MLP Changeling Retribution CHAPTER VI

Chapter VI: Sisters Found

Back in Canterlot, Rarity and Fluttershy are sneaking around the searching areas looking for Celestia and Luna. Rarity’s horn is directing them both towards the underground Canterlot Caves. Unfortunately, they can’t seem to find an entrance. All the while, Rarity and Fluttershy are still having a personal conversation.

Rarity: So Fluttershy dear, tell me. Have you ever thought about getting married? I know it’s a bit of a personal question, but I’m dreadfully bored.

Fluttershy: *Blushing* Well… I… Not really… I mean, you have a much bigger chance than I would. You’re a lot more outgoing than I am. And you’re a lot prettier than me.

Rarity: That may be true, but don’t count yourself out of the game entirely, Fluttershy. You have so much of a life ahead of you that there’s such a large chance for you! Besides, your beauty is something that no colt would dare turn away from. And you don’t even need makeup for it!

Fluttershy: Well… thank you. But I don’t even know who I might marry. Who would even be interested in me?

Rarity: How about that SoulWind, fellow? He’s taken quite a liking to you.

Fluttershy: HUH?! Nonono! SoulWind is just a friend! He’s not even interested in relationships from what I remember anyway!

Rarity: You’re right. Besides, he’s old enough to be our great grandfather 11X! Hmhm! How about our foxy hero from a couple years back? You know, Tails?

Fluttershy: Rarity! Tails isn’t even a pony!

Rarity: I’m just saying! He has expressed quite a bit of liking to you. I’m almost jealous! So well mannered… so heroic… adorable…

Fluttershy: Rarity…

Rarity: Okay! I’m only kidding! Ugh! My horn keeps wanting to pull me into the wall here, but there’s no way the princesses would be down here! There isn’t even an entrance!

Fluttershy: You are detecting Princess Celestia’s crown, aren’t you?

Rarity: Yes, but it still baffles me that my horn would tell me she’s somewhere around here! The only possible explanation would be that she’s inside the mountain itself! But I just thought this whole thing was just solid rock!

Fluttershy: Hmm… *Looks up and sees a familiar flowing magic mist above them* Rarity! Look! Up there!

Rarity: A flowing wisp! That looks just like the ones that Spike sends when he writes the princess a letter! From what Spike told us, it homes in on her when he sends it! Quick! Follow it! *They both run after it until it goes into a hole in the wall* Ah-ha! Finally! Don’t lose sight of it! Get me up there! *Gets picked up by Fluttershy and they go into the hole above* It’s times like this where I wish I still had those gorgeous wings. Oh how I miss them so…

Fluttershy: You did look nice with them. But they were very distracting for many ponies. You remember?

Rarity: Yes, even too much so for myself! Ah! There it is! We follow it, we find our ladies! As Rainbow Dash would say: Go! Go! GO!

Fluttershy: *Quietly* Yaaaaaaay…. *Flies after it while carrying Rarity through the caverns and dodging stone structures and crystal spikes* You know, Rarity? I’ve been thinking. Would your would-be husband sing to you? If I were to get married, I know the perfect song I would want him to sing!

Rarity: Oh? Do tell!

Fluttershy: Okay! Well it kind of goes like this! *Sings “Always” by Erasure while Rarity shoots any that Fluttershy can’t dodge for whatever reason and provides backup singing*

“Open your eyes, I see
Your eyes are open
Wear no disguise for me
Come into the open

When it's cold (When it's cold) outside (outside)
Am I here in vain?
Hold on to the night
There will be no shame

Always, I wanna be with you
And make believe with you
And live in harmony, harmony oh love
(Always) I wanna be with you
And make believe with you
And live in harmony, harmony oh love
(Always)

Melting the ice for me
Jump into the ocean
Hold back the tide, I see
Your love in motion

When it's cold (When it's cold) outside (outside)
Am I here in vain?
Hold on to the night
There will be no shame

Always, I wanna be with you
And make believe with you (Always)
And live in harmony, harmony oh love
(Always) I wanna be with you (Always)
And make believe with you (Always)
And live in harmony, harmony oh love
(Always)

When it's cold (When it's cold) outside (outside)
Am I here in vain?
Hold on to the night (When it's cold in the night)
(Where the new love grows) There will be no shame (no shame)”

*Repeats Reframe*

Fluttershy: Thank you for dealing with those. I don’t think I could’ve avoided them!

Rarity: My pleasure, dear! Now! Eyes on the prize! We can’t be too far now!

The two continue on until they find a clearing in the caverns where the wisp finally makes it to Celestia and Luna, who are looking for a way out.

Celestia: *Sees the wisp materialize in front of her as a note* Hmm? Ah! Spike sent a letter? Interesting time for that.

Luna: You seem to get all the mail at all the most interesting of times! Sometimes I wish I could get mail… But then again, I’m no teacher.

Celestia: Ah, this is Twilight’s penmanship. “Dear Princess Celestia, we have an emergency. Everypony is getting sick due to a dangerous infection. Everypony is close to panicking in both Canterlot and Ponyville! If this message gets to you, please respond immediately! Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle”

Luna: This is bad! We need to get out of here as fast as possible! If only our magic wasn’t messed up by those blasted insects! We would’ve teleported out of here!

Celestia: We’ll find a way! This message was able to find its way in, so we’ll just find our way out.

Rarity: And we’ll lead the way! Fluttershy, if you would.

Celestia: Rarity and Fluttershy! Thank goodness you’re alright!

Fluttershy: I’m so glad we found you both! *Lands and puts Rarity down* Everypony is so worried about you!

Celestia: So we’ve heard. We’ve been trying to get out of here for the longest time since Shining Armor attacked us and sent us down here!

Luna: Oh when I get my hooves on that traitor, I’ll-

Rarity: That wasn’t Prince Shining Armor! That was a different prince! A very angry Changeling Prince!

Fluttershy: Larva was his name! He was very mean and crude and had very angry lyrics in his song!

Rarity: He plotted to destroy Equestria out of revenge for something.

Fluttershy: He even said his mother made a last wish that he promised to carry out. That wish was to do just that!

Celestia: So that was a Changeling? *Sigh* I was hoping we wouldn’t see any more of them.

Rarity: Well, you’ll probably be happy to know that he was actually the last of them. As it were, they are extinct now.

Celestia: I did not wish that upon them, but I suppose Princess Cadence’s last attack on the queen years ago did just what she described it as.

Rarity: I don’t think we were there to see that. What exactly happened?

Luna: During the invasion of the Eggman Empire, Queen Chrysalis attempted to attack Canterlot as you might remember.

Fluttershy: That’s right. When Discord summoned her and the Changelings…

Luna: Indeed. She appeared and fought alongside Discord in these very caves. After they both were defeated by Sonic and Tails-

Rarity: *Sighs and fantasizes about Tails* Tails… the foxy hero…. OOP! Um… Please. Continue…

Luna: Um… right! Upon their defeat, Princess Cadence took the opportunity to put an end to the queen’s love-stealing ways. As it were, she used a spell that not only took away Chrysalis’ ability to steal love, but that same effect went to every single Changeling that she had spawned. Which, apparently was the entire race. In other words, they all lost their natural ability and most deadly weapon.

Fluttershy: Yes. And Prince Larva said that his entire race was doomed to famine and pestilence. So could that natural ability also be the only way for them to actually get food?

Rarity: That might be the case. So Princess Cadence essentially caused an entire race to go extinct… *Shivers* I would never have imagined her to be merciless like that.

Luna: She had the best intentions. It was either them or us.

Rarity: Yes, but still…

Celestia: Then it’s a very good thing you defeated him when you did. I’d imagine that if he were to truly exact the revenge he sought out for, he would direct his wrath to Princess Cadence herself. Tell me though, what happened after you defeated him?

Fluttershy: He burst into flames and turned into a strange green fireball. He was just about to attack Twilight, but Applejack took the hit for her. Then strange black and green markings appeared all over her body!

Celestia: Markings you say?! Wait… When we saw him, he sent insects at us, he raised black and green smog into the sky, and…

Luna: Burst into flames… Please tell me he didn’t…

Celestia: He didn’t mention the name “Beelzebub” at all during your encounter, did he?!

Both: *Nod* Yes!

Luna: Then your battle with him is far from over! And he attacked Applejack! It’s only a matter of time before he makes her plague the majority of Equestria!

Celestia: Oh this is much worse than I would’ve imagined! Rarity, Fluttershy, thank you both for finding us and telling us this! Now we need to get out of here! Can you lead the way?

Fluttershy: Of course!

Rarity: I hate to ask you twice, Fluttershy, but…

Fluttershy: Glad to! *Picks Rarity up and they hurry out* What did you mean that he would make Applejack plague Equestria? She would never do that!

Luna: She wouldn’t on her own whim. But she has now become a puppet to Larva and a slave to Beelzebub’s power! This has happened a long time ago! Only once, but it was devastating enough to fit the records. *Flashes back to when King Beelzebub and his Changelings attacked the borders of Equestria and tells the story with Celestia as they escape the caverns*

Celestia: When the first ruler of the Changeling Legion, King Beelzebub was alive, he plagued the skies with a powerful smoke that would call upon acid rain, commanded the Changeling army, and used destructive magic to get his way with any kingdom he wished to conquer. It was our mother that was able to stop him and his army. However, when she did, he used a strange spell that turned him into a green flaming wisp. He tried to attack our mother, but missed and dove down like a meteor and hit a poor unsuspecting pony below. The next day, the next thing we knew, ponies, plants, and animals alike were all falling to a deadly illness wherever this one pony with the markings of Beelzebub went. He unwittingly was causing others to suffer and even die.

Luna: He was found and executed by fellow citizens who were too angry and scared to even think straight. If we had found him sooner, we could’ve used the Elements of Harmony to save him. Upon his death, however, that same green wisp just jumped from his body to another and repeated the cycle! Beelzebub had to be stopped! Even after his initial death, he was a menacing threat! We eventually cornered his host and managed to exorcise Beelzebub from him with the Elements of Harmony and then defeated him one last time to send his infernal soul down to Tartarus where he wouldn’t hurt any innocents ever again! Never would we have anticipated for him to have left behind his powers for future use.

Fluttershy: That’s horrible! Why would anyone do that?!

Rarity: So his descendant decided to use that same power to avenge his people by using Applejack as his host with that same power! Despicable! And to think he was going to take Twilight with that power! Applejack sacrificed herself to prevent that! Now we have to save her!

Celestia: Absolutely! Before Larva has a chance to hurt anyone else! *They all take off away from the cave and up to Canterlot* This may be a problem in of itself. If Larva has control of Applejack, then that means that using the Element of Honesty could become an issue! At the very least, we can appear in Canterlot to calm the guards and citizens down before an uproar arises. Luna? Care to join me? Fluttershy and Rarity, I need you to go back to Twilight and the others. *Horn glows and it directs her to Twilight’s general direction* The Elements are in motion. That means that Twilight must be that way! Hurry to her side! We’ll catch up soon!

Rarity: You’re going to help us?

Celestia: We aren’t sitting this one out! *Hears thunder* Huh? *Looks up* Those are Beelzebub’s clouds! Oh no! They will yield acid rain! You both need to go! NOW! Hurry!

Fluttershy: EEP! Yes, your highness! *Zooms ahead, but accidentally drops Rarity* AAH! OH NO!

Rarity: EYAAAAAAAH! *Stops in mid-air* Huh? *Floats up as Celestia wraps her in a magic aura that sprouts her new butterfly wings* *GASP* My… My old wings! Princess?

Celestia: Now you both can fly. It’s the least I could do! Now get going! There’s no time to lose!

They both bow their heads and take off to rejoin Twilight, Rainbow, and Pinkie, hoping they aren’t too late for anything. Celestia and Luna hurry up to Canterlot to calm things down and try to heal the sick. Meanwhile, the evil spirit of Larva and his new tool, Applejack are aimlessly wondering the land until Larva gets impatient. He decides now that his desire for revenge shall be dealt upon the suspected killer.

End Of Chapter VI