Conquest

Chapters

Prologue
Chapter One: Lost and Found
Chapter Two: Contact
Chapter Three: Camp Exposed
Chapter Five: Training
Chapter Six: Might Makes Right
Chapter Seven: One Step Back...
Chapter Four: The Infiltrator Returns

Prologue

The day had been just perfect.

Queen Chrysalis had Canterlot under lockdown, her horde of changelings outnumbered all the resistance the city could muster, and they had suffered minimal casualties. Meanwhile, the Royal Guard was fighting on two fronts: they were trying to calm down all the panic amongst the civilians, but they also had to suppress her army as well. Celestia was locked up, and so were the Princess' six troublesome little subjects that seemed so determined to reach the Elements of Harmony. Everything had gone right, and she reminisced on the glory of her infiltration by breaking into song.

Everypony had fallen for her deception, except for Twilight. But she couldn't have ever guessed that a changeling, the Queen of the hive, could be the culprit of Twilight's suspicions. That little filly was locked up anyways, and it wasn't like anypony would listen to her would after how much she had defamed Cadance's good name. Sure, she wasn't sure how Twilight had managed to escape and spill the beans with the real Cadance, but the two were too late anyways.

Everything she wanted was right in front of her. Attacking Equestria at it's core, deceiving everypony, invading the city, check. The capital of the most harmonious, joyous, loving nation in the world, all the precious love her species could have dreamed of. Eventually, more changeling armies would come and join the fight. Resistance would be futile. The nation would be surrounded, and conquered from the inside out in an unstoppable, devastating two-front attack.

And then, everything had gone very, very wrong.

It all started when Cadance woke up Shining Armor from his hypnotized state. It was too late for them to have any significance in repelling her horde. She didn't have any reason to believe they could do anything, and her victory was assured.

Or so she thought.

Twilight had suggested for Shining Armor to perform the same shield spell that he'd used to suppress the changelings for a while. She saw no point in that, because after all, her horde was already inside Canterlot. What use was it to put the shield back up? They wouldn't accomplish anything but ensure that the ponies of the city were trapped with her horde. She doubted that Cadance could do anything about it either. After all, neither of them were in any fighting condition. It would be a miracle if the two could even activate the spell in the first place.

Unfortunately, she was wrong. In hindsight, she could have stopped it. She could have called upon her subjects to attack the pair. She could have dealt with the two herself.

Her own arrogance had blinded her.

Apparently, reactivating the shield from inside the city would push the changelings away, everything they'd left behind, and reset everything they had done. It wasn't setting it up outside the city. They weren't aiming to put up a new shield. They were going to wipe away all her efforts, all her soldiers. Like a brick wall, it pushed away her changelings, her hopes, and her dreams.

And now? Scattered throughout the land, they were scarcely a threat. The average changeling army relied on mass numbers. There were some specialized units that would do otherwise, and they had a few, but in general, hunting them down would be a trivial task for Equestria. Confused and lacking superiors, the common drone would be easily picked apart by a populace that was now very aware of their existence, capabilities, and weaknesses.

The force under her immediate command was once an imposing sight. Their numbers darkened the sky and spelled doom for anyone that dared stand against it. It radiated the glory of her hive, and was a force to be reckoned. And none of that was left. The Equestria she envisioned would have been a beautiful place for her race.

She exhaled heavily, turned her head, and spat. Which was followed by a curse. For the first time in several hours, it was enough to get a few heads to turn towards her direction. The queen had mostly kept to herself, just giving a few choice words once in a while. Once in a while, a drone would occasionally stop by and question if she was alright. Her eyes, which were now more lifeless than ever, would quickly glare at anyone who dared disturb her.

She wallowed for days after her defeat, crying profusely and bemoaning her defeat and mistakes to anyone who would listen. Within a few days, she had her fill and was mostly silent in her misery. Her dreams were a bipolar mess. In some, she emerged from the conquest of Canterlot victorious, completely vanquishing the enemy. In others, she was forced to relive the last moments where everything went wrong, over, and over again. There were a few dreams where nothing went right. In one, she was outed by Twilight the moment that mare came the Canterlot, seeing right through her disguise. In another, half her changelings died of spontaneous combustion. Sometimes, those dreams hurt less than the ones where she relived her defeat She could at least take solace in the fact that her invasion wasn't such a blundering failure and that they had at least done better.

Her thoughts had ranged from vivid fantasies of immensely satisfying retribution to fanciful thoughts of theoretical scenarios, calculated battle plans, and victories snatched from the jaws of defeat. These were less productive than she liked to admit.

One day, she found the resolve to fight on. Her self-righteousness had reignited, taking over her previous self-pity. She no longer wanted to dwell on her mistakes. She had been robbed a nation that was rightfully hers, and she was going to get it back.

"We need to regroup our ranks," she said.

The two changelings which had voluntarily stepped up for sentry duty, both quickly turned their heads towards her. Their helmets fell off in the process. They fumbled around and put their helmets back on.

"What?" they asked.

She glared icily at the two.

"I mean, yes?" they corrected themselves, realizing they may have just offended their queen.

She gritted her teeth before replying, "You heard what I said. Round up all the changelings you can find. The second apatrol to stumbles upon us, we're dead. Just a single stallion needs to get away to reveal our position.

And it was true. Only two changelings were within a hundred meters of her landing position, and if how far she went was a good estimate of how far away they were repelled, then a quarter of her force would be around the Everfree Forest. And that would be make up a fairly substantial force. This wasn't nearly enough to take Equestria, especially now that it was on high alert, but it would make for an excellent start. There were around two dozen changelings camping around her so far. And there were probably several hundred in the Everfree at least.

And who knew? Not everypony in Equestria would be completely happy with the way things were run in Equestria. There were outcasts as well. Her scouts had told her that there was a central river in Equestria that was full of fishing boats, trading ships, and a few could be griffon sea raiders. Equestria was not at war with them, but raids did happen occasionally. While it was probably a foolish hope, there was a chance they could fight alongside the changelings.

She turned her head to the two sentries, which had hesitated, perhaps for too long. And many other changelings around her had turned heads from their tasks. Part of the reason why these changelings didn't shy away from rendezvousing with the Queen was because none of them had any better ideas about what they would do now. Their discovery that she was initially mopey, and then taciturn, gave them the impression that she wasn't going to do anything. For most of them, it was a surprising development, but one that wouldn't negatively effect Chrysalis.

"I want every able-bodied changeling in this camp searching for our comrades."

"B-but you'll be unprotected!"

"We'll be doomed if we just sit here. We need extra forces."

Author's Note

This prologue was actually one of the most egregious culprits in the story for a lack of clarity / awkward wording in its writing. I reworded sentences almost from start to finish of this chapter (though it isn't an extensive rewrite as the same thing happens, more or less).

Chapter One: Lost and Found

Before the changeling decided to leave his hiding spot, he was viciously spun around onto his back. After he got his bearings, there was a crossbow aimed at his face.

The bolt stuck out of the weapon, razor-sharp edge glistening in the daylight, with a touch of iridescence. Its wielder was a Royal Guard sent to hunt down remaining Changelings. The changeling that he was aiming at seemed very insignificant now. He didn't want to know its name, or how it had skulked for so long. His orders were to capture and banish all threats. Some satisfaction tingled at the tips of his wings, as this was actually the first time he'd caught a changeling.

"You are not welcome in this country," he stated with a sadistic grin, "I suggest you will leave, or we will see to it."

The Royal Guard's gloating had only stated the obvious: both of them knew that the Royal Guard would kick a changeling out of Equestria with force, and as a last resort, kill any changelings that showed too much resistance. The scattered state of the changelings barely called for a proper military unit, not that one was properly maintained by Equestria in the first place.

Just as he was about to call more Royal Guards over to help him, there was a loud blast. A streak of green battle magic flew over and burned through half of the Royal Guard's neck. There was no blood, as the blast cauterized everything it touched. A look of surprise barely had time to register on his face as he slumped over, very well dead.

Another changeling trotted out of the foliage that was in the general direction of the shot.

As he came over to help him up, he said in an aggravated tone, "Thorax, you seem to always know the best way to get caught. It's a good thing you aren't an infiltrator."

Thorax gave a cheeky smile as if he didn't register what he was told, "Why thank you!"

After giving Thorax a menacing glare, he decided to change the subject, "We should get going, you know. We need to rendezvous with Queen Chrysalis. All of our scattered ranks. You're a start. Now be quiet, and follow me. I'm pretty sure there are more of those blasted ponies nearby. Those crossbow bolts penetrate straight through our exoskeletons."

And true to his word, about three different voices boomed around them, "Surrender yourselves, give up the fight, or die!"

Did the two take their advice? Definitely not. They ran off. The trees in the environment were thick enough to prevent anyone, pony or changeling alike from flying above tree level, and this was good for the two. It would be next to impossible to lose three pegasi in the sky. Three bolts slammed into the soil where the two were a second ago.

It would be a while before another shot would be fired at them while the pegasi reloaded. The two had enough experience to realize that.

The pegasi were right on their tails, flying low and finding some difficulty in weaving in between trees. They were engaging in a losing chase, with them having to both fumble with their bolts to reload while maintaining a steady pace. They muttered curses and growled.

After they had reloaded and shot again, the shots went wide, missing by an even farther margin than last time. Thorax tried to take a few shots back at them while running. None of them found their marks. This earned an eye roll from Chitin. The latter then slowed to a jogging pace and pulled two shots. One found its mark on an armored section of one of their pursuers, which him stagger. It also melted through most of his armor on his crest, sure to leave at least a second-degree burn. The other bolt disarmed the same one.

Ultimately, Thorax decided to incinerate the bottom trunk of a nearby tree. The tree fell in front of the two remaining pegasi and blocked their path. The third was trying to retrieve his weapon. That action, while effective at slowing them down, was a double-edged sword. It opened a gap large enough in the trees to allow them to take off. Hopefully, by the time they realized that, the changelings would have attained a good lead.

Chitin disguised himself as a Royal Guard, and Thorax followed suit. It would make the two less conspicuous, but they would both probably have to run the second anypony asked questions.

"How much farther away?" Thorax asked not a minute after losing their potential captors.

"I spent half an hour coming here at a steady trot. The distance is something I can't tell you either. I could have gone in a few circles for all I know."

"Are you implying that you don't know the way back?"

"I know it better than you do."

That was enough to shut Thorax up.

Back at the camp, it was quite clear that the hive wasn't in its best state. Far from it. About only a hundred changelings were stationed around it. And while it was the largest gathering of what was left of the invading force that went for Canterlot, it was only a fraction of the whole army. It wasn't much, but most scattered changelings weren't going to do much harm the way they were. They were much more formidable when organized and commanded under a leader. Most in the vicinity flocked to their Queen, who had mostly withdrawn into a taciturn shell.

At the very edge of the outer Everfree, it was a place that should have had more ponies looking for it. But being next to Ghastly Gorge, not many came.

"It's been a while since the Queen had given orders," Chitin began as the camp came in sight, "Or so I've been told. It's said that she did say a few words earlier on, but was mostly silent. It was a while before I was found. Now, she seems to have ideas about how to get ourselves organized as a smaller group. Most of us are in decent condition around here. Most that were heavily injured probably didn't make it in the first place. The medics we've brought along don't have much work to do."

"Queen Chrysalis? I doubt that she'd be the type to ever be quiet," Thorax scoffed, "The main reason why she was up for Queen of this hive was that she had ambitions, and was more than a little open about them."

Chitin shook his head, "Apparently, she's decided to do so. I'm not sure if I should blame her. She did get blasted out of Canterlot when everything was falling into place. But now, she's piecing her force back together. She also likes to have new arrivals check in with her when they arrive. She wants a precise count of how large her force is. For now."

When the camp came nearer, some of the finer details became apparent. There were no tents, and the only shelters built happened to be made out of twigs and leaves, and they weren't very large. Most of them could hardly support their own weight. None of the trees had been brought down. Some droppings left by forest critters were used to make fires. While fecal matter was not the best choice for a smokeless fire, the army's charcoal supplies were depleted long ago. This arrangement did have the benefit of producing less smoke, so it was a happy coincidence.

It wasn't too suspicious, considering there was nothing unique about this part of the Everfree. All in all, it was relatively inconspicuous. It would definitely be noticed if anypony got close on the ground, but it wouldn't attract much attention if it was searched from the sky. Furthermore, the strange weather patterns around the Everfree dissuaded most pegasi from passing over anyways, if they could even see through the foliage in the first place.

Eventually, the two stopped at what appeared to be a central structure. It had a small wooden frame, and some large leaves placed on the top as a makeshift roof. The inner area couldn't have been larger than a few square meters. The ground was actually damper and nastier than it was outside. And sitting on the ground was no other than Queen Chrysalis. With her larger-than-average stature and gracile shape for a changeling, she usually radiated superiority. But that was not the case now, which made the previously bigger-than-life Queen look almost pathetic.

She turned her gaze up, almost absentmindedly.

"New arrival?" she asked.

Chitin nodded.

A ghost of a smile flashed across the Queen's face, who then responded with, "That makes a hundred and seven. I'll assign you two with a few other changelings later. Go find more of our forces as soon as you can."

Upon leaving the tent, Thorax turned his head haphazardly to Chitin.

"Couldn't she have added a "glad you made it" or something like that? Is the amount of changelings being recovered suddenly rising by so much that she doesn't see any need to do so?"

Chitin replied without even turning his head, "I wouldn't think much of it, losing Canterlot has probably taken a toll on her. Come on, the more changelings she bunches together, the more she'll have to find scattered troops. Therefore, the more changelings she gathers, the quicker she'll retrieve more troops. Simple math, let's go."

The scan of the Everfree Forest was showing results much quicker than expected. The Royal Guard expected to find maybe several changelings at most within an hour, not encounter dozens. The search of the Everfree also cost them a lot more than anypony anticipated, with a few fatal casualties already—almost unheard of in the royal guard

Shining Armor usually didn't lead groups hunting down the changelings. Scattered around, they didn't have much potential to harm anything. But the Queen of the Changelings herself was observed by many to have gone somewhere in the Everfree. So he saw it fit to lead the groups himself. Several teams of four were handling the situation, but most changelings spotted got away.

Not only that, but they had more casualties than they had inflicted. It had only been half an hour, and one pegasus was dead, shot in the neck by battle magic. And there were a few minor injuries that followed afterward. While it was confirmed that there was changeling activity, he felt that that simple piece of information cost them too much.

They had initially sent out a team of pegasi to scout the area from above. Apparently, it wasn't that simple. The thick foliage covered most of the forest, and the unusual weather patterns spooked most pegasi. And so, off into the forest they went.

As of now, three hours had passed. A total of twenty-four ponies had gone in to check, half pegasi, half unicorns. The same number was on standby. Two were confirmed to be dead, one was missing, and about ten of them had injuries that ranged from burns to broken bones. The two teams sent out with crossbows also had one of them damaged badly, with the string weakened, and the handle incinerated. About three spears were broken, and several pieces of armor needed to be replaced.

All in all, it was getting costly. The process of digging out changelings in the other surrounding areas of the nation was generally slow, tedious work. Half of the time, no changelings were found poking their heads out. Now though? There were more than a few reports of guards that swore that they saw blue eyes watching them in the shadows. Eventually, this had made them more wary, and they had then managed to find, and capture a few changelings.

He didn't know for sure, but he could say that the Queen was probably there in the forest. He couldn't find a better reason for why the changelings were putting up a good fight. Surely, several dozen could have easily assembled under her. And that meant that the changelings were getting their act together. It wasn't something he would confirm without hesitation.

He had more guards on standby. They probably wouldn't find much more without a larger force, and the search teams of four weren't cutting it. There were too many changelings being sighted and then getting away. If a group of royal guards could stay on the trail of a group of changelings, they might just find the Queen.

Author's Note

This chapter was also pretty bad, and I didn't quite touch up every part of it I hoped to. I would hope that I've at least done enough to improve ambiguous sentences / awkward wording to make a significant difference to the reader experience of anyone catching up to the story now.

Chapter Two: Contact

Chitin scanned the area. It was instinctive. He probably didn't need to. There wasn't a Royal Guard in sight for half an hour by now. It was a force of habit. This time, when he turned around the corner, eyes darting while keeping his head stock still, he didn't expect to see anything. And as far as he knew, why would he see anything now?

Apparently, that thought had jinxed him. He finally caught sight of a spear sticking out of the undergrowth in his peripheral vision. His eyes were drawn to it as it caught some light and reflected all around.

"Is it all clear-"

"No! Get down!" Chitin cut Thorax off.

Thorax was shoved back into cover. Chitin withdrew his head until only his eyes were visible.

There were about eight ponies in that group—which was something new. Before now, only teams of four would blunder about. But this was double the size. Half of them looked almost tired, and the other half seemed quite fresh, as if they had been on standby their whole operation. About four of them had spears, and they were plenty menacing. The other half of the team seemed to be dark-coated unicorns and every one of those had crossbows.

In his mind, he formulated a contingency battle plan upon encountering these ponies. The crossbows were the biggest threat, able to kill any of them in a single shot. The operator of a spear was very threatening in close quarters as they would win any competition in reach, but they couldn't pose a large threat farther than a few meters away.

He could assume that two teams merely combined together. But he doubted it. The fact that half of them didn't seem tired set off alarm bells in his head. He could assume that there were even more ponies in the forest now than before. It was a disturbing thought, but probably true.

Despite being shoved back viciously, Thorax still stuck his head out behind Chitin. More or less, he saw what his companion did. But it took him more time to draw the same conclusion. After a minute, the hostile group faded into the foliage ahead. Then, Thorax decided to speak.

"You think we got a chance against that bunch?"

Chitin hadn't noticed Thorax poking out beside him and had to suppress a cry. He turned around, teeth bared.

"If you have a death wish."

"They're close to the camp. We can't let this slide."

"They outnumber us four to one!"

"Our odds seem to have just improved."

Chitin was incredulous. He turned around, and scanned the area below. There was a random changeling breaking cover from behind a bush. Suddenly, he no longer felt so belligerent. He waved.

The changeling noticed them and eagerly trotted to their position.

Apparently, this changeling had a belt around his torso. It was hard to notice because changelings had naturally dark exoskeletons. But when one got closer, it became apparent. Around it was a sheathed knife. It definitely wasn't a generic kitchen knife, judging by the fact that it looked reasonably well balanced, and the blade had some substantial size.

"So... Who are you?" Thorax asked.

Before the new changeling could reply, Chitin cut in, "I think the more important question is where you got that knife from. It's quite uncommon to see the average drone carrying any weapon."

The newcomer hesitated for a few seconds, as if not sure who to respond to first. Ultimately, he decided to answer the question that was most recently asked of him.

"I killed one of those ponies around here half an hour ago. I decided to pluck his knife off him, but others were coming to investigate right after I did that."

Thorax was rather satisfied with the response, but he still wanted his question to be answered, "Hello? I asked you first."

"Tarsus," he replied without a moment's hesitation. Glad that he had gone through what he thought were all the initial questions she'd be asked, decided to respond himself, "Are you two just teaming up by yourself, or is there some changeling that volunteered to lead?"

Thorax shook his head, "We're under the command of Queen Chrysalis again now. But I thought you might help us take on that patrol that just passed?"

"But how?" Tarsus obviously hadn't thought of such a thing when he was vulnerable and alone. "And wait, the Queen's here?"

"You better believe it," Chitin said. "As for our plan, it's far from foolproof, and I know that. But we could always impersonate three guards which lost their way. Take out the crossbow-wielding unicorns first with a knife or bolt of magic, and then take them as meatshields to collapse on the last unicorn. Once we take out the crossbow wielders and take their weapons, it'll be like shooting fish in a barrel."

Thorax shrugged, "Risky, but not as if I could think of anything better."

He was the first to head off in the direction of the Royal Guards, following the road. He made to attempt to conceal himself after seeing that the Royal Guards were nowhere in sight. Chitin took in a deep breath, and followed several seconds later. Tarsus was somewhat reluctant, but decided that he would rather follow and somewhat risk his life, than be left alone again.

After a minute or so, the three were in a rough triangle formation. They maintained that for a few seconds before Chitin held up a foreleg, signallng the other two to stop. Tarsus did so gradually. Thorax tried to do so immediately, and fell down over the damp, slippery undergrowth.

Lifting only his head, he asked, "What do you see?"

Chitin squinted for a second, as if almost losing track of what he saw, then seemed to have reacquired his sight on it.

"There. Up ahead beyond that corkscrew bend. The eight of those ponies. I doubt that they've spotted us, but they could have."

The possibility of losing their most valuable advantage was enough to shock the other two into hiding behind the rocks near the bend. When they settled down well enough to focus on the area ahead, more assumptions could be made. The eight threats ahead seemed to have been slowed down by something. A few more seconds of observing revealed that it probably was thick blackberry bushes ahead. Harmless enough, but their thorns were enough to dissuade anypony from crossing.

Thorax decided to slowly crawl over to the other side of the road, favoring less noticeable profile over sheer speed. Chitin shook his head quickly and bit his lip, but Thorax ignored it. Once he was on the other side, he began heading towards the ponies. After he had covered half the distance to them, he was able to eavesdrop.

"I think we should cut those thorns right down, and bash into any camp that exists."

"That would make too much noise! Do you want to lose the element of surprise?"

"We already have. And now, we just need to hit them from the least likely path. They probably won't expect anything to come from here, with all those thorns." After saying this, the guard pulled out his knife and slashed down a stem.

The other one which was against such an idea sighed and started to help. The rest of them seemed to just be waiting for a decision, and they were pretty sure that was enough. Soon, they were hacking and slashing as well.

Acting on instinct, Thorax fired a bolt of magic.

About fifty feet away, Chitin facepalmed with his hoof.

"That idiot! Not now! What about the disguises?"

Luckily, Thorax was a better shot while prone than when on the move. Only two heads turned to the noise. And by the time they had, the bolt had hit a crossbow. It seared through half of the main body, and snapped the cord in two.

The weapon's wielder cried out in surprise. Every head turned, trying to find which direction they had just been shot from. The disarmed Royal Guard had a hint if he thought of which angle his weapon was jolted away. But none of that was really enough to locate Thorax fast enough before Chitin and Tarsus had come around the bend.

Three, uncoordinated twangs rang out as the unicorns fired their crossbows. Not a single bolt was aimed properly or with any consideration of where their target would be when the bolt reached it, so they cleanly missed. The unicorns now panicked even more, and they fumbled with their bolts while reloading. One of them missed the muzzle several times, another dropped the bolt from his telekinetic grasp, and one of them was tried to shove the bolt in before pulling the string back—only to find the bolt sputter back out the barrel. Chitin and Tarsus weren't eager to waste their opening, and rushed forward at a full sprint.

They covered the ground in between the two groups quickly, and the crossbow wielders were anything but ready. The spear ponies had mostly decided to stay back, standing their ground, spears up, and waiting uselessly. They weren't in a position to help their unicorn comrades out. One of them came forward to help, but he was outnumbered. While Chitin stole a crossbow that its wielder had just finished loading, Tarsus pulled out the blade on his belt and threw hard it at the approaching spear pony. It had very little space to cover, and easily cut through the soft, gold plate on the Royal Guard's chest.

Chitin aimed, and pulled the trigger of the weapon at a recently loaded crossbow wielder. He was not even three meters away when he took the shot, and the bolt tore through plate and sinew and bone. Bearing a fresh new hole from one side of his body to another, the guard didn't have enough time for last words.

Thorax, who was too distracted by just watching his friends, shook himself and decided to join the fray. He didn't trust himself enough to pick off individual targets without hitting something that he didn't want to. So instead, he charged out of his hiding spot and pulled several shots as suppressing fire, knowing he wouldn't hit his friends. None of them found a warm-blooded target, but it was enough to scare the disarmed Royal Guard into fleeing. The other two unicorns, convinced that they might have been left behind by the other, retreated behind the protective line formed by three spear ponies.

Tarsus scavenged his knife from the corpse with his teeth and sheathed it. Chitin held a crossbow bolt as a makeshift weapon. Thorax trailed behind the two. They moved forward slowly and deliberately, afraid and uncertain of what move to make next. However, this allowed enough time for the remaining members of the patrol to realize they still had the numbers and weapons advantage.

Emboldened, three spears were brought up, and their wielders rushed forward.

Slightly surprised, the three changelings started slightly and took a step back. Without having anticipated this, they scattered and ran away. The spear ponies split up between the three changelings, each in hot pursuit of one.

Thorax ducked under the spear in time, but the spear pony didn't anticipate missing and now had too much momentum. The guard stumbled and trampled over Thorax before he tripped over the changeling's leg, and received a face full of soil. Once he had stood up, he found Thorax dazed and trying to keep his balance. He went in closer and dropped the spear. He wanted to guarantee this kill. He drew a knife with his teeth, and strolled forward, intent on only one thing: Thorax's neck.

Tarsus had decided to keep up the chase longer than Thorax did and was too focused on how much ground he was putting between him and his pursuer. Without looking at where he had turned and weaved and ran to, he collided into the Royal Guard going for the execution. This knocked the weapon out of the guard's teeth. His pursuer slowed down and brought up his spear. After a second of hesitation, the spear pony haphazardly charged into the pile. This was a mistake. Once he had reached them, the other guard had managed to wrestle himself on top of Thorax and was directly in the way of his comrade's spear.

Fortunately and unfortunately for the Royal Guard who had just impaled his comrade, he didn't have much time to regret it. At around the same time as his charge, the last remaining crossbow wielder had just reloaded, aimed, and shot at Tarsus. However, by the time it reached somewhere near its intended target, the unintentional traitor was in its way. The bolt was not a guided projectile, nor was it able to discriminate from friend or foe. It lodged itself into the Royal Guard's cutie mark, and dented the other side of his chestplate from the inside, an almost instant death.

The Royal Guard's lack of real combat experience was showing. They had inadvertently killed two of their own.

Chitin had generally stayed away from the other fights and was on his own. He knew he wasn't being targeted by the last unicorn but he still had that spear pony on his tail. Eventually, running out of breath, he decided to jump, with a few flaps of his wings to propel himself upwards to a greater height. Confused, the guard ran underneath him.

When he turned around, he was greeted by a quick punch to the neck by Chitin. It was too close to use a spear, and Chitin, took advantage of that while he could. Following up the quick thrust of a punch, he gave a swing at the muzzle. He then tried to shove the crossbow bolt through his opponent's crest plate, but it snapped before it penetrated. He proceeded to trip the Royal Guard, who had come far enough out of his daze to realize he needed to put distance between him and his aggressor if he wanted the fight to turn to his favor again.

That was actually easier to achieve than he initially thought. Once he was convinced the next blow aimed at him would come in more than just a single second, he dropped his spear, and turned around. Rising to his hind legs, he threw his knife deftly in a single movement.

While it happened quickly enough that Chitin didn't have a lot of time to dodge, he held on to the hilt for slightly too long. The blade veered to the side, away from a Chitin that had slid to a halt after realizing what was coming. The guard then quickly reached down to pick up his spear, in hope that he wouldn't get into very close quarters in the time that it took for him to do so. Luckily for him, when he turned around, Chitin was actually even farther away. Unfortunately on his half, Chitin was farther because he went to retrieve a missed blade.

And the changeling was charging.

The pegasus had brought his spear up and decided to charge as well, a risky move. If he had just stood still, then he could more easily keep his distance from Chitin and ensure that he could get a thrust in or an easy getaway. Frustrated at having been juked by Chitin, he also took off from the ground. As far as he was concerned, he was giving the changeling a taste of his own medicine.

Chitin had decided to do the same thing.

Neither had thought enough to expect such an outcome, and they weren't able to get a stab in before they ran into each other. Both were too dazed to take any jabs, but both expected the other to do so and rolled away from their opponent. Both then charged forward.

The Royal Guard had the advantage of having longer reach, but a spear wasn't more than just a staff once you got beyond the head. Chitin sidestepped and plunged the blade into a horrified pegasus' exposed side. There wasn't any gold in place to protect it, and not even a wing.

Thorax and Tarsus ran to Chitin, having just processed how lucky they were to be alive. They were panting heavily, and slumped down, as if all they just realized how tired they were from the fight. And they were.

"You know," Thorax began, "once adrenaline wears off, I hate it."

Chitin scowled, "That's the first thing that you say? We're lucky that we survived that, and after all, it was your idea to shoot like an idiot. We got those crossbow unicorns off guard, and if we hadn't, then we would all be corpses!"

While the two bickered, Tarsus muttered a few words under his breath, "Those two seem to like arguing for the sake of it."

Eventually, they came to a resolution that they should simply return to the camp. At least they'd found someone.

Author's Note

This chapter was probably on par with the prologue for the quality of writing in the fight scene, and that's where I made most of the edits.

Chapter Three: Camp Exposed

It took longer than they expected to come in contact with any hostiles. Mainly due to larger groups travelling about. The chances of running into a group was about the same as before, only each posed a larger threat. But initially, they were still convinced that they'd walk into one of them. But time took its toll. They became less convinced that they would have spears brought to their necks at the next turn of foliage, and their guard dropped. They didn't even bother with a disguise.

And so, once they ran into Royal Guards, they were anything but ready.

This group was larger than eight ponies. Every one of those eight ponies had spears, but there was an extra one. His armor was decorative even by Royal Guard standards. There was more purple than gold for the outer plating. Even though his spear was normal, the armor was enough to mark him out as the leader.

And the three changelings suspected that. And were far from happy that they couldn't do anything to pick him off. They were even less happy to see a head turn around to the noise they made and spot them.

"I've spotted something!" His report made every other head turn towards him, which then tried to see what he did. And it wasn't difficult.

Every single spear was brought up. The three knew that they would be doomed if they tried to engage now. They were not only outnumbered three to one, they also no longer possessed the element of surprise anymore. So there was only one option that offered the lowest chance of being impaled. Escape.

As they bolted around, the group hesitated, as if they were expecting to be attacked. Then, the pony who was probably the leader gave a command that only strengthened that assumption, "What are you waiting for? After them!"

Soon after, the changelings heard nine screams behind them, and the unsynchronized sound of hooves pounding into the soil. They almost visually jumped, and picked up the pace.

They assumed that it would have been easy to lose the pack. The group probably wasn't going to leave anypony behind, and their armor and equipment would hold them down. But they were more than a little determined to not lose the trio.

Once the changelings came near the camp, they looked back, and found that they had put some distance between them and their pursuers. But they were still on their tail, and resembled an angry mudslide ravaging the land.

Thorax decided to use up some of his remaining breath, "You think we should stay here and hold them off?"

"Don't waste your breath!" Chitin scolded, neglecting an answer.

"Do you want to die?!" Tarsus thought that ended the conversation entirely. Unfortunately, Thorax didn't think so.

"But we'll lead them right into the camp!"

The wordless atmosphere was restored temporarily, as the two other changelings weighed the options. They could take a larger risk on their own lives, and postpone the discovery of the camp. On the other hand, it probably wouldn't make a large difference, and the changelings could always get help from their comrades, which spread the risk out more. But the guilt would weigh more heavily if the camp was obliterated.

In the time they took to decide which one was better, which was prolonged by having to shake off pursuers, the camp was already in sight. They knew that they had set themselves up for the latter option, so they barreled onward. A quick glance behind would have shown that the Royal Guards knew that they had found a jackpot. The group of nine seemed to hesitate a little as they realized they would be outnumbered, but that didn't stop them.

The camp had also come to life. Changelings turned around corners, to see what had come. They weren't pleased to see armed ponies charging, and were more than a little annoyed at the fact that they seemed to be led by three changelings. But in general, they knew what had to be done. They were encouraged to fight when they realize that the Royal Guards had hesitated a second time upon seeing a few dozen heads pointed in their direction.

About ten seconds later, the entire camp had been roused, and the first of the changelings came forward to create a fray.

Shining Armor shook his head.

Sure, his group had discovered a camp, which reinforced his belief that the Queen had decided to band them together again. However, it was unlikely that the changelings living in it would give them the chance to get the word out. But still, he did have several tricks that he could play.

"I want all-round defense! Form up!" He knew that offensive tactics weren't going to work out as of now.

Their semi-paralyzed state seemed to subside as the team formed a circle, which he joined. He didn't want to give off too much of an impression of how his elimination would impact the Royal Guard. But he was putting himself at reasonable risk, but not much with the plans he had. He hardly had any action during the Siege Of Canterlot and hoped he wasn't too rusty for combat. He especially hoped that he was good enough for defensive spells.

As the nearest group came closer, his breathing became more irregular, and quicker. He felt like he had swallowed a stone and was trying to digest it. This was it. Combat. Everything he'd trained for. It was real now. But the back of his mind reassured him that he would be stupid if he didn't feel nervous. After realizing that he hadn't dared to blink, he allowed himself the luxury of it.

Once he opened his eyes, he saw a changeling flying through the air at him. He instinctively raised his spear to wait for the changeling to come down and impale itself. The creature realized what was coming, and tried to use his wings to make a few course corrections. But his speed was too great to avoid danger entirely, and a gash had cut open his exoskeleton on his side.

Shining Armor flinched at the presence of pale yellowish green blood staining his hoof, but drew in a deep breath, and brought his spear down on the incapacitated changeling.

However, by then, changelings had began to attack in masses, and nopony had time to give much more than one quick thrust with only enough force to penetrate exoskeletons slightly. They drew a decent amount of blood, but it didn't have much of an effect. The circle barely held up against the onslaught, and they knew that they weren't going to be able to inflict much killing blows in the chaos.

He took a second to pause, and raised up a shield. He strained slightly, as it had been a while since he had maintained a shield by himself. But he was able to raise it up quickly and maintaining it wasn't as hard as putting it up. The changelings that had tried to come in up close and personal were rebounded backwards. He looked around at his team. Minimal injuries. A scratch on a pegasus' foreleg, and a unicorn with a spot that probably would be bruised. Nothing that would slow them down much.

The dull thunks of the changelings trying to break through almost made him want to laugh. There were over ten times less of them, and he made sure that this shield was extra strong. It wasn't going to deplete his stamina much due to the fact that his shield wasn't enveloping a city. While the shield would break in at most half a minute if it was left alone, a little bit of magic expended to repair it would reset their progress.

He feigned a yawn while watching several changelings collapse from exhaustion. It agitated those who were still bashing, which made them hit harder. That proved to be a mistake. It wasn't long before a dozen or so changelings were laid on the ground. The ones who were too late to be able to attack decided to not attack, after realizing that they would only waste energy.

He decided to stop feeding energy to the shield. Holding off the onslaught had slightly winded him, and keeping it up wouldn't help. And the hesitating changelings would make sure that he would have time to get energy back. The shield could stand on its own for a while, but that wasn't what he wanted. The dome-shaped magenta bubble dissipated from the top to bottom, fading away to a few flickers which disappeared as soon as they came.

The changelings around the group tried to get up to fight, but their fatigue weighed them down. The full consequences of their brashness came down on them as spears were brought down on them.

The changelings which hadn't yet gotten involved became angry, and forgetting about the shield, lunged forward. Shining Armor summoned a shield momentarily to bounce them away. A few changelings were killed before they had exited the range of the spears.

After that, the changelings began to fear. They began to back off. But they seemed to be gravitating towards a small, shabby structure. And that was where the Queen lay.

It confirmed his earlier suspicions, and he ordered his unit to head towards the structure.

Queen Chrysalis had watched the battle before it began. And she wasn't exactly enjoying herself. It had been a while since she watched her swarm decimate her enemies, and she was being denied the opportunity of seeing such. She had to bottle up her anger so that she didn't join the fray herself. No, she wasn't strong enough for that. She had tried sending scouts out to collect love and send some to her, but only half of them came back, and most of them were for the camp, not her.

When the team led by the pony which she once deceived marched forward, she began to feel some fear. She watched how easily he fended off a dozen of her children, and that made sure that she wasn't a target out of the question. While her changelings would fight for her to the very end, they might not be good enough. And their abilities to transform would be useless. They were sure to notice if one of their comrades fell, and was replaced by an impostor. The chances that one of them could already be one was remote.

Somewhere higher up in the foliage, there was a twang, and an arrow embedded itself in a unicorn's crest. He wasn't able to yell, but the sound of his corpse thumping the grass alerted the others. Shining Armor turned around, saw an arrow's fletching poking out of one of his unicorns, and instinctively looked for an archer. When another twang sounded, he raised a shield just in time to stop the arrow.

Cracks spread out like a cobweb out of the point of impact, and the angle convinced him that it was aimed towards him. He quickly repaired the shield in time for another arrow to hit it, in roughly the same spot. Whoever was up there, they wanted to kill him.

He waited for another arrow to come, but none came. The archer probably realized that he would deplete his supply of arrows before Shining Armor would deplete his magical supply.

But it put the two sides at a stalemate. If he wanted to attack, then he'd have to stop powering the shield, and put it down. But that would leave the archer open to put an arrow in him, and judging by the accuracy of the three shots that the archer took, the next one wouldn't miss. It confused him that the changelings could have such a proficient archer, but it was interesting news. The chance of it being a rogue Royal Guard was next to nothing. Escape was an option that was open, though. Grunting loudly, he decided that running would be the best option. He knew what he needed to, after all.

He yelled, "Retreat!" When his unit hesitated, he glared, and they began to fall back. Two dozen changelings went after them upon the Queen's command. But they were stopped cold by another voice.

"Leave them."

Author's Note

I wanted to include more of a running commentary from when I originally wrote these chapters. As you can see from some of the comments below, this chapter was rewritten from what it was originally, where the changeling camp survives a direct incursion from Shining Armor and a team of guardsponies thanks to a stalemate between the infiltrator and Shining Armor (that is also only really improved by imperfect information and also Shining Armor's unwillingness to take an unnecessary risk, after all, they've exposed the camp now). I originally wrote a chapter where Shining Armor's unit takes serious losses from both the changelings and Hexapod, and the commenters rightfully claimed that this was excessive.

Later on in the plot, the infiltrator and Shining Armor will serve as foils to each other in terms of combat prowess, the unstoppable force versus the immovable object, so to speak. This chapter doesn't fully explore the true extent of either side's power and is just their first brush.

Chapter Five: Training

Two twangs, two thuds, two arrows off target.

Hexapod scowled, "You two couldn't hit the side of a barn from inside of the barn. I have no idea what Chrysalis was thinking."

Thorax said nothing. Chitin retorted, "She never said you had to teach us how to shoot!"

Hexapod had nothing to say back, and made a gesture to continue shooting. The two bows were raised and drawn, the two exerting substantial amounts of energy. A few seconds later, they fired, yielding similar results to the last attempt. This time, Chitin growled in aggravation at the lack of results. He threw his bow on the ground.

This time, Hexapod actually had something constructive to offer, "Your form is all wrong. You should be standing sideways to your target. Use both of your forelegs to draw a bow. It'll take less effort."

The two drew their bows, taking great care this time and checking their form. When they released, the arrows embedded themselves in the far corner of each target - a far better result than what they had both managed to do before.

Thorax turned to Hexapod, "Not bad, right?"

"Not bad?" Hexapod replied, "Not bad isn't good enough."

"What do you mean?" Thorax asked as he cocked his head.

Hexapod elaborated, "Say, what if a spear pegasus flew down at you and there were ten meters between you and him? Take a not bad shot? Maybe you'll hit him in the leg. Sure, he'll probably be out of the fight afterwards, but he'd still have enough momentum and maneuverablilty to take a jab at you. Any infiltrator worth his salt would take no more than a second to aim and can hit the head in close range consistently. Not bad is not good enough. Not bad will get you killed."

Thorax hung his head. Hexapod huffed and looked away, as if to regain his composure after his tirade. Though the infiltrator had a point, it was obvious that his talents moreso resided in his impeccable aim rather than his ability to teach it. After several seconds of awkward silence, Hexapod wordlessly gestured for the two to keep practicing. He didn't even turn around to look at them or the targets when they fired another arrow.

He didn't have to look to know that they had missed again. Though he didn't rebuke either Thorax or Chitin this time, he let out a sigh. It was sure to be a long day for everyone involved.

Griffons were an unusual sight in Equestria, and Captain Gregor was perfectly aware of that. He and his griffon crew tended to get every pair of eyes when they docked and exited their ship. Although it was painfully slow compared to flying, none of them complained about being able to kick back and relax while traveling cross-country. Regardless, they were here for one reason—trade, and not entirely legal trade. The crew had its fair share of shady characters, ranging from mercenaries to extortionists that were wanted for prison time back home. In the end, anything for bits in their talons was usually reason enough to make the journey, but that didn't mean there wasn't anything else about the trip to enjoy.

He checked the map of Equestria he carried and noted that they'd passed Dodge City last night and would be sailing through the Everfree. He grinned to himself. Most species feared the prospect of having to sail through there but griffons weren't one of them. For all the horrors the Everfree held, most of them were just target practice to him.

"Awful, awful horrible!" Hexapod yelled!

Thorax winced and let his bow drop, which only invited a death glare from Hexapod. Chitin rolled his eyes and got ready to line up another shot. He took a deep breath and held it, being very deliberate about the position of his forelegs, his stance, and how he held his bow. He let loose, and the arrow soared straight and true. It embedded itself just off the center of the bullseye of his target.

"Yes!" Chitin hoof-pumped.

Hexapod seemed less pleased, and said, "Took too damn long to line up that shot. You think the enemy is just going to stand still and let you aim for their brain stem? You'd already be dead!"

Chitin was frozen in shock, and provided no resistance when Hexapod stormed up to him and snatched his bow and quiver off of him.

"Let me show you how it's done," Hexapod sneered.

In no more than a single second, Hexapod reached into the quiver, notched an arrow, drew the bow, and released. Without even stopping to see if he'd hit Chitin's target, however, he rolled on the ground to Thorax's side. By the time he was upright, he had already grabbed another arrow. In the blink of an eye, he notched the arrow, drew, and fired. In this timespan, two solid thuds resonated throughout the leaves of the Everfree. Hexapod stood up and dropped the bow right where he was, turned around, and crossed his forelegs.

"That's what it takes to be an Infiltrator," he said.

Slack-jawed, Thorax and Chitin looked at their targets, and saw a new arrow fresh in each bullseye of their targets. They weren't dead-on, but both shots were fired within three seconds.

The sun was setting, and the three changelings sat around a pot of stew. When he was told to "make dinner," Thorax immediately tried kindling a campfire, only to be snapped at by Hexapod that he was a dumbass who would "get them all killed." The three gingerly watched as Hexapod carefully focused on casting a heating spell onto the pot, making sure he didn't overdo it with his "infiltrator-level magical prowess." They had spent a long afternoon being chewed out by their new mentor, and this one extra rebuke was only the icing on the cake. Hungry, tired, and thoroughly discouraged from Hexapod's attempts to teach them the way of the bow, they didn't have anything less to say.

The pot had been simmering at a low boil for several minutes now. Hexapod was saying things under his breath, probably counting the cooking time in his obsession over attention to detail.

"Done," Hexapod said, "here."

He levitated two bowls into the pot, and lifted them back up, full of stew. Chitin and Thorax paused.

"Take it," Hexapod insisted as he levitated spoons into their bowls. "Sure, all of us fed on enough love to last us a few weeks back in Canterlot, but you two still need to eat in the meantime."

The two gently grabbed onto their bowls and took slow, deliberate sips out of them—as if scared of offending Hexapod. He stared at them for a moment, then shrugged. Hexapod levitated over his own bowl, filled it up, and started chugging down. With a few gulps and a sigh of satisfaction, he dropped his bowl into the pot for seconds. Thorax and Chitin stopped eating and stared.

Hexapod, who was just about to devour his second bowl, paused. "What?" he asked.

Too intimidated by the last few hours of being demeaned by him, neither Thorax nor Chitin dared comment on Hexapod's sloppy eating. They averted their gaze and started gently spooning their stew once more.

After a few minutes, and several bowls later for a starving Hexapod, both Thorax and Chitin had just finished their first bowl. The two stared pensively at the ground.

"Y'know," Hexapod broke the silence, "I've been a little too hard on you two. Sorry. Infiltrators aren't made in a day."

Thorax's ears undrooped, and he let out an almost silent gasp. Chitin looked at Hexapod incredulously.

"Still, don't expect me to go easy on you two tomorrow," Hexapod said as he levitated his bowl back into the pot. "We only have a few days to get you two remotely competent before the Royal Guard collapses on our asses."

Author's Note

Hi everyone, and so sorry I've been absent for a good 6+ years! I don't know if there are any readers left for this fic left active on this site, but feel free to jump on here. I can't guarantee I'd be able to scrap the motivation together to finish this, but I figured I may as well as finish this chapter.

Chapter Six: Might Makes Right

For how creepy changelings appear to be, Thorax looked surprisingly cute asleep. Flickers of sunlight peered through the foliage, teasing him to wake up. Chitin seemed less soundly asleep, but was well and truly down for the count. A long day of training (although very little searching, despite Chrysalis' wishes) had left the two exhausted unlike ever before—even compared to losing the battle of Canterlot. In an almost picturesque scene, birds chirped, the breeze rustled the leaves in a gentle, comforting way, and all was serene in the Everfree.

"Get up!" Hexapod yelled.

Chitin jumped, and his head rocketed up. He got up so suddenly, in fact, he fell back down from lightheadedness. Thorax grumbled and shuffled his legs, unwilling to even open his eyes.

"Hmrrahf not nooow," he said, barely disturbed by Hexapod's shout.

Hexapod chucked his now replenished quiver of arrows at Thorax and it landed squarely on his face. Arrows spiraled out of the bag and clattered over the packed soil with surprising loudness. Thorax flailed about and woke right up.

"What the hell!" he exclaimed.

Chitin, who had now gotten up for good, said, "I thought you told us we could sleep in today?"

"Sure I did," Hexapod said with a tinge of condescension, "but do you two buffoons hear anything?"

Thorax and Chitin paused. The sound of the breeze, the rustling of the leaves, and the croaks of various insects all permeated the air. Nothing out of the usual except for being tame by the standards of the Everfree.

"I'll let you two guess," Hexapod said while levitating arrows back into his quiver, "might even go easy on you when training later."

The two trainees were silent. There was nothing they knew for sure, and any wrong guesses were sure to be insulted by Hexapod in a way that the two had quickly become familiar with.

"Dumbasses," Hexapod said, "there's a griffon ship nearby!"

"For real?" Thorax asked. Chitin would have usually smacked him in the back of the head, but this time he was just as taken aback as Thorax was.

"What will we even do with that information?" Chitin asked.

Hexapod paused as if he were about to ask Chitin to answer his own question. However, he decided against it, and said, "I'll explain while we're on the way. Griffon disguises, boys."

With a flash of green flame and light, Hexapod morphed into a proud, grizzled griffon that looked like he had been a mercenary for his whole adult life. Scars lined his face and were made even more evident by how his disguise's plumage had not grown back along these old wounds. Without another word, he took off and disappeared through a gap in the tree cover.

"What do we do?" Thorax said.

"I don't think we have a choice," Chitin replied. He assumed a griffon disguise and flew after Hexapod. Thorax watched Chitin disappear and sighed. With a hasty disguise and take-off, he flew off at top speed.

Hexapod was flying at a leisurely pace, waiting for his drones to follow. Once Thorax had caught up, he looked back and scoffed. "What in Chrysalis' name is that disguise?"

Thorax blinked, wide-eyed. He had assumed the disguise of a petite female griffon that looked as if she had never seen a day of hard labor in her life. Chitin turned around and also shook his head—maybe his disguise was a little too close to Hexapod's, but it was far better for blending in.

Upon realization, Thorax gave an embarrassed smile and shifted his disguise. It was a carbon copy of Hexapod's disguise.

"Dammit kid," Hexapod said, and with a quick flash of green flame, altered his disguise.

The group of three had made it about halfway to the slow-moving airship when Chitin asked, "What are we doing?"

"Recruiting them to our cause," Hexapod stated flatly.

A second-long pause. "But how?" Thorax chimed in.

"We don't have any gold or anything," Chitin added.

"Griffons are greedy," Hexapod conceded, "but that's not everything to them. There's nothing a griffon mercenary respects more than strength. Just stick with the plan and I'll take care of the rest."

"But what's the plan?" Chitin very understandably asked.

Hexapod let out a tch and a sigh. "We infiltrate the ship with our disguises. Casually ask for where the captain is—they probably aren't on as high alert for changelings as ponies are yet so don't get too antsy. I'll be lurking behind you two and can step in if anything gets hairy."

"And when we find the captain?" Thorax questioned.

"Undisguise and plead your case," Hexapod said. "Promise wealth and fortune with our hive's conquest. I'll be watching."

"What?" Chitin said, increasingly concerned. "You know how griffons are, this is too risky!"

"Young drone," Hexapod replied, "anything for the hive. It is sweet and honorable to risk life and limb for our collective good."

"Uhhhh," Thorax said, unconvinced.

"I'll protect you two. Trust me." Hexapod reassured.

At this point, they were nearing the ship. Hexapod gestured towards a starboard side hatch near the engine room, and Thorax and Chitin nodded in acknowledgement. The infiltrator approached the hatch front underneath, ensuring that the group was visible from the windows for the least amount of time possible. He twisted the door's large, wheel-like handle and dragged it open. Hexapod grunted and strained against the force of air resistance that threatened to shut the door again. Chitin climbed in and Thorax filed in right after. Hexapod then deftly flipped around to the inside of the door and rode along as the wind slammed it back shut.

"Engine room clear," Chitin called out.

"Errr, copy," Thorax said, trying to be useful.

"Spread out and regroup once you get confirmation of where the captain is. I'll find you two if I find out first," Hexapod said. Not a moment later, he flew up to a ventilation shaft, wrenched it open with his knife, and crawled in. The two drones were on their own now.

"What a jerk," Chitin said, finally out of earshot of Hexapod for the first time in a day.

Thorax gave a half-hearted, "Yea," and then started for the engine room exit. Trying to be proactive, he stated, "I'll ask through the second floor of the crew quarters. You try the first floor here."

"Okay," Chitin agreed, but he was slightly taken aback by being given an order from Thorax. The other drone had disappeared up the stairs, leaving him alone.

Trotting through the crew quarters, Thorax had to remind himself to not jump with every griffon he ran into. It wasn't a look befitting his disguise, and he couldn't help but think that his body language was attracting some wayward looks from the crew. As he strolled through a hallway, he brushed past a griffon, but couldn't summon the nerve to ask him about the captain's whereabouts. He tried to fight the urge to look back amidst the burning sensation that the other griffon might have taken a look back at him.

He knew what he had to do. He just couldn't. As a drone in the swarm, he had rarely really needed to use his disguises for convincing infiltration or espionage. A disguise was often just a tactic to confuse the enemy more when in open combat—the art of deception was not something every changeling was born with or learned. In Canterlot, he could have free reign to run about undisguised, and most of his time before Chrysalis' takeover was just spent sitting around waiting.

As he crossed the corner, he bumped into another griffon as he was looking at the floor.

"Hey!" the crew member shouted almost belligerently. "Watch where you're going, punk."

Thorax looked up, and the griffon quietly gasped, taken aback at the intimidating appearance of Thorax's disguise—not to mention the despondent expression that could be mistaken for quiet anger. The griffon was in for even more surprises when Thorax finally pieced together the resolve to speak:

"Do you..." he said in a high-pitched, almost validation-seeking voice, "know where the captain happens to be?"

"Huh?" the griffon said, completely confused. "Uhhh... No?"

He averted eye contact and walked away at a brisk pace, trying to get away from Thorax quickly.

Chitin had cleared about half of the crew quarters, operating cautiously but systematically. He had a mental catalog of all the faces he had asked about the captain, and unfortunately, none of them had given a definitive answer. A few "don't knows" there, a few "I think he might be's" here, he wasn't really much closer than when he had begun searching. He wasn't intending on asking any of them again. He made sure to not ask the question multiple times in the same room as to not draw too much attention to himself, even if the action itself wasn't inherently suspicious.

"Hey," he called out to a griffon that he had 'tactically engaged' in eye contact with a few seconds earlier.

The griffon paused and stopped next to Chitin. "Yeah?"

"Haven't seen the captain all day," Chitin said, playing dumb, "you know where he is?"

"Why would you wanna know?" the griffon narrowed his eyes.

Alarm bells started ringing in Chitin's head. He had not received a hostile response so far.

"Speaking of which," the crew member said, "who are you? Haven't seen you around before."

"Rheanius Grawft," Chitin replied quickly, "captain approached me when I was running a small smuggling run across the Celestial Sea. Wanted my skills."

"Hmph," the other griffon said, unimpressed. "Ain't heard of no Grawft clown."

Chitin cocked his head and raised an eyebrow, as a non-verbal challenge. Underneath his disguise, however, he was sweating bullets.

"Ah bugger," the griffon said, "whatever. There are over a hundred fools like you on this ship. Just stay outta my way, Grawft."

Chitin shuffled out of the hallway in a hurry and took in a big breath. Maybe that griffon didn't actually suspect anything and was just disagreeable by nature, but he was still definitely unnerved by the probe. Fortunately for him, however, he looked up and saw what he was looking for:

➜

CAPTAIN'S QUARTERS

"Jackpot," Chitin said with a smirk.

He turned around to try to find Thorax and Hexapod. He knew he could head up to the second floor to find the former, but he had no clue where Hexapod was. Never mind, he thought, and he headed back through the corridors of the first floor. He didn't make it far, however, before a head poked through the ceiling vent.

"Oh crap!" Chitin yelled.

Hexapod held a talon to his beak to hush Chitin. Then, he asked, "Any leads?"

Chitin and Thorax stood by the door to the captain's quarters, trying to gather the courage to come in. Hexapod had disappeared into the vents yet again, leaving the two to negotiate on their own.

"Ready?" Chitin asked.

"No," Thorax said breathlessly.

"Same here honestly," Chitin said. "Let's go before we chicken out."

He pushed open the door and was greeted by the sight of a griffon at a desk with a defaced and overdecorated admiral's cap. Chitin almost let out a sigh of relief, but then he realized that the captain was accompanied by three other griffons, one with a musket and the other two sitting with their holstered pistols. All of them looked up at the two disguised drones.

Thorax gulped. "Do we do it now?" he dumbly asked Thorax. The griffons gave an incredulous look at the two. Their guns looked ever more menacing, even if they were still untouched.

"What?" Chitin said. "Of course!"

The room glowed green as Chitin undisguised. Thorax followed, realizing he had to commit.

"Honorable Captain," Chitin addressed, "we are changeling drones Chitin and Thorax."

"We come in peace," Thorax said, then he winced at the thought he may not have been helping.

Seemingly unruffled, the captain bellowed, "You two dare come before Captain Gregor? What in Tartarus' name even is a changeling?"

"Sir," Chitin pleaded, "we are here on behalf of Queen Chrysalis' hive. We need your help to perform military operations here in Equestria. We were recently pushed back after taking Canterlot, and we have been rebuilding our forces. We can offer a cut of all the gold and valuables you can loot from the cities we attack."

Thorax wordlessly nodded profusely.

Gregor disinterestedly looked away and inspected his talons. "And how can I be sure that your... Queen can keep her promises?"

"Sir," Thorax said hurriedly, "we don't -"

Captain Gregor slammed his fist into the desk, and his claws dug into the hard, stained wood. Both drones jumped and flinched. Thorax shrank down and leaned on Chitin for closeness.

"Boris, Guston, Ronalde," Gregor addressed to the other griffons in the room, "I've had quite enough of these fools. You two! How did you get aboard my ship? Rats, the both of you!"

The three griffons drew or raised their guns. Thorax hung his head and closed his eyes. Chitin looked up, trying to ensure he would have some dignity should the worst come.

The ceiling vent clattered to the floor. Undisguised, Hexapod dropped down. The hood of his cloak now covered his head, and the deep cowl obscured his eyes, giving him a deathly, soulless appearance. His bow was in his hooves and an arrow was already notched. No one in the room had time to think about all of this, however, as Hexapod immediately drew and fired his bow at Gregor.

Three shots went off in rapid succession, and Hexapod ducked and dodged and weaved in the center of the room, all while notching and drawing three more shots in quick succession at the remaining griffons. Once all the shots were in the air, however, he just stood there, at the center of the room. He was unharmed and his back was turned to the captain's table.

"I think we've said enough," Hexapod said.

A light green glow emanated from under his hood. This same green glow held onto Boris' musket, Guston and Ronalde's pistols, and the four arrows Hexapod had just fired. All three guns were pointed at the walls or ceilings where they would miss Hexapod and his two drones, forced out of line by the infiltrator's telekinesis. An arrow floated right before Boris' heart, another in front of Guston's neck, a third one barely touched Ronalde's stomach. Most menacing of all, however, was the arrow that floated right between Gregor's eyes. Had Hexapod not stopped his own arrows with his magic, every griffon in the room would have died.

The arrows dropped to the floor and the guns flew out of the door. Hexapod turned around, only halfway as if he could not even afford the captain the respect of fully facing him.

"Do we have a deal?" Hexapod asked.

Author's Note

Hi y'all, and thanks for still reading / picking the story up if you've made it this far. I never thought I'd get enough inspiration to even finish the last chapter, so the fact this chapter flowed out of my mind so easily was even more surprising. It helps that not only am I a somewhat better writer than before (mainly in terms of clarity of writing), but also that I can imagine and conceive of plotlines much more easily (although of course, with flaws regardless). For now, I think I can assure all of you that this story is back, as weird as it may seem from having been essentially canceled since late-mid 2015. I can hardly promise that I'll update this frequently most of the time, but this is an excellent restart.

Don't expect the most gripping plot, and of course, expect the canon of the last few seasons of the show to be disregarded. This story is a product of its original writing time, but I decided I didn't want to let that stop me from seeing it through.

Chapter Seven: One Step Back...

Do we have a deal?

Silent but slack-jawed, Gregor stared at Hexapod. His body was sunken back into his seat, his shoulders were scrunched and this collectively diminished his stature to something pathetic. Upon realizing his uncomely appearance, he closed his beak, sat forward, and rolled his shoulders back. Before he could respond, however, there was a shuffle of feathers and lion's feet in the room as Guston lunged.

In the blink of an eye, Hexapod turned around and brought a hoof up to intercept Guston. The infiltrator's horn lit up as he grabbed Guston's neck and used his telekinesis to hoist the griffon—who would otherwise be stronger—into the air. Guston struggled and gasped for air and his face quickly began to turn red. He tried to dig his claws into Hexapod's leg but couldn't penetrate the exoskeleton.

"Guston!" Gregor shouted, "No! Did your honor leave you when you became wanted by the crown? Pathetic, trying to attack our guest with his back turned!"

Hexapod let Guston go, who fell to the floor as a sputtering mess. In between catching his breath, he managed to squeeze out, "Our guest?"

"Changeling," Gregor addressed Hexapod, "your underlings did not make the best impression. But, I respect your strength and skill."

"Captain Gregor," Hexapod responded, "I won't ask again. Do we have a deal?"

The captain flinched slightly and promptly said, "Yes! Yes, we do." He regretted being scared into agreeing so quickly, however. As if to backpedal somewhat, he asked what he should have asked first, "What are the terms of our agreement?"

"Come with us to our queen, and she'll tell you," Hexapod instructed. "Don't bring too many of your boys. Only carry pistols. Don't try anything funny, for your own good. Come to airlock L2A when you're ready."

Hexapod strolled out of the room, moving in a manner that was so calm that it was insulting. Aside from Guston's ragged breaths and coughs, everyone was silent. A few seconds after he disappeared from sight, Chitin felt the need to break the silence.

"Look," Chitin said, "I'm sorry it came to this."

"We feed on love," Thorax added, "don't worry about if you'll get your cut of loot."

"Insolent beasts!" Gregor shouted. "I don't know what your master sees, but you two are lucky."

The two drones turned around and nervously edged out of the room. Their hoofsteps faded out of earshot, but then started to get louder again. Thorax awkwardly stuck his head back into the room.

"Where's airlock L2A?"

Hexapod turned his cloaked head up. Hoofsteps emanated from around the corner, and Thorax and Chitin appeared around it. They were still a little shaken, but seemed visibly relieved to see Hexapod again.

"Thorax," Hexapod said, "come here."

Incredulous, Thorax tilted his head and approached Hexapod. With a quick swipe, the infiltrator slapped him. Shocked, Thorax barely breathed out a "what" before he started trembling in fear.

"Don't speak for the Queen," Hexapod told him. "I heard what you said."

"B-but it was..." Thorax trailed off, both relieved that it wasn't worse yet frustrated at the abuse.

If Thorax was about to change his mind about shutting up, he didn't get a chance. The griffons came around the corner, and simple, single-shot pistols were holstered on their thighs. Hexapod turned to them and with a flick of his head, gestured to the bottom-side door on the ship.

"Ready?" Hexapod asked.

"Yes, changeling," Gregor responded.

With a brief wind-up, Hexapod kicked the wheel handle to the door open. It was a violent and sudden motion, but it almost seemed casual and effortless. Thorax gave a brief pause, taken aback in admiration. He knew all too well that he might have hunched over and strained and grunted to open the door. The hatch dropped open under its own weight, dangling under the ship from gravity.

"Follow me at a distance. Close the door behind you," Hexapod commanded.

With a brief skip and jump, Hexapod dived out of the ship. He spun for a little to orient himself back to the Queen's camp, spread his wings, and then slowly pulled up into a glide. When he looked back, he was annoyed to see Thorax and Chitin had gently exited the ship, flapping about in the same place before they saw Hexapod. Annoyed, the infiltrator killed his momentum in one deft motion and hovered while waiting for his drones. Several seconds later, the griffons climbed out of the ship, and each of them waited for one of them, presumably Guston, to close the hatch. After he strained against the weight of the door and turned it shut, Hexapod gestured for them to hurry up before he continued down into a dive. The griffons followed, strong and swift.

"Thorax, Chitin," Hexapod said firmly but quietly enough as to not be overheard, "keep an eye on them. Don't let them come close."

"Affirmative!" Thorax yelled, and Chitin facepalmed. Annoyed that Thorax had just drawn attention to their exchange, Hexapod groaned but did not say more.

The beating of the griffons' wings was louder than that of any pegasus, leading Thorax and Chitin to take a look backward more than once. After having been pursued by pegasi for the last days, the griffons sounded uncomfortably close even when they were quite a healthy distance away. Thorax cringed at the thought of taking a lead ball through the back of his head, but he knew that those pistols were not going to hit them at this range, especially mid-air.

Once they'd been gliding for a minute, Chitin got the nerve to ask Hexapod, "Sir! With all due respect, what in Tartarus was that back there?"

"Dude!" Thorax exclaimed right after, and this inadvertent bit of disrespect earned the side-eye from Hexapod. Thorax gave a sheepish grin, but still continued, "That was insane! We were dead meat but you came in and swept the floor with them!"

Hexapod gave an irritated scowl, as if he were going to belittle Thorax. Then, his expression softened, and he turned back forward.

"Don't mention it, kid," he said.

"What?" Chitin asked. He frowned and stuck his neck back in confusion. "That's it?"

"I didn't have to put you two at risk like that. I should have checked the room ahead of time. Three armed griffons in a tight office? That's a death sentence to a drone." Hexapod admitted.

"Wait," Chitin asked, "Why do we matter to you? Couldn't you have done all those negotiations yourself?"

"Sure," Hexapod said, "but believe it or not, boys, you two aren't half bad for apprentices."

"Apprentices?" Throax piped up. "Where did that come from? I thought we were horrible!"

"And," Chitin interjected, "I thought that Chrysalis just wanted you to search with a team?"

"I often have my own ideas," Hexapod stated.

"Huh?" Chitin said, incredulous.

Hexapod did not explain himself any further. The three had not gone far from base camp before Hexapod had started the two on his brutal training regimen. It was well hidden from the air, but a few faint trails of smoke emanated from under the leaves, only noticeable if you knew where to look. Hexapod dropped steeper into a dive to approach the camp, and everyone followed.

The changelings dived through the tree line, scraping leaves and branches against their exoskeletons but paying little mind. Hexapod pulled up sharply before hitting the ground, coming to a stop in one smooth, powerful motion. Thorax and Chitin were a little more awkward, landing into a running trot before they stopped. In response to their sudden arrival, bright blue eyes peered from out of tents, trees, and behind campfires to catch a glimpse of the elusive infiltrator and his entourage.

A few seconds later, the griffons descended into the trees. They took their time, being careful to avoid the branches, and they gently pushed their way through the foliage. After they made it through, they gracefully dropped to the ground. Gregor sniffed and slowly scanned his surroundings, his eyes widening after realizing just how badly outnumbered he was. Hundreds of changelings teemed through the nearby trees, many of them recently recovered.

Chrysalis stuck her head out of her tent, squinting and groggy. Upon seeing the eagle-headed, lion-legged griffons, however, she gasped and stepped out of the tent. Hexapod flew down next to her and dropped the hood of his cloak—a gesture of respect.

"What in Tartarus is this?" she asked incredulously.

"I found you some extra muscle," Hexapod said with a smile. "Easily a hundred griffons."

"B-but," Chrysalis stammered, "How?"

"Boarded their ship, those two with me asked them for aid," Hexapod pointed at Thorax and Chitin. "Things were turning pear-shaped, so I knocked a bit of reason into them. Got them on board, rest is all yours to decide, my highness."

More taken aback at how suddenly the griffons had appeared than with Hexapod's subtle disrespect, Chrysalis shook her head. She took in a deep breath, regaining her composure and trying to get ready. It had been a while, and the swarm was still regrouping and vulnerable, but now it was time to project an image of power once again.

"Griffons!" she addressed them. "Which of you is the leader?"

Gregor winced a little but did his best to hide it as he yelled back, "Me, Captain Gregor! We were approached by your soldier there," he pointed at Hexapod, "and given an offer to fight along your side."

"I have heard that much," Chrysalis said with a tinge of condescension.

"I would like to ask," Gregor said, maintaining a tone of respect, "How would our alliance work? What would be expected of my griffons and what would we receive in return?

"Gold and glory," Chrysalis responded. "Loot is of little meaning to us changelings. I can promise a one-half cut for what comes into our control—for now."

Not understanding exactly what that might have entailed, but eager nonetheless, Gregor affirmed, "Yes, your highness."

Continuing on, Chrysalis said, "As for the role your griffons can play in our campaign, they will not only be additional troops to fight in open combat, but also sentries. As you can see—"

With a flash of green flame—that illuminated the dark cover of the Everfree in its glow—Chrysalis assumed the disguise of a young, slender unicorn mare. Despite having witnessed Thorax and Chitin do the same, Gregor's underlings flinched at the transformation. A moment later, she lifted her disguise and continued:

"...us changelings usually operate with subterfuge and deception. Only when best laid plans go south would we require your assistance in battle. However, we often imprison and impersonate the population of any city we infiltrate, and your griffons may be useful to keep watch over them."

Some of the griffons looked puzzled, but Gregor closed his eyes and solemnly nodded. After a few seconds, Guston blurted out:

"But what ab-"

Gregor snapped around and muffled Guston's beak with his talons. All was silent, save for a few gasps among the changelings and other griffons. With a wordless glare, he intimidated his underling into silence.

"We really can't afford to piss this Queen off right now," he thought. Maybe Guston didn't understand that much, but Gregor had been clear enough.

"You four came just in time, by the way," Chrysalis continued. "I was about to announce that our hive will be embarking onto Los Pegasus. Our camp has been exposed and we're too close to Canterlot, so we'll be moving out to lay low for a bit. Your griffons and your ship, they can follow us at a distance. We will correspond with messengers. I don't want to see any large group of griffons coming to us and I can assure you that you won't see our swarm flood your ship."

"Yes, your highness," Gregor said.

"Return to your ship," Chrysalis commanded. "You will be able to tell where we are as we periodically send up magic flares to keep our groups in contact."

Gregor turned around, and within a quick flick of his head and gesture, signaled for his griffons to follow him. He darted up into the treeline and stopped to gently pry the foliage aside. Some of his underlings were not so smart, and Ronalde flew into and was caught by a few branches. There were a few audible groans from Gregor, but after a few short embarrassing moments, they took off to the sky.

Now that they were gone, the changelings began to speak among themselves openly. A flurry of emotions, ranging from confusion to panic or even elation outpoured from the swarm as they all tried to make sense of what they had just witnessed. Chrysalis turned back around to Hexapod, who was staring blankly at the treeline where the griffons had disappeared. Taking his time, he slowly turned to face his Queen's attention.

"Hexapod," Chrysalis called, already visibly deflated and less self-assured than she was a moment ago. "How would I expect to be able to trust these friends of yours?"

Hexapod gave a concerned grimace, as if to acknowledge Chrysalis' discomfort. This transitioned into a soft smile before he responded, "These griffons are lowlifes. I've infiltrated and observed their ships from the inside in the past. Most of them are wanted at home and quickly become wanted here in Equestria for scamming, robbing, and peddling drugs. They're not in a position to sell us out, and most of his griffons have a lot to gain from working with us."

Chrysalis paused, wide-eyed and not entirely reassured. "And if they try?"

"You know what I'm capable of, your highness," Hexapod said with the same, warm smile.

Chapter Four: The Infiltrator Returns

Hexapod gazed down at the streets of Canterlot from a the roofs of one of the corner shops. As an Infiltrator, he instinctively disguised himself.

Their invasion only called for three infiltrators, but it looked like it didn't need any. His recurve bow had seen no use apart from practice. He didn't need to expend much arrows, or take out guards. While he would have gladly obliged if the Queen told him to pick off the guards at the gates, it wasn't necessary. He didn't kill anything yet in the entire campaign.

He raised it up, nocked an arrow, and brought the weapon to full draw. The draw weight was fairly substantial, but his foreleg did not falter.

Not for the first time in the campaign, he thought of picking off an unwitting civilian out of boredom. But he decided that he didn't want to have to retrieve the arrow. He gradually brought the bow to its normal state, and stuck the arrow back in his quiver. He looked up at the Queen on the balcony of the castle. Quietly singing to herself, watching changelings bombard the city.

Shortly after she seemed to finish, things began to go wrong. Light pink light began to flicker out of the throne room. Queen Chrysalis noticed and glanced back. She seemed to have shouted, and soon, a pink bubble flowed out, gaining speed.

He did a double take, and despite training, froze in the presence of the giant, seemingly impenetrable wall of pink. The sight was just too inconceivable, too immediate.

It hit him, and it did so hard. It didn't feel soft, it was solid as a rock. It also stripped his disguise away. He was launched backwards, barely having time to save the arrows that spilled out of his quiver. Two dozen were inside, and he only was able to retrieve a quarter. Gazing down at the city, he realized that most traces that the changelings had left behind had been reversed.

Once the shield had faded away, he saw the ground as an approaching threat. He lost another arrow while placing them back inside his quiver. He tried to regain control in the air, and after about a dozen course corrections, was able to glide for the last few seconds to impact.

It was not a soft landing, as it knocked the wind out of him and rolled him along the ground several times. His bow flew out of his grasp and his arrows sprawled out of the quiver. But it wasn't enough to make any lasting damage. He spat soil out of his mouth, gathered his things, and took note of his surroundings. He wasn't too far off of Canterlot. But he had been repelled a substantial distance. He regained his breath, and began searching.

Hexapod searched around the mountain. He was relatively low on it, but he decided that his height was good enough. He had a feeling that Queen Chrysalis would be somewhere. The sound of carnage had also drawn him. He peered off the ledge and what he saw was something that made him instinctively draw his bow.

Nine Royal Guards. Instinctively, he nocked an arrow, drew, estimated the distance, and released. There was an audible twang as the arrow flew away. No more than two seconds later, there was a loud thud and a body falling to the soil.

Afterwards, he realized that one of them seemed to be the leader, judging by his distinct armor. He cursed at not having thought more about his actions, but shrugged. He could kill him now. He nocked, drew, and shot again. But the unicorn could have almost sensed the arrow, as a pink shield was formed quickly enough to stop the arrow.

Growling in frustration, he aimed for the previous point of impact, and shot again. But the shield had been repaired by then. He only had two arrows left, and was losing his patience.

But then, something unexpected happened. The unicorn began to withdraw, bringing his troops with him.

He felt relief upon seeing that the unicorn had decided that he was too much of a threat to continue the attack. It wouldn't have taken long to stall out his arrows. With that, he decided to go down onto the camp. When several changelings chased after the unit upon the Queen's command, he shook his head. Judging by the speed of which damage to the shield he shot was repaired, the unicorn could shield their assaults with ease.

"Leave them," he said. It was not necessarily a shout, but it was loud enough to catch everyone's attention..

The changelings froze. All heads turned towards him. He put some effort into not flinching, as infiltrators generally stayed in the shadows, out of sight even to allies. He continued flying downwards, slinging his bow through a few specially made straps to hold it. His first priority was to get to the Queen, and nothing really was there to block his way.

But multiple whispers seem to cloud the air. Many questioned how he could speak against a command given by the Queen herself. While most seemed to whisper about that, the second most questions raised were about where he came from. He wasn't able to hear much more than the loudest voices, but there were enough of them to allow some room for inference.

As soon as his hooves made contact with the soil, he lowered his head and bowed. Queen Chrysalis walked forward. Her head wasn't even raised either. Once she got close, many expected her to scold the changeling. But none of that happened.

"Infiltrator Hexapod," he said flatly, "at your service."

Multiple gasps came from the crowd, which were accompanied by just as many cries of, "I knew it!" While the basic traits of infiltrators were widely accepted, little else was confirmed. They were the stuff of legend among the changeling horde.

Queen Chrysalis merely smiled. It had been a while since she had saw him, and he was often an asset in her invasions. When she was first assigned him, she thought of him as a powerful and valuable asset, but expendable if the time came. That was no longer the case. He was now her trump card.

After the silence hung in the air for a few seconds, she decided to break it,"One of our other Infiltrators is confirmed to have been killed. And the other is still missing."

Hexapod scowled, "I take it that it's Anthropod who got killed? Worst shot that the Infiltrators have ever known."

Queen Chrysalis decided to drop the issue, "And as you can see, the group we have assembled here is a mere shadow of what it was. The numbers of changelings being herded into the camp is beginning to slow now."

Hexapod raised an eyebrow," And what are you implying by that?"

"We need to search further, and look for more options than just changelings. Whether it be a griffon, or something else. Oh! And the rest of you, my changelings, go back to usual business!"

The crowd scattered, and chatter began to fill the air again. It was a welcome change for many.

After looking at the dispersing crowd for a while, he turned around.

"Is that it?" the instructions were too vague for him to believe that there was nothing more too it."

Queen Chrysalis visually seemed to have been caught off guard. He made a mental note to ask her if she was alright later.

"Oh yes! Pick a few changelings to come with you on your search!"

"You do know that I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself?"

"Oh yes I do, and honestly, I don't care. I can't lose you again, Hexapod."

Hexapod exaggerated a sigh. He obviously wasn't going to get much out of her.

"I guess I'll just choose some."

He stuck a hoof up, and pursed his lips. After he pretended to seriously consider the decision, he randomly selected two.

"You two."

Shining Armor didn't let the shield up until they had gone a mile away from the Everfree. While he admitted that he was rather winded from running, he was in a better state then the rest of his squad.

In a much more conversational voice, he said, "Now, you may rest."

One unicorn collapsed, not caring for his loss of dignity. The others were panting hard. While a few tried to pretend that they weren't winded, they couldn't help but take a few heavy breaths through their mouths.

He thought for a moment. He'd just been in heart-stopping action requiring near-perfect timing of spells, and was still on edge the whole time. Equestria was often at peace, and for all his training and work dedicated to perfecting defensive spell after defensive spell, running through various simulated drills, he'd rarely been in real combat. He was still vigilant, but the same couldn't have been said for his troops. They were more concerned about the next time he'd let them rest than what they would run into.

He re-entered the forest to see if he could get the rest of the Royal Guards to pull out. His first measure was to shout, loud. And that he did.

"If there are any Royal Guards in the vicinity, then rendezvous here!"

He was somewhat annoyed by the fact that it surprised at least half of his troops, but he was more concerned about the lack of a response. And so, he decided to venture deeper.

With his spear raised, Shining Armor edged forward cautiously. He was still caught somewhat off guard when he heard the light rustle of a branch being drawn back.

He swore that the forest never quite stayed the same. Some paths he took were suddenly closed off by a bush of thorns when he came back to check it. While such changes were not so common that it was overwhelming, they still happened enough to be noticeable. And it unnerved him, especially since he often couldn't detect it until it had happened. Still he thought of it as a gift in certain respects. It kept him on edge, and in that mental state, he felt ready for anything.

The rest of the journey was uneventful, and as he approached another bend around the foliage, he doubted that there would be much of a difference in what he saw.

But when he turned around, he saw something which shocked him. The corpses of nearly an entire team littered the relatively barren road ahead. It shocked the Royal Guards into attention. While some were disgusted or shocked, only a few verbally expressed it. He initially thought that it was a whole team, but he only counted seven bodies.

Before he had time to contemplate the fact, a nervous voice rang out, "Is that you, Captain?"

His eyes turned to a shivering, prone figure hiding behind foliage. It took him longer than he would have liked to spot it. The unicorn had gone to great lengths to ensure that he wouldn't be spotted. Grass and leaves covered his whole body, and some dirt was smeared on his face. While about half of the leaves had fallen off of him as he began to cautiously stand up, he had done a reasonably good job at camouflage.

"Yes," Shining Armor confirmed several seconds later.

He added up his conflicting feelings. The unicorn would probably be too scared to face even more changelings, even under his protection. He did wish this search could have gone better, but they knew what they needed to: Chrysalis was here and she was still hostile to the Equestrian crown. Ultimately, he decided that they should come back with a larger force while the changelings were weakened.

It's just that... Something about that archer set his nerves off.

Author's Note

Some little tidbits for people catching on: Hexapod and the role and dress of the infiltrators as a whole are almost entirely inspired by Ranger's Apprentice. The idea of an elite stealth troop that is an expert with the bow beyond almost any normal individual's conception, and is able to stealthily blend in with the shadows and trees with their long hooded cloaks only seemed even more appealing with changeling powers in the mix. This was actually the focal reason for me to start writing this story in the first place. The role of the infiltrators and how they influence the main characters is different, however, and they will take less of a heroic role and be more morally ambiguous or worse.