Chapters Chapter 2 (Sweetie Belle)
This had to be the single best day of her life so far. Better than anything that had happened to her this far. Sweetie Belle could hardly believe this was happening! Not only had her sister gotten one of the most important jobs she had ever been asked of (which Sweetie could care less about), but Rarity suggested the CMC to be the flower fillies! When her big sister asked them if they would like to, all they did was squeal with excitement. They were, undoubtedly, all thinking the same thing: flower filly cutie marks, here we come!
Sweetie Belle usually didn't care about fancy dresses and all that, but this was special. She was told that she was going to Twilight's brother's wedding. And not only that, but he was marrying a princess ! She was tearing through her closet of fancy cloths that her sister had made her (that she never wore), trying to find the right one.
"No, too goth," she said and threw the black dress across the room, "no, too bright," she tossed the pure white dress that would have made anyone go blind, "too colorful," across the room a rainbow colored dress went.
"Sweetie, stop that!" a very dramatic sounding voice came from the door way, "You'll ruin them!"
"Sorry," Sweetie said, rolling her eyes, "I just can't find anything to wear."
"Oh its quite alright, I'll just make you something. You're friends need something too, correct? Of course they do. That Applejack is too focused on her work to have any fashion sense. And I have no idea about Scootaloo."
"Don't you ever think you're a little too generous?" Sweetie mumbled as she sat on her bed.
"No, why?" Rarity said with a small grin.
"Huh? I didn't say anything," she said innocently.
"Sure you didn't," Rarity said, kissed her forehead, and left the room.
As soon as she left the room, Sweetie started singing quietly. She knew from experience that her sister didn't like to be bothered while she was working on her one of her "masterpieces." So quiet she stayed. She tried to distract herself with other things after she was done singing. For example: she tried coloring, bouncing on her bed, magic, and all sorts of different things.
Finally, she decided to go see what Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were doing. She crept past Rarity's room and left a note on the table, then she left the boutique silently. She looked to her right and saw a bush rustling. When she went to go and investigate, she was ambushed by a small orange pegasus with a purple mane.
"Why did you do that?" Sweetie said before she realized who it was, "oh! Hi Scoots! I was just about to come visit you."
"I was just coming to see you too!" Scootaloo, one of Sweetie Belle's two best friends, said, "Wanna go see what AB's doing?"
"Sure!" Sweetie said cheerfully.
The two fillies went through town, just walking by everypony who watched them. All Sweetie did was sigh. The three of them were less trusted in the town, mainly because of their outrageous ways to try to get their cutie marks. This had resulted in massive property damage almost every time. And somehow, it was always payed for. Whoever or whatever was doing that was way beyond Sweetie's knowledge. All she had were guesses, which was that her big sister was paying for it.
"Wouldn't doubt it," Scootaloo had agreed at a CMC meeting where they had discussed it.
Finally, the two fillies got to their destination, Sweet Apple Acres. The two looked around for Applejack or Big Mac, but neither was anywhere in sight. The two looked at each other and went up to the door, and knocked.
"I got it!" came a voice that could have woken Luna.
Scoots looked at Sweetie excitedly. If Sweetie remembered anything, Scoots had told her at the last CMC meeting that Rainbow Dash, her complete idol, was also invited to the wedding. What's more is that she adopted a young colt their age named Morning. No matter how many times Scootaloo had tried to hide it, Sweetie could tell that she had eyes for this "Morning" character, whoever that was.
"Oh, hi Scoots! Oh, and Sweetie too!" a young colt said. The first thing Sweetie noticed was that he had no cutie mark. Then she noticed he had a sky blue coat and a grey mane. He also had one yellow eye and one blue one, which caught her off guard.
"Hey Morning!" Scootaloo said, barely holding herself together, "why are you here?"
"Oh, I'm here with my mom," he said kicking the ground a little, "she's planning for some big wedding I don't get to go to. I think she wants to keep me a secret or something."
"Oh," Sweetie cut in, trying to tear her friend from the cute colt that was standing in front of them, "well that's too bad. Have you seen Applebloom?"
"Yes I have."
Sweetie waited for him to finish, then when he didn't she smiled large and awkwardly, "where is she?"
"In the fields," he said and pointed them in the direction.
"In the distance she saw a lone figure," Sweetie said to herself sub-consciously.
"What was that?" Scoots and Morning said in unison, then blushed and looked away from each other.
"What was what?" she said and trotted in Applebloom's direction.
When she got within five feet of AB, she slowed to a brisk tip-hoof. As she snuck up on the young bow-topped filly, she snickered in her head. This was going to be the best of all of the scares she had done to either of her friends in a while. She was a few inches away, Applebloom still watching the sky, and lowered her horn. Then something amazing happened.
The small yellow filly turned around and yelled, "Not this time!"
Sweetie was sitting on the ground as if she wasn't about to do anything.
"What? I'm just trying to find what you were looking at," she answered casually and pointed to what looked like Rainbow Dash prepping for something.
"Right," Applebloom said, "wutever you say Sweetie Belle."
"So... where is... everypony?" Scoots, who had caught up and was out of breath, said.
"In the house," she said and looked back up at the sky in thought, "mah sister's pickin' who's gunna go with'er to the weddin'. Mahnus me've course."
"Why would Applejack be picking that?" Scootaloo said, cocking her head to the right a little (which sort of reminded Sweetie of a chicken), "I thought it was Twilight's brother's wedding?"
"It is, but mah sister got put in charge of makin' the cake," Applebloom said with pride.
"oohh," Sweetie and Scootaloo said in unison.
"My sister's making the dresses," Sweetie said, rolling her eyes, "including ours."
"Really?" Applebloom said excitedly.
"Oh if only Morning were coming," Scootaloo thought out loud, "then he could meet me at the end of the isle and hold me for all eternity," she sighed.
Applebloom snickered along with Sweetie Belle. This was something Scootaloo had been doing since she first layed eyes on Morning. And even more-so when she "talked" to him for the first time (if you count blubbering random gibberish for fifteen minutes, then fainting, as talking). Sweetie didn't even think Scoots knew she was even saying this out loud!
"uh Scoots?" Applebloom said in mid-giggle, "yer doin' it again."
"Doin' wut again?" she said, imitating her voice.
"Day dreamin' about Morning" came a female voice from behind Scootaloo.
Sweetie turned around to see a rainbow-maned pegasus with a cyan coat. Rainbow Dash, the adoptive mother of Morning and the one who was trying to teach Scootaloo how to fly, was right behind them the whole time and they didn't even notice.
"H-hi Rainbow D-Dash," Scoots said nervously, but excitedly.
"Hey kid," she said with a friendly mane-ruffle, "word is that you three are the flower fillies."
"Yup!" Applebloom said with confidence, "Wut're you doin' for the weddin'?"
"Oh, not too much," Rainbow said, flexing her front right bicep, "just performing a Sonic Rainboom after the ceremony."
Scootaloo nearly fainted. Sweetie had gotten to see a Sonic Rainboom only once, when Rainbow Dash had saved her sister and the Wonderbolts from falling to their death. When she saw it, she thought it was some sort of awesome spell or something. Then her sister came back, a little down about something, with the tale of what happened.
"Of course, * nopony could stop staring at my **beautiful wings that Twilight had made for me,"* her sister had said.
And that was pretty much the whole story. At least that's what it sounded like to Sweetie Belle. To be honest, she stopped listening completely after she mentioned anything that has to do with beauty.
"Hey everypony! The Train'll be here any moment!" Applejack's voice rang through the fields.
"Oh," Rainbow Dash said and picked up Scootaloo, "here let me give you a ride," and she took off, with Scootaloo buzzing her wings like she was flying.
"Ah guess we have t' walk," Applebloom sighed.
"Yeah," Sweetie said after clicking her tongue lightly, "lets go."
"Nnnope," a deep voice said from behind them as they were picked up by a wheelbarrow and carried swiftly to the train station.
When the three got there, the train was already leaving. Big Mac saw this and quickly thought of something. He yelled at the train, where Applejack emerged, picked up Applebloom, and threw her to the moving train. If he missed, it would have been all over. Luckily, Applejack caught the shivering filly and set her down on the floor.
Now it was Sweetie's turn. Big Mac lifted her up and threw her at the train. He. Missed.
Mogard took his position on top of the mountain that housed the hive. He eventually was joined by two others: Inquistrix and Magre. The two were slightly larger than him, and were far older too. Word was that Inquistrix had tried to take their queen's throne and failed miserably. If this is true, then why is she still in the hive? is probably what you lot are thinking. Well stop that! It is my story and you should deal with it.
"So noob," Magre said harshly, "y'ready to fight?"
"Uh... yeah," Mogard said in mock confidence, "L-lets go beat up some ponies."
"No, you don't want to beat them up!" Inquistrix, or Trix as she preferred to be called, "you want to wrap them in the goop, beat the crap outta them, suck them dry of any happy and bubbly emotion, then ssslice their head off!"
Mogard cringed at the thought. Sure he was taught to be a mean, lean, emotion sucking machine, and he is fine with that. But something in him made him think this was wrong. I mean, what did they do to us to make us want to go to war? Is food really such a problem that we must kill to get it? Isn't there some sort of spell or something?
The two older changelings exchanged glances. They were both thinking the same thing: his loyalty is wavering .
"Don't worry noob," Magre said, wrapping a front leg around him and gesturing out in the distance with the other, "out there, there's millions of opportunities to find who you really are. Who knows? Maybe after this whole invasion thing is over, maybe you'll find the right one for you."
"Mag!" Trix hissed, "are you trying to get him kicked out of the hive? You know the rules. No contact with ponies of any kind except to drain them of their love. "
"Yeah yeah, I know."
"Then why'd yo-"
She was cut off when a hologram of a pink pony with a horn and wings appeared in front of them. The pony was surrounded by a green light and was revealed to be their queen, "are you three ready?"
"Ready as I will ever be," Magre said in anticipation.
"Prepared and ready to join you, my queen," Trix said with a smile.
"Y-yes Ma'am," Mogard said, although the "Ma'am" sounded more like "Mom" to the other two.
"You may now take flight," instructed Chrysalis.
The three revved their wings and took off. Mogard couldn't hear the cheering as he took flight along side the two others. He couldn't hear the wind in his ears, nor the chatting between Magre and Trix about leaving the hive and starting their own when this was over. The only thing he could hear, was the sound of a tiny voice in his head that was telling him to turn back.
When they got to the kingdom, they were escorted by a small group of changelings that had escorted Chrysalis there. They were disguised as guards so they could sneak in and out easier. The three were brought into a large cavern filled with reflective crystals.
"Why didn't we make our hive here ?" Trix asked herself in wonder.
"Welcome to Equestria you three," an unfamiliar voice came out to them.
Mogard looked up to see he same pink pony that Chrysalis had disguised herself as. He also saw a set of three very beaten up female ponies. One a minty green, one blue, and another cream-colored with a pink mane. They were barely living. I know what I must do... It's very risky though. Mogard thought to himself.
"These things are your disguise," the disguised Chrysalis instructed with an accent of disgust.
Mogard closed his eyes and concentrated. He was enveloped by a green light, and soon felt the changes taking place on his body. He was growing hairs all over his black body, and his wings were shrinking into his back. His eyes were growing a tad smaller and were becoming just like the eyes of one of the ponies in front of him. The one he had concentrated on the most. The one he wanted to save the most.
When it was over, he looked at his reflection in the nearest crystal. He was the cream colored female with a pink mane. He looked at the original pony the look came from. He made his best "I'm sorry" look that he could. The pony seemed to understand.
You' not like them, are you? A voice in his head asked.
Like who? Who is this? He thought to himself.
The pony in front of you.
Oh, yeah. No I'm not like them at all. I do not wish to do this. But I have no choice. I will set you and your friends free at the end of the day, when there was no chance of being caught. He thought. This, I promise.
I will hold you true to that. Thank you.
Mogard looked at his two companions and saw one had turned into the minty green one, and the other into the blue one. They were admiring their new forms, looking at their hooves and touching their horns. It was almost as if they ha never turned into one! Hah. Who's the noob now? He thought to himself with a light chuckle.
Chrysalis somehow heard this and laughed a small, snobbish laugh. It must come with the form she's taken. Mogard thought with a shrug.
"Dear son," Chrysalis said to Mogard as the other two were brought to where they would be living by changeling guards, "please stand by my side."
He nodded and stood next to her makeshift throne, "Yes Mother?"
"If you wish, you may bring the prisoners to your quarters," she said quietly, "do with them what you wish."
This was his chance to show he didn't want any part of this! And he wasn't going to let it slip away.
"Yes Mother," he said with another nod. He was still getting used to hearing his new voice, "anything else?"
"Yes," she said, her eyes darting toward the corridor that the other two had been taken through, "Keep an eye on those two, I sense they are planning something."
"They are," he said and covered his mouth.
"Are they?" She said, one eye narrowing in suspicion, "What would that be?"
"They are planning to leave the hive and start their own."
The queen said nothing else and waved him and the prisoners off. He took the chains that bound them and obtained the keys from the guards. He was shown the way to his living quarters. It was inside of a magnificent castle. The room was large and was decorated with expensive-looking furniture.
When they got into the room, he turned around and took off his disguise, storing it in his memory. As soon as the green light subsided, the green one screamed.
"What the hay is that thing!?" she screamed loudly, as if she had been unconscious when Mogard had first seen her. Oh wait... she had, "what are you going to do to us?" she looked at the bed and at Mogard with fear in her eyes.
The blue one was only slightly more annoying in her reaction.
"Oh dear Celestia, have mercy on us," she said backing away slowly, "I haven't brushed today, I'm not ready to die!"
"Will both of you shut up ?" the cream-colored one said in annoyance, "he isn't going to kill us, Colgate" she looked at the blue one, "and he isn't going to rape us Lyra," she looked at the green one.
"I am sorry about my Mother," he said looking down, "I do not wish to do this to your kind any more."
"Prove it," the one called Lyra said, rolling her eyes.
"I have seen what your land is like from above," he said while undoing the chains on their hooves, "it is a very rich and plentiful land. Where I come from, there is only mountains and desert. One would rarely see life, with the only exceptions being us, the changelings, and wolves that are as thin as skeletons. I do not know what my land was like before we invaded it, but I do know that it was much like yours."
"He isn't like them," the cream-colored one said, "look, he's smaller and younger looking than the rest too."
"Yes it is true," Lyra said, deep in thought, "Oh all right," she trotted over to the bed and lied down on it, "lets get this over with."
"Lyra," the one called Colgate groaned and put a hoof to her face, "I think he's too young to even know what that even means."
"oh... I knew that," she said with a slight blush, "so uh... what are you going to do?"
Mogard looked straight at the cream-colored one and said, "I'm setting you free. She said to do with you as I wish, and I am setting you free."
"Really?" Lyra said, her eyes widening, "we can return to Ponyville!"
The three hugged him tightly. So tightly, in fact, that he thought his exoskeleton would crack! He began to struggle to get free.
"Oh., whoops, sorry," Lyra said with a blush.
The cream-colored one stuck out her hoof, "I never introduced myself. My name is Cream Swirl."
Mogard took her hoof and shook it, "Mogard, my name is Mogard."
"That was the beginning of how a changeling had a change of heart and fell in love with a beautiful mare," a mint green unicorn with a blue mane and yellow eyes said.
"Aww," a small filly unicorn with changeling eyes and a white coat and blue mane moaned, "is it over already?"
"I'm afraid so dear," a pure white unicorn with a purple and pink mane said soothingly, petting her mane, "at least for tonight."
"Okay," the filly said and curled up in her bed, "will you at least continue it tomorrow? I want to hear how the two meet."
The green stallion looked at the mare in amazement, "I-I guess so, I never thought it was a very interesting story."
"Okay daddy, good night."
The two older unicorns left the room. When the door was closed, the stallion said, "Sweetie, what should I tell her?"
"Tell her the truth, you said you would," the mare, now known to us as Sweetie Belle, said and kissed his cheek.
Chapter 4 (Sweetie Belle)
There was one thing Sweetie didn't about getting to share a castle with the princesses and being a flower filly to a princess: having to try on every last dress her sister made for her, her friends and the bride's maids.
"Are we almost done?" Sweetie whined as her sister put another dress on her.
"Almost," Rarity said as she forced another dress over Sweetie's head, minding the horn, "I know you want to go explore the castle, but you promised to help."
"Yeah, but I didn't Pinkie Promise ," she grumbled.
"But a promise is a promise, isn't it?" Rarity said in a sing-song way, "also, blue isn't your color."
"Gee, thanks."
The rest of the day passed like this for Sweetie Belle. She didn't even get to eat lunch because of her sister, and by the end of the day, Sweetie had tried on at least twenty different dresses. All of which were reduced to mere fabrics when they were disapproved by Rarity. The good news was that Rarity's shipment of mannequins were coming in over night so Sweetie could have the day off.
The wedding was in two days.
Sweetie had finally gotten the chance to explore the castle after breakfast. As she passed through multiple corridors, different ways of how to get a cutie mark passed through her mind. Castle jumper, time traveler, and harpoon thrower were just a few of the interesting ones.
After only a few more steps, Sweetie found herself in a part of the castle unlike any other part she had seen. This corridor was darker than the sun-filled passageways of the rest of the castle. In fact, it was so dark that when Sweetie continued through the dark hallway, she couldn't see her own hooves! She decided to stop moving and let her eyes adjust. When they didn't, she decided that this was the perfect time to try a spell Twilight had tried teaching her.
Sweetie concentrated extremely hard on her horn. After a few seconds, it began to glow with a light blue light, making a sort of flashlight effect on the walls. She saw a door slightly cracked open, and decided to look inside. Just then she heard a voice that she would never mistake.
"Curiosity killed the cat," a deeper female voice came from behind her.
Sweetie turned around to see Princess Luna, looking down at her with a warm, but still frightening, smile. For a moment, Sweetie imagined the princess as a frightening monster, but then returned to normal. Then, for another moment, she saw her as a caring mother figure that she could tell anything to. Immediately, though, she returned to what she usually looked like
"Y-yes Ma'am," Sweetie stammered, "I know."
"What brings thou into my domain?" the lunar princess asked, going a bit lower to be at Sweetie's level "As if I didn't know."
"Well," Sweetie said, seeing her more caring side come out a bit, "it's just that I'm bored, and I don't really have much to do. Applebloom is helping out her sister; Scootaloo is watching Rainbow Dash prep for a Sonic Rainboom; and I'm stuck helping my sister with stuff I don't even care about."
"Yes, I understand," Luna said sympathetically, "I too was once a filly, and thus was full of curiosity. I had once wandered into a realm outside of Equestria. A land called the Badlands. In this land, seldom living beings exist. Only the Zebraik tribe and the Changelings are known to date."
"What are Changelings?" Sweetie asked, not hearing this word from anyone or reading it in any books.
"Changelings are vile creatures," Luna said and focused a spell. An illusion spell to be exact.
Luna shot a beam of light onto the ground, where a small hole opened up. After a few seconds, a black hoof stuck out of the hole. Then another hoof, then a head, a body, and the hind legs. The legs attached to the hooves had holes inside of them. Its face had no mane and pure blue, fly-like eyes. It had a curved horn on top of its head. On its back were clear insect-like wings. Sweetie gasped.
"This," Luna said and gestured to the creature, "is a changeling. They live in enormous hives hidden away in mountains or caves. They feed on love, until the one fed on is completely under their control if they wish."
"Love?" Sweetie asked, "what do you mean?"
"They feed on the raw emotion itself."
"Oh," Sweetie said. How would they do that? Do they kiss their victim? I've seen Scoots pretending to kiss Morning in one of her daydreams.
"They use a substance that amplifies their ability to extract the emotion, so there is no kissing involved," Luna said, looking down at Sweetie with a smile.
Sweetie blushed, remembering that she could read minds. How? She didn't know. But what she did know was that now, if Luna hadn't known already, Luna knew about Scoots and her dreams about Morning.
"You wish to see what your friend dreams, don't you?"
"What?" Sweetie said, feeling doubt deep in her gut, "no, that's her business!"
"If you say so," Luna said and started walking away, the illusion of the Changeling fading away, "dinner is ready, by the way."
Sweetie's stomach rumbled. She was pretty hungry. Sweetie was soon following, practically floating, towards a particularly delicious smell. Where she ended up was the kitchen, where Applejack was hard at work, cleaning the kitchen for the end of the day. She looked around to see Applebloom cleaning the dishes. Sweetie decided to leave and find her sister.
The good thing was that her sister needed some privacy that night. For what, Sweetie didn't know (nor did she want to). Except for the fact that as soon as she left the room, she heard some odd sounds and cries coming from the room. Sweetie got out of there as soon as she could.
"Now where am I going to sleep?" she asked herself.
"You could stay with Scoots and me," came the voice of Applebloom from behind her.
"Oh," Sweetie said plainly, "why didn't I think of that?"
"Sweetie followed her friend to their room, where nasty clop ensued. Just kidding. Although Sweetie ended up dreaming about Scootaloo and Morning doing the dirty deed when they get older. That is as far as I am going to go."
The stallion left the room and was greeted by a punch to the arm.
"Ow! Was that necessary?" he complained
"Yes," Sweetie said matter-of-factly, "because you shared personal things that i have only told you about."
"Sorry," the stallion blushed, "I love you."
Sweetie kissed the stallion, "I love you too Lucky."
This is where we skip to the day you have been waiting for.
The day had finally come. Mogard should be excited about this, but instead was regretting ever even signing up. Just yesterday, he had seen a pony unlike any other. She had a purple mane and tail, along with a pure white coat and green eyes. Although he knew it would never happen, he couldn't help but follow her for a little bit.
Chrysalis had changed some plans, and had found the three escapees that Mogard had set free. She took them under her control and had them patrol the only exit to the caves. All the other changelings, including Mogard, had to get ready for the attack. Every second that passed only made Mogard worry more. His thoughts kept moving to that mare pony he had followed the day before. And every time, he shook them out and remembered his training. While he was waiting for the signal, he listened in to the conversations around him.
"how is this going to work?"
"Don't we want to trick them into thinking we are them?"
"Why are those two making out?"
"Why is everyone asking stupid questions?!" this one came from a very disgruntled and annoyed changeling. Mogard turned around to see his best friend walking toward him, while the stupid questions continued.
"Gorn?" Mogard asked in disbelief, "why are you here?"
"I'm doin' my duty," he said with pride, "as my part for the hive. What about you?"
"Change of plans," he said simply. Mogard looked up into the sky, at the pink bubble-like shield keeping the others out.
When he looked closely, he could see small black objects slamming repeatedly against the bubble, causing cracks. Why would anyone do it like that? Mogard thought and saw the few black specs that weren't moving, not even floating. They must've snapped their necks trying or something.
Suddenly, the bubble shattered, as if it had been popped. the group around Mogard and Gorn started charging. Gorn did the same. Soon, Mogard was left all alone. An image flashed in his head. He saw a few changelings, including Gorn surrounding three young ponies. One orange, one yellow with a pink bow, and the third was the pony he followed. They were all in dresses that slowed down their movement.
Mogard began to get worried. He hurried to the location he had seen in the vision to see if it was true. When he got there, he saw Gorn and two other Changelings cornering three frightened ponies in dresses. It was true! It was time to use something that Mogard had been training himself for. Very few Changelings can do this, but only masters can do it perfectly. He took pieces of ponies he had seen (in this case Lyra, Colgate, and Cream) and put them together in his mind. He made it male, and put it to use.
In no time, he looked like a normal, young pony. He contemplated his plan for a few moments before realizing that he didn't have a few moments! He jumped down in front of the three Changelings and prepared to fight.
"Get out of my way worm ," Gorn hissed. His disguise was so good that even his best friend didn't recognize him!
"Make me," Mogard smiled and got into a battle position. This time, this was life or death. Only one of them would be walking away alive.
The other two changelings accompanying Gorn began to advance, before he stopped them. The two backed off a short distance. Gorn then stepped up. He seemed to have grown quite a bit since Mogard had seen him last. Before, they had been about the same height, now Gorn seemed to be much taller and stronger-looking. Perhaps it was from leading this strike team. Whatever it was, it really worked.
Gorn was the first to charge. He let out a fierce battle cry and covered himself in a green light. Mogard returned the charge and battle cry, but instead of cloak himself in light, he jumped up and over his opponent. He landed right behind him and waited for him to realize.
Gorn skidded to a stop and turned around, only to be greeted by a swift uppercut. Gorn was pretty-much flying without using his wings.
"What goes up, must go back down!" Mogard mumbled as he used his hind legs to send Gorn crashing into the side of a building. He heard a small gasp come from the three he was protecting. He looked back for a moment to see the yellow one covering her mouth with realization. He also saw the orange one's lips move. He couldn't hear what she was saying, so he turned back to his opponent. He was greeted by a blast of green light.
It took all of Mogard's concentration to keep his illusion up. Whenever a changeling takes damage, the illusion that they have put up around them begins to fade. Unless the changeling is still conscious, then the illusion fades away. Mogard couldn't let that happen.
Mogard struggled to his hooves, wincing with pain. I will not lose... He thought to himself, "I will not lose!"
Gorn was taken aback by Mogard's will to become victorious. He took a few steps back in astonishment, "How? You're just a pathetic little brat!"
"I'm more than that Gorn," he said and charged his best friend.
"Wha-!?" that was his only reaction. He was impaled with a green blade-like piece of magic, green blood dripping from the wound. Gorn made some gurgling sounds as the same green blood dripped out of his mouth. After Mogard calmed down, the blade dissipated. He was still breathing heavily, still standing because of the huge rush of adrenaline cursing through his veins.
It all started with a queen. This queen was Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings. But this queen had a secret. She has a son. Now, I know what you all are thinking, the whole hive is her children. But none of them are as close as her actual son. This young Changeling is named Mogard. Chrysalis' pride and joy. At the time, he was just a young larva. Every night, the queen would stroll past the growing chambers in her hive to see how the newer additions to the hive were coming along. But she would always stop by Mogard's chamber and speak to him, like a mother speaking to her baby.
"Do not worry, my son," she would say to the infant Changeling she would later learn to love like no other she would ever meet, "our chance at redemption will soon come. And you will help me lead us to victory."
The larva would just wriggle and make baby noises in response. This young Changeling would later learn that face was his mother's in due time. This is where we will be skipping to. All the way to when he is about eight years old.
________________________________________
The Changelings are trained in many forms of battle. From changing form, to miniscule magical capabilities, and everything in between. It is in the training coliseum that we see our main hero, Mogard the Changeling, training for what would turn out to be fate itself working to preserve the peace. They were prepping for war. War on Equestria.
"No! You must be faster than that!" the instructor hissed at Mogard as he charged his opponent, a pony that had been captured on the outskirts of Equestria.
The captured pony was fearful, but relentless. He yelled and struck Mogard upside the head with his hoof. Mogard quickly recovered and backed off a few steps. The instructor was confused at this change in tactics, but kept silent. Mogard squinted his eyes with the effort of doing something that only he and a few other Changelings possessed. This ability was called by the ponies: telepathy. The Changelings called it something that sounded like a mixture of a hiss and a low growl.
What he was doing was looking into his target's memories for something. It couldn't go very far into the memory, or too recent. It could only pick up those most important to whoever the target was. Finally, Mogard rested on a face, the face of a mare pegasus. She looked oddly like the stallion in front of him, except with a deep grey coat instead of a white one and yellow eyes, unlike the green eyes that resided in the stallion's eye sockets. The mane was a blond color, along with the tail. On her flank, were a mass of white spots.
Mogard smiled and jumped into the shadows, out of sight of his opponent. Then he concentrated his energy in the small horn on his head and began to change. Soon he was exactly what he had seen in the image in his opponent's mind. He walked out of the shadows and confronted the frightened pegasus.
"D-Derpy?" he began, "H-how did you get here? I thought you were back in Ponyville?"
Mogard simply nodded. He didn't know how to mimic voices yet, only appearances. He continued moving forward, toward the frightened pony, readying his magic to suck whatever love this stallion felt for his new form.
"W-wait," the pony said suddenly, "something isn't right... Derpy Doesn’t have a tooth missing."
Mogard gasped and took off his disguise. So close ! He thought to himself in anger. Plan B then...
Mogard rose up on his hind legs and jumped high into the air. He hovered there for a few moments, buzzing his wings with anticipation, while working out a plan. Then he started a steep dive-bomb. He concentrated the small amount of magic they were taught to supercharge his decent and make his impact harmless to his own body, sort of like a shield. He landed right in front of the pegasus and hissed. The pony reared on its hind legs and fell on his back.
His head hit a rock and he was out cold. Mogard saw this as an opportunity and approached his fallen opponent. When he got to the downed Pegasus, he stretched his front right leg out and helped the pony to its hooves.
The instructor began to clap, "very good Mogard! Fastest time today! Gorn, you must work on your speed and tacticts."
"Yes sir," the pegasus said. He was suddenly surrounded by a ring of green, as his disguise wore off. He turned to Mogard, "You did very well! It never gets old fighting you."
"Likewise," Mogard said with a smile, "those ponies don't stand a chance against us."
"Agreed," Gorn said and put his leg around Mogard, "let’s go, the queen has an announcement."
________________________________________
"My beloved subjects," the booming voice of Chrysalis, their queen and mother, "I know you are all starving. And I appreciate you're continued efforts. But wait no longer! We have found a land where love is everywhere! In the air, in the food, and most importantly, in the ponies. No longer will we starve. No longer will we be forgotten," there was some excited murmuring in the large crowd, "I would like to call up those who will be leading the invasion."
Mogard looked around at all of the others, who had suddenly become quiet, and smiled. He already knew he was being picked, mainly because he was already told who was being picked by his mom. Chrysalis cleared her throat and began reading off the names.
"Gorn will be in charge of the group destroying their protection," she began. She motioned for Gorn to go and join her, which he did eagerly, "Scrips is leading strike team 1," The Changeling named Scrips flew up and stood next to Gorn, "And finally, Mogard. He will be joining me and two others in infiltrating their capital."
Mogard acted surprised and flew up to stand next to his mother, with a look of pride on his face. His mother looked down at him with a smile, not one of those evil smiles she gave everyone else, but a smile that said: Great job son.
"We will be leaving tomorrow as soon as the sun shines," Chrysalis yelled over the cheers for the three young Changelings, "Be ready. I have them within my grasp!" And with that, Chrysalis faded out. She was in the capital already and was nearly ready for the attack to commence.
"I can't believe it!" Gorn said in surprise, "We actually got picked!"
"I know!" Mogard said, trying his best to sound surprised. He never was a really good actor.
"You're hiding something," Gorn said, narrowing his eyes, "aren't you?"
"Hiding something?" He said, cocking his head in confusion, "I'm not hiding anything."
"You're getting intimate with the queen, aren't you?" Scrips said mockingly, "Lucky bastard!"
Mogard just laughed nervously before sighing. That was too close. I gotta be more careful.