Demons Are Forever

by Metool Bard

Unforgotten Grudges

Bon-Bon flinched as a sharp gust of wind was followed by a foreleg wrapping around her shoulder. After blinking a few times, she found herself back in the here and now with Lyra sitting next to her. Lyra looked up and smiled.

"Glad to see you're back with us," she said sweetly.

Bon-Bon sighed. "I-I'm sorry, Lyra. I was a bit, preoccupied."

Lyra raised an eyebrow. "That's been happening a lot lately. Are you sure you're okay?"

Bon-Bon bit her lip. "I-I don't know. I-it doesn't really matter, anyway."

"It matters to me, Bons," said Lyra firmly.

Bon-Bon sighed again. "Look, I'll be okay, Lyra. It's really not that bad. So, did you find anything out while I was, well, out of it?"

Lyra let out a frustrated growl before simply shaking her head. "Fine, whatever. You're the super tough secret agent; I'm not. Minnie will tell you everything once she's done giving Moondancer her little lecture."

Puzzled, Bon-Bon took a quick look around. She noticed Minuette and Moondancer conversing just a few feet ahead of her. Moondancer's eyes were sparkling in amazement as she hung onto every word.

"I-I honestly didn't know that you were so talented, Minuette," she said. "I don't know anypony who can stop time."

"Well, again, I don't 'stop' time," Minuette clarified. "There's no spell that can stop time. All I do is create a temporal field where time is unable to move. I normally use this to aid in my studies. It's easier to observe something when it's not constantly running away from you, y'know?"

"I-I see. Right. I do apologize," said Moondancer, clearing her throat. "Even so, you really must teach me those spells sometime. I could always use more knowledge."

Minuette shrugged. "Eh, I actually wouldn't recommend my quantum displacement spell to you. I'm not like you or Twilight who can teleport wherever you want. I have to swap my quantum particles with someone else's quantum particles for that spell to work. It's a lot more restrictive. As for quantum projection, well, that's pretty simple. It's just a matter of spreading out your quantum particles over every space you can potentially inhabit at any given time. Just, try to be more careful than I was. All of the quantum clones I create are still me, so they all feel the same pain. And take it from me; getting hurt on the quantum level is a lot more intense than it sounds. I'd be happy to tell you more about it when this is all over."

Bon-Bon got up and dusted herself off before approaching Minuette and Moondancer. "Um, Minuette?"

Minuette turned her head and smirked. "Ah, Bon-Bon. How nice of you to zone yourself back in."

"Y-yes, I suppose it is," said Bon-Bon sheepishly. "Um, did you figure out anything?"

Minuette's smile faded. "Nothing substantial. Our only clue is that changeling who disguised itself as the bugbear. My theory is that these guys know about us and how to get into our heads, but we have no evidence to back it up. At least, not until our friend over there recovers from your attack."

Bon-Bon turned her head to where Minuette was pointing. The changeling she fought before was still lying in the snow unconscious.

"I managed to heal any wounds it may have sustained, so it should be able to answer any questions we may have once it awakens," said Moondancer, adjusting her glasses.

"That only matters if it's willing to be straight with us."

Everypony looked up as Fleur made her way into the conversation. Moondancer gave her a quizzical look.

"Whatever do you mean, Lady de Lis?" she inquired.

Fleur snorted. "Changelings are a tricky lot, Ms. Moondancer. You'd be a fool to believe anything that comes out of their mouths."

"Even if that were true, it's still the best lead we've got right now," said Minuette.

Fleur's face darkened. "You cannot be too optimistic about this sort of thing, Dr. Colgate. That's what hap—"

"Mmm~. I hurt all over."

Fleur was interrupted by a pained moaned. The changeling was conscious and slowly getting its bearings. Once it caught sight of Bon-Bon, its eyes nearly popped out of its skull, and it fell down on its back.

"Gah! Stay away from me, you psycho!" it yelled, scuttling away. "D-don't come near me!"

Bon-Bon averted her gaze and let out a deep sigh. Before she could say anything, Fleur stepped in and grabbed the changeling with her magic, preventing it from fleeing.

"You're not going anywhere, insect," she spat. "If you try to escape, I assure you that Special Agent Sweetie Drops will be the least of your worries."

"Whoa, hey. Easy does it, Lady de Lis," said Minuette nervously. "We don't want to kill the guy."

"Speak for yourself," Fleur muttered under her breath.

The changeling squirmed and writhed in the grip of Fleur's magic aura. "Wh-what do you want, pony?"

"We have some questions that you may be able to answer," said Moondancer.

"And they better be answered truthfully," Fleur added, forcing the changeling to stare her in the eye.

The changeling swallowed. "Um, yeah. Okay, sure. No problem. J-just keep me away from that Earth Pony over there. Sh-she's nuts."

Lyra narrowed her eyes. "Hey, that's my best friend you're talking about, bucko. And maybe she wouldn't have gone all crazy if you didn't turn into the bugbear and try to kill me. Seriously, what made you think that was a good idea?"

"Let me handle this, Ms. Heartstrings," Fleur snarled before turning back to the changeling. "Why did you take the form of a bugbear?"

Lyra pouted. "I just asked that," she grumbled.

"I-I was merely following the archdrone's orders," the changeling whimpered. "I-I didn't even know what a bugbear was until it told me."

"And how exactly did your archdrone know what a bugbear was?"

"F-from experience."

"Experience with what?"

"With the HUB."

Minuette furrowed her brow. "Something tells me that isn't a coincidence."

"But it still begs the question of how this archdrone knew we were coming," Bon-Bon mused.

"That shouldn't be too hard to explain," Fleur scoffed, her eyes not leaving the changeling. "After all, your kind are experts at sneaking around without getting caught. This archdrone of yours probably saw us climbing the mountain, reported to its superiors, and set up that ambush."

"I see no reason to deny that," said the changeling with a shrug.

Fleur's lips curled into a knowing smirk. "Trying to act all cooperative, are you? You're probably stalling for time while Queen Chrysalis gathers her reinforcements and—"

The changeling snickered. "Queen Chrysalis? Y-you honestly think Queen Chrysalis gives a damn about us?"

Fleur blinked. "Why wouldn't she?"

"Because she sent us on this suicide mission to retrieve the Lesser Key, that's why," the changeling said, its voice dripping with venom and vitriol. "I had my doubts, but I didn't exactly have the spine to question her outright. After all, it's not a drone's place to question the Queen. But I soon found this kind of thinking to be asinine, so I abandoned it along with the hive."

Fleur shook her head. "No, you're not making sense. You're lying. Who else would you be working for if not Queen Chrysalis?"

"Why, the Ars Goetia, of course."

"WHAT?!"

A collection of gasps echoed across the mountainside as everypony recoiled from the changeling's revelation. Fleur quickly collected herself and glared down at the changeling with all the spite she could muster.

"Th-that's another lie," she growled. "Are you saying that the Ars Goetia have been released from the Lesser Key?"

The changeling knitted its brow. "Well, yes and no. You see— ack!"

Fleur hefted the changeling up with her magic and slammed it into a nearby slab of rock. As it recovered from the blow, she marched right up to it and got right in its face.

"If you want to survive, you're going to have to start making sense, roach," she seethed.

"I-I was about to explain," the changeling muttered. "F-from what I understand, the Ars Goetia have transferred their collective consciousness into a host body. That host has been living in these mountains for years, trying to find a way to unleash their full power."

Fleur arched an eyebrow. "Do you honestly expect me to believe that?"

"I'm not telling you what to believe, pony. I'm simply answering your ques— Oof!"

Once again, Fleur slammed the changeling against the stone slab. "Don't get cute with me, you worm! I'm wise to your tricks!"

"Out of curiosity, are you planning on believing anything this guy says?" asked Lyra, folding her forelegs. "Because if not, we're probably going to be here awhile."

Fleur whipped around savagely, dropping the changeling to the ground as she advanced towards Lyra. "I don't need you to tell me how to do my job, peasant! You haven't dealt with these monsters like I have! You never had to shred their lies! You never had to thwart them day after day as they tried over and over again to hurt the pony you dedicated your life to protect! So don't act like you know what you're talking about, because you don't! You don't even belong here!"

Lyra winced at Fleur's tirade, but she refused to back down. "Well, I'm here now, so you'd better get used to it, missy."

Fleur snorted angrily. "I'm getting really close to the end of my tether with you, you uncultured, petulant, thin-skinned—"

"Okay, that's quite enough."

Moondancer suddenly teleported between Fleur and Lyra, a stern look on her face.

"This sort of petty argument won't get us anywhere. We have nothing to gain from fighting amongst ourselves," she stated flatly.

"She's right, Lyra," Bon-Bon chimed in. "I told you not to get into fights with Lady de Lis."

"Hey, I was just making an observation," Lyra protested, giving Fleur the evil eye. "It's her fault for taking it so personally."

"That doesn't change the fact that you provoked her," Bon-Bon scolded.

"Oh, sure. Take her side," Lyra huffed, rolling her eyes.

Bon-Bon groaned. "Lyra, please don't do this to me. I'm not taking anypony's side. Neither of you are exactly innocent in all this."

Fleur gasped indignantly. "That is simply outrageous, Sweetie Drops. I haven't done anything wrong."

"You mean besides letting your anti-changeling bias and your pride get in the way?" Minuette asked rhetorically.

Fleur's cheeks flushed bright red. "Th-that's not what happened. I-I was merely erring on the side of caution. You can't be too careful with changelings."

"As true as that may be, we have no reason to believe that it's lying. And no, your previous experience with changelings doesn't count," said Minuette.

Fleur scoffed and turned up her nose. "Call me what you will, but I have never met a changeling who didn't have some sort of sinister agenda."

"No comment," said Minuette with a sigh. "Look, Fleur. I can check the time stream and confirm this guy's story if you want. But you have to admit that simply doubting its word because of your grudge against its species will not get us anywhere."

Fleur chewed on her lip and knitted her brow. As she did this, the changeling slowly got to its feet. It started to tiptoe away, only to trip when a pink magical aura caught its leg.

"I saw that," said Moondancer, pressing her glasses against her nose. "We're not done with you just yet."

The changeling let out a deep-throated snarl. "I was just trying to get away from the senseless bickering."

"Regardless, there's still one thing you have to do for us," said Bon-Bon.

The changeling suddenly gulped. "Um, what's that, then?"

"You're going to lead us to the Lesser Key."

"And what makes you think I'll agree to—?"

Bon-Bon interrupted the changeling by holding up a hoof to its face. "I've got one reason right here. Do I need more?"

The changeling shook its head vigorously. "N-no no! Th-that's fine. That's a very good reason, actually. I-I'll help, I'll help. J-just don't hurt me."

"Good," said Bon-Bon with a smirk. She turned to face the others, only to see Lyra with a concerned look on her face. Bon-Bon's own smile faded. "I-I'm sorry, Lyra. I didn't mean to scare you."

"N-no, it's fine. It's all part of being a secret agent, right?" said Lyra.

Bon-Bon tilted her head. "Lyra, is something wrong?"

"I don't know. It doesn't really matter, anyway," Lyra replied flatly. "Let's just go."

"Agreed," said Fleur. "And, let's try not to get on each other's nerves from now on."

"Fine by me," Lyra concurred, shooting Fleur one final glare.

"Alright, buddy. Looks like we're all sorted out over here," said Minuette, turning to the changeling. "Lead the way. Oh, and don't try to misdirect us. Otherwise, well, you're gonna make Bon-Bon mad."

The changeling blinked. "Um, which one of you is—?"

"She's the Earth Pony."

"Right, yes. Of course," said the changeling, clearing its throat. "This way, then."

It then began trudging up the mountain with the five mares at its heels. Bon-Bon divided her attention between Lyra and Fleur as she continued to march forward. Both of them still appeared to be highly agitated. She sighed and reflected on Fleur's words and behavior. Before she realized it, this reflection managed to trigger yet another flashback, and she reentered her fugue state once more...