I was lucky that time held no meaning in the Aether, as I lost track of how long I had been sitting in front of the two portals. Other alicorns had come by while I was thinking and I grew familiar with them, even earning some smalls friendships with my usual wit and charm.

"... You know what bothered me about Equestria most?" I said, breaking a long silence and startling poor old Chronos, "The smells. I suppose its because smell is linked almost directly to memory, but I've always had a fondness for smells. A warm meal, my own room, clean laundry, that kind of stuff." Chronos was giving me a kind stare behind his busy white eyebrows, "In Equestria there were all these different and unfamiliar odors just assaulting me all the time. Even the apples smelled different, not by much, but there was this sort of edge to them that I didn't have back home." Chronos huffed sympathetically, "You know what smell I miss more than anything though?" I looked over at the wizened old alicorn as he tilted his head, "Sleeping dogs." His head tilted a tiny bit more, "I had a couple of dogs at home and I would, more often than not, come home to an empty house, but I would always find them snoozing away in a sunbeam, content with the world." I turned back to the portals, "I'd walk up as quiet as possible, kneel down, and kiss the tops of their heads. The smell always wafted up into my nose and I grew to love it because it reminded me of home, love, and just... It was familiar, y'know?" I paused for a while, "There's a lot of things I miss about my home..." I trailed off, staring into the portal. I could pick out the details that I had spent years committing to memory, the corners that I dodged around at night, the exact spot where the snooze button was for when my alarm went off in the mornings, even the odd hole in the wall from posters I had hung up, "But," I began, "Here I have... purpose, I have a duty." I looked over at Cronos, now a young colt, "And I made a promise. I told Berry and Ruby that I'd come back." I stood up and walked over to the portal back to Equestria, "Tell Law I said thanks." I said over my shoulder as I stepped through.

.

..

…

The first thing I noticed was the fluid that was all around me, invading my eyes, mouth, and nose. Instinct had me flailing, trying to find some way out. Due to what I can only call dumb luck, one hand was able to tear through the apparently thin membrane that had I was encapsulated in. As soon as I hit the ground, my body began to violently eject the slime I had been suspended in. After a few minutes of what I considered a full body enema, I looked up and tried to gauge where I might be. Though blurry at first, my vision was quick to reassert itself and I saw that I was in some sort of cave, though obviously not natural, given how rounded it was. That and the dozens of softly glowing pods attached to the walls and ceiling gave away that this was not a normal occurrence. I stood up on shaky legs and walked over to one of the pods, a theory in mind but in need of testing. Looking in I found that I was, unfortunately, correct. Inside was Trixie, suspended in what I could only guess was the same goo I just expelled all over the floor of the cave. I was relieved to see slight twitches in her legs and behind her eyes, signaling that she was, at least, alive. I noticed her armor was missing and, looking down, I saw that mine was gone as well, along with all of my clothes. I looked back at the pod I had been trapped in, thinking back to the portals, back to my home. With the thought of my old life, a lot of old unpleasant memories came to mind. Crippling loneliness, months of cold emptiness, staring at the blades I had collected, wanting it all to just stop...

I didn't have time to listen to old memories as a soft tapping noise started getting closer from farther in the cave. I dove behind a pod, facing the direction the tapping was coming from. Whatever it was was pony shaped, but the glow coming from the pods wasn't enough for me. I put a hand on the floor of the cave, drawing small stones to me as quietly as possible, forming them around my hand. A few moments later, the pony shaped thing had walked up to the pod I escaped from and I had a loose approximation of a stone glove. The thing was looking at the cocoon intently, so I took the opportunity and jumped onto its back, striking at the back of its head with my stone fist. With a muffled thud, the thing fell to the ground, hopefully unconscious. I dragged the body over to one of the larger pods, to see what I could learn about my captors, though what I learned surprised me.

The thing, whatever it was, was like an insect version of a pony, a pegasus actually. Instead of fur, it had some sort of semi-hard carapace, and its wings were reminiscent of a dragonfly's. The strangest thing about it were the hole in its legs and wings, almost like it had rotted or been eaten away. Using the stones around my hand I made stone rings that would bind its wings and legs without crushing anything. I looked over to the green goo I had been suspended in and put my hand in it, smiling internally as it began to shift under my magical exertions. I gathered some up into a ball and splashed it on the insect-pony's face, causing it to sputter as it woke up.

I watched as it took in it situation, then put a hand on its muzzle, "If you try to shout," I began, giving it a cold glare, "I will rip your wings out. If you keep trying to resist, I will break your limbs. If you keep trying at that point, I will kill you." I saw it gulp, "You will answer my questions and I will only knock you out, provided you cooperate, are we clear?" It nodded behind my hand, "Good. First off, where am I?" I removed my hand, but kept it close in case the thing decided to try and be smart.

It glared at me, "In the mountainz north of Equeztria." It replied, with something akin to a mix between a buzz and a lisp.

"Alright, what are you?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

It chuckled, "We are Changelingz, and we are many." It sneered at me, so I tightened the ring around its wings to remind it who was in charge.

"Where's the rest of my team?" I growled.

The Changeling was wincing as the stone ring tightened around its wings, "Whatz left of them are in here."

I snatched it up by its neck, "What do you mean whats left?!" I demanded, pulling it close to my face.

It sneered again, "We feed off of poniez, and zometimez they wither away." It chuckled, "All thatz left now are the red one and the loud one." I laughed until I tightened my grip on its neck.

I could feel the cold numbness that came with extreme rage, "I won't break you Changeling," I put my hand in the large puddle of goo beside me, shaping it around my arm, "But you will suffer." I held up an arm covered in goo, "You know, in my world, they say the worst way to die is by drowning." I put my goo covered hand over its muzzle as its eyes widened. I smiled softly as I began to force the glowing fluid into it's nostrils and mouth, and I could feel the goo as it began to flow down the Changeling's throat, into it's lungs.

The only sound in the cave was the quiet choking of the Changeling, but that slowly tapered off into silence. I dropped the body, glowing goo coming out of its mouth and nostrils, making a small puddle on the floor of the cave. I stepped over it as I walked over to the pod where I saw Trixie, pondering what I could do. The pod was securely attached to the cave wall, and I doubted I could even lift the damn thing if I wanted to, let alone her and Big Mac. I looked over to the Changeling corpse and pulled the stone rings from it, forming them into a crude point. While it lacked an edge, I was hoping it would puncture the membrane that surrounded her.

"Clever, though I'd advise against that, were I you." Came a voice from behind me. I quickly turned around, spike at the ready, as I saw a larger changeling, flanked by two unicorn changelings. She was larger than Luna, probably around Celestia's size, but much more slender. She shared traits with other changelings, or so I assumed, those mainly being the holes in her legs, though she had some in her mane as well. It reminded me of old cloth that had been eaten by moths, but what stood out to me the most was her horn, though calling it a horn could be inaccurate. I was long, black, and looked like jagged stone, it didn't seem... natural. She looked down at the corpse on the floor and cocked an eyebrow, "I see you aren't one for making friends." She commented coldy.

I smirked, "Not when they eat my teammates." I replied, sizing up the situation. At best, I could flick my stone spike and take out one of the guards, but that would leave me at a major disadvantage.

She cocked her eyebrow higher, "My my, I'm surprised enough to see you out of your pod and awake, but to have retained the ability to speak? You are a wonder." She looked down at the corpse again, then gestured with a hoof. One of the guards stepped forward, horn glowing, making me flinch, but his magic was directed at the body. He lifted it, then walked back out of the cave, body in tow.

I looked at the large Changeling, finally taking in that she was their version of an Alicorn, "Let the rest of my team go." I demanded, internally scrambling for ideas.

She brought a hoof to her chin, "Hmmm, no." Fuck, "However," Oh? "I will let them out of their pods, on one condition." She looked at me with a smirk.

I stood ready, eyes on her and the guard, "Which is?" I asked cautiously, not ready at all to trust her.

She gave a practiced, sultry smile, "You let us study you." She stepped forward, making me back up into a pod, "We've not encountered something that fed us as well as you did." She kept stepping forward, her eyes, like a snakes, locked onto mine, "I want to know why you were able to." She was less than an arms-length away from me, looking down into my eyes.

I growled, looking up at her, "What are you?" I hissed, knuckles white around the stone spike I held.

She laughed softly, a green flame rising from her hooves, over her entire body. All of a sudden, Celestia stood in front of me, another wave of green fire left Luna, and a third wave returned her to her original form, "I am Queen Chrysalis, matriarch of the Changeling Horde."

((I return... somewhat. For those who still read this, thank the fact that this site still sends me updates as to people messaging me and what not, because someone asked me to continue, so I did.

So, here it is, a new chapter, give me your thoughts and I may or may not reply. Hell, I might even make a new chapter.

-Exanora))