Chapter 03: The Warming Fire
The six ponies stopped on a hill that overlooked Ponyville, the Changelings stopping behind them, pausing mid-flight, unsure of what the Ponies were going to do. The Ponies watched the orange light as it slowly faded into violet twilight.
"We should make camp." Applejack said.
"But we're almost there!" Rainbow Dash shouted.
"Atleast for you." Twilight Sparkle stated.
"Not everyone is as fast as you are, Sugar." Applejack added.
"No..." Fluttershy squeaked.
"But..." Rainbow Dash pleaded, as she looked out over Ponyville.
"Rainbow Dash." Twilight scalled out, "You can make it back to your cloud if you want to."
"But..." Rainbow Dash once again said.
"Why don't you pick up Scootaloo?" Rarity asked. "I'm sure she would enjoy..."
"Excellent idea!" Discord shouted. He snapped his fingers and vanished, repearing a moment later with the Cutie Mark Crusaders in front of him.
"Rainbow Dash?" Scootaloo quiet asked, quickly silenced by Sweetie Belle's shrieking. The other two turned and quickly saw the swarm of Changelings. Their immediate response was to quake nervously, unable to move.
"Oh, don't worry." Discord said, and the three quickly turned towards him.
"Ah!" the foals screamed, "Discord."
"Hi, girls." he said with a brilliant smile. "Don't for a second think that I've forgotten you."
"What did we do to you?!" Apple Bloom.
"To me?" Discord asked, "nothing. But don't you remember what you did for me?"
"For?" the three asked.
"Why, you freed me, of course!" Discord replied, "I have been meaning to thank you, for that. I've been a little distracted causing chaos and bedlam. And then I... had that little... lesson... about friendship... Anyways, girls, what could I do for you?"
"For us?" Scootaloo asked.
"What about the Changelings?!" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Oh," Discord stated, "That's Twilight's latest pet project of friendship and magic an cuddly Ponyness and whatnot."
"Oh, Discord." Fluttershy interjected.
"Yes, yes, I know." Discord quickly replied, He disappeared, reappearing with Fluttershy in his arms. "It is... quite... magical..." he said, then quickly coughed and disappeared once again, both he and Fluttershy reappearing where they had originally been standing.
"Mistress..." Queen Chrysalis barely voiced.
"Yes?" Twilight Sparkle asked.
"What should we do?" the Queen asked.
"That ain't the question all ya'll should be askin'." Applejack replied.
"And... what... is... the question?" Chrysalis asked.
"Why don't you ask?," Rarity said to them, "if you can help?"
"Who should we help?" Chrysalis asked.
"Uh... I don't know... everyone?.." Fluttershy asked.
Chrysalis turned to her Changelings, "Help everyone." she said.
The swarm flew towards the others so quickly that Fluttershy and the Cutie Mark Crusaders quivered and cowered. Twilight Sparkle looked closely at one of the Changelings that had approached her. "You are the one who..?"
"Yes, um, Mistress?" the Changeling asked, "Princess?"
"I believe you will have to make that decision, darling." Rarity said, as she walked up beside Twilight.
"I know..." Twilight quietly said, followed quickly by a sigh. Princess was appropriate, as much as she hated formal titles, she was a Princess, and had to accept this fact. Mistress, as horrible as what it implied, was accurate, or apparently accurate, and Queen Chrysalis had moved into it so quickly. It might just be aversion to being called Princess, but she would have to deal with that later. "Mistress." Twilight stated.
"Yes, Mistress." the Changeling stated.
"What is your name?" Twilight asked.
"Badb." the Changeling replied, "Mistress. How can we help, Mistress?"
Twilight looked around the Ponies, before turning back to Badb. "Rarity and Sweetie Belle can set up the tents, the Apples can collect firewood, Fluttershy the meal. Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo can look around for water." Twilight looked over the other Changelings, "Help them."
The other Changelings, aside from Badb and Queen Chrysalis swarmed over the Ponies, causing no little amount of shrieks by the more easily startled.
"Is there a problem, Mistress?" one of the Changelings asked a cowering Fluttershy.
"Ah... no..." she whispered. Though still shaking, she tried to look politely at the Changeling. "It's just... that you're... a... you know... a Changeling?.."
"I understand..." the Changeling said to her.
"It's not... I mean..." Fluttershy tried to say, "I know you want to help!"
"Yes, Mistress." the Changeling replied.
"And... I... if you want to help... I... I mean... you can..." Fluttershy said. "Do?.. Changelings know how to cook?"
"If we replace someone who does." the Changeling replied. "We copy more than their shape."
"Oh!" Fluttershy said, but grew sullen once again. "But... you can't... can you?" she asked.
"Not with the collar around our Queen's neck." the Changeling said.
"Then just teach 'em to cook!" Applejack shouted over to her.
"Oh!" Fluttershy shouted, "Yes! Of course. I'll teach you to cook!"
"Mistress." the Changeling said to her.
"Come along Apple Bloom." Applejack said to her sister.
"You're sure about this?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Well, Twilight is, and that's what really matters." Applejack replied.
"If Twilight's sure..." Apple Bloom stated. "Let's find ourselves some firewood!"
"Y'all are comin' with us, aren't ya?" Applejack asked the collected Changelings, who nodded in reply. "All right, let's do this!"
"Come along." Rarity said to her collected Changelings.
"Who thinks they can keep up with me?!" Rainbow Dash asked her collected. A few of them took wing and with a glare in their eyes and a smirk on their muzzles moved towards her. She pointed to a nearby cloud. "To there and back, first one gets to carry Scootaloo." The self-selected Changelings took off like a bolt towards the cloud.
"Mistress?" Badb asked, and Twlight looked back towards her. "Can I... help you?.."
"Why don't you go for a massage?!" Rarity shouted over to her, "Don't worry about us, we'll have this place a charming chateau before Rainbow Dash comes back with water."
"Hey!" Rainbow Dash asked, "Was that a challenge?!"
"Sorry, Dear!" Rarity replied, "But as soon as you consider something a challenge, nopony could possibly keep up to you!"
"True!" Rainbow Dash replied, looking over to the returning Changelings.
"A massage, Mistress?" Badb asked, but Twilight turned her head as Pinkie Pie bounced over.
"What can I do?" Pinkie Pie asked.
"What you do best." Twilight simply replied. Pinkie Pie exploded with balloons at the revelation.
Twilight woke up, and it was only at then that she realized how good the massage had been. "I would marry that massage if I could..." she mumbled. When she looked up at the darkened night, she saw the eyes of a Changeling... of Badb... looking down at her. As she saw more and more of her face with the dancing light from the bonfire, Badb looked exactly how Twilight felt. She looked around and saw Rarity's chateau, which... should not be possible with the tents they had brought. Pinkie Pie was leading a raucous dance routine. Rainbow Dash in the middle of some exciting story. Applejack was laughing. Rarity and Fluttershy were sitting warmly by the fire.
What was the most interesting, though, was how the Changelings looked. They all looked like she felt from her wonderful massage. The only one who looked any different was Queen Chrysalis herself, who was sitting off in the distance. Twilight slowly stood and began moving towards her, Badb slowly following in her wake. Queen Chrysalis looked nervous as Twilight approached, but was almost disarmed by Twilight's smile. "Why don't you join us by the fire?" Twilight asked.
"But I didn't..." Queen Chrysalis tried to say.
"Yes, you did." Twilight replied, "You deserve it as much as anyone else." As she said this, Queen Chrysalis appeared to visbily be warmed by the words, of the flow energy that leapt from Twilight deep into her soul. In that moment all of her fears were allayed, as this would most certainly work. They would no longer have to struggle and connive. As long as they worked with the Ponies, their survival was assured.