{"sf1_id":791817,"sf2_id":null,"title":"To Boldly Hoof It Ch 13. A Dark Alliance","author":"BluebloodFan91","words":4127,"posted_at":"2014-12-04T19:27:00.000Z","tags":["Adventure","Blueblood","Character Development","Clean","Equine","Fantasy","Flam","Flim","Friendship is magic","Griffin","Gryphon","Hoops","Horse","Humor","Iron Will","Jet Set","Lightning Dust","MLP","Mare","Minotaur","My Little Pony","Pegasus","Plot Development","Pony","Pregnancy","Pregnant","Prince Blueblood","Princess Luna","Sci-Fi","Stallion","Story Progression","Story Series","Sunset shimmer","To Boldly Flee","Trixie","Unicorn","Upper Crust","Violence (not In Yiff)","alicorn","changeling","dumbbell","gilda","luna","parody","score","space","surprise"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/791817-to-boldly-hoof-it-ch-13-a-dark-alliance","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/791817","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=791817\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"Ch 13. A Dark Alliance\n\n\nUpper Crust and Surprise stared at each other for\nseveral long awkward seconds after Upper Crust had walked into the\nbilliard room where everyone had been gathered, and had found Surprise\nwith a knife in her mouth, about to slit an unconscious Blueblood's\nthroat, as well as finding everyone in the room, except Surprise, lying\non the floor unconscious around some magic circle painted on the floor,\nwith Princess Luna lying in the center of it for some reason.Surprise\nsuddenly flapped her wings and leaped into the air at Upper Crust.\nUpper Crust froze, too terrified and startled to think to move. Just\nwhen she thought she was about to get knifed, Surprise suddenly stopped\nherself in mid air and hovered there staring at Upper Crust with a\nscrutinizing expression. Upper Crust could hear her heart pounding in\nher chest while she waited.Surprise then\ntook the knife out of her mouth in between her hooves, let out a sigh,\nand spoke. \"I'm not going to kill you. Not while you're in that condition. But the rest of them have to die!\"Upper Crust stared at Surprise with wide eyes. My condition?\nshe thought to herself in confusion. Then she saw Surprise turning back\ntowards her unconscious husband and friends, putting the knife back in\nher mouth. Upper Crust knew she had to do something about this sudden\nunexpected insanity.\"Wait!\" she called out to the white pegasus. \"What's going on?! Why are you doing this?!\" she asked fearfully.Surprise\nturned back to look at her. For a few seconds, she looked like she was\nconsidering something. Then she spat the knife out again back onto her\nhooves and grinned evilly. \"Ah, heck. I suppose there's no point in\nkeeping up this disguise any longer.\"Upper\nCrust nearly jumped out of her skin when emerald green flames suddenly\nappeared around Surprise. The green flames quickly rose up Surprise's\nbody and engulfed her. Then, less then a second later, the green flames\ndisappeared and, where Surprise had just been hovering in the air, there\nwas now a queen changeling, buzzing her insect-like wings to stay aloft\nin the air.Upper Crust let out a scream, thinking it was Queen Chrysalis, but she quickly could tell that this was not Chrysalis, but yet another changeling queen.This\nchangeling's slit eyes were blood red instead of green, and her mane,\ntail, and thorax carapace were a deep dark blue color. This queen wasn't\nas big as Chrysalis either. Where Chrysalis had been about the same\nsize as Princess Celestia, this one was more the size of Princess Luna.Plus,\nshe quickly remembered that Chrysalis was dead, so it couldn't be her.\nNever the less, it was still a changeling, so she still screamed.\"NO!\nNot again!\" Upper Crust cried, remembering how Queen Chrysalis had\ndisguised herself as Surprise back when they had been on the quest for\nthe Goblet of Life.The changeling queen's\nhorn lit up with a sickly green glow and then the knife she had been\nholding in her hoof glowed with the same color as her horn and levitated\nup into the air beside her.\"FINALLY, I\ncan use magic again!\" the changeling said with relief. She turned\ntowards the others' unconscious bodies and she levitated the knife up\nabove Blueblood, tip pointed down.Upper\nCrust's knees quaked in fear as she watched helplessly. She had no idea\nwho this changeling was, or why she was trying to kill them, but she\nknew if she didn't do something, the others would all be killed,\nincluding Jet. But she was terrified to face the pitch-black monster all\non her own. She just wasn't as brave as the rest of her friends. When\nshe had faced Queen Chrysalis and King Sombra a year before, she had had\nher husband and all of her friends at her side, as well as the powerful\nElements of Harmony. That wasn't the case now. She was all alone! But\nshe knew she still had to do something.Just\nas the changeling queen was about to bring the knife down, Upper Crust\npumped magic into her horn and telepathically engulfed the knife with\nher own magical glow, pulling it to the side so that it just missed\nBlueblood and stabbed the carpeted floor instead.The\nchangeling queen spun her head around and glared at her, bearing her\nfangs and growling angrily. She pulled the knife out of the floor with\nher magic, but Upper Crust kept holding on to the knife with her own\nmagic, doing her best to pull against the changeling's hold on it.The\ntwo of them gritted their teeth in concentration as they continued\ntrying to yank the knife out of the other's magical grip, while the\nknife kept swirling wildly around in the air as a result of the magical\nstruggle. Upper Crust did her best to make sure the knife didn't\naccidentally stab any of her friends on the floor, often sending the\nknife hurling into a wall or the floor instead.Finally,\nthe changeling queen had had enough and yelled angrily as she launched\nherself at Upper Crust. Upper Crust barely had time to utter a scream\nbefore the changeling tackled her, pining her to the floor with her\nporous black hooves. This broke Upper Crust's concentration and she lost\nher magical hold on the knife.Upper\nCrust tried to struggle futilely against the changeling's weight, but\nthen completely froze when she saw the queen levitated the knife over to\nthem and brought it in front of Upper Crust's face, pointing the tip at\nher. \"Just because I won't kill you doesn't mean I can't hurt you!\" she said menacingly. \"I think I'll cut that pesky horn of yours right off your head!\"Upper\nCrust's eyes widened at that. She realized the queen wasn't bluffing\neither as the knife then hovered up to where her horn was. \"NO!\" Upper\nCrust screamed and began struggling again against the changeling holding\nher down. A unicorn's horn, and the magic that came with it, were their\npride and joy! The thought of loosing that would be like a pegasus\nloosing their wings and never being able to fly again! \"PLEASE! DON'T!\nWHY ARE YOU DOING THIS!?\"Upper Crust's\nscreaming and struggling didn't make a difference. She felt the blade of\nthe knife touch against her horn, and tried to move her head to get it\naway, but it was no use. She saw the queen grin evilly down at her.Suddenly,\nthey both heard soft moaning and movement behind them. They both looked\nbehind them and saw Upper Crust's friends lying on the floor beginning\nto move as they started to wake up.The changeling queen frowned in dismay. \"Crap!\" she whispered under her breath.Upper\nCrust saw her chance and didn't waist any time. She lit up her horn\nwith magic and began telepathically pushing back against the knife that\nwas being held against her horn. \"HELP!!!\" she screamed as loud as she\ncould to the others. \"HELP ME!!! CHANGELING!!!\"The others all looked over in her direction and gaped in horror as soon as they saw the changeling on top of Upper Crust.\"HOLY SHIT!\" shouted Score in alarm as he and the others quickly leaped to their hooves.\"UPPER CRUST!\" Jet Set shouted in concern for his wife as he and the others hurried forward to help her.The\nchangeling queen on top of Upper Crust suddenly leaped off of her.\nBefore she knew what was going on, Upper Crust suddenly felt herself\nbeing engulfed in the changeling's magic and being levitated up into the\nair beside the queen. The knife she had fighting against suddenly moved\nfreely away from her horn, but then circled back down to hover beside\nher exposed throat.\"DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!\" the changeling queen shouted at the others, who all froze in their tracks, \"OR SHE GETS IT!\"Upper\nCrust felt the blade of the knife press against her throat. She didn't\neven risk trying to use her magic to fight back against the knife this\ntime. She knew one wrong move, and she was dead! I thought she said she wasn't going to kill me, she thought to herself, though she was still confused as to why that was.The\nothers, Jet Set, Blueblood, Trixie, Gilda, Iron Will, Flim, Flam,\nSunset, Dumbbell, Hoops, and Score, all stood where they had halted,\nlooking at each other in dread, trying to figure out what to do.\"What the devil happened here!?\" asked Blueblood. \"How did a changeling get here!?\"\"It\nwas Surprise!\" Upper Crust whimpered while the knife was held against\nher neck. \"Surprise, all this time, was a changeling in disguise!\"\"Again?\" said Gilda in bewilderment. \"What is it with Surprise and changelings?\"Blueblood looked at the changeling queen who was holding Upper Crust hostage. \"Who are you?\" he asked. \"What do you want?\"\"My name is Entomala,\" the changeling said after a moment. \"Queen Entomala. And I am here to avenge my family, my mother and my hive, who you all slaughtered!\"All of them looked at each other in confusion, none of them knowing what this changeling was talking about.\"What are you talking about?\" asked Trixie.Entomala\nsnarled. \"You killed my mother Queen Chrysalis! And her entire hive! I\nnever even got to know her! I was still an egg at the time. I want\nrevenge!\"They all then realized what\nEntomala was talking about. When Queen Chrysalis and King Sombra had\nattacked and taken over Canterlot together a year ago, and they had all\nmanaged to unite and use the Elements of Harmony to turn Sombra into a\nstatue, and Chrysalis and all the other changelings into dust, to save\nEquestria.\"Oh,\" said Blueblood awkwardly.\n\"Look, we had no choice! You're mother was taking over the world and\nhurting innocent ponies! She was going to kill us, much like you were going to kill us just now! We were acting in defense!\"\"AND WHAT ABOUT MY KIND!\" snapped Entomala back at him. \"We changelings have just as much right to live as you do! It's not our fault we have to feed on others love in order to survive! We have no choice either!\"Just then, Trixie got an idea. \"Wait! You're right!\" she said, causing everyone to look at her. \"You're absolutely right! It's NOT your fault. But would you like to know whose fault it is?\"Entomala tilted her head as she stared at Trixie. \"What do you mean?\"Trixie\nmentally smiled. She remembered what she had just learned about\nPrincess Celestia while she had been inside Princess Luna's memories.\n\"Its Princess Celestia's fault!\"The others all grinned at Trixie, understanding her plan.Entomala narrowed her eyes at Trixie in confusion. \"What are you talking about?\"Hanging in the air beside her, Upper Crust looked just as confused as the changeling queen did.\"If\nyou want, we can show you,\" said Trixie, keeping a calm, soft voice to\ntry to get the changeling to calm down. \"It's what we found out inside\nPrincess Luna's mind. Just let her go...\" she gestured at Upper Crust, who\nwas still being held in the air by Entomala with the knife held to her\nthroat, \"and we'll show you. What do you say?\"Entomala\nthought for a moment. They could tell she was curious. \"What if I go in\nthe Princess's mind, and then one of you kills my unconscious body?\"\nshe asked.\"We'll all go in together!\" said Trixie.\"Aw man,\" Hoops groaned, unhappy that he had to go back into Luna's mind when he had just gotten out.\"What do you say?\" Trixie asked the changeling queen.Entomala\nthought for another moment. \"Very well. Show me. BUT NO TRICKS! And\njust to be safe, I'll keep Upper Crust close to me until the spell is\ncast and we are all inside Luna's mind.\"Upper Crust whimpered as Entomala levitated her closer to her, keeping the knife right where it was by her neck.Trixie\nnodded, knowing that they wouldn't be able to convince the changeling\notherwise. They stepped back over to the magic circle that Princess Luna\nwas lying in. Entomala continued to keep Upper Crust close to her as a\nhostage the whole time.Entomala kept her\neyes on all of them as Trixie activated the spell, and then all of them\nonce again fell to the floor unconscious as they went back into Luna's\nmind.Back inside Luna's mind labyrinth,\nthey showed Entomala, and Upper Crust as well since she hadn't been with\nthem the first time, the door that contained the long forgotten memory\nfrom Luna's past that showed that Celestia had unintentionally cursed a\nvalley of flutterponies to transform into changelings when she had tried\nto cast a spell on them a thousand years ago that would 'bring out\ntheir inner goodness and better nature' so they would be more friendly\nand open to others. And the memory also showed that Celestia chose to\ncover up her little 'accident' by burying the truth, and making the only\nother pony who knew the truth, Princess Luna, go completely insane and\nbecome Nightmare Moon so that no one would believe anything she said,\nand so she would eventually become so crazy that she wouldn't even be\nable to remember the truth herself.They\nalso showed Entomala the door that contained a memory of Celestia\nplanning to use the plot hole and the Heart Star space station to cast\nyet another 'openness and goodness' spell, like the one she had cast on the changelings, on the entire world!By the time they had shown her everything, Entomala was practically shaking with rage.When\nthey left Luna's mind and woke up again on the floor of the billiard\nroom, Upper Crust quickly got up and leaped away from Entomala, hurrying\nover to Jet Set's side. She kept her eyes on the changeling cautiously.Entomala\ndidn't bother with Upper Crust and just let her go. She got up on her\nown hooves along with everyone else, a look of barely contained rage on\nher face.\"Celestia is the reason my kind\nhas to live this way!\" she said out loud, not talking to anyone in\nparticular. She held up one of her forelegs in front of her face and\nstared at the black, holey, chitinous appendage. \"All because we just\nwanted to be left alone and live our own way, and Celestia decided she\nhad to meddle! And that bitch was never punished for what she did!\" She\nslammed her raised hoof back down against the floor angrily. \"When I get\nmy hooves on her... I'm... I'M GOING TO DRIVE MY HORN STRAIGHT THROUGH HER\nHEART!\"Everyone took a step backwards at the changeling's sudden outburst.Suddenly,\nTrixie had yet another crazy idea pop into her head. \"Maybe we could\nhelp each other!\" said Trixie to Entomala after a several seconds.Everyone turned their heads to look at her in surprise.Trixie\ncontinued, this time not just talking to Entomala, but to everyone in\nthe room. \"We both have a common enemy. Celestia. She's going to try to\ndo what she did to the fluttlerponies to the entire world now! With\nthat... Heart Star space station. None of us want that to happen. If we\nhelp each other, maybe we can stop her, and bring her to justice for what she did to the flutterponies, and Princess Luna!\"\"Um... not that we don't all want to stop Celestia,\" Dumbbell spoke aloud, \"but how? I don't see how we could possibly stop her.\"\n\"Indeed!\" exclaimed Flim in agreement. \"She has an armada of gigantic,\npowerful, battle cruisers, while we only have this sorry excuse for a\nspaceship! We're out numbered, out classed, and outmatched in every way!\nIts impossible!\"Trixie was well aware of\nhow hopeless the situation seemed. But she wasn't the kind of pony who\nran from her problems anymore. Not since she and the rest of them had\nall stood up to, and defeated, King Sombra and Queen Chrysalis only a\nyear ago, and actually saved the world! And she was never one to just\ngive up either without even trying! She had too much pride for that!Trixie grinned at them all and held her head up high. \"Don't worry! The great and powerful Trixie has a plan!\"\"You have a plan?\" asked Jet Set, him and everyone else looking expectantly at Trixie with hopeful expressions. \"What is it?\"\"We'll...\" Trixie rubbed the back of her head with her hoof sheepishly, realizing she had over exaggerated a bit. \"Perhaps plan wasn't the best word for it. It's more like a... vague... idea... in the making... ish.\"Everyone's expressions fell at that.\"Oh, well that's just great,\" Gilda mocked, rolling her eyes.Trixie\ngroaned in frustration. \"Look, Trixie knows it won't be easy! But we\nhave to try! After all, what other choice do we have? Would you rather\ngo back to Earth and get turned into a... LAME-O, like Celestia's little\ngoody-two-shoe Element Bearers? Or would you rather stay in space in\nthis death trap for the rest of your life? Those are our ONLY other options, everypony! And neither of them agree with Trixie!\"They were all silent for a moment as they looked at each other, considering.Trixie continued her speech. \"True, the odds are against us, but they were also against us when we defeated King Sombra and Queen Chrysalis, and saved the world, remember!?\"Trixie then noticed Entomala giving her an irked look out of the corner of her eye.\"Oh. No offense,\" Trixie quickly said to the changeling queen.Entomala shrugged. \"Whatever,\" she said and then looked away, letting it go.Trixie looked back at the others. \"So what do you all say?\"\"Trixie's\nright!\" proclaimed Iron Will loudly, with determination in his voice.\n\"If I'm gonna go down, I'd rather go down fighting!\"\"Me\ntoo!\" said Gilda in agreement. \"Besides, I think I'd rather die anyway\nthen live in a world where everyone is a buckin' lame-o goody-two-shoes\nwho randomly break out into musical numbers about friendship and love\nand all that shit! Plus, we still have to rescue Lightning Dust!\"\"Right,\" said Trixie in agreement.Everyone\nin the room looked at each other in consideration, and one by one, they\nall started nodding in agreement, looks of mixed courage and\nuncertainty written on their faces.\"What about the plot hole then?\" asked Blueblood in concern. \"Even if we do stop Princess Celestia from casting that spell on the world, the plot hole is still going to destroy the universe.\"Trixie\nfrowned. She had nearly forgotten about that. And Blueblood was right.\n\"Unfortunately, we still have no idea how to stop the plot hole.\"Sunset suddenly butted in. \"Actually, we do!\" she said.Everyone stared at her, confused.She\ncontinued. \"While we were inside Luna's head, I remember in one of the\nmemories Celestia said that she was planning to close the plot hole with\nthe Elements of Harmony! Was I the only one paying attention?\"Trixie thought hard back to the memories they had seen. She remembered that Celestia had\nsaid that while she had been talking to the Element Bearers, but she\nhad been so angry about what Celestia had done at the time that she\nhadn't paid attention to that.\"Oh yeah!\" said Trixie happily. \"Okay, so we do\nhave a solution for that, but stopping Celestia is more urgent right\nnow. At the rate its going, it will probably take a long time for the\nplot hole to destroy the universe, but Celestia could use the Heart Star\nto cast her spell on the world at any time now! Once we stop her, then we can worry about the hole.\"Blueblood\nnodded, but was still uncertain. Something about that didn't add up to\nhim. He remembered that Nightmare Moon had said that nothing she knew of\ncould stop the plot hole, but if the Elements of Harmony could,\nwouldn't she have known that? He flashed back to the dream he had had\nwhere a voice was telling him to come into the plot hole because his\ndestiny was in there. Was it some kind of sign? After all, Trixie and\nSunset had gotten the instructions to make that mind-entering spell from\na dream. Was the solution to stopping the plot hole inside the plot hole itself?Blueblood came out of his thoughts just as Trixie began speaking again to Entomala.\"What do you say?\" she asked the changeling queen. \"Will you help us stop Celestia and bring her to justice?\"Entomala didn't answer right away. She was staring at the floor, and looked like she was considering what Trixie had said.Finally,\nthe changeling spoke. \"Alright. I'll help you... for the sake of making\nCelesta pay, and giving all my fellow changelings the justice they\ndeserve!\"\"Trixie thanks you,\" said Trixie, letting out a sigh of relief.However,\nEntomala's expression quickly became stern again. \"But don't think this\nmeans that I've forgotten about what you did to my mother!\" Entomala\nsnapped at them. \"As soon as this is over, we are enemies again!\nUnderstood?\"Trixie sighed in disappointment. \"Fine.\"\"Alright! Looks like we have a changeling on our side!\" said Gilda in excitement.Blueblood\nwasn't so enthusiastic. He wasn't so sure trusting the changeling who\nhad just tried to kill them was such a good idea. And from the looks of a\nfew of the others in the room, he could tell he wasn't the only one.Beside\nJet Set, Upper Crust suddenly spoke up at Entomala. \"Excuse me. I have a\nquestion, changeling!\" Upper Crust said in a not so happy tone. \"Why\ndid you say earlier that you wouldn't kill me, but you would kill the\nrest of them? I don't understand.\"Entomala\nsimply shrugged. \"Believe me, I wanted you dead just as much as the\nrest of them, but do to the fact that you have a foal growing inside\nyou, it just didn't feel right to kill an innocent child who has\ncommitted no crimes.\"Upper Crust and everyone else in the room stared at Entomala, eyes wide in disbelief at what she had just said.\"Wha... what did you just say?\" asked Upper Crust, looking a little pale.Entomala's eyes widened as realization suddenly hit her. \"Oh! You didn't know, did you? You're pregnant.\"Everyone's\njaw dropped and they stared at Upper Crust, who just stared back at\nEntomala with a horrified expression on her face. Her mouth kept opening\nand closing a bit, like she was struggling to come up with something to\nsay, but couldn't find the words.\"To be\nhonest, this does explain why you chose to go on a dangerous space\nadventure even though you had a bun in your oven,\" said Entomala,\nthinking out loud, seeming to be completely oblivious to the awkward\nsilence and looks around her. \"And here I just assumed you were just plain irresponsible.\"\"How do you even know I'm pregnant!?\" demanded Upper Crust, taking deep, rapid breaths. \"How could you possibly know that!?\"\"Oh,\neasily. I could sense the product of you and your husband's love for\neach other growing in your womb. It's just one of the abilities we\nchangeling's have.\"They suddenly\nremembered about how Upper Crust had been getting sick a lot recently.\nThey had thought it was just because they were in space, but now they\nrealized this might have been part of the reason.\"Hey, congratulations!\" said Hoops happily to Upper Crust and Jet Set.Upper Crust and Jet Set didn't respond. They just looked at each other with dread written all over their faces.\"Right?\" asked Hoops, not so sure now.\"We weren't trying\nto have a foal!\" said Jet Set, rubbing his hoof up and down on his\nwife's back to try to comfort her while she looked like she was about to\nhyperventilate and pass out. \"We had both agreed when we got married\nthat we wouldn't have children!\"\"Heck, we don't even like\nchildren!\" whined Upper Crust, tears starting to well up in her eyes.\n\"They're just whiny, messy, trouble making little monsters that cost you\na fortune!\"\"Huh. My parents said the exact same thing about me,\" said Gilda.Trixie looked over at Blueblood. \"Blueblood, lets never have kids,\" she said plainly.\"You don't have to tell me twice,\" Blueblood said in agreement.\"I\ndon't under stand how this could have happened!\" exclaimed Upper Crust\nto Jet. \"I took my pill all throughout my last season... oh no.\" She\nsuddenly paused mid sentence and got a faraway look on her face.\"Dear?\" Jet Set asked in concern.She\nlooked at him, an expression like she had just realized something on\nher face. \"I think, one day, I might have forgotten to take one! But I\ndidn't think just missing one would matter, so I forgot about\nit.\" She groaned in despair and closed her eyes. \"Oh gosh!\" she moaned.\n\"I can't be a mother! I don't know the first thing about it!\"\"Calm down, dear,\" said Jet Set, still rubbing her back with his hoof. \"It's going to be okay. We'll figure something out.\" Great! Blueblood thought to himself. Now we have a pregnant mare on board this ship... in space! What else could possibly happen? ","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/791814-to-boldly-hoof-it-ch-12-the-truth.json","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/791820-to-boldly-hoof-it-ch-14-taking-a-stand.json"}