The Dark Horse Initative

\ Hours since Op 3 start: 168

// Days since Canterlot Incident: 107

|| the Everfree Forest

The crosshairs of my rifle's scope were centered on the back of the changeling captain's neck, specifically that one thick, meaty section right below the skull and right above where the spinal column begins when the third digit in the ever-growing number on the mission clock rolled around to eight.

168 hours. One week. One entire week of reconnaissance, a week of lying in the prone position on a thin bedroll perched on a rock behind a flimsy blind loaded full of sharp sticks with leaves still attached. One week of staring at changelings through a scope, lining up imaginary kill shots with my hoof on the trigger, rifle unloaded, safety on. One week of having to repress the ever-present thought in the back of my brain that asks, simply, what if they've seen me? One week living in an improvised camp in a small, thick outcropping of trees twenty feet from a cliff with no campfire, no hot food, and no lights. One week without even being able to levitate out a pebble lodged in my tactical webbing any time after sundown for fear of a changeling seeing the light emanating from my horn.

Of course, when hour 168 rolled around, that pebble had been digging into my side for nearly four hours. I hate that pebble.

I don't mean to make it sound like I don't like my job. No, in fact, I love my job, and that one week is the second best part of it, besides the successful execution of a mission. When I know, for a fact, that I have assigned names to every single target in a five-mile vicinity, without any of the targets ever having been aware of my existence, I think to myself how much I love my job. And I know my spotter feels exactly the same way.

Speaking of my spotter, she was in the same situation I was. She had been lying right next to me in a nearly identical blind staring down her spotter's scope for the greater part of three hours, having returned from what she called "aerial reconnaissance" and what I called "an excuse to stretch her wings" to find me back in the blind behind the scope.

"Hey. Starlight." I whispered, reticle still fixed on the changeling captain's brain stem.

She didn't look away from the spotter's scope as she replied, "What?"

"You ever see a changeling with a urinary tract infection?"

That got her to peel her piercing eyes away from the changelings in her scope. I shot a quick glance over at them. Her neon, luminescent yellow irises were thin rings around her pitch-black pupils, enlarged and reflecting even the dull moonlight. She didn't need night vision, she had her own.

She stared at me for several seconds before a toothy grin appeared in the darkness below her eyes. Her canines were looking particularly pointy. "No." another pause. "Why?"

"You see Head Honcho down there?"

"Yeah."

"He's pissed six times in the past two hours."

She stifled a laugh, re-aiming her scope to the entrance of the changeling garrison. "One-Eye and Moony are in position."

"And Head Honcho's moving back from the latrine to his tent," I added.

Somewhere along the line, the naming procedure had evaporated from the official REA method of assigning numbers and letters and had turned into the sole form of entertainment we had during the reconnaissance phase of operations.

"Where's Bitch?" Starlight asked, swiveling the spotter's scope into the center of the camp.

"Head Honcho's tent, as usual."

"Figures. That leaves the other six. Any idea where they are?"

"Twitch, Scar and Pudge landed patrol duty tonight. Clown, Wasp and What's-His-Face are asleep in the long tent."

"Perfect. Patrol began at 2300, and it's 2330. They won't be back until 0200. That leaves us with seven targets and one-and-a-half hours to take care of any intel they've managed to gather. What's the mission clock look like?" Starlight asked, once again glancing my way.

I gently let the stock of the rifle rest on the rock, removed my hoof from the trigger and activated the small computer resting next to the rifle's loaded magazines beside my bedroll. "I've got 168 and-a-half hours."

"So, do we have a greenlight?" Starlight questioned, whispering, instantly becoming more excited.

"At any point after 168 hours, we have a greenlight." I quietly replied, quoting the rule book nearly verbatim.

"Conditions won't get any better than this. We need to move."

I nodded. "Call it in."

Her toothy grin returned. A shiver went down my spine. She silently lifted herself from her bedroll, moving off into our campsite to gather some of her gear. She returned several seconds later, her tactical gear hanging from her mouth. She spat it onto the ground, moving her hoof to her ear to turn on her headset and adjust her microphone.

"Darkstar to Dragonsbreath," She said into her mic. Her voice echoed over my headset, which I had just activated as well.

After several seconds of static, a gruff voice emanated from the other end. "Dragsonbreath here."

"Confirming Operation Three is moving from reconnaissance to execution."

Static. "Darkstar, Operation Three is in execution. Proceed at will. Keep it quiet out there, and good luck."

"Copy." She flicked the dial on the radio with her hoof. "Ischys, copy our last?"

The radio emitted only static for several seconds. "Darkstar, this is Ischys. Message received. Moving to overwatch position. Does Battlemage need an assist on any targets?"

I nonchalantly shook my head at Starlight, who immediately responded with a curtly whispered, "No."

The calm voice on the radio responded, "Copy. Ischys and Blade moving to overwatch, will hold until further update. Any details?"

Starlight thought for a moment. "Yes. 3 changelings are patrolling the target area. Generally circular movement, half mile radius from camp. Report if they deviate from that pattern, eliminate if necessary.

"Copy that. Not a problem, Darkstar. See you on the other side."

"That's a firm, Ischys."

Another voice popped in. It was Blade. "Oh, and Darkstar? Tell Battlemage to shoot straight." The voice in my ear chuckled.

I piped in. "Shut up, Blade. At least I can shoot."

Another chuckle on the other end, before the headset's speaker popped gently. Blade had turned the frequency, likely now talking to Dragonsbreath for more intel.

Starlight slung her saddlebags over her back. "You know, I have to wonder what the point is with all the callsigns. The changelings don't monitor radio frequencies." She whispered candidly as she adjusted her gear, making sure her SMG and combat knife were secure on either flank.

She was right. Nopony had ever recovered any radio monitoring equipment from the changelings. "Well, Star, it's a possibility. You know as well as I do that they are getting smarter. And besides, you need to remember that testosterone tells us members of the opposite sex that callsigns are awesome."

"Oh, you colts, still playing pretend." She jokingly chided, stretching her wings.

"We can't help it." I noted.

I could tell she was about to launch into a diatribe. "Dragonsbreath. Just say lieutenant or intel or home base…something. And Blade. His name's Sawtooth, for Celestia's sake. The two are practically interchangeable. And Ischys...where did Crow find that one?" She complained.

This was becoming a habit, Starlight getting chatty before an operation. Not that I minded. "Well, you wound up with Darkstar for a callsign. You could have just said 'no thanks' or something." I replied. I locked a loaded magazine into my rifle, cycling the bolt; the action smooth as butter. I slung it over my shoulder, the sniper rifle now resting comfortably against my back.

"Good point. I am kind of getting attached, though. I mean, it fits."

"Darkstar? Yeah, it fits. You are, after all, practically invisible any time after sundown," I replied, rolling my eyes with not a faint trace of envy.

"You've got that right." She quickly responded. It was true. Her coat was a deep charcoal, and her mane was an absolute black, although a small shimmer was visible where the moon reflected off it, which fluttered in the darkness as she flicked her mane over her back as she shot me yet another grin. I swear, any more of those and I’d be led to believe she was flirting. "Yours, on the other hoof, is as ridiculous as Sawtooth or Crow's."

"Star, I'm a unicorn. With magic. Battlemage fits."

"Yeah, okay, Battlemage. What's the mission clock say?" She abruptly ended that conversation, restlessly stretching her wings.

"168.2. We need to move."

"Copy that," She replied. "To position one?"

"After you," I curtly responded.

Position one was a short hike down the mountain, about a klick away from our camp. We had to head further into the box valley, closer to the changeling garrison. We had strategically set up our camp with a straight line of sight to the target area, but in order to use the camp as a fallback position, we would have to snipe from a different location in case we were spotted. We actually had three locations, each progressively further down the mountain and further into the valley, until we were practically right on top of the garrison, each scouted and ready for our use. We had two targets lined up at position one.

I tripped once again, my left hind hoof caught between two entwined roots jutting into the path we had cut into the forest less than a week previous, tendrils of vines and thin, whiplike sapling limbs already taking back their territory. The rate of growth in the Everfree was like nothing I had ever seen, and the sheer density of the plant life was astounding. While the impenetrability of the forest made for ample cover, it made for slow progress through its harsh grasp. While the forest was a problem in and of itself, the issue was compounded by that of elevation: navigating only hooves-wide gaps in unforgivingly thick and often thorned foliage while being able to see nearly straight down distances I could only estimate at 40 to 50 meters was downright treacherous.

There was a significant chance that this part of the Everfree had never been scouted beyond much more than aerial reconnaissance. How the 31st Winged Scout Division had spotted the nigh-on-invisible changeling garrison was still a mystery, as was the fact that a changeling garrison had been established as far north as this one. Although this was the absolute southeastern tip of the Everfree, the part of the forest closest to the changeling-dominated lands, the fact that they had an advance camp located further into Equestrian-held territory than a decent number of well-established Equestrian bases was beyond unsettling. And thus, we had been called in to eliminate it. Not by the 31st, however. They weren't privy to our existence. No, the 31st had merely done a fly-by and called it in as soon as they got back to base. This call had come straight from the top: the Royal Equestrian Council, Celestia's own cabinet of movers and shakers.

So, a little more than a week later, there we were, high in the northern side of the southernmost ridge of unnamed mountains that marked the edge of the Everfree running from east to west, hiking down into a narrow box valley. The changeling garrison was as far in to the boxed end of the valley as possible before running up the mountain. While a strategically intelligent choice of location by the changelings in terms of concealability, the garrison's position was a tactical nightmare, being surrounded by mountains on three sides. That left one avenue of escape, and three avenues of attack.

"Less than half a klick," Starlight breathed as we passed the stick we had placed conspicuously in a tree as a marker during preliminary reconnaissance about six days ago.

She hadn't made a sound the entire hike, and she hadn't been using her wings as an assist. Compared to her, I made the noise of a "lumbering bear" according to what she had told me back in training. Even still, I was all but undetectable to even the most trained listener. Which is to say, I barely knew at any given point during the hike if she was ahead of me or not. Apparently, she was.

"Good. This forest is starting to piss me off." I replied as I untangled my rifle's silencer from a particularly low-hanging tree branch, the owner of which was literally growing out of the cliff side.

About three minutes later, we had reached position one, albeit with difficulty (on my part alone). Position one was little more than a patch of fairly dry dirt with a line of sight through the trees, but it was ample room to take out the two changelings guarding the entrance, the ones we had christened One-Eye and Moony. They stood in almost the exact same positions every night while the patrol (always three changelings) moved about their appointed rounds, hiking up a short way in the mountains on the northern side of the valley first before hiking back down and repeating the process on the southern range.

After awkwardly grabbing the rifle off my back using little more than inertia and teeth (not using my magic was beginning to grate on my nerves) I deftly switched on the infrared sensor on the top of the scope, adjusting the reticle before looking down it. The valley was instantly bathed in black flecked with small patches of green and blue. The garrison was a square of yellows and oranges, although it was barely visible through the trees. The entrance, however, was fully exposed; two bright red and white spots shaped exactly like the two changeling targets standing at almost full alert. "Clear to fire?" I asked Starlight, who was prone on the ground, staring down her spotter's scope.

"Fire when ready. I've got a distance of 308.5 meters." She looked away for a few seconds, gauging the conditions. "And no wind. Easy shot."

I unfolded the rifle's bipod, dropping onto the ground to steady my shot. The changeling's glowing head was magnified 24 times in the infrared scope, bobbing slightly and turning towards his fellow guard. I took a deep breath. To insure a kill, I aimed slightly above the changeling's head, carefully accounting for distance and bullet drop.

crack.

White-hot infrared flecks erupted from the changeling's head before the rest of the creature fell into an undefinable white heap.

"One-Eye down." I barely heard her. The blood rushing in my head made sure of that.

Moony froze for a split second before recoiling instinctively at the sight of his fallen comrade. Without moving my eye out of the sight picture, I cycled the rifle's bolt, a single shell tinkling musically off small rocks before falling off the cliff.

crack.

Moony spun with the bullet's momentum, having been caught slightly left of the base of his neck.

I let my breath out, heart pounding. A faint technicolor haze overlaid my vision for several seconds.

"Kill confirmed. Chalk yourself up two more," Starlight commented.

"Any more movement in the camp?"

"Negative."

I nodded. Plan A was still in action. I could see Starlight becoming giddier by the second. I, on the other hand, was becoming more nervous on the same time scale. Plan A meant that engagement ranges moved from distances measurable in meters to ranges better assessed by measurements like hooves and inches. Ranges like the latter were Starlight's strong suit, her mastery of stealth practically insuring success. I was proficient at close range stealth, but nothing like her. And that made me nervous. Detection was exponentially more likely at closer ranges.

"Great. So much for position two and three." I flatly stated. I hadn't cycled the bolt on the rifle since downing the second guard, so I did so while staring glumly at Starlight. The shell flew soundlessly into the tree line. She smiled and shook her head.

"I'll make this easy on you. You get Bitch and Head Honcho in their tent. You can practically take both of them at once. I have to confirm three kills in a space no wider than this path without any of them waking up, without magic," She gloated, leering.  "Urgh--CQC is sooo hard," she added in a purposefully terrible impersonation of my voice before turning to continue down the mountain.

I closed my eyes for several seconds before slinging the rifle on my back once again, cinching the strap as tightly as I could. A tingle went down my spine before I ran to catch up to the midnight black pegasus.

"Ischys, confirm standby?" Starlight whispered into her headset.

"Sniper support ready, Darkstar," Crow's perpetually calm voice intoned over the radio.

"And the patrol?" She questioned.

"Spotted, not eliminated. Moving down the northern side of the mountain, about half a mile from your position."

"Good. Designate as secondary targets until we've reached fallback or until the patrol comes back."

Static. "Copy that. Good luck. Blade says to break a leg."

Starlight informed Crow exactly where Sawtooth could stick his machetes.

We were positioned in the treeline before the garrison. All was quiet. I could make out the cold bodies of the fallen guards from where I stood, as well as the gate they had failed to defend. The four meter-tall wall they lay outside was a mixture of rusted corrugated steel, tree limbs and mud. Without closer inspection, it blended in seamlessly with the rest of the forest. The only giveaway was the thin expanse of treelessness that traced the wall's path.

Starlight bobbed her head to get my attention. She motioned for me to follow her to the wall, and almost simultaneously, began silently trotting to the fence, much too fast for me to be reliably stealthy. I followed nonetheless, careful not to make excessive noise. I glanced up. The silent pegasus was already at the gate, staring at me with disdain. I hurried to catch up, making more than my fair share of noise.

"No really, take your time," Starlight sarcastically chided. I grimaced. The chill in my spine was now almost a constant.

"Starlight, I know this is pathetic, but my spine has been freaking out since we left position one." I whispered.

"Yeah, and?" Starlight hissed.

"Well, I don't know. It probably isn't good."

"You unicorns and your 'bad feelings', I swear." She unfolded her wings, gently lifting herself above the wall briefly before letting herself drop back to earth. "Entire camp's clean. Nothing moving. You've got nothing to worry about." She paused, glaring at me expectantly. "Time's wasting. Are you ready?"

I nodded, exhaling quietly. I checked my combat knife, my last line of defense. It was in place.

"Good. You know the drill. We hit our targets simultaneously, move quickly. Light discipline won't be a factor; you can use all the magic you want." She peered around the gate, into the garrison. "Move on three."

"One."

"Two." I breathed reluctantly.

"Three." We whispered in unison, both quietly throwing ourselves around the gate.

My targets were to the right, Starlight's the left. I hurriedly advanced to the main tent, which was faintly illuminated in a soft yellow light, keeping myself as low to the ground as possible. I paused behind a particularly large shadow cast within the tent, which was certainly a fairly tall crate. Starlight had positioned herself adjacent to the barracks tent flap. She was frozen, glancing at me.

She raised one hoof, slowly drawing it higher. At once, she dropped it. Go.

I didn't have time to see her burst through the tent door. At that instant, the familiar feeling of complete control by a combination pure training and pure instinct took over, and I threw myself into the tent, closing the ten hoof gap between the crate I was positioned behind and the tent door nearly instantaneously. My body flew through the tent flap, and I immediately took survey of the situation.

Bitch was standing close on my right, rifling through an open crate. Honcho, the changeling captain, was seated in the far left corner, poring over a stack of papers.

Easy.

Bitch was first. A blue, pulsating wave of magic enveloped his scrawny, ebony form, simultaneously breaking his neck with a dull click and hurling his corpse headlong at Head Honcho, who stood and turned to face me immediately before being struck with the dead, 90 pound missile directly in the chest, which threw his considerably larger mass onto the table, his impact causing an eruption of papers off his desk and throwing the solitary light source, a thick candle, to the floor, where it sputtered and died. Before a single sheet of paper could flutter to the ground, I had drawn my combat knife and was on top of the muscular changeling. I held him, my hoof planted firmly on his neck. I could clearly see the hexagonal latticework making up his sky-blue compound eyes, the electric blue magical form surrounding my knife reflecting in them. His insect-like wings beat furiously, and his brilliant white fangs made every effort to reach my face.

Starlight exhaled sharply behind me as she entered the main tent, just as I plunged the knife into the changeling captain's neck.

Instinctively, a small ball of pure light emitted from my horn. I withdrew my blade, flicking off blood before sheathing it.

"Sweet Celestia, turn that off." Starlight growled. Her pupils were slits, catlike and piercing as they turned away from the light.

"Sorry," I lamely said as I withdrew the orb of light. Instantly, the room was almost pitch black.

Almost.

A dull, greenish glow emitted from further right in the tent, having been hidden from view by the candle and my magic.

"What the hell...?" Starlight intoned.

I was shaking from pure adrenaline, mind numb. My spine felt as if it had been dipped in dry ice. Without any thought, I trotted shakily towards the glow. It was emanating from behind a group of strategically placed crates, which were easily moved.

"Oh, fuck," I breathed.

It was the entrance to a changeling hive.

***

“Dragonsbreath, this is Darkstar, come in.” Starlight exhaled into the mic. While she anxiously waited for an answer on the other end, she quickly folded and unfolded her wings, apparently a nervous habit.

A burst of static erupted over both of our mics, startling us both. “This is Dragonsbreath. Is mission condition green?”

“That’s a negative. The original objective has been completed, but we’ve encountered serious complications, copy?”

“Copy your last, Darkstar. Any intel?”

Starlight paused for several seconds. “Sir, we’ve encountered a hidden changeling hive.”

The sound of a mass of papers shuffling and chairs scooting was enough to activate Dragonsbreath’s sound-sensitive mic-on switch, after which were several seconds of radio silence. “Repeat your last, Darkstar,” came Dragonsbreath’s gruff voice over the radio, sounding shaken.

“Dragonsbreath, we’ve found an entrance to a changeling hive.” She sounded like she could barely believe it herself.

“Battlemage, can you confirm?”

I raised a hoof to press the mic on switch on the headset. “Affirmative, Dragonsbreath. Can you advise on a new course of action?”

“Copy that. The team’s working on it right now,” He paused, before asking, “Any intel on the size of the hive?”

“There’s really no way to tell, sir,” I replied.

“That’s a firm. Can you and Darkstar hold position for five minutes? The team needs more time to reevaluate the situation.”

“Roger that, Dragonsbreath.” With that, I switched off my mic.

I turned to Starlight. “What do we do now?”

“Hell if I know,” She replied.

A long pause. The wildlife of the Everfree was composing its cacophonous symphony, blissfully unaware of the abrupt tenseness the events of the past ten minutes had affected upon its equestrian intruders.

“What if they know we’re here?” I asked, yet another chill climbing my spine.

“How could they know? We weren’t seen or anything,” She asked in return.

I wasn’t so sure of her statement. “Starlight, you know just how much changelings are connected. It’s like they know when something’s going on.”

I regretted what I had said. I knew it was true, but I just really, really didn’t want to believe it at that moment.

A transmission of static interrupted my mental denial. “Team One, this is Ischys. We just received word from Dragonsbreath that the mission is compromised, and we do have all the details. We’re moving to terminate that patrol and then we’ll rendezvous outside the garrison’s main gate. ETA is approximately seven minutes, copy?”

Starlight flicked on her radio. “Copy, Ischys. Any attempts to get here faster would be greatly appreciated, over.”

“Copy that, we’re moving as fast as we can.”

As soon as that exchange was over, Dragonsbreath chimed back in. “Team One, do you copy?”

“Yes, full copy, Dragonsbreath.” Starlight whispered. She motioned to me to get out of the tent. She would be right behind me.

I hastily made my way out of the garrison, careful to check every corner and shadow for hidden changelings. They had a particularly nasty habit of appearing even after having cleared an entire area of hostiles, and an even worse habit of cloaking themselves with an invisibility spell that they had only recently begun using. While this new tactic was limited to only the more powerful changelings, which in and of itself is a problem, it still put me on edge. Of course, being within 50 hooves of any changeling was enough to make my spine tingle.

Dragonsbreath continued while we moved. “Ok, we’ve determined a course of action. We’re not pulling you out.”

Starlight froze in place, suddenly seeming unnaturally calm. “Copy.”

On the other hoof, I instantly began to panic.

“As you know, standard procedure here would be to pull you out and bomb the area, but the location of the hive here makes the situation incredibly delicate. We can’t risk any knowledge getting out to the public about how far north the changelings have come.”

“Copy your last.” Starlight flatly responded.

“We have no further intel on the area, so how you complete the objective is up to you. All apologies, Darkstar, but we can’t help any further. We’re giving you a mission clock of 4 hours, after which we’ll consider the mission a failure and we’ll call in the big guns, the 501st Airborne. May Celestia guide you.”

“Many thanks, Dragonsbreath.” Starlight responded. She exhaled deeply and shut off her mic.

I was beginning to panic. A combination of the steadily dropping temperature, my spine, which by now had to be cold enough to have begun the process of freezing the blood that passed around it, pure nerves and the lingering effects of the adrenaline shot were all working together to make me feel as if I was drowning in a pool of ice.

Starlight, cool as any cucumber, waited patiently, having reared up on her hind legs to rest her back against the changeling’s gate.

I had to say something. The ice in my veins felt like it was hardening. “How do you do it?”

She glanced over at me nonchalantly. I was standing awkwardly, flanks to the wall, staring off into the forest for a sign of Crow and Sawtooth, half expecting to see a horde of changelings burst from the treeline at any second. “Do what?”

“How can you be so calm right now?”

“Please, Cobalt, I haven’t gotten excited since my third birthday. And you know I haven’t been scared since I shipped out. This is just an unexpected turn, and we can handle it.”

“Yeah, Starlight. An unexpected turn. An unexpected turn directly into the heart of an entire changeling hive. Did you know that nopony has ever come out of a hive? Not even in pieces. You have to have at least an inkling of a thought that tells you this is a suicide mission.”

“No, I don’t. This isn’t suicide. This is an opportunity. And the only reason nopony has ever left a changeling hive is because the standard forces warhorses who are dumb enough to go into one always go in alone and without any knowledge of anything more than ‘changeling bad, kill changeling.’”

I couldn’t stifle a nervous laugh. “An opportunity. You are the craziest mare I have ever met. You know there’s a significant chance we don’t have half the ammo we need to make it more than 500 hooves in the door, right?”

“Yes, an opportunity. We’ll be in the history books one day as the first soldiers to return from a changeling hive. And I certainly hope I get to stay at the top of your “crazy mare” list.” She commented, throwing me a canned seductive grin.

I tried to ignore that last part. “Seriously, Starlight. You seriously want to go in? You realize there isn’t a single word written on how to handle a changeling hive, don’t you?”

“We get to write the book, then,” She laughed softly. “It’s not like we can’t get creative. Some of the best tactical decisions in all of Equestrian history have been improvised. And you know as well as I do that you’re just being pessimistic.” She knew she had me.

I didn’t bother with a response. She knew she was right before she had ever started.

A faint rustling in the trees about fifteen meters out from the wall abruptly ended what was left of the conversation. Starlight’s head snapped directly to where the noises had emanated from, eyes darting about the area. I did the same, seeing absolutely nothing. I naturally assumed it was changelings. I quickly drew my combat knife with my teeth. I was fully capable of chucking it using my jaws, and I was preparing to do so.

Starlight looked over at me. “It’s team two. You can put that away.”

I resolved to bring night vision goggles on the next mission. If there was a next mission. All I knew was I simply couldn’t keep up with Starlight at night.

At once, Starlight called, “Luna!”

This was the all clear call. Team two was to reply with “Celestia,”, and within ten seconds. If it took any longer, we had been informed that something was amiss.

The seconds ticked by. “Celestia!” came the reply. It was Sawtooth’s gravelly voice.

“Fifteen meters dead east,” Starlight informed.

“Got it, thanks.” I grimaced.

Two shapes emerged from the treeline. One was tall and incredibly skinny, his shape fragmented from the tactical gear he was wearing, the other was shorter and incredibly stocky, two glinting projections from his form jutting out laterally on his back.

“Ok, so, where’s this hidey-hole?” Sawtooth asked, cantering up to us. Crow, the tall figure, slowly ambled up behind him.

“Inside the main tent.” Starlight flatly replied. She had unfastened the SMG from her flank, fitting her hoof inside the grip as she checked its chamber and tightened its silencer.

“So, how are we going to do this? I mean, we’ve gotta blow it up, right?” Sawtooth continued.

“I have the C4 charges to destroy the camp,” Crow calmly noted, unbuttoning a pouch on his bag to check. “We could just repurpose them and blow the whole group somewhere down there.”

“Perfect.” Starlight said.

“We’ll just look for something that looks important.” Sawtooth commented.

“As for changelings?” I asked.

“Sawtooth and I’ll take point.” Starlight responded quickly. “I’ll take long range targets, and Sawtooth, try not to cut us to ribbons with those damn machetes.”

Sawtooth grinned. “Maybe I should be out front?”

“That’ll work.” She replied.

I looked over at Crow, who nodded to say hello. “Crow and I’ll cover the rear and flanks. We’ll have pistols ready.” I said. If I was going in, I may as well be useful.

“Got it.” Starlight replied. “I’ve got no idea what it’ll be like in there, but I’ll try to keep radio contact with Dragonsbreath.”

I felt like a reality check was in order. “We’ve got a four hour mission clock, no intel and the potential for high numbers of hostiles in close quarters, possibly deep underground. We may not make it out of here.” I said, spine still tingling. Despite the absolutely lopsided situation, and judging the disappointed looking faces staring at me, I knew I had to at least give some kind of indicator that there was hope, which I did reluctantly and not without dropping my tone a fair amount. “But if we do, we’ll know that nothing we’ll face after this can get much worse.”

Everypony present nodded solemnly, even Sawtooth’s standard issue evil grin disappearing for a brief instant.

I dug the small computer from its pouch on my tactical vest. “Well, ok,” I sighed. “Mission clock reset to zero at 0200 hours. We’ve got until sunrise to get this done.”

“Keep your grouping tight. Tactical spread distance should be about six hooves between each pony. Silencers on all firearms and make sure all your gear is cinched and quiet. We still might have the element of surprise here, and we can’t afford to blow it.” Starlight ordered. She was fully ready, her wings flapping silently to keep her inches off the ground. Her SMG was ready, strap secured across her back and weapon resting beside her front right hoof. Despite every indication stating she shouldn’t, she was clearly looking forward to this.

***

We had gotten back into contact with Dragonsbreath, who said he’d keep quiet on his end of the line and monitor and record Starlight’s transmissions and video feed for a debriefing (which would be viewed by the Royal Equestrian Council alone, then fully and permanently classified.)

“Ok, so, now what?” Sawtooth deadpanned as all four of us peered into the hole.

“You’re on first,” Starlight replied with an equally flat tone, glancing up at him as though he had revealed he had only two brain cells to rub together.

“Well, good,” he stuttered, temporarily looking nervous as he tilted his head in an attempt to see further into the glowing cavern. “I’m glad I signed up for pointpony tonight. Those two dead freaks over in the corner smell like ass.” He dropped one end of a rope into the hole, cracking his neck and exhaling deeply in an attempt to psyche himself up, which apparently worked as his trademark grin reappeared.

I glanced into the chasm (which looked to be about ten meters straight down) with a subconscious gulp, yet another paralyzing jolt running down my spine. I looked away in attempt to calm myself, clumsily glancing around the roof of the tent while fumbling with my magic for my dump bag, which I eventually found and slung off of my shoulder, having become entranced with the far corner tent post for fear of looking back down the hole.

“Which one of you two took these guys out, anyway?” Crow asked as he absentmindedly glanced over at the piled bodies, taking the other end of the rope, to which was fastened a grappling hook. He stuck it into the side of a particularly heavy crate, one of many stacked in the tent as he waited for a response.

“I did,” I answered quickly as I screwed the silencer onto my pistol. I preferred to keep the compact gun tucked in my dump bag. To me, it had always been a last-ditch weapon, a sort of failsafe if my knife or my magic wasn’t sufficient. Despite my apprehension of close-range combat, I preferred to make sure kills were completely silent at minimal range with my knife over having to prepare for follow-up-shots should the pistol fail to do the job. In my book, however, this counted as a situation dire enough to call for its use.

“How’d you manage that, anyway? That guy’s friggin’ huge.” Sawtooth questioned as he stared down the hole, now sitting on its edge, hindlegs dangling over.

I smiled faintly. “I picked up the little one and threw him at the big one. Knocked him off balance, and used that time to get on him.”

“Very nice,” Sawtooth replied. “You know, sometimes I wish I was one of you little horned bitches. I think I could stand being a little bitch if I could throw stuff around like you can.” He laughed. He was fully in his element. “Ok, someone who weighs more than sixteen pounds get on the rope and make sure it doesn’t drop once I start down.” He was directing the slight at Crow, whose thin frame couldn’t support more than fifty pounds of gear. Based on the amount of tactical bags he had dangling from his tactical webbing and his sniper rifle strapped to his back, I was willing to bet he was close to that limit.

“Got it,” I replied, choosing not to comment on his inane ramblings about my horn, grimacing slightly at the fact that he knew me as “one of the little horned bitches”. I picked up the rope with my magic. I had tested my magic’s strength at up to 3000 pounds, far more than sufficient for the cocky, stocky earth pony that weighed in at 190. The line was taut from the combination of being secured on the heavy crate and my holding it as a failsafe.

He tossed himself off the edge, front and hind legs wrapped around the rope, holding himself in place. “Ok, foals, see you at the bottom! Last one down gets full access to the Sawtooth when we get back to bunk, if you know what I mean,” He said, wiggling his eyebrows furiously. “Oh, and Starlight, why don’t you let us stallions make sure it’s safe down there first?”

Crow stifled a laugh, whacking him in the shoulder with his hoof, causing him to lose his balance for a brief second before regaining his composure.

“You just don’t stop, do you?” Starlight replied, eyes narrowed, a look of intense disgruntlement crossing her face.

“For you, baby? Never,” he said with a huge grin, dropping out of sight into the sickly green abyss.

Starlight turned to me. “I hope he knows that you’ll be the last one up here, what with you being the only one who can hold the rope for him,” She noted as she flapped her wings to gently descend into the hole.

“Oh, Celestia,” I  muttered.

“That’s what you will be saying,” Crow sniggered as he followed suit down the hole.

I clinched my eyes shut, and not just because of the horrific joke that Crow had just dealt. This was the point of no return. What am I doing? I asked myself. For lack of a better response, I continued the joke with myself in an attempt to calm my overwrought nerves. Well, getting screwed by Sawtooth is better than getting screwed by the whole Everfree.

I looked over my shoulder, hearing the cacophonous noise of the dense forest outside the tent. With a deep sigh and a glance towards the heavens, my magic wrapped around the rope and my form to slow my descent.

“Shit, deal’s off.” Sawtooth exhorted when I reached the bottom. I was entirely unsure whether he was talking about his offer or the surroundings inside the hive. Everything glowed in shades of toxic green to sickly blue, as if the rocks themselves were luminescent. Damp, greenish stalactites and stalagmites protruded at random, most growing at seemingly arbitrary angles. The sound of dripping water echoed from every corner, and, most frighteningly, in every crevice large enough was a sort of phosphorescent honeycomb latticework, each cell five hooves across. Only a few had been breached, most of the cells remained closed, black blobs floating ominously within each. The ceiling of the entry chamber was high, and itself nearly covered in honeycomb.

“Are those…” Crow gaped.

“Yes.” Starlight responded. She was beginning to look nervous herself.

Sawtooth looked distinctly confused, glancing back and forth at Crow and Starlight. “Should we plant the explosives here?” He asked, uncertain.

I glanced about the room, searching for something that would allow me to say yes to his question. As it would figure—there wasn’t.

I sighed. I hated the answer I was about to give, but nonetheless, it was truth. “No, there’s nothing structurally supportive here. The only way we can confirm that this cave never gets used again is to find whatever it is that holds this place up and blow it.”

“Well, that’s not in here,” Starlight said, an air of frustration in her voice. “Everypony stick close. There’s a hall over there,” She pointed to a jagged hole along the northern wall, leading further into the mountain. She raised her SMG, snapping the bolt release forward, safety off. She cocked her head towards the doorway to Sawtooth, who grimaced, taking point. She then lowered her mic boom, updating the now silent Dragonsbreath on the other end. “Heading north into cavern hallway.”

The ragged hole led both down at a steep angle and into pitch blackness, only illuminated by a small number of phosphorescently green and quite wispy mushrooms. Starlight was once again proving useful with her night eyes. In contrast, I could see almost nothing, including her directly in front of me, much less Sawtooth further ahead. Crow’s rhythmic wingbeats behind me was somewhat reassuring, however, and the pistol resting in its holster on my flank had the same effect.

“Video feed still active, area has low light. Switching to night vision filter.” Starlight whispered into her mic, as she clicked a small button on the video camera resting in its compact rig on her tactical vest, located just above and beside her right wing.

We were still heading downhill, and rather rapidly. I nearly tripped over a sharp rock, the dipping motion causing me to see more light several meters further down the corridor. We were approaching another room.

Without warning, Sawtooth stopped. In response, Starlight whipped her right wing up, motioning for Crow and I to stop.

“I count three changelings in there,” He whispered.

“Three?” Crow whispered back.

“Two in back, one standing by the entrance.”

I let out a quiet sigh, drawing my pistol from its holster and fitting its trigger guard around my hoof as I braced my other hoof on the jagged corridor wall to stand on my hind legs.

“Maybe more than three,” Starlight added. “Room looks fairly big. I see bed mounds just like the ones in the tent outside, it’s probably a barracks.”

“Sheeeiit.” Sawtooth enunciated through his teeth. “Any hope for a simultaneous drop?”

“Possible. Assuming there’s only three.”

At that moment, two more changelings trotted past the entry.

“Perfect,” Sawtooth seethed.

The one standing by the entrance was replaced by one of the changelings that had walked in. The one he replaced sat down on one of the bed mounds, and the other changeling who had walked in joined him on the one next to it, flopping onto its flank with a faint puff of dust from the bedding.

“Still feasible. I’ll take the two along the back wall. Sawtooth gets the one by the door, and Crow and Cobalt each get one of the ones on the bed mounds,” Starlight quietly described, entirely unfazed. I shook my head, still in a state of semi-disbelief over what we were doing. “Good?”

“Got it.” Sawtooth whispered. Crow and I nodded emphatically so as to be seen in the low light. I took a deep breath, releasing it slowly. Crow craned his neck, glancing at me worriedly. I quickly returned it with an annoyed glare.

“Sawtooth kills the one by the entrance, then I go, then you two,” she said, finishing by looking at Crow and I. She paused, restating the situation into her mic. “Five changelings, possibly more, in a barracks room. Mission clock at approximately 15 minutes.”

“Ready,” Sawtooth stated quietly. All of us look at him tensely. “On my go.” He bobbed his head in time, counting to three. Without further warning, he burst into the room, rearing onto his hindlegs and simultaneously drawing both machetes, sticking his hooves into the grips of each. In one deft motion, the four-hoof long tanto blades swung together like scissors, the apex being the unsuspecting changeling’s neck, the owner of which fell, its impact making two distinct thuds. Before both parts of the first target could hit the ground, Starlight had levitated herself high enough in the air to easily ready her SMG, flicking the stock forward with her wing and catching the trigger hole with her dominant hoof. She braced the other in the weapon’s foregrip, quickly firing two short bursts of three rounds each into the pair of changelings standing along the wall. Crow and I launched ourselves into the room, Crow flapping a hoof off the ground and deftly drawing his pistol. After less than a second’s aim, we fired at each changeling in perfect unison, the cycling pistol slides beating a staccato duet of clackclackclackclack, the four rounds each impacting the startled changelings before they could rise.

Only five seconds after it had begun, the room became intensely quiet, the only sound being the omnipresent sound of dripping water. A brief stirring brought everypony’s eyes to bear at one of the changelings Crow and I had downed on its bed mound. The ebon form, dotted with a pair of growing red wounds on its upper leg and chest, attempted to rise shakily. On instinct, I grabbed the creature with my magic, throwing it headlong into a nearby stalagmite with a sickening thwack. The issue was resolved as the stalagmite cracked loudly and visibly, falling in the direction it had been impacted and landing directly on top of the changeling.

“Room cleared, mission clock at 16 minutes. Five targets eliminated, area clear and no signs of movement,” Starlight tersely stated into her mic.

All four of us paused for a second, glancing around the room for any indication of where to go next as Starlight’s words echoed faintly around the massive cathedral hall.  What used to be a giant natural pillar dominated the center of the room, large rocks from its collapse resting in the indentations they had made from their fall. The pillar’s base had been carved into niches for the glowing hexagonal latticework, and a collection of makeshift beds and hastily constructed tents stood along the eastern side of the room, near where we had entered. The room had the highest ceiling yet, once again covered in stalactites and more of the changeling’s deeply perverted honeycomb. To make matters worse, this apparent barracks was much colder than the others, a damp draft emanating from a multitude of small, jagged passageways in the roof and high on the walls, far too small for a pony to fit through. The chill the wind generated was enough to send a chill down even Starlight’s spine, and the audible moaning of the air rushing against the crags and projections of the rocky shafts was enough to send yet another down mine.

A faint rustling echoed deeper within the cave.

“What in Celestia’s name is that?” Crow asked, having quickly assumed an attack stance, pistol raised and aim flitting between some of the small passageways.

No one knew, but one thing was certain: it wasn’t the moaning wind.

The rustling continued, slowly growing from the faintest pianissimo. Each of us were utterly silent and still in an attempt to discern its origin over the ambient sounds of dripping water and falling pebbles from deeper within the cave.

The tense pause was broken by Sawtooth, his harsh tone in juxtaposition to the steadily rising racket enough to jolt me.  “Whatever it is, I bet we’re going to find out.”

“It doesn’t matter what it is. We need to get moving,” Starlight replied. “The largest passageway is over there,” She continued, pointing a hoof at the western wall. The gap was narrow and barely tall enough for me to walk through. “And it looks like it’s going to be a fun one to get through.”

“Just great,” Crow noted, considering his abnormal amount of gear.

At once, the rustling ceased.

“Was it something I said?” Crow nervously joked.

“If it was, keep talking,” I replied quietly, eyes flitting around the massive room for any movement.

Starlight impatiently nudged Sawtooth to get moving, to which he begrudgingly caved, glancing back at her as though hurt. Crow and I brought up the rear as the other two started off towards the thin gap ahead.

“So, what is this shit anyway?” Sawtooth asked as he approached the honeycomb glued into the base of the fallen pillar.

“No idea what it’s made out of, but—it’s like an egg for unborn changelings.” I paused, momentarily considering. “It’s really quite strange, how much they’re like insects with the compound eyes, insect-like wings and this honeycomb stuff.” I replied absentmindedly, still eyeing all entrances to the room nervously.

He looked over at me, his face distinctly dubious. I paused my constant checks to return his look. “So that means this black thing in here is…” He had abruptly stopped walking, much to the chagrin of Starlight. He stared into one of the hexagonal cells, eyes narrowing.  In one deft motion, he pulled one of his machetes and had it poised to slash into the cell. Everypony else’s eyes widened.

“Sawtooth, I wouldn’t—” Starlight began, but before she could finish the earth pony had made a thin, small incision in the apparently gelatinous cell covering just by poking it gently. At once, a steady trickle of the clear fluid held inside began leaking from it.

Everypony was taken aback. “Uhh…” Sawtooth intoned lamely as the trickle increased in intensity. “I barely poked it.” All four of us stared at the cell, and watched in horror as the black blob within began to twitch. The changeling’s shape began to become apparent, a head beginning to bob sporadically, legs unfolding.

“Damn it, Sawtooth,” I whispered. He glared at me, expression confused.

“What do we do?!” Crow questioned loudly, pistol drawn. He looked to the rest of us for information. All three of us were transfixed by what was literally unfolding before us. “Guys?” He questioned pleadingly.

“I—don’t—” Sawtooth began.

At once, the cell covering failed, the movement from within and the growing incision in its structure causing it to split cleanly from top to bottom. A burst of water and a slow ooze of thicker, yet still transparent liquid came with the changeling, fully formed and now writhing on the cave floor. At that moment, all of us were frozen, staring at the ebony form that, dripping and extremely angry, rose to its hooves, lungs greedily sucking in air through its open jaws. The creature’s eyes were frighteningly vivid pearlescent blue and green, flicking open and shut, staring, emotionless, back at us.

It bared its fangs, gleaming white, and let out a bloodcurdling noise, a scream in multiple distinct tones that played havoc with my eardrums and caused all four of us to recoil immediately in pain. After it had ended its war cry, it slowly lowered itself into an attack stance, eyes narrowing and a sickening grin spreading across its dripping maw. At once, the rustling from earlier started again, this time rising in a startlingly rapid crescendo, sounding in time with the changeling’s now buzzing wings.

“Oh, shit,” Sawtooth barked, backpedaling quickly as the coiled spring of a changeling burst into motion, leaping forward, its aim set on tackling the stocky earth pony that had bunched himself against Starlight, who stood stunned behind him. Weapon raised, Crow had the creature beat, a single, muted thut puffing from his pistol. The bullet hit home in its cranium, almost dead center, before the beast could hit the ground. It’s beating wings ceased motion immediately, and the changeling fell into a heap directly in front of Sawtooth with a dull impact.

The rustling ceased. A brief pause, just enough for each of us to look uneasily at each other, eyes wide and breathing staccato. Then, a roar unlike anything I had ever heard; fully deafening and coming from every and all directions, much the same as the noise the now bloody heap of a changeling before Sawtooth had made, but intensified exponentially, a piercing blend of about ten separate, cacophonous pitches, each grating with equal keenness on my ears. My head immediately began pounding, and my knees started to wobble. Crow fell to his knees beside me, apparently affected the same way. The duration of the roar seemed to stretch into forever without any degradation. I glanced around slowly with my heavy head, Sawtooth stumbling about drunkenly, attempting to remain upright while Starlight leaned against a rock, gritting her teeth. My vision began to dim, when as abruptly as it had started, the unearthly howl stopped.

When my vision cleared, every jagged passageway into the room was seemingly glowing, not of its own accord, but by the blue-ish light of what looked like a thousand bulbs, each flickering intermittently. They were eyes.

My head was on fire, and my spine must have become a cryogen for the rest of my body, a constant chill residing deep within it. I felt drunk, ill and slow from the effects of the roar, and I could tell the others were in the same condition. At once, the eyes were no longer just eyes, but thousands of changelings, which began buzzing forward, rendering us completely encircled.

I gasped, a new and utterly overwhelming pain in my head making my brain feel as if a nail was being driven deep into it. Surrender. A voice, belonging to nopony in the room. Surrender, and we will bring peace.

A changeling hissed menacingly, having drawn closer, now within a dozen hooves. Through the glass shards that pierced my vision, I began counting the black forms immediately before us. I quickly reached twenty, but the pain quickly made me lose count.

We will not bring harm upon those who surrender. Only peace.

As I turned my head, it felt like I was turning a battleship. Once I had brought my eyes around, I glanced at Starlight, who was shaking violently, night eyes drawn into sharp slits. She was still leaning against the rock. A changeling stood almost immediately in front of her, fangs dripping with saliva. She looked at me helplessly, the changeling drawing ever closer to her and hissing softly. The circle had been closed long ago, there was no escape. The room was awash in blue, glowing eyes.

Surrender.

I had made up my mind. An electric blue glow encircled the changeling that had been standing near Starlight. It had drawn within inches of her, mouth open wide, poised to end her. Before it knew what was happening, it was flying through the air, and not of its own accord. The magic required to lift the beast was enough to cause my vision to black out almost completely, and the act of swinging it like a flail into the horde before us was enough to cause my vision to withdraw into two pinpricks, everything I could see now seemingly far off in the distance. The instant I launched my target, thrashing like a ragdoll around the room, the entire horde before us accelerated into immediate and violent motion. The unwillingly flying changeling alighted into the changeling nearest to me, launching it into a group of others; Starlight had lifted herself off the rock, her combat knife in her teeth glinting maliciously as she swung it back to throw. Sawtooth indiscriminately swung his twin machetes, drunkenly traipsing forward on his back hooves, threshing the rushing changelings. Crow bucked, sending a pair of changelings to the ground before throwing himself into the air to snipe from above with his pistol.

For nearly thirty seconds, the mass of hot black forms rushed towards the four of us, the continuous wave of compound-eyed beasts waning in impossibly small amounts. I reared onto my hindlegs, directing the fire from my pistol at each oncoming creature, all of which fell. Starlight had followed suit with Crow and was firing into the mass with her SMG, several changelings at a time buzzing towards her, intent on sinking their fangs into her, only to be cut down by the muffled bursts from the gun. As my pistol’s slide locked open, I rocketed a 50 pound stone into the changeling before me, t-boning its cranium just as it got within inches of my face, the inertia throwing its instantly dead form into me at such an angle to knock me directly onto my back. My magic closed around a fresh pistol magazine within my dump pouch, and I directed it into its slot as the empty one fell from it, landing beside me only to be hurled magically at another oncoming changeling, which took the lightweight plastic stick in the eye before collapsing and sliding to a stop beside me, roaring in pain. I threw myself to my hooves, the slide catch popping out of lock, slide slamming shut, having loaded a new round. The next five rounds downed three changelings; two rounds hitting one, one round ricocheting off a rock one of my targets threw itself around, the other two both landing as fatal shots on two more. Starlight had positioned herself on top of the remains of the pillar, firing haphazardly into the horde below her. Thin lines of blood flung from Sawtooth’s blades as he threw his weight into the oncoming changelings, each unsuccessfully attempting to end him. Crow vaulted himself around the room, momentarily lighting on rocks to pop off a few rounds from his pistol into the changelings flying behind him, several black forms falling into their brethren below with each fusillade.

Then everything went wrong. I glanced up for only a second at Starlight while I lifted a rock to throw into the crowd, watching as she patted around her tactical webbing in horror as she determined that she was out of magazines for her SMG. She checked the scabbard for her knife, which I knew protruded from the eye socket of a changeling somewhere in the midst of the growing number of dead changelings littering the ground around her. Crow saw her distress and started for an aerial pass to clear some of the assailants from her hard point, making a wide banked turn. Sensing an opportunity, a changeling cut to the inside apex of Crow’s turn, throwing itself at Crow and wrapping its limbs around him, tearing at his gear with its fangs. Seconds later, the pegasus and changeling dug into the horde below, a cloud of black dust erupting where they impacted. Sawtooth turned for a mere second to watch Crow’s impact, during which time the mass of changelings around him overwhelmed him, covering him and bringing him to the ground. Any glimmer of hope for victory had been eliminated. Starlight was being held down, bucking and throwing her hooves wildly as her wings furiously fought to take flight against the toothy grasps of the wave of changelings that had scaled the remains of the pillar. I was the last pony standing. I fired my pistol wildly, expelling every round the magazine held in far too rapid a pace. Within seconds, the magazine was empty, and I was left holding the empty gun and chucking the few remaining rocks around me at my foes. I turned, and seeing no ammunition for my magic, simply threw my pistol at the changeling that charged at me. It struck the creature, breaking his jagged horn. It let out the familiar agonizing roar before collapsing in pain. I turned again, seeing for a brief instant the bright blue compound eyes of a changeling in in mid-air only inches in front of mine.

Immediately after the brutal, breathtaking impact of the creature, the next sensation I felt was my head smashing against the stone floor of the cave, the rest of my body slamming, sliding over the razor-sharp rock shards before crunching sidelong into a boulder, the sensation of my spine hyperextending in the wrong direction forcing every ounce of air from my battered lungs.

I could still see, barely, vision fading rapidly, and I could hear as well, albeit in little more than dull, pounding echoes. My body was completely limp, and all that I could feel was pain. My attempts to refill my lungs with air were unsuccessful, not to mention stabbingly painful. The cacophonous noise of the battle had ceased, replaced by the sounds of dripping water, incessant hissing the nearly deafening sound of my ringing ears, and the hoofsteps of changelings that milled about in the aftermath of the battle. My view was that of the rock-strewn ground in my left eye, and a dead changeling staring back in my right, a deep gash running through its torso from what must have been Sawtooth’s machetes. The top part of a jagged horn, belonging to the changeling I had thrown my pistol at, lay in the foreground, leaking blood. I head the whimpers of the creature it belonged to as it writhed about on the ground in pain just out of my line of sight, churning up a cloud of dust that only served to choke my ruined lungs further. I turned my head tortuously and watched as the changeling that had effortlessly removed me from the fight traipsed up to the injured black beast and, without hesitation, clamped its jaws around the writhing changeling’s neck, fangs piercing effortlessly, killing almost instantly. Fangs dripping blood, it glanced up, seeing my open eyes staring back at him. A cruel grin played across its face, and it began walking towards me, hissing menacingly, every ounce of malice in the creature’s entire body glowing forth from its nightmarish eyes.

At once, I noticed a wet spot growing around where I lay on the ground, slowly feeling jagged tendrils of cold enveloping me. The pool was spreading. I attempted to move my head, but to no avail. I had lost any reserve of strength, and the agony of my body being thrown across the jagged floor was too much to bear, combined with the daggers of pain that coursed through my frame when I moved. I opened my mouth to breathe, having to consciously insure I kept doing so. What little air my lungs could hold was laced with the taste of copper; the spreading stain was blood. Immediately, I felt weaker than I ever had before, and my vision duplicated once again, receding to two points in the distance.  I was shaking from the cold, and felt my lungs deplete themselves fully. My next attempt for breath was unsuccessful, vision dimming further as my brain starved for air. I saw a pair of changelings—maybe only one—standing over me, fangs bared and ready to end me like it had its injured brethren before my vision gave out entirely, my whole world black and cold.

I felt as if I was receding into myself, like my conscious was falling away from my body. As I fell through myself, one thought, the voice, spoke with a satisfied inflection.

Only peace.