The Shadow of Equestria

Chapter 20

Arrival

I spent a week in that large hive as a guest of their Queen. Surprisingly enough, the inhabitants took to us quite well, unlike the ponies of Equestria who despised everything foreign. Their culture was a weird one, defiantly one that I've only seen several times. On top of their hive system, which I know is associated with insect from my world, the changelings share a hive mind as well. The only reason I know this is because of the daily reports coming in from Chrysalis herself who was able to capture the Princess and went undetected. However, the changelings don't have a news service like the ponies do. Oh no, they learn stuff the weird way.

3 HOURS TILL DEPARTURE

As I sat in my room trying to take a nap, I heard a loud knock at the door.

"Come in." I said in a drowsy voice as I sat up, ready to give my full attention to the thing entering. The doors opened and in walked one of the many guards that roamed the halls of the hive.

"Queen Chrysalis is requesting to speak with you." said the guard.

"And exactly how will she do that? I thought she left for Equestria." I asked.

"Our Queen's powers are so great that she can speak through us. Use us as an instrument to spread her word to the citizens of this hive. If you don't mind, she has wishes to speak to you."

I rolled my eyes and nodded. These changelings were like cult followers to their Queen. Almost to the point of annoyance but they become tolerable after a time. I watched as the changeling dipped his head and fell limp for a few short seconds before picking himself back up. He looked back up at me but instead of the normal blue eyes the changelings have, his eyes were an emerald color.

"Good to see you again Zhane. I trust that you are being treated with respect." asked the Queen who had taken over the body of the guard.

"I have." I replied. "Why do you need to speak with me?"

"I have learned several things seen I arrived at Canterlot. One of them is how popular you are around here. You'd be surprised at how much the Princesses as well as Shining Armor talk about you. The talk is nothing but means of capture, location, and worries. However, I didn't contact you for this reason. I've been able to learn the security measures that are going to be taking place during the wedding."

"Do these security measures involve the placement of two humans?" I asked with a smile.

"They do." replied Chrysalis. "I've found out that a large shield will be guarding Canterlot during the time of the wedding. You have no reason to worry about that, my changelings will be able to break it. The thing you need to do will be after the breaking of the shield. The two humans, Captain Agliss and Captain Yamato are going to be placed in the gardens for the party after the wedding. Luckily, the point where we are going to break the shield will be close to the garden but out of sight. As for Princess Luna, she will no doubt try to face me."

"You've managed to learn this in a few days?" I asked.

"Shining Armor is always wanting to go over the details so I know them by heart." said Chrysalis. "That just means it'll be easier for us to infiltrate the castle. The wedding is getting close so I would like for you to get your affairs in order before we start. I don't want any unfinished business keeping you back."

"Of course, I'll be ready when the time comes." I said as I watched the changeling guard blink several times before his blue eyes returned to normal.

"Guard, do you by any chance know where Poison Spectre is?" I asked.

"The lassst time I ssssaw her wasss in the Grand Library."

"Thank you, you are free to go." I said as I made my way to the library.

I walked around the hive for quite some time before I finally came upon the library. Rows and rows of large, wooden bookcases adorned with books filled the room. I smirked with the sense of impression, I had never seen a library that big in my entire life.

I looked down towards one of the tables that littered the floor and saw Spectre with her face buried in a book.

"I take it that the book you're reading is quite interesting?" I asked as I walked over to the table.

"More than you would think." she said. "I can't believe they would leave stuff like this lying around."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked as I tried to get a good look at the book.

"This book is basically an encyclopedia of rare and powerful artifacts. Not just that, most of these have locations. So you can imagine why I would be so interested in this book."

"Anything caught your eye?" I asked.

Spectre placed the book flat and used her hoof to flip several pages. Once the book was on her desired page, she turned the book towards me.

"You see that page on the left, I've marked a couple of things that would go for a pretty high price on the black market."

I looked down to see that several of the entries on the page had little tick marks beside them. There was a small necklace called the Alicorn Amulet and a jewel called the Crystal Heart. There were other items marked like a large sword called Light's Edge and a small staff called The Soul Reaver but these were not the primary things that Spectre had focused on. I looked further down the page to see numerous weapons, gems, and artifacts all located.

"What do you know what the Alicorn Amulet and Crystal Heart?" I asked as I turned the book back over to her.

"The amulet is an artifact that increases the power of any unicorn's magic to the level of an Alicorn. I picked this one because the location is said to be here, in the Changeling Treasury Room."

"Ok, I'll get back to that." I said. "What about the Crystal Heart?"

There was a pause followed by a shrug.

"The book says something about a place to the north, close to this place called Oasis. The directions are pretty clear it's just that I've never heard of the place. Besides, the size of this jewel alone would rake in about 30,000 bits. That would be enough to live pretty comfortably."

"Always talking about earning some money." I said as I rested me head in my hands.

"It's always good to have a fall back just in case something goes wrong. So after all this stuff with the changelings is over, we should probably go look for this stuff."

"It sounds to make like you have no faith that the changelings will be able to pull this off." I said.

"Exactly, I've seen a better prepared group of fighters with the Black Hooves. That's sad considering this is a large group of ponies while we only had close to 500."

"As long as I get to have my fun, I don't care what happens." I said with a smile.

"However." I said as the smile left my face. "I need to ask you something."

"What would that be?" asked Spectre as she continued to browse the book.

"Are you going with me are back to Ponyville till this blows over?"

There was a pause.

"I'm going to try to get my hooves on that Alicorn Amulet, get back to Ponyville, and sell it." she said as she closed the book. "I'm not going to be fighting with you this time."

"Damn." I said. "I was hoping to finally see the great Poison Spectre in action. Mowing down castle guards as easy as grass."

Spectre rolled her eyes and grabbed the book before sliding it off the table.

"When the changelings gear up to leave, I'll try to get the Amulet. Either way, I'll see you back in Ponyville Zhane."

Spectre, with the book in grasp, took off for the door, disappearing in mere seconds.

"Dirty ratssss." said a changeling from the corner of the room. He had heard everything between Zhane and Poison Spectre. Queen Chrysalis was right about another motive. The changeling began to make his way for one of the far door in the library.

I looked up from the table to catch the sight of someone walking past one of the nearby bookshelves. I frowned, that meant someone must have heard my little conversation with Spectre. I looked across the room to see another door leading God knows where. Whoever was in there with me was probably going to leave through that door. So I got up and made my way to the door in an attempt to stop whoever was trying to leave.

As I passed several of the bookshelves, I could hear the sound of hooves hitting the stone floor getting closer and closer. Once they get close enough, I had reached an intersection in the bookshelves and waited to see who would emerge. Not even three seconds later, a changeling came from one of the rows and made his way to the door. Quickly, I reached forward and grabbed him by the neck.

"Listening onto other people's conversations is rude." I said.

"I knew that you were up to ssssomething." said the changeling. "You and the pony are nothing but dirty ratssss."

"I really don't feel like going through the hassle of killing you so I'll make you a deal. You keep your mouth shut and I won't have to sew it shut for you."

"I can't wait for my Queen to hang you from the tallesssst balcony for your betrayal." said the changeling.

"I now I suddenly feel quite energetic." I said as I grabbed the changeling's mouth.

I sighed as I tried my best to place the book back on the shelf so it looked as if nothing was behind them. I placed the last book back on the shelf just to watch a small drop of blood form from in between the book. I sighed and turned to leave, it was getting close to time for the attack.

0 HOURS TILL DEPARTURE

With a brand new weapon in hand, a nice looking steel sword, I entered the auditorium to see that many of the changelings were huddled around a small glowing ball. I looked across the room to see that Spectre was watching the whole event unfolding. I walked over to her.

"What are they doing?" I asked.

"They're using that orb to mass transport troops. It's a good thing too, they defiantly won't be missing this till they get back." she said as she pointed to a small bag on her side.

"Was it hard to get into?" I asked.

"Not really, they left it unlocked and unguarded. I just walked right in, grabbed the Amulet, and closed the door behind me."

There was a pause as we continued to watch the changelings teleport to their destination.

"Hey Spectre." I said. "Do you know how that thing works?"

"Somewhat." she replied. "I think it's suppose to travel with you but whatever it's sitting on must be keeping it from moving. Why do you ask?"

"I want you to grab it once the place is cleared out and take it with you back to Ponyville. Who knows how useful it could be."

With that, the last of the changelings teleported away leaving only me and Spectre in the auditorium.

"How fun with Red." I said as I approached the orb and placed my hand on it. A spark ran through me arm and surrounded me in a bright flash before dying down. I looked around to see that my surroundings were completely different. I was quite close to Canterlot Castle. The changelings that had already teleported had started to throw themselves at the large barrier surrounding the city.

I looked over to the castle and smiled as I saw the first crack form.

Here's chapter 20 everypony. Enjoy!

Alright, this is the last filler chapter until we get to see some action. Just in case anybody wanted to know.

See everypony next Monday.