigold and deck crew fought alongside the silver marines to repel the borders while two smaller frigates flew in to offer support to the wounded carrier.

After scanning the skies Rigel found his nemesis. The scarred changeling was hard at work taking on a group of pegasi a good distance away from the carrier. With a grin, he flew over to the group to re engage his enemy. The changeling downed two more pegasi before looking over its shoulder and spotting Rigel. It immediately turned around and flew straight at him. Upon closing the distance, the changeling opened up with a flurry of green bolts from its horn. Rigel nimbly dodged them and returned fire with the weapon crystals mounted on his armor. The changeling responded by teleporting away and reappearing behind Rigel directly in his blind spot. Anticipating this, Rigel quickly snapped into a vertical climb, forcing the changeling to follow. After breaking through some clouds higher up, Rigel could feel the air becoming more frigid. He slowed his ascent and flipped around, careening once more straight at the changeling. Just as a before, the changeling teleported away when Rigel fired on it, but this time Rigel was prepared. The instant the changeling disappeared, Rigel flapped his wings once to start the rotation, then folded them at his side. Where the changeling materialized would have been behind Rigel, if he continued flying forward. Instead, the changeling was right in front of the pegasi dead center in his crosshairs. Rigel fired a spread of bolts from his weapon crystals in an arc as he turned. The changeling tried to evade, but was struck by three bolts. Two in the chest, shattering its already cracked carapace, and one in the head. It’s wings ceased buzzing immediately as gravity snatched it from the air. Rigel spread his wings and came to rest on a cloud, catching his breath.

Almost, the thought, he was almost good enough. Rigel noticed the light shift on the cloud for a brief moment and spun around to look at the moon. There, in all its splendid beauty, was the face of his princess. Rigel bowed on all fours as the light intensified around him. He felt his energy returning and the pain in his face slipping away.

“You have done well, Rigel. It is always a joy to see you fly, even if it is in combat and war.” Luna spoke in a soothing tone.

“The night sky is yours, Princess Luna.” Rigel replied as he spread his powerful wings. “And what a beautiful night it is.”

“I see that the battle is going well so far, I’ll leave you to your duties. Once the sky is secure, see that you make sure Marigold is alright and help Polaris should he require aid... though I doubt he will.” Luna added in the end with a chuckle. “And Rigel, its just Luna.”

“As you command, Luna.” Rigel said as the princess’s face slowly faded from the moon’s surface. With two cracks of his neck, Rigel flew over to the besieged Radiance to take command of its remaining pegasi.

------------

Deep within the mountain fortress, panic gripped the changelings as more soldiers and guards poured out of the underground caverns to meet the silver army led by Polaris. Aldus, still formless in the puddle of tar, waited under the narthex until he saw something promising. Three changeling females running into a passage that lead further underground. Aldus reasoned that the hatchery and egg chambers would be the furthest below ground due to the added protection. He followed them all the way down until the tunnel opened into a wide glowing green cavern. There must have been hundreds, perhaps even thousands of eggs and pods in this place. Aldus smiled and crawled out from the puddle.

The three changeling females stood on a balcony overlooking a large portion of the hatchery, as he crept up on them, Aldus heard a familiar voice. “You aren’t going to do this, little one.”

Selene had rejoined him sometime when he was sleeping in the pod. But due to the extent of Silth’s hypnosis and dream interference from the pod, she was unable to do anything except wait.

“Do you really think this is necessary?” Selene asked with a slight edge to her voice.

Aldus found it amusing that Selene chose this moment to speak up, and not when he was fighting for his life with Silth’s witch of a daughter.

“Just trust me, Selene.” Aldus thought to himself to placate the black alicorn, at least for now.

One of the changeling females finally noticed Aldus and screamed. Three guards ran up the stairs to stop him, but Aldus quickly dispatched them with dark magic. More heard the sounds of combat and ran to engage Aldus. They were met with an arc of lightning that passed through each, leaving their charred bodies twitching on the floor.

“This is the hatchery, correct?” Aldus asked.

Two of the changeling females cowered on the floor, terrified by his appearance. One tried to run away but was stopped by a black tentacle. The changelings squeaked in fear, the one held in Aldus’ tentacle began to cry. “Please, don’t cry.” he said in as calm a voice as possible, “We don’t have much time. Is this the hatchery, is this all the eggs in the colony?”

One of the females pushed the other two behind her and nodded, “Yes, this is the main hatching chamber, there are only a few small caverns below here.”

A large explosion shook the mountain causing some rocks to come loose from the ceiling, Aldus quickly grabbed all three changelings and dove out of the way as two massive boulders came crashing down. The small females looked up at Aldus, the bravest one whimpered, “You- you saved us, why? Why are you here?”

Aldus sat them down and gestured toward the surface, “Is there a way out of here other than the main route to the surface?”

The changeling paused for a moment, “Yes, there is. A small passage that leads out of the mountain and returns to the surface far on the other side of the forest.”

Aldus let out a sigh as relief washed over him, “Listen to me, you need to take as many young ones and eggs as you can and get out of here. Use that passage and get as far from here as you can.”

“But...” one of the females whimpered.

“You have to go!” Aldus yelled as he pushed them away. He flapped his wings and fired a beam of dark magic at the ceiling, collapsing the tunnel between him and the hatchery.

As the dust settled, Aldus started to make his way back to the central chamber.

“I knew you would do the right thing, little one.”

“Did you?” Aldus asked with a chuckle, “You seemed doubtful before.”

“You have an example to set for the children waiting for you back at the manor, I knew you would never do something like that.”

“Yes, well... you have the luxury of truly understanding me, Selene,” Aldus admitted. “You knew I wouldn’t do it, but Silth doesn’t...”

------------

On the battlefield, Polaris ducked and weaved through several changelings as they crashed into the Silver Pony’s lines. Two changelings came at him with fangs bared, each wielding claw weapons. Polaris hefted his greatsword with one hoof and swung it in a wide arc at the approaching changelings. The first one jumped over it and attempted to wrench off Polaris’ helm. The silver knight knocked the changeling away with his free hoof and spun around, swinging the greatsword again to decapitate the second changeling. The survivor screeched in rage seeing his comrade fall and charged firing several bolts of green magic. Polaris let the bolts impact is armor, the green energy dissipated and began to collect in the crystals located around the chest plate and pauldrons. The changeling lunged at Polaris with force enough to knock him over, only to impact a kinetic barrier erected by his armor. Hefting the greatsword, Polaris took it by both hooves and ran the changeling through before he could recover.

A quick scan of the battlefield showed they were doing well, their lines were holding, and the changeling reinforcements were unable to gain a significant advantage. He had sent commanders to the flanks to ensure they would not fall while they pushed to the mountain. Then positioned several airships along the coast to intercept the changelings that may attempt to join the battle from there. Rigel seemed to be keeping things in control in the air, the ground forces were not under attack by many changelings and the few that did chance a fly by were quickly shot down.

Behind him, the flagship of the Silver Isles fleet, the Reticence, a supercarrier of immense size began to bombard the mountain. The cannons were new inventions, crystals of immense power, charged and maintained by unicorns. The energy from the continued blasts began to make Polaris’ fur stand up. The ground shook with each shot, then it shook again... when the cannons didn’t fire...

Polaris braced himself as the earth exploded a distance away from him. A pit formed in the ground as silver warriors fell into it screaming and crying for help. Polaris ran toward the pit and grabbed a pony being swallowed by the flowing rocks. He felt uneasy, this reminded him of those spiders that would wait at the bottom of pits in the sand and eat whatever unlucky creature fell in.

Confirming his fears, a gigantic set of jaws pushed up from the ground and swallowed the warriors at the bottom of the pit. Polaris stepped back a few paces as the largest changeling he had ever seen crawled its way out of the pit. The entire thing looked like a mutated horror show. Several tumors and abrasions adorned its grotesque face, its limbs were malformed, yet strong. It swept its eyes across the battlefield and let out an enraged roar, then charged straight at Polaris.

“Scatter!” Polaris commanded as he teleported away from being smashed to pulp by the creature’s massive hooves.

The changeling roared and fired an enormous blast of magic into the clustered ranks of silver ponies. When the smoke cleared, hundreds were gone, all that remained was ash. Polaris rallied the ponies near him and charged the behemoth. It turned its attention toward them, then to something else. The side of its head was hit by several fireballs as a black pegasus hurtled toward it. Upon closer inspection, Polaris realized the wings were constructs and it was actually a unicorn. Still, the unicorn continued to harass the creature until it completely rounded on the pest and swatted it from the sky with a swing of its hoof. However, it wasn’t long before the unicorn flew back into the air and hit it again, this time with lightning. Now having its full attention the unicorn was impacted with a powerful blast of green magic from the behemoth.

Polaris watched the way the unicorn moved, always attempting to stay ahead of the creature, baiting it into making unnecessary moves to create openings and waste energy. What little offensive spells the unicorn used were practical ones, requiring little magic. He was fighting the exact way Polaris had instructed somepony one thousand years ago, his dear friend.

Aldus? Polaris thought.

The unicorn was hit again by a blast of green magic, but this time caught and absorbed a large amount of it. As soon as the changeling behemoth ceased its attack, it was blinded by a flash of light from its attacker. “Now!” the unicorn shouted to the surrounding silver warriors. “Attack!”

Polaris and the warriors surrounding him charged the behemoth with all the numbers they could muster. The flying unicorn landed on the behemoth’s head and took hold of its horn with a glowing red hoof. The changeling began to scream in both pain and irritation from being attacked on all sides. Polaris teleported right in front of the behemoth and plunged his greatsword into its right eye. The enormous changeling howled in pain as it attempted to shake the two ponies on its head loose. Polaris barely got a look at the flying unicorn before it was thrown to ground.

Polaris hung on for dear life as the changeling flailed its head back and forth. He growled and jammed the greatsword further into the eye, eliciting satisfying screams of pain from the behemoth. Polaris channeled all his magic into his sword and horn, draining the power crystals in his armor as well. Once the magic was collected, he released it from his sword and horn, straight into the changelings head. There was a gurgling and popping sound as the shaft of silver light passed through the behemoth's head and out the other side. As the light faded, the changeling behemoth ceased its movements and toppled to the ground spilling Polaris in front of it.

Polaris reoriented himself as a pony came to his side to help him up. “You did it, old friend.” came a familiar jovial voice.

His helm was damaged during the fall, with a second of hesitation, he removed the helm to see a horribly disfigured unicorn. But even with its face destroyed, there was no way Polaris could not recognize his friend. “No Aldus, we did it.”

Tears began to form in both Aldus’ damaged eye, and regular one. “I missed you so much Polaris!” Aldus said as jumped into his friend’s forehooves. “I’m so sorry that this where we would reunite, on a battlefield.”

Selene felt the warmth of joy and calm washing over Aldus as he embraced Polaris. She smiled as part of the energy flowed into her as well. It was as if part of Aldus’ spirit was restored. She resolved to talk to him about it later.

Polaris lightly rubbed Aldus’ back and chuckled, “We are no strangers to conflict, Adly. When the princess came to free me, she informed me of the growing danger to my homeland. She then spoke of your brave plan to help save my home. You know I wouldn’t refuse.”

Aldus laughed and gripped his friend tighter, “It’s my home too you know, ever since we all spent our summers there. I couldn’t let anything happen to it, for the ponies there now, for Princess Desalia and the library, for you, and... for Seabreeze.”

Polaris winced at that name and lifted Aldus to be at eye level, “Aldy... what happened to you?” he asked, with traces of water now collecting in his eyes, a rarity.

Aldus lowered his head as Polaris sat him back down, “It’s... a long story, lets just say... what you see before you is deserved for what I did. I’ll tell you once we return to Canterlot, Polaris, I swear. I- I need you to hear what I’ve done.” he said in a somber tone.

Polaris nodded and raised Aldus’ head with a hoof, “There is a time and place for everything, right Aldy?”

Aldus smiled and nodded.

“You know I’m impressed with the combat prowess you displayed while fighting that monster, and the wings certainly allow for advantages.”

Aldus chuckled and bowed a little, “I had a good teacher. I learned from the legend all these ponies are told.” Aldus said as he motioned to the group of warriors surrounding them. “I was just lucky enough to be around when the legend was in the making.”

Polaris laughed and playfully placed Aldus in a headlock, “I should have taught you to be more humble.” he said while the warriors around him chuckled at the two friends.

“So, what of the changeling leader?” Polaris asked, “I assume she has been taken care of?”

“She has,” Aldus replied, “That reminds me, I should probably get back there. I’ll see you again when is over.”

“Alright, Aldus,” Polaris said putting a hoof to the moon symbol on his chest, “Moon protect you.”

“And you,” Aldus replied, placing a hoof to his heart.

As he flew off toward the mountain, Polaris noticed the battle had moved farther off the moors and closer to the actual tunnels leading into the colony. A few of the warriors trotted up to Polaris as he began to recharge his armor. “Um, sir, who was that?”

Polaris looked up at them with a grin, “Boys, that was Aldus, leader of Princess Luna’s court.”

-----------

Silth squirmed in the bondages and attempted to conjure any sort of magic, but the crystals on her horn sucked it all away. She stopped moving when Aldus landed on the balcony and slowly walked inside.

“What did you DO?!” Silth screamed, tears streaming down her face.

Aldus arched an eyebrow, “What? You can’t smell the burning from up here?” he asked with a laugh.

Silth bared her fangs and snapped at Aldus, “How could YOU?!?!”

Aldus crawled onto the bed and laid down next to the changeling princess. Silth’s anger quickly began to fade, replaced by sorrow. “They... they are gone, aren’t they?” Silth said between sobs, “Each one was special in its own way, but now... now they are all gone.”

Aldus studied Silth closely and ran a hoof through her mane, “Yes, they are gone. Right now they should be emerging from the tunnel out of the mountain.”

Silth blinked and glared at Aldus, “What?!”

“Your changeling young have left this place, they took the exit at the bottom of the colony.” Aldus said while laying his head down next to hers.

Silth stared at Aldus in disbelief, “I- I don’t understand.”

“I may look like a monster, and I’ve done some horrible things, but I will not harm innocent children.” Aldus said resolutely. “It was important they leave before the Silver army penetrated that deeply into the colony.”

“Why?” Silth inquired, “You’ve captured me and defeated my army, what do my children have to do with it?”

Aldus brushed the changeling’s hair away from her eye while giving her a brief sidelong glance, then returning his gaze to the ceiling. “Do you know why the Silver Isles are so advanced? Do you know why they are pioneers in magic and possess so much knowledge?”

Silth paused a moment, “Because of the ancient library, it holds many arcane secrets rumored to be from the beginning of time.”

“That is indeed part of it,” Aldus admitted, “But the library is massive, and Princess Desalia’s purpose is to both protect it, and fill it with knowledge.”

Silth felt her stomach turn, suddenly the room seemed to get slightly warmer. “Fill it with knowledge?”

“If the silver ponies were to get their hooves on your changeling young, they would be dissected and studied until every piece of them was known and accounted for. Their capacity for magic would be tested by forcefully injecting them with different types of unicorn magic. Many would be used as test subjects to find out the most effective weapon against changelings, so that the Silver Isles would be prepared should a threat like you ever appear again. Finally, I suspect the majority of your young would have been subjects of shapeshifting experiments so the silver ponies could elucidate just how your disguise magic works.” Aldus said with a frown. “Now, the only one who will suffer from that is you, I’m afraid.”

“So... that is to be my fate,” Silth said, turning away from Aldus.

“It is a fate I would not allow your children to share,” Aldus stated plainly, “And it doesn't have to be yours either.”

Silth heard a crackling sound, she looked at Aldus who held a ball of lightning in his hooves, “It would be quick, I promise.” he said with a hint of sadness.

“No,” she said, “I lost, and there are consequences for losing. You saved my children, for that reason, I’ll accept this fate. But I’d like to know, how did you break free from my hypnosis?”

Aldus laid his head against the pillow, “It was a gamble, every time you put me in that pod it overwhelmed any attempt to regain control of my mind. It wasn't until you decided to keep me out of the pod that I could focus enough to break your spell. I also had help... but now I have a question for you.”

“What’s that?” Silth asked.

“You seem quite unphased that I ended the life of your daughter right in front of you. Why?”

Silth glanced at the charred corpse, “She attempted to kill you, and failed, now she is dead. A consequence of her action.”

“That’s all you have to say?” Aldus asked, somewhat surprised.

“Changeling princesses don’t usually have good relationships with their mothers. Each require larger amounts of emotion to sustain them, so naturally there is conflict and fighting for such emotions. She was going to kill me, you saw that.”

“I did,” Aldus said, “I suppose that makes sense.”

“Would you really kill me if I asked? I’m not stupid, you want something from Princess Desalia, and giving me to her will grant you considerable leverage. You’d just throw that away to spare me the pain that is to come?”

Aldus paused, “Yes, Silth. I’d find another way to get what I wanted.”

Silth didn’t understand it, but she was more attracted to Aldus now than ever before. But with that attraction came a deep sense of anger and disgust. Anger at Aldus, but mostly anger directed at herself. For all her hypnosis, for all her reading and studying, for all her planning, she still had no idea what he was thinking. Some of his motivations were clear, but even those had a shadow of doubt.

“Aldus...”

“Hmm?”

“I don’t understand,” Silth said, “If Princess Desalia and the Silver Isles perform such heinous and unethical experiments, why do you support them? Why does Polaris? If he is such an honorable virtuous unicorn... then why?”

Aldus moved closer to Silth, to where he was almost touching her face. “As a changeling, Silth, you of all creatures know that things are not always what they seem. Though her exterior may be that of a kind and gentle ruler, one should never take such things at face value without a certain skepticism. Desalia, when last I saw her, was a pragmatic and practical alicorn. Never too harsh, but not overly kind either, she takes her responsibility very seriously. Can you blame her Silth?”

Silth closed her eyes, thinking of her plans for the Silver Isles, “No, I can’t.”

“I don’t know if she is the same as she was one thousand years ago,” Aldus continued, “But back then, she was not above doing questionable things for what she perceived as the right reasons. I don’t truly know if your children would face that grim fate, but I did not want to chance it. In truth, the only reason Polaris, Rigel, and myself knew about these things was because of Seabreeze.”

Silth felt a pang of guilt come over her, “The green alicorn...”

“Yes, the green alicorn,” he admitted, “Upon becoming a princess, Seabreeze was privy to information very few other ponies possess. Once she found out, she came straight to me. It took an entire night to stop her from crying...”

Silth was about to say something but was stopped by a pair of lips connecting to hers in a passionate kiss. She allowed her eyes to close and let love energy flow through her.

After Aldus pulled away, Silth stared at him with a look of bewilderment, he had returned his features to normal and now looked like a regular unthreatening unicorn. “I don’t understand.”

Aldus gave a small smile, “Just a thank you, Silth. Even if you used it to seduce me for your own ends, you still allowed me to see her again. I’m grateful for that.”

“I see, “ Silth said, “Then allow me to give you something in gratitude for sparing my children. I don’t know where they will go, but I think its best if they find their own way now. I know that my sister Ciaran helped you plot this, she has proved more devious than I believed. Be careful with her, Aldus. You don’t know what she is capable of.”

Aldus took on a serious expression then lost it when the double doors to Silth’s chambers burst open.

“Aldus!”

“Eeeeeeeeeeeeek!!!!!!” Adlus screeched in his highest voice possible, pulling the sheets up to his muzzle covering himself, “Ever heard of knocking!?!?!”

The pony standing in the entrance was a red pegasus wearing a silver flightsuit. Both ponies laughed as Aldus teleported to the red pegasus and embraced him in a hug.

“So, just like I thought... you had it easy...”

“Pfft, you see this place?!” Aldus exclaimed, “You call this easy, Rigel?”

Rigel messed up Aldus’ mane, “Hmm... I guess it wasn’t easy after all, is this their leader?”

“Yes,” Aldus answered, “This is their leader, Silth.”

Rigel and Aldus trotted over to the side of the bed. Silth undressed Rigel with her eyes and licked her fangs, “Oh... he’s cute. Are all you ancient ponies so delicious looking?” she asked with a chuckle.

Rigel arched an eyebrow, “Still a sense of humor eh? Well that’s for the best I suppose, you’ll need it where you’re going.”

Aldus pulled Rigel to the side, “I need a quick favor from you Rigel.” Aldus said. Silth couldn’t hear what Aldus whispered, but it didn’t matter. All three turned their heads to the door hearing three sets of hoofsteps approaching the room.

Two silver warriors dressed in honor guard armor surveyed the area before a tall silver alicorn stepped into the room. Aldus teleported himself and Rigel in front of her and both bowed low to the floor.

The alicorn stared at Silth for a few moments with a neutral expression, then looked down at the stallions. A gentle smile formed on her face as her sparkling silver mane billowed in the nonexistent wind. “You may rise, boys. I must say, I am pleased with how the events played out here.”

“As always Princess Desalia, we aim to please.” Aldus said with a smile.

“It is good to see you two again after so many long years, and that unfortunate civil war.” Desalia said while spreading her large wings. Aldus and Rigel moved forward and allowed the alicorn to kiss both their foreheads.

“I am overjoyed to see you again as well, princess.” Rigel said, “But I’m afraid I must depart, there are still matters to attend to. I apologize.”

“No no,” Princess Desalia said with a wave of her hoof, “I understand, Rigel. I trust you and Aldus will come to the Silver City to catch up once this is all taken care of.”

“You can count on it, princess.” Rigel said with a bow. He then nodded to the honor guard as they let him pass and exit through the doors.

Princess Desalia looked at Aldus and motioned for him to walk with her out onto the balcony. “I can’t thank you enough for your services here, Aldus. Though I must admit I’m surprised you are back now of all times.”

Aldus smirked at the beautiful alicorn, “What, you didn’t think I died in the civil war did you?”

Desalia smiled placidly as she gazed at the horizon with the sun beginning to rise. “That was what the information we gathered indicated, but I knew better. Celestia wasn’t competent enough for that, and her servants certainly weren’t either.”

Aldus nodded contemplatively, “Yes, a certain number of them were... lacking.”

“All told, I might have preferred Luna emerge victorious from that conflict. Things certainly would have been more interesting.” she said with a mischievous grin. “But enough about the past, let us focus on the present. I suspect you want something for your services here.”

Aldus chuckled, “Well, princess, I understand one of your daughters is due to be married soon. I’m sure Princess Luna, my courtiers, and some others would enjoy a few days in the Silver Isles. And it is only right that we show support to your daughter and the lucky stallion.”

Princess Desalia raised an eyebrow, seemingly unamused, “And?”

“Well,” Aldus said with a bit of hesitation, “I’d like the painting, the one that Seabreeze and I painted together. I imagine it is still in your possession?”

The princess dropped her neutral expression and frowned at Aldus. She gently draped a wing over him and nuzzled his cheek, “Yes, of course. It will be done. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about her. We all miss her, Aldus. All of the citizens of the Isles, we all miss her very much.”

“So do I, princess.” Aldus admitted, a single tear falling from his eye, “So do I.”

“Is there anything else?”

“Just one more thing,” Aldus said, “I request full access to the ancient silver library, the same level of access as you.”

“Pfah!” Desalia exclaimed, “Absolutely not.”

“Before the war, I was allowed the highest access besides yourself. Now that I have returned, my courtiers and I are serving both princesses in Equestria. We’ve helped you as well, have we not? I work best when I have the most information at my disposal. You’ve seen what I can accomplish with the right amount of information? Yes?” Aldus asked, glancing over at Silth.

“All valid points Aldus, but that level of access is reserved only for myself and the other princesses... IF I allow it.” Desalia said resolutely.

“I understand,” Aldus said, seemingly defeated, “I suppose the less noses you have poking around those dusty old corners and shelves the better. Ruling is stressful enough as it is, and I understand the council of magistrates has become increasingly irritating for you.”

Desalia’s faced turned into a scowl as she stared down at the grey unicorn stallion.

“Silth informed me that she has several spies in the Silver Isles, even some among the magistrates themselves. It would be an absolute shame if the other magistrates, along with the citizens, were to find out that so much of their kingdom had been compromised. I suspect that wouldn’t do well for your image.”

Princess Desalia summoned magic to her horn as she faced down Aldus, “Blackmail... you know, only six ponies in all of existence have ever had the courage to try and force me into a decision?”

Aldus simply stood there wearing a neutral, yet expectant expression.

Desalia relinquished the magic and allowed it to fade away, “You haven’t changed, Aldus. Alright, you will have full access, so long as you let me know whenever you intend to use the archives.”

Aldus smiled and bowed so deep his nose touched stone, “Thank you, princess. Your great wisdom is only rivaled by your beauty.”  

“Yes, yes” Desalia said, “If that concludes things, I think I’ll take the changeling off your hooves and be on my way.” She stomped a hoof and four robed unicorns entered the chamber with a large crystal capsule. Silth was levitated into the capsule, but before she was sealed inside she looked Aldus straight in the eye and mouthed the words, “We’ll meet again, Aldus.”

The unicorns exited the room as Desalia trotted to the door, “I’m glad you are back Aldus, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for all that you’ve done here for my people. I’ll see you and your friends at the wedding.” she said with a wink before teleporting herself and the two guards away.

“Goodbye princess,” Aldus whispered, “There will be fun times ahead to be sure.”

At the edge of the forest beyond the mountain, a silver pegasi scout flew the perimeter. As the sun began to rise, shadows were cast by the trees on the edge of the forest. The scout noticed other shadows too. He flew closer to investigate and found a column of changelings exiting the forest in the direction of the desert. There seemed to be few warriors, but most were either workers or females, and they appeared to be carrying eggs and pods. The scout reached for his communicating crystal when something blunt struck him from behind, knocking him out cold.

Rigel caught the scout in his forehooves and shook his head, “Sorry about that kid, you really should watch where you’re flying. Those low tree branches can come out of nowhere.”

He watched as the column of changelings continued to exit the forest, several hundreds at least, and they showed no sign of stopping. They don’t know how lucky they are, Rigel thought as he tossed the scout onto his shoulder and flew back to the fleet.

-----------

At the manor, the foals spent most of the day relaxing and playing inside since Cloudsdale had scheduled a downpour for the meadows and fields outside Canterlot. Antares, Ruby, and Andromeda were reading by the fireplace while Black Star, Frost, Pyrite, Blue Bell and Iris were playing hide and seek throughout the rest of the manor.

It was Iris’ turn to count, once she was finished she flew into the living room area where some of the furniture had been uncovered. After scanning the room she noticed a small silver tail sticking out from under one of the couches. With a smirk she paced around the room and stopped behind the couch. In an instant she snaked her tail under the couch and dragged Pyrite out.

“Found you!” Iris squeaked with a laugh as she tickled Pyrite.

“Stop it!” Pyrite yelled as he twisted and turned trying to get away from Iris’ claws.

“What are you gonna do about it?” Iris asked.

Pyrite eventually got free of her tail and dropped to the floor. He quickly righted himself and ran at her. Iris jumped into the air and began to ascend just as Pyrite grabbed onto her tail. Using all his strength he scrambled onto her back as she hovered in the air. “What do you think you’re doing back there? Hey! Haha! Knock it off!”

Pyrite anchored himself to Iris’ middle with his rear hooves and tickled under and between her wings with his forehooves. “Stop it!” she screeched before falling to the floor.

In an effort to dislodge Pyrite and stop the torture she rolled over onto her back. However, this proved to be a mistake as Pyrite immediately scrambled onto her stomach and continued to tickle her. “Stop! I give up! I give up!”

When he finally relented, Iris took a deep breath and sprawled out on the floor. “Well... now I know what happens when I antagonize you.” she said with a chuckle.

She felt something pulling on her feathers when Pyrite crawled onto her breast and bopped her beak with a hoof. “You aren’t the only one who can tickle, you know.” the colt said with a smirk.

“Apparently not.” Iris chuckled

Pyrite collapsed into her feathers as they both caught their breath from the struggle. The silver colt lifted his muzzle from Iris’ feathers and sneezed. “I’m glad I have a gryphon for a friend,” Pyrite said as he wrapped his small forehooves around Iris’ neck. “You are a lot of fun.”

Iris smiled and ran a claw through Pyrite’s mane, “Aww, well I’m glad I have a little silver earth pony as a friend.” She held Pyrite against her breast as she got up off the floor then gently placed him on her back. “Lets go find the others.”

“Okay!” Pyrite said as he grabbed her feathers to hang on.

As Iris flew upstairs there came a knock at the door.

“Hmm... who could that be?” Iris wondered.

“Should we go answer it?” Pyrite asked

“I guess we should,” Iris said as she flew through the rooms to the large front door.

By the time they got there, Blue Bell and Frost had left their hiding places to answer it as well. Iris landed behind them as Frost used his magic to unlock the door and open it. On the other side was a tall purple unicorn mare with a suitcase and two saddlebags on her back.

“Well hello there little ones!” the mare said in a voice that almost sounded too happy.

“Hi,” Frost said, “Is there something we can help you with?”

“Oh no, dear” the mare said, “I’m hear to help you! But I suppose I could use some help with my things.”

“You’re hear to help us?” Blue Bell asked, “Who are you?”

The unicorn grinned, “That’s right! I’m the new servant mare. The owner of this estate hired me to come take care of you foals and tidy this place up. Aldus... I think his name was.”

“Selene did say that somepony would be arriving to take care of us eventually,” Frost said to Iris and Blue Bell.

“So what’s your name?” Iris asked with a raised eyebrow.

“My name?” The unicorn asked, “Oh yes yes, of course... my name. Willow... yes that’s right, Willow is my name. You can call me Willow.”

“Umm okay...” Frost said, shooting a glance at Blue Bell and Iris. Two portals in the wall behind them opened up to blackness as Andromeda and Black Star stepped through together. Both of them glared at the purple unicorn.

“I’ll show you to your room,” Black Star said motioning Willow to follow.

“You said you needed help with your bags?” Pyrite asked while jumping down from Iris’ back, “I’ll help.”

“Oooo!” Willow squealed. “What an adorable little foal!” She used her magic to pinch the children’s cheeks then licked her lips. “I swear I could just gobble you all up.”

“Okay,” Frost said, rubbing his cheek, “We’re going to go upstairs and play for a bit. It was nice meeting you, Willow. Pyrite, we’ll be in Selene’s room when you’re done helping.”

“Don’t play too long, I’ll have dinner ready soon.” she said over shoulder as Black Star lead her away.

Andromeda trotted up to Frost and whispered, “Watch her... I don’t know what it is, but something is off about that mare.”

Frost nodded as Andromeda left to rejoin Black Star.

“Well that was weird,” Iris said as she walked beside Frost.

“Yeah, It was.”

---------------

Later that night, Frost was asleep on the large bed hugging and drooling all over a pillow. Andromeda lay on the other side of the bed atop her own pillow. Pyrite rested on her back with both forehooves hanging down to her neck and his chin on her head. Across the hall, the fillies were sleeping in their own beds while Black Star slept by the door. Frost woke up with a thirst for some water. Willow was an odd mare, but she sure could cook. The meal they had for dinner was excellent, except it made him thirsty.

Frost rolled out of bed and began to trot to the door when Pyrite got his attention.

“Pst, Frost... where are you going?” Pyrite whispered.

“I’m going to the kitchen to get some water.” Frost whispered back.

“I’m thirsty too, can I come with you?”

“Sure, c’mon.”

“I... can’t”

“Why not?”

“I don’t want to wake her, I can’t move.” Pyrite said motioning to Andromeda.

Frost squinted his eyes, “Hold still.” In a moment, a blue aura formed around Pyrite as he slowly levitated him off Andromeda and deposited him on the floor.

“Thanks Frost!” Pyrite said as he trotted into the hallway.

“Don’t mention it, Pyrite.”

As the two colts left their room they hesitated when the door to the filly’s room opened a crack. Slowly Iris backed out of the room and quietly shut the door. When she turned around to see Frost and Pyrite she jumped and almost screeched before covering her mouth with a claw.

“What are you two doing out here?!”

“We’re going to get some water, we’re thirsty.” Frost said.

“So its not just me, Willow made great food but wow was it spicy. Even in the gryphon kingdoms we don’t have food that spicy.” Iris exclaimed.

As the three children approached the kitchen they noticed some of the lights were on. Willow was supposed to have gone to bed along with everypony else. Pyrite, Iris, and Frost entered the room to find Aldus and Rigel sitting at one of the tables with Polaris standing at the counter.

“Hey kids,” Aldus said with a smile, “we’re home.”

Another voice came from the darkness in the next room, “I told you they’d all come back, didn’t I?”

“Selene!” Frost and Pyrite shouted in unison as they ran over to the black alicorn.

Selene wrapped a hoof around the foals and sat down on her haunches. “Oh my little ones, I missed you so much.”

Iris stared at Selene apprehensively until the alicorn opened a wing and beckoned her to join the other foals. The young gryphon joined Frost and Pyrite in Selene’s embrace and let the warmth and comfort wash over her.

“If that doesn’t warm your heart, I don’t know what does.” Rigel said to Aldus.

Selene whispered something to Iris and Frost and after a while they trotted over to Aldus and Rigel. Polaris poured three glasses of water and levitated them to the three foals. Pyrite gulped down the water and drowsily trotted over to Polaris to return the glass. “Thank you, Mr. but I still don’t know your name.”

“My name is Polaris, young one. Princess Luna tells me you wrote letters to her making sure she was alright while I was gone. That was good of you.”

“I didn’t want to let you down,” Pyrite said with a yawn.

From behind, two black tendrils wrapped around Pyrite and brought him back to Selene. He yawned again and giggled as her mane coiled around him. Once she was done, Pyrite dangled in front of her chest wrapped in a bundle of her black locks.

“Lucky kid,” Rigel said with a laugh.

“I think its time we went to bed, goodnight everypony.” she said with a whisper as she smiled down at Pyrite.

Iris looked at Rigel and smelled him. She examined his wings and the neutral expression on his face. She had seen this look before on Kathe after he had been in a fight or battle. “You were in air combat weren’t you? There was a battle, that’s where you all went, wasn’t it?”

Rigel grinned and extended a wing to pick her up, “You are very perceptive Iris, I was in a battle. Would you like to hear about it?”

“I think I would,” Iris said with a bright smile.

“Alright, tomorrow then. It’s too late now.”

“That’s right,” Aldus agreed, “And you had better get some sleep Frost.”

“Why is that?” Frost asked.

“You’re going to need all the energy you have, Frost. Tomorrow we’re going to see if you have what it takes to be my apprentice.”

Frosts eyes almost burst out of his sockets, “Really?!?!”

“Yes, really,” Aldus answered. “Now run along to bed, you too Iris.”

As the foals sped off down the hallway, Polaris joined his two friends at the table. “So what do you think, Pol?” Rigel asked, “You think Frost will last under Aldus?”

“I do, but I pity him for having to sit through whatever lessons Aldy here cooks up.”

Aldus laughed, “Oh yeah? Well what about Pyrite, I’m sure Luna will ask you about training him sooner or later. Will you do it?”

Polaris nodded, “He has a strong spirit, if it his desire, I will not refuse him. You know,the gryphon possesses quite the wit,” Polaris mused, “Did you see the way she was studying you Rigel? That isn’t normal for a foal her age, gryphon or pony.”

“You’re right, of course,” Rigel said, “There is something about her, and I’m eager to see what she can do in the air.”

Aldus leaned back in his chair, “Well... looks like I won’t be the only one shepherding a little one now.” he said with a chuckle. "These next few months are going to be very interesting."